Editing Oliver Goldsmith (section)

==Early life==
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Goldsmith's birth date and year are not known with certainty. According to the [[Library of Congress]] authority file, he told a biographer that he was born on 10 November 1728. The location of his birthplace is also uncertain. He was born either in the [[townland]] of Pallas, near [[Ballymahon]], [[County Longford]], Ireland, where his father was the [[Anglican]] [[curate]] of the parish of [[Forgney]], or at the residence of his maternal grandparents, at the [[Smith Hill (house)|Smith Hill]] House near [[Elphin, County Roscommon|Elphin]] in [[County Roscommon]], where his grandfather Oliver Jones was a clergyman and master of the Elphin diocesan school, and where Oliver studied.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sligogrammarschool.org/historyschool.htm|title=History|website=Sligo Grammar School}}</ref> [[File:Goldsmith's House, Auburn, Kilkenny, 1834 (IA jstor-30004366) (page 1 crop).jpg|thumb|Goldsmith's family home in Auburn, Kilkenny, ''[[Dublin Penny Journal]]'', 1834]]When Goldsmith was two years old, his father was appointed the [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of the parish of "Kilkenny West" in [[County Westmeath]]. The family moved to the [[rectory|parsonage]] at Lissoy, between [[Athlone]] and Ballymahon, and continued to live there until his father's death in 1747.

In 1744, Goldsmith went up to [[Trinity College, Dublin]]. His tutor was [[Theaker Wilder]]. Neglecting his studies in theology and law, he fell to the bottom of his class. In 1747, along with four other undergraduates, he was expelled for a riot in which they attempted to storm the [[City Marshalsea, Dublin|Marshalsea Prison]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Craig|first=Maurice|title=Dublin 1650–1860|year=1952|publisher=Allen Figgis & Co. Ltd.|page=184}}</ref> He was graduated in 1749 as a Bachelor of Arts, but without the discipline or distinction that might have gained him entry to a profession in the church or the law. His education seemed to have given him mainly a taste for fine clothes, cards, singing Irish airs, and playing the flute. He lived for a short time with his mother, tried various professions without success, studied medicine desultorily at the [[University of Edinburgh]] from 1752 to 1755, and set out on a walking tour of [[Flanders]], France, Switzerland, and [[Northern Italy]], living by his wits (busking with his flute).
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