McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CXXVIII · Part 13: Washington, Wordsworth and Mont Blanc

134. Goldsmith and Addison (William Makepeace Thackeray)

Goal: Your student can describe why Thackeray loved Goldsmith and admired Addison.

⏱ About 40 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pen
  • A dictionary

What's in the book

From Thackeray's lectures on English humorists: warm portraits of Oliver Goldsmith and Joseph Addison. Notes explain Goldsmith's early home, Addison and Swift.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Read the notes printed at the end of the lesson together before reading. The book explains, among others:

    Goldsmith: his descriptions in The Deserted Village and The Vicar of Wakefield were founded on memories of his early home at Lissoy, Ireland

    Swift: Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), the celebrated Irish satirist and poet

    Ask your student to find two other hard words in the lesson, guess their meaning from the sentence, then check a dictionary.

  2. About the author

    The book says Thackeray (1811–1863) was born in Calcutta and was an English novelist, essayist and humorist. He was educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge, lost much of his fortune young, tried law and art, then chose literature. Vanity Fair is generally thought his finest work. He edited the Cornhill Magazine from late 1859.

  3. Read aloud

    Read the Goldsmith part first, then the Addison part.

    Listen for these lines:

    To be the most beloved of English writers, what a title that is for a man!

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhy does Thackeray say Goldsmith was so loved?

    SayWhat does Thackeray admire in Addison? (Remember Addison from Lesson LXXXI.)

    SayHow does Thackeray compare Addison with Swift?

    SayWould you rather be most admired or most loved? Why?

  5. Narration

    Your student describes each writer as Thackeray sees him, in two or three sentences each.

  6. Writing (optional)

    Write a short appreciation of your favorite author, the way Thackeray wrote of Goldsmith.

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