The Vicar of Wakefield

About this book

Dr Charles Primrose, a kind, simple and slightly vain country clergyman, tells the story of his family: his wife Deborah, who has social ambitions, his sons George and Moses, and his daughters Olivia and Sophia. When the merchant holding his savings goes bankrupt, the family moves to a poorer parish, where the handsome young squire Thornhill seduces Olivia, and misfortune follows misfortune, from a fire to a debtors' prison, while the vicar keeps his faith and his humour. Moses, sent to sell a horse at the fair, comes back with a gross of green spectacles.

Context and significance

Oliver Goldsmith (about 1728–1774), an Irish writer in London, was facing arrest for debt when his friend Samuel Johnson sold the manuscript to pay his rent; it was published in 1766. Gentle and comic, it was one of the most loved novels for a century, admired by Goethe and mentioned in Jane Austen's Emma.

About the author