The text is based on the first edition of The Vicar of Wakefield, published in two volumes in London in 1766. Typographical errors have been corrected, and archaic spelling and punctuation have been brought into conformity with 1961 British usage.
Famous critics of the work:
"The sweetness of a pastoral poem and the spice of a vivacious comedy mark the enduring charm of The vicar of Wakefield. With artful skill and delicious humour Oliver Goldsmith describes the trials and triumphs that befall a simple village vicar and shows, in a series of climactic surprises, how unswerving faith is rewarded — and villainy vanquished.
There was no kind of writing that he did not practice, nor did he touch any but to adorn it." — Samuel Johnson
"With that sweet story Goldsmith found entry into every castle and hamlet in Europe." — Thackeray
". . . the influence [Goldsmith] exercised upon me, just at the chief point of my development, cannot be estimated." — Goethe
"The most exquisite of all romance in miniature." — Lord Byron