E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
She Stoops to Conquer.
This comedy owes its existence to an incident which actually occurred to its author. When Goldsmith was sixteen years of age, a wag residing at Ardagh directed him, when passing through that village, to Squire Fetherstone’s house as the village inn. The mistake was not discovered for some time, and then no one enjoyed it more heartily than Oliver himself.
