Isaac Jackman (1752?–1831), Irish journalist and playwright, moved from Dublin to London for a financially advantageous marriage. After his wife died – and her annuity stopped – Jackman began to write for the stage. He had a poorly received comic opera The Milesian staged at Drury Lane in 1777 before going on to moderate success with All the World's a Stage (1777), The Divorce (1781) and a two-act burletta Hero and Leander (1787). He edited the Morning Post for a period between 1791 and 1795. Jackman may have had radical tendencies: John Thelwall sent him ‘some Songs and other writings, calculated to rouse the Nation to a sense of its rights’ in the early 1790s, presumably in his capacity as newspaper editor.

This final poignant letter speaks to an important facet of Goldsmith's life in London as a point of contact and introduction to London for many Irish migrants. William Hodson might be the most obvious example but Goldsmith's sense of responsibility to the newly arrived stretched well beyond his familial duties, as Robert Day reported to Prior. Goldsmith was an important figure of inspiration for a new generation of Irish playwrights working in London, such as John O’Keeffe (1747–1833), Leonard MacNally (1752–1820), Dennis O’Bryen (1755–1832), and indeed Jackman, whose play The Milesian featured ‘Charles Marlove’ in homage to the character in She Stoops to Conquer.

The copy-text is a photocopy of the manuscript in the British Library and has never been published. The location of the original is unknown. Our dating of the letter in March is speculative, though the year 1774 appears to have been marked on the original in another hand. It was likely written as Goldsmith was in his final illness, and as Jackman was attempting to establish himself in the theatre scene at the time by contacting the Irish author of She Stoops to Conquer.