Goodness precedes the elegant first person (8,2)
I believe the answer is:
gracious me
'goodness precedes' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'elegant first person' is the wordplay.
'elegant' becomes 'gracious' (similar in meaning).
'first person' becomes 'me' (first-person pronoun).
'gracious'+'me'='GRACIOUS ME'
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gracious me that I've seen before include "Mamma Mia!" , "Gordon Bennett" .)