them have the same mark, it is reasonable to conclude that they are all written by the same hand. Yet to the Ode, in which we find a passage very characteristic of him, being a learned description of the gout,

"Unhappy, whom to beds of pain

Arthritick tyranny consigns;

there is the following note, "The author being ill of the gout:" but Johnson was not attacked with that distemper till a very late period of his life. May not this, however, be a poetical fiction? Why may not a poet suppose himself to have the gout, as well as suppose himself to be in love, of which we have innumerable instances, and which has been admirably ridiculed by Johnson in his "Life of Cowley?" I have also some difficulty to believe that he could produce such a group of conceits as appear in the verses to Lyce, in which he claims for this ancient personage as good a right to be assimilated to heaven, as nymphs whom other poets have flattered; he therefore ironically ascribes to her the attributes of the sky, in such stanzas as this:

"Her teeth the night with darkness dies,
She's starr'd with pimples o'er;
Her tongue like nimble lightning plies,
And can with thunder roar.'

But as, at a very advanced age, he could condescend to trifle in namby-pamby rhymes, to please Mrs. Thrale and her daughter, he may have, in his earlier years, composed such a piece as this.

It is remarkable, that in this first edition of "The Winter's Walk," the concluding line is much more Johnsonian than it was afterwards printed; for in subsequent editions, after praying Stella to "snatch him to her arms," he

says,

"And shield me from the ills of life." Whereas in the first edition it is

"And hide me from the sight of life."

worth's; and the index to the Gent. Mag. for 1748 attributes Summer to Mr. Greville, a name known to have been assumed by Hawkesworth The verses on the "Purse" and to "Stella in Mourning," are certainly by the same hand as the four odes. The whole therefore may be assigned to Hawkesworth, but at all events should be removed from Johnson's works. CROKER.

1 Johnson's habitual horror was not of life, but of death. -CROKER.

2 Mr. Boswell and the critic, who I suppose was Doctor Blair, are unlucky in this objection, for Johnson has indifferently" in the sense of "without concern" in his Dictionary, with this example from Shakespeare," And I will look on death indifferently." CROKER.

3 These verses are somewhat too severe on the extraordinary person who is the chief figure in them, for he was, undoubtedly, brave. His pleasantry during his solemn trial (in which, by the way, I have heard Mr. David Hume observe, that we have one of the very few speeches of Mr. Murray, now Earl of Mansfield, au hentically given) was very remarkable. When asked if he had any questions to put to Sir Everard Faskener, who was one of the strongest witnesses against him, he answered, "I only wish him joy of his young wife." And after sentence of death, in the horrible terms in such cases of treason, was pronounced upon him, as

A horror at life in general is more consonant with Johnson's habitual gloomy cast of thought.' I have heard him repeat with great energy the following verses, which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for April this year; but I have no authority to say they were his own. Indeed, one of the best critics of our age suggests to me, that "the word indifferently being used in the sense of without concern, and being also very unpoetical, renders it improbable that they should have been his composition." 2

ON LORD LOVAT'S EXECUTION. "Pitied by gentle minds KILMARNOCK died; The brave, BALMERINO, were on thy side; RADCLIFFE, unhappy in his crimes of youth, Steady in what he still mistook for truth, Beheld his death so decently unmoved, The soft lamented, and the brave approved. But LOVAT's fate indifferently we view, True to no king, to no religion true: No fair forgets the ruin he has done; No child laments the tyrant of his son; No Tory pities, thinking what he was; No Whig compassions, for he left the cause; The brave regret not, for he was not brave; The honest mourn not, knowing him a knave!"3 This year his old pupil and friend, David Garrick, having become joint patentee and manager of Drury Lane theatre, Johnson honoured his opening of it with a Prologue*, which, for just and manly dramatic criticism on the whole range of the English stage, as well as for poetical excellence, is unrivalled. Like the celebrated Epilogue to the "Distressed Mother," it was, during the season, often called for by the audience. The most striking and brilliant passages of it have been so often repeated, and are so well recollected by all the lovers of the drama and of poetry, that it would be superfluous to point them out. In the Gentleman's Magazine for December this year, he inserted an "Ode on Winter," which is, I think, an admirable specimen of his genius for lyric poetry.5

But the year 1747 is distinguished as the

he was retiring from the bar, he said, "Fare you well, my lords, we shall not all meet again in one place.' "He behaved with perfect composure at his execution, and called out, "Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori.”— BOSWELL.

He was a profligate villain, and deserved death for his moral, at least, as much as for his political, offences. There

is, in the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1747, an account of the behaviour of Lord Lovat at his execution, the latter part of which, censuring pleasantry in articulo mortis, bears strong internal evidence, both in matter and manner, of having been written by Johnson. The interest which he took in this transaction may have fixed in his memory the lines on Lord Lovat, which certainly do not resemble his own style.CROKER.

4 In 1712, Ambrose Philips brought upon the stage, The Distressed Mother,' almost a translation of Racine's Andromaque.' It was concluded with the most successful epilogue that was ever yet spoken on the English theatre. The three first nights it was recited twice, and continued to be demanded through the run, as it is termed, of the play." Johnson, Life of A. Philips - WRIGHT. This celebrated prologue, though attributed to Budgell, was written by Addison. lb. post. 26th April, 1776. CROKER, 1846.

5 Certainly Hawkesworth's. See antè, p. 54. n. 3.-CROKER.

epoch when Johnson's arduous and important work, his "DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE," was announced to the world, by the publication of its Plan or Prospectus.

How long this immense undertaking had been the object of his contemplation, I do not know. I once asked him by what means he had attained to that astonishing knowledge of our language, by which he was enabled to realise a design of such extent and accumulated difficulty. He told me, that "it was not the effect of particular study; but that it had grown up in his mind insensibly." I have been informed by Mr. James Dodsley, that several years before this period, when Johnson was one day sitting in his brother Robert's shop, he heard his brother suggest to him, that a Dictionary of the English Language would be a work that would be well received by the public; that Johnson seemed at first to catch at the proposition, but, after a pause, said, in his abrupt decisive manner, "I believe I shall not undertake it." That he, however, had bestowed much thought upon the subject, before he published his "Plan," is evident from the enlarged, clear, and accurate views which it exhibits; and we find him mentioning in that tract, that many of the writers whose testimonies were to be produced as authorities, were selected by Pope; which proves that he had been furnished, probably by Mr. Robert Dodsley, with whatever hints that eminent poet had contributed towards a great literary project, that had been the subject of important consideration in a former reign.

The booksellers who contracted with Johnson, single and unaided, for the execution of a work, which in other countries has not been eflected but by the co-operating exertions of many, were Mr. Robert Dodsley, Mr. Charles Hitch, Mr. Andrew Millar, the two Messieurs Longman, and the two Messieurs Knapton. The price stipulated was fifteen hundred and Seventy-five pounds.

The Plan was addressed to Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield, then one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; a nobleman who was very ambitious of literary distinction, and who, upon being informed of the design, had expressed himself in terms very favourable to its success. There is, perhaps, in every thing of any consequence, a secret history which it would be amusing to know, could we have it authentically communicated. Johnson told me (Sept. 22. 1777, going from Ashbourn to Islam), "Sir, the way in which the plan of my Dictionary came to be inscribed to Lord Chesterfield, was this: I had

The reader will see on the next pages, under Johnson's own hand, that this account of the affair was inaccurate; but Hit were correct, would it not invalidate Johnson's subsegent complaint of Lord Chesterfield's inattention and gratitude for, even if his lordship had neglected that wch had been dedicated to him only by laziness and ac

, he could not justly be charged with ingratitude; a acor who means no compliment, has no reason to com

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neglected to write it by the time appointed. Dodsley suggested a desire to have it addressed to Lord Chesterfield. I laid hold of this as a pretext for delay, that it might be better done, and let Dodsley have his desire. I said to my friend, Dr. Bathurst, Now, if any good comes of my addressing to Lord Chesterfield, it will be ascribed to deep policy, when, in fact, it was only a casual excuse for laziness.'"

It is worthy of observation, that the "Plan" has not only the substantial merit of comprehension, perspicuity, and precision, but that the language of it is unexceptionably excellent; it being altogether free from that inflation of style, and those uncommon but apt and energetic words, which, in some of his writings, have been censured, with more petulance than justice; and never was there a more dignified strain of compliment than that in which he courts the attention of one who, he had been persuaded to believe, would be a respectable patron.

"With regard to questions of purity or propriety," says he, "I was once in doubt whether I should not attribute to myself too much in attempting to decide them, and whether my province was to extend beyond the proposition of the question, and the display of the suffrages on each side; but I have been since determined by your lordship's opinion, to interpose my own judgment, and shall therefore endeavour to support what appears to me most consonant to grammar and reason. Ausonius thought that modesty forbade him to plead inability for a task to which Cæsar had judged him equal:

'Cur me posse negem, posse quod ille putat?' And I may hope, my lord, that since you, whose authority in our language is so generally acknowledged, have commissioned me to declare my own opinion, I shall be considered as exercising a kind of vicarious jurisdiction; and that the power which might have been denied to my own claim, will be readily allowed me as the delegate of your lordship."

This passage proves, that Johnson's addressing his "Plan" to Lord Chesterfield was not merely in consequence of the result of a report by means of Dodsley, that the earl favoured the design; but that there had been a particular communication with his lordship concerning it. Dr. Taylor told me, that Johnson sent his "Plan" to him in manuscript, for his perusal; and that when it was lying upon his table, Mr. William Whitehead 2 happened to pay him a visit, and being shown it, was highly pleased with such parts of it as he had time to read, and begged to take it home with him,

plain if he be not rewarded: but more of this hereafter.CROKER.

2 William Whitehead (see antè, p. 3.), born at Cambridge in 1715, was the fashionable poet of a day that forgot Horace's anathema against mediocrity. He succeeded Cibber as poet laureate in 1757, and died April 14. 1785. He must not be confounded with Paul Whitehead, no better poet, and a much less estimable man. -- CROKER.

which he was allowed to do; that from him it got into the hands of a noble lord, who carried it to Lord Chesterfield. When Taylor observed this might be an advantage, Johnson replied, "No, Sir, it would have come out with more bloom if it had not been seen before by anybody."

The opinion conceived of it by another noble author, appears from the following extract of a letter from the Earl of Orrery 2 to Dr. Birch:

"Caledon, Dec. 30. 1747.

"I have just now seen the specimen of Mr. Johnson's Dictionary, addressed to Lord Chester

field. I am much pleased with the plan, and

I

consists of forty members, took forty years to compile their Dictionary. JOHNSON. Sir, thus it is. This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman." With so much ease and pleasantry could he talk of that prodigious labour which he had undertaken to

execute.

The public has had, from another pen, a long detail of what had been done in this country by prior Lexicographers; and no doubt Johnson was wise to avail himself of

them, so far as they went: but the learned yet judicious research of etymology, the various yet accurate display of definition, and the rich collection of authorities, were reserved for the superior mind of our great philologist. For the mechanical part he employed, as he told me, six amanuenses; and let it be remembered by the natives of North-Britain, to whom he

That he was fully aware of the arduous nature of the undertaking, he acknowledges; and shows himself perfectly sensible of it in the conclusion of his "Plan;" but he had a noble consciousness of his own abilities, which enabled him to go on with undaunted spirit. Dr. Adams found him one day busy at his Dictionary, when the following dialogue ensued: - "ADAMS. This is a great work, sir. How are you to get all the etymologies? JOHNSON. Why, sir, here is a shelf with Junius, and Skinner, and others; and there is a Welsh gentleman who has published a collection of Welsh proverbs, who will help me with the Welsh. ADAYS. But, sir, how can you do this in three years? JOHNSON. Sir, I have no doubt that I can do it in three years. ADAMS. But the French Academy, which

1 This also must be inaccurate, for the plan contains numerous allusions and references to Lord Chesterfield's opinions; and there is the evidence both of Lord Chesterfield and Johnson, that Dodsley was the person who communicated with his lordship on the subject.-C. 1831. But I have positive evidence on this point. Mr. Anderdon purchased at Mr. James Boswell's sale many of his father's MSS., one of which he communicated to me, after my first edition, and which is very curious, and indeed important to the question between Lord Chesterfield and Johnson. It is a draft of the prospectus of the Dictionary carefully written by an amanuensis, but signed in great form by Johnson's own hand. It was evidently that which was laid before Lord Chesterfield. Some useful remarks are made in his lordship's hand, and some in another. Johnson adopted all these suggestions. Amongst them is to be found the opinion (see post, 27th March, 1772) that great should be pronounced grate, given in a couplet of Rowe,

"As if misfortune made the throne her seat, And none could be unhappy but the great.' "Undoubtedly," remarked Lord Chesterfield, " a bad rhyme, the found in a good poet." This MS. now belongs to Mr. Lewis Pocock. CROKER, 1846.

John Boyle, born in 1707; educated first under the private tition of Fenton the poet, and afterwards at Westminster School and Christchurch College, Oxford; succeeded his father as fifth Earl of Orrery in 1737; D.C.L. of Oxford in 1743; F.R.S. in 1750; and, on the death of his cousin, in 1733, fifth Earl of Cork. He published several works, but the only original one of any note is his "Life of Swift,"

them were of that country. There were two Messieurs Macbean; Mr. Shiels, who, we shall hereafter see [April 10. 1776], partly wrote 5 the Lives of the Poets to which the name of Cibber is affixed; Mr. [Francis] Stewart 6, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and a Mr. Maitland. The sixth of these humble assistants was Mr. Peyton, who, I believe, taught French, and published some elementary tracts.

To all these painful labourers, Johnson showed a never-ceasing kindness, so far as they stood in need of it. The elder Mr. Macbean had afterwards the honour of being Librarian to Archibald Duke of Argyle, for many years, but was left without a shilling. Johnson wrote for him a Preface to " A System of Ancient Geography; and, by the favour of Lord Thurlow, got him admitted a poor brother of the Charter-house. For Shiels, who died of a consumption, he had much ten

written with great professions of friendship, but, in fact, with considerable severity towards the dean. Lord Orrery's influence may have tended to increase Johnson's dislike of Swift. Lord Orrery's estate was much encumbered, and his pecuniary circumstances much embarrassed. "If he had been rich," said Johnson, (post, 22d Sept., 1773) "he would have been a very liberal patron."- CROKER.

3 Birch MSS. Brit. Mus. 4303.- Boswell.

4 See Sir John Hawkins's Life of Johnson. - Boswell. Sir John's List of former English Dictionaries is, however, by no means complete. - MALONE.

5 Mr. Boswell's statement, that Shiels only partly wrote what are called "Cibber's Lives of the Poets, seems inconsistent with the solemn assertion of Johnson himself, in the Life of Hammond:

"I take this opportunity to testify, that the book called Cibber's Lives of the Poets was not written, nor, I believe, ever seen by either of the Cibbers, but was the work of Robert Shiels, a native of Scotland, a man of a very acute understanding, though with little scholastic education, who, not long after the publication of his work, died in London of a consumption. His lite was virtuous and his end was pious. Theophilus Cibber, then a prisoner for debt, imparted, as I was told, his name for ten guineas. The manuscript of Shiels is now in my possession." Johnson, we see, says the whole work was Shiels's, to the exclusion of himself as well as Cibber. See more on this subject, post, 10th April. 1776, where it will be shown that Johnson's assertion is much too broad.CROKER.

6 See the note on Francis Stuart in the Appendix. CROKER.

In the Gentleman's Magazine for May of this year he wrote a "Life of Roscommon," * with Notes; which he afterwards much improved, (indenting the notes into text,) and inserted amongst his Lives of the English Poets.

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Mr. Dodsley this year brought out his Preceptor," one of the most valuable books for the improvement of young minds that has appeared in any language; and to this meritorious work Johnson furnished "The Preface," containing a general sketch of the book, with a short and perspicuous recommendation of each article; as also, "The Vision of Theodore, the Hermit, found in his Cell," a most beautiful allegory of human life, under the figure of ascending the mountain of Existence. The Bishop of Dromore heard Dr. Johnson say, that he thought this was the best thing he ever wrote.1

In January, 1749, he published "THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES, being the Tenth Satire of Juvenal imitated." * He, I believe, composed it the preceding year.2 Mrs. Johnson, for the sake of country air, had lodgings at Hampstead, to which he resorted occasionally, and there the greatest part, if not the whole, of this Imitation was written. The fervid rapidity with which it was produced, is scarcely credible. I have heard him say, that he composed seventy lines of it in one day, without putting one of them upon paper till they were finished.3 I remember when I once regretted to him that he had not given us more of Juvenal's Satires, he said he probably should give more, for he had them all in his head: by which I understood, that he had the originals and correspondent allusions floating in his mind, which he could, when he pleased, embody and render permanent without much

labour.

Some of them, however, he observed, were too gross for imitation.

The profits of a single poem, however excellent, appear to have been very small in the last reign, compared with what a publication of the same size has since been known to yield. I have mentioned, upon Johnson's own authority, that for his "London" he had only ten guineas; and now, after his fame was established, he got for his "Vanity of Human Wishes "but five guineas more, as is proved by an authentic document in my possession.4

It will be observed, that he reserves to himself the right of printing one edition of this satire, which was his practice upon occasion of the sale of all his writings; it being his fixed intention to publish at some period, for his own profit, a complete collection of his works.

His "Vanity of Human. Wishes" has less of common life, but more of a philosophic dignity, than his "London." More readers, therefore, will be delighted with the pointed spirit of "London," than with the profound reflection of "The Vanity of Human Wishes."5 Garrick, for instance, observed, in his sprightly manner, with more vivacity than regard to just discrimination, as is usual with wits, "When Johnson lived much with the Herveys, and saw a good deal of what was passing in life, he wrote his 'London,' which is lively and easy: when he became more retired he gave us his Vanity of Human Wishes,' which is as hard as Greek: had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have been as hard as Hebrew."6

But "The Vanity of Human Wishes" is, in the opinion of the best judges, as high an effort of ethic poetry as any language can show. The instances of variety of disappointment are chosen so judiciously, and painted so

thought a man of pleasantry, not a little out of countenance." (Life, p. 237.)

This

Mr. Murphy, a better judge than Sir J. Hawkins, tells us, to the same effect, that Johnson was surprised to be told, but it was certainly true, that with all his great powers of mind, wit and humour were his most shining talents; and Mrs. Piozzi says, that "his vein of humour was rich and apparently inexhaustible-to such a degree, that Mr. Murphy used to say he was incomparable at buffoonery." should be borne in mind in reading Johnson's conversations, because much of that peculiarity called humour cannot be adequately conveyed in words, and many things may appear trite, dull, or offensively rude in mere narration, which were enlivened or softened by the air and style of the delivery.CROKER.

1 The Bishop told Mr. Tyers, that Johnson composed it, in one night, after finishing an evening at Holborn.-CROKER, 2 Sir John Hawkins, with solemn inaccuracy, represents this poem as a consequence of the indifferent reception of his tragedy. But the fact is, that the poem was published on the 9th of January, and the tragedy was not acted till the 6th of the February following. - BoSWELL.

3 This was Johnson's general habit of composing: his defect of sight rendered writing and written corrections somewhat troublesome, and he therefore often exercised his memory where others would have employed pen and paper. CROKER.

4 Nov. 25. 1748, I received of Mr. Dodsley fifteen guineas. for which I assign to him the right of copy of an Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, written by me, reserving to myself the right of printing one edition. SAM. JOBNSON."— BOSWELL.

5 Jan. 9. 1821. Read Johnson's "Vanity of Human Wishes,"— all the examples and mode of giving them sub

-

lime, as well as the latter part, with the exception of an occasional couplet. I do not so much admire the opening. The first line, "Let observation," &c. is certainly heavy and useless. But 'tis a grand poem-and so true!-true as the Tenth of Juvenal himself. The lapse of ages changes all things-time-language-the earth-the bounds of the sea -the stars of the sky, and every thing "about, around, and underneath " man, except man himself. The infinite variety of lives conduct but to death, and the infinity of wishes lead but to disappointment. Byron, vol. v. p. 66. — Wright. 6 From Mr. Langton. BosWELL. I doubt the accuracy of Mr. Langton's report. Garrick's criticism (if it deserves the name) and his facts are both unfounded. "The Vanity of Human Wishes" is in a graver and higher tone than the "London," but not harder to be understood. On the contrary, some classical allusions, inconsistent with modern manners, obscure passages of the London: while all the illustrations, sentiments, and expressi ns of the other are, though wonderfully noble and dignit. d, yet perfectly intelligible, and almost familiar. Moreover, we have seen, that when Johnson wrote "London" he was not living the gay and fashionable life which Mr. Garrick is represented as mentioning. Alas! he was starving in obscure lodgings on eight-pence, or perhaps even four-pence a day (see antè, p. 27. n. 6.): and there is, in "London," nothing to show any intimacy with the great or fashionable world. As to the Herveys, it must again be stated, contrary to Mr. Boswell's (as well as Mr. Garrick's) supposition “that he was intimate with that family previous to the publication of "London, -that the sneer in that poem at "Clodio's jest," stood, in the first edition, "Hy's jest," and was no doubt aimed at Lord Hervey, who was a favourite theme of satire with the opposition writers of the day. - CROKER.

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