valuable qualifications; and, had I a son of my own, it would be my ambition, instead of sending him to the University, to dispose of him as this young gentleman is.

"He, and another neighbour of mine, one Mr. Samuel Johnson, set out this morning for London together. Davy Garrick is to be with you early the next week, and Mr. Johnson to try his fate with a Tragedy, and to see to get himself employed in some translation, either from the Latin or the French. Johnson is a very good scholar and poet, and I have great hopes will turn out a fine tragedy-writer. If it should in any way lie in your way, doubt not but you would be ready to recommend and assist your countryman.

"G. WALMESLEY."

How he employed himself upon his first coming to London is not particularly known.* I never heard that he found any protection or encourage ment by the means of Mr. Colson, to whose academy David Garrick went. Mrs. Lucy Porter told me, that Mr. Walmesley gave him a letter of introduction to Lintot, his bookseller, and that Johnson wrote some things for him; but I imagine this to be a mistake, for I have discovered no trace of it, and I am pretty sure he told me that Mr. Cave was the first publisher by whom his pen was engaged in London.

He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew how he could live in the cheapest manner. His first lodgings were at the house of Mr. Norris, a staymaker, in Exeter-street, adjoining Catherine-street, in the Strand. "I dined," said he, "very well for eightpence, with very good company, at the Pine-Apple, in New-street, just by. Several of them had travelled. They expected to meet every day; but did not know one another's names. It used to cost the rest a shilling, for they drank wine; but I had a cut of meat for sixpence, and bread for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny; so that I was quite well served, nay, better than the rest, for they gave the waiter nothing." He at this time, I believe, abstained entirely from fermented liquors: a practice to which he rigidly conformed for many years together, at different periods of his life.

His Ofellus, in the "Art of Living in London," I have heard him relate, was an Irish painter,

Williamson. In 1739, he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, on the death of Professor Sanderson, and held that office till 1759, when he died. He published Lectures on Experimental Philosophy, translated from the French of l'Abbé Nodet, 8vo, 1732, and some other tracts. Our author, it is believed, was mistaken in stating him to have been Master of an Academy. Garrick, probably, during his short residence at Rochester, lived in his house as a private pupil."-BOSWELL.

The character of Gelidus, the philosopher, in the "Rambler" (No. 24), was meant to represent this gentleman. See Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, &c., p. 49.MALONE.

⚫ One curious anecdote was communicated by himself to Mr. John Nichols. Mr. Wilcox the bookseller, on being informed by him that his intention was to get his livelihood as an author, eyed his robust frame attentively, and with a significant look, said, "You had better buy a porter's knot." He however added, "Wilcox was one of my best friends."-BOSWELL.

Ofellus was a philosophic countryman, commemorated by Horace, Sat. ii. lib. 2.—BOSWELL.

whom he knew at Birmingham, and who had practised his own precepts of economy for several years in the British capital. He assured Johnson, who, I suppose, was then meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expense, "that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was easy to say, 'Sir, I am to be found at such a place.' By spending three-pence in a coffeehouse, he might be for some hours every day in very good company; he might dine for sixpence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper. On clean-shirt-day he went abroad, and paid visits." I have heard him more than once talk of his frugal friend, whom he relike to have one smile at the recital. "This man," collected with esteem and kindness, and did not said he, gravely, "was a very sensible man, who perfectly understood common affairs; a man of a great deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not strained through books. He borrowed a horse and ten pounds at Birmingham. Finding himself master of so much money, he set off for returned the horse, and probably the ten pounds West Chester, in order to get to Ireland. He too, after he got home."

Considering Johnson's narrow circumstances in the early part of his life, and particularly at the interesting æra of his launching into the ocean of London, it is not to be wondered at, that an actual instance, proved by experience, of the possibility of enjoying the intellectual luxury of social life upon a very small income, should deeply engage his attention, and be ever recollected by him as a circumstance of much imporHe amused himself, I remember, by tance. computing how much more expense was absolutely necessary to live upon the same scale with that which his friend described, when the value of money was diminished by the progress of commerce. It may be estimated that double the money might now with difficulty be sufficient.

Amidst this cold obscurity, there was one brilliant circumstance to cheer him; he was well acquainted with Mr. Henry Hervey, one of the branches of the noble family of that name, who had been quartered at Lichfield as an officer of the army, and had at this time a house in London, where Johnson was frequently entertained, and had an opportunity of meeting genteel company. Not very long before his death, he mentioned this, among other particulars of his life, which he was kindly communicating to me;

The Honourable Henry Hervey, third son of the first Earl of Bristol, quitted the army and took orders. He married a sister of Sir Thomas Ayston, by whom he got the Aston Estate, and assumed the name and arms of that family.-BOSWELL.

The Honourable Henry Hervey was nearly of the same age with Johnson, having been born about nine months before him, in the year 1709. He married Catherine, the sister of Sir Thomas Aston, in 1739; and as that lady had seven sisters, she probably succeeded to the Aston estate on the death of her brother under his will. Hervey took the degree of Master of Arts at Cambridge, at the late age of thirty-five, in 1774; about which time, it is believed, he entered into holy orders.-MALONE.

Mr.

"Having observed in your papers very uncommon offers of encouragement to men of letters, I have chosen, being a stranger in London, to communicate to you the following design, which, I hope, if you join in it, will be of advantage to both of us.

"The History of the Council of Trent having been lately translated into French, and published with large Notes by Dr. Le Courayer, the reputation of that book is so much revived in England, that, it is presumed, a new translation of it from the Italian, together with Le Courayer's Notes from the French, could not fail of a favourable reception.

"If it be answered, that the history is already in English, it must be rembered, that there was the same objection against Le Courayer's undertaking, with this disadvantage, that the French had a version by one of their best translators, whereas you cannot read three pages of the English history without discovering that the style is capable of great improvements; but whether those improvements are to be expected from this attempt, you must judge from the specimen, which, if you approve the proposal, I shall submit to your examination.

"Suppose the merit of the versions equal, we may hope that the addition of the notes will turn the balance in our favour, considering the reputation of the annotator.

"Be pleased to favour me with a speedy answer, if you are not willing to engage in this scheme; and appoint me a day to wait upon you, if you are. I am, Sir,

"Your humble servant,
"SAMUEL JOHNSON."

It should seem from this letter, though subscribed with his own name, that he had not yet been introduced to Mr. Cave. We shall presently see what was done in consequence of the proposal which it contains.

In the course of the summer he returned to Lichfield, where he had left Mrs. Johnson, and there he at last finished his tragedy, which was executed with his rapidity of composition upon other occasions, but was slowly and painfully elaborated. A few days before his death, while burning a great mass of papers, he picked out

from among them the original uniform sketch of this tragedy, in his own handwriting, and gave it to Mr. Langton, by whose favour a copy of it is now in my possession. It contains fragments of the intended plot, and speeches for the different persons of the drama, partly in the raw materials of prose, partly worked up into verse; as also a variety of hints for illustration, borrowed from the Greek, Roman, and modern writers. The handwriting is very difficult to be read, even by those who were best acquainted with Johnson's mode of penmanship, which at all times was very particular. The King having graciously accepted of this manuscript as a literary curiosity, Mr. Langton made a fair and distinct copy of it, which he ordered to be bound up with the original and the printed tragedy; and the volume is deposited in the King's library. His Majesty was pleased to permit Mr. Langton to take a copy of it for himself.

The whole of it is rich in thought and imagery, and happy expressions; and of the disjecta membra scattered throughout, and as yet unarranged, a good dramatic poet might avail himself with considerable advantage. I shall give my readers some specimens of different kinds, distinguishing them by the asterisk [*]. [*]" Nor think to say here will I stop,

Here will I fix the limits of transgression,
Nor farther tempt the avenging rage of heaven.
When guilt like this once harbours in the breast,
Those holy beings, whose unseen direction
Guides through the maze of life the steps of man,
Fly the detested mansions of impiety,

And quit their charge to horror and to ruin."

A small part only of this interesting admonition preserved in the play, and is varied, I think, not to advantage:—

is

"The soul once tainted with so foul a crime,

No more shall glow with friendship's hallow'd ardour,
Those holy beings whose superior care
Guides erring mortals to the paths of virtue,
Affrighted at impiety like thine,

Resign their charge to baseness and to ruin."

[*] "I feel the soft infection Flush in my cheek, and wander in my veins. Teach me the Grecian arts of soft persuasion." [*]"Sure this is love, which heretofore I conceived the dream of idle maids, and wanton poets."

"Though no comets or prodigies foretold the ruin of Greece, signs which heaven must by another miracle enable us to understand, yet it might be foreshown, by

tokens no less certain, by the vices which always bring it on."

This last passage is worked up in the tragedy itself, as follows:

LEONTIUS.

That power that kindly spreads
The clouds, a signal of impending showers,
To warn the wand'ring linnet to the shade
Beheld, without concern, expiring Greece,
And not one prodigy foretold our fate.

The "King's library" (that of George III.) was given by his son and successor, George IV., to the British Museum.-MALONE.

It has recently transpired, if we are to believe such an authority as the "Quarterly Review," that the Govern ment of the day bought the library of George IV., just as he was on the eve of concluding a sale of it to the Empedenied by a writer-probably Mr. Croker-in "Notes ror of Russia. The statement of the "Quarterly" is and Queries," Vol. 4, No. 96.-ED.

His first performance in the "Gentleman's Magazine," which for many years was his principal source for employment and support, was a copy of Latin verses, in March, 1738, addressed to the editor in so happy a style of compliment, that Cave must have been destitute both of taste and sensibility, had he not felt himself highly gratified.

Ad URBANUM. [*]
URBANE, nullis fesse laboribus,
URBANE, nullis victe calumniis,
Cui fronte sertum in eruditâ
Perpetuò viret et virebit ;
Quid moliatur gens imitantium,
Quid et minetur, solicitus parùm,
Vacare solis perge Musis,

Juxta animo studiisque felix.
Linguæ procasis plumbea spicula,
Fidens, superbo frange silentio;
Victrix per obstantes catervas
Sedulitas animosa tendet.
Intende nervos, fortis, inanibus
Risurus olim nisibus æmuli;
Intende jam nervos, habebis
Participes operæ Camoenas.
Non ulla Musis pagina gratior,
Quam quæ severis ludicra jungere
Novit, fatigatamque nugis

Utilibus recreare mentem.
Texente Nymphis serte Lycoride,
Rosæ ruborum sic viola adjuvat
Immista, sic Iris refulget
Æthereis variata fucis.*

S. J.

It appears that he was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coadjutor in his magazine, by ledged to his friends, and with a dagger [+] those which are ascertained to be his by internal evidence. When any other pieces are ascribed to him, I shall give my

reasons.-BOSWELL.

A translation of this Ode, by an unknown corre spondent, appeared in the Magazine for the month of May following:

"Hail, URBAN! indefatigable man,

Unwearied yet by all thy useful toil!
Whom num'rous slanderers assault in vain;
Whom no base calumny can put to foil.
But still the laurel on thy learned brow
Flourishes fair, and shall for ever grow.
"What mean the servile, imitating crew,
What their vain blust'ring, and their empty noise.
Ne'er seek; but still thy noble ends pursue,
Unconquer'd by the rabble's venal voice,
Still to the Muse thy studious mind apply,
Happy in temper as in industry.

"The senseless sneerings of an haughty tongue,
Unworthy thy attention to engage,
Unheeded pass; and tho' they mean thee wrong,
By manly silence disappoint their rage.
Assiduous diligence confounds its foes,
Resistless, tho' malicious crowds oppose.
"Exert thy powers, nor slacken in thy course,

Thy spotless fame shall quash all false reports:
Exert thy powers, nor fear a rival's force,

Then thou shalt smile at all his main efforts;
Thy labours shall be crown'd with large success:
The Muse's aid thy Magazine shall bless.
"No page more grateful to th' harmonious nine

Than that wherein thy labours we survey;
Where solemn themes in fuller splendour shine,
(Delightful mixture) Blended with the gay,
Where in improving, various joys we find,
A welcome respite to the wearied mind.
"Thus when the nymphs in some fair verdant mead
Of various flow'rs a beauteous wreath compose,
The lovely violet's azure-painted head

Adds lustre to the crimson-blushing rose.
Thus splendid Iris, with her varied dye,
Shines in the æther, and adorns the sky.'

"

"BRITON."

which he probably obtained a tolerable livelihood. At what time, or by what means, he had acquired a competent knowledge both of French and Italian, I do not know; but he was so well skilled in them, as to be sufficiently qualified for a translator. That part of his labour which consisted in emendation and improvement of the productions of other contributors, like that employed in levelling ground, can be perceived only by those who had an opportunity of comparing the original with the altered copy. What we certainly know to have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houses of Parliament, under the name of "The Senate of Lilliput, sometimes with feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with denominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner of what is called anagram, so that they may easily be deciphered. Parliament then kept the press in a kind of mysterious awe, which made it necessary to have recourse to such devices. In our time it has acquired an unrestrained freedom, so that the people in all parts of the kingdom have a fair, open, and exact report of the actual proceedings of their representatives and legislators, which in our constitution is highly to be valued; though, unquestionably, there has of late been too much reason to complain of the petulance with which obscure scribblers have presumed to treat men of the most respectable character and situation.

This important article of the "Gentleman's Mr. William Guthrie, a man who deserves to be Magazine" was, for several years, executed by recorded in the literary annals of this country. He was descended of an ancient family in Scotland; but having a small patrimony, and being an adherent of the unfortunate house of Stuart, he could not accept of any office in the state; he, therefore, came to London, and employed his talents and learning as an author by profession." His writings in history, criticism, and politics, had considerable merit.* He was the first English historian who had recourse to that authentic source of information, the Parliamentary Journals; and such was the power of his political pen, that, at an early period, Government thought it worth their while to keep it quiet by a pension, which he enjoyed till his death. Johnson esteemed him enough to wish that his life should be written. The debates in Parliament, which were brought home and digested by Guthrie, whose memory, though surpassed by others who have since followed him in the same department, was yet very quick and tenacious, were sent by Cave to Johnson for his revision; and, after some time, when Guthrie had attained to greater variety of employment, and the speeches were more and more enriched by the accession of Johnson's genius, it was resolved that he should do the whole himself, from the scanty notes furnished by persons employed to attend in both houses of Parliament. Sometimes, however, as

How much poetry he wrote, I know not; but he informed me that he was the author of the beautiful little piece, "The Eagle and the Robin Redbreast," in the collection of poems entitled the "Union," though it is there said to be written by Archibald Scott, before the year 1600.-BOSWELL

he himself told me, he had nothing more communicated to him than the names of the several speakers, and the part which they had taken in the debate.

Thus was Johnson employed during some of the best years of his life, as a mere literary labourer, "for gain, not glory," solely to obtain an honest support. He, however, indulged himself in occasional little sallies, which the French so happily express by the term jeux d'esprit, and which will be noticed in their order, in the progress of this work.

But what first displayed his transcendent powers, and "gave the world assurance of the man, was his London, a Poem, in Imitation of the third Satire of Juvenal;" which came out in May this year and burst forth with a splendour, the rays of which will for ever encircle his name. Boileau had imitated the same satire with great success, applying it to Paris; but an attentive comparison will satisfy every reader, that he is much excelled by the English Juvenal. Oldham had also imitated it, and applied it to London: all which performances concur to prove, that great cities, in every age, and in every country, will furnish similar topics of satire. Whether Johnson had previously read Oldham's imitation, I do not know; but it is not a little remarkable, that there is scarcely any coincidence found between the two performances, though upon the very same subject. The only instances are, in describing London as the sink of foreign worthlessness:

"All sciences a fasting monsieur knows."

JOHNSON. The particulars which Oldham has collected, both as exhibiting the horrors of London, and of the times, contrasted with better days, are different from those of Johnson, and in general well chosen, and well expressed.

There are, in Oldham's imitation, many prosaic verses and bad rhymes, and his poem sets out with a strange inadvertent blunder:

"Tho' much concern'd to leave my dear old friend,
I must, however, his design commend
Of fixing in the country.'

It is plain he was not going to leave his friend; his friend was going to leave him. A young

I own it pleased me to find amongst them one trait of the manners of the age in London, in the last century, to shield from the sneer of English ridicule, what was some time ago too common a practice in my native city of Edinburgh!

"If what I have said can't from the town affright,
Consider other dangers of the night;
When brickbats are from upper stories thrown,
And emptied chamber pots come pouring down
From garret windows."-BOSWELL.

lady at once corrected this with good critical sagacity, to

"Tho' much concern'd to lose my old dear friend." There is one passage in the original, better transfused by Oldham than by Johnson :

"Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se,

Quàm quod ridiculos homines facit-" which is an exquisite remark on the galling Johnson's imitation is,— meanness and contempt annexed to poverty,

"Of all the griefs that harass the distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest." Oldham's, though less elegant, is more just ;"Nothing in poverty so ill is borne,

As its exposing men to grinning scorn." Where, or in what manner this poem was composed, I am sorry that I neglected to ascertain with precision, from Johnson's own authority. He has marked upon his corrected copy of the first edition of it, "Written in 1738; and, as it was published in the month of May in that year, it is evident that much time was not employed in preparing it for the press. The history of its publication I am enabled to give in a very satisfactory manner; and judging from myself, and many of my friends, that it will not be uninteresting to my readers.

trust

We may be certain, though it is not expressly named in the following letter to Mr. Cave, in 1738, that they all relate to it :

66

TO MR. CAVE. Castle-street, Wednesday Morning. "SIR, [March, 1738.] "When I took the liberty of writing to you a few days ago, I did not expect a repetition of the same pleasure so soon; for a pleasure I shall always think it, to converse in a manner with an ingenious and candid man; but having the enclosed poem in my hands to dispose of for the benefit of the author (of whose abilities I shall say nothing, since I send you his performance), I believe I could not procure more advantageous terms from any person than from you, who have so much distinguished yourself by your generous encouragement of poetry; and whose judgment of that art nothing but your commendation of my trifle can give me any occasion to call in question. I do not doubt but you will look over this poem with another eye, and reward it in a different manner from a mercenary bookseller, who counts the lines he is to purchase, and considers nothing but the bulk. I cannot help taking notice that besides what the author may hope for on account of his abilities, he likewise has another claim to your regard, as he lies at present under very disadvantageous circumstances of fortune. I beg, therefore, that you will favour me with a letter to-morrow, that I may know what you can afford to allow him, that he may either part with it to you, or find out (which I do not expect), some other way more to his satisfaction.

'I have only to add, that as I am sensible I

His Ode "Ad Urbanum," probably.-NICHOLS.