Baptism; also, a Dialogue between Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Knowles respecting the Conversion to Quakerism of Miss Jane Harvey.' In this "compendium" the Doctor is certainly represented as having come off second best; but, angry though he was at the betrayal, he could not help laughing at the following touch of nature in the final paragraph. His fair adversary is made to admonish him thus: "I hope, Doctor, thou wilt not remain unforgiving, and that you (he and Miss Harvey) will renew your friendship, and joyfully meet at last in those bright regions where pride and prejudice* can never enter." DOCTOR: "Meet her! I never desire to meet fools anywhere." But despite hard knocks on both sides, the two combatants had a profound respect for each other. Mrs. Knowles watching him once engaged with a book, which he seemed to "read ravenously, as if he devoured it," said, "He knows how to read better than anyone; he gets at the substance of a book directly; he tears out the heart of it." And

*It is supposed that Miss Austen took the title of her novel,' Pride and Prejudice,' from this passage.

when they were battling over the question, why Quakers should take it upon them to style everybody friends, Mrs. Knowles having made a dexterous application of a certain text to support her particular view, Johnson replied (with eyes sparkling benignantly), "Very well, indeed, Madam; you have said very well!" This was true chivalry-two champions, skilful of fence, actuated by no petty rivalry, but each keen to appreciate the science of the other, and to cry "Well done!" at a good stroke.

Mrs. Lenox was born in 1729 at New York, of which her father was then LieutenantGovernor, but came to England, as a child, with prospects which were not fulfilled-for at his death she was left wholly unprovided for. Having tried to be an actress and failed, she took to literature, in which she was rather more successful. In 1748 she changed her maiden name of Ramsay for that of Lenox; but her marriage proved unfortunate, and she was compelled to rely upon her pen as a means of support. In this way she made the acquaintance of Johnson, whose admiration of

the lady's appearance and virtues, combined with pity for her misfortunes, disposed him to rate her talents somewhat extravagantly. Indeed, he cited her as an instance of talent in his 'Dictionary'; and, to celebrate the publication of her novel, 'Harriot Stuart,' invited her to supper at his club. One of the dishes on this festive occasion was, we are informed, "an enormous apple-pie, which he stuck with bay-leaves; and he had prepared for her a crown of laurel with which he encircled her brows." Such adulation from the Monarch of Letters turned the poor lady's head, who began to give herself airs, with the result that, as we learn from Mrs. Thrale, "while her books are (generally approved, nobody likes her." A plot was formed to damn her comedy

The Sister' on the first night of its performance, and succeeded, though the piece is stated to have been well written. One of her novels, 'The Female Quixote,' is decidedly clever, and elicited the praise of so good a judge as Fielding; but she rarely conquered outside the realms of fiction; and her 'Shakespeare Illustrated,' in which she collected the various sources from which Shakespeare

was supposed to derive his plots, adding comments of her own, proved a dismal failure. Johnson, as we have seen before, at one time ranked her as superior to all the clever women of his acquaintance,* but found nobody to agree with him. However, he always assisted her in every way he could; and Boswell tells how, "the first effort of his pen in 1775 was 'Proposals for Publishing the Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lenox in three volumes quarto.' In his diary, January 2, I find this entry: 'Wrote Charlotte's proposals.' After her kind friend's death the poor lady fell into great penury, and became a pensioner on the Royal Literary Fund. She deserved a better fate, for she had worked very hard to achieve success, and had considerable talent in her way.

When it is said of Lady Lucan that she was wife of the first Earl of Lucan, what more is required to fix her ladyship's position in society? Boswell alludes with becoming reverence to the intimate terms upon which Johnson stood with her and her noble spouse. * See note to p. 108.