66 upon it a slip of paper, which he has entitled " Small. account," and which contains one article, Sept. 9th, Mr. Cave laid down 2s. 6d." There is subjoined to this account, a list of some subscribers to the work, partly in Johnson's hand-writing, partly in that of another person; and there follows a leaf or two on which are written a number of characters which have the appearance of a short hand, which, perhaps, Johnson was then trying to learn. "TO MR. CAVE. SIR, Wednesday. "I DID not care to detain your servant while I wrote an answer to your letter, in which you seem to insinuate that I had promised more than I am ready to perform. If I have raised your expectations by any thing that may have escaped my memory, I am Sorry; and if you remind me of it, shall thank you ap for the favour. If I made fewer alterations than usual in the Debates, it was only because there peared, and still appears to be, less need of alteration. The verses to Lady Firebrace* may be had when you please, for you know that such a subject neither deserves much thought, nor requires it. "The Chinese Stories † may be had folded down when you please to send, in which I do not recollect that you desired any alterations to be made. "An answer to another query I am very willing to write, and had consulted with you about it last night, if there had been time; for I think it the most They afterwards appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine with this title:"Verses to Lady Firebrace, at Bury Assizes." + Du Halde's Description of China was then publishing by Mr. Cave in weekly numbers, whence Johnson was to select pieces for the embellishment of the Magazine. NICHOLS. proper way of inviting such a correspondence as may be an advantage to the paper, not a load upon it. "As to the Prize Verses, a backwardness to determine their degrees of merit is not peculiar to me. You may, if you please, still have what I can say; but I shall engage with little spirit in an affair, which I shall hardly end to my own satisfaction, and certainly not to the satisfaction of the parties concerned.* "As to Father Paul, I have not yet been just to my proposal, but have met with impediments, which, I hope, are now at an end; and if find the proyou gress hereafter not such as you have a right to expect you can easily stimulate a negligent translator. "If any or all of these have contributed to you discontent, I will endeavour to remove it; and desire to propose the question to which you wish for an you answer. "I AM pretty much of your opinion, that the Commentary cannot be prosecuted with any appearance of success; for as the names of the authours concerned are of more weight in the performance than its own intrinsic merit, the publick will be soon satisfied with it. And I think the Examen should be pushed forward with the utmost expedition. Thus, This day, &c. An Examen of Mr. Pope's Essay, &c. containing a succinct Account of the Philosophy of Mr. Leibnitz on the System of the Fatalists, with a Con NICHOLS. The premium of forty pounds proposed for the best poem on the Divine Attributes is here alluded to. futation of their Opinions, and an Illustration of the Doctrine of Free-will;' [with what else you think proper.] "It will, above all, be necessary to take notice that it is a thing distinct from the Commentary. "I was so far from imagining they stood still,* that I conceived them to have a good deal beforehand, and therefore was less anxious in providing them more. But if ever they stand still on my account, it must doubtless be charged to me; and whatever else shall be reasonable, I shall not oppose; but beg a suspense of judgement till morning, when I must entreat you to send me a dozen proposals, and you shall then have copy to spare. 66 "I am, sir, "Yours, impransus, "SAM. JOHNSON." Pray muster up the Proposals if you can, or let the boy recall them from the booksellers." But although he corresponded with Mr. Cave concerning a translation of Crousaz's Examen of Pope's Essay on Man, and gave advice as one anxious for its success, I was long ago convinced by a perusal of the Preface, that this translation was erroneously ascribed to him; and I have found this point ascertained, beyond all doubt, by the following article in Dr, Birch's Manuscripts in the British Museum : "ELISE CARTERÆ, S. P. D. THOMAS BIRCH. "Versionem tuam Examinis Crousaziani jam perlegi. Summam styli et elegantiam, et in re difficillimâ proprietatem, admiratus. "Dabam Novemb. 27° 1738." + The compositors in Mr. Cave's printing-office, who appear by this letter to have then waited for copy. + Birch MSS. Brit. Mus. 4323. NICHOLS. Indeed Mrs. Carter has lately acknowledged to Mr. Seward, that she was the translator of the "Examen." It is remarkable, that Johnson's last quoted letter to Mr. Cave concludes with a fair confession that he had not a dinner; and it is no less remarkable that though in this state of want himself, his benevolent heart was not insensible to the necessities of an humble labourer in literature, as appears from the very next letter: 66 DEAR SIR, 66 TO MR. CAVE. [No date.] "You may remember I have formerly talked with you about a Military Dictionary. The eldest Mr. Macbean, who was with Mr. Chambers, has very good materials for such a work, which I have seen, and wilt do it at a very low rate. (a) I think the terms of War and Navigation might be comprised, with good explanations, in one 8vo. pica, which he is willing to do for twelve shillings a sheet, to be made up a guinea at the second impression. If you think on it, I will wait on you with him. "I am, sir, "Your humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." "Pray lend me Topsel on Animals.” I must not omit to mention, that this Mr. Macbean was a native of Scotland. In the Gentleman's Magazine of this year, Johnson gave a Life of Father Paul; * and he wrote the Preface to the Volume,+ which, though prefixed to it when bound, is always published with the Appendix, (a) This book was published. and is therefore the last composition belonging to it. The ability and nice adaptation with which he could draw up a prefatory address, was one of his peculiar excellencies. It appears too, that he paid a friendly attention to Mrs. Elizabeth Carter; for in a letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, November 28, this year, I find "Mr. Johnson advises Miss C. to undertake a translation of Boethius de Cons. because there is prose and verse, and to put her name to it when published." This advice was not followed; probably from an apprehension that the work was not sufficiently popular for an extensive sale. How well Johnson himself could have executed a translation of this philosophical poet, we may judge from the following specimen which he has given in the Rambler: (Motto to No. 7.) "O qui perpetuâ mundum ratione gubernas, Disjice terrena nebulas et pondera molis, Atque tuo splendore mica! Tu namque serenum, "O THOU whose power o'er moving worlds presides, With silent confidence and holy rest; From thee, great God! we spring, to thee we tend, In 1739, beside the assistance which he gave to the Parliamentary Debates, his writings in the Gentleman's Magazine were, "The Life of Boerhaave,"* in which it is to be observed, that he discovers that love of chymistry which never forsook him; "An |