don, 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 remembered 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, 'SAM. 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 not 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 unformed 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 de posited in the King's library.1 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 italic character: "Nor think to say here will I stop, Here will I fix the limits of transgression, And quit their charge to horror and to ruin.' A small part only of this interesting admonition is preserved in the play, and is varied, I think, not to advantage : '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, Aflrighted 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." Greece, signs which heaven must by another miracle enable 'Though no comets or prodigies foretold the ruin of 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 eoncern, expiring Greece, And not one prodigy foretold our fate. DEMETRIUS. A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it; 1 The King's library' (that of George 111.) was given by his son and successor, George Iv., to the British Museum.-MALONE. MAHOMET (to IRENE). 'I have tried thee, and joy to find that thou deservest to be loved by Mahomet,-with a mind great as his own. Sure, thou art an error of nature, and an exception to the rest of thy sex, and art immortal; for sentiments like thine were never to sink into nothing. I thought all the thoughts of the fair had been to select the graces of the day, dispose the colours of the flaunting (flowing) robe, tune the voice and roll the eye, place the gem, choose the dress, and add new roses to the fading check, but-sparkling.' Thus in the tragedy: 'Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine; I shall select one other passage, on account of the doctrine which it illustrates. IRENE ob serves: That the Supreme Being will accept of virtue, whatever outward circumstances it may be accompanied with, and may be delighted with varieties of worship;' But is answered: That variety cannot affect that Being who, infinitely happy in his own perfections, wants no external gratifications; nor can infinite truth be delighted with falsehood; that though he may guide or pity those he leaves in darkness, he abandons those who shut their eyes against the beams of day.' Johnson's residence at Lichfield, on his return to it at this time, was only for three months; and as he had as yet seen but a small part of the wonders of the metropolis, he had little to tell his townsmen. He related to me the following minute anecdote of this period:-'In the last age, when my mother lived in London, there were two sets of people-those who gave the wall, and those who took it; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. When I returned to Lichfield, after having been in London, my mother asked me whether I was one of those who gave the wall or those who took it. Now it is fixed that every man keeps to the right; or if one is taking the wall, another yields it; and it is never a dispute.' He now removed to London with Mrs. Johnson; but her daughter, who had lived with them at Edial, was left with her relations in the country. His lodgings were for some time in Woodstock Street, near Hanover Square, and afterwards in Castle Street, near Cavendish Square. As something pleasingly interesting to many, in tracing so great a man through all his different habitations, I shall, before this work is concluded, present my readers with an exact list of his lodgings and houses, in order of time, which, in placid condescension to my respectful curiosity, he one evening dictated to me, but without specifying how long he lived at each. In the progress of his life I shall have occasion to mention some of them as connected with particular incidents, or with the writing of particular parts of his works. To some, this minute attention may appear trifling; but when we consider the punctilious exactness with which the different houses in which Milton resided have been traced by the writers of his life, a similar enthusiasm may be pardoned in the biographer of Johnson. His tragedy being by this time, as he thought, completely finished and fit for the stage, he was very desirous that it should be brought forward. Mr. Peter Garrick told me, that Johnson and he went together to the Fountain Tavern, and read it over, and that he afterwards solicited Mr. Fleetwood, the patentee of Drury Lane Theatre, to have it acted at his house; but Mr. Fleetwood would not accept it, probably because it was not patronized by some man of high rank; and it was not acted till 1749, when his friend David Garrick was manager of that theatre. The Gentleman's Magazine, begun and carried on by Mr. Edward Cave, under the name of Sylvanus Urban, had attracted the notice and esteem of Johnson, in an eminent degree, before he came to London as an adventurer in literature. He told me that when he first saw St. John's Gate, the place where that deservedly popular miscellany was originally printed, he 'beheld it with reverence.' I suppose, indeed, that every young author has had the same kind of feeling for the magazine or periodical publication which has first entertained him, and in which he has first had an opportunity to see himself in print, without the risk of exposing his name. I myself recollect such impressions from the Scots Magazine, which was begun at Edinburgh in the year 1739, and has been ever conducted with judgment, accuracy, and propriety. I yet cannot help thinking of it with an affectionate regard. Johnson has dignified the Gentleman's Magazine by the importance with which he invests the life of Cave; but he has given it still greater lustre by the various admirable Essays which he wrote for it. Though Johnson was often solicited by his friends to make a complete list of his writings, and talked of doing it, I believe with a serious intention that they should all be collected on his own account, he put it off from year to year, and at last died without having done it perfectly. I have one in his own handwriting, which contains a certain number. I, indeed, doubt if he could have remembered every one of them, as they were so numerous, so various, and scattered in such a multiplicity of unconnected publications; nay, several of them published under the names of other persons, to whom he liberally contributed from the abundance of his mind. We must therefore be content to discover them, partly from occasional information given by him to his friends, and partly from internal evidence.1 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. [*] Quid moliatur gens imitantium, Juxta animo studiisque felix. Utilibus recreare mentem. 1 While in the course of my narrative I enumerate his writings, I shall take care that my readers shall not be left to waver in doubt between certainty and conjecture with regard to their authenticity; and for that purpose shall mark with an asterisk [*] those which he acknowledged 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. 2 A translation of this Ode, by an unknown correspondent, appeared in the Magazine for the month of May following: 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 might 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 Magazine was for several years executed by Mr. William Guthrie, a man who deserves to be respectably 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 The senseless sneerings of an haughty tongue, But thou shalt smile at all his main efforts. 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.' 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 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. 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.1 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, It is plain he was not going to leave his friend; his friend was going to leave him. A young lady at once corrected this with good critical sagacity, to 'Tho' much concern'd to lose my dear old friend.' There is one passage in the original, better transfused by Oldham than by Johnson: Nil habet in felix paupertas durius in se, But what first displayed his transcendent which is an exquisite remark on the galling meanness and contempt annexed to poverty. 1 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 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. 2 Called the English Juvenal: born 1653, died 1683. 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 autho 1 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, rity. 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, I trust that it will not be uninteresting to my readers. We may be certain, though it is not expressly named in the following letters to Mr. Cave in 1738, that they all relate to it : 'TO MR. CAVE. 'CASTLE STREET, Wednesday Morning. [March 1738.] 'SIR,-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 any 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 trifle1 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 have transcribed it very coarsely, which, after having altered it, I was obliged to do, I will, if you please to transmit the sheets from the press, correct it for you, and take the trouble of altering any stroke of satire which you may dislike. 'By exerting on this occasion your usual generosity, you will not only encourage learning and relieve distress, but (though it be, in comparison of the other motives, of very small account) oblige in a very sensible manner, sir, your very humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 1 His Ode Ad Urbanum, probably.-NICHOLS. TO MR. CAVE. 'Monday, No. 6 CASTLE STREET. 'SIR,--I am to return you thanks for the present you were so kind as to send by me, and to entreat that you will be pleased to inform me by the penny-post whether you resolve to print the poem. If you please to send it me by the post, with a note to Dodsley, I will go and read the lines to him, that we may have his consent to put his name in the title-page. As to the printing, if it can be set immediately about, I will be so much the author's friend, as not to content myself with mere solicitations in his favour. I propose, if my calculation be near the truth, to engage for the reimbursement of all that you shall lose by an impression of 500; provided, as you very generously propose, that the profit, if any, be set aside for the author's use, excepting the present you made, which, if he be a gainer, it is fit he should repay. I beg that you will let one of your servants write an exact account of the expense of such an impression, and send it with the poem, that I may know what I engage for. I am very sensible, from your generosity on this occasion, of your regard to learning, even in its unhappiest state; and cannot but think such a temper deserving the gratitude of those who suffer so often from a contrary disposition.-I am, sir, your most humble servant, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'TO MR CAVE. [No date.] 'SIR, I waited on you to take the copy to Dodsley's; as I remember the number of lines which it contains, it will be no longer than Eugenio, with the quotations, which must be subjoined at the bottom of the page; part of the beauty of the performance (if any beauty be allowed it) consisting in adapting Juvenal's sentiments to modern facts and persons. It will, with those additions, very conveniently make five sheets. And since the expense will be no more, I shall contentedly insure it, as I mentioned in my last. If it be not, therefore, gone to Dodsley's, I beg it may be sent me by the penny-post, that I may have it in the evening. I have composed a Greek Epigram to Eliza, and think she ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis Le Grand. Pray send me word when you will begin upon the poem, for it is a long way to walk. I will leave my Epigram, but have not daylight to transcribe it.—I am, sir, yours, etc.' 2 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 1 A poem published in 1737, of which see an account under April 30, 1773. 2 The learned Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. This lady, of whom frequent mention will be found in these memoirs, was daughter of Nicholas Carter, D.D. She died in Clarges Street, Feb. 19, 1806, in her eightyninth year.-MALONE, |