of

poems, Johnfoh faid, that a "Mr. Coxeter, whom he knew, had gone the greatest length. towards this; having collected about five hundred volumes of poets whofe works were little known; but that upon his death Tom Osborne bought them, and they were difperfed, which he thought a pity, as it was curious to see any feries complete; and in every volume of poems fomething good may be found."

In his review of Warton's Effay on the Writings and Genius of Pope,' Johnson has given the following falutary caution :-" Nothing but experience could evince the frequency of falfe information, or enable any man to conceive that fo many groundless reports should be propagated, as every man of eminence may hear of himself. Some men relate what they think as what they know; fome men of con fufed memories and habitual inaccuracy, afcribe to one man what belongs to another; and fome talk on, without thought or care. A few men are fufficient to broach falfehoods which are afterwards innocently diffused by fucceffive relaters."-"Had he lived (obferves Mr. Bofwell) to read what Sir John Hawkins and Mrs. Piozzi have related concerning himself, how much would he have found his obfervation illuftrated. He was indeed fo much impreffed with the prevalence of falfehood, voluntary or unintentional,

tional, that I never knew any person who upon hearing an extraordinary circumftante told, discovered more of the incredulus odi. He would fay, with a fignificant look and decifive tone, It is not fo. Do not tell this again.'He inculcated upon all his friends the importance of perpetual vigilance against the slightest degrees of falsehood; the effect of which, as Sir Joshua Reynolds obferved to me, has been, that all who were of his fchool are diftinguished for a love of truth and accuracy, which they would not have poffeffed in the fame degree if they had not been known to Johnfon."

Talking of the great difficulty of obtaining authentic information for biography, Johnson said, "When I was a young fellow I wanted to write the Life of Dryden,' and in order to get materials, I applied to the only two perfons then alive who had feen him; thefe were old Swinney and old Cibber. Swinney's informa tion was no more than this,That at Will's coffee-houfe Dryden had a particular chair for himfelf, which was fet by the fire in winter, and was then called his winter-chair; and that it was carried out for him to the balcony in fummer, and was then called his fummerchair. Cibber could tell no more but That he remembered him a decent old man, arbiter of critical difputes at Will's.' You are to con

fider that Cibber was then at a great difiance from Dryden; had perhaps one leg only in the room, and durft not draw in the other."

Mr. Boswell faid, in writing a life a man's peculiarities fhould be mentioned because they mark his character.-JOHNSON. "Sir, there is no doubt as to peculiarities: the question is, whether a man's vices fhould be mentioned ;for inftance, whether it fhould be mentioned that Addison and Parnell drank too freely; for people will probably more easily indulge in drinking from knowing this; fo that more ill may be done by the example, than good by telling the whole truth. Here was an inflance of his varying from himself in talk; for on a former occafion he had maintained, that " If a man is to write A Panegyric he may keep vices out of fight; but if he profeffes to write A Life he muft reprefent it really as it was ;" and when a perfon objected to the danger of telling that Parnell drank to excess, he said, that “it would produce an instructive caution to avoid drinking, when it was feen, that even the learning and genius of Parnell could be debafed by it." In the Hebrides he maintained, as appears from Mr. Bofwell's Journal,' that a man's intimate friend fhould mention his faults, if he writes his life.

"The

"The writer of an epitaph (he observed) should not be confidered as saying nothing but what is ftrictly true. Allowance must be made for fome degree of exaggerated praise. In lapidary infcriptions a man is not upon oath."

At another time, when fomebody endeavoured to argue in favour of the Epitaph for Goldsmith's tablet in Westminster Abbey being in English, Johnson faid, "The language of the country of which a learned man was a native is not the language fit for his epitaph, which should be in ancient and permanent language. Confider, Sir; how you fhould feel, were you to find at Rotterdam an epitaph upon Erafmus in Dutch!" Mr. Bofwell thought it would be best to have epitaphs written both in a learned language, and in the language of the country; fo that they might have the advantage of being more univerfally understood, and at the fame time be fecured of claffical stability.

A gentleman afking Johnson whether he would advise him to read the Bible with a commentary, and what commentaries he would recommend, Johnfon faid, "To be fure, Sir, I would have you read the Bible with a commentary; and I would recommend Lowth and Patrick on the Old Testament, and Hammond on the New."

Speaking one day of Arthur Murphy, whom he very much loved, "I don't know (faid he) that Arthur can be claffed with the very first dramatic writers; yet at much whether we have any

Arthur."

prefent I doubt

thing fuperior to

A lady's verfes on Ireland being mentioned, Mifs Reynolds faid, "Have you feen them, Sir JOHNSON. "No, Madam. I have feen a tranflation from Horace by one of her daughters. She fhewed it me."-Miss REYNOLDS. "And how was it, Sir ?". "Why, very well for a young Mifs's verfe;-that is to fay, compared with excellence, nothing; but very well for the perfon who wrote them. I am vexed at being fhewn verfes in that manner."-Mifs R. "But if they fhould be good, why not give them hearty praise ?"-7.

Why, Madam, because I have not then got the better of my bad humour from having been fhewn them. You must confider, Madam ;. before-hand they may be bad as well as good. Nobody has a right to put another under fuch a difficulty, that he muft either hurt the person by telling the truth, or hurt himself by telling what is not true."-BoswELL. "A man often fhews his writings to people of eminence to obtain from them, either from their good nature, or from their not being able to tell the

truth