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86 DEAR SIR,

"Lichfield, March 2, 1737.

"I HAD the favour of yours, and am extremely obliged to you; but I cannot say I had a greater affection for you upon it than I had before, being long since so much endeared to you, as well by an early friendship, as by your many excellent and valuable qualifications; and, had I had 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 any way lie in way, I doubt not but you would be ready to recommend and assist your countryman. "G. WALMSLEY."

your

upon his

How he employed himself first coming to London is not particularly 1 Both of them used to talk pleasantly of this their first journey to London. Garrick, evidently meaning to embellish a little, said one day in my hearing, "We rode and tied." And the Bishop of Killaloe, [Dr. Barnard,] informed me, that at another time, when Johnson and Garrick were dining together in a pretty large company, Johnson humorously ascertaining the chronology of something, expressed himself thus: "That was the year when I came to London with two-pence halfpenny in my pocket." Garrick overhearing him, exclaimed, "Eh? what do you say? with two-pence halfpenny in your pocket?"-JOHNSON. 'Why, yes; when I came with two-pence half-penny in my pocket, and thou, Davy, with three half-pence in thine.' B.

2 The Rev. John Colson was first master of the Free School at Rochester, and afterwards Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge.

known. I never heard that he found any protection or encouragement by the means of Mr. Colson, to whose academy David Garrick went. Mrs. Lucy Porter told me, that Mr. Walmsley 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.

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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. 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.

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He at this time, I believe, abstained fermented liquors : entirely from 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, 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

3 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 bett buy a porter's knot.' He however added, Wilcox was one of my best friends." B.

4 Cumberland says, in his Memoirs (i. 355) that he had heard Johnson declare that for a considerable time he lived on fourpence halfpenny a day.

THE ART OF LIVING IN LONDON

apprehensive of the
expense, "That thirty
pounds a year was enough to enable a
man to live there without being con-
temptible. 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
coffee-house, 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 recollected with
esteem and kindness, and did not like to
have one smile at the recital. "This
man,” said he, gravely, “was a very sen-
sible 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 bor-
rowed a horse and ten pounds at
Birmingham. Finding himself master of
SO much money, he set off for West
Chester, in order to get to Ire-
land. He returned the horse, and
probably the ten pounds too, after he got
home."

1

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Hervey,1 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; and he described this early friend, " 'Harry Hervey," thus: "He was a vicious man, but very kind to me. If you call a dog HERVEY, I shall love him.'

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He told me he had now written only three acts of his Irene, and that he retired for some time to lodgings at Greenwich, where he proceeded in it somewhat farther, and used to compose, walking in the Park; but did not stay long enough at that place to finish it.

At this period we find the following: letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave,. which, as a link in the chain of his literary history, it is proper to insert :

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"HAVING observed in your papers very uncommon offers of encouragement to men of

Considering Johnson's narrow circum-letters, I have chosen, being a stranger in London,

stances in the early part of his life, and particularly at the interesting era 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 importance. He amused himself, I remember, by computing how much more e pense was absolutely necessary to live up the same scale with that which his friend described, when the value of money was diminished by the progress of comme ce. 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

to communicate to you the following design, which, I hope, if you join in it, will be of advan tage to both of us.

been lately translated into French, and published "The History of the Council of Trent having 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 Notes from the French, could not fail of a of it from the Italian, together with Le Courayer's 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 style is capable of great improvements; but the English History without discovering that

the first Earl of Bristol, quitted the army, and 1 The Honourable Henry Hervey, third son of took orders. He married a sister of Sir Thomas

Aston, by whom he got the Aston estate, and assumed the name and arms of that family. Vide Collins's Peerage. B. Hervey's eldest brother was Pope's Lord Fanny.

whether those improvements are to be expected from the 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 hand-writing, 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 hand-writing is very difficult to be read, even by those who are 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 italic character.

"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 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 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."

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LEONTIUS.

spreads

-That power that kindly 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. DEMETRIUS. A thousand horrid prodiges foretold it; A feeble government, eluded laws, A factious populace, luxurious nobles, And all the maladies of sinking states, When public villainy, too strong for justi Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin, Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders, Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard? When some neglected fabric nods beneath Must heaven despatch the messengers of light, The weight of years, and totters to the tempest, Or wake the dead, to warn us of its fall?”

Pr

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COMPLETION OF "IRENE

33

MAHOMET (to IRENE). "I have tried is taking the wall, another yields it; and thee, and joy to find that thou deservest it is never a dispute."1 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 cheek, but-sparkling.

Thus in the tragedy:

"Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine;
Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face;
I thought, forgive, my fair, the noblest aim,
The strongest effort of a female soul
Was but to choose the graces of the day,
To tune the tongue, to teach the eyes to roll,
Dispose the colours of the flowing robe,
And add new roses to the faded cheek."

I shall select one other passage, on account of the doctrine which it illustrates. IRENE observes, "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."

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 Woodstockstreet, near Hanover-square, and afterward in Castle-street, near Cavendishsquare. As there is 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 afterward 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 He Garrick was manager of that theatre.

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. 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

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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

1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 232. B.

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originally printed, he "beheld it with taste and sensibility, had he not felt reverence. I suppose, indeed, that himself highly gratified.

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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.

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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. have one in his own hand-writing 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

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.

B.

Ad URBANUM.*

URBANE, nullis fesse laboribus,
URBANE, nullis victe calumniis,
Cui fronte sertum in erudita
Perpetuo viret et virebit ;

Quid moliatur gens imitantium,
Quid et minetur, solicitus parum,
Vacare solis perge Musis,

Juxta animo studiisque felix. Linguæ procacis 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 opera Camœnas. Non ulla Musis pagina gratior, Quam quæ severis ludicra jungere Novit, fatigatamque nugis

Utilibus recreare mentem. Texente Nymphis serta Lycoride, Rosa ruborem sic viola adjuvat Immista, sic Iris refulget Æthereis variata fucis.2

S. J.

2 A translation of this Ode, by an unknown correspondent, 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 a haughty tongue,
Unworthy thy attention to engage,
Unheeded pass: and though they mean thee

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