observations are short, significant, and just, as his narrative is remarkably smooth, and well disposed. His reflections open to all the recesses of the human heart; and, in a word, a more just or pleasant, a more engaging or a more improving treatise, on all the excellences and defects of human nature, is scarce to be found in our own, or perhaps, any other language." "1

Johnson's partiality for Savage made him entertain no doubt of his story, however extraordinary and improbable. It never occurred to him to question his being the son of the Countess of Macclesfield, of whose unrelenting barbarity he so loudly complained, and the particulars of which are related in so strong and affecting a manner in Johnson's Life of him. Johnson was certainly well warranted in publishing his narrative, however offensive it might be to the lady and her relations, because her alleged unnatural and cruel conduct to her son, and shameful avowal of guilt, were stated in a "Life of Savage now lying before which came out so early as 1727, and no attempt had been made to confute it, or to punish the author or printer as a libeller; but for the honour of human nature, we should be glad to find the shocking tale not true; and from a respectable gentleman 2 connected with the lady's family, I have received such information and remarks, as joined to my own inquiries, will, I think, render it at least somewhat doubtful, especially when we consider that it must have originated from the person himself who went by the name of Richard Savage.

وو

me,

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nexion with whom, Lady Macclesfield is said to have been divorced from her husband by Act of Parliament,3 had a peculiar anxiety about the child which she bore to him, it is alleged, that his Lordship gave him his own name, and had it duly recorded in the register of St. Andrew's, Holborn. I have carefully inspected that register, but no such entry is to be found.

2. It is stated, that "Lady Macclesfield having lived for some time upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a public confession of adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of oband Johnson, taining her liberty; assuming this to be true, stigmatizes her "The wretch who with indignation, as had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adultress." But I have perused the the period of her divorce, and there find Journals of both Houses of Parliament at it authentically ascertained, that so far from voluntarily submitting to the ignominious charge of adultery, she made bill having been first moved 15th of a strenuous defence by her Counsel; the

3 1697. B.

4 Boswell is wrong, as appears from the following note contributed to the 3rd edit. by James Bindley, First Commissioner in the Stamp Office: From "the Earl of Macclesfield's Case,' which, in 1797-8, was presented to the Lords, in order to procure an act of divorce, it appears, that "Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, under the name of Madam SMITH, in Fox-court, near child by Mrs. Wright, a midwife, on Saturday Brook-street, Holborn, was delivered of a male the 16th of January, 1696-7, at six o'clock in the morning, who was baptized on the Monday follow

true.

1. In order to induce a belief that the Earl Rivers, on account of a criminal con

1 This character of The Life of Savage was not written by Fielding, as has been supposed, but most probably by Ralph, who, as appears from the minutes of the Partners of The Champion in the possession of Mr. Reed of Staple Inn, succeeded Fielding in his share of the paper, before the date of that eulogium. B

2 The late Francis Cockayne Cust, Esq., one of his Majesty's Counsel. B.

son of John Smith, by Mr. Burbridge, assistant to Dr. Manningham's curate for St. Andrew's, Holborn: that the child was christened on Monday, the 18th of January, in Fox-court; and, from the privacy, was supposed by Mr. Burbridge to be "a It also appears that during her delivery the lady wore a mask; and that Mary Pegler on the next day after the baptism called Madam Smith, from the house of Mrs. (Tuesday) took a male-child, whose mother was Pheasant, in Fox-court, [running from Brookstreet into Gray's-Inn-lane,] who went by the name of Mrs. Lee. Conformable to this statement is the entry in the register of St. Andrew's, Holborn, which is as follows, and which unquestionably records the baptism of Richard Savage, to whom Lord Rivers gave his own Christian name, prefixed to the assumed surname of his mother: "Jany. 1696-7. RICHARD, Son of John Smith and Mary, in Fox-court in Gray's Inn-lane, baptized the 18th."

January, 1697-8, in the House of Lords, and proceeded on, (with various applications for time to bring up witnesses at a distance, &c.) at intervals till the 3rd of March, when it passed. It was brought to the Commons, by a message from the Lords, the 5th of March, proceeded on the 7th, 10th, 11th, 14th, and 15th, on which day, after a full examination of witnesses on both sides, and hearing of Counsel, it was reported without amendments, passed, and carried to the Lords. That Lady Macclesfield was convicted of the crime of which she was accused, cannot be denied: but the question now is, whether the person calling himself Richard Savage was her son.

It has been said, that when Earl Rivers was dying, and anxious to provide for all his natural children, he was informed by Lady Macclesfield that her son by him was dead. Whether, then, shall we believe that this was a malignant lie, invented by a mother to prevent her own child from receiving the bounty of his father, which was accordingly the consequence, if the person whose life Johnson wrote was her son; or shall we not rather believe that the person who then assumed the name of Richard Savage was an impostor, being in reality the son of the shoemaker, under whose wife's care Lady Macclesfield's child was placed; that after the death of the real Richard Savage, he attempted to personate him; and that the fraud being known to Lady Macclesfield, he was therefore repulsed by her with just

resentment.

There is a strong circumstance in support of the last supposition, though it has been mentioned as an aggravation of Lady Macclesfield's unnatural conduct, and that is, her having prevented him from obtaining the benefit of a legacy left to him by Mrs. Lloyd, his godmother. For if there were such a legacy left, his not being able to obtain payment of it, must be imputed to his consciousness that he was not the real person. The just inference should be, that by the death of Lady Macclesfield's child before its godmother, the legacy became lapsed, and therefore that Johnson's Richard Savage was an impostor.

If he had a title to the legacy, he could not have found any difficulty in recovering it; for had the executors resisted his claim, the whole costs, as well as the legacy, must have been paid by them, if he had been the child to whom it was given.

The talents of Savage, and the mingled fire, rudeness, pride, meanness, and ferocity of his character,1 concur in making it credible that he was fit to plan and carry on an ambitious and daring scheme of imposture, similar instances of which have not been wanting in higher spheres, in the history of different countries, and have had a considerable degree of success.

Yet, on the other hand, to the companion of Johnson, (who, through whatever medium he was conveyed into this world,— be it ever so doubtful "To whom related, or by whom begot," was, unquestionably, a man of no common endowments,) we must allow the weight of general repute as to his Status or parentage, though illicit; and supposing him to be an impostor, it seems strange that Lord Tyrconnel, the nephew of Lady Macclesfield, should patronise him, and even admit him as a guest in his family. Lastly,

2

1 Johnson's companion appears to have persuaded that lofty-minded man, that he resembled painting in strong colours the quarrel between him in having a noble pride; for Johnson, after Lord Tyrconnel and Savage, asserts that "The spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never suffered him for reproach, and insult for insult. to solicit a reconciliation: he returned reproach But the respectable gentleman to whom I have alluded, has in his possession a letter from Savage, after Lord Tyrconnel had discarded him, addressed to the Reverend Mr. Gilbert, his Lordship's Chaplain, in which he requests him in the humblest manner, to represent his case to the Viscount. B. 2 Trusting to Savage's information, Johnson represents this unhappy man's being received as a companion by Lord Tyrconnel, and pensioned by his Lordship, as posterior to Savage's conviction and pardon. But I am assured, that Savage had received the voluntary missed, by him long before the murder was bounty of Lord Tyrconnel, and had been discommitted, and that his Lordship was very instrumental in procuring Savage's pardon, by his intercession with the Queen, through Lady Hertford. If, therefore, he had been desirous of preventing the publication by Savage, he would have left him to his fate. Indeed I must observe, that although Johnson mentions that Lord Tyrpromise to lay aside his design of exposing the connel's patronage of Savage was upon his cruelty of his mother," the great biographer has

it must ever appear very suspicious, that three different accounts of the Life of Richard Savage, one published in "The Plain Dealer," in 1724, another in 1727, and another by the powerful pen of Johnson, in 1744, and all of them while Lady Macclesfield was alive, should, notwithstanding the severe attacks upon her, have been suffered to pass without any public and effectual contradiction.

I have thus endeavoured to sum up the evidence upon the case, as fairly as I can; and the result seems to be, that the world must vibrate in a state of uncertainty as to what was the truth.

This digression, I trust, will not be censured, as it relates to a matter exceedingly curious, and very intimately connected with Johnson, both as a man and an author.1

2

He this year wrote the "Preface to the Harleian Miscellany. ""* The selection of the pamphlets of which it was composed was made by Mr. Oldys, a man of eager forgotten that he himself has mentioned, that Savage's story had been told several years before in The Plain Dealer; from which he quotes this strong saying of the generous Sir Richard Steele, that the "inhumanity of his mother had given him a right to find every good man his father.' At the same time it must be acknowledged, that the Lady Macclesfield and her relations might still wish that her story should not be brought into more conspicuous notice by the satirical pen of Savage.

B.

1 Miss Mason, after having forfeited the title of Lady Macclesfield by divorce, was married to

Colonel Brett, and, it is said, was well known in all the polite circles. Colley Cibber, I am informed, had so high an opinion of her taste and judgement as to genteel life and manners, that he submitted every scene of his Careless Husband to Mrs. Brett's revisal and correction. Colonel Brett was reported to be too free in his gallantry with his Lady's maid. Mrs. Brett came into a room one day in her own house, and found the Colonel and her maid both fast asleep in two chairs. She tied a white handkerchief round her husband's neck, which was a sufficient proof that she had discovered his intrigue; but she never at any time took notice of it to him. This incident, as I am told, gave occasion to the well-wrought scene of Sir Charles and Lady Easy and Edging.

B.

2 William Oldys (1696—1761) drank as hard as he worked, and he worked very hard. Besides editing the Harleian Miscellany, he wrote a Life of Raleigh (to which Gibbon, when meditating the subject, found himself able to add nothing of importance), a Compendious Review of all Unpublished and Valuable Books in all Sciences, translated Camden's Britannia, and did an in

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curiosity, and indefatigable diligence, who first exerted that spirit of inquiry into the literature of the old English writers, by which the works of our great dramatic poet have of late been so signally illustrated.

In 1745 he published a pamphlet entitled, "Miscellanous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with Remarks on Sir T. H.'s (Sir Thomas Hanmer's) Edition of Shakespeare. "3 To which he affixed, proposals for a new edition of that poet.

As we do not trace any thing else published by him during the course of this year, we may conjecture that he was occupied entirely with that work. But the little encouragement which was given by the public to his anonymous proposals for the execution of a task which Warburton was known to have undertaken, probably damped his ardour. His pamphlet, however, was highly esteemed, and was fortunate enough to obtain the approbation even of the supercilious Warburton himself, who, in the Preface to his Shakespeare published two years afterwards, thus mentioned it : "As to all those things which have been published under the titles of Essays, Remarks, Observations, &c., on Shakespeare, if you except some Critical Notes on Macbeth, given as a specimen of a projected edition, and written, as appears, by a man of parts and genius, the rest are absolutely below a serious notice."

was

Of this flattering distinction shewn to him by Warburton, a very grateful remembrance ever entertained by Johnson, who said, 'He praised me at a time when praise was of value to me."

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In 1746 it is probable that he was still employed upon his Shakespeare, which perhaps he laid aside for a time, upon account of the high expectations which were formed of Warburton's edition of that great poet. It is somewhat curious, that finity of hack-work for the booksellers. He is described as an honest and good-tempered man, but very fond of low company.

3 Sir Thomas Hanmer (1676-1746) was Speaker of the House of Commons in Queen Anne's last Parliament. His Shakespeare was published in 1744, in six volumes quarto.

his literary career appears to have been almost totally suspended in the years 1745 and 1746, those years which were marked by a civil war in Great Britain, when a rash attempt was made to restore the House of Stuart to the throne. That he had a tenderness for that unfortunate House, is well known; and some may fancifully imagine, that a sympathetic anxiety impeded the exertion of his intellectual powers: but I am inclined to think, that he was, during this time, sketching the outlines of his great philological work.

None of his letters during those years are extant, so far as I can discover. This is much to be regretted. It might afford some entertainment to see how he then expressed himself to his private friends concerning State affairs. Dr Adams informs me, that "At this time a favourite object which he had in contemplation was "The Life of Alfred'; in which, from the warmth with which he spoke about it, he would, I believe, had he been master of his own will, have engaged himself, rather than on any other subject.'

In 1747 it is supposed that the "Gentleman's Magazine "for May was enriched by him with five short poetical pieces, distinguished by three asterisks. The first is a translation, or rather a paraphrase, of a Latin Epitaph on Sir Thomas Hanmer. Whether the Latin was his, or not, I have never heard, though I should think it probably was, if it be certain that he wrote the English; as to which my only cause of doubt is, that his slighting character of Hanmer as an editor, in his "Observations on Macbeth," is very different from that in the Epitaph. It may be said, that there is the same contrariety between the character in the Observations, and that in his own Preface to Shakespeare; but a considerable time elapsed between the one publication and the other, whereas the Observations and the Epitaph came close together. The others are, "To Miss on her giving the Author a gold and silk net-work Purse of her own weaving"; "Stella in Mourning”; "The Winter's Walk"; "An Ode and,“ To Lyce, an elderly Lady.' am not positive that all these were his

productions; but as "The Winter's
Walk," has never been controverted to
be his, and all of them have the same |
mark, it is reasonable to conclude that
they are all written by the same hand.
Yet to the Ode, in which we find a
passage very characteristic of him, being
a learned description of the gout,

"Unhappy, whom to beds of pain
Arthritick tyranny consigns;"

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there is the following note, "The author being ill of the gout: but Johnson was not attacked with that distemper till a very late period of his life. May not this, however, be a poetical fiction? Why may not a poet suppose himself to have the gout as well as suppose himself to be in love, of which we have innumerable instances, and which has been admirably ridiculed by Johnson in his "Life of Cowley"? I have also some difficulty to believe that he could produce such a group of conceits as appear in the verses to Lyce, in which he claims for this ancient personage as good a right to be assimilated to heaven, as nymphs whom other poets have flattered; he therefore ironically ascribes to her the attributes of the sky, in such stanzas as this:

"Her teeth the night with darkness dies,
She's starr'd with pimples o'er;
Her tongue like nimble lightning plies,
And can with thunder roar.'

But as at a very advanced age he could rhymes, to please Mrs. Thrale, and her condescend to trifle in namby-pamby daughter, he may have, in his earlier years, composed such a piece as this. edition of "The Winter's Walk," the It is remarkable, that in this first concluding line is much more Johnsonian than it was afterwards printed; for in subsequent editions after, praying Stella to "snatch him to her arms,

he says,

"And shield me from the ills of life."

Whereas in the first edition it is

"And hide me from the sight of life.'

1 Malone thought some of them might be Hawkesworth's. Croker was certain that none of them were Johnson's, and later editors seem to agree with him,

A horror at life in general is more consonant with Johnson's habitual gloomy cast of thought.

I have heard him repeat with great energy the following verses, which appeared in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for April this year; but I have no authority to say they were his own. Indeed one of the best critics of our age suggests to me, that "the word indifferently being used in the sense of without concern, and being also very unpoetical, renders it improbable that they should have been his composition":

"On Lord LOVAT'S Execution.

"Pity'd by gentle minds KILMARNOCK died;
The brave, BALMERINO, were on thy side;
RADCLIFFE, unhappy in his crimes of youth,
Steady in what he still mistook for truth,
Beheld his death so decently unmov'd,
The soft lamented, and the brave approv'd.
But LOVAT'S end indifferently we view,
True to no King, to no religion true:
No fair forgets the ruin he has done;
No child laments the tyrant of his son;
No Tory pities, thinking what he was;
No Whig compassions, for he left the cause;
The brave regret not, for he was not brave?
The honest mourn not, knowing him a knave!"

This year his old pupil and friend, David Garrick, having become joint patentee and manager of Drury-lane theatre, Johnson honoured his opening of it with a Prologue,* which for just and manly dramatic criticism on the whole range of the English stage, as well as for poetical excellence, 2 is unrivalled. Like the cele

1 These verses are somewhat too severe on the extraordinary person who is the chief figure in them; for he was undoubtedly brave. His pleasantry during his solemn trial (in which, by the way, I have heard Mr. David Hume observe, hat we have one of the very few speeches of Mr. Murray, now Earl of Mansfield, authentically given) was very remarkable. When asked if he had any questions to put to Sir Everard Fawkener, who was one of the strongest witnesses against him, he answered, "I only wish him joy of his young wife.' And after sentence of death, in the horrible terms in such cases of treason, was pronounced upon him, and he was retiring from the bar, he said, "Fare you well, my Lords, we shall not all meet again in one place." He behaved with perfect composure at his execution, and called out " Dulce et decorum est pro patria B.

mori."

My friend Mr. Courtenay, whose eulogy on Johnson's Latin Poetry has been inserted in this

59

brated Epilogue to the "Distressed Mother," it was, during the season, often called for by the audience. The most striking and brilliant passages of it have been so often repeated, and are so well recollected by all the lovers of the drama, and of poetry, that it would be superfluous to point them out. In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for December this year, he inserted an "Ode on Winter," which is, I think, an admirable specimen of his genius for lyric poetry.

But the year 1747 is distinguished as the epoch, when Johnson's arduous and important work, his DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, was announced to the world, by the publication of its "Plan" or "Prospectus.'

How long this immense undertaking had been the object of his contemplation, I do not know. I once asked him by what means he had attained to that astonishing knowledge of our language, by which he was enabled to realise a design of such extent and accumulated difficulty.

He told me, that "It was not the effect of particular study; but that it had grown up in his mind insensibly." I have been informed by Mr. James Dodsley, that several years before this period, when Johnson was one day sitting in his brother Robert's shop, he heard his brother suggest to him that a Dictionary of the English Language would be a work that would be well received by the public; that Johnson seemed at first to catch at the proposition, but, after a pause, said, in his abrupt decisive manner, "I believe I shall not undertake it." That he,

admires ;

Indignant virtue her own bard inspires.
Sublime as Juvenal he pours his lays,
And with the Roman shares congenial praise ;-
In glowing numbers now he fires the age,
And Shakespeare's sun relumes the clouded
stage. B.

3 The epilogue, which was spoken by Mrs. Oldfield, was encored on the first three nights of the play, and continued throughout its run. It was commonly attributed to Budgel, but Addison, if he did not write it, undoubtedly licked it into shape. See The Spectator (341), Hurd's edition of Addison's Works (Bohn, vol. v. 228) and Lives of the Poets (" Ambrose Philips").