however, had bestowed much thought unexceptionally excellent; it being alto upon the subject, before he published his "Plan," is evident from the enlarged, clear, and accurate views which it exhibits; and we find him mentioning in that tract, that many of the writers whose testimonies were to be produced as authorities, were selected by Pope; which proves that he had been furnished, probably by Mr. Robert Dodsley, with whatever hints that eminent poet had contributed towards a great literary project, that had been the subject of important consideration in a former reign. The booksellers who contracted with Johnson, single and unaided, for the execution of a work, which in other countries has not been effected but by the cooperating exertions of many, were Mr. Robert Dodsley, Mr. Charles Hitch, Mr. Andrew Millar, the two Messieurs Longman, and the two Messieurs Knapton. The price stipulated was 1,575. The Plan" was addressed to Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield, then one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; a nobleman who was very ambitious of literary distinction, and who, upon being informed of the design, had expressed himself in terms very favourable to its success. There is, perhaps in every thing of any consequence, a secret history which it would be amusing to know, could we have it authentically communicated. Johnson told me,1 "Sir, the way in which the plan of my Dictionary came to be inscribed to Lord Chesterfield, was this: I had neglected to write it by the time appointed. Dodsley suggested a desire to have it addressed to Lord Chesterfield. I laid hold of this as a pretext for delay, that it might be better done, and let Dodsley have his desire. I said to my friend, Dr. Bathurst, Now if any good comes of my addressing to Lord Chesterfield, it will be ascribed to deep policy, when, in fact, it was only a casual excuse for laziness."" It is worthy of observation, that the "Plan" has not only the substantial merit of comprehension, perspicuity, and precision, but that the language of it is 1 September 22, 1777, going from Ashbourne in Derbyshire, to see Islam. B. gether free from that inflation of style, and those uncommon but apt and energetic words, which in some of his writings have been censured, with more petulance than justice; and never was there a more dignified strain of compliment than that in which he courts the attention of one who, he had been persuaded to believe, would be a respectable patron. priety (says he), I was once in doubt whether I "With regard to question of purity or proshould not attribute to myself too much in at tempting to decide them, and whether my province was to extend beyond the proposition of the question, and the display of the suffrages on each side; but I have been since determined by your Lordship's opinion, to interpose my own judgment, and shall therefore endeavour to supmost consonant to port what appears to me grammar and reason. Ausonius thought that modesty forbade him to plead inability for a task to which Cæsar had judged him equal: Cur me posse negem, posse quod ille putat ?? And I may hope, my Lord, that since you, whose authority in our language is so generally acknowledged, have commissioned me to declare my own opinion, I shall be considered as exercising -a kind of vicarious jurisdiction; and that the power which might have been denied to my own claim, will be readily allowed me as the delegate of your Lordship.” This passage proves, that Johnson's addressing his " Plan" to Lord Chesterfield was not merely in consequence of the result of a report by means of Dodsley, that the Earl favoured the design; but that there had been a particular communication with his Lordship concerning it. Dr. Taylor told me, that Johnson sent his "Plan" to him in manuscript, for his perusal; and that when it was lying upon his table, Mr. William Whitehead, 3 hap. pened to pay him a visit, and being shewn it, was highly pleased with such parts of as he had time to read, and begged to take it home with him, which he was allowed to do; that from him it got into the hands of a noble Lord, who carried it to Lord When Taylor observed this might be an advantage, Johnson replied, 'No, Sir, it would have come out with Chesterfield. 66 2 Ausonius Theodosio Augusto, v. 12. B. 3 William Whitehead (1715-85), no relation to Paul, succeeded Colley Cibber as Poet Laureate in 1757. PREPARATION FOR THE WORK more bloom, if it had not been seen before by any body. The opinion conceived of it by another noble author, appears from the following extract of a letter from the Earl of Orrery" to Dr. Birch : "Caledon, Dec. 30, 1747. "I have just now seen the specimen of Mr. Johnson's Dictionary, addressed to Lord Chesterfield. I am much pleased with the plan, and I think the specimen is one of the best that I have ever read. Most specimens disgust, rather than prejudice us in favour of the work to follow; but the language of Mr. Johnson's is good, and the arguments are properly and modestly expressed. However, some expressions may be cavilled at, but they are trifles. I'll mention one: the barren Laurel. The laurel is not barren, in any sense whatever; it bears fruits and flowers. Sed hæ sunt nuga, and I have great expectations from the performance." 3 That he was fully aware of the arduous nature of the undertaking, he acknowledges; and shows himself perfectly sensible of it in the conclusion of his "Plan"; but he had a noble consciousness of his own abilities, which enabled him to go on with undaunted spirit. Dr. Adams found him one day busy at his Dictionary, when the following dialogue ensued. "ADAMS: This is a great work, Sir. How are you to get all the etymologies? JOHNSON: Why, Sir, here is a shelf with Junius, and Skinner,4 and others; and there is a Welsh gentleman who has published a collection of Welsh proverbs, who will help me with the Welsh.5 ADAMS: But, Sir, how can you 1 Croker saw a draft of the Plan not written by Johnson but signed by him, which contains some suggestions in Chesterfield's hand and some in another, all of which were adopted by him. 2 John Boyle (1707-1762), educated at Westminster and Oxford, succeeded his father as fifth Earl of Orrery in 1737, and his cousin as fifth Earl of Cork in 1753. He is remembered only for his Life of Swift, which has probably never been read since Scott's was published; and for Berkeley's sarcasm on him, " He would have been a man of genius had he known how to set about it.' 3 Birch MSS. Brit. Mus. 4303. B. 4 Francis Junius was born at Heidelberg in 1589 and died at Windsor in 1678; but his Etymologicum Anglicanum was not published till 1743. Dr. Stephen Skinner's Etymologicon Lingue Anglicane was published in 1671, four years after his death. 5 Supposed by Dr. Hill to have been Thomas Richards, who published in 1753 Antiquæ Lingua Britannica Thesaurus with a Welsh Grammar and a collection of British proverbs. 61 do this in three years? JOHNSON: Sir, I have no doubt that I can do it in three years. ADAMS: But the French Academy, which consists of forty members, took forty years to compile their Dictionary. JOHNSON: Sir, thus it is. This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman." With so much ease and pleasantry could he talk of that prodigious labour which he had undertaken to execute. 6 but The public has had, from another pen," a long detail of what had been done in this country by prior Lexicographers; and no doubt Johnson was wise to avail himself of them, so far as they went the learned, yet judicious research of etymology, the various, yet accurate display of definition, and the rich collection of authorities, were reserved for the superior mind of our great philologist. For the mechanical part he employed, as he told me, six amanuenses; and let it be remembered by the natives of North Britain, to whom he is supposed to have been so hostile, that five of them were of that country. There were two Messieurs Macbean; Mr. Shiels, who we shall hereafter see partly wrote the "Lives of the Poets" to which the name of Cibber is affixed; 7 Mr. Stewart, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and a Mr. Maitland. The sixth of these humble assistants was Mr. Peyton, who, I believe, taught French, and published some elementary tracts. To all these painful labourers, Johnson shewed a never-ceasing kindness, so far as they stood in need of it. The elder Mr. Macbean had afterwards the honour of being Librarian to Archibald, Duke of Argyle, for many years, but was left without a shilling. Johnson wrote for him a Preface to, "A System of Ancient Geography"; and, by the favour of Lord Thurlow, got him admitted a poor brother of the Charterhouse. For Shiels, who died of a consumption, he had much tenderness; and it has been thought that some choice sentences in the "Lives of the Poets" were 6 See Sir John Hawkins's, Life of Johnson. B. 7 See under April 10, 1776. B. supplied by him. Peyton, when reduced to penury, had frequent aid from the bounty of Johnson, who at last was at the expense of burying him and his wife. the price stipulated to be paid for the copyright. I understand that nothing was allowed by the booksellers on that account; and I remember his telling me, that a large portion of it having, by mistake, been written upon both sides of the paper, so as to be inconvenient for the compositor, it cost him twenty pounds to have it transcribed upon one side only. He is now to be considered as " tugging at his oar," as engaged in a steady continued course of occupation, sufficient to employ all his time for some years; and which was the best preventive of that While the Dictionary was going forward, Johnson lived part of the time in Holborn, part in Gough-square, Fleetstreet; and he had an upper room fitted up like a counting-house for the purpose, in which he gave to the copyists their several tasks. The words, partly taken from other dictionaries, and partly supplied by himself, having been first written down with spaces left between them, he delivered in writing their etymologies, definitions, and various constitutional melancholy which was ever significations. The authorities were lurking about him, ready to trouble his copied from the books themselves, in quiet. But his enlarged and lively mind which he had marked the passages with a could not be satisfied without more diblack-lead pencil, the traces of which versity of employment, and the pleasure could easily be effaced. I have seen of animated relaxation." He therefore several of them, in which that trouble had not only exerted his talents in occasional not been taken; so that they were just as composition, very different from Lexicowhen used by the copyists. It is remark-graphy, but formed a club in Ivy-lane, able, that he was so attentive in the choice Paternoster-row, with a view to enjoy of the passages in which words are literary discussion, and amuse his evening authorized, that one may read page after hours. The members associated with him page of his Dictionary with improvement in this little society were his beloved and pleasure; and it should not pass friend Dr. Richard Bathurst, Mr. Hawkesunobserved, that he has quoted no author worth, afterwards well known by his whose writings had a tendency to hurt writings, Mr. John Hawkins, sound religion and morality.1 attorney,3 and a few others of different professions. The necessary expense of preparing a work of such magnitude for the press, must have been a considerable deduction from 1 Bishop Percy has corrected and supplemented this account with the following details from Johnson's own lips. "He began his task by devoting his first care to a diligent perusal of all such English writers as were most correct in their language, and under every sentence which he meant to quote he drew a line, and noted in the margin the first letter of the word under which it was to occur. He then delivered these books to his clerks, who transcribed each sentence on a separate slip of paper, and arranged the same under the word referred to. By these means he collected the several words and their different significations; and when the whole arrangement was alphabetically formed, he gave the definitions of their meanings, and collected their etymologies from Skinner, Junius, and other writers on the subject." It would not be difficult to find some quotations from authors whose writings were not conducive to the highest morality; on the other hand he would not quote Dr. Clarke, whom he greatly admired, because he was not orthodox on the Trinity. an In the "Gentleman's Magazine " for May of this year he wrote a "Life of Roscommon, "* with notes; which he afterwards much improved, (indenting the notes 2 In this summer, (says Malone) he first visited Tunbridge Wells, probably on account of his wife's health as well as for his own. In the wellknown print representing some of the principal visitors to the Wells at this time (published as the frontispiece to Vol. III. of Richardson's Correspondence) Johnson's is the most conspicuous figure. 3 He was afterwards for several years Chairman of the Middlesex Justices, and upon occasion of presenting an address to the King, accepted the usual offer of Knighthood. He is author of A History of Music, in five volumes in quarto. By assiduous attendance upon Johnson in his last illness, he obtained the office of one of his executors; in consequence of which, the booksellers of London employed him to publish an edition of Dr. Johnson's works, and to write his Life. B. The Club met every Tuesday evening at the King's Head, a famous house for beefsteaks. See Hawkins's Life of Johnson, pp. 219-60. "THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES" Mr. Dodsley this year brought out his PRECEPTOR, one of the most valuable books for the improvement of young minds that has appeared in any language; and to this meritorious work Johnson furnished "The Preface,"* containing a general sketch of the book, with a short and perspicuous recommendation of each article; as also, "The Vision of Theodore, the Hermit, found in his Cell,"* a most beautiful allegory of human life, under the figure of ascending the mountain of Existence. The Bishop of Dromore heard Dr. Johnson say, that he thought this was the best thing he ever wrote.1 In January, 1749, he published "THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES, being the Tenth Satire of Juvenal imitated.”* He, I believe, composed it the preceding year. 2 Mrs. Johnson, for the sake of country air, had lodgings at Hampstead, to which he resorted occasionally, and there the greatest part, if not the whole, of this Imitation was written. The fervid rapidity with which it was produced, is scarcely credible. I have heard him say, that he composed seventy lines of it in one day, without putting one of them upon paper till they were finished. I remember when I once regretted to him that he had not given us more of Juvenal's Satires, he said he probably should give more, for he had them all in his head; by which I understood, that he had the originals and correspondent allusions floating in his mind, which he could, when he pleased, embody and render permanent without much labour. Some of them, however, he observed were too gross for imitation. The profits of a single poem, however excellent, appear to have been very small in the last reign, compared with what a publication of the same size has since been known to yield. I have mentioned upon 1 The Bishop also said that it was composed in a single night, after Johnson had finished an evening at Holborn. 2 Sir John Hawkins, with solemn inaccuracy, represents this poem as a consequence of the indifferent reception of his tragedy. But the fact is, that the poem was published on the 9th of January, and the tragedy was not acted till the 6th of February following. B. 63 Johnson's own authority, that for his "LONDON " he had only ten guineas; and now, after his fame was established, he got for his "Vanity of Human Wishes" but five guineas more, as is proved by an authentic document in my possession. 3 It will be observed, that he reserves to himself the right of printing one edition of this satire, which was his practice upon occasion of the sale of all his writings ; it being his fixed intention to publish at some period, for his own profit, a complete collection of his works. His "Vanity of Human Wishes" has less of common life, but more of a philosophic dignity than his "London. More readers, therefore, will be delighted with the pointed spirit of "London," than with the profound reflection of "The Vanity of Human Wishes." Garrick, for instance, observed in his sprightly manner, with more vivacity than regard to just discrimination, as is usual with wits, "When Johnson lived much with the Herveys, and saw a good deal of what was passing in life, he wrote his 'London,' which is lively and easy. When he became more retired he gave us his Vanity of Human Wishes," which is as hard as Greek. Had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have been as hard as Hebrew."4 But "The Vanity of Human Wishes " is, in the opinion of the best judges, as high an effort of ethic poetry as any language can shew. The instances of variety of disappointment are chosen so judiciously, and painted so strongly, that, the moment they are read, they bring conviction to every thinking mind. of the scholar must have depressed the too sanguine expectations of many an ambitious student,5 That of the warrior, That 3 "Nov. 25, 1748, I received of Mr. Dodsley fifteen guineas, for which I assign to him the right of copy of an Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, written by me; reserving to myself the right of printing one edition. SAM. JOHNSON. London, 29 June, 1786." "A true copy, from the original in Dr. Johnson's hand-writing. JAS. DODSLEY." B. 4 From Mr. Langton. B. 5 In this poem one of the instances mentioned of unfortunate learned men is Lydiat: "Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end." The history of Lydiat being little known, the Charles of Sweden, is, I think, as highly finished a picture as possibly can be conceived. Were all the other excellences of this poem annihilated, it must ever have our grateful reverence from its noble conclusion; in which we are consoled with the assurance that happiness may be attained, if we "apply our hearts" to piety: "Where then shall Hope and Fear their objects Must dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind? vain. Still raise for good the supplicating voice, For love, which scarce collective man can fill; These goods he grants, who grants the power With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind, Garrick being now vested with theatrical power by being manager of Drury-lane theatre, he kindly and generously made use of it to bring out Johnson's tragedy, which had been long kept back for want of encouragement. But in this benevolent purpose he met with no small difficulty from the temper of Johnson, which could not brook that a drama which he had formed with much study, and had been But leave to Heaven the measure and the obliged to keep more than the nine years choice. Safe in His power, whose eye discerns afar following account of him may be acceptable to many of my readers. It appeared as a note in the Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine for 1748, in which some passages extracted from Johnson's poem were inserted, and it should have been added in the subsequent editions. A very College, Oxon, and rector of Okerton near Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin treatise, De Natura Cali,' &c., in which learned divine and mathematician, fellow of New he attacked the sentiments of Scaliger and Aristotle, not bearing to hear it urged, that some things are true in philosophy and false in divinity. He made above six hundred sermons on the harmony of the Evangelists. Being unsuccessful in publishing his works, he lay in the prison of Bocardo at Oxford, and in the King's Bench, till Bishop Usher, Dr. Laud, Sir William Boswell, and Dr. Pink, released him by paying his debts. He petitioned King Charles I. to be sent into Ethiopia, &c. to procure MSS. Having spoken in favour of monarchy and bishops, he was plundered by the Parliament forces, and twice carried away prisoner from his rectory; and afterwards had not a shirt to shift him in three months, without he borrowed it, and died very poor in 1646." B. Sir Walter Scott told James Ballantyne that he derived more pleasure from reading London and The Vanity of Human Wishes than any other poetical composition he could mention. Lockhart adds that the last line of MS. that Scott sent to the press, was a quotation from the latter poem. See also Byron's Life and Works, v. 66. A of Horace, should be revised and altered at the pleasure of an actor. Yet Garrick knew well, that without some alterations it would not be fit for the stage. violent dispute having ensued between them, Garrick applied to the Reverend Dr. Taylor to interpose. Johnson was at first very obstinate. "Sir, said he, the fellow wants me to make Mahomet run mad, that he may have an opportunity of tossing his hands and kicking his heels." He was, however, at last, with difficulty, prevailed on to comply with Garrick's wishes, so as to allow of some changes; but still there were not enough. the representation of "IRENE," and gave Dr. Adams was present the first night of me the following account : "Before the curtain drew up, there were catcalls and whistling, which alarmed Johnson's friends. The Prologue, which was written by himself in a manly strain, soothed the audience, and the play went off tolerably, 2 |