The love of Fame his gen'rous bosom fir'd; My task perform'd, and all my labours o'er, I seek at midnight clubs the social Band ; But midnight clubs, where wit with noise conspires, A form to rugged stone when Phidias gives, Remove Remove his marble, and his genius dies; Whate'er I plan, I feel my pow'rs confin'd I view myself, while Reason's feeble light What then remains? Must I in slow decline Such is the picture for which Dr. Johnson sat to himself. He gives the prominent features of his character; his lassitude, his morbid melancholy, his love of fame, his dejection, his tavern-parties, and his wandering G 4 dering reveries, Vacua mala somnia mentis, about which so much has been written; all are painted in miniature, but in vivid colours, by his own hand. His idea of writing more Dictionaries was not merely said in verse. Mr. Hamilton, who was at that time an eminent printer, and well acquainted with Dr. Johnson, remembers that he engaged in a Commercial Dictionary, and, as appears by the receipts in his possession, was paid his price for several sheets; but he soon relinquished the undertaking. It is probable, that he found himself not sufficiently versed in that branch of knowledge. He was again reduced to the expedient of short compositions for the supply of the day. The writer of this narrative has now before him a letter in Dr. Johnson's hand-writing, which shews the distress and melancholy situation of the man, who had written the Rambler, and finished the great work of his Dic-. tionary. The letter is directed to Mr. Richardson (the author of Clarissa), and is as follows: "SIR, “SIR, "I am obliged to entreat your assistance. "I am now under an arrest for five pounds 66 eighteen shillings. Mr. Strahan, from whom “I should have received the necessary help "in this case, is not at home; and I am "afraid of not finding Mr. Millar. If you "will be so good as to send me this sum I "will very gratefully repay you, and add it "to all former obligations. I am, Sir, "Your most obedient, " and most humble servant, "Gough-square, 16 March." "SAMUEL JOHNSON. In the margin of this letter there is a memorandum in these words: " March 16, 1756, Sent six guineas. Witness, Wm. Richard"son." For the honour of an admired writer it is to be regretted, that we do not find a more liberal entry. To his friend in distress he sent eight shillings more than was wanted. Had an incident of this kind occurred in one of his Romances, Richardson would have known how to grace his hero; but in fictitious scenes generosity costs the writer nothing. About this time Johnson contributed seve ral papers to a periodical Miscellany, called The VISITOR, from motives which are highly honourable to him, a compassionate regard for the late Mr. Christopher Smart. The criticism on Pope's Epitaphs appeared in that work. In a short time after, he became a reviewer in the Literary Magazine, under the auspices of the late Mr. Newbery, a man of a projecting head, good taste, and great industry. This employment engrossed but little of Johnson's time. He resigned himself to indolence, took no exercise, rose about two, and then received the visits of his friends. Authors, long since forgotten, waited on him as their oracle, and he gave responses in the chair of criticism. He listened to the complaints, the schemes, and the hopes and fears, of a crowd of inferior writers, "who," he said, in the words of Roger Ascham, "lived, men knew not how, and died obscure, "men marked not when." He believed, that he could give a better history of Grub-street than any man living. His house was filled with a succession of visitors till four or five in the evening. During the whole time he pre sided |