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1749.

Ætat. 40.

It will be obferved, that he reserves to himself the right of printing one edition of this fatire, which was his practice upon occafion of the fale of all his writings; it being his fixed intention to publish at fome period, for his own profit, a complete collection of his works.

His "Vanity of human Wishes" has lefs of common life, but more of a philofophick dignity than his "London." More readers, therefore, will be delighted with the pointed fpirit of "London," than with the profound reflection of "The Vanity of human Wishes." Garrick, for inftance, obferved, in his fprightly manner, with more vivacity than regard to just difcrimination, as is ufual with wits, "When Johnson lived much with the Herveys, and faw a good deal of what was paffing 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 fatire, it would have been as hard as Hebrew 8. " But The Vanity of human Wifhes" is, in the opinion of the best judges, as high an effort of ethick poetry as any language can fhew. The inftances of variety of difappointment are chofen fo judicioufly, and painted fo ftrongly, that, the moment they are read, they bring conviction to every thinking mind. That of the scholar muft have depreffed the too fanguine expectations of many an ambitious student. That of the warrior, Charles of Sweden, is, I think, as highly finished a picture as can poffibly be conceived.

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,”

8 From Mr. Langton.

66

In this poem one of the inftances mentioned of unfortunate learned men is Lydiat :

"Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end."

The hiftory of Lydiat being little known, the 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 fome paffages extracted from Johnson's poem were inferted, and it should have been added in the fubfequent editions." A very learned divinę and mathematician, fellow of New College, Oxon, and Rector of Okerton, near Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin treatife" De naturâ cæli, &c." in which he attacked the fentiments of Scaliger and Ariftotle, not bearing to hear it urged, that fome things are true in philofophy and false in divinity. He made above 600 Sermons on the harmony of the Evangelifts. Being unsuccessful in publishing his works, he lay in the prison of Bocardo at Oxford, and in the King's Bench, till Bishop Ufher, Dr. Laud, Sir William Bofwel, and Dr. Pink, released him by paying his debts. He petitioned King Charles I. to be fent into Ethiopia, &c. to procure MSS. Having fpoken in favour of monarchy and bishops, he was plundered by the parliament forces, and twice carried away prifoner from his rectory; and afterwards had not a fhirt to fhift him in three months, without he borrowed it, and died very poor in 1646.".

Were

Were all the other excellencies of this poem annihilated, it must ever have our grateful reverence from its noble conclufion; in which we are confoled with the affurance that happiness may be attained, if we " apply our hearts". to piety:

"Where then fhall hope and fear their objects find?
"Shall dull fufpenfe corrupt the ftagnant mind?
"Must helpless man, in ignorance fedate,
"Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?

"Shall no diflike alarm, no wishes rise,

"No cries attempt the mercy of the fkies?
"Enthufiaft, ceafe; petitions yet remain,

"Which heav'n may hear, nor deem religion vain.
"Still raise for good the fupplicating voice,
"But leave to heav'n the measure and the choice.
"Safe in his hand, whose eye difcerns afar
"The fecret ambush of a specious pray'r;
"Implore his aid, in his decisions rest,
"Secure whate'er he gives he gives the best.
"Yet when the fenfe of facred prefence fires,
"And strong devotion to the fkies afpires,
"Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,
"Obedient paffions, and a will refign'd;
"For love, which fcarce collective man can fill,
"For patience fovereign o'er transmuted ill;
"For faith, which panting for a happier seat,
"Counts death kind Nature's fignal for retreat.
"Thefe goods for man the laws of heaven ordain,
"These goods he grants, who grants the power to gain ;
"With these celeftial wisdom calms the mind,

"And makes the happiness fhe does not find."

1749.

Etat. 49.

Garrick being now vefted with theatrical power by being manager of Drurylane 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 fmall difficulty from the temper of Johnson, which could not brook that a drama which he had formed with much. study, and had been obliged to keep more than the nine years of Horace, Р fhould

1749.

Etat. 40.

fhould be revised and altered at the pleasure of an actor. Yet Garrick knew well, that without fome alterations it would not he fit for the ftage. A violent difpute having enfued between them, Garrick applied to the Reverend Dr. Taylor to interpose. Johnson was at first very obftinate. "Sir, (faid he) the fellow wants me to make Mahomet run mad, that be may have an opportunity of toffing 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 fome changes; but still there were not enough.

Dr. Adams was present the first night of the representation of IRENE, and gave me the following account: "Before the curtain drew up, there were catcalls whistling, which alarmed Johnson's friends. The Prologue, which was written by himself in a manly ftrain, foothed the audience, and the play went off tolerably till it came to the conclufion, when Mrs. Pritchard, the heroine of the piece, was to be ftrangled upon the ftage, and was to speak two lines with the bow-string round her neck. The audience cried out "Murder, murder." She several times attempted to speak, but in vain. At last she was obliged to go off the stage alive." This paffage was afterwards ftruck out, and she was carried off to be put to death behind the scenes, as the play now has it. The Epilogue was written by Sir William Young. I know not how Johnson's play came to be thus graced by the pen of a perfon then fo eminent in the political world.

Mahomet was, in fact, played by Mr. Barry, and Demetrius by Mr. Garrick; but probably at this time the parts were not yet caft.

2 The expreffion used by Dr. Adams was "foothed." I should rather think the audience was awed by the extraordinary fpirit and dignity of the following lines:

"Be this at leaft his praife, be this his pride,
"To force applause no modern arts are tried :
"Should partial catcalls all his hopes confound,
"He bids no trumpet quell the fatal found;
"Should welcome fleep relieve the weary wit,
"He rolls no thunders o'er the drowsy pit;
"No fnares to captivate the judgement spreads,
"Nor bribes your eyes to prejudice your heads.
"Unmov'd, though witlings fneer and rivals rail,
"Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail,
"He fcorns the meek addrefs, the fuppliant ftrain,
"With merit needlefs, and without it vain :
"In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to truft;
"Ye fops be filent, and ye wits be juft!"

Notwithstanding

Notwithstanding all the fupport of fuch performers as Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every advantage of drefs and decoration, the tragedy of Irene did not please the publick. Mr. Garrick's zeal carried it through for nine nights, fo that the authour had his three nights' profits; and from a receipt figned by him, now in the hands of Mr. James Dodsley, it appears that his friend Mr. Robert Dodfley gave him one hundred pounds for copy, with his usual refervation of the right of one edition.

the

IRENE, confidered as a poem, is intitled to the praife of fuperiour excellence. Analysed into parts, it will furnish a rich ftore of noble fentiments, fine imagery, and beautiful language; but it is deficient in pathos, in that delicate power of touching the human feelings, which is the principal end of the drama. Indeed Garrick has complained to me, that Johnson not only had not the faculty of producing the impreffions of tragedy, but that he had not the fenfibility to perceive them. His great friend Mr. Walmsley's prediction, that he would turn out a fine tragedy-writer," was, therefore, ill founded. Johnson was wife enough to be convinced that he had not the talents neceffary to write fuccefsfully for the stage, and never made another attempt in that fpecies of compofition.

When asked how he felt upon the ill fuccefs of his tragedy, he replied, "Like the Monument;" meaning that he continued firm and unmoved as that column. And let it be remembered, as an admonition to the genus irritabile of dramatick writers, that this great man, instead of peevishly complaining of the bad taste of the town, fubmitted to its decifion without a murmur. He had, indeed, upon all occafions a great deference for the general opinion: "A man (faid he) who writes a book, thinks himself wifer or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them, and the publick to whom he appeals, muft, after all, be the judges of his pretenfions."

On occafion of his play being brought upon the ftage, Johnfon had a fancy that as a dramatick authour his dress fhould be more gay than what he ordinarily wore; he therefore appeared behind the fcenes, and even in one of the fide boxes, in a scarlet waistcoat, with rich gold lace. His neceffary attendance while his play was in rehearsal, and during its performance, brought him acquainted with many of the performers of both fexes, which produced a more favourable opinion of their profeffion than he had harshly expressed in his Life of Savage. With fome of them he kept up an acquaintance as long as he and they lived, and was ever ready to thew them acts of kindness. He for a confiderable time ufed to frequent the Green Room, and feemed to take delight

P 2

1749.

Etat. 49.

1749.

delight in diffipating his gloom, by mixing in the sprightly chit-chat of the Etat. 40. motley circle then to be found there. Mr. David Hume related to me from

1750.

Mr. Garrick, that Johnson at last denied himself this amusement, from confiderations of rigid virtue; faying, "I'll come no more behind your scenes, David; for the filk stockings and white bofoms of your actreffes excite my amorous propenfities."

In 1750 he came forth in the character for which he was eminently qualified, a majestick teacher of moral and religious wifdom. The vehicle which he chofe was that of a periodical paper, which he knew had been, upon former occafions, employed with great fuccefs. The Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, were the last of the kind published in England, which had stood the teft of a long trial; and fuch an interval had now elapfed fince their publication, as made him justly think that, to many of his readers, this form of instruction would, in fome degree, have the advantage of novelty. A few days before the first of his Effays came out, there started another competitor for fame in the fame form, under the title of "The Tatler Revived," which I believe was born but to die." Johnson was, I think, not very happy in the choice of his title, "The Rambler," which certainly is not fuited to a feries of grave and moral difcourfes; which the Italians have literally, but ludicrously, tranflated by Il Vagabondo; and which has been lately affumed as the denomination of a vehicle of licentious tales, "The Rambler's Magazine." He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following account of its getting this name: "What must be done, Sir, will be done. When I was to begin publishing that paper, I was at a loss how to name it. I fat down at night upon my bedfide, and refolved that I would not go to fleep till I had fixed its title. The Rambler feemed the best that occurred, and I took it3.

With what devout and confcientious fentiments this paper was undertaken, is evidenced by the following prayer, which he compofed and offered up on the occafion: «< Almighty GOD, the giver of all good things, without whose

3 I have heard Dr. Warton mention, that he was at Mr. Robert Dodsley's with the late Mr. Moore, and feveral others of his friends, confidering what should be the name of the periodical paper which Moore had undertaken. Garrick propofed the Sallad, which, by a curious coincidence, was afterwards applied to himfelf by Goldfmith:

"Our Garrick's a fallad, for in him we fee

"Oil, vinegar, fugar, and faltnefs agree!"

At last the company having separated, without any thing of which they approved having been offered, Dodfley himself thought of The World.

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