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pleasure so soon; for a pleasure I shall always think it, to converse in any manner with an ingenious and candid man: but having the enclosed poem in my hands to dispose of for the benefit of the author, (of whose abilities I shall say nothing, since I send you his performance,) I believe I could not procure more advantageous terms from any person than from you, who have so much distinguished yourself by your generous encouragement of poetry; and whose judgment of that art nothing but your commendation of my trifle (1) can give me any occasion to call in question. I do not doubt but you will look over this poem with another eye, and reward it in a different manner from a mercenary bookseller, who counts the lines he is to purchase, and considers nothing but the bulk. I cannot help taking notice, that, besides what the author may hope for on account of his abilities, he has likewise another claim to your regard, as he lies at present under very disadvantageous circumstances of fortune. I beg, therefore, that you will favour me with a letter to-morrow, that I may know what you can afford to allow him, that he may either part with it to you, or find out (which I do not expect) some other way more to his satisfaction.

"I have only to add, that as I am sensible I have transcribed it very coarsely, which, after having altered it, I was obliged to do, I will, if you please to transmit the sheets from the press, correct it for you; and take the trouble of altering any stroke of satire which you may dislike.

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By exerting on this occasion your usual generosity, you will not only encourage learning, and relieve distress, but (though it be in comparison of the other motives of very small account) oblige, in a very sensible manner, Sir, your very humble servant,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

(1) His Ode "Ad Urbanum" was, no doubt, the trifle referred to.- CROKER.

LETTER 5.

TO MR. CAVE.

If

I pro

"Monday, No. 6. Castle Street. [March, 1738.] "SIR, I am to return you thanks for the present () you were so kind as to send by me, and to entreat that you will be pleased to inform me, by the penny-post, whether you resolve to print the poem. you please to send it me by the post, with a note to Dodsley, I will go and read the lines to him, that we may have his consent to put his name in the title-page. As to the printing, if it can be set immediately about, I will be so much the author's friend, as not to content myself with mere solicitations in his favour. pose, if my calculation be near the truth, to engage for the reimbursement of all that you shall lose by an impression of five hundred; provided, as you very generously propose, that the profit, if any, be set aside for the author's use, excepting the present you made, which, if he be a gainer, it is fit he should repay. I beg that you will let one of your servants write an exact account of the expense of such an impression, and send it with the poem, that I may know what I engage for. I am very sensible, from your generosity on this occasion, of your regard to learning, even in its unhappiest state; and cannot but think such a temper deserving of the gratitude of those who suffer so often from a contrary disposition. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."

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[April, 1738.]

"SIR, I waited on you to take the copy to Dods-. ley's as I remember the number of lines which it

(1) Though Cave had not taste enough to be struck with the value of the poem, he had, we see, charity enough to relieve the pressing wants of the author, in the shape of a present. CROKER.

contains, it will be no longer than Eugenio (1), with the quotations, which must be subjoined at the bottom of the page; part of the beauty of the performance (if any beauty be allowed it) consisting in adapting Juvenal's sentiments to modern facts and persons. It will, with those additions, very conveniently make five sheets. And since the expense will be no more, I shall contentedly insure it, as I mentioned in my last. If it be not therefore gone to Dodsley's, I beg it may be sent me by the penny-post, that I may have it in the evening. I have composed a Greek Epigram to Eliza (2), and think she ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand. Pray send me word

when you will begin upon the poem, for it is a long way to walk. I would leave my Epigram, but have not daylight to transcribe it. I am, Sir, yours, &c.

LETTER 7.

"SAM. JOHNSON."

TO MR. CAVE.

[April, 1738.]

"SIR, I am extremely obliged by your kind letter, and will not fail to attend you to-morrow with Irene, who looks upon you as one of her best friends.

"I was to-day with Mr. Dodsley, who declares very warmly in favour of the paper you sent him, which he desires to have a share in, it being, as he says, a creditable thing to be concerned in. I knew not what answer to make till I had consulted you, nor what to demand on the author's part; but am very willing that, if you please, he should have a part in it, as he will

(1) A poem, published in 1737, of which see an account, post, under April 30. 1773.

(2) The learned Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. This lady, of whom frequent mention will be found in these Memoirs, was daughter of Nicholas Carter, D.D. She was born in 1717, and died, in Clarges Street, February 19. 1806, in her eighty-ninth year. MALONE.

undoubtedly be more diligent to disperse and promote it. If you can send me word to-morrow what I shall say to him, I will settle matters, and bring the poem with me for the press, which, as the town empties, we cannot be too quick with. I am, Sir, yours, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON."

To us who have long known the manly force, bold spirit, and masterly versification of this poem, it is a matter of curiosity to observe the diffidence with which its author brought it forward into public notice, while he is so cautious as not to avow it to be his own production; and with what humility he offers to allow the printer to "alter any stroke of satire which he might dislike.” That any such alteration was made, we do not know. If we did, we could not but feel an indignant regret; but how painful is it to see that a writer of such vigorous powers of mind was actually in such distress, that the small profit which so short a poem, however excellent, could yield, was courted as a "relief!"

It has been generally said, I know not with what truth, that Johnson offered his "London" to several booksellers, none of whom would purchase it. Το this circumstance Mr. Derrick (1) alludes in the following lines of his "Fortune, a Rhapsody:"

(1) [Samuel Derrick, a native of Ireland, was born in 1724. He was apprenticed to a linen-draper, but abandoned that calling, first, for the stage, where he soon failed, and then for the trade of literature. Besides "Fortune, a Rhapsody" (1753), he published a translation of the Third Satire of Juvenal, a View of the Stage, an edition of Dryden's Poems, and "Letters written from Liverpool, Chester," &c. It will be seen that Johnson had "a great kindness" for him, and that he was Boswell's "first tutor in the ways of London." In 1761, Derrick succeeded Beau Nash as master of the ceremonies at Bath, where he died in 1769.]

"Will no kind patron Johnson own?

Shall Johnson friendless range the town?
And every publisher refuse

The offspring of his happy muse?"

But we have seen that the worthy, modest, and ingenious Mr. Robert Dodsley (1) had taste enough to perceive its uncommon merit, and thought it creditable to have a share in it. The fact is, that, at a future conference, he bargained for the whole property of it, for which he gave Johnson ten guineas, who told me, "I might perhaps have accepted of less; but that Paul Whitehead had a little before got ten guineas for a poem, and I would not take less than Paul Whitehead."

I may here observe, that Johnson appeared to me to undervalue Paul Whitehead upon every occasion when he was mentioned, and, in my opinion, did not do him justice; but when it is considered that Paul Whitehead was a member of a riotous and profane club'(2), we may account for Johnson's having a prejudice against him. Paul Whitehead was, indeed, unfortunate in being not only slighted by Johnson,

(1) [Robert Dodsley was born in 1703. He had been servant to Miss Lowther, and in 1733 published, by subscription, a volume of poems, entitled "The Muse in Livery." He afterwards wrote "The Toyshop," "The King and Miller of Mansfield," "Cleone, a Tragedy," "The Economy of Human Life," and other pieces. In 1758 he projected, in concert with Mr. Burke, the Annual Register, and in 1759 he was succeeded in his business as a bookseller by his brother James. R. Dodsley died in 1764.]

(2) [Paul Whitehead belonged to that jovial association of choice spirits, called the Beef Steak Club, held in Covent Garden theatre, and consisting of an heterogeneous mixture of peers, poets, and players. He died in 1774, bequeathing his heart to his patron, Lord le Despenser, who deposited it in a mausoleum in his garden, at High Wycombe. - ANDERSON.]

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