but violently attacked by Churchill, who utters the following imprecation :

May I (can worse disgrace on manhood fall?)
Be born a Whitehead, and baptized a Paul!

yet I shall never be persuaded to think meanly of the author of so brilliant and pointed a satire as "Manners." (1)

Johnson's "London" was published in May, 1738 (2); and it is remarkable, that it came out on

(1) [" Paul Whitehead, a small poet, was summoned before the Lords for a poem called Manners,' together with Dodsley, his publisher. Whitehead, who hung loose upon society, skulked and escaped; but Dodsley's shop and family made his appearance necessary. He was, however, soon dismissed; and the whole process was probably intended rather to intimidate Pope than to punish Whitehead."-JOHNSON, Life of Pope.]

(2) Sir John Hawkins, p. 86., tells us, "The event (Savage's retirement) is antedated in the poem of 'London; but in every particular, except the difference of a year, what is there said of the departure of Thales must be understood of Savage, and looked upon as true history." This conjecture is, I believe, entirely groundless. I have been assured that Johnson said he was not so much as acquainted with Savage when he wrote his "London." If the departure mentioned in it was the departure of Savage, the event was not antedated but foreseen; for "London was published in May, 1738, and Savage did not set out for Wales till July, 1739. However well Johnson could defend the credibility of second sight, he did not pretend that he himself was possessed of that faculty. - BOSWELL.

Notwithstanding Mr. Boswell's proofs, and Dr. Johnson's own assertion, the identity of Savage and Thales has been repeated by all the biographers, and has obtained general vogue. It may, therefore, be worth while to add, that Johnson's residence at Greenwich (which, as it was the scene of his fancied parting from Thales, is currently taken to have been that of his real separation from Savage,) occurred two years before the latter event; and at that time it does not appear that Johnson was so much as acquainted with Savage, or even with Cave, at whose house he first met Savage: again, Johnson distinctly tells us, in his Life of Savage, that the latter took his departure for Wales, not by embarking at Greenwich, but by the Bristol

the same morning with Pope's satire, entitled "1738:" so that England had at once its Juvenal and Horace as poetical monitors. The Rev. Dr. Douglas (1), now Bishop of Salisbury, to whom I am indebted for some obliging communications, was then a student at Oxford, and remembers well the effect which "London" produced. Every body was delighted with it; and there being no name to it, the first buzz of the literary circles was, "Here is an unknown poet, greater even than Pope." And it is recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine of that year, p. 269.,

stage coach; and, finally and decisively, Johnson, if Thales had been Savage, could never have admitted into his poem two lines which seem to point so forcibly at the drunken fray, when Savage stabbed a Mr. Sinclair, for which he was convicted of murder:

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Some frolic drunkard, reeling from a feast,
Provokes a broil, and stabs you in a jest.”

There is, certainly, a curious coincidence between some points of the characters of Thales and Savage; but it seems equally certain that the coincidence was fortuitous. Mr. Murphy endeavours to reconcile the difficulties by supposing that Savage's retirement was in contemplation eighteen months before it was carried into effect: but even if this were true (which may well be doubted), it would not alter the facts- -that" London was written before Johnson knew Savage; and that one of the severest strokes in the satire touched Savage's sorest point. CROKER.

(1) Douglas was a Scotchman by birth, but educated at St. Mary Hall and Balliol College, Oxford, (M. A. 1743, D.D. 1758,) and owed his first promotions to Lord Bath (to whose son he had been tutor), and his literary reputation to his detection of Lauder. He wrote several political pamphlets, and prepared Captain Cook's third journal for publication. But his most valuable work is "The Criterion," a refutation of the objections of Hume and others to the miracles recorded in the New Testament. He was made Bishop of Carlisle in 1788, and translated to Salisbury in 1791, in which see he died in 1807. — CROKER.

that it "got to the second edition in the course of a week."

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One of the warmest patrons of this poem on its first appearance was General Oglethorpe, whose strong benevolence of soul" was unabated during the course of a very long life; though it is painful to think, that he had but too much reason to become cold and callous, and discontented with the world, from the neglect which he experienced of his public and private worth, by those in whose power it was to gratify so gallant a veteran with marks of distinction.() This extraordinary person was as remarkable for his learning and taste, as for his other eminent qualities; and no man was more prompt, active, and generous, in encouraging merit. I have heard Johnson gratefully acknowledge, in his presence, the kind and effectual support which he gave to his "London," though unacquainted with its author.

Pope, who then filled the poetical throne without a rival, it may reasonably be presumed, must have

(1) [James Edward Oglethorpe, born in 1698, was admitted of C. C. C. Oxford in 1714; but he soon after entered the army, and served under Prince Eugene against the Turks. His activity in settling the colony of Georgia obtained for him the immortality of Pope's celebrated panegyric:

"One, driven by strong benevolence of soul,
Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole."

In 1745 he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and had a command during the Scotch rebellion, in the course of which he was rather unfortunate. He became, however, a He sat

Lieutenant-General in 1747, and a General in 1765.

in five or six parliaments, and was there considered as a high Tory, if not a Jacobite; to which, probably, as Mr. Croker has conjectured, he may have owed some mortifications and neglects.]

been particularly struck by the sudden appearance of such a poet; and to his credit let it be remembered, that his feelings and conduct on the occasion were candid and liberal. He requested Mr. Richardson(1), son of the painter, to endeavour to find out who this new author was. Mr. Richardson, after some enquiry, having informed him that he had discovered only that his name was Johnson, and that he was some obscure man, Pope said, "He will soon be deterré. (2) We shall presently see, from a note written by Pope, that he was himself afterwards more successful in his enquiries than his friend.

That in this justly-celebrated poem may be found a few rhymes which the critical precision of English prosody at this day would disallow cannot be denied; but with this small imperfection, which in the general blaze of its excellence is not perceived, till the mind has subsided into cool attention, it is, undoubtedly, one of the noblest productions in our language, both for sentiment and expression. The nation was then in that ferment against the ministry, which some years after ended in the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole; and it has been

court and the

(1) There were three_Richardsons known at this period in the literary world: 1st, Jonathan the elder, usually called the Painter, though he was an author as well as a painter; he died in 1745, aged 80: 2d, Jonathan the younger, who is the person mentioned in the text, who also painted, though not as a profession, and who published several works; he died in 1771, aged 77: 3d, Samuel, the author of the celebrated novels. He was by trade a printer, and had the good sense to continue, during the height of his fame, his attention to his business. He died in 1761, aged 72. — - CROKER.

(2) Sir Joshua Reynolds, from the information of the younger Richardson.

said, that Tories are Whigs when out of place, and Whigs Tories when in place; so, as a Whig administration ruled with what force it could, a Tory opposition had all the animation and all the eloquence of resistance to power, aided by the common topics of patriotism, liberty, and independence! Accordingly, we find in Johnson's "London" the most spirited invectives against tyranny and oppression, the warmest predilection for his own country, and the purest love of virtue; interspersed with traits of his own particular character and situation, not omitting his prejudices as a "true-born Englishman ()," not only against foreign countries, but against Ireland and Scotland. On some of these topics I shall quote a few passages:—

"The cheated nation's happy fav'rites see;

Mark whom the great caress, who frown on me."

"Has heaven reserved, in pity to the poor,
No pathless waste, or undiscover'd shore?
No secret island in the boundless main ?
No peaceful desert yet unclaim'd by Spain?
Quick let us rise, the happy seats explore,
And bear Oppression's insolence no more."

"How, when competitors like these contend, Can surly Virtue hope to find a friend ?

"This mournful truth is every where confess'd, SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESS'D!"

(1) It is, however, remarkable, that he uses the epithet, which undoubtedly, since the union between England and Scotland, ought to denominate the natives of both parts of our island: "Was early taught a Briton's rights to prize."