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Some sheets of this translation were printed off, but the design was dropt; for it happened oddly enough, that another person of the name of Samuel Johnson, librarian of St. Martin's in the Fields, and curate of that parish, engaged in the same undertaking, and was patronised by the clergy, particularly by Dr. Pearce, afterwards Bishop of Rochester. Several light skirmishes passed between the rival translators, in the newspapers of the day; and the consequence was that they destroyed each other, for neither of them went on with the work. It is much to be regretted, that the able performance (1) of that celebrated genius Fra Paolo, lost the advantage of being incorporated into British literature by the masterly hand of Johnson.

I have in my possession, by the favour of Mr. John Nichols, a paper in Johnson's handwriting, entitled

script. By S. Johnson. 1. The work will consist of two hundred sheets, and be two volumes in quarto, printed on good paper and letter. 2. The price will be 18s. each volume, to be paid, half a guinea at the delivery of the first volume, and the rest at the delivery of the second volume in sheets. Two-pence to be abated for every sheet less than two hundred. It may be had on a large paper, in three volumes, at the price of three guineas; one to be paid at the time of subscribing, another at the delivery of the first, and the rest at the delivery of the other volumes. The work is now in the press, and will be diligently prosecuted. Subscriptions are taken in by Mr. Dodsley in Pall Mall, Mr. Rivington in St. Paul's Church Yard, by E. Cave at St. John's Gate, and the Translator, at No. 6. in Castle Street, by Cavendish Square."

(1) [Johnson, in his Life of Sarpi, describes the History of the Council of Trent, as "a work unequalled for the judicious disposition of the matter, and artful texture of the narrationcommended by Dr. Burnet as the completest model of historical writing-and celebrated by Mr. Wotton as equivalent to any production of antiquity; in which the reader finds liberty without licentiousness, piety without hypocrisy, freedom of speech without neglect of decency, severity without rigour, and extensive learning without ostentation."]

"Account between Mr. Edward Cave and Samuel Johnson, in relation to a version of Father Paul, &c. begun August the 2d, 1738;" by which it appears, that from that day to the 21st of April, 1739, Johnson received for this work 497. 7s. in sums of one, two, three, and sometimes four guineas at a time, most frequently two. And it is curious to observe

the minute and scrupulous accuracy with which Johnson had pasted upon it a slip of paper, which he has entitled "Small account," and which contains one article, "Sept. 9th, Mr. Cave laid down 2s. 6d.” There is subjoined to this account, a list of some subscribers to the work, partly in Johnson's handwriting, partly in that of another person; and there follows a leaf or two on which are written a number of characters which have the appearance of a shorthand, which, perhaps, Johnson was then trying to learn.

LETTER 9.

TO MR. CAVE.

"Wednesday. [Aug. or Sept. 1738.] "SIR, I did not care to detain your servant while I wrote an answer to your letter, in which you seem to insinuate that I had promised more than I am ready to perform. If I have raised your expectations by any thing that may have escaped my memory, I am sorry; and if you remind me of it, shall thank you for the favour. If I made fewer alterations than usual in the Debates, it was only because there appeared, and still appears to be, less need of alteration. The verses to Lady Firebrace (') may be had when you please, for

(1) They appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for Sept. 1738, with this title: :-"Verses to Lady Firebrace, at Bury

you know that such a subject neither deserves much thought nor requires it.

"The Chinese Stories (1) may be had folded down when you please to send, in which I do not recollect that you desired any alterations to be made.

"An answer to another query I am very willing to write, and had consulted with you about it last night, if there had been time; for I think it the most proper way of inviting such a correspondence as may be an advantage to the paper, not a load upon it.

"As to the Prize Verses, a backwardness to determine their degrees of merit is not peculiar to me. You may, if you please, still have what I can say ; but I shall engage with little spirit in an affair, which I shall hardly end to my own satisfaction, and certainly not to the satisfaction of the parties concerned. (2)

"As to Father Paul, I have not yet been just to my proposal, but have met with impediments, which, I hope, are now at an end; and if you find the progress hereafter not such as you have a right to expect, you can easily stimulate a negligent translator.

"If any or all of these have contributed to your discontent, I will endeavour to remove it; and desire

Assizes." It seems quite unintelligible how these six silly lines should be the production of Johnson, and made to the order (to use the tradesman's phrase) of Cave. These considerations, and some stupid lines in praise of Suffolk beauties, in the same volume, lead to a conjecture that Cave may have sent some verses of another correspondent, on Lady Firebrace, to Johnson to correct or curtail. It is next to impossible that they could be originally Johnson's own; and it may also be observed, that Boswell does not afterwards mention them in his list of Johnson's contributions to the magazine. — CROKER.

(1) Du Halde's Description of China was then publishing by Mr. Cave, in weekly numbers, whence Johnson was to select pieces for the embellishment of the magazine. - NICHOLS.

(2) The premium of forty pounds proposed for the best poem on the Divine Attributes is here alluded to. — - NICHOLS,

you to propose the question to which you wish for an I am, Sir, your humble servant,

answer.

"SAM. JOHNSON." (1)

LETTER 10.

TO MR. CAVE.

[Sept. 1738.]

"SIR, - I am pretty much of your opinion, that the Commentary cannot be prosecuted with any appearance of success; for as the names of the authors concerned are of more weight in the performance than its own intrinsic merit, the public will be soon satisfied with it. And I think the Examen should be pushed forward with the utmost expedition. Thus, 'This day, &c. an Examen of Mr. Pope's Essay, &c. containing a succinct Account of the Philosophy of Mr. Leibnitz on the System of the Fatalists, with a Confutation of their Opinions, and an Illustration of the Doctrine of Free Will' (with what else you think proper).

"It will, above all, be necessary to take notice, that it is a thing distinct from the Commentary.

"I was so far from imagining they stood still (2), that I conceived them to have a good deal before-hand, and therefore was less anxious in providing them more. But if ever they stand still on my account, it must, doubtless, be charged to me; and whatever else shall be reasonable, I shall not oppose; but beg a suspense of judgment till morning, when I must entreat you to send me a dozen proposals, and you shall then have copy to spare. I am, Sir, yours, impransus,

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"SAM. JOHNSON."

Pray muster up the proposals if you can, or let the boy recall them from the booksellers."

(1) [The original of this letter is in Mr. Upcott's possession. 1835.]

(2) The compositors in Mr. Cave's printing-office, who appear by this letter to have then waited for copy. NICHOLS,

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But although he corresponded with Mr. Cave concerning a translation of Crousaz's Examen of Pope's Essay on Man, and gave advice as one anxious for its success, I was long ago convinced by a perusal of the Preface, that this translation was erroneously ascribed to him; and I have found this point ascertained, beyond all doubt, by the following article in Dr. Birch's manuscripts in the British Museum :—

"Elisa Carteræ, S. P. D. Thomas Birch. Versionem tuam Examinis Crousaziani jam perlegi. Summam styli et elegantiam, et in re difficillimâ proprietatem, admiratus. Dabam Novemb. 27°. 1738." (1)

Indeed, Mrs. Carter has lately acknowledged to Mr. Seward, that she was the translator of the "Examen."

It is remarkable, that Johnson's last quoted letter to Mr. Cave concludes with a fair confession that he had not a dinner; and it is no less remarkable, that though in this state of want himself, his benevolent heart was not insensible to the necessities of an humble labourer in literature, as appears from the very next letter:

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"DEAR SIR, You may remember I have formerly talked with you about a Military Dictionary. The eldest Mr. Macbean (2), who was with Mr. Chambers,

(1) Birch MSS. Brit. Mus. 4323. [See Pennington's Life of Mrs. Carter, p. 42.]

(2) [Alexander Macbean published, in 1773, a Dictionary of Ancient Geography, to which Johnson furnished the preface. In 1781, he being then oppressed by age and poverty, the Doctor obtained for him, through the interest of Lord Thurlow, an

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