Johnson had now an opportunity of obliging his schoolfellow Dr. James, of whom he once observed, "No man brings more mind to his profession." James published this year his "Medicinal Dictionary," in three volumes folio. Johnson, as I understood from him, had written, or assisted in writing, the proposals for this work; and being very fond of the study of physic, in which James was his master, he furnished some of the articles. He, however, certainly wrote for it the Dedication to Dr. Mead,† which is conceived with great address, to conciliate the patronage of that very eminent man. (1)

It has been circulated, I know not with what authenticity, that Johnson considered Dr. Birch (2) as a dull writer, and said of him, "Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand, that it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties." That the

(1) "Sir, That the Medicinal Dictionary is dedicated to you, is to be imputed only to your reputation for superior skill in those sciences which I have endeavoured to explain and facilitate: and you are, therefore, to consider this address, if it be agreeable to you, as one of the rewards of merit; and, if otherwise, as one of the inconveniencies of eminence.

"However you shall receive it, my design cannot be disappointed; because this public appeal to your judgment will show that I do not found my hopes of approbation upon the ignorance of my readers, and that I fear his censure least, whose knowledge is most extensive. I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, R. JAMES."

(2) [Dr. Thomas Birch was born in London, of Quaker parents, Nov. 23. 1705. To this early friend of Johnson, we are indebted for "The General Dictionary, Historical and Critical," the "Thurlow State Papers," the "History of the Royal Society," and other laborious works. In January, 1776, his horse being frightened at a gun shot off by a boy at birds. on the Hampstead Road, he was thrown and killed on the spot. ]

literature of this country is much indebted to Birch's activity and diligence, must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen that Johnson honoured (1) him with a Greek Epigram; and his correspondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean opinion of him.

66 SIR, I hope you will excuse me for troubling you on an occasion on which I know not whom else I can apply to: I am at a loss for the lives and characters of Earl Stanhope, the two Craggs, and the minister Sunderland; and beg that you will inform [me] where I may find them, and send any pamphlets, &c. relating to them to Mr. Cave, to be perused for a few days by, Sir, your most humble servant,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

His circumstances were at this time embarrassed; yet his affection for his mother was so warm, and so liberal, that he took upon himself a debt of hers, which, though small in itself, was then considerable to him. This appears from the following letter which he wrote to Mr. Levett, of Lichfield, the original of which lies now before me.

(1) No doubt, as the case has turned out, Birch is honoured by Johnson's compliment; but at the time when it was written, Birch was of eminence in the literary world, and (what affected Johnson more nearly) high in the estimation of Cave; and Johnson's learned flatteries of him, Miss Carter, and Mr. Urban, were all probably prompted by the same motive,. -a desire to propitiate Cave. I have seen a MS. letter of Bishop Warburton's, in which he insists, in his usual decisive tone, on the poor use which Birch made in his writings of the materials which he possessed.CROKER.

LETTER 15.

TO MR. LEVETT, IN LICHFIELD.

December 1. 1743.

66 SIR, I am extremely sorry that we have encroached so much upon your forbearance with respect to the interest, which a great perplexity of affairs hindered me from thinking of with that attention that I ought, and which I am not immediately able to remit to you, but will pay it (I think twelve pounds) in two months. I look upon this, and on the future interest of that mortgage, as my own debt; and beg that you will be pleased to give me directions how to pay it, and not to mention it to my dear mother. If it be necessary to pay this in less time, I believe I can do it; but I take two months for certainty, and beg an answer whether you can allow me so much time. I think myself very much obliged to your forbearance, and shall esteem it a great happiness to be able to serve you. I have great opportunities of dispersing any thing that you may think it proper to make public. I will give a note for the money, payable at the time mentioned, to any one here that you shall appoint. I am, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant,

"SAM. JOHNSON."

"At Mr. Osborne's, bookseller, in Gray's Inn."

It does not appear that he wrote any thing in 1744(1) for the Gentleman's Magazine, but the Preface. His life of Barretier was now republished in

(1) In this and the two next years, Mr. Boswell has not assigned to Johnson any contributions to the Gentleman's Magazine, yet there seems little doubt that from his connection with that work he derived, for some years, the chief and almost the only means of subsistence for himself and his wife: perhaps he may have acted as general editor with an annual allowance, and he no doubt employed himself on more literary works than have been acknowledged. In this point the public loss is, perhaps, not great. What he was unwilling to avow, we need not be very solicitous to discover. Indeed, his personal history is, about this period, a blank, hidden, it is to be feared, in the obscurity of indigence. - CROker.

a pamphlet by itself. But he produced one work this year, fully sufficient to maintain the high reputation which he had acquired. This was "The Life of Richard Savage*;" a man, of whom it is difficult to speak impartially, without wondering that he was for some time the intimate companion of Johnson; for his character() was marked by profligacy, insolence, and ingratitude: yet, as he undoubtedly had a warm and vigorous, though unregulated mind, had seen life in all its varieties, and been much in the company of the statesmen and wits of his time, he could communicate to Johnson an abundant supply of such materials as his philosophical curiosity most eagerly desired; and as Savage's misfortunes and misconduct had reduced him to the lowest state of wretchedness as a writer for bread, his visits to St. John's Gate naturally brought Johnson and him together. (2)

(1) As a specimen of Savage's temper, I insert the following letter from him to a noble Lord [Tyrconnel], to whom he was under great obligations, but who, on account of his bad conduct, was obliged to discard him. The original was in the hands of the late Francis Cockayne Cust, Esq., one of his Majesty's counsel learned in the law :

"Right Honourable BRUTE and BOOBY, -I find you want (as Mr. is pleased to hint,) to swear away my life, that is, the life of your creditor, because he asks you for a debt. The public shall soon be acquainted with this, to judge whether you are not fitter to be an Irish evidence, than to be an Irish peer. I defy and despise you. I am, your determined adversary,

R. S."

(2) Sir John Hawkins gives the world to understand, that Johnson, "being an admirer of genteel manners, was captivated by the address and demeanour of Savage, who, as to his exterior, was, to a remarkable degree, accomplished."- HAW KINS'S Life, p. 52. But Sir John's notions of gentility must appear somewhat ludicrous, from his stating the following circumstance as presumptive evidence that Savage was a good swordsman: "That he understood the exercise of a gentleman's weapon, may be inferred from the use made of it in that rash encounter related in his Life." The dexterity here alluded to was, that Savage, in a nocturnal fit of drunkenness, stabbed

It is melancholy to reflect, that Johnson and Savage were sometimes in such extreme indigence (1), that they could not pay for a lodging; so that they have wandered together whole nights in the streets. (2) Yet in these almost incredible scenes of

a man at a coffee-house, and killed him: for which he was tried at the Old Bailey, and found guilty of murder.

Johnson, indeed, describes him as having "a grave and manly deportment, a solemn dignity of mien; but which, upon a nearer acquaintance, softened into an engaging easiness of manners.' How highly Johnson admired him for that knowledge which he himself so much cultivated, and what kindness he entertained for him, appears from the following lines in the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1738, which I am assured were written by Johnson:

"Ad Ricardum Savage.

"Humani studium generis cui pectore fervet

O colat humanum te foveatque genus."

(1) The following striking proof of Johnson's extreme indigence, when he published the Life of Savage, was communicated to Mr. Boswell, by Mr. Richard Stowe, of Apsley, in Bedfordshire, from the information of Mr. Walter Harte, author of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus: — "Soon after Savage's Life was published, Mr. Harte dined with Edward Cave, and occasionally praised it. Soon after, meeting him, Cave said, 'You made a man very happy t' other day.' How could that be?' says Harte; nobody was there but ourselves.' Cave answered, by reminding him that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which was to Johnson, dressed so shabbily, that he did not choose to appear; but, on hearing the conversation, he was highly delighted with the encomiums on his book."- MALONE.

(2) As Johnson was married before he settled in London, and must have always had a habitation for his wife, some readers have wondered how he ever could have been driven to stroll about with Savage, all night, for want of a lodging. But it should be remembered, that Johnson, at different periods, had lodgings in the vicinity of London; and his finances certainly would not admit of a double establishment. When, therefore, he spent a convivial day in London, and found it too late to return to any country residence he may occasionally have had, having no lodging in town, he was obliged to pass the night in the manner described above; for though, at that period, it was not uncommon for two men to sleep together, Savage, it appears, could accommodate him with nothing but his company in the open air. - MALONE.