reason. Ausonius thought that modesty forbade him to plead inability for a task to which Cæsar had judged him equal:

'Cur me posse negem, posse quod ille putat?'

And I may hope, my lord, that since you, whose authority in our language is so generally acknowledged, have commissioned me to declare my own opinion, I shall be considered as exercising a kind of vicarious jurisdiction; and that the power which might have been denied to my own claim, will be readily allowed me as the delegate of your lordship.”

This passage proves, that Johnson's addressing his "Plan" to Lord Chesterfield was not merely in consequence of the result of a report by means of Dodsley, that the earl favoured the design; but that there had been a particular communication with his lordship concerning it. Dr. Taylor told me, that Johnson sent his " Plan" to him in manuscript, for his perusal; and that when it was lying upon his table, Mr. William Whitehead (1) happened to pay him a visit, and being shewn it, was highly pleased with such parts of it as he had time to read, and begged to take it home with him, which he was allowed to do; that from him it got into the hands of a noble lord, who carried it to Lord Chesterfield. (2) When Taylor observed this might be an advantage, Johnson replied, "No, sir, it would have come out with more bloom, if it had not been seen before by any body."

(1) [William Whitehead was born at Cambridge in 1715, succeeded Cibber as poet laureate in 1757, and died, April 14. 1785.]

(2) This also must be inaccurate, for the plan contains nu

The opinion conceived of it by another noble author, appears from the following extract of a letter from the Earl of Orrery (1) to Dr. Birch:

"Caledon, Dec. 30. 1747.

I

"I have just now seen the specimen of Mr. Johnson's Dictionary, addressed to Lord Chesterfield. am much pleased with the plan, and I think the specimen is one of the best that I have ever read. (2) Most specimens disgust, rather than prejudice us in favour of the work to follow; but the language of Mr. Johnson's is good, and the arguments are properly and modestly expressed. However, some expressions may be cavilled at, but they are trifles. I'll mention one the barren laurel. The laurel is not barren, in any sense whatever; it bears fruits and flowers. hæ sunt nugæ, and I have great expectations from the performance." (3)

Sed

merous allusions and references to Lord Chesterfield's opinions; and there is the evidence both of Lord Chesterfield and Johnson, that Dodsley was the person who communicated with his lordship on the subject.-CROKER.

(1) John Boyle, born in 1707; educated first under the private tuition of Fenton the poet, and afterwards at Westminster School and Christ Church College, Oxford; succeeded his father as fifth Earl of Orrery in 1737; D.C.L. of Oxford in 1743; F.R.S. in 1750; and, on the death of his cousin, in 1753, fifth Earl of Corke. He published several works, but the only original one of any note is his "Life of Swift," written with great professions of friendship, but, in fact, with considerable severity towards the dean. Lord Orrery's acquaintance may have tended to increase Johnson's aversion to Swift. CROKER.

(2) [The Dictionary of the French Academy is vastly superior, however, to Johnson's in definition and illustration, though it wants the derivations and authorities; and it is remarkable, that Johnson's obligations to Bailey should have been so little noticed. It would, surely, have been a much more formidable task to write Bailey's Dictionary without assistance, than Johnson's with the assistance of Bailey's. - FONNEREAU.]

(3) Birch MSS. Brit. Mus. 4303.

That he was fully aware of the arduous nature of the undertaking, he acknowledges; and shows himself perfectly sensible of it in the conclusion of his "Plan;" but he had a noble consciousness of his own abilities, which enabled him to go on with undaunted spirit.

Dr. Adams found him one day busy at his Dictionary, when the following dialogue ensued:- "ADAMS. This is a great work, sir. How are you to get all the etymologies? JOHNSON. Why, sir, here is a shelf with Junius, and Skinner, and others; and there is a Welch gentleman who has published a collection of Welch proverbs, who will help me with the Welch. ADAMS. But, sir, how can you do this in three years? JOHNSON. Sir, I have no doubt that I can do it in three years. ADAMS. But the French Academy, which consists of forty members, took forty years to compile their Dictionary. JOHNSON. Sir, thus it is. This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman." With so much ease and pleasantry could he talk of that prodigious labour which he had undertaken to execute.

The public has had, from another pen (1), a long detail of what had been done in this country by prior Lexicographers; and no doubt Johnson was wise to avail himself of them, so far as they went but the learned yet judicious research of

(1) Sir John Hawkins's List of former English Dictionaries is, however, by no means complete.- MALONE.

etymology, the various, yet accurate display of definition, and the rich collection of authorities, were reserved for the superior mind of our great philologist. For the mechanical part he employed, as he told me, six amanuenses; and let it be remembered by the natives of North-Britain, to whom he is supposed to have been so hostile, that five of them were of that country. There were two Messieurs Macbean; Mr. Shiels, who, we shall hereafter see [April 10. 1776], partly wrote the Lives of the Poets to which the name of Cibber is affixed; Mr. Stewart, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and a Mr. Maitland. The sixth of these humble assistants was Mr. Peyton, who, I believe, taught French, and published some elementary

tracts.

To all these painful labourers, Johnson showed a never-ceasing kindness, so far as they stood in need of it. The elder Mr. Macbean had afterwards the honour of being Librarian to Archibald, Duke of Argyle, for many years, but was left without a shilling. Johnson wrote for him a Preface to, “A System of Ancient Geography;" and, by the favour of Lord Thurlow, got him admitted a poor brother of the Charter-house. For Shiels, who died of a consumption, he had much tenderness; and it has been thought that some choice sentences in the Lives of the Poets were supplied by him. Peyton, when reduced to penury, had frequent aid from the bounty of Johnson; who at last was at the expense of burying him and his wife.

While the Dictionary was going forward, Johnson

lived part of the time in Holborn, part in Gough Square, Fleet Street; and he had an upper room fitted up like a counting-house for the purpose, in which he gave to the copyists their several tasks. The words partly taken from other dictionaries, and partly supplied by himself, having been first written down with spaces left between them, he delivered in writing their etymologies, definitions, and various significations.(1) The authorities were copied from the books themselves, in which he had marked the passages with a black-lead pencil (2), the traces of which could easily be effaced. I have seen several of them, in which that trouble had not been taken; so that they were just as when used by the copyists. It is remarkable, that he was so attentive in the choice of the passages in which words were authorised, that one may read page after page of his Dictionary with improvement and pleasure; and it

(1) [Boswell's account of the manner in which Johnson compiled his Dictionary is confused and erroneous. He began his task (as he himself expressly described to me), by devoting his first care to a diligent perusal of all such English writers as were most correct in their language, and under every sentence which he meant to quote he drew a line, and noted in the margin the first letter of the word under which it was to occur. He then delivered these books to his clerks, who transcribed each sentence on a separate slip of paper, and arranged the same under the word referred to. By these means he collected the several words and their different significations; and when the whole arrangement was alphabetically formed, he gave the definitions of their meanings, and collected their etymologies from Skinner, Junius, and other writers on the subject.PERCY.]

(2) [Johnson's copy of Hudibras, 1726, with the passages thus marked on every page, is now in Mr. Upcott's collection. It has Johnson's signature, dated Aug. 1747.]