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Rt. Hon. Thomas Grenville

Dr. Vincent, Dean of Westminster Dec. 21. 1815.

William Lock, jun. Esq.

George Ellis, Esq.

Apr. 10. 1815.

62.-1802, Dec. 7.

Gilbert Lord Minto

June 24. 1814.

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Feb. 27. 1809.

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Rt. Hon. Sir William Grant
Sir George Staunton, Bart.

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66.-1804, Mar. 20.

Dr. S. Horsley, Bishop of St. Asaph Oct. 4. 1806

67.-1806, Jan. 21.

Charles Wilkins, Esq.

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Rt. Hon. Sir Wm. Drummond

Mar. 29. 1828.

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Sir Henry Halford, Bart.

70.-1808, Mar. 22.

Sir H. C. Englefield, Bart.

Mar. 21. 1822.

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The Lord Holland

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93.-1822, Apr. 16.

Rt. Hon. W. C. Plunket, Lord

Plunket

94.-1823, May 27.

Francis Chantrey, Esq. R.A.

95.

Henry Hallam, Esq.

96.-1826, Dec. 12. 97.-1828, May 6.

Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

Jan. 14. 1830.

Lieut.-Col. W. M. Leake

98.

May 20.

Thomas Young, M.D.

May 10. 1829.

99.

Rev. William Buckland, D.D.

100.-1829, Apr. 7. J. N. Fazakerley, Esq.

101.

Dr. Edward Copleston, Bishop of

Landaff

102.-1829, May 19.

Davies Gilbert, Esq. P.R.S.

103.-1830, Mar. 9.

Lord Brougham and Vaux

104.-1830, May 4.

Henry Gally Knight, Esq.

105.-1830, May 4.

The Hon. Mount Stuart Elphinstone

106.-1832, Apr. 3.

Lord Dover

July 10. 1833.

107.-1832, July 3.

Sir Martin Archer Shee, P.R.A.

108.-1833, May 14.

Viscount Mahon

109.-1834, Apr. 15.

Hudson Gurney, Esq.

110.-1334. Apr. 29.

Rev. Dr. Charles Parr Burney

111.-1834, Apr. 29.

The Earl of Carnarvon

* Dr. William Howley withdrew from the Club on becoming Archbishop

of Canterbury, Feb. 1829.

THE CLUB, as it stood MARCH 10. 1835.

The Earl of Aberdeen, P.S.A.

Lord Brougham and Vaux.

Rev. Dr. Buckland.

Rev. Dr. Charles Parr Burney.
The Earl of Carnarvon.

Francis Chantrey, Esq, R. A.

The Hon. Mount Stuart Elphinstone.

J. N. Fazakerley, Esq.

The Rt. Hon. John Hookham Frere
Sir William Gell.

Davies Gilbert, Esq. P.R.S.
Rt. Hon. Thomas Grenville.

Hudson Gurney, Esq.

Sir Henry Halford, Bart.

Henry Hallam, Esq.

Charles Hatchett, Esq. (Treasurer.)

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At the meetings of the club the chair is taken in rotation by the members, according to the alphabetical arrangement of their names; the only permanent officer being the treasurer.

Mr. Malone was the first treasurer; and upon his decease, in 1812, Sir Henry Charles Englefield was elected to that office, which however, on account of weakness of sight, he resigned in 1814; when the Rev. Dr. Charles Burney was chosen, and continued to be treasurer until his death, which took place in December, 1817; and on the 10th of March 1818, Mr. Hatchett, the present treasurer, was elected.

[No. II. -CAMBRIDGE.

ACCOUNT OF JOHNSON'S VISIT TO
CAMBRIDGE, IN 1765.

[See p. 284. antè. This little narrative was first published in the New Monthly Magazine for December 1818.]

AFTER despairing for some time of being able to send you a narrative of Johnson's journey to Cambridge, worthy of your acceptance, I now hope, through the assistance of a dear and very old friend, to transmit you something not derogatory to its illustrious subject. The gentleman here alluded to is the Rev. J. Lettice, then Fellow of Sidney College (since rector of Peasmarsh, Sussex), of whose merits, as a writer, the public is already well apprized, and whom, in the following narrative, I shall always mention as my friend.

My first introduction to Dr. Johnson was owing to the following circumstance. My friend and I had agreed upon attempting a new translation of Plutarch's Lives; but prevously, as I was just then going to town, my friend wished me to consult Johnson about it, with whom he himself was well acquainted. In consequence, when in town, I procured an interview with Levett, who willingly next morning introduced me to breakfast with the great man. His residence was then in some old-fashioned rooms called, I think, Inner Temple Lane, No. 1. At the top of a few steps the door opened into a dark and dingy-looking old wainscoted ante-room, through which was the study, and into which, a little before noon, came rolling, as if just roused from his cabin, the truly uncouth figure of our literary Colossus, in a strange black wig, too little for him by half, but which, before our next interview, was exchanged for that very respectable brown one in which his friend, Sir Joshua, so faithfully depicted him. I am glad, however, I saw the queer black bob, as his biographers have noticed it, and as it proved that the lustre of native genius can

break through the most disfiguring habiliments. He seemed pleased to see a young Cantab in his rooms, and on my acquainting him with the business on which I had taken the liberty of consulting him, he rather encouraged our undertaking than otherwise; though, after working at it for a few months, we found the work too tedious and incompatible with other pursuits, and were obliged to relinquish it. After this, the great man questioned me about Cambridge, and whatever regarded literature, and attended to my answers with great complacency. The situation of these apartments I well remember. I called once more before I left town, but the Doctor was absent, and when Francis Barber, his black servant, opened the door to tell me so, a group of his African countrymen were sitting round a fire in the gloomy ante-room; and on their all turning their sooty faces at once to stare at me, they presented a curious spectacle. I repeatedly afterwards visited him, both in Johnson's Court and Bolt Court.

Though I meant at first to confine myself solely to his Cambridge excursion, yet, that we may not lose, as Garrick says, "one drop of this immortal man," permit me to say a few words respecting these different calls. When alone, he sometimes asked me to take tea with him; and I can truly say, that I never found him morose or overbearing, though I freely contradicted him, with which he seemed pleased, and, in order to lead a young man into a sort of controversy or discussion, he would now and then advance what he did not think. He has been aptly compared to a ghost, as he would seldom speak first, but would sit librating in his chair till a question was asked, upon which he would promptly and fluently dilate. The reason for this seems, as a first-rate genius, who feels himself equally prepared to discuss whatever subject may be started, must deem it more to his own honour that he should not choose the topic himself. When I saw the Doctor again, after we had given up Plutarch, I told him that my friend and Professor Martyn (1) had undertaken to give an edition in English, with

(1) The Rev. Thomas Martyn, Fellow of Sidney College, and Botanical Professor, at Cambridge.

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