papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the publick, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished is an honour, which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.

"When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself Le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre1 that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your lordship in publick, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.

"Seven years, my lord, have now past, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance2, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before. "The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks 3.

1 [No very moderate expectation for " tired and uncourtly scholar!"-ED.]

"Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early 4, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it5; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity, not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the publick should consider me as owing that to a patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself.

"Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation. My lord, your lordship's most humble, most obedient servant, "SAM. JOHNSON 6."

"While this was the talk of the town", (says Dr. Adams, in a letter to me) I happened to visit Dr. Warburton, who, finding that I was acquainted with Johnson, desired me earnestly to carry his compliments to him, and to tell him, that he honoured him for his manly behaviour in rejecting

eye should discover a meaning, it must still be admitted to be pedantic.-ED.]

4 [The notice could not have been, for any Johnson might useful purpose, taken earlier. a re

The following note is subjoined by Mr. Langton: "Dr. Johnson, when he gave me this copy of his letter, desired that I would annex to it his information to me, that whereas it is said in the letter, that no assistance had been received,' he did once receive from Lord Chesterfield the sum of ten pounds; but as that was so inconsiderable a sum, he thought the mention of it could not properly find a place in a letter of the kind that this was."-BosWELL. [This surely is an unsatisfactory excuse; for the sum, though now so inconsiderable, was one which many years before, Johnson tells us, that Paul Whitehead, then a fashionable poet, received for a new work; it was as much as Johnson himself had received for the copyright of his best poetical production: and when Dr. Madden, some years after, gave him the same sum for revising a work of his, Johnson said that the Doctor "was very generous, for ten guineas was to me, at that time, a great sum" (see post, 1756). When Johnson alleged against Lord Chesterfield such a trifle as the waiting in his anteroom, he ought not to have omitted a pecuniary obligation, however inconsiderable.— ED.]

3 [The editor confesses that he does not see the object of this allusion; if some more ingenious

VOL. I.

15

have complained that notice of some other kind had not been taken, but "the notice which his lordship was pleased to take" was peculiarly well timed, and could not properly have come sooner.-ED.]

5 In this passage Dr. Johnson evidently alludes to the loss of his wife. We find the same tender recollection recurring to his mind upon innumerable occasions: and perhaps no man ever more forcibly felt the truth of the sentiment so elegantly expressed by my friend Mr. Malone, in his prologue to Mr. Jephson's tragedy of Julia: «Vain-wealth, and fame, and fortune's fostering care, If no fond breast the splendid blessings share; And, each day's bustling pageantry once past, There, only there, our bliss is found at last."-BOSWELL.

6 Upon comparing this copy with that which Dr. Johnson dictated to me from recollection, the variations are found to be so slight, that this must be added to the many other proofs which he gave of the wonderful extent and accuracy of his memory. To gratify the curious in composition, I have deposited both the copies in the British Museum. -BOSWELL.

7 If this letter was the talk of the town, it appears, from all the evidence, that it must have become known through Lord Chesterfield, as Johnson always refused to let it be seen.--ED.]

these condescensions of Lord Chesterfield, | expressed." The air of indifference, which and for resenting the treatment he had re-imposed upon the worthy Dodsley, was ceived from him with a proper spirit. John- certainly nothing but a specimen of that son was visibly pleased with this compli- dissimulation 2 which Lord Chesterfield inment, for he had always a high opinion of culcated as one of the most essential lessons Warburton 1." Indeed, the force of mind for the conduct of life. His lordship enwhich appeared in this letter was congeni- deavoured to justify himself to Dodsley al with that which Warburton himself am- from the charges brought against him by ply possessed. Johnson; but we may judge of the flimsiness of his defence, from his having excused his neglect of Johnson, by saying, that "he had heard he had changed his lodgings, and did not know where he lived;" as if there could have been the smallest difficulty to inform himself of that circumstance, by inquiring in the literary circle with which his lordship was well acquainted, and was, indeed, himself, one of its ornaments.

There is a curious minute circumstance which struck me, in comparing the various editions of Johnson's Imitations of Juvenal. In the tenth Satire one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes even for literary distinction stood thus:

"Yet think what ills the scholar's life assail,
Toil, envy, want, the garret, and the jail.'
But after experiencing the uneasiness which
Lord Chesterfield's fallacious patronage
made him feel, he dismissed the word gar-
ret from the sad group, and in all the sub-
sequent editions the line stands,

"Toil, envy, want, the Patron, and the jail."

That Lord Chesterfield must have been mortified by the lofty contempt, and polite, yet keen, satire with which Johnson exhibited him to himself in this letter, it is impossible to doubt. He, however, with that glossy duplicity which was his constant study, affected to be quite unconcerned. Dr. Adams mentioned to Mr. Robert Dodsley that he was sorry Johnson had written his letter to Lord Chesterfield. Dodsley, with the true feelings of trade, said, "he was very sorry too; for that he had a property in the Dictionary, to which his lordship's patronage might have been of consequence." He then told Dr. Adams, that Lord Chesterfield had shown him the letter. "I should have imagined (replied Dr. Adams) that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it." "Poh! (said Dodsley) do you think a letter from Johnson could hurt Lord Chesterfield? Not at all, sir. It lay upon his table, where any body might see it. He read it to me; said, this man has great powers,' pointed out the severest passages, and observed how well they were

1 Soon after Edwards's "Canons of Criticism" came out, Johnson was dining at Tonson the bookseller's with Hayman the painter and some more company. Hayman related to Sir Joshua Reynolds, that the conversation having turned upon Edwards's book, the gentlemen praised it much, and Johnson allowed its merit. But when they went farther, and appeared to put that authour upon a level with Warburton, "Nay (said Johnson), he has given him some smart hits, to be sure; but there is no proportion between the two men; they must not be named together. A fly, sir, may sting a stately horse, and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still."-BOSWELL

Dr. Adams expostulated with Johnson, and suggested, that his not being admitted when he called on him, was probably not to be imputed to Lord Chesterfield; for his lordship had declared to Dodsley, that "he would have turned off the best servant he ever had, if he had known that he denied him to a man who would have been always more than welcome;" and in confirmation of this, he insisted on Lord Chesterfield's general affability and easiness of access, especially to literary men. 'Sir (said Johnson), that is not Lord Chesterfield; he is the proudest man this day existing." "No (said Dr. Adams), there is one person, at least, as proud; I think, by your own account, you are the prouder man of the two.” But mine (replied Johnson instantly) was defensive pride." This, as Dr. Adams well observed, was one of those happy turns 3 for which he was so remarkably ready.

Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chesterfield, did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman with pointed freedoin: "This man (said he) I thought had been a lord among wits: but, I find, he is only a wit among lords!" And when his Letters to his natural son were published, he observ

2 [Why? If, as may have been the case, Lord Chesterfield felt that Johnson was unjust towards him, he would not have been mortified— Il n'y a que la verité qui blesse. By Mr. Boswell's own confession it appears that Johnson did not give copies of this letter; that for many years Boswell had in vain solicited him to do so, and that he, after the lapse of twenty years, did so reluctantly. With all these admissions, how can Mr. Boswell attribute to any thing but conscious rectitude Lord Chesterfield's exposure of a letter which the authour was so willing to bury in oblivion?-ED.]

3 [This, like all the rest of the affair, seems discoloured by prejudice. I ord Chesterfield made no attack on Johnson, who certainly acted on the offensive, and not the defensive.-ED.]

with pious reverence, and sincerely disap- | to remove by my book, which now draws proved of the infidel writings of several, whom in the course of his almost universal gay intercourse with men of eminence, he treated with external civility, distinguished himself upon this occasion. Mr. Pelham having died on the very day on which Lord Bolingbroke's works came out, he wrote an elegant Ode on his death, beginning

"Let others hail the rising sun,
I bow to that whose course is run."

In which is the following stanza:

"The same sad morn, to church and state
(So for our sins 't was fixed by fate),
A double stroke was given;
Black as the whirlwinds of the north,
St. John's fell genius issued forth,

And Pelham fled to heaven."
Johnson this year found an interval of
leisure to make an excursion to Oxford, for
the purpose of consulting the libraries there.
Of this, and of many interesting circum-
stances concerning him, during a part of
his life when he conversed but little with
the world 1, I am enabled to give a particu-
lar account, by the liberal communications
of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Warton, who
obligingly furnished me with several of our
common friend's letters, which he illustrated
with notes. These I shall insert in their
proper places.

DR. JOHNSON TO MR. WARTON.

towards its end; but which I cannot finish
to my mind, without visiting the libraries
of Oxford, which I therefore hope to see in
a fortnight 5. I know not how long I shall
stay, or where I shall lodge; but shall be sure
to look for you at my arrival, and we shall
I am, dear sir, your
easily settle the rest.
most obedient, &c.

"SAM. JOHNSON."

Of his conversation while at Oxford at this time, Mr. Warton preserved and communicated to me the following memorial, which, though not written with all the care and attention which that learned and elegant writer bestowed on those compositions which he intended for the publick eye, is so happily expressed in an easy style, that I should injure it by any alteration:

Thomas Warton.

"When Johnson came to Oxford in 1754, the long vacation was beginning, and most people were leaving the place. This was the first time of his being there, after quitting the University. The next morning after his arrival, he wished to see his old college, Pembroke. I went with him. He was highly pleased to find all the college servants which he had left there still remaining, particularly a very old butler, and expressed great satisfaction at being recognised by them, and conversed with them familiarly. He waited on the master, Dr. Radcliffe, who received him very coldly. Johnson at least expected, that the master would order a copy of his Dictionary, now near publication; but the master did not choose to talk on the subject, never asked Johnson to dine, nor even to visit him while he stayed at Oxford. After we had left the lodgings, Johnson said to me, There lives a man, who lives by the revenues of literature, and will not move a finger to support it 6. If I 4 His Dictionary.-WARTON.

"(London), 16 July, 1754. "SIR, It is but an ill return for the book with which you were pleased to favour me 2, to have delayed my thanks for it till now. I am too apt to be negligent; but I can never deliberately show my disrespect to a man of your character; and I now pay you a very honest acknowledgement, for the advancement of the literature of our native country. You have shown to all, who shall hereafter attempt the study of our ancient authours, the way to suc5 He came to Oxford within a fortnight, and cess; by directing them to the perusal of stayed about five weeks. He lodged at a house the books which those authours had read. during his visit at Oxford, he collected nothing in called Kettel-hall, near Trinity College. Of this method, Hughes 3, and men much the libraries for his Dictionary.-WARTON. greater than Hughes, seem never to have [Probably because, as we shall see presently, he thought. The reason why the authours, found sufficient employment in the private librawhich are yet read, of the sixteenth century of Mr. Wise.-ED]. Kettel-Hall is an anry, are so little understood, is, that they are read alone; and no help is borrowed from those who lived with them, or before them. Some part of this ignorance I hope

But

cient tenement, adjoining to Trinity College, built about the year 1615, by Dr. Ralph Kettel, then president, for the accommodation of commoners of that society. In this ancient hostel, then in a very ruinous state, about forty years af ter Johnson had lodged there, Mr. Windham and the present writer were accommodated with two chambers, of primitive simplicity, during the installation of the Duke of Portland as chancellor of the University of Oxford, in 1793. It has since been converted into a commodious private house. - MALONE.

6 [There is some excuse for Doctor Ratcliff

come to live at Oxford, I shall take up my abode at Trinity 1.' We then called on the Reverend Mr. Meeke, one of the fellows, and of Johnson's standing. Here was a most cordial greeting on both sides. On leaving him, Johnson said, 'I used to think Meeke had excellent parts, when we were boys together at the college: but, alas!

Lost in a convent's solitary gloom!'

I remember, at the classical lecture in the hall, I could not bear Meeke's superiority, and I tried to sit as far from him as I could, that I might not hear him construe.'

"As we were leaving the college, he said, 'Here I translated Pope's Messiah. Which do you think is the best line in it? My own favourite is,

Vallis aromaticas fundit Saronica nubes.' I told him, I thought it a very sonorous hexameter. I did not tell him, it was not in the Virgilian style. He much regretted that his first tutor was dead; for whom he seemed to retain the greatest regard. He said, I once had been a whole morning sliding in Christ-Church meadows, and missed his lecture in logick. After dinner he sent for me to his room. I expected a sharp rebuke for my idleness, and went with a beating heart2. When we were seated, he told me he had sent for me to drink a

glass of wine with him, and to tell me, he was not angry with me for missing his lecture. This was, in fact, a most severe reprimand. Some more of the boys were then sent for, and we spent a very pleasant afternoon.' Besides Mr. Meeke, there was only one other fellow of Pembroke now resident: from both of whom Johnson received the greatest civilities during this visit, and they pressed him very much to have a room in the college.

"In the course of this visit (1754) Johnson and I walked three or four times to Ellsfield, a village beautifully situated about three miles from Oxford, to see Mr. Wise, Radclivian librarian, with whom Johnson was much pleased. At this place, Mr. Wise had fitted up a house and gardens, in a singular manner, but with great taste. Here was an excellent library, particularly a valuable collection of books in Northern literature, with which Johnson was often very busy. One day Mr. Wise read to us a dissertation which he was preparing for the press, entitled 'A History and Chronology of the Fabulous Ages.' Some old divinities of Thrace, related to the Titans, and called the CABIRI, made a very important part of the theory of this piece; and in conversation afterwards, Mr. Wise talked much of his CABIRI. As we returned to Oxford in the evening, I outwalked Johnson, and he cried out Sufflamina, a Latin word, which (so he spelt his name) not ordering a copy of came from his mouth with peculiar grace, the book, for this visit occurred seven or eight and was as much as to say, Put on your months before the Dictionary was published. drag chain. Before we got home, I again His personal neglect of Johnson is less easily to walked too fast for him; and he now cried be accounted for, unless it be by the fact that he out, Why, you walk as if you were purwas a great invalid; but the imputation of his sued by all the CABIRI in a body.' In an living by the revenues of literature, and doing nothing for it, cannot, as Dr. Hall informs me, be evening we frequently took long walks from justly made against Dr. Ratcliff'; for he bequeath- Oxford into the country, returning to suped to his college 10007. 4 per-cents. for the estab-per. Once, in our way home, we viewed lishment of an exhibition for the son of a Gloucestershire clergyman-10007. for the improvement of the college buildings-1007. worth of booksand 1007. for contingent expenses. The residue of his property he (except 6007. left for the repair of the prebendal house at Gloucester) left to the old butler mentioned in the text, who had long been his servant : a bequest which Johnson himself imitated in favour of his own servant, Barber.-ED.]

[Mr. Warton's own College.-ED.]

2 [This was Johnson's earliest account of this little event, and probably the most accurate; many years after this he told the story to Boswell and Mrs. Piozzi, and made a parade of his having waited on his tutor, not with a beating heart,' but with "nonchalance and even insolence." It would seem as if Johnson had been induced, by the too obsequious deference of his later admirers, to assign to his character in youth a little more of that sturdy dignity than, when his recollection was fresher and his ear unspoiled by flattery, he assumed to Mr. Warton (see ante, p. 21, n).—ED.]

the ruins of the abbies of Oseney and Rewley, near Oxford. After at least half an hour's silence, Johnson said, 'I viewed them with indignation 3! We had then a long conversation on Gothic buildings: and in talking of the form of old halls, he said,

In these halls, the fireplace was anciently always in the middle of the room, till the whigs removed it on one side 4.' About this time there had been an execution of two or three criminals at Oxford on a Monday. Soon afterwards, one day at dinner, I was saying that Mr. Swinton, the chap

[The Scotch, who were so angry at Johnson's indignation at the desecration and dilapidation of religious edifices in Scotland, would have been pacified had they sooner known that a similar indignation was excited by similar causes in England.-ED.]

4 [What can this mean? What had the whigs to do with removing the smoky hearths from the centre of the great halls to a more commodious chimney at the side?-ED.]