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Mauled as I had been by Johnson, Gibbon poured balm upon my bruises by condescending, once or twice in the evening, to talk with me: the great historian was light and playful, suiting his matter to the capacity of the boy: but it was done more suo ;still his mannerism prevailed; still he tapped his snuff-box; still he smirked and smiled, and rounded his periods with the same air of good-breeding, as if he were conversing with men. His mouth, mellifluous as Plato's, was a round hole nearly in the centre of his visage."

The shadow of William Strahan flits before me in the note-books of Boswell. His father was an officer of the Customs in Scotland, and, says a writer in The Lounger,' "gave his son the education which every lad of decent rank then received in a country where the avenues to learning were easy, and open to men of the most moderate circumstances." He was apprenticed to a Scotch printer, and having learnt his trade, arrived in London with, what a clever novel-writer calls, "the traditional twopence-halfpenny." Johnson, who was on the most friendly terms with the printer who had risen to wealth and gave good dinners, nevertheless could not forbear to treat him with his usual sarcasms on Scotland. Strahan seems, however, to have had no fears of his friend's prejudices, eccentric habits, and dislike of conventionalities, when he was desirous that Johnson should sit by his side in Parliament. The King's printer had an official duty to perform, in buying a seat, and supporting the government. It was the

same duty which the King's turnspit had to perform.* Strahan excited no envy of his wealth or his state in the mind of Johnson. When he was taken to dinner at Kensington "in Mr. Strahan's coach," and the conversation turned upon a printer having acquired a fortune sufficient to keep his coach,-Hamilton being cited as another printer who arrived at this grandeur before Strahan,-Johnson said, "He was in the right: life is short. The sooner that a man begins to enjoy his wealth the better.” When Johnson and Boswell went to Scotland, the King's printer was asked by the great moralist to frank his letters, that the high position might be manifest, through the poor land, of the man who had left it with his whole wardrobe on his back. Garrick thought Strahan "an obtuse man," but Johnson asserted the printer's claim to a discriminating judgment even in the matter of an epigram. The author and the printer were near neighbours. The King's Printing Office was close to Johnson's House in Gough Square. Boswell has a pleasing anecdote arising out of this propinquity :-" Mr. Strahan had taken a poor boy from the country as an apprentice, upon Johnson's recommendation. Johnson having inquired after him, said, 'Mr. Strahan, let me have five guineas on account, and I'll give this boy one. Nay, if a man recommends a boy, and does nothing for him, it is sad work. Call him down.' I followed him into the court-yard, behind Mr. Strahan's house; and there I had a proof of what I heard him profess,

* See Burke's Speech on Economic Reform.

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that he talked alike to all. Some people tell you that they let themselves down to the capacity of their hearers. I never do that, I speak uniformly in as intelligible a manner as I can.' Well, my boy, how do you go on?' Pretty well, Sir; but they are afraid I ar'n't strong enough for some parts of the business.' JOHNSON: Why, I shall be sorry for it; for when you consider with how little mental power and corporeal labour a printer can get a guinea a week, it is a very desirable occupation for you. Do you hear-take all the pains you can; and if this does not do, we must think of some other way of life for you. There's a guinea."

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CHAPTER XI.

JOHN NEWBERY.

HIS old Bookseller is a very old friend of mine. He wound himself round my heart some seventy years ago, when I became possessed of an immortal volume, entitled, "The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes.' I felt myself personally honoured in the Dedication : "To all young Gentlemen and Ladies who are Good, or intend to be Good, this Book is inscribed by their old Friend, Mr. John Newbery, in St. Paul's Churchyard." I do not recollect that I was much taken with the cuts, by Michael Angelo, as the title-page set forth. A few years later, and the Vicar of Wakefield led me into a higher region of fiction. But from that fascinating book, of which my comprehension was somewhat limited at the age of seven, I learnt how diligently the good man in St. Paul's Churchyard had worked for my delight. The excellent Dr. Primrose, sick and penniless at an inn, is succoured by a traveller, who had stopped to take refreshment. "This person was no other than the philanthropic bookseller in St. Paul's Churchyard, who had written so many little books for children: he called himself their friend, but he was the friend of all mankind. He was no sooner alighted but he

was in haste to be gone, for he was ever on business of the utmost importance, and was at that time actually compiling materials for the history of one Mr. Thomas Trip. I immediately recollected this good-natured man's pimpled face."

In the ordinary course of nature I began to put away childish things, and Mr. Newbery's little books -although my father had a drawer full of them very smartly bound in gilt paper-had lost their old attraction. Priceless now would be this collection, mixed up with horn-books-a single copy of which is one of the rarest relics of the olden time. I would fain set up a theory as to how my father came to have such a store of these curiosities. In the year 1787 he published 'The Microcosm, a periodical work, by Gregory Griffin, of the college of Eton.' Of this production of school-boys, which was destined to shed a new lustre upon public school education, George Canning was the editor, and the writer of some of its most brilliant papers. Number 30 is written in that style of mock gravity which took in dull people and pleased lively ones, whether exhibited by Canning in The Microcosm,' or in 'The Anti-Jacobin.' The Essayist had promised his fellow citizens that he would point out a set of books to their observation, from the perusal of which, if substituted in the place of novels, they might derive equal advantage and entertainment. Without dwelling upon the prefatory matter, which is a little too long, I pass on to the books which the young wit and scholar so earnestly recommends. "These are no other than the instructive and entertaining

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