1735. L key-hole, that they might turn into ridicule his tumultuous and aukward Etat. 26. fondnefs for Mrs. Johnson, whom he used to name by the familiar appellation of Tetty or Tetfy, which, like Betty or Betfy, is provincially used as a contraction for Elizabeth, her chriftian name, but which to us feems ludicrous, when applied to a woman of her age and appearance. Mr. Garrick defcribed her to me as very fat, with a bofom of more than ordinary protuberance, with fwelled cheeks, of a florid red, produced by thick painting, and increased by the liberal use of cordials; flaring and fantastick in her dress, and affected both in her speech and her general behaviour. I have seen Garrick exhibit her, by his exquisite talent for mimickry, fo as to excite the heartieft bursts of laughter; but he, probably, as is the cafe in all fuch reprefentations, confiderably aggravated the picture. That Johnson well knew the moft proper course to be pursued in the instruction of youth, is authentically ascertained by the following paper in his own hand-writing, given about this period to a relation, and now in the poffeffion of Mr. John Nichols : "SCHEME for the CLASSES of a GRAMMAR SCHOOL. "WHEN the introduction, or formation of nouns and verbs, is perfectly mastered, let them learn "Corderius by Mr. Clarke, beginning at the fame time to translate out of the introduction, that by this means they may learn the fyntax. Then let them proceed to "Erafmus, with an English translation, by the fame authour. "Class II. Learns Eutropius and Cornelius Nepos, or Juftin, with the tranflation. "N. B. The first class gets for their part every morning the rules which they have learned before, and in the afternoon learns the Latin rules of the nouns and verbs. "They are examined in the rules which they have learned every Thursday and Saturday. "The second class doth the fame whilst they are in Eutropius; afterwards their part is in the irregular nouns and verbs, and in the rules for making and scanning verfes. They are examined as the first. "Class III. Ovid's Metamorphofes in the morning, and Cæfar's Commentaries in the afternoon. "Practise in the Latin rules till they are perfect in them, afterwards in Mr. Leeds's Greek Grammar. Examined as before. "Afterwards 1735. "Afterwards they proceed to Virgil, beginning at the fame time to write themes and verses, and to learn Greek; from thence paffing on to Horace, Atat. 26. &c. as fhall feem most proper. "I know not well what books to direct you to, because you have not informed me what study you will apply yourfelf to. I believe it will be moft for your advantage to apply yourself wholly to the languages, till you go to the Univerfity. The Greek authours I think it best for you to read are these : "Thus you will be tolerably skilled in all the dialects, beginning with the Attick, to which the rest must be referred. "In the study of Latin, it is proper not to read the latter authours, till you are well versed in thofe of the pureft ages; as, Terence, Tully, Cæfar, Salluft, Nepos, Velleius Paterculus, Virgil, Horace, Phædrus. "The greatest and most neceffary task still remains, to attain a habit of expreffion, without which knowledge is of little ufe. This is neceffary in Latin, and more necessary in English; and can only be acquired by a daily imitation of the best and correctest authours. "SAM. JOHNSON." While Johnson kept his academy, there can be no doubt that he was infenfibly furnishing his mind with various knowledge; but I have not discovered that he wrote any thing except a great part of his tragedy of IRENE. Mr. Peter Garrick, the elder brother of David, told me that he remembered Johnson's borrowing the Turkish History of him, in order to form his play from it. When he had finished some part of it, he read what he had done to Mr. Walmsley, who objected to his having already brought his heroine into great distress, and asked him "how can you poffibly contrive to plunge her into deeper calamity?" Johnson, in fly allufion to the fuppofed oppreffive proceedings of the court of which Mr. Walmsley was register, replied, "Sir, I can put her into the Spiritual Court!" Mr. Walmsley, however, was well pleased with this proof of Johnson's abilities as a dramatick writer, and advised him to finish the tragedy, and produce it on the stage. Johnson 1737 Johnfon now thought of trying his fortune in London, the great field of Etat 28, genius and exertion, where talents of every kind have the fullest scope, and the highest encouragement. It is a memorable circumftance that his pupil David Garrick went thither at the fame time, with intention to complete his education, and follow the profeffion of the law, from which he was soon diverted by his decided preference for the stage. This joint expedition of thofe two eminent men to the metropolis, was many years afterwards noticed in an allegorical poem on Shakspeare's Mulberry Tree, by Mr. Lovibond, the ingenious authour of "The Tears of Old May-day." They were recommended to Mr. Colfon, an eminent mathematician and master of an academy, by the following letter from Mr. Walmsley: DEAR SIR, To the Reverend Mr. COLSON. Lichfield, March 2, 1737.. "I had the favour of yours, and am extremely obliged to you; but I cannot say I had a greater affection for you upon it than I had before, being long fince fo much endeared to you, as well by an early friendship, as by your many excellent and valuable qualifications; and, had I a fon of my own, it would be my ambition, instead of sending him to the University, to dispose of him as this young gentleman is. "He, and another neighbour of mine, one Mr. Samuel Johnson, set out this morning for London together. Davy Garrick is to be with you early the next week, and Mr. Johnson to try his fate with a tragedy, and to fee to get himself employed in fome tranflation, either from the Latin or the French. Johnfon is a very good fcholar and poet, and I have great hopes will turn out a fine tragedy-writer. If it fhould any way lie in your way, doubt not but you would be ready to recommend and affist your countryman. "G. WALMSLEY." How he employed himself upon upon his first coming to London is not particularly known. I never heard that he found any protection or encouragement by the means of Mr. Colfon, to whofe academy David Garrick went. Mrs. Lucy Porter told me, that Mr. Walmsley gave him a letter of introduction to Lintot his bookfeller, and that Johnson wrote fome things for him; but I imagine this to be a mistake, for I have difcovered no trace of it, and I am pretty fure he told me, that Mr. Cave was the firft publifher by whom his pen was engaged in London. He He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew how he could live in the cheapest manner. His firft lodgings were at the houfe of Mr. Norris, a staymaker, in Exeter-ftreet, adjoining Catharine-street, in the Strand. "I dined (faid he) very well for eight-pence, with very good company, at the Pine Apple in New-ftreet, juft by. Several of them had travelled. They expected to meet every day; but did not know one another's names. It used to coft the reft a fhilling, for they drank wine; but I had a cut of meat for fix-pence, and bread for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny; fo that I was quite well ferved, nay, better than the reft, for they gave the waiter nothing." He at this time, I believe, abstained entirely from fermented liquors; a practice to which he rigidly conformed for many years together, at different periods of his life. His OFELLUS in the Art of living in London, I have heard him relate, was an Irish painter, whom he knew at Birmingham, and who had practifed his own precepts of economy for feveral years in the British capital. He affured Johnfon, who, I fuppofe, was then meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expence, "that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He faid a man might live in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was eafy to fay, Sir, I am to be found at fuch a place.' By spending three-pence in a coffee-house, he might be for fome hours every day in very good company; he might dine for fix-pence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without fupper. On clean-fhirt-day he went abroad, and paid visits.” I have heard him more than once talk of this frugal friend, whom he recollected with efteem and kindness, and did not like to have any one fmile at the recital. "This man (faid he, gravely,) was a very fenfible man, who perfectly understood common affairs: a man of a great deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not strained through books. He borrowed a horse and ten pounds at Birmingham. Finding himself master of so much money, he fet off for Weft Chester, in order to get to Ireland. He returned the horse, and probably the ten pounds too, after he got home." 1737 Ætat. 28. Confidering Johnfon's narrow circumftances in the early part of his life, and particularly at the interesting æra of his launching into the ocean of London, it is not to be wondered at, that an actual inftance, proved by experience, of the poffibility of enjoying the intellectual luxury of social life, upon small income, should deeply engage his attention, and be ever recol a very 1737. L Etat. 28. lected by him as a circumftance of much importance. He amufed himself, I remember, by computing how much more expence was abfolutely necessary to live upon the fame fcale with that which his friend defcribed, when the value of money was diminished by the progress of commerce. It may be estimated that double the money might now with difficulty be fufficient. Amidft this cold obfcurity, there was one brilliant circumftance to cheer him; he was well acquainted with Mr. Henry Hervey, one of the branches of the noble family of that name, who had been quartered at Lichfield as an officer of the army, and had at this time a house in London, where Johnson was frequently entertained, and had an opportunity of meeting genteel company. Not very long before his death, he mentioned this, among other particulars of his life, which he was kindly communicating to me; and he described this early friend" Harry Hervey," thus: "He was a vicious man, but very kind to me. If you call a dog HERVEY, I fhall love him." He told me he had now written only three acts of his IRENE, and that he retired for fome time to lodgings at Greenwich, where he proceeded in it fomewhat farther, and used to compofe, walking in the Park; but did not stay long enough at that place to finish it. At this period we find the following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave, which, as a link in the chain of his literary history, it is proper to infert: To Mr. CAVE. "SIR, Greenwich, next door to the Golden Heart, "HAVING obferved in your papers very uncommon offers of encouragement to men of letters, I have chofen, being a stranger in London, to communicate to you the following defign, which, I hope, if you join in it, will be of advantage to both of us. "The Hiftory of the Council of Trent having been lately tranflated into French, and published with large Notes by Dr. Le Courayer, the reputation of that book is fo much revived in England, that, it is prefumed, a new tranflation of it from the Italian, together with Le Courayer's Notes from the French, could not fail of a favourable reception. "If it be answered, that the History is already in English, it must be remembered, that there was the fame objection against Le Courayer's undertaking, with this disadvantage, that the French had a verfion by one of their best translators, whereas you cannot read three pages of the English History 4 without |