son not only had not the faculty of producing the impressions of tragedy, but that he had not the sensibility to perceive them. His great friend Mr. Walmesley's prediction, that he would "turn out a fine tragedy writer," was, therefore, ill-founded. Johnson was wise enough to be convinced that he had not the talents necessary to write successfully for the stage, and never made another attempt in that species of composition. till it came to the conclusion, when Mrs. Pritchard, the heroine of the piece, was to be strangled upon the stage, and was to speak two lines with the bowstring round her neck. The audience cried out Murder! murder!'' She several times attempted to speak; but in vain. At last she was obliged to go off the stage alive." This passage was afterwards struck out, and she was carried off to be put to death behind the scenes, as the play now has it. The Epilogue, as Johnson informed me, was written When asked how he felt upon the ill success by Sir William Yonge. I know not how his of his tragedy, he replied, "Like the Monuplay came to be thus graced by the pen of a ment;" meaning that he continued firm and person then so eminent in the political world.3 unmoved as that column. And let it be reNotwithstanding all the support of such per-membered, as an admonition to the genus irriformers as Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every advantage of dress and decoration, the tragedy of Irene did not please the public.* Mr. Garrick's zeal carried it through for nine nights, so that the author had his three nights' profit; and from a receipt signed by him, now in the hands of Mr. James Dodsley, it appears that his friend, Mr. Robert Dodsley, gave him one hundred pounds for the copy, with his usual reservation of the right of one edition.5 IRENE, considered as a poem, is entitled to the praise of superior excellence. Analysed into parts, it will furnish a rich store of noble sentiments, fine imagery, and beautiful language; but it is deficient in pathos, in that delicate power of touching the human feelings, which is the principal end of the drama.6 Indeed, Garrick has complained to me, that John "Be this at least his praise, be this his pride, This shows how ready modern audiences are to condemn in a new play what they have frequently endured very quietly in an old one. Rowe has made Moneses, in Tamerlane, die by the boxstring, without offence. MALONE. Davies tells us, in his "Life of Garrick," vol. i. p. 128., that the strangling Irene, contrary to Horace's rule, coram populo, was suggested by Garrick.-CROKER. Dr. Anderson says in his Life, that "Mr. Boswell ascribes this epilogue to Sir W. Yonge on no good foundation:"fet Mr. Boswell, who in his first edition had simply stated the fact, added in the second, "as Johnson informed me." Mr. Murphy too asserts (Life, p. 154.), that the epilogue was always supposed to be Johnson's, and that Mr. Boswell's account is a "new discovery, and by no means probable;" and he adds, that "it were to be wished that the epilogue could be transferred to any other writer, it being the worst jen d'esprit which ever fell from Johnson's pen.' John Taylor also informed me that Murphy subsequently repeated to him that Johnson was the author of the epilogue. The first fourteen lines certainly deserve Murphy's censure, and could hardly have been written by the pen of Johnson; but the last ten lines are much better, and it may be suspected that these Johnson added to or altered from the original copy. - CROKER. Mr. 3 The Right Honourable Sir William Yonge, Secretary at War, in Sir Robert Walpole's administration, and a distinguished parliamentary Speaker. He was the father of Sir George Yonge, who was Secretary at War under Mr. Pitt. Johnson must, before this, have had some communication with Sir W. Yonge, who told him that great should be pro tabile of dramatic writers, that this great man, instead of previously complaining of the bad taste of the town, submitted to its decision without a murmur. He had, indeed, upon all occasions, a great deference for the general opinion: "A man," said he, "who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them, and the public to whom he appeals must, after all, be the judges of his pretensions." On occasion of this play being brought upon the stage, Johnson had a fancy that, as dramatic author, his dress should be more gay than what he ordinarily wore: he therefore appeared behind the scenes, and even in one of the side boxes, in a scarlet waistcoat, with rich gold lace, and a gold-laced hat. He humorously observed to Mr. Langton, "that nounced so as to rhyme with seat, while Lord Chesterfield thought it should rhyme to state. (See antè, p. 57. n. 1, and post, 27th March, 1772.) — CROKER. 4 know not what Sir John Hawkins means by the cold reception of Irene. I was at the first representation, and most of the subsequent. It was much applauded the first night, particularly the speech on to-morrow. It ran nine nights at least. It did not, indeed, become a stock-play; but there was not the least opposition during the representation, except the first night, in the last act, where Irene was to be strangled on the stage, which John [Bull] could not bear, though a dramatic poet may stab or slay by hundreds. The bowstring was not a Christian nor an ancient Greek or Roman death. But this offence was removed after the first night, and Irene went off the stage to be strangled. Many stories were circulated at the time, of the author's being observed at the representation to be dissatisfied with some of the speeches and conduct of the play, himself; and, like La Fontaine, expressing his disapprobation aloud. — BURNEY.-That the reception was cold is generally admitted, but by Garrick's zeal it was played oftener than stated by Boswell or even Burney, who, however, says guardedly, "nine nights at least." It seems to have been acted from Monday, 6th February, to Monday, 20th February, inclusive. - Gent. Mag., 1749, p. 76. Account of English Stage, vol. iv. p. 266. -CROKER. Mr. Murphy supposed that the amount of the three benefit nights was not very considerable, as the profit, that stimulating motive, never invited the author to another dramatic attempt. But it appears, by a MS. note, in Mr. Isaac Reed's copy of Murphy's Life, that the receipts of the third, sixth, and ninth nights, after deducting sixty guineas a night for the expenses of the house, amounted to 1957. 178.: Johnson cleared, therefore, with the copyright, very nearly 3007. -a large sum to him at that time. CROKER. 6 Aaron Hill (vol. ii. p. 355.), in a letter to Mr. Mallet, gives the following account of" Irene: "-"I was at the anomalous Mr. Johnson's benefit, and found the play his proper representative; strong sense, uugraced by sweetness or decorum."- BOSWELL. 7 Or, if the anecdote be true, perhaps more modestly, that he felt no more than the Monument could feel; but it may be presumed, from the number of nights it ran and the sum it produced, that Johnson was far from thinking that his tragedy had failed; and in truth it had not. - CROKER. when in that dress he could not treat people with the same ease as when in his usual plain clothes." Dress, indeed, we must allow, has more effect, even upon strong minds, than one should suppose, without having had the experience of it. His necessary attendance while his play was in rehearsal, and during its performance, brought him acquainted with many of the performers of both sexes, which produced a more favourable opinion of their profession, than he had harshly expressed in his Life of Savage. With some of them he kept up an acquaintance as long as he and they lived, and was ever ready to show them acts of kindness. He, for a considerable time, used to frequent the Green-Room, and seemed to take delight in dissipating his gloom, by mixing in the sprightly chit-chat of the motley circle then to be found there. Mr. David Hume related to me from Mr. Garrick, that Johnson at last denied himself this amusement, from considerations of rigid virtue; saying, "I'll come no more behind your scenes, David; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities." [JOHNSON TO MISS PORTER.' "Goff Square, July 12. 1749. “DEAR MISS, — I am extremely obliged to you for your letter, which I would have answered last post, but that illness prevented me. I have been often out of order of late, and have very much neglected my affairs. You have acted very prudently with regard to Levett's affairs, which will, I think, not at all embarrass me, for you may promise him, that the mortgage shall be taken up at Michaelmas, or, at least, some time between that and Christmas; and if he requires to have it done sooner, I will endeavour it. I make no doubt, by that time, of either doing it myself, or persuading some of my friends to do it for me. "Please to acquaint him with it, and let me know if he be satisfied. When he once called on me, his name was mistaken, and therefore I did not see him; but, finding the mistake, wrote to him the same day, but never heard more of him, though I entreated him to let me know where to wait on him. You frighted me, you little gipsy, with your black wafer, for I had forgot you were in mourning, and was afraid your letter had brought me ill news of my mother, whose death is one of the few calamities on which I think with terror. I long to know how she does, and how you all do. Your poor mamma is come home, but very weak; yet I hope she will grow better, else she shall go into the country. She is now up stairs, and knows not of my writing. I am, dear Miss, your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON."] Pearson MSS. CHAPTER IX. 1750-1751. "The Rambler.". - His Prayer on commencing it. - Obligations to Correspondents. - Adversaria. Success of the Rambler. Collected into Volumes. -"Beauties" of the Rambler. — Prologue for the Benefit of Milton's Grand-daughter. Life of Cheynel."— Lauder's Forgery. Mrs. Anna Williams. IN 1750 Johnson came forth in the character for which he was eminently qualified, a majestic teacher of moral and religious wisdom. The vehicle which he chose was that of a periodical paper, which he knew had been, upon former occasions, employed with great success. The Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, were the last of the kind published in England, which had stood the test of a long trial; and such an interval had now elapsed since their publication, as made him justly think that, to many of his readers, this form of instruction would, in some degree, have the advantage of novelty. A few days before the first of his Essays came out, there started another competitor for fame in the same form, under the title of "The Tatler Revived," which, I believe, was "born but to die." Johnson was, I think, not very happy in the choice of his title, "The Rambler;" which certainly is not suited to a series of grave and moral discourses; which the Italians have literally, but ludicrously, translated by Il Vagabondo; and which has been lately assumed as the denomination of a vehicle of licentious tales, "The Rambler's Magazine." He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following account of its getting this name: "What must be done, sir, will be done. When I was to begin publishing that paper, I was at a loss how to name it. I sat down at night upon my bedside, and resolved that I would not go to sleep till I had fixed its title. The Rambler seemed the best that occurred, and I took it." With what devout and conscientious sentiments this paper was undertaken, is evidenced by the following prayer, which he composed and offered up on the occasion: "Almighty Gon, the giver of all good things, 1 This appears to have been by no means the case. His most acrimonious attacks on Garrick, and Sheridan, and players in general, were subsequent to this period.--CROKER. 2 This letter, and some others of Johnson to his stepdaughter, which will appear under their proper dates, I owed to the kindness of Dr. Harwood, the historian of Lichfield, who procured the copies with permission to publish them from Mr. Pearson of Lichfield, who inherited the originals from Miss Porter.- CROKER. 3 See antè, p. 48. n. 4. Robert Dodsley's with the late Mr. Moore, and several of his "Our Garrick's a salad, for in him we see At last, the company having separated, without any thing of I have heard Dr. Warton mention, that he was at Mr. thought of The World. BoswELL. : without whose help all labour is ineffectual, and without whose grace all wisdom is folly grant, I beseech Thee, that in this undertaking thy Holy Spirit may not be withheld from me, but that I may promote thy glory, and the salvation [both] of myself and others: grant this, O Lord, for the sake of thy Son, JESUS CHRIST. Amen." (Pr. and Med. p. 9.) The first paper of the Rambler was published on Tuesday the 20th of March, 1749-50; and its author was enabled to continue it, without interruption, every Tuesday and Saturday, till Saturday the 17th of March, 1752, on which day it closed. This is a strong confirmation of the truth of a remark of his, which I have had occasion to quote elsewhere [Aug. 16. 1773], that "a man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it;" for, notwithstanding his constitutional indolence, his depression of spirits, and his labour in carrying on his Dictionary, he answered the stated calls of the press twice a week from the stores of his mind during all that time; having received no assistance, except four billets in No. 10., by Miss Mulso, now Mrs. Chapone; No. 30., by Mrs. Catherine Talbot; No. 97., by Mr. Samuel Richardson, whom he describes in an introductory note, as "an author who has enlarged the knowledge of human nature, and taught the passions to move at the command of virtue;" and Numbers 44. and 100., by Mrs. Elizabeth Carter.3 12 Posterity will be astonished when they are told, upon the authority of Johnson himself, that many of these discourses, which we should suppose had been laboured with all the slow attention of literary leisure, were written in haste as the moment pressed, without even being read over by him before they were printed. It can be accounted for only in this way; that, by reading and meditation, and a very close inspection of life, he had accumulated a great fund of miscellaneous knowledge, which, by a peculiar promptitude of mind, was ever ready at his call, and which he had constantly accus 1 This was a misdate of the original paper. Saturday was the 14th March, the real date of the last Rambler. This circumstance, though at first sight of very little importance, is worth notice, for Mrs. Johnson died on the 17th, [Old Style, i.e. 28th, N. S.]-MALONE. 2 Lady Bradshaigh, one of Mr. Richardson's female sycophants, thus addresses him on the subject of this letter:-"A few days ago I was pleased with hearing a very sensible lady greatly pleased with the Rambler, No. 97. She happened to be in town when it was published; and I asked if she knew who was the author? She said, it was supposed to be one who was concerned in the Spectators, it being much better written than any of the Ramblers. I wanted to say who was really the author, but durst not without your permission."Rich. Cor., vol. vi. p. 108. It was probably on some such authority that Mr. Payne told Mr. Chalmers (Brit. Ess. vol. xix. p. 14.), that No. 97. was "the only paper which had a prosperous sale, and was popular." The flatteries which Richardson's coterie lavished on him and all his works were quite extravagant: the paper is rather a poor one. CROKER. 3 Mrs. Piozzi says, "the papers contributed by Mrs. Carter had much of Johnson's esteem, though he always blamed ine for preferring the letter signed Chariessa (No. 100.) to the allegory (No. 45.) where religion and superstition are, indeed, most masterly delineated." She adds that, "the fine Rambler on Procrastination [No. 134.] was hastily composed in Sir Joshua Reynolds's parlour, while tomed himself to clothe in the most apt and energetic expression. Sir Joshua Reynolds once asked him, by what means he had attained his extraordinary accuracy and flow of language. He told him, that he had early laid it down as a fixed rule to do his best on every occasion, and in every company to impart whatever he knew in the most forcible language he could put it in; and that by constant practice, and never suffering any careless expression to escape him, or attempting to deliver his thoughts without arranging them in the clearest manner, it became habitual to him.+ Yet, he was not altogether unprepared as a periodical writer: for I have in my possession a small duodecimo volume, in which he has written, in the form of Mr. Locke's CommonPlace Book, a variety of hints for essays on different subjects. He has marked upon the first blank leaf of it, "To the 128th page, collections for the RAMBLER;" and in another place, "In fifty-two there were seventeen provided; in 97-21; in 190-25." At a subsequent period (probably after the work was finished) he added, "In all, taken of provided materials, 30."5 Sir John Hawkins, who is unlucky upon all occasions, tells us, that "this method of accumulating intelligence had been practised by Mr. Addison, and is humorously described in one of the Spectators [No. 46.], wherein he feigns to have dropped his paper of notanda, consisting of a diverting medley of broken sentences and loose hints, which he tells us he had collected, and meant to make use of. Much of the same kind is Johnson's Adversaria."6 But the truth is, that there is no resemblance at all between them. Addison's note was a fiction, in which unconnected fragments of his lucubrations were purposely jumbled together, in as odd a manner as he could, in order to produce a laughable effect: whereas, Johnson's abbreviations are all distinct, and applicable to each subject of which the head is mentioned. the boy waited to carry it to the press, and numberless are the instances of his writing under the immediate pressure of importunity or distress." But this must be a mistake; Johnson and Reynolds were not acquainted till after the conclusion of the Rambler. (See post, p. 79. n. 2.) It may have been some paper in the Idler. - CROKER. 4 The rule which Dr. Johnson observed is sanctioned by the authority of two great writers of antiquity: "Ne id quidem tacendum est, quod eidem Ciceroni placet, nullum nostrum usquam negligentem esse sermonem: quicquid loquemur, ubicunque, sit pro sua scilicet, portione perfectum." Quinctil. x. 7.-MALONE. We know that Johnson most elaborately revised and extensively corrected the Rambler when he collected them into volumes; but this does not disprove Mr. Boswell's account of the celerity and ease with which they were originally written. - CROKER. 5 This, no doubt, means that, of the first 52 Ramblers, 17 had been prepared, and so on, till, at the completion of the whole 208 numbers, he found that only 30 had been formed of materials previously provided. - CROKER. 6 In this instance Mr. Boswell is more unlucky than Hawkins, whose account is by no means incorrect. He knew very well, and distinctly states, that Addison's published" Notanda" were a mere pleasantry, consisting of topics drolly selected and arranged; but he infers, rationally enough, that Addison had taken the idea from his own real practice of collecting notanda; and he is quite justified in adding, " much of the same kind are Johnson's Adversaria." - CROKER. For instance, there is the following speci- Number 196. of the Rambler. I shall gratify my readers with another specimen : men: Youth's Entry, &c. "Baxter's account of things in which he had changed his mind as he grew up. Voluminous.No wonder. If every man was to tell, or mark, on how many subjects he has changed, it would make vols. but the changes not always observed by man's self. From pleasure to bus. [business] to quiet; from thoughtfulness to reflect. to piety; from dissipation to domestic. by impercept. gradat. but the change is certain. Dial non progredi, progress. esse conspicimus. Look back, consider what was thought at some dist. period. Hope predom. in youth. Mind not willingly indulges unpleasing thoughts. The world lies all enamelled before him, as a distant prospect sungilt'; inequalities only found by coming to it. Love is to be all joy—children excellent Fame to be constant caresses of the great-applauses of the learned smiles of Beauty. - "Fear of disgrace — Bashfulness- Finds things of less importance. Miscarriages forgot like excellencies; if remembered, of no import. Danger of sinking into negligence of reputation; lest the fear of disgrace destroy activity. "Confederacies difficult; why. "Seldom in war a match for single persons — nor in peace; therefore kings make themselves absolute. Confederacies in learning every great work the work of one. Bruy. Scholars' friendship like ladies'. Scribebamus, &c. Mart. The apple of discord - the laurel of discord - the poverty of criticism. Swift's opinion of the power of six geniuses united. That union scarce possible. His remarks just; -man a social, not steady nature. Drawn to man by words, repelled by passions. Orb drawn by attraction, rep. [repelled] by centrifugal. "The mischiefs of private and exclusive societies -The fitness of social attraction diffused through the whole. The mischiefs of too partial love of our country. Contraction of moral duties. — Oi pio, ou pilos. "Every man moves upon his own centre, and therefore repels others from too near a contact, though he may comply with some general laws. "Of confederacy with superiors every one knows the inconvenience. With equals, no authority ;every man his own opinion-his own interest. "Confidence in himself. Long tract of life before him. No thought of sickness. Embarrassment of affairs. Distraction of family. Public calamities. No sense of the prevalence of bad habits. Negligent of time ready to undertake careless "Man and wife hardly united; - scarce ever to pursue all changed by time. without children. Computation, if two to one "Confident of others unsuspecting as unex. against two, how many against five? If confedeperienced imagining himself secure against neg-racies were easy — useless;—many oppresses many. lect, never imagines they will venture to treat him- If possible only to some, dangerous. Principum ill. Ready to trust; expecting to be trusted. amicitias." Convinced by time of the selfishness, the meanness, the cowardice, the treachery of men. --- Here we see the embryo of Number 45. of the Adventurer; and it is a confirmation of what I shall presently have occasion to mention, that the papers in that collection marked T. were written by Johnson. This scanty preparation of materials will not, however, much diminish our wonder at the extraordinary fertility of his mind; for the proportion which they bear to the number of essays which he wrote, is very small; and it is remarkable, that those for which he had made no preparation, are as rich and as highly finished, as those for which the hints were lying by him. It is also to be observed, that the papers formed from his hints are worked up with such strength and elegance, that we almost lose sight of the hints, which become like "drops in the bucket." Indeed, in several instances, he has made a very slender use of them, so that many of them remain still "Hard it would be if men entered life with the same views with which they leave it, or left as they enter it. No hope no undertaking no regard to benevolence-no fear of disgrace, &c. "Youth to be taught the piety of age. retain the honour of youth." This, it will be observed, is the sketch of unapplied.3 age to 1 This most beautiful image of the enchanting delusion of youthful prospect has not been used in any of Johnson's essays. BOSWELL. Lib. xii. 96. "In Tuccam æmulum omnium suorum studiorum."— MALONE. 3 Sir John Hawkins bas selected from this little collection of materials, what he calls the "Rudiments of two of the papers of the Rambler." But he has not been able to read the manuscript distinctly. Thus he writes, p. 266, "Sailor's fate any mansion; " whereas the original is," Sailor's life my aversion." He has also transcribed the unappropriated hints on Writers for bread, in which he decyphers these notable passages, one in Latin, fatui non famæ, instead of fami non Jama; Johnson having in his mind what Thuanus says of the learned German antiquary and linguist, Xylander, who, he tells us, lived in such poverty, that he was supposed fami non fame scribere; and another in French, Degente de fatu et affamé d'argent, instead of Dégoûté de fame (an old word for renommée), et affamé d'argent. The manuscript, being written in an exceedingly small hand, is, indeed, very hard As the Rambler was entirely the work of one man, there was, of course, such a uniformity in its texture, as very much to exclude the charm of variety; and the grave and often solemn cast of thinking, which distinguished it from other periodical papers, made it, for some time, not generally liked. So slowly did this excellent work, of which twelve editions have now issued from the press, gain upon the world at large, that even in the closing number the author says, "I have never been much a favourite of the public." Yet, very soon after its commencement, there were who felt and acknowledged its uncommon excellence. Verses in its praise appeared in the newspapers; and the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine mentions, in October, his having received several letters to the same purpose from the learned. "The Student, or Oxford and Cambridge Monthly Miscellany," in which Mr. Bonnel Thornton and Mr. Colman were the principal writers, describes it as "a work that exceeds any thing of the kind ever published in this kingdom, some of the Spectators excepted, if indeed they may be excepted." And afterwards, May the public favours crown his merits, and may not the English, under the auspicious reign of George the Second, neglect a man, who, had he lived in the first century, would 64 have been one of the greatest favourites of Augustus." This flattery of the monarch had no effect. It is too well known, that the second George never was an Augustus to learning or genius.3 Johnson told me, with an amiable fondness, a little pleasing circumstance relative to this work. Mrs. Johnson, in whose judgment and taste he had great confidence, said to him, after a few numbers of the Rambler had come out, "I thought very well of you before; but I did not imagine you could have written any thing equal to this." Distant praise, from whatever quarter, is not so delightful as that of a wife whom a man loves and esteems. Her approbation may be said to "come home to his bosom;" and, being so near, its effect is most sensible and permanent. Mr. James Elphinston, who has since published various works, and who was ever esteemed by Johnson as a worthy man, happened to be in Scotland while the Rambler was coming out in single papers at London. With a laudable zeal at once for the improvement of his countrymen, and the reputation of his friend, he suggested and took the charge of an edition of those Essays at Edinburgh, which followed progressively the London publication.5 The following letter, written at this time, to read; but it would have been better to have left blanks than to write nonsense. - BOSWELL. The Ramblers, certainly, were little noticed at first. Smart, the poet, first mentioned them to me as excellent papers, before I had heard any one else speak of them. When went into Norfolk, in the autumn of 1751, I found but one person (the Rev. Mr. Squires, a man of learning, and a general purchaser of new books) who knew any thing of them. Before I left Norfolk, in the year 1760, the Ramblers were in high favour among persons of learning and good taste. Others there were, devoid of both, who said that the hard trords in the Rambler were used by the author to render his Dictionary indispensably necessary.- BURNEY. ? I doubt if Colman wrote in this work. Smart was the principal contributor, and T. Warton a very considerable one. -A. CHALMERS. 3 Richardson, the author of Clarissa, to whom Cave had sent the first five numbers of the Rambler, became, as they proceeded, "so inexpressibly pleased with them," that he wrote to Cave in strong commendation, and intimated his conviction (the name of the author being still a secret), that Johnson was the only man who could write them. Cave, in his answer, dated "St. John's Gate, August 23. 1750," says:"Excuse this ramble from the purpose of your letter. I return to answer, that Mr. Johnson is the Great Rambler, being, as you observe, the only man who can furnish two such papers in a week, besides his other great business, and has not been assisted with above three. I may discover to you, that the world is not so kind to itself as you wish it. The encouragement, as to sale, is not in proportion to the high character given to the work by the judicious, not to say the raptures expressed by the few that do read it; but its being thus relished in numbers gives hopes that the sets must go off, as it is a fine paper, and, considering the late hour of having the copy, tolerably printed. "When the author was to be kept private (which was the first scheme), two gentlemen, belonging to the Prince's court, came to me to inquire his name, in order to do him service; and also brought a list of seven gentlemen to be served with the Rambler. As I was not at liberty, an inference was drawn, that I was desirous to keep to myself so excellent a writer. Soon after Mr. Doddington [afterwards Lord Melcombe] sent a letter directed to the Rambler, inviting him to his house, when he should be disposed to enlarge his acquaintance. In a subsequent number a kind of excuse was made, with a hint that a good writer might not appear to advantage in conversation. Since that time several circumstances, and Mr. Garrick and others, who knew the author's powers and style from the first, unadvisedly asserting their (but) suspicions, overturned the scheme of secrecy. (About which there is also one paper.) "I have had letters of approbation from Dr. Young, Dr. Hartley, Dr. Sharp, Miss Carter, &c. &c., most of them, like you, setting them in a rank equal, and some superior, to the Spectators (of which I have not read many, for the reasons which you assign): but, notwithstanding such recommendation, whether the price of twopence, or the unfavourable season of their first publication, hinders the demand, no boast can be made of it. The author (who thinks highly of your writings) is obliged to you for contributing your endeavours; and so is, for several marks of your friendship, good Sir, your admirer, and very humble servant," &c. &c. The two Ramblers alluded to are probably Nos. 14. and 13. Richardson had said, in his letter to Cave, "I remember not any thing in those Spectators that I read, for I never found time to read them all, that half so much struck me." It seems very strange that men of literary habits, like Richardson and Cave, should have read the Spectator so imperfectly. It is the stranger, with regard to Richardson, for his only paper in the Rambler (No. 97.) is written in the character of a professed admirer of the Spectator."— CROKER. 4 Mr. James Elphinston was born in Edinburgh, in 1721. He, when very young, was a private tutor in two or three eminent families: but about 1752 set up a boarding-school at Kensington, where Dr. Johnson sometimes visited him. He died at Hammersmith in 1809. His works are forgotten, or remembered for their absurdity. He translated Martial, of which Dr. Beattie says, "It is truly an unique the specimens formerly published did very well to laugh at; but a whole quarto of nonsense and gibberish is too much. It is strange that a man not wholly illiterate should have lived so long in England without learning the language." -And it was, no doubt, of this strange work that Mrs. Piozzi relates (p. 47.), that " of a modern Martial, when it came out, Dr. Johnson said there are in these verses too much folly for madness, I think, and too much madness for folly." ČROKER. 5 It was executed in the printing-office of Sands, Murray, and Cochran, with uncommon elegance, upon writing paper, of a duodecimo size, and with the greatest correctness: and Mr. Elphinston enriched it with translations of the mottos. When completed, it made eight handsome volumes. It is, unquestionably, the most accurate and beautiful edition of this work; and there being but a small impression, it is now become scarce, and sells at a very high price. - BOSWELL. With respect to the correctness of this edition, my father probably derived his information from some other person, and appears to have been misinformed; for it was not accu F |