when by accident the A. was in one instance omitted, it was noticed as an erratum in the next number.

The papers marked A. amount to eight, all of the humorous cast. These formed the resource which Dr. HAWKESWORTH, in No. 140, says, "soon failed," probably by the author's going abroad, if indeed the author was BATHURST, but it must not be concealed that the writer of BONNEL THORNTON's Life in the Biographical Dictionary, has assigned these papers to him, upon what authority does not appear. There seems no reason to impeach the veracity of Sir JOHN HAWKINS, and he had certainly an opportunity of knowing the history of this paper.

The contributions of the author of the RAMELER come next to be considered, and concerning them there can be no dispute. He wrote twenty-nine papers, the general character of which is the same with that of his preceding work, but being more at leisure, he appears more easy and more lively in his selection of subjects. He did not begin to write for the ADVENTURER until No. 34, March 3, 1753. Much of the interval between the conclusion of the RAMBLER, and this date was consumed in regret for the loss of his wife, to whom, although his biographers have not represented her in a very amiable light, he was sincerely attached, and whose loss he never forgot either in conversation or prayer*. Having, however, recovered from the violence of this shock, he began to write for the ADVEN

* JOHNSON's Prayers and Meditations, passim.

TURER, with the story of Mysargyrus, which he continued in No. 41, 53, and 62, and which shews an intimate acquaintance with London life. No. 84, A Journey in a Stage Coach, will probably never be exceeded for delicate humour. The account of the ADMIRABLE CRICHTON is one of those which he is said to have dictated, not to BATHURST, but to Dr. HAWKESWORTH. It is an elegant summary of CRICHTON's Life from MACKENZIE'S "Writers of the Scotch nation," but of this wonderful man, a more authentic and impartial account, drawn up by the EARL of BUCHAN, and Dr. KIPPIS, has since appeared in the Biographia Britannica.

In No. 85, 95, 115, 137, and 138, we find him expatiating on his favourite topic, the concerns and interests of literature and literary men. In No. 120, he again indulges in reflections on "the bitterness of being," and indeed exhibits his whole system of human misery, concluding, however, as usual, with suitable consolation. It is singular that the succeeding paper by Dr. HAWKESWORTH contains the "Adventures of a Louse," which concludes its melancholy story, with a hope to find some dwelling, where no comb shall ever enter, and no nails scratch; which neither pincers nor razor shall approach, where the remainder of life may be passed in perfect fecurity and repose, amidst the smiles of society, and the profusion of plenty." And this hope so extravagant and ridiculous, uttered with such solemnity of diction and manner," is followed by the writer's reflection, "that the life of MAN is not less exposed to evil, and that

all his expectations of security and happiness in temporal possessions, are equally chimerical and absurd.” The junction of these papers was probably accidental, but the coincidence of "dolorous declamation" between the man and the louse has, in some degree, the mirthful air of a parody.

Dr. JOHNSON revised his ADVENTURERS for a second edition, with the same attention he bestowed on the RAMBLER, but as he had now more leisure to write, his corrections and alterations are not so frequent, unless in the first three or four papers. Mr. BoswELL has discovered from internal evidence, that No. 39, on sleep, was written by him, but a proof of that kind would not have been wanted, if he had confulted the original, or any of the early editions, in which the paper is marked with a T. Sir JOHN HAWKINS from neglecting this precaution, when he collected Dr. JOHNSON's works for an uniform edition in 1786-7, has omitted no less than five of his ADVENTURERS, No. 39, 67, 74, 81, and

128.

The next assistant in the ADVENTURER Was Dr. JOSEPH WARTON, to whom, in the original plan, the province of criticism and literature was consigned.

This elegant scholar was born about the year 1722: his father, THOMAS WARTON, B. D. was Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, Poetry-Professor from the year 1718 to 1728, and Vicar of Basingstoke, in Hampshire, and Cobham in Surry. He married ELIZABETH, daughter of the Reverend JOSEPH RICHARD

SON, Rector of Dunfold, in Surry, by whom he had three children, JOSEPH, the object of this article; THOMAS, the late poet and historian of English poetry, who died in 1790; and a daughter. He was the author of a volume of poems published by subscription in the year 1745, among which is the celebrated epigram on the king's sending a troop of horse to Oxford, at the same time he gave a collection of books to the University of Cambridge. This has usually been attributed to Dr. TRAPP. Mr. WARTON died in August, 1745, and was characterized by his sons as a man of learning, probity and piety.

Mr. JOSEPH WARTON was admitted a scholar into Winchester College, Aug. 2, 1736, and left it in Sept. 1740: he was admitted of Oriel College, Oxford, and determined his batchelor's degree in 1744, and was ordained, and immediately became his father's curate at Basingstoke, where he officiated till February 1746. He proceeded M. A. by diploma, June 23, 1759, and B. and D. D. January 15, 1768. At what time he was elected head master of Winchester College, is not exactly known, but he resigned it in 1793, foon after a kind of rebellion among the scholars, of the blame of which he appears to have had no share. Although long celebrated as a fcholar, and living much among the patrons of the church, his promotions were neither numerous nor very valuable. He was Rector of Wickham, in Hampshire, a Prebendary of Winchester, and Rector of Upham, in Hampshire, which last he received from the Bishop of Winchester in the year 1790.

His earliest publication was "An Ode on reading West's Pindar, 1744," followed by other short poems, among which is the "Enthusiast, or Lover of Nature." In 1746, he published odes on several subjects, in octavo. In 1756, without his name, appeared the " Essay on the writings and genius of Pope, vol. 1. and in 1782 the second volume, of which the first two hundred pages were printed about twenty years before publication. Dr. JOHNSON accounted for this delay by supposing that the author was disappointed in not having been able to persuade the world to be of his opinion as to POPE. He praises it, however, as a book which teaches how the brow of criticism may be smoothed, and how she may be enabled, with all her severity, to attract and to delight.

In 1753, was published, "The Works of Virgil in English verse; the Eneid translated by the Rev. Mr. CHRISTOPHER PITT, the Eclogues and Georgics, by Mr. JOSEPH WARTON, &c." 4 vols. octavo; dedicated to Sir GEORGE, afterwards. Lord LYTTELTON. Of Dr. WARTON'S Georgics and Eclogues, it has been said that they convey the sense of the originals with greater exactness and perspicuity than any other translation we have; that the versification is easy and harmonious, and the style correct and pure: yet that, if read for themselves, they are inferior, as pleasing poems, to the similar performances of Dryden. In the same year, while he superintended the

* This date appears to be wrong.

VOL. XXIII.

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