never been controverted to be his, and a. of them have the same mark, it is reasonable to conclude that they are all written by the same hand. Yet to the Ode, in which we find a passage very characteristic of him, being a learned description of the gout, "Unhappy, whom to beds of pain Arthritick tyranny consigns; there is the following note, "The author being ill of the gout:" but Johnson was not attacked with that distemper till a very late period of his life. May not this, however, be a poetical fiction? Why may not a poet suppose himself to have the gout, as well as suppose himself to be in love, of which we have innumerable instances, and which has been admirably ridiculed by Johnson in his "Life of Cowley"? I have also some difficulty to believe that he could produce such a group of conceits as appear in the verses to Lyce, in which he claims for this ancient personage as good a right to be assimilated to heaven, as nymphs whom other poets have flattered; he therefore ironically ascribes to her the attributes of the sky, in such stanzas as this: "Her teeth the night with darkness dies, She's starr'd with pimples o'er; Her tongue like nimble lightning plies, But as, at a very advanced age, he could condescend to trifles in namby-pamby rhymes, to please Mrs. Thrale and her daughter, he may have, in his earlier years, composed such a piece as this. It is remarkable, that in this first edition of "The Winter's Walk," the concluding line is much more Johnsonian than it was afterwards printed; for in subsequent editions, after praying Stella to "snatch him to her arms," he says, "And shield me from the ills of life." known to have been assumed by Hawkesworth. The verses on the Purse, and to Stella in Mourning, are certainly by the same hand as the four odes. The whole therefore may be assigned to Hawkesworth, but at all events should be removed from Johnson's works.-Croker. Whereas in the first edition it is "And hide me from the sight of life." A horror at life in general is more consonant with Johnson's habitual gloomy cast of thought.1 I have heard him repeat with great energy the following verses, which appeared in the "Gentleman's Magazine for April this year; but I have no authority to say they were his own. Indeed, one of the best critics of our age suggests to me, that "the word indifferently being used in the sense of without concern, and being also very unpoetical, renders it improbable that they should have been his composition." 2 ON LORD LOVAT'S EXECUTION. Pitied by gentle minds KILMARNOCK died; The honest mourn not, knowing him a knave!" 3 1 Johnson's habitual horror was not of life but of death.-Croker. 2 Mr. Boswell and the critic, who I suppose was Doctor Blair, are unlucky in this objection, for Johnson has "indifferently" in the sense of "without concern in his Dictionary, with this example from Shakespeare, "And I will look on death indifferently.""-Croker. 3 These verses are somewhat too severe on the extraordinary person who is the chief figure in them; for he was, undoubtedly, brave. His pleasantry during his solemn trial (in which, by the way, I have heard Mr. David Hume observe, that we have one of the very few speeches of Mr. Murray, now Earl of Mansfield, authentically given) was very remarkable. When asked if he had any questions to put to Sir Everard Fawkener, who was one of the strongest witnesses against him, he answered, "I only wish him joy of his young wife." And after sentence This year his old pupil and friend, David Garrick, having become joint patentee and manager of Drury Lane theatre, Johnson honoured his opening of it with a Prologue,* which, for just and manly dramatic criticism on the whole range of the English stage, as well as for poetical excellence, is unrivalled. Like the celebrated Epilogue to the "Distressed Mother," it was, during the season, often called for by the audience. The most striking and brilliant passages of it have been so often repeated, and are so well recollected by all the lovers of the drama and of poetry, that it would be superfluous to point them out. In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for December this year, he inserted an "Ode on Winter," which is, I think, an admirable specimen of his genius for lyric poetry. But the year 1747 is distinguished as the epoch when Johnson's arduous and important work, his "DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE," was announced to the world, by the publication of its Plan or Prospectus. How long this immense undertaking had been the object of his contemplation, I do not know. I once asked him by what means he had attained to that astonishing knowledge of our language, by which he was enabled to realize a design of such extent and accumulated difficulty. He told me, that "it was not the effect of particular study; but that it had grown up in his mind insensibly." I have been informed by Mr. James Dodsley, that several years of death, in the horrible terms in such cases of treason, was pronounced upon him, as he was retiring from the bar, he said, " Fare you well, my lords, we shall not all meet again in one place." He behaved with perfect composure at his execution, and called out, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." In 1712, Ambrose Philips brought upon the stage, The Distressed Mother, almost a translation of Racine's Andromaque. It was concluded with the most successful epilogue that was ever yet spoken on the English theatre. The three first nights it was recited twice, and continued to be demanded through the run, as it is termed, of the play.-Wright. Of this distinguished epilogue the reputed author was the wretched Budgel, whom Addison used to denominate "the man who calls me cousin ;" and when he was asked how such a silly fellow could write so well, replied, "The epilogue was quite another thing when I saw it first." It was known in Tonson's family, and told to Garrick that Addison was himself the author.-Johnson's Life of Ambrose Philips, Works, vol. viii., p. 280.-Editor. before this period, when Johnson was one day sitting in his brother Robert's shop, he heard his brother suggest to him, that a "Dictionary of the English Language" would be a work that would be well received by the public; that Johnson seemed at first to catch at the proposition, but, after a pause, said, in his abrupt, decisive manner, "I believe I shall not undertake it." That he, however, had bestowed much thought upon the subject, before he published his "Plan," is evident from the enlarged, clear, and accurate views which it exhibits; and we find him mentioning in that tract, that many of the writers whose testimonies were to be produced as authorities were selected by Pope; which proves that he had been furnished, probably by Mr. Robert Dodsley, with whatever hints that eminent poet had contributed towards a great literary project, that had been the subject of important consideration in a former reign. The booksellers who contracted with Johnson, single and unaided, for the execution of a work, which in other countries has not been effected but by the co-operating exertions of many, were Mr. Robert Dodsley, Mr. Charles Hitch, Mr. Andrew Millar, the two Messieurs Longman, and the two Messieurs Knapton. The price stipulated was fifteen hundred and seventy-five pounds. The "Plan was addressed to Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield, then one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; a nobleman who was very ambitious of literary distinction, and who, upon being informed of the design, had expressed himself in terms very favourable to its success. There is, perhaps, in every thing of any consequence, a secret history which it would be amusing to know, could we have it authentically communicated. Johnson told me, "Sir, the way in which the plan of my 'Dictionary' came to be inscribed to Lord Chesterfield, was this; I had neglected to write it by the time appointed. Dodsley suggested a desire to have it addressed to Lord Chesterfield. I laid hold of this as a pretext for delay, that it might be better done, and let Dodsley have his desire. I said to my friend, Dr. Bathurst, Now, if any good comes 1 Sept. 22, 1777, going from Ashbourne in Derbyshire, to see Islam. of my addressing to Lord Chesterfield, it will be ascribed to deep policy, when, in fact, it was only a casual excuse for laziness,' 66 It is worthy of observation that the Plan" has not only the substantial merit of comprehension, perspicuity, and precision, but that the language of it is unexceptionably excellent; it being altogether free from the inflation of style, and those uncommon but apt and energetic words, which, in some of his writings, have been censured, with more petulance than justice; and never was there a more dignified strain of compliment than that in which he courts the attention of one who, he had been persuaded to believe, would be a respectable patron. "With regard to questions of purity or propriety," says he, I was once in doubt whether I should not attribute to myself too much in attempting to decide them, and whether my province was to extend beyond the proposition of the question, and the display of the suffrages on each side; but I have been since determined by your lordship's opinion, to interpose my own judg ment, and shall therefore endeavour to support what appears to me most consonant to grammar and reason. Ausonius thought that modesty forbade him to plead inability for a task to which Cæsar had judged him equal: 'Cur me posse negem, posse quod ille putat?' And I may hope, my lord, that since you, whose authority in our language is so generally acknowledged, have commissioned me to declare my own opinion, I shall be considered as exercising a kind of vicarious jurisdiction; and that the power which might have been denied to my own claim, will be readily allowed me as the delegate of your lordship. This passage proves, that Johnson's addressing his "Plan" to Lord Chesterfield was not merely in consequence of the result of a report by means of Dodsley, that the earl favoured the design; but that there had been a particular communication with his lordship concerning it.1 1 Mr. Anderdon purchased at Mr. James Boswell's sale many of his father's MSS., one of which he communicated to me, which is very curious, and indeed important to the question between Lord Chesterfield and Johnson. It is a draft of the prospectus of the Dictionary carefully |