The company of new persons.

33

Aetat. 71.] greater degree of carefulness as to money that is to be found in women; saying farther upon it, that the opportunities in general that they possess of improving their condition are much fewer than men have; and adding, as he looked round the company, which consisted of men only, there is not one of us who does not think he might be richer if he would use his endeavour.'

'He thus characterised an ingenious writer of his acquaintance: "Sir, he is an enthusiast by rule '."'

'He may hold up that SHIELD against all his enemies ;'-was an observation on Homer, in reference to his description of the shield of Achilles, made by Mrs. Fitzherbert, wife to his friend Mr. Fitzherbert of Derbyshire, and respected by Dr. Johnson as a very fine one. He had in general a very high opinion of that lady's understanding.'

An observation of Bathurst's may be mentioned, which Johnson repeated, appearing to acknowledge it to be well founded, namely, it was somewhat remarkable how seldom, on occasion of coming into the company of any new person, one felt any wish or inclination to see him again 3.

says that the beggar he saw 'confounded all kind of reasoning upon him.' 'He passed by me,' he continues, without asking anything— and yet he did not go five steps farther before he asked charity of a little woman-I was much more likely to have given of the two. He had scarce done with the woman, when he pulled his hat off to another who was coming the same way.An ancient gentleman came slowly -and, after him, a young smart one-He let them both pass, and asked nothing; I stood observing him half an hour, in which time he had made a dozen turns backwards and forwards, and found that he invariably pursued the same plan.' Sentimental Journey, ed. 1775, ii. 105.

1 Very likely Dr. Warton. Ante, ii. 41.

2 I differ from Mr. Croker in the explanation of this ill-turned sentence. The shield that Homer may VOL. IV.

D

hold up is the observation made by Mrs. Fitzherbert. It was this observation that Johnson respected as a very fine one. For his high opinion of that lady's understanding, see ante, i. 83.

3 In Boswelliana (p. 323) are recorded two more of Langton's Anecdotes. 'Mr. Beauclerk told Dr. Johnson that Dr. James said to him he knew more Greek than Mr. Walmesley. "Sir," said he, "Dr. James did not know enough of Greek to be sensible of his ignorance of the language. Walmesley did."' See ante, i. 81. 'A certain young clergyman used to come about Dr. Johnson. The Doctor said it vexed him to be in his company, his ignorance was so hopeless. "Sir," said Mr. Langton, "his coming about you shows he wishes to help his ignorance." "Sir," said the Doctor, "his ignorance is so great, I am afraid to show him the bottom of it."'

This

34

Completion of THE LIVES OF THE POETS. [A.D. 1781. This year the Reverend Dr. Franklin' having published a translation of Lucian, inscribed to him the Demonax thus:

'TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON, the Demonax of the present age, this piece is inscribed by a sincere admirer of his respectable talents, "THE TRANSLATOR.'

Though upon a particular comparison of Demonax and Johnson, there does not seem to be a great deal of similarity between them, this Dedication is a just compliment from the general character given by Lucian of the ancient Sage, 'äpiσTOV ὧν οἶδα ἐγὼ φιλοσόφων γενόμενον, the best philosopher whom I have ever seen or known,'

1781: ÆTAT. 72.]—IN 1781 Johnson at last completed his Lives of the Poets, of which he gives this account: 'Some time in March I finished the Lives of the Poets, which I wrote in my usual way, dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste3. In a memorandum previous to this, he says of them: 'Written, I hope, in such a manner as may tend to the promotion of piety"?'

5

This is the work which of all Dr. Johnson's writings will perhaps be read most generally, and with most pleasure. Philology and biography were his favourite pursuits, and those who lived most in intimacy with him, heard him upon all occasions, when there was a proper opportunity, take delight in expatiating upon the various merits of the English Poets: upon the niceties of their characters, and the events of their progress through the world which they contributed to illuminate. His mind was so full of that kind of information, and it was so well arranged in his memory, that in performing what he had undertaken in this

Aetat. 72.] Johnson's payment for THE LIVES.

35

way, he had little more to do than to put his thoughts upon paper, exhibiting first each Poet's life, and then subjoining a critical examination of his genius and works. But when he began to write, the subject swelled in such a manner, that instead of prefaces to each poet, of no more than a few pages, as he had originally intended', he produced an ample, rich, and most entertaining view of them in every respect. In this he resembled Quintilian, who tells us, that in the composition of his Institutions of Oratory", Latiùs se tamen aperiente materiâ, plus quàm imponebatur oneris sponte suscepi. The booksellers, justly sensible of the great additional value of the copy-right, presented him with another hundred pounds, over and above two hundred, for which his agreement was to furnish such prefaces as he thought fit3.

This was, however, but a small recompence for such a collection of biography, and such principles and illustrations of criticism, as, if digested and arranged in one system, by some modern Aristotle or Longinus, might form a code upon that

His design is thus announced in his Advertisement: 'The Booksellers having determined to publish a body of English Poetry, I was persuaded to promise them a Preface to the works of each authour; an undertaking, as it was then presented to my mind, not very tedious or difficult.

'My purpose was only to have allotted to every poet an Advertisement, like that [in original those] which we find in the French Miscellanies, containing a few dates, and a general character; but I have been led beyond my intention, I hope by the honest desire of giving useful pleasure.' BOSWELL.

⚫ Institutiones, liber i, Prooemium 3.

3 'He had bargained for two hundred guineas, and the booksellers spontaneously added a third hundred; on this occasion Dr. Johnson observed to me, “Sir, I always said the booksellers were a generous set of men. Nor, in the present in

stance, have I reason to complain.
The fact is, not that they have paid
me too little, but that I have written
too much." The Lives were soon
published in a separate edition;
when, for a very few corrections,
he was presented with another hun-
dred guineas.' Nichols's Lit. Anec.
viii. 416. See ante, iii. III. In Mr.
Morrison's Collection of Autographs
&c., vol. ii, 'is Johnson's receipt for
100l. from the proprietors of The
Lives of the Poets for revising the
last edition of that work.' It is
dated Feb. 19, 1783. Underneath,
in Johnson's autograph, are these
words: "It is great impudence to
put Johnson's Poets on the back of
books which Johnson neither re-
commended nor revised.
He re-
commended only Blackmore on the
Creation, and Watts. How then
are they Johnson's? This is in-
decent." The poets whom John-
son recommended were Blackmore,
Watts, Pomfret, and Yalden. Ante,
under Dec. 29, 1778.

subject,

36

The manuscript of THE LIVES.

[A.D. 1781.

subject, such as no other nation can shew. As he was so good as to make me a present of the greatest part of the original and indeed only manuscript of this admirable work, I have an opportunity of observing with wonder, the correctness with which he rapidly struck off such glowing composition. He may be assimilated to the Lady in Waller, who could impress with Love at first sight:'

'Some other nymphs with colours faint,
And pencil slow may Cupid paint,
And a weak heart in time destroy;

She has a stamp, and prints the boy2.'

That he, however, had a good deal of trouble, and some anxiety in carrying on the work 3, we see from a series of letters to Mr. Nichols the printer, whose variety of literary inquiry

1 Gibbon says of the last five quartos of the six that formed his History: My first rough manuscript, without any intermediate copy, has been sent to the press.' Misc. Works, i. 255. In the Memoir of Goldsmith, prefixed to his Misc. Works, i. 113, it is said :-'In whole quires of his Histories, Animated Nature, &c., he had seldom occasion to correct or alter a single word.' See ante, i. 203.

2 From Waller's Of Loving at First Sight. Waller's Poems, Miscellanies, xxxiv.

3 He trusted greatly to his memory. If it did not retain anything exactly, he did not think himself bound to look it up. Thus in his criticism on Congreve (Works, viii. 31) he says:— 'Of his plays I cannot speak distinctly; for since I inspected them many years have passed.' In a note on his Life of Rowe, Nichols says:"This Life is a very remarkable instance of the uncommon strength of Dr. Johnson's memory. When I received from him the MS. he complacently observed that the criticism was tolerably well done, considering

that he had not read one of Rowe's plays for thirty years.' Ib. vii. 417.

* Thus :-' In the Life of Waller, Mr. Nichols will find a reference to the Parliamentary History from which a long quotation is to be inserted. If Mr. Nichols cannot easily find the book, Mr. Johnson will send it from Streatham.'

'Clarendon is here returned.'

'By some accident, I laid your note upon Duke up so safely, that I cannot find it. Your informations have been of great use to me. I must beg it again; with another list of our authors, for I have laid that with the other. I have sent Stepney's Epitaph. Let me have the revises as soon as can be. Dec. 1778.'

'I have sent Philips, with his Epitaphs, to be inserted. The fragment of a preface is hardly worth the impression, but that we may seem to do something. It may be added to the Life of Philips. The Latin page is to be added to the Life of Smith. I shall be at home to revise the two sheets of Milton. March 1, 1779.'

'Please to get me the last edition of and

Aetat. 72.] Johnson's letters to Mr. Nichols.

and obliging disposition, rendered him useful to Johnson. Mr. Steevens appears, from the papers in my possession, to have supplied him with some anecdotes and quotations; and I observe the fair hand of Mrs. Thrale as one of his copyists of select passages. But he was principally indebted to my steady friend Mr. Isaac Reed, of Staple-inn, whose extensive and accurate knowledge of English literary history I do not express with exaggeration, when I say it is wonderful; indeed his labours have proved it to the world; and all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance can bear testimony to the frankness of his communications in private society.

It is not my intention to dwell upon each of Johnson's Lives of the Poets, or attempt an analysis of their merits, which, were