to perpetuate. Johnson's best days were dark, and only when his life was far in the decline, he enjoyed a gleam of fortune long withheld. Compare him with his countryman and contemporary last-mentioned,' and it will be one instance amongst many, that the man who only brings the Muses' bantlings into the world, has a better lot in it than he who has the credit of begetting them.

1 Garrick.

DR. JOHNSON AT THE CHELSEA CHINA

MANUFACTORY.

MR. A. STEPHENS was told by the foreman of the Chelsea

China Manufactory, then in the workhouse of St. Luke's, (Middlesex), that Dr. Johnson had conceived a notion that he was capable of improving on the manufacture of china. He even applied to the directors of the Chelsea China Works, and was allowed to bake his compositions in their ovens in Lawrence Street, Chelsea. He was accordingly accustomed to go down with his housekeeper, about twice a week, and stayed the whole day, she carrying a basket of provisions with her. The Doctor, who was not allowed to enter the mixing room, had access to every other part of the house, and formed his composition in a particular apartment, without being overlooked by anyone. He had also free access to the oven, and superintended the whole of the process; but completely failed, both as to composition and baking, for his materials always yielded to the intensity of the heat, while those of the company came out of the furnace perfect and complete. The Doctor retired in disgust, but not in despair, for he afterwards gave a dissertation on this very subject in his works; but the overseer assured Mr. Stephens, in the spring of 1814, that he was still ignorant of the nature of the operation. He seemed to think that the Doctor imagined one single substance was sufficient, while he, on the other hand, asserted that he always used sixteen, and he must have had some practice, as he had nearly lost his eyesight, by firing batches of china, both at Chelsea and Derby, to which the manufacture was afterwards carried.-FAULKNER'S Chelsea, 1829, vol. i., p. 273.

This account is confirmed by the following entry in the catalogue of the china preserved at Holland House:— "A small dessert service of old Chelsea presented by the Chelsea Company to Dr. Johnson, who used to work during his leisure hours at the Chelsea Factory.”—PRINCESS LIECHSTENSTEIN's Holland House, vol. i., p. 225.

ANECDOTES AND REMARKS.

BY

BISHOP PERCY.

SIR

ANECDOTES AND REMARKS,

BY BISHOP PERCY.1

STOURBRIDGE SCHOOL.

IR JOHN HAWKINS is not correct in saying that Johnson, in early life, had not been accustomed to the conversation of gentlemen. His genius was so distinguished, that, although little more than a schoolboy, he was admitted to the best company, both at Lichfield and Stourbridge; and, in the latter neighbourhood, had met even with George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton; with whom, having some colloquial disputes, he is supposed to have conceived that prejudice which so improperly influenced him in the Life of that worthy nobleman. But this

could scarcely have happened when he was a boy of fifteen; and, therefore, it is probable he occasionally visited Stourbridge, during his residence at Birmingham, before he removed to London.

PERSONAL PECULIARITIES.

Johnson's countenance, when in a good humour, was not disagreeable. His face clear, his complexion good, and his features not ill formed, many ladies have thought they might not have been unattractive when he was young. Much misrepresentation has prevailed on this subject, among such as did not personally know him.

That he had some whimsical peculiarities of the nature described by Mr. Boswell, is certainly true; but there is no reason

1 These remarks were written by Bishop Percy in an interleaved copy of Dr. Anderson's Life of Johnson, and published as notes to the third edition of that work in 1815.-Editor.