examination, though he is of so long a journey; and will venture it, if the dean thinks it necessary; choosing rather to die upon the road, than be starved to death in transleting for booksellers; which has been his only subsistence for some time past.

I fear there is more difficulty in this affair than those good-natured gentlemen apprehend; especially as their election cannot be delayed longer than the 11th of next month. If you see this matter in the same light that it appears to me, I hope you will burn this, and pardon me for giving you so much trouble about an impracticable thing; but, if you think there is a probability of obtaining the favour asked, I am sure your humanity and propensity to relieve merit in distress will incline you to serve the poor man, without my adding any more to the trouble I have already given you, than assuring you that I am, with great truth, sir, your faithful servant, "Trentham, Aug. 1, 1739."

"GOWER.

whether a person might be permitted to practise as an advocate there, without a doctor's degree in civil law. "I am (said he) a total stranger to these studies; but whatever is a profession, and maintains numbers, must be within the reach of common abilities, and some degree of industry." Dr. Adams was much pleased with Johnson's design to employ his talents in that manner, being confident he would have attained to great eminence. And, indeed, I cannot conceive a man better qualified to make a distinguished figure as a lawyer; for he would have brought to his profession a rich store of various knowledge, an uncommon acuteness, and a command of language, in which few could have equalled, and none have surpassed him. He who could display eloquence and wit in defence of the decision of the House of Commons upon Mr. Wilkes's election for Middlesex, and of the unconstitutional taxation of our fellow-subjects in America, must have been a powerful advocate in any cause. But here, also, the want of a degree was an insurmountable bar.

It was, perhaps, no small disappointment 1 to Johnson that this respectable application He was, therefore, under the necessity of had not the desired effect; yet how much persevering in that course into which he reason has there been, both for himself and had been forced; and we find that his prohis country, to rejoice that it did not suc-posal from Greenwich to Mr. Cave, for a ceed, as he might probably have wasted in translation of Father Paul Sarpi's History, obscurity those hours in which he after- was accepted 3. wards produced his incomparable works.

About this time he made one other effort to emancipate himself from the drudgery of authorship. He applied to Dr. Adams, to Dansult Dr. Smalbroke2 of the Commons,

d

[We shall hereafter see strong instances of

Some sheets of this translation were printed off, but the design was dropt; for it happened, oddly enough, that another person of the name of Samuel Johnson, librarian of St. Martin's in the Fields, and curate of that parish, engaged in the same undertaking, and was patronised by the clergy, par

Johnson's dislike both of Lord Gower and Dean 3 In the Weekly Miscellany, October 21, 1788, Ewift; and, considering how Johnson was influenc-there appeared the following advertisement: "Just ed by personal prejudices, it seems not unreasona- published, Proposals for printing the History of ble to suppose, that this disappointment had sour- the Council of Trent, translated from the Italian ed him against both Swift and Lord Gower. It of Father Paul Sarpi; with the Authour's Life, not appear that Johnson ever saw his lord- and Notes theological, historical, and critical, from shup's letter; nor, if he had, would he be much the French edition of Dr. Le Courayer. To which pased at the terms in which he is mentioned. are added, Observations on the History, and Notes As to Swift, his mind was certainly, at this time, in and Illustrations from various Authours, both printno condition to exert itself on any remote object; ed and manuscript. By S. Johnson. 1. The work and his friends ventured to mention the subject will consist of two hundred sheets, and be two volto mm, it is likely the Dean gave a peevish an- umes in quarto, printed on good paper and lete. particularly as he happened to be at this ter. 2. The price will be 188. each volume, to pend on very bad terms with the heads of the be paid, half a guinea at the delivery of the first ey Johnson probably knew no more than volume, and the rest at the delivery of the second that an unsuccessful application on his behalf had volume in sheets. 3. Twopence to be abated for been made both to Lord Gower and to Dean Swift, every sheet less than two hundred. It may be resented the failure without being very scrupu- had on a large paper, in three volumes, at the im apportioning the blame.-ED.] price of three guineas; one to be paid at the time of subscribing, another at the delivery of the first, and the rest at the delivery of the other volumes. The work is now in the press, and will be diligently prosecuted. Subscriptions are taken in by Mr. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, Mr. Rivington in St. Paul's Church-yard, by E. Cave at St. John's Gate, and the Translator, at No. 6, in Castle-street, by Cavendish-square."-BOSWELL.

[Richard Smalbroke, LL. D., second son of Bebop Smalbroke, succeeded his brother Thomas cancellor of the diocese of Lichfield in 1778, and died the senior member of the College of Advocates. The long connexion of the Smalbroke famly with Lichfield, probable pointed him out to Jonsson as a person able and willing to advise him. -Lo.]

ticularly by Dr. Pearce, afterwards Bishop "The Chinese Stories 3 may be had foldof Rochester. Several light skirmishes passed down when you please to send, in which ed between the rival translators, in the news- I do not recollect that you desired any alpapers of the day; and the consequence was terations to be made. that they destroyed each other, for neither of them went on with the work. It is much to be regretted, that the able performance of that celebrated genius FRA PAOLO lost the advantage of being incorporated into British literature by the masterly hand of Johnson.

"Pray muster up the Proposals, if you ean, or let the boy recal them from the book-seen, and will do it at a very low rate 4. I sellers."

phic poet, we may judge from the following | probably 3 the following Latin Epigram to specimen which he has given in the Ram- Dr. Birch* (p. 2):

bler: (Motto to No. 7.)

"O qui perpetuâ mundum ratione gubernas,

Terrarum cœlique sator!

Disjice terrena nebulas et pondera molis,
Atque tuo splendore mica! Tu namque serenum,
Tu requies tranquilla piis. Te cernere finis,
Principium, vector, dux, semita, terminus, idem."

"O THOU whose power o'er moving worlds pre-
sides,

Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides,
On darkling man in pure effulgence shine,
And cheer the clouded mind with light divine.
"Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast,
With silent confidence and holy rest;
From thee, great God! we spring, to thee we tend,
Path, motive, guide, original, and end!"

En.

[He addressed to her, in the Magazine for April, 17381, an epigram to Eliza, both in Greek and Latin (p. 210); and probably, also, the following Latin epigram in that for July (p. 372):

"IN BIRCHIUM.

Arte nova rarâque fide perscripserat ausus
Birchius egregios claraque gesta viruni.
Hunc oculis veri Fautrix lustravit acutis,

Et placido tandem hæc edidit ore, Dea:
'Perge modo, atque tuas olim post funera laudes
Qui scribat meritas Birchius alter erit.'"'

It has been erroneously supposed, that an Essay published in that Magazine this year, entitled "The Apotheosis of Milton," was written by Johnson; and on that supposition it has been improperly inserted in the edition of his works by the booksellers, after his decease. Were there no positive testimony as to this point, the style of the performance, and the name of Shakspeare not being mentioned in an Essay professedly reviewing the principal English poets, would ascertain it not to be the production of Johnson. But there is here no occasion to resort to internal evidence; for my Lord Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Douglas) has assured me that it was written by Guthrie. He also published, separately, "A Complete Vindication of the Licensers of the Stage, from the malicious and scandalous Aspersions of Mr. Brooke, Authour of Gustavus Vasa *;" being an ironical attack upon them for their suppression of that tragedy. [This Hawk. interposition of legal authority was looked upon by Mr. Brooke's In 1739, besides the assistance which he friends, in which number were included all gave to the Parliamentary Debates, his the Jacobites in the kingdom, as an infracwritings in the Gentleman's Magazine tion of a natural right, and as affecting the were, "The Life of Boerhaave *" (p. 37), cause of liberty. To express their resentin which it is to be observed, that he discov-ment of this injury, they advised him to send ers that love of chymistry which never for- it to the press 4, and by a subscription to the sook him; "An appeal to the Publick in publication, of near a thousand persons, enbehalf of the Editor" (p. 111); " An Ad-couraged others to the like attempts. Updress to the Readert" (p. 223); on occasion of this publication, Johnson "English verses to Eliza *2;" [and was employed by one Corbet, a bookseller of small note, to take up the cause of this injured author, and he did it in this pamphlet. In the course of this mock vindication of power, Johnson has taken a wide

"Elysios Popi dum ludit læta per hortos, En avida lauros carpit Elisa manu. Nil opus furto. Lauros tibi, dulcis Elisa, Si neget optata Popus, Apollo dabit." This year's Magazine also contains the celebrated Latin epigram "To a lady (Miss Maria Aston) who spoke in Defence of Liberty" (p. 211); and a Greek epigram to "Doctor Birch" (p. 654).]

ED.

[It seems extraordinary that Mr. Boswell, with all his research and accuracy, should have stated that the epigrams to Eliza and Dr. Birch are to be found in the volume for 1739, instead of that for 1738, and should have omitted the acknowledged epigram on Maria, and not even noticed the epigram on Eliza gathering laurels in Pope's garden, which there is every reason for supposing to be his. Johnson might even have accompanied his young friend to visit Pope's villa, and been a witness to the incident.-ED.]

2 [I have permitted this statement to remain in the text, though I can find in the Magazine for 1739 but one copy of English verses to Eliza. They are in December, and signed Amasius, which is the signature of some other pieces now known to have been written by Collins; but as Boswell erroneously attributed the Greek and Latin verses to Eliza to this year, the English verses may, like the others, have belonged to 1738; though even in that volume I can find nothing ad- |

p. 76.

dressed to Eliza in English which could be Johnson's, except a translation of his own (as I conceive) Latin epigram on the gathering Pope's laurels. It is not easy to account for the inaccuracy with which Mr. Boswell confounds these two years.-ED.]

3 [My chief reasons for supposing this Latin epigram to be Johnson's are, that it is a version of his own acknowledged Greek epigram which appeared in the preceding Magazine, and that he had followed his Greek epigram on Eliza with a Latin paraphrase in the same style as this.-Ed.]

[Mr. Brooke appears to have circulated MS. copies of Gustavus Vasa before it was completed.—I have one of these presentation copies.D’Israeli.]

scope, and adopted all the vulgar topicks of complaint.]

here is somebody who thinks he has vexed me sadly: yet if it had not been for you, you rogue, I should probably never have seen it."

Hawk.

p. 84, 85.

[These two satirical pamphlets were, SirJ. Hawkins thinks, in some degree prompted by the principle which Johnson frequently declared to be the only true genuine motive to writing, namely, pecuniary profit. This principle was not only avowed by Johnson, but seems to have been wrought by him into a habit. He was never greedy of money, but without money could not be stimulated to write.

He also published "Marmor Norfolciense; or an Essay on an ancient prophetical Inscription, in monkish Rhyme, lately discovered near Lynne, in Norfolk, by Probus Britannicus." In this latter performance, he, in a feigned inscription, supposed to have been found in Norfolk, the county of Sir Robert Walpole, then the obnoxious prime minister of this country, inveighs against the Brunswick succession, and the measures of government consequent upon it. To this supposed prophecy he added a Commentary, making each expression apply to Yet was he not so indifferent to the subthe times, with warm Anti-Hanoverian zeal. jects that he was requested to write on, as This anonymous pamphlet, I believe, did at any time to abandon either his religious not make so much noise as was expected, or political principles. He would no more and, therefore, had not a very extensive cir- have put his name to an Arian or Socinian culation. Sir John Hawkins relates that tract than to a defence of Atheism. At the "warrants were issued, and messengers em- time when "Faction Detected" came out, ployed to apprehend the author; who, a pamphlet of which the late Lord Egmont though he had forborne to subscribe his is now generally understood to have been name to the pamphlet, the vigilance of those the authour, Osborne, the bookseller, held in pursuit of him had discovered;" and we out to him a strong temptation to answer it, are informed that he lay concealed in Lam- which he refused, being convinced, as he beth-marsh till the scent after him grew cold. assured Sir J. Hawkins, that the charge This, however, is altogether without found-contained in it was made good, and that the ation, for Mr. Steele, one of the secretaries argument grounded thereon was unanswerof the treasury, who, amidst a variety of able. important business, politely obliged me with his attention to my inquiry, informed me that "he directed every possible search to be made in the records of the treasury and secretary of state's office, but could find no trace whatever of any warrant having been issued to apprehend the authour of this pamphlet."

Marmor Norfolciense" became exceedingly scarce, so that I for many years endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of it. At last I was indebted to the malice of one of Johnson's numerous petty adversaries, who, in 1775, published a new edition of it, "with Notes and a Dedication to Samuel Johnson, LL. D. by Tribunus;" in which some puny scribbler invidiously attempted to found upon it a charge of inconsistency against its authour, because he had accepted of a pension from his present majesty, and had written in support of the measures of government. As a mortification to such impotent malice, of which there are so may instances towards men of eminence, I am happy to relate, that this telum imbelle did ant reach its exalted object till about a year after it thus appeared, when I mentoned it to him, supposing that he knew of the re-publication. To my surprise he had Bot vet heard of it. He requested me to g directly and get it for him, which I did. He looked at it and laughed, and seemed to be much diverted with the feeble efforts f his unknown adversary, who, I hope, is ative to read this account. "Now (said he)

Hawk.

p. 80, 81.

The truth is, that Johnson's political prejudices were a mist that the eye of his judgement could not penetrate: in all the measures of Walpole's government he could see nothing right; nor could he be convinced, in his invectives against a standing army, as the Jacobites affected to call it, that the peasantry of a country was not an adequate defence against an invasion of it by an armed force. He almost asserted in terms, that the succession to the crown had been illegally interrupted, and that from whig-politicks none of the benefits of government could be expected. From hence it appears, and to his honour be it said, that his principles co-operated with his necessities, and that prostitution of his talents could not, in justice, be imputed to him.]

As Mr. Pope's note concerning Johnson, alluded to in a former page, refers both to his "London," and his "Marmor Norfolciense," I have deferred inserting it till now. I am indebted for it to Dr. Percy, the bishop of Dromore, who permitted me to copy it from the original in his possession. It was presented to his lordship by Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom it was given by the son of Mr. Richardson the painter, the person to whom it is addressed. I have transcribed it with minute exactness, that the peculiar mode of writing, and imperfect spelling of that celebrated poet, may be exhibited to the curious in literature. It justifies Swift's epithet of "paper-sparing Pope," for it is