Life of Johnson Volume III Part 46

[82] Boswell, _post_, under March 30, 1783, says, 'Johnson discovered a love of little children upon all occasions.'

[83] Johnson at a later period thought otherwise. _Post_, March 30, 1778.

[84] Pope borrowed from the following lines:--

'When on my sick bed I languish, Full of sorrow, full of anguish; Fainting, gasping, trembling, crying, Panting, groaning, speechless, dying-- Methinks I hear some gentle spirit say, Be not fearful, come away.'

Campbell's _Brit. Poets_, p. 301.

[85] In Rochester's _Allusion to the Tenth Satire of the First Book of Horace_.

[86] In the _Monthly Review_ for May, 1792, there is such a correction of the above pa.s.sage, as I should think myself very culpable not to subjoin. 'This account is very inaccurate. The following statement of facts we know to be true, in every material circ.u.mstance:--Shiels was the princ.i.p.al collector and digester of the materials for the work: but as he was very raw in authourship, an indifferent writer in prose, and his language full of Scotticisms, Cibber, who was a clever, lively fellow, and then soliciting employment among the booksellers, was engaged to correct the style and diction of the whole work, then intended to make only four volumes, with power to alter, expunge, or add, as he liked. He was also to supply _notes_, occasionally, especially concerning those dramatick poets with whom he had been chiefly conversant. He also engaged to write several of the Lives; which, (as we are told,) he, accordingly, performed. He was farther useful in striking out the Jacobitical and Tory sentiments, which Shiels had industriously interspersed wherever he could bring them in:--and, as the success of the work appeared, after all, very doubtful, he was content with twenty-one pounds for his labour beside a few sets of the books, to disperse among his friends.--Shiels had nearly seventy pounds, beside the advantage of many of the best Lives in the work being communicated by friends to the undertaking; and for which Mr. Shiels had the same consideration as for the rest, being paid by the sheet, for the whole. He was, however, so angry with his Whiggish supervisor, (He, like his father, being a violent stickler for the political principles which prevailed in the Reign of George the Second,) for so unmercifully mutilating his copy, and scouting his politicks, that he wrote Cibber a challenge: but was prevented from sending it, by the publisher, who fairly laughed him out of his fury. The proprietors, too, were discontented, in the end, on account of Mr. Cibber's unexpected industry; for his corrections and alterations in the proof-sheets were so numerous and considerable, that the printer made for them a grievous addition to his bill; and, in fine, all parties were dissatisfied. On the whole, the work was productive of no profit to the undertakers, who had agreed, in case of success, to make Cibber a present of some addition to the twenty guineas which he had received, and for which his receipt is now in the booksellers' hands. We are farther a.s.sured, that he actually obtained an additional sum; when he, soon after, (in the year 1758,) unfortunately embarked for Dublin, on an engagement for one of the theatres there: but the ship was cast away, and every person on board perished. There were about sixty pa.s.sengers, among whom was the Earl of Drogheda, with many other persons of consequence and property.

[_Gent. Mag_. 1758, p. 555.]

'As to the alledged design of making the compilement pa.s.s for the work of old Mr. Cibber, the charges seem to have been founded on a somewhat uncharitable construction. We are a.s.sured that the thought was not harboured by some of the proprietors, who are still living; and we hope that it did not occur to the first designer of the work, who was also the printer of it, and who bore a respectable character.

'We have been induced to enter thus circ.u.mstantially into the foregoing detail of facts relating to _The Lives of the Poets_, compiled by Messrs. Cibber and Shiels, from a sincere regard to that sacred principle of Truth, to which Dr. Johnson so rigidly adhered, according to the best of his knowledge; and which we believe, _no consideration_ would have prevailed on him to violate. In regard to the matter, which we now dismiss, he had, no doubt, been misled by partial and wrong information: Shiels was the Doctor's amanuensis; he had quarrelled with Cibber; it is natural to suppose that he told his story in his own way; and it is certain that _he_ was not "a very st.u.r.dy moralist." [The quotation is from Johnson's _Works_, ix. 116.] This explanation appears to me very satisfactory. It is, however, to be observed, that the story told by Johnson does not rest solely upon my record of his conversation; for he himself has published it in his _Life of Hammond_ [_ib_. viii.

90], where he says, "the ma.n.u.script of Shiels is now in my possession."

Very probably he had trusted to Shiels's word, and never looked at it so as to compare it with _The Lives of the Poets_, as published under Mr.

Cibber's name. What became of that ma.n.u.script I know not. I should have liked much to examine it. I suppose it was thrown into the fire in that impetuous combustion of papers, which Johnson I think rashly executed, when _moribundus_.' BOSWELL. Mr. Croker, quoting a letter by Griffiths the publisher, says:--'The question is now decided by this letter in opposition to Dr. Johnson's a.s.sertion.' Croker's _Boswell_, p. 818. The evidence of such an infamous fellow as Griffiths is worthless. (For his character see Forster's _Goldsmith_, i. 161.) As the _Monthly Review_ was his property, the pa.s.sage quoted by Boswell was, no doubt, written by his direction. D'Israeli (_Curiosities of Literature_, ed. 1834, vi.

375) says that Oldys (_ante_, i. 175) made annotations on a copy of Langbaine's _Dramatic Poets_. 'This _Langbaine_, with additions by c.o.xeter, was bought by Theophilus Cibber; on the strength of these notes he prefixed his name to the first collection of the _Lives of Our Poets_, written chiefly by Shiels.'

[87] Mason's _Memoirs of Gray's Life_ was published in 1775. Johnson, in his _Life of Gray_ (_Works_, viii. 476), praises Gray's portion of the book:--'They [Gray and Horace Walpole] wandered through France into Italy; and Gray's _Letters_ contain a very pleasing account of many parts of their journey.' 'The style of Madame de Sevigne,' wrote Mackintosh (_Life_, ii. 221), 'is evidently copied, not only by her worshipper Walpole, but even by Gray; notwithstanding the extraordinary merits of his matter, he has the double stiffness of an imitator and of a college recluse.'

[88] See ante, ii. 164.

[89] This impartiality is very unlikely. In 1757 Griffiths, the owner of the _Monthly_, aiming a blow at Smollett, the editor of the _Critical_, said that _The Monthly Review_ was not written by 'physicians without practice, authors without learning, men without decency, gentlemen without manners, and critics without judgement.' Smollett retorted:-- '_The Critical Review_ is not written by a parcel of obscure hirelings, under the restraint of a bookseller and his wife, who presume to revise, alter, and amend the articles occasionally. The princ.i.p.al writers in the _Critical Review_ are unconnected with booksellers, un-awed by old women, and independent of each other.' Forster's _Goldsmith_, i. 100. 'A fourth share in _The Monthly Review_ was sold in 1761 for 755.' _A Bookseller of the Last Century_, p. 19.

[90] See ante, ii. 39.

[91] Horace Walpole writes:--'The scope of the _Critical Review_ was to decry any work that appeared favourable to the principles of the Revolution.' _Memoirs of the Reign of George II_, iii. 260.

[92] 'The story of this publication is remarkable. The whole book was printed twice over, a great part of it three times, and many sheets four or five times. The booksellers paid for the first impression; but the charges and repeated operations of the press were at the expense of the author, whose ambitious accuracy is known to have cost him at least a thousand pounds. He began to print in 1755. Three volumes appeared in 1764, and the conclusion in 1771. Andrew Reid undertook to persuade Lyttelton, as he had persuaded himself, that he was master of the secret of punctuation; and, as fear begets credulity, he was employed, I know not at what price, to point the pages of _Henry the Second_. When time brought the _History_ to a third edition, Reid was either dead or discarded; and the superintendence of typography and punctuation was committed to a man originally a comb-maker, but then known by the style of Doctor. Something uncommon was probably expected, and something uncommon was at last done; for to the Doctor's edition is appended, what the world had hardly seen before, a list of errors in nineteen pages.'

Johnson's _Works_, viii. 492. In the first edition of _The Lives of the Poets_ 'the Doctor' is called Dr. Saunders. So ambitious was Lord Lyttelton's accuracy that in the second edition he gave a list of 'false stops which hurt the sense.' For instance, the punctuation of the following paragraph:--'The words of Abbot Suger, in his life of Lewis le Gros, concerning this prince are very remarkable,' he thus corrects, 'after prince a comma is wanting.' See _ante_, ii. 37.

[93] According to Horace Walpole, Lyttelton had angered Smollett by declining 'to recommend to the stage' a comedy of his. 'He promised,'

Walpole continues, 'if it should be acted, to do all the service in his power for the author. Smollett's return was drawing an abusive portrait of Lord Lyttelton in _Roderick Random.' Memoirs of the Reign of George II_, iii. 259.

[94] _Spectator_, No. 626. See _post_, 1780, in Mr. Langton's _Collection_, near the end.

[95] When Steele brought _The Spectator_ to the close of its first period, he acknowledged in the final number (No. 555) his obligation to his a.s.sistants. In a postscript to the later editions he says:--'It had not come to my knowledge, when I left off _The Spectator_, that I owe several excellent sentiments and agreeable pieces in this work to Mr.

Ince, of Gray's Inn.' Mr. Ince died in 1758. _Gent. Mag_. 1758, p. 504.

[96] _Spectator_, No. 364.

[97] Sir Edward Barry, Baronet. BOSWELL.

[98] 'We form our words with the breath of our nostrils, we have the less to live upon for every word we speak.' Jeremy Taylor's _Holy Dying_, ch. i. sec. 1.

[99] On this day Johnson sent the following application for rooms in Hampton Court to the Lord Chamberlain:--

'My Lord, Being wholly unknown to your lordship, I have only this apology to make for presuming to trouble you with a request, that a stranger's pet.i.tion, if it cannot be easily granted, can be easily refused. Some of the apartments are now vacant in which I am encouraged to hope that by application to your lordship I may obtain a residence.

Such a grant would be considered by me as a great favour; and I hope that to a man who has had the honour of vindicating his Majesty's Government, a retreat in one of his houses may not be improperly or unworthily allowed. I therefore request that your lordship will be pleased to grant such rooms in Hampton Court as shall seem proper to

'My Lord,

'Your lordship's most obedient and most faithful humble servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'April 11, 1776.'

'Mr. Saml. Johnson to the Earl of Hertford, requesting apartments at Hampton Court, 11th May, 1776.' And within, a memorandum of the answer:--'Lord C. presents his compliments to Mr. Johnson, and is sorry he cannot obey his commands, having already on his hands many engagements unsatisfied.' Prior's _Malone_, p. 337. The endors.e.m.e.nt does not, it will be seen, agree in date with the letter. Lord C. stands for the Lord Chamberlain.

[100] Hogarth saw Garrick in Richard III, and on the following night in Abel Drugger; he was so struck, that he said to him, 'You are in your element when you are begrimed with dirt, or up to your elbows in blood.'

Murphy's _Garrick_, p. 21. Cooke, in his _Memoirs of Macklin_, p. 110, says that a Lichfield grocer, who came to London with a letter of introduction to Garrick from Peter Garrick, saw him act Abel Drugger, and returned without calling on him. He said to Peter Garrick: 'I saw enough of him on the stage. He may be rich, as I dare say any man who lives like him must be; but by G-d, though he is your brother, Mr.

Garrick, he is one of the shabbiest, meanest, most pitiful hounds I ever saw in the whole course of my life.' Abel Drugger is a character in Ben Jonson's _Alchemist_.

[101] See _post_, under Sept. 30, 1783.

[102] Lord Shelburne in 1766, at the age of twenty-nine, was appointed Secretary of State in Lord Chatham's ministry. Fitzmaurice's _Shelburne_, ii. 1. Jeremy Bentham said of him:--'His head was not clear. He felt the want of clearness. He had had a most wretched education.' _Ib_. p. 175.

[103] He wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Aug. 14, 1780:--'I hope you have no design of stealing away to Italy before the election, nor of leaving me behind you; though I am not only seventy, but seventy-one.... But what if I am seventy-two; I remember Sulpitius says of Saint Martin (now that's above your reading), _Est animus victor annorum et senectuti cedere nescius_. Match me that among your young folks.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 177.

[104] Lady Hesketh, taking up apparently a thought which Paoli, as reported by Boswell, had thrown out in conversation, proposed to Cowper the Mediterranean for a topic. 'He replied, "Unless I were a better historian than I am, there would be no proportion between the theme and my ability. It seems, indeed, not to be so properly a subject for one poem, as for a dozen."' Southey's _Cowper_, iii. 15, and vii. 44.

[105] Burke said:--'I do not know how it has happened, that orators have hitherto fared worse in the hands of the translators than even the poets; I never could bear to read a translation of Cicero.' _Life of Sir W. Jones_, p. 196.

[106] See _ante_, ii. 188.

[107] See _ante_, ii. 182.

[108] See _post_, under date of Dec. 24, 1783, where mention seems to be made of this evening.

[109] See _ante_, note, p. 30. BOSWELL

[110] 'Thomson's diction is in the highest degree florid and luxuriant, such as may be said to be to his images and thoughts "both their l.u.s.tre and their shade;" such as invest them with splendour, through which, perhaps, they are not always easily discerned.' Johnson's _Works_, viii. 378. See _ante_, i. 453, and ii. 63.

[111] _A Collection of Poems in six volumes by several hands_, 1758.

[112] _Ib_. i. 116.

[113] Mr. Nicholls says, '_The Spleen_ was a great favourite with Gray for its wit and originality.' Gray's _Works_, v. 36. See _post_, Oct. 10, 1779, where Johnson quotes two lines from it. 'Fling but a stone, the giant dies,' is another line that is not unknown.

[114] A noted highwayman, who after having been several times tried and acquitted, was at last hanged. He was remarkable for foppery in his dress, and particularly for wearing a bunch of sixteen strings at the knees of his breeches. BOSWELL.

[115] Goldsmith wrote a prologue for it. Horace Walpole wrote on Dec. 14, 1771 (_Letters_, v. 356):--'There is a new tragedy at Covent Garden called _Zobeide_, which I am told is very indifferent, though written by a country gentleman.' Cradock in his old age published his own _Memoirs_.

[116] '"Dr. Farmer," said Johnson {speaking of this essay}, "you have done that which never was done before; that is, you have completely finished a controversy beyond all further doubt." "There are some critics," answered Farmer, "who will adhere to their old opinions."