sharp necessity pointed at his back? If fortune had turned him into a field of clover, he would have laid down and rolled in it. The mere manual labour of writing would not have allowed his lassitude and love of ease to have taken the pen out of the inkhorn, unless the cravings of hunger had reminded him, that he must fill the sheet before he saw the table-cloth. He might, indeed, have knocked down Osborne for a blockhead, but he would not have knocked him down with a folio of his own writing. He would, perhaps, have been the dictator of a club, and wherever he sat down to conversation, there must have been that splash of strong bold thought about him, that we might still have had a collectanea after his death; but of prose I guess not much, of works of labour none, of fancy perhaps something more, especially of poetry, which, under favour, I conceive was not his tower of strength. I think we should have had his "Rasselas" at all events; for he was likely enough to have written at Voltaire, and brought the question to the test, if infidelity is any aid to wit. An orator he must have been; not improbably a parliamentarian, and, if such, certainly an oppositionist, for he preferred to talk against the tide. He would indubitably have been no member of the Whig Club, no partisan of Wilkes, no friend of Hume, no believer in Macpherson: he would have put up prayers for early rising, and laid in bed all day, and with the most active resolutions possible been the most indolent mortal living. He was a good man by nature, a great man by genius; we are now to inquire what he was by compulsion.

Johnson's first style was naturally energetic, his middle style was turgid to a fault, his latter style was softened down and harmonised into periods, more tuneful and more intelligible. His execution was rapid, yet his mind was not easily provoked into exertion: the variety we find in his writings was not the variety of

choice arising from the impulse of his proper genius, but tasks imposed upon him by the dealers in ink, and contracts on his part submitted to in satisfaction of the pressing calls of hungry want; for, painful as it is to relate, I have heard that illustrious scholar assert (and he never varied from the truth of fact), that he subsisted himself for a considerable space of time upon the scanty pittance of four-pence halfpenny per day.

The expanse of matter which Johnson had found room for in his intellectual storehouse, the correctness with which he had assorted it, and the readiness with which he could turn to any article that he wanted to make present use of, were the properties in him which I contemplated with the most admiration. Some have

called him a savage; they were only so far right in the resemblance, as that, like the savage, he never came into suspicious company without his spear in his hand and his bow and quiver at his back. In conclusion, Johnson's era was not wanting in men to be distinguished for their talents; yet if one was to be selected out as the first great literary character of the time, I believe all voices would concur in naming him. Let me here insert the following lines, descriptive of his character:

ON SAMUEL JOHNSON.

Herculean strength and a Stentorian voice,
Of wit a fund, of words a countless choice:
In learning rather various than profound,
In truth intrepid, in religion sound:
A trembling form and a distorted sight,

But firm in judgment and in genius bright;
In controversy seldom known to spare,
But humble as the publican in prayer;
To more than merited his kindness, kind,
And, though in manners harsh, of friendly mind;
Deep tinged with melancholy's blackest shade,
And, though prepared to die, of death afraid
Such JOHNSON was; of him with justice vain,
When will this nation see his like again?

PART VIII.

ANECDOTES OF DR. JOHNSON,
BY MR. CRADOCK. (1)

66

359. "Edipus.”

THE first time I dined in company with Dr. Johnson was at T. Davies's, Russell Street, Covent Garden, as mentioned by Mr. Boswell, in his "Life of Johnson." (2) On mentioning my engagement previously to a friend, he said, "Do you wish to be well with Johnson?" "To be sure, Sir," I replied, 66 or I should not have taken any pains to have been introduced into his company." Why then, Sir," says he, "let me offer you some advice: you must not leave him soon after dinner to go to the play; during dinner he will be rather silent-it is a very serious business with him; between six and seven he will look about him, and see who remains, and, if he then at all likes the party, he will be very civil and communicative." fulfilled what my friend had prophesied. did the honours of the table: she was a favourite with Johnson, who sat betwixt her and Dr. Harwood;" I sat next, below, to Mr. Boswell opposite. Nobody could bring Johnson forward more civilly or properly than Davies. The subject of conversation turned upon

He exactly

Mrs. Davies

(1) From Mr. Cradock's Memoirs. These anecdotes are certainly very loose and inaccurate; but, as they have been republished in the Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1828, with some corrections and additions from the author's MS.," I think it right to notice them; and, as they profess to be there enlarged from the MS., I copy this latter version, which differs, in some points, from the Memoirs.- C.

(2) [See antè, Vol. VI. p. 157.]

the tragedy of "Edipus." () This was particularly interesting to me, as I was then employed in endeavouring to make such alterations in Dryden's play, as to make it suitable to a revival at Drury Lane theatre. Johnson did not seem to think favourably of it; but I ventured to plead, that Sophocles wrote it expressly for the theatre, at the public cost, and that it was one of the most celebrated dramas of all antiquity. Johnson said, "Edipus was a poor miserable man, subjected to the greatest distress, without any degree of culpability of his own." I urged, that Aristotle, as well as most of the Greek poets, were partial to this character; that Addison considered that, as terror and pity were particularly excited, he was the properest here Johnson suddenly becoming loud, I paused, and rather apologised that it might not become me, perhaps, too strongly to contradict Dr. Johnson. "Nay, Sir," replied he, hastily, "if I had not wished to have heard your arguments, I should not have disputed with you at all." All went on quite pleasantly afterwards. We sat late, and something being mentioned about my going to Bath, when taking leave, Johnson very graciously said, "I should have a pleasure in meeting you there." Either Boswell or Davies immediately whispered to me, "You 're landed."

360. Garrick. Burke. Goldsmith.

The next time I had the pleasure of meeting him was at the Literary Club (2) dinner at the coffee-house in

(1) Boswell says it turned on Aristotle's opinion of the Greek tragedy in general; which may, however, have led to the subject of Edipus, though he does not notice it.-C.

(2) Here seems to be a mistake. No stranger is ever invited to the Club. It is probable that Mr. Cradock mistook an occasional meeting at the St. James's coffee-house (such a one did really produce "Retaliation") for a meeting of the Club. Mr. Colman, in his "Random Records," makes the same mistake, and wonders at finding noticed in " Retaliation" persons who did not belong to the Club.- C.

I sat

St. James's Street, to which I was introduced by my partial friend, Dr. Percy. Johnson that day was not in very good humour. We rather waited for dinner. Garrick came late, and apologised that he had been to the House of Lords, and Lord Camden insisted on conveying him in his carriage: Johnson said nothing, but he looked a volume. The party was numerous. next Mr. Burke at dinner. There was a beef-steak pie placed just before us; and I remarked to Mr. Burke that something smelt very disagreeable, and looked to see if there was not a dog under the table. Burke, with great good humour, said, “I believe, Sir, I can tell you what is the cause; it is some of my country butter in the crust that smells so disagreeably." Dr. Johnson just at that time, sitting opposite, desired one of us to send him some of the beef-steak pie. We sent but little, which he soon despatched, and then returned his plate for more. Johnson particularly disliked that any notice should be taken of what he eat, but Burke ventured to say he was glad to find that Dr. Johnson was anywise able to relish the beef-steak pie. Johnson, not perceiving what he alluded to, hastily exclaimed, "Sir, there is a time of life when a man requires the repairs of the table!" The company rather talked for victory than social intercourse. I think it was in consequence of what passed that evening, that Dr. Goldsmith wrote his "Retaliation." Mr. Richard Burke (1) was present, talked most, and seemed to be the most free and easy of any of the company. I had never met him before. Burke seemed desirous of bringing his relative forward. In Mr. Chalmers's account of Goldsmith, different sorts of liquor are offered as appropriate to each guest. To the two Burkes ale from Wicklow, and wine from Ferney to me: my name is in italics, as supposing I am a wine-bibber; but the author's allu

(1) Mr. Richard Burke, collector, of Grenada, the brother, not the son, of Mr. Burke..

C.