the "Adventurer," which was carried on by Dr. Hawkesworth and Dr. Warton. The profit of these papers he is said to have given to Dr. Bathurst, a physician of little practice, but a very amiable man, whom he highly respected. Mr. Boswell thinks he endeavoured to make them pass for Bathurst's, which is highly improbable *. In 1754 we find him approaching to the completion of his "Dictionary." Lord Chesterfield, to whom he once looked up as to a liberal patron, had treated him with neglect, of which, after Johnson declined to pay court to such a man, he became sensible, and, as an effort at reconciliation, wrote two papers in the "World," recommending the Dictionary, and soothing the author by some ingenious compliments. Had there been no previous offence, it is probable this end would have answered, and Johnson would have dedicated the work to him. He loved praise, and from lord Chesterfield, the Mecenas of the age, and the most elegant of noble writers, praise was at this time valuable. But Johnson never departed from exacting the just respect due to a man of letters, and was not to be appeased by the artifice of these protracted compliments. He could not even brook that his lordship should for a moment suppose him reconciled by his flattery, but immediately wrote that celebrated letter which has been so much admired as a model of dignified contempt. The allusion to the loss of his wife, and to his present situation, is exquisitely beautiful." The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I AM SOLITARY, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it." Lord Chesterfield is said to have concealed his feelings on this occasion with his usual art, conscious, perhaps, that they were not to be envied.

In 1755 the degree of M. A. was conferred upon him by the university of Oxford, after which (in May) his "Dictionary" was published in two large volumes, folio. Of a work so well known it is unnecessary to say more in this place, than that after the lapse of half a century, neither envy has injured, nor industry rivalled its usefulness or popularity. In the following year he abridged his "Dic

* See this matter explained in the preface to the Adventurer, British Essayists, Vol. XXIII.

tionary into an octavo size, and engaged to superintend a monthly publication entitled "The Literary Magazine, or Universal Register.?? To this he contributed a great many articles enumerated by Mr. Boswell, and several reviews of new books. The most celebrated of his reviews, and one of his most finished compositions, both in point of style, argument, and wit, was that of Soame Jenyns's "Free Inquiry into the nature and origin of Evil." This attracted so much notice that the bookseller was encouraged to publish it separately, and two editions were rapidly sold. The Magazine continued about two years, after which it was dropped for want of encouragement. He wrote also in 1756 some essays in the "Universal Visitor," another magazine, which lasted only a year. His friend Cave died in 1754, and, for whatever reason, Johnson's regular contributions appear no more in the Gentleman's Magazine. But he wrote a very elegant life of Cave, and was afterwards an occasional contributor. This, it would appear, was one of his worst years as to pecuniary matters. We find him, in the month of March, arrested for the sum of five pounds eighteen shillings! and relieved by Mr. Richardson. His proposal for an edition of Shakspeare was again revived, and subscription tickets issued out, but it did not go to press for many years after.

In 1758 the worthy John Newbery, bookseller, who frequently employed Johnson in his literary projects, began a news-paper called the "Universal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette," in conjunction with Mr. John Payne. To give it an air of novelty, Johnson was engaged to write a short periodical paper, which he entitled "The Idler." Most of these papers were written in haste, in various places where he happened to be, on the eve of publication, and with very little preparation. A few of them exhibit the train of thought which prevails in the "Rambler," but in general they have more vivacity, and exhibit a species of grave humour in which Johnson excelled. When the "Universal Chronicle" was discontinued, these papers were collected into two small volumes, which he corrected for the press, making a few alterations, and omitting one whole paper, which has since been restored. No. 41 of the "Idler alludes to the death of his mother, which took place in 1759. He had ever loved her with anxious affection *, and had

*See his very tender letters on this subject in Boswell's Life, vol. I. p. 315 et seqq. which are thus particularly

referred to, as they are not to be found before the edition of 1907,

contributed liberally to her support, often when he knew not where to recruit his finances. On this event he wrote his Rasselas, with a view to raise a sum sufficient to defray the expences of her funeral, and pay some little debts she had left. His mind appears to have been powerfully excited and enriched both with the subject and the motive, for he wrote the whole of this elegant and philosophical fiction during the evenings of one week, and sent it to press in portions as it was written. He received one hundred pounds from Messrs. Strahan, Johnston, and Dodsley, for the copy, and twenty-five more when it came, as it soon did, to a second edition. Few works of the kind have been more generally or more extensively diffused by means of translation. Yet the author, perhaps from the pain he felt in recollecting the melancholy occasion which called forth his pen, appears to have dismissed it with some degree of indifference, as soon as published; for from that time to 1781, when he found it accidentally in a chaise while travelling with Mr. Boswell, he declared he had never looked into it. His translation of "Lobo" probably suggested his placing the scene in. Abyssinia, but there is a little scarce volume, unnoticed by his biographers, from which it may be suspected he took some hints. It is entitled "The late Travels of S. Giacomo Baratti, an Italian gentleman, into the remotest countries of the Abyssins, or of Ethiopia Interior," London, 1670, 12mo.

Among his occasional productions about this time were his translation of a "Dissertation on the Greek Comedy," for Mrs. Lennox's English version of Brumoy, the general conclusion of the book, and an introduction to the "World Displayed," a collection of voyages and travels, projected by his friend Newbery.-When a new bridge was about to be built over the Thames at Blackfriars, he wrote some papers against the plan of the architect, Mr. Mylne. His principal motive appears to have been his friendship for Mr. Gwyn, who had given in a plan; and probably he only cloathed Gwyn's arguments in his own stately language. Such a contest was certainly not within his province, and he could derive little other advantage than the pleasure of serving his friend. He appeared more in character when he assisted his contemporaries with prefaces and dedications, which were very frequently solicited from him. Poor as he was at this time, he taught how dedications might be written without servile submission or flattery, and yet with

all the courtesy, compliment, and elegance which a liberal mind could expect.

But an end was now approaching to his pecuniary embarrassments. In 1762, while he was proceeding with his edition of Shakspeare, he was surprised by the information that his present majesty had been pleased to grant him a pension of three hundred pounds a year, not, as has been invidiously asserted, in order to induce him to write for administration, but as the reward of his literary merit. Had it been otherwise, he had surely the strongest inducement to have exerted his talents in favour of lord Bute, by whose recommendation the pension was granted, and who at this time wanted much abler support than the hired writers of government could supply. But it is well known that he wrote no political tract for nearly eight years afterwards. He now took a house in Johnson's court, Fleet-street, and allotted an apartment for Mrs. Williams. In 1765 he was introduced to the late Mr. Thrale and family, a circumstance which contributed much to alleviate the solicitudes of life, and furnished him with the enjoyment of an elegant table and elegant society. Here an apartment was fitted up for him, which he occupied when he pleased, and he accompanied the family in their various summer excursions, which tended to exhilarate his mind and render the return of his constitutional melancholy less frequent.

In the same year he received a diploma from Trinity college, Dublin, complimenting him with the title of doctor of laws; and after many delays, his edition of Shakspeare was published in eight volumes octavo. The preface is universally acknowledged to be one of the most elegant and acute of all his compositions. But as an illustrator of the obscurities of Shakspeare, it must be allowed he has not done much, nor was this a study for which he was eminently qualified. He was never happy when obliged to borrow from others, and he had none of that useful industry which indulges in research. Yet his criticisms have rarely been surpassed, and it is no small praise that he was the precursor of Steevens and Malone. The success of the Shakspeare was not great, although upon the whole it increased the respect with which the literary world viewed his talents. Kenrick made the principal attack on this work, which was answered by an Oxford student named Barclay. But neither the attack nor the answer attracted much notice..

In 1766 he furnished the preface, and some of the pieces which compose a volume of poetical "Miscellanies" by Mrs. Anna Williams. This lady was still an inmate in his house, and was indeed absolute mistress. Although her temper was far from pleasant, and she had now gained an ascendancy over him which she often maintained in a fretful and peevish manner, he forgot every thing in her distresses, and was indeed in all his charities, which were numerous, the most remote that can be conceived from the hope of gratitude or reward. His house was filled by dependants whose perverse tempers frequently drove him out of it, yet nothing of this kind could induce him to relieve himself at their expence. His noble expression was, "If 'I dismiss them, who will receive them?" Abroad, his society was now very extensive, and included almost every man of the age distinguished for learning, and many persons of considerable rank, who delighted in his company and conversation.

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In 1767, he had the honour to be admitted to a personal interview with his majesty, in the library of the queen's palace. Of the conversation which passed, Mr. Boswell has given a very interesting and authentic account, which, it may here be mentioned, he prized at so high a rate, as to print it separately in a quarto sheet, and enter it in that form at Stationers'-hall, a few days before the publication of his "Life of Johnson." He attempted in the same manner to secure Johnson's letter to lord Chesterfield.-In 1767, on the institution of the royal academy of arts, Johnson was appointed professor in ancient literature, and there probably was at that time some design of giving a course of lectures. But this, and the professorship of ancient history, are as yet mere sinecures.

In 1770, his first political pamphlet made its appearance, in order to justify the conduct of the ministry and the House of Commons in expelling Mr. Wilkes, and afterwards declaring col. Luttrell to be duly elected representative for the county of Middlesex, notwithstanding Mr. Wilkes had the majority of votes. The vivacity and pointed sarcasm of this pamphlet formed its chief recommendation, and it continues to be read as an elegant political declamation; but it failed in its main object. It made no converts to the right of incapacitating Mr. Wilkes by the act of expulsion, and the ministry had not the courage to try the question of absolute incapacitation. Wilkes