scription the poems of Politian but failure of subscribers arrested the project. Johnson's circumstances were, as we see, far from bright; they certainly did not justify the assumption of domestic responsibilities; yet we find him succumbing to the attractions of Mrs. Porter, the widow of a Birmingham mercer, who was his senior by twenty years. "This is the most sensible man that I ever saw in my life," was the exclamation of the lady, whose admiration of her lover was not to be diminished by his external disadvantages, his scrofulous scars, his convulsive starts and his odd gesticulations; and the memory of “poor dear Tetty," as he was wont to speak of her, continued to be warmly cherished by the struggling scholar to his dying day. This union enabled Johnson to set up as schoolmaster on his own account. "At Edial, near Lichfield in Staffordshire," as an advertisement in the Gentleman's Magazine for July 1736 announced, "young gentlemen are boarded and taught the Latin and Greek languages by SAMUEL JOHNSON." This invitation, however, produced little fruit. In eighteen months only three pupils were attracted by it to Edial Hall, one of whom, destined to win for himself a celebrated name, used to entertain his familiar circle with mirth-provoking mimicry of the fat and florid lady and of the awkward endearments of the master of the establishment. When a genius like David Garrick applies his powers to taking off the peculiarities of a fond couple, the points are not likely to be overlooked.

Johnson now turned to London as the only place in which he could hope to find a suitable field for his talents; and it is a circumstance to be noted that his pupil Garrick accompanied him on the journey, the design of the latter being to adopt the legal profession. His means were as straightened as they could well be; but the gloom of his situation was relieved by the kindness of the Honourable Henry Hervey, third son of the first Earl of Bristol, by whom he was frequently entertained, and the memory of whose generosity to him at this period of privation and want

he never allowed to lapse. "He was a very vicious man, but very kind to me. If you call a dog Hervey, I shall love him." These words are ardently eloquent of his gratitude. The tragedy of Irene, of which only three acts had been completed before his arrival in London, was now resumed, its composition favoured by the beautiful scenery of Greenwich Park, though it was not until after his return to his native place that it was dismissed out of hand; to be put on the stage by Garrick in 1749. Its success was but slender; the author, however, profiting to the extent of £200, which sum together with £100 for the copyright may have consoled him somewhat for the lack of popular appreciation.

Johnson's introduction to Cave, the proprietor and editor of The Gentleman's Magazine, was an important event; providing him with the regular employment of which he stood in sore need. In days when it was not safe, even during the recess, to publish an account of the proceedings of either House without some disguise, The Gentleman's Magazine was the chief source of parliamentary intelligence; Blefuscu standing for France, Mildendo for London, sprugs for pounds, Nardac for the Duke of Newcastle, Hurgo Hickrad for Lord Hardwicke, and Wingel Pulnub for William Pulteney, in Cave's "Senate of Lilliput." From meagre notes of what had really been said by the various speakers Johnson wrote out the speeches. They were of course his own, in the strictest sense of the term; marked by all his fertility of illustration, vigour of argument, and splendour of diction; and "the Whig dogs" getting the worst of it. The sale of the magazine was greatly increased during their publication; but, as soon as he found that the speeches were taken for genuine, he declined to continue them, on the high moral ground that he would "not be accessory to the propagation of falsehood."

The third Satire of Juvenal, in which we have so powerful a picture of the misery and degradation of a needy man of letters, "lodged among the pigeons' nests in the tottering garrets which

overhung the streets of Rome," may, as Macaulay observes, have reminded Johnson of what he had himself endured during his first year in the metropolis. Certainly his vigorous paraphrase of the Roman poet pulses with feeling; and though for “London” (published anonymously in 1738) he obtained only ten guineas, he had the satisfaction of learning not only that a second edition was required in a week, but that Pope generously joined in the popular applause, sought him out, and exerted himself in his behalf. In 1744 appeared his Life of Richard: Savage, a masterly biography which, anonymous though it was, soon arrested public attention. The mention of the Preface contributed by him to the Harleian Miscellany in the following year will serve to record the fact that, irritated by the insolence of "the most rapacious and brutal of booksellers," he knocked Thomas Osborne down with one of his own folios. The pamphlet entitled "Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth," to which he affixed proposals for a new edition of Shakespeare, luckily fell into the hands of Warburton, who commended the writer as a man of parts and genius.

Johnson's reputation now was such that in 1747 he was engaged by an association of publishers-of whom Messrs. Longman are the surviving representatives-to produce a Dictionary of the English Language in two folio volumes; the sum agreed to be paid being fifteen hundred guineas—remuneration slender enough for so arduous an undertaking, more especially when we consider that out of this sum he had to pay six amanuenses, five of whom, curiously enough, were Scotchmen. The prospectus was addressed to the courtly and accomplished Earl of Chesterfield. Johnson indulged the hope that he should be able to execute his onerous task in about four years, the example of the French Academy with its forty members and its forty years of labour being gaily dismissed in an arithmetical way. It was not until 1755, however, that the bulky tomes were given to the world. During these years of mental toil the polite Chesterfield, to

whom Johnson had paid the high compliment of addressing the plan, had done literally nothing towards promoting the success of the undertaking, but on the eve of publication his lordship, evidently anxious to secure the distinction of having the Dictionary dedicated to him, affected to conceive a lively interest in its welfare. But these tardy advances were resolutely repelled by the manly spirit of Johnson, who thereupon indited the memorable Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield, which will be found in another place.

While the Dictionary was in progress he relaxed his mind in social life, founding a club which from its locality was called the Ivy Lane Club, and composing (in 1749) "The Vanity of Human Wishes in imitation of the tenth Satire of Juvenal; for the copyright of which he received fifteen guineas.

In the thirty-sixth year after the appearance of the last number of "The Spectator" of Addison, that is to say in 1750, was issued the first number of "The Rambler;" which, consisting (like its precursor in the same line of composition) of short essays on morals, manners and literature, came out on Tuesdays and Saturdays for the period of two years, at the price of twopence. Some notion of his energy and industry in this venture may be derived from the fact that, though he was immersed in the Dictionary, of the two hundred and eight numbers of "The Rambler " he was the sole author of all save eight, and even of this residue four were partly written by him.

In the spring of 1758 was begun "The Idler," on the model of its predecessor; Johnson writing all but twelve of the one hundred and three numbers published. While engaged in this enterprise, he lost his mother, towards whose maintenance he had not failed to contribute largely, out of his slender means. To meet the expenses entailed upon him by her funeral, and to discharge a few debts she had left, he bent his mind to the production, in a single week, of "Rasselas," the sheets being sent to the printer as they were thrown off in the ardour of compo

sition. For the copyright of this work he received a hundred pounds.

1762 witnessed a marked change in Johnson's circumstances. George III. had ascended the throne; the Tories were in power; and a pension of three hundred a year, offered to him with the assurance that no service to the ministry would ever be expected from his pen in return for the favour, was the honourable reward of his well recognised literary eminence. It was, indeed, a somewhat awkward circumstance that he had from childhood been an enemy of the House of Hanover; and, as we know, he took no pains whatever to conceal his Jacobite enthusiasm either in his works or in his conversation. Moreover, he had in the Dictionary defined pension to be "pay given to a State hireling for treason to his country," while a pensioner was, by way of driving the definition home, explained to be "a slave of State hired by a stipend to obey his master." By the irony of Fate he was to be the recipient of a pension himself. This provision, liberating him from the drudgery he had so long endured, gave him the mental quiet he needed for the execution of, at any rate, one laborious task he had bound himself to perform; the long promised edition of Shakspeare, for which he had obtained large subscriptions in advance. On those subscriptions he had lived during some years, and complaints were not wanting in respect of the long deferred volumes. could not brace himself up to the required energy. Exhorted by his friends, he promised to arouse himself; he even tried the stimulus of prayer against his invincible idleness; but year after year it was the same sad record of virtuous resolutions pitiably defeated. How long this mental sluggishness might have continued it is of course impossible to determine. One of his private notes at this time has it: "My memory grows confused, and I know not how the days pass over me." The Cock Lane Ghost came to the rescue of the penitent though incorrigible philosopher. Churchill, inflamed with party spirit, availed

He