1737. Etat. 28. and houses, in order of time, which, in placid condefcenfion to my refpectful curiofity, he one evening dictated to me, but without specifying how long he lived at each. In the progrefs of his life I fhall have occafion to mention fome of them as connected with particular incidents, or with the writing of particular parts of his works. To fome, this minute attention may appear trifling; but when we confider the punctilious exactness with which the different houfes in which Milton refided have been traced by the writers of his life, a fimilar enthusiasm may be pardoned in the biographer of Johnson. His tragedy being by this time, as he thought, completely finished and fit for the stage, he was very defirous that it fhould be brought forward, Mr. Peter Garrick told me, that Johnfon and he went together to the Fountain tavern, and read it over, and that he afterwards folicited Mr. Fleetwood, the patentee of Drury-lane theatre, to have it acted at his houfe; but Mr. Fleetwood would not accept it, probably because it was not patronifed by fome man of high rank; and it was not acted till 1749, when his friend David Garrick was manager of that theatre. "THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE," begun and carried on by Mr. Edward Cave, under the name of SYLVANUS URBAN, had attracted the notice and esteem of Johnfon, in an eminent degree, before he came to London as an adventurer in literature. He told me, that when he first saw St. John's Gate, the place where that defervedly popular popular mifcellany was originally printed, he "be- 1738. held it with reverence." I suppose, indeed, that Etat. 29. every young authour has had the fame kind of feeling for the magazine or periodical publication which has first entertained him, and in which he has first had an opportunity to fee himself in print, without the rifk of expofing his name. I myfelf recollect fuch impreffions from "THE SCOTS MAGAZINE," which was begun at Edinburgh in the year 1739, and has been ever conducted with judgement, accuracy, and propriety. I yet cannot help thinking of it with an affectionate regard. Johnson has dignified the Gentleman's Magazine, by the importance with which he invefts the life of Cave; but he has given it ftill greater luftre by the various admirable Effays which he wrote for it. Though Johnfon was often folicited by his friends. to make a complete lift of his writings, and talked of doing it, I believe with a serious intention that they should all be collected on his own account, he put it off from year to year, and at laft died without having done it perfectly. I have one in his own hand-writing, which contains a certain number; I indeed doubt if he could have recollected every one of them, as they were fo numerous, fo various, and scattered in fuch a multiplicity of unconnected publications; nay, feveral of them published under the names of other perfons, to whom he liberally contributed from the abundance of his mind. We must, therefore, be content to discover them, partly from occafional information 1738. given by him to his friends, and partly from internal evidences. Etat. 29. His first performance in the Gentleman's Magazine, which for many years was his principal refource for employment and fupport, was a copy of Latin verses, in March, 1738, addreffed to the editor in fo happy a ftyle of compliment, that Cave must have been deftitute both of taste and fenfibility, had he not felt himself highly gratified. Ad URBAN U M.* URBANE, nullis feffe laboribus, Quid moliatur gens imitantium, Juxta animo ftudiifque felix. Linguæ procacis plumbea fpicula, 5 While in the course of my narrative I enumerate his writings, I fhall take care that my readers fhall not be left to waver in doubt, between certainty and conjecture, with regard to their authenticity; and, for that purpose, fhall mark with an asterisk (*) thofe which he acknowledged to his friends, and with a ' dagger (+) thofe which are afcertained to be his by internal evidence. When any other pieces are afcribed to him, I fhall give my reafons. 6 Intende Intende nervos, fortis, inanibus Non ulla Mufis pagina gratior, Texente Nymphis ferta Lycoride, Immifta, fic Iris refulget Ethereis variata fucis. S. J. It • A tranflation of this Ode, by an unknown correfpondent, appeared in the Magazine for the month of May following: " Hail URBAN! indefatigable man, "Whom num'rous flanderers afsault in vain; **What mean the servile imitating crew, "Unconquer'd by the rabble's venal voice. "Still to the Mufe thy ftudious mind apply, "Happy in temper as in industry', "The fenfelefs fneerings of an haughty tongue, "Unheeded pafs: and tho' they mean thee wrong, €738. Etat, 29. 1738. Etat. 29. It appears that he was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coadjutor in his magazine, by which he probably obtained a tolerable livelihood. At what time, or by what means, he had acquired a competent knowledge both of French and Italian, I do not know; but he was fo well fkilled in them, as to be fufficiently qualified for a tranflator. That part of his labour which confifted in emendation and improvement of the productions of other contributors, like that employed in levelling ground, can be perceived only by those who had an opportunity of comparing the original with the altered copy. What we certainly know to have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houfes of Parliament, under the name of The Senate of Lilliput," fometimes with feigned "Exert thy powers, nor flacken in the course, Thy labours fhall be crown'd with large fuccefs: "The Mufe's aid thy magazine fhall blefs. "No page more grateful to th' harmonious nine "Than that wherein thy labours we furvey: "Where folemn themes in fuller fplendour shine, "Thus when the nymphs in fome fair verdant mead, Shines in the æther, and adorns the shy. "BRITON." denominations |