lications. Johnson, to put a stop to this unfair proceeding, wrote for the Universal Chronicle the following advertisement; in which there is, perhaps, more pomp of words than the occasion demanded: "London, Jan. 5, 1759. ADVERTISEMENT. The proprietors of the paper entitled The Idler,' having found that those essays are inserted in the newspapers and magazines with so little regard to justice or decency, that the Universal Chronicle, in which they first appear, is not always mentioned, think it necessary to declare to the publishers of those collections, that however patiently they have hitherto endured these injuries, made yet more injurious by contempt, they have now determined to endure them no longer. They have already seen essays, for which a very large price is paid, transferred, with the most shameless rapacity, into the weekly or monthly compilations, and their right, at least for the present, alienated from them, before they could themselves be said to enjoy it. But they would not willingly be thought to want tenderness, even for men by whom no tenderness hath been shown. The past is without remedy, and shall be without resentment. But those who have been thus busy with their sickles in the fields of their neighbours are henceforward to take notice, that the time of impunity is at an end. Whoever shall, without our leave, lay the hand of rapine upon our papers, is to expect that we shall vindicate our due, by the means which justice prescribes, and which are warranted by the immemorial prescriptions of honourable trade. We shall lay hold, in our turn, on their copies, degrade them from the pomp of wide margin and diffuse typography, contract them into a narrow space, and sell them at an humble price; yet not with a view of growing rich by confiscations, for we think not much better of money got by punishment than by crimes. We shall therefore, when our losses are repaid, give what profit shall remain to the Magdalens; for we know not who can be more properly taxed for the support of penitent prostitutes, than prostitutes in whom there yet appears neither penitence nor shame." No doubt he was also proceeding, though slowly, in his edition of Shakspeare. He, however, from that liberality which never failed, when called upon to assist other labourers in literature, found time to translate, for Mrs. Lenox's English version of Brumoy, "A Dissertation on the Greek Comedy †," and "The General Conclusion of the Book t1." An inquiry into the state of foreign countries was an object that seems at all times to have interested Johnson. Hence Mr. Newbery found no great difficulty in persuading him to write the Introduction to a collection of voyages and travels published by him under the title of "The World Displayed:" the first volume of which appeared this year, and the remaining volumes in subsequent years. I would ascribe to this year the following letter to a son of one of his early friends at Lichfield, Mr. Joseph Simpson, barrister, and authour of a tract, entitled "Reflections on the Study of the Law." "TO JOSEPH SIMPSON, ESQ. "DEAR SIR,-Your father's inexorability not only grieves but amazes me: he is your father; he was always accounted a wise man; nor do I remember any thing to the disadvantage of his good nature; but in his refusal to assist you there is neither good nature, fatherhood, nor wisdom. It is the practice of good nature to overlook faults which have already, by the consequences, punished the delinquent. It is natural for a father to think more favourably than others of his children; and it is always wise to give assistance, while a little help will prevent the necessity of greater. "If you married imprudently, you miscarried at your own hazard, at an age when you had a right of choice. It would be hard if the man might not choose his own wife, who has a right to plead before the judges of his country. "If your imprudence has ended in difficulties and inconveniences, you are yourself to support them; and, with the help of a little better health, you would support them and conquer them. Surely, that want which accident and sickness produce is to be supported in every region of humanity, though there were neither friends nor fathers in the world. You have certainly from your father the highest claim of charity, though none of right: and [In Mr. Park's edition of the Noble Authors (vol. iv. p. 259), it is stated that Mrs. Lenox's Translation of Brumoy's Greek Theatre had a "Preface," written by Lord Orry; who also translat d "The Discourse upon the Theatre of the Greeks, the Origin of Tragedy, and the Parallel of the Theatres," but he cites no authority.-ED.] therefore I would counsel you to omit no decent nor manly degree of importunity. Your debts in the whole are not large, and of the whole but a small part is troublesome. Small debts are like small shot; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound: great debts are like cannon; of loud noise, but little danger. You must, therefore, be enabled to discharge petty debts, that you may have leisure, with security, to struggle with the rest. Neither the great nor little debts disgrace you. I am sure you have my esteem for the courage with which you contracted them, and the spirit with which you endure them. I wish my esteem could be of more use. I have been invited, or have invited myself, to several parts of the kingdom; and will not incommode my dear Lucy by coming to Lichfield, while her present lodging is of any use to her 1. I hope, in a few days, to be at leisure, and to make visits. Whither I shall fly is matter of no importance. A man unconnected is at home every where; unless he may be said to be at home no where. I am sorry, dear sir, that where you have parents, a man of your merits should not have a home. I wish I could give it you. I am, my dear sir, affectionately yours, "SAM. JOHNSON." He now refreshed himself by an excursion to Oxford, of which the following short characteristical notice, in his own words, is preserved: I have been in my Gent. 1785. p. 288. is now making tea for me. gown ever since I came here. It was, at my first coming, Mag. quite new and handsome. I have swum thrice, which I had disused for many years. I have proposed to Vansittart3 climbing over the wall, but he has refused me. And I have clapped my hands till they are sore, at Dr. King's speech1." His negro servant, Francis Barber, having left him, and been some time at sea, not pressed as has been supposed, but with his own consent, it appears from [She resided in the house which, by his mother's death, was now become the property of Johnson. It appears that there was not accommodation for an additional inmate.-ED.] 2 [Lord Stowell informs me that he prided himself in being, during his visits to Oxford, accurately academic in all points; and he wore his gown almost ostentatiously.-ED.] 3 See post, p. 329.-ED.] 4 [Dr. King's speech at the installation of the Earl of Westmoreland as chancellor of the university.-ED.] 1773. a letter to John Wilkes, Esq. from Dr. Smollett, that his master kindly interested himself in procuring his release from a state of life of which Johnson always Aug. 31, expressed the utmost abhorrence. He once said, "No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned." And at another Sept. 23, time, "A man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company." The letter was as follows: 1773. "Chelsea, 16th March, 1759. “ DEAR SIR,—I am again your petitioner, in behalf of that great CHAM1 of literature, Samuel Johnson. His black servant, whose name is Francis Barber, has been pressed on board the Stag frigate, Captain Angel, and our lexicographer is in great distress. He says the boy is a sickly lad, of a delicate frame, and particularly subject to a malady in his throat, which renders him very unfit for his majesty's service. You know what matter of animosity the said Johnson has against you: and I dare say you desire no other opportunity of resenting it, than that of laying him under an obligation. He was humble enough to desire my assistance on this occasion, though he and I were never cater-cousins; and I gave him to understand that I would make application to my friend Mr. Wilkes, who, perhaps, by his interest with Dr. Hay and Mr. Elliot, might be able to procure the discharge of his lacquey. It would be superfluous to say more on the subject, which I leave to your own consideration; but I cannot let slip this opportunity of declaring that I am, with the most inviolable esteem and attachment, dear sir, your affectionate, obliged, humble servant, "T. SMOLLETT.”. 1 In my first edition this word was printed Chum, as it appears in one of Mr. Wilkes's Miscellanies, and I animadverted on Dr. Smollett's ignorance; for which let me propitiate the manes of that ingenious and benevolent gentleman. CHUM was certainly a mistaken reading for CHAM, the title of the Sovereign of Tartary, which is well applied to Johnson, the Monarch of Literature; and was an epithet familiar to Smollett. See "Roderick Random," chap. 56. For this correction I am indebted to Lord Palmerston, whose talents and literary acquirements accord well with his respectable pedigree of Temple-BoswELL. After the publication of the second edition of this work, the authour was furnished by Mr. Abercrombie, of Philadelphia, with the copy of a letter written by Dr. John Armstrong, the poet, to Dr. Smollett, at Leghorn, containing the following paragraph: "As to the K. Bench patriot, it is hard to say from what motive he published a letter of yours asking some trifling favour of him in behalf of somebody for whom the great CHAM of literature, Mr. Johnson, had interested himself.”— MALONE. Mr. Wilkes, who upon all occasions has acted, as a private gentleman, with most polite liberality, applied to his friend Sir George Hay, then one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty; and Francis Barber was discharged', as he has told me, without any wish of his own. He found his old master in Chambers in the Inner Temple, and returned to his service. [The date of Dr. Johnson's first acquaintance with En. Mrs. Montagu is not ascertained, but it probably began about this period. We find, in this year, the first of the many applications which he is known to have made to the extensive and unwearied charity of that excellent woman.] ["DR. JOHNSON TO MRS MONTAGU 2. 9th June, 1759. "MADAM,-I am desired by Mrs. Williams to sign receipts with her name for the subscribers which you have been pleased to procure, and to return her humble thanks for your favour, which was conferred with all the grace that elegance can add to beneficence. I am, madam, your most obedient and most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."] Mon tagu MSS. What particular new scheme of life Johnson had in view this year, I have not discovered; but that he meditated one of some sort, is clear from his private devotions, in which we find, [24th March,]" the Prayers change of outward things which I am now to make;" & Med. and "Grant me the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that the course which I am now beginning may proceed according to thy laws, and end in the enjoyment of thy [He was not discharged till June, 1760. How the discharge (if, indeed, it was granted on this application) came to be so long delayed does not appear.-ED.] 2 [This and several other letters, which will be found in the proper places, (marked in the margin Montagu MSS.), the Editor owes to the kindness and liberality of the present Lord Rokeby, the nephew and heir of Mrs. Montagu, and the Editor of her Letters-a work which the literary world desires to see continued. It is necessary to request the attention of the reader to the warm terms in which Johnson so frequently expresses his admiration and esteem for Mrs. Montagu, as we shall see that he afterwards took another tone.-ED.], p.30. 40. |
