He faid, that the book entitled The Lives of the Poets,' by Mr. Cibber, was entirely compiled by Mr. Shiels, a Scotchman, one of his amanuenfes. "The bookfellers (faid he) gave Theophilus Cibber, who was then in prifon, ten guineas to allow Mr. Cibber to be put upon the title-page, as the author; by this, a double impofition was intended in the first place, that it was the work of a Cibber at all; and in the fecond place, that it was the work of old Cibber"

"I once

*In the Monthly Review for May 1792, there is a correction of the above paffage. "This account (fays the Critic) is very inaccurate. The following statement of facts we know to be true, in every material circumftance :-Shiels was the principal collector and digester of the materials for the work; but as he was very raw in authorship, and an indifferent writer in profe, and his language full of Scotticifms, Cibber, who was a clever, lively fellow, and then foliciting employment among the bookfellers, was engaged to correct the ftyle and diction of the whole work, then intended to make only four volumes, with power to alter, expunge, or add, as he liked. He was alfo to fupply notes occafionally, efpecially concerning thofe dramatic poets with whom he had been chiefly converfant. He also engaged to write several of the Lives; which (as we are told) he accordingly performed. He was farther ufeful in ftriking out the Jacobitical and Tory fentiments which Shiels had industriously interspersed wherever he could bring them in; and, as the fuccefs of the work appeared, after all, very doubtful, he was content with twenty-one pounds for his labour, befides a few fets

"I once introduced (fays Mr. B.) Aristotle's doctrine in his Art of Poetry,' of natapois tw anualwv, the purging of the paffions, as the purpofe

of the books to difperfe among his friends. Shiels had nearly feventy pounds, befide the advantage of many of the beft lives in the work being communicated by friends to the undertaking; and for which Mr. Shiels had the fame confideration as for the reft, being paid by the sheet for the whole. He was, however, fo angry with his Whiggifh fupervifor (THE. like his father, being a violent ftickler for the political principles which prevailed in the reign of George the Second), for fo unmercifully mutilating his copy, and fcouting his politics, that he wrote Cibber a challenge; but was prevented from fending it by the publisher, who fairly laughed him out of his fury. The proprietors, too, were difcontented in the end, on account of Mr. Cibber's unexpected induftry; for his corrections and alterations in the proof-sheets were fo numerous and confiderable, that the printer made for them a grievous addition to his bill; and, in fine, all parties were diffatisfied. On the whole, the work was productive of no profit to the undertakers, who had agreed, in cafe of fuccefs, to make Cibber a prefent of fome addition to the twenty guineas which he had received, and for which his receipt is now in the book feller's hands. We are farther affured, that he actually obtained an additional fum. He foon after (in the year 1758) unfortunately embarked for Dublin, on an engagement for one of the theatres there: 'but the fhip was caft away, and every perfon on board perished. There were about fixty paffengers, among whom was the Earl of Drogheda, with many other perfons of confequence and property.

"As

purpose of tragedy. But how are the paffions to be purged by terror and pity?" (faid I, with an affumed air of ignorance to excite him to talk, for which it was often neceffary to employ fome addrefs).-JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, you are to confider what is the meaning of purg

"As to the alledged defign of making the compilement pass for the work of old Mr. Cibber, the charges feem to have been founded on a fomewhat uncharitable construction. We are affured that the thought was not harboured by fome of the proprietors, who are ftill living; and we hope that it did not occur to the first defigner of the work, who was also the printer of it, and who bore a refpectable character.

"We have been induced to enter thus circumftantially into the foregoing detail of facts relating to the lives of the Poets, compiled by Meffrs. Cibber and Shiels, from a fincere regard to that facred principle of Truth, to which Dr. Johnson fo rigidly adhered, according to the beft of his knowledge; and which, we believe, no confideration would have prevailed on him to violate. In regard to the matter, which we now difmifs, he had, no doubt, been misled by partial and wrong information. Shiels was the doctor's amanuenfis; he had quarrelled with Cibber; it is natural to fuppofe that he told his story in his own way; and it is certain that he was not "a very sturdy moralift."

This explanation appears very fatisfactory. It is, however, to be obferved, that the ftory told by Johnson does not reft folely upon this record of his converfation; for he himfelf has published it in his Life of Hammond, where he fays, "The manufcript of Shiels is now in my poffeffion." Very probably he had trufted to Shiels's word, and never looked at it fo as to compare it with The Lives of the Poets,' as published under Mr. Cibber's name.

ing

ing in the original fenfe. It is to expel impurities from the human body. The mind is fubject to the fame imperfection. The paffions are the great movers of human actions; but they are mixed with fuch impurities, that it is neceffary they fhould be purged or refined by means of terror and pity. For instance, ambition is a noble paffion; but by seeing upon the ftage that a man, who is fo exceffively ambitious as to raise himself by injustice, is punifhed, we are terrified at the fatal confcquences of fuch a paffion. In the fame manner a certain degree of refentment is neceffary; but if we fee that a man carrics it too far, we pity the object of it, and are taught to moderate that paffion."

" In

Mr. Bofwell obferved, that the great defect of the tragedy of Othello' was, that it had not a moral; for that no man could refift the circumftances of fufpicion which were artfully fuggefted to Othello's mind. JOHNSON. the first place, Sir, we learn from Othello this very useful moral, not to make an unequal match; in the fecond place, we learn not to yield too readily to fufpicion. The handkerchief is merely a trick, though a very pretty trick but there are no other circumstances of reasonable fufpicion, except what is related by lago of Caffio's warm expreffions concerning Defdemona

Desdemona in his fleep; and that depended entirely upon the affertion of one man. No, Sir, I think Othello has more moral than almost any play."

Sir Joshua Reynolds mentioned Mr. Cumberland's Odes, which were then just published. JOHNSON. <c Why, Sir, they would have been thought as good as Odes commonly are, if Cumberland had not put his name to them; but a name immediately draws cenfure, unless it be a name that bears down every thing before it. Nay Cumberland has made his Odes fubfidiary to the fame of another man; they might have run well enough by themselves, but he has not only loaded them with a name, but has made them carry double."

Johnfon faid, "The little volumes entitled Refpublicæ,' which are very well done, were a bookfeller's work."

Of Chatterton, he faid, "This is the moft extraordinary young man that has encountered my knowledge. It is wonderful how the whelp has written fuch things."

Speaking of the ancient poets, he observed, "Theocritus is not deferving of very high refpect as a writer; as to the paftoral part, Virgil is very evidently fuperior. He wrote when there had been a larger influx of knowledge into the world than when Theocritus

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lived.