expectations of many an ambitious student.' That of the warrior, Charles of Sweden, is, I think, as highly finished a picture as can possibly be conceived.

Were all the other excellencies of this poem annihilated, it must ever have our grateful reverence from its noble conclusion; in which we are consoled with the assurance that happiness may be attained, if we "apply our hearts" to piety:

1

"Where then shall hope and fear their objects find?
Shall dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind?

In this poem one of the instances mentioned of unfortunate learned men is Lydiat:

"Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end."

The history of Lydiat being little known, the following account of him may be acceptable to many of my readers. It appeared as a note in the Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine for 1748, in which some passages extracted from Johnson's poem were inserted, and it should have been added in the subsequent editions:

"A very learned divine and mathematician, Fellow of New College, Oxon, and Rector of Okerton, near Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin treatise, De natura cæli, &c., in which he attacked the sentiments of Scaliger and Aristotle, not bearing to hear it urged, that some things are true in philosophy, and false in divinity. He made above 600 Sermons on the harmony of the Evangelists. Being unsuccessful in publishing his works, he lay in the prison of Bocardo, at Oxford, and in the King's Bench, till Bishop Usher, Dr. Laud, Sir William Boswell, and Dr. Pink, released him by paying his debts. He petitioned King Charles I. to be sent into Ethiopia, &c., to procure MSS. Having spoken in favour of monarchy and bishops, he was plundered by the parliament forces, and twice carried away prisoner from his rectory; and afterwards had not a shirt to shift him in three months, without he borrowed it, and died very poor in 1646."

66

In 1609 Lydiat accompanied Usher into Ireland, and obtained (probably by his interest) the office of chapel-reader in Trinity College, Dublin, at a salary of £3 6s. 8d. per quarter: he was resident there about two years and in March, 1612, it appears that he had from the College, '£5 to furnish him for his journey to England." The remembrance of Lydiat was traditionally preserved in Dublin College; and I recollect to have heard, about 1796, that, in some ancient buildings, just then removed, Lydiat had resided-evidence, either that he had left a high reputation behind him, or, more probably, that Johnson's mention of him had revived the memory of his sojourn in that university.—Croker.

n

Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,
Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?
Shall no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,

No cries attempt the mercy of the skies?
Inquirer,' cease; petitions yet remain,

Which Heaven may hear, nor deem Religion vain.
Still raise for good the supplicating voice,

But leave to Heaven the measure and the choice.

Safe in His hand, whose eye discerns afar
The secret ambush of a specious prayer;
Implore His aid, in His decisions rest,
Secure, whate'er He gives, He gives the best:
Yet when the sense of sacred presence fires,
And strong devotion to the skies aspires,
Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,
Obedient passions, and a will resign'd;
For love, which scarce collective man can fill;
For patience, sovereign o'er transmuted ill;
For faith, which panting for a happier seat,
Counts death kind Nature's signal for retreat :

These goods for man the laws of Heaven ordain,
These goods He grants, who grants the power to gain;
With these celestial wisdom calms the mind,

And makes the happiness she does not find."

Garrick being now vested with theatrical power by being manager of Drury Lane Theatre, he kindly and generously made use of it to bring out Johnson's tragedy, which had been long kept back for want of encouragement. But in this benevolent purpose he met with no small difficulty from the temper of Johnson, which could not brook that a drama which he had formed with much study, and had been obliged to keep more than the nine years of Horace, should be revised and altered at the pleasure of an actor. Yet Garrick knew well, that without some alterations it would not be fit for the stage. A violent dispute having ensued between them, Garrick applied to the Reverend Dr. Taylor to interpose. Johnson

1 In the first, second, and third editions, Boswell has the reading, "Enthusiast, cease."—Editor.

was at first very obstinate. "Sir," said he," the fellow wants me to make Mahomet run mad, that he may have an opportunity of tossing his hands and kicking his heels."1 He was, however, at last, with difficulty, prevailed on to comply with Garrick's wishes, so as to allow of some changes; but still there were not enough.

Dr. Adams was present the first night of the representation of "Irene," and gave me the following account :-" Before the curtain drew up, there were catcalls, whistling, which alarmed Johnson's friends. The Prologue, which was written by himself in a manly strain, soothed the audience,' and the play went off tolerably, till it came to the conclusion, when Mrs. Pritchard, the heroine of the piece, was to be strangled upon the stage, and was to speak two lines with the bowstring round her neck. The audience cried out 'Murder! murder!' She several times attempted to speak; but in vain. At last she was obliged to go off the stage alive." This passage was afterwards struck out, and she was carried off to be put to death behind the scenes, as the play now has it. The Epilogue, as Johnson informed me, was written by Sir William

1 Mahomet was in fact played by Mr. Barry, and Demetrius by Mr. Garrick but probably at this time the parts were not yet cast.

2 The expression used by Dr. Adams was "soothed." I should rather think the audience was awed by the extraordinary spirit and dignity of the following lines :—

"Be this at least his praise, be this his pride,
To force applause no modern arts are tried :
Should partial catcalls all his hopes confound,
He bids no trumpet quell the fatal sound;
Should welcome sleep relieve the weary wit,
He rolls no thunders o'er the drowsy pit :
No snares to captivate the judgment spreads,
Nor bribes your eyes, to prejudice your heads.
Unmov'd, though witlings sneer and rivals rail,
Studious to please, yet not asham'd to fail,
He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain,
With merit needless, and without it vain ;
In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to trust;
Ye fops, be silent, and ye wits, be just!"

Yonge. I know not how his play came to be thus graced by the pen of a person then so eminent in the political world.

Notwithstanding all the support of such performers as Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every advantage of dress and decoration, the tragedy of "Irene" did not please the public. Mr. Garrick's zeal carried it through for nine nights, so that the author had his three nights' profit; and from a receipt signed by him, now in the hands of Mr. James Dodsley, it appears that his friend, Mr. Robert Dodsley, gave him one hundred pounds for the copy, with his usual reservation of the right of one edition.2

"Irene," considered as a poem, is entitled to the praise of superior excellence. Analysed into parts, it will furnish a rich

1 The Right Honourable Sir William Yonge, Secretary at War, in Sir Robert Walpole's administration, and a distinguished parliamentary speaker.-Croker.

2 Mr. Murphy in his Life of Johnson, p. 53, says, "The amount of the three benefit nights for the tragedy of Irene, it is to be feared, were not very considerable, as the profit, that stimulating motive, never invited the author to another dramatic attempt."

On the word "profit," the late Mr. Isaac Reed in his copy of that life, which I purchased at the sale of his library, has added a manuscript note, containing the following receipts on Johnson's three benefit nights.

In a preceding page (52) Mr. Murphy says, "Irene was acted at Drury Lane on Monday, Feb. 6th, and from that time without interruption to Monday, Feb. 20th, being in all thirteen nights."

On this Mr. Reed somewhat indignantly has written:-"This is false. It was acted only nine nights, and never repeated afterwards. Mr. Murphy, in making the above calculation, includes both the Sundays and Lent days."-A. Chalmers.

store of noble sentiments, fine imagery, and beautiful language; but it is deficient in pathos, in that delicate power of touching the human feelings, which is the principal end of the drama.1 Indeed, Garrick has complained to me, that Johnson not only had not the faculty of producing the impressions of tragedy, but that he had not the sensibility to perceive them. His great friend Mr. Walmsley's prediction, that he would "turn out a fine tragedy writer," was, therefore, ill-founded. Johnson was wise enough to be convinced that he had not the talents necessary to write successfully for the stage, and never made another attempt in that species of composition.

When asked how he felt upon the ill success of his tragedy, he replied, "Like the Monument; " meaning that he continued firm and unmoved as that column. And let it be remembered, as an admonition to the genus irritabile of dramatic writers, that this great man, instead of previously complaining of the bad taste of the town, submitted to its decision without a murmur. He had, indeed, upon all occasions, a great deference for the general opinion: "A man," said he, "who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them, and the public to whom he appeals must, after all, be the judges of his pretensions."

On occasion of this play being brought upon the stage, Johnson had a fancy that, as a dramatic author, his dress should be more gay than what he ordinarily wore: he therefore appeared behind the scenes, and even in one of the side boxes, in a scarlet waistcoat, with rich gold lace, and a gold-laced hat. He humorously observed to Mr. Langton, "that when in that dress he could not treat people with the same ease as when in his usual plain clothes." Dress, indeed, we must allow, has more effect, even upon strong minds, than one should suppose, without having had the experience of it. His neces

1 Aaron Hill (vol. ii., p. 355), in a letter to Mr. Mallet, gives the following account of Irene:-"I was at the anomalous Mr. Johnson's benefit, and found the play his proper representative; strong sense, ungraced by sweetness or decorum."