Rasselas was written in the evenings of one week, to defray the expenses of Johnson's mother's funeral. He sold it for 100l. when the second edition appeared, the "heathens" gave him 251. more.- -Cunningham.

SECOND SIGHT.

"At the Literary Club," says Boswell, "before Johnson came in, we talked of his Journey to the Western Islands, and of his coming away willing to believe the second sight,' which seemed to excite some ridicule. I was then so impressed with the truth of many of the stories which I had been told, that I avowed my conviction, saying, 'He is only willing to believe-I do believe; the evidence is enough for me, though not for his great mind. What will not fill a quart bottle will fill a pint bottle; I am filled with belief.' 'Are you ?' said George Colman; 'then cork it up.'"

A NIGHT'S FESTIVITY.

There is something delightful in the following account of a literary celebration at which Dr. Johnson was the presiding genius; and the occasion, the birth of Mrs. Lennox's first literary child, as the Doctor called her volume of poems. The place appointed was the Devil Tavern, in Fleet-street; and there, about the hour of eight, Mrs. Lennox and her husband, a lady of her acquaintance, and some members of the Ivy-lane Club and friends assembled to the number of near twenty. Sir John Hawkins, who was one of the party, describes the supper as elegant: Johnson had directed that a magnificent hot apple-pie should make part of it, and this he proposed to stick with bay-leaves, because Mrs. Lennox was an authoress, and had written verses; and further, he had prepared a crown of laurel, with which, but not until he had invoked the Muses by some ceremonies of his own invention, he encircled her brow. The night passed, as must be imagined, in pleasant conversation and harmless mirth, intermingled, at different periods, with the refreshments of coffee and tea. About five, Johnson's face shone with meridian splendour, though his drink had been only lemonade; but most of the company had deserted the colours of Bacchus, and were with difficulty rallied to partake of a second refreshment of coffee, which was scarcely ended when the day began to dawn. This

phenomenon began to remind the party of their reckoning; but the waiters were all so overcome with sleep, that it was two hours before they could get a bill, and it was not till near eight that the creaking of the street-door gave the signal for departure."

BABY-TALK.

As Dr. Johnson was riding in a carriage through London on a rainy day, he overtook a poor woman carrying a baby, without any protection from the weather. Making the driver stop the coach, he invited the poor woman to get in with her child, which she did. After she had seated herself, the Doctor said to her: "My good woman, I think it most likely that the motion of the coach will wake your child in a little while, and I wish you to understand that if you talk any baby-talk to it, you will have to get out of the coach." As the Doctor had anticipated, the child soon awoke, and the forgetful mother exclaimed to it: "Oh! the little dear, is he going to open his eyesy-pysy?” "Stop the coach, driver!" shouted Johnson; and the woman had to get out, and finish her journey on foot.

PROPER PLACES.

When Dr. Johnson was asked why he was not invited out to dine as Garrick was, he answered, as if it was a triumph to him, "Because great lords and ladies don't like to have their mouths stopped!" But who does like to have his mouth stopped? Did he, more than others? People like to be amused in general; but they did not give him the less credit for wisdom, and a capacity to instruct them by his writings. In like manner it has been said that the King only sought one interview with Dr. Johnson; whereas, if he had been a buffoon or a sycophant, he would have asked for more. No; there was nothing to complain of. It was a compliment paid by rank to letters, and once was enough. The King was more afraid of this interview than Dr. Johnson was, and went to it as a schoolboy to his task. But he did not want to have this trial repeated every day; nor was it necessary. The very jealousy of his self-love marked his respect; and if he had thought less of Dr. Johnson, he would have been more willing to risk the encounter. They

had each their place to fill, and would best preserve their self-respect, and perhaps their respect for each other, by remaining in their proper sphere.-Northcote's Conversations.

LAST MOMENTS OF DR. JOHNSON.

"Burke parted from him with deep emotion. Windham sat much in the sick room, arranged the pillows, and sent his own servant to watch at night by the bed. Frances Burney, whom the old man had cherished with fatherly kindness, stood weeping at the door; while Langton, whose piety eminently qualified him to be an adviser and comforter at such a time, received the last pressure of his friend's hand within his own. When at length the moment, dreaded through so many years, came close-the dark cloud passed away from Johnson's mind. His temper became unusually patient and gentle; he ceased to think with terror of death, and of that which is beyond death; and he spoke much of the mercy of God and the propitiation of Christ. In this serene frame of mind he died on the 13th of December, 1784. He was laid a week later in Westminster Abbey, among the eminent men of whom he had been the historian, Cowley and Denham, Dryden and Congreve, Gay, Prior and Addison."-Macaulay's Life of Johnson.

The historian has omitted to mention Johnson's " Queeny," Miss Thrale, who assiduously attended the Doctor her preceptor's deathbed. The sage, at their last interview, said— "My dear child, we part for ever in this world. Let us part as Christians should-let us pray together." He then uttered a prayer of fervent piety and deep affection, invoking the blessing of heaven upon his pupil.

COMMENTATORS AT FAULT.

The following couplet from the third Satire of Juvenal has led to some odd mistakes:

"Est aliquid quocunque loco, quocunque recessu,

Unius dominum sese fecisse lacertæ."

"It is pleasant to possess, whate'er the zone,
One single acre we have made our own."

Boswell was one day in Dr. Johnson's society, when, he relates,-"One of the company asked him the meaning in

Juvenal, unius lacertæ (a single lizard)? Johnson.-"I think it clear enough; as much ground as one may have a chance to find a lizard upon." "Commentators," says Boswell, "have differed as to the exact meaning of the expression by which the poet intended to enforce the sentiment contained in the passage in which these words occur. It is enough that they mean to denote even a very small possession, provided it be a man's own." Mr. Gifford observes, in reference to these remarks of Boswell's :-" Poor Mr. Boswell was a man of infinite curiosity. It is a pity that he never heard of the ingenious conjecture of a Dutch critic, who would exchange lacerta for lacerti (shoulder), which he accurately translates een handool landts, and still more accurately interprets, 'a piece of ground equal in extent to the space between the shoulder and the elbow ;'-of a middle-sized man, I presume; though the critic has inadvertently forgotten to mention it.' -Gifford, Juvenal, vol. i. p. 124.

HOW WALTER SCOTT ROSE IN HIS CLASS.

When young Walter Scott was a pupil at the High School of Edinburgh, he tells us that he made a brighter figure in the yard than in the class. In the latter he once accomplished an upward movement by the following means, which he related to Mr. Rogers, the poet. "There was," says Scott,

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a boy in my class at school, who stood always at the top, nor could I with all my efforts supplant him. Day came after day, and still he kept his place, do what I would; till at length I observed that when a question was asked him, he always fumbled with his fingers at a particular button on the lower part of his waistcoat. To remove it, therefore, became expedient in my eyes; and in an evil moment it was removed with a knife. Great was my anxiety to know the success of my measure, and it succeeded too well. When the boy was again questioned, his fingers sought again for the button, but it was not to be found. In his distress, he looked down for it; it was to be seen no more than to be felt. He stood confounded, and I took possession of his place; nor did he ever recover it, or ever, I believe, suspect who was the author of his wrong. Often in after-life has the sight of him smote me as I passed by him; and often have I resolved to make him some reparation, but it ended in good resolutions."

Mr. Peter Cunningham, on hearing this anecdote told by Mr. Rogers, observed it was hardly original. "Ah!" exclaimed the Poet, evidently surprised, and with an air of doubt. Mr. C. then asked for a copy of the Spectator, and read as follows: "When I was a young man, and used to frequent Westminster Hall, there was a counsellor who never pleaded without a piece of packthread in his hand, which he used to twist about a thumb or a finger all the while he was speaking. The wags of those days used to call it the thread of his discourse, for he was not able to utter a word without it. One of his clients, who was more merry than wise, stole it from him one day in the midst of his pleading; but he had better have let it alone, for he lost his cause by his jest.” Mr. Rogers made a mark in the volume, and said, with a smile, "I will say what Sydney Smith always said when he heard a good thing for the first time-booked.””

HUMANITY TO ANIMALS.

When Sir John Hawkins published his edition of Walton's Angler, Walpole wished that he had not, in his notes, treated angling as so very innocent an amusement. He adds, "We cannot live without destroying animals, but shall we torture them for our sport-sport in their destruction? I met a rough officer at his house the other day, who said he knew such a person was turning Methodist; for in the middle of conversation, he rose, and opened the window to let out a moth. I told him that I did not know the Methodists had any principles so good, and that I, who am certainly not on the point of becoming one, always did so too. One of the bravest and best men I ever knew, Sir Charles Wager, I have often heard declare he never killed a fly willingly. It is a comfortable reflection to me, that all the victories of last year have been gained since the suppression of the Bear-garden and prize-fighting; as it is plain, and nothing else would have made it so, that our valour did not singly and solely depend upon the two universities."

SMOLLETT'S HUGH STRAP.

For many years lived at the lodge of Villiers-walk, at the foot of Buckingham-street, Adelphi, the identical Hugh Strap