Epitaph. It may be said, that there is the same contrariety between the character in the Observations, and that in his own Preface to Shakspeare; buta considerable time elapsed between the one publication and the other, whereas the Observations and the Epitaph came close together. The others are "To Miss, on her giving the Authour a gold and silk net-work Purse of her own weaving;" "Stella in Mourning," "The Winter's Walk;" "An Ode;" and, "To Lyce, an elderly Lady." I am not positive that all these were his productions;* but as "The Winter's Walk," has never been controverted to be his, and all of them have the same mark, it is reasonable to conclude that they are all written by the same hand. Yet to the Ode, in which we find a passage very characteristick of him, being a learned description of the gout, "Unhappy, whom to beds of pain "Arthritick tyranny consigns;" there is the following note: "The authour being ill of the gout:" but Johnson was not attacked with that distemper till at a very late period of his life. May not this, however, be a poetical fiction? Why may not a poet suppose himself to have the gout, as well as suppose himself to be in love, of which we have innumerable instances, and which has been admirably ridiculed by Johnson in his "Life of Cowley?" I have [In the UNIVERSAL VISITER, to which Johnson contributed, the mark which is affixed to some pieces unquestionably his, is also found subjoined to others, of which he certainly was not the author. The mark therefore will not ascertain the poems in question to have been written by him. They were probably the productions of Hawkesworth, who, it is believed, was afflicted with the gout.] also some difficulty to believe that he could produce such a group of conceits as appear in the verses to Lyce, in which he claims for this ancient personage as good a right to be assimilated to heaven, as nymphs whom other poets have flattered; he therefore ironically ascribes to her the attributes of the sky, in such stanzas as this: "Her teeth the night with darkness dies, But as at a very advanced age he could condescend to trifle in namby-pamby rhymes, to please Mrs. Thrale and her daughter, he may have, in his earlier composed such a piece as this. years, It is remarkable, that in this first edition of " The Winter's Walk," the concluding line is much more Johnsonian than it was afterwards printed; for in subsequent editions after, praying Stella to "snatch him to her arms," he says, "And shield me from the ills of life." Whereas in the first edition it is "And hide me from the sight of life." A horrour at life in general is more consonant with Johnson's habitual gloomy cast of thought. I have heard him repeat with great energy the following verses, which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for April this year; but I have no authority to say they were his own. Indeed one of the best criticks of our age suggests to me, that "the word indifferently being used in the sense of without 1 concern," and being also very unpoetical, renders it improbable that they should have been his composition. "On Lord LovAT's Execution. Pity'd by gentle minds KILMARNOCK died; "The brave, BALMERINO, were on thy side; "RADCLIFFE, unhappy in his crimes of youth, 66 Steady in what he still mistook for truth, "Beheld his death so decently unmov'd, "The soft lamented, and the brave approv'd, "But LOVAT's fate indifferently we view, "True to no King, to no religion true: "No fair forgets the ruin he has done; "No child laments the tyrant of his son; "No tory pities, thinking what he was; No whig compassions, for he left the cause; "The brave regret not, for he was not brave; "The honest mourn not, knowing him a knave!” This year his old pupil and friend, David Garrick, having become joint patentee and manager of Drurylane theatre, Johnson honoured his opening of it with 2 These verses are somewhat too severe on the extraordinary person who is the chief figure in them, for he was undoubtedly brave. His pleasantry during his solemn trial (in which, by the way, I have heard Mr. David Hume observe, that we have one of the very few speeches of Mr. Murray, now Earl of Mansfield, authentically given) was very remarkable. When asked if he had any questions to put to Sir Everard Fawkener, who was one of the strongest witnesses against him, he answered, "I only wish him joy of his young wife." And after sentence of death, in the horrible terms in cases of treason, was pronounced upon him, and he was retiring from the bar, he said, "Fare you well, my Lords, we shall not all meet again in one place." He behaved with perfect composure at his execu tion, and called out " Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori.” a Prologue,* which for just and manly dramatick criticism, on the whole range of the English stage, as well as for poetical excellence, is unrivalled. Like the celebrated Epilogue to the "Distressed Mother," it was, during the season, often called for by the audience. The most striking and brilliant passages of it have been so often repeated, and are so well recollected by all the lovers of the drama and of poetry, that it would be superfluous to point them out. In the Gentleman's Magazine for December this year, he inserted an "Ode on Winter," which is, I think, an admirable specimen of his genius for lyrick poetry. But the year 1747 is distinguished as the epoch, when Johnson's arduous and important work, his DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, was announced to the world, by the publication of its Plan or Prospectus. How long this immense undertaking had been the object of his contemplation, I do not know. I once asked him by what means he had attained to that astonishing knowledge of our language, by which he was enabled to realise a design of such extent, and accumulated difficulty. He told me, that "it was not the effect of particular study; but that it had grown up in his mind insensibly." I have 9 My friend, Mr. Courtenay, whose enlogy on Johnson's Latin Poetry has been inserted in this Work, is no less happy in praising his English Poetry. But hark, he sings! the strain ev'n Pope admires; Sublime as Juvenal he pours his lays, And with the Roman shares congenial praise ; In glowing numbers now he fires the age, And Shakspeare's sun relumes the clouded stage. been informed by Mr. James Dodsley, that several years before this period, when Johnson was one day sitting in his brother Robert's shop, he heard his brother suggest to him, that a Dictionary of the English Language would be a work that would be well received by the publick; that Johnson seemed at first to catch at the proposition, but, after a pause, said, in his abrupt decisive manner, "I believe I shall not undertake it." That he, however, had bestowed much thought upon the subject, before he published his " Plan," is evident from the enlarged, clear, and accurate views which it exhibits; and we find him mentioning in that tract, that many of the writers whose testimonies were to be produced as authorities, were selected by Pope; which proves that he had been furnished, probably by Mr. Robert Dodsley, with whatever hints that eminent poet had contributed towards a great literary project, that had been the subject of important consideration in a former reign. The booksellers who contracted with Johnson, single and unaided, for the execution of a work, which in other countries has not been effected but by the co-operating exertions of many, were Mr. Robert Dodsley, Mr. Charles Hitch, Mr. Andrew Millar, the two Messieurs Longman, and the two Messieurs Knapton. The price stipulated was fifteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, The "Plan" was addressed to Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield, then one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; a nobleman who was very ambitious of literary distinction, and who, upon being informed of the design, had expressed himself in terms very favourable to its success. There is, |