66 "chantment of your addrefs, and could not "forbear to with, that I might boast myself “le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre; that I might obtain that regard for which I faw "the world contending. But I found my attendance fo little encouraged, that neither pride, nor modefty, would fuffer me to continue it. When I had once addreffed your Lordship in public, I had exhausted all the 66 1 art of pleafing, which a retired and un"courtly scholar can poffefs. I had done all "that I could; and no man is well pleased to "have his all neglected, be it ever fo little. "Seven years, my Lord, have now paffed "fince I waited in your outward room, or was "repulfed from your door; during which "time I have been pufhing on my work 66 through difficulties, of which it is useless to "complain, and have brought it at last to the verge of publication, without one act of "affiftance, one word of encouragement, or "one fmile of favour. Such treatment I did "not expect, for I never had a patron before. "The Shepherd in Virgil grew acquainted "with Love, and found him a native of the ❝ rocks. DR . "Is not a patron, my Lord, one who looks "with unconcern on a man ftruggling for life in "the water, and, when has he reached ground, "encumbers him with help? The notice "which you have been pleafed to take of my "labours, had it been early, had been kind; "but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, "and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and "cannot impart it; till I am known, and do "not want it. I hope it is no very cynical afperity not to confefs obligations where no be"nefit has been received; or to be unwilling "that the publick fhould confider me as owing "that to a patron, which Providence has ena"bled me to do for myself. 66 Having carried on my work thus far with "fo little obligation to any favourer of learn"ing, I fhall not be difappointed, though I "fhould conclude it, if lefs be poffible, with "lefs; for I have been long wakened from "that dream of hope, in which I once boasted "myfelf with fo much exultation. "MY LORD, "Your Lordship's most humble in upon It is faid, upon good authority, that Johnfon once received from Lord Chesterfield the fum of ten pounds. It were to be wished that the fecret had never tranfpired. It was mean to receive it, and meaner to give it. It may be imagined, that for Johnfon's ferocity, as it has been called, there was fome foundation in his finances; and, as his Dictionary was brought to a conclufion, that money was now to flow him. The reverfe was the cafe. For his fubfiftence, during the progrefs of the work, he had received at different times the amount of his contract; and when his receipts were produced to him at a tavern-dinner, given by the bookfellers, it appeared, that he had been paid a hundred pounds and upwards more than his due. The author of a book, called Lexiphanes, written by a Mr. Campbell, a Scotchman, and purfer of a man of war, endeavoured to blaft his laurels, but in vain, The world applauded, and Johnson never replied. Abufe," he said, "is often of fer"vice; there is nothing fo dangerous to an "author as filence; his name, like a fhuttle"cock, must be beat backward and forward, ❝or it falls to the ground." Lexiphanes pro 66 feffed feffed to be an imitation of the pleasant manner of Lucian; but humour was not the talent of the writer of Lexiphanes. As Dryden fays, "He had too much horse-play in his raillery." It was in the fummer 1754, that the present writer became acquainted with Dr. Johnson. The cause of his first visit is related by Mrs, Piozzi nearly in the following manner. "Mr. "Murphy being engaged in a periodical paper, "the Gray's-Inn Journal, was at a friend's "houfe in the country, and, not being difpofed "to lose pleasure for business, wished to con"tent his bookfeller by fome unstudied essay. "He therefore took up a French Journal Lité"raire, and tranflating fomething he liked, "fent it away to town. Time, however, dif"covered that he tranflated from the French a "Rambler, which had been taken from the 66 English without acknowledgement. Upon "this discovery Mr. Murphy thought it right "to make his excufes to Dr. Johnfon. He "went next day, and found him covered with "foot, like a chimney-fweeper, in a little room, "as if he had been acting Lungs in the Alchymift, making ather. This being told by "Mr. Murphy in company, Come, come,' 66 6 faid Dr. Johnson, the story is black "enough; but it was a happy day that brought • you first to my houfe'." After this first visit, the author of this narrative by degrees grew intimate with Dr. Johnson. The first striking fentence, that he heard from him, was in a few days after the publication of Lord Bolingbroke's pofthumous works. Mr. Garrick afked him, "If he had seen them?" "Yes, I have feen them." "What do you think of "them ?" "Think of them!" He made a long paufe, and then replied: "Think of "them! A fcoundrel and a coward! A fcoun"drel, who spent his life in charging a gun against Christianity; and a coward, who "was afraid of hearing the report of his own 66 "death." gun; but left half a crown to a hungry "Scotchman to draw the trigger after his His mind, at this time ftrained and over-laboured by conftant exertion, called for an interval of repose and indolence. But indolence was the time of danger: it was then that his fpirits, not employed abroad, turned with inward hoftility against himself. His reflections on his own life and conduct were always fevere; and, wifhing to be immaculate, he |