the leaders of opposition, awakened the suspicion of the ministry, and the strong spirit of liberty and patriotic zeal which glowed in his performance, subjected his principles to misconception, and rendered general and abstract sentiments of freedom suspected of particular and temporary application. The Lord Chamberlain closed the theatre on his play, but could not prevent its publication by subscription; "as it was to have been acted in the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane." In the suppression of "Gustavus Vasa," by the interposition of legal authority, Johnson found a reputable opportunity to employ his pen against the measures of government, and to ridicule the power vested in the Lord Chamberlain, respecting dramatic pieces, as a disgrace to a free country. To justify the rejection of this play, Sir John Hawkins selects a few passages, not one of which would give umbrage at this day *. In July 1739, the subscription of fifty pounds a-year was completed for Savage, who * In 1742 this play was performed in Dublin. was to retire to Swansea, in Wales; and he parted with the companion of his midnight rambles" with tears in his eyes," never to see him more *. This separation was perhaps a real advantage to Johnson. By associating with Savage, who was habituated to the licentiousness and dissipation of the town, Johnson, though his good principles remained steady, did not entirely preserve that temperance for which he was remarkable in days of greater simplicity, but was imperceptibly led into some indulgences, which occasioned much distress to his virtuous mind †. It is said by Sir John *Not liking Swansea, and resenting the neglect of his subscribers, he returned to Bristol, with an intention to come to London; and died August 4, 1743, in the Newgate of that city, where he had been imprisoned six months for a debt of but eight pounds. This seems to have been suggested by Mr Boswell, to account for Johnson's religious terrors on the approach of death; as if they proceeded from his having been led by Savage to vicious indulgences with the women of the town, in his nocturnal rambles. This, if true, Johnson was not likely to have confessed to Mr Boswell, and therefore must be received as a pure invention of his own. But if Johnson ever conversed with those unfortunate Hawkins, that, during his connection with Savage, a short separation took place between Johnson and his wife. They were, however, soon brought together again. Johnson loved her, and showed his affection in various modes of gallantry, which Garrick used to mimic *. The affectation of fashionable airs did not sit easy on Johnson; his gallantry was received by the wife with the flutter of a coquette, and females, it is believed to have been in order to reclaim them from their dissolute life, by moral and religious impressions; for to one of his friends he once related a conversation of that sort which he had with a young female in the street, and that asking her what she thought she was made for," she supposed to please the gentlemen." His friend intimating his surprise, that he should have had communications with street-walkers, implying a suspicion that they were not of a moral tendency, Johnson expressed the highest indignation that any other motive could ever be suspected. As for the separation from his wife (mentioned by Sir John Hawkins), that might have proceeded from some other cause. BISHOP PERCY. * This ought to be read with great abatement, for the reasons given above (p. 50). Garrick, by his caricature mimickry, could turn the most respectable characters and unaffected manners into ridicule. BISHOP PERCY. both, we may believe, exposed themselves to ridicule. In 1740 he contributed to the "Gentleman's Magazine" the Preface; the Life of Admiral Blake, and the first parts of the Lives of Sir Francis Drake, and of Philip Barretier; both which he finished the year after; an Essay on Epitaphs, his earliest detached piece of criticism; and an Epitaph on Charles Claudius Phillips, an itinerant musician, a very beautiful, and almost extemporaneous imitation of an epitaph on the same person, in Wolverhampton church, written by Dr Wilkes, and recited by Garrick *. In 1741 he wrote for the "Gentleman's Magazine" the Preface; conclusion of the Lives of Drake and Barretier; "A free translation of the Jests of Hierocles, with an Introduction;"" Debate on the Humble Petition and Advice of the Rump Parliament to Cromwell, to assume the title of King, abridged, * The concluding couplet of the original is remarkable, as it is the germ of Johnson's concluding line. "Rest here, in peace, till Angels bid thee rise, methodized, and digested;" "Translation of Abbé Guyon's Dissertation on the Amazons;" "Translation of Fontenelle's Panegyric on Dr Morin ;" and the Parliamentary Debates, solely, without the assistance of Guthrie. In 1742 he wrote for the "Gentleman's Magazine" the Preface; the Parliamentary Debates; Essay on the Account of the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlbororgh, then the popular topic of conversation; The Life of Peter Burman; Additions to his Life of Barretier; The Life of Sydenham, afterwards prefixed to Dr Swan's edition of his works; the Foreign History, for December; " Essay on the Description of China, from the French of Du Halde;" Proposals for printing Bibliotheca Harleiana; or, a Catalogue of the Library of the Earl of Oxford; afterwards, with some enlargement, prefixed as a Preface to the first volume of the Bibliotheca Harleiana, in 5 vols. 8vo. In the business of compiling a descriptive catalogue of the immense library of the Earl of Oxford, he was employed, with singular propriety, by Mr Thomas Osborne, bookseller |