[49] See Victoria's Letter,Rambler, No. 130.—"I was never permitted to sleep till I had passed through the cosmetick discipline, part of which was a regular lustration performed with bean-flower water and may-dews; my hair was perfumed with a variety of unguents, by some of which it was to be thickened, and by others to be curled. The softness of my hands was secured by medicated gloves, and my bosom rubbed with a pomade prepared by my mother, of virtue to discuss pimples, and clear discolorations."
[50] Dr. Johnson's extraordinary facility of composition is well known from many circumstances. He wrote forty pages of the Life of Savage in one night. He composed seventy lines of his Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, and wrote them down from memory, without altering a word. In the Prologue on opening Drury-Lane theatre, he changed but one word, and that in compliment to Mr. Garrick. Some of hisRamblerswere written while the printer's messenger was waiting to carry the copy to the press. Many of theIdlerswere written at Oxford; Dr. Johnson often began his talk only just in time not to miss the post, and sent away the paper without reading it over.
[51] See his admirableLives of the Poets, and particularly his Disquisition on metaphysical and religious poetry.
[52] See his Review of Soame Jennings'sEssay on the Origin of Evil; a masterpiece of composition, both for vigour of style and precision of ideas.
[53] Pope's or rather Bolingbroke's system was borrowed from the Arabian metaphysicians.
[54] The scheme of theEssay on Manwas given by Lord Bolingbroke to Pope.
[55] See that sublime and beautiful Tale,The Prince of Abyssinia; andThe Rambler, No. 65, 204, &c. &c.
[56] "The world is disposed to call this a discovery of Dr. Franklin's, (from his paper inserted in the Philosophical Transactions) but in this they are much mistaken. Pliny, Plutarch, and other naturalists were acquainted with it."—"Ea natura est olei, ut lucem afferat, ac tranquillar omnia, etiam mare, quo non aliud elementum implacabilius."Memoirs of the Society of Manchester.
[57]London, a Satire, andThe Vanity of Human Wishes, are both imitations of Juvenal. On the publication ofLondonin 1738, Mr. Pope was so much struck by it, that he desired Mr. Dodsley, his bookseller, to find out the author. Dodsley having sought him in vain for some time, Mr. Pope said, he would very soon bedeterré. Afterwards Mr. Richardson the painter found out Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Pope recommended him to Lord Gower.
[58] See the Prologue spoken by Mr. Garrick in 1747, on the opening of Drury-Lane theatre.
[59] "Interignotæstrepitusloquelæ."—Ode to Mrs. Thrale.
[60] The dignified and affecting letter written by him to the King in the name of Doctor Dodd, after his condemnation, is justly, and, I believe, universally admired. His benevolence, indeed, was uniform and unbounded.——I have been assured, that he has often been so much affected by the sight of several unfortunate women, whom he has seen almost perishing in the streets, that he has taken them to his own house; had them attended with care and tenderness; and, on their recovery, clothed, and placed them in a way of life to earn their bread by honest industry.
[61] The papers in theAdventurer, signed with the letter T, are commonly attributed to one of Dr. Johnson's earliest and most intimate friends, Dr. Bathurst; but there is good reason to believe that they were written by Dr. Johnson, and given by him to his friend. At that time Dr. Johnson was himself engaged in writing theRambler, and could ill afford to make a present of his labours. The various other pieces that he gave away, have bestowed fame, and probably fortune, on several persons. To the great disgrace of some of his clerical friends, forty sermons, which he himself tells us he wrote, have not yet beendeterré.
[62] "A good continued speech (says Bacon in hisEssays) without a good speech of interlocution, shews slowness; and a good reply or second speech, without a good settled speech, sheweth shallowness and weakness. As we see in beasts, that those that are weakest in the course, are yetnimblest in the turn; as it is betwixt the greyhound and the hare."—If this observation be just, Dr. Johnson is an exception to the rule; for he was certainly asstrong"in the course, as nimble in the turn"; as ready in "reply," as in "a settled speech."
[63] The celebrated Flora Macdonald. See Boswell'sTour.
[64] SeeNote 24.
[65] Dr. Burney'sHistory of Musickis equally distinguished by elegance and perspicuity of style, and for scientifick knowledge.
[66] Sir William Jones produced that learned and ingenious work,Poeseos Asiaticæ Commentarii, at a very early age.
[67] "The Hindu God, to whom the following poem is addressed, appears evidently the same with the GrecianEros, and the RomanCupido.——His favourite place of resort is a large tract of country roundAgra, and principally the plains of Matra, whereKrishenalso and the nineGopia, who are clearly the Apollo and Muses of the Greeks, usually spend the night with musick and dance." Preface to theHymntoCamdeo, translated from the Hindu language into Persian, and re-translated by Sir William Jones.
There can be little doubt, considering the antiquity and early civilisation of Hindostan, that both the philosophy and beautiful mythology of the Greeks were drawn from that part of Asia.
[68] The following observation in Mr. Boswell'sJournal of a Tour to the Hebrides, may sufficiently account for that gentleman's being "now scarcely esteem'd a Scot" by many of his countrymen; "If he [Dr. Johnson] was particularly prejudiced against the Scots it was because they were more in his way; because he thought their success in England rather exceeded the due proportion of their real merit; and because he could not but see in them that nationality which, I believe, no liberal-minded Scotchman will deny." Mr. Boswell indeed is so free from national prejudices, that he might with equal propriety have been described as—"Scarce bySouthBritons now esteem'd a Scot."
[69] When Dr. Johnson repeated to Mr. Boswell Goldsmith's beautiful eulogium on the English nation, his eyes filled with tears.—Boswell'sTour, p. 431.—See also the Dissertation on the Bravery of the English common Soldiers, at the end of theIdler.
[70] SeeTaxation no Tyranny.
[71] Though Dr. Johnson has called Hamden thezealot of rebellion, yet that distinguished patriot could not have expressed himself with more ardour in the cause of liberty, than Dr. Johnson does in the following passage in his Life of Swift: "In the succeeding reign [that of George I.] he delivered Ireland from plunder andoppression; and shewed that wit, confederated withtruth, had such force as authority was unable to resist.—It was from the time when he first began to patronize the Irish, that they may date their riches, and prosperity. He taught them first to know their own interest, their weight and their strength, and gave them spirit to assert thatequalitywith their fellow-subjects to which they have been ever since making vigorous advances, and to claim thoserightswhich they have at last established."
The truth indeed seems to be, that Dr. Johnson, though he had been bred in high-church principles, and always expressed himself in controversial argument like a Tory, possessed a high independent spirit, and appears to have been a friend to the rights of man. His definition of the wordCaitiff, in his Dictionary, may throw some light on this part of his character. "Caitiff. [cattivo, Ital. a slave; whence it came to signify a bad man, with some implication of meanness; asknavein English, andfurin Latin; socertainly does slavery destroy virtue.
'Ημισυ τῆς αρετῆς ἀποαινυται δουλιον ἤμαρ.
A slave and a scoundrel are signified by the same words in many languages.] A mean villain," &c. See also that animated passage in hisLondon, beginning, "Here let those reign," &c.
[72] It is observable that Dr. Johnson did not prefix a dedication to any one of his various works.
16. Henry Nevil Payne,The Fatal Jealousie(1673).18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," inThe Occasional Paper, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface toThe Creation(1720).
19. Susanna Centlivre,The Busie Body(1709).20. Lewis Theobald,Preface to the Works of Shakespeare(1734).22. Samuel Johnson,The Vanity of Human Wishes(1749), and twoRamblerpapers (1750).23. John Dryden,His Majesties Declaration Defended(1681).
31. Thomas Gray,An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard(1751), andThe Eton College Manuscript.
41. Bernard Mandeville,A Letter to Dion(1732).
104. Thomas D'Urfey,Wonders in the Sun; or,The Kingdom of the Birds(1706).
110. John Tutchin,Selected Poems(1685-1700).111. Anonymous,Political Justice(1736).112. Robert Dodsley,An Essay on Fable(1764).113. T. R.,An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning(1698).114.Two Poems Against Pope: Leonard Welsted,One Epistle to Mr. A. Pope(1730), andAnonymous, The Blatant Beast(1742).
115. Daniel Defoe and others,Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal.116. Charles Macklin,The Covent Garden Theatre(1752).117. Sir George L'Estrange,Citt and Bumpkin(1680).118. Henry More,Enthusiasmus Triumphatus(1662).119. Thomas Traherne,Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation(1717).120. Bernard Mandeville,Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables(1704).
123. Edmond Malone,Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to Mr. Thomas Rowley(1782).124. Anonymous,The Female Wits(1704).125. Anonymous,The Scribleriad(1742). Lord Hervey,The Difference Between Verbal and Practical Virtue(1742).126.Le Lutrin: an Heroick Poem, Written Originally in French by Monsieur Boileau: Made English by N. O.(1682).
127-128. Charles Macklin,A Will and No Will, or a Bone for the Lawyers(1746).The New PlayCriticiz'd, or The Plague of Envy(1747). Introduction by Jean B. Kern.129. Lawrence Echard, Prefaces toTerence's Comedies(1694) andPlautus's Comedies(1694). Introduction by John Barnard.130. Henry More,Democritus Platonissans(1646). Introduction by P. G. Stanwood.131. John Evelyn,The History of ... Sabatai Sevi ... The Suppos'd Messiah of the Jews(1669). Introduction by Christopher W. Grose.132. Walter Harte,An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad(1730). Introduction by Thomas B. Gilmore.
Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus.
Publications of the first fifteen years of the Society (numbers 1-90) are available in paperbound units of six issues at $16.00 per unit, from the Kraus Reprint Company, 16 East 46th Street, New York, N.Y. 10017.
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General Editors: William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library; George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles; Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
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The Society's purpose is to publish rare Restoration and eighteenth-century works (usually as facsimile reproductions). All income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and mailing.
Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada should be addressed to the Corresponding Secretary at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, California. Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be addressed to the General Editors at the same address. Manuscripts of introductions should conform to the recommendations of the MLAStyle Sheet. The membership fee is $5.00 a year in the United States and Canada and £1.16.6 in Great Britain and Europe. British and European prospective members should address B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. Copies of back issues in print may be obtained from the Corresponding Secretary.
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Make check or money order payable toThe Regents of the University of California
133. John Courtenay,A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the Late Samuel Johnson(1786). Introduction by Robert E. Kelley.
134. John Downes,Roscius Anglicanus(1708). Introduction by John Loftis.
135. Sir John Hill,Hypochondriasis, a Practical Treatise on the Nature and Cure of that Disorder Call'd the Hyp or Hypo(1766). Introduction by G. S. Rousseau.
136. Thomas Sheridan,Discourse ... Being Introductory to His Course of Lectures on Elocution and the English Language(1759). Introduction by G. P. Mohrman.
137. Arthur Murphy,The Englishman From Paris(1756). Introduction by Simon Trefman. Previously unpublished manuscript.
138. [Catherine Trotter],Olinda's Adventures(1718). Introduction by Robert Adams Day.
AfterTHE TEMPEST.Introduction by George Robert Guffey.
Next in the continuing series of special publications by the Society will beAfterTHE TEMPEST, a volume including the Dryden-Davenant version ofThe Tempest(1670); the "operatic"Tempest(1674); Thomas Duffet'sMock-Tempest(1675); and the "Garrick"Tempest(1756), with an Introduction by George Robert Guffey.
Already published in this series are:
1. John Ogilby,The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse(1668), with an Introduction by Earl Miner.
2. John Gay,Fables(1727, 1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. Dearing.
3. Elkanah Settle,The Empress of Morocco(1673) with five plates;Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco(1674) by John Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas Shadwell;Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco Revised(1674) by Elkanah Settle; andThe Empress of Morocco. A Farce(1674) by Thomas Duffet; with an Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak.
Price to members of the Society, $2.50 for the first copy of each title, and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $4.00. Standing orders for this continuing series of Special Publications will be accepted. British and European orders should be addressed to B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England.