1749. Etat. 40. It will be obferved, that he referves to himself the right of printing one edition of this fatire, which was his practice upon occafion of the fale of all his writings; it being his fixed intention to publish at fome period, for his own profit, a complete collection of his works. His "Vanity of human Wishes" has lefs of common life, but more of a philofophick dignity than his "London." More readers, therefore, will be delighted with the pointed fpirit of "London," than with the profound reflection of "The Vanity of human Wifhes." Garrick, for instance, obferved, in his fprightly manner, with more vivacity than regard to just difcrimination, as is ufual with wits, "When Johnfon lived much with the Herveys, and faw a good deal of what was paffing in life, he wrote his 'London,' which is lively and easy. When he became more retired, he gave us his Vanity of human Wishes,' which is as hard as Greek. Had he gone on to imitate another fatire, it would have been as hard as Hebrew "." But "The Vanity of human Wifhes" is, in the opinion of the best judges, as high an effort of ethick poetry as any language can fhew. The inftances of variety of difappointment are chofen fo judiciously, and painted fo ftrongly, that, the moment they are read, they bring conviction to every thinking mind. That of the scholar must have depreffed the too fanguine expectations of many an ambitious ftudent. That of the warrior, Charles of Sweden, is, I think, as highly finished a picture as can poffibly be conceived. 8 right of copy of an Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, written by me; referving to myfelf From Mr. Langton. In this poem one of the inftances mentioned of unfortunate learned men is Lydiat: "Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end." The hiftory of Lydiat being little known, the following account of him may be acceptable to many of my readers. It appeared as a note in the Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine for 1748, in which fome paffages extracted from Johnfon's poem were inferted, and it should have been added in the fubfequent editions." A very learned divine and mathematician, fellow of New College, Oxon, and Rector of Okerton, near Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin treatise "De naturâ cæli, &c." in which he attacked the fentiments of Scaliger and Aristotle, not bearing to hear it urged, that fome things are true in philofophy and falfe in divinity. He made above 600 Sermons on the harmony of the Evangelifts. Being unfuccefsful in publishing his works, he lay in the prifon of Bocardo at Oxford, and in the King's Bench, till Bishop Usher, Dr. Laud, Sir William Bofwel, and Dr. Pink, released him by paying his debts. He petitioned King Charles I. to be fent into Ethiopia, &c. to procure MSS. Having fpoken in favour of monarchy and bishops, he was plundered by the parliament forces, and twice carried away prifoner from his rectory; and afterwards had not a fhirt to fhift him in three months, without he borrowed it, and died very poor in 1646." Were Were all the other excellencies of this poem annihilated, it must ever have our grateful reverence from its noble conclufion; in which we are confoled with the affurance that happiness may be attained, if we " apply our hearts" to piety: "Where then shall hope and fear their objects find? Shall dull fufpenfe corrupt the stagnant mind? "Must helpless man, in ignorance fedate, "But leave to heav'n the measure and the choice. "And makes the happiness fhe does not find." Garrick being now vested with theatrical power by being manager of Drurylane theatre, he kindly and generously made use of it to bring out Johnson's tragedy, which had been long kept back for want of encouragement. But in this benevolent purpose he met with no fmall difficulty from the temper of Johnson, which could not brook that a drama which he had formed with much study, and had been obliged to keep more than the nine years of Horace, fhould P 1749. Etat. 40. 1749. Etat. 40. fhould be revised and altered at the pleasure of an actor. Yet Garrick knew well, that without fome alterations it would not he fit for the ftage. A violent difpute having enfued between them, Garrick applied to the Reverend Dr. Taylor to interpofe. Johnfon was at firft very obftinate. "Sir, (faid he) the fellow wants me to make Mahomet run mad, that be may have an opportunity of toffing his hands and kicking his heels'." He was, however, at last, with difficulty, prevailed on to comply with Garrick's wifhes, fo as to allow of fome changes; but ftill there were not enough. Dr. Adams was prefent the firft night of the reprefentation of IRENE, and gave me the following account: "Before the curtain drew up, there were catcalls whistling, which alarmed Johnson's friends. The Prologue, which was written by himself in a manly ftrain, foothed the audience, and the play went off tolerably till it came to the conclufion, when Mrs. Pritchard, the heroine of the piece, was to be ftrangled upon the ftage, and was to fpeak two lines with the bow-ftring round her neck. The audience cried out "Murder, murder." She several times attempted to speak, but in vain. At laft she was obliged to go off the stage alive." This paffage was afterwards ftruck out, and she was carried off to be put to death behind the scenes, as the play now has it. The Epilogue was written by Sir William Young. I know not how Johnson's play came to be thus graced by the pen of a perfon then fo eminent in the political world. • Mahomet was, in fact, played by Mr. Barry, and Demetrius by Mr. Garrick; but probably at this time the parts were not yet caft. 2 The expreffion used by Dr. Adams was "foothed." I should rather think the audience was wwed by the extraordinary spirit and dignity of the following lines: "Be this at leaft his praife, be this his pride, Notwithstanding 1749. Notwithstanding all the fupport of fuch performers as Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every advantage of drefs and decoration, the Etat. 40. tragedy of Irene did not please the publick. Mr. Garrick's zeal carried it through for nine nights, fo that the authour had his three nights' profits; and from a receipt figned by him, now in the hands of Mr. James Dodfley, it appears that his friend Mr. Robert Dodfley gave him one hundred pounds for the copy, with his ufual refervation of the right of one edition. IRENE, confidered as a poem, is intitled to the praife of fuperiour excellence. Analysed into parts, it will furnish a rich store of noble fentiments, fine, imagery, and beautiful language; but it is deficient in pathos, in that delicate power of touching the human feelings, which is the principal end of the drama. Indeed Garrick has complained to me, that Johnfon not only had not the faculty of producing the impreffions of tragedy, but that he had not the fenfibility to perceive them. His great friend Mr. Walmfley's prediction, that he would "turn out a fine tragedy-writer," was, therefore, ill founded. Johnson was wife enough to be convinced that he had not the talents neceffary to write fuccefsfully for the ftage, and never made another attempt in that fpecies of composition. When asked how he felt upon the ill fuccefs of his tragedy, he replied, "Like the Monument;" meaning that he continued firm and unmoved as that column. And let it be remembered, as an admonition to the genus irritabile of dramatick writers, that this great man, instead of peevishly complaining of the bad taste of the town, fubmitted to its decifion without a murmur. He had, indeed, upon all occafions a great deference for the general opinion: "A man (faid he) who writes a book, thinks himself wifer or wittier than the reft of mankind; he fuppofes that he can inftruct or amuse them, and the publick to whom he appeals, must, after all, be the judges of his pretenfions." On occafion of his play being brought upon the ftage, Johnson had a fancy that as a dramatick authour his dress fhould be more gay than what he ordinarily wore; he therefore appeared behind the fcenes, and even in one of the fide boxes, in a scarlet waistcoat, with rich gold lace. His neceffary attendance while his play was in rehearsal, and during its performance, brought him acquainted with many of the performers of both fexes, which produced a more favourable opinion of their profeffion than he had harfhly expreffed in his Life of Savage. With fome of them he kept up an acquaintance as long as he and they lived, and was ever ready to fhew them acts of kindnefs. He for a confiderable time ufed to frequent the Green Room, and feemed to take delight P 2 1749. delight in diffipating his gloom, by mixing in the sprightly chit-chat of the Etat. 40. motley circle then to be found there. Mr. David Hume related to me from 1750. Mr. Garrick, that Johnfon at last denied himself this amufement, from confiderations of rigid virtue; faying, "I'll come no more behind your scenes, David; for the filk stockings and white bofoms of your actreffes excite my amorous propenfities." In 1750 he came forth in the character for which he was eminently qualified, a majestick teacher of moral and religious wisdom. The vehicle which he chose was that of a periodical paper, which he knew had been, upon former occafions, employed with great fuccefs. The Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, were the last of the kind published in England, which had stood the test of a long trial; and fuch an interval had now elapfed fince their publication, as made him juftly think that, to many of his readers, this form of instruction would, in fome degree, have the advantage of novelty. A few days before the first of his Effays came out, there started another competitor for fame in the fame form, under the title of "The Tatler Revived," which I believe was born but to die." Johnfon was, I think, not very happy in the choice of his title, "The Rambler," which certainly is not fuited to a feries of grave and moral difcourfes; which the Italians have literally, but ludicrously, translated by Il Vagabondo; and which has been lately affumed as the denomination of a vehicle of licentious tales, "The Rambler's Magazine." He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following account of its getting this name: "What must be done, Sir, will be done. When I was to begin publishing that paper, I was at a lofs how to name it. upon my bedside, and resolved that I would not go to sleep till I had fixed its title. The Rambler feemed the beft that occurred, and I took it3. I fat down at night With what devout and confcientious fentiments this paper was undertaken, is evidenced by the following prayer, which he compofed and offered up on the occafion: " Almighty GoD, the giver of all good things, without whose I have heard Dr. Warton mention, that he was at Mr. Robert Dodfley's with the late Mr. Moore, and several others of his friends, confidering what should be the name of the periodical paper which Moore had undertaken. Garrick propofed the Sallad, which, by a curious coincidence, was afterwards applied to himself by Goldsmith : "Our Garrick's a fallad, for in him we fee "Oil, vinegar, fugar, and faltnefs agree!" At laft the company having separated, without any thing of which they approved having been offered, Dodfley himself thought of The World. help |