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nal in his possession. It was presented to his Lordship 1739. by Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom it was given by the Etat. son of Mr. Richardson the painter, the person to whom 30. it is addressed. I have transcribed it with minute exactness, that the peculiar mode of writing, and imperfect spelling of that celebrated poet, may be exhibited to the curious in literature. It justifies Swift's epithét of "paper-sparing Pope," for it is written on a slip no larger than a common message-card, and was sent to Mr. Richardson, along with the imitation of Juvenal. "This is imitated by one Johnson who put in for a "Publick-school in Shropshire, but was disappointed. "He has an infirmity of the convulsive kind, that at"tacks him sometimes, so as to make Him a sad Spec"tacle. Mr. P. from the Merit of This Work which "was all the knowledge he had of Him endeavour'd to "serve Him without his own application; & wrote to my Ld. gore, but he did not succeed. Mr. Johnson published afterwds. another Poem in Latin with "Notes the whole very Humerous call'd the Norfolk "Prophecy.

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"P."

Johnson had been told of this note; and Sir Joshua Reynolds informed him of the compliment which it contained, but, from delicacy, avoided shewing him the paper itself. When Sir Joshua observed to Johnson that he seemed very desirous to see Pope's note, he answered, "Who would not be proud to have such a man as Pope so solicitous in enquiring about him?"

The infirmity to which Mr. Pope alludes, appeared to me also, as I have elsewhere observed, to be of the convulsive kind, and of the nature of that distemper called St. Vitus's dance; and in this opinion I am confirmed by the description which Sydenham gives of that disease. "This disorder is a kind of convulsion. It manifests itself by halting or unsteadiness of one of the legs, which the patient draws after him like an ideot. If the hand of the same side be applied to the breast,

* See note, p. 107.

Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 8.

1739. or any other part of the body, he cannot keep it, a meEtat. ment in the same posture, but it will be drawn into a 30. different one by a convulsion, notwithstanding all his efforts to the contrary." Sir Joshua Reynolds, however, was of a different opinion, and favoured me with the following paper.

"Those motions or tricks of Dr. Johnson are improperly called convulsions. He could sit motionless, when he was told so to do, as well as any other man. My opinion is, that it proceeded from a habit which he had indulged himself in, of accompanying his thoughts with certain untoward actions, and those actions always appeared to me as if they were meant to reprobate some part of his past conduct. Whenever he was not engaged in conversation, such thoughts were sure to rush into his mind; and, for this reason, any company, any employment whatever, he preferred to being alone. The great business of his life (he said) was to escape from himself; this disposition he considered as the disease of his mind, which nothing cured but company.

"One instance of his absence and particularity, as it is characteristick of the man, may be worth relating. When he and I took a journey together into the West, we visited the late Mr. Banks, of Dorsetshire; the conversation turning upon pictures, which Johnson could not well see, he retired to a corner of the room, stretching out his right leg as far as he could reach before him, then bringing up his left leg, and, stretching his right still further on. The old gentleman observing him, went up to him, and in a very courteous manner assured him, though it was not a new house, the flooring was perfectly safe. The Doctor started from his reverie, like a person waked out of his sleep, but spoke not

a word."

While we are on this subject, my readers may not be displeased with another anecdote, communicated to me by the same friend, from the relation of Mr. Hogarth.

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[Sir Joshua Reynolds's notion on this subject is confirmed by what Johnson himself said to a young lady, the niece of his friend Christopher Smart. See a note by Mr. Boswell on some particulars communicated by Reynolds, in vol. iii. under March 30, 1783. M.]

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Johnson used to be a pretty frequent visitor at the 1739. house of Mr. Richardson, authour of Clarissa, and oth- Ætat. er novels of extensive reputation. Mr. Hogarth came 30. one day to see Richardson, soon after the execution of Dr. Cameron, for having taken arms for the house of Stuart in 1745-6; and being a warm partisan of George the Second, he observed to Richardson, that certainly there must have been some very unfavourable circumstances lately discovered in this particular case, which had induced the King to approve of an execution for rebellion so long after the time when it was committed, as this had the appearance of putting a man to death in cold blood, and was very unlike his Majesty's usual clemency. While he was talking, he perceived a person standing at a window in the room, shaking his head, and rolling himself about in a strange ridiculous manner. He concluded that he was an ideot, whom his relations had put under the care of Mr. Richardson, as a very good man. To his great surprize, however, this figure stalked forwards to where he and Mr. Richardson were sitting, and all at once took up the argument, and burst out into an invective against George the Second, as one, who, upon all occasions, was unrelenting and barbarous; mentioning many instances, particularly, that when an officer of high rank had been acquitted by a Court Martial, George the Second had with his own hand struck his name off the list. In short, he displayed such a power of eloquence, that Hogarth looked at him with astonishment, and actually imagined that this ideot had been at the moment inspired. Neither Hogarth nor Johnson were made known to each other at this interview.

"Impartial posterity may, perhaps, be as little inclined as Dr. Johnson was, te justify the uncommon rigour exercised in the case of Dr. Archibald Cameron. He was an amiable and truly honest man; and his offence was owing to a genereus, though mistaken principle of duty. Being obliged, after 1746, to give up his profession as a physician, and to go into foreign parts, he was honoured with the rank of Colonel, both in the French and Spanish service. He was a son of the ancient and respectable family of Cameron, of Lochiel; and his brother, who was the Chief of that brave clan, distinguished himself by moderation and humanity, while the Highland army marched victorious through Scotland. It is remarkable of this Chief, that though he had earnestly remonstrated against the attempt as hopeless, he was of too heroick a spirit not to venture his life and fortune in the cause, when personally asked by him whom he thought his Prince.

Etat.

1740, In 1740 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the "Preface," "the Life of Admiral Blake," and the 31. first parts of those of "Sir Francis Drake," and "Philip Barretier,"* both which he finished the following year. He also wrote an "Essay on Epitaphs,"* and an "Epitaph on Phillips, a Musician," which was afterwards published with some other pieces of his, in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies. This Epitaph is so exquisitely beautiful, that I remember even Lord Kames, strangely prejudiced as he was against Dr. Johnson, was compelled to allow it very high praise. It has been ascribed to Mr. Garrick, from its appearing at first with the signature G; but I have heard Mr. Garrick declare, that it was written by Dr. Johnson, and give the following account of the manner in which it was composed. Johnson and he were sitting together; when, amongst other things, Garrick repeated an Epitaph upon this Phillips by a Dr. Wilkes, in these words:

"Exalted soul! whose harmony could please
"The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease;
"Could jarring discord, like Amphion, move
"To beauteous order and harmonious love;
"Rest here in peace, till angels bid thee rise,
"And meet thy blessed Saviour in the skies."

Johnson shook his head at these common-place funereal lines, and said to Garrick, "I think, Davy, I can make a better." Then stirring about his tea for a little while, in a state of meditation, he almost extempore produced the following verses;

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Phillips, whose touch harmonious could remove
"The pangs of guilty power or hapless love;
"Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more,
"Here find that calm thou gay'st so oft before;

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Sleep, undisturb'd, within this peaceful shrine, "Till angels wake thee with a note like thine !",

。 [To which in 1742 he made very large additions, which have never yet been incorporated in any edition of Barretier's Life. A. C.]

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[The epitaph of Phillips is in the porch of Wolverhampton church. The prose part of it is curious:

At the same time that Mr. Garrick favoured me with 1740. this anecdote, he repeated a very pointed Epigram by Etat. Johnson, on George the Second and Colley Cibber, 31. which has never yet appeared, and of which I know not the exact date. Dr. Johnson afterwards gave it to me himself:

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Augustus still survives in Maro's strain,

"And Spenser's verse prolongs Eliza's reign; "Great George's acts let tuneful Cibber sing; "For Nature form'd the Poet for the King."

In 1741 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine "the Preface,"+"Conclusion of his lives of Drake and Barretier,”* “ Á free translation of the Jests of Hierocles, with an Introduction;"† and, I think, the following pieces: "Debate on the Proposal of parliament to Cromwell, to assume the Title of King, abridged, modified, and digested;"+ "Translation of Abbé Guyon's Dissertation on the Amazons ;"+ "Translation of Fontenelle's Panegyrick on Dr. Morin."+ Two notes upon this appear to me undoubtedly his. He this year, and the two following, wrote the Parliamentary

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Mr. Garrick appears not to have recited the verses correctly, the original being as follows. One of the various readings is remarkable, as it is the germ of Johnson's concluding line :

"Exalted soul, tby various sounds could please
"The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease;
"Could jarring crowds, like old Amphion, move
"To beauteous order and harmonious love;
"Rest here in peace, till Angels bid thee rise,
"And meet thy SAVIOUR'S consort in the skies."

Br. Wilkes, the authour of these lines, was a Fellow of Trinity College, in Oxford, and rector of Pitchford, in Shropshire: he collected materials for a history of that county, and is spoken of by Brown Willis, in his History of Mitred Abbies, vol. ii. p. 189. But he was a native of Staffordshire; and to the antiquities of that county was his attention chiefly confined. Mr. Shaw has had the use of his. papers. J. B.]

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