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kindness to me, at a very early period. He was the first person of high rank that took particular notice of me in the way most flattering to a young man, fondly ambitious of being distinguished for his literary talents; and by the honour of his encouragement made me think well of myself, and aspire to deserve it better. He had a happy art of communicating his varied knowledge of the world, in short remarks and anecdotes, with a quiet pleasant gravity, that was exceedingly engaging. Never shall I forget the hours which I enjoyed with him at his apartments in the Royal Palace of Holy-Rood House, and at his seat near Edinburgh, which he himself had formed with an elegant taste.

b [This neglect did not arise from any ill-will towards Lord Marchmont, but from inattention; just as he neglected to correct his statement concerning the family of Thomson the poet, after it had been shewn to be erroneous (ante, p. 718).]

a I should have thought that Johnson, who had felt the severe affliction from which Parnell never recovered, would have preserved this passage.

a Let not my readers smile to think of Johnson’s being a candidate for female favour; Mr. Peter Garrick assured me, that he was told by a lady, that in her opinion Johnson was ‘a very seducing man.’ Disadvantages of person and manner may be forgotten, where intellectual pleasure is communicated to a susceptible mind; and that Johnson was capable of feeling the most delicate and disinterested attachment, appears from the following letter, which is published by Mrs. Thrale,997 with some others to the same person, of which the excellence is not so apparent: –

‘TO MISS BOOTHBY.

‘DEAREST MADAM, ‘January {1} 1755.

‘Though I am afraid your illness leaves you little leisure for the reception of airy civilities, yet I cannot forbear to pay you my congratulations on the new year; and to declare my wishes that your years to come may be many and happy. In this wish, indeed, I include myself, who have none but you on whom my heart reposes; yet surely I wish your good, even though your situation were such as should permit you to communicate no gratifications to, dearest, dearest Madam, your, &c.

‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

b Gent. Mag. vol. lv. p. 10.

a The late Mr. James Ralph told Lord Macartney, that he passed an evening with Dr. Young at Lord Melcombe’s (then Mr. Dodington) at Hammersmith. The Doctor happening to go out into the garden, Mr. Dodington observed to him, on his return, that it was a dreadful night, as in truth it was, there being a violent storm of rain and wind. ‘No, Sir, (replied the Doctor,) it is a very fine night. The Lord is abroad.’

a See p. 77.

a From this disreputable class, I except an ingenious though not satisfactory defence of HAMMOND, which I did not see till lately, by the favour of its authour, my amiable friend, the Reverend Mr. Bevill, who published it without his name. It is a juvenile performance, but elegantly written, with classical enthusiasm of sentiment, and yet with a becoming modesty, and great respect for Dr. Johnson.

b January 1791.

a Afterwards Sir Robert Chambers, one of his Majesty’s Judges in India.

a Jones’s Persian Grammar.

a Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.

a Published by Kearsley, with this well-chosen motto: –

‘From his cradle

He was a Scholar, and a ripe and good one:

And to add greater honours to his age

Than man could give him, he died fearing Heaven.’1006

SHAKSPEARE.

a Shakspeare makes Hamlet thus describe his father: –

‘See what a grace was seated on this brow:

Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself,

An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;

A station like the herald, Mercury,

New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;

A combination, and a form, indeed,

Where every god did seem to set his seal,

To give the world assurance of a man.’1007

Milton thus pourtrays our first parent, Adam: –

‘His fair large front and eye sublime declar’d

Absolute rule; and hyacinthin locks

Round from his parted forelock manly hung

Clust’ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad.’1008

a See p. 201.

a London Chronicle,