throat.' 'Sir (said he), Lord Chesterfield never saw me eat in his life.'1

On the 6th of March came out Lord Bolingbroke's works, published by Mr. David Mallet. The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name of Philosophy,' which were thus ushered into the world, gave great offence to all well-principled men. Johnson, hearing of their tendency, which nobody disputed, was roused with a just indignation, and pronounced this memorable sentence upon the noble author and his editor. 'Sir, he was a scoundrel and a coward: a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had no resolution to fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger after his death!' Garrick, who, I can attest from my own knowledge, had his mind seasoned with pious reverence, and sincerely disapproved of the infidel writings of several whom in the course of his almost universal gay intercourse with men of eminence he treated with external civility, distinguished himself upon this occasion. Mr. Pelham having died on the very day on which Lord Bolingbroke's works came out, he wrote an elegant Ode on his death, beginning

'Let others hail the rising sun,

I bow to that whose course is run';

in which is the following stanza:

'The same sad morn, to Church and State

(So for our sins 'twas fix'd by fate),

A double stroke was given;

1 [Dr. Birkbeck Hill (Dr. Johnson, his Friends and his Critics, p. 214) has, I think, completely made out that the 'respectable Hottentot' was not meant for Johnson, but for Lord Lyttelton.-A. B.]

Black as the whirlwinds of the North,
St. John's fell genius issued forth,

And Pelham fled to heaven.'

Johnson this year found an interval of leisure to make an excursion to Oxford, for the purpose of consulting the libraries there. Of this, and of many interesting circumstances concerning him, during a part of his life when he conversed but little with the world, I am enabled to give a particular account, by the liberal communications of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Warton, who obligingly furnished me with several of our common friend's letters, which he illustrated with notes. These I shall insert in their proper places.

TO THE REV. MR. THOMAS WARTON

'SIR,-It is but an ill return for the book with which you were pleased to favour me,' to have delayed my thanks for it till now. I am too apt to be negligent; but I can never deliberately show my disrespect to a man of your character: and I now pay you a very honest acknowledgment for the advancement of the literature of our native country. You have shown to all who shall hereafter attempt the study of our ancient authors the way to success; by directing them to the perusal of the books which those authors had read. Of this method Hughes, and men much greater than Hughes, seem never to have thought. The reason why the authors, which are yet read, of the sixteenth century, are so little understood, is, that they are read alone; and no help is borrowed from those who lived with them or before them. Some part of this ignorance I hope to remove by my book, which now draws towards its end; but which I cannot finish to my mind without visiting the libraries of Oxford, which I

1 'Observations on Spenser's Fairy Queen, the first edition of which was now published.'

2 'Hughes published an edition of Spenser.'

8 'His Dictionary.'

therefore hope to see in a fortnight. I know not how long I shall stay, or where I shall lodge: but shall be sure to look for you at my arrival, and we shall easily settle the rest.-I am, dear sir, your most obedient, etc., SAM. JOHNSON.

"[London,] July 16, 1754.'

Of his conversation while at Oxford at this time Mr. Warton preserved and communicated to me the following memorial, which, though not written with all the care and attention which that learned and elegant writer bestowed on those compositions which he intended for the public eye, is so happily expressed in an easy style, that I should injure it by any alteration:

'When Johnson came to Oxford in 1754, the long vacation was beginning, and most people were leaving the place. This was the first time of his being there after quitting the University. The next morning after his arrival he wished to see his old college, Pembroke. I went with him. He was highly pleased to find all the college servants which he had left there still remaining, particularly a very old butler; and expressed great satisfaction at being recognised by them, and conversed with them familiarly. He waited on the master, Dr. Radcliffe, who received him very coldly. Johnson at least expected that the master would order a copy of his Dictionary, now near publication; but the master did not choose to talk on the subject, never asked Johnson to dine, nor even to visit him, while he stayed at Oxford. After we had left the lodgings, Johnson said to me, "There lives a man who lives by the revenues of literature, and will not move a finger to support it. If I come to live at Oxford, I shall take up my abode at Trinity." We then called on the Reverend Mr. Meeke, one of the Fellows, and of Johnson's standing. Here was a most cordial greeting on both sides. On leaving him, Johnson said,

1 'He came to Oxford within a fortnight and stayed about five weeks. He lodged at a house called Kettel Hall, near Trinity College. But during this visit at Oxford he collected nothing in the libraries for his Dictionary.'