were both Scotsmen; and it was at that period, and in the age which preceded it, accounted in Scotland so much the duty and the highest honour of men of rank to patronize literary talents, that it is not wonderful they should have thought themselves bound to raise above poverty a man of such distinguished abilities. Johnson had indeed always treated the Scottish nation with much abuse, because they refused to assent to the doctrines of the Church of England, and were zealously attached to the succession of the House of Hanover to the British throne; but the men who now extended their protection to him possessed too much good sense to attend to, these peculiarities, and regarded only the merit of the object of their generosity. Mr Wedderburne was well acquainted with Johnson. He knew the proud spirit of independence which he had maintained in adversity, and he had no doubt heard of the downfal of Osborne the Bookseller. He judged it prudent, therefore, to direct Mr Arthur Murphy to acquaint Johnson with his Majesty's intentions. Johnson, after a long pause, desired to know if the intimation was serious; and afterwards said he would consider the matter till the following day. In the meanwhile he consulted Sir Joshua Reynolds upon the subject. Johnson felt himself ensnared by his idle abuse of the Scots and the House of Hanover, which he had often uttered in conversation, and by the definition of the words Pension and Pensioner, which he had given thoughtlessly, and perhaps petulantly, when writing his Dictionary, and considering himself as an obscure individual, connected only with booksellers. He satisfied himself, however, that as the pension was gratuitously given, he fell not under his own odious definition; and Sir Joshua Reynolds having concurred in the same opinion, he was conducted by Mr Wedderburne to the Earl of Bute. Johnson expressed his sense of his Majesty's bounty, and that he thought himself the more highly honoured as the favour was not bestowed on him for having dipped his pen in fac tion. "No, Sir," said Lord Bute," it is not "offered to you for having dipped your pen in "faction, nor with a design that you ever should." Either before or after this interview, on receiving the first payment of his pension, Johnson addressed to the Earl of Bute the following letter: "To the Right Honourable the EARL of BUTE. "MY LORD, "WHEN the bills were yesterday delivered to me by Mr Wedderburne, I was informed by him of the future favours which his Majesty has, by your Lordship's recommendation, been induced to intend for me. "Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is bestowed: Your Lordship's kindness includes every circumstance that can gratify delicacy, or enforce obligation. You have conferred your favours on a man who has neither alliance nor interest, who has not merited them by services, nor courted them by officiousness; you have spared him the shame of solicitation, and the anxiety of suspense. "What has been thus elegantly given, will, I hope, not be reproachfully enjoyed: I shall endeavour to give your Lordship the only recompense which your generosity desires-the gratification of finding that your benefits are not improperly bestowed. "I am, my Lord, "Your Lordship's most obliged, "Most obedient, and most humble servant, "July 20, 1762." "SAM. JOHNSON, Johnson afterwards addressed to the Earl of Bute the following letter: "To the Right Honourable the EARL of BUTE. "MY LORD, "THAT generosity by which I was recommended to the favour of his Majesty will not be offended at a solicitation necessary to make that favour permanent and effectual. "The pension appointed to be paid me at Michaelmas, I have not received, and know not where or from whom I am to ask it. I beg, therefore, that your Lordship will be pleased to supply Mr Wedderburne with such directions as may be necessary, which I believe his friendship will think it no trouble to convey to me. To interrupt your Lordship at a time like this, with such petty difficulties, is improper and unseasonable; but your knowledge of the world has long since taught you, that every man's affairs, however little, are important to himself. Every man hopes that he shall escape neglect; and, with reason, may every man, whose vices do not preclude his claims, expect favour from that beneficence which has been extended to, "My Lord, σε Your Lordship's most obliged, Temple-Lane, Nov. 3, 1762.” Although Johnson's pension was undoubtedly very honourable to those who bestowed, and to him who received it, yet it did not fail to hold him out as a mark to suspicion and calumny. He had accepted a favour from two Scotsmen, and submitted to hold a character which he had previously condemned. Some thought themselves. more entitled to royal favour, and others recollected his political opinions and sentiments of the reigning family. By some he was censured as an apostate, and by others ridiculed for becoming a pensioner. Mr Wilkes, in his "North Briton," supplied himself with arguments against the minister for rewarding a Tory and a Jacobite; and Churchill satirized his political versatility with the most poignant severity. "How to all principles untrue, "Not fixed to old friends, nor to new: Johnson being now in possession of a regular income, removed to a house in Johnson's-Court, Fleet Street. Mrs Williams removed thither, and lived under his protection; and one Dr Levet, a low practitioner in medicine, in needy circumstances, paid daily visits, living in a great measure upon his bounty, and was at last received into his family. Johnson also had recourse for amusement to a literary club, which met in Gerard-Street, Soho, on every Tuesday evening through the year. The original members were, besides himself, the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr Nugent, Dr Goldsmith, the late Mr Topham Beauclerk, Mr Langton, Mr Chamier, Sir John Hawkins, and some others. Many others were afterwards added, as Charles J. Fox, Garrick, Boswell, &c. As Johnson seldom laboured with regular assiduity, his edition of Shakespeare was so long delayed, that the subscribers despaired of seeing it. In 1765, however, he at last published it. On the 23d of July, of the same year, the University of Dublin voluntarily, and without solicitation, conferred on him the degree of L. L. D.-During that year also, he was enabled to form an important addition to the list of his friends, in consequence of being introduced to the acquaintance of Mr Henry Thrale, member of Parliament for Southwark, and one of the most eminent porterbrewers in England. It appears that Johnson's pension had added little to the happiness of his life. Being less urgently pressed by want, and no longer under the constant necessity of occupying himself in the service of booksellers, his mind prey |