his pay, and who may have gathered from what they have already read, that I am not so passionately enamoured of Dr. Johnson's biographical manner, as to take that for my model, have only to throw these pages aside, and wait till they are new-written by some one of his numerous disciples, who may follow his master's example; and should more anecdote than I furnish him with be wanting (as was the Doctor's case in his life of Mr. Gray), may make amends for it by those acid eructations of vituperative criticism, which are generated by unconcocted taste and intellectual indigestion.' — Poems by William Whitehead, York, 1788 (vol. iii, p. 128). With this 'sneering observation,' which Boswell might surely have passed over in silence, the Memoirs close. Michael Johnson as a bookseller. (Vol. i. p. 42, n. 2.) Mr. R. F. Sketchley kindly informs me that in the Dyce and Forster Libraries at the South Kensington Museum there is a book with the following title : S. Shaw's Grammatica Anglo- Romana, London, printed for Michael Johnson, bookseller: and are to be sold at his shops in Litchfield and Uttoxiter in Stafford-shire; and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, 1687. Mr. C. E. Doble tells me that in the proposals issued in 1690 by Thomas Bennet, St. Paul's Churchyard, for printing Anthony à Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses and Fasti Oxonienses, among the booksellers who take subscriptions, give receipts, and deliver books according to the proposals' is 'Mr. Johnson in Litchfield.' The City and County of Lichfield. (Vol. i. p. 42, n. 3.) 'The City of Litchfield is a County of itself, with a jurisdiction extending 10 or 12 miles round, which circuit the Sheriff rides every year on Sept. 8.'—A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain, ed. 1769, ii. 419. Balliol College has a copy of this work containing David Garrick's book-plate, with Shakespeare's head at the top of it, and the following quotation from Menagiana at the foot : 'La 'La première chose qu'on doit faire quand on a emprunté un livre, c'est de le lire, afin de pouvoir le rendre plutôt' (sic). Felixmarte of Hircania. "He that follows is Florismarte of Hyrcania," said the barber. "What! is Signor Florismarte there?" replied the priest; "in good faith he shall share the same fate, notwithstanding his strange birth and chimerical adventures; for his harsh and dry style will admit of no excuse. To the yard with him, therefore." "With all my heart, dear Sir," answered the housekeeper; and with joyful alacrity she executed the command.'-Don Quixote, ed. 1820, i. 48. In Boswell speaks of Felixmarte as the old Spanish romance. the Bibliografia dei Romanzi e Poemi Cavallereschi Italiani (2nd ed., Milan, 1838), p. 351, it is stated that in the Spanish edition it is called a translation from the Italian, and in the Italian edition a translation from the Spanish. The Italian title is Historia di Don Florismante d'Ircania, tradotta dallo Spagnuolo. Cervantes, in an edition of Don Quixote, published in 1605, which I have looked at, calls the book Florismarte de Hircania (not Florismante). It should seem that he made his hero read the Italian version. Palmerin of England and Don Belianis. (Vol. i. p. 57, n. 3; and vol. iii. p. 2.) "Let Palmerin of England be preserved," said the licentiate, "and kept as a jewel; and let such another casket be made for it as that which Alexander found among the spoils of Darius, appropriated to preserve the works of the poet Homer. . . . . Therefore, master Nicholas, saving your better judgment, let this and Amadis de Gaul be exempted from the flames, and let all the rest perish without farther inquiry." "Not so, neighbour," replied the barber, "for behold here the renowned Don Belianis." The priest replied, "This with the second, third, and fourth parts, wants a little rhubarb to purge away its excessive choler; there should be removed too all that relates to the castle of Fame, and other impertinencies of still greater consequence; let them have the benefit, therefore, therefore, of transportation, and as they show signs of amendment they shall hereafter be treated with mercy or justice; in the meantime, friend, give them room in your house; but let nobody read them." -Don Quixote, ed. 1820, i. 50. Mr. Taylor, a Birmingham manufacturer. 'John Taylor, Esq. may justly be deemed the Shakspear or Newton of Birmingham. He rose from minute beginnings to shine in the commercial hemisphere, as they in the poetical or philosophical. To this uncommon genius we owe the gilt button, the japanned and gilt snuff-box, with the numerous race of enamels; also the painted snuff-box. . . . . He died in 1775 at the age of 64, after acquiring a fortune of £200,000. His son was a considerable sufferer at the time of the riots in 1791.'—A Brief History of Birmingham, 1797, p. 9. .... Olivia Lloyd. (Vol. i. p. 107.) I am, no doubt, right in identifying Olivia Lloyd, the young quaker, with whom Johnson was much enamoured when at Stourbridge School, with Olive Lloyd, the daughter of the first Sampson Lloyd, of Birmingham, and aunt of the Sampson Lloyd with whom he had an altercation (ante, ii. 524, and post, p. 569). A fine likeness of her is preserved by Thomas Lloyd, The Priory, Warwick,' as I learn from an interesting little work called Farm and its Inhabitants, with some Account of the Lloyds of Dolobran, by Rachel J. Lowe. Privately printed, 1883, p. 24. Her elder brother married a Miss Careless; ib. p. 23. Johnson's 'first love,' Hector's sister, married a Mr. Careless (ante, ii. 526). Henry Porter, of Edgbaston. (Vol. i. p. 109, n. 3.) In St. Mary's Church, Warwick, is a monument to 'Anna Norton, Henrici Porter Filia Nuper de Edgberston in Com. Warw. Generosi ; Vidua Thomae Norton . . . . Haec annis et pietate matura vitam deposuit. Maii 14, 1698.' A Brief Description of the Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Warwick, published by Grafton and Reddell, Birmingham; no date. Mrs. Williams's account of Mrs. Johnson and her sons by her former marriage. (Vol. i. p. 110.) The following note by Malone I failed to quote in the right place. It is copied from a paper, written by Lady Knight. 'Mrs. Williams's account of Mrs. Johnson was, that she had a good understanding and great sensibility, but inclined to be satirical. Her first husband died insolvent [this is a mistake, see ante, i. III, n. 1]; her sons were much disgusted with her for her second marriage; . . . . however, she always retained her affection for them. While they [Mr. and Mrs. Johnson] resided in Gough Square, her son, the officer, knocked at the door, and asked the maid if her mistress was at home. She answered, "Yes, Sir, but she is sick in bed." "Oh," says he, "if it's so, tell her that her son Jervis called to know how she did ;" and was going away. The maid begged she might run up to tell her mistress, and, without attending his answer, left him. Mrs. Johnson, enraptured to hear her son was below, desired the maid to tell him she longed to embrace him. When the maid descended the gentleman was gone, and poor Mrs. Johnson was much agitated by the adventure; it was the only time he ever made an effort to see her. Dr. [Mr.] Johnson did all he could to console his wife, but told Mrs. Williams: "Her son is uniformly undutiful; so I conclude, like many other sober men, he might once in his life be drunk, and in that fit nature got the better of his pride."' Johnson's application for the mastership of the Grammar School at Solihull in Warwickshire. (Vol. i. p. 112.) Johnson, a few weeks after his marriage, applied for the mastership of Solihull Grammar School, as is shown by the following letter. letter, preserved in the Pembroke College MSS., addressed to Mr. Walmsley, and quoted by Mr. Croker. I failed to insert it in my notes. -SIR, 'Solihull, y 30 August, 1735. "I was favoured with yours of ye 13th inst. in due time, but deferred answering it til now, it takeing up some time to informe the Fœofees of the contents thereof; and before they would return an Answer, desired some time to make enquiry of ye caracter of Mr. Johnson, who all agree that he is an excellent scholar, and upon that account deserves much better than to be schoolmaster of Solihull. But then he has the caracter of being a very haughty, ill-natured gent., and yt he has such a way of distorting his Face (wh though he can't help) ye gent. think it may affect some young ladds; for these two reasons he is not approved on, ye late master Mr. Crompton's huffing the Fœofees being stil in their memory. However, we are all exstreamly obliged to you for thinking of us, and for proposeing so good a schollar, but more especially is, dear sir, 'Your very humble servant, 'HENRY GRESWOLD.' Johnson's knowledge of Italian. (Vol. i. p. 133, 134.) Boswell says that he does not know at what time, or by what means Johnson had acquired a competent knowledge of Italian.' In my note on this I say 'he had read Petrarch "when but a boy."' As Petrarch wrote chiefly in Latin, it is quite possible that Johnson did not acquire his knowledge of Italian so early as I had thought. son. Johnson's deference for the general opinion. Miss Burney records an interesting piece of criticism by John'There are,' he said, 'three distinct kinds of judges upon all new authors or productions; the first are those who know no rules, but pronounce entirely from their natural taste and feelings; the second are those who know and judge by rules; and the third are those who know, but are above the rules. These last are those |