Teach mimick cenfure her own faults to find, THE YOUNG AUTHOUR7. WHEN first the peafant, long inclin'd to roam, - And future millions lift his rifing foul; In blissful dreams he digs the golden mine, More falfe, more cruel, than the feas or wind. This thought once form'd, all counsel comes too late, And feels the unfading wreath furround his head. 7 This he inferted, with many alterations, in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1743. } Where Where no four criticks fnarl, no fneers moleft, EPILOGUE, intended to have been spoken by a LADY who was to perfonate the YE blooming train, who give despair or joy, And scents ambrofial breathe in every gale: Far hence are banifh'd vapours, fpleen, and tears, Tea, fcandal, ivory teeth, and languid airs; No pug, nor favourite Cupid there enjoys Around them pleasures wait, and joys for ever new. } • Some young ladies at Lichfield having proposed to act "The Diftreffed Mother," Johnfor wrote this, and gave it to Mr. Hector to convey it privately to them. But cruel virgins meet feverer fates; And every beauty withers at the blast: Where e'er they fly their lover's ghofts purfue, No maid to flatter, and no paint to hide. Then melt, ye fair, while crouds around you figh, With pity foften every awful grace, And beauty smile aufpicious in each face; So fhall you guiltlefs reign, and all mankind adore. The two years which he spent at home, after his return from Stourbridge, he paffed in what he thought idleness, and was fcolded by his father for his want of steady application. He had no fettled plan of life, nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from day to day. Yet he read a great deal in a defultory manner, without any scheme of ftudy, as chance threw books in his way, and inclination directed him through them. He used to mention one curious inftance of his casual reading, when but a boy. Having imagined that his brother had hid fome apples behind a large folio upon an upper shelf in his father's fhop, he climbed up to search for them. There were no apples; but the large folio proved to be Petrarch, whom he had seen mentioned, in fome preface, as one of the reftorers of learning. His curiosity having been thus excited, he fat down with avidity, and read a great part of the book. What he read during these two years, he told me, was not works of mere amusement, "not voyages and travels, but all literature, Sir, all ancient writers, all manly; though but little Greek, only some of Anacreon and Hefiod; but in this irregular manner (added he) I had looked into a great many books, which were not commonly known at the Univerfities, 1728. Atat. 19. fities, where they feldom read any books but what are put into their hands by their tutors; fo that when I came to Oxford, Dr. Adams, master of Pembroke College, told me, I was the best qualified for the University that he had ever known come there." In eftimating the progrefs of his mind during thefe two years, as well as in future periods of his life, we must not regard his own hafty confeffion of idlencfs; for we fee, when he explains himself, that he was acquiring various ftores; and, indeed, he himself concluded the account, with faying, "I would not have you think I was doing nothing then.' think I was doing nothing then." He might, perhaps, have studied more affiduously; but it may be doubted, whether fuch a mind as his was not more enriched by roaming at large in the fields of literature, than if it had been confined to any fingle spot. The analogy between body and mind is very general, and the parallel will hold as to their food, as well as any other particular. The flesh of animals who feed excurfively, is allowed to have a higher flavour than that of those who are cooped up. May there not be the fame difference between men who read as their tafte prompts, and men who are confined in cells and colleges to ftated tasks? That a man in Mr. Michael Johnson's circumstances should think of fending his fon to the expenfive University of Oxford, at his own charge, seems very improbable. The fubject was too delicate to queftion Johnson upon : But I have been affured by Dr. Taylor, that the scheme never would have taken place, had not a gentleman of Shropshire, one of his fchoolfellows, fpontaneously undertaken to fupport him at Oxford, in the character of his companion; though, in fact, he never received any affiftance whatever from that gentleman. He, however, went to Oxford, and was entered a Commoner of Pembroke College, on the 31st of October, 1728, being then in his nineteenth year. The Reverend Dr. Adams, who afterwards prefided over Pembroke College with universal esteem, told me he was prefent, and gave me some account of what paffed on the night of Johnson's arrival at Oxford. On that evening, his father, who had anxiously accompanied him, found means to have him introduced to Mr. Jorden, who was to be his tutor. His being put under any tutor, reminds us of what Wood fays of Robert Burton, authour of the "Anatomy of Melancholy," when elected student of Chrift Church; "for form's fake, though he wanted not a tutor, he was put under the tuition of Dr. John Bancroft, afterwards Bishop of Oxon"." • Athen. Oxon. edit. 1721. p. 628. His father feemed very full of the merits of his fon, and told the company he 1728. was a good scholar, and a poet, and wrote Latin verfes. His figure and manner Etat. 19 appeared strange to them; but he behaved modeftly, and fat filent, till upon fomething which occurred in the course of converfation, he fuddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius; and thus he gave the first impreffion of that more extenfive reading in which he had indulged himself. His tutor, Mr. Jorden, fellow of Pembroke, was not, it feems, a man of fuch abilities as we should conceive requifite for the inftructor of Samuel Johnson, who gave me the following account of him. "He was a very worthy man, but a heavy man, and I did not profit much by his inftructions. Indeed, I did not attend him much. The first day after I came to college, I waited upon him, and then staid away four. On the fixth, Mr. Jorden asked me why I had not attended. I answered, I had been sliding in ChristChurch meadow. And this I faid with as much non-chalance as I am now1 talking to you. I had no notion that I was wrong or irreverent to my tutor." BOSWELL. "That, Sir, was great fortitude of mind." JOHNSON. "No, Sir; ftark infenfibility".' The fifth of November was at that time kept with great folemnity at Pembroke College, and exercifes upon the fubject of the day were required. Johnson neglected to perform his, which is much to be regretted; for his vivacity of imagination, and force of language, would probably have produced fomething fublime upon the gunpowder plot. To apologise for his neglect, he gave in a fhort copy of verses, entitled Somnium, containing a common thought; "that the Muse had come to him in his fleep, and whif pered that it did not become him to write on fuch subjects as politicks; he should confine himself to humbler themes:" but the versification was truly Virgilian. He had a love and refpect for Jorden, not for his literature, but for his worth. "Whenever (faid he) a young man becomes Jorden's pupil, he becomes his fon." Having given fuch a specimen of his poetical powers, he was afked by Mr. Jorden to tranflate Pope's Meffiah into Latin verfe, as a Christmas exercife. He performed it with uncommon rapidity, and in fo masterly a manner, Oxford, 20th March, 1776. 2 It ought to be remembered, that Dr. Johnson was apt, in his literary as well as moral exercifes, to overcharge his defects. Dr. Adams informed me, that he attended his tutor's lectures, and also the lectures in the College Hall, very regularly. |