Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray, and Smollett | Page 5

tenth-rate medical peripatetic, who, as well as Hodge, the
great lexicographer's cat, and Francis Barber, his black servant, now
share in his immortality,--besides becoming acquainted with such men
of eminence as Reynolds, the inimitable painter; Bennet Langton, the
amiable and excellent country-gentleman; and Beauclerk, the smart and

witty "man about town." In 1755 (exactly a hundred years ago),
Johnson chastised Lord Chesterfield for his mean, finessing conduct to
him about his Dictionary, in a letter unparalleled, unless in "Junius," for
its noble and condensed scorn,--a scorn which "burns frore," cold
performing the effect of fire--and which reached that callous Lord,
under the sevenfold shield of his conceit and conventionalism; visited
Oxford, and was presented by acclamation with that degree of M.A.
which he had left twenty-four years before without receiving; and, in
fine, issued his Dictionary, the work of eight years, and which,
undoubtedly, is the truest monument of his talent, industry, and general
capacity, if not of the richness of his invention, or of the strength of his
genius. He had obtained for it only the sum of £1575, which was all
spent in the progress of the work; and he was compelled again to
become a contributor to the periodical press, writing copiously and
characteristically to the Gentleman's Magazine, the Universal Visitor_,
and the _Literary Magazine. In 1756, he was arrested for a debt of £5,
18s., but was relieved by Richardson, the novelist. In the same year he
resumed his intention of an edition of Shakspeare, of which he issued
proposals, and which he promised to finish in little more than a year,
although nine years were to elapse ere it saw the light. In 1758, he
began the "Idler," which reached the 103d No., and was considered
lighter and more agreeable than the "Rambler." He has seldom written
anything so powerful as his fable of "The Vultures." In 1759, his
mother died, at the age of ninety,--an event which deeply affected him.
Soon after this, and to defray the expenses of her funeral, he wrote his
brilliant tale of "Rasselas," in the evenings of a single week,--a rare feat
of readiness and rapid power, reminding one of Byron writing the
"Corsair" in a fortnight, and of Sir Walter Scott finishing "Guy
Mannering" in three weeks. There are perhaps more invention and
more fancy in "Rasselas" than in any of his works, although a gloom,
partly the shadow of his mother's death, and partly springing from his
own temperament, rests too heavily on its pages. He received one
hundred guineas for the copyright. In 1762, the Earl of Bute, both as a
reward for past services, and as a prepayment of future, bestowed on
him a pension of £300 for life. This raised a clamour against him,
which he treated with silent contempt.

In 1763 occurred what was really a most important event in Johnson's
life,--his acquaintance with Boswell,--who attached himself to him with
a devotion reminding one more of the canine species than of man,
sacrificed to him much of his time, his feelings, his very
individuality,
and became qualified to write a biography, in which fulness, interest,
minute detail, and dramatic skill have never been equalled or
approached. In 1764, Johnson founded the celebrated "Literary
Club,"--perhaps the most remarkable cluster of distinguished men that
ever existed; and in 1765 he was created LL.D. by Trinity College,
Dublin. In 1765, too, he published his "Shakspeare;" and he became
intimate with the Thrales,--the husband being a great brewer in
Southwark; the wife, a lady of literary tastes, better known as Madame
Piozzi, the author of "Anecdotes of Dr Johnson;" both distinguished for
their attachment to him. He was often domesticated in their house for
months together. In 1767 he had an interview with George III., in the
library of the Queen's house; which, because Johnson preserved his
self-possession, and talked with his usual precision and power, has
been recounted by Boswell as if it had been a conversation with an
apostle or an angel. In 1770 he did some work for his pension in a
pamphlet entitled the "False Alarm," defending the conduct of the
Ministry in the case of the Middlesex election. In 1771 he wrote
another political pamphlet, entitled "Thoughts on the late

Transactions respecting Falklands' Islands;" and five years later
appeared "Taxation no Tyranny,"--an elaborate defence of the
American war. Johnson was too dogmatic, and too fiercely passionate
for a good political writer; and these productions added nothing to his
fame, and increased the number of his enemies.
In 1773 he fulfilled his long-cherished purpose of visiting Scotland and
the Hebrides, the story of which trip he told afterwards in his usual
rotund and massive style, and which was recounted with far more
liveliness and verisimilitude by Boswell. In 1774 he lost Goldsmith,
who had long been his