to Mr. Johnson, but have no doubt of selling it, on some of the terms
mentioned.
[Footnote 2: 'Fifty-five pounds' written first and then scored over.]
'I will not print my name, but expect it to be known.
I am Dear Sir, Your most humble servant,
SAM. JOHNSON.
Jan. 20, 1759.
Get me the money if you can.'
This letter is of unusual interest, as it proves beyond all doubt that
_Rasselas_ was written some weeks before _Candide_ was published (see
_ante_, i. 342, n. a). Baretti, as I have shewn (i. 341, n. 3), says
that 'any other person with the degree of reputation Johnson then
possessed would have got L400 for the work, but he never understood
the art of making the most of his productions.' We see, however, by
this letter that Johnson did ask for a larger sum than the booksellers
allowed him. He received but one hundred pounds for the first edition,
but he had made a bargain for one hundred and fifty pounds or guineas.
Johnson, the bookseller, seems to have been but in a small way of
business as a publisher. I do not find in the _Gentleman's Magazine_
for 1758 any advertisement of books published by him, and only one in
1759 (P. 339). Cowper's publisher in 1778 was Joseph Johnson of St.
Paul's Churchyard. (Cowper's _Works_ by Southey, i. 285; see also
Nichols' _Literary Anecdotes_, iii. 461-464.)
By 'little Pompadour' Johnson, no doubt, means the second and cheaper
edition of _The History of the Marchioness de Pompadour_. The first
edition was published by Hooper in one volume, price five shillings
(_Gent. Mag_. for October 1758, p. 493). and the second in two volumes
for three shillings and sixpence (_Gent. Mag_. for November, 1758,
p. 543).
Johnson did not generally 'print his name.' He published anonymously his
translation of _Lobos Voyage to Abyssinia; London; The Life of Savage;
The Rambler_, and _The Idler_, both in separate numbers and when
collected in volumes; _Rasselas; The False Alarm; Falkland's Islands;
The Patriot;_, and _Taxation no Tyranny_; (when these four pamphlets
were collected in a volume he published them with the title of _Political
Tracts, by the Authour of the Rambler_). He gave his name in _The Vanity
of Human Wishes, Irene_, the _Dictionary_, his edition of _Shakespeare_,
the _Journey to the Western Islands_, and the _Lives of the Poets_.
VII.
_A letter about George Strahan's election to a scholarship at University
College, Oxford, and about William Strahan's 'affair with the University';
dated October 24, 1764_.[In the possession of Mr. Frederick Barker.]
'SIR,
'I think I have pretty well disposed of my young friend George, who, if
you approve of it, will be entered next Monday a Commoner of University
College, and will be chosen next day a Scholar of the House. The
Scholarship is a trifle, but it gives him a right, upon a vacancy, to
a Fellowship of more than sixty pounds a year if he resides, and I
suppose of more than forty if he takes a Curacy or small living. The
College is almost filled with my friends, and he will be well treated.
The Master is informed of the particular state of his education, and
thinks, what I think too, that for Greek he must get some private
assistance, which a servitour of the College is very well qualified
and will be very willing to afford him on very easy terms.
'I must desire your opinion of this scheme by the next post, for the
opportunity will be lost if we do not now seize it, the Scholarships
being necessarily filled up on Tuesday.
'I depend on your proposed allowance of a hundred a year, which must
the first year be a little enlarged because there are some extraordinary
expenses, as
Caution (which is allowed in his last quarter). . 7 0 0
Thirds. (He that enters upon a room pays two
thirds of the furniture that he finds, and
receives from his successor two thirds of what
he pays; so that if he pays L20 he receives
L13 6s. 8d., this perhaps may be) 12 0 0
Fees at entrance, matriculation &c., perhaps 2 0 0
His gown (I think) 2 10 0
________
L 23 10 0
'If you send us a Bill for about thirty pounds we shall set out
commodiously enough. You should fit him out with cloaths and linen,
and let him start fair, and it is the opinion of those whom I consult,
that with your hundred a year and the petty scholarship he may live
with great ease to himself, and credit to you.
'Let me hear as soon as is possible.
'In your affair with the university, I shall not be consulted, but I
hear nothing urged against your proposal.
'I am, Sir,
'Your humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'Oct. 24, 1764.
'My compliments to Mrs. Strahan.
'To Mr. Strahan, Printer, in New Street, Shoe-lane, London.'
My friend, Mr. C. J. Faulkner, Fellow and Tutor of University College,
has given me the following extracts from the College records:--
'Oct. 30-31, 1764. Candidatis examinatis electi sunt Gulielmus Jones
et Georgius Strahan in vacuas Exhibitiones Dmi Simonis Benet Baronetti.'
Gulielmus Jones is the famous oriental scholar, Sir William Jones, whose
portrait adorns the Hall of his ancient College (_ante_, ii. 25, n. 2).
On April 16, 1767, is found the election of 'Georgium Strahan, sophistam
in perpetuum hujus Collegii Socium.'
He vacated his fellowship in 1773.
The value of a Bennet scholarship in 1764 was ten pounds a year, with
rooms added, the rent of which was reckoned as equal to two pounds more.
A fellowship on the same foundation was worth about twenty pounds, with
a yearly dividend added to it that amounted to about thirty pounds.
'Fines' (_ante_, iii. 323) and other extra payments might easily raise
the value to more than sixty pounds.
The 'caution' is the sum deposited by an undergraduate with the College
Bursar or Steward as a security for the payment of his 'battells' or
account. Johnson in 1728 had to pay at Pembroke College the same sum
(seven pounds) that George Strahan in 1764 had to pay at University
College. _Ante_, i. 58, n. 2.
Johnson wrote four letters to George Strahan, when he was a boy at
school, and one letter when he was at College. (See Croker's _Johnson_,
pp. 129, 130, 161, 168.) In this last letter, dated May 25, 1765, he
writes: 'Do not tire yourself so much with Greek one day as to be afraid
of looking on it the next; but give it a certain portion of time,
suppose four hours, and pass the rest of the day in Latin or English.
I would have you learn French, and take in a literary journal once a
month, which will accustom you to various subjects, and inform you what
learning is going forward in the world. Do not omit to mingle some
lighter books with those of more importance; that which is read _remisso
animo_ is often of great use, and takes great hold of the remembrance.
However, take what course you will, if you be diligent you will be a
scholar.'
George Strahan attended Johnson on his death-bed, and published the
volume called _Prayers and Meditations composed by Samuel Johnson_.
_Ante_, i. 235, n. i; iv. 376, n. 4.
William Strahan's 'affair with the University' was very likely connected
with the lease of the University Printing House. From the 'Orders of
the Delegates of the Press,' 1758, I have been permitted to copy the
following entry, which bears a date but six days later than that of
Johnson's letter.
'Tuesday, Oct. 30, 1764. At a meeting of the Delegates of the Press.
'Ordered,
'That the following articles be made the foundation of the new lease
to be granted of the moiety of the Printing House; that a copy of them
be delivered to Mr. Baskett and Mr. Eyre, and that they be desired to
give in their respective proposals at a meeting to be held on Tuesday
the sixth of November.' (P. 41.)
The chief part of the lease consisted of the privilege to print Bibles
and Prayer Books. I conjecture that Strahan had hoped to get a share in
the lease.
VIII.
_A letter about a cancel in Johnson's 'Journey to the Western Islands
of Scotland', dated Nov. 30_, 1774.[In the possession of Messrs. Pearson
and Co., 46, Pall Mall.]
'SIR,
'I waited on you this morning having forgotten your new engagement; for
this you must not reproach me, for if I had looked upon your present
station with malignity I could not have forgotten it. I came to consult
you upon a little matter that gives me some uneasiness. In one of the
pages there is a severe censure of the clergy of an English Cathedral
which I am afraid is just, but I have since recollected that from me
it may be thought improper, for the Dean did me a kindness about forty
years ago. He is now very old, and I am not young. Reproach can do
him no good, and in myself I know not whether it is zeal or wantonness.
Can a leaf be cancelled without too much trouble? tell me what I shall
do. I have no settled choice, but I would not wish to allow the charge.
To cancel it seems the surer side. Determine for me.
'I am, Sir, Your most humble servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'Nov. 30, 1774.
'Tell me your mind: if you will cancel it I will write something to fill
up the vacuum. Please to direct to the borough.'
Mr. Strahan's 'new engagement' was in the House of Commons at Westminster,
to which he had been elected for the first time as member for Malmesbury.
The new Parliament had met on Nov. 29, the day before the date of
Johnson's letter (_Parl. Hist_, xviii. 23).
The leaf that Johnson cancelled contained pages 47, 48 in the first
edition of his _Journey to the Western Islands_. It corresponds with
pages 19-30 in vol. ix. of Johnson's _Works_ (ed. 1825), beginning
with the words 'could not enter,' and ending 'imperfect constitution.'
The excision is marked by a ridge of paper, which was left that the
revised leaf might be attached to it. Johnson describes how the lead
which covered the Cathedrals of Elgin and Aberdeen had been stripped
off by the order of the Scottish Council, and shipped to be sold in
Holland. He continues:--'Let us not however make too much haste to
despise our neighbours. Our own cathedrals are mouldering by unregarded
dilapidation. It seems to be part of the despicable philosophy of the
time to despise monuments of sacred magnificence, and we are in danger
of doing that deliberately, which the Scots did not do but in the
unsettled state of an imperfect constitution.'
In the copy of the first edition in the Bodleian Library, which had
belonged to Gough the antiquary, there is written in his hand, as a
foot-note to 'neighbours': 'There is now, as I have heard, a body
of men not less decent or virtuous than the Scottish Council, longing
to melt the lead of an English Cathedral. What they shall melt, it
were just that they should swallow.' It can scarcely be doubted that
this is the suppressed passage. The English Cathedral to which Johnson
refers was, I believe, Lichfield. 'The roof,' says Harwood (History of
Lichfield, p. 75), 'was formerly covered with lead, but now with slate.'
Addenbroke, who had been Dean since 1745, was, we may assume, very old
at the time when Johnson wrote. I had at first thought it not unlikely
that it was Dr. Thomas Newton, Dean of St. Paul's and Bishop of Bristol,
who was censured. He was a Lichfield man, and was known to Johnson (see
_ante_, iv. 285, n. 3). He was, however, only seventy years old. I am
informed moreover by the Rev. W. Sparrow Simpson, the learned editor
of _Documents illustrating the History of St. Paul's_, that it is
very improbable that at this time the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's
entertained such a thought.
My friend Mr. C. E. Doble has kindly furnished me with the following
curious parallel to Johnson's suppressed wish about the molten lead.
'The chappell of our Lady [at Wells], late repayred by Stillington,
a place of great reverence and antiquitie, was likewise defaced, and
such was their thirst after lead (I would they had drunke it scalding)
that they tooke the dead bodies of bishops out of their leaden coffins,
and cast abroad the carkases skarce throughly putrified.'--Harington's
_Nuga Antiquae_, ii. 147 (ed. 1804).
In the postscript Johnson says 'Please to direct to the borough.' He
was staying in Mr. Thrale's town-house in the Borough of Southwark.
(See _ante_, i, 493.)
IX.
_A letter about apprenticing a lad to Mr. Strahan, and about a
presentation to the Blue Coat School, dated December 22_, 1774. [In
the possession of Messrs. Robson and Kerslake, 25, Coventry Street
Haymarket.]
'Sir,
'When we meet we talk, and I know not whether I always recollect what
I thought I had to say.
'You will please to remember that I once asked you to receive an
apprentice, who is a scholar, and has always lived in a clergyman's
house, but who is mishapen, though I think not so as to hinder him
at the case. It will be expected that I should answer his Friend
who has hitherto maintained him, whether I can help him to a place.
He can give no money, but will be kept in cloaths.
'I have another request which it is perhaps not immediately in your
power to gratify. I have a presentation to beg for the blue coat
hospital. The boy is a non-freeman, and has both his parents living.
We have a presentation for a freeman which we can give in exchange.
If in your extensive acquaintance you can procure such an exchange,
it will be an act of great kindness. Do not let the matter slip out
of your mind, for though I try others I know not any body of so much
power to do it.
'I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'Dec. 22, 1774.'
The apprentice was young William Davenport, the orphan son of a clergyman.
His friend was the Rev. W. Langley, the master of Ashbourne School.
Strahan received him as an apprentice (_ante_, ii. 334, n. i). See also
Nichols' _Literary Anecdotes_, vol. iii. p. 287.
The 'case' is the frame containing boxes for holding type.
X.
_A letter about suppressions in 'Taxation no Tyranny! dated March 1,
1775_.[In the possession of Mr. Frank T. Sabin, 10 & 12, Garrick Street
Covent Garden.]
'SIR,
'I am sorry to see that all the alterations proposed are evidences of
timidity. You may be sure that I do [? not] wish to publish, what those
for whom I write do not like to have published. But print me half a
dozen copies in the original state, and lay them up for me. It concludes
well enough as it is.
'When you print it, if you print it, please to frank one to me here, and
frank another to Mrs. Aston at Stow Hill, Lichfield.
'The changes are not for the better, except where facts were mistaken.
The last paragraph was indeed rather contemptuous, there was once more
of it which I put out myself.
'I am Sir, Your humble Servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'March 1, 1775.'
This letter refers to _Taxation no Tyranny_, which was published before
March 31, 1775, the date of Boswell's arrival in London (_ante_, ii.
311). Boswell says that he had in his possession 'a few proof leaves
of it marked with corrections in Johnson's own hand-writing' (ib. p.
313). Johnson, he says,' owned to me that it had been revised and
curtailed by some of those who were then in power.' When Johnson writes
'when you print it, if you print it,' he uses, doubtless, _print_ in
the sense of _striking off copies_. The pamphlet was, we may assume, in
type before it was revised by 'those in power.' The corrections had been
made in the proof-sheets. Johnson asks to have six copies laid by for
him in the state in which he had wished to publish it. It seems that the
last paragraph had been struck out by the reviser, for Johnson says 'it
was rather contemptuous.' He does not think it needful to supply anything
in its place, for he says 'it concludes well enough as it is.'
Mr. Strahan had the right, as a member of Parliament, to frank all
letters and packets. That is to say, by merely writing his signature on
the cover he could pass them through the post free of charge. Johnson,
when he wrote to Scotland, used to employ him to frank his letters,
'that he might have the consequence of appearing a parliament-man among
his countrymen' (_ante_, iii. 364). It was to Oxford that a copy of the
pamphlet was to be franked to Johnson. That he was there at the time is
shown by a letter from him in Mrs. Piozzi's _Collection_ (vol. i. p.
212), dated 'University College, Oxford, March 3, 1775.' Writing to her,
evidently from Bolt Court, on February 3, he had said: 'My pamphlet has
not gone on at all' (ib. i. 211). Mrs. Aston (or rather Miss Aston) is
mentioned _ante_, ii. 466.
XI
_A letter about 'copy' and a book by Professor Watson, dated Oct. 14,
1776'_.[In the possession of Mr. H. Fawcett, of 14, King Street, Covent
Garden.]
'SIR,
'I wrote to you about ten days ago, and sent you some copy. You have
not written again, that is a sorry trick.
'I am told that you are printing a Book for Mr. Professor Watson of
Saint Andrews, if upon any occasion, I can give any help, or be of any
use, as formerly in Dr. Robertson's publication, I hope you will make
no scruple to call upon me, for I shall be glad of an opportunity to
show that my reception at Saint Andrews has not been forgotten.
'I am Sir, Your humble Servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.'
'Oct. 14, 1776.'
The' copy' or MS. that Johnson sent is, I conjecture, _Proposals for
the Rev. Mr. Shaw's Analysis of the Scotch Celtick Language_ (_ante_,
iii. 107). This is the only acknowledged piece of writing of his during
1776. The book printing for Professor Watson was _History of the Reign
of Philip II_, which was published by Strahan and Cadell in 1777. This
letter is of unusual interest, as showing that Johnson had been of some
service as regards one of Robertson's books. It is possible that he
read some of the proof-sheets, and helped to get rid of the Scotticisms.
'Strahan,' according to Beattie, 'had corrected (as he told me himself)
the phraseology of both Mr. Hume and Dr. Robertson' (_ante_, v. 92,
n. 3). He is not unlikely, in Robertson's case, to have sought and
obtained Johnson's help.
XII.
_The following letter is published in Mr. Alfred Morrison's 'Collection
of Autographs', vol. ii. p. 343._
'To Dr. TAYLOR. Dated London, April 20, 1778.'
'The quantity of blood taken from you appears to me not sufficient.
