marks Sir John Hawkins, "we cannot but wonder at the powers that produced them. The author had never passed those gradations that lead to a knowledge of men and business. Born to a narrow fortune, of no profession, conversant chiefly with books, unacquainted with the style of any other than academical disputations, and so great a stranger to senatorial manners that he never [seldom] was within the walls of either House of Parliament, —that a man under these disadvantages, should be able to frame a system of debate, compose speeches of such excellence, both in matter and form, as scarcely to be equaled by those of the most able and experienced statesmen, is matter of astonishment, and a proof of talents that qualified him for a speaker in the most august assembly on earth."

Cave had no very exalted opinion of the debates, but considered them of the nature of dead matter, useful chiefly to fill up the monthly pages of his pamphlet, which he supposed was sought for principally for the sake of those parts that he himself directed, abridgments from the weekly papers, especially their attacks on the ministry, and a medley of pastorals, elegies, songs, and epigrams, gathered from all sources, selected without taste, and arranged without order. But he was not insensible of their effect upon his finances, however blind to their merits, when the circulation of the Magazine suddenly increased from ten to fifteen thousand a month above its former sales, and enabled him to buy "an old coach and an old pair of horses," and to emblazon his livery with a picture of St. John's Gate, instead of a family coatof-arms. Johnson was rewarded not only by the pecuniary recompense that his labors brought him, but more especially by the applause bestowed on his labors by those whose opinions he prized most highly; though few, if indeed any but himself, was then aware of the extent of his claim to whatever was valuable in the reported debates. The pleasure, however, that success afforded him was not unalloyed; his conscience was not at ease as to the propriety of the deceit he was practicing upon the nation, which became more and more a matter of importance to him as the debates attracted an increased measure of public interest, and were generally thought to be substantially the veritable speeches of those to whom they were ascribed.

When at length he ascertained that such was the generally received opinion, he determined to write no more of them, declaring that "he would not be accessory to the propagation of falsehood." His objection was not to fictions as such, for many of his subsequent productions, which he most highly valued, were of that species of writing; but it was to him a matter of deep regret as long as he lived, that he had been the author of fictions that were palmed upon the public as realities.

"In the mean time," continues Sir John Hawkins, "it was curious to observe how the deceit operated. Johnson had the art to give different colors to the several speeches, so that some appear to be declamatory and energetic, resembling the orations of Demosthenes; others, like those of Cicero, calm and persuasive; others, more particularly those attributed to such country gentlemen, merchants and seamen, as had seats in parliament, bear the characteristic of plainness, bluntness, and unaffected honesty, as opposed to the plausibility of such as were understood or suspected to be courtiers. The artifice had its effect. Voltaire was betrayed by it into a declaration, that the eloquence of ancient Greece and Rome was revived in the British Senate,' and a speech of the late Earl of Chatham, (then Mr. Pitt,) in opposition to one of Mr. Horace Walpole, [beginning, 'The atrocious crime of being a young man,' etc.,] received the highest applause, and was, by all that read it, taken to be genuine."

The period of the production of the Debates, marks an era in Johnson's history. He had remained in London, and in the employment of Mr. Cave, because he found no way of escape; and his necessities compelled him to be diligent in opposition to the natural indolence of his disposition. Industry removed his most painful embarrassments, and thus enabled his spirit to rise out of the despondency into which he had been sinking, and to give new life to the mighty, but hitherto undeveloped genius that lay within him. The Debates opened to his mind a field of thought and discussion well adapted to its character, while the covert of fiction allowed him a freedom of thought, as well as required a versatility of style and manner, well calculated to discipline him to that elevated but varied composition for which he was afterward so justly cele

brated. The exercise was also a valuable lesson to himself. Though not greatly disposed to doubt his own ability, he nevertheless needed a fuller confirmation of the correctness of his own estimate of himself by the great public-that awful arbiter, whose decisions the most hardy and self-confident respect-than he had yet received. This he now obtained-not as a compliment to himself, but in the spontaneous and indirect commendation of his productions, when their authorship was unknown. Another result was probably not less valuable. He was constitutionally dogmatical, and disinclined to believe that opinions which differed from his own were either logically or morally defensible; but here he was compelled to argue both sides of the same question, and to state, with at least an appearance of fairness, the arguments both for and against his own cherished views and opinions. It would indeed have been strange if such an exercise had not suggested to him the thought that something may be urged on both sides of nearly every question; and though he always was strong in his own notions, no doubt that tendency of his mind was mitigated by this exercise.

The secret of the authorship of the Debates did not transpire till several years afterward; and as the story of the disclosure forms a somewhat interesting incident in this curious piece of literary history, it is inserted here, though anticipating the order of time, as stated by Mr. Murphy, who was himself one of the company to whom it was made :-" Mr. Wedderburne, (now Lord Loughborough,) [afterward Earl of Roslyn,] Dr. Johnson, Dr. Francis, (the translator of Horace,) myself, and others, dined with the late Mr. Foote. An important debate toward the end of Sir Robert Walpole's administration being mentioned, Dr. Francis observed, that Mr. Pitt's speech on that occasion was the best he had ever read.' He added, that he had employed eight years of his life in the study of Demosthenes, and finished a translation of that celebrated orator, with all the decorations of style and language within the reach of his capacity; but he had met with nothing equal to that speech.' Many of the company remembered the debate; and some passages were cited with the approbation and applause of all present. During the ardor of conversation Johnson remained

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silent. As soon as the warmth of praise subsided, he opened with these words:That speech I wrote in a garret in Exeter-street.' The company was struck with astonishment. After staring at each other in silent amaze, Dr. Francis asked, How that speech could be written by him?" Sir,' said Johnson, 'I wrote it in Exeter-street. I never had been in the gallery of the House of Commons but once. Cave had an interest with the door-keepers. He, and the persons employed under him, gained admittance; they brought away the subject of discussion, the names of the speakers, the side they took, and the order in which they rose, together with notes of the arguments advanced in the course of the debates. The whole was afterward communicated to me, and I composed the speeches in the form which they now have in the Parliamentary Debates.' To this discovery Dr. Francis made answer :- Then, Sir, you have exceeded Demosthenes himself; for, to say you have exceeded Francis's Demosthenes would be saying nothing!' The rest of the company bestowed lavished encomiums on Johnson; one, in particular, praised his impartiality; observing that he dealt out reason and eloquence with an equal hand to both parties. That is not quite true,' said Johnson; 'I saved appearances tolerably well, but I took care that the Whig dogs should not have the best of it.""

This remarkable scene and its revelations, though highly flattering to Johnson, aroused him anew to the dangerous tendency of the debates to falsify history; as it was thus made evident to him that even in learned circles they were received as genuine. He therefore from this time availed himself of every favorable opportunity to undeceive the public in that matter; and when Smollet was preparing his History of England, Johnson cautioned him against relying at all on the debates found in the Gentleman's Magazine, as they were, except as to their general import, the creatures of his own imagination.

Besides the labor of preparing the Debates, and some minor, though not inconsiderable contributions to the Magazine, Johnson also, during the years 1741-42, assisted his school-fellow, Dr. James, in the preparation of his "Medical Dictionary," for which he wrote several of the articles,

and also the proposals for the publication and the dedication to Dr. Mead. He had a special favor for the science of medicine, and probably was as much influenced in this matter by his tastes, as by any other consideration.

Of Johnson's private and domestic affairs, during the former part of his residence in London, very little is known. That he was poor, even to distress, is sufficiently ascertained; but with a commendable delicacy he has effectually concealed from the inquisitive gaze of idle curiosity, the sacred though painful scenes of his household. At his first coming to the metropolis with Mrs. Johnson, they took lodgings in Woodstock-street, near Hanover-square, and soon after we find him in Castle-street, near Cavendish-square. At different times in the course of the next ten years he is found at Boswell Court, on the Strand, in Bow-street, Holborn, and Fetter-lane; and if he wrote the celebrated speech of Mr. Pitt in Exeter-street, it seems that in 1741, the date of that production, he either lodged or occupied an office there. An expression used in subscribing a letter to Cave in 1738, 66 yours impransus," has been taken as an evidence of extreme want, and though, from other sources of proof, we are compelled to believe that he was greatly embarrassed in his affairs, yet we cannot agree with Mr. Boswell in understanding this as "a fair confession that he had not a dinner." Many other reasons than sheer necessity may be supposed, any one of which may have kept him fasting, and with one whose life was so devoid of system as was Johnson's, it would not be strange, even if crowned with plenty, to find him without having breakfasted long after the hour appropriated to that meal. But in the depression of his own affairs he was not unmindful of his aged mother, who still survived at the old homestead in Lichfield, in which she had a life-interest and he the reversionary title. He regarded with peculiar attachment this scene of his early days.

As the property was under a mortgage, the interest of which was not always

HOMESTEAD OF DR. JOHNSON.

punctually paid by the occupant, Johnson himself became responsible in his own name for its payment, that his mother might not be disquieted by the presentation of claims that she was unable to meet.

Here we must, for the present, take leave of our subject, toiling incessantly for daily subsistence, and enduring many most humiliating hardships, yet pressing steadily forward in his manly course, and occasionally catching some glimpses of better days to come. But as yet these were distant, and their prospect indistinct.

ENGLISH CONVERSATION.-The superficiality and insipidity of nearly all the conversations to which I have listened, or in which I have joined, is really depressing. As far as I hear, little is said about politics, which is a good thing, much better than our German mania for going beyond our depth on such subjects; but, that narrative and commonplaces form the whole staple of conversation, from which all philosophy is excluded,-that enthusiasm and loftiness of expression are entirely wanting, depresses me more than any personal neglect of which, as a stranger, 1 might have to complain; for of this my share is not large, and I bear it easily.— Niebuhr's Life and Letters.

but he had finished his twenty-first year before he ventured to relinquish his laborious life as a farmer and set himself systematically to a course of study. Having at length mastered the required studies, he was admitted a member of Yale College, in advanced standing, where he soon gained distinction by his diligence and accuracy of scholarship, and was graduated with honor in 1805. He had accustomed himself in some degree, before he went to college, to the practice of English composition; and had already acquired a facility and a fondness for writing which has continued to form a prominent trait in his character. The turn of his mind for giving a practical direction to his thoughts, leading to present results, was exemplified in a series of essays which he wrote while in college, and published in a newspaper in New-Haven, on the system of common schools in Connecticut, showing the defects which generally prevailed, and pointing out the means of improvement. The pieces attracted much attention for the clearness and point with which they were written, and the sound judgment which pervaded them.

There were no theological seminaries in those days, but the custom was for young men after their graduation to spend a moderate period of time under the tuition of some well-known minister, by whose recommendation they were afterward put on trial as preachers and candidates for the pastoral office. Young Humphrey placed himself for this purpose under the direction of the Rev. Asahel Hooker, of Goshen, Connecticut, one of the most acceptable theological tutors of the time. In about a year he commenced preaching, and was ordained pastor of the First Congregational Church in Fairfield, Connecticut.

laborer in this work in his neighbor and friend, the Rev. Roswell R. Swan, of Norwalk, a model pastor and minister of that day, whose early removal by death is still a subject of mourning among the people of his charge. The late Rev. William Bonney, of New-Canaan, was also a faithful supporter of the cause; and a systematic movement was set on foot in the western district of Fairfield County, in the year 1813, which ought, perhaps, to be set down as one of the first decisive steps in the grand temperance reformation which has since so greatly blessed our land. An address was issued, written chiefly by Mr. Humphrey, in which the prevalence of intemperate habits was traced to the almost universal practice of social drinking. "The ravages of intemperance are only streams-habitual drinking is the fountain; and while the fountain remains the hope of stopping the streams is vain." The position was taken that "ardent spirits are useless: yet more, that they are noxious to the healthy in almost every possible case," and that "drinking spirit is a gradual descent, where every inch increases the declivity and quickens the progress." And the remedy was distinctly proposed—“ a total abstinence from the use of all intoxicating liquors," and "a voluntary agreement, in neighborhoods and friendly circles, not to use ardent spirits in their families or provide them for their laborers." who bore an active part in the organization of the great national temperance movement in 1826, do not need to be reminded of the help they found as the fruits of those labors in Fairfield County in 1813.

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