HENRY FIELDING.

just and discriminating, but also concise and perspicuous, we will use his own language:

"This man was in his early life a writer of comedies and farces, very few of which are now remembered; after that, a practicing barrister, with scarce any business; then an anti-ministerial writer, and quickly after a creature of the Duke of Newcastle, who gave him a nominal qualification of a hundred pounds a year,

and set him up as a trading-justice, in which

disreputable station he died. He was the author of a romance entitled 'The History of Joseph Andrews,' and of another, 'The Foundling, or the History of Tom Jones,' a book seemingly intended to sap the foundation of that morality which it is the duty of parents and all public instructors to inculcate in the minds of young people, by teaching that virtue upon principle is imposture, that generous qualities alone constitute true worth, and that a young man may love and be loved, and at the

same time associate with the loosest of women.

His morality, in that it resolves virtue into good affections, in contradistinction to moral obligation and sense of duty, is that of Lord Shaftesbury vulgarized, and is a system of excellent use in palliating the vices most injurious to society. He was the inventor of that cant phrase, goodness of heart,' which is every day used as a substitute for probity, and means little more than the virtue of a horse or a dog; in short, he has done more toward corrupting the rising generation than any

writer we know of."

Here also a place must be assigned to Dr. Tobias Smollet, who was likewise a writer of romances and a dealer with the booksellers, though now chiefly known as the author of a History of England, a part of which, for the want of a better, is used as a supplement to Hume's. He was among the compilers of the "Universal History;" he also wrote translations of Gil Blas, Telemachus, and Don Quixote. His principal works of fiction were the "Adventures of Roderic Random" and those of "Peregrine Pickle,"-works that

could be relished only by a vitiated taste and a corrupted heart, and which will invariably leave their readers worse than they found them. He was for some time proprietor and conductor of the "Critical Review;" and he generally so managed his finances, that he lived respectably on the proceeds of his literary labors-having given up his medical profession at an early peroid of his life-though he was about equally destitute of genius and moral character.

One more name must be here introduced from the class now under consideration, that of Lawrence Sterne, a wild and eccentric genius, and a clergyman and dignitary of the cathedral of York. He is

remembered as the author of "Tristam Shandy," and of a number of sentimental works, all strongly marked with his own strange characteristics. His writings were considerably in demand, when first published, and they are still sought for and read beyond most of their kindred of the deformed by the same positive faults with same age; and though they are generally those already noticed, they are much more sprightly; they also imbody a deeper and juster philosophy, and are interspersed with many excellent sentiments. Of the manners and character of the man, some notion may be formed from an anecdote of him, related by Johnson: "I was," says he, "but once in the company of Sterne, and then his only attempt at merriment was the display of a drawing too grossly indecent to have delighted even in a brothel." The character of the man is probably not unjustly illustrated by this brief anecdote.

We cannot better conclude these notices of some of the principal original writers of that age, than by adding to the foregoing Sir John's estimate of the class:

"Of the writers of this class or sect," (says he,) "it may be observed, that being in general men of loose principles, bad economists, living without foresight, it is their endeavor to commute for their failings by professions of greater love to mankind, more tender affections and finer feelings, than they will allow men of more regular lives, whom they deem formalists, to possess. Their generous notions supersede all obligations, they are a law to themselves, and having good hearts, abounding in the milk of human kindness, are above those considerations that bind men to that rule of conduct which is founded in a sense of duty. Of this school of the principal teachers, and great is the mischief morality, Fielding, Rousseau, and Sterne, are they have done by their documents."

Those above named were properly original authors; their works were their own productions in matter as well as form. There was, however, another class of writers scarcely less notable than they, who lived by their pens, and were distinguished from the nameless race of scribblers, chiefly by their better success in the trade of authorship. Among these were some individuals of real respectability, who, though destitute of any large claims to genius, were nevertheless both diligent and useful writers. Nor did they belong to a merely temporary class. In all ages, since the invention of printing, the compilers and second-hand producers have been the principal contributors to the prolific harvests of the press.

Prominent among these, at the period now under notice, was Dr. Thomas Birch, a divine of the Established Church. He was brought up a Quaker, but subsequently passed over to the Church, and entered into holy orders; and though he obtained several unimportant preferments, yet he depended chiefly upon authorship for a subsistence. While yet a young man, he assisted in the compilation of the "General Biographical Dictionary," and afterward was editor of the works of a great number of distinguished persons. Among these were "Thurloe's State Papers," and the works of Lord Bacon, Mr. Boyle, Archbishop Tillotson, the prose writings of Milton, and the miscellaneous works of Sir Walter Raleigh. He also wrote biographies of most of those whose works he thus revised for publication. He had a large acquaintance with the learned men and favorers of learning of his own times, and by their favor was chosen first fellow, and afterward secretary of the Royal Society. He was of an active and cheerful spirit; ever inclined to be pleased, and well adapted to make the most of life. He sought knowledge with great avidity, and possessed a wonderfully retentive memory but he lacked the power to assimilate what he received, and to reduce the mass of his accumulated stores to a homogeneous whole; he was, in short, an instance of that rather numerous class of learned men, whose learning greatly exceeds their education. His knowledge of facts, however, availed him much in his intercourse with the learned, while his perpetual cheerfulness and affability made his company desirable, and the purity of his character,

and the harmlessness of his life, insured him the respect of all. Johnson, who valued conversational power very highly, held him in much esteem, but used to say of him, that a pen had the power of a torpedo upon him, benumbing all his faculties.

Dr. John Campbell was a voluminous and not a despicable writer of that age. He, too, was an author by profession, and was occupied for a time upon the "Universal History;" he also had a hand in the "Biographia Britannica;" he likewise wrote the Lives of the British Admirals; and, above all, he was the author of a valuable descriptive and statistical work, entitled, "A Political Survey of Great Britain." By industry and economy, he was enabled to maintain himself and a large family independently and respectably. At a later period he was made royal commissioner for the colony of Georgia, in America, by which means he

was

raised to comparative affluence. Toward the end of his life he resided in London, in a kind of dignified retirement, where his house became the resort of many of the most learned and virtuous persons in the metropolis; who were honored and profited with his friendship and society. It is not known that any personal relations subsisted between him and Johnson; they were too unlike ever to have become intimates.

A very different character from the foregoing was his cotemporary and fellowauthor, Dr. John Hill, originally an apothecary, but having a strong inclination to authorship. He first attempted to write for the stage; but failing of success in that, he next turned his attention to natural history, at which he was more successful. To conceal his want of an academical education, he obtained a degree in medicine from some outlandish university. His whole business, however, was to compile books; and such was his dogged industry, that though his services never commanded a great price, yet he is said to have received not less than fifteen hundred pounds for the labor of a single year. He is described as vain, conceited, and both satirical and licentious in his writings, while truth was almost wholly disregarded by him. Nor could constant defeat in his conflicts, and an occasional personal chastisement, avail to bring him to a better course of conduct. He accumulated a large estate, of which he made a most ostenta

tious display about the town, and in the resorts of fashion. Yet with all this folly and viciousness, he had some redeeming traits. He uniformly treated religion with a decent reverence, and among his last productions was a vindication of God and nature against the empty philosophy of Bolingbroke.

These individual cases are given as the chief men of letters of the time, rather than as a complete list of even respectable writers then living. The whole may serve to indicate the state of literature, and the condition of the profession of authorship when Johnson took his place at its head. But to understand his situation more fully, his social and personal relations should be considered. It is believed that at this time the range of his acquaintances was somewhat extensive, embracing many persons of real respectability, and some of the higher classes. His townsman and early associate, David Garrick, was still his friend, though prosperity had elevated the successful player to a social position quite above that formerly occupied by himself and the associates of his youth; and though Johnson was accustomed to tax his forbearance to the utmost, yet would Garrick submit to it, the more patiently, probaably, because it was always evident that his old instructor still regarded him with respect and genuine kindness. Hawkins, Hawkesworth, Bathurst, and Taylor, were, each of them, among his personal associates and friends. In the same list should be named Dr. Thomas Adams, the worthy master of Pembroke College, Oxford, the early and steady friend of the illustrious pupil of Pembroke. Of the booksellers, he was on terms of personal friendship, among others, with Cave, Dodsley, Millar, Newbury, and Davies, and with Mr. Strahan, the printer; and from among the titled classes, with the Earl of Orrery and Lord Southwell. Among his female acquaintances, in matters of literature, the first place belonged to Miss Elizabeth Carter -a name well known in the literary history of those times, who enjoyed the unequaled honor of contributing two numbers to "The Rambler"-Mrs. Lenox, Mrs. Masters, and Mrs. Macauley, were of the same class. These persons constituted a kind of literary and social circle, of which Johnson was, if not already the central sun, at least a star of the first magnitude. By them the excellences of his character

were known and appreciated; and though they well understood his eccentricities, yet the greatness of his intellect, and the goodness of his heart, and especially the stern integrity of his character, were esteemed quite sufficient to atone for the want of those external graces of manners that are too often set forth as a substitute for all of these.

While this subject is up, it may be proper to notice certain of Johnson's associates, who seem to have come to the notice of the public, and to their connection with him, at nearly the same time. Some of them are only known as his friends and companions, while others added to this title to notoriety an independent reputation of their own; foremost among these was Reynolds, the painter, the afterward renowned Sir Joshua. He was the son of a clergyman, who kept a grammar school at Plympton, in Devonshire. After pursuing the necessary preparatory studies under his father, he went to Oxford, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts. From a very early age he had shown a passion for painting, and as this rather increased than declined, as he grew up to manhood, his father sent him to London, and placed him under the care of the celebrated Hudson. He afterward went abroad, and spent two years on the Continent, chiefly in Italy, applying himself to his favorite study, and copying some of the best specimens of the Italian school of art. In 1752 he returned to London. By what means he and Johnson came to an acquaintance is not clearly ascertained. Some remarks of Boswell's would seem to indicate that they had known each other soon after Reynolds's first coming to London; but he afterward shows this impossible to have been, by stating that when Reynolds first saw the Life of Savage, after his return from Italy, "he knew nothing of its author." But so favorably was he impressed with that work, that, upon his return to the metropolis, he lost no opportunity to become acquainted with the writer. The estimate of Johnson's genius, formed by Reynolds upon reading his writings, was more than sustained by his conversation; and from the first the young artist diligently cultivated the friendship of his newly-made acquaintance. This favorable impression was fully reciprocated by Johnson, who, from the very first interview, conceived a

high opinion of his young friend; and the connection, thus early and suddenly formed, was lasting as the lives of the parties to it, and increased with their increasing years.

Sir Joshua in after life would relate a characteristic anecdote of Johnson relative to the period of their first acquaintance. One evening the two friends were at the house of certain female acquaintances, when they found their fair hostesses almost wholly occupied by a couple of ladies of quality. Johnson endured the discourtesy for some time; and then determined to avenge himself by afflicting the vanity of their friends. therefore called out to Reynolds in a loud tone," How much do you think you and I could get in a week, if we were to work as hard as we could?" This was intended to give the ladies the notion that the two friends were common laborers, and that their hostesses were on terms of intimacy with persons of low habits and associations.

He

Reynolds was then a young man, but little known in London, and just commencing that brilliant career which advanced him at length not only to the head of his own profession, but also to an enviable position in the very best society in the kingdom. The habitual elevation of his mind, the purity of his life, and his social qualities, all served to secure and maintain the warmest friendship between himself and Johnson. Few of Johnson's companions were at once so loved and reverenced as was Sir Joshua Reynolds. His name will occur frequently in the sequel to this biography.

Bennet Langton, of Langton Hall, in Leicestershire, was another of Johnson's

cherished friends and companions. While yet a youth, he had read the "Rambler" at his rural abode, and had conceived a very high opinion of its author; and soon afterward, upon coming up to London, he was very solicitous to obtain an introduction to him. That was not difficult to be obtained; and accordingly, the romantic young rustic and the great moralist were soon brought into each other's company. Langton had conceived an idea of the personal appearance of the object of his admiration, corresponding to those qualities of mind which he had so much admired in

ton, who had always associated a proper regard for personal appearance with all his ideas of individual worth and real greatness, was not a little disappointed at the sight of the incarnation of the "Rambler." But the shock was but momentary; for Johnson almost immediately launched into a rich and animated conversation, replete with philosophical and religious wisdom, and in perfect agreement with the principles in which Langton had been educated; so that he left with increased admiration of the wonderful man. Johnson, too, was greatly pleased with his youthful visitor, whose appreciation of the "Rambler," and especially of its author, seemed a sufficient evidence of the correctness of his taste and the solidity of his judgment; and to this was added the charm of ancestral renown, to which Johnson always paid great deference. "Langton, sir," he would remark, with great earnestness, "has a grant of a free-warren from Henry the Second; and Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, was of this family."

The subsequent history of this young man is so closely interwoven with that of Johnson that there is now no occasion to pursue it further. A sketch of his personal appearance, at a later period of his life, as given by the good-natured Miss Hawkins, may not inappropriately accompany the annexed portrait :

"O that we could sketch him with his mild countenance, his elegant features, and his sweet smile, sitting with one leg twisted round the other, as if fearing to occupy more space than was equitable; his person inclining forward, as if wanting strength to support his height; and his arms crossed over his bosom, or his hands locked together on his knee; his oblong, golden-mounted snuffbox, taken from the waistcoat pocket opposite his hand, and either remaining between his fingers or set by him on the table, but never used but when his mind was occupied on conversation, as soon as conversation began, the box was produced."

Langton soon after returned to Oxford, where he still held a residence as a student of Trinity College, and where he had formed an acquaintance with a young man, the son of Lord Sydney Beauclerk, and grandson of the Duke of St. Albans-an acquaintance which was as lasting as their lives.

Beauclerk was a wit in the best sense of that term. He possessed great acuteness of understanding; in his manners he was an almost perfect model of the gentleman; and in his dress-without verging into foppishness-he was scrupulously exact, and

always graceful. His love of fun and frolic knew no bounds, except those imposed by his delicate sense of social propriety, which indeed he would never violate.

Johnson, soon after his interview with young Langton, visited Oxford, and spent some time at that venerable seat of learning. He was at first greatly surprised and grieved to find his young friend on terms of intimacy with one of the wildest young men of his college-a person who had the reputation of being loose in both his principles and his manners. Langton soon brought his two friends together; and it was not long before the representative of

the ancient family of St. Albans, and the reputed living image of Charles the Second

the gay and dissipated Beauclerk-was the boon-companion of the great censor of the morals of the age. The news of this strange coalition was presently told in London, when Garrick expressed a fear that he should have to bail his old friend out of the round-house. Beauclerk was too much of a gentleman, and valued wit and learning too highly, to offend Johnson with sallies of infidelity or licentiousness; and Johnson loved wit and pleasantry as well as he. Johnson's intimacy with his two young friends dates from his first acquaintance with them, and innumerable were the scenes of hilarity into which they led him. It was observed that Beauclerk could take greater liberties with him than any other individual; and, in return, Johnson delighted in castigating the young wit, when either his folly or vices laid him open to the censures of his grave associate. Beauclerk's satires occasionally cut a little too deep for Johnson's liking, and unwill