"Not less with glory mighty Dullness crown'd, And her Parnassus, glancing o'er at once, consciousness that he deserved a better fate, and by the assurance that a brighter day was yet in his future. It is in mercy rather than from necessity that the names of the genuine GrubBut Grub-street formed a link in the street literati are given up to oblivion. chain of English literature, and as such To the delvers among old volumes, the answered a valuable purpose. It covered Belzonis and Layards of literature, their a transition period, and though unlovely names are still sufficiently familiar; and in itself, it was a stage in the movement to such, certain obscure allusions and toward a better state of things. Though meaningless names found in the works of somewhat changed in character, the Grub- standard writers are all plain and intellistreet race still existed, when, by the gible. When Goldsmith satirized "Ned death of Pope and his own advancement Purdon" in an epitaph, he was throwing a in dignified authorship, Johnson was ad- gilded arrow at a veritable "bookseller's mitted to the first place among literary hack," whose history would justify the men in England. As in the lowest con- presumed dread of terrestrial existence. ditions of society there are often found The Kendricks, Kelleys, and Woodfalls, the elements of a higher life, which in whose names occur so strangely comdue time are seen manifesting themselves mingled with those of the most renowned by elevating the entire social body, so the ones of their times, were not less real Grub-street fraternity not only from time than these, though the present generation to time gave some of its own members to knows nothing of them. Johnson's own the higher walks of literature, but also history brings us into contact with the rose in a body from the low estate in Sheils, the Guthries, the Ralphs, (a quonwhich its career began. The period now dam friend of Dr. Franklin,) and the immediately under notice was an age of Whiteheads; to say nothing of those whom, magazines-less corpulent, indeed, and like Savage, he rescued from oblivion, or perhaps less elaborate than their success- such as Goldsmith, who, following his ɔrs of the present time-of reviews, such great predecessor, forced his way upward as they were, and of all forms of fugitive to a more elevated grade of authorship. literature. "If literature had anything to All these, with their nameless compeers, hope from such exertions," says an elegant were the miners in literature of the times modern writer, relative to this period, "its of Grub-street's glory; each brought his halcyon days had come. If strength, sub-contributions to his patron, the publisher, sistence, and respect, lay in employment and as the pay was generally proportioned of the multitudinous force of Grub-street; to the amount, each strove to make the if demand and supply were law sufficient amount as large as possible. for its highest interest, literature was prosperous at last, and might laugh at all of Pope's prophecies. Every week had its spawn of periodical publications; feeble, but of desperate fecundity." To supply the requisite matter for these multitudinous weeklies and monthlies was the business and livelihood of a corps of professional writers, of names indeed but little known to fame, but of prolific pens, because they wrote to live. Among these 'Johnson had long lived and written. From the lowest step of the causeway that leads from the deepest depression of the condition of authorship for bread, he had fought his way upward to his present proud eminence. But though he was among the Grub-street herd, he was never properly of them; and while there, as poor as the poorest, he was still sustained by a When literature fled to the garrets of London, the booksellers and publishers— which callings were then blended-became the chief patrons of the starving followers of the Muses. It would seem that at this time there was an unusual number of distinguished members of the trade in the metropolis, and, in spite of the mutterings of their ill-fed and ill-clad dependents, the evidence leaks out by the way that they were, for the most part, men of good abilities, and of much generosity of spirit. A client who is incapable of caring for himself, and of directing his affairs with even tolerable discretion, will pretty certainly be dissatisfied with the patron who may kindly restrain his follies, and deny him the facilities for injuring himself. To this cause, no doubt, may be referred a large share of the invectives thorship become mandatory, and the writer's fabrics must be fashioned to the wishes of purchasers. The temptation to venal it is less than in the case of the pampered dependents of greatness. It is creditable to the profession of letters, that, as to the better class of writers, though in the depths of poverty and social depression, it has generally been the case, while their wares were in the market, their principles and personal independence were not for sale. When Walpole, to uphold his administration, was annually scattering a mercenary writers, on the whole list of his hireling band was not a single man now favorably known in English literature. To write for a subsistence is not less honest or honorable than to follow any other pursuit for the same purpose, and he who by his pen can produce merchantable fabrics is surely free to use his powers to his own advantage. But as no one is at liberty to prostitute his abilities to vile purposes, the powers of genius especially should be sacred to truth and right. So thought Johnson; for while he confessed that the price was with him the great incitement to literary labors, no man might dictate to him the matter and sentiments of his compositions. As a further result of the new state of things in litera. against the booksellers with which the literature of the first half of the last century abounds. Nor were the favors of the gentlemen of the trade always unap-ity in such circumstances is obvious; but preciated, nor yet always unrewarded by the denizens of the garret. But for the pen of Johnson, the memory of Cave would have perished with his own generation; and even Dodsley, the generous, great-souled Dodsley, is known to the present age, and his memory is cherished among us because he was the friend and companion of the author of the English Dictionary. What though Osborne was left sprawling on his shop-floor, as the re-hundred and fifty thousand pounds among ward of his impertinence, and though Griffith is forever gibbeted in infamy on account of his meanness toward Goldsmith, and Wilkie is pitied or laughed at because he failed to detect the latent worth of the man who could "write like an angel," yet even Goldsmith learned that it was "better for men of letters to live by the labors of their hands till more original labor should become popular with trading patrons, than to wait with their hands across till great men should come to feed them;" and when the lord lieutenant of Ireland suggested the hope of advance- | ment in his native island, he only commended his brother, a poor clergyman of "forty pounds a year," to the favor of the viceroy, as he was himself sufficiently provided for by his best friends, the book-ture, authorship at length became an indesellers. It is through his connection with "poor Goldsmith," that we have come to think kindly of the bustling consequence of Newberry, and for the same cause the name of Mundell is immortalized in the "Vicar of Wakefield," more honorably as well as more effectually than had it been emblazoned on brass or marble in Westminster Abbey. In the person of Davies the two characters were blended; but the author was not more favored by the bookseller than contrariwise; and when the bankrupt man of trade saw only starving want before him, the friendship of Johnson and the favors of Drury Lane theater restored him to authorship and to independ ence. Among the further changes effected by the changed state of things, was the establishment of a commercial value for literary productions. They who write to live must live by writing; and as the demands of hunger are both constant and imperious, so the calls to the toils of au pendent and self-relying profession. The Grub-street mine from time to time afforded specimens of more precious metal than its ordinary leaden geniuses; and these with others who became authors from choice, and were sustained by their chosen profession, constituted in Johnson's time a considerably large and respectable body of men of letters. Among these Johnson now took his place, not by favor, but of right, and stood forth the acknowledged leader of the professional writers of the kingdom. Nor was this preeminence conceded to him for the want of distinguished rivals. Leaving his own writings out of the account, his age was far from being a barren one in literature; and its literary history brings us into contact with many a name of more than an ephemeral interest. A hasty reference to some of these may be at once pertinent to the subject and acceptable to the reader. Foremost among these must be placed the name of SAMUEL RICHARDSON, who was a distinguished writer of his times, and the originator of a new class of literary productions. He never belonged to the Grub-street fraternity, for he found his way into the profession of authorship without passing through the severe apprenticeship that was endured by many others. He was a printer by trade, and had the rare good sense not to forsake the humble, but honorable calling by which he gained a livelihood to follow the Muses, till he was assured that bread as well as fame could be obtained from his new calling. The estimate of Richardson's character, both as a man and an author, and of the character and tendency of his writings, as given by a cotemporary writer, Sir John Hawkins, is probably as near to the truth as any that has been since made; indeed, it is singularly coincident with the verdict of the past half-century. He was uneducated, and but little acquainted with books; but he possessed a lively imagination, and a good share of reflection. His mind, however, was undisciplined, and for want of accurate knowledge he was perpetually liable to confuse truth with error, so that his images are often the wildest caricatures, and his philosophy as erroneous as its bases were false. He seemed to write because he was full of matter, and only to transfer to paper the arrant thoughts that were rioting in his brain. This warmth and earnestness of the writer, by being transferred to the reader, caused his writings to be read with great avidity, especially by such as read only for present amusement. His principal works were "Pamela," "Clarissa," and "Sir | Charles Grandison," the original progenitors of the numerous, if not illustrious, race of books commonly known as novels and romances. The estimate of Richardson's works in his own times was exceedingly various. By some-among whom, strange to say, was Johnson—they were greatly extolled, as rivaling Shakspeare in their delineations of character, and in their power over the passions. Others compared them unfavorably with those of Cervantes and Le Sage, as failing to give just views of life and manners, and as affecting not the healthy, but the morbid sensibilities of the heart, and so inducing a sickly sentimentality based on a vicious esthetical philosophy, instead of developing and strengthening the healthful and normal elements Vol. II, No. 5.—HH of the character. The correctness of this latter view is now sufficiently obvious, even when viewed from a philosophical stand-point; but, considered in the light of Christian morality, the pernicious tendency of such writings is much more clearly manifest. Vice is so portrayed that its turpitude is only partially discovered, while its allurements are set forth in their most seductive forms. Though gross criminality is not directly encouraged, and virtue is "damned with faint praise," yet are the passions and appetites that impel to criminal indulgences inflamed to the utmost of the writer's powers, and the securities of virtue effectually removed. It is, indeed, a thing quite possible that the readers of the class of works of which Richardson was the originator may be neither vicious in life, nor greatly corrupt in heart; but, if so, it will be in spite of their influence, rather than by their aid. The style of Richardson's writings answered very justly to their matter; it was flimsy in its texture, and wanting in manly dignity, but reckless of the conventionalities of language, and attractive by reason of its freedom and earnest easiness. How such works ever obtained Johnson's approval is indeed unaccountable. True, Richardson and he were personal friends, and this fact seems to have blinded the eyes of the great moralist to the nature and tendency of his friend's books, so directly opposed to his own teachings and precepts. There were also other influences about him, of which, perhaps, the favor of the publishers and other interested parties was not the least considerable, inclining him to unite in the general laudation of the popular romances; but even then his commendations were not uniformly entire, nor at any time marked with his characteristic heartiness. Of the four numbers of The Rambler, supplied to Johnson by his friend, one (No. 97) was from the pen of Richardson; and it is said to have had the largest sale, as first issued, of any of the series; though the modern reader fails to detect the qualities that secured for it this early favor. To the same general class belonged another, though somewhat different character-Henry Fielding. Here we will avail ourselves of the remarks of Hawkins, and as they are not only 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. 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 He |