manuscript to his Lordship: the confequence was an invitation from Lord Chesterfield to the author. A ftronger contraft of characters could not be brought together; the Nobleman celebrated for his wit, and all the graces of polite behaviour; the Author, confcious of his own merit, towering in idea above all competition, verfed in fcholaftic logic, but a ftranger to the arts of polite converfation, uncouth, vehement, and vociferous. The coalition was too unnatural. Johnson expected a Mæcenas, and was difappointed. No patronage, no affiftance followed. Vifits were repeated; but the reception was not cordial. Johnson one day was left a full hour, waiting in an anti-chamber, till a gentleman fhould retire, and leave his lordship at leisure. This was the famous Colley Cibber. Johnfon faw him go, and fired with indignation, rushed out of the houfe *. What Lord Chesterfield thought of his vifitor may be seen in a paffage in one of that Nobleman's letters to his fon . "There is a man, whofe moral character,

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deep learning, and fuperior parts, I ac

"knowledge,

* Dr. Johnfon denies the whole of this ftory. Bofwell's Life, vol. 1. p. 128. Oct. Edit. 1804.

Letter CCXII.

See

C.

knowledge, admire, and refpect; but whom "it is fo impoffible for me to love, that I am "almoft in a fever whenever I am in his company. His figure (without being de

66

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formed) seems made to disgrace or ridicule "the common ftructure of the human body. "His legs and arms are never in the position "which, according to the fituation of his body, they ought to be in, but constantly employed in committing acts of hoftility upon the Graces. He throws any where, "but down his throat, whatever he means to "drink; and mangles what he means to carve. Inattentive to all the regards of focial life,

86

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he mif-times and mif-places every thing. "He difputes with heat indifcriminately, "mindlefs of the rank, character, and fituation "of thofe with whom he difputes. Abfolutely "ignorant of the feveral gradations of fa

}

miliarity and respect, he is exactly the fame "to his fuperiors, his equals, and his inferiors; "and therefore, by a neceffary confequence, "is abfurd to two of the three. Is it poffible "to love fuch a man? No. The utmost I can "do for him is, to confider him a refpectable "Hottentot." Such was the idea entertained by Lord Chesterfield. After the incident of Colley

2

Colley Cibber, Johnfon never repeated his vifits. In his high and decifive tone, he has been often heard to say, "Lord Chesterfield " is a Wit among Lords, and a Lord among "Wits."

In the course of the year 1747, Garrick, in conjunction with Lacy, became patentee of Drury-lane Playhouse. For the opening of the theatre, at the ufual time, Johnson wrote for his friend the well-known prologue, which, to fay no more of it, may at least be placed on a level with Pope's to the tragedy of Cato. The playhouse being now under Garrick's direction, Johnfon thought the opportunity fair to think of his tragedy of Irene, which was his whole ftock on his first arrival in town, in the year 1737. That play was accordingly put into rehearsal in January, 1749. As a precurfor to prepare the way, to awaken the public attention, The Vanity of Human Wishes, a Poem in Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, by the Author of London, was published in the fame month. In the Gentleman's Magazine, for February 1749, we find that the tragedy of Irene was acted at Drury-lane, on Monday, February

and

the

the 6th, and from that time, without interruption, to Monday, February the 20th, being in all thirteen nights. Since that time it has not been exhibited on any stage. Irene may be added to fome other plays in our language, which have loft their place in the theatre, but continue to please in the closet. During the representation of this piece, Johnfon attended every night behind the scenes. Conceiving that his character as an author required fome ornament for his perfon, he chofe, upon that occafion, to decorate himself with a handsome waistcoat, and a gold-laced hat. The late Mr. Topham Beauclerc, who had a great deal of that humour which pleases the more for feeming undefigned, used to give a pleasant defcription of this Greenroom finery, as related by the author himfelf; "But," faid Johnfon, with great gravity, "I foon laid afide my gold-laced hat, left it "fhould make me proud." The amount of the three benefit nights for the tragedy of Irene, it is to be feared, was not very confiderable, as the profit, that stimulating motive, never invited the author to another dramatic attempt. Some years afterwards, when the present writer was intimate with E 3 Garrick,

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Garrick, and knew Johnfon to be in diftrefs, he asked the manager why he did not produce another tragedy for his Lichfield friend? Garrick's anfwer was remarkable; "When Johnson writes tragedy, declamation "roars, and paffion fleeps: when Shakspeare "wrote, he dipped his pen in his own heart.'

22

There may, perhaps, be a degree of famenefs in this regular way of tracing an author from one work to another, and the reader may feel the effect of a tedious monotony ; but in the life of Johnfon there are no other landmarks. He was now forty years old,, and had mixed but little with the world. He followed no profeffion, tranfacted no bufinefs, and was a ftranger to what is called a town-life. We are now arrived at the brighteft period he had hitherto known. His name broke out upon mankind with a degree of luftre that promised a triumph over all his difficulties. The Life of Savage was admired as a beautiful and inftructive piece of biography. The two imitations of Juvenal were thought to rival even the excellence of Pope; and the tragedy of Irene, though uninterefting on the ftage, was univerfally ad