THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON - All 6 Volumes in One Edition. James Boswell

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СКАЧАТЬ that he is much excelled by the English Juvenal. Oldham had also imitated it, and applied it to London; all which performances concur to prove, that great cities, in every age, and in every country, will furnish similar topicks of satire[342]. Whether Johnson had previously read Oldham’s imitation, I do not know; but it is not a little remarkable, that there is scarcely any coincidence found between the two performances, though upon the very same subject. The only instances are, in describing London as the sink of foreign worthlessness:

      ‘——the common shore, Where France does all her filth and ordure pour.’

      OLDHAM.

      ‘The common shore of Paris and of Rome.’

      JOHNSON.

      and,

      ‘No calling or profession comes amiss,

       A needy monsieur can be what he please.’

      OLDHAM.

      ‘All sciences a fasting monsieur knows.’

      JOHNSON.

      The particulars which Oldham has collected, both as exhibiting the horrours of London, and of the times, contrasted with better days, are different from those of Johnson, and in general well chosen, and well exprest[343].

      There are, in Oldham’s imitation, many prosaick verses and bad rhymes, and his poem sets out with a strange inadvertent blunder:

      ‘Tho’ much concern’d to leave my dear old friend, I must, however, his design commend Of fixing in the country—.’

      [Page 120: The publication of London. A.D. 1738.]

      It is plain he was not going to leave his friend; his friend was going to leave him. A young lady at once corrected this with good critical sagacity, to

      ‘Tho’ much concern’d to lose my dear old friend.’

      There is one passage in the original, better transfused by Oldham than by Johnson:

      ‘Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se,

       Quàm quod ridiculos homines facit;’

      which is an exquisite remark on the galling meanness and contempt annexed to poverty: JOHNSON’S imitation is,

      ‘Of all the griefs that harass the distrest,

       Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest.’

      OLDHAM’S, though less elegant, is more just:

      ‘Nothing in poverty so ill is borne,

       As its exposing men to grinning scorn.’

      Where, or in what manner this poem was composed, I am sorry that I neglected to ascertain with precision, from Johnson’s own authority. He has marked upon his corrected copy of the first edition of it, ‘Written in 1738;’ and, as it was published in the month of May in that year, it is evident that much time was not employed in preparing it for the press. The history of its publication I am enabled to give in a very satisfactory manner; and judging from myself, and many of my friends, I trust that it will not be uninteresting to my readers.

      [Page 121: Johnson’s letters to Cave. Ætat 29.]

      We may be certain, though it is not expressly named in the following letters to Mr. Cave, in 1738, that they all relate to it:

      ‘To MR. CAVE.

      ‘Castle-street, Wednesday Morning. [No date. 1738.]

      ‘SIR,

      ‘When I took the liberty of writing to you a few days ago, I did not expect a repetition of the same pleasure so soon; for a pleasure I shall always think it, to converse in any manner with an ingenious and candid man; but having the inclosed poem in my hands to dispose of for the benefit of the authour, (of whose abilities I shall say nothing, since I send you his performance,) I believed I could not procure more advantageous terms from any person than from you, who have so much distinguished yourself by your generous encouragement of poetry; and whose judgment of that art nothing but your commendation of my trifle[344] can give me any occasion to call in question. I do not doubt but you will look over this poem with another eye, and reward it in a different manner, from a mercenary bookseller, who counts the lines he is to purchase[345], and considers nothing but the bulk. I cannot help taking notice, that, besides what the authour may hope for on account of his abilities, he has likewise another claim to your regard, as he lies at present under very disadvantageous circumstances of fortune. I beg, therefore, that you will favour me with a letter to-morrow, that I may know what you can afford to allow him, that he may either part with it to you, or find out, (which I do not expect,) some other way more to his satisfaction.

      ‘I have only to add, that as I am sensible I have transcribed it very coarsely, which, after having altered it, I was obliged to do, I will, if you please to transmit the sheets from the press, correct it for you; and take the trouble of altering any stroke of satire which you may dislike.

      ‘By exerting on this occasion your usual generosity, you will not only encourage learning, and relieve distress, but (though it be in comparison of the other motives of very small account) oblige in a very sensible manner, Sir,

      ‘Your very humble servant,

      ‘SAM. JOHNSON.’

      ‘To MR. CAVE.

       ‘Monday, No. 6, Castle-street.

      SIR,

      ‘I am to return you thanks for the present you were so kind as to send by me[346], and to intreat that you will be pleased to inform me by the penny-post[347], whether you resolve to print the poem. If you please to send it me by the post, with a note to Dodsley, I will go and read the lines to him, that we may have his consent to put his name in the title-page. As to the printing, if it can be set immediately about, I will be so much the authour’s friend, as not to content myself with mere solicitations in his favour. I propose, if my calculation be near the truth, to engage for the reimbursement of all that you shall lose by an impression of 500; provided, as you very generously propose, that the profit, if any, be set aside for the authour’s use, excepting the present you made, which, if he be a gainer, it is fit he should repay. I beg that you will let one of your servants write an exact account of the expense of such an impression, and send it with the poem, that I may know what I engage for. I am very sensible, from your generosity on this occasion, of your regard to learning, even in its unhappiest state; and cannot but think such a temper deserving of the gratitude of those who suffer so often from a contrary disposition. I am, Sir,

      ‘Your most humble servant,

      ‘SAM. JOHNSON[348].’

      [Page 122: Mrs. Carter. A.D. 1738.]

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