1738. Ætat. 29. 今 Ad URBANUM.* URBANE, nullis fesse laboribus, Quid moliatur gens imitantium, Linguæ procacis plumbea fpicula, Intende nervos, fortis, inanibus Intende jam nervos, habebis Non ulla Mufis pagina gratior, Novit, fatigatamque nugis Utilibus recreare mentem. Texente Nymphis ferta Lycoride, Rofe ruborem fic viola adjuvat Immista, fic Iris refulget Æthereis variata fucis. S. J. It • A tranflation of this Ode, by an unknown correspondent, appeared in the Magazine for the month of May following: " Hail URBAN! indefatigable man, "What ( It appears that he was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coadjutor in 1738. his magazine, by which he probably obtained a tolerable livelihood. At what Ætat. 29. time, or by what means, he had acquired a competent knowledge both of French and Italian, I do not know; but he was so well skilled in them, as to be fufficiently qualified for a translator. That part of his labour which confifted in emendation and improvement of the productions of other contributors, like that employed in levelling ground, can be perceived only by those who had an opportunity of comparing the original with the altered copy. What we certainly know to have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houses of Parliament, under the name of "The Senate of "What mean the servile imitating crew, "What their vain blust'ring, and their empty noife, "The senseless sneerings of an haughty tongue, "Unheeded pass: and tho' they mean thee wrong, "Exert thy powers, nor slacken in the course, "No page more grateful to th' harmonious nine " Where folemn themes in fuller splendour shine, " Thus when the nymphs in fome fair verdant mead, " Of various flow'rs a beauteous wreath compose, "Thus fplendid Iris, with her varied dye, 1738. Lilliput," sometimes with feigned denominations of the several speakers, 20fometimes with denominations formed of the letters of their real names, in Ætat. 29. the manner of what is called anagram, so that they might easily be decyphered. Parliament then kept the press in a kind of mysterious awe, which made it necessary to have recourse to such devices. In our time it has acquired an unrestrained freedom, fo that the people in all parts of the kingdom have a fair, open, and exact report of the actual proceedings of their representatives and legislators; which in our constitution is highly to be valued, though, unquestionably, there has of late been too much reason to complain of the petulance with which obfcure fcribblers have prefumed to treat men of the most refpectable character and situation. This important article of the Gentleman's Magazine was, for several years, executed by Mr. William Guthrie, a man who deferves to be respectably recorded in the literary annals of this country. He was defcended of an ancient family in Scotland; but having a small patrimony, and being an adherent of the unfortunate house of Stuart, he could not accept of any office in the state; he therefore came to London, and employed his talents and learn. ing as an "Authour by profession." His writings in history, criticism, and politicks, had confiderable merit". He was the first English historian who had recourse to that authentick source of information, the Parliamentary Journals; and fuch was the power of his political pen, that, at an early period, government thought it worth their while to keep it quiet by a pension, which he enjoyed till his death. Johnson esteemed him enough to wish that his life should be written. The debates in Parliament, which were brought home and digested by Guthrie, whose memory, though furpassed by others who have fince followed him in the same department, was yet very quick and tenacious, were fent by Cave to Johnson for his revision; and, after some time, when Guthrie had attained to greater variety of employment, and the speeches were more and more enriched by the accession of Johnson's genius, it was refolved that he should do the whole himself, from the scanty notes furnished by perfons employed to attend in both houses of Parliament. Sometimes, however, as he himself told me, he had nothing more communicated to him but the names of the several speakers, and the part which they had taken in the debate. "How much poetry he wrote, I know not; but he informed me, that he was the authour of the beautiful little piece, "The Eagle and Robin Redbreast," in the collection of poems entitled "THE UNION," though it is there faid to be written by Archibald Scott, before the year 1600. } Ætat. 29. Thus was Johnson employed, during fome of the best years of his life, 1738. as a mere literary labourer for gain, not glory," folely to obtain an honeft fupport. He however indulged himself in occafional little fallies, which the French fo happily express by the term jeux d'esprit, and which will be noticed in their order, in the progress of this work. But what first displayed his transcendent powers, and "gave the world affurance of the MAN," was his " LONDON, a Poem, in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal," which came out in May this year, and burst forth with a splendour, the rays of which will for ever encircle his name. Boileau had imitated the same satire with great success, applying it to Paris; but an attentive comparison will fatisfy every reader, 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. Whether Johnfon 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 defcribing London as the fink of foreign worthlefsness : The particulars which Oldham has collected, both as exhibiting the hor rours of London, and of the times, contrasted with better days, are different from those of Johnson, and in general well chofen, and well expreft. There • I own it pleased me to find amongst them one trait of the manners of the age in London, in the last century, to shield from the sneer of English ridicule, what was some time ago too common a practice in my native city of Edinburgh: " If what I've faid can't from the town affright, " Confider other dangers of the night; 12 "When 1738. Atat. 29. L There are, in Oldham's imitation, many profaick verses and bad rhymes, and his poem fets 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. 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 paffage in the original, better transfused by Oldham than by Johnfon: “ Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in fe, “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 harrass the distrest, " Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest." OLDHAM's, though less elegant, is more just: "Nothing in poverty fo ill is borne, Where, or in what manner this poem was composed, I am forry that I neglected to afcertain 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 fatisfactory manner; and judging from myself, and many of my friends, I trust that it will not be uninteresting to my readers.. "When brickbats are from upper stories thrown, We |