EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
000
eiring by dnils, and an additional hundred oun£, long previous to the conclusion of his ndertaking. The patience of his employment ras, therefore, severely tried; and when the 1st sheet was brought to Mr. Millar, he coold ot avoid exclaiming, "Thank God I have done rith him ; a sally which, when repeated to John- }n, he replied with a smile, " I am glad that he banks God for any thing." For his subsistence .uring the progress of the work, he had received aore than nis contract. His receipts were pro- uced at a tavern dinner, given by the book- eUers, and Johnson had nothing left but the TOwing fiune of his work. He was desirous hat his Dictionary should appear to come fiom ne who had obtained academical honours, and or that purpose procured in the preceding February, through the means of his friend, Mr. Phomas Warton, a diploma for a master's legree, from the university of Oxford. Garrick, m this occasion, wrote the following lines :
" T»lk at wmr with a Briton, he'U boldly ulvuice, lut one Engliah soldier wiU bemt ten of France; Voold we ittiBr the bout from the sword to the pen, >ai odds are sUU greater, stiU ireater oar men : n the deep mines of science thongh Frenchmen may toll,
- an their strength be compar'd to Loclce, Newton, and
Boyle? jet them rally their heroes, send forth all their powers, "heir rerse-men and proae-men } then match them with
oon:
Irat Shakespeare and Milton, like gods in the ilcht, lave pat the wlwle drama and epic to flight ; n satbes, epistles, and odes, would they cope, %eit nombers retreat before Dryden and Pope ) Lnd Jolmson, well-arm'd, like a hero of yore, las beat forty French, and will beat forty more."
Lord Chesterfield* vtrote two essays, in the World, in a strain of compliment to the author. Fohnson treated this civility with disdain : his
a FhUlp Dormer Stanhope, earl of Chesterdeld, was lom in London, Sept. », \6t*, and educated at Cam- iridgej and in ITSIS, on the death of his fkther, he sac- «eded in his titles and estates. In the reign of George I. he was made high steward of the household, and a jiight of the garter ; and in 1745 was appointed lord leutenant of Ireland, where be remained aboat three rears. The works of lord Chesterfield may be classed as 'oemt, LttUrt, PolUieat Papm, and Periodical Euayt. %e Letten to kit Son are evidently written to inculcate a ystem of duplicity and rice ; and the opinion which Dr. 'ohnson produced upon them is bat too true, " that they each the morals of a whore, and the manners of a danc< n^ master." Johnson had dedicated the plan of his yictionarf to lord ChesteiHeld i but the patronage of his jrdship was soon discovered by Johnson to be nothing note tlian a mere name. No two characters, indeed, oald be more opposed, and it was not probable, therefore, hat they should assimilate either in matter or manner, /'old of all exterior accomplishmenia, the rigid moralist, be retired and uncoartly scholar, was appealing to a man rho placed little value upon any thing that was not sub- ervient to elegance of address, to the blandishments of Lattery, and the arts of consummate hypocrisy ; who iu- nilc^ed, in his system of education, as a duty, the vices nost destructive of domestic peace and happiness, and rbo thought it unnecessary, in his plan, to advert either o the principles of religion or morality. From such a nan, nearly as deflcientln literature as he was in virtue, rhat coold genius and learning, truth and piety expect ) LOthing but what they encountered in the person of Jolm- on, iiuincerity and neglect. He was speedily taught to leplore the mistake which he had made in the choice of . patron, to view his acquirements with contempt, and is principles with abhorrence. He ceased, therefore, to ndiUge any hopes of support from this quarter, and, gra- toallyprosecaUng his laborious task, looked forward solely o the approbation of the public as his best reward.— i>raA:e.
observation to Gairick and others was, " I have sailed a long and difficult voyage round the world of the English language, and does he now send out his cock-boat to tow me into harbour?" A work was published called Lexiphanet, gene> rally ascribed to Dr. Kenrick, but by others at- tributed to Dr. John Campbell, in which the author endeavoured to blast the laurels of the lexicographer, but in vain : the world applauded, and Johnson never replied.
1765, Junt 12. Died, Padl Knapton, of the firm of John and Paul Knapton, booksellers, and son'of James Knapton, noticed at page 668,ante. He married Elizabeth Chilwell, Feb. 14, 1741.
1755 June 14. Died, Thomas Brewer, an eminent stationer on Ludgate-hill, aged 78.
17S5, June 18. Died, Thomas Longman, an eminent bookseller, and founder of the pre- sent firm of Longman and Co. who have carried on the business of wholesale bookselling to an extent far beyond what was ever known in the annals of " the Row," The name of Thomas Longman, conjoined with that of J. Osborne, appears amongst the associated booksellers who, in 1729, advertised a new edition of 7%a«nt HittorioTum, in seven volumes folio. Samnel Buckley and Thomas Longman, in 1734, were the publishers of Dr. John Horsley's* BriUumia Romana ; and the name of Thomas Longman singly, is subsequently found in some of our most valuable publications. He was succeeded in the business by his nephew.Thomas Longman.
1755, Aug. 31. Died, Charles Davis, one of the earliest booksellers who retailed libraries by marked catalogues. His residence was in Holbom, and he was of considerable eminence in his profession.
1755, Jan. 1. Man. A paper for ennobling the meciet. This paper was published weekly every Wednesday, on a folio sheet, for a twelvemonth,
1765, Aug. 9. The Monitor ; or, British Free- holder. This was a political paper, and originally planned by the patriotic alderman Beckford.f It was written with considerable spirit and power, and claims for itself the rare merit of impartiality.
- Dr. John Hotsley was educated in the public gram-
mar-school, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; studied afterwards in one of the Scotch colleipes, where he took a degree, and died pastor of a dissenting congregation at Morpeth ; in Northumberland, December is, 1733. Dr. Horsley ap- pears to have been muoh indebted to Mr. Robert Oay, an eminent printer and publisher at Newcastle, who by his Judgment In the compiling, correcting, and getting up of the Britannia Romana. added greatly to the merit of that well written book, which gives a copious and exact account of the remains of the Romans in Britain.
t William Bcckford was the only man of his time who with firmness, yet with humility, dared tellakingupon his throne (surrounded by his courtiers,) the plain and honest truth, whereby he vindicated the loyalty, while he evinced the Independent spirit of the city of London. He died June 31, 1770, aged 65, while serving the office of chief magistrate, with which lie had been a second time invested. That his cliarBCter mh;ht be for ever held in the most honourable and gratenil remembrance, the corporation erected a statue in Guildhall, and recorded in the inscrip- tion the magnanimous speech which he is said to have addressed to the Icing in vindication of the people's rights to remonstrate to the throne. As a citizen, be was emi- nentty decorated with the virtues of humanity and aflh- bility ; as a senator (member for London,) watchful over the rights of the people ; and as a magistrate unremittingly active in seeing these rights legaUy executed.
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