'Here lies a little ugly nauseous elf, Who judging only from its wretched self, Feebly attempted, petulant and vain, The "Origin of Evil" to explain. A mighty Genius at this elf displeas'd, With a strong critick grasp the urchin squeez'd. For thirty years its coward spleen it kept, Till in the duat the mighty Genius slept; Then stunk and fretted in expiring snuff, And blink'd at JOHNSON with its last poor puff.'
BOSWELL.
The epitaph is very likely Boswell's own. For Jenyns's conversion see post, April 12 and 15, 1778.
[933] Mr. John Payne, afterwards chief accountant of the Bank, one of the four surviving members of the Ivy Lane Club who dined together in 1783. See Hawkins's Johnson, pp. 220, 563; and post, December, 1783.
[934] See post, under March 19, 1776.
[935] 'He said, "I am sorry I have not learnt to play at cards. It is very useful in life; it generates kindness and consolidates society."' Boswell's Hebrides, Nov. 21, 1773.
[936] Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 48. [Aug. 19.] BOSWELL.
[937] Johnson's Works, p. 435.
[938] He was paid at the rate of a little over twopence a line. For this Introduction see Ib. 206.
[939] See post, Oct. 26, 1769.
[940] See post, April 5, 1775.
[941] In 1740 he set apart the yearly sum of L100 to be distributed, by way of premium, to the authors of the best inventions, &c., in Ireland. Chalmers's Biog. Dict.
[942] Boulter's Monument. A Panegyrical Poem, sacred to the memory of that great and excellent prelate and patriot, the Most Reverend Dr. Hugh Boulter; Late Lord-Archbishop of Ardmagh, and Primate of All Ireland. Dublin, 1745. Such lines as the following might well have been blotted, but of them the poem is chiefly formed:--
'My peaceful song in lays instructive paints The first of mitred peers and Britain's saints.' p. 2. 'Ha! mark! what gleam is that which paints the air? The blue serene expands! Is Boulter there?' p. 88.
The poet addresses Boulter's successor Hoadley, who he says,
'Shall equal him; while, like Elisha, you Enjoy his spirit, and his mantle too.' p. 89.
A note to mantle says 'Alluding to the metropolitan pallium.'
Boulter is the bishop in Pope's lines, (Prologue to the Satires, 1. 99):--
'Does not one table Bavius still admit?
'Still to one bishop Philips seem a wit?'
Pattison's Pope's Satires, p. 107. In the Life of Addison, Johnson mentioning Dr. Madden adds:--'a name which Ireland ought to honour.' Johnson's Works, vii. 455.
[943] See ante, p. 175. Hawkins writes (Life, p. 363):--'I congratulated him length, on his being now engaged in a work that suited his genius. His answer was:--"I look upon this as I did upon the Dictionary; it is all work, and my inducement to it is not love or desire of fame, but the want of money, which is the only motive to writing that I know of."'
[944] They have been reprinted by Mr. Malone, in the Preface to his edition of Shakspeare. BOSWELL.
[945] At Christmas, 1757, he said that he should publish about March, 1758 (post, Dec. 24, 1757). When March came he said that he should publish before summer (post, March 1, 1758).
[946] In what Johnson says of Pope's slow progress in translating the Iliad, he had very likely his own case in view. 'Indolence, interruption, business, and pleasure all take their turns of retardation; and every long work is lengthened by a thousand causes that can, and ten thousand that cannot be recounted. Perhaps no extensive and multifarious performance was ever effected within the term originally fixed in the undertaker's mind. He that runs against time has an antagonist not subject to casualties.' Johnson's Works, viii. 255. In Prior's Goldsmith (i. 238) we have the following extracts from letters written by Grainger (post, March 21, 1776) to Dr. Percy:--'June 27, 1758. I have several times called on Johnson to pay him part of your subscription [for his edition of Shakespeare]. I say, part, because he never thinks of working if he has a couple of guineas in his pocket; but if you notwithstanding order me, the whole shall be given him at once.' 'July 20, 1758. As to his Shakespeare, movet sed non promovet. I shall feed him occasionally with guineas.'
[947] Hawkins (Life, p. 440) says that 'Reynolds and some other of his friends, who were more concerned for his reputation than himself seemed to be, contrived to entangle him by a wager, or some other pecuniary engagement, to perform his task by a certain time.' Just as Johnson was oppressed by the engagement that he had made to edit Shakespeare, so was Cowper by his engagement to edit Milton. 'The consciousness that there is so much to do and nothing done is a burthen I am not able to bear. Milton especially is my grievance, and I might almost as well be haunted by his ghost, as goaded with such continual reproaches for neglecting him.' Southey's Cowper, vii. 163.
[948] From The Ghost, Bk. iii. 1. 801. Boswell makes two slight errors in quoting: 'You cash' should be 'their cash; and 'you know' should be 'we know.'
[949] See post, April 17, 1778.