He never, however, could satisfy himself with the translation of the first sentence, which is uncommonly lofty. Mentioning this to Johnson, the latter said, after thinking two or three minutes, "Well, take up the pen, and if you can understand my pronunciation, I will see what I can do." He then dictated the sentence to the translator, which proved admirable, and was immediately adopted.' Prior's Malone, p. 161. Baretti, in a MS. note on his copy of Piozzi Letters, i. 225, says:--'Johnson never wrote to me French, but when he translated for me the first paragraph of his Rasselas.' That Johnson's French was faulty, is shown by his letters in that language. Ante, ii. 82, and post, under Nov. 12, 1775.
[599] It has been translated into Bengalee, Hungarian, Polish, Modern Greek, and Spanish, besides the languages mentioned by Johnson. Dr. J. Macaulay's Bibliography of Rasselas. It reached its fifth edition by 1761. A Bookseller of the Last Century, p. 243. In the same book (p. 19) it is mentioned that 'a sixteenth share in The Rambler was sold for L22 2s. 6d.'
[600] A motion in the House of Commons for a committee to consider of the subscription to the Thirty nine Articles had, on Feb. 23 of this year, been rejected by 159 to 67. Parl. Hist. xvii. 742-758. A bill for the relief of Protestant Dissenters that passed the House of Commons by 65 to 14 on March 25, was rejected in the House of Lords by 86 to 28 on April 2. Ib p. 790.
[601] See post, April 25, 1778, where Johnson says that 'Colman [the manager] was prevailed on at last by much solicitation, nay, a kind of force, to bring it on.' Mr. Forster (Life of Goldsmith, ii. 334-6) writes:--'The actors and actresses had taken their tone from the manager. Gentleman Smith threw up Voting Marlow; Woodward refused Tony Lumpkin; Mrs. Abington declined Miss Hardcastle [in The Athenaeum, No. 3041, it is pointed out that Mrs. Abington was not one of Colman's Company]; and, in the teeth of his own misgivings, Colman could not contest with theirs. He would not suffer a new scene to be painted for the play, he refused to furnish even a new dress, and was careful to spread his forebodings as widely as he could.' The play met with the greatest success. 'There was a new play by Dr. Goldsmith last night, which succeeded prodigiously,' wrote Horace Valpole (Letters, v. 452). The laugh was turned against the doubting manager. Ten days after the play had been brought out, Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'C----[Colman] is so distressed with abuse about his play, that he has solicited Goldsmith to take him off the rack of the newspapers.' Piozzi Letters, i. 80. See post, just before June 22, 1784, for Mr. Steevens's account.
[602] It was anything but an apology, unless apology is used in its old meaning of defence.
[603] Nine days after She Stoops to Conquer was brought out, a vile libel, written, it is believed, by Kenrick (ante i. 297), was published by Evans in The London Packet. The libeller dragged in one of the Miss Hornecks, 'the Jessamy Bride' of Goldsmith's verse. Goldsmith, believing Evans had written the libel, struck him with his cane. The blow was returned, for Evans was a strong man. 'He indicted Goldsmith for the assault, but consented to a compromise on his paying fifty pounds to a Welsh charity. The papers abused the poet, and steadily turned aside from the real point in issue. At last he stated it himself, in an Address to the Public, in the Daily Advertiser of March 31.' Forster's Goldsmith, ii. 347-351. The libel is given in Goldsmith's Misc. Works (1801), i. 103.
[604] 'Your paper,' I suppose, because the Chronicle was taken in at Bolt Court. Ante, ii. 103.
[605] See Forster's Goldsmith, i. 265, for a possible explanation of this sarcasm.
[606] Horace Walpole is violent against Dalrymple and the King. 'What must,' he says, 'be the designs of this reign when George III. encourages a Jacobite wretch to hunt in France for materials for blackening the heroes who withstood the enemies of Protestantism and liberty.' Journal of the Reign of George III, i. 286.
[607] Mr. Hallam pointed out to Mr. Croker that Johnson was speaking of Dalrymple's description of the parting of Lord and Lady Russell:--'With a deep and noble silence; with a long and fixed look, in which respect and affection unmingled with passion were expressed, Lord and Lady Russell parted for ever--he great in this last act of his life, but she greater.' Dalrymple's Memoirs, i. 31. See post, April 30, 1773, for the foppery of Dalrymple; and Boswell's Hebrides, near the end, for Johnson's imitation of Dalrymple's style.
[608] See ante, i. 334.
[609] See ante, ii. 170.
[610] Horace Walpole says:--'It was not Chesterfield's fault if he had not wit; nothing exceeded his efforts in that point; and though they were far from producing the wit, they at least amply yielded the applause he aimed at.' Memoirs of the Reign of George II, i. 51.
[611] A curious account of Tyrawley is given in Walpole's Reign of George II, iii. 108. He had been Ambassador at Lisbon, and he 'even affected not to know where the House of Commons was.' Walpole says (Letters, i.