Dr. Franklin (Memoirs, iii, 172) wrote to Mr. Straham in 1784:--'I remember your observing once to me, as we sat together in the House of Commons, that no two journeymen printers within your knowledge had met with such success in the world as ourselves. You were then at the head of your profession, and soon afterwards became a member of parliament. I was an agent for a few provinces, and now act for them all.'
[663] 'Hamilton made a large fortune out of Smollett's History.' Forster's Goldsmith, i, 149. He was also the proprietor of the Critical Review.
[664] See ante, i, 71.
[665] See ante, ii, 179, and Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 19, 1773. Horace Walpole wrote of the year 1773:--'The rage of duelling had of late much revived, especially in Ireland, and many attempts were made in print and on the stage to curb so horrid and absurd a practice.' Journal of the Reign of George III, i. 282.
[666] Very likely Boswell. See Post, April 10, 1778, where he says:--'I slily introduced Mr. Garrick's fame and his assuming the airs of a great man'.
[667] In the Garrick's Corres up to this date there is no letter from Lord Mansfield which answers Boswell's descriptions. To Lord Chatham Garrick had addressed some verses from Mount Edgecumbe. Chatham, on April 3, 1772, sent verses in return, and wrote:--'You have kindly settled upon me a lasting species of property I never dreamed of in that enchanting place; a far more able conveyancer than any in Chancery-land. Ib i, 459.
[668]
'Then I alone the conquest prize, When I insult a rival's eyes: If there's, &c.'
Act iii, sc. 12.
[669]
'But how did he return, this haughty brave, Who whipt the winds, and made the sea his slave? (Though Neptune took unkindly to be bound And Eurus never such hard usage found In his AEolian prison under ground).'
Dryden, Juvenal, x. 180.
[670] Most likely Mr. Pepys, a Master in Chancery, whom Johnson more than once roughly attacked at Streatham. See post, April 1, 1781, and Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 46.
[671] See ante, ii. 73.
[672] 'Jan. 5, 1772. Poor Mr. Fitzherbert hanged himself on Wednesday. He went to see the convicts executed that morning; and from thence in his boots to his son, having sent his groom out of the way. At three his son said, Sir, you are to dine at Mr. Buller's; it is time for you to go home and dress. He went to his own stable and hanged himself with a bridle. They say his circumstances were in great disorder.' Horace Walpole's Letters, v. 362. See ante, i. 82, and post, Sept. 15, 1777.
[673] Boswell, in his Hebrides (Aug. 18, 1773) says that, 'Budgel was accused of forging a will [Dr. Tindal's] and sunk himself in the Thames, before the trial of its authenticity came on.' Pope, speaking of himself, says that he--
'Let Budgel charge low Grub-street on his quill, And write whate'er he pleas'd, except his will.'
Prologue to the Satires, 1, 378.
Budgel drowned himself on May 4, 1737, more than two years after the publication of this Prologue. Gent. Mag. vii. 315. Perhaps the verse is an interpolation in a later edition. See post, April 26, 1776.
[674] See post, March 15, 1776.
[675] On the Douglas Cause. See ante, ii. 50, and post, March 26, 1776.
[676] I regretted that Dr. Johnson never took the trouble to study a question which interested nations. He would not even read a pamphlet which I wrote upon it, entitled The Essence of the Douglas Cause; which, I have reason to flatter myself, had considerable effect in favour of Mr. Douglas; of whose legitimate filiation I was then, and am still, firmly convinced. Let me add, that no fact can be more respectably ascertained than by the judgement of the most august tribunal in the world; a judgement, in which Lord Mansfield and Lord Camden united in 1769, and from which only five of a numerous body entered a protest. BOSWELL. Boswell, in his Hebrides, records on Oct. 26, 1773:--'Dr. Johnson roused my zeal so much that I took the liberty to tell him that he knew nothing of the [Douglas] Cause.' Lord Shelburne says: 'I conceived such a prejudice upon the sight of the present Lord Douglas's face and figure, that I could not allow myself to vote in this cause. If ever I saw a Frenchman, he is one.' Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, i. 10. Hume 'was struck,' he writes, 'with a very sensible indignation at the decision. The Cause, though not in the least intricate, is so complicated that it never will be reviewed by the public, who are besides perfectly pleased with the sentence; being swayed by compassion and a few popular topics. To one who understands the Cause as I do, nothing could appear more scandalous than the pleadings of the two law lords.' J. H. Burton's Hume, ii. 423. In Campbell's Chancellors, v. 494, an account is given of a duel between Stuart and Thurlow that arose out of this suit.
[677] The Fountains. Works, ix. 176.
[678] See ante, ii. 25.
[679] It has already been observed (ante, ii. 55), that one of his first Essays was a Latin Poem on a glow-worm; but whether it be any where extant, has not been ascertained.