134.
[946] In New Street, near Gough Square, in Fleet Street, whither in February 1770 the King's printinghouse was removed from what is still called Printing House Square. CROKER. Dr. Spottiswoode, the late President of the Royal Society, was the great-grandson of Mr. Strahan.
[947] See post, under March 30, 1783.
[948] Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor on April 8 of this year:--'I have placed young Davenport in the greatest printing house in London, and hear no complaint of him but want of size, which will not hinder him much. He may when he is a journeyman always get a guinea a week.' Notes and Queries, 6th S., v. 422. Mr. Jewitt in the Gent. Mag. for Dec. 1878, gives an account of this lad. He was the orphan son of a clergyman, a friend of the Rev. W. Langley, Master of Ashbourne School (see post, Sept. 14, 1777). Mr. Langley asked Johnson's help 'in procuring him a place in some eminent printing office.' Davenport wrote to Mr. Langley nearly eight years later:--'According to your desire, I consulted Dr. Johnson about my future employment in life, and he very laconically told me "to work hard at my trade, as others had done before me." I told him my size and want of strength prevented me from getting so much money as other men. "Then," replied he, "you must get as much as you can."' The boy was nearly sixteen when he was apprenticed, and had learnt enough Latin to quote Virgil, so that there was nothing in Johnson's speech beyond his understanding.
[949] Seven years afterwards, Johnson described this evening. Miss Monckton had told him that he must see Mrs. Siddons. 'Well, Madam,' he answered, 'if you desire it, I will go. See her I shall not, nor hear her; but I'll go, and that will do. The last time I was at a play, I was ordered there by Mrs. Abington, or Mrs. Somebody, I do not well remember who; but I placed myself in the middle of the first row of the front boxes, to show that when I was called I came.' Mme. D' Arblay's Diary, ii. 199. At Fontainebleau he went--to a comedy (post, Oct. 19, 1775), so that it was not 'the last time he was at a play.'
[950] 'One evening in the oratorio season of 1771,' writes Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. 72), 'Mr. Johnson went with me to Covent Garden theatre. He sat surprisingly quiet, and I flattered myself that he was listening to the music. When we were got home he repeated these verses, which he said he had made at the oratorio:--
"In Theatre, March 8, 1771. Tertii verso quater orbe lustri, Quid theatrales tibi, Crispe, pompae? Quam decet canos male literates Sera voluptas! Tene mulceri fidibus canoris? Tene cantorum modulis stupere? Tene per pictas, oculo elegante, Currere formas? Inter aequales, sine felle liber, Codices veri studiosus inter Rectius vives. Sua quisque carpal Gaudia gratus. Lusibus gaudet puer otiosis, Luxus oblectat juvenem theatri, At seni fluxo sapienter uti Tempore restat."'
(Works, i. 166.)
[951] Bon Ton, or High Life above Stairs, by Garrick. He made King the comedian a present of this farce, and it was acted for the first time on his benefit-a little earlier in the month. Murphy's Garrick, pp. 330, 332
[952] 'August, 1778. An epilogue of Mr. Garrick's to Bonduca was mentioned, and Dr. Johnson said it was a miserable performance:--"I don't know," he said, "what is the matter with David; I am afraid he is grown superannuated, for his prologues and epilogues used to be incomparable."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 64.
[953] 'Scottish brethren and architects, who had bought Durham Yard, and erected a large pile of buildings under the affected name of the Adelphi. These men, of great taste in their profession, were attached particularly to Lord Bute and Lord Mansfield, and thus by public and private nationality zealous politicians.' Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of George III. iv. 173. Hume wrote to Adam Smith in June 1772, at a time where there was 'a universal loss of credit':--'Of all the sufferers, I am the most concerned for the Adams. But their undertakings were so vast, that nothing could support them. They must dismiss 3000 workmen, who, comprehending the materials, must have expended above L100,000 a year. To me the scheme of the Adelphi always appeared so imprudent, that my wonder is how they could have gone on so long.' J. H. Burton's Hume, ii, 460. Garrick lived in the Adelphi.
[954] 'Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes, Beholds his own hereditary skies.' DRYDEN, Ovid, Meta. i. 85.
[955] Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 213) says that she was made 'the umpire in a trial of skill between Garrick and Boswell, which could most nearly imitate Dr. Johnson's manner. I remember I gave it for Boswell in familiar conversation, and for Garrick in reciting poetry.'
[956] 'Gesticular mimicry and buffoonery Johnson hated, and would often huff Garrick for exercising it his presence.' Hawkins's Johnson, p. 386.
[957] In the first two editions Johnson is represented as only saying, 'Davy is futile.'
[958] My noble friend Lord Pembroke said once to me at Wilton, with a happy pleasantry and some truth, that 'Dr.