Milton's great poetical merit, to which he has done illustrious justice, beyond all who have written upon the subject. And this year he not only wrote a Prologue, which was spoken by Mr. Garrick before the acting of "Comus" at Drury Lane Theatre, for the benefit of Milton's grand-daughter, but took a very zealous interest in the success of the charity. On the day preceding the performance, he published the following letter in the "General Advertiser," addressed to the printer of that paper:

"SIR,

"That a certain degree of reputation is acquired merely by approving the works of genius, and testifying a regard to the memory of authors, is a truth too evident to be denied; and therefore to ensure a participation of fame with a celebrated poet, many, who would, perhaps, have contributed to starve him when alive, have heaped expensive pageants upon his grave.1

"It must, indeed, be confessed, that this method of becoming known to posterity with honour, is peculiar to the great, or at least to the wealthy; but an opportunity now offers for almost every individual to secure the praise of paying a just regard to the illustrious dead, united with the pleasure of doing good to the living. To assist industrious indigence, struggling with distress and debilitated by age, is a display of virtue, and an acquisition of happiness and honour.

"Whoever, then, would be thought capable of pleasure in reading the works of our incomparable Milton, and not so destitute of gratitude as to refuse to lay out a trifle in rational and elegant entertainment, for the benefit of his living remains, for the exercise of their own virtue, the increase of their reputation, and the pleasing consciousness of doing good, should appear at Drury Lane theatre tomorrow, April 5, when 'Comus' will be performed for the benefit of Mrs. Elizabeth Foster, grand-daughter to the author, and the only surviving branch of his family.

"N.B. There will be a new prologue on the occasion, written by

1 Mr. Auditor Benson, in 1737, erected a monument to Milton in Westminster Abbey, and did not omit to inscribe his own name on it,--an ostentation which Pope satirises. See Dunciad, b. iii., 325 and iv., 110.-Croker.

2 She survived this benefit but three years, and died childless, 9th May, 1754. It is remarkable that none of our great, and few even of our

the author of 'Irene,' and spoken by Mr. Garrick; and, by particular desire, there will be added to the Masque a dramatic satire, called 'Lethe,' in which Mr. Garrick will perform." 1

In 1751 we are to consider him as carrying on both his "Dictionary" and " Rambler." But he also wrote "The Life of Cheynel," in the miscellany called "The Student;" and the Rev. Dr. Douglas having, with uncommon acuteness, clearly detected a gross forgery and imposition upon the public by William Lauder, a Scotch schoolmaster, who had, with equal impudence and ingenuity, represented Milton as a plagiary from certain modern Latin poets, Johnson, who had been so far imposed upon as to furnish a Preface and Postscript to his work, now dictated a letter for Lauder, addressed to Dr. Douglas, acknowledging his fraud in terms of suitable contrition.2

second-rate poets, have left posterity-Shakespeare, Jonson, Otway, Milton, Dryden, Rowe, Addison, Pope, Swift, Gay, Johnson, Goldsmith, Cowper, have left no inheritors of their names.-Croker.

1 The assistance given was far from liberal. Tonson, the bookseller, whose family had been enriched by the sale of the poet's writings, gave twenty pounds, and Bishop Newton, his biographer, brought a large contribution; but all their efforts, joined to the allurements of Johnson's pen and Garrick's performance, procured only £130. Anderson's Life of Johnson, p. 89.—Wright.

? Lest there should be any person, at any future period, absurd enough to suspect that Johnson was a partaker in Lauder's fraud, or had any knowledge of it, when he assisted him with his masterly pen, it is proper here to quote the words of Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury, at the time when he detected the imposition. "It is to be hoped, nay it is expected, that the elegant and nervous writer, whose judicious sentiments and inimitable style point out the author of Lauder's Preface and Postscript, will no longer allow one to plume himself with his feathers, who appeareth so little to deserve assistance: an assistance which I am persuaded would never have been communicated, had there been the least suspicion of those facts which I have been the instrument of conveying to the world in these sheets." Milton no Plagiary, 2nd edit. p. 78. And his Lordship has been pleased now to authorise me to say, in the strongest manner, that there is no ground whatever for any unfavourable reflection against Dr. Johnson, who expressed the strongest indignation against Lauder.

Lauder afterwards went to Barbadoes, where he some time taught

This extraordinary attempt of Lauder was no sudden effort. He had brooded over it for many years: and to this hour it is uncertain what his principal motive was, unless it were a vain notion of his superiority, in being able, by whatever means, to deceive mankind. To effect this, he produced certain passages from Grotius, Masenius, and others, which had a faint resemblance to some parts of the "Paradise Lost." In these he interpolated some fragments of Hog's Latin translation of that poem, alleging that the mass thus fabricated was the archetype from which Milton copied. These fabrications he published from time to time in the "Gentleman's Magazine;" and, exulting in his fancied success, he in 1750 ventured to collect them into a pamphlet, entitled "An Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost." To this pamphlet Johnson wrote a Preface, in full persuasion of Lauder's honesty, and a Postscript recommending in the most persuasive terms a subscription for the relief of a grand-daughter of Milton, of whom he thus speaks:

"It is yet in the power of a great people to reward the poet whose name they boast, and from their alliance to whose genius they claim some kind of superiority to every other nation of the earth; that poet, whose works may possibly be read when every other monument of British greatness shall be obliterated; to reward him, not with pictures or with medals, which, if he sees, he sees with contempt, but with tokens of gratitude, which he, perhaps, may even now consider as not unworthy the regard of an immortal spirit."

Surely this is inconsistent with enmity towards Milton, which Sir John Hawkins imputes to Johnson upon this occasion, adding,

"I could all along observe that Johnson seemed to approve not only of the design, but of the argument; and seemed to exult in a persuasion, that the reputation of Milton was likely to suffer by this discovery. That he was not privy to the imposture, I am well per

school. His behaviour there was mean and despicable, and he passed the remainder of his life in universal contempt. He died about the year 1771.-Nichols.

suaded; that he wished well to the argument, may be inferred from the Preface, which indubitably was written by Johnson."1

Is it possible for any man of clear judgment to suppose that Johnson, who so nobly praised the poetical excellence of Milton in a Postscript to this very discovery, as he then supposed it, could, at the same time, exult in a persuasion that the great poet's reputation was likely to suffer by it? This is an inconsistency of which Johnson was incapable; nor can anything more be fairly inferred from the Preface, than that Johnson, who was alike distinguished for ardent curiosity and love of truth, was pleased with an investigation by which both were gratified. That he was actuated by these motives, and certainly by no unworthy desire to depreciate our great epic poet, is evident from his own words; for, after mentioning the general zeal of men of genius and literature, "to advance the honour, and distinguish the beauties of Paradise Lost," he says:

"Among the inquiries to which this ardour of criticism has naturally given occasion, none is more obscure in itself, or more worthy of rational curiosity, than a retrospect of the progress of this mighty genius in the construction of his work; a view of the fabric, gradually rising, perhaps, from small beginnings, till its foundation rests in the centre, and its turrets sparkle in the skies; to trace back the structure through all its varieties to the simplicity of its first plan; to find what was first projected, whence the scheme was taken, how it was improved, by what assistance it was executed, and from what stores the materials were collected; whether its founder dug them from the quarries of Nature, or demolished other buildings to embellish his own." "3

1 Life of Johnson, p. 276.

* Proposals [evidently written by Johnson] for printing the Adamus Exul of Grotius, with a Translation and Notes by William Lauder, A.M. Gentleman's Magazine, 1747, p. 404.—Malone.

3

But is it not extraordinary that Johnson, who had himself meditated a history of modern Latin poetry, should not have shown his curiosity and love of truth, by, at least, comparing Lauder's quotations with the original authors? It was, we might say, his duty to have done so, before he so far pronounced his judgment as to assist Lauder; and had he

Is this the language of one who wished to blast the laurels of Milton?

Though Johnson's circumstances were at this time far from being easy,' his humane and charitable disposition was constantly exerting itself. Mrs. Anna Williams, daughter of a very ingenious Welsh physician, and a woman of more than ordinary talents and literature, having come to London in hopes of being cured of a cataract in both her eyes, which afterwards ended in total blindness, was kindly received as a constant visitor at his house while Mrs. Johnson lived; and, after her death, having come under his roof in order to have an operation upon her eyes performed with more comfort to her than in lodgings, she had an apartment from him during the rest of her life, at all times when he had a house."

attempted but to verify a single quotation, he must have immediately discovered the fraud.-Croker.

1 Mr. Prior, who, in preparing his Life of Goldsmith, had access to the papers of Newbery, the bookseller, found several notes of Johnson's, at this period, soliciting small loans, of one and two guineas. In 1759 and 1760 Johnson passed to Newbery two notes of hand for £42 and £30. I presume for advances on account of the Idler. Mr. Prior found also the original statement of the account between him and Johnson for the Idler, when collected into volumes.

2 Mrs. Williams was a person extremely interesting. She had uncommon firmness of mind, a boundless curiosity, retentive memory, and strong judgment. She had various powers of pleasing. Her personal afflictions and slender fortune she seemed to forget, when she had the power of doing an act of kindness: she was social, cheerful, and active, in a state of body that was truly deplorable. Her regard to Dr. Johnson was formed with such strength of judgment and firm esteem, that her voice never hesitated when she repeated his maxims, or recited his good