Latin Translation of Pope's Verses on his Grotto:" and, as he could employ his pen with equal success upon a small matter as a great, I suppose him to be the author of an advertisement for Osborne, concerning the great Harleian Catalogue. But I should think myself much wanting, both to my illustrious friend and my readers, did I not introduce here, with more than ordinary respect, an exquisitely beautiful Ode, which has not been inserted in any of the collections of Johnson's poetry, written by him at a very early period, as Mr. Hector informs me, and inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine of this year. 66 FRIENDSHIP, AN ODE.* Friendship, peculiar boon of Heaven, To all the lower world denied. "While love, unknown among the blest, On fools and villains ne'er descend: And hugs a flatterer for a friend. "Directress of the brave and just, O guide us through life's darksome way! And let the tortures of mistrust On selfish bosoms only prey. "Nor shall thine ardour cease to glow, When souls to blissful climes remove: What rais'd our virtue here below, Shall aid our happiness above." Johnson had now an opportunity of obliging his schoolfellow Dr. James, of whom he once observed, No man brings more mind to his profession." James published this year his "Medicinal Dictionary," in three volumes folio. Johnson, as I understood from him, had tissimam Puellam," which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1743 (vol. xiii. p. 548.), was, many years ago, pointed out to James Bindley, Esq., as written by Johnson, and may safely be attributed to him. I do not think so: it appears to me to be in a different and (may I venture to add?) better style than Johnson's; and I find, in the New Foundling Hospital for Wit, that it is attributed to Bishop Lowth.-CROKER. 1 "SIR, That the Medicinal Dictionary is dedicated to you, is to be imputed only to your reputation for superior skill in those sciences which I have endeavoured to explain and facilitate and you are, therefore, to consider this address, if it be agreeable to you, as one of the rewards of merit; and, if otherwise, as one of the inconveniences of eminence. "However you shall receive it, my design cannot be disappointed; because this public appeal to your judgment will show that I do not found my hopes of approbation upon the ignorance of my readers, and that I fear his censure least whose knowledge is most extensive. I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, R. JAMES."-BosWELL. written, or assisted in writing, the proposals for this work; and being very fond of the study of physic, in which James was his master, he furnished some of the articles. He, however, certainly wrote for it the Dedication to Dr. Mead †, which is conceived with great address, to conciliate the patronage of that very eminent man.' It has been circulated 2, I know not with what authenticity, that Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull writer, and said of him, “Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties." That the literature of this country is much indebted to Birch's activity and diligence, must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen that Johnson honoured 3 him with a Greek Epigram; and his correspondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean opinion of him. - JOHNSON TO BIRCH. "Thursday, Sept. 29. 1743. "SIR, I hope you will excuse me for troubling you on an occasion on which I know not whom else I can apply to: I am at a loss for the lives and characters of Earl Stanhope, the two Craggs, and the minister Sunderland; and beg that you will inform [me] where I may find them, and send any pamphlets, &c. relating to them to Mr. Cave, to be perused for a few days, by, Sir, your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON." His circumstances were at this time embarrassed; yet his affection for his mother was so warm, and so liberal, that he took upon himself a debt of hers, which, though small in itself, was then considerable to him. appears from the following letter which he wrote to Mr. Levett, of Lichfield, the original of which lies now before me. JOHNSON TO MR. LEVETT, This December 1. 1743. "SIR, I am extremely sorry that we have encroached so much upon your forbearance with respect to the interest, which a great perplexity of affairs hindered me from thinking of with that attention that I ought, and which I am not immediately able to remit to you, but will pay it (I 2 By Hawkins. Life, p. 209. There seems no reason to doubt that Dr. Birch's conversation exceeded his writings in vivacity, but the phrase itself is, as Mr. P. Cunningham observes, borrowed from Beau Nash, who said of himself that "his pen was a torpedo, which, when he grasped it, benumbed all his faculties." Goldsmith's Life of Nash.— CROKER. 3 No doubt, as the case has turned out, Birch is honoured by Johnson's compliment; but at the time when it was written, Birch was of eminence in the literary world, and (what affected Johnson more nearly) high in the estimation of Cave; and Johnson's learned flatteries of him, Miss Carter and Mr. Urban, were all probably prompted by a desire to propitiate Cave.- CROKER. 4 Dr. Johnson was no doubt an affectionate son, and even to indifferent persons the most charitable of men; but the praises which Boswell lavishes on this particular affair are uncalled for, as the debt was hardly so much Johnson's mother's as his own. It has already appeared that he had something of his father's property to expect after his mother's death (p. 19.); this was the house in Lichfield think twelve pounds) in two months. I look upon this, and on the future interest of that mortgage, as my own debt; and beg that you will be pleased to give me directions how to pay it, and not to mention it to my dear mother. If it be necessary to pay this in less time, I believe I can do it; but I take two months for certainty, and beg an answer whether you can allow me so much time. I think myself very much obliged to your forbearance, and shall esteem it a great happiness to be able to serve you. I have great opportunities of dispersing any thing that you may think it proper to make public. I will give a note for the money, payable at the time mentioned, to any one here that you shall appoint. I am, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON. "At Mr. Osborne's, bookseller, in Gray's Inn." It does not appear that he wrote any thing in 1744 for the Gentleman's Magazine, but the Preface. His life of Barretier was now republished in a pamphlet by itself. But he produced one work this year, fully sufficient to maintain the high reputation which he had acquired. This was The Life of Richard Savage; "* a man, of whom it is difficult to speak impartially, without wondering that he was for some time the intimate companion of Johnson; for his character was marked by profligacy, insolence, and ingratitude: yet, as he undoubtedly had a warm and vigorous, though unregulated mind, had seen life in all which was, it seems, mortgaged to Mr. Levett: by the nonpayment of the interest Levett would have been entitled to get possession of the property; and in that case Johnson would have lost his reversion, so that he very justly says, that he looks upon this and the future interest on the mortgage as his own debt.”- CROKER. 1 In this and the two next years, Mr. Boswell has not assigned to Johnson any contributions to the Gentleman's Magazine; yet there seems little doubt that from his connection with that work he derived, for some years, the chief and almost the only means of subsistence for himself and his wife: perhaps he may have acted as general editor with an annual allowance, and he no doubt employed himself on more literary works than have been acknowledged In this point the public loss is, perhaps, not great. What he was unwilling to avow, we need not be very solicitous to discover. Indeed, his personal history is, about this period, a blank, hidden, it is to be feared, in the obscurity of indigence - if there was not also some political motive for concealment. (See post, p. 54. n. 2.) - ČROKER. 2 As a specimen of Savage's temper, I insert the following letter from him to a noble Lord [Tyrconnel], to whom he was under great obligations, but who, on account of his bad conduct, was obliged to discard him. The original was in the hands of the late Francis Cockayne Cust, Esq., one of bis Majesty's counsel learned in the law: "Right Honourable BRUTE and BOOBY, -I find you want (as Mr.is pleased to hint) to swear away my life, that is the Efe of your creditor, because he asks you for a debt. The public shall soon be acquainted with this, to judge whether you are not fitter to be an Irish evidence, than to be an Irish peer. I defy and despise you. I am, your determined adversary, R. S."- BOSWELL. 3 Sir John Hawkins gives the world to understand, that Johnson," being an admirer of genteel manners, was captivated by the address and demeanour of Savage, who, as to bis exterior, was, to a remarkable degree, accomplished."-Hawkins's Life, p. 52. But Sir John's notions of gentility mast appear somewhat ludicrous, from his stating the followIng circumstance as presumptive evidence that Savage was a good swordsman: "That he understood the exercise of a gentleman's weapon, may be inferred from the use made of it in that rash encounter related in his Life." The dexterity bere alluded to was, that Savage, in a nocturnal fit of drunkenness, stabbed a man at a coffee-house, and killed bin: for which he was tried at the Old Bailey, and found guilty of murder. Johnson, indeed, describes him as having " a grave and many deportment, a solemn dignity of mien; but which, its varieties, and been much in the company of the statesmen and wits of his time, he could communicate to Johnson an abundant supply of such materials as his philosophical curiosity most eagerly desired; and as Savage's misfortunes and misconduct had reduced him to the lowest state of wretchedness as a writer for bread, his visits to St. John's Gate naturally brought Johnson and him together.3 It is melancholy to reflect, that Johnson and Savage were sometimes in such extreme indigence, that they could not pay for a lodging; so that they have wandered together whole nights in the street. Yet in these almost incredible scenes of distress, we may suppose that Savage mentioned many of the anecdotes with which Johnson afterwards enriched the life of his unhappy companion, and those of other poets. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that one night in particular, when Savage and he walked round St. James's Square for want of a lodging, they were not at all depressed by their situation; but, in high spirits and brimful of patriotism, traversed the square for several hours, inveighed against the minister, and “resolved they would stand by their country." I am afraid, however, that by associating with Savage, who was habituated to the dissipation and licentiousness of the town, Johnson, upon a nearer aoquaintance, softened into an engaging easi ness of manners." How highly Johnson admired him for that knowledge which he himself so much cultivated, and what kindness he entertained for him, appears from the following lines in the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1738, which I am assured were written by Johnson: "Ad Ricardum Savage. Humani studium generis cui pectore fervet O colat humanum te foveatque genus.”—. BOSWELL. "Thou, whose warm heart for all mankind can beat, In all mankind should friends and favourers meet."-C. Boswell should have stated his authority for attributing this poor and obscure couplet to Johnson; and he should not have suppressed the absurd original title — "Ad Ricardum Savage, Arm. "To Richard Savage, Esq.- the lover of the Human race." I am reluctant to believe that Johnson wrote this sad stuff, which was certainly written shortly before Johnson became personally acquainted with Savage; and if it be Johnson's, was probably intended to propitiate Cave, in whose favour Johnson supposed Savage to stand high. The exact date of the commencement of this acquaintance is no where given; but it was not earlier than April, 1738. This is of some importance; because Johnson has been reproached with an early intimacy with this profligate and unhappy man. In the Gent. Mag., 1785, p. 476., he is said to have written Savage's defence at his trial, and is called "an apologist for murder; and another writer (p. 679.) takes some pains to extenuate that culpable fact. Now the trial was in 1727-8, ten years before Johnson ever saw Savage. 4 The following striking proof of Johnson's extreme indigence, when he published the Life of Savage, was communicated to Mr. Boswell, by Mr. Richard Stowe, of Apsley, in Bedfordshire, from the information of Mr. Walter Harte, author of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus: -"Soon after Savage's Life was published, Mr. Harte dined with Edward Cave, and occasionally praised it. Soon after, meeting him, Cave said, You made man very happy t'other day.'How could that be?' says Harte; nobody was there but ourselves.' Cave answered, by reminding him that a plate of victuals was sent behind a screen, which was to Johnson, dressed so shabbily, that he did not choose to appear; but, on hearing the conversation, he was highly delighted with the encomiums on his book."- MALONE E though his good principles remained steady, did not entirely preserve that conduct, for which, in days of greater simplicity, he was remarked by his friend Mr. Hector; but was imperceptibly led into some indulgences which occasioned much distress to his virtuous mind.1 That Johnson was anxious that an authentic and favourable account of his extraordinary friend should first get possession of the public attention, is evident from a letter which he wrote in the Gentleman's Magazine for August of the year preceding its publication. TO MR. URBAN. "As your collections show how often you have owed the ornaments of your poetical pages to the correspondence of the unfortunate and ingenious Mr. Savage, I doubt not but you have so much regard to his memory as to encourage any design that may have a tendency to the preservation of it from insults or calumnies; and therefore, with some degree of assurance, intreat you to inform the public, that his Life will speedily be published by a person who was favoured with his confidence, and received from himself an account of most of the transactions which he proposes to mention, to the time of his retirement to Swansea in Wales. "From that period, to his death in the prison of Bristol, the account will be continued from materials still less liable to objection; his own letters, and those of his friends, some of which will be inserted in the work, and abstracts of others subjoined in the margin. "It may be reasonably imagined, that others may have the same design; but as it is not credible that they can obtain the same materials, it must be expected they will supply from invention the want of intelligence; and that, under the title of The Life of Savage,' they will publish only a novel, filled with romantic adventures and imaginary amours. You may, therefore, perhaps, gratify the lovers of truth and wit, by giving me leave to inform them in your Magazine, that my account will be published in 8vo. by Mr. Roberts, in Warwick Lane." [No signature.] In February, 1744, it accordingly came forth from the shop of Roberts, between whom and 1 I find no trace of any peculiar distress of mind connected with this period. There is none in his Prayers and Meditations and I am convinced by many circumstances that this night-walking, and all the other supposed consequences of his very short acquaintance with Savage (little more than a year) have been much exaggerated even by Boswell. Hawkins very uncharitably attributes to the influence of Savage a separation which took place (as he alone asserts) between Johnson and his wife about this period. The whole course of Johnson's life and conduct warrants us in supposing that such temporary separation (if Hawkins be even so far correct) must have been produced by pecuniary distress, and not by an interruption of affection. He would be naturally solicitous that his wife should find in her own family a temporary refuge from the difficulties with which he was struggling; but on the other hand, we shall see presently (p. 75.) an accusation against Mrs. Johnson, that she indulged herself with country lodgings and good living, at Hampstead, while her husband was starving in London. All these stories contra. dict one another; and, indeed, even the sour Hawkins adds, that Johnson was too strict in his morals to have afforded his wife any reasonable cause for jealousies. Life, 316.— Croker. 2 I find that J. Roberts printed in April, 1744, "The Life of Barretier," probably a reprint from the "Gentleman's Magazine," but I have not seen it. Cave sometimes permitted the name of another printer to appear on the titlepages of books of which he was, in fact, the publisher, as Johnson I have not traced any connection, except the casual one of this publication. In Johnson's "Life of Savage," although it must be allowed that its moral is the reverse of"Respicere exemplar vitæ morumque jubebo,” a very useful lesson is inculcated, to guard men of warm passions from a too free indulgence of them; and the various incidents are related in so clear and animated a manner, and illuminated throughout with so much philosophy, that it is one of the most interesting narratives in the English language.3 Sir Joshua Reynolds told me, that upon his return from Italy he met with it in Devonshire, knowing nothing of its author, and began to read it while he was standing with his arm leaning against a chimney-piece. It seized his attention so strongly, that, not being able to lay down the book till he had finished it, when he attempted to move, he found his arm totally benumbed. The rapidity with which this work was composed is a wonderful circumstance. Johnson has been heard to say [Aug. 11. 1773], “I wrote fortyeight of the printed octavo pages of the Life of Savage at a sitting; but then I sat up all night." He exhibits the genius of Savage to the best advantage, in the specimens of his poetry which he has selected, some of which are of uncommon merit. We, indeed, occasionally find such vigour and such point, as might make us suppose that the generous aid of Johnson had been imparted to his friend. Mr. Thomas Warton made this remark to me; and, in support of it, quoted from the poem entitled "The Bastard," a line in which the fancied superiority of one "stamped in Nature's mint with extasy," is contrasted with a regular lawful descendant of some great and ancient family: "No tenth transmitter of a foolish face." But the fact is, that this poem was published some years before Johnson and Savage were acquainted.+ It is remarkable, that in this biographical disquisition there appears a very strong symp Miss Carter's "Examen " was printed under the name of Dodd. In this case the fact is certain; as it appears from the letter to Cave, August, 1743, that Johnson sold the work to him even before it was written. - CROKER. Cave was the purchaser of the copyright, and the following is a copy of Johnson's receipt for the money:-"The 14th day of December, received of Mr. Ed. Cave the sum of fifteen guineas, in full, for compiling and writing The Life of Richard Savage, Esq.' deceased; and in full for all materials thereto applied, and not found by the said Edward Cave. I say, received by me, SAM. JOHNSON. Dec. 14. 1743. WRIGHT. 3 It gives, like Raphael's Lazarus or Murillo's Beggar, pleasure as a work of art, while the original could only excite disgust. Johnson has spread over Savage's character the veil of stately diction and extenuating phrases, but cannot prevent the observant reader from seeing that the subject of this biographical essay was, as Boswell calls him, ** an ungrateful and insolent profligate ;" and so little do his works show of that poetical talent for which he had been celebrated, that, if it were not for Johnson's embalming partiality, his works would probably be now as unheard of as they are unread. — CROKER. 4 The Bastard: A Poem, inscribed with all due reverence to Mrs. Bret, once Countess of Macclesfield. By Richard Savage, son of the late Earl Rivers. London, printed for T. Worrall, 1728." fol. first edition. P. CUNNINGHAM tom of Johnson's prejudice against players; a prejudice which may be attributed to the following causes: first, the imperfection of his organs, which were so defective that he was not susceptible of the fine impressions which theatrical excellence produces upon the generality of mankind; secondly, the cold rejection of his tragedy; and, lastly, the brilliant success of Garrick, who had been his pupil, who had come to London at the same time with him, not in a much more prosperous state than himself, and whose talents he undoubtedly rated low, compared with his own. His being outstripped by his pupil in the race of immediate fame, as well as of fortune, probably made him feel some indignation, as thinking, that whatever might be Garrick's merits in his art, the reward was too great when compared with what the most successful efforts of literary labour could attain. At all periods of his life Johnson used to talk contemptuously of players; but in this work he speaks of them with peculiar acrimony; for which, perhaps, there was formerly too much reason, from the licentious and dissolute manners of those engaged in that profession. It is but justice to add, that in our own time such a change has taken place, that there is no longer room for such an unfavourable distinction. Ilis schoolfellow and friend, Dr. Taylor, told me a pleasant anecdote of Johnson's triumphing over his pupil, David Garrick. When that great actor had played some little time at Goodman's Fields, Johnson and Taylor went to see him perform, and afterwards passed the evening at a tavern with him and old Giffard.' Johnson, who was ever depreciating stage-players, after censuring some mistakes in emphasis, which Garrick had committed in the course of that night's acting, said, "The players, Sir, have got a kind of rant, with which they run on, without any regard either to accent or emphasis." Both Garrick and Giffard were offended at this sarcasm, and endeavoured to refute it; upon which Johnson rejoined, "Well now, I'll give you something to speak, with which you are little acquainted, and then we shall see how just my observation is. That shall be the criterion. Let me hear you repeat the ninth Commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.'" Both tried at it, said Dr. Taylor, and both mistook the emphasis, which should be upon not and Giffard was the manager of Goodman's Fields playhouse, where Garrick made his first appearance, Oct. 19. 1741, in the character of Richard the Third.-WRIGHT. 91 suspect Dr. Taylor was inaccurate in this statement. The emphasis should be equally upon shalt and not, as both four to form the negative injunction; and false witness, like the other acts prohibited in the Decalogue, should not be marked by ang peculiar emphasis, but only be distinctly nated. — BOSWELL. A moderate emphasis should be placed on false.-KEARNEY. Sheridan, in his "Lectures on the Art of Reading."(p. 258.) places the emphasis wholly on faive - MARKLAND. Here, on those six words, Thou shalt at bear false witness, we have six authorities Drs. Johnan, Taylor, and Kearney, and Messrs. Giffard, Sheridan, Boswell with each a different emphasis. This diversity seems to arise from the fact, that in these awful and com false witness. Johnson put them right, and enjoyed his victory with great glee. His "Life of Savage" was no sooner published, than the following liberal praise was given to it, in "The Champion," a periodical paper: "This pamphlet is, without flattery to its author, as just and well-written a piece of its kind as I ever saw; so that at the same time that it highly deserves, it certainly stands very little in need of this recommendation. As to the history of the unfortunate person, whose memoirs compose this work, it is certainly penned with equal accuracy and spirit, of which I am so much the better judge, as I know many of the facts mentioned to Besides, it is not only the story of Mr. Savage, but be strictly true, and very fairly related. innumerable incidents relating to other persons, and other affairs, which renders this a very amusing, and, withal, a very instructive and valuable performance. The author's observations are short, significant, and just, as his narrative is remarkably smooth and well disposed. His reflections open to all the recesses of the human heart; and, in a word, a more just or pleasant, a more engaging or a more improving treatise, on all the excellencies and defects of human nature, is scarce to be found in our own, or, perhaps, any other language.": Johnson's partiality for Savage made him entertain no doubt of his story, however extraordinary and improbable. It never occurred to him to question his being the son of the Countess of Macclesfield, of whose unrelenting barbarity he so loudly complained, and the particulars of which are related in so strong and affecting a manner in Johnson's Life of him. Johnson was certainly well warranted in publishing his narrative, however offensive it might be to the lady and her relations; because her alleged unnatural and cruel conduct to her son, and shameful avowal of guilt, were stated in a Life of Savage now lying before me, which came out so early as 1727, and no attempt had been made to confute it, or to punish the author or printer as a libeller: but for the honour of human nature, we should be glad to find the shocking tale not true; and from a respectable gentleman 5 connected with the lady's family, I have received such information and remarks, as, joined to my own inquiries, will, I think, render it at least somewhat doubtful, especially when we consider that it must have originated from the person himself who went by the name of Richard Savage. prehensive commands of God himself, there is no room for any peculiar emphasis: in steal not-murder not — bear not false witness all the words are of equal value towards expressing the Divine Command.-CROKER. 3 This character of the "Life of Savage" was not written by Fielding, as has been supposed, but most probably by Ralph, who, as appears from the minutes of the partners of "The Champion," in the possession of Mr. Reed, of StapleInn, succeeded Fielding in his share of the paper, before the date of that eulogium. - BOSWELL. 4 Anne Mason, wife of Charles Gerrard, Earl of Macclesfield, of the first creation. He died in 1704, and was succeeded by his brother, who also dying without issue, the title became extinct-CROKER. 5 The late Francis Cockayne Cust, Esq., one of his Majesty's counsel.-BOSWELL. He died Nov. 30. 1791.-WRIGHT. 2. It is stated, that "Lady Macclesfield, having lived for some time upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a public confession of adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of obtaining her liberty;" and Johnson, assuming this to be true, stigmatises her with indignation, as "the wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adultress." But I have perused the Journals of both houses of Parliament at the period of her divorce, and there find it authentically ascertained, that so far from voluntarily submitting to the ignominious charge of adultery, she made a strenuous defence by her Counsel; the bill having been first moved the 15th of January, 1697-8, in the House of Lords, and proceeded on (with various applications for time to bring up witnesses at a distance, &c.) at intervals, till the 3d of March, when it passed. It was brought to the Commons, by a message from the Lords, the 5th of March, proceeded on the 7th, 10th, 11th, 14th, and 15th, on which day, after a full examination of witnesses on both sides, and hearing of Counsel, 1 Mr. Cust's reasoning, with respect to the filiation of Richard Savage, always appeared to me extremely unsatisfactory; and is entirely overturned by the following decisive observations, for which the reader is indebted to the unwearied researches of Mr. Bindley. The story on which Mr. Cust so much relies, that Savage was a supposititious child, not the son of Lord Rivers and Lady Macclesfield, but the offspring of a shoemaker, introduced in consequence of her real son's death, was, without doubt, grounded on the circumstance of Lady Macclesfield having, in 1696, previously to the birth of Savage, had a daughter by the Earl Rivers, who died in her infancy; a fact which, as the same gentleman observes to me, was proved in the course of the proceedings on Lord Macclesfield's Bill of Divorce. Most fictions of this kind have some admixture of truth in them. -MALONE. From "The Earl of Macclesfield's Case," which, in 1697-8, was presented to the Lords, in order to procure an act of divorce, it appears that "Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, under the name of Madam Smith, was delivered of a male child in Fox Court, near Brook Street, Holborn, by Mrs. Wright, a midwife, on Saturday, the 16th of January, 1696-7, at six o'clock in the morning, who was baptized on the Monday following, and registered by the name of Richard, the son of John Smith, by Mr. Burbridge, assistant to Dr. Manningham's curate for St. Andrew's, Holborn: that the child was christened on Monday, the 18th of January, in Fox Court; and, from the privacy, was supposed by Mr. Burbridge to be a by-blow or bastard."" It also appears, that during her delivery, the lady wore a mask; and that Mary Pegler on the next day after the baptism (Tuesday) took a male child, whose mother was called Madam Smith, from the house of Mrs. Pheasant, who went by the name of Mrs. Lee, in Fox Court [running from Brook Street into Gray's Iun Lane.] it was reported without amendments, passed, and carried to the Lords. That Lady Macclesfield was convicted of the crime of which she was accused, cannot be denied; but the question now is, whether the person calling himself Richard Savage was her son. It has been said3, that when Earl Rivers was dying, and anxious to provide for all his natural children, he was informed by Lady Macclesfield, that her son by him was dead. Whether, then, shall we believe that this was a malignant lie, invented by a mother to prevent her own child from receiving the bounty of his father, which was accordingly the consequence, if the person whose life Johnson wrote was her son; or shall we not rather believe that the person who then assumed the name of Richard Savage was an impostor, being in reality the son of the shoemaker, under whose wife's care Lady Macclesfield's child was placed; that after the death of the real Richard Savage, he attempted to personate him; and that the fraud being known to Lady Macclesfield, he was therefore repulsed by her with just resentment? There is a strong circumstance in support of the last supposition; though it has been mentioned as an aggravation of Lady Macclesfield's unnatural conduct, and that is, her having prevented him from obtaining the benefit of a legacy left to him by Mrs. Lloyd, his godmother. For if there was such a legacy left, his not being able to obtain payment of it must be imputed to his consciousness that he was not the real person. The just inference should be, that by the death of Lady Macclesfield's child before its godmother, the legacy became lapsed, and therefore that Johnson's Richard Savage was an impostor. If he had a title to the legacy, he could not Conformable to this statement is the entry in the register of St. Andrew's, Holhorn, which is as follows, and which unquestionably records the baptism of Richard Savage, to whom Lord Rivers gave his own Christian name, prefixed to the assumed surname of his mother:-"Jan. 1696-7. Richard, son of John Smith and Mary, in Fox Court, in Gray's Inn Lane, baptized the 18th."- Bindley. Mr. Cust and Mr. Boswell's share of the argument and assertions in the text not being distinguished, it is not pos sible to say which of them hazarded the erroneous statement relative to the parish register of St. Andrew's, which certainly does contain what the text asserts is not to be found in it. If the maxim, therefore, falsum in uno, falsum in omnibus, were to be applied to them, all their observations must be rejected. On the other hand, Mr. Bindley's researches seem only to prove what has been generally admitted, that Lady Macclesfield had a child, by Lord Rivers, baptized by the name of Richard; but it does not disprove the assertion, that this child died in its infancy, and that Sava e, when between seventeen and eighteen, assumed its name. Savage, in a letter to Miss Carter, admits that he did pass under another name till he was seventeen years of age, but not the name of any person he lived with.-Life of Mrs. Carter, vol. i. p. 59. 2 No divorce can be obtained in the courts on mere confession of the party. There must be proofs.- KEARNEY 3 By Johnson, in his Life of Savage. -MALONE. - CROKER. 4 This, as an accurate friend remarks to me, is not correctly stated. The shoemaker under whose care Savage was placed, with a view to his becoming his apprentice. was not the husband of his nurse. See Johnson's Life uf Savage.-J. BOSWELL, jun. |