Pattison's Pope's Satires, p. 107. In the Life of Addison, Johnson mentioning Dr. Madden adds:—'a name which Ireland ought to honour.' Johnson's Works, vii. 455.
[943] See ante, p. 175. Hawkins writes (Life, p. 363):—'I congratulated him length, on his being now engaged in a work that suited his genius. His answer was:—"I look upon this as I did upon the Dictionary; it is all work, and my inducement to it is not love or desire of fame, but the want of money, which is the only motive to writing that I know of."'
[944] They have been reprinted by Mr. Malone, in the Preface to his edition of Shakspeare. BOSWELL.
[945] At Christmas, 1757, he said that he should publish about March, 1758 (post, Dec. 24, 1757). When March came he said that he should publish before summer (post, March 1, 1758).
[946] In what Johnson says of Pope's slow progress in translating the Iliad, he had very likely his own case in view. 'Indolence, interruption, business, and pleasure all take their turns of retardation; and every long work is lengthened by a thousand causes that can, and ten thousand that cannot be recounted. Perhaps no extensive and multifarious performance was ever effected within the term originally fixed in the undertaker's mind. He that runs against time has an antagonist not subject to casualties.' Johnson's Works, viii. 255. In Prior's Goldsmith (i. 238) we have the following extracts from letters written by Grainger (post, March 21, 1776) to Dr. Percy:—'June 27, 1758. I have several times called on Johnson to pay him part of your subscription [for his edition of Shakespeare]. I say, part, because he never thinks of working if he has a couple of guineas in his pocket; but if you notwithstanding order me, the whole shall be given him at once.' 'July 20, 1758. As to his Shakespeare, movet sed non promovet. I shall feed him occasionally with guineas.'
[947] Hawkins (Life, p. 440) says that 'Reynolds and some other of his friends, who were more concerned for his reputation than himself seemed to be, contrived to entangle him by a wager, or some other pecuniary engagement, to perform his task by a certain time.' Just as Johnson was oppressed by the engagement that he had made to edit Shakespeare, so was Cowper by his engagement to edit Milton. 'The consciousness that there is so much to do and nothing done is a burthen I am not able to bear. Milton especially is my grievance, and I might almost as well be haunted by his ghost, as goaded with such continual reproaches for neglecting him.' Southey's Cowper, vii. 163.
[948] From The Ghost, Bk. iii. 1. 801. Boswell makes two slight errors in quoting: 'You cash' should be 'their cash; and 'you know' should be 'we know.'
[949] See post, April 17, 1778.
[950] Mrs. Thrale writing to him in 1777, says:—'You would rather be sick in London than well in the country.' Piozzi Letters. i. 394. Yet Johnson, when he could afford to travel, spent far more time in the country than is commonly thought. Moreover a great part of each summer from 1766 to 1782 inclusive he spent at Streatham.
[951] The motto to this number