[160] Mr. Tyrwhitt, Mr. Warton, Mr. Malone. BOSWELL. Johnson wrote on May 16:—'Steevens seems to be connected with Tyrwhitt in publishing Chatterton's poems; he came very anxiously to know the result of our inquiries, and though he says he always thought them forged, is not well pleased to find us so fully convinced.' Piozzi Letters, i. 326.
[161] Catcot had been anticipated by Smith the weaver (2 Henry VI. iv. 2)—'Sir, he made a chimney in my father's house, and the bricks are alive at this day to testify it; therefore deny it not.'
[162] Horace Walpole says (Works, iv. 224) that when he was 'dining at the Royal Academy, Dr. Goldsmith drew the attention of the company with an account of a marvellous treasure of ancient poems lately discovered at Bristol, and expressed enthusiastic belief in them; for which he was laughed at by Dr. Johnson, who was present…. You may imagine we did not at all agree in the measure of our faith; but though his credulity diverted me, my mirth was soon dashed; for, on asking about Chatterton, he told me he had been in London, and had destroyed himself.'
[163] Boswell returned a few days earlier. On May 1 he wrote to Temple: —'Luckily Dr. Taylor has begged of Dr. Johnson to come to London, to assist him in some interesting business; and Johnson loves much to be so consulted, and so comes up. I am now at General Paoli's, quite easy and gay, after my journey; not wearied in body or dissipated in mind. I have lodgings in Gerrard Street, where cards are left to me; but I lie at the General's, whose attention to me is beautiful.' Letters of Boswell, p. 234. Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on May 6:—'Tomorrow I am to dine, as I did yesterday, with Dr. Taylor. On Wednesday I am to dine with Oglethorpe; and on Thursday with Paoli. He that sees before him to his third dinner has a long prospect.' Piozzi Letters, i. 320.
[164] See ante, May 12, 1775.
[165] In the Dramatis Personæ of the play are 'Aimwell and Archer, two gentlemen of broken fortunes, the first as master, and the second as servant.' See ante, March 23, 1776, for Garrick's opinion of Johnson's 'taste in theatrical merit.'
[166] Johnson is speaking of the Respublicæ Elzevirianæ, either 36 or 62 volumes. 'It depends on every collector what and how much he will admit.' Ebert's Bibl. Dict. iii. 1571. See ante, ii. 7.
[167] See post, under Oct. 20, 1784, for 'the learned pig.'
[168] In the first edition Mme. de Sévigné's name is printed Sevigné, in the second Sevigé, in the third Sevigne. Authors and compositors last century troubled themselves little about French words.
[169] Milton had put the same complaint into Adam's mouth:—