[186] See Gent. Mag. vol. lxx. p. 225. N.
[187] As my great friend is now become the subject of biography, it should be told, that every time I called upon Johnson during the time I was employed in collecting materials for this life and putting it together, he never suffered me to depart without some such farewell as this: “Don’t forget that rascal Tindal, sir. Be sure to hang up the atheist.” Alluding to this anecdote, which Johnson had mentioned to me.
[188] Dr. Johnson, in many cases, thought and directed differently, particularly in Young’s works. J.N.
[189] Not in the Tatler, but in the Guardian, May 9, 1713.
[190] See a letter from the duke of Wharton to Swift, dated 1717, in Swift’s works, in which he mentions Young being then in Ireland. J.B.N.
[191] Davies, in his life of Garrick, says 1720, and that it was produced thirty-three years after.
[192] Mr. Boswell discovered in this heavy piece of biography a successful imitation of Johnson’s style. An eminent literary character exclaimed, “No, no, it is not a good imitation of Johnson; it has all his pomp without his force; it has all the nodosities of the oak without its strength.” Endeavouring to express himself still more in Johnsonian phrase, he added, “It has all the contortions of the Sybil, without the inspiration.” See Boswell, iv. According to Malone, this eminent person was Burke, and the observation is assigned to him, without hesitation, in Prin’s Life. It has sometimes been attributed to G. Stevens. Ed.
[193] See Mrs. Piozzi’s Anecdotes, 162.
[194] Mallet’s William and Margaret was printed in Aaron Hill’s Plain Dealer, No. 36, July 24,1724 In its original state it was very different from what it is in the last edition of his works. Dr. J.
[195] See note on this passage of Pope’s life in the present edition.