other circumstances of reasonable suspicion, except what is related by Iago of Cassio's warm expressions concerning Desdemona in his sleep; and that depended entirely upon the assertion of one man. No, Sir, I think Cthello has more moral than almost any play."

Sir Joshua Reynolds mentioned Mr. Cumberland's Odes, which were then just published. JOHNSON." Why, Sir, they would have been' thought as good as Odes commonly are, if Cum berland had not put his name to them; but á name immediately draws censure, unless it be a name that bears down every thing before it. Nay Cumberland has made his Odes subsidiary to the fame of another man; they might have run well enough by themselves, but he has not only loaded them with a name, but has madė them carry double."

Johnson said, "The little volumes entitled Respublica,' which are very well done, were a bookseller's work."

Of Chatterton, he said, "This is the most. extraordinary young man that has encountered my knowledge. It is wonderful how the whelp has written such things."

Speaking of the ancient poets, he observed, "Theocritus is not deserving of very high respect as a writer; as to the pastoral part, Virgil is very evidently superior. He wrote when

there had been a larger influx of knowledge into the world than when Theocritus lived. Theo critus does not abound in description, though living in a beautiful country; the manners painted are coarse and gross. Virgil has much more description, more sentiment, more of nature, and more of art. Some of the most excellent parts of Theocritus are where Castor and Pollux, going with the other Argonauts, land on the Bebrycian coast, and there fall into a dispute with Amycus, the king of that country; which is as well conducted as Euripides could have done it; and the battle is well related. Afterwards they carry off a woman, whose two brothers come to recover her, and expostulate with Castor and Pollux on their injustice; but they pay no regard to the brothers, and a battle ensues, where Castor and his brother are triumphant. Theocritus seems not to have seen that the brothers have the advantage in their argument over his Argonaut heroes.- The Sicilian Gossips' is a piece of merit. Callimachus is a writer of little excellence. The chief thing to be learned from him is his account of Rites and Mythology, which though desirable to be known for the sake of understanding other parts of ancient authors, is the least pleasing or valuable part of their writings."

"Mattaire's account of the Stephani is a heavy book. He seems to have been a puzzle-headed

man, with a large share of scholarship, but with little geometry or logic in his head, without method, and possessed of little genius. He wrote Latin verses from time to time, and published a set in his old age which he called Senilia;' in which he shews so little learning or taste in writing, as to make Carteret a dactyl. In matters of genealogy it is necessary to give the bare names as they are; but in poetry, and in prose of any elegance in the writing, they require to have inflection given to them. His book of the Dialects. is a sad heap of confusion; the only way to write on them is to tabulate them with Notes, added at the bottom of the page, and references."

Huggins, the translator of Ariosto, and Mr. Thomas Warton, in the early part of his literary life, had a dispute concerning that poet, of whom Mr. Warton, in his 'Observations on Spenser's Fairy Queen,' gave some account, which Huggins attempted to answer with violence, and said, "I will militate no longer against his nescience." Huggins was master of the subject, but wanted expression. Mr. Warton's knowledge of it was then imperfect, but his manner lively and elegant. Johnson said, "It appears to me, that Huggins has ball without powder, and Warton powder without ball."

Johnson used at one time to go occasionally to

the Green-room of Drury-lane Theatre, where he was much regarded by the players, and was very easy and facetious with them. He had a very high opinion of Mrs. Clive's comic powers, and conversed more with her than with any of them. He said, "Clive, Sir, is a good thing to sit by, she always understands what you say;" and she said of him, "I love to sit by Dr. Johns son, he always entertains me." One night, when The Recruiting Officer' was acted, he said to Mr. Holland, who had been expressing an apprehension that Dr. Johnson would disdain the works of Farquhar; "No, Sir, I think Farquhar a man whose writings have considerable merit."

Talking of the farce of High Life Below Stairs,' he said, "Here is a farce, which is really very diverting when you see it acted'; and yet one may read it, and not know that one has been reading any thing at all."

Johnson, who had done liberal justice to Warburton in his edition of Shakspeare, which was published during the life of that powerful writer, with still greater liberality took an opportunity, in the Life of Pope, of paying the tribute due to him, when he was no longer in "high place," but numbered with the dead.

Speaking of Boetius, who was the favourite writer of the middle ages, he said, it was very

surprising, that upon such a subject, and in such a situation, he should be magis philosophus quàm Christianus.

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Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy' (sajd Johnson) is a valuable work. It is, perhaps, overloaded with quotation. But there is great spirit and great power in what Burton says, when he writes from his own mind." He observed, that it was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.

Books of Travels having been mentioned, Johnson praised Pennant very highly. Dr. Percy (who was present), knowing himself to be the heir male of the ancient Percies, and having the warmest attachment to the noble House of North`umberland, could not sit quietly and hear a man praised, who had spoken disrespectfully of Alnwick-Castle, and the Duke's pleasure-grounds, especially as he thonght meanly of his Travels, He therefore opposed Johnson eagerly.-JOHNSON." Pennant, in what he has said of Alnwick, has done what he intended: he has made you very angry."-PERCY." He has said the garden is trim, which is representing it like a citizen's parterre, when the truth is, there is a very large extent of fine turf and gravel walks."-J. "According to your own account, Sir, Pennant is right. It is trim. Here is grass cut close, and gravel rolled smooth, Is not that trim? The