stance, Lissieux, the chapter of Rouen, and other dignitaries. She was first excommunicated, and then, with the usual tender mercy of the holy office, delivered over to the secular arm, to be burnt; a bloody inhuman sentence, which was executed after the proceedings of these enlightened men had been examined and confirm ed. The trial, though conducted with the solemnity of legal and ecclesiastical forms, was evidently directed by the ungenerous rancour of an exasperated enemy, who had suffered from her superior courage and abilities. The Maid of Orleans has been accused of indiscriminate amours, but this accusation may be attributed partly to the malice of an enemy, and partly to an ineffectual effort the unhappy woman made to prolong her life by pleading pregnancy, Her

incontinence, which was never proved, could never have escaped the penetration of Voltaire. It is to be lamented that posthumous justice cannot extinguish the flames of persecution; or mitigate the pains inflicted by cruelty and nonsense on exalted worth. If it were permitted beyond the grave to know what passes in those scenes we have left behind, it must have afforded some consolation to the injured spirit of Joan of Arc, that her innocence of the crimes alledged against her, was publicly declared by Pope Celestine the Third. Ample justice has also been done to her memory, as a patriot and warrior, by suc ceeding poets and historians: of these Voltaire is the most conspicuous for fine poetry, debased by profane allusion. This extraordinary young

woman

woman was burnt alive in 1431, to the great disgrace of her enemies. JOHNSON, (Dr. SAMUEL) one of the most cele. brated writers this country has produced, was born at Litchfield, in 1706. His father was a bookseller in that city, and had no other child, except Nathaniel, who died in 1737. Samuel was educated partly at the free-school of Litchfield, and partly under Mr. Wentworth, at Stourbridge. On the 31st of October, 1728, he was entered of Pembroke College, Oxford, where he remained till 1731, when his poverty obliged him to quit the University. Soon after he lost his father, at whose death he found himself possessed of no more than 201. He then accepted the place of usher of the school at Bosworth, but disliking the behaviour of the principal, he soon relinquished his situation, and removed to the house of a printer at Birmingham, where he translated Lobo's Account of Abyssinia. In 1735, he married Mrs. Porter, a widow lady of Birmingham, and in the same year opened a school at Edicel, near Litchfield; but this scheme proved unsuccessful, as he obtained only three scholars, one of whom was David Garrick. About this time he be gan his tragedy of Irene; and in 1737, he set out for the metropolis, accompanied by Mr. Garrick. On his arrival there, he formed a connection with Mr. Cave, the publisher of the Gentleman's Magazine, for which miscellany he continued to write several years; his principal department being that of furnishing an account of the parliamentary debates.

But

the

the names of the speakers were not at that time announced; initials being all the publishers ventured to display. It is said, indeed, that the Doctor penned many of the senator's speeches without attending St. Stephen's chapel to hear them delivered, or without going out of his apartment. The members, however, lost no reputation by them. Whether he anticipated, as Mr. Tickel has lately done, does not appear. About this time he contracted an intimacy with Mr. Savage; and Johnson has immortalized the name of that unfortunate wanderer by a very eloquent piece of biography. In 1738, appeared an anonymous poem of his, under the title of "London," being an imitation of Juvenal's third satire. This was well received by the public, and commended by Mr. Pope. He made an attempt to get elected master of a free-school in Leicestershire, the salary of which was 60l. a year; but the statutes of the school, requiring the person who should be elected to have taken the degree of Master of Arts, he could not be admitted a candidate. He was now compelled to adopt the profession of an author for his subsistence. In 1747, he published proposals for an edition of Shakespeare, and the plan of his English Dictionary; for the latter of which, the booksellers had agreed to pay him 16751. viz. 1500 guineas; and the work was countenanced by the Earl of Chesterfield. In 1749, Garrick brought his friend's tragedy of Irene on the stage at Drurylane; but, though it is an excellent composition," and affords great pleasure in the closet, it wants

dra

dramatic ease and effect. In 1750, he commenced "The Rambler," a periodical paper, which was continued till 1752; soon after the close of which he lost his wife, a circumstance which greatly affected him. In 1755, appeared his Dictionary, previous to which the University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of M.A. Lord Chesterfield endeavoured to promote the sale of this elaborate work, by writing two papers in its favour in the World; but as he had neglected to do any thing till the eve of its publication, Johnson treated his lordship with indignant contempt. The money received for this great work did not relieve him from his embarrassments, for in the following year he was arrested for five guineas, which sum was discharged by Mr. Samuel Richardson, the printer. In 1758, he began the Idler, a periodical paper of great merit. On the death of his mother in 1759, he wrote the romance of "Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia," to defray the expences of her funeral. Dr: Johnson's style in prose is nervous, and classically correct; in verse, his numbers are harmonious and musical, yet bold and poignant; and though he has favoured the world with but little in verse, yet that little, like diamonds of the first water, will ever be held in the highest estimation, whilst gems of larger bulk, with less intrinsic worth, are scarcely looked upon. When Mr. Pope had read his London," and received no satisfactory answer to repeated enquiries concerning its author, his observation

was

was, "It cannot be long before my curiosity will be gratified; the writer of this poem will soon be deterré." In short, while the name of Juvenal shall be remembered, Johnson's improved imitation of him, in his two satires, entitled "London," and "The Vanity of Human Wishes," must be read with delight. His imagination is amazingly extensive, and his knowlege of men and manners unbounded, as may be plainly traced in his Eastern Stories in the Rambler, in which he has not only supported to the utmost, the sublimity of the Eastern manner of expression, but even has greatly excelled any of the original writers in the fertility of his invention, the conduct of his plots, and the justness and strength of his expressions. In 1762, his Majesty settled on him a pension of 3001. per annum, without any stipulation, with respect to his future literary exertions. Johnson had the honour of a conversation with the king in the library of Buckingham-house, in February, 1765, when his Majesty asked him if he intended to publish any more works? The Doctor answered, that he thought he had written enough. "I should think so too," said the king,, If you had not written so well." In 1771, his friend Mr. Strahan, attempted to bring him into Parliament, but without success. In 1773, he tra→ velled with Mr. Boswell, to the Western Islands of Scotland, and published an account of his journey after his return. In 1775, the University of Oxford sent him the degree of L.L.D. by diploma, which had before been. 'conferred upon him by the University of

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