haps fcarcely worth while to write down the converfation between him and a friend of that nation, who always refides in London, and who, at his return from the Hebrides, asked him, with a firm tone of voice, what he thought of his country? "That it is a very vile country, to be fure, fir;" (returned for anfwer Dr. Johnfon). Well, fir! replies the other, fomewhat mortified, God made it. Certainly he did (anfwers Mr. Johnfon again); but we must always remember that he made it for Scotchmen, and comparifons are odious, Mr. S-; but God made hell."

66

For conduct of this kind there can be no excufe: but his harfhnefs was fometimes extorted by folly and impertinence; fometimes by a deficiency in the refpect and deference which he always expected. Perhaps to this irritable temper we are indebted for a more extenfive acquaintance with two excellent qualities, viz. the good humour with which he fometimes returned from little temporary difgufts, and difplayed the

Irafci celerem, tamen ut placabilis effem;'

and that his public enemy was never his private one; that he would contend with, and fpeak feverely of the author, while e would value and efteem the man. An inftance of the former kind is the following.

'On another occafion, when he was mufing over the fire in our drawing room at Streatham, a young gentleman called to him fuddenly, and I fuppofe he thought difrefpectfully, in thefe words: Mr. Johnfon, would you advife me to marry?

I would advife no man to marry, fir, (returns for anfwer, in a very angry tone, Dr. Johnfon), who is not likely to propagate understanding ;" and fo left the room. Our companion looked confounded, I believe had fcarce recovered the confcioufnefs of his own exiftence, when Johníon came back, and drawing his chair among us, with altered looks and a foftened voice, joined in the general chat, infenfibly led the converfation to the fubject of marriage, where he laid himself out in a differtation fo ufeful, fo elegant, fo founded on the true knowledge of human life, and so adorned with beauty of fentiment, that no one ever recollected the offence, except to rejoice in its confequences.'

Of the latter, we shall only obferve, that, after all his violence against Offian, he fpoke refpectfully of Macpherson.

Though with fo little grace of manner, with fo little attention to the feelings of his companions, he prided himself on his good breeding. He once owned that he had never fought to pleafe till paft thirty years old; and we may add, that, except with particular favourites, and for very fhort periods, never attained it afterwards.

He certainly poffeffed little fenfibility; yet his departed friends he lamented with tenderness, though, in their illness,

he

he felt little, because he affected to believe they were not in danger. This may appear a barth, and unjustifiable infinuation; fo that we ought to give our reafons for it. The fenfibility which can feel the feparation must neceffarily dread the approaches towards it, and look, with terror, even on the probability of its happening. But Dr. Johnfon's mind was, in this refpect, peculiar. His reafon once tottered on its throne; and, though his mind was in genera! ftrong and comprehenfive, yet, on the fubject of death and a future ftate, his weaknefs was incredible, and his fuperftitious terrors frequently deftroyed both his judgment and refolution. From the fick bed, therefore, he turned with horror his mind had never wholly recovered from the fhock it had received; nor could he escape the reproaches of his friends, or of himself, but by denying that there was caufe for apprehenfion. Though thefe reproaches were delayed, they came with double force after the event; and, together with those feelings which the thoughts of the dead always infpired, produced very violent effects: few know, in every inftance, the fource of the tears, fhed by furvivors.

With little fenfibility, and lefs attention to the connections and fituations of perfons, he would decry the delicacy often neceffary in conferring a favour. From being fecluded in a court, adjoining to a crowded street, he thought free air of little fervice, and had an averfion to exercife: he felt little pleasure from a fine prospect, or a stately grove: the cascade fuggefted only the idea of the fish which might inhabit the fubjacent pond; and he said, the best garden was that which produced most roots and fruit. Yet this is the oracle from whom we were taught to receive decided opinions on the fubjects of taste; who feemed to be himself perfuaded that his decifions were feldom to be disputed.

Optat Ephipia Bos piger.'

Yet let us, with Mrs. Piozzi, conclude, that if all he said was rough, all he did was gentle. He was the zealous friend of the poor and diftreffed, though inactive in the little offices which were not of effential fervice to thofe who requested them. His life confifted of acts of virtue, as different circumftances called that virtue forth. No mean, wretched, wicked, or flightly culpable action débased a life adorned with every moral excellence, and, if we except humility, every Chriftian perfection. This is Mrs. Piozzi's opinion, and nearly her own words; we fhall only add our wishes, that every reader may go and do likewife.

But we must not leave the fair author without fome remarks. Her work is very entertaining, written in a pleafing

manner, and enlivened by the extemporaneous poetical effu fions of her friend, which are often executed with more delicacy and taste than we should have expected from what has been finished with greater care.

We think the first tranflation of the following epigram peculiarly happy, and prefer it to the many others which follow, even the more premeditated one of Johnson himself. friend, however, thinks differently.

• Sur un mince chryftal l'hyver conduit leurs pas,
Le precipice eft fous la glace;

Telle eft de nos plaifirs la legere furface,
Gliffez mortels; n'appayez pas.'

O'er ice the rapid fkaiter flies,
With fport above and death below;
Where mischief lurks in gay difguife,

Thus lightly touch and quickly go."

His

Yet Mrs. Piozzi has her errors: her friend would have told her, that her Anecdotes were too often deformed by colloquial barbarifms, and fome profeffional allufions, not quite correctly applied. It was fo comical,' tend the out-penfioners,' all that I could do,' alembicated productions,' began the averfion,' with many others: but we love to hasten through an unpleafing task. If the fale of her work had not been fo uncommonly rapid, we fhould have hoped that these errors would have been corrected in another edition; but the prefs must now move fafter than the pen. On the fubject of the difagreement, the lightly touches and quickly goes;' but her reasons are not very fatisfactory in the little affairs of the heart, we avoid an explanation with ourselves; is it surprising then that we avoid it with the world? It would have been impertinent to have enquired into the subject, if the lady had not introduced it, and affumed a foundation, which, in the fame volume, appears to be neither firm nor undifputed.

:

Mr. Thrale, fhe tells us, could make Dr. Johnson

Suppress many rough anfwers: he could likewife prevail on him to change his fhirt, his coat, or his plate, almoft before it came indifpenfably neceffary to the comfortable feelings of his friends: but as I never had any afcendency at all over Mr. Johnfon, except juft in the things that concerned his health, it grew extremely perplexing and difficult to live in the house with him when the mafter of it was no more; the worse, indeed, because his diflikes grew capricious; and he could fcarce bear to have any body come to the house whom it was abfolutely neceffary for me to fee.'

Again,

'I had been croffed in my intentions of going abroad, and found it convenient, før. every reafon of health, peace, and pe

cuniary

cuniary circumstances, to retire to Bath, where I knew Mr. Johnfon would not follow me, and where I could, for that rea fon, command fome little portion of time for my own ufe; a thing impoffible while I remained at Streatham or at London, as my hours, carriage, and fervants, had long been at his com mand, who would not rife in the morning till twelve o'clock perhaps, and oblige me to make breakfast for him till the bell rung for dinner, though much displeased if the toilet was neg lected, and though much of the time we paffed together was fpent in blaming or deriding, very justly, my neglect of economy, and waste of that money which might make many families happy. The original reafon of our connection, his particularly difordered health and fpirits, had been long at an end, and he had no other ailments than old age and general infirmity, which every profeffor of medicine was ardently zealous and generally attentive to palliate, and to contribute all in their power for the prolongation of a life fo valuable. Veneration for his virtue, reverence for his talents, delight in his converfation, and habitual endurance of a yoke my husband first put upon me, and of which he contentedly bore his fhare, for fixteen or feventeen years, made me go on fo long with Mr. Johnfon; but the perpetual confinement I will own to have been terrifying in the first years of our friendship, and irksome in the last; nor could I pretend to fupport it without help, when my coadjutor was no more.'

sick

In these paffages where Mrs. Piozzi is anxious to excuse herself, fhe forgets what had escaped from her pen in the interval between them; for fhe tells us that Dr. Johnson, or well, required lefs attention than I ever faw any human creature.' We have no language of our own for this little difference; fo that we must borrow from the modern Socrates, in the Anecdotes before us. Whoever wrote it (faid the doctor) could, if he chose it, make himself understood; but 'tis the letter of an embarraffed man, fir;' fhall we add, as in the fentence immediately following? AND SO THE EVENT

PROVED IT TO BE *..

The Captives, a Tragedy; as performed at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane. is. 6d. Cadell.

IF we are fometimes obliged to tear the undeserved laure from the brow of a candidate, to whom fashion or caprice has undeservedly allotted it, the disagreeableness of the task is compenfated by our being alfo able to bestow cheering fmiles. on the unsuccessful poet. At a distance from the glare of the fcene, fecluded from the parties or the prejudices which might

have influenced the decifions of the audience, we look on a play through a medium not diftorted by paffion, or obfcured by the recollection of its former fate. We dare to tell the truth, both to the author and the audience; and may perhaps fuggeft the causes of failure, as a warning in the future attempts.

It was the intention of the author, throughout his piece, to make experiment of a ftyle and diction different from what are ufual in modern tragedy. Over-wrought ornaments, and pompous verfification, he thought ill fuited to the manners of thofe early times, in which the action of his tragedy is fup. pofed to have paffed. In a word, he was of opinion, that the language of fimplicity would beft accord with the fubject and the characters; but whether a plain, intelligible, and unaffected ftyle would be acceptable to the public taite, was what he had till to learn. The experiment has been made; and the author retires with the fatisfaction of having, at least, in-tended well.'

The ftory of the play is the following: Malvina, a native of Lochlin, is a captive to a chief of Morven, who has promifed to fet her at liberty, but dies before it is accomplished. His eldest fon Connal inherits none of his father's virtues: he loves her, and, after fome unfuccefsful attempts on her virtue, at laft refolves to marry her. In the mean time her husband, Erragon, in his fearch after her, is fhipwrecked on Morven, and narrowly escapes death, as a native of Lochlin. Connal, unacquainted with his name and circumftances, requests him to affure Malvina that her husband is murdered in a civil broil: Erragon confents to it; for by this means he learns that Malvina is alive, and a prifoner in Morven ; in this way only he can hope to gain accefs to her. Everallin, the brother of Connal, who poffeffes both fenfibility and honour, is alfo in love with Malvina, and contrives to procure a veffel to escape with her. The information is conveyed by Minla, who loves Everallin, to the tyrant: in the mean time Everallin learns that the lady is married, and that the captive is her husband; but he generously confents to their efcape. They are, however, detected in the attempt by Connal, who confines both his brother and the husband in prison; but the army rescue Everallin their favourite, and he fets Erragon at liberty, who kills the tyrant, and is himself flain in the conteft. Malvina ftabs herself over her husband's body.

The fcene of the tragedy, it will be at once obvious, is not very confiftent with the events. To murder those whom ftorms have caft on the coaft, because they are enemies, is a deed unworthy of the generous hero; and the chieftains of the western iflands have at leaft obtained this title fo that if our author should be able to prove that they did not really

deferve