marks are couched in a spirit of courtesy, and probably of real admiration, though not of indiscriminate assent to his positions; while the conclusion offers something like an apology for differing in opinion with so tasteful and pleasing a writer. This amicable meeting as reviewer and reviewed, may have been the precursor of their personal friendship. Burke, as was said afterwards, repaid the obligation in kind.

The June number supplies notices of "Smith's History of New York," "The Military Operations in North America,"-" Saxe's Memoirs on the Art of War,"-"Smollett's History of England," in which he regrets the want of "manly and sensible observations, which the writer was so well able to give," but praises his style as "clear, nervous, and flowing,"-and the "Foreign Article." Nine of his notices appear in the monthly catalogue; others which have no letters affixed may own the same origin. The account of "Keysler's Travels," in the appendix to the half-yearly volume, comes likewise from his pen.

In July appear" Layard on the Contagion among the Cattle,""Translation of Cardinal de Polignac's Anti-Lucretius,"—" Hanway's Eight Days' Journey from Portsmouth to Kingston-uponThames." Most readers of literary history remember how sharply Dr. Johnson animadverted on this work, especially on the traveller's injudicious and singular hostility to the use of tea; the sneering tone of which criticism in the second part was never forgiven by that otherwise amiable man, though even then he was known to be wrong and Johnson right. Similar belief-and the coincidence may be noticed-is expressed by Goldsmith, in the harmless effects of that temperate beverage; and as he did not then know Johnson, he is not to be considered as influenced by his decision. The criticism concludes with the following just and sensible remarks:-" Yet after all, why so violent an outcry against this devoted article of modern luxury? Every nation that is rich hath had, and will have, its favourite luxuries. Abridge the people in one, they generally run into another; and the reader may judge which will be most conducive to either mental or bodily health, the watery beverage of a modern fine lady; or the strong beer, and stronger waters, of her greatgrandmother." In the monthly catalogue four of his notices are marked; "Memoirs of Madame Maintenon,"-" The Mother-inlaw, or Innocent Sufferer," "The Fair Citizen,"-" Buchanan's New English Dictionary."

In August, his contributions were, on "Rabener's Satirical Letters," "Letters from an Armenian in Ireland to his Friends at Trebisond," Letter (his own), of eleven pages, to the authors of the Monthly Review on "Voltaire's Universal History,"-"The Contest in America between Great Britain and France."

September contains only two papers-on the "Epigoniad" `of Wilkie, and "Odes of Gray." In the former, only two introductory pages of criticism are noted as his; the remainder, consisting chiefly of quotations, remarks on defective verses, repetitions of the same rhyme, and other faults of the poem, has simply the letter G. affixed,

implying, as there seems no doubt, that they were the works of Griffiths himself.

Here, for the present, his labours in the service of that journal ceased. He could not, however, desert literature, although, as we shall see, displeased with criticism; and we find him, by a letter written to Mr. Hodson about two months afterwards, conjoining his two professions for a livelihood. "By a very little practice as a physician, and a very little reputation as a poet, I make a shift to live." Poet was then frequently used as the generic name for author; and his pieces were probably of that miscellaneous nature which, produced on an emergency for periodical works, seldom survive the occasion: it is certain he did not himself think fit to bring into renewed existence what at this period came from his pen. Still, as he wrote much, we are anxious to trace on what topics he was occupied; and would rather be permitted to judge of their merits for ourselves whether we can afford to lose any thing of such a writer. Dr. Kippis, who wrote in the Review and knew him, was impressed by some faint recollection of his having made translations from the French; among others, of a tale of Voltaire; but the name and date were forgotten. He was however gradually making his way, laying the foundation of his fame, and acquiring the rapidity necessary to an author by profession, in aid of that elegance, that "grace beyond the reach of art," bestowed only by nature upon her favourites, and in itself no indifferent evidence of genius.

There are reasons for believing that one of the original pieces from his pen at this time was an enlargement of the paper on the merits of the English poets, said to have been first drawn up in Ireland at the desire of Mr. Contarine. It is called a "Poetical Scale;" and is an estimate, arranged in columns, with a variety of remarks subjoined, on the relative ranks held by the greater English poets in the requisites of genius, judgment, learning, and versification. The point of perfection in each is supposed to be twenty degrees, of which nineteen only have been attained by any of our writers. Thus Shakspeare is estimated to be, as in genius 19, judgment 14, learning 14, versification 19; Milton, in genius 18, judgment 16, learning 17, versification 18; Dryden, in genius 18, judgment 16, learning 17, versification 18; Pope, in genius 18, judgment 18, learning 15, versification 18: an arrangement of their respective powers obviously fanciful and imperfect, but conveying sufficiently the opinions of the writer. The idea is of older date.

This paper appeared in January 1758, in the Literary Magazine; a publication commenced by Mr. John Newbery in May 1756, and which Dr. Johnson superintended or contributed to for fifteen months, discontinuing his assistance about September 1757, nearly at the same moment that Goldsmith quitted the Review. The spirit of the article, and the severity of the remarks made upon Milton in comparing him with Shakspeare,* led a writer some years afterwards,

"The faults of Shakspeare were those of genius, those of Milton of the man of genius. The former arises from imagination getting the better of judgment; the latter from habit getting the better of imagination. Shakspeare's faults were those

who knew of his participation in that work, to attribute them to Dr. Johnson. "Mr. Nichols," says Mr. Murphy, whose attachment to his illustrious friend was unwearied, "showed him in 1780 a book called Remarks on Johnson's Life of Milton,' in which the affair of Lawder was renewed with virulence; and a poetical scale in the Literary Magazine 1758, (when Johnson had ceased to write in that collection was urged as an additional proof of deliberate malice. He read the libellous passage with attention, and instantly wrote on the margin-In the business of Lawder I was deceived; partly by thinking the man too frantic to be fraudulent. Of the poetical scale quoted from the Magazine I am not the author. I fancy it was put in after I had quitted that work; for I not only did not write it, but I do not remember it.'"*

As a matter of literary curiosity it may not be uninteresting to state the reasons why this paper is attributed to Goldsmith, although no certain evidence of the matter is known to exist or is likely now to be obtained.

These are, the use of a scale in reference to the merits of authors on another occasion, as in the preface to the Citizen of the World; similarity of opinion on the merits of our poets with those expressed in his avowed writings; the high standard of poetry assumed in both; the same opinion, incidentally introduced, of the merits of the disputants in the contest between Bentley and Boyle; the same account here as in his edition of Parnell of the origin of two of that poet's pieces; similar political opinions with Dr. Johnson, thence influencing his supposed opinion of Milton; the same preference here of Farquhar over Congreve, Vanbrugh and others, as always maintained by him in conversation and in writing. To these may be added the common evidence of style; the use as in all his essays, of the first person; the fact of his being then unacquainted with Johnson, who as having had connexion with the Magazine, though not then engaged in it, might have known the writer, through the proprietor; the probability of its being his first introduction to Newbery, by whom he was afterwards so much employed; the general recollection of Mrs. Lawder that he had early drawn up some such essay; and the belief that he contributed more than one paper to this Magazine. Thus in February 1758, commences a paper, with traces of his manner, though not decisive in their nature, on the English Language, which are continued till May; from the latter is taken the article on the "Augustan

of a great poet; those of Milton of a little pedant. When Shakspeare is execrable, he is so exquisitely so that he is as inimitable in his blemishes as in his beauties. The puns of Milton betray a narrowness of education and a degeneracy of habit. His theological quibbles and perplexed speculations are daily equalled and excelled by the most abject enthusiasts; and if we consider him as a prose writer, he has neither the learning of a scholar nor the manners of a gentleman. There is no force in his reasoning, no elegance in his style, and no taste in his composition. We are therefore to consider him in one fixed point of light,-that of a great poet, with a laudable envy of rivalling and excelling all who attempted sublimity of sentiment and description."-Literary Mag. Jan. 1758.

"Essay on the Life and Genius of Dr. Johnson," p. 50.; prefixed to his Works, 12 vols. 12mo. Lond. 1806.

Age in England," printed in the Bee; and in the same month is another paper of his, also printed in the Bee, "On the Pride and Luxury of the Middling Class of People." The Poetical Scale and he Sequel were afterwards republished in the Ladies' Magazine, when he was connected with it.

His residence being at this time in the vicinity of Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, the Temple Exchange Coffee House, near Temple Bar, became a place of frequent resort. Like Johnson, he was fond of a coffee house and a club; for to men without domestic ties, these are substitutes for society. But this house likewise formed a kind of professional place of call, the custom not having then passed away of physicians resorting to particular coffee houses, where at certain hours of the day they were to be sought and found, rather than at their own residences, when required to visit patients. Here the news of the day, of the profession, and of literature, but more particularly the business of the theatre, which then occupied in public opinion the place now given to the House of Commons, were freely discussed; the behaviour of the manager, the ability of actors, and the merits of new pieces decided upon with something like an authority from which there was no appeal; for physicians and lawyers (the unemployed part no doubt), with the idlers of every description to be found in a great metropolis, formed at this time the most authoritative body of critics. Here likewise, when unwilling to make known very humble lodgings, he in common with others wrote letters and received them,-one of the common resources of genteel poverty; here he relaxed from the drudgery of writing into social intercourse, found others as willing to enjoy the passing moment as himself, and formed or renewed intimacies with his literary brethren.

Among these was Dr. James Grainger, likewise a physician, reviewer, and poet, who having graduated in Edinburgh in 1753, was probably known to him before. He was born about 1721 (not 1728, as commonly stated) of, as he says himself in a letter still in existence, seen by the present writer, "a gentleman's family in Cumberland." Hitherto he has been deemed a native of Scotland, (it may have been so, though of a Cumbrian family) and the place of his birth stated to be Dunse; but a strict search made several years ago by Dr. Anderson, after his first edition of the British Poets, failed in discovering any trace of the name or family in that quarter. After being initiated into medicine in the Scottish metropolis, he served in a medical capacity in Pulteney's regiment of foot in Holland in 1746-7-8; made the tour of Europe after quitting the army; and on becoming graduate in physic, established himself in Bond Court, Walbrook. Imbued with a taste for literature, his pen found employment in adding to the income derived from professional labours. In 1755 appeared his Ode on Solitude, in Dodsley's Collection, possessing merit enough to obtain from Dr. Johnson, whose friendship he had the good fortune to acquire*, the term "noble."

• Boswell alludes to this intimacy in various parts of his work; and the following extracts from Grainger's letters to the Rev. Mr. Percy, now in the possession of W. Shaw Mason, Esq., give a few further particulars :

In May 1756, he commenced writer in the Monthly Review in a criticism on Mason's Odes; and during this and the two following years contributed a variety of articles, chiefly on poetry and the dramat, to that journal, relinquishing his connexion with it about May 1758. Now wholly neglectful of physic, in 1757 appeared Historia Febris Intermittensis annorum 1746-7-8, accedunt monita Syphilica. In March 1758, he became a member of the London College of Physicians; and in November following published a translation of Tibullus, which meeting with an indifferent reception from the Critical Review, was said by Grainger to proceed from the personal pique of Smollett though known to each other, and interchanging civilities. He replied, although said to be a worthy man, in the strain of an enraged and irritable author; this produced a severe rejoinder in the Review for February 1759; and on the part of both there was more of personality and vituperation than was becoming, or the occasion demanded.

In the previous autumn he had engaged to travel for four years with a young friend, a Mr. Bourryan, of large West India property, whose studies from an early period had been in part committed to

"March 30, 1757. Mr. Johnson asked for you very kindly Sunday last, as did Miss Williams."- May 30, 1758, in allusion to a translation of Ovid's Heroic Epistles, which Mr. Percy had in part completed, Grainger writes, "Johnson thinks you may get fifty pieces for your work. I shall soon show it to Millar, and let you know his answer. -June 27, 1758, we have the following amusing notice of Johnson's habitual indolence: —“I have several times called on Johnson to pay him part of your subscription (for his edition of Shakspeare). I say part, because he never thinks of working if he has a couple of guineas in his pocket; but if you notwithstanding order me, the whole shall be given him at once.""-July 20, 1758. "Johnson thinks that some of the Epistles (Ovid's, already alluded to) should be done in the heroic measure, and so do I. As to his Shakspeare, movet sed non promovet. I stall feed him occasionally with guineas."-Jan. 22, 1764, alluding to his poem of the Sugar Cane, "Sam Johnson has got the second book, but whether he has yet perused it I know not; perhaps it may lie in his desk untouched till I call for it."April 6, 1764, adverting to the same work, when the first book had been printed off, "Sam Johnson says he will review it in the Critical (Review). He talks handsomely of you."— August, 1765: "I am perfectly satisfied with the reception the 'Sugar Cane' has met with, and am greatly obliged to you and Mr. Jolinson for the generous care you took of it in my absence."

+They are marked at first by Griffiths "Dr. G." His chief Reviews are, besides the first (1756), on "The Converts, an Ode;” “Writings and Genius of Pope; "Smart's Ode;" "Fakeer;" "Beauty, an Ode;" Six articles in the Monthly Catalogue of the first Half-yearly Appendix; "Telemachus;" "Phillipic Poems; " "Leucothoe;" "Philosophical Transactions" (September and October), in conjunction with another writer, B., who is not known; "Cupid," "The Cadet; " "Ode to Love;" "Idea of Beauty; "Tour in France," 1757; "De Choisel's Method of treating persons bitten by Mad Animals;” “Woodward's Cases in Physic;" "Foreign Books" (February); "Foreign Books" (March); "Loss of the Handkerchief," Heroic-Comic Poem; "Collection Académique;" "Sayer's Translation into Latin of Pope's Universal Prayer;" Newcomb's Versification of Harvey's Contemplations;" "Fleece, a Poem," by Dyer; “Oriental Eclogues;” “Medical Observations and Inquiries; " "Goldoni's Two Italian Comedies; " "Lind on the Means of preserving the health of Seamen;" "Newcomb's Versification of Harvey's Contemplations on a Flower Garden," 1758; "Duncomb's Translation of Horace ; "Massey's Translation of Ovid's Fasti;" "Cidyllia, or Miscellaneous Poems; Holkham, a Poem;" "Verses to the People of England, by W. Whitehead; "Ode to the King of Prussia; " "Fancy, an irregular Öde;" "Elegy on a Drum Head;" besides a great number of short notices in the Monthly Catalogue.