'Seven years,my Lord,have now past,since I waited in your outward rooms,or was repulsed from your door;during which time Ihave been pushing on my work through difficulties,of which it is useless to complain,and have brought it,at last,to the verge of publication,without one act of assistance,one word of encouragement,or one smile of favour.Such treatment I did not expect,for I never had a Patron before.
'The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love,and found him a native of the rocks.
'Is not a Patron,my Lord,one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water,and,when he has reached ground,encumbers him with help?The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours,had it been early,had been kind;but it has been delayed till I am indifferent,and cannot enjoy it;till I am solitary,and cannot impart it;till I am known,and do not want it.I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received,or to be unwilling that the Publick should consider me as owing that to a Patron,which Providence has enabled me to do for myself.
'Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning,I shall not be disappointed though Ishould conclude it,if less be possible,with less;for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope,in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation,my Lord,your Lordship's most humble,most obedient servant,'SAM JOHNSON.'
'While this was the talk of the town,(says Dr.Adams,in a letter to me)I happened to visit Dr.Warburton,who finding that I was acquainted with Johnson,desired me earnestly to carry his compliments to him,and to tell him that he honoured him for his manly behaviour in rejecting these condescensions of Lord Chesterfield,and for resenting the treatment he had received from him,with a proper spirit.Johnson was visibly pleased with this compliment,for he had always a high opinion of Warburton.Indeed,the force of mind which appeared in this letter,was congenial with that which Warburton himself amply possessed.'
There is a curious minute circumstance which struck me,in comparing the various editions of Johnson's imitations of Juvenal.
In the tenth Satire,one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes even for literary distinction stood thus:
'Yet think what ills the scholar's life assail,Pride,envy,want,the GARRET,and the jail.'
But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chesterfield's fallacious patronage made him feel,he dismissed the word garret from the sad group,and in all the subsequent editions the line stands 'Pride,envy,want,the PATRON,and the jail.'
That Lord Chesterfield must have been mortified by the lofty contempt,and polite,yet keen satire with which Johnson exhibited him to himself in this letter,it is impossible to doubt.He,however,with that glossy duplicity which was his constant study,affected to he quite unconcerned.Dr.Adams mentioned to Mr.
Robert Dodsley that he was sorry Johnson had written his letter to Lord Chesterfield.Dodsley,with the true feelings of trade,said 'he was very sorry too;for that he had a property in the Dictionary,to which his Lordship's patronage might have been of consequence.'He then told Dr.Adams,that Lord Chesterfield had shewn him the letter.'I should have imagined (replied Dr.Adams)that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it.''Poh!(said Dodsley)do you think a letter from Johnson could hurt Lord Chesterfield?Not at all,Sir.It lay upon his table;where any body might see it.He read it to me;said,"this man has great powers,"pointed out the severest passages,and observed how well they were expressed.'This air of indifference,which imposed upon the worthy Dodsley,was certainly nothing but a specimen of that dissimulation which Lord Chesterfield inculcated as one of the most essential lessons for the conduct of life.His Lordship endeavoured to justify himself to Dodsley from the charges brought against him by Johnson;but we may judge of the flimsiness of his defence,from his having excused his neglect of Johnson,by saying that 'he had heard he had changed his lodgings,and did not know where he lived;'as if there could have been the smallest difficulty to inform himself of that circumstance,by inquiring in the literary circle with which his Lordship was well acquainted,and was,indeed,himself one of its ornaments.
Dr.Adams expostulated with Johnson,and suggested,that his not being admitted when he called on him,was,probably,not to be imputed to Lord Chesterfield;for his Lordship had declared to Dodsley,that 'he would have turned off the best servant he ever had,if he had known that he denied him to a man who would have been always more than welcome;'and,in confirmation of this,he insisted on Lord Chesterfield's general affability and easiness of access,especially to literary men.'Sir (said Johnson)that is not Lord Chesterfield;he is the proudest man this day existing.'
'No,(said Dr.Adams)there is one person,at least,as proud;Ithink,by your own account,you are the prouder man of the two.'
'But mine (replied Johnson,instantly)was DEFENSIVE pride.'This,as Dr.Adams well observed,was one of those happy turns for which he was so remarkably ready.
Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chesterfield,did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman with pointed freedom:'This man (said he)I thought had been a Lord among wits;but,I find,he is only a wit among Lords!'And when his Letters to his natural son were published,he observed,that 'they teach the morals of a whore,and the manners of a dancing master.'