from a regard to his interest and reputation; but, I fear, he is offended, as I have not heard from him for some time, and he is I understand still in England. Mr. Stott is negotiating the publication of a volume with Longman, which I have no doubt will be successful. R. ANDERSON."

Bp. PERCY to Dr. ANDERSON.

"DEAR SIR, Dromore House, Nov. 27, 1805. "Amidst continual interruptions of official business, or other unavoidable avocations, I have at length gone through your Life of Johnson, and submitted such corrections, additions, and notes, as occurred to me, of which you may make what use you please; but I could wish not to have my name unnecessarily obtruded on the reader, and therefore beg you will manage that with your usual prudence and delicacy. I have endeavoured to avoid all harsh censures on Johnson's former Biographers, but, if you think anything too severe or uncandid, I leave you to soften it. If the like should have escaped your own pen, I am sure your candour and liberal sentiments will induce you to do the same yourself. I think you have more than once blamed Johnson for wasting his life in unprofitable conversation, &c. Surely such a sentence cannot justly be passed on one of the most extensive and voluminous writers we ever had, because he was not always writing and publishing. It is true he sometimes blames himself, but, if this proceeded from his over religious scruples and morbid melancholy, no considerate person will join him in it, but, on the contrary, acquit him. I must also express my wish, that, as Johnson's biographer, you would not give so decided a sentence on any of the political opinions in which you may happen to differ from him, and from many other of your readers. Let them stand or fall upon their own bottom. I think a candid and impartial history should not be a book of political controversy. My friendship for you urges me to recommend all the above points to your mature consideration.

"The book I have transmitted to our Secretary at the Dublin Post Office, who, I trust, will frank it to you. As soon as I am informed of its safe arrival, you shall hear again from, dear Sir, your very faithful and obedient servant, T. DROMORE."

Heriot's Green, Dec. 14, 1805.

Dr. ANDERSON to Bp. PERCY. "MY DEAR LORD, "I sent a Letter to your Lordship in a parcel addressed to Mr. Stott at Glasgow, which Professor Richardson, who was concerned in it, has endeavoured to recover,* but without success.

"I have had the pleasure of receiving your Lordship's successive favours; the last on the 3d instant, which was followed, a few days after, by the Life of Johnson, forwarded by the Secretary of the Post Office in Dublin.

"I lost no time in attending to your Lordship's inquiries about Mr. Boyle the banker, supposed to have some property belonging to the late John Lays Black, a native of Dromore. From my own knowledge, I was certain that no banker of that name had resided in Edinburgh within the last thirty years. But it occurred to me that Boyle might be a mistaken spelling for Bogle, a name that appears on the notes of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and I consulted Mr. Simpson the cashier, and Mr. Bogle, one of the clerks. The index of the names of persons who have money deposited in the Bank was carefully examined, and the name of J. L. Black could not be found. I inquired at every other banking-house here, in vain; and finally resolved to have the advice of my worthy friend Sir William Forbes, the banker, who was then detained in Aberdeenshire by a severe accident. I have now his assurance that no banker of the name of Boyle ever resided here, nor in Glasgow; though there is a considerable merchant of the name of Bogle in that city, who may have connections with Ireland. It would seem that Black's relations have no receipt or voucher of the deposit; the want of which, if the money could be traced, would occasion some difficulty in the payment.

"Amidst the public and private duties which press on your Lordship's time, joined to the weakness of sight, I feel infinitely flattered and obliged by your minute and critical examination of my Life of Johnson. The corrections and additions are numerous and important, and will, in every respect, be estimated by me; and they ought and I am sure will be greatly valued by the public, on account of the hand from which they come. I have not yet determined on the use I am to make of your liberal permission; but they are so accurately written, particularly the addi*Printed in p. 156.

tions, that I think, at present, of printing them as they are, with your Lordship's signature, in the form of notes.

"I am extremely anxious that little Robinson should have a well-filled subscription, and I have not been idle, nor unsuccessful, though the town is not yet full, and it is difficult to excite the same interest in him here as there is naturally in Ireland. Miss Stewart, with her name, has sent me a copy of verses to the young poet, which I shall transmit to Belfast, when I get a frank.

"The Northern Antiquities is to be begun to be printed when the manager of Mundell and Son's business returns from London, about the beginning of January. He has been absent two months, and several works have been delayed in which I am concerned. I will give you timely notice of its progress through the press. I shall write to you more particularly about Johnson. I have great pleasure in the good accounts of your general health from every quarter. With kindest wishes to Mrs. Percy, "I ever am, &c. R. ANDERSON."

"MY DEAR LORD,

Heriot's Green, March 25, 1806. "Since the return of Mr. Doig from London I have been incessantly urging him to begin the Northern Antiquities, and I have delayed writing to your Lordship till I am ashamed, because the work which it is to follow has not passed through the press.

"Having an opportunity of writing to your Lordship by William Stott returning to Dromore, I had some conversation with Mr. Doig to day concerning the business, and have finally arranged with him the mechanical part, which is to be far more elegant, in respect of paper and print, than the last edition, and the volumes will be more uniform. I suppose it will be necessary to engrave the specimens of the Islandic character. Herbert and others uniformly spell the first syllable of the word Islandic Ice. Does your Lordship prefer the old spelling? I have some petty questions of this kind in reserve, when we begin to print. I am greatly flattered by the confidence your Lordship reposes in me, but feel that I must exercise the privilege of correction with reverence.

"The fifth edition of my Life of Smollett will soon be out, much enlarged, with an Appendix of Original Correspondence, communicated to me by the Historical Society

of Massachusetts, of which I have lately been elected a member. This New England rising in the West has published nine volumes of Historical Collections,' which have been transmitted to me in a very flattering manner.

"Has your Lordship any notices concerning Dryden not already given to Johnson and Malone? Walter Scott is editing his Works, and has laid us all under contribution. We are puzzled about the parallelism between Monmouth and Amnon's murder,' mentioned in the beginning of 'Absalom and Ahitophel.' He was one of the 'Royal Dukes' who killed a watchman, as described in the State Poems,' but we do not find him accused of royal murder.'

6

"I have lately made a discovery that will enrich my Johnson, a dedication of eleven pages, to the Parliament, prefixed to the Evangelical History Harmonized,' in 2 vols. Newbery, 1757. It bears on the title page, By a Society of Gentlemen,' but was the production of the Rev. John Lindsay. The dedication has escaped the diligence of Boswell and Malone, and is written in the excellent dedicator's best style of dignified remonstrance and sublime piety.*

"Little Robinson's subscription, I rejoice to hear, is well filled. His admission to Trinity College was, indeed, a triumphant entry.

"I expect to have an opportunity of addressing your Lordship again in a few days.

"I beg my kindest respects to Mrs. Percy. "I am always your Lordship's affectionate humble servant, Ro. ANDERSON.

"P.S. I forgot to mention my concern to hear of the failure of the Vaccine Inoculation. It succeeds universally here. I suspect there is some inaccuracy or fallacy in the Dromore cases. If properly treated and authenticated, they should be communicated to the College of Physicians, appointed to make a Report concerning it next Session of Parliament. My faith is unshaken by the publications of Dr. Moseley and others."

*We may here mention that another piece of Dr. Johnson's writing escaped all his biographers and commentators, till the Rev. J. Mitford pointed out the last chapter of Mrs. Lennox's "Female Quixote," as being from internal evidence written by him. It is thus headed-"This is the best chapter of all the book," and it was reprinted entire in the Gentleman's Magazine for January 1844, p. 41,

VOL. VII.

M

"MY DEAR Lord,

Heriot's Green, 28 June, 1806.

"You obliged me greatly by the communication of Dr. Grainger's letter, and gratified me exceedingly by the useful information which accompanied it. The letter is an important document, and affords me complete refutation of the newspaper calumny.

"I deferred making your Lordship my acknowledgments for it at the time, in the expectation of seeing Dr. Trail, to whom I communicated the inclosure, and in the expectation that, in the progress of my biography of Grainger, I should find certain points on which it would be necessary to consult you.

“Dr. Trail, who has been going here and there, returned to town yesterday, and I had not seen him since I received your letter till Thursday, when I had a long interesting conversation with him. He intends going to Ireland about a fortnight hence, and is to call on me some day next week to fix the precise time of his departure, and take charge of my missives to your Lordship. Mr. Thomson, the bearer of this, has given me but a moment's warning of his intention to set out to-morrow for Dublin, with Mr. Gilbert the bookseller; I am therefore obliged to write to your Lordship in great haste.

"I am proceeding in my account of Grainger, with such materials as I have, and expect soon to put it off my hands. The last sheet of the second volume and the preliminary matter only remain to be printed. Dr. Wright has just sent me a curiosity, a reprint of our Essay * at Jamaica, with the advertisement and notes; the Sugar Cane; and Col. Martin's Essay on Plantership; in one octavo vol. with the title of Three Tracts on West Indian Agriculture, and subjects connected therewith, viz.' &c. by A. Aikman, printer to his Majesty and to the Assembly, to whom it is dedicated, in 1802. The printer took the hint of my design announced in the advertisement to the Essay; and I am glad of it, as it has led to a re-publication of the Sugar Cane where it was produced, though it may limit the sale of our edition.

"The printers here are not ready to proceed in it, and I am continually drawn aside by indispensable avocations from prosecuting my undertaking, which, however, has gained by the delay in many respects. The last letter you sent is of inestimable value. Can it be possible that there may be yet another document among your Lord

* Dr. Grainger's Essay on the West India Diseases. See before, p. 99.