With what devout and conscientious sentiments this paper was undertaken, is evidenced by the following prayer, which he composed and offered up on the occasion: ‘Almighty God, the giver of all good things, without whose help all labour is ineffectual, and without whose grace all wisdom is folly; grant, I beseech Thee, that in this undertaking thy Holy Spirit may not be with-held from me, but that I may promote thy glory, and the salvation of myself and others: grant this, O Lord, for the sake of thy son Jesus Christ. Amen.’b
The first paper of The Rambler was published on Tuesday the 20th of March, 1750; and its authour was enabled to continue it, without interruption, every Tuesday and Friday, till Saturday the 17th of March, 1752,c on which day it closed. This is a strong confirmation of the truth of a remark of his, which I have had occasion to quote elsewhere,d that ‘a man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it;’ for, notwithstanding his constitutional indolence, his depression of spirits, and his labour in carrying on his Dictionary, he answered the stated calls of the press twice a week from the stores of his mind, during all that time; having received no assistance, except four billets in No. 10, by Miss Mulso, now Mrs. Chapone; No. 30, by Mrs. Catharine Talbot; No. 97, by Mr. Samuel Richardson, whom he describes in an introductory note as ‘An author who has enlarged the knowledge of human nature, and taught the passions to move at the command of virtue;’ and Nos. 44 and 100 by Mrs. Elizabeth Carter.
Posterity will be astonished when they are told, upon the authority of Johnson himself, that many of these discourses, which we should suppose had been laboured with all the slow attention of literary leisure, were written in haste as the moment pressed, without even being read over by him before they were printed. It can be accounted for only in this way; that by reading and meditation, and a very close inspection of life, he had accumulated a great fund of miscellaneous knowledge, which, by a peculiar promptitude of mind, was ever ready at his call, and which he had constantly accustomed himself to clothe in the most apt and energetick expression. Sir Joshua Reynolds once asked him by what means he had attained his extraordinary accuracy and flow of language. He told him, that he had early laid it down as a fixed rule to do his best on every occasion, and in every company; to impart whatever he knew in the most forcible language he could put it in; and that by constant practice, and never suffering any careless expressions to escape him, or attempting to deliver his thoughts without arranging them in the clearest manner, it became habitual to him.
Yet he was not altogether unprepared as a periodical writer; for I have in my possession a small duodecimo volume, in which he has written, in the form of Mr. Locke’s Common-Place Book, a variety of hints for essays on different subjects. He has marked upon the first blank leaf of it, ‘To the 128th page, collections for The Rambler;’ and in another place, ‘In fifty-two there were seventeen provided; in 97 – 21; in 190 – 25.’ At a subsequent period (probably after the work was finished) he added, ‘In all, taken of provided materials, 30.’
Sir John Hawkins, who is unlucky upon all occasions, tells us, that ‘this method of accumulating intelligence had been practised by Mr. Addison, and is humourously described in one of the Spectators, wherein he feigns to have dropped his paper of notanda,80 consisting of a diverting medley of broken sentences and loose hints, which he tells us he had collected, and meant to make use of. Much of the same kind is Johnson’s Adversaria.’a But the truth is, that there is no resemblance at all between them. Addison’s note was a fiction, in which unconnected fragments of his lucubrations were purposely jumbled together, in as odd a manner as he could, in order to produce a laughable effect. Whereas Johnson’s abbreviations are all distinct, and applicable to each subject of which the head is mentioned.
For instance, there is the following specimen;
Youth’s Entry, &c.
‘Baxter’s account of things in which he had changed his mind as he grew up. Voluminous. – No wonder. – If every man was to tell, or mark, on how many subjects he has changed, it would make vols. but the changes not always observed by man’s self. – From pleasure to bus. [business] to quiet; from thoughtfulness to reflect. to piety; from dissipation to domestic. by impercept. gradat. but the change is certain. Dial non progredi, progress. esse conspic-imus.81 Look back, consider what was thought at some dist. period.
‘Hope predom. in youth. Mind not willingly indulges unpleasing thoughts. The world lies all enameled before him, as a distant prospect sun-gilt;a inequalities only found by coming to it. Love is to be all joy – children excellent – Fame to be constant – caresses of the great – applauses of the learned – smiles of Beauty.
‘Fear of disgrace – bashfulness – Finds things of less importance. Miscarriages forgot like excellencies; – if remembered, of no import. Danger of sinking into negligence of reputation. Lest the fear of disgrace destroy activity.
‘Confidence in himself. Long tract of life before him. – No thought of sickness. – Embarrassment of affairs. – Distraction of family. Publick calamities. – No sense of the prevalence of bad habits. – Negligent of time – ready to undertake – careless to pursue – all changed by time.
‘Confident of others – unsuspecting as unexperienced – imagining himself secure against neglect, never imagines they will venture to treat him ill. Ready to trust; expecting to be trusted. Convinced by time of the selfishness, the meanness, the cowardice, the treachery of men.
‘Youth ambitious, as thinking honours easy to be had.
‘Different kinds of praise pursued at different periods. Of the gay in youth. dang. hurt, &c. despised.
‘Of the fancy in manhood. Ambit. – stocks – bargains. – Of the wise and sober in old age – seriousness – formality – maxims, but general – only of the rich, otherwise age is happy – but at last every thing referred to riches – no having fame, honour, influence, without subjection to caprice.
‘Horace.
‘Hard it would be if men entered life with the same views with which they leave it, or left as they enter it. – No hope – no undertaking – no regard to benevolence – no fear of disgrace, &c.