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Aetat. 29.]
Connected with Gentleman's Magazine.
133


It appears that he was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coadjutor in his magazine, by which he probably obtained a tolerable livelihood. At what time, or by what means, he had acquired a competent knowledge both of French[1]

    Still to the Muse thy studious mind apply,
    Happy in temper as in industry.

    'The senseless sneerings of an haughty tongue,
     Unworthy thy attention to engage.
    Unheeded pass: and tho' they mean thee wrong,
    By manly silence disappoint their rage.
    Assiduous diligence confounds its foes,
    Resistless, tho' malicious crouds oppose.

    'Exert thy powers, nor slacken in the course,
    Thy spotless fame shall quash all false reports:
    Exert thy powers, nor fear a rival's force,
    But thou shalt smile at all his vain efforts;
    Thy labours shall be crown'd with large success;
    The Muse's aid thy Magazine shall bless.

    'No page more grateful to th' harmonious nine
    Than that wherein thy labours we survey;
    Where solemn themes in fuller splendour shine,
    (Delightful mixture,) blended with the gay,
    Where in improving, various joys we find,
    A welcome respite to the wearied mind.

    'Thus when the nymphs in some fair verdant mead,
    Of various flow'rs a beauteous wreath compose,
    The lovely violet's azure-painted head
    Adds lustre to the crimson-blushing rose.
    Thus splendid Iris, with her varied dye,
    Shines in the aether, and adorns the sky. BRITON.'
    Boswell.'

  1. 'I have some reason to think that at his first coming to town he frequented Slaughter's coffee-house with a view to acquire a habit of speaking French, but he never could attain to it. Lockman used the same method and succeeded, as Johnson himself once told me.' Hawkins's Johnson, p. 516. Lockman is l'illustre Lockman mentioned post, 1780, in Mr. Langton's Collection. It was at 'Old Slaughter's Coffee-house, when a number of foreigners were talking loud about little matters, that Johnson one evening said, "Does not this confirm old Meynell's observation, For anything I see, foreigners are fools".?' post, ib.
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