378 Essay on
��Guthrie, the historian 1 , had from July 1736 composed the parliamentary speeches for the Magazines ; but, from the begin ning of the session which opened on the I9th of November 1740, Johnson succeeded to that department, and continued it from that time to the debate on spirituous liquors, which happened in the House of Lords in February, 1742-3 2 . The eloquence, the force of argument, and the splendor of language, displayed in the several speeches, are well known, and universally admired. The whole has been collected in two volumes by Mr. Stockdale, and may form a proper supplement to this edition. ' That Johnson was the author of the debates during that period was not generally known ; but the secret transpired several years afterwards, and was avowed by himself on the following occa sion. Mr. Wedderburne (now Lord Loughborough), Dr. Johnson, Dr. Francis (the translator of Horace) 3 , the present writer, and others, dined with the late Mr. Foote. An important debate towards the end of Sir Robert Walpole's administration being mentioned, Dr. Francis observed, ' That Mr. Pitt's speech, on that occasion, was the best he had ever read.' He added, ' That he had employed eight years of his life in the study of Demosthenes, and finished a translation of that celebrated orator, with all the decorations of style and language within the reach of his capacity; but he had met with nothing equal to the speech above-mentioned.' Many of the company remembered the debate ; and some passages were cited, with the approbation and applause of all present. During the ardour of conversation Johnson remained silent. As soon as the warmth of praise subsided, he opened with these words : ' That speech I wrote in a garret in Exeter-street.' The company was struck with astonishment. After staring at each other in silent amaze, Dr. Francis asked, ' How that speech could be written by him?'
��^ i. 116; ii. 52; iv. 30. in a few weeks that he preferred
2 Ib. i. 150, 501-512. the pleasures of London to the in-
3 Gibbon, who at the age of four- struction of his pupils.' It was this teen was Francis's pupil, says: discovery which carried Gibbon at ' The translator of Horace might so early an age to Oxford. Misc. have taught me to relish the Latin Works, i. 40.
poets, had not my friends discovered
' Sir,'
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