addition to the periodical vacations of a month, and sometimes more,-all these were so many loop-holes to creep out at ; and I took advantage of them all, by excursions to my father's house, either in town or country;-to the first for half a day's stay; to the latter, chiefly, except in the depth of winter, for my more extended visits.

Now and then, indeed, instead of going home, I devoted a half-holiday to a trip upon the water, or upon land, with some of my school-fellows; which was effected by skipping out of bounds, in the lock-up hours ;-this we call'd "going upon a scheme;" so term'd, I suppose, (like "lucus a non lucendo,") from having no regular scheme in it at all.

It is evident, however, that I had too many opportunities of blending the Home and Foreign Departments; and, as "all the talents" of my father's time were occasionally his guests, I soon grew better acquainted with the countenances of Living Great Men than with the pages of Dead ones. Unable as I then was to enjoy brilliant conversation, even in my own language, or to relish fine writing, in any language whatever, still I was decidedly of opinion that listening to Modern Wits,

in English, was greatly preferable to reading the Ancient Classicks, either in Latin or Greek.

A Constellation of Genius was shining forth at this period; and, when I was first suffer'd to be dazzled with their blaze, at my father's table, I was so young that I scarcely ventured to open my mouth, but to eat and drink ;-a taciturnity of which I am not now, in convivial parties, very particularly observant ;—and it is certain that I have long ceased to be a votary of Harpocrates.

At one of my earliest admissions to the honours of these symposia, I sat down with Johnson, Foote, Gibbon, Edmund Burke, the two Wartons, Garrick, Lord Kellie, Topham Beauclerk, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and some others.-Most of these (if not all) were members of the LITERARY CLUB ; which title, given to them by the million, was not pleasing to several of its fastidious members; who styled it, par excellence, THE Club ;-as the Sacred Text is call'd the Bible, (i. e. THE Book,) to mark its superiority over all other volumes.

This Club, though it boasted certain individuals of the first order, in natural and acquired ability, was rated too high; - or, rather, society rated itself too low;-for so pusillanimous, in that day, were

educated persons in general, that they submitted to the dominion of a self-chosen few, and were almost afraid to say that their intellects were their own, in the presence of these despots; who, in their turn, had a despot over themselves;-for, while the Club intimidated the town, Johnson awed the Club.

In proof of this, I was told, in later times, the following anecdote, by Sheridan.-When he was beginning to be known in the world, a little before his first dramatick productions, he dined in company with Johnson, and several of the Club; when the Doctor advanced one of his dogmas, which was tantamount to saying that black is white* ;-Sheridan, knowing that black is black, and not white, gave a plump negatur to the Doctor's affirmation: - in short, whatever Johnson's hypothesis might have been, Sheridan argued against it manfully, with all the eagerness of youth, unconscious of his peril in attacking so formidable an antagonist;-he felt too, no doubt, those powers within him which, soon afterwards,

* A practice not unfrequent with him, in his discussions; for he acknowledged (as we have been told) that he sometimes con tended for truth, and sometimes for victory.

charm'd the stage, and ultimately surprised the senate. The party, and particularly those individuals of it who belong'd to the Club, trembled for him, at the onset ;-they shrugg'd up their shoulders, and seem'd to say,-" Poor young man! clever, but ruin'd!-he is rousing the Lion, and it will soon be all over with him!" The Lion, however, was in one of his generous moods;-though growling, he did not grow ferocious; though gall'd, he was not revengeful ;he took his defeat (for defeated he was) in good part, and SHERIDAN, through Johnson's forbearance to proclaim him a blockhead, escaped annihilation.

What times! when a young genius could be reputation-crush'd, and that genius Richard Brinsley Sheridan,-by entering into discussion (and truth palpably on his side) with a literary Dictator* !-Mortals, then, enjoy'd as copious

Subsequently to his fearful encounter,-when Sheridan had establish'd his theatrical fame, and had produced his "School for Scandal,” in the year 1777,-and, moreover, had paid a compliment to the Lion, in a Prologue to Savage's Play of Sir Thomas Overbury, we are inform'd, by the adulatory Boswell, that "Johnson was very desirous of a reconciliation with old Mr. Sheridan." "It will, therefore," (says the biographer) "not seem at all sur

and general a distribution of brains as at any period, before or since; and those brains were sufficiently cultivated to enable people to shake off their mental yoke. The hour, however, was not arrived; but, how completely, within the last forty years, has the world emancipated itself from this tyranny; and how much improved is conversation now, when sound sense feels, and asserts, - its strength; when Wits and Literati are no longer Bugbears; and when extraordinary talent, of all kinds, can excite admiration, without inspiring fear, and commanding a disgraceful subjection!

Could we stop at this point, all would be well;-1 but alas! there is much jargonizing of late, about the "March of Intellect," and the "Spread of Knowledge." Mechanicks' Institutions, and Uni

prising that he was zealous in acknowledging the brilliant merit of his son. While it had as yet been display'd only in the drama, Johnson proposed him as a Member of the LITERARY CLUB, observing, that, 'He who had written the two best Comedies of his age, is surely a considerable man,' and he had accordingly the honour to be elected, for an honour it undoubtedly must be allow'd to be, when it is consider'd of whom that society consists, and that a single black ball excludes a candidate."-People, now, opine, that there is more honour, in having written "The Rivals," and the "School for Scandal," than in escaping the single blackball which excluded a candidate from the Club.