Mr. URBAN,

March 10.

Hof Dr. Johnson, I perceive a AVING lately read Boswell's Life Letter in the 4th volume from Dr. Johnson to the late Reverend Thomas Wilson, B. D. Master of Clitheroe school, Lancashire, to thank him for the honour he had done him in dedicating his Archæological Dictionary to him, wherein the name of Johnson's "excellent friend (as he calls him) Dr. Patten" is introduced, at whose solicitation it was, that Dr. Johnson permitted Mr. Wilson to prefix to his Work the name of so distinguished a character.

Now, Sir, having Dr. Patten's original Letter to Dr. Johnson, as well as Dr. Johnson's Answer, in their own hand-writing, in my possession, I beg leave to send you copies thereof, conceiving them well worth preserving in your valuable Miscellany as literary curiosities; and if you are of the same opinion, by inserting them you will oblige, Sir, your very humuble servant, COGNATUS.

Dr. PATTEN's Letter to Dr. JOHN

SON, Sept. 4, 1781.

"A friend of mine has imposed a very hard task upon me. I must write on his behalf to Dr. Johnson. Nothing would more highly gratify my taste and my pride than a correspondence with my dear and honoured friend Johnson; but could I conceive myself worthy of so rare a gratification, I should tremble at the price to be paid for it, conscious that my finances would fall far short of paying it. "Thanks, therefore, to your communicative disposition which enables me to enjoy the strong and pleasing productions of your pen without exposing the weak ones of mine before the Master of the Sentences. But in the present case the industrious and deserving Wilson will hear of no denial.

"He is master of the school at Clitheroe in Lancashire, and though his

classical ideas have not received the polish of an University education, his efforts in composition are far above what might be expected from one of the mere élevés of a school in Cumberland. He seems to have a good taste, which lacks refining; and his labours, as far as he knows how to direct them to that end, are very assiduously laid out for the attainment of it.

"With great industry he has been preparing for the press, what he entitles An Archæological Dictionary, or Antiquities alphabetically digested, in order to illustrate the Classics, both sacred and profane: containing a succinct Account of the Manners, Customs, Rites, Ceremonies, Religion, Civil Institutions, &c. of the Jews, Greeks, and Romans.'

"This specimen of his judgment and labours, he is desirous to submit to the eye of the publick; but he is more than desirous-he is ambitious, to send it into the world under your patronage, and, with your permission, to dedicate it to you, if you shall judge it worthy of so splendid an introduction to the public notice. "I know not whether he is not too presumptuous when to this end he desires me to request the favour of you to cast your eye over a few articles of his work, from which you will easily form a judgment of its degree of merit, and of its pretensions to the honour to which it aspires.

"He has transmitted his Papers to a friend in London, who, if you are not averse to it, will be directed to leave them or any part of them with you, for what time you shall mention.

"Whether you are disposed or not to undertake this petty province, you will be so kind to signify by a line to me. And in case you should undertake it, I believe, I must be so unconscionable as to request another line imparting your opinion of the Work, so far as to apprize me whether you think it worthy of having your name prefixed to it in the publication.

"A

"As I suspect, judging by my own feelings, that this business will be rather irksome to you, I received my friend's request with many a discouraging hem and haw, cur excusatus abirem; but it is difficult to discourage those who have a favourite point in view, or to dispose them to consider how troublesome an office

they are engaging their friends, and frequently their friends' friends, in a tedious series, for obtaining it. Nor would I have yielded to this eager candidate's importunity, but that I am well acquainted with your generous disposition to encourage literary efforts, unless they appear to proceed from some awkward wight whom none of the Muses favours.

"Ineed not tell you, my dear friend, that I have read, and I will not say how I have been entertained in reading, the Lives of the English Poets.' only say that I could have wished to all of them Nestoris annos, if those years would have protracted the stories of their lives in due proportion. "To my favourite Pope, I think the biographer has been highly beneficent.

His genius seems to me to have been not so much that of a IIoning, an inventor, a bodier forth of fine forms, as of one who studied to dress Nature to advantage. The harmony of his numbers, and his curious felicity in the choice of words and expressions, frequently recommend lines which, if not so gaudily tricked out, would not be admired for the thought they contain, or the image they exhibit. One of his great talents was to improve upon matter laid upon him, a talent far below original invention. There is not a sentiment in his Heloisa that is not to be found in her original Letters; and the Poet was singularly happy in having no other task before him in his Homer, than to give a noble glow of expression to the copious magazine of the finest thoughts and images that ever imagination bodied forth.

"Many of the happy expressions that give pleasure to his Reader are catched up from other Authors in the course of his studies; in his lucky application of which I will allow there is such a merit as belongs to a sound judgment and a lively retentive memory. But this merit has its bounds, and does not claim the honour of the first coinage. I have lately met with

a poetical bird, to which he owes a fantastic feather which has done him much credit, and which, I believe, universally passes for one of his own growth. I casually took up a book of Poems, by a lady *, printed in 1713, and which I suppose has enjoyed a placid slumber ever since, when in a poem on the Spleen, I threw my eye upon these lines,

'Now the Jonquille o'erwhelms the feeble brain,

We faint beneath the aromatic pain.' ful was this industrious bee (if I may -one of many instances how watchperfumes as well as honey from every vary his metamorphosis) to gather flower that fell in his way.

in my journey from Warrington, I "In passing through Stratford lately titude and reverence to the tomb of did not fail to pay my tribute of graour first original Poet, as well as to his statue and picture, the offerings of Garrick at the Town-hall.

"The painter has given as fine a phrenzy to the poet's eye as his pencil could describe; but he was not to copy the picture Shakespeare had set before him. I see a much more vivid eye in the Midsummer Night's Dream than on the canvas of the artist. One loves to take notice of every thing that puts one in mind of that wonderful man; and I was ac

cordingly struck with the name of ing and beautifying churchwardens Burbidge among those of some erectwho have immortalized themselves in golden letters on the front of one of the Church galleries. We need not doubt that this man was a descendant of the famous actor whom Shakespeare probably spirited away from Stratford to go with him in quest of theatrical adventures.

Burbidge, you know, used to play Richard the Third; and from what I once met with in a poetical itinerary Bishop of Norwich, it should seem of that merry old versifier, Corbet, character. that he was thought to excel in that

"The Bishop's landlord, he tells us in verse, went out with him and his company from Leicester to Bosworthfield, on which occasion he mentions a pleasant blunder of mine host, in a misnomer of Richard,

And when he shew'd us where King

Richard died,

Shouting a horse! a horse! he Burbidge cried!'

"My dear friend will excuse these trifles, as the name of Shakespeare will, I know, if not exalt them, make them at least bearable.

"But what can be said for the rest of them that bespread these idle sheets?-Nothing-but that it comes to your hands from that of one of "Your most faithful and

most affectionate friends, T. P."

Dr. JOHNSON's Answer to Dr. PAT TEN, Sept. 24, 1781. "Dear Sir,

"It is so long since we passed any time together, that you may be allowed to have forgotten some part of my character, and I know not upon what other supposition, I can pass without censure or complaint the ceremony of your address. Let me not trifle time in words, to which while we speak or write them we assign little meaning. Whenever you faYour me with a Letter, treat me as one that is glad of your kindness, and proud of your esteem.

"The papers which have been sent for my perusal, I am ready to inspect if you judge my inspection necessary or useful; but, indeed, I do not, for what advantage can arise from it? A Dictionary consists of independent parts, and therefore one page is not much a specimen of the rest. It does not occur to me that I can give any assistance to the Author, and, for my own interest, I resign it into your hands, and do not suppose that I shall ever see my name with regret where you shall think it proper to be put.

"I think it, however, my duty to inform a writer who intends me so great an honour, that in my opinion, he would better consult his interest by dedicating his Work to some powerful and popular neighbour, who can give him more than a name. What will the world do, but look on and laugh when one scholar dedicates to another?

"If I had been consulted about this

Lexicon of Antiquities while it was yet only a design, I should have recommended rather a division of Hebrew, Greek, and Roman particulars, into three volumes, than a combination in one. The Hebrew part at least, I would have wished to separate, as it might be made a very popular book, of which the use might be extended from men of learning down to the English Reader, and which might become a concomitant to the Family Bible.

When works of a multifarious and extensive kind are undertaken in the country, the necessary books are not always known. I remember a very learned and ingenious Clergyman, of whom, when he had published Notes upon the Psalms, I enquired what was his opinion of Hammond's Commentary, and was answered, that he had never heard of it. As this gentleman has the opportunity of consulting you, it needs not be supposed that he has not heard of all the proper books; but unless he is near some Library, I know not how he could peruse them: and if he is conscious that his supellex is nimis angusta, it would be prudent to delay his publication till his deficiences may be supplied.

"It seems not very candid to hint any suspicions of imperfection in a Work which I have not seen, yet what I have said ought to be excused, since I cannot but wish well to a learned man, who has elected me for the honour of a Dedication, and to whom I am indebted for a correspondence so valuable as yours. And I beg that I may not lose any part of his kindness, which I consider with respectful gratitude. Of you, dear Sir, I entreat that you will never again forget for so long a time,

"Your most humble servant,
"SAM. JOHNSON.
"N. B. Bolt-court, Fleet-street,
Sept. 24, 1781."

your Magazine, in requesting to be informed whether an Incumbent has a right (or if he ought) to depasture cattle in the church-yard, being consecrated ground. If the practice is indefensible, I trust some one of your numerous and respectable friends will afford his opinion, so as to set the custom is its proper light.

X.

Opinionem, in the Epitaph, means reputation, fame; and the use of it may be thus illustrated: "Habeo opinionem, suspicionem, et similia, plerumque non de ea opinione intelligenda, quam ipse habeo, foveo; sed quam alius de me. Cæs. B. G. vi. 24. Quæ gens ad hoc tempus iis sedibus sese continet, summamque habet jus. titiæ et bellicæ laudis opinionem, i. e. existimationem apud alios. Adde tritum illud C. Nepotis, Epam. 5. 6. Habebat enim Meneclides suspicionem adulterii." Vide Reitzium de ambiguis, mediis et contrariis, p. 255. Other examples may be adduced—“ Quibus omnibus rebus permoti, equites Treviri, quorum inter Gallos virtutis opinio est singularis, &c." Cæs. B. G. Lib. ii. c. 24.—" Altera ex parte Bellovaci, quæ civitas in Gallia maximam habet opinionem virtutis, instabant, &c." Cæs. de Bell. Gall. lib. vii. par. 59. The sentences here quoted shew, that "habere opinionem" signifies to have a character or reputation for a property in the opinion of But the passage in Dr. Burney's Epitaph seems to have been taken from the following words of Cicero: "P. Rutilii adolescentiam ad opinionem et innocentiæ, et juris scientiæ, P. Mucii commendavit domus." Cic. de Officiis, Lib. ii. cap. xiii. Caste.] It is possible, that ordinary readers may have some surprize and perplexity, when Dr. Parr ascribes to his learned and most respected friend, Dr. Burney, the habit pure atque caste venerandi Deum. The word caste may create some alarm, but Dr. Parr has used it in its strict classical sense.

other men.

First will be produced a passage from the Latin Etymolog. of Gerard Vossius:"Quia in sacris ritibus nihil magis requirebatur, quam ut a venere abstinerent; inde est quod, quando accipitur substantive, idem significat ac institutum, sive dyvela. Sic apud Nonium usurpat Varro lib. 1. rerum humanarum: Nostro ritu sunt facienda civibus, quam Græco castu :' ubi ritus et castus sunt συνώνυμα. Idem Varro: 'Et religiones, et castus, id possunt, ut ex periculo eripiant nos.'

Sic dicebant in casto esse pro άуve ut apud Festum, 'Minuuntur populo luctus, cum in casto Cereris constitit: ubi in casto Cereris esse

significat dyve Anung, Cereri operari. Usus quoque Tertullianus de Jejun. Sed bene, quod in nostris xerophagiis blasphemias ingerens, casto Isidis et Cybeles eas adæquas."

There was an old word castus in the fourth declension, signifying a religious rité or ceremony.

Now shall be quoted a passage from the Antiquarius of Laurenbergius, p. 72, under the word castus :

"Et religiones et castus possunt, ut ex periculo nos eripiant nostro." Varro, rerum divinar. lib. 1.

"Nostro ritu sunt facienda civilius, quam Græco castu." Ibidem. "Res divas edicit, prædicit castus." Nævius in Bello Punico.

"Minuitur populo luctus, cum in castu Cereris constitit." Festus.

The orthography castu is more antique and more correct than casto, negligently quoted by Vossius.

Tertullian uses castimonia and castus for a sacred ceremony: "Quales castimoniæ Apim, Isidem, et magnam Matrem, certorum eduliorum excep tione purificant." Tertullian de Jejuniis, par. 2.-Again," Casto Isidis et Cybeles eas adæquas," quoted before. The note of Rigaltius runs thus: "Casto, T dyveía. Castimoniam dixit supra. Quod autem Latine dicunt in Casto Cereris esse, Græcus aliquis Scriptor apud Suidam dixit, τὰς μηίρωακὰς καςείας αγνεύειν. Græco castu, dixit Varro, pro Græco ritu."

་

We next quote a passage from Suidas: “ Μητρωακαί. ἡμέραι τινὲς ἱεραί. τὰς δὲ μηδρωακὰς παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις, ἢ καὶ πρότερον παρὰ Φρυξὶ σπεδασθείσας και σείας, ἑκάτε μηνὸς ἤγνευε.”—The note of Kuster runs thus: "Hæc sunt verba Marini in Vita Procli cap. 19. sed ubi pro xxselas rectius legitur dyissas ut itidem Pearsonius observaverat. Confer etiam Theodor. Canter. Var. Lect. lib. 11. cap. 21."

Castus is used in the sense of pious once by Horace, and three times by Virgil.

"Castus Æneas Patriæ superstes." Carm. Seculare.

where castus is equivalent to pius. Hac casti maneant in religione nepotes. En. 3. v. 409.

Nulli fas casto sceleratum insistere li