SAMUEL JOHNSON 103 was passing over him. He never forgot the generosity with which Hervey, who was now residing in London, relieved his wants during this time of trial. " Harry Hervey," said the old philosopher, many years later, " was a vicious man ; but he was very kind to me. If you call a dog Hervey, I shall love him." At Hervey's table Johnson sometimes enjoyed feasts which were made more agreeable by con- trast. But in general he dined, and thought that he dined well, on sixpenny- worth of meat and a pennyworth of bread at an ale-house near Drury Lane. About a year after Johnson had begun to reside in London he was fortunate enough to obtain regular employment from Cave, an enterprising and intelligent bookseller, who was proprietor and editor of the Gentleman s Magazine. A few weeks after Johnson had entered on these obscure labors he published a work which at once placed him high among the writers of his age. It is prob- able that what he had suffered during his first year in London had often reminded him of some parts of that noble poem in which Juvenal had described the misery and degradation of a needy man of letters, lodged among the pigeons' nests in the tottering garrets which overhung the streets of Rome. Pope's admirable imita- tions of Horace's " Satires and Epistles " had recently appeared, were in every hand, and were by many readers thought superior to the originals. What Pope had done for Horace, Johnson aspired to do for Juvenal. The enterprise was bold, and yet judicious. For between Johnson and Juvenal there was much in common much more, certainly, than between Pope and Horace. Johnson's " London " appeared, without his name, in May, 1 738. He received only ten guineas for this stately and vigorous poem ; but the sale was rapid and the success complete. A second edition was required within a week. Those small critics who are always desirous to lower established reputations ran about proclaiming that the anonymous satirist was superior to Pope in Pope's own pe- culiar department of literature. It ought to be remembered, to the honor of Pope, that he joined heartily in the applause with which the appearance of a rival genius was welcomed. He then made inquiries about the author of " London." Such a man, he said, could not long be concealed. The name was soon discovered ; and Pope, with great kindness, exerted himself to obtain an academical degree and the mastership of a grammar-school for the poor young poet. The attempt failed, and Johnson remained a bookseller's hack. The fame of his abilities and learning continued to grow. Warburton pro- nounced him a man of parts and genius ; and the praise of Warburton was then no light thing. Such was Johnson's reputation that, in 1747, several eminent booksellers combined to employ him in the arduous work of preparing a diction- ary of the English language, in two folio volumes. The sum which they agreed to pay him was only fifteen hundred guineas ; and out of this sum he had to pay several poor men of letters who assisted him in the humbler parts of his task. Johnson had flattered himself that he should have completed his dictionary by the end of 1750, but it was not till 1755 that he at length gave his huge vol- umes to the world. During the seven years which he passed in the drudgery of penning definitions and marking quotations for transcription, he sought for re-
