'
As one of the little occasional advantages which he did not disdain to
take by his pen, as a man whose profession was literature, he this year
accepted of a guinea[938] from Mr. Robert Dodsley, for writing the
introduction to _The London Chronicle_, an evening news-paper; and even
in so slight a performance exhibited peculiar talents. This Chronicle
still subsists, and from what I observed, when I was abroad, has a more
extensive circulation upon the Continent than any of the English
newspapers. It was constantly read by Johnson himself[939]; and it is but
just to observe, that it has all along been distinguished for good
sense, accuracy, moderation, and delicacy.
[Page 318: Dr. Madden. A.D. 1756.]
Another instance of the same nature has been communicated to me by the
Reverend Dr. Thomas Campbell, who has done himself considerable credit
by his own writings[940].
'Sitting with Dr. Johnson one morning alone, he asked me if I had known
Dr. Madden, who was authour of the premium-scheme in Ireland[941]. On my
answering in the affirmative, and also that I had for some years lived
in his neighbourhood, &c., he begged of me that when I returned to
Ireland, I would endeavour to procure for him a poem of Dr. Madden's
called _Boulter's Monument_. The reason (said he) why I wish for it, is
this: when Dr. Madden came to London, he submitted that work to my
castigation; and I remember I blotted a great many lines, and might have
blotted many more, without making the poem worse.
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