I expressed my opinion of my friend Derrick as but a poor writer.
JOHNSON. 'To be sure, Sir, he is; but you are to consider that his being
a literary man has got for him all that he has. It has made him King of
Bath[1340]. Sir, he has nothing to say for himself but that he is a
writer. Had he not been a writer, he must have been sweeping the
crossings in the streets, and asking halfpence from every body that past.'
[Page 456: Mr. Derrick. A.D. 1763.]
In justice, however, to the memory of Mr. Derrick, who was my first
tutor in the ways of London, and shewed me the town in all its variety
of departments, both literary and sportive, the particulars of which Dr.
Johnson advised me to put in writing, it is proper to mention what
Johnson, at a subsequent period, said of him both as a writer and an
editor: 'Sir, I have often said, that if Derrick's letters[1341] had been
written by one of a more established name, they would have been thought
very pretty letters[1342].' And, 'I sent Derrick to Dryden's relations to
gather materials for his life; and I believe he got all that I myself
should have got[1343].'
Poor Derrick! I remember him with kindness. Yet I cannot withhold from
my readers a pleasant humourous sally which could not have hurt him had
he been alive, and now is perfectly harmless. In his collection of
poems, there is one upon entering the harbour of Dublin, his native
city, after a long absence.
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