letters to his son[m].  “There is a man, whose moral character, deep learning, and superior parts, I acknowledge, admire, and respect; but whom it is so impossible for me to love, that I am almost in a fever, whenever I am in his company.  His figure (without being deformed) seems made to disgrace or ridicule the common structure of the human body.  His legs and arms are never in the position which, according to the situation of his body, they ought to be in, but constantly employed in committing acts of hostility upon the graces.  He throws any where, but down his throat, whatever he means to drink; and mangles what he means to carve.  Inattentive to all the regards of social life, he mistimes and misplaces every thing.  He disputes with heat indiscriminately, mindless of the rank, character, and situation of those with whom he disputes.  Absolutely ignorant of the several gradations of familiarity and respect, he is exactly the same to his superiors, his equals, and his inferiors; and, therefore, by a necessary consequence, is absurd to two of the three.  Is it possible to love such a man?  No.  The utmost I can do for him is, to consider him a respectable Hottentot.”  Such was the idea entertained by lord Chesterfield.  After the incident of Colley Cibber, Johnson never repeated his visits.  In his high and decisive tone, he has been often heard to say, “lord Chesterfield is a wit among lords, and a lord among wits.”

In the course of the year 1747, Garrick, in conjunction with Lacy, became patentee of Drury lane playhouse.  For the opening of the theatre, at the usual time, Johnson wrote, for his friend, the well-known prologue, which, to say no more of it, may, at least, be placed on a level with Pope’s to the tragedy of Cato.  The playhouse being now under Garrick’s direction, Johnson thought the opportunity fair to think of his tragedy of Irene, which was his whole stock on his first arrival in town, in the year 1737.  That play was, accordingly, put into rehearsal in January, 1749.  As a precursor to prepare the way, and to awaken the public attention, The Vanity of human Wishes, a poem in imitation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, by the author of London, was published in the same month.  In the Gentleman’s Magazine, for February, 1749, we find that the tragedy of Irene was acted at Drury lane, on Monday, February the 6th, and, from that time, without interruption, to Monday, February the 20th, being in all thirteen nights.  Since that time, it has not been exhibited on any stage.  Irene may be added to some other plays in our language, which have lost their place in the theatre, but continue to please in the closet.  During the representation of this piece, Johnson attended every night behind the scenes.  Conceiving that his character, as an author, required some ornament for his person, he chose, upon that occasion, to decorate himself with a handsome waistcoat, and a gold-laced hat.  The late Mr. Topham Beauclerc, who had a great deal of that humour, which pleases the more