ough the cosmetick discipline, part of
which was a regular lustration performed with bean-flower water and
may-dews; my hair was perfumed with a variety of unguents, by some of
which it was to be thickened, and by others to be curled. The softness
of my hands was secured by medicated gloves, and my bosom rubbed with
a pomade prepared by my mother, of virtue to discuss pimples, and
clear discolorations."

[50] Dr. Johnson's extraordinary facility of composition is well known
from many circumstances. He wrote forty pages of the Life of Savage in
one night. He composed seventy lines of his Imitation of the Tenth
Satire of Juvenal, and wrote them down from memory, without altering a
word. In the Prologue on opening Drury-Lane theatre, he changed but
one word, and that in compliment to Mr. Garrick. Some of his
_Ramblers_ were written while the printer's messenger was waiting to
carry the copy to the press. Many of the _Idlers_ were written at
Oxford; Dr. Johnson often began his talk only just in time not to miss
the post, and sent away the paper without reading it over.

[51] See his admirable _Lives of the Poets_, and particularly his
Disquisition on metaphysical and religious poetry.

[52] See his Review of Soame Jennings's _Essay on the Origin of Evil_;
a masterpiece of composition, both for vigour of style and precision
of ideas.

[53] Pope's or rather Bolingbroke's system was borrowed from the
Arabian metaphysicians.

[54] The scheme of the _Essay on Man_ was given by Lord Bolingbroke to
Pope.

[55] See that sublime and beautiful Tale, _The Prince of Abyssinia_;
and _The Rambler_, No. 65, 204, &c. &c.

[56] "The world is disposed to call this a discovery of Dr.
Franklin's, (from his paper inserted in the Philosophical
Transactions) but in this they are much mistaken. Pliny, Plutarch, and
other naturalists were acquainted with it."--"Ea natura est olei, ut
lucem afferat, ac tranquillar omnia, etiam mare, quo non aliud
elementum implacabilius."
_Memoirs of the Society of Manchester._

[57] _London_, a Satire, and _The Vanity of Human Wishes_, are both
imitations of Juvenal. On the publication of _London_ in 1738, Mr.
Pope was so much struck by it, that he desired Mr. Dodsley, his
bookseller, to find out the author. Dodsley having sought him in vain
for some time, Mr. Pope said, he would very soon be _deterre_.
Afterwards Mr. Richardson the painter found out Mr. Johnson, and Mr.
Pope recommended him t