538 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



a considerable degree, the plan of 

 tlie Adventurer, it will be proper, 

 in this place, to insert. 



*• To the Rev. Dr. Joseph Warton. 

 " Dear Sir, 



" I ought to have written to you 

 before now, but I ought to do 

 many things which I do not ; nor 

 can I, indeed, claim any merit 

 from this letter ; for being desired 

 by the authors and proprietor of 

 the Adventurer to look out for 

 another hand, my thoughts neces- 

 sarily fixed upon you, whose fund 

 of literature will enable you to 

 assist them, with very little inter- 

 ruption of your studies. 



" They desire you to engage to 

 furnish one paper a month, at 

 two guineas a paper, which you 

 may very readily perform. We 

 have considered that a paper 

 should consist of pieces of imagi- 

 nation, pictures of life, and dis- 

 quisitions of literature. The part 

 which depends on the imagination 

 is very well supplied, as you will 

 find when you read the paper ; 

 for descriptions of life, there is 

 now a treaty almost made with 

 an author and an authoress* ; and 

 the province of criticism and 

 literature they are very desirous 

 to assign to the commentator on 

 Virgil. 



•' I hope this proposal will not 

 be rejected, and that the next post 

 will bring us your compliance. I 

 speak as one of the fraternity, 

 though I have no part in the paper 

 beyond now and then a motto f ; 

 but two of the writers are my par- 



ticular friends;}:, and I hope the 

 pleasure of seeing a third united 

 to them will not be denied, to, 

 dear Sir, 



" Your most obedient, 

 " And most humble servant, 

 " Sam. Johnson.^" 



The first of the Adventurers, 

 on a folio sheet, was given to the 

 world November the 7th, 1752; 

 and the paper was continued every 

 Tuesday and Saturday, until 

 Saturday, the 9th of March, 1754, 

 when it closed with No. 14-0, 

 signed by Hawkesworth, in his 

 capacity of Editor. The price of 

 each essay was the same as of the 

 Ramblers, and it was printed for 

 J. Payne, at Pope's Head, in 

 Paternoster Row. 



The name, the design, the 

 conduct, and the execution of 

 seventy numbers of the Adventu- 

 rer, are to be ascribed to Hawkes- 

 worth. The sale, during its 

 circulation in separate papers, was 

 very extensive ; and when thrown 

 into volumes, four copious editions 

 passed through tlie press in little 

 more than eight years. 



The variety, indeed, the fancy, 

 the taste, and practical morality, 

 which the pages of this periodical 

 paper exhibit, were such as to 

 insure popularitj' ; and it may be 

 pronounced, as a whole, the most 

 spirited and fascinating of the 

 class to which it belongs. 



To his essays in the Adventurer, 

 Hawkesworth was, in fact, indebted 

 for his fame, and, ultimately, his 

 fortune ; and, as they are the most 



* This treaty was never executed. 



+ Dr. Johnson had at this time only written one paper, and the profits were 

 given to Dr. Bathurst. 



X Hawkcswortii and Bathurst. 



§ Boswell's Johnson, Vol. I. p. 216, 217. 



