544 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



of his earlj' acquaintance ;and on 

 this I have heard Johnson remark, 

 in terms that sufficiently expressed 

 a knowledge of his character, and 

 a resentment of his beliaviour. It 

 is probable that he might use the 

 same language to Hawkesworth 

 himself, and also reproach him 

 with the acceptance of an acade- 

 mical honour to which he could 

 have no pretensions, and whicii 

 Johnson, conceiving to be irregu- 

 lar, as many yet do, held in great 

 contempt : thus much is certain, 

 that soon after the attainment of 

 it, the intimacy between them 

 ceased.*" 



Tiiat Hawkes worth's acceptance 

 of this degree should cause such 

 forgetfulncss of himself, as to lead 

 to the neglect of those who had 

 principally contributed to his lite- 

 rary advancement is certainly 

 an instance of deplorable folly ; 

 but that Johnson was justified in 

 reproaching him for his admission 

 of the honour, and in ridiculing 

 his pretensions to it will hardly 

 be affirmed. It was intended by 

 Herring as the reward of exer- 

 tions in support of morality and 

 religion, not as the acknowledg- 

 ment of abilities for the legal pro- 

 fession ; and therefore the conduct 

 of Johnson on this occasion might 

 have justly roused resentment in 

 a mind of much less irritability 

 than Hawkcworth possessed. 



The reputation which thedoctor 

 had acquired by his Adventurer, 

 held out strong inducements to 

 the prosecution of his literary 

 career; and in the year 1756, at 

 the request of Garrick, he turned 

 his attention towards the stage. 

 His first production, in this pro- 



vince, was an alteration of Dry- 

 den's comedy of Arapliytrion, 

 accompanied by new music ; and 

 in 1760, he brought forward his 

 " Zimri, an oratorio,'' which was 

 performed at Covent Garden, and 

 set to music by Mr. Stanley. 

 It was favourably received ; and 

 though the fable from the peculi- 

 arity of its incidents, is by no 

 means calculated for public re- 

 presentation, the poetry which is 

 much above mediocrilj', ensured 

 its success. 



About the period of his produc- 

 tion of" Zimri,'' he altered South- 

 ern's tragedy of " Oroonoko" 

 for Drury Lane theatre; and 

 in 1761 brought upon the same 

 stage an entertainment under the 

 title of " Edgar and Emmeline.'' 

 This is a fairy tale and in the 

 construction of which he has 

 exhibited much elegance of ima- 

 gination. 



It is to be regretted, that the 

 dramatic labours of our author 

 closed with tliis performance; 

 for from his powers of language, 

 his fertility of fancy, and his 

 knowledge of the human heart, 

 there is every reason to suppose 

 that he might have attained to 

 distinguished excellence as a dis- 

 ciple of Melpomene. 



He had been, however, some- 

 time employed on the composition 

 of an oriental tale, upon a scale 

 much larger than that of his east- 

 ern narratives in the Adventurer. 

 It was published in the same year 

 with his "Edgar and Emme'line," 

 and is entitled •' Almoranand Ha- 

 met;"it occupies twovolumesl2mo. 

 and is dedicated to tiie king. ! n this 

 fiction, which soon became popular 



• Hawkins's Life of JoLnson, p. 312. 



