Memoirs of Lord Flame. 
were wont not to fend their fubf{criptions 
immediately to him, but to the Earl of 
F********* 5 ftLeward, who lived at 
Gawfworth, and who ufed to wait upon 
Lord Flame annually, with. this intro- 
ductory addrefs —‘* My Lord, I have 
brought you your rents.’” He was de- 
fired to wait, and his lordfhip having re- 
ceived the money, gave him a formal re- 
ceipt, and difmiffed him. Indeed one of 
his patrons, the Bifhop of C » Te- 
gularly tranfmitted to him perfonally, an 
annual prefent of a pound of tea, in 
which were contained ten guineas ; but it 
is probable, from feveral little ftories told 
concerning him, that had the naked fub- 
{cription been fent to him, undiflguifed 
and unpalliated by fome fuch cover as 
the tea, he would have refented the gift 
intended for his fubfiftence, as an affront. 
He was familiar at the tables of the gen- 
tlemen in the neighbourhood, where his 
lively fallies of wit made him conftantly 
acceptable, and where he always behaved 
as if he was really of the rank which 
his title imported. The ruftics ftill re- 
member him, and relate with fmiles, 
many little anecdotes concerning his ec- 
centric deportment. They all of them 
invariably addreffed him by the title of 
«© My Lord,” but behind his back they 
gave him another title, not quite fo re- 
dpe&table as the firtt, namely, ‘6 Old 
Maggotty.”” He was himfelf of a good 
old age, but notwithftanding, had a par- 
ticular diflike to old women. ‘There 
was an old woman, named Hannah 
Bailey, who lived neighbour to him, and, 
it is probable, had never been unkind to 
him, but on whom he never could look 
with an eye offavour. One ftory in par- 
ticular, I recolle&t hearing from the vil- 
lagers concerning him: it is cuftomary 
in country churches, when a couple has 
been newly married, for the fingers to 
chaunt, on the following Sunday, -a par- 
ticular pfalm, thence called the Wedding 
Pfalm, in which are thefe words: ‘¢ Oh 
well is thee, and happy fhalt thou be.” 
It happened, that the nuptials of a vil- 
‘Inge pair were thus celebrated before 
Lord Flame, but the hoarfe mufic of 
the countrymen did not pleafe his refined 
ear. ~Whcen the fervice was over, he ac- 
cofted the clergyman at the church-door 
with this opinion, ‘I tell you what, fr, 
I think yonder Tom Friar would do to 
fing) Oh well is thee, and happy fhalt 
thou be, ifthe devil was married to 
Hannah Bailey.’ «The ruftics celebrate 
him “asa remarkably excellent performer 
on the violin, which ftamps an additional 

417 
luftre on his name, in his character. of 
amufician. They add, too, that he him- 
felf imagined he was an uncommonly 
melodious finger, but the contortions of 
his face during the performace, were fo 
hideous, that he was accuftomed, when- 
ever he was defired to fing, to ftand with 
his face clofe to a wall, and to cover.each 
fide of it with his hands, in order to pre- 
vent every poflible chance of its being 
feen, as otherwife it would have been 
fure to have diverted all attention from 
his fong. After having enjoyed the 
fweets of tranquillity in his fequeftered 
retreat for feveral years, he was at laft 
fummoned -out of this world in the year 
1780. When he was on his death-bed, 
he earneftly requefted, that after his de- 
ceafe, his body might not be buried in 
the chu:ch-yard, but in Gaw{werth 
wood, and affligned as his reafon for the 
ftrange requeft, that he was certain if 
he was. buried in the church-yard, that 
at the refurreftion, fome old woman or 
other would be quarrelling with him con- 
cerning the property of a leg or thigh 
bone, and therefore he was determined to 
keep himfelf to himfelf. A vault, was 
accordingly made for him in the wood, 
near a tavourite fpot, which had been 
his conftant walk and haunt of medita- 
tion, and he was there buried. The 
neighbouring gentlemen wifhing to pre- 
ferve the memory of fo extraordinary a 
character, erected a {mall tomb over him, 
for which. the following epitaph was 
written, and has fince been infcribed upon 
its 
Under this ftone 
Reft the remains of Mr. Samuel Johnfon, 
Afterwards ennobled with the grander title of 
LORD FLAME, 
Who, after having been in his life diftiné 
from other men, 2% 
By the eccentricities of his genius, - 
Chofe to retain the fame charatter after~his 
death, io 
And was at his own defire buried here. 
A.D. 1780. Aged $2. . 
Stay thou, whom chance direéts, .or eafe-per~ 
fuades, poe PS oe: 
To feek the quiet of thefe fylvan thades 5 - 
Here, undifturb’d, and hid from ‘vulgar eyes, 
A wit, mufician, poet)’ player, lies$"° \-* 
A dancing-mafter too, in grace he fhone> | 
And Burlothrumbo’s fire was all his own} 
"Twas he, with pen fublime,-who drew Lord 
Flamejo399 & DisSh FOvo She DON 
Aéted the ‘part, and gain’d‘himfelf ‘the name. 
Averfe to ftrife, haw'‘oft\he’d gravely fay,- 
‘Thefe peaceful groves fhowld fhade-his breath- 
lefs clay, 
4Hz 
That, 
