Lewes.
_Cibber's "Lives of the Poets_" (Vol. v., p. 25.).--When MR. CROSSLEY
inserted in your pages, at great length, the _original_
prospectus of Cibber's _Lives_, he was not aware that it had been
_reprinted_ before. Such, however, is the case, as may be seen by
turning to the sixth volume of Sir Egerton Brydges' _Censura Literaria_,
ed. 1808, p. 352. It was communicated to the columns of that work by
that diligent antiquary in literary matters, Joseph Haslewood.
MR. CROSSLEY says, "It is rather extraordinary that none of Dr.
Johnson's biographers appear to have been aware that the prospectus of
Cibber's _Lives_ was furnished by Johnson." Where is there the slightest
_proof_ that Johnson wrote one line of it? Haslewood believed it to have
been the production of Messrs. Cibber and Shiels. Does MR. CROSSLEY
ground his claim for Johnson merely upon a fancied
resemblance in _style_?