(Vol. v., p. 161.)
Allow me to draw your attention to a _curious letter_ which I transcribe,
with reference to the above. It appears to have escaped the notice of MR.
CROKER, although it corroborates his statements. It was written by the
bookseller himself who published the _Lives_, and would seem to set the
matter as to their authorship completely at rest. Griffiths appears to have
been also the editor of the _Monthly Review_; and Cartwright, the inventor
of the power-loom, to whom the letter is addressed, to have been one of his
contributors.
"MR. GRIFFITH to MR. CARTWRIGHT.
"Turnham Green, 16th June [1781?].
"Dear Sir,
"I have sent you a _feast_! Johnson's _new_ volumes of the _Lives of
the Poets_. You will observe that Savage's _Life_ is one of the
volumes. I suppose it is the same which he published about thirty years
ago, and therefore you will not be obliged to notice it otherwise than
in the course of enumeration. In the account of Hammond, my good friend
Samuel has stumbled on a material circumstance in the publication of
Cibber's _Lives of the Poets_. He intimates that Cibber never saw the
work. This is a reflection on the bookseller, your humble servant. The
bookseller {114} has now in his possession Theophilus Cibber's receipt
for twenty guineas (Johnson says ten), in consideration of which he
engaged to 'revise, correct, and improve the work, and also to affix
his name in the title-page.' Mr. Cibber did accordingly very punctually
revise every sheet; he made numerous corrections, and added many
improvements: particularly in those lives which came down to his own
times, and brought him within the circle of his own and his father's
literary acquaintance, especially in the dramatic line. To the best of
my recollection, he gave some entire lives, besides inserting abundance
of paragraphs, of notes, anecdotes, and remarks, in those which were
compiled by Shiells and other writers. I say _other_, because many of
the best pieces of biography in that collection were not written by
Shiells, but by superior hands. In short, the engagement of Cibber, or
some other _Englishman_, to superintend what Shiells in particular
should offer, was a measure absolutely necessary, not only to guard
against his Scotticisms, and other defects of expression, but his
virulent Jacobitism, which inclined him to abuse every Whig character
that came in his way. This, indeed, he would have done; but Cibber (a
stanch Williamite) opposed and prevented him, insomuch that a violent
quarrel arose on the subject. By the way, it seems to me, that Shiell's
Jacobitism has been the only circumstance that has procured him the
regard of Mr. Johnson, and the favourable mention that he has made of
Shiell's 'virtuous life and pious end'--expressions that must draw a
smile from every one who knows, as I did, the real character of Robert
Shiells. And now, what think you of noticing this matter in regard to
truth, and the fair fame of the honest bookseller?"--_Memoir of the
Life, Writings, and Mechanical Inventions of Edmund Cartwright, D.D.,
F.R.S._: Saunders & Otley.