Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies II.djvu/332

 ��Anecdotes by George Steevens.

��It has been already observed, that Johnson had lost the sight of one of his eyes 1. Mr. Ellis 2, an ancient gentleman now

��whet ? " " I have told you, Sir, I never drink in the morning," cries Booth a little peevishly. " No offence, I hope, Sir," said the bailiff; " I hope I have not treated you with any in civility. I don't ask any gentleman to call for liquor in my house, if he doth not choose it ; nor I don't desire anybody to stay here longer than they have a mind to. New gate, to be sure, is the place for all debtors that can't find bail. ... I'd have you consider that the twenty- four hours appointed by Act of Parliament are almost out ; and so it is time to think of removing." . . . "I did not think (said Booth) to have offended you so much by refusing to drink in a morning." '

In Joseph Andrews, Bk. iii. ch. 3, the prison is described to which the debtor was transferred ; where ' he was crowded in with a great number of miserable wretches, in common with whom he was destitute of every convenience of life, even that which all the brutes enjoy, wholesome air.' See also Jonathan Wild, Bk. i. ch. 4.

John Howard describes how 'all sorts of prisoners are confined together; debtors and felons.' 'One cause (he adds) why the rooms in some prisons are so close is perhaps the window-tax, which the gaolers have to pay ; this tempts them to stop the windows, and stifle their prisoners. In many Gaols, and in most Bridewells, there is no allow ance of straw for prisoners to sleep on. The frequent effect of confine ment in prison seems generally under stood, and shews how full of em- phatical meaning is the curse of a severe creditor, who pronounces his debtor's doom to ROT IN GAOL.'

��State of the Prisons, ed. 1777, pp. 15-17.

In the Annual Register, 1769, i. 114, is the account of a discharge of a debtor after twenty- seven years' imprisonment, under an Act for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors. He had not been guilty of ' fraudulent inten tion,' neither had he been 'a debtor to the Crown,' otherwise he would not have had the benefit of the Act. Gentleman's Magazine, 1769, p. 266.

1 Life. i. 41.

2 ' It is wonderful, Sir (said John son), what is to be found in London. The most literary conversation that I ever enjoyed was at the table of Jack Ellis, a money-scrivener, behind the Royal Exchange, with whom I at one period used to dine generally once a week.' Ib. iii. 21.

Jeremy Bentham said, ' I supped at the Mitre Tavern once, when they exhibited a complete service of plate. We came to hear Johnson's good things. There was Bickerstaff, there was Ellis, the last scrivener of the City of London, who died at the age of ninety-four, a pleasant old fellow, there was Hoole, and there was Goldsmith. But I was angry with Goldsmith for writing the Deserted Village. I liked nothing gloomy ; besides it was not true, for there were no such villages.' Bentham's Works, x. 124. Bentham's father had been Clerk to the Scriveners' Company. Ib. p. 279.

Milton's father and Gray's father were scriveners. Johnson's Works, vii. 66 ; viii. 476.

Johnson defines money scrivener as 'one who raises money for others,' and quotes a passage from Arbuthnot, where it is said : ' Such fellows are

living

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