did not then know of his mother's death and presumably still wished to visit her. Nor can the discrepancy in the amount of money be urged against the statement, since although he asked for only thirty pounds in his letter on Saturday, he may have easily concluded to demand the larger sum on Monday or Tuesday. One point may help to confirm the story of Baretti. Although Johnson offered the book to Mr. Strahan, the first edition bears on the title page only the names of R. & J. Dodsley and W. Johnston as publishers. Moreover, Dodsley's name alone appears in the notices of the Gentleman's Magazine and the Monthly Review. So that, whether Mr. Strahan was one of the publishers or not, he does not seem to have had the prominent place in the bargain that might be expected if the offer in Johnson's letter was accepted.

As to the time at which Rasselas was written, the story itself affords no certain internal evidence. Yet one sentence in chapter xlv. has always been regarded as more or less autobiographical. The speaker there says, "Praise is to an old man an empty sound. I have neither mother to be delighted with the reputation of her son, nor wife to partake the honors of her husband." Now it is clear that if this last sentence is more than anticipatory of an event which Johnson was no doubt expecting-his mother's death-it could not have been written at the time the story is supposed to have been completed. Although it is a point in evidence of which too much should not be made, it is at least right to suggest that this 1 See 124: 10.

sentence may possibly have been written after the death of Mrs. Johnson. This could be accounted for in one of two ways. Either the whole chapter concerning the "old man" was not composed until after January 23, or the book was not finished as early as is usually thought. In support of the first it may be said that chapter xlv. is complete in itself; it occurs in the midst of the story of the mad astronomer, and might be omitted without breaking the continuity of the remaining narrative. On the other hand the second supposition might be supported. First, if the book was not complete at the time usually assigned, that would easily account for the delay in issuing from the press. Such dilatoriness in meeting literary obligations is known to have occurred several times in Johnson's life, notably in connection with the Dictionary and with the edition of Shakespeare. After receiving the needed money for the book, Johnson may possibly have put the latter aside, almost but not quite finished, and have taken it up again after his mother's death, only at the urgent solicitation of the publisher. Neither conjecture can be regarded as more than an hypothesis. But either would account naturally for a significant sentence in the book, which it would seem unnatural for Johnson to write without reference to himself, or before the death that he hoped would not occur. Besides, either conjecture would explain the somewhat remarkable delay in the printing of Rasselas, for which no explanation has ever been attempted.

In regard to the conception of the tale, the accounts of Boswell and Hawkins, who were known

to bear each other none too much good will, differ in one important particular. Boswell implies that Rasselas was planned and written only under the spur of necessities occasioned by the death of Johnson's mother. He tries to make out, as he might be expected to do with his unbounded admiration for Johnson, that the writing of Rasselas was something wholly remarkable, both as to the conception of the tale and as to the time of composition. Hawkins, on the other hand, says that Johnson “had for some time been meditating a fictitious history which might serve as a vehicle to convey to the world his sentiments of human life, and the dispensations of Providence." The truth in regard to these two statements can never be certainly determined. But if Johnson, without previous purpose, wrote Rasselas in a single week, he must not only have planned the book, but have composed it with unusual rapidity. It is true that he was accustomed to write rapidly. For example, "the Tour of the Western Isles was written in twenty days, and the Patriot in three; Taxation No Tyranny within a week." But even compared with this, the writing. of Rasselas in the time specified would be exceptionally rapid.

There is another circumstance, not so far noted, which perhaps has a bearing on the conception of the tale. In discussing the source of the idea of the happy valley, it is pointed out (p. xxx) that Johnson had before sketched the valley of happiness. The 'Diary of Rev. Thomas Campbell, in Napier's Johnsoniana, P. 257.

central idea of the History of Seged, as of Rasselas, is a search for happiness which, under the most favorable circumstances, proves unavailing and is given up in despair. Moreover, it is not impossible that the History of Seged was written under circumstances similar to those connected with Rasselas itself. The former was published in the Ramblers of February 29 and March 3, 1752. A fortnight after the last of these was written occurred the death of Johnson's wife. Although it is not certain, it is by no means improbable that Mrs. Johnson was ill at the time when Johnson, turning over the miseries of life, and having a presentiment of coming evil, wrote his first tale of the unavailing search for happiness. This first sketch may easily have suggested a longer story of the same sort. If so, it is not strange that when the second great sorrow came upon him, Johnson should have thought of again proclaiming his earlier message concerning the impossibility of finding happiness in this world. This conjecture might add confirmation to what Hawkins says, by no means improbable in itself, that Johnson had meditated some work of the sort, but that nothing was definitely accomplished until the illness of his mother furnished the necessity for some money.

As to the statement of Hawkins, that "Johnson had meditated a second part," there is no corroborating evidence of any sort, and therefore the statement must be considered unproved. It may, however, have suggested to Miss E. Cornelia Knight the continuation of the story, called Dinarbas, which was published in 1790.

L

Rasselas, though written in the month of January, 1759, was not published until the last of March or the early part of April. This is known both from reviews of the book and from further references in Johnson's letters. On March 23 Johnson wrote to Miss Porter : "I am going to publish a little story-book which I will send you when it is out."1 On the 10th of May he wrote again, saying, among other things: "I sent last week some of my works, one for you, one for your aunt Hunter, . . . one for Mr. Hunter, and one for Kitty. I beg you, my dear, to write often to me, and tell me how you like my little book.' There can be little doubt that both these letters refer to Rasselas. But the only certain indication in regard to the printing of the tale is that it was reviewed in the Gentleman's Magazine for April-a number which was not printed until early in May, since it contains notice of political events as late as the last day of April.

We may summarize the probable circumstances in regard to the composition and publication of Rasselas, by putting together into a consistent account the several statements already considered. Johnson had sketched a somewhat similar tale in the Rambler in 1752. Whether he had or had not meditated for some time a more extended treatment of the same subject, he did not begin the actual composition of Rasselas until within a day or two of the announcement of his mother's illness on January 13, 1759. The book was finished either on Monday or Tuesday of 'Johnson's Letters, I. 86; or Boswell's Life, I. 516. 2 Ibid., I. 87; or I. 516.