of instruction would, in some degree, have the advantage of novelty. A few days before the first of his Essays came out, there started another competitor for fame in the same form, under the title of The Tatler Revived[1], which I believe was 'born but to die[2].' Johnson was, I think, not very happy in the choice of his title, The Rambler, which certainly is not suited to a series of grave and moral discourses; which the Italians have literally, but ludicrously translated by Il Vagabondo[3] and which has been lately assumed as the denomination of a vehicle of licentious tales, The Rambler's Magazine. He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following account of its getting this name: 'What must be done, Sir, will be done. When I was to begin publishing that paper, I was at a loss how to name it. I sat down at night upon my bedside, and resolved that I would not go to sleep till I had fixed its title. The Rambler seemed the best that occurred, and I took it[4].'
With what devout and conscientious sentiments this paper was undertaken, is evidenced by the following prayer, which he composed and offered up on the occasion: 'Almighty God, the giver of all good things, without whose help all labor is ineffectual, and without whose grace all wisdom is
- ↑ 'Two new designs have appeared about the middle of this month [March 1750], one entitled, The Tatler Revived; or The Christian Philosopher and Politician, half a sheet, price 2d. (stamped); the other, The Rambler, three half sheets (unstamped) ; price 2d.' Gent. Mag. XX. 126.
- ↑ Pope's Essay on Man, ii. 10.
- ↑ See Post, under Oct. 12, 1779.
- ↑ I have heard Dr. Warton mention, that he was at Mr. Robert Dodsley's with the late Mr. Moore, and several of his friends, considering what should be the name of the periodical paper which Moore had undertaken. Garrick proposed The Sallad, which, by a curious coincidence, was afterwards applied to himself by Goldsmith:
' Our Garrick's a sallad, for in him we see
Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree!'
[Retaliation, line 11.]At last, the company having separated, without any thing of which they approved having been offered, Dodsley himself thought of The World. Boswell.
