chill, in imitation, now produced 'The Rosciad,' and Bubb Dodington
was one whose ridiculous points were salient in those days of
personality. 'The Rosciad' had a signal success, which completed the
ruin of its author: he became a man of the town, forsook the wife of his
youth, and abandoned the clerical character. There are few sights more
contemptible than that of a clergyman who has cast off his profession,
or whose profession has cast him off. But Churchill's talents for a time
kept him from utter destitution. Bubb Doddington may have been consoled
by finding that he shared the fate of Dr. Johnson, who had spoken
slightingly of Churchill's works, and who shone forth, therefore, in
'The Ghost,' a later poem, as Dr. Pomposo.

Richard Cumberland, the dramatist, drew a portrait of Lord Melcombe,
which is said to have been taken from the life; but perhaps the most
faithful delineation of Bubb Dodington's character was furnished by
himself in his 'Diary;' in which, as it has been well observed, he
'unveiled the nakedness of his mind, and displayed himself as a courtly
compound of mean compliance and political prostitution.' It may, in
passing, be remarked, that few men figure well in an autobiography; and
that Cumberland himself, proclaimed by Dr. Johnson to be a 'learned,
ingenious, accomplished gentleman,' adding, 'the want of company is an
inconvenience, but Mr. Cumberland is a million:' in spite of this
eulogium, Cumberland has betrayed in his own autobiography unbounded
vanity, worldliness, and an undue estimation of his own perishable fame.
After all, amusing as personalities must always be, neither the humours
of Foote, the vigorous satire of Churchill, nor the careful limning of
Cumberland, whilst they cannot be ranked among talents of the highest
order, imply a sort of social treachery. The delicious little colloquy
between Boswell and Johnson places low personal ridicule in its proper
light.

Boswell.--'Foote has a great deal of humour.' Johnson.--'Yes, sir.'
Boswell.--'He has a singular talent of exhibiting characters.'
Johnson--'Sir. it is not a talent--it is a vice; it is what others
abstain from. It is not comedy, which exhibits the character of a
species--as that of a miser gathered from many misers--it is farce,
which exhibits individuals.' Boswell.--'Did not he think of exhibiting
you, sir?' Johnson.--'Sir, fear restrained him; he knew I would have
broken his bones. I would have saved him the trouble of