GRAINGER'S "SUGAR-CANE"
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTITOP.."]
Six,—There are two versions of the " rats " story. Boswell tells one; Miss Reynolds the other (appendix to Croker's "Boswell "). The latter is obviously the more authentic. Miss Reynolds says that she had it from Johnson himself, and points out that Boswell is wrong in at least one detail. The incident could not have happened, as he says, at Sir Joshua's house, for Sir Joshua and Dr. Grainger were not acquainted. The form of the line as given by Boswell condemns it. The colloquialism of "Now, Muse, let's sing of rats could never have been admitted into serious verse. By a lapsus ealami, after comparing the two stories, I attributed that told by Miss Reynolds to Boswell.—I am, Sir, &c.,
THE WRITER OF THE ARTICLE ON AGRICULTURA_L POETRY.
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