In Johnson's Life of Savage, although it must be allowed that its moral
is the reverse of--'Respicere exemplar vitae morumque jubebo,' a very
useful lesson is inculcated, to guard men of warm passions from a too
free indulgence of them; and the various incidents are related in so
clear and animated a manner, and illuminated throughout with so much
philosophy, that it is one of the most interesting narratives in the
English language. Sir Joshua Reynolds told me, that upon his return from
Italy he met with it in Devonshire, knowing nothing of its authour, and
began to read it while he was standing with his arm leaning against a
chimney-piece. It seized his attention so strongly, that, not being able
to lay down the book till he had finished it, when he attempted to move,
he found his arm totally benumbed. The rapidity with which this work was
composed, is a wonderful circumstance. Johnson has been heard to say, 'I
wrote forty-eight of the printed octavo pages of the Life of Savage at a
sitting; but then I sat up all night.'

It is remarkable, that in this biographical disquisition there appears a
very strong symptom of Johnson's prejudice against players; a prejudice
which may be attributed to the following causes: first, the imperfection
of his organs, which were so defective that he was not susceptible
of the fine impressions which theatrical excellence produces upon the
generality of mankind; secondly, the cold rejection of his tragedy; and,
lastly, the brilliant success of Garrick, who had been his pupil,
who had come to London at the same time with him, not in a much more
prosperous state than himself, and whose talents he undoubtedly rated
low, compared with his own. His being outstripped by his pupil in the
race of immediate fame, as well as of fortune, probably made him feel
some indignation, as thinking that whatever might be Garrick's merits
in his art, the reward was too great when compared with what the most