LONDON.--Johnson soon began to write for Cave's _Gentleman's Magazine_, and in 1738 he astonished Pope and the artificial poets by producing, in their best vein, his imitation of the third Satire of Juvenal, which he called _London_. This was his usher into the realm of literature. But he did not become prominent until he had reached his fiftieth year; he continued to struggle with gloom and poverty, too proud to seek patronage in an age when popular remuneration had not taken its place. In 1740 he was a reporter of the debates in parliament for Cave; and it is said that many of the indifferent speakers were astonished to read the next day the fine things which the reporter had placed in their mouths, which they had never uttered. In 1749 he published his _Vanity of Human Wishes_, an imitation of the tenth Satire of Juvenal, which was as heartily welcomed as _London_ had been. It is Juvenal applied to English and European history. It contains many lines familiar to us all; among them are the following: Let observation with extended view Survey mankind from China to Peru. In speaking of Charles XII., he says: His fall was destined to a barren strand, A petty fortress and a dubious hand; He left a name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral or adorn a tale. From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flow, And Swift expires a driveller and a show. In the same year he published his tragedy of _Irene_, which, notwithstanding the friendly efforts of Garrick, who was now manager of Drury Lane Theatre, was not successful. As a poet, Johnson was the perfection of the artificial school; and this very technical perfection was one of the causes of the reaction which was already beginning to sweep it away. RAMBLER AND IDLER.--In 1750 he commenced _The Rambler_, a periodical like _The Spectator_, of which he wrote nearly all the articles, and which lived for two years. Solemn, didactic, and sonorous, it lacked the variety and genial humor which had characterized Addison and Steele. In 1758 he started _The Idler_, in the same vein, which also ran its respectable course for two years. In 1759 his mother died, and, in order to defray the expenses of her funeral, he wrote his story of _Rasselas_ in the evenings of one week, for two editions of which he received £125. Full of moral aphorisms and instruction, this "Abyssinian tale" is entirely English in philosophy and fancy, and has not even the slight illusion of other Eastern tales in French and English, which were written about the same time, and which are very similar in form and matter. Of _Rasselas_, Hazlitt says: "It is the most melancholy and debilitating moral speculation that was ever put forth."