From April 15, 1758, to April 5, 1760, Johnson wrote a second periodical paper, called the Idler. Twelve only, out of one hundred and three essays, were contributed by his friends; the rest were generally written with as much haste, and are of slighter texture, than those of the Rambler. Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, he wrote in the beginning of 1759, to defray the expenses of his mother’s funeral, and pay some trifling debts which she had left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that it was composed in the evenings of one week, and sent to the press in portions as it was written. This anecdote affords a good instance of Johnson’s facility and power, when an adequate stimulus was applied: from the rich imagery, and the varied, powerful strain of reflection which pervade it, and the elaborated pomp of its style, it would assuredly be taken for the product of mature consideration, labour, and frequent revision. For this he received one hundred pounds, and twenty-five pounds more at a second edition. It has been translated into most European languages. In 1762 Johnson accepted a pension of 300_l._, for which he underwent considerable obloquy. This was entirely undeserved, though in some sort he had brought it on himself by indulging his satirical bias and political predilections in a wayward definition of the words _pension_ and _pensioner_, in his Dictionary; where other instances occur of his indulging the humour of the moment, whether it prompted him to spleen or merriment. Why he should not have accepted the pension, no sound reason can be given: his Jacobitical predilections, never probably so strong as he used to represent them in the heat of argument, were lost, like those of others, in the hopelessness of the cause; and his Toryism naturally led him to transfer his full respect and allegiance to the reigning king, who never was suspected of an undue bias towards Whiggism. The sum bestowed was no more than an honourable testimony to his literary eminence, and a comfortable provision for his declining age: and as far as it is possible to form an opinion on such matters, the gift was unstained by any compact, expressed or understood, for political support.