CHAPTER III.

ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM LITERATURE.
1758.

GBAINGEB, Ms friend Percy,* and others of the Griffiths 1753.
connection, were at this time husy upon a new magazine: jEtJJO
hegun with the present year, and dedicated to the " great
" Mr. Pitt," whose successful coercion of the king made him
just now more than ever the darling of the people. Griffiths
was one of the publishing partners in The Grand Magazine
of Universal Intelligence and Monthly Chronicle of our own
Times: and perhaps on this account, as well as for the
known contributions of some of his acquaintance, t traces of
Goldsmith's hand have been sought in the work; in my
opinion without success. In truth the first number was
hardly out when he went back to the Peckham school; and
on his return to London, though he probably eked out his
poor savings by casual writings here and there, it is certain
that on the foreign appointment his hopes continued steadily
fixed, and that the work which was to aid him in his escape
from literature (the completion of the Enquiry into the State

* "My beloved friend," was Percy's description of Grainger, nearly forty years
after the present date. Nichols's Ittustratians^ TO. 71.

"t" In. the Grand Magazine first appeared Grrainger's exquisite ballad of Bryan
and Pereene, and other contributions which Bishop Percy describes in a letter to
Dr. Anderson. Nichols's Illustrations, vii. 75., Mr.