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.
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