James Boswell describes a meeting between Tasker and Samuel Johnson on 16 March 1779, where Tasker asked for Johnson's opinion of his poems. Boswell wrote, "The bard was a lank, bony figure, with short black hair; he was writhing himself in agitation while Johnson read, and, showing his teeth in a grin of earnestness, exclaimed in broken sentences and in a keen, sharp tone, 'Is that poetry, sir—is it Pindar?'". Isaac D'Israeli later said this description was true.[2] Tasker was an admirer of the poetess Mary Robinson (1757–1800), whom he praised as the "Sweet Sappho of our Isle."[3]