Life of Johnson, Volume 4 / 1780-1784

by James Boswell

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Nothing can compensate for this want this year of all years. Johnson's health was better than it had been for long, and his mind happier perhaps than it had ever been. The knowledge that in his Lives of the Poets, he had done, and was doing good work, no doubt was very cheering to him. At no time had he gone more into society, and at no time does he seem to have enjoyed it with greater relish. 'How do you think I live?' he wrote on April 25. 'On Thursday, I dined with Hamilton, and went thence to Mrs. Ord. On Friday, with much company at Reynolds's. On Saturday, at Dr. Bell's. On Sunday, at Dr. Burney's; at night, came Mrs. Ord, Mr. Greville, &c. On Monday with Reynolds, at night with Lady Lucan; to-day with Mr. Langton; to-morrow with the Bishop of St. Asaph; on Thursday with Mr. Bowles; Friday ——; Saturday, at the Academy; Sunday with Mr. Ramsay.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 107. On May 1, he wrote:—'At Mrs. Ord's, I met one Mrs. B—— [Buller], a travelled lady, of great spirit, and some consciousness of her own abilities. We had a contest of gallantry an hour long, so much to the diversion of the company that at Ramsay's last night, in a crowded room, they would have pitted us again. There were Smelt, [one of the King's favourites] and the Bishop of St. Asaph, who comes to every place; and Lord Monboddo, and Sir Joshua, and ladies out of tale.' Ib. p. 111. The account that Langton gives of the famous evening at Mrs. Vesey's, 'when the company began to collect round Johnson till they became not less than four, if not five deep (ante, May 2, 1780), is lively enough; but 'the particulars of the conversation' which he neglects, Boswell would have given us in full.

[2] In 1792, Miss Burney, after recording that Boswell told some of his Johnsonian stories, continues:—'Mr. Langton told some stories in imitation of Dr. Johnson; but they became him less than Mr. Boswell, and only reminded me of what Dr. Johnson himself once said to me—"Every man has some time in his life an ambition to be a wag."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, v. 307.

[3] Stephanorum Historia, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens. London,

1709.

[4] Senilia was published in 1742. The line to which Johnson refers is, 'Mel, nervos, fulgur, Carteret, unus, habes,' p. 101. In another line, the poet celebrates Colley Cibber's Muse—the Musa Cibberi: 'Multa Cibberum levat aura.' p. 50. See Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843, i. 367.

[5] Graecae Linguae Dialecti in Scholae Westmonast. usum, 1738.

[6] Giannone, an Italian historian, born 1676, died 1748. When he published his History of the Kingdom of Naples, a friend congratulating him on its success, said:—'Mon ami, vous vous êtes mis une couronne sur la tête, mais une couronne d'épines.' His attacks on the Church led to persecution, in the end he made a retractation, but nevertheless he died in prison. Nouv. Biog. Gén. xx. 422.

[7] See ante, ii. 119.

[8] 'There is no kind of impertinence more justly censurable than his who is always labouring to level thoughts to intellects higher than his own; who apologises for every word which his own narrowness of converse inclines him to think unusual; keeps the exuberance of his faculties under visible restraint; is solicitous to anticipate inquiries by needless explanations; and endeavours to shade his own abilities lest weak eyes should be dazzled with their lustre.' The Rambler, No. 173.

[9] Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines Anfractuousness as Fulness of windings and turnings. Anfractuosity is not given. Lord Macaulay, in the last sentence in his Biography of Johnson, alludes to this passage.

[10] See ante, iii. 149, note 2.

[11] 'My purpose was to admit no testimony of living authors, that I might not be misled by partiality, and that none of my contemporaries might have reason to complain; nor have I departed from this resolution, but when some performance of uncommon excellence excited my veneration, when my memory supplied me from late books with an example that was wanting, or when my heart, in the tenderness of friendship, solicited admission for a favourite name.' Johnson's Works, v. 39. He cites himself under important, Mrs. Lennox under talent, Garrick under giggler; from Richardson's Clarissa, he makes frequent quotations. In the fourth edition, published in 1773 (ante, ii. 203), he often quotes Reynolds; for instance, under vulgarism, which word is not in the previous editions. Beattie he quotes under weak, and Gray under bosom. He introduces also many quotations from Law, and Young. In the earlier editions, in his quotations from Clarissa, he very rarely gives the author's name; in the fourth edition I have found it rarely omitted.

[12] In one of his Hypochondriacks (London Mag. 1782, p. 233) Boswell writes:—'I have heard it remarked by one, of whom more remarks deserve to be remembered than of any person I ever knew, that a man is often as narrow as he is prodigal for want of counting.'

[13] 'Sept. 1778. We began talking of Irene, and Mrs. Thrale made Dr. Johnson read some passages which I had been remarking as uncommonly applicable to the present time. He read several speeches, and told us he had not ever read so much of it before since it was first printed.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 96. 'I was told,' wrote Sir Walter Scott, 'that a gentleman called Pot, or some such name, was introduced to him as a particular admirer of his. The Doctor growled and took no further notice. "He admires in especial your Irene as the finest tragedy modern times;" to which the Doctor replied, "If Pot says so, Pot lies!" and relapsed into his reverie.' Croker Corres. ii. 32.

[14] Scrupulosity was a word that Boswell had caught up from Johnson. Sir W. Jones (Life, i. 177) wrote in 1776:—'You will be able to examine with the minutest scrupulosity, as Johnson would call it.' Johnson describes Addison's prose as 'pure without scrupulosity.' Works, vii. 472. 'Swift,' he says, 'washed himself with oriental scrupulosity.' Ib. viii. 222. Boswell (Hebrides, Aug. 15) writes of 'scrupulosity of conscience.'

[15]

'When thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes With words that made them known.' The Tempest, act i. sc. 2.

[16] Secretary to the British Herring Fishery, remarkable for an extraordinary number of occasional verses, not of eminent merit. BOSWELL. See ante, i. 115, note i. Lockman was known in France as the translator of Voltaire's La Henriade. See Marmontel's Preface. Voltaire's Works, ed. 1819, viii. 18.

[17] Luke vii. 50. BOSWELL.

[18] Miss Burney, describing him in 1783, says:—'He looks unformed in his manners and awkward in his gestures. He joined not one word in the general talk.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 237. See ante, ii. 41, note 1.

[19] By Garrick.

[20] See ante, i. 201.

[21] See post, under Sept. 30, 1783.

[22] The actor. Churchill introduces him in The Rosciad (Poems, i. 16):—'Next Holland came. With truly tragic stalk, He creeps, he flies. A Hero should not walk.'

[23] In a letter written by Johnson to a friend in 1742-43, he says: 'I never see Garrick.' MALONE.

[24] See ante, ii. 227.

[25] The Wonder! A Woman keeps a Secret, by Mrs. Centlivre. Acted at Drury Lane in 1714. Revived by Garrick in 1757. Reed's Biog. Dram. iii. 420.

[26] In Macbeth.

[27] Mr. Longley was Recorder of Rochester, and father of Archbishop Longley. To the kindness of his grand-daughter, Mrs. Newton Smart, I owe the following extract from his manuscript Autobiography:—'Dr. Johnson and General Paoli came down to visit Mr. Langton, and I was asked to meet them, when the conversation took place mentioned by Boswell, in which Johnson gave me more credit for knowledge of the Greek metres than I deserved. There was some question about anapaestics, concerning which I happened to remember what Foster used to tell us at Eton, that the whole line to the Basis Anapaestica was considered but as one verse, however divided in the printing, and consequently the syllables at the end of each line were not common, as in other metres. This observation was new to Johnson, and struck him. Had he examined me farther, I fear he would have found me ignorant. Langton was a very good Greek scholar, much superior to Johnson, to whom nevertheless he paid profound deference, sometimes indeed I thought more than he deserved. The next day I dined at Langton's with Johnson, I remember Lady Rothes [Langton's wife] spoke of the advantage children now derived from the little books published purposely for their instruction. Johnson controverted it, asserting that at an early age it was better to gratify curiosity with wonders than to attempt planting truth, before the mind was prepared to receive it, and that therefore, Jack the Giant-Killer, Parisenus and Parismenus, and The Seven Champions of Christendom were fitter for them than Mrs. Barbauld and Mrs. Trimmer.' Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 16) says:—'Dr. Johnson used to condemn me for putting Newbery's books into children's hands. "Babies do not want," said he, "to hear about babies; they like to be told of giants and castles, and of somewhat which can stretch and stimulate their little minds." When I would urge the numerous editions of Tommy Prudent or Goody Two Shoes; "Remember always," said he, "that the parents buy the books, and that the children never read them.'" For Johnson's visit to Rochester, see post, July, 1783.

[28] See post, beginning of 1781, after The Life of Swift, and Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 15.

[29] See ante, under Sept. 9, 1779.

[30] Johnson wrote of this grotto (Works, viii. 270):—'It may be frequently remarked of the studious and speculative that they are proud of trifles, and that their amusements seem frivolous and childish.'

[31] See ante, i. 332.

[32] Epilogue to the Satires, i. 131. Dr. James Foster, the Nonconformist preacher. Johnson mentions 'the reputation which he had gained by his proper delivery.' Works, viii. 384. In The Conversations of Northcote, p. 88, it is stated that 'Foster first became popular from the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke stopping in the porch of his chapel in the Old Jewry out of a shower of rain: and thinking he might as well hear what was going on he went in, and was so well pleased that he sent all the great folks to hear him, and he was run after as much as Irving has been in our time.' Dr. T. Campbell (Diary, p. 34) recorded in 1775, that 'when Mrs. Thrale quoted something from Foster's Sermons, Johnson flew in a passion, and said that Foster was a man of mean ability, and of no original thinking.' Gibbon (Misc. Works, v. 300) wrote of Foster:—'Wonderful! a divine preferring reason to faith, and more afraid of vice than of heresy.'

[33] It is believed to have been her play of The Sister, brought out in 1769. 'The audience expressed their disapprobation of it with so much appearance of prejudice that she would not suffer an attempt to exhibit it a second time.' Gent. Mag. xxxix. 199. It is strange, however, if Goldsmith was asked to hiss a play for which he wrote the epilogue. Goldsmith's Misc. Works, ii. 80. Johnson wrote on Oct. 28, 1779 (Piozzi Letters, ii. 72):—'C—— L—— accuses —— of making a party against her play. I always hissed away the charge, supposing him a man of honour; but I shall now defend him with less confidence.' Baretti, in a marginal note, says that C—— L—— is 'Charlotte Lennox.' Perhaps —— stands for Cumberland. Miss Burney said that 'Mr. Cumberland is notorious for hating and envying and spiting all authors in the dramatic line.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 272.

[34] See ante, i. 255.

[35] In The Rambler, No. 195, Johnson describes rascals such as this man. 'They hurried away to the theatre, full of malignity and denunciations against a man whose name they had never heard, and a performance which they could not understand; for they were resolved to judge for themselves, and would not suffer the town to be imposed upon by scribblers. In the pit they exerted themselves with great spirit and vivacity; called out for the tunes of obscene songs, talked loudly at intervals of Shakespeare and Jonson,' &c.

[36] See ante, ii. 469.

[37] Dr. Percy told Malone 'that they all at the Club had such a high opinion of Mr. Dyer's knowledge and respect for his judgment as to appeal to him constantly, and that his sentence was final.' Malone adds that 'he was so modest and reserved, that he frequently sat silent in company for an hour, and seldom spoke unless appealed to. Goldsmith, who used to rattle away upon all subjects, had been talking somewhat loosely relative to music. Some one wished for Mr. Dyer's opinion, which he gave with his usual strength and accuracy. "Why," said Goldsmith, turning round to Dyer, whom he had scarcely noticed before, "you seem to know a good deal of this matter." "If I had not," replied Dyer, "I should not, in this company, have said a word upon the subject."' Burke described him as 'a man of profound and general erudition; his sagacity and judgment were fully equal to the extent of his learning.' Prior's Malone, pp. 419, 424. Malone in his Life of Dryden, p. 181, says that Dyer was Junius. Johnson speaks of him as 'the late learned Mr. Dyer.' Works, viii. 385. Had he been alive he was to have been the professor of mathematics in the imaginary college at St. Andrews. Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 25. Many years after his death, Johnson bought his portrait to hang in 'a little room that he was fitting up with prints.' Croker's Boswell, p. 639.

[38] Memoirs of Agriculture and other Oeconomical Arts, 3 vols., by Robert Dossie, London, 1768-82.

[39] See ante, ii. 14.

[40] Here Lord Macartney remarks, 'A Bramin or any cast of the Hindoos will neither admit you to be of their religion, nor be converted to yours;—a thing which struck the Portuguese with the greatest astonishment, when they first discovered the East Indies.' BOSWELL.

[41] See ante, ii. 250.

[42] See ante, Aug. 30, 1780.

[43] John, Lord Carteret, and Earl Granville, who died Jan. 2, 1763. It is strange that he wrote so ill; for Lord Chesterfield says (Misc. Works, iv. Appendix, p. 42) that 'he had brought away with him from Oxford, a great stock of Greek and Latin, and had made himself master of all the modern languages. He was one of the best speakers in the House of Lords, both in the declamatory and argumentative way.'

[44] Walpole describes the partiality of the members of the court-martial that sat on Admiral Keppel in Jan. 1779. One of them 'declared frankly that he should not attend to forms of law, but to justice.' So friendly were the judges to the prisoner that 'it required the almost unanimous voice of the witnesses in favour of his conduct, and the vile arts practised against him, to convince all mankind how falsely and basely he had been accused.' Walpole, referring to the members, speaks of 'the feelings of seamen unused to reason.' Some of the leading politicians established themselves at Portsmouth during the trial. Journal of the Reign of George III, ii. 329

[45] See ante, ii. 240.

[46] In all Gray's Odes, there is a kind of cumbrous splendour which we wish away.... The mind of the writer seems to work with unnatural violence. "Double, double, toil and trouble." He has a kind of strutting dignity, and is tall by walking on tip-toe. His art and his struggle are too visible, and there is too little appearance of ease and nature.' Johnson's Works, viii. 484-87. See ante, i. 402, and ii. 327, 335.

[47] One evening, in the Haymarket Theatre, 'when Foote lighted the King to his chair, his majesty asked who [sic] the piece was written by? "By one of your Majesty's chaplains," said Foote, unable even then to suppress his wit; "and dull enough to have been written by a bishop."' Forster's Essays, ii. 435. See ante, i. 390, note 3.

[48] Bk. v. ch. 1.

[49] See ante, ii. 133, note 1; Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 27, and Oct. 28.

[50] The correspondent of The Gentleman's Magazine [1792, p. 214] who subscribes himself SCIOLUS furnishes the following supplement:—

'A lady of my acquaintance remembers to have heard her uncle sing those homely stanzas more than forty-five years ago. He repeated the second thus:—

She shall breed young lords and ladies fair, And ride abroad in a coach and three pair, And the best, &c. And have a house, &c.

And remembered a third which seems to have been the introductory one, and is believed to have been the only remaining one:—

When the Duke of Leeds shall have made his choice Of a charming young lady that's beautiful and wise, She'll be the happiest young gentlewoman under the skies, As long as the sun and moon shall rise, And how happy shall, &c.

It is with pleasure I add that this stanza could never be more truly applied than at this present time. BOSWELL. This note was added to the second edition.

[51] See ante, i. 115, note 1.

[52] See ante, i. 82.

[53] Baretti, in a MS. note on Piozzi Letters, i. 121, says:—'Johnson was a real true-born Englishman. He hated the Scotch, the French, the Dutch, the Hanoverians, and had the greatest contempt for all other European nations; such were his early prejudices which he never attempted to conquer.' Reynolds wrote of Johnson:—'The prejudices he had to countries did not extend to individuals. In respect to Frenchmen he rather laughed at himself, but it was insurmountable. He considered every foreigner as a fool till they had convinced him of the contrary.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 460. Garrick wrote of the French in 1769:—'Their politesse has reduced their character to such a sameness, and their humours and passions are so curbed by habit, that, when you have seen half-a-dozen French men and women, you have seen the whole.' Garrick Corres. i. 358.

[54] 'There is not a man or woman here,' wrote Horace Walpole from Paris (Letters iv. 434), 'that is not a perfect old nurse, and who does not talk gruel and anatomy with equal fluency and ignorance.'

[55] '"I remember that interview well," said Dr. Parr with great vehemence when once reminded of it; "I gave him no quarter." The subject of our dispute was the liberty of the press. Dr. Johnson was very great. Whilst he was arguing, I observed that he stamped. Upon this I stamped. Dr. Johnson said, "Why did you stamp, Dr. Parr?" I replied, "Because you stamped; and I was resolved not to give you the advantage even of a stamp in the argument."' This, Parr said, was by no means his first introduction to Johnson. Field's Parr, i. 161. Parr wrote to Romilly in 1811:—'Pray let me ask whether you have ever read some admirable remarks of Mr. Hutcheson upon the word merit. I remember a controversy I had with Dr. Johnson upon this very term: we began with theology fiercely, I gently carried the conversation onward to philosophy, and after a dispute of more than three hours he lost sight of my heresy, and came over to my opinion upon the metaphysical import of the term.' Life of Romilly, ii. 365. When Parr was a candidate for the mastership of Colchester Grammar School, Johnson wrote for him a letter of recommendation. Johnstone's Parr, i. 94.

[56] 'Somebody was praising Corneille one day in opposition to Shakespeare. "Corneille is to Shakespeare," replied Mr. Johnson, "as a clipped hedge is to a forest."' Piozzi's Anec. p. 59.

[57] Johnson, it is clear, discusses here Mrs. Montagu's Essay on Shakespeare. She compared Shakespeare first with Corneille, and then with Aeschylus. In contrasting the ghost in Hamlet with the shade of Darius in The Persians, she says:—'The phantom, who was to appear ignorant of what was past, that the Athenian ear might be soothed and flattered with the detail of their victory at Salamis, is allowed, for the same reason, such prescience as to foretell their future triumph at Plataea.' p. 161.

[58] Caution is required in everything which is laid before youth, to secure them from unjust prejudices, perverse opinions, and incongruous combinations of images. In the romances formerly written, every transaction and sentiment was so remote from all that passes among men, that the reader was in very little danger of making any applications to himself.' The Rambler, No. 4.

[59] Johnson says of Pope's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day:—'The next stanzas place and detain us in the dark and dismal regions of mythology, where neither hope nor fear, neither joy nor sorrow can be found.' Works, viii. 328. Of Gray's Progress of Poetry, he says:—'The second stanza, exhibiting Mars' car and Jove's eagle, is unworthy of further notice. Criticism disdains to chase a school-boy to his common-places.' Ib. p. 484.

[60] See ante, ii. 178.

[61]

'A Wizard-Dame, the Lover's ancient friend, With magic charm has deaft thy husband's ear, At her command I saw the stars descend, And winged lightnings stop in mid career, &c.'

Hammond. Elegy, v. In Boswell's Hebrides (Sept. 29), he said 'Hammond's Love Elegies were poor things.'

[62] Perhaps Lord Corke and Orrery. Ante, iii. 183. CROKER.

[63] Colman assumed that Johnson had maintained that Shakespeare was totally ignorant of the learned languages. He then quotes a line to prove 'that the author of The Taming of the Shrew had at least read Ovid;' and continues:—'And what does Dr. Johnson say on this occasion? Nothing. And what does Mr. Farmer say on this occasion? Nothing.' Colman's Terence, ii. 390. For Farmer, see ante, iii. 38.

[64] 'It is most likely that Shakespeare had learned Latin sufficiently to make him acquainted with construction, but that he never advanced to an easy perusal of the Roman authors.' Johnson's Works, V. 129. 'The style of Shakespeare was in itself ungrammatical, perplexed, and obscure.' Ib. p. 135.

[65]

'May I govern my passion with an absolute sway, And grow wiser and better, as my strength wears away, Without gout or stone by a gentle decay.'

The Old Man's Wish was sung to Sir Roger de Coverley by 'the fair one,' after the collation in which she ate a couple of chickens, and drank a full bottle of wine. Spectator, No. 410. 'What signifies our wishing?' wrote Dr. Franklin. 'I have sung that wishing song a thousand times when I was young, and now find at fourscore that the three contraries have befallen me, being subject to the gout and the stone, and not being yet master of all my passions.' Franklin's Memoirs, iii. 185.

[66] He uses the same image in The Life of Milton (Works, vii. 104):—'He might still be a giant among the pigmies, the one-eyed monarch of the blind.' Cumberland (Memoirs, i. 39) says that Bentley, hearing it maintained that Barnes spoke Greek almost like his mother tongue, replied:—'Yes, I do believe that Barnes had as much Greek and understood it about as well as an Athenian blacksmith.' See ante, iii 284. A passage in Wooll's Life of Dr. Warton (i. 313) shews that Barnes attempted to prove that Homer and Solomon were one and the same man. But I. D'Israeli says that it was reported that Barnes, not having money enough to publish his edition of Homer, 'wrote a poem, the design of which is to prove that Solomon was the author of the Iliad, to interest his wife, who had some property, to lend her aid towards the publication of so divine a work.' Calamities of Authors, i. 250.

[67] 'The first time Suard saw Burke, who was at Reynolds's, Johnson touched him on the shoulder and said, "Le grand Burke."' Boswelliana, p. 299. See ante, ii. 450.

[68] Miss Hawkins (Memoirs, i. 279, 288) says that Langton told her father that he meant to give his six daughters such a knowledge of Greek, 'that while five of them employed themselves in feminine works, the sixth should read a Greek author for the general amusement.' She describes how 'he would get into the most fluent recitation of half a page of Greek, breaking off for fear of wearying, by saying, "and so it goes on," accompanying his words with a gentle wave of his hand.'

[69] See post, p. 42.

[70] See ante, i. 326.

[71] This assertion concerning Johnson's insensibility to the pathetick powers of Otway, is too round. I once asked him, whether he did not think Otway frequently tender: when he answered, 'Sir, he is all tenderness.' BURNEY. He describes Otway as 'one of the first names in the English drama.' Works, vii. 173.

[72] See ante, April 16, 1779.

[73] Johnson; it seems, took up this study. In July, 1773, he recorded that between Easter and Whitsuntide, he attempted to learn the Low Dutch language. 'My application,' he continues, 'was very slight, and my memory very fallacious, though whether more than in my earlier years, I am not very certain.' Pr. and Med. p. 129, and ante, ii. 263. On his death-bed, he said to Mr. Hoole:—'About two years since I feared that I had neglected God, and that then I had not a mind to give him; on which I set about to read Thomas à Kempis in Low Dutch, which I accomplished, and thence I judged that my mind was not impaired, Low Dutch having no affinity with any of the languages which I knew.' Croker's Boswell, p. 844. See ante, iii. 235.

[74] See post, under July 5, 1783.

[75] See ante, ii. 409, and iii. 197.

[76] One of Goldsmith's friends 'remembered his relating [about the year 1756] a strange Quixotic scheme he had in contemplation of going to decipher the inscriptions on the written mountains, though he was altogether ignorant of Arabic, or the language in which they might be supposed to be written.' Goldsmith's Misc. Works, ed. 1801, i. 40. Percy says that Goldsmith applied to the prime minister, Lord Bute, for a salary to enable him to execute 'the visionary project' mentioned in the text. 'To prepare the way, he drew up that ingenious essay on this subject which was first printed in the Ledger, and afterwards in his Citizen of the World [No. 107].' Ib. p. 65. Percy adds that the Earl of Northumberland, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, regretted 'that he had not been made acquainted with his plan; for he would have procured him a sufficient salary on the Irish establishment.' Goldsmith, in his review of Van Egmont's Travels in Asia, says:—'Could we see a man set out upon this journey [to Asia] not with an intent to consider rocks and rivers, but the manners, and the mechanic inventions, and the imperfect learning of the inhabitants; resolved to penetrate into countries as yet little known, and eager to pry into all their secrets, with an heart not terrified at trifling dangers; if there could be found a man who could unite this true courage with sound learning, from such a character we might hope much information.' Goldsmith's Works, ed. 1854, iv. 225. Johnson would have gone to Constantinople, as he himself said, had he received his pension twenty years earlier. Post, p. 27.

[77] It should be remembered, that this was said twenty-five or thirty years ago, [written in 1799,] when lace was very generally worn. MALONE. 'Greek and Latin,' said Porson, 'are only luxuries.' Rogers's Table Talk, p. 325.

[78] See ante, iii. 8.

[79] Dr. Johnson, in his Life of Cowley, says, that these are 'the only English verses which Bentley is known to have written.' I shall here insert them, and hope my readers will apply them.

'Who strives to mount Parnassus' hill, And thence poetick laurels bring, Must first acquire due force and skill, Must fly with swan's or eagle's wing. Who Nature's treasures would explore, Her mysteries and arcana know; Must high as lofty Newton soar, Must stoop as delving Woodward low. Who studies ancient laws and rites, Tongues, arts, and arms, and history; Must drudge, like Selden, days and nights, And in the endless labour die. Who travels in religious jars, (Truth mixt with errour, shades with rays;) Like Whiston, wanting pyx or stars, In ocean wide or sinks or strays. But grant our hero's hope, long toil And comprehensive genius crown, All sciences, all arts his spoil, Yet what reward, or what renown? Envy, innate in vulgar souls, Envy steps in and stops his rise, Envy with poison'd tarnish fouls His lustre, and his worth decries. He lives inglorious or in want, To college and old books confin'd; Instead of learn'd he's call'd pedant, Dunces advanc'd, he's left behind: Yet left content a genuine Stoick he, Great without patron, rich without South Sea.' BOSWELL.

In Mr. Croker's octavo editions, arts in the fifth stanza is changed into hearts. J. Boswell, jun., gives the following reading of the first four lines of the last stanza, not from Dodsley's Collection, but from an earlier one, called The Grove.

'Inglorious or by wants inthralled, To college and old books confined, A pedant from his learning called, Dunces advanced, he's left behind.'

[80] Bentley, in the preface to his edition of Paradise Lost, says:—

'Sunt et mihi carmina; me quoque dicunt Vatem pastores: sed non ego credulus illis.'

[81] The difference between Johnson and Smith is apparent even in this slight instance. Smith was a man of extraordinary application, and had his mind crowded with all manner of subjects; but the force, acuteness, and vivacity of Johnson were not to be found there. He had book-making so much in his thoughts, and was so chary of what might be turned to account in that way, that he once said to Sir Joshua Reynolds, that he made it a rule, when in company, never to talk of what he understood. Beauclerk had for a short time a pretty high opinion of Smith's conversation. Garrick, after listening to him for a while, as to one of whom his expectations had been raised, turned slyly to a friend, and whispered him, 'What say you to this?—eh? flabby, I think.' BOSWELL. Dr. A. Carlyle (Auto. p. 279), says:—'Smith's voice was harsh and enunciation thick, approaching to stammering. His conversation was not colloquial, but like lecturing. He was the most absent man in company that I ever saw, moving his lips, and talking to himself, and smiling in the midst of large companies. If you awaked him from his reverie and made him attend to the subject of conversation, he immediately began a harangue, and never stopped till he told you all he knew about it, with the utmost philosophical ingenuity.' Dugald Stewart (Life of Adam Smith, p. 117) says that 'his consciousness of his tendency to absence rendered his manner somewhat embarrassed in the company of strangers.' But 'to his intimate friends, his peculiarities added an inexpressible charm to his conversation, while they displayed in the most interesting light the artless simplicity of his heart.' Ib. p. 113. See also Walpole's Letters, vi. 302, and ante, ii. 430, note 1.

[82] Garrick himself was a good deal of an infidel: see ante, ii. 85, note 7.

[83] Ante, i. 181.

[84] The Tempest, act iv. sc. i. In The Rambler, No. 127, Johnson writes of men who have 'borne opposition down before them, and left emulation panting behind.' He quotes (Works, vii. 261) the following couplet by Dryden:—

'Fate after him below with pain did move, And victory could scarce keep pace above.'

Young in The Last Day, book I, had written:—

'Words all in vain pant after the distress.'

[85] I am sorry to see in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. ii, An Essay on the Character of Hamlet, written, I should suppose, by a very young man, though called 'Reverend;' who speaks with presumptuous petulance of the first literary character of his age. Amidst a cloudy confusion of words, (which hath of late too often passed in Scotland for Metaphysicks,) he thus ventures to criticise one of the noblest lines in our language:—'Dr. Johnson has remarked, that "time toil'd after him in vain." But I should apprehend, that this is entirely to mistake the character. Time toils after every great man, as well after Shakspeare. The workings of an ordinary mind keep pace, indeed, with time; they move no faster; they have their beginning, their middle, and their end; but superiour natures can reduce these into a point. They do not, indeed, suppress them; but they suspend, or they lock them up in the breast.' The learned Society, under whose sanction such gabble is ushered into the world, would do well to offer a premium to any one who will discover its meaning. BOSWELL.

[86] 'May 29, 1662. Took boat and to Fox-hall, where I had not been a great while. To the old Spring Garden, and there walked long.' Pepys's Diary, i. 361. The place was afterwards known as Faux-hall and Vauxhall. See ante, iii. 308.

[87] 'One that wouldst be a bawd, in way of good service and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar.' King Lear, act ii. sc. 2.

[88] Yet W.G. Hamilton said:—'Burke understands everything but gaming and music. In the House of Commons I sometimes think him only the second man in England; out of it he is always the first.' Prior's Burke, p. 484. See ante, ii. 450. Bismarck once 'rang the bell' to old Prince Metternich. 'I listened quietly,' he said, 'to all his stories, merely jogging the bell every now and then till it rang again. That pleases these talkative old men.' DR. BUSCH, quoted in Lowe's Prince Bismarck, i. 130.

[89] See ante, i. 470, for his disapproval of 'studied behaviour.'

[90] Johnson had perhaps Dr. Warton in mind. Ante, ii. 41, note 1.

[91] See ante, i. 471, and iii. 165.

[92] 'Oblivion is a kind of annihilation.' Sir Thomas Browne's Christian Morals, sect. xxi.

[93] 'Nec te quaesiveris extra.' Persius, Sat. i. 7. We may compare Milton's line,

'In himself was all his state.' Paradise Lost, v. 353.

[94] See ante, iii. 269.

[95] 'A work of this kind must, in a minute examination, discover many imperfections; but West's version, so far as I have considered it, appears to be the product of great labour and great abilities.' Johnson's Works, viii. 398.

[96] See Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 25, 1773.

[97] See ante, i. 82, and ii. 228.

[98] See ante, i. 242.

[99] See Boswell's Hebrides, under Nov. 11.

[100] A literary lady has favoured me with a characteristick anecdote of Richardson. One day at his country-house at Northend, where a large company was assembled at dinner, a gentleman who was just returned from Paris, willing to please Mr. Richardson, mentioned to him a very flattering circumstance,—that he had seen his Clarissa lying on the King's brother's table. Richardson observing that part of the company were engaged in talking to each other, affected then not to attend to it. But by and by, when there was a general silence, and he thought that the flattery might be fully heard, he addressed himself to the gentleman, 'I think, Sir, you were saying something about,—' pausing in a high flutter of expectation. The gentleman provoked at his inordinate vanity, resolved not to indulge it, and with an exquisitely sly air of indifference answered, 'A mere trifle Sir, not worth repeating.' The mortification of Richardson was visible, and he did not speak ten words more the whole day. Dr. Johnson was present, and appeared to enjoy it much. BOSWELL.

[101]

'E'en in a bishop I can spy desert; Seeker is decent, Rundel has a heart.'

Pope, Epil. to Sat. ii. 70. Horace Walpole wrote on Aug. 4,1768 (Letters, v. 115):—'We have lost our Pope. Canterbury [Archbishop Seeker] died yesterday. He had never been a Papist, but almost everything else. Our Churchmen will not be Catholics; that stock seems quite fallen.'

[102] Perhaps the Earl of Corke. Ante, iii. 183.

[103] Garrick perhaps borrowed this saying when, in his epigram on Goldsmith, speaking of the ideas of which his head was full, he said:—

'When his mouth opened all were in a pother, Rushed to the door and tumbled o'er each other, But rallying soon with all their force again, In bright array they issued from his pen.'

Fitzgerald's Garrick, ii. 363. See ante, ii. 231.

[104] See ante, i. 116, and ii. 52.

[105] Horace Walpole (Letters, ix. 318) writes of Boswell's Life of Johnson:—'Dr. Blagden says justly, that it is a new kind of libel, by which you may abuse anybody, by saying some dead person said so and so of somebody alive.'

[106] See ante, ii. III. In the Gent. Mag. 1770, p. 78, is a review of A Letter to Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 'that is generally imputed to Mr. Wilkes.'

[107] 'Do you conceive the full force of the word CONSTITUENT? It has the same relation to the House of Commons as Creator to creature.' A Letter to Samuel Johnson, LL.D., p. 23.

[108] His profound admiration of the GREAT FIRST CAUSE was such as to set him above that 'Philosophy and vain deceit' [Colossians, ii. 8] with which men of narrower conceptions have been infected. I have heard him strongly maintain that 'what is right is not so from any natural fitness, but because GOD wills it to be right;' and it is certainly so, because he has predisposed the relations of things so as that which he wills must be right. BOSWELL. Johnson was as much opposed as the Rev. Mr. Thwackum to the philosopher Square, who 'measured all actions by the unalterable rule of right and the eternal fitness of things.' Tom Jones, book iii. ch. 3.

[109] In Rasselas (ch. ii.) we read that the prince's look 'discovered him to receive some solace of the miseries of life, from consciousness of the delicacy with which he felt, and the eloquence with which he bewailed them.' See ante, April 8, 1780.

[110] I hope the authority of the great Master of our language will stop that curtailing innovation, by which we see critic, public, &c., frequently written instead of critick, publick, &c. BOSWELL. Boswell had always been nice in his spelling. In the Preface to his Corsica, published twenty-four years before The Life of Johnson, he defends his peculiarities, and says:—'If this work should at any future period be reprinted, I hope that care will be taken of my orthography.' Mr. Croker says that in a memorandum in Johnson's writing he has found 'cubic feet.'

[111] 'Disorders of intellect,' answered Imlac, 'happen much more often than superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps, if we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state.' Rasselas, ch. 44.

[112] See ante, i. 397, for Kit Smart's madness in praying.

[113] Yet he gave lessons in Latin to Miss Burney and Miss Thrale. Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 243. In Skye he said, 'Depend upon it, no woman is the worse for sense and knowledge.' Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 19.

[114] See ante, iii, 240.

[115] Nos. 588, 601, 626 and 635. The first number of the Spectator was written by Addison, the last by Grove. See ante, iii. 33, for Johnson's praise of No. 626.

[116] Sterne is of a direct contrary opinion. See his Sentimental Journey, Article, 'The Mystery.' BOSWELL. Sterne had been of the same opinion as Johnson, for he says that the beggar he saw 'confounded all kind of reasoning upon him.' 'He passed by me,' he continues, 'without asking anything—and yet he did not go five steps farther before he asked charity of a little woman—I was much more likely to have given of the two. He had scarce done with the woman, when he pulled his hat off to another who was coming the same way.—An ancient gentleman came slowly—and, after him, a young smart one—He let them both pass, and asked nothing; I stood observing him half an hour, in which time he had made a dozen turns backwards and forwards, and found that he invariably pursued the same plan.' Sentimental Journey, ed. 1775, ii. 105.

[117] Very likely Dr. Warton. Ante, ii. 41.

[118] I differ from Mr. Croker in the explanation of this ill-turned sentence. The shield that Homer may hold up is the observation made by Mrs. Fitzherbert. It was this observation that Johnson respected as a very fine one. For his high opinion of that lady's understanding, see ante, i. 83.

[119] In Boswelliana (p. 323) are recorded two more of Langton's Anecdotes. 'Mr. Beauclerk told Dr. Johnson that Dr. James said to him he knew more Greek than Mr. Walmesley. "Sir," said he, "Dr. James did not know enough of Greek to be sensible of his ignorance of the language. Walmesley did."' See ante, i. 81. 'A certain young clergyman used to come about Dr. Johnson. The Doctor said it vexed him to be in his company, his ignorance was so hopeless. "Sir," said Mr. Langton, "his coming about you shows he wishes to help his ignorance." "Sir," said the Doctor, "his ignorance is so great, I am afraid to show him the bottom of it."'

[120] Dr. Francklin. See ante, iii. 83, note 3. Churchill attacked him in The Rosciad (Poems, ii. 4). When, he says, it came to the choice of a judge,

'Others for Francklin voted; but 'twas known, He sickened at all triumphs but his own.'

[121] See ante, iii. 241, note 2.

[122] Pr. and Med. p.190. BOSWELL.

[123] Ib. 174. BOSWELL.

[124] 'Mr. Fowke once observed to Dr. Johnson that, in his opinion, the Doctor's literary strength lay in writing biography, in which he infinitely exceeded all his contemporaries. "Sir," said Johnson, "I believe that is true. The dogs don't know how to write trifles with dignity."'—R. Warner's Original Letters, p. 204.

[125] His design is thus announced in his Advertisement: 'The Booksellers having determined to publish a body of English Poetry, I was persuaded to promise them a Preface to the works of each authour; an undertaking, as it was then presented to my mind, not very tedious or difficult.

'My purpose was only to have allotted to every poet an Advertisement, like that [in original those] which we find in the French Miscellanies, containing a few dates, and a general character; but I have been led beyond my intention, I hope by the honest desire of giving useful pleasure.' BOSWELL.

[126] Institutiones, liber i, Prooemium 3.

[127] 'He had bargained for two hundred guineas, and the booksellers spontaneously added a third hundred; on this occasion Dr. Johnson observed to me, "Sir, I always said the booksellers were a generous set of men. Nor, in the present instance, have I reason to complain. The fact is, not that they have paid me too little, but that I have written too much." The Lives were soon published in a separate edition; when, for a very few corrections, he was presented with another hundred guineas.' Nichols's Lit. Anec. viii. 416. See ante, iii. 111. In Mr. Morrison's Collection of Autographs &c., vol. ii, 'is Johnson's receipt for 100l., from the proprietors of The Lives of the Poets for revising the last edition of that work.' It is dated Feb. 19, 1783. 'Underneath, in Johnson's autograph, are these words: "It is great impudence to put Johnson's Poets on the back of books which Johnson neither recommended nor revised. He recommended only Blackmore on the Creation, and Watts. How then are they Johnson's? This is indecent."' The poets whom Johnson recommended were Blackmore, Watts, Pomfret, and Yalden. Ante, under Dec. 29, 1778.

[128] Gibbon says of the last five quartos of the six that formed his History:—'My first rough manuscript, without any intermediate copy, has been sent to the press.' Misc. Works, i. 255. In the Memoir of Goldsmith, prefixed to his Misc. Works, i. 113, it is said:—'In whole quires of his Histories, Animated Nature, &c., he had seldom occasion to correct or alter a single word.' See ante, i. 203.

[129] From Waller's Of Loving at First Sight. Waller's Poems, Miscellanies, xxxiv.

[130] He trusted greatly to his memory. If it did not retain anything exactly, he did not think himself bound to look it up. Thus in his criticism on Congreve (Works, viii. 31) he says:—'Of his plays I cannot speak distinctly; for since I inspected them many years have passed.' In a note on his Life of Rowe, Nichols says:—'This Life is a very remarkable instance of the uncommon strength of Dr. Johnson's memory. When I received from him the MS. he complacently observed that the criticism was tolerably well done, considering that he had not read one of Rowe's plays for thirty years.' Ib. vii. 417.

[131] Thus:—'In the Life of Waller, Mr. Nichols will find a reference to the Parliamentary History from which a long quotation is to be inserted. If Mr. Nichols cannot easily find the book, Mr. Johnson will send it from Streatham.'

'Clarendon is here returned.'

'By some accident, I laid your note upon Duke up so safely, that I cannot find it. Your informations have been of great use to me. I must beg it again; with another list of our authors, for I have laid that with the other. I have sent Stepney's Epitaph. Let me have the revises as soon as can be. Dec. 1778.'

'I have sent Philips, with his Epitaphs, to be inserted. The fragment of a preface is hardly worth the impression, but that we may seem to do something. It may be added to the Life of Philips. The Latin page is to be added to the Life of Smith. I shall be at home to revise the two sheets of Milton. March 1, 1779.'

'Please to get me the last edition of Hughes's Letters; and try to get Dennis upon Blackmore, and upon Calo, and any thing of the same writer against Pope. Our materials are defective.'

'As Waller professed to have imitated Fairfax, do you think a few pages of Fairfax would enrich our edition? Few readers have seen it, and it may please them. But it is not necessary.'

'An account of the Lives and works of some of the most eminent English Poets. By, &c.—"The English Poets, biographically and critically considered, by SAM. JOHNSON."—Let Mr. Nichols take his choice, or make another to his mind. May, 1781.'

'You somehow forgot the advertisement for the new edition. It was not inclosed. Of Gay's Letters I see not that any use can be made, for they give no information of any thing. That he was a member of the Philosophical Society is something; but surely he could be but a corresponding member. However, not having his life here, I know not how to put it in, and it is of little importance.'

See several more in The Gent. Mag., 1785. The Editor of that Miscellany, in which Johnson wrote for several years, seems justly to think that every fragment of so great a man is worthy of being preserved. BOSWELL. In the original MS. in the British Museum, Your in the third paragraph of this note is not in italics. Johnson writes his correspondent's name Nichols, Nichol, and Nicol. In the fourth paragraph he writes, first Philips, and next Phillips. His spelling was sometimes careless, ante, i. 260, note 2. In the Gent. Mag. for 1785, p. 10, another of these notes is published:—'In reading Rowe in your edition, which is very impudently called mine, I observed a little piece unnaturally and odiously obscene. I was offended, but was still more offended when I could not find it in Rowe's genuine volumes. To admit it had been wrong; to interpolate it is surely worse. If I had known of such a piece in the whole collection, I should have been angry. What can be done?' In a note, Mr. Nichols says that this piece 'has not only appeared in the Works of Rowe, but has been transplanted by Pope into the Miscellanies he published in his own name and that of Dean Swift.'

[132] He published, in 1782, a revised edition of Baker's Biographia Dramatica. Baker was a grandson of De Foe. Gent. Mag. 1782, p. 77.

[133] Dryden writing of satiric poetry, says:—'Had I time I could enlarge on the beautiful turns of words and thoughts, which are as requisite in this as in heroic poetry itself; of which the satire is undoubtedly a species. With these beautiful turns I confess myself to have been unacquainted, till about twenty years ago, in a conversation which I had with that noble wit of Scotland, Sir George Mackenzie, he asked me why I did not imitate in my verses the turns of Mr. Waller, and Sir John Denham. ... This hint, thus seasonably given me, first made me sensible of my own wants, and brought me afterwards to seek for the supply of them in other English authors. I looked over the darling of my youth, the famous Cowley.' Dryden's Works, ed. 1821, xiii. III.

[134] In one of his letters to Nichols, Johnson says:—'You have now all Cowley. I have been drawn to a great length, but Cowley or Waller never had any critical examination before.' Gent. Mag. 1785, p.9.

[135] Life of Sheffield. BOSWELL. Johnson's Works, vii. 485.

[136] See, however, p.11 of this volume, where the same remark is made and Johnson is there speaking of prose. MALONE.

[137]

'Purpureus, late qui splendeat unus et alter Assuitur pannus.' '... Shreds of purple with broad lustre shine Sewed on your poem.'

FRANCIS. Horace, Ars Poet. 15.

[138] The original reading is enclosed in crochets, and the present one is printed in Italicks. BOSWELL.

[139] I have noticed a few words which, to our ears, are more uncommon than at least two of the three that Boswell mentions; as, 'Languages divaricate,' Works, vii. 309; 'The mellifluence of Pope's numbers,' ib. 337; 'A subject flux and transitory,' ib. 389; 'His prose is pure without scrupulosity,' ib. 472; 'He received and accommodated the ladies' (said of one serving behind the counter), ib. viii. 62; 'The prevalence of this poem was gradual,' ib. p. 276; 'His style is sometimes concatenated,' ib. p. 458. Boswell, on the next page, supplies one more instance—'Images such as the superficies of nature readily supplies.'

[140] See ante, iii. 249.

[141] Veracious is perhaps one of the 'four or five words' which Johnson added, or thought that he added, to the English language. Ante, i. 221. He gives it in his Dictionary, but without any authority for it. It is however older than his time.

[142] See Johnson's Works, vii. 134, 212, and viii. 386.

[143] Horace Walpole (Letters, vii. 452) writes of Johnson's 'Billingsgate on Milton.' A later letter shows that, like so many of Johnson's critics, he had not read the Life. Ib. p. 508.

[144] Works, vii. 108.

[145] Thirty years earlier he had written of Milton as 'that poet whose works may possibly be read when every other monument of British greatness shall be obliterated.' Ante, i. 230. See ante, ii. 239.

[146] Earl Stanhope (Life of Pitt, ii. 65) describes this Society in 1790, 'as a Club, till then of little note, which had a yearly festival in commemoration of the events of 1688. It had been new-modelled, and enlarged with a view to the transactions at Paris, but still retained its former name to imply a close connection between the principles of 1688 in England, and the principles of 1789 in France.' The Earl Stanhope of that day presided at the anniversary meeting on Nov. 4, 1789. Nov. 4 was the day on which William III. landed.

[147] See An Essay on the Life, Character, and writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson, London, 1787; which is very well written, making a proper allowance for the democratical bigotry of its authour; whom I cannot however but admire for his liberality in speaking thus of my illustrious friend:—

'He possessed extraordinary powers of understanding, which were much cultivated by study, and still more by meditation and reflection. His memory was remarkably retentive, his imagination uncommonly vigorous, and his judgement keen and penetrating. He had a strong sense of the importance of religion; his piety was sincere, and sometimes ardent; and his zeal for the interests of virtue was often manifested in his conversation and in his writings. The same energy which was displayed in his literary productions was exhibited also in his conversation, which was various, striking, and instructive; and perhaps no man ever equalled him for nervous and pointed repartees.'

'His Dictionary, his moral Essays, and his productions in polite literature, will convey useful instruction, and elegant entertainment, as long as the language in which they are written shall be understood.' BOSWELL.

[148] Boswell paraphrases the following passage:—'The King, with lenity of which the world has had perhaps no other example, declined to be the judge or avenger of his own or his father's wrongs; and promised to admit into the Act of Oblivion all, except those whom the Parliament should except; and the Parliament doomed none to capital punishment but the wretches who had immediately co-operated in the murder of the King. Milton was certainly not one of them; he had only justified what they had done.' Johnson's Works, vii. 95.

[149] 'Though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n and evil tongues, In darkness, and with dangers compast round.' Paradise Lost, vii. 26.

[150] Johnson's Works, vii. 105.

[151] 'His political notions were those of an acrimonious and surly republican.' Ib. p. 116.

[152] 'What we know of Milton's character in domestick relations is, that he was severe and arbitrary.' Ib. p. 116.

[153] 'His theological opinions are said to have been first, Calvinistical; and afterwards, perhaps when he began to hate the Presbyterians, to have tended towards Arminianism.... He appears to have been untainted by any heretical peculiarity of opinion.' Ib. p. 115.

[154] Mr. Malone things it is rather a proof that he felt nothing of those cheerful sensations which he has described: that on these topicks it is the poet, and not the man, that writes. BOSWELL.

[155] See ante, i. 427, ii. 124, and iv. 20, for Johnson's condemnation of blank verse. This condemnations was not universal. Of Dryden, he wrote (Works, vii. 249):—'He made rhyming tragedies, till, by the prevalence of manifest propriety, he seems to have grown ashamed of making them any longer.' His own Irene is in blank verse; though Macaulay justly remarks of it:—'He had not the slightest notion of what blank verse should be.' (Macaulay's Writings and Speeches, ed. 1871, p. 380.) Of Thomson's Seasons, he says (Works, vii. 377):—'His is one of the works in which blank verse seems properly used.' Of Young's Night Thoughts:—'This is one of the few poems in which blank verse could not be changed for rhyme but with disadvantage.' Ib. p. 460. Of Milton himself, he writes:—'Whatever be the advantages of rhyme, I cannot prevail on myself to wish that Milton had been a rhymer; for I cannot wish his work to be other than it is; yet, like other heroes, he is to be admired rather than imitated.' Ib. vii. 142. How much he felt the power of Milton's blank verse is shewn by his Rambler, No. 90, where, after stating that 'the noblest and most majestick pauses which our versification admits are upon the fourth and sixth syllables,' he adds:—' Some passages [in Milton] which conclude at this stop [the sixth syllable] I could never read without some strong emotions of delight or admiration.' 'If,' he continues, 'the poetry of Milton be examined with regard to the pauses and flow of his verses into each other, it will appear that he has performed all that our language would admit.' Cowper was so indignant at Johnson's criticism of Milton's blank verse that he wrote:—'Oh! I could thresh his old jacket till I made his pension jingle in his pocket.' Southey's Cowper, iii. 315.

[156] One of the most natural instances of the effect of blank verse occurred to the late Earl of Hopeton. His Lordship observed one of his shepherds poring in the fields upon Milton's Paradise Lost; and having asked him what book it was, the man answered, 'An't please your Lordship, this is a very odd sort of an authour: he would fain rhyme, but cannot get at it.' BOSWELL. 'The variety of pauses, so much boasted by the lovers of blank verse, changes the measures of an English poet to the periods of a declaimer; and there are only a few skilful and happy readers of Milton, who enable their audience to perceive where the lines end or begin. "Blank verse," said an ingenious critick, "seems to be verse only to the eye."' Johnson's Works, vii. 141. In the Life of Roscommon (ib. p. 171), he says:—'A poem frigidly didactick, without rhyme, is so near to prose, that the reader only scorns it for pretending to be verse.'

[157] Mr. Locke. Often mentioned in Mme. D'Arblay's Diary.

[158] See vol. in. page 71. BOSWELL.

[159] It is scarcely a defence. Whatever it was, he thus ends it:-'It is natural to hope, that a comprehensive is likewise an elevated soul, and that whoever is wise is also honest. I am willing to believe that Dryden, having employed his mind, active as it was, upon different studies, and filled it, capacious as it was, with other materials, came unprovided to the controversy, and wanted rather skill to discover the right than virtue to maintain it. But inquiries into the heart are not for man; we must now leave him to his judge.' Works, vii. 279.

[160] In the original fright. The Hind and the Panther, i. 79.

[161] In this quotation two passages are joined. Works, vii. 339, 340.

[162] 'The deep and pathetic morality of the Vanity of Human Wishes' says Sir Walter Scott, 'has often extracted tears from those whose eyes wander dry over the pages of professed sentimentality.' CROKER. It. drew tears from Johnson himself. 'When,' says Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 50), 'he read his own satire, in which the life of a scholar is painted, he burst into a passion of tears. The family and Mr. Scott only were present, who, in a jocose way, clapped him on the back, and said:—"What's all this, my dear Sir? Why you, and I, and Hercules, you know, were all troubled with melancholy." He was a very large man, and made out the triumvirate with Johnson and Hercules comically enough. The Doctor was so delighted at his odd sally, that he suddenly embraced him, and the subject was immediately changed.'

[163] In Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature, ed. 1834, iv. 180, is given 'a memorandum of Dr. Johnson's of hints for the Life of Pope.'

[164] Works, viii. 345.

[165] 'Of the last editor [Warburton] it is more difficult to speak. Respect is due to high place, tenderness to living reputation, and veneration to genius and learning; but he cannot be justly offended at that liberty of which he has himself so frequently given an example, nor very solicitous what is thought of notes which he ought never to have considered as part of his serious employments.' Works, v. 140. See post, June 10,1784.

[166] The liberality is certainly measured. With much praise there is much censure. Works, viii. 288. See ante, ii. 36, and Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 23.

[167] Of Johnson's conduct towards Warburton, a very honourable notice is taken by the editor of Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, not admitted into the Collection of their respective Works. After an able and 'fond, though not undistinguishing,' consideration of Warburton's character, he says, 'In two immortal works, Johnson has stood forth in the foremost rank of his admirers. By the testimony of such a man, impertinence must be abashed, and malignity itself must be softened. Of literary merit, Johnson, as we all know, was a sagacious but a most severe judge. Such was his discernment, that he pierced into the most secret springs of human actions; and such was his integrity, that he always weighed the moral characters of his fellow-creatures in the "balance of the sanctuary." He was too courageous to propitiate a rival, and too proud to truckle to a superiour. Warburton he knew, as I know him, and as every man of sense and virtue would wish to be known,—I mean, both from his own writings, and from the writings of those who dissented from his principles, or who envied his reputation. But, as to favours, he had never received or asked any from the Bishop of Gloucester; and, if my memory fails me not, he had seen him only once, when they met almost without design, conversed without much effort, and parted without any lasting impressions of hatred or affection. Yet, with all the ardour of sympathetic genius, Johnson has done that spontaneously and ably, which, by some writers, had been before attempted injudiciously, and which, by others, from whom more successful attempts might have been expected, has not hitherto been done at all. He spoke well of Warburton, without insulting those whom Warburton despised. He suppressed not the imperfections of this extraordinary man, while he endeavoured to do justice to his numerous and transcendental excellencies. He defended him when living, amidst the clamours of his enemies; and praised him when dead, amidst the silence of his friends.'

Having availed myself of this editor's eulogy on my departed friend, for which I warmly thank him, let me not suffer the lustre of his reputation, honestly acquired by profound learning and vigorous eloquence, to be tarnished by a charge of illiberality. He has been accused of invidiously dragging again into light certain writings of a person respectable by his talents, his learning, his station and his age, which were published a great many years ago, and have since, it is said, been silently given up by their authour. But when it is considered that these writings were not sins of youth, but deliberate works of one well-advanced in life, overflowing at once with flattery to a great man of great interest in the Church, and with unjust and acrimonious abuse of two men of eminent merit; and that, though it would have been unreasonable to expect an humiliating recantation, no apology whatever has been made in the cool of the evening, for the oppressive fervour of the heat of the day; no slight relenting indication has appeared in any note, or any corner of later publications; is it not fair to understand him as superciliously persevering? When he allows the shafts to remain in the wounds, and will not stretch forth a lenient hand, is it wrong, is it not generous to become an indignant avenger? BOSWELL. Boswell wrote on Feb. 16, 1789:—'There is just come out a publication which makes a considerable noise. The celebrated Dr. Parr, of Norwich, has—wickedly, shall we say?—but surely wantonly—published Warburton's Juvenile Translations and Discourse on Prodigies, and Bishop Kurd's attacks on Jortin and Dr. Thomas Leland, with his Essay on the Delicacy of Friendship.' Letters of Boswell, p. 275. The 'editor,' therefore, is Parr, and the 'Warburtonian' is Hurd. Boswell had written to Parr on Jan. 10, 1791:—'I request to hear by return of post if I may say or guess that Dr. Parr is the editor of these tracts.' Parr's Works, viii. 12. See also ib. iii. 405.

[168] In Johnson's Works (1787), xi. 213, it is said, that this meeting was 'at the Bishop of St. ——'s [Asaph's]. Boswell, by his 'careful enquiry,' no doubt meant to show that this statement was wrong. Johnson is reported to have said:—' Dr. Warburton at first looked surlily at me; but after we had been jostled into conversation he took me to a window, asked me some questions, and before we parted was so well pleased with me that he patted me.'

[169] 'Warburton's style is copious without selection, and forcible without neatness; he took the words that presented themselves; his diction is coarse and impure; and his sentences are unmeasured.' Johnson's Works, viii. 288.

[170] Churchill, in The Duellist (Poems ed. 1766, ii. 85), describes Warburton as having

'A heart, which virtue ne'er disgraced; A head where learning runs to waste.'

[171] Works, viii. 230.

[172] 'I never,' writes Mrs. Piozzi, 'heard Johnson pronounce the words, "I beg your pardon, Sir," to any human creature but the apparently soft and gentle Dr. Burney.' Burney had asked her whether she had subscribed £100 to building a bridge. '"It is very comical, is it not, Sir?" said I, turning to Dr. Johnson, "that people should tell such unfounded stories." "It is," answered he, "neither comical nor serious, my dear; it is only a wandering lie." This was spoken in his natural voice, without a thought of offence, I am confident; but up bounced Burney in a towering passion, and to my much amaze put on the hero, surprising Dr. Johnson into a sudden request for pardon, and protestation of not having ever intended to accuse his friend of a falsehood.' Hayward's Piozzi, i. 312.

[173] In the original, 'nor.' Works, viii. 311.

[174] In the original, 'either wise or merry.'

[175] In the original, 'stands upon record'.

[176] Works, viii. 316. Surely the words 'had not much to say' imply that Johnson had heard the answer, but thought little of its wit. According to Mr. Croker, the repartee is given in Ruffhead's Life of Pope, and this book Johnson had seen. Ante, ii. 166.

[177] Let me here express my grateful remembrance of Lord Somerville's kindness to me, at a very early period. He was the first person of high rank that took particular notice of me in the way most flattering to a young man, fondly ambitious of being distinguished for his literary talents; and by the honour of his encouragement made me think well of myself, and aspire to deserve it better. He had a happy art of communicating his varied knowledge of the world, in short remarks and anecdotes, with a quiet pleasant gravity, that was exceedingly engaging. Never shall I forget the hours which I enjoyed with him at his apartments in the Royal Palace of Holy-Rood House, and at his seat near Edinburgh, which he himself had formed with an elegant taste. BOSWELL.

[178] Ante, iii. 392.

[179] Boswell, I think, misunderstands Johnson. Johnson said (Works, viii. 313) that 'Pope's admiration of the Great seems to have increased in the advance of life.' His Iliad he had dedicated to Congreve, but 'to his latter works he took care to annex names dignified with titles, but was not very happy in his choice; for, except Lord Bathurst, none of his noble friends were such as that a good man would wish to have his intimacy with them known to posterity; he can derive little honour from the notice of Cobham, Burlington, or Bolingbroke.' Johnson, it seems clear, is speaking, not of the noblemen whom Pope knew in general, but of those to whom he dedicated any of his works. Among them Lord Marchmont is not found, so that on him no slight is cast.

[180] Neither does Johnson actually say that Lord Marchmont had 'any concern,' though perhaps he implies it. He writes:—'Pope left the care of his papers to his executors; first to Lord Bolingbroke; and, if he should not be living, to the Earl of Marchmont: undoubtedly expecting them to be proud of the trust, and eager to extend his fame. But let no man dream of influence beyond his life. After a decent time, Dodsley the bookseller went to solicit preference as the publisher, and was told that the parcel had not been yet inspected; and, whatever was the reason, the world has been disappointed of what was "reserved for the next age."' Ib. p. 306. As Bolingbroke outlived Pope by more than seven years, it is clear, from what Johnson states, that he alone had the care of the papers, and that he gave the answer to Dodsley. Marchmont, however, knew the contents of the papers. Ib. p. 319.

[181] This neglect did not arise from any ill-will towards Lord Marchmont, but from inattention; just as he neglected to correct his statement concerning the family of Thomson the poet, after it had been shewn to be erroneous (ante, in. 359). MALONE.

[182] Works, vii. 420.

[183] Benjamin Victor published in 1722, a Letter to Steele, and in 1776, Letters, Dramatic Pieces, and Poems Brit. Mus. Catalogue.

[184] Mr. Wilks. See ante, i. 167, note 1.

[185] See post, p. 91 and Macaulay's Essay on Addison (ed. 1974, iv.

207).

[186] 'A better and more Christian man scarcely ever breathed than Joseph Addison. If he had not that little weakness for wine—why we could scarcely have found a fault with him, and could not have liked him as we do.' Thackery's English Humourists, ed. 1858, p. 94.

[187] See ante, i. 30, and iii. 155.

[188] See post, under Dec. 2, 1784.

[189] Parnell 'drank to excess.' Ante, iii. 155.

[190] I should have thought that Johnson, who had felt the severe affliction from which Parnell never recovered, would have preserved this passage. BOSWELL.

[191] Mrs. Thrale wrote to Johnson in May, 1780:-'Blackmore will be rescued from the old wits who worried him much to your disliking; so, a little for love of his Christianity, a little for love of his physic, a little for love of his courage—and a little for love of contradiction, you will save him from his malevolent critics, and perhaps do him the honour to devour him yourself.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 122. See ante, ii. 107.

[192] 'This is a tribute which a painter owes to an architect who composed like a painter; and was defrauded of the due reward of his merit by the wits of his time, who did not understand the principles of composition in poetry better than he did; and who knew little, or nothing, of what he understood perfectly, the general ruling principles of architecture and painting.' Reynolds's Thirteenth Discourse.

[193] Johnson had not wished to write Lyttelton's Life. He wrote to Lord Westcote, Lyttelton's brother, 'My desire is to avoid offence, and be totally out of danger. I take the liberty of proposing to your lordship, that the historical account should be written under your direction by any friend you may be willing to employ, and I will only take upon myself to examine the poetry.'—Croker's Boswell, p.650.

[194] It was not Molly Aston (ante i. 83) but Miss Hill Boothby (ib.) of whom Mrs. Thrale wrote. She says (Anec. p.160):—'Such was the purity of her mind, Johnson said, and such the graces of her manner, that Lord Lyttelton and he used to strive for her preference with an emulation that occasioned hourly disgust, and ended in lasting animosity.' There is surely much exaggeration in this account.

[195] Let not my readers smile to think of Johnson's being a candidate for female favour; Mr. Peter Garrick assured me, that he was told by a lady, that in her opinion Johnson was 'a very seducing man.' Disadvantages of person and manner may be forgotten, where intellectual pleasure is communicated to a susceptible mind; and that Johnson was capable of feeling the most delicate and disinterested attachment, appears from the following letter, which is published by Mrs. Thrale [Piozzi Letters, ii. 391], with some others to the same person, of which the excellence is not so apparent:—

'TO MISS BOOTHBY. January, 1755.

DEAREST MADAM,

Though I am afraid your illness leaves you little leisure for the reception of airy civilities, yet I cannot forbear to pay you my congratulations on the new year; and to declare my wishes that your years to come may be many and happy. In this wish, indeed, I include myself, who have none but you on whom my heart reposes; yet surely I wish your good, even though your situation were such as should permit you to communicate no gratifications to, dearest, dearest Madam, Your, &c. SAM JOHNSON.' (BOSWELL.)

[196] Horace, Odes, iv. 3.2, quoted also ante, i.352, note.

[197] The passage which Boswell quotes in part is as follows:—'When they were first published they were kindly commended by the Critical Reviewers; [i.e. the writers in the Critical Review. In some of the later editions of Boswell these words have been printed, critical reviewers; so as to include all the reviewers who criticised the work]; and poor Lyttelton, with humble gratitude, returned, in a note which I have read, acknowledgements which can never be proper, since they must be paid either for flattery or for justice.' Works, viii.491. Boswell forgets that what may be proper in one is improper in another. Lyttelton, when he wrote this note, had long been a man of high position. He had 'stood in the first rank of opposition,' he had been Chancellor of the Exchequer, and when he lost his post, he had been 'recompensed with a peerage.' See ante, ii. 126.

[198] See post, June 12 and 15, 1784.

[199] He adopted it from indolence. Writing on Aug. 1, 1780, after mentioning the failure of his application to Lord Westcote, he continues:—'There is an ingenious scheme to save a day's work, or part of a day, utterly defeated. Then what avails it to be wise? The plain and the artful man must both do their own work.—But I think I have got a life of Dr. Young.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 173.

[200] Gent. Mag. vol. lv. p. 10. BOSWELL.

[201] By a letter to Johnson from Croft, published in the later editions of the Lives, it seems that Johnson only expunged one passage. Croft says:—'Though I could not prevail on you to make any alteration, you insisted on striking out one passage, because it said, that, if I did not wish you to live long for your sake, I did for the sake of myself and the world.' Works viii.458.

[202] The Late Mr. Burke. MALONE.

[203] Seepost, June 2, 1781.

[204] Johnson's Works, viii 440.

[205] Ib. p.436

[206] 'Eheu! fugaces, Postume, Postume, Labuntur anni.' 'How swiftly glide our flying years!' FRANCIS. Horace, Odes, ii.14. i.

[207] The late Mr. James Ralph told Lord Macartney, that he passed an evening with Dr. Young at Lord Melcombe's (then Mr. Dodington) at Hammersmith. The Doctor happening to go out into the garden, Mr. Dodington observed to him, on his return, that it was a dreadful night, as in truth it was, there being a violent storm of rain and wind. 'No, Sir, (replied the Doctor) it is a very fine night. The LORD is abroad.' BOSWELL.

[208] See ante, ii.96, and iii.251; and Boswell's Hebrides, Sept.

30.

[209] 'An ardent judge, who zealous in his trust, With warmth gives sentence, yet is always just.' Pope's Essay on Criticism, l.677.

[210] Works, viii.459. Though the Life of Young is by Croft, yet the critical remarks are by Johnson.

[211] Ib. p.460.

[212] Johnson refers to Chambers's Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, which was ridiculed in the Heroic Epistle. See post, under May 8, 1781, and Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 13.

[213] Boswell refers to the death of Narcissa in the third of the Night Thoughts. While he was writing the Life of Johnson Mrs. Boswell was dying of consumption in (to quote Young's words)

The rigid north, Her native bed, on which bleak Boreas blew.'

She died nearly two years before The Life was published.

[214] Proverbs, xviii.14.

[215] See Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 16.

[216] See vol. i. page 133. BOSWELL.

[217] 'In his economy Swift practised a peculiar and offensive parsimony, without disguise or apology. The practice of saving being once necessary, became habitual, and grew first ridiculous, and at last detestable. But his avarice, though it might exclude pleasure, was never suffered to encroach upon his virtue. He was frugal by inclination, but liberal by principle; and if the purpose to which he destined his little accumulations be remembered, with his distribution of occasional charity, it will perhaps appear, that he only liked one mode of expense better than another, and saved merely that he might have something to give.' Works, viii.222.

[218] Ib. p.225.

[219] Mr. Chalmers here records a curious literary anecdote—that when a new and enlarged edition of the Lives of the Poets was published in 1783, Mr. Nichols, in justice to the purchasers of the preceding editions, printed the additions in a separate pamphlet, and advertised that it might be had gratis. Not ten copies were called for. CROKER.

[220] See ante, p.9, and Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 15.

[221] Works, vii. Preface.

[222] From this disreputable class, I except an ingenious though not satisfactory defence of HAMMOND, which I did not see till lately, by the favour of its authour, my amiable friend, the Reverend Mr. Bevill, who published it without his name. It is a juvenile performance, but elegantly written, with classical enthusiasm of sentiment, and yet with a becoming modesty, and great respect for Dr. Johnson. BOSWELL.

[223] Before the Life of Lyttelton was published there was, it seems, some coolness between Mrs. Montagu and Johnson. Miss Burney records the following conversation in September 1778. 'Mark now,' said Dr. Johnson, 'if I contradict Mrs. Montagu to-morrow. I am determined, let her say what she will, that I will not contradict her.' MRS. THRALE. 'Why to be sure, Sir, you did put her a little out of countenance last time she came.'...DR. JOHNSON. 'Why, Madam, I won't answer that I shan't contradict her again, if she provokes me as she did then; but a less provocation I will withstand. I believe I am not high in her good graces already; and I begin (added he, laughing heartily) to tremble for my admission into her new house. I doubt I shall never see the inside of it.' Yet when they met a few days later all seemed friendly. 'When Mrs. Montagu's new house was talked of, Dr. Johnson in a jocose manner, desired to know if he should be invited to see it. "Ay, sure," cried Mrs. Montagu, looking well pleased, "or else I shan't like it."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i.118, 126. 'Mrs. Montagu's dinners and assemblies,' writes Wraxall, 'were principally supported by, and they fell with, the giant talents of Johnson, who formed the nucleus round which all the subordinate members revolved.' Wraxall's Memoirs, ed. 1815, i.160.

[224] Described by the author as 'a body of original essays.' 'I consider The Observer,' he arrogantly continues, 'as fairly enrolled amongst the standard classics of our native language.' Cumberland's Memoirs, ii.199. In his account of this Feast of Reason he quite as much satirises Mrs. Montagu as praises her. He introduces Johnson in it, annoyed by an impertinent fellow, and saying to him:—'Have I said anything, good Sir, that you do not comprehend?' 'No, no,' replied he, 'I perfectly well comprehend every word you have been saying.' 'Do you so, Sir?' said the philosopher, 'then I heartily ask pardon of the company for misemploying their time so egregiously.' The Observer, No. 25.

[225] Miss Burney gives an account of an attack made by Johnson, at a dinner at Streatham, in June 1781, on Mr. Pepys (post, p. 82), 'one of Mrs. Montagu's steadiest abettors.' 'Never before,' she writes, 'have I seen Dr. Johnson speak with so much passion. "Mr. Pepys," he cried, in a voice the most enraged, "I understand you are offended by my Life of Lord Lyttelton. What is it you have to say against it? Come forth, man! Here am I, ready to answer any charge you can bring."' After the quarrel had been carried even into the drawing-room, Mrs. Thrale, 'with great spirit and dignity, said that she should be very glad to hear no more of it. Everybody was silenced, and Dr. Johnson, after a pause, said:—"Well, Madam, you shall hear no more of it; yet I will defend myself in every part and in every atom."... Thursday morning, Dr. Johnson went to town for some days, but not before Mrs. Thrale read him a very serious lecture upon giving way to such violence; which he bore with a patience and quietness that even more than made his peace with me.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 45. Two months later the quarrel was made up. 'Mr. Pepys had desired this meeting by way of a reconciliation; and Dr. Johnson now made amends for his former violence, as he advanced to him, as soon as he came in, and holding out his hand to him received him with a cordiality he had never shewn him before. Indeed he told me himself that he thought the better of Mr. Pepys for all that had passed.' Ib. p. 82. Miss Burney, in Dec. 1783, described the quarrel to Mr. Cambridge:—'"I never saw Dr. Johnson really in a passion but then; and dreadful indeed it was to see. I wished myself away a thousand times. It was a frightful scene. He so red, poor Mr. Pepys so pale." "It was behaving ill to Mrs. Thrale certainly to quarrel in her house." "Yes, but he never repeated it; though he wished of all things to have gone through just such another scene with Mrs. Montagu; and to refrain was an act of heroic forbearance. She came to Streatham one morning, and I saw he was dying to attack her." "And how did Mrs. Montagu herself behave?" Very stately, indeed, at first. She turned from him very stiffly, and with a most distant air, and without even courtesying to him, and with a firm intention to keep to what she had publicly declared—that she would never speak to him more. However, he went up to her himself, longing to begin, and very roughly said:—"Well, Madam, what's become of your fine new house? I hear no more of it." "But how did she bear this?" "Why, she was obliged to answer him; and she soon grew so frightened—as everybody does—that she was as civil as ever." He laughed heartily at this account. But I told him Dr. Johnson was now much softened. He had acquainted me, when I saw him last, that he had written to her upon the death of Mrs. Williams [see post, Sept. 18, 1783, note], because she had allowed her something yearly, which now ceased. "And I had a very kind answer from her," said he. "Well then, Sir," cried I, "I hope peace now will be again proclaimed." "Why, I am now," said he, "come to that time when I wish all bitterness and animosity to be at an end."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 290.

[226] January, 1791. BOSWELL. Hastings's trial had been dragging on for more than three years when The Life of Johnson was published. It began in 1788, and ended in 1795.

[227] Gent. Mag. for 1785, p. 412.

[228] Afterwards Sir Robert Chambers, one of his Majesty's Judges in India. BOSWELL. See ante, i.274.

[229] 'He conceived that the cultivation of Persian literature might with advantage be made a part of the liberal education of an English gentleman; and he drew up a plan with that view. It is said that the University of Oxford, in which Oriental learning had never, since the revival of letters, been wholly neglected, was to be the seat of the institution which he contemplated.' Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843, iii. 338.

[230] Lord North's. Feeble though it was, it lasted eight years longer.

[231] Jones's Persian Grammar. Boswell. It was published in 1771.

[232] Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. BOSWELL.

[233] See ante, ii. 296.

[234] Macaulay wrote of Hastings's answer to this letter:—'It is a remarkable circumstance that one of the letters of Hastings to Dr. Johnson bears date a very few hours after the death of Nuncomar. While the whole settlement was in commotion, while a mighty and ancient priesthood were weeping over the remains of their chief, the conqueror in that deadly grapple sat down, with characteristic self-possession, to write about the Tour to the Hebrides, Jones's Persian Grammar, and the history, traditions, arts, and natural productions of India.' Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843, iii.376.

[235] Johnson wrote the Dedication, Ante, i.383.

[236] See ante, ii.82, note 2.

[237] Copy is manuscript for printing.

[238] Published by Kearsley, with this well-chosen motto:—'From his cradle He was a SCHOLAR, and a ripe and good one: And to add greater honours to his age Than man could give him, he died fearing Heaven.' SHAKSPEARE. BOSWELL. This quotation is a patched up one from Henry VIII, act iv. sc.2. The quotation in the text is found on p. 89 of this Life of Johnson.

[239] Mr. Thrale had removed, that is to say, from his winter residence in the Borough. Mrs. Piozzi has written opposite this passage in her copy of Boswell:—'Spiteful again! He went by direction of his physicians where they could easiest attend to him.' Hayward's Piozzi, i. 91. There was, perhaps, a good deal of truth in Boswell's supposition, for in 1779 Johnson had told her that he saw 'with indignation her despicable dread of living in the Borough.' Piozzi Letters, ii.92. Johnson had a room in the new house. 'Think,' wrote Hannah More, 'of Johnson's having apartments in Grosvenor-square! but he says it is not half so convenient as Bolt-court.' H. More's Memoirs, i.2O7.

[240] See ante, iii. 250.

[241] Shakspeare makes Hamlet thus describe his father:—

'See what a grace was seated on this brow: Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove himself, An eye like Mars, to threaten and command; A station like the herald, Mercury, New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill; A combination, and a form, indeed, Where every god did seem to set his seal, To give the world assurance of a man.! [Act iii. sc. 4.]

Milton thus pourtrays our first parent, Adam:—

'His fair large front and eye sublime declar'd Absolute rule; and hyacinthin locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clus'tring, but not beneath his shoulders broad.' [P.L. iv. 300.] BOSWELL.

[242] 'Grattan's Uncle, Dean Marlay [afterwards Bishop of Waterford], had a good deal of the humour of Swift. Once, when the footman was out of the way, he ordered the coachman to fetch some water from the well. To this the man objected, that his business was to drive, not to run on errands. "Well, then," said Marlay, "bring out the coach and four, set the pitcher inside, and drive to the well;"—a service which was several times repeated, to the great amusement of the village.' Rogers's Table-Talk, p.176.

[243] See ante, ii. 241, for Johnson's contempt of puns.

[244] 'He left not faction, but of that was left.' Absalom and Achitophel, l. 568.

[245] Boswell wrote of Gibbon in 1779:—'He is an ugly, affected, disgusting fellow, and poisons our Literary Club to me.' Letters of Boswell, p.242. See ante, ii.443, note 1.

[246] The schools in this sense means a University.

[247] See ante, ii.224.

[248] Up to the year 1770, controverted elections had been tried before a Committee of the whole House. By the Grenville Act which was passed in that year they were tried by a select committee. Parl. Hist. xvi. 902. Johnson, in The False Alarm (1770), describing the old method of trial, says;—'These decisions have often been apparently partial, and sometimes tyrannically oppressive.' Works, vi. 169. In The Patriot (1774), he says:—'A disputed election is now tried with the same scrupulousness and solemnity as any other title.' Ib. p.223. See Boswell's Hebrides, Nov.10.

[249] Miss Burney describes a dinner at Mr. Thrale's, about this time, at which she met Johnson, Boswell, and Dudley Long. Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 14.

[250] See ante, ii.171, post, two paragraphs before April 10, 1783, and May 15, 1784.

[251] Johnson wrote on May i, 1780:—'There was the Bishop of St. Asaph who comes to every place.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 111. Hannah More, in 1782, describes an assembly at this Bishop's. 'Conceive to yourself 150 or 200 people met together dressed in the extremity of the fashion, painted as red as Bacchanals...ten or a dozen card-tables crammed with dowagers of quality, grave ecclesiastics and yellow admirals.' Memoirs, i.242. He was elected a member of the Literary Club, 'with the sincere approbation and eagerness of all present,' wrote Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Jones; elected, too, on the same day on which Lord Chancellor Camden was rejected (ante, iii. 311, note 2). Two or three years later Sir William married the Bishop's daughter. Life of Sir W Jones, pp.240, 279.

[252] 'Trust not to looks, nor credit outward show; The villain lurks beneath the cassocked beau.' Churchill's Poems (ed. 1766), ii.41.

[253] No. 2.

[254] See vol. i p. 378. BOSWELL.

[255] Northcote, according to Hazlitt, said of this character with some truth, that 'it was like one of Kneller's portraits—it would do for anybody.' Northcote's Conversations, p.86.

[256] See post, p.98.

[257] London Chronicle, May 2, 1769. This respectable man is there mentioned to have died on the 3rd of April, that year, at Cofflect, the seat of Thomas Veale, Esq., in his way to London. BOSWELL.

[258] Dr. Harte was the tutor of Mr. Eliot and of young Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield's illegitimate son. 'My morning hopes,' wrote Chesterfield to his son at Rome, 'are justly placed in Mr. Harte, and the masters he will give you; my evening ones in the Roman ladies: pray be attentive to both.' Chesterfield's Letters, ii.263. See ante, i.163, note 1, ii.120, and post, June 27, 1784.

[259] Robertson's Scotland is in the February list of books in the Gent. Mag. for 1759; Harte's Gustavus Adolphus and Hume's England under the House of Tudor in the March list. Perhaps it was from Hume's competition that Harte suffered.

[260] Essays on Husbandry, 1764.

[261] See ante, iii. 381.

[262] 'Christmas Day, 1780. I shall not attempt to see Vestris till the weather is milder, though it is the universal voice that he is the only perfect being that has dropped from the clouds, within the memory of man or woman...When the Parliament meets he is to be thanked by the Speaker.' Walpole's Letters, vii. 480.

[263] Here Johnson uses his title of Doctor (ante, ii.332, note 1), but perhaps he does so as quoting the paragraph in the newspaper.

[264] William, the first Viscount Grimston. BOSWELL. Swift thus introduces him in his lines On Poetry, A Rhapsody:—

'When death had finished Blackmore's reign, The leaden crown devolved to thee, Great poet of the hollow tree.'

Mr. Nichols, in a note on this, says that Grimston 'wrote the play when a boy, to be acted by his schoolfellows.' Swift's Works (1803), xi. 297. Two editions were published apparently by Grimston himself, one bearing his name but no date, and the other the date of 1705 but no name. By 1705 Grimston was 22 years old—no longer a boy. The former edition was published by Bernard Lintott at the Cross Keys, Fleet-street, and the latter by the same bookseller at the Middle Temple Gate. The grossness of a young man of birth at this period is shewn by the Preface. The third edition with the elephant on the tight-rope was published in 1736. There is another illustration in which an ass is represented bearing a coronet. Grimston's name is not given here, but there is a dedication 'To the Right Sensible the Lord Flame.' Three or four notes are added, one of which is very gross. The election was for St. Alban's, for which borough he was thrice returned.

[265] Dr. T. Campbell records (Diary, p. 69) that 'Boswell asked Johnson if he had never been under the hands of a dancing master. "Aye, and a dancing mistress too," says the Doctor; "but I own to you I never took a lesson but one or two; my blind eyes showed me I could never make a proficiency."'

[266] See vol. ii. p.286. BOSWELL.

[267] Miss Burney writes of him in Feb. 1779:—'He is a professed minority man, and very active and zealous in the opposition. Men of such different principles as Dr. Johnson and Sir Philip cannot have much cordiality in their political debates; however, the very superior abilities of the former, and the remarkable good breeding of the latter have kept both upon good terms.' She describes a hot argument between them, and continues:—'Dr. Johnson pursued him with unabating vigour and dexterity, and at length, though he could not convince, he so entirely baffled him, that Sir Philip was self-compelled to be quiet—which, with a very good grace, he confessed. Dr. Johnson then recollecting himself, and thinking, as he owned afterwards, that the dispute grew too serious, with a skill all his own, suddenly and unexpectedly turned it to burlesque.' D'Arblay's Diary, i. 192.

[268] See post, Jan. 20, 1782.

[269] See ante, ii.355.

[270] Here Johnson condescended to play upon the words Long and short. But little did he know that, owing to Mr. Long's reserve in his presence, he was talking thus of a gentleman distinguised amongst his acquaintance for acuteness of wit; one to whom I think the French expression, 'Il pétille d'esprit,' is particularly He has gratified me by mentioning that he heard Dr. Johnson say, 'Sir, if I were to lose Boswell, it would be a limb amputated.' BOSWELL.

[271] William Weller Pepys, Esq., one of the Masters in the High Court of Chancery, and well known in polite circles. My acquaintance with him is not sufficient to enable me to speak of him from my own judgement. But I know that both at Eton and Oxford he was the intimate friend of the late Sir James Macdonald, the Marcellus of Scotland [ante, i.449], whose extraordinary talents, learning, and virtues, will ever be remembered with admiration and regret. BOSWELL.

[272] See note, ante, p. 65, which describes an attack made by Johnson on Pepys more than two months after this conversation.

[273] Johnson once said to Mrs. Thrale:—'Why, Madam, you often provoke me to say severe things by unreasonable commendation. If you would not call for my praise, I would not give you my censure; but it constantly moves my indignation to be applied to, to speak well of a thing which I think contemptible.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i.132. See ante, iii.225.

[274] 'Mrs. Thrale,' wrote Miss Burney in 1780, 'is a most dear creature, but never restrains her tongue in anything, nor, indeed, any of her feelings. She laughs, cries, scolds, sports, reasons, makes fun—does everything she has an inclination to do, without any study of prudence, or thought of blame; and, pure and artless as is this character, it often draws both herself and others into scrapes, which a little discretion would avoid.' Ib. i.386. Later on she writes:—'Mrs. Thrale, with all her excellence, can give up no occasion of making sport, however unseasonable or even painful... I knew she was not to be safely trusted with anything she could turn into ridicule.' Ib. ii.24 and 29.

[275] Perhaps Mr. Seward, who was constantly at the Thrales' (ante, iii. 123).

[276] See ante, iii.228, 404.

[277] It was the seventh anniversary of Goldsmith's death.

[278] 'Mrs. Garrick and I,' wrote Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 208), 'were invited to an assembly at Mrs. Thrale's. There was to be a fine concert, and all the fine people were to be there. Just as my hair was dressed, came a servant to forbid our coming, for that Mr. Thrale was dead.'

[279] Pr. and Med. p 191. BOSWELL. The rest of the entry should be given:—'On Wednesday, 11, was buried my dear friend Thrale, who died on Wednesday 4; and with him were buried many of my hopes and pleasures. [On Sunday, 1st, the physician warned him against full meals, on Monday I pressed him to observance of his rules, but without effect, and Tuesday I was absent, but his wife pressed forbearance upon him again unsuccessfully. At night I was called to him, and found him senseless in strong convulsions. I staid in the room, except that I visited Mrs. Thrale twice.] About five, I think, on Wednesday morning he expired; I felt, &c. Farewell. May God that delighteth in mercy have had mercy on thee. I had constantly prayed for him some time before his death. The decease of him from whose friendship I had obtained many opportunities of amusement, and to whom I turned my thoughts as to a refuge from misfortunes, has left me heavy. But my business is with myself.' The passage enclosed in brackets I have copied from the original MS. Mr. Strahan, the editor, omitted it, no doubt from feelings of delicacy. What a contrast in this to the widow who published a letter in which she had written:—'I wish that you would put in a word of your own to Mr. Thrale about eating less!' Piozzi Letters, ii.130. Baretti, in a note on Piozzi Letters, ii.142, says that 'nobody ever had spirit enough to tell Mr. Thrale that his fits were apoplectic; such is the blessing of being rich that nobody dares to speak out.' In Johnson's Works (1787), xi.203, it is recorded that 'Johnson, who attended Thrale in his last moments, said, "His servants would have waited upon him in this awful period, and why not his friend?"'

[280] Johnson's letters to the widow show how much he felt Thrale's death. 'April 5, 1781. I am not without my part of the calamity. No death since that of my wife has ever oppressed me like this. April 7. My part of the loss hangs upon me. I have lost a friend of boundless kindness, at an age when it is very unlikely that I should find another. April 9. Our sorrow has different effects; you are withdrawn into solitude, and I am driven into company. I am afraid of thinking what I have lost. I never had such a friend before. April 11. I feel myself like a man beginning a new course of life. I had interwoven myself with my dear friend.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 191-97. 'I have very often,' wrote Miss Burney, in the following June, 'though I mention them not, long and melancholy discourses with Dr. Johnson about our dear deceased master, whom, indeed, he regrets incessantly.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 63. On his next birthday, he wrote:—'My first knowledge of Thrale was in 1765. I enjoyed his favour for almost a fourth part of my life.' Pr. and Med. p.191. One or two passages in Mrs. Thrale's Letters shew her husband's affection for Johnson. On May 3, 1776, she writes:—'Mr. Thrale says he shall not die in peace without seeing Rome, and I am sure he will go nowhere that he can help without you.' Piozzi Letters, i.317. A few days later, she speaks of 'our dear master, who cannot be quiet without you for a week.' Ib. p.329. Johnson, in his fine epitaph on Thrale (Works, i.153) broke through a rule which he himself had laid down. In his Essay on Epitaphs (Ib. v 263), he said:—'It is improper to address the epitaph to the passenger [traveller], a custom which an injudicious veneration for antiquity introduced again at the revival of letters.' Yet in the monument in Streatham Church, we find the same Abi viator which he had censured in an epitaph on Henry IV of France.

[281] Johnson's letters to Mrs. Thrale shew that he had long been well acquainted with the state of her husband's business. In the year 1772, Mr. Thrale was in money difficulties. Johnson writes to her almost as if he were a partner in the business. 'The first consequence of our late trouble ought to be an endeavour to brew at a cheaper rate...Unless this can be done, nothing can help us; and if this be done, we shall not want help.' Piozzi Letters, i.57. He urges economy in the household, and continues:—'But the fury of housewifery will soon subside; and little effect will be produced, but by methodical attention and even frugality.' Ib. p.64. In another letter he writes:—'This year will undoubtedly be an year of struggle and difficulty; but I doubt not of getting through it; and the difficulty will grow yearly less and less. Supposing that our former mode of life kept us on the level, we shall, by the present contraction of expense, gain upon fortune a thousand a year, even though no improvements can be made in the conduct of the trade.' Piozzi Letters, i. 66. Four years later, he writes:—'To-day I went to look into my places at the Borough. I called on Mr. Perkins in the counting-house. He crows and triumphs, as we go on we shall double our business.' Ib. p. 333. When the executors first met, he wrote:—'We met to-day, and were told of mountainous difficulties, till I was provoked to tell them, that if there were really so much to do and suffer, there would be no executors in the world. Do not suffer yourself to be terrified.' Ib. ii. 197. Boswell says (ante, ii. 44l):—'I often had occasion to remark, Johnson loved business, loved to have his wisdom actually operate on real life.' When Boswell had purchased a farm, 'Johnson,' he writes (ante, iii. 207), 'made several calculations of the expense and profit; for he delighted in exercising his mind on the science of numbers.' The letter (ante, ii. 424) about the book-trade 'exhibits,' to use Boswell's words, 'his extraordinary precision and acuteness.' Boswell wrote to Temple:—'Dr. Taylor has begged of Dr. Johnson to come to London, to assist him in some interesting business; and Johnson loves much to be so consulted, and so comes up.' Ante, iii. 51, note 3.

[282] Johnson, as soon as the will was read, wrote to Mrs. Thrale:—'You have, £500 for your immediate expenses, and, £2000 a year, with both the houses and all the goods.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 192. Beattie wrote on June 1:—'Everybody says Mr. Thrale should have left Johnson £200 a year; which, from a fortune like his, would have been a very inconsiderable deduction.' Beattie's Life, ed. 1824, p. 290.

[283] Miss Burney thus writes of the day of the sale:—'Mrs. Thrale went early to town, to meet all the executors, and Mr. Barclay, the Quaker, who was the bidder. She was in great agitation of mind, and told me if all went well she would wave a white handkerchief out of the coach-window. Four o'clock came and dinner was ready, and no Mrs. Thrale. Queeny and I went out upon the lawn, where we sauntered in eager expectation, till near six, and then the coach appeared in sight, and a white handkerchief was waved from it.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 34. The brewery was sold for £135,000. See post, June 16, 1781.

[284] See post, paragraph before June 22, 1784.

[285] Baretti, in a MS. note on Piozzi Letters, i. 369, says that 'the two last years of Thrale's life his brewery brought him £30,000 a year neat profit.'

[286] In the fourth edition of his Dictionary, published in 1773, Johnson introduced a second definition of patriot:—'It is sometimes used for a factious disturber of the government.' Gibbon (Misc. Works, ii. 77) wrote on Feb. 21, 1772:—'Charles Fox is commenced patriot, and is already attempting to pronounce the words, country, liberty, corruption, &c.; with what success time will discover.' Forty years before Johnson begged not to meet patriots, Sir Robert Walpole said:—'A patriot, Sir! why patriots spring up like mushrooms. I could raise fifty of them within the four-and-twenty hours. I have raised many of them in one night. It is but refusing to gratify an unreasonable or an insolent demand, and up starts a patriot. I have never been afraid of making patriots; but I disdain and despise all their efforts.' Coxe's Walpole, i. 659. See ante, ii. 348, and iii. 66.

[287] He was tried on Feb. 5 and 6, 1781. Ann. Reg. xxiv. 217.

[288] Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 210) records a dinner on a Tuesday in this year. (Like Mrs. Thrale and Miss Burney, she cared nothing for dates.) It was in the week after Thrale's death. It must have been the dinner here mentioned by Boswell; for it was at a Bishop's (Shipley of St. Asaph), and Sir Joshua and Boswell were among the guests. Why Boswell recorded none of Johnson's conversation may be guessed from what she tells. 'I was heartily disgusted,' she says, 'with Mr. Boswell, who came up stairs after dinner much disordered with wine.' (See post, p. 109). The following morning Johnson called on her. 'He reproved me,' she writes, 'with pretended sharpness for reading Les Pensées de Pascal, alleging that as a good Protestant I ought to abstain from books written by Catholics. I was beginning to stand upon my defence, when he took me with both hands, and with a tear running down his cheeks, "Child," said he, with the most affecting earnestness, "I am heartily glad that you read pious books, by whomsoever they may be written.'"

[289] On Good-Friday, in 1778, Johnson recorded:—'It has happened this week, as it never happened in Passion-week before, that I have never dined at home, and I have therefore neither practised abstinence nor peculiar devotion' Pr. and Med. p. 163.

[290] No. 7.

[291] See ante, iii. 302.

[292] Richard Berenger, Esq., many years Gentleman of the Horse, and first Equerry to his present Majesty. MALONE. According to Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 156), he was Johnson's 'standard of true elegance.'

[293] See ante, iii. 186.

[294] Johnson (Works, vii. 449) thus describes Addison's 'familiar day,' on the authority of Pope:—'He studied all morning; then dined at a tavern; and went afterwards to Button's [coffee-house]. From the coffee-house he went again to a tavern, where he often sat late, and drank too much wine.' Spence (Anec. p. 286) adds, on the authority of Pope, that 'Addison passed each day alike, and much in the manner that Dryden did. Dryden employed his mornings in writing; dined en famille; and then went to Wills's; only he came home earlier a'nights'

[295] Mr. Foss says of Blackstone:—'Ere he had been long on the bench he experienced the bad effects of the studious habits in which he had injudiciously indulged in his early life, and of his neglect to take the necessary amount of exercise, to which he was specially averse.' He died at the age of 56. Foss's Judges, viii. 250. He suffered greatly from his corpulence. His portrait in the Bodleian shews that he was a very fat man. Malone says that Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell) wrote to Blackstone's family to apologise for Boswell's anecdote. Prior's Malone, p. 415. Scott would not have thought any the worse of Blackstone for his bottle of port; both he and his brother, the Chancellor, took a great deal of it. 'Lord Eldon liked plain port; the stronger the better.' Twiss's Eldon, iii. 486. Some one asked him whether Lord Stowell took much exercise. 'None,' he said, 'but the exercise of eating and drinking.' Ib. p. 302. Yet both men got through a vast deal of hard work, and died, Eldon at the age of 86, and Stowell of 90.

[296] See this explained, pp. 52, 53 of this volume. BOSWELL.

[297] See ante, ii. 7.

[298] William Scott was a tutor of University College at the age of nineteen. He held the office for ten years—to 1775. He wrote to his father in 1772 about his younger brother John (afterwards Lord Eldon), who had just made a run-away match:—'The business in which I am engaged is so extremely disagreeable in itself, and so destructive to health (if carried on with such success as can render it at all considerable in point of profit) that I do not wonder at his unwillingness to succeed me in it.' Twiss's Eldon, i. 47, 74.

[299] The account of her marriage given By John Wesley in a letter to his brother-in-law, Mr. Hall, is curious. He wrote on Dec. 22, 1747:—'More than twelve years ago you told me God had revealed it to you that you should marry my youngest sister ... You asked and gained her consent... In a few days you had a counter-revelation, that you was not to marry her, but her sister. This last error was far worse than the first. But you was not quite above conviction. So, in spite of her poor astonished parents, of her brothers, of all your vows and promises, you shortly after jilted the younger and married the elder sister.' Wesley's Journal, ii. 39. Mrs. Hall suffered greatly for marrying a wretch who had so cruelly treated her own sister, Southey's Wesley, i. 369.

[300] See ante, iii. 269.

[301] The original 'Robinhood' was a debating society which met near Temple-Bar. Some twenty years before this time Goldsmith belonged to it, and, it was said, Burke. Forster's Goldsmith, i. 287, and Prior's Burke, p. 79. The president was a baker by trade. 'Goldsmith, after hearing him give utterance to a train of strong and ingenious reasoning, exclaimed to Derrick, "That man was meant by nature for a Lord Chancellor." Derrick replied, "No, no, not so high; he is only intended for Master of the Rolls."' Prior's Goldsmith, i. 420. Fielding, in 1752, in The Covent-Garden Journal, Nos. 8 and 9, takes off this Society and the baker. A fragment of a report of their discussions which he pretends to have discovered, begins thus:—'This evenin the questin at the Robinhood was, whether relidgin was of any youse to a sosyaty; baken bifor mee To'mmas Whytebred, baker.' Horace Walpole (Letters, iv. 288), in 1764, wrote of the visit of a French gentleman to England, 'He has seen ... Jews, Quakers, Mr. Pitt, the Royal Society, the Robinhood, Lord Chief-Justice Pratt, the Arts-and-Sciences, &c.' Romilly (Life, i. 168), in a letter dated May 22, 1781, says that during the past winter several of these Sunday religious debating societies had been established. 'The auditors,' he was assured, 'were mostly weak, well-meaning people, who were inclined to Methodism;' but among the speakers were 'some designing villains, and a few coxcombs, with more wit than understanding.' 'Nothing,' he continues, 'could raise up panegyrists of these societies but what has lately happened, an attempt to suppress them. The Solicitor-General has brought a bill into Parliament for this purpose. The bill is drawn artfully enough; for, as these societies are held on Sundays, and people pay for admittance, he has joined them with a famous tea-drinking house [Carlisle House], involving them both in the same fate, and entitling his bill, A Bill to regulate certain Abuses and Profanations of the Lord's Day.' The Bill was carried; on a division none being found among the Noes but the two tellers. The penalties for holding a meeting were £200 for the master of the house, £100 for the moderator of the meeting, and £50 for each of the servants at the door. Parl. Hist. xxii. 262, 279.

[302] St. Matthew, xxvii. 52.

[303] I Corinthians, xv. 37.

[304] As this subject frequently recurs in these volumes, the reader may be led erroneously to suppose that Dr. Johnson was so fond of such discussions, as frequently to introduce them. But the truth is, that the authour himself delighted in talking concerning ghosts, and what he has frequently denominated the mysterious; and therefore took every opportunity of leading Johnson to converse on such subjects. MALONE. See ante, i. 406.

[305] Macbean (Johnson's old amanuensis, ante, i. 187) is not in Boswell's list of guests; but in the Pemb. Coll. MSS., there is the following entry on Monday, April 16:—'Yesterday at dinner were Mrs. Hall, Mr. Levet, Macbean, Boswel (sic), Allen. Time passed in talk after dinner. At seven, I went with Mrs. Hall to Church, and came back to tea.'

[306] Mrs. Piozzi records (Anec. p. 192) that he said 'a long time after my poor mother's death, I heard her voice call Sam.' She is so inaccurate that most likely this is merely her version of the story that Boswell has recorded above. See also ante, i. 405. Lord Macaulay made more of this story of the voice than it could well bear—'Under the influence of his disease, his senses became morbidly torpid, and his imagination morbidly active. At one time he would stand poring on the town clock without being able to tell the hour. At another, he would distinctly hear his mother, who was many miles off, calling him by his name. But this was not the worst.' Macaulay's Writings and Speeches, ed. 1871, p. 374.

[307]

'One wife is too much for most husbands to bear, But two at a time there's no mortal can bear.' Act iii. sc. 4.

[308] 'I think a person who is terrified with the imagination of ghosts and spectres much more reasonable than one who, contrary to the reports of all historians, sacred and profane, ancient and modern, and to the traditions of all nations, thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless.' The Spectator, No. 110.

[309] St. Matthew, chap. xxvii. vv. 52, 53. BOSWELL.

[310] Garrick died on Jan. 20, 1779.

[311] Garrick called her Nine, (the Nine Muses). 'Nine,' he said, 'you are a Sunday Woman.' H. More's Memoirs, i. 113.

[312] See vol. iii. p. 331. BOSWELL.

[313] See ante, ii. 325, note 3.

[314] Boswell is quoting from Johnson's eulogium on Garrick in his Life of Edmund Smith. Works, vii. 380. See ante, i. 81.

[315] How fond she and her husband had been is shewn in a letter, in which, in answer to an invitation, he says:—'As I have not left Mrs. Garrick one day since we were married, near twenty-eight years, I cannot now leave her.' Garrick Corres. ii. 150. 'Garrick's widow is buried with him. She survived him forty-three years—"a little bowed-down old woman, who went about leaning on a gold-headed cane, dressed in deep widow's mourning, and always talking of her dear Davy." (Pen and Ink Sketches, 1864).' Stanley's Westminster Abbey, ed. 1868, p. 305.

[316] Love's Labour's Lost, act ii. sc. i.

[317] See ante, ii. 461.

[318] Horace Walpole (Letters, vii. 346) describes Hollis as 'a most excellent man, a most immaculate Whig, but as simple a poor soul as ever existed, except his editor, who has given extracts from the good creature's diary that are very near as anile as Ashmole's. There are thanks to God for reaching every birthday, ... and thanks to Heaven for her Majesty's being delivered of a third or fourth prince, and God send he may prove a good man.' See also Walpole's Journal of the Reign of George III, i. 287. Dr. Franklin wrote much more highly of him. Speaking of what he had done, he said:—'It is prodigious the quantity of good that may be done by one man, if he will make a business of it.' Franklin's Memoirs, ed. 1818, iii. 135.

[319] See p. 77 of this volume. BOSWELL.

[320] See ante, iii. 97.

[321] On April 6 of the next year this gentleman, when Secretary of the Treasury, destroyed himself, overwhelmed, just as Cowper had been, by the sense of the responsibility of an office which had been thrust upon him. See Hannah More's Memoirs, i. 245, and Walpole's Letters, viii. 206.

[322] 'It is commonly supposed that the uniformity of a studious life affords no matter for a narration; but the truth is, that of the most studious life a great part passes without study. An author partakes of the common condition of humanity; he is born and married like another man; he has hopes and fears, expectations and disappointments, griefs and joys, and friends and enemies, like a courtier, or a statesman; nor can I conceive why his affairs should not excite curiosity as much as the whisper of a drawing-room or the factions of a camp.' The Idler, No. 102.

[323] Hannah More wrote of this day (Memoirs, i. 212):—'I accused Dr. Johnson of not having done justice to the Allegro and Penseroso. He spoke disparagingly of both. I praised Lycidas, which he absolutely abused, adding, "if Milton had not written the Paradise Lost, he would have only ranked among the minor Poets. He was a Phidias that could cut a Colossus out of a rock, but could not cut heads out of cherry-stones."' See post, June 13, 1784. The Allegro and Penseroso Johnson described as 'two noble efforts of imagination.' Of Lycidas he wrote:—'Surely no man could have fancied that he read it with pleasure, had he not known the author.' Works, vii. 121, 2.

[324] Murphy (Life of Garrick, p. 374) says 'Shortly after Garrick's death Johnson was told in a large company, "You are recent from the Lives of the Poets; why not add your friend Garrick to the number?" Johnson's answer was, "I do not like to be officious; but if Mrs. Garrick will desire me to do it, I shall be very willing to pay that last tribute to the memory of a man I loved." 'Murphy adds that he himself took care that Mrs. Garrick was informed of what Johnson had said, but that no answer was ever received.

[325] Miss Burney wrote in May:—'Dr. Johnson was charming, both in spirits and humour. I really think he grows gayer and gayer daily, and more ductile and pleasant.' In June she wrote:—'I found him in admirable good-humour, and our journey [to Streatham] was extremely pleasant. I thanked him for the last batch of his poets, and we talked them over almost all the way.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 23, 44. Beattie, a week or two later, wrote:—'Johnson grows in grace as he grows in years. He not only has better health and a fresher complexion than ever he had before (at least since I knew him), but he has contracted a gentleness of manner which pleases everybody.' Beattie's Life, ed. 1824, p. 289.

[326] See ante, iii. 65. Wilkes was by this time City Chamberlain. 'I think I see him at this moment,' said Rogers (Table-Talk, p. 43), 'walking through the crowded streets of the city, as Chamberlain, on his way to Guildhall, in a scarlet coat, military boots, and a bag-wig—the hackney-coachmen in vain calling out to him, "A coach, your honour."'

[327] See ante, ii. 201, for Beattie's Essay on Truth.

[328] Thurot, in the winter of 1759-60, with a small squadron made descents on some of the Hebrides and on the north-eastern coast of Ireland. In a sea fight off Ireland he was killed and his ships were taken. Gent. Mag. xxx. 107. Horace Walpole says that in the alarm raised by him in Ireland, 'the bankers there stopped payment.' Memoirs of the Reign of George II, iii. 224.

[329]

'Some for renown on scraps of learning doat, And think they grow immortal as they quote.'

Young's Love of Fame, sat. i. Cumberland (Memoirs, ii. 226) says that Mr. Dilly, speaking of 'the profusion of quotations which some writers affectedly make use of, observed that he knew a Presbyterian parson who, for eighteenpence, would furnish any pamphleteer with as many scraps of Greek and Latin as would pass him off for an accomplished classic.'

[330] Cowley was quite out of fashion. Richardson (Corres. ii. 229) wrote more than thirty years earlier:—'I wonder Cowley is so absolutely neglected.' Pope, a dozen years or so before Richardson, asked,

'Who now reads Cowley? if he pleases yet, His moral pleases, not his pointed wit.'

Imitations of Horace, Epis. ii. i. 75.

[331] See ante, ii. 58, and iii. 276.

[332] 'There was a club held at the King's Head in Pall Mall that arrogantly called itself The World. Lord Stanhope (now Lord Chesterfield) was a member. Epigrams were proposed to be written on the glasses by each member after dinner. Once when Dr. Young was invited thither, the doctor would have declined writing because he had no diamond, Lord Stanhope lent him his, and he wrote immediately—

"Accept a miracle," &c.'

Spence's Anecdotes, p. 377. Dr. Maty (Memoirs of Chesterfield, i. 227) assigns the lines to Pope, and lays the scene at Lord Cobham's. Spence, however, gives Young himself as his authority.

[333] 'Aug. 1778. "I wonder," said Mrs. Thrale, "you bear with my nonsense." "No, madam, you never talk nonsense; you have as much sense and more wit than any woman I know." "Oh," cried Mrs. Thrale, blushing, "it is my turn to go under the table this morning, Miss Burney." "And yet," continued the doctor, with the most comical look, "I have known all the wits from Mrs. Montagu down to Bet Flint." "Bet Flint!" cried Mrs. Thrale. "Pray, who is she?" "Oh, a fine character, madam. She was habitually a slut and a drunkard, and occasionally a thief and a harlot.... Mrs. Williams," he added, "did not love Bet Flint, but Bet Flint made herself very easy about that."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 87, 90.

[334] Johnson, whose memory was wonderfully retentive [see ante, i. 39], remembered the first four lines of this curious production, which have been communicated to me by a young lady of his acquaintance:—

'When first I drew my vital breath, A little minikin I came upon earth; And then I came from a dark abode, Into this gay and gaudy world.' BOSWELL.

[335] The Sessional Reports of the Old Bailey Trials for 1758, p. 278, contain a report of the trial. The Chief Justice Willes was in the Commission, but, according to the Report, it was before the Recorder that Bet Flint was tried. It may easily be, however, that either the reporter or the printer has blundered. It is only by the characters * and ‡ that the trials before the Chief Justice and the Recorder are distinguished. Bet had stolen not only the counterpane, but five other articles. The prosecutrix could not prove that the articles were hers, and not a captain's, whose servant she said she had been, and who was now abroad. On this ground the prisoner was acquitted. Of Chief Justice Willes, Horace Walpole writes:—'He was not wont to disguise any of his passions. That for gaming was notorious; for women unbounded.' He relates an anecdote of his wit and licentiousness. Walpole's Reign of George II, i. 89. He had been Johnson's schoolfellow (ante, i. 45).

[336] Burke is meant. See ante, ii. 131, where Johnson said that Burke spoke too familiarly; and post, May 15, 1784, where he said that 'when Burke lets himself down to jocularity he is in the kennel.'

[337] Wilkes imperfectly recalled to mind the following passage in Plutarch:—'[Greek: Euphranor ton Thaesea ton heatou to Parrhasiou parebale, legon tor men ekeinou hroda bebrokenai, tor de eautou krea boeia.]' 'Euphranor, comparing his own Theseus with Parrhasius's, said that Parrhasius's had fed on roses, but his on beef.' Plutarch, ed. 1839, iii. 423.

[338] Portugal, receiving from Brazil more gold than it needed for home uses, shipped a large quantity to England. It was said, though probably with exaggeration, that the weekly packet-boat from Lisbon, brought one week with another, more than £50,000 in gold to England. Smith's Wealth of Nations, book iv. ch. 6. Portugal pieces were current in our colonies, and no doubt were commonly sent to them from London. It was natural therefore that they should be selected for this legal fiction.

[339] See ante, ii. III.

[340] 'Whenever the whole of our foreign trade and consumption exceeds our exportation of commodities, our money must go to pay our debts so contracted, whether melted or not melted down. If the law makes the exportation of our coin penal, it will be melted down; if it leaves the exportation of our coin free, as in Holland, it will be carried out in specie. One way or other, go it must, as we see in Spain.... Laws made against exportation of money or bullion will be all in vain. Restraint or liberty in that matter makes no country rich or poor.' Locke's Works, ed. 1824, iv. 160.

[341] 'Nov. 14, 1779. Mr. Beauclerk has built a library in Great Russellstreet, that reaches half way to Highgate. Everybody goes to see it; it has put the Museum's nose quite out of joint.' Walpole's Letters, vii. 273. It contained upwards of 30,000 volumes, and the sale extended over fifty days. Two days' sale were given to the works on divinity, including, in the words of the catalogue, 'Heterodox! et Increduli. Angl. Freethinkers and their opponents.' Dr. Johnson: His Friends and His Critics, p. 315. It sold for £5,011 (ante, in. 420, note 4). Wilkes's own library—a large one—had been sold in 1764, in a five days' sale, as is shewn by the Auctioneer's Catalogue, which is in the Bodleian.

[342] 'Our own language has from the Reformation to the present time been chiefly dignified and adorned by the works of our divines, who, considered as commentators, controvertists, or preachers, have undoubtedly left all other nations far behind them.' The Idler, No. 91.

[343] Mr. Wilkes probably did not know that there is in an English sermon the most comprehensive and lively account of that entertaining faculty, for which he himself is so much admired. It is in Dr. Barrow's first volume, and fourteenth sermon, 'Against foolish Talking and Jesting.' My old acquaintance, the late Corbyn Morris, in his ingenious Essay on Wit, Humour, and Ridicule, calls it 'a profuse description of Wit;' but I do not see how it could be curtailed, without leaving out some good circumstance of discrimination. As it is not generally known, and may perhaps dispose some to read sermons, from which they may receive real advantage, while looking only for entertainment, I shall here subjoin it:—'But first (says the learned preacher) it may be demanded, what the thing we speak of is? Or what this facetiousness (or wit as he calls it before) doth import? To which questions I might reply, as Democritus did to him that asked the definition of a man, "'Tis that which we all see and know." Any one better apprehends what it is by acquaintance, than I can inform him by description. It is, indeed, a thing so versatile and multiform, appearing in so many shapes, so many postures, so many garbs, so variously apprehended by several eyes and judgements, that it seemeth no less hard to settle a clear and certain notion thereof, than to make a portrait of Proteus, or to define the figure of the fleeting air. Sometimes it lieth in pat allusion to a known story, or in seasonable application of a trivial saying, or in forging an apposite tale; sometimes it playeth in words and phrases, taking advantage from the ambiguity of their sense, or the affinity of their sound: sometimes it is wrapped in a dress of humorous expression: sometimes it lurketh under an odd similitude: sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason, in a shrewd intimation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly retorting an objection: sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of contradictions, or in acute nonsense: sometimes a scenical representation of persons or things, a counterfeit speech, a mimical look or gesture, passeth for it: sometimes an affected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness giveth it being: sometimes it riseth only from a lucky hitting upon what is strange: sometimes from a crafty wresting obvious matter to the purpose. Often it consisteth in one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly tell how. Its ways are unaccountable, and inexplicable; being answerable to the numberless rovings of fancy, and windings of language. It is, in short, a manner of speaking out of the simple and plain way, (such as reason teacheth and proveth things by,) which by a pretty surprising uncouthness in conceit or expression, doth affect and amuse the fancy, stirring in it some wonder, and breeding some delight thereto. It raiseth admiration, as signifying a nimble sagacity of apprehension, a special felicity of invention, a vivacity of spirit, and reach of wit more than vulgar; it seeming to argue a rare quickness of parts, that one can fetch in remote conceits applicable; a notable skill, that he can dextrously accommodate them to the purpose before him; together with a lively briskness of humour, not apt to damp those sportful flashes of imagination. (Whence in Aristotle such persons are termed [Greek: hepidexioi], dextrous men, and [Greek: eustrophoi], men of facile or versatile manners, who can easily turn themselves to all things, or turn all things to themselves.) It also procureth delight, by gratifying curiosity with its rareness, as semblance of difficulty: (as monsters, not for their beauty, but their rarity; as juggling tricks, not for their use, but their abstruseness, are beheld with pleasure:) by diverting the mind from its road of serious thoughts; by instilling gaiety and airiness of spirit; by provoking to such dispositions of spirit in way of emulation or complaisance; and by seasoning matters, otherwise distasteful or insipid, with an unusual and thence grateful tang.' BOSWELL. Morris's Essay was published in 1744. Hume wrote:—'Pray do you not think that a proper dedication may atone for what is objectionable in my Dialogues'! I am become much of my friend Corbyn Morrice's mind, who says that he writes all his books for the sake of the dedications.' J. H. Burton's Hume, ii. 147.

[344] The quarrel arose from the destruction by George II. of George I.'s will (ante, ii. 342). The King of Prussia, Frederick the Great, was George I.'s grandson. 'Vague rumours spoke of a large legacy to the Queen of Prussia [Frederick's mother]. Of that bequest demands were afterwards said to have been frequently and roughly made by her son, the great King of Prussia, between whom and his uncle subsisted much inveteracy.' Walpole's Letters, i. cxx.

[345] When I mentioned this to the Bishop of Killaloe, 'With the goat,' said his Lordship. Such, however, is the engaging politeness and pleasantry of Mr. Wilkes, and such the social good humour of the Bishop, that when they dined together at Mr. Dilly's, where I also was, they were mutually agreeable. BOSWELL. It was not the lion, but the leopard, that shall lie down with the kid. Isaiah, xi. 6.

[346] Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, authour of tracts relating to natural history, &c. BOSWELL.

[347] Mrs. Montagu, so early as 1757, wrote of Mr. Stillingfleet:—'I assure you our philosopher is so much a man of pleasure, he has left off his old friends and his blue stockings, and is at operas and other gay assemblies every night.' Montagu's Letters, iv. 117.

[348] See ante, in. 293, note 5.

[349] Miss Burney thus describes her:—'She is between thirty and forty, very short, very fat, but handsome; splendidly and fantastically dressed, rouged not unbecomingly yet evidently, and palpably desirous of gaining notice and admiration. She has an easy levity in her air, manner, voice, and discourse, that speak (sic) all within to be comfortable.... She is one of those who stand foremost in collecting all extraordinary or curious people to her London conversaziones, which, like those of Mrs. Vesey, mix the rank and the literature, and exclude all beside.... Her parties are the most brilliant in town.' Miss Burney then describes one of these parties, at which were present Johnson, Burke, and Reynolds. 'The company in general were dressed with more brilliancy than at any rout I ever was at, as most of them were going to the Duchess of Cumberland's.' Miss Burney herself was 'surrounded by strangers, all dressed superbly, and all looking saucily.... Dr. Johnson was standing near the fire, and environed with listeners.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 179, 186, 190. Leslie wrote of Lady Corke in 1834 (Autobiographical Recollections, i. 137, 243):—'Notwithstanding her great age, she is very animated. The old lady, who was a lion-hunter in her youth, is as much one now as ever.' She ran after a Boston negro named Prince Saunders, who 'as he put his Christian name "Prince" on his cards without the addition of Mr., was believed to be a native African prince, and soon became a lion of the first magnitude in fashionable circles.' She died in 1840.

[350] 'A lady once ventured to ask Dr. Johnson how he liked Yorick's [Sterne's] Sermons. "I know nothing about them, madam," was his reply. But some time afterwards, forgetting himself, he severely censured them. The lady retorted:—"I understood you to say, Sir, that you had never read them." "No, Madam, I did read them, but it was in a stage-coach; I should not have even deigned to look at them had I been at large." Cradock's Memoirs, p. 208.

[351] See ante, iii. 382, note 1.

[352] Next day I endeavoured to give what had happened the most ingenious turn I could, by the following verses:—

To THE HONOURABLE Miss MONCKTON.

'Not that with th' excellent Montrose I had the happiness to dine; Not that I late from table rose, From Graham's wit, from generous wine. It was not these alone which led On sacred manners to encroach; And made me feel what most I dread, JOHNSON'S just frown, and self-reproach. But when I enter'd, not abash'd, From your bright eyes were shot such rays, At once intoxication flash'd, And all my frame was in a blaze. But not a brilliant blaze I own, Of the dull smoke I'm yet asham'd; I was a dreary ruin grown, And not enlighten'd though inflam'd. Victim at once to wine and love, I hope, MARIA, you'll forgive; While I invoke the powers above, That henceforth I may wiser live.'

The lady was generously forgiving, returned me an obliging answer, and I thus obtained an Act of Oblivion, and took care never to offend again. BOSWELL.

[353] See ante, ii. 436, and iv. 88, note I.

[354] On May 22 Horace Walpole wrote (Letters, viii. 44):—'Boswell, that quintessence of busybodies, called on me last week, and was let in, which he should not have been, could I have foreseen it. After tapping many topics, to which I made as dry answers as an unbribed oracle, he vented his errand. "Had I seen Dr. Johnson's Lives of the Poets?" I said slightly, "No, not yet;" and so overlaid his whole impertinence.'

[355] See ante, iii. 1.

[356] See ante, ii. 47, note 2; 352, note I; and iii. 376, for explanations of like instances of Boswell's neglect.

[357] See ante, i. 298, note 4.

[358] 'He owned he sometimes talked for victory.' Boswell's Hebrides, opening pages.

[359] The late Right Hon. William Gerard Hamilton. MALONE.

[360] Dr. Johnson, being told of a man who was thankful for being introduced to him, 'as he had been convinced in a long dispute that an opinion which he had embraced as a settled truth was no better than a vulgar error, "Nay," said he, "do not let him be thankful, for he was right, and I was wrong." Like his Uncle Andrew in the ring at Smithfield, Johnson, in a circle of disputants, was determined neither to be thrown nor conquered.' Murphy's Johnson, p. 139. Johnson, in The Adventurer, No. 85, seems to describe his own talk. He writes:—' While the various opportunities of conversation invite us to try every mode of argument, and every art of recommending our sentiments, we are frequently betrayed to the use of such as are not in themselves strictly defensible; a man heated in talk, and eager of victory, takes advantage of the mistakes or ignorance of his adversary, lays hold of concessions to which he knows he has no right, and urges proofs likely to prevail on his opponent, though he knows himself that they have no force.' J. S. Mill gives somewhat the same account of his own father. 'I am inclined to think,' he writes, 'that he did injustice to his own opinions by the unconscious exaggerations of an intellect emphatically polemical; and that when thinking without an adversary in view, he was willing to make room for a great portion of the truths he seemed to deny.' Mill's Autobiography, p. 201. See also ante, ii. 100, 450, in. 23, 277, 331; and post, May 18, 1784, and Steevens's account of Johnson just before June 22, 1784.

[361] Thomas Shaw, D.D., author of Travels to Barbary and the Levant.

[362] See ante, iii. 314.

[363] The friend very likely was Boswell himself. He was one of 'these tanti men.' 'I told Paoli that in the very heat of youth I felt the nom est tanti, the omnia vanitas of one who has exhausted all the sweets of his being, and is weary with dull repetition. I told him that I had almost become for ever incapable of taking a part in active life.' Boswell's Corsica, ed. 1879, p. 193.

[364] Letters on the English Nation: By Batista Angeloni, a Jesuit, who resided many years in London. Translated from the original Italian by the Author of the Marriage Act. A Novel. 2 vols. London [no printer's name given], 1755. Shebbeare published besides six Letters to the People of England in the years 1755-7, for the last of which he was sentenced to the pillory. Ante, iii. 315, note I. Horace Walpole (Letters, iii. 74) described him in 1757 as 'a broken Jacobite physician, who has threatened to write himself into a place or the pillory.'

[365] I recollect a ludicrous paragraph in the newspapers, that the King had pensioned both a He-bear and a She-bear. BOSWELL. See ante, ii. 66, and post, April 28, 1783.

[366]

Witness, ye chosen train Who breathe the sweets of his Saturnian reign; Witness ye Hills, ye Johnsons, Scots, Shebbeares, Hark to my call, for some of you have ears.'

Heroic Epistle. See post, under June 16, 1784.

[367] In this he was unlike the King, who, writes Horace Walpole,' expecting only an attack on Chambers, bought it to tease, and began reading it to, him; but, finding it more bitter on himself, flung it down on the floor in a passion, and would read no more.' Journal of the Reign of George III, i. 187.

[368] They were published in 1773 in a pamphlet of 16 pages, and, with the good fortune that attends a muse in the peerage, reached a third edition in the year. To this same earl the second edition of Byron's Hours of Idleness was 'dedicated by his obliged ward and affectionate kinsman, the author.' In English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, he is abused in the passage which begins:—

'No muse will cheer with renovating smile, The paralytic puling of Carlisle.'

In a note Byron adds:—'The Earl of Carlisle has lately published an eighteen-penny pamphlet on the state of the stage, and offers his plan for building a new theatre. It is to be hoped his lordship will be permitted to bring forward anything for the stage—except his own tragedies.' In the third canto of Childe Harold Byron makes amends. In writing of the death of Lord Carlisle's youngest son at Waterloo, he says:—

'Their praise is hymn'd by loftier harps than mine; Yet one I would select from that proud throng, Partly because they blend me with his line, And partly that I did his Sire some wrong.'

For his lordship's tragedy see post, under Nov. 19, 1783.

[369] Men of rank and fortune, however, should be pretty well assured of having a real claim to the approbation of the publick, as writers, before they venture to stand forth. Dryden, in his preface to All for Love, thus expresses himself:—

'Men of pleasant conversation (at least esteemed so) and endued with a trifling kind of fancy, perhaps helped out by [with] a smattering of Latin, are ambitious to distinguish themselves from the herd of gentlemen, by their poetry:

"Rarus enim fermè sensus communis in ilia Fortuna,"——[Juvenal, viii. 73.]

And is not this a wretched affectation, not to be contented with what fortune has done for them, and sit down quietly with their estates, but they must call their wits in question, and needlessly expose their nakedness to publick view? Not considering that they are not to expect the same approbation from sober men, which they have found from their flatterers after the third bottle: If a little glittering in discourse has passed them on us for witty men, where was the necessity of undeceiving the world? Would a man who has an ill title to an estate, but yet is in possession of it, would he bring it of his own accord to be tried at Westminster? We who write, if we want the talents [talent], yet have the excuse that we do it for a poor subsistence; but what can be urged in their defence, who, not having the vocation of poverty to scribble, out of mere wantonness take pains to make themselves ridiculous? Horace was certainly in the right where he said, "That no man is satisfied with his own condition." A poet is not pleased, because he is not rich; and the rich are discontented because the poets will not admit them of their number.' BOSWELL. Boswell, it should seem, had followed Swift's advice:—

'Read all the prefaces of Dryden, For these our critics much confide in; Though merely writ at first for filling, To raise the volume's price a shilling.'

Swift's Works, ed. 1803, xi. 293.

[370] See ante, i. 402.

[371] Wordsworth, it should seem, held with Johnson in this. When he read the article in the Edinburgh Review on Lord Byron's early poems, he remarked that 'though Byron's verses were probably poor enough, yet such an attack was abominable,—that a young nobleman, who took to poetry, deserved to be encouraged, not ridiculed.' Rogers's Table-Talk, p. 234, note.

[372] Dr. Barnard, formerly Dean of Derry. See ante, iii. 84.

[373] This gave me very great pleasure, for there had been once a pretty smart altercation between Dr. Barnard and him, upon a question, whether a man could improve himself after the age of forty-five; when Johnson in a hasty humour, expressed himself in a manner not quite civil. Dr. Barnard made it the subject of a copy of pleasant verses, in which he supposed himself to learn different perfections from different men. They concluded with delicate irony:—

'Johnson shall teach me how to place In fairest light each borrow'd grace; From him I'll learn to write; Copy his clear familiar style, And by the roughness of his file Grow, like himself, polite.'

I know not whether Johnson ever saw the poem, but I had occasion to find that as Dr. Barnard and he knew each other better, their mutual regard increased. BOSWELL. See Appendix A.

[374] See ante, ii. 357, iii. 309, and post, March 23, 1783.

[375] 'Sir Joshua once asked Lord B—— to dine with Dr. Johnson and the rest, but though a man of rank and also of good information, he seemed as much alarmed at the idea as if you had tried to force him into one of the cages at Exeter-Change.' Hazlitt's Conversations of Northcote, p. 41.

[376] Yet when he came across them he met with much respect. At Alnwick he was, he writes, 'treated with great civility by the Duke of Northumberland.' Piozzi Letters, i. 108. At Inverary, the Duke and Duchess of Argyle shewed him great attention. Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 25. In fact, all through his Scotch tour he was most politely welcomed by 'the great.' At Chatsworth, he was 'honestly pressed to stay' by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire (post, Sept. 9, 1784). See ante, iii. 21. On the other hand, Mrs. Barbauld says:—'I believe it is true that in England genius and learning obtain less personal notice than in most other parts of Europe.' She censures 'the contemptuous manner in which Lady Wortley Montagu mentioned Richardson:—"The doors of the Great," she says, "were never opened to him."' Richardson Corres. i. clxxiv.

[377] When Lord Elibank was seventy years old, he wrote:—'I shall be glad to go five hundred miles to enjoy a day of his company.' Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 12.

[378] Romans, x. 2.

[379] I Peter, iii. 15.

[380] Horace Walpole wrote three years earlier:—' Whig principles are founded on sense; a Whig may be a fool, a Tory must be so.' Letters, vii. 88.

[381] Mr. Barclay, a descendant of Robert Barclay, of Ury, the celebrated apologist of the people called Quakers, and remarkable for maintaining the principles of his venerable progenitor, with as much of the elegance of modern manners, as is consistent with primitive simplicity, BOSWELL.

[382] Now Bishop of Llandaff, one of the poorest Bishopricks in this kingdom. His Lordship has written with much zeal to show the propriety of equalizing the revenues of Bishops. He has informed us that he has burnt all his chemical papers. The friends of our excellent constitution, now assailed on every side by innovators and levellers, would have less regretted the suppression of some of this Lordship's other writings. BOSWELL. Boswell refers to A Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury by Richard, Lord Bishop of Landaff, 1782. If the revenues were made more equal, 'the poorer Bishops,' the Bishop writes, 'would be freed from the necessity of holding ecclesiastical preferments in commendam with their Bishopricks,' p. 8.

[383] De Quincey says that Sir Humphry Davy told him, 'that he could scarcely imagine a time, or a condition of the science, in which the Bishop's Essays would be superannuated.' De Quincey's Works, ii. 106. De Quincey describes the Bishop as being 'always a discontented man, a railer at the government and the age, which could permit such as his to pine away ingloriously in one of the humblest among the Bishopricks.' Ib. p. 107. He was, he adds, 'a true Whig,' and would have been made Archbishop of York had his party staid in power a little longer in 1807.'

[384] Rasselas, chap. xi.

[385] See Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 30.

[386] 'They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden.' Genesis, iii. 8.

[387]

... 'Vivendi recte qui prorogat horam, Rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis; at ille Labitur et labetur in omne volubilis aevum.' 'And sure the man who has it in his power To practise virtue, and protracts the hour, Waits like the rustic till the river dried; Still glides the river, and will ever glide.'

FRANCIS. Horace, Epist. i. 2. 41.

[388] See ante, p. 59.

[389] See ante, iii. 251.

[390] See ante, iii. 136.

[391] This assertion is disproved by a comparison of dates. The first four satires of Young were published in 1725; The South Sea scheme (which appears to be meant,) was in 1720. MALONE. In Croft's Life of Young, which Johnson adopted, it is stated:—'By the Universal Passion he acquired no vulgar fortune, more than £3000. A considerable sum had already been swallowed up in the South Sea.' Johnson's Works, viii. 430. Some of Young's poems were published before 1720.

[392] Crabbe got Johnson to revise his poem, The Village (post, under March 23, 1783). He states, that 'the Doctor did not readily comply with requests for his opinion; not from any unwillingness to oblige, but from a painful contention in his mind between a desire of giving pleasure and a determination to speak truth.' Crabbe's Works, ii. 12. See ante, ii. 51, 195, and iii. 373.

[393] Pope's Essay on Man, iv. 390. See ante, iii. 6, note 2.

[394] He had within the last seven weeks gone up drunk, at least twice, to a lady's drawing-room. Ante, pp. 88, note 1, and 109.

[395] Mr. Croker, though without any authority, prints unconscious.

[396] I Corinthians, ix. 27. See ante, 295.

[397] 'We walk by faith, not by sight.' 2 Corinthians, v. 7

[398] Dr. Ogden, in his second sermon On the Articles of the Christian Faith, with admirable acuteness thus addresses the opposers of that Doctrine, which accounts for the confusion, sin and misery, which we find in this life: 'It would be severe in GOD, you think, to degrade us to such a sad state as this, for the offence of our first parents: but you can allow him to place us in it without any inducement. Are our calamities lessened for not being ascribed to Adam? If your condition be unhappy, is it not still unhappy, whatever was the occasion? with the aggravation of this reflection, that if it was as good as it was at first designed, there seems to be somewhat the less reason to look for its amendment.' BOSWELL.

[399] 'Which taketh away the sin' &c. St. John, i. 29.

[400] See Boswell's Hebrides, August 22.

[401] This unfortunate person, whose full name was Thomas Fysche Palmer, afterwards went to Dundee, in Scotland, where he officiated as minister to a congregation of the sect who called themselves Unitarians, from a notion that they distinctively worship ONE GOD, because they deny the mysterious doctrine of the TRINITY. They do not advert that the great body of the Christian Church, in maintaining that mystery, maintain also the Unity of the GODHEAD; the 'TRINITY in UNITY!—three persons and ONE GOD.' The Church humbly adores the DIVINITY as exhibited in the holy Scriptures. The Unitarian sect vainly presumes to comprehend and define the ALMIGHTY. Mr. Palmer having heated his mind with political speculations, became so much dissatisfied with our excellent Constitution, as to compose, publish, and circulate writings, which were found to be so seditious and dangerous, that upon being found guilty by a Jury, the Court of Justiciary in Scotland sentenced him to transportation for fourteen years. A loud clamour against this sentence was made by some Members of both Houses of Parliament; but both Houses approved of it by a great majority; and he was conveyed to the settlement for convicts in New South Wales. BOSWELL. This note first appears in the third edition. Mr. Palmer was sentenced to seven (not fourteen) years transportation in Aug. 1793. It was his fellow prisoner, Mr. Muir, an advocate, who was sentenced to fourteen years. Ann. Reg. 1793, p. 40. When these sentences were brought before the House of Commons, Mr. Fox said that it was 'the Lord-Advocate's fervent wish that his native principles of justice should be introduced into this country; and that on the ruins of the common law of England should be erected the infamous fabric of Scottish persecution. ... If that day should ever arrive, if the tyrannical laws of Scotland should ever be introduced in opposition to the humane laws of England, it would then be high time for my hon. friends and myself to settle our affairs, and retire to some happier clime, where we might at least enjoy those rights which God has given to man, and which his nature tells him he has a right to demand.' Parl. Hist. xxx. 1563. For Unitarians, see ante, ii. 408, note I.

[402] Taken from Herodotus. [Bk. ii. ch. 104.] BOSWELL.

[403] 'The mummies,' says Blakesley, 'have straight hair, and in the paintings the Egyptians are represented as red, not black.' Ib. note.

[404] See ante, i. 441, and post, March 28, and June 3, 1782.

[405] Mr. Dawkins visited Palmyra in 1751. He had 'an escort of the Aga of Hassia's best Arab horsemen.' Johnson was perhaps astonished at the size of their caravan, 'which was increased to about 200 persons.' The writer treats the whole matter with great brevity. Wood's Ruins of Palmyra, p. 33. On their return the travellers discovered a party of Arab horsemen, who gave them an alarm. Happily these Arabs were still more afraid of them, and were at once plundered by the escort, 'who laughed at our remonstrances against their injustice.' Wood's Ruins of Balbec, p. 2.

[406] He wrote a Life of Watts, which Johnson quoted. Works, viii.

382.

[407] See ante, iii. 422, note 6.

[408] In the first two editions formal.

[409] Johnson maintains this in The Idler, No. 74. 'Few,' he says, 'have reason to complain of nature as unkindly sparing of the gifts of memory ... The true art of memory is the art of attention.' See ante, iii. 191.

[410]The first of the definitions given by Johnson of to remember is to bear in mind anything; not to forget. To recollect he defines to recover to memory. We may, perhaps, assume that Boswell said, 'I did not recollect that the chair was broken;' and that Johnson replied, 'you mean, you did not remember. That you did not remember is your own fault. It was in your mind that it was broken, and therefore you ought to have remembered it. It was not a case of recollecting; for we recollect, that is, recover to memory, what is not in our mind.' In the passage ante, i. 112, which begins, 'I indeed doubt if he could have remembered,' we find in the first two editions not remembered, but recollected. Perhaps this change is due to euphony, as collected comes a few lines before. Horace Walpole, in one of his Letters (i. 15), distinguishes the two words, on his revisiting his old school, Eton:—'By the way, the clock strikes the old cracked sound—I recollect so much, and remember so little.'

[411] He made the same boast at St. Andrews. See Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 19. He was, I believe, speaking of his translation of Courayer's Life of Paul Sarpi and Notes, of which some sheets were printed off. Ante, i. 135.

[412] Horace Walpole, after mentioning that George III's mother, who died in 1772, left but £27,000 when she was reckoned worth at least £300,000, adds:—'It is no wonder that it became the universal belief that she had wasted all on Lord Bute. This became still more probable as he had made the purchase of the estate at Luton, at the price of £114,000, before he was visibly worth £20,000; had built a palace there, another in town, and had furnished the former in the most expensive manner, bought pictures and books, and made a vast park and lake.' Journal of the Reign of George III, i. 19.

[413] To him Boswell dedicated his Thesis as excelsae familiae de Bute spei alterae (ante, ii. 20). In 1775, he wrote of him:—'He is warmly my friend and has engaged to do for me.' Letters of Boswell, p. 186

[414] He was mistaken in this. See ante, i. 260; also iii. 420.

[415] In England in like manner, and perhaps for the same reason, all Attorneys have been converted into Solicitors.

[416] 'There is at Edinburgh a society or corporation of errand boys, called Cawdies, who ply in the streets at night with paper lanthorns, and are very serviceable in carrying messages.' Humphrey Clinker. Letter of Aug. 8.

[417] Their services in this sense are noticed in the same letter.

[418]

'The formal process shall be turned to sport, And you dismissed with honour by the Court.' FRANCIS. Horace, Satires, ii.i.86.

[419] Mr. Robertson altered this word to jocandi, he having found in Blackstone that to irritate is actionable. BOSWELL.

[420] Quoted by Johnson, ante, ii. l97.

[421] His god-daughter. See post May 10, 1784.

[422] See post, under Dec. 20, 1782

[423] See ante, i. 155

[424] The will of King Alfred, alluded to in this letter, from the original Saxon, in the library of Mr. Astle, has been printed at the expense of the University of Oxford. BOSWELL.

[425] He was a surgeon in this small Norfolk town. Dr. Burney's Memoirs, i. 106.

[426] Burney visited Johnson first in 1758, when he was living in Gough Square. Ante, i. 328.

[427] Mme. D'Arblay says that Dr. Johnson sent them to Dr. Burney's house, directed 'For the Broom Gentleman.' Dr. Burney's Memoirs, ii. 180.

[428] 'Sept. 14, 1781. Dr. Johnson has been very unwell indeed. Once I was quite frightened about him; but he continues his strange discipline—starving, mercury, opium; and though for a time half demolished by its severity, he always in the end rises superior both to the disease and the remedy, which commonly is the most alarming of the two.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 107. On Sept. 18, his birthday, he wrote:—'As I came home [from church], I thought I had never begun any period of life so placidly. I have always been accustomed to let this day pass unnoticed, but it came this time into my mind that some little festivity was not improper. I had a dinner, and invited Allen and Levett.' Pr. and Med. p. 199.

[429] This remark, I have no doubt, is aimed at Hawkins, who (Life, p. 553) pretends to account for this trip.

[430] Pr. and Med. p. 201. BOSWELL.

[431] He wrote from Lichfield on the previous Oct. 27:—'All here is gloomy; a faint struggle with the tediousness of time; a doleful confession of present misery, and the approach seen and felt of what is most dreaded and most shunned. But such is the lot of man.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 209.

[432] The truth of this has been proved by sad experience. BOSWELL. Mrs. Boswell died June 4, 1789. MALONE.

[433] See account of him in the Gent. Mag. Feb. 1785. BOSWELL, see ante, i. 243, note 3.

[434] Mrs. Piozzi (Synonymy, ii. 79), quoting this verse, under Officious, says;—'Johnson, always thinking neglect the worst misfortune that could befall a man, looked on a character of this description with less aversion than I do.'

[435]

'Content thyself to be obscurely good.'

Addisons Cato, act. iv. sc. 4.

[436] In both editions of Sir John Hawkins's Life of Dr. Johnson, 'letter'd ignorance' is printed. BOSWELL. Mr. Croker (Boswell, p. I) says that 'Mr. Boswell is habitually unjust to Sir J. Hawkins.' As some kind of balance, I suppose, to this injustice, he suppresses this note.

[437] Johnson repeated this line to me thus:—

'And Labour steals an hour to die.'

But he afterwards altered it to the present reading. BOSWELL. This poem is printed in the Ann. Reg. for 1783, p. 189, with the following variations:—l. 18, for 'ready help' 'useful care': l. 28, 'His single talent,' 'The single talent'; l. 33, 'no throbs of fiery pain,' 'no throbbing fiery pain'; l. 36, 'and freed,' 'and forced.' On the next page it is printed John Gilpin.

[438] Mr. Croker says that this line shows that 'some of Gray's happy expressions lingered in Johnson's memory' He quotes a line that comes at the end of the Ode on Vicissitude—'From busy day, the peaceful night.' This line is not Gray's, but Mason's.

[439] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Aug. 14, 1780:—'If you want events, Here is Mr. Levett just come in at fourscore from a walk to Hampstead, eight miles, in August.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 177.

[440] In the original, March 20. On the afternoon of March 20 Lord North announced in the House of Commons 'that his Majesty's Ministers were no more.' Parl. Hist. xxii. 1215.

[441] Pr. and Med. p. 209 [207]. BOSWELL.

[442] See ante, ii. 355, iii. 46, iv. 81, 100. Mr. Seward records in his Biographiana, p. 600—without however giving the year—that 'Johnson being asked what the Opposition meant by their flaming speeches and violent pamphlets against Lord North's administration, answered: "They mean, Sir, rebellion; they mean in spite to destroy that country which they are not permitted to govern."'

[443] In the previous December the City of London in an address, writes Horace Walpole, 'besought the King to remove both his public and private counsellors, and used these stunning and memorable words:—"Your armies are captured; the wonted superiority of your navies is annihilated, your dominions are lost." Words that could be used to no other King; no King had ever lost so much without losing all. If James II. lost his crown, yet the crown lost no dominions.' Journal of the Reign of George III, ii. 483. The address is given in the Ann. Reg. xxiv. 320. On Aug. 4 of this year Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor:—'Perhaps no nation not absolutely conquered has declined so much in so short a time. We seem to be sinking. Suppose the Irish, having already gotten a free trade and an independent Parliament, should say we will have a King and ally ourselves with the House of Bourbon, what could be done to hinder or overthrow them?' Mr. Morrison's Autographs, vol. ii.

[444] In February and March, 1771, the House of Commons ordered eight printers to attend at the bar on a charge of breach of privilege, in publishing reports of debates. One of the eight, Miller of the Evening Post, when the messenger of the House tried to arrest him, gave the man himself into custody on a charge of assault. The messenger was brought before Lord Mayor Crosby and Aldermen Wilkes and Oliver, and a warrant was made out for his commitment. Bail was thereupon offered and accepted for his appearance at the next sessions. The Lord Mayor and Oliver were sent to the Tower by the House. Wilkes was ordered to appear on April 8; but the Ministry, not daring to face his appearance, adjourned the House till the 9th. A committee was appointed by ballot to inquire into the late obstructions to the execution of the orders of the House. It recommended the consideration of the expediency of the House ordering that Miller should be taken into custody. The report, when read, was received with a roar of laughter. Nothing was done. Such was, to quote the words of Burke in the Annual Register (xiv. 70), 'the miserable result of all the pretended vigour of the Ministry.' See Parl. Hist. xvii. 58, 186.

[445] Lord Cornwallis's army surrendered at York Town, five days before Sir Henry Clinton's fleet and army arrived off the Chesapeak. Ann. Reg. xxiv. 136.

[446] Johnson wrote on March 30:—'The men have got in whom I have endeavoured to keep out; but I hope they will do better than their predecessors; it will not be easy to do worse.' Croker's Boswell, p. 706.

[447] This note was in answer to one which accompanied one of the earliest pamphlets on the subject of Chatterton's forgery, entitled Cursory Observations on the Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley, &c. Mr. Thomas Warton's very able Inquiry appeared about three months afterwards; and Mr. Tyrwhitt's admirable Vindication of his Appendix in the summer of the same hear, left the believers in this daring imposture nothing but 'the resolution to say again what had been said before.' MALONE.

[448] Pr. and Med. p. 207. BOSWELL.

[449] He addressed to him an Ode in Latin, entitled Ad Thomam Laurence, medicum doctissimum, quum filium peregre agentem desiderio nimis tristi prosequeretur. Works, i. 165.

[450] Mr. Holder, in the Strand, Dr. Johnson's apothecary. BOSWELL.

[451] 'Johnson should rather have written "imperatum est." But the meaning of the words is perfectly clear. "If you say yes, the messenger has orders to bring Holder to me." Mr. Croker translates the words as follows:-"If you consent, pray tell the messenger to bring Holder to me." If Mr. Croker is resolved to write on points of classical learning, we would advise him to begin by giving an hour every morning to our old friend Corderius.' Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843, i 366. In The Answers to Mr. Macaulay's Criticism, prefixed to Croker's Boswell, p. 13, it is suggested that Johnson wrote either imperetur or imperator. The letter may be translated: 'A fresh chill, a fresh cough, and a fresh difficulty in breathing call for a fresh letting of blood. Without your advice, however, I would not submit to the operation. I cannot well come to you, nor need you come to me. Say yes or no in one word, and leave the rest to Holder and to me. If you say yes, let the messenger be bidden (imperetur) to bring Holder to me. May 1, 1782. When you have left, whither shall I turn?'

[452] Soon after the above letter, Dr. Lawrence left London, but not before the palsy had made so great a progress as to render him unable to write for himself. The folio wing are extracts from letters addressed by Dr. Johnson to one of his daughters:—

'You will easily believe with what gladness I read that you had heard once again that voice to which we have all so often delighted to attend. May you often hear it. If we had his mind, and his tongue, we could spare the rest.

'I am not vigorous, but much better than when dear Dr. Lawrence held my pulse the last time. Be so kind as to let me know, from one little interval to another, the state of his body. I am pleased that he remembers me, and hope that it never can be possible for me to forget him. July 22, 1782.'

'I am much delighted even with the small advances which dear Dr. Lawrence makes towards recovery. If we could have again but his mind, and his tongue in his mind, and his right hand, we should not much lament the rest. I should not despair of helping the swelled hand by electricity, if it were frequently and diligently supplied.

'Let me know from time to time whatever happens; and I hope I need not tell you, how much I am interested in every change. Aug. 26, 1782.'

'Though the account with which you favoured me in your last letter could not give me the pleasure that I wished, yet I was glad to receive it; for my affection to my dear friend makes me desirous of knowing his state, whatever it be. I beg, therefore, that you continue to let me know, from time to time, all that you observe.

'Many fits of severe illness have, for about three months past, forced my kind physician often upon my mind. I am now better; and hope gratitude, as well as distress, can be a motive to remembrance. Bolt-court, Fleet-street, Feb. 4, 1783.' BOSWELL.

[453] Mr. Langton being at this time on duty at Rochester, he is addressed by his military title. BOSWELL.

[454] Eight days later he recorded:—'I have in ten days written to Aston, Lucy, Hector, Langton, Boswell; perhaps to all by whom my letters are desired.' Pr. and Med. 209. He had written also to Mrs. Thrale, but her affection, it should seem from this, he was beginning to doubt.

[455] See ante, p. 84.

[456] See ante, i. 247.

[457] See post, p. 158, note 4.

[458] Johnson has here expressed a sentiment similar to that contained in one of Shenstone's stanzas, to which, in his life of that poet, he has given high praise:—

'I prized every hour that went by, Beyond all that had pleased me before; But now they are gone [past] and I sigh, I grieve that I prized them no more.'

J. BOSWELL, JUN.

[459] She was his god-daughter. See post, May 10, 1784.

[460] 'Dr. Johnson gave a very droll account of the children of Mr. Langton, "who," he said, "might be very good children, if they were let alone; but the father is never easy when he is not making them do something which they cannot do; they must repeat a fable, or a speech, or the Hebrew alphabet, and they might as well count twenty for what they know of the matter; however, the father says half, for he prompts every other word."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 73. See ante, p. 20, note 2.

[461] A part of this letter having been torn off, I have, from the evident meaning, supplied a few words and half-words at the ends and beginnings of lines. BOSWELL.

[462] See vol. ii. p. 459. BOSWELL. She was Hector's widowed sister, and Johnson's first love. In the previous October, writing of a visit to Birmingham, he said:—'Mrs. Careless took me under her care, and told me when I had tea enough.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 205.

[463] This letter cannot belong to this year. In it Johnson says of his health, 'at least it is not worse.' But 1782 found him in very bad health; he passed almost the whole of the year 'in a succession of disorders' (post, p. 156). What he says of friendship renders it almost certain that the letter was written while he had still Thrale; and him he lost in April, 1781. Had it been written after June, 1779, but before Thrale's death, the account given of health would have been even better than it is (ante, iii. 397). It belongs perhaps to the year 1777 or 1778.

[464] 'To a man who has survived all the companions of his youth ... this full-peopled world is a dismal solitude.' Rambler, No. 69.

[465] See ante, i. 63.

[466] They met on these days in the years 1772, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 81, and

3.

[467] The ministry had resigned on the 20th. Ante, p. 139, note 1.

[468] Thirty-two years earlier he wrote in The Rambler, No. 53:-'In the prospect of poverty there is nothing but gloom and melancholy; the mind and body suffer together; its miseries bring no alleviation; it is a state in which every virtue is obscured, and in which no conduct can avoid reproach.' And again in No. 57:—'The prospect of penury in age is so gloomy and terrifying, that every man who looks before him must resolve to avoid it; and it must be avoided generally by the science of sparing.' See ante. 441.

[469] See ante, p. 128.

[470] Hannah More wrote in April of this year (Memoirs, i. 249):—'Poor Johnson is in a bad state of health. I fear his constitution is broken up.' (Yet in one week he dined out four times. Piozzi Letters, ii. 237.) At one of these dinners, 'I urged him,' she continues (ib. p. 251) 'to take a little wine. He replied, "I can't drink a little, child; therefore, I never touch it. Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult." He was very good-humoured and gay. One of the company happened to say a word about poetry, "Hush, hush," said he, "it is dangerous to say a word of poetry before her; it is talking of the art of war before Hannibal."'

[471] This book was published in 1781, and, according to Lowndes, reached its seventh edition by 1787. See ante, i. 214.

[472] The clergyman's letter was dated May 4. Gent. Mag. 1786, p. 93. Johnson is explaining the reason of his delay in acknowledging it.

[473] What follows appeared in the Morning Chronicle of May 29, 1782:—'A correspondent having mentioned, in the Morning Chronicle of December 12, the last clause of the following paragraph, as seeming to favour suicide; we are requested to print the whole passage, that its true meaning may appear, which is not to recommend suicide but exercise.

'Exercise cannot secure us from that dissolution to which we are decreed: but while the soul and body continue united, it can make the association pleasing, and give probable hopes that they shall be disjoined by an easy separation. It was a principle among the ancients, that acute diseases are from Heaven, and chronical from ourselves; the dart of death, indeed, falls from Heaven, but we poison it by our own misconduct: to die is the fate of man; but to die with lingering anguish is generally his folly.' [The Rambler, No. 85.] BOSWELL.

[474] The Correspondence may be seen at length in the Gent. Mag. Feb. 1786. BOSWELL. Johnson, advising Dr. Taylor 'to take as much exercise as he can bear,' says:-'I take the true definition of exercise to be labour without weariness.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 461.

[475] Here he met Hannah More. 'You cannot imagine,' she writes (Memoirs, i. 261), 'with what delight he showed me every part of his own college. Dr. Adams had contrived a very pretty piece of gallantry. We spent the day and evening at his house. After dinner, Johnson begged to conduct me to see the College; he would let no one show it me but himself. "This was my room; this Shenstone's." Then, after pointing out all the rooms of the poets who had been of his college, "In short," said he, "we were a nest of singing-birds." When we came into the common-room, we spied a fine large print of Johnson, hung up that very morning, with this motto:—And is not Johnson ours, himself a host? Under which stared you in the face—From Miss More's "Sensibility." This little incident amused us; but, alas! Johnson looks very ill indeed—spiritless and wan. However, he made an effort to be cheerful.' Miss Adams wrote on June 14, 1782:—'On Wednesday we had here a delightful blue-stocking party. Dr. and Mrs. Kennicott and Miss More, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Henderson, &c., dined here. Poor Dr. Johnson is in very bad health, but he exerted himself as much as he could, and being very fond of Miss More, he talked a good deal, and every word he says is worth recording. He took great delight in showing Miss More every part of Pembroke College, and his own rooms, &c., and told us many things about himself when here. .. June 19, 1782. We dined yesterday for the last time in the company with Dr. Johnson; he went away to-day. A warm dispute arose; it was about cider or wine freezing, and all the spirit retreating to the center.' Pemb. Coll. MSS.

[476] 'I never retired to rest without feeling the justness of the Spanish proverb, "Let him who sleeps too much borrow the pillow of a debtor."' Johnson's Works, iv. 14.

[477] See ante, i. 441.

[478] Which I celebrated in the Church of England chapel at Edinburgh, founded by Lord Chief Baron Smith, of respectable and pious memory. BOSWELL.

[479] See ante, p. 80.

[480] The Reverend Mr. Temple, Vicar of St. Gluvias, Cornwall. BOSWELL. See ante, i. 436, and ii. 316.

[481] 'He had settled on his eldest son,' says Dr. Rogers (Boswelliana, p. 129), 'the ancestral estate, with an unencumbered rental of £l,600 a year.' That the rental, whatever it was, was not unencumbered is shewn by the passage from Johnson's letter, post, p. 155, note 4. Boswell wrote to Malone in 1791 (Croker's Boswell, p. 828):—'The clear money on which I can reckon out of my estate is scarcely £900 a year.'

[482] Cowley's Ode to Liberty, Stanza vi.

[483] 'I do beseech all the succeeding heirs of entail,' wrote Boswell in his will, 'to be kind to the tenants, and not to turn out old possessors to get a little more rent.' Rogers's Boswelliana, p. 186.

[484] Macleod, the Laird of Rasay. See Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 8.

[485] A farm in the Isle of Skye, where Johnson wrote his Latin Ode to Mrs. Thrale. Ib. Sept. 6.

[486] Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor on Oct. 4:—'Boswel's (sic) father is dead, and Boswel wrote me word that he would come to London for my advice. [The] advice which I sent him is to stay at home, and [busy] himself with his own affairs. He has a good es[tate], considerably burthened by settlements, and he is himself in debt. But if his wife lives, I think he will be prudent.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 462.

[487] Miss Burney wrote in the first week in December:—'Dr. Johnson was in most excellent good humour and spirits.' She describes later on a brilliant party which he attended at Miss Monckton's on the 8th, where the people were 'superbly dressed,' and where he was 'environed with listeners.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 186, and 190. See ante, p. 108, note 4.

[488] See ante,, iii. 337, where Johnson got 'heated' when Boswell maintained this.

[489] See ante, in. 395.

[490] The greatest part of the copy, or manuscript of The Lives of the Poets had been given by Johnson to Boswell (ante, iv. 36).

[491] Of her twelve children but these three were living. She was forty-one years old.

[492] 'The family,' writes Dr. Burney, 'lived in the library, which used to be the parlour. There they breakfasted. Over the bookcases were hung Sir Joshua's portraits of Mr. Thrale's friends—Baretti, Burke, Burney, Chambers, Garrick, Goldsmith, Johnson, Murphy, Reynolds, Lord Sandys, Lord Westcote, and in the same picture Mrs. Thrale and her eldest daughter.' Mr. Thrale's portrait was also there. Dr. Burney's Memoirs, ii. 80, and Prior's Malone, p. 259.

[493] Pr. and Med. p. 214. BOSWELL.

[494] Boswell omits a line that follows this prayer:—'O Lord, so far as, &c.,—Thrale.' This means, I think, 'so far as it might be lawful, I prayed for Thrale.' The following day Johnson entered:—'I was called early. I packed up my bundles, and used the foregoing prayer with my morning devotions, somewhat, I think, enlarged. Being earlier than the family, I read St. Paul's farewell in the Acts [xx. 17-end], and then read fortuitously in the gospels, which was my parting use of the library.'

[495] Johnson, no doubt, was leaving Streatham because Mrs. Thrale was leaving it. 'Streatham,' wrote Miss Burney, on Aug. 12 of this year, 'my other home, and the place where I have long thought my residence dependent only on my own pleasure, is already let for three years to Lord Shelburne.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii.151. Johnson was not yet leaving the Thrale family, for he joined them at Brighton, and he was living with them the following spring in Argyll-street. Nevertheless, if, as all Mrs. Thrale's friends strongly held, her second marriage was blameworthy, Boswell's remark admits of defence. Miss Burney in her diary and letters keeps the secret which Mrs. Thrale had confided to her of her attachment to Mr. Piozzi; but in the Memoirs of Dr. Burney, which, as Mme. D'Arblay, she wrote long afterwards, she leaves little doubt that Streatham was given up as a step towards the second marriage. In 1782, on a visit there, she found that her father 'and all others—Dr. Johnson not excepted—were cast into the same gulf of general neglect. As Mrs. Thrale became more and more dissatisfied with her own situation, and impatient for its relief, she slighted Johnson's counsel, and avoided his society.' Mme. D'Arblay describes a striking scene in which her father, utterly puzzled by 'sad and altered Streatham,' left it one day with tears in his eyes. Another day, Johnson accompanied her to London. 'His look was stern, though dejected, but when his eye, which, however shortsighted, was quick to mental perception, saw how ill at ease she appeared, all sternness subsided into an undisguised expression of the strongest emotion, while, with a shaking hand and pointing finger, he directed her looks to the mansion from which they were driving; and when they faced it from the coach-window, as they turned into Streatham Common, tremulously exclaimed, "That house ...is lost to me... for ever."' Johnson's letter to Langton of March 20, 1782 (ante, p. 145), in which he says that he was 'musing in his chamber at Mrs. Thrale's,' shews that so early as that date he foresaw that a change was coming. Boswell's statement that 'Mrs. Thrale became less assiduous to please Johnson,' might have been far more strongly worded. See Dr. Burney's Memoirs, ii. 243-253. Lord Shelburne, who as Prime Minister was negotiating peace with the United States, France, and Spain, hired Mrs. Thrale's house 'in order to be constantly near London.' Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, iii. 242.

[496] Mr. Croker quotes the following from the Rose MSS.:—'Oct. 6, Die Dominica, 1782. Pransus sum Streathamiae agninum crus coctum cum herbis (spinach) comminutis, farcimen farinaceum cum uvis passis, lumbos bovillos, et pullum gallinae: Turcicae; et post carnes missas, ficus, uvas, non admodum maturas, ita voluit anni intemperies, cum malis Persicis, iis tamen duris. Non laetus accubui, cibum modicè sumpsi, ne intemperantiâ ad extremum peccaretur. Si recte memini, in mentem venerunt epulae in exequiis Hadoni celebratae. Streathamiam quando revisam?'

[497] 'Mr. Metcalfe is much with Dr. Johnson, but seems to have taken an unaccountable dislike to Mrs. Thrale, to whom he never speaks.... He is a shrewd, sensible, keen, and very clever man.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 172, 174. He, Burke, and Malone were Sir Joshua's executors. Northcote's Reynolds, ii. 293.

[498] Boswell should have shown, for he must have known it, that Johnson was Mrs. Thrale's guest at Brighton. Miss Burney was also of the party. Her account of him is a melancholy one:—'Oct. 28. Dr. Johnson accompanied us to a ball, to the universal amazement of all who saw him there; but he said he had found it so dull being quite alone the preceding evening, that he determined upon going with us; "for," said he, "it cannot be worse than being alone."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 161. 'Oct. 29. Mr. Pepys joined Dr. Johnson, with whom he entered into an argument, in which he was so roughly confuted, and so severely ridiculed, that he was hurt and piqued beyond all power of disguise, and, in the midst of the discourse, suddenly turned from him, and, wishing Mrs. Thrale goodnight, very abruptly withdrew. Dr. Johnson was certainly right with respect to the argument and to reason; but his opposition was so warm, and his wit so satirical and exulting, that I was really quite grieved to see how unamiable he appeared, and how greatly he made himself dreaded by all, and by many abhorred.' Ib. p. 163. 'Oct. 30. In the evening we all went to Mrs. Hatsel's. Dr. Johnson was not invited.' Ib. p. 165. 'Oct. 31. A note came to invite us all, except Dr. Johnson, to Lady Rothes's.' Ib. p. 168. 'Nov. 2. We went to Lady Shelley's. Dr. Johnson again excepted in the invitation. He is almost constantly omitted, either from too much respect or too much fear. I am sorry for it, as he hates being alone.' Ib. p. 160. 'Nov. 7. Mr. Metcalfe called upon Dr. Johnson, and took him out an airing. Mr. Hamilton is gone, and Mr. Metcalfe is now the only person out of this house that voluntarily communicates with the Doctor. He has been in a terrible severe humour of late, and has really frightened all the people, till they almost ran from him. To me only I think he is now kind, for Mrs. Thrale fares worse than anybody.' Ib. p. 177.

[499] '"Dr. Johnson has asked me," said Mr. Metcalfe, "to go with him to Chichester, to see the cathedral, and I told him I would certainly go if he pleased; but why I cannot imagine, for how shall a blind man see a cathedral?" "I believe," quoth I [i.e. Miss Burney] "his blindness is as much the effect of absence as of infirmity, for he sees wonderfully at times."' Ib. p. 174. For Johnson's eyesight, see ante, i. 41.

[500] The second letter is dated the 28th. Johnson says:—'I have looked often,' &c.; but he does not say 'he has been much informed,' but only 'informed.' Both letters are in the Gent. Mag. 1784, p. 893.

[501] The reference is to Rawlinson's MS. collections for a continuation of Wood's Athenae (Macray's Annals of the Bodleian, p. 181).

[502] Jortin's sermons are described by Johnson as 'very elegant.' Ante, in. 248. He and Thirlby are mentioned by him in the Life of Pope. Works, viii. 254.

[503] Markland was born 1693, died 1776. His notes on some of Euripides' Plays were published at the expense of Dr. Heberden. Markland had previously destroyed a great many other notes; writing in 1764 he said:—'Probably it will be a long time (if ever) before this sort of learning will revive in England; in which it is easy to foresee that there must be a disturbance in a few years, and all public disorders are enemies to this sort of literature.' Gent. Mag. 1778, P. 3l0. 'I remember,' writes Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 252), 'when lamentation was made of the neglect shown to Jeremiah Markland, a great philologist, as some one ventured to call him: "He is a scholar undoubtedly, Sir," replied Dr. Johnson, "but remember that he would run from the world, and that it is not the world's business to run after him. I hate a fellow whom pride, or cowardice, or laziness drives into a corner, and [who] does nothing when he is there but sit and growl; let him come out as I do, and bark"' A brief account of him is given in the Ann. Reg. xix. 45.

[504] Nichols published in 1784 a brief account of Thirlby, nearly half of it being written by Johnson. Thirlby was born in 1692 and died in 1753. 'His versatility led him to try the round of what are called the learned professions.' His life was marred by drink and insolence.' His mind seems to have been tumultuous and desultory, and he was glad to catch any employment that might produce attention without anxiety; such employment, as Dr. Battie has observed, is necessary for madmen.' Gent. Mag. 1784, pp. 260, 893.

[505] He was attacked, says Northcote (Life of Reynolds, ii. 131), 'by a slight paralytic affection, after an almost uninterrupted course of good health for many years.' Miss Burney wrote on Dec. 28 to one of her sisters:—'How can you wish any wishes [matrimonial wishes] about Sir Joshua and me? A man who has had two shakes of the palsy!' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 218.

[506] Dr. Patten in Sept. 1781 (Croker's Boswell, p. 699) informed Johnson of Wilson's intended dedication. Johnson, in his reply, said:—'What will the world do but look on and laugh when one scholar dedicates to another?'

[507] On the same day he wrote to Dr. Taylor:-'This, my dear Sir, is the last day of a very sickly and melancholy year. Join your prayers with mine, that the next may be more happy to us both. I hope the happiness which I have not found in this world will by infinite mercy be granted in another.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 462.

[508] 'Jan. 4, 1783. Dr. Johnson came so very late that we had all given him up; he was very ill, and only from an extreme of kindness did he come at all. When I went up to him to tell how sorry I was to find him so unwell, "Ah," he cried, taking my hand and kissing it, "who shall ail anything when Cecilia is so near? Yet you do not think how poorly I am."

All dinner time he hardly opened his mouth but to repeat to me:—"Ah! you little know how ill I am." He was excessively kind to me in spite of all his pain.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 228. Cecilia was the name of her second novel (post, May 26, 1783). On Jan. 10 he thus ended a letter to Mr. Nichols:—'Now I will put you in a way of shewing me more kindness. I have been confined by ilness (sic) a long time, and sickness and solitude make tedious evenings. Come sometimes and see, Sir,

'Your humble servant,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

MS. in the British Museum.

[509] 'Dr. Johnson found here [at Auchinleck] Baxter's Anacreon, which he told me he had long inquired for in vain, and began to suspect there was no such book.' Boswell's Hebrides, Nov.2. See post, under Sept. 29, 1783.

[510] 'The delight which men have in popularity, fame, honour, submission, and subjection of other men's minds, wills, or affections, although these things may be desired for other ends, seemeth to be a thing in itself, without contemplation of consequence, grateful and agreeable to the nature of man.' Bacon's Nat. Hist. Exper. No. 1000. See ante, ii. 178.

[511] In a letter to Dr. Taylor on Jan. 21 of this year, he attacked the scheme of equal representation.' Pitt, on May 7, 1782, made his first reform motion. Johnson thus ended his letter:—'If the scheme were more reasonable, this is not a time for innovation. I am afraid of a civil war. The business of every wise man seems to be now to keep his ground.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 481.

[512] See ante, i. 429, post, 170, and Boswell's Hebrides, Sept.

30.

[513] The year after this conversation the General Election of 1784 was held, which followed on the overthrow of the Coalition Ministry and the formation of the Pitt Ministry in December, 1783. The 'King's friends' were in a minority of one in the last great division in the old Parliament; in the motion on the Address in the new Parliament they had a majority of 168. Parl. Hist. xxiv. 744, 843. Miss Burney, writing in Nov. 1788, when the King was mad, says that one of his physicians 'moved me even to tears by telling me that none of their own lives would be safe if the King did not recover, so prodigiously high ran the tide of affection and loyalty. All the physicians received threatening letters daily, to answer for the safety of their monarch with their lives! Sir G. Baker had already been stopped in his carriage by the mob, to give an account of the King; and when he said it was a bad one, they had furiously exclaimed, "The more shame for you."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, iv. 336. Describing in 1789 a Royal tour in the West of England, she writes of 'the crowds, the rejoicings, the hallooing and singing, and garlanding and decorating of all the inhabitants of this old city [Exeter], and of all the country through which we passed.' Ib. v. 48.

[514] Miss Palmer, Sir Joshua's niece, 'heard Dr. Johnson repeat these verses with the tears falling over his cheek.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 417.

[515] Gibbon remarked that 'Mr. Fox was certainly very shy of saying anything in Johnson's presence.' Ante, iii. 267. See post, under June 9, 1784, where Johnson said 'Fox is my friend.'

[516] Mr. Greville (Journal, ed. 1874, ii. 316) records the following on the authority of Lord Holland:—'Johnson liked Fox because he defended his pension, and said it was only to blame in not being large enough. "Fox," he said, is a liberal man; he would always be aut Caesar aut nullus; whenever I have seen him he has been nullus. Lord Holland said Fox made it a rule never to talk in Johnson's presence, because he knew all his conversations were recorded for publication, and he did not choose to figure in them.' Fox could not have known what was not the fact. When Boswell was by, he had reason for his silence; but otherwise he might have spoken out. 'Mr. Fox,' writes Mackintosh (Life, i. 322) 'united, in a most remarkable degree, the seemingly repugnant characters of the mildest of men and the most vehement of orators. In private life he was so averse from parade and dogmatism as to be somewhat inactive in conversation.' Gibbon (Misc. Works, i. 283) tells how Fox spent a day with him at Lausanne:—'Perhaps it never can happen again, that I should enjoy him as I did that day, alone from ten in the morning till ten at night. Our conversation never flagged a moment.' 'In London mixed society,' said Rogers (Table-Talk, p. 74), 'Fox conversed little; but at his own house in the country, with his intimate friends, he would talk on for ever, with all the openness and simplicity of a child.'

[517] Sec ante, ii. 450.

[518] Most likely 'Old Mr. Sheridan.'

[519] See ante, ii. 166.

[520] Were I to insert all the stories which have been told of contests boldly maintained with him, imaginary victories obtained over him, of reducing him to silence, and of making him own that his antagonist had the better of him in argument, my volumes would swell to an immoderate size. One instance, I find, has circulated both in conversation and in print; that when he would not allow the Scotch writers to have merit, the late Dr. Rose, of Chiswick, asserted, that he could name one Scotch writer, whom Dr. Johnson himself would allow to have written better than any man of the age; and upon Johnson's asking who it was, answered, 'Lord Bute, when he signed the warrant for your pension.' Upon which Johnson, struck with the repartee, acknowledged that this was true. When I mentioned it to Johnson, 'Sir, (said he,) if Rose said this, I never heard it.' BOSWELL.

[521] This reflection was very natural in a man of a good heart, who was not conscious of any ill-will to mankind, though the sharp sayings which were sometimes produced by his discrimination and vivacity, which he perhaps did not recollect, were, I am afraid, too often remembered with resentment. BOSWELL. When, three months later on, he was struck with palsy, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:—'I have in this still scene of life great comfort in reflecting that I have given very few reason to hate me. I hope scarcely any man has known me closely but for his benefit, or cursorily but to his innocent entertainment. Tell me, you that know me best, whether this be true, that according to your answer I may continue my practice, or try to mend it.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 287. See post, May 19, 1784. Passages such as the two following might have shewn him why he had enemies. 'For roughness, it is a needless cause of discontent; severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate.' Bacon's Essays, No. xi. ''Tis possible that men may be as oppressive by their parts as their power.' The Government of the Tongue, sect. vii. See ante, i. 388, note 2.

[522] 'A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.' Ante, i. 294. Stockdale records (Memoirs, ii. 191) that he heard a Scotch lady, after quoting this definition, say to Johnson, 'I can assure you that in Scotland we give oats to our horses as well as you do to yours in England.' He replied:—'I am very glad, Madam, to find that you treat your horses as well as you treat yourselves.'

[523] Sir Joshua Reynolds wrote:—'The prejudices he had to countries did not extend to individuals. The chief prejudice in which he indulged himself was against Scotland, though he had the most cordial friendship with individuals. This he used to vindicate as a duty. ... Against the Irish he entertained no prejudice; he thought they united themselves very well with us; but the Scotch, when in England, united and made a party by employing only Scotch servants and Scotch tradesmen. He held it right for Englishmen to oppose a party against them.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 460. See ante, ii. 242, 306, and Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 20.

[524] Ante, ii. 300.

[525] Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 85) says that 'Dr. Johnson, commonly spending the middle of the week at our house, kept his numerous family in Fleet-street upon a settled allowance; but returned to them every Saturday to give them three good dinners and his company, before he came back to us on the Monday night.'

[526] Lord North's Ministry lasted from 1770, to March, 1782. It was followed by the Rockingham Ministry, and the Shelburne Ministry, which in its turn was at this very time giving way to the Coalition Ministry, to be followed very soon by the Pitt Ministry.

[527] I have, in my Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides [p. 200, Sept. 13], fully expressed my sentiments upon this subject. The Revolution was necessary, but not a subject for glory; because it for a long time blasted the generous feelings of Loyalty. And now, when by the benignant effect of time the present Royal Family are established in our affections, how unwise it is to revive by celebrations the memory of a shock, which it would surely have been better that our constitution had not required. BOSWELL. See ante, iii. 3, and iv. 40, note 4.

[528] Johnson reviewed this book in 1756. Ante, i. 309.

[529] Johnson, four months later, wrote to one of Mrs. Thrale's daughters:—'Never think, my sweet, that you have arithmetick enough; when you have exhausted your master, buy books. ... A thousand stories which the ignorant tell and believe die away at once when the computist takes them in his gripe.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 296. See post, April 18, 1783.

[530] See ante, p. 116; also iii. 310, where he bore the same topic impatiently when with Dr. Scott.

[531] See ante, ii. 357.

[532]

'See nations, slowly wise and meanly just, To buried merit raise the tardy bust.' Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes.

[533] He was perhaps, thinking of Markland. Ante, p. 161, note 3.

[534] 'Dr. Johnson,' writes Mrs. Piozzi, 'was no complainer of ill-usage. I never heard him even lament the disregard shown to Irene.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 386. See ante, i. 200.

[535] Letter to the People of Scotland against the attempt to diminish the number of the Lords of Session, 1785. BOSWELL. 'By Mr. Burke's removal from office the King's administration was deprived of the assistance of that affluent mind, which is so universally rich that, as long as British literature and British politicks shall endure, it will be said of Edmund Burke, Regum equabat [sic] opes animis.' p.71.

[536] Georgics, iv. 132.

[537] See ante, iii. 56, note 2.

[538] Very likely Boswell.

[539] See Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 22.

[540] Johnson had said:—'Lord Chesterfield is the proudest man this day existing.' Ante, i. 265.

[541] Lord Shelburne. At this time he was merely holding office till a new Ministry was formed. On April 5 he was succeeded by the Duke of Portland. His 'coarse manners' were due to a neglected childhood. In the fragment of his Autobiography he describes 'the domestic brutality and ill-usage he experienced at home,' in the South of Ireland. 'It cost me,' he continues, 'more to unlearn the habits, manners, and principles which I then imbibed, than would have served to qualify me for any rôle whatever through life.' Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, i. 12, 16.

[542] Bentham, it is reported, said of of him that 'alone of his own time, he was a "Minister who did not fear the people."' Ib. iii. 572.

[543] Malagrida, a Jesuit, was put to death at Lisbon in 1761, nominally on a charge of heresy, but in reality on a suspicion of his having sanctioned, as confessor to one of the conspirators, an attempt to assassinate King Joseph of Portugal. Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XV, ch. xxxviii. 'His name,' writes Wraxall (Memoirs, ed. 1815, i. 67), 'is become proverbial among us to express duplicity.' It was first applied to Lord Shelburne in a squib attributed to Wilkes, which contained a vision of a masquerade. The writer, after describing him as masquerading as 'the heir apparent of Loyola and all the College,' continues:—'A little more of the devil, my Lord, if you please, about the eyebrows; that's enough, a perfect Malagrida, I protest.' Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, ii. 164. 'George III. habitually spoke of Shelburne as "Malagrida," and the "Jesuit of Berkeley Square."' Ib. iii. 8. The charge of duplicity was first made against Shelburne on the retirement of Fox (the first Lord Holland) in 1763. 'It was the tradition of Holland House that Bute justified the conduct of Shelburne, by telling Fox that it was "a pious fraud." "I can see the fraud plainly enough," is said to have been Fox's retort, "but where is the piety?"' Ib. i. 226. Any one who has examined Reynolds's picture of Shelburne, especially 'about the eyebrows,' at once sees how the name of Jesuit was given.

[544] Beauclerk wrote to Lord Charlemont on Nov. 20, 1773:-'Goldsmith the other day put a paragraph into the newspapers in praise of Lord Mayor Townshend. [Shelburne supported Townshend in opposition to Wilkes in the election of the Lord Mayor. Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, ii. 287.] The same night we happened to sit next to Lord Shelburne at Drury Lane. I mentioned the circumstance of the paragraph to him; he said to Goldsmith that he hoped that he had mentioned nothing about Malagrida in it. "Do you know," answered Goldsmith, "that I never could conceive the reason why they call you Malagrida, for Malagrida was a very good sort of man." You see plainly what he meant to say, but that happy turn of expression is peculiar to himself. Mr. Walpole says that this story is a picture of Goldsmith's whole life.' Life of Charlemont, i. 344.

[545] Most likely Reynolds, who introduced Crabbe to Johnson. Crabbe's Works, ed. 1834, ii. 11.

[546]

'I paint the cot, As truth will paint it, and as Bards will not. Nor you, ye Poor, of lettered scorn complain, To you the smoothest song is smooth in vain; O'ercome by labour, and bowed down by time, Feel you the barren flattery of a rhyme? Can poets soothe you, when you pine for bread, By winding myrtles round your ruined shed? Can their light tales your weighty griefs o'erpower, Or glad with airy mirth the toilsome hour?' The Village, book i.

See Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 6.

[547] I shall give an instance, marking the original by Roman, and Johnson's substitution in Italick characters:—

'In fairer scenes, where peaceful pleasures spring, Tityrus, the pride of Mantuan swains, might sing: But charmed by him, or smitten with his views, Shall modern poets court the Mantuan muse? From Truth and Nature shall we widely stray, Where Fancy leads, or Virgil led the way?' 'On Mincio's banks, in Caesar's bounteous reign, If Tityrus found the golden age again, Must sleepy bards the flattering dream prolong, Mechanick echoes of the Mantuan song? From Truth and Nature shall we widely stray, Where Virgil, not where Fancy, leads the way?.

Here we find Johnson's poetical and critical powers undiminished. I must, however, observe, that the aids he gave to this poem, as to The Traveller and Deserted Village of Goldsmith, were so small as by no means to impair the distinguished merit of the authour. BOSWELL.

[548] In the Gent. Mag. 1763, pp. 602, 633, is a review of his Observations on Diseases of the Army. He says that the register of deaths of military men proves that more than eight times as many men fall by what was called the gaol fever as by battle. His suggestions are eminently wise. Lord Seaford, in 1835, told Leslie 'that he remembered dining in company with Dr. Johnson at Dr. Brocklesby's, when he was a boy of twelve or thirteen. He was impressed with the superiority of Johnson, and his knocking everybody down in argument.' C.R. Leslie's Recollections, i. 146.

[549] See Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 28.

[550] See ante, i. 433, and ii. 217, 358.

[551] "In his Life of Swift (Works, viii. 205) he thus speaks of this Journal:-'In the midst of his power and his politicks, he kept a journal of his visits, his walks, his interviews with ministers, and quarrels with his servant, and transmitted it to Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, to whom he knew that whatever befell him was interesting, and no accounts could be too minute. Whether these diurnal trifles were properly exposed to eyes which had never received any pleasure from the presence of the dean, may be reasonably doubted: they have, however, some odd attraction: the reader, finding frequent mention of names which he has been used to consider as important, goes on in hope of information; and, as there is nothing to fatigue attention, if he is disappointed, he can hardly complain.'"

[552] On his fifty-fifth birthday he recorded:—'I resolve to keep a journal both of employment and of expenses. To keep accounts.' Pr. and Med. 59. See post, Aug. 25, 1784, where he writes to Langton:—'I am a little angry at you for not keeping minutes of your own acceptum et expensum, and think a little time might be spared from Aristophanes for the res familiares.'

[553] This Mr. Chalmers thought was George Steevens. CROKER. D'Israeli (Curiosities of Literature, ed. 1834, vi. 76) describes Steevens as guilty of 'an unparalleled series of arch deception and malicious ingenuity.' He gives curious instances of his literary impostures. See ante, iii. 281, and post, May 15, 1784.

[554] If this be Lord Mansfield, Boswell must use late in the sense of in retirement; for Mansfield was living when the Life of Johnson was published. He retired in 1788. Johnson in 1772, said that he had never been in his company (ante, ii. 158). The fact that Mansfield is mentioned in the previous paragraph adds to the probability that he is meant.

[555] See ante, ii. 318.

[556] In Scotland, Johnson spoke of Mansfield's 'splendid talents.' Boswell's Hebrides, under Nov. 11.

[557] 'I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men.' 2 Henry IV, act i. sc. 2.

[558] Knowing as well as I do what precision and elegance of oratory his Lordship can display, I cannot but suspect that his unfavourable appearance in a social circle, which drew such animadversions upon him, must be owing to a cold affectation of consequence, from being reserved and stiff. If it be so, and he might be an agreeable man if he would, we cannot be sorry that he misses his aim. BOSWELL. Wedderburne, afterwards Lord Loughborough, is mentioned (ante, ii. 374), and again in Murphy's Life of Johnson, p. 43, as being in company with Johnson and Foote. Boswell also has before (ante, i. 387) praised the elegance of his oratory. Henry Mackenzie (Life of John Home, i. 56) says that Wedderburne belonged to a club at the British Coffee-house, of which Garrick, Smollett, and Dr. Douglas were members.

[559] Boswell informed the people of Scotland in the Letter that he addressed to them in 1785 (p. 29), that 'now that Dr. Johnson is gone to a better world, he (Boswell) bowed the intellectual knee to Lord Thurlow.' See post, June 22, 1784.

[560] Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 27.

[561]

'Charged with light summer-rings his fingers sweat, Unable to support a gem of weight.' DRYDEN. Juvenal, Satires, i. 29.

[562] He had published a series of seventy Essays under the title of The Hypochondriack in the London Magazine from 1777 to 1783.

[563] Juvenal, Satires, x. 365. The common reading, however, is 'Nullum numen habes,' &c. Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 218) records this saying, but with a variation. '"For," says Mr. Johnson, "though I do not quite agree with the proverb, that Nullum numen adest si sit prudentia, yet we may very well say, that Nullum numen adest, ni sit prudentia."'

[564] It has since appeared. BOSWELL.

[565] Miss Burney mentions meeting Dr. Harington at Bath in 1780. 'It is his son,' she writes, 'who published those very curious remains of his ancestor [Sir John Harington] under the title Nugae Antiquae which my father and all of us were formerly so fond of.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 341.

[566]

'For though they are but trifles, thou Some value didst to them allow.' Martin's Catullus, p. 1.

[567]

—Underneath this rude, uncouth disguise, A genius of extensive knowledge lies.' FRANCIS. Horace, Satires, i. 3. 33.

[568] He would not have been a troublesome patient anywhere, for, according to Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 275),'he required less attendance, sick or well, than ever I saw any human creature.'

[569] 'That natural jealousy which makes every man unwilling to allow much excellence in another, always produces a disposition to believe that the mind grows old with the body; and that he whom we are now forced to confess superiour is hastening daily to a level with ourselves.' Johnson's Works, vii. 212.

[570] With the following elucidation of the saying-Quos Deus (it should rather be-Quem Jupiter) vult perdere, prius dementat-Mr. Boswell was furnished by Mr. Pitts:—'Perhaps no scrap of Latin whatever has been more quoted than this. It occasionally falls even from those who are scrupulous even to pedantry in their Latinity, and will not admit a word into their compositions, which has not the sanction of the first age. The word demento is of no authority, either as a verb active or neuter.—After a long search for the purpose of deciding a bet, some gentlemen of Cambridge found it among the fragments of Euripides, in what edition I do not recollect, where it is given as a translation of a Greek Iambick: [Greek: Ou Theos thelei apolesoi' apophreuai.]

'The above scrap was found in the hand-writing of a suicide of fashion, Sir D. O., some years ago, lying on the table of the room where he had destroyed himself. The suicide was a man of classical acquirements: he left no other paper behind him.'

Another of these proverbial sayings,

Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim,

I, in a note on a passage in The Merchant of Venice [act iii. sc. 5], traced to its source. It occurs (with a slight variation) in the Alexandreis of Philip Gualtier (a poet of the thirteenth century), which was printed at Lyons in 1558. Darius is the person addressed:—

—Quò tendis inertem, Rex periture, fugam? nescis, heu! perdite, nescis Quern fugias: hostes incurris dum fugis hostem; Incidis in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim.

A line not less frequently quoted was suggested for enquiry in a note on The Rape of Lucrece:—

Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris—:

But the author of this verse has not, I believe, been discovered. MALONE. The 'Greek lambick' in the above note is not Greek. To a learned friend I owe the following note. 'The Quem Jupiter vult perdere, &c., is said to be a translation of a fragment of Euripides by Joshua Barnes. There is, I believe, no such fragment at all. In Barnes's Euripides, Cantab. 1694, fol. p. 515, is a fragment of Euripides with a note which may explain the muddle of Boswell's correspondent:—

"[Greek: otau de daimonn handri porsunae kaka ton noun heblapse proton,]"

on which Barnes writes:—"Tale quid in Franciados nostrae [probably his uncompleted poem on Edward III.] l. 3. Certe ille deorum Arbiter ultricem cum vult extendere dextram Dementat prius."' See ante, ii. 445, note 1. Sir D. O. is, perhaps, Sir D'Anvers Osborne, whose death is recorded in the Gent. Mag. 1753, p. 591. 'Sir D'Anvers Osborne, Bart., Governor of New York, soon after his arrival there; in his garden.' Solamen miseris, &c., is imitated by Swift in his Verses on Stella's Birthday, 1726-7:—

'The only comfort they propose, To have companions in their woes.'

Swift's Works, ed. 1803, xi. 22. The note on Lucrece was, I conjecture, on line 1111:—

'Grief best is pleased with grief's society.'

[571]

'FAUSTUS— "Tu quoque, ut hîc video, non es ignarus amorum." 'FORTUNATUS— "Id commune malum; semel insanivimus omnes."'

Baptistae Mantuani Carmelitae Adolescentia, seu Bucolica. Ecloga I, published in 1498. 'Scaliger,' says Johnson (Works, viii. 391), 'complained that Mantuan's Bucolicks were received into schools, and taught as classical. ... He was read, at least in some of the inferiour schools of this kingdom, to the beginning of the present [eighteenth] century.'

[572] See ante, i. 368.

[573] See ante, i. 396.

[574] I am happy, however, to mention a pleasing instance of his enduring with great gentleness to hear one of his most striking particularities pointed out:—Miss Hunter, a niece of his friend Christopher Smart, when a very young girl, struck by his extraordinary motions, said to him, 'Pray, Dr. Johnson, why do you make such strange gestures?' 'From bad habit,' he replied. 'Do you, my dear, take care to guard against bad habits.' This I was told by the young lady's brother at Margate. BOSWELL. Boswell had himself told Johnson of some of them, at least in writing. Johnson read in manuscript his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Boswell says in a note on Oct. 12:—'It is remarkable that Dr. Johnson should have read this account of some of his own peculiar habits, without saying anything on the subject, which I hoped he would have done.'

[575] See ante, ii. 42, note 2, and iii. 324.

[576] Johnson, after stating that some of Milton's manuscripts prove that 'in the early part of his life he wrote with much care,' continues:—'Such reliques show how excellence is acquired; what we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.' Works, vii. 119. Lord Chesterfield (Letters, iii. 146) had made the same rule as Johnson:—'I was,' he writes, 'early convinced of the importance and powers of eloquence; and from that moment I applied myself to it. I resolved not to utter one word even in common conversation that should not be the most expressive and the most elegant that the language could supply me with for that purpose; by which means I have acquired such a certain degree of habitual eloquence, that I must now really take some pains if I would express myself very inelegantly.'

[577] 'Dr. Johnson,' wrote Malone in 1783, 'is as correct and elegant in his common conversation as in his writings. He never seems to study either for thoughts or words. When first introduced I was very young; yet he was as accurate in his conversation as if he had been talking to the first scholar in England.' Prior's Malone, p. 92. See post, under Aug. 29, 1783.

[578] See ante, iii. 216.

[579] See ante, ii. 323.

[580] The justness of this remark is confirmed by the following story, for which I am indebted to Lord Eliot:—A country parson, who was remarkable for quoting scraps of Latin in his sermons, having died, one of his parishioners was asked how he liked his successor. 'He is a very good preacher,' was his answer, 'but no latiner.' BOSWELL. For the original of Lord Eliot's story see Twells's Life of Dr. E. Pocock, ed. 1816, p. 94. Reynolds said that 'Johnson always practised on every occasion the rule of speaking his best, whether the person to whom he addressed himself was or was not capable of comprehending him. "If," says he, "I am understood, my labour is not lost. If it is above their comprehension, there is some gratification, though it is the admiration of ignorance;" and he said those were the most sincere admirers; and quoted Baxter, who made a rule never to preach a sermon without saying something which he knew was beyond the comprehension of his audience, in order to inspire their admiration.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 456. Addison, in The Spectator, No. 221, tells of a preacher in a country town who outshone a more ignorant rival, by quoting every now and then a Latin sentence from one of the Fathers. 'The other finding his congregation mouldering every Sunday, and hearing at length what was the occasion of it, resolved to give his parish a little Latin in his turn; but being unacquainted with any of the Fathers, he digested into his sermons the whole book of Quae Genus, adding, however, such explications to it as he thought might be for the benefit of his people. He afterwards entered upon As in praesenti, which he converted in the same manner to the use of his parishioners. This in a very little time thickened his audience, filled his church, and routed his antagonist.'

[581] See ante, ii. 96

[582] '"Well," said he, "we had good talk." BOSWELL. "Yes, Sir; you tossed and gored several persons."' Ante, ii. 66.

[583] Dr. J. H. Burton says of Hume (Life, ii. 31):—'No Scotsman could write a book of respectable talent without calling forth his loud and warm eulogiums. Wilkie was to be the Homer, Blacklock the Pindar, and Home the Shakespeare or something still greater of his country.' See ante, ii. 121, 296, 306.

[584] The Present State of Music in France and Italy, I vol. 1771, and The Present State of Music in Germany, &c., 2 vols. 1773. Johnson must have skipped widely in reading these volumes, for though Dr. Burney describes his travels, yet he writes chiefly of music.

[585] Boswell's son James says that he heard from his father, that the passage which excited this strong emotion was the following:—

'Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more: I mourn, but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for you; For morn is approaching, your charms to restore, Perfumed with fresh fragrance, and glittering with dew; Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn; Kind Nature the embryo blossom will save: But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn? O when shall it dawn on the night of the grave?'

[586] Horace Walpole (Letters, vii. 338) mentions this book at some length. On March 13, 1780, he wrote:—'Yesterday was published an octavo, pretending to contain the correspondence of Hackman and Miss Ray that he murdered.' See ante, iii. 383.

[587] Hawkins (Life, p. 547), recording how Johnson used to meet Psalmanazar at an ale-house, says that Johnson one day 'remarked on the human mind, that it had a necessary tendency to improvement, and that it would frequently anticipate instruction. "Sir," said a stranger that overheard him, "that I deny; I am a tailor, and have had many apprentices, but never one that could make a coat till I had taken great pains in teaching him."' See ante, iii. 443. Robert Hall was influenced in his studies by 'his intimate association in mere childhood with a tailor, one of his father's congregation, who was an acute metaphysician.' Hall's Works, vi. 5.

[588] Johnson had never been in Grub-street. Ante, i. 296, note 2.

[589] The Honourable Horace Walpole, late Earl of Orford, thus bears testimony to this gentleman's merit as a writer:—'Mr. Chambers's Treatise on Civil Architecture is the most sensible book, and the most exempt from prejudices, that ever was written on that science.'—Preface to Anecdotes of Painting in England. BOSWELL. Chambers was the architect of Somerset House. See ante, p. 60, note 7.

[590] The introductory lines are these:—'It is difficult to avoid praising too little or too much. The boundless panegyricks which have been lavished upon the Chinese learning, policy, and arts, shew with what power novelty attracts regard, and how naturally esteem swells into admiration. I am far from desiring to be numbered among the exaggerators of Chinese excellence. I consider them as great, or wise, only in comparison with the nations that surround them; and have no intention to place them in competition either with the antients or with the moderns of this part of the world; yet they must be allowed to claim our notice as a distinct and very singular race of men: as the inhabitants of a region divided by its situation from all civilized countries, who have formed their own manners, and invented their own arts, without the assistance of example.' BOSWELL.

[591] The last execution at Tyburn was on Nov. 7, 1783, when one man was hanged. The first at Newgate was on the following Dec. 9, when ten were hanged. Gent. Mag. 1783, pp. 974, 1060.

[592] We may compare with this 'loose talk' Johnson's real opinion, as set forth in The Rambler, No. 114, entitled:—The necessity of proportioning punishments to crimes. He writes:—'The learned, the judicious, the pious Boerhaave relates that he never saw a criminal dragged to execution without asking himself, "Who knows whether this man is not less culpable than me?" On the days when the prisons of this city are emptied into the grave, let every spectator of this dreadful procession put the same question to his own heart. Few among those that crowd in thousands to the legal massacre, and look with carelessness, perhaps with triumph, on the utmost exacerbations of human misery, would then be able to return without horror and dejection.' He continues:—'It may be observed that all but murderers have, at their last hour, the common sensations of mankind pleading in their favour.... They who would rejoice at the correction of a thief, are yet shocked at the thought of destroying him. His crime shrinks to nothing compared with his misery, and severity defeats itself by exciting pity.'

[593] Richardson, in his Familiar Letters, No. 160, makes a country gentleman in town describe the procession of five criminals to Tyburn, and their execution. He should have heard, he said, 'the exhortation spoken by the bell-man from the wall of St. Sepulchre's church-yard; but the noise of the officers and the mob was so great, and the silly curiosity of people climbing into the cart to take leave of the criminals made such a confused noise that I could not hear them. They are as follow: "All good people pray heartily to God for these poor sinners, who now are going to their deaths; for whom this great bell doth toll. You that are condemned to die, repent with lamentable tears.... Lord have mercy upon you! Christ have mercy upon you!" which last words the bell-man repeats three times. All the way up Holborn the crowd was so great, as at every twenty or thirty yards to obstruct the passage; and wine, notwithstanding a late good order against that practice, was brought the malefactors, who drank greedily of it. After this the three thoughtless young men, who at first seemed not enough concerned, grew most shamefully daring and wanton. They swore, laughed, and talked obscenely. At the place of execution the scene grew still more shocking; and the clergyman who attended was more the subject of ridicule than of their serious attention. The psalm was sung amidst the curses and quarrelling of hundreds of the most abandoned and profligate of mankind. As soon as the poor creatures were half-dead, I was much surprised to see the populace fall to haling and pulling the carcases with so much earnestness as to occasion several warm rencounters and broken heads. These, I was told, were the friends of the persons executed, or such as for the sake of tumult chose to appear so; and some persons sent by private surgeons to obtain bodies for dissection.' The psalm is mentioned in a note on the line in The Dunciad, i. 4l, 'Hence hymning Tyburn's elegiac lines:'—'It is an ancient English custom,' says Pope, 'for the malefactors to sing a psalm at their execution at Tyburn.'

[594] The rest of these miscellaneous sayings were first given in the Additions to Dr. Johnson's Life at the beginning of vol. I of the second edition.

[595] Hume (Auto. p. 6) speaks of Hurd as attacking him 'with all the illiberal petulance, arrogance, and scurrility which distinguish the Warburtonian school.' 'Hurd,' writes Walpole, 'had acquired a great name by several works of slender merit, was a gentle, plausible man, affecting a singular decorum that endeared him highly to devout old ladies.' Journal of the Reign of George III, ii. 50. He is best known to the present generation by his impertinent notes on Addison's Works. By reprinting them, Mr. Bohn did much to spoil what was otherwise an excellent edition of that author. See ante, p. 47, note 2.

[596] The Rev. T. Twining, one of Dr. Burney's friends, wrote in 1779:—'You use a form of reference that I abominate, i.e. the latter, the former. "As long as you have the use of your tongue and your pen," said Dr. Johnson to Dr. Burney, "never, Sir, be reduced to that shift."' Recreations and Studies of a Country Clergyman of the XVIIIth Century, p. 72.

[597] 'A shilling was now wanted for some purpose or other, and none of them happened to have one; I begged that I might lend one. "Ay, do," said the Doctor, "I will borrow of you; authors are like privateers, always fair game for one another."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 212.

[598] See ante, i. 129, note 3.

[599] See post, June 3, 1784, where he uses almost the same words.

[600] What this period was Boswell seems to leave intentionally vague. Johnson knew Lord Shelburne at least as early as 1778 (ante, iii. 265). He wrote to Dr. Taylor on July 22, 1782:—'Shelburne speaks of Burke in private with great malignity.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 462. The company commonly gathered at his house would have been displeasing to Johnson. Priestley, who lived with Shelburne seven years, says (Auto. p. 55) that a great part of the company he saw there was like the French philosophers, unbelievers in Christianity, and even professed atheists: men 'who had given no proper attention to Christianity, and did not really know what it was.' Johnson was intimate with Lord Shelburne's brother. Ante, ii. 282, note 3.

[601] Johnson being asked his opinion of this Essay, answered, 'Why, Sir, we shall have the man come forth again; and as he has proved Falstaff to be no coward, he may prove Iago to be a very good character.' BOSWELL.

[602] A writer in the European Magazine, xxx. 160, says that Johnson visited Lord Shelburne at Bowood. At dinner he repeated part of his letter to Lord Chesterfield (ante, i. 261). A gentleman arrived late. Shelburne, telling him what he had missed, went on:-'I dare say the Doctor will be kind enough to give it to us again.' 'Indeed, my Lord, I will not. I told the circumstance first for my own amusement, but I will not be dragged in as story-teller to a company.' In an argument he used some strong expressions, of which his opponent took no notice, Next morning 'he went up to the gentleman with great good-nature, and said, "Sir, I have found out upon reflection that I was both warm and wrong in my argument with you last night; for the first of which I beg your pardon, and for the second, I thank you for setting me right."' It is clear that the second of these anecdotes is the same as that told by Mr. Morgann of Johnson and himself, and that the scene has been wrongly transferred from Wickham to Bowood. The same writer says that it was between Derrick and Boyce—not Derrick and Smart—that Johnson, in the story that follows, could not settle the precedency.

[603] See ante, i. 124, 394.

[604] See ante, i. 397.

[605] What the great TWALMLEY was so proud of having invented, was neither more nor less than a kind of box-iron for smoothing linen. BOSWELL.

[606]

'Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi, Quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat, Quique pii vates et Phoebo digna locuti, Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes.' Aeneid, vi. 660. 'Lo, they who in their country's fight sword-wounded bodies bore; Lo, priests of holy life and chaste, while they in life had part; Lo, God-loved poets, men who spake things worthy Phoebus' heart, And they who bettered life on earth by new-found mastery.'

MORRIS. Virgil, Aeneids, vi. 660. The great Twalmley might have justified himself by The Rambler, No. 9:—'Every man, from the highest to the lowest station, ought to warm his heart and animate his endeavours with the hopes of being useful to the world, by advancing the art which it is his lot to exercise; and for that end he must necessarily consider the whole extent of its application, and the whole weight of its importance.... Every man ought to endeavour at eminence, not by pulling others down, but by raising himself, and enjoy the pleasure of his own superiority, whether imaginary or real, without interrupting others in the same felicity.' All this is what Twalmley did. He adorned an art, he endeavoured at eminence, and he inoffensively enjoyed the pleasure of his own superiority. He could also have defended himself by the example of Aeneas, who, introducing himself, said:—

'Sum pius Aeneas ..... ... fama super aethera notus.'

Aeneid, i. 378. I fear that Twalmley met with the neglect that so commonly befalls inventors. In the Gent. Mag. 1783, p. 719, I find in the list of 'B-nk-ts,' Josiah Twamley, the elder, of Warwick, ironmonger.

[607] 'Sir, Hume is a Tory by chance, as being a Scotchman; but not upon a principle of duty, for he has no principle. If he is anything, he is a Hobbist.' Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 30. Horace Walpole's opinion was very different. 'Are not atheism and bigotry first cousins? Was not Charles II. an atheist and a bigot? and does Mr. Hume pluck a stone from a church but to raise an altar to tyranny?' Letters, v. 444. Hume wrote in 1756:—'My views of things are more conformable to Whig principles; my representations of persons to Tory prejudices.' J.H. Burton's Hume, ii. 11. Hume's Toryism increased with years. He says in his Autobiography/ (p. xi.) that all the alterations which he made in the later editions of his History of the Stuarts, 'he made invariably to the Tory side.' Dr. Burton gives instances of these; Life of Hume, ii. 74. Hume wrote in 1763 that he was 'too much infected with the plaguy prejudices of Whiggism when he began the work.' Ib. p. 144. In 1770 he wrote:—'I either soften or expunge many villainous, seditious Whig strokes which had crept into it.' Ib. p. 434. This growing hatred of Whiggism was, perhaps, due to pique. John Home, in his notes of Hume's talk in the last weeks of his life, says: 'He recurred to a subject not unfrequent with him—that is, the design to ruin him as an author, by the people that were ministers at the first publication of his History, and called themselves Whigs.' Ib. p. 500. As regards America, Hume was with the Whigs, as Johnson had perhaps learnt from their common friend, Mr. Strahan. 'He was,' says Dr. Burton, 'far more tolerant of the sway of individuals over numbers, which he looked upon as the means of preserving order and civilization, than of the predominance of one territory over another, which he looked upon as subjugation.' Ib. p. 477. Quite at the beginning of the struggle he foretold that the Americans would not be subdued, unless they broke in pieces among themselves. Ib. p. 482. He was not frightened by the prospect of the loss of our supremacy. He wrote to Adam Smith:—'My notion is that the matter is not so important as is commonly imagined. Our navigation and general commerce may suffer more than our manufactures.' Ib. p. 484. Johnson's charge against Hume that he had no principle, is, no doubt, a gross one; yet Hume's advice to a sceptical young clergyman, who had good hope of preferment, that he should therefore continue in orders, was unprincipled enough. 'It is,' he wrote, 'putting too great a respect on the vulgar and on their superstitions to pique one's self on sincerity with regard to them. Did ever one make it a point of honour to speak truth to children or madmen? If the thing were worthy being treated gravely, I should tell him that the Pythian oracle, with the approbation of Xenophon, advised every one to worship the gods—[Greek: nomo poleos]. I wish it were still in my power to be a hypocrite in this particular. The common duties of society usually require it; and the ecclesiastical profession only adds a little more to an innocent dissimulation, or rather simulation, without which it is impossible to pass through the world.' Ib/. p. 187.

[608] Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 48) says that Johnson told her that in writing the story of Gelaleddin, the poor scholar (Idler, No. 75), who thought to fight his way to fame by his learning and wit, 'he had his own outset into life in his eye.' Gelaleddin describes how 'he was sometimes admitted to the tables of the viziers, where he exerted his wit and diffused his knowledge; but he observed that where, by endeavour or accident he had remarkably excelled, he was seldom invited a second time.' See ante, p. 116.

[609] See ante, p. 115.

[610] Bar. BOSWELL.

[611] Nard. BOSWELL.

[612] Barnard. BOSWELL.

[613] It was reviewed in the Gent. Mag. 1781, p. 282, where it is said to have been written by Don Gabriel, third son of the King of Spain.

[614] Though 'you was' is very common in the authors of the last century when one person was addressed, I doubt greatly whether Johnson ever so expressed himself.

[615] See ante, i. 311.

[616] Horace Walpole (Letters v. 85) says, 'Boswell, like Cambridge, has a rage of knowing anybody that ever was talked of.' Miss Burney records 'an old trick of Mr. Cambridge to his son George, when listening to a dull story, in saying to the relator "Tell the rest of that to George."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 274. See ante, ii. 361.

[617] Virgil, Eclogues, i. 47.

[618] 'Mr. Johnson,' writes Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 21), 'was exceedingly disposed to the general indulgence of children, and was even scrupulously and ceremoniously attentive not to offend them. He had strongly persuaded himself of the difficulty people always find to erase early impressions either of kindness or resentment.'

[619] Ante, ii.171, iv.75; also post, May 15, 1784.

[620] Johnson, on May 1, 1780, wrote of the exhibition dinner:—'The apartments were truly very noble. The pictures, for the sake of a sky-light, are at the top of the house; there we dined, and I sat over against the Archbishop of York. See how I live when I am not under petticoat government.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 111. It was Archbishop Markham whom he met; he is mentioned by Boswell in his Hebrides, post, v. 37. In spite of the 'elaboration of homage' Johnson could judge freely of an archbishop. He described the Archbishop of Tuam as 'a man coarse of voice and inelegant of language.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 300.

[621] By Lord Perceval, afterwards Earl of Egmont. He carried, writes Horace Walpole (Letters, ii. 144), 'the Westminster election at the end of my father's ministry, which he amply described in the history of his own family, a genealogical work called the History of the House of Yvery, a work which cost him three thousand pounds; and which was so ridiculous, that he has since tried to suppress all the copies. It concluded with the description of the Westminster election, in these or some such words:—"And here let us leave this young nobleman struggling for the dying liberties of his country."'

[622] Five days earlier Johnson made the following entry in his Diary:—'1783, April 5. I took leave of Mrs. Thrale. I was much moved. I had some expostulations with her. She said that she was likewise affected. I commended the Thrales with great good-will to God; may my petitions have been heard.' Hawkins's Life, p. 553. This was not 'a formal taking of leave,' as Hawkins says. She was going to Bath (Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 264). On May-day he wrote to her on the death of one of her little girls:—'I loved her, for she was Thrale's and yours, and, by her dear father's appointment, in some sort mine: I love you all, and therefore cannot without regret see the phalanx broken, and reflect that you and my other dear girls are deprived of one that was born your friend. To such friends every one that has them has recourse at last, when it is discovered and discovered it seldom fails to be, that the fortuitous friendships of inclination or vanity are at the mercy of a thousand accidents.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 255. He was sadly thinking how her friendship for him was rapidly passing away.

[623] Johnson modestly ended his account of the tour by saying:—'I cannot but be conscious that my thoughts on national manners are the thoughts of one who has seen but little.' Works, ix. 161. See Boswell's Hebrides, Nov. 22.

[624] See ib. Oct. 21.

[625] She says that he was 'the genuine author of the first volume. An ingenious physician,' she continues, 'with the assistance of several others, continued the work until the eighth volume.' Mrs. Manley's History of her own Life and Times, p. 15—a gross, worthless book. Swift satirised her in Corinna, a Ballad. Swift's Works (1803), x. 94.

[626] The real authour was I. P. Marana, a Genoese, who died at Paris in 1693. John Dunton in his Life says, that Mr. William Bradshaw received from Dr. Midgeley forty shillings a sheet for writing part of the Turkish Spy; but I do not find that he any where mentions Sault as engaged in that work. MALONE.

[627] See ante, ii. 355, iii. 46, and iv. 139.

[628] This was in June, 1783, and I find in Mr. Windham's private diary (which it seems this conversation induced him to keep) the following memoranda of Dr. Johnson's advice: 'I have no great timidity in my own disposition, and am no encourager of it in others. Never be afraid to think yourself fit for any thing for which your friends think you fit. You will become an able negotiator—a very pretty rascal. No one in Ireland wears even the mask of incorruption; no one professes to do for sixpence what he can get a shilling for doing. Set sail, and see where the winds and the waves will carry you. Every day will improve another. Dies diem docet, by observing at night where you failed in the day, and by resolving to fail so no more.' CROKER. The Whigs thought he made 'a very pretty rascal' in a very different way. On his opposition to Whitbread's bill for establishing parochial schools, Romilly wrote (Life, ii. 2l6), 'that a man so enlightened as Windham should take the same side (which he has done most earnestly) would excite great astonishment, if one did not recollect his eager opposition a few months ago to the abolition of the slave trade.' He was also 'most strenuous in opposition' to Romilly's bill for repealing the act which made it a capital offence to steal to the amount of forty shillings in a dwelling-house, Ib. p. 316.

[629] We accordingly carried our scheme into execution, in October, 1792; but whether from that uniformity which has in modern times, in a great degree, spread through every part of the Metropolis, or from our want of sufficient exertion, we were disappointed. BOSWELL.

[630] Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 193. See post, under June 30, 1784.

[631] Northcote (Life of Reynolds, ii. 139-143) says that the picture, which was execrable beyond belief, was exhibited in an empty room. Lowe, in 1769 (not in 1771 as Northcote says), gained the gold medal of the Academy for the best historical picture. (Gent. Mag. 1770, p. 587.) Northcote says that the award was not a fair one. He adds that Lowe, being sent to Rome by the patronage of the Academy, was dissatisfied with the sum allowed him. 'When Sir Joshua said that he knew from experience that it was sufficient, Lowe pertly answered "that it was possible for a man to live on guts and garbage."' He died at an obscure lodging in Westminster, in 1793. There is, wrote Miss Burney, 'a certain poor wretch of a villainous painter, one Mr. Lowe, whom Dr. Johnson recommends to all the people he thinks can afford to sit for their picture. Among these he applied to Mr. Crutchley [one of Mr. Thrale's executors]. "But now," said Mr. Crutchley to me, "I have not a notion of sitting for my picture—for who wants it? I may as well give the man the money without; but no, they all said that would not do so well, and Dr. Johnson asked me to give him my picture." "And I assure you, Sir," says he, "I shall put it in very good company, for I have portraits of some very respectable people in my dining-room." After all I could say I was obliged to go to the painter's. And I found him in such a condition! a room all dirt and filth, brats squalling and wrangling... "Oh!" says I, "Mr. Lowe, I beg your pardon for running away, but I have just recollected another engagement; so I poked three guineas in his hand, and told him I would come again another time, and then ran out of the house with all my might."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii.41. A correspondent of the Examiner writing on May 28, 1873, said that he had met one of Lowe's daughters, 'who recollected,' she told him, 'when a child, sitting on Dr. Johnson's knee and his making her repeat the Lord's Prayer.' She was Johnson's god-daughter. By a committee consisting of Milman, Thackeray, Dickens, Carlyle and others, an annuity fund for her and her sister was raised. Lord Palmerston gave a large subscription.

[632] See post, May 15, 1783.

[633] See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 48.

[634] See ante, p. 171.

[635] Quoted by Boswell, ante, iii. 324.

[636] It is suggested to me by an anonymous Annotator on my Work, that the reason why Dr. Johnson collected the peels of squeezed oranges may be found in the 58th [358th] Letter in Mrs. Piozzi's Collection, where it appears that he recommended 'dried orange-peel, finely powdered,' as a medicine. BOSWELL. See ante, ii. 330.

[637] There are two mistakes in this calculation, both perhaps due to Boswell. Eighty-four should be eighty-eight, and square-yards should be yards square. 'If a wall cost £1000 a mile, £100 would build 176 yards of wall, which would form a square of 44 yards, and enclose an area of 1936 square yards; and £200 would build 352 yards of wall, which would form a square of 88 yards, and inclose an area of 7744 square yards. The cost of the wall in the latter case, as compared with the space inclosed, would therefore be reduced to one half.' Notes and Queries, 1st S. x. 471.

[638] See ante, i. 318.

[639] 'Davies observes, in his account of Ireland, that no Irishman had ever planted an orchard.' Johnson's Works, ix.7. 'At Fochabars [in the Highlands] there is an orchard, which in Scotland I had never seen before.' Ib. p. 21.

[640] Miss Burney this year mentions meeting 'Mr. Walker, the lecturer. Though modest in science, he is vulgar in conversation.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 237. Johnson quotes him, Works, viii. 474.

[641] 'Old Mr. Sheridan' was twelve years younger than Johnson. For his oratory, see ante, i. 453, and post, April 28 and May 17, 1783.

[642] See ante, i. 358, when Johnson said of Sheridan:—'His voice when strained is unpleasing, and when low is not always heard.'

[643] See ante, iii. 139.

[644] 'A more magnificent funeral was never seen in London,' wrote Murphy (Life of Garrick, p. 349). Horace Walpole (Letters, vii. 169), wrote on the day of the funeral:—'I do think the pomp of Garrick's funeral perfectly ridiculous. It is confounding the immense space between pleasing talents and national services.' He added, 'at Lord Chatham's interment there were not half the noble coaches that attended Garrick's.' Ib. p. 171. In his Journal of the Reign of George III (ii. 333), he says:—'The Court was delighted to see a more noble and splendid appearance at the interment of a comedian than had waited on the remains of the great Earl of Chatham.' Bishop Horne (Essays and Thoughts, p. 283) has some lines on 'this grand parade of woe,' which begin:—

'Through weeping London's crowded streets, As Garrick's funeral passed, Contending wits and nobles strove, Who should forsake him last. Not so the world behaved to him Who came that world to save, By solitary Joseph borne Unheeded to his grave.'

Johnson wrote on April 30, 1782: 'Poor Garrick's funeral expenses are yet unpaid, though the undertaker is broken.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 239. Garrick was buried on Feb. 1, 1779, and had left his widow a large fortune. Chatham died in May, 1778.

[645] Boswell had heard Johnson maintain this; ante, ii. 101.

[646] See post, p. 238, note 2.

[647] This duel was fought on April 21, between Mr. Riddell of the Horse-Grenadiers, and Mr. Cunningham of the Scots Greys. Riddell had the first fire, and shot Cunningham through the breast. After a pause of two minutes Cunningham returned the fire, and gave Riddell a wound of which he died next day. Gent. Mag. 1783, p. 362. Boswell's grandfather's grandmother was a Miss Cunningham. Rogers's Boswelliana, p. 4. I do not know that there was any nearer connection. In Scotland, I suppose, so much kindred as this makes two men 'near relations.'

[648] 'Unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other.' St. Luke, vi. 29. Had Miss Burney thought of this text, she might have quoted it with effect against Johnson, who, criticising her Evelina, said:—'You write Scotch, you say "the one,"—my dear, that's not English. Never use that phrase again.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 84.

[649] 'Turn not thou away.' St. Matthew, v. 42.

[650] I think it necessary to caution my readers against concluding that in this or any other conversation of Dr. Johnson, they have his serious and deliberate opinion on the subject of duelling. In my Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3 ed. p. 386 [p. 366, Oct. 24], it appears that he made this frank confession:—'Nobody at times, talks more laxly than I do;' and, ib. p. 231 [Sept. 19, 1773], 'He fairly owned he could not explain the rationality of duelling.' We may, therefore, infer, that he could not think that justifiable, which seems so inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel. At the same time it must be confessed, that from the prevalent notions of honour, a gentleman who receives a challenge is reduced to a dreadful alternative. A remarkable instance of this is furnished by a clause in the will of the late Colonel Thomas, of the Guards, written the night before he fell in a duel, Sept. 3, 1783:—'In the first place, I commit my soul to Almighty GOD, in hopes of his mercy and pardon for the irreligious step I now (in compliance with the unwarrantable customs of this wicked world) put myself under the necessity of taking.' BOSWELL. See ante, ii. 179.

[651] See Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 24 and Sept. 20. Dr. Franklin (Memoirs, i. 177) says that when the assembly at Philadelphia, the majority of which were Quakers, was asked by New England to supply powder for some garrison, 'they would not grant money to buy powder, because that was an ingredient of war; but they voted an aid of £3000 to be appropriated for the purchase of bread, flour, wheat, or other grain.' The Governor interpreted other grain as gunpowder, without any objection ever being raised.

[652] 'A gentleman falling off his horse brake his neck, which sudden hap gave occasion of much speech of his former life, and some in this judging world judged the worst. In which respect a good friend made this good epitaph, remembering that of Saint Augustine, Misericordia Domini inter pontem et fontem.

"My friend judge not me, Thou seest I judge not thee; Betwixt the stirrop and the ground, Mercy I askt, mercy I found."'

Camden's Remains, ed. 1870, p. 420.

[653] 'In sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.' Prayer-book.

[654] Upon this objection the Reverend Mr. Ralph Churton, Fellow of Brazennose College, Oxford, has favoured me with the following satisfactory observation:—'The passage in the Burial-service does not mean the resurrection of the person interred, but the general resurrection; it is in sure and certain hope of the resurrection; not his resurrection. Where the deceased is really spoken of, the expression is very different, "as our hope is this our brother doth" [rest in Christ]; a mode of speech consistent with every thing but absolute certainty that the person departed doth not rest in Christ, which no one can be assured of, without immediate revelation from Heaven. In the first of these places also, "eternal life" does not necessarily mean eternity of bliss, but merely the eternity of the state, whether in happiness or in misery, to ensue upon the resurrection; which is probably the sense of "the life everlasting," in the Apostles' Creed. See Wheatly and Bennet on the Common Prayer.' BOSWELL.

[655] Six days earlier the Lord-Advocate Dundas had brought in a bill for the Regulation of the Government of India. Hastings, he said, should be recalled. His place should be filled by 'a person of independent fortune, who had not for object the repairing of his estate in India, that had long been the nursery of ruined and decayed fortunes.' Parl. Hist. xxiii. 757. Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor on Nov. 22 of this year:—'I believe corruption and oppression are in India at an enormous height, but it has never appeared that they were promoted by the Directors, who, I believe, see themselves defrauded, while the country is plundered; but the distance puts their officers out of reach.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 482. See ante, p. 66.

[656] See ante, p. 113.

[657] Stockdale (Memoirs, ii. 57) says that, in 1770, the payment to writers in the Critical Review was two guineas a sheet, but that some of the writers in The Monthly Review received four guineas a sheet. As these Reviews were octavos, each sheet contained sixteen pages. Lord Jeffrey says that the writers in the Edinburgh Review were at first paid ten guineas a sheet. 'Not long after the minimum was raised to sixteen guineas, at which it remained during my reign, though two-thirds of the articles were paid much higher—averaging, I should think, from twenty to twenty-five guineas a sheet on the whole number.' Cockburn's Jeffrey, i. 136.

[658] See ante, ii. 344.

[659] See ante, iii.32.

[660] See ante, p. 206.

[661] Monday is no doubt put by mistake for Tuesday, which was the 29th. Boswell had spent a considerable part of Monday the 28th with Johnson (ante, p. 211).

[662]

'A fugitive from Heaven and prayer, I mocked at all religious fear.' FRANCIS. Horace, Odes, i.34. 1.

[663] He told Boswell (ante, i. 68) that he had been a sort of lax talker against religion for some years before he went to Oxford, but that there he took up Law's Serious Call and found it quite an overmatch for him. 'This,' he said, 'was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion after I became capable of rational enquiry.' During the vacation of 1729 he had a serious illness (ante, i. 63), which most likely was 'the sickness that brought religion back.'

[664] See ante, i. 93, 164, and post, under Dec. 2, 1784.

[665] Mr. Langton. See ante, ii. 254.

[666] See ante, ii. 249.

[667] Malloch continued to write his name thus, after he came to London. His verses prefixed to the second edition of Thomson's Winter are so subscribed. MALONE. 'Alias. A Latin word signifying otherwise; as, Mallet, alias Malloch; that is otherwise Malloch.' The mention of Mallet first comes in Johnson's own abridgment of his Dictionary. In the earlier unabridged editions the definition concludes, 'often used in the trials of criminals, whose danger has obliged them to change their names; as Simpson alias Smith, alias Baker, &c.' For Mallet, see ante, i. 268, and ii. 159.

[668] Perhaps Scott had this saying of Johnson's in mind when he made Earl Douglas exclaim:—

'At first in heart it liked me ill, When the King praised his clerkly skill. Thanks to St. Bothan, son of mine, Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line.' Marmion, canto vi. 15.

[669] See Boswell's Hebrides, Sept. 10.

[670] Johnson often maintained this diffusion of learning. Thus he wrote:—'The call for books was not in Milton's age what it is in the present. To read was not then a general amusement; neither traders, nor often gentlemen, thought themselves disgraced by ignorance. The women had not then aspired to literature nor was every house supplied with a closet of knowledge.' Works, vii. 107. He goes on to mention 'that general literature which now pervades the nation through all its ranks.' Works, p. 108. 'That general knowledge which now circulates in common talk was in Addison's time rarely to be found. Men not professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance; and, in the female world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished only to be censured.' Ib. p.470. 'Of the Essay on Criticism, Pope declared that he did not expect the sale to be quick, because "not one gentleman in sixty, even of liberal education, could understand it." The gentlemen, and the education of that time, seem to have been of a lower character than they are of this.' Ib. viii. 243. See ante, iii. 3, 254. Yet he maintained that 'learning has decreased in England, because learning will not do so much for a man as formerly.' Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 80.

[671] Malone describes a call on Johnson in the winter of this year:—'I found him in his arm-chair by the fire-side, before which a few apples were laid. He was reading. I asked him what book he had got. He said the History of Birmingham. Local histories, I observed, were generally dull. "It is true, Sir; but this has a peculiar merit with me; for I passed some of my early years, and married my wife there." [See ante, i. 96.] I supposed the apples were preparing as medicine. "Why, no, Sir; I believe they are only there because I want something to do. These are some of the solitary expedients to which we are driven by sickness. I have been confined this week past; and here you find me roasting apples, and reading the History of Birmingham."' Prior's Malone, p. 92.

[672] On April 19, he wrote:—'I can apply better to books than I could in some more vigorous parts of my life—at least than I did; and I have one more reason for reading—that time has, by taking away my companions, left me less opportunity of conversation.' Croker's Boswell, p. 727.

[673] He told Mr. Windham that he had never read the Odyssey through in the original. Windham's Diary, p. 17. 'Fox,' said Rogers (Table Talk, p. 92), 'used to read Homer through once every year. On my asking him, "Which poem had you rather have written, the Iliad or the Odyssey?" he answered, "I know which I had rather read" (meaning the Odyssey).'

[674] 'Composition is, for the most part, an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution, and from which the attention is every moment starting to more delightful amusements.' Johnson's Works, iv. 145. Of Pope Johnson wrote (ib. viii. 321):—'To make verses was his first labour, and to mend them was his last. ... He was one of those few whose labour is their pleasure.' Thomas Carlyle, in 1824, speaking of writing, says:—'I always recoil from again engaging with it.' Froude's Carlyle, i. 213. Five years later he wrote:—'Writing is a dreadful labour, yet not so dreadful as idleness.' Ib. ii. 75. See ante, iii. 19.

[675] See ante, ii. 15.

[676] Miss Burney wrote to Mrs. Thrale in 1780:—'I met at Sir Joshua's young Burke, who is made much ado about, but I saw not enough of him to know why.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 416. Mrs. Thrale replied:—'I congratulate myself on being quite of your opinion concerning Burke the minor, whom I once met and could make nothing of.' Ib. p. 418. Miss Hawkins (Memoirs, i. 304) reports, on Langton's authority, that Burke said:—'How extraordinary it is that I, and Lord Chatham, and Lord Holland, should each have a son so superior to ourselves.'

[677] Cruikshank, not Cruikshanks (see post, under Sept. 18, 1783, and Sept. 4 1784). He had been Dr. Hunter's partner; he was not elected (Gent. Mag. 1783, p. 626). Northcote, in quoting this letter, says that 'Sir Joshua's influence in the Academy was not always answerable to his desire. "Those who are of some importance everywhere else," he said, "find themselves nobody when they come to the Academy."' Northcote's Reynolds, ii. 145.

[678] William Hunter, scarcely less famous as a physician than his youngest brother, John Hunter, as a surgeon.

[679] Let it be remembered by those who accuse Dr. Johnson of illiberality that both were Scotchmen. BOSWELL.

[680] The following day he dined at Mrs. Garrick's. 'Poor Johnson,' wrote Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 280), 'exerted himself exceedingly, but he was very ill and looked so dreadfully, that it quite grieved me. He is more mild and complacent than he used to be. His sickness seems to have softened his mind, without having at all weakened it. I was struck with the mild radiance of this setting sun.'

[681] In the winter of 1788-9 Boswell began a canvass of his own county, He also courted Lord Lonsdale, in the hope of getting one of the seats in his gift, who first fooled him and then treated him with great brutality, Letters of Boswell, pp. 270, 294, 324.

[682] On April 6, 1780—'a day,' wrote Horace Walpole (Letters, vii. 345), 'that ought for ever to be a red-lettered day'—Mr. Dunning made this motion. It was carried by 233 to 215. Parl. Hist. xxi. 340-367.

[683] See ante, i. 355, and ii. 94 for Johnson's appeal to meals as a measure of vexation.

[684] Johnson defines cant as '1. A corrupt dialect used by beggars and vagabonds. 2. A particular form of speaking peculiar to some certain class or body of men. 3. A whining pretension to goodness in formal and affected terms. 4. Barbarous jargon. 5. Auction.' I have noted the following instances of his use of the word:—'I betook myself to a coffee-house frequented by wits, among whom I learned in a short time the cant of criticism.' The Rambler, No.123. 'Every class of society has its cant of lamentation.' Ib. No.128. 'Milton's invention required no assistance from the common cant of poetry.' Ib. No.140. 'We shall secure our language from being overrun with cant, from being crowded with low terms, the spawn of folly or affectation.' Works, v. II. 'This fugitive cant, which is always in a state of increase or decay, cannot be regarded as any part of the durable materials of a language.' Ib. p.45. In a note on I Henry VI, act iii. sc.1, he says: 'To roam is supposed to be derived from the cant of vagabonds, who often pretended a pilgrimage to Rome.' See ante, iii. 197, for 'modern cant.'

[685] 'Custom,' wrote Sir Joshua, 'or politeness, or courtly manners has authorised such an eastern hyperbolical style of compliment, that part of Dr. Johnson's character for rudeness of manners must be put to the account of scrupulous adherence to truth. His obstinate silence, whilst all the company were in raptures, vying with each other who should pepper highest, was considered as rudeness or ill-nature.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 458.

[686] 'The shame is to impose words for ideas upon ourselves or others.' Johnson's Works, vi. 64. See ante, p.122, where he says: 'There is a middle state of mind between conviction and hypocrisy.' Bacon, in his Essay of Truth, says: 'It is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in and settleth in it, that doth the hurt.'

[687] See ante, p. 204.

[688] 'I dined and lay at Harrison's, where I was received with that old-fashioned breeding which is at once so honourable and so troublesome.' Gibbon's Misc. Works, i. 144. Mr. Pleydell, in Guy Mannering, ed. 1860, iv. 96, says: 'You'll excuse my old-fashioned importunity. I was born in a time when a Scotchman was thought inhospitable if he left a guest alone a moment, except when he slept.'

[689] See ante, ii. 167.

[690] See ante, i. 387.

[691] In Johnson's Works, ed. 1787, xi. 197, it is recorded that Johnson said, 'Sheridan's writings on elocution were a continual renovation of hope, and an unvaried succession of disappointments.' According to the Gent. Mag. 1785, p. 288, he continued:—'If we should have a bad harvest this year, Mr. Sheridan would say:—"It was owing to the neglect of oratory."' See ante, p. 206.

[692] Burke, no doubt, was this 'bottomless Whig.' When Johnson said 'so they all are now,' he was perhaps thinking of the Coalition Ministry in which Lord North and his friends had places.

[693] No doubt Burke, who was Paymaster of the Forces. He is Boswell's 'eminent friend.' See ante ii.222, and post, Dec. 24, 1783, and Jan.8, 1784. In these two consecutive paragraphs, though two people seem to be spoken of, yet only one is in reality.

[694] I believe that Burke himself was present part of the time, and that he was the gentleman who 'talked of retiring. On May 19 and 21 he had in Parliament defended his action in restoring to office two clerks, Powell and Bembridge, who had been dismissed by his predecessor, and he had justified his reforms in the Paymaster's office. 'He awaited,' he said, the 'judgement of the House. ...If they so far differed in sentiment, he had only to say, Nunc dimittis servum tuum.' Parl. Hist. xxiii.919.

[695] A copy of Evelina had been placed in the Bodleian. 'Johnson says,' wrote Miss Burney, 'that when he goes to Oxford he will write my name in the books, and my age when I writ them, and then,' he says, 'the world may know that we So mix our studies, and so joined our fame. For we shall go down hand in hand to posterity.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i.429. The oldest copy of Evelina now in the Bodleian is of an edition published after Johnson's death. Miss Burney, in 1793, married General D'Arblay, a French refugee.

[696] Macaulay maintained that Johnson had a hand in the composition of Cecilia. He quotes a passage from it, and says:—'We say with confidence, either Sam. Johnson or the Devil.' (Essays, ed. 1874, iv. 157.) That he is mistaken is shown by Mme. D'Arblay's Diary (ii. 172). 'Ay,' cried Dr. Johnson, 'some people want to make out some credit to me from the little rogue's book. I was told by a gentleman this morning that it was a very fine book, if it was all her own.' "It is all her own," said I, "for me, I am sure, for I never saw one word of it before it was printed."' On p. 196 she records the following:—'SIR JOSHUA. "Gibbon says he read the whole five volumes in a day." "'Tis impossible," cried Mr. Burke, "it cost me three days; and you know I never parted with it from the day I first opened it."' See post, among the imitators of Johnson's style, under Dec. 6, 1784.

[697] In Mr. Barry's printed analysis, or description of these pictures, he speaks of Johnson's character in the highest terms. BOSWELL. Barry, in one of his pictures, placed Johnson between the two beautiful duchesses of Rutland and Devonshire, pointing to their Graces Mrs. Montagu as an example. He expresses his 'reverence for his consistent, manly, and well-spent life.' Barry's Works, ii. 339. Johnson, in his turn, praises 'the comprehension of Barry's design.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 256. He was more likely to understand it, as the pictures formed a series, meant 'to illustrate one great maxim of moral truth, viz. that the obtaining of happiness depends upon cultivating the human faculties. We begin with man in a savage state full of inconvenience, imperfection, and misery, and we follow him through several gradations of culture and happiness, which, after our probationary state here, are finally attended with beatitude or misery.' Barry's Works, ii. 323. Horace Walpole (Letters, viii. 366) describes Barry's book as one 'which does not want sense, though full of passion and self, and vulgarisms and vanity.'

[698] Boswell had tried to bring about a third meeting between Johnson and Wilkes. On May 21 he wrote:—'Mr. Boswell's compliments to Mr. Wilkes. He finds that it would not be unpleasant to Dr. Johnson to dine at Mr. Wilkes's. The thing would be so curiously benignant, it were a pity it should not take place. Nobody but Mr. Boswell should be asked to meet the doctor.' An invitation was sent, but the following answer was returned:—'May 24, 1783. Mr. Johnson returns thanks to Mr. and Miss Wilkes for their kind invitation; but he is engaged for Tuesday to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and for Wednesday to Mr. Paradise.' Owing to Boswell's return to Scotland, another day could not be fixed. Almon's Wilkes, iv. 314, 321.

[699] 'If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.' Ecclesiastes, xi. 3.

[700] 'When a tree is falling, I have seen the labourers, by a trivial jerk with a rope, throw it upon the spot where they would wish it should lie. Divines, understanding this text too literally, pretend, by a little interposition in the article of death, to regulate a person's everlasting happiness. I fancy the allusion will hardly countenance their presumption.' Shenstone's Works, ed. 1773, ii. 255.

[701] Hazlitt says that 'when old Baxter first went to Kidderminster to preach, he was almost pelted by the women for maintaining from the pulpit the then fashionable and orthodox doctrine, that "Hell was paved with infants' skulls.'" Conversations of Northcote, p. 80.

[702] Acts, xvii. 24.

[703] Now the celebrated Mrs. Crouch. BOSWELL.

[704] Mr. Windham was at this time in Dublin, Secretary to the Earl of Northington, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. BOSWELL. See ante, p.200.

[705] Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson. BOSWELL. See ante, iii.90, and post, April 5, 1784.

[706] The late Keeper of the Royal Academy. He died on Jan. 23 of this year. Reynolds wrote of him:—'He may truly be said in every sense, to have been the father of the present race of artists.' Northcote's Reynolds ii.137.

[707] Mr. Allen was his landlord and next neighbour in Bolt-court. Ante, iii. 141.

[708] Cowper mentions him in Retirement:—

'Virtuous and faithful Heberden! whose skill Attempts no task it cannot well fulfill, Gives melancholy up to nature's care, And sends the patient into purer air.' Cowper's Poems, ed. 1786, i. 272.

He is mentioned also by Priestley (Auto. ed. 1810, p.66) as one of his chief benefactors. Lord Eldon, when almost a briefless barrister, consulted him. 'I put my hand into my pocket, meaning to give him his fee; but he stopped me, saying, "Are you the young gentleman who gained the prize for the essay at Oxford?" I said I was. "I will take no fee from you." I often consulted him; but he would never take a fee.' Twiss's Eldon, i. 104.

[709] How much he had physicked himself is shewn by a letter of May 8. 'I took on Thursday,' he writes, 'two brisk catharticks and a dose of calomel. Little things do me no good. At night I was much better. Next day cathartick again, and the third day opium for my cough. I lived without flesh all the three days.' Piozzi Letters, ii.257. He had been bled at least four times that year and had lost about fifty ounces of blood. Ante, pp.142, 146. On Aug. 3, 1779, he wrote:—'Of the last fifty days I have taken mercurial physick, I believe, forty.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v.461.

[710] An exact reprint of this letter is given by Professor Mayor in Notes and Queries, 6th S. v.481. The omissions and the repetitions 'betray,' he says, 'the writer's agitation.' The postscript Boswell had omitted. It is as follows:—'Dr. Brocklesby will be with me to meet Dr. Heberden, and I shall have previously make (sic) master of the case as well as I can.'

[711] Vol. ii. p.268, of Mrs. Thrale's Collection. BOSWELL. The beginning of the letter is very touching:—'I am sitting down in no cheerful solitude to write a narrative which would once have affected you with tenderness and sorrow, but which you will perhaps pass over now with the careless glance of frigid indifference. For this diminution of regard, however, I know not whether I ought to blame you, who may have reasons which I cannot know, and I do not blame myself, who have for a great part of human life done you what good I could, and have never done you evil.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 268. 'I have loved you,' he continued, 'with virtuous affection; I have honoured you with sincere esteem. Let not all our endearments be forgotten, but let me have in this great distress your pity and your prayers. You see I yet turn to you with my complaints as a settled and unalienable friend; do not, do not drive me from you, for I have not deserved either neglect or hatred.' Ib. p.271.

[712] On Aug. 20 he wrote:—'I sat to Mrs. Reynolds yesterday for my picture, perhaps the tenth time, and I sat near three hours with the patience of mortal born to bear; at last she declared it quite finished, and seems to think it fine. I told her it was Johnson's grimly ghost. It is to be engraved, and I think in glided, &c., will be a good inscription.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 302. Johnson is quoting from Mallet's ballad of Margaret's Ghost:—

'Twas at the silent solemn hour, When night and morning meet; In glided Margaret's grimly ghost, And stood at William's feet.' Percy Ballads, in. 3, 16.

According to Northcote, Reynolds said of his sister's oil-paintings, 'they made other people laugh and him cry.' 'She generally,' Northcote adds, 'did them by stealth.' Life of Reynolds, ii. 160.

[713] 'Nocte, inter 16 et 17 Junii, 1783.

Summe pater, quodcunque tuum de corpore Numen Hoc statuat, precibus Christus adesse velit: Ingenio parcas, nee sit mihi culpa rogasse, Qua solum potero parte placere tibi.' Works, i.159.

[714] According to the Gent. Mag. 1783, p.542, Dr. Lawrence died at Canterbury on June 13 of this year, his second son died on the 15th. But, if we may trust Munk's Roll of the College of Physicians, ii.153, on the father's tomb-stone, June 6 is given as the day of his death. Mr. Croker gives June 17 as the date, and June 19 as the day of the son's death, and is puzzled accordingly.

[715] Poor Derrick, however, though he did not himself introduce me to Dr. Johnson as he promised, had the merit of introducing me to Davies, the immediate introductor. BOSWELL. See ante, i.385, 391.

[716] Miss Burney, calling on him the next morning, offered to make his tea. He had given her his own large arm-chair which was too heavy for her to move to the table. '"Sir," quoth she, "I am in the wrong chair." "It is so difficult," cried he with quickness, "for anything to be wrong that belongs to you, that it can only be I that am in the wrong chair to keep you from the right one."' Dr. Burney's Memoirs, ii. 345.

[717] His Lordship was soon after chosen, and is now a member of THE CLUB. BOSWELL. He was father of the future prime-minister, who was born in the following year.

[718] He wrote on June 23:—'What man can do for man has been done for me.' Piozzi Letters, ii.278. Murphy (Life, p. 121) says that, visiting him during illness, he found him reading Dr. Watson's Chymistry (ante, p. 118). 'Articulating with difficulty he said:—"From this book he who knows nothing may learn a great deal, and he who knows will be pleased to find his knowledge recalled to his mind in a manner highly pleasing."'

[719] 'I have, by the migration of one of my ladies, more peace at home; but I remember an old savage chief that says of the Romans with great indignation-ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant [Tacitus, Agricola, c. xxx]. Piozzi Letters, ii. 259.

[720] 'July 23. I have been thirteen days at Rochester, and am just now returned. I came back by water in a common boat twenty miles for a shilling, and when I landed at Billingsgate, I carried my budget myself to Cornhill before I could get a coach, and was not much incommoded' Ib. ii.294. See ante, iv.8, 22, for mention of Rochester.

[721] Murphy (Life, p. 121) says that Johnson visited Oxford this summer. Perhaps he was misled by a passage in the Piozzi Letters (ii. 302) where Johnson is made to write:—'At Oxford I have just left Wheeler.' For left no doubt should be read lost. Wheeler died on July 22 of this year. Gent. Mag. 1783, p. 629.

[722] This house would be interesting to Johnson, as in it Charles II, 'for whom he had an extraordinary partiality' (ante, ii. 341), lay hid for some days after the battle of Worcester. Clarendon (vi. 540) describes it 'as a house that stood alone from neighbours and from any highway.' Charles was lodged 'in a little room, which had been made since the beginning of the troubles for the concealment of delinquents.'

[723] 'I told Dr. Johnson I had heard that Mr. Bowles was very much delighted with the expectation of seeing him, and he answered me:—"He is so delighted that it is shocking. It is really shocking to see how high are his expectations." I asked him why, and he said:—"Why, if any man is expected to take a leap of twenty yards, and does actually take one of ten, everybody will be disappointed, though ten yards may be more than any other man ever leaped."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii.260. On Oct. 9, he wrote:—'Two nights ago Mr. Burke sat with me a long time. We had both seen Stonehenge this summer for the first time.' Piozzi Letters, ii.315.

[724] Salisbury is eighty-two miles from Cornhill by the old coach-road. Johnson seems to have been nearly fifteen hours on the journey.

[725] 'Aug. 13, 1783. I am now broken with disease, without the alleviation of familiar friendship or domestic society. I have no middle state between clamour and silence, between general conversation and self-tormenting solitude. Levett is dead, and poor Williams is making haste to die.' Piozzi Letters, ii.301. 'Aug. 20. This has been a day of great emotion; the office of the Communion of the Sick has been performed in poor Mrs. Williams's chamber.' Ib. 'Sept. 22. Poor Williams has, I hope, seen the end of her afflictions. She acted with prudence and she bore with fortitude. She has left me.

"Thou thy weary [worldly] task hast done, Home art gone and ta'en thy wages." [Cymbeline, act iv. sc. 2.]

Had she had good humour and prompt elocution, her universal curiosity and comprehensive knowledge would have made her the delight of all that knew her.' Ib. p. 311.

[726] Johnson (Works, viii. 354) described in 1756 such a companion as he found in Mrs. Williams. He quotes Pope's Epitaph on Mrs. Corbet, and continues:—'I have always considered this as the most valuable of all Pope's epitaphs; the subject of it is a character not discriminated by any shining or eminent peculiarities; yet that which really makes, though not the splendour, the felicity of life, and that which every wise man will choose for his final and lasting companion in the languor of age, in the quiet of privacy, when he departs, weary and disgusted, from the ostentatious, the volatile and the vain. Of such a character which the dull overlook, and the gay despise, it was fit that the value should be made known, and the dignity established.' See ante, i.232.

[727] Pr. and Med. p. 226. BOSWELL.

[728] I conjecture that Mr. Bowles is the friend. The account follows close on the visit to his house, and contains a mention of Johnson's attendance at a lecture at Salisbury.

[729] A writer in Notes and Queries, 1st S. xii. 149, says:—'Mr. Bowles had married a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, viz. Dinah, the fourth daughter of Sir Thomas Frankland, and highly valued himself upon this connection with the Protector.' He adds that Mr. Bowles was an active Whig.

[730] Mr. Malone observes, 'This, however, was certainly a mistake, as appears from the Memoirs published by Mr. Noble. Had Johnson been furnished with the materials which the industry of that gentleman has procured, and with others which, it it is believed, are yet preserved in manuscript, he would, without doubt, have produced a most valuable and curious history of Cromwell's life.' BOSWELL.

[731] See ante, ii.358, note 3.

[732] Short Notes for Civil Conversation. Spedding's Bacon, vii.109.

[733] 'When I took up his Life of Cowley, he made me put it away to talk. I could not help remarking how very like he is to his writing, and how much the same thing it was to hear or to read him; but that nobody could tell that without coming to Streatham, for his language was generally imagined to be laboured and studied, instead of the mere common flow of his thoughts. "Very true," said Mrs. Thrale, "he writes and talks with the same ease, and in the same manner."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 120. What a different account is this from that given by Macaulay:—'When he talked he clothed his wit and his sense in forcible and natural expressions. As soon as he took his pen in his hand to write for the public, his style became systematically vicious.' Macaulay's Essays, edit. 1843, i.404. See ante, ii.96, note; iv.183; and post, the end of the vol.

[734] See ante, ii.125, iii.254, and Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 14.

[735] Hume said:—'The French have more real politeness, and the English the better method of expressing it. By real politeness I mean softness of temper, and a sincere inclination to oblige and be serviceable, which is very conspicuous in this nation, not only among the high, but low; in so much that the porters and coachmen here are civil, and that, not only to gentlemen, but likewise among themselves.' J.H. Burton's Hume, i. 53.

[736] This is the third time that Johnson's disgust at this practice is recorded. See ante, ii.403, and iii.352.

[737] See ante, iii.398, note 3.

[738] 'Sept. 22, 1783. The chymical philosophers have discovered a body (which I have forgotten, but will enquire) which, dissolved by an acid, emits a vapour lighter than the atmospherical air. This vapour is caught, among other means, by tying a bladder compressed upon the body in which the dissolution is performed; the vapour rising swells the bladder and fills it. Piozzi Letters, ii.310. The 'body' was iron-filings, the acid sulphuric acid, and the vapour nitrogen. The other 'new kinds of air' were the gases discovered by Priestley.

[739] I do not wonder at Johnson's displeasure when the name of Dr. Priestley was mentioned; for I know no writer who has been suffered to publish more pernicious doctrines. I shall instance only three. First, Materialism; by which mind is denied to human nature; which, if believed, must deprive us of every elevated principle. Secondly, Necessity; or the doctrine that every action, whether good or bad, is included in an unchangeable and unavoidable system; a notion utterly subversive of moral government. Thirdly, that we have no reason to think that the future world, (which, as he is pleased to inform us, will be adapted to our merely improved nature,) will be materially different from this; which, if believed, would sink wretched mortals into despair, as they could no longer hope for the 'rest that remaineth for the people of GOD' [Hebrews, iv.9], or for that happiness which is revealed to us as something beyond our present conceptions; but would feel themselves doomed to a continuation of the uneasy state under which they now groan. I say nothing of the petulant intemperance with which he dares to insult the venerable establishments of his country.

As a specimen of his writings, I shall quote the following passage, which appears to me equally absurd and impious, and which might have been retorted upon him by the men who were prosecuted for burning his house. 'I cannot, (says he,) as a necessarian, [meaning necessitarian] hate any man; because I consider him as being, in all respects, just what GOD has made him to be; and also as doing with respect to me, nothing but what he was expressly designed and appointed to do; GOD being the only cause, and men nothing more than the instruments in his hands to execute all his pleasure.'— Illustrations of Philosophical Necessity, p. 111.

The Reverend Dr. Parr, in a late tract, appears to suppose that 'Dr. Johnson not only endured, but almost solicited, an interview with Dr. Priestley. In justice to Dr. Johnson, I declare my firm belief that he never did. My illustrious friend was particularly resolute in not giving countenance to men whose writings he considered as pernicious to society. I was present at Oxford when Dr. Price, even before he had rendered himself so generally obnoxious by his zeal for the French Revolution, came into a company where Johnson was, who instantly left the room. Much more would he have reprobated Dr. Priestley. Whoever wishes to see a perfect delineation of this Literary Jack of all Trades, may find it in an ingenious tract, entitled, 'A SMALL WHOLE-LENGTH OF DR. PRIESTLEY,' printed for Rivingtons, in St. Paul's Church-Yard. BOSWELL. See Appendix B.

[740] Burke said, 'I have learnt to think better of mankind.' Ante, iii.236.

[741] He wrote to his servant Frank from Heale on Sept. l6:—'As Thursday [the 18th] is my birthday I would have a little dinner got, and would have you invite Mrs. Desmoulins, Mrs. Davis that was about Mrs. Williams, and Mr. Allen, and Mrs. Gardiner.' Croker's Boswell, p.739. See ante, iii.157, note 3.

[742] Dr. Burney had just lost Mr. Bewley, 'the Broom Gentleman' (ante, p. 134), and Mr. Crisp. Dr. Burney's Memoirs, ii.323, 352. For Mr. Crisp, see Macaulay's Review of Mme. D'Arblay's Diary. Essays, ed. 1874, iv.104.

[743] He wrote of her to Mrs. Montagu:—'Her curiosity was universal, her knowledge was very extensive, and she sustained forty years of misery with steady fortitude. Thirty years and more she had been my companion, and her death has left me very desolate.' Croker's Boswell, p. 739. This letter brought to a close his quarrel with Mrs. Montagu (ante, p. 64).

[744] On Sept. 22 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:—'If excision should be delayed, there is danger of a gangrene. You would not have me for fear of pain perish in putrescence. I shall, I hope, with trust in eternal mercy, lay hold of the possibility of life which yet remains.' Piozzi Letters, ii.312.

[745] Rather more than seven years ago. Ante, ii.82, note 2.

[746] Mrs. Anna Williams. BOSWELL.

[747] See ante, p. 163, and Boswell's Hebrides, Nov 2.

[748] Dated Oct. 27. Piozzi Letters, ii.321.

[749] According to Mrs. Piozzi (Letters, ii.387), he said to Mrs. Siddons:—'You see, Madam, wherever you go there are no seats to be got.' Sir Joshua also paid her a fine compliment. 'He never marked his own name [on a picture],' says Northcote, 'except in the instance of Mrs. Siddons's portrait as the Tragic Muse, when he wrote his name upon the hem of her garment. "I could not lose," he said, "the honour this opportunity offered to me for my name going down to posterity on the hem of your garment."' Northcote's Reynolds, i. 246. In Johnson's Works, ed. 1787, xi. 207, we read that 'he said of Mrs. Siddons that she appeared to him to be one of the few persons that the two great corrupters of mankind, money and reputation, had not spoiled.'

[750] 'Indeed, Dr. Johnson,' said Miss Monckton, 'you must see Mrs. Siddons.' 'Well, Madam, if you desire it, I will go. See her I shall not, nor hear her; but I'll go, and that will do.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 198.

[751] 'Mrs. Porter, the tragedian, was so much the favourite of her time, that she was welcomed on the stage when she trod it by the help of a stick.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 319.

[752] He said:—'Mrs. Clive was the best player I ever saw.' Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 126. See ante, p. 7. She was for many years the neighbour and friend of Horace Walpole.

[753] She acted the heroine in Irene. Ante, i. 197. 'It is wonderful how little mind she had,' he once said. Ante, ii. 348. See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 126.

[754] See ante, iii. 183.

[755] See ante, iii. 184.

[756] 'Garrick's great distinction is his universality,' Johnson said. 'He can represent all modes of life, but that of an easy, fine-bred gentleman.' Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 126. See ante, iii. 35. Horace Walpole wrote of Garrick in 1765 (Letters, iv. 335):—'Several actors have pleased me more, though I allow not in so many parts. Quin in Falstaff was as excellent as Garrick in Lear. Old Johnson far more natural in everything he attempted; Mrs. Porter surpassed him in passionate tragedy. Cibber and O'Brien were what Garrick could never reach, coxcombs and men of fashion. Mrs. Clive is at least as perfect in low comedy.'

[757] See ante, ii. 465.

[758] Mr. Kemble told Mr. Croker that 'Mrs. Siddons's pathos in the last scene of The Stranger quite overcame him, but he always endeavoured to restrain any impulses which might interfere with his previous study of his part.' Croker's Boswell, p. 742. Diderot, writing of the qualifications of a great actor, says:—'Je lui veux beaucoup de jugement; je le veux spectateur froid et tranquille de la nature humaine; qu'il ait par conséquent beaucoup de finesse, mais nulle sensibilité, ou, ce qui est la même chose, l'art de tout imiter, et une égale aptitude à toutes sortes de caractères et de rôles; s'il était sensible, il lui serait impossible de jouer dix fois de suite le même rôle avec la même chaleur et le même succès; très chaud à la première représentation, il serait épuisé et froid comme le marble à la troisième,' &c. Diderot's Works (ed. 1821), iii. 274. See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 46.

[759] My worthy friend, Mr. John Nichols, was present when Mr. Henderson, the actor, paid a visit to Dr. Johnson; and was received in a very courteous manner. See Gent. Mag. June, 1791.

I found among Dr. Johnson's papers, the following letter to him, from the celebrated Mrs. Bellamy [ante, i. 326]:—

'To DR. JOHNSON.

'SIR,

'The flattering remembrance of the partiality you honoured me with, some years ago, as well as the humanity you are known to possess, has encouraged me to solicit your patronage at my Benefit.

'By a long Chancery suit, and a complicated train of unfortunate events, I am reduced to the greatest distress; which obliges me, once more, to request the indulgence of the publick.

'Give me leave to solicit the honour of your company, and to assure you, if you grant my request, the gratification I shall feel, from being patronized by Dr. Johnson, will be infinitely superiour to any advantage that may arise from the Benefit; as I am, with the profoundest respect, Sir,

'Your most obedient, humble servant, G. A. BELLAMY. No. 10 Duke-street, St. James's, May 11, 1783.'

I am happy in recording these particulars, which prove that my illustrious friend lived to think much more favourably of Players than he appears to have done in the early part of his life. BOSWELL. Mr. Nichols, describing Henderson's visit to Johnson, says:—'The conversation turning on the merits of a certain dramatic writer, Johnson said: "I never did the man an injury; but he would persist in reading his tragedy to me."' Gent. Mag: 1791, p. 500.

[760] Piozzi Letters, vol. ii. p. 328. BOSWELL.

[761] Piozzi Letters, vol. ii. p. 342. BOSWELL. The letter to Miss Thrale was dated Nov. 18. Johnson wrote on Dec. l3:—'You must all guess again at my friend. It was not till Dec. 31 that he told the name.

[762] Miss Burney, who visited him on this day, records:—'He was, if possible, more instructive, entertaining, good-humoured, and exquisitely fertile than ever.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 284. The day before he wrote to one of Mrs. Thrale's little daughters:—'I live here by my own self, and have had of late very bad nights; but then I have had a pig to dinner which Mr. Perkins gave me. Thus life is chequered.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 327.

[763] See ante, i. 242.

[764] See ante, i. 242.

[765] Nos. 26 and 29.

[766] Piozzi Letters, i. 334. See ante, p. 75.

[767] He strongly opposed the war with America, and was one of Dr. Franklin's friends. Franklin's Memoirs, ed. 1818, iii. 108.

[768] It was of this tragedy that the following story is told in Rogers's Table-Talk, p. 177:—'Lord Shelburne could say the most provoking things, and yet appear quite unconscious of their being so. In one of his speeches, alluding to Lord Carlisle, he said:—"The noble Lord has written a comedy." "No, a tragedy." "Oh, I beg pardon; I thought it was a comedy."' See ante, p. 113. Pope, writing to Mr. Cromwell on Aug. 19, 1709, says:—'One might ask the same question of a modern life, that Rich did of a modern play: "Pray do me the favour, Sir, to inform me is this your tragedy or your comedy?"' Pope's Works, ed. 1812, vi. 81.

[769] Mrs. Chapone, when she was Miss Mulso, had written 'four billets in The Rambler, No. 10.' Ante, i. 203. She was one of the literary ladies who sat at Richardson's feet. Wraxall (Memoirs, ed. 1815, i. 155) says that 'under one of the most repulsive exteriors that any woman ever possessed she concealed very superior attainments and extensive knowledge.' Just as Mrs. Carter was often called 'the learned Mrs. Carter,' so Mrs. Chapone was known as 'the admirable Mrs. Chapone.'

[770] See ante, iii. 373.

[771] A few copies only of this tragedy have been printed, and given to the authour's friends. BOSWELL.

[772] Dr. Johnson having been very ill when the tragedy was first sent to him, had declined the consideration of it. BOSWELL.

[773] Johnson refers, I suppose, to a passage in Dryden which he quotes in his Dictionary under mechanick:—'Many a fair precept in poetry is like a seeming demonstration in mathematicks, very specious in the diagram, but failing in the mechanick operation.'

[774]

'I could have borne my woes; that stranger Joy Wounds while it smiles:—The long imprison'd wretch, Emerging from the night of his damp cell, Shrinks from the sun's bright beams; and that which flings Gladness o'er all, to him is agony.' BOSWELL.

[775] Lord Cockburn (Life of Lord Jeffrey, i. 74) describing the representation of Scotland towards the close of last century, and in fact till the Reform Bill of 1832, says:—'There were probably not above 1500 or 2000 county electors in all Scotland; a body not too large to be held, hope included, in Government's hand. The election of either the town or the county member was a matter of such utter indifference to the people, that they often only knew of it by the ringing of a bell, or by seeing it mentioned next day in a newspaper.'

[776] Six years later, when he was Praeses of the Quarter-Sessions, he carried up to London an address to be presented to the Prince of Wales. 'This,' he wrote, 'will add something to my conspicuousness. Will that word do?' Letters of Boswell, p. 295.

[777] This part of this letter was written, as Johnson goes on to say, a considerable time before the conclusion. The Coalition Ministry, which was suddenly dismissed by the King on Dec. 19, was therefore still in power. Among Boswell's 'friends' was Burke. See ante, p. 223.

[778] On Nov. 22 he wrote to Dr. Taylor:-'I feel the weight of solitude very pressing; after a night of broken and uncomfortable slumber I rise to a solitary breakfast, and sit down in the evening with no companion. Sometimes, however, I try to read more and more.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 482. On Dec. 27 he wrote to Mrs. Thrale:—'You have more than once wondered at my complaint of solitude, when you hear that I am crowded with visits. Inopem me copia fecit. Visitors are no proper companions in the chamber of sickness. They come when I could sleep or read, they stay till I am weary.... The amusements and consolations of langour and depression are conferred by familiar and domestick companions, which can be visited or called at will.... Such society I had with Levett and Williams; such I had where I am never likely to have it more.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 341.

[779] The confusion arising from the sudden dismissal of a Ministry which commanded a large majority in the House of Commons had been increased by the resignation, on Dec. 22, of Earl Temple, three days after his appointment as Secretary of State. Parl. Hist. xxiv. 238.

[780] 'News I know none,' wrote Horace Walpole on Dec. 30, 1783 (Letters, viii. 447), 'but that they are crying Peerages about the streets in barrows, and can get none off.' Thirty-three peerages were made in the next three years. (Whitaker's Almanac, 1886, p. 463.) Macaulay tells how this December 'a troop of Lords of the Bedchamber, of Bishops who wished to be translated, and of Scotch peers who wished to be reelected made haste to change sides.' Macaulay's Writings and Speeches, ed. 1871, p. 407.

[781] See ante, ii. 182. He died Oct. 28, 1788.

[782]'Prince Henry was the first encourager of remote navigation. What mankind has lost and gained by the genius and designs of this prince it would be long to compare, and very difficult to estimate. Much knowledge has been acquired, and much cruelty been committed; the belief of religion has been very little propagated, and its laws have been outrageously and enormously violated. The Europeans have scarcely visited any coast but to gratify avarice, and extend corruption; to arrogate dominion without right, and practise cruelty without incentive. Happy had it then been for the oppressed, if the designs of Henry had slept in his bosom, and surely more happy for the oppressors.' Johnson's Works, v. 219. See ante, ii. 478.

[783] 'The author himself,' wrote Gibbon (Misc. Works, i. 220), 'is the best judge of his own performance; no one has so deeply meditated on the subject; no one is so sincerely interested in the event.'

[784] Mickle, speaking in the third person as the Translator, says:— 'He is happy to be enabled to add Dr. Johnson to the number of those whose kindness for the man, and good wishes for the Translation, call for his sincerest gratitude.' Mickle's Lusiad, p. ccxxv.

[785] A brief record, it should seem, is given, ante, iii. 37.

[786] See ante, iii. 106, 214.

[787] The author of Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr, Johnson says (p. 153) that it was Johnson who determined Shaw to undertake this work. 'Sir,' he said, 'if you give the world a vocabulary of that language, while the island of Great Britain stands in the Atlantic Ocean your name will be mentioned.' On p. 156 is a letter by Johnson introducing Shaw to a friend.

[788] 'Why is not the original deposited in some publick library?' he asked. Boswell's Hebrides, Nov. 10.

[789] See ante, i. 190.

[790] See Appendix C.

[791] 'Dec. 27, 1873. The wearisome solitude of the long evenings did indeed suggest to me the convenience of a club in my neighbourhood, but I have been hindered from attending it by want of breath.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 340. 'Dec. 31. I have much need of entertainment; spiritless, infirm, sleepless, and solitary, looking back with sorrow and forward with terrour.' Ib, p. 343.

[792] '"I think," said Mr. Cambridge, "it sounds more like some club that one reads of in The Spectator than like a real club in these times; for the forfeits of a whole year will not amount to those of a single night in other clubs."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 290. Mr. Cambridge was thinking of the Two-penny Club. Spectator, No. ix.

[793] I was in Scotland when this Club was founded, and during all the winter. Johnson, however, declared I should be a member, and invented a word upon the occasion: 'Boswell (said he) is a very clubable man.' When I came to town I was proposed by Mr. Barrington, and chosen. I believe there are few societies where there is better conversation or more decorum. Several of us resolved to continue it after our great founder was removed by death. Other members were added; and now, above eight years since that loss, we go on happily. BOSWELL. Mr. Croker says 'Johnson had already invented unclubable for Sir J. Hawkins,' and refers to a note by Dr. Burney (ante, i. 480, note I), in which Johnson is represented as saying of Hawkins, while he was still a member of the Literary Club:—'Sir John, Sir, is a very unclubable man.' But, as Mr. Croker points out (Croker's Boswell, p. 164), 'Hawkins was not knighted till long after he had left the club.' The anecdote, being proved to be inaccurate in one point, may be inaccurate in another, and may therefore belong to a much later date.

[794] See Appendix D.

[795] Ben Jonson wrote Leges Convivales that were 'engraven in marble over the chimney in the Apollo of the Old Devil Tavern, Temple Bar; that being his Club Room.' Jonson's Works, ed. 1756, vii. 291.

[796] RULES.

'To-day deep thoughts with me resolve to drench In mirth, which after no repenting draws.'—MILTON. ['To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench In mirth that, &c.' Sonnets, xxi.]

'The Club shall consist of four-and-twenty.

'The meetings shall be on the Monday, Thursday, and Saturday of every week; but in the week before Easter there shall be no meeting.

'Every member is at liberty to introduce a friend once a week, but not oftener.

'Two members shall oblige themselves to attend in their turn every night from eight to ten, or to procure two to attend in their room.

'Every member present at the Club shall spend at least sixpence; and every member who stays away shall forfeit three-pence.

'The master of the house shall keep an account of the absent members; and deliver to the President of the night a list of the forfeits incurred.

'When any member returns after absence, he shall immediately lay down his forfeits; which if he omits to do, the President shall require.

'There shall be no general reckoning, but every man shall adjust his own expences.

'The night of indispensable attendance will come to every member once a month. Whoever shall for three months together omit to attend himself, or by substitution, nor shall make any apology in the fourth month, shall be considered as having abdicated the Club.

'When a vacancy is to be filled, the name of the candidate, and of the member recommending him, shall stand in the Club-room three nights. On the fourth he may be chosen by ballot; six members at least being present, and two-thirds of the ballot being in his favour; or the majority, should the numbers not be divisible by three.

'The master of the house shall give notice, six days before, to each of those members whose turn of necessary attendance is come.

'The notice may be in these words:—"Sir, On —— the —— of —— — will be your turn of presiding at the Essex-Head. Your company is therefore earnestly requested."

'One penny shall be left by each member for the waiter.'

Johnson's definition of a Club in this sense, in his Dictionary, is, 'An assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions.' BOSWELL.

[797] She had left him in the summer (ante, p. 233), but perhaps she had returned.

[798] He received many acts of kindness from outside friends. On Dec. 31 he wrote:—'I have now in the house pheasant, venison, turkey, and ham, all unbought. Attention and respect give pleasure, however late or however useless. But they are not useless when they are late; it is reasonable to rejoice, as the day declines, to find that it has been spent with the approbation of mankind.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 343.

[799] 'Dec. 16, 1783. I spent the afternoon with Dr. Johnson, who indeed is very ill, and whom I could hardly tell how to leave. He was very, very kind. Oh! what a cruel, heavy loss will he be! Dec. 30. I went to Dr. Johnson, and spent the evening with him. He was very indifferent indeed. There were some very disagreeable people with him; and he once affected me very much by turning suddenly to me, and grasping my hand and saying:—"The blister I have tried for my breath has betrayed some very bad tokens; but I will not terrify myself by talking of them. Ah! priez Dieu pour moi."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 293, 5. 'I snatch,' he wrote a few weeks later, 'every lucid interval, and animate myself with such amusements as the time offers.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 349.

[800] He had written to her on Nov. 10. See Croker's Boswell, p. 742.

[801] Hawkins (Life, 562) says that this November Johnson said to him:—'What a man am I, who have got the better of three diseases, the palsy, the gout, and the asthma, and can now enjoy the conversation of my friends, without the interruptions of weakness or pain.'

[802] 'The street [on London Bridge], which, before the houses fell to decay, consisted of handsome lofty edifices, pretty regularly built, was 20 feet broad, and the houses on each side generally 26-1/2 feet deep.' After 1746 no more leases were granted, and the houses were allowed to run to ruin. In 1756-7 they were all taken down. Dodsley's London and its Environs, ed. 1761, iv. 136-143.

[803] In Lowndes's Bibl. Man. i. 328 is given a list of nearly fifty of these books. Some of them were reprinted by Stace in 1810-13 in 6 vols. quarto. Dr. Franklin, writing of the books that he bought in his boyhood says:—'My first acquisition was Bunyan's works in separate little volumes. I afterwards sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's Historical Collections; they were small chapmen's books, and cheap. Forty volumes in all.' Franklin's Memoirs, i. 17.

[804] He wrote to Mrs. Thrale this same day:—'Alas, I had no sleep last night, and sit now panting over my paper. Dabit Deus his quoque finem.' ['This too the Gods shall end.' MORRIS, Virgil, Aeneids, 1.199.] Piozzi Letters, ii. 347.

[805] Boswell's purpose in this Letter was to recommend the Scotch to address the King to express their satisfaction that the East India Company Bill had been rejected by the House of Lords. Ib. p. 39. 'Let us,' he writes, 'upon this awful occasion think only of property and constitution;' p. 42. 'Let me add,' he says in concluding, 'that a dismission of the Portland Administration will probably disappoint an object which I have most ardently at heart;' p. 42. He was thinking no doubt of his 'expectations from the interest of an eminent person then in power' (ante, p. 223.)

[806] On p. 4 Boswell condemns the claim of Parliament to tax the American colonies as 'unjust and inexpedient.' 'This claim,' he says, 'was almost universally approved of in Scotland, where due consideration was had of the advantage of raising regiments.' He continues:—'When pleading at the bar of the House of Commons in a question concerning taxation, I avowed that opinion, declaring that the man in the world for whom I have the highest respect (Dr. Johnson) had not been able to convince me that Taxation was no Tyranny.'

[807] Boswell wrote to Reynolds on Feb. 6:—'I intend to be in London next month, chiefly to attend upon Dr. Johnson with respectful affection.' Croker's Boswell, p. 748.

[808] 'I have really hope from spring,' he wrote on Jan. 21, 'and am ready, like Almanzor, to bid the sun fly swiftly, and leave weeks and months behind him. The sun has looked for six thousand years upon the world to little purpose, if he does not know that a sick man is almost as impatient as a lover.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 347. Almanzor's speech is at the end of Dryden's Conquest of Granada:—

'Move swiftly, Sun, and fly a lover's pace; Leave weeks and months behind thee in thy race.'

See ante, i. 332, where Johnson said, 'This distinction of seasons is produced only by imagination operating on luxury. To temperance every day is bright,' and post, Aug. 2, 1784.

[809] He died in the following August at Dover, on his way home. Walpole's Letters, viii. 494. See ante, iii. 250, 336, and post, Aug. 19, 1784.

[810] On the last day of the old year he wrote:—'To any man who extends his thoughts to national consideration, the times are dismal and gloomy. But to a sick man, what is the publick?' Piozzi Letters, ii. 344.

The original of the following note is in the admirable collection of autographs belonging to my friend, Mr. M. M. Holloway:—

'TO THE REV. DR. TAYLOR,

'in Ashbourne,

'Derbyshire.

'DEAR SIR,

'I am still confined to the house, and one of my amusements is to write letters to my friends, though they, being busy in the common scenes of life, are not equally diligent in writing to me. Dr. Heberden was with me two or three days ago, and told me that nothing ailed me, which I was glad to hear, though I knew it not to be true. My nights are restless, my breath is difficult, and my lower parts continue tumid.

'The struggle, you see, still continues between the two sets of ministers: those that are out and in one can scarce call them, for who is out or in is perhaps four times a day a new question. The tumult in government is, I believe, excessive, and the efforts of each party outrageously violent, with very little thought on any national interest, at a time when we have all the world for our enemies, when the King and parliament have lost even the titular dominion of America, and the real power of Government every where else. Thus Empires are broken down when the profits of administration are so great, that ambition is satisfied with obtaining them, and he that aspires to greatness needs do nothing more than talk himself into importance. He has then all the power which danger and conquest used formerly to give; he can raise a family and reward his followers.

'Mr. Burke has just sent me his Speech upon the affairs of India, a volume of above a hundred pages closely printed. I will look into it; but my thoughts seldom now travel to great distances.

'I would gladly know when you think to come hither, and whether this year you will come or no. If my life be continued, I know not well how I shall bestow myself.

'I am, Sir,

'Your affectionate &c.,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'London, Jan. 24, 1784.'

[811] See post, v. 48.

[812] See post, p. 271.

[813] I sent it to Mr. Pitt, with a letter, in which I thus expressed myself:—'My principles may appear to you too monarchical: but I know and am persuaded, they are not inconsistent with the true principles of liberty. Be this as it may, you, Sir, are now the Prime Minister, called by the Sovereign to maintain the rights of the Crown, as well as those of the people, against a violent faction. As such, you are entitled to the warmest support of every good subject in every department.' He answered:—'I am extremely obliged to you for the sentiments you do me the honour to express, and have observed with great pleasure the zealous and able support given to the CAUSE OF THE PUBLICK in the work you were so good to transmit to me.' BOSWELL. Five years later, and two years before The Life of Johnson was published, Boswell wrote to Temple:—'As to Pitt, he is an insolent fellow, but so able, that upon the whole I must support him against the Coalition; but I will work him, for he has behaved very ill to me. Can he wonder at my wishing for preferment, when men of the first family and fortune in England struggle for it?' Letters of Boswell, p. 295. Warburton said of Helvetius, whom he disliked, that, if he had met him, 'he would have worked him.' Walpole's Letters, iv. 217.

[814] Out of this offer, and one of a like nature made in 1779 (ante, iii. 418), Mr. Croker weaves a vast web of ridiculous suspicions.

[815] From his garden at Prestonfield, where he cultivated that plant with such success, that he was presented with a gold medal by the Society of London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. BOSWELL.

[816] In the original effusion. Johnson's Works, vii. 402.

[817] Who had written him a very kind letter. BOSWELL.

[818] On Jan. 12 the Ministry had been in a minority of 39 in a House of 425; on March 8 the minority was reduced to one in a House of 381. Parliament was dissolved on the 25th. In the first division in the new Parliament the Ministry were in a majority of 97 in a House of 369. Parl. Hist. xxiv. 299, 744, 829.

[819] See ante, p. 241.

[820] 'In old Aberdeen stands the King's College, of which the first president was Hector Boece, or Boethius, who may be justly reverenced as one of the revivers of elegant learning.' Johnson's Works, ix. 11.

[821] See ante, iii. 104.

[822] In his dining-room, no doubt, among 'the very respectable people' whose portraits hung there. Ante, p. 203, note.

[823] Horace Walpole (Letters, viii. 466) wrote on March 30:—'The nation is intoxicated, and has poured in Addresses of Thanks to the Crown for exerting the prerogative against the palladium of the people.'

[824] The election lasted from April 1 to May 16. Fox was returned second on the poll. Ann. Reg. xxvii. 190.

[825] He was returned also for Kirkwall, for which place he sat for nearly a year, while the scrutiny of the Westminster election was dragging on. Parl. Hist. xxiv. 799.

[826] Hannah More wrote on March 8 (Memoirs, i. 310):—'I am sure you will honour Mr. Langton, when I tell you he is come on purpose to stay with Dr. Johnson, and that during his illness. He has taken a little lodging in Fleet-street in order to be near, to devote himself to him. He has as much goodness as learning, and that is saying a bold thing of one of the first Greek scholars we have.'

[827] Floyer was the Lichfield physician on whose advice Johnson was 'touched' by Queen Anne. Ante, i. 42, 91, and post, July 20, 1784.

[828] To which Johnson returned this answer:—

'TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF PORTMORE.

'Dr. Johnson acknowledges with great respect the honour of Lord Portmore's notice. He is better than he was; and will, as his Lordship directs, write to Mr. Langton.

'Bolt-court, Fleet-street,

April 13, 1784.'

BOSWELL. Johnson here assumes his title of Doctor, which Boswell says (ante, ii. 332, note 1), so far as he knew, he never did. Perhaps the letter has been wrongly copied, or perhaps Johnson thought that, in writing to a man of title, he ought to assume such title as he himself had.

[829] The eminent painter, representative of the ancient family of Homfrey (now Humphry) in the west of England; who, as appears from their arms which they have invariably used, have been, (as I have seen authenticated by the best authority,) one of those among the Knights and Esquires of honour who are represented by Holinshed as having issued from the Tower of London on coursers apparelled for the justes, accompanied by ladies of honour, leading every one a Knight, with a chain of gold, passing through the streets of London into Smithfield, on Sunday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, being the first Sunday after Michaelmas, in the fourteenth year of King Richard the Second. This family once enjoyed large possessions, but, like others, have lost them in the progress of ages. Their blood, however, remains to them well ascertained; and they may hope in the revolution of events, to recover that rank in society for which, in modern times, fortune seems to be an indispensable requisite. BOSWELL.

[830] Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson. BOSWELL. In the first two editions after 'Paterson' is added 'eminent for his knowledge of books.' See ante, iii. 90.

[831] Humphry, on his first coming to London, poor and unfriended, was helped by Reynolds. Northcote's Reynolds, ii. 174.

[832] On April 21 he wrote:—'After a confinement of 129 days, more than the third part of a year, and no inconsiderable part of human life, I this day returned thanks to God in St. Clement's Church for my recovery.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 365.

[833] On April 26 he wrote:—'On Saturday I showed myself again to the living world at the Exhibition; much and splendid was the company, but like the Doge of Genoa at Paris [Versailles, Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XIV, chap, xiv.], I admired nothing but myself. I went up the stairs to the pictures without stopping to rest or to breathe,

"In all the madness of superfluous health."

[Pope's Essay on Man, iii. 3.] The Prince of Wales had promised to be there; but when we had waited an hour and a half, sent us word that he could not come.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 367. 'The first Gentleman in Europe' was twenty-one years old when he treated men like Johnson and Reynolds with this insolence. Mr. Forster (Life of Goldsmith, ii. 244) says that it was at this very dinner that 'Johnson left his seat by desire of the Prince of Wales, and went to the head of the table to be introduced.' He does not give his authority for the statement.

[834] Mr. Croker wrote in 1847 that he had 'seen it very lately framed and glazed, in possession of the lady to whom it was addressed.' Croker's Boswell, p. 753.

[835] Shortly before he begged one of Mrs. Thrale's daughters 'never to think that she had arithmetic enough.' Ante, p. 171, note 3. See ante, iii. 207, note 3.

[836] Cowper wrote on May 10 to the Rev. John Newton:—'We rejoice in the account you give us of Dr. Johnson. His conversion will indeed be a singular proof of the omnipotence of Grace; and the more singular, the more decided.' Southey's Cowper, xv. 150. Johnson, in a prayer that he wrote on April 11, said:—'Enable me, O Lord, to glorify Thee for that knowledge of my corruption, and that sense of Thy wrath, which my disease and weakness and danger awakened in my mind.' Pr. and Med. p. 217.

[837] Mr. Croker suggests immediate.

[838] 'The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.' St. James, v. 16.

[839] Upon this subject there is a very fair and judicious remark in the life of Dr. Abernethy, in the first edition of the Biographia Britannica, which I should have been glad to see in his life which has been written for the second edition of that valuable work. 'To deny the exercise of a particular providence in the Deity's government of the world is certainly impious: yet nothing serves the cause of the scorner more than an incautious forward zeal in determining the particular instances of it.'

In confirmation of my sentiments, I am also happy to quote that sensible and elegant writer Mr. Melmoth [see ante, iii. 422], in Letter VIII. of his collection, published under the name of Fitzosborne. 'We may safely assert, that the belief of a particular Providence is founded upon such probable reasons as may well justify our assent. It would scarce, therefore, be wise to renounce an opinion which affords so firm a support to the soul, in those seasons wherein she stands in most need of assistance, merely because it is not possible, in questions of this kind, to solve every difficulty which attends them.' BOSWELL.

[840] I was sorry to observe Lord Monboddo avoid any communication with Dr. Johnson. I flattered myself that I had made them very good friends (see Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, third edit. p. 67, post, v. 80), but unhappily his Lordship had resumed and cherished a violent prejudice against my illustrious friend, to whom I must do the justice to say, there was on his part not the least anger, but a good-humoured sportiveness. Nay, though he knew of his Lordship's indisposition towards him, he was even kindly; as appeared from his inquiring of me after him, by an abbreviation of his name, 'Well, how does Monny?' BOSWELL. Boswell (Hebrides, post, v. 74) says:—'I knew Lord Monboddo and Dr. Johnson did not love each other; yet I was unwilling not to visit his lordship, and was also curious to see them together.' Accordingly, he brought about a meeting. Four years later, in 1777 (ante, iii. 102), Monboddo received from Johnson a copy of his Journey to the Hebrides. They met again in London in 1780 (Piozzi Letters, ii. III), and perhaps then quarrelled afresh. Dr. Seattle wrote on Feb. 28, 1785:-'Lord Monboddo's hatred of Johnson was singular; he would not allow him to know anything but Latin grammar, "and that," says he, "I know as well as he does." I never heard Johnson say anything severe of him, though when he mentioned his name, he generally "grinned horribly a ghastly smile,"' ['Grinned horrible,' &c. Paradise Lost, ii. 846.] Forbes's Beattie, p. 333. The use of the abbreviation Monny on Johnson's part scarcely seems a proof of kindliness. See ante, i. 453, where he said:--'Why, Sir, _Sherry_ is dull, naturally dull,' &c.; and iii. 84, note 2, where he said:—'I should have thought Mund Burke would have had more sense;' see also Rogers's Boswelliana, p. 216, where he said:—'Derry [Derrick] may do very well while he can outrun his character; but the moment that his character gets up with him he is gone.'

[841] On May 13 he wrote:—' Now I am broken loose, my friends seem willing enough to see me. ... But I do not now drive the world about; the world drives or draws me. I am very weak.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 369.

[842] See ante, iii, 443.

[843] See ante, p. 197.

[844] Boswell himself, likely enough.

[845] Verses on the death of Mr. Levett. BOSWELL. Ante, p. 138

[846] If it was Boswell to whom this advice was given, it is not unlikely that he needed it. The meagreness of his record of Johnson's talk at this season may have been due, as seems to have happened before, to too much drinking. Ante, p.88, note 1.

[847] Ante, ii. 100.

[848] George Steevens. See ante, iii. 281.

[849] Forty-six years earlier Johnson wrote of this lady:-'I have composed a Greek epigram to Eliza, and think she ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand.' Ante, i. 122. Miss Burney described her in 1780 as 'really a noble-looking woman; I never saw age so graceful in the female sex yet; her whole face seems to beam with goodness, piety, and philanthropy.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 373.

[850] 'Mrs. Thrale says that though Mrs. Lennox's books are generally approved, nobody likes her.' Ib. p. 91. See ante, i. 255, and iv. 10.

[851] 'Sept. 1778. MRS. THRALE. "Mrs. Montagu is the first woman for literary knowledge in England, and if in England, I hope I may say in the world." DR. JOHNSON. "I believe you may, Madam. She diffuses more knowledge in her conversation than any woman I know, or, indeed, almost any man." MRS. THRALE. "I declare I know no man equal to her, take away yourself and Burke, for that art."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 118. It is curious that Mrs. Thrale and Boswell should both thus instance Burke. Miss Burney writes of her in much more moderate terms:—'Allowing a little for parade and ostentation, which her power in wealth and rank in literature offer some excuse for, her conversation is very agreeable; she is always reasonable and sensible, and sometimes instructive and entertaining.' Ib. p. 325. See ante, ii. 88, note 3. These five ladies all lived to a great age. Mrs. Montagu was 80 when she died; Mrs. Lennox, 83; Miss Burney (Mme. D'Arblay), 87; Miss More and Mrs. (Miss) Carter, 88. Their hostess, Mrs. Garrick, was 97 or 98.

[852] Miss Burney, describing how she first saw Burke, says:—'I had been told that Burke was not expected; yet I could conclude this gentleman to be no other. There was an evident, a striking superiority in his demeanour, his eye, his motions, that announced him no common man.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 145. See ante, ii. 450, where Johnson said of Burke:—'His stream of mind is perpetual;' and Boswell's Hebrides post,, v. 32, and Prior's Life of Burke, fifth edition, p. 58.

[853] Kennel is a strong word to apply to Burke; but, in his jocularity, he sometimes 'let himself down' to indelicate stories. In the House of Commons he had told one—and a very stupid one too—not a year before. Parl. Hist, xxiii. 918. Horace Walpole speaks of Burke's 'pursuit of wit even to puerility.' Journal of the Reign of George III, i. 443. He adds (ib. ii. 26):—'Burke himself always aimed at wit, but was not equally happy in public and private. In the former, nothing was so luminous, so striking, so abundant; in private, it was forced, unnatural, and bombast.' See ante, p. 104, where Wilkes said that in his oratory 'there was a strange want of taste.'

[854] Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, third edition, p. 20 [post, v. 32.] BOSWELL. See also ante, i. 453, and iii. 323.

[855] I have since heard that the report was not well founded; but the elation discovered by Johnson in the belief that it was true, shewed a noble ardour for literary fame. BOSWELL. Johnson wrote on Feb. 9:—'One thing which I have just heard you will think to surpass expectation. The chaplain of the factory at Petersburgh relates that the Rambler is now, by the command of the Empress, translating into Russian, and has promised, when it is printed, to send me a copy.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 349. Stockdale records (Memoirs, ii. 98) that in 1773 the Empress of Russia engaged 'six English literary gentlemen for instructors of her young nobility in her Academy at St. Petersburgh.' He was offered one of the posts. Her zeal may have gone yet further, and she may have wished to open up English literature to those who could not read English. Beauclerk's library was offered for sale to the Russian Ambassador. Ante, iii. 420. Miss Burney, in 1789, said that a newspaper reported that 'Angelica Kauffmann is making drawings from Evelina for the Empress of Russia.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, v. 35.

[856]

'—me peritus Disect Iber, Rhodanique potor.' 'To him who drinks the rapid Rhone Shall Horace, deathless bard, be known.' FRANCIS. Horace, Odes, ii. 20. 19.

[857] See ante, iii. 49.

[858] See post, June 12, 1784.

[859] See ante, p. 126.

[860] H. C. Robinson (Diary, i. 29) describes him as 'an author on an infinity of subjects; his books were on Law, History, Poetry, Antiquities, Divinity, Politics.' He adds (ib. p. 49l):—'Godwin, Lofft, and Thelwall are the only three persons I know (except Hazlitt) who grieve at the late events'—the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. He found long after his death 'a MS. by him in these words:—"Rousseau, Euripides, Tasso, Racine, Cicero, Virgil, Petrarch, Richardson. If I had five millions of years to live upon this earth, these I would read daily with increasing delight."' Ib. iii. 283.

[861] Dunciad, iv. 394, note.

[862] The King opened Parliament this day. Hannah More during the election found the mob favourable to Fox. One night, in a Sedan chair, she was stopped with the news that it was not safe to go through Covent Garden. 'There were a hundred armed men,' she was told, 'who, suspecting every chairman belonged to Brookes's, would fall upon us. A vast number of people followed me, crying out "It is Mrs. Fox; none but Mr. Fox's wife would dare to come into Covent Garden in a chair; she is going to canvas in the dark."' H. More's Memoirs, i. 316. Horace Walpole wrote on April 11:—'In truth Mr. Fox has all the popularity in Westminster.' Letters, viii. 469.

[863] See post, under June 9, 1784, where Johnson describes Fox as 'a man who has divided the kingdom with Caesar.'

[864] See ante, p. 111.

[865] See ante, ii. 162.

[866] Boswell twice speaks of W. G. Hamilton as 'an eminent friend' of Johnson. He was not Boswell's friend. (Ante, p. 111, and post, under Dec. 20, 1784.) But Boswell does not here say 'a friend of ours.' By 'eminent friend' Burke is generally meant, and he, possibly, is meant here. Boswell, it is true, speaks of his 'orderly and amiable domestic habits' (ante, iii. 378); but then Boswell mentions the person here 'as a virtuous man.' If Burke is meant, Johnson's suspicions would seem to be groundless.

[867] See ante, p. 168, where Johnson 'wonders why he should have any enemies.'

[868] After all, I cannot but be of opinion, that as Mr. Langton was seriously requested by Dr. Johnson to mention what appeared to him erroneous in the character of his friend, he was bound, as an honest man, to intimate what he really thought, which he certainly did in the most delicate manner; so that Johnson himself, when in a quiet frame of mind, was pleased with it. The texts suggested are now before me, and I shall quote a few of them. 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.' Mat. v. 5.—'I therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.' Ephes. v. [iv.] 1, 2.—'And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.' Col. iii. 14.—'Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up: doth not behave itself unseemly, is not easily provoked.' 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5. BOSWELL. Johnson, in The Rambler, No. 28, had almost foretold what would happen. 'For escaping these and a thousand other deceits many expedients have been proposed. Some have recommended the frequent consultation of a wise friend, admitted to intimacy and encouraged by sincerity. But this appears a remedy by no means adapted to general use; for, in order to secure the virtue of one, it pre-supposes more virtue in two than will generally be found. In the first, such a desire of rectitude and amendment as may incline him to hear his own accusation from the mouth of him whom he esteems, and by whom therefore he will always hope that his faults are not discovered; and in the second, such zeal and honesty as will make him content for his friend's advantage to lose his kindness.'

[869] Member for Dumfries.

[870] Malone points out that the passage is not in Bacon, but in Boyle, and that it is quoted in Johnson's Dictionary (in the later editions only), under cross-bow. It is as follows:—'Testimony is like the shot of a long-bow, which owes its efficacy to the force of the shooter; argument is like the shot of the cross-bow, equally forcible whether discharged by a giant or a dwarf.' See Smollett's Works, ed. 1797, i. cliv, for a somewhat fuller account by Dr. Moore of what was said by Johnson this evening.

[871] The Peace made by that very able statesman, the Earl of Shelburne, now Marquis of Lansdown, which may fairly be considered as the foundation of all the prosperity of Great Britain since that time. BOSWELL. In the winter of 1782-83, preliminary treaties of peace were made with the United States, France, and Spain; and a suspension of arms with Holland. The Ode is made up of such lines as the following:—

'While meek philosophy explores Creation's vast stupendous round, With piercing gaze sublime she soars, And bursts the system's distant bound.'

Gent. Mag.; 1783. p. 245.

[872] In the first edition of my Work, the epithet amiable was given. I was sorry to be obliged to strike it out; but I could not in justice suffer it to remain, after this young lady had not only written in favour of the savage Anarchy with which France has been visited, but had (as I have been informed by good authority), walked, without horrour, over the ground at the Thuillieries, when it was strewed with the naked bodies of the faithful Swiss Guards, who were barbarously massacred for having bravely defended, against a crew of ruffians, the Monarch whom they had taken an oath to defend. From Dr. Johnson she could now expect not endearment but repulsion. BOSWELL.

[873] Rogers (Table-Talk, p. 50) described her as 'a very fascinating person,' and narrated a curious anecdote which he heard from her about the Reign of Terror.

[874] This year, forming as it did exactly a quarter of a century since Handel's death, and a complete century since his birth, was sought, says the Gent. Mag. (1784, p. 457) as the first public periodical occasion for bringing together musical performers in England. Dr. Burney writes (Ann. Reg. 1784, p. 331):—'Foreigners must have been astonished at so numerous a band, moving in such exact measure, without the assistance of a Coryphaeus to beat time. Rousseau says that "the more time is beaten, the less it is kept."' There were upwards of 500 performers.

[875] See ante, iii. 242.

[876] Lady Wronghead, whispers Mrs. Motherly, pointing to Myrtilla.

'Mrs. Motherly. Only a niece of mine, Madam, that lives with me; she will be proud to give your Ladyship any assistance in her power.

'Lady Wronghead. A pretty sort of a young woman—Jenny, you two must be acquainted.

'Jenny. O Mamma! I am never strange in a strange place. Salutes Myrtilla.' The Provoked Husband; or, A Journey to London, act ii. sc. 1, by Vanbrugh and Colley Gibber. It was not therefore Squire Richard whom Johnson quoted, but his sister.

[877] See ante, p. 191.

[878] See Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843, i. 353, for his application of this story.

[879] She too was learned; for according to Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 292) she had learnt Hebrew, merely to be useful to her husband.

[880]

'This day then let us not be told, That you are sick, and I grown old; Nor think on our approaching ills, And talk of spectacles and pills.'

Swift's Lines on Stella's Birthday, 1726-27. Works, ed. 1803, xi. 21.

[881] Dr. Newton, in his Account of his own Life, after animadverting upon Mr. Gibbon's History, says, 'Dr. Johnson's Lives of the Poets afforded more amusement; but candour was much hurt and offended at the malevolence that predominates in every part. Some passages, it must be allowed, are judicious and well written, but make not sufficient compensation for so much spleen and ill humour. Never was any biographer more sparing of his praise, or more abundant in his censures. He seemingly delights more in exposing blemishes, than in recommending beauties; slightly passes over excellencies, enlarges upon imperfections, and not content with his own severe reflections, revives old scandal, and produces large quotations from the forgotten works of former criticks. His reputation was so high in the republick of letters, that it wanted not to be raised upon the ruins of others. But these Essays, instead of raising a higher idea than was before entertained of his understanding, have certainly given the world a worse opinion of his temper.—The Bishop was therefore the more surprized and concerned for his townsman, for he respected him not only for his genius and learning, but valued him much more for the more amiable part of his character, his humanity and charity, his morality and religion.' The last sentence we may consider as the general and permanent opinion of Bishop Newton; the remarks which precede it must, by all who have read Johnson's admirable work, be imputed to the disgust and peevishness of old age. I wish they had not appeared, and that Dr. Johnson had not been provoked by them to express himself, not in respectful terms, of a Prelate, whose labours were certainly of considerable advantage both to literature and religion. BOSWELL.

[882] Newton was born Jan. 1, 1704, and was made Bishop in 1761. In his Account of his own Life (p. 65) he says:—'He was no great gainer by his preferment; for he was obliged to give up the prebend of Westminster, the precentorship of York, the lecturership of St. George's, Hanover Square, and the genteel office of sub-almoner.' He died in 1781. His Works were published in 1782. Gibbon, defending himself against an attack by Newton, says (Misc. Works, l. 24l):—'The old man should not have indulged his zeal in a false and feeble charge against the historian, who,' &c.

[883] Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd ed. p. 371 [Oct. 25]. BOSWELL. See ante, ii. 216.

[884] The Rev. Mr. Agutter [post, under Dec. 20] has favoured me with a note of a dialogue between Mr. John Henderson [post, June 12] and Dr. Johnson on this topick, as related by Mr. Henderson, and it is evidently so authentick that I shall here insert it:—HENDERSON. 'What do you think, Sir, of William Law?' JOHNSON. 'William Law, Sir, wrote the best piece of Parenetick Divinity; but William Law was no reasoner.' HENDERSON. 'Jeremy Collier, Sir?' JOHNSON. 'Jeremy Collier fought without a rival, and therefore could not claim the victory.' Mr. Henderson mentioned Kenn and Kettlewell; but some objections were made: at last he said, 'But, Sir, what do you think of Leslie?' JOHNSON. 'Charles Leslie I had forgotten. Leslie was a reasoner, and a reasoner who was not to be reasoned against.' BOSWELL.

For the effect of Law's 'Parenetick Divinity' on Johnson, see ante, i. 68. 'I am surprised,' writes Macaulay, 'that Johnson should have pronounced Law no reasoner. Law did indeed fall into great errors; but they were errors against which logic affords no security. In mere dialectical skill he had very few superiors.' Macaulay's England, ed. 1874, v. 81, note. Jeremy Collier's attack on the play-writers Johnson describes in his Life of Congreve (Works, viii. 28), and continues:—'Nothing now remained for the poets but to resist or fly. Dryden's conscience, or his prudence, angry as he was, withheld him from the conflict: Congreve and Vanbrugh attempted answers.' Of Leslie, Lord Bolingbroke thus writes (Works, in. 45):—'Let neither the polemical skill of Leslie, nor the antique erudition of Bedford, persuade us to put on again those old shackles of false law, false reason, and false gospel, which were forged before the Revolution, and broken to pieces by it.' Leslie is described by Macaulay, History of England, v. 81.

[885] Burnet (History of his own Time, ed. 1818, iv. 303) in 1712 speaks of Hickes and Brett as being both in the Church, but as shewing 'an inclination towards Popery.' Hickes, he says, was at the head of the Jacobite party. See Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 25.

[886] 'Only five of the seven were non-jurors; and anybody but Boswell would have known that a man may resist arbitrary power, and yet not be a good reasoner. Nay, the resistance which Sancroft and the other nonjuring Bishops offered to arbitrary power, while they continued to hold the doctrine of non-resistance, is the most decisive proof that they were incapable of reasoning.' Macaulay's England, ed. 1874, v. 81.

[887] See ante, ii. 321, for Johnson's estimate of the Nonjurors, and i. 429 for his Jacobitism.

[888] Savage's Works, ed. 1777, ii. 28.

[889] See ante, p. 46.

[890] See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 77.

[891] I have inserted the stanza as Johnson repeated it from memory; but I have since found the poem itself, in The Foundling Hospital for Wit, printed at London, 1749. It is as follows:—

'EPIGRAM, occasioned by a religious dispute at Bath. 'On Reason, Faith, and Mystery high, Two wits harangue the table; B——y believes he knows not why. N—— swears 'tis all a fable. Peace, coxcombs, peach, and both agree, N——, kiss they empty brother: Religion laughs at foes like thee, And dreads a friend like t'other.'

BOSWELL. The disputants are supposed to have been Beau Nash and Bentley, the son of the doctor, and the friend of Walpole. Croker. John Wesley in his Journal, i. 186, tells how he once silences Nash.

[892] See ante, ii. 105.

[893] Waller, in his Divine Poesie, canto first, has the same thought finely expressed:—

'The Church triumphant, and the Church below, In songs of praise their present union show; Their joys are full; our expectation long, In life we differ, but we join in song; Angels and we assisted by this art, May sing together, though we dwell apart.' BOSWELL.

[894] See Boswell's Hebrides, post, v. 45.

[895] In the original, flee.

[896] The sermon thus opens:—'That there are angels and spirits good and bad; that at the head of these last there is ONE more considerable and malignant than the rest, who, in the form, or under the name of a serpent, was deeply concerned in the fall of man, and whose head, as the prophetick language is, the son of man was one day to bruise; that this evil spirit, though that prophecy be in part completed, has not yet received his death's wound, but is still permitted, for ends unsearchable to us, and in ways which we cannot particularly explain, to have a certain degree of power in this world hostile to its virtue and happiness, and sometimes exerted with too much success; all this is so clear from Scripture, that no believer, unless he be first of all spoiled by philosophy and vain deceit [Colossians, ii. 8], can possibly entertain a doubt of it.'

Having treated of possessions, his Lordship says, 'As I have no authority to affirm that there are now any such, so neither may I presume to say with confidence, that there are not any.'

'But then with regard to the influence of evil spirits at this day upon the SOULS of men, I shall take leave to be a great deal more peremptory.—(Then, having stated the various proofs, he adds,) All this, I say, is so manifest to every one who reads the Scriptures, that, if we respect their authority, the question concerning the reality of the demoniack influence upon the minds of men is clearly determined.'

Let it be remembered, that these are not the words of an antiquated or obscure enthusiast, but of a learned and polite Prelate now alive; and were spoken, not to a vulgar congregation, but to the Honourable Society of Lincoln's-Inn. His Lordship in this sermon explains the words, 'deliver us from evil,' in the Lord's Prayer, as signifying a request to be protected from 'the evil one,' that is the Devil. This is well illustrated in a short but excellent Commentary by my late worthy friend, the Reverend Dr. Lort, of whom it may truly be said, Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit. It is remarkable that Waller, in his Reflections on the several Petitions, in that sacred form of devotion, has understood this in the same sense;—

'Guard us from all temptations of the FOE.'

BOSWELL. Dr. Lort is often mentioned in Horace Walpole's Letters. Multis ille quidem flebilis occidit,' comes from Horace, Odes, i. xxiv. 9, translated by Francis,—

How did the good, the virtuous mourn.'

For Dr. Hurd see ante, p. 189.

[897] There is a curious anecdote of this physician in Gent. Mag. 1772, p. 467.

[898] See ante, p. 166. He may have taken the more to Fox, as he had taken to Beauclerk (ante, i. 248), on account of his descent from Charles II. Fox was the great-great-grandson of that king. His Christian names recall his Stuart ancestry.

[899] Horace Walpole wrote on April 11 (Letters, viii. 469):—'In truth Mr. Fox has all the popularity in Westminster; and, indeed, is so amiable and winning that, could he have stood in person all over England, I question whether he would not have carried the Parliament.' Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 316) in the same month wrote:—'Unluckily for my principles I met Fox canvassing the other day, and he looked so sensible and agreeable, that if I had not turned my eyes another way, I believe it would have been all over with me.' See ante, p. 279.

[900] Dr. John Radcliffe, who died in 1714, left by his will, among other great benefactions to the University of Oxford, '£600 yearly to two persons, when they are Masters of Arts and entered on the physic-line, for their maintenance for the space of ten years; the half of which time at least they are to travel in parts beyond sea for their better improvement.' Radcliffe's Life and Will, p. 123. Pope mentions them in his Imitations of Horace, Epistles, ii. i. 183:—

'E'en Radcliffe's doctors travel first to France, Nor dare to practise till they've learned to dance.'

[901] What risks were run even by inoculation is shewn in two of Dr. Warton's letters. He wrote to his brother:—'This moment the dear children have all been inoculated, never persons behaved better, no whimpering at all, I hope in God for success, but cannot avoid being in much anxiety.' A few days later he wrote:—'You may imagine I never passed such a day as this in my life! grieved to death myself for the loss of so sweet a child, but forced to stifle my feelings as much as possible for the sake of my poor wife. She does not, however, hit on, or dwell on, that most cutting circumstance of all, poor Nanny's dying, as it were by our own means, tho' well intended indeed.' Wooll's Warton, i. 289. Dr. Franklin (Memoirs, i. 155), on the other hand, bitterly regretted that he had not had a child inoculated, whom he lost by small-pox.

[902] See post, before Nov. 17, and under Dec. 9, 1784.

[903] 'I am the vilest of sinners and the worst of men.' Taylor's Works (ed. 1864), iii. 31. 'The best men deserve not eternal life, and I who am the worst may have it given me.' Ib. p. 431—'He that hath lived worst, even I.' Ib. vii. 241. 'Behold me the meanest of thy creatures.' Ib. p. 296.

[904] 'You may fairly look upon yourself to be the greatest sinner that you know in the world. First, because you know more of the folly of your own heart than you do of other people's; and can charge yourself with various sins that you only know of yourself, and cannot be sure that other people are guilty of them.' Law's Serious Call, chap. 23.

[905] 1 Timothy, i. 15.

[906] See post, v. 68, note 4.

[907] 'Be careful thou dost not speak a lie in thy prayers, which though not observed is frequently practised by careless persons, especially in the forms of confession, affirming things which they have not thought, professing sorrow which is not, making a vow they mean not.' Taylor's Works, ed. 1865, vii. 622.

[908] Reynolds wrote:—'As in Johnson's writings not a line can be found which a saint would wish to blot, so in his life he would never suffer the least immorality or indecency of conversation, [or anything] contrary to virtue or piety to proceed without a severe check, which no elevation of rank exempted them from.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 458. See ante, iii. 41.

[909] No doubt Mr. Langton.

[910] Dr. Sheridan tells how Swift overheard a Captain Hamilton say to a gentleman at whose house he had arrived 'that he was very sorry he had chosen that time for his visit. "Why so?" "Because I hear Dean Swift is with you. He is a great scholar, a wit; a plain country squire will have but a bad time of it in his company, and I don't like to be laughed at." Swift then stepped up and said, "Pray, Captain Hamilton, do you know how to say yes or no properly?" "Yes, I think I have understanding enough for that." "Then give me your hand—depend upon it, you and I will agree very well."' 'The Captain told me,' continues Sheridan, 'that he never passed two months so pleasantly in his life.' Swift's Works, ed. 1803, ii. 104.

[911] Gibbon wrote on Feb. 21, 1772 (Misc. Works, ii. 78):—'To day the House of Commons was employed in a very odd way. Tommy Townshend moved that the sermon of Dr. Nowell, who preached before the House on the 30th of January (id est, before the Speaker and four members), should be burnt by the common hangman, as containing arbitrary, Tory, high-flown doctrines. The House was nearly agreeing to the motion, till they recollected that they had already thanked the preacher for his excellent discourse, and ordered it to be printed.'

[912]

'Although it be not shined upon.' Hudibras, iii. 2, 175.

[913] According to Mr. Croker, this was the Rev. Henry Bate, of the Morning Post, who in 1784 took the name of Dudley, was created a baronet in 1815, and died in 1824. Horace Walpole wrote on Nov. 13, 1776 (Letters, vi. 39l):—'Yesterday I heard drums and trumpets in Piccadilly: I looked out of the window and saw a procession with streamers flying. At first I thought it a press-gang, but seeing the corps so well-drest, like Hussars, in yellow with blue waistcoats and breeches, and high caps, I concluded it was some new body of our allies, or a regiment newly raised, and with new regimentals for distinction. I was not totally mistaken, for the Colonel is a new ally. In short, this was a procession set forth by Mr. Bate, Lord Lyttelton's chaplain, and author of the old Morning Post, and meant as an appeal to the town against his antagonist, the new one.' In June, 1781, Bate was sentenced to a year's imprisonment 'for an atrocious libel on the Duke of Richmond. He was the worst of all the scandalous libellers that had appeared both on private persons as well as public. His life was dissolute, and he had fought more than one duel. Yet Lord Sandwich had procured for him a good Crown living, and he was believed to be pensioned by the Court.' Walpole's Journal of the Reign of George III, ii. 464.

[914] See ante, ii. 339, and iii. 265.

[915] Three days earlier, in the debate on the Westminster Scrutiny, Fox accused 'a person of great rank in this House'—Pitt I believe—'of adding pertness and personal contumely to every species of rash and inconsiderate violence.' Parl. Hist. xxiv. 924. Pitt, in reply, classed Fox among 'political apostates,' ib. p. 929. Burke, the same evening, 'sat down saying, "he little minded the ill-treatment of a parcel of boys."' When he was called to order, he said:—'When he used the term "a parcel of boys," he meant to apply it to the ministry, who, he conceived, were insulting him with their triumph; a triumph which grey hairs ought to be allowed the privilege of expressing displeasure at, when it was founded on the rash exultation of mere boys.' Ib. p. 939. Pitt, Prime-Minister though he was, in the spring of the same year, was called to order by the Speaker, for charging a member with using 'language the most false, the most malicious, and the most slanderous.' Ib. p. 763.

[916] Epistles to Mr. Pope, ii. 165.

[917] See an account of him, in a sermon by the Reverend Mr. Agutter. BOSWELL. This sermon was published in 1788. In Hannah More's Memoirs (i. 217), Henderson is described as 'a mixture of great sense, which discovered uncommon parts and learning, with a tincture of nonsense of the most extravagant kind. He believes in witches and apparitions, as well as in judicial astronomy.' Mrs. Kennicott writes (ib. p. 220):—'I think if Dr. Johnson had the shaking him about, he would shake out his nonsense, and set his sense a-working. 'He never got out into the world, says Dr. Hall, the Master of Pembroke College, having died in College in 1788.

[918] This was the second Lord Lyttelton, commonly known as 'the wicked Lord Lyttelton.' Fox described him to Rogers as 'a very bad man—downright wicked.' Rogers's Table Talk, p. 95. He died Nov. 27, 1779. Horace Walpole (Letters, vii. 292) wrote to Mason on Dec. 11 of that year:—'If you can send us any stories of ghosts out of the North, they will be very welcome. Lord Lyttelton's vision has revived the taste; though it seems a little odd that an apparition should despair of being able to get access to his Lordship's bed in the shape of a young woman, without being forced to use the disguise of a robin-red-breast.' In the Gent. Mag. 1815, i. 597, and 1816, ii. 421, accounts are given of this vision. In the latter account it is said that 'he saw a bird fluttering, and afterwards a woman appeared in white apparel, and said, "Prepare to die; you will not exist three days."' Mrs. Piozzi also wrote a full account of it. Hayward's Piozzi, i. 332.

[919] See ante, ii. 150, and iii. 298, note 1.

[920] See ante, p. 278.

[921] 'If he who considers himself as suspended over the abyss of eternal perdition only by the thread of life, which must soon part by its own weakness, and which the wing of every minute may divide, can cast his eyes round him without shuddering with horror, or panting for security; what can he judge of himself, but that he is not yet awakened to sufficient conviction? &c.' The Rambler, No. 110. In a blank leaf in the book in which Johnson kept his diary of his journey in Wales is written in his own hand, 'Faith in some proportion to Fear.' Duppa's Johnson's Diary of a Journey &c., p. 157. See ante, iii. 199.

[922] He wrote to Mrs. Thrale on March 20:—'Write to me no more about dying with a grace; when you feel what I have felt in approaching eternity—in fear of soon hearing the sentence of which there is no revocation, you will know the folly.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 354. Of him it might have been said in Cowper's words:—

'Scripture is still a trumpet to his fears.'

The Task: The Winter Morning Walk, 1. 611. See ante, iii. 294.

[923] The Reverend Mr. Ralph Churton, Fellow of Brazen-Nose College, Oxford, has favoured me with the following remarks on my Work, which he is pleased to say, 'I have hitherto extolled, and cordially approve.'

'The chief part of what I have to observe is contained in the following transcript from a letter to a friend, which, with his concurrence, I copied for this purpose; and, whatever may be the merit or justness of the remarks, you may be sure that being written to a most intimate friend, without any intention that they ever should go further, they are the genuine and undisguised sentiments of the writer:—

'Jan. 6, 1792.

'Last week, I was reading the second volume of Boswell's Johnson, with increasing esteem for the worthy authour, and increasing veneration of the wonderful and excellent man who is the subject of it. The writer throws in, now and then, very properly some serious religious reflections; but there is one remark, in my mind an obvious and just one, which I think he has not made, that Johnson's "morbid melancholy," and constitutional infirmities, were intended by Providence, like St. Paul's thorn in the flesh, to check intellectual conceit and arrogance; which the consciousness of his extraordinary talents, awake as he was to the voice of praise, might otherwise have generated in a very culpable degree. Another observation strikes me, that in consequence of the same natural indisposition, and habitual sickliness, (for he says he scarcely passed one day without pain after his twentieth year,) he considered and represented human life, as a scene of much greater misery than is generally experienced. There may be persons bowed down with affliction all their days; and there are those, no doubt, whose iniquities rob them of rest; but neither calamities nor crimes, I hope and believe, do so much and so generally abound, as to justify the dark picture of life which Johnson's imagination designed, and his strong pencil delineated. This I am sure, the colouring is far too gloomy for what I have experienced, though as far as I can remember, I have had more sickness (I do not say more severe, but only more in quantity,) than falls to the lot of most people. But then daily debility and occasional sickness were far overbalanced by intervenient days, and, perhaps, weeks void of pain, and overflowing with comfort. So that in short, to return to the subject, human life, as far as I can perceive from experience or observation, is not that state of constant wretchedness which Johnson always insisted it was; which misrepresentation, (for such it surely is,) his Biographer has not corrected, I suppose, because, unhappily, he has himself a large portion of melancholy in his constitution, and fancied the portrait a faithful copy of life.'

The learned writer then proceeds thus in his letter to me:—

'I have conversed with some sensible men on this subject, who all seem to entertain the same sentiments respecting life with those which are expressed or implied in the foregoing paragraph. It might be added that as the representation here spoken of, appears not consistent with fact and experience, so neither does it seem to be countenanced by Scripture. There is, perhaps, no part of the sacred volume which at first sight promises so much to lend its sanction to these dark and desponding notions as the book of Ecclesiastes, which so often, and so emphatically, proclaims the vanity of things sublunary. But the design of this whole book, (as it has been justly observed,) is not to put us out of conceit with life, but to cure our vain expectations of a compleat and perfect happiness in this world; to convince us, that there is no such thing to be found in mere external enjoyments;—and to teach us to seek for happiness in the practice of virtue, in the knowledge and love of God, and in the hopes of a better life. For this is the application of all; Let us hear, &c. xii. 13. Not only his duty, but his happiness too; _For_ GOD, &c. ver. 14.--See _Sherlock on Providence, p. 299.

'The New Testament tells us, indeed, and most truly, that "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" and, therefore, wisely forbids us to increase our burden by forebodings of sorrows; but I think it no where says that even our ordinary afflictions are not consistent with a very considerable degree of positive comfort and satisfaction. And, accordingly, one whose sufferings as well as merits were conspicuous, assures us, that in proportion "as the sufferings of Christ abounded in them, so their consolation also abounded by Christ." 2 Cor. i. 5. It is needless to cite, as indeed it would be endless even to refer to, the multitude of passages in both Testaments holding out, in the strongest language, promises of blessings, even in this world, to the faithful servants of GOD. I will only refer to St. Luke, xviii. 29, 30, and 1 Tim. iv. 8.

'Upon the whole, setting aside instances of great and lasting bodily pain, of minds peculiarly oppressed by melancholy, and of severe temporal calamities, from which extraordinary cases we surely should not form our estimate of the general tenour and complexion of life; excluding these from the account, I am convinced that as well the gracious constitution of things which Providence has ordained, as the declarations of Scripture and the actual experience of individuals, authorize the sincere Christian to hope that his humble and constant endeavours to perform his duty, checquered as the best life is with many failings, will be crowned with a greater degree of present peace, serenity, and comfort, than he could reasonably permit himself to expect, if he measured his views and judged of life from the opinion of Dr. Johnson, often and energetically expressed in the Memoirs of him, without any animadversion or censure by his ingenious Biographer. If he himself, upon reviewing the subject, shall see the matter in this light, he will, in an octavo edition, which is eagerly expected, make such additional remarks or correction as he shall judge fit; lest the impressions which these discouraging passages may leave on the reader's mind, should in any degree hinder what otherwise the whole spirit and energy of the work tends, and, I hope, successfully, to promote,—pure morality and true religion.'

Though I have, in some degree, obviated any reflections against my illustrious friend's dark views of life, when considering, in the course of this Work, his Rambler [ante, i. 213] and his Rasselas [ante, i. 343], I am obliged to Mr. Churton for complying with my request of his permission to insert his Remarks, being conscious of the weight of what he judiciously suggests as to the melancholy in my own constitution. His more pleasing views of life, I hope, are just. Valeant quantum valere possunt.

Mr. Churton concludes his letter to me in these words:—'Once, and only once, I had the satisfaction of seeing your illustrious friend; and as I feel a particular regard for all whom he distinguished with his esteem and friendship, so I derive much pleasure from reflecting that I once beheld, though but transiently near our College gate, one whose works will for ever delight and improve the world, who was a sincere and zealous son of the Church of England, an honour to his country, and an ornament to human nature.'

His letter was accompanied with a present from himself of his Sermons at the Bampton Lecture, and from his friend, Dr. Townson, the venerable Rector of Malpas, in Cheshire, of his Discourses on the Gospels, together with the following extract of a letter from that excellent person, who is now gone to receive the reward of his labours:—'Mr. Boswell is not only very entertaining in his works, but they are so replete with moral and religious sentiments, without an instance, as far as I know, of a contrary tendency, that I cannot help having a great esteem for him; and if you think such a trifle as a copy of the Discourses, ex dono authoris, would be acceptable to him, I should be happy to give him this small testimony of my regard.'

Such spontaneous testimonies of approbation from such men, without any personal acquaintance with me, are truly valuable and encouraging.

BOSWELL.

[924]

'Tout se plaint, tout gémit en cherchant le bien-etre; Nul ne voudrait mourir, nul ne voudrait renaitre.'

Voltaire, Le désastre de Lisbonne. Works, ed. 1819, x. 124. 'Johnson said that, for his part, he never passed that week in his life which he would wish to repeat, were an angel to make the proposal to him.' Ante, ii. 125. Yet Dr. Franklin, whose life overlapped Johnson's at both ends, said:-'I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end, requesting only the advantage authors have of correcting in a second edition the faults of its first. So would I also wish to change some incidents of it for others more favourable Notwithstanding, if this condition was denied, I should still accept the offer of re-commencing the same life.' Franklin's Memoirs, i. 2.

[925] Mackintosh thus sums up this question:—'The truth is, that endless fallacies must arise from the attempt to appreciate by retrospect human life, of which the enjoyments depend on hope.' Life of Mackintosh, ii. 160. See ante, ii. 350.

[926] In the lines on Levett. Ante, p. 137.

[927] AURENGZEBE, act iv. sc. 1. BOSWELL. According to Dr. Maxwell (ante, ii. 124), Johnson frequently quoted the fourth couplet of these lines. Boswell does not give the last—

'I'm tired with waiting for this chemic gold Which fools us young, and beggars us when old.'

[928] Johnson, speaking of the companions of his college days, said:— 'It was bitterness which they mistook for frolick.' Ante, i. 73.

[929]

'—to thee I call But with no friendly voice, and add thy name O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams.'

Milton's Paradise Lost, iv. 35.

[930] Yet there is no doubt that a man may appear very gay in company who is sad at heart. His merriment is like the sound of drums and trumpets in a battle, to drown the groans of the wounded and dying. BOSWELL.

[931] Mme. D'Arblay (Memoirs of Dr. Burney, ii. 103) tells how Johnson was one day invited to her father's house at the request of Mr. Greville, 'the finest gentleman about town,' as she earlier described him (ib. i. 25), who desired to make his acquaintance. This 'superb' gentleman was afraid to begin to speak. 'Assuming his most supercilious air of distant superiority he planted himself, immovable as a noble statue, upon the hearth, as if a stranger to the whole set.' Johnson, who 'never spoke till he was spoken to' (ante, in. 307)—this habit the Burneys did not as yet know—'became completely absorbed in silent rumination; very unexpectedly, however, he shewed himself alive to what surrounded him, by one of those singular starts of vision, that made him seem at times, though purblind to things in common, gifted with an eye of instinct for espying any action that he thought merited reprehension; for all at once, looking fixedly on Mr. Greville, who without much self-denial, the night being very cold, kept his station before the chimney-piece, he exclaimed:—"If it were not for depriving the ladies of the fire, I should like to stand upon the hearth myself." A smile gleamed upon every face at this pointed speech. Mr. Greville tried to smile himself, though faintly and scoffingly. He tried also to hold his post; and though for two or three minutes he disdained to move, the awkwardness of a general pause impelled him ere long to glide back to his chair; but he rang the bell with force as he passed it to order his carriage.'

[932] Page 139. BOSWELL.

[933] On this same day Miss Adams wrote to a friend:—'Dr. Johnson, tho' not in good health, is in general very talkative and infinitely agreeable and entertaining.' Pemb. Coll. MSS.

[934] Johnson said 'Milton was a Phidias, &c.' Ante, p. 99, note 1. In his Life of Milton (Works, vii. 119) he writes:—'Milton never learnt the art of doing little things with grace; he overlooked the milder excellence of suavity and softness; he was a Lion that had no skill in dandling the kid.'

['Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw Dandled the kid.' Paradise Lost, iv. 343.]

[935] Cardinal Newman (History of my Religious Opinions, ed. 1865, p. 361) remarks on this:—'As to Johnson's case of a murderer asking you which way a man had gone, I should have anticipated that, had such a difficulty happened to him, his first act would have been to knock the man down, and to call out for the police; and next, if he was worsted in the conflict, he would not have given the ruffian the information he asked, at whatever risk to himself. I think he would have let himself be killed first. I do not think that he would have told a lie.'

[936] See ante, iii. 376.

[937] Book ii. 1. 142.

[938] The annotator calls them 'amiable verses.' BOSWELL. The annotators of the Dunciad were Pope himself and Dr. Arbuthnot. Johnson's Works, viii. 280.

[939] Boswell was at this time corresponding with Miss Seward. See post, June 25.

[940] By John Dyer. Ante, ii. 453.

[941] Lewis's Verses addressed to Pope were first published in a Collection of Pieces on occasion of The Dunciad, 8vo., 1732. They do not appear in Lewis's own Miscellany, printed in 1726.—Grongar Hill was first printed in Savage's Miscellanies as an Ode, and was reprinted in the same year in Lewis's Miscellany, in the form it now bears.

In his Miscellanies, 1726, the beautiful poem,—'Away, let nought to love displeasing,'—reprinted in Percy's Reliques, vol. i. book iii. No. 13, first appeared. MALONE.

[942] See ante, p. 58.

[943] See ante, i. 71, and ii. 226.

[944] Captain Cook's third voyage. The first two volumes by Captain Cook; the last by Captain King.

[945] See ante, ii. 73, 228, 248; iii. 49.

[946]

'—quae mollissima fandi Tempora.' '—time wherein the word May softliest be said.' MORRIS. Virgil, Aeneids, iv. 293.

[947] See ante, i. 71.

[948] See ante, i. 203, note 6.

[949] Boswell began to eat dinners in the Inner Temple so early as 1775. Ante, ii. 377, note 1. He was not called till Hilary Term, 1786. Rogers's Boswelliana, p. 143.

[950] Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Jones wrote two years earlier (Life, p. 268):—'Whether it be a wise part to live uncomfortably in order to die wealthy, is another question; but this I know by experience, and have heard old practitioners make the same observation, that a lawyer who is in earnest must be chained to his chambers and the bar for ten or twelve years together.'

[951] Johnson's Prologue at the opening of Drury Lane Theatre. Works, i. 23.

[952] According to Mr. Seward, who published this account in his Anecdotes, ii. 83, it was Mr. Langton's great-grandfather who drew it up.

[953] 'My Lord said that his rule for his, health was to be temperate and keep himself warm. He never made breakfasts, but used in the morning to drink a glass of some sort of ale. That he went to bed at nine, and rose between six and seven, allowing himself a good refreshment for his sleep. That the law will admit of no rival, nothing to go even with it; but that sometimes one may for diversion read in the Latin historians of England, Hoveden and Matthew Paris, &c. But after it is conquered, it will admit of other studies. He said, a little law, a good tongue, and a good memory, would fit a man for the Chancery.' Seward's Anecdotes, ii. 92.

[954] Wednesday was the 16th

[955] See ante, i. 41.

[956] Letters to Mrs. Thrale, vol. ii. p. 372. BOSWELL.

[957] See ante/, i. 155.

[958] The recommendation in this list of so many histories little agrees 'with the fierce and boisterous contempt of ignorance' with which, according to Lord Macaulay, Johnson spoke of history. Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843, i. 403.

[959] See ante, iii. 12.

[960] Northcote's account of Reynolds's table suits the description of this 'gentleman's mode of living.' 'A table prepared for seven or eight was often compelled to contain fifteen or sixteen.' There was a 'deficiency of knives and forks, plates and glasses. The attendance was in the same style.' There were 'two or three undisciplined domestics. The host left every one at perfect liberty to scramble for himself.' 'Rags' is certainly a strong word to apply to any of the company; but then strong words were what Johnson used. Northcote mentions 'the mixture of company.' Northcote's Reynolds, ii. 94-6. See ante, iii. 375, note 2.

[961] The Mayor of Windsor. Rogers's Boswelliana, p. 211.

[962] The passage occurs in Brooke's Earl of Essex(1761) at the close of the first act, where Queen Elizabeth says:

'I shall henceforth seek For other lights to truth; for righteous monarchs, Justly to judge, with their own eyes should see; To rule o'er freemen should themselves be free.' Notes and Queries, 5th S. viii. 456.

The play was acted at Drury Lane Theatre, old Mr. Sheridan taking the chief part. He it was who, in admiration, repeated the passage to Johnson which provoked the parody. Murphy's Garrick, p. 234.

[963] 'Letters to Mrs. Thrale, vol. ii. p. 284. BOSWELL. In a second letter (ib. p. 347) he says:—'Cator has a rough, manly independent understanding, and does not spoil it by complaisance.' Miss Burney accuses him of emptiness, verbosity and pomposity, all of which she describes in an amusing manner. Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 47.

[964] 'All general reflections upon nations and societies are the trite, thread-bare jokes of those who set up for wit without having any, and so have recourse to common-place.' Chesterfield's Letters, i. 231.

[965] See vol. ii. p. 126. BOSWELL

[966] '"That may be so," replied the lady, "for ought I know, but they are above my comprehension." "I an't obliged to find you comprehension, Madam, curse me," cried he,' Roderick Random, ch. 53. '"I protest," cried Moses, "I don't rightly comprehend the force of your reasoning." "O, Sir," cried the Squire, "I am your most humble servant, I find you want me to furnish you with argument and intellects too."' Vicar of Wakefield, ch. 7.

[967] In the first edition, 'as the Honourable Horace Walpole is often called;' in the second edition, 'as Horace, now Earl of Orford, &c.' Walpole succeeded to the title in Dec. 1791. In answer to congratulations he wrote (Letters, ix. 364):—'What has happened destroys my tranquillity.... Surely no man of seventy-four, unless superannuated, can have the smallest pleasure in sitting at home in his own room, as I almost always do, and being called by a new name.' He died March 2, 1797.

[968] In The Rambler, No. 83, a character of a virtuoso is given which in many ways suits Walpole:—'It is never without grief that I find a man capable of ratiocination or invention enlisting himself in this secondary class of learning; for when he has once discovered a method of gratifying his desire of eminence by expense rather than by labour, and known the sweets of a life blest at once with the ease of idleness and the reputation of knowledge, he will not easily be brought to undergo again the toil of thinking, or leave his toys and trinkets for arguments and principles.'

[969] Walpole says:—'I do not think I ever was in a room with Johnson six times in my days.' Letters, ix. 319. 'The first time, I think, was at the Royal Academy. Sir Joshua said, "Let me present Dr. Goldsmith to you;" he did. "Now I will present Dr. Johnson to you." "No," said I, "Sir Joshua; for Dr. Goldsmith, pass—but you shall not present Dr. Johnson to me."' Journal &c. of Miss Berry, i. 305. In his Journal of the Reign of George III, he speaks of Johnson as 'one of the venal champions of the Court,' 'a renegade' (i. 430); 'a brute,' 'an old decrepit hireling' (ib. p. 472); and as 'one of the subordinate crew whom to name is to stigmatize' (ib. ii. 5). In his Memoirs of the Reign of George III, iv. 297, he says:—'With a lumber of learning and some strong parts Johnson was an odious and mean character. His manners were sordid, supercilious, and brutal; his style ridiculously bombastic and vicious, and, in one word, with all the pedantry he had all the gigantic littleness of a country schoolmaster.'

[970] See ante, i. 367.

[971] On May 26, 1791, Walpole wrote of Boswell's Life of Johnson (Letters ix. 3l9):—'I expected amongst the excommunicated to find myself, but am very gently treated. I never would be in the least acquainted with Johnson; or, as Boswell calls it, I had not a just value for him; which the biographer imputes to my resentment for the Doctor's putting bad arguments (purposely out of Jacobitism) into the speeches which he wrote fifty years ago for my father in the Gentleman's Magazine; which I did not read then, or ever knew Johnson wrote till Johnson died.' Johnson said of these Debates:—'I saved appearances tolerably well; but I took care that the Whig dogs should not have the best of it.' Ante, i. 504. 'Lord Holland said that whenever Boswell came into a company where Horace Walpole was, Walpole would throw back his head, purse up his mouth very significantly, and not speak a word while Boswell remained.' Autobiographical Recollections of C. R. Leslie, i. 155. Walpole (Letters, viii. 44) says:—'Boswell, that quintessence of busybodies, called on me last week, and was let in, which he should not have been, could I have foreseen it. After tapping many topics, to which I made as dry answers as an unbribed oracle, he vented his errand.'

[972] Walpole wrote (Letters, vi. 44):—'If The School for Wives and The Christmas Tale were laid to me, so was The Heroic Espistle. I could certainly have written the two former, but not the latter.' See ante, iv. 113.

[973] The title given by Bishop Pearson to his collection of Hales's Writings is the Golden Remains of the Ever Memorable John Hales of Eaton College, &c. It was published in 1659.

[974] I Henry IV, act ii. sc. 4. 'Sir James Mackintosh remembers that, while spending the Christmas of 1793 at Beaconsfield, Mr. Burke said to him, 'Johnson showed more powers of mind in company than in his writings; but he argued only for victory; and when he had neither a paradox to defend, nor an antagonist to crush, he would preface his assent with "Why, no, Sir."' CROKER. Croker's Boswell, p. 768.

[975]

Search then the ruling passion: There alone The wild are constant, and the cunning known; The fool consistent, and the false sincere; Priests, princes, women, no dissemblers here.' Pope, Moral Essays, i. 174.

'The publick pleasures of far the greater part of mankind are counterfeit.' The Idler, No. 18.

[976] Ante, ii. 241, and iii. 325.

[977] Boswell refers to Cicero's Treatise on Famous Orators.

[978] Boswell here falls into a mistake. About harvest-time in 1766, there were corn-riots owing to the dearness of bread. By the Act of the 15th of Charles II, corn, when under a certain price, might be legally exported. On Sept. 26, 1766, before this price had been reached, the Crown issued a proclamation to prohibit the exportation of grain. When parliament met in November, a bill of indemnity was brought in for those concerned in the late embargo. 'The necessity of the embargo was universally allowed;' it was the exercise by the Crown of a power of dispensing with the laws that was attacked. Some of the ministers who, out of office, 'had set up as the patrons of liberty,' were made the object 'of many sarcasms on the beaten subject of occasional patriotism.' Ann. Reg. x. 39-48, and Dicey's Law of the Constitution, p. 50.

[979] St. Mark, ii. 9.

[980] Anecdotes, p. 43. BOSWELL. The passage is from the Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies, March 22, 1775. Payne's Burke, i. 173. The image of the angel and Lord Bathurst was thus, according to Mrs. Piozzi, parodied by Johnson:—'Suppose, Mr. Speaker, that to Wharton, or to Marlborough, or to any of the eminent Whigs of the last age, the devil had, not with great impropriety, consented to appear.' See ante, iii. 326, where Johnson said 'the first Whig was the Devil.'

[981] Boswell was stung by what Mrs. Piozzi wrote when recording this parody. She said that she had begged Johnson's leave to write it down directly. 'A trick,' she continues, 'which I have seen played on common occasions of sitting steadily [? stealthily] down at the other end of the room to write at the moment what should be said in company, either by Dr. Johnson or to him, I never practised myself, nor approved of in another. There is something so ill-bred, and so inclining to treachery in this conduct, that, were it commonly adopted, all confidence would soon be exiled from society.' See post, under June 30, 1784, where Boswell refers to this passage.

[982]

'Who'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme.'

Pope, Imitations of Horace, 2 Satires, i. 78.

[983] On March 14, 1770, in a debate on the licentiousness of the press, Townshend joined together Johnson and Shebbeare. Burke, who followed him, said nothing about Johnson. Fitzherbert, speaking of Johnson as 'my friend,' defended him as 'a pattern of morality.' Cavendish Debates, i.514. On Feb. 16, 1774, when Fox drew attention to a 'vile libel' signed A South Briton, Townshend said 'Dr. Shebbeare and Dr. Johnson have been pensioned, but this wretched South Briton is to be prosecuted.' It was Fox, and not Burke, who on this occasion defended Johnson. Parl. Hist. xvii.1054. As Goldsmith was writing Retaliation at the very time that this second attack was made, it is very likely that it was the occasion, of the change in the line.

[984] In the original yet.

[985]

'Sis pecore et multa dives tellure licebit, Tibique Pactolus fluat.' 'Though wide thy land extends, and large thy fold, Though rivers roll for thee their purest gold.'

FRANCIS. Horace, Epodes, xv. 19.

[986] See Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843, i. 404, for Macaulay's appropriation and amplification of this passage.

[987] See ante, ii. 168.

[988] Mr. Croker suggests the Rev. Martin Sherlock, an Irish Clergyman, 'who published in 1781 his own travels under the title of Letters of an English Traveller translated from the French.' Croker's Boswell, p. 770. Mason writes of him as 'Mister, or Monsieur, or Signor Sherlock, for I am told he is both [sic] French, English, and Italian in print.' Walpole's Letters, viii. 202. I think, however, that Dr. Thomas Campbell is meant. His Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland Boswell calls 'a very entertaining book, which has, however, one fault;—that it assumes the fictitious character of an Englishman.' Ante, ii. 339.

[989] See ante, iv. 49.

[990] This anecdote is not in the first two editions.

[991] See ante, in. 369.

[992] 'I have heard,' says Hawkins (Life, p. 409), 'that in many instances, and in some with tears in his eyes, he has apologised to those whom he had offended by contradiction or roughness of behaviour.' See ante, ii. 109, and 256, note 1.

[993] Johnson (Works, viii. 131) describes Savage's 'superstitious regard to the correction of his sheets ... The intrusion or omission of a comma was sufficient to discompose him, and he would lament an errour of a single letter as a heavy calamity.'

[994] Compositor in the Printing-house means, the person who adjusts the types in the order in which they are to stand for printing; and arranges what is called the form, from which an impression is taken. BOSWELL.

[995] This circumstance therefore alluded to in Mr. Courtenay's Poetical Character of him is strictly true. My informer was Mrs. Desmoulins, who lived many years in Dr. Johnson's house. BOSWELL. The following are Mr. Courtenay's lines:—

'Soft-eyed compassion with a look benign, His fervent vows he offered at thy shrine; To guilt, to woe, the sacred debt was paid, And helpless females blessed his pious aid; Snatched from disease, and want's abandoned crew, Despair and anguish from their victims flew; Hope's soothing balm into their bosoms stole, And tears of penitence restored the soul.'

[996] The Cross Readings were said to be formed 'by reading two columns of a newspaper together onwards,' whereby 'the strangest connections were brought about,' such as:—

'This morning the Right Hon. the Speaker was convicted of keeping a disorderly house. Whereas the said barn was set on fire by an incendiary letter dropped early in the morning. By order of the Commissioners for Paving An infallible remedy for the stone and gravel. The sword of state was carried before Sir John Fielding and committed to Newgate.'

The New Foundling Hospital for Wit, i. 129. According to Northcote (Life of Reynolds, i. 217), 'Dr. Goldsmith declared, in the heat of his admiration of these Cross Readings, it would have given him more pleasure to have been the author of them than of all the works he had ever published of his own.' Horace Walpole (Letters, v. 30) writes:— 'Have you seen that delightful paper composed out of scraps in the newspapers? I laughed till I cried. I mean the paper that says:—

"This day his Majesty will go in great state to fifteen notorious common prostitutes."'

[997] One of these gentlemen was probably Mr. Musgrave (ante, ii. 343, note 2), who, says Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 295), when 'once he was singularly warm about Johnson's writing the lives of our famous prose authors, getting up and entreating him to set about the work immediately, he coldly replied, "Sit down, Sir."' Miss Burney says that 'the incense he paid Dr. Johnson by his solemn manner of listening, by the earnest reverence with which he eyed him, and by a theatric start of admiration every time he spoke, joined to the Doctor's utter insensibility to all these tokens, made me find infinite difficulty in keeping my countenance.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 85. The other gentleman was perhaps Dr. Wharton. Ante, ii. 41, note 1.

[998] Probably Dr. Beattie. The number of letters in his name agrees with the asterisks given a few lines below. Ante, iii. 339, note 1, and post, p. 330.

[999] Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines congé d'élire as the king's permission royal to a dean and chapter in time of vacation, to choose a bishop. When Dr. Hampden was made Bishop of Hereford in 1848, the Dean resisted the appointment. H. C. Robinson records, on the authority of the Bishop's Secretary (Diary, iii. 311), that 'at the actual confirmation in Bow Church the scene was quite ludicrous. After the judge had told the opposers that he could not hear them, the citation for opposers to come forward was repeated, at which the people present laughed out, as at a play.'

[1000] This has been printed in other publications, 'fall to the ground.' But Johnson himself gave me the true expression which he had used as above; meaning that the recommendation left as little choice in the one case as the other. BOSWELL. One of the 'other publications is Hawkins's edition of Johnson's Works. See in it vol. xi. p. 216.

[1001] They are published in vol. xi. of Hawkins's edition of Johnson's Works. 1787, and are often quoted in my notes. It should be remembered that Steevens is not trustworthy. See ante, iii. 281, and iv. 178.

[1002] See ante, ii. 96.

[1003] See ante, p. iii.

[1004] She Stoops to Conquer was first acted on March 15, 1773. The King of Sardinia had died on Feb. 20. Gent. Mag. 1773, pp. 149, 151.

[1005] Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 170) describes how, in 1780, she went to one of Mrs. Ord's assemblies at a time when 'the mourning for some foreign Wilhelmina Jaquelina was not over. Every human creature was in deep mourning, and I, poor I, all gorgeous in scarlet. Even Jacobite Johnson was in deep mourning.'

[1006] In the tenth edition of the Rambler, published in 1784, the entry is still found:—'Milton, Mr. John, remarks on his versification.' In like manner we find:—'Shakspeare, Mr. William, his eminent success in tragi-comedy;' 'Spenser, Mr. Edmund, some imitations of his diction censured;' 'Cowley, Mr. Abraham, a passage in his writing illustrated.'

[1007] See ante, p. 116.

[1008] See ante, iii. 425, note 3.

[1009] Hawkins (Life, p. 571) writes:—'The plan for Johnson's visiting the Continent became so well known, that, as a lady then resident at Rome afterwards informed me, his arrival was anxiously expected throughout Italy.'

[1010] Edward Lord Thurlow. BOSWELL.

[1011] See ante, p. 179.

[1012] In 1778.

[1013] 'With Lord Thurlow, while he was at the bar, Johnson was well acquainted. He said to Mr. Murphy twenty years ago, "Thurlow is a man of such vigour of mind that I never knew I was to meet him, but—I was going to tell a falsehood; I was going to say I was afraid of him, and that would not be true, for I was never afraid of any man—but I never knew that I was to meet Thurlow, but I knew I had something to encounter."' Monthly Review for 1787, lxxvi. 382. Murphy, no doubt, was the writer. Lord Campbell (Lives of the Chancellors, ed. 1846, v.621) quotes from 'the Diary of a distinguished political character' an account of a meeting between Thurlow and Horne Tooke, in 1801. 'Tooke evidently came forward for a display, and as I considered his powers of conversation as surpassing those of any person I had ever seen (in point of skill and dexterity, and if necessary in lying), so I took for granted old grumbling Thurlow would be obliged to lower his top-sail to him—but it seemed as if the very look and voice of Thurlow scared him out of his senses from the first moment. So Tooke tried to recruit himself by wine, and, though not generally a drinker, was very drunk, but all would not do.'

[1014] It is strange that Sir John Hawkins should have related that the application was made by Sir Joshua Reynolds, when he could so easily have been informed of the truth by inquiring of Sir Joshua. Sir John's carelessness to ascertain facts is very remarkable. BOSWELL.

[1015] There is something dreadful in the thought of the old man quietly going on with his daily life within a few hundred yards of this shocking scene of slaughter, this 'legal massacre,' to use his own words (ante, p. 188, note 3). England had a kind of Reign of Terror of its own; little thought of at the time or remembered since. Twenty-four men were sentenced to death at the Old Bailey Sessions that ended on April 28. On June 16 nine of these had the sentence commuted; the rest were hanged this day. Among these men was not a single murderer. Twelve of them had committed burglary, two a street robbery, and one had personated another man's name, with intent to receive his wages. Ann. Reg. xxvii, 193, and Gent. Mag. liv. 379, 474. The Gent. Mag. recording the sentences, remarks:—'Convicts under sentence of death in Newgate and the gaols throughout the kingdom increase so fast, that, were they all to be executed, England would soon be marked among the nations as the Bloody Country.' In the spring assizes the returns are given for ten towns. There were 88 capital convictions, of which 21 were at Winchester. Ib. 224. In the summer assizes and at the Old Bailey Sessions for July there were 149 capital convictions. At Maidstone a man on being sentenced 'gave three loud cheers, upon which the judge gave strict orders for his being chained to the floor of the dungeon.' Ib. pp. 311, 633. The hangman was to grow busier yet. This increase in the number of capital punishments was attributed by Romilly in great part to Madan's Thoughts on Executive Justice; 'a small tract, in which, by a mistaken application of the maxim "that the certainty of punishment is more efficacious than its severity for the prevention of crimes," he absurdly insisted on the expediency of rigidly enforcing, in every instance, our penal code, sanguinary and barbarous as it was. In 1783, the year before the book was published, there were executed in London only 51 malefactors; in 1785, the year after the book was published, there were executed 97; and it was recently after the publication of the book that was exhibited a spectacle unseen in London for a long course of years before, the execution of nearly 20 criminals at a time.' Life of Romilly, i. 89. Madan's Tract was published in the winter of 1784-5. Boswell's fondness for seeing executions is shewn, ante, ii. 93.

[1016] See ante, ii. 82, 104; iii. 290; and v. 7l.

[1017] A friend of mine happened to be passing by a field congregation in the environs of London, when a Methodist preacher quoted this passage with triumph. BOSWELL. On Dec. 26, 1784, John Wesley preached the condemned criminals' sermon to forty-seven who were under sentence of death. He records:—'The power of the Lord was eminently present, and most of the prisoners were in tears. A few days after, twenty of them died at once, five of whom died in peace. I could not but greatly approve of the spirit and behaviour of Mr. Villette, the Ordinary; and I rejoiced to hear that it was the same on all similar occasions.' Wesley's Journal, ed. 1827, iv. 287.

[1018] I trust that THE CITY OF LONDON, now happily in unison with THE COURT, will have the justice and generosity to obtain preferment for this Reverend Gentleman, now a worthy old servant of that magnificent Corporation. BOSWELL. In like manner, Boswell in 1768 praised the Rev. Mr. Moore, Mr. Villette's predecessor. 'Mr. Moore, the Ordinary of Newgate, discharged his duty with much earnestness and a fervour for which I and all around me esteemed and loved him. Mr. Moore seems worthy of his office, which, when justly considered, is a very important one.' London Mag. 1783, p. 204. For the quarrel between the City and the Court, see ante, iii. 201.

[1019] See ante, i. 387.

[1020] Knox in Winter Evenings, No. xi. (Works, ii. 348), attacks Johnson's biographers for lowering his character by publishing his private conversation. 'Biography,' he complains, 'is every day descending from its dignity.' See ante, i. 222, note 1.

[1021] Piozzi Letters, ii. 256.

[1022] Johnson wrote on April 15:—'I am still very weak, though my appetite is keen and my digestion potent. ... I now think and consult to-day what I shall eat to-morrow. This disease likewise will, I hope, be cured.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 362. Beattie, who dined with Johnson on June 27, wrote:—'Wine, I think, would do him good, but he cannot be prevailed on to drink it. He has, however, a voracious appetite for food. I verily believe that on Sunday last he ate as much to dinner as I have done in all for these ten days past.' Forbes's Beattie, ed. 1824, p. 315. It was said that Beattie latterly indulged somewhat too much in wine. Ib. p. 432.

[1023] Horace Walpole wrote in April 1750 (Letters, ii. 206):—'There is come from France a Madame Bocage who has translated Milton: my Lord Chesterfield prefers the copy to the original; but that is not uncommon for him to do, who is the patron of bad authors and bad actors. She has written a play too, which was damned, and worthy my lord's approbation.' It was this lady who bade her footman blow into the spout of the tea-pot. Ante, ii. 403. Dr. J. H. Burton writes of her in his Life of Hume, ii. 213:—'The wits must praise her bad poetry if they frequented her house. "Elle était d'une figure aimable," says Grimm, "elle est bonne femme; elle est riche; elle pouvait fixer chez elle les gens d'esprit et de bonne compagnie, sans les mettre dans l'embarras de lui parler avec peu de sincérité de sa Colombiade ou de ses Amazones."'

[1024] It is the sea round the South Pole that she describes in her Elegy (not Ode). The description begins:—

'While o'er the deep in many a dreadful form, The giant Danger howls along the storm, Furling the iron sails with numbed hands, Firm on the deck the great Adventurer stands; Round glitt'ring mountains hear the billows rave, And the vast ruin thunder on the wave.'

In the Gent. Mag. 1793, p. 197, were given extracts abusive of Johnson from some foolish letters that passed between Miss Seward and Hayley, a poet her equal in feebleness. Boswell, in his Corrections and Additions to the First Edition (ante, i.10), corrected an error into which he had been led by Miss Seward (ante, i.92, note 2). She, in the Gent. Mag. for 1793, p.875, defended herself and attacked him. His reply is found on p.1009. He says:—'As my book was to be a real history, and not a novel, it was necessary to suppress all erroneous particulars, however entertaining.' (Ante, ii 467, note 4.) He continues:—'So far from having any hostile disposition towards this Lady, I have, in my Life of Dr. Johnson...quoted a compliment paid by him to one of her poetical pieces; and I have withheld his opinion of herself, thinking that she might not like it. I am afraid it has reached her by some other means; and thus we may account for various attacks by her on her venerable townsman since his decease...What are we to think of the scraps of letters between her and Mr. Hayley, impotently attempting to undermine the noble pedestal on which the publick opinion has placed Dr. Johnson?'

[1025] See ante, i.265, and iv. 174.

[1026] 'Johnson said he had once seen Mr. Stanhope at Dodsley's shop, and was so much struck with his awkward manners and appearance that he could not help asking Mr. Dodsley who he was.' Johnson's Works, (1787) xi.209.

[1027] Chesterfield was Secretary of State from Nov. 1746 to Feb. 1748. His letters to his son extend from 1739 to 1768.

[1028] Foote had taken off Lord Chesterfield in The Cozeners. Mrs. Aircastle trains her son Toby in the graces. She says to her husband:—'Nothing but grace! I wish you would read some late Posthumous Letters; you would then know the true value of grace.' Act ii. sc. 2.

[1029] See ante, p.78, note 1.

[1030] See a pamphlet entitled Remarks on the Characters of the Court of Queen Anne, included in Swift's Works, ed. 1803, vi. 163.

[1031] Carleton, according to the Memoirs, made his first service in the navy in 1672—seventeen years before the siege of Derry. There is no mention of this siege in the book.

[1032] 'He had obtained, by his long service, some knowledge of the practic part of an engineer.' Preface to the Memoirs.

[1033] Nearly 200 pages in Bohn's edition. See ante, i. 71, for Johnson's rapid reading.

[1034] Lord Mahon (War of the Succession in Spain, Appendix, p. 131) proves that a Captain Carleton really served. 'It is not impossible,' he says, 'that the MS. may have been intrusted to De Foe for the purpose of correction or revision...The Memoirs are most strongly marked with internal proofs of authenticity.' Lockhart (Life of Scott, iii. 84) says:—'It seems to be now pretty generally believed that Carleton's Memoirs were among the numberless fabrications of De Foe; but in this case (if the fact indeed be so), as in that of his Cavalier, he no doubt had before him the rude journal of some officer.' Dr. Burton (Reign of Queen Anne ii. 173) says that MSS. in the British Museum disprove 'the possibility of De Foe's authorship.'

[1035] Lord Chesterfield (Letters, ii. 109) writing to his son on Nov. 29, 1748, says of Mr. Eliot:—'Imitate that application of his, which has made him know all thoroughly, and to the bottom. He does not content himself with the surface of knowledge; but works in the mine for it, knowing that it lies deep.'

[1036] The Houghton Collection was sold in 1779 by the third Earl of Orford, to the Empress of Russia for £40,555. (Walpole's Letters, vii. 227, note 1.)

Horace Walpole wrote on Aug. 4 of that year (ib. p. 235):—'Well! adieu to Houghton! about its mad master I shall never trouble myself more. From the moment he came into possession, he has undermined every act of my father that was within his reach, but, having none of that great man's sense or virtues, he could only lay wild hands on lands and houses; and since he has stript Houghton of its glory, I do not care a straw what he does with the stone or the acres.'

[1037] This museum at Alkerington near Manchester is described in the Gent. Mag. 1773, p.219. A proposal was made in Parliament to buy it for the British Museum. Ib. 1783, p. 919. On July 8, 1784, a bill enabling Lever to dispose of it by lottery passed the House of Commons. Ib. 1784, p.705.

[1038] Johnson defines intuition as sight of anything; immediate knowledge; and sagacity as quickness of scent; acuteness of discovery.

[1039] In the first edition it stands 'A gentleman' and below instead of Mr. ——, Mr. ——. In the second edition Mr. —— becomes Mr. ——. In the third edition young is added. Young Mr. Burke is probably meant. As it stood in the second edition it might have been thought that Edmund Burke was the gentleman; the more so as Johnson often denied his want of wit.

[1040] Hamlet, act i. sc. 2.

[1041] See ante, i. 372, note 1.

[1042] Windham says (Diary, p. 34) that when Dr. Brocklesby made this offer 'Johnson pressed his hands and said, "God bless you through Jesus Christ, but I will take no money but from my sovereign." This, if I mistake not, was told the King through West.' Dr. Brocklesby wrote to Burke, on July 2, 1788, to make him 'an instant present of £1000, which,' he continues, 'for years past, by will, I had destined as a testimony of my regard on my decease.' Burke, accepting the present, said:—'I shall never be ashamed to have it known, that I am obliged to one who never can be capable of converting his kindness into a burthen.' Burke's Corres. iii.78. See ante, p. 263, for the just praise bestowed by Johnson on physicians in his Life of Garth.

[1043] See ante, ii. 194.

[1044] Letters to Mrs. Thrale, vol. ii. p 375. BOSWELL.

[1045] Rogers (Table-Talk, p. 45) describes him as 'a very handsome, gentlemanly, and amiable person. Mme. D'Arblay tells how one evening at Dr. Burney's home, when Signor Piozzi was playing on the piano, 'Mrs. Thrale stealing on tip-toe behind him, ludicrously began imitating him. Dr. Burney whispered to her, "Because, Madam, you have no ear yourself for music, will you destroy the attention of all who in that one point are otherwise gifted?"' Mrs. Thrale took this rebuke very well. This was her first meeting with Piozzi. It was in Mr. Thrale's life-time. Memoirs of Dr. Burney, ii. 110.

[1046] Dr. Johnson's letter to Sir John Hawkins, Life, p. 570. BOSWELL. The last time Miss Burney saw Johnson, not three weeks before his death, he told her that the day before he had seen Miss Thrale. 'I then said:—"Do you ever, Sir, hear from mother?" "No," cried he, "nor write to her. I drive her quite from my mind. If I meet with one of her letters, I burn it instantly. I have burnt all I can find. I never speak of her, and I desire never to hear of her more. I drive her, as I said, wholly from my mind."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 328.

[1047] See ante, i. 493.

[1048] Anec. p. 293. BOSWELL.

[1049] 'The saying of the old philosopher who observes, "that he who wants least is most like the gods who want nothing," was a favourite sentence with Dr. Johnson, who on his own part required less attendance, sick or well, than ever I saw any human creature. Conversation was all he required to make him happy.' Piozzi's Anec. p.275. Miss Burney's account of the life at Streatham is generally very cheerful. I suspect that the irksome confinement described by Mrs. Piozzi was not felt by her till she became attached to Mr. Piozzi. This caused a great change in her behaviour and much unhappiness. (Ante, p. 138, note 4.) He at times treated her harshly. (Ante, p. 160, note.) Two passages in her letters to Miss Burney shew a want of feeling in her for a man who for nearly twenty years had been to her almost as a father. On Feb. 18, 1784, she writes:—'Johnson is in a sad way doubtless; yet he may still with care last another twelve-month, and every week's existence is gain to him, who, like good Hezekiah, wearies Heaven with entreaties for life. I wrote him a very serious letter the other day.' On March 23 she writes:—' My going to London would be a dreadful expense, and bring on a thousand inquiries and inconveniences—visits to Johnson and from Cator.' It is likely that in other letters there were like passages, but these letters Miss Burney 'for cogent reasons destroyed.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 305, 7, 8.

[1050] 'Bless'd paper credit! last and best supply! That lends corruption lighter wings to fly!'

Pope, Moral Essays, iii. 39.

[1051] Who has been pleased to furnish me with his remarks. BOSWELL. No doubt Malone, who says, however: 'On the whole the publick is indebted to her for her lively, though very inaccurate and artful, account of Dr. Johnson.' Prior's Malone, p. 364.

[1052] See ante, iii. 81.

[1053] Anec. p. 183. BOSWELL.

[1054] Hannah More. She, with her sisters, had kept a boarding-school at Bristol.

[1055] She first saw Johnson in June, 1774. According to her Memoirs (i. 48) he met her 'with good humour in his countenance, and continued in the same pleasant humour the whole of the evening.' She called on him in Bolt Court. One of her sisters writes:—'Miss Reynolds told the doctor of all our rapturous exclamations [about him] on the road. He shook his scientific head at Hannah, and said, "She was a silly thing."' Ib. p. 49. 'He afterwards mentioned to Miss Reynolds how much he had been touched with the enthusiasm of the young authoress, which was evidently genuine and unaffected.' Ib. p. 50. She met him again in the spring of 1775. Her sister writes:—'The old genius was extremely jocular, and the young one very pleasant. They indeed tried which could "pepper the highest" [Goldsmith's Retaliation], and it is not clear to me that he was really the highest seasoner.' Ib. p. 54. From the Mores we know nothing of his reproof. He had himself said of 'a literary lady'—no doubt Hannah More—'I was obliged to speak to Miss Reynolds to let her know that I desired she would not flatter me so much.' Ante, iii.293. Miss Burney records a story she had from Mrs. Thrale, 'which,' she continues, 'exceeds, I think, in its severity all the severe things I have yet heard of Dr. Johnson's saying. When Miss More was introduced to him, she began singing his praise in the warmest manner. For some time he heard her with that quietness which a long use of praise has given him: she then redoubled her strokes, till at length he turned suddenly to her, with a stern and angry countenance, and said, "Madam, before you flatter a man so grossly to his face, you should consider whether or not your flattery is worth his having."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i.103. Shortly afterwards Miss Burney records (ib. p. 121) that Mrs. Thrale said to him:—'We have told her what you said to Miss More, and I believe that makes her afraid.' He replied:—'Well, and if she was to serve me as Miss More did, I should say the same thing to her.' We have therefore three reports of what he said—one from Mrs. Thrale indirectly, one from her directly, and the third from Malone. However severe the reproof was, the Mores do not seem to have been much touched by it. At all events they enjoyed the meeting with Johnson, and Hannah More needed a second reproof that was conveyed to her through Miss Reynolds.

[1056] Anec. p. 202. BOSWELL.

[1057] See ante, i. 40, 68, 92, 415, 481; ii. 188, 194; iii. 229; and post, v. 245, note 2.

[1058] Anec. p. 44. BOSWELL. See ante, p. 318, note 1, where I quote the passage.

[1059] Ib. p. 23. BOSWELL.

[1060] Ib. p. 45. Mr. Hayward says:—'She kept a copious diary and notebook called Thraliana from 1776 to 1809. It is now,' [1861] he continues, 'in the possession of Mr. Salusbury, who deems it of too private and delicate a character to be submitted to strangers, but has kindly supplied me with some curious passages from it.' Hayward's Piozzi, i. 6.

[1061] Ib. p. 51 [192]. BOSWELL.

[1062] Anec. p. 193 [51]. BOSWELL.

[1063] Johnson, says Murphy, (Life, p. 96) 'felt not only kindness, but zeal and ardour for his friends.' 'Who,' he asks (ib. p. 144), 'was more sincere and steady in his friendships?' 'Numbers,' he says (ib. p. 146), 'still remember with gratitude the friendship which he shewed to them with unaltered affection for a number of years.'

[1064] See ante, ii. 285, and iii. 440.

[1065] Johnson's Works, i. 152, 3.

[1066] In vol. ii. of the Piozzi Letters some of these letters are given.

[1067] He gave Miss Thrale lessons in Latin. Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 243 and 427.

[1068] Anec. p. 258. BOSWELL.

[1069] George James Cholmondeley, Esq., grandson of George, third Earl of Cholmondeley, and one of the Commissioners of Excise; a gentleman respected for his abilities, and elegance of manners. BOSWELL. When I spoke to him a few years before his death upon this point, I found him very sore at being made the topic of such a debate, and very unwilling to remember any thing about either the offence or the apology. CROKER.

[1070] Letters to Mrs. Thrale, vol. ii. p. 12. BOSWELL.

[1071] Mrs. Piozzi (Anec.p. 258) lays the scene of this anecdote 'in some distant province, either Shropshire or Derbyshire, I believe.' Johnson drove through these counties with the Thrales in 1774 (ante, ii. 285). If the passage in the letter refers to the same anecdote—and Mrs. Piozzi does not, so far as I know, deny it—more than three years passed before Johnson was told of his rudeness. Baretti, in a MS. note on Piozzi Letters, ii. 12, says that the story was 'Mr. Cholmondeley's running away from his creditors.' In this he is certainly wrong; yet if Mr. Cholmondeley had run away, and others gave the same explanation of the passage, his soreness is easily accounted for.

[1072] Anec. p. 23. BOSWELL.

[1073] Ib. p. 302. BOSWELL.

[1074] Rasselas, chap, xvii

[1075] Paradise Lost, iv. 639.

[1076] Anec. p. 63. BOSWELL.

[1077] 'Johnson one day, on seeing an old terrier lie asleep by the fire-side at Streatham, said, "Presto, you are, if possible, a more lazy dog that I am."' Johnson's Works, ed. 1787, xi. 203.

[1078] Upon mentioning this to my friend Mr. Wilkes, he, with his usual readiness, pleasantly matched it with the following sentimental anecdote. He was invited by a young man of fashion at Paris, to sup with him and a lady, who had been for some time his mistress, but with whom he was going to part. He said to Mr. Wilkes that he really felt very much for her, she was in such distress; and that he meant to make her a present of two hundred louis-d'ors. Mr. Wilkes observed the behaviour of Mademoiselle, who sighed indeed very piteously, and assumed every pathetick air of grief; but eat no less than three French pigeons, which are as large as English partridges, besides other things. Mr. Wilkes whispered the gentleman, 'We often say in England, Excessive sorrow is exceeding dry, but I never heard Excessive sorrow is exceeding hungry. Perhaps one hundred will do.' The gentleman took the hint. BOSWELL.

[1079] See post, p. 367, for the passage omitted.

[1080] Sir Joshua Reynolds, on account of the excellence both of the sentiment and expression of this letter, took a copy of it which he shewed to some of his friends; one of whom, who admired it, being allowed to peruse it leisurely at home, a copy was made, and found its way into the newspapers and magazines. It was transcribed with some inaccuracies. I print it from the original draft in Johnson's own hand-writing. BOSWELL. Hawkins writes (Life, p. 574):—'Johnson, upon being told that it was in print, exclaimed in my hearing, "I am betrayed," but soon after forgot, as he was ever ready to do all real or supposed injuries, the error that made the publication possible.'

[1081] Cowper wrote of Thurlow:—'I know well the Chancellor's benevolence of heart, and how much he is misunderstood by the world. When he was young he would do the kindest things, and at an expense to himself which at that time he could ill afford, and he would do them too in the most secret manner.' Southey's Cowper, vii. 128. Yet Thurlow did not keep his promise made to Cowper when they were fellow-clerks in an attorney's office. 'Thurlow, I am nobody, and shall be always nobody, and you will be chancellor. You shall provide for me when you are.' He smiled, and replied, 'I surely will.' Ib. i. 41. When Cowper sent him the first volume of his poems, 'he thought it not worth his while,' the poet writes, 'to return me any answer, or to take the least notice of my present.' Ib. xv. 176. Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. Jones, in two letters to Burke, speaks of Thurlow as the [Greek: thaerion] (beast). 'I heard last night, with surprise and affliction,' he wrote on Feb. 15, 1783,'that the [Greek: thaerion] was to continue in office. Now I can assure you from my own positive knowledge (and I know him well), that although he hates our species in general, yet his particular hatred is directed against none more virulently than against Lord North, and the friends of the late excellent Marquis.' Burke's Corres. ii. 488, and iii. 10.

[1082] 'Scarcely had Pitt obtained possession of unbounded power when an aged writer of the highest eminence, who had made very little by his writings, and who was sinking into the grave under a load of infirmities and sorrows, wanted five or six hundred pounds to enable him, during the winter or two which might still remain to him, to draw his breath more easily in the soft climate of Italy. Not a farthing was to be obtained; and before Christmas the author of the English Dictionary and of the Lives of the Poets had gasped his last in the river fog and coal smoke of Fleet-street.' Macaulay's Writings and Speeches, ed. 1871, p. 413. Just before Macaulay, with monstrous exaggeration, says that Gibbon, 'forced by poverty to leave his country, completed his immortal work on the shores of Lake Leman.' This poverty of Gibbon would have been 'splendour' to Johnson. Debrett's Royal Kalendar, for 1795 (p. 88), shews that there were twelve Lords of the King's Bedchamber receiving each £1000 a year, and fourteen Grooms of the Bedchamber receiving each, £500 a year. As Burns was made a gauger, so Johnson might have been made a Lord, or at least a Groom of the Bedchamber. It is not certain that Pitt heard of the application for an increased pension. Mr. Croker quotes from Thurlow's letter to Reynolds of Nov. 18, 1784:—'It was impossible for me to take the King's pleasure on the suggestion I presumed to move. I am an untoward solicitor.' Whether he consulted Pitt cannot be known. Mr. Croker notices a curious obliteration in this letter. The Chancellor had written:—'It would have suited the purpose better, if nobody had heard of it, except Dr. Johnson, you and J. Boswell.' Boswell has been erased—'artfully' too, says—Mr. Croker-so that 'the sentence appears to run, "except Dr. Johnson, you, and I."' Mr. Croker, with his usual suspiciousness, suspects 'an uncandid trick.' But it is very likely that Thurlow himself made the obliteration, regardless of grammar. He might easily have thought that it would have been better still had Boswell not been in the secret.

[1083] See ante, iii. 176.

[1084] On June 11 Boswell and Johnson were together (ante, p. 293). The date perhaps should be July 11. The letter that follows next is dated July 12.

[1085] 'Even in our flight from vice some virtue lies.' FRANCIS. Horace, i. Epistles, I. 41.

[1086] See vol. ii. p. 258. BOSWELL.

[1087] Mrs. Johnson died in 1752. See ante, i. 241, note 2.

[1088] See Appendix.

[1089] Printed in his Works [i. 150]. BOSWELL. See ante, i. 241, note 2.

[1090] He wrote to Mr. Ryland on the same day:—'Be pleased to let the whole be done with privacy that I may elude the vigilance of the papers.' Notes and Queries, 5th S. vii. 381.

[1091] Boileau, Art Poétique, chant iv.

[1092] This is probably an errour either of the transcript or the press. Removes seems to be the word intended. MALONE.

[1093] See ante, i. 332, and post p. 360.

[1094] See ante, p. 267.

[1095] I have heard Dr. Johnson protest that he never had quite as much as he wished of wall-fruit, except once in his life.' Piozzi's Anec. p. 103.

[1096] At the Essex Head, Essex-street. BOSWELL.

[1097] Juvenal, Satires, x. 8:—

'Fate wings with every wish the afflictive dart.'

Vanity of Human Wishes, l. 15.

[1098] Mr. Allen, the printer. BOSWELL. See ante, iii. 141, 269.

[1099] It was on this day that he wrote the prayer given below (p. 370) in which is found that striking line—'this world where much is to be done and little to be known.'

[1100] His letter to Dr. Heberden (Croker's Boswell, p. 789) shews that he had gone with Dr. Brocklesby to the last Academy dinner, when, as he boasted, 'he went up all the stairs to the pictures without stopping to rest or to breathe.' Ante, p. 270, note 2.

[1101]

Quid te exempta levat spinis de pluribus una? 'Pluck out one thorn to mitigate thy pain, What boots it while so many more remain?'

FRANCIS. Horace, 2 Epistles, ii. 212.

[1102] See ante, iii. 4, note 2.

[1103] Sir Joshua's physician. He is mentioned by Goldsmith in his verses to the Miss Hornecks. Forster's Goldsmith, ii. 149.

[1104] How much balloons filled people's minds at this time is shewn by such entries as the following in Windham's Diary:-'Feb 7, 1784. Did not rise till past nine; from that time till eleven, did little more than indulge in idle reveries about balloons.' p. 3. 'July 20. The greater part of the time, till now, one o'clock, spent in foolish reveries about balloons.' p. 12. Horace Walpole wrote on Sept. 30 (Letters, viii. 505):—'I cannot fill my paper, as the newspapers do, with air-balloons; which though ranked with the invention of navigation, appear to me as childish as the flying kites of school-boys.' 'Do not write about the balloon,' wrote Johnson to Reynolds (post, p. 368), 'whatever else you may think proper to say.' In the beginning of the year he had written:—'It is very seriously true that a subscription of £800 has been raised for the wire and workmanship of iron wings.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 345.

[1105] It is remarkable that so good a Latin scholar as Johnson, should have been so inattentive to the metre, as by mistake to have written stellas instead of ignes. BOSWELL.

[1106]

'Micat inter omnes Julium sidus, velut inter ignes Luna minores.' 'And like the Moon, the feebler fires among, Conspicuous shines the Julian star.' FRANCIS. Horace, Odes, i. 12. 46.

[1107] See ante, iii. 209.

[1108]

'The little blood that creeps within his veins Is but just warmed in a hot fever's pains.' DRYDEN. Juvenal, Satires, x. 217.

[1109] Lunardi had made, on Sept. 15, the first balloon ascent in England. Gent. Mag. 1784, p. 711. Johnson wrote to Mr. Ryland on Sept. 18:—'I had this day in three letters three histories of the Flying Man in the great Balloon.' He adds:—'I live in dismal solitude.' Notes and Queries, 5th S. vii. 381.

[1110] 'Sept. 27, 1784. Went to see Blanchard's balloon. Met Burke and D. Burke; walked with them to Pantheon to see Lunardi's. Sept. 29. About nine came to Brookes's, where I heard that the balloon had been burnt about four o'clock.' Windham's Diary, p. 24.

[1111] His love of London continually appears. In a letter from him to Mrs. Smart, wife of his friend the Poet, which is published in a well-written life of him, prefixed to an edition of his Poems, in 1791, there is the following sentence:-'To one that has passed so many years in the pleasures and opulence of London, there are few places that can give much delight.'

Once, upon reading that line in the curious epitaph quoted in The Spectator;

'Born in New-England, did in London die;'

he laughed and said, 'I do not wonder at this. It would have been strange, if born in London, he had died in New-England.' BOSWELL. Mrs. Smart was in Dublin when Johnson wrote to her. After the passage quoted by Boswell he continued:—'I think, Madam, you may look upon your expedition as a proper preparative to the voyage which we have often talked of. Dublin, though a place much worse than London, is not so bad as Iceland.' Smart's Poems, i. xxi. For Iceland see ante, i. 242. The epitaph, quoted in The Spectator, No. 518, begins—

Here Thomas Sapper lies interred. Ah why! Born in New-England, did in London die.'

[1112] St. Mark, v. 34.

[1113] There is no record of this in the Gent. Mag. Among the 149 persons who that summer had been sentenced to death (ante, p. 328) who would notice these two?

[1114] See ante, p. 356, note 1

[1115] Johnson wrote for him a Dedication of his Tasso in 1763. Ante, i. 383.

[1116] There was no information for which Dr. Johnson was less grateful that than for that which concerned the weather. It was in allusion to his impatience with those who were reduced to keep conversation alive by observations on the weather, that he applied the old proverb to himself. If any one of his intimate acquaintance told him it was hot or cold, wet or dry, windy or calm, he would stop them, by saying, 'Poh! poh! you are telling us that of which none but men in a mine or a dungeon can be ignorant. Let us bear with patience, or enjoy in quiet, elementary changes, whether for the better or the worse, as they are never secrets.' BURNEY. In The Idler, No. II, Johnson shews that 'an Englishman's notice of the weather is the natural consequence of changeable skies and uncertain seasons... In our island every man goes to sleep unable to guess whether he shall behold in the morning a bright or cloudy atmosphere, whether his rest shall be lulled by a shower, or broken by a tempest. We therefore rejoice mutually at good weather, as at an escape from something that we feared; and mutually complain of bad, as of the loss of something that we hoped.' See ante, i. 332, and iv. 353.

[1117] His Account of the Musical Performances in Commemoration of Handel. See ante, p. 283.

[1118] The celebrated Miss Fanny Burney. BOSWELL.

[1119] Dr. Burney's letter must have been franked; otherwise there would have been no frugality, for each enclosure was charged as a separate letter.

[1120] He does not know, that is to say, what people of his acquaintance were in town, privileged to receive letters post free; such as members of either House of Parliament.

[1121] Consolation is clearly a blunder, Malone's conjecture mortification seems absurd.

[1122] See ante, iii. 48, and iv. 177.

[1123] Windham visited him at Ashbourne in the end of August, after the former of these letters was written. See ante, p. 356.

[1124] This may refer, as Mr. Croker says, to Hamilton's generous offer, mentioned ante, p. 244. Yet Johnson, with his accurate mind, was not likely to assign to the spring an event of the previous November.

[1125] Johnson refers to Pope's lines on Walpole:—

'Seen him I have but in his happier hour Of social pleasure, ill-exchanged for power.' Satires. Epilogue, i. 29.

[1126] Son of the late Peter Paradise, Esq. his Britannick Majesty's Consul at Salonica, in Macedonia, by his lady, a native of that country. He studied at Oxford, and has been honoured by that University with the degree of LL.D. He is distinguished not only by his learning and talents, but by an amiable disposition, gentleness of manners, and a very general acquaintance with well-informed and accomplished persons of almost all nations. BOSWELL.

[1127] Bookseller to his Majesty. BOSWELL.

[1128] Mr. Cruikshank attended him as a surgeon the year before. Ante, p. 239.

[1129]Allan Ramsay, Esq. painter to his Majesty, who died Aug. 10, 1784, in the 71st year of his age, much regretted by his friends. BOSWELL. See ante, p. 260.

[1130] Northcote (Life of Reynolds, ii. 187) says that Johnson 'most probably refers to Sir Joshua's becoming painter to the King. 'I know,' he continues, 'that Sir Joshua expected the appointment would be offered to him on the death of Ramsay, and expressed his disapprobation with regard to soliciting for it; but he was informed that it was a necessary point of etiquette, with which at last he complied.' His 'furious purposes' should seem to have been his intention to resign the Presidency of the Academy, on finding that the place was not at once given him, and in the knowledge that in the Academy there was a party against him. Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 448.

[1131] See ante, p. 348.

[1132] The Chancellor had not, it should seem, asked the King. See ante, p. 350, note.

[1133] The Duke of Devonshire has kindly given me the following explanation of this term:—'It was formerly the custom at some (I believe several) of the large country-houses to have dinners at which any of the neighbouring gentry and clergy might present themselves as guests without invitation. The custom had been discontinued at Chatsworth before my recollection, and so far as I am aware is now only kept-up at Wentworth, Lord Fitzwilliam's house in Yorkshire, where a few public dinners are still given annually. I believe, however, that all persons intending to be present on such occasions are now expected to give notice some days previously. Public dinners were also given formerly by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and if I am not mistaken also by the Archbishop of York. I have myself been present at a public dinner at Lambeth Palace within the last fifty years or thereabouts, and I have been at one or more such dinners at Wentworth.' Since receiving this explanation I have read the following in the second part of the Greville Memoirs, i. 99:—'June 1, 1838. I dined yesterday at Lambeth, at the Archbishop's public dinner, the handsomest entertainment I ever saw. There were nearly a hundred people present, all full-dressed or in uniform. Nothing can be more dignified and splendid than the whole arrangement.'

[1134] Six weeks later he was willing to hear even of balloons, so long as he got a letter. 'You,' he wrote to Mr. Sastres, 'may always have something to tell: you live among the various orders of mankind, and may make a letter from the exploits, sometimes of the philosopher, and sometimes of the pickpocket. You see some balloons succeed and some miscarry, and a thousand strange and a thousand foolish things.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 412.

[1135] See ante, p. 349, note.

[1136] 'He alludes probably to the place of King's Painter; which, since Burke's reforming the King's household expenses, had been reduced from £200 to £50 per annum.' Northcote's Reynolds, ii. 188. The place was more profitable than Johnson thought. 'It was worth having from the harvest it brought in by the multiplication of the faces of King and Queen as presents for ambassadors and potentates.' This is shewn by the following note in Sir Joshua's price-book:—'Nov. 28, 1789, remain in the Academy five Kings, four Queens; in the house two Kings and one Queen.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 449.

[1137] Mr. Nichols published in 1782 Anecdotes of William Bowyer, Printer. In 1812-15 he brought out this work, recast and enlarged, under the title of Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. See ante, p. 161.

[1138] In the original (which is in the British Museum) not hints but names.

[1139] On Nov. 4, he wrote to Mr. Ryland:—'I have just received a letter in which you tell me that you love to hear from me, and I value such a declaration too much to neglect it. To have a friend, and a friend like you, may be numbered amongst the first felicities of life; at a time when weakness either of body or mind loses the pride and the confidence of self-sufficiency, and looks round for that help which perhaps human kindness cannot give, and which we yet are willing to expect from one another. I am at this time very much dejected.... I am now preparing myself for my return, and do not despair of some more monthly meetings [post, Appendix C]. To hear that dear Payne is better gives me great delight. I saw the draught of the stone [over Mrs. Johnson's grave, ante, p. 351]. Shall I ever be able to bear the sight of this stone? In your company I hope I shall.' Mr. Morrison's Autographs, vol. ii.

[1140] To him as a writer might be generally applied what he said of Rochester:—'His pieces are commonly short, such as one fit of resolution would produce.' Works, vii. 159.

[1141] Odes, iv.7. Works, i. 137.

[1142] Against inqitisitive and perplexing thoughts. 'O LORD, my Maker and Protector, who hast graciously sent me into this world to work out my salvation, enable me to drive from me all such unquiet and perplexing thoughts as may mislead or hinder me in the practice of those duties which Thou hast required. When I behold the works of thy hands, and consider the course of thy providence, give me grace always to remember that thy thoughts are not my thoughts, nor thy ways my ways. And while it shall please Thee to continue me in this world, where much is to be done, and little to be known, teach me by thy Holy Spirit, to withdraw my mind from unprofitable and dangerous enquiries, from difficulties vainly curious, and doubts impossible to be solved. Let me rejoice in the light which Thou hast imparted, let me serve Thee with active zeal and humble confidence, and wait with patient expectation for the time in which the soul which Thou receivest shall be satisfied with knowledge. Grant this, O LORD, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen.' BOSWELL. Pr. and Med. p. 219.

[1143] Life of Johnson, p. 599.

[1144] Porson with admirable humour satirised Hawkins for his attack on Barber. Gent. Mag. 1787, p. 752, and Porson Tracts, p. 358. Baretti in his Tolondron, p. 149, says that 'Barber from his earliest youth served Johnson with the greatest affection and disinterestedness.'

[1145] Vol. ii. p. 30. BOSWELL.

[1146] I shall add one instance only to those which I have thought it incumbent on me to point out. Talking of Mr. Garrick's having signified his willingness to let Johnson have the loan of any of his books to assist him in his edition of Shakspeare [ante, ii. 192]; Sir John says, (p. 444,) 'Mr. Garrick knew not what risque he ran by this offer. Johnson had so strange a forgetfulness of obligations of this sort, that few who lent him books ever saw them again.' This surely conveys a most unfavourable insinuation, and has been so understood. Sir John mentions the single case of a curious edition of Politian [ante, i. 90], which he tells us, 'appeared to belong to Pembroke College, and which, probably, had been considered by Johnson as his own, for upwards of fifty years.' Would it not be fairer to consider this as an inadvertence, and draw no general inference? The truth is, that Johnson was so attentive, that in one of his manuscripts in my possession, he has marked in two columns, books borrowed, and books lent.

In Sir John Hawkins's compilation, there are, however, some passages concerning Johnson which have unquestionable merit. One of them I shall transcribe, in justice to a writer whom I have had too much occasion to censure, and to shew my fairness as the biographer of my illustrious friend: 'There was wanting in his conduct and behaviour, that dignity which results from a regular and orderly course of action, and by an irresistible power commands esteem. He could not be said to be a stayed man, nor so to have adjusted in his mind the balance of reason and passion, as to give occasion to say what may be observed of some men, that all they do is just, fit, and right.' [Hawkins's Johnson, p. 409.] Yet a judicious friend well suggests, 'It might, however, have been added, that such men are often merely just, and rigidly correct, while their hearts are cold and unfeeling; and that Johnson's virtues were of a much higher tone than those of the stayed, orderly man, here described.' BOSWELL.

[1147] 'Lich, a dead carcase; whence Lichfield, the field of the dead, a city in Staffordshire, so named from martyred Christians. Salve magna parens.' It is curious that in the Abridgment of the Dictionary he struck out this salutation, though he left the rest of the article. Salve magna parens, (Hail, mighty parent) is from Virgil's Georgics, ii. 173. The Rev. T. Twining, when at Lichfield in 1797, says:—'I visited the famous large old willow-tree, which Johnson, they say, used to kiss when he came to Lichfield.' Recreations and Studies of a Country Clergyman of the XVIII Century, p. 227.

[1148] The following circumstance, mutually to the honour of Johnson, and the corporation of his native city, has been communicated to me by the Reverend Dr. Vyse, from the Town-Clerk:—'Mr. Simpson has now before him, a record of the respect and veneration which the Corporation of Lichfield, in the year 1767, had for the merits and learning of Dr. Johnson. His father built the corner-house in the Market-place, the two fronts of which, towards Market and Broad-market-street, stood upon waste land of the Corporation, under a forty years' lease, which was then expired. On the 15th of August, 1767, at a common-hall of the bailiffs and citizens, it was ordered (and that without any solicitation,) that a lease should be granted to Samuel Johnson, Doctor of Laws, of the encroachments at his house, for the term of ninety-nine years, at the old rent, which was five shillings. Of which, as Town-Clerk, Mr. Simpson had the honour and pleasure of informing him, and that he was desired to accept it, without paying any fine on the occasion, which lease was afterwards granted, and the Doctor died possessed of this property.' BOSWELL.

[1149] See vol. i. p. 37. BOSWELL.

[1150] According to Miss Seward, who was Mr. White's cousin, 'Johnson once called him "the rising strength of Lichfield."' Seward's Letters, i. 335.

[1151] The Rev. R. Warner, who visited Lichfield in 1801, gives in his Tour through the Northern Counties, i. 105, a fuller account. He is clearly wrong in the date of its occurrence, and in one other matter, yet his story may in the main be true. He says that Johnson's friends at Lichfield missed him one morning; the servants said that he had set off at a very early hour, whither they knew not. Just before supper he returned. He informed his hostess of his breach of filial duty, which had happened just fifty years before on that very day. 'To do away the sin of this disobedience, I this day went,' he said, 'in a chaise to—, and going into the market at the time of high business uncovered my head, and stood with it bare an hour, before the stall which my father had formerly used, exposed to the sneers of the standers-by, and the inclemency of the weather.' This penance may recall Dante's lines,—

'Quando vivea più glorioso, disse, Liberamente nel campo di Siena, Ogni vergogna deposta, s'affisse.' '"When at his glory's topmost height," said he, "Respect of dignity all cast aside, Freely he fix'd him on Sienna's plain."' CARY. Dante, Purgatory. Cant. xi. l. 133.

[1152]

'How instinct varies in the grovelling swine, Compared, half-reasoning elephant, with thine.' Pope, Essay on Man, i. 221.

[1153] See ante, iii. 153, 296.

[1154] Mr. Burke suggested to me as applicable to Johnson, what Cicero, in his CATO MAJOR, says of Appius:—'Intentum enim animum tanquam arcum habebat, nec languescens succumbebat senectuti;' repeating, at the same time, the following noble words in the same passage:—'Ita enim senectus honesta est, si se ipsa defendit, si jus suum retinet, si nemini emancipata est, si usque ad extremum vitae spiritum vindicet jus suum.' BOSWELL. The last line runs in the original:-'si usque ad ultimum spiritum dominatur in suos.' Cato Major, xi. 38.

[1155]

'atrocem animum Catonis.' 'Cato— Of spirit unsubdued.' FRANCIS. Horace, 2 Odes, i. 24.

[1156] Yet Baretti, who knew Johnson well, in a MS. note on Piozzi Letters, i.315, says:—'If ever Johnson took any delight in anything it was to converse with some old acquaintance. New people he never loved to be in company with, except ladies, when disposed to caress and flatter him.'

[1157] Johnson, thirty-four years earlier, wrote:—'I think there is some reason for questioning whether the body and mind are not so proportioned that the one can bear all that can be inflicted on the other; whether virtue cannot stand its ground as long as life, and whether a soul well principled will not be separated sooner than subdued.' The Rambler, No. 32. He wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Aug. 14, 1780:—'But what if I am seventy-two; I remember Sulpitius says of Saint Martin (now that's above your reading), Est animus victor annorum, et senectuti cedere nescius. Match me that among your young folks.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 177. On Sept. 2, 1784, he wrote to Mr. Sastres the Italian master:—'I have hope of standing the English winter, and of seeing you, and reading Petrarch at Bolt-court.' Ib. p. 407.

[1158] Life of Johnson, p. 7.

[1159] It is a most agreeable circumstance attending the publication of this Work, that Mr. Hector has survived his illustrious schoolfellow so many years; that he still retains his health and spirits; and has gratified me with the following acknowledgement: 'I thank you, most sincerely thank you, for the great and long continued entertainment your Life of Dr. Johnson has afforded me, and others, of my particular friends.' Mr. Hector, besides setting me right as to the verses on a sprig of Myrtle, (see vol. i. p. 92, note,) has favoured me with two English odes, written by Dr. Johnson, at an early period of his life, which will appear in my edition of his poems. BOSWELL. See ante, i. 16, note 1.

[1160] The editor of the Biographia Britannica. Ante, iii. 174.

[1161] On Dec. 23, Miss Adams wrote to a friend:—'We are all under the sincerest grief for the loss of poor Dr. Johnson. He spent three or four days with my father at Oxford, and promised to come again; as he was, he said, nowhere so happy.' Pemb. Coll. MSS.

[1162] See ante, p. 293.

[1163] Mr. Strahan says (Preface, p. iv.) that Johnson, being hindered by illness from revising these prayers, 'determined to give the MSS., without revision, in charge to me. Accordingly one morning, on my visiting him by desire at an early hour, he put these papers into my hands, with instructions for committing them to the press, and with a promise to prepare a sketch of his own life to accompany them.' Whatever Johnson wished about the prayers, it passes belief that he ever meant for the eye of the world these minute accounts of his health and his feelings. Some parts indeed Mr. Strahan himself suppressed, as the Pemb. Coll. MSS. shew (ante, p. 84, note 4). It is curious that one portion at least fell into other hands (ante, ii. 476). There are other apparent gaps in the diary which raise the suspicion that it was only fragments that Mr. Strahan obtained. On the other hand Mr. Strahan had nothing to gain by the publication beyond notoriety (see his Preface, p. vi.). Dr. Adams, whose name is mentioned in the preface, expressed in a letter to the Gent. Mag. 1785, p. 755, his disapproval of the publication. Mr. Courtenay (Poetical Review, ed. 1786, p. 7), thus attacked Mr. Strahan:—

'Let priestly S—h—n in a godly fit The tale relate, in aid of Holy Writ; Though candid Adams, by whom David fell [A], Who ancient miracles sustained so well, To recent wonders may deny his aid, Nor own a pious brother of the trade.'

[A] The Rev. Dr. Adams of Oxford, distinguished for his answer to David Hume's Essay on Miracles.

[1164] Johnson once said to Miss Burney of her brother Charles:—'I should be glad to see him if he were not your brother; but were he a dog, a cat, a rat, a frog, and belonged to you, I must needs be glad to see him.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 233. On Nov. 25 she called on him. 'He let me in, though very ill. He told me he was going to try what sleeping out of town might do for him. "I remember," said he, "that my wife, when she was near her end, poor woman, was also advised to sleep out of town; and when she was carried to the lodgings that had been prepared for her, she complained that the staircase was in very bad condition, for the plaster was beaten off the walls in many places." "Oh!" said the man of the house, "that's nothing but by the knocks against it of the coffins of the poor souls that have died in the lodgings." He laughed, though not without apparent secret anguish, in telling me this.' Miss Burney continues:—'How delightfully bright are his faculties, though the poor and infirm machine that contains them seems alarmingly giving way. Yet, all brilliant as he was, I saw him growing worse, and offered to go, which, for the first time I ever remember, he did not oppose; but most kindly pressing both my hands, "Be not," he said, in a voice of even tenderness, "be not longer in coming again for my letting you go now." I assured him I would be the sooner, and was running off, but he called me back in a solemn voice, and in a manner the most energetic, said:—"Remember me in your prayers."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 327. See ante, iii. 367, note 4.

[1165] Mr. Hector's sister and Johnson's first love. Ante, ii. 459.

[1166] The Rev. Dr. Taylor. BOSWELL.

[1167] See ante, ii. 474, and iii. 180.

[1168] 'Reliquum est, [Greek: Sphartan elaches, tahutan khusmei].' Cicero, Epistolae ad Atticum, iv. 6. 'Spartam nactus es, hanc orna.' Erasmus, Adagiorum Chiliades, ed. 1559, p. 485.

[1169] Temple says of the spleen that it is a disease too refined for this country and people, who are well when they are not ill, and pleased when they are not troubled; are content, because they think little of it, and seek their happiness in the common eases and commodities of life, or the increase of riches; not amusing themselves with the more speculative contrivances of passion, or refinements of pleasure.' Temple's Works, ed. 1757, i. 170.

[1170] It is truly wonderful to consider the extent and constancy of Johnson's literary ardour, notwithstanding the melancholy which clouded and embittered his existence. Besides the numerous and various works which he executed, he had, at different times, formed schemes of a great many more, of which the following catalogue was given by him to Mr. Langton, and by that gentleman presented to his Majesty:

'DIVINITY.

'A small book of precepts and directions for piety; the hint taken from the directions in Morton's exercise.

'PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY, and LITERATURE in general.

'History of Criticism, as it relates to judging of authours, from Aristotle to the present age. An account of the rise and improvements of that art; of the different opinions of authours, ancient and modern.

'Translation of the History of Herodian.

'New edition of Fairfax's Translation of Tasso, with notes, glossary, &c.

'Chaucer, a new edition of him, from manuscripts and old editions, with various readings, conjectures, remarks on his language, and the changes it had undergone from the earliest times to his age, and from his to the present: with notes explanatory of customs, &c., and references to Boccace, and other authours from whom he has borrowed, with an account of the liberties he has taken in telling the stories; his life, and an exact etymological glossary.

'Aristotle's Rhetorick, a translation of it into English.

'A Collection of Letters, translated from the modern writers, with some account of the several authours.

'Oldham's Poems, with notes, historical and critical.

'Roscommon's Poems, with notes.

'Lives of the Philosophers, written with a polite air, in such a manner as may divert as well as instruct.

'History of the Heathen Mythology, with an explication of the fables, both allegorical and historical; with references to the poets.

'History of the State of Venice, in a compendious manner.

'Aristotle's Ethicks, an English translation of them, with notes.

'Geographical Dictionary, from the French.

'Hierocles upon Pythagoras, translated into English, perhaps with notes. This is done by Norris.

'A book of Letters, upon all kinds of subjects.

'Claudian, a new edition of his works, cum notis variorum, in the manner of Burman.

'Tully's Tusculan Questions, a translation of them.

'Tully's De Naturâ Deorum, a translation of those books.

'Benzo's New History of the New World, to be translated.

'Machiavel's History of Florence, to be translated.

'History of the Revival of Learning in Europe, containing an account of whatever contributed to the restoration of literature; such as controversies, printing, the destruction of the Greek empire, the encouragement of great men, with the lives of the most eminent patrons and most eminent early professors of all kinds of learning in different countries.

'A Body of Chronology, in verse, with historical notes.

'A Table of the Spectators, Tatlers, and Guardians, distinguished by figures into six degrees of value, with notes, giving the reasons of preference or degradation.

'A Collection of Letters from English authours, with a preface giving some account of the writers; with reasons for selection, and criticism upon styles; remarks on each letter, if needful.

'A Collection of Proverbs from various languages. Jan. 6,—53.

'A Dictionary to the Common Prayer, in imitation of Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible. March, 52.

'A Collection of Stories and Examples, like those of Valerius Maximus. Jan. 10,—53.

'From Aelian, a volume of select Stories, perhaps from others. Jan.

28,-53.

'Collection of Travels, Voyages, Adventures, and Descriptions of Countries.

'Dictionary of Ancient History and Mythology.

'Treatise on the Study of Polite Literature, containing the history of learning, directions for editions, commentaries, &c.

'Maxims, Characters, and Sentiments, after the manner of Bruyère, collected out of ancient authours, particularly the Greek, with Apophthegms.

'Classical Miscellanies, Select Translations from ancient Greek and Latin authours.

'Lives of Illustrious Persons, as well of the active as the learned, in imitation of Plutarch.

'Judgement of the learned upon English authours.

'Poetical Dictionary of the English tongue.

'Considerations upon the present state of London.

'Collection of Epigrams, with notes and observations.

'Observations on the English language, relating to words, phrases, and modes of Speech.

'Minutiae Literariae, Miscellaneous reflections, criticisms, emendations, notes.

'History of the Constitution.

'Comparison of Philosophical and Christian Morality, by sentences collected from the moralists and fathers.

'Plutarch's Lives, in English, with notes.

'POETRY and works of IMAGINATION.

'Hymn to Ignorance.

'The Palace of Sloth,—a vision.

'Coluthus, to be translated.

'Prejudice,—a poetical essay.

'The Palace of Nonsense,—a vision.'

Johnson's extraordinary facility of composition, when he shook off his constitutional indolence, and resolutely sat down to write, is admirably described by Mr. Courtenay, in his Poetical Review, which I have several times quoted:

'While through life's maze he sent a piercing view, His mind expansive to the object grew. With various stores of erudition fraught, The lively image, the deep-searching thought, Slept in repose;—but when the moment press'd, The bright ideas stood at once confess'd; Instant his genius sped its vigorous rays, And o'er the letter'd world diffus'd a blaze: As womb'd with fire the cloud electrick flies, And calmly o'er th' horizon seems to rise; Touch'd by the pointed steel, the lightning flows, And all th' expanse with rich effulgence glows.'

We shall in vain endeavour to know with exact precision every production of Johnson's pen. He owned to me, that he had written about forty sermons; but as I understood that he had given or sold them to different persons, who were to preach them as their own, he did not consider himself at liberty to acknowledge them. Would those who were thus aided by him, who are still alive, and the friends of those who are dead, fairly inform the world, it would be obligingly gratifying a reasonable curiosity, to which there should, I think, now be no objection. Two volumes of them, published since his death, are sufficiently ascertained; see vol. iii. p. 181. I have before me, in his hand-writing, a fragment of twenty quarto leaves, of a translation into English of Sallust, De Bella Catilinario. When it was done I have no notion; but it seems to have no very superior merit to mark it as his. Beside the publications heretofore mentioned, I am satisfied, from internal evidence, to admit also as genuine the following, which, notwithstanding all my chronological care, escaped me in the course of this work:

'Considerations on the Case of Dr. Trapp's Sermons,' + published in 1739, in the Gentleman's Magazine. [These Considerations were published, not in 1739, but in 1787. Ante, i. 140, note 5.] It is a very ingenious defence of the right of abridging an authour's work, without being held as infringing his property. This is one of the nicest questions in the Law of Literature; and I cannot help thinking, that the indulgence of abridging is often exceedingly injurious to authours and booksellers, and should in very few cases be permitted. At any rate, to prevent difficult and uncertain discussion, and give an absolute security to authours in the property of their labours, no abridgement whatever should be permitted, till after the expiration of such a number of years as the Legislature may be pleased to fix.

But, though it has been confidently ascribed to him, I cannot allow that he wrote a Dedication to both Houses of Parliament of a book entitled The Evangelical History Harmonized. He was no croaker; no declaimer against the times. [See ante, ii. 357.] He would not have written, 'That we are fallen upon an age in which corruption is not barely universal, is universally confessed.' Nor 'Rapine preys on the publick without opposition, and perjury betrays it without inquiry.' Nor would he, to excite a speedy reformation, have conjured up such phantoms of terrour as these: 'A few years longer, and perhaps all endeavours will be in vain. We may be swallowed by an earthquake: we may be delivered to our enemies.' This is not Johnsonian.

There are, indeed, in this Dedication, several sentences constructed upon the model of those of Johnson. But the imitation of the form, without the spirit of his style, has been so general, that this of itself is not sufficient evidence. Even our newspaper writers aspire to it. In an account of the funeral of Edwin, the comedian, in The Diary of Nov. 9, 1790, that son of drollery is thus described: 'A man who had so often cheered the sullenness of vacancy, and suspended the approaches of sorrow.' And in The Dublin Evening Post, August 16, 1791, there is the following paragraph: 'It is a singular circumstance, that, in a city like this, containing 200,000 people, there are three months in the year during which no place of publick amusement is open. Long vacation is here a vacation from pleasure, as well as business; nor is there any mode of passing the listless evenings of declining summer, but in the riots of a tavern, or the stupidity of a coffee-house.'

I have not thought it necessary to specify every copy of verses written by Johnson, it being my intention to, publish an authentick edition of all his Poetry, with notes. BOSWELL. This Catalogue, as Mr. Boswell calls it, is by Dr. Johnson intitled Designs. It seems from the hand that it was written early in life: from the marginal dates it appears that some portions were added in 1752 and 1753. CROKER.

[1171] On April 19 of this year he wrote: 'When I lay sleepless, I used to drive the night along by turning Greek epigrams into Latin. I know not if I have not turned a hundred.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 364. Forty-five years earlier he described how Boerhaave, 'when he lay whole days and nights without sleep, found no method of diverting his thoughts so effectual as meditation upon his studies, and often relieved and mitigated the sense of his torments by the recollection of what he had read, and by reviewing those stores of knowledge which he had reposited in his memory.' Works, vi. 284.

[1172] Mr. Cumberland assures me, that he was always treated with great courtesy by Dr. Johnson, who, in his Letters to Mrs. Thrale, vol. ii. p. 68 thus speaks of that learned, ingenious, and accomplished gentleman: 'The want of company is an inconvenience: but Mr. Cumberland is a million.' BOSWELL. Northcote, according to Hazlitt (Conversations of Northcote, p. 275), said that Johnson and his friends 'never admitted C——[Cumberland] as one of the set; Sir Joshua did not invite him to dinner. If he had been in the room, Goldsmith would have flown out of it as if a dragon had been there. I remember Garrick once saying, "D—n his dish-clout face; his plays would never do, if it were not for my patching them up and acting in them."'

[1173] See ante, p. 64, note 2.

[1174] Dr. Parr said, "There are three great Grecians in England: Porson is the first; Burney is the third; and who is the second I need not tell"' Field's Parr, ii. 215.

[1175] 'Dr. Johnson,' said Parr, 'was an admirable scholar.... The classical scholar was forgotten in the great original contributor to the literature of his country.' Ib. i. 164. 'Upon his correct and profound knowledge of the Latin language,' he wrote, 'I have always spoken with unusual zeal and unusual confidence.' Johnson's Parr, iv. 679. Mrs. Piozzi (Anec. p. 54) recounts a 'triumph' gained by Johnson in a talk on Greek literature.

[1176] Ante, iii. 172.

[1177] We must smile at a little inaccuracy of metaphor in the Preface to the Transactions, which is written by Mr. Burrowes. The critick of the style of JOHNSON having, with a just zeal for literature, observed, that the whole nation are called on to exert themselves, afterwards says: 'They are called on by every tye which can have a laudable influence on the heart of man.' BOSWELL.

[1178] Johnson's wishing to unite himself with this rich widow, was much talked of, but I believe without foundation. The report, however, gave occasion to a poem, not without characteristical merit, entitled, 'Ode to Mrs. Thrale, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D. on their supposed approaching Nuptials; printed for Mr. Faulder in Bond-street.' I shall quote as a specimen the first three stanzas:—

'If e'er my fingers touch'd the lyre, In satire fierce, in pleasure gay; Shall not my THRALIA'S smiles inspire? Shall Sam refuse the sportive lay? My dearest Lady! view your slave, Behold him as your very Scrub; Eager to write, as authour grave, Or govern well, the brewing-tub. To rich felicity thus raised, My bosom glows with amorous fire; Porter no longer shall be praised, 'Tis I MYSELF am Thrale's Entire'

[1179] See ante, ii. 44.

[1180] 'Higledy piggledy,—Conglomeration and confusion.

'Hodge-podge,—A culinary mixture of heterogeneous ingredients: applied metaphorically to all discordant combinations.

'Tit for Tat,—Adequate retaliation.

'Shilly Shally,—Hesitation and irresolution.

'Fee! fau! fum!—Gigantic intonations.

Rigmarole,-Discourse, incoherent and rhapsodical.

'Crincum-crancum,—Lines of irregularity and involution.

'Dingdong—Tintinabulary chimes, used metaphorically to signify dispatch and vehemence.' BOSWELL. In all the editions that I have examined the sentence in the text beginning with 'annexed,' and ending with 'concatenation,' is printed as if it were Boswell's. It is a quotation from vol. ii. p. 93 of Colman's book. For Scrub, see ante, iii. 70, note 2.

[1181] See ante, iii. 173.

[1182] History of America, vol. i. quarto, p. 332. BOSWELL.

[1183] Gibbon (Misc. Works, i. 219) thus writes of his own style:—'The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise. Many experiments were made before I could hit the middle tone between a dull chronicle and a rhetorical declamation; three times did I compose the first chapter, and twice the second and third, before I was tolerably satisfied with their effect.' See ante, p. 36, note 1.

[1184] Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. i. chap. iv.

BOSWELL.

[1185] Macaulay (Essays, ed. 1874, iv. 157) gives a yet better example of her Johnsonian style, though, as I have shewn (ante, p. 223, note 5), he is wrong in saying that Johnson's hand can be seen.

[1186] Cecilia, Book. vii. chap. i. [v.] BOSWELL.

[1187] The passage which I quote is taken from that gentleman's Elements of Orthoepy; containing a distinct View of the whole Analogy of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, so far as relates to Pronunciation, Accent, and Quantity, London, 1784. I beg leave to offer my particular acknowledgements to the authour of a work of uncommon merit and great utility. I know no book which contains, in the same compass, more learning, polite literature, sound sense, accuracy of arrangement, and perspicuity of expression. BOSWELL.

[1188] That collection was presented to Dr. Johnson, I believe by its authours; and I heard him speak very well of it. BOSWELL. The Mirror was published in 1779-80; by 1793 it reached its ninth edition. For an account of it see Appendix DD. to Forbes's Beattie. Henry Mackenzie, the author of The Man of Feeling, was the chief contributor as well as the conductor of the paper. He is given as the author of No. 16 in Lynam's edition, p. 1.

[1189] The name of Vicesimus Knox is now scarcely known. Yet so late as 1824 his collected Works were published in seven octavo volumes. The editor says of his Essays (i. iii):—'In no department of the Belles Lettres has any publication, excepting the Spectator, been so extensively circulated. It has been translated into most of the European languages.' See ante, i. 222, note 1; iii. 13, note 3; and iv. 330.

[1190] Lucretius, iii. 6.

[1191] It were to be wished, that he had imitated that great man in every respect, and had not followed the example of Dr. Adam Smith [ante, iii. 13, note 1] in ungraciously attacking his venerable Alma Mater Oxford. It must, however, be observed, that he is much less to blame than Smith: he only objects to certain particulars; Smith to the whole institution; though indebted for much of his learning to an exhibition which he enjoyed for many years at Baliol College. Neither of them, however, will do any hurt to the noblest university in the world. While I animadvert on what appears to me exceptionable in some of the works of Dr. Knox, I cannot refuse due praise to others of his productions; particularly his sermons, and to the spirit with which he maintains, against presumptuous hereticks, the consolatory doctrines peculiar to the Christian Revelation. This he has done in a manner equally strenuous and conciliating. Neither ought I to omit mentioning a remarkable instance of his candour: Notwithstanding the wide difference of our opinions, upon the important subject of University education, in a letter to me concerning this Work, he thus expresses himself: 'I thank you for the very great entertainment your Life of Johnson gives me. It is a most valuable work. Yours is a new species of biography. Happy for Johnson, that he had so able a recorder of his wit and wisdom.' BOSWELL.

[1192] Dr. Knox, in his Moral and Literary abstraction, may be excused for not knowing the political regulations of his country. No senator can be in the hands of a bailiff. BOSWELL.

[1193] It is entitled A Continuation of Dr. J—n's Criticism on the Poems of Gray. The following is perhaps the best passage:—'On some fine evening Gray had seen the moon shining on a tower such as is here described. An owl might be peeping out from the ivy with which it was clad. Of the observer the station might be such that the owl, now emerged from the mantling, presented itself to his eye in profile, skirting with the Moon's limb. All this is well. The perspective is striking; and the picture well defined. But the poet was not contented. He felt a desire to enlarge it; and in executing his purpose gave it accumulation without improvement. The idea of the Owl's complaining is an artificial one; and the views on which it proceeds absurd. Gray should have seen, that it but ill befitted the Bird of Wisdom to complain to the Moon of an intrusion which the Moon could no more help than herself.' p. 17. Johnson wrote of this book:—'I know little of it, for though it was sent me I never cut the leaves open. I had a letter with it representing it to me as my own work; in such an account to the publick there may be humour, but to myself it was neither serious nor comical. I suspect the writer to be wrong-headed.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 289. 'I was told,' wrote Walpole (Letters, viii. 376), 'it would divert me, that it seems to criticise Gray, but really laughs at Johnson. I sent for it and skimmed it over, but am not at all clear what it means—no recommendation of anything. I rather think the author wishes to be taken by Gray's admirers for a ridiculer of Johnson, and by the tatter's for a censurer of Gray.' '"The cleverest parody of the Doctor's style of criticism," wrote Sir Walter Scott, "is by John Young of Glasgow, and is very capital."' Croker Corres, ii. 34.

[1194] See ante, iv. 59, for Burke's description of Croft's imitation.

[1195] See ante, ii. 465.

[1196] H.S.E.

MICHAEL JOHNSON,

Vir impavidus, constans, animosus, periculorum immemor, laborum patientissimus; fiducia christiana fortis, fervidusque; paterfamilias apprime strenuus; bibliopola admodum peritus; mente et libris et negotiis exculta; animo ita firmo, ut, rebus adversis diu conflictatus, nec sibi nec suis defuerit; lingua sic temperata, ut ei nihil quod aures vel pias, vel castas laesisset, aut dolor, vel voluptas unquam expresserit.

Natus Cubleiae, in agro Derbiensi,

Anno MDCLVI.

Obiit MDCCXXXI.

Apposita est SARA, conjux,

Antiqua FORDORUM gente oriunda; quam domi sedulam, foris paucis notam; nulli molestam, mentis acumine et judicii subtilitate praecellentem; aliis multum, sibi parum indulgentem: aeternitati semper attentam, omne fere virtutis nomen commendavit.

Nata Nortoniae Regis, in agro Varvicensi, Anno MDCLXIX;

Obiit MDCCLIX.

Cum NATHANAELE, illorum filio, qui natus MDCCXII, cum vires et animi et corporis multa pollicerentur, anno MDCCXXXVII, vitam brevem pia morte finivit. Johnson's Works, i. 150.

[1197] Hawkins (Life, p. 590) says that he asked that the stone over his own grave 'might be so placed as to protect his body from injury.' Harwood (History of Lichfield, p. 520) says that the stone in St. Michael's was removed in 1796, when the church was paved. A fresh one with the old inscriptions was placed in the church on the hundredth anniversary of Johnson's death by Robert Thorp, Esq., of Buxton Road House, Macclesfield. The Rev. James Serjeantson, Rector of St. Michael's, suggests to me that the first stone was never set up. It is, he says, unlikely that such a memorial within a dozen years was treated so unworthily. Moreover in 1841 and again in 1883, during reparations of the church, a very careful search was made for it, but without result. There may have been, he thinks, some difficulty in finding the exact place of interment. The matter may have stood over till it was forgotten, and the mason, whose receipted bill shews that he was paid for the stone, may have used it for some other purpose.

[1198] See ante, i. 241, and iv. 351.

[1199] 'He would also,' says Hawkins (Life, p. 579), 'have written in Latin verse an epitaph for Mr. Garrick, but found himself unequal to the task of original poetic composition in that language.'

[1200] In his Life of Browne, Johnson wrote:—'The time will come to every human being when it must be known how well he can bear to die; and it has appeared that our author's fortitude did not desert him in the great hour of trial.' Works, vi. 499.

[1201] A Club in London, founded by the learned and ingenious physician, Dr. Ash, in honour of whose name it was called Eumelian, from the Greek [Greek: Eumelias]; though it was warmly contended, and even put to a vote, that it should have the more obvious appellation of Fraxinean, from the Latin. BOSWELL. This club, founded in 1788, met at the Blenheim Tavern, Bond-street. Reynolds, Boswell, Burney, and Windham were members. Rose's Biog. Dict. ii. 240. [Greek: Eummeliaes] means armed with good ashen spear.

[1202] Mrs. Thrale's Collection, March 10,1784. Vol. ii. p. 350.

BOSWELL.

[1203] Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 583.

[1204] See what he said to Mr. Malone, p. 53 of this volume. BOSWELL.

[1205] See ante, i. 223, note 2.

[1206] Epistle to the Romans, vii. 23.

[1207] 'Johnson's passions,' wrote Reynolds, 'were like those of other men, the difference only lay in his keeping a stricter watch over himself. In petty circumstances this [? his] wayward disposition appeared, but in greater things he thought it worth while to summon his recollection and be always on his guard.... [To them that loved him not] as rough as winter; to those who sought his love as mild as summer—many instances will readily occur to those who knew him intimately of the guard which he endeavoured always to keep over himself.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 460. See ante, i. 94, 164, 201, and iv. 215.

[1208] Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d ed. p. 209. [Post, v. 211.] On the same subject, in his Letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Nov. 29, 1783, he makes the following just observation:—'Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression; we must always purpose to do more or better than in time past. The mind is enlarged and elevated by mere purposes, though they end as they began [in the original, begin], by airy contemplation. We compare and judge, though we do not practise.' BOSWELL.

[1209] Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, p. 374. [Post, v. 359.]

BOSWELL.

[1210] Psalm xix. 13.

[1211] Pr. and Med. p.47. BOSWELL.

[1212] Ib. p. 68 BOSWELL

[1213] Ib. p. 84 BOSWELL

[1214] Ib. p. 120. BOSWELL.

[1215] Pr. and Med. p. 130. BOSWELL.

[1216] Dr. Johnson related, with very earnest approbation, a story of a gentleman, who, in an impulse of passion, overcame the virtue of a young woman. When she said to him, 'I am afraid we have done wrong!' he answered, 'Yes, we have done wrong;—for I would not debauch her mind.' BOSWELL.

[1217] St. John, viii. 7.

[1218] Pr. and Med. p. 192. BOSWELL.

[1219] See ante, iii. 155.

[1220] Boswell, on Feb. 10, 1791, describing to Malone the progress of his book, says:—'I have now before me p. 488 [of vol. ii.] in print; and 923 pages of the copy [MS.] only is exhausted, and there remains 80, besides the death; as to which I shall be concise, though solemn. Pray how shall I wind up? Shall I give the character from my Tour somewhat enlarged?' Croker's Boswell, p. 829. Mr. Croker is clearly in error in saying (ib. p. 800) that 'Mr. Boswell's absence and the jealousy between him and some of Johnson's other friends prevented his being able to give the particulars which he (Mr. Croker) has supplied in the Appendix.' In this Appendix is Mr. Hoole's narrative which Boswell had seen and used (post, p. 406).

[1221] Psalm lxxxii. 7.

[1222] See Appendix E.

[1223] 'On being asked in his last illness what physician he had sent for, "Dr. Heberden," replied he, "ultimus Romanorum, the last of the learned physicians."' Seward's Biographiana, p. 601.

[1224] Mr. Green related that when some of Johnson's friends desired that Dr. Warren should be called in, he said they might call in whom they pleased; and when Warren was called, at his going away Johnson said, 'You have come in at the eleventh hour, but you shall be paid the same with your fellow-labourers. Francis, put into Dr. Warren's coach a copy of the English Poets.' CROKER. Dr. Warren ten years later attended Boswell in his last illness. Letters of Boswell, p. 355. He was the great-grandfather of Col. Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., F.R.S., Chief Commissioner of Police.

[1225] This bold experiment, Sir John Hawkins has related in such a manner as to suggest a charge against Johnson of intentionally hastening his end; a charge so very inconsistent with his character in every respect, that it is injurious even to refute it, as Sir John has thought it necessary to do. It is evident, that what Johnson did in hopes of relief, indicated an extraordinary eagerness to retard his dissolution. BOSWELL. Murphy (Life, p. 122) says that 'for many years, when Johnson was not disposed to enter into the conversation going forward, whoever sat near his chair might hear him repeating from Shakespeare [Measure for Measure, act iii. sc. i]:—

"Ay, but to die and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clot; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods."

And from Milton [Paradise Lost, ii. 146]:—

"Who would lose Though full of pain this intellectual being?"'

Johnson, the year before, at a time when he thought that he must submit to the surgeon's knife (ante, p. 240), wrote to Mrs. Thrale:—'You would not have me for fear of pain perish in putrescence. I shall, I hope, with trust in eternal mercy lay hold of the possibility of life which yet remains.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 312. Hawkins records (Life, p. 588) that one day Johnson said to his doctor:—'How many men in a year die through the timidity of those whom they consult for health! I want length of life, and you fear giving me pain, which I care not for.' Another day, 'when Mr. Cruikshank scarified his leg, he cried out, "Deeper, deeper. I will abide the consequence; you are afraid of your reputation, but that is nothing to me." To those about him, he said, "You all pretend to love me, but you do not love me so well as I myself do." 'Ib. p. 592. Windham (Diary, p. 32) says that he reproached Heberden with being timidorum timidissimus. Throughout he acted up to what he had said:—'I will be conquered, I will not capitulate.' Ante, P. 374.

[1226] Macbeth, act v. sc. 3.

[1227] Satires, x. 356. Paraphrased by Johnson in The Vanity of Human Wishes, at the lines beginning:—

'Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind, Obedient passions and a will resigned.'

[1228] Johnson, three days after his stroke of palsy (ante, p. 230), wrote:—'When I waked, I found Dr. Brocklesby sitting by me. He fell to repeating Juvenal's ninth satire; but I let him see that the province was mine.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 274.

[1229] Johnson, on his way to Scotland, 'changed horses,' he wrote, 'at Darlington, where Mr. Cornelius Harrison, a cousin-german of mine, was perpetual curate. He was the only one of my relations who ever rose in fortune above penury, or in character above neglect.' Piozzi Letters, i. 105. Malone, in a note to later editions, shews that Johnson shortly before his death was trying to discover some of his poor relations.

[1230] Mr. Windham records (Diary, p. 28) that the day before Johnson made his will 'he recommended Frank to him as to one who had will and power to protect him.' He continues, 'Having obtained my assent to this, he proposed that Frank should be called in; and desiring me to take him by the hand in token of the promise, repeated before him the recommendation he had just made of him, and the promise I had given to attend to it.

[1231] Johnson wrote five years earlier to Mrs. Thrale about her husband's will:—'Do not let those fears prevail which you know to be unreasonable; a will brings the end of life no nearer.' Piozzi Letters, ii. 72.

[1232] 'IN THE NAME OF GOD. AMEN. I, SAMUEL JOHNSON, being in full possession of my faculties, but fearing this night may put an end to my life, do ordain this my last Will and Testament. I bequeath to GOD, a soul polluted with many sins, but I hope purified by JESUS CHRIST. I leave seven hundred and fifty pounds in the hands of Bennet Langton, Esq.; three hundred pounds in the hands of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Perkins, brewers; one hundred and fifty pounds in the hands of Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore; one thousand pounds, three per cent. annuities, in the publick funds; and one hundred pounds now lying by me in ready money: all these before-mentioned sums and property I leave, I say, to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, of Doctors Commons, in trust for the following uses:—That is to say, to pay to the representatives of the late William Innys, bookseller, in St, Paul's Church-yard, the sum of two hundred pounds; to Mrs. White, my female servant, one hundred pounds stock in the three per cent. annuitites aforesaid. The rest of the aforesaid sums of money and property, together with my books, plate, and household furniture, I leave to the before-mentioned Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, also in trust, to the use of Francis Barber, my man-servant, a negro, in such a manner as they shall judge most fit and available to his benefit. And I appoint the aforesaid Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, sole executors of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills and testaments whatever. In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name, and affix my seal, this eighth day of December, 1784.

'Sam Johnson, (L.S.)

'Signed, scaled, published, declared, and delivered, by the said testator, as his last will and testament, in the presence of us, the word two being first inserted in the opposite page. 'GEORGE STRAHAN 'JOHN DESMOULINS

'By way of Codicil to my last Will and Testament, I, SAMUEL JOHNSON, give, devise, and bequeath, my messuage or tenement situate at Litchfield, in the county of Stafford, with the appertenances, in the tenure or occupation of Mrs. Bond, of Lichfield aforesaid, or of Mr. Hinchman, her under-tenant, to my executors, in trust, to sell and dispose of the same; and the money arising from such sale I give and bequeath as follows, viz. to Thomas and Benjamin, the sons of Fisher Johnson, late of Leicester, and ——- Whiting, daughter of Thomas Johnson [F-1], late of Coventry, and the grand-daughter of the said Thomas Johnson, one full and equal fourth part each; but in case there shall be more grand-daughters than one of the said Thomas Johnson, living at the time of my decease, I give and bequeath the part or share of that one to and equally between such grand-daughters. I give and bequeath to the Rev. Mr. Rogers, of Berkley, near Froom, in the county of Somerset, the sum of one hundred pounds, requesting him to apply the same towards the maintenance of Elizabeth Herne, a lunatick [F-2]. I also give and bequeath to my god-children, the son and daughter of Mauritius Lowe [F-3], painter, each of them, one hundred pounds of my stock in the three per cent, consolidated annuities, to be applied and disposed of by and at the discretion of my Executors, in the education or settlement in the world of them my said legatees. Also I give and bequeath to Sir John Hawkins, one of my Executors, the Annales Ecclesiastici of Baronius, and Holinshed's and Stowe's Chronicles, and also an octavo Common Prayer-Book. To Bennet Langton, Esq. I give and bequeath my Polyglot Bible. To Sir Joshua Reynolds, my great French Dictionary, by Martiniere, and my own copy of my folio English Dictionary, of the last revision. To Dr. William Scott, one of my Executors, the Dictionnaire de Commerce, and Lectius's edition of the Greek poets. To Mr. Windham [F-4], Poetae Graeci Heroici per Henricum Stephanum. To the Rev. Mr. Strahan, vicar of Islington, in Middlesex, Mill's Greek Testament, Beza's Greek Testament, by Stephens, all my Latin Bibles, and my Greek Bible, by Wechelius. To Dr. Heberden, Dr. Brocklesby, Dr. Butter, and Mr. Cruikshank, the surgeon who attended me, Mr. Holder, my apothecary, Gerard Hamilton, Esq., Mrs. Gardiner [F-5], of Snow-hill, Mrs. Frances Reynolds, Mr. Hoole, and the Reverend Mr. Hoole, his son, each a book at their election, to keep as a token of remembrance. I also give and bequeath to Mr. John Desmoulins [F-6], two hundred pounds consolidated three per cent, annuities: and to Mr. Sastres, the Italian master [F-7], the sum of five pounds, to be laid out in books of piety for his own use. And whereas the said Bennet Langton hath agreed, in consideration of the sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds, mentioned in my Will to be in his hands, to grant and secure an annuity of seventy pounds payable during the life of me and my servant, Francis Barber, and the life of the survivor of us, to Mr. George Stubbs, in trust for us; my mind and will is, that in case of my decease before the said agreement shall be perfected, the said sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds, and the bond for securing the said sum, shall go to the said Francis Barber; and I hereby give and bequeath to him the same, in lieu of the bequest in his favour, contained in my said Will. And I hereby empower my Executors to deduct and retain all expences that shall or may be incurred in the execution of my said Will, or of this Codicil thereto, out of such estate and effects as I shall die possessed of. All the rest, residue, and remainder, of my estate and effects, I give and bequeath to my said Executors, in trust for the said Francis Barber, his Executors and Administrators. Witness my hand and seal, this ninth day of December, 1784.

'SAM. JOHNSON, (L. S.)

'Signed, sealed, published, declared, and delivered, by the said Samuel Johnson, as, and for a Codicil to his last Will and Testament, in the presence of us, who, in his presence, and at his request, and also in the presence of each other, have hereto subscribed our names as witnesses. 'JOHN COPLEY. 'WILLIAM GIBSON. 'HENRY COLE.'

Upon these testamentary deeds it is proper to make a few observations.

His express declaration with his dying breath as a Christian, as it had been often practised in such solemn writings, was of real consequence from this great man; for the conviction of a mind equally acute and strong, might well overbalance the doubts of others, who were his contemporaries. The expression polluted, may, to some, convey an impression of more than ordinary contamination; but that is not warranted by its genuine meaning, as appears from The Rambler, No. 42[F-8]. The same word is used in the will of Dr. Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln [F-9], who was piety itself.

His legacy of two hundred pounds to the representatives of Mr. Innys, bookseller, in St. Paul's Church-yard [F-10], proceeded from a very worthy motive. He told Sir John Hawkins, that his father having become a bankrupt, Mr. Innys had assisted him with money or credit to continue his business. 'This, (said he,) I consider as an obligation on me to be grateful to his descendants [F-11].'

The amount of his property proved to be considerably more than he had supposed it to be. Sir John Hawkins estimates the bequest to Francis Barber at a sum little short of fifteen hundred pounds, including an annuity of seventy pounds to be paid to him by Mr. Langton, in consideration of seven hundred and fifty pounds, which Johnson had lent to that gentleman. Sir John seems not a little angry at this bequest, and mutters 'a caveat against ostentatious bounty and favour to negroes [F-12].' But surely when a man has money entirely of his own acquisition, especially when he has no near relations, he may, without blame, dispose of it as he pleases, and with great propriety to a faithful servant. Mr. Barber, by the recommendation of his master, retired to Lichfield, where he might pass the rest of his days in comfort.

It has been objected that Johnson has omitted many of his best friends, when leaving books to several as tokens of his last remembrance. The names of Dr. Adams, Dr. Taylor [F-13], Dr. Burney, Mr. Hector, Mr. Murphy, the Authour of this Work, and others who were intimate with him, are not to be found in his Will. This may be accounted for by considering, that as he was very near his dissolution at the time, he probably mentioned such as happened to occur to him; and that he may have recollected, that he had formerly shewn others such proofs of his regard, that it was not necessary to crowd his Will with their names. Mrs. Lucy Porter was much displeased that nothing was left to her; but besides what I have now stated, she should have considered, that she had left nothing to Johnson by her Will, which was made during his life-time, as appeared at her decease.

His enumerating several persons in one group, and leaving them 'each a book at their election,' might possibly have given occasion to a curious question as to the order of choice, had they not luckily fixed on different books. His library, though by no means handsome in its appearance, was sold by Mr. Christie, for two hundred and forty-seven pounds, nine shillings [F-14]; many people being desirous to have a book which had belonged to Johnson. In many of them he had written little notes: sometimes tender memorials of his departed wife; as, 'This was dear Tetty's book:' sometimes occasional remarks of different sorts. Mr. Lysons, of Clifford's Inn, has favoured me with the two following:

In Holy Rules and Helps to Devotion, by Bryan Duppa, Lord Bishop of Winton, 'Preces quidam (? quidem) videtur diligenter tractasse; spero non inauditus (? inauditas).'

In The Rosicrucian infallible Axiomata, by John Heydon, Gent., prefixed to which are some verses addressed to the authour, signed Ambr. Waters, A.M. Coll. Ex. Oxon. 'These Latin verses were written to Hobbes by Bathurst, upon his Treatise on Human Nature, and have no relation to the book.—An odd fraud.'—BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix F for notes on this footnote.]

[1233] 'He burned,' writes Mrs. Piozzi, 'many letters in the last week, I am told, and those written by his mother drew from him a flood of tears. Mr. Sastres saw him cast a melancholy look upon their ashes, which he took up and examined to see if a word was still legible.'—Piozzi Letters, ii. 383.

[1234] Boswell in his Hebrides (post, v. 53) says that Johnson, starting northwards on his tour, left in a drawer in Boswell's house 'one volume of a pretty full and curious Diary of his Life, of which I have,' he continues, 'a few fragments.' The other volume, we may conjecture, Johnson took with him, for Boswell had seen both, and apparently seen them only once. He mentions (ante, i. 27) that these 'few fragments' had been transferred to him by the residuary legatee (Francis Barber). One large fragment, which was published after Barber's death, he could never have seen, for he never quotes from it (ante, i. 35, note 1).

[1235] One of these volumes, Sir John Hawkins informs us, he put into his pocket; for which the excuse he states is, that he meant to preserve it from falling into the hands of a person whom he describes so as to make it sufficiently clear who is meant; 'having strong reasons (said he,) to suspect that this man might find and make an ill use of the book.' Why Sir John should suppose that the gentleman alluded to would act in this manner, he has not thought fit to explain. But what he did was not approved of by Johnson; who, upon being acquainted of it without delay by a friend, expressed great indignation, and warmly insisted on the book being delivered up; and, afterwards, in the supposition of his missing it, without knowing by whom it had been taken, he said, 'Sir, I should have gone out of the world distrusting half mankind.' Sir John next day wrote a letter to Johnson, assigning reasons for his conduct; upon which Johnson observed to Mr. Langton, 'Bishop Sanderson could not have dictated a better letter. I could almost say, Melius est sic penituisse quam non errâsse.' The agitation into which Johnson was thrown by this incident, probably made him hastily burn those precious records which must ever be regretted. BOSWELL. According to Mr. Croker, Steevens was the man whom Hawkins said that he suspected. Porson, in his witty Panegyrical Epistle on Hawkins v. Johnson (Gent. Mag. 1787, pp. 751-3, and Porson Tracts, p. 341), says:—'I shall attempt a translation [of Melius est, &c.] for the benefit of your mere English readers:—There is more joy over a sinner that repenteth than over a just person that needeth no repentance. And we know from an authority not to be disputed (Hawkins's Life, p. 406) that Johnson was a great lover of penitents.

"God put it in the mind to take it hence, That thou might'st win the more thy [Johnson's] love, Pleading so wisely in excuse of it."

[1236] Henry IV, act iv. sc. 5.

[1237] 'Tibullus addressed Cynthia in this manner:—

"Te spectem, suprema, mihi cum venerit hora, Te teneam moriens deficiente mamu. Lib. i. El. I. 73. Before my closing eyes dear Cynthia stand, Held weakly by my fainting, trembling hand."' Johnson's Works, iv. 35.

[1238] Windham was scarcely a statesman as yet, though for a few months of the year before he had been Chief Secretary for Ireland (ante, p 200). He was in Parliament, but he had never spoken. His Diary shews that he had no 'important occupations.' On Dec. 12, for instance, he records (p. 30):—'Came down about ten; read reviews, wrote to Mrs. Siddons, and then went to the ice; came home only in time to dress and go to my mother's to dinner.' See ante, p. 356, for his interest in balloons.

[1239] 'My father,' writes Miss Burney, 'saw him once while I was away, and carried Mr. Burke with him, who was desirous of paying his respects to him once more in person. He rallied a little while they were there; and Mr. Burke, when they left him, said to my father:—"His work is almost done, and well has he done it."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, ii. 333. Burke, in 1792, said in Parliament that 'Dr. Johnson's virtues were equal to his transcendent talents, and his friendship he valued as the greatest consolation and happiness of his life.' Parl. Debates, xxx. 109.

[1240] On the same undoubted authority, I give a few articles, which should have been inserted in chronological order; but which, now that they are before me, I should be sorry to omit:—

'In 1736, Dr. Johnson had a particular inclination to have been engaged as an assistant to the Reverend Mr. Budworth, then head master of the Grammar-school, at Brewood, in Staffordshire, "an excellent person, who possessed every talent of a perfect instructor of youth, in a degree which, (to use the words of one of the brightest ornaments of literature, the Reverend Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester,) has been rarely found in any of that profession since the days of Quintilian." Mr. Budworth, "who was less known in his life-time, from that obscure situation to which the caprice of fortune oft condemns the most accomplished characters, than his highest merit deserved," had been bred under Mr. Blackwell [Blackwall], at Market Bosworth, where Johnson was some time an usher [ante, i. 84]; which might naturally lead to the application. Mr. Budworth was certainly no stranger to the learning or abilities of Johnson; as he more than once lamented his having been under the necessity of declining the engagement, from an apprehension that the paralytick affection, under which our great Philologist laboured through life, might become the object of imitation or of ridicule, among his pupils.' Captain Budworth, his grandson, has confirmed to me this anecdote.

'Among the early associates of Johnson, at St. John's Gate, was Samuel Boyse [G-1], well known by his ingenious productions; and not less noted for his imprudence. It was not unusual for Boyse to be a customer to the pawnbroker. On one of these occasions, Dr. Johnson collected a sum of money to redeem his friend's clothes, which in two days after were pawned again. "The sum, (said Johnson,) was collected by sixpences, at a time when to me sixpence was a serious consideration [G-2]."

'Speaking one day of a person for whom he had a real friendship, but in whom vanity was somewhat too predominant, he observed, that "Kelly [G-3] was so fond of displaying on his side-board the plate which he possessed, that he added to it his spurs. For my part, (said he,) I never was master of a pair of spurs, but once; and they are now at the bottom of the ocean. By the carelessness of Boswell's servant, they were dropped from the end of the boat, on our return from the Isle of Sky [G-4]."'

The late Reverend Mr. Samuel Badcock [G-5], having been introduced to Dr. Johnson, by Mr. Nichols, some years before his death, thus expressed himself in a letter to that gentleman:—

'How much I am obliged to you for the favour you did me in introducing me to Dr. Johnson! Tantùm vìdi Virgilium [G-6]. But to have seen him, and to have received a testimony of respect from him, was enough. I recollect all the conversation, and shall never forget one of his expressions. Speaking of Dr. P—— [Priestley], (whose writings, I saw, he estimated at a low rate,) he said, "You have proved him as deficient in probity as he is in learning [G-7]." I called him an "Index-scholar [G-8];" but he was not willing to allow him a claim even to that merit. He said, that "he borrowed from those who had been borrowers themselves, and did not know that the mistakes he adopted had been answered by others." I often think of our short, but precious, visit to this great man. I shall consider it as a kind of an aera in my life.' BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix G for notes on this footnote.]

[1241] See ante, i. 152, 501.

[1242] He wrote to Dr. Taylor on Feb. 17, 1776:—'Keep yourself cheerful. Lie in bed with a lamp, and when you cannot sleep and are beginning to think, light your candle and read. At least light your candle; a man is perhaps never so much harrassed (sic) by his own mind in the light as in the dark.' Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 423.

[1243] Mr. Croker records 'the following communication from Mr. Hoole himself':—'I must mention an incident which shews how ready Johnson was to make amends for any little incivility. When I called upon him, the morning after he had pressed me rather roughly to read louder, he said, "I was peevish yesterday; you must forgive me: when you are as old and as sick as I am, perhaps you may be peevish too." I have heard him make many apologies of this kind.'

[1244] 'To his friend Dr. Burney he said a few hours before he died, taking the Doctor's hands within his, and casting his eyes towards Heaven with a look of the most fervent piety, "My dear friend, while you live do all the good you can." Seward's Biographiana, p. 601

[1245] Mr. Hoole, senior, records of this day:—'Dr. Johnson exhorted me to lead a better life than he had done. "A better life than you, my dear Sir:" I repeated. He replied warmly, "Don't compliment not." Croker's Boswell, p. 844

[1246] See ante, p. 293

[1247] The French historian, Jacques-Auguste de Thou, 1553-1617, author of Historia sui Temporis in 138 books.

[1248] See ante, ii. 42, note 2.

[1249] Mr. Hutton was occasionally admitted to the royal breakfast-table. "Hutton," said the King to him one morning, "is it true that you Moravians marry without any previous knowledge of each other?" "Yes, may it please your majesty," returned Hutton; "our marriages are quite royal" Hannah More's Memoirs, i. 318. One of his female-missionaries for North American said to Dr. Johnson:—'Whether my Saviour's service may be best carried on here, or on the coast of Labrador, 'tis Mr. Hutton's business to settle. I will do my part either in a brick-house or a snow-house with equal alacrity.' Piozzi's Synonymy, ii. 120. He is described also in the Memoirs of Dr. Burney, i. 251, 291.

[1250] Ante, ii. 402.

[1251] Burke said of Hussey, who was his friend and correspondent, that in his character he had made 'that very rare union of the enlightened statesman with the ecclesiastic.' Burke's Corres. iv. 270.

[1252] Boswell refers, I believe, to Fordyce's epitaph on Johnson in the Gent. Mag. 1785, p. 412, or possibly to an Ode on p. 50 of his poems.

[1253] 'Being become very weak and helpless it was thought necessary that a man should watch with him all night; and one was found in the neighbourhood for half a crown a night.' Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 589.

[1254] It was on Nov. 30 that he repeated these lines. See Croker's Boswell, p. 843.

[1255] British Synonymy, i. 359. Mrs. Piozzi, to add to the wonder, says that these verses were 'improviso,' forgetting that Johnson wrote to her on Aug 8, 1780 (Piozzi Letters, ii. 175):—'You have heard in the papers how —- is come to age. I have enclosed a short song of congratulation which you must not shew to anybody. It is odd that it should come into anybody's head. I hope you will read it with candour; it is, I believe, one of the author's first essays in that way of writing, and a beginner is always to be treated with tenderness.' That it was Sir John Lade who had come of age is shewn by the entry of his birth, Aug. 1, 1759, in the Gent. Mag. 1759, p. 392. He was the nephew and ward of Mr. Thrale, who seemed to think that Miss Burney would make him a good wife. (Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 79.) According to Mr. Hayward (Life of Piozzi, i. 69) it was Lade who having asked Johnson whether he advised him to marry, received as answer: 'I would advise no man to marry, Sir, who is not likely to propagate understanding.' See ante, ii. 109, note 2. Mr. Hayward adds that 'he married a woman of the town, became a celebrated member of the Four-in-Hand Club, and contrived to waste the whole of a fine fortune before he died.' In Campbell's Chancellors (ed. 1846, v. 628) a story is told of Sir John Ladd, who is, I suppose, the same man. The Prince of Wales in 1805 asked Lord Thurlow to dinner, and also Ladd. 'When "the old Lion" arrived the Prince went into the ante-room to meet him, and apologised for the party being larger than he had intended, but added, "that Sir John was an old friend of his, and he could not avoid asking him to dinner," to which Thurlow, in his growling voice, answered, "I have no objection, Sir, to Sir John Ladd in his proper place, which I take to be your Royal Highness's coach-box, and not your table."'

[1256] British Synonymy was published in 1794, later therefore than Boswell's first and second editions. In both these the latter half of this paragraph ran as follows:—"From the specimen which Mrs. Piozzi has exhibited of it (Anecdotes, p. 196) it is much to be wished that the world could see the whole. Indeed I can speak from my own knowledge; for having had the pleasure to read it, I found it to be a piece of exquisite satire conveyed in a strain of pointed vivacity and humour, and in a manner of which no other instance is to be found in Johnson's writings. After describing the ridiculous and ruinous career of a wild spendthrift he consoles him with this reflection:—

"You may hang or drown at last."'

[1257] Sir John.

[1258]'"Les morts n'écrivent point," says Madame de Maintenon.' Hannah More's Memoirs, i. 233. The note that Johnson received 'was,' says Mr. Hoole, 'from Mr. Davies, the bookseller, and mentioned a present of some pork; upon which the Doctor said, in a manner that seemed as if he thought it ill-timed, "too much of this," or some such expression.' Croker's Boswell, p. 844.

[1259] Sir Walter Scott says that 'Reynolds observed the charge given him by Johnson on his death-bed not to use his pencil of a Sunday for a considerable time, but afterwards broke it, being persuaded by some person who was impatient for a sitting that the Doctor had no title to exact such a promise.' Croker's Corres. ii. 34. 'Reynolds used to say that "the pupil in art who looks for the Sunday with pleasure as an idle day will never make a painter."' Northcote's Reynolds, i. 119. 'Dr. Johnson,' said Lord Eldon, 'sent me a message on his death-bed, to request that I would attend public worship every Sunday.' Twiss's Eldon, i. 168. The advice was not followed, for 'when a lawyer, a warm partisan of the Chancellor, called him one of the pillars of the Church; "No," said another lawyer, "he may be one of its buttresses; but certainly not one of its pillars, for he is never found within it."' Ib. iii. 488. Lord Campbell (Lives of the Chancellors, vii. 716) says:—Lord Eldon was never present at public worship in London from one year's end to the other. Pleading in mitigation before Lord Ellenborough that he attended public worship in the country, he received the rebuke, "as if there were no God in town.'"

[1260] Reynolds records:—'During his last illness, when all hope was at an end, he appeared to be quieter and more resigned. His approaching dissolution was always present to his mind. A few days before he died, Mr. Langton and myself only present, he said he had been a great sinner, but he hoped he had given no bad example to his friends; that he had some consolation in reflecting that he had never denied Christ, and repeated the text, "Whoever denies me, &c." [St. Matthew x. 33.] We were both very ready to assure him that we were conscious that we were better and wiser from his life and conversation; and that so far from denying Christ, he had been, in this age, his greatest champion.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 459.

[1261] Hannah More (Memoirs i. 393) says that Johnson, having put up a fervent prayer that Brocklesby might become a sincere Christian, 'caught hold of his hand with great earnestness, and cried, "Doctor, you do not say Amen." The Doctor looked foolishly, but after a pause cried "Amen"' Her account, however, is often not accurate.

[1262] Windham records (Diary, p. 30) that on the night of the 12th he urged him to take some sustenance, 'and desisted only upon his exclaiming, "It is all very childish; let us hear no more of it."' On his pressing him a second time, he answered that 'he refused no sustenance but inebriating sustenance.' Windham thereupon asked him to take some milk, but 'he recurred to his general refusal, and begged that there might be an end of it. I then said that I hoped he would forgive my earnestness; when he replied eagerly, "that from me nothing would be necessary by way of apology;" adding with great fervour, in words which I shall (I hope) never forget—"God bless you, my dear Windham, through Jesus Christ;" and concluding with a wish that we might meet in some humble portion of that happiness which God might finally vouchsafe to repentant sinners. These were the last words I ever heard him speak. I hurried out of the room with tears in my eyes, and more affected than I had been on any former occasion.' It was at a later hour in this same night that Johnson 'scarified himself in three places. On Mr. Desmoulins making a difficulty of giving him the lancet he said, "Don't you, if you have any scruples; but I will compel Frank," and on Mr. Desmoulins attempting to prevent Frank from giving it to him, and at last to restrain his hands, he grew very outrageous, so much so as to call Frank "scoundrel" and to threaten Mr. Desmoulins that he would stab him.' Ib. p. 32.

[1263] Mr. Strahan, mentioning 'the anxious fear', which seized Johnson, says, that 'his friends who knew his integrity observed it with equal astonishment and concern.' He adds that 'his foreboding dread of the Divine justice by degrees subsided into a pious trust and humble hope in the Divine mercy.' Pr. and Med. preface, p. xv.

[1264] The change of his sentiments with regard to Dr. Clarke, is thus mentioned to me in a letter from the late Dr. Adams, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford:—'The Doctor's prejudices were the strongest, and certainly in another sense the weakest, that ever possessed a sensible man. You know his extreme zeal for orthodoxy. But did you ever hear what he told me himself? That he had made it a rule not to admit Dr. Clarke's name in his Dictionary. This, however, wore off. At some distance of time he advised with me what books he should read in defence of the Christian Religion. I recommended Clarke's Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, as the best of the kind; and I find in what is called his Prayers and Meditations, that he was frequently employed in the latter part of his time in reading Clarke's Sermons. BOSWELL. See ante, i. 398.

[1265] The Reverend Mr. Strahan took care to have it preserved, and has inserted it in Prayers and Meditations, p. 216. BOSWELL.

[1266] See ante, iii. 433.

[1267] The counterpart of Johnson's end and of one striking part of his character may be found in Mr. Fearing in The Pilgrim's Progress, part ii. '"Mr. Fearing was," said Honesty, "a very zealous man. Difficulty, lions, or Vanity Fair he feared not at all; it was only sin, death, and hell that were to him a terror, because he had some doubts about his interest in that celestial country." "I dare believe," Greatheart replied, "that, as the proverb is, he could have bit a firebrand, had it stood in his way; but the things with which he was oppressed no man ever yet could shake off with ease."' See ante, ii. 298, note 4.

[1268] Her sister's likeness as Hope nursing Love was painted by Reynolds. Northcote's Reynolds, i. 185.

[1269] The following letter, written with an agitated hand, from the very chamber of death, by Mr. Langton, and obviously interrupted by his feelings, will not unaptly close the story of so long a friendship. The letter is not addressed, but Mr. Langton's family believe it was intended for Mr. Boswell.

'MY DEAR SIR,—After many conflicting hopes and fears respecting the event of this heavy return of illness which has assailed our honoured friend, Dr. Johnson, since his arrival from Lichfield, about four days ago the appearances grew more and more awful, and this afternoon at eight o'clock, when I arrived at his house to see how he should be going on, I was acquainted at the door, that about three quarters of an hour before, he breathed his last. I am now writing in the room where his venerable remains exhibit a spectacle, the interesting solemnity of which, difficult as it would be in any sort to find terms to express, so to you, my dear Sir, whose own sensations will paint it so strongly, it would be of all men the most superfluous to attempt to—.'—CROKER. The interruption of the note was perhaps due to a discovery made by Langton. Hawkins says, 'at eleven, the evening of Johnson's death, Mr. Langton came to me, and in an agony of mind gave me to understand that our friend had wounded himself in several parts of the body.' Hawkins's Life, p. 590. To the dying man, 'on the last day of his existence on this side the grave the desire of life,' to use Murphy's words (Life, p. 135), 'had returned with all its former vehemence.' In the hope of drawing off the dropsical water he gave himself these wounds (see ante, p. 399). He lost a good deal of blood, and no doubt hastened his end. Langton must have suspected that Johnson intentionally shortened his life.

[1270] Servant to the Right Honourable William Windham. BOSWELL.

[1271] Sir Joshua Reynolds and Paoli were among the mourners. Among the Nichols papers in the British Museum is preserved an invitation card to the funeral.

[1272] Dr. Burney wrote to the Rev. T. Twining on Christmas Day, 1784:—'The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey lay all the blame on Sir John Hawkins for suffering Johnson to be so unworthily interred. The Knight's first inquiry at the Abbey in giving orders, as the most acting executor, was—"What would be the difference in the expense between a public and private funeral?" and was told only a few pounds to the prebendaries, and about ninety pairs of gloves to the choir and attendants; and he then determined that, "as Dr. Johnson had no music in him, he should choose the cheapest manner of interment." And for this reason there was no organ heard, or burial service sung; for which he suffers the Dean and Chapter to be abused in all the newspapers, and joins in their abuse when the subject is mentioned in conversation.' Burney mentions a report that Hawkins had been slandering Johnson. Recreations and Studies of a Country Clergyman of the XVIII Century, p. 129. Dr. Charles Burney, jun., had written the day after the funeral:—'The executor, Sir John Hawkins, did not manage things well, for there was no anthem or choir service performed—no lesson—but merely what is read over every old woman that is buried by the parish. Dr. Taylor read the service but so-so.' Johnstone's Parr, i. 535.

[1273] Pope's Essay on Man, iv. 390. See ante, iii. 6, and iv. 122.

[1274] On the subject of Johnson I may adopt the words of Sir John Harrington, concerning his venerable Tutor and Diocesan, Dr. John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells; 'who hath given me some helps, more hopes, all encouragements in my best studies: to whom I never came but I grew more religious; from whom I never went, but I parted better instructed. Of him therefore, my acquaintance, my friend, my instructor, if I speak much, it were not to be marvelled; if I speak frankly, it is not to be blamed; and though I speak partially, it were to be pardoned.' Nugoe Antiquoe, vol. i. p. 136. There is one circumstance in Sir John's character of Bishop Still, which is peculiarly applicable to Johnson: 'He became so famous a disputer, that the learnedest were even afraid to dispute with him; and he finding his own strength, could not stick to warn them in their arguments to take heed to their answers, like a perfect fencer that will tell aforehand in which button he will give the venew, or like a cunning chess-player that will appoint aforehand with which pawn and in what place he will give the mate.' Ibid. BOSWELL.

[1275] The late Right Hon. William Gerard Hamilton. MALONE.

[1276] 'His death,' writes Hannah More (Memoirs, i. 394), 'makes a kind of era in literature.' 'One who had long known him said of him:—'In general you may tell what the man to whom you are speaking will say next. This you can never do of Johnson.' Johnson's Works (1787), xi. 211.

[1277] Beside the Dedications to him by Dr. Goldsmith [ante, ii. 216], the Reverend Dr. Francklin [ante, iv. 34], and the Reverend Mr. Wilson [ante, iv. 162], which I have mentioned according to their dates, there was one by a lady, of a versification of Aningait and Ajut, and one by the ingenious Mr. Walker [ante, iv. 206], of his Rhetorical Grammar. I have introduced into this work several compliments paid to him in the writings of his contemporaries; but the number of them is so great, that we may fairly say that there was almost a general tribute.

Let me not be forgetful of the honour done to him by Colonel Myddleton, of Gwaynynog, near Denbigh; who, on the banks of a rivulet in his park, where Johnson delighted to stand and repeat verses, erected an urn with the following inscription:

'This spot was often dignified by the presence of SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. Whose moral writings, exactly conformable to the precepts of Christianity, Gave ardour to Virtue and confidence to Truth [H-1].'

As no inconsiderable circumstance of his fame, we must reckon the extraordinary zeal of the artists to extend and perpetuate his image. I can enumerate a bust by Mr. Nollekens, and the many casts which are made from it; several pictures by Sir Joshua Reynolds, from one of which, in the possession of the Duke of Dorset, Mr. Humphry executed a beautiful miniature in enamel; one by Mrs. Frances Reynolds, Sir Joshua's sister; one by Mr. Zoffani; and one by Mr. Opie [H-2]; and the following engravings of his portrait: 1. One by Cooke, from Sir Joshua, for the Proprietors' edition of his folio Dictionary.—2. One from ditto, by ditto, for their quarto edition.—3. One from Opie, by Heath, for Harrison's edition of his Dictionary.—4. One from Nollekens' bust of him, by Bartolozzi, for Fielding's quarto edition of his Dictionary.—5. One small, from Harding, by Trotter, for his Beauties.—6. One small, from Sir Joshua, by Trotter, for his Lives of the Poets.—7. One small, from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for The Rambler.—8. One small, from an original drawing, in the possession of Mr. John Simco, etched by Trotter, for another edition of his Lives of the Poets.—9. One small, no painter's name, etched by Taylor, for his Johnsoniana.—10. One folio whole-length, with his oak-stick, as described in Boswell's Tour, drawn and etched by Trotter.—11. One large mezzotinto, from Sir Joshua, by Doughty [H-3].—l2. One large Roman head, from Sir Joshua, by Marchi.—13. One octavo, holding a book to his eye, from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for his Works.—14. One small, from a drawing from the life, and engraved by Trotter, for his Life published by Kearsley.—15. One large, from Opie, by Mr. Townley, (brother of Mr. Townley, of the Commons,) an ingenious artist, who resided some time at Berlin, and has the honour of being engraver to his Majesty the King of Prussia. This is one of the finest mezzotintos that ever was executed; and what renders it of extraordinary value, the plate was destroyed after four or five impressions only were taken off. One of them is in the possession of Sir William Scott [H-4]. Mr. Townley has lately been prevailed with to execute and publish another of the same, that it may be more generally circulated among the admirers of Dr. Johnson.—16. One large, from Sir Joshua's first picture of him, by Heath, for this work, in quarto.—17. One octavo, by Baker, for the octavo edition.—18. And one for Lavater's Essay on Physiognomy, in which Johnson's countenance is analysed upon the principles of that fanciful writer.—There are also several seals with his head cut on them, particularly a very fine one by that eminent artist, Edward Burch, Esq. R.A. in the possession of the younger Dr. Charles Burney.

Let me add, as a proof of the popularity of his character, that there are copper pieces struck at Birmingham, with his head impressed on them, which pass current as half-pence there, and in the neighbouring parts of the country. BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix H for notes on this footnote.]

[1278] It is not yet published.—In a letter to me, Mr. Agutter says, 'My sermon before the University was more engaged with Dr. Johnson's moral than his intellectual character. It particularly examined his fear of death, and suggested several reasons for the apprehension of the good, and the indifference of the infidel in their last hours; this was illustrated by contrasting the death of Dr. Johnson and Mr. Hume: the text was Job xxi. 22-26.' BOSWELL. It was preached on July 23, 1786, and not at Johnson's death. It is entitled On the Difference between the Deaths of the Righteous and the Wicked. Illustrated in the Instance of Dr. Samuel Johnson and David Hume, Esq. The text is from Job xxi. 23 (not 22)-26. It was published in 1800. Neither Johnson nor Hume is mentioned in the sermon itself by name. Its chief, perhaps its sole, merit is its brevity.

[1279] See ante, ii. 335, and iii. 375.

[1280] 'May 26, 1791. After the Doctor's death, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Boswell sent an ambling circular-letter to me begging subscriptions for a monument for him. I would not deign to write an answer; but sent down word by my footman, as I would have done to parish officers, with a brief, that I would not subscribe.' Horace Walpole's Letters, ix. 319. In Malone's correspondence are complaints of the backwardness of the members of the Literary Club 'to pay the amounts nominally subscribed by them.' Prior's Goldsmith, ii. 226.

[1281] It was, says Malone, owing to Reynolds that the monument was erected in St. Paul's. In his Journey to Flandershe had lamented that sculpture languished in England, and was almost confined to monuments to eminent men. But even in these it had not fair play, for Westminster Abbey was so full, that the recent monuments appeared ridiculous being stuck up in odd holes and corners. On the other hand St. Paul's looked forlorn and desolate. Here monuments should be erected, under the direction of the Royal Academy. He took advantage of Johnson's death to make a beginning with the plan which he had here sketched, and induced his friends to give up their intention of setting up the monument in the Abbey. Reynolds's Works, ed. 1824, ii. 248. 'He asked Dr. Parr—but in vain—to include in the epitaph Johnson's title of Professor of Ancient Literature to the Royal Academy; as it was on this pretext that he persuaded the Academicians to subscribe a hundred guineas.' Johnstone's Parr, iv. 686. See ante, ii. 239, where the question was raised whose monument should be first erected in St. Paul's, and Johnson proposed Milton's.

[1282] The Reverend Dr. Parr, on being requested to undertake it, thus expressed himself in a letter to William Seward, Esq.:

'I leave this mighty task to some hardier and some abler writer. The variety and splendour of Johnson's attainments, the peculiarities of his character, his private virtues, and his literary publications, fill me with confusion and dismay, when I reflect upon the confined and difficult species of composition, in which alone they can be expressed, with propriety, upon his monument.'

But I understand that this great scholar, and warm admirer of Johnson, has yielded to repeated solicitations, and executed the very difficult undertaking. BOSWELL. Dr. Johnson's Monument, consisting of a colossal figure leaning against a column, has since the death of our authour been placed in St. Paul's Cathedral. The Epitaph was written by the Rev. Dr. Parr, and is as follows:

SAMVELI IOHNSON GRAMMATICO ET CRITICO SCRIPTORVM ANGLICORVM LITTERATE PERITO POETAE LVMINIBVS SENTENTIARVM ET PONDERIBVS VERBORVM ADMIRABILI MAGISTRO VIRTVTIS GRAVISSIMO HOMINI OPTIMO ET SINGVLARIS EXEMPLI QVI VIXIT ANN LXXV MENS IL. DIEB XIII DECESSIT IDIB DECEMBR ANN CHRIST cIo Iocc LXXXIIII SEPVLT IN AED SANCT PETR WESTMONASTERIENS XIII KAL IANVAR ANN CHRIST cIo Iocc LXXXV AMICI ET SODALES LITTERARII PECVNIA CONLATA H M FACIVND CVRAVER.

On a scroll in his hand are the following words: [Greek: ENMAKARESSIPONONANTAXIOSEIHAMOIBH].

On one side of the Monument—- FACIEBAT JOHANNES BACON SCVLPTOR ANN.

CHRIST. M.DCC.-LXXXXV.

The Subscription for this monument, which cost eleven hundred guineas, was begun by the LITERARY CLUB. MALONE. See Appendix I.

[1283] '"Laetus sum laudari me," inquit Hector, opinor apud Naevium, "abs te, pater, a laudato viro."' Cicero, Ep. ad Fam. xv. 6.

[1284] To prevent any misconception on this subject, Mr. Malone, by whom these lines were obligingly communicated, requests me to add the following remark:—

'In justice to the late Mr. Flood, now himself wanting, and highly meriting, an epitaph from his country, to which his transcendent talents did the highest honour, as well as the most important service; it should be observed that these lines were by no means intended as a regular monumental inscription for Dr. Johnson. Had he undertaken to write an appropriated and discriminative epitaph for that excellent and extraordinary man, those who knew Mr. Flood's vigour of mind, will have no doubt that he would have produced one worthy of his illustrious subject. But the fact was merely this: In Dec. 1789, after a large subscription had been made for Dr. Johnson's monument, to which Mr. Flood liberally contributed, Mr. Malone happened to call on him at his house, in Berners-street, and the conversation turning on the proposed monument, Mr. Malone maintained that the epitaph, by whomsoever it should be written, ought to be in Latin. Mr. Flood thought differently. The next morning, in the postscript to a note on another subject, he mentioned that he continued of the same opinion as on the preceding day, and subjoined the lines above given.' BOSWELL. Cowper also composed an epitaph for Johnson—though not one of much merit. See Southey's Cowper, v. 119.

[1285] As I do not see any reason to give a different character of my illustrious friend now, from what I formerly gave, the greatest part of the sketch of him in my Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, is here adopted. BOSWELL.

[1286] See ante, i. 41.

[1287] For his fox-hunting see ante, i. 446, note I.

[1288] Lucretius, i. 72.

[1289] See ante, i. 406.

[1290] 'He was always indulgent to the young, he never attacked the unassuming, nor meant to terrify the diffident.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary ii. 343.

[1291] In the Olla Podrida, a collection of Essays published at Oxford, there is an admirable paper upon the character of Johnson, written by the Reverend Dr. Home, the last excellent Bishop of Norwich. The following passage is eminently happy: 'To reject wisdom, because the person of him who communicates it is uncouth, and his manners are inelegant;—what is it, but to throw away a pine-apple, and assign for a reason the roughness of its coat?' BOSWELL. The Olla Podrida was published in weekly numbers in 1787 8. Boswell's quotation is from No. 13.

[1292] 'The English Dictionary was written ... amidst inconvenience distraction, in sickness and in sorrow.' Preface to Johnson's Dictionary, Works, v. 51.

[1293] 'For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.' Luke, xii. 48.

[1294] 'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.' I Corinthians, xv. 19.

[1295] See ante, ii. 262, note 2.

[1296] Though a perfect resemblance of Johnson is not to be found in any age, parts of his character are admirably expressed by Clarendon in drawing that of Lord Falkland, whom the noble and masterly historian describes at his seat near Oxford;—'Such an immenseness of wit, such a solidity of judgement, so infinite a fancy, bound in by a most logical ratiocination.—His acquaintance was cultivated by the most polite and accurate men, so that his house was an University in less volume, whither they came, not so much for repose as study, and to examine and refine those grosser propositions, which laziness and consent made current in conversation.'

Bayle's account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the great subject of this work:—'His illustrious friends erected a very glorious monument to him in the collection entitled Menagiana. Those who judge of things aright, will confess that this collection is very proper to shew the extent of genius and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to say, that the excellent works he published will not distinguish him from other learned men so advantageously as this. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and Latin verses exceedingly well turned, is not a common talent, I own; neither is it extremely rare, It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish discourse about an infinite number of things, and who can diversify them an hundred ways. How many authours are there, who are admired for their works, on account of the vast learning that is displayed in them, who are not able to sustain a conversation. Those who know Menage only by his books, might think he resembled those learned men; but if you shew the MENAGIANA, you distinguish him from them, and make him known by a talent which is given to very few learned men. There it appears that he was a man who spoke off-hand a thousand good things. His memory extended to what was ancient and modern; to the court and to the city; to the dead and to the living languages; to things serious and things jocose; in a word, to a thousand sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some readers of the Menagiana, who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration in other readers, who minded the difference between what a man speaks without preparation, and that which he prepares for the press. And, therefore, we cannot sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious friends took to erect a monument so capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify what they had heard him say; for, in so doing, they had not been faithful historians of his conversations.' BOSWELL. Boswell's quotation from Clarendon (ed. 1826, iv. 242) differs somewhat from the original.

[1297] See ante, ii. 326, and iv. 236.

[1298] See ante, p. iii.

[1299] To this finely-drawn character we may add the noble testimony of Sir Joshua Reynolds:—'His pride had no meanness in it; there was nothing little or mean about him.' Taylor's Reynolds, ii. 457.

[1300] In Johnson's character of Boerhaave there is much that applies equally well to himself. 'Thus died Boerhaave, a man formed by nature for great designs, and guided by religion in the exertion of his abilities. He was of a robust and athletick constitution of body, so hardened by early severities and wholesome fatigue that he was insensible of any sharpness of air, or inclemency of weather. He was tall, and remarkable for extraordinary strength. There was in his air and motion something rough and artless, but so majestick and great at the same time, that no man ever looked upon him without veneration, and a kind of tacit submission to the superiority of his genius.... He was never soured by calumny and detraction, nor ever thought it necessary to confute them; "for they are sparks," said he, "which, if you do not blow them, will go out of themselves."... He was not to be overawed or depressed by the presence, frowns, or insolence of great men; but persisted, on all occasions, in the right with a resolution always present and always calm.... Nor was he unacquainted with the art of recommending truth by elegance, and embellishing the philosopher with polite literature.... He knew the importance of his own writings to mankind, and lest he might by a roughness and barbarity of style, too frequent among men of great learning, disappoint his own intentions, and make his labours less useful, he did not neglect the politer arts of eloquence and poetry. Thus was his learning at once various and exact, profound and agreeable.... He asserted on all occasions the divine authority and sacred efficacy of the holy Scriptures; and maintained that they alone taught the way of salvation, and that they only could give peace of mind.' Johnson's Works, vi. 288.

[1301] Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was born at Plympton.

[1302] See ante, iii. 43, note 3.

THE END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.