[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:—
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'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.