yaw IRENE, E ANDREWS NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY TENTH THOUSAND. From Boswell's Life of Johnson Vol. U Edited with notes by Arnold Glover (Dent}. DR. JOHNSON'S Housi No. 8. BOLT COURT. " Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door." JOHNSON'S Letter to Lord ChntrrJIrld, p. 177 BOSWELL'S ILLUSTRATED. VOL. I. (TENTH THOUSAND.) LONDON: OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY, 198, STRAND. THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D. COMPREHENDING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS STUDIES AND NUMEROUS WORKS, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER; A. SERIES OF HIS EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE AND CONVERSATIONS WITH MANY EMINENT PERSONS; AND VARIOUS ORIGINAL PIECES OF HIS COMPOSITION, NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED: THE WHOLE EXHIBITING A VIEW OF LITERATURE AND LITERARY MEN IN" GREAT BRITAIN, FOR NEARLY HALF A CENTURY DURING WHICH HE FLOURISHED. BY JAMES BO SWELL, ESQ. Votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella VITA SENIS HORAT. A NEW EDITION, ELUCIDATED BY COPIOUS NOTES, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS, VIEWS, AND CHARACTERISTIC DESIGNS, ENGRAVED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. IN FOUE VOLUMES.-VOL. I. LONDON: OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY, 198 STRAND. " After my death I wish no other herald, No other speaker of iny living actions, To keep mine honour from corruption, But such an honest chronicler as Griffith." 1 SHAKSPEAEE, Henry VIII. 1 See Dr. Johnson's letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Ostick in Skie, September 30, 1773 : " Boswell writes a regular Journal of our travels, which I think contains as much of what I say and do, as of all other occurrences together; "for such a faithful chronicler is Griffith." Bos w ELL. STACK ANNEX PR 3533 BBS' PREFACE. A WORK so well known as " BOSWELL'S LIFE OK JOHNSON," needs no eulogy to those who have read it. Hitherto, however, the book has hardly been brought within reach of the great mass of the lovers of literature ; and it may interest those who make acquaintance for the first time with this masterpiece of Biography, to know that the most eminent of critics who have written upon the subjeot since the book appeared are unanimous in their opinion, that as a life-like portraiture, not only of the personal appearance and singular habits of a distinguished man, but of his strong pre- judices, his vigorous eloquence, his homely common sense, and his ready wit, so strikingly shown in the series of conversations which the industry of Bos well has preserved to us this book stands unrivalled in the literature of our own or any other nation. It is to be hoped that the present edition will recommend itself, both by its cheapness and by the more sterling qualities of careful an- notation and copious and judicious illustration which it will be found to possess, to many thousands who have not hitherto had an opportunity of becoming familiar with the work. Many supplementary notes have been appended to this edition with the view of elucidating any apparent obscurities, without over- burdening the text. The numerous engravings with which the 2040300 X PREFACE. work is illustrated, comprise portraits of most of Johnson's dis- tinguished contemporaries, and of all his intimate associates, which have been engraved from the best available authorities. The scenes too, amid which his life was passed, are represented from contemporary sources, or occasionally from recent sketches made especially for this edition, while the illustrations of the more picturesque incidents of his career have been designed with a due regard to general accuracy. These few explanations cannot be more appropriately closed than by the expression of the acknowledgments which we owe to Lewis Pocock, Esq., George James Squibb, Esq., and George Daniel, Esq., for the kindness and courtesy which they have severally shown in allowing us the freest access to their invaluable collections of Prints, Paintings, and other relics illustrative of the life and times of Samuel Johnson. London, March, 1851. CONTEXTS OF VOLUME I. Preface '* Contents xi List of Illustrations xiv Dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds xvi Mr. Boswell's Advertisements xix Mr. Malone's Advertisements xxiii Introduction xxvii CHAPTER I. 1709 1731. Birth and Infancy of Johnson Account of his Parents Anecdotes of his Child- hood Taken to London to receive the Royal Touch for Scrofula School Days at Lichfield His Uncle Cornelius Ford, and Cousin the Rev.'Dr. Ford, Sent to School at Stourbridge Translations and original Compositions while at this Place Return Home Arrival at Pembroke College, Oxford His Tutor Latin Translation of Pope's " Messiah" Attack of Hypochondria Religious Impressions Course of Reading Love of Literature Apparent Recklessness Real State of Mind Struggles with Poverty Leaves the University 33 CHAPTER II. 1731 1736. Death of Johnson's Father Intercourse with Society in Lichfield, Gilbert Walmesley, Dr. Swinfen, &c. Tribute to Walmesley's Memory Becomes Usher at Market Bosworth School Removal to Birmingham ; Mr. Hector, Mr. Porter, &c. Translation of Labo's Voyage to Abyssinia Specimen of Early Style Return to Lichfield Birmingham again First Letter to Cave, Proprietor of" Gentleman's Magazine" Youthful Amatory Verses Marriage with Mrs. Porter Her Family, and Incidents of the Wedding Opens a pri- vate Academy at Edial Garrick becomes his Pupil School unsuccessful Great part of Tragedy of " Irene" written 62 CHAPTER III. 1737 1738. Johnson arrives in London, accompanied by Garrick Letter relating to them from Walmesley to the Rev. Mr. Colson First Residence and Mode of Life in the Metropolis Retires to Greenwich Progress of " Irene" Projected transla- tion of '* Father Paul's History of Council of Trent " Going back to Lich- field Original MS. of " Irene " Extracts Return to London with Mrs. Johnson First Contribution to " Gentleman's Magazine " Reports Debates in Parliament Publishes Poem of London Pope admires it Remarks and Extracts Conditional Offer of Mastership of a Country School Pope's Re- commendation of Johnson to Lord Gower 79 XH CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV.- 1738 1743. PAGE Johnson's intended Application to Civil Law Letters to Cave Writings in " Gent. Mag." Separate Publications " Marmor Norfolciense," &c. Note from Pope relating to Johnson Anecdotes of Johnson by Reynolds and Hogarth Miscellaneous Writings Debates in Parliament Encounter with Osborne, the Bookseller Letters to Cave on Literary Projects Ode on Friendship Embarrassed Circumstances Takes on him a Debt of his Mother .... 98 CHAPTER V. 1744 1748. Johnson publishes the Life of Savage Merits of this Biography Discussion as to Savage's parentage Preface to Harleian Miscellany " Miscellaneous Ob- servations of the Tragedy of Macbeth" Garrick, Manager of Drury-laue Theatre Johnson's " Prologue" on its Opening " Plan" of the Dictionary addressed to Lord Chesterfield Residence in Gough Square Institution of the Club in Ivy Lane Writes Life of Roscommon Contributions to Dodsley's " Preceptor" 116 CHAPTER VI. 1749 1750. Publication of "The Vanity of Human Wishes" Tragedy of "Irene," performed at Drury-lane Theatre Commencement of " The Rambler" Republished in Edinburgh General Estimate of the Merits of the Work Prologue to " Comus," when performed for the benefit of Milton's Grand-daughter, and Letter in favour of the undertaking 134 CHAPTER VII. 1751 1754. Progress of the " Dictionary" and " Rambler " Lauder's Forgeries Account of Miss Williams Close of the " Rambler" Commencement of Hawkesworth's "Adventurer" Death of Mrs. Johnson Account of Robert Levett Johnsons Friendship with Reynolds Langton Beauclerk Writings in the " Adventurer" Extract from Diary Mrs. Lenox's " Shakspeare Illus- trated" 158 CHAPTER VIII. 1754 1755. Johnson writes the "Life of Cave" Lord Chesterfield's Papers in the "World," recommending the " Dictionary" Letter in answer to his Lordship Excur- sion to Oxford Receives his Degree of M.A. Projected " Bibliotheque " Letters, Remarks, &c., relating to the Dictionary Garrick's Panegyric Johnson's Pamphlet on the Longitude Scheme of Life for Sundays ... 174 CHAPTER IX. 1756 1768. Johnson's favourable Judgment of Booksellers Writes in " Universal Visiter " and " Literary Magazine " Defence of Tea, against Jonas Hanway Defence of Admiral Byng Answer to Soame Jenyns Issue of Proposals for Edition of Shakspeare Declines offer of Preferment in the Church Letters to Warton, Langton, &c. Burney's Interview with Johnson in Gough Square 203 CONTENTS. Mil CHAPTER X. 1758 1759. I'AliK Johnson commences " The Idler" Remarks on the Work Letters to T. Wai ton and Langton Death of Johnson's Mother Letters to her and Miss Porret Publication of" Rasselas" Various Writings Excursion to Oxford Ac- count of Francis Barber, Johnson's Black Servant Letter from Smollett to W r ilkes Blarkfriars Bridge Johnson engages in the Controversy respecting its Erection 217 CHAPTER XL 1760 1763. Accession of George III. Johnson writes the Address of the Painters on that Occasion Various Writings Projected History of the War Murphy's " Poetical Epislle" to Johnson Account of their Acquaintance Letters to Langton, Baretti, &c. Grant of Pension by George III. to Johnson Visit to Plymouth with Reynolds Letters to Lord Bute and Baretti Contributes to the " Poetical Calendar," a Character of CoKins the Poet . . '232 CHAPTER XII. 1763. First Interview of Boswell with Johnson, at the House of Davies, the Bookseller Record of Conversation Boswell's Visit to his Chambers in the Temple Description of Johnson Meeting at "The Mitre" Tavern Record of his Opinions of Gray, Goldsmith, &c. Advice to Boswell 250 CHAPTER XIII. 1763. Account of Goldsmith Johnson's Relation of their Interview, when Goldsmith was arrested by his Landlady Boswell sups with them at the Mitre Record of Conversation Nightly Tea with Miss Williams Boswell not yet admitted to this Privilege Subsequent Interviews with Johnson, and Record of Conversations on these Occasions 2C8 CHAPTER XIV. 1763 1765. Johnson accompanies Boswell to Harwich, on his intended Foreign Tour Fellow Passengers and Conversation on the Road Boswell embarks Writes to Johnson His Answer, containing Advice for Study Visit to the Langtcn Family, in Lincolnshire Institution of the Literary Club Miscellaneous Writings Various Peculiarities of Johnson Visit to Cambridge Diploma of LL.D. from Trin. Coll. Dublin Engagement with Gerard Hamilton In- troduction to the Thrales Publication of Edition of Shakspeare .... 300 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. Frontispiece, Johnson at Lord Chesterfield's. Title-page, Portrait of Johnson, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1756. Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, from a painting by himself .... 16 Portrait of James Boswell, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . . 19 Portrait of Edmund Malone, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . 23 Birthplace of Dr. Johnson, from an old print 33 Portrait of Michael Johnson, from an original drawing 34 Johnson listening to Sacheverel preaching, from the monument at Lichfield 36 Parlour in the house where Dr. Johnson was born, from an original sketch, 1851 37 Lichfield School, from an engraving in the " Gentleman's Magazine" . 40 Johnson borne by his schoolfellows, from the monument at Lichfield . 42 Portrait of Parson Ford, from a picture by Hogarth 43 Christ-church Meadow, from an original sketch, 1845 51 Pembroke College Gateway, from a print 58 View of Lichfield, 1730, from an old print 62 Market-Bosworth School, from an old print 65 View of Birmingham, 1 730, from an old print 66 Portrait of Edward Cave, from a drawing by F. Kyte 70 Portrait of Mrs. Johnson, from a scarce print 73 Edial House, from an engraving by Pye 75 St. John's Gateway, from an etching by Carter 79 Portrait of Rev. John Colson, from an original drawing 80 Portrait of Robert Dodsley, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . 93 Johnson, Richardson, and Hogarth 98 Portrait of Dr. Birch, from a painting by J. Wills ....... 114 Portrait of Lord Chesterfield, from a painting by 0. Humphry .... 116 Portrait of Lord Lovat, from a painting by W. Hogarth 127 Dr. Johnson's Residence in Gough Square, from an original sketch, 1851 131 Tunbridge Wells, 1748, from a contemporary drawing 132 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV PAOE Portrait of David Garrick, from a contemporary print lu-t The Green-room of Drury-lane Theatre, from a painting by Zoff'any . HO Johnson, Beauclerk, and Langton, at Covent Garden 158 Portrait of Bennet Langton, from a drawing by A. Wivell 1G7 Portrait of Topham Beauclerk, from a print 168 Chesterfield House, from a drawing by S. Wale 174 Portrait of Rev. Thomas Warton, from a print 181 Kettel Hall, from a sketch 1S2 Residence of Mr. Wise, at Ellsfield, from an engraving by C. T. Smith 183 Oseney Abbey, from an old print 184 Rewley Abbey, from a drawing in the Bodleian Library ,, Portrait of Samuel Richardson, from a drawing by Chamberlen . . . 203 Portrait of Dr. Burney.from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . . . 216 Dr. Johnson and Francis Barber, from a contemporary drawing by C. Tomkins . 217 Blackfriars Bridge, from a print 231 Portrait of Joseph Baretti, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds . . 232 Portrait of Lord Bute, from a drawing by Ramsay 243 Plymouth Garrison, from a print 245 Boswell's first interview with Johnson 250 Portrait of Thomas Sheridan, from a painting by Stewart 251 No. 8, Russell Street, Covent Garden, from a sketch 25* Portrait of Thomas Davies, from a drawing by Hickey 255 Johnson and Bos well at the Mitre 261 Portrait of Colley Gibber, from a painting by Vanloo 262 Scene of the Cock-lane Ghost's exploits, from a private etching . . . 265 Johnson reading the Vicar of Wakefield . . 268 Dr. Johnson's chair, from an original drawing by Miss Reynolds . . . 282 Portrait of Joseph Warton, D.D., from a painting by Sir J. Reynolds . 288 The Temple Stairs, from an old print . -. 293 Greenwich Park, from an old print 296 Mrs. Ann Williams, from an original drawing 298 Mr. Thrale's House, at Streatham, from an engraving by Ellis . . . 300 Dr. Percy, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds 312 Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, from an engraving ...... 317 SIR JOSHUA RKVN'OI.nS, P U.A. DEDICATION. SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. MY DEAR SIR, EVERY liberal motive that can actuate an Author in the dedication of his labours, concurs in directing me to you, as the person to whom the following Work should be inscribed. , If there be a pleasure in celebrating the distinguished merit of a contemporary, mixed with a certain degree of vanity not altogether inex- cusable, in appearing fully sensible of it, where can I find one, in com- plimenting whom I can with more general approbation gratify those feelings ? Your excellence, not only in the Art over which you have long presided with unrivalled fame, but also in Philosophy and elegant Litera- ture, is well known to the present, and will continue to he the admiration of future ages. Your equal and placid temper, your variety of conversa- tion, your true politeness, by which you are so amiable in private society, and that enlarged hospitality which has long made your house a common centre of union for the great, the accomplished, the learned, and the DEDICATION. XV11 ingenious ; ell these qualities I can, in perfect confidence of not being accused of flattery, ascribe to you. If a man may indulge an honest pride in having it known to the world that he has been thought worthy of particular attention by a person of the first eminence in the age in which he lived, whose com- pany has been universally courted, I am justified in availing myself of the usual privilege of a Dedication, when I mention that there has been a long and uninterrupted friendship between us. If gratitude should be acknowledged for favours received, I have this opportunity, my dear Sir, most sincerely to thank you for the many happy hours which I owe to your kindness, for the cordiality with which you have at all times been pleased to welcome me, for the number of valuable acquaintances to whom you have introduced me, for the noctes ccenteqite Deum, which I have enjoyed under your roof. If a work should be inscribed to one who is master of the subject ot it, and whose approbation, therefore, must ensure it credit and success, the Life of Dr. Johnson is, with the greatest propriety, dedicated to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was the intimate and beloved friend of that great man; the friend whom he declared to be "the most invulnerable man he knew ; whom, if he should quarrel with him, he should find the most difficulty how to abuse." You, my dear Sir, studied him, and knew him well : you venerated and admired him. Yet, luminous as he was upon the whole, you perceived all the shades which mingled in the grand composition ; all the little peculiarities and slight blemishes which marked the literary Colossus. Your very warm commendation of the specimen which I gave in my " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," of my being able to preserve his conversation in an authentic and lively manner, which opinion the Public has confirmed, was the best encou- ragement for me to persevere in my purpose of producing the whole of my stores. In one respect, this work will, in some passages, be different from the former. In my " Tour," I was almost unboundedly open in my communications, and from my eagerness to display the wonderful fer- tility and readiness of Johnson's wit, freely showed to the world its dexterity, even when I was myself the object of it. I trusted that I should be liberally understood, as knowing very well what I was about, and by no means as simply unconscious of the pointed eflects of the XVlll DEDICATION. satire. I own, indeed, that I was arrogant enough to suppose that the tenour of the rest of the book would sufficiently guard me against such a strange imputation. But it seems I judged too well of the world ; for, though I could scarcely believe it, I have been undoubtedly informed, that many persons, especially in distant quarters, not penetrating enough into Johnson's character, so as to understand his mode of treating his friends, have arraigned my judgment, instead of seeing that I was sensible of all that they could observe. It is related of the great Dr. Clarke, that when in one of his leisure hours he was unbending himself with a few friends in the most playful and frolicsome manner, he observed Beau Nash approaching ; upon which he suddenly stopped: " My boys," said he, "let us be grave: here comes a fool." The world, my friend, I have found to be a great fool, as to that particular on which it has become necessary to speak very plainly. I have, therefore, in this work been more reserved ; and though I tell nothing but the truth, I have still kept in my mind that the whole truth is not always to be exposed. This, however, I have managed so as to occasion no diminution of the pleasure which my book should afford ; though malignity may sometimes be disappointed of its gratifications. I am, my dear Sir, Your much obliged friend, And faithful humble servant, JAMES BOSWEI/L. London, April 20, 1791. JAMES BOSWELL. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIRST EDITION. I AT last deliver to the world a work which I have long promised, arid of which, I am afraid, too high expectations have been raised. The delay of its publication must be imputed, in a considerable degree, to the extraordinary zeal which has been shown by distinguished persons in all quarters to supply me with additional information concerning its illustrious subject ; resembling in this the grateful tribes of ancient nations, of which every individual was eager to throw a stone upon the grave of a departed Hero, and thus to share in the pious office of erecting an honourable monument to his memory. The labour and anxious attention with which I have collected and arranged the materials of which these volumes are composed, will hardly be conceived by those who read them with careless facility. The stretch of mind and prompt assiduity by which so many conversations were preserved, I myself, at some distance of time, contemplate with wonder ; and I must be allowed to suggest that the nature of the work in other respects, as it consists of innumerable detached particulars, all which, even the most minute, I have spared no pains to ascertain with a scrupulous authenticity, has occasioned a degree of trouble far beyond that of any other species of composition. Were I to detail the books which I have consulted, and the inquiries which I have iound it necessary to make by various channels, I should probably be thought ridiculously ostenta- tious. Let me only observe, as a specimen of my trouble, that I have sometimes been obliged to run half over London, in order to fix a date correctly; which, when I had accomplished, I well knew would obtain me no praise, though a failure would have been to my discredit. And after all, perhaps, hard as it may be, I shall not be surprised if omissions or mistakes be pointed out with invidious severity. I have also been extremely careful as to the exactness of my quotations ; holding that there is a respect (iue to the public, which should oblige every author to attend to this, and never to presume to introduce them with, "I think I have read," or, "If I remember right," when the originals may be examined A 2 XX MR. BOSWELL 8 ADVERTISEMENTS. I beg leave to express my warmest thanks to those who have been pleased to favour me with communications and advice in the conduct of my work. But I cannot sufficiently acknowledge my obligations to my friend Mr. Malone, who was so good as to allow me to read to him almost the whole of my manuscript, and make such remarks as were greatly for the advantage of the work ; though it is but fair to him to mention, that upon many occasions I differed from him, and followed my own judgment. I regret exceedingly that I was deprived of the benefit of his revision, when not more than one half of the book had passed through the press ; but after having completed his very laliorious and admirable edition of Shakspeare, for which he generously would accept of no other reward but that fame which he had so deservedly obtained, he fulfilled his promise of a long wished-for visit to his relations in Ireland ; from whence his safe return finibus Alt ids is desired by his friends here, with all the classical ardour of Sic te Diva potent Cypri ; for there is no man in whom more elegant and worthy qualities are united ; and whose society, therefore, is more valued by those who know him. It is painful to me to think, that while I was carrying on this work, several of those to whom it would have been most interesting have died. Such melancholy disappointments we know to be incident to humanity ; but we do not feel them the less. Let me particularly lament the Reverend Thomas Warton, and the Reverend Dr. Adams. Mr. Warton, amidst his variety of genius and learning, was an excellent biographer. His contributions to my collection are highly estimable ; and as he had a true relish of my "Tour to the Hebrides," I trust I should now have been gratified with a larger share of his kind appro- bation. Dr. Adams, eminent as the head of a college, as a writer, and as a most amiable man, had known Johnson from his early years, and was his friend through life. What reason I had to hope for the countenance of that venerable gentleman to this work, will appear from what he wrote to me upon a former occasion from Oxford, November 1Y, 1785 : " Dear Sir, I hazard this letter not knowing where it will find you, to thank you for your very agreeable ' Tour,' which I found here on my return from the country, and in which you have depicted our friend so perfectly to my fancy, in every attitude, every scene and situation, that I have thought myself in the company, and of the party almost throughout. It has given very general satisfaction ; and those who have found most fault with a passage here and there, have agreed that they could not help going through, and being entertained with the whole. I wish, indeed, some few gross expressions had been softened, and a few of our hero's foibles had been a little more shaded ; but it is useful to see the weaknesses incident to great minds ; and you have given us Dr. Johnson's authority that in history all ought to be told." Such a sanction to my faculty of giving a just representation of Dr. Johnson I could not conceal. Nor will I suppress my satisfaction in the consciousness, that by recording so considerable a portion of the wisdom and wit of "the brightest ornament of the eighteenth century," 1 I have largely provided for the instruction and entertainment of mankind. London, April 20, 1791. J. BOSWELL. 1 See Mr. Malone's Pic/ace to his edition of Shakspeare. MR. BOSWELL S ADVERTISEMENTS. XXI ADVEETISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. THAT I was anxious for the success of a work which had employed much of my time and labour, 1 do not wish to conceal ; but whatever doubts I at any time entertained, have been entirely removed by the very favourable reception with which it has been honoured. That reception has excited my best exertions to render my book more perfect ; and in this endeavour I have had the assist- ance not only of some of my particular friends, but of many other learned and ingenious men, by which I have been enabled to rectify some mistakes, and to enrich the work with many valuable additions. These I have ordered to be printed separately in quarto, for the accommodation of the purchasers of the first edition. May I be permitted to say that the typography of both editions does honour to the press of Mr. Henry Baldwin, now Master of the Worshipful Company of Stationers, whom 1 have long known a worthy man and an obliging friend. In the strangely mixed scenes of human existence, our feelings are often at once pleasing and painful. Of this truth, the progress of the present work furnishes a striking instance. It was highly gratifying to me that my friend, Sir Joshua Eeynolds, to whom it is inscribed, lived to peruse it, and to give the strongest testimony to its fidelity ; but before a second edition, which he contri- buted to improve, could be finished, the world has been deprived of that most valuable man ; a loss of which the regret will be deep, and lasting, and exten- sive, proportionate to the felicity which he diffused through a wide circle of admirers and friends. In reflecting that the illustrious subject of this work, by being more exten- sively and intimately known, however elevated before, has risen in the veneration and love of mankind, I feel a satisfaction beyond what fame can afford. We cannot, indeed, too much or too often admire his wonderful powers of mind, when we consider that the principal store of wit and wisdom which this work contains was not a particular selection from his general conversation, but was merely his occasional talk at such times as I had the good fortune to be in his company ; and, without doubt, if his discourse at other periods had been col- lected with the same attention, the whole tenour of what he uttered would have been found equally excellent. His strong, clear, and animated enforcement of religion, morality, loyalty, and subordination, while it delights and improves the wise and the good, will, I trust, prove an effectual antidote to that detestable sophistry which has been lately imported from France, under the false name of Philosophy, and with a malignant industry has been employed against the peace, good order, and happiness of society, in our free and prosperous country ; but, thanks be to God, without producing the pernicious effects which were hoped for by its propagators. It seems to me, in my moments of self-complacency, that this extensive bio- graphical work, however inferior in its nature, may in one respect be assimilated XXII MR. BOSWELL S ADVERTISEMENTS. to the "Odyssey." Amidst a thousand entertaining and instmctive episodes the hero is never long out of sight ; for they are all in some degree connected with him; and he, in the whole course of the history, is exhibited by the Author for the best advantage of his readers : Quid virtus et quid saptentia possit, Utile proposuit nobis exemplar Ulyssen. Should there be any cold-blooded and morose mortals who really dislike this book, I will give them a story to apply. When the great Duke of Marlborough, accompanied by Lord Cadogan, was one day reconnoitring the army in Flanders, a heavy rain came on, and they both called for their cloaks. Lord Cadogan' s servant, a good-humoured alert lad, brought his lordship's in a minute. The Duke's servant, a lazy sulky dog, was so sluggish, that his Grace, being wet to the skin, reproved him, and had for answer with a grunt, " I came as fast as I could;" upon which the Duke calmly said, "Cadogan, I would not for a thousand pounds have that fellow's temper." There are some men, I believe, who have, or think they have, a very small share of vanity. Such may speak of their literary fame in a decorous style of diffidence. But I confess, that T am so formed by nature and by habit, that to restrain the effusion of delight, on having obtained such fame, to me would be truly painful. Why then should I suppress it ? Why " out of the abundance of the heart " should I not speak ? Let me then mention with a warm, but no insolent exultation, that I have heen regaled with spontaneous praise of my work by many and various persons eminent for their rank, learning, talents, and accomplishments ; much of which praise I have under their hands to be reposited in my archives at Auchinleck. An honourable and reverend friend speaking of the favourable reception of my volumes, even in the circles of fashion and elegance, said to me, "You have made them all talk Johnson. " Yes, I may add, I have Johnsonised the land ; and I trust they will not only talk, but think, Johnson. To enumerate those to whom I have been thus indebted would be tediously ostentatious. I cannot, however, but name one whose praise is truly valuable, not only on account of his knowledge and abilities, but on account of the mag- nificent, yet dangerous embassy, in which he is now employed, which makes every thing that relates to him peculiarly interesting. Lord Macartney favoured me with his own copy of my book, with a number of notes, of which I have availed myself. On the first leaf I found, in his lordship's handwriting, an inscription of such high commendation, that even I, vain as I am, cannot prevail on myself to publish it. July 1, 1793. J. BOSWELL. MR. MALONE S ADVERTISEMENTS. EDMUND MALONE. ADVEETISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. SEVERAL valuable letters, and other curious matter, having been communicated to the author too late to be arranged in that chronological order which he had endeavoured uniformly to observe in his work, he was obliged to introduce them in his second edition, bj way of Addenda, as commodiously as he could. In the present edition they have been distributed in their proper places. In revising his volumes for a new edition he had pointed out where some of these materials should be inserted ; but unfortunately, in the midst of his labours, he was seized with a fever, of which, to the great regret of all his friends, he died on the 19th of May, 1795. All the Notes that he had written in the margin of the copy which he had in part revised, are here faithfully preserved ; and a few new Notes have been added, principally by some of those friends to whom the author in the former editions acknowledged his obligations. Those subscribed with the letter B. were communicated by Dr. Burney ; those to which the letters J. B. are annexed, by the Rev. J. B. Blakeway, of Shrewsbury, to whom Mr. Boswell acknowledged himself indebted for some judicious remarks on the first edition of his work ; and the letters J. B. 0. are annexed to some remarks furnished by the author's second son, a student of Brazen-Nose College, in Oxford. Some valuable observations were communicated by James Bindley, Esq., First Com- missioner in the Stamp Office, which have been acknowledged in their proper places. For all those without any signature Mr. Malone is answerable. Every new remark, not written by the author, for the sake of distinction has been enclosed within crotchets ; in one instance, however, the printer, by mistake, has affixed this mark to a note relative to the Rev. Thomas Fysche Palmer (see vol. iv. p. 129), which was written by Mr. Boswell, and therefore ought not to have been thus distinguished. MR. MALONE S ADVERTISEMENTS. I have only to add, that the proof-sheets of the present edition not having passed through my hands, I am not answerable for any typographical errors that may be found in it. Having, however, been printed at the very accurate press of Mr. Baldwin, I make no doubt it will be found not less perfect than the former edition ; the greatest care having been taken, by correctness and elegance, to do justice to one of the most instructive and entertaining works in the English language. EDM. MALONE. April 8, 1799. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FOURTH EDITION. IN this edition are inserted some new letters of which the greater part has been obligingly communicated by the Reverend Doctor Vyse, Rector of Lambeth . Those written by Dr. Johnson concerning his mother in her last illness, furnish a new proof of his great piety and tenderness of heart, and therefore cannot but be acceptable to the readers of this very popular work. Some new Notes also have been added, which, as well as the observations inserted in the third edition, and the letters now introduced, are carefully included within crotchets, that the author may not be answerable for any thing which had not the sanction of his approbation. The remarks of his friends are distinguished as formerly, except those of Mr. Malone, to which the letter M. is now subjoined. Those to which the letter K. is affixed were communicated by my learned friend, the Reverend Doctor Kearney, formerly Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and now beneficed in the diocese of Raphoe in Ireland, of which he is Arch- deacon. Of a work which has been before the public for thirteen years with increasing approbation, and of which near four thousand copies have been dispersed, it is not necessary to say more ; yet I cannot refrain from adding, that, highly as it is now estimated, it will, I am confident, be still more valued by posterity a century hence, when all the actors in the scene shall be numbered with the dead ; when the excellent and extraordinary man, whose wit and wisdom are here recorded, shall be viewed at a still greater distance ; and the instruction and entertainment they afford will at once produce reverential gratitude, admiration, and delight E. M. June 20, 1804. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FIFTH EDITION. IN this fifth edition some errors of the press, which had crept into the text and notes, in consequence of repeated impressions, have been corrected. Two letters written by Dr. Johnson, and several new notes, have been added ; by which, it is hoped, this valuable work is still further improved. E. M. January 1, 1807. MR. M ALONE S ADVERTISEMENTS. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SIXTH EDITION. GREAT pains have been taken to make this sixth edition accurate, in point of typography. With this view the entire work has been read over by the author's second son, James Boswell, of the Inner Temple, Esq. ; by which means many errors of the press, occasioned by repeated impressions, have been discovered. All these have been carefully amended. Several new notes and some letters have been added ; and in the Index, a very useful appendage to a book con- taining so much miscellaneous and unconnected matter, many new articles have been inserted. By these improvements, the present impression has been rendered the amplest, and it is hoped, will be found the most correct edition of this valuable work, which has yet appeared. E. M. May 2, 1811. %* This edition (the 6th) is the last that was published under the superintendence of the accurate and judicious Malone. He was in the author's confidence (as will be seen on reference to the first advertisement) in the original preparation of the work. After Boswell's death, Malone brought out the third and subsequent editions, up to the sixth inclusive, receiving in the course of his labours that various and valuable assistance to which he adverts in the notices prefixed to his successive publications. Malone's last edition is dated May, 1811 (about twenty years after the first appearance of the work) ; and he died in the same month of the following year. This edition we propose to follow as fairly settling the text of the work, adding such notes only to those sanctioned by Boswell and his legitimate successor as may be deemed essential to an eluci- dation of the main subject. Boswell himself justly remarks (Introduction, p. xxx), " What I consider as the pecu- liar value of the following work is the quantity it contains of Johnson's Conversation, which is universally acknowledged to have been eminently instructive and entertaining." Such is undoubtedly the case ; heavy notation, therefore, in addition to what Boswell considered necessary, we would advisedly eschew, as tending, unprofitably, to call the reader's attention from the author's lively stream of narrative, or his interesting record of the " logic, and the wisdom, and the wit" (not omitting the weaknesses and the pecu- liarities) of Johnson and his eminent contemporaries. ED. March, 1851. This edition of " BoswelPs Life of Johnson " has been divided into chapters for the reader's convenience, in the perusal of so great a body of matter. The names of previous annotators are given in full ; the additional notes to which " ED." is appended are by the present Editor. The Chronological List of the works of Dr. Johnson prepared by Boswell, will be found at the end of the Biography. SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. To write the Life of him who excelled all mankind in writing the lives of others, and who, whether we consider his extraordinary endowments, or his various works, has been equalled hy few in any age, is an arduous, and may be reckoned in me a presumptuous task. Had Dr. Johnson written his own Life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, 1 that every man's life may be best written by himself ; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited. But although he at different times, in a desultory manner, committed to writing many particulars of the progress of his mind and fortunes, he never had persevering diligence enough to form them into a regular composition. Of these memorials a few have been preserved ; but the greater part was consigned by him to the flames, a few days before his death. As I had the honour and happiness of enjoying his friendship for upwards of twenty years ; as I had the scheme of writing his life con- stantly in view ; as he was well apprised of this circumstance, and from time to time obligingly satisfied my inquiries, by communicating to me the incidents of his early years ; as I acquired a facility in recollecting, and was very assiduous in recording, his conversation, of which the extraordinary vigour and vivacity constituted one of the first features of his character ; and as I have spared no pains in 1 Idler, No. 84 : " Those relations are commonly of most value, in which the writer tells his own story." BOSWKLL. XXVlil INTRODUCTION. obtaining materials concerning him, from every quarter where I could discover that they were to be found, and have been favoured with the most liberal communications by his friends ; I flatter myself that few biographers have entered upon such a work as this with more advan- tages, independent of literary abilities, in which 1 am not vain enough to compare myself with some great names who have gone before me in this kind of writing. Since my work was announced, several Lives and Memoirs of Dr. Johnson have been published, the most voluminous of which is one compiled for the booksellers of London, by Sir John Hawkins, Knight, 1 a man whom, during my long intimacy with Dr. Johnson, I never saw in his company, I think, but once, and I am sure not above twice. Johnson might have esteemed him for his descent, religious demeanour, and his knowledge of books and literary history ; but from the rigid formality of his manners, it is evident that they never could have lived together with companionable ease and familiarity : nor had Sir John Hawkins that nice perception which was necessary to mark the finer and less obvious parts of Johnson's character. His being appointed one of his executors, gave him an opportunity of taking possession of such fragments of a diary and other papers as were left ; of which, before delivering them up to the residuary legatee, whose property they were, he endeavoured to extract the substance. In this he has not been very successful, as I have found upon a perusal of those papers, which have been since transferred to me. Sir John Hawkins's ponderous labours, I must acknowledge, exhibit & farrago, of which a considerable portion is not devoid of entertainment to the lovers of literary gossiping; but besides its being swelled out with long unnecessary extracts from various works (even one of several leaves from Osborne's Harleian Catalogue, and those not compiled by Johnson, but by Oldys), a very small part of it relates to the person who is the subject of the book ; and, in that, there is such an inaccuracy in the statement of facts, as in so solemn an author is hardly excusable, and certainly makes his narra- 1 The greatest part of this book was written while Sir John Hawkins was alive ; and I avow, that one object of my strictures was to make him feel some compunction for his illiberal treatment of Dr. Johnson. Since his decease I have suppressed several of my remarks upon his work. But though I would not " war with the dead" offensively, I think it necessary to be strenuous in defence of my illustrious friend, which I cannot be without strong animadversions upon a writer who has greatly injured him. Let me add, that though I doubt I should not have been very prompt to gratify Sir John Hawkins with any compliment in his lifetime, I do now frankly acknowledge, that, in my opinion, his volume, however inadequate and improper as a life of Dr. Johnson, and however discredited by unpardonable inaccuracies in other respects, contains a collection of curious anecdotes and observations, which few men but its author could have brought together. Bos w K LL. Sir John Hawkins was born in London, in 1719. He was by profession a solicitor, but is better known by his " History of Music," his edition of " Walton's Angler," and his " Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson." He was a member of the Literary Club, and mention of him will be found in subsequent parts of the present work. ED. __ INTRODUCTION. XXIX tive very unsatisfactory. But what is still worse, there is throughout the whole of it a dark uncharitable cast, by which the most unfavour- able construction is put upon almost every circumstance in the character and conduct of my illustrious friend ; who, I trust, will, by a true and fair delineation, be vindicated both from the injurious misrepresentations of this author, and from the slighter aspersions of a lady who once lived in great intimacy with him. There is, in the British Museum, a letter from Bishop Warburton to Dr. Birch, on the subject of biography ; which, though I am aware it may expose me to a charge of artfully raising the value of my own work, by contrasting it with that of which I have spoken, is so well conceived and expressed, that I cannot refrain from here inserting it : " I shall endeavour," says Dr. Warburton, " to give you what satisfaction I can in any thing you want to be satisfied in any subject of Milton, and am extremely glad you intend to write his life. Almost all the life-writers we have had before Toland and Desmaiseaux are indeed strange insipid creatures ; and yet I had rather read the worst of them, than be obliged to go through with this of Milton's, or the other's life of Boileau, where there is such a dull, heavy succession of long quotations of disinteresting passages, that it makes their method quite nauseous. But the verbose, tasteless Frenchman seems to lay it down as a principle that every life must be a book, and what's worse, it proves a book without a life ; for what do we know of Boileau, after all his tedious stuff? You are the only one (and I speak it without a compliment), that by the vigour of your style and sentiments, and the real importance of your materials, have the art (which one would imagine no one could have missed), of adding agreements to the most agreeable subject in the world, which is literary history." 1 [Nov. 24, 1737.] Instead of melting down my materials into one mass, and constantly speaking in my own person, by which I might have appeared to have more merit in the execution of the work, I have resolved to adopt and enlarge upon the excellent plan of Mr. Mason, in his Memoirs of Gray. Wherever narrative is necessary to explain, connect, and supply, I fur- nish it to the best of my abilities ; but in the chronological series of Johnson's life, which I trace as distinctly as I can, year by year, I produce, wherever it is in my power, his own minutes, letters, or con- versation, being convinced that this mode is more lively, and will make my readers better acquainted with him, than even most of those were who actually knew him, but could know him only partially ; whereas there is here an accumulation of intelligence from various points, by which his character is more fully understood and illustrated. Indeed, I cannot conceive a more perfect mode of writing any man's life, than not only relating all the most important events of it in their order, but interweaving what he privately wrote, and said, and 1 Brit. Mus. 4320, Ayscuugh's Cata). Sloaiie MSS. BOSWBLL. XXX INTRODUCTION. thought ; by which mankind are enabled as it were to see him live, and to "live o'er each scene" with him, as he actually advanced through the several stages of his life. Had his other friends been as diligent and ardent as I was, he might have been almost entirely preserved. As it is, I will venture to say, that he will be seen in this work more completely than any man who has ever yet lived. And he will be seen as he really was ; for I profess to write, not his panegyric, which must be all praise, but his Life ; which, great and good as he was, must not be supposed to be entirely perfect. To be as he was, is indeed subject of panegyric enough to any man in this state of being ; but in every picture there should be shade as well as light, and when I delineate him without reserve, I do what he himself recom- mended, both by his precept and his example. " If the biographer writes from personal knowledge, and makes haste to gratify the public curiosity, there is danger lest his interest, his fear, his gratitude, or his tenderness, overpower his fidelity, and tempt him to conceal, if not to invent. There are many who think it an act of piety to hide the faults or failings of their friends, even when they can no longer suffer by their detection ; we therefore see whole ranks of characters adorned with uniform panegyric, and not to be known from one another but by extrinsic and casual circumstances. ' Let me remember,' says Hale, ' when I find myself inclined to pity a criminal, that there is likewise a pity due to the country." If \ve owe regard to the memory of the dead, there is yet more respect to be paid to knowledge, to virtue, and to truth." [Rambler, No. 60.] What I consider as the peculiar value of the following work, is, the quantity it contains of Johnson's conversation, which is universally acknowledged to have been eminently instructive and entertaining ; and of which the specimens that I have given upon a former occasion 1 have been received with so much approbation that I have good grounds for supposing that the world will not be indifferent to more ample commu- nications of a similar nature. That the conversation of a celebrated man, if his talents have been exerted in conversation, will best display his character, is, I trust, too well established in the judgment of mankind to be at all shaken by a sneering observation of Mr. Mason, in his " Memoirs of Mr. William Whitehead," in which there is literally no Life, but a mere dry narrative of facts. I do not think it was quite necessary to attempt a depreciation of what is universally esteemed, because it was not to be found in the immediate object of the ingenious writer's pen; for in truth, from a man so still and so tame, as to be contented to pass many years as the domestic companion of a superannuated lord and lady, conversation could no more be expected than from a Chinese mandarin on a chimney piece, or the fantastic figures on a gilt leather screen. 1 Boswell alludes to the " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides." ED. INTRODUCTION. XXXI If authority be required, let us appeal to Plutarch, the prince of ancient biographers. Otfre raic, eirKpaveffrdraig Trpd^eai Trdurcag eSecrri 8rjA.co /j.a\\ov ^ A^X at pvpityfitpot, irapard^eig al pfytarat, Kal iroAiopKia v6\ewv. " Nor is it always in the most distinguished achievements that men's virtues or vices may be best discerned ; but very often an action of small note, a short saying, or a jest, shall distinguish a person's real character more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles." 1 To this may be added the sentiments of the very man whose life I am about to exhibit. " The business of the biographer is often to pass slightly over those per- formances and incidents which produce vulgar greatness to lead the thoughts into domestic privacies, and display the minute details of daily life, where exterior appendages are cast aside, and men excel each other only by prudence and by virtue. The account of Thuanus is with great propriety said by its author to have been written, that it might lay open to posterity the private and familiar character of that man, cujus ingenium et candorem ex ipsius scriptis sunt olim semper miraturi, whose candour and genius will to the end of time be by his writings preserved in admiration. " There are many invisible circumstances, which, whether we read as inquirers after natural or moral knowledge, whether we intend to enlarge our science or increase our virtue, are more important than public occurrences. Thus Sallust, the great master of nature, has not forgot in his account of Cataline to remark, that his walk was now quick, and again slow, as an indication of a mind revolving with violent commotion. Thus the story of Melancthon affords a striking lecture on the value of time, by informing us, that when he had made an appointment, he expected not only the hour but the minute to be fixed, that the day might not run out in the idleness of suspense ; and all the plans and enterprises of De Witt are now of less importance to the world than that part of his personal character, which represents him as careful of his health, and negligent of his life. " But biography has often been allotted to writers, who seem very little acquainted with the nature of their task, or very negligent about the per- formance. They rarely afford any other account than might be collected from public papers, but imagine themselves writing a life, when they exhibit a chronological series of actions or preferments ; and have so little regard to the manners or behaviour of their heroes, that more knowledge may be gained of a man's real character, by a short conversation with one of his servants, than from a formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral. " There are, indeed, some natural reasons why these narratives are often written by such as were not likely to give much instruction or delight, and why most accounts of particular persons are barren and useless. If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at an end, we may hope for impartiality, but must expect little intelligence; for the incidents which give excellence to biogrnphy 1 Plutarch's Life of Alexander; Langhorne's translation. BOSWELL. XXXU INTRODUCTION. are of a volatile and evanescent kind, such as soon escape the memory, and are rarely transmitted by tradition. We know how few can portray a living acquaintance, except by his most prominent and observable particularities, and the grosser features of his mind ; and it may be easily imagined how much of this little knowledge may be lost in imparting it, and how soon a succession of copies will lose all resemblance of the original." [Rambler, No. 60.] I am fully aware of the objections which may be made to the mi- nuteness on some occasions of my detail of Johnson's conversation, and how happily it is adapted for the petty exercise of ridicule, by men of superficial understanding and ludicrous fancy : but I remain firm and confident in my opinion, that minute particulars are frequently charac- teristic, and always amusing, when they relate to a distinguished man. I am therefore exceedingly unwilling that any thing, however slight, which my illustrious friend thought it worth his while to express, with any degree of point, should perish. For this almost superstitious reverence I have found very old and venerable authority, quoted by our great modern prelate, Seeker, in whose tenth sermon there is the following passage : " Rabbi David Kimchi, 1 a noted Jewish commentator, who lived about five hundred years ago, explains that passage in the first Psalm, ' His leaf also shall not wither, ' from Rabbins yet older than himself, thus : That ' even the idle talk, ' so he expresses it, ' of a good man ought to be regarded ; ' the most superfluous things he saith are always of some value. And other ancient authors have the same phrase, nearly in the same sense." Of one thing I am certain, that considering how highly the small portion which we have of the table-talk and other anecdotes of our celebrated writers is valued, and how earnestly it is regretted that we have not more, I am justified in preserving rather too many of Johnson's sayings, than too few ; especially a*s from the diversity of dispositions it cannot be known with certainty beforehand, whether what may seem trifling to some, and perhaps to the collector himself, may not be most agreeable to many ; and the greater number that an author can please in any degree, the more pleasure does there arise to a benevolent mind. To those who are weak enough to think this a degrading task, and the time and labour which have been devoted to it misemployed, I shall content myself with opposing the authority of the greatest man of any age, JULIUS C^SAB, of whom Bacon observes, that " In his book of Apophthegms which he collected, we see that he esteemed it more honour to make himself but a pair of tables, to take the wise and pithy words of others, than to have every word of his own to be made an apophthegm or an oracle." [Advancement of Learning, Book I.] Having said thus much by way of introduction, I commit the following pages to the candour of the public. 1 A Spanish Rabbi, considered the best grammarian of his nation. He died in 1240. ED. CHAPTER L 1709 1731. BIRTH AND INFANCY ov JOHNSON ACCOUNT OF HIS PARENTS ANECDOTES OF HIS CHILDHOOD TAKEN TO LONDON TO RECEIVE THE ROYAL TOUCH FOR SCROFULA SCHOOL DAYS AT LICHFIELD His UNCLF, CORNELIUS FORD, AND COUSIN THE REV. DR. FORD SENT TO SCHOOL AT STOURBRIDOE TRANSLATIONS AND ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS WHILE AT THIS PLACE RETURN HOME ARRIVAL AT PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD His TUTOR LATIN TRANSLATION OF POPK'S "MESSIAH" ATTACK OF HYPOCHONDRIA RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS COURSE OF READING LOVE OF LITERATURE APPARENT RECKLESSNESS REAL STATE OF MIND STRUGGLES WITH POVERTY LEAVES THE UNIVERSITY. AMUEL JOHNSON was born at Lichfield in Staffordshire, on the 18th of September, N.S. 1709 ; and his initiation into the Christian church was not delayed ; for his baptism is recorded, in the register (if St. Mary's parish in that city, to have been performed on the day of his birth : his father is there styled Gentleman, a circumstance of which an ignorant panegyrist has praised him for not being proud ; when the truth is, that the appellation of Gentleman, though now lost in the indiscriminate as- sumption of Esquire, was commonly taken by those who could not U BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1709. boast of gentility. His father was Michael Johnson, a native of Derbyshire, of obscure extraction, who settled in Lichfield as a book- seller and stationer. His mother was Sarah Ford, descended of an ancient race of substantial yeomanry in Warwickshire. They were well advanced in years when they married, and never had more than two children, both sons ; Samuel, their first-born, who lived to be the illustrious character whose various excellence I am to endeavour to record, and Nathanael, who died in his twenty-fifth year. 1 Mr. Michael Johnson was a man of a large and robust body, and of a strong and active mind ; yet, as in the most solid rocks veins of unsound substance are often discovered, there was in him a mixture of that disease, the nature of which eludes the most minute inquiry, though the effects are well knosvn to be a weariness of life, an unconcern about those things which agitate the greater part of mankind, and a general sensation of gloomy wretchedness. From him then his son inherited, with some other qualities, " a vile melancholy," which in his too strong expression of any disturbance of the mind, "made him mad all his life, at least not sober." 2 Michael was, however, forced by the narrowness of his circumstances to be very diligent in business, not only in his shop, but by occasionally resorting to several towns in the neighbourhood, 8 some of which were at a considerable distance from Lichfield. At that time booksellers' shops, in the provincial towns of England, were very rare : so that there was not one even in Birmingham, in which town old Mr. Johnson used to open a shop every market-day. He was a pretty good Latin scholar, and a citizen so creditable as to be made one of the 1 Nathanael was born in 1712, and died in 1737. Their father, Michael Johnson, was born at (?ubley in Derbyshire, in 1666, and died at Lichfield in 1731, at the age of seventy-six. Sarah Ford, his wife, was born atKing's-Norton, in the county of Warwick, in 1669, and died at Lichfield, in January 1759, in her ninetieth year. MALONE. King's Norton i here stated to be in Warwickshire, on the authority of Dr. Johnson (see his Inscription for kis mother's tomb) ; but it is in Worcestershire, probably on the confines of the county of Warwick. ED. 2 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 213. BOSWBI.I,. 8 Extract of a letter dated " Trentham, St. Peter's day, 1716," written by the Rev. George Plaxton, Chaplain at that time to Lord Gower, which may serve to show the high estimation in which the father of our great moralist was held : " Johnson, the Lichfield librarian, is now here ; he propagates learning all over this diocese, and advanceth know- ledge to its just height ; all the clergy here are his pupils, and suck all they have from him; Allen cannot make a warrant without his precedent, nor our quondam John Evans draw zrecngnizance sine directions Michaelif." Gentleman's Mag., October, 1791. BOSWELL. AGE 4] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 35 magistrates of Lichfield ; and being a man of good sense, and skill in his trade, he acquired a reasonable share of wealth, of which, however, he afterwards lost the greatest part, by engaging unsuccessfully in a manufacture of parchment. He was a zealous high- churchman and royalist, and retained his attachment to the unfortunate house of Stuart, though he reconciled himself, by casuistical arguments of expediency and necessity, to take the oaths imposed by the prevailing power. There is a circumstance in his life somewhat romantic, but so well authenticated, 1 that I shall not omit it. A young woman of Leek, in Staffordshire, while he served his apprenticeship there, conceived a violent passion for him ; and though it met with no favourable return, followed him to Lichfield, where she took lodgings opposite to the house in which he lived, and indulged her hopeless flame. When he was informed that it so preyed upon her mind that her life was in danger, he with a generous humanity went to her and offered to marry her, but it was then too late : her vital power was exhausted ; and she actually exhibited one of the very rare instances of dying for love. She was buried in the cathedral of Lichfield ; and he, with a tender regard, placed a stone over her grave with this inscription : Here lies the Body of Mrs. ELIZABETH BLANEY, a Stranger : She departed this Life 20th of September, 1694. Johnson's mother was a woman of distinguished understanding. 2 I asked his old schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, surgeon, of Birmingham, if she was not vain of her son. He said, " she had too much good sense to be vain, but she knew her son's value." Her piety was not inferior to her understanding ; and to her must be ascribed those early impressions of religion upon the mind of her son, from which the world afterwards derived so much benefit. He told me, that he remembered distinctly having had the first notice of Heaven, " a place to which good people 1 The authenticity of this romantic incident rests solely in an assertion made, upon the dubious authority of Miss Seward, in the "Gentleman's Mag." vol. lv., p. 100. ED. 2 It was not, however, much cultivated, as we may collect from Dr. Johnson's own account of his early years, published by R. Phillips, 8vo. 1805, a work undoubtedly au- thentic, and which, though short, is curious, and well worthy of perusal. " My father and mother," says Johnson, " had not much happiness from each other. They seldom con- versed; for my father could not bear to talk of his affairs ; arid my mother, being unacquainted with books, cared nofc to talk of anything else. Had my mother been more literate, they had been better companions. She might have sometimes introduced her unwelcome topic with more success, if she could have diversified her conversation. Of business she had no distinct conception ; and therefore her discourse was composed only of complaint, fear, and suspicion. Neither of them ever tried to calculate the profits of trade or the expenses of living. My mother concluded that we were poor, because we lost by some of our trades ; but the truth was, that my father, having in the early part of his life contracted debts, never had trade sufficient to enable him to pay them, and to maintain his family; he got something, but not enough. It was not till about 1768, that I thought to calculate the returns of my father's trade, and by that estimate, his probable profits. This, I believe, my parents never did." MALONK. BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1712. went," ami Hell, " a place to which bad people went," communicated to him by her, when a little child in bed with her ; and that it might be the better fixed in his memory, she sent him to repeat it to Thomas Jackson, their man-servant ; he not being in the way, this was not done; but there was no occasion for any artificial aid for its preservation. In following so very eminent a man from his cradle to his grave, every minute particular, which can throw light on the progress of his mind, is interesting. That he was remarkable, even in his earliest years, may easily be supposed ; for to use his own words in his " Life of Sydenham," " That the strength of his understanding, the accuracy of his discernment, and the ardour of his curiosity, might have been remarked from his infancy, by a diligent observer, there is no reason to doubt ; for there is no instance of any man, whose history has been minutely related, that did not in every part of life discover the same proportion of intellectual vigour." In all such investigations it is certainly unwise to pay too much attention to incidents which the credulous relate with eager satisfaction, and the more scrupulous or witty inquirer considers only as topics of ridicule : yet there is a traditional story of the infant Hercules of toryism, so curiously characteristic, that I shall not withhold it. It was communicated to me in a letter from Miss Mary Adye, of Lichfield. "When Dr. Sacheverel was at Lichfield, Johnson was not quite three years old. My grandfather Hammond observed him at the cathedral perched upon his father's shoulders, listening and gaping at the much celebrated preacher. Mr. Hammond asked Mr. Johnson how he could possibly think of bringing such an infant to church, and in the midst of so great a crowd. He answered, because it was impossible to keep him at home ; for, young as he was, he believed he had caught the public spirit and zeal for Sacheverel, and would have stayed for ever in the church, satisfied with beholding him." * Nor can I omit a little instance of that jealous independence of spirit, and impetuosity of temper, which never for- sook him. The fact was acknowledged to me by himself, upon the authority of his mother. One day when the servant who used to be sent to school to conduct him home, had not come in time, he set out by himself, though he was then so near- sighted, that he was obliged to stoop down on his hands and knees 1 It appear* by the books of the corporation that Sacheverel visited Lichfield in June, 1710, at which time Johnson was only nine months old. ED. AGE 10.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON 1 . 3? to take a view of the kennel, before he ventured to step over it. His schoolmistress, afraid that he might miss his way, or fall into the kennel, or he run over by a cart, followed him at some distance, lie happened to turn about and perceive her. Feeling her careful attention as an insult to his manliness, he ran back to her in a rage, and beat her, as well as his strength would permit. rARLOOK IN THE Of the power of his memory, for which he was all his life eminent to a degree almost incredible, the following early instance was told me in his presence at Lichfield, in 1776, by his step-daughter, Mrs. Lucy Porter, as related to her by his mother. When he was a child in petti- coats, and had learned to read, Mrs. Johnson one morning put the Common Prayer Book into his hands, pointed to the collect for the day, and said, " Sam, you must get this by heart. " She went up stairs, leaving him to study it ; but by the time she had reached the second floor, she heard him following her. " What's the matter ?" said she. "I can say it," he replied ; and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have read it more than twice. But there has been another story of his infant precocity generally circulated, and generally believed, the truth of which I am to refute upon his own authority. It is told, 2 that, when a child of three years old, he chanced to tread upon a duckling, the eleventh of a brood, and 1 This is the only room of the house which remains in the same state as when occupied by the Doctor's father. ED. 2 Piozzi's Anecdotes and Sir John Hawkins's Life. BOSWELL. 88 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOS. 11/12. killed it ; upon which, it is said, he dictated to his mother the following epitaph : " Here lies good master duck, Whom Samuel Johnson trod on ; If it had lived, it had been good luck, For then we'd had an odd one." There is surely internal evidence, that this little composition combines in it what no child of three years old could produce, without an extension of its faculties by immediate inspiration ; yet Mrs. Lucy Porter, Dr. Johnson's step-daughter, positively maintained to me, in his presence, that there could be no doubt of the truth of this anecdote, for she had heard it from his mother. So difficult is it to obtain an authentic relation of facts, and such authority may there be for error ; for he assured me that his father made the verses, and wished to pass them for his child's. He added, " My father was a foolish old man ; that is to say, foolish in talking of his children." 1 Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the scrofula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all with one of his eyes, though its appearence was little different from that of the other. There is amongst his prayers one inscribed " When my EYE was restored to its use," 2 which ascertains a defect that many of his friends knew he had, though I never perceived it. 3 I supposed him to be only near-sighted : and indeed I must observe, that in no otlier respect could I discern any defect in his vision ; on the contrary, the force of his attention and perceptive quickness made him see and distinguish all manner of objects, whether of nature or of art, with a nicety that is rarely to be found. When he and I were travelling in the Highlands of Scotland, and I pointed out to him a mountain which I observed resembled a cone, 1 This anecdote of the duck, though disproved by internal and external evidence, has nevertheless upon supposition of its truth, been made the foundation of the following in- genious and fanciful reflections of Miss Se ward, amongst the communications concerning Dr. Johnson with which she has been pleased to favour me : "These infant numbers contain the seeds of those propensities which through his life so strongly marked his character, of that poetic talent which afterwards bore siu-h rich and plentiful fruits; for, excepting his orthographic works, everything which Dr. Johnson wrote was poetry, whose essence consists, not in numbers, or in jingle, but in the strength and glow of a fancy, to which all the stores of nature and of art stand in prompt adminis- tration ; and in an eloquence which conveys their blended illustrations in a language ' more tuneable than needs or rhyme or verse to add more harmony.' " The above little verses also show that superstitious bias which ' grew with his growth and strengthened with his strength,' and of late years particularly injured his happiness by presenting to him the gloomy side of religion, rather than that bright and cheering one which gilds the period of closing life with the light of pious hope." This is so beautifully imagined, that I would not suppress it. But, like many other theories, it is deduced from a supposed fact, which is, indeed, a fiction. BOSWELI.. 2 Johnson's" Prayers and Meditations," p. 27. BOSWKLL. 8 Speaking himself of the imperfection of one of his eyes, he said, "The dog was never good for much." BuKKEr. AaK 10.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 30 he corrected in rny inaccuracy, by showing me, that it was indeed pointed at the top, but that one side of it was larger than the other. And the ladies with whom he was acquainted agree, that no man was more nicely and minutely critical in the elegance of female dress. When I found that he saw the romantic beauties of Islam, in Derbyshire, much better than I did, I told him that he resembled an able performer upon a bad instrument. How false and contemptible then are all the remarks which have been made to the prejudice either of his candour or of his philosophy, founded upon a supposition that he was almost blind. It has been said, that he contracted this grievous malady from his nurse. 1 His mother yielding to the superstitious notion, which, it is wonderful to think, prevailed so long in this country, as to the virtue of the regal touch ; a notion which our kings encouraged, and to which a man of such inquiry and such judgment as Carte could give credit ; carried him to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne. 2 Mrs. Johnson indeed, as Mr. Hector informed me, acted by the advice of the celebrated Sir John F'loyer, then a physician in Lichfield. Johnson used to talk of this very frankly ; and Mrs. Piozzi has preserved his very picturesque description of the scene as it remained upon his fancy. Being asked if he could remember Queen Anne, " He had, " he said, " a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood." 3 This touch, however, was without any effect. I ventured to say to him, in allusion to the political principles in which he was educated, and of which he ever retained some odour, that " his mother had not carried him far enough, she should have taken him to ROME."* He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, who kept a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a Bible in that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to take leave of him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a present of gingerbread, and said he was the best scholar she ever had. He delighted in mentioning this early compliment : adding, with a smile, that " this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive." His 1 Such was the opinion of Dr. Swinfen. Johnson's eyes were very soon discovered to be bad, and to relieve them, an issue was cut in his left arm. At the end of ten weeks from his birth, he was taken home from his nurse, "a poor diseased infant, almost blind." See a work, already quoted, entitled "An Account of the Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson from his birth to his eleventh year; written by himself," 8vo. 1805. MA LONE. 3 He was only thirty months old, when he was taken to London to be touched for the evil. During this visit, be tells us, his mother purchased for him a small silver cup nd spoon. " The cup," he affectingly adds, " was one of the last pieces of plate whicli dear Tetty sold in her distress. I have now the spoon. She bought at the same time two teaspoons, and till my manhood, she had no more." MALONE. 8 Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 10. BOSWELL. * Meaning to the Pretender, to whose cause Johnson's father was attached. See page 35. ED. 40 EOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1719. next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of him to me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he, " published a spelling-hook, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE ; but 1 fear no copy of it can now be had." [1719. Age 10.] He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under-master, of Lichfield school, "a man," said he, "very skilful in his little way." With him he continued two years, and then rose to be under the care of Mr. Hunter, the head master, who, according to his account, " was very severe, and wrongheadedly severe. He used," said he, " to beat us unmercifully ; and he did not distinguish between ignorance and negligence ; for he would beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as for neglecting to know it. He would ask a boy a question, and if he did not answer it, he would beat him, without considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how to answer it. For instance, he would call up a boy and ask him Latin for a candlestick, which the boy could not expect to be asked. Now, Sir, if a boy could answer every question, there would be no need of a master to teach him." It is, however, but justice to the memory of Mr. Hunter to mention, that though he might err in being too severe, the school of Lichfield was very respectable in his time. The late Dr. Taylor, Prebendary of Westminster, who was educated under him, told me, that "he was an excellent master, and that his ushers were most of them men of eminence ; that Holbrook, 1 one of the most ingenious men, best scholars, 1 Eihvard HollmxVk, A.M., who was appointed by the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield to the Vicurage of St. Mary's in 1744. He died 1772. ED. AGK 10.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 41 and best preachers of his age, was usher during the greatest part of the time that Johnson was at school. Then came Hague, of whom as much might be said, with the addition that he was an elegant poet. Hague was succeeded by Green, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, whose character in the learned world is well known. In the same form with Johnson was Congreve, who afterwards became Chaplain to Archbishop Boulter, and by that connection obtained good preferment in Ireland. He was a younger son of the ancient family of Congreve, in Stafford- shire, of which the poet was a branch. His brother sold the estate. There was also Lowe, afterwards Canon of Windsor." Indeed, Johnson was very sensible ho\v much he owed to Mr. Hunter. Mr. Langton one day asked him how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time ; he said, " My master whipt me very well. Without that, Sir, I should have done nothing." He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to say, " And this I do to save you from the gallows." Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of enforcing instruction by means of the rod. 1 " I would rather," said he, " have the rod to be the general terror to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod pro- duces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and there's an end on't : whereas, by ex- citing emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other." When Johnson saw some young ladies in Lincolnshire who were remarkably well behaved, owing to their mother's strict discipline and severe correction, he exclaimed, in one of Shakspeare's lines a little varied, 2 "Rod, I will honour thee for this thy duty." That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity and obstentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those extraordi- nary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by com- parison ; the intellectual difference, which in other cases of comparison of characters, is often a matter of undecided contest, being as clear in his case as the superiority of stature in some men above others. John- son did not strut or stand on tiptoe ; he only did not stoop. From his earliest years, his superiority was perceived and acknowledged. He was from the beginning &pa avSpwv a king of men. His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with many particulars of his 1 Johnson's observations to Dr. Burney, on this subject, may be found in a subsequent part of this work. See vol. ii. near the end of the year 1775. BURNEY. 2 More than a little. The line is in King Henry VI., Part ii. Act iv. Scene last: " Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed." MAI-ONE. BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1724. boyish days ; and assured me that he never knew him corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their business. He seemed to learn by intuition ; for though indolence and procrastination were inherent in his constitution, when- ever he made an exertion he did more than any one else. In short, he is a memorable instance of what has been often observed, that the boy is the man in miniature; and that the distinguishing characteristics of each individual are the same through the whole course of life. His favourites used to receive very liberal assistance from him ; and such was the submission and deference with which he was treated, such the desire to obtain his regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was some- times one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him to school. One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon his back, and one on each side supported him, and thus he was borne triumphant. Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very remarkable, and does honour to human nature. 1 Talking to me once himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me, " They never thought to raise me by comparing me to any one ; they never said Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one ; but such a one is as good a scholar as Johnson ; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe : and I do not think he was as good a scholar." He discovered a great ambition to excel, which roused him to coun- teract his indolence. He was uncommonly inquisitive ; and his memory was so tenacious, that he never forgot anything that he either heard or read. Mr. Hector remembers having recited to him eighteen ver?e.s, which, after a little pause, he repeated verbatim, varying only one epithet, by which he improved the line. He never joined with the other boys in their ordinary diversions : his only amusement was in winter, when he took a pleasure in being drawn upon the ice by a boy barefooted, who pulled him along by a garter fixed round him ; no very easy operation, as his size was remarkably large. His defective sight, indeed, prevented him from enjoying the common sports ; and he once pleasantly remarked to me, " how wonderfully well he had contrived to be idle without them." Lord Chesterfield, however, has justly observed in one of his letters, when 1 One of Johnson's biographers suggests that this boyish mastery was more probably obtained by corporeal than intellectual vigour. ED. AGE 15,] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 43 earnestly cautioning a friend against the pernicious effects of idleness, that active sports are not to be reckoned idleness in young people ; and that the listless torpor of doing nothing, alone deserves that name. Of this dismal inertness of disposition, Johnson had all his life too great a share. Mr. Hector relates, that " he could not oblige him more than by sauntering away the hours of vacation in the fields, during which he was more engaged in talking to himself than to his com- panion." Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who was long intimately ac- quainted with him, and has preserved a few anecdotes concerning him, regretting that he was not a more diligent collector, informs me, that " when a boy he was immoderately fond of reading romances of chivalry, and he retained his fondness for them through life ; so that," adds his lordship, " spending part of a summer at my parsonage-house in the country, he chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of ' Felixmarte of Hircania,' in folio, which he read quite through. Yet I have heard him attribute to these extravagant fictions that unsettled turn of mind which prevented his ever fixing in any profession." [1724. Aged 15.] After having resided for some time at the house of his uncle, Cornelius Ford, 1 Johnson was, at the age of fifteen, removed to the school of Stourbridge, in Wor- cestershire, of which Mr. Wentworth was then master. This step was taken by the advice of his cousin, the Rev. Mr. Ford, a man in whom both talents and good dispositions were disgraced by licentiousness, 2 but who was a very able judge of what was right. At this school he did not re- ceive so much benefit as wasexpec ted. It has been said, that he acted in the capacity of an assistant to Mr. Wentworth, in teaching the younger boys. " Mr. Wentworth," he told 1 Cornelius Ford, according to Sir John Hawkins, was his cousin german, being the son of Dr. Ford, an eminent physician, who was brother to Johnson's mother. MALONE. 2 He is said to be the original of the parson in Hogarth's Modem Midnight Con- versation. BOSWBI.T.. Johnson, in his " Life of Fenton," writes thus of his relative : " Ford, a clergyman of that time too well known, whose abilities, instead of furnishing convivial merriment to the voluptuous and dissolute, might have enabled him to excel among the virtuous and the wise ;" and iu the Rtchardsonia, p. 225, the following passage occurs : " When Parson Ford, an infamous fellow, but of much off' hand conversation and wit, besought Lord Chesterfield to carry him over with him as his chaplain when he went ambassador to Holland, he said to him, ' I would certainly take you, if you had one vice more than you already have.' ' My Lord,' said Ford, ' I thought 1 should never be reproached for my deficiency that way.' ' True,' replied the Earl ; 'but if you had still one more, almost worse than all the rest put together, it would hinder these from giving scandal.' " ED. PARSON FOHD, FROM HOGARTH'S PICTURE. 44 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1727. me, "was a very able man, but an idle man, and to me very severe ; but I cannot blame him much. 1 was then a big boy ; he saw I did not rever- ence him, and that he should get no honour by me. I had brought enough with me to carry me through ; and all I should get at his school would be ascribed to my own labour, or to my former master. Yet he taught me a great deal." He thus discriminated to Dr. Percy, 1 Bishop of Dromore, his progress at his two grammar schools. "At one, I learned much in the school, but little from the master ; in the other, I learned much from the master, but little in the school." The bishop also informs 'me, that Dr. Johnson's father, before he was received at Stourbridge, applied to have him admitted as a scholar and assistant to the Rev. Samuel Lea, M. A., head master of Newport school in Shropshire, (a very diligent good teacher, at that time in high reputation, under whom Mr. Hollis is said, in the Memoirs of his Life, to have been also educated.) 2 This application to Mr, Lea was not suc- cessful ; but Johnson had afterwards the gratification to hear that the old gentleman, who lived to a very advanced age, mentioned it as one of the most memorable events of his life, that " he was very near having that great man for his scholar. He remained at Stourbridge little more than a year, 3 and then he returned home, where he may be said to have loitered, for two years, in a state very unworthy his uncommon abilities. He had already given several proofs of his poetical genius, both in his school exercises and in other occasional compositions. Of these I have obtained a considerable collection, by the favour of Mr. Wentworth, son of one of his masters, and of Mr. Hector, 4 his schoolfellow and friend ; from which I select the following specimens : Translation of VlRGlL. Pastoral I. MELIBCEUS. Now, Tityrus, you, supine and cureless laid, Play on your pipe beneath this beechen shade ; While wretched we about the world must roam, And leave our pleasing fields and native home, Here at your ease you sing your amorous flame, And the wood rings with Amarillis' name. 1 The Editor of the " Percy Reliques." ED. 2 As was likewise the Bishop of Dromore many years afterwards. BOSWRLL. 8 Yet here his genius was so distinguished, that although little better than a school- boy, he was admitted into the best company of the place, and had no common attention paid to him ; of which remarkable instances were long remembered there. PKBCY. 4 Mr. Hector, to whom we are indebted for so many reminiscences of Johnson's early life, was a native of Lichfield, and became an eminent surgeon in Birmingham, where he died September 2, 1794, aged 85. He resided for very many years at a bouse in the Old-square, where he was visited by Johnson in 1781, and again in 1784. This house, " much modernized," is now occupied by W. Scholeneld, Esq., M P. for Birmingham. ED. AUK 18. BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 45 Tiirnus. Those blessings, friend, a deity bestow'd, For I shall never think him less than god : Oft on his altar shall my firstlings lie, Their blood the consecrated stones shall dye : He gave my flocks to graze the flowery meads, And me to tune at ease th' unequal reeds. MELIBCEUS. My admiration only I exprest (No spark of envy harbours in my breast), That, when confusion o'er the country reigns, To you alone this happy state remains. Here I, though faint myself, must drive my goats, Far from their ancient fields and humble cots. This scarce I lead, who left on yonder rock Two tender kids, the hopes of all the flock. Had we not been perverse and careless grown, This dire event by omens was foreshown ; Our trees were blasted by the thunder stroke, And left-hand crows, from an old hollow oak, Foretold the coming evil by their dismal croak. Translation of HORACE. Book I. Ode xxii. THE man, my friend, whose conscious heart With virtue's sacred ardour glows, Nor taints with death the en venom' d dart, Nor needs the guard of Moorish bows : Though Scythia's icy cliff's he treads, Or horrid Afric's faithless sands ; Or where the famed Hydaspes spreads His liquid wealth o'er barbarous lands. For while by Chloe's image charm' d, Too far in Sabine woods I stray'd ; Me singing, careless and unarm'd, A grizzly wolf surprised, and fled. No savage more portentous stain' d Apulia's spacious wilds with gore ; No fiercer Juba's thirsty land, Dire nurse of raging lions, bore. Place me where no soft summer gale Among the quivering branches sighs ; Where clouds condensed for ever veil With horrid gloom the frowning skies : 46 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 11727. Place me beneath the burning line, A clime denied to human race ; I'll sing of Chloe's charms divine, Her heavenly voice, and beauteous face. Translation o/" HORACE. Book II. Ode ix. CLOUDS do not always veil the skies, Nor showers immerse the verdant plain ; Nor do the billows always rise, Or storms afflict the ruffled main : Nor, Valgius, on th' Armenian shores Do the chain'd waters always freeze ; Not always furious Boreas roars, Or bends with violent force the trees. But you are ever drown'd in tears, For Mystes dead you ever mourn ; No setting Sol can ease your care, But finds you sad at his return. The wise experienced Grecian sage ^lourn'd not Antilochus so long ; Nor did King Priam's hoary age So much lament his slaughter'd son. Leave off, at length, these woman's sighs, Augustus' numerous trophies sing; Eepeat that prince's victories, To whom all nations tribute bring. Niphates rolls an humbler wave, At length the undaunted Scythian yields, Content to live the Roman's slave, And scarce forsakes his native fields. Translation of part of the Dialogue between HECTOR and ANDROMACHE ; from the Sixth .Boofro/HoMER'S ILIAD. SHE ceased ; then god-like Hector answer'd kind (His various plumage sporting in the wind), That post, and all the rest, shall be my care ; But shall I, then, forsake the unfinish'd war? How would the Trojans brand great Hector's name ! And one base action sully all my fame, Acquired by wounds and battles bravely fought ! 0, how my soul abhors so mean a thought ! Long since I learn'd to slight this fleeting breath, And view with cheerful eyes approaching death. The inexorable sisters have decreed That Priam's house, and Priam's self shall bleed : AGE 18.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 47 The day will come, in which proud Troy shall yield, And spread its smoking ruins o'er the field. Yet Hecuba's, nor Priam's hoary age, Whose blood shall quench some Grecian's thirsty rage, Kor my brave brothers, that have bit the ground, Their souls dismiss' d through many a ghastly wound, Can in my bosom half that grief create, As the sad thought of your impending fate : When some proud Grecian dame shall tasks impose, Mimic your tears, and ridicule your woes ; Beneath Hyperia's waters shall you sweat, And, fainting, scarce support the liquid weight : Then shall some Argive loud insulting cry, Behold the wife of Hector, guard of Troy ! Tears, at my name, shall drown those beauteous eyes, And that fair bosom heave with rising sighs I Before that day, by some brave hero's hand May I lie slain, and spurn the bloody sand. To a YOUNG LADY on her BIRTHDAY. 1 THIS tributary verse receive, my fair, Warm with an ardent lover's fondest prayer. May this returning day for ever find Thy form more lovely, more adorn' d thy mind ; All pains, all cares, may favouring Heaven remove, All but the sweet solicitudes of love ! May powerful nature join with grateful art, To point each glance, and force it to the heart ! then, when conquer 'd crowds confess thy sway, When ev'n proud wealth and prouder wit obey My fair, be mindful of the mighty trust : Alas ! 'tis hard for beauty to be just. Those sovereign charms with strictest caie employ; Nor give the generous pain, the worthless joy : With his own form acquaint the forward fool, Shown in the faithful glass of ridicule ; Teach mimic censure her own faults to find, No more let coquettes to themselves be blind, So shall Belinda's charms improve mankind. THE YOUNG AuiHOR. 8 WHEN first the peasant, long inclin'd to roam, Forsakes his rural sports and peaceful home, 1 Mr. Hector informs me, that this was made almost impromptu, in his presence. BOSWELL. 2 This he inserted with many alterations, in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1743 BOSWELL. He, however, did not add his name. MALONE. 48 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. [1727. Pleas'd with the scene the smiling ocean yields, He scorns the verdant meads and flow'ry fields ; Then dances jocund o'er the watery way, While the breeze whispers, and the streamers play : Unbounded pros]>ects in his bosom roll, And future millions lift his rising soul ; In blissful dreams he digs the golden mine, And raptur'd sees the new-found ruby shine. Joys insincere ! thick clouds invade the skies, Loud roar the billows, hi^h the waves arise ; Sick'ning with fear, he longs to view the shore, And vows to trust the faithless deep no more. So the young Author, panting after fame, And the long honours of a lasting name, Intrusts his happiness to human kind, More false, more cruel, than the seas or wind. " Toil on, dull crowd," in ecstasies he cries, "For wealth or title, perishable prize; " While I those transitory blessings scorn, " Secure of praise from ages yet unborn." This thought once form'd, all counsel comes too late, He flies to press, and hurries on his fate ; Swiftly he sees the imagin'd laurels spread, And feels the unfading wreath surround his head. Warn'd by another's fate, vain youth, be wise ; Those dreams were Settle's once, and Ogilby's : The pamphlet spreads, incessant hisses rise, To some retreat the baffled writer flies ; Where no sour critics snarl, no sneers molest, Safe from the tart lampoon, and stinging jest : There begs of Heaven a less distinguished lot, Glad to be hid, and proud to be forgot. EPILOGUE, intended to have been spoken by a LADY who was to personate the Ghost YE blooming train, who give despair or joy, Bless with a smile, or with a frown destroy j In whose fair cheeks destructive Cupids wait, And with unerring shafts distribute fate ; Whose snowy breasts, whose animated eyes, Each youth admires, though each admirer dies ; Whilst you deride their pangs in barb'rous play "\ Unpitying see them weep, and hear them pray,' > And unrelenting sport ten thousand lives away j l Some young ladies at Lichfield having proposed to act " The Distressed Mother," Johnson wrote this, and gave it to Mr. Hector to convey it privately to them. BOSWELL. AUK is.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. -l'.) For you, ye fair, I quit the gloomy plains, Where sable night in all her horror reigns ; No fragrant bowers, no delightful glades, Eeceive the unhappy ghosts of scornful maids. For kind, for tender nymphs, the myrtle blooms, And weaves her bending boughs in pleasing glooms ; Perennial roses deck each purple vale, And scents ambrosial breathe in every gale : Far hence are banish'd vapours, spleen, and tears, Tea, scandal, ivory teeth, and languid airs : No pug, nor favourite Cupid, there enjoys The balmy kiss, for which poor Thyrsis dies ; Form'd to delight, they use no foreign arms, Nor torturing whalebones pinch them into charms ; No conscious blushes there their cheeks inflame, For those who feel no guilt can know no shame ; Unfaded still their former charms they shew, Around them pleasures wait, and joys for ever nuw. But cruel virgins meet severer fates ; Expell'd and exiled from the blissful seats, To dismal realms, and regions void of peace, Where furies ever howl, and serpents hiss. O'er the sad plains perpetual tempests sigh, And pois'nous vapours, black' ning all the sky, With livid hue the fairest face o'ercast, And every beauty withers at the blast : Where'er they fly their lovers' ghosts pursue, Inflicting all those ills which once they knew ; Vexation, Fury, Jealousy, Despair, Vex ev'ry eye, and every bosom tear ; Their foul deformities by all descried, No maid to flatter, and no paint to hide. Then melt, ye fair, while crowds around you sigh, Nor let disdain sit louring in your eye ; With pity soften every awful grace, And beauty smile auspicious in each face ; To ease their pains exert your milder power, So shall you guiltless reign, and all mankind adore. [1728. Age 19.] The two years which he spent at home, after his return from Stourbridge, he passed in what he thought idleness, and was scolded by his father for his want of steady application. He had no settled plan of life, nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from day to day. Yet he read a great deal in a desultory manner, without any scheme of study ; as chance threw books in his way, and inclina- tion directed him through them. He used to mention one curious instance of his casual reading when but a hoy. Having imagined that his brother had hid some apples hehind a large folio upon an upper shelf in his 50 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [17-28. father's shop, he climbed up to search for them. There were no apples ; but the large folio proved to be Petrarch, whom he had seen mentioned, in some preface, as one of the restorers of learning. His curiosity having been thus excited, he sat down with avidity, and read a great part of the book. What he read during these two years, he told me, was not works of mere amusement, " not voyages and travels, but all literature, Sir, all ancient writers, all manly : though but little Greek, only some of Anacreon and Hesiod ; but in this irregular manner," added he, " I had looked into a great many books, which were not commonly known at the Universities, where they seldom read any books but what are put into their hands by their tutors ; so that when I came to Oxford, Dr. Adams, now master of Pembroke College, told me I was the best qualified for the University that he had ever known come there." In estimating the progress of his mind during these two years, as well as in future periods of his life, we must not regard his own hasty confession of idleness ; for we see, when he explains himself, that he was acquiring various stores ; and indeed he himself concluded the account, with saying, " I would not have you think I was doing nothing then." He might, perhaps, have studied more assiduously ; but it may be doubted whether such a mind as his was not more enriched by roaming at large in the fields of literature than if it had been confined to any single spot. The analogy between body and mind is very general, and the parallel will hold as to their food, as well as any other particular. The flesh of animals who feed excursively is allowed to have a higher flavour than that of those who are cooped up. May there not be the same difference between men who read as their taste prompts, and men who are confined in cells and colleges to stated tasks ? That a man in Mr. Michael Johnson's circumstances should think of sending his son to the expensive University of Oxford, at his own charge, seems very improbable. The subject was too delicate to ques- tion Johnson upon ; but I have been assured by Dr. Taylor, that the scheme never would have taken place, had not a gentleman of Shrop- shire, one of his schoolfellows, spontaneously undertaken to support him at Oxford, in the character of his companion ; though, in fact, he never received any assistance whatever from that gentleman. 1 He, however, went to Oxford, and was entered a commoner of Pembroke College, on the 31st of October, 1728, being then in hid nineteenth year. The Reverend Dr. Adams, who afterwards presided over Pembroke College with universal esteem, told me he was present, and gave me some account of what passed on the night of Johnson's arrival at Oxford. On that evening, his father, who had anxiously accompanied him, found 1 In a small anonymous volume, published 1785, and entitled " Memoirs of tbe Lite and Wntings of Dr. Johnson," it is stated, upon reasonable grounds, that his godfather, Dr. Swinfen, and some other gentlemen of the neighbourhood, i-omribulcd towards his support at the University. This appears probable, I'or lie was sent to the College (Pem- broke) where his godfather had obtained his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1712. ED. AGE 19.J BOSWULL'S LIFE OK JOHNSON. 51 means to have him introduced to Mr. Jorden, who was to be his tutor. His being put under any tutor, remind^ us of what Wood says of Robert Burton, autlior of the " Anatomy of Melancholy,'' when elected student of Christ-church; " for form's sake, though fie wanted not a tutor, he was put under the tuition of Dr. John Bancroft, afterwards Bishop of Oxon.'' 1 His father seemed very full of the merits of his sou, and told the company he was a good scholar and a poet, and wrote Latin verses. His figure and manner appeared strange to them ; but he behaved modestly, and sat silent, till upon something which occurred in the course of conversation, he suddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius ; and thus he gave the first impression of that more extensive reading in which he had indulged himself. His tutor, Mr. Jorden, fellow of Pembroke, was not, it seems, a man of such abilities as we should conceive requisite for the instructor of Samuel Johnson, who gave me the following account of him : " Tie was a very worthy man, but a V-eaw man, and I did not profit much by CHRIST-CUB his instructions. Indeed, I did not attend him much. The first day after I came to college, I waited upon him, and then btajed away f'oui. Oil the sixth, Mr. Jorden asked me why I had not attended. I answered, 1 had been sliding in Christ-church meadow : and this i said 1 Athen. Oxon. edit. 1721, i. H27. Boswir.u BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1728. with as much nonchalance as I am now 1 talking to you. I had no notion that I was wrong or irreverent to my tutor." BOSWELL : " That, Sir, was great fortitude of mind." JoHNSOH : " No, Sir ; stark insensibility." 2 The fifth of November was at that time kept with great solemnity at Pembroke College, and exercises upon the subject of the day were required. Johnson neglected to perform his, which is much to be regretted ; for his vivacity of imagination, and force of language, would probably have produced something sublime upon the gunpowder-plot. To apologize for his neglect, he gave in a short copy of verses, entitled Somnium, containing a common thought ; " that the Muse had come to him in his sleep, and whispered, that it did not become him to write on such subjects as politics ; he should confine himself to humbler themes :" but the versification was truly Virgilian. He had a love and respect for Jorden, not for his literature, 3 but for his worth. " Whenever," said he, '' a young man becomes Jorden 's pupil, he becomes his son." Having given such a specimen of his poetical powers, he was asked by Mr. Jorden to translate Pope's " Messiah'* into Latin verse, as a Christmas exercise. He performed it with uncommon rapidity, and in so masUrly a manner, that he obtained great applauie from it, which ever after kept him high in the estimation of his college, and, indeed, of all the University. It is said, that Mr. Pope expressed himself concerning it in terms of strong approbation. Dr. Taylor told me, that it was first Dinted for old Mr. Johnson, without the knowledge of his son, who was very angry when he heard of it. A Miscellany of Poems, collected by a person of the name of Husbands, was published at Oxford in 1731. In that Miscellany Johnson's translation of the " Messiah" a] .peared, with this modest motto from Scaliger's Poetics : " Ex alieno ingenio poeta, ex suo tantum leisificator." I am not ignorant that critical objections have been made to this and other specimens of Johnson's Latin poetry. I acknowledge myself not competent to decide on a question of such extreme nicety. But I am satisfied with the just and discriminative eulogy pronounced upon it by my friend Mr. Courtenay. " And with like ease his vivid lines assume The garb and dignity of ancient Rome. Let college verse-men trite conceits express, Trick' d out in splendid shreds of Virgil's dress ; 1 Oxford, 20th March, 1776. BOSWELL. 2 It ought to be remembered, that Dr. Johnson was apt, in his literary as well as moral exercises, to overcharge his defects. Dr. Adams informed me, that be attended his tutor's lectures, and also the lectures in the College Hall, very regularly. BOSWELL. 3 Johnson used to say of Jorden, that " he scarcely knew a noun Irom an adverb." NICHOLS. AGE 19.] BOSVVELL'S LIKE OF JOHNSON. f>a From playful Ovid cull the tinsel phrase, And vapid notions hitch in pilfer'd lays ; Then with mosaic art the piece combine, .And boast the glitter of each dulcet line : Johnson adventured boldly to transfuse IT is vigorous sense into the Latin muse ; Aspired to shine by unreflected light, And with a Roman's ardour think and write. He felt the tuneful Nine his breast inspire, And, like a master, waked the soothing lyre : Horatian strains a grateful heart proclaim, While Sky's wild rocks resound his Thralia's name. Hesperia's plant, in some less skilful hands, To bloom a while, factitious heat demands : Though glowing Maro a faint warmth supplies, The sickly blossom in the hot-house dies : By Johnson's genial culture, art, and toil, Its root strikes deep, and owns the fost'ring soil ; Imbibes onr sun through all its swelling veins, And grows a native of Britannia's plains." 1 [1729. Age 20.] The " morbid melancholy," which was lurking in his constitution, and to which we may ascribe those particularities, and that aversion to regular life, which at a very early period marked his character, gathered such strength in his twentieth year, as to afflict him in a dreadful manner. While he was at Lichfield, in the college vacation of the year 1729, he felt himself overwhelmed with a horrible hypochondria, with perpetual irritation, fretfulness, and impatience ; and with a dejec- tion, gloom, and despair, which made existence misery. From this dismal malady he never afterwards was perfectly relieved ; and all his labours, and all his enjoyments, were but temporary interruptions of its baleful influence. How wonderful, how unsearchable are the ways of God ! Johnson, who was blest with all the powers of genius and under- standing, in a degree far above the ordinary state of human nature, was at the same time visited with a disorder so afflictive, that they who know it by dire experience will not envy his exalted endowments. That it was, in some degree, occasioned by a defect in his nervous system, that inexplicable part of our frame, appears highly probable. He told Mr. Paradise 2 that he was sometimes so languid and inefficient, that he could not distinguish the hour upon the town clock. Johnson, upon the first violent attack of this disorder, strove to overcome it by forcible exertions. He frequently walked to Birmingham 1 " Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of Dr. Johnson," by John Coartenay, Esq. M.P. BOSWRLL. 2 John Paradise, Esq., D.C.L., is said by Mr. Croker to have been of Greek extrac- tion ; he. however, passed the greater part of his life in England, w;:s well known in literary society, and died 12th December, 1795. ED. . 54 nosWF.I.I/S LIFE rp JOHNSON [ 1729. and back again, and tried many other expedients ; but all in vain, liis expression concerning it to me was, " J did not then know how to manage it." His distress became so intolerable, that be applied to 1'r. Swinfen, physician in Lichfield, his godfather, and put into his hands a stnte of his case, written in Latin. Dr. Swinfen was so much struck with the extraordinary acuteness, research, and eloquence of this paptr, that, in his zeal for his godson, he showed it to several people. His daughter, Mrs. Desmoulins, who was many years humanely supported in Dr. Johnson's house in London, told me, that upon bis discovering that Dr. Swinfen had communicated his case, he was so much offended, that he was never afterwards fully reconciled to him. He indeed bad good reason to be offended ; for though Dr. Swinfen' s motive was good," he inconsiderately betrayed a matter deeply interesting and of great delicacy, which had been entrusted to him in confidence : and exposed a eomplaint of his young friend and patient, which, in the superficial opinion of the generality of mankind, is attended with contempt and disgrace. But let not little men triumph upon knowing that Johnson was an HYPOCHONDRIAC, was subject to what the learned, philosophical, and pious Dr. Cheyne has so well treated under the title of " The English Malady." Though he suffered severely from it he was not therefore degraded. The powers of his great mind might be troubled, and their full exercise suspended at times ; but the mind itself was ever entire. As a proof of this, it is only necessary to consider that, when he was at the very worst, he composed that state of his own case, which showed an uncommon vigour, not only of fancy and taste, but of judg- ment. I am aware that he himself was too ready to call such a complaint by the name of madness ; in conformity with which notion, he has traced its gradation-*, with exquisite nic<-ty, in one of the chapters of his " Rasselas." But there is surely a clear distinction between a disorder which affects only the imagination and spirits, while the judgment is sound, and a disorder by which the judgment itself is impaired. This distinction was made to me by the late Professor Gaubius, of Leyden, physician to the Prince of Orange, in a conversation which I had with him several years ago ; and he expounded it thus : " If," said he, " a man tells me that he is grievously disturbed, for that he imagines he sees a ruffian coming against him with a drawn sword, though at the same time he is conscious it is a delusion, I pronounce him to have a disordered imagination ; but if a man tells me that he sees this, and in consterna- tion calls to me to look at it, I pronounce him to be mad." It is a common effect of low spirits or melancholy, to make those who are .afflicted with it imagine that they are actually suffering those evils which happen to be most strongly presented to their minds. Some have fancied, themselves to be deprived of the use of their limbs, some to labour under acute diseases, others to be in extreme poverty ; when, in truth, ABK 20.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 55 tliere was not the least reality in any of the suppositions ; so that when the vapours were dispelled they were convinced of the delusion. To Johnson, whose supreme enjoyment was the exercise of his reason, the disturbance or.obscuration of that faculty was the evil most to be dreaded. Insanity, therefore, was the object of his most dismal apprehension ; and he fancied himself seized by it, or approaching to it, at the very time when he was giving proofs of a more than ordinary soundness and vigour of judgment. That his own diseased imagination should have so far deceived him is strange ; but it is stranger still that some of his friends should have given credit to his groundless opinion, when they had such undoubted proofs that it was totally fallacious; though it is by no means surprising that those who wish to depreciate him, should, since his death, have laid hold of this circumstance, and insisted upon it with very unfair aggravation. Amidst the oppression and distraction of a disease, which very few have felt in its full extent, but many have experienced in a slighter degree, Johnson, in his writings, and in his conversation, never failed to display all the varieties of intellectual excellence. In his march through this world to a better, his mind still appeared grand and brilliant, and impressed all around him with the truth of Virgil's noble sentiment " Igneus est ollis vigor et coelestis origo." JEn. \\. 730. The history of his mind as to religion is an important article. I have mentioned the early impressions made upon his tender imagination by his mother, who continued her pious cares with assiduity, but, in his opinion, not with judgment. " Sunday," said he, "was a heavy day to me when I was a boy. My mother confined me on that day, and made me read ' The Whole Duty of Man,' from a great part of which I could derive no instruction. When, for instance, I had read the chapter on theft, which, from my infancy I had been taught was wrong, 1 was no more convinced that theft was wrong than before ; so tin re was no accession of knowledge. A boy should be introduced to such books, by having his attention directed to the arrangement, to the style, and other excellencies of composition ; that the mind being thus engaged by an amusing variety of objects may not grow weary." He communicated to me the following particulars upon the subject of his religious progress : " I fell into an inattention to religion, or an in- difference about it, in my ninth year. The church at Lichfield, in which we had a seat, wanted reparation, so I was to go and find a seat in other churches ; and having bad eyes, and being awkward about this, I used to go and read in the fields on Sunday. This habit continued till my fourteenth year ; and still I find a great reluctance to go to church. I then became a sort of lax talker against religion, for I did not much think against it ; and this lasted till I went to Oxford, where it would not be suffered. When at Oxford, I took up ' Law's Serious Call to a Holy 56 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1729. Life,' expecting to find it a dull book (as such books generally are), and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch for me ; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion, after I became capable of rational inquiry." 1 From this time forward religion was the predominant object of his thoughts; though, with the just sentiments of a conscientious Christian, he lamented that his practice of its duties fell far short of what it ought to be. This instance of a mind such as that of Johnson being first disposed, \>y an unexpected incident, to think with anxiety of the momentous concerns of eternity, and of " what he should do to be saved," may lor ever be produced in opposition to the superficial and sometimes profane contempt that has been thrown upon those occasional impressions, which it is certain many Christians have experienced ; though it must be ac- knowledged that weak minds, from an erroneous supposition that no man is in a state of grace who has not felt a particular conversion, have, in some cases, brought a degree of ridicule upon them ; a ridicule of which it is inconsiderate or unfair to make a general application. How seriously Johnson was impressed with a sense of religion, even in the vigour of his youth, appears from the following passage in his minutes, kept by way of diary: "Sept. 7, 1736. I have this day enttred upon my 28th year. Mayestthou, God, enable me, for Je?us Christ's sake, to spend this in such a manner, that I may receive comfort from it at the hour of death, and in the day of judgment ! Amen." The particular course of his reading while at Oxford, and during the time of vacation which he passed at home, cannot be traced. Enough has been said of his irregular mode of study. He told me, that from his 3 Mrs. Piozzi has given a strange fantastical account of the original of Dr. Johnson's belief in our most holy religion. "At the age of ten years his mind was disturbed by scruples of infidelity, which preyed upon his spirits, and made him very uneasy ; the more so, as he revealed his uneasiness to none, being naturally (as he said) of a sullen temper, and reserved disposition. He searched, however, diligently but fruitlessly, for evidences of the truth of revelation ; and, at length, recollecting a book he had once seen, [I suppose at Jive years old'] in his father's shop, entitled De veritale Religionis, &c. he began to think himself highly culpable for neglecting such a means of information, and took him- self severely to task for this sin, adding many acts of voluntary, and, to others, unknown penance. The first opportunity which offered, of course, he seized the book with avidity ; but, on examination, not finding himself scholar enough to peruse its contents, set his heart at rest; and nut thinking to inquire whether there were any English books written on the subject, followed his usual amusements, and considered his conscience as lightmtd of a crime. He redoubled his diligence to learn the language that contained the inlor- nuition he most wished lor ; but Iron the pain which guilt [namely, having oniitled to read what he did not understand] had given him, he now began to deduce the soul's inimor- taii'y [o sensation of pain in thix world, being an unquestionable proof of existence in (mother], which was the point lhat belief first stopped at; and from that moment resolving to be a Christian, became one of the most zealous and pious ones our nation ever pro- duced." Anecdotes, p. 17. This is one of the numerous misrepresentations of this lively lady, which it is worth vhile to correct ; for if credit should be given to such a childish, irrational, and ridiculous statement of the foundation of Dr. Johnson's faith in Christianity, how little credit would be due to it. Mrs. Pioyzi seems to wis>h that tl.e world sl;ci:lil tl ir.k ]/r. Jolii M;II also under the influence of that easy logic, Stel pro ratione roluniat. HUSWKLL. AK20J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 57 earliest years lie loved to read poetry, but hardly ever read any poem to an end ; that he read Shakspeare at a period so early, that the speech of the Ghost in Hamlet terrified him when he was alone ; that Horace's Odes were the compositions in which he took most delight, and it was long before he liked his Epistles and Satires. He told me what he read solidly at Oxford was Greek ; not the Grecian historians, but Homer and Euri- pides, and now and then a little Epigram ; that the study of which he was the most fond was Metaphysics, but he had not read much, even in that way. I always thought that he did himself injustice in his account of what he had read, and that he must have been speaking with reference to the vast portion of study which is possible, and to which few scholars in the whole history of literature have attained ; for when I once asked him whether a person, whose name I have now forgotten, studied hard, he answered, " No, Sir ; I do not believe he studied hard. I never knew a man who studied hard. I conclude, indeed, from the effects, that some man have studied hard, as Bentley and Clarke." Trying him by that criterion upon which he formed his judgment of others, we may be ab- solutely certain, both from his writings and his conversation, that his reading was very extensive. Dr. Adam Smith, than whom few were better judges on this subject, once observed to me, that " Johnson knew more books than any man alive." He had a peculiar facility in seizing at once what was valuable in any book, without submitting to the labour of perusing it from beginning to end. He had, from the irritability of his constitution, at all times an impatience and hurry when he either read or wrote. A certain apprehension arising from novelty made him write his first exercise at College twice over ; but he never took that trouble with any other composition ; and we shall see that his most ex- cellent works were struck off at a heat, with rapid exertion. 1 Yet he appears, from his early notes or memorandums in my posses- sion, to have at various times attempted, or at least planned, a methodical course of study, according to computation, of which he was all his life fond, as it fixed his attention steadily upon something without, and pre- vented his mind from preying upon itself. Thus I find in his hand- writing the number of lines in each of two of Euripides's Tragedies, of the Georgics of Virgil, of the first six books of the ^Eneid, of Horace's Art of Poetry, of three of the books of Ovid's Metamorphoses, of some parts ot Theocritus, and of the tenth Satire of Juvenal ; and a table showing at the rate of various numbers a day (I suppose verses to be read), what would be, in each case, the total amount in a week* month, and year. No man had a more ardent love of literature, or a higher respect for it, than Johnson. His apartment in Pembroke College was that upon 1 He told Dr. Burney that he never wrote any of his works that were printed, twice over. Dr. Burney's wonder at seeing several pages of his "Lives of the Poets," in manu- script, with scarce a blot or erasure, drew this observation from him. M ALONE 58 BOSWELLS L1FK OF JOHNsOV. [1729 the second floor over the gateway. 1 The enthusiast of learning will ever contemplate it with veneration. One day, while he was sitting in it quite alone, Dr. Panting, then master of the college, whom he called " a fine Jacobite fellow," overheard him uttering this soliloquy in his strong emphatic voice : " Well, I have a mind to see what is done in other places of learning. I'll go and visit the universities abroad. I'll go to France and Italy. I'll go to Padua. And I'll mind my business. For an Athenian blockhead is the worst of all blockheads." 2 1 The illustration represents the gateway of Pembroke College as it appeared in Dr. Johnson's time. Subsequently to that period, both the gateway and the interior of the apartment have undergone such extensive alterations as to preserve no resemblance to their original appearance. Ei>. 2 I had this anecdote from Dr. Adams, and Dr. Johnson confirmed it. Bramston, in his " Man of Taste," has the same thought: " Sure, of all blockheads, scholars are the worst." BOSWELL. Johnson's meaning, however, is, that a scholar who is a blockhead, must be the worst of all blockheads, because he is without excuse. But Bramston, in the assumed character of an ignorant coxcomb, maintains, that all scholars are blockheads on account of their scholarship. J. BOSWEI.L, Jun. Johnson may also have alluded to the University of which he was a member, and whose classical pre-eminence he so strenuously asserted. His full meaning probably was, that if he travelled, it behoved him, in justice to his renowned literary parent, not to betray ignorance or incapacity, "for an Athenian (Oxford) blockhead is the worst of all ARK 20.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIIXSON. 59 Dr. Adams told me that Johnson, while he was at Pemhroke College, " was caressed and loved by all about him, was a gay and frolicsome fellow, and passed there the happiest part of his life." But this is a striking proof of the fallacy of appearances, and how little any of us know of the real internal state even of those whom we see mo*t frequently; for the truth is, that he was then depressed by poverty, and irritated by disease. When I mentioned to him this account as given me by Dr. Ad ms, he said, "Ah, Sir, I was mad and violent. It was bitterness which they mistook for frolic. I was miserably poor, and I thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit; so I disregarded all power and all authority." The Bishop of Dromore observes in a letter to me, " The pleasure he took in vexing the tutors and fellows has been often mentioned. But I have heard him say, what ought to be recorded to the honour of the present venerable master of that college, the Reverend William Adams, D.D., who was then very young, and one of the junior fellows ; that the mild but judicious expostulations of this worthy man, whose virtue awed him, and whose learning he revered, made him really ashamed of himself, ' though I fear,' said he, ' I was too proud to own it.' " I have heard from some of his contemporaries that he was generally seen lounging at the college gate, with a circle of young students round him, whom he was entertaining with wit, and keeping from their studies, if not spiriting them up to rebellion against the college discipline, which in his maturer years he so much extolled." He very early began to attempt keeping notes or memorandum*, by way of a diary of his life. I find, in a parcel of loose leaves, the following spirited resolution to contend against his natural indolence " October, 1729. Desidia valediri ; syrenis istius, cantibus surdam post- IMC aurem obversurus. I bid farewell to sloth, being resolved hence- forth not to listen to her syren strains." I have also in my possession a few leaves of another Libellus, or little book, entitled "Annales," in which some of the early particulars of his history are registered in Latin. I do not find that he formed any close intimacies with his fellow- collegians. But Dr. Adams told me, that he contracted a love and regard for Pembroke College, which he retained to the last. A short time before his death he sent to that college a present of all his works, to be deposited in their library ; and he had thoughts of leaving to it his blockheads." Pryden (who had studied at Cambridge) says, in one of his Prologues, complimenting the rival University, " Oxford to him a dearer name shall be Than his own mother University ; Thebes did his green unknowing youth engage, He chooses Athens in his riper age." It is possible that these lines may have impressed themselves on the mind of so zealous an Oxonian as Johnson, and suggested the phrase in question. ED. 60 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. LI "29. house at Lichfield ; but his friends who were about him very properly dissuaded him from it, and he bequeathed it to some poor relations. He took a pleasure in boasting of the many eminent men who had been educated at Pembroke. In this list are found the names of Mr. Haw- kins, the Poetry Professor, Mr. Shenstone, Sir William Blackstone, and others ; ] not forgetting the celebrated popular preacher. Mr. George Whitefield, of whom, though Dr. Johnson did not think very highly, it must be acknowledged that his eloquence was powerful, his views pious and charitable, his assiduity almost incredible ; and that, since his death, the integrity of his character has been fully vindicated. Being himself a poet, Johnson was peculiarly happy in mentioning how many of the sons of Pembroke were poets ; adding, with a smile of sportive^ triumph, " Sir, we are a nest of singing birds." He was not, however, blind to what he thought the defects of his own college : and I have, from the information of Dr. Taylor, a very strong instance of that rigid honesty which he ever inflexibly preserved. Taylor had obtained his father's consent to be entered of Pembroke, that he might be with his schoolfellow Johnson, with whom, though some years older than himself, he was very intimate. This would have been a great comfort to Johnson. But he fairly told Taylor that he could not, in conscience, suffer him to enter where he knew he could not have an able tutor. He then made inquiry all round the University, and having found that Mr. Bateman, of Christ-church, was the tutor of highest reputation, Taylor was entered of that college. Mr. Bateman 's lectures were so excellent, that Johnson used to come and get them at second-hand from Taylor, till his poverty being so extreme, that his shoes were worn out, and his feet appeared through them, he saw that this humiliating circumstance was perceived by the Christ- church men, and he came no more. He was too proud to accept of money, and somebody having set a pair of new shoes at his door, he threw them away with indignation. How must we feel when we read such an anec- dote of Samuel Johnson ! His spirited refusal of an eleemosynary supply of shoes arose, no doubt, from a proper pride. But, considering his ascetic disposition at times, as acknowledged by himself in his " Meditations," and the exaggeration with which some have treated the peculiarities of his character, I should not wonder to hear it ascribed to a principle of superstitious mortification ; as we are told by Tursellinus, in his " Life of St. Ignatius Loyola," that this intrepid founder of the order of Jes.uits, when he arrived at Goa, after having made a severe pilgrimage through the eastern deserts, persisted in wearing his miserable shattered shoes, and when new ones were offered him, rejected them as an unsuit- able indulgence. 1 SeeNash's History of Worcestershire, vol. i. p. 520. BOSWELL. AGE 20. ] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 61 The res angusta domi prevented him from having the advantage of a complete academical education. The friend to whom he had trusted for support had deceived him. His debts in college, though not great, were increasing ; and his scanty remittances from Lichfield, which had all along been made with great difficulty, could be supplied no longer, his father having fallen into a state of insolvency. Compelled, therefore, by irresistible necessity, he left the college in autumn, 1731, without a degree, having been a member of it little more than three years. Dr. Adams, the worthy and respectable master of Pembroke College, has generally had the reputation of being Johnson's tutor. The fact, however, is, that in 1731 Mr. Jorden quitted the college, and his pupils were transferred to Dr. Adams ; so that, had Johnson returned, Dr. Adams would have been his tutor. It is to be wished that this connec- tion had taken place. His equal temper, mild disposition, and polite- ness of manners, might have insensibly softened the harshness of John- son, and infused, into him those more delicate charities, those petites morales, in which, it must be confessed, our great moralist was more deficient than his best friends could fully justify. Dr. Adams paid Johnson this high compliment. He said to me at Oxford, in 1776, " I was his nominal tutor ; but he was above my mark. ' ' When I repeated it to Johnson, his eyes flashed with grateful satisfaction, and he ex- claimed, " That was liberal and noble." LICHIIEUU. l~M. CHAPTER II. 1731-1736. DEATH OF JOHNSON'S FATHER INTERCOURSE WITH SOCIETY IN LICHFIEI.D; GILBERT WALMESLEY, Da. SWINFEN, &c. TKIBOTE TO WALMESLEY'S MEMORY JOHNSON BECOMES USHER AT MARKET-BOSWORTH SCHOOL REMOVAL TO BIR- MINGHAM; MR. HECTOR, MR. PORTER, &c. TRANSLATION OF LOBO'S VOYAGE TO ABYSSINIA SPECIMEN OF EARLY STYI.K RETURN TO LICHFIELD BIRMINGHAM AGAIN FIRST LETTER TO CAVE, PROPRIETOR OF GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE YOUTHFUL AMATORY VERSES MARRIAGE WITH MRS. PORTER HKR FAMILY, AND INCIDENTS OF THE WEDDING OPENS A PRIVATE ACADEMY AT EDIAL GARRICK BECOMES HIS PUHL SCHOOL UNSUCCESSFUL GREAT PART OF TRAGEDY OF ''IRENE" WRITTEN. AN D now (I had almost said poor) Samuel Johnson returned to his native city, destitute, and not knowing how he should gain even a decent livelihood. His father's misfortunes in trade rendered him unable to support his son ; and for some time there appeared no means by which he could maintain himself. In the December of this year his father died. The state of poverty in which he died, appears from a note in one of Johnson's little diaries of the following year, which strongly displays his spirit and virtuous dignity of mind. "1732, Julii 15. Undccitn aureos deposui, quo die quiiquid ante matrix funus (quod serum *it precor) de paternis boms siieraii licet, viyinti scilicet libras, accejd. (Jsque adeo mihi fortuna Jimjmda est. Jnterea, ne pauj.ertate vins animi languescant, nee in fiayilia eyextus abi'jat, cacendum. I laycd by AOB 22. ] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 63 eleven guineas on this day, when I received twenty pounds, being all that I have reason to hope for out of my father's effects, previous to the death of my mother ; an event which I pray GOD may be very remote. I now therefore see that I must make my own fortune. Mean- while, let me take care that the powers of my mind be not debilitated by poverty, and that indigence do not force me into any criminal act. '' Johnson was so far fortunate, that the respectable character of his parents, and his own merit, had, from his earliest years, secured him a kind reception in the best families at Lichfield. Among these I can mention Mr. Howard, Dr. Swinfcn, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Levett, Captain Garrick, father of the great ornament of the British stage ; but above all, Mr. Gilbert Walmesley, 1 Registrar of the Ecclesiastical Court of Lichtield, whose character, long after his decease, Dr. Johnson has, in his life of Edmund Smith, thus drawn in the glowing colours of gratitude : " Of Gilbert Walmesley, thus presented to my mind, let me indulge myself in the remembrance. I knew him very early ; he was one of the first friends that literature procured me, and I hope, that at least my gratitude made me worthy of his notice. " He was of an advanced age, and I was only not a boy, yet he never received my notions with contempt. He was a whig, with all the virulence and malevolence of his party ; yet difference of opinion did not k^ep us apart. I honoured him and he endured me. " He had mingled with the gay world without exemption from its vices or its follies; but had never neglected the cultivation of his mind. His belief of revelation was unshaken; his learning preserved his principles; he grew first regular, and then pious. " His studies had been so various, that I am not able to name a man of equal knowledge. His acquaintance with books was great, and what he did not immediately know, he could, at least, tell where to find. Such was his amplitude of learning, and such his copiousness of communication, that it may be doubted whether a day now passes, in which I have not some advantage from his friendship. " At this man's table I enjoyed many cheerful and instructive hours, with companions such as are not often found with one who has lengthened, and one who has gladdened life; with Dr. James, whose skill in physic will be long remembered ; and with David Garrick, whom I hoped to have gratified with this character of our common friend. But what are the hopes of man ? I am dis- appointed by that stroke of death, which has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure." 1 Mr. Warton informs me, "that this early friend of Johnson was entered a Com- moner of Trinity College, Oxford, a<eriod, whatever uneasiness he may have endured, he laid the foundation of much future eminence by application to his studies. Being now again totally unoccupied, he was invited by Mr. Hector to pass some time with him at Birmingham, as his guest, at the house B1KMIMUHAM. 1130 of Mr. Warren, with whom Mr. Hector lodged and boarded. Mr. Warren was the first established bookseller in Birmingham, and was very attentive to Johnson, who he soon found could be of much service to him in his trade, by his knowledge of literature ; and he even obtained the assistance of his pen in furnishing some numbers of a periodical Essay printed in the newspa{>er of which Warren was proprietor. After very diligent inquiry, I have not been able to recover those early specimens of that particular mode of writing by which Johnson after- wards so greatly distinguished himself. He continued to live as Mr. Hector's guest for about six months, 1 It appears from a letter of Johnson's to a friend, which I have read, dated Lich- field, July 27, 1782, that he had left Sir Wolstan Dixie's hou>e, recently before that letter was written. He then had hopes of succeeding either as master or usher, in the school of MALOME. AGE 24.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIINSOX. 67 and then hired lodgings in another part of the town, 1 finding himself as well situated at Birmingham as he supposed he could be any where, while he had no settled plan of life, and very scanty means of subsis- tence. He made some valuable acquaintances there, amongst whom were Mr. Porter, a mercer, whose widow he afterwards married, and Mr. Taylor, 2 who by his ingenuity in mechanical inventions, and his success in trade, acquired an immense fortune. But the comfort of being near Mr. Hector, his old schoolfellow and intimate friend, was Johnson's chief inducement to continue here. In what manner he employed his pen at this period, or whether he derived from it any pecuniary advantage, I have not been able to ascertain. He probably got a little money from Mr. Warren ; and we are certain, that he executed here one piece of literary labour, of which Mr. Hector has favoured me with a minute account. Having mentioned that he had read at Pembroke College a " Voyage to Abyssinia," by Lobo, 3 a Portuguese Jesuit, and that he thought an abridgment and translation of it from the French into English might be an useful and profitable publication, Mr. Warren and Mr. Hector joined in urging him to undertake it. He accordingly agreed ; and the book not being to be found in Birmingham, he borrowed it of Pembroke College. A part of the work being very soon done, one Osborn, who was Mr. Warren's printer, was set to work with what was ready, and Johnson engaged to supply the press with copy as it should be wanted; but his constitutional indolence soon prevailed, and the work was at a stand. Mr. Hector, who knew that a motive of humanity would be the most prevailing argument with his friend, went to Johnson, and represented to him, that the printer could have no other employment till this undertaking was finished, and that the poor man and his family were suffering. Johnson, upon this, exerted the powers of his mind, though his body was relaxed. He lay in bed with the book, which was a quarto, before him, and dictated while Hector wrote. Mr. Hector carried the sheets to the press, and corrected almost all the proof sheets, very few of which were even seen by Johnson. In this manner, with the aid of Mr. Hector's active friendship, the book was completed, and was published in 1735, with London upon the title page, though it was in reality printed at Birmingham, a device too common with provincial publishers. For this work, he had from Mr. Warren only the sum of five guineas. This being the first prose work of Johnson, it is a curious object of inquiry how much may be traced in it of that style which marks his subsequent writings with such peculiar excellence ; with so happy an 1 Sir John Hawkins states, from one of Johnson's diaries, that in June, 1733, he lodged in Birmingham at the house of a person named Jarvis, probably a relation of Mrs. Porter, whom he afterwards married. MALOMK. 2 Grandfather of the present Mr. Taylor, the Banker of Birmingham. ED. 8 Jerome Lobo was born at Lisbon, 1693, and died at the College of Coimbra, 1678 ED. Bl 08 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHSSOX. [1733. union offeree, vivacity, and perspicuity. I have perused the book with this view, and have found that here, as I believe in every other translation, there is in the work itself no vestige of the translator's own style; for the language of translation being adapted to the thoughts of another person, insensibly follows their cast, and as it were runs into a mould that is ready prepared. Thus, for instance, taking the first sentence that occurs at the open- ing of the book, p. 4: " I lived here above a year, and completed my studies in divinity ; in which time some letters were received from the fathers of Ethiopia, with an account that Sultan Segned, Emperor of Abyssinia, was converted to the church of Rome ; that many of his subjects had followed his example, and that there was a great want of missionaries to improve these prosperous beginnings. Every body was very desirous of seconding the zeal of our fathers, and of sending them the assistance they requested ; to which we were the more encouraged, because the Emperor's letter informed our Provincial that we might easily enter his dc minions by the way of Dancala ; but, unhappily, the secretary wrote Geila for Dancala, which cost two of our fathers their lives." Every one acquainted with Johnson's manner will be sensible that there is nothing of it here; but that this sentence might have been composed by any other man. But, in the Preface, the Johnsonian style begins to appear ; and though use had not yet taught his wing a permanent and equable flight, there are parts of it which exhibit his best manner in full vigour. I had once the pleasure of examining it with Mr. Edmund Burke, who con- firmed me in this opinion, by his superior critical sagacity, and was, I remember, much delighted with the following specimen : ' ' The Portuguese traveller, contrary to the general vein of his countrymen, has amused his reader with no romantic absurdity, or incredible fictions ; whatever he relates, whether true or not, is at least probable ; and he who tells nothing exceeding the bounds of probability, has a right to demand that they should believe him who cannot contradict him. " He appears by his modest and unaffected narration, to have described things as he saw them, to have copied nature from the life, and to have consulted his senses, not his imagination. He meets with no basilisks that destroy with their eyes, his crocodiles devour their prey without tears, and his cataracts fall from the rocks without deafening the neighbouring inhabitants. " The reader will here find no regions cursed with irremediable barrenness, or blest with spontaneous fecundity ; no perpetual gloom, or unceasing sunshine; nor are the nations here described, either devoid of all sense of humanity, or consummate in all private or social virtues. Here are no Hottentots without religious policy or articulate language ; no Chinese perfectly polite, and com- pletely skilled in all sciences ; he will discover, what will always be discovered by a diligent and impartial inquirer, that wherever human nature is to be found, there is a mixture of vice and virtue, a contest of passion and reason ; and that the Creator doth not appear partial in his distributions, but has balanced, hi most countries, their particular inconveniences by particular favours." AGE 24 J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 69 Here we have an early example of that brilliant and energetic expression, which, upon innumerable occasions in his subsequent life, justly impressed the world with the highest admiration. Nor can any one, conversant with the writings of Johnson, fail to discern his hand in this passage of the Dedication to John Warren, Esq., of Pembrokeshire, though it is ascribed to Warren the bookseller. " A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity ; l nor is that curiosity ever more agreeably or usefully employed, than in examining the laws and customs of foreign nations. I hope, therefore, the present I now presume to make will not be thought improper, which, however, it is not my business as a dedicator to commend, nor as a bookseller to depreciate." It is reasonable to suppose, that his having been thus accidentally led to a particular study of the history and manners of Abyssinia, was the remote occasion of his writing, many years afterwards, his admir- able philosophical tale, the principal scene of which is laid in that country. 2 Johnson returned to Li oilfield early in 1734, and in August that year he made an attempt to procure some little subsistence by his pen ; for he published proposals for printing by subscription the Latin Poems of "Politian;" 3 Angeli Politiani Poemata Latina, quibus, Notas cum historid Latina poeseos a Petrarcha cevo ad Politiani tempora deductd, et vita Politiani fusius quam antehac enarratd, addidit SAM. JOHNSON. " 4 It appears that his brother Nathaniel had taken up his father's trade ; for it is mentioned that " subscriptions are taken in by the Editor, or N. Johnson, bookseller, of Lichfield." Notwithstanding the merit of Johnson, and the cheap price at which this book was offered, there were not subscribers enough to ensure a sufficient sale ; so the work never appeared, and probably, never was executed. We find him again this year at Birmingham, and there is preserved the following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave, 5 the original compiler and editor of the " Gentleman's Magazine :" 1 See Rambler, No. 103, " Curiosity is the thirst of the Soul," &c. BOSWELL. 2 Rasselas. 8 May we not trace a fanciful similarity between Politian and Johnson ? Huetius, speaking of Paulus Peiissonius Fontanerius, says, " in quo Natura, ut olim in Angelo Politiano, deformitatem oris excellentis ingenii prastantia compensavit." Comment, de reb. ad euni pertin. Edit. Amstel. 1718, p. 200. BOSWELL. 4 The book was to contain more than thirty sheets, the price to be two shillings and sixpence at the time of subscribing, and two shillings and sixpence at the delivery of a perfect book in quires. BOSWELL. 5 Miss Cave, the grand-niece of Mr. Edward Cave, has obligingly shown me the ori- ginals of this and the other letters of Dr. Johnson. to him, which were tirsl published in the " Gentleman's Magazine," with notes by Mr. John Nichols, the worthy and indefatigable editor ol that valuable miscellany, signed N. ; some of which I shall occasionally transcribe in the course of this work. BOSWKLL. 70 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1734. IDWiHD CiVl. "TO MR. CAVE. ter of Arts. About that time he became First Master of the Free School at Rochester, founded by Sir Joseph Williamson. In 1739, he was appointed Luctisian Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, on the death of Professor Sanderson, and held that office till 1759, when he died. He published Lectures on Experimental Philosophy, translated from the French of 1'Abbe Nodet, 8vo. 1732, and some other tracts. Our author, it is believed, was mistaken in stating him to have been Master of an Academy. Garrk-k, probably, during his short residence at Rochester, lived in his house as a private pupil. BOSWELL. The character of Gelidus, the philosopher, in the " Rambler" (No. 24), was meant to represent this gentleman. See Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, &c., p. 49. MAI.ONE. 2 One curious anecdote was communicated by himself to Mr. John N ichols. Mr. Wilcox, the bookseller, on being informed by him that his intention was to get his liveli- hood as an author, eyed his robust frame attentively, and with a significant look, said " You had better buy a porter's knot." He however added, " Wilcox was oiie of my best friends." Bos w E L L. AGE 28.] BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON. 81 encouragement by the means of Mr. Colson, to whose academy David Garrick went. Mrs. Lucy Porter told me, that Mr. Walmesley gave him a letter of introduction to Lintot, his bookseller, and that Johnson wrote some things for him ; but I imagine this to be a mistake, for I have discovered no trace of it, and I am pretty sure he told me, that Mr. Cave was the first publisher by whom his pen was engaged in London. He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew how he could live in the cheapest manner. His first lodgings were at the house of Mr. Norris, a staymaker, in Exeter-street, adjoining Catherine- street, in the Strand. "I dined," said he, "very well for eightpence, with very good company, at the Pine-Apple, in New-street, just by. Several of them had travelled. They expected to meet every day ; but did not know one another's names. It used to cost the rest a shilling, for they drank wine ; but I had a cut of meat for sixpence, and bread for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny ; so that I was quite well served, nay, better than the rest, for they gave the waiter nothing." He at this time, I believe, abstained entirely from fermented liquors : a practice to which he rigidly conformed for many years together, at different periods of his life. His Ofellus, 1 in the " Art of Living in London," I have heard him relate, was an Irish painter, whom he knew at Birmingham, and who had practised his own precepts of economy for several years in the British capital. He assured Johnson, who, I suppose, was then meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expense, ".that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteenpence a week ; few people would inquire where he lodged ; and if they did, it was easy to say, ' Sir, I am to be found at such a place.' " By spending threepence in a coffee-house, he might be for some hours every day in very good company ; he might dine for sixpence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper. On clean-shirt-day he went abroad and paid visits." I have heard him more than once talk of his frugal friend, whom he recollected with esteem and kindness, and did not like to have one smile at the recital. " This man,' ' said he, gravely, " was a very sensible man, who perfectly understood common affairs ; a man of a great deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not strained through books. He borrowed a horse and ten pounds at Birmingham. Finding himself master of so much money, he set off foi West Chester, in order to get to Ireland. He returned the horse, and probably the ten pounds too, after he got home." Considering Johnson's narrow circumstances in the early part of his life, and particularly at the interesting era of his launching into the i Oftllus was a philosophic countryman, commemorated by Horace, Sat. ii. lib. 2. ED. 82 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. [1737. ocean of London, it is not to be wondered at, that an actual instance, proved by experience, of the possibility of enjoying the intellectual luxury of social life upon a very small income, should deeply engage his attention, and be ever recollected by him as a circumstance of much importance. He amused himself, I remember, by computing how much more expense was absolutely necessary to live upon the same scale with that which his friend described, when the value of money was diminished by the progress of commerce. It may be estimated that double the money might now with difficulty be sufficient. Amidst this cold obscurity, there was one brilliant circumstance to cheer him ; he was well acquainted with Mr. Henry Hervey, 1 one of the branches of the noble family of that name, who had been quartered at Lichfield as an officer of the army, and had at this time a house in London, where Johnson was frequently entertained, and had an oppor- tunity of meeting genteel company. Not very long before his death, lie mentioned this, among other particulars of his life, which he was kindly communicating to me ; and he described this early friend " Harry Hervey," thus : "He was a vicious man, but very kind to me. If you call a dog Hervey, I shall love him." He told me he had now written only three acts of his " Irene," and that he retired for some time to lodgings at Greenwich, where he pro- ceeded in it somewhat further, and used to compose walking in the park ; but did not stay long enough at that place to finish it. At this period we find the following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave, which, as a link in the chain of his literary history, it is proper to insert : "TO MR. CAVE. " Greenwich, nest door to the Golden Heart, Church-street, "SIR, July 12, 1737. "Having observed in your papers very uncommon offers of encouragement to men of letters, I have chosen, being a stranger in London, to communicate to you the following design, which, I hope, if you join in it, will be of advantage to both of us. " The History of the Council of Trent having been lately translated into French, and published with large Notes by Dr. Le Courayer, the reputation of that book is fo much revived in England, that, it is presumed, a new translation of it from the Italian, together with Le Courayer' s Notes from the French, could not fail of a favourable reception. 1 The [Honourable Henry Hervey, third son of the first Earl of Bristol, quitted the army and took orders. He married a sister of Sir Thomas Aston, by whom he got the Aston Estate, and assumed the name and arms of that family. Bos WELL. The Honourable Henry Hervey was nearly of the same age with Johnson, having been born about nine months before him, in the year 1709. He married Catherine, the sister of Sir Thomas Aston, in 1739; and as that lady had seven sisters, she probably succeeded to the Aston Estate on the death of her brother under his will. Mr. Hervey took th'e degree of Master of Arts at Cambridge at the late age of thirty-five, in 1774; about which time, it is believed, he entered into holy orders. M ALONE. AQE 28.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 83 "If it be answered, that the history is already in English, it must be remembered, that there was the same objection against Le Courayer's under- taking, with this disadvantage, that the French had a version by one of their best translators, whereas you cannot read three pages of the English history without discovering that the style is capable of great improvements ; but whether those improvements are to be expected from this attempt, you must judge from the specimen, which, if you approve the proposal, I shall submit to your examination. " Suppose the merit of the- versions equal, we may hope that the edition of the notes will turn the balance in our favour, considering the reputation of the annotator. "Be pleased to favour me with a speedy answer, if you are not willing to engage in this scheme ; and appoint me a day to wait upon you, if you are. ' ' I am, Sir, "Your humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." It should seem from this letter, though subscribed with his own name, that he had not yet heen introduced to Mr. Cave. We shall presently see what was done in consequence of the proposal which it contains. In the course of the summer he returned to Lichfield, where he had left Mrs. Johnson, and there he at last finished his tragedy, which was not executed with his rapidity of composition upon other occasions, hut was slowly and painfully elaborated. A few days hefore his death, while burning a great mass of papers, he picked out from among them the original unformed sketch of this tragedy, in his own handwriting, and gave it to Mr. Langton, by whose favour a copy of it is now in my possession. It contains fragments of the intended plot, and speeches for the different persons of the drama, partly in the raw materials of prose, partly worked up into verse ; as also a variety of hints for illustration, borrowed from the Greek, Roman, and modern writers. The handwriting is very difficult to be read, even by those who were best acquainted with Johnson's mode of penmanship, which at all times was very parti- cular. The King having graciously accepted of this manuscript as a literary curiosity, Mr. Langton made a fair and distinct copy of it, which he ordered to be bound up with the original and the printed tragedy ; and the volume is deposited in the King's library. 1 His Majesty was pleased to permit Mr. Langton to take a copy of it fur himself. The whole of it is rich in thought and imagery, and happy expressions; and of the disjecta membra scattered throughout, and as yet unarranged, a good dramatic poet might avail himself with considerable advantage. I shall give my readers some specimens of different kinds, distinguishing them by the asterisk!*). 1 The " King's library" (that of George III.) was given by his son and successor George IV., to the British Museum. ED. It has recently trampired that the government of the day bought the library of Gen. IV., just as he was on the eve of concluding a sale of it to the Emperor of Russia. ED. K 2 84 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1737. "Nor think to say here will I stop, Here will I fix the limits of transgression, Nor farther tempt the avenging rage of heaven. When guilt like this once harbours in the breast, Those holy beings, whose unseen direction Guides through the maze of life the steps of man, Fly the detested mansions of impiety, And quit their charge to horror and to ruin." A small part only of this interesting admonition is preserved in the play, and is varied, I think, not to advantage : "The soul once tainted with so foul a crime, No more shall glow with friendship's hallow'd ardour, Those holy beings whose superior care Guides erring mortals to the paths of virtue, fc _ Affrighted at impiety like thine, Resign their charge to baseness and to ruin." * " I feel the soft infection Flush in my cheek, and wander in my veins. Teah me the Grecian arts of soft persuasion." * " Sure this is love, which heretofore I conceived the dream of idle maids, and wanton poets." * "Though no comets or prodigies foretold the ruin of Greece, signs which heaven must by another miracle enable us to understand, yet might it be fore- shown, by tokens no less certain, by the vices which always bring it on." This last passage is worked up iu the tragedy itself, as follows : LEONTIUS. " That power that kindly spreads The clouds, a signal of impending showers, To warn the wand'ring linnet to the shade Beheld, without concern, expiring Greece, And not one prodigy foretold our fate. DEMETRIUS. A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it ; A feeble government, eluded laws, A factious populace, luxurious nobles, And all the maladies of sinking states. When public villany, too strong for justice, Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin, Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders, Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard ; When some neglected fabric nods beneath The weight of years, and totters to the tempest, Must heaven despatch the messengers of light, Or wake the dead, to warn us of its fall?" AGE 28.] BOSWETX's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 85 * MAHOMET (to IRENE). "I have tried thee, and joy to find that thou deservest to be loved by Mahomet, with a mind great as his own. Sure, thou art an error of nature, and an exception to the rest of thy sex, and art immortal ; for sentiments like thine were never to sink into nothing 1 . I thought all the thoughts of the fair had been to select the graces of the day, dispose the colours of the flaunting (flowing) robe, tune the voice and roll the eye, place the gem, choose the dress, and add new roses to the fading cheek, but sparkling." Thus in the tragedy : " Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine ; Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face ; I thought, forgive my fair, the noblest aim, The strongest effort of a female soul Was but to choose the graces of the day, To tune the tongue, to teach the eyes to roll, Dispose the colours of the flowing robe, And add new roses to the faded cheek." I shall select one other passage, on account of the doctrine which it illustrates. IRENE observes, * "That the Supreme Being will accept of virtue, whatever outward circum- stances it may be accompanied with, and may be delighted with varieties of worship:" but is answered, "That variety cannot affect that Being, who, in- finitely happy in his own perfections, wants no external gratifications ; nor can in- finite truth be delighted with falsehood ; that though he may guide or pity those he leaves in darkness, he abandons those who shut their eyes against the beams of day.' ' Johnson's residence at Lichfield, on his return to it at this time, was only for three months ; and as he had as yet seen but a small part of the wonders of the metropolis, he had little to tell his townsmen. He related to me the following minute anecdote of this period : "In the last age, when my mother lived in London, there were two sets of people, those who gave the wall, and those who took it ; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. When I returned to Lichfield, after having been in London, my mother asked me, whether I was one of those who gave the wall, or those who took it. Now it is fixed that every man keeps to the right : or, if one is taking the wall, another yields it ; and it is never a dispute." 1 He now removed to London with Mrs. Johnson ; but her daughter, who had lived with them at Edial, was left with her relations in the country. His lodgings were for some time in Woodstock-street, near Hanover-square, and afterwards in Castle-street, near Cavendish-square. As something pleasingly interesting, to many, in tracing so great a man. through all his different habitations, I shall, before this work is concluded, present my readers with an exact list of his lodgings and houses, in order of time, which, in placid condescension to my respectful curiosity, he one evening dictated to me, but without specifying how long he lived at each. In the progress of his life I shall have occasion to mention some of them 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Bos WELL. 80 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1738. as connected with particular incidents, or with the writing of particular parts of his works. To some, this minute attention may appear trifling ; but when we consider the punctilious exactness with which the different houses in which Milton resided have been traced by the writers of his life, a similar enthusiasm may be pardoned in the biographer of Johnson. His tragedy being by this time, as he thought, completely finished and fit for the stage, he was very desirous that it should be brought for- ward. Mr. Peter Garrick told me, that Johnson and he went together to the Fountain tavern, and read it over, and that he afterwards solicited Mr. Fleetwood, the patentee of Drury-lane theatre, to have it acted at his house ; but Mr. Fleetwood would not accept it, probably because it was not patronized by some man of high rank ; and it was not acted till 1749, when his friend David Garrick was manager of that theatre. " The Gentleman's Magazine," begun and carried on by Mr. Edward- Cave, under the name of Sylvanus Urban, had attracted the notice and esteem of Johnson, in an eminent degree, before he came to London as an adventurer in literature. He told me that when he first saw St. John's Gate, the place where that deservedly popular miscellany was originally printed, he "beheld it with reverence." I suppose, indeed, that every young author has had the same kind of feeling for the magazine or periodical publication which has first entertained him, and in which he has first had an opportunity to see himself in print, without the risk of exposing his name. I myself recollect such impressions from " The Scots Magazine," which was begun at Edinburgh in the year 1739, and has been ever conducted with judgment, accuracy, and propriety. I yet cannot help thinking of it with an affectionate regard. Johnson has dignified " The Gentleman's Magazine," by the importance with which he invests the life of Cave ; but he has given it still greater lustre by the various admirable Essays which he wrote for it. Though Johnson was often solicited by his friends to make a complete list of his writings, and talked of doing it, I believe with a serious inten- tion that they should all be collected on his own account, he put it off from year to year, and at last died without having done it perfectly. I have one in his own handwriting, which contains a certain number ; I indeed doubt if he could have remembered every one of them, as they were so numerous, so various, and scattered in such a multiplicity of unconnected publications; nay, several of them published under the names of other per- sons, to whom he liberally contributed from the abundance of his mind. We must, therefore, be content to discover them, partly from occasional information given by him to his friends, and partly from internal evidence. 1 1 While in the course of my narrative I enumerate his writings, I shall take care that my readers shall not be left to waver in doubt between certainty and conjecture, with regard to their authenticity ; and, for that purpose, shall mark with an atlerisk (*) those which he acknowledged to his friends, and with a dagger (+) those which are ascertained to be his by internal evidence. When any other pieces are ascribed to him, I shall give my reasons. Bos WELL. AGE 29.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 87 His first performance in " The Gentleman's Magazine," which for many years was his principal source for employment and support, was a copy of Latin verses, in March, 1738, addressed to the editor in so happy a style of compliment, that Cave must have been destitute both of taste and sensibility, had he not felt himself highly gratified. Ad URBANUM.* URBA> T E, nullis fesse laboribus, URBANE, nullis victe calumniis, Cui fronte sertum in erudita Perpetud viret et virebit ; Quid moliatur gens imitantium, Quid et minetur, solicitus parum, Vacare solis perge Musis, Juxta animo studiisque felix. Linguae procacis plumbea spicula, Fidens, superbo frange silentio ; Victrix per obstantes catervas Sedulitas animosa tendet. Intende nervos, fortis, inanibus Eisurus olim nisibus semuli ; Intende jam nervos, habebis Participes operas Camcenas. Non ulla Musis pagina gratior, Quam quse severis ludicra jungere Novit, fatigatamque nugis Utilibus recreare mentem. Texente Nymphis serte Lycoride, Bosse ruborem sic viola adjuvat Immista, sic Iris refulget -ffitliereis variata fucis. 1 S. J. 1 A translation of this Ode, by an unknown correspondent, appeared in the Magazine for the month of May following : " Hail, URBAN ! indefatigable man, Unwearied yet by all thy useful toil ! Whom num'rous slanderers assault in vain ; Whom no base calumny can put to foil. But still the laurel on thy learned brow Flourishes fair, and shall for ever grow. What mean the servile imitating crew, What their vain blust'ring, and their empty noise. Ne'er seek : but still thy noble ends pursue, Unconquer'd by the rabble's venal voice, Still to the Muse thy studious mind apply, Happy in temper as in industry. 88 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1738. It appears that he was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coad- jutor in his magazine, by which he probably obtained a tolerable liveli- hood. At what time, or by what means, he had acquired a competent knowledge both of French and Italian, I do not know ; but he was so well skilled in them as to be sufficiently qualified for a translator. That part of his labour which consisted in emendation and improvement of the productions of other contributors, like that employed in levelling ground, can be perceived only by those who had an opportunity of com- paring the original with the altered copy. What we certainly know to have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houses of Parliament, under the name of " The Senate of Lilliput," sometimes with feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with de- nominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner of what is called anagram, so that they may easily be deciphered. Parlia.- ment then kept the press in a kind of mysterious awe, which made it necessary to have recourse to such devices. In our time it has acquired an unrestrained freedom, so that the people in all parts of the kingdom have a fair, open, and exact report of the actual proceedings of their representatives and legislators, which in our constitution is highly to be valued ; though, unquestionably, there has of late been too much reason to complain of the petulance with which obscure scribblers have pre- sumed to treat men of the most respectable character and situation. This important article of " The Gentleman's Magazine" was, for several years, executed by Mr. William Guthrie, a man who deserves to be re- The senseless sneerings of an haughty tongue, Unworthy thy attention to engage, Unheeded pass : and tho' they mean thee wrong, By manly silence disappoint their rage. Assiduous diligence confounds its foes. Resistless, tho' malicious crowds oppose. Exert thy powers, nor slacken in thy course, Thy spotless fame shall quash all false reports : Exert thy powers, nor fear a rival's force, Then thou shall smile at all his vain efforts ; Thy labours shall be crown'd with large success ; The Muse's aid thy Magazine shall bless. No page more grateful to th' harmonious nine Than that wherein thy labours we survey ; Where solemn themes in fuller splendour shine, (Delightful mixture,) blended with the gay, Where in improving, various joys we find, A welcome respite to the wearied mind. Thus when the nymphs in some fair verdant mean Of various flow'rs a beauteous wreath compose, The lovely violet's azure-painted head Adds lustre to the crimson-blushing rose. Thus splendid Iris, with her varied dye, Shines in the aether, and adorns the sky." BBITON. AGE 29.J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 89 corded in the literary annals of this country. He was descended of an ancient family in Scotland ; but having a small patrimony, and heing an adherent of the unfortunate house of Stuart, he could not accept of any office in the state ; he therefore came to London, and employed his talents and learning as an "author by profession. " His writings in history, criticism, and politics, had considerable merit. 1 He was the first English historian who had recourse to that authentic source of in- formation, the Parliamentary Journals ; and such was the power of his political pen, that, at an early period, Government thought it worth their while to keep it quiet by a pension, which he enjoyed till his death. Johnson esteemed him enough to wish that his life should be written. The debates in Parliament, which Avere brought home and digested by Guthrie, whose memory, though surpassed by others who have since followed him in the same department, was yet very quick and tenacious, were sent by Cave to Johnson for his revision ; and, after some time, when Guthrie had attained to greater variety of employment, and the speeches were more and more enriched by the accession of Johnson's genius, it was resolved that he should do the whole himself, from the scanty notes furnished by persons employed to attend in both houses of Parliament. Sometimes, however, as he himself told me, he had nothing more communicated to him than the names of the several speakers, and the part which they had taken in the debate. Thus was Johnson employed during some of the best years of his life, as a mere literary labourer "for gain, not glory," solely to obtain an honest support. He however indulged himself in occasional little sallies, which the French so happily express by the term jeux d' esprit, and which will be noticed in their order, in the progress of this work. But what first displayed his transcendent powers, and " gave the world assurance of the man," was his " London, a Poem, in Imitation of the third Satire of Juvenal;" which came out in May this year, and burst forth with a splendour, the rays of which will for ever encircle his name. Boileau had imitated the same satire with great success, applying it to Paris ; but an attentive comparison will satisfy every reader, that he is much excelled by the English Juvenal. Oldham had also imitated it, and applied it to London : all which performances concur to prove, that great cities, in every age, and in every country, will furnish similar topics of satire. Whether Johnson had previously 'read Oldham 's imitation, I do not know ; but it is not a little remark- able, that there is scarcely any coincidence found between the two performances, though upon the very same subject. The only instances are, in describing London as the sink of foreign worthlessness : 1 How 'much poetry he wrote, I know not ; but he informed me that he was the author of the beautiful little piece, " The Eagle and Robin Redbreast," in the collection of poems entitled " The Union," though it is there said to be written by Archibald Scott, before the year 1600. BOSWELL. 90 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1738. " 1 the common shore, Where France does all her filth and ordure pour ;" OLDHAM. "The common shore of Paris and of Rome." JOHNSON. And, " No calling or profession comes amiss, A needy monsieur can be what he pleases." OLDHAM. "All sciences a. fasting monsieur knows." JOHNSON. The particulars which Oldham has collected, both as exhibiting the horrors of London, and of the times, contrasted with better days, are different from those of Johnson, and in general well chosen, and well expressed. 1 There are, in Oldham's imitation, many prosaic verses and bad rhymes, and his poem sets out with a strange inadvertent blunder : ' ' Tho' much concern'd to leave my dear old friend, I must, however, his design commend Of fixing in the country." It is plain he was not going to leave Mis friend : his friend was'going to leave him. A young lady at once corrected this with good critical sagacity, to " Tho' much concern'd to lose my old dear friend." There is one passage in the original, better transfused by Oldham than by Johnson : " Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, Quam quod ridiculos homines facit " which is an exquisite remark on the galling meanness and contempt annexed to poverty : Johnson's imitation is, " Of all the griefs that harass the distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest." Oldham's, though less elegant, is more just ; " Nothing in poverty so ill is borne, As its exposing men to grinning scorn." 1 I own it pleased me to find amongst them one trait of the manners of the age in London, in the last century, to shield from the sneer of English ridicule, what was some time ago too common a practice in my native city of Edinburgh! " If what I've said can't from the town affright, Consider other danger* oftfie night ; When brickbats are from upper stories thrown, And emptied chamberpots come pouring down From garret windows," BOSWELL. AGE 29. J BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 'Jl Where, or in what manner this poem was composed, I am sorry that I neglected to ascertain with precision, from Johnson's own. authority. He has marked upon his corrected copy of the first edition of it, " Written in 1738 ;" and, as it was published in the month of May in that year, it is evident that much time was not employed in preparing it for the press. The history of its publication I am enabled to give in a very satisfactory manner ; and judging from myself, and many of my friends, I trust that it will not be uninteresting to my readers. We may be certain, though it is not expressly named in the follow- ing letters to Mr. Cave, in 1738, that they all relate to it : "TO MR. CAVE. " Castle-street, Wednesday morning. "SIR, [March, ] 738.] " When I took the liberty of writing to you a few days ago, I did not expect a repetition of the same pleasure so soon ; for a pleasure I shall always think it, to converse in any manner with an ingenious and candid man ; but having the enclosed poem in my hands to dispose of for the benefit of the author (of whose abilities I shall say nothing, since I send you his performance), I believe 1 could not procure more advantageous terms from any person than from you, who have so much distinguished yourself by your generous encouragement of poetry ; and whose judgment of that art nothing but your commendation of my trifle 1 can give me any occasion to call in question. I do not doubt but you will look over this poem with another eye, and reward it in a different manner from a mercenary bookseller, who counts the lines he is to purchase, and considers nothing but the bulk. I cannot help taking notice, that besides what the author may hope for on account of his abilities, he has likewise another claim to your regard, as he lies at present under very disadvantageous circumstances of fortune. I beg, therefore, that you will favour me with a letter to-morrow, that I may know what you can afford to allow him, that he may either part with it to you, or find out (which I do not expect), some other way more to his satisfaction. " I have only to add, that as I am sensible I have transcribed it very coarsely, which, after having altered it, I was obliged to do, I will, if you please to transmit the sheets from the press, correct it for you ; and take the trouble of altering any stroke of satire which you may dislike. " By exerting on this occasion your usual generosity, you will not only en- courage learning, and relieve distress, but (though it be in comparison of the other motives of very small account) oblige in a very sensible manner, Sir, " Your very humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." " TO MR. CAVE. " SIR, " Monday, No. 6 Castle-street. " I am to return you thanks for the present you were so kind as to send by me, and to entreat that you will be pleased to inform me by the penny-post, His Ode " Ad Urbanum," probably, NICHOLS. 92 BOSWELLS LIEF, OF JOHNSON [1738. whether you resolve to print the poem [f you please to send it me by the post, with a note to Dodsley, I will go and read the lines to him, that we may have his consent to put his name in the title-page. As to the printing, if it can be set immediately about, I will be so much the author's friend, as not to content myself with mere solicitations in his favour. I propose, if my calculation be near the truth, to engage for the reimbursement of all that you shall lose by an impression of 500 ; provided, as you very generously propose, that the profit, if any, be set aside for the author's use, excepting the present you made, which, if he be a gainer, it is fit he should repay. I beg that you will let one of your servants write an exact account of the expense of such an impression, and send it with the poem, that I may know what I engage for. I am very sensible, from your generosity on this occasion, of your regard to learning, even in its un- happiest state ; and cannot but think such a temper deserving of the gratitude of those who suffer so often from a contrary disposition. I am, Sir, " Your most humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON.''^ . " TO MR. CAVE. "SiR, [2Vo date.] " I waited on you to take the|copy to Dodsley's ; as I remember the number of lines which it contains, it will be no longer than ' Eugenio,' 1 with the quo- tations, which must be subjoined at the bottom of the page ; part of the beauty of the performance (if any beauty be allowed it) consisting in adapting Juvenal's sentiments to modern facts and persons. It will, with those additions, very conveniently make five sheets. And since the expense will be no more, I shall contentedly insure it, as I mentioned in my last. If it be not, therefore, gone to Dodsley's, I beg it may be sent me by the penny-post, that I may have it in the evening. I have composed a Greek Epigram to Eliza, 2 and think she ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand. Pray send me word when you will begin upon the poem, for it is a long way to walk. I would leave my Epigram, but have not daylight to transcribe it. I am, Sir, "Yours, &c. " SAM. JOHNSON." " TO MR. CAVE. " SIR, [No date.] " I am extremely obliged by your kind letter, and will not ail to attend you to-morrow with ' Irene,' who looks upon you as one of her best friends. " I was to-day with Mr. Dodsley, who declares very warmly in favour of the paper you sent him, which he desires to have a share in, it being, as he says, a creditable thing to be concerned in. I knew not what answer to make till I had consulted you, nor what to demand on the author's part, but am very willing that, if you please, he should have a part in it, as he will undoubtedly be more diligent to disperse and promote it. If you can send me word to-morrow what I shall say to him, I will settle matters, and bring the poem with me for the press, which, as the town empties, we cannot be too quick with. I am, Sir, " Yours, &c, " SAM. JOHNSON. ' A poem, published in 1737, of which see an account in vol. ii. under April 30, 1773. BODWBLL. 2 The learned Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. This lady, of whom frequent mention will be found iu these Memoirs, was daughter of Nicholas Carter, D.D. She died in Clarges- street, Feb. 19, 1806, in her eighty-ninth year. MA LONE. AGE 29.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. To us who have long known the manly force, bold spirit, and masterly versification of this poem, it is a matter of curiosity to observe the diffidence with which its author brought it forward into public notice, while he is so cautious as not to avow it to be his own produc- tion ; and with what humility he offers to allow the printer to "alter any stroke of satire which he might dislike." That any such alteration was made, we do not know. If we did, AVC could not but feel an indig- nant regret ; but how painful is it to see that a writer of such vigorous powers of mind was actually in such distress, that the small profit which so short a poem, however excellent, could yield, was courted as a '"relief." It has been generally said, I know not with what truth, that Johnson offered his "London" to several booksellers, none of whom would purchase it. To this circumstance Mr. Derrick alludes in the following lines of his "Fortune, a Rhapsody :" " Will no kind patron Johnson own ? Shall Johnson friendless range the town ? And every publisher refuse The offspring of his happy Muse?" But we have seen that the worthy, modest, and ingenious Mr. Robert Dodsley, had taste enough to perceive its uncommon merit, and thought it creditable to have a share in it. The fact is, that, at a future confer- ence, he bargained for the whole property of it, for which he gave Johnson ten guineas ; who told me, "I might perhaps have accepted of less ; but that Paul Whitehead had a little before got ten guineas for a poem: and I would not take less than Paul Whitehead." I may here observe, that John- son appeared to me to undervalue Paul Whitehead upon every occa- sion when he was mentioned, and, in my opinion, did not do him justice ; but when it is considered that Paul Whitehead was a member of a riotous and profane club, we may account for Johnson's having a prejudice against him. Paul Whitehead was, indeed, unfortunate in being not only slighted by Johnson, but violently attacked by Churchill, who utters the following imprecation : "May I (can worse, disgrace on manhood fall?) Be born a Whitehead, and baptized a Paul !" 94 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i~38. yet I shall never be persuaded to think meanly of the author of so brilliant and pointed a satire as "Manners." Johnson's "London" was published in May, 1738 j 1 and it is remarkable, that it came out on the same morning with Pope's satire, entitled " 1738 ;" so that England had at once its Juvenal and Horace as poetical monitors. The Reverend Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury, to whom I am indebted for some obliging communications, was then a student at Oxford, and remembers well the effect which "London" produced. Every body was delighted with it; and there being no name to it, the first buzz of the literary circles was, " Here is an unknown poet, greater even than Pope." And it is recorded in the "Gentleman's Magazine" of that year, 2 that it "got to the second edition in the course of a week." One of the warmest patrons of this poem on its first appearance waa General Oglethorpe, whose " strong benevolence of soul" was unabated during the course of a very long life ; though it is painful to think, that he had but too much reason to become cold and callous, and discontented with the world, from the neglect which he experienced of his public and private worth by those in whose power it was to gratify so gallant a veteran with marks of distinction. This extraordinary person was as remarkable for his learning and taste, as for his other eminent qualities ; and no man was more prompt, active, and generous, in encouraging merit. I have heard Johnson gratefully acknowledge, in his presence, the kind and effectual support which he gave to his " London," though unacquainted with its author. Pope, who then tilled the poetical throne without a rival, it may reasonably be presumed, must have been particularly struck by the sudden appearance of such a poet ; and, to his credit, let it be remembered, that his feelings and conduct on the occasion were candid and liberal. He requested Mr. Richardson, son of the painter, to endeavour to find out who this new author was. Mr. Richardson, after some inquiry, having informed him that he had discovered only that his name was Johnson, and that he was some obscure man, Pope said, ' ' He will soon be deterre. ' ' 3 1 Sir John Hawkins, p. 86, tells us, " The event is antedattd, in the poem of ' London ;' but in every particular, except the difference of a year, what is there said of the departure of Thales, must be understood of Savage, and looked upon as true history." This conjecture is, I believe, entirely groundless. 1 have been assured that Johnson said he was not so much as acquainted with Savage, when he wrote his " London." If the departure mentioned in it was the departure of Savage, the event was not antedated but foreteen; for "London" was published in May, 1738, and Savage did not set out for Wales till July, 1739. However well Johnson could defend the credibility of second sight, he did not pretend that he himself was possessed of that faculty. The assertion that Johnson was not even acquainted with Savage, when he published his " London," may be doubtful. Johnson took leave of Savage when he went to Wales in 1739, and must have been acquainted with him before that period. See his "Life of Savage." A. CHALMERS. 2 Page 1269. 8 Sir Joshua Reynolds, from the information of the younger Richardson. BOSWELL. AGE 29.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 95 We shall presently see, from a note written by Pope, 1 that he was him- self afterwards more successful in his inquiries than his friend. That in this justly celebrated poem may be found a few rhymes which thecritical precision of English prosody at this day would disallow, cannot be denied ; but with this small imperfection, which in the general blaze of its excellence is not perceived, till the mind has subsided into cool attention, it is, undoubtedly, one of the noblest productions in our lan- guage, both for sentiment and expression. The nation was then in that ferment against the court and the ministry, which some years after ended in the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole ; and as it has been said, that Tories are Whigs when out of place, and Whigs Tories when in place ; so, as a Whig Administration ruled with what force it could, a Tory Opposition had all the animation and all the eloquence of resistance to power, aided by the common topics of patriotism, liberty, and independence ! Accord- ingly, we find in Johnson's " London" the most spirited invectives against tyranny and oppression, the warmest predilection for his own country, and the purest love of virtue ; interspersed with traits of his own particular character and situation, not omitting his prejudices, as a "true-born Englishman," 2 not only against foreign countries, but against Ireland and Scotland. On some of these topics I shall quote a few passages : "The cheated nation's happy fav'rites see ; Mark whom the great caress, who frown on me.'' "Has heaven reserved, in pity to the poor, No pathless waste, or undiscover'd shore ? No secret island in the boundless main ? No peaceful desert yet unclaim'd by Spain? Quick let us rise, the happy seats explore, And bear Oppression's insolence no more." " How, when competitors like these contend, Can surly Virtue hope to find a friend?" " This mournful truth is every where confess'd, SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESS 1 !) !" We may easily conceive with what feeling a 'great mind like his, cramped and galled by narrow circumstances, uttered this last line, which he marked by capitals. The whole of the poem is eminently excellent, and there are m it such proofs of ^a knowledge of the world, and of a mature acquaintance with life, as cannot be contemplated without wonder, when w e consider that he was then only in his twenty- ninth year, and had yet been so little in the " busy haunts of men." 1 See p. 104. MALONE. 2 It is, however, remarkable, that he uses the epithet, which undoubtedly , since the union between England and Scotland, ought to denominate the natives of both parts of our island: " Was early taught a Briton's rights to prize." Bos WELL. 06 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1738. Yet, while we admire the poetical excellence of this poem, candour obliges us to allow, that the flame of patriotism and zeal for popular resistance with which it is fraught, had no just cause. There was, in truth, no " oppression ;" the " nation" was not " cheated." Sir Robert Walpole was a wise and a benevolent minister, who thought that the happiness and prosperity of a commercial country like ours would be best promoted by peace, which he accordingly maintained with credit, during a very long period. Johnson himself afterwards [October 21, 1773,] honestly acknowledged the merit of Walpole, whom he called " a fixed star ;" while he characterized his opponent, Pitt, as a " meteor.'' But Johnson's juvenile poem was naturally impregnated with the fire of opposition, and upon every account was universally admired. Though thus elevated into fame, and conscious of uncommon powers, he had not that bustling confidence, or, I may rather say, that animated ambition, which one might have supposed would have urged him to endeavour at rising in life. But such was his inflexible dignity of character, that he could not stoop to court the great ; without which, hardly any man has made his way to a high station. He could not expect to produce many such works as his "London," and he felt the hardships of writing for bread ; he was therefore willing to resume the office of a schoolmaster, so as to have a sure though moderate income for his life ; and an offer being made to him of the mastership of a school, 1 provided he could obtain the degree of Master of Arts, Dr. * In a billet written by Mr. Pope in the following year, this school is said to have been in Shropshire ; but as it appears from a letter from Earl Gower, that the trustees of it were " some worthy gentlemen in Johnson's neighbourhood," I in my first edition suggested that Pope must have, by mistake, written Shropshire, instead of Staffordshire. But I have since been obliged to Mr. Spearing, attorney-at-law, for the following; infor- mation : " William Adams, formerly citizen and haberdasher of London, founded a school at Newport, in the county of Salop, by deed dated 27th November, 1656, by which he granted the ' yearly sum of tixly pounds to such able and learned schoolmaster, from time to time, being of godly life and conversation, who should have been educated atone of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and had taken the degree of Master of Artt, and was well read in the Greek and Latin tongues, as should be nominated from time to time by the said William Adams, during his life, and after the decease of the said William Adams by the governors (namely, the Master and Wardens of the Haberdashers' Company of the City of London) and their successors.' The manor and lands out of which the revenues for the maintenance of the school were to issue, are situate at Knighton and Adbattan, in the county of Stafford." From the foregoing account of this foundation, particularly the circumstances of the salary being sixty pounds, and the degree of Master of Arts being a requisite qualification in the teacher, it seemed probable that this was the school in contemplation ; and that Lord Gower erroneously supposed that the gentlemen who possessed the lands, out of which the revenues issued, were trustees of the charity. Such was the probable conjecture. But in the " Gentleman's Magazine'' for May, 1793, there is a letter from Mr. Henn, one of the masters of the school of Appleby, in Leicester- shire, in which he writes as follows : " I compared time and circumstances together, in order to discover whether the school in question might not be this of Appleby. Some of the trustees at that period were 'worthy gentlemen of the neighbourhood of Lichfield.' Appleby itself is not far from the neighl>ourhood of Lichfield : the salary, the degrte requisite, together with the time of election, all agreeing with the statutes of Appleby. The election, as said in the letter AGE 29.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHN'SON. 97 Adams was applied to, by a common friend, to know whether that could be granted him as a favour from the University of Oxford. But though he had made such a figure in the literary world, it was then thought too great a favour to be asked. Pope, without any knowledge of him but from his " London," re- commended him to Earl Govver, who endeavoured to procure for him a degree from Dublin, by the following letter to a friend of Dean Swift : " SIR, "Trentham, August 1, 1739. " Mr. Samuel Johnson (author of London, a satire, and some other poetical pieces) is a native of this country, and much respected by some worthy gentle- men in his neighbourhood, who are trustees of a charity-school now vacant ; the certain salary is sixty pounds a year, of which they are desirous to make him master ; but, unfortunately, he is not capable of receiving their bounty, which ' would make him happy for life,' by not being ' a Master of Arts ;' which, by the statutes of tins school, the master of it must be. " Now these gentlemen do me the honour to think that I have interest enough in you, to prevail upon you to write to Dean Swift, to persuade the University of Dublin to send a diploma to me, constituting this poor man Master of Arts in their University. They highly extol the man's learning and probity ; and will not be persuaded, that the University will make any difficulty of coni'erring such a favour upon a stranger, if he is recommended by the Dean. They say, he is not afraid of the strictest examination, though he is of so long a journey ; and will venture it, if the Dean thinks it necessary ; choosing rather to die upon the road, 'than be starved to death in translating for booksellers ;' which has been his only subsistence for some time past. " 1 fear there is more difficulty in this affair, than those good natured gentle- men apprehend ; especially as their election cannot be delayed longer than the llth of next month. If you see tins matter in the same light that it appears to me, I hope you will burn this, and pardon me for giving you so much trouble about an impracticable thing ; but, if you think there is a probabiliiy of obtain- ing the favour asked, I am sure your humanity, and propensity to relieve merit in distress, will incline you to serve the poor man, without my adding any more to the trouble I have already given you, than assuring you that I um, with great truth, Sir, " Your faithful servant, GOWER." It was, perhaps, no small disappointment to Johnson that this re- spectable application had not the desired effect ; yet how much reason has there been, both for himself and his country, to rejoice that it did not succeed, as he might probably have wasted in obscurity those hours in which he afterwards produced his incomparable works. ' could not be delayed longer than the llth of next month,' which was the llth of September, just three months after the annual audit-day of Appleby sclioul, which is always on the llth of June; and the statutes enjoin ne ullius praceptorum tlectio diutiut tribu* mensibus moraretur, SfC. " These 1 thought to be convincing proofs that my conjecture was not ill-founded, and that, in a future edition of that book, the circumstance might be recorded as fjct. " But what banishes every shadow of doubt is the Minute-book of the school, which declares the head-mastership to be at thai time VACANT." I cannot omit returning thanks to this learned gentleman for the very handsome manner in which he has iu that letter been so good as to speak of this work. BOSWRLL. .-(I'age 105.) CHAPTER IV. 1738 1743. JOHNSON'S INTENDED APPLICATION TO CIVIL LAW LETTERS TO CAVE WRITINGS IN GENT. MAG. SEPARATE PUBLICATIONS; " MARMOK NORFOLCIENSE," jjc. NOTE FROM POPE RELATING TO JOHNSON ANECDOTES or JOHNSON BY REYNOLDS AND HOGARTH MISCELLANEOUS WHITINGS DEBATES IN PARLIAMENT ENCODNTEK WITH OSBOKNE THK BOOKSELLER LETTERS TO CAVE ON LITERARY PROJECTS ODE ON FRIENDSHIP EMBARRASSED CIRCUMSTANCES TAKES ON HIM A DEBT OF HIS MOTHER. ABOUT this time he made one other effort to emancipate himself from the drudgery of authorship. He applied to Dr. Adams, to consult Dr. Smalbroke of the Commons, whether a person might bu permitted to practise as an advocate there, without a doctor's degree in Civil Law. "I am," said he, "a total stranger to these studies ; but whatever is a profession, and maintains numbers, must be within the reach of common abilities, and some degree of industry." Dr. Adams was much pleased with Johnson's design to employ his talents in that manner, being confident he would have attained to great emi- nence. And, indeed, I cannot conceive a man better qualified to make a distinguished figure as a lawyer ; for, he would have brought to his profession a rich store of various knowledge, an uncommon acuteness, and a command of language, in which few could have equal led, and none have surpassed him. He who could display eloquence and wit in defence AGE 29.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 99 of the decision of the House of Commons upon Mr. Wilkes's election for Middlesex, and of the unconstitutional taxation of our fellow-sub- jects in America, must have been a powerful advocate in any cause. But here, also, the want of a degree was an insurmountable bar. He was, therefore, under the necessity of persevering in that course, into which he had been forced ; and we find, that his proposal from Greenwich to Mr. Cave, fora translation of Father Paul Sarpi's History, was accepted. 1 Some sheets of this translation were printed off, but the design was dropped ; for it happened, oddly enough, that another person of the name of Samuel Johnson, Librarian of St. Martin 's-in-the-Fields, and curate of that parish, engaged in the same undertaking, and was patron- ised by the clergy, particularly by Dr. Pearce, afterwards Bishop of Rochester. Several light skirmishes passed between the rival trans- lators, in the newspapers of the day ; and the consequence was, that they destroyed each other, for neither of them went on with the work. It is much to be regretted, that the able performance of that celebrated genius, Fra Paolo, lost the advantage of being incorporated into British litera- ture by the masterly hand of Johnson. I have, in my possession, by the favour of Mr. John Nichols, a paper in Johnson's hand writing, entitled " Account between Mr. Edward Cave and Sam. Johnson, in relation to a version of Father Paul, &c., begun August the 2nd, 1738 ; " by which it appears, that from that day to the 21st of April, 1739, Johnson received for this work 49Z. 7*. in sums of one, two, three, and sometimes four guineas at a time, most frequently two. And it is curious to observe the minute and scrupulous accuracy with which Johnson had pasted upon it a slip of paper, which he has entitled " Small Account," and which contains one article, "Sept. 9th, Mr. Cave laid down 2s. did." There is subjoined to this account, a list of some subscribers to the work, partly in Johnson's handwriting, partly in that of another person ; and there follows a leaf or two, on which are written a number ot characters which have the appearance of a short- hand, which, perhaps, Johnson was then trying to learn. 1 In the "Weekly Miscellany," October 21, 1738, there appeared the following advertisement: "Just published, proposals for printing the History of the Council of Trent, translated from the Italian of Father Paul Sarpi ; with the Author's life, and Notes, Theological, Historical, and Critical, from the French edition of Dr. Le Courayer. To which are added, Observations on the History, and Notes and Illustrations from various Authors, both printed and Manuscript. By S. Johnson. 1. The work will con- sist of two hundred sheets, and be two volumes in quarto, printed on good paper and letter. 2. The price will be 18. each volume, to be paid, half a guinea at the delivery of the first volume, and the rest at the delivery of the second volume in sheets. 3. Two- pence to be abated for every sheet less than two hundred. It may be had on a large paper, in three volumes, at the price of three guineas ; one to be paid at the time of sub- scribing, another at the delivery of the first, and the |rest at the delivery of the other volumes. The work is now in the press, and will be diligently prosecuted. Subscriptions are taken in by Mr. Dodsley, in Pall Mall, Mr. Rivington, in St. Paul's Churchyard, by E. Cave, at St. John's Gate, and the Translator, at No. 6, in Castle-street, by Cavendish- square." BOSWELL. F a 100 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1733. "TO MR. CAVE. "SiR, "Wednesday. " I did not care to detain your servant while I wrote an answer to your letter, in which you seem to insinuate that I had promised more than I am ready to perform. If I have raised your expectations by any thing that may have escaped my memory, I am sorry ; and if you remind me of it, shall thank you for the favour. If I made fewer alterations than usual in the debates, it was only because there appeared, and still appears to be, less need of alteration. The verses to Lady Firebrace 1 may be had when you please, for you know that such a subject neither deserves much thought, nor requires it. "The Chinese Stories* may be had folded down when you please to send, in which I do not recollect that you desired any alterations to be made. "An answer to another query I am very willing to write, and had consulted with you about it last night, if there had been time ; for I think it the most proper way of inviting such a correspondence as may be an advantage to the paper, not a load upon it " As to the Prize Verses, a backwardness to determine their degrees of merit is not peculiar to me. You may, if you please, still have what I can say ; but I shall engage with little spirit in an affair, which I shall hardly end to my own satisfaction, and certainly not to the satisfaction of the parties concerned. 8 " As to Father Paul, I have not yet been just to my proposal, but have met with impediments, which, I hope, are now a.t an end ; and if you find the pro- gress hereafter not such as you have a right to expect, you can easily stimulate a negligent translator. " If any or all of these have contributed to your discontent, I will endeavour to remove it ; and desire you to propose the question to which you wish for an answer. "I am, Sir, your htfmble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." "TO MR. CAVE. "SiR, lNodate.1 " 1 am pretty much of your opinion, that the Commentary cannot be pro- secuted with any appearance of success ; for, as the names of the authors con- cerned are of more weight in the performance than its own intrinsic merit, the public will be soon satisfied with it. And I think the Examen should be pushed forward with the utmost expedition. Thus, ' This day, &c. An Examen of Mr. Pope's Essay, &c., containing a succinct Account of the Philosophy of Mr. Leibnitz on the System of the Fatalists, with a Confutation ol their Opinions, and an illustration of the Doctrine of Free-will ;' (with what else you think proper. ) " It will, above all, be necessary to take notice, that it is a thing distinct from the Commentary. ' ' I was so far from imagining they stood still,* that I conceived them to have a 1 They afterwards appeared in the " Gentleman's Magazine," with this title " Veines to Lady Firebrace, at Bury Assizes." Bos WELL. * Du Ualde's " Description of China " was then publishing by Mr. Cave in weekly numbers, whence Johnson was to select pieces for the embellishment of the Magazine. NICHOLS. The premium of forty pounds proposed for the best poem on the Divine Attributes is here alluded to. NICHOLS. < The compositors in Mr. Cave's printing office, who appear by this letter to have theu waited for copy. NICHOLS. AGE 29.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 101 good deal beforehand, and therefore was less anxious in providing them more. But if ever they stand still on my account, it must doubtless be charged to me ; and whatever else shall be reasonable, I shall not oppose ; but beg a suspense of judgment till morning, when I must entreat you to send me a dozen proposals, and you shall then have copy to spare. " I am, Sir, yours, impransus, " SAM. JOHNSON." " Pray muster up the proposals if you can, or let the boy recal them from the booksellers." But although he corresponded with Mr. Cave concerning a transla- tion of Crousaz's Examen of Pope's Essay on Man, and gave advice as one anxious for its success, I was long ago convinced by a perusal of the preface that this translation was erroneously ascribed to him ; and I have found this point ascertained beyond all doubt by the following article in Dr. Birch's manuscripts in the British Museum : "ELIS/E CARTERS, s. p. D. THOMAS BIRCH. " Versionem tunm Examinis Crousaziani jam perlegi. Summam styli et ele- gantiam, et in re difficillimd proprietatem, admiratus. " Dabam Novemb. 27, 1738." 1 Indeed Mrs. Carter has lately acknowledged to Mr. Seward that she was the translator of the " Examen." It is remarkable, that Johnson's last quoted letter to Mr. Cave con- cludes with a fair confession that he had not a dinner ; and it is no less remarkable, that though in this state of want himself, his benevolent heart was not insensible to the necessities of an humble labourer in literature, as appears from the very next letter : "TO MR. CAVE. "DEAR SIR, [No date.] " You may remember I have formerly talked with you about a Military Dictionary. The eldest Mr. Macbean, who was with Mr. Chambers, has very good materials for such a work, which I have seen, and will do it at a very low rate. 2 I think the terms of war and navigation might be comprised, with good explanations, in one 8vo. pica, which he is willing to do for twelve shillings a sheet, to be made up a guinea at the second impression. If you think on it I will wait on you with him. " I am, Sir, your humble servant, " Pray lend me Topsel on Animals." " SAM. JOHNSON." I must not omit to mention that this Mr. Macbean was a native of Scotland. In the " Gentleman's Magazine" of this year Johnson gave a life of Father Paul ;* and he wrote the preface to the volume,! which, though prefixed to it when bound, is always published with the appendix, and is, therefore, the last composition belonging to it. The ability and nice 1 Birch MSS. Brit Mus. 4323. BOSWELL. 2 This book was published. BOSWELL. 102 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOK. [1729. adaptation with which he could draw up a prefatory address, was one of his peculiar excellencies. It appears, too, that he paid a friendly attention to Mrs. Elizabeth Carter ; for, in a letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, November 28th, this year, I find " Mr. Johnson advises Miss C. to undertake a transla- tion of Soethius de Cons., because there is prose and verse, and to put her name to it when published." This advice was not followed ; proba- bly from an apprehension that the work was not sufficiently popular for an extensive sale. How well Johnson himself could have executed a translation of this philosophical poet we may judge from the following specimen which he has given in the *' Rambler" (Motto to No. 7) : " qui perpetua raundura ratione gubernas, Terrarum ccelique sator ! Disjice terrense nebulas et ponduera molis, Atque tuo splendore mica ! Tu namque serenum, Tu requies tranquilla piis. Te cernere finis, Principium, vector, dux, semita, terminus, idem." " Thou whose power o'er moving worlds presides, Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides, On darkling man in pure effulgence shine, And cheer the clouded mind with light divine. 'Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast, With silent confidence and holy rest ; From thee, great God! we spring, to thee we tend, Path, motive, guide, original, and end!" In 1739, besides the assistance which he gave to the " Parliamentary Debates, "his writings in the " Gentleman's Magazine" were, " The Life of Boerhaave,"* in which it is to be observed, that he discovers that love of chemistry which never forsook him ; " An appeal to the Public in behalf of the Editor ;"f " An Address to the Reader ;''f " An Epigram both in Greek and Latin to Eliza ;"* and also English verses to her ;* and " A Greek Epigram to Dr. Birch."* It has been erroneously sup- posed that an essay, published in that Magazine this year, entitled " The Apotheosis of Milton," was written by Johnson; and on that supposition it has been improperly inserted in the edition of his works by the booksellers after his decease. Were there no positive testimony as to this point, the style of the performance, and the name of Shakspeare not being mentioned in an essay professedly reviewing the principal English poets, would ascertain it not to be the production of Johnson. But there is here no occasion to resort to internal evidence ; for my Lord Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Douglas) has assured me that it was written by Guthrie. His separate publications were, " A Complete Vindication of the Licensers of the Stage, from the malicious and scandalous Asper- sions of Mr. Brooke, author of 'Gustavus Vasa,' "* being an ironical attack upon them for their suppression of that tragedy ; and " Marmor AGE 30.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHN'SOX. 103 Norfolciense ; or, an Essay on an Ancient Prophetical Inscription, in Monkish Rhyme, lately discovered near Lynne, in Norfolk, by Probus Britannicus."* In this performance he, in a feigned inscription, sup- posed to have been found in Norfolk, the county of Sir Robert Walpole, then the obnoxious prime minister of this country, inveighs against the Brunswick succession, and the measures of government consequent upon it. 1 To this supposed prophecy he added a Commentary, making each expression apply to the times, with warm anti- Hanoverian zeal. This anonymous pamphlet, 1 believe, did not make so much noise as was expected, and, therefore, had not a very extensive circulation. Sir John Hawkins relates, that " warrants were issued and messengers employed to apprehend the author ; who, though he had forborne to subscribe his name to the pamphlet, the vigilance of those in pursuit of him bad discovered;" and we are informed that he lay concealed in Lambeth-marsh till the scent after him grew cold. This, however, is altogether without foundation ; for Mr. Steele, one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, who, amidst a variety of important business, politely obliged me with his attention to my inquiry, informed me that " he directed every possible search to be made in the records of the Treasury and Secretary of State's Office, but could find no trace whatever of any warrant having been issued to apprehend the author of this pamphlet." " Marmor Norfolciense" became exceedingly scarce, so that I, for many years, endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of it. At last I was indebted to the malice of one of Johnson's numerous petty adversaries, who in 1775, published a new edition of it, " with Notes and a Dedication to Samuel Johnson, LL.D., by Tribunus ; " in which some puny scribbler invidiously attempted to found upon it a charge of inconsistency against its author, because he had accepted of a pension from his present Majesty, and had written in support of the measures of government. As a mortification to such impotent malice, of which there are so many instances towards men of eminence, I am happy to relate that this telwm imbelle did not reach its exalted object till about a year after it thus appeared, when I mentioned it to him, supposing that he knew of the republication. To my surprise he had not yet heard of it. He requested me to go directly and get it for him, which I did. He looked at it and laughed, and seemed to be much diverted with the feeble efforts of his unknown adversary, who, I hope, is alive to read this account. "Now," said he, " here is somebody who thinks he has vexed me sadly ; yet if it had not been for you, you rogue, I should probably never have seen it." As Mr. Pope's note concerning Johnson, alluded to in a former page, refers both to his " London," and his " Marmor Norfolciense," I have deferred inserting it till now. I am indebted for it to Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who permitted me to copy it from the original in 1 The Inscription and the Translation of it are preserved in the " London Magazine " for the year 1739, p. 244. BOSWELL. 104 BOSWELL' s LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1739. his possession. It was presented to his Lordship by Sir Joshua Rey- nolds, to whom it was given by the sou of Mr. Richardson the painter, the person to whom it is addressed. I have transcribed it with mi- nute exactness, that the peculiar mode of writing, and imperfect spelling of that celebrated poet, may be exhibited to the curious in literature. It justifies Swift's epithet of "paper-sparing Pope," for it is written on a slip no larger than a common message-card, and was sent to Mr. Richardson, along with the imitation of Juvenal. "This is imitated by one Johnson who put in for a Public-school in Shrop- shire,! but was disappointed. He has an infirmity of the convulsive kind, that attacks him sometimes so as to make Him a sad Spectacle. Mr. P. from the Merit of This Work which was all the knowledge he had of him, endeavour'd to serve Him without his own application ; & wrote to my Ld. gore, but he did not succeed. Air. Johnson published afterwds. another Poem in Latin with Notes the whole very Huraerous call'd the Norfolk Prophecy. "P." Johnson had been told of this note : and Sir Joshua Reynolds informed him of the compliment which it contained, but, from delicacy, avoided showing him the paper itself. When Sir Joshua observed to Johnson that he seemed very desirous to see Pope's note, he answered, " Who would not be proud to have such a man as Pope so solicitous in inquiring about him ? " The infirmity to which Mr. Pope alludes, appeared to me also, as I have elsewhere 2 observed, to be of the convulsive kind, and of the nature of that distemper called St. Vitus's dance ; and in this opinion I am confirmed by the description which Sydenham gives of that disease : " This disorder is a kind of convulsion. It manifests itself by halting, or unsteadiness of one of the legs, which the patient draws after him like an idiot. If the hand of the same side be applied to the breast, or any other part of the body, he cannot keep it a moment in the same posture, but it will be drawn into a different one by a convulsion, not- withstanding all his efforts to the contrary." Sir Joshua Reynolds, however, was of a different opinion, and favoured me with the following paper : "Those notions or tricks of Dr. Johnson are improperly called convulsions. He could sit motionless when he was told so to do, as well as any other man. My opinion is, that it proceeded from a habits which he had indulged himself in, of 'accompany ing his thoughts with certain untoward actions, and those actions always appeared to me as if they were meant to reprobate some part of his past conduct. Whenever he was not engaged in conversation, such thoughts were * See note, p. 96. BOSWELL. * Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit p. 8. BOSWELL. * Sir Joshua Reynolds's notion on this subject is confirmed by what Johnson himself said to a young lady, the niece of his friend Christopher Smart. See a note by Mr. Boswell on some particulars communicated by Reynolds,^ u nder March 30, 1 783. MALONB. AGE 30.J BOSWKLL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. sure to rush into his mind ; and, for this reason, any company, any employment whatever, he preferred to being alone. The great business of his life, he said, was to escape from himself; this disposition he considered as the disease of his mind, which nothing cured but company. " One instance ot'his absence of mind and particularity, as it is characteristic of the man, may be worth relating. When he and I took a journey together into the West, we visited the late Mr. Banks, of Dorsetshire; the conversation turning upon pictures, which Johnson could not well see, he retired to a corner of the room, stretching out his right leg as far as he could reach before him, then bringing up his left leg, and stretching his right still further on. The old gentleman observing him, went up to him, and in a very courteous manner assured him, though it was not a new house, the flooring was perfectly safe. The Doctor started from his reverie, like a person waked out of his sleep, but spoke not a word. ' ' While we are on this subject, my readers may not he displeased with another anecdote, communicated to me hy the same friend, from the relation of Mr. Hogarth. Johnson used to be a pretty frequent visitor at the house of Mr. Rich- ardson, author of " Clarissa," and 'other novels of extensive reputation. Mr. Hogarth came one day to see Richardson, soon after the execution of Dr. Cameron, for having taken arms for the house of Stuart in 1745-6 ; and being a warm partisan of George the Second, he observed to Richardson, that certainly there must have been some very unfa- vourable circumstances lately discovered in this particular case, which had induced the King to approve of an execution for rebellion so long after the time when it was committed, as this had the appearance of putting a man to death in cold blood, 1 and was very unlike his Majesty's usual clemency. While he was talking, he perceived a person standing at a window in the room, shaking his head, and rolling himself about in a strange ridiculous manner. He concluded that he was an idiot, whom his relations had put under the care of Mr. Richardson, as a very good man. To his great surprise, however, this figure stalked forwards to where he and Mr. Richardson were sitting, and all at once took up the argument, and burst out into an invective against George the Second, as one, who, upon all occasions, was unrelenting and barbarous ; men- tioning many instances ; particularly, that when an officer of high rank 1 Impartial posterity may, perhaps, be as little inclined as Dr. Johnson was, to justify the uncommon rigour exercised in the case of Dr. Archibald Cameron. He was an amiable and truly honest man ; and his offence was owing to a generous, though mis- taken principle of duty. Being obliged, after 1746, to give up his profession as a physi- cian, and to go into foreign parts, he was honoured with the rank of Colonel, both in the French and Spanish service. He was a son of the ancient and respectable family of Cameron of Lochiel ; and his brother, whoVas the Chief of that brave clan, distinguished himself hy moderation and humanity, while the Highland army marched victorious through Scotland. It is remarkable of this Chief, that though he had earnestly remon- strated against the attempt as hopeless, he was of too heroic a spirit not to venture his life and fortune in the cause, when personally asked by him whom he thought his Prince. Bos w ELL. 106 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [mo. had been acquitted by a court martial, George the Second had with his own hand struck his name off the list. In short, he displayed such a power of eloquence, that Hogarth looked at him with astonishment, and actually imagined that this idiot had been at the moment inspired. Neither Hogarth nor Johnson were made known to each other at this interview. In 1740 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the " Preface,"f the " Life of Admiral Blake,"* and the first parts of those of " Sir Francis Drake,"* and "Philip Barretier,"* 1 both which he finished the following year. He also wrote an " Essay on Epitaphs,"* and an " Epitaph on Phillips, a Musician,"* which was afterwards published with some other pieces of his, in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies. This Epitaph is so exquisitely beautiful, that I remember even Lord Kames, strangely prejudiced as he was against Dr. Johnson, was compelled to allow it very high praise. It has been ascribed to Mr. Garrick, from its appearing at first with the signature G. ; but I have heard Mr. Garriclr declare, that it was written by Dr. Johnson, and give the following account of the manner in which it was composed. Johnson and he were sitting together ; when, amongst other things, Garrick repeated an Epitaph upon this Phillips by a Dr. Wilkes, in these words : " Exalted soul ! whose harmony could please The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease ; Could jarring discord, like Amphion, move To beauteous order and harmonious love ; Rest here in peace, till angels bid thee rise, And meet thy blessed Saviour in the skies." | Johnson shook his head at these common-place funereal lines, and said to Garrick, " I think, Davy, I can make a better." Then, stirring about his tea for a little while, in a state of meditation, he almost extempore produced the following verses : "Phillips, whose touch harmonious could remove The pangs of guilty power or hapless love; Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more, Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before ; Sleep, undisturb'd, within this peaceful shrine, Till angels wake thee with a note like thine !" 1 To which in 1742 he made very large additions, which have never yet been incor- porated in any edition of Barretier's Life. A. CHALMERS. 2 The epitaph of Phillips is in the porch of Wolverhampton Church. The prose part of it is curious : ..... ,. , ,. " Near this place lies CHARLES CLAUDIUS PHILLIPS, Whose absolute contempt of riches and inimitable performances upon the violin, made him the admiration of all that knew him. He was born in Wales, made the tour of Europe, and, after the experience of both kinds of fortune, Died in 1732." Mr. Garrick appears not to have recited the verses correctly, the original being as AGK 31. J BOSSVELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 107 In 1741 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the " Preface, "f " Conclusion of his Lives of Drake and Barretier,"* " A free Transla- tion of the Jests of Hierocles, with an Introduction ;" and, I think, the following pieces : " Debate on the Proposal of Parliament to Crom- well, to assume the Title of King, abridged, modified, and digested ;"t "Translation of Abbe Guyon's Dissertation on the Amazons ;"f "Translation of Fontenelle's Panegyric on Dr. Morin."t Two notes upon this appear to me undoubtedly his. He this year, and the two following, wrote the " Parliamentary Debates. " He told me himself that he was the sole composer of them for those three years only. He was not, however, precisely exact in his statement, which he mentioned from hasty recollection ; for it is sufficiently evident, that his composition of them began November 19, 1740, and ended February 23, 1742-43. It appears from some of Cave's letters to Dr. Birch, that Cave had better assistance for that branch of his Magazine, than has been generally supposed ; and that he was indefatigable in getting it made as perfect as he could. Thus, 21st July, 1735, "I trouble you with the enclosed, because you said you could easily correct what is here given for Lord Chesterfield's speech. I beg you will do so as soon as you can for me, because the month is far advanced." And 15th July, 1737, " As you remember the debates so far as to perceive the speeches already printed are not exact, I beg the favour that you will peruse the enclosed, and, in the best manner your memory will serve, correct the mistaken passages, or any thing that is omitted. I should be very glad to have something of the Duke of Newcastle's speech, which would be particularly of service. " A gentleman has Lord Bathurst's speech to add something to." And July 3, 1744, "You will see what stupid, low, abominable stuff is put 1 upon your noble and learned friend' 52 character, such as I should quite reject, and endeavour to follows. One of the various readings is remarkable, as it is the germ of Johnson's con- cluding line : " Exalted soul, thy various sounds could please The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease; Could jarring crowds, like old Amphion, move To beauteous order and harmonious love ; Rest here in peace, till angels bid thee rise, And meet thy SAVIOUB'S consort in the skies." Dr. Wilkes, the author of these lines, was a Fellow of Trinity College in Oxford, and Rector of Pitchford, in Shropshire : he collected materials for a history of that county, and is spoken of by Brown Willis, in his " History of Mitred Abbies," vol. ii. p. 189. But he was a native of Staffordshire ; and to the antiquities of that county was his attention chiefly confined. Mr. Shaw has had the use of his papers. J. BI.AKEWAY. 1 I suppose in another compilation of the same kind. BOSWKLL. 2 Doubtless, Lord Hardwicke. BOSWKLL. 108 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1741 do something better towards doing .justice to the character. But ns I cannot expect to attain my desire in that respect, it would be a great satisfaction, af well as an honour to our work, to have the favour of the genuine speech, ft i& a method that several have been pleased to take, as I could show, hut I think myself under a restraint. I shall say so far, that I have had some by a third hand, which I understood well enough to come from the first ; others by penny- post, and others by the speakers themselves, who have been pleased to visit St. John's Gate, and show particular marks of their being pleased." 1 There is no reason, I believe, to doubt the veracity of Cave. It is, however, remarkable that none of these letters are in the years during which Johnson alone furnished the debates, and one of them is in the very year after he ceased from that labour. Johnson told me, that as soon as he found that the speeches were thought genuine, he determined that he would write no more of them ; "for he would not be accessory to the propagation of falsehood." And such was the tenderness of his conscience, that a short time before his death he expressed his regret for his having been the author of fictions which had passed for realities. He nevertheless agreed with me in thinking, that the debates which he had framed were to be valued as orations upon questions of public importance. They have accordingly been collected in volumes, properly arranged, and recommended to the notice of parliamentary speakers by a preface written by no inferior hand. 2 I must, however, observe, that although there is in those debates a wonderful store of political informa- tion and very powerful eloquence, I cannot agree that they exhibit the manner of each particular speaker, as Sir John Hawkins seems to think. But, indeed, what opinion can we have of his judgment and taste in public speaking, who presumes to give as the characteristics of two celebrated orators, "the deep-mouthed rancour of Pulteney, and the yelping pertinacity of Pitt." 8 This year I find that his tragedy of " Irene " had been for some time ready for the stage, and that his necessities made him desirous of getting as much as he could for it without delay ; for there is the fol- lowing letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch in the same volume of manu- scripts in the British Museum, from which I copied those above quoted. They were most obligingly pointed out to me by Sir William Musgrave, one of the Curators of that noble repository. " Sept. 9, 1741. " I have put Mr. Johnson's play into Mr. Gray's* hands, in order to sell it to him, if he is inclined to buy it ; but I doubt whether he will or not. He would dispose of the copy, and whatever advantage may be made by acting it Would 1 Birch's MSS. in the British Museum, 4302. BOSWELL. 2 I am assured that the editor is Mr. George Chalmers, whose commercial works arc well known and esteemed. BOSWELL. s Sir G. Hawkins's Life of Johnson, pp. 94 132. 100. Bos WELL. * A London bookseller of the time. BOSWKLL. AOK 32. J BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 109 your society,! or any gentleman, or body of men that you know, take such a bar- gain ? He and I are very unfit to deal with theatrical persons. Fleetwood was to have acted in it last season, but Johnson's diffidence or 2 prevented it." I have already mentioned that " Irene," was not brought into public notice till Garrick was manager of Drury-lane Theatre. In 1742 s he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the " Pre- face,"f the " Parliamentary Debates,"* " Essay on the Account of the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough,"* then the popular topic of conversation. This essay is a short but masterly performance. We find him in No. 13 of his " Rambler," censuring a profligate sentiment in that " Account ;" 4 and again insisting upon it strenuously in con- versation. 6 "An Account of the Life of Peter Burruan,"* I believe chiefly taken from a foreign publication ; as, indeed, he could not him- self know much about Burman ; " Additions to his Life of Barretier ;"* " The Life of Sydenham,"* afterwards prefixed to Dr. Swan's edition of his works ; " Proposals for printing the Bibliotheca llarleiana, or a Catalogue of the Library of the Earl of Oxford."* His account of that celebrated collection of books, in which he displays the importance to literature, of what the French call a catalogue raisonne, when the subjects of it are extensive and various, and it is executed with ability, cannot fail to impress all his readers with admiration of his philological attainments. It was afterwards prefixed to the first volume of the Catalogue, in which the Latin accounts of books were written by him. He was employed in this business by Mr. Thomas Osborne the bookseller, who purchased the library for 13,OOOZ., a sum which Mr. Oldyssays, in one of his manuscripts, was not more than the binding of the books had cost ; yet, as Dr. Johnson assured me, the slowness of the sale was such, that there was not much gained by it. It has been confidently related, with many embellishments, that Johnson one day knocked Osborne down iu his shop, with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck. The simple truth 1 had from Johnson himself. " Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him. But it was not in his shop ; it was in my own chamber." 1 Not the Royal Society ; but the Society for the encouragement of learning, of which Dr. Birch was a leading member. Their object was, to assist authors in printing expen- sive works. It existed from about 1735 to 1746, when, having incurred a considerable debt, it was dissolved. BOSWF.LL. 2 There is no erasure here, but a mere blank ; to fill up which may be an exercise for ingenious conjecture. BOSWKLL. 8 From one of his letters to a friend, written in June 1742, it should seem that he then proposed to write a play on the subject of Charles the Twelfth, of Sweden, and to have it ready lor the ensuing winter. The passage alluded to, however, is somewhat ambiguous ; and the work which he then had iu contemplation may have been a history of that monarch. MA LONE. 4 The passage alluded to runs as follows : " A late female minister of state has been shameless enough to inform the world that she used, when_she wanted to extract 'any thing from her sovereign, to remind her of Montaigne's reasoning who has deter- mined that to tfll a secret to a friend is no breach of fidelity, because the number of per- sons is not multiplied ; a man aud his friend being virtually the same." WEIGHT. Jt Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 167. BOSWKIX. HO BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON*. [1742. A very diligent observer may trace him where we should not easily suppose him to be found. I have no doubt that he wrote the little abridgment entitled " Foreign History," in the Magazine for December. To prove it, I shall quote the introduction : "As this is that season of the year in which Nature may be said to command a suspension of hostilities, and which seems intended, by putting a short stop to violence and slaughter, to afford time for malice to relent, and animosity to sub- side ; we can scarce expect any other account than of plans, negotiations and treaties, of proposals for peace, and preparations for war." As also this passage : " Let those who despise the capacity of the Swiss, tell us by what wonderful policy, or by what happy conciliation of interests, it is brought to pass, that in a body made up of different communities and different religions, there should be no civil commotions, though the people are so warlike, that to nominate and raise an army is the same." I am obliged to Mr. Astle 1 for his ready permission to copy the two following letters, of which the originals are in his possession. Their contents show that they were written about this time, and that Johnson was now engaged in preparing an historical account of the British Parliament. " TO MR. CAVE. " SIR, [No date.'] "I believe I am going to write a long letter, and have therefore taken a whole sheet of paper. The first thing to be written about is our historical design. " You mentioned the proposal of printing in numbers, as an alteration in the scheme, but I believe you mistook, some way or other, my meaning ; I had no other view than that you might rather print too many of five sheets, than of five-and-thirty. "With regard to what I shall say on the manner of proceeding, I would have it understood as wholly indifferent to me, and my opinion only, not my resolution. Emptoris sit eligere, " I think the insertion of the exact dates of the most important events in the margin, or of so many events as may enable the reader to regulate the order of facts with sufficient exactness, the proper medium between a journal, which has regard only to time, and a history which ranges facts according to their depend- ance on each other, and postpones or anticipates according to the convenience of narration. I think the work ought to partake of the spirit of history, which is contrary to minute exactness, and of the regularity of a journal, which is incon- sistent with spirit For this reason I neither admit numbers or dates, nor reject them. " I am of your opinion with regard to placing most of the resolutions, &c., in the margin, and think we shall give the most complete account of parliamen- tary proceedings that can be contrived. The naked papers, without an historical 1 Mr. A.sile was keeper of the Records of the Tower, and otherwise well known in the literary world. ED. AOR 33.1 BOS WELL'S LIFE OP JOHNSON, 111 treatise interwoven, require some other book to make them understood. I will date the succeeding facts with some exactness, but I think in the margin. You told me on Saturday that I had received money on this work, and found set down 13/. 2s. Qd., reckoning the half guinea of last Saturday. As you hinted to me that you had many calls for money, I would not press you too hard, and therefore shall desire only, as I send it in, two guineas for a sheet of copy ; the rest you may pay me when it may be more convenient ; and even by this sheet- payment I shall, for some time, be very expensive. "The Life of Savage I am ready to go upon; and in great primer and pica notes, I reckon on sending in half a sheet a day ; but the money for that shall likewise He by in your hands till it is done. With the debates, shall not I have business enough ? if I had but good pens. "Towards Mr. Savage's Life what more have you got? I would willingly have his trial, &c., and know whether his defence be at Bristol, and would have his collection of poems, on account of the Preface; "The Plain Dealer," * all the magazines that have any thing of his or relating to him. " I thought my letter would be long, but now it is ended ; and, " I am, Sir, yours, &c., "SAM. JOHNSON." "The boy found me writing this almost in the dark, when I could not quite easily read yours. "I have read the Italian : nothing in it is well. ' ' I had no notion of having any thing for the inscription. 2 I hope you don't think I kept it to extort a price. I could think of nothing, till to-day. If you could spare me another guinea for the history, I should take it very kindly, to-night ; but if you do not, I shall not think it an injury. "I am almost well again." " TO MR. CAVE. "SIR, "You did not tell me your determination about the Soldier's Letter, & which I am confident was never printed. I think it will not do by itself, or in any other place so well as the Mag. Extraordinary. If you will have it all, I believe you do not think I set it high, and I will be glad if what you give, you will give quickly. " You need not be in care about something to print, for I have got the State Trials, and shall extract Layer, Atterbury, and Macclesfield from them, and shall bring them to you in a fortnight ; after which I will try to get the South Sea Report." [iVo date, nor signature,] I would also ascribe to him an "Essay on the Description of China, from the French of Du Halde." t His writings in the "Gentleman's Magazine," in 1743, are, the " Preface, "f the "Parliamentary Debates,"! "Considerations on the "The Plain Dealer" was published in 1724, and Contained some account of Savage. BOSWKLL. ' Perhaps the Runic Inscription ; " Gent. Mug." vol. xii. p. 132. MA LONE. 3 I have not discovered what this was. BOSWELL. 112 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1743. Dispute between Crousaz and Warburton, on Pope's Essay on Man ;"t in which, while he defends Crousaz, he shows an admirable metaphysical acuteness and temperance in controversy ; "Ad Lauram parituram Epigramma ; J * and, "A Latin Translation of Pope's Verses on his Grotto ;" and, as he could employ hia pen with equal success upon a small matter as a great, I suppose him to be the author of an advertise- ment for Osborne, concerning the great Harleian Catalogue. But I should think myself much wanting, both to my illustrious friend and my readers, did I not introduce here, with more than ordinary respect, an exquisitely beautiful Ode, which has not been inserted in any of the collections of Johnson's poetry, written by him at a very early 1 " Angliacas inter pulcherritna Laura puellas, Mox uteri pondus depositura grave, Adsit, Laura, tibi facilis Lucina dolenti, Neve tibi uoceat preenituisse Dese." Mr. Hector was present wlien this Epigram was made impromptu. The first line was proposed by Dr. James, and Johnson was called upon by the company to finish it, which he instantly did. BOSWKLL. The following elegant Latin Ode, which appeared in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1748 (vol. xiii. p. 648), was many years ago pointed out to James Bindley, Esq., as written by Johnson, and may safely be attributed to him : AD ORNATISSIMAM PUELLAM. Vanae sit arti, sit studio modus, Formosa *irgo ! sit speculo quies, Curamque quserendi decoris Mitte, supervacuosque cultus. Ut fortnitis verna coloribus Depicta vulgo rura magis placent, Nee invident horto niteuti Divitias operosiores : Lenique fons cum murmure pulcrior Obliquat ultro preecipitem fugam Inter reluctantcs lapillos, et Ducit aquas temere sequentes : Utque inter undas, inter et arbores, Jam vere primo dulce slrepunt aves, Et arte nulla gratiores Ingeminant sine lege cantus : Nativa sic te gratia, te nitor Simplex decebit, te Veneres tuse ; Nudus Cupido suspicatur Artifices iiimis apparatus. Ergo fluentem tu, male sedula, Ne steva inuras semper acu comam; Nee sparsa odorato imei.tes Pulvere dedecores capillos; Quales nee olim Ptolemaeia Juctubat uxor, sHereo in chore Utcunque devotte rei'ulger, Veriicis exuvite decori ; AOE St.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. 113 period, as Mr. Hector informs me, and inserted in "The Gentleman's Magazine " of this year. FRIENDSHIP, AX ODE.* Friendship, peculiar Loon of heaven, The noble mind's delight and pride, To men and angels only given, To all the lower world denied. While love unknown among the blest, Parent of thousand wild desires, The savage and the human breast Torments alike with raging fires : With bright, but oft destructive, gleam, Alike o'er all his lightnings fly ; Thy lambent glories only beam Around the fav' rites of the sky. Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys On fools and villains ne'er descend : In vain for thee the tyrant sighs, And hugs a flatterer for a friend. Directress of the brave and just, guide us through life's darksome way ! And let the tortures of mistrust On selfish bosoms only prey. Nor shall ihine ardour cense to glow, When souls to blissful climes remove : What rais'd our virtue here below, Shall aid our happiness above. Johnson had now an opportunity of obliging his schoolfellow, Dr. James, of whom he once observed, " No man brings more mind to his profession." James published this year his " Medicinal Dictionary,'' in three volumes folio. Johnson, as I understood from him, had written, or assisted in writing, the proposals for this work ; and being very fond of the study of physic, in which James was his master, he furnished some of the articles. He, however, certainly wrote for it the Dedication Nee diva mater, cum similem ture Mentita formam, et pulcrior adspici, Pennisit incomtas protervis Fusa comas agitare ventis. In vol. xiv. p. 46, of the same work, an elegant Epigram was inserted, in answer to the foregoing Ode, which was written by Dr. Inyon of Norfolk, a physician, and an excellent classical scholar : " Ad Authorem Car minis AD ORNATISSIMAM PUELLAM. " cui non potuit, quia culta, placere puella, Qui speras Musain posse placere tuam ! " MA LONE. a 114 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JGIIXSOX. [1743. to Dr. Mead,f which is conceived with great address, to conciliate the patronage of that very eminent man. 1 It has been circulated, I know not with what authenticity, that Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull writer, and said of him, " Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation, but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his 1>B. B1KCH. faculties." That the literature of this country is much indebted to Birch's activity and diligence must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen that Johnson honoured him with a Greek Epigram ; and his corre- spondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean opinion of him. " TO DR. BIRCH. " SIR, " Thursday, Sept. 29, 1743. " I hope you will excuse me for troubling you on an occasion on which I know not whom else I can apply to ; I am at a loss for the Lives and Characters of Earl Stanhope, the two Craggs, and the minister Sunderland ; and beg that you will inform [me] where I may find them, and send any pamphlets, &c. relating to them to Mr. Cave to be perused for a few days by, Sir, " Your most humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." 1 "TO DR. MEAD. "SlB, "That the ' Medicinal Dictionary ' is dedicated to you, is to be imputed only to your 'reputation for superior skill in those sciences which I have endeavoured to explain and facilitate : and you are, therefore, to consider this address, if it be agreeable to you, as one of the rewards of merit; and if otherwise, as one of the inconveniences of eminence. " However you shall receive it, my design cannot be disappointed, because this public appeal to your judgment will show that I do not found my hopes of approbation upon the ignorance of my readers, and that I fear his censure least, whose knowledge is most exteuiive. I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, "R. JAMES." BOSWBLL. AGE 34.1 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 115 His circumstances were at this time embarrassed ; yet his affection for his mother was so warm, and so liberal, that he took upon himself a debt of hers, which, though small in itself, was then considerable to him. This appears from the following letter which he wrote to Mr. Levett, of Lichfield, the original of which lies now before me : ''TO MR. LEVETT, IN LICHFIELD. " SIR, " December 1, 1743. " I am extremely sorry that we have encroached so much upon your for- bearance with respect to the interest, which a great perplexity of affairs hindered me from thinking of with that attention that I ought, and which I am not immediately able to remit to you, but will pay it (I think twelve pounds) in two months. I look upon this, and on the future interest of that mortgage, as my own debt ; and beg that you will be pleased to give me directions how to pay it, and not mention it to my dear mother. If it be necessary to pay this in less time, I believe I can do it ; but I take two months for certainty, and beg an answer whether you can allow me so much time. I think myself very much obliged to your forbearance, and shall esteem it a great happiness to be able to serve you. I have great opportunities of dispersing any thing that you may think it proper to make public. I will give a note for the money, payable at the time mentioned, to any one here that you shall appoint. I am, Sir, "Your most obedient and most humble servant, " SAM, JOHNSON. At jf r Osborne's, bookseller, in Gray's Inn." LOKD CHE8TE CHAPTER V. 1744 1748. JOHNSON PUBLISHES THB LIFE OF SAVAGF. MERITS OF THIS BIOGEAPHT Dis- cussios AS TO SAVAGE'S PARENTAGE PREFACB TO HARLEIAN MISCELLANY "MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS OF THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH" GARRICK MANAGER OF DRURY-LANF. THKATRE JOHNSON'S " PROLOGUE " ON ITS OPKNINO " PLAN" OF THE DICTIONARY, ADDRESSED TO LORD CHESTERFIELD RESIDENCE IN GOUGH SQUARE INSTITUTION OP THE CLUB is IVY LANE WRITES LIFE OF ROSCOMMOX CONTRIBUTIONS TO DODSLEY'S " PKECEPTOR." IT does not appear that Johnson wrote any thing in 1744 for the " Gentleman's Magazine," but the Preface, t His " Life of Barretier" was now republished in a pamphlet by itself. But he produced one work this year, fully sufficient to maintain the high reputation which he had acquired. This was " The Life of Richard Savage ;"* a man, of whom it is difficult to speak impartially, without wondering that he was for some time the intimate companion of Johnson ; for his character 1 was marked by profligacy, insolence, and ingratitude : yet, as he un- doubtedly had a warm and vigorous, though unregulated mind, had seen life in all its varieties, and been much in the company of the states- 1 As a specimen of his temper, I iusert the following letter from him to a uoble Lord ["Tyrconnelj to whom he was under great obligations, but who, on account of his bad conduct, was obliged to discard him. The original was in the hands of the late Francis Cockayne Cugt, Esq., one of his Majesty's Counsel, learned in the law : " Right Honourable BRUTE and BOOBY, " I find you want (as Mr. is pleased to hint) to swear away my life, that is, the life of your creditor, because he asks you for a debt. The public shall soon be ac- quainted with this, to judge whether you are not fitter to be an Irish evidence, than to be an Irish Peer. I defy and despise you. I am, " Your determined adversary, " R. S." BOSWELL. AQB 35.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 11? men and wits of his time, he could communicate to Johnson an abundant supply of such materials as his philosophical curiosity most eagerly desired ; and as Savage's misfortunes and misconduct had reduced him to the lowest state of wretchedness as a writer for his bread, his visit to St. John's Gate naturally brought Johnson and him together. 1 It is melancholy to reflect, that Johnson and Savage were sometimes in such extreme indigence, 2 that they could not pay for a lodging ; so that they have wandered together whole nights in the streets. 3 Yet in these almost incredible scenes of distress, we may suppose that Savage mentioned many of the anecdotes with which Johnson afterwards enriched the life of his unhappy companion, and those of other poets. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that one night in particular, when Savage and he walked round St. James's-square for want of a lodging, they were not at all depressed by their situation, but in high spirits, and 1 Sir John Hawkins gives the world to understand, that Johnson, " being an admirer of genteel manners, was captivated by the address and demeanour of Savage, who, as to his exterior, was to a remarkable degree accomplished." Hawkins's Life, p. 52. But Sir John's notions of gentility must appear somewhat ludicrous, from his stating the fol- lowing circumstance as presumptive evidence that Savage was a good swordsman : " That he understood the exercise of a gentleman's weapon, may be inferred from the use made of it in that rash encounter which is related in his life." The dexterity here alluded to was, that Savage, in a nocturnal fit of drunkenness, slabbed a man at a coffee-house, and killed him: for which he was tried at the Old Bailey, and found guilty of murder. Johnson, indeed, describes him as having " a grave and manly deportment, a solemn dignity of mien; but which, upon a nearer acquaintance, softened into an engaging easiness of manners." How highly Johnson admired him for that knowledge which he himself so much cultivated, and what kindness he entertained for him, appears from the following lines in the " Gentleman's Magazine " for April, 1738, which I am assured were written by Johnson : " ^4n ButI haveperused the Journals of both houses of Parliament at the period of her divorce, and there find it authentically ascertained, that so far from voluntarily submitting to the ignominious charge of adultery, she made a strenuous defence by her counsel ; the bill having been first moved the 15th of January, 1697-8, in the House of Lords, and pro- ceeded on (with various applications for time to bring up witnesses at a distance, t\oi, ov Cuke of St. Alb m's. ED. AOE 43. j BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIINSOV. 169 Johnson said, "Nay, Sir, Alexander the Great, marching in triumph into Babylon, could not have desired to have had more said to him." Johnson was some time with Beauclerk at his house at Windsor, where he was entertained with experiments in natural philosophy. One Sunday, wh^n the weather was very fine, Beauclerk enticed him, insen- sibly, to saunter about all the morning. They went into a churchyard, in the time of divine service, and J ohnson laid himself down at his ease upon one of the tombstones. "Now, Sir," said Beauclerk, "you are like Hogarth's Idle Apprentice." When Johnson got his pension, Beau- clerk said to him, in the humorous phrase of Falstaif, "I hope you'll now purgv 1 , and live cleanly, like a gentleman. " One night when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a tavern in London, and sat till about three in the morning, it came into their heads to go and knock up Johnson, and see if they could prevail on him to join them in a ramble. They rapped violently at the door of his chambers in the Temple, till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his little black wig on the top of his head, instead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand, imagining, probably, that some ruffians were coming to attack him. When he discovered who they were, and was told their errand, he smiled, and with great good humour agreed to their proposal : " What, is it you, you dogs ! I'll have a frisk with you." 1 He was soon dressed and they sallied forth together into Covent-garden, where the green- grocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers, just come in from the country. Johnson made some attempts to help them ; but the honest gardeners stared so at his figure and manner, and odd interference, that he soon saw his services were not relished. They then repaired to one of the neighbouring taverns, and made a bowl of that liquor called Bishop, which Johnson had always liked ; while, in joyous contempt of sle?p, from which he had been roused, he repeated tue festive lines, "Short, short, then be thy reign, And give us to the world again !"2 They did not stay long, but walked down to the Thames, took a boat, and rowed to Billingsgate. Beauclerk and Johnson were so well pleased with their amusement, that they resolved to persevere in dissipation for the rest of the day : but Langton deserted them, being engaged to breakfast with some young ladies. Johnson scolded him for " leaving his social friends, to go and sit with a set of wretched un-idea d 1 Johnson, as Mr. Kemble observes to me, might here have had in his thoughts the words of Sir John Brute (a character which doubtless he had seen represented by Gar- rick), who uses nearly the same expression in "The Provoked wife," Act iii. sc. i. MAIONE. * Mr. Langton recollected, or Dr. Johnson repeated, the passage wrong. The lines are in Lord Lansdowne's Drinking Song to Sleep, and run thus: " Short, very short, be then thy reign, For I'm in haste to laugh and drink again." BOSWKI.L. BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [17,58. Garrick being told of this ramble, said to him smartly, " I heard of your frulic t'other night. You'll be in the ' Chronicle.'" Upon which Johnson afterwards observed, "He durst not do such a thing. His wife would not let him !'' He entered upon this year, 1753, with his usual piety, as appears from the following prayer, which I transcribed from that part of his diary which he burned a few days before his death : "Jan. 1, 1753, N.S., which I shall use for the future. " Almighty God, who hast continued my life to this day, grant that, by th assistance of thy Holy Spirit, I may improve the time which thou shalt grant me, to my eternal salvation. Make me to remember, to thy glory, thy judg^ ments and thy mercies. Make me so to consider the loss of my wife, whom thou hast taken from me, that it may dispose me, by thy grace, to lead the residua of my life in thy fear. Grant this, Lord, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." He now relieved the drudgery of his Dictionary, and the melancholy of his grief, by taking an active part in the composition of " The Adven- turer," in which he began to write, April 10, marking his essays with the signature T., by which most of his papers in that collection are dis- tinguished : those, however, which have that signature, and also that oi Mysargyrus, were not written by him, but, as I suppose, by Dr. Bathurst. Indeed, Johnson's energy of thought and richness of language are still more decisive marks than any signature. As a proof of this, my reader.*, I imagine, will not doubt that No. 39, on Sleep, is his ; for it not only has the general texture and colour of his style, but the authors with whom he was peculiarly conversant are readily introduced in it in cursory allusion. The translation of a passage in Statius, 1 quoted in that paper, and marked C. B., has been erroneously ascribed to Dr. Bathurst, whose Christian name was Richard. How much this amiable man actually contributed to " The Adventurer," cannot be known. Let me add, that Hawkesworth's imitations of Johnson are sometimes so happy, that it is extremely difficult to distinguish them, with certainty, from the com- positions of his great archetype. Hawkesworth was his closest imitator, a circumstance of which that writer would once have been proud to be told ; though when he had become elated by having men into some degree of consequence, he, in a conversation with me, had the provoking effrontery to say he was not sensible of it. Johnson was truly zealous for the success of " The Adventurer ;" and very soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter : "TO THE REVEREND DR. JOSEPH WARTON. "DEAR SIR, "March 8, 1753. " I ought to have written to you before now, but I ought to do many things which I do not ; nor can I, indeed, claim any merit from this letter ; for being 1 This is a slight inaccuracy. The Latin Sapphirs translated by C. B. in that paper were written by Cowley, and are in his fourth book on Plants. MALONK. AOB 41.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 171 desired by the authors and proprietor of " The Adventurer," to look out for another hand, my thoughts necessarily fixed upon you, whose fund of literature will enable you to assist them, with very little interruption of your studies. ' ' They desire you to engage to furnish one paper a month, at two guineas a paper, which you may very readily perform. We have considered that a paper should consist of pieces of imagination, pictures of life, and disquisitions of literature. The part which depends on the imagination is very well supplied, as you will find when you read the paper ; for descriptions of life, there is now a treaty almost made with an author and an authoress ; l and the province of criticism and literature they are very desirous to assign to the commentator on Virgil. " I hope this proposal will not he rejected, and that the next post will brin2 Indeed, the force of mind which appeared in this letter, was congenial with that which Warburton himself amply possessed. There is a curious minute circumstance which struck me, in com- paring the various editions of " Johnson's Imitations of Juvenal." Jn the tenth Satire one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes even for literary distinction stood thus : " Yet think what ills the scholar's life assail, Toil, envy, want, the garret, and the jail." But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chesterfield's falla- cious patronage made him feel, he dismissed the word garret from the sad group, and in all the subsequent editions the line stands, " Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail." no man ever more forcibly felt the truth of the sentiment so elegantly expressed by my friend Mr. Malone, in bis Prologue to Mr. Jephson's tragedy of "Julia :" " Vain wealth, and fame, and fortune's fostering care, If no fond breast the i-plendid ble;-sings share ; And, each day's bustling pageantry once past, There, only there, our biiss is found at last." BOSWKLL. i Upon comparing this copy with that which Dr. Johnson dictated to me from recol- lection, the variations are found to be so slight, that this must be added to the many other proofs which he gave of the wonderful extent and accuracy of his memory. To gratify the curious in composition, I have deposited both the copies in the British Mu- seum. BOSWELL. 2 Soon after Edwards's " Canons of Criticism" came out, Johnson was dining at Tonson the Bookseller's, with Hay man the Painter and some more company. Hayman related to Sir Joshua Reynolds, ihat the conversation having turned upon Edwards's book, the gentlemen praised it much, and Johnson allowed its merit. But when they went further, and appeared to put that author upon a level with Warburton, " Nay," said Johnson, "he has given him some smart hits to be sure ; but there is no proportion between the two men ; they must not be named together. A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse, and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still." BOSWELL. AGR 45.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 179 That Lord Chesterfield must have been mortified by the lofty con- tempt, and polite, yet keen, satire with which Johnson exhibited him to himself in this letter, it is impossible to doubt. He, however, with that glossy duplicity which was his constant study, affected to be quite un- concerned. Dr. Adams mentioned to Mr. Robert Dodsley that he was sorry Johnson had written his letter to Lord Chesterfield. Dodsley, with the true feelings of trade, said, " he was very sorry too ; for that he had a property in the Dictionary, to which his lordship's patronage might have been of consequence." He then told Dr. Adams, that Lord Chesterfield had shown him the letter. " I should have imagined,' replied Dr. Adams, "that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it." " Poh!" said Dodsley, "do you think a letter from Johnson could hurt Lord Chesterfield ? Not at all, Sir. It lay upon his table, where any body might see it. He read it to me ; said, ' This man has great powers,' pointed out the severest passages, and observed how well they were expressed." This air of indifference, which imposed upon the worthy Dodsley, was certainly nothing but a specimen of that dissimulation which Lord Chesterfield inculcated as one of the most essential lessons for the conduct of life. His lordship endeavoured to justify himself to Dodsley from the charges brought against him by Johnson ; but we may judge of the flimsiness of his defence, from his having excused his neglect of Johnson, by saying, that " he had heard he had changed his lodgings, and did not know where he lived ;" as if there could have been the smallest difficulty to inform himself of that circumstance, by inquiring in the literary circle with which his lordship was well acquainted, and was, indeed, himself, one of its ornaments. Dr. Adams expostulated with Johnson, and suggested, that his not being admitted when he called on him, was probably not to be imputed to Lord Chesterfield ; for his lordship had declared to Dodsley, that " he would have turned off the best servant he ever had, if he had known that he denied him to a man who would have been always more than wel- come ;" and in confirmation of this, he insisted on Lord Chesterfield's general affability and easiness of access, especially to literary men. " Sir," Johnson, "that is not Lord Chesterfield ; he is the proudest man this day existing." " No," said Dr. Adams, " there is one person, at least, as proud ; I think, by your own account, you are the prouder man of the two." " But mine, 1 ' replied Johnson instantly, " was defen- sive pride." This, as Dr. Adams well observed, was one of those happy turns, for which he was so remarkably ready. Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chester- field, did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman with pointed freedom : " This man," said he, " I thought had been a lord among wits, but I find, he is only a wit among lords I 1 ' 1 And 1 Johnson's character of Chesterfield seems to be imitated from inter dodos nobilisti- mui, inter nobilet docliisimiti, i?iter utroique optimut ; (ex Apuleio. v. Erasm. Dedica- te 2 ISO BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1754. when his Letters to his natural son were published, he observed, that " they teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master." 1 The character of a " respectable Hottentot," in Lord Chesterfield's Letters, has been generally understood to be meant for Johnson, and I have no doubt that it was. But I remember when the Literary Property of those letters was contested in the Court of Session in Scotland, and Mr. Henry Dundas, 2 one of the counsel for the proprietors, read this character as an exhibition of Johnson, Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, one of the judges, maintained with some warmth, that it was not intended as a portrait of Johnson, but of a late noble lord, distin- guished for abstruse science. I have heard Johnson himself talk of the character, and say that it was meant for George Lord Lyttelton, in which I could by no means agree ; for his lordship had nothing of that violence which is a conspicuous feature in the composition. Finding that my illustrious friend could bear to have it supposed that it might be meant for him, I said, laughingly, that there was one trait which un- questionably did not belong to him ; " he throws his meat anywhere but down his throat." " Sir," said he, " Lord Chesterfield never saw me eat in his life." On the 6th of March came out Lord Bolingbroke's works, published by Mr. David Mallet. The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name of " Philosophy," which were thus ushered into the world, gave great offence to all well-principled men. Johnson, hearing of their tendency, which nobody disputed, was roused with a just indignation, and pro- nounced this memorable sentence upon the noble author and his editor : " Sir, he was a scoundrel, and a coward ; a scoundrel, for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality ; a coward, because he had tion of Adagies to Lord Mountjoy ;) and from 5iTijs tv <]>iho(TVois, os ev iSioraij. Proclus de Critia. KEARNEY. 1 That collection of letters cannot be vindicated from the serious charge of encouraging, in some passages, one of the vices most destructive to the good order and comfort of society, which his lordship represents as mere fashionable gallantry ; and, in others, of inculcating the base practice of dissimulation, and recommending, with disproportionate anxiety, a perpetual attention to external elegance ol manners. But it must, at the same time, be allowed, that they contain many good precepts of conduct, and much genuine information upon life and manners, very happily expressed, and that there was consider- able merit in paying so much attention to the improvement of one who was dependant upon his lordship's protection ; it has, probably, been exceeded in no instance by the most exemplary parent ; and though I can by no means approve of confounding the distinction between lawful and illicit offspring, which is, in effect, insulting the civil establishment of our country, to look no higher ; I cannot help thinking it laudable to be kindly attentive to those, of whose existence we have, in any way, been the cause. Mr. Stanhope's character has been unjustly represented as diametrically opposite to what Lord Chesterfield wished him to be. He has been called dull, gross, and awkward ; but I knew him at Dresden, when he was Envoy to that Court, and though he could not boast of the graces, he was, in truth, a sensible, civil, well-behaved man. BOSWKLI,. 2 Now [1792] one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State. Bos WELL. Mr. Dundas was subsequently created Viscount Melville. ED. AGE 45.] BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON. 181 not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman, to draw the trigger after his death ! " Garrick, who, I can attest from my own knowledge, had his mind seasoned with pious reverence, and sincerely disapproved of the infidel writings of several, whom, in the course of his almost universal gay intercourse with men of eminence, he treated with external civility, distinguished himself upon this occasion. Mr. Pelham having died on the very day on which Lord Bolingbroke's works came out, he wrote an elegant Ode on his death, beginning " Let others hail the rising sun, I bow to that whose course is run ;" in which is the following stanza : " The same sad morn, to Church and State (So for our sins 'twas fix'd by fate) A double stroke was given ; Black as the whirlwinds of the North, St. John's fell genius issued forth, And Pelham' s fled to heaven." Johnson this year found an interval of leisure to make an excur- sion to Oxford, for the purpose of consulting the libraries there. Of this, and of many interesting circumstances concerning him, during a part of his life when he conversed but little with the world, I am enabled to give a particular account, by the liberal communications of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Warton, who obligingly furnished me with several of our common friend's letters, which he illustrated with notes. These I shall insert in their proper places. " TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. " SIR, " [London,] July 16, 1754. " It is but an ill return for the book with which you were pleased to favour me, 1 to have delayed my thanks for it till now. I am too apt to be negligent ; but I can never deliberately show my disrespect to a man of your character : and I now pay you a very honest acknowledgment, for the ad- vancement of the literature of our native country. You have shown to all, who shall hereafter attempt the study of our ancient authors, the way to success; by directing them to the perusal of the books which those authors had read. Of this method, Hughes, 2 and men much greater than 1 Observations on Spenser's " Fairy Queen," the first edition of which was now pub- lished. BOSWELL. 2 Hughes published an edition of Spenser. WARTON. The best known production of Hughes, is his tragedy qf the " Siege of Damascus." ED. EV. THOMAS WARTON. 182 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1754. Hughes, seem never to have thought. The reason why the authors, which are jet read, of the sixteenth century, are so little understood, is, that they are read alone ; and no help is borrowed from those who lived with them, or before them. Some part of this ignorance I hope to remove by my book [his Dictionary], which now draws towards its end ; but which I cannot finish to my mind, without visiting the libraries of Oxford, which I therefore hope to see in a fortnight. 1 I know not how long I shall stay, or where I shall lodge ; but shall be sure to look for you at my arrival, and we shall easily settle the rest. " I am, dear Sir, your most obedient, &c., " SAM. JOHNSON." Of his conversation while at Oxford at this time, Mr. Warton pre- served and communicated to me the following memorial, which, though not written with all the care and attention which that learned and elegant writer bestowed on those compositions which he intended for the public eye, is so happily expressed in an easy style, that I should injure it by any alteration : " When Johnson came to Oxford in 1754, the long vacation was beginning, and most people were leaving the place. This was the first time of his being there after quitting the University. The next morning after his arrival, he wished to see his old college, Pembroke. I went with him. He was highly pleased to find all the college-servants which he had left there still remaining, particularly a very old butler ; and expressed great satisfaction at being recog- nised by them, and conversed with them familiarly. He waited on the master, Dr. Radcliffe, who received him very coldly. Johnson at least expected, that the master would order a copy of his Dictionary, now near publication ; but the XITTEL BILL. 1 He came to Oxford within a fortnight, and stayed about five weeks. He lodged at a house called Kettel Hall, near Trinity College. But during this visit at Oxford, he collected nothing in the libraries for his Dictionary. MALOWB. AGE 45.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 183 master did not choose to talk on the subject, never asked Johnson to dine, nor even to visit him, while he stayed at Oxford. After we had left the lodgings, Johnson said to me, ' There lives a man, who lives by the revenues of literature, and will not move a finger to support it. If I come to live at Oxford, I shall take up my abode at Trinity." We then called on the Reverend Mr. Meeke, one of the fellows, and of Johnson's standing. Here was a most cordial greeting on both sides. On leaving him, Johnson said, ' I used to think Meeke had excellent parts, when we were boys together at the college ; but, alas ! ' Lost in a convent's solitary gloom !' I remember, at the classical lecture in the Hall, I could not bear Meeke' s superiority, and I tried to sit as far from him as I could, that I might not hear him construe.' "As we were leaving the college, he said, ' Here I translated Pope's ' Mes- siah.' Which do you think is the best line in it? My own favourite is, ' Vallis aromaticas fundlt Saronica nubes.' I told him, I thought it a very sonorous hexameter. I did not tell him, it was not in the Virgilian style. He much regretted that his first tutor was dead ; for whom he seemed to retain the greatest regard. He said, ' I once had been a whole morning sliding in Christ-Church meadows, and missed his lecture in logic. After dinner he sent for me to his room. I expected a sharp rebuke for my idleness, and went with a beating heart. When we were seated, he told me he had sent for me to drink a glass of wine with him, and to tell me, he was not angry with me for missing his lecture. This was, in fact, a most severe repri- mand. Some more of the boys were then sent for, and we spent a very pleasant afternoon.' Besides Mr. Meeke, there was only one other fellow of Pembroke now resident : from both of whom Johnson received the greatest civilities during this visit, and they pressed him very much to have a room in the college. "In the course of this visit (1754), Johnson and I walked three or four times to Ellsfield, a village beautifully situated about three miles from Oxford, or MIL WISE. 184 BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1754. to see Mr. Wise, Radclivian librarian, with whom Johnson was much pleased. At this place, Mr. Wise had fitted up a house and gardens, in a singular manner, but with great taste. Here was an excellent library, particularly a valuable col- lection of books in Northern literature, with which Johnson was often very busy. One day Mr. Wise read to us a dissertation which he was preparing for the press, entitled, ' A History and Chronology of the Fabulous Ages.' Some old divinities of Thrace, related to the Titans, and called the Cabiri, made a very important part of the theory of this piece ; and in conversation afterwards, Mr. Wise talked much of his Cabiri. As we returned to Oxford in the evening, I outwalked Johnson, and he cried out Sufflamina, a Latin word, which came from his mouth with peculiar grace, and was as much as to say, Put on your drag chain. Before we got home, I again walked too fast for him ; and he new cried out, ' Why, you walk as if you were pursued by all the Cabiri in a body.' In an evening we frequently took long walks from Oxford into the country, returning to supper. Once, OSESET ABBEY. m our wav home, we viewed theruina of the abbeys of Oseney and Rewley, near Oxford. After at least half an hour's silence, Johnson said, ' I viewed them with indignation !' We had then a long conversation on Gothic buildings ; and in talking of the form of old halls, he said, ' In these halls, the fire-place KEWLET ABBEI AGE 45.] BOSWEIX'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 185 was anciently always in the middle of the room, till the Whigs removed it on one side.' About this time there had been an execution of two or three criminals at Oxford, on a Monday. Soon afterwards, one day at dinner, I was saying that Mr. Swinton, the chaplain of the gaol, and also a frequent preacher before the University, a learned man, but often thoughtless and absent, preached the con- demnation sermon on repentance, before the convicts, on the preceding day, Sunday ; and that in the close he told his audience, that he should give them the remainder of what he had to say on the subject, the next Lord's day. Upon which, one of our company, a Doctor of Divinity, and a plain matter-of-fact man, by way of offering an apology for Mr. Swinton, gravely remarked, that he had probably preached the same sermon before the University: 'Yes, Sir,' says Johnson, ' but the University were not to be hanged the next morning. ' " I forgot to observe before, that when he left Mr. Meeke (as I have told above), he added, ' About the same time of life, Meeke was left behind at Oxford to feed on a Fellowship, and I went to London to get my living : now, Sir, see the difference of our literary characters !' " The following letter was written by Dr. Johnson to Mr. Chambers, of Lincoln College, afterwards Sir Robert Chambers, one of the judges in India : J " TO MR. CHAMBERS, OF LINCOLN COLLEGE. " DEAR SIR, " Nov. 21, 1754. " The commission which I delayed to trouble you with at your departure, I am now obliged to send you ; and beg that you will be so kind as to carry it to Mr. Warton, of Trinity, to whom I should have written immediately, but that I know not if he be yet come back to Oxford. " In the Catalogue of MSS. of Gr. Brit, see vol. i. page 18, MSS. Bodl. MARTYRIUM xv. martyrum sub Juliana, auctore Theophylacto. "It is desired that Mr. Warton will inquire, and send word, what will be the cost of transcribing this manuscript. " Vol. ii. p. 32. Num. 1022. 58. COLL. Nov. Commentaria in Acta Apos- tol. Comment, in Srptem. Epistolas Catholicas. " He is desired to tell what is the age of each of these manuscripts : and what it will cost to have a transcript of the two first pages of each. " If Mr. Warton be not in Oxford, you may try if you can get it done by any body else ; or stay till he comes, according to your own convenience. It is for an Italian literato. " The answer is to be directed to his Excellency Mr. Zon, Venetian Eesident, Soho-square. " I hope, dear Sir, that you do not regret the change of London for Oxford. Mr. Baretti is well, and Miss Williams ; 2 and we shall all be glad to hear from you, whenever you shall be so kind as to write to, Sir, " Your most humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." 1 Communicated by the Rev. Mr. Thomas Warton, who had the original. BOSWKLL. 2 I presume she was a relation of Mr. Zachariah Williams, who died in his eighty- third year, July 12, 1755. When Dr. Johnson was with me at Oxford, in 1765, he gave .to the Bodleian Library a thin quarto of twenty-one pages, a work in Italian, with an 186 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1754. The degree of Master of Arts, which, it has been observed, could not be obtained for him at an early period of his life, was now considered as an honour of considerable importance, in order to grace the title-page of his Dictionary ; and his character in the literary world being by this time deservedly high, his friends thought that, if proper exertions were made, the University of Oxford would pay him the compliment. "TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. " DEAR SIR, " [London] Nov. 28, 1754. " I am extremely obliged to you and to Mr. Wise, for the uncommon care which you have taken of my interest j 1 if you can accomplish your kind design, I shall certainly take me a little habitation among you. " The books which I promised to Mr. Wise, 2 I have not been able to pro- cure : but I shall send him a Finnick Dictionary, the only copy, perhaps, in England, which was presented me by a learned Swede : but I keep it back, that it may make a set of my own books of the new edition, with which I shall accom- pany it, more welcoma You will assure him of my gratitude. " Poor dear Collins !s Would a letter give him any pleasure? I have a mind to write. English translation on the opposite page. The English title-page is this : " An Account of an Attempt to ascertain the Longitude at Sea, by an exact Variation of the Magnetical Needle, &c. By Zachariah Williams. London, printed for Dodsley, 1755." The English translation, from the strongest internal marks, is unquestionably the work of Johnson. In a blank leaf, Johnson has written the age, and time of death, of the author Z. Williams, as I have said above. On another blank leaf, is pasted a paragraph from a newspaper, of the death and character of Williams, which is plainly written by Johnson. He was very anxious about placing this book in the Bodleian: and, for fear of any omission or mistake, he entered, in the great Catalogue, the title-page of it with his own hand. WARTON. In this statement there is a slight mistake. The English account, which was written by Johnson, was the original; the Italian was a trantlation, done by Baretti. See p. 201. MALONK. 1 In procuring him the degree of Master of Arts by diploma at Oxford. WARTON. 2 Lately Fellow of Trinity College, and at this time Radclivian librarian, at Oxford. He was a man of very considerable learning, and eminently skilled in Roman and Anglo Saxon antiquities. He died in 1767. WARTON. 8 Collins, the poet, was at this time at Oxford, on a visit to Mr. Warton ; but labour- ing under the most deplorable languor of body, and dejection of mind. WARTON. In a letter to Dr. Josefft Warton, written some months before (March 8, 1754), Dr. Johnson thus speaks of Collins : " But how little can we venture to exult in any intellectual powers or literary attain- ments, when we consider the condition of poor Collins ! I knew him a few years ago full of hopes, and full of projects, versed in many languages, high in fancy, and strong in retention. This busy and forcible mind is now under the government of those, who lately could not have been able to comprehend the least and most narrow of his designs. What do you hear of him? are there hopes of his recovery? or is he to pass the remainder of his life in misery and degradation? perhaps, with complete consciousness of his calamity." In a subsequent letter to the same gentleman (Dec. 24, 1754), he thus feelingly alludes to their unfortunate friend : " Poor dear Collins ! Let me know whether you think it would give him pleasure if I should write to him. I have often been near his state, and therefore have it in great commiseration." Again, April 9, 1756: " What becomes of poor dear Collins ? I wrote him a letter which he never answered. AGE 45.1 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 187 " I am glad of your hindrance in your Spenserian design, 1 yet I would not have it delayed. Three hours a day stolen from sleep and amusement will pro- duce it. Let a Servitors transcribe the quotations, and interleave them with references, to save time. This will shorten the work, and lessen the fatigue. "Can I do any thing to promoting the diploma? I would not be wanting to co-operate with your kindness ; of which, whatever be the effect, I shall be, dear Sir, " Your most obliged, &c. " SAM. JOHNSON." TO THE SAME. " DEAR SIR, [London] Dec. 21, 1754. "I am extremely sensible of the favour done me, both by Mr. Wise and yourself. The book [his Dictionary] cannot, I think, be printed in less than six weeks, nor probably so soon ; and I will keep back the title-page, for such an insertion as you seem to promise me. Be pleased to let me know what money I shall send you for bearing the expense of the affair ; and I will take care that you may have it ready at your hand. "I had lately the favour of a letter from your brother, with some account of poor Collins, for whom I am much concerned. I have a notion, that by very great temperance, or more properly abstinence, he may yet recover. "There is an old English and Latin book of poems by Barclay, called "The Ship of Fools : " at the end of which are a number of Eglogues, so he writes it, from Egloga, which are probably the first in our language. If you cannot find the book, T will get Mr. Dodsley to send it you. " I shall be extremely glad to hear from you again, to know if the affair proceeds. 3 I have mentioned it to none of my friends, for fear of being laughed at for my disappointment. ' ' You know poor Mr. Dodsley has lost his wife ; I believe he is much affected. I hope he will not suffer so much as I yet suffer for the loss of mine. Oljuot- TJ 5' otp.oi ; Ovririi y&p irf-n6vQaiJLev. i I have ever since seemed to myself broken off from mankind : a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild of life, without any direction, or fixed point of view : a gloomy gazer on the world to which I have little relation. Yet I would en- deavour, by the help of you and your brother, to supply the want of closer union, by friendship ; and hope to have long the pleasure of being, dear Sir, " Most affectionately yours, SAM. JOHNSON." I suppose writing is very troublesome to him. That man is no common [loss. The moralists all talk of the uncertainty of fortune, and the transitoriness of beauty; but it is yet more dreadful to consider that the powers of the mind are equally liable to change, that understanding may make its appearance and depart, that it may blaze and expire." See Biographical Memoirs of the late Eeverend Dr. Joseph Warton, by the Keverend John Wool, A.M., 4to., 1806. Mr. Collins, who was the son of a hatter at Chichester, was born December 25, 1720, and was released from the dismal state here so pathetically described, in 1756. MALONK. 1 Of publishing a volume of observations on the best of Spenser's works. It was hindered by my taking pupils in this college. WARTON. a Young students of the lowest lank at Oxford are so called. WARTON. 8 Of the degree at Oxford. WARTON. * This verse is taken from the long lost " Bellerophon," a tragedy by Euripides. It is preserved by Suidas in his Lexicon, Voc. OZ/xot II. p. 666 ; where the reading is, TOI veTt6v&ati.(t>. RKV. C. BURNEY. 188 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1755. In 1755 we behold him to great advantage ; his degree of Master of Arts conferred upon him, his Dictionary published, his correspondence animated, his benevolence exercised. "TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTOX. " DEAR SIR, " [London] Feb. 4, 1755. "I wrote to you some weeks ago, but believe did not direct accurately, and therefore know not whether you had my letter. I would, likewise, write to your brother, but know not where to find him. I now begin to see land, after having wandered, according to Mr. Warburton's phrase, in this vast sea of words. What reception I shall meet with on the shore I know not ; whether the sound of bells, and acclamations of the people, which Ariosto talks of in his last Canto, or a general murmur of dislike, I know not : whether I shall find upon the coast a Calypso that will court, or a Polypheme that will resist. But if Polypheme comes, have at his eye. I hope, however, the critics will let me be at peace ; for though I do not much fear their skill and strength, I am a little afraid of myself, and would not willingly feel so much ill-will in my bosom as literary quarrels are apt to excite. "Mr. Baretti is about a work, for which he is in great want of Crescimbeni, which you may have again when you please. " There is nothing considerable done or doing among us here. We are not, perhaps, as innocent as villagers, but most of us seem to be as idle. I hope, however, you are busy, and should be glad to know what you are doing. " I am, dearest Sir, " Your humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." TO THE SAME. "DEAR SIR, "[London] Feb. 4, 1755. " I received your letter this day, with great sense of the favour that has been done me ;i for which I return my most sincere thanks, and entreat you to pay to Mr. Wise such returns as I ought to make for so much kindness so little deserved. " I sent Mr. Wise the Lexicon, and afterwards wrote to him ; but know not whether he had either the book or letter. Be so good as to contrive to inquire- "But why does my dear Mr. Warton tell me nothing of himself? Where hangs the new volume ? 2 Can I help ? Let not the past labour be lost for want of a little more : but snatch what time you can from the Hall, and the pupils, and the coffee-house, and the parks, and complete your design. " I am, dear Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON." TO THE SAME. " DEAR SIR, [London] Feb. 13, 1755. "I had a letter last week from Mr. Wise, but have yet heard nothing from you, nor know in what state my affair 8 stands ; oi which I beg you to inform me, if you can, to-morrow, by the return of the post. 1 His degree had now past, according to the usual form, the suffrages of the heads of colleges; but was not yet finally granted by the University, it was carried without a single dissentient voice. WABTON. 2 On Spenser. WABTON. 8 Of the degree. WAKTON. ACK 46.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 189 " Mr. Wise sends me word that he has not had the Finnick Lexicon yet, which I sent some time ago ; and if he has it not, you must inquire after it. However, do not let your letter stay for that. " Your brother, who is a better correspondent than you, and not much better, sends me word that your pupils keep you in college ; but do they keep you from writing too ? Let them, at least, give you time to write to, dear Sir, ' ' Your most affectionate, &c. " SAM. JOHNSON." TO THE SAME. " DEAR SIR, " [London] Feb. 1755. " Dr. King 1 was with me a few minutes before your letter; this, however, is the first instance in which your kind intentions to me have ever been frus- trated. 2 I have now the full effect of your care and benevolence ; and am far from thinking it a slight honour, or a small advantage ; since it will put the enjoyment of your conversation more frequently in the power of, dear Sir, ' ' Your most obliged and affectionate, " SAM. JOHNSON." " P.S. I have enclosed a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, 3 which you will read; and, if you like it, seal and give him." As the public will doubtless be pleased to see the whole progress of this well-earned academical honour, 1 shall insert the Chancellor of Oxford's letter to the University, 4 the diploma, and Johnson's letter of thanks to the Vice-Chancellor. " TO THE REV. DR. HUDDESFORD, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford ; to be communicated to the Heads of Houses, and proposed in Convocation. " Grosvenor-street, Feb. 4, J755- " MR. VICE-CHANCELLOR AND GENTLEMEN, " Mr. Samuel Johnson, who was formerly of Pembroke College, having very eminently distinguished himself by the publication of a series of essays, excel- lently calculated to form the manners of the people, and in which the cause of religion and morality is every where maintained by the strongest powers of argument and language ; and who shortly intends to publish a Dictionary of the English Tongue, formed on a new plan, and executed with the greatest labour and judgment ; I persuade myself that 1 shall act agreeable to the senti- ments of the whole University, in desiring that it may be proposed in convocation to confer on him the degree of Master of Arts by diploma, to which I readily give my consent, and am, Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen, " Your affectionate friend and servant, " ARRAN." 1 Principal of Saint Mary Hall, at Oxford. He brought with him the diploma from Oxford. WABTON. 2 1 suppose Johnson means that my kind intention of being the first to give him the good news of the degree being granted was frustrated, because Dr. King brought it before my intelligence arrived. WABTON. 8 Dr. Huddesford, President of Trinity College. WARTON. * Extracted from the Convocation Kegister, Oxford, BOSWKLL. 190 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1755. Term. S** 1 - Hilarii. " DIPLOMA HAGISTRI JOHNSON. 1755. " CANCELLARIUS, Magistri et ScMares Unwersitatis Oxoniensi$ omnibus ad quos hoc presens scriptum pervenerit, salutem in Domino sempiternam. " Cum eum in Jinem gradus academwi a majoribus nostris instituti fuerint, ut viri ingenio et doctrind prcestantes titulis quoque prater cceteros insignirentur ; ciimque vir doctissimus Samuel Johnson e Collegia Pembrochiensi, scriptis suis popularium mores informantibus dudum liter ato orbi innotuerit ; quin et lingua patrue turn ornandte turn stabiliend " It has been long observed that men do not suspect faults which they do not commit ; your own elegance of manners, and punctuality of complaisance, did not suffer you to impute to me that negligence of which I was guilty, and [for] which I hare not since atoned. I received both your letters, and received them with pleasure proportioned to the esteem which so short an acquaintance strongly im- pressed, and which I hope to confirm by nearer knowledge, though I am afraid that gratification will be for a time withheld. " I have, indeed, published my book [his Dictionary], of which I beg to know your father's judgment, and yours ; and 1 have now staid long enough to watch its progress in the world. It has, you see, no patrons, and, I think, has yet had no opponents, except the critics of the coffee-house, whose outcries are soon dispersed into the air, and are thought on no more ; from this, therefore, I am at liberty, and think of taking the opportunity of this interval to make an excursion, and why not then into Lincolnshire ? or, to mention a stronger attraction, why not to dear Mr. Langton ? I will give the true reason, which I know you will ap- prove : I have a mother more than eighty years old, who has counted the days to the publication of my book, in hopes of seeing me ; and to her, if I can dis- engage myself here, I resolve to go. " As I know, dear Sir, that to delay my visit for a reason like this, will not deprive me of your esteem, I beg it may not lessen your kindness. I have very seldom received an offer of friendship which I so earnestly desire to cultivate and mature. I shall rejoice to hear from you, till I can see you, and will see you as soon as I can ; for when the duty that calls me to Lichfield is discharged, my inclination will carry me to Langton. I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or see the stars twinkle, in the company of men to whom Nature does not spread her volumes or utter her voice in vain. " Do not, dear Sir, make the slowness of this letter a precedent for delay, or imagine that I approve the incivility that I have committed ; for I have knowu you enough to love you, and sincerely to wish a further knowledge ; and I assure you once more, that to live in a house that contains such a father, and such a bon, will be accounted a very uncommon degree of pleasure, by, dear Sir, " Your most obliged, "And most humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." " TO THE REVEREND MR. THOMAS WARTON. " DEAR Sl, . " [London] May 13, 1755. " I am grieved that you should think me capable of neglecting yours letters; and beg you will neveradmit any such suspicion again. I purpose to come down next week, if you shall be there; or any other week that shall be more agree- able to you. Therefore let me know. I can stay this visit but a week, but AGE 46.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 195 intend to make preparations for a longer stay next time, being resolved not to lose sight of the University. How goes Apollonius ?* Don't let him be forgotten. Some things of this kind must be done, to keep us up. Pay my compliments to Mr. Wise, and all my other friends. I think to come to Kettel Hall. 2 " I am, Sir, " Your most affectionate, &c. " SAM. JOHNSON." TO THE SAME. " DEAR SIR, " [London] June 10, 1755. " It is strange how many things will happen to intercept every pleasure, though it [be] only that of two friends meeting together. I have promised my- self every day to inform you when you might expect me at Oxford, and have not been able to fix a time. The time, however, is, I think, at last come, and I promise myself to repose in Kettel Hall, one of the first nights of the next week. I am afraid my stay with you cannot be long ; but what is the inference ? We must endeavour to make it cheerful. I wish your brother could meet us, that we might go and drink tea with Mr. Wise in a body. I hope he will be at Oxford, or at his nest of British and Saxon antiquities. 3 I shall expect to see Spenser finished, and many other things begun. Dodsley is gone to visit the Dutch. The Dictionary sells well. The rest of the world goes on as it did. " Dear Sir, " Your most affectionate, &c. " SAM. JOHNSON." TO THE SAME. " DEAR SIR, " [London] June 24, 1755. " To talk of coming to you, and not yet to come, has an air of trifling which I would not willingly have among you ; and which, I believe, you will not willingly impute to me, when I have told you, that since my promise, two of our partners* are dead, and that I was solicited to suspend my excursion till we could recover from our confusion. " I have not laid aside my purpose ; for every day makes me more impatient of staying from you. But death, you know, hears not supplications, nor pays any regard to the convenience of mortals. I hope now to see you next week ; but next week is but another name for to-morrow, which has been noted for pro- mising and deceiving. " I am, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." 1 A translation of Apollonius Rhodius was now intended by Mr. Warton. WABTON. 2 Kettel Hall is an ancient tenement, adjoining to Trinity College, built about the year 1615, by Dr. Ralph Kettel, then President, for the accommodation of commoners of that society. lu this ancient hottel, then in a very ruinous state, about forty years after Johnson had lodged there, Mr. Windham and the present wiiter were accommodated with two chambers, of primitive simplicity, during the installation of the Duke of Portland, as Chancellor of the University of Oxford, in 1793. It has since been converted into a commodious private house. MA LONE. 8 At Ellsfield, a village three miles from Oxford. WARTON. * Booksellers concerned in his Dictionary. WAKTON. L 2 196 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. TO THE SAME. " DEAR SIR, " [London] Aug. 7, 1755. " I told you that among the manuscripts are some tilings of Sir Thomas More. I beg you to pass an hour in looking on them, and procure a transcript of the ten or twenty first lines of each, to he compared with what I have ; that I may know whether they are yet published: The manuscripts are these : '.' Catalogue of Bodl" MS. pag. 122. F. 3. Sir Thomas More. 1. Fall of angels. 2. Creation and fall of mankind. 3. .Determination of the Trinity for the rescue of mankind. 4. Five lectures of our Saviour's passion. 5. Of the institution of the Sacrament, three lectures. 6. How to receive the hlessed body of our Lord sacramentally. 7. Neomenia, the new moon. 8. De tristitia, tetdin, pavore, et oratione "Christi ante captionem ejus. " Catalogue, page 154. Life of Sir Thomas More. Q. Whether Roper's? Page 363. De resignation Magni Sigilli in manus Regis per D. Thomam Morum. Page 364. Mori Dffensio Moritc. " If you procure the young gentleman in the library to write out what you think fit to be written, I will send to Mr. Prince the bookseller to pay him what you shall think proper. " Be pleased to make my compliments to Mr. Wise, and all my friends. ' ' I am, Sir, ' ' Your affectionate, &c. " SAM. JOHNSON." The Dictionary, with a Grammar and History of the English Lan- guage, being now at length published, in two volumes folio, the world contemplated with wonder so stupendous a work achieved by one man, while other countries had thought such undertakings fit only for whole academies. Vast as his powers were, I cannot but think that his ima- gination deceived him, when he supposed that by constant application he might have performed the task in three years. Let the Preface be attentively perused, in which is given, in a clear, strong, and glowing style, a comprehensive, yet particular view of what he had done ; and it will be evident, that the time he employed upon it was comparatively short. I am unwilling to swell my book with long quotations from what is in everybody's hands, and I believe there are few prose composi- tions in the English language that are read with more delight, or are more impressed upon the memory, than that preliminary discourse. One of its excellencies has always struck me with peculiar admiration ; I mean the perspicuity with which he has expressed abstract scientific notions. As an instance of this, I shall quote the following sentence: " When the radical idea branches out into parallel ramifications, how can a consecutive series be formed of senses in their own nature colla- teral ?" We have here an example of what has been often said, and I believe with justice, that there is for every thought a certain nice adap- tation of words which none other could equal, and which, when a man has been so fortunate as to hit, he has attained, in that particular case, the perfection of language. AGE 46.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 197 The extensive reading which was absolutely necessary for the accu- mulation of authorities, and which alone may account for Johnson's retentive mind being enriched with a very large and various store of knowledge and imagery, must have occupied several years. The Preface furnishes an eminent instance of a double talent, of which Johnson was fully conscious. Sir Joshua Reynolds heard him say, " There arc two things which I am confident I can do very well : one is an introduction to any literary work, stating what it is to contain, and how it should be executed in the most perfect manner : the other is a conclusion, showing, from various causes, why the execution has not been equal to what the author promised to himself and to the public." How should puny scribblers be abashed and disappointed, when they find him displaying a perfect theory of lexicographical excellence, yet at the same time candidly and modestly allowing that he "had not satis- fied his own expectations." Here was a fair occasion for the exercise of Johnson's modesty, when he was called upon to compare his own arduous performance, not with those of other individuals, (in which case his inflexible regard to truth would have been violated had he affected diffidence,) but with speculative perfection ; as he, who can outstrip all his competitors in the race, may yet be sensible of his deficiency when he runs against time. Well might he say, that " the English Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned ;" for he told me, that the only aid which he received was a paper containing twenty etymolo- gies, sent to him by a person then unknown, who, he was afterwards informed, was Dr. Pearce, Bishop of Rochester. The etymologies, though they exhibit learning and judgment, are not, I think, entitled to the first praise amongst the various parts of this immense work. The definitions have always appeared to me such astonishing proofs of acute- ness of intellect and precision of language, as indicate a genius of the highest rank. This it is which marks the superior excellence of Johnson's Dictionary over others equally, or even more voluminous, and must have made it a work of much greater mental labour than mere Lexicons, or Word-Books, as the Dutch call them. They, who will make the experiment of trying how they can define a few words of what- (ver nature, will soon be satisfied of the unquestionable justice of this observation, which. I can assure my readers is founded upon much study, and upon communication with more minds than my own. A few of his definitions must be admitted to be erroneous. Thus, Windward and Leewaid, though directly of opposite meaning, are defined identically the same way ;* as to which inconsiderable specks it is enough to observe, that his Preface announces that he was aware there might be many such in so immense a work ; nor was he at all 1 He owns in his Preface the deficiency of the technical part of his work ; and ho said, he should be much obliged to me for definitions of musical terms for his next edition, which he did not live to superintend. BUHNEV. 198 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. [1755. disconcerted when an instance was pointed out to him. A lady once asked him how he came to define Pastern the knee of a horse ; instead of making an elaborate defence, as she expected, he at once answered, " Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance." His definition of Network has been often quoted with sportive malignity, as obscuring a thing in itself very plain. But to these frivolous censures no other answer is necessary than that with which we are furnished by his own Preface : "To explain, requires the use of terms less abstruse than that which is to be explained, and such terms cannot always be found ; for as nothing can be proved but by supposing something intuitively known, and evident without proo so nothing can be defined but by the use of words too plain to admit of definition. Sometimes easier words are changed into harder ; as, burial, into sepulture or interment; dry, into d esiccative ; dryness, into siccity or aridity ; fit, into paroxysm: for, the easiest word, whatever it be, can never be translated into one more easy." His introducing his own opinions, and even prejudices, under general definitions of words, while at the same time the original meaning of the words is not explained, as his Tory, WJiig, Pension, Oats, Excise, 1 and a few more, cannot be fully defended, and must be placed to the account of capricious and humorous indulgence. Talking to me upon this subject when we were at Ashbourne in 1777, he mentioned a still stronger instance of the predominance of his private feelings in the composition of this work, than any now to be found in it. " You know, Sir, Lord Gower forsook the old Jacobite interest. When I came to the word renegado, after telling that it meant ' one who deserts to the enemy, a revolter,' 1 added, Sometimes we say a Go WEB. Thus it went to the press ; but the printer had more wit than I, and struck it out." 1 He thus defines Excise : " A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom Excise is paid." The Commissioners of Excise being offended by this severe reflection, consulted Mr. Murray, then Attorney- General, to know whether redress could be legally obtained. I wished to have procured for my readers a copy of the opinion which he gave, and which may now be justly considered as history ; but the mysterious secrecy of office, it seems, would not permit it. I am, however, informed, by very good authority, that its import was, that the passage might be considered as actionable ; but that it would be more prudent in the board not to prosecute. Johnson never made the smallest alteration in ihis passage. We find he still retained his early prejudice against Excise; for in "The Idler," No. 65, there is the following very extraordinary paragraph : " The authenticity of Clarendon ' history, though printed with the sanction of one of the first Universities of the world, had not an unexpected manuscript been happily discovered, would, with the help of factious credulity, have been brought into question, by the two lowest of all human beings, a scribbler for a party, and a commissioner of Excise." The persons to whom he alludes were Mr. John Oldmixon, and George Ducket, Esq. BOSWELL. The opinion of Mr. Murray (afterwards Lord Mansfield) has since been obtained from the Excise Office, by Mr. Croker. It is in substance as stated in Boswell's Note. Mr. Murray says, " I am of opinion that it is a libel ; but under all the circumstances, I hould think it better to give him an opportunity of altering his definition ; and in case he do not, to threaten him with an information. 29 Nov. 1756." Whether such a threat was held out to Johnson is not known. Mr. Croker states, " Probably not ; but Johnson in his own octavo abridgment of his Dictionary, had the good sense to omit the more offensive parts of the definition of both Excise and Pension." ED. Acs. 46.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 199 Let it, however, be remembered, that this indulgence does not display itself only in sarcasm towards others, but sometimes in playful allusion to the notions commonly entertained of his own laborious task. Thus : " Grub-street, the name of a street in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems ; whence any mear production -is called O rub-street." ''Lexicographer, a writer of dic- tionaries, a harmless drudge." At the time when he was concluding his very eloquent Preface, Johnson's mind appears to have been in such a state of depression, that we cannot contemplate without wonder the vigorous and splendid thoughts which so highly distinguish that performance. "I," says he, "may surely be contented without the praise of perfection, which if I could obtain in this gloom of solitude, what would it avail me ? I have pro- tracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave ; and success and miscarriage are empty sounds. I there- fore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise." That this indifference was rather a temporary than an habitual feeling, appears, I think, from his letters to Mr. Warton ; and however he may have been affected for the moment, certain it is that the honours which his great work procured him, both at home and abroad, were very grateful to him. His -friend, the Earl of Cork and Orrery, being at Florence, presented it totlneAcademiardella Crusca. That Academy sent Johnson their Vocabulorio, and the French Academy sent him their Dictionnaire, which Mr. Langton had the pleasure to convey to him. It must undoubtedly seem strange, that the conclusion of his Preface should be expressed in terms so desponding, when it is considered that the author was then only in his forty-sixth year. But we must ascribe its gloom to that miserable dejection of spirits to which he was con- stitutionally subject, and which was aggravated by the death of his wife two years before. I have heard it ingeniously observed by a lady of rank and elegance, that " his melancholy was then at its meridian." It pleased God to grant him almost thirty years of life after this time ; and once, when he was in a placid frame of mind, he was obliged to own to me that he had enjoyed happier days, and had many more friends, since that gloomy hour, than before. It is a sad saying, that " most of those whom he wished to please had sunk into the grave ;" and his case at forty-five was singularly un- happy, unless the circle of his friends was very narrow. I have often thought, that as longevity is generally desired, and I believe, generally expected, it would be wise to be continually adding to the number of our friends, that the loss of some may be supplied by others. Friendship, " the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be thus continually renewed ; and it is consolatory to think, that although we can seldom add what will equal the generous first growths of our youth, yet friend- 200 B.OSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i/os. ship becomes insensibly old in much less time than is commonly ima- gined, and not many years are required to make it very mellow and pleasant. Warmth will, no doubt, make a considerable difference. Mui of affectionate temper and bright fancy will coalesce a great deal sooner than those who are cold and dull. The proposition which I have now endeavoured to illustrate was, at a subsequent period of his life, the opinion of Johnson himself. He said to Sir Joshua Reynolds, " If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair." The celebrated Mr. Wilkes, whose notions and habits of life were very opposite to his, but who was ever eminent for literature and viva city, sallied forth with a little jeu d' esprit upon the following passage in his Grammar of the English Tongue, prefixed to the Dictionary : " H seldom, perhaps never, begins any but the first syllable." In an essay printed in the " Public Advertiser," this lively writer enumerated many instances in opposition to this remark : for example, " The author of this observation must be a man of quick uppre-hension, and of a most compre-hensive genius. " The position is undoubtedly expressed with too much latitude. This light sally, we may suppose, made no great impression on our lexicographer ; for we find that he did not alter the passage till many years afterwards. 1 He had the pleasure of being treated in a very different manner by his old pupil Mr. Garrick, in the following complimentary epigram : f " ON JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY. " Talk of war with a Briton, he'll boldly advance, That one English soldier will beat ten of France ; Would we alter the boast from the sword to the pen, Our odds are still greater, still greater our men ; In the deep mines of science though Frenchmen may toil, Can their strength be compar'd to Locke, Newton, and Boyle ? Let them rally their heroes, send forth all their pow'rs, Their verse-men and prose-men, then match them with ours ! First Shakspeare and Milton, like Gods in the fight, Have put their whole drama and epic to flight ; In satires, epistles, and odes, would they cope, Their numbers retreat before Dryden and Pope ; And Johnson, well-arm'd, like a hero of yore, Has beat forty French^ and will beat forty more ! " 1 In the third edition, published in 1773, he left out the words perhapt never, anil added the following paragraph : " It sometimes begins middle or final syllables in words compounded, as block-head, or derived from the Latin, as compre-keticled." BOSWKLL 2 The number of the French Academy employed in settling their language. BOSWELL. AGE 46.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 201 Johnson this year gave at once a proof of his benevolence, quickness of apprehension, and admirable art of composition, in the assistance which he gave to Mr. Zachariah Williams, father of the blind lady whom he had humanely received under his roof. Mr. Williams had followed the profession of physic in Wales ; but having a very strong propensity to the study of natural philosophy, had made many ingenious advances towards a discovery of the longitude, and repaired to London in hopes of obtain- ing the great parliamentary reward. He failed of success ; but Johnson having made himself master of his principles and experiments, wrote for him a pamphlet, published in quarto, with the following title : " An Account of an Attempt to ascertain the Longitude at Sea, by an exact Theory of the Variation of the Magnetical Needle ; with a Table of the Variations at the most remarkable Cities in Europe, from the year 1K60 to 1800."f To diffuse it more extensively, it was accompanied with an Italian translation on the opposite page, which it is supposed was the work of Signor Baretti, 1 an Italian of considerable literature, who having come to England a few years before, had been employed in the capacity both of a language master and an author, and formed an intimacy with Dr. Johnson. This pamphlet Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library. 2 On a blank leaf of it is pasted a paragraph cut out of a newspaper, containing an account of the death and character of Williams, plainly written by Johnson. 3 In July this year he had formed some scheme of mental improve- ment, the particular purpose of which does not appear. But we find in his " Prayers and Meditations," p. 25, a prayer entitled, " On the Study of Philosophy, as an instrument of living ;" and after it follows a note, " This study was not pursued." On the 13th of the same month he wrote in his Journal the following scheme of life, for Sunday : " Having lived," as he with tenderness of conscience expresses himself, "not without an habitual reverence for the Sabbath, yet without that attention to its religious duties which Chris- tianity requires ;" "1. To rise early, and in order to it, to go to sleep early on Saturday. 1 This ingenious foreigner, who was a native of Piedmont, came to England about the year 1753, and (lied in London, May 5, 1789. A very candid and judicious account of him and his works, beginning with the words '' So much asperity," and written, it is believed, by a distinguished dignitary in the Church, may be found in the "Gentleman's Magazine," for that year, p. 469. MA LONE. 2 See note by Mr. Warton, pp. 185, 186, from which it appears that " 12th" in the next note means the 12th of July, 1755. MALONE. 8 " On Saturday the 12th about twelve at night, died Mr. Zachariah Williams, in his eighty -third year, after an illness of eight months, in full possession of his mental facul- ties. He has been long known to philosophers and seamen for his skill in magnetism, and ;his proposal to ascertain the longitude by a peculiar system of the variation of the compass. He was a man of industry indefatigable, of conversation inoffensive, patient of adversity and disease, eminently sober, temperate, and pious; and worthy to have ended life with better fortune." BOSWKLL. 202 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [nsa. " 2. To use some extraordinary devotion in the morning. "3. To examine the tenor of my life, and particularly the last week ; and to mark my advances in religion, or recession from it. "4. To read the Scripture methodically with such helps as are at hand. "5. To go to church twice. " 6. To read books of Divinity, either speculative or practical. "7. To instruct my family. "3. To wear off by meditation any worldly soil contracted in the week." CHAPTER IX. 1756 1758. JOHNSON'S FAVOURABLE JUDGMENT OF BOOKSELLERS WRITES IN "UNIVERSAL VISITEK" AND " LITERARY MAGAZINE" DEFENCE OF TEA, AGAINST JONA& HANWAY DEFENCE OF ADMIRAL BYNG ANSWER TO SOAME JENYNS ISSUE OF PROPOSALS FOR EDITION OF SHAKSPKARE DECLINES OFFKR OF PREFERMENT IN THE CHURCH LETTERS TO WARTON, LANGTON, &c. BURNEY'S INTERVIEW WITH JOHNSON IN GOUGH SQUARE. IN 1756 Johnson found that the great fame of his Dictionary had not set him above the necessity of " making provision for the day that was passing over him" 1 No royal or noble patron extended a muni- ficent hand to give independence to the man who had conferred stability on the language of his country. We may feel indignant that there should have been such unworthy neglect ; but we must, at the same time, con- gratulate ourselves, when we consider, that to this very neglect, operating to rouse the natural indolence of his constitution, we owe many valuable productions, which otherwise, perhaps, might never have appeared. He had spent, during the progress of the work, the money for which he had contracted to write his Dictionary. We have seen that the 1 He was so far from being " set above the necessity of making provision for the day that was pa.s>ing over him," that he appears to have been in this year in great pecuniary distress, having been arrested for debt; on which occasion his friend, Samuel Richardson, became his surety See a letter from Johnson to him, on that subject, dated Feb. 19, 1756. Richardson's " Correspondence," vol. v. p. 283. MALONE. 204 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHSSON. [1756. reward of his labour was only fifteen hundred and seventy-five pounds ; and when the expense of amanuenses and paper, and other articles, are deducted, his clear profit was very inconsiderable. I once said to him, " I am sorry, Sir, you did not get more for your Dictionary." His answer was, " I am sorry too. But it was very well. The booksellers are generous liberal-minded men." He, upon all occasions, did ample justice to their character in this respect. He considered them as the patrons of literature ; and, indeed, although they have eventually been considerable gainers by his Dictionary, it is to them that we owe its having been undertaken and carried through at the risk of great expense, for they were not absolutely sure of being indemnified. On the first day of this year 1 we find from his private devotions, that he had then recovered from sickness [Pr. and Med.], and in February, that his eye was restored to its use [Pr. and Med. p. 27]. The pious gratitude with which he acknowledges mercies upon every occa- sion is very edifying ; as is the humble submission which he breathes, when it is the will of his heavenly Father to try him with afflictions. As such dispositions become the state of man here, and are the true effects of religious discipline we cannot but venerate in Johnson one of the most exercised minds that our holy religion hath ever formed. If there be any thoughtless enough to suppose such exercise the weakness of a great understanding, let thorn look up to Johnson, and be convinced that what he so earnestly practised must have a rational foundation. His works this year were, an abstract or epitome, in octavo, of his folio Dictionary, and a few essays in a monthly publication, entitled "The Universal Visitor. " Christopher Smart, with whose uirmppy vacillation of mind he sincerely sympathised, was one of the stated undertakers of this miscellany ; and it was to assist him that Johnson sometimes employed his pen. All the essays marked with two asterisks have been ascribed to him ; but I am confident, from internal evidence, that of these, neither " The Life of Chaucer," " Reflections on the State of Portugal," nor an " Essay on Architecture," were written by him. I am equally confident, upon the same evidence, that he wrote, " Further Thoughts on Agriculture ;"f being the sequel of a very inferior essay on the same subject, and which, though carried on as if by the same hand, is both in thinking and expression so far above it, and so strikingly peculiar, as to leave no doubt of its true parent ; and that he also wrote "A Dissertation on the State of Literature and Authors, "f and "A Dissertation on the Epitaphs written by Pope."* The last of 1 In April in this year, Johnson wrote a letter to Dr. Joseph Warton, in consequence of having read a few pages of that gentleman's newly published " Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope." The only paragraph in it that respects Johnson's personal history is this : " For my part, I have not lately done much. I have been ill in the winter, and my eye has been inflamed ; but I please myself with the hopes of doing many things, with which I have long pleased and deceived myself!" Memoirs of Dr. J. Warton, &c. 4to. 1806. MALONK. BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 205 these, indeed, he afterwards added to his " Idler." "Why the essays truly written by him are marked in the same manner with some which he did not write, I cannot explain ; but with deference to those who have ascribed to him the three essays Avhich I have rejected, they want all the characteristical marks of Johnsonian composition. He engaged also to superintend and contribute largely to another monthly publication, entitled " The Literary Magazine, or Universal Review ;"* the first number of which came out in May this year. What were his emoluments from this undertaking, and what other writers were employed in it, I have not discovered. He continued to write in it, with intermissions, till the fifteenth number ; and I think that he never gave better proofs of the force, acuteness, and vivacity of his mind, than in this miscellany, whether we consider his original essays, or his reviews ol the works of others. The "Preliminary Address"f to the public, is a proof how this great man could embellish, with the graces of superior composition, even so trite a thing as the plan of a magazine. His original essays are, " An Introduction to the Political State of Great Britain ;"f " Remarks on the Militia Bill ;"f " Observations on his Britannic Majesty's Treaties with the Empress of Russia and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel ;"f " Observations on the Present State of Affairs ;'"f and, "Memoirs of Frederick III., King of Prussia. ' : f In all these he displays extensive political knowledge and sagacity, expressed with uncommon energy and perspicuity ; without any of those words which he sometimes took a pleasure in adopting, in imitation of Sir Thomas Brown ; of whose " Christian Morals" he this year gave an edition, with his " Life"* prefixed to it, which is one of Johnson's best biographical performances. In one instance only in these essays has he indulged his Brownism. Dr. Robertson, the historian, mentioned it to me, as having at once convinced him that Johnson was the author of the " Memoirs of the King of Prussia." Speaking of the pride which the old king, the father of his hero, took in being master of the tallest regiment in Europe, he says, " To review this towering regiment was his daily pleasure ; and to perpetuate it was so much his care, that when he met a tall woman he immediately commanded one of his Tita- nian retinue to marry her, that they might propagate procerity." For this Anglo-Latian word procerity, Johnson had, however, the authority of Addison. His reviews are of the following books : " Birch's History of the Royal Society;"! "Murphy's Gray's-Inn Journal ;"f "Warton's Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope," vol. i. ;t "Hampton's Translation of Polybius ; "f " Blackwell's Memoirs of the Court of Augustus ; "f " Russell's Natural History of Aleppo ; "f " Sir Isaac Newton's Arguments in Proof of a Deity ;"f "Borlase's History of the Isles of Scilly ; "f " Holme's Experiments on Bleaching ; "f " Browne's Christian Morals ; "f " Hales on Distilling Sea-Water, Ventilators in 206 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. [nso. Ships, and curing an ill Taste in Milk;"t "Lucas's Essay on Waters ;"t " Keith's Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops ;"f " Browne's History of Jamaica;"! "Philosophical Transactions," vol. xlix. ;f " Mrs. Lennox's Translation of Sully 's Memoirs ;' * " Miscellanies, hy Elizabeth Harrison ;"t "Evans's Map and Account of the Middle Colonies in America ;"f "Letter on the Case of Admiral Byng ;"* "Appeal to the People concerning Admiral Byng;"* " Han way's Eight Days' Journey, and Essay on Tea ;"* " The Cadet, a Military Treatise ;"f "Some further Particulars in Relation to the Case of Admiral Byng, by a Gentleman of Oxford ;"* " The Conduct of the Ministry relating to the present War impartially examined ;"f " A Free Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil."* All these, from internal evidence, were written by Johnson : some of them I know he avowed, and have marked them with an asterisk accordingly. Mr. Thomas Davies, indeed, ascribed to him the Review of Mr. Burke' s " Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful ;" and Sir John Hawkins, with equal discernment, has inserted it in his collection of Johnson's works : whereas it has no resemblance to Johnson's com- position, and is well known, to have been written by Mr. Murphy, who has acknowledged it to me and many others. It is worthy of remark, in justice to Johnson's political character, which has been misrepresented as abjectly submissive to power, that his " Observations on the present State of Affairs," glow with as animated a spirit of constitutional liberty as can be found any where. Thus he begins : " The time is now come, in which every Englishman expects to be informed of the national affairs ; and in which he has a right to have that expectation gratified. For, whatever may be urged by Ministers, or those whom vanity or interest make the followers of ministers, con- cerning the necessity of confidence in our governors, and the presump- tion of prying with profane eyes into the recesses of policy, it is evident that this reverence can be claimed only by counsels jet unexecuted, and projects suspended in deliberation. But when a design has ended in mis- carriage or success, when every eye and every ear is witness to general discontent, or general satisfaction, it is then a proper time to disentangle confusion and illustrate obscurity ; to show by what causes every event was produced, and in what effects it is likely to terminate ; to lay down with distinct particularity what rumour always huddles in general excla- mation, or perplexes by indigested narratives ; to show whence hap- piness or calamity is derived, and whence it may be expected ; and honestly to lay before the people what inquiry can gather of the past, and conjecture can estimate of the future." Here we have it assumed as an incontrovertible principle, that in this country the people are the superintendents of the conduct and measures of those by whom Government is administered ; of the beneficial effect of which the present reign afforded an illustrious example, when addresses AOE 47.j BOSWEI.L'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 207 from all parts of the kingdom controlled an audacious attempt to intro- duce a new power subversive of the crown. 1 A still stronger proof of his patriotic spirit appears in his review of an "Essay on Waters, by Dr. Lucas," 8 of whom, after describing him as a man well known to the world for his daring detiance of power, when he thought it exerted on the side of wrong, he thus speaka : ' ' The Irish ministers drove him from his native country by a proclamation, in which they charge him with crimes of which they never intended to be called to the proof, and oppressed him by methods equally irresistible by guilt and inno- cence. Let the man thus driven into exile for having been the friend of his country, be received in every other place as a confessor of liberty ; and let the tools of power be taught in time, that they may rob but cannot impoverish." Some of his reviews in this Magazine are very short accounts of the pieces noticed, and I mention them only that Dr. Johnson's opinion of the works may be known ; but many of them are examples of elaborate criticism in the most masterly style. In his review of the " Memoirs of the Court of Augustus," he has the resolution to think and speak from his own mind, regardless of the cant transmitted from age to age, in praise of the ancient Romans. Thus : "I know not why any one but a schoolboy in his declamation should whine over the Common- wealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest ol mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt ; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of them- selves, and of one another." Again "A people who, while they were poor, robbed mankind; and as soon they became rich, robbed one another." In his review of the Miscellanies in prose and verse published by Elizabeth Harrison, but written by many hands, he gives an eminent proof at once of his orthodoxy and candour : " The authors of the essays in prose seem generally to have imitated, or tried to imitate, the copiousness and luxuriance of Mrs. liowe. This, however, ia tou all their praise ; they have laboured to add to her brightness of imagery, her purity of sentiments. The poets have had Dr. Watts before their eyes ; a writer who, if he stood not in the first class of genius, compensated that defect by a ready application of his powers to the promotion of piety. The attempt to em- ploy the ornaments of romance in the decoration of religion, was, I think, first made by Mr. Boyle's 'Martyrdom of Theodora; ' but Boyle's philosophical stu- dies did not allow him time for the cultivation of style ; and the completion of the great design was reserved for Mrs. Kowe. Dr. Watts was one of the first who taught the Dissenters to write and speak like other men, by showing them that elegance might consist with piety. They would have both done honour to a better society, for they had that charity which might well make their failings be forgotten, and with which the whole Christian world wish for communion. They were pure from all the heresies of an age, to which every opinion is become a iThe allusion here is to Mr. Fox's India Bill. ED. 2 Dr. Lucas was a medical man, resident in Dublin, who became popular by writing and speaking against the Government, ED. 208 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [17.56. favourite, that the universal church has hitherto detested ! This praise the general interest of mankind requirea to be given to writers who please and do not corrupt, who instruct and do not weary. But to them all human eulogies are vain, whom I believe applauded by angels, and numbered with the just." His defence of tea against Mr. Jonas Han way's violent attack upon that elegant and popular beverage, shows how very well a man of genius can write upon the slightest subject, when he writes, as the Italians say, con amore ; I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infu- sion of that fragrant leaf than Johnson. The quantities which he drank of it at all hours were so great that his nerves must have been uncom- monly strong, not to have been extremely relaxed by such an intemperate use of it. He assured me that he never felt the least inconvenience from it, which is a proof that the fault of his constitution was rather a too great tension of fibres, than the contrary. Mr. Hanway wrote an angry answer to Johnson's review of his "Essay on Tea," and Johnson, after a full and deliberate pause, made a reply to it ; the only instance, I be- lieve, in the whole course of his life, when he condescended to oppose any thing that was written against him. I suppose when he thought of any of his little antagonists, he was ever justly aware of the high sentiment of Ajax in Ovid : " Jste ttilit prethim jam mine certaminis hujus, Qui, cum rictus erit, mecum certasse feretur." 1 But, indeed, the good Mr. Hanway laid himself so open to ridicule, that J ohnson's animadversions upon his attack were chiefly to make sport. The generosity with which he pleads the cause of Admiral Byng, is highly to the honour of his heart and spirit. Though Voltaire affects to be witty upon the fate of that unfortunate officer, observing that he was shot "pour encourager les autres," the nation has long been satis- fied that his life was sacrificed to the political fervour of the times. In the vault belonging to the Torrington family, in the church of Southill, in Bedfordshire, there is the following Epitaph upon his monument, which I have transcribed : "TO THE PERPETUAL DISGRACE OF PUBLIC JUSTICE, THE HONOURABLE JOHN BYNG, ESQ. ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE, FELL A MARTYR TO POLITICAL PERSECUTION, MARCH 14, IN THE YEAR 1757; WHEN BRAVERY AND LOYALTY WERE INSUFFICIENT SECURITIES FOR THE LIFE AND HONOUR OF A NAVAL OFFICER." 1 Losing, he wins, because his name will be Ennobled by defeat, who durst contend with me. DBYDKX. AGE 47 ] B03WELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 209 Johnson's most exquisite critical essay in the " Literary Magazine," and indeed any where, is his review of Soame Jenyns's "Inquiry into the Origin of Evil." Jenyns was possessed of lively talents, and a style eminently pure and easy, and could very happily play with a light subject, either in prose or verse ; but when he speculated on that most difficult and excruciating question, the Origin of Evil, he "ventured far beyond his depth," and, accordingly, was exposed by Johnson, both with acute argument and brilliant wit. I remember when the late Mr. Bicknell's humorous performance, entitled "The Musical Travels of Joel Collyer" in which a slight attempt is made to ridicule Johnson, was ascribed to Soame Jenyns, " Ha ! " said Johnson, "I thought I had given him enough of it." His triumph over Jenyns is thus described by my friend Mr. Cour- tenay in his "Poetical Review of the literary and moral character of Dr. Johnson ;" a performance of such merit, that had I not been honoured with a very kind and partial notice in it, I should echo the sentiments of men of the first taste loudly in its praise : " When specious sophists with presumption scan The source of evil hidden still from man ; Revive Arabian tales, and vainly hope To rival St. John, and his scholar Pope : Though metaphysics spread the gloom of night, By reason's star he guides our aching sight ; The bounds of knowledge marks, and points the way To pathless wastes, where wilder'd sages stray ; Where, like a farthing link-hoy, Jenyns stands, And the dim torch drops from his feeble hands." * 1 Some time after Dr. Johnson's death, there appeared in the newspapers and maga- zines an illiberal :md petulant attack upon him, in the form of an Epitaph, under the name of Mr. Soam-i Fenyiis, very unworthy of that gentleman, who had quietly submitted to the critical lash *liile Johnson lived. It assumed, as characteristics of him, all the vulgar circumstances ot abuse which had circulated amongst the ignorant. It was an unbecoming indulgence of puny resentment, at a time when he himself was at a very advanced age, and had a near prospect of descending to the grave. I was truly sorry for it, for he was then become an avowed, and (as my Lord Bishop of London, who had a serious conversation with him on the subject, assures me) a sincere Christian. He could not expect that Johnson's numerous friends would patiently bear to have the memory of their master stigmatized by no mean pen, but that, at least, one would be found to retort. Accordingly, this unjust and sarcastic Epitaph was met in the same public field by an answer, in terms by no means soft, and such as wanton provocation only could justify:- -EPITAPH, " Prepared for a creature not quite dead yet. "Here lies a little, ugly, nauseous elf, Who.judging only from its wretched self, Feebly attempted, petulant and vain, The 'Origin of Evil' to explain. A mighty Genius at this elf displeas'd, With a strong critic grasp the urchin squeez'd. For thirty years its coward spleen it kept, Till in the dust the mighty Genius slept: Then stunk and fretted iu expiring snuff, And blink' d at JOHNSON with its last poor puff" BOSWBLL. 210 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. [mo. This year Air. William Payne, brother of the respectable bookseller of that name, published "An Introduction to the Game of Draughts," to which Johnson contributed a Dedication to the Earl of Rochford,* and a Preface,* both of which are admirably adapted to the treatise to which they are prefixed. Johnson, I believe, did not play at draughts after leaving College, by which he suffered ; for it would have afforded him an innocent, soothing relief from the melancholy which distressed him so often. I have heard him regret that he had not learned to play at cards ; and the game of draughts we know is peculiarly calculated to fix the attention without straining it. There is a composure and gravity in draughts which insensibly "tranquillises the mind ; and, ac- cordingly, the Dutch are fond of it, as they are of smoking, of the sedative influence of which, though he himself never smoked, he had a high opinion. 1 Besides, there is in draughts some exercise of the facul- ties; and, accordingly, Johnson wishing to dignify the subject in his Dedication with what is most estimable in it, observes, " Triflers may find or make anything a trifle ; but since it is the great characteristic of a wise man to see events in their causes, to obviate consequences, and ascertain contingencies, your lordship will think nothing a trifle by which the mind is inured to caution, foresight, and circumspection." As one of the little occasional advantages which he did not disdain to take by his pen, as a man whose profession was literature, he this year accepted of a guinea from Mr. Robert Dodsley, for writing the introduction to "The London Chronicle," an evening newspaper; and even in so slight a performance exhibited peculiar talents. This Chronicle still subsists, and from what I observed, when I was abroad, has a more extensive circulation upon the continent than any of the English news- papers. It was constantly read by Johnson himself ; and it is but just to observe, that it has all along been distinguished for good sense, accu- racy, moderation, and delicacy. Another instance of the same nature has been communicated to me by the Reverend Dr. Thomas Campbell, who has done himself con- siderable credit by his own writings. " Sitting with Dr. Johnson one morning alone, he asked me if I had known Dr. Madden, who was author of the premium-scheme 2 in Ireland. On my answering in the 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit p. 48. B In the. College of Dublin, four quarterly Examinations of the students are held in each year, in various prescribed branches of literature and science ; and premiums, ron- eisting of books impressed with the College Arms, are adjudged by examiners (composed generally of the Junior Fellows), to those who have most distinguished themselves in the several classes, after a very rigid trial, which lasts two days. This regulation, which has subsisted about seventy years, has been attended with the most beneficial effects. Dr. Samuel Madden was the first proposer of premiums in that University. They were instituted about the year 1734. He was also one of the founders of the Dublin Society for the encouragement of arts and agriculture. In addition to the premiums which were and are still annually given by that society for this purpose, Dr. Madden gave others from his own fund. Hence he was usually called " Premium Madden." MA LONE. AGE 47.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 211 affirmative, and also that I had for some years lived in his neighbour- hood, BOSWELL *S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 215 them warm. David and Doddy 1 have had a new quarrel, and, I think, cannot conveniently quarrel any more. "Cleone" was well acted by all the characters, but Bellamy left nothing to be desired. I went the first night, and supported it as well as I might ; for Doddy, you know, is ray patron, and I would not desert him. The play was very well received. Doddy, after the danger was over," went every night to the stage-side, and cried at the distress of poor Cleone. " I have left off housekeeping, and therefore made presents of the game which you were pleased to send me. The pheasant I gave to Mr. Richardson, 2 the bustard to Dr. Lawrence, and the pot I placed with Miss Williams, to be eaten by myself. She desires that her compliments and good wishes may be accepted by the family ; and I make the same request for myself. " Mr. Reynolds has within these few days raised his price to twenty guineas a head, and Misss is much employed in miniatures. I know not any body [else] whose prosperity has increased since you left them. " Murphy is to have his "Orphan of China" acted next month; and is therefore, I suppose, happy. I wish I could tell you of any great good to which I was approaching, but at present my prospects do not much delight me ; how- ever, I am always pleased when I find that you, dear Sir, remember, " Your affectionate, humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." " TO MR. BURNEY, AT LYNNE, NORFOLK. " SIR, " London, March 8, 1758. " Your kindness is so great, and my claim to any particular regard from you so little, that I am at a loss how to express my sense of your favours ; 4 but I am, indeed, much pleased to be thus distinguished by you. " I am ashamed to tell you that my Shakspeare will not be out so soon as I promised my subscribers ; but I did not promise them more than I promised myself. It will, however, be published before summer. " I have sent you a bundle of proposals, which, I think, do not profess more than I have hitherto performed. I have printed many of the plays, and have hitherto left very few passages unexplained ; where I am quite at loss, I confess my ignorance, which is seldom done by commentators. " I have, likewise, enclosed receipts; not that I mean to impose upon you the trouble of pushing them with more importunity than may seem proper, but that you may rather have more than fewer than you shall want. The pro- posals you will disseminate as there shall be an opportunity. I once printed them at length in the ' Chronicle, ' and some of my friends (I believe Mr. Murphy, who formerly wrote the 'Gray's- Inn Journal' introduced them with a splendid encomium. " Since the ' Life of Browne,' I have been a little engaged, from time to time, in the ' Literary Magazine, ' but not very lately. I have not the collec- tion by me, and therefore cannot draw out a catalogue of my own parts, but will 1 Mr. Dodsley, the author of " Cleone." BOSWELL. 2 Mr. Samuel Richardson, author of " Clarissa. BOSWELL. 8 Miss Reynolds, Sir Joshua's sister. ED. 4 This letter was an answer to one, in which was enclosed a draft for the payment of some subscriptions to his Shakspeare. BOSWELL. 216 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1758. do it, and send it. Do not buy them, for I will gather all those that have any thing of mine in them, and send them to Mrs. Burney, as a small token of gratitude for the regard which she is pleased to bestow upon me. " I am, Sir, your most obliged and most humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." Dr. Burney has kindly favoured me with the following memorandum, which I take the liberty to insert in his own genuine easy style. I love to exhibit sketches of my illustrious friend by various eminent hands. " Soon after this, Mr. Burney, during a visit to the capital, had an interview with him in Gough-square, where he dined and drank tea with him, and was introduced to the ac- quaintance of Mrs. Williams. After dinner, Mr. Johnson proposed to Mr. Burney to go up with him into his garret, which being accepted, he there found about five or six Greek folios, a deal writing-desk, and a chair and a half. Johnson giving to his guest the entire seat, tottered himself on one with only three legs and one arm. Here he gave Mr. Burney Mis. Williams's history, and showed him some volumes of Shakspeare already printed, to Upon Mr. Burney 's opening the first volume, at the ' Merchant of Venice' he observed to him, that he seemed to be more severe on Warburton than Theobald. ' poor Tib !' said Johnson,' 'he was ready knocked down to my hands; Warburton stands between me and him." ' But, Sir,' said Mr. Burney, 'you'll have Warburton upon your bones, wont you ? ' No, Sir ; he'll not come out : he'll only growl in his den.' ' But you think, Sir, that Warbur- ton is a superior critic to Theobald ?' ' 0, Sir, he'd make two-and-fifty Theobalds, cut into slices ! The worst of Warburton is, that he has a rage for saying something, when there's nothing to be said.' Mr. Burney then asked him whether he had seen the letter which Warburton had written in answer to a pamphlet, addressed, ' To the most impudent Man alive.' He answered in the negative. Mr. Burney told him it was supposed to be written by Mallet. The controversy now raged between the friends of Pope and Bolingbroke ; and W T arburton and Mallet were the leaders of the several parties Mr. Burney asked him then if he had seen Warburton's book against Bolingbroke's Philosophy ? ' No, Sir ; I have never read Bolingbroke's impiety, and therefore am not interested about its confutation.' " DR. r.VKNEY. prove that he was in earnest. ON AND J-RANCIS BARBER. CHAPTER X. 1758 1759. JOHNSON COMMENCES "THE IDLER" REMARKS ON THE WORK LETTERS TO T. WARTON AND LANGTON DEATH OF JOHNSON'S MOTHER LETTERS TO HEK AND Miss PORTER PUBLICATION OF "RASSELAS" VARIOUS WRITINGS EXCUR- SION TO OXFORD ACCOUNT OF FRANCIS BARBER, JOHNSON'S BLACK SERVANT LETTER FROM SMOLLET TO WILKES BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE JOHNSON ENGAGES IN THE CoNTROVKBSY RESPECTING ITS ERECTION. ON the 15th of April, 1758, he began a new periodical paper, entitled "The Idler,"* which came out every Saturday in a weekly news- paper, called " The Universal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette," published by Newberry. 1 These essays were continued till April 5, 1760. Of one hundred and three, their total number, twelve were contributed by his friends ; of which, Nos. 33, 93, and 96, were written by Mr. Thomas Warton ; No. 07 by Mr. Langton ; and Nos. 76, 69, and 82, by Sir Joshua Reynolds ;* the concluding words of No. 82, "and pollute his canvas with deformity," being added by Johnson; as Sir Joshua informed me. The " Idler" is evidently the work of the same mind which produced the " Rambler," but has less body and more spirit. It has more variety of real life, and greater facility of language. He describes the miseries of idleness with the lively sensations of one who has felt them ; and in 1 This is a slight mistake. The first number of the " Idler" appeared on the 15th of April, 1758, in No. 2 of the " Universal Chronicle," &c., which was published by J. Payne, for whom, also, the " Rambler" had been printed. On the 29th of April this newspaper assumed the title of "Payne's Universal Chronicle," &c. MALONE. 218 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1758. his private memorandums while engaged in it, we find, "This year I hope to learn diligence." 1 Many of these excellent essays were written as hastily as an ordinary letter. Mr. Langton remembers Johnson, when on a visit at Oxford, asking him one evening how long it was till the post went out ; and on being told about half-an-hour, he exclaimed, "Then we shall do very well." He, upon this, instantly sat down and finished an "Idler," which it was necessary should be in London the next day. Mr. Langton having signified a wish to read it, "Sir," said he, "you shall do no more than I have done myself." He then folded it up, and sent it off. Yet there are in the "Idler" several papers which show as much profundity of thought and labour of language as any of this great man's writings. No. 14, "Robbery of time ;" No. 24, " Thinking ;" No. 41, " Death of a friend ;" No. 43, " Flight of time ;" No. 51, " Domestic greatness unattainable ;" No. 52, " Self-denial ;" No. 58, " Actual, how short of fancied, excellence ;" No. 89, " Physical evil moral good ;" and his concluding paper on " The horror of the last," will prove this as- sertion. I know not why a motto, the usual trapping of periodical papers, is prefixed to very few of the " Idlers," as I have heard Johnson commend the custom ; and he never could be at a loss for one, his memory being stored with innumerable passages of the classics. In this series of essays he exhibits admirable instances of grave humour, of which he had an uncommon share. Nor on some occasions has he repressed that power of sophistry which he possessed in so eminent a degree. In No. 11, he treats with the utmost contempt the opinion that our mental faculties depend, in some degree, upon the weather ; an opinion, which they who have never experienced its truths are not to be envied, and of which he himself could not but be sensible, as the effects of weather upon him were very visible. Yet thus he declaims : ' ' Surely, nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason than to resign its powers to the influence of the air, and live in dependence on the weather and the wind for the only blessings which nature has put into our power, tranquillity and benevolence. This distinction of seasons is produced only by imagination operating on luxury. To temperance, every day is bright ; and every hour is propitious to diligence. He that shall resolutely excite his facul- ties or exert his virtues will soon make himself superior to the seasons, and may set at defiance the morning mist and the evening damp, the blasts of the east, and the clouds of the south." Alas ! it is too certain that where the frame has delicate fibres, and there is a fine sensibility, such influences of the air are irresistible. He might as well have bid defiance to the ague, the palsy, and other bodily disorders. Such boasting of the mind is false elevation. " I think the Komans call it Stoicism." But in this number of his " Idler" his spirits seem to run riot ; for in l Prayers and Meditations, p. 30. BOSWKLL. AGE 49.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 219 the wantonness of his disquisition he forgets, for a moment, even the reverence for that which he held in high respect, and describes, " the attendant on a Court," as one " whose business is to watch the looks of a being, weak and foolish as himself." His unqualified ridicule of rhetorical gesture or action is not, surely, a test of truth ; yet we cannot help admiring how well it is adapted to produce the effect which he wished : " Neither the' judges of our laws, nor the representatives of our people, would he much affected by laboured gesticulations, or believe any man the more because he rolled his eyes, or puffed bis cheeks, or spread abroad his arms, or stamped the ground, or thumped bis breast ; or turned his eyes sometimes to the ceiling, and sometimes to the floor." A casual coincidence with other writers, or an adoption of a senti- ment or image which has been found in the writings of another, and afterwards appears in the mind as one's own, is not unfrequent. The richness of Johnson's fancy, which could supply his page abundantly on all occasions, and the strength of his memory, which at once detected the real owner of any thought, made him less liable to the imputation of plagiarism than, perhaps, any of our writers. In the " Idler," however, there is a paper in which conversation is assimilated to a bowl of punch, where there is the same train of comparison as in a poem of Blacklock, in his collection published in 1756, in which a parallel is ingeniously drawn between human life and that liquor. It ends, " Say, then, physicians of each kind, AVho cure the body or the mind, What harm in drinking can there be, Since punch and life so well agree ? " To the " Idler," when collected in volumes, he added, beside the Essay on Epitaphs, and the Dissertation on those of Pope, an Essay on the Bravery of the English common Soldiers. He, however, omitted one of the original papers, which in the folio copy, is No. 22. 1 " TO THE REV. MR. THOMAS WARTON. " DEAR SIR, " London, April 14, 1758. " Your notes upon my poet were very acceptable. I beg that you will be so kind as to continue your searches. It will be reputable to my work, and suitable to your professorship, to have something of yours in the notes. As you have given no directions about your name, I shall therefore put it. I wish your brother would take the same trouble. A commentary must arise from the for- tuitous discoveries of many men in devious walks of literature. Some of your remarks are on plays already printed : but I purpose to add an Appendix of Notes, so that nothing comes too late. 1 This paper may be found in Stockdale's supplemental volume of Johnson's Miscel- laneous Pieces. Bos WELL. 220 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [1758. * ' You give yourself too much uneasiness, dear Sir, about the loss of the papers.* The loss is nothing, if nobody has found them ; nor even then, perhaps, if the numbers be known. You are not the only friend that has had the same mischance. You may repair your want out of a stock, which is deposited with Mr. Allen, of Magdalen Hall, or out of a parcel which I have just sent to Mr. Chambers.s for the use of any body that will be so kind as to want them. Mr. Langtons are well ; and Miss Roberts, whom I have at last brought to speak, upon the information which you gave me, that she had something to saj'. ' ' I am, &c'. "SAM. JOHNSON." TO THE SAME. " DEAR SIR, " London, June 1, 1758. "You will receive this by Mr. Baretti. a gentleman particularly entitled to the notice and kindness of the Professor of poesy. He has time but for a short stay, and will be glad to have it filled up with as much as he can hear and see. "In recommending another to your favour, I ought not to omit thanks for the kindness which you have shown to myself. Have you any more notes on Shakspeare ? I shall be glad of them. "I see your pupil sometimes ; s his mind is as exalted as his stature. I am half afraid of him ; but he is no less amiable than formidable. He will, if the forwardness of his spring be not blasted, be a credit to you and to the University. He brings some of my plays 4 with him, which he has my permission to show you, on condition you will hide them from every body else. "I am, dear Sir, &c. "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. "DEAR SIR, "June 28, 1758. " Though I might have expected to hear from you, upon your entrance into a new state of life at a new place, yet recollecting (not without some degree of shame) that I owe you a letter upon an old account, I think it my part to write first. This, indeed, I do not only from complaisance, but from interest ; for living on in the old way, I am very glad of a correspondent so capable as your- self, to diversify the hours. You have, at present, too many novelties about you to need any help from me to drive along your time. " I know not any thing more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare experience with expectation, or to register from time to time the difference between idea and reality. It is by this kind of observation that we grow daily less liable to be disappointed. You, who are very capable of anticipating fiiturity, and raising phantoms before your own eyes, must often have imagined to yourself an academical life, and have conceived what would be the manners, the views, and the conversation, of men devoted to letters ; how they would choose their companions, how they would direct their studies, and how they 1 Receipts for Shakspeare. WARTON. 2 Then of Lincoln College. Now Sir Robert Chambers, one of the Judges in India. WABTON. 8 Mr. Langton. WABTON. 1 Part of the impression of the Shakspeare, which Dr. Johnson conducted alone, and published by subscription. This edition came out in 1765. WAKTON. AGE 49.] BOSWELL's LIFE OF JOHNSON. 221 would regulate their lives. Let me know what you expected, and what you have found. At least record it to yourself before custom has reconciled you to the scenes before you, and the disparity of your discoveries to your hopes has vanished from your mind. It is a rule never to be forgotten, that whatever strikes strongly, should be described while the first impression remains fresh upon the mind. "I love, dear Sir, to think on you, and therefore, should willingly write more to you, but thu tthe post will not now give me leave to do more than send my compliments to Mr. Warton, and tell you that I am, dear Sir, most affectionately, " Your very humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." "TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ., AT LANGTON, NEAR SPILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE. " DEAR SIR, " Sept. 21, 1758. " I should be sorry to think that what engrosses the attention of my friend should have no part of mine. Your mind is now full of the fate of Dury ; l but his fate is past, and nothing remains but to try what reflection will suggest to mitigate the terrors of a violent death, which is more formidable at the first glance, than on a nearer and more steady view- A violent death is never very painful ; the only danger is, lest it should be unprovided. But if a man can be supposed to make no provision for death in war, what can be the state that would have awakened him to the care of futurity? When would that man have prepared himself to die, who went to seek death without preparation ? What then can be the reason why we lament more, him that dies of a wound, than him that dies of a fever ? A man that languishes with disease, ends his life with more pain, hut with less virtue : he leaves no example to his friends, nor bequeaths any honour to his descendants. The only reason why we lament a soldier's death, is, that we think he might have lived longer ; yet this cause of grief is common to many other kinds of death, which are not so passionately bewailed. The truth is, that every death is violent which is the effect of accident ; every death, which is not gradually brought on by the miseries of age ; or when life is extinguished for any other reason than that it is burnt out. He that dies before sixty, of a cold or consumption, dies, in reality, by a violent death ; yet his death is borne with patience, only because the cause of his untimely end is silent and invisible. Let us endeavour to see things as they are, and then inquire whether we ought to complain. Whether to see life as it is, will give us much consolation, I know not ; but the consolation which is drawn from truth, if any there be, is solid and durable : that which may be derived from error, must be, like its original, fallacious and fugitive. ' ' I am, dear Sir, ' ' Your most humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." 1 Major-General Alexander Dury, of the first regiment of foot-guards, who fell in the galhint discharge of his duty, near St Gas, in the well-known unfortunate expedition against France, in '1758. His lad}' and Mr. Langton's mother were sisters. He left an only son, Lieutenant-Colonel Dury, who has a company in the same regiment. BOSWKLL. 222 BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHSSON. [1759. In 1759, in the month of January, his mother died at the great age of ninety, an event which deeply affected him; not that "his mind had acquired no firmness by the contemplation of mortality j 1 but that his reverential affection for her was not abated by years, as indeed he re- tained all his tender feelings even to the latest period of his life. I have been told, that he regretted much his not having gone to visit his mother for several years previous to her death. But he was constantly engaged in literary labours, which confined him to London ; and though he had not the comfort of seeing his aged parent, he contributed liberally to her support. "TO MRS. JOHNSON, IN LICHFIELD.2 " HONOURED MADAM, " Jan. 13, 1768.3 "The account which Miss [Porter] gives me of your health, pierces my heart God comfort, and preserve you, and save you, for the sake of Jesus Christ. " I would have Miss read to you from time to time the Passion of our Saviour, and sometimes the sentences in the Communion Service Come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. " I have just now read a physical book, which inclines me to think that a strong infusion of the bark would do you good. Do, dear mother, try it. " Pray, send me your blessing, and forgive all'that I have done amiss to you. And whatever you would have done, and what debts you would have paid first, or any thing else that you would direct, let Miss put it down ; I shall endeavour to obey you. I have got twelve guineas * to send you, but unhappily am at a loss how to send it to-night If I cannot send it to-night, it will come by the next post " Pray, do not omit any thing mentioned in this letter. God bless you for ever and ever. I am, "Your dutiful son, "SAM. JOHNSON." "TO MISS PORTER, AT MRS. JOHNSON'S, IN LICHFIELD. " MY DEAR Miss, "Jan. 16, 1759. " I think myself obliged to you beyond all expression of gratitude for your care of my dear mother. God grant it may not be without success. Tell 1 Hawkins's " Life of Johnson," p. 895. BOSWELL. 2 Since the publication of the third edition of this work, the following letters of Dr. Johnson, occasioned by the last illness of his mother, were obligingly communicated to Mr. Malone by the Rev. Dr. Vyse. They are placed here agreeably to the chronolo- gical order almost uniformly observed by the author; and so strongly evince Dr. John- son's piety and tenderness of heart, that every reader must be gratified by their insertion. MALONK. 8 Written by mistake for 1759, as the subsequent letters show. In the next letter, he had inadvertently fallen into the same error, but corrected it. On the outside of the letter of the 13th was written by another hand, " Pray acknowledge the receipt of this by return of the post, without fail." MALONE. * Six of these twelve guineas Johnson appears to have borrowed from Mr. Alien, the printer. See Hawkins's " Life of Johnson," p. 866 n. MALOSE. AGE 50.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. 223 Kitty, i that I shall never forget her tenderness for her mistress. Whatever you can do, continue to do. My heart is very full. ' ' 1 hope you received twelve guineas on Monday. I found a way of sendino- them by moans of the Postmaster, after I had written my letter, and hope they came safe. I will send you more in a few days. God bless you all. " I am, my dear, "Your most obliged and most humble sen-ant, " SAM. JOHNSON." * "Over the leaf is a letter to my mother." "DEAR HONOURED MOTHER, "Jan. 16, 1759. "Your weakness afflicts me beyond what I am willing to communicate to you. I do not think you unfit to face death, but I know not how to bear the thought of losing you. Endeavour to do all you [can] for yourself. Eat as much as you can. " I pray often for you ; do you pray for me. I have nothing to add to my last letter. I am, dear, dear Mother, "Your dutiful son, " SAM. JOHNSON." " TO MRS. JOHNSON, IN LICHF1ELD. "DEAR HONOURED MOTHER, "Jan. 18, 1759. " I fear you are too ill for long letters ; therefore I will only tell you, you have from me all the regard that can possibly subsist in the heart. I pray God to bless you for evermore, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. "Let Miss write to me every post, however short. I am, dear Mother, "Your dutiful son, " SAM. JOHNSON." "TO MISS PORTER, AT MRS. JOHNSON'S, IN LICHFIELD. "DEAR Miss, " Jan. 20, 1759. " I will, if it be possible, come down to you. God grant I may yet [find] my dear mother breathing and sensible. Do not tell her, lest I disappoint her. If I miss to write next post, I am on the road. I am, my dearest Miss, " Your most humble servant, " SAM. JOHNSON." " On the other side. " DEAR HONOURED MOTHERS "Jan. 20, 1759. " Neither your condition nor your character make it fit for me to say much. You have been the best mother, and I believe the best woman in the world I thank you for your indulgence to me, and beg forgiveness of all that I have done 1 Catherine Chambers, Mrs. Johnson's maid-servant. She died in October, 1767. See Dr. Johnson's " Prayers and Meditations," p. 71 : " Sunday, Oct. 18, 1767. Yester- day, Oct. 17, I took my leave for ever of my dear old friend, Catherine Chambers, who came to live with my mother about 1724, and has been but little parted from us since. She buried my father, my brother, and my mother. She is now fifty-eight years old. MA LONE. 2 This letter was written on the second leaf of the preceding, addressed to Miss Porter. 224 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1759. ill, and all that I have omitted to do well. 1 God grant you his Holy Spirit, and receive you to everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Lord Jesus receive your spirit. Amen. I am, dear, dear Mother, " Your dutiful son, " SAM. JOHNSON." "TO MISS PORTER, IN LICHFIELD. "Jan. 23,1759.2 " You will conceive my sorrow for the loss of my mother, of the best mother. If she were to live again, surely I should behave better to her. But she is happy, and what is past is nothing to her ; and for me, since I cannot repair my faults to her, I hope repentance will efface them. I return you and all those that have been good to her my sincerest thanks, and pray God to repay you all with infinite advantage. Write to me, and comfort me, dear child. I shall be glad likewise, if Kitty will write to me. I shall send a bill of twenty pounds in a few days which I thought to have brought to my mother ; but God suffered it not. I have not power or composure to say much more. God bless you, and bless us all. " I am, dear Miss, " Your affectionate humble servant. " SAM. JOHNSON." Soon after this event, he wrote his "Rasselas, Prince ot Abyssinia;"* concerning the publication of which Sir John Hawkins guesses vaguely and idly, instead of having taken the trouble to inform himself with authentic precision. Not to trouble my readers with a repetition of the Knight's reveries. I have to mention, that the late Mr. Strahan the printer told me, that Johnson wrote it, that with the profits he might defray the expense of his mother's funeral, and pay some little debts which she had left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that he composed it in the evenings of one week, 3 sent it to the press in portions as it was written, and had never since read it over. 4 Mr. Strahan, Mr. Johnston, and Mr. Dodsley, purchased it for a hundred pounds, but afterwards paid him twenty-five pounds more, when it came to a second edition. Considering the large sums which have been received for compilations, and works requiring not much more genius than compilations, we cannot but wonder at the very low price which he was content to receive for this admirable performance ; which, though he had written nothing else, would have rendered his name immortal in the world of literature. None of his writings has been so extensively diffused over Europe ; for it has 1 So, in the Prayer which he composed on this occasion: " Almighty God. merciful Father, in whose hands are life and death, sanctify unto me the sorrow which I now feel. Forgive me whatever I have done unkindly to my Mother, and whatever I have omitted to do kindly. Make me to remember her good precepts and good example, and to reform my life according to thy holy word," &c. " Prayers and Meditations," p. 31. MALONE. 2 Mrs. Johnson probably died on the 20th or 21st of January, and was buried on the day this letter was written. MALONE. 8 ' Rasselas" was published in March or April, 1759. BOSWELL. 4 See vol. iv. under June 2, 1781. Finding it then accidentally in a chaise with Mr. Boswell, he read it eagerly. This was doubtless long after his declaration to Sir Jushua Reynolds. MALONK. AGK 50.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 225 been translated into most, if not all, of the modern languages. This tale, with all the charms of oriental imagery, and all the force and beauty of which the English language is capable, leads us through the most important scenes of human life, and shows us that this stage of our being is full of " vanity and vexation of spirit." To those who look no further than the present life, or who maintain that human nature has not fallen from the state in which it was created, the instruction of this sublime story will be of no avail. But they who think justly, and feel with strong sensibility, will listen with eagerness and admiration to its truth and wisdom. Voltaire's " Candide," written to refute the system of Optimism, which it has accomplished with brilliant success, is wonderfully similar in its plan and conduct to Johnson's " Rasselas ;" insomuch, that I have heard Johnson say, that if they had not been published so closely one after the other that there was not time for imitation, it would have been in vain to deny that the scheme of that which came latest was taken from the other. Though the proposition illustrated by both these works was the same, namely, that in our pre- sent state there is more evil than good, the intention of the writers was very different. Voltaire, I am afraid, meant only by wanton profaneness to obtain a sportive victory over religion, and to discredit the belief of a superintending Providence: Johnson meant, by showing the unsatis- factory nature of things temporal, to direct the hopes of man to things eternal. Rasselas, as was observed to me by a very accomplished lady, may be considered as a more enlarged and more deeply philosophical discourse in prose, upon the interesting truth, which in his " Vanity of Human Wishes" he had so successfully enforced in verse. The fund of thinking which this work contains is such, that almost every sentence of it may furnish a subject of long meditation. I am not satisfied if a year passes without my having read it through ; and at every perusal, my admiration of the mind which produced it is so highly raised, that 1 can scarcely believe that I had the honour of enjoying the intimacy of such a man. I restrain myself from quoting passages from this excellent work, or even referring to them, because I should not know what to select, or, rather, what to omit. I shall, however, transcribe one, as it shows how well he could state the arguments of those who believe in the appearance of departed spirits ; a doctrine which it is a mistake to suppose that he himself ever positively held : "If all your fear be of apparitions," said the Prince, " I will promise you safety : there is no danger from the dead ; he that is once buried will be seen no more. "That the dead are seen no more," said Imlac, ".I will not undertake to maintain, against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which prevails as far as human 226 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1/59. nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth ; those that never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers, can very little weaken the general evidence ; and some who deny it with their tongues, confess it by their fears.' ' Notwithstanding my high admiration of " Rasselas," I will not main- tain that the " morbid melancholy" in Johnson's constitution may not, perhaps, have made life appear to him more insipid and unhappy than it generally is: for I am sure that he had less enjoyment from it than I have. Yet, whatever additional shade his own particular sensations may have thrown on his representation of life, attentive observation and close inquiry hare convinced me, that there is too much reality in the gloomy picture. The truth, however, is, that we judge of the happiness and misery of life differently at different times, according to the state of our changeable frame. I always remember a remark made to me by a Turkish lady, educated in France: "Ma foi, Monsieur, notre bonheur depend de lafa$on que notre sang circule." This have I learnt from a pretty hard course of experience, and would, from sincere benevolence, impress upon all who honour this book with a perusal, that until a steady conviction is obtained, that the present life is an imperfect state, and only a passage to a better, if we comply with the divine scheme of progressive improvement ; and also that it is a part of the mysterious plan of Providence, that intellectual beings must " be made perfect through suffering;" there will be a continual recurrence of disappoint- ment and uneasiness. But if we walk with hope in " the mid-day sun" of revelation, our temper and disposition will be such, that the comforts and enjoyments in our way will be relished, while we patiently support the inconveniences and pains. After much speculation and various reasonings, I acknowledge myself convinced of the truth of Voltaire's conclusion, " Apres tout, c'est un monde passable." But we must not think too deeply: " where ignorance is bliss, "Pis folly to be wise," is, in many respects, more than poetically just. Let us cultivate, under the command of good principles, " la iheorie, des sensations ag r cables /" and, as Mr. Burke once admirably counselled a grave and anxious gen- tleman, "live pleasant." The effect of "Rasselas," and of Johnson's other moral tales, is thus beautifully illustrated by Mr. Courtenay : " Impressive truth, in splendid fiction drest, Checks the vain wish, and calms the troubled breast ; O'er the dark mind a light celestial throws, And soothes the angry passions to repose ; As oil efius'd illumes and smooths the deep, When round the bark the foaming surges sweep." 1 1 Lit&fary and Moral Character of Johnson. BOSWELL. AOE 50] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 227 It will be recollected that during all this year he carried on his " Idler," 1 and, no doubt, was proceeding, though slowly, in his edition of Shakspeare. He, however, from that liberality which never failed, when called upon to assist other labourers in literature, found time to translate for Mrs. Lenox's English version of Brumoy, " A Disser- tation on the Greek Comedy,"f and " The General Conclusion of the Book."f An inquiry into the state of foreign countries Avas an object that seems at all times to have interested Johnson. Hence Mr. IS'ewbery found no great difficulty in persuading him to write the Introduction* to a collection of voyages and travels published by him under the title of " The World Displayed," the first volume of which appeared this year, and the remaining volumes in subsequent years. I would ascribe to this year the following letter to a son of one of his early friends at Lichfield, Mr. Joseph Simpson, Barrister, and author of a tract entitled " Reflections on the Study of the Law." " TO JOSEPH SIMPSON, ESQ. " DEAR SIR, " Your father's inexorability not only grieves but amazes me : he is your ather ; he was always accounted a wise man ; nor do I remember any thing to the disadvantage of his good nature ; but in his refusal to assist you there is neither good nature, fatherhood, nor wisdom. It is the practice of good nature to overlook faults which have already, by the consequences, punished the delin- 1 This paper was in such high estimation before it was collected into volumes, that it was seized on with avidity by various publishers of newspapers and magazines, to enrich their publications. Johnson, to put a stop to this unfair proceeding, wrote for the " Uni- versal Chronicle" the following advertisement; in which there is, perhaps, more pomp of words than the occasion demanded : " London, Jan. 5, 1759. ADVERTISEMENT. The proprietors of the paper entitled ' The Idler,' having found that those essays are inserted in the newspapers and maga- zines with so little regard to justice or decency, that the ' Universal Chronicle,' in which they first appear, is not always mentioned, think it necessary to declare to the publishers of those collections, that however patiently they have hitherto endured these in- juries, made yet more injurious by contempt, they have now determined to endure them no longer. They have already seen essays, for which a very large price is paid, trans- ferred with the most shameless rapacity, into the weekly or monthly compilations, and their right, at least for the present, alienated from them, before they could themselves be said to enjoy it. But they would not willingly be thought to want tenderness, even for men by whom no tenderness hath been shown. The past is without remedy, and shall be without resentment. But those who have been thus busy with their sickles in the fields of their neighbours, are henceforward to take notice, that the time of impunity is at an end. Whoever shall, without our leave, lay the hand of rapine upon our papers, is to expect that we shall vindicate our due, by the means which justice prescribes, and which are warranted by the immemorial prescriptions of honourable trade. We shall lay hold in our turn, on their copies, degrade them from the pomp of wide margin and diffuse typography, contract them into a narrow space, and sell them at on humble price ; yet not with a view of growing rich by confiscations, for we think not much better of money got by punishment than by crimes. We shall therefore, when our losses are repaid, give what profit shall remain to the Mai/dalent ; for we know not who can be more properly taxed for the support of penitent prostitutes, than prostitutes in whom there yet appears neither penitence nor shame." BOSWKLL. N 228 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSOX. [1759. quent. It is natural for a father to think more favourably than others of his children ; and it is always wise to give assistance, while a little help will prevent the necessity of greater. " If you married imprudently, you miscarried at your own hazard, at an age when you had a right of choice. It would be hard if the man might not choose his own wife, who has a right to plead before the judges of his country. " If your imprudence has ended in difficulties and inconveniences, you are yourself to support them ; and, with the help of a little better health, you would support them and conquer them. Surely, that want which accident and sickness produces, is to be supported in every region of humanity, though there were neither friends nor fathers in the world. You have certainly from your father the highest claim of charity, though none of right ; and therefore I would counsel you to omit no decent nor manly degree of importunity. Your debts in the whole are not large, and of the whole but a small part is troublesome. Small debts are like small shot ; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound : great debts are like cannon ; of loud noise, but little danger. You must, therefore, be enabled to discharge petty debts, that you may have leisure with security, to struggle with the rest. Neither the great nor little debts disgrace you. I am sure you have my esteem for the courage with which you contracted them, and the spirit with which you endure them. I wish my esteem could be of more use. I have been invited, or have invited myself, to several parts of the kingdom ; and will not incommode my dear Lucy by coming to Lichneld, while her present lodging is of any use to her. I hope, in a few days, to be at leisure and to make visits. Whither I shall fly is matter of no importance, A man unconnected is at home every where ; unless he may be said to be at home no where. I am sorry, dear Sir, that where you have parents, a man of your merits should not have a home. I wish I could give it you. " I am, my dear Sir, affectionately yours, " SAM. JOHNSON." He now refreshed himself hy an excursion to Oxford, of which the following short characteristical notice, in his own words, is preserved : " is now making tea for me. I have been in my gown ever since I came here. It was at my first coming quite new and handsome. I have swum thrice, which I had disused for many years. I have proposed to Van- sittart 1 climbing over the wall, but he has refused me. And I have clapped my hands till they are sore, at Dr. King's speech." 2 His negro servant, Francis Barber, having left him, and been some time at sea, not pressed as has been supposed, but with his own con- sent, it appears from a letter to JohnWilkes, Esq., from Dr. Smollett, that his master kindly interested himself in procuring his release from a state of life of which Johnson always expressed the utmost abhorrence. 1 Dr. Robert Vansittart, of the ancient and respectable family of that name in Berk- shire. He was eminent for learning and worth, and much esteemed by Dr. Johnson. BOSWBLL. 2 Gentleman s Magazine, April, 1785. BOSWELL. Dr. King's speech was delivered on the installation of the Earl of Westmorland as Chancelhi of the University, July 7, 1759. ED. AGE 50.] BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 22'.) He said, " No man will be a sailor who lias contrivance enough to get himself into a jail ; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned." 1 And at another time, " A man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company." 2 The letter was as follows : " DEAR SIR, " Chelsea, March 16, 1759. "I am again your petitioner, in behalf of that great CHAM 3 of literature, Samuel Johnson. His black servant, whose name is Francis Barber, has been pressed on board the Stag frigate, Captain Angel, and our lexicographer is in great distress. He says, the boy is a sickly lad, of a delicate frame, and particularly subject to a malady in his throat, which renders him very unfit for his Majesty's service. You know what matter of animosity the said Johnson has against you : and I dare say you desire no other opportunity of resenting it, than that of laying him under an obligation. He was humble enough to desire my assistance on this occasion, though he and I were never cater-cousins; and I gave him to understand that I would make application to my friend Mr. Wilkes, who, perhaps, by his interest with Dr. Hay and Mr. Elliot, might be able to procure the discharge of his lacquey. It would be superfluous to say more on the sub- ject, which I leave to your own consideration ; but I cannot let slip this oppor- tunity of declaring that I am, with the most inviolable esteem and attachment, dear Sir, " Your affectionate, obliged, humble servant, " T. SMOLLETT." Mr. Wilkes, who upon all occasions has acted as a private gentle- man, with most polite liberality, applied to his friend Sir George Hay, then one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty ; and Francis Barber was discharged, as he has told me, without any wish of his own. He found his old master in chambers in the Inner Temple, and returned to his service. What particular new scheme of life Johnson had in view this year, I have not discovered ; but that he meditated one of some sort, is clear from his private devotions, in which we find [Pr. and Med. pp. 30 and 40], "the change of outward things which I am now to make ;" and 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3rd edit. p. 126. BOSWELL. 2 Ibid. p. 251. BOSWELL. 3 In my first edition this word was printed Chum, as it appears in one of Mr. Wilkes' s Miscellanies, and I animadverted on Dr. Smollett's ignorance; for which let me pro- pitiate the manes of that ingenious and benevolent gentleman. CHUM was certainly a mistaken reading for CHAM, the title of the Sovereign of Tartary, which is well applied to Johnson, the Monarch of Literature: and was an epithet familiar to Smollett. See " Roderick Random," chap. 56. For this correction I am indebted to Lord Palmerston, whose talents and literary acquirements accord well with his respectable pedigree of Temple. Bosw ELL. After the publication of the second edition of this work, the author was furnished by Mr. Abercrombie of Philadelphia, with a copy of a letter written by Dr. John Armstrong, the poet, to Dr. Smollett, at Leghorn, containing the following paragraph : " As to the King's Bench patriot, it is hard to say from what motive he published a letter of yours asking some trifling favour of him in behalf of somebody for whom the great CHAM of literature, Mr. Johnson, hud interested himself." M ALONE. 230 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHXSON. n'59. " Grant me the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that the course which I am now beginning may proceed according to thy laws, and end in the enjoy- ment of thy favour." But he did not, in fact, make any external or visible change. 1 At this time there being a competition among the architects of London to be employed in the building of Blackfriars-bridge, a question was very warmly agitated whether semicircular or elliptical arches were preferable. In the design offered by Mr. Mylne the elliptical form was adopted, and therefore it was the great object of his rivals to attack it. Johnson's regard for his friend Mr. Gwyn induced him to engage in this controversy against Mr. Mylne; 2 and after being at considerable 1 It seems, from a note of his to Miss Porter, that Johnson, on the 23rd of March, of this year (1759), left his house in Gough-square, and went to reside in Staple Inn; Miss Williams took separate lodgings. It will appear from the list of Johnson's residences, subsequently given, that he removed from Staple Inn to Gray's Inn. ED. 2 Sir John Hawkins has given a long detail of it, in that manner vulgarly, but signi- ficantly, called rigmarole ; in which, amidst an ostentatious exhibition of arts and artists he talks of "proportions of a column being taken from that of the human figure, and adjusted by nature masculine and feminine in a man, sesquioctai'e of the head, and in a woman sesquinonal ;" nor has he failed to introduce a jargon of musical terms, which do not seem much to correspond with the subject, but serve to make up the heterogeneous mass. To follow the knight through all this, would be an useless fatigue to myself, and not a little disgusting to my readers. I shall, therefore, only make a few remarks upon his statement. He seems to exult in having detected Johnson in procuring "from a person eminently skilled in mathematics and the principles of architecture, answers to a string of questions drawn up by himself, touching the comparative strength of semicircular and elliptical arches." Now I cannot conceive how Johnson could have acted more wisely. Sir John complains that the opinion of that excellent mathematician, Mr. Thomas Simpson, did not preponderate in favour of the semicircular arch. But he should have known, that however eminent Mr. Simpson was in the higher parts of abstract mathe- ma'kal science, he was little versed in mixed and practical mechanics. Mr. Muller, of Woolwich Academy, the scholastic father of all the great engineers which this country has employed lor forty years, decided the question by declaring clearly in favour of the elliptical arch. It is ungraciously suggested, that Johnson's motive for opposing Mr. Mylne's scheme may have been his prejudice against him as a native of North Britain ; when, iti truth, as has been stated, he gave the aid of his able pen to a friend, who was one of the candi- dates ; and so far was he from having any illiberal antipathy to Mr. Mylne, that he afterwards lived with that gentleman upon very agreeable terms of acquaintance, and dined with him at his house. Sir John Hawkins, indeed, gives full vent to his own prejudice in abusing Blackfriars-bridge, calling it "an edifice, in which beauty and symmetry are in vain sought for; by which the citizens of London have perpetuated their own disgrace, and subjected a whole nation to the reproach of foreigners." Whoever has contemplated, placido lumine, this stately, elegant, and airy structure, which has so fine an effect, especially on approaching the capital on that quarter, must wonder at such unjust and ill tempered censure ; and I appeal to all foreigners of good taste, whether this bridge be not one of the most distinguished ornaments of London. As to the stability of the fabric, it is certain that the City of London took every precaution to have the best Portland stone for it; but as this is to be found in the quarries belonging to the public, under the direction of the Lords of the Treasury, it so happened that parliamentary inte- rest, which is often the bane of fair pursuits, thwarted their endeavours. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, it is well known that not only has Blackfriars-bridge never sunk either in its foundation or in its arches, which were so much the subject of contest, but any injuries which it has suffered from the effects of severe frosts have been already, in some measure, repaired with sounder stone, and every necessary renewal can be completed at a moderate expense. BOSWBLL. AGK 50.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 231 pains to study the subject, he wrote three several letters in the " Gazetteer," in opposition to his plan. If it should he remarked that this was a controversy which lay quite out of Johnson's way, let it be remembered, that after all, his employing his powers of reasoning and eloquence upon a subject which he had studied on the moment, is not more strange than what we often observe in lawyers, who, as Quicquid agunt homines is the matter of lawsuits, are sometimes obliged to pick up a temporary knowledge of an art or science of which they understood nothing till their brief was delivered , and appear to be much masters of it. In like manner, members of the legislature frequently introduce and expatiate upon subjects of which they have informed themselves for the occasion. BUCK; l.IAKS BRIDGE. CHAPTER XI. 1760 1763. ACCESSION OP GEORGE III. JOHNSON' WRITES THE ADDRESS OF THE PAINTERS ON THAT OCCASION VARIOUS WRITINGS PROJECTED HISTORY OF THE WAB MURPHY'S " POETICAL EPISTLE" TO JOHNSON ACCOUNT OF THEIR FIRST ACQUAINT- ANCE LETTERS TO LANGTON, BARETTI, &c. GRANT OF PENSION BY GKORGE III. TO JOHNSON VISIT TO PLYMOUTH WITH REYNOLDS LETTERS TO LORD BUTE AND BARKTTI CONTRIBUTES TO THE "POETICAL CALENDAR," A CHARACTER OF COLLINS THB POET. IN 1760 he wrote " An Address of the Painters to George TIL on his Accession to the Throne of these Kingdoms,"! which no monarch ever ascended with more sincere congratulations from his people. Two generations of foreign princes had prepared their minds to rejoice in having again a king, who gloried in being " born a Briton." He also wrote for Mr. Baretti the Dedication! of his Italian and English Dictionary, to the Marquis of Abreu, then Envoy-Extraordinary from Spain at the Court of Great Britain. Johnson was now either very idle or very busy with his Shakspeare ; for I can find no other public composition by him except an Introduction to the Proceedings of the Committee for clothing the French Prisoners :* one of the many proofs that he was ever awake to the calls of humanity ; and an account which he gave in the " Gentleman's Magazine" of Mr. Tytler's acute and able vindication of Mary Queen of Scots.* The generosity of Johnson's feelings shines forth in the following sentence: " It has now been fashionable for near half a century to defame and vilify the house of Stuart and to exalt and magnify the reign of Elizabeth. The Stuarts have found few apologists, for the dead cannot pay for praise ; and who AGE 51. J BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 233 will, without reward, oppose the tide of popularity? Yet there remains still among us, not wholly extinguished, a zeal for truth, a desire of establishing right in opposition to fashion." In this year I have not discovered a single private letter written by him to any of his friends. It should seem, however, that he had at this period a floating intention of writing a history of the recent and wonderful successes of the British arms in all quarters of the globe; for among his resolutions or memorandums, September 18, there is, " Send for books for Hist, of War." 1 How much is it to be regretted that this intention was not fulfilled ! His majestic expression would have carried down to the latest posterity the glorious achievements of his country, with the same fervent glow which they produced on the mind at the time. He would have been under no temptation to deviate in any degree from truth, which he held very sacred, or to take a licence, which a learned divine told me he once seemed, in a conversation, jocularly to allow to historians. " There are," said he, "inexcusable lies and consecrated lies. For instance, we are told that on the arrival of the news of the unfortunate battle of Fontenoy, every heart beat, and every eye was in tears. Now we know that no man ate his dinner the worse, but there should have been all this concern ; and to say there was (smiling), may be reckoned a consecrated lie." This year Mr. Murphy, having thought himself ill-treated by the Rev. Dr. Francklin, who was one of the writers of the " Critical Review," published an indignant vindication in " A Poetical Epistle to Samuel Johnson, A.M.," in which he compliments Johnson in a just and elegant manner: "Transcendent Genius ! whose prolific vein Ne'er knew the frigid poet's toil and pain ; To whom APOLLO opens all his store, And every Muse presents her sacred lore ; Say, pow'rful JOHNSON, whence thy verse is fraught "With so much grace, such energy of thought ; "Whether thy JUVENAL instructs the age In chaster numbers, and new-points his rage ; Or fair IRENE sees, alas ! too late Her innocence exchanged for guilty state ; Whate'er you write, in every golden line Sublimity and elegance combine ; Thy nervous phrase impresses every soul, While harmony gives rapture to the whole." Again, towards the conclusion : " Thou then, my friend, who see'st the dang-'rous strife In which some demon bids me plunge my life, l Prayers and Meditations, p. 42. BOSWBI.L. 234 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1760. To the Aonian fount direct my feet, Buy, where the Nine thy lonely musings meet ? Where warbles to thy ear the sacred throng, Thy moral sense, thy dignity of song ? Tell, for you can, by what unerring art You wake to finer feelings every heart ; In each bright page some truth important give, And bid to future times thy RAMBLER live." I take this opportunity to relate the manner in which an acquaint- ance first commenced between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Murphy. During the publication of the " Gray's-Inn Journal, "a periodical paper, which was successfully carried on by Mr. Murphy alone, when a very young man, he happened to be in the country with Mr. Foote; and having mentioned that he was obliged to go to London in order to get ready for the press one of the numbers of that Journal, Foote said to him, " You need not go on that account. Here is a French magazine, in which you will find a very pretty oriental tale ; translate that, and send it to your printer." Mr. Murphy having read the tale, was highly pleased with it, and followed Foote's advice. When he returned to town, this tale was pointed out to him in the "Rambler," from whence it had been translated into the French magazine. Mr. Murphy then waited upon Johnson, to explain this curious incident. His talents, literature, and gentleman-like manners, were soon perceived by Johnson, and a friend- ship was formed which was never broken. 1 1 When Mr. Murphy first became acquainted with Dr. Johnson, he was about thirty- one years old. He died at Knightsbridge, June 18, 1805, it is believed in his eighty- second year. In an account of this gentleman, published recently after his death, he is reported to have said, that "he was but twenty-one," when he had the impudence to write a periodical paper, during the time that Johnson was publishing the " Rambler." In a subsequent page, in which Mr. Boswell gives an account of his first introduction to Johnson, will be found a striking instance of the incorrectness of Mr. Murphy's memory ; and the asser- tion above mentioned, if indeed he made it, which is by no means improbable, furnishes an additional proof of his inaccuracy ; for both the facts asserted are unfounded. He appears to have been eight years older than twenty -one, when he began the " Gray's-Inn Journal ;" and that paper, instead of running a race with Johnson's production, did not appear till after the closing of the " Rambler," which ended March 14, 1752. The first number of the" Gray's-Inn Journal" made its appearance about seven months afterwards, in a newspaper of the time, called " The Craftsman," October 21, 1752 ; and in that form the first forty-nine numbers were given to the public. On Saturday, Sept. 29, 1753, it assumed a new form, and was published as a distinct periodical paper ; and in that shape it continued to be published till the 21st of Sept 1754, when it finally closed; forming in the whole one hundred and one Essays, in the folio copy. The extraordinary paper mentioned in the text, is No. 38 of the second series, published on June 15, 1754; which is a retranslation from the French version of Johnson's "Rambler," No. 190. It was omitted in the republication of these Essays in two volumes 12mo. in which one hun- dred and four are found, and in which the papers are not always dated on the days when they really appeared ; so that the motto prefixed to this Anglo-G'allic Eastern tale, obscuris vera involvent, might very properly have been prefixed to this work when republished. Mr. Murphy did not, I believe, wait on Johnson recently after the publication of this adumbration of one of his " Ramblers," as seems to be stated in the text ; for, in his concluding Essay, Sept. 21, 1754, we find the following paragraph : AOK 51.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. 235 " TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. AT LANGTON, NEAR SPILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE. 'DEAR SIR, "Oct. 18,1760. " You that travel about the world, have more materials for letters, than I who stay at home ; and should, therefore, write with frequency equal to your opportunities. I should be glad to have all England surveyed by you, if you would impart your observations in narratives as agreeable as your last. Know- ledge is always to be wished to those who can communicate it well. While you have been riding and running, and seeing the tombs of the learned, and the camps of the valiant, I have only stayed at home, and intended to do great things, which I have not done. Beau 1 went away to Cheshire, and has not yet found his way back. Chambers passed the vacation at Oxford. " I am very sincerely solicitous for the preservation or curing of Mr. Langton' s sight, and am glad that the chirurgeon at Coventry gives him so much hope. Mr. Sharpe is of opinion that the tedious maturation of the cataract is a vulgar error, and that it may be removed as soon as it is formed- This notion deserves to be considered ; I doubt whether it be universally true ; but if it be true in some cases, and those cases can be distinguished, it may save a long and uncom- fortable delay. ' ' Of dear Mrs. Langton you give me no account ; which is the less friendly, as you know how highly I think of her, and how much I interest myself in her health. I suppose you told her of my opinion, and likewise suppose it was not followed ; however, I still believe it to be right. ' ' Let me hear from you again, wherever you are, or whatever you are doing ; whether you wander or sit still, plant trees or make Rustics,^ play with your sisters or muse alone ; and in return I will tell you the success of Sheridan, who at this instant is playing Cuto, and has already played Richard twice. He had more company the second than the first night, and will make, I believe, a good figure on the whole, though his faults seem to be very many ; some of natural deficience, and some of laborious affectation. He has, I think, no power of assuming either that dignity or elegance which some men, who have little of either in common life, can exhibit on the stage. His voice when strained is un- pleasing, and when low is not always heard. He seems to think too much on the audience, and turns his face too often to the galleries. " However, I wish him well, and among other reasons, because I like his wife. 3 ' ' Make haste to write to, dear Sir, " Your most affectionate servant, SAM. JOHNSON." " Besides, why may not a person rather choose an air of bold negligence, than the obscure diligence of pedants and writers of affected phraseology. For my part, I have always thought an easy style more eligible than a pompous diction, lifted 'tip by metaphor, amplified by epithet, and dignified by too frequent insertions of the Latin idiom." It is probable that the " Rambler " was here intended to be censured, and that the author, when he wrote it, was not acquainted with Johnson, whom, from his first intro- duction, he endeavoured to conciliate. Their acquaintance, therefore, it may be presumed, did not commence till towards the end of this year, 1754. Murphy, however, had highly praised Johnson intheprecedingyear.No. 14 of the second series, Dec. 22, 1753. MALONB. The " Rambler," No. 190, which Murphy retranslated, is the " History of Abouzaid, the son of Morad." ED. 1 Topham Beauclerk, Esq. BOSWELL. 2 Essays with that title, written about this time by Mr. Langton, but not published. 3 Mrs. Sheridan was author of " Memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddulph," a novel of great merit, and of some other pieces. See her character, p. 246. BOSWELL. 236 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [i/ci. In 1 761 Johnson appears to have done little. lie was still, no doubt, proceeding in his edition of Shakspeare ; but what advances he made in it cannot be ascertained. He certainly was at this time not active ; for, in his scrupulous examination of himself on Easter eve, he laments, in his too rigorous mode of censuring his own conduct, that his life, since the communion of the preceding Easter, had been "dissipated and useless." 1 He, however, contributed this year the Preface* to " Rolt's Dictionary of Trade and Commerce," in which he displays such a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the subject, as might lead the reader to think that its author had devoted all his life to it. I asked him, whether he knew much of Rolt, and of his work. " Sir," said he, " I never saw the man, and never read the book. The booksellers wanted a Preface to a Dictionary of Trade and Commerce. I knew very well what such a Dictionary should be, and I wrote a Preface accordingly." Rolt, who wrote a great deal for the booksellers, was, as Johnson told me, a singular character. Though not in the least acquainted with him, he used to say, " I am just come from Sam. Johnson." This was a suffi- cient specimen of his vanity and impudence. But he gave a more eminent proof of it in our sister kingdom, as Dr. Johnson informed me. When Akenside's " Pleasures of the Imagination" first came out, he did not put his name to the poem. Rolt went over to Dublin, published an edition of it, and put his own name to it. Upon the fame of this he lived for several months, being entertained at the best tables as " the ingenious Mr. Rolt." 2 His conversation, indeed, did not discover much of the fire of a poet ; but it was recollected, that both Addison and Thomson were equally dull till excited by wine. Akenside having been informed of this imposition, vindicated his right by publishing the poem with its real author's name. Several instances of such literary fraud have been de- tected. The Reverend Dr. Campbell, of St. Andrew's, wrote "An Enquiry into the original of Moral Virtue," the manuscript of which he sent to Mr. Innes, a clergyman in England, who was his countryman and acquaintance. Innes published it with his own name to it ; and before the imposition was discovered, obtained considerable promotion, as a reward of his merit. 3 The celebrated Dr. Hugh Blair, and his cousin Mr. George Bannatine, when students in divinity, wrote a poem, entitled " The Resurrection," copies of which were handed about in manuscript. They were, at length, very much surprised to see a pompous edition of it in folio, dedicated to the Princess Dowager of Wales, by a Dr. Douglas, as 1 Prayers and Meditations, p. 44. BOSWE r.t. 2 I have had inquiry made in Ireland as to this story, but do not find it recollected there. I give it on the authority of Dr. Johnson, to which may be added, that of the "Biographical Dictionary," and " Biographia Dramatica;" in both of which it has stood many years. Mr. Malone observes, that the truth probably is, not that an edition was published with Rolt's name in the title-page, but that the poem being then anonymous, Rolt acquiesced in its being attributed to him in conversation. BOSWKLL. 8 I have both the books. Innes was the clergyman who brought Psalmanazar to England, and was an accomplice in his extraordinary ficiion. BOSWELL. AGE 52. J BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 237 his own. Some years ago a little novel, entitled " The Man of Feel- ing," was assumed by Mr. Eccles, a young Irish clergyman, who was afterwards drowned near Bath. lie had been at the pains to transcribe the whole book, with blottings, interlineations, and corrections, that it might be shown to several people as an original. It was, in truth, the production of Mr. Henry Mackenzie, an attorney in the Exchequer at Edinburgh, who is the author of several other ingenious pieces ; but the belief with regard to Mr. Eccles became so general, that it was thought necessaryfor Messrs. Strahan and Cadell to publish an advertisement in the newspapers, contradicting the report, and mentioning that they purchased the copyright of Mr. Mackenzie. I can conceive this kind of fraud to be very easily practised with successful effrontery. The filia- ' tion of a literary performance is difficult of proof ; seldom is there any witness present at its birth. A man, either in confidence or by improper means, obtains possession of a copy of it in manuscript, and boldly publishes it as his own. The true author, in many cases, may not be able to make his title clear. Johnson, indeed, from the peculiar features of his literary offspring, might bid defiance to any attempt to appro- priate them to others : " But Shakspcare's magic could not copied be ; Within that circle none durst walk but lie." He this year lent his friendly assistance to correct and improve a pamphlet written by Mr. Gwyn, the architect, entitled " Thoughts on the Coronation of George III."* Johnson had now for some years admitted Mr. Baretti to his inti- macy ; nor did their friendship cease upon their being separated by Baretti's revisiting his native country, as appears from Johnson's letters to him. " TO MR. JOSEPH BARETTI, AT MILAN. 1 " [London] June 10, 1761. "You reproach me very often with parsimony of writing; but you may discover by the extent of my paper that I design to recompense rarity by length. A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult, like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation ; a proof of unwillingness to do much, even where there is a necessity of doing something. Yet it must be remembered, that he who continues the same course of life in the same place, will have little to tell. One week and one year are very like one another. The silent changes made by time are not always perceived ; and if they are not perceived, cannot be recounted. I have risen and lain down, talked and mused, while you have roved over a considerable part of Europe ; yet I have not envied my Baretti any of his pleasures, though, perhaps, I have envied others his company : and I am glad to have other nations made acquainted with the character of the English 1 The originals of Dr. Johnson's three letters to Mr. Baretti, which are among the very best he ever wrote, were communicated to the proprietors of that instructive and elegant monthly miscellany, the " European Magazine," in which they first appeared. BOSWKLL. 238 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [iroi. by a traveller who has so nicely inspected our manners, and so successfully studied our literature. I received your kind letter from Falmouth, in which you gave me notice of your departure for Lisbon : and another from Lisbon, in which you told me, that you were to leave Portugal in a few days. To either of these how could any answer be returned ? I have had a third from Turin, com- plaining that I have not answered the former. Your English style still continues in its purity and vigour. With vigour your genius will supply it : but its purity must be continued by close attention. To use two languages familiarly, and without contaminating one by the other, is very difficult ; and to use more than two, is hardly to be hoped. The praises which some have received for their multiplicity of languages, may be sufficient to excite industry, but can hardly generate confidence. " I know not whether I can heartily rejoice at the kind reception which you have found, or at the popularity to which you are exalted. I am willing that your merit should be distinguished ; but cannot wish that your affections may be gained. I would have you happy wherever you are ; yet I would have you wish to return to England. If ever you visit us again, you will find the kindness of your friends undiminished. To tell you how many inquiries are made after you, would be tedious, or if not tedious, would be vain ; because you may be told in a very few words, that all who knew you wish you well ; and that all that you em- braced at your departure, will caress you at your return : therefore do not let Italian academicians nor Italian ladies drive us from your thoughts. You may find among us what you will leave behind, soft smiles and easy sonnets. Yet I shall not wonder if all our invitations shoijld be rejected : for there is a pleasure in being considerable at home, which is not easily resisted. "By conducting Mr. Southwell to Venice, you fulfilled, I know, the original contract : yet I would wish you not wholly to lose him from your notice, but to recommend him to such acquaintance as may best secure him from suffering by his own follies, and to take such general care both of his safety and his interest as may come within your power. His relations will thank you for any such gra- tuitous attention : at least they will not blame you for any evil that may happen, whether they thank you or not for any good. "You know that we have a new king and a new parliament. Of the new parliament Fitzherbert is a member. We were so weary of our old king, that we are much pleased with his successor ; of whom we are so much inclined to hope great things, that most of us begin already to believe them. The young man is hitherto blameless ; but it would be unreasonable to expect much from the immaturity of juvenile years, and the ignorance of princely education. He has been long in the hands of the Scots, and has already favoured them more than the English will contentedly endure. But, perhaps, he scarcely knows whom he has distinguished, or whom he has disgusted. "The Artists have instituted a yearly Exhibition of pictures and statues, in imitation, as I am told, of foreign academies. This year was the second exhi- bition. They please themselves much with the multitude of spectators, and ima- gine that the English School will rise in reputation. .Reynolds is without a rival, and continues to add thousands to thousands, which he deserves, among other excellencies, by retaining his kindness for Baretti. This Exhibition has filled the heads of the artists and lovers of art Surely life, if it be not long, is AQB 52.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 239 tedious, since we are forced to call in the assistance of so many trifles to rid us of our time, of that time which never can return. " I know my Baretti will not be satisfied with a letter in which I give him no account of myself: yet what account shall I give him? I have not, since the day of our separation, suffered or done any thing considerable. The only change in my way of life is, that I have frequented the theatre more than in former seasons. But I have gone thither only to escape from myself. We have had man ynew farces, and the comedy called ' The Jealous Wife,' which, though not written with much genius, was yet so well adapted to the stage, and so well exhibited by the actors, that it was crowded for near twenty nights. I am digressing from myself to the playhouse ; but a barren plan must be filled with episodes. Of myself I have nothing to say, but that I have hitherto lived without the concur- rence of my own judgment ; yet I continue to flatter myself, that, when you return, you will find me mended. I do not wonder that, where the monastic life is permitted, every order finds votaries, and every monastery inhabitants. Men will submit to any rule, by which they may be exempted irom the tyranny of caprice and of chance. They are glad to supply by external authority their own want of constancy and resolution, and court the government of others, when long experience has convinced them of their own inability to govern themselves. If I were to visit Italy, my curiosity would be more attracted by convents than by palaces ; though I am afraid that I should find expectation in both places equally disappointed, and life in both places supported with impatience and quitted with reluctance. That it must be so soon quitted, is a powerful remedy against impatience ; but what shall free us from reluctance? Those who have endeavoured to teach us to die well, have taught few to die willingly : yet I cannot but hope that a good life might end at last in a contented death. " You see to what a train of thought I arn drawn by the mention of myself. Let me now turn my attention upon you. I hope you take care to keep an exact journal, and to register all occurrences and observations ; for your friends here expect such a book of travels as has not been often seen. You have given us good specimens in your letters from Lisbon. I wish you had stayed longer in Spain, for no country is less known to the rest of Europe ; but the quickness of your discernment must make amends for the celerity of your motions. He that knows which way to direct his view, sees much in a little time. " Write to me very often, and I will not neglect to write to you; and I m;oh ! " said he, with a complacent smile, " never mind these things. Come to me as often as you can. I shall be glad to see you." I had learnt that his place of frequent resort was the Mitre tavern in Fleet-street, where he loved to sit up late, and I begged 1 might be allowed to pass an evening with him there soon, which he promised I should. A few days afterwards, I met him near Temple-bar about one o'clock in the morning, and asked if he would then go to the Mitre. " Sir," said he, "it is too late, they won't let us in. But I'll go with you another night with all my heart." A revolution of some importance in my plan of life had just taken place ; for instead of procuring a commission in the foot-guards, which was my own inclination, I had, in compliance with my father's wishes, agreed to study the law, and was soon to set out for Utrecht, to hear the lectures of an excellent civilian in that University, and then to proceed on my travels. Though very desirous of obtaining Dr. Johnson's advice and instructions on the mode of pursuing my studies, I was at this time so occupied, shall I call it ? or so dissipated by the amusements of London, that our next meeting was not till Saturday, June 25, when happening to dine at Clifton's eating-house, in Butcher-row, 1 was sur- prised to perceive Johnson ot to shake it. The human mind is so limited, that it cannot take in all the parts of a subject, so that there may be objections raised against any thing. There are objections against a plenum, and objections against a vacuum ; yet one of them must certainly be true." I mentioned Hume's argument against the belief of miracles, that it is more probable that the witnesses to the truth of them are mistaken, or speak falsely, than that the miracles should be true. JOHNSON : " Why, Sir, the great difficulty of proving miracles should make us very cautious in believing them. But let us consider ; although God has made Nature to operate by certain fixed laws, yet it is not unreasonable to think that he may suspend those laws, in order to establish a system highly advantageous to mankind. Now the Christian religion is a most beneficial system, as it gives us light and certainty where we were before in darkness and doubt. The miracles which prove it are attested by men who had no interest in deceiving us ; but who, on the contrary, were told that they should suffer persecution, and did actually lay down their lives in confirmation of the truth of the facts which they asserted. Indeed, for some centuries the heathens did not pretend to deny the miracles ; but said they were performed by the aid of evil spirits. This is a circumstance of great weight. Then, Sir, when we take the proofs derived from prophecies which have been so exactly fulfilled, we have most satisfactory evidence. Supposing a miracle possible, as to which, in my opinion, there can be no doubt, we have as strong evidence for the miracles in support of Christianity as the nature of the thing admits." At night, Mr. Johnson and I supped in a private room at the Turk's Head coffee-house, in the Strand. " I encourage this house," said he, " for the mistress of it is a good civil woman, and has not much business." AGE 54.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 287 " Sir, I love the acquaintance of young people; because, in the first place, I don't like to think myself growing old. In the next place, young acquaintances must last 'longest, if they do last; and then, Sir, young men have more virtue than old men ; they have more generous sentiments in every respect. I love the young dogs of this age, they have more wit and humour and knowledge of life than we had ; but then the dogs are not so good scholars. Sir, in my early years I read very hard. It is a sad reflection, but a true one, that I knew almost as much at eighteen as I do now. 1 My judgment, to be sure, was not so good ; but I had all the facts. I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, " Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge ; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task." This account of his reading, given by himself in plain words, suffi- ciently confirms what I have already advanced upon the disputed ques- tion as to his application. It reconciles any seeming inconsistency in his way of talking upon it at different times ; and shows that idleness and reading hard were with him relative terms, the import of which, as used by him, must be gathered from a comparison with what scholars of different degrees of ardour and assiduity have been known to do. And let it be remembered that he was now talking spontaneously, and expressing his genuine sentiments ; whereas at other times he might be induced from his spirit of contradiction, or more properly from his love of argumentative contest, to speak lightly of his own application to study. It is pleasing to consider that the old gentleman's gloomy prophecy as to the irksomeness of books to men of an advanced age, which is too often fulfilled, was so far from being verified in Johnson, that his ardour for literature never failed, and his last writings had more ease and vivacity than any of his earlier productions. He mentioned to me now, for the first time, that he had been distressed by melancholy, and for that reason had been obliged to fly from study and meditation, to the dissipating variety of life. Against melancholy he recommended constant occupation of mind, a great deal of exercise, moderation in eating and drinking, and especially to shun drinking at night. He said melancholy people were apt to fly to intemperance for relief, but that it sunk them much deeper in misery. He observed, that labouring men who work hard, and live sparingly, are seldom or never troubled with low spirits. He again insisted on the duty of maintaining subordination of rank. " Sir, I would no more deprive a nobleman of his respect, than of his money. I consider myself as acting a part in the great system of society, and 1 do to others as I would have them to do to me. I would behave to a nobleman as I should expect he would behave to me, were 1 1 His great period of study was from the age of twelve to that of eighteen ; as he told Mr. Langton. who gave me this information. MALONK. 288 BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1763 a nobleman, and he Sam.- Johnson. Sir, there is one Mrs. Macaulay, 1 in this town, a great republican. One day when I was at her house, 1 put on a very grave countenance, and said to her, " Madam, I am now become a convert to your way of thinking. I am convinced that all mankind are upon an equal footing ; and to give you an unquestionable proof, Madam, that I am in earnest, here is a very sensible, civil, well- behaved fellow-citizen, your footman ; I desire that he may be allowed to sit down and dine with us." I thus, Sir, showed her the absurdity of the levelling doctrine. She has never liked me since. Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves ; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves. They would all have some people under them ; why not then have some people above them ? " I mentioned a certain author who disgusted me by his forwardness, and by showing no deference to noblemen into whose company he was admitted. JOHNSON : " Suppose a shoemaker should claim an equality with him, as he does with a lord : how he would stare. ' Why Sir, do you stare ? ' says the shoemaker, ' I do great service to society. Tis true, I am paid for doing it ; hut so are you, Sir ; and I am sorry to say it, better paid than I am, for doing something not so necessary. For mankind could do better without your books than without my shoes.' Thus, Sir, there would be a perpetual struggle for precedence, were there no fixed invariable rules for the distinction of rank, which creates no jealousy, as it is allowed to be accidental." He said, Dr. Joseph Warton was a very agreeable man, and his " Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope," a very pleasing book. I wondered that he delayed so long to give us the continuation of it. JOHNSON. " Why, Sir, I suppose he finds himself a little disappointed, in not having been able to persuade the world to be of his opinion as to Pope." We have now been favoured with the concluding volume, in which, to use a parliamentary expression, he has explained, so as not to appear quite so adverse to the opinion of the world, concerning Pope, as was at first thought; and we must all agree, that his work is a most valuable accession to English literature. A writer of deserved eminence being mentioned, Johnson said, " Why, Sir, he is a man of good parts, but being originally poor, he 1 This one Mrs. Macaulay was the same personage who afterwards made herself so much known as " the celebrated female historian." Bos WELL. JOIZPH WABTON. AGK 54.] BOS WELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 289 has got a love of mean company and low jocularity ; a very bad thing, Sir. To laugh is good, and to talk is good. But you ought no more to think it enough if you laugh, than you are to think it enough if you talk. You may laugh in as many ways as you talk ; and surely every way of talking that is practised cannot be esteemed." I spoke of Sir James Macdonald as a young man of most distin- guished merit, who united the highest reputation at Eton and Oxford, with the patriarchal spirit of a great Highland chieftain. I mentioned that Sir James had said to me, that he had never seen Mr. Johnson, but he had a great respect for him, though at the same time it was mixed with some degree of terror. JOHNSON : " Sir, if he were to be ac- quainted with me, it might lessen both." The mention of this gentleman led us to talk of the Western Islands of Scotland, to visit which he expressed a wish that then appeared to me a very romantic fancy, which I little thought would be afterwards realised. He told me, that his father had put Martin's account of those islands into his hands when he was very young, and that he was highly pleased with it; that he was particularly struck with the St.Kilda man's notion that the high church of Glasgow had been hollowed out of a rock; a circumstance to which old Mr. Johnson had directed his attention. He said he would go to the Hebrides with me when 1 returned from my travels, unless some very good companion should offer when I was absent, which he did not think probable ; adding, " There are few people whom I take so much to as you." And when 1 talked of my leaving England, he said with a very affectionate air, " My dear Boswell, I should be very unhappy at parting, did 1 think we were not to meet again." I cannot too often remind my readers, that although such in- stances of his kindness are doubtless very flattering to me, yet 1 hope my recording them will be ascribed to a better motive than to vanity ; for they afford unquestionable evidence of his tenderness and compla- cency, which some, while they are forced to acknowledge his great powers, have been so strenuous to deny. He maintained that a boy at school was the happiest of human beings. I supported a different opinion, from which I have never yet varied, that a man is happier : and I enlarged upon the anxiety and sufferings which are endured at school. JOHNSON : " Ah, Sir, a boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world against him. Men have a solicitude about fame ; and the greater share they have of it, the more afraid they are of losing it." I silently asked myself, " Is it possible that the great SAMUEL JOHNSON really entertains any such apprehension, and is not confident that his exalted fame is established upon a foundation never to be shaken ? " He this evening drank a bumper to Sir David Dalrymple, " as a man of worth, a scholar, and a wit." " I have," said he, " never heard of him, except from you ; but let him know my opinion of him : for as 290 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON*. [1703. he does not show himself much in the world, he should have the praise of the few who hear of him." On Tuesday, July 20, I found Mr. Johnson alone. It was a very wet day, and I again complained of the disagreeable effects of such weather. JOHNSON : " Sir, this is all imagination, which physicians encourage ; for man lives in air as a fish lives in water ; so that if the atmosphere press heavy from above, there is an equal resistance from below. To be sure, bad weather is hard upon people who are obliged to be abroad ; and men cannot labour so well in the open air in bad weather as in good : but, Sir, a smith, or a tailor, whose work is within doors, will surely do as much in rainy weather as in fair. Some very delicate frames, indeed, maybe affected by wet weather ; but not common constitutions." We talked of the education of children ; and I asked him what he thought was best to teach them first. JOHNSON : " Sir, it is no matter what 3 r ou teach them first, any more than what leg you shall put into your breeches first. Sir, you may stand disputing which is best to put in first, but in the mean time your breech id bare. Sir, while you are considering which of two things you should teach your child first, another boy has learnt them both." On Thursday, July 28, we again supped in private at the Turk's Head coffee-house. JOHNSON : " Swift has a higher reputation than he deserves. His excellence is strong sense ; for his humour, though very well, is not remarkably good. I doubt whether the ' Tale of a Tub' be his ; for he never owned it, and it is much above his usual manner." 1 " Thomson, I think, had as much of the poet about him as most writers. Every thing appeared to him through the medium of his favourite pursuit, lie could not have viewed those two jcandles burning but with a poetical eye. " " Has not 2 a great deal of wit, Sir ? " JOHNSON : " I do not think so, Sir. He is, indeed, continually attempting wit, but he fails. And I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it." He laughed heartily when 1 mentioned to him a saying of his con- cerning Mr. Thomas Sheridan, which Foote took a wicked pleasure to circulate. " Why, Sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull ; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, Sir, is not in .Nature." "So," said he, "I allowed him all his own merit." He now added, " Sheridan cannot bear me. I bring his declamation to a point. 1 ask him a plain question, ' What do you mean to teach ?' Besides, Sir, what influence can Mr. Sheridan have upon the language 1 This opinion was given by him more at large at a subsequent period. See " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," 3rd edit. p. 32. -BOSWELL. 2 It is supposed that Mr. Burke ia the person here alluded to. Johnson on several occasions denied his possession of this particular intellectual quality. ED. AGE 51.] BOSWELI/S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 21>i of this great country, by his narrow exertions ? Sir, it is burning a farthing candle at Dover, to show light at Calais." Talking of a young man 1 who was uneasy from thinking that he was very deficient in learning and knowledge, he said, " A man has no reason to complain who holds a middle place, and has many below him; and perhaps he has not six of his years above him ; perhaps not one. Though he may not 2 know anything perfectly, the general mass of know- ledge that he has acquired is considerable. Time will do for him all that is wanting." The conversation then took a philosophical turn. JOHNSON: " Human experience, which is constantly contradicting theory, is the great test of truth. A system, built upon the discoveries of a great many minds, is always of more strength, than what is produced by the mere workings of any one mind, which, of itself, can do little. There is not so poor a book in the world that would not be a prodigious effort were it wrought out entirely by a single mind, without the aid of prior investigators. The French writers are superficial, because they are not scholars, and BO proceed upon the mere power of their own minds ; and we see how very little power they have." " As to the Christian religion, Sir, besides the strong evidence which we have for it, there is a balance in its favour from the number of great men who have been convinced of its truth, after a serious con- sideration of the question. Grotius was an acute man, a lawyer, a man accustomed to examine evidence, and he was convinced. Grotius was not a recluse, but a man of the world, who certainly had no bias to the side of religion. Sir Isaac Newton set out an infidel, and came to be a very firm believer." He this evening again recommended to me to perambulate Spain, 3 I said it would amuse him to get a letter from me dated at Salamanca. JOHNSON : " I love the University of Salamanca ; for when the Spaniards were in doubt as to the lawfulness of their conquering America, the University of Salamanca gave it as their opinion that it was not lawful." He spoke this with great emotion, and with that generous warmth which dictated the lines in his "London," against Spanish encroachment. I expressed my opinion of my friend Derrick as but a poor writer. JOHNSON : " To be sure, Sir, he is ; but you are to consider that his 1 This was probably Boswell himself. In his Dedication to Sir J. Reynolds, he speaks of having been " almost unboundedly open" in his Journal of the " Tour," at his own expense ; and that finding his motive was misunderstood, he has therefore, in the present work, been more reserved. ED. 2 The context here evidently requires the word not, but we find it omitted in all the editions we have previously seen. ED. 8 I fully intended to have followed advice of such weight ; but having staid much longer both in Germany and Italy than I proposed to do, and having alto visited Corsica, I found that I had exceeded the time allowed me by my lather, and hastened to France in my way homewards. BOSWELL. R 2 292 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [1/03. being a literary man has got for him all that he has. It has made him king of Bath. Sir, he has nothing to say for himself but that he is ' a writer. Had he not been a writer, he must have been sweeping the crossings in the streets, and asking halfpence from every body that passed." * Injustice, however, to the memory of Mr. Derrick, who was my first tutor in the ways of London, and showed me the town in all its variety of departments, both literary and sportive, the particulars of which Dr. Johnson advised me to put in writing, it is proper to mention what Johnson, at a subsequent period, said of him both as a writer and an editor : " Sir, I have often said, that if Derrick's letters had been written by one of a more established name, they would have been thought very pretty letters." 1 And, " I sent Derrick to Dryden's relations to gather materials for his life ; and I believe he got all that I myself should have got." 2 Poor Derrick! I remember him with kindness. Yet I cannot with- hold from my readers a pleasant humorous sally which could not have hurt him had he been alive, and now is perfectly harmless. In his col- lection of poems there is one upon entering the harbour of Dublin, his native city, after a long absence. It begins thus : " Eblana ! much loved city, hail ! Where first I saw the light of day. ' ' And after a solemn reflection on his being " numbered with forgotten dead," there is the following stanza : "Unless my lines protract my fame, And those, who chance to read them, cry, I knew him ! Derrick was his name, In yonder tomb his ashes lie." which was thus happily parodied by Mr. John Home, to whom we owe the beautiful and pathetic tragedy of " Douglas "; " Unless my deeds protract my fame, And he who passes sadly sings, I knew him ! Derrick was his name, On yonder tree his carcase swings !' ' I doubt much whether the amiable and ingenious author of these burlesque lines will recollect them ; for they were produced extempore one evening while he and I were walking together in the dining-room at Eglintoune Castle, in 1760, and I have never mentioned them to him since. Johnson said once to me, " Sir, I honour Derrick for his presence of mind. One night, when Floyd, 3 another poor author, was wandering 1 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 2nd edit. p. 104. BOSWKLL. * Ibid. p. 142. BOSWELT.. 5 He published a biographical work, containing an account of eminent writers, in 3 vols. 8vo. BOSWELL. AGE 54.] BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. about the streets in the night, he found Derrick fast asleep upon a bulk ; upon being suddenly waked, Derrick started up, ' My dear Floyd, I am sorry to see you in this destitute state ; will you come home with me to my lodijimjs ?' " I again begged his advice as to my method of study at Utrecht. " Come," said he, " let us make a day of it. Let us go down to Green- wich and dine, and talk of it there." The following Saturday was fixed for this excursion. As we walked along the Strand to-night, arm in arm, a Avoman of the town accosted us, in the usual enticing manner. " No, no, my girl," said Johnson, "it won't do." He, however, did not treat her with harshness ; and we talked of the wretched life of such women, and agreed that much more misery than happiness, upon the whole, is pro- duced by illicit commerce between the sexes. On Saturday, July 30, Dr. Johnson and I took a sculler at the Temple- stairs, and set out for Greenwich. I asked him if he really thought a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages an essential requisite to a good education. JOHNSON : " Most certainly, Sir ; for those who know them have a very great advantage over those who do not. Nay, Sir, it is wonderful what a difference learning makes upon people even in the common intercourse of life, which does not appear to be much connected with it." " And yet," said I, " people go through the world very well and carry on the business of life to good advantage without learning." JOHNSON: "Why, Sir, that may be true in cases where learning cannot possibly be of any use ; for instance, this boy rows us as well without learning, as if he could sing the song of Orpheus to the Argonauts, who were the first sailors." He then called 294 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [ires. to the boy, " What would you give, ray lad, to know about the Argo- nauts?" " Sir," said the boy, " I would give what I have." Johnson was much pleased with his answer, and we gave him a double fare. Dr. Johnson then turning to me, " Sir," said he, "a desire of knowledge is the natural feeling of mankind ; and every human being whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get know- ledge." We landed at the Old Swan, and walked to Billingsgate, 1 where we took oars and moved smoothly along the silver Thames. It was a very fine day. We were entertained with the immense number and variety of ships that were lying at anchor, and with the beautiful country on each side of the river. I talked of preaching, and of the great success which those called methodists 2 have. JOHNSON : " Sir, it is owing to their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner, which is the only way to do good to the common people, and which clergymen of genius and learning ought to do from a principle of duty, when it is suited to their congre- gations ; a practice, for which they will be praised by men of sense. To insist against drunkenness as a crime, because it debases reason, the noblest faculty of man, would be of no service to the common people: but to tell them that they may die in a fit of drunkenness and show 1 During the existence of old London-bridge, it was dangerous for wherries to pass through it (technically called " shooting the bridge") in certain states of the tide, It was customary, therefore, for passengers to land before coming to the bridge, and walk to the other side of it 2 All who are acquainted with the history of religion, (the most important, surely, that concerns the human mind,) know that the appellation of Methodists was first given to a society of students in the University of Oxford, who about the year 1730, were dis- tinguished by an earnest and methodical attention to devout exercises. This disposition of mind is not a novelty, or peculiar to any sect, but has been, and still may be found, in many Christians of every denomination. Johnson himself was, in a dignified manner, a methodist. In his ''Rambler," No. 1 10, he mentions with respect " the whole discipline of re- gulated piety ;" and in his " Prayers and Meditations," many instances occur of his anxious examination into his spiritual state. That this religious earnestness, and in particular an observation of the influence of the Holy Spirit, has sometimes degenerated into folly, and sometimes been counterfeited for base purposes, cannot be denied. But it is not, therefore, fair to decry it when genuine. The principal argument in reason and good sense against metbodism is, that it tends to debase human nature, and prevent the generous exertions of goodness, by an unworthy supposition that God will pay no regard to them ; although it is positively said in the scriptures, that he " will reward every man according to his works." But I am happy to have it in my power to do justice to tho^e whom it is the fashion to ridicule, without any knowledge of their tenets ; and this I can do by quoting a passage from one of their best apologists, Mr. Milner, who thus expresses their doctrine upon this subject: "Justified by faith, renewed in his faculties, and constrained by the love of Christ, their believer moves in the sphere of love and gratitude, and all his duties flow more or less from this principle. And though they are accumulating for him in heaven a treasure of bliss proportioned to his faithfulness and activity, and it is by no meant inconsistent with his principles to feel the force of this consideration, yet love itself sweetens every duty to his mind ; and he thinks there is no absurdity in his feeling the love of God as the grand commanding principle of his life." Essays on several religious Subjects, Sfc., by Joseph Milner, A.M., Muster of the Grammar School of Kingtton- ttpon-HuU,1789,p. 11. A(iK 51. J BOSWELL S LIFE OF JOHNSON. 295 them how dreadful that would he, cannot fail to make a deep impression. Sir, when your Scotch clergy give up their homely manner, religion will soon decay in that country." Let this observation, as Johnson meant it, be ever remembered, I was much pleased to find myself with Johnson at Greenwich, which be celebrates in his " London" as a favourite scene. I had the poem in my pocket, and read the lines aloud with enthusiasm : " On Thames' s brinks in silent thought we stood, Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood : Pleased with the seat which gave ELIZA birth, We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth." He remarked that the structure of Greenwich hospital was too mag- nificent for a place of charity, and that its parts were too much detached, to make one great whole. Buchanan, he said, was a very fine poet ; and observed, that he was the first who complimented a lady, by ascribing to her the different per- fections of the heathen goddesses ; : but that Johnstone 2 improved upon this, by making his lady, at the same time, free from their defects. He dwelt upon Buchanan's elegant verses to Mary Queen of Scots, Nympha Caledonia,