PR 3533 
 .B6 
 1912a 
 Copy 1 
 
 Elections from 
 oswell's 
 
 of Johns 
 
 Batchelder 
 
GopyrightN^. 
 
 '2i^^O 
 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
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 'fij 
 
 DOCTOR JOHNSON 
 
 From an old Print, showing Johnson in the Costume worn 
 on his journey to the Hebrides. 
 
SELECTIONS FROM 
 BOSWELL'S 
 
 LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 \\ 
 
 EDITED BY NATHANIEL HORTON BATCHELDER, 
 SENIOR ENGLISH MASTER, THE HOTCHKISS 
 SCHOOL, LAKEVILLE, CONNECTICUT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES E. MERRILL COMPANY 
 

 Copyright, 1912 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. 
 
 \^^ 
 
 
 CCI.A305828 
 
 ^ 
 
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 sr- 
 
 ^ INTRODUCTION 
 
 Samuel Johnson has the ahnost unique distinction of 
 being an author who is better known than his works. He 
 is admittedly the dominant figure in later eighteenth 
 century English literature. Professor Barrett Wendell 
 speaks of him and Ben Jonson as two men who have pre- 
 eminently guided the course of letters, each in his own age. 
 Taine speaks of him as ''a strange character, the most 
 esteemed of his time, a sort of literary dictator," and adds 
 that "his criticism becomes law; men crowd to hear him 
 talk; he is the arbiter of style." Yet Rasselas, the Vanity 
 of Human Wishes and even the Lives of the Poets are likely 
 to remain unopened, while the works of his certainly 
 lesser contemporary, Goldsmith, who looked up to John- 
 son as a patron and protector, are widely read. The rea- 
 son for this neglect may be found again in Taine, who says 
 of his style: "Classical prose attains its perfection in him 
 as classical poetry in Pope. Art cannot be more con- 
 summate or nature more forced"; and of his matter: "His 
 truths are too true; we already knew his precepts by 
 heart." Indeed, both substance and style are out of date. 
 
 It is not necessary, then, for the pupil to read much of 
 the works of Johnson — a chapter or two of Rasselas and 
 a typical passage from the Lives of the Poets, — on Addison, 
 for instance — are quite sufficient to show the philosophy, 
 the critical judgment, and the style of Johnson as a writer. 
 But of the man himself more must be said. He who could 
 
 3 
 
4 INTRODUCTION 
 
 dominate an assemblage in which sat Reynolds, the great- 
 est portrait painter, Burke, the greatest orator, Gibbon, 
 the greatest historian, and Goldsmith, the greatest author 
 of light literature, of the period, must needs be worth our 
 study. Nor was Johnson attractive to men alone. Miss 
 Burney imitated his style and had the warmest personal 
 regard for him, while the fickle and flippant Mrs. Thrale 
 made him as welcome at her entertainments as did her 
 worthy husband. 
 
 Fortunately the material for this study is at hand in the 
 work of James Boswell. The character and ability of 
 Boswell have received the most varied judgments. Ma- 
 caulay has nothing but contempt for Boswell as a man, 
 though he grants that his work will be read as long as 
 the English language exists. George Birkbeck Hill, a more 
 favorable critic, speaks of him as "the man whose ripened 
 genius was to place him at the very head of all the bi- 
 ographers of whom the world can boast." 
 
 The purpose of this volume is to give the student the 
 material necessary to judge for himself of this greatest 
 of biographies and its author, as well as to furnish informa- 
 tion about Johnson and other eighteenth century men of 
 letters. For that reason, criticism is reduced to a mini- 
 mum in both introduction and notes. 
 
 Some few facts in the life of Boswell should be known. 
 He was born in Edinburgh, October 29, 1740, thirty-one 
 years after Johnson was born in Lichfield. His father was 
 a judge of the Court of Sessions, and bore the title of 
 Lord Auchinleck, to which the son succeeded. In the 
 letter from Johnson to Boswell on the death of his father 
 (p. 78), one may get a sufficient idea of the importance 
 and responsibility of that position. The son was destined 
 
INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 for his father's profession and studied at Edinburgh, Glas- 
 gow, and the University of Utrecht. Lacking both the 
 native love for the law and the pressure of necessity, he 
 never practised assiduously. 
 
 Boswell's tastes led him rather to travel and to litera- 
 ture. At one time or another he journeyed to Germany, 
 Switzerland, Italy, Corsica, and, in company with John- 
 son, to the Hebrides. The fruits of these travels were 
 two works. An Account of Corsica (1768), which was 
 translated into several languages, and the Journal of a 
 Tour to the Hebrides (1785). 
 
 His bent for literature led him to seek introductions to 
 many of the most prominent men of the time. First 
 among these was Samuel Johnson, whom he met May 16, 
 1763, when Johnson was already fifty-four years of age. 
 It has been computed that Boswell was in the company 
 of Johnson on only two hundred and seventy-six days in 
 all, yet his industry in collecting anecdotes and informa- 
 tion about him was so great that he has written probably 
 the most minute and intimate biography that we have 
 in all literature. This biography alone has made Boswell 
 famous. 
 
 TO THE TEACHER 
 
 This little volume springs from a conviction that it is 
 poor school-teaching to ask a pupil to accept another's 
 opinion on an author or his work, even when that other is 
 a Macaulay, if the material is at hand to enable him to 
 form an opinion for himself. Macaulay's Essay on John- 
 son is one of the most widely read classics in our school 
 courses. In connection with the study of it, one may 
 reasonably expect that the pupil will form, first, a correct 
 
6 INTRODUCTION 
 
 opinion of Johnson and his place in Enghsh literature; 
 second, an estimate of other men of letters of that time; 
 and, third, a critical appreciation of Macaulay's style as 
 biographer and critic. 
 
 Suppose our immediate task is the first of these. Shall 
 we not do well to supplement Macaulay's statements 
 about the piety and filial devotion of Johnson by reading 
 some of the prayers, and the beautiful and pathetic letters 
 to his mother? 
 
 Under the second head we necessarily consider Boswell. 
 Certainly after reading that he ^'was a coxcomb and a 
 bore, weak, vain, pushing, curious," we should let Boswell 
 himself speak of his first meeting with Johnson and other 
 similar incidents. 
 
 If we would form a critical opinion of Macaulay's style, 
 no method can be more instructive than that of compari- 
 son with a work on the same subject but in an entirely 
 different manner. 
 
 These three instances will indicate the purpose of these 
 Selections and the method of using them. They are 
 intended primarily as a source book in connection with the 
 study of Macaulay or other works on Johnson and his 
 period. The choice of passages has been dictated by per- 
 sonal experience. Most of them have been used in the 
 editor's classes, where selections were read parallel with 
 the parts of Macaulay's essay on the same topics. With 
 the aid of the index, this method may easily be followed, 
 parallel passages being assigned for reading outside the 
 class, or read aloud for the first time by the teacher in the 
 classroom. If it seems more desirable, the study of Ma- 
 caulay can be completed, and the impression made by 
 his essay can then be modified by reading Boswell. 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 In either case, there should be much discussion, orally 
 or in writing, of many points, such as the merits of Boswell 
 and Macaulay as biographers, Boswell as a critic, and so 
 on. To this end, such a passage as the one in which Bos- 
 well discusses the writings of Johnson and Addison (p. 17) 
 should prove fruitful as throwing light upon Johnson and 
 Addison and also on Boswell's capacity as a critic. 
 
 The selections appear here in the same order as in the 
 original, the page and volume numbers referring to the 
 edition by Augustine Birrell. 
 
SELECTIONS FROM 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 1709 
 
 Samuel Johnson was born at Lichfield, in Staf- 
 fordshire, 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 of 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 indiscrimi- 
 nate assumption of Esquire, was commonly taken by 
 those who could not boast of gentility. His father 
 was Michael Johnson, a native of Derbyshire, of 
 obscure extraction, who settled in Lichfield as a 
 bookseller and stationer. His mother was Sarah 
 Ford, descended from an ancient race of substantial 
 yeomanry in Warwickshire. They were well ad- 
 vanced 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 
 
 9 
 
10 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 record, and Nathanael, who died in his twenty- 
 fifth year. 
 
 Mr. Michael Johnson was a man of large and ro- 
 bust body, and of a strong and active mind; yet, 
 as in the most sohd rocks veins of unsound sub- 
 stance are often discovered, there was in him a mix- 
 ture of that disease, the nature of which eludes the 
 most minute inquiry, though the effects are well 
 known to be a weariness of life, an unconcern about 
 those things which agitate the greater part of man- 
 kind, and a general sensation of gloomy wretched- 
 ness. From him then his son inherited, with some 
 other quahties, " Si vile melancholy," which in his 
 too strong expression of any disturbance of the 
 mind, ''made him mad all his life, at least not 
 sober." Michael was, however, forced by the nar- 
 rowness of his circumstances to be very dihgent in 
 business, not only in his shop, but by occasionally 
 resorting to several towns in the neighbourhood, 
 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 
 magistrates of Lichfield; and being a man of good 
 sense, and skill in his trade, he acquired a reason- 
 able share of wealth, of which, however, he after- 
 wards lost the greatest part, by engaging unsuc- 
 
BOSW ELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 11 
 
 cessfully in a manufacture of parchment. He was 
 a zealous highchurchman and royalist, and retained 
 his attachment to the unfortunate house of Stuart, 
 though he reconciled himself, by casuistical argu- 
 ments of expediency and necessity, to take the oaths 
 imposed by the prevailing power. — Vol. I, p. 10. 
 
 1712 — .ffit. 3 
 
 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 petticoats, and had learnt 
 to read, Mrs. Johnson one morning put the Com- 
 mon Prayer Book into his hands, pointed to the 
 collect for the day, and said, ''Sam, you must get 
 this by heart." She went upstairs, 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. — Vol. I, p. 15. 
 
 1712 — ^t. 3 
 
 He was only thirty months old when he was 
 taken to London to be touched for the evil. During 
 this visit, he tells us, his mother purchased for him 
 a small silver cup and spoon. "The cup," he af- 
 fectingly adds, "was one of the last pieces of plate 
 which dear Tetty sold in our distress. I have now, 
 
12 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 the spoon. She bought at the same time two tea- 
 spoons, and till my manhood, she had no more." 
 (Note by Malone.) — Vol. I, p. 18. 
 
 1729 — ^t. 20 
 
 Dr. Adam Smith, than whom few were better 
 judges on this subject, once observed to me that 
 ''Johnson knew more books than any man aUve." 
 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 Col- 
 lege twice over, but he never took that trouble 
 with any other composition, and we shall see that 
 his most excellent works were struck off at a heat, 
 with rapid exertion. — Vol. I, p. 43. 
 
 1729 — Mt. 20 
 
 Dr. Adams told me that Johnson, while he was 
 at Pembroke 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 most 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. Adams he 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON Hi 
 
 said, '^Ah, sir, I was mad and violent. It was 
 bitterness which they mistook for frohc. 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." — Vol. I, p. 45. 
 
 nZl — Mt. 22 
 
 The res angusta donii prevented him from having 
 the advantage of a complete academical education. 
 The friend to wliom 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. — Vol. I, p. 48. 
 
 1736 — .ffit. 27 
 
 I know not for what reason the marriage ceremony 
 was not performed at Birmingham; but a resolution 
 w^as taken that it should be at Derby, for which 
 place the bride and bridegroom set out on horse- 
 back, I suppose in very good humor. But though 
 Mr. Topham Beauclerk used archly to mention 
 Johnson's having told him, with much gravity, '^Sir, 
 it was a love marriage on both sides," I have had 
 from my illustrious friend the following curious ac- 
 
14 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 count of their journey to church upon the nuptial 
 morn (9th July): — ''Sir, she had read the old 
 romances, and had got into her head the fantastical 
 notion that a woman of spirit should use her lover 
 like a dog. So, sir, at first she told me that I rode 
 too fast, and she could not keep up with me, and, 
 when I rode a little slower, she passed me, and com- 
 plained that I lagged behind. I was not to be made 
 the slave of caprice; and I resolved to begin as I 
 meant to end. I therefore pushed on briskly, till 
 I was fairly out of her sight. The road lay between 
 two hedges, so I was sure she could not miss it; and 
 I contrived that she should soon come up with me. 
 When she did, I observed her to be in tears." 
 
 This, it must be allowed, was a singular beginning 
 of connubial felicity; but there is no doubt that 
 Johnson, though he thus showed a manly firmness, 
 proved a most affectionate and indulgent husband 
 to the last moment of Mrs. Johnson's life: and in 
 his Prayers and Meditations, we find remarkable 
 evidence that his regard and fondness for her never 
 ceased, even after her death. — Vol. I, p. 65. 
 
 1736 — -ffit. 27 
 
 Johnson was not more satisfied with his situation 
 as the master of an academy, than with that of the 
 usher of a school; we need not wonder, therefore, 
 that he did not keep his academy above a year and 
 a half. From Mr. Garrick's account he did not 
 appear to have been profoundly reverenced by his 
 
BOSW ELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 15 
 
 pupils. His oddities of manner, and uncouth ges- 
 ticulations, could not but be the subject of merri- 
 ment to them; and in particular, the young rogues 
 used to listen at the door . . . and peep through 
 the key-hole, that they might turn into ridicule 
 his tumultuous and awkward fondness for Mrs. 
 Johnson, whom he used to name by the familiar 
 appellation of Tetty or Tetsey, which, hke Betty or 
 Betsey, is provincially used as a contraction for 
 Elizabeth, her Christian name, but which to us 
 seems ludicrous, when applied to a woman of her 
 age and appearance. Mr. Garrick described her 
 to me as very, fat . . . with swelled cheeks, of a 
 florid red, produced by thick painting, and increased 
 by the liberal use of cordials; flaring and fantastic 
 in her dress, and affected both in her speech and 
 her general behaviour. I have seen Garrick exhibit 
 her, by his exquisite talent of mimicry, so as to 
 excite the heartiest bursts of laughter; but he, prob- 
 ably, as is the case in all such representations, con- 
 siderably aggravated the picture. — Vol. I, p. 67. 
 
 1737 — .ffit. 28 
 
 Both of them [Garrick and Johnson] used to talk 
 pleasantly of this their first journey to London. 
 Garrick, evidently meaning to embellish a little, 
 said one day in my hearing, ''we rode and tied." 
 And the Bishop of Killaloe (Dr. Barnard) informed 
 me, that at another time, when Johnson and Gar- 
 rick were dining together in a pretty large company, 
 
10 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 Johnson humorously ascertaining the chronology of 
 something, expressed himself thus: ''That was the 
 year when I came to London with twopence half- 
 penny in my pocket." Garrick overhearing him, 
 exclaimed, "Eh? what do you say? with twopence 
 halfpenny in your pocket?" — Johnson: "Why yes; 
 when I came with twopence halfpenny in my pocket, 
 and thou, Davy, with three halfpence in thine." 
 
 Vol. I, p. 70. 
 1737 — ^t. 28 
 
 His Ofellus, in the Art oj Living i7i 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 sup- 
 pose, was then meditating to try his fortune in Lon- 
 don, but was apprehensive of the expense, "that 
 thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to 
 live there without being contemptible. Pie allowed 
 ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said a man 
 might hve in a garret at eighteen pence 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 companj^; 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 
 
BOSWELU^ LIFE OF JOHNSON 17 
 
 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." — Vol. I, p. 73. 
 
 1750 — ^t. 41 
 
 It has of late been the fashion to compare the 
 style of Addison and Johnson, and to depreciate, 
 I think, very unjustly, the style of Addison as nerve- 
 less and feeble, because it has not the strength and 
 energy of that of Johnson. Their prose may be 
 balanced like the poetry of Dry den and Pope. 
 Both are excellent, though in different ways. Addi- 
 son writes with the ease of a gentleman. Plis read- 
 ers fancy that a wise and accomplished companion 
 is talking to them; so that he insinuates his senti- 
 ments and taste into their minds by an imperceptible 
 influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dic- 
 tates to his readers as if from an academical chair. 
 They attend with awe and admiration; and his pre- 
 cepts are impressed upon them by his commanding 
 eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases 
 everybody from the first. Johnson's, like a liquor 
 of more body, seems too strong at first, but by de- 
 grees is highly relished; and such is the melody of 
 his periods, so much do they captivate the ear, and 
 seize upon the attention, that there is scarcely any 
 writer, however inconsiderable, who does not aim^ 
 
18 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 in some degree, at the same species of excellence. 
 But let us not ungratefully undervalue that beauti- 
 ful style, which has pleasingly conveyed to us much 
 instruction and entertainment. Though compara- 
 tively weak, opposed to Johnson's Herculean vigour, 
 let us not call it positively feeble. Let us remember 
 the character of his style, as given by Johnson him- 
 self ^ : — ^'What he attempted, he performed; he 
 is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetic; 
 he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His 
 sentences have neither studied amplitude, nor af- 
 fected brevity: his periods, though not diligently 
 rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to 
 attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and 
 elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and 
 nights to the volumes of Addison." — Vol. I, p. 180. 
 
 1752 — -ffit. 43 
 
 His acquaintance with Bennet Langton, Esq., of 
 Langton, in Lincolnshire, another much-valued 
 friend, commenced soon after the conclusion of his 
 Rambler; which that gentleman, then a youth, had 
 read with so much " admiration, that he came to 
 London chiefly with a view of endeavouring to be 
 introduced to its author. Mr. Langton was exceed- 
 ingly surprised when the sage first appeared. He 
 had not received the smallest intimation of his 
 figure, dress, or manner. From perusing his writ- 
 
 1 The passage quoted is from the life of Addison in The 
 Lives of the Poets, 
 
BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 19 
 
 ings, he fancied he should see a decent, well-dressed, 
 in short, a remarkably decorous philosopher. In- 
 stead of which, down from his bed-chamber about 
 noon came, as newly risen, a huge uncouth figure, 
 with a little dark wig which scarcely covered his 
 head, and his clothes hanging loose about him. 
 But his conversation was so rich, so animated, and 
 so forcible, and his religious and political notions 
 so congenial with those in which Langton had been 
 educated, that he conceived for him that venera- 
 tion and attachment which he ever preserved. John- 
 son was not the less ready to love Mr. Langton, 
 for his being of a very ancient family; for I have 
 heard him say, with pleasure, '^Langton, sir, has a 
 grant of free warren from Henry the Second; and 
 Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, 
 was of his family." 
 
 Mr. Langton afterwards went to pursue his stud- 
 ies at Trinity College, Oxford, where he formed 
 an acquaintance with his fellow-student, Mr. Top- 
 ham Beauclerk; who, though their opinions and 
 modes of life were so different, that it seemed ut- 
 terly improbable that they should at all agree, had 
 so ardent a love of literature, so acute an under- 
 standing, such elegance of manners, and so well 
 discerned the excellent qualities of Mr. Langton, a 
 gentleman eminent not only for worth and learning, 
 but for an inexhaustible fund of entertaining con- 
 versation, that they became intimate friends. 
 
 Johnson, soon after this acquaintance began, 
 
20 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 passed a considerable time at Oxford. He at first 
 thought it strange that Langton should associate 
 so much with one who had the character of being 
 loose, both in his principles and practice: but, by 
 degrees, he himself was fascinated. Mr. Beauclerk's 
 being of the St. Alban's family, and having, in some 
 particulars, a resemblance to Charles the Second, 
 contributed in Johnson's imagination to throw a 
 lustre upon his other qualities; and in a short time, 
 the moral, pious Johnson, and the gay, dissipated 
 Beauclerk, were companions. ''What a coahtion!" 
 (said Garrick, when he heard of this) "I shall have 
 my old friend to bail out of the Roundhouse." In- 
 numerable were the scenes in which Johnson was 
 amused by these young men. Beauclerk could 
 take more liberty with him than anybody with whom 
 I ever saw him; but, on the other hand, Beauclerk 
 was not spared by his respectable companion, when 
 reproof was proper. 
 
 Johnson was some time with Beauclerk at his 
 house at Windsor, where he was entertained with 
 experiments in natural philosophy. One Sunday, 
 when the weather was very fine, Beauclerk enticed 
 him, insensibly, to saunter about all the morning. 
 They went into a churchyard, in the time of divine 
 service, and Johnson laid himself down at his ease 
 upon one of the tombstones. ''Now, sir" (said 
 Beauclerk), "you are like Hogarth's Idle Appren- 
 tice." When Johnson got his pension, Beauclerk 
 said to him, in the humorous phrase of Falstaff, 
 
 I 
 
BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 21 
 
 ''I hope you'll now purge 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 doors of his chambers in 
 the Temple, till at last he appeared in his shirt, 
 with his httle black wig on the top of his head 
 instead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand, 
 imagining, probably, that some ruffians were com- 
 ing 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." 
 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 inter- 
 ference, that he soon saw his services were not 
 relished. They then repaired to one of the neigh- 
 bouring taverns, and made a bowl of that liquor 
 called Bishop, which Johnson had always hked; 
 while in joyous contempt of sleep, from which he 
 had been roused, he repeated the festive lines, 
 
 "Short, O short then be thy reign, 
 And give us to the world again." 
 
22 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 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 '^leav- 
 ing his social friends, to go and sit with a set of 
 wretched unidea'd girls." Garrick being told of 
 this ramble, said to him smartly, ''I heard of your 
 froHc 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!" — Vol. I, p. 199. 
 
 1754 — ^t. 45 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF 
 CHESTERFIELD 
 
 ''February 7, 1755. 
 
 ''My Lord, — I have been lately informed, by 
 the proprietor of the World, that two papers, in 
 which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, 
 were written by your Lordship. To be so distin- 
 guished is an honour, which, being very little ac- 
 customed to favours from the great, I know not 
 well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowl- 
 edge. 
 
 ''When, upon some sHght encouragement, I first 
 visited your Lordship, I was overpowered, like the 
 
BO&WELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 23 
 
 rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your ad- 
 dress, and could not forbear to wish that I might 
 boast myself Le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre; 
 — that I might obtain that regard for which I saw 
 the world contending; but I found my attendance 
 so little encouraged that neither pride nor modesty 
 would suffer me to continue it. When I had once 
 addressed your Lordship in public I had exhausted, 
 all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly 
 scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; 
 and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, 
 be it ever so little. 
 
 ''Seven years, my Lord, have now passed since 
 I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed 
 from your door; during which time I have been 
 pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it 
 is useless to complain, and have brought it at last 
 to the verge of publication, without one act of as- 
 sistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile 
 of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I 
 never had a Patron before. 
 
 "The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted 
 with Love, and found him a native of the rocks. 
 
 "Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with 
 unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, 
 and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him 
 with help? The notice which you have been pleased 
 to take of my labours, had it been early, had been 
 kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, 
 and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot 
 
24 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I 
 hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess 
 obligations where no benefit has been received, or 
 to be unwilling that the public should consider me 
 as owing that to a Patron, which Providence has 
 enabled me to do for myself. 
 
 ''Having carried on my work thus far with so 
 little obhgation to any favourer of learning, I shall 
 not be disappointed though I should conclude it, 
 if less be possible, with less; for I have been long 
 awakened from that dream of hope, in which I once 
 boasted myself with so much exultation, my Lord, — 
 
 ''Your Lordship's most humble, most obedient 
 servant, 
 
 "Sam. Johnson." 
 Vol. I, p. 212. 
 
 1755 — ^t. 46 
 
 [The letter from the Chancellor of Oxford, recom- 
 mending Johnson for the degree of Master of Arts.] 
 
 TO THE KEVEREND DR. HUDDESFORD, VICE-CHAN- 
 CELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; TO BE 
 COMMUNICATED TO THE HEADS OF HOUSES, AND 
 PROPOSED IN CONVOCATION 
 
 "Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen, — Mr. 
 Samuel Johnson, who was formerly of Pembroke 
 College, having very eminently distinguished him- 
 self by the publication of a series of essays, excel- 
 lently calculated to form the manners of the people, 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 25 
 
 and in which the cause of religion and morahty is 
 everywhere 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 I shall act 
 agreeable to the sentiments 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 affection- 
 ate friend and servant, 
 
 *'Arran. 
 ''Grosvenor Street, Feb. 4, 1755." 
 
 Vol. I, p. 229. 
 
 1759 — ^t. 50 
 
 In 1759, in the month of January, his mother 
 died, at the great age of ninety, an ev.ent which 
 deeply affected him; not that " his mind had acquired 
 no firmness by the contemplation of mortality"; but 
 that his reverential affection for her was not abated 
 by years, as indeed he retained 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. 
 
26 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 TO MRS. JOHNSON, AT LICHFIELD 
 
 ''Honoured Madam, ~ The account 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, beginning — 
 Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden, and 
 I will give you rest. 
 
 ^'I have just now read a physical book, which in- 
 clines 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 w^ould have 
 paid first, or anything else you would direct, let 
 Miss put it down; I shall endeavour to obey you. 
 
 ''I hav6 got twelve guineas to send you, but un- 
 happily 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 anything mentioned in this 
 letter. God bless you for ever and ever. I am, 
 your dutiful son, 
 
 "Sam. Johnson. 
 "Jan. 13, 1759." 
 
 "Dear honoured Mother, — Your weakness af- 
 flicts me beyond what I am willing to communi- 
 cate to you. I do not think you unfit to face death, 
 
WSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 27 
 
 but 1 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 mother, your dutiful son, 
 
 "Sam. Johnson. 
 ^'Jan. 16, 1759." 
 
 Dear honoured Mother, — Neither j^our 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. T thank you for your 
 indulgence to me, and beg forgiveness of all that I 
 have done ill, and all that I have omitted to do 
 well. 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. 
 "Jan. 20, 1759." 
 
 TO MISS PORTER, IN LICHFIELD 
 
 "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 sin- 
 
28 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 cerest 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 £20 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. 
 ''Jan. 23, 1759." 
 
 Vol. II, p. 12. 
 
 1762 — .ffit. 63 
 
 The accession of George the Third to the throne 
 of these kingdoms opened a new and brighter 
 prospect to men of literary merit, who had been 
 honoured with no mark of royal favour in the pre- 
 ceding reign. His present Majesty's education in 
 this country, as well as his taste and beneficence, 
 prompted him to be the patron of science and the 
 arts; and early this year, Johnson having been repre- 
 sented to him as a very learned and good man, with- 
 out any certain provision, his Majesty was pleased to 
 grant him a pension of three hundred pounds a 
 year. . . . 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds told me that Johnson called 
 on him after his Majesty's intention had been noti- 
 fied to him, and said he wished to consult his friends 
 as to the propriety of his accepting this mark of 
 
BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 29 
 
 the royal favour, after the definitions which he had 
 given in his Dictionary of pension and pensioners. 
 He said he should not have Sir Joshua's answer 
 till the next day, when he would call again, and 
 desired he might think of it. Sir Joshua answered 
 that he was clear to give his opinion then, that 
 there could be no objection to his receiving from 
 the King a reward for literary merit; and that cer- 
 tainly the definitions in his Dictionary were not 
 applicable to him. Johnson, it should seem, was 
 satisfied, for he did not call again till he had accepted 
 the pension, and waited on Lord Bute to thank 
 him. He then told Sir Joshua that Lord Bute said 
 to him expressly, "It is not given you for anything 
 you are to do, but for what you have done." 
 
 Vol. II, p. 42. 
 
 1762 — ^t. 53 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF BUTE 
 
 "My Lord, — When the bills were yesterday de- 
 livered to me by Mr. Wedderburne, I was informed 
 by him of the future favours which his Majesty 
 has, by your Lordship's recommendation, been in- 
 duced to intend for me. 
 
 "Bounty always receives part of its value from 
 the manner in which it is bestowed; your Lordship's 
 kindness includes every circumstance that can 
 gratify delicacy or enforce obligation. You have 
 conferred your favours on a man who has neither 
 
30 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 alliance nor interest, who has not merited them by 
 service, nor courted them by officiousness; you have 
 spared him the shame of solicitation and the anxiety 
 of suspense. 
 
 ''What has been thus elegantly given will, I hope, 
 not be reproachfully enjoyed; I shall endeavour to 
 give your Lordship the only recompense which 
 generosity desires, — the gratification of finding 
 that your benefits are not improperly bestowed. — 
 I am, my Lord, your Lordship's most obliged, most 
 obedient, and most humble servant, 
 
 ''Sam. Johnson. 
 "July 20, 1762." 
 
 Vol. II, p. 45. 
 
 1762 — .ffit. 53 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF BUTE 
 
 "My Lord, — That generosity, by which I was 
 recommended to the favour of his Majesty, will not 
 be offended at a solicitation necessary to make that 
 favour permanent and effectual. 
 
 "The pension appointed to be paid me at Michael- 
 mas I have not received, and know not where or 
 from whom I am to ask it. I beg, therefore, that 
 your Lordship will be pleased to supply Mr. Wedder- 
 burne with such directions as may be necessary, 
 which, I believe, his friendship will make him think 
 it no trouble to convey to me. 
 
 "To interrupt your Lordship, at a time hke this, 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 31 
 
 with such petty difficulties, is improper and un- 
 seasonable; but your knowledge of the world has 
 long since taught you, that every man's affairs, 
 however little, are important to himself. Every 
 man hopes that he shall escape neglect; and, with 
 reason, may every man, whose vices do not pre- 
 clude his claim, expect favour from that beneficence 
 which has been extended to, my Lord, your Lord- 
 ship's most obliged and most humble servant, 
 
 ''Sam. Johnson. 
 ''Temple Lane, Nov. 3, 1762." 
 
 Vol. II, p. 48. 
 
 1763 — mt. 54 
 
 Mr. Thomas Davies was a man of good under- 
 standing and talents, with the advantage of a liberal 
 education. Though somewhat pompous, he was an 
 entertaining companion; and his literary perform- 
 ances have no inconsiderable share of merit. He 
 was a friendly and very hospitable man. Both he 
 and his wife (who has been celebrated for her 
 beauty), though upon the stage for many years, 
 maintained a uniform, decency of character: and 
 Johnson esteemed them, and lived in as easy an 
 intimacy with them as with any family he used to 
 visit. Mr. Davies recollected several of Johnson's 
 remarkable sayings, and was one of the best imitators 
 of his voice and manner while relating them. He 
 increased my impatience more and more to see the 
 extraordinary man whose works I highly valued, 
 
32 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 and whose conversation was reported to be so 
 peculiarly excellent. 
 
 At last, on Monday the 16th of May, when I 
 was sitting in Mr. Davies's back parlor, after hav- 
 ing drunk tea with him and Mrs. Davies, Johnson 
 unexpectedly came into the shop; and Mr. Davies 
 having perceived him through the glass door in the 
 room in which we were sitting, advancing towards 
 us, — he announced his awful approach to me, 
 somewhat in the manner of an actor in the part 
 of Horatio, when he addresses Hamlet on the ap- 
 pearance of his father's ghost, ''Look, my Lord, it 
 comes." I found that I had a very perfect idea of 
 Johnson's figure, from the portrait of him painted 
 by Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he had published 
 his .Dictionary , in the attitude of sitting in his easy- 
 chair in deep meditation; which was the first pic- 
 ture his friend did for him, which Sir Joshua very 
 kindly presented to me, and from which an engrav- 
 ing has been made for this work. Mr. Davies men- 
 tioned my name, and respectfully introduced me 
 to him. I was much agitated; and recollecting his 
 prejudice against the Scotch, of which I had heard 
 much, I said to Davies, ''Don't tell him where I 
 come from." "From Scotland," cried Davies 
 roguishly. "Mr. Johnson (said I), I do indeed come 
 from Scotland, but I cannot help it." I am willing 
 to flatter myself that I meant this as light pleas- 
 antry to soothe and conciliate him, and not as a 
 humiliating abasement at the expense of my coun- 
 
BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 33 
 
 try. But however that might be, this speech was 
 somewhat unlucky; for with that quickness of wit 
 for which he was so remarkable, he seized the ex- 
 pression '' come from Scotland," which I used in the 
 sense of being of that country; and, as if I had said 
 that I had come away from it, or left it, retorted, 
 ''That, sir, I find, is what a very great many of 
 your countrymen cannot help." This stroke stunned 
 me a good deal; and when we had sat down I felt 
 myself not a little embarrassed and apprehensive of 
 what might come next. He then addressed himself 
 to Davies: ''What do you think of Garrick? He 
 has refused me an order for the play for Miss Wil- 
 hams, because he knows the house will be full, and 
 that an order would be worth three shillings." 
 Eager to take any opening to get into conversation 
 with him, I ventured to say, "O, sir, I cannot think 
 Mr. Garrick would begrudge such a trifle to you." 
 "Sir (said he, with a stern look) I have known David 
 Garrick longer than you have done: and I know no 
 right you have to talk to me on the subject." . . . 
 I was highly pleased with the extraordinary vigour 
 of his conversation, and regretted that I was drawn 
 away from it by an engagement at another place. 
 I had, for a part of the evening, been left alone 
 with him, and had ventured to make an observation 
 now and then, which he received very civilly; so 
 that I was satisfied that though there was a rough- 
 ness in his manner there was no ill-nature in his 
 disposition. Davies followed me to the door, and 
 
34 BOSWEWS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 when I complained to him a httle of the hard blows 
 which the great man had given me, he kindly took 
 upon him to console me by saying, ''Don't be un- 
 easy. I can see he Ukes you very well.'' 
 
 A few days afterwards I called on Davies, and 
 asked him if he thought I might take the liberty oT 
 waiting on Mr. Johnson at his chambers in the 
 Temple. He said I certainly might, and that Mr. 
 Johnson would take it as a comphment. So upon 
 Tuesday the 24th of May, after having been en- 
 livened by the witty sallies of Messieurs Thornton, 
 Wilkes, Churchill, and Lloyd, with whom I had 
 passed the morning, I boldly repaired to Johnson. 
 His chambers were on the first floor of No. 1 Inner 
 Temple Lane, and I entered them with an impres- 
 sion given me by the Rev. Dr. Blair of Edinburgh, 
 who had been introduced to him not long before, 
 and described his having ''found the Giant in his 
 den " ; an expression which, when I came to be pretty 
 well acquainted with Johnson, I repeated to him, 
 and he was diverted at this picturesque account of 
 himself. . . . 
 
 He received me very courteously; but it must be 
 confessed that his apartment, and furniture, and 
 morning dress were sufficiently uncouth. His brown 
 suit of clothes looked very rusty; he had on a little 
 old shrivelled unpowdered wig, which was too small 
 for his head; his shirt-neck and knees of his breeches 
 were loose; his black worsted stockings ill drawn 
 up; and he had a pair of unbuckled shoes by way 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 35 
 
 of slippers. But all these slovenly particulars were 
 forgotten the moment that he began to talk. 
 
 Vol. II, p. 57. 
 
 1763 — ^t. 64 
 
 As Dr. Ohver Goldsmith will frequently appear in 
 this narrative, I shall endeavour to make my read- 
 ers in some degree acquainted with his singular 
 character. He was a native of Ireland, and a con- 
 temporary with Mr. Burke at Trinity College, Dub- 
 lin, but did not then give much promise of future 
 celebrity. He, however, observed to Mr. Malone, 
 that ''though he made no figure in mathematics, 
 which was a study in much repute there, he could 
 turn an Ode of Horace into English better than any 
 of them." He afterwards studied physic at Edin- 
 burgh, and upon the Continent, and, I have been 
 informed, was enabled to pursue his travels on foot, 
 partly by demanding at Universities to enter the 
 Hsts as a disputant, by which, according to the 
 custom of many of them, he was entitled to the 
 premium of a crown, when luckily for him his chal- 
 lenge was not accepted; so that, as I once observed 
 to Dr. Johnson, he disputed his passage through 
 Europe. He then came to England, and was em- 
 ployed successively in the capacities of an usher 
 to an academy, a corrector of the press, a reviewer, 
 and a writer for a newspaper. He had sagacity 
 enough to cultivate assiduously the acquaintance 
 of Johnson, and his faculties were gradually en- 
 
36 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 larged by the contemplation of audi a model. To 
 me and many others it appeared that he studiously 
 copied the manner of Johnson, though, indeed, upon 
 a smaller scale. 
 
 . . . No man had the art of displaying with more 
 advantage as a writer whatever literary acquisi- 
 tions he made. "Nihil quod tetigit non ornavit.''^ 
 His mind resembled a fertile, but thin soil. There 
 was a quick, but not a strong vegetation, of what- 
 ever chanced to be thrown upon it. No deep root 
 could be struck. The oak of the forest did not 
 grow there; but the elegant shrubbery and the 
 fragrant parterre appeared in gay succession. It 
 has been generally circulated and believed that he 
 was a mere fool in conversation ^; but in truth this 
 has been greatly exaggerated. He had, no doubt, 
 a more than common share of that hurry of ideas 
 which Ave often find in his countr3^men, and which 
 sometimes produces a laughable confusion in ex- 
 pressing them. He was very much what the French 
 call tin etourdi, and from vanity and an eager de- 
 sire of being conspicuous wherever he was, he fre- 
 
 ^ From the epitaph in Westminster Abbey, written by 
 Johnson. 
 
 2 In view of the fact that Boswell is often considered unfair 
 to Goldsmith, it is interesting to note that Horace Walpole, 
 who admired Goldsmith's writings, spoke of him as "an in- 
 spired idiot"; while Garrick once wrote of him as one 
 
 "for shortness call'd Noll, 
 Who wrote like an angel, and talk'd like poor Poll." 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 37 
 
 quently talked carelessly without knowledge of the 
 subject, or even without thought. His person was 
 short, his countenance coarse and vulgar, his deport- 
 ment that of a scholar awkwardl}^ affecting the easy 
 gentleman. Those who were in any way distin- 
 guished excited envy in him to so ridiculous an 
 excess that the instances of it are hardly credible. 
 When accompanying two beautiful young ladies 
 with their mother on a tour in France, he was 
 seriously angry that more attention was paid to 
 them than to him* and once at the exhibition of 
 the Fantoccini in London, when those who sat next 
 him observed with what dexterity a puppet was 
 made to toss a pike, he could not bear that it should 
 have such praise, and exclaimed with some warmth, 
 ''Pshaw! I can do it better myself." 
 
 ... He boasted to me at this time of the power 
 of his pen in commanding money, which I beheve 
 was true in a certain degree, though in the instance 
 he gave he was by no means correct. He told me 
 that he had sold a novel for four hundred pounds. 
 This was his Vicar of Wakefield. But Johnson in- 
 formed me, that he had made the bargain for Gold- 
 smith, and the price was sixty pounds. "And, sir, 
 (said he), a sufficient price too, when it was sold; 
 for then the fame of Goldsmith had not been ele- 
 vated, as it afterwards was, by his Traveler; and the 
 bookseller had such faint hopes of profit by his bar- 
 gain, that he kept the manuscript by him a long 
 time, anfl did not publish it till after the Traveler 
 
38 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 had appeared. Then, to be sure, it was acciden- 
 tally worth more money "... I shall give it [the 
 story] authentically from Johnson's own authentic 
 narration : — 
 
 ''I received one morning a message from poor 
 Goldsmith that he was in great distress, and as it 
 was not in his power to come to me, begging that I 
 would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him 
 a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. 
 I accordingly went as soon as I was drest, and found 
 that his landlady had arrested lym for his rent, at 
 which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that 
 he had already changed my guinea, and had got a 
 bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the 
 cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and 
 began to talk to him of the means by which he 
 might be extricated. He then told me that he had 
 a novel ready for the press, which he produced to 
 me. I looked into it, and saw its merit; told the 
 landlady I should soon return, and, having gone to 
 a bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds. I brought 
 Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, 
 not without rating his landlady in a high tone for 
 having used him so ill." 
 
 . . . He had increased my admiration of the 
 goodness of Johnson's heart by incidental remarks 
 in the course of conversation; such as, when I men- 
 tioned Mr. Levet, whom he entertained under his 
 roof, "He is poor and honest, which is recommenda- 
 tion enough to Johnson"; and when I wondered 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 39 
 
 that he was very kind to a man of whom I had heard 
 a very bad character, ''He is now become miser- 
 able, and that insures the protection of Johnson." 
 
 Vol. II, p. 77. 
 
 1763 — Mt. 54 
 
 "Idleness is a disease which must be combated; 
 but I would not advise a rigid adherence to a par- 
 ticular plan of study. I myself have never persisted 
 in any plan for two days together. A man ought to 
 read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads 
 as a task will do him little good. A young man 
 should read five hours in a day, and so may acquire 
 a great deal of knowledge." — Vol. II, p. 93. 
 
 ^^ 1763 — JEt. 54 
 
 "Why, sir (said he, with a hearty laugh), it is a 
 mighty foolish noise that they make. I have ac- 
 cepted of a pension as a reward which has been 
 thought due to my literary merit; and now that I 
 have this pension, I am the same man in every 
 respect that I have ever been; I retain the same 
 principles. It is true that I cannot now curse (smil- 
 ing) the House of Hanover; nor would it be decent 
 for me to drink King James's health in the wine 
 that King George gives me money to pay for. But, 
 sir, I think that the pleasure of cursing the House 
 of Hanover, and drinking King James's health, 
 are amply overbalanced by £300 a year." 
 
 Vol. II, p. 93. 
 
40 • BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 1763— -ffit. 54 
 
 ''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. 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 unto you, you will find that 
 poring upon books will be but an irksome task.'" 
 
 Vol. II, p. 109. 
 
 1763 — ^t. 54 
 
 He again insisted on the duty of maintaining sub- 
 ordination 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 I do to others as I would have them 
 do to me. I would behave to a nobleman as I should 
 expect he would behave to me, were I a nobleman 
 and he Sam. Johnson. Sir, there is one Mrs. Ma- 
 caulay in this town, a great republican. One day 
 when I was at her house I put on a very grave 
 countenance, and said to her, 'Madam, I am now 
 become a convert to your way of thinking. I am con- 
 vinced 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.' 
 
BO,S\VELL\S LIFE OF JOHNSON 41 
 
 I thus, sir, showed her the absurdity of her levehng 
 doctrine. She has never hked me since. Sir, your 
 levelers wish to level down as far as themselves; 
 but they cannot bear leveling up to themselves. 
 They would all have some people under them; 
 why not then have some people above them?" 
 
 Vol. II, p. 110. 
 
 1764 — .ffit. 55 
 
 That the most minute singularities which belonged 
 to him, and made very observable parts of his ap- 
 pearance and manner, may not be omitted, it is 
 requisite to mention, that while talking, or even 
 musing as he sat in his chair, he commonly held 
 his head to one side towards his right shoulder, and 
 shook it in a tremulous manner, moving his body 
 backwards and forwards, and rubbing his left knee 
 in the same direction with the palm of his hand. 
 In the intervals of articulating he made various 
 sounds with his mouth, sometimes as if ruminating, 
 or what is called chewing the cud, sometimes giving 
 half a whistle, sometimes making his tongue play 
 backwards from the roof of his mouth, as if clucking 
 like a hen, and sometimes protruding it against his 
 upper gums in front, as if pronouncing quickly under 
 his breath, too, too, too: all this accompanied some- 
 times with a thoughtful look, but more frequently 
 with a smile. Generally when he had concluded a 
 period, in the course of a dispute, by which time he 
 was a good deal exhausted by violence and vocif- 
 
42 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 eration, he used to blow out his breath Hke a whale. 
 This I suppose was a relief to his lungs; and seemed 
 in him to be a contemptuous mode of expression, 
 as if he had made the arguments of his opponent 
 fly hke chaff before the wind. — Vol. II, p. 145. 
 
 1765 — JBt. 56 
 
 He appears this year to have been seized with a 
 temporary fit of ambition, for he had thoughts both 
 of studying law and of engaging in politics. His 
 *' Prayer before the Study of Law" is truly admirable: 
 
 ''Sept. 26, 1765. 
 ''Almighty God, the giver of wisdom, without 
 whose help resolutions are vain, without whose 
 blessing study is ineffectual; enable me, if it be 
 Thy will, to attain such knowledge as may qualify 
 me to direct the doubtful and instruct the ignorant; 
 to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions; and 
 grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall 
 attain to Thy glory and my own salvation, for 
 Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." — Vol. II, p. 150. 
 
 1766 — Mt. 56 
 
 "I know no man (said he) who is more master 
 of his wife and family than Thrale. If he but holds 
 up a finger he is obeyed. It is a great mistake to 
 suppose that she is above him in literary attain- 
 ments. She is more flippant; but he has ten times 
 her learning; he is a regular scholar; but her learning 
 is that of a school-boy in one of the lower forms," 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 43 
 
 My readers may naturally wish for some represen- 
 tation of the figures of this couple. Mr. Thrale 
 was tall, well-proportioned, and stately. As for 
 Madam, or my Mistress, by which epithets Johnson 
 used to mention Mrs. Thrale, she was short, plump, 
 and brisk. She has herself given us a lively view 
 of the idea which Johnson had of her person, on 
 her appearing before him in a dark-colored gown: 
 ''You little creatures should never wear those sort 
 of clothes, however; they are unsuitable in every 
 way. What! have not all insects gay colors?" 
 Mr. Thrale gave his wife a liberal indulgence, both 
 in the choice of their company, and in the mode of 
 entertaining them. He understood and valued 
 Johnson, without remission, from their first ac- 
 quaintance to the day of his death. Mrs. Thrale 
 was enchanted with Johnson's conversation for its 
 own sake, and had also a very allowable vanity in 
 appearing to be honoured with the attention of so 
 celebrated a man. — Vol. II, p. 154. 
 
 1767 — -ffit. 58 
 
 He passed three months at 'Lichfield; and I cannot 
 omit an affecting and solemn scene there, as related 
 by himself: 
 
 ''Sunday, Oct. 18, 1767. — Yesterday, Oct. 17, 
 at about ten in the morning I took my leave forever 
 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 
 
44 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 my father, my brother, and my mother. She is 
 now fifty-eight years old. 
 
 "I desired all to withdraw, then told her that we 
 were to part forever; that as Christians we should 
 part with prayer; and that I would, if she was will- 
 ing, say a short prayer beside her. She expressed 
 great desire to hear me; and held up her poor hands, 
 as she lay in bed, with great fervour, while I prayed, 
 kneeling beside her, nearly in the following words: 
 
 '''Almighty and most merciful Father, whose 
 loving kindness is over all thy works, behold, visit 
 and relieve this thy servant, who is grieved with 
 sickness. Grant that the sense of her weakness 
 may add strength to her faith and seriousness to her 
 repentance. And grant that by the help of thy Holy 
 Spirit, after the pains and labours of this short life, 
 we may all obtain everlasting happiness, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, for whose sake hear our pray- 
 ers. Amen. Our Father, etc' 
 
 "I then kissed her. She told me that to part 
 was the greatest pain that she had ever felt, and 
 that she hoped we should meet again in a better 
 place. I expressed, with swelled eyes, and great 
 emotion of tenderness, the same hopes. We kissed, 
 and parted, I humbly hope, to meet again, and to 
 part no more." — Vol. II, p. 197. 
 
 1769 — JEt. 60 
 I complained that he had not mentioned Gar- 
 rick in his Preface to Shakespeare; and asked him 
 
BOSWELL\S LIFE OF JOHNSON 45 
 
 if he did not admire him. Johnsuii: "Yv^, as 'sl 
 poor player, who frets and struts his hour upon the 
 stage' — as a shadow." Boswell: "But has he not 
 brought Shakespeare into notice?" Johnson: "Sir, 
 to allow that would be to lampoon the age. Many 
 of Shakespeare's plays are the worse for being 
 acted: Macbeth, for instance." Boswell: "What, 
 sir, is nothing gained by decoration and action? 
 Indeed, I do wish that you had mentioned Garrick." 
 Johnson: "My dear sir, had I mentioned him, I 
 must have mentioned many more; Mrs. Pritchard, 
 Mrs. Gibber, — nay, and Mr. Gibber too; he too 
 altered Shakespeare." — Vol. II, p. 238. 
 
 1770 — ^t. 61 
 
 ''His general mode of life during my acquaintance, 
 seemed to be pretty uniform. About twelve o'clock 
 I commonly visited him, and frequently found him 
 in bed, or declaiming over his tea, which he drank 
 very plentifully. He generally had a levee of 
 morning visitors, chiefly men of letters; Hawkes- 
 worth. Goldsmith, Murphy, Langton, Steevens, 
 Beauclerk, etc., etc., and sometimes learned ladies; 
 particularly I remember a French lady of wit and 
 fashion doing him the honour of a visit. He seemed 
 to me to be considered as a kind of public oracle, 
 whom everybody thought they had a right to visit 
 and consult; and doubtless they were well rewarded. 
 I never could discover how he found time for his 
 compositions. He declaimed all the morning, then 
 
46 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 went to dinner at a tavern, where he commonly 
 stayed late, and then drank his tea at some friend's 
 house, over which he loitered a great while, but 
 seldom took supper. I fancy he must have read 
 and wrote chiefly in the night, for I can scarcely 
 recollect that he ever refused going with me to a 
 tavern, and he often went to Ranelagh, which he 
 deemed a place of innocent recreation." ^ 
 
 Vol. II, p. 265. 
 
 1772 — -ffit. 63 
 
 A question was started, how far people who dis- 
 agreed in a capital point can live in friendship to- 
 gether. Goldsmith said they could not, as they 
 had not the idem velle atque idem nolle — the same 
 likings and the same aversions. Johnson: ''Why, 
 sir, you must shun the subject as to which you 
 disagree. For instance, I can live very well with 
 Burke: I love his knowledge, his genius, his diffusion, 
 and affluence of conversation; but I would not talk 
 to him of the Rockingham party." Goldsmith: 
 ''But, sir, when people hve together who have some- 
 thing as to which they disagree, and which they 
 want to shun, they will be in the situation mentioned 
 in the story of Bluebeard, 'You may look into ah 
 the chambers but one.' But we should have the 
 greatest inclination to look into that chamber, to 
 talk of that subject." Johnson (with a loud voice): 
 "Sir, I am not saying that yo2i could live in friend- 
 ^ Quoted from the account of Rev. Dr. Maxwell. 
 
BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 47 
 
 ship with a man from whom you differ as to some 
 point: I am only saying that / could do it." 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 38. 
 
 1773 — Mt. 64 
 
 He owned that he thought Hawkesworth was one 
 of his imitators, but he did not think Goldsmith 
 was. Goldsmith, said he, had great merit. Boswell: 
 ''But, sir, he is much indebted to you for his getting 
 so high in the public estimation." Johnson: ''Why, 
 sir, he has perhaps got sooner to it by his intimacy 
 with me." 
 
 Goldsmith, though his vanity often excited him 
 to occasional competition, had a very high regard 
 for Johnson, which he had at this time expressed 
 in the strongest manner in the Dedication of his 
 Comedy, entitled She Stoops to Conquer. 
 
 "By inscribing this sHght performance to you, 
 I do not mean so much to compliment you as my- 
 self. It may do me some honour to inform the 
 public that I have lived many years in intimacy 
 with you. It may serve the interests of mankind 
 also to inform them, that the greatest wit may be 
 found in a character, without impairing the most 
 unaffected piety.'' — Vol. Ill, p. 71. 
 
 1773 — -ffit. 64 
 
 Talking of the family of Stuart, he said, "It 
 should seem that the family at present on the throne 
 has now established as good a right as the former 
 
48 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 family, by the long consent of the people; and that 
 to disturb this right might be considered as culpable. 
 At the same time I own that it is a very difficult 
 question when considered with respect to the house 
 of Stuart. To oblige people to take oaths as to the 
 disputed right is wrong. I know not whether I 
 could take them: but I do not blame those who do." 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 74. 
 
 1773 — -fflt. 64 
 
 A gentleman attacked Garrick for being vain. 
 Johnson: "No wonder, sir, that he is vain; a man 
 who is perpetually flattered in every mode that 
 can be conceived. So many bellows have blown the 
 fire, that one wonders he is not by this time become 
 a cinder." Boswell: ''And such bellows too. Lord 
 Mansfield with his cheeks like to burst; Lord Chat- 
 ham hke an ^olus. I have read such notes from 
 them to him as were enough to turn his head." 
 Johnson: "True. When he whom everybody else 
 flatters, flatters me, I then am truly happy." Mrs. 
 Thrale: "The sentiment is in Congreve, I think." 
 Johnson: "Yes, madam, in The Way of the World: 
 
 ' If there's delight in love, 'tis when I see 
 
 That heart which others bleed for, bleed for me.' 
 
 No, sir, I should not be surprised though Garrick 
 chained the ocean and lashed the winds." 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 81. 
 
BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 49 
 
 1773 — -ffit. 64 
 
 He said, '^Goldsmith should not be for ever at- 
 tempting to shine in conversation: he has not 
 temper for it, he is so much mortified when he fails. 
 Sir, a game of jokes is composed partly of skill, 
 partly of chance; a man may be beat at times by 
 one who has not the tenth part of his wit. Now 
 Goldsmith's putting himself against another, is like 
 a man laying a hundred to one who cannot spare 
 the hundred. It is not worth a man's while. A 
 man should not lay a hundred to one unless he can 
 easily spare it, though he has a hundred chances 
 for him: he can get but a guinea, and he may lose 
 a hundred. Goldsmith is in this state. When he 
 contends, if he gets the better, it is a very little 
 addition to a man of his literary reputation: if he 
 does not get the better, he is miserably vexed." 
 
 Johnson's own superlative powers of wit set him 
 above any risk of such uneasiness. Garrick had 
 remarked to me of him, a few days before, "Rabe- 
 lais and all other wits are nothing compared with 
 him. You may be diverted by them; but Johnson 
 gives you a forcible hug, and shakes laughter out 
 of you, whether you will or no." 
 
 Goldsmith, however, was often very fortunate in 
 his witty contests, even when he entered the lists 
 with Johnson himself. Sir Joshua Reynolds was in 
 company with them one day, when Goldsmith said, 
 that he thought he could write a good fable, men- 
 tioned the simplicity which that kind of composi- 
 
50 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 tion requires, and observed, that in most fables the 
 animals introduced seldom talk in character. ''For 
 instance (said he), the fable of the little fishes, who 
 saw birds fly over their heads, and envying them, 
 petitioned Jupiter to be changed into birds. The 
 skill (continued he) consists in making them talk 
 like little fishes." While he indulged himself in this 
 fanciful reverie, he observed Johnson shaking his 
 sides, and laughing. Upon which he smartly pro- 
 ceeded, ''Why, Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy 
 as you seem to think; for if you were to make little 
 fishes talk, they would talk hke whales." 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 85. 
 
 1773 — .ffit. 64 
 
 Goldsmith being mentioned; — Johnson: "It is 
 amazing how little Goldsmith knows. He seldom 
 comes where he is not more ignorant than anyone 
 else." Sir Joshua Reynolds: "Yet there is no man 
 whose company is more liked." Johnson: "To be 
 sure, sir. When people find a man of the most dis- 
 tinguished abihties as a writer, their inferior while he 
 is with them, it must be highly gratifying to them. 
 What Goldsmith comically says of himself is very 
 true, — he always gets the better when he argues 
 alone; meaning, that he is master of a subject in 
 his study, and can write well upon it; but when 
 he comes into company, grows confused, and un- 
 able to talk. Take him as a poet, his Traveler is a 
 very fine performance: ay, and so is his Deserted 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 51 
 
 Village, were it not sometimes too much the echo 
 of his Traveler. Whether, indeed, we take him 
 as a poet, — as a comic writer, — or as an historian, 
 he stands in the first class." Boswell: ''An his- 
 torian! My dear sir, you surely will not rank his 
 compilation of the Roman History with the works 
 of other historians of this age?" Johnson: ''Why, 
 who are before him?" Boswell: "Hume — Robert- 
 son — Lord Lyttelton." Johnson (his antipathy to 
 the Scotch beginning to rise): "I have not read 
 Hume; but, doubtless, Goldsmith's History is bet- 
 ter than the verbiage of Robertson, or the foppery 
 of Dalrymple." Boswell: "Will you not admit the 
 superiority of Robertson, in whose History we find 
 such penetration — such painting?" Johnson : " Sir, 
 you must consider how that penetration and that 
 painting are employed. It is not history, it is im- 
 agination. He who describes what he never saw 
 draws from fancy. Robertson paints minds as Sir 
 Joshua paints faces in a history-piece: he imagines 
 an heroic countenance. You must look upon Robert- 
 son's work as romance, and try it by that standard. 
 History it is not. Besides, sir, it is the great excel- 
 lence of a writer to put into his book as much as 
 his book will hold. Goldsmith has done this in his 
 history. Now, Robertson might have put twice as 
 much into his book. Robertson is like a man who 
 has packed gold in wool; the wool takes up more 
 room than the gold. No, sir, I always thought 
 Robertson would be crushed by his own weight, — 
 
52 BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 would be buried under his own ornaments. Gold- 
 smith tells you shortly all you want to know: 
 Robertson detains you a great deal too long. No 
 man will read Robertson's cumbrous detail a second 
 time; but Goldsmith's plain narrative will please 
 again and again. I would say to Robertson what 
 an old tutor at college said to one of his pupils, 
 'Read over your compositions, and wherever you 
 meet with a passage which you think is particularly 
 fine, strike it out.' Goldsmith's abridgment is bet- 
 ter than that of Lucius Florus or Eutropius; and I 
 will venture to say, that if you compare him with 
 Vertot, in the same places of the Roman History, 
 you will find that he excels Vertot. Sir, he has the 
 art of compiling, and of saying everything he has 
 to say in a pleasing manner. He is now writing a 
 Natural History, and will make it as entertaining 
 as a Persian Tale." — Vol. Ill, p. 90. 
 
 1773 — iEt. 64 
 
 The gentlemen went away to their club, and I 
 was left at Beauclerk's till the fate of my election 
 [to the Literary Club] should be announced to me. 
 I sat in a state of anxiety w^hich even the charming 
 conversation of Lady Di Beauclerk could not en- 
 tirely dissipate. In a short time I received the 
 agreeable intelligence that I was chosen. I has- 
 tened to the place of meeting, and was introduced 
 to such a society as can seldom be found. Mr. 
 Edmund Burke, whom I then saw for the first 
 
BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 53 
 
 time, and whose splendid talents had long made 
 me ardently wish for his acquaintance; Dr. Nugent, 
 Mr. Garrick, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. (afterwards Sir 
 WilHam) Jones, and the company with whom I 
 had dined. Upon my entrance Johnson placed him- 
 self behind a chair, on which he leaned as on a desk 
 or pulpit, and with humorous formality gave me a 
 charge, pointing out the conduct expected from me 
 as a good member of this club. — Vol. Ill, p. 94. 
 
 1773 — -ffit. 64 
 
 His stay in Scotland was from the 18th of August, 
 on which day he arrived, till the 22nd of November, 
 when he set out on his return to London; and I 
 believe ninety-four days were never passed by any 
 man in a more vigorous exertion. 
 
 He came by the way of Berwick-upon-Tweed to 
 Edinburgh, where he remained a few days, and 
 then went by St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Inverness, 
 and Fort Augustus, to the Hebrides, to visit which 
 was the principal object he had in view. He visited 
 the isles of Skye, Raasay, Coll, Mull, Inchkenneth, 
 and Icolmkill. He travelled through Argyllshire by 
 Inveraray, and from thence by Loch Lomond and 
 Dumbarton to Glasgow, then l)y Loudoun to Auch- 
 inleck in Ayrshire, the seat of the family, and then 
 by Hamilton, back to Edinburgh, where he again 
 spent some time. He thus saw the four universities 
 of Scotland, its three principal cities, and as much 
 of the Highland and insular life as was sufficient 
 
54 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 for his philosophical contemplation. I had the 
 pleasure of accompanying him during the whole 
 of his journey. He was respectfully entertained by 
 the great, the learned, and the elegant, wherever 
 he went; nor was he less delighted with the hospi- 
 tality which he experienced in humbler life. 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 121. 
 
 1773 — -ffit. 64 
 
 "Boswell will praise my resolution and persever- 
 ance, and I shall in return celebrate his good humour 
 and perpetual cheerfulness. He has better faculties 
 than I had imagined; more justness of discernment, 
 and more fecundity of images. It is very convenient 
 to travel with him; for there is no house where he 
 is not received with kindness and respect." ^ 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 122. 
 
 1773 — Mt. 64 
 
 ''With Reynolds' pencil, vivid, bold, and true, 
 So fervent Boswell gives him to our view: 
 In every trait we see his mind expand; 
 The master rises by the pupil's hand; 
 We love the writer, praise his happy vein. 
 Graced with the naivete of the sage Montaigne." ^ 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 123. 
 
 ^ From a letter of Johnson's to Mrs. Thrale about the 
 Tour to the Hebrides. 
 2 From a poem by Courtenay. 
 
BOSWELUS LIFE OP JOHNSON 55 
 
 / 1775 — -ffit. 66 
 
 [ He had, indeed, an awful dread of death, or 
 rather, ''of something after death"; and what 
 rational man, who seriously thinks of quitting all 
 that he has ever known, and going into a new and 
 unknown state of being, can be without that dread? 
 But his fear was from reflection; his courage natural. 
 His fear, in that one instance, was the result of 
 philosophical and religious consideration. He feared 
 death, but he feared nothing else, not even what 
 might occasion death./ Many instances of his reso- 
 lution might be mentioned. One day, at Mr. Beau- 
 clerk's house in the country, when two large dogs 
 were fighting, he weVit up to them, and beat them 
 till they separated; and at another time, when told 
 of the danger there was that a gun might burst if 
 charged with many balls, he put in six or seven, 
 and fired it off against a wall. Mr. Langton told 
 me that when they were swimming together near 
 Oxford, he cautioned Dr. Johnson against a pool 
 which was reckoned particularly dangerous; upon 
 which Johnson directly swam into it. He told me 
 himself that one night he was attacked in the street 
 by four men, to whom he would not yield, but 
 kept them all at bay till the watch came up, and 
 carried both him and them to the roundhouse. In 
 the playhouse at Lichfield, as Mr. Garrick informed 
 me, Johnson having for a moment quitted a chair 
 which was placed for him between the side scenes, a 
 gentleman took possession of it, and when Johnson 
 
56 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 on his return civilly demanded his seat, rudely re- 
 fused to give it up; upon which Johnson laid hold 
 of it, and tossed him and the chair into the pit. 
 Foote, who so successfully revived the old comedy, 
 by exhibiting living characters, had resolved to 
 imitate Johnson on the stage, expecting great profits 
 from his ridicule of so celebrated a man. Johnson 
 being informed of his intention, and being at din- 
 ner at Mr. Thomas Davies's the bookseller, from 
 whom I had the story, he asked Mr. Davies ''what 
 was the common price of an oak stick"; and being 
 answered sixpence, "Why, then, sir (said he), give 
 me leave to send your servant to purchase me a 
 shilling one. I'll have a doublte quantity; for I am 
 told Foote means to take me off, as he calls it, and 
 I am determined the fellow shall not do it with 
 impunity." Davies took care to acquaint Foote of 
 this, which effectually checked the wantonness of 
 the mimic. — Vol. Ill, p. 150. 
 
 1775 — ^t. 66 
 
 ( That this pamphlet ^ was written at the desire 
 of those then in power, I have no doubt; and, in- 
 deed, he owned to me, that it had been revised and 
 curtailed by some of them. He told me that they 
 had struck out one passage, which was to this effect : 
 "That the Colonists could with no solidity argue 
 from their not having been taxed while in their 
 
 ^ The reference is to Taxation No Tyranny, 
 
BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOUN^ON 57 
 
 infancy, that they should not now be taxed. We 
 do not put a calf into the plow; we wait until he 
 is an ox." He said, "They struck it out either 
 critically as too ludicrous, or pohtically as too exas- 
 perating. I care not which. It was their business. 
 If an architect says, I will build five stories, and the 
 man who employs him says, I will have only three, 
 the employer is to decide." "Yes, sir (said I), in 
 ordinary cases. But should it be so when the archi- 
 tect gives his skill and labor gratis f " 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 164. 
 
 1775 — ^t. 66 
 
 Johnson: "Charles the Second was licentious in 
 his practice; but he always had reverence for what 
 was good. Charles the Second knew his people 
 and rewarded merit. The Church was at no time 
 better filled than in his reign. He was the best 
 king we have had from his time till the reign of his 
 present Majesty, except James the Second, who 
 was a very good king, but unhappily beheved that 
 it was necessary for the salvation of his subjects 
 that they should be Roman Catholics. He had the 
 merit of endeavouring to do what he thought was for 
 the salvation of the souls of his subjects, till he lost 
 a great empire. We, who thought that we should 
 not be saved if we were Roman Catholics, had the 
 merit of maintaining our religion at the expense of 
 submitting ourselves to the government of King 
 William, for it could not be done otherwise^ — to 
 
58 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 the government of one of the most worthless scoun- 
 drels that ever existed." — Vol. Ill, p. 189. 
 
 1775 — -ffit. 66 
 
 ''I will not send compliments to my friends by 
 name, because I would be loth to leave any out 
 in the enumeration. Tell them, as you see them, 
 how well I speak of Scotch politeness, and Scotch 
 hospitality, and Scotch beauty, and of everything 
 Scotch, but Scotch oatcakes, and Scotch prejudices." 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 224. 
 
 1775 — -ffit. 66 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 ''My dear Sir, — I now write to you, lest in some 
 of your freaks and humours you should fancy your- 
 self neglected. Such fancies I must entreat you 
 never to admit, at least never to indulge; for my 
 regard for you is so radicated and fixed, that it is 
 become part of my mind and cannot be effaced 
 but by some cause uncommonly violent; therefore 
 whether I write or not, set your thoughts at rest. 
 I now write to tell you that I shall not very soon 
 write again, for I am to set out to-morrow on an- 
 other journey. . . . 
 
 ''Your friends are all well at Streatham, and in 
 Leicester Fields.^ Make my compliments to Mrs, 
 
 ^ Where Sir Joshua Reynolds lived, 
 
BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 59 
 
 Boswell, if she is in good humour with me. — I 
 
 am, sir, etc., 
 
 ''Sam. Johnson. 
 
 ''September 14, 1775." 
 
 What he mentions in such Hght terms, as '^I am 
 to set out to-morrow on another journey," I soon 
 afterwards discovered was no less than a tour to 
 France with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. This was the 
 only time in his life that he went upon the Con- 
 tinent. — Vol. Ill, p. 227. 
 
 1775 — -ffit. 66 
 
 TO MR. ROBERT LEVET 
 
 "Paris, Oct. 22, 1775. 
 "Dear Sir, — We are still here, commonly very 
 busy in looking about us. We have been to-day to 
 Versailles. You have seen it, and I shall not de- 
 scribe it. We came yesterday from Fontainebleau, 
 where the Court is now. We went to see the King 
 and Queen at dinner, and the Queen was so impressed 
 by Miss [Thrale], that she sent one of the gentle- 
 men to inquire who she was. I find all true that 
 you have ever told me at Paris. Mr. Thrale is very 
 liberal, and keeps us two coaches, and a very fine 
 table; but I think our cookery very bad. Mrs. 
 Thrale got into a convent of English nuns, and I 
 talked with her through the grate, and I am very 
 kindly used by the English Benedictine friars. But 
 upon the whole I cannot make much acquaintance 
 
60 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 here; and though tlic churches, palaces, and some 
 private houses are very magnificent, there is no 
 very great pleasure after having seen many in seeing 
 more; at least the pleasure, whatever it be, must 
 some time have an end, and we are beginning to 
 think when we shall come home. Mr. Thrale cal- 
 culates that as we left Streatham on the fifteenth 
 of September we shall see it again about the fifteenth 
 of November. 
 
 ''I think I had not been on this side of the sea 
 five days before I found a sensible improvement 
 in my health. I ran a race in the rain this day, and 
 beat Baretti. Baretti is a fine fellow, and speaks 
 French, I think, quite as well as English. 
 
 ''Make my compliments to Mrs. Wilhams; and 
 give my love to Francis; and tell my friends that 
 I am not lost. — I am, dear sir, your affectionate 
 humble, etc., 
 
 ''Sam. Johnson." 
 Vol. Ill, p. 228. 
 
 1775 — Mt. 66 
 
 ''When Madame de Boufflers was first in England 
 (said Beauclerk), she was desirous to see Johnson. 
 I accordingly went with her to his chambers in the 
 Temple, where she was entertained with his con- 
 versation for some time. When our visit was over 
 she and I left him, and were got into Inner Temple 
 Lane, when all at once I heard a noise like thunder. 
 This was occasioned })y Johnson, who, it seems, 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON (31 
 
 upon a little recollection, had taken it into his head 
 that he ought to have done the honours of his literary 
 residence to a foreign lady of quality, and eager to 
 show himself a man of gallantry, was hurrying down 
 the staircase in violent agitation. He overtook us 
 before we reached the Temple Gate, and brushing 
 in between me and Madame de Boufflers, seized her 
 hand, and conducted her to her coach. His dress 
 was a rusty brown morning suit, a pair of old shoes 
 by way of shppers, a little shrivelled wig sticking 
 on the top of his head, and the sleeves of his shirt 
 and the knees of his breeches hanging loose. A 
 considerable crowd of people gathered round, and 
 were not a little struck by this singular appearance." 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 247. 
 
 / 1776 — ^t. 67 
 
 ; Johnson: "Yes, Burke is an extraordinary man. 
 His stream of mind is perpetual." It is very pleas- 
 ing to me to record that Johnson's high estimation 
 of the talents of this gentleman was uniform from 
 their early acquaintance. / Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 informs me that when Mr. Burke was first elected 
 a member of Parliament, and Sir John Hawkins 
 expressed a wonder at his attaining a seat, Johnson 
 said, ''Now, we who know Mr. Burke, know that 
 he will be one of the first men in the country." 
 And once, when Johnson was ill, and unable to exert 
 himself as much as usual without fatigue, Mr. 
 Burke having been mentioned, he said, ''That fel- 
 
62 BOSWELVS LIP'S OF JOHNSON 
 
 low calls forth all my powers. Were I to see Burke 
 now it would kill me." So much was he accustomed 
 to consider conversation as a contest, and such was 
 his notion of Burke as an opponent. 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 289. 
 
 1776 — Mt. 67 
 
 Johnson: '^Garrick's conversation is gay and gro- 
 tesque. It is a dish of all sorts, but all good things. 
 There is no solid meat in it: there is a want of 
 sentiment in it. Not but that he has sentiment 
 sometimes, and sentiment, too, very powerful and 
 pleasing; but it has not its full proportion in his 
 conversation. — Vol. Ill, p. 304. 
 
 1776 — -ffit. 67 
 
 We were by no means pleased with our inn at 
 Bristol. ''Let us see now (said I) how we should 
 describe it." Johnson was ready with his raillery. 
 ''Describe it, sir? Why, it was so bad that Boswell 
 wished to be in Scotland." — Vol. IV, p. 57. 
 
 1776 — -ffit. 67 
 
 I am now to record a very curious incident in 
 Dr. Johnson's life, which fell under my own obser- 
 vation; of which pars magna fui, and which I am 
 persuaded will, with the liberal-minded, be much 
 to his credit. 
 
 My desire of being acquainted with celebrated 
 men of every description, had made me, much about 
 
BOSWEWS LIFE OF JOHNSON 63 
 
 the same time, obtain an introduction to Dr. Samuel 
 Johnson and to John Wilkes, Esq.^ Two men more 
 different could perhaps not be selected out of all 
 mankind. They have even attacked one another 
 with some asperity in their writings; yet I lived in 
 habits of friendship with both. I could fully relish 
 the excellence of each; for I have ever delighted 
 in that intellectual chemistry which can separate 
 good qualities from evil in the same person. . . . 
 
 My worthy booksellers and friends. Messieurs 
 Dilly, in the Poultry, at whose hospitable and well- 
 covered table I have seen a greater number of 
 literary men than at any other, except that of Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, had invited me to meet Mr. 
 Wilkes and some more gentlemen, on Wednesday, 
 May 15. ''Pray (said I), let us have Dr. Johnson.'' 
 "What, with Mr. Wilkes? not for the world (said 
 Mr. Edward Dilly) : Dr. Johnson would never for- 
 give me." ''Come (said I), if you'll let me negotiate 
 for you, I will be answerable that all shall go well." 
 Dilly: "Nay, if you will take it upon you, I am sure 
 I shall be very happy to see them both here." 
 
 Notwithstanding the high veneration which I 
 entertained for Dr. Johnson, I was sensible that he 
 was sometimes a little actuated by the spirit of 
 
 ^ A dissolute politician who attacked the Tory party so 
 bitterly in his paper, the North Briton, that he was tried for 
 libel and convicted. He was later declared an outlaw, yet he 
 sat for many years in the House of Commons and became 
 Lord Mayor of London. 
 
()4 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 contradiction, and by means of that I hoped I should 
 gain my point. I was persuaded that if I had come 
 upon him with a direct proposal, "Sir, will you 
 dine in company with Jack Wilkes?" he would have 
 flown into a passion, and would probably have 
 answered, ''Dine with Jack Wilkes, sir! I'd as soon 
 dine with Jack Ketch." I therefore, while we were 
 sitting quietly by ourselves at his house in an even- 
 ing, took occasion to open my plan thus: — "Mr. 
 Dilly, sir, sends his respectful compliments to you, 
 and would be happy if you would do him the honour 
 to dine with him on Wednesday next along with 
 me, as I must soon go to Scotland." Johnson: 
 "Sir, I am obhged to Mr. Dilly. I will wait upon 
 him — " Boswell: "Provided, sir, I suppose, that 
 the company which he is to have is agreeable to 
 you." Johnson: "What do you mean, sir? What 
 do you take me for? Do you think I am so ignorant 
 of the world as to imagine that I am to prescribe 
 to a gentleman what company he is to have at 
 his table?" Boswell: "I beg your pardon, sir, for 
 wishing to prevent you from meeting people whom 
 you might not like. Perhaps he may have some of 
 what he calls his patriotic friends with him." John- 
 son: "Well, sir, and what then? What care / for 
 his patriotic friends f Poh! " Boswell: "I should 
 not be surprised to find Jack Wilkes there. " John- 
 son: "And if Jack Wilkes should be there, what is 
 that to me, sir? My dear friend, let us have no 
 more of this. I am sorry to be angry with you; 
 
BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 65 
 
 but really it is treating me strangely to talk to me 
 as if I could not meet any company whatever, 
 occasionally." Boswell: ''Pray forgive me, sir: I 
 meant well. But you shall meet whoever comes, 
 for me." Thus I secured him, and told Dilly that 
 he would find him very well pleased to be one of 
 his guests on the day appointed. 
 
 Upon the much-expected Wednesday I called on 
 him about half an hour before dinner, as I often 
 did when we were to dine out together, to see that 
 he was ready in time, and to accompany him. I 
 found him buffeting his books, as upon a former 
 occasion, covered with dust, and making no prepa- 
 ration for going abroad. ''How is this, sir? (said I). 
 Don't you recollect that you are to dine at Mr. 
 Billy's?" Johnson: "Sir, I did not think of going 
 to Billy's: it went out of my head. I have ordered 
 dinner at home with Mrs. WilHams." Boswell: 
 "But, my dear sir, you know you were engaged 
 to Mr. Billy, and I told him so. He will expect 
 you, and will be much disappointed if you don't 
 come." Johnson: "You must talk to Mrs. WilHams 
 about this." 
 
 Here was a sad dilemma. I feared that what I 
 was so confident I had secured would yet be frus- 
 trated. He had accustomed himself to show Mrs. 
 Williams such a degree of humane attention, as 
 frequently imposed some restraint upon him; and 
 I knew that if she should be obstinate, he would 
 not stir. I hastened downstairs to the blind lady's 
 
66 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 room, and told her I was in great uneasiness, for 
 Dr. Johnson had engaged to me to dine this day at 
 Mr. Dilly's, but that he had told me he had forgot- 
 ten his engagement, and had ordered dinner at 
 home. ''Yes, sir (said she, pretty peevishly), Dr. 
 Johnson is to dine at home." ''Madam (said I), 
 his respect for you is such that I know he will not 
 leave you, unless you absolutely desire it. But as 
 you have so much of his company, I hope you will 
 be good enough to forego it for a day; as Mr. Dilly 
 is a very worthy man, has frequently had agreeable 
 parties at his house for Dr. Johnson, and will be 
 vexed if the Doctor neglects him to-day. And 
 then, madam, be pleased to consider my situation: 
 I carried the message, and I assured Mr. Dilly that 
 Dr. Johnson was to come: and no doubt he has made 
 a dinner, and invited a company, and boasted of 
 the honour he expected to have. I shall be quite 
 disgraced if the Doctor is not there." She gradually 
 softened to my solicitations, which were certainly 
 as earnest as most entreaties to ladies upon any 
 occasion, and was graciously pleased to empower 
 me to tell Dr. Johnson, "That, all things considered, 
 she thought he should certainly go." I flew back to 
 him, .still in dust, and careless of what should be 
 the event, "indifferent in his choice to go or stay"; 
 but as soon as I had announced to him Mrs. Wil- 
 liams' consent, he roared, "Frank, a clean shirt," 
 and was very soon dressed. When I had him fairly 
 seated in a hackney coach with me, I exulted as 
 
BOSWELL\S LIFE OF JOHNSON G7 
 
 much as a fortune hunter who has got an heiress into 
 a post chaise with him, to set out for Gretna Green. 
 When we entered Mr. Dilly's drawing-room, he 
 found himself in the midst of a company he did 
 not know. I kept myself snug and silent, watching 
 how he would conduct himself. * I observed him 
 whispering to Mr. Dilly, "Who is that gentleman, 
 sir?" ''Mr. Arthur Lee." Johnson: ''Too, too, too" 
 (under his breath), which was one of his habitual 
 ^' mutterings. Mr. Arthur Lee could not but be very 
 obnoxious to Johnson, for he was not only a patriot 
 but an American. He was afterwards minister from 
 the United States at the court of Madrid. "And 
 who is the gentleman in lace?" "Mr. Wilkes, sir." 
 This information confounded him still more; he had 
 some difficulty to restrain himself, and taking up a 
 book, sat down upon a window-seat and read, or 
 at least kept his eye upon it intently for some time, 
 till he composed himself. His feelings, I dare say, 
 were awkward enough. But he no doubt recollected 
 his having rated me for supposing that he could be 
 at all disconcerted by any company, and he there- 
 fore resolutely set himself to behave quite as an 
 easy man of the world, who could adapt himself 
 at once to the disposition and manners of those 
 whom he might chance to meet. 
 
 The cheering sound of "Dinner is upon the table," 
 dissolved his reverie, and we all sat down without 
 any symptom of ill humor. There were present, 
 beside Mr. Wilkes, and Mr. Arthur Lee, who was 
 
68 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 an old companion of mine when he studied physic 
 at Edinburgh, Mr. (now Sir John) Miller, Dr. Lett- 
 som, and Mr. Slater the druggist. Mr. Wilkes 
 placed himself next to Dr. Johnson, and behaved 
 to him with so much attention and politeness that 
 he gained upon him insensibly. No man ate more 
 heartily than Johnson, or loved better what was 
 nice and delicate. Mr. Wilkes was very assiduous 
 in helping him to some fine veal. ''Pray give me 
 leave, sir — It is better here — A little of the brown 
 — Some fat, sir — A little of the stuffing — Some 
 gravy — Let me have the pleasure of giving you 
 some butter — Allow me to recommend a squeeze 
 of this orange; or the lemon, perhaps, may have 
 more zest." ''Sir, sir, I am obhged to you, sir," 
 cried Johnson, bowing, and turning his head to him 
 with a look for some time of "surly virtue," but, 
 in a short while, of complacency. — Vol. IV, p. 71. 
 
 1776 — ^t. 67 
 
 Mr. Arthur Lee mentioned some Scotch who had 
 taken possession of a barren part of America, and 
 wondered why they should choose it. Johnson: 
 "Why, sir, all barrenness is comparative. The 
 Scotch would not know it to be barren." Boswell: 
 "Come, come, he is flattering the EngHsh. You 
 have now been in Scotland, sir, and say if you did 
 not see meat and drink enough there." Johnson: 
 "Why yes, sir; meat and drink enough to give the 
 inhabitants sufficient strength to run away from 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 69 
 
 home." All these quick and hvely saUies were said 
 sportively, quite in jest, and with a smile, which 
 showed that he meant only wit. Upon this topic, 
 he and Mr. Wilkes could perfectly assimilate; here 
 was a bond of union between them, and I was con- 
 scious that as both of them had visited Caledonia, 
 both were fully satisfied of the strange, narrow 
 ignorance of those who imagine that it is a land of 
 famine. But they amused themselves with persever- 
 ing in the old jokes. When I claimed a superiority 
 for Scotland over England in one respect, that no 
 man can be arrested there for a debt, merely because 
 another swears it against him; but there must first 
 be the judgment of a court of law ascertaining its 
 justice; and that a seizure of the person, before 
 judgment is obtained, can take place only if his 
 creditor should swear that he is about to fly from 
 the country, or, as it is technically expressed, is 
 in meditatione fugce. Wilkes: '' That, I should think, 
 may be safely sworn of all the Scotch nation." 
 Johnson (to Mr. Wilkes): "You must know, sir, I 
 lately took my friend Boswell, and showed him 
 genuine civilized life in an English provincial town. 
 I turned him loose in Lichfield, my native city, that 
 he might see for once real civility: for you know he 
 lives among savages in Scotland, and among rakes 
 in London." Wilkes: ''Except when he is with 
 grave, sober, decent people, like you and me." 
 Johnson (smiling): "And we ashamed of him." 
 
 Vol. IV, p. 82. 
 
70 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 1776 — -ffit. 67 
 
 "July 25, 1776. O God who hast ordained that 
 whatever is to be desired should be sought by labour, 
 and who, by Thy blessing, bringest honest labour to 
 good effect, look with mercy upon my studies and 
 endeavours. Grant me, O Lord, to design only what 
 is lawful and right ; and afford me calmness of mind 
 and steadiness of purpose, that I may so do Thy will 
 in this short life, as to obtain happiness in the world 
 to come, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Amen." ' — Vol. IV, p. 95. 
 
 1777 — ^t. 68 
 
 In the evening our gentleman farmer and two 
 others entertained themselves and the company 
 with a great number of tunes on the fiddle. John- 
 son desired to have ''Let ambition fire thy mind," 
 played over again, and appeared to give a patient 
 attention to it; though he owned to me that he was 
 very insensible to the power of music. I told him 
 that it affected me to such a degree as often to agi- 
 tate my nerves painfully, producing in my mind 
 alternate sensations of pathetic dejection, so that 
 I was ready to shed tears; and of daring resolution, 
 so that I was inclined to rush into the thickest part 
 of the battle. ''Sir (said he), I should never hear it 
 if it made me such a fool." — Vol. IV, p. 200. 
 
 ^ This prayer was composed at a time when Johnson "pur- 
 posed to apply vigorously to study, particularly of the Greek 
 and Italian tongues." 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 71 
 
 1777 — -ffit. 68 
 
 My reverence and affection for him were in full 
 glow. I said to him, ^'My dear sir, we must meet 
 every year, if you don't quarrel with me." John- 
 son: ''Nay, sir, you are more likely to quarrel with 
 me than I with you. My regard for you is greater 
 almost than I have words to express; but I do not 
 choose to be always repeating it; write it down in 
 the first leaf of your pocket-book, and never doubt 
 of it again." — Vol. IV, p. 201. 
 
 1778 — -ffit. 69 
 
 He said, ''John Wesley's conversation is good, 
 but he is never at leisure. He is always obliged to 
 go at a certain hour. This is very disagreeable to 
 a man who loves to fold his legs and have out his 
 talk, as I do." — Vol. IV, p. 231. 
 
 1778 — ^t. 69 
 
 Johnson harangued against drinking wine. "A 
 man (said he) may choose whether he will have 
 abstemiousness and knowledge, or claret and igno- 
 rance." Dr. Robertson (who is very companionable) 
 was beginning to dissent as to the proscription of 
 claret. Johnson (with a placid smile): "Nay, sir, 
 you shall not differ with me; as I have said that 
 the man is most perfect who takes in the most 
 things, I am for knowledge and claret." Robert- 
 son (holding a glass of generous claret in his hand) ; 
 
72 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 ''Sir, I can only drink your health." Johnson: 
 ''Sir, I should be sorry if you should be ever in such 
 a state as to be able to do nothing more." Robert- 
 son: "Dr. Johnson, allow me to say that in one 
 respect I have the advantage of you; when you 
 were in Scotland you would not come to hear any 
 of our preachers, whereas, when I am here, I attend 
 your public worship without scruple, and, indeed, 
 with great satisfaction." Johnson: "Why, sir, that 
 is not so extraordinary: the King of Siam sent am- 
 bassadors to Louis the Fourteenth; but Louis the 
 Fourteenth sent noiie to the King of Siam." 
 
 Vol. V, p. 38. 
 
 1778 — ^t. 69 
 
 On Saturday, May 2, I dined with him at Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds's, where there was a very large 
 company, and a great deal of conversation; but 
 owing to some circumstances which I cannot now 
 recollect, I have no record of any part of it, except 
 that there were several people there by no means 
 of the Johnsonian school; so that less attention 
 was paid to him than usual, which put him out of 
 humour; and upon some imaginary offence from 
 me, he attacked me with such rudeness, that 1 was 
 vexed and angry, because it gave those persons an 
 opportunity for enlarging upon his supposed ferocity, 
 and ill treatment of his best friends. I was so much 
 hurt, and had my pride so much roused, that I 
 kept ^way from him for a week; and, perhaps, 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 73 
 
 might have kept away much longer, na}^, gone to 
 Scotland without seeing him again, had not we 
 fortunately met and been reconciled. To such un- 
 happy chances are human friendships liable. 
 
 On Friday, May 8, I dined with him at Mr. Lang- 
 ton's. I was reserved and silent, which I suppose 
 he perceived, and might recollect the cause. After 
 dinner, when Mr. Langton was called out of the 
 room, and we were by ourselves, he drew his chair 
 near to mine, and said, in a tone of conciliat- 
 ing courtesy, "Well, how have you done?" Bos- 
 well: ''Sir, you have made me very uneasy by your 
 behaviour to me when we were last at Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds's. You know, my dear sir, no man has 
 a greater respect and affection for you, or would 
 sooner go to the end of the world to serve you. 
 Now, to treat me so — He insisted that I had inter- 
 rupted him, which I assured him was not the case; 
 and proceeded — ''But why treat me so before 
 people who neither love you nor me?" Johnson: 
 "Well, I am sorry for it. I'll make it up to you 
 twenty different ways, as you please." Boswell: 
 "I said to-day to Sir Joshua, when he observed 
 that you tossed me sometimes — I don't care how 
 often, or how high he tosses me, when only friends 
 are present, for then I fall upon soft ground; but 
 I do not like falhng on stones, which is the case 
 when enemies are present. I think this is a pretty 
 good image, sir." Johnson: "Sir, it is one of the 
 happiest I have ever heard." — - Vol, V^ p. 40, 
 
74 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 mS—mt. 69 
 
 "Williams hates everybody; Levett hates Des- 
 moulins, and does not love Williams: Desmoulins 
 hates them both; PolP loves none of them." ^ 
 
 Vol. V, p. 70. 
 
 1779 — Mt. 70 
 
 Johnson: ''Garrick was a very good man, the 
 cheerfullest man of his age; a decent liver in a pro- 
 fession which is supposed to give indulgence to 
 licentiousness; and a man who gave away, freely, 
 money acquired by himself. He began the world 
 with a great hunger for money; the son of a half- 
 pay officer, bred in a family whose study was to 
 make fourpence do as much as others would make 
 fourpence halfpenny do. But when he had got 
 money, he was very hberal." /I presumed to an- 
 imadvert on his eulogy on Garrick, in his Lives of 
 the Poets. "You say, sir, his death eclipsed the 
 gayety of nations." Johnson: "I could not have 
 said more nor less. It is the truth: eclipsed, not 
 extinguished; and his death did eclipse; it was like 
 a storm." Boswell: "But why nations? Did his 
 gayety extend farther than his own nation?" John- 
 son: "Why, sir, some exaggeration must be allowed. 
 Besides, nations may be said — if we allow the Scotch 
 
 ^ Miss Carmichael. 
 
 2 From a letter to Mrs. Thrale about the occupants of the 
 Fleet Street house, 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 75 
 
 to be a nation — to have gayety, — which they have 
 not." — Vol. V, p. 88. 
 
 1779 — .ffit. 70 
 
 He said, ''Dodsley first mentioned to me the 
 scheme of an Enghsh Dictionary; but I had long 
 thought of it." Boswell: '^You did not know what 
 you were undertaking." Johnson: ^'Yes, sir, I 
 knew very well what I was undertaking — and 
 very well how to do it." — Vol. V, p. 104. 
 
 1780 — .ffit. 71 
 
 Talking on the subject of toleration one day 
 when some friends were with him in his study, he 
 made his usual remark, that the State has a right 
 to regulate the religion of the people, who are the 
 children of the State. A clergyman having readily 
 acquiesced in this, Johnson, who loved discussion, 
 observed, "But, sir, you must go round to other 
 states than your own. You do not know what a 
 Brahmin has to say for himself. In short, sir, I 
 have got no further than this: every man has a 
 right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other 
 man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyr- 
 dom is the test." — Vol. V, p. 150. 
 
 1780 — .ffit. 71 
 
 ''Of Dr. Goldsmith he said, 'No man was more 
 foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more 
 wise when he had.'" — Vol. V, p. 168. 
 
76 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 1781 — mt. 72 
 
 "When^ he walked the streets, what with the 
 constant roll of his head, and the concomitant 
 motion of his body, he appeared to make his way 
 by that motion, independent of his feet." That he 
 was often much stared at while he advanced in this 
 manner, may easily be believed; but it was not safe 
 to make sport of one so robust as he was. Mr. 
 Langton saw him one day, in a fit of absence, by a 
 sudden start, drive the load off a porter's back, 
 and walk forward briskly, without being conscious 
 of what he had done. The porter was very angry, 
 but stood still, and eyed the huge figure with much 
 earnestness, till he was satisfied that his wisest 
 course was to be quiet, and take up his burden 
 again. — Vol. V, p. 209. 
 
 1781 — -ffit. 72 
 
 Everything about his character and manners was 
 forcible and violent; there was never any modera- 
 tion; many a day did he fast; many a year did he 
 refrain from wine; but when he did eat, it was 
 voraciously; when he did drink wine, it was copi- 
 ously. He could practice abstinence, but not tem- 
 perance. — Vol. V, p. 210. 
 
 1781 — ^t. 72 
 
 Wilkes: "I have been thinking. Dr. Johnson, that 
 there should be a Bill brought into Parliament that 
 ^ Quoted from a short Life published by Kearslcy. 
 
BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 77 
 
 the controverted elections for Scotland should be 
 tried in that country, at their own Abbey of Holy- 
 rood House, and not here; for the consequence of 
 trying them here is, that we have an inundation of 
 Scotchmen, who come up and never go back again. 
 Now here is Boswell, who is come upon the election 
 for his own county, which will not last a fortnight." 
 Johnson: ''Nay, sir, I see no reason why they should 
 be tried at all; for, you know, one Scotchman is as 
 good as another." Wilkes: "Pray, Boswell, how 
 much may be got in a year by an advocate at the 
 Scotch bar?" Boswell: ''I beheve, two thousand 
 pounds." Wilkes: ''How can it be possible to spend 
 that money in Scotland?" Johnson: "Why, sir, 
 the money may be spent in England; but there is 
 a harder question. If one man in Scotland gets 
 possession of two thousand pounds, what remains 
 for all the rest of the nation?" Wilkes: "You know, 
 in the last war, the immense booty Thurot carried 
 off by the complete plunder of seven Scotch isles; 
 he re-embarked with three and sixpence." Here again 
 Johnson and Wilkes joined in extravagant sportive 
 raillery upon the supposed poverty of Scotland, 
 which Dr. Beattie and I did not think it worth our 
 while to dispute. — Vol. V, p. 237. 
 
 1781 — ^t. 72 
 
 One day, when I told him that I was a zealous 
 Tory, but not enough "according to knowledge," 
 and should be obhged to him for "a reason," he 
 
78 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 was so candid, and expressed himself so well, that 
 I begged of him to repeat what he had said, and I 
 wrote it down as follows: 
 
 OF TORY AND WHIG 
 
 ''A wise Tory and a wise Whig, I beheve, will 
 agree. Their principles are the same, though their 
 modes of thinking are different. A high Tory makes 
 government unintelligible: it is lost in the clouds. 
 A violent Whig makes it impracticable: he is for 
 allowing so much liberty to every man, that there 
 is not power enough to govern any man. The prej- 
 udice of the Tory is for establishment; the prejudice 
 of the Whig is for innovation. A Tory does not 
 wish to give more real power to Government, but 
 that Government should have more reverence. 
 Then they differ as to the Church. The Tory is 
 not for giving more legal power to the clergy, but 
 wishes they should have a considerable influence 
 founded upon the opinion of mankind: the Whig 
 is for hmiting and watching them with a narrow 
 jealousy." — Vol. V, p. 251. 
 
 1782 — -ffit. 73 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 ''Dear Sir, — I have struggled through this year 
 with so much infirmity of body, and such strong 
 impressions of the fragility of life, that death, when- 
 
BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 79 
 
 ever it appears, fills me with melancholy; and I 
 cannot hear without emotion of the removal of any- 
 one, whom I have known, into another state. 
 
 "Your father's death had every circumstance 
 that could enable you to bear it; it was at a mature 
 age, and it was expected; and as his general hfe 
 had been pious, his thoughts had doubtless for 
 many years past been turned upon eternity. That 
 you did not find him sensible must doubtless grieve 
 you; his disposition towards you was undoubtedly 
 that of a kind, though not of a fond father. Kind- 
 ness, at least actual, is in our power, but fondness 
 is not; and if by negligence or imprudence you had 
 extinguished his fondness, he could not at will re- 
 kindle it. Nothing then remained between you 
 but mutual forgiveness of each other's faults, and 
 mutual desire of each other's happiness. 
 
 ''I shall long to know his final disposition of his 
 fortune. 
 
 "You, dear sir, have now a new station, and 
 have therefore new cares and new employments. 
 Life, as Cowley seems to say, ought to resemble a 
 well-ordered poem; of which one rule generally 
 received is, that the exordium should be simple, 
 and should promise little. Begin your new course 
 of hfe with the least show, and the least expense 
 possible; you may at pleasure increase both, but 
 you cannot easily diminish them. Do not think 
 your estate your own, while any man can call upon 
 you for money which you cannot pay; therefore, 
 
80 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 begin with timorous parsimony. Let it be your 
 first care not to be in any man's debt. 
 
 '^When the thoughts are extended to a future 
 state, the present hfe seems hardly worthy of all 
 those principles of conduct, and maxims of prudence, 
 which one generation of men has transmitted to 
 another; but upon a closer view, when it is perceived 
 how much evil is produced and how much good is 
 impeded by embarrassment and distress, and how 
 little room the expedients of poverty leave for the 
 exercise of virtue, it grows manifest that the bound- 
 less importance of the next life enforces some at- 
 tention to the interests of this. 
 
 ''Be kind to the old servants, and secure the 
 kindness of the agents and factors; do not disgust 
 them by asperity, or unwelcome gayety, or apparent 
 suspicion. From them you must learn the real 
 state of your affairs, the characters of your tenants, 
 and the value of your lands. 
 
 ''Make my comphments to Mrs. Boswell; I think 
 her expectations from air and exercise are the best that 
 she can form. I hope she will live long and happily. 
 
 " I forgot whether I told you that Raasay has been 
 here; we dined cheerfully together. I entertained 
 lately a young gentleman from Corrichatachin. 
 
 "I received your letters only this morning. — I 
 am, dear sir, yours, etc., 
 
 "Sam. Johnson. 
 ^'London, Sept. 7, 1782.'' 
 
 Vol. V, p. 288. 
 
 ^ 
 
BOSWEWS LIFE OF JOHNSON 81 
 
 1782 — JEt. 73 
 
 ''Almighty God, Father of all mercy, help me 
 by thy grace, that I may, with humble and sincere 
 thankfulness, remember the comforts and conven- 
 iences which I have enjoyed at this place; and that 
 I may resign them with holy submission, equally 
 trusting in thy protection when Thou givest, and 
 when Thou takest away. Have mercy upon me, 
 Lord, have mercy upon me. 
 
 ''To thy fatherly protection, O Lord, I commend 
 this family. Bless, guide, and defend them, that 
 they may so pass through this world, as finally to 
 enjoy in thy presence everlasting happiness, for 
 Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." ^ — Vol. V, p. 292. 
 
 1783 — ^t. 74 
 
 His uncommon kindness to his servants, and 
 serious concern, not only for their comfort in this 
 world, but their happiness in the next, was another 
 unquestionable evidence of what all who were in- 
 timately acquainted with him knew to be true. 
 
 Nor would it be just under this head to omit 
 the fondness he showed for animals which he had 
 taken under his protection. I never shall forget 
 the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his 
 cat; for whom he himself used to go out and buy 
 oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should 
 take a dislike to the poor creature. I am unluckily 
 
 ^ This is the prayer composed by Johnson on leaving the 
 home of the Thrales. 
 
82 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so 
 that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and 
 I own I frequently suffered a good deal from the 
 presence of the same Hodge. I recollect him one 
 day scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast apparently 
 with much satisfaction, while my friend, smiling 
 and half whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled 
 him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine 
 cat, saying, ''Why yes, sir, but I have had cats whom 
 I hked better than this"; and then, as if perceiving 
 Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, ''but he is 
 a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed." 
 
 Vol. VI, p. 33. 
 
 1783 — .fflt. 74 
 
 FROM A LETTER TO MRS. THRALE 
 
 "On Monday, the 16th, I sat for my picture, 
 and walked a considerable way with little incon- 
 venience. In the afternoon and evening I felt 
 myself light and easy, and began to plan schemes 
 of life. Thus I went to bed, and in a short time 
 waked and sat up, as has been long my custom, 
 when I felt a confusion and indistinctness in my 
 head, which lasted, I suppose, about half a minute. 
 I was alarmed, and prayed God that however he 
 might afflict my body he would spare my under- 
 standing. This prayer, that I might try the integ- 
 rity of my faculties, I made in Latin verse. The 
 lines were not very good, but I knew them not to 
 
BOSW ELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 83 
 
 be very good: I made them easily, and concluded 
 myself to be unimpaired in my faculties. 
 
 ''Soon after I perceived that I had suffered a 
 paralytic stroke, and that my speech was taken 
 from me. I had no pain, and so httle dejection in 
 this dreadful state, that I wondered at my own 
 apathy, and considered that perhaps death itself, 
 when it should come, would excite less horror than 
 seems now to attend it. 
 
 ''In order to rouse the vocal organs I took two 
 drams. Wine has been celebrated for the produc- 
 tion of eloquence. I put myself into violent motion, 
 and I think repeated it; but all was vain. I then 
 went to bed, and, strange as it may seem, I think 
 slept. When I saw light, it was time to contrive 
 what I should do. Though God stopped my speech 
 he left me my hand; I enjoyed a mercy which was 
 not granted to my dear friend Lawrence, who now 
 perhaps overlooks me as I am writing, and rejoices 
 that I have what he wanted. My first note was 
 necessarily to my servant, who came in talking, and 
 could not immediately comprehend why he should 
 read what I put into his hands. 
 
 "I then wrote a card to Mr. Allen that I might 
 have a discreet friend at hand to act as occasion 
 should require. In penning this note I had some 
 difficulty; my hand, I knew not how nor why, made 
 wrong letters. I then wrote to Dr. Taylor to come 
 to me and bring Dr. Heberden: and I sent to Dr. 
 Brocklesby, who is my neighbour. My physicians 
 
84 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 are very friendly and give me great hopes; but you 
 may imagine my situation. I have so far recovered 
 my vocal powers as to repeat the Lord's Prayer 
 with no very imperfect articulation. My memory, 
 I hope, yet remains as it was; but such an attack 
 produces solicitude for the safety of every faculty." 
 
 Vol. VI, p. 64. 
 
 1784 — -ffit. 75 
 
 He seemed to take a pleasure in speaking in his 
 own style; for when he had carelessly missed it, 
 he would repeat the thought translated into it. 
 Talking of the Comedy of the Rehearsal, he said, 
 ''It has not wit enough to keep it sweet." This 
 was easy; — he therefore caught himself, and pro- 
 nounced a more round sentence: ''It has not vitality 
 enough to preserve it from putrefaction." 
 
 Vol. VI, p. 153. 
 
 1784 — -fflt. 75 
 
 No man was more ready to make an apology 
 when he had censured unjustly than Johnson. 
 When a proof sheet of one of his works was brought 
 to him, he found fault with the mode in which a 
 part of it was arranged, refused to read it, and in a 
 passion desired that the compositor might be sent 
 to him. The compositor was Mr. Manning, a de- 
 cent, sensible man, w^ho had composed about one- 
 half of his Dictionary, when in Mr. Strahan's print- 
 ing house; and a great part of his Lives of the Poets, 
 
BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 85 
 
 when in that of Mr. Nichols; and who (in his seventy- 
 seventh year), when in Mr. Baldwin's printing house, 
 composed a part of the first edition of this work 
 concerning him. By producing the manuscript, he 
 at once satisfied Dr. Johnson that he was not to 
 blame. Upon which Johnson candidl}^ and earnestly 
 said to him, "Mr. Compositor, I ask your pardon; 
 Mr. Compositor, I ask your pardon again and 
 again." 
 
 His generous humanity to the miserable was 
 almost beyond example. The following instance is 
 well attested: — Coming home late one night, he 
 found a poor woman lying in the street, so much 
 exhausted that she could not walk ; he took her upon 
 his back, and carried her to his house, where he dis- 
 covered that she was one of those wretched females 
 who had fallen into the lowest state of vice, pov- 
 erty, and disease. Instead of harshly upbraiding 
 her, he had her taken care of with all tenderness 
 for a long time, at a considerable expense, till she 
 was restored to health, and endeavoured to put her 
 into a virtuous way of hving. — Vol. VI, p. 154. 
 
 1784 — iEt. 75 
 
 It must be admitted that Johnson derived a 
 considerable portion of happiness from the comforts 
 and elegancies which he enjoyed in Mr. Thrale's 
 family; but Mrs. Thrale assures us he was indebted 
 for these to her husband alone, who certainly re- 
 spected him sincerely. Her words are, " Veneration 
 
86 BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 for his virtue, reverence for his talents, delight in his 
 conversation, and habitual endurance of a yoke my 
 husband first put upon me, and of which he content- 
 edly bore his share for sixteen or seventeen years, 
 made me go on so long with Mr. Johnson; hut the 
 perpetual confinement I will own to have been terrify- 
 ing in the first years of our friendship, and irksome 
 in the last; nor could I pretend to support it without 
 help, when my coadjutor was no more.^' Alas! how 
 different is this from the declarations which I have 
 heard Mrs. Thrale make in his lifetime, without a 
 single murmur against any peculiarities, or against 
 any one circumstance which attended their in- 
 timacy. — Vol. VI, p. 173. 
 
 1784 — iEt. 75 
 
 ''In the name of God, Amen. I, Samuel John- 
 son, being in full possession of my faculties, but 
 fearing this night may put an end to my life, do 
 ordain this my last will and testament. I bequeath 
 to God, a soul polluted by many sins, but I hope 
 purified by Jesus Christ. I leave seven hundred 
 and fifty pounds in the hands of Bennet Langton, 
 Esq., three hundred pounds in the hands of Mr. 
 Barclay and Mr. Perkins, brewers: one hundred and 
 fifty pounds in the hands of Dr. Percy, Bishop of 
 Dromore; one thousand pounds, three per cent, 
 annuities in the public funds; and one hundred 
 pounds now lying by me in ready money; all these 
 before-mentioned sums and property I leave, I 
 
BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON 87 
 
 say, to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, 
 and Dr. WiUiam Scott, of Doctors Commons, in 
 trust, for the following uses : — That is to say, to 
 pay to the representatives of the late William 
 Innys, bookseller, in St. Paul's Churchyard, the 
 sum of two hundred pounds; to Mrs. White, my 
 female servant, one hundred pounds stock in the 
 three per cent, annuities aforesaid. The rest of 
 the aforesaid sums of money and property, together 
 with my books, plate, and household furniture, I 
 leave to the before-mentioned Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, also in 
 trust, to be applied, after paying my debts, to the 
 use of Francis Barber, my man-servant, a negro, 
 in such manner, as they shall judge most fit and 
 available to his benefit. And I appoint the afore- 
 said Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, and 
 Dr. William Scott, sole executors of this my last 
 will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills 
 and testaments whatever. In witness whereof, I 
 hereunto subscribe my name, and affix my seal, 
 this eighth day of December 1784. 
 
 Sam. Johnson (l. s.). 
 Vol. VI, p. 236. 
 
 1784 — -ffit. 75 
 
 Having, as has been already mentioned, made 
 his will on the 8th and 9th of December, and set- 
 tled all his worldly affairs, he languished till Mon- 
 day, the 13th of that month, when he expired, 
 
88 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 about seven o'clock in the evening, with so httle 
 apparent pain that his attendants hardly perceived 
 when his dissolution took place. 
 
 Of his last moments, my brother, Thomas David, 
 has furnished me with the following particulars: 
 
 ''The Doctor, from the time that he was certain 
 his death was near, appeared to be perfectly re- 
 signed, was seldom or never fretful or out of tem- 
 per, and often said to his faithful servant, who 
 gave me this account, 'Attend, Francis, to the 
 salvation of your soul, which is the object of great- 
 est importance': he also explained to him passages 
 in the Scripture, and seemed to have pleasure in 
 talking upon religious subjects. 
 
 "On Monday, the 13th of December, the day 
 on which he died, a Miss Morris, daughter to a 
 particular friend of his, called, and said to Francis, 
 that she begged to be permitted to see the Doctor, 
 that she might earnestly request him to give her 
 his blessing. Francis went into his room, followed 
 by the young lady, and delivered the message. 
 The Doctor turned himself in the bed, and said, 
 'God bless you, my dear!' These were the , last 
 words he spoke. His difficulty of breathing in- 
 creased till about seven o'clock in the evening, when 
 Mr. Barber and Mrs. Desmoulins, who were sitting 
 in the room, observing that the noise he made in 
 breathing had ceased, went to the bed, and found 
 he was dead." 
 
 About two days after his death the follow- 
 
BOSW ELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON 89 
 
 ing very agreeable account was communicated to 
 Mr. Malone, in a letter by the Honourable John 
 Byng, to whom I am much obliged for granting me 
 permission to introduce it in my work: 
 
 "Dear Sir, — Since I saw you I have had a long 
 conversation with Cawston/ who sat up with Dr. 
 Johnson, from nine o'clock on Sunday evening, till 
 ten o'clock on Monday morning. And, from what 
 I can gather from him, it should seem that Dr. 
 Johnson was perfectly composed, steady in hope, 
 and resigned to death. At the interval of each 
 hour, they assisted him to sit up in his bed, and 
 move his legs, which were in much pain; when he 
 regularly addressed himself to fervent prayer; and 
 though, sometimes, his voice failed him, his sense 
 never did, during that time. The only sustenance 
 he received was cider and water. He said his mind 
 was prepared, and the time of his dissolution seemed 
 long. At six in the morning, he inquired the hour, 
 and, on being informed, said that all went on reg- 
 ularly, and he felt he had but a few hours to live. 
 
 "At ten o'clock in the morning he parted from 
 Cawston, saying, ' You should not detain Mr. Wind- 
 ham's servant: — I thank you; bear my remem- 
 brance to your master.' Cawston says that no man 
 could appear more collected, more devout, or less 
 terrified at the thoughts of the approaching minute. 
 
 "This account, which is so much more agreeable 
 than, and somewhat different from, yours, has given 
 
 1 Servant to the Right Honourable William Windham. 
 
90 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON 
 
 us the satisfaction of thinking that that great man 
 died as he hved, full of resignation, strengthened 
 in faith, and joyful in hope." 
 
 A few days before his death, he had asked Sir 
 John Hawkins, as one of his executors, where he 
 should be buried; and on being answered, "Doubt- 
 less in Westminster Abbey," seemed to feel a satis- 
 faction very natural to a poet; and indeed in my 
 opinion very natural to every man of any imagina- 
 tion, who has no family sepulchre in which he can 
 be laid with his fathers. Accordingly, upon Mon- 
 day, December 20, his remains were deposited in 
 that noble and renowned edifice: and over his grave 
 was placed a large blue flagstone with this inscription : 
 
 ''Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 
 
 Obiit XIII die Decembris 
 
 Anno Domini 
 
 M. DCC. LXXXIV 
 
 Matis suae LXXV." 
 
 His funeral was attended by a respectable num- 
 ber of his friends, particularly such of the members 
 of the Literary Club as were then in town; and was 
 also honoured with the presence of several of the 
 Reverend Chapter of Westminster. Mr. Burke, 
 Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Windham, Mr. Langton, Sir 
 Charles Bunbury, and Mr. Coleman, bore his pall. 
 His schoolfellow. Dr. Taylor, performed the mourn- 
 ful ofl^ce of reading the burial service. 
 
 Vol. VI, p. 250. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Addison, Joseph, his style compared with Johnson's, 17. 
 
 Barber, Francis, in Johnson's will, 87. 
 
 Beauclerk, Topham, 19. 
 
 Boswell, James, first meeting with Johnson, 32; calls upon 
 Johnson, 34; elected to the Literary Club, 52; accompanies 
 Johnson to Scotland and the Hebrides, 53; praised by 
 Johnson, 54, 71; his writing praised by Courtenay, 54; 
 success in bringing Johnson and Wilkes together, 62; 
 chaffed by Johnson, 69, 72; temporary coolness toward 
 Johnson, 72; succeeds to his father's estate, 79. 
 
 Bouffleurs, Madame de, visits Johnson, 60. 
 
 Burke, Edmund, described, 61; pallbearer at Johnson's 
 funeral, 90. 
 
 Bute, Earl of, his part in securing a pension for Johnson, 29. 
 
 Chambers, Catherine, parting with Johnson, 43. 
 
 Charles II, described by Johnson, 57. 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord, Johnson's letter to, concerning the Dic- 
 tionary, 22. 
 
 Davies, Thomas, described, 31; introduces Boswell and John- 
 son, 32; tells story of Johnson and Foote, 56. 
 
 Dictionary, Johnson's, 75. 
 
 Dilly, Messieurs, give dinner at which Johnson and Wilkes 
 meet, 63. 
 
 Fleet St. House, inmates of, 74. 
 
 Garrick, David, describes Johnson's wife, 15; goes to London 
 with Johnson, 15; criticized by Johnson, 33; as an actor of 
 Shakespeare, 45; praised by Johnson, 48, 62, 74; relates 
 anecdote of Johnson in the playhouse at Lichfield, 55. 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, described by Boswell, 35; by Johnson, 49, 
 
 91 
 
92 INDEX 
 
 50, 75; Vicar of Wakefield, 37; disputes with Johnson, 46, 
 50; dedication of She Stoops to Conquer, 47; as an historian, 
 51. 
 
 Johnson, Elizabeth, described by Garrick, 15. 
 
 Johnson, Michael, character of, 9; poHtical opinions, 11. 
 
 Johnson, Samuel, birth, 9; memory, 11; touched by Queen 
 Anne for scrofula, 11; impatience in reading or writing, 12 
 character in college, 12; leaves college, 13; marriage, 13 
 as a schoolmaster, 14; goes to London with Garrick, 15 
 his style compared with Addison's, 17; acquaintance with 
 Langton, 18; frohc with Langton and Beauclerk, 21; letter 
 to Lord Chesterfield, 22; letter to the Chancellor of Oxford 
 concerning the M. A., 24; letters to his mother, 25; granted 
 a pension by George III, 28; letters to the Earl of Bute 
 concerning his pension, 29, 30; account of the sale of The 
 Vicar of Wakefield, 38; ideas on reading, 39, 40; answer to 
 criticism of his pension, 39; discussion of the duty of main- 
 taining rank, 40; described by Boswell, 41, 60, 76, by 
 Kearsley, 76; his "Prayer before the Study of Law," 42; 
 description of the Thrales, 42; farewell to Catherine Cham- 
 bers, 43; mode of life, 45; disputes with Goldsmith, 46, 50; 
 poHtical views, 47, 57, 77; praise of Garrick, 48, 74; opinion 
 of Goldsmith, 51, 75; tour of the Hebrides, 53; courage, 55; 
 letters to Boswell, 58, 78; tour of France, 58, 59; prejudice 
 against Scotland, 62, 68, 77; meetings with Wilkes, 62, 69, 
 76; prayer before studying Greek and Itahan, 70; unaffected 
 by music, 70; opinion of Boswell, 71; opinion on drinking 
 wine, 71; remark on the King of Siam and Louis XIV, 72; 
 remark about compiling the Dictionary, 75; opinion of 
 toleration, 75; advice to Boswell on becoming Lord Au- 
 chinleck, 80; his prayer at leaving the Thrales', 81; kindness 
 to servants and animals, 81; description of his illness, to 
 Mrs. Thrale, 82; delight in speaking in his own style, 84; 
 willingness to apologize when wrong, 84; kindness to the 
 unfortunate, 85; his will, 86; last illness, 87; epitaph, 90. 
 
 Johnson, Sarah, 9; death, 25. 
 
INDEX 93 
 
 Langton, Benriet, described, 18; pallbearer at Johnson's 
 
 funeral, 90. 
 Literary Club, members of the, 53. 
 London, cost of living in, 16. 
 Rambler, admired by Langton, 18. 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, opinion of the propriety of Johnson's 
 
 accepting a pension, 28; executor of Johnson's will, 87. 
 Scotland, visited by Johnson, 53; Johnson's prejudice against, 
 
 62, 68, 77. 
 Taxation No Tyranny, written at the desire of the party in 
 
 power, 56. 
 Thrales, the, described by Johnson, 42; tour of France with 
 
 Johnson, 58, 59; Johnson's prayer at leaving, 81; Johnson's 
 
 intimacy with, described by Mrs. Thrale, 85. 
 Toleration, Johnson's opinion of, 75. 
 Vicar of Wakefield, the, 37. 
 Wilkes, John, meetings with Johnson, 62, 69, 76. 
 WilHam, King, described by Johnson, 57. 
 WilHams, Mrs., influence over Johnson, 65. 
 
MERRILL'S ENGLISH TEXTS 
 
 Complete Editions 
 
 Addison, Steele, and Budgell— Tlie Sir Roger de Coverley 
 
 Papers in "'The Spectator" 30 
 
 Browning — Poems (Selected) 25 
 
 Bunyan— Pilgrim's Progress, Part T 40 
 
 Burke— Speech on Conciliation with America 35 
 
 Byron— Childe Harold, Canto rV, and The Prisoner of 
 
 Chillon 25 
 
 Carlyle— An Essay on Burns 25 
 
 Coleridge— The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and other 
 
 Poems 25 
 
 Coleridge— The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Lowell 
 
 —The Vision of Sir Launfal, Combined 40 
 
 Defoe— Robinson Crusoe, Part 1 50 
 
 De Quincey— Joan of Arc, and The English Mail Coach. . .25 
 
 Dickens— A Tale of Two Cities 50 
 
 Eliot, George— Silas Marner 40 
 
 Emerson— Essays (Selected) 40 
 
 Goldsmith— The Deserted Village, and other Poems 25 
 
 Goldsmith-The Vicar of Wakefield 30 
 
 Gray — Elegy in a Country Churchyard, and Goldsmith — 
 
 The Deserted Village, Combined 30 
 
 Hale— The Man Without a Country and My Double .25 
 
 Hawthorne— The House of the Seven Gables. . . 40 
 
 Homer-The Odyssey, Books VI to XIV, XVIHtoXXIV 
 
 (English translation) 50 
 
 Irving— The Sketch Book 50 
 
 Lamb— Essays of Elia 50 
 
 Lincoln— Selections 25 
 
 Lowell -The Vision of Sir Launfal, and other Poems 25 
 
 Macaulay— Essays on Lord Clive and Warren Hastings. . .40 
 
 Macaulay— Essay on Samuel Johnson 25 
 
 Macaulay— Lays of Ancient Rome, and Arnold — Sohrab 
 
 and Rustum, Combined 30 
 
 Milton— Lycidas, Comus, L'AUegro, II Penseroso, and 
 
 other Poems 25 
 
 Palgrave— Golden Treasury (First Series) 40 
 
 Parkman-The Oregon Trail 50 
 
 Poe— The Raven, Longfellow— The Courtship of Miles 
 
 Standish, and Whittier— Snow-bound, Combined 25 
 
 Scott— Ivanhoe 50 
 
 Shakespeare — A Midsummer Night's Dream 25 
 
 Shakespeare — As You Like It 25 
 
 Shakespeare — Julius Caesar 25 
 
 Shakespeare— King Henry V 25 
 
 Shakespeare — Macbeth 25 
 
 Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice .25 
 
 Shakespeare— Twelfth Night 25 
 
 Stevenson —An Inland Voyage and Travels with a Donkey .40 
 
 Stevenson— Treasure Island 40 
 
 Tennyson— Idylls of the King 30 
 
 Thoreau— Walden 50 
 
 Washington —Farewell Address, and Webster — ^Pirst and 
 
 Second Bunker Hill Orations 25 
 
ABERNETHY'S 
 AMERICAN LITERATURE 
 
 By JULIAN W. ABERNETHY, Ph.D. 
 Formerly Principal of Berkeley Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
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 4 1912