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I 
 
BOSWELL'S 
 FE OF JOHNSON 
 
 EDITED 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 MOWBRAY MORRIS 
 
 Vol. II. 
 
 New York: 46 East Fourteenth Street 
 THOMAS Y CROWKLL & COMPANY 
 Boston: 100 Purchase Street 
 
B 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 VOLUME II. 
 
 page- 
 Portrait OF Samuel Johnson, from a Painting in the 
 
 Possession of Mr. Archdeacon Cambridge . . Front.- 
 
 Thomas Da vies . . . . . . . . 24 
 
 Edmund Burke . . . . . . . . 55 
 
 Horace Walpole . . . . . . . . 91 
 
 CoLLEY Gibber ..... . 122 
 
 Edward Gibbon . . . . . . . .162 
 
 SoAME Jenyns . . . . . . . .186 
 
 Edward Gave . . . . . . . .215 
 
 Bishop Percy ........ 280 
 
 Warren Hastings . . . . . . -338 
 
 H. Thrale . . . . . . . . ' . 350 
 
 General Oglethorpe ....... 406 
 
 Richard Owen Cambridge . . . . . .421 
 
 James Boswell. Full-length portrait . . . .441 
 
 William Put 484 
 
 Dr. Adam Smith . . . . . . . • 55o 
 
 Bust of Johnson by Nollekens . . . . .569 
 
 Life of JoHNbON. — Vol II. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 
 
 On Thursday, March 28, we pursued our journey. I men- 
 tioned that old Mr. Sheridan complained of the ingratitude of 
 Mr. Wedderburne and General Fraser, who had been much 
 obliged to him when they were young Scotchmen entering upon 
 life in England. Johnson : " Why, Sir, a man is very apt to 
 complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above 
 him. A man when he gets into a higher sphere, into other 
 habits of life, cannot keep up all his former connections. Then, 
 Sir, those who knew him formerly upon a level with themselves, 
 may think that they ought still to be treated as on a level, which 
 cannot be ; and an acquaintance in a former situation may bring 
 out things which it would be very disagreeable to have mentioned 
 before higher company, though, perhaps, everybody knows of 
 them." He placed this subject in a new light to me, and showed, 
 that a man who has risen in the world, must not be condemned 
 too harshly for being distant to former acquaintance, even though 
 he may have been much obliged to them. It is, no doubt, to 
 be wished that a proper degree of attention should be shown by 
 great men to their early friends. But if either from obtuse insen- 
 sibility to difference of situation, or presumptuous forwardness, 
 which will not submit even to an exterior observance of it, the 
 dignity of high place cannot be preserved, when they are ad- 
 mitted into the company of those raised above the state in which 
 they once were, encroachment must be repelled, and the kinder 
 feelings sacrificed. To one of the very fortunate persons whom I 
 have mentioned, namely, Mr. Wedderburne, now Lord Loughbor- 
 ough, I must do the justice to relate that I have been assured by 
 another early acquaintance of his, old Mr. Macklin, who assisted 
 Vol. II.— I 
 
2 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 in improving his pronunciation, that he found him very grateful. 
 Macklin, I suppose, had not pressed upon his alleviation with so 
 much eagerness, as the gentleman who complained of him. Dr. 
 Johnson's remark as to the jealousy entertained of our friends 
 who rise far above us, is certainly very just. By this was withered 
 the early friendship between Charles Townshend and Akenside ; 
 and many similar instances might be adduced. 
 
 He said, " It is commonly a weak man who marries for love." 
 We then talked of marrying women of fortune ; and I mentioned 
 a common remark, that a man may be, upon the whole, richer 
 by marrying a woman with a very small portion, because a 
 woman of fortune will be proportionally expensive ; whereas a 
 woman who brings none will be very moderate in expenses. 
 Johnson : " Depend upon it, Sir, this is not true. A woman of 
 fortune being used to the handHng of money, spends it judi- 
 ciously : but a woman who gets the command of money for the 
 first time upon her marriage, has such a gust in spending it, that 
 she throws it away with great profusion." 
 
 He praised the ladies of the present age, insisting that they 
 were more faithful to their husbands, and more virtuous in every 
 respect, than in former times, because their understandings were 
 better cultivated. It was an undoubted proof of his good sense 
 and good disposition, that he was never querulous, never prone 
 to inveigh against the present times, as is so common when 
 superficial minds are on the fret. On the contrary, he was will- 
 ing to speak favorably of his own age ; and, indeed, maintained 
 its superiority in every respect, except in its reverence for gov- 
 ernment ; the relaxation of which he imputed, as its grand cause, 
 to the shock which our monarchy received at the Revolution, 
 though necessary ; and secondly, to the timid concessions made 
 to faction by successive Administrations in the reign of his pres- 
 ent Majesty. I am happy to think that he lived to see the 
 Crown at last recover its just influence.' 
 
 At Leicester we 'read in the newspaper that Dr. James ^ was 
 dead. I thought that the death of an old schoolfellow, and one 
 with whom he had lived a good deal in London, would have af- 
 fected my fellow-traveller much : but he only said, " Ah ! poor 
 Jamy." Afterwards, however, when we were in the chaise, he 
 said, with more tenderness, "Since I set out on this jaunt, I have 
 
 'This alludes to the triumph of the King and Pitt over the Coalition Ministry in 
 1784. — Croker. 
 
 2 Manufacturer of the famous powders of which Newbury, the bookseller, was 
 the vendor. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 FOLLY OF MELANCHOLY. 
 
 3 
 
 lost an old friend and a young one ; — Dr. James and poor 
 Harry" (meaning Mr. Thrale's son). 
 
 Having lain at St. Albaii's, on Thursday, March 28, we break- 
 fasted the next morning at Barnet. I expressed to him a weak- 
 ness of mind which I could not help ; an uneasy apprehension 
 that my wife and children, who were at a great distance from me, 
 might, perhaps, be ill. "Sir," said he, "consider how foolish 
 you would think it in them to be apprehensive that you are ill." 
 This sudden turn relieved me for the moment ; but I afterwards 
 perceived it to be an ingenious fallacy. I might, to be sure, be 
 satisfied that they had no reason to be apprehensive about me, 
 because I kjicw that I myself was well : but we might have mutual 
 anxiety, without the charge of folly ; because each was, in some 
 degree, uncertain as to the condition of the other. 
 
 I enjoyed the luxury of our approach to London, that metrop- 
 olis which we both loved so much, for the high and varied intel- 
 lectual pleasure which it furnishes. I experienced immediate 
 happiness while whirled along with such a companion, and said 
 to him : " Sir, you observed one day at General Oglethorpe's, that 
 a man is never happy for the present, but when he is drunk. AVill 
 you not add, — or when driving rapidly in a post-chaise?" 
 Johnson : " No, Sir, you are driving rapidly fro??t something, or 
 to something." 
 
 Talking of melancholy, he said : " Some men, and very think- 
 ing men too, have not those vexing thoughts.' Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds is the same all the year round. Beauclerk, except when ill 
 and in pain, is the same. ButT believe most men have them in 
 the degree in which they are capable of having them. If I were 
 in the country, and were distressed by that malady, I would force 
 myself to take a book ; and every time I did it I should find it 
 the easier. Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every 
 means but drinking." 
 
 'The phrase "vexing thoughts," is, I think, very expressive. It has been 
 familiar to me from my childhood ; for it is to be found in the Psahns in Mclie, 
 used in the churches (I belit ve I should say kirks) of Scotland, Psal. xliii. 5. 
 " Why art thou then cast dow n, my soul ? 
 What should discourage thee ? 
 And why with vexiiiif t/ioiights art thou 
 Disquieted in me ? " 
 
 Some allowance must no doubt be made for early prepossession. But at a maturer 
 period of life, after looking at various metrical versions of the Psalms, I am well 
 satisfied that the version used in Scotland, is, upon tiie whole, the best : and that it 
 is vain to think of having abetter. It has in general a simplicity and unction oi 
 sacred poesy; and in many parts its transfusion is admirable. — B. Sir Walter 
 Scott held the same opinion; see his "Journal," vol. i. 411-12 and note, and ii. 290- 
 91 and note. 
 
4 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 We stopped at Messieurs Dillys' booksellers in the Poultry; 
 from whence he hurried away, in a hackney coach, to Mr. Thrale's 
 in the Borough. I called at his houee in the evening, having 
 promised to acquaint Mrs. Williams of his safe return ; when, to my 
 surprise, I found him sitting with her at tea, and, as I thought, 
 not in a very good humor : for, it seems, when he had got to Mr. 
 Thrale's, he found the coach was at the door waiting to carry 
 Mrs. and Miss Thrale, and Signor Baretti, their Italian master, to 
 Bath. This was not showing the attention which might have 
 been expected to the "Guide, Philosopher, and Friend;" the 
 Ifnlac who had hastened from the country to console a distressed 
 mother, who he understood was very anxious for his return. 
 They had, I found, without ceremony, proceeded on their in- 
 tended journey. I was glad to understand from him that it was 
 still resolved that his tour to Italy with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale 
 should take place, of which he had entertained some doubt, on 
 account of the loss which they had suffered ; and his doubts after- 
 wards appeared to be well founded. He observed, indeed very 
 justly, that, " Their loss was an additional reason for their going 
 abroad ; and if it had not been fixed that he should have been 
 one of the party, he would force them out ; but he would not ad- 
 vise them unless his advice was asked, lest they might suspect 
 that he recommended what he wished on his own account." I 
 was not pleased that his intimacy with Mr. Thrale's family, though 
 it no doubt contributed much to his comfort and enjoyment, was 
 not without some degree of restraint : not, as has been grossly sug- 
 gested, that it was required of him as a task to talk for the enter- 
 tainment of them and their company ; but that he was not quite 
 at his ease ; which, however, might partly be owing to his own 
 honest pride — that dignity of mind which is always jealous of 
 appearing too compliant. 
 
 On Sunday, March 31, I called on him, and showed him as a 
 curiosity which I had discovered, his " Translation of Lobo's Ac- 
 count of Abyssinia," which Sir John Pringle had lent me, it being 
 then litde known as one of' his works. He said, " Take no no- 
 tice of it," or "don't talk of it." He seemed to think it beneath 
 him, though done at six-and-tvventy. I said to him, " Your style. 
 Sir, is much improved since you translated this." He answered 
 with a sort of triumphant smile, " Sir, I hope it is." 
 
 On Wednesday, April 3, in the morning I found him very busy 
 putting his books in order, and as they were generally very old 
 ones, clouds of dust were flying around him. He had on a pair 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 A GENTLE SAVAGE. 
 
 5 
 
 of large gloves such as hedgers use. His present appearance put 
 me in mind of my uncle Dr. Bosvvell's description of him, " A 
 robust genius, born to grapple with whole libraries." 
 
 I gave him an account of a conversation which had passed 
 between me and Captain Cook, the day before, at dinner at Sir 
 John Pringle's;^ and he was much pleased with the conscientious 
 accuracy of that celebrated circumnavigator, who set me right as 
 to many of the exaggerated accounts given by Dr. Hawkesworth 
 of his Voyages. I told him that while I was with the Captain, I 
 catched the enthusiasm of curiosity and adventure, and felt a 
 strong inclination to go with him on his next voyage. Johnson : 
 " Why, Sir, a man {/oes feel so, till he considers how very little he 
 can learn from such voyages." Boswell : " But one is carried 
 away with the general grand and indistinct notion of A Voyage 
 round the World. Johnson : " Yes, Sir, but a man is to guard 
 himself against taking a thing in general." I said I was certain 
 that a great part of what we are told by the travellers to the 
 South Sea must be conjecture, because they had not enough of 
 the language of those countries to understand so much as they 
 have related. Objects falling under the observation of the senses 
 might be clearly known ; but everything intellectual, everything 
 abstract — politics, morals, and religion, must be darkly guessed. 
 Dr. Johnson was of the same opinion. He upon another oc- 
 casion, when a friend mentioned to him several extraordinary 
 facts, as communicated to him by the circumnavigators, slyly ob- 
 served : " Sir, I never before knew how much I was respected by 
 these gentlemen; they told me none of these things." 
 
 He had been in company with Omai, a native of one of the 
 South Sea Islands, after he had been some time in this country. 
 He was struck with the elegance of his behavior, and accounted 
 for it thus : " Sir, he had passed his time, while in England, only 
 in the best company ; so that all that he had acquired of our 
 manners was genteel. As a proof of this, Sir, Lord Mulgrave and 
 he dined one day at Streatham ; they sat with their backs to the 
 light fronting me, so that I could not see distinctly : and there 
 was so little of the savage in Omai,^ that I was afraid to speak to 
 either, lest I should mistake one for the other." 
 
 We agreed to dine to-day at the Mitre Tavern, after the rising 
 of the House of Lords, where a branch of the litigation concern- 
 ing the Douglas Estate, in which I was one of the counsel, was to 
 
 ' At this time President of the Royal Society. — Croker. 
 * The " gentle savage " of Cowper's " Task." 
 
6 
 
 ' BOSWELTJS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 come on. I brought with me Mr. Murray, Solicitor-General of 
 Scotland, now one of the Judges of the Court of Session, with the 
 title of Lord Henderland. I mentioned Mr. Solicitor's relation. 
 Lord Charles Hay, with whom I knew Dr. Johnson had been 
 acquainted.^ Johnson : "I wrote something for Lord Charles ; 
 and I thought he had nothing to fear from a court-martial. I 
 suffered a great loss when he died ; he was a mighty pleasing 
 man in conversation, and a reading man. The character of a 
 soldier is high. They who stand forth the foremost in danger, 
 for the community, have the respect of mankind. An officer is 
 much more respected than any other man who has as little 
 money. In a commercial country money will always purchase 
 respect. But you find an officer who has, properly speaking, no 
 money,, is everywhere well received and treated with attention. 
 The character of a soldier always stands him in stead." Boswell : 
 ''Yet, Sir, I think that common soldiers are worse thought of 
 than other men in the same rank of life ; such as laborers." 
 Johnson : " Why, Sir, a common soldier is usually a very gross 
 man, and any quality which procures respect may be overwhelmed 
 by grossness. A man of learning may be so vicious or so ridic- 
 ulous that you cannot respect him. A common soldier, too, 
 generally eats more than he can pay for. But when a common 
 soldier is civil in his quarters, his red coat procures him a degree 
 of respect." The peculiar respect paid to the military character 
 in France was mentioned. Boswell : " I should think that where 
 military men are so numerous, they would be less valued as not 
 being rare." Johnson : " Nay, Sir, wherever a particular char- 
 acter or profession is high in the estimation of a people, those 
 who are of it will be valued above other men. We value an 
 P2nglishman high in this country, and yet Englishmen are not 
 rare in it." 
 
 Mr. Murray praised the ancient philosophers, for the candor 
 and good humor with which those of different sects disputed 
 with each other. Johnson : " Sir, they disputed with good humor, 
 because they were not in earnest as to religion. Had the ancients 
 
 'Third son of the third Marquis of Tweeddale. He distinguished himself at 
 Fontenoy, where he is said to have been the oflieer who invited the Freneh Cniards 
 to fire first. He afterwards lield a eommand in Lord Loudon's expedition to 
 Canada in 1757, where he was put under arrest for disrespectful language [he was 
 said to have deelared that tlie nation's wealth was expended in making sham 
 fights and planting cabbages] and sent home to be tried by court martial, but 
 died before the sentence was delivered. It is said that he had gone mad in America, 
 as had hapijened to him before, but that the family were anxious " to disavow the 
 disorder." — Croker. 
 
Age 6;.] EDUCATION AT CI HEAT SCHOOLS. 
 
 7 
 
 been serious in their belief, we should not have had their gods 
 exhibited in the manner we find them represented in the poets. 
 The people would not have suffered it. They disi)uted with good 
 humor upon the fanciful theories, because they were not interested 
 in the truth of them : when a man has nothing to lose, he may be 
 in good humor with his opponent. Accordingly you see in 
 Lucian, the Epicurean, who argues only negatively, keeps his 
 temper; the Stoic, who has something positive to preserve, grows 
 angry. Being angry with one who controverts an opinion which 
 you value, is a necessary consequence of the uneasiness which 
 you feel. Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in some 
 degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy ; and 
 I am angry with him who makes me uneasy. I'hose only who 
 believed in revelation have been angry at having their faith 
 called in question ; because they only had something upon which 
 they could rest as matter of fact." Murray : It seems to me 
 that we are not angry at a man for controverting an opinion which 
 we believe and value; we rather pity him." Johnson: "Why, 
 Sir ; to be sure when you wish a man to have that belief which 
 you think is of infinite advantage, you wish well to him ; but 
 your primary consideration is your own quiet. If a madman were 
 to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we 
 should pity the state of his mind ; but our primary consideration 
 would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him down 
 first, and pity him afterwards. No, Sir ; every man will dispute 
 with great good humor upon a subject in which he is not inter- 
 ested. I will dispute very calmly upon the probability of another 
 man's son being hanged ; but if a man zealously enforces the 
 probability that my own son will be hanged, I shall certainly not 
 be in a very good humor with him." I added this illustration : 
 " If a man endeavors to convince me that my wife, whom I love 
 very much, and in whom I place great confidence, is a disagree- 
 able woman, and is even unfoithful to me, I shall be very angry, 
 for he is putting me in fear of being unhappy." Murray : " But, 
 Sir, truth will always bear an examination." Johnson: "Yes, 
 Sir, but it is painful to be forced to defend it. Consider, Sir, 
 how should you like, though conscious of your innocence, to be 
 tried before a jury for a capital crime, once a week." 
 
 We talked of education at great schools ; the advantages and 
 disadvantages of which Johnson displayed in a luminous manner ; 
 but his arguments preponderate so much in favor of the benefit 
 which a boy of good parts might receive at one of them, that I 
 
8 
 
 nos well's life of johnson. [a.d. 1776. 
 
 have reason to believe Mr. Murray was very much influenced by 
 what he had heard to-day, in his determination to send his own 
 son to Westminster School. I have acted in the same manner 
 with regard to my own two sons : having placed the eldest at 
 Eton, and the second at Westminster — I cannot say which is 
 best. But in justice to both those noble seminaries, I with high 
 satisfaction declare, that my boys have derived from them a 
 great deal of good, and no evil : and I trust they will, like 
 Horace, be grateful to their father for giving them so valuable 
 an education. 
 
 I introduced the topic, which is often ignorantly urged, that 
 the Universities of England are too rich ; * so that learning does 
 not flourish in them as it would do if those who teach had smaller 
 salaries, and depended on their assiduity for a great part of their 
 income. Johnson : Sir, the very reverse of this is the truth ; 
 the English Universities are not rich enough. Our fellowships 
 are only sufficient to support a man during his studies to fit him 
 for the world, and accordingly in general they are held no longer 
 than till an opportunity offers of getting away. Now and then, 
 perhaps, there is a fellow who grows old in his college ; but this 
 is against his will, unless he be a man very indolent indeed. A 
 hundred a year is reckoned a good fellowship, and that is no 
 more than is necessary to keep a man decently as a scholar. We 
 do not allow our fellows to marry, because we consider academical 
 institutions as preparatory to a settlement in the world. It is 
 only by being employed as a tutor, that a fellow can obtain any- 
 thing more than a livelihood. To be sure, a man who has 
 enough without teaching, will probably not teach ; for we would 
 all be idle if we could. In the same manner, a man who is to 
 get nothing by teaching, will not exert himself. Gresham College 
 was intended as a place of instruction for London ; able professors 
 were to read lectures gratis, they contrived to have no scholars ; 
 whereas, if they had been allowed to receive but sixpence a 
 lecture from each scholar, they would have been emulous to have 
 had many scholars. Everybody will agree that it should be the 
 interest of those who teach to have scholars ; and this is the case 
 in our Universities. That they are too rich is certainly not true ; 
 for they have nothing good enough to keep a man of eminent 
 learning with them for his life. In the foreign Universities a 
 
 ' Dr. Adam Smith, who was for some time a professor in the University of 
 Glasgow, has uttered, in his " Wealth of Nations," some reflections upon this sub- 
 ject which are certainly not well founded, and seem to be invidious. — B. 
 
Age 67. J 
 
 RIDICUJ.K NOT IJBELLOCS. 
 
 9 
 
 professorship is a high thing. It is as much almost as a man can 
 make by his learning ; and tlierefore we find the most learned 
 men abroad are in the Universities. It is not so with us. Our 
 Universities are impoverished of learning by the penury of their 
 provisions. I wish there were many places of a thousand a year 
 at Oxford, to keep first-rate men of learning from quitting the 
 University." Undoubtedly if this were the case, Literature would 
 have a still greater dignity and splendor at Oxford and there 
 would be grander living sources of instruction. 
 
 I mentioned Mr. Maclaurin's uneasiness on account of a 
 degree of ridicule carelessly thrown on his deceased flither, in 
 Goldsmith's " History of Animated Nature," in which that cele- 
 brated mathematician is represented as being subject to fits of 
 yawning so violent as to render him incapable of proceeding in 
 his lecture ; a story altogether unfounded, but for the publication 
 of which the law would give no reparation.' This led us to 
 agitate the question, whether legal redress could be obtained, 
 even when a man's deceased relation was calumniated in a publi- 
 cation. Mr. Murray maintained there should be reparation, 
 unless the author could justify himself by proving the fact. John- 
 son : " Sir, it is of so much more consequence that truth should 
 be told, than that individuals should not be made uneasy, that it 
 is much better that the law does not restrain writing freely con- 
 cerning the characters of the dead. Damages will be given to a 
 man who is calumniated in his lifetime, because he may be hurt 
 in his worldly interest, or at least hurt in his mind : but the law 
 does not regard that uneasiness which a man feels on having his 
 ancestor calumniated. That is too nice. Let him deny what 
 is said, anci let the matter have a fair chance by discussion. 
 But if a man could say nothing against a character but what he 
 can prove, history could not be written ; for a great deal is 
 known of men of which proof cannot be brought. A minister 
 may be notoriously known to take bribes, and yet you may not 
 be able to prove it." Mr. Murray suggested, that the author 
 should be obliged to show some sort of evidence, though he 
 would not require a strict legal proof: but Johnson firmly and 
 
 ' Dr. Goldsmith was dead before Mr. Maclaurin discovered the kidicrous error. 
 But Mr. Nourse, the bookseller, who was the proprietor of the work, upon being 
 applied to by Sir John Pringle, agreed very handsomely to have the leaf on which 
 it was contained cancelled, and reprinted without it, at his own expense, — B. 
 This was never done, but after the first edition a foot-note was added denying 
 the truth of the story, which is not quite as Bosvvell tells it ; see Napier^ iii. 67 
 note. 
 
10 
 
 BOS WELLES LIFE OF JOHNSON, [A.D. 1776. 
 
 resolutely opposed any restraint whatever, as adverse to a free 
 investigation of the characters of mankind.' 
 
 On Thursday, April 4, having called on Dr. Johnson, I said, it 
 was a pity that truth was not so firm as to bid defiance to all 
 attacks, so that it might be shot at as much as people chose to 
 attempt, and yet remain unhurt. Johnson : " Then, Sir, it would 
 not be shot at. Nobody attempts to dispute that two and two 
 make four ; but with contests concerning moral truth, human 
 passions are generally mixed, and therefore it must ever be liable 
 to assault and misrepresentation." 
 
 On Friday, April 5, being Good Friday, after having attended 
 the morning service at St. Clement's Church, I walked home with 
 Johnson. We talked of the Roman Catholic religion. Johnson : 
 " In the barbarous ages. Sir, priests and people were equally 
 deceived ; but afterwards there were gross corruptions introduced 
 by the clergy, such as indulgences to priests to have concubines, 
 and the worship of images, not, indeed, inculcated, but know- 
 ingly permitted." He strongly censured the licensed stews at 
 Rome. BoswELL : " So then. Sir, you would allow no irregular 
 intercourse whatever between the sexes?" Johnson: *'To be 
 sure I would not, Sir. I would punish it much more than it is 
 done, and so restrain it. In all countries there has been fornica- 
 tion, as in all countries there has been theft ; but there may be 
 more or less of the one, as well as of the other, in proportion to 
 the force of law. All men will naturally commit fornication, as 
 all men will naturally steal. And, Sir, it is very absurd to argue, 
 
 ^ What Dr. Johnson has here said, is undoubtedly good sense : yet I am afraid 
 that law, though defined by Lord Coke " the perfection of reason," is not altogether 
 with him ; for it is held in the books, tliat an attack on the reputation even of a 
 dead man, may be punished as a libel, because tending to a breach of the peace. 
 There is, however, I believe no modern decided case to that effect. In the King's 
 Bench, Trinity Term, 1790, the question occurred on occasion of an indictment, 
 TAe Fi-ng v. Tophaiii^ who, as a proprietor of a newspaper, entitled The World, was 
 found guilty of a libel against Earl Cowper, deceased, because certain injurious 
 charges against his" Lordship were published in that paper. An arrest of judgment 
 having been moved for, the case was afterwards solemnly argued. My friencl, Mr. 
 Const, whom I delight in having an opportunity to praise, not only for his abilities 
 but his manners ; a gentleman whose ancient German blood has been mellowed in 
 England, and who may be truly said to unite the Baron and the Barrister, was one 
 of tlie counsel for Mr. Topham. He displayed much learning and ingenuity vipon 
 the general question; which, however, .was not decided, as the Court granted an 
 arrest chiefly on the informality of the indictment. No man has a higluT rever- 
 ence for the law of England than I have: but, with all dcfcMcnce, I cannot help 
 thinking, that prosecution by indictment, if a defemlant is never to be allowed to 
 justify, must often be very oppressive, unless juries, whom 1 am more and more 
 confirmed in holding to Ijc judges of law as well as of fact, resolutely interpose. Of 
 late, an act of Parliament has passed declaratory of their full right to one as well as 
 the other, in matter of libel; and the bill having been brouglit in by a pojiular 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 FRAILTY IN WOMEN. 
 
 11 
 
 as has been often done, that prostitutes are necessary to prevent 
 the violent effects of appetite from violating the decent order of 
 life ; nay, should be permitted, in order to preserve the chastity 
 of our wives and daughters. Depend upon it. Sir, severe laws, 
 steadily enforced, would be sufficient against those evils, and 
 would promote marriage." 
 
 I stated to him this case : " Suppose a man has a daughter, 
 who he knows has been seduced, but her misfortune is concealed 
 from the world ; should he keep her in his house ? Would he 
 not, by doing so, be accessory to imposition? And, perhaps, a 
 worthy, unsuspecting man might come and marry this woman, 
 unless the father inform him of the truth." Johnson : " Sir, he 
 is accessory to no imposition. His daughter is in his house ; and 
 if a man courts her, he takes his chance. If a friend, or, indeed, 
 if any man, asks his opinion whether he should marry her, he 
 ought to advise him against it, without telling why, because his 
 • real opinion is then required. Or if he has other daughters who 
 know of her frailty, he ought not to keep her in his house. You 
 are to consider the state of life is this ; we are to judge of one 
 another's characters as well as we can ; and a man is not bound 
 in honesty or honor to tell us the faults of his daughter or of 
 himself. A man who has debauched his friend's daughter is not 
 obliged to say to everybody — ' Take care of me ; do n't let me 
 enter your house without suspicion. I once debauched a friend's 
 daughter. I may debauch yours.' " 
 
 Mr. Thrale called upon him, and appeared to bear the loss of 
 his son with a manly composure. There was no affectation about 
 
 gentleman [Fox] many of his party have in most extravagant terms declaimed on 
 the wonderful acquisition to the liberty of the press. For my own part, I ever was 
 clearly of opinion that this right was inherent in the very constitution of a jury, 
 and indeed in sense and reason inseparable from their important function. To 
 establish it, therefore, by statute, is, I think, narrowing its foundation, which is the 
 broad and deep basis of Common Law. Would it not rather weaken the right of 
 primogeniture, or any other old and universally-acknowledged right, should the 
 legislature pass an act in favor of it? In my " Letters to the People of Scotland, 
 against diminishing the number of the Lords of Session," published in 1785, there is 
 the following passage, which, as a concise, and I hope a fair and rational state of 
 the matter, I presume to quote : " The juries of England are judges of laxo as well 
 as of fact'm many civil, and in all criminal trials. That my principles of resistance 
 may not be misapprehended any more than my principles of submission , I protest 
 that I should be the last man in the world to encourage juries to conirailict rashiy, 
 wantonly, or perversely, the opinion of the judges. On the contrary, I would have 
 them listen respectfully to the advice they receive from the Bench, t)y which they 
 may often be well directed in forming thctr oion opinion ; which, ' and not another's,' 
 is the opinion they are to return upon their oaths. But wher?, after due attention 
 to all that the judge has said, they are decidedly of a different opinion from him, 
 they have not only a pozucr and a right, but they are bound in conscience to bring in 
 a verdict accordingly." — B. 4^ 
 
12 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 him ; and he talked, as usual, upon indifferent subjects. He 
 seemed to me to hesitate as to the intended Italian tour, on 
 which, I flattered myself, he and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson 
 were soon to set out ; and, therefore, I pressed it as much as I 
 could. I mentioned that Mr. Beauclerk had said, that Baretti, 
 whom they were to carry with them, would keep them so long in 
 the little towns of his own district, that they would not have time 
 to see Rome. I mentioned this to put them on their guard. 
 Johnson : Sir, we do not thank Mr. Beauclerk for supposing 
 that we are to be directed by Baretti. No, Sir; Mr. Thrale is to 
 go by my advice, to Mr. Jackson ' (the all-knowing), and get from 
 him a plan for seeing the most that can be seen in the time that 
 we have to travel. We must, to be sure, see Rome, Naples, Flor- 
 ence, and Venice, and as much more as we can." (Speaking 
 with a tone of animation.) 
 
 When I expressed an earnest wish for his remarks on Italy, he 
 said, " I do not see that I could make a book upon Italy ; yet L 
 should be glad to get 200/. or 500/. by such a work." This 
 showed both that a journal of his Tour upon the Continent, 
 was not wholly out of his contemplation, and that he uniformly 
 adhered to that strange opinion which his indolent disposition 
 made him utter : " No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except 
 for money." Numerous instances to refute this will occur to all 
 who are versed in the history of literature. 
 
 He gave us one of the many sketches of character which were 
 treasured in his mind, and which he was wont to produce quite 
 unexpectedly in a very entertaining manner. I lately," said he, 
 " received a letter from the East Indies, from a gentleman whom 
 I formerly knew very well ; he had returned from that country 
 with a handsome fortune, as it was reckoned, before means were 
 found to acquire those immense sums which have been brought 
 from thence of late ; he was a scholar, and an agreeable man, 
 and lived very prettily in London, till his wife died. After her 
 death, he took to dissipation and gaming, and lost all he had. 
 One evening he lost 1,000/. to a gentleman whose name I am 
 sorry I have forgotten. Next morning he sent the gentleman 
 500/. with an apology that it was all he had in the world. The 
 gentleman sent the money back to him, declaring he would not 
 
 1 A gentleman, who, from his extraordinary stores of knowledge, has been styled 
 omniscient. Johnson, I think very properly, altered it to all-knowing, as it is a ver- 
 bum solciine, appropriated to the Supreme Being. — B. Richard Jackson was a 
 barrister, a fellow of the Royal Society, and M.P. for New Romney. lie was Lora 
 of the Treasury in Lord Shelbiirne's Administration in 1782. — Croker. 
 
Age 6/.] JOHNSON'S CHARACrER-SKETCUES. ^ 13 
 
 accept of it ; and adding, that if Mr. had occasion for 
 
 500/. more, he would lend it to him. He resolved to go out 
 again to the East Indies, and make his fortune anew. He got a 
 considerable appointment, and I had some intention of accom- 
 panying him. Had I thought then as I do now, I should have 
 gone : but at that time, I had objections to quitting England." ' 
 
 It was a very remarkable circumstance about Johnson, whom 
 shallow observers have supposed to have been ignorant of the 
 world, that very few men had seen greater variety of characters ; 
 and none could observe them better, as was evident from the 
 strong, yet nice portraits, which he often drew. I have frequently 
 thought that if he had made out what the French call 7nte cata- 
 logue 7-aisonnee of all the people who had passed under his ob- 
 servation, it would have afforded a very rich fund of instruction 
 and entertainment. The suddenness with which his accounts of 
 some of them started out in conversation, was not less pleasing 
 than surprising. I remember he once observed to me, " It is 
 wonderful. Sir, what is to be found in London. The most literary 
 conversation that I ever enjoyed was at the table of Jack Ellis, a 
 money-scrivener behind the Royal Exchange, with whom I at 
 one period used to dine generally once a week." ^ 
 
 Volumes would be required to contain a list of his numerous 
 and various acquaintance, none of whom he ever forgot ; and 
 could describe and discriminate them all with precision and 
 vivacity. He associated with persons the most widely different 
 in manners, abilities, rank, and accomplishments. He was at 
 once the companion of the brilliant Colonel Forrester of the 
 
 ^ This gentleman is said by Croker to have been Joseph Fowke, at one time 
 in the East India Company's service, and afterwards trading as a merchant in 
 Calcutta. In the latter place he and his son were indicted for being concerned 
 in Nuncomar's conspiracy against Warren Hastings. See Sir James Stephen's 
 " Nuncomar and Impey." 
 
 2 This Mr. Ellis was, I believe, the last of that profession called Scriveners, 
 which is one of the London companies, but of which the business is no longer 
 carried on separately, but is transacted by attorneys and others. He was a man of 
 literature and talents. He was the author of a Hudibrastic version of Maphoeus's 
 "Canto," in addition to the " ^neid ; " of some poems in Dodsley's Collections; 
 and various other small pieces ; but being a very modest man, never put his name 
 to anything. He sliowed me a translation which he had made of Ovid's " Epis- 
 tles." very prettily done. There is a good engraved portrait of him by Pether, from 
 a picture by Fry, which hangs in the hall of the Scriveners' company. I visited him 
 Oct. 4, 1790, in his ninety-third year, and found liis judgment distinct and clear, 
 and his memory, though faded so as to flail him occasionally, yet, as he assured 
 me, and I indeed perceived, able to serve him very well, after a little recollection. 
 It was agreeable to observe, that he was free from the discontent and fretfulness 
 which too often molest old age. He in the summer of that year walked to Rother- 
 hithe, where he dined, and walked home in the evening. He died on the 31st of 
 December, 1791. — B, 
 
14 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 Guards, who wrote "The PoUte Philosopher," and of the awk- 
 ward and uncouth Robert Levett; of Lord Thurlow, and Mr. 
 Sastres, the Italian master ; and has dined one day with the 
 beautiful, gay, and fascinating Lady Craven,' and the next with 
 good Mrs. Gardiner, the tallow-chandler on Snow Hill. 
 
 On my expressing my wonder at his discovering so much of 
 the knowledge peculiar to different professions, he told me, " I 
 learned what I know of law chiefly from Mr. Ballow,^ a very able 
 man. I learned some too from Chambers ; but was not so teach- 
 able then. One is not willing to be taught by a young man." 
 When I expressed a wish to know more about Mr. Ballovv, John- 
 son said, " Sir, I have seen him but once these twenty years. 
 The tide of life has driven us different ways." I was sorry at the 
 time to hear this ; but whoever quits the creeks of private con- 
 nections, and fairly gets into the great ocean of London, will, by 
 imperceptible degrees, unavoidably experience such cessations 
 of acquaintance. 
 
 "My knowledge of physic," he added, "I learned from Dr. 
 James, whom I helped in writing the proposals for his Diction- 
 ary, and also a little in the Dictionary itself.^ I also learned from 
 Dr. Lawrence, but was then grown more stubborn." 
 
 A curious incident happened to-day, while Mr. Thrale and I 
 sat with him. Francis announced that a large packet was 
 brought to him from the post-office, said to have come from 
 Lisbon, and it was charged 7/. los. He would not receive it, 
 supposing it to be some trick, nor did he even look at it. But 
 upon inquiry afterwards he found that it was a real packet for 
 him, from that very friend in the East Indies of whom he had 
 been speaking ; and the ship which carried it having come to 
 Portugal, this packet, with others, had been put into the post- 
 office at Lisbon. 
 
 1 mentioned a new gaming-club, of which Mr. Beauclerk had 
 given me an account, where the members played to a desperate 
 
 ^ Lord Macartney, who with his other distinguished qualities, is remarkable 
 also for an elegant pleasantry, told me that he met Johnson at Lady Craven's, and 
 that he seemed jealous of any interference: " So," said his Lordship, smiling, " J 
 kept back."—\i. 
 
 2 There is an account of him in Sir John Hawkins's " Life of Johnsor)," p. 244. 
 . — B. Thomas Ballovv was author of " Treatise of Equity," printed anonymously 
 
 in 1742, and lately republished with valuable additions by John Fonblanque, Esq. 
 He died suddenly in I^ondon, July 26, 1782, aged seventy-five, and is mentioned in 
 The Gentleman s Magazine for that year as " a great Greek Scholar, and famous 
 for his knowledge of the old ]ihilosophy." — Ma/one. 
 
 3 I have in vain endeavored to find out what parts Johnson wrote for Dr. James. 
 Perhaps medical men may. — B. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 niUH STAKES AT PLAY. 
 
 15 
 
 extent.* Johnson : " Depend upon it, Sir, this is mere talk. 
 Who is ruined by gaming? You will not find six instances in an 
 age. There is a strange rout made about deep play : whereas 
 you have many more people ruined by adventurous trade, and 
 yet we do not hear such an outcry against it." Thrale : " There 
 may be few people absolutely ruined by deep play ; but very 
 many are much hurt in their circumstances by it." Johnson : 
 Yes, Sir, and so are very many by other kinds of expense." I 
 had heard him talk once before in the same manner ; and at 
 Oxford he said, ".he wished he had learned to play at cards." 
 The truth, however, is, that he loved to display his ingenuity in 
 argument ; and therefore would sometimes in conversation main- 
 tain opinions which he was sensible were wrong, but in support- 
 ing which, his reasoning and wit would be most conspicuous. 
 He would begin thus : " Why, Sir, as to the good or evil of 
 card-playing — " "Now," said Garrick, "he is thinking which 
 side he shall take." He appeared to have a pleasure in con- 
 tradiction, especially when any opinion whatever was delivered 
 with an air of confidence ; so that there was hardly any topic, if 
 not one of the great truths of religion and morality, that he 
 might not have been incited to argue, either for or against. 
 Lord Elibank'^ had the highest admiration of his powers. He 
 once obsei-ved to me : " Whatever opinion Johnson maintains, I 
 will not say that he convinces me ; but he never fails to show 
 me, that he has good reasons for it." I have heard Johnson p:iy 
 his Lordship this high compliment : " I never was in Lord Eli- 
 bank's company without learning something." 
 
 We sat together till it was too late for the afternoon service. 
 Thrale said, he had come with intention to go to church with us. 
 We went at seven to evening prayers at St. Clement's Church, 
 after having drunk coffee ; an indulgence, which I understood 
 Johnson yielded to on this occasion in compliment to Thrale. 
 
 On Sunday, April 7, Easter Day, after having been at St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, I came to Dr. Johnson, according to my usual 
 custom. It seemed to me, that there was always something 
 
 1 Almack's. Lord Lauderdale informed me that Mr. Fox told him that the 
 deepest play he had ever known was about this period, between the year 1772 and 
 the beginning of the American War. Lord Lauderdale instanced /"5,ooo bemg 
 staked on a single card at faro, and he talked of ^70,000 lost and won in a night, 
 — Croker. See also Sir G. Trevelyan's " Early History of Fox," 455, nofe, and else- 
 where. The club now known as Brooks's was originally formed by Almack, a wine 
 merchant, who, when Brooks took the house over, opened another on hi? own 
 account. 
 
 2 Patrick, Lord Elibank, who died in 1778. — B. 
 
16 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 peculiarly mild and placid in his manner upon this holy festival, 
 the commemoration of the most joyful event in the history of 
 our world, the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, who, hav- 
 ing triumphed over death and the grave, proclaimed immortality 
 to mankind. 
 
 I repeated to him an argument of a lady of my acquaintance, 
 who maintained, that her husband's having been guilty of num- 
 berless infidelities, released her from conjugal obhgations, be- 
 cause they were reciprocal. Johnson : " This is miserable stuff. 
 Sir. To the contract of marriage, besides the man and wife, 
 there is a third party — Society ; and if it be considered as a 
 vow — God : and, therefore, it cannot be dissolved, by their con- 
 sent alone. Laws are not made for particular cases, but for men 
 in general. A woman may be unhappy with her husband ; but 
 she cannot be freed from him without the approbation of the 
 civil and ecclesiastical power. A man may be unhappy, because 
 he is not so rich as another ; but he is not to seize upon another's 
 property with his own hand." Boswell : "But, Sir, this lady 
 does not want that the contract should be dissolved ; she only 
 argues that she may indulge herself in gallantries with equal 
 freedom as her husband does, provided she takes care not to 
 introduce a spurious issue into his family. You know. Sir, what 
 Macrobius has told of Julia." ' Johnson : " This lady of yours. 
 Sir, I think, is very fit for a brothel." 
 
 Mr. Macbean, author of the " Dictionary of Ancient Geogra- 
 phy," came in. He mentioned that he had been forty years 
 absent from Scotland. " Ah, Boswell ! " said Johnson, smiling, 
 "what would you give to be forty years from Scotland? " I said, 
 " I should not like to be so long absent from the seat of my 
 ancestors." This gentleman, Mrs. Wilhams, and Mr. Levett, 
 dined with us. 
 
 Dr. Johnson made a remark, which both Mr. Macbean and I 
 thought new. It was this : that " The law against usury is for 
 the protection of creditors as well as debtors ; for if there were 
 no such check, people would be apt, from the temi)tation of 
 great interest, to lend to desperate persons, by whom they would 
 lose their money. Accordingly there are instances of ladies 
 being ruined, by having injudiciously sunk their fortunes for high 
 annuities, which, after a few years, ceased to be paid, in conse- 
 quence of the ruined circumstances of the borrower." 
 
 Mrs. Williams was very peevish ; and I wondered at Johnson's 
 
 1 " Nunquam eniin nisi navi plena tollo vcctorem." Lib. ii. c. vi. — B. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 GLOOMY PENITENCE. 
 
 17 
 
 patience with her now, as I had often done on similar occasions. 
 The truth is, that his humane consideration of the forlorn and 
 indigent state in which this lady was left by her father, induced 
 him to treat her with the utmost tenderness, and even to be 
 desirous of procuring her amusement, so as sometimes to in- 
 commode many of his friends, by carrying her with him to their 
 houses, where, from her manner of eating, in consequence of 
 her blindness, she could not but offend the dehcacy of persons of 
 nice sensations. 
 
 After coffee, we went to afternoon service in St. Clement's 
 Church. Observing some beggars in the street as we walked 
 along, I said to him I supposed there was no civilized country in 
 the world, where the misery of want in the lowest classes of the 
 people was prevented. Johnson : " I believe, Sir, there is not ; 
 but it is better that some should be unhappy, than that none 
 should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of 
 equality." 
 
 When the service was ended, I went home with him, and we sat 
 quietly by ourselves. He recommended Dr. Cheyne's books. I 
 said, I thought Cheyne had been reckoned whimsical. " So he 
 was," said he, " in some things ; but there is no end of objections. 
 There are few books to which some objection or other may not be 
 made." He added, " I would not have you read anything else of 
 Cheyne, but his book on ' Health,' and his ' English Malady.' " * 
 
 Upon the question whether a man who had been guilty of 
 vicious actions would do well to force himself into solitude and 
 sadness? Johnson : " No, Sir, unless it prevent him from being 
 vicious again. With some people, gloomy penitence is only 
 madness turned upside down. A man may be gloomy, till, in 
 order to be relieved from gloom, he has recourse again to crimi- 
 nal indulgences." 
 
 ' George Cheyne (1671-1743), a Scotchman who came to London in 1702, where 
 he acquired considerable practice as a doctor, though lie does not appear to have 
 received any regular diploma. He was a voluminous writer on theological and 
 scientific, as well as on medical subjects. It was only on the latter that his work was 
 of any value. The two books here mentioned were his best, and are notable as 
 advocating temperance in an intemperate age ; "The English Malady, or a Treatise 
 of Nervous Diseases of all Kinds," 1733, is a treatise on hypochondria, and nervous 
 disorders generally, considered from that point of view. A free-liver himself he 
 grew in middle life enormously corpulent, at one time weighing, it is said, as much 
 as 32 stone. He then became a convert to vegetarianism, which he both practised 
 and preached with much fervor, and of course some extravagance. On the whole, 
 however, his ideas on diet were both practical and sensible. Though, as Bosweli 
 says, apt to be whimsical, he was a well-educated and clever man, and a general 
 favorite for his pleasant manners, except with the doctors. 
 
 Vol. II.— 2 
 
18 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 On Wednesday, April 10, I dined with him at Mr. Thrale's, 
 where were Mr. Murphy and some other company. Before 
 dinner, Dr. Johnson and I passed some time by ourselves. I was 
 sorry to find it was now resolved that the proposed journey to 
 Italy should not take place this year. He said, " I am disap- 
 pointed, to be sure ; but it is not a great disappointment." I 
 wondered to see him bear, with a philosophical calmness, what 
 would have made most people peevish and fretful. I perceived, 
 however, that he had so warmly cherished the hope of enjoying 
 classical scenes, that he could not easily part with the scheme ; 
 for he said, " I shall probably contrive to get to Italy some other 
 way. But I won't mention it to Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, as it 
 might vex them." I suggested, that going to Italy might have 
 done Mr. and Mrs. Thrale good. Johnson : I rather believe 
 not, Sir. While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only 
 irritates. You fnust wait till grief be digested, and then amuse- 
 ment will dissipate the remains of it." 
 
 At dinner, Mr. Murphy entertained us with the history of Mr. 
 Joseph Simpson, a schoolfellow of Dr. Johnson's, a barrister-at- 
 law, of good parts, but who fell into a dissipated course of life, 
 incompatible with that success in his profession which he once 
 had, and would otherwise have deservedly maintained ; yet he 
 still preserved a dignity in his deportment. He wrote a tragedy 
 on the story of Leonidas, entitled "The Patriot." He read it to 
 a company of lawyers, who found so many faults that he wrote it 
 over again : so then there were two tragedies on the same sub- 
 ject and with the same title. Dr. Johnson told us, that one of 
 them was still in his possession. This very piece was, after his 
 death, published by some person who had been about him, and, 
 for the sake of a little hasty profit, was fallaciously advertised, so 
 as to make it be believed to have been written by Johnson 
 himself. 
 
 I said, I disliked the custom which some people had of bring- 
 ing their children into company, because it in a manner forced 
 us to pay foolish compliments to please their parents. Johnson: 
 " You are right. Sir. We may be excused for not caring much 
 about other people's children, for there are many who care very 
 little about their own children. It may be observed, that men, 
 who from being engaged in business, or from their course of 
 life in whatever way, seldom see their children, do not care 
 much about them. I myself should not have had much fond- 
 ness for a child of my own." Mrs. 'J'hrale : " Nay, Sir, how 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 LIVES OF THE POETS. 
 
 19 
 
 can you talk so?" Johnson : ''At least, I never wished to have 
 a child." 
 
 Mr. Murphy mentioned Dr. Johnson's having a design to pub- 
 lish an edition of Cowley. Johnson said, he did not know but he 
 should ; and he expressed his disapprobation of Dr. Hurd, for 
 having published a mutilated edition under the titk of " Select 
 Works of Abraham Cowley." Mr. Murphy thought it a bad pre- 
 cedent; observing, that any author might be used in the same 
 manner; and that it was pleasing to see the variety of an author's 
 compositions, at different periods. 
 
 We talked of Flatman's poems ; and Mrs. Thrale observed, 
 that Pope had partly borrowed from him, " The Dying Christian 
 to his Soul." Johnson repeated Rochester's verses upon Flat- 
 man, which, I think, by much too severe : 
 
 "Nor that slow drudge in swift Pindaric strains, 
 Flatman, who Cowley imitates with pains, 
 And rides a jaded Muse, whipt with loose reins." 
 
 I like to recollect all the passages that I heard Johnson repeat : 
 it stamps a value on them. 
 
 He told us, that the book entided '' The Lives of the Poets," 
 by Mr. Cibber, was entirely supplied by Mr. Shiels,' a Scotchman, 
 
 ■* In The Monthly Review for May, 1792, there is such a correction of the above pas- 
 sage, as I should tliink myself very culpable not to subjoin. " This account is very in- 
 accurate. The following statement of facts we know to be true, in every material 
 circumstance : Shiels was the principal collector and digester of the materials for 
 the work : but as he was very raw in authorship, an indifferent w riter in prose, and 
 his language full of Scotticisms, Cibber, who was a clever, lively fellow, and then 
 soliciting employment among the booksellers, was engaged to correct the style and 
 diction of the whole work, then intended to make only four volumes, with power to 
 alter, expunge, or add, as he liked. He was also to supply votes, occasionally, es- 
 pecially concerning those dramatic poets witlj whom he had been chiefly conversant. 
 He also engaged to write several of the Lives; which (as we are told) he, accord- 
 ingly, performed. He was farther useful in striking out the Jacobitical and Tory 
 sentiments, which Shiels had industriously interspersed wherever he could bring 
 them in : and as the success of the work appeared, after all, very doubtful, he was 
 content with 21/. for his labor, besides a few sets of the books, to disperse among his 
 friends. Shiels had nearly 70/. besides the advantage of many of the best Lives in 
 the work being communicated by friends to the undertaking; and for which Mr. 
 Shiels had the same consideration as for the rest, being paid by the sheet, for the 
 whole. He was, however, so angry with his Whiggish supervisor (The., like his 
 father, being a violent stickler for the political principles which prevailed in the 
 reign of George the Second), for so unmercifully mutilating his copy, and scouting 
 his politics, that he wrote Cibber a challenge : but was prevented from sending it, 
 by the publisher, who fairly laughed him out of his fury. The proprietors, too, were 
 discontented, in the end, on account of Mr. Cibber's unexpected industry ; for his 
 corrections and alterations in the proof-sheets were so numerous and considerable, 
 that the printer made for them a grievous addition to his bill ; and, in fine, all par- 
 ties were dissatisfied. On the whole, the work was productive of no profit to the 
 
20 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 one of his amanuenses. "The booksellers," said he, "gave The- 
 ophilus Gibber, who was then in prison, ten guineas to allow 
 Mr. Cibber to be put upon the title-page, as the author; by 
 this, a double imposition was intended : in the first place, that 
 it was the work of a Cibber at all ; and, in the second place, 
 that it was Jthe work of old Cibber." 
 
 Mr. Murphy said, that "The Memoirs of Gray's Life set him 
 much higher in his estimation than his poems did ; for you there 
 saw a man constantly at work in literature." Johnson acquiesced 
 in this ; but depreciated the book, I thought very unreasonably. 
 For he said, " I forced myself to read it, only because it was a 
 common topic of conversation. I found it mighty dull ; and, as 
 to the style, it is fit for the second table." Why he thought so I 
 was at a loss to conceive. He now gave it as his opinion, that 
 "Akenside was a superior poet both to Gray and Mason." 
 
 Talking of the Reviews, Johnson said, " I think them very im- 
 partial : I do not know an instance of partiality." He mentioned 
 what had passed upon the subject of the Monthly and C?'itical 
 Reviews, in the conversation with which his Majesty had honored 
 him. He expatiated a little more on them this evening. "The 
 Monthly Reviewers," said he, " are not Deists; but they are 
 
 undertakers, who had agreed, in case of success, to make Cibber a present of some 
 addition to the twenty guineas which he had received, and for which his receipt is 
 now in the bookseller's hands. We are farther assured, that he actually obtained 
 an additional sum ; wlien he, soon after (in the year 1758), unfortunately embarked 
 for Dublin, on an engagement for one of the theatres there : but the ship was cast 
 away, and every person on board perished. There were about sixty passengers, 
 among whom was the Earl of Drogheda, with many other persons of consequence 
 and property. As to the alleged design of making the compilement pass for the 
 work of old Mr. Cibber, the charges seem to have been founded on asomewhat un- 
 charitable construction. We are assured that the thought was not harbored by some 
 of tlie proprietors, who are still living; and we hope that it did not occur to the 
 first designer of the work, who was also, the printer of it, and who bore a respecta- 
 ble character. We liave been induced to enter thus circums'tantially into the fore- 
 going detail of facts relating to the " Lives of the Poets," compiled by Messrs. Cibber 
 and Shiels, from a sincere regard to that sacred principle of Truth, to which Dr. 
 ohnson so rigidly adhered, according to the best of his knowledge; and which we 
 elieve, no consideration would have prevailed on him to violate. In regard to the 
 matter, which we now dismiss, he had, no doubt, been misled by partial and wrong 
 information: Shiels was the Doctor's amanuensis ; he had quarrelled with Cibber; 
 it is natural to suppose that he told his story in his own way; and it is certain that 
 he was not 'a very sturdy moralist.'" This explanation appears to me very satis- 
 factory. It is, however, to be observed, that the story told by Johnson does not 
 rest solely upon my record of his conversation; for he' himself' has i)ublished it in 
 his " Life of Hammond," w here he says, " The manuscript of Shiels is now in my 
 possession." Very probably he had trusted to Shiels's word, and never looked at it 
 so as to compare it with " The Lives of the Poets," as published under Mr. Cibber's 
 name. What became of that manuscript I know not. I should have liked much 
 to examine it. I supj^ose it was thrown into the fire in that impetuous combustion 
 of papers, whicli Johnson, I think, rashly executed wlicn nwribnndus. — B. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 THE SPECTATOR. 
 
 21 
 
 Christians with as little Christianity as may be : and are for pull- 
 ing down all establishments. The Critical Reviewers are for sup- 
 porting the Constitution both in Church and State. The Critical 
 Reviewers, I believe, often review without reading the books 
 through ; but lay hold of a topic, and write chiefly from their own 
 minds. The Monthly Reviewers are , duller men and are glad to 
 read the books through." 
 
 He talked of Lord Lyttelton's extreme anxiety as an author ; 
 observing, that He was thirty years in preparing his ' History,' 
 and that he employed a man to point it for him ; as if (laughing) 
 another man could point his sense better than himself." Mr. 
 Murphy said, he understood his '^History" was kept back sev- 
 eral years for fear of Smollett.' Johnson : " This seems strange to 
 Murphy and me, who never felt that anxiety, but sent what we 
 wrote to the press, and let it take its chance." Mrs. Thrale : 
 
 The time has been. Sir, when you felt it." Johnson : " Why 
 really, Madam, I do not recollect a time when that was the case." 
 
 Talking of The Spectator, he said : " It is wonderful that there 
 is such a proportion of bad papers, in the half of the work 
 which was not written by Addison ; for there was all the world to 
 write that half, yet not a half of that half is good. One of the fin- 
 est pieces in the English language is the paper on Novelty,* yet 
 we do not hear it talked of. It was written by Grove, a dissent- 
 ing teacher y He would not, I perceived, call him a clergyman, 
 though he was candid enough to allow very great merit to his 
 composition. Mr. Murphy said, he remembered when there were 
 several people alive in London, who enjoyed a considerable repu- 
 tation merely for having written a paper in The Spectator. He 
 mentioned particularly Mr. Ince, who used to frequent Tom's 
 Coffee-House. " But," said Johnson, " you must consider how 
 highly Steele speaks of Mr. Ince." ^ He would not allow that the 
 paper'* on carrying a boy to travel, signed Philip Homebred, 
 which was reported to be written by the Lord Chancellor Hard- 
 wicke had merit. He said, " It was quite vulgar, and had noth- 
 ing luminous." 
 
 Johnson mentioned Dr. Barry's^ "System of Physic." "He 
 was a man," said he, "who had acquired a high reputation in 
 
 * Smollett was the founder, and for many years editor of The Critical Review, 
 — Croker. 
 
 » No. 626. 
 
 ' Of Gray's Inn. He died in 1758. — Dr. Hill. See Spectator, No. 555. 
 
 * No. 364. 
 
 6 Sir Edward Barry, Baronet. — B. 
 
22 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 Dublin, came over to England, and brought his reputation with 
 him, but had not great success. His notion was, that pulsation 
 occasions death by attrition ; and that, therefore, the way to 
 preserve life is to retard pulsation. But we know that pulsation 
 is strongest in infants, and that we increase in growth while it 
 operates in its regular course ; so it cannot be the cause of 
 destruction." Soon after this, he said something very flattering 
 to Mrs. Thrale, which I do not recollect ; but it concluded with 
 wishing her long life. "Sir," said I, "if Dr. Barry's system be 
 true, you have now shortened Mrs. Thrale's life, perhaps, some 
 minutes, by accelerating her pulsation." 
 
 On Thursday, April 11, I dined with him at General Paoli's, 
 in whose house I now resided, and where I had ever afterwards 
 the honor of being entertained with the kindest attention as his 
 constant guest, while I was in London, till I had a house of my 
 own there. I mentioned my having that morning introduced to 
 Mr. Garrick, Count Neni, a Flemish nobleman of great rank and 
 fortune, to whom Garrick talked of Abel Drugger ' as a small part ; 
 and related, with pleasant vanity, that a Frenchman who had seen 
 him in one of his low characters, exclaimed, " Comment I je ne le 
 crois pas. Ce tCcst pas Monsieur Garriek, ce grand homme/^^ 
 Garrick added, with an appearance of grave recollection, ." If I 
 were to begin hfe again, I think I should not play these low 
 characters." Upon which I observed, " Sir, you would be in the 
 wrong ; for your great excellence is your variety of playing, your 
 representing so well characters so very different." Johnson : 
 " Garrick, Sir, was not in earnest in what he said ; for to be sure 
 his peculiar excellence is his variety : and perhaps there is not 
 any one character which has not been as well acted by some- 
 body else, as he could do it." Boswell : " Why then. Sir, did he 
 talk so ? " Johnson : " Why, Sir, to make you answer as you did." 
 Boswell : " I do n't know. Sir ; he seemed to dip deep into his 
 mind for the reflection." Johnson : " He had not far to dip. Sir : 
 he said the same thing, probably, twenty times before." 
 
 Of a nobleman raised at a very early period to high office, he 
 said, "His parts, Sir, are pretty well for a Lord; but would not 
 be distinguished in a man who had nothing else but his parts." 
 
 A journey to Italy was still in his thoughts. He said, " A man 
 who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, 
 
 ' In Ben Jonson's "Alchemist." 
 
 2 Lord Shelbourne, who had been just made Secretary of State in his twenty- 
 ninth year. — Croker. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 23 
 
 from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see. 
 The grand object of travelling is to see the shores of the Medi- 
 terranean. On those shores were the four great empires of the 
 world : the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman. 
 All our religion, almost all our law, almost all our arts, almost all 
 that sets us above savages, has come to us from the shores of the 
 Mediterranean." The General observed, that " The Mediter- 
 ranean would be a noble subject for a poem." 
 
 We talked of translation. I said I could not define it, nor 
 could I think of a similitude to illustrate it ; but that it appeared 
 to me the translation of poetry could be only imitation. John- 
 son : " You may translate books of science exactly. You may 
 also translate history, in so far as it is not embellished with ora- 
 tory, which is poetical. Poetry, indeed, cannot be translated ; 
 and, therefore, it is the poets that preserve the languages ; for we 
 would not be at the trouble to learn a language, if we could 
 have all that is written in it just as well in a translation. But 
 as the beauties of poetry cannot be preserved in any language 
 except that in which it was originally written, we learn the 
 language." 
 
 A gentleman maintained that the art of printing had hurt real 
 learning, by disseminating idle writings. Johnson : " Sir, if it 
 had not beeii for the art of printing, we should now have no 
 learning at all ; for books would have perished faster than they 
 could have been transcribed." This observation seems not just, 
 considering for how many ages books were preserved by writing 
 alone. 
 
 The same gentleman maintained, that a general diffusion of 
 knowledge among a people was a disadvantage ; for it made the 
 vulgar rise above their humble sphere. Johnson: "Sir, while 
 knowledge is a distinction, those who are possessed of it will 
 naturally rise above those who are not. Merely to read and write 
 was a distinction at first; but we see when reading and writing 
 have become general, the common people keep their stations. 
 And so, were higher attainments to become general, the effect 
 would be the same." 
 
 "Goldsmith," he said, "referred everything to vanity; his 
 virtues, and his vices too, were from that motive. He was not a 
 social man. He never exchanged mind with you." 
 
 We spent the evening at Mr. Hoole's. Mr. Mickle, the excel- 
 lent translator of "The Lusiad," was there. I have preserved 
 little of the conversation of this evening. Dr. Johnson said : 
 
24 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 "Thomson had a true poetical genius, the power of viewing 
 everything in a poetical light. His fault is such a cloud of words 
 sometimes, that the sense can hardly peep through. Shiels, who 
 compiled Gibber's ' Lives of the Poets,' * was one day sitting 
 with me. I took down Thomson, and read aloud a large por- 
 tion of him, and then asked, — 'Is not this fine?' Shiels hav- 
 ing expressed the highest admiration, ' Well, Sir,' said I, ' I have 
 omitted every other line.' " 
 
 I related a dispute between Goldsmith and Mr. Robert Dodsley, 
 one day when they and I were dining at Tom Davies's in 1762. 
 Goldsmith asserted, that there was no poetry produced in this 
 age, Dodsley appealed to his own " Gollection," ^ and maintained 
 that though you could not find a palace like Dryden's " Ode on 
 St. Cecilia's Day," you had villages composed of very pretty 
 houses ; and he mentioned particularly " The Spleen." John- 
 son : " I think Dodsley gave up the question. He and Goldsmith 
 said the same thing; only he said it in a softer manner than 
 Goldsmith did ; for he acknowledged that there was no poetry, 
 nothing that towered above the common mark. You may find 
 wit and humor in verse, and yet no poetry. ' Hudibras ' has a 
 profusion of these ; yet it is not to be reckoned a poem. ' The 
 Spleen,' in Dodsley's * Collection,' on which you say he chiefly 
 rested, is not poetry." Boswell : " Does not Gray's poetry. 
 Sir, tower above the common mark?" Johnson: "Yes, Sir; 
 but we must attend to the difference between what men in 
 general cannot do if they would, and what every man may do 
 if he would. Sixteen-string Jack towered above the common 
 mark." Boswell: "Then, Sir, what is poetry?" Johnson: 
 " Why, Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all ^now 
 Avhat light is : but it is not easy to /e// what it is." 
 
 On Friday, April 12, I dined with him at our friend Tom 
 Davies's where we met Mr. Cradock, of Leicestershire, author of 
 " Zobeide," " a tragedy ; a very pleasing gentleman, to whom my 
 friend Dr. Farmer's very excellent " Essay on the Learning of 
 Shakespeare" is addressed; and Dr. Harwood, who has written 
 
 ' See a»/e, p. 19, f/o/e i. — B. 
 
 A Collection ot Poems in Six Volumes by Several Hands," 1758. "The 
 Spleen " appears in the first volume, p. 116. 
 
 3 A noted highwayman [by name John Rann],who after having been several 
 times tried and acquitted, was at last hanged. He was remarkable for foppery in 
 his dress, and particularly for wearing a bunch of sixtee/i strings at the knees of his 
 breeches. — B. 
 
 * Goldsmith wrote the Prologue for it. Cradock published his own memoirs. — 
 £>r. Hill. 
 
THOMAS DAVIES. 
 
Age 67.] THE PURGING OF THE PASSIONS. 
 
 2L 
 
 and published various works ; particularly a fantastical translation 
 of the New Testament, in modern phrase and with a Socinian 
 twist. 
 
 I introduced Aristotle's doctrine in his ^'Art of Poetry," of 
 " the KaBapaig tuv waBrjfidruv, the purging of the passions," as the 
 purpose of tragedy.' " But how are the passions to be purged 
 by terror and pity?" said I, with an assumed air of ignorance, 
 to incite him to talk, for which it was often necessary to employ 
 some address. Johnson : " Why, Sir, you are to consider what 
 is the meaning of purging in the original sense. It is to expel 
 impurities from the human body. The mind is subject to the 
 same imperfection. The passions are the greatest movers of 
 human actions ; but they are mixed with such impurities, that it 
 is necessary they should be purged or refined by means of terror 
 and pity. For instance, ambition is a noble passion ; but by see- 
 ing upon the stage, that a man who is so excessively ambitious 
 as to raise himself by injustice, is punished, we are terrified at 
 the fatal consequences of such a passion. In the same manner 
 a certain degree of resentment is necessary ; but if we see that 
 a man carries it too far, we pity the object of it, and are taught 
 to moderate that passion." My record upon this occasion does 
 great injustice to Johnson's expression, which was so forcible and 
 brilliant, that Mr. Cradock whispered me, " Oh, that his words 
 were written in a book ! " ^ 
 
 I observed the great defect of the tragedy of ''Othello " was, 
 that it had not a moral : for that no man could resist the circum- 
 stances of suspicion which were artfully suggested to Othello's 
 mind. Johnson : " In the first place, Sir, we learn from 
 * Othello ' this very useful moral, not to make an unequal match ; 
 in the second place, we learn not to yield too readily to suspicion. 
 The handkerchief is merely a trick, though a very pretty trick ; 
 but there are no other circumstances of reasonable suspicion, 
 except what is related by lago of Cassio's warm expressions con- 
 cerning Desdemona in his sleep ; and that depended entirely 
 upon the assertion of one man. No, Sir, I think ' Othello ' has 
 more moral than almost any play." 
 
 Talking of a penurious gentleman of our acquaintance, Johnson 
 said, " Sir, he is narrow, not so much from avarice, as from im- 
 potence to spend his money. He cannot find in his heart to pour 
 
 * See an ingenious essay on this subject by the late Dr. Moor, Greek professor 
 at Glasgow. — B. 
 *See Job xix. 23. 
 
26 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 out a bottle of wine ; but he would not much care if it should 
 sour." 
 
 He said, he wished to see John Dennis's ''Critical Works" 
 collected. Davies said they would not sell. Dr. Johnson seemed 
 to think otherwise. 
 
 Davies said of a well-known dramatic author, that " He lived 
 upon potted stories, and that he made his way as Hannibal did, 
 by vinegar ; having begun by attacking people, particularly the 
 players." ' 
 
 He reminded Dr. Johnson of Mr. Murphy's having paid him 
 the highest compliment that ever was paid to a layman, by asking 
 his pardon for repeating some oaths in the course of telling a 
 story. 
 
 Johnson and I supped this evening at the Crown and Anchor 
 Tavern, in company with Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Langton, Mr. 
 Nairne, now one of the Scotch judges, with the title of Lord 
 Dunsinan, and my very worthy friend, Sir William Forbes of 
 Pitsligo. 
 
 We discussed the question whether drinking improved conver- 
 sation and benevolence. Sir Joshua maintained it did. John- 
 son : " No, Sir : before dinner men meet with great inequality of 
 understanding ; and those who are conscious of their inferiority, 
 have the modesty not to talk. When they have drunk wine, 
 every man feels himself happy, and loses that modesty, and grows 
 impudent and vociferous : but he is not improved : he is only 
 not sensible of his defects." Sir Joshua said the Doctor was 
 talking of the effects of excess in wine ; but that a moderate glass 
 enlivened the mind, by giving a proper circulation to the blood. 
 "I am," said he, in very good spirits, when I get up in the 
 morning. By dinner-time I am exhausted ; wine puts me in 
 the same state as when I got up ; and I am sure that moderate 
 drinking makes people talk better." Johnson : " No, Sir ; wine 
 gives not light, gay, ideal hilarity ; but tumultuous, noisy, clamor- 
 ous merriment. I have heard none of those drunken, — nay, 
 drunken is a coarse word, — none of those vinous flights." 
 Sir Joshua : " Because you have sat by, quite sober, and felt an 
 envy of the happiness of those who were drinking." Johnson : 
 "Perhaps, contempt. And, Sir, it is not necessary to be drunk 
 one's self, to relish the wit of drunkenness. Do we not judge of 
 
 ^ Sir James Mackintosli thouglit Cumljeiland was meant. 'I'lie reference imme- 
 diately following makes Croker's suggestion of Murphy more probable. But Cum- 
 berland's character would fit the story IxUter. The story of Hannibal splitting the 
 Alpine rocks by vinegar arose from a mistranslation. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 THE EFFECT OF WINE. 
 
 2T 
 
 the drunken wit, of the dialogue between lago and Cassio, the 
 most excellent in its kind, when we are quite sober? Wit is wit, 
 by whatever means it is produced ; and, if good, will appear so at 
 all times. I admit that the spirits are raised by drinking, as by the 
 common participation of any pleasure : cock-fighting, or bear-bait- 
 ing, will raise the spirits of a company, as drinking does, though 
 surely they will not improve conversation. I also admit, that there 
 are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking ; as there 
 are fruits which are not good till they are rotten. There are such 
 men, but they are meddlers. I indeed allow that there have been 
 a very few men of talents who were improved by drinking ; but I 
 maintain that 1 am right as to the effects of drinking in general : 
 and let it be considered, that there is no position, however false 
 in its universality, which is not true of some particular man." 
 Sir William Forbes said, " Might not a man warmed with wine 
 be like a bottle of beer, which is made brisker by being set 
 before the fire?" "Nay," said Johnson laughing, "I cannot 
 answer that : that is too much for me." 
 
 I observed that wine did some people harm, by inflaming, con- 
 fusing, and irritating their minds ; but that the experience of 
 mankind had declared in favor of moderate drinking. Johnson : 
 "Sir, I do not say it is wrong to produce self-complacency by 
 drinking ; I only deny that it improves the mind. When I drank 
 wine, I scorned to drink it when in company. I have drunk 
 many a bottle by myself; in the first place, because 1 had need 
 of it to raise my spirits ; in the second place, because I would 
 have nobody to witness its effects upon me." ' 
 
 He told us: "Almost all his Ramblers were written just as 
 they were wanted for the press ; that he sent a certain portion of 
 the copy of an essay, and wrote the remainder, while the former 
 part of it was printing. When it was wanted, and he had fairly 
 sat down to it, he was sure it would be done." 
 
 He said, that for general improvement, a man should read 
 
 ^ " The strongest liquors," said Hawkins, " and in very large quantities, pro- 
 duced no other effect on hini than moderate exhilaration. Once, and but once, 
 he is known to have liatl his dose; a circumstance which he liimself discovered on 
 finding one of his sesquipedahan words liang fire ; he then started up, and gravely 
 observed, 'I think it time we should go to bed.'" Mrs. Piozzi tells us that his 
 favorite beverage was port, in large draughts sweetened with sugar or capillaire ; 
 but that was in his earlier days. "After a ten years' forbearance of every fluid 
 except tea and sherbet, I drank," said he to Hawkins, " one glass of wine to the 
 health of Sir Joshua Reynolds on the evening of the day [Dec. 1768] on w hich he 
 was knighted. I never swallowed another drop till old Madeira was prescribed to 
 me as a cordial during my present indisposition ; but this liquor did not relish as 
 formerly, and I therefore discontinued it." — Croker. 
 
28 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 whatever his immediate inclination prompts him to ; though to 
 be sure, if a man has a science to learn, he must regularly and 
 resolutely advance. He added : "What we read with inclination 
 makes a much stronger impression. If we read without inclina- 
 tion, half the mind is employed in fixing the attention ; so there 
 is but one half to be employed on what we read." He told us, 
 he read Fielding's Amelia" through without stopping,' He 
 said : " If a man begins to read in the middle of a book, and 
 feels an irclination to go on, let him not quit it, to go to the be- 
 ginning. He may perhaps not feel again the inclination." 
 
 Sir Joshua mentioned Mr. Cumberland's " Odes," which were just 
 published. Johnson : " Why, Sir, they would have been thought 
 as good as odes commonly are, if Cumberland had not put his 
 name to them ; but a name immediately draws censure, unless it 
 be a name that bears down everything before it. Nay, Cumber- 
 land has made his odes subsidiary to the fame of another man.^ 
 They might have run well enough by themselves ; but he has not 
 only loaded them with a name, but has made them carry double." 
 
 We talked of the Reviews, and Dr. Johnson spoke of them as 
 he did at Thrale's. Sir Joshua said, what I have often thought, 
 that he wondered to find so much good writing employed in them, 
 when the authors were to remain unknown and so could not have 
 the motive of fame. Johnson : " Nay, Sir, those who write in 
 them, write well in order to be paid well." 
 
 Soon after this day he went to Bath with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. 
 I had never seen that beautiful city, and wished to take the op- 
 portunity of visiting it, while Johnson was there. Having written 
 to him, I received the following answer : 
 
 TO JAMES HOSWELT,, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: Why do you talk of neglect? When did I neglect you? If 
 you will come to Bath, we shall all be glad to see you Come, therefore, as 
 soon as you can. 
 
 But I have a little business for you at London. Bid Francis look in the 
 paper-drawer of the chest of drawers in my bed-chamber, for two cases; one 
 for the Attorney-General,^ and one for the Solicitor-Cieneral.'' They lie, I 
 
 'We have here an involuntary testlinony to the excellence of this adniiral)le 
 writer, to whom we have seen that Dr. Johnson iiircclly allowed so little merit. 
 — B. 
 
 2 Mr. Romney, the painter, who has now deservedly established a high reputa- 
 tion. — B. "An Ode to the Sun," and another addressed to Dr. James on the 
 recovery of Cumberland's second son from a dangerous fi>ver, " iMfected under 
 Providence by his celebrated powders," were j^ublished in 1776 antl tledicated to 
 Romney. — Napier. 
 
 » Lord Thurlow. * Wedderburne. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 ADDISON AND UUDGELL. 
 
 29 
 
 think, at the top of my papers; otherwise they are somewhere else, and will 
 give me more trouble. 
 
 Please to write to me immediately, if they can be found. Make my com- 
 pliments to all our friends round the world, and to Mrs. Williams at home. 
 
 I am, Sir, yours, etc., 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Search for the papers as soon as you can, that, if it is necessary, I may 
 write to you again before you come down. 
 
 On the 26th of April, I went to Bath ; and on my arrival at the 
 Pelican Inn, found lying for me an obliging invitation from 
 Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, by whom I was agreeably entertained 
 almost constantly during my stay. They were gone to the 
 Rooms : but there was a kind note from Dr. Johnson, that he 
 should sit at home all the evening. I went to him directly, and 
 before Mr. and Mrs. Thrale returned, we had by ourselves some 
 hours of tea-drinking and talk. 
 
 I shall group together such of his sayings as I preserved during 
 the few days that I was at Bath. 
 
 Of a person who differed from him in politics,' he said : " In 
 private life he is a very honest gentleman ; but I will not allow 
 him to be so in public life. People jjtay be honest, though they 
 are doing wrong : that is, between their Maker and them. But 
 we, who are suffering by their pernicious conduct, are to destroy 
 them. We are sure that [Burke] acts from interest. We know 
 what his genuine principles were. They who allow their passions 
 to confound the disrinctions between right and wrong, are crim- 
 inal. They may be convinced ; but they have not come honestly 
 by their conviction." 
 
 It having been mentioned, I know not with what truth, that a 
 certain female political writer [Mrs. Macaulay], whose doctrines 
 he disliked, had of late become very fond of dress, sat hours to- 
 gether at her toilet, and even put on rouge ; Johnson : " She is 
 better employed at her toilet than using her pen. It is better she 
 should be reddening her own cheeks, than blackening other 
 people's characters." 
 
 He told us that, "Addison wrote Budgell's papers in the 
 Spectator, at least mended them so much, that he made them al- 
 most his own ; and that Draper, Tonson's partner, assured Mrs. 
 Johnson, that the much admired Epilogue to ' The Distressed 
 Mother,' which came out in Budgell's name, was in reality written 
 i by Addison." 
 
 \ . 
 
 * Supposed to be Burke. 
 
30 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 " The mode of government by one may be ill adapted to a 
 small society, but is best for a great nation. The characteristic 
 of our own government at present is imbecility. The magistrates 
 dare not call the Guards for fear of being hanged. The Guards 
 will not come for fear of being given up to the blind rage of pop- 
 ular juries." 
 
 Of the father of one of our friends [the elder Langton] he ob- 
 served : " He never clarified his notions, by filtrating them 
 through other minds. He had a canal upon his estate, where at 
 one place the bank was too low. I dug the canal deeper," said 
 he. 
 
 He told me that " So long ago as 1748 he had read ' The Grave, 
 a Poem,' ' but did not like it much." I differed from him ; for 
 though it is not equal throughout, and is seldom elegantly correct, 
 it abounds in solemn thought, and poetical imagery beyond the 
 common reach. The world has differed from him ; for the poem 
 has passed through many editions, and is still much read by peo- 
 ple of a serious cast of mind. 
 
 A literary lady of large fortune [Mrs. Montague] was mentioned, 
 as one who did good to many, but by no means " by stealth," and 
 instead of "blushing to find it f:ime,"^ acted evidently from 
 vanity. Johnson : " I have seen no beings who do as much good 
 from benevolence, as she does from whatever motive. If there 
 are such under the earth, or in the clouds, I wish they would 
 come up, or come down. What Soame Jenyns says upon 
 this subject is not to be minded; he is a wit. No, Sir; to act 
 from pure benevolence is not possible for finite beings. Human 
 benevolence is mingled with vanity, interest, or some other 
 motive." 
 
 He would not allow me to praise a lady then at Bath ; observ- 
 ing, She does not gain upon me. Sir ; I think her empty- 
 headed." He was, indeed, a stern critic upon characters and 
 manners. Even Mrs. Thrale did not escape his friendly animad- 
 version at times. When he and I were one day endeavoring to 
 ascertain article by article, how one of our friends [Langton] 
 could possibly spend as much money in his family as he told us 
 
 1 I am sorry that there are no memoirs of the Reverend Robert Blair, the author 
 of this poem. He was the representative of tlie ancient family of Blair, of Blair in 
 Ayrshire, i)ut the estate had descended to a female, and afterwards passed to the son 
 of her husband by another marriage. He was minister of the parish ot Athelstane- 
 ford, where Mr. John Home was his successor ; so that it may truly be called classic 
 ground. His son, who is of the same name, and a man eminent for talents and 
 learning, is now, with universal approbation, Solicitor-General of Scotland. — B, 
 
 ^ I'ope : Sat, Ep. I. 135. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 PURE NATURE AND MAN. 
 
 31 
 
 he did, she interrupted us by a lively extravagant sally, on the 
 expense of clothing his children, describing it in a very ludicrous 
 and fanciful manner. Johnson looked a little angry, and said, 
 " Nay, Madam, when you are declaiming, declaim ; and when you 
 are calculating, calculate." At another time when she said, per- 
 haps affectedly, "I don't like to fly;" Johnson: "With 
 wings. Madam, you must fly : but have a care, there are clippers 
 abroad." How very well was this said, and how fully has experi- 
 ence proved the truth of it ! But have they not clipped rather 
 rudely, and gone a great deal closer than was necessary ? ^ 
 
 A gentleman expressed a wish to go and live three years at 
 Otaheile, or New Zealand, in order to obtain a full acquaintance 
 with people, so totally different from all that we have ever known, 
 and be satisfied what pure nature can do for man. Johnson : 
 "What could you learn. Sir? What can savages tell, but what 
 they themselves have seen ? Of the past, or the invisible, they 
 can tell nothing. The inhabitants of Otaheite and New Zealand 
 are not in a state of pure nature ; for it is plain they broke off 
 from some other people. Had they grown out of the ground, you 
 might have judged of a state of pure nature. Fanciful people 
 may talk of a mythology being amongst them ; but it must be in- 
 vention. They have once had religion, which has been gradually 
 debased. And what account of their religion can you suppose to 
 be learned from savages ? Only consider. Sir, our own state : our 
 rehgion is in a book ; we have an order of men whose duty it is 
 to teach it ; we have one day in the week set apart for it, and this 
 is in general pretty well observed : yet ask the first ten gross men 
 you meet, and hear what they can tell of their religion." 
 
 On Monday, April 29, he and I made an excursion to Bristol, 
 where I was entertained with seeing him inquire upon the spot, 
 into the authenticity of Rowley's poetry, as I had seen him inquire 
 upon the spot into the authenticity of Ossian's poetry. George 
 Catcot the pewterer, who was as zealous for Rowley, as Hugh Blair 
 was for Ossian (I trust my reverend friend will excuse the com- 
 parison), attended us at our inn, and with a triumphant air of 
 lively simplicity called out, " I '11 make Dr. Johnson a convert." 
 Dr. Johnson, at his desire, read aloud some of Chatterton's fabri- 
 cated verses, while Catcot stood at the back of his chair, moving 
 himself like a pendulum, and beating time with his feet, and now 
 
 ' An allusion to the many sarcastic observations published against Mrs. Piozzi, on 
 her lamentable marriage, and particularly to Baretti's brutal strictures in The Euro- 
 pean Magazine for 1788, which even Bosvvell , with all his enmity towards her, could 
 not approve. — Croker. 
 
32 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 and then looking into Dr. Johnson's face, wondering that he was 
 not yet convinced. We called on Mr. Barret, the surgeon, and 
 saw some of the originals as they were called, which were exe- 
 cuted very artificially ; ^ but from a careful inspection of them and 
 a consideration of the circumstances with which they were at- 
 tended-we were quite satisfied of the imposture, which, indeed, 
 has been clearly demonstrated from internal evidence, by several 
 able critics.^ 
 
 Honest Catcot seemed to pay no attention whatever to any 
 objections, but insisted as an end of all controversy, that we 
 should go with him to the tower of the church of St. Mary, Red- 
 cliffe, and view with our own eyes the ancient chest in which the 
 manuscripts were found. To this. Dr. Johnson good-naturedly 
 agreed ; and though troubled with a shortness of breathing, 
 labored up a long flight of steps, till we came to the place where 
 the wondrous chest stood. There,''' said Catcot, with a bounc- 
 ing confident credulity, " there is the very chest itself." After 
 this ocular demonstration, there was no more to be said. He 
 brought to my recollection a Scotch Highlander, a man of learn- 
 ing too, and who had seen the world, attesting, and at the same 
 time giving his reasons for the authenticity of Fingal : " I have 
 heard all that poem when I was young." "Have you. Sir? 
 Pray what have you heard?" "I have heard Ossian, Oscar, and 
 every one of the my 
 
 Johnson said of Chatterton, " This is the most extraordinary 
 young man that has encountered my knowledge. It is wonder- 
 ful how the whelp has written such things." 
 
 We were by no means pleased with our inn at Bristol. 
 
 " Let us see now," said I, " how we should describe it." John- 
 son was ready with his raillery. " Describe it. Sir? Why, it was 
 so bad that Boswell wished to be in Scotland ! " 
 
 After Dr. Johnson's return to London, I was several times with 
 him at his house, where I occasionally slept in the room that had 
 been assigned for me. I dined with him at Dr. Taylor's, at 
 General Oglethorpe's, and at General Paoli's. To avoid a tedious 
 minuteness, I shall group together wh:.t I have preserved of his 
 conversation during this period also, without specifying each 
 scene where it passed, except one, which will be found so 
 remarkable as certainly to deserve a very particular relation. 
 
 ^ Artificially, artfully, with skill. — Johnson s Dictionary. 
 
 2 Mr. Tyrwhiti, Mr. VVarton, Mr. Malonc. — B. Sec (he Aldine Edition of Chat- 
 tcrlon's " T'octical Works," witli an " I'Lssnyon the Rowley Poems,"' l)y the Rev. W. 
 W. Skcat, London, 1875, and 'J'he (Jiiartcrly Kcrino for July, 1879. 
 
Age 67.] CONDITIONS OF BRUTE EXISTENCE. 33 
 
 Where the place or the persons do not contribute to the zest of 
 the conversation, it is unnecessary to encumber my page with 
 mentioning them. To know of what vintage our wine is, enables 
 us to judge of its value, and to drink it with more relish ; but to 
 have the produce of each vine of one vineyard, in the same year, 
 kept separate, would serve no purpose. To know that our wine 
 (to use an advertising phrase) is " of the stock of an Ambassador 
 lately deceased," heightens its flavor; but it signifies nothing to 
 know the bin where each bottle was once deposited. 
 
 "Garrick," he observed, "does not play the part of Archer in 
 * The Beaux Stratagem ' well. The gentleman should break out 
 through the footman, which is not the case as he does it." 
 
 "Where there is no education, as in savage countries, men 
 will have the upper hand of women. Bodily strength, no doubt, 
 contributes to this ; but it would be so, exclusive of that ; for it 
 is mind that always governs. When it comes to dry understand- 
 ing, man has the better." 
 
 " The Htde volumes entitled ' Respublicae,' which are very well 
 done, were a bookseller's work." ^ 
 
 " There is much talk of the misery which we cause to the brute 
 creation ; but they are recompensed by existence. If they were 
 not useful to man, and therefore protected by him, they would 
 not be nearly so numerous." This argument is to be found in 
 the able and benignant Hutchinson's " Moral Philosophy." But 
 the question is, whether the animals who endure such sufferings 
 of various kinds, for the service and entertainment of man, would 
 accept of existence upon the terms on which they have it. 
 Madame de Sevigne, who, though she had many enjoyments, felt 
 with delicate sensibility the prevalence of misery, complains of 
 the task of existence having been imposed upon her without her 
 consent. 
 
 " That man is never happy for the present is so true, that all 
 his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting himself for a litde 
 while. Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment 
 to enjoyment." 
 
 "Though many men are nominally intrusted with the adminis- 
 tration of hospitals and other public institutions, almost all the 
 good is done by one man, by whom the rest are driven on; 
 owing to confidence in him, and indolence in them." 
 
 " Lord Chesterfield's ' Letters to his Son,' I think, might be 
 
 ' The " Respublicae Elzevirianae," 36 or 62 volumes {Dr. Hill), containing ac- 
 counts of the principal States of Europe. — Croke?-. 
 
 You 11. -3 
 
34 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 made a very pretty book. Take out the immorality, and it 
 should be put in the hands of every young gentleman. An ele- 
 gant manner and easiness of behavior are acquired gradually and 
 imperceptibly. No man can say ' I '11 be genteel.' There are ten 
 genteel women for one genteel man, because they are more 
 restrained. A man without some degree of restraint is insuffer- 
 able ; but we are all less restrained than women. Were a woman 
 sitting in company to put out her legs before her as most men 
 do, we should be tempted to kick them in." No man was a 
 more attentive and nice obsei-ver of behavior in those in whose 
 company he happened to be, than Johnson ; or, however strange 
 it may seem to many, had a higher estimation of its refinements. 
 Lord Eliot informs me, that one day when Johnson and he were 
 at dinner in a gentleman's house in London, upon Lord Chester- 
 field's Letters being mentioned, Johnson surprised the company 
 by this sentence : " Every man of any education would rather be 
 called a rascal, than accused of deficiency in the graces y Mr. 
 Gibbon, who was present, turned to a lady who knew Johnson 
 well, and lived much with him, and in his quaint manner, tapping 
 his box, addressed her thus : " Do n't you think. Madam (look- 
 ing towards Johnson), that among all our acquaintance you 
 could find one exception?" The lady smiled, and seemed to 
 acquiesce.' 
 
 " I read," said he, " Sharpe's <■ Letters on Italy,' over again 
 when I was at Bath. There is a great deal of matter in them." 
 
 " Mrs. Williams was angry that Thrale's family did not send 
 regularly to her every time they heard from me while I was in the 
 
 ^Colman, in his " Random Records" (p. 121), has given a lively sketch of the 
 appearance and manners of Johnson and Gibbon in society. " The learned Gib- 
 bon was a curious counterbalance to the learned (may I not say less learned?) 
 Johnson. Their manners and taste, both in writing and conversation, were as dif- 
 ferent as their habiliments. On the day I first sat down with Johnson, in his rusty 
 brown suit and his black worsted stockings, Gibbon w as placed opposite to me in 
 a suit of flowered velvet with a bag and sword. Each had his measured phrase- 
 ology ; and Johnson's famous parallel between Dryden and Pope might be loosely 
 parodied in reference to himself and Gibbon : Johnson's style was grand and Gib- 
 bon's elegant: the stateliness of the former was sometimes pedantic, and the latter 
 was occasionally finical. Johnson marched to kettledrums and trumpets ; Gibbon 
 moved to flutes and hautboys: Johnson hewed passages through the Alps, while 
 Gibbon levelled paths through parks and gardens. Mauled as I had been by 
 Johnson, Gibbon poured balm upon my bruises by condescending once or twice in 
 the course of the evening to talk with me : the great historian was light and playful, 
 suiting his matter to the capacity of the boy; but it was done vwre sua : still his 
 mannerism prevailed; still he tapped his snuft-box ; still he smirked and smiled, 
 and sounded his periods with the same air of good-breeding, as if he were con- 
 versing with men. His mouth, mellifluous as Plato's, was a round hole nearly in 
 the centre of his visage." — Crokcr, 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF LUXURY. 
 
 35 
 
 Hebrides. Little people are apt to be jealous : but they should 
 not be jealous ; for they ought to consider that superior attention 
 will necessarily be paid to superior fortune or rank. Two persons 
 may have equal merit, and on that account may have an equal 
 claim to attention ; but one of them may have also fortune and 
 rank, and so may have a double claim." 
 
 Talking of his Notes on Shakespeare, he said, "I despise 
 those who do not see that I am right in the passage where as is 
 repeated, and ' asses of great charge ' introduced. That on 'To 
 be, or not to be,' is disputable." ' 
 
 A gentleman, whom I found sitting with him one morning, 
 said, that in his opinion the character of an infidel was more de- 
 testable than that of a man notoriously guilty of an atrocious 
 crime. I differed from him, because we are surer of the odious- 
 ness of the one, than of the error of the other. Johnson : " Sir, 
 I agree with him ; for the infidel would be guilty of any crime if 
 he were inclined to it." 
 
 "Many things which are false are transmitted from book to 
 book, and gain credit in the world. One of these is the cry 
 against the evil of luxury. Now the truth is, that luxury pro- 
 duces much good. Take the luxury of buildings in London. 
 Does it not produce real advantage in the conveniency and ele- 
 gance of accommodation, and this all from the exertion of indus- 
 try? People will tell you, with a melancholy face, how many 
 builders are in jail. It is plain they are in jail, not for building ; 
 for rents are not fallen. A man gives half a guinea for a dish 
 of green peas. How much gardening does this occasion ? how 
 many laborers nmst the competition to have such things early in 
 the market keep in employment? You will hear it said very 
 gravely, ' Why was not the half-guinea, thus spent in luxury, 
 given to the poor? To how many might it have afforded a good 
 meal.' Alas ! has it not gone to the industi-ious poor, whom it is 
 better to support than the idle poor? You are much surer that 
 you are doing good when you pay money to those who work, as 
 the recompense of their labor, than when you give money merely 
 
 1 It may be observed, that Mr. Malone, in his very valuable edition of Shake- 
 speare, has fully vindicated Dr. Johnson froni the idle censures which the first of 
 these notes has given rise to. The interpretation of the other passage, which Dr. 
 Johnson allows to be disputable, he has clearly shown to be erroneous. — B. The 
 first note is on Hamlet, v. 2, where Johnson has rather gone out of his way to charge 
 Shakespeare with a quibble ; in the second Johnson, very absurdly as Croker ob- 
 serves, contends that in the famous soliloquy Hamlet was debating not w hether he 
 should put an end to his existence here, but whether the're is any existence here- 
 after. 
 
36 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 in charity. Suppose the ancient luxury of a dish of peacocks' 
 brains were to be revived, how many carcasses would be left to 
 the poor at a cheap rate : and as to the rout that is made about 
 people who are ruined by extravagance, it is no matter to the na- 
 tion that some individuals suffer. When so much general pro- 
 ductive exertion is the consequence of luxury, the nation does 
 not care though there are debtors in jail : nay, they would not 
 care though their creditors were there too." 
 
 The uncommon vivacity of General Oglethorpe's mind, and 
 variety of knowledge, having sometimes made his conversation 
 seem too desultory, Johnson observed, "Oglethorpe, Sir, never 
 completes what he has to say." 
 
 He on the same account made a similar remark on Patrick 
 Lord Elibank : " Sir, there is nothing conclusive in his talk." 
 
 When I complained of having dined at a splendid table with- 
 out hearing one sentence of conversation worthy of being remem- 
 bered, he said, " Sir, there seldom is any such conversation." 
 BoswELL : "Why then meet at table?" Johnson: "Why, to 
 eat and drink together, and to promote kindness ; and, Sir, this is 
 better done where there is no solid conversation ; for when there 
 is, people differ in opinion, and get into bad humor, or some of 
 the company who are not capable of such conversation, are left 
 out, and feel themselves uneasy. It was for this reason. Sir Rob- 
 ert Walpole said, he always talked bawdy at his table, because in 
 that all could join." 
 
 Being irritated by hearing a gentleman ^ ask Mr. Levett a va- 
 riety of questions concerning him when he was sitting by, he 
 broke out, " Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am 
 sick of both." "A man," said he, "should not talk of himself, 
 nor much of any particular person. He should take care not to 
 be made a proverb ; and, therefore, should avoid having any one 
 topic of which people can say, * We shall hear him upon it.' 
 There was a Dr. Oldfield, who was always talking of the Duke of 
 Marlborough. He came into a coffee-house one day, and told 
 that his Grace had spoken in the House of Lords for half an 
 hour. ' Did he indeed speak for half an hour?' said Belchier, 
 the surgeon. 'Yes.' 'And what did he say of Dr. Oldfield?' 
 ' Nothing.' ' Why, then. Sir, he was very ungrateful ; for Dr. 
 Oldfield could not have spoken for a quarter of 'an hour, without 
 saying something of him.' " 
 
 " Every man is to .take existence on the terms on which it is 
 
 ' There need be little doubt that this gentleman was BoswcU himself. 
 
Age 67.] A CONTESTED ELECTION CASE. 
 
 3T 
 
 given to him. To some men it is given on condition of not tak- 
 ing liberties, which other men may take without much harm. 
 One may drink wine, and be nothing the worse for it; on 
 another, wine may have effects so inflammatory as to injure him 
 both in body and mind, and perhaps make him commit some- 
 thing for which he may deserve to be hanged." 
 
 " Lord Hailes's ' Annals of Scotland ' have not that painted 
 form which is the taste of this age ; but it is a book which will 
 always sell, it has such a stability of dates, such a certainty of 
 facts, and such a punctuality of citation. I never before read 
 Scotch history with certainty." 
 
 I asked him whether he would advise me to read the Bible 
 with a commentary, and what commentaries he would recom- 
 mend. Johnson : " To be sure. Sir, I would have you read the 
 • Bible with a commentary ; and I would recommend Lowth and 
 Patrick on the Old Testament, and Hammond on the New." 
 
 During my stay in London this spring, I solicited his attention 
 to another law-case, in which I was engaged. In the course of a 
 contested election for the Borough of Dunfermline, which I at- 
 tended as one of my friend Colonel (afterwards Sir Archibald) 
 Campbell's counsel ; one of his political agents, who was charged 
 with having been unfaithful to his employer, and having deserted 
 to the opposite party for a pecuniary reward, attacked very 
 rudely in a newspaper the Reverend Mr. James Thomson, one of 
 the ministers of that place, on account of a supposed allusion to 
 him in one of his sermons. Upon this the minister, on a subse- 
 quent Sunday, arraigned him by name from the pulpit with some 
 severity ; and the agent, after the sermon was over, rose up and 
 asked the minister aloud, " What bribe he had received for tell- 
 ing so many lies from the chair of verity." ^ I was present at 
 this very extraordinary scene. The person arraigned, and his 
 father and brother, who also had a share both of the reproof from 
 the pulpit, and in the retaliation, brought an action against Mr. 
 Thomson, in the Court of Session, for defamation and damages, 
 and I was one of the Counsel for the reverend defendant. The 
 liberty of the pulpit \n2.'s> our great ground for defence ; but we ar- 
 gued also on the provocation of the previous attack, and on the 
 instant retaliation. The Court of Session, however, — the fifteen 
 judges, who are at the same time the jury, — decided against the 
 minister, contrary to my humble opinion ; and several of them ex- 
 pressed themselves with indignation against him. He was an 
 
 llie French call a pulpit la chair e de verite. — Crokcr. 
 
88 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 aged gentleman, formerly a military chaplain, and a man of high 
 spirit and honor. Johnson was satisfied that the judgment was 
 wrong, and dictated to me the following argument in confutation 
 of it : 
 
 Of the censure pronounced from the pulpit, our determination must be 
 formed, as in other cases, by a consideration of the act itself, and the particu- 
 lar circumstances with which it is invested. 
 
 The right of censure and rebuke seems necessarily appendant to the pasto- 
 ral office. He, to whom the care of a congregation is entrusted, is considered 
 as the shepherd of a flock, as the teacher of a school, as the father of a fam- 
 ily. As a shepherd tending not his own sheep, but those of his master, he is 
 answerable for those that stray, and those that lose themselves by straying. 
 But no man can be answerable for losses which he has not power to prevent, 
 or for vagrancy which he has not authority to restrain. 
 
 As a teacher giving instruction for wages, and liable to reproach, if those 
 whom he undertakes to inform make no proficiency, he must have the power , 
 of enforcing attendance, of awakening negligence, and repressing contra- 
 diction. 
 
 As a father, he possesses the paternal authority of admonition, rebuke and 
 punishment. He cannot, without reducing his office to an empty name, be 
 hindered from the exercise of any practice necessary to stimulate the idle, to 
 reform the vicious, to check the petulant, and correct the stubborn. 
 
 If we enquire into the practice of the primitive Church, we shall, I believe, 
 find the ministers of the word, exercising the whole authority of this compli- 
 cated character. We shall find them not only encouraging the good by ex- 
 hortation, but terrifying the wicked by reproof and denunciation. In the 
 earliest ages of the Church, while religion was yet pure from secular advan- 
 tages, the punishment of sinners was public censure, and open penance; pen- 
 alties inflicted merely by ecclesiastical authority, at a time while the Church 
 had yet no help from the civil power; while the hand of the magistrate lifted 
 only the rod of persecution; and when governors were ready to afford a refuge 
 to all those who fled from clerical authority. 
 
 That the Church, therefore, had once a power of public censure is evident, 
 because that power was frequently exercised. That it borrowed not its power 
 from the civil authority, is likewise certain, because civil authority was at that 
 time its enemy. 
 
 The hour came at length, when after three hundred years of struggle and 
 distress, truth took possession of imperial power, and the civil, laws lent their 
 aid to the ecclesiastical constitutions. The magistrate from that time co-op- 
 erated with the priest, and clerical sentences were made efficacious by secular 
 force. But the State, when it came to the assistance of the Church, had no 
 intention to diminish its authority. Those rebukes and those censures which 
 were lawful before, were lawful still. But they had hitherto operated only 
 upon voluntary submission. The refractory and contemptuous were at first in 
 no danger of temporal severities, except what they might suffer from the re- 
 proaches of conscience, or the detestation of their fellow Christians. When 
 religion obtained the support of law, if admonitions and censures had no ef- 
 fect, they were seconded l)y the magistrates with coercion and punishment. 
 
 It therefore appears from ecclesiastical history, that the right of inflicting 
 shame l)y public censure has been always considered as inherent in the Church; 
 and that this right was not conferred by the civil power; for it was exercised 
 
Age 67.] ON ECCLESIASTICAL CENSURE. 
 
 39 
 
 when the civil power operated against it. By the civil power it was never 
 taken away; for the Christian magistrate interposed his office, not to rescue 
 sinners from censure, but to supply more powerful means of reformation; to 
 add pain where shame was insufficient; and when men were proclaimed un- 
 worthy of the society of the faithful, to restrain them by imprisonment, from 
 spreading abroad the contagion of wickedness. 
 
 It is not improbable that from this acknowledged power of public censure, 
 grew in time the practice of auricular confession. Those who dreaded the 
 blast of public reprehension, were willing to submit themselves to the priest, 
 by a private accusation of themselves; and to obtain a reconciliation with the 
 Church by a kind of clandestine absolution and invisible penance; conditions 
 with which the priest would, in times of ignorance and corruption, easily com- 
 ply, as they increased his influence, by adding the knowledge of secret sins to 
 that of notorious offences, and enlarged his authority, by making him the sole 
 arbiter of the terms of reconcilement. 
 
 From this bondage the Reformation set us free. The minister has no longer 
 power to press into the retirements of conscience, to torture us by interroga- 
 tories, or to put himself in possession of our secrets and our lives. But though 
 we have thus controlled his usurpations, his just and original power remains 
 unimpaired. He may still see, though he may not pry: he may yet hear, 
 though he may not question. And that knowledge which his eyes and ears 
 force upon him it is still his duty to use, for the benefit of his flock. A father 
 who lives near a wicked neighbor, may forbid a son to frequent his company. 
 A minister who has in his congregation a man of open and scandalous wicked- 
 ness, may warn his parishioners to shun his conversation. To warn them is 
 not only lawful, but not to warn them would be criminal. He may warn 
 them one by one in friendly converse, or by a parochial visitation. But if he 
 may warn each man singly, what shall forbid him to warn them all together? 
 Of that which is to be made known to all, how is there any difference whether 
 it be communicated to each singly, or to all together? What is known to all, 
 must necessarily be public. Whether it shall be public at once, or public by 
 degrees, is the only question. And of a sudden and solemn publication the 
 impression is deeper, and the warning more effectual. 
 
 It may easily be urged, if a minister be thus left at liberty to delate sinners 
 from the pulpit, and to publish at will the crimes of a parishioner, he may 
 often blast the innocent, and distress the timorous. He may be suspicious, 
 and condemn without evidence; he may be rash, and judge without examina- 
 tion; he may be severe, and treat slight offences with too much harshness; 
 he may be malignant and partial, and gratify his private interest or resent- 
 ment under the shelter of his pastoral character. 
 
 Of all this there is possibility, and of all this there is danger. But if possi- 
 bility of evil be to exclude good, no good ever can be done. If nothing 
 is to be attempted in which there is danger, we must all sink into hopeless in- 
 activity. The evils that may be feared from this practice arise not from any 
 defect in the institution, but from the infirmities of human nature. Power, in 
 whatever hands it is placed, will be sometimes improperly exerted; yet courts 
 of law must judge, though they will sometimes judge amiss. A father must 
 instruct his children, though he himself may often want instruction. A minis- 
 ter must censure sinners, though his censure may be sometimes erroneous by 
 want of judgment, and sometimes unjust by want of honesty. 
 
 If we examine the circumstances of the present case, we shall find the sen- 
 tence neither erroneous nor unjust; we shall find no breach of private confi- 
 
40 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 dence, no intrusion into secret transactions. The fact was notorious and in- 
 dubitable; so easy to be proved, that no proof was desired. The act was 
 base and treacherous, the perpetration insolent and open, and the example 
 naturally mischievous. The minister, however, being retired and recluse, had 
 not yet heard what was publicly known throughout the parish ; and on occa- 
 sion of a public election, warned his people, according to his duty, against the 
 crimes which public elections frequently produce. His warning was felt by 
 one of his parishioners, as pointed particularly at himself. But instead of 
 producing, as might be wished, private compunction and immediate reforma- 
 tion, it kindled only rage and resentment. He charged his minister, in a 
 public paper, with scandal, defamation, and falsehood. The minister, thus 
 reproached, had his own character to vindicate, upon which his pastoral 
 authority must necessarily depend. To be charged with a defamatory lie is an 
 injury which no man patiently endures in common life. To be charged with 
 polluting the pastoral office with scandal and falsehood, was a violation of 
 character still more atrocious, as it affected not only his personal but his cleri- 
 cal veracity. His indignation naturally rose in proportion to his honesty, and 
 with all the fortitude of injured honesty, he dared this calumniator in the 
 church, and at once exonerated himself from censure, and rescued his flock 
 from deception and from danger. The man whom he accuses pretends not to 
 be innocent; or at least only pretends; for he declines a trial. The crime of 
 which he is accused has frequent opportunities and strong temptations. It 
 has already spread far, with much depravation of private morals, and much 
 injury to public happiness. To warn the people, therefore, against it was not 
 wanton and officious, but necessary and pastoral. 
 
 What then is the fault with which this worthy minister is charged? He 
 has usurped no dominion over conscience. He has exerted no authority in 
 support of doubtful and controverted opinions. He has not dragged into 
 light a bashful and corrigible sinner. His censure was directed against a 
 breach of morality, against an act which no man justifies. The man who appro- 
 priated this censure to himself, is evidently and notoriously guilty. His con- 
 sciousness of his own wickedness incited him to attack his faithful reprover 
 with open insolence and printed accusations. Such an attack made de- 
 fence necessary; and we hope it will be at last decided that the means of 
 defence were just and lawful. 
 
 When I read this to Mr. Burke, he was highly pleased, and ex- 
 claimed, " Well; he does his work in a workmanlike manner." ' 
 
 Mr. Thomson wished to bring the cause by appeal before the 
 House of Lords, but was dissuaded by the advice of the noble 
 person who lately presided so ably in that most honorable House, 
 and who was then Attorney-General. As my readers will no 
 doubt be glad also to read the opinion of this eminent man upon 
 the same subject, I shall here insert it. 
 
 ^ As a proof of Dr. Johnson's extraordinary powers of composition, it appears 
 fi-om the original manuscript of this excellent dissertation, of w hich he dictated 
 the first eight paragraphs on the loth of May, and the remainder on the 13th, that 
 there are in the whole only seven corrections, or rather variations, and those not 
 considerable. Such were at once the vigorous and accurate emanations of his 
 mind. — B. 
 
Age 67.] LORD THURLOW'S OPINION. 
 
 41 
 
 Case. 
 
 There is herewith laid before you, 
 
 1. Petition for the Reverend Mr. James Thomson, minister of Dunferm- 
 
 line. 
 
 2. Answers thereto. 
 
 3. Copy of the judgment of the Court of Session upon both. 
 
 4. Notes of the opinions of the Judges, being the reasons upon which 
 
 their decree is grounded. 
 These papers you will please to peruse and give your opinion. 
 Whether there is a probability of the above decree of the Court of Ses- 
 sion's being reversed, if Mr. Thomson should appeal from the same? 
 
 I don't think the appeal advisable: not only because the value of the 
 judgment is in no degree adequate to the expense; but because there are many 
 chances, that upon the general complexion of the case, the impression will be 
 taken to the disadvantage of the appellant. 
 
 It is impossible to approve the style of that sermon. But the complaint 
 was not less ungracious from that man, who had behaved so ill by his original 
 libel, and, at the time, when he received the reproach he complains of. In 
 the last article, all the plaintiffs are equally concerned. It struck me also 
 withisome wonder, that the judges should think so much fervor apposite to the 
 occasion of reproving the defendant for a little excess. 
 
 Upon the matter, however, I agree with them in condemning the behavior 
 of the minister: and in thinking it a subject fit for ecclesiastical censure; and 
 even for an action, if any individual could qualify ' a wrong, and a damage 
 arising from it. But this I doubt. The circumstance of publishing the re- 
 proach in a pulpit, though extremely indecent, and culpable in another view, 
 does not constitute a different sort of wrong, or any other rule of law, than 
 would have obtained, if the same words had been pronounced elsewhere. I 
 don't know, whether there be any difference in the law of Scotland, in the 
 definition of slander, before the Commissaries, or the Court of Session. The 
 common law of England does not give way to actions for every reproachful 
 word. An action cannot be brought for general damages, upon any words 
 which import less than an offence cognizable by law: consequently, no action 
 could have been brought here, for the words in question. Both laws admit the 
 truth to be a justification in action for zvords ; and the law of England does 
 the same in actions for libels. The judgment, therefore, seems to me to have 
 been wrong, in that the Court repelled that defence. 
 
 E. Thurlow. 
 
 I am now to record a very curious incident in Dr. Johnson's 
 Life, which fell under my own observation ; of which pars magna 
 fiii^ 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 the same time, obtain an in- 
 
 1 It is curious to observe that Lord Thurlow has here, perhaps in coinpHment to 
 North Britain, made use of a term of the Scotch Law, whicli to an English reader 
 may require explanation. To qualify a wrong, is to point out and establish it. — B. 
 
 2 Virgil, '* ^neid," ii. 5. 
 
4^ 
 
 BOSWELTJs life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 troduction to Dr. Samuel Johnson and to John Wilkes, Esq. Two 
 men more different could perhaps not be selected out of all man- 
 kind. They had 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 evij in the same person. 
 
 Sir John Pringle, " mine own friend and my father's friend," 
 between whom and Dr. Johnson I in vain wished to establish an 
 acquaintance, as I respected and lived in intimacy with both of 
 them, observed to me once, very ingeniously : " It is not in friend- 
 ship as in mathematics where two things, each equal to a third, 
 are equal between themselves. You agree with Johnson as a 
 middle quality, and you agree with me as a middle quality ; but 
 Johnson and I should not agree " Sir John was not sufficiently 
 flexible ; so I desisted ; knowing, indeed, that the repulsion was 
 equally strong on the part of Johnson ; who, I know not from what 
 cause, unless his being a Scotchman, had formed a very erroneous 
 opinion of Sir John. But I conceived an irresistible wish, if pos- 
 sible, to bring Dr. Johnson and Mr. Wilkes together. How to 
 manage it, was a nice and difficult matter. 
 
 My worthy booksellers and friends Messieurs Dilly in the Poul- 
 try, 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." " ^Vhat, with Mr. Wilkes? not for 
 the world," said Mr. Edward Dilly ; " Dr. Johnson would never 
 forgive me." " Come," said I, " if you '11 let me negotiate for 
 you I will be answerable that all shall go well." Dillv : "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 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 
 
 ^ This has been circulated as if actually said by Johnson : w hen the truth is, it 
 was only supposed by me. — li. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 BOSWELL'S DIPLOMACY. 
 
 43 
 
 sitting quietly by ourselves at his house in an evening, took oc- 
 casion to open my plan thus : " Mr. Dilly, Sir, sends his re- 
 spectful compliments to you, and would be happy if you would 
 do him the honor to dine with him on Wednesday next along with 
 me, as I must soon go to Scotland." Johnson : " Sir, I am 
 obliged to Mr. Dilly. I will wait upon him." Boswell : " Pro- 
 vided, 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." Johnson : " Well, Sir, and what 
 then? W^hat care / for his patriotic friends ? Poh ! " Boswell : 
 " I should not be surprised to find Jack Wilkes there." Johnson : 
 "And if Jack Wilkes should be there, what is that to vie, Sir? 
 My dear friend, let us have no more of this. I am sorry to be 
 angry with you ; 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 preparation for going abroad. 
 " How is this. Sir?" said I. " Do n't you recollect that you are 
 to dine at Mr. Dilly's?" Johnson: "Sir, I did not think of 
 going to Dilly's : it went out of my head. I have ordered dinner at 
 home with Mrs. Williams." Boswell : " But, my dear Sir, you 
 know you were engaged to Mr. Dilly, and I told him so. He 
 will expect you, and will be much disappointed if you do n't 
 come." Johnson : "You must talk to Mrs. Williams about this." 
 
 Here was a sad dilemma. I feared thatwh:it I was so confident 
 I had secured would yet be frustrated. He had accustomed him- 
 self 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 down 
 stairs to the blind lady's room, and told her I was in great un- 
 
44 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON, [A.D. 1776. 
 
 easiness, for Dr. Johnson had engaged to me to dine this day at 
 Mr. Dilly's, but that he had told me he had forgotten his engage- 
 ment, 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 agree- 
 able 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 honor he ex- 
 pected 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 occa- 
 sion, and was graciously pleased to empower me to tell Dr. John- 
 son, " 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. Williams's 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 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 pat?'iot 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 con- 
 founded him still more ; he had some difficulty to restrain him- 
 self, 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, 
 
 1 Addison : " Cato," Act V., sc. i. 
 
Age 67.] JOHNSON MELTS TOWARD WILKES. 
 
 45 
 
 and he, therefore, 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 hu- 
 mor. There were present, beside Mr. Wilkes, and Mr. Arthur 
 Lee, who was an old companion of mine when he studied physic at 
 Edinburgh, Mr. (now Sir John) Miller, Dr. Lettsom, and Mr. 
 Slater the druggist. Mr. Wilkes placed himself next to Dr. John- 
 son, 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, per- 
 haps, may have more zest." — " Sir, Sir, I am obliged 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. 
 
 Foote being mentioned, Johnson said, " He is not a good 
 mimic." One of the company added, " A merry-Andrew, a buf- 
 foon." Johnson: "But he has wit too, and is not deficient in 
 ideas, or in fertility and variety of imagery, and not empty of 
 reading ; he has knowledge enough to fill up his part. One 
 species of wit he has in an eminent degree, that of escape. You 
 drive him into a corner with both hands ; but he 's gone, Sir, when 
 you think you have got him — like an animal that jumps over 
 your head. Then he has a great range for wit ; he never lets 
 truth stand between him and a jest, and he is sometimes mighty 
 coarse. Garrick is under many restraints from which Foote is 
 free." Wilkes : " Garrick's wit is more like Lord Chesterfield's." 
 Johnson : " The first time I was in company with Foote, was at 
 Fitzherbert's. Having no good opinion of the fellow, I was re- 
 solved not to be pleased ; and it is very difficult to please a man 
 against his will. I went on eating my dinner pretty sullenly, 
 affecting not to mind him. But the dog was so very comical, 
 that I was obliged to lay down my knife and fork, throw myself 
 back upon my chair, and fairly laugh it out. No, Sir, he was 
 
 1 Johnson's " London," v. 145. — B. 
 
46 
 
 BOSWELL\S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 irresistible.^ He upon one occasion experienced, in an extraordi- 
 nary degree, the efficacy of his powers of entertaining. Amongst 
 the many and various modes which he tried of getting money, he 
 became a partner with a small-beer brewer, and he was to have 
 a share of the profits for procuring customers amongst his nu- 
 merous acquaintance. Fitzherbert was one who took his small- 
 beer ; but it was so bad that the servants resolved not to drink it. 
 They were at some loss how to notify their resolution, being 
 afraid of offending their master, who they knew liked Foote much 
 as a companion. At last they fixed upon a little black boy, who 
 was rather a favorite, to be their deputy, and deliver their re- 
 monstrance ; and having invested hmi with the whole authority 
 of the kitchen, he was to inform Mr. Fitzherbert, in all their 
 names, upon a certain day, that they would drink Foote' s small- 
 beer no longer. On that day Foote happened to dine at Fitz- 
 herbert's and this boy served at table ; he was so delighted with 
 Foote's stories, and merriment, and grimace, that when he went 
 down stairs, he told them : ' This is the finest man I have ever 
 seen. I will not deliver your message. I will drink his small- 
 beer.' " 
 
 Somebody observed that Garrick could "not have done this. 
 Wilkes : " Garrick would have made the small-beer still smaller. 
 He is now leaving the stage ; but he will play Scrub ^ all his life." I 
 knew that Johnson would let nobody attack Garrick but himself, 
 as Garrick said to me, and I had heard him praise his liberality ; 
 so to bring out his commendation of his celebrated pupil, I 
 said, loudly, " I have heard Garrick is liberal." Johnson : " Yes, 
 Sir, I know that Garrick has given away more money than any 
 man in England that I am acquainted with, and that not from os- 
 tentatious views. Garrick was very poor when he began life ; so 
 when he came to have money, he probably was very unskilful in 
 giving away, and saved when he should not. But Garrick began 
 to be liberal as soon as he could ; and I am of opinion, the repu- 
 tation of avarice which he has had, has been very lucky for him, and 
 prevented his having many enemies. You despise a man for 
 avarice, but do not hate him. Garrick might have been much 
 better attacked for living with more splendor than is suitable to 
 a player : if they had had the wit to have assaulted him in that 
 quarter, they might have galled him more. But they have kept 
 
 ^ Foote told me, that Johnson said of him, " For loud, obstreperous, broad-faced 
 mirth, I know not his equal." — B. 
 
 » Farquhar: " Beaux-Stratagem," Act III., sc. 3. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 ANECDOTES OF DRYDEN. 
 
 47 
 
 clamoring about his avarice, which has rescued him from much 
 obloquy and envy." 
 
 Talking of the great difficulty of obtaining authentic informa- 
 tion for biography, Johnson told us, " When 1 was a young fellow 
 I wanted to write the ' Life of Dryden,' and in order to get mate- 
 rials, I applied to the only two persons then alive who had seen 
 him ; * these were old Swinney,^ and old Gibber. Swinney's in- 
 formation was no more than this, ' That at Will's coffee-house 
 Dryden had a particular chair for himself, which was set by the 
 fire in winter, and was then called his winter-chair ; and that it 
 was carried out for him to the balcony in summer, and was then 
 called his summer-chair.' Gibber could tell no more but 'That 
 he remembered him a decent old man, arbiter of critical disputes 
 at Will's.' You are to consider that Gibber was then at a great 
 distance from Dryden, had perhaps one leg only in the room, and 
 durst not draw in the other." Bosweli- : " But Gibber was a 
 man of observation?" Johnson: ''I think not." Boswell : 
 "You will allow his 'Apology' to" be well done." Johnson: 
 " Very well done, to be sure. Sir. That book is a striking proof 
 of the justice of Pope's remark : 
 
 " ' Each might his several province well command, 
 Would all bill sloop to whal they understand.' " 
 
 ["Essay on Criticism," I. 66.] 
 
 Boswell: " And his plays are good." Johnson: ''Yes; but that 
 was his trade ; V esprit du corps ; he had been all his life among 
 players and play-writers. I wondered that he had so little to say 
 in conversation, for he had kept the best company, and learned 
 all that can be got by the ear. He abused Pindar to me, and then 
 showed me an ode of his own, with an absurd couplet, making a 
 linnet soar on an eagle's wing. I told him that when the ancients 
 made a simile, they always made it like something real." 
 
 Mr. Wilkes remarked that, "Among all the bold flights of 
 Shakespeai^'s imagination, the boldest was making Birnara-wood 
 march to Dunsinane ; creating a wood where there never was a 
 shrub; a wood in Scotland! ha! ha! ha!" And he also ob- 
 served that, " The clannish slavery of the Highlands of Scotland 
 was the single exception to Milton's remark of ' The Mountain 
 Nymph, sweet Liberty,'^ being worshipped in all hilly countries." 
 
 * Dryden had been dead but thirty-six years when Johnson came to London. — 
 Dr. Hill. 
 
 a Owen MacSwinney, a buffoon, formerly director of the playhouse. — WalpoU, 
 3 Milton : " L' Allegro," 1. 36. 
 
48 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 "When I was at Inverary," said he, "on a visit to my old 
 friend, Archibald, Duke of Argyle, his dependents congratulated 
 me on being such a favorite of his Grace. I said, ' It is then, 
 gentlemen, truly lucky for me ; for if I had displeased the Duke, 
 and he had wished it, there is not a Campbell among you but 
 would have been ready to bring John Wilkes's head to him in a 
 charger. It would have been only 
 
 " * Off with his head ! So much for Aylesbury.''' 
 
 [Colley Gibber, " Richard III.," iv. i.] 
 
 I was then Member for Aylesbury." 
 
 Dr. Johnson and Mr. Wilkes talked of the contested passage in 
 Horace's "Art of Poetry," " Difficile est propiie conimunia dicere.'' 
 Mr. Wilkes, according to my note, gave the interpretation thus : 
 " It is difficult to speak with propriety of common things ; as, if 
 a poet had to speak of Queen Caroline drinking tea, he must 
 endeavor to avoid the vulgarity of cups and saucers." But upon 
 reading my note he tells me that he meant to say, that " The word 
 communia being a Roman law-term, signifies here things commu- 
 nis juris, that is to say, what have never yet been treated by any- 
 body ; " and this appears clearly from what followed, 
 
 " ... tuque 
 Rectius Iliacum carmen deducis in actus, 
 Quam si proferres ignota indictaque primus." 
 
 You will easier make a tragedy out of the "Iliad" than on any 
 subject not handled before.^ Johnson : " He means that it is 
 
 1 My very pleasant friend himself, as well as others who remember old stories, 
 will no doubt be surprised, when I observe that John Wilkes here shows himself to 
 be of the Warburtonian School. It is nevertheless true, as appears from Dr. 
 Hurd the Bishop of Worcester's very elegant commentary and notes on the " Epistola 
 ad Pisones." It is necessary to a fair consideration of the question, that the whole 
 passage in which the words occur should be kept in view : 
 
 " Si quid inexpertum scenae committis, et audes 
 
 Personam formare novam, servetur ad imum ^ 
 
 Qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet. 
 
 Difficile est proprie communia dicere; tuque 
 
 Rectius Iliacum carmen deducis in actus, 
 
 Quam si proferres ignota indictaque primus. 
 
 Publica materies privati juris erit, si 
 
 Non circa vilem patulumque moraberis orbem, 
 
 Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus 
 
 Interprcs ; nec desilies imitator in arctum, 
 
 Undc pcdem proferre pudor vetet aut operis lex." 
 The " Commentary " thus illustrates it : " But the formation of quite tiew char- 
 acters is a work of great difficulty and hazard. For here there is no generally 
 received and fixed archetype to work after, but every one judges of common right, ac- 
 cording to the extent and comprehension of his own idea; therefore, he advises to 
 labor and refit old characters and new subjects, particularly those made known and 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 CITY POETS. 
 
 49 
 
 difficult to appropriate to particular persons qualities which are 
 common to all mankind, as Homer has done." 
 
 Wilkes : "We have no City- Poet now : that is an office which 
 
 authorized by the practice of Homer and the Epic writers." The " Note " is 
 " Difficile EST PROPRIE COMMUNIA DICERE." Lambin's Comment is " Communia 
 hoc loco appellat Horatius argumenta fabularum a nullo ad hue tractata : et ita, 
 quae cuivis exposita sunt et in medio quodammodo posita, quasi vacua et a nemine 
 occupata." And that this is the true meaning of comniunia, is evidently fixed by the 
 words ignota indictaquc, which are explanatory of it ; so that the sense given it in the 
 " Commentary " is unquestionably the right one. Yet, notwithstanding the clear- 
 ness of the case, a late critic has this strange passage : " Difficile quidem esse 
 proprie communia dicere, hoc est, materiam vulgarem, notam et e medio petitam, 
 ita immutare atque exornare, ut nova et scriptori propria videatur, ultro concedimus ; 
 et maximi procul dubio ponderis ista est observatio. Sed omnibus utrinque collatis, 
 et turn difhcilis tum venusti, tam judicii quam ingenii ratione habita, major videtur 
 esse gloria fabulam formare penitus novam, quam veterem, utcunque mutatam, de 
 novo exhibere." {Poet. Prcel. ii. 164.) Where having first put a wrong construction 
 on the word communia, he employs it to introduce an impertinent criticism. For 
 where does the poet prefer the glory of refitting old subjects to that of inventing new 
 ones ? The contrary is implied in what he urges about the superior difficulty of the 
 latter, from which he dissuades his countrymen, only in respect of their abilities and 
 inexperience in these matters ; and in order to cultivate in them, which is the main 
 view of the Epistle, a spirit of correctness by sending them to the old subjects, 
 treated by the Greek writers. For my own part (with all deference for Dr. Hurd, 
 who thinks the case clear) I consider the passage, " Difficile est proprie communia 
 dicere," to be a crux for the critics on Horace. The explication which My Lord of 
 Worcester treats with so much contempt, is nevertheless countenanced by authority 
 which I find quoted by the learned Baxter, in his edition of Horace, ''Difficile est 
 proprie communia dicere, h, e. res vulgares disertis verbis enarrare, vel humile 
 thema cum dignitate tractare. Difficile est comviunes res propriis explicare verbis. 
 Vet. Schol." I was much disappointed to find that the great critic, Dr. Bentley, has 
 no note upon this very difficult passage, as from his vigorous and illuminated mind, 
 
 I should have expected to receive more satisfaction than I have yet had. Sanadon 
 thus treats of it : " Proprie conummia dicere ; c'est a dire, qu'il n'est pas aise de 
 former k ces personnages d'imagination, des caracteres particuliers et cependant 
 vraisemblables. Comme Ton a ete le maitre de les former tels qu'on a voulu, les 
 fautes que Ton fait en cela sont moins pardonnables. C'est pourquoi Horace 
 conseille de prendre toujours des sujets connus, tels que sont, par exemple, ceux que 
 Ton pent tirer des poemes d'Homere." And Dacier observes upon it : " Apres 
 avoir marque les deux qualites qu'il faut donner aux personnages qu'on invente, il 
 conseille aux Pontes tragiques, de n'user pas trop facilement de cette liberte qu'ils 
 ont d'en inventer, car il est tres difficile de reussir dans ces nouveaux caracteres. 
 
 II est mal aise, dit Horace, trailer proprement, c'est a dire convenablcment, des 
 sujets commiDis ; c'est a dire, des sujets inventes, et qui n'ont aucun fondement ni 
 dans I'Histoire ni dans la Fable; et il les appelle tcww//??.?, parce qu'ils sont en 
 disposition k tout le monde et que tout le monde a le droit de les inventer, et qu'ils 
 sont, comme on dit, au premier occupant." See his observations at large on this 
 expression and the following. After all, I cannot help entertaining some doubt 
 whether the words, " Difficile est proprie communia dicere," may not have been 
 thrown in by Horace to form a separate article in a " choice of difficulties "which a 
 poet has to encounter, who chooses a new subject ; in which case, it must be un- 
 certain which of the various explanations is the true one, and every reader has a 
 right to decide as it may strike his own fancy. And even should the words be un- 
 derstood as they generally are, to be connected both with what goes before and 
 what comes after, the exact sense cannot be absolutely ascertained ; for instance, 
 whether proprie is meant to signify in an appropriated manner , as Dr. Johnson here 
 understands it, or, as it is often used by Cicero, with propriety, or elegantly. In 
 short, it is a rare instance of a defect in perspicuity in an admirable writer, who 
 
 Vol. II. — 4 
 
60 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 has gone into disuse. The last was Elkanah Settle.^ There is 
 something in names which one cannot help feeling. Now 
 Elkanah Settle sounds so queer, who can expect much from that 
 name? We should have no hesitation to give it for John 
 Dryden, in preference to Elkanah Settle, from the names only, 
 without knowing their different merits." Johnson: " I suppose. 
 Sir, Settle did as well for Aldermen in his time, as John Home 
 could do now. Where did Beckford and Trecothick learn 
 English?" ' 
 
 Mr. Arthur Lee mentioned some Scotch who had taken pos- 
 session of a barren part of America, and wondered why they 
 should choose it. Johnson : " Why, Sir, all barrenness is com- 
 parative. The Scotch would not know it to be barren." Bos- 
 well : Come, come, he is flattering the English. 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 home." All these quick and lively sallies 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 per- 
 fectly assimilate ; here was a bond of union between them, and I 
 was conscious 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 persevering 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, maybe safely sworn of all the Scotch nation." John- 
 
 with almost every species of excellence, is peculiarly remarkable for that quality. 
 The length of this note perhaps requires an apology. Many of my readers, I doubt 
 not, will admit that a critical discussion of a passage in a favorite classic is very 
 engaging. — B. 
 
 ^ He is the hero of one of the wittiest lines in " The Dunciad," perhaps in all 
 Pope's writings. 
 
 " Now night descending, the proud scene was o'er, 
 But lived in Settle's numbers one day more." 
 2 Alderman Beckford, the champion of Wilkes, and sometime patron of Chatter- 
 ton, was born in Jamaica of I£nglish parents. Barlow Trecothick, who succeeded 
 Beckford as Lord Mayor, was in the American trade, but as much an Englishman 
 as Johnson himself. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 THE EQUALITY OF MANKIND. 
 
 51 
 
 SON (to Mr. Wilkes) : " You must know, Sir, I lately took my 
 friend Boswell, and showed him genuine civilized life in an Eng- 
 lish provincial town. I turned him loose at 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." 
 
 They were quite frank and easy. Johnson told the story of his 
 asking Mrs. Macaulay to allow her footman to sit down with them, 
 to prove the ridiculousness of the argument for the equality of 
 mankind ; and he said to me afterwards, with a nod of satisfac- 
 tion, " You saw Mr. Wilkes acquiesced." Wilkes talked with all 
 imaginable freedom of the ludicrous title given to the Attorney- 
 General, Diabolus Regis ; adding, " I have reason to know 
 something about that officer; for I was prosecuted for a libel." 
 Johnson, who many people would have supposed must have 
 been furiously angry at hearing this talked of so lightly, said 
 not a word. He was now, indeed, ''a good-humored fellow." 
 
 After dinner, we had an accession of Mrs. Knowles, the Quaker 
 lady, well known for her various talents, and of Mr. Alderman 
 Lee. Amidst some patriotic groans, somebody, I think the 
 Alderman, said, "Poor old England is lost." Johnson: "Sir, it 
 is not so much to be lamented that Old England is lost, as that 
 the Scotch have found it." ^ Wilkes : " Had Lord Bute governed 
 Scotland only, I should not have taken the trouble to write his 
 eulogy, and dedicate ' Mortimer ' to him." 
 
 Mr. Wilkes held a candle to show a fine print of a beautiful 
 female figure which hung in the room, and pointed out the ele- 
 gant contour of the bosom, with the finger of an arch connoisseur. 
 He afterwards, in a conversation with me, waggishly insisted, that 
 all the time Johnson showed visible signs of a fervent admiration 
 of the corresponding charms of the fair Quaker.^ 
 
 1 By civility he means what we call civilization. 
 
 2 It would not become me to expatiate on this strong and pointed remark, in 
 which a very great deal of meaning is condensed. — B. 
 
 * The following is Johnson's own good-humored account to Mrs. Thrale of this 
 meeting. " For my part I begin to settle and keep company with grave Aldermen. 
 1 dined yesterday in the Poultry with Mr. Alderman Wilkes, and Mr. Alderman 
 Lee, and Councillor Lee his brother. There sat you the while thinking, ' What is 
 Johnson doing? ' What should he be doing? He is breaking jokes with Jack 
 Wilkes upon the Scotch. Such, Madam, are the vicissitudes of things! And 
 there was Mrs. Knowles, the Quaker, that works the sutile pictures, who is a great 
 admirer of your conversation." " Letters," i. 325. These sutile pictures (mis- 
 printed in the " Letters " as futile pictures) were done in needle-work. Mrs. 
 Knowles, the widow of a physician, was at this time about fifty years old, and, ac- 
 cording to Croker, certainly not admired by her contemporaries for her beauty. 
 
 U. OF ILL UB. 
 
52 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 This record, though by no means so perfect as I could wish, 
 will serve to give a notion of a very curious interview, which was 
 not only pleasing at the time, but had the agreeable and benig- 
 nant effect of reconciling any animosity, and sweetening any 
 acidity, which in the various bustle of political contest, had been 
 produced in the minds of two men, who though widely different, 
 had so many things in common — classical learning, modern 
 literature, wit and humor, and ready repartee — that it would 
 have been much to be regretted if they had been forever at a 
 distance from each other. 
 
 Mr. Burke gave me much credit for this successful negotiation ; 
 and pleasantly said, " That there was nothing equal to it in the 
 whole history of the Corps Diplo77iatique ^ 
 
 I attended Dr. Johnson home, and had the satisfaction to hear 
 him tell Mrs. Williams how much he had been pleased with Mr. 
 Wilkes's company, and what an agreeable day he had passed. 
 
 I talked a good deal to him of the celebrated Margaret Caro- 
 line Rudd, whom I had visited, induced by the fame of her 
 talents, address, and irresistible power of fascination. To a lady 
 who disapproved of my visiting her, he said, on a former occa- 
 sion : " Nay, Madam, Boswell is in the right ; I should have 
 visited her myself, were it not that they have now a trick of put- 
 ting everything into the newspapers." This evening he ex- 
 claimed, " I envy him his acquaintance with Mrs. Rudd." ^ 
 
 I mentioned a scheme which I had of making a tour to the 
 Isle of Man, and giving a full account of it ; and that Mr. Burke 
 had playfully suggested as a motto, 
 
 " The proper study of mankind is Man." ^ 
 
 Johnson : " Sir, you will get more by the book than the jaunt 
 will cost you ; so you will have your diversion for nothing, and 
 add to your reputation." 
 
 On the evening of the next day, I took leave of him, being to 
 set out for Scotland. I thanked him with great warmth for all 
 his kindness. " Sir," said he, "you are very welcome. Nobody 
 repays it with more." 
 
 How very false is the notion that has gone round the world, of 
 the rough, and passionate, and harsh manners of this great and 
 good man. That he had occasional sallies of heat of temper, 
 and that he was sometimes, perhaps, too " easily provoked " by 
 
 ^ See ante. Vol. I., p. 570, note 2. 
 * Pope : " Essay on Man," ii. 2. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S POLITENESS. 
 
 53 
 
 absurdity and folly, and sometimes too desirous of triumph in 
 colloquial contest, must be allowed. The quickness both of his 
 perception and sensibility disposed him to sudden explosions of 
 satire ; to which his extraordinary readiness of wit was a strong 
 and almost irresistible incitement. To adopt one of the finest 
 images in Mr. Home's " Douglas," 
 
 . . On each glance of thought 
 Decision followed, as the thunderbolt 
 Pursues the flash ! " . . . 
 
 I admit that the beadle within him was often so eager to apply 
 the lash, that the judge had not time to consider the case with 
 sufficient deliberation. 
 
 That he was occasionally remarkable for violence of temper 
 may be granted : but let us ascertain the degree, and not let it 
 be supposed that he was in a perpetual rage, and never without a 
 club in his hand to knock down every one who approached him. 
 On the contrary, the truth is, that by much the greatest part of 
 his time he was civil, obliging, nay, polite in the true sense of 
 the word ; so much so, that many gentlemen who were long 
 acquainted with him never received, or even heard, a strong 
 expression from him. 
 
 The following letters concerning an epitaph which he wrote for 
 the monument of Dr. Goldsmith, in Westminster Abbey, afford 
 at once a proof of his unaffected modesty, his carelessness as to 
 his own writings, and of the great respect which he entertained 
 for the taste and judgment of the excellent and eminent person 
 to whom they are addressed : 
 
 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have been kept away from you, I know not well how, and 
 of those vexatious hindrances I know not when there will be an end. I there- 
 fore send you the poor dear Doctor's epitaph. Read it first yourself; and if 
 you theh think it right, shew it to the Club. I am, you know, willing to be 
 corrected. If you think any thing much amiss, keep it to yourself, till we 
 come together. I have sent two copies, but prefer the card. The dates mus'c 
 be settled by Dr. Percy. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 16,, 1776. 
 
 to the same. 
 
 Sir: Miss Reynolds has a mind to send the epitaph to Dr. Beattie; I am 
 very willing, but having no copy, cannot immediately recollect it. She tells 
 me you have lost it. Try to recollect, and put down as much as you retain; 
 
54 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 you perhaps may have kept what I have dropped. The lines for which I am 
 at a loss are something of rerum civiliuin sive naturaliuin.^ It was a sorry 
 trick to lose it; help me if you can. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 June 22, 1776. 
 
 The gout grows better, but slowly. 
 
 It was, I think, after I had left London in this year, that this 
 epitaph gave occasion to a remonstrance to the Monarch of 
 Literature, for an account of which I am indebted to Sir Will- 
 iam Forbes of Pitsligo. 
 
 That my readers may have the subject more fully and clearly 
 before them, I shall first insert the epitaph. 
 
 " Olivarii Goldsmith, 
 Poetse, Physici, Historici, 
 Qui nullum fere scribendi genus 
 
 Non tetigit, 
 Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit : 
 Sive risus essent movendi, 
 Sive lacrymge, 
 Affectuum potens at lenis dominator : 
 
 Ingenio sublimis, vividus, versatilis, 
 Oratione grandis, nitidus, venustus : 
 Hoc monumento memoriam coluit 
 Sodalium amor, 
 Amicorum fides, 
 Lectorum veneratio. 
 Natus in Hibernia Forni?e Longfordiensis, 
 In loco cui nomen Pallas, 
 Nov. XXIX. MDCCXxxi;'' 
 Eblanae literis institutus; 
 
 Obiit Londini, 
 April IV, MDCCLXXiv." 
 
 Sir William Forbes writes to me thus : 
 
 I enclose the Round Robin. This jeu (V esprit took its rise one day at din- 
 ner at our friend Sir Joshua Reynolds's. All the company present, except 
 myself, were friends and acquaintance of Dr. Goldsmith. The epitaph, writ- 
 ten for him by Dr. Johnson, became the subject of conversation, and various 
 emendations were suggested, which it was agreed should be sul)mitted to the 
 Doctor's consideration. But the question was, who should have the courage 
 to propose them to him? At last it was hinted, that there could be no way so 
 good as that of a Round Robin, as the sailors call it, which they make use of 
 
 1 These words must have been in the other copy. They are not in that which 
 
 was ])rcf('rre(l. — B. 
 
 2 According to Forster's " Life of Goldsmith," he was born on November 10, 
 1728. 
 
EDMUND EURKE. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 THE ROUND ROBIN. 
 
 55 
 
 when they enter into a conspiracy, so as not to let it be known who puts his 
 name first or last to the paper. This proposition was instantly assented to: 
 and Dr. Barnard, Dean of Derry, now Bishop of Killaloe, drew up an ad- 
 dress to Dr. Johnson on the occasion, replete with wit and humor, but which 
 it was feared the Doctor might think treated the subject with too much levity. 
 Mr. Burke then proposed the address as it stands in the paper in writing, 
 to which I had the honor to officiate as clerk. 
 
 Sir Joshua agreed to carry it to Dr. Johnson, who received it with much 
 good humor, ^ and desired Sir Joshua to tell the gentlemen, that he would 
 alter the epitaph in any manner they pleased, as to the sense of it; but /le 
 Tvould never consent to disgrace the zvalls of Westminster Abbey ^ with an Eng- 
 lish inscription. 
 
 I consider this Round Robin as a species of literary curiosity worth preserv- 
 ing, as it marks in a certain degree. Dr. Johnson's character. 
 
 My readers are presented with a faithful transcript of a paper, 
 which I doubt not of their being desirous to see. 
 
 Sir William Forbes's observation is very just. The anecdote 
 now related proves, in the strongest manner, the reverence and 
 awe with which Johnson was regarded by some of the most emi- 
 nent men of his time in various departments, and even by such 
 of them as lived most with him ; while it also confirms what I 
 have again and again inculcated, that he was by no means of that 
 ferocious and irascible character which has been ignorantly im- 
 agined. 
 
 This hasty composition is also to be remarked, as one of the 
 
 1 He, however, upon seeing Dr. Warton's name to the suggestion, that the epi- 
 taph should be in English, observed to Sir Joshua, " I wonder that Joe Warton, a 
 scholar by profession, should be such a fool." He said too, " I should have 
 thought Mund Burke would have had more sense." Mr. Langton, who was one of 
 the company at Sir Joshua's, like a sturdy scholar, refused resolutely to sign the 
 Round Robin, llie epitaph is engraved upon Dr. Goldsmith's monument without 
 any alteration. At another time, when somebody endeavored to argue in favor of 
 its being in English, Johnson said, "The language of the country of which a learned 
 man was a native, is not the language fit for his epitaph, which should be in ancient 
 and permanent language. Consider, Sir, how you should feel, were you to find at 
 Rotterdam an epitaph upon Erasmus in Dutch ! " For my own part I think it would 
 be best to have epitaphs written both in a learned language, and in the language 
 of the country; so that thev might have the advantage of being more universally 
 understood, and at the same time be secured of classical stability. I cannot, how- 
 ever, but be of opinion, that it is not sufficiently discriminative. Appl\ing to 
 Goldsmith equally the epithets of " Poetae, Historici, Physici," is surely not r'glit; 
 for as to his claim to the last of those epithets, I have heard Johnson himsrlt say, 
 " Goldsmith, Sir, will give us a very tine book upon the subject ; but if he can dis- 
 tinguish a cow from a horse, that, I believe, mav he the extent of his knowledge of 
 natural history." His book is indeed an e.vcellent performance, though in some 
 instances he appears to have trusted too much to liufton, who, with all his theoreti- 
 cal ingenuity and extraordinary eloquence, I suspect had little actual information 
 in the science on which he wrote so admirably. I"or instance, he tells us that the 
 cow sheds her horns every two years ; a most palpable error, which Goldsmith has 
 faithfully transfeirred into his book. It is wonderful that Buffon, who lived so much 
 in the country, at his noble seat, should have fiiUen into such a blunder. I suppose 
 he has confounded the cow with the deer. — B. 
 
56 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 Facsimile of the Round Robin addressed to Dr. Johnson, 1776. 
 
Age 67.] JOHNSON TO MRS. BOS WELL. 
 
 57 
 
 thousand instances which evince the extraordinary promptitude 
 of Mr. Burke ; who while he is equal to the greatest things, can 
 adorn the least; can, with equal facility, embrace the vast and 
 complicated speculations of politics, or the ingenious topics of 
 literary investigation.^ 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. BOSWELL. 
 
 Madam : You must not think me uncivil in omitting to answer the letter 
 with which you favoured me some time ago. I imagined it to have been 
 written without Mr. Boswell's knowledge, and therefore supposed the answer 
 to require, what I could not find, a private conveyance. 
 
 The difference with Lord Auchinleck is now over; and since young Alex- 
 ander has appeared, I hope no more difificulties will rise among you; for I 
 sincerely wish you all happy. Do not teach the young ones to dislike me, as 
 you dislike me yourself; but let me at least have Veronica's kindness, because 
 she is my acquaintance. 
 
 You will now have Mr. Boswell home: it is well that you have him; he 
 has led a wild life. I have taken him to Lichfield, and he has followed Mr. 
 Thrale to Bath. Pray take care of him, and tame him. The only thing in 
 which I have the honour to agree with you is, in loving him; and while we 
 are so much of a mind in a matter of so much importance, our other quarrels 
 will, I hope, produce no great bitterness. 
 
 I am, Madam, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 16, 1776. 
 
 mr. boswell to dr. johnson. 
 
 Edinburgh, June 25, 1776. 
 
 You have formerly complained that my letters were too long. There is no 
 danger of that complaint being made at present; for I find it difficult for me 
 to write to you at all. [Here an account of having been afflicted with a re- 
 turn of melancholy or bad spirits.] 
 
 The boxes of books ^ which you sent to me are arrived; but I have not yet 
 examined the contents. 
 
 I send you Mr. Maclaurin's paper for the negro who claims his freedom in 
 the Court of Session. 
 
 dr. JOHNSON TO MR. BOSWELL. 
 
 Dear Sir: These black fits of which you complain, perhaps hurt your 
 memory as well as your imagination. When did I complain that your letters 
 were too long?^ Your last letter, after a very long delay, brought very bad 
 
 1 Beside this Latin epitaph, Johnson honored the memory of his friend Gold- 
 smith with one short one in Greek. — B. See an/e, Vol. I., p. 465. 
 
 2 Upon a settlement of our account of expenses on a tour to the Hebrides, there 
 was a balance due to me, which Dr. Johnson chose to discharge by sending books. 
 — B. 
 
 ^ Baretti told me that Johnson complained of my writing very long letters ti 
 him when I was upon the Continent ; which was most certainly true; but it seems 
 my friend did not remember it. — B. 
 
58 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 news. [Here a series of reflections upon melancholy, and — what I could 
 not help thinking strangely unreasonable in him who had suffered so much 
 from it himself, — a good deal of severity and reproof, as if it were owing to 
 my own fault, or that I was perhaps affecting it from a desire of distinction.] 
 
 Read Cheyne's " English Malady; " ^ but do not let him teach you a fool- 
 ish notion that melancholy is a proof of acuteness. 
 
 To hear that you have not opened your boxes of books is very offensive. 
 The examination and arrangement of so many volumes might have afforded 
 you an amusement very seasonable at present, and useful for the whole of 
 life. I am, I confess, very angry that you manage yourself so ill. 
 
 I do not now say any more, than that I am with great kindness and sin- 
 cerity, dear Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 2, 1776. 
 
 It was last year determined by Lord Mansfield, in the Court of King's 
 Bench, that a negro cannot be taken out of the kingdom without his own 
 consent.^ 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO MR. BOSWELL. 
 
 Dear Sir: I make haste to write again, lest my last letter should give 
 you too much pain. If you are really oppressed with overpowering and in- 
 voluntary melancholy, you are to be pitied rather than reproached. 
 
 Now, my dear Bozzy, let us have done with quarrels and with censure. 
 Let me know whethef I have not sent you a pretty library. There are, per- 
 haps, many books among them which you never need read through; but there 
 are none which it is not proper for you to know, and sometimes to consult. 
 Of these books, of which the use is only occasional, it is often sufficient to 
 know the contents, that, when any question arises, you may know where to 
 look for information. 
 
 Since I wrote, I have looked over Mr. Maclaurin's plea, and think it excel- 
 lent. How is the suit carried on? If by subscription, I commission you to 
 contribute, in my name, what is proper. Let nothing be wanting in such a 
 case. Dr. Drummond,"' I see, is superseded. His father would have grieved; 
 but he lived to obtain the pleasure of his son's election, and died before that 
 pleasure was abated. 
 
 Langton's lady has brought him a girl, and both are well; I dined with 
 him the other day. . . . 
 
 It vexes me to tell you, that on the evening of the 29th of May I was 
 seized by the gout, and am not quite well. The pain has not been violent, 
 but the weakness and tenderness were very troublesome, and what is said to 
 
 ^ See anfe, p. 3 and p. 17, no^e i. 
 
 * See an article on " Granville Sharp and the Slave Trade " in Macmillan's 
 Magazine, January, 1890. The negro, James Somerset, who had been brought to 
 England by his master, and after escape and capture, was l)rought on a writ of 
 habeas corpus before the Court of King's Bench, was discharged by Lord Mans- 
 field June 22, 1772. 
 
 3 The son of Johnson's old friend, Mr.William Dniinmond [see Vol. I., pp. 304, 5] . 
 He was a young man of such distinguished merit, that he was nominated to one of 
 the medical professorships in the College of ICdinburgh, without solicitation, while 
 he was at Naples. Having other views, he did not accept of the honor and soon 
 afterwards died. — B. 
 
Age 6;.] A PRAYER BEFORE STUDY. 
 
 69 
 
 be very uncommon, it has not alleviated my other disorders. Make use of 
 youth and health while you have them; make my compliments to Mrs. Bos- 
 well. I am, my dear Sir, your most affectionate 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 6, 1776. 
 
 mr. boswell to dr. johnson. 
 
 Edinburgh, July 18, 1776. 
 My dear Sir: Your letter of the second of this month was rather a harsh 
 medicine; but I was delighted with that spontaneous tenderness which, a few 
 days afterwards, sent forth such balsam as your next brought me. I found 
 myself for some time so ill that all I could do was to preserve a decent ap- 
 pearance, while all within was weakness and distress. Like a reduced garri- 
 son that has some spirit left, I hung out flags, and planted all the force I 
 could muster, upon the walls. I am now much better, and I sincerely thank 
 you for your kind attention and friendly counsel. 
 
 Count Manucci ^ came here last week from travelling in Ireland. I have 
 shewn him what civilities I could on his account, on yours, and on that of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Thrale. He has had a fall from his horse, and been much hurt. I 
 regret this unlucky accident, for he seems to be a very amiable man. 
 
 As the evidence of what I have mentioned at the beginning of 
 this year, I select from his private register the following passage : 
 
 July 25, 1776. O God, who hast ordained that whatever is to be desired 
 should be sought by labor, and who, by thy blessing, bringest honest labor to 
 good effect, look with mercy upon my studies and endeavors. 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. (" Pr. and Med." 151.) 
 
 It appears from a note subjoined, that this was composed when 
 he " purposed to apply vigorously to study, particularly of the 
 Greek and Italian tongues." 
 
 Such a purpose, so expressed, at the age of sixty-seven, is ad- 
 mirable and encouraging ; and it must impress all the thinking 
 part of my readers with a consolatory confidence in habitual de- 
 votion, when they see a man of such enlarged intellectual powers 
 as Johnson, thus, in the genuine earnestness of secrecy, implor- 
 
 ^ A Florentine nobleman, mentioned by Johnson, in his notes of his tour in 
 France. I had the pleasure of becomin.^ acquainted with him in London, in the 
 spring of this year. — B. Croker quotes the following note from Mr. Bosville, 
 brother of Godfrey Bosville of Thorpe m Yorkshire : " Signor Manucci was neither 
 a Florentine nobleman, nor a count, nor an officer of cavalry, but a private gentle- 
 man of Prato in Tuscany. The title of count and character of officer were both as- 
 sumed ; and the writer of this heard the said Signor describe his embarrassment 
 when, upon first entering France and appearing in uniform, he was questioned by 
 some French ofificers about military matters." 
 
60 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 ing^ the^aid of that Supreme Being, " from whom cometh down 
 every good and every perfect gift." 
 
 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Sir: a young man, whose name is Paterson, offers himself this evening to 
 the Academy. He is the son of a man for whom I have long had a kindness, 
 and who is now abroad in distress. I shall be glad that you will be pleased 
 to shew him- any little countenance, or pay him any small distinction. How 
 much it is in your power to favour or to forward a young man I do not know; nor 
 do I know how much this candidate deserves favour by his personal merit, or what 
 hopes his proficiency may now give of future eminence. I recommend him as 
 the son of my friend. Your character and station enable you to give a young 
 man great encouragement by very easy means. You have heard of a man 
 who asked no other favour of Sir Robert Walpole, than that he would bow to 
 him at his levee. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Aug. 3, 1776. 
 
 mr. boswell to dr. johnson. 
 
 Edinburgh, August 30, 1776. 
 [After giving him an account of my having examined the chest of books 
 which he had sent to me, and which contained what may be truly called a 
 numerous and miscellaneous S/a^/ Library, thrown together at random : ] 
 
 Lord Hailes was against the decree in the case of my client, the minister; 
 not that he justified the minister, but because the parishioner both provoked 
 and retorted. I sent his Lordship your able argument upon the case for his 
 perusal. His observation upon it in a letter to me was, "Dr. Johnson's 
 Suasorium is pleasantly ^ and artfully composed. I suspect, however, that 
 he has not convinced himself; for I believe that he is better read in ecclesias- 
 tical history than to imagine that a Bishop or Presbyter has a right to begin 
 censure or discipline k cathedrd.'^ 
 
 For the honour of Count Manucci, as well as to observe that exactness of 
 truth which you have taught me, I must correct what I said in a former letter. 
 He did not fall from his horse, which might have been an imputation on his 
 skill as an officer of cavalry; his horse fell with him, 
 
 I have, since I saw you, read every word of Granger's " Biographical His- 
 tory." It has entertained me exceedingly, and I do not think him the Whig 
 that you supposed. Horace Walpole's being his patron is, indeed, no good 
 sign of his political principles. But he denied to Lord Mountstuart that he 
 was a Whig, and said he had been accused by both parties of partiality. It 
 seems he was like Pope, 
 
 " While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory." ^ 
 
 ^ Why his Lordship uses the epithet pleasantly when speaking of a grave piece 
 of reasoning, I cannot conceive. But different men have different notions of pleas- 
 antry. I happened to sit by a gentleman one evening at the Opera House in Lon- 
 don, who at the moment when Medea appeared to be in grent agony at the thought 
 of killing her children, turned to me with a smile, and said, "Funny enough." — B. 
 
 Dr. Johnson afterwards told me, that he was of opinion that a clergyman had 
 this right. — B. 
 
 ^"Imitations of Horace," Book H. Sat. i. 1. 67. 
 
Age 67,] 
 
 BOSWELL AND HIS FATIIER. 
 
 61 
 
 I wish you would look more into his book; and as Lord Mountstuart wishes 
 much to find a proper person to continue the work upon Granger's plan, and 
 has desired I would mention it to you; if such a man occurs, please to let me 
 know. His Lordship will give him generous encouragement. 
 
 TO MR. ROBERT LEVETT.^ 
 
 Dear Sir : Having spent about six weeks at this place, we have at length 
 resolved upon returning. I expect to see you all in Fleet Street on the 30th 
 of this month. 
 
 I did not go into the sea till last Friday, but think to go most of this 
 week, though I know not that it does me any good. My nights are very 
 restless and tiresome, but I am otherwise well. 
 
 I have written word of my coming to Mrs. Williams. Remember me 
 kindly to Francis and Betsey. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Brighthelmstone, Oct. 21, 1776. 
 
 I again wrote to Dr. Johnson on the 21st of October, informing 
 him, that my father had, in the most hberal manner, paid a large 
 debt^ for me, and that I had now the happiness of being upon 
 very good terms with him, to which he returned the following 
 answer : 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : I had great pleasure in hearing that you are at last on good 
 terms with your father. Cultivate his kindness by all honest and manly means. 
 Life is but short; no time can be afforded but for the indulgence of real sorrow, 
 or contests upon questions seriously momentous. Let us not throw away any 
 of our days upon useless resentment, or contend who shall hold out longest in 
 stubborn malignity. It is best not to be angry; and best, in the next place, 
 to be quickly reconciled. May you and your father pass the remainder of 
 your time in reciprocal benevolence ! 
 
 Do you ever hear from Mr. Langton? I visit him sometimes, but he does 
 not talk. I do not like his scheme of life; but as I am not permitted to 
 understand it, I cannot set anything right that is wrong. His children are 
 sweet babies. 
 
 1 hope my irreconcilable enemy, Mrs. Boswell, is well. Desire her not to 
 transmit her malevolence to the young people. Let me have Alexander, and 
 Veronica, and Euphemia, for my friends. 
 
 Mrs. Williams, whom you may reckon as one of your well-wishers, is in a 
 feeble and languishing state, with little hopes of growing better. She went 
 for some part of the autumn into the country, but is little benefited; and Dr. 
 
 ' For this and Dr. Johnson's other letters to Mr. Levett, I am indebted to my 
 old acquaintance, Mr. Nathaniel Thomas, whose worth and ingenuity have been 
 long known to a respectable though not a wide circle; and whose collection of 
 medals would do credit to persons of greater opulence. — B. [Mr. Thomas was 
 for many years editor of the St. yames's Chroriicle. — Malo7ie?^ 
 
 2 Boswell in a letter of Nov. 3, 1780, mentions his father's bounty in paying 1,000/. 
 of his debt and allowing him 300/. a year. 
 
62 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 Lawrence confesses that his art is at an end. Death is, however, at a dis- 
 tance: and what more than that can we say of ourselves? I am sorry for her 
 pain, and more sorry for her decay, Mr. Levett is sound, wind and limb. 
 
 I was some weeks this autumn at Brighthelmstone. The place was very 
 dull, and I was not well; the expedition to the Hebrides was the most 
 pleasant journey that I ever made. Such an effort annually would give the 
 world a little diversification. 
 
 Every year, however, we cannot wander, and must therefore endeavour to 
 spend our time at home as well as we can. I believe it is best to throw life 
 into a method, that every hour may bring its employment, and every employ- 
 ment have its hour. Xenophon observes, in his "Treatise of GEconomy," 
 that if everything be kept in a certain place, when anything is worn out or 
 consumed, the vacuity which it leaves will shew what is wanting; so if every 
 part of time has its duty, the hour will call into remembrance its proper 
 engagement. 
 
 I have not practised all this prudence myself, but I have suffered much for 
 want of it; and I would have you, by timely recollection and steady resolu- 
 tion, escape from those evils which have lain heavy upon me. I am, my 
 dearest Boswell, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Bolt-court, Nov. 16, 1776. 
 
 On the 1 6th of November I informed him that Mr. Strahan 
 had sent me twelve copies of the " Journey to the Western Islands," ' 
 handsomely bound, instead of the twenty copies which were 
 stipulated ; but which, I supposed, were to be only in sheets ; 
 requested to know how they should be distributed : and mentioned 
 that I had another son born to me, who was named David, and 
 was a sickly infant. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have been for some time ill of a cold, which, perhaps, I made 
 an excuse to myself for not writing, when in reality I knew not what to say. 
 
 The books you must at last distribute as you think best, in my name, or 
 your own, as you are inclined, or as you judge most proper. Everybody 
 cannot be obliged; but I wish that nobody may be offended. Do the best 
 you can. 
 
 I congratulate you on the increase of your family, and hope that little 
 David is by this time well, and his mamma perfectly recovered. I am much 
 pleased to hear of the re-establishment of kindness between you and your 
 father. Cultivate his paternal tenderness as much as you can. To live at 
 variance at all is uncomfortable; and variance with a father is still more un- 
 comfortable. Besides that, in the whole dispute you have the wrong side; 
 at least you gave the first provocations, and some of them very offensive. 
 Let it now be all over. As you have no reason to think that your new 
 mother has shewn you any foul play, treat her with respect, and with some 
 
 ^ The book was published in 1775. Johnson stipulated that Boswell should have 
 twenty-five copies in his own name. 
 
 Lord Auchinleck liad lately married his first cousin Elizabeth, sister of Claude 
 Irvine Boswell, afterwards a iLord of Session by the title of Lord Balmuto. Of 
 this marriage there was no issue. — Croker. Boswell had (expressed extreme 
 aversion to his father's second marriage. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 67.] 
 
 BLAIR'S SERMONS. 
 
 68 
 
 degree of confidence; this will secure your father. When once a discordant 
 family has felt the pleasure of peace they will not willingly lose it. If Mrs. 
 Bosweii would but be friends with me, we might now shut the temple of Janus. 
 
 What came of Dr. Memis's cause? Is the question a])out the negro 
 determined? Has Sir Allan any reasonable hopes? What is l)ecome of 
 poor Macquarry?' 'Let me know the event of all these litigations. I wish 
 particularly well to the negro and Sir Allan. 
 
 Mrs. Williams has been much out of order; and though she is something 
 better, is likely, in her physician's opinion, to endure her malady for life, 
 though she may, perhaps, die of some other. Mrs. Thrale is big, and 
 fancies that she carries a boy; if it were very reasonable to wish much about 
 it, I should wish her not to be disappointed. The desire of male heirs is 
 not appendant only to feudal tenures. A son is almost necessary to the 
 continuance of Thrale's fortune; for what can misses do with a brew-house? 
 Lands are fitter for daughters than trades. 
 
 Baretti went away from Thrale's in some whimsical fit of disgust, or ill- 
 nature, without taking any leave. It is well if he finds in any other place as 
 good an habitation, and as many conveniences. He has got five-and-twenty 
 guineas by translating Sir Joshua's " Discourses " into Italian, and Mr. Thrale 
 gave him an hundred in the spring; so that he is yet in no difficulties. 
 
 Colman has bought Foote's patent, and is to allow Foote for life 1,600/. a 
 year, as Reynolds told me, and to allow him to play so often on such terms 
 that he may gain 400/. more. What Colman can get by this bargain,^ but 
 trouble and hazard, I do not see. I am, dear Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Dec. 21, 1776. 
 
 The Reverend Dr. Hugh Blair, who had long been admired as 
 a preacher at Edinburgh, thought now of diffusing his excellent 
 sermons more extensively, and increasing his reputation by pub- 
 lishing a collection of them. He transmitted the manuscript to 
 Mr. Strahan, the printer, who after keeping it for some time, 
 wrote a letter to him, discouraging the publication. Such at first 
 was the unpropitious state of one of the most successful theo- 
 logical books that has ever appeared. Mr. Strahan, however, had 
 sent one of the sermons to Dr. Johnson for his opinion ; and after 
 his unfavorable letter to Dr. Blair had been sent off, he received 
 from Johnson on Christmas Eve, a note in which was the follow- 
 ing paragraph : 
 
 I have read over Dr. Blair's first sermon with more than approbation; 
 to say it is good, is to say too little. 
 
 I believe Mr. Strahan had very soon after this time a conver- 
 
 1 Macquarry was the chief of Ulva's Isle, which had been in his family for nine 
 hundred years, till his debts forced him to sell it. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 It turned out, however, a very fortunate bargain, for Foote, though not then 
 fifty-six, died at an inn in Dover, in less than a year, Oct. 21, 1777. — Malonc. 
 
64 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1776. 
 
 sation with Dr. Johnson concerning them ; and then he very 
 candidly wrote again to Dr. Blair, enclosing Johnson's note, and 
 agreeing to purchase the volume, for which he and Mr. Cadell 
 gave 100/. The sale was so rapid and extensive, and the appro- 
 bation of the public so high, that to theii^ honor be it recorded, 
 the proprietors made Dr. Blair a present first of one sum, and 
 afterwards of another of 50/., thus voluntarily doubling the stipu- 
 lated price ; and when he prepared another volume, they gave 
 him at once 300/., being in all 500/. by an agreement to which 
 I am a subscribing witness ; and now for a third octavo volume 
 he has received no less than 600/. 
 
 In 1777, it appears from his " Prayers and Meditations," that 
 Johnson suffered much from a state of mind "unsettled and 
 perplexed," and from that constitutional gloom, which, together 
 with his extreme humility and anxiety with regard to his religious 
 state, made him contemplate himself through too dark and un- 
 favorable a medium. It may be said of him, that he " saw God 
 in clouds." ^ Certain we may be of his injustice to himself in 
 the following lamentable paragraph, which it is painful to think 
 came from the contrite heart of this great man, to whose labors 
 the world is so much indebted : 
 
 When I survey my past life, I discover nothing but a barren waste of 
 time, with some disorders of body, and disturbances of the mind, very near to 
 madness, which I hope He that made me will suffer to extenuate many faults, 
 and excuse many deficiencies. [" Pr. and Med.," p. 155.] ' 
 
 But we find his devotions in this year eminently fervent ; and 
 we are comforted by observing intervals of quiet composure, and 
 gladness. 
 
 On Easter Day we find the following emphatic prayer : 
 
 Almighty and most merciful Father, who seest all our miseries, and knowest 
 all our necessities, look down upon me and pity me. Defend me from the 
 violent incursions of evil thoughts, and enal^le me to form and keep such 
 resolutions as may conduce to the discharge of the duties which thy providence 
 shall appoint me; and so help me by thy Holy Spirit, that my heart may 
 surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found, and that I may serve 
 thee with pure affection and a cheerful mind. Have mercy upon me, O God, 
 have mercy upon me; years and infirmities oppress me, terror and anxiety be- 
 set me. Ilave mercy upon me, my Creator and my Judge. In all dangers 
 protect me. In all perplexities relieve and free me; and so help me by thy 
 Holy Spirit, that I may now so commemorate the death of thy Son our Saviour 
 
 1 Pope : " Essay on Man," i. 99. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S PEACE OF MTND. 
 
 65 
 
 Jesus Christ, as that when this short and painful life shall have an end, I 
 may, for his sake, be received to everlasting happiness. Amen. [" Pr. and 
 Med.," p. 158.] 
 
 While he was at church, the agreeable impressions upon his 
 mind are thus commemorated : 
 
 I was for some time distressed, but at last obtained, I hope from the God 
 of Peace, more quiet than I have enjoyed for a long time. I had made no 
 resolution, but as my heart grew lighter, my hopes revived, and my courage 
 increased; and I wrote with my pencil in my Common Prayer Book, 
 
 '* Vita ordinanda. 
 Biblia legenda. 
 Theologiae opera danda. 
 Serviendum et laetandum." 
 
 Mr. Steevens, whose generosity is well known, joined Dr. John- 
 son in kind assistance to a female relation of Dr. Goldsmith, and 
 desired that on her return to Ireland she would procure authentic 
 particulars of the life of her celebrated relation. Concerning her 
 is the following letter : 
 
 TO GEORGE STEEVENS, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : You will be glad to hear that from Mrs. Goldsmith, whom we 
 lamented as drowned, I have received a letter full of gratitude to us all, with 
 promises to make the enquiries which we recommended to her. 
 
 I would have had the honour of conveying this intelligence to Miss Caul- 
 field, but that her letter is not at hand, and I know not the direction. You 
 will tell the good news. I am, Sir, your most, &c., 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 February 25, 1777. 
 
 mr. boswell to dr. johnson. 
 
 Edinburgh, Feb. 14, 1777. 
 
 My dear Sir: My state of epistolary accounts with you at present is ex- 
 traordinary. The balance, as to number, is on your side. I am indebted to 
 you for two letters; one dated the i6th of November, upon which very day I 
 wrote to you, so that our letters were exactly exchanged, and one dated the 
 2ist of December last. 
 
 My heart was warmed with gratitude by the truly kind contents of both of 
 them; and it is amazing and vexing that I have allowed so much time to elapse 
 without writing to you. But delay is inherent in me, by nature or by bad 
 habit. I waited till I should have an opportunity of paying you my compli- 
 ments on a new year. I have procrastinated till the new year is no longer 
 new. 
 
 Dr. Memis's cause was determined against him with 40/. costs. The Lord 
 President, and two other of the judges, dissented from the majority, upon this 
 ground; that although there may have been no intention to injure him by 
 
 Vol. II. — s 
 
66 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 calling him Doctor of Medicine^ instead of Physician, yet, as he remonstrated 
 against the designation before the charter was printed off, and represented 
 that it was disagreeable, and even hurtful to him, it was ill-nature to refuse to 
 alter it, and let him have the designation to which he was certainly entitled. 
 My own opinion is, that our court has judged wrong. The defendants were 
 in mala fide, to persist in naming him in a way that he disliked. You remem- 
 ber poor Goldsmith, when he grew important, and wished to appear Doctor 
 Major, could not bear your calling him Goldy. Would it not have been 
 wrong to have named him so in your " Preface to Shakspeare," or in any 
 serious permanent writing of any sort? The difficulty is, whether an action 
 should be allowed on such petty wrongs. De minimis non curat lex. 
 
 The negro cause is not yet decided. A memorial is preparing on the side 
 of slavery. I shall send you a copy as soon as it is printed. Maclaurin is 
 made happy by your approbation of his memorial for the black. 
 
 Macquarry was here in the winter, and we passed an evening together. 
 The sale of his estate cannot be prevented. 
 
 Sir Allen Maclean's suit against the Duke of Argyle, for recovering the 
 ancient inheritance of his family, is now fairly before all our judges. I spoke 
 for him yesterday, and Maclaurin to-day; Crosbie spoke to-day against him. 
 Three more counsels are to be heard, and next week the cause will be de- 
 termined. I send you the Informations, or Cases, on each side, which I 
 hope you will read. You said to me when we were under Sir Allen's hos- 
 pitable roof, " I will help him with my pen." You said it with a generous 
 glow; and though his Grace of Argyle did afterwards mount you upon an 
 excellent horse, upon which "you looked like a Bishop," you must not 
 swerve from your purpose at Inchkenneth. I wish you may understand the 
 points at issue, amidst our Scotch law principles and phrases. 
 
 [Here followed a full statement of the case, in which I endeavoured to 
 make it as clear as I CQuld to an Englishman who had no knowledge of the 
 formularies and technical language of the law of Scotland.] 
 
 I shall inform you how the cause is decided here. But as it may be brought 
 under the review of our judges, and is certainly to be carried by appeal to the 
 House of Lords, the assistance of such a mind as yours will be of consequence. 
 Your paper on Vicious Intromission is a noble proof of what you can do even 
 in Scotch law. 
 
 I have not yet distributed all your books. Lord Hailes and Lord Mon- 
 boddo have each received one, and return you thanks. Monboddo dined with 
 me lately, and having drank tea, we were a good while by ourselves, and as I 
 knew that he had read the " Journey " superficially, as he did not talk of it as 
 I wished, I brought it to him, and read aloud several passages; and then he 
 talked so, that I told him he was to have a copy from the aiithoiir. He 
 begged that might be marked on it. 
 
 I ever am, my dear Sir, your most faithful and affectionate humble servant, 
 
 James Bos well. 
 
 sir alexander dick, to dr. samuel johnson. 
 
 Prestonfield, Feb. 17, 1777. 
 Sir: I had yesterday the honour of receiving your book of your " Journey 
 to the Western Islands of Scotland," which you was so good as to send me. 
 
Age 68.] JOHNSON AS FATHER OF TREES. 
 
 67 
 
 by the hands of our mutual friend, Mr. Boswell, of Auchinleck; for which I 
 return you my most hearty thanks: and after carefully reading it over again, 
 shall deposit it in my little collection of choice hooks, next our worthy friend's 
 " Journey to Corsica." As there are many things to admire in both perform- 
 ances, I have often wished that no travels or journey should be published bat 
 those undertaken by persons of integrity and capacity, to judge well, and de- 
 scribe faithfully, and in good language, the situation, condition, and manners 
 of the countries passed through. Indeed our country of Scotland, in spite of the 
 union of the crowns, is still in most places so devoid of clothing, or cover from 
 hedges and plantations, that it was well you gave your readers a sound Mojii- 
 toire with respect to that circumstance. The truths you have told, and the 
 purity of the language in which they are expressed, as your " Journey " is uni- 
 versally read, may, and already appear to have a very good effect. For a man 
 of my acquaintance, who has the largest nursery for trees and hedges in the 
 country, tells me, that of late the demand upon him for these articles is 
 doiibled, and sometimes tripled. I have, therefore, listed Dr. Samuel Johnson 
 in some of my memorandums of the principal planters and favourers of the en- 
 closures, under a name which I took the liberty to invent from the Greek, 
 Papadendrion. Lord Auchinleck and some few more are of the list. I am 
 told that one gentleman in the shire of Aberdeen, viz. Sir Archibald Grant, has 
 planted above fifty millions of trees on a piece of very wild ground at Moni- 
 musk : I must inquire if he has fenced them well, before he enters my list; for, 
 that is the soul of enclosing. I began myself to plant a little, our ground be- 
 ing too valuable for much, and that is now fifty years ago; and the trees, now 
 in my seventy-fourth year, I look up to with reverence, and shew them to my 
 eldest son now in his fifteenth year, and they are full the height of my country- 
 house here where I had the pleasure of receiving you, and hope again to have 
 that satisfaction with our mutual friend, Mr. Boswell. I shall always con- 
 tinue with the truest esteem, dear Doctor, your most obliged and obedient 
 humble servant, 
 
 Alexander Dick.^ 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: It is so long since I heard anything from you,^ that I am not 
 easy about it; write something to me next post. When you sent your last let- 
 ter, every thing seemed to be mending; I hope nothing has lately grown 
 worse. I suppose young Alexander continues to thrive, and Veronica is now 
 very pretty company. I do not suppose the lady is yet reconciled to me, yet 
 let her know that I love her very well, and value her very much. 
 
 Dr. Blair is printing some sermons. If they are all like the first, which I 
 have read, they are seriuones aurei, ac auro inagis aurei. It is excellently 
 written both as to doctrine and language. Mr. Watson's book ^ seems to be 
 much esteemed. 
 
 Poor Beauclerk still continues very ill. Langton lives on as he used to do. 
 His children are very pretty, and, I think, his lady loses her Scotch. Paoli I 
 never see. 
 
 ^ For a character of this very amiable man see " Journal of a Tour to the Heb- 
 rides," 3d edit., p. 36. — B. 
 
 By the then course of the post, my long letter of the 14th had not vet reached 
 I'm. — B. 
 
 3 " History of Philip the Second." — B. 
 
68 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 I have been so distressed by difficulty of breathing, that I lost, as was com- 
 puted, six-and-thirty ounces of blood in a few days. I am better, but not 
 well. 
 
 I wish you would be vigilant and get me Graham's " Telemachus " that was 
 printed at Glasgow, a very little book; and " Johnstoni Poemata," another 
 little book printed at Middleburgh. 
 
 Mrs. Williams sends her compliments, and promises that when you come 
 hither, she will accommodate you as well as ever she can in the old room. She 
 wishes to know whether you sent her book to Sir Alexander Gordon. 
 
 My dear Boswell, do not neglect to write to me: for your kindness is one 
 of the pleasures of my life, which I should be sorry to lose. I am. Sir, your 
 humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Feb. 18, 1777. 
 
 to dr. samuel johnson. 
 
 Edinburgh, Feb. 24, 1777. 
 
 Dear Sir: Your letter dated the i8th instant, I had the pleasure to receive 
 last post. Although my late long neglect, or rather delay, was truly culpable, 
 I am tempted not to regret it, since it has produced me so valuable a proof of 
 your regard. I did, indeed, during that inexcusable silence, sometimes divert 
 the reproaches of my own mind, by fancying that I should hear again from 
 you, inquiring with some anxiety about me, because, for aught you knew, I 
 might have been ill. 
 
 You are pleased to shew me, that my kindness is of some consequence to 
 you. My heart is elated at the thought. Be assured, my dear Sir, that my 
 affection and reverence for you are exalted and steady. I do not believe that 
 a more perfect attachment ever existed in the history of mankind. And it is a 
 noble attachment; for the attractions are Genius, Learning, and Piety. 
 
 Your difficulty of breathing alarms me, and brings into my imagination an 
 event, which although in the natural course of things, I must expect at some 
 period, I cannot view with composure. 
 
 My wife is much honoured by what you say of her. She begs you may 
 accept of her best compliments. She is to send you some marmalade of 
 oranges of her own making. 
 
 I ever am, my dear Sir, your most obliged and faithful humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have been much pleased with your late letter, and am glad 
 that my old enemy, Mrs. Boswell, begins to feel some remorse. As to Miss 
 Veronica's Scotch, I think it can not be helped. An English maid you might 
 easily have; but she would still imitate the greater number, as they would 
 be likewise those whom she must most respect. Her dialect will not be 
 gross. Her mamma has not much Scotch, and you have yourself very little. 
 I hope she knows my name, and does not call me Johnston.^ 
 
 1 Johnw is the most common English formation of the surname from John; 
 John.r/^?? the Scotch. My illustrious friend observed, that many North Britons 
 pronounced his name in their own way. — B, 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 SHAW'S ERSE GRAMMAU. 
 
 69 
 
 The immediate cause of my writing is this: — One Shaw, who seems a 
 modest and a decent man, has written an Erse Grammar, which a very learned 
 Highlander, Macbean,^ has, at my request, examined and approved. 
 
 The book is very little, but Mr. Shaw has been persuaded by his friends to 
 set it at half a guinea, though I advised only a crown, and thought myself 
 liberal. You, whom the authour considers as a great encourager of ingenious 
 men, will receive a parcel of his proposals and receipts. I have undertaken 
 to give you notice of them, and to solicit your countenance. You must ask 
 no poor man, because the price is really too high. Yet such a work deserves 
 patronage. 
 
 It is proposed to augment our club from twenty to thirty, of which I am 
 glad; for as we have several in it whom I do not much like to consort with,^ 
 I am for reducing it to a mere miscellaneous collection of conspicuous men, 
 without any determinate character. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, most affectionately yours, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 March 14, 1777. 
 
 My respects to Madam, to Veronica, to Alexander, to Euphemia, to 
 David. 
 
 MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, April 4, 1777. 
 
 [After informing him of the death of my little son David, and that I could 
 not come to London this spring : ] 
 
 I think it hard that I should be a whole year without seeing you. May 
 I presume to petition for a meeting with you in the autumn ? You have, I 
 believe, seen all the cathedrals in England, except that of Carlisle. If you 
 are to be with Dr. Taylor, at Ashbourne, it would not be a great journey to 
 come thither. We may pass a few most agreeable days there by ourselves, 
 and I will accompany you a good part of the way to the southward again. 
 Pray think of this. 
 
 You forget that Mr. Shaw's Erse Grammar was put into your hands by 
 myself last year. Lord Eglintoune put it into mine. I am glad that Mr. 
 Macbean approves of it. I have received Mr. Shaw's proposals for its pub- 
 lication, which I can perceive are written by the hand of a Master. 
 
 Pray get me all the editions of Walton's " Lives." I have a notion that 
 the republication of them with Notes will fall upon me, between Dr. Horne 
 and Lord Hailes. 
 
 Mr. Shaw's proposals t for " An Analysis of the Scotch Celtic 
 Language," were thus illuminated by the pen of Johnson : 
 
 Though the Erse Dialect of the Celtic language has, from the earliest times, 
 been spoken in Britain, and still subsists in the northern parts and adjacent 
 islands, yet, by the negligence of a people rather warlike than lettered, it has 
 hitherto been left to the caprice and judgment of every speaker, and has 
 
 ^ Johnson's former amanuensis. 
 
 2 On account of their differing from him as to religion and politics. — B. 
 
TO 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 floated in the living voice, without the steadiness of analogy, or direction of 
 rules. An Erse Grammar is an addition to the stores of literature; and its 
 Author hopes for the indulgence always shewn to those that attempt to do 
 what was never done before. If this work shall be found defective, it is at 
 least all his own: he is not like other grammarians, a compiler or transcriber; 
 what he delivers, he has learned by attentive observation among his country- 
 men, who perhaps will be themselves surprised to see that speech reduced to 
 principles, which they have used only by imitation. 
 
 The use of this book will, however, not be confined to the mountains and 
 islands; it will afford a pleasing and important subject of speculation, to those 
 whose studies lead them to trace the affinity of languages, and the migrations 
 of the ancient races of mankind. 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Glasgow, April 24, 1777. 
 
 My dear Sir: Our worthy friend Thrale's death having appeared in the 
 newspapers, and been afterwards contradicted, I have been placed in a state 
 of very uneasy uncertainty, from which I hoped to be relieved by you : but 
 my hopes have as yet been vain. How could you omit to write to me on 
 such an occasion? I shall wait with anxiety. 
 
 I am going to Auchinleck to stay a fortnight with my father. It is better 
 not to be there very long at one time. But frequent renewals of attention are 
 agreeable to him. 
 
 Pray tell me about this edition of "The English Poets, with a Preface, 
 biographical and critical, to each Author, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D. " which 
 I see advertised. I am delighted with the prospect of it. Indeed I am 
 happy to feel that I am capable of being so much delighted with literature. 
 But is not the charm of this publication chiefly owing to the magnum nomen 
 in the front of it? 
 
 What do you say of Lord Chesterfield's Memoirs and last Letters?* 
 My wife has made marmalade of oranges for you. I left her and my 
 daughters and Alexander all well yesterday. I have taught Veronica to speak 
 of you thus; — Dr. ]o\ix\son, not ^o\ix\ston. I remain, my dear Sir, your 
 most affectionate, and obliged humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir : The story of Mr. Thrale's death, as he had neither been sick nor 
 in any other danger, made so little impression upon me, that I never thought 
 about obviating its effects on any body else. It is supposed to have been 
 produced the English custom of making April fools, that is, of sending one 
 another on some foolish errand on the first of April. 
 
 Tell Mrs. Boswell that I shall taste her marmalade cautiously at first. 
 Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.^ Beware, says the Italian proverb, of a 
 reconciled enemy. But when I find it does me no harm, I shall then receive 
 it and be thankful for it, as a pledge of firm, and I hope, of unalterable kind- 
 ness. She is, after all, a dear, dear lady. 
 
 1 Lord Chesterfield's "Letters to his Son" were publislied in 1774; his "Mis- 
 cellaneous Works, " " Memoirs and Letters to his Friends, " early in 1777. 
 
 2 Virgil, " ^neid," 11, 49. 
 
Age 68.] BARGAINS WITH BOOKSELLERS. 71 
 
 Please to return Dr. Blair thanks for his sermons. The Scotch write 
 English wonderfully well. 
 
 Your frequent visits to Auchinleck, and your short stay there, are very 
 laudable and very judicious. Your present concord with your father gives me 
 great pleasure ; it was all that you seemed to want. 
 
 My health is very bad, and my nights are very unquiet. What can I do to 
 mend them? I have for this summer nothing better in prospect than a 
 journey into Staffordshire and Derbyshire, perhaps with Oxford and Birming- 
 ham in my way. 
 
 Make my compliments to Miss Veronica ; I must leave it to hei' philosophy 
 to comfort you for the loss of little David. You must remember, that to keep 
 three out of four is more than your share. Mrs. Thrale has but four out of 
 eleven. 
 
 I am engaged to write little Lives, and little Prefaces, to a little edition of 
 the English Poets. I think I have persuaded the booksellers to insert some- 
 thing of Thomson ; and if you could give me some information about him, for 
 the life which we have is very scanty, I should be glad. I am, dear Sir, 
 your most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 3, 1777. 
 
 To those who delight in tracing the progress of works of liter- 
 ature, it will be an entertainment tO' compare the limited design 
 with the ample execution of that admirable performance, "The 
 Lives of the English Poets," which is the richest, most beautiful, 
 and indeed most perfect, production of Johnson's pen. His 
 notion of it at this time appears in the preceding letter. He has 
 a memorandum in this year, "29 May, Easter Eve, I treated 
 with booksellers on a bargain, but the time was not long." [" Pr. 
 and Med.," p. 155.] The bargain was concerning that under- 
 taking ; but his tender conscience seems alarmed, lest it should 
 have intruded too much on his devout preparation for the solem- 
 nity of the ensuing day. But, indeed, very little time was neces- 
 sary for Johnson's concluding a treaty with the booksellers ; as 
 he had, I believe, less attention to profit from his labors, than 
 any man to whom literature has been a profession. I shall here 
 insert from a letter to me from my late worthy friend Mr. Edward 
 Dilly, though of a later date, an account of this plan so happily 
 conceived ; since it was the occasion of procuring for us an 
 elegant collection of the best biography and criticism of which 
 our language can boast. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 SouTHiLL, Sept. 26, 1777. 
 Dear Sir: You will find by this letter, that I am still in the same 
 calm retreat, from the noise and bustle of London, as when I wrote to you 
 
72 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 last. I am happy to find you had such an agreeable meeting with your old 
 friend Dr. Johnson; I have no doubt your stock is much increased by the in- 
 terview; few men, nay I may say, scarcely any man, has got that fund of 
 knowledge and entertainment as Dr. Johnson in conversation. When he 
 opens freely, every one is attentive to what he says, and cannot fail of im- 
 provement as well as pleasure. 
 
 The edition of the Poets, now printing, will do honour to the English press; 
 and a concise account of the life of each authour, by Dr. Johnson, will be a 
 very valuable addition, and stamp the reputation of this edition superior to 
 anything that is gone before. The first cause that gave rise to this undertak- 
 ing, I believe, was owing to the little trifling edition of the Poets, printing by 
 the Martins at Edinburgh, and to be sold by Bell in London. Upon examin- 
 ing the volumes which were printed, the type was found so extremely small, 
 that many persons could not read them; not only this inconvenience attended 
 it, but the inaccuracy of the press was very conspicuous. These reasons, as 
 well as the idea of an invasion of what we call our Literary Property, induced 
 the London booksellers to print an elegant and accurate edition of all the 
 English poets of reputation, from Chaucer to the present time. 
 
 Accordingly a select number of the most respectable booksellers met on the 
 occasion; and, on consulting together, agreed that all the proprietors of copy- 
 right in the various poets should be summoned together; and when their 
 opinions were given, to proceed immediately on the business. Accordingly a 
 meeting was held, consisting of about forty of the most respectable book- 
 sellers of London, when it was agreed that an elegant and uniform edition of 
 " The English Poets " should be immediately printed, with a concise account 
 of the life of each authour, by Dr. Samuel Johnson : and that three persons 
 should be deputed to wait upon Dr. Johnson, to solicit him to undertake the 
 Lives, viz. T. Davies, Strahan, and Cadell. The Doctor very politely under- 
 took it, and seemed exceedingly pleased with the proposal. As to the terms, 
 it was left entirely to the Doctor to name his own; he mentioned two hundred 
 guineas;^ it was immediately agreed to; and a farther compliment, I believe, 
 will be made him. A committee was likewise appointed to engage the best 
 engravers, viz. Bartolozzi, Sherwin, Hall, etc. Likewise another committee 
 for giving directions about the paper, printing, etc., so that the whole will be 
 conducted with spirit, and in the best manner, with respect to authourship, 
 editorship, engravings, etc. My brother will give you a list of the Poets we 
 mean to give, many of which are within the time of the Act of Queen Anne, 
 which Martin and Bell cannot give, as they have no property in them; the 
 proprietors are almost all the booksellers in London, of consequence. I am, 
 dear Sir, ever yours, 
 
 Edward Dilly. 
 
 I shall afterwards have occasidn to consider the extensive and 
 varied range which Johnson took, when he was once led upon 
 ground which he trod with a peculiar deHght, having long been 
 intimately acquainted with all the circumstances of it that could 
 interest and please. 
 
 * Johnson's moderation in demanding so small a sum is extraordinary. Had he 
 asked one thousand, or even fifteen huntlred guineas, the booksellers, who knew the 
 valu<; of his name, would doubtless have readily given it. They have probably got 
 five thousand guineas by this work in the course of twenty-five years. — Malone. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 BISHOP PEARCE'S WORKS. 
 
 73 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO CHARLES O'CONNOR, ESQ.' 
 
 Sir: Having had the pleasure of conversing with Dr. Campbell about 
 your character and your literary undertaking, I am resolved to gratify myself 
 by renewing a correspondence which began and ended a great while ago, and 
 ended, I am afraid, by my fault; a fault which, if you have not forgotten it, 
 you must now forgive. 
 
 If I have ever disappointed you, give me leave to tell you, that you have 
 likewise disappointed me. I expected great discoveries in Irish antiquity, 
 and large publications in the Irish language; but the world still remains as it 
 was, doubtful and ignorant. What the Irish language is in itself, and to what 
 languages it has affinity are very interesting questions, which every man 
 wishes to see resolved that has any philological or historical curiosity. Dr. 
 Leland begins his history too late : the ages which deserve an exact inquiry 
 are those times (for ^ such they were) when Ireland was the school of the 
 west, the quiet habitation of sanctity and literature. If you could give a 
 history, though imperfect, of the Irish nation from its conversion to Christian- 
 ity to the invasion from England, you would amplify knowledge with new 
 views and new objects. Set about it therefore, if you can : do what you can 
 easily do without anxious exactness. Lay the foundation, and leave the su- 
 perstructure to posterity. I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 19, 1777. 
 
 Early in this year came out, in two volumes quarto, the post- 
 humous works of the learned Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop of 
 Rochester ; being " A Commentary with Notes, on the four 
 Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles/' with other theological 
 pieces. Johnson had now an opportunity of making a grateful 
 return to that excellent prelate, who, we have seen, was the only 
 person who gave him any assistance in the compilation of his 
 Dictionary. The Bishop had left some account of his life and 
 character, written by himself. To this Johnson made some valu- 
 able additions, and also furnished to the editor, the Reverend 
 Mr. Derby, a Dedication, which I shall here insert, both because 
 it will appear at this time with peculiar propriety ; and because it 
 will tend to propagate and increase that fervour of Loyalty,"" 
 
 ^ Mr. Joseph Cooper Walker, of the Treasury, Dublin, who obhgingly communi- 
 cated to me this and a former letter from Dr. Johnson to the same gentleman [for 
 which see Vol. I., p. 181] , writes to me as follows : " Perhaps it would gratify you to 
 have some account of Mr. O'Connor. He is an amiable, learned, venerable old 
 gentleman, of an independent fortune, who lives ar Belanagare, in the county of Ros- 
 common ; he is an admired writer, and member of the Irish Academy. The above 
 letter is alluded to in the preface to the 2d edit, of his Dissert,, p. 3." Mr. O'Con- 
 nor afterwards died at the age of eighty-two, July i, 1791, See a well drawn 
 character of him in the Gentleman s Magazine for August, 1791. — B. See also 
 Napier's edition, vol. iii., Appendix 4. 
 
 2 Probably " //they were" in the original. See Croker. 
 
74 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 which in me, who boast of the name of Tory, is not only a 
 principle, but a passion. 
 
 TO THE KING. 
 
 Sir: I presume to lay before your Majesty the last labours of a learned 
 Bishop, who died in the toils and duties of his calHng. He is now beyond the 
 reach of all earthly honours and rewards; and only the hope of inciting others 
 to imitate him, makes it now fit to be remembered, that he enjoyed in his life 
 the favour of your Majesty. 
 
 The tumultuary life of Princes seldom permits them to survey the wide 
 extent of national interest without losing sight of private merit; to exhibit 
 qualities which may be imitated by the highest and the humblest of mankind; 
 and to be at once amiable and great. 
 
 Such characters, if now and then they appear in history, are contemplated 
 with admiration. May it be the ambition of all your subjects to make haste 
 with their tribute of reverence; and as posterity may learn from your Majesty 
 how Kings should live, may they learn likewise from your people how they 
 should be honoured. 
 
 I am, may it please your Majesty, with the most profound respect, your 
 Majesty's most dutiful and devoted Subject and Servant. 
 
 In the summer he wrote a prologue which was spoken before 
 " A Word to the Wise," a comedy by Mr. Hugh Kelly, which had 
 been brought upon the stage in 1770 ; but he being a writer for 
 the Ministry in one of the newspapers, it fell a sacrifice to popu- 
 lar fury, and, in the playhouse phrase, was damned. By the 
 generosity of Mr. Harris, the proprietor of Covent Garden 
 theatre, it was now exhibited for one night, for the benefit of the 
 author's widow and children. To conciliate the favor of the 
 audience was the intention of Johnson's prologue, which, as it is 
 not long, I shall here insert, as a proof that his poetical talents 
 were in no degree impaired. 
 
 " This night presents a play, which public rage, 
 Or right or wrong, once hooted from the stage: 
 From zeal or malice, now no more we dread, 
 For English vengeance %vars not ivith tJie dead. 
 A generous foe regards with pitying eye 
 The man whom Fate has laid where all must lie. 
 To wit, reviving from its author's dust. 
 Be kind, ye judges, or at least be just: 
 Let no renewed hostilities invnde 
 Th' oblivious grave's inviolable shade. 
 Let one great payment every claim appease, 
 And him who cannot hurt, allow to please; 
 To please by scenes, unconscious of offence, 
 By harmless merriment, or ns(;ful sense. 
 Where aught of bright or f;iir the piece displays, 
 
Age 68.] RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 
 
 75 
 
 Approve it only; — 't is too late to praise. 
 
 If want of skill or want of care appear, 
 
 Forbear to hiss; — the poet cannot hear. 
 
 By all, like him, must praise and blame be found, 
 
 At last, a fleeting gleam, or empty sound; 
 
 Yet then shall calm reflection bless the night. 
 
 When liberal pity dignified delight; 
 
 When pleasure fir'd her torch at virtue's flame, 
 
 And mirth was bounty with an humbler name." 
 
 A circumstance, which could not fail to be very pleasing to 
 Johnson, occurred this year. The tragedy of " Sir Thomas Over- 
 bury," written by his early companion in London, Richard Sav- 
 age, was brought out with alterations at Drury Lane theatre.' 
 The prologue to it was written by Mr. Richard Brinsley Sheridan ; 
 in which, after describing very pathetically the wretchedness of 
 
 " Ill-fated Savage, at whose birth was giv'n 
 
 No parent but the Muse, no friend but Heav'n:" 
 
 he introduced an elegant compliment to Johnson on his Diction- 
 ary, that wonderful performance which cannot be too often or too 
 highly praised ; of which Mr. Harris, in his " Philological In- 
 quiries"^ [part I, chap. 4,] justly and liberally observes, "Such 
 is its merit, that our language does not possess a more copious, 
 learned, and valuable work." The concluding lines of this pro- 
 logue were these : 
 
 " So pleads the tale^ that gives to future times 
 The son's misfortunes and the parent's crimes; 
 There shall his fame (if own'd to-night) survive, 
 Fix'd by THE hand that bids our language live." 
 
 Mr. Sheridan here at once did honor to his taste and to his 
 liberality of sentiment, by showing that he was not prejudiced 
 from the unlucky difference which had taken place between his 
 worthy father and Dr. Johnson. I have already mentioned, that 
 Johnson was very desirous of reconciliation with old Mr. Sheridan. 
 It will, therefore, not seem at all surprising that he was zealous in 
 acknowledging the brilliant merit of his son. While it had as yet 
 been displayed only in the drama, Johnson proposed him as a 
 member of The Literary Club, observing that, " He who has 
 written the two best coiTiedies of his age, is surely a considerable 
 
 1 Malone has corrected this, on Kemble's authority, to Covent Garden. 
 
 2 " Life of Richard Savage," by Dr. Johnson, — B. 
 
76 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 man." And he had, accordingly, the honor to be elected ; ' for 
 an honor it undoubtedly must be allowed to be, when it is consid- 
 ered of whom that society consists, and that a single black ball 
 excludes a candidate. 
 
 mr. boswell to dr. johnson. 
 
 July [June?] 9, 1777. 
 
 My dear Sir: For the health of my wife and children I have taken the 
 little country-house at which you visited my uncle, Dr. Boswell, who having 
 lost his wife, is gone to live with his son. We took possession of our villa 
 about a week ago; we have a garden of three quarters of an acre, well stocked 
 with fruit-trees and flowers, and gooseberries and currants, and peas and 
 beans, and cabbages, &c. &c., and my children are quite happy. I now write to 
 you in a little study, from the wmdow of which I see around me a verdant 
 grove, and beyond it the lofty mountain called Arthur's Seat. 
 
 Your last letter, in which you desire me to send you some additional infor- 
 mation concerning Thomson, reached me very fortunately just as I was going 
 to Lanark, to put my wife's two nephews, the young Campbells, to school 
 there, under the care of Mr. Thomson, the master of it, whose wife is sister 
 to the authour of " The Seasons." She is an old woman; but her memory is 
 very good; and she will with pleasure give me for you every particular that 
 you wish to know, and she can tell. Pray then take the trouble to send me 
 such questions as may lead to biographical materials. You say that the Life 
 which we have of Thomson is scanty. Since I received your letter, I have 
 read his Life, published under the name of Gibber, but as you told me, really 
 written by a Mr. Shiels;^ that written by Dr. Murdoch; one prefixed to an 
 edition of the "Seasons," published at Edinburgh, which is compounded of 
 both, with the addition of an anecdote of Quin's relieving Thomson from 
 prison; the abridgement of Murdoch's account of him in the '* Biographia 
 Britannica," and another abridgement of it in the " Biographical Dictionary," 
 enriched with Dr. Joseph Warton's critical panegyrick on the "Seasons" in 
 his ' ' Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope " : from all these it appears 
 to me that we have a pretty full account of this poet. However, you will, I 
 doubt not, shew me many blanks, and I shall do what can be done to have 
 them filled up. As Thomson never returned to Scotland (which will 
 think very wise), his sister can speak from her own knowledge only as to the 
 early part of his life. vShe has some letters from him, which may probably 
 give light as to his more advanced progress, if she will let us see them, which 
 I suj^pose she will. I believe Cieorge Lewis Scott ^ and Dr. Armstrong are 
 now his only surviving companions, while he lived in and about London; and 
 they, I dare say, can tell more of him than is yet known. My own notion is, 
 that Thomson was a much coarser man than his friends are willing to acknowl- 
 edge. His "Seasons" are indeed full of elegant and pious sentiments : but 
 a rank soil, nay, a dunghill, will produce beautiful flowers. 
 
 ^ R. B. Sheridan joined the Literary Club in March, 1777. " The Rivals " and 
 " The Duenna" to which Johnson referred were brought out in 1775. 
 
 2 See p. 19, No/e i. 
 
 3 An amiable and learned man, formerly Sub-prece|)tor to his present Majesty, 
 and afterwards appointed a Commissioner of Ivxcise. lie died in 1780. — Malone, 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 THE LIFE OF DAVID HUME. 
 
 77 
 
 Your edition ' of the " English Poets," will be very valuable, on account 
 of the " Prefaces and Lives." But I have seen a specimen of an edition of 
 the Poets at the Apollo press, at Edinburgh, which, for excellence in print- 
 ing and engraving, highly deserves a liberal encouragement. 
 
 Most sincerely do I regret the bad health and bad rest with which you have 
 been afflicted; and I hope you are better. I cannot believe that the Prologue 
 which you generously gave to Mr. Kelly's widow and children the other day, 
 is the effusion of one in sickness and in disquietude: but external circum- 
 stances are never sure indications of the state of man. I send you a letter which 
 I wrote to you two years ago at Wilton: and did not send it at the time, for 
 fear of being reproved as indulging too much tenderness; and one written to 
 you at the tomb of Melancthon, which I kept back lest I should appear at 
 once too superstitious and too enthusiastick. I now imagine that perhaps 
 they may please you. 
 
 You do not take the least notice of my proposal for our meeting at Carlisle.^ 
 Though I have meritoriously refrained from visiting London this year, I ask 
 you if it would not be wrong that I should be two years without having the 
 benefit of your conversation, when, if you come down as far as Derbyshire, 
 we may meet at the expense of a few days journeying, and not many pounds. 
 I wish you to see Carlisle, which made me mention that place. But if you 
 have not a desire to complete your tour of the English cathedrals, I will take 
 a larger share of the road between this place and Ashbourne. So tell me 7vhere 
 you will fix for our passing a few days by ourselves. Now do n't cry " foolish 
 fellow," or " idle dog." Chain your humour, and let your kindness play. 
 
 You will rejoice to hear that Miss Macleod of Rasay is married to Colonel 
 Mure Campbell, an excellent man, with a pretty good estate of his own, and 
 the prospect of having the Earl of Loudoun's fortune and honours. Is not 
 this a noble lot for our fair Hebridean? How happy am I that she is to be 
 in Ayrshire. We shall have the Laird of Rasay, and old Malcolm, and I 
 know not how many gallant Macleods, and bag-pipes, &c. «&c. at Auchinleck. 
 Perhaps you may meet them all there. 
 
 Without doubt you have read what is called " The Life of David Hume," 
 written by himself, with the letter from Dr. Adam Smith subjoined to it. Is 
 not this an age of daring effrontery? My friend Mr. Anderson, Professor of 
 Natural Philosophy at Glasgow, at whose house you and I supped, and to 
 
 ^ Dr. Johnson was not the editor of this Collection of the English Poets ; he 
 merely furnished the biographical prefaces with w hich it is enriched, as is rightly 
 stated in a subsequent page. He indeed, from a virtuous motive, recommended the 
 works of four or five poets (whom he has named) to be added to the collection ; 
 but he is no otherwise answerable for any which are found there, or any which are 
 omitted. The poems of Goldsmith (whose life I know he intended to write, for I 
 collected some materials for it by his desire) were omitted, in consequence of a 
 petty exclusive interest in some of them, vested in Mr. Carnan, a bookseller. — 
 Malone. 
 
 2 Dr. Johnson had himself talked of our seeing Carlisle together. High was a 
 favorite word of his to denote a person of rank. He said to me, "Sir, I believe we 
 may meet at the house of a Roman Catholic lady in Cumberland : a higli lady. Sir." 
 I afterwards discovered that he meant Mrs. Strickland, sister of Charles Townley, 
 Esq., whose very noble collection of statues and pictures is not more to be admired 
 than his extraordinary and polite readiness in showing it, which I and several of my 
 friends have agreeably experienced. They who are possessed of valuable stores of 
 gratification to persons of taste, should exercise their benevolence in imparting the 
 pleasure. Grateful acknowledgments are due to VVelVjore Ellis Agar, Esq., for the 
 liberal access which he is pleased to allow to his exquisite collection of pictures. — B, 
 
78 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777, 
 
 whose care Mr. Windham, of Norfolk, was intrusted at that University, paid 
 me a visit lately; and after we had talked with indignation and contempt of 
 the poisonous productions with which this age is infested, he said there was 
 now an excellent opportunity for Dr. Johnson to step forth. I agreed with 
 him that you might knock Hume's and Smith's heads together, and make vain 
 and ostentatious infidelity exceedingly ridiculous. Would it not be worth 
 your while to crush such noxious weeds in the moral garden? 
 
 You have said nothing to me of Dr. Dodd. I know not how you think on 
 that subject; though the news-papers give us a saying of yours in favour of 
 mercy to him. But I own I am very desirous that the royal prerogative of 
 remission of punishment, should be employed to exhibit an illustrious instance 
 of the regard which GOD'S Vicegerent will ever shew to piety and virtue. 
 If for ten righteous men the Almighty would have spared Sodom, shall not a 
 thousand acts of goodness done by Dr. Dodd counterbalance one crime? Such 
 an instance would do more to encourage goodness, than his execution would 
 do to deter from vice. I am not afraid of any bad consequence to society; 
 for who will persevere for a long course of years in a distinguished discharge 
 of religious duties, with a view to commit a forgery with impunity? 
 
 Pray make my best compliments acceptable to Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, by 
 assuring them of my hearty joy that the Master, as you call him, is alive. I 
 hope I shall often taste his Champagne — soberly. 
 
 I have not heard from Langton for a long time, I suppose he is as usual, 
 
 " Studious the busy moments to deceive." ^ 
 
 I remain, my dear Sir, your most affectionate and faithful humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 On the 23d of June, I again wrote to Dr. Johnson, enclosing a 
 ship-master's receipt for a jar of orange marmalade, and a large 
 packet of Lord Hailes's " Annals of Scotland." 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have just received your packet from Mr. Thrale's, but have 
 not daylight enough to look much into it. I am glad that I have credit enough 
 with Lord Hailes to be trusted with more copy.^ I hope to take more care of 
 it than of the last. I return Mrs. Boswell niy affectionate thanks for her 
 present, which I value as a token of reconciliation. 
 
 Poor Dodd was put to death yesterday, in opposition to the recommenda- 
 tion of the jury, — the petition of the city of London, — and a subsequent 
 petition signed by three-and-twenty thousand hands. Surely the voice of the 
 public, when it calls so loudly, and only for mercy, ought to be heard. 
 
 The saying that was given me in the papers I never spoke; but I wrote 
 many of his petitions, and some of his letters. He applied to me very often. 
 He was, I am afraid, long flattered with hopes of life; but I had no part in 
 
 * Prior's imitation of" Gualterus Danistonus ad Amices." — Dr. Hill, 
 ' Manuscript for printing. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 DR. DODD. 
 
 79 
 
 the dreadful delusion: for as soon as the King had signed his sentence,' I 
 obtained from Mr. Chamier an account of the disposition of the court to- 
 wards him, with a declaration that there laas no hope even of a respite. This 
 letter immediately was laid before Dodd; but he believed those whom he 
 wished to be right, as it is thought, till within three days of his end. He died 
 with pious composure and resolution. I have just seen the Ordinary that at- 
 tended him. His address^ to his fellow-convicts offended the Methodists; 
 but he had a Moravian with him much of his time. His moral character is 
 very bad: I hope all is not true that is charged upon him. Of his behaviour 
 in prison an account will be published. 
 
 I give you joy of your country-house and your pretty garden; and hope 
 some time to see you in your felicity. I was much pleased with your two 
 letters that had been kept so long in store;'' and rejoice at Miss Rasay's ad- 
 vancement, and wish Sir Allan success. 
 
 1 This is an erroneous expression. The King signs no sentences or death- 
 warrants ; but out of respect to the royal prerogative ot mercy expressed by the old 
 adage, The King' s face !(ivcs grace, case of criminals convicted in London, where 
 the Kmg is supposed to be resident, were reported to liim by tlie Recorder, that 
 his Majesty might have an option of pardoning. Hence it was seriously doubted 
 whether a Recorder's report need or indeed could be made at Windsor. All his 
 Majesty did on these occasions was to express verbally his assent or dissent to or 
 from the execution of the sentence; and though the King was on such occasions 
 attended by his Ministers and the great legal Privy Councillors, the business was 
 not technically a council business, but the individual act of the King. On the ac- 
 cession of Queen Victoria, the nature of some cases that it might be necessary to 
 resort to her Majesty occasioned the abrogation of a practice which was certainly 
 50 far unreasonable that it made a difference between London and the rest of the 
 kingdom. I have thought it worth while, in correcting the popular error as to the 
 King's signing death-warrants, to explain a custom always a little obscure, and now 
 obsolete. — Croker, 1846. 
 
 ^Under-Secretary of State and a member of the Literary Club. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ It was written by Dr. Johnson. 
 
 * Since they have been so much honored by Dr. Johnson, I shall here insert 
 them. 
 
 TO MR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 My ever dear and muck rEsI'ECTED Sir: You know my solemn enthusi- 
 asm of mind. You love me for it, and I respect myself for it, because in so far I re- 
 semble Mr. Johnson. You will be agreeably surprised, when you learn the reason 
 of my writing this letter. I am at Witteinberg in Saxony. I am in the old church 
 where the Reformation was first preached, and where some of the Reformers lie 
 interred. I cannot resist the serious pleasure of writing to Mr. Johnson from the 
 tomb of Melancthon. My paper rests upon the grave-stone of that great and good 
 man, w ho was undoubtedly the worthiest of all the reformers. He wished to re- 
 form abuses which had been introduced into the Church ; but had no private resent- 
 ment to gratify. So mild was he, that when his aged mother consulted him with 
 anxiety on the perplexing disputes of the times, he advised her " to keep to the old 
 religion." At this tomb, then, my ever dear and respected friend! I vow to thee 
 an eternal attachment. It shall l)e my study to do what I can to render your life 
 happy : and if you die before me, I shall endeavour to do honour to your memory; 
 and, elevated by the remembrance of you, persist in noble piety. May GOD the 
 father of all beings, ever bless you ! and may you continue to love your most affec- 
 tionate friend, and devoted servant, 
 
 James Boswell, 
 
 Sunday, Sept. 30, 1764. 
 
 to dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Wilton-house, April 22, 1775. 
 My dear Sir: Every scene of my life confirms the truth of what you have 
 told me, " there is no certain happiness in this state of being." I am here, amidst 
 
80 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 I hope to meet you somewhere towards the north, but am loath to come 
 quite to Carlisle. Can we not meet at Manchester? But we will settle it in 
 some other letters. 
 
 Mr. Seward,' a great favourite at Streatham, has been, I think, enkindled by 
 our travels, with a curiosity to see the Highlands. I have given him letters 
 to you and Beattie. He desires that a lodging may be taken for him at 
 Edinburgh, against his arrival. He is just setting out. 
 
 Langton has been exercising the militia. Mrs. Williams is, I fear, declin- 
 ing. Dr. Lawrence says, he can do no more. She is gone to summer in the 
 country, with as many conveniences about her as she can expect; but I have 
 no great hope. "We must all die: may we all be prepared ! 
 
 I suppose Miss Boswell reads her book, and young Alexander takes to his 
 learning. Let me hear about them; for every thing that belongs to you, be- 
 longs in a more remote degree, and not, I hope, very remote, to, dear Sir, 
 yours affectionately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 June 28, 1777. 
 
 to the same. 
 
 Dear Sir: This gentleman is a great favourite at Streatham, and there- 
 fore you will easily believe that he has very valuable qualities. Our narrative 
 has kindled him with a desire of visiting the Highlands after having already 
 seen a great part of Europe. You must receive him as a friend, and when 
 you have directed him to the curiosities of Edinburgh, give him instructions 
 and recommendations for the rest of his journey. I am, dear Sir, your most 
 humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 June 24, 1777. 
 
 Johnson's benevolence to the unfortunate was, I am confident, 
 as steady and active as that of any of those who have been most 
 eminently distinguished for that virtue. Innumerable proofs of 
 it I have no doubt will be for ever concealed from mortal eyes. 
 We may, however, form some judgment of it, from the many and 
 very various instances which have been discovered. One, which 
 happened in the course of this summer, is remarkable from the 
 
 all that you know is at Lord Pembroke's ; and yet I am weary and gloomy. I am 
 just setting out for the house of an old friend in Devonshire, and shall not get back 
 to London for a week yet. You said to me last Good-Friday, with a cordiality 
 that warmed my heart, that if I came to settle in London we should have a day 
 fixed every week, to meet by ourselves and talk freely. To be thought worthy of 
 such a privilege cannot but exalt me. During my present absence from you, while, 
 notwithstanding the gaiety which you allow me to possess, I am darkened by 
 temporary clouds, I beg to have a few lines from you; a few lines merely of kind- 
 ness as a viaticum till I see you again. In your " Vanity of Human Wishes," and 
 in Parnell's "Contentment," I find the only sure means of enjoying happiness ; or, at 
 least, the hopes of happiness. I ever am, with reverence and affection, most 
 faithfully yours, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 1 William Seward, Esq., F.R.S., editor of " Anecdotes of some Distinguished 
 Persons, etc.," in four volumes, 8vo, well known to a numerous and valuable ac- 
 quaintance for his literature, love of fine arts and social virtues. I am indebted to 
 him for several communications concerning Johnson, — B. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 81 
 
 name and connection of the person who was the object of it. 
 The circumstance to which I allude is ascertained by two letters, 
 one to Mr. Langton, and another to the Reverend Dr. Vyse, 
 rector of Lambeth, son of the respectable clergyman at Lichfield, 
 who was contemporary with Johnson, and in whose father's 
 family Johnson had the happiness of being kindly received in his 
 early years. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have lately been much disordered by a difficulty of breathing, 
 but am now better. I hope your house is well. 
 
 You know we have been talking lately of St. Cross, at Winchester; I have 
 an old acquaintance whose distress makes him very desirous of an hospital, and 
 I am afraid I have not strength enough to get him into the Chartreux. He is 
 a painter, who never rose higher than to get his immediate living, and from 
 that, at eighty-three, he is disabled by a slight stroke of the palsy, such as 
 does not make him at all helpless on common occasions, though his hand is 
 not steady enough for his art. 
 
 My request is, that you will try to obtain a promise of the next vacancy, 
 from the Bishop of Chester. It is not a great thing to ask, and I hope we 
 shall obtain it. Dr. Warton has promised to favour him with his notice, and 
 I hope he may end his days in peace. 
 
 I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 June 29, 1777. 
 
 to the reverend dr. vyse, at lambeth. 
 
 Sir: I doubt not but you will readily forgive me for taking the liberty of 
 requesting your assistance in accommending an old friend to his Grace the 
 Archbishop, as Governour of the Charterhouse. 
 
 His name is De Groot;^ he was born at Gloucester; I have known him 
 many years. He has all the common claims to charity, being old, poor, and 
 infirm in a great degree. He has likewise another claim, to which no scholar 
 can refuse attention; he is by several descents the nephew of Hugo Grotius; 
 of him from whom perhaps every man of learning has learnt something. Let 
 it not be said that in any lettered country a nephew of Grotius asked a charity! 
 and was refused. I am, reverend Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 9, 1777. 
 
 to the reverend dr. vyse, at lambeth. 
 
 If any notice should be taken of the recommendation which I took the 
 liberty of sending you, it will be necessary to know that ^Ir. De Groot is to 
 be found at No. 8, in Pye street, Westminster. This information, when I 
 wrote, I could not give you; and being going soon to Lichfield, think it 
 necessary, to be left behind me. 
 
 1 Isaac de Groot after being long supported by private benevolence, died at the 
 Charterhouse in 1779. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 Vol. II.— 6 
 
 I 
 
82 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 More I will not say. You will want no persuasion to succour the nephew 
 of Grotius. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 22, 1777. 
 
 the reverend dr. vyse to mr, boswell. 
 
 Lambeth, June 9, 1787. 
 Sir : I have searched in vain for the letter which I spoke of, and which I 
 wished, at your desire, to communicate to you. It was from Dr. Johnson, to 
 return me thanks for my application to Archbishop Cornwallis in favour of 
 poor De Groot. He rejoices at the success it met with, and is lavish in the 
 praise he bestows upon his favourite, Hugo Grotius. I am really sorry that 
 I cannot find his letter, as it is worthy of the writer. That which I send you 
 enclosed [the preceding letter] is at your service. It is very short, and will 
 not perhaps be thought of any consequence, unless you should judge proper 
 to consider it as a proof of the very humane part which Dr. Johnson took in 
 behalf of a distressed and deserving person. I am, Sir, your most obedient 
 humble servant, 
 
 W. Vyse. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO MR. W. SHARP. ^ 
 
 Sir : To the collection of English Poets I have recommended the volume 
 of Dr. Watts to be added ; his name has long been held by me in veneration, 
 and I would not willingly be reduced to tell of him only that he was born and 
 died. Yet of his life I know very little, and therefore must pass him in a 
 manner very unworthy of his character, unless some of his friends will favour 
 me with the necessary information ; many of them must be known to you : 
 and by your influence perhaps I may obtain some instruction. My plan does 
 not exact much ; but I wish to distinguish Watts, a man who never wrote but 
 for a good purpose. Be pleased to do for me what you can. I am. Sir, your 
 humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Bolt-court, Fleet-street, 
 July 7, 1777. 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, July 15, 1777. 
 My DEAR Sir: The fate of poor Dr. Dodd made a dismal impression upon 
 my mind. 
 
 I had sagacity enough to divine that you wrote his speech to the Recorder, 
 before sentence was pronounced. I am glad you have written so much for 
 him ; and I hope to be favoured with an exact list of the several pieces, when 
 we meet. 
 
 I received Mr. Seward as the friend of Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, and as a 
 gentleman recommended by Dr. Johnson to my attention. I have introduced 
 him to Lord Kames, Lord Monboddo, and Mr. Nairne. He is gone to the 
 Highlands with Dr. Gregory ; when he returns, I shall do more for him. 
 
 1 Boswell has erroneously given this letter as addressed to Mr. fuhvard Dilly. 
 It was addressed to Air. William Sharp, Junior, who possessed Watts's correspond- 
 ence. Sec Gent. Mag. 1787, p. 90. — Crokcr. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 NO END OF LAW-SUITS. 
 
 83 
 
 Sir Allan Maclean has carried that branch of his cause, of which we had 
 good hopes : the President and one other judge only were against him. I 
 wish the House of Lords may do as well as the Court of Session has done. 
 But Sir Allan has not the lands of Brolos cleared by this judgement, till a 
 long account is made up of debts and interest on the one side, and rents on 
 the other. I am, however, not much afraid of the balance. 
 
 Macquarry's estates, Slaffa and all, were sold yesterday, and bought by a 
 Campbell. I fear he will have little or nothing left out of the purchase 
 money. 
 
 I send you the case against the negro, by Mr. Cullen, son to Dr. Cullen, in 
 opposition to Maclaurin's for liberty, of which you have approved. Pray read 
 this, and tell me what you think as a Politician, as well as a Poet, upon this 
 subject. 
 
 Be so kind as to let me know how your time is to be distributed next 
 autumn. I will meet you at Manchester, or where you please ; but I wish 
 you would complete your tour of the cathedrals, and come to Carlisle, and I 
 will accompany you a part of the way homewards. I am ever, most faithfully 
 yours, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir : Your notion of the necessity of an yearly interview is very 
 pleasing to both my vanity and tenderness. I shall, perhaps, come to Carlisle 
 another year ; but my money has not held out so well as it used to do. I 
 shall go to Ashbourne, and 1 purpose to make Dr. Taylor invile you. If you 
 live awhile with me at his house, we shall have much lime to ourselves, and 
 our stay will be no expense to us or him. I shall leave London the 28lh ; 
 and after some stay at Oxford and Lichfield, shall probably come to Ash- 
 bourne about the end of your Session; but of all this you shall have notice. 
 Be satisfied we will meet somewhere. 
 
 What passed between me and poor Dr. Dodd, you shall know more fully 
 when we meet. 
 
 Of law-suits there is no end; poor Sir Allan must have another trial, for 
 which, however, his antagonist cannot be much blamed, having two judges on 
 his side. I am more afraid of the debts than of the House of Lords. It is 
 scarcely to be imagined to what debts will swell, that are daily increasing by 
 small additions, and how carelessly in a state of desperation debts are con- 
 tracted. Poor Macquarry was far from thinking that when he sold his islands 
 he should receive nothing. For what were they sold? And what was their 
 yearly value? The admission of money into the Highlands will soon put an 
 end to the feudal modes of life, by making those men landlords who were not 
 chiefs. I do not know that the people will suffer by the change ; but there 
 was in the patriarchal authority something venerable and pleasing. Every eye 
 must look with pain on a Campbell turning the Alacquarries at will out of 
 their sedes avitcr, their hereditary island. 
 
 Sir Alexander Dick is the only Scotsman liberal enough not to be angry 
 that I could not find trees, where trees were not. I was much delighted by 
 his kind letter. 
 
 I remember Rasay with too much pleasure not to partake of the happiness 
 of any part of that amiable family. Our ramble in the islands hangs upon my 
 imagination ; I can hardly help imagining that we shall go again. Pennant 
 seems to have seen a great deal which we did not see : when we travel again 
 let us look better about us. 
 
84 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 You have done right in taking your uncle's house. Some change in the 
 form of life, gives from time to time a new epocha of existence. In a new 
 place there is something new to be done, and a different system of thoughts 
 arises in the mind. I wish I could gather currants in your garden. Now fit 
 up a little study, and have your books ready at hand ; do not spare a little 
 money, to make your habitation pleasing to yourself. 
 
 I have dined lately with poor dear [Langton]. I do not think he goes on 
 well. His table is rather coarse, and he has his children too much about 
 him.^ But he is a very good man. 
 
 Mrs. Williams is in the country, to try if she can improve her health ; she 
 is very ill. Matters have come so about, that she is in the country with very 
 good accommodation ; but age, and sickness, and pride, have made her so 
 peevish, that I was forced to bribe the maid to stay with her, by a secret stip- 
 ulation of half a crown a week over her wages. 
 
 Our Club ended its session about six weeks ago. We now only meet to 
 dine once a fortnight. Mr. Dunning, the great lawyer, is one of our mem- 
 bers. The Thrales are well. 
 
 I long to know how the negro's cause will be decided. What is the opinion 
 of Lord Auchinleck, or Lord Hailes, or Lord Monboddo ? I am, dear Sir, 
 your most affectionate, etc., 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 22, 1777. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. BOSWELL. 
 
 Madam : Though I am well enough pleased with the taste of sweetmeats, 
 very little of the pleasure which I received at the arrival of your jar of marma- 
 lade arose from eating it. I received it as a token of friendship, as a proof of 
 reconciliation, things much sweeter than sweetmeats, and upon this considera- 
 tion I return you, dear Madam, my sincerest thanks. By having your kind- 
 ness, I think I have a double security for the continuance of Mr. Boswell's, 
 which it is not to be expected that any man can long keep, when the influence 
 of a lady so highly and so justly valued operates against him. Mr. Boswell 
 will tell you that I was always faithful to your interest, and always endeavoured 
 to exalt you in his estimation. You must now do the same for me. We 
 must all help one another, and you must now consider me as, dear Madam, 
 your most obliged and most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 22, 1777. 
 
 MR. BOSV^^ELL to DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, July 28, 1777. 
 My dear Sir: This is the day on which you were to leave London, and 
 I have been amusing myself in the intervals of my law drudgery, with figuring 
 you in the Oxford post-coach. I doubt, however, if you have had so merry a 
 journey as you and I had in that vehicle last year, when you made so much 
 
 * This very just remark I hope will be constantly held in remembrance by 
 parents, who are in general too apt to indulge their own fond feelings for their 
 children at the expense of their friends. The common custom of introducing them 
 after dinner is highly injudicious. It is agreeable enough that they should appear 
 at any other time ; but they should not be suffered to poison the moments of festiv- 
 ity by attracting the attention of the company, and in a manner compelling them 
 from politeness to say what they do not think. — B, 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 MRS. BOS WELL'S ILLNESS. 
 
 85 
 
 sport with Gwyn, the architect. Incidents upon a journey are recollected with 
 peculiar pleasure ; they are preserved in brisk spirits, and come up again in 
 our minds, tinctured with that gaiety, or at least that animation with which we 
 first perceived them. 
 
 [I added, that something had occurred, which I was afraid might prevent 
 me from meeting him ; and that my wife had been affected with complaints 
 which threatened a consumption, but was now better.] 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : Do not disturb yourself about our interviews ; I hope we 
 shall have many; nor think it any thing hard or unusual, that your design of 
 meeting me is interrupted. We have both endured greater evils, and have 
 greater evils to expect. 
 
 Mrs. Boswell's illness makes a more serious distress. Does the blood rise 
 from her lungs or from her stomach? From little vessels broken in the 
 stomach there is no danger. Blood from the lungs is, I believe, always frothy, 
 as mixed with wind. Your physicians know very well what is to be done. 
 The loss of such a lady would, indeed, be very afflictive, and I hope she is in 
 no danger. Take care to keep her mind as easy as possible. 
 
 I have left Langton in London. He has been down with the militia, and 
 is again quiet at home, talking to his little people, as, I suppose, you do some- 
 times. Make my compliments to Miss Veronica.^ The rest are too young 
 for ceremony, 
 
 I cannot but hope that you have taken your country-house at a very 
 seasonable time, and that it may conduce to restore or establish Mrs. Boswell's 
 health, as well as provide room and exercise for the young ones. That you 
 and your lady may both be happy, and long enjoy your happiness, is the sin' 
 cere and earnest wish of, dear Sir, your most, etc. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Oxford, Aug. 4, 1777. 
 
 MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 [Informing him that my wife had continued to grow better, so that my 
 alarming apprehensions were relieved; and that I hoped to disengage myself 
 from the other embarrassment which had occurred, and therefore requesting 
 to know particularly when he intended to be at Ashbourne.] 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : I am this day come to Ashbourne, and have only to tell you, 
 that Dr. Taylar says you shall be welcome to him, and you know how wel- 
 come you will be to me. .Make haste to let me know when you may be 
 expected. 
 
 Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and tell her, I hope we shall be at 
 variance no more. I am, dear Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Aug. 30, 1777. 
 
 * This youriCT lady, the author's eldest daughter, and at this time about five 
 years old, died in London, of a consumption, four months after her father, Sept. 26, 
 1795. — Malone. When she was about four months old, Boswell declared that she 
 should have 500/. of additional fortune on account of her fondness for Johnson. See 
 Boswell's " Hebrides," Aug. 15, 1773. — Dr. Hill. 
 
86 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: On Saturday I wrote a very short letter, immediately upon my 
 arrival hither, to shew you that I am not less desirous of the interview than 
 yourself. Life admits not of delays; when pleasure can be had, it is fit to 
 catch it : every hour takes away part of the things that please us, and perhaps 
 part of our disposition to be pleased. When I came to Lichfield, I found my 
 old friend Harry Jackson dead. It was a loss, and a loss not to be repaired, 
 as he was one of the companions of my childhood. I hope we may long con- 
 tinue to gain friends; but the friends which merit or usefulness can procure us, 
 are not able to supply 4:he place of old acquaintance, with whom the days of 
 youth may be retraced, and those images revived which gave the earliest 
 delight. If you and I live to be much older, we shall take great delight in 
 talking over the Hebridean Journey. 
 
 In the mean time it may not be amiss tp contrive some other little advent- 
 ure, but what it can be I know not; leave it, as Sidney says, 
 
 "To virtue, fortune, time, and woman's breast; " ' 
 
 for I believe Mrs. Boswell must have some part in the consultation. 
 
 One thing you will like. The Doctor, so far as I can judge, is likely to 
 leave us enough to ourselves. He was out to-day before I came down, and, 
 I fancy, will stay out to dinner. I have brought the papers about poor Dodd, 
 to shew you, but you will soon have dispatched them. 
 
 Before I came away, I sent poor Mrs. Williams into the country, very ill 
 of a pituitous defluxion, which wastes her gradually away, and which her 
 physician declares himself unable to stop. I supplied her as far as could be 
 desired, with all conveniences to make her excursion and abode pleasant and 
 useful. But I am afraid she can only linger a short time in a morbid state of 
 weakness and pain. 
 
 The Thrales, little and great, are all well, and purpose to go to Bright- 
 helmstone at Michaelmas. They will invite me to go with them, and perhaps 
 I may go, but I hardly think I shall like to stay the whole time; but of 
 futurity we know but little. 
 
 Mrs. Porter is well; but Mrs. Aston, one of the ladies at Stowhill, has been 
 struck with a palsy, from which she is not likely ever to recover. How soon 
 may such a stroke fall upon us ! 
 
 Write to me, and let us know when we may expect you. I am, dear Sir, 
 your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Ashbourne, Sept. i, 1777. 
 
 1 By an odd mistake, in the first three editions we find a reading in this line, to 
 which Dr. Johnson would by no means liave subscribed; roii/e liaving been substi- 
 tuted for time. That error 'probal)ly was a mistake in the transcript of Johnson's 
 original letter, his handwriting being often very difficult to read. The other devia- 
 tion in the beginning of the line (virtue instead oi i/afurc) must be attributed to his 
 memory having deceived him; and therefore has not been disturbed. The verse 
 quoted, is the concluding line of a sonnet of Sidney's, of which the earliest copy, I 
 believe, is found in Harrington's translation of Ariosto, 1591, in the notes on the 
 eleventh book. — Maloiie. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 macquarry's sale. 
 
 87 
 
 MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Sept. 9, 1777. 
 [ After informing him that I was to set out next day, in order to meet him 
 at A>hl)ourne : ] 
 
 I haveapresent for you from Lord Hailes; the fifth book of " Lactantius," 
 which he has pubHshed with Latin notes. He is also to give you a few anec- 
 ('otes for your " Life of Thomson," who I find was private tutor to the present 
 Earl of Hadington, Lord Hailes's cousin, a circumstance not mentioned by 
 Dr. Murdoch. I have keen expectations of delight from your edition of the 
 "English Poets, 
 
 I am sorry for poor Mrs. Williams's situation. You will, however, have 
 the comfort of reflecting on your kindness to her. Mr. Jackson's death, and 
 Mrs. Aston's palsy, are gloomy circumstances. Yet surely we should be 
 habituated to the uncertainty of life and health. When my mind is unclouded 
 Ijy melancholy, I consider the temporary distresses of this state of being, as 
 " light afflictions," by stretching my mental view into that glorious afler-ex- 
 istence, when they will appear to be as nothing. But present pleasures and 
 present pains must be felt. I lately read " Rasselas " over again with great 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Since you are desirous to hear about Macquarry's sale, T shall inform you 
 particularly. The gentleman who purchased Ulva, is Mr. Campbell, of 
 Auchnaba: our friend Maccjuarry was proprietor of two-thirds of it, of which 
 the rent was 156/. 5.V. \\d. This parcel was set up at 4,069/. 5.?. id. but it 
 sold for no less than 5,540/. The other third of Ulva, with the island of 
 Slaffa, belonged to Maccpiatry of Ormaig. Its rent, including that of Slaffa, 
 83/. I2J-. 22'/. — set up at 2,178/. i6^. 4^/. — sold for no less than 3,540/. The 
 Laird of Col wished to purchai>e Ulva, but he thought the price too high. 
 There may, indeed, be great improvements made there, both in fishing and 
 agriculture; but the interest of the purchase-money exceeds the rent, so very 
 much, that I doubt if the bargain will be profitable. There is an island called 
 Little Colonsay, of 10/. yearly rent, which I am informed has belonged to the 
 Macquarrys of Ulva for many ages, but which was lately claimed by the Pres- 
 byterian Synod of Argyll, in consequence of a grant made to them by Queen 
 Anne. It is believed that their claim will be dismissed, and that little Col- 
 onsay will also be sold for the advantage of Macquarry's creditors. What 
 think you of purchasing this island, and endowing a school or college there, 
 the master to be a clergyman of the church of England? How venerable 
 would such an institution make the name of Dr. Samuel Johnson, in the 
 Hebrides ! I have, like yourself, wonderful pleasure in recollecting our ti avels 
 in those islands. The pleasure is, I think, greater than it reasonably should 
 be, considering that we had not much either of beauty or elegance to charm 
 our imaginations, or of rude novelty to astonish. Let us, by all means, have 
 another expedition. I shrink a little from our scheme of going up the 
 Baltick.' I am sorry you have already been in Wales; for I wish to see it. 
 
 ^ It appears that Johnson, now in his sixty-eiglith vear. was seriously inclined to 
 realize the project of our going up the Baltic, which I had started w hen we were in 
 the isle of Sky ; for he thus writes to Mrs. Tlirale (" Letters," vol. i. p. 366) : 
 
 Ashbourne, Sept. 13, 1777. 
 
 Boswell, I believe, is coming. He talks of being here to day : I shall be glad to 
 see him: but he shrinks from the Baltic expedition, which, 1 think, is the best 
 scheme in our power: what we shall substitute I know not. He wants to see 
 
S8 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 Shall we go to Ireland, of which I have seen but little? We shall try to strike 
 out a plan when we are at Ashbourne. I am ever, your most faithful humble 
 servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: I write to be left at Carlisle, as you direct me; but you cannot 
 have it. Your letter, dated Sept. 6, was not at this place till this day Thurs- 
 day, Sept. II; and I hope you will be here before this is at Carlisle.^ How- 
 ever, what you have not going, you may have returning; and as I believe I 
 shall not love you less after our interview, it will then be as true as it is now, 
 that I set a very high value upon your friendship, and count your kindness as 
 one of the chief felicities of my life. Do not fancy that an intermission of 
 writing is a decay of kindness. No man is always in a disposition to write; 
 nor has any man at all times something to say. 
 
 That distrust which intrudes so often on your mind is a mode of melancholy, 
 which, if it be the business of a wise man to be happy, it is foolish to indulge; 
 and, if it be a duty to preserve our faculties entire for their proper use, it is 
 criminal. Suspicion is very often an useless pain. From that, and all other 
 pains, I wish you free and safe; for I am, dear Sir, most affectionately yours, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Ashbourne, Sept. 11, 1777. 
 
 On Sunday evening, Sept. 14, I arrived at Ashbourne, and 
 drove directly up to Dr. Taylor's door. Dr. Johnson and he 
 appeared before I had got out of the post-chaise, and welcomed 
 me cordially. 
 
 I told them that I had travelled all the preceding night, and 
 gone to bed at Leek in Staffordshire ; and that when I rose to go 
 to church in the afternoon, I was informed there had been an 
 earthquake, of which, it seems, the shock had been felt in some 
 degree at Ashbourne. Johnson : " Sir, it will be much exag- 
 gerated in popular talk : for, in the first place, the common 
 people do not accurately adapt their thoughts to the objects ; nor 
 
 Wales ; but, except the woods of Bachycratgh, what is tliere in Wales, that can fill 
 the hunger of ignorance, or quench the tliirst of curiosity? We may, perhaps, form 
 some scheme or other : but, in the phrase of Hockley m the Hole, it is pity he has 
 not a better bottom y 
 
 Such an ardor of mind, and vigor of enterprise, is admirable at any age : but 
 more particularly so at the advanced period at which Johnson was then arrived. I 
 am sorry now tliat I did not insist on our executing that sclieme. Besides the other 
 objects of curiosity and observation, to have seen my illustrious friend received, as 
 he probably would have been, by a prince so eminently distinguished for his variety 
 of talents and acquisitions as the [late] King of Sweden; and by the Empress of 
 Russia, whose extraordinary abilities, information, and magnanimity, astonish the 
 world, would have afforded a noble subject for contemplation and' record. This 
 reflection may possibly be thought too visionary by the more sedate and cold-blooded 
 part of my readers; yet I own, I frequently indulge it with an earnest unavailing 
 regret. — B. The word " late " was added in the second edition, Gustav III. having 
 been assassinated in March, 1792. 
 
 1 It so happened. The letter was forwarded to my house at Edinburgh. — B. 
 
Age 68.] THE MAINTENANCE OF GRIEP, 89 
 
 secondly, do they accurately adapt their words to their thoughts : 
 they do not mean to lie ; but taking no pains to be exact, they 
 give you very false accounts. A great part of their language is 
 proverbial. If any thing rocks at all, they say // 7'ocks like a 
 C7-adle ; and in this way they go on." 
 
 The subject of grief for the loss of relations and friends being 
 introduced, I observed that it was strange to consider how soon 
 it in general wears away. Dr. Taylor mentioned a gentleman of 
 the neighborhood as the only instance he had ever known of a 
 person who had endeavored to 7'etain grief. He told Dr. Taylor, 
 that after his lady's death, which affected him deeply, he. resolved 
 that the grief, which he cherished with a kind of sacred fondness, 
 should be lasting ; but that he found he could not keep it long. 
 Johnson : "All grief for what can not in the course of nature be 
 helped, soon wears away ; in some sooner, indeed, in some later ; 
 but it never continues very long, unless where there is madness, 
 such as will make a man have pride so fixed in his mind, as to 
 imagine himself a king ; or any other passion in an unreasonable 
 way : for all unnecessary grief is unwise, and therefore will not 
 long be retained by a sound mind. If, indeed, the cause of our 
 grief is occasioned by our own misconduct, if grief is mingled with 
 remorse of conscience, it should be lasting." Boswell : " But, 
 Sir, we do not approve of a man who very soon forgets the loss of 
 a wife or a friend." Johnson : " Sir, we disapprove of him, not 
 because he soon forgets his grief; for the sooner it is forgotten the 
 better, but because we suppose, that if he forgets his wife or his 
 friend soon, he has not had much affection for them." 
 
 I was somewhat disappointed in finding that the edition of the 
 English Poets, for which he was to write Prefaces and Lives, was 
 not an undertaking directed by him : but that he was to furnish a 
 Preface and Life to any poet the booksellers pleased. I asked 
 him if he would do this to any dunce's works, if they asked him. 
 Johnson: "Yes, Sir; and say he was a dunce." My friend 
 seemed now not much to relish talking of this edition. 
 
 On Monday, Sept. 15, Dr. Johnson: observed that every 
 body commended such parts of his "Journey to the Western 
 Islands," as were in their own way. " For instance (said he), Mr. 
 Jackson (the all-knowing) toid me there was more good sense 
 upon trade in it, than he should hear in the House of Commons 
 in a year, except from Burke. Jones commended the part which 
 treats of language ; Burke that which describes the inhabitants of 
 mountainous countries." 
 
90 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 After breakfast, Johnson carried me to see the garden belonging 
 to the school of Ashbourne, which is very prettily formed upon a 
 bank, rising gradually behind the house. The Reverend Mr. 
 Langley, the headmaster, accompanied us. 
 
 While we sat basking in the sun upon a seat here, I introduced 
 a common subject of complaint, the very small salaries which 
 many curates have, and I maintained that no man should be in- 
 vested with the character of a clergyman, unless he has a security 
 for such an income as will enable him to appear respectable ; 
 that therefore, a clergyman should not be allowed to have a curate, 
 unless he gives him a hundred pounds a year ; if he cannot do 
 that, let him perform the duty himself." Johnson : "To be sure. 
 Sir, it is wrong that any clergyman should be without a reasonable 
 income ; but as the Church revenues were sadly diminished at 
 the Reformation, the clergy who have livings cannot afford, in 
 many instances, to give good salaries to curates, without leaving 
 themselves too little ; and if no curate were to be permitted un- 
 less he had a hundred pounds a year, their number would be very 
 small, which would be a disadvantage, as then there would not be 
 such choice in the nursery for the Church, curates being candi- 
 dates for the higher ecclesiastical offices, according to their 
 merit and good behavior." He explained the system of the 
 English Hierarchy exceedingly well. " It is not thought fit (said 
 he) to trust a man with the care of a parish till he has given 
 proof as a curate that he shall deserve such a trust." This is an 
 excellent theory: and if the practice were according to it, the 
 Church of England would be admirable indeed. However, as I 
 have heard Dr. Johnson observe as to the Universities, bad 
 practice does not infer that the constitution is bad. 
 
 We had with us at dinner several of Dr. Taylor's neighbors, 
 good civil gentlemen, who seemed to understand Dr. Johnson 
 very well, and not to consider him in the light that a certain 
 person [George Garrick] did, who being struck, or rather stunned 
 by his voice and manner, when he was afterwards asked what he 
 thought of him, answered, " He 's a tremendous companion." 
 
 Johnson told me, that " Taylor was a very sensible acute man, 
 and had a strong mind ; that he had great activity in some 
 respects, and yet such a sort of indolence, that if you should put 
 a pebble upon his chimney-piece you would find it there, in the 
 same state, a year afterwards." 
 
 And here is a proper place to give an account of Johnson's 
 humane and zealous interference in behalf of the Reverend Dr. 
 
HORACE WALPOLE. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 DR. DODD'S forgery. 
 
 91 
 
 William Dodd, formerly Prebendary of Brecon, and chaplain in 
 ordinary to his Majesty ; celebrated as a very popular preacher/ 
 an encourager of charitable institutions, and author of a variety 
 of works, chiefly theological. Having unhappily contracted ex- 
 pensive habits of living, partly occasioned by licentiousness of 
 manners, he in an evil hour, when pressed by want of money, and 
 dreading an exposure of his circumstances, forged a bond of 
 which he attempted to avail himself to support his credit, flatter- 
 ing himself with hopes that he might be able to repay its amount 
 without being detected. The person, whose name he thus rashly 
 and criminally presumed to falsify was the Earl of Chesterfield,^ 
 to whom he had been tutor, and who he, perhaps, in the warmth 
 of his feelings, flattered himself would have generously paid the 
 money in case of an alarm being taken, rather than sufl'er him to 
 fall a victim to the dreadful consequences of violating the law 
 against forgery, the most dangerous crime in a commercial 
 country ; but the unfortunate divine had the mortification to find 
 that he was mistaken. His noble pupil appeared against him, 
 and he was capitally convicted. 
 
 Johnson told me that Dr. Dodd was very little acquainted with 
 him, having been but once in his company, many years previous 
 to this period (which was precisely the state of my own acquaint- 
 ance with Dodd) ; but in his distress he bethought himself of 
 Johnson's persuasive power of writing, if haply it might avail to 
 obtain for him the royal mercy. He did not apply to him 
 directly, but, extraordinary as it may seem, through the late 
 Countess of Harrington, who wrote a letter to Johnson, asking 
 him to employ his pen in favor of Dodd. Mr. Allen, the printer, 
 who was Johnson's landlord and next neighbor in Bolt Court, and 
 for whom he had much kindness, was one of Dodd's friends, of 
 
 ^ Horace Walpole gives the following account (to Montagu, Jan. 28, 1760) of 
 Dodd's exhibition as a popular preacher at the Magdalen Asylum before Prince 
 Edward and a fashionable party. "As soon as we entered the clia[)el the organ 
 played, and the Magdalens sung a hymn in parts. You cannot uiiagine how 
 well. The chapel was dressed witli orange and myrtle, and there wanted notlung 
 but a little incense to drive away the devil, or to invite hmi. Prayers then began : 
 psalms and a sermon ; the latter by a young clergyman, one Dodd, who contriiiuted 
 to the Popish idea one had imbibed by haranguing entirely in the French style, 
 and very eloquently and touchingly. He apostrophized the lost sheep, who 
 sobbed and cried from their souls ; so did my Lady Hertford and Fanny Pelham ; 
 till I believe the city dames took them for Jane Shores. The confessor then 
 turned to the audience and addressed himself to his Royal Highness, whom he 
 called most illustrious prince, beseeching his protection. In short it w as a very 
 pleasing performance, and I got the most ill/ntnous to desire it might be printed." 
 — Croker. Goldsmith exposed Dodd as a " quacking divine " in his " Retaliation." 
 
 2 The fifth Earl Dodd was convicted Feb. 22, 1777, of forging a bond for 4,200/. 
 in his name. — Dr. Hill. 
 
92 
 
 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 whom, to the credit of humanity be it recorded, that he had 
 many who did not desert him, even after his infringement of the 
 law had reduced him to the state of a man under sentence of 
 death. Mr. Allen told me that he carried Lady Harrmgton's 
 letter to Johnson, that Johnson read it walking up and down his 
 chamber, and seemed much agitated, after which he said, " I 
 will do what I can ; " and certainly he did make extraordinary 
 exertions. 
 
 He this evening, as he had obligingly promised in one of his 
 letters, put into my hands the whole series of his writings upon 
 this melancholy occasion, and I shall present my readers with the 
 abstract which I made from the collection ; in doing which I 
 studied to avoid copying what had appeared in print, and now 
 make part of the edition of Johnson's Works, published by the 
 booksellers of London, but taking care to mark Johnson's varia- 
 tions in some of the pieces there exhibited. 
 
 Dr. Johnson wrote in the first place. Dr. Dodd's " Speech to 
 the Recorder of London," at the Old Bailey, when sentence of 
 death was about to be pronounced upon him. 
 
 He wrote also " The Convict's Address to his unhappy Brethren," 
 a sermon delivered by Dr. Dodd, in the chapel of Newgate. 
 According to Johnson's manuscript it began thus after the text, 
 What shall I do to be saved ? 
 
 These were the words with which the keeper, to whose custody Paul 
 and Silas were committed by their prosecutors, addressed his prisoners, when 
 he saw them freed from their bonds by the perceptil)le agency of divine 
 favor, and was, therefore, irresistibly convinced that they were not offenders 
 against the laws, but martyrs to the truth. 
 
 Dr. Johnson was so good as to mark for me with his own hand, 
 on a copy of this sermon which is now in my possession, such 
 passages as were added by Dr. Dodd. They are not many : who- 
 ever will take the trouble to look at the printed coi)y, and attend 
 to what I mention, will be satisfied of this. 
 
 There is a short introduction by Dr. Dodd, and he also in- 
 serted this sentence, " You see with what confusion and dishonour 
 1 now stand before you ; no more in the pulpit of instruction, 
 but on this humble seat with yourselves." The notes are entirely 
 Dodd's own, and Johnson's writing ends at the words, " the thief 
 whom he pardoned on the cross." What follows was supplied by 
 Dr. Dodd himself. 
 
 The other pieces mentioned by Johnson in the above-mentioned 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 THE CONVICT'S ADDRESS. 
 
 93 
 
 collection are two letters, one to the Lord Chancellor Bathurst 
 (not Lord North, as is erroneously supposed), and one to Lord 
 Mansfield ; A Petition from Dr. Dodd to the King ; A Petition 
 from Mrs. Dodd to the Queen ; Observations of some length 
 inserted in the newspapers, on occasion of Earl Percy's having 
 presented to his Majesty a petition for mercy to Dodd, signed by 
 twenty thousand people, but all in vain. He told me that he 
 had also written a petition from the city of London ; but 
 (said he with a significant smile) they mended it. " ^ 
 
 The last of these articles which Johnson wrote is " Dr. Dodd's 
 last solemn Declaration," which he left with the sheriff at the 
 place of execution. Here also my friend marked the variations 
 on a copy of that piece now in my possession. Dodd inserted, 
 "I never knew or attended to the calls of frugality, or the needful 
 minuteness of painful economy; " and in the next sentence he 
 introduced the words which I distinguish by italics: 
 
 " My life for some few unhappy years past has been dreadfully 
 erroneous y Johnson's expression was hypocritical ; but his re- 
 mark on the margin is, " With this he said he could not charge 
 himself." 
 
 Having thus authentically settled what part of the " Occasional 
 Papers," concerning Dr. Dodd's miserable situation, came from 
 the pen of Johnson, I shall proceed to present my readers with 
 my record of the unpublished writings relating to that extraordi- 
 nary and interesting matter. 
 
 I found a letter to Dr. Johnson from Dr. Dodd, May 23, 1777, 
 in which ^'The Convict's Address " seems clearly to be meant : 
 
 ^ Having unexpectedly, by the favor of Mr. Stone, of London Field, Hackney, 
 seen the original in Johnson's handwriting, of "The Petition of the City of London 
 to his Majesty in favor of Mr. Dodd," I now present it to my readers, with such 
 passages as were omitted, enclosed in crotchets, and the additions or variations 
 marked in Italics. " That William Dodd, Doctor of Laws, now lying under 
 sentence of death in your Majesty's jail of Newgate, for the crime of forgery, has 
 for a great part of his hfe set a useful and laudable example of diligence in his 
 calling [and as we have reason to believe,- has exercised his ministry with great 
 fidelity and efficacy], which, in many instances, has produced the most happy 
 effect. That he has been the first institutor, [or] and a very earnest and active 
 promoter of several modes of useful charity, and [that] therefore [he] may be 
 considered as having been on many occasions a benefactor to the public. [That 
 when they consider his past life, they are willing to suppose his late crime to have 
 been not the consequence of habitual depravity, but the suggestion of some sudden 
 and violent temptation.] [That] Your Petitioners therefore considering his case, 
 as in some of its circumstances unprecedented and peculiar, and encouraged 
 by your Majesty s known clemency, [they] most humbly recommend the said 
 William Dodd to [his] your Majesty's most gracious consideration, in hopes that 
 he will be found not altogether [unfit] unworthy to stand an example of royal 
 mercy." — B. 
 
94 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 I am so penetrated, my ever dear Sir, with a sense of your extreme 
 benevolence towards me, that I cannot find words equal to the sentiments of 
 my heart. 
 
 You are too conversant in the world to need the slightest hint from me, of 
 what infinite utility the speech ^ on the awful day has been to me. I experi- 
 ence, every hour, some good effect from it. I am sure that effects still more 
 salutary and important, must follow from youi' kind and intended favour. I 
 will labour — GoD being my helper — to do justice to it from the pulpit. I am 
 sure, had I your sentiments constantly to deliver from thence, in all their mighty 
 force and power, not a soul could be left unconvinced and unpersuaded. 
 
 He added, 
 
 May God Almighty bless and reward, with his choicest comforts, your 
 philanthropick actions, and enable me at all times to express what I feel of 
 the high and uncommon obligation which I owe to the first man in our times. 
 
 On Sunday, June 22, he writes, begging Dr. Johnson's assist- 
 ance in framing a supplicatory letter to his Majesty : 
 
 If his Majesty would be pleased of his royal clemency to spare me and 
 my family the horrors and ignominy of a puhlick death, which the publick it- 
 self is solicitous to waive, and to grant me in some silent distant corner of the 
 globe to pass the remainder of my days in penitence and prayer, I would 
 bless his clemency and be humbled. 
 
 This letter was brought to Dr. Johnson when in church. He 
 stooped down and read it, and wrote, when he went home, the 
 following letter for Dr. Dodd to the King : 
 
 Sir : May it not offend your Majesty, that the most miserable of men applies 
 himself to your clemency, as his last hope and his last refuge; that your mercy 
 is most earnestly and humbly implored by a clergyman, whom your Laws and 
 Judges have condemned to the horror and ignominy of a publick execution. 
 
 I confess the crime, and own the enormity of its consequences, and the 
 danger of its example. Nor have I the confidence to petition for impunity; 
 but humbly hope, that publick security may be established, without the 
 spectacle of a clergyman dragged through the streets, to a death of infamy, 
 amidst the derision of the profligate and profane; and that justice may be sat- 
 isfied with irrevocable exile, perpetual disgrace, and hopeless penury. 
 
 My life, Sir, has not been useless to mankind. I have benefited many. 
 But my offences against God are numberless, and I have had little time for 
 repentance. Preserve me. Sir, by your prerogative of mercy from the 
 necessity of appearing unprepared at that tribunal, before which Kings and 
 Subjects must stand at last together. Permit me to hide my guilt in some 
 obscure corner of a foreign country, where, if I can ever attain confidence to 
 hope that my prayers will be heard, they shall be poured with all the fervour 
 of gratitude for the life and happiness of your Majesty. I am, Sir, 
 
 Your Majesty's, etc. 
 
 * His speech at the Old Bailey, when found guilty. — B. 
 
Age 68.] JOHNSON'S LETTER TO JENKINSON. 95 
 
 Subjoined to it was written as follows : 
 
 TO DR. DODD. 
 
 Sir: I most seriously enjoin you not to let it be at all known that I have 
 written this letter, and to return the copy to Mr. Allen in a cover to me. I 
 hope I need not tell you, that I wish it success. — But do not indulge hope. 
 — Tell nobody. 
 
 It happened luckily that Mr. Allen was pitched on to assist in 
 this melancholy office, for he was a great friend of Mr. Akerman, 
 the keeper of Newgate. Dr. Johnson never went to see Dr. Dodd. 
 He said to me, " It would have done hi)n more harm, than good 
 to Dodd, who once expressed a desire to see him, but not 
 earnestly." 
 
 Dr. Johnson, on the 20th of June, wrote the following letter: 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CHARLES JENKINSON. 
 
 Sir: Since the conviction and condemnation of Dr. Dodd, I have had, by 
 the intervention of a friend, some intercourse with him, and I am sure I shall 
 lose nothing in your opinion by tenderness and commiseration. Whatever be 
 the crime, it is not easy to have any knowledge of the delinquent, without a 
 wish that his life may be spared; at least when no life has been taken away by 
 him. I will, therefore, take the liberty of suggesting some reasons for which 
 I wish this unhappy being to escape the utmost rigour of his sentence. 
 
 He is, so far as I can recollect, the first clergyman of our church who has 
 suffered publick execution for immorality; and I know not whether it would 
 not be more for the interests of religion to bury such an offender in the ob- 
 scurity of perpetual exile, than to expose him in a cart, and on the gallows, 
 to all who for any reason are enemies to the clergy. 
 
 The supreme power has, in all ages, paid some attention to the voice of the 
 people; and that voice does not least deserve to be heard, when it calls out 
 for mercy. There is now a very general desire that Dodd's life should be 
 spared. More is not wished; and, perhaps, this is not too much to be 
 granted. 
 
 If you. Sir, have any opportunity of enforcing these reasons, you may, 
 perhaps, think them worthy of consideration : but whatever you determine, 
 I most respectfully entreat that you will be pleased to pardon for this intrusion, 
 Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 It has been confidently circulated, with invidious remarks, that 
 to this letter no attention whatever was paid by Mr. Jenkinson 
 (afterwards Earl of Liverpool) ; and that he did not even deign 
 to show the common civility of owning the receipt of it. I 
 could not but wonder at such conduct in the noble Lord, whose 
 own character and just elevation in life, I thought, must have 
 impressed him with all due regard for great abilities and attain- 
 ments. As the story had been much talked of, and apparently 
 
96 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 from good authority, I could not but have animadverted upon it in 
 this work, had it been as it was alleged ; but from my earnest 
 love of truth, and having found reason to think that there might 
 be a mistake, I presumed to write to his Lordship, requesting an 
 explanation : and it is with the sincerest pleasure that I am en- 
 abled to assure the world, that there is no foundation for it, the 
 fact being, that owing to some neglect, or accident, Johnson's 
 letter never came to Lord Liverpool's hands. I should have 
 thought it strange indeed, if that noble Lord had undervalued 
 my illustrious friend; but instead of this being the case, his 
 Lordship, in the very polite answer with which he was pleased 
 immediately to honor me, thus expresses himself: " I have 
 always respected the memory of Dr. Johnson, and admire his 
 writings ; and I frequently read many parts of them with pleas- 
 ure and great improvement." 
 
 All appHcations for the royal mercy having failed. Dr. Dodd 
 prepared himself for death ; and with a warmth of gratitude, 
 wrote to Dr. Johnson as follows : 
 
 June 25, Midnight. 
 Accept, thou great and good heart, my earnest and fervent thanks and 
 prayers for all thy benevolent and kind efforts in my behalf. — Oh! Dr. 
 Johnson ! as I sought your knowledge at an early hour in life, would to 
 heaven I had cultivated the love and acquaintance of so excellent a man! — 
 I pray GoD most sincerely to bless you with the highest transports — the in- 
 felt satisfaction of /uiniane and benevolent exertions! — And admitted, as I 
 trust I shall be, to the realms of bliss before you, I shall hail ji't^z^r arrival there 
 with transports, and rejoice to acknowledge that you was my comforter, my 
 advocate, and my friend ! Gou be ever with you ! 
 
 Dr. Johnson lastly wrote to Dr. Dodd this solemn and soothing 
 letter : 
 
 TO THE REVEREND DR. DODD. 
 
 Dear Sir: That which is appointed to all men is now coming upon you. 
 Outward circumstances, the eyes and the thoughts of men, are below the 
 notice of an immortal being about to stand the trial for eternity, before the 
 Supreme Judge of heaven and earth. Be comforted: your crime, morally or 
 religiously considered, has no very deep dye of turpitude. It corrupted no 
 man's principles; it attacked no man's life. It involved only a temporary 
 and reparable injury. Of this, and of all other sins, you are earnestly to 
 repent; and may God, who knowcth our frailty, and dcsireth not our death, 
 accept your repentance, for the sake of his Son Ji':siis Christ our Lord. 
 
 In recjuital of those well-intended offices which you are pleased so em- 
 phatically to acknowledge, let me beg that you make in your devotions one 
 petition for my eternal welfare. I am, dear Sir, your affectionate servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Junk 26, 1777. 
 
Age 68.] DESCRIPTION OF MR. FITZ HERBERT. 
 
 97 
 
 Under the copy of this letter I found written, in Johnson's 
 own hand, " Next day, June 27, he was executed." 
 
 To conclude this interesting episode with a useful application, 
 let us now attend to the reflections of Johnson at the end of the 
 "Occasional Papers," concerning the unfortunate Dr. Dodd. 
 
 Such were the last thoughts of a man whom we have seen exulting in popu- 
 larity, and sunk in shame. For his reputation, which no man can give to 
 himself, those who conferred it are to answer. Of his public ministry the 
 means of judging were sufficiently attainable. He must be allowed to preach 
 well, whose sermons strike his audience with forcible conviction. Of his 
 life, those who thought it consistent with his doctrine, did not originally form 
 false notions. He was at first what he endeavored to make others; but the 
 world broke down his resolution, and he in time ceased to exemplify his own 
 instructions. 
 
 Let those who are tempted to his faults, tremble at his punishment; and 
 those whom he impressed from the pulpit with religious sentiments, endeavor 
 to confirm them, by considering the regret and self-abhorrence with which he 
 reviewed in prison his deviations from rectitude.^ 
 
 Johnson gave us this evening, in his happy discriminative 
 manner, a portrait of the late Mr. Fitzherbert of Derbyshire. 
 
 " There was (said he) no sparkle, no brilliancy in Fitzherbert ; 
 but I never knew a man who was so generally acceptable. He 
 made everybody quite easy, overpowered nobody by the supe- 
 riority of his talents, made no man think worse of himself by 
 being his rival, seemed always to listen, did not oblige you to hear 
 much from him, and did not oppose what you said. Everybody 
 liked him ; but he had no friend as I understand the word, no- 
 body with whom he exchanged intimate thoughts. People were 
 willing to think well of everything about him. A gentleman was 
 making an affected rant, as many people do, of great feelings 
 
 ^ Hawkins says : " Johnson was deeply concerned at the failure of the petitions 
 in behalf of Dr. Dodd. But although he assisted in the solicitations for pardon, 
 yet in his private judgment he thought Dodd unworthy of it, having been known to 
 say that, had he been the adviser of the King, he should have told him that, in 
 pardoning Dodd, his justice in consigning the Perreaus to their sentence would 
 have been called in question," There is no doubt that the King's personal wish 
 was to have saved Dodd's life; but the recent fate of the Perreaus, and the unhappy 
 man's own previous character, had some influence in the opposite direction. In- 
 deed, it somewhat alleviates the pain w ith which, even at this distance of time, one 
 reads this lamentable story, to recollect that Dodd's offence was not the momen- 
 tary aberration of an otherwise good and pious man ; but that his whole life had been 
 irregular, and some of it scandalous ; he had been dismissed from being one of the 
 King's chaplains for an attempt at simony. — Croker. Walpole declares that he 
 tried to bribe Lord Bathurst, keeper of the Great Seal, by a secret offer of 3,000 
 guineas to Lady Bathurst for the living of St. George's, Hanover Square. In a sub- 
 sequent conversation, however (see A[)ril 18, 1783), Johnson allowed that he would 
 have been pleased to see Dodd's sentence changed to transportation. 
 
 Vol. II. -7 
 
98 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 about 'his dear son/ who was at school near London; how 
 anxious he was lest he might be ill, and what he would give to 
 see him. ' Can't you (said Fitzherbert) take a post-chaise and go 
 to him ? ' This, to be sure, finished the affected man, but there 
 was not much in it.^ However, this was circulated as wit for a 
 whole winter, and I believe part of a summer too ; a proof that 
 he was no very witty man. He was. an instance of the truth of 
 the observation, that a man will please more upon the whole by 
 negative qualities than by positive ; by never offending, than by 
 giving a great deal of delight. In the first place, men hate more 
 steadily than they love ; and if I have said something to hurt a 
 man once, I shall not get the better of this, by saying many things 
 to please him." 
 
 Tuesday, Sept. 16, Dr. Johnson having mentioned to me the 
 extraordinary size and price of some cattle reared by Dr. Tay- 
 lor, I rode out with our host, surveyed his farm, and was 
 shown one cow which he had sold for a hundred and twenty 
 guineas and another for which he had been offered a hundred and 
 thirty. Taylor thus described to me his old schoolfellow and 
 friend, Johnson : " He is a man of a very clear head, great power 
 of words, and a very gay imagination, but there is no disputing 
 with him. He will not hear you, and having a louder voice than 
 you, must roar you down." 
 
 In the afternoon I tried to get Dr. Johnson to like the poems 
 of Mr. Hamilton of Bangour, which I had brought with me : I had 
 been much pleased with them at a very early age : the impression 
 still remained on my mind ; it was confirmed by the opinion of 
 my friend the Honorable Andrew Erskine, himself both a good 
 poet and a good critic, who thought Hamilton as true a poet as 
 ever wrote, and that his not having fame was unaccountable.^ 
 
 1 Dr. Gisborne, Physician to his Majesty's Household, has obligingly communi- 
 cated to me a fuller account of this story than had reached Dr. Johnson. The 
 affected gentleman was the late John Gilbert Cooper, Esq., author of a life of Soc- 
 rates, and of some poems in Dodsley's collection. Mr. Fitzhc^rbert found him one 
 morning, apparently, in such violent agitation on account of the indisposition of 
 his son, as to seem beyond the power of comfort. At length, however, he ex- 
 claimed, " I '11 write an elegy." Mr. Fitzherbert being satisfied, by this, of the 
 sincerity of his emotions, slyly said, "Had not you better take a post-chaise and 
 go and see him ? " It was the shrewdness of the insinuation which made the story 
 be circulated. — B. 
 
 2 Hamilton was of Ayrshire, Boswell's own country, and fought for Prince 
 Charles at Culloden. — Croker. His poems were first published at Edinburgh in 
 1748, and a second edition followed in 1758. Boswell does not mention the best 
 piece in the collection, " Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny bride," which, besides 
 its own merits, is famous for having suggested Wordsworth's three beautiful lyrics 
 on Yarrow. — Napier., 
 
Age 86.] 
 
 HAMILTON OF BANGOUll. 
 
 99 
 
 Johnson, upon repeated occasions, while I was at Ashbourne, 
 talked slightingly of Hamilton. He said there was no power of 
 thinking in his verses, nothing that strikes one, nothing better 
 than what you generally find in magazines ; and that the highest 
 praise they deserved was, that they were very well for a gentleman 
 to hand about among his friends. He said the imitation of Ne 
 sit ancilli£ tibi amor,^ etc., was too solemn ; he read part of it at 
 the beginning. He read the beautiful pathetic song, '^Ah the 
 poor shepherd's mournful fate," and did not seem to give atten- 
 tion to what I had been used to think tender elegant strains, but 
 laughed at the rhyme, in Scotch pronunciation wishes and blushes,^ 
 reading wushes — and there he stopped. He owned that the 
 epitaph on Lord Newhall was pretty well done. He read the 
 " Inscription in a Summer-house," and a little of the Imitations 
 of Horace's Epistles ; but said he found nothing to make him de- 
 sire to read on. When I urged that there were some good poeti- 
 cal passages in the book, " Where," said he, " will you find so 
 large a collection without some?" I thought the description of 
 Winter might obtain his approbation : 
 
 " See [Now] Winter, from the frozen north 
 Drives his iron chariot forth ! 
 His grisly hand in icy chains 
 Fair Tweeda's silver flood constrains," etc. 
 
 He asked why an iron chariot?" and said "icy chains " was an 
 old image. I was struck with the uncertainty of taste, and some- 
 what sorry that a poet, whom I had long read with fondness, was 
 not approved by Dr. Johnson. I comforted myself with thinking 
 that the beauties were too delicate for his robust perceptions, 
 Garrick maintained that he had not a taste for the finest pro- 
 ductions of genius : but I was sensible, that when he took the 
 trouble to analyze critically, he generally convinced us that he 
 was right. 
 
 In the evening the Reverend Mr. Seward, of Lichfield, who 
 was passing through Ashbourne in his way home, drank tea with 
 us. Johnson described him thus: "Sir, his ambition is to be 
 a fine talker ; so he goes to Buxton, and such places, where he 
 
 ^ Horace, II. 4. 
 
 2 The tender glance, the red'ning cheek, 
 O'erspread with rising blushes, 
 A thousand various ways they speak, 
 A thousand various wishes. 
 
 Hamilton's poems, ed. 1760, p. 39. — Dr. Hill. 
 
100 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 may find companies to listen to him. And, Sir, he is a valetudi- 
 narian, one of those who are always mending themselves. I do 
 not know a more disagreeable character than a valetudinarian, 
 who thinks he may do anything that is for his ease, and indulges 
 himself in the grossest freedoms : Sir, he brings himself to the 
 state of a hog in a stye." 
 
 Dr. Taylor's nose happening to bleed he said, it was because 
 he had omitted to have himself blooded four days after a quarter 
 of a year's interval. Dr. Johnson, who was a great dabbler in 
 physic, disapproved much of periodical bleeding. " For," said 
 he, you accustom yourself to an evacuation which Nature cannot 
 perform of herself, and therefore she cannot help you, should 
 you from forgetfulness or any other cause omit it ; so you may be 
 suddenly suffocated. You may accustom yourself to other peri- 
 odical evacuations because, should you omit them, Nature can 
 supply the omission ; but Nature cannot open a vein to blood 
 you." ^ " I do not like to take an emetic," said Taylor, "for fear 
 of breaking some small vessels." — " Poh ! " said Johnson, " if you 
 have so many things that will break you had better break your 
 neck at once, and there 's an end on 't. You will break no small 
 vessels : " (blowing with high derision). 
 
 I mentioned to Dr. Johnson, that David Hume's j^ersisting in 
 his infidelity, when he was dying, shocked me much. Johnson : 
 " Why should it shock you. Sir ? Hume owned he had never 
 read the New Testament with attention. Here then was a man 
 who had been at no pains to inquire into the truth of religion, 
 and had continually turned his mind the other way. It was not 
 to be expected that the prospect of death would alter his way of 
 thinking, unless God should send an angel to set him right." I 
 said, I had reason to believe that the thought of annihilation gave 
 Hume no pain. Johnson : " It was not so. Sir. He had a vanity 
 in being thought easy. It is more probable that he should as- 
 sume an appearance of ease, than so very improbable a thing 
 should be, as a man not afraid of going (as, in spite of his delu- 
 sive theory, he cannot be sure but he may go) into an unknown 
 state, and not being uneasy at leaving all he knew. And you are 
 to consider, that upon his own principle of annihilation he had 
 no motive to speak the truth." The horror of death which I had 
 always observed in Dr. Johnson, appeared strong to-night. I 
 
 ^ Dr. Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale : " I am of the chymical sect, which holds 
 phlebolomy in abhorrence." Yet Dr. Hill notes more than twcMity instances of his 
 being bled between Dee. 1755 and May, 1782, and believes that he thus shortened 
 his lile. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 
 
 101 
 
 ventured to tell him, that I had been, for moments in my life, not 
 afraid of death ; therefore I could suppose another man in that 
 state of mind for a considerable space of time. He said, he 
 " never had a moment in which death was not terrible to him." 
 He added, that it had been observed, that scarce any man dies 
 in public, but with apparent resolution ; from that desire of praise 
 which never quits you. I said, Dr. Dodd seemed to be willing to 
 die, and full of hopes of happiness. " Sir," said he, " Dr. Dodd 
 would have given both his hands and both his legs to have lived. 
 The better a man is, the more afraid is he of death, having a 
 clearer view of infinite purity." He owned, that our being in 
 an unhappy uncertainty as to our salvation, was mysterious ; and 
 said, "Ah ! we must wait till we are in another state of being, to 
 have many things explained to us." Even the powerful mind of 
 Johnson seemed foiled by futurity. But I thought that the gloom 
 of uncertainty in solemn religious speculation, being mingled with 
 hope, was yet more consolatory than the emptiness of infidelity. 
 A man can live in thick air, but perishes in an exhausted receiver. 
 
 Dr. Johnson was much pleased with a remark which I told him 
 was made to me by General Paoli : " That it is impossible not 
 to be afraid of death ; and that those who at the time of dying 
 are not afraid, are not thinking of death, but of applause, or 
 something else, which keeps death out of their sight : so that all 
 men are equally afraid of death when they see it : only some have 
 a power of turning their sight away from it better than others." 
 
 On Wednesday, Sept. 17, Dr. Butter, physician at Derby, 
 drank tea with us ; and it was settled that Dr. Johnson and I 
 should go on Friday and dine with him. Johnson said, I am 
 glad of this." He seemed weary of the uniformity of life at Dr. 
 Taylor's. 
 
 Talking of biography, I said in writing a life, a man's peculiar- 
 ities should be mentioned, because they mark his character. 
 Johnson : " Sir, there is no doubt as to peculiarities : the question 
 is, whether a man's vices should be mentioned ; for instance, 
 whether it should be mentioned that Addison and Parnell drank 
 too freely ; for people will probably more easily indulge in drink- 
 ing from knowing this ; so that more ill may be done by the 
 example, than good by telling the whole truth." Here was an 
 instance of his varying from himself in talk ; for when Lord Hailes 
 and he sat one morning calmly conversing in my house at Edin- 
 burgh, I well remember that Dr. Johnson maintained, that "If a 
 man is to write A Panegyric he may keep vices out of sight ; but 
 
102 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 if he professes to write A Life, he must represent it really as it 
 was :" and when I objected to the danger of telling that Parnell 
 drank to excess, he said that, " It would produce an instructive 
 caution to avoid drinking, when it was seen that even the learning 
 and genius of Parnell could be debased by it." And in the 
 Hebrides he maintained, as appears from my " Journal" [of a 
 "Tour to the Hebrides," 3d ed. p. 240], that a man's intimate 
 friend should mention his faults, if he writes his life. 
 
 He had this evening, partly, I suppose, from the spirit of con- 
 tradiction to his Whig friend, a violent argument with Dr. Taylor, 
 as to the inclinations of the people of England at this time to- 
 wards the Royal family of Stuart. He grew so outrageous as to 
 say, "That, if England were fairly polled, the present King would 
 be sent away to-night, and his adherents hanged to-morrow. 
 Taylor, who was as violent a Whig as Johnson was a Tory, was 
 roused by this to a pitch of bellowing. He denied, loudly, what 
 Johnson said; and maintained that there was an abhorrence 
 against the Stuart family, though he admitted that the people were 
 not much attached to the present King.' Johnson : " Sir, the 
 state of the country is this : the people knowing it to be agreed 
 on all hands that this king has not the hereditary right to the 
 crown, and there being no hope that he who has it can be 
 restored, have grown cold and indifferent upon the subject of loy- 
 alty, and have no warm attachment to any king. They would not» 
 therefore, risk anything to restore the exiled family. They 
 would not give 20^-. apiece to bring it about. But if a mere vote 
 could do it, there would be twenty to one ; at least, there would 
 be a very great majority of voices for it. For, Sir, you are to 
 consider, that all those who think a king has a right to his 
 crown, as a man has to his estate, which is the just opinion, 
 would be for restoring the king who certainly has the hereditary 
 right, could he be trusted with it ; in which there would be no 
 danger now, when laws and everything else are so much advanced : 
 and every king will govern by the laws. And you must also 
 consider, Sir, that there is nothing on the other side to oppose 
 this ; for it is not alleged by any one that the present family has 
 any inherent right : so that the Whigs could not have a contest 
 between two rights." 
 
 1 Dr. Taylor was very ready to make this admission, because the party with 
 which he was connected was not in power. There was then some truth in it, owing 
 to the pertinacity of factious clamor. Had he lived till now, it would have been 
 impossible for him to deny that his Majesty possesses the warmest affection of Iiis 
 people. — B. 
 
Age 68.] DR. JOHNSON'S BIRTHDAY. 
 
 103 
 
 Dr. Taylor admitted, that if the question as to hereditary right 
 were to be tried by a poll of the people of England, to be sure 
 the abstract doctrine would be given in favor of the family of 
 Stuart ; but he said, the conduct of that family, which occasioned 
 their expulsion, was so fresh in the minds of the people, that they 
 would not vote for a restoration. Dr. Johnson, I think, was con- 
 tented with the admission as to the hereditary right, leaving the 
 original point in dispute, viz., what the people upon the whole 
 would do, taking in right and affection ; for he said, people were 
 afraid of a change, even though they think it right. Dr. Taylor 
 said something of the slight foundation of the hereditary right of 
 the House of Stuart. " Sir," said Johnson, " the House of Stuart 
 succeeded to the full right of both the Houses of York and Lan- 
 caster, whose common source had the undisputed right. A riglit 
 to a throne is Hke a right to anything else. Possession is suffi- 
 cient, where no better right can be shown. This was the case 
 with the Royal family of England, as it is now with the King of 
 France : for as to the first beginning of the right we are iji the 
 dark." 
 
 Thursday, Sept. i8. Last night Dr. Johnson had proposed that 
 the crystal lustre, or chandelier, in Dr. Taylor's large room, should 
 be lighted up some time or other. Taylor said, it should be 
 lighted up next night. That will do very well," said I, for it 
 is Dr. Johnson's birthday." When we were in the Isle of Sky, 
 Johnson had desired me not to mention his birthday. He did 
 not seem pleased at this time that I mentioned it, and said (some- 
 what sternly) "he would have the lustre lighted the next day." 
 
 Some ladies, who had been present yesterday when I mentioned 
 his birthday, came to dinner to-day, and plagued him uninten- 
 tionally by wishing him joy. I know not why he disliked having 
 his birthday mentioned, unless it were that it reminded him of 
 his approaching nearer to death, of which he had a constant 
 dread. 
 
 I mentioned to him a friend of mine who was formerly gloomy 
 from low spirits, and much distressed by the fear of death, but 
 was now uniformly placid, and contemplated his dissolution with- 
 out any perturbation. " Sir," said Johnson, this is only a dis- 
 ordered imagination taking a different turn." 
 
 We talked of a collection being made of all the English Poets 
 who had published a volume of poems. Johnson told me that "a 
 Mr. Coxeter, whom he knew, had gone the greatest length to- 
 wards this ; having collected, I think, about five hundred volumes 
 
104 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 of poets whose works were little known ; but that upon his death 
 Tom Osborne ^ bought them, and they were dispersed, which he 
 thought a pity, as it was curious to see any series complete ; and 
 in every volume of poems something good may be found." 
 
 He observed, that a gentleman of eminence in literature had 
 got into a bad style of poetry of late/ " He puts," said he, "a 
 very common thing in a strange dress till he does not know it 
 himself, and thinks other people do not know it." Boswell : 
 "That is owing to his being so much versant in old English 
 poetry." Johnson : " What is that to the purpose. Sir? If I say 
 a man is drunk, and you tell me it is owing to his taking much 
 
 drink, the matter is not mended. No, Sir, has taken to 
 
 an odd mode. For example ; he'd write thus : 
 
 " ' Hermit hoar, in solemn cell, 
 
 Wearing out life's evening gray.' 
 
 Gray evening is common enough ; but evening gray he 'd think 
 fine. Stay ; we '11 make out the stanza : 
 
 " ' Hermit hoar, in solemn cell, 
 
 Wearing out life's evening gray; 
 Smite thy bosom, sage, and tell. 
 
 What is bliss? and which the way? ' " 
 
 Boswell: " But why smite his bosom, Sir?" Johnson: "Why, 
 to show he was in earnest" (smiling). He at an after period 
 added the following stanza : 
 
 " Thus I spoke; and speaking sigh'd; 
 
 — Scarce repress'd the starting tear; — 
 When the smiling sage reply'd — 
 
 — Come, my lad, and drink some beer." ^ 
 
 1 The bookseller whom Johnson beat, ante. Vol. L, p. 68. 
 
 2 Thomas Warton. His poems were published in 1777. It was to ridicule then? 
 ("but remember that I dearly love the fellow, for all I laugh at him ") that Johnson 
 composed the following lines (see Mrs. Piozzi's " Anecdotes," p. 64) : 
 
 " Wheresoe'er I turn my view, 
 
 All is strange, yet nothing new : 
 
 Endless labor all along. 
 
 Endless labor to be wrong; 
 
 Phrase that Time has flung away; 
 
 Uncouth words in disarray 
 
 Tricked in antique ruff and bonnet. 
 
 Ode, and elegy, and sonnet." — Croker. 
 8 As some of my readers may be gratified by reading the progress of this little 
 composition, I shall insert it from my notes. " When Dr. Johnson and I were sit- 
 ting tete-d-tete at the Mitre Tavern, May 2, 1778, he said, ' Where is bliss,' would be 
 
Age 68.] LORD SCARSDALE' S FINE HOUSE. 105 
 
 I cannot help thinking the first stanza very good solemn poetry, 
 as also the first three lines of the second. Its last line is an ex- 
 cellent burlesque surprise on gloomy sentimental inquirers. And, 
 perhaps, the advice is as good as can be given to a low-spirited, 
 dissatisfied being : " Do n't trouble your head with sickly think- 
 ing : take a cup, and be merry.'^ 
 
 Friday, Sept. 19, after breakfast. Dr. Johnson and I set out in 
 Dr. Taylor's chaise to go to Derby. The day was fine and we 
 resolved to go by Keddlestone, the seat of Lord Scarsdale, that I 
 might see his Lordship's fine house. I was struck with the mag- 
 nificence of the building ; and the extensive park, with the finest 
 verdure, covered with deer, and cattle and sheep, delighted me. 
 The number of old oaks, of an immense size, filled me with a sort 
 of respectful admiration : for one of them 60/. was offered. The 
 excellent smooth gravel roads ; the large piece of water formed by 
 his Lordship from some small brooks, with a handsome barge 
 upon it ; the venerable Gothic church, now the family chapel, 
 just by the house ; in short, the grand group of objects agitated 
 and distended my mind in a most agreeable manner. " One 
 should think," said I, "that the proprietor of all this ;;///-5-/ be 
 happy." — "Nay, Sir," said Johnson, " all this excludes but one 
 evil — poverty." 1 
 
 Our names were sent up, and a well-dressed elderly house- 
 keeper, a most distinct articulator, showed us the house ; which 
 I need not describe, as there is an account of it published in 
 Adams's "Works in Architecture." Dr. Johnson thought better 
 of it to-day, than when he saw it before ; for he had lately 
 
 better. He then added a ludicrous stanza, but would not repeat it, lest I should 
 take it down. It was somewhat as follows ; the last line I am sure I remember: 
 
 " ' While I thus cried, 
 
 seer, 
 
 The hoary reply'd. 
 Come, my lad, and drink some beer." 
 
 In spring, 1779, when in better humor, he made the second stanza as in the 
 text. There was only one variation afterwards made on my suggestion, which was 
 changing hoa?y in the third line to smiling, both to avoid a sameness with the 
 epithet in the first line, and to describe the hermit in his pleasantry. He was then 
 very well pleased that I should preserve it." — B. 
 
 1 When I mentioned Dr. Jolinson's remark to a lady of admirable good sense 
 and quickness of understanding, she observed, " It is true all this excludes only one 
 evil; but how much good does it let in?" To this observation much praise 
 has been justly given. Let me then now do myself the honor to mention that the 
 lady who made it was the late Margaret Montgomerie, my very valuable wife, and 
 the very affectionate mother of my children, who, if they inherit her good qualities, 
 will have no reason to complain of their lot. Dos magna parentum virtus. [Hor- 
 ace : Odes III. 24, 21.] — B. 
 
106 
 
 BOSW^LL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 attacked it violently, saying : " It would do excellently for a town- 
 hall. The large room with the pillars," said he, "would do for 
 the judges to sit in at the assizes ; the circular room for a jury- 
 chamber ; and the room above for prisoners." Still he thought 
 the large room ill-lighted, and of no use but for dancing in ; and 
 the bed-chambers but indifferent rooms ; and that the immense 
 sum which it cost was injudiciously laid out. Dr. Taylor had put 
 him in mind of his appearing pleased with the house. "But," 
 said he, " that was when Lord Scarsdale was present. Politeness 
 obliges us to appear pleased with a man's works when he is 
 present. No man will be so ill-bred as to question you. You 
 may therefore pay compliments without saying what is not true. 
 I should say to Lord Scarsdale of his large room, ' My Lord, this 
 is the most costly room that I ever saw ; ' which is true." 
 
 Dr. Manningham, physician in London, who was visiting at 
 Lord Scarsdale's, accompanied us through many of the rooms, 
 and soon afterwards my Lord himself, to whom Dr. Johnson was 
 known, appeared and did the honors of the house. We talked 
 of Mr. Langton. Johnson, with a warm vehemence of affection- 
 ate regard, exclaimed, " The earth does not bear a worthier man 
 than Bennet Langton." We saw a good many fine pictures, 
 which I think are described in one of Young's Tours. ^ There is 
 a printed catalogue of them, which the housekeeper put into my 
 hand ; I should like to view them at leisure. I was much struck 
 with Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream, by Rembrandt. 
 We were shown a pretty large library. In his Lordship's dress- 
 ing-room lay Johnson's small Dictionary : he showed it to me, 
 with some eagerness, saying, " Look ye ! Qucb rcgio in tcrris 
 nostri non plena hiboris.'" ^ He observed, also, Goldsmith's 
 "Animated Nature " ; and said, " Here 's our friend ! The poor 
 Doctor would have been happy to hear of this." 
 
 In our way, Johnson strongly expressed his love of driving fast 
 in a post-chaise. " If," said he, " I had no duties, and no refer- 
 ence to futurity, I would spend my life in driving briskly in a 
 post-chaise with a pretty woman ; but she should be one who 
 could understand me and would add something to the conversa- 
 tion." I observed that we were this day to stop just where the 
 Highland army did in 1745. Johnson: "It was a noble at- 
 tempt." BoswELL : " I wish we could have an authentic history of 
 
 * Dr. Hill says the description is to be found not in Young's " Six Months' Tour 
 through the North of England," but in Pilkington's " Present State of Derbyshire." 
 2 Virgil, " ^neid," i. 460. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 METHODS OP siiA vma. 
 
 107 
 
 it." Johnson : " If you were not an idle dog you might write it, 
 by collecting from everybody what they can tell, and putting 
 down your authorities." Boswell : "But I could not have the 
 advantage of it in my life-time." Johnson : " You might have 
 the satisfaction of its fame, by printing it in Holland : and as to 
 profit, consider how long it was before writing came to be con- 
 sidered in a pecuniary view. Biiretti says, he is the first man 
 that ever received copy money in Italy." I said that I would 
 endeavor to do what Dr. Johnson suggested ; and I thought that 
 I might write so as to venture to publish my " History of the 
 Civil War in Great Britain in 1745 and 1746," without being 
 obliged to go to a foreign press. ^ 
 
 When we arrived at Derby, Dr. Butter accompanied us to see 
 the manufactory of china there. I admired the ingenuity and 
 delicate art with which a man fashioned clay into a cup, a saucer, 
 or a teapot, while a boy turned round a wheel to give the mass 
 rotundity. I thought this as excellent in its species of power, as 
 making good verses in its species. Yet I had no respect for this 
 potter. Neither, indeed, has a man of any extent of thinking for 
 a mere verse-maker, in whose numbers, however perfect, there is 
 no poetry, no mind. The china was beautiful, but Dr. Johnson 
 justly observed it was too dear ; for that he could have vessels of 
 silver, of the same size, as cheap as what were here made of 
 porcelain. 
 
 I felt a pleasure in walking about Derby, such as I always have 
 in walking about any town to which I am not accustomed. There 
 is an immediate sensation of novelty ; and one speculates on the 
 way in which life is passed in it, which, although there is a same- 
 ness everywhere upon the whole, is yet minutely diversified. 
 The minute diversities in everything are wonderful. Talking of 
 shaving the other night at Dr. Taylor's, Dr. Johnson said, " Sir, 
 of a thousand shavers, two do not shave so much alike as not to be 
 distinguished." I thought this not possible, till he specified so 
 'many of the varieties in shaving; holding the razor more or 
 less perpendicular; drawing long or short strokes; beginning 
 at the upper part of the face, or the under — at the right side 
 or the left side. Indeed, when one considers what variety of 
 sounds can be uttered by the wind-pipe, in the compass of a 
 
 ^ I am now happy to understand that Mr. John Home, who was himself gallantly 
 in the field for the reigning family in that interesting warfare, but is generous enough 
 to do justice to the other side, is preparing an account of it for the press. — B. It 
 was published in 1802, but produced little sensation. — Croker. 
 
 1 
 
108 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 very small aperture, we may be convinced hqw many degrees of 
 difference there may be in the application of a razor. 
 
 We dined with Dr. Butter, whose lady is daughter of my cousin 
 Sir John Douglas, whose grandson is now presumptive heir of the 
 noble family of Queensberry. Johnson and he had a good deal 
 of medical conversation. Johnson said, he had somewhere or 
 other given an account of Dr. Nichols's discourse " De Animd Mc- 
 dicdy He told us : That whatever a man's distemper was. Dr. 
 Nichols would not attend him as a physician, if his mind was not at 
 ease ; for he believed that no medicines would have any influence. 
 He once attended a man in trade, upon whom he found none of 
 the medicines he prescribed had any effect ; he asked the man's 
 wife privately whether his affairs were not in a bad way ? She 
 said no. He continued his attendance some time, still without 
 success. At length the man's wife told him, she had discovered 
 that her husband's affairs were in a bad way. When Goldsmith 
 was dying. Dr. Turton said to him, ^ Your pulse is in greater dis- 
 order than it should be, from the degree of fever which you have : 
 is your mind at ease? ' Goldsmith answered it was not." 
 
 After dinner, Mrs. Butter went with me to see the silk-mill 
 which Mr. John Lombe ^ had had a patent for, having brought 
 away the contrivance from Italy. I am not very conversant with 
 mechanics ; but the simplicity of this machine, and its multiplied 
 operations, struck me with an agreeable surprise. I had learnt 
 from Dr. Johnson, during this interview, not to think with a de- 
 jected indifference of the works of art, and the pleasures of life, 
 because life is uncertain and short ; but to consider such indiffer- 
 ence as a failure of reason, a morbidness of mind ; for happiness 
 should be cultivated as much as we can, and the objects which 
 are instrumental to it should be steadily considered as of impor- 
 tance, with a reference not only to ourselves but to multitudes in 
 successive ages. Though it is proper to value small parts, as 
 
 " Sands make the mountain, moments make the year;" ^ 
 
 ^ See Mutton's " History of Derby," a book which is deservedly esteemed for its 
 information, accuracy, and good narrative. Indeed the age in which we live is 
 eminently distinguished by typographical excellence, — B. According to Button the 
 Italians at tlie beginning ot the eighteenth century had the exclusive art of silk 
 throwing. Lonibe went to Italy, and by bribery got admittance into the works. 
 Having mastered tlie secret he returned to England with two of the workmen. 
 About the year 1767 he founded a great silk-mill at Derby. He died early, being 
 poisoned, it was asserted, by an Italian woman who had been sent on to destroy him. 
 — Dr. mil. 
 
 2 Think naught a trifle though it small appear; 
 Small sands the mountain, momcnls make the year, 
 And trifles life." — Young : " Love of Fame." Satire VI. 
 
Age 68.] ATTEMPT TO RESCUE DR. DODD. 109 
 
 yet we must contemplate, collectively, to have a just estimation 
 of objects, ©ne moment's being uneasy or not, seems of no 
 consequence ; yet this may be thought of the next, and the next, 
 and so on, till there is a large portion of misery. In the same 
 way one must think of happiness, of learning, of friendship. We 
 cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in 
 filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes 
 it run over : so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which 
 makes the heart run over. We must not divide objects of our at- 
 tention into minute parts, and think separately of each part. It 
 is by contemplatmg a large mass of human existence, that a 
 man, while he sets a just value o.i his own life, does not think of 
 his death as annihilating all that is great and pleasing in the 
 world, as if actually contained in his mind, according to Berkeley's 
 revery. If his imagination be not sickly and feeble, it "wings its 
 distant way " far beyond himself, and views the world in unceas- 
 ing activity of every sort. It must be acknowledged, however, 
 that Pope's plaintive reflection, that all things would be as gay as 
 ever on the day of his death, is natural and common. We are apt 
 to transfer to all around us our own gloom, without considering 
 that at any given point of time there is, perhaps, as much youth 
 and gayety in the world as at another. Before I came into this 
 life in which I have had so many pleasant scenes, have not 
 thousands and ten thousands of deaths and funerals happened, 
 and have not families been in grief for their nearest relations? 
 But have those dismal circumstances at all affected 7ne ? Why 
 then should the gloomy scenes which I experience, or which I 
 know, affect others? Let us guard against imagining that there 
 is an end of fehcity upon earth, when we ourselves grow old, or 
 are unhappy. 
 
 Dr. Johnson told us at tea, that when some of Dr. Dodd's 
 pious friends were trying to console him by saying that he was 
 going to leave " a wretched world," he had honesty enough not 
 to join in the cant: "No, no," said he, "it has been a very 
 agreeable world to me." Johnson added, "I respect Dodd for 
 thus speaking the truth ; for, to be sure, he had for several years 
 enjoyed a life of great voluptuousness." 
 
 He told us, that Dodd's city friends stood by him so, that a 
 thousand pounds were ready to be given to the jailer if he would 
 let him escape. He added, that he knew a friend of Dodd's, 
 who walked about Newgate for some time on the evening before 
 the day of his execution, with five hundred pounds in his pocket, 
 
110 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 ready to be paid to any of the turnkeys who could get him out : 
 but it was too late : for he was watched with muck circumspec- 
 tion. He said, Dodd's friends had an image of him made of 
 wax, which was to have been left in his place ; and he believed it 
 was carried into the prison. 
 
 Johnson disapproved of Dr. Dodd's leaving the world per- 
 suaded that " The Convict's Address to his unhappy Brethren " 
 was of his own writing. " But, Sir," said I, you contributed to 
 the deception : for when Mr. Seward expressed a doubt to you 
 that it was not Dodd's own, because it had a great deal more 
 force of mind in it than anything known to be fiis, you answered, 
 'Why should you think so? Depend upon it. Sir, when a man 
 knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind 
 wonderfully.' " Johnson : Sir, as Dodd got it from me to pass 
 as his own, while that could do him any good, that was an implied 
 pj'omise that I should not own it. To own it, therefore, would 
 have been telling a lie, with the addition of breach of promise, 
 which was worse than simply telling a lie to make it be believed 
 it was Dodd's. Besides, Sir, I did not directly tell a lie : I left 
 the matter uncertain. Perhaps I thought that Seward would not 
 believe it the less to be mine for what I said ; but I would not 
 put it in his power to say I had owned it." 
 
 He praised Blair's sermons: "Yet," said he (willing to let us 
 see he was aware that fashionable fame, however deserved, is not 
 always the most lasting), "perhaps they may not be reprinted 
 after seven years ; at least not after Blair's death." 
 
 He said : " Goldsmith was a plant that flowered late.' There 
 appeared nothing remarkable about him when he was young ; 
 though when he had got high in fame, one of his friends [Burke] 
 began to recollect something of his being distinguished at Col- 
 lege. Goldsmith in the same manner recollected more of that 
 friend's early years, as he grew a greater man." 
 
 I mentioned that Lord Alonboddo told me, he awaked every 
 morning at four, and then for his health got up and walked in his 
 room naked, with the window open, which he called taking ati air 
 bath; after which he went to bed again, and slept two hours 
 more. Johnson, who was always ready to beat down anything 
 that seemed to be exhibited with disproportionate importance, 
 thus observed : " I suppose. Sir, there is no more in it than this, 
 
 1 He was thirty when he pul)lished " An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite 
 Learning in Europe," thirty-six when he publislied "The Traveller," tlurty-seven 
 when he published " The Vicar of Wakefield," and thirty-nine when he published 
 " The Good Natured Man." 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 EARLY RISING. 
 
 Ill 
 
 he wakes at four and can not sleep till he chills himself, and makes 
 the warmth of the bed a grateful sensation." 
 
 I talked of the difficulty of rising in the morning. Dr. John- 
 son told me that, "The learned Mrs. Carter, at that period when 
 she was eager in study, did not awake as early as she wished, and 
 she therefore had a contrivance, that, at a certain hour, her 
 chamber-light should burn a string to which a heavy weight was 
 suspended, which then fell with a strong sudden noise : this 
 roused her from her sleep, and then she had no difficulty in get- 
 ting up." But I said //la/ was my difficulty; and wished there 
 could be some medicine invented which would make one rise 
 without pain, which I never did, unless after lying in bed a very 
 long time. Perhaps there may be something in the stores of 
 Nature which could do this. I have thought of a pulley to raise 
 me gradually ; but that would give me pain, as it would counter- 
 act my internal inclination. I would have something that can 
 dissipate the 7^is inertice, and give elasticity to the muscles. As I 
 imagine that the human body may be put, by the operation of 
 other substances, into any state in which it has ever been ; and as 
 I have experienced a state in which rising from bed was not dis- 
 agreeable, but easy, nay, sometimes agreeable ; I suppose that 
 this state may be produced, if we knew by what. We can heat 
 the body, we can cool it ; we can give it tension or relaxation ; and 
 surely it is possible to bring it into a state in which rising from 
 bed will not be pain. 
 
 Johnson observed, that, " A man should take a sufficient quan- 
 tity of sleep, which Dr. Mead says is between seven and nine 
 hours." I told him, that Dr. Cullen said to me, that a man should 
 not take more sleep than he can take at once. Johnson : " This 
 rule. Sir, cannot hold in all cases ; for many people have their 
 sleep broken by sickness ; and surely, Cullen would not have a 
 man to get up, after having slept but an hour. Such a regimen 
 would soon end in a long sleeps ' Dr. Taylor remarked, I think 
 
 ^ This regimen was, however, practised by" Bishop Ken, of whom Hawkins {>2ot 
 Sir John\ in liis life of that venerable prelate, p. 4, tells us, " And that neither his 
 study might be the aggressor on his hours of instruction, or w hat he judged his duty, 
 prevent liis improvements ; or both, his closet addresses to his Got); he strictly- 
 accustomed himself to l)ut one sleep, which often obliged him to rise at one or two 
 of the glock in the morning, and sometimes sooner; and grew so habitual, that it 
 continued with him almost till his last illness. And so lively and cheerful was his 
 temper, that he would be very facetious and entertaining to his friends in the even- 
 ing, even when it was perceived that witli difficulty he kept his e'ves open ; and then 
 seemed to go to rest with no other purpose than the refreshing and enabling him 
 with more vigor and cheerfulness to sing his morning hymn, as he then used to 
 do to his lute before he put on his clothes." — B. 
 
112 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 very justly, that, "A man who does not feel an incUnation to sleep 
 at the ordinary times, instead of being stronger than other people, 
 must not be well : for a man in health has all the natural inclina- 
 tions to eat, drink, and sleep in a strong degree." 
 
 Johnson advised me to-night not to refine in the education of 
 my children. 
 
 "Life," said he, "will not bear refinement; you must do as 
 other people do." 
 
 As we drove back to Ashbourne, Dr. Johnson recommended to 
 me, as he had often done, to drink water only : " For," said he, 
 " you are then sure not to get drunk ; whereas, if you drink wine, 
 you are never sure." I said drinking wine was a pleasure which 
 I was unwilling to give up. " Why, Sir," said he, " there is no 
 doubt that not to drink wine is a great deduction from life : but 
 it may be necessary." He however owned, that in his opinion a 
 free use of wine did not shorten life ; and said, he would not give 
 less for the life of a certain Scotch Lord (whom he named) cele- 
 brated for hard drinking, than for that of a sober man. " But 
 stay," said he with his usual intelligence, and accuracy of inquiry, 
 "does it take much wine to make him drunk?" I answered, "A 
 great deal either of wine or strong punch." " Then," said he, 
 "that is the worse." ' I presume to illustrate my friend's obser- 
 vation thus : " A fortress which soon surrenders has its walls less 
 shattered, than when a long and obstinate resistance is made." 
 
 I ventured to mention a person who was as violent a Scotch- 
 man as he was an Englishman ; and literally had the same con- 
 tempt for an Englishman compared with a Scotchman, that he 
 had for a Scotchman compared with an Englishman ; and that 
 he would say of Dr. Johnson, " Damned rascal ! to talk as he 
 does of the Scotch." This seemed, for a moment, " to give him 
 pause." It, perhaps, presented his extreme prejudice against the 
 Scotch in a point of view somewhat new to him, by the effect of 
 contrast. 
 
 By the time when we returned to Ashbourne, Dr. Taylor was 
 gone to bed. Johnson and I sat up a long time by ourselves. 
 
 He was much diverted with an article which I showed him 
 in the Critical Review of this year, giving an account of a 
 curious publication, entitled, " A Spiritual Diary and Soliloquies," 
 by John Rutty, M.D. Dr. Rutty was one of the people called 
 
 * Sir James Mackintosh told me that he believed Lord Errol was meant here 
 as well as posf April 28, 1778, and this seems likely from a passage in Boswell's 
 " Tour to the Hebrides," Aug. 24, 1773. Johnson would not have made a good pur- 
 chase of his life, for he died next year (June 3, 1778) aged 53. — Croker. 
 
Age 68.] DR. RUTTY' S SPIRITUAL DIARY. 
 
 113 
 
 Quakers, a physician of some eminence in Dublin, and author of 
 several works. This diary, which was kept from 1753 to 17^5, 
 the year in which he died, and was now published in two volumes 
 octavo, exhibited in the simplicity of his heart, a minute and 
 honest register of the state of his mind ; which, though frequently 
 laughable enough, was not more so than the history of many men 
 would be, if recorded with equal fairness. 
 
 The following specimens were extracted by the reviewers : 
 
 Tenth month, 1753. 
 
 23. Indulgence in bed an hour too long. 
 
 Twelfth month, 17. An hypochondriac obnubilation from wind and 
 indigestion. 
 
 Ninth month, 28. An over-dose of whisky. 
 29. A dull, cross, choleric day. 
 
 First month, 1757 — 22. A little swinish at dinner and repast. 
 
 31. Dogged on provocation. 
 
 Second month, 5. Very dogged or snappish. 
 
 14. Snappish on fasting. 
 
 26. Cursed snappishness to those under me, on a bodily indisposition. 
 Third month, 11. On a provocation, exercised a dumb resentment for two 
 days, instead of scolding. 
 
 22. Scolded too vehemently. 
 
 23. Dogged again. 
 
 Fourth month, 29. Mechanically and sinfully dogged. 
 
 Johnson laughed heartily at this good Quietist's self-condemn- 
 ing minutes ; particularly at his mentioning, with such a serious 
 regret, occasional instances of ^^swinishness in eating, and dog- 
 gedness of teffiper^ He thought the observations of the Critical 
 Reviewers upon the importance of a man to himself so ingenious, 
 and so well expressed, that I shall here introduce them. 
 
 After observing, that " There are few writers who have gained 
 any reputation by recording their own actions," they say : 
 
 We may reduce the egotists to four classes. In the Jirst we have Julius 
 Caesar: he relates his own transactions; but he relates them with peculiar 
 grace and dignity, and his narrative is supported by the greatness of his 
 character and achievements. In the second class we have Marcus Antoninus: 
 this writer has given us a series of reflections on his own life; but his senti- 
 ments are so noble, his morality so sublime, that his meditations are univer- 
 sally admired. In the third class we have some others of tolerable credit, 
 who have given importance to their own private history by an intermixture of 
 literary anecdotes, and the occurrences of their own times : the celebrated 
 Huetius ' has published an entertaining volume upon this plan, " De rebus ad 
 
 ^ Huet, Bishop of Avranches (1630-1721) published his " Commentarius de rebus 
 adeum pertinentibusy in 1718. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 Vol. II. — 8 
 
114 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 eu^n pertinentibus.'''' In the fourth class we have the journahsts, temporal 
 and spiritual: Elias Ashmole, William Lilly, George Whitefield, John Wes- 
 ley, and a thousand other old women and fanatic writers of memoirs and 
 meditations. 
 
 I mentioned to him that Dr. Hugh Blair, in his lectures on 
 "Rhetoric" and " Belles Lettres," which I heard him deliver at 
 Edinburgh, had animadverted on the Johnson style as too pom- 
 pous ; and attempted to imitate it, by giving a sentence of Ad- 
 dison in The Spectatoi-, No. 411, in the manner of Johnson. 
 When treating of the utility of the pleasures of imagination in 
 preserving us from vice, it is observed of those " who know 
 not how to be idle and innocent," that "their very first step 
 out of business is into vice or folly; "^ which Dr. Blair sup- 
 posed would have been expressed in The Rambler thus : 
 " Their very first step out of the regions of business is into 
 the perturbation of vice, or the vacuity of folly." Johnson : 
 " Sir, these are not the words I should have used. No, Sir ; 
 the imitators of my style have not hit it. Miss Aikin has done 
 it the best ; for she has imitated the sentiment as well as the 
 diction." ^ 
 
 I intend before this work is concluded, to exhibit specimens of 
 imitation of my friend's style in various modes ; some caricatur- 
 ing or mimicking it, and some formed upon it, whether inten- 
 tionally or with a degree of similarity to it, of which, perhaps, 
 the writers were not conscious. 
 
 In Baretti's Review, which he published in Italy, under the 
 title of " Frusta Letteraria," [Literary Scourge,] it is observed, 
 that Dr. Robertson, the historian, had formed his style upon that 
 of "// celebre Samuele Johnson^ My friend himself was of that 
 opinion; for he once said to me, in a pleasant humor, "Sir, if 
 Robertson's style be faulty, he owes it to me ; that is, having too 
 many words, and those too big ones." 
 
 I read to him a letter which Lord Monboddo had written to 
 me, containing some critical remarks upon the style of his 
 "Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland." His Lordship 
 
 * When Dr. Blair published his " Lectures " he was invidiously attacked for having 
 omitted his censure on Johnson's style, and, on the contrary, praising it highly. 
 But before that time Johnson's " Lives of the Poets," had appeared, in w hich his style 
 was considerably easier than when he wrote The Riviihler. It would, therefore, 
 have been uncandid in Blair, even supposing his criticism to have been just, to have 
 preserved it. — B. 
 
 2 Probably in an "Essay on Imitation" by Miss Aikin (Mrs. Barbauld) in a 
 volume of miscellaneous pieces by her and Dr. Aikin, in 1773. — Croker. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 B 1 0 GRA PHI A BR 1 TA NNl CA . 
 
 115 
 
 .praised the very fine passage upon landing at Icolmkill ; ' but his 
 own style being exceedingly dry and hard, he disapproved of the 
 richness of Johnson's language, and of his frequent use of meta- 
 phorical expressions. Johnson : " Why, Sir, this criticism would 
 be just if in my style, superfluous words, or words too big for the 
 thoughts, could be pointed out ; but this I do not believe can be 
 done. For instance ; in the passage which Lord Monboddo 
 admires, ' We were now treading that illustrious region,' the word 
 illustrious contributes nothing to the mere narration ; for the 
 fact might be told without it : but it is not, therefore, superfluous ; 
 for it wakes the mind to peculiar attention, where something of 
 more than usual importance is to be presented. ' Illustrious ! ' 
 for what? and then the sentence proceeds to expand the circum- 
 stances connected with lona. And, Sir, as to metaphorical ex- 
 pression, that is a great excellence in style, when it is used with 
 propriety, for it gives you two ideas for one : conveys the 
 meaning more luminously, and generally with a perception of 
 delight." 
 
 He told me, that he had been asked to undertake the new edi- 
 tion of the " Biographia Britannica," but had declined it; which 
 he afterwards said to me he regretted. In this regret many will 
 join, because it would have procured us more of Johnson's most 
 delightful species of writing ; and although my friend Dr. Kippis 
 has hitherto discharged the task judiciously, distinctly, and with 
 more impartiality than might have been expected from a Separa- 
 tist, it were to have been wished that the superintendence of this 
 literary Temple of Fame had been assigned to " a friend to the 
 constitution in Church and State." We should not then have had 
 it too much crowded with obscure dissenting teachers, doubtless 
 men of merit and worth, but not quite to be numbered amongst 
 
 ^ " We were now treading that illustrious island, which was once the luminary of 
 the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the 
 benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all 
 local emotion would be impossible, if it were endeavored, and would be foolish if 
 it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever 
 makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances 
 us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me, and from my friends, be such 
 frig;id philosophy, as may conduct us, indifferent and unmoved, over any ground 
 which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. The man is little to be 
 envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Maiathon, or 
 whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of lona." Had our tour pro- 
 duced nothing else but this sublime passage, the world must have acknowledged 
 that it was not made in vain. Sir Joseph Banks, the present respectable President 
 of the Royal Society, told me, he was so much struck on reading it, that he clasped 
 his hands together, and remained for some time in an attitude of silent admiration. 
 — B. 
 
 1 
 
116 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 "the most eminent persons who have flourished in Great Britain, 
 and Ireland." ' 
 
 On Saturday, Sept. 20, after breakfast, when Taylor was gone 
 out to his farm, Dr. Johnson and I had a serious conversation, by 
 ourselves, on melancholy and madness ; which he was, I always 
 thought, erroneously inclined to confound together. Melancholy, 
 hke " great wit," may be "near alUed to madness ; " ^ but there 
 is, in my opinion, a distinct separation between them. When he 
 talked of madness, he was to be understood as speaking of those 
 who were in any great degree disturbed, or, as it is commonly 
 expressed, " troubled in mind." Some of the ancient philoso- 
 phers held, that all deviations from right reason were madness ; 
 and whoever wishes to see the opinions both of ancients and mod- 
 erns upon this subject collected and illustrated with a variety of 
 curious facts, may read Dr. Arnold's very entertaining work.^ 
 
 Johnson said, " A madman loves to be with people whom he 
 fears; not as a dog fears the lash; but of whom he stands in awe." 
 I was struck with the justness of this observation. To be with 
 those of whom a person, whose mind is wavering and dejected, 
 stands in awe, represses and composes an uneasy tumult of spirits, 
 
 ^ In this censure, which has been carelessly uttered, I carelessly joined. But in 
 justice to Dr. Kippis, who with that manly candid good temper which marks his 
 character, set me right, I now with pleasure retract it; and I desire it may be par- 
 ticularly observed as pointed out by him to me that " The new lives of dissenting 
 Divines, in the first four volumes of the second edition of the ' Biographia Britannica ' 
 are those of John Abernethy, Thomas Amory, George Benson, Hugh Broughton 
 the learned Puritan, Simon Browne, Joseph Boyse of Dublin, Thomas Cartwright 
 the learned Puritan, and Samuel Chandler. The only doubt I have ever heard 
 suggested is, whether there should have been an article of Dr. Amory. But I was 
 convinced, and am still convinced, that he was entitled to one, from the reality of 
 his learnmg, and the excellent and candid nature of his practical writings. 
 
 "The new lives of clergymen of the Church of England, in the same four vol- 
 umes, are as follows: John Balguy, Edward Bentham, George Berkeley Bishop of 
 Cloyne, William Berriman, Thomas Birch, William Borlase, Thomas Bott, James 
 Bradley, Thomas Broughton, John Brown, John Burton, Joseph Butler Bishop of 
 Durham, Thomas Carte, Edmund Castell, Edmund Chishull, Charles Churchill, 
 William Clarke, f^obert Clayton Bishop of Clogher, John Conybeare Bishop of 
 Bristol, George Costard, and Samuel Croxall. I am not conscious (says Kii:)pis) 
 of any partiality in conducting the work. I would not willingly insert a Dissenting 
 Minister that does not justly deserve to be noticed, or omit an Established Clergy- 
 man that does. At the same time, I shall not be deterred from introducing Dis- 
 senters into the ' Biographia," when I am satisfied that they are entitled to that 
 distinction, from their writings, learning and merit," 
 
 Let me add that the expression " A friend to the constitution in Church and 
 State," was not meant by me, as any reflection upon this reverend gentleman, as if 
 he were an enemy to the political constitution of his country, as established at the 
 revolution, but, from my steady and avowed predilection for a 7bfy, was quoted 
 from Johnson's Dictionary, where that distinction is so defined. — B. 
 
 2 Great wits are sure to madness near allied." — Dryden : "Absalom and Achi- 
 tophei," 1. 163. 
 
 3 " Observations on Insanity," by Thomas Arnold, M.D. London, 1782. — B. 
 
Age 68. J 
 
 THE GUST FOR LONDON. 
 
 117 
 
 and consoles him with the contemplation of something steady, 
 and at least comparatively great. 
 
 He added : " Madmen are all sensual in the lower stages of the 
 distemper. They are eager for gratifications to soothe their 
 minds, and divert their attention from the misery which they 
 suffer ; but when they grow very ill, pleasure is too weak for them, 
 and they seek for pain.^ Employment, Sir, and hardships pre- 
 vent melancholy. I suppose in all our army in America there was 
 not one man who went mad." 
 
 We entered seriously upon a question of much importance to 
 me, which Johnson was pleased to consider with friendly atten- 
 tion. I had long complained to him that I felt discontented in 
 Scotland, as too narrow a sphere, and that I wished to make my 
 chief residence in London, the great scene of ambition, instruc- 
 tion, and amusement : a scene, which was to me, comparatively 
 speaking, a heaven upon earth. Johnson : " Why, Sir, I never 
 knew any one who had such a gust for London as you have : and 
 I cannot blame you for your wish to live there : yet. Sir, were I 
 in your father's place, I should not consent to your settling there ; 
 for I have the old feudal notions, and I should be afraid that 
 Auchinleck would be deserted, as you would soon find it more 
 desirable to have a country-seat in abetter climate. I own, how- 
 ever, that to consider it as a duty to reside on a family estate is 
 a prejudice ; for we must consider, that working people get 
 employment equally, and the produce of the land is sold equally, 
 whether a great family resides at home or not ; and if the rents of 
 an estate be carried to London, they reti^rn again in the circula- 
 tion of commerce ; nay. Sir, we must perhaps allow, that carrying 
 the rents to a distance is a good, because it contributes to that 
 circulation. We must, however, allow, that a well-regulated great 
 family may improve a neighborhood in civility and elegance, and 
 give an example of good order, virtue, and piety ; and so its resi- 
 dence at home may be of much advantage. But if a great family 
 
 1 We read in the Gospels, that those unfortunate persons who were possessed 
 with evil spirits (which, after all, I think is the most probable cause of madness, as 
 was first suggested to me by my respectable friend Sir John Pringle) had recourse 
 to pain, tearing themselves, and jumping sometimes into the fire, sometimes into 
 the water. Mr. Seward has furnished me with a remarkable anecdote in confirma- 
 tion of Dr. Johnson's observation. A tradesman who had acquired a large fortune 
 in London, retired from business, and went to live at Worcester. His mind, being 
 without its usual occupation, and having nothing else to supply its place, preyed 
 upon itself, so that existence was a torment to him. At last he was seized with the 
 stone ; and a friend who found him in one of its severest fits, having expressed his 
 concern, " No, no, Sir," said he, " don't pity me ; what I now feel is ease, com- 
 pared with that torture of mind from which it relieves me." — B. 
 
118 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 be disorderly and vicious, its residence at home is very pernicious 
 to a neighborhood. There is not now the same inducement to live 
 in the country as formerly ; the pleasures of social life are much 
 better enjoyed in town ; and there is no longer in the country 
 that power and influence in proprietors of land which they had in 
 old times, and which made the country so agreeable to them. 
 The Laird of Auchinleck now is not near so great a man as the 
 Laird of Auchinleck was a hundred years ago." 
 
 I told him, that one of my ancestors never went from home 
 without being attended by thirty men on horseback. Johnson's 
 shrewdness and spirit of inquiry were exerted upon every occa- 
 sion. " Pray," said he, " how did your ancestor support his thirty 
 men and thirty horses when he went at a distance from home, in 
 an age when there was hardly any money in circulation?" I 
 suggested the same difficulty to a friend who mentioned Douglas's 
 going to the Holy Land with a numerous train of followers. 
 Douglas could, no doubt, maintain followers enough while living 
 upon his own lands, the produce of which supplied them with 
 food ; but he could not carry that food to the Holy Land ; and as 
 there was no commerce by which he could be supplied with 
 money, how could he maintain them in foreign countries ? ' 
 
 I suggested a doubt, that if I were to reside in London, the 
 exquisite zest with which I relished it in occasional visits might 
 go off, and I might grow tired of it. Johnson : " Why, Sir, you 
 find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. 
 No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life ; for 
 there is in London all that life can afford." 
 
 To obviate his apprehension, that by settling in London I 
 might desert the seat of my ancestors, I assured him that I had 
 old feudal principles to a degree of enthusiasm ; and that I felt 
 all the dulcedo of the natale solum} I reminded him, that the 
 Laird of Auchinleck had an elegant house, in front of which he 
 could ride ten miles forward upon his own territories, upon which 
 he had upwards of six hundred people attached to him ; that the 
 family-seat was rich in natural romantic beauties of rock, wood, 
 and water; and that in my "morn of life " ^ I had appropriated 
 
 1 Sir James Douglas was killed in Spain fighting against the Saracens, on his 
 way to Palestine to lay the heart of Robert Bruce in the Holy Sepulchre. The 
 heart was brought back to Scotland and interred under the high altar in Melrose 
 Abbey. It is in memory of this expedition that the Douglases bear the cognizance 
 of a bloody heart surmounted by a crown. See Tytler's " History of Scotland," 
 ii. 4-6. 
 
 * Ovid : " Ep. ex Ponto," I. 3. 35, 
 » " Hamlet," Act I. Sc. 3. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 EMPLOYMENT NECESSARY. 
 
 119 
 
 the finest descriptions in the ancient classics, to certain scenes 
 there, which were thus associated in my mind. That when all 
 this was considered I should certainly pass a part of the year at 
 home, and enjoy it the more from variety, and from bringing 
 with me a share of the intellectual stores of the metropolis. He 
 listened to all this, and kindly hoped it might be as I now sup- 
 posed." 
 
 He said, a country gentleman should bring his lady to visit 
 London as soon as he can, that they may have agreeable topics 
 for conversation when they are by themselves. 
 
 As I meditated trying my fortune in Westminster Hall, our 
 conversation turned upon the profession of the law in England. 
 Johnson : " You must not indulge too sanguine hopes, should 
 you be called to our bar. I was told by a very sensible lawyer, 
 that there are a great many chances against any man's success in 
 the profession of the law ; the candidates are so numerous, and 
 those who get large practice so few. He said it was by no means 
 true that any man of good parts and application is sure of having 
 business, though he indeed allowed that if such a man could but 
 appear in a few causes his merit would be known, and he would 
 get forward ; but that the great risk was, that a man might pass 
 half a lifetime in the Courts, and never have an opportunity of 
 showing his abilities." ' 
 
 We talked of employment being absolutely necessary to pre- 
 serve the mind from wearying and growing fretful, especially in 
 those who have a tendency to melancholy ; and I mentioned to 
 him a saying which somebody had related of an American savage, 
 who, when a European was expatiating on all the advantages of 
 money, put this question : " Will it purchase occupation ? " 
 Johnson : Depend upon it, Sir, this saying is too refined for a 
 savage. And, Sir, money will purchase occupation ; it will pur- 
 chase all the conveniences of life ; it will purchase variety of 
 company; it will purchase all sorts of entertainment." 
 
 I talked to him of Forster's Voyage to the South Seas," which 
 pleased me ; but I found he did not like it. Sir," said he, 
 ''there is a great affection of fine writing in it." Boswfxl : " But 
 
 Now, at the distance of fifteen years since this conversation passed, the obsev- 
 vations wliich I have had an opportunity of m, iking in Westminster Hall, has con- 
 vinced me, that however true the opinion of Dr. Johnson's legal friend may have 
 been some time ago, the same certainty of success cannot now be promised to the 
 same display of merit. The reasons, however, of the rapid rise of some, and the 
 disappointment of others equally respectable, are such as it might seem invidious 
 to mention, and would require a longer detail than would be proper for this work. 
 — B. 
 
120 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 he carries you along with him." Johnson: "No, Sir; he does 
 not carry 7fte along with him : he leaves me behind him : or 
 rather, indeed, he sets me before him ; for he makes me turn 
 over many leaves at a time." 
 
 On Sunday, September 12 [21?], we went to the church of 
 Ashbourne, which is one of the largest and most luminous that 
 I have seen in any town of the same size. I felt great satisfac- 
 tion in considering that I was supported in my fondness for 
 solemn public worship by the general concurrence and munifi- 
 cence of mankind. 
 
 Johnson and Taylor were so different from each other, that I 
 wondered at their preserving an intimacy. Their having been at 
 school and college together, might, in some degree, account for 
 this ; but Sir Joshua Reynolds has furnished me with a stronger 
 reason ; for Johnson mentioned to him, that he had been told by 
 Taylor he was to be his heir. I shall not take upon me to ani- 
 madvert upon this ; but certain it is that Johnson paid great 
 attention to Taylor. He now, however, said to me : " Sir, I love 
 him ; but I do not love him more ; my regard for him does not 
 increase. As it is said in the Apocrypha, ' his talk is of bullocks.' ^ 
 I do not suppose he is very fond of my company. His habits 
 are by no means sufficiently clerical : this he knows that I see ; 
 and no man likes to live under the eye of perpetual disappro- 
 bation." 
 
 I have no doubt that a good many sermons were composed for 
 Taylor by Johnson. At this time I found, upon his table, a part 
 of one which he had newly begun to write ; and Concio pro Tay- 
 loro appears in one of his diaries. When to these circumstances 
 we add the internal evidence from the power of thinking and 
 style in the collection which the Reverend Mr. Hayes had pub- 
 lished, with the significant title of " Sermons left for publication by 
 the Reverend John Taylor, LL.D." our conviction will be com- 
 plete. 
 
 I, however, would not have it thought, that Dr. Taylor, though 
 he could not write like Johnson (as, indeed, who could?), did not 
 sometimes compose sermons as good as those which we generally 
 have from very respectable divines. He showed me one with 
 notes on the margin in Johnson's handwriting ; and I was pres- 
 ent when he read another to Johnson, that he might have his 
 opinion of it, and Johnson said it was "very well." These, we 
 
 ^ Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii. 25. The whole chapter may be read as an admirable 
 illustration of the superiority of cultivated minds over the gross and illiterate. — B. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 THE JOHNSONIAN GARDEN. 
 
 121 
 
 may be sure, were not Johnson's : for he was above little arts, or 
 tricks of deception. 
 
 Johnson was by no means of opinion, that every man of a 
 learned profession should consider it as incumbent upon him, or 
 as necessary to his credit, to appear as an author. When, in the 
 ardor of ambition for literary fame, I regretted to him one day 
 that an eminent judge had nothing of it, and therefore would 
 leave no perpetual monument of himself to posterity ; "Alas, Sir," 
 said Johnson, " what a mass of confusion should we have, if every 
 bishop, and every judge, every lawyer, physician, and divine, were 
 to write books." 
 
 I mentioned to Johnson a respectable person of a very strong 
 mind, who had little of that tenderness which is common to 
 human nature ; as an instance of which, when I suggested to him 
 that he should invite his son, who had been settled ten years in 
 foreign parts, to come home to pay him a visit, his answer was, 
 " No, no, let him mind his business." Johnson : " I do not 
 agree with him. Sir, in this. Getting money is not all a man's 
 business ; to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business 
 of life." ' 
 
 In the evening, Johnson, being in very good spirits, entertained 
 us with several characteristical portraits ; I regret that any of 
 them escaped my attention and diligence. I found from experi- 
 ence, that to collect my friend's conversation so as to exhibit it 
 with any degree of its original flavor, it was necessary to write it 
 down without delay. To record his sayings, after some distance 
 of time, was like preserving or pickling long-kept and faded fruits, 
 or other vegetables, which, when in that state, have little or 
 nothing of their taste when fresh. 
 
 I shall present my readers with a series of what I gathered this 
 evening from the Johnsonian garden. 
 
 " My friend, the late Earl of Cork, had a great desire to 
 maintain the literary character of his family ; he was a genteel 
 man, but did not keep up the dignity of his rank. He was so 
 generally civil, that nobody thanked him for it." 
 
 " Did we not hear so much said of Jack Wilkes, we should 
 think more highly of his conversation. Jack has a great variety 
 of talk. Jack is a scholar, and Jack has the manners of a gentle- 
 man. But after hearing his name sounded from pole to pole as 
 the phoenix of convivial felicity, we are disappointed in his com- 
 
 ^ He means his father, Lord Auchinleck ; and the absent son was David, who 
 spent so many years in Spain, having settled there in 1768. — Croker. 
 
122 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 pany. He has always been at me ; but I would do Jack a kind- 
 ness, rather than not. The contest is now over." 
 
 " Garrick's gayety of conversation has delicacy and elegance ; 
 Foote makes you laugh more ; but Foote has the air of a buffoon 
 paid for entertaining the company. He, indeed, well deserves 
 his hire." 
 
 " Colley Gibber once consulted me as to one of his birthday 
 odes, a long time before it was wanted. I objected very freely 
 to several passages. Gibber lost patience, and would not read 
 his ode to an end. When we had done with criticism, we walked 
 over to Richardson's, the author of ' Glarissa Harlowe,' and I 
 wondered to find Richardson displeased that I Mid not treat 
 Gibber with more respect.^ Now, Sir, to talk of respect for a 
 player!'' (smiling disdainfully.) Boswell : "There, Sir, you are 
 always heretical : you never will allow merit to a player." John- 
 son : " Merit, Sir, what merit? Do you respect a rope-dancer, 
 or a ballad-singer? " Boswell : " No, Sir ; but we respect a great 
 player, as a man who can conceive lofty sentiments, and can ex- 
 press them gracefully." Johnson: "What, Sir, a fellow who 
 claps a hump on his back, and a lump on his leg, and cries, * / 
 a7n Richard the Third' ? Nay, Sir, a ballad-singer is a higher 
 man, for he does two things ; he repeats and he sings : there is 
 both recitation and music in his performance ; the player only 
 recites." Boswell : " My dear Sir ! you may turn anything into 
 ridicule. I allow, that a player of farce is not entitled to respect ; 
 he does a little thing : but he who can represent exalted charac- 
 ters, and touch the noblest passions, has very respectable powers ; 
 and mankind have agreed in admiring great talents for the stage. 
 We must consider, too, that a great player does what very few 
 people are capable to do ; his art is a very rare faculty. Who 
 can repeat Hamlet's soliloquy, ^To be, or not to be,' as Garrick 
 does it?" Johnson: "Anybody may. Jemmy, there (a boy 
 about eight years old, who was in the room), will do it as well 
 in a week." Boswell : " No, no. Sir ; and as a proof of the 
 merit of great acting, and of the value which mankind set upon 
 it, Garrick has got ;£i 00,000." Johnson : " Is getting ^100,000 
 a proof of excellence? That has been done by a scoundrel 
 commissary." 
 
 This was most fallacious reasoning. I was sure, for once, that 
 I had the best side of the argument. I boldly maintained 
 the just distinction between a tragedian and a mere theatrical 
 droll ; between those who rouse our terror and pity, and those 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 PLEASURES OF THE PALATE. 
 
 123 
 
 who only make us laugh. "If," said I, " Betterton and Foote 
 were to walk into this room, you would respect Betterton 
 much more than Foote." Johnson : " If Betterton were to 
 walk into this room with Foote, Foote would soon drive him 
 out of it. Foote, Sir, quatenus Foote, has powers superior to 
 them all." 
 
 On Monday, September 22, when at breakfast, I unguardedly 
 said to Dr. Johnson, " I wish I saw you and Mrs. Macaulay to- 
 gether." He grew very angry; and after a pause, while a cloud 
 gathered on his brow, he burst out, " No, Sir ; you would not see 
 us quarrel, to make you sport. Do n't you know that it is very 
 uncivil to /// ' two people against one another?" Then, checking 
 himself, and wishing to be more gentle, he added, " I do not say 
 you should be hanged or drowned for this; but it is very uncivil." 
 Dr. Taylor thought him in the wrong, and spoke to him privately 
 of it ; but I afterwards acknowledged to Johnson that I was to 
 blame, for I candidly owned, that I meant to express a desire to 
 see a contest between Mrs. Macaulay and him ; but then I knew 
 how the contest would end : so that I was to see him triumph. 
 Johnson : " Sir, you can not be sure how a contest will end ; and 
 no man has a right to engage two people in a dispute by which 
 their passions may be inflamed, and they may part with bitter 
 resentment against each other. I would sooner keep company 
 with a man from whom I must guard my pockets, than with a 
 man who contrives to bring me into a dispute with somebody 
 
 that he may hear it. This is the great fault of ^ (naming 
 
 one of our friends), endeavoring to introduce a subject upon 
 which he knows two people in the company differ." Boswell : 
 "But he told me, Sir, he does it for instruction." Johnson: 
 " Whatever the motive be, Sir, the man who does so, does very 
 wrong. He has no more right to instruct himself at such risk, 
 than he has to make two people fight a duel, that he may learn 
 how to defend himself." 
 
 He found great fault with a gentleman of our acquaintance for 
 keeping a bad table. " Sir," said he, " when a man is invited to 
 dinner, he is disappointed if he does not get something good. I 
 advised Mrs. Thrale, who has no card-parties at her house, to 
 give sweetmeats, and such good things in an evening as are not 
 comnionly given, and she would find company enough come to 
 her : for everybody loves the palate to have things which please 
 
 ^To /i/is not in Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
 ^ Langton is no doubt meant here, and in tlie next paragraph. — Croker, 
 
124 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 put in their way, without trouble or preparation." Such was his 
 attention to the minutice of life and manners. 
 
 He thus characterized the Duke of Devonshire/ grandfather 
 of the present representative of that very respectable family : 
 " He was not a man of superior abilities, but he was a man 
 strictly faithful to his word. If, for instance, he had promised 
 you an acorn, and none had grown that year in his woods, he 
 would not have contented himself with that excuse : he would 
 have sent to Denmark for it. So unconditional was he in keep- 
 ing his word ; so high as to the point of honor." This was a lib- 
 eral testimony from the Tory Johnson to the virtue of a great 
 Whig nobleman. 
 
 Mr. Burke's " Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, on the affairs of 
 America " being mentioned, Johnson censured the composition 
 much, and he ridiculed the definition of a free government, viz., 
 "For any practical purpose, it is what the people think so." — 
 " I will let the King of France govern me on those conditions," 
 said he, " for it is to be governed just as I please." And when 
 Dr. Taylor talked of a girl being sent to a parish workhouse, 
 and asked how much she could be obliged to work, " Why," said 
 Johnson, " as much as is reasonable : and what is that ? as much as 
 she thinks reasonable." 
 
 Dr. Johnson obligingly proposed to carry me to see Islam, a 
 romantic scene, now belonging to a family of the name of Port, 
 but formerly the seat of the Congreves.^ I suppose it is well de- 
 scribed in some of the Tours. Johnson described it distinctly 
 and vividly, at which I could not but express to him my wonder; 
 because, though my eyes, as he observed, were better than his, I 
 could not by any means equal him in representing visible objects. 
 I said, the difference between us in this respect was as that be- 
 tween a man who has a bad instrument, but plays well on it, 
 and a man who has a good instrument, on which he can play 
 very imperfectly. 
 
 I recollect a very fine'amphitheatre, surrounded with hills cov- 
 ered with woods, and walks neatly formed along the side of a 
 rocky steep, on the quarter next the house, with recesses under 
 projections of rock, overshadowed with trees ; in one of which 
 recesses, we were told, Congreve wrote his " Old Bachelor," 
 We viewed a remarkable natural curiosity at Islam : two rivers 
 
 1 Wi'liam Third Duke of Devonshire died in 1755. 
 
 2 I' had belonged to the Ports time out of mind ; but Congreve^ used to visit there, 
 Anci bench in the garden was shown as his favoiite seat. — Croker, 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S INCREDULITY. 
 
 125 
 
 bursting near each other from the rock, not from immediate 
 springs, but after having run for many miles under ground. Plott, 
 in his " History of Staffordshire," gives an account of this curios- 
 ity ; but Johnson would not believe it, though we had the attes- 
 tation of the gardener, who said, he had put in corks, where the 
 river Maiiyfold sinks into the ground, and had catched them in a 
 net, placed before one of the openings where the water bursts 
 out. Indeed, such subterraneous courses of water are found in 
 various parts of our globe.' 
 
 Talking of Dr. Johnson's unwillingness to believe extraordinary 
 things, I ventured to say, " Sir, you come near Hume's argument 
 against miracles, '■ That it is more probable witnesses should lie, 
 or be mistaken, than that they should happen.' " Johnson : 
 
 Why, Sir, Hume, taking the proposition simply, is right. But 
 the Christian revelation is not proved by the miracles alone, but 
 as connected with prophecies, and with the doctrines in confirma- 
 tion of which the miracles were wrought." 
 
 He repeated his observation, that the differences among Chris- 
 tians are really of no consequence. " For instance," said he, 
 " if a Protestant objects to a Papist, ' You worship images ; ' the 
 Papist can answer, ' I do not insist on your doing it ; you* may be 
 a very good Papist without it : I do it only as a help to my de- 
 votion.' " I said, thd great article of Christianity is the revela- 
 tion of immortality. Johnson admitted it was. 
 
 In the evening, a gentleman-farmer, who was on a visit at Dr. 
 Taylor's, attempted to dispute with Johnson in favor of Mungo 
 Campbell, who shot Alexander, Earl of Eglinton, upon his having 
 fallen, when retreating from his Lordship who he believed was 
 about to seize his gun, as he had threatened to do. He said, he 
 should have done just as Campbell did. Johnson : Whoever 
 would do as Campbell did, deserves to be hanged ; not that I 
 could, as a juryman, have found him legally guilty of murder; 
 but I am glad they found means to convict him." The gentle- 
 man-farmer said, "A poor man has as much honor as a rich 
 man : and Campbell had that to defend." Johnson exclaimed, " A 
 poor man has no honor." The English yeoman, not dismayed, 
 proceeded : " Lord Eglinton was a damned fool to run on upon 
 Campbell, after being warned that Campbell would shoot him if 
 he did." Johnson, who could not bear anything like swearing, 
 angrily replied, "He was not a damned iooX-. he only thought 
 
 * See Plott's " History of Staffordshire," p. 88, and the authorities referred to by 
 him.-B. 
 
126 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 too well of Campbell. He did not believe Campbell would be 
 such a damned scoundrel, as to do so damned a thing." His 
 emphasis on damned, accompanied with frowning looks, reproved 
 his opponent's want of decorum in his presence.' 
 
 Talking of the danger of being mortified by rejection, when 
 making approaches to the acquaintance of the great, I observed, 
 " I am, however, generally for trying, ' Nothing venture, nothing 
 have.'" Johnson: "Very true. Sir; but I have always been 
 more afraid of failing, than hopeful of success." And, indeed, 
 though he had all just respect for rank, no man ever less courted 
 the favor of the great. 
 
 During this interview at Ashbourne, Johnson seemed to be more 
 uniformly social, cheerful, and alert, than I had almost ever seen 
 him. He was prompt on great occasions and on small. Taylor, 
 who praised everything of his own to excess, in short, whose 
 geese were all swans," as the proverb says, expatiated on the 
 excellence of his buil-dog, which, he told us, was "perfectly well 
 shaped." Johnson, after examining the animal attentively, thus 
 repressed the vain-glory of our host : " No, Sir, he is not well 
 shaped ; for there is not the quick transition from the thickness 
 of the forepart to the tenuity — the thin part — behind, — which a 
 bull-dog ought to have." This tennity was the only ha7'd word that 
 I heard him use during this interview, and it will be observed, he 
 instantly put another expression in its place. Taylor said a 
 small bull-dog was as good as a large one. Johnson : " No, Sir ; 
 for, in proportion to his size, he has strength : and your argument 
 would prove, that a good bull-dog may be as small as a mouse." 
 It was amazing how he entered with perspicuity and keenness 
 upon everything that occurred in conversation. Most men whom 
 I know, would no more think of discussing a question about a 
 bull- dog, than of attacking a bull. 
 
 I cannot allow any fragment whatever that floats in my memory 
 concerning the great subject of this work to be lost. Though a 
 small particular may appear trifling to some, it will be relished by 
 others ; while every little spark adds something to the general 
 blaze : and to please the true, candid, warm admirers of Johnson, 
 and in any degree increase the splendor of his reputation, I bid 
 defiance to the shafts of ridicule, or even of malignity. Showers 
 of them have been discharged at my " Journal of a Tour to the 
 
 1 Campbell was an exciseinan who had cauglit one of Lord Eglinlon's servants 
 smuggling. He was trespassing on his Lordship's grounds, after having been ex- 
 pressly warned off, when the affair happened. The day after his trial Campbell 
 hanged himself in prison. Ann. Reg. xiii. 219. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 68. J JOHNSON AT THE WATER-FALL. 
 
 127 
 
 Hebrides; " yet it still sails unhurt along the stream of time, and 
 as an attendant upon Johnson, 
 
 " Pursues the triumph, and partakes the gales." ' 
 
 One morning after breakfast, when the sun shone bright, we 
 walked out together and pored " '-^ for sometime with placid 
 indolence upon an artificial water-fall, which Dr. Taylor had made 
 by building a strong dyke of stone across the river behind the 
 garden. It was now somewhat obstructed by branches of trees 
 and other rubbish, which had come down the river, and settled 
 close to it. Johnson, partly from a desire to see it play more 
 freely, and partly from that inclination to activity which will ani- 
 mate, at times, the most inert and sluggish mortal, took a long 
 pole which was lying on a bank, and pushed down several parcels 
 of this wreck with painful assiduity, while I stood quietly by, won- 
 dering to behold the sage thus curiously employed, and smiling 
 with a humorous satisfaction each time when he carried his point. 
 He worked till he was quite out of breath ; and having found a 
 large dead cat so heavy that he could not move it after several 
 efforts, "Come," he said (throwing down the pole), "you shall 
 take it now; " which I accordingly did, and being a fresh man, 
 soon made the cat tumble over the cascade. This may be laughed 
 at as too trifling to record ; but it is a small characteristic trait 
 in the Flemish picture which I give of my friend, and in which, 
 therefore, I mark the most minute particulars. And let it be 
 remembered, that "v^^sop at play" is one of the instructive 
 apologues of antiquity. 
 
 I mentioned an old gentleman of our acquaintance whose 
 memory was beginning to fail. Johnson : " There must be a 
 diseased mind, where there is a failure of memory at seventy. A 
 man's head. Sir, must be morbid, if he fails so soon." My friend, 
 being now himself sixty-eight, might think thus : but I imagine, 
 that threescore and ten, the Psalmist's period of sound human 
 life in later ages, may have a failure, though there be no disease 
 in the constitution." 
 
 Talking of Rochester's Poems, he said, he had given them to 
 Mr. Steevens to castrate for the edition of the poets, to which he 
 was to write Prefaces. Dr. Taylor (the only time I ever heard 
 
 J Pope : " Essay on Man," iv. 383. 
 
 ^" His listless length at noontide would he stretch 
 
 And pore upon the brook that babbles by." — Gray's " Elegy.''' 
 
128 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 him say anything witty') observed, that " If Rochester had been 
 castrated himself, his exceptionable poems would not have been 
 written." I asked if Burnet had not given a good Life of 
 Rochester. Johnson : " We have a good Death : there is not 
 much LifeJ'' I asked whether Prior's poems were to be printed 
 entire : Johnson said, they were. I mentioned Lord Hailes's 
 censure of Prior, in his Preface to a collection of "Sacred 
 Poems," by various hands, published by hnn at Edinburgh a 
 great many years ago, where he mentions, " Those impure tales 
 which will be the eternal opprobrium of their ingenious author." 
 Johnson : " Sir, Lord Hailes has forgot. There is nothing in 
 Prior that will excite to lewdness. If Lord Hailes thinks there 
 is, he must be more combustible than other people." I in- 
 stanced the tale of " Paulo Purganti and his Wife." Johnson : 
 " Sir, there is nothing there, but that his wife wanted to be 
 kissed, when poor Paulo was out of pocket. No, Sir, Prior is 
 a lady's book. No lady is ashamed to have it standing in 
 her library." 
 
 The hypochondriac disorder being mentioned. Dr. Johnson 
 did not think it so common as I supposed. "Dr. Taylor," said 
 he, " is the same one day as another. Burke and Reynolds are 
 the same. Beauclerk, except when in pain, is the same. I am 
 not so myself; but this I do not mention commonly." 
 
 I complained of a wretched changefulness, so that I could not 
 preserve, for any long continuance, the same views of anything. 
 It was most comfortable to me to experience, in Dr. Johnson's 
 company, a relief from this uneasiness. His steady vigorous 
 mind held firm before me those objects which my own feeble and 
 tremulous imagination frequently presented, in such a wavering 
 state, that my reason could not judge well of them. 
 
 Dr. Johnson advised me to-day, to have as many books about 
 me as I could ; that I might read upon any subject upon which I 
 had a desire for instruction at the time. " What you read then,'' 
 said he, " you will remember ; but if you have not a book imme- 
 diately ready, and the subject moulds in your mind, it is a chance 
 if you have again a desire to study it." He added, " If a man 
 never has an eager desire for instruction, he should prescribe a 
 task for himself. But it is better when a man reads from imme- 
 diate inclination." 
 
 He repeated a good many lines of Horace's Odes, while we 
 
 ' I am told, that Horace [^alpole] , Earl of Orford, has a collection of bon mots 
 by persons who never said but one. — B. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 BACON'S WRITINGS. 
 
 129 
 
 were in the chaise ; I remember particularly the ode " Eheu, 
 fugacesy ' 
 
 He said, the dispute as to the comparative excellence of 
 Homer or VirgiP was inaccurate. " We must consider," said he, 
 " whether Homer was not the greatest poet, though Virgil may 
 have produced the finest poem. Virgil was indebted to Homer 
 for the whole invention of the structure of an epic poem, and for 
 many of his beauties." 
 
 He told me, that Bacon was a favorite author with him ; but 
 he had never read his works till he was compiling the English 
 Dictionary, in which he said, I might see Bacon very often quoted. 
 Mr. Seward recollects his having mentioned, that a dictionary of 
 the English language might be compiled from Bacon's writings 
 alone, and that he had once an intention of giving an edition of 
 Bacon, at least of his English works, and writing the Life of that 
 great man. Had he executed this intention, there can be no 
 doubt that he would have done it in a most masterly manner. 
 Mallet's " Life of Bacon " has no inconsiderable merit as an acute 
 and elegant dissertation relative to its subject ; but Mallet's mind 
 was not comprehensive enough to embrace the vast extent of Lord 
 Verulam's genius and research. Dr. Warburton therefore ob- 
 served, with witty justness, " That Mallet in his ' Life of Bacon ' 
 had forgotten that he was a philosopher ; and if he should write 
 the Life of the Duke of Marlborough, which he had undertaken 
 to do, he would probably forget that he was a general." 
 
 Wishing to be satisfied what degree of truth there was in a story 
 which a friend ^ of Johnson's and mine had told me to his disad- 
 vantage, I mentioned it to him in direct terms ; and it was to this 
 effect : that a gentleman who had lived in great intimacy with 
 him, shown him much kindness, and even relieved him from a 
 spunging-house, having afterwards fallen into bad circumstances, 
 was one day, when Johnson was at dinner with him, seized for 
 debt, and carried to prison ; that Johnson sat still undisturbed, 
 and went on eating and drinking ; upon which the gentleman's 
 sister, who was present, could not suppress her indignation : 
 
 1 Ode II., 14. 
 
 2 I am informed by Mr. Langton, that a great many years ago he was present 
 when this question was agitated between Dr. johnson and Mr. Burke ; and, to use 
 Johnson's phrase, they "talked their best; " Johnson for Homer, Burke for Virgil. 
 It may well be supposed to have been one of the ablest and most brilliant contests 
 that ever was exhibited. How much must we regret that it has not been preserved. 
 - B. 
 
 3 Beauclerk. 
 
 * Perhaps Mr. Thomas Hervey. — Dr. Hill. 
 Vol. II.— 9 
 
130 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 <'What, Sir," said she, "are you so unfeeUng, as not even to offer 
 to go to my brother in his distress ; you who have been so much 
 obhged to him? " And that Johnson answered, " Madam, I owe 
 him no obligation ; what he did for me he would have done for 
 a dog." 
 
 Johnson assured me, that the story was absolutely false : but 
 like a man conscious of being in the right, and desirous of com- 
 pletely vindicating himself from such a charge, he did not arro- 
 gantly rest on a mere denial, and on his general character, but 
 proceeded thus : Sir, I was very intimate with that gentleman, 
 and was once relieved by him from an arrest ; but I never was 
 present when he was arrested, never knew that he was arrested, 
 and I believe he never was in difficulties after the time when he 
 relieved me. I loved him much : yet, in talking of his general 
 character, I may have said, though I do not remember that I ever 
 did say so, that as his generosity proceeded from no principle, 
 but was a part of his profusion, he would do for a dog what he 
 would do for a friend : but I never applied this remark to any 
 particular instance, and certainly not to his kindness to me. If a 
 profuse man, who does not value his money, and gives a large sum 
 to a whore, gives half as much, or an equally large sum to relieve 
 a friend, it cannot be esteemed as virtue. This was all that I 
 could say of that gentleman ; and, if said at all, it must have been 
 said after his death. Sir, I would have gone to the world's end to 
 relieve him. The remark about the dog, if made by me, was such 
 a sally as might escape one when painting a man highly." 
 
 On Tuesday, September 23, Johnson was remarkably cordial to 
 me. It being necessary for me to return to Scotland soon, I had 
 fixed on the next day for my setting out, and I felt a tender con- 
 cern at the thought of parting with him. He had, at this time, 
 frankly communicated to me many particulars, which are inserted 
 in this work in their proper places ; and once, when I happened 
 to mention that the expense of my jaunt would come to much 
 more than I had computed, he said, " Why, Sir, if the expense 
 were to be an inconvenience, you would have reason to regret it : 
 but, if you have had the money to spend, I know not that you 
 could have purchased as much pleasure with it in any other 
 way." 
 
 During this interview at Ashbourne, Johnson and I frequently 
 talked with wonderful pleasure of mere trifles which had occurred 
 in our tour to the Hebrides ; for it had left a most agreeable and 
 lasting impression upon his mind. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 COLLOQUIAL BARBARISMS. 
 
 131 
 
 He found fault with me for using the phrase to 7nake money. 
 "Don't you see," said he, "the impropriety of it? To ma/^e 
 money is to <r^?/;z it: you should sa.y gef money." The phrase, 
 however, is, 1 think, pretty current.' But Johnson was at all 
 times jealous of infractions upon the genuine English language, 
 and prompt to repress colloquial barbarisms ; such as pledging 
 myself, for undertaking ; line, for department or branch, as the 
 civil line, the banking line. He was particularly indignant against 
 the almost universal use of the word idea in the sense of notion- 
 ox opinion, when it is clear that idea can only signify something 
 of which an image can be formed in the mind. We may have an 
 idea or image of a mountain, a tree, a building ; but we cannot 
 surely have an idea or image of an aigiiment or propositio7t. Yet 
 we hear the sages of the law " delivering their ideas upon the 
 question under consideration ; " and the first speakers in Parlia- 
 ment " entirely coinciding in the idea which has been ably stated 
 by an honorable member;" or "reprobating an idea uncon- 
 stitutional, and fraught with the most dangerous consequences to 
 a great and free country." Johnson called this "modern cant."^ 
 
 1 perceived that he pronounced the word heard, as if spelt with 
 a double e, heerd, instead of sounding it herd, as is most usually 
 done. He said, his reason was, that if it were pronounced herd, 
 there would be a single exception from the English pronunciation 
 of the syllable ear, and he thought it better not to have that ex- 
 ception." 
 
 He praised Grainger's " Ode on Solitude," in Dodsley's col- 
 lection, and repeated, with great energy the exordium : 
 
 " O Solitude, romantic maid, 
 
 Whether by nodding towers you tread; 
 Or haunt the desert's trackless gloom, 
 Or hover o'er the yawning tomb, 
 Or cUmb the Andes' clifted side. 
 Or by the Nile's coy source abide; 
 Or, starting from your half year's sleep, 
 From Hecla view the thawing deep; 
 Or, at the purple dawn of day, 
 Tadmor's marble waste survey." 
 
 observing, "This, Sir, is very noble." 
 
 In the evening our gentleman-farmer, and two others, enter- 
 
 ^ Johnson himself admits it in this sense in his Dictionary : " To MAKE, to raise 
 a profit from anything" with an example from Shakespeare ("Measure for Meas- 
 ure," iv. 3). "He made five marks, ready money." — Cruker. 
 
 2 Cant, i.e., slang. 
 
132 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON, [A.D. 1777. 
 
 tained themselves and the company with a great number of tunes 
 on the fiddle. Johnson desired to have "Let ambition fire thy 
 mind," played over again, and appeared to give a patient atten- 
 tion 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 de- 
 gree, as often to agitate 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 in- 
 clined to rush into the thickest part of the battle. " Sir," said 
 he, " I should never hear it, if it made me such a fool." 
 
 Much of the effect of music, I am satisfied, is owing to the as- 
 sociation of ideas. That air, which instantly and irresistibly 
 excites in the Swiss, when in a foreign land, the maladie dii pais, 
 has, I am told, no intrinsic power of sound. And I know from 
 my own experience, that Scotch reels, though brisk, make me 
 melancholy, because I used to hear them in my early years, at a 
 time when Mr. Pitt called for soldiers " from the mountains of 
 the north," and numbers of brave Highlanders were going abroad, 
 never to return. Whereas the airs in "The Beggar's Opera," 
 many of which are very soft, never fail to render me gay, because 
 they are associated with the warm sensations and high spirits of 
 London. This evening, while some of the tunes of ordinary com- 
 position were played with no great skill, my frame was agitated, 
 and I was conscious of a generous attachment to Dr. Johnson, as 
 my preceptor and friend, mixed with an affectionate regret that 
 he was an old man, whom I should probably lose in a short time. 
 I thought I could defend him at the point of my sword. My 
 reverence and affection for him were in full glow. I said to him, 
 " My dear Sir, we must meet every year, if you do n't quarrel with 
 me." Johnson : " 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 repeat- 
 ing it ; write it down in the first leaf of your pocket-book, and 
 never doubt of it again." 
 
 I talked to him of misery being the "doom of man," in this 
 life, as displayed in his " Vanity of Human Wishes." Yet 
 I observed that things were done upon the supposition of 
 happiness ; grand houses were built, fine gardens were made, 
 splendid places of public amusement were contrived, and crowded 
 with company. Johnson : " Alas, Sir, these are all only struggles 
 for happiness. When I first entered Ranelagh, it gave an ex- 
 pansion and gay sensation to my mind, such as I never experi- 
 
Age 68.] THE ETERNITY OF PUNISHMENT. 133 
 
 enced any where else. But, as Xerxes wept when he viewed his 
 immense army, and considered that not one of that great multi- 
 tude would be alive a hundred years afterwards, so it went to my 
 heart to consider that there was not one in all that brilliant circle, 
 that was not afraid to go home and think ; but that the thoughts 
 of each individual there, would be distressing when alone." This 
 reflection was experimentally just. The feeling of languor,^ which 
 succeeds the animation of gayety, is itself a very severe pain ; and 
 when the mind is then vacant, a thousand disappointments and 
 vexations rush in and excruciate. Will not many even of my 
 fairest readers allow this to be true? 
 
 I suggested, that being in love, and flattered with hopes of 
 success ; or having some favorite scheme in view for the next 
 day, might prevent that wretchedness of which we had been talk- 
 ing. Johnson : " Why, Sir, it may sometimes be so as you 
 suppose ; but my conclusion is in general but too true." 
 
 While Johnson and I stood in calm conference by ourselves in 
 Dr. Taylor's garden, at a pretty late hour in a serene autumn 
 night, looking up to the heavens, I directed the discourse to the 
 subject of a future state. My friend was in a placid and most 
 benignant frame of mind. "Sir," said he, ''I do not imagine 
 that all things will be made clear to us immediately after death, 
 but that the ways of Providence will be explained to us very 
 gradually." I ventured to ask him whether, although the words 
 of some texts of Scripture seemed strong in support of the dread- 
 ful doctrine of an eternity of punishment, we might not hope that 
 the denunciation was figurative, and would not literally be ex- 
 ecuted. Johnson : " Sir, you are to consider the intention of 
 punishment in a future state. We have no reason to be sure 
 that we shall then be no longer Hable to off"end against God. We 
 do not know that even the angels are quite in a state of security ; 
 nay, we know that some of them have fallen. It may therefore, 
 perhaps, be necessary, in order to preserve both men and angels 
 in a state of rectitude, that they should have continually before 
 them the punishment of those who have deviated from it ; but we 
 may hope that by some other means a fall from rectitude may be 
 
 1 Pope mentions, 
 
 " Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair." 
 
 But I recollect a couplet quite apposite to my subject in " Virtue, an Ethic Epistle," 
 a beautiful and instructive poem, by an anonymous writer, in 1758 ; who, treating 
 of pleasure in excess, says, 
 
 "Till languor, suffering on the rack of bliss, 
 Confess that man was never made for this." — B. 
 
134 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 prevented. Some of the texts of Scripture upon this subject, are, 
 as you observe, indeed strong ; but they may admit of a mitigated 
 interpretation." He talked to me upon this awful and delicate 
 question in a gentle tone, and as if afraid to be decisive. 
 
 After supper I accompanied him to his apartment, and at my 
 request he dictated to me an argument in favor of the negro who 
 was then claiming his liberty, in an action in the Court of Session 
 in Scotland. He had always been very zealous against slavery in 
 every form, in which I with all deference thought that he dis- 
 covered "a zeal without knowledge." Upon one occasion, when 
 in company with some very grave men at Oxford, his toast was, 
 " Here 's to the next insurrection of the negroes in the West 
 Indies." His violent prejudice against our West Indian and 
 American settlers appeared whenever there was an opportunity. 
 Towards the conclusion of his "Taxation no Tyranny," he says, 
 " How is it that we hear the loudest ye/jfs for liberty among the 
 drivers of negroes ? " and in his conversation with Mr. Wilkes ^ 
 he asked, "Where did Beckford and Trecothick learn English? " 
 That Trecothick could both speak and write good English is well 
 known. I myself was favored with his correspondence concern- 
 ing the brave Corsicans. And that Beckford could speak it with 
 a spirit of honest resolution even to his Majesty, as his " faithful 
 Lord-Mayor of London," is commemorated by the noble monu- 
 ment erected to him in Guildhall.^ 
 
 The argument dictated by Dr. Johnson, was as follows : 
 
 It must be agreed that in most ages many countries have had part of their 
 inhabitants in a state of slavery; ^ yet it may be doubted whether slavery can 
 ever be supposed the natural condition of man. It is impossible not to con- 
 ceive that men in their original state were equal ; and very difificult to imagine 
 how one would be subjected to another but by violent compulsion. An indi- 
 vidual may, indeed, forfeit his liberty by a crime; but he cannot by that crime 
 forfeit the liberty of his children. What is true of a criminal seems true like- 
 wise of a captive. A man may accept life from a conquering enemy on con- 
 dition of perpetual servitude; but it is very doubtful whether he can entail that 
 servitude on his descendants; for no man can stipulate without commission for 
 another. The condition which he himself accepts, his son or grandson per- 
 haps would have rejected. If we should admit, what perhaps may with more 
 reason be denied, that there are certain relations between man and man which 
 may make slavery necessary and just, yet it can never be proved that he who 
 is now suing for his freedom ever stood in any of those relations. He is cer- 
 tainly subject by no law, but that of violence, to his present master; who pre- 
 
 1 See p. 50, and nofe 2. 
 
 2 Delivered May 23, 1770. Home Tooke claimed to have written the speech 
 and sent it to the papers. 
 
 8 The last emancipated serf in Scotland died in 1844. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 ARGUMENT ON SLAV i: II Y. 
 
 135 
 
 tends no claim to his obedience, but that he bought him from a merchant of 
 slaves, whose right to sell him never was examined. It is said that according 
 to the constitutions of Jamaica he was legally enslaved ; these constitutions 
 are merely positive; and apparently injurious to the rights of mankind, because 
 whoever is exposed to sale is condemned to slavery without appeal; by what- 
 ever fraud or violence he might have been originally brought into the mer- 
 chant's power. In our own time princes have been sold, by wretches to whose 
 care they w^ere intrusted, that they might have a European education; hut 
 when once they were brought to a market in the plantations, little would avail 
 either their dignity or their wrongs. The laws of Jamaica afford a negro no 
 redress. His color is considered as a sufficient testimony against him. It is 
 to be lamented that moral right should ever give way to j)olitical convenience. 
 But if temptations of interest are sometimes too strong for human virtue, let 
 us at least retain a virtue where there is no temptation to quit it. In the 
 present case there is apparent right on one side, and no convenience on the 
 other. Inhabitants of this island can neither gain riches nor power by taking 
 away the liberty of any part of the human species. The sum of the argument 
 is this: No man is by nature the property of another: The defendant is, 
 therefore, by nature free: The rights of nature must be some way forfeited 
 before they can be justly taken away. That the defendant has by any act for- 
 feited the rights of nature we require to be proved; and if no proof of such 
 forfeiture can be given, we doubt not but the justice of the court will declare 
 him free. 
 
 I record Dr. Johnson's argument fairly upon this particular 
 case ; where, perhaps, he was in the right. But I beg leave to 
 enter my most solemn protest against his general doctrine with 
 respect to the Slave Trade. For I will resolutely say — that his 
 unfavorable notion of it was owing to prejudice, and imperfect or 
 false information. The wild and dangerous attempt which has 
 for some time been persisted in to obtain an act of our Legislature 
 to abolish so very innportant and necessary a branch of commer- 
 cial interest, must have been crushed at once, had not the insig- 
 nificance of the zealots who vainly took the lead in it, made the 
 vast body of planters, merchants, and others, whose immense 
 properties are involved in that trade, reasonably enough suppose 
 that there could be no danger. The encouragement which the 
 attempt has received excites my wonder and indignation ; and 
 though some men of superior abilities have supported it, — whether 
 from a love of temporary popularity, when prosperous, or a love 
 of general mischief when desperate, — my opinion is unshaken. 
 To abolish a status, which in all ages God has sanctioned and 
 man has continued, would not only be robbery to an innumerable 
 class of our fellow-subjects ; but it would be extreme cruelty to 
 the African savages, a portion of whom it saves from massacre, 
 or intolerable bondage in their own country, and introduces into 
 a much happier state of life ; especially now when their passage 
 
136 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 to the West Indies and their treatment there is humanely regu- 
 lated. To abolish this trade would be to 
 
 " . o . shut the gates of mercy on mankind." * 
 
 Whatever may have passed elsewhere concerning it, the Housb- 
 OF Lords is wise and independent : 
 
 Intaminatis fulget honoribus; 
 Nec sumit aut ponit secures 
 Arbitrio popularis aurse. 
 
 (Hor. Od. iii. 2.) 
 
 I have read, conversed, and thought much upon the subject, 
 and would recommend to all who are capable of conviction, an 
 excellent tract by my learned and ingenious friend John Ranby, 
 Esq., entitled " Doubts on the Abolition of the Slave Trade." 
 To Mr. Ranby's " Doubts," I will apply Lord Chancellor Hard- 
 wicke's expression in praise of a Scotch Law Book, called "Dirle- 
 ton's Doubts j " His Doubts,'' '^did^ his Lordship, are better ♦ 
 than most people's Ce7^tainties.'" 
 
 When I said now to Johnson, that I was afraid I kept him too 
 late up, " No, Sir," said he, " I do n't care though I sit all night 
 with you." This was an animated speech from a man in his 
 sixty-ninth year. 
 
 Had I been as attentive not to displease him as I ought to 
 have been, I know not but this vigil might have been fulfilled ; 
 but I unluckily entered upon the controversy concerning the 
 right of Great Britain to tax America, and attempted to argue in 
 favor of our fellow-subjects on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 I insisted that America might be very well governed, and made 
 to yield sufficient revenue by the means of influence, as exempli- 
 fied in Ireland, while the people might be pleased with the 
 imagination of their participating of the British Constitution, by 
 having a body of representatives without whose consent money 
 could not be exacted from them. Johnson could not bear my 
 thus opposing his avowed opinion, which he had exerted himself 
 with an extreme degree of heat to enforce ; and the violent agi- 
 tation into which he was thrown, while answering, or rather rep- 
 rimanding me, alarmed me so, that I heartily repented of my 
 having unthinkingly introduced the subject. I myself, however, 
 grew warm, and the change was great from' the calm state of 
 
 ^ Gray's " Elegy.' 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 A STORM AND CALM. 
 
 18T 
 
 philosophical discussion in which we had a little before been 
 pleasingly employed. 
 
 1 talked of the corruption of the British Parliament, in which 
 I alleged that any question, however unreasonable or unjust, 
 might be carried by a venal majority ; and I spoke with high ad- 
 miration of the Roman Senate, as if composed of men sincerely 
 desirous to resolve what they should think best for their country. 
 My friend would allow no such character to the Roman Senate : 
 and he maintained that the British Parliament was not corrupt, 
 and that there was no occasion to corrupt its members ; asserting, 
 that there was hardly ever any question of great importance 
 before Parliament, any question in which a man might not very 
 well vote either upon one side or the other. He said there had 
 been none in his time except that respecting America. 
 
 We were fatigued by the contest, which was produced by my 
 want of caution ; and he was not then in the humor to slide into 
 easy and cheerful talk. It therefore so happened that we were 
 after an hour or two very willing to separate and go to bed. 
 
 On Wednesday, September 24, I went into Dr. Johnson's 
 room before he got up, and finding that the storm of the pre- 
 ceding night was quite laid, I sat down upon his bedside, and 
 he talked with as much readiness and good humor as ever. He 
 recommended to me to plant a considerable part of a large moor- 
 ish farm which I had purchased, and he made several calcula- 
 tions of the expense and profit ; for he delighted in exercising 
 his mind on the science of numbers. He pressed upon me the 
 importance of planting at the first in a very sufficient manner, 
 quoting the saying " /?t bello non licet bis (frra/r.-" and adding, 
 " This is equally true in planting." 
 
 I spoke with gratitude of Dr. Taylor's hospitality; and as evi- 
 dence that it was not on account of his good table alone that 
 Johnson visited him often, I mentioned a little anecdote which 
 had escaped my friend's recollection, and at hearing which re- 
 peated, he smiled. One evening, when I was sitting with him, 
 Frank delivered this message : " Sir, Dr. Taylor sends his com- 
 pliments to you, and begs you will dine with him to-morrow. 
 He has got a hare." — " My compliments," said Johnson, and 
 I '11 dine with him, hare or rabbit." 
 
 After breakfast I departed, and pursued my journey north- 
 wards. I took my post-chaise from the Green Man, a very good 
 inn at Ashbourne, the mistress of which, a mighty civil gentle- 
 woman, curtseying very low, presented me with an engraving of 
 
138 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 the sign of her house ; to which she had subjoined, in her own 
 handwriting, an address in such singular simplicity of style, that 
 I have preserved it pasted upon one of the boards of my original 
 Journal at this time, and shall here insert it for the amusement 
 of my readers : 
 
 "J/. KILLINGLEY'S duty waits upon Mr. Boswell, is ex- 
 ceedingly obliged to hi7n for this favour ; ivhenever he comes this 
 way, hopes for a continuance of the same. Would Mr. Boswell 
 name the house to his extensive acquaintance, it would be a singu- 
 lar favour conferred on one who has it not in her power to make 
 any other return but her most grateful thanks, and siricerest 
 prayers for his happiness ifi time, and in a blessed eternity. 
 
 " Tuesday morn.'^ 
 
 From this meeting at Ashbourne I derived a considerable ac- 
 cession to my Johnsonian store. I communicated my original 
 Journal to Sir William Forbes, in whom I have always placed de- 
 served confidence ; and what he wrote to me concerning it is so 
 much to my credit as the biographer of Johnson, that my readers 
 will, I hope, grant me their indulgence for here inserting it : " It 
 is not once or twice going over it," says Sir William, " that will 
 satisfy me ; for I find in it a high degree of instruction as well as 
 entertainment ; and I derive more benefit from Dr. Johnson's 
 admirable discussions than I should be able to draw from his 
 personal conversation ; for, I suppose there is not a man in the 
 world to whom he discloses his sentiments so freely as to your- 
 self." 
 
 I cannot omit a curious circumstance which occurred at Eden- 
 sor Inn, close by Chatsworth, to survey the magnificence of which 
 I had gone a considerable way out of my road to Scotland. The 
 inn was then kept by a very jolly landlord, whose name, I think, 
 was Malton. He happened to mention that " the celebrated Dr. 
 Johnson had been in his house." I inquired who this Dr. John- 
 son was, that I might hear my host's notion of him. " Sir," 
 said he, " Johnson, the great writer ; Oddity, as they call him. 
 He 's the greatest writer in England ; he writes for the Ministry ; 
 he has a correspondence abroad, and lets them know what 's 
 going on." 
 
 My friend, who had a thorough dependence upon the authen- 
 ticity of my relation without any cmbcllisluncnt, as falsehood or 
 fiction is too gently called, laughed a good deal at this represen- 
 tation of himself. 
 
Age 68.] A BREACH OF CONFIDENCE. 
 
 139 
 
 MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, wSept. 29, 1777. 
 My dear Sir: By the first post I inform you of niy safe arrival at my 
 own house, and that I had the comfort of finding my wife and children all in 
 good health. 
 
 When I look back upon our late interview, it appears to me to have an- 
 swered expectation better than almost any scheme of happiness that I ever 
 put in execution. My Journal is stored with wisdom and wit; and my memory 
 is filled with the recollection of lively and affectionate feelings, which now, I 
 think, yield me more satisfaction than at the time when they were first ex- 
 cited. 1 have experienced this upon other occasions. I shall be obliged to 
 you if you will explain it to me; for it seems wonderful that pleasure should 
 be more vivid at a distance than when near. I wish you may find yourself 
 in a humour to do me this favour; but I flatter myself with no strong hope of 
 it; for I have observed, that unless upon very serious occasions, your letters 
 to me are not ans7vers to those which I write. 
 
 [I then expressed much uneasiness that I had mentioned to him the name 
 of the gentleman ' who had told me the story so much to his disadvantage, 
 the truth of which he had completely refuted; for that my having done so 
 might be interpreted as a breach of confidence, and offend one whose society 
 I valued: therefore earnestly requesting that no notice might be taken of it to 
 anybody, till I should be in London, and have an opportunity to talk it over 
 with the gentleman.] 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: You will wonder, or you have wondered, why no letter has 
 come from me. What you wrote at your return, had in it such a strain of 
 cowardly caution as gave 'me no pleasure. I could not well do what you 
 
 wished; I had no need to vex you with a refusal. I have seen Mr. , 
 
 and as to him have set all right, without any inconvenience, so far as I 
 know, to you. Mrs. Thrale had forgot the story. You may now be at 
 ease. 
 
 And at ease I certainly wish you, for the kindness that you shewed in 
 coming so long a journey to see me. It was pity to keep you so long in pain, 
 but, upon reviewing the matter, I do not see what I could have done better 
 than I did. 
 
 I hope you found at your return my dear enemy and all her little people 
 quite well, and had no reason to repent of your journey. I think on it with 
 great gratitude. 
 
 I was not well when you left me at the Doctor's, and I grew worse; yet I 
 stayed on, and at Lichfield was very ill. Travelling, however, did not make 
 me worse; and when I came to London, I complied with a summons to 
 go to Brighthelmston, where I saw Beauclerk and stayed three days. 
 
 Our Club has recommenced last Friday, but I was not there. Langton 
 has another wench. ^ Mrs. Thrale is in hopes of a young brewer.^ They got 
 by their trade last year a very large sum, and their expenses are propor- 
 tionate. 
 
 ' Mr. Beauclerk. ^ A daughter born to him. — B. 
 
 3 She had already had eleven children. The twelfth proved to be a daughter 
 and not " a young brewer." — Dr. Hill. 
 
uo 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 Mrs. Williams's health is very bad. And I have had for some time a very 
 difificult and laborious respiration; but I am better by purges, abstinence, and 
 other methods. I am yet, however, much behindhand in my health and 
 rest. 
 
 Dr. Blair's sermons are now universally commended; but let him think 
 that I had the honour of first finding and first praising his excellences. I did 
 not stay to add my voice to that of the publick. 
 
 My dear friend, let me thank you once more for your visit; you did me 
 great honour, and I hope met with nothing that displeased you. I stayed 
 long at Ashl)ourne, not much pleased, yet aukward at departing. I then went 
 to Lichfield, where I found my friend at Stow-hill [Mrs. Aston] very danger- 
 ously diseased. Such is life. Let us try to pass it well, whatever it be, for 
 there is surely something beyond it. 
 
 Well, now, I hope all is well. Write as soon as you can, to, dear Sir, your 
 affectionate servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Nov. 25, 1777. 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Nov. 29, 1777. 
 My dear Sir: This day's post has at length relieved me from much un- 
 easiness, by bringing me a letter from you. I was, indeed, doubly uneasy; 
 on my own account and yours. I was very anxious to be secured against any 
 bad consequences from my imprudence in mentioning the gentleman's name 
 who had told me a story to your disadvantage : and as I could hardly suppose 
 it possible, that you would delay so long to make me easy, unless you were ill, 
 I was not a little apprehensive about you. You must not be offended when I 
 venture to tell you that you appear to me to have been too rigid upon this 
 occasion. The " cowardly caution zvhich gave you iw pleasure,'''' was suggested 
 to me by a friend here, to whom I mentioned the strange story and the detec- 
 tion of its falsity, as an instance how one may be deceived by what is appar- 
 ently very good authority. But, as I am still persuaded, that as I might have 
 obtained the truth, without mentioning the gentleman's name, it was wrong in 
 me to do it, I can not see that you are just in blaming my caution. But if 
 you were ever so just in your disapprobation, might you not have dealt more 
 tenderly with me? 
 
 I went to Auchinleck about the middle of October, and passed some time 
 with my father very comfortably. 
 
 I am engaged in a criminal prosecution against a country schoolmaster, 
 for indecent behaviour to his female scholars. There is no statute against 
 such abominable conduct; but it is punishable at common law. I shall bci 
 obliged to you for your assistance in this extraordinary trial. I ever am, my 
 dear Sir, your faithful humble servant, 
 
 James Bosvvell 
 
 About this time I wrote to Johnson giving him an account of 
 the decision of the Negro cause, by the Court of Session, which 
 by those who hold even the mildest and best regulated slavery 
 in abomination (of which number I do not hesitate to declare 
 
Age 68.] 
 
 THE SCOTCH NEGRO CAUSE. 
 
 141 
 
 that I am none), should be remembered with high respect, and 
 to the credit of Scotland ; for it went upon a much broader ground 
 than the case of Somei'set, which was decided in England being 
 truly the general question, whether a perpetual obligation of 
 service to one master in any mode should be sanctified by the 
 law of a free country. A negro, then called Joseph Knight, a 
 native of Africa, who having been brought to Jamaica in the 
 usual course of the slave-trade, and purchased by a Scotch gentle- 
 man in that island, had attended his master to Scotland, where it 
 was officiously suggested to him that he would be found entitled 
 to his liberty without any limitation. He accordingly brought his 
 action, in the course of which the ad^'ocates on both sides did 
 themselves great honor. Mr. Maclaurin has had the praise of 
 Johnson, for his argument ^ in favor of the negro, and Mr. Mac- 
 conochie distinguished himself on the same side, by his inge-» 
 nuity and extraordinary research. Mr. CuUen, on the part of the 
 master, discovered good information and sound reasoning; in 
 which he was well supported by Mr. James Ferguson, remark- 
 able for a manly understanding, and a knowledge both of books 
 and the world. But I cannot too highly praise the speech which 
 Mr. Henry Dundas generously contributed to the cause of the 
 sooty stranger. Mr. Dundas's Scottish accent, which has been 
 so often in vain obtruded as an objection to his powerful abilities 
 in Parliament, was no disadvantage to him in his own country. 
 And I do declare, that upon this memorable question he im- 
 pressed me, and I believe all his audience, with such feelings as 
 were produced by some of the most eminent orations of antiq- 
 uity. This testimony I liberally give to the excellence of an 
 
 1 See " State Trials," xi. p. 339, and Mr. Hargrave's argument, — B. 
 
 2 The motto to it was happily chosen : 
 
 " Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu Candidas esses." 
 
 I cannot avoid mentioning a circumstance no less strange than true, that a brother 
 advocate in considerable practice, but of whom it certainly cannot be said, Ingenuas 
 didicit fideliter artes, asl<ed Mr. Maclaurin, with a face of flippant assurance, " Are 
 these words your own?" — B. In the famous case of Knight, which terminated 
 the right of a slave to freedom if he landed in Scotland, Maclaurin pleaded the 
 cause of the negro. The counsel opposite was the celebrated Wight, an excellent 
 lawyer, but of a very homely appearance, with heavy features, a blmd eye which 
 projected from the socket, a swag belly and a limp. To him Maclaurin applied 
 the lines of Virgil 
 
 " Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses, 
 O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori." 
 
 Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 However black he be, and thou however white (Wight) 
 O handsome youth, trust not too much m beauty. 
 
142 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1777. 
 
 old friend, with whom it has been my lot to differ very widely 
 upon many political topics; yet I persuade myself without malice. 
 A great majority of the Lords of Session decided for the negro. 
 But four of their number, the Lord President, Lord Elliock, Lord 
 Monboddo, and Lord Covington, resolutely maintained the law- 
 fulness of a status, which has been acknowledged in all ages and 
 countries, and that when freedom flourished, as in old Greece 
 and Rome.' 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: This is the time ot the year in which all express their good 
 wishes to their friends, and I send mine to you and your family. May your 
 lives be long, happy, and good.* I have been much out of order, but, I hope, 
 do not grow worse. 
 
 The crime of the schoolmaster whom you are engaged to prosecute is very 
 great, and may be suspected to be too common. In our law it would be a 
 breach of the peace and a misdemeanour; that is, a kind of indefinite crime, 
 not capital, but punishable at the discretion of the Court. You cannot want 
 matter; all that needs to be said will easily occur. 
 
 Mr. Shaw, the author of the Gaelick Grammar, desires me to make a re- 
 quest for him to Lord Eglintoune, that he may be appointed chaplain to one 
 of the new-raised regiments. 
 
 All our friends are as they were; little has happened to them of either good 
 or bad. Mrs. Thrale ran a great black hair-dressing pin into her eye; but by 
 great evacuation she kept it from inflaming, and it is almost well. Miss Rey- 
 nolds has been out of order, but is better. Mrs. Williams is in a very poor 
 state of health. 
 
 If I should write on, I should, perhaps, write only complaints, and there- 
 fore I will content myself with telling you, that I love to think on you, and to 
 hear from you; and that I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 December 27, 1777. 
 
 to dr. samuel johnson. 
 
 Edinburgh, Jan. 8, 1778. 
 
 Dear Sir: Your congratulations upon a new year are mixed with com- 
 plaint : mine must be so too. My wife has for some time been very ill, having 
 l)een confined to the house these three months by a severe cold, attended with 
 alarming symptoms. 
 
 [Here I gave a particular account of the distress which the person, upon 
 every account most dear to me, suffered; and of the dismal state of appre- 
 hension in which I now was: adding, that I never stood more in need of his 
 consoling philosophy.] 
 
 1 Kniglit was kidnapped when a child and sold to a Mr. Wedderburne of Bal- 
 landean, who employed him as his personal servant. In 1769 his master brought 
 him to Britain and from that time allowed him six pence a week for pocket money. 
 By the assistance of his fellow-servants he learned to read. In 1772 he read in a 
 newspaper the report of tiie decision in the Somerset case. In 1773 he married a 
 fellow-servant and applied for ordinary wages. After a child was born to him, he 
 left his master's house. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 69.] i MR. WELCH THE MAGISTRATE. 
 
 143 
 
 Did you ever look at a book written l)y Wilson,^ a Scotchman, under the 
 Latin name of Vohisemis, according to the custom of literary men at a 
 certain period. It is entitled De A?ti/ni Trnnquillitnle.^'' I earnestly desire 
 tranquillity. Bona res quies ; but I fear I shall never attain it: for when un- 
 occupied, I grow gloomy, and occupation agitates me to feverishness. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: To a letter so interesting as your last, it is proper to return 
 some answer, however little I may be disposed to write. 
 
 Your alarm at your lady's illness was reasonable, and not disproportionate 
 to the appearance of the disorder. I hope your physical friend's conjecture 
 is now verified, and all fear of a consumption at an end: a little care and 
 exercise will then restore her. London is a good air for ladies; and if you 
 bring her hither, I will do for her what she did for me — I will retire from my 
 apartments for her accommodation. Behave kindly to her, and keep her 
 cheerful. 
 
 You always seem to call for tenderness. Know then, that in the first month 
 of the present year I very highly esteem and very cordially love you. I hope 
 to tell you this at the beginning of every year as long as we live; and why 
 should we trouble ourselves to tell or hear it oftener? 
 
 Tell Veronica, Euphemia, and Alexander, that I wish them, as well as their 
 parents, many happy years. 
 
 You have ended the negro's cause much to my mind. Lord Auchinleck 
 and dear Lord Hailes were on the side of liberty. Lord Hailes's name re- 
 proaches me; but if he saw my languid neglect of my own affairs, he would 
 rather pity than resent my neglect of his. I hope to mend, ut et inihi vivam 
 et ainitis. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, yours affectionately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 January 24, 1778, 
 
 My service to my fellow-traveller, Joseph. 
 
 Johnson maintained a long and intimate friendship with Mr. 
 Welch, who succeeded the celebrated Henry Fielding as one of 
 his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for Westminster; kept a reg- 
 ular office for the police ^ of that great district ; and discharged 
 his important trust, for many years, faithfully and ably. Johnson, 
 who had an eager and unceasing curiosity to know human life in 
 all its variety, told me that he attended Mr. Welch in his office 
 for a whole winter, to hear the examinations of the culprits ; but 
 that he found an almost uniform tenor of misfortune, wretched- 
 
 1 Florence Wilson accompanied as tutor Cardinal Wolsey's nephew to Paris, and 
 published at Lyons in 1543 his " De Train] uillitate Animi Dio/oi^/n:' — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Dr. Johnson defines " police " as " the regulation and government of a city or 
 country, so far as regards the inhabitants." 
 
144 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778, 
 
 ness, and profligacy. Mr. Welch's health being impaired, he was 
 advised to try the effect of a warm climate ; and Johnson, by his 
 interest with Mr. Chamier, procured him leave of absence to go 
 to Italy, and a promise that a pension or salary of two hundred 
 pounds a year, which Government allowed him, should not be 
 discontinued. Mr. Welch accordingly went abroad, accompanied 
 by his daughter Anne, a young lady of uncommon talents and 
 literature. 
 
 TO SAUNDERS WELCH, ESQ., AT THE ENGLISH COFFEE-HOUSE, ROME. 
 
 Dear Sir: To have suffered one of my best and dearest friends to pass 
 almost two years in foreign countries without a letter, has a very shameful 
 appearance of inattention. But the truth is, that there was no particular time 
 in which I had anything particular to say; and general expressions of good 
 will, I hope, our long friendship is grown too solid to want. 
 
 Of publick affairs you have information from the news-papers wherever you 
 go, for the English keep no secret; and of other things, Mrs. Nollekens in- 
 forms you. My intelligence could therefore be of no use; and Miss Nancy's 
 letters made it unnecessary to write to you for information : I was likewise for 
 some time out of humour, to find that motion and nearer apprcmches to the 
 sun, did not restore your health so fast as I expected. Of your health, the 
 accounts have lately been more pleasing; and I have the gratification of imag- 
 ining to myself a length of years which I hope you have gained, and of which 
 the enjoyment will be improved by a vast accession of images and observa- 
 tions which your journeys and various residence have enabled you to make and 
 accumulate. You have travelled with this felicity, almost peculiar to yourself, 
 that your companion is not to part from you at your journey's end; but you 
 are to live on together, to help each other's recollection, and to supply each 
 other's omissions. The world has few greater pleasures than that which two 
 friends enjoy, in tracing back, at some distant time, those transactions and 
 events through which they have passed together. One of the old man's mis- 
 eries is, that he cannot easily find a companion able to partake with him of 
 the past. You and your fellow-traveller have this comfort in store, that your 
 conversation will be not easily exhausted; one will always be glad to say what 
 the other will always be willing to hear. 
 
 That you may enjoy this pleasure long, your health must have your constant 
 attention. I suppose you purpose to return this year. There is no need of 
 haste : do not come hither before the height of summer, that you may fall 
 gradually into the inconveniences of your native clime. July seems to be the 
 proper month. August and September will prepare you for the winter. After 
 having travelled so far to find health, you must take care not to losc^ it at 
 home; and I hope a little care will effectually preserve it. 
 
 Miss Nancy has doubtless kept a constant and copious journal. She must 
 not expect to be welcome when she returns, without a great mass of informa- 
 tion. Let her review her journal often, and set down what she finds herself 
 to have omitted, that she may trust to memory as little as possible, for memory 
 is soon confused by a c|uick succession of things; and she will grow everyday 
 less confident of the truth of her own narratives, unless she can recur to some 
 written memorials. If she has satisfied herself with hints, instead of full re]i- 
 resentations, let her supply the deficiencies now while her memory is yet fresh, 
 
Age 69.] JOHNSON'S AFFECTIONATE HEART. 145 
 
 and while her father's memory may help her. If she observes this direction, 
 she will not have travelled in vain; for she will bring home a book with which 
 she may entertain herself to the end of life. If it were not now too late, I 
 would advise her to note the impression which the first sight of anything new 
 and wonderful made upon her mind. Let her now set her thoughts down as 
 she can recollect them; for faint as they may already be, they will grow every 
 day fainter. 
 
 Perhaps I do not flatter myself unreasonably when I imagine that you may 
 wish to know something of me. I can gratify your benevolence with no ac- 
 count of health. The hand of time, or of disease, is very heavy upon me. I 
 pass restless and uneasy nights, harassed with convulsions of my breast, and 
 flatulencies at my stomach ; and restless nights make heavy days. But noth- 
 ing will be mended hy complaints, and therefore I will make an end. When 
 we meet, we will try to forget our cares and our maladies, and contribute, as 
 we can, to the chearfulness of each other. If I had gone with you, I believe 
 I should have been better; but I do not know that it was in my power. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Feb. 3, 1778. 
 
 This letter, while it gives admirable advice how to travel to the 
 best advantage, and will therefore be of very general use, is an- 
 other eminent proof of Johnson's warm and affectionate heart.' 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Feb. 26, 1778. 
 
 My dear Sir: Why I have delayed, for near a month, to thank you for 
 your last affectionate letter, I cannot say; for my mind has been in better 
 health these three weeks than for some years past. I believe I have evaded 
 till I could send you a copy of Lord Hailes's opinion on the negro's cause, 
 which he wishes you to read, and correct any errors that there may be in the 
 language; for (says he), "we live in a critical, though not a learned age; and 
 I seek to screen myself under the Shield of Ajax." I communicated to him 
 your apology for keeping the sheets of his "Annals" so long. He says, " I 
 am sorry to see that Dr. Johnson is in a state of languor. Why should a 
 sober Christian, neither an enthusiast nor a fanatick, be very merry or very 
 sad?" I envy his Lordship's comfortable constitution; but well do I know 
 that languor and dejection will afflict the best, however excellent their prin- 
 ciples. I am in possession of Lord Hailes's opinion in his own hand-writing, 
 and have had it for some time. My excuse then for procrastination must be, 
 that I wanted to have it copied; and I have now put that off so long, that it will 
 be better to bring it with me than send it, as I shall probably get you to look 
 at it sooner, when I solicit you in person. 
 
 My wife, who is, I thank GoD, a good deal better, is much obliged to you 
 for your very polite and courteous offer of your apartment : but, if she goes 
 
 ^ The friendship between Mr. Welch and him was unbroken. Mr. Welch died 
 not many months before him, and bequeathed him five guineas for a ring, which 
 Johnson received with tenderness as a kind memorial. His regard was constant 
 for his friend Mr. Welch's daughters ; of whom, Jane is married to Mr. Nollekens 
 the statuary, whose merit is too well known to require any praise from me. — B. 
 
 Vol. II. — 10 
 
146 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 to London, it will be best for her, to have lodgings in the more airy vicinity 
 of Hyde- Park. I, however, doubt much if I shall be able to prevail with her 
 to accompany me to the metropolis; for she is so different from you and me, 
 that she dislikes travelling ; and she is so anxious about her children, that 
 she thinks she should be unhappy if at a distance from them. She therefore 
 wishes rather to go to some country place in Scotland, where she can have 
 them with her. 
 
 I purpose being in London about the 20th of next month, as I think it 
 creditable to appear in the House of Lords as one of Douglas's counsel, in the 
 great and last competition between . Duke Hamilton and him. 
 
 I am sorry poor Mrs. Williams is so ill: though her temper is unpleasant, 
 she has always been polite and obliging to me. I wish many happy years to 
 good Mr. Levett, who I suppose holds his usual place at your breakfast-table.^ 
 I ever am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Your affectionate humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to the same. 
 
 Edinburgh, Feb. 28, 1778. 
 My dear Sir: You are at present busy amongst the English poets, pre- 
 paring for the publick instruction and entertainment. Prefaces, biographical 
 and critical. It will not, therefore, be out of season to appeal to you for the 
 decision of a controversy which has arisen between a lady and me concerning 
 a passage in Parnell. That poet tells us, that his Hermit quitted his cell 
 
 *' . . . to know the world by sight, 
 To find if doo^s or swains report it right : 
 (For yet by swains alone the world he knew, 
 Whose feet came wand'ring o'er the nightly dew)." 
 
 I maintain, that there is an inconsistency here; for as the Hermit's notions of 
 the world were formed from the reports both of hooks and sivains, he could 
 not justly be said to know by swains alone. Be pleased to judge between us, 
 and let us have your reasons.^ 
 
 What do you say to " Taxation no Tyranny,'''' now, after Lord North's 
 declaration, or confession, or whatever else his conciliatory speech should be 
 called? I never differed from you in politics but upon two points, — the 
 Middlesex Election and the Taxation of the Americans by the British Houses 
 of Representatives. There is a charm in the word Parliament, so I avoid it. 
 As I am a steady and a warm Tory, I regret that the King does not see it to 
 l)e better for him to receive constitutional supplies from his American subjects 
 l)y the voice of their own assemblies, where his Royal Person is represented, 
 than through the medium of his British subjects. I am persuaded that the 
 power of the Crown which I wish to increase, would be greater when in con- 
 tact with all its dominions, than if '*:therays of regal bounty were " to shine " 
 
 1 Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, humorously observed, that Levett used to 
 breakfast on the crust of a roll, which Johnson, after tearing out the crumb for him- 
 self, threw to his humble friend. — B. 
 
 2 See under May 3, 1779. 
 
 8 Alluding to a line in his "Vanity of Human Wishes" describing Cardinal 
 Wolsey in his state of elevation : 
 
 " Through him the rays of regal bounty shine." — ,B. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S GENEROSITY. 
 
 147 
 
 upon America, through that dense troubled body, a modern British Parlia- 
 ment. But, enough of this subject; for your angry voice at Ashbourne upor 
 it, still sounds awful "in my mind's ears.'^ I ever am, my dear Sir, youi 
 most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to the same. 
 
 Edinburgh, March 12, 1778. 
 My dear Sir: The alarm of your late illness distressed me but a few 
 hours; for on the evening of the day that it reached me, I found it con- 
 tradicted in T/ie London Chronicle, which I could depend upon as authen- 
 tick concerning you, Mr. Strahan being the printer of it. I did not see the 
 paper in which " the approaching extinction of a bright luminary " was 
 announced. Sir William Forbes told me of it; and he says he saw me so 
 uneasy, that he did not give me the report in such strong terms as he read it. 
 He afterwards sent me a letter from Mr. Langton to him which relieved me 
 much.. I am, however, not quite easy, as I have not heard from you; and 
 now I shall not have that comfort before I see you, for I set out for London 
 to-morrow before the post comes in. I hope to be with you on Wednesday 
 morning; and I ever am, with the highest veneration, my dear Sir, your 
 most obliged, faithful, and affectionate, humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 On Wednesday, March 18, I arrived in London, and was in- 
 formed by good Mr. Francis, that his master was better, and was 
 gone to Mr. Thrale's at Streatham, to which place I wrote to 
 him, begging to know when he would be in town. He was not 
 expected for some time ; but next day having called on Dr. 
 Taylor, in Dean's Yard, Westminster, I found him there, and was 
 told he had come to town for a few hours. He met me with his 
 usual kindness, but instantly returned to the writing of something 
 on which he was employed when I came in and on which he 
 seemed much intent. Finding him thus engaged, I made my 
 visit very short, and had no more of his conversation, except his 
 expressing a serious regret that a friend of ours ^ was living at too 
 much expense, considering how poor an appearance he made ; 
 "If," said he, "a man has splendor from his expense, if he 
 spends his money in pride or in pleasure, he has value : but if he 
 lets others spend it for him, which is most commonly the case, 
 he has no advantage from it." 
 
 On Friday, March 20, I found him at his own house, sitting 
 with Mrs. Williams, and was informed that the room formerly 
 allotted to me was now appropriated to a charitable purpose ; 
 Mrs. Desmoulins,^ and I think her daughter, and a Miss Carmi- 
 
 ^ Mr. Langton. 
 
 ^ Daughter of Dr. Swinfen, Johnson's godfather, and widow of Mr. Desmoulins, 
 a writing-master. — B. 
 
148 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 chad, being all lodged in it. Such was his humanity, and such 
 his generosity, that Mrs. Desmoulins herself told me, he allowed 
 her half a guinea a week. Let it be remembered that this was 
 above a twelfth part of his pension. 
 
 His liberality, indeed, was at all periods of his life very re- 
 markable. Mr. Howard, of Lichfield, at whose father's house 
 Johnson had in his early years been kindly received, told me, 
 that when he was a boy at the Charter House, his father wrote to 
 him to go and pay a visit to Mr. Samuel Johnson, which he ac- 
 cordingly did, and found him in an upper room of poor appear- 
 ance. Johnson received him with much courteousness, and 
 talked a great deal to him, as to a schoolboy, of the course of 
 his education, and other particulars. When he afterwards came 
 to know and understand the high character of this great man, he 
 recollected his condescension with wonder. He added, that 
 when he was going away, Mr. Johnson presented him with half a 
 guinea ; and this, said Mr. Howard, was at a time when he prob- 
 ably had not another. 
 
 We retired from Mrs. Williams to another roomo Tom Davies 
 soon after joined us. He had now unfortunately failed in his 
 circumstances, and was much indebted to Dr. Johnson's kindness 
 for obtaining from him many alleviations of his distress. After 
 he went away, Johnson blamed his folly in quitting the stage, by 
 which he and his wife got 500/. a year. I said, I believed it was 
 owing to Churchill's attack upon him. 
 
 " He mouths a sentence, as curs mouth a bone." 
 
 Johnson : " I believe so too. Sir. But what a man is he, who 
 is to be driven from the stage by a line ? Another line would 
 have driven him from his shop." 
 
 I told him that I was engaged as counsel at the bar of the 
 House of Commons to oppose a road-bill in the county of Stir- 
 ling, and asked him what mode he would advise me to follow in 
 addressing such an audience. Johnson : " Why, Sir, you must 
 provide yourself with a good deal of extraneous matter, which 
 you are to produce occasionally, so as to fill up the time ; for you 
 must consider, that they do not listen much. If you begin with 
 the strength of your cause, it may be lost before they begin to listen 
 When you catch a moment of attention, press the merits of the 
 question upon them." He said, as to one point of the merits, 
 that he thought, * it would be a wrong thing to deprive the small 
 
 I 
 
Age 69.] BOSWELTJS AWE OF JOHNSON. 
 
 149 
 
 landholders of the privilege of assessing themselves for making 
 and repairing the high roads ; it was destroying a certain portion 
 of liberty^ without a good reason, which was always a bad thingJ 
 When I mentioned this observation next day to Mr. Wilkes, he 
 pleasantly said, '^W^hat! does he talk of liberty? Liberty is as 
 ridiculous in his mouth as Religion in miney Mr. Wilkes's 
 advice as to the best mode of speaking at the bar of the House 
 of Commons was not more respectful towards the senate, than 
 that of Dr. Johnson. " Be as impudent as you can, as merry as 
 you can, and say whatever comes uppermost. Jack Lee is the 
 best heard there of any counsel ; and he is the most impudent 
 dog, and always abusing me." ^ 
 
 In my interview with Dr. Johnson this evening, I was quite 
 easy, quite as his companion ; upon which I find in my Journal the 
 following reflection : So ready is my mind to suggest matter for 
 dissatisfaction, that I felt a sort of regret that I was so easy. I 
 missed that awful reverence with which I used to contemplate Mr. 
 Samuel Johnson, ifi the complex magnitude of his literary, moral, 
 and religious character. I have a wonderful superstitious love of 
 mystery ; when, perhaps, the truth is, that it is owing to the cloudy 
 darkness of my own mind. I should be glad that I am more 
 advanced in my progress of being, so that I can view Dr. John- 
 son with a steadier and clearer eye. My dissatisfaction to-night 
 was foolish. Would it not be foolish to regret that we shall have 
 less mystery in a future state ? That ' we now see in a glass 
 darkly,' but shall ' then see face to face ' ? " This reflection, 
 which I thus freely communicate, will be valued by the thinking 
 part of my readers, who may have themselves experienced a 
 similar state of mind. 
 
 He returned next day to Streatham, to Mr. Thrale's ; where, as 
 Mr. Strahan once complained to. me, "he was in a great measure 
 absorbed from the society of his old friends." I was kept in 
 London by business, and wrote to him on the 27 th, that " a sepa- 
 ration from him for a week, when we were so near, was equal to 
 a separation for a year, when we were at four hundred miles dis- 
 tance," I went to Streatham on Monday, March 30. Before 
 he appeared, Mrs. Thrale made a very characteristical remark : 
 " I do not know for certain what will please Dr. Johnson : but 
 I know for certain that it will displease him to praise anything, 
 even what he likes, extravagantly." 
 
 1 Afterwards Solicitor-General under Rockingham and Attorney-General under 
 Portland. — Croker and Dr. Hill. 
 
150 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSOX. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 At dinner he laughed at querulous declamations against the 
 age, on account of luxury, — increase of London, — scarcity of 
 provisions, — and other such topics. "Houses," said he, "will 
 be built till rents fall ; and corn is more plentiful now than ever 
 it was." 
 
 I had before dinner repeated a ridiculous story told me by an 
 old man, who had been a passenger with me in the stage-coach 
 to-day. Mrs. Thrale, having taken occasion to allude to it, in 
 talking to me, called it "The story told you by the old woman.'' 
 " Now, Madam," said I, " give me leave to catch you in the 
 fact : it was not an old woma?2, but an old man, whom I men- 
 tioned as having told me this." I presumed to take an oppor- 
 tunity, in presence of Johnson, of showing this lively lady how 
 ready she was, unintentionally, to deviate from exact authenticity 
 of narration. 
 
 Thomas a Kempis (he observed) must be a good book, as the 
 world has opened its arms to receive it. It is said to have been 
 printed, in one language or other, as many times as there have 
 been months since it first came out.' I always was struck with 
 this sentence in it : " Be not angry that you cannot make others 
 as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you 
 wish to be." 
 
 He said : " I was angry with Hurd about Cowley, for having 
 published a selection of his works : but, upon better considera- 
 tion, I think there is no impropriety in a man's publishing as much 
 as he chooses of any author, if he does not put the rest out of the 
 way. A man, for instance, may print the ' Odes ' of Horace 
 alone." He seemed to be in a more indulgent humor, than 
 when this subject was discussed between him and Mr. Murphy. 
 
 When we were at tea and coffee, there came in Lord Trimles- 
 town, in whose family was an ancient Irish peerage, but it 
 suffered by taking the generous side in the troubles of the last 
 century.^ He was a man of pleasing conversation, and was accom- 
 panied by a young gentleman, his son. 
 
 I mentioned that I had in my possession the Life of Sir Robert 
 Sibbald, the celebrated Scottish antiquary, and founder of the 
 
 1 As the " Imitatio Christi " was first published in 1492, there would have been 
 3,600 editions in three hundred years, and Johnson, if correctly reported, would seem 
 here to have lapsed from what Bosvvell declares to have been a distinctive mark of 
 his character, the incredulus odi ; or to have forgotten, as Dr. Hill observes, his 
 favorite cu;-e for exaggeration, — counting. 
 
 ^ The attainder was afterwards reversed and Nicholas Barnewall became agai 
 a. peer of Ireland with that title. 
 
Age 69] STRICT ATTENTION TO TRUTH. 
 
 151 
 
 Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, in the original manu- 
 script in his own handwriting ; and that it was, I believed, the 
 most natural and candid account of himself that ever was given 
 by any man. As an instance, he tells that the Duke of Perth, 
 then Chancellor of Scotland, pressed him very much to come 
 over to the Roman Catholic faith : that he resisted all his Grace's 
 arguments for a considerable time, till one day he felt himself, as 
 it were, instantaneously convinced, and with tears in his eyes ran 
 into the Duke's arms, and embraced the ancient religion ; that 
 he continued very steady in it for some time, and accompanied 
 his Grace to London one winter, and lived in his household , 
 that there he found the rigid fasting prescribed by the Church 
 very severe upon him ; that this disposed him to reconsider the 
 controversy, and having then seen that he was in the wrong, he 
 returned to Protestantism. I talked of some time or other pub- 
 lishing this curious life. Mrs. Thrale : I think you had as 
 well let alone that publication. To discover such weakness ex- 
 poses a man when he is gone." Johnson : Nay, it is an honest 
 picture of human nature. How often are the primary motives of 
 our greatest actions as small as Sibbald's for his re-conversion," 
 Mrs. Thrale: "But may they not as well be forgotten?" 
 Johnson : No, Madam, a man loves to review his own mind. 
 That is the use of a diary, or journal." Lord Trimlesiown : 
 " True, Sir. As the ladies love to see themselves in a glass ; so 
 a man likes to see himself in his journal." Boswell : " A very 
 pretty allusion." Johnson: "Yes, indeed." Boswell: "And 
 as a lady adjusts her dress before a mirror, a man adjusts his 
 character by looking at his journal." I next year found the very 
 same thought in Atterbury's " Funeral Sermon on Lady Cutts ; " 
 where, having mentioned her diary, he says, " In this glass she 
 every day dressed her mind." This is a proof of coincidence, 
 and not of plagiarism ; for I had never read that sermon before. 
 
 Next morning, while we were at breakfast, Johnson gave a very 
 earnest recommendation of what he himself practised with the 
 utmost conscientiousness : I mean a strict attention to truth, 
 even in the most minute particulars. " Accustom your children," 
 said he, "constantly to this; if a thing happened at one window, 
 and they, when relating it, say that it happened at another, do 
 not let It pass, but instantly check them ; you do not know where 
 deviation from truth will end." Boswell : " It may come to the 
 door : and when once an account is at all varied in one circum- 
 stance, it may by degrees be varied so as to be totally different 
 
152 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 from what really happened." Our lively hostess, whose fancy was 
 impatient of the rein, fidgeted at this, and ventured to say, " Nay, 
 this is too much. If Mr. Johnson should forbid me to drink 
 tea, I would comply, as I should feel the restraint only twice a 
 day; but little variations in narrative must happen a thousand 
 times a day, if one is not perpetually watching." Johnson : 
 ''Well, Madam, and you ought to be perpetually watching. It is 
 more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, 
 that there is so much falsehood in the world." 
 
 In his review of Dr. Warton's ''Essay on the Writings and 
 Genius of Pope," Johnson has given the following salutary caution 
 upon this subject : 
 
 Nothing but experience could evince the frequency of false information, or 
 enable any man to conceive that so many groundless reports should be propa- 
 gated, as every man of eminence may hear of himself. Some men relate 
 what they think, as what they know; some men of confused memories and 
 habitual inaccuracy, ascribe to one man what belongs to another; and some 
 talk on, without thought or care. A few men are sufficient to broach false- 
 hoods, which are afterwards innocently diffused by successive relaters. — 
 Literary Magazine, 1756, p. 37. 
 
 Had he lived to read what Sir John Hawkins and Mrs. Piozzi 
 have related concerning himself, how much would he have found 
 his observation illustrated. He was indeed so much impressed 
 with the prevalence of falsehood, voluntary or unintentional, that 
 I never knew any person who upon hearing an extraordinary 
 circumstance told, discovered more of the incredulus odi. He 
 would say with a significant look and decisive tone, " It is not 
 so. Do not tell this again." ^ He inculcated upon all his friends 
 the importance of perpetual vigilance against the slightest degrees 
 of falsehood ; the effect of which, as Sir Joshua Reynolds observed 
 to me, has been, that all who were of his school are distinguished 
 for a love of truth and accuracy, which they would not have 
 possessed in the same degree, if they had not been acquainted 
 with Johnson. 
 
 ' The following plausible but over-prudent counsel on this subject is given by an 
 Italian writer, quoted by " Rhedi de generatione inseciarum," with the epithet of 
 " divini poetce." 
 
 " Sempre k quel ver ch'a faccia di menzogna 
 Dee I'uom chiuder le labbra quanto ei puote ; 
 Perd che senza colpa fa vergogna." — B. 
 It is strange that Boswell should not have discovered that these lines are from 
 Dante's " Inferno," xvi. 124. The following is Wright's translation: 
 "That truth which bears the semblance of a lie 
 * Should never pass the lips, if possible ; 
 
 Though crime be absent, still disgrace is nigh." — Croker, 
 
Age 69.] THE WORTH OF A DEAD DOG. 153 
 
 Talking of ghosts, he said, It is wonderful that five thousand 
 years have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still 
 it is undecided whether or not there has ever been an instance of 
 the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is 
 against it ; but all belief is for it." 
 
 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." 
 
 On Friday, April 3, I dined with him in London, in a company 
 where were present several eminent men, whom I shall not name, 
 but distinguish their parts in the conversation by different 
 letters. ' 
 
 F. " I have been looking at this famous antique marble dog 
 of Mr. Jennings, valued at a thousand guineas, said to be Alci- 
 biades's dog." Johnson : " His tail then must be docked. That 
 was the mark of Alcibiades's dog." E. " A thousand guineas ! 
 The representation of no animal whatever is worth so much. At 
 this rate a dead dog would indeed be better than a living lion." 
 Johnson : ^' Sir, it is not the worth of the thing, but of the skill 
 in forming it, which is so highly estimated. Everything that en- 
 larges the sphere of human powers, that shows man he can do 
 what he thought he could not do, is valuable. The firsrt man who 
 balanced a straw upon his nose ; Johnson, who rode upon three 
 horses at a time ; in short, all such men deserved the applause of 
 mankind, not on account of the use of what they did, but of the 
 dexterity which they exhibited." Boswell : " Yet a misapplica- 
 tion of time and assiduity is not to be encouraged. Addison, in 
 one of his Spectators commends the judgment of a king, who, 
 as a suitable reward to a man that by long perseverance had 
 attained to the art of throwing a barley-corn through the eye of a 
 needle, gave him a bushel of barley." Johnson : " He must 
 have been a King of Scotland, where barley is scarce." F. 
 " One of the most remarkable antique figures of an animal is the 
 boar at Florence." Johnson: "The first boar that is well made 
 in marble, should be preserved as a wonder. When men arrive 
 at a facility of making boars well, then the workmanship is not of 
 such value, but they should however be preserved as examples, 
 
 1 The Club, Croker found, from the books, that the members present were 
 Johnson (president). Burke, Boswell, Dr. Fordyce, Gibbon, Reynolds, Lord Upper 
 Ossory, and Sheridan, tie has guessed at the initials, but in his own confession 
 very vaguely. We may assume, however, that R. stands for Reynolds, F. for For- 
 dyce, and E. for Edmund Burke. 
 
154 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778- 
 
 and as a greater security for the restoration of the art, should it 
 be lost." 
 
 E. " We hear prodigious complaints at present of emigration. 
 I am convinced that emigration makes a country more populous." 
 J. " That sounds very much like a paradox." E. "Exportation 
 of men, like exportation of all other commodities, makes more 
 be produced." Johnson: "But there would be more people 
 were there not emigration, provided there were food for more." 
 E. " No ; leave a few breeders, and you '11 have more people 
 than if there were no emigration." Johnson: "Nay, Sir, it is 
 plain there will be more people, if there are more breeders. 
 Thirty cows in good pasture will produce more calves than ten 
 cows, provided they have good bulls." E. "There are bulls 
 enough in Ireland." Johnson (smiling) : " So, Sir, I should 
 think from your argument." Boswell : "You said, exportation 
 of men, like exportation of other commodities, makes more be 
 produced. But a bounty is given to encourage the exportation 
 of corn, and no bounty is given for the exportation of men ; 
 though, indeed, those who go, gain by it." R. " But the bounty 
 on the exportation of corn is paid at home." E. "That's the 
 same thing." Johnson : " No, Sir." R. " A man who stays at 
 home, gains nothing by his neighbor's emigrating." Boswell: 
 " I can un4erstand that emigration may be the cause that more 
 people may be produced in a country ; but the country will not 
 therefore be the more populous ; for the people issue from it. It 
 can only be said that there is a flow of people. It is an encour- 
 agement to have children, to know that they can get a living by 
 emigration." R. " Yes, if there were an emigration of children 
 under six years of age. But they do n't emigrate till they could 
 earn their livelihood in some way at home." C. " It is remark- 
 able that the most unhealthy countries, where there are the most 
 destructive diseases, such as Egypt and Bengal, are the most 
 populous." Johnson : " Countries which are the most populous 
 have the most destructive diseases. T/ia/ is the true state of the 
 proposition." C. " Holland is very unhealthy, yet it is exceedingly 
 populous." Johnson : " I know not that Holland is unhealthy. 
 But its populousness is owing to an influx of peoi)le from all 
 other countries. Disease cannot be the cause of populousness, 
 for it not only carries off a great proportion of the people ; but 
 those who are left are weakened, and unfit for the purposes of 
 increase." 
 
 R. " Mr. E., I do n't mean to flatter, but when posterity reads 
 
Age 69.] SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 155 
 
 one of your speeches in Parliament, it will be difificult to believe 
 that you took so much pains, knowing with certainty that it could 
 produce no effect, that not one vote would be gained by it." E. 
 " Waiving your compliment to me, I shall say in general, that it 
 is very well worth while for a man to take pains to speak well in 
 Parliament. A man, who has vanity, speaks to display his talents ; 
 and if a man speaks well, he gradually establishes a certain repu- 
 tation and consequence in the general opinion, which sooner or 
 later will have its political reward. Besides, though not one vote 
 is gained, a good speech has its effect. Though an act which has 
 been ably opposed passes into a law, yet in its progress it is 
 modelled, it is softened in such a manner, that we see plainly the 
 Minister has been told, that the members attached to him are so 
 sensible of its injustice or absurdity from what they have Reard, 
 that it must be altered." Johnson : " And, Sir, there is a gratifi- 
 cation of pride. Though we cannot out-vote them we will out- 
 argue them. They shall not do wrong without its being shown 
 both to themselves and to the world." E. " The House of 
 Commons is a mixed body (I except the minority, which I hold 
 to be pure [smiling], but I take the whole House). It is a mass 
 by no means pure ; but neither is it wholly corrupt, though there 
 is a large proportion of corruption in it. There are many mem- 
 bers who generally go with the Minister, who will not go all 
 lengths. There are many honest, well-meaning country gentle- 
 men who are in Parliament only to keep up the consequence of 
 their families. Upon most of these a good speech will have in- 
 fluence." Johnson : We are all more or less governed by 
 interest. But interest will not make us do everything. In a case 
 which admits of doubt, we try to think on the side which is for 
 our interest, and generally bring ourselves to act accordingly. 
 But the subject must admit of diversity of coloring; it must re- 
 ceive a color on that side. In the House of Commons there are 
 members enough who will not vote what is grossly unjust or 
 absurd. No, Sir, there must always be right enough, or appear- 
 ance of right, to keep wrong in countenance." Boswell : "There 
 is surely always a majority in Parliament who have places, or who 
 want to have them, and who therefore will be generally ready to 
 support Government without requiring any pretext." E. "True, 
 Sir ; that majority will always follow, 
 
 " Quo clamor vocat et turba faventium." ^ 
 
 ^ Horace, Ode III. 24, 46. 
 
156 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 BoswELL : " Well now, let us take the common phrase, Placehunt- 
 ers. I thought they had hunted without regard to anything, just 
 as their huntsman the Minister, leads, looking only to the prey." ' 
 J. " But taking your metaphor, you know that in hunting there 
 are few so desperately keen as to follow without reserve. Some 
 do not choose to leap ditches and hedges and risk their necks, or 
 gallop over steeps, or even to dirty themselves in bogs and mire." 
 BoswELL : " I am glad there are some good, quiet, moderate polit- 
 ical hunters." E. " I believe in any body of men in England I 
 should have been in the minority ; I have always been in the 
 minority." P. " The House of Commons resembles a private 
 company. How seldom is any man convinced by another's argu- 
 ment ; passion and pride rise against it." R. What would be 
 the consequence, if a Minister, sure of a majority in the House 
 of Commons, should resolve that there should be no speaking at 
 all upon his side? " E. " He must soon go out. That has been 
 
 tried; but it was found it would not do." — 
 
 E. The Irish language is not primitive ; it is Teutonic, a 
 mixture of the northern tongues : it has much English in it." 
 Johnson : " It may have been radically Teutonic ; but the English 
 and High Dutch have no similarity to the eye, though radically 
 the same. Once, when looking into Low Dutch, I found, in a 
 whole page, only one word similar to English; stroem, like 
 stream, and it signified tide'^ E. " I remember having seen a 
 Dutch sonnet, in which I found this word, roesnopies. Nobody 
 would at first think that this could be EngUsh ; but, when we 
 inquire, we find i^oes, rose, and nopie, knob ; so we have rose- 
 buds y 
 
 Johnson: " I have b?< n reading Thicknesse's 'Travels,' which 
 I think are entertaining.'' Boswell : "What, Sir, a good book?" 
 Johnson : " Yes, Sir, to read once ; I do not say you are to make 
 a study of it, and digest it; and I believe it to be a true book in 
 his intention. All travellers generally mean to tell truth ; though 
 Thicknesse observes, upon Smollett's account of his alarming a 
 whole town in France by firing a blunderbuss, and frightening 
 a French nobleman till he made him tie on his ])ortmanteau, that 
 he would be loath to say Smollett had told two lies in one page ; 
 but he had found the only town in France where these things 
 
 ^ Lord Bolingbroke, who, however detestable as a metaphysician, must be 
 allowed to have had admirable talents as a political writer, thus describes the 
 House of Commons, in his " Letter to Sir William Wyndham " ; " You know the 
 nature of that asscml)ly; they grow, like hounds, fond ot the man who shows them 
 game, and by whose halloo they are used to be encouraged." — B. 
 
Age 69.] THINKING BETTER OF MANKIND. 
 
 157 
 
 could have happened. Travellers must often be mistaken. In 
 everything, except where mensuration can be applied, they may 
 honestly differ. There has been, of late, a strange turn in trav- 
 ellers to be displeased." 
 
 E. "From the experience which I have had, — and I have 
 had a great deal, — I have learned to think better of mankind." 
 Johnson : " From my experience I have found them worse in 
 commercial dealings, more disposed to cheat, than I had any 
 notion of ; but more disposed to do one another good than I had 
 conceived." J. "Less just and more beneficent." Johnson: 
 " And really it is wonderful, considering how much attention is 
 necessary for men to take care of themselves, and ward off imme- 
 diate evils which press upon them, it is wonderful how mi^ch they 
 do for others. As it is said of the greatest liar, that he tells more 
 truth than falsehood ; so it may be said of the worst man, that he 
 does more good than evil." Boswell : "Perhaps from experi- 
 ence men may be found happier than we suppose." Johnson : 
 "No, Sir; the more we inquire we shall find men less happy." 
 P. " As to thinking better or worse of mankind from experience, 
 some cunning people will not be satisfied unless they have put 
 men to the test, as they think. There is a very good story told 
 of Sir Godfrey Kneller, in his character of a justice of the peace. 
 A gendeman brought his servant before him, upon an accusation 
 of having stolen some money from him ; but it having come out 
 that he had laid it purposely in the servant's way, in order to try 
 his honesty. Sir Godfrey sent the master to prison." ' Johnson : 
 " To resist temptation once, is not a sufficient proof of honesty. 
 If a servant, indeed, were to resist the continued temptation of 
 silver lying in a window, as some people let it lie, when he is 
 sure his master does not know how much there is of it, he would 
 give a strong proof of honesty. But this is a proof to which you 
 have no right to put a man. You know, humanly speaking, there 
 is a certain degree of temptation, which will overcome any virtue. 
 Now, in so far as you approach temptation to a man, you do him 
 an injury; and, if he is overcome, you share his guilt." P. "And, 
 when once overcome, it is easier for him to be got the better of 
 again." Boswell: "Yes, you are his seducer; you have de- 
 
 ^ Pope thus introduces this story : 
 
 " Faith, in such case if you should prosecute, 
 I think Sir Godfrey should decide the suit, 
 Who sent the thief who [that] stole the cash away. 
 And punish'd him that put it in his way." 
 
 " Imitations of Horace," ii. 2. — B. 
 
158 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 bauched him. I have known a man resolved to put friendship to 
 the test, by asking a friend to lend him money, merely with that 
 view, when he did not want it." Johnson : That is very wrong, 
 Sir. Your friend may be a narrow man, and yet have many good 
 qualities ; narrowness may be his only fault. Now you are try- 
 ing his general character as a friend, by one particular singly, in 
 which he happens to be defective, when, in truth, his character is 
 composed of many particulars." 
 
 E. " I understand the hogshead of claret, which this society 
 was favored with by our friend the Dean [Dr. Barnard, Dean of 
 Kerry], is nearly out; I think he should be written to, to send 
 another of the same kind. Let the request be made with a 
 happy ambiguity of expression, so that we may have the chance 
 of his sending also as a present." Johnson : " I am wiUing to 
 offer my services as secretary on this occasion." P. " As many 
 as are for Dr. Johnson being secretary hold up your hands. — 
 Carried unanimously." Boswell : " He will be our Dictator." 
 Johnson : " No, the company is to dictate to me. I am only to 
 write for wine ; and I am quite disinterested, as I drink none ; I 
 shall not be suspected of having forged the application. I am 
 no more than humble scribe'"' E. Then you shall /rd-scribe." 
 Boswell: "Very well. The first play of words to-day." J. 
 
 No, no ; the bulls m Ireland." Johnson: "Were I your Dic- 
 tator you should have no wine. It would be my business cavere ne 
 quid detriinenti Respublica caperet, and wine is dangerous. Rome 
 was ruined by luxury" (smiling). E. "If you allow no wine as 
 Dictator, you shall not have me for your Master of Horse." 
 
 On Saturday, April 4, I drank tea with Johnson at Dr. Taylor's, 
 where he had dined. He entertained us with an account of a 
 tragedy written by a Dr. Kennedy (not the Lisbon physician). 
 "The catastrophe of it," said he, "was, that a king, who was 
 jealous of his queen with his prime-minister, castrated himself.^ 
 This tragedy was actually shown about in manuscript to several 
 people, and, amongst others, to Mr. Fitzherbert, who repeated to 
 me two lines of the prologue : 
 
 " ' Our hero's fate we have but gently touched: 
 
 The fair might blame us, if it were less couched.' 
 
 *The reverse of the story of CombabuSy oji which Mr. David Hume told Lord 
 Macartney that a friend of his had written a tragedy. It is, however, possible 
 that I may have been inaccurate in my perception of what Dr. Johnson related, and 
 that he may have been talking of the same ludicrous tragical subject that Mr. 
 Hume had mentioned. — B. The story of Coinbabus, which was originally told by 
 Lucian, may be found in Bayle's Dictionary. — Malone. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 SHOOTING HIGHWAYMEN. 
 
 159 
 
 It is hardly to be believed what absurd and indecent images men 
 will introduce into their writings, without being sensible of the 
 absurdity and indecency. I remember Lord Orrery told me, that 
 there was a pamphlet written against Sir Robert Walpole, the 
 whole of which was an allegory on the phalltc oi]SCP:NrrY. The 
 Duchess of Buckingham asked Lord Orrery luho this person was? 
 He answered he did not know. She said, she would send to Mr. 
 Pulteney, who, she supposed, could inform her. So then, to 
 prevent her from making herself ridiculous. Lord Orrery sent 
 her Grace a note, in which he gave her to understand what was 
 meant." 
 
 He was very silent this evening ; and read in a variety of 
 books : suddenly throwing down one, and taking up another. 
 
 He talked of going to Streatham that night. Taylor : You '11 
 be robbed, if you do : or you must shoot a highwayman. Now 
 I would rather be robbed than do that ; I would not shoot a 
 highwayman." Johnson : " But I would rather shoot him in the 
 instant when he is attempting to rob me, than afterwards swear 
 against him at the Old Bailey, to take away his life, after he has 
 robbed me. I am surer I am right in the one case, than in the 
 other. I may be mistaken as to the man when I swear : I can- 
 not be mistaken if I shoot him in the act. Besides, we feel less 
 reluctance to take away a man's life, when we are heated by the 
 injury, than to do it at a distance of time by an oath, after we have 
 cooled." BoswELL : " So, Sir, you would rather act from the 
 motive of private passion, than that of public advantage." John- 
 son : " Nay, Sir, when I shoot the highwayman, I act from both." 
 BoswELL : "Very well, very well. There is no catching him." 
 Johnson : At the same time, one does not know what to say. 
 For perhaps one may, a year after, hang himself from uneasi- 
 ness for having shot a highwayman.' Few minds are fit to be 
 trusted with so great a thing." Boswell : ''Then, Sir, you would 
 not shoot him?" Johnson: " But I might be vexed afterwards 
 for that too." 
 
 Thrale's carriage not having come for him, as he expected, I 
 
 ^ The late Duke of Montrose was generally said to have been uneasy on that 
 account; but I can contradict the report from his Grace's own authority. Ashe 
 used to admit me to very easy conversation with him, I took the liberty to intro- 
 duce the subject. His Grace told me, that when riding one night near London, he 
 was attacked by two highwaymen on horsebaclc, and that he instantly shot one of 
 them, upon which the other galloped off; that his servant, who was very well 
 mounted, proposed to pursue him and take him, but that his Grace said, " No, we 
 have had blood enough : I hope the man may live to repent." His Grace, upon 
 my presuming to put the question, assured me, that his mind was not at all 
 clouded by what he had done in self-defence. — B. 
 
160 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A. D. 1778. 
 
 accompanied him some part of the way home to his own house. 
 I told him, that I had talked of him to Mr. Dunning a few days 
 before, and had said, that in his company we did not so much 
 interchange conversation, as Hsten to him ; and that Dunning 
 observed, upon this, " One is always willing to listen to Dr. John- 
 son ; " to which I answered, " That is a great deal from you. 
 Sir." "Yes, Sir," said Johnson, " a great deal indeed. Here 
 is a man willing to listen, to whom the world is listening all the 
 rest of the year." Boswell : " I think, Sir, it is right to tell one 
 man of such a handsome thing, which has been said of him by 
 another. It tends to increase benevolence." Johnson: "Un- 
 doubtedly it is right. Sir." 
 
 On Tuesday, April 7, I breakfasted with him at his house. He 
 said, ' nobody was content.' I mentioned to him a respectable 
 person in Scotland whom he knew [Lord Auchinleck] ; and I 
 asserted, that I really believed he was always content. Johnson : 
 " No, Sir, he is not content with the present ; he has always 
 some new scheme, some new plantation, something which is 
 future. You know he was not content as a widower; for he 
 married again." Boswell : " But he is not resdess." Johnson : 
 " Sir, he is only locally at rest. A chemist is locally at rest ; but 
 his mind is hard at work. This gentleman has done with exter- 
 nal exertions. It is too late for him to engage in distant proj- 
 ects." Boswell : " He seems to amuse himself quite well ; to 
 have his attention fixed, and his tranquillity preserved by very 
 small matters. I have tried this ; but it would not do with me." 
 Johnson (laughing) : ''No, Sir; it must be born with a man to 
 be contented to take up with little things. Women have a great 
 advantage that they may take up with little things, without dis- 
 gracing themselves ; a man cannot, except with fiddling. Had I 
 learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else." Boswell : 
 "Pray, Sir, did you ever play on any musical instrument?" 
 Johnson : " No, Sir. I once bought me a flageolet, but I never 
 made out a tune." Boswell: "A flageolet, Sir ! — so small an 
 instrument? ^ I should have liked to hear you play on the vio- 
 loncello. That should have been your instrument." Johnson : 
 " Sir, I might as well have played on the violoncello as another ; 
 but I should have done nothing else. No, Sir; a man would 
 
 ^ When I told this to Miss Seward, she smiled, and repeated, with admirable 
 readiness, from " Acis and Galatea," 
 
 Bring me a hundred reeds of ample growth, 
 
 To make a pipe for my catacious MOUTH." — B. 
 
Age 69.] MRS. THR ALE'S LAXITY OF NAIUIATION. 161 
 
 never undertake great things, could he be amused with small. I 
 once tried knotting. Dempster's sister undertook to teach me ; 
 but I could not learn it." Boswell : " So, Sir ; it will be related 
 in pompous narrative, ' Once for his amusement he tried knotting ; 
 nor did this Hercules disdain the distaff.' " Johnson : " Knitting 
 of stockings is a good amusement. As a freeman of Aberdeen I 
 should be a knitter of stockings." He asked me to go down with 
 him and dine at Mr. Thrale's at Streatham, to which I agreed. 1 
 had lent him "An Account of Scotland, in 1702," written by a 
 man of various inquiry, an English chaplain to a regiment sta- 
 tioned there. Johnson : " It is sad stuff. Sir, miserably written, 
 as books in general then were. There is now an elegance of 
 style universally diffused. No man now writes so ill as Martin's 
 ' Account of the Hebrides ' is written. A man could not write 
 so ill, if he should try. Set a merchant's clerk now to write, and 
 he '11 do better." 
 
 . He talked to me with serious concern of a certain female 
 friend's "laxity of narration, and inattention to truth." " I am 
 as much vexed," said he, "at the ease with which she hears it 
 mentioned to her, as at the thing itself. I told her, ' Madam, 
 you are contented to hear every day said to you, what the highest 
 of mankind have died for, rather than bear.' You know. Sir, 
 the highest of mankind have died rather than bear to be told 
 they had uttered a falsehood. Do talk to her of it ; I am weary." 
 
 Boswell : " Was not Dr. John Campbell a very inaccurate man 
 in his narrative. Sir? He once told me, that he drank thirteen 
 bottles of port at a sitting." ' Johnson: "Why, Sir, I do not 
 know that Campbell ever lied with pen and ink ; but you could 
 not entirely "depend on anything that he told you in conversation, 
 if there was fact mixed with it. However, I loved Campbell : 
 he was a solid, orthodox man : he had a reverence for religion. 
 Though defective in practice, he was religious in principle ; and 
 he did nothing grossly wrong that I have heard." 
 
 1 Lord Macartney observes upon this passage : " I have heard hini tell many 
 things, which, though embellished by their mode of nan ative, had their foundation 
 in truth ; but I never remember anything approaching to this. If he had written it, 
 I should have supposed some wag had put the figure of one before the three." I 
 am. however, absolutely certain that Dr. Campbell told me it, and I gave particular 
 attention to it, being myself a lover of wine, and therefore curious to hear whatever 
 is remarkable concerning drinking. There can be no doubt that some men can drink, 
 without suffering any injury, such a quantity as to others appears incredible. It is 
 but fair to add, that Dr. Campbell told me, he took a very long time to this great 
 potation ; and I have heard Dr. Johnson say, " Sir, if a man drinks very slowly, 
 and lets one glass evaporate before he takes another, I know not how long he may 
 drink." Dr. Campbell mentioned a Colonel of MilitiS who sat with him all the 
 time, and drank equally. — B. 
 Vol. II. — II 
 
162 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A. D. 1778. 
 
 I told him, that I had been present the day before when Mrs. 
 Montague, the Uterary lady, sat to Miss Reynolds for her picture ; 
 and that she said, She had bound up Mr. Gibbon's ' History ' 
 without the last two offensive chapters ; ^ for that she thought the 
 book so far good, as it gave, in an elegant manner, the substance 
 of the bad writers medii cevi, which the late Lord Lyttelton ajd- 
 vised her to read." Johnson': " Sir, she has not read them : she 
 shows none of this impetuosity to me : she does not know Greek, 
 and, I fancy, knows litde Latin. She is willing you should think 
 she knows them ; but she does not say she does." Boswell : 
 " Mr. Harris, who was present, agreed with her." Johnson : 
 ^' Harris was laughing at her. Sir. Harris is a sound sullen 
 scholar; he does not like interlopers. Harris, however, is a 
 prig, and a bad prig.^ I looked into his book, and thought he 
 did not understand his own system." Boswell : " He says plain 
 things in a formal and abstract way, to be sure ; but his method 
 is good : for to have clear notions upon any subject, we must 
 have recourse to analytic arrangement." Johnson : " Sir, it is 
 what everybody does, whether they will or no. But sometimes 
 things may be made darker by definition. I see a cow ; I define 
 her. Animal quadrupes ruminans cornutiim. But a goat ruminates, 
 and a cow may have no horns. Cow is plainer." Boswell : " I 
 think Dr. Franklin's definition of Man a good one — 'A tool- 
 making animal.' " Johnson : But many a man never made a 
 tool : and suppose a man without arms, he could not make a 
 tool." 
 
 Talking of drinking wine, he said, " I did not leave off wine, 
 because I could not bear it. I have drunk three bottles of port 
 without being the worse for it. University College has witnessed 
 this." ^ Boswell: "Why then. Sir, did you leave it off?" 
 Johnson : " Why, Sir, because it is so much better for a man to 
 be sure that he is never to be intoxicated, never to lose the power 
 over himself. I shall not begin to drink wine till I grow old and 
 
 1 Only one volume had been published ; it ended with Chapter XVL — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 What my friend meant by these words concerning the amiable philosopher of 
 Salisbury, I am at a loss to understand. A friend suggests, that Johnson thought 
 his manner as a writer affected, while at the same time the matter did not compen- 
 sate for that fault. In short, that he meant to make a remark quite different from 
 that which a celebrated gentleman made on a very eminent physician : " He is a cox- 
 comb, but a satisfactory coxcomb." — B. The celebrated gentleman was Gerard 
 Hamilton. — Malone. 
 
 3 On the back of an engraving of Johnson in the Common Room of University 
 College is inscribed : " Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in hac camera coinniuni frequens 
 conviva. D.D. Guliclmus Scott nuper Socius." Gulielmus Scott is better known 
 as Lord Stowell. — Z^r. Hitl. 
 
EDWARD GIBBON. 
 
i 
 
Age 69.] LIVING AMONG SAVAGES. 163 
 
 want it." BoswELL : "I think, Sir, you once said to me, that not 
 to drink wine was a great deduction from life." Johnson : " It 
 is a diminution of pleasure, to be sure ; but I do not say a dimi- 
 nution of happiness. There is more happiness in being rational." 
 BoswELL : ."But if we could have pleasure always, should not we 
 be happy? The greatest part of men would compound for 
 pleasure." Johnson: " Supposing we could have pleasure always, 
 an intellectual man would not compound for it. The greatest 
 part of men would compound because the greatest part of men 
 are gross." Boswell : "I allow there may be greater pleasure 
 than from wine. I have had more pleasure from your conversa- 
 tion. I have indeed; I assure you I have." Johnson: "When 
 we talk of pleasure, we mean sensual pleasure. When a man 
 says, he had pleasure with a woman, he does not mean conversa- 
 tion, but something of a very different nature. Philosophers tell 
 you that pleasure is contraij to happiness. Gross men prefer 
 animal pleasure. So there are men who have preferred living 
 among savages. Now what a wretch must he be, who is content 
 with such conversation as can be had among savages ! You may 
 remember an officer at Fort Augustus, who had served in Amer- 
 ica, told us of a woman whom they were obliged to bind, in order 
 to get her back from savage life." Boswell : " She must have 
 been an animal, a beast." Johnson : " Sir, she was a speaking 
 cat." 
 
 I mentioned to him that I had become very weary in a com- 
 pany where I heard not a single intellectual sentence, except 
 that, " A man who had been settled ten years in Minorca was 
 become a much inferior man to what he was in London, because 
 a man's mind grows narrow in a narrow place." Johnson : "A 
 man's mind grows narrow in a narrow place, \yhose mind is en- 
 larged only because he has lived in a large place : but what is got 
 by books and thinking is preserved in a narrow place as well as 
 in a large place. A man cannot know modes of life as well in 
 Minorca as in London: but he may study mathematics as well 
 in Minorca." Boswell: "I don't know, Sir: if you had re- 
 mained ten years in the Isle of Col, you would not have been the 
 man you now are." Johnson : " Yes, Sir, if I had been there from 
 fifteen to twenty-five ; but not if from twenty-five to thirty-five." 
 Boswell : " I own. Sir, the spirits which I have in London make 
 me do everything with more readiness and vigor. I can talk 
 j twice as much in London as anywhere else." 
 
 Of Goldsmith, he said : " He was not an agreeable companion, 
 
164 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 for he talked always for fame. A man who does so, never can be 
 pleasing. The man who talks to unburden his mind, is the man 
 to delight you. An eminent friend of ours is not so agreeable as 
 the variety of his knowledge would otherwise make him, because 
 he talks partly from ostentation." ^ 
 
 Soon after our arrival at Thrale's I heard one of the maids 
 calling eagerly on another, to go to Dr. Johnson. I wondered 
 what this could mean. I afterwards learned, that it was to give 
 her a Bible, which he had brought from London as a present to 
 her. 
 
 He was for a considerable time occupied in reading '^Me- 
 moires de Fontenelle," leaning and swinging upon the low gate 
 into the court, without his hat. 
 
 I looked into Lord Karnes's ^'Sketches of the History of Man ; " 
 and mentioned to Dr. Johnson his censure of Charles 'the Fifth 
 for celebrating his funeral obsequies in his lifetime, which, I told 
 him, I had been used to think a solemn and affecting act. 
 Johnson : " Why, Sir, a man may dispose his mind to think so 
 of that act of Charles ; but it is so liable to ridicule, that if one 
 man out of ten thousand laughs at it, he '11 make the other nine 
 thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine laugh too." I could not 
 agree with him in this. 
 
 Sir John Pringle had expressed a wish that I would ask Dr. 
 Johnson's opinion what were the best English sermons for style. 
 I took an opportunity to-day of mentioning several to him. 
 Atterbury ? Johnson : " Yes, Sir, one of the best." Boswell : 
 " Tillotson Johnson: ^MVhy, not now. I should not advise 
 a preacher at this day to imitate Tillotson's style ; though I do n't 
 know; I should be cautious of objecting to what has been ap- 
 plauded by so many suffrages. South is one of the best, if you 
 except his peculiarities, and his violence, and sometimes coarse- 
 ness of language. Seed has a very fine style ; but he is not very 
 theological. Jortin's sermons are very elegant. Shei'Iock's 
 style top is very elegant, though he has not made it his principal 
 study. iVnd you may add Smallridge. All the latter preachers 
 have a good style. Indeed, nobody now talks much of style : 
 everybody composes pretty well. There are no such inharmoni- 
 ous periods as there were a hundred years ago. I should recom- 
 mend Dr. Clarke's sermons, were he orthodox. However, it is 
 
 * Every editor has assumed this " eminent friend " to be Burke. Dr. Hill, liow- 
 ever, has pointed out liiat a few years later Johnson expressed a different opinion : 
 " Burke's talk is the ebullition of his mind. lie does not talk from a desire of dis- 
 tinction, but because his mind is full." 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 TOM DA vies' S BENEFIT. 
 
 165 
 
 very well known where he is not orthodox, which was upon the 
 doctrine of the Trinity, as to which he is a condemned heretic ; 
 so one is aware of it." Boswei.l : " I like Ogden's 'Sermons on 
 Prayer' very much, both for neatness of style and subtilty of 
 reasoning." Johnson : " I should like to read all that Ogden 
 has written." Boswell : " What I wish to know is, what sermons 
 afford the best specimen of English pulpit eloquence." Johnson : 
 " We have no sermons addressed to the passions, that are good 
 for anything; if you mean that kind of eloquence." A Clergy- 
 man (whose name I do not recollect) : "Were not Dodd's 
 sermons addressed to the passions?" Johnson: "They were 
 nothing, Sir, be they addressed to what they may." 
 
 At dinner Mrs. Thrale expressed a wish to go and see Scot- 
 land. Johnson : " Seeing Scotland, Madam, is only seeing a 
 worse England. It is seeing the flower graduall)f fade away to 
 the naked stalk. Seeing the Hebrides, indeed, is seeing quite a 
 different scene." 
 
 Our poor friend, Mr. Thomas Davies, was soon to have a bene- 
 fit at Drury Lane Theatre, as some relief to his unfortunate cir- 
 cumstances. We were all warmly interested for his success, and 
 had contributed to it. However, we thought there was no harm 
 in having our joke, when he could not be hurt by it. I proposed 
 that he should be brought on to speak a prologue upon the oc- 
 casion ; and I began to mutter fragments of what it might be ; 
 as, that when now grown old, he was obliged to cry, " Poor Tom 's 
 a-cold ; " that he owned he had been driven from the stage by 
 a Churchill, but that was no disgrace, for a Churchill ' had beat 
 the French; that he had been satirized as "mouthing a sen- 
 tence as curs mouth a bone," but he was now glad of a bone to 
 pick. " Nay," said Johnson, " I would have him to say, 
 
 " ' Mad Tom is come to see the world again.' " 
 
 He and I returned to town in the evening. Upon the road I 
 endeavored to maintain in argument that a landed gentleman is 
 not under any obligation to reside upon his estate ; and that by 
 living in London he does no injury to his country. Johnson : 
 " Why, Sir, he does no injury to his country in general, because 
 the money which he draws from it gets back again in circulation ; 
 but to his particular district, his particular parish, he does an in- 
 jury. All that he has to give away is not given to those who have 
 
 ' The Duke of Marlborough. 
 
166 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 the first claim to it. And though I have said that the money circu- 
 lates back, it is a long time before that happens. Then, Sir, a 
 man of family and estate ought to consider himself as having 
 the charge of a district, over which he is to diffuse civility and 
 happiness." ^ 
 
 Next day I found him at home in the morning. He praised 
 Delany's " Observations on Swift; " said that his book and Lord 
 Orrery's might both be true, though one viewed Swift more, and 
 the other less favorably ; and that, between both, we might have 
 a complete notion of Swift. 
 
 Talking of a man's resolving to deny himself the use of wine, 
 from moral and religious considerations, he said : " He must not 
 doubt about it. When one doubts as to pleasure, we know what 
 will be the conclusion. I now no more think of drinking wine, 
 than a horse dbes. The wine upon the table is no more for me, 
 than for the dog that is under the table." 
 
 On Thursday, April 9, I dined with him at Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds's, with the Bishop of St. Asaph (Dr. Shipley), Mr. Allan 
 Ramsay, Mr. Gibbon, Mr. Cambridge, and Mr. Langton. Mr. 
 Ramsay had lately returned from Italy, and entertained us with 
 his observations upon Horace's villa, which he had examined 
 with great care. I relished this much, as it brought fresh into 
 my mind what I had viewed with great pleasure thirteen years be- 
 fore. The Bishop, Dr. Johnson, and Mr. Cambridge, joined with 
 Mr. Ramsay, in recollecting the various lines in Horace relating 
 to the subject. 
 
 Horace's journey to Brundusium being mentioned, Johnson 
 observed, that the brook which he describes is to be seen now 
 exacdy as at that time ; and that he had often wondered how it 
 happened, that small brooks, such as this, kept the same situation 
 for ages, notwithstanding earthquakes, by which even mountains 
 have been changed, and agriculture, which produces such a vari- 
 ation upon the surface of the earth. Cambridge : " A Spanish 
 writer has this thought in a poetical conceit. After observing 
 that most of the solid structures of Rome are totally perished, 
 Avhile the Tiber remains the same, he adds, 
 
 " ' Lo que era Firme hui6 solamente, 
 Lo Fugitive permanecey dura.' " ' 
 
 * See p. 117 for a somewhat different opinion. 
 
 2 " Things fixed and firm away have passed; 
 The fugitive remam and last." — Croker. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 a()LDSMJTIl\S TllA VELLEll. 
 
 167 
 
 Johnson : " Sir, that is taken from Janus Vitalis : ' 
 
 " ' . . . immota labascunt; 
 
 Et quae perpetuo sunt agitata manent.' " 
 
 The Bishop said, it appeared from Horace's writings that he 
 was a cheerful, contented man. Johnson : " We have no reason 
 to believe that, my Lord. Are we to think Pope was happy, be- 
 cause he says so in his writings? We see in his writings what he 
 wished the state of his mind to appear. Dr. Young, who pined 
 for preferment, talks with contempt of it in his writings, and 
 affects to despise everything that he did not despise." Bishop 
 OF St. Asaph : " He was hke other chaplains, looking for vacan- 
 cies : but that is not peculiar to the clergy. I remember when I 
 was with the army, after the battle of Lafeldt, the officers seri- 
 ously grumbled that no general was killed." ^ Cambridge : We 
 may believe Horace more when he says, 
 
 " ' Romae Tibur amem, ventosus Tibure Romam; ' 
 
 (" Epist." I. viii. 12.) 
 
 than when he boasts of his consistency : 
 
 " ' Meconstare mihi scis, et discedere tristem, 
 
 Quandocunque trahunt invisa negotia Romam.' " 
 
 (" Epist." I. xiv. 16.) 
 
 BoswELL : "How hard is it that man can never be at rest." Ram- 
 say : " It is not in his nature to be at rest. When he is at rest, 
 he is in the worst state that he can be in ; for he has nothing to 
 agitate him. He is then like the man in the Irish song, 
 
 *' 'There liv'd a young man in Ballinacrazy, 
 
 Who wanted a wife for to make him un«/sy.' " 
 
 Goldsmith being mentioned, Johnson observed, that it was 
 long before his merit came to be acknowledged : that he once 
 complained to him, in ludicrous terras of distress, " Whenever I 
 write anything, the public make a point to know nothing about 
 it: " but that his "Traveller" brought him into high reputation. 
 Langton : "There is not one bad line in that poem; no one of 
 Dryden's careless verses." Sir Joshua : " I was glad to hear 
 
 ^ Janus Vitalis or Giano Vitale "was a theologian and poet of Palermo. His 
 earliest work was published in 1512 ; he died about 1560. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Dr. Shipley was chaplain to the Duke of Cumberland. The battle was fought 
 July 2, N.S. 1747. — Croker. 
 
168 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOLINSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 Charles Fox say, it was one of the finest poems in the EngUsh 
 language." Langton : "Why was you glad? You surely had no 
 doubt of this before." Johnson : No ; the merit of ' The 
 Traveller ' is so well established, that Mr. Fox's praise cannot 
 augment it, nor his censure diminish it." Sir Joshua : " But his 
 friends may suspect they had too great a partiahty for him." 
 Johnson : " Nay, Sir, the partiality of his friends was always 
 against him. It was with difficulty we could give him a hearing. 
 Goldsmith had no settled notions upon any subject; so he talked 
 always at random. It seemed to be his intention to blurt out 
 whatever was in his mind, and see what would become of it. He 
 was angry too, when catched in an absurdity ; but it did not pre- 
 vent him falling into another the next minute. I remember 
 Chamier, after talking with him some time, said, ' Well, I do be- 
 lieve he wrote this poem himself: and, let me tell you, that is 
 believing a great deal.' Chamier once asked him, what he meant 
 by s/ow, the last word in the first line of ' The Traveller,' 
 
 " ' Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow,' — 
 
 Did he mean tardiness of locomotion? Goldsmith, who would 
 say something without consideration, answered, ' Yes.' I was sit- 
 ting by, and said, ' No, Sir ; you do not mean tardiness of loco- 
 motion ; you mean, that sluggishness of mind which comes upon a 
 man in sblitude.' Chamier believed then that I had written the 
 line, as much as if he had seen me write it. Goldsmith, however, 
 was a man who, whatever he wrote, did it better than any other 
 man could do. He deserved a place in Westminster Abbey; 
 and every year he lived, would have deserved it better. He had, 
 indeed, been at no pains to fill his mind with knowledge. 
 He transplanted it from one place to another ; and it did not set- 
 tle in his mind ; so he could not tell what was in his own books." 
 
 We talked of living in the country. Johnson : " No wise man 
 will go to live in the country, unless he has something to do 
 which can be better done in the country. For instance : if he is 
 to shut himself up for a year to study a science, it is better to look 
 out to the fields, than to an opposite wall. Then if a man walks 
 out in the country, there is nobody to keep him from walking in 
 again ; but if a man walks out in London, he is not sure when he 
 shall walk in again. A great city is, to be sure, the school for 
 studying life ; and ' The proper study of mankind is man,' ' as 
 
 ^ " Essay on Man," ii. 2. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 SOCIETY IN PARIS. 
 
 169 
 
 Pope observes." Boswell : " I fancy London is the best place 
 for society ; though I have heard that the very first society of 
 Paris is still beyond anything that we have here." Johnson : 
 " Sir, I question if in Paris such a company as is sitting around this 
 table could be got together in less than half a year. They talk in 
 France of the felicity of men and women living together : the 
 truth is, that there the men are not higher than the women, they 
 know no more than the women do, and they are not held down 
 in their conversation by the presence of women." Ramsay : 
 " Literature is upon the growth, it is in its spring in France : here 
 it is rather passce'' Johnson : Literature was in France long 
 before we had it. Paris was the second city for the revival of let- 
 ters : Italy had it first, to be sure. What have we done for litera- 
 ture, equal to what was done by the Stephani and others in France? 
 Our literature came to us through France. Caxton printed only 
 two books, Chaucer and Gower, that were not translations from 
 the French ; and Chaucer, we know, took much from the Italians. 
 No, sir, if literature be in its spring in France, it is a second 
 spring ; it is after a winter. We are now before the French in 
 literature ; but we had it long after them. In England, any man 
 who wears a sword and a powdered wig is ashamed to be illiterate. 
 I believe it is not so in France. Yet there is, probably, a great 
 deal of learning in France, because they have such a number of 
 religious establishments ; so many men who have nothing else to 
 do but to study. I do not know this ; but I take it upon the 
 common principles of chance. Where there are many shooters, 
 some will hit." 
 
 We talked of old age. Johnson (now in his seventieth year) 
 said, " It. is a man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind 
 grows torpid in old age." The Bishop asked, if an old man does 
 not lose faster than he gets. Johnson : " I think not, my Lord, 
 if he exerts himself." One of the company rashly observed, that 
 he thought it was happy for an old man that insensibility comes 
 upon him. Johnson (with a noble elevation and disdain) : " No, 
 Sir, I should never be happy by being less rational." Bishop 
 OF St. Asaph: " Your wish then. Sir, is, yyjpaGKSLv du^aaKomvoq.''''^ 
 Johnson : Yes, my Lord." His Lordship mentioned a chari- 
 table establishment in Wales where people were maintained, and 
 supplied with everything, upon the condition of their contribut- 
 ing the weekly produce of their labor ; and he said, they grew 
 
 1" Vr\p6.<TKio 6' aiel noWdL SiSa(Tic6iJ.evo<:, I grow in learning as in years." Plutarch's 
 " Life of Solon," ch. 31. — Dr. Hill. 
 
170 
 
 BOSWELJJS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 quite torpid for want of property. Johnson : " They have no 
 object for hope. Their condition cannot be better. It is row- 
 ing without a port." 
 
 One of the company asked him the meaning of the expression 
 in" Juvenal," unius lacertce. Johnson : " I think it clear enough ; 
 as much ground as one may have a chance to find a lizard upon." 
 
 Commentators have differed as to the exact meanmg of the 
 expression by which the poet intended to enforce the sentiment 
 contained in the passage where these words occur. It is enough 
 that they mean to denote even a very small possession, provided 
 it be a man's own : 
 
 " Est aliquid, quocunque loco, quocunque recessu, 
 Unius sese dominum fecisse lacertae." 
 
 (" Sat." iii. 230.) 
 
 This season, there was a whimsical fashion in the newspapers 
 of applying Shakespeare's words to describe living persons well 
 known in the world ; which was done under the title of " Modern 
 Characters from Shakespeare; " many of which were admirably 
 adapted. The fancy took so much, that they were afterwards 
 collected into a pamphlet.' Somebody said to Johnson, across 
 the table, that he had not been in those characters. " Ves," 
 said he, " I have. I should have been sorry to be left out." He 
 then repeated what had been applied to him, 
 
 "You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth." 
 
 ("As Vou Like It," iii. 2.) 
 
 Miss Reynolds not perceiving at once the meaning of this, he 
 was obliged to explain it to her, which had something of an awk- 
 ward and ludicrous effect. "Why, Madam, it has a reference to 
 me, as using big words, which require the mouth of a giant to 
 pronounce them. Gargantua is the name of a giant in * Rabe- 
 lais.' " BoswELL : "But, Sir, there is another amongst them for 
 you : 
 
 " ' He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, 
 Or Jove for his power to thunder.' " 
 
 ( " Coriolanus," iii. I.) 
 
 Johnson : " There is nothing marked in that. No, Sir, Gargan- 
 tua is the best." Notwithstanding this ease and good humor, 
 when I, a little while afterwards, repeated his sarcasm on Ken- 
 
 ^" Modern Characters from Shakespeare alphabetically arranged." London, 
 1778. 88 pp. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 POPE'S HOMER. 
 
 I7i 
 
 rick [Vol. I., p. 287], which was received with applause, he 
 asked, " Who said that ? " and on my suddenly answering Gar- 
 gantua, he looked serious, which was a sufficient indication that 
 he did not wish it to be kept up. 
 
 When we went to the drawing-room, there was a rich assem- 
 blage. Besides the company who had been at dinner, there were 
 Mr. Garrick, Mr. Harris of Salisbury, Dr. Percy, Dr. Burney, the 
 Honorable Mrs. Cholmondeley, Miss Hannah More, &c., &c. 
 
 After wandering about in a kind of pleasing distraction for 
 some time, I got into a corner, with Johnson, Garrick, and 
 Harris. Garrick (to Harris) : Pray, Sir, have you read 
 Potter's ' ^schylus '? " Harris: "Yes; and think it pretty." 
 Garrick (to Johnson) : ''And what think you. Sir, of it?" 
 Johnson : " I thought what I read of it ver/nage : ' but upon Mr. 
 Harris's recommendation, I will read a play. (To Mr. Harris.) 
 Do n't prescribe two." Mr. Harris suggested one, I do not 
 remember which. Johnson : '' We must try its effect as an 
 English poem ; that is the way to judge of the merit of a transla- 
 tion ; translations are, in general, for people who cannot read the 
 original." I mentioned the vulgar saying, that Pope's Homer 
 was not a good representation of the original. Johnson : Sir, 
 it is the greatest work of the kind that has ever been produced." 
 BoswELL : '' The truth is, it is impossible perfectly to translate 
 poetry. In a different language it may be the same tune, but it 
 has not the same tone. Homer plays it on a bassoon ; Pope on 
 a 'flageolet." Harris: " I think heroic poetry is best in blank 
 verse ; yet it appears that rhyme is essential to English poetry, 
 from our deficiency in metrical quantities. In my opinion, the 
 chief excellence of our language is numerous prose." Johnson: 
 " Sir William Temple was the first writer who gave cadence to 
 English prose [see Vol. I., p. 122]. Before his time they were care- 
 less of arrangement, and did not mind whether a sentence ended 
 with an important word or an insignificant word, or with what part 
 of speech it was concluded." Mr. Langton, who now had joined 
 us, commended Clarendon. Johnson : " He is objected to for 
 his parentheses, his involved clauses, and his want of harmony. 
 But he is supported by his matter. It is, indeed, owing to a 
 plethory of matter that his style is so faulty : every substance 
 (smi ing to Mr. Harris) has so many accidents. To be distinct, 
 we must talk analytically. If we analyze language, we must speak 
 of it grammatically ; if we analyze argument, we must speak of it 
 
 ^ Verbiage is not in Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
m 
 
 BOS WELLES LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778 
 
 logically." Garrick : " Of all the translations that ever were 
 attempted, I think Elphinston's ' Martial ' ^ the most extraordinary. 
 He consulted me upon it, who am a little of an epigrammatist 
 myself, you know. I told him freely, ' You do n't seem to have 
 that turn.' I asked him if he was serious ; and finding he was, I 
 advised him against publishing. Why, his translation is more 
 difficult to understand than the original. I thought him a man of 
 some talents ; but he seems crazy in this." Johnson : " Sir, you 
 have done what I had not courage to do. But he did not ask 
 my advice, and I did not force it upon him, to make him angry 
 with me." Garrick: " But as a friend Sir, — ." Johnson: 
 " Why, such a friend as I am with him — no." Garrick : " But 
 if you see a friend going to tumble over a precipice ? " Johnson : 
 " That is an extravagant case, Sir. You are sure a friend will 
 thank you for hindering him from tumbling over a precipice : but, 
 in the other case, I should hurt his vanity and do him no good. 
 He would not take my advice. His brother-in-law, Strahan, sent 
 him a subscription of 50/., and said he would send him 50/. more, 
 if he would not publish." Garrick: ^'What! eh! is Strahan a 
 good judge of an epigram? Is not he rather an obtuse man, eh? " 
 Johnson : Why, Sir, he may not be a judge of an epigram : but 
 you see he is a judge of what is an epigram." Boswell : It 
 is easy for you, Mr. Garrick, to talk to an author as you talked to 
 Elphinston ; you, who have been so long the manager of a theatre, 
 rejecting the plays of poor authors. You are an old judge, who 
 have often pronounced sentence of death. You are a practised 
 surgeon, who have often amputated limbs ; and though this may 
 have been for the good of your patients, they cannot like you. 
 Those who have undergone a dreadful operation, are not very 
 fond of seeing the operator again." Garrick : " Yes, I know 
 enough of that. There was a reverend gentleman (Mr. Haw- 
 kins), who wrote a tragedy, the siege of something,^ which I 
 
 ^ Burns wrote : 
 
 " O thou whom Poetry abhors, 
 Whom Prose has turned out of doors, 
 Heardst thou that moan — proceed no further, 
 'T was laurelled Martial roaring murder." 
 
 2 It was called "The Siege of Aleppo." Mr. Hawkins, the author of it, was 
 formerly Professor of Poetry at Oxford. It is printed in his " Miscellanies," 3 vols, 
 octavo. — B. After Hughes's last work " The S'iege of Damascus " Sici^es became 
 very popular. Baker's " Biog. Dram." III. 273, enumerates thirty-seven. It was 
 Mrs. Brooke's " Siege of Sinope" that the author brought to Dr. johnson to read 
 and revise. He advised her to look it over herself. 
 
 " I have no time," said she, " I have already so many irons in the fire." 
 
 " '\V'hy then. Madam," said he quite out of patience, " the best thing I can advise 
 you t ) do is to put your tragedy along with your irons." — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 BOSWELL'S JOURNAL. 
 
 173 
 
 refused." Harris : " So, the siege was raised." Johnson : " Ay, 
 he came to me and complained ; and told me, that Garrick said 
 his play was wrong in the concoction. Now, what is the concoc- 
 tion of a play?" (Here Garrick started, and twisted himself, 
 and seemed sorely vexed ; for Johnson told me he believed the 
 story was true.) Garrick: "I — I — I — said, yfrj-/ concoc- 
 tion." ' Johnson (smiling) : Well, he left out first. And Rich,^ 
 he said, refused him in false English : he could show it under 
 his hand." Garrick: ''He wrote to me in violent wrath, for 
 having refused his play : ' Sir, this is growing a very serious and 
 terrible affair. I am resolved to publish my play. I will appeal 
 to the world ; and how will your judgment appear ! ' I answered, 
 ' Sir, notwithstanding all the seriousness, and all the terrors, I have 
 no objection to your publishing your play ; and as you live at a 
 great distance (Devonshire, I believe), if you will send it to me, 
 I will convey it to the press.' I never heard more of it, ha ! ha ! 
 ha ! " ' 
 
 On Friday, April 10, I found Johnson at home in the morning. 
 We resumed the conversation of yesterday. He put me in mind 
 of some of it which had escaped my memory, and enabled me 
 to record it more perfectly than I otherwise could have done. 
 He was much pleased with my paying so great attention to his 
 recommendation in 1763, the period when our acquaintance be- 
 gan, that I should keep a journal ; and I could perceive he was 
 secretly pleased to find so much of the fruit of his mind pre- 
 served ; and as he had been used to .imagine and say that he 
 always labored when he said a good thing, — it delighted him, 
 on a review, to find that his conversation teemed with point and 
 imagery. 
 
 1 said to him, " You were yesterday. Sir, in remarkably good 
 humor • but there was nothing to offend you, nothing to produce 
 irritation or violence. There was no bold offender. There was 
 not one capital conviction. It was a maiden assize. You had 
 on your white gloves." 
 
 He found fault with our friend Langton for having been too 
 silent. '' Sir," said I, " you will recollect that he very properly 
 took up Sir Joshua for being glad that Charles Fox had praised 
 
 ^ Garrick had high authority for this expression. Dryden uses it in one of his 
 critical essays. —Malone. 
 
 2 Manager of Covent Garden Theatre. 
 
 * Garrick did not make the impertinent reply of which he here boasted. Haw- 
 kins Hved in Dorsetshire, as he reminds Garrick, who misdirected his letter. — 
 Dr. Hill. 
 
174 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 Goldsmith's 'Traveller,' and you joined him." Johnson : "Yes, 
 Sir, I knocked Fox on the head, without ceremony. Reynolds 
 is too much under Fox and Burke at present. He is under the 
 Fox star, and the Irish constellation. He is always under some 
 planet." Boswell : ''There is no Fox star." Johnson: "But 
 there is a dog star." Boswell: "They say, indeed, a fox and 
 a dog are the same animal." 
 
 I reminded him of a gentleman, who, Mrs. Cholmondeley said, 
 was first talkative from affectation, and then silent from the same 
 cause ; that he first thought, " I shall be celebrated as the 
 liveliest man in every company;" and then, all at once, "O ! it 
 is much more respectable to be grave and look wise." " He has 
 reversed the Pythagorean discipline, by being first talkative, and 
 then silent. He reverses the course of Nature too ; he was first 
 the gay butterfly, and then the creeping worm." Johnson laughed 
 loud and long at this expansion and illustration of what he him- 
 self had told me. 
 
 We dined together with Mr. Scott (now Sir William Scott, his 
 Majesty's Advocate-General), at his chambers in the Temple, 
 nobody else there. The company being small, Johnson was not 
 in such spirits as he had been the preceding day, and for a con- 
 siderable time little was said. At last he burst forth : " Subordi- 
 nation is s-adly broken down in this age. No man, now, has the 
 same authority which his father had, — except a jailer. No 
 master has it over his servants : it is diminished in our colleges ; 
 nay, in our grammar schools." Boswell : " What is the cause 
 of this. Sir?" Johnson: "Why, the coming in of the Scotch" 
 (laughing sarcastically). Boswell: "That is to say, things 
 have been turned topsy-turvy. But your serious cause." John- 
 son : " Why, Sir, there are many causes, the chief of which is, 
 I think, the great increase of money. No man now depends 
 upon the Lord of a Manor, when he can send to another country, 
 and fetch provisions. The shoeblack at the entry of my court 
 does not depend on me. I can deprive him but of a penny a 
 day, which he hopes somebody else will bring him ; and that 
 penny I must carry to another shoeblack, so the trade suffers 
 nothing. I have explained, in my 'Journey to the Hebrides,' 
 how gold and silver destroy feudal subordination. But, besides, 
 there is a general relaxation of reverence. No son now depends 
 upon his father, as in former times. Paternity used to be con- 
 sidered as of itself a great thing, which had a right to many 
 claims. That is, in general, reduced to very small bounds. My 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 GARRICK'S SUCCESS. 
 
 175 
 
 hope is, that as anarchy produces tyranny, this extreme relaxa- 
 tion will produce /rem strictioT 
 
 Talking of fame, for which there is so great a desire, I ob- 
 served, how little there is of it in reality, compared with the other 
 objects of human attention. Let every man recollect, and 
 he will be sensible how small a part of his time is employed in 
 talking or thinking of Shakespeare, Voltaire, or any of the most 
 celebrated men that ever lived, or are now supposed to occupy 
 the attention and admiration of the world. Let this be extracted 
 and compressed ; into what a narrow space will it go ! " I then 
 slyly introduced Mr. Garrick's fame, and his assuming the airs 
 of a great man. Johnson : " Sir, it is wonderful how little Gar- 
 rick assumes. No, Sir, Garrick fortunam revei-enter habet. 
 Consider, Sir; celebrated men, such as you have njentioned, 
 have had their applause at a distance ; but Garrick had it dashed 
 in his face, sounded in his ears, and went home every night with 
 the plaudits of a thousand in his cranium. Then, Sir, Garrick did 
 not fijidy but made his way to the tables, the levees, and almost the 
 bed-chambers of the great. Then, Sir, Garrick had under him 
 a numerous body of people ; who, from fear of his power and 
 hopes of his favor, and admiration of his talents, were constantly 
 submissive to him. And here is a man who has advanced the 
 dignity of his profession. Garrick has made a player a higher 
 character." Scott: "And he is a very sprightly writer too." 
 Johnson : " Yes, Sir ; and all this supported by great wealth of 
 his own acquisition. If all this had happened to me, I should 
 have had a couple of fellows with long poles walking before me, 
 to knock down everybody that stood in the way. Consider, if 
 all this had happened to Gibber or Quin,^ they 'd have jumped 
 over the moon. Yet Garrick speaks to us'' (smiling). Bos- 
 well : " And Garrick is a very good man, a charitable man." 
 Johnson : " Sir, a liberal man. He has given away more money 
 than any man in England. There may be a little vanity mixed : 
 but he has shown that money is not his first object." Boswell : 
 " Yet Foote used to say of him, that he walked out with an in- 
 tention to do a generous action ; but turning the corner of a 
 street, he met with the ghost of a halfpenny, which frightened 
 him." Johnson : " Why, Sir, that is very true, too ; for I never 
 knew a man of whom it could be said with less certainty to-day, 
 what he will do to-morrow, than Garrick ; it depends so much 
 
 ^ Ansonius : Epigrammata viii. 7. 
 
 ^See " Humphry Clinker : " letters for April 30, and May 6. 
 
176 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 on his humor at the time." Scott : " I am glad to hear of his 
 liberahty. He has been represented as very saving." Johnson : 
 "With his domestic saving we have nothing to do. I remember 
 drinking tea with him long ago, when Peg Woffington made it, 
 and he grumbled at her for making it too strong.' He had then 
 begun to feel money in his purse, and did not know when he 
 should have enough of it." 
 
 On the subject of wealth, the proper use of it, and the effects 
 of that art which is called economy, he observed, " It is wonder- 
 ful to think how men of very large estates not only spend their 
 yearly incomes, but are often actually in want of money. It is 
 clear they have not value for what they spend. Lord Shelburne 
 told me, that a man of high rank, who looks into his own affairs, 
 may have, all that he ought to have, all that can be of any use, or 
 appear with any advantage, for 5,000/. a year. Therefore a great 
 proportion must go in waste ; and, indeed, this is the case with 
 most people, whatever their fortune is." Boswell : " 1 have no 
 doubt. Sir, of this. But how is it? What is waste? " Johnson : 
 "Why, Sir, breaking bottles, and a thousand other things. Waste 
 cannot be accurately told, though we are sensible how destructive 
 it is. Economy on the one hand, by which a certain income is 
 made to maintain a man genteely, and waste on the other, by 
 which, on the same income, another man lives shabbily, cannot 
 be defined. It is a very nice thing ; as one man wears his coat 
 out much sooner than another, we cannot tell how." 
 
 We talked of war. Johnson : " Every man thinks meanly of 
 himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea." 
 Boswell : " Lord Mansfield does not." Johnson : " Sir, if Lord 
 Mansfield were in a company of general officers and admirals who 
 have been in service, he would shrink ; he 'd wish to creep under 
 the table." Boswell : " No ; he 'd think he could fry them all." 
 Johnson : " Yes, if he could catch them : but they 'd try him 
 much sooner. No, Sir; were Socrates and Charles the Twelfth 
 of Sweden both present in any company, and Socrates to say, 
 ' Follow me, and hear a lecture in philosophy ; ' and Charles lay- 
 ing his hand on his sword, to say, ' Follow me, and dethrone 
 the Tsar ; ' a man would be ashamed to follow Socrates. Sir, the 
 impression is universal, yet it is strange. As to the sailor, whenj 
 you look down from the quarter-deck to the space below, you seJ 
 
 ' When Johnson told this little anecdote to Sir Joshua Reynolds, he mentione^ 
 a circumstance which he omitted to-day : " Why/' said Garrick. " it is as red afl 
 l>lood." — B. Tea at that time was generally made very weak. — Dr. Hill. I 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 the utmost extremity of human misery : such crowding, such filth, 
 such stench ! " Boswell : " Yet sailors are happy." Johnson : 
 " They are happy as brutes are happy, with a piece of fresh meat, 
 — with the grossest sensuality. But, Sir, the profession of soldiers 
 and sailors has the dignity of danger. Mankind reverence those 
 who have got over fear, which is so general a weakness." Scott : 
 "But is not courage mechanical, and to be acquired? " John- 
 son : " Why yes. Sir, in a collective sense. Soldiers consider 
 themselves only as part of a great machine." Scott : " We find 
 people fond of being sailors." Johnson: '-'I cannot account for 
 that, any more than I can account for other strange perversions of 
 imagination." 
 
 His abhorrence of the profession of a sailor was uniformly 
 violent; but in conversation he always exalted the profession of 
 a soldier. And yet I have, in my large and various collection of 
 his writings, a letter to an eminent friend, in which he expresses 
 himself thus : " My godson called on me lately. He is weary, 
 and rationally weary of a military life. If you can place him in 
 some other state, I think you may increase his happiness, and 
 secure his virtue. A soldier's time is passed in distress and 
 danger, or in idleness and corruption." Such was his cool re- 
 flection in his study : but whenever he was warmed and animated 
 by the presence of company, he, like other philosophers, whose 
 minds are impregnated with poetical fancy, caught the common 
 enthusiasm for splendid renown. 
 
 He talked of Mr. Charles Fox, of whose abilities he thought 
 highly, but observed, that he did not talk much at our Club. I 
 have heard Mr. Gibbon remark, " That Mr. Fox could not be 
 afraid of Dr. Johnson ; yet he certainly was very shy of saying any- 
 thing in Dr. Johnson's presence." Mr. Scott now quoted what was 
 said of Alcibiades by a Greek poet, to which Johnson assented.^ 
 
 He told us, that he had given Mrs. Montagu a catalogue of all 
 Daniel Defoe's works of imagination ; most, if not all of which, 
 as well as of his other works, he now enumerated, allowing a con- 
 siderable share of merit to a man, who, bred a tradesman, had 
 written so variously and so well. Indeed, his Robinson Crusoe," 
 is enough of itself to establish his reputation. 
 
 ' Scott probably made the very obvious comparison of Fox to Alcibiades, whom, 
 as an orator, Eupolis had contrasted with the talker Phi^eax. (See Plutarch's " Life 
 of Alcibiades.") — Croker. Phaeax is thus described : He seemed fitter for solicit- 
 ing and persuading in private than for stemming the torrent of a public debate ; in 
 short he was one of those of whom Eupohs says : " True he can talk, and yet 
 he is no speaker." 
 
 VOU. II. — 12 
 
178 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 He expressed great indignation at the imposture of the Cock 
 Lane Ghost, and related, with much satisfaction, how he had as- 
 sisted in detecting the cheat, and had pubHshed an account of it 
 in the newspapers. Upon this subject I incautiously offended 
 him, by pressing him with two many questions, and he showed 
 his displeasure. I apologized, saying that, " I asked questions in 
 order to be instructed and entertained ; I repaired eagerly to the 
 fountain ; but that the moment he gave me a hint, the moment he 
 put a lock upon the well, I desisted." — " But, Sir," said he, " that 
 is forcing one to do a disagreeable thing : " and he continued to 
 rate me. " Nay, Sir," said I, " when you have put a lock upon 
 the well, so that I can no longer drink, do not make the foun- 
 tain of your wit play upon me and wet me." 
 
 He sometimes could not bear being teased with questions. I 
 was once present when a gentleman [of course, Boswell himself] 
 asked so many, as, " What did you do. Sir? " "What did you 
 say. Sir?" that he at last grew enraged, and said, " I will not be 
 put to the question. Do n't you consider. Sir, that these are not the 
 manners of a gentleman ? I will not be baited with what and 
 why ; what is this? what is that? why is a cow's tail long? why 
 is a fox's tail bushy?" The gentleman, who was a good deal out 
 of countenance, said, " Why, Sir, you are so good, that I venture 
 to trouble you." Johnson: ''Sir, my being 'aogood\'s> no reason 
 why you should be so ///." 
 
 Talking of the Justitia hulk at Woolwich, in which criminals 
 were punished by being confined to labor, he said, " I do not see 
 that they are punished by this : they must have worked equally, 
 had they never been guilty of stealing. They now only work ; 
 so, after all, they have gained ; what they stole is clear gain to 
 them ; the confinement is nothing. Every man who works is 
 confined : the smith to his shop, the tailor to his garret." 
 Boswell : " And Lord Mansfield to his Court." Johnson : 
 " Yes, Sir. You know the notion of confinement may be ex- 
 tended, as ip the song, * Every island is a prison.' There is, 
 in Dodsley's collection, a copy of verses to the author of that 
 ,song."^ 
 
 Smith's Latin verses on Ppcocke, the great traveller,'' were 
 
 1 The song begins " Welcome, welcome, brother debtor," but, according to Ma- 
 lone and Hill, is not in Dodsley's collection. It is, however, says Croker, in Rit- 
 son's and others. 
 
 2 Smith's verses are on Edward Pococke, Canon of Christ Church and Pro- 
 fessor of Hebrew at Oxford. Richard Pococke, Bishop of Ossory, who lived just 
 a century later, is usually called " the great traveller." — Kearney and Croker. 
 
Age 69 ] DR. DODJJS THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 179 
 
 mentioned. He repeated some of them, and said they were 
 Smith's best verses. 
 
 He talked with an uncommon animation of traveUing into dis- 
 tant countries : that the mind was enlarged by it, and that an 
 acquisition of dignity of character was derived from it. He ex- 
 pressed a particular enthusiasm with respect to visiting the wall 
 of China. I catched it for the moment, and said I really believed 
 I should go and see the wall of China had I not children, of 
 whom it was my duty to take care. "Sir," said he, "by doing 
 so, you would do what would be of importance in raising your 
 children to eminence. There would be a lustre reflected upon 
 them from your spirit and curiosity. They would be at all times 
 regarded as the children of a man who had gone to view the wall 
 of China; I am serious. Sir." 
 
 When we had left Mr. Scott's he said, " Will you go home with 
 me ? " — " Sir," said I, " it is late ; but I '11 go with you for three 
 minutes." Johnson: "Or /^//r." We went to Mrs. Williams's 
 room, where we found Mr. Allen the printer, who was the land- 
 lord of his house in Bolt Court, a worthy obliging man, and his 
 very old acquaintance ; and what was exceedingly amusing, though 
 he was of a very diminutive size, he used, even in Johnson's 
 presence, to imitate the stately periods and slow and solemn 
 utterance of the great man. I this evening boasted, that al- 
 though I did not write what is called stenography, or shorthand, 
 in appropriated characters devised for the purpose, I had a 
 method of my own of writing half words, and leaving out some 
 altogether, so as yet to keep the substance and language of any 
 discourse which I had heard so much in view, that I could give 
 it very completely soon after I had taken it down. He defied 
 me, as he had once defied an actual shorthand writer ; and he 
 made the experiment by reading slowly and distinctly a part of 
 Robertson's " History of America," while I endeavored to 
 write it in my way of taking notes. It was found that I had it 
 very imperfectly ; the conclusion from which was, that its excel- 
 lence was principally owing to a studied arrangement of words, 
 which could not be varied or abridged without an essential injury. 
 
 On Sunday, April 12, I found him at home before dinner: Dr. 
 Dodd's poem entitled "Thoughts in Prison, " was lying upon his 
 table. This appearing to me an extraordinary effort by a man 
 who was in Newgate for a capital crime, I was desirous to hear 
 Johnson's opinion of it : to my surprise, he told me he had not 
 read a line of it. I took up the book, and read a passage to 
 
180 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 him. Johnson : " Pretty well, if you are previously disposed to 
 like them." I read another passage, with which he was better 
 pleased. He then took the book into his own hands, and having 
 looked at the prayer at the end of it, he said, " What evidence is 
 there that this was composed the night before he suffered? /do 
 not believe it." He then read aloud where he prays for the 
 King, &c., and observed, " Sir, do you think that a man, the 
 night before he is to be hanged, cares for the succession of a 
 royal family? Though he may have composed this prayer, then. 
 A man who has been canting all his life, may cant to the last. 
 And yet, a man who has been refused a pardon after so much 
 petitioning, would hardly be praying thus fervently for the King." 
 
 He and I and Mrs. Williams went to dine with the Reverend 
 Dr. Percy. Talking of Goldsmith, Johnson said, he was very 
 envious. I defended him, by observing that he owned it frankly 
 upon all occasions. Johnson : " Sir, you are enforcing the charge. 
 He had so much envy, that he could not conceal it. He was so 
 full of it that he overflowed. He talked of it, to be sure, often 
 enough. Now, Sir, what a man avows, he is not ashamed to 
 think ; though many a man thinks what he is ashamed to avow. 
 We are all envious naturally ; but by checking envy, we get the 
 better of it. So we are all thieves naturally ; a child always tries 
 to get at what it wants the nearest way ; by good instruction and 
 good habits this is cured, till a man has not even an inclination to 
 seize what is another's ; has no struggle with himself about it." 
 
 And here I shall record a scene of too much heat between Dr. 
 Johnson and Dr. Percy, which I should have suppressed, were it 
 not that it gave occasion to display the truly tender and benevo- 
 lent heart of Johnson, who as soon as he found a friend was at all 
 hurt by anything which he had " said in his wrath," was not only 
 prompt and desirous to be reconciled, but exerted himself to 
 make ample reparation. 
 
 Books of travels having been mentioned, Johnson praised 
 Pennant very highly, as he did at Dunvegan, in the Isle of Sky. 
 Dr. Percy knowing himself to be the heir male of the ancient 
 Percies,' and having the warmest and most dutiful attachment to 
 
 ^ See this accurately stated, and the descent of his family from the Earls of 
 Northumberland clearly deduced, in the Reverend Dr. Nash's excellent " History of 
 Worcestershire, " ii. 318. The Doctor has subjoined a note, in which he says, " The 
 Editor hath seen and carefully examined the proofs of all the particulars above- 
 mentioned, now in the possession of the Reverend Thomas Percy." The same 
 proofs I have also myself carefully examined, and have seen some additional proofs 
 which have occurred since the Doctor's book was published ; and both as a lawyer 
 accustomed to the consideration of evidence, and as a genealogist versed in the 
 
Age 69.] JOHNSON'S QUARREL WITH PERCY. 181 
 
 the noble House of Northumberland, could not sit quietly and 
 hear a man praised, who had spoken disrespectfully of Alnwick 
 Castle and the Duke's pleasure-grounds, especially as he thought 
 meanly of his travels. He therefore opposed Johnson eagerly. 
 Johnson : " Pennant, in what he has said of Alnwick, has done 
 what he intended; he has made you very angry." Percy : He 
 has said the garden is trim, which is representing it like a citizen's 
 parterre, when the truth is, there is a very large extent of fine 
 turf and gravel walks." Johnson: "According to your own 
 account, Sir, Pennant is right. It t's trim. Here is grass cut 
 close, and gravel rolled smooth. Is not that trim ? The extent 
 is nothing against that ; a mile may be as trim as a square yard. 
 Your extent puts me in mind of the citizen's enlarged dinner, 
 two pieces of roast-beef and two puddings. There is no variety, 
 no mind exerted in laying out the ground, no trees." Percy : 
 " He pretends to give the natural history of Northumberland, and 
 yet takes no notice of the immense number of trees planted 
 there of late." Johnson : " That, Sir, has nothing to do with 
 the natural history ; that is civil history. A man who gives the 
 natural history of the oak, is not to tell how many oaks have been 
 planted in this place or that. A man who giues the natural 
 history of the cow, is not to tell how many cows are milked at 
 Islington. The animal is the same, whether milked in the Park 
 or at Islington." Percy : " Pennant does not describe well ; a 
 carrier who goes along the side of Lochlomond would describe it 
 better." Johnson : "I think he describes it very well." Percy : 
 " I travelled after him." Johnson : " And / travelled after him." 
 Percy : " But, my good friend, you are short-sighted, and do not 
 see so well as I do." I wondered at Dr. Percy's venturing thus. 
 Dr. Johnson said nothing at the time : but inflammable particles 
 were collecting for a cloud to burst. In a little while Dr. Percy 
 said something more in disparagement of Pennant. Johnson 
 (pointedly) : " This is the resentment of a narrow mind, because 
 he did not find everything in Northumberland." Percy (feel- 
 ing the stroke) : "Sir, you may be as rude as you please." 
 Johnson : " Hold, Sir ! Do n't talk of rudeness ; remember, Sir, 
 you told me (puffing hard with passion strugghng for a vent), I 
 
 study of pedigrees, I am fully satisfied. I cannot help observing, as a circumstance 
 of no small moment, that in tracing the Bishop of Dromore's genealogy, essential 
 aid was given by the late Elizabeth Duchess of Northumberland, heiress of that 
 illustrious House ; a lady not only of high dignity of spirit, such as became her 
 noble blood, but of excellent understanding and lively talents. With a fair pride I 
 can boast of the honor of her Grace's correspondence, specimens of which adorn 
 my archives. — B. 
 
182 
 
 BOSWELVS life op JOHNSOX. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 was short-sighted. We have done with civility. We are to be as 
 rude as we please." Percy : " Upon my honor, Sir, I did not 
 mean to be uncivil." Johnson : " I cannot say so, Sir ; for I did 
 mean to be uncivil, thinking you had been uncivil." Dr. Percy 
 rose, ran up to him, and taking him by the hand, assured him 
 affectionately that his meaning had been misunderstood; upon 
 which a reconciliation instantly took place. Johnson : My 
 dear Sir, I am willing you shall /ia??g Pennant." Percy (re- 
 suming the former subject) : " Pennant complains that the helmet 
 is not hung out to invite to the hall of hospitality. Now I never 
 heard that it was a custom to hang out a helmet ^ ' Johnson : 
 ''Hang him up, hang him up." Boswell (humoring tl^e joke) : 
 " Hang out his skull instead of a helmet, and you may drink ale 
 out of it in your hall of Odin, as he is your enemy ; that will be 
 truly ancient. T/ie re wiW be 'Northern Antiquities.'"'^ John- 
 son : " He's a Whig, Sir; a sad dog (smiling at his own violent 
 expressions, merely for political difference of opinion). But he 's 
 the best traveller I ever read ; he observes more things than any 
 one else does." 
 
 I could not help thinking that this was too high praise of a 
 writer who traversed a wide extent of country in such haste, that 
 he could put together only curt frittered fragments of his own, 
 and afterwards procured supplemental intelligence from parochial 
 ministers, and others not the best qualified or most impartial 
 narrators, whose ungenerous prejudice against the House of 
 Stuart glares in misrepresentation ; a writer, who at best treats 
 merely of superficial objects, and shows no philosophical investi- 
 gation of character and manners, such as Johnson has exhibited 
 in his masterly " Journey," over part of the same ground ; and 
 who it should seem from a desire of ingratiating himself with the 
 Scotch, has flattered the people of North Britain, so inordinately 
 and with so little discrimination, that the judicious and candid 
 amongst them must be disgusted, while they value more the 
 plain, just, yet kindly report of Johnson. 
 
 Having impartially censured Mr. Pennant, as a traveller in 
 Scotland, let me allow him from authorities' much better than 
 mine, his deserved praise as an able zoologist : and let me also 
 from my own understanding and feelings, acknowledge the merit 
 
 1 Kearney quotes a passage from Perceforest (a French romance of the sixteenth 
 century), iii. 108, to show that it was a custom. "It was the ancient signal of 
 hospitality to the traveller. " Pennant's " Scotland. " 
 
 2 The title of a Voook translated by Dr. Percy. — B. " L'Istoire de Danemarck " 
 par M. Mallet. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 PENNANT'S LONDON. 
 
 183 
 
 of his " London," which, though said to be not quite accurate in 
 some particulars, is one of the most pleasing topographical per- 
 formances that ever appeared in any language. Mr. Pennant, 
 like his countrymen in general, has the true spirit of a gentle- 
 man} As a proof of it, I shall quote from his London " the 
 passage, in which he speaks of my illustrious friend. 
 
 I must by no means omit Bolt Court, the long residence of Doctor Sam- 
 uel Johnson, a man of the strongest natural abilities, great learning, a most 
 retentive memory, of the deepest and most unaffected piety and morality, 
 mingled with those numerous weaknesses and prejudices which his friends 
 have kindly taken care to draw from their dread abode. ^ I brought on my- 
 self his transient anger, by observing that " In his tour in Scotland, he once 
 had long and woeful experience of oats being the food of men in Scotland as 
 they were of horses in England.'''' It was a national reflection unworthy of 
 him, and I shot my bolt. In return he gave me a tender hug. Con a/nore 
 he also said of me '* The dog is a Whig.'''' I admired the virtues of Lord 
 Russell, and pitied his fall. I should have been a Whig at the Revolution. 
 There have been periods since, in which I should have been, what I now 
 am, a moderate Tory, a supporter, as far as my little influence extends, of a 
 well-poised balance between the Crown and the people: but should the scaJfe 
 preponderate against the Salus populi, that moment may it be said, " The 
 dog 's a Whig ! " 
 
 We had a calm after the storm, stayed the evening and supped, 
 and were pleasant and gay. But Dr. Percy told me he was very 
 uneasy at what had passed ; for there was a gentleman there who 
 was acquainted with the Northumberland family, to whom he 
 hoped to have appeared more respectable by showing how inti- 
 mate he was with Dr. Johnson, and who might now, on the 
 contrary, go away with an opinion to his disadvantage. He 
 begged I would mention this to Dr. Johnson, which I afterwards 
 did. His observation upon it was, "This comes of a stratagem ; 
 had he told me that he wished to appear to advantage before 
 that gentleman, he should have been at the top of the House all 
 the time." He spoke of Dr. Percy in the handsomest manner. 
 "Then, Sir," said I, "may I be allowed to suggest a mode by 
 which you may effectually counteract any unfavorable report of 
 what passed? I will write a letter to you upon the subject of the 
 unlucky contest of that day, and you will be kind enough to put 
 in writing as an answer to that letter, what you have now said, 
 
 1 He was a Welshman. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ This is the common cant against faithful biography. Does the worthy gentle- 
 man mean that I, who was taught discrimination of character by Johnson, should 
 have omitted his frailties, and, in short, have bedaubed him as the worthy gentleman 
 has bedaubed Scotland? — B. 
 
184 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 and as Lord Percy is to dine v. '.h us at General Paoli's soon, I 
 will take an opportunity to read the correspondence in his Lord- 
 ship's presence." This friendly scheme was accordingly carried 
 into execution without Dr. Percy's knowledge. Johnson's letter 
 placed Dr. Percy's unquestionable merit in the fairest point of 
 view : and I contrived that Lord Percy should hear the corre- 
 spondence, by introducing it at General Paoli's, as an instance of 
 Dr. Johnson's kind disposition towards one in whom his Lordship 
 was interested. Thus every unfavorable impression was obviated, 
 that could possibly have been made on those by whom he wished 
 most to be regarded. I breakfasted the day after with him, and 
 informed him of my scheme, and its happy completion, for 
 which he thanked me in the warmest terms, and was highly 
 delighted with Dr. Johnson's letter in his praise, of which I gave 
 him a copy. He said, " I would rather have this than degrees 
 from all the Universities in Europe. It will be for me, and my 
 children and grandchildren." Dr. Johnson having afterwards 
 asked me if I had given him a copy of it, and being told I had, 
 was offended, and insisted that I should get it back, which I did. 
 As, however, he did not desire me to destroy either the original 
 or the copy, or forbid me to let it be seen, I think myself at 
 liberty to apply to it his general declaration to me concerning 
 his own letters : " That he did not choose they should be pub- 
 lished in his lifetime ; but had no objection to their appearing 
 after his death." I shall therefore insert this kindly correspond- 
 ence, having faithfully narrated the circumstances accompany- 
 ing it. 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 My dear Sir: I beg leave to address you in behalf of our friend Dr. 
 Percy, who was much hurt by what you said to him that day we dined at his 
 house; ^ when in the course of the dispute as to Pennant's merit as a traveller, 
 you told Percy that " he had the resentment of a narrow mind against Pen- 
 nant, because he did not find everything in Northumberland." Percy in- 
 sensible that you did not mean to injure him; but he is vexed to think that 
 your behaviour to him on that occasion may be interpreted as a proof that he 
 is despised by you, which I know is not the case. I have told him, that the 
 charge of being narrow-minded was only as to the particular point in ques- 
 tion; and that he had the merit of being a martyr to his noble family. 
 
 Earl Percy is to dine with General Paoli next Friday; and I should be 
 sincerely glad to have it in my power to satisfy his Lordship how well you 
 think of Dr. Percy, who, I find, apprehends that your good opinion of him 
 may be of very essential consequence; and who assures me, that he has the 
 highest respect and the warmest affection for you. 
 
 ^ Sunday, April 12, 1777. 
 
Age 69.] BOSJVELL'S SCHEME OF RECONCILIATION. 185 
 
 I have only to add, that my suggesting this occasion for the exercise of 
 your candour and generosity, is altogether unknown to Dr. Percy, and pro- 
 ceeds from my good-will towards him, and my persuasion that you will be 
 happy to do him an essential kindness. I am, more and more, my dear Sir, 
 your most faithful and affectionate humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Sir: The debate between Dr. Percy and me is one of those foolish con- 
 troversies, which begin upon a question of which neither party cares how it 
 is decided, and which is, nevertheless, continued to acrimony by the vanity 
 with which every man resists confutation. Dr. Percy's warmth proceeded 
 from a cause, which perhaps does him more honour than he could have de- 
 rived from juster criticism. His abhorrence of Pennant proceeded from his 
 opinion that Pennant had wantonly and indecently censured his patron. His 
 anger made him resolve, that, for having been once wrong, he never should 
 be right. Pennant has much in his notions that I do not like; but still I think 
 him a very intelligent traveller. If Percy is really offended, I am sorry; for 
 he is a man whom I never knew to offend any one. He is a man very willing 
 to learn, and very able to teach; a man out of whose company I never go 
 without having learned something. It is sure that he vexes me sometimes, 
 but I am afraid it is by making me feel my own ignorance. So much exten- 
 sion of mind and so much minute accuracy of enquiry, if you survey your 
 whole circle of acquaintance, you will find so scarce, if you find it at all, 
 that you will value Percy by comparison. Lord Hailes is somewhat like 
 him: but Lord Hailes does not, perhaps, go beyond him in research; and I 
 do not know that he equals him in elegance. Percy's attention to poetry has 
 given grace and splendour to his studies of antiquity. A mere antiquarian 
 is a rugged being. 
 
 Upon the whole, you see that what I might say in sport or petulance to 
 him is very consistent with full conviction of his merit. I am, dear Sir, your 
 most, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 April 23, 1778. 
 
 to the reverend dr. PERCY, NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE. 
 
 Dear Sir: I wrote to Dr. Johnson on the subject of the Pemiantian con- 
 troversy; and have received from him an answer which will delight you. I 
 read it yesterday to Dr. Robertson at the exhibition: and at dinner to Lord 
 Percy, General Oglethorpe, &c., who dined with us at General Paoli's; who 
 was also a witness to the high testimony to your honour. 
 
 General Paoli desires the favour of your company next Tuesday to dinner 
 to meet Dr. Johnson. If I can, I will call on you to-day. I am, with sin- 
 cere regard, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell.' 
 
 South Audley-street, April 25. 
 
 1 Though the Bishop of Dromore kindly answered the letters which I wrote 
 to him, relative to Dr. Johnson's early history, yet, in justice to him, I think it 
 proper to add, that the account of the foregoing conversation, and the subsequent 
 transaction, as well as of some other conversations in which he is mentioned, has 
 been given to the public without previous communication with his Lordship. — B. 
 
186 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 On Monday, April 13, I dined with Johnson at Mr. Langton's, 
 where were Dr. Porteus, then Bishop of Chester, now of London, 
 and Dr. Stinton. He was at first in a very silent mood. Before 
 dinner he said nothing but " Pretty baby," to one of the chil- 
 dren. Langton said very well to me afterwards, that he could 
 repeat Johnson's conversation before dinner, as Johnson had said 
 that he could repeat a complete chapter of " The Natural His- 
 tory of Iceland," from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of 
 which was exactly thus : 
 
 Chap. LXXII. Concerning Snakes, 
 There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island.' 
 
 At dinner we talked of another mode in the newspapers of 
 giving modern characters in sentences from the classics, and of 
 the passage 
 
 " Parens deorum cultor et infrequens, 
 Insanientis dum sapientiae 
 
 Consultus erro, nunc retrorsum 
 Vela dare, atque iterare cursus 
 Cogor relictos:" 
 
 (Hor. " Od." i. 34.) 
 
 being well applied to Soame Jenyns ; who, after having wandered 
 in the wilds of infidelity, had returned to the Christian faith. 
 Mr. Langton asked Johnson as to the propriety of sapientice con- 
 sultus, Johnson : " Though consultus was primarily an adjective, 
 like amicus it came to be used as a substantive. So we have 
 juris consultus, a consult in law." 
 
 We talked of the styles of different painters, and how certainly 
 a connoisseur could distinguish them. I asked, if there was as 
 clear a difference of styles in language as in painting, or even as 
 in handwriting, so that the composition of every individual may 
 be distinguished ? Johnson : Yes. Those who have a style of 
 eminent excellence, such as Dryden and Milton, can always be 
 distinguished." I had no doubt of this ; but what 1 wanted to 
 know was, whether there was really a peculiar style to every man 
 whatever, as there is certainly a peculiar handwriting, a peculiar 
 
 1 Chap. XLII. is still shorter : 
 
 " Concerning Owls, 
 
 " There are no owls of any kind in the whole island." Niels Horrebow's book 
 was published in 1751 ; the English translation in 1758. — Dr. Hill, 
 
SOAME JENYNS. 
 
Age 69 ] DISCRIMINATION OF CHARACTER. 
 
 187 
 
 countenance, not widely different in many, yet always enough to 
 be distinctive : 
 
 . . facies non omnibus una, 
 Nec diversa tamen." 
 
 (Ovid, " Met." ii. 13.) 
 
 The Bishop thought not ; and said, he supposed that many pieces 
 in Dodsley's collection of poems, though all very ])retty, had 
 nothing appropriated in their style, and in that particular could 
 not be at all distinguished. Johnson: "Why, Sir, I think every 
 man whatever has a peculiar style, which may be discovered by 
 nice examination and comparison with others : but a man must 
 write a great deal to make his style obviously discernible. As 
 logicians say, this appropriation of style is infinite in potestate, 
 limited in actu'"' 
 
 Mr. Topham Beauclerk came in the evening, and he and Dr. 
 Johnson and I stayed to supper. It was mentioned that Dr. 
 Dodd had once wished to be a member of the Literary Club. 
 Johnson : " I should be sorry if any of our Club were hanged. I 
 will not say but some of them deserve it." Beauclerk (suppos- 
 ing this to be aimed at persons for whom he had at that time a 
 wonderful fancy, which, however, did not last long ' ) was irritated, 
 and eagerly said : " You, Sir, have a friend (naming him) who 
 deserves to be hanged ; for he speaks behind their backs against 
 those with whom he lives on the best terms, and attacks them in 
 the newspapers. He certainly ought to be kicked.'" Johnson: 
 " Sir, we all do this in some degree : * veniam petimus damusque 
 vicissi77iJ ^ To be sure it may be done so much, that a man 
 may deserve to be kicked." Beauclerk : " He is very malig- 
 nant." Johnson : " No, Sir ; he is not malignant. He is mis- 
 chievous, if you will. He would do no man an essential injury; 
 he may, indeed, love to make sport of people by vexing their 
 vanity. I, however, once knew an old gentleman who was abso- 
 lutely malignant. He really wished evil to others, and rejoiced 
 at it." BoswELL : " The gentleman, Mr. Beauclerk, against whom 
 you are so violent, is, 1 know, a man of good principles." Beau- 
 clerk : " Then he does not wear them out in practice." 
 
 Dr. Johnson, who, as I have observed before, delighted in 
 discrimination of character, and having a masterly knowledge of 
 
 ^ Fox, Burke, Lord Spencer, and some other extreme members of the opposi- 
 tion. The friend who " ought to be kicked " is supposed to have been George 
 Steevens. — Croker. 
 
 2 Horace, " Ars Poet." 1. 11. 
 
188 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 human nature, was willing to take men as they are, imperfect and 
 with a mixture of good and bad qualities, I suppose thought he 
 had said enough in defence of his friend, of whose merits, not- 
 withstanding his exceptional points, he had a just value ; and 
 added no more on the subject. 
 
 On Tuesday, April 14, I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's 
 with General Paoli and Mr. Langton. General Oglethorpe de- 
 claimed against luxury. Johnson : " Depend upon it, Sir, every 
 state of society is as luxurious as it can be. Men always take 
 the best they can get." Oglethorpe : " But the best depends 
 much upon ourselves ; and if we can be as well satisfied with 
 plain things, we are in the wrong to accustom our palates to 
 what is high-seasoned and expensive. What says Addison in 
 his ' Cato ' ' speaking of the Numidian ? 
 
 " ' Coarse are his meals, the fortune of the chace, 
 Amid the running stream he slakes his thirst, 
 Toils all the day, and at the approach of night 
 On the first friendly bank he throws him down, 
 Or rests his head upon a rock till morn; 
 [Then rises fresh, pursues his wonted game.] 
 And if the following day he chance to find 
 A new repast, or an untasted spring, 
 Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury.' 
 
 Let us have thaf kind of luxury. Sir, if you will." Johnson : 
 " But hold. Sir ; to be merely satisfied is not enough. It is in 
 refinement and elegance that the civilized man differs from the 
 savage. A great part of our industry, and all our ingenuity is 
 exercised in procuring pleasure ; and. Sir, a hungry man has not 
 the same pleasure in eating a plain dinner, that a hungry man 
 has in eating a luxurious dinner. You see I put the case fairly. 
 A hungry man may have as much, nay, more pleasure in eating a 
 plain dinner, than a man grown fastidious has in eating a luxuri- 
 ous dinner. But I suppose the man who decides between the 
 two dinners, to be equally a hungry man." 
 
 Talking of different governments. J()hns(^n : The more con- 
 tracted power is, the more easily it is destroyed. A country 
 governed by a despot is an inverted cone. Government there 
 cannot be so firm, as when it rests upon a broad basis gradually 
 contracted, as the government of Great Britain, which is founded 
 on the Parliament, then is in the Privy- Council, then in the 
 King." BoswKLL : " Power, when contracted into the person of 
 
 ^ Act 1. sc. 4. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 MACARONIC VERSES. 
 
 189 
 
 the despot, may be easily destroyed, as the prince may be cut 
 off. So Caligula wished that the people of Rome had but one 
 neck, that he might cut them off at a blow." Oglethorpe : " It 
 was of the Senate he wished that. The Senate by its usurpation 
 controlled both the Emperor and the people. And don't you 
 think that we see too much of that in our own Parliament?" ' 
 
 Dr. Johnson endeavored to trace the etymology of Macaronic 
 verses, which he thought were of Italian invention from Maca- 
 roni : but on being informed that this would infer that they were 
 the most common and easy verses, macaroni being the most 
 ordinary and simple food, he was at a loss ; for he said : " He 
 rather should have supposed it to import in its primitive signifi- 
 cation, a composition of several things ;^ for Macaronic verses 
 are verses made out of a mixture of different languages, that is, 
 of one language with the termination of another." I suppose 
 we scarcely know of a language in any country where there is 
 any learning, in which that motley ludicrous species of composi- 
 tion may not be found. It is particularly droll in Low Dutch. 
 The Polemo-middinia'' ^ of Drummond of Hawthornden, in 
 which there is a jumble of many languages moulded as if it were 
 all in Latin, is well known. Mr. Langton made us laugh heartily 
 at one in the Grecian mould, by Joshua Barnes, in which are to 
 be found such comical A7iglo- Hellenisms as KXv(3l3oiacp e(3avxd€v: 
 they were banged with clubs. 
 
 On Wednesday, April 15, I dined with Dr. Johnson at Mr. 
 Dilly's, and was in high spirits, for I had been a good part of the 
 morning with Mr. Orme, the able and eloquent historian of Hin- 
 dostan, who expressed a great admiration of Johnson. " I do 
 not care," said he, " on what subject Johnson talks ; but I love 
 better to hear him talk than anybody. He either gives you new 
 thoughts, or a new coloring. It is a shame to the nation that he 
 has not been more liberally rewarded. Had I been George the 
 
 1 Boswell was right and Oglethorpe wrong; the exclamation in Suetonius is 
 " Utinam populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet." " Calig." xxx. — Croker. 
 
 2 Dr. lohnson was right in supposing that this kind of poetry derived its name 
 ixom. maccherone. See Warton's " Hist, of Eng. Poet." ii. 357- — Malone. Maca- 
 roon (macarone, Italian), a coarse, rude, low fellow; whence vtacaronik poetry, in 
 which the language is purposely corrupted. — Johnsojjs Diet. Macaroni probably 
 from old Italian maccare, to bruise, to batter, to pester ; derivation, macaronic, i.e., 
 in a confused or mixed state (applied to a jumble of languages). — Skeat's Ety?n9' 
 logic Diet. 
 
 3 " Linquite skellalas botas, shippasque picatas, 
 
 Whistlantesque simul fechtam memorate blodeam, 
 Fechtam terribilem, quam marvellaverat omnis 
 Banda Deum, quoque Nympharum Cockeishelearum." 
 Invocation to the Skipperii or Skippers in the opening lines. — Dr. Hill, 
 
190 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 Third, and thought as he did about America, I would have given 
 Johnson three hundred a year for his ' Taxation no Tyranny,' 
 alone." I repeated this, and Johnson was much pleased with 
 such praise from such a man as Orme. 
 
 At Mr. Dilly's to-day were Mrs. Knowles, the ingenious Quaker 
 lady,^ Miss Seward, the poetess of Lichfield, the Reverend Dr. 
 Mayo, and the Rev. Mr. Beresford, tutor to the Duke of Bedford. 
 Before dinner Dr. Johnson seized upon Mr. Charles Sheridan's ^ 
 " Account of the late Revolution in Sweden," and seemed to read 
 it ravenously, as if he devoured it, which was to all appearance his 
 method of studying. " He knows how to read better than any 
 one," said Mrs. Knowles ; " he gets at the substance of a book 
 directly ; he tears out the heart of it." He kept it wrapped up in 
 the tablecloth in his lap during the time of dinner, from an avid- 
 ity to have one entertainment, in readiness, when he should have 
 finished another; resembling (if I may use so coarse a simile) a 
 dog who holds a bone in his paws in reserve, while he eats some- 
 thing else which has been thrown to him. 
 
 The subject of cookery having been very naturally introduced 
 at a table where Johnson, who boasted of the niceness of his pal- 
 ate, owned that " he always found a good dinner," he said : " I 
 could write a better book of cookery than has ever yet been 
 written ; it should be a book upon philosophical principles. 
 Pharmacy is now made much more simple. Cookery may be 
 made so too. A prescription which is now compounded of five 
 ingredients, had formerly fifty in it. So in cookery, if the nature 
 of the ingredients be well known, much fewer will do. Then, as 
 you cannot make bad meat good, I would tell what is the best 
 butcher's meat, the best beef, the best pieces ; how to choose 
 young fowls ; the proper seasons of different vegetables ; and 
 then how to roast and boil, and compound." Dilly : " Mrs. 
 Glasse's ' Cookery,' which is the best, was written by Dr. Hill. 
 Half the trade'^ know this." Johnson: "Well, Sir. This shows 
 how much better the subject of cookery may be treated by 
 philosopher. I doubt if the book be written by Dr. Hill : for i 
 Mrs. Glasse's ' Cookery,' which I have looked into, saltpetre an 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson, describing her needlework in one of his letters to Mrs. Thral' 
 vol. i. p. 287, uses the learned word sutile; which Mrs. Thrale has mistaken, an 
 made the phrase injurious by writing ''futile pictures." — B. 
 
 2 The Revolution of 1772, Tlie book was published in 1778. — Dr. Hill. Th 
 elder brother of R. B. Sheridan. He died in 1806. 
 
 3 As physicians are called the Faculty, and counsellors at law the Profession, th 
 booksellers of London are denominated the Trade. Johnson disapproved of ,tbe3 
 denominations. — B. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 FORGED MEMOIRS. 
 
 191 
 
 sal-prunella are spoken of as different substances, whereas sal- 
 prunella is only saltpetre burnt on charcoal ; and Hill could not 
 be ignorant of this. However, as the greatest part of such a book 
 is made by transcription, this mistake may have been carelessly 
 adopted. But you shall see what a book of cookery I shall make ! 
 I shall agree with Mr. Dilly for the copyright." Miss Seward : 
 "That would be Hercules with the distaff indeed." Johnson: 
 " No, Madam. Women can spin very well ; but they cannot 
 make a good book of cookery." 
 
 Johnson: "O! Mr. Dilly — you must know that an English 
 Benedictine monk at Paris has translated ' The Duke of Berwick's 
 Memoirs,' from the original French, and has sent them to me to 
 sell. I offered them to Strahan, who sent them back with this 
 answer : ' That the first book he had published was the Duke 
 of Berwick's " Life," by which he had lost: and he hated the 
 name.' Now I honestly tell you, that Strahan has refused them, 
 but I also honestly tell you that he did it upon no prin- 
 ciple, for he never looked into them." Dilly: "Are they well 
 translated. Sir?" Johnson: "Why, Sir, very well — in a style 
 very current and very clear. I have written to the Benedictine 
 to give me an answer upon two points : What evidence is there 
 that the letters are authentic? (for if they are not authentic they 
 are nothing) ; And how long will it be before the original 
 French is published ? For if the French edition is not to appear 
 for a considerable time, the translation will be almost as valuable 
 as an original book. They will make two volumes in octavo ; 
 and I have undertaken to correct every sheet as it comes from 
 the press." Mr. Dilly desired to see them, and said he would 
 send for them. He asked Dr. Johnson if he would write a preface 
 for them. Johnson : " No, Sir. The Benedictines were very 
 kind to me, and I '11 do what I undertook to do ; but I will not 
 mingle my name with them. I am to gain nothing by them. I '11 
 turn them loose upon the world, and let them take their chance." ' 
 Dr. Mayo: "Pray, Sir, are Ganganelli's letters authentic?" 
 Johnson : " No, Sir. Voltaire put the same question to the edi- 
 tor of them, that I did to Macphejson — Where are the orig- 
 inals?" ' 
 
 Mrs. Knowles affected to complain that men had much more 
 liber^ allowed them than women. Johnson: "Why, Madam, 
 
 1 The English monk was the Abbe Hook, and the Memoirs were published by 
 Cadell in 1779. — Mackintosh. 
 
 2 These letters were forged by M. de Caraccioli. An English translation was 
 published m 1776. 
 
192 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 women have all the liberty they should wish to have. We have 
 all the labor and the danger, and the women all the advantage. 
 We go to sea, we build houses, we do everything, in short, to pay 
 our court to the women." Mrs. Knowles : " The Doctor reasons 
 very wittily, but not convincingly. Now, take the instance of 
 building ; the mason's wife, if she is ever seen in liquor, is rumed ; 
 the mason may get himself drunk as often as he pleases, with 
 httle loss of character; nay, may let his wife and children starve." 
 Johnson : " Madam, you must consider, if the mason does get 
 himself drunk, and let his wife and children starve, the parish 
 will oblige him to find security for their maintenance. We have 
 different modes of restraining evil. Stocks for the men, a duck- 
 ing-stool for women, and a pound for beasts. If we require more 
 perfection from women than from ourselves, it is doing them 
 honor. And women have not the same temptations that we have ; 
 they may always live in virtuous company; men must mix in the 
 world indiscriminately. If a woman has no inclination to do 
 what is wrong, being secured from it is no restraint to her. 1 am 
 at liberty to walk into the Thames ; but if I were to try it, my 
 friends would restrain me in Bedlam, and I should be obliged 
 to them." Mrs. Knowles : " Still, Doctor, I cannot help thmk- 
 ing it a hardship that more indulgence is allowed to men than to 
 women. It gives a superiority to men, to which I do not see 
 how they are entitled." Johnson : " It is plain. Madam, one or 
 other must have the superiority. As Shakespeare says, ' If two 
 men ride on a horse, one must ride behind.' " ' Dilly : " I sup- 
 pose. Sir, Mrs. Knowles would have them ride in panniers, one on 
 each side." Johnson: " Then, Sir, the horse would throw them 
 both." Mrs. Knowles : " Well, I hope that in another world the 
 sexes will be equal." Boswell : "That is being too ambitious. 
 Madam. We might as well desire to be equal with the angels. 
 We shall all, I hope, be happy in a future state, but we must 
 not expect to be happy in the same degree. It is enough, 
 if we be happy according to our several capacities. A worthy 
 carman will get to heaven as well as Sir Isaac Newton. Yet, 
 though equally good, they will not have the same degrees of hap- 
 piness." Johnson : " Probably not." 
 
 Upon this subject I had once before sounded him, by men- 
 tioning the late Reverend Mr. Brown of Utrecht's image : tliat a 
 great and small glass, though equally full, did not hold an equal 
 quantity ; which he threw out to refute David Hume's saying, 
 
 ^" Much Ado About Nothing," Act iii. sc. 5. 
 
Age 69.] COURAGE A CHRISTIAN VIIITUE. 
 
 193 
 
 that a little miss, going to dance at a ball in a fine new dress, was 
 as happy as a great orator after having made an el()(|utnt and 
 applauded speech. After some thought, Johnson said, " 1 come 
 over to the parson." As an instance of coincidence of thinking, 
 Mr. Dilly told me, that Dr. King, a late dissenting minister in 
 London, said to him, upon the happiness in a future state of good 
 men of different capacities, " A pail does not hold so much as a 
 tub; but if it be equally full, it has no reason to complain. 
 Every saint in heaven will have as much happiness as he can 
 hold." Mr. Dilly thought this a clear, though a familiar illustra- 
 tion of the phrase, One star differeth from another in bright- 
 ness." ' 
 
 Dr. Mayo having asked Johnson's opinion of Soame Jenyns's 
 " View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion : " 
 Johnson : I think it a pretty book ; not very theological indeed ; 
 and there seems to be an affectation of ease and carelessness, as 
 if it were not suitable to his character to be very serious about 
 the matter." Boswell : "He may have intended this to intro- 
 duce his book the better among genteel people, who might be 
 unwilling to read too grave a treatise. There is a general levity 
 in the age. We have physicians now with bag-wigs : may we not 
 have airy divines, at least somewhat less solemn in their appear- 
 ance than they used to be?" Johnson: ''Jenyns might mean 
 as you say." Boswell : You should like his book, Mrs. Knowles, 
 as it maintains, as you /fiends do, that courage is not a Christian 
 virtue." Mrs. Knowles: "Yes, indeed, I like him there; but I 
 cannot agree with him, that friendship is not a Christian virtue." 
 Johnson : " Why, Madam, strictly speaking, he is right. All 
 friendship is preferring the interest of a friend, to the neglect or, 
 perhaps, against the interest of others ; so that an old Creek 
 said, ' He that has friends has no friend.' Now Christianity 
 recommends universal benevolence, — to consider all men as our 
 brethren; which is contrary to the virtue of friendship, as 
 described by the ancient philosophers. Surely, Madam, your 
 sect must approve of this ; for, you call all men friends.'' Mrs. 
 Knowles : " We are commanded to do good to all men, ' but 
 especially to them who are of the household of Faith.' " ^ John- 
 son: "Well, Madam. The household of Faith is wide enough." 
 Mrs. Knowles : " But, Doctor, our Saviour had twelve apostles, 
 yet there was one whom he loved. John was called ' the disciple 
 
 1 L Cor. XV. 41. 
 
 2 Galatians vi. lo. 
 
 Vol. II. — 13 
 
194 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 whom Jesus loved.'"' Johnson (with eyes sparkhng benig- 
 nantly) : "Very well, indeed, Madam. You have said very well." 
 BoswELL : "A fine application. Pray, Sir, had you ever thought 
 of it? " Johnson : " I had not. Sir." 
 
 From this pleasing subject, he, I know not how or why, made 
 a sudden transition to one upon which he was a violent aggressor ; 
 for he said, " I am willing to love all mankind except an Ameri- 
 can : " and his inflammable corruption bursting into horrid fire, 
 he "breathed out threatenings and slaughter;"^ calling them, 
 "rascals — robbers — pirates;" and exclaiming, he'd "burn 
 and destroy them." Miss Seward, looking to him with mild but 
 steady astonishment, said, "Sir, this is an instance that we are 
 always most violent against those whom we have injured." He 
 was irritated still more by this delicate and keen reproach ; and 
 roared out another tremendous volley, which one might fancy 
 could be heard across the Atlantic. During this tempest I sat in 
 great uneasiness, lamenting his heat of temper; till, by degrees, I 
 diverted his attention to other topics. 
 
 Dr. Mayo (to Dr. Johnson) : " Pray, Sir, have you read 
 Edwards, of New England, on Grace?" Johnson: " Isfo, Sir." 
 BoswELL : " It puzzled me so much as to the freedom of the 
 human will, by stating, with wonderful acute ingenuity, our being 
 actuated by a series of motives which we cannot resist, that the 
 only relief I had was to forget it." Mayo : " But he makes the 
 proper distinction between moral and physical necessity." Bos- 
 well : "Alas, Sir, they come both to the same thing. You may 
 be bound as hard by chains when covered by leather, as when 
 the iron appears. The argument for the moral necessity of 
 human actions is always, I observe, fortified by supposing univer- 
 sal prescience to be one of the attributes of the Deity." John- 
 son : " You are surer that you are free, than you are of prescience ; 
 you are surer that you can lift up your finger or not as you please, 
 than you are of any conclusion from a deduction of reasoning. 
 But let us consider a little the objection from prescience. It is 
 certain I am either to go home to-night or not; that does not 
 prevent my freedom." Boswell : "That it is certain you are 
 either to go home or not, does not prevent your freedom : because 
 the liberty of choice between the two is compatible with that 
 certainty. But if one of these events.be certain now, you would 
 have no future power of volition. If it be certain you are to go 
 
 ' St. John xxi. 20. 
 ^ Acts ix. I. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 A DEFENCE OF LUXURY. 
 
 195 
 
 home to-night, you must go home." Johnson : " If I am well 
 acquainted with a man, I can judge with great probability how he 
 will act in any case, without his being restrained by my judging. 
 God may have this probability increased to certainty." Boswell : 
 " When it is increased to certainty, freedom ceases, because that 
 can not be certainly foreknown, which is not certain at the time ; 
 but if it be certain at the time it is a contradiction in terms to 
 maintain that there can be afterwards any contingency dependent 
 upon the exercise of will or anything else." Johxson : "All 
 theory is against the freedom of the will ; all experience for it." 
 I did not push the subject any farther. I was glad to find him 
 so mild in discussing a question of the most abstract nature, 
 involved with theological tenets which he generally would not 
 suffer to be in any degree opposed.' 
 
 He, as usual, defended luxury: *'You cannot spend money in 
 luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good 
 to them by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, 
 whereas by giving it, you keep them idle. I own, indeed, there 
 may be more virtue in giving it immediately in charity, than in 
 spending it in luxury; though there may be pride in that too." 
 Miss Seward asked, if this was not Mandeville's doctrine of 
 " private vices, public benefits." Johnson : " The fliUacy of that 
 book is, that Mandeville defines neither vices nor benefits. He 
 reckons among vices everything that gives pleasure. He takes 
 the narrowest system of morality, monastic morality, which holds 
 pleasure itself to be a vice, such as eating salt with our fish, 
 because it makes it eat better ; and he reckons wealth as a public 
 benefit, which is by no means always true. Pleasure of itself is 
 not a vice. Having a garden, which we all know to be perfectly 
 innocent, is a great pleasure. At the same time, in this state of 
 being there are many pleasures vices, which however are so imme- 
 diately agreeable that we can hardly abstain from them. The 
 happiness of Heaven will be, that pleasure and virtue will be 
 l)erfectly consistent. Mandeville puts the case of a man who 
 gets drunk at an ale-house; and says it is a public benefi:, 
 because so much money is got by it to the public. But it must 
 be considered, that all the good gained by this, through the 
 gradation of alehouse-keeper, brewer, maltster, and farmer, is over- 
 balanced by the evil caused to the man and his family by his 
 
 Mf any of my readers are disturbed by tliis thorny question, I beg leave to 
 recommend to them Letter 69 of Montesquieu's Lettren Pcrsanes ;" and the late 
 Mr. John Pahner of Islington's Answer to Dr. Priestley's mechanical arguments for 
 what he absurdly calls " Philosophical Necessity." — B. 
 
196 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A. D. 1778. 
 
 getting drunk. This is the way to try what is viciouS;, by ascer- 
 taining whether more evil than good is produced by it upon the 
 whole, which is the case in all vice. It may happen that good is 
 produced by vice, but not as vice ; for instance, a robber may 
 take money from its owner, and give it to one who will make a 
 better use of it. Here is good produced ; but not by the robbery 
 as robbery, but as translation of property. I read Mandeville 
 forty, or, I believe, fifty years ago. He did not puzzle me ; he 
 opened my views into real life very much. No, it is clear that 
 the happiness of society depends on virtue. In Sparta, theft was 
 allowed by general consent : theft, therefore, was there not a 
 crime, but then there was no security ; and what a life must they 
 have had, when there was no security. Without truth there must 
 be a dissolution of society. As it is, there is so little truth, that 
 we are almost afraid to trust our ears ; but how should we be, if 
 falsehood were multiplied ten times ! Society is held together 
 by communication and information ; and I remember this 
 remark of Sir Thomas Brown's,^ ^ Do the devils lie? No, for 
 then Hell could not subsist.'" 
 
 Talking of Miss [Hannah More], a literary lady, he said, 
 " I was obliged to speak to Miss Reynolds, to let her know that 
 I desired she would not flatter me so much." Somebody now 
 observed, '^She flatters Garrick." Johnson: "She is in the 
 right to flatter Garrick. She is in the right for two reasons ; first, 
 because she has the world with her, who have been praising Gar- 
 rick these thirty years : and secondly, because she is rewarded 
 for it by Garrick.'' Why should she flatter mc ? I can do noth- 
 ing for her. Let her carry her praise to a better market.^ (Then 
 turning to Mrs. Knovvles), You, Madam, have been flattering me 
 all the evening ; I wish you would give Boswell a little now. If 
 you knew his merit as well as I do, you would say a great deal ; 
 he is the best travelling companion in the world." 
 
 Somebody mentioned the Reverend Mr. Mason's prosecution 
 ■ of Mr. Murray, the bookseller, for having inserted in a collection 
 of Gray's " Poems " only fifty lines of which Mr. Mason had still 
 the exclusive property under the statute of Queen Anne ; and 
 
 *The passage has not bren found in Brown's works. 
 
 ^ She often visited the Garricks and Garrick invested for lier the money that 
 was made hy her tragedy of " Percy; " to whicli he wrote a prologue and epilogue. 
 — />. /////. 
 
 2 Vet he said of " Le Bas Bleu " that " there was no name in poetry that niighti 
 not be glad to own it." He wrote to Mrs. Thrale that " it was a very great performs^ 
 ance." and he told iiealtie that " she was the most powerful versifieatrix in the 
 English language." 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 HORROR OF ])i:.\TH. 
 
 197 
 
 that Mr. Mason had persevered, notwithstanding his being re- 
 quested to name his own terms of compensation.' Johnson 
 signified his displeasure at Mr. Mason's conduct very strongly ; 
 but added, by way of showing that he was not surprised at it, 
 "Mason's a Whig." Mrs. Knowles (not hearing distinctly) : 
 "What, a prig, Sir?" Johnson: "Worse, Madam; a Whig! 
 But he is both." 
 
 I expressed a horror at the thought of death. Mrs. Knowles : 
 Nay, thou shouldst not have a horror for what is the gate of 
 life." Johnson (standing upon the hearth rolling about, with a 
 serious, solemn, and somewhat gloomy air) : " No rational man 
 can die without uneasy apprehension." Mrs. Knowles: *'The 
 Scriptures tell us, 'The righteous shall have hope in his death.' "^ 
 Johnson : " Yes, Madam ; that is, he shall not have despair. 
 But, consider, his hope of salvation must be founded on the 
 terms on which it is promised that the mediation of our Saviour 
 shall be applied to us, — namely, obedience ; and where obedi- 
 ence has failed, then, as suppletory to it, repentance. But what 
 man can say that his obedience has been such as he would ap- 
 prove of in another, or even in himself upon close examination, 
 or that his repentance has not been such as to require being 
 repented of? No man can be sure that his obedience and re- 
 pentance will obtain salvation." Mrs. Knowles : " But divine 
 intimation of acceptance may be made to the soul." Johnson : 
 " Madam, it may ; but I should not think the better of a man 
 who should tell me on his death-bed, he was sure of salvation. 
 A man cannot be sure himself that he has divine intimation of 
 acceptance ; much less can he make others sure that he has it." 
 Boswell : " Then, Sir, we must be contented to acknowledge 
 that death is a. terrible thing." Johnson : " Yes, Sir. I have 
 made no approaches to a state which can look on it as not ter- 
 rible." Mrs. Knowles (seeming to enjoy a pleasing serenity 
 in the persuasion of benignant divine light) : " Does not St. 
 Paul say, ' I have fought the good fight of faith, I have finished 
 my course; henceforth is laid up for me a crown of life?'"^ 
 Johnson: "Yes, Madam; but here was a man inspired, a man 
 who had been converted by supernatural interposition." Bos- 
 well: "In prospect death is dreadful; but in fact we find that 
 people die easy." Johnson: "Why, Sir, most people have not 
 
 ^ See " A Letter to W. Mason, A.M., from J. Murray, bookseller in London ; " 2d 
 edit. p. 20. — B. 
 
 ^ Proverbs xiv. 32. ML Timothy iv. 7 and 8. 
 
198 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 thought much of the matter, so cannot say much, and it is sup- 
 posed they die easy. Few beheve it certain they are then to die ; 
 and those who do, set themselves to behave with resolution, as a 
 man does who is going to be hanged : he is not the less un- 
 willing to be hanged." Miss Seward : " There is one mode of 
 the fear of death, which is certainly absurd : and that is the 
 dread of annihilation, which is only a pleasing sleep without a 
 dream." Johnson : " It is neither pleasing nor sleep ; it is noth- 
 ing. Now, mere existence is so much better than nothing, that 
 one would rather exist even in pain, than not exist." Boswell : 
 " If annihilation be nothing, then existing in pain is not a com- 
 parative state, but is a positive evil, which I cannot think we 
 should choose. I must be allowed to differ here ; and it would 
 lessen the hope of a future state founded on the argument that 
 the Supreme Being, who is good as he is great, will hereafter com- 
 pensate for our present sufferings in this life. For if existence, 
 such as we have it here, be comparatively a good, we have no 
 reason to complain, though no more of it should be given to us. 
 But if our only state of existence were in this world, then we 
 might with some reason complain that we are so dissatisfied with 
 our enjoyments compared with our desires." Johnson : " The 
 lady confounds annihilation, which is nothing, with the apprehen- 
 sion of it, which is dreadful. It is in the apprehension of it that 
 the horror of annihilation consists." 
 
 Of John Wesley, he said, "He can talk well on any subject." 
 Boswell : " Pray, Sir, what has he made of his story of the 
 ghost?" Johnson: "Why, Sir, he believes it; but not on suf- 
 ficient authority. He did not take time enough to examine the 
 girl. It was at Newcastle,' where the ghost was said to have ap- 
 peared to a young woman several times, mentioning something 
 about the right to an old house, advising application to be made 
 to an attorney, which was done ; and, at the same time, saying 
 the attorney would do nothing, which proved to be the fact. 
 'This,' says John, 'is a proof that a ghost knows our thoughts.* 
 Now (laughing) it is not necessary to know our thoughts, to tell 
 that an attorney will sometimes do nothing. Charles Wesley, 
 who is a more stationary man, does not believe the story. I am 
 sorry that John did not take more pains to inquire into the evi- 
 dence for it." Miss Seward (with an incredulous smile) : 
 "What, Sir! about a ghost?" Johnson (with solemn ve- 
 hemence) : Yes, Madam ; this is a question which, after five 
 
 ^It was not Newcastle but Sunderland where the scene was laid. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 .1 PROSELYTE TO QlTAKEIilSM. 
 
 199 
 
 thousand years, is yet undecided : a question, whether in theology 
 or philosophy, one of the most important that can come before 
 the human understanding." 
 
 Mrs. Knowles mentioned as a proselyte to Quakerism, Miss 
 
 a young lady well known to Dr. Johnson, for whom he 
 
 had shown much affection ; while she ever had, and still retained, 
 a great respect for him. Mrs. Knowles at the same time took an 
 opportunity of letting him know, " that the amiable young creat- 
 ure was sorry at finding that he was offended at her leaving the 
 Church of England and embracing a simpler fiith ; " and, in the 
 gentlest and most persuasive manner, solicited his kind indul- 
 gence for what was sincerely a matter of conscience. Johnson 
 (frowning very angrily) : Madam, she is an odious wench. 
 She could not have any proper conviction that it was her duty 
 to change her religion, which is the most important of all sub- 
 jects, and should be studied with all care, and with all the helps 
 we can get. She knew no more of the Church which she left, 
 and that which she embraced, than she did of the difference 
 between the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems." Mrs. 
 Knowi.es : " She had the New Testament before her." Johnson : 
 "Madam, she could not understand the New Testament, the 
 most difficult book in the world, for which the study of a life is 
 required." Mrs. Knowles : It is clear as to essentials." John- 
 son : But not as to controversial points. The heathens were 
 easily converted, because they had nothing to give up ; but we 
 ought not, without very strong conviction indeed, to desert the 
 religion in which we have been educated. That is the religion 
 given you, the religion in which it may be said Providence has 
 placed you. If you live conscientiously in that religion, you may 
 be safe. But error is dangerous indeed, if you err when you 
 choose a religion for yourself." Mrs. Knowles : " Must we then 
 go by implicit faith?" Johnson: "Why, Madam, the greatest 
 part of our knowledge is implicit faith ; and as to religion, have 
 we heard all that a disciple of Confucius, all that a Mahometan, 
 can say for himself?" He then rose again into passion and at- 
 tacked the young proselyte in the severest terms of reproach, so 
 that both the ladies seemed to be much shocked.^ 
 
 1 Jane Harry, the natural daughter of a West Indian planter and a mulatto 
 woman, who had been sent to England for her education and converted by Mrs. 
 Knowles to Quakerism. — Croker. 
 
 2 Mrs, Knowles, not satisfied with the fame of her needlework, the siitile pictures 
 mentioned by Johnson, in which she has indeed displayed much dexterity, nav, 
 with the fame of reasoning better than women generally do, as 1 have fairly shown 
 
200 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOIINSOX. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 We remained together till it was pretty late. Notwithstanding 
 occasional explosions of violence, we were all delighted upon the 
 whole with Johnson. I compared him at this time to a warm 
 West Indian climate, where you have a bright sun, quick vegeta- 
 tion, luxuriant foliage, luscious fruits ; but where the same heat 
 sometimes produces thunder, lightning, earthquakes, in a terrible 
 degree. 
 
 April 17, being Good Friday, I waited on Johnson as usual. I 
 observed at breakfast that although it was a part of his abstemious 
 discipline on this most solemn fast, to take no milk in his tea, 
 yet when Mrs. Desmoulins inadvertently poured it in, he did not 
 reject it. I talked of the strange indecisiou of mind, and im- 
 becility in the common occurrences of life, which we may observe 
 in some people. Johnson : " Why, Sir, I am in the habit of 
 getting others to do things for me." Boswell : " What, Sir ! 
 have you that weakness?" Johnson: ''Yes, Sir. But I always 
 think afterwards I should have done better for myself." 
 
 I told him that at a gentleman's ^ house where there was 
 thought to be such extravagance or bad management, that he was 
 living much beyond his income, his lady had objected to the cut- 
 ting of a pickled mango, and that I had taken an opportunity to 
 ask the price of it, and found that it was only two shillings: so 
 here was a very poor saving. Johnson : '' Sir, that is the blunder- 
 ing economy of a narrow understanding. It is stopping one hole 
 in a sieve." 
 
 I expressed some inclination to publish an account of my 
 travels upon the continent of Europe, for which I had a variety 
 of materials collected. Johnson : " I do not say. Sir, you may 
 not publish your travels ; but I give you my opinion, that you 
 would lessen yourself by it. What can you tell of countries so 
 well known as those upon the continent of Europe, which you 
 have visited ? " Boswell : " But I can give an entertaining narra- 
 tive, with many incidents, anecdotes, jeux d' esprit, and remarks, 
 
 her to have done, communicated to me a dialogue of considerable length, which, 
 after many years had elapsed, she wrote down as having passed between Dr. John- 
 son and her at this interview. As I had not the least recollection of it, and did not 
 find the smallest trace of it in my record taken at the time, I could not, in consist- 
 ency with my firm regard to authenticity, insert it in my work. It has, however, 
 been published in The Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1791. It chiefly relates 
 to the principles of the sect called Quakers; and no doubt the lady appears to have 
 greatly the advantage of Dr. Johnson in argument as well as expre>ision. From 
 what I have now stated and from the internal evidence of the paper itself, any ow. 
 who may have the curiosity to peruse it, will judge whether it was wrong in me 
 to reject it, however willing to gratify Mrs. Knowles. — B. 
 1 Mr. Langton's. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 BOSWI^JLL'S TRA VELS. 
 
 201 
 
 so as to make very pleasant reading." Johnson: "Why, Sir, 
 most modern travellers in Europe who have published their 
 travels, have been laughed at ; I would not have you added to 
 the number.^ The world is now not contented to be merely en- 
 tertained by the traveller's narrative ; they want to learn some- 
 thing. Now some of my friends asked me why I did not give 
 some account of my travels in France. The reason is plain ; in- 
 telligent readers had seen more of France than I had. Vou 
 might have liked my travels in France, and The Club might have 
 liked them ; but, upon the whole, there would have been more 
 ridicule than good produced by them." Boswell : " I cannot 
 agree with you. Sir. People would like to read what you say of 
 anything. Suppose a face has been painted by fifty painters 
 before ; still we love to see it done by Sir Joshua." Johnson : 
 " True, Sir, but Sir Joshua cannot paint a face when he has not 
 time to look on it." Boswell : " Sir, a sketch of any sort by 
 him is valuable. And, Sir, to talk to you in your own style (rais- 
 ing my voice, and shaking my head), you should have given us 
 your travels in France. I am sure I am right, and there 's an end 
 on'tr 
 
 I said to him that it was certainly true, as my friend Dempster 
 had observed in his letter to me upon the subject, that a great 
 part of what was in his " Journey to the Western Islands of 
 Scotland " had been in his mind before he left London. John- 
 son : " Why yes, Sir, the topics were ; and books of travels will 
 be good in proportion to what a man has previously in his mind ; 
 his knowing what to observe ; his power of contrasting one mode 
 of life with another. As the Spanish proverb says, ' He, who 
 would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the 
 wealth of the Indies with him.' So it is in travelling ; a man 
 must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowl- 
 edge." Boswell : " The proverb, I suppose. Sir, means, he 
 must carry a large stock with him to trade with." Johnson : 
 "Yes, Sir." 
 
 It was a delightful day : as we walked to St. Clement's Church, 
 I again remarked that Fleet Street was the most cheerful scene 
 
 1 I believe, however, I shall follow my own opinion ; for the world has shown 
 a very flattering partiality to my writings, on many occasions. — B. He did not fol- 
 low it. By his will he left his MSS. and letters to Sir W. Forbes, Mr. Temple, and 
 Mr. Malone, to be published for the benefit of his younger children. But the three 
 executors did not meet and Bosvvell's MSS. were left to the disposal of his family. 
 It is believed that the whole were immediately destroyed. The indolence of Malone 
 and Temple and the brutish ignorance of the Boswelis have indeed much to answer 
 iox, — Dr. Hill. 
 
20^ 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 177S. 
 
 in the world. " Fleet Street," said I, " is in my mind more 
 delightful than Temp^." Johnson: "Ay, Sir; but let it be com- 
 pared with Mull." 
 
 There was a very numerous congregation to-day at St. Clem- 
 ent's Church, which Dr. Johnson said he observed with 
 pleasure. 
 
 And now I am to give a pretty full account of one of the most 
 curious incidents in Johnson's life, of which he himself has made 
 the following minute on this day : " In my return from church, I 
 was accosted by Edwards,^ an old fellow-collegian, who had not 
 seen me since 1729. He knew me, and asked if I remembered 
 one Edwards ; I did not at first recollect the name, but gradu- 
 ally as we walked along recovered it, and told him a conversa- 
 tion that had passed at an alehouse between us. My purpose 
 is to continue our acquaintance." (" Prayers and Meditations," 
 164.) 
 
 It was in Butcher Row that this meeting happened. Mr. Ed- 
 wards, who was a decent-looking elderly man in gray clothes and 
 a wig of many curls, accosted Johnson with familiar confidence, 
 knowing who he was, while Johnson returned his salutation with 
 a courteous formality, as to a stranger. But as soon as Edwards 
 had brought to his recollection their having been at Pembroke 
 College together nine-and-forty years ago, he seemed much 
 pleased, asked where he lived, and said he should be glad to see 
 him at Bolt Court. Edwards : " Ah, Sir ! we are old men now." 
 Johnson (who never liked to think of being old) : " Do n't let 
 us discourage one another." Edwards : " Why, Doctor, you 
 look stout and hearty. I am happy to see you so ; for the news- 
 papers told us you were very ill." Johnson : " Ay, Sir, they are 
 always telling lies of us old fellows^ 
 
 Wishing to be present at more of so singular a conversation as 
 that between two fellow-collegians, who had lived forty years in 
 London without ever having chanced to meet, I whispered to Mr. 
 Edwards that Dr. Johnson was going home, and that he had 
 better accompany him now. So Edwards walked along with us, 
 I eagerly assisting to keep up the conversation. Mr. Edwards 
 informed Dr. Johnson that he had practised long as a solicitor in 
 Chancery, but that he now lived in the country upon a little farm, 
 about sixty acres, just by Stevenage in Hertfordshire, and that he 
 came to London (to Barnard's Inn, No. 6) generally twice a 
 
 1 Oliver Edwards entered Pembroke College in June, 1729. He left in April, 
 1730- — ^^i^' 
 
Age 69.] THE LIFE OF A CLERGYMAN. 203 
 
 week. Johnson appearing to me in a revery, Mr. Edwards ad- 
 dressed himself to me, and expatiated on the pleasure of living 
 in the country. Boswell : " 1 have no notion of this, Sir. What 
 you have to entertain you, is, I think, exhausted in half an 
 hour." Edwards: "What! don't you love to have hope real- 
 ized? I see my grass, and my corn, and my trees growing. Now, 
 for instance, I am curious to see if this frost has not nipped 
 my fruit-trees." Johnson (who we did not imagine was at- 
 tending) : " You find, Sir, you have fears as well as hopes." 
 So well did he see the whole, when another saw but the half of 
 a subject. 
 
 When we got to Dr. Johnson's house and were seated in his library, 
 the dialogue went on admirably. Edwards : " Sir, I remember you 
 would not let us say prodigious at college. For even then. Sir 
 (turning to me), he was delicate in language, and we all feared 
 him." ^ Johnson (to Edwards) : " From your having practised 
 the law long. Sir, I presume you must be rich." Edwards : "No, 
 Sir ; I got a good deal of money ; but I had a number of poor 
 relations to whom I gave great part of it." Johnson : " Sir, you 
 have been rich in the most valuable sense of the word." Ed- 
 wards : " But I shall not die rich." Johnson : "Nay, sure. Sir, 
 it is better to live rich than to die rich." Edwards : " I wish I 
 had continued at college." Johnson: "Why do you wish that. 
 Sir?" Edwards: "Because I think I should have had a much 
 easier life than mine has been. I should have been a parson, 
 and had a good living, like Bloxham and several others, and lived 
 comfortably." Johnson : "Sir, the life of a parson, of a conscien- 
 tious clergyman, is not easy. I have always considered a clergy- 
 man as the father of a larger family than he is able to maintain. 
 I would rather have Chancery suits upon my hands than the cure 
 of souls. No, Sir, I do not envy a clergyman's life as an easy life, 
 nor do I envy the clergyman who makes it an easy life." Here 
 taking himself up all of a sudden, he exclaimed, " O ! Mr. 
 Edwards ! I '11 convince you that I recollect you. Do you re- 
 member our drinking together at an alehouse near Pembroke 
 Gate ? At that time, you told me of the Eton boy, who, 
 when verses on our Saviour's turning water into wine were pre- 
 scribed as an exercise, brought up a single Hne, which was highly 
 admired : 
 
 1 Johnson said to me afterwards, " Sir, they respected me for my literature; 
 and yet it was not great but by comparison. Sir, it is amazing how little literature 
 there is in the world." — B. 
 
204 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 '* ' Vidit et erubuit lympha pudica Deum.' ' 
 
 And I told you of another fine line in 'Camden's Remains,' a 
 eulogy upon one of our Kings, who was succeeded by his son, a 
 prince of equal merit : 
 
 " ' Mira cano, Sol occubuit, nox nulla secuta est.' " ' 
 
 Edwards : " You are a philosopher, Dr. Johnson. I have 
 tried too in my time to be a philosopher ; but, I do n't know 
 how, cheerfulness was always breaking in." Mr. Burke, Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Malone, and, indeed, all 
 the eminent men to whom I have mentioned this, have thought 
 it an exquisite trait of character. The truth is, that philosophy, 
 like religion, is too generally supposed to be hard and severe, at 
 least so grave as to exclude all gayety. 
 
 Edwards : " I have been twice married. Doctor. You, I sup- 
 pose,, have never known what it was to have a wife." Johnson: 
 Sir, I have known what it was to have a wife, and (in a solemn, 
 tender, faltering tone) I have known what it was to /ose a wife. 
 It had almost broke my heart." 
 
 Edwards : How do you live. Sir? For my part, I must have 
 my regular meals, and a glass of good wine. I find I require it." 
 Johnson : " 1 now drink no wine. Sir. Early in life I drank wine : 
 for many years I drank none, I then for some years drank a great 
 deal." Edwards : " Some hogsheads, I warrant you." Johnson : " I 
 then had a severe illness, and left it off, and I have never began it 
 again. 1 never felt any difference upon myself from eating one 
 thing rather than another, nor from one kind of weather rather 
 than another. There are people, I believe, who feel a difference ; 
 but I am not one of them. And as to regular meals, I have fiisted 
 from the Sunday's dinner to the Tuesday's dinner without any in- 
 convenience. I believe it is best to eat just as one is hun- 
 gry : but a man who is in business, or a man who has a family, 
 
 1 " JOANN 2. 
 " Aquae in Vinum Versae. 
 " Unde rubor vestris ct non sua purpura lymphis? 
 Qu;e rosa mirantes tain nova niutat aquas? 
 Nuinen, conviviXi, pra*sens agnosci'c numen, 
 Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit." 
 The lines are Crasliaw's ^who was a Charterhouse boy), and were first publislied 
 in his " EpigraiiDiiata Sacra " at Cambridge in 1634. The line has been frequently 
 attributed to Dryden when a Kings Scliolar at Westminster. 
 
 2 By some ascribed to Giraldus Cambrensis. It was a deft compliment to King 
 Henry II. and his successor Ricliard. — Camden. 
 
Age 69.J JOHNSOX'S KINDNESS OF 1)1 SroS rr 1 ON. 205 
 
 must have stated meals. I am a straggler. I may leave this 
 town and go to Grand Cairo, without being missed here or ob- 
 sei-ved there." Edwards: Do n't you eat supper, Sir?" 
 Johnson : " No, Sir." Edwards : " For my part, now, I consider 
 supper as a turnpike through which one must pass, in order to 
 get to bed." ' 
 
 Johnson: "You are a lawyer, Mr. Edwards. Lawyers know 
 life practically. A bookish man should always have them to con-: 
 verse with. They have what he wants." Edwards : " I am 
 grown old : I am sixty-five." Johnson : " I shall be sixty-eight ^ 
 next birthday. Come, Sir, drink water, and put in for a hundred." 
 
 Mr. Edwards mentioned a gentleman who had left his whole 
 fortune to Pembroke College. Johnson : Whether to leave one's 
 whole fortune to a college be right, must depend upon circum- 
 stances. I would leave the interest of a fortune I bequeathed to 
 a college to my relations or my friends, for their lives. It is the 
 same thing to a college, which is a permanent society, whether it 
 gets the money now or twenty years hence ; and I would wish to 
 make my relations or friends feel the benefit of it." 
 
 This interview confirmed my opinion of Johnson's most humane 
 and benevolent heart. His cordial and placid behavior to an old 
 fellow-collegian, a man so different from himself; and his telling 
 him that he would go down to his farm and visit him, showed a 
 kindness of disposition very rare at an advanced age. He ob- 
 served, ' how wonderful it was that they had both been in Lon- 
 don forty years, without having ever once met, and both 
 walkers in the street too ! ' Mr. Edwards, when going away, 
 again, recurred to his consciousness of senility, and looking full in 
 Johnson's face, said to him, " You '11 find in Dr. Young, 
 
 " ' O my coevals ! remnants of yourselves.' " 
 
 Johnson did not relish this at all ; but shook his head with impa- 
 tience. Edwards walked off seemingly highly pleased with the 
 honor of having been thus noticed by Dr. Johnson. When he 
 was gone, I said to Johnson, I thought him but a weak man. 
 Johnson : " Why yes. Sir. Here is a man who has passed 
 through life without experience : yet I would rather have him 
 with me than a more sensible man who will not talk readily. 
 
 1 I am not absolutely sure but this was my own suggestion, though it is truly in 
 the character of Edwards. — B. 
 
 * He should have said sixty-nine. 
 
206 
 
 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 This man is always willing to say what he has to say." Yet Dr. 
 Johnson had himself by no means that willingness which he 
 praised so much, and I think so justly ; for who has not felt the 
 painful effect of the dreary void, when there is a total silence in a 
 company for any length of time ; or, which is as bad, or perhaps 
 worse, when the conversation is with difficulty kept up by a per- 
 petual effort? 
 
 Johnson once observed to me, " Tom Tyers described me the 
 best: 'Sir,' said he, 'you are like a ghost: you never speak till 
 you are spoken to.' " ^ 
 
 The gentleman whom he thus familiarly mentioned was Mr. 
 Thomas 1 yers, son of Mr. Jonathan Tyers, the founder of that 
 excellent place of public amusement, Vauxhall Gardens, which 
 must ever be an estate to its proprietor, as it is pecuHarly adapted 
 to the taste of the English nation ; there being a mixture of 
 curious show, gay exhibition, music, vocal and instrumental, 
 not too refined for the general ear ; for all which only a shil- 
 ling is paid ; ^ and, though last, not least, good eating and 
 drinking for those who choose to purchase that regale.^ Mr. 
 Thomas Tyers was bred to the law ; but having a handsome for- 
 tune, vivacity of temper, and eccentricity of mind, he could not 
 confine himself to the regularity of practice. He therefore ran 
 about the world with a pleasant carelessness, amusing everybody 
 by his desultory conversation. He abounded in anecdote, but 
 was not sufficiently attentive to accuracy. I therefore cannot 
 venture to avail myself much of a biographical sketch of Johnson 
 which he published, being one among the various persons ambitious 
 of appending their names to that of my illustrious friend. That 
 sketch is, however, an entertaining little collection of fragments. 
 Those which he published of Pope and Addison are of higher 
 merit ; but his fame must chiefly rest upon his " Political Con- 
 ferences," in which he introduces several eminent persons de- 
 livering their sentiments in the way of dialogue, and discovers 
 a considerable share of learning, various knowledge, and discern- 
 ment of character. This much may I be allowed to say of a 
 man who was exceedingly obliging to me, and \vho lived with 
 
 1 He is described in The Idler (48) under the name of Tom Restless, as was 
 pointed out to Nicliols by Johnson liimself. — Croker. 
 
 2 In summer 1792, additional and more expensive decorations having been in- 
 troduced, the price of admission was raised to 2f. I cannot approve of tliis. The 
 company may be more select ; but a number of the honest commonalty are, I fear, 
 excluded from sharing in elegant and innocent entertainment. An attempt to 
 abolish the \s. gallery at the playhouse has been very properly counteracted. — B. 
 
 8 Regale as a noun is not in Johnson's Dictionary. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 69.] JOHNSON'S NOBLE AMBITION. 
 
 207 
 
 Dr. Johnson in as easy a manner as almost any of his very numer- 
 ous acquaintance. 
 
 Mr. Edwards had said to me aside, that Dr. Johnson should 
 have been of a profession. I repeated the remark to Johnson 
 that I might have his own thoughts on the subject. Johnson : 
 " Sir, it would have been better that I had been of a profession. 
 I ought to have been a lawyer." Boswell : I do not think, 
 Sir, it would have been better, for we should not have had the 
 English Dictionary." Johnson : " But you would have had Re- 
 ports." Boswell: "Ay; but there would not have been another 
 who could have written the Dictionary. There would have been 
 many very good judges. Suppose you had been Lord Chancellor ; 
 you would have delivered opinions with more extent of mind, and 
 in a more ornamental manner, than perhaps any Chancellor ever 
 did, or ever will do. But, I believe, causes have been as judi- 
 ciously decided as you could have done." Johnson : " Yes, Sir. 
 Property has been as well settled." 
 
 Johnson, however, had a noble ambition floating in his mind, 
 and had, undoubtedly, often speculated on the possibility of his 
 supereminent powers being rewarded in this great and liberal 
 country by the highest honors of the State. Sir William Scott in- 
 forms me that, upon the death of the late Lord Lichfield, who 
 was Chancellor of the University of Oxford,, he said to Johnson: 
 " What a pity it is. Sir, that you did not follov/ the profession 
 of the law. You might have been Lord Chancellor of Great 
 Britain, and attained to the dignity of the peerage ; and now that 
 the title of Lichfield, your native city, is extinct, you might have 
 had it."' Johnson, upon this, seemed much agitated; and, in 
 an angry tone, exclaimed, Why will you vex me by suggesting 
 this when it is too late? " 
 
 But he did not repine at the prosperity of others. The late 
 Dr. Thomas Leland told Mr, Courtenay that, when Mr. Edmund 
 Burke showed Johnson his fine house and lands near Beacons- 
 field, Johnson coolly said, ^' Non equidem invideo; miror magis.'^ ^ 
 
 ' The Fourth Earl of Lichfield, the Chancellor of Oxford, died in 1772. The 
 fifth earl died in 1776 and the title expired. The present title was recreated in 
 1831. — Courthope. 
 
 ^ I am not entirely without suspicion that Johnson may have felt a little 
 momentary envy; for no man loved the good things of this life better than he did; 
 and he could not but be conscious that he deserved a much larger share of them 
 than he ever had. I attempted in a newspaper to comment on the above passage 
 in the manner of Warburton, who niust be allowed to have shown uncommon in- 
 genuity in giving to any author's text whatever meaning he chose it should carry. 
 As this imitation may amuse my readers, I shall here introduce it: " No saying of 
 Dr. Johnson's has been more misunderstood than his applying to Mr. BURKE 
 
208 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 Yet no man had a higher notion of the dignity of literature 
 than Johnson, or was more determined in maintaining the respect 
 which he justly considered as due to it. Of this, besides the 
 general tenor of his conduct in society, some characteristical 
 instances may be mentioned. 
 
 He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that once when he dined in a 
 numerous company of booksellers, where, the room being small, 
 the head of the table, at which he sat, was almost close to the 
 fire, he persevered in suffering a great deal of inconvenience 
 from the heat, rather than quit his place, and let one of them sit 
 above him. 
 
 Goldsmith, in his diverting simplicity, complained one day, in 
 a mixed company, of Lord Camden. " I met him, " said he, " at 
 Lord Clare's house in the country, and he took no more notice 
 of me than if I had been an ordinary man." The company hav- 
 ing laughed heartily, Johnson stood forth in defence of his friend. 
 "Nay, gentlemen," said he, "Dr. Goldsmith is in the right. A 
 nobleman ought to have made up to such a man as Goldsmith ; 
 and I think it is much against Lord Camden ^ that he neglected 
 him." 
 
 Nor could he patiently endure to hear that such respect as he 
 thought due only to higher intellectual qualities, should be be- 
 stowed on men of slighter, though perhaps more amusing, talents. 
 I told him, that one morning, when I went to breakfast with 
 Garrick, who was very vain of his intimacy with Lord Camden, 
 he accosted me thus: "Pray now, did you — did you meet a 
 little lawyer turning the corner, eh?" — "No, Sir," said L 
 " Pray what do you mean by the question?" "Why" (replied 
 Garrick, with an affected indifference, yet as if standing on tip- 
 toe), "Lord Camden has this moment left me. We have had a 
 
 when he first saw him at his fine place at Beaconsfield, Non eqiiidem invideo; 
 miror magis. These two celebrated men had been friends for many years bcfon; ! 
 Mr. Burke entered on his paiiiamentary career. They were both writers, hoth 
 members of TllE LITERARY CLUB; when, therefore. Dr. Johnson saw Mr. Burk'-' 
 in a situation so much more splendid than that to which he himself liad attained, 
 lie did not mean to express that he thought it a disproportionate prosperity; but 
 while he, as a philosopher, asserted an exemption from envy, 7ion cquidem invideo; 
 he went on in the words of the poet, 7niror magis ; thereby signifying, either that he 
 was occupied in admiring what he was glad to see; or, perhaps, that considering 
 the general lot of men of superior abilities, he wondered, that Fortune, who is 
 represented as blind, should, in this instance, have been so just." — B. Johnson 
 translated the line from the first eclogue of Virgil thus : 
 " My admiration only I exprest, 
 (No spark of envy harbors in my breast)." 
 ' Lord Camden afterwards sought to enter the Literary Club and was lilack- 
 balled. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 THE WORLD TO COME. 
 
 209 
 
 long walk together." Johnson : "Well, Sir, Garrick talked very 
 properly. Lord Camden was a littk lawye?^ to be associating so 
 familiarly with a player." 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds observed, with great truth, that Johnson 
 considered Garrick to be as it were his property. He would allow 
 no man either to blame or to praise Garrick in his presence, 
 without contradicting him. 
 
 Having fallen into a very serious frame of mind, in which 
 mutual expressions of kindness passed between us, such as would 
 be thought too vain in me to repeat, I talked with regret of the 
 sad inevitable certainty that one of us must survive the other. 
 Johnson : Yes, Sir, that is an affecting consideration. I re- 
 member Swift, in one of his letters to Pope, says, ' I intend to 
 come over, that we may meet once more ; and when we must 
 part, it is what happens to all human beings.' " Boswell : "The 
 hope that we shall see our departed friends again must support 
 the mind." Johnson : " Why yes. Sir." Boswell : " There is 
 a strange unwillingness to part with life, independent of serious 
 fears as to futurity. A reverend friend of ours (naming him) 
 tells me, that he feels an uneasiness at the thoughts of leaving his 
 house, his study, his books." Johnson: "This is foolish in 
 [Percy]. A man need not be uneasy on these grounds; for, as 
 he will retain his consciousness, he may say with the philosopher,' 
 Omnia mea mecum porto.'" Boswell: "True, Sir; we may 
 carry our books in our heads ; but still there is something pain- 
 ful in the thought of leaving forever what has given us pleasure. 
 I remember, many years ago, when my imagination was warm, 
 and I happened to be in a melancholy mood, it distressed me to 
 think of going into a state of being in which Shakespeare's poetry 
 did not exist. A lady whom I then much admired, a very ami- 
 able woman, humored my fancy, and relieved me by saying, ' The 
 first thing you will meet in the other world will be an elegant 
 copy of Shakespeare's works presented to you.'" Dr. Johnson 
 smiled benignantly at this, and did not appear to disapprove of 
 the notion. 
 
 We went to St. Clement's Church again in the afternoon, and 
 then returned and drank tea and coffee in Mrs. Williams's room ; 
 Mrs. Desmoulins doing the honors of the tea-table. I observ^ed 
 that he would not even look at a proof-sheet of his " Life of 
 Waller " on Good Friday. 
 
 ^ Bias, Cicero: Paradoxa i. — Dr. Hill. 
 Vol. n.-H 
 
210 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 Mr. Allen, the printer, brought a book on agriculture,' which 
 was printed and was soon to be published. It was a very strange 
 performance, the author having mixed in it his own thoughts 
 upon various topics, along with his remarks on ploughing, sowing, 
 and other farming operations. He seemed to be an absurd pro- 
 fane fellow, and had introduced in his book many sneers 
 at religion, with equal ignorance and conceit. Dr. Johnson per- 
 mitted me to read some passages aloud. One was, that he re- 
 solved to work on Sunday, and did work, but he owned he felt 
 some weak compunction ; and he had this very curious reflection : 
 " I was born in the wilds of Christianity, and the briars and 
 thorns still hang about me." Dr. Johnson could not help laugh- 
 ing at this ridiculous image, yet was very angry at the fellow's 
 impiety. " However," said he, " the reviewers will make him 
 hang himself." He, however, observed, " That formerly there 
 might have been a dispensation obtained for working on Sunday 
 in the time of harvest." Indeed in ritual observances, were all 
 the ministers of religion what they should be, and what many of 
 them are, such a power might be wisely and safely lodged with 
 the Church. 
 
 On Saturday, April 14 [18], I drank tea with him. He 
 praised the late Mr. Buncombe,^ of Canterbury, as a pleasing 
 man. " He used to come to me ; I did not seek much after him. 
 Indeed I never sought much after anybody." Boswell : " Lord 
 Orrery, I suppose." Johnson: ''No, Sir; I never went to him 
 but when he sent for me." Boswell: "Richardson?" John- 
 son: "Yes, Sir. But I sought after George Psalmanazar the most. 
 I used to go and sit with him at an alehouse in the city." ^ 
 
 I am happy to mention another instance which I discovered, 
 of his seekijig after a man of merit. Soon after the Honorable 
 Daines Barrington had published his excellent " Observations on 
 the Statutes," Johnson waited on that worthy and learned gentle- 
 man ; and, having told him his name, courteously said, " I have 
 read your book, Sir, with great pleasure, and wish to be better 
 known to you." Thus began an acquaintance, which was con- 
 tinued with mutual regard as long as Johnson lived. 
 
 1 Marshall's " Minutes of Agriculture." Certain passages were cancelled at Dr. 
 Johnson's request. 
 
 2 William Duncombe (1690-1769), who married a sister ot John Hughes, the 
 poet, and was himself the author of two tragedies. <S:c. 
 
 8 For this pious impostor see his own memoirs, published in 1764, and Ap- 
 pendix A, vol. iii. of Dr. Hill's edition. He is mentioned also in " Humplirv 
 Clinker." 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 A HORRIBLE SHOCK, 
 
 211 
 
 Talking of a recent seditious delinquent,' he said, " They 
 should set him in the pillory, that he may be punished in a way 
 that would disgrace him." I observed that the pillory does not 
 always disgrace. And I mentioned an instance of a gentleman, 
 who I thought was not dishonored by it.^ Johnson : " Ay, but 
 he was. Sir. He could not mouth and strut as he used to do, 
 after having been there. People are not willing to ask a man to 
 their tables who has stood in the pillory." 
 
 The gentleman (see p. 183) who had dined with us at Dr. 
 Percy's came in. Johnson attacked the Americans with intem- 
 perate vehemence of abuse. I said something in their favor; 
 and added that I was always sorry when he talked on that subject. 
 This, it seems, exasperated him ; though he said nothing at the 
 time. The cloud was charged with sulphurous vapor, which was 
 afterwards to burst in thunder. We talked of a gentleman [Lang- 
 ton] who was running out his fortune in London ; and I said, 
 "We must get him out of it. All his friends must quirrel with 
 him, and that will soon drive him away." Johnson : " Nay, Sir, 
 we '11 send you to him. If your company does not drive a man 
 out of his house nothing will." * 
 
 This was a horrible shock, for which there was no visible cause. 
 I afterwards asked him why he had said so harsh a thing. John- 
 son : " Because, Sir, you made me angry about the Americans." 
 BoswELL : "But why did you not take your revenge directly?" 
 Johnson (smiling) : " Because, Sir, I had nothing ready. A man 
 cannot strike till he has weapons." This was a candid and pleas- 
 ant confession. 
 
 He showed me to-night his drawing-room, very genteelly fitted 
 up, and said, " Mrs. Thrale sneered when 1 talked of my having 
 asked you and your lady to live at my house. I was obliged to 
 tell her that you would be in as respectable a situation in my house 
 as in hers. Sir, the insolence of wealth will creep out." Boswell : 
 " She has a little both of the insolence of wealth, and the conceit 
 of parts." Johnson : " The insolence of wealth is a wretched 
 thing ; but the conceit of parts has some foundation. To be sure 
 it should not be. But who is without it? " Boswei.l : " Yourself, 
 Sir." Johnson : " Why I play no tricks ; I lay no traps." Boswell : 
 " No, Sir. You are six feet high, and you only do not stoop." 
 
 ^ Home Tooke, who, in the previous winter, had been sentenced to a year's im- 
 prisonment and a fine of 200/. for a seditious Hbel. — Croker. 
 
 2 Probably Dr. Shebbeare, a political writer in 1758, who, after having been twice 
 convicted and punished for seditious libels on the government, ended as its pen- 
 sioner. 
 
212 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 We talked of the numbers of people that sometimes have com- 
 posed the household of great families. I mentioned that there 
 were a hundred in the family of the present Earl of Eglinton's 
 father. Dr. Johnson seeming to doubt it, I began to enumerate. 
 " Let us see : my Lord and my Lady two." Johnson : " Nay, 
 Sir, if you are to count by twos, you may be long enough." Bos- 
 well : "Well, but now I add two sons and seven daughters, and 
 a servant for each, that will make twenty ; so we have the fifth 
 part already." Johnson : " Very true. You get at twenty pretty 
 readily ; but you will not so readily get farther on. We grow to 
 five feet pretty readily ; but it is not so easy to grow to seven." 
 
 On Sunday, April 19, being Easter Day, after the solemnities 
 of the festival in St. Paul's Church, I visited him but could not 
 stay to dinner. I expressed a wish to have the arguments for 
 Christianity always in readiness, that my religious faith might be 
 as firm and clear as any proposition whatever, so that I need not 
 be under the least uneasiness, when it should be attacked. 
 Johnson : " Sir, you can not answer all objections. You have 
 demonstration for a First Cause : you see he must be good as well 
 as powerful, because there is nofhing to make him otherwise, and 
 goodness of itself is preferable. Yet you have against this, what 
 is very certain, the unhappiness of human life. This, however, 
 gives us reason to hope for a future state of compensation, that 
 there may be a perfect system. But of that we were not sure, till 
 we had a positive revelation." I told him that his "Rasselas" 
 had often made me unhappy ; for it represented the misery of 
 human life so well, and so convincingly to a thinking mind, that 
 if at any time the impression wore off, and I felt myself easy, I 
 began to suspect some delusion. 
 
 On Monday, April 20, I found him at home in the morning. 
 We talked of a gentleman [Langton], who we apprehended was 
 gradually involving his circumstances by bad management. 
 Johnson : " Wasting a fortune is evaporation by a thousand im- 
 perceptible means. If it were a stream, they 'd stop it. You 
 must speak to him. It is really miserable. Were he a gamester, 
 it could be said he had hopes of winning. Were he a bankrupt 
 in trade, he might have grown rich ; but he has neither spirit to 
 spend, nor resolution to spare. He does not spend flist enough 
 to have pleasure from it. He has the crime of prodigality, and 
 the wretchedness of parsimony. If a man is killed in a duel, he 
 is killed as many a one has been killed ; but it is a sad thing for 
 a man to lie down and die ; to bleed to death, because he has 
 
Age 69.] DEFINITION OF A PAMPHLET. 
 
 213 
 
 not fortitude enough to sear the wound, or even to stitch it up." 
 I cannot but pause a moment to admire the fecundity of fency, 
 and choice of language, which in this instance, and indeed, on 
 almost all occasions he displayed. It was well observed by Dr. 
 Percy, now Bishop of Dromore : "The conversation of Johnson 
 is strong and clear, and may be compared to an antique statue, 
 where every vein^and muscle is distinct and bold. Ordinary con- 
 versation resembles an inferior cast," 
 
 On Saturday, April 25, I dined with him at Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds's, with the learned Dr. Musgrave, Counsellor Leyland of 
 Ireland, son to the historian, Mrs. Cholmondeley, and some more 
 ladies. "The Project,"^ a new poem, was read to the company 
 by Dr. Musgrave. Johnson : " Sir, it has no power. Were it 
 not for the well-known names with which it is filled, it would be 
 nothing : the names carry the poet, not the poet the names." 
 Musgrave: "A temporary poem always entertains us." John- 
 son : " So does an account of the criminals hanged yesterday 
 entertain us." 
 
 He proceeded : " Demosthenes Taylor, as he was called 
 (that is, the editor of " Demosthenes "), was the most silent man, 
 the merest statue of a man that I have ever seen. I once dined 
 in company with him, and all he said during the whole time was 
 no more than Richard. How a man should say only Richard, it 
 is not easy to imagine. But it was thus : Dr. Douglas was talk- 
 ing of Dr. Zachary Grey, and was ascribing to him something that 
 was written by Dr. Richard Grey. So to correct him, Taylor 
 said (imitating his affected sententious emphasis and nod), 
 'Richard: " 
 
 Mrs. Cholmondeley,^ in a high flow of spirits, exhibited some 
 lively sallies of hyperbolical compliment to Johnson, with whom 
 she had been long acquainted, and was very easy. He was quick 
 in catching the manner of the moment, and answered her some- 
 what in the style of the hero of a romance, " Madam, you crown 
 me with unfading laurels." 
 
 I happened, I know not how, to say that a pamphlet meant a 
 prose piece. Johnson : " No, Sir. A few sheets of poetry un- 
 bound are a pamphlet, as much as a few sheets of prose." 
 Musgrave : " A pamphlet may be understood to mean a poetical 
 piece in Westminster Hall, that is, in formal language ; but in 
 common language it is understood to mean prose." Johnson 
 
 1 By Richard Tickell. 
 
 ' She was a younger sister of Peg Woffington. 
 
214 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOl^. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 (and here was one of the many instances of his knowing clearly 
 and telling exactly how a thing is) : " A pamphlet is understood in 
 common language to mean prose, only from this, that there is so 
 much more prose written than poetry ; as when we say a /?o(?k, 
 prose is understood for the same reason, though a book may as 
 well be in poetry as in prose. We understand what is most gen- 
 eral, and we name what is less frequent." 
 
 We talked of a lady's verses on Ireland. Miss Reynolds : 
 ''Have you seen them. Sir?" Johnson: "No, Madam, I have 
 seen a translation from Horace, by one of her daughters. She 
 showed it to me." Miss Reynolds: "And how was it. Sir?" 
 Johnson : " Why, very well for a young Miss's verses ; that is 
 to say, compared with excellence, nothing ; but very well for the 
 person who wrote them. I am vexed at being shown verses in 
 that manner." Miss Reynolds : " But if they should be good, 
 why not give them hearty praise ? " Johnson: " Why, Madam, 
 because I have not then got the better of my bad humor from 
 having been shown them. You must consider. Madam ; before- 
 hand they may be bad, as well as good. Nobody has a right to 
 put another under such a difficulty, that he must either hurt the 
 person by telling the truth, or hurt himself by telling what is not 
 true." Boswell : "A man often shows his writings to people of 
 eminence, to obtain from them, either from their good-nature, or 
 from their not being able to tell the truth firmly, a commendation 
 of which he may afterwards avail himself." Johnson : " Very 
 true. Sir. Therefore the man, who is asked by an author, what he 
 thinks of his work, is put to the torture, and is not obliged to 
 speak the truth ; so that what he says is not considered as his 
 opinion ; yet he has said it, and can not retract it ; and this 
 author, when mankind are hunting him with a canister at his tail, 
 can say, ' I would not have published, had not Johnson, or Rey- 
 nolds, or Musgrave, or some other good judge commended the 
 work.' Yet I consider it as a very difficult question in con- 
 science, whether one should advise a man not to publish a work, 
 if profit be his object ; for the man may say, ' Had it not been 
 for you, I should have had the money.' Now you can not be 
 sure; for you have only your' own opinion, and the public may 
 think very differently." Sir Joshua Reynolds : " You must 
 upon such an occasion have two judgments ; one as to the real 
 value of the work, the other as to what may please the general 
 taste at the time." Johnson : " But you can be sure of neither ; 
 and therefore I should scruple much to give a suppressive vote. 
 
EDWARD CAVE. 
 
Age 69.] A CATALOGUE OF JOHNSON'S WORKS. 215 
 
 Both Goldsmith's comedies were once refused ; his first by 
 Garrick, his second by Colman, who was prevailed on at last by 
 much solicitation, nay, a kind of • force, to bring it on. His 
 * Vicar of Wakefield,' I myself did not think would have had 
 much success. It was written and sold to, a bookseller, before 
 his * Traveller; ' but published after; so little expectation had 
 the bookseller from it. Had it been sold after the 'Traveller,' 
 he might have had twice as much money for it, though sixty 
 guineas was no mean price. The bookseller had the advantage 
 of Goldsmith's reputation from 'The Traveller' in the sale, 
 though Goldsmith had it not in selling the copy." Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds : " ' The Beggars' Opera ' affords a proof how strangely 
 people will differ in opinion about a literary performance. Burke 
 thinks it has no merit." Johnson : " It was refused by one of 
 the houses ; but I should have thought it would succeed, not 
 from any great excellence in the writing, but from the novelty, 
 and the general spirit and gayety of the piece, which keeps the 
 audience always attentive, and dismisses them in good humor." 
 
 We went to the drawing-room, where was a considerable increase 
 of company. Several of us got round Dr. Johnson, and com- 
 plained that he would not give us an exact catalogue of his works, 
 that there might be a complete edition. He smiled, and evaded 
 our entreaties. That he intended to do it, I have no doubt, 
 because I have heard him say so ; and I have in my possession 
 an imperfect Hst, fairly written out, which he entitles " Historia 
 Studiorum." I once got from one of his friends a list, which 
 there was pretty good reason to suppose was accurate, for it was 
 written down in his presence by this friend, who enumerated 
 each article aloud, and had some of them mentioned to him by 
 Mr. Levett, in concert with whom it was made out ; and John- 
 son who heard all this did not contradict it. But when I showed 
 a copy of this list to him, and mentioned the evidence for its 
 exactness, he laughed and said, " I was willing to let them go on 
 as they pleased, and never interfered." Upon which I read it 
 to him, article by article, and got him positively to own or re- 
 fuse ; and then, having obtained certainty so far, I got some other 
 articles confirmed by him directly, and afterwards, from time to 
 time, made additions under his sanction. 
 
 His friend, Edward Cave, having been mentioned, he told us, 
 ''Cave used to sell ten thousand of T/ie GentlemarC s Magazine ; ' 
 yet such was then his minute attention and anxiety that the sale 
 should not suffer the smallest decrease, that he would name a 
 
216 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 particular person who he heard had talked of leaving off the 
 Magazine, and would say, ' Let us have something good next 
 month.' " 
 
 It was observed, that avarice was inherent in some disposi- 
 tions. Johnson : " No man was born a miser, because no man 
 was born to possession. Everyman is born cupidus — desirous 
 of getting; but not avarus — desirous of keeping." Boswell : 
 " I have heard old Mr. Sheridan maintain, with much ingenuity, 
 that a complete miser is a happy man ; a miser who gives him- 
 self wholly to the one passion of saving." Johnson: "That is 
 flying in the face of all the world, who have called an avaricious 
 man a miser, because he is miserable. No, Sir; a man who 
 both spends and saves money is the happiest man, because he 
 has both enjoyments." 
 
 The conversation having turned on bon-mots, he quoted, 
 from one of the Ana, an exquisite instance of flattery in a maid 
 of honor in France, who being asked by the Queen what o'clock 
 it was, answered, "What your Majesty pleases."' He admitted 
 Mr. Burke's classical pun upon Mr. Wilkes's being carried on the 
 shoulders of the mob, 
 
 " . . . numerisque fertur 
 Lege solutus," 
 
 (Hor. " Od." iv. 2.) 
 
 was admirable ; and though he was strangely unwilling to allow 
 to that extraordinary man the talent of wit,^ he also laughed with 
 approbation at another of his playful conceits ; which was, that 
 " Horace has in one Hne given a description of a good desirable 
 manor : 
 
 " ' Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines; ' 
 
 ("Sat." i. I.) 
 
 that is to say, a tnodus as to the tithes, and certain finest * 
 
 1 The anecdote is told by Menage as a pleasantry of the Due d'Uz^s, '* clievalier 
 d'honneur"to Louis XIV.'s queen; but according to another authority the duke 
 was a blundering fellow on whom the courtiers used to father all manner of ab- 
 surdities. — Croker. 
 
 2 See this question fully investigated in the notes upon my " journal of a Tour to 
 the Helorides," edit. 3, p. 21, et set/. And here, as a lawyer mindful of the maxim 
 Suum cui(]ue trihuito, I cannot forbear to mention, that the additional note begin- 
 ning with "I find since the former edition" is not mine, but was obligingly fur- 
 nished by Mr. Malone, who was so kind as to superintend the press while I was 
 in Scotland, and the first part of the second edition was printing. He would not 
 allow me to ascribe it to its proper author; but, as it is exquisitely acute and ele- 
 gant, I take this opportunity, without his knowledge, to do him justice. — B. 
 
 Modus, something paid as a compensation for tithes on the supposition of 
 being a moderate equivalent. — Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
 * Payments due to the lord of a manor on every admission of a new tenant. 
 When fixed by custom they are called " fines certain." — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 pope's love of mystery. 
 
 217 
 
 He observed, " A man cannot with propriety speak of himself, 
 except he relates simple facts ; as, ' I was at Richmond : ' or 
 what depends on mensuration ; as 'lam six feet high.' He is 
 sure he has been at Richmond ; he is sure he is six feet high ; 
 but he cannot be sure he is wise, or that he has any other excel- 
 lence. Then, all censure of a man's self is oblique praise. It 
 is in order to show how much he can spare. It has all the 
 invidiousness of self-praise, and all the reproach of falsehood." 
 BoswELL : "Sometimes it may proceed from a man's strong 
 consciousness of his faults being observed. He knows that 
 others would throw him down, and therefore he had better lie 
 down softly of his own accord." 
 
 On Tuesday, April 28, he was engaged to dine at General 
 Paoli's, where, as I have already observed, I was still entertained 
 in elegant hospitality, and with all the ease and comfort of a 
 home. I called on him, and accompanied him in a hackney 
 coach. We stopped first at the bottom of Hedge Lane, into 
 which he went to leave a letter " with good news for a poor man 
 in distress," as he told me. I did not question him particularly 
 as to this.' He himself often resembled Lady Bolingbroke's lively 
 description of Pope : that " he was z/n politique aux choux et aiix 
 raves''^ He would say, ''I dine to-day in Grosvenor Square; " 
 this might be with a duke ; or, perhaps, " I dine to-day at the 
 other end of the town:" or, "A gentleman of great eminence 
 called on me yesterday." He loved thus to keep things floating 
 in conjecture : Omne ignotum pro magnifico est^ I believe I 
 ventured to dissipate the cloud, to unveil the mystery, more freely 
 and frequently than any of his friends. We stopped again at 
 Wirgman's, the well-known toy-shop, in St. James's Street at the 
 corner of St. James's Place, to which he had been directed, but 
 not clearly, for he searched about some time, and could not find 
 it at first ; and said, To direct one only to a corner shop is toy- 
 ing with one." I suppose he meant this as a play upon the word 
 toy ; it was the first time that I knew him stoop to such sport. 
 After he had been some time in the shop, he sent for me to come 
 out of the coach, and help him to choose a pair of silver buckles, 
 
 1 A poor painter, Mauritius Lowe, lived at this time at 3 Hedge Lane, Charing 
 Cross (" Garrick Correspondence," ii. 305). — P. CiiHnuii^kain. One of his pictures 
 had been accepted for the Rov.il Academy this year on |ohnson's recommendatio;;, 
 as is shown by a copy of the catalogue in the Academy's library. — Napier. 
 
 2 Such was Pope's love of mystery that Lady Bolmgbroke declared that he played 
 the politician about cabbages and turnips. 
 
 3 Tacitus : "Agricola," ch. xxx. 
 
218 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 as those he had were too small. Probably this alteration in dress 
 had been suggested by Mrs. Thrale, by associating with whom, 
 his external appearance was much improved. He got better 
 clothes ; and the dark color, from which he never deviated, was 
 enlivened by metal buttons. His wigs, too, were much better ; 
 and during their travels in France, he was furnished with a Paris- 
 made wig, of handsome construction. This choosing of silver 
 buckles was a negotiation : " Sir," said he, " I will not have the 
 ridiculous large ones now in fashion ; and I will give no more 
 than a guinea for a pair. Such were the principles of the busi- 
 ness ; and, after some examination, he was fitted. As we drove 
 along, I found him in a talking humor, of which I availed myself. 
 BoswELL : " I was this morning in Ridley's shop. Sir ; and was 
 told, that the collection called ' Johnsoniana ' has sold very 
 much." Johnson : "Yet the 'Journey to the Hebrides' has not 
 had a great sale." ^ Boswell : That is strange." Johnson: 
 " Yes, Sir ; for in that book T have told the world a great deal 
 that they did not know before." 
 
 Boswell : I drank chocolate. Sir, this morning with Mr. Eld : 
 and, to my no small surprise, found him to be a Staffordshire 
 Whig, a being which I did not believe had existed." Johnson: 
 " Sir, there are rascals in all countries." Boswell : " Eld said, 
 a Tory was a creature generated between a non-juring parson 
 and one's grandmother." Johnson : " And I have always said, 
 the first Whig was the Devil." Boswell : " He certainly was, 
 Sir. The Devil was impatient of subordination ; he was the first 
 who resisted power : 
 
 " ' Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven,' " ^ 
 
 At General Paoli's were Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Langton; 
 Marchese Gherardi of Lombardy, and Mr. John Spottiswoode the 
 younger, of Spottiswoode,^ the solicitor. At this time fears of in- 
 
 1 Here he either was mistaken, or had a different notion of an extensive sale 
 from what is generally entertained : for the fact is, that four thousand copies of that 
 excellent work were sold very quickly. A new edition has been printed since hi 
 death, besides that in the collection of his works, — B, Another edition lias bee 
 printed since Mr. Boswell wrote the above, besides repeated editions in the genera 
 collection of his works during the last ten years. — Ma/one. Hannah More say 
 " Life," i. 39) that Cadell, the publisher, told her that 4,000 copies were sold in th 
 rst week, — Croker. 
 2" Paradise Lost," book i. 263. 
 
 *In the phraseology of Scotland, I should have said, " Mr. John Spottiswoode 
 the younger, of that, ilk!' Johnson knew that sense of tl>e word very well, and ha 
 thus ex]3lained it in his Dictionary, voce iLK— "It also signifies 'the same,' as 
 Mackintosh of that ilk, denotes a gentleman whose surname and the title of h' 
 estate are the same." — B. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 THE USE OF wmn. 
 
 219 
 
 vasion were circulated ; to obviate which, Mr. Spottiswoode ob- 
 served, that Mr. Fraser the engineer, who had lately come from 
 Dunkirk, said, that the French had the same fears of us. John- 
 son : " It is thus that mutual cowardice keeps us in peace. Were 
 one half of mankind brave, and one half cowards, the brave would 
 be always beating the cowards. Were all brave, they would lead 
 a very uneasy life ; all would be continually fighting : but being 
 all cowards, we go on very well." 
 
 We talked of drinking wine. Johnson : " I require wine, only 
 when I am alone. I have then often wished for it, and often 
 taken it." Spottiswoode : " What, by way of a companion. 
 Sir?" Johnson: "To get rid of myself, to send myself away. 
 Wine gives great pleasure ; and every pleasure is of itself a good. 
 It is a good, unless counterbalanced by evil. A man may have 
 a strong reason not to drink wine ; and that may be greater than 
 the pleasure. Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. 
 I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others. Some- 
 times it does. But the danger is, that while a man grows better 
 pleased with himself, he may be growing less pleasing to others.^ 
 Wine gives a man nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor 
 wit ; it only animates a man, and enables him to bring out what 
 a dread of the company has repressed. It only puts in motion 
 what has been locked up in frost. But this may be good, or it 
 may be bad." Spottiswoode : " So, Sir, wine is a key which 
 opens a box; but this -box may be either full or empty?" 
 Johnson : " Nay, Sir, conversation is the key : wine is a pick- 
 lock, which forces open the box, and injures it. A man should 
 cultivate his mind so as to have that confidence and readiness 
 without wine, which wine gives." Boswell : "The great diffi- 
 culty of resisting wine is from benevolence. For instance, a 
 good, worthy man asks you to taste his wine, which he has had 
 twenty years in his cellar." Johnson: "Sir, all this notion 
 about benevolence arises from a man's imagining himself to be of 
 more importance to others than he really is. They do n't care a 
 farthing whether he drinks wine or not." Sir Joshua Reynolds : 
 " Yes, they do for the time." Johnson : " For the time ! if 
 they care this minute, they forget it the next. And as for the 
 good, worthy man ; how do you know he is good and worthy ? 
 
 ^ It is observed in Waller's Life, in the " Biographia Britannica," that he drank 
 only Avater ; and that while he sat in a company who were drinking wine, " he had 
 the dexterity to accommodate his discourse to the pitch of theirs as it sunk." If ex- 
 cess in drinking be meant, the remark is acutely just. But surely, a moderate use 
 of wine gives a gayety of spirits which water-drinkers know not. — B. 
 
220 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778, 
 
 No good and worthy man will insist upon another man's drinking 
 wine. As to the wine twenty years in the cellar, — of ten men, 
 three say this, merely because they must say something; three 
 are telling a lie, when they say they have had the wine twenty 
 years ; three would rather save the wine ; one, perhaps, cares 
 I allow it is something to please one's company ; and people 
 are always pleased with those who partake pleasure with them. 
 But after a man has brought himself to relinquish the great 
 personal pleasure which arises from drinking wine, any other 
 consideration is a trifle. To please others by drinking wine, 
 is something only, if there be nothing against it. I should, how- 
 ever, be sorry to offend worthy men : 
 
 " ' Curst be the verse, how well so e'er it flow, 
 
 That tends to make one worthy man my foe.' " ' 
 
 BoswELL : "Curst be the spring, the water.'" Johnson: "But 
 let us consider what a sad thing it would be, if we were obliged 
 to drink or do anything else that may happen to be agreeable to 
 the company where we are." Langton : " By the same rule 
 you must join with a gang of cut-purses." Johnson : "Yes, Sir : 
 but yet we must do justice to wine ; we must allow it the power 
 it possesses. To make a man pleased with himself, let me tell 
 you, is doing a very great thing ; 
 
 " ' Si pair ice volumns, si nobis vivere cari.' ^ 
 
 I was at this time myself a water-drinker, upon trial, by John- 
 son's recommendation. Johnson : " Boswell is a bolder comba- 
 tant than Sir Joshua : he argues for wine without the help of wine ; 
 but Sir Joshua with it."- Sir Joshua Reynolds : " But to please 
 one's company is a strong motive." Johnson (who from drink- 
 ing only water, supposed everybody who drank wine to be ele- 
 vated) : " I won't argue any more with you. Sir. You are too far 
 gone." Sir Joshua : " I should have thought so indeed. Sir, had I 
 made such a speech as you have now done." Johnson (drawing 
 himself in, and I really thought blushing) : " Nay, do n't be angry. 
 I did not mean to offend you." Sir Joshua : " At first the taste 
 of wine was disagreeable to me ; but I brought myself to drink it, 
 that I might be like other people. The pleasure of drinking 
 wine is so connected with pleasing your company, that alto- 
 
 1 Pope : " Satires," Prologue, I. 283. 
 ' Horace : " Ei)istlcs," i. 3, 29. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 THE DUTY OF HOSPITALITY. 
 
 221 
 
 gether there is something of social goodness in it." Johnson : 
 " Sir, this is only saying the same thing over again." Sir 
 Joshua : " No, this is new." Johnson : " You put it in new 
 words, but it is an old thought. This is one of the disadvantages 
 of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts." Boswell : 
 " I think it is a new thought ; at least it is a new attitude.'' John- 
 son : " Nay, Sir, it is only in a new coat ; or an old coat with a 
 new facing. (Then laughing heartily) — it is the old dog in a new 
 doublet. An extraordinary instance, however, may occur where 
 a man's patron will do nothing for him, unless he will drink : 
 there may be a good reason for drinking." 
 
 1 mentioned a nobleman,^ who I believed was really uneasy if 
 his company would not drink hard. Johnson : " That is from 
 having had people about him whom he has been accustomed to 
 command." Boswell : " Supposing I should be tete-d-tete with 
 him at table." Johnson : " Sir, there is no more reason for 
 your drinking with him, than his being sober with you.'' Bos- 
 well : " Why that is true : for it would do him less hurt to be 
 sober, than it would do me to get drunk." Johnson : " Yes, Sir : 
 and from what I have heard of him, one would not wish to sac- 
 rifice himself to such a man. If he must always have somebody 
 to drink with him, he should buy a slave, and then he would be 
 sure to have it. They who submit to drink as another pleases, 
 make themselves his slaves." Boswell : " But, Sir, you will 
 surely make allowance for the duty of hospitality. A gentleman 
 who loves drinking comes to visit me." Johnson: " Sir, a man 
 knows whom he visits ; he comes to the table of a sober man." 
 Boswell : " But, Sir, you and I should not have been so well 
 received in the Highlands and Hebrides, if I had not drunk with 
 our worthy friends. Had I drunk water only as you did, they 
 would not have been so cordial." Johnson : " Sir William Tem- 
 ple ^ mentions, that in his travels through the Netherlands he had 
 two or three gentlemen with him ; and when a bumper was nec- 
 
 ^ Lord Errol. 
 
 2 " As soon as we came in the great hall there stood many flagons ready charged ; 
 the general called for wine to drink the King's health ; they brought him a formal 
 bell of silver gilt that might hold about two quarts or more; he took it empty, 
 pulled out the clapper and gave it to me who he intended to drink to ; then had 
 the bell filled, drunk it off to his Majesty's health ; then asked me for the clapper, 
 put it in, turned down the bell and rung it out to show that he had played fair and 
 left nothing in it ; took out the clapper, desired me to give it to whom I pleased ; 
 then gave his bell to be filled again and brought it to me. I, that never used to 
 drink and seldom would try, had commonly some gentlemen with me that served 
 for that purpose when it was necessary." — Temple's Works, ed. 1757, i* 266, quoted 
 by Dr. Hill. 
 
222 * BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 essary, he put it on f/iem. Were I to travel again through the 
 islands, I would have Sir Joshua with me to take the bumpers." 
 BoswELL : " But, Sir, let me put a case. Suppose Sir Joshua 
 should take a jaunt into Scotland ; he does me the honor to pay 
 me a visit at my house in the country ; I am overjoyed at seeing 
 - him ; we are quite by ourselves : shall I unsociably and churlishly 
 let him sit drinking by himself ? No, no, my dear Sir Joshua, 
 you shall not be treated so, I wtV/ take a bottle with you." 
 
 The celebrated Mrs. Rudd being mentioned,^ Johnson : " Fif- 
 teen years ago I should have gone to see her." Spottiswoode : 
 " Because she was fifteen years younger? " Johnson : No, Sir; 
 but now they have a trick of putting everything into the news- 
 papers." 
 
 He begged of General Paoli to repeat one of the introductory 
 stanzas of the first book of Tasso's '''Jerusalem," which he did, 
 and then Johnson found fault with the simile of sweetening the 
 edges of a cup for a child, being transferred from Lucretius into 
 an epic poem."^ The General said he did not imagine Homer's 
 poetry was so ancient as is supposed, because he ascribes to a 
 Greek colony circumstances of refinement not found in Greece 
 itself at a later period, when Thucydides wrote. Johnson : " I 
 recollect but one passage quoted by Thucydides from Homer, 
 which is not to be found in our copies of Homer's works ; I am for 
 the antiquity of Homer, and think that a Grecian colony by being 
 nearer Persia might be more refined than the mother country." 
 
 On Wednesday, x^pril 29, I dined with him at Mr. Allan Ram- 
 say's, where were Lord Binning, Dr. Robertson the historian, Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, and the Honorable Mrs. Boscavven, widow of 
 the Admiral, and mother of the present Viscount Falmouth ; of 
 whom, if it be not presumptuous in me to praise her, I would 
 say, that her manners are the most agreeable, and her conversa- 
 tion the best of any lady with whom I ever had the happiness to 
 be acquainted. Before Johnson came we talked a good deal of 
 him ; Ramsay said, he had always found him a very polite man, 
 and that he treated him with great respect, which he did very 
 sincerely. I said, I worshipped him. Rorer'json : " But some 
 of you spoil him : you should not worship him ; you shoukl 
 worship no man." Bosvvell : " I cannot help worshipping him, 
 he is so much superior to other men." Rop.ertson : " In criti- 
 cism, and in wit and conversation, he is no doubt very excellent ; 
 
 1 Vol. I., p. 570 and nofe ; and p. 50 this volume. 
 
 2 " Jerusalem," Canto i. st, 3. I^ucretius, i. 935 ; iv. 12. — Croker. 
 
Age 69.] JOIINSOiV AND ROBERTSON: 
 
 223 
 
 but in other respects he is not above other men ; he will believe 
 anything, and will strenuously defend the most minute circum- 
 stances connected with the Church of England." Boswell : 
 " Believe me, Doctor, you are much mistaken as to this ; for when 
 you talk with him calmly in private he is very liberal in his way 
 of thinking." Robertson : " He and I have been always very 
 gracious; the first time I met him was one evening at Strahan's, 
 when he had just had an unlucky altercation with Adam Smith, 
 to whom he had been so rough, that Strahan, after Smith was 
 gone, had remonstrated with him, and told him that I was com- 
 ing soon, and that he was uneasy to think that he might behave 
 in the same manner to me. ' No, no. Sir,' said Johnson, 'I war- 
 rant you Robertson and I shall do very well.' Accordingly he 
 was gentle and good-humored and courteous with me, the whole 
 evening ; and he has been so upon every occasion that we have 
 met since. I have often said (laughing), that I have been in a 
 great measure indebted to Smith for my good reception." Bos- 
 well : " His power of reasoning is very strong, and he has a pe- 
 cuHar art of drawing characters, which is as rare as good portrait 
 painting." Sir Joshua Reynolds : He is undoubtedly admira- 
 ble in this ; but, in order to mark the characters which he draws, 
 he overcharges them, and gives people more than they really 
 have, whether of good or bad." 
 
 No sooner did he, of whom we had been thus talking so easily, 
 arrive, than we were all as quiet as a school upon the entrance of 
 the head-master ; and were very soon sat down to a table covered 
 with such variety of good things, as contributed not a little to dis- 
 pose him to be pleased. 
 
 Ramsay : " I am old enough to have been a contemporary of 
 Pope. His poetry was highly admired in his Hfetime, more a 
 great deal than after his death." Johnson : " Sir, it has not been 
 less admired since his death ; no authors ever had so much fame 
 in their own lifetime as Pope and Voltaire ; and Pope's poetry 
 has been as much admired since his death as during his hfe ; it 
 has only not been as much talked of, but that is owing to its 
 being now more distant, and people having other writings to talk 
 of. Virgil is less talked of than Pope, and Homer is less talked 
 of than Virgil ; but they are not less admired. We must read 
 what the world reads at the moment. It has been maintained 
 that this superfetation, this teeming of the press in modern times, 
 is prejudicial to good literature, because it obliges us to read so 
 much of what is of inferior value, in order to be in the fashion ; 
 
224 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 so that better works are neglected for want of time, because a 
 man will have more gratification of his vanity in conversation, 
 from having read modern books, than from having read the best 
 works of antiquity. But it must be considered, that we have 
 now more knowledge generally diffused ; all our ladies read now, 
 which is a great extension. Modern writers are the moons of 
 literature ; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed 
 from the ancients. Greece appears to me to be the fountain of 
 knowledge ; Rome of elegance." Ramsay : " I suppose Homer's 
 ' Iliad ' to be a collection of pieces which had been written before 
 his time. I should like to see a translation of it in poetical 
 prose, like the book of Ruth or Job." Robertson : " Would 
 you, Dr. Johnson, who are master of the English language, but 
 try your hand upon a part of it." Johnson : " Sir, you could not 
 read it without the pleasure of verse." ' 
 
 We talked of antiquarian researches. Johnson : " All that is 
 really known of the ancient state of Britain is contained in a few 
 pages. We can know no more than what the old writers have 
 told us ; yet what large books have we upon it, the whole of 
 which, excepting such parts as are taken from those old writers, 
 is all a dream, such as Whitaker's ' Manchester.' I have heard 
 Henry's ' History of Britain ' well spoken of : I am told it is 
 carried on in separate divisions, as the civil, the military, the 
 religious history ; I wish much to have one branch well done, 
 and that is the history of manners, of common life." Robert- 
 son : " Henry should have applied his attention to that alone, 
 which is enough for any man ; and he might have found a great 
 deal scattered in various books, had he read solely with that 
 view. Henry erred in not selling his first volume at a moderate 
 price to the booksellers, that they might have pushed him on till 
 he had got reputation. I sold my ^ History of Scotland ' at a 
 moderate price, as a work by which the booksellers might either 
 gain or not ; and Cadell has told me, that Millar and he have got 
 six thousand pounds by it. I afterwards received a much higher 
 price for my writings.'^ An author should sell his first work for 
 what the booksellers will give, till it shall appear whether he is an 
 
 ^This experiment, which Madame Dacier made in vain, has since been tried in 
 our own language, by the editor of" Ossian," and we must either think very meanly 
 ofhis abilities, or allow that Dr. Johnson was in the right. And Mr. Cowpcr, a 
 man of real genius, has miserably tailed in his blank verse translation. — B. 
 
 2 He received 4,500/. for the " History of Charles V." See Macaulay's biography 
 of Johnson ; " Misc. Writ." ii. 300. Robertson's " Scotland " was published i)y Mil- 
 lar"l''cb. I, 1759; a second edition was called for within a month. By 1793 it was 
 in its fourteenth edition. The price was two guineas. 
 
% 
 
 Age 69.] HUMOR CONTROLLABLE JiV WILL. 225 
 
 •author of merit, or, which is the same thing as to purchase- 
 money, an author who pleases the public." 
 
 Dr. Robertson expatiated on the character of a certain noble- 
 man [Lord Clive] ; that he was one of the strongest minded 
 men that ever lived ; that he would sit in company quite slug- 
 gish, while there was nothing to call forth his intellectual vigor ; 
 but the moment that any important subject was started, for in- 
 stance, how this country is to be defended against a French in- 
 vasion, he would rouse himself, and show his extraordinary talents 
 with the most powerful ability and animation, Johnson : " Yet 
 this man cut his own throat. The true strong and sound mind is 
 the mind that can embrace equally great things and small. Now 
 I am told the King of Prussia will say to a servant, ' Bring me a 
 bottle of such a wine, which came in such a year ; it lies in such 
 a corner of the cellars.' I would have a man great in great 
 things, and elegant in little things." He said to me afterwards, 
 when we were by ourselves, " Robertson was in a mighty romantic 
 humor, he talked of one whom he did not know ; but I dowited him 
 with the King of Prussia." — ''Yes, Sir," said I, ''you threw a 
 bottle at his head." 
 
 An ingenious gentleman was mentioned, concerning whom 
 both Robertson and Ramsay agreed that he had a constant firm- 
 ness of mind ; for after a laborious day, and amidst a multiplicity 
 of cares and anxieties, he would sit down with his sisters and be 
 quite cheerful and good-humored. Such a disposition, it was ob- 
 served, was a happy gift of nature. Johnson : "I do not think 
 so ; a man has from nature a certain portion of mind ; the use 
 he makes of it depends upon his own free will. That a man has 
 always the same firmness of mind, I do not say ; because every 
 man feels his mind less firm at one time than another ; but I 
 think, a man's being in a good or bad humor depends upon his 
 will." I, however, could not help thinking that a man's humor 
 is often uncontrollable by his will. 
 
 Johnson harangued against drinking wine. " A man," said he, 
 " may choose whether he will have abstemiousness and knowl- 
 edge, or claret and ignorance." 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." 
 Robertson (holding a glass of generous claret in his hand) : 
 "Sir, I can only drink your health." Johnson: "Sir, I should 
 
 Vol. II. — is 
 
226 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 be sorry if you should be ever in such a state as to be able to do 
 nothing more." Robertson : " 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 ambassa- 
 dors to Louis the Fourteenth ; but Louis the Fourteenth sent 
 none to the King of Siam." ^ 
 
 Here my friend for once discovered a want of knowledge or 
 forgetfulness ; for Louis the Fourteenth did send an embassy to 
 the King of Siam, and the Abb6 Choisi, who was employed in it, 
 published an account of it in two volumes. 
 
 Next day, Thursday, April 30, I found him at home by him- 
 self. Johnson : " Well, Sir, Ramsay gave us a splendid dinner. 
 I love Ramsay. You will not find a man in whose conversation 
 there is more instruction, more information, and more elegance, 
 than in Ramsay's." Boswell : "What I admire in Ramsay, is 
 his continuing to be so young." Johnson : ''Why, yes. Sir, it is 
 to be admired. I value myself upon this, that there is nothing 
 of the old man in my conversation. I am now sixty-eight, and I 
 have no more of it than at twenty-eight." Boswell: "But, Sir, 
 would not you wish to know old age ? He who is never an old 
 man, does not know the whole of human life ; for old age is one 
 of the divisions of it." Johnson : "Nay, Sir, what talk is this?" 
 Boswell : " I mean, Sir, the Sphinx's description of it ; morn- 
 ing, noon, and night. I would know night, as well as morning 
 and noon." Johnson : " What, Sir, would you know what it is to 
 feel the evils of old age ? Would you have the gout ? Would 
 you have decrepitude?" Seeing him heated, I would not argue 
 any farther; but I was confident that I was in the right. I 
 would, in due time, be a Nestor, an elder of the people ; and 
 there should be some difference between the conversation of 
 twenty-eight and sixty-eight. A grave picture should not be gay. 
 There is a serene, solemn, placid old age. Johnson : Mrs. 
 Thrale's mother said of me what flattered me much. A clergy- 
 man was complaining of want of society in the country where he 
 lived; and said, ' They talk of runts; (that is, young cows). 
 * Sir,' said Mrs. Salusbury, ' Mr. Johnson would learn to talk of 
 runts : ' meaning that I was a man who would make the most of 
 
 » Mrs. Piozzi confidently mentions this as having passed in Scotland. " Aneo 
 dotes," p. 62. — B. 
 
Age 69.] JOHNSON " TOSSES'' BOS WELL. 
 
 227 
 
 my situation, whatever it was." He added, I think myself a 
 very polite man." 
 
 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 con- 
 versation ; 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 humor ; and upon some imaginary offence from me, he 
 attacked me with such rudeness, that I was vexed and angry, 
 because it gave those persons an opportunity of 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 
 away from him for a week ; and, perhaps, might have kept away 
 much longer, nay, 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. Langton'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 conciliating courtesy, " Well, how 
 have you done?" Boswell : "Sir, you have made me very un- 
 easy by your behavior 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 
 interrupted him, which I assured him was not the case ; and pro- 
 cf^eded — " But why treat me so before people who neither love 
 you nor me?" Johnson: "Well, I am sorry for it. I '11 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 do n't care how often, or how high he tosses 
 m-", when only friends are present, for then I fall upon soft ground : 
 but I do not like falling on stones, which is the case when enemies 
 are present. I think this a pretty good image. Sir." Johnson : 
 " Sir, it is one of the happiest I have ever heard." 
 
 The truth is, there was no venom in the wounds which he in- 
 flicted at any time, unless they were irritated by some malignant 
 infusion by other hands. We were instantly as cordial again as 
 
 1 On this day Johnson dictated to Boswell his Latin translation of Dryden's lines 
 on Milton. — Z)r. Hill, 
 
228 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 ever, and joined in hearty laugh at some ludicrous but innocent 
 peculiarities of one of our friends. Boswell : " Do you think, 
 Sir, it is always culpable to laugh at a man to his face?" John- 
 son : " Why, Sir, that depends upon the man and the thing. If 
 it is a" slight man, and a sHght thing, you may ; for you take 
 nothing valuable from him." 
 
 He said, " I read yesterday Dr. Blair's sermon on Devotion, 
 from the text ' Cornelius, a devout man.' ' His doctrine is the 
 best limited, the best expressed : there is the most warmth with- 
 out fanaticism, the most rational transport. There is one part of 
 it which I disapprove, and I 'd have him correct it ; which is, 
 that ' he who does not feel joy in religion is far from the kingdom 
 of heaven ! ' there are many good men whose fear of God pre- 
 dominates over their love. It may discourage. It was rashly 
 said. A noble sermon it is indeed. I wish Blair would come 
 over to the Church of England." 
 
 When Mr. Langton returned to us, the " flow of talk " went 
 on. An eminent author^ being mentioned; Johnson: "He 
 is not a pleasant man. His conversation is neither instructive 
 nor brilliant. He does not talk as if impelled by any fulness of 
 knowledge or vivacity of imagination. His conversation is like 
 that of any other sensible man. He talks with no wish either to 
 inform or to hear, but only because he thinks it does not become 
 to sit in a company and say nothing." 
 
 Mr. Langton having repeated the anecdote of Addison having 
 distinguished between his powers in conversation and in writing, 
 by saying I have only ninepence in my pocket ; but I can draw 
 for a thousand pounds ; " Johnson : "He had not that retort 
 ready. Sir; he had prepared it beforehand." Langton (turning 
 to me) : "A fine surmise. Set a thief to catch a thief." 
 
 Johnson called the East Indians barbarians. Boswell : " You 
 will except the Chinese, Sir? " Johnson : " No, Sir." Boswell : 
 "Have they not arts?" Johnson: "They have pottery." 
 Boswell : " What do you say to the written characters of their 
 language?" Johnson: " Sir, they have not an alphabet. They 
 have not been able to form what all other nations have formed." 
 Boswell : "There is more learning in their language than in any 
 other, from the immense number of their characters." Johnson : 
 " It is only more difficult from its rudeness ; as there is more 
 labor in hewing down a tree with a stone than with an axe." 
 
 * Acts X. I and 2. 
 
 =^ Dr. Robertson, Dr. Blair, or Dr. Beattie. 
 
Age 69. J 
 
 LORD K AMES'S SKF/rcIfKS. 
 
 229 
 
 He said, " I have been reading Lord Karnes's * Sketches of the 
 History of Man.' In treating of severity of punishment he 
 mentions that of Madame Lapiikhin, in Russia, but he does not 
 give itfliirly; for I have looked at 'Chappe d'Aute roche,' from 
 whom he has taken it.' He stops where it is said that the spec- 
 tators thought her innocent, and leaves out what follows ; that 
 she nevertheless was guilty. Now this is being as culpable as one 
 can conceive, to misrepresent fact in a book, and for what motive? 
 It is like one of those lies which people tell, one cannot see why. 
 The woman's life was spared ; and no punishment was too great 
 for the favorite of an Empress, who had conspired to dethrone 
 her mistress." Boswell : " He was only giving a picture of the 
 lady in her sufferings." Johnson : " Nay, do n't endeavor to 
 palliate this. Guilt is a principal feature in the picture. Kames 
 is puzzled with a question that puzzled me when I was a very 
 young man. Why is it that the interest, of money is lower, when 
 money is plentiful ; for five pounds has the same proportion of 
 value to a hundred pounds when money is plentiful, as when it is 
 scarce ? A lady explained it to me. ' It is,' said she, ' because 
 when money is plentiful there are so many more who have money 
 to lend, that they bid down one another. Many have then a 
 hundred pounds; and one says, — Take mine rather than an- 
 other's, and you shall have it at four cent.^ " Boswell : " Does 
 Lord Kames decide the question?" Johnson: "I think he 
 leaves it as he found it." Boswell: "This must have been an 
 extraordinary lady, who instructed you. Sir. May I ask who she 
 was?" Johnson: "Molly Aston, ^ Sir, the sister of those ladies 
 with whom you dined at Lichfield. — I shall be at home to- 
 morrow." Boswell : " Then let us dine by ourselves at the 
 
 1 " Voyage en Siberie," published in 1768. — Croker. 
 
 2 See Vol. L, p. 37, ttote i. Boswell thus translates the epigram there quoted by 
 Mrs. Piozzi : 
 
 "Adieu, Maria! since you 'd have me free; 
 For, who beholds thy charms, a slave must be." 
 He adds also the following note on it : 
 
 A correspondent of The Gentleman'' s Magazine, who subscribes himself SCIOLUS, 
 to whom I am indebted for several excellent remarks, observes, " The turn of Dr. 
 lohnson's lines to Miss Aston, whose Whig principles he had been combating, 
 appears to me, to be taken from an ingenious epigram in the " Menagiana," [vol. 
 iii. p. 376, edit. 1716] on a young lady who appeared at a masquerade, habillee e?i 
 Jesuite, during the fierce contentions of the followers of Molinos and Jansenius 
 concerning free-will : 
 
 *' On s'etonne ici que Caliste 
 Ait pris I'habit de Moliniste, 
 Puisque cette jeune beaute 
 Ote a chacun sa liberie 
 N'est ce pas une Janseniste? " — B. 
 
230 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 Mitre, to keep up the old custom, ' the custom of the manor,' 
 custom of the Mitre." Johnson : ''Sir, so it shall be." 
 
 On Saturday, May 9, we fulfilled our purpose of dining by our- 
 selves at the Mitre, according to old custom. There was, on 
 these occasions, a little circumstance of kind attention to Mrs. 
 Williams, which must not be omitted. Before coming out, and 
 leaving her to dine alone, he gave her her choice of a chicken, 
 a sweetbread, or any other little nice thing, which was carefully 
 sent to her from the tavern ready-dressed. 
 
 Our conversation to-day, I know not how, turned, I think for 
 the only time at any length during our long acquaintance, upon 
 the sensual intercourse between the sexes, the delight of which 
 he ascribed chiefly to imagination. " Were it not for imagina- 
 tion. Sir," said he, " a man would be as happy in the arms of a 
 chamber-maid as of a duchess. But such is the adventitious 
 charm of fancy, that we find men who have violated the best 
 principles of society, and ruined their fame and their fortune, 
 that they might possess a woman of rank." It would not be 
 proper to record the particulars of such conversation in moments 
 of unreserved frankness, when nobody was present on whom it 
 could have any hurtful effect. That subject, when philosophi- 
 cally treated, may surely employ the mind in a curious discussion, 
 and as innocently, as anatomy ; provided that those who do treat 
 it, keep clear of inflammatory incentives. 
 
 " From grave to gay, from lively to severe," ' — we were soon 
 engaged in very different speculation ; humbly and reverently 
 considering and wondering at the universal mystery of all things, 
 as our imperfect faculties can now judge of them. " There are," 
 said he, " innumerable questions to which the inquisitive mind 
 can in this state receive no answer: Why do you and I exist? 
 Why was this world created? Since it was to be created, why 
 was it not created sooner?" 
 
 On Sunday, May 10, I supped with him at Mr. Hoole's, with 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds. I have neglected the memorial of this even- 
 ing, so as to remember no more of it than two particulars ; one 
 that he strenuously opposed an argument by Sir Joshua, that vir- 
 tue was preferable to vice, considering this life only ; and that a 
 man would be virtuous were it only to preserve his character : 
 and that he expressed much wonder at the curious formation of 
 the bat, a mouse with wings ; saying, that it was almost as strange 
 a thing in physiology as if the fabulous dragon could be seen. 
 
 1 Pope : *' Essay on Man," iv. 380. 
 
Age 69.] noSW ell's call OiV MAncilMoNT. 231 
 
 On Tuesday, May 12, I waited on the Earl of Marchmont, to 
 know if tiis Lordship would favor Dr. Johnson with information 
 concerning Pope, whose Life he was about to write. Johnson 
 had not flattered himself with the hopes of receiving any civility 
 from this nobleman ; for he said to me, when I mentioned 
 Lord Marchmont as one who could tell him a great deal about 
 Pope, — " Sir, he will tell 7?ie nothing." I had the honor of be- 
 ing known to his Lordship, and applied to him of myself, without 
 being commissioned by Johnson. His Lordship behaved in the 
 most polite and obliging manner, promised to tell all he recol- 
 lected about Pope, and was so very courteous as to say, "Tell 
 Dr. Johnson, I have a great respect for him, and am ready to 
 show it in any way I can. I am to be in the city to-morrow, and 
 will call at his house as I return." His Lordship however asked, 
 " Will he write the Lives of the Poets impartially? He was 
 the first that brought Whig and Tory into a Dictionary. And 
 what do you think of his definition of excise ? Do you know the 
 history of his aversion to the word transpire?''^ Then taking 
 down the folio Dictionary, he showed it with this censure on its 
 secondary sense : " ' To escape from secrecy to notice ; a sense 
 lately innovated from France, without necessity.' The truth was, 
 Lord Bolingbroke, who left the Jacobites, first used it ; therefore, 
 it was to be condemned. He should have shown what word 
 would do for it, if it was unnecessary." I afterwards put the 
 question to Johnson: "Why, Sir (said \\t),gef abroad^ Bos- 
 well: "That, Sir, is using two words." Johnson: "Sir, there 
 is no end of this. You may as well insist to have a word for old 
 age." Boswell: "Well, Sir, Senectus'' Johnson: "Nay, Sir, 
 to insist always that there should be one word to express a thing 
 in English, because there is one in another language, is to 
 change the language." 
 
 I availed myself of this opportunity to hear from his Lordship 
 many particulars both of Pope and Lord Bolingbroke, which I 
 have in writing.^ 
 
 1 proposed to Lord Marchmont, that he should revise John- 
 son's Life of Pope; "So (said his Lordship), you would put 
 me in a dangerous situation. You know he knocked down 
 Osborne, the bookseller." 
 
 Elated with the success of my spontaneous exertion to procure 
 
 ^ Used by Walpole, Chesterfield, and Fielding. 
 
 2 No doubt destroyed with the other papers that Boswell left to his literary ex- 
 ecutors. — Dr. Hill. 
 
232 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 material and respectable aid to Johnson for his very favorite 
 work, "The Lives of the Poets," I hastened down to Mr. Thrale's 
 at Streatham, where he now was, that 1 might ensure his being at 
 home next day ; and after dinner, when I thought he would re- 
 ceive the good news in the best humor, I announced it eagerly : 
 1 have been at work for you to-day, Sir. I have been with 
 Lord Marchmont. He bade me tell you, he has a great respect 
 for you, and will call on you to-morrow, at one o'clock, and com- 
 municate all he knows about Pope." Here I paused, in full ex- 
 pectation that he would be pleased with this intelHgence, would 
 praise my active merit, and would be alert to embrace such an 
 offer from a nobleman. But whether I had shown an over-exulta- 
 tion which provoked his spleen ; or whether he was seized with a 
 suspicion that I had obtruded him on Lord Marchmont, and 
 humbled him too much ; or whether there was anything more 
 than an unlucky fit of ill-humor, I know not ; but to my surprise, 
 the result was, — Johnson: "I shall not be in town to-morrow. 
 I do n't care to know about Pope." Mrs. Thrale (surprised 
 as I was, and a little angry) : I suppose. Sir, Mr. Boswell thought, 
 that as you are to write Pope's Life, you would wish to know 
 about him." Johnson: "Wish! why yes. If it rained knowl- 
 edge, I 'd hold out my hand ; but I would not give myself the 
 trouble to go in quest of it." There was no arguing with him at 
 the moment. Some time afterwards he said, " Lord Marchmont 
 will call on me, and then I shall call on Lord Marchmont." Mrs. 
 Thrale was uneasy at his unaccountable caprice ; and told me, 
 that if I did not take care to bring about a meeting between Lord 
 Marchmont and him, it would never take place, which would be 
 a great pity. I sent a card to his Lordship, to be left at John- 
 son's house, acquainting him, that Dr. Johnson could not be in 
 town next day, but would do himself the honor of waiting on him 
 at another time — I give this account fairly, as a specimen of 
 that unhappy temper with which this great and good man had 
 occasionally to struggle from something morbid in his constitu- 
 tion. Let the most censorious of my readers suppose himself to 
 have a violent fit of the toothache, or to have received a severe 
 stroke on the shin-bone, and when in such a state to be asked a 
 question ; and if he has any candor he will not be surprised at 
 the answers which Johnson sometimes gave in moments of irrita- 
 tion, which, let me assure them, is exquisitely painful. But it 
 must not be erroneously supposed that he was, in the smallest 
 degree, careless concerning any work which he undertook, or 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 A LICENTIOUS STANZA. 
 
 that he was generally thus peevish. It will be seen that in the 
 following year he had a very agreeable interview with Lord 
 Marchmont, at his Lordship's house ; and this very afternoon he 
 soon forgot any fretfulness, and fell into conversation as usual. 
 
 I mentioned a reflection having been thrown out against four 
 peers for having presumed to rise in opposition to the opinion of 
 the twelve judges, in a cause in the House of Lords, as if that 
 were indecent. Johnson : " Sir, t'here is no ground for censure. 
 The peers are judges themselves; and supposing them really to 
 be of a different opinion, they might from duty be in opposition 
 to the judges, who were there only to be consulted." 
 
 In this observation I fully concurred with him ; for unquestion- 
 ably, all the peers are vested with the highest judicial powers ; 
 and when they are confident that they understand a cause, are 
 not obliged, nay ought not to acquiesce in the opinion of the 
 ordinary law judges, or even in that of those who from their 
 studies and experience are called the law lords. I consider the 
 peers in general as I do a jury, who ought to listen with respect- 
 ful attention to the sages of the law ; but, if after hearing them 
 they have a firm opinion of their own, are bound as honest men 
 to decide accordingly. Nor is it so difficult for them to under- 
 stand even law questions, as is generally thought ; provided they 
 will bestow sufficient attention upon them. This observation was 
 made by my honored relation the late Lord Cathcart, who had 
 spent his life in camps and courts ; yet assured me, that he could 
 form a clear opinion upon most of the causes that came before 
 the House of Lords, " as they were so well enucleated ^ in the 
 cases." 
 
 Mrs. Thrale told us, that a curious clergyman of our acquaint- 
 ance had discovered a licentious stanza, which Pope had 
 originally in his "Universal Prayer," before the stanza, 
 
 " What conscience dictates to be done, 
 Or warns us [me] not to do," &c. 
 
 It was this : 
 
 " Can sins of moment claim the rod 
 Of everlasting fires? 
 And that offend great Nature's GoD, 
 Which Nature's self inspires? " 
 
 and that Dr. Johnson observed, " it had been borrowed from 
 'Guarini.'" There are, indeed, in 'Pastor Fido ' many such 
 
 ^ " Enucleated : to solve, to clear. " — Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
234 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 flimsy superficial reasonings as that in the last two lines of this 
 stanza. 
 
 BoswELL : " In that stanza of Pope's, ' 7'od of fires,'' is certainly 
 a bad metaphor." Mrs. Thrale : " And ' sins of rnoment' is a 
 faulty expression ; for its true import is momentousy which cannot 
 be intended." Johnson : " It must have been written * of 
 moments' Of moment, is momentous ; of moments, motnentaij. 
 I warrant you however, Pope wrote ' this stanza, and some friend 
 struck it out. Boileau wrote some such thing, and Arnauld ^ struck 
 it out, saying, ' Vous gagnerez deux ou trois impies, et perdrez 
 je ne sais combien des honnctes gens' These fellows want to s ly 
 a daring thing, and do n't know how to go about it. Mere poets 
 know no more of fundamental principles than — ." Here he was 
 interrupted somehow. Mrs. Thrale mentioned Dryden. John- 
 son : " He puzzled himself about predestination. How foolish it 
 was in Pope to give all his friendship to lords who thought they 
 honored him by being with him ; and to choose such lords 
 as Burlington, and Cobham, and Bolingbroke ! Bathurst was 
 negative, a pleasing man ; and I have heard no ill of March- 
 mont ; and then always saying, ' I do not value you for being a 
 lord ; ' which was a sure proof that he did. I never say, I do not 
 value Boswell more for being born to an estate, because I do not 
 care." Boswell: "Nor foi being a Scotchman?" Johnson: 
 
 Nay, Sir, I do value you more for being a Scotchman. You 
 are a Scotchman without the faults of Scotchmen. You would 
 not have been so valuable as you are had you not been a 
 Scotchman." 
 
 Talking of divorces, I asked if Othello's doctrine was not 
 plausible : 
 
 *• He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen, 
 
 Let him not know 't, and he 's not robb'd at all." ^ 
 
 Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale joined against this. Johnson : 
 "Ask any man if he 'd wish not to know of such an injury." 
 Boswell : " Would you tell your friend to make him unhappy? " 
 Johnson : " Perhaps, Sir, I should not ; but that would be from 
 prudence on my own account. A man would tell his father." 
 Boswell : " Yes ; because he would not have spurious children to 
 get any share of the family inheritance." Mrs. Thrale : "Or he 
 
 ^ Mr. Elwin doubts the genuineness of this suppressed stanza. 
 
 Antoine Arnauld (1612-1694) called " le grand," theologian and philosopher. 
 8" Othello," Act iii. sc. 3. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 FORD'S GHOST. 
 
 235 
 
 would tell his brother." Boswell : "Certainly his e/der brother." 
 Johnson : " You would tell your friend of a woman's infamy, to 
 prevent his marrying a whore : there is the same reason to tell 
 him of his wife's infidelity, when he is married, to prevent the 
 consequences of imposition. It is a breach of confidence not 
 
 to tell a friend." Boswell: "Would you tell Mr. •?" 
 
 (naming a gentleman who assuredly was not in the least danger 
 of such a miserable disgrace, though married to a fine woman.) 
 Johnson : " No, Sir ; because it would do no good : he is so 
 sluggish, he 'd never go to Parliament and get through r. 
 divorce." ^ 
 
 He said of one of our friends, " He is ruining himself without 
 pleasure. A man who loses at play, or who runs out his fortune 
 at court, makes his estate less, in hopes of making it bigger (I 
 am sure of this word, which was often used by him) : but it is a 
 sad thing to pass through the quagmire of parsimony, to the gulf 
 of ruin. To pass over the flowery path of extravagance is very 
 well." 
 
 Amongst the numerous prints pasted ^ on the walls of the 
 dining-room at Streatham, was Hogarth's " Modern Midnight 
 Conversation." I asked him what he knew of Parson Ford, who 
 makes a conspicuous figure in the riotous group. ^ Johnson : 
 " Sir, he was my acquaintance and relation, my mother's nephew. 
 He had purchased a living in the country, but not simoniacally. 
 I never saw him but in the country. I have been told he was a 
 man of great parts ; very profligate, but I never heard he was im- 
 pious." Boswell : " Was there not a story of his ghost having 
 appeared?" Johnson: " Sir, it was believed. A waiter at the 
 Hummums," in which house Ford died, had been absent for 
 some time, and returned, not knowing that Ford was dead. 
 Going down to the cellar, according to the story, he met him ; 
 going down again, he met him a second time. When he came 
 up, he asked some of the people of the house what Ford could 
 be doing there. They told him Ford was dead. The waiter 
 took a fever, in which he lay for some time. When he recovered 
 he said he had a message to deliver to some women from Ford ; 
 
 ^ Both these paragraphs refer to Langton, to whom, as Croker justly observes, 
 Boswell never lets slip a chance of an offensive allusion. 
 
 ^ We may wonder whether pasted is strictly used. It seems likely that the 
 wealthy brewer, who had a taste for the fine arts, afforded Hogarth at least a 
 frame. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ See ante. Vol. I., p. 16, note 2. 
 
 ^ Baths are called Hummums in the East, and thence this hotel, where there 
 were baths, was called by that name. — Croker. 
 
236 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 but he was not to tell what, or to whom. He walked out ; he 
 was followed ; but somewhere about St. Paul's they lost him. He 
 came back, and said he had delivered the message, and the 
 women exclaimed, ' Then we are all undone ! ' Dr. Pellet, who 
 was not a credulous man, inquired into the truth of this story, 
 and he said, the evidence was irresistible. My wife went to the 
 Hummums; (it is a place where people get themselves cupped). 
 I believe she went with intention to hear about this story of Ford. 
 At first they were unwilling to tell her ; but after they had talked 
 to her, she came away satisfied that it was true. To be sure the 
 man had a fever ; and this vision may have been the beginning 
 of it. But if the message to the women, and their behavior upon 
 it, were true as related, there was something supernatural. That 
 rests upon his word ; and there it remains." 
 
 After Mrs. Thrale was gone to bed, Johnson and I sat up late. 
 We resumed Sir Joshua Reynolds's argument on the preceding 
 Sunday, that a man would be virtuous, though he had no other 
 motive than to preserve his character. Johnson : " Sir, it is not 
 true : for, as to this world, vice does not hurt a man's character." 
 BoswELL : "Yes, Sir, debauching a friend's wife will." Johnson: 
 "No, Sir. Who thinks the worse of [Beauclerk] for it?" Bos- 
 well : " Lord [Bolingbroke] was not his friend." ^ Johnson : 
 " That is only a circumstance. Sir, a slight distinction. He could 
 not get into the house but by Lord [Bolingbroke]. A man is 
 chosen Knight of the Shire not the less for having debauched 
 ladies." Boswell : " What, Sir, if he debauched the ladies of 
 gentlemen in the country, will not there be a general resentment 
 against him?" Johnson: "No, Sir. He will lose those partic- 
 ular gentlemen ; but the rest will not trouble their heads about 
 it:" (warmly.) Boswell: "Well, Sir, I cannot think so." 
 [ohnson : " Nay, Sir, there is no talking with a man who will 
 dispute what everybody knows : (angrily.) Don't you know 
 this?" Boswell: "No, Sir; and I wish to think better of your 
 country than you represent it. I knew in Scotland a gentleman 
 obliged to leave it for debauching a lady; and in one of our 
 counties an earl's brother lost his election, because he had de- 
 bauched the lady of another earl in that county, and destroyed 
 the peace of a noble family." 
 
 Still he would not yield. He proceeded : " Will you not allow. 
 Sir, that vice does not hurt a man's character so as to obstruct 
 his prosperity in life, when you know that [Lord Clive] was 
 
 ^Sec an/'e, Vol. L, p. 442, and note i. 
 
 • 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 INFLUENCE OF CHARACTER. 
 
 237 
 
 loaded with wealth and honors : a man who had acquired his 
 fortune by such crimes, that his consciousness of them impelled 
 him to cut his own throat?"' Boswell : "You will recollect, 
 Sir, that Dr. Robertson said, he cut his throat because he was 
 weary of still life ; little things not being sufficient to move his 
 great mind." Johnson (very angry) : "Nay, Sir, what stuff is 
 this? You had no more this opinion after Robertson said it, 
 than before. I know nothing more offensive than repeating what 
 one knows to be foolish things, by way of continuing a dispute, to 
 see what a man will answer, — to make him your butt ! " (angrier 
 still.) Boswell : " My dear Sir, I had no such intention as you 
 seem ' to suspect : I had not indeed. Might not this nobleman 
 have felt everything ' weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable,' ^ as 
 Hamlet says? " Johnson : " Nay, if you are to bring in gabble, 
 I '11 talk no more. I will not, upon my honor." My readers 
 will decide upon this dispute. 
 
 Next morning I stated to Mrs. Thrale at breakfast, before he 
 came down, the dispute of last night as to the influence of charac- 
 ter upon success in life. She said he was certainly wrong ; and 
 told me, that a baronet lost an election in Wales, because he had 
 debauched the sister of a gentleman in the country, whom he 
 made one of his daughters invite as her companion at his seat in 
 the country, when his lady and his other children were in Lon- 
 don. But she would not encounter Johnson upon the subject. 
 
 I stayed all this day with him at Streatham. He talked a 
 great deal in very good humor. 
 
 Looking at Messrs. Dillys' splendid edition of Lord Chester- 
 field's miscellaneous works, he laughed, and said : " Here are now 
 two speeches ascribed to him, both of which were written by me : 
 and the best of it is, they have found out that one is like Demos- 
 thenes, and the other like Cicero." ^ 
 
 He censured Lord Kames's " Sketches of the History of Man," 
 for misrepresenting Clarendon's account of the appearance of Sir 
 George Villier's ghost, as if Clarendon were weakly credulous ; 
 when the truth is, that Clarendon only says, that the story was 
 upon a better foundation of credit than usually such discourses 
 are founded upon ; nay, speaks thus of the person who was re- 
 
 ^ For the absurd stories about Clive's suicide, and the true cause of it, see Ma- 
 caulay's essay, and Sir Charles Wilson's " Clive " (Macmillan's " Men of Action "). 
 2" Hamlet," Act i. sc. 2. 
 
 ^The one compared to Demosthenes could not have been Johnson's because it 
 was reported in The Gentleman's Magazine for July, 1737, nine months before his 
 first contribution to that journal. — Dr. Hill. 
 
238 
 
 BOSWELVs life of JOHNSON. [A.U. 1778. 
 
 ported to have seen the vision, " the poor man, if he had been at 
 all waking ; " which Lord Kames has omitted. He added : " In 
 this book it is maintained that virtue is natural to man, and, that 
 if we would but consult our own hearts, we should be virtuous. 
 Now after consulting our own hearts all we can, and with all the 
 helps we have, we find how few of us are virtuous. This is saying 
 a thing which all mankind know not to be true." Boswell : 
 "Is not modesty natural?" Johnson: "I cannot say. Sir, as 
 we find no people quite in a state of nature ; but I think the more 
 they are taught, the more modest they are. The French are a 
 gross, ill-bred, untaught people ; a lady there will spit on the floor 
 and rub it with her foot. What I gained by being in France was 
 learning to be better satisfied with my own country. Time may 
 be employed to more advantage from nineteen to twenty-four 
 almost in any way than in travelling ; when you set travelling 
 against mere negation, against doing nothing, it is better to be 
 sure; but how much more would a young man improve were he 
 to study during those years. Indeed, if a young man is wild, and 
 must run after women and bad company, it is better this should 
 be done abroad, as, on his return, he can break off such connec- 
 tions, and begin at home a new man, with a character to form, 
 and acquaintances to make. How little does travelling supply to 
 the conversation of any man who has travelled ; how little to Beau- 
 clerk?" Boswell: "What say you to Lord ?" John- 
 son : " I Tiever but once heard him talk of what he had seen, 
 and that was of a large serpent in one of the pyramids of Egypt." 
 Boswell : " Weli, I happened to hear him tell the same thing, 
 which made me mention him." ^ 
 
 I talked of a country life. Johnson : " Were I to live in the 
 country, I would not devote myself to the acquisition of popular- 
 ity ; I would live in a much better way, much more happily ; I 
 would have my time at my own command." Boswell: But, 
 Sir, is it not a sad thing to be at a distance from all our literary 
 friends?" Johnson : " Sir, you will by and by have enough of 
 this conversation which now delights you so much," 
 
 As he was a zealous friend of subordination, he was at all times 
 watchful to repress the vulgar cant against the manners of the 
 great. " High people, Sir," said he, "are the best; take a hun- 
 dred ladies of quality, you '11 find them better wives, better 
 mothers, more willing to sacrifice their own pleasure to their 
 
 ^ James, first Earl of Charlemont. His lordship was to the last in the habit of 
 telling this story rather too often. — Croker. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 BOS WELL'S REMISSNESS. 
 
 239 
 
 children, than a hundred other women. Tradeswomen (I mean 
 the wives of tradesmen) in the City, who are worth from 10 to 
 15,000/. are the worst creatures upon the earth, grossly ignorant, 
 and thinking viciousness fashionable. Farmers, I think, are often 
 worthless fellows. Few lords will cheat ; and if they do they '11 
 be ashamed of it : farmers cheat and are not ashamed of it : they 
 have all the sensual vices too of the nobility, with cheating into 
 the bargain. There is as much fornication and adultery amongst 
 farmers as amongst noblemen." Boswell : " The notion of the 
 world. Sir, however, is, that the morals of women of quality are 
 worse than those in lower stations." Johnson: "Yes, Sir, the 
 licentiousness of one woman of quality makes more noise than 
 that of a number of women in lower stations ; then. Sir, you are 
 to consider the malignity of women in the City against women of 
 quality, which will make them believe any thing of them, such as 
 that they call their coachman to bed. No, Sir, so far as I have 
 observed, the higher in rank, the richer ladies are, they are the 
 better instructed and the more virtuous." 
 
 This year the Reverend Mr. Horne published his " Letter to 
 Mr. Dunning, on the English Particle;" Johnson read it; and 
 though not treated in it with sufficient respect, he had candor 
 enough to say to Mr. Seward, " Were I to make a new edition of 
 my Dictionary, I would adopt several' of Mr. Home's etymolo- 
 gies ; I hope they did not put the dog in the pillory for his libel ; 
 he has too much literature for that." 
 
 On Saturday, May 16, I dined with him at Mr. Beauclerk's 
 with Mr. Langton, Mr. Steevens, Dr. Higgins, and some others. 
 I regret very feelingly every instance of my remissness in record- 
 ing his meuiorabilia ; I am afraid it is the condition of humanity 
 (as Mr. Windham, of Norfolk, once observed to me, after having 
 made an admirable speech in the House of Commons, which was 
 highly applauded, but which he afterwards perceived might have 
 been better) : " that we are more uneasy from thinking of our 
 wants, than happy in thinking of our acquisitions." This is an 
 unreasonable mode of disturbing our tranquillity, and should be 
 corrected ; let me then comfort myself with the large treasure of 
 Johnson's conversation which I have preserved for my own enjoy- 
 ment and that of the world, and let me exhibit what I have upon 
 
 1 In Mr. Horne Tooke's enlargement of that " Letter," which he has since pub- 
 lished with the title of "'E.Tca TrrepoeiTi; or, the Diversions of Purley; " he mentions 
 this compliment, as if Dr. Johnson instead of several of his etymologies had said 
 all. His recollection having thus magnified it, shows how ambitious he was of the 
 : approbation of so great a man. — B, 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
240 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 each occasion^ whether more or less, whether a bulse,^ or only a 
 few sparks of a diamond. 
 
 He said, " Dr. Mead lived more in the broad sunshine of life 
 than almost any man." ^ 
 
 The disaster of General Burgoyne's army was then the com- 
 mon topic of conversation.^ It was asked why piling their arms 
 was insisted upon as a matter of such consequence, when it 
 seemed to be a circumstance so inconsiderable in itself. John- 
 son : " Why, Sir, a French author says, ' 1/ y a beaucoup de 
 puerilites dans la guerj^e' All distinctions are trifles, because 
 great things can seldom occur, and those distinctions are settled 
 by custom. A savage would as willingly have his meat sent to 
 him in the kitchen, as eat it at the table here : as men become 
 civilized, various modes of denoting honorable preference are in- 
 vented." 
 
 He this day made the observations upon the similarity between 
 " Rasselas " and " Candide :" which I have inserted in its proper 
 place, when considering his admirable philosophical Romance. 
 He said "Candide," he thought, had more power in it than any- 
 thing that Voltaire had written. 
 
 He said : " The lyrical part of Horace never can be perfectly 
 translated ; so much of the excellence is in the numbers and the 
 expression. Francis has done it the best ; I '11 take his, five out 
 of six, against them all." 
 
 On Sunday, May 17, I presented to him Mr. Fullarton of Ful- 
 larton, who has since distinguished himself so much in India,* to 
 whom he naturally talked of travels, as Mr. Brydone accompanied 
 him in his tour to Sicily and Malta. He said : The information 
 which we have from modern travellers is much more authentic 
 than what we had from ancient travellers ; ancient travellers 
 guessed ; modern travellers measure. The Swiss admit that there 
 is but one error in Stanyan.^ If Brydone were more attentive to 
 his Bible he would be a good traveller." 
 
 1 Bulse, from bolsa, a Portuguese word signifying a purse ; used in India for ;i 
 certain quantity of diamonds. — Imp. Diet. 
 ^ See ante, Vol. I., p. 87, note i. 
 
 3 His surrender to Gates at Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777. — Croker. 
 
 * William Fullarton, an Ayrshire gentleman, played a distinguished part in the 
 Indian wars, first against Hyder Ali, and afterwards against his son Tippoo. He 
 published a " View of the English Interests in India" in 1787. In later life he was 
 less favorably known for his quarrel with Picton over the administration of 
 Trinidad, which resulted in the latter being tried for the torture of a Spanish girl, 
 and found guilty, though the verdict was reversed on appeal. 
 
 Temple Stanyan, at one time Mmister to the Porte, author of an " Account of 
 Switzerland" (1714) and a " History of Greece." He died in 1752. — Croker. 
 
^ge 69.] JOHNSON'S HORROR OF VOWS. 
 
 241 
 
 He said, "Lord Chatham was a Dictator; he possessed the 
 power of putting the State in motion ; now there is no power, all 
 order is relaxed." Boswell : "Is there no hope of a change to 
 the better ?" Johnson: "Why, yes, Sir, when we are weary of 
 this relaxation. So the City of London will appoint its mayors 
 again by seniority." Boswell : " But is not that taking a mere 
 chance for having a good or a bad mayor?" Johnson: "Yes, 
 Sir; but the evil of competition is greater than that of the worst 
 mayor that can come ; besides, there is no more reason to sup- 
 pose that the choice of a rabble will be right, than that chance 
 will be right." 
 
 On Tuesday, May 19, I was to set out for Scotland in the 
 evening. He was engaged to dine with me at Mr. Dilly's ; I 
 waited upon him to remind him of his appointment and attend 
 him thither; he gave me some salutary counsel, and recom- 
 mended vigorous resolution against any deviation from moral 
 duty. Boswell : " But you would not have me to bind myself 
 by a solemn obligation?" Johnson (much agitated) : "What! 
 a vow — Oh, no. Sir, a vow is a horrible thing, it is a snare for 
 sin. The man who cannot go to heaven without avow — may 
 go — " here standing erect, in the middle of his library, and 
 rolling grand, his pause was truly a curious compound of the 
 solemn and the ludicrous ; he half-whistled in his usual way, 
 when pleasant, and he paused, as if checked by religious awe. 
 Methought he would have added — to Hell — but was restrained. 
 I humored the dilemma. "What! Sir," said I, "'/ft cceluin 
 jusseris ibit^?''' ' alluding to his imitation of it, 
 
 " And bid him go to Hell, to Hell he goes." 
 
 I had mentioned to him a slight fault in his noble " Imitation 
 of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal," a too near recurrence of the 
 verb spread, in his description of the young enthusiast at College : 
 
 " Through all his veins the fever of renown 
 
 Spreads from the strong contagion of the gown; 
 O'er Bodley's dome his future labors spread, 
 And Bacon's mansion trembles o'er his head." 
 
 He had desired me to change spreads to burns, but for perfect 
 authenticity, I now had it done with his own hand.^ I thought 
 ^ Juvenal : " Sat," iii. 78. 
 
 ' The slip of paper on which he made the correction, is deposited by me in the 
 noble library to which it relates, and to which I have presented other pieces of his 
 handwriting. — B. They are not now to be found m the Bodleian. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 Vol.. 11. — 16 
 
242 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 this alteration not only cured the fault, but was more poetical, as 
 it might carry an allusion to the shirt by which Hercules was 
 inflamed. 
 
 We had a quiet comfortable meeting at Mr. Billy's; nobody 
 there but ourselves. Mr. Dilly mentioned somebody having 
 wished that Milton's "Tractate on Education" should be printed 
 along with his poems in the edition of the English Poets then 
 going on. Johnson: "It would be breaking in upon the plan ; 
 but would be of no great consequence. So far as it would be 
 anything, it would be wrong. Education in England has been 
 in danger of being hurt by two of its greatest men, Milton and 
 Locke. Milton's plan is impracticable, and I suppose has never 
 been tried. Locke's, I fancy, has been tried often enough, but 
 is very imperfect ; it gives too much to one side, and too little to 
 the other; it gives too little to literature — I shall do what I can 
 for Dr. Watts ; but my materials are very scanty. His poems are 
 by no means his best works ; I cannot praise his poetry itself 
 highly; but I can praise its design." 
 
 My illustrious friend and I parted with assurances of affection- 
 ate regard. 
 
 I wrote to him on the 25th of May, from Thorpe in Yorkshire, 
 one of the seats of Mr. Bosville, and gave him an account of ray 
 having passed a day at Lincoln, unexpectedly, and therefore with- 
 out having any letters of introduction, but that I had been hon- 
 ored with civilities from the Rev. Mr. Simpson, an acquaintance 
 of his, and Captain Broadley, of the Lincolnshire Militia ; but 
 more particularly from the Rev. Dr. Gordon, the Chancellor, who 
 first received me with great politeness as a stranger, and, when 
 I informed him who I was, entertained me at his house with the 
 most flattering attention; I also expressed the pleasure with 
 which I had found that our worthy friend, Langton, was highly 
 esteemed in his own country town. 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, June 18, 1773. 
 
 My dear Sir: 
 
 vSince my return to Scotland, I have been again at Lanark, and have had 
 more conversation with Thomson's sister. It is strange that Murdoch, who 
 was his intimate friend, should have mistaken his mother's maiden name, 
 which he says was I lume, whereas Hume was the name of his grandmother 
 by the mother's side. I lis mother's name was Beatrix Trotters,' a daughter 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson was by no means attentive to minute accuracy in his " Lives of 
 the Poets ; " for notwithstanding my having detected this mistake, he has con- 
 tinued it. — B. 
 
Age 69.] DR. JOHNSON AT WAR LEY ('AMP. 243 
 
 of Mr. Trotter, of Fogo, a small proprietor of land. Thomson had one l)rother, 
 whom he had with him in England as his amanuensis; but he was seized with 
 a consumption, and having returned to Scotland, to try what his native air 
 would do for him, died young. He had three sisters, one married to Mr. 
 Bell, minister of the parish of Strathaven; one to Mr. Craig, father of the 
 ingenious architect who gave the plan of the New Town of Edinburgh; and 
 one to Mr. Thomson, master of the grammar-school at Lanark. He was of a 
 humane and benevolent disposition; not only sent valuable presents to his sis- 
 ters, but a yearly allowance in money, and was always wishing to have it in 
 his power to do them more good. Lord Lyttelton's observation that "he 
 loathed much to write," was very true. His letters to his sister, Mrs. Thom- 
 son, were not frequent, and in one of them he says, " All my friends who 
 know me, know how backward I am to write letters: and never impute the 
 negligence of my hand to the coldness of my heart." I send you a copy of 
 the last letter which she had from him; she never heard that he had any in- 
 tention of going into holy orders. From this late interview with his sister, 
 I think much more favourably of him, as I hope you will. I am eager to see 
 more of your Prefaces to the Poets: I solace myself with the few proof-sheets 
 which I have. 
 
 I send another parcel of Lord Hailes's " Annals," which you will please 
 to return to me as soon as you conveniently can. He says, he wishes you 
 would cut a little deeper; but he may be proud that there is so little occasion 
 to use the critical knife. I ever am, my dear Sir, your faithful and affection- 
 ate humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 Mr. Langton has been pleased, at my request, to favor me with 
 some particulars of Dr. Johnson's visit to Warley Camp, where 
 this gentleman was at the time stationed as a Captain in the Lin- 
 colnshire militia.' I shall give them in his own words in a letter 
 to me : 
 
 It was in the summer of the year 1778, that he complied with my invitation 
 to come down to the camp at Warley, and he stayed with me about a week; 
 the scene appeared, notwithstanding a great degree of ill health that he 
 seemed to labour under, to interest and amuse him, as agreeing with the dispo- 
 sition that I believe you know he constantly manifested towards inquiring into 
 subjects of the military kind. He sat, with a patient degree of attention, to 
 oVjserve the proceedings of a regimental court-martial, that happened to be 
 called, in the time of his stay with us; and one night, as late as at eleven 
 o'clock, he accompanied the Major of the regiment in going what are styled 
 the Rounds, where he might observe the forms of visiting the guards, for the 
 seeing that they and their sentries are ready in their duty on their several 
 posts. He took occasion to converse at times on military topicks, one in par- 
 ticular, that I see the mention of in your " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides " 
 which lies open before me (3d ed. p. iii) as to gunpowder; which he spoke 
 of to the same effect, in part, that you relate. 
 
 On one occasion, when the regiment were going through their exercise, he 
 went quite close to the men at one of the extremities of it, and watched all 
 
 1 England was at that time threatened with invasion by the united forces of 
 France and Spain. — Dr» Hill. 
 
244 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 their practices attentively; and, when he came away, his remark was, "The 
 men indeed do load their muskets and fire with wonderful celerity." He was 
 likewise particular in requiring to know what was the weight of the musquet 
 balls in use, and within what distance they might be expected to take effect 
 when fired off. 
 
 In walking among the tents, and observing the difference between those of 
 the othcers and private men, he said that the superiority of accommodation 
 of the better conditions of life to that of the inferior ones was never exhibited 
 to him in so distinct a view. The civilities paid to him in the camp were from 
 the gentlemen of the Lincolnshire regiment, one of the ofhcers of which 
 accommodated him with a tent in which he slept; and from General Hall, 
 who very courteously invited him to dine with him, where he appeared to be 
 very well pleased with his entertainment, and the civilities he received on the 
 part of the General,' the attention likewise of the General's aide-de-camp. 
 Captain Smith, seemed to be very welcome to him, as appeared by their en- 
 gaging in a great deal of discourse together. The gentlemen of the East 
 York Regiment likewise, on being informed of his coming, solicited his com- 
 pany at dinner, but by that time he had fixed his departure, so that he could 
 not comply with the invitation. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have received two letters from you, of which the second com- 
 plains of the neglect shown to the first. You must not tye your friends to such 
 punctual correspondence. You have all possible assurances of my affection 
 and esteem; and there ought to be no need of reiterated professions. When 
 it may happen that I can give you either counsel or comfort, I hope it will 
 never happen to me that I should neglect you; but you must not think me 
 criminal or cold, if I say nothing when I have nothing to say. 
 
 You are now happy enough. Mrs. Boswell is recovered; and I congratu- 
 late you upon the probability of her long life. If general approbation will 
 add anything to your enjoyment, I can tell you that I have heard you men- 
 tioned as a man whom everybody likes. I think life has little more to give. 
 
 [Langton] has gone to his regiment. He has laid down his coach, and 
 talks of making more contractions of his expence: how he will succeed, I 
 know not. It is difhcult to reform a household gradually; it maybe better 
 done by a system totally new. I am afraid he has always something to hide. 
 When we pressed him to go to [Langton], he objected the necessity of 
 attending his navigation ;2 yet he could talk of going to Aberdeen, a place not 
 much nearer his navigation. I believe he cannot bear the thought of living at 
 [Langton] in a state of diminution; and of appearing among the gentlemen 
 of the neighborhood shorn of his becuns.'^ This is natural, but it is cowardly. 
 What I told him of the increasing expense of a growing family, seems to have 
 struck him. He certainly had gone on with very confused views, and we 
 have, I think, shewn him that he is wrong: though, with the common defi- 
 cienceof advisers we haye not shewn him how to do right. 
 
 * When I one day at Court expressed to General Hall my sense of the honor he 
 had done my friend, he politely answered, " Sir, I did myself honor." — B. 
 
 *The Wey Canal from Guilford to Wcybridge in which he had a considerable 
 share. — Croker. Navii^atian : a canal ; canal, TWi ornamental pool; for a time it 
 seemed as though the former term might be applied to artificial rivers. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Dryden and Milton. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 JOHNSON AND STRAHAN. 
 
 245 
 
 I wish you would a little correct or restrain your imagination, and imagine 
 that happiness, such as life admits, may be had at other places as well as 
 London. Without asserting Stoicism, it may be said, that it is our business to 
 exempt ourselves as much as we can from the power of external things. 
 There is but one solid basis of happiness; and that is, the reasonable hope of 
 a happy futurity. This may be had every where. 
 
 I do not blame your preference of London to other places, for it is really 
 to be preferred, if the choice is free; but few have the choice of their place, 
 or their manner of life; and mere pleasure ought not to be the prime motive 
 of action. 
 
 Mrs. Thrale, poor thing, has a daughter. Mr. Thrale dislikes the times, 
 like the rest of us. Mrs. Williams is sick; Mrs. Desmoulins is poor. I have 
 miserable nights. Nobody is well but Mr. Levett. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your most, &c., 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, July 3, 1778. 
 
 In the course of this year there was a difference between him 
 and his friend Mr. Strahan ; the particulars of which it is unnec- 
 essary to relate. Their reconciliation was communicated to me 
 in a letter from Mr. Strahan ; ^ in the following words : 
 
 The notes I shewed you that passed between him and me were dated in 
 March last. The matter lay dormant till July 27, when he^ wrote to me as 
 follows : ' 
 
 TO WILLIAM STRAHAN, ESQ. 
 
 Sir: It would be very foolish for us to continue strangers any longer. You 
 can never by persistency make wrong right. If I resented too acrimoniously, 
 I resented only to yourself. Nobody ever saw or heard what I wrote. You 
 saw that my anger was over, for in a day or two I came to your house. I 
 have given you a longer time; and I hope you have made so good use of it, 
 as to be no longer on evil terms with. Sir, your, &c., 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 On this I called upon him; and he has sinced dined with me. 
 
 After this time, the same friendship as formerly continued be- 
 tween Dr. Johnson and Mr. Strahan. My friend mentioned to 
 me a little circumstance of his attention, which, though we may 
 smile at it, must be allowed to have its foundation in a nice and 
 true knowledge of human life. " When I write to Scotland," 
 said he, " I employ Strahan to frank my letters, that he may have 
 the consequence of appearing a Parliament-man among his 
 countrymen." 
 
 ^ It was Mr. Strahan, the King's printer, to whom Franklin wrote the famous 
 letter ending, "You are now my Enemy — and I am, yours, B. FRANKLIN." 
 
246 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 TO CAPTAIN LANGTON/ WARLEY CAMP. 
 
 Dear Sir : When I recollect how long ago I was received with so much 
 kindness at Warley Common, I am ashamed that I have not made some en- 
 quiries after my friends. 
 
 Pray how many sheep-stealers did you convict ? and how did you punish 
 them? When are you to be cantoned in better habitations? The air grows 
 cold, and the ground damp. Longer stay in the camp cannot be without much 
 danger to the health of the common men if even the officers can escape. 
 
 You see that Dr. Percy is now Dean of Carlisle; about five hundred a year 
 with a power of presenting himself to some good living. He is provided for. 
 
 The session of the Club is to commence with that of the Parliament. Mr. 
 Banks ^ desires to be admitted; he will be a very honorable accession. 
 
 Did the King please you? The Coxheath men, I think, have some reason 
 to complain; Reynolds says your camp is better than theirs. 
 
 I hope you find yourself able to encounter this weather. Take care of 
 your own health; and as you can, of your men. Be pleased to make my 
 compliments to all the gentlemen whose notice I have had, and whose kind- 
 ness I have experienced. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 October 31, 1778. 
 
 I wrote to him on the i8th of August, the i8th of September, 
 and the 6th .of November, informing him of my having had 
 another son born whom I had called James ; ^ that I had passed 
 some time at Auchinleck ; that the Countess of Loudoun, now in 
 her ninety-ninth year, was as fresh as when he saw her, and re- 
 membered him with respect ; and that his mother by adoption, 
 the Countess of Eglinton, had said to me : " Tell Mr. Johnson I 
 love him exceedingly ; " that I had again suffered much from bad 
 spirits ; and that as it was very long since I heard from him, I 
 was not a little uneasy. 
 
 The continuance of his regard for his friend Dr. Burney 
 appears from the following letters : 
 
 TO THE REVEREND DR. WHEELER,'* OXFORD. 
 
 Dear Sir: Dr. Burney, who brings this paper, is engaged in a History 
 of Musick; and having been told by Dr. Markham of some MSS. relating 
 to his subject, which are in the library of your college, is desirous to examine 
 them. He is my friend: and therefore I take the liberty of entreating your 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson here addresses his worthy friend, Bennet Langton, Esq., by his 
 title as Captain of the Lincolnshire militia, in which he has since been most deserv- 
 edly raised to the rank of Major. — B. 
 
 2 President of the Royal Society. 
 
 ^ James Boswell, Jr., was regarded as a smaller edition of his father. He died 
 in T822. — />. Hill. 
 
 * Regius Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church. 
 
Age 69.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S SERAGLIO, 
 
 247 
 
 favour and assistance in his enquiry: and can assure you, with great confi- 
 dence, that if you knew him he would not want any intervenient soHcitation 
 to obtain the kindness of one who loves learning and virtue as you love them. 
 
 I have been flattering myself all the summer with the hope of paying my 
 annual visit to my friends; but something has obstructed me. I still hope 
 not to be long without seeing you. I should be glad of a little literary talk; 
 and glad to shew you, by the frequency of my visits, how eagerly I love it, 
 when you talk it. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, November 2, 1778. 
 
 TO THE REVEREND DR. EDWARDS,^ OXFORD. 
 
 Sir: The bearer, Dr. Burney, has had some account of a Welsh Manu- 
 script in the Bodleian library, from which he hopes to gain some materials 
 for his " History of Musick "; but being ignorant of the language, is at a loss 
 where to find assistance. I make no doubt but you, Sir, can help him through 
 his difficulties, and therefore take the liberty of recommending him to your 
 favour, as I am sure you will find him a man worthy of every civility that can 
 be shewn, and every benefit that can be conferred. 
 
 But we must not let Welsh drive us from Greek. What comes of Xeno- 
 phon? If you do not like the trouble of publishing the book, do not let 
 your commentaries be lost; contrive that they may be published somewhere. 
 
 I am. Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, November 2, 1778. 
 
 These letters procured Dr. Burney great kindness and friendly 
 ofifices from both of these gentlemen, not only on that occasion, 
 but in future visits to the University. The same year Dr. John 
 son not only wrote to Dr. Joseph Warton in favor of Dr. Burney' s 
 youngest son, who was to be placed in the college of Winchester, 
 but accompanied him when he went thither. 
 
 We surely cannot but admire the benevolent exertions of this 
 great and good man, especially when we consider how grievously 
 he was afflicted with bad health, and how uncomfortable his 
 home was made by the perpetual jarring of those whom he chari- 
 tably accommodated under his roof. He has sometimes suffered 
 me to talk jocularly of his group of feniales, and call them his 
 Seraglio. He thus mentions them together with honest Levett, 
 in one of his letters to Mrs. Thrale': Williams hates everybody ; 
 Levett hates Desmoulins, and does not love WilHams : Desmou- 
 
 1 Johnson in 1784 wrote : " Since I was there [at Oxford] my convivial friend 
 Dr. Edwards and my learned friend Dr. Wheeler are both dead, and my probabili- 
 ties of pleasure are very much diminished." In an early letter he spoke of Wheeler 
 " as the man with whom he most delighted to converse." Dr. Edwards was pre- 
 paring an edition of the " Memorabilia." 
 
248 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1778. 
 
 lins hates them both; Poll [Miss Carmichael] loves none of 
 them." 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir:/ It is indeed a long time since I wrote, and think you must 
 have some reason to complain; however you must not let small things disturb 
 you, when you have such a fine addition to your happiness as a new boy, and 
 I hope your lady's health is restored by bringing him. It seems very probable 
 that a little care will now restore her, if any remains of her complaints are 
 left. 
 
 You seem, if I understand your letter, to be gaining ground at Auchinleck, 
 an incident that would give me great delight. 
 
 When any fit of anxiety, or gloominess, or perversion of mind, lays hold 
 upon you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaints, but exert your whole 
 care to hide it; by endeavouring to hide it you will drive it away. Be always 
 busy. 
 
 The Club is to meet with the Parliament; we talk of electing Banks, the 
 traveller; he will be a reputable member. 
 
 Langton has been encamped with his company of militia on Warley-com- 
 mon; I spent five days amongst them; he signalized himself as a diligent 
 officer, and has very high respect in the regiment. He presided when I was 
 there at a court-martial; he is now quartered in Hertfordshire; his lady and 
 little ones are in Scotland. Paoli came to the camp, and commended the sol- 
 diers. 
 
 Of myself I have no great matters to say, my health is not restored, my 
 nights are restless and tedious. The best night that I have had these twenty 
 years was at Fort-Augustus. 
 
 I hope soon to send you a few Lives to read. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 November 21, 1778. 
 
 About this time the Rev. Mr. John Hussey, who had been 
 some time in trade, and was then a clergyman of the Church of 
 England, bemg about to undertake a journey to Aleppo and other 
 parts of the East, which he accomplished, Dr. Johnson (who had 
 long been in habits of intimacy with him,) honored him with the 
 following letter : 
 
 TO MR. JOHN hussey. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have sent you the " Grammar," and have left you two books 
 more, by which I hope to be remembered; write my name in them; we may 
 perhaps see each other no more, you part with my good wishes, nor do I de- 
 spair of seeing you return. Let no opportunities of vice corrupt you; let no 
 bad example seduce you; let the blindness of Mahometans confirm you in 
 Christianity. God bless you. I am, dear Sir, your affectionate humble ser- 
 vant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 December 29, 1778. 
 
Age 70.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S PREFACES. 
 
 249 
 
 Johnson this year expressed great satisfaction at the pubhca- 
 tion of the first vohniie of " Discourses to the Royal Academy," ' 
 by Sir Joshua Reynolds, whom he always considered as one of 
 his literary school. Much praise indeed is due to those excellent 
 Discourses which are so universally admired, and for which the 
 author received from the Empress of Russia a gold snuff-box, 
 adorned with her profile in bas relief, set in diamonds ; and con- 
 taining what is infinitely more valuable, a slip of paper,'on which 
 are written with her Imperial Majesty's own hand, the following 
 words : Four le Chevalier Reynolds en femoignage du contente- 
 ment que fai 7'essentie [sic] d la lecture de ses excellens discours 
 sur la peintui^ey 
 
 This year Johnson gave the world a luminous proof that the 
 vigor of his mind in all its faculties, whether memory, judgment, 
 or imagination, was not in the least abated ; for this year came 
 out the first four volumes of his " Prefaces, Biographical and 
 Critical, to the most Eminent of the English Poets," * published 
 by the booksellers of London. The remaining volumes came out 
 in the year 1780 [1781]. The Poets were selected by the sev- 
 eral booksellers who had the honorary copyright, which is still 
 preserved among them by mutual compact, notwithstanding the 
 decision of the House of Lords against the perpetuity of literary 
 property. We have his own authority Life of Watts "], that 
 by his recommendation the poems of Blackmore, Watts, Pomfret, 
 and Yalden, were added to the collection. Of this work I shall 
 speak more particularly hereafter. 
 
 On the 2 2d of January I wrote to him on several topics, and 
 mentioned that as he had been so good as to permit me to have 
 the proof sheets of his " Lives of the Poets," I had written to his 
 servant Francis, to take care of them for me. 
 
 MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Feb. 2, 1779. 
 My dear Sir: Garrick's death is a striking event; not that we should be 
 surprised with the death of any man, who has lived sixty-two years; but be- 
 cause there was a vivacity in our late celebrated friend, which drove away the 
 thoughts of death from any association with him. I am sure you will be ten- 
 derly affected with his departure; and I would wish to hear from you upon 
 the subject. I was obliged to him in my days of effervescence in London, 
 when poor Derrick was my governor; and since that time I received many 
 civilities from him. Do you remember how pleasing it was, when I received 
 a letter from him, at Inverary, upon our first return to civilized living after our 
 
 ^ Collected edition containing the first seven " Discourses." 
 
^50 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 Hebridean journey? I shall always remember him with affection as well as 
 admiration. 
 
 On Saturday last, being the 30th of January,^ I drank coffee and old port, 
 and had solemn conversation with the Reverend Mr. Falconer, a nonjuring 
 bishop, a very learned and worthy man. He gave two toasts, which you will 
 believe I drank with cordiality, Dr. Samuel Johnson, and Flora Macdonald. 
 I sat about four hours with him, and it was really as if I had been living in 
 the last century. The Episcopal Church of Scotland, though faithful to the 
 Royal House of Stuart, has never accepted of any co7io-e d''elire since the 
 Revolution: it is the only true Episcopal Church in Scotland, as it has its 
 own succession of bishops. For as to the episcopal clergy who take the oaths 
 to the present Government, they indeed follow the rites of the Church of Eng- 
 land, but, as Bishop Falconer observed, "They are not Episcopah ; for they 
 are under no bishop, as a bishop can not have authority beyond his diocese." 
 This venerable gentleman did me the honour to dine with me yesterday, and 
 he laid his hands upon the heads of my little ones. We had a good deal of 
 curious literary conversation, particularly about Mr. Thomas Ruddiman, with 
 whom he lived in great friendship. 
 
 Any fresh instance of the uncertainty of life makes one embrace more 
 closely a valuable friend. My dear and much respected Sir, may GoD pre- 
 serve you long in this world while I am in it. 
 
 I am ever, your much obliged, and affectionate humble servant, 
 
 James Bosw^ell. 
 
 On the 23d of February I wrote to him again, complaining of 
 his silence, as I had heard he was ill, and had written to Mr. 
 Thrale for information concerning him ; and I announced my in- 
 tention of soon being again in London. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: Why should you take such delight to make a bustle, to write 
 to Mr. Thrale that I am negligent, and to Francis to do what is so very un- 
 necessary. Thrale, you may be sure, cared not about it; and I shall spare 
 Francis the trouble, by ordering a set both of the Lives and Poets to dear 
 Mrs. Boswell,^ in acknowledgment of her marmalade. Persuade her to 
 accept them, and accept them kindly. If I thought she would receive them 
 scornfully, I would send them to Miss Boswell, who, I hope, has yet none of 
 her mamma's ill-will to me. 
 
 I would send sets of Lives, four volumes, to some other friends, to Lord 
 Hailes first. His second volume lies by my bed-side; a book surely of great 
 labour, and to every just thinker of great delight. Write me word to whom 
 I shall send besides; would it please Lord Auchinleck? Mrs. Thrale waits 
 in the coach. 
 
 1 am, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 March 13, 1779. 
 
 ^ The anniversary of the death of Charles I. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 He sent a set elegantly bound and gilt, which was received as a very handsome 
 present. — B. 
 
Age 70.J 
 
 THE GENIUS OF BRITAIN., 
 
 251 
 
 This letter crossed me on the road to London, where I arrived 
 on Monday, March 15, and next morning at a late hour, found 
 Dr. Johnson sitting over his tea, attended by Mrs. Desmoulins, 
 Mr. Levett, and a clergyman who had come to submit some 
 poetical pieces to his revision. It is wonderful what a number 
 and variety of writers, some of them even unknown to him, pre- 
 vailed on his good-nature to look over their works, and suggest 
 corrections and improvements. 
 
 My arrival interrupted for a little while the important business 
 of this true representative of Bayes ; ' upon its being resumed, I 
 found that the subject under immediate consideration was a 
 translation, yet in manuscript, of the " Cai'inen Secidare " of 
 Horace, which had this year been set to music, and performed 
 as a public entertainment in London, for the joint benefit of 
 Monsieur Philidor and Signor Baretti. When Johnson had done 
 reading, the author asked him bluntly, " If upon the whole it was 
 a good translation?" Johnson, whose regard for truth was un- 
 commonly strict, seemed to be puzzled for a moment what 
 answer to make, as he certainly could not honestly commend 
 the performance ; with exquisite address he evaded the question 
 thus, "Sir, I do not say that it may not be made a very good 
 translation." Here nothing whatever in favor of the performance 
 was affirmed, and yet the writer was not shocked. A printed 
 "Ode to the Warlike Genius of Britain," came next in review; 
 the bard ^ was a lank bony figure, with short black hair ; he was 
 writhing himself in agitation while Johnson read, and showing 
 his teeth in a grin of earnestness, exclaimed in broken sentences, 
 and in a keen sharp tone, " Is that poetry. Sir? Is it Pindai'? " 
 Johnson : " Why, Sir, there is here a great deal of what is called 
 poetry." Then turning to me, the poet cried, " My muse has 
 not been long upon the town, and (pointing to the ode) it 
 trembles under the hand of the great critic." Johnson, in a tone 
 of displeasure, asked him, "Why do you praise Anson? "^ I 
 did not trouble him by asking his reason for this question. He 
 proceeded, " Here is an error. Sir ; you have made Genius 
 feminine." — "Palpable, Sir (cried the enthusiast); I know it. 
 But (in a lower tone) it was to pay a compliment to the Duchess 
 of Devonshire, with which her Grace was pleased. She is walk- 
 
 ^In " The Rehearsal." 
 
 ^ A Mr. Tasker who was preparing a second edition of his ode. The Gentle- 
 man's Magazine speaking of it said : " It is well calculated to rouse the martial 
 spirit of the nation." — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ A mistake of Boswell's for Amherst. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 1 
 
252 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A D. 1779. 
 
 ing across Coxheath, in the military uniform, and I suppose her 
 to be the Genius of Britain."^ Johnson: "Sir, you are giving 
 a reason for it ; but that will not make it right. You may have a 
 reason why two and two should make five ; but they will still 
 make but four." 
 
 Although I was several times with him in the course of the 
 following days, such it seems were my occupations, or such my 
 negligence, that I have preserved no memorial of his conversation 
 till Friday, March 26, when I visited him. He said he expected 
 to be attacked on account of his " Lives of the Poets." " How- 
 ever," said he, " I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For 
 the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his 
 works. An assault upon a town is a bad thing ; but starving it 
 is still worse ; an assault may be unsuccessful ; you may have 
 more men killed than you kill ; but if you starve the town, you 
 are sure of victory." 
 
 Talking of a friend ^ of ours associating with persons of very 
 discordant principles and characters, I said he was a very univer- 
 sal man, quite a man of the world. Johnson : " Yes, Sir ; but 
 one may be so much a man of the world, as to be nothing in the 
 world. I remember a passage in Goldsmith's ' Vicar of Wakefield,' 
 which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge : ' I do not love 
 a man who is zealous for nothing.' " Boswell : " That was a fine 
 passage." Johnson : " Yes, Sir ; there was another fine passage 
 too, which he struck out : ' When I was a young man, being 
 anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new prop- 
 ositions. But I soon gave this over ; for, I found that generally 
 what was new was false.' " I said I did not like to sit with people 
 of whom I had not a good opinion. Johnson : " But you must 
 not indulge your delicacy too much ; or you will be a tctc-d-tcte 
 man all your life." 
 
 During my stay in London this spring,^ I find I was unaccount- 
 ably negligent in preserving Johnson's sayings, more so than at 
 any time when I was happy enough to have an opportunity of 
 
 ' " Genius of Britain ! to thy office true, 
 
 On Cox-heath reared the waving banners view. 
 
 In martial vest 
 By Venus and the graces drest 
 To yonder tent, who leads the way ? 
 Art thou Britannia's Genius ? Say ! " 
 
 Tasker's " Ode." 
 
 * Probably Sir Joshua Reynolds. — Dr. Hdl. 
 
 *He was perhaps unusually dissii^atcd this visit. — Dr. llill. 
 
Age 70.] 
 
 DOGGED VERACITY. 
 
 258 
 
 hearing his wisdom and wit. There is no help for it now. I 
 must content myself with presenting such scraps as I have. But 
 I am nevertheless ashamed and vexed to think how much has 
 been lost. It is not that there was a bad crop this year ; but 
 that I was not sufficiently careful in gathering it in. I, therefore, 
 in some instances can only exhibit a few detached fragments. 
 
 Talking of the wonderful concealment of the author of the 
 celebrated letters signed Junius, he said : I should have believed 
 Burke to be Junius, because I know no man but Burke who is 
 capable of writing these letters ; but Burke spontaneously denied 
 it to me. The case would have been different, had I asked him 
 if he was the author ; a man so questioned,- as to an anonymous 
 publication, may think he has a right to deny it." 
 
 He observed that his old friend, Mr. Sheridan, had been 
 honored with extraordinary attention in his own country, by hav- 
 ing had an exception made in his favor in an Irish Act of Parlia- 
 ment concerning insolvent debtors. "Thus to be singled out," 
 said he, "by legislature, as an object of public consideration and 
 kindness, is a proof of no common merit." 
 
 At Streatham, on Monday, March 29, at breakfast, he main- 
 tained that a father had no right to control the inclinations of 
 his daughters in marriage. 
 
 On Wednesday, March 31, when I visited him, and confessed 
 an excess of which I had very seldom been guilty ; that I had 
 spent a whole night in playing at cards, and that I could not look 
 back on it with satisfaction : instead of a harsh animadversion, he 
 mildly said, " Alas, Sir, on hoyv^ few things can we look back with 
 satisfaction." 
 
 On Thursday, April i, he commended one of the Dukes of 
 Devonshire for " a dogged veracity." ^ He said too, " London is 
 nothing to some people ; but to a man whose pleasure is intellect- 
 ual, London is the place. And there is no place where economy 
 can be so well practised as in London : more can be had here 
 for the money even by ladies, than anywhere else. You cannot 
 play tricks with your fortune in a small place ; you must make a 
 uniform appearance. Here a lady may have well-furnished apart- 
 ments, and elegant dress, without any meat in her kitchen." 
 
 I was amused by considering with how much ease and coolness 
 he could write or talk to a friend, exhorting him not to suppose 
 that happiness was not to be found as well in other places as in 
 London ; when he himself was at all times sensible of its being. 
 
 ^ See ante, p. 124. 
 
254 
 
 BOSW ELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 comparatively speaking, a heaven upon earth.' The truth is, 
 that by those who from sagacity, attention, and experience, have 
 learnt the full advantage of London, its preeminence over every 
 other place, not only for variety of enjoyment, but for comfort, 
 will be felt with a philosophical exultation. The freedom from 
 remark and petty censure, with which life may be passed there, 
 is a circumstance which a man who knows the teasing restraint of 
 a narrow circle must relish highly. Mr. Burke, whose orderly and 
 amiable domestic habits might make the eye of observation less 
 irksome to him than to most men, said once very pleasantly,. in 
 my hearing, " Though I have the honor to represent Bristol, I 
 should not like to live there ; I should be obliged to be so much 
 uj>07i 77iy good behavior y In London, a man may live in splendid 
 society at one time, and in frugal retirement at another, without 
 animadversion. There, and there alone, a man's own house is 
 truly his castle^ in which he can be in perfect safety from intrusion 
 whenever he pleases. I never shall forget how well this was ex- 
 pressed to me one day by Mr. Meynell : The chief advantage 
 of London," said he, " is, that a man is always so near his 
 bwj'owy 
 
 He said of one of his old acquaintances : He is very fit for 
 a travelling governor. He knows French very well. He is a 
 man of good principles ; and there would be no danger that a 
 young gentleman should catch his manner ; for it is so very bad, 
 that it must be avoided. In that respect he would be like the 
 drunken Helot." 
 
 A gentleman has informed me, that Johnson said of the same 
 person, " Sir, he has the most inverted understanding of any man 
 whom I have ever known." 
 
 On Friday, April 2, being Good Friday, I visited him in the 
 morning as usual ; and finding that we insensibly fell into a train 
 of ridicule upon the foibles of one of our friends, a very worthy 
 man,^ I, by way of a check, quoted some good admonition from 
 "The Government of the Tongue," "* that very pious book. It 
 happened also, remarkably enough, that the subject of the sermon 
 preached to us to-day by Dr. Burrows, the rector of St. Clement 
 Danes, was the certainty that at the last day we must give an ac- 
 count of "the deeds done in the body; "* and amongst various 
 
 1 In reference to Johnson's letter of July 3, 1778. 
 
 J Perhaps Mr. Elphinston. — Dr. Hill. See ante. Vol. I., p. 393. 
 
 8 Mr. Langton. 
 
 * By the author of " The Whole Duty of Man." 
 'II. Corinthians v. 10. 
 
Age 70.] THE UU A LI TIES OF LIQUORS. 
 
 255 
 
 acts of culpability he mentioned evil-speaking. As we were mov- 
 ing slowly along in the crowd from church, Johnson jogged my 
 elbow, and said, " Did you attend to the sermon ? " — " Yes, Sir," 
 said I, it was very applicable to i^s." He, however, stood upon 
 the defensive. " Why, Sir, the sense of ridicule is given us, and 
 may be lawfully used. The author of ' The Government of the 
 Tongue' would have us treat all men alike." 
 
 In the interval between morning and evening service, he en- 
 deavored to employ himself earnestly in devotional exercise ; and, 
 as he has mentioned in his " Prayers and Meditations " (p. 173), 
 gave me " Les Pensees de Pascal," that I might not interrupt 
 him. I preserve the book with reverence. His presenting it to 
 me is marked upon it with his own hand, and I have found in it 
 a truly divine unction. We went to church again in the after- 
 noon. 
 
 On Saturday, April 3, I visited him at night, and found him 
 sitting in Mrs. Williams's room, with her, and one who he after- 
 wards told me was a natural son of the second Lord Southwell.' 
 The table had a singular appearance, being covered with a het- 
 erogeneous assemblage of oysters and porter for his company, 
 and tea for himself. I mentioned my having heard an eminent 
 physician, who was himself a Christian, argue in favor of univer- 
 sal toleration, and maintain that no man could be hurt by another 
 man's differing from him in opinion. Johnson : " Sir, you are to 
 a certain degree hurt by knowing that even one man does not 
 believe." 
 
 On Easter Day, after solemn service at St. Paul's, I dined with 
 him : Mr. Allen the printer was also his guest. He was uncom- 
 monly silent ; and I have not written down anything, except a 
 single curious fact, which, having the sanction of his inflexible 
 veracity, may be received as a striking instance of human insen- 
 sibility and inconsideration. As he was passing by a fishmonger 
 who was skinning an eel alive, he heard him " curse it, because 
 it would not lie still." 
 
 On Wednesday, April 7, I dined with him at Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds's. I have not marked what company was there. Johnson 
 harangued upon the qualities of different liquors ; and spoke with 
 great contempt of claret, as so weak, that a man would be 
 drowned by it before it made him drunk." He was persuaded 
 to drink one glass of it, that he might judge, not from recollec- 
 tion, which might be dim, but from immediate sensation. He 
 
 ' Mauritius Lowe, the painter mentioned tu/Ze on p. 217. — Croker. 
 
256 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 shook his head, and said : " Poor stuff ! No, Sir, claret is the 
 liquor for boys : port for men ; but he who aspires to be a hero 
 (smiling) must drink brandy. In the first place, the flavor of 
 brandy is most grateful to the palate ; and then brandy will do 
 soonest for a man what drinking can do for him. There are, in- 
 deed, few who are able to drink brandy. That is a power rather 
 to be wished for than attained. And yet (proceeded he), as in 
 all pleasure hope is a considerable part, I know not but fruition 
 comes too quick by brandy. Florence wine I think the worst ; it 
 is wine only to the eye ; it is wine neither while you are drinking 
 it, nor after you have drunk it ; it neither pleases the taste, nor 
 exhilarates the spirits." I reminded him how heartily he and I 
 used to drink wine together, when we were first acquainted ; and 
 how I used to have a headache after sitting up with him. He 
 did not like to have this recalled, or, perhaps, thinking th?t I 
 boasted improperly, resolved to have a witty stroke at me ; " Nay, 
 Sir, it was not the wine that made your head ache, but the sense 
 that I put into it." Boswell : " What, Sir, will sense make the 
 head ache?" Johnson: "Yes, Sir (with a smile), when it is 
 not used to it." No man who has a true relish of pleasantry 
 could be offended at this ; especially if Johnson in a long intimacy 
 had given him repeated proofs of his regard and good estimation. 
 I used to say, that as he had given me ^1,000 in praise, he had 
 a good right now and then to take a guinea from me. 
 
 On Thursday, April 8, I dined with him at Mr. Allan Ramsay's, 
 with Lord Graham ^ and some other company. We talked of 
 Shakespeare's witches. Johnson: "They are beings of his own 
 creation ; they are a compound of malignity and meanness, with- 
 out any abilities ; and are quite different from the Italian magi- 
 cian. King James says in his ' Daemonology,' ' Magicians 
 command the devils : witches are their servants.' The Italian 
 magicians are elegant beings." Ramsay : " Opera witches, not 
 Drury Lane witches." Johnson observed, that abilities might 
 be employed in a narrow sphere, as in getting money, which he 
 said he believed no man could do without vigorous parts, though 
 concentrated to a point. Ramsay : " Yes, like a strong horse in 
 a mill ; he pulls better." 
 
 Lord Graham, while he praised the beauty of Loch Lomond, 
 on the banks of which is his family seat, complained of the 
 cUmate, and said he could not bear it. Johnson : " Nay, my Lord, 
 
 1 Afterwards third Duke of Montrose, born in 1755, succeeded to the title in 1790, . 
 and died in 1836. — Croker. 
 
Age 70.] 
 
 A VIOLENT ALTERCATION. 
 
 257 
 
 do n't talk so : you may bear it well enough. Your ancestors 
 have borne it more years than I can tell." This was a handsome 
 compliment to the antiquity of the House of Montrose. His 
 Lordship told me afterwards, that he hid only affected to com- 
 plain of the climate ; lest, if he had spoken as favorably of his 
 country as he really thought. Dr. Johnson might have attacked 
 it. Johnson was very courteous to Lady Margaret Macdonald. 
 " Madam," said he, when I was in the Isle of Sky, I heard of 
 the people running to take the stones off the road, lest Lady 
 Margaret's horse should stumble." 
 
 Lord Graham commended Dr. Drummond at Naples as a man 
 of extraordinary talents ; and added, that he had a great love of 
 liberty. Johnson : " He is young, my Lord," looking to his 
 Lordship with an arch smile ; "all /?oys love liberty, till expe- 
 rience convinces them they are not so fit to govern themselves 
 as they imagined. We are all agreed as to our own liberty ; we 
 would have as much of it as we can get ; but we are not 
 agreed as to the liberty of others : for in proportion as we 
 take, others must lose. I believe we hardly wish that the mob 
 should have liberty to govern us. When that was the case some 
 time ago, no man was at liberty not to have candles in his 
 windows." Ramsay : " The result is, that order is better than 
 confusion." Johnson : " The result is, that order cannot be 
 had but by subordination." 
 
 On Friday, April 16, I had been present at the trial of the un- 
 fortunate Mr. Hackman, who, in a fit of frantic jealous love had 
 shot Miss Ray, the favorite of a nobleman.' Johnson, in whose 
 company I had dined to-day with some other friends, was much 
 interested by my account of what passed, and particularly with 
 his prayer for the mercy of heaven.^ He said, in a solemn fer- 
 vid tone, " I hope he ska// find mercy." 
 
 This day ^ a violent altercation arose between Johnson and 
 Beauclerk, which having made much noise at the time, I think it 
 proper, in order to prevent any future misrepresentation, to give 
 a minute account of it. 
 
 ^ Hackman was a clergyman who had been in the army. The nobleman was the 
 Earl of Sandwich, at this time Urst Lord of the Admiralty. — O'oker. She had lived 
 with him seventeen years and borne him nine children, one of whom was Basil 
 Montague, editor of " Bacon." 
 
 2 On the following Monday Boswell was present at Hackman's execution, riding 
 to Tyburn with him in a mourning coach. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ At the Club, when Johnson was President and the following members present : 
 Lord Althorp, Sir Charles Bunbury, Beauclerk, Boswell, Sir Joseph Banks (the 
 " eminent traveller"), Reynolds, and George Steevens. — Napier. 
 
 Vol. II. — 17 
 
258 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 In talking of Hackman, Johnson argued, as Judge Blackstone 
 had done, that his being furnished with two pistols was a proof 
 that he meant to shoot two persons. Mr. Beauclerk said : " No ; 
 for that every wise man who intended to shoot himself, took two 
 
 pistols, that he might be sure of doing it at once. Lord 's 
 
 cook shot himself with one pistol, and lived ten days in great 
 
 agony. Mr. — , who loved buttered muffins, but durst not 
 
 eat them because they disagreed with his stomach, resolved to 
 shoot himself ; and then he ate three buttered muffins for break- 
 fast, before shooting himself, knowing that he should not be 
 troubled with indigestion : ke had two charged pistols ; one was 
 found lying charged upon the table by him, after he had shot 
 himself with the other." ^ " Well," said Johnson, with an air of 
 triumph, " you see here one pistol was sufficient." Beauclerk 
 replied smartly, ''Because it happened to kill him." And either 
 then or very little afterwards, being piqued at Johnson's trium- 
 phant remark, added, " This is what you do n't know, and I do." 
 There was then a cessation of the dispute ; and some minutes in- 
 tervened, during which dinner and the glass went on cheerfully ; 
 when Johnson suddenly and abruptly exclaimed : " Mr. Beauclerk, 
 how came you to talk so petulantly to me, as ' This is what you 
 don't know, but what I know?' One thing / know, which 
 you do n't seem to know, that you are very uncivil." Beauclerk : 
 " Because jiv/if began by being uncivil (which you always are)." 
 The words in parentheses were, I believe, not heard by Dr. 
 Johnson. Here again there was a cessation of arms. Johnson 
 told me, that the reason why he waited at first some time without 
 taking any notice of what Mr. Beauclerk said, was because he 
 was thinking whether he should resent it. But when he considered 
 that there were present a young Lord and an eminent traveller, 
 two men of the world with whom he had never dined before, he 
 was apprehensive that they might think they had a right to take 
 such liberties with him as Beauclerk did, and therefore resolved 
 he would not let it pass ; adding, " that he would not appear a 
 coward." A little while after this, the conversation turned on the 
 violence of Hackman's temper. Johnson then said : " It was his 
 business to command his temper, as my friend, Mr. Beauclerk, 
 should have done some time ago." Beauclerk : " I should learn 
 o{ you, Sir." Johnson: " Sir, you have given mc opportunities 
 enough of learning, when I have been in your company. No 
 
 1 This looks like the origin of one of Sam Weller's famous anecdotes. " Pick- 
 wick," ch. 44. 
 
Age 70.] AJ)VANTA(/I'J OF DISCURSIVE HEADING. 259 
 
 man loves to be treated with contempt." Beauclerk (with a 
 polite inclination towards Johnson) : Sir, you have known me 
 twenty years, and however I may have treated others, you may be 
 sure I could never treat you with contempt." Johnson: "Sir, 
 you have said more than was necessary." Thus it ended ; and 
 Beauclerk's coach not having come for him till very late. Dr. 
 Johnson and another gentleman sat with him a long time after 
 the rest of the company were gone ; and he and I dined at Beau- 
 clerk's on the Saturday se'nnight following. 
 
 After this tempest had subsided, I recollect the following par- 
 ticulars of his conversation : 
 
 " I am always for getting a boy forward in his learning ; for 
 that is a sure good. I would let him at first read any English 
 book which happens to engage his attention ; because you have 
 done a great deal, when you have brought him to have enter- 
 tainment from a book. He '11 get better books afterwards." 
 
 " Mallet, I believe, never wrote a single line of his projected 
 life of the Duke of Marlborough. He groped for materials, and 
 thought of it, till he had exhausted his mind. Thus it sometimes 
 happens that men entangle themselves in their own schemes." 
 
 " To be contradicted in order to force you to talk is mighty 
 unpleasing. You shine, indeed ; but it is by ht'mg groimd.'" 
 
 Of a gentleman who made some figure among the Literati of 
 his time (Mr. Fitzherbert), he said, " What eminence he had was 
 by a felicity of manner : he had no more learning than what he 
 could not help." 
 
 On Saturday, April 24, I dined with him at Mr. Beauclerk's, 
 with Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Jones (afterwards Sir William), 
 Mr. Langton, Mr. Steevens, Mr. Paradise, and Dr. Higgins. I 
 mentioned that Mr. Wilkes had attacked Garrick to me, as a 
 man who had no friend. Johnson : " I believe he is right. Sir. 
 0( (^Dmi., oh (piTiog ^ — He had friends but no friend. Garrick was 
 so diffused, he had no man to whom he wished to unbosom him- 
 self. He found people always ready to applaud him, and that 
 always for the same thing; so he saw life with great uniformity." 
 I took upon me, for once, to fight with Goliath's weapons, and 
 play the sophist. " Garrick did not need a friend, as he got 
 from everybody all that he wanted. What is a friend? One 
 who supports you and comforts you, while others do not. Friend- 
 ship, you know. Sir, is the cordial drop, ' to make the nauseous 
 
 ^ Diogenes Laertius, bk. v. ch. i. ; attributed to Aristotle : <j> 4>i^oL QvSels <#)iAos — 
 Dr. Hill, 
 
260 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 draught of life go down : ' * but if the draught be not nauseous, if 
 it be all sweet, there is no occasion for that drop." Johnson: 
 " Many men would not be content to live so. I hope I should 
 not. They would wish to have an intimate friend, with whom 
 they might compare minds, and cherish private virtues." One 
 of the company mentioned Lord Chesterfield, as a man who had 
 no friend. Johnson : " There were more materials to make 
 friendship in Garrick, had he not been so diffused." Boswell : 
 " Garrick was pure gold, but beat out to thin leaf. Lord Ches- 
 terfield was tinsel." Johnson : " Garrick was a very good man, 
 the cheerfulest man of his age ; a decent liver in a profession 
 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 four- 
 pence do as much as others made fourpence -halfpenny do. But 
 when he had got money, he was very liberal." I presumed to 
 animadvert on his eulogy on Garrick, in his " Lives of the Poets." 
 " You say. Sir, his death eclipsed the gayety of nations " [see Vol. 
 I-j P- 35]- Johnson : "I could not have said more nor less. It is 
 the truth ; eclipsed not extinguished ; and his death did eclipse ; 
 it was hke a storm." Boswell: But why nations? Did his 
 gayety extend farther than his own nation? " Johnson : " Why, 
 Sir, some exaggeration must be allowed. Besides, nations may 
 be said — if we allow the Scotch to be a nation, and to have 
 gayety, — which they have not. You are an exception, though. 
 Come, gentlemen, let us candidly admit that there is one Scotch- 
 man who is cheerful." Beauclerk : But he is a very unnatural 
 Scotchman." I, however, continued to think the compliment to 
 Garrick hyperbolically untrue. His acting had ceased sometime 
 before his death ; ^ at any rate he had acted in Ireland but a 
 short time, at an early period of his life, and never in Scotland. 
 I objected also to what appears an anticlimax of praise, when 
 contrasted with the preceding panegyric, — ''and diminished the 
 public stock of harmless pleasure ! " — '' Is not harmless pleasu7'e 
 very tame?" Johnson: ''Nay, Sir, harmless pleasure is the 
 highest praise. Pleasure is a word of dubious import ; pleasure 
 is in general dangerous, and pernicious to virtue ; to be able 
 therefore to furnish pleasure that is harmless, pleasure pure and 
 
 1 Wilmot, Earl of Rochester : " A Letter from Artemisia." 
 
 2 Garrick retired in January, 1776, three years before his death. He visited 
 Ireland in 1742 and again in 1743. — Dr. Hill, 
 
Age 70.] THE EFFECTS OF DlUNKlNa. 261 
 
 unalloyed, is as great a power as man can possess." This was, 
 perhaps, as ingenious a defence as could be made ; still, how- 
 ever, I was not satisfied. 
 
 A celebrated wit ' being mentioned, he said: "One may say 
 of him as was said of a French wit, // n'a de I esprit que contre 
 Dieu. I have been several times in company with him, but 
 never perceived any strong power of wit. He produces a gen- 
 eral effect by various means; he has a cheerful countenance 
 and a gay voice. Besides his trade is wit. It would be as wild 
 in him to come into company without merriment, as for a high- 
 wayman to take the road without his pistols." 
 
 Talking of the effects of drinking, he said : " Drinking may be 
 practised with great prudence ; a man who exposes himself when 
 he is intoxicated, has not the art of getting drunk ; a sober man 
 who happens occasionally to get drunk, readily enough goes 
 into a new company, which a man who has been drinking should 
 never do. Such a man will undertake anything ; he is without 
 skill in inebriation. I used to slink home when I had drunk too 
 much. A man accustomed to self-examination will be conscious 
 when he is drunk, though an habitual drunkard will not be con- 
 scious of it. I knew a physician,* who for twenty years was not 
 sober; yet in a pamphlet, which he wrote upon fevers, he 
 appealed to Garrick and me for his vindication from a charge of 
 drunkenness. A bookseller (naming him ^) who got a large 
 fortune by trade, was so habitually and equally drunk, that his 
 most intimate friends never perceived that he was more sober at 
 one time than another." 
 
 Talking of celebrated and successful irregular practisers in 
 physic, he said : " Taylor " was the most ignorant man I ever 
 knew, but sprightly : Ward, the dullest. Taylor challenged me 
 once to talk Latin with him (laughing). I quoted some of 
 Horace, which he took to be a part of my own speech. He said 
 a few words well enough." Beauclerk : " I remember. Sir, you 
 said, that Taylor was an instance how far impudence could carry 
 ignorance." Mr. Beauclerk was very entertaining this day, and 
 told us a number of short stories in a lively elegant manner, and 
 
 ^ Not Horace Walpole who was not an acquaintance of Johnson's. Perhaps 
 Richard Fitzpatrick, the cousin and " sworn brother " of Charles Fox and co-author 
 of " The Rolliad."— Z?r. Hill. 
 
 2 Dr. James, author of a " Dissertation on Fevers." — Wright. 
 
 3 Croker thinks this was Andrew Millar, but Dr. Hill doubts it. 
 
 ^ " The Chevalier Taylor, Opthalmiator Pontifical, Imperial and Royal," the cele- 
 brated oculist. — Malone. Ward was a well-known quack, satirized by Pope. " Imi- 
 tations of Horace," Epist. 2, i. 180. 
 
262 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 with that air of /Ae world which has I know not what impressive 
 effect, as if there were something more than is expressed, or than 
 perhaps we could perfectly understand. As Johnson and I ac- 
 companied Sir Joshua Reynolds in his coach, Johnson said : 
 " There is in Beauclerk a predominance over his company, that 
 one does not like. But he is a man who has lived so much in 
 the world, that he has a short story on every occasion ; he is 
 always ready to talk, and is never exhausted." 
 
 Johnson and I passed the evening at Miss Reynolds's, Sir 
 Joshua's sister. I mentioned that an eminent friend ^ of ours, 
 talking of the common remark that affection descends, said that, 
 * this was wisely contrived for the preservation of mankind ; for 
 which it was not so necessary that there should be affection from 
 children to parents, as from parents to children ; nay, there would 
 be no harm in that view though children should at a certain age 
 eat their parents.' Johnson : " But, Sir, if this were known gen- 
 erally to be the case, parents would not have affection for chil- 
 dren." BoswELL : "True, Sir ; for it is in expectation of a return 
 that parents are so attentive to their children ; and I know a very 
 pretty instance of a little girl of whom her father was very fond, 
 who once when he was in a melancholy fit, and had gone to bed, 
 persuaded him to rise in good humor by saying, ' My dear papa, 
 please to get up, and let me help you on with your clothes, that 
 I may learn to do it when you are an old man. ' " 
 
 Soon after this time a little incident occurred, which I will not 
 suppress, because I am desirous that my work should be, as 
 much as is consistent with the strictest truth, an antidote to the 
 false and injurious notions of his character, which have been given 
 by others, and therefore I infuse every drop of genuine sweetness 
 into my biographical cup. 
 
 TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 My dear Sir : I am in great pain with an inflamed foot, and obliged to 
 keep my bed, so am prevented from having the pleasure to dine at Mr. Ram- 
 say's to-day, which is very hard; and my spirits are sadly sunk. Will you be 
 so friendly as to come and sit an hour with me in the evening? I am ever 
 your most faithful, and affectionate humble servant, 
 
 James Bos well. 
 
 South Audley-street;'' 
 Monday, April 26. 
 
 Burke. 
 
 * General Paoli's residence where for some years Boswell was a frequent guest. 
 ~Dr, Hill. 
 
Age 70.J JOHNSON AND LORD MAILCIIMONT. 
 
 263 
 
 TO MR. BOSWELL. 
 
 Mr. Johnson laments the absence of Mr. Boswell, and will come to him. 
 Harley-street. * 
 
 He came to me in the evening, and brought Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds. I need scarcely say, that their conversation, while they 
 sat by my bedside, was the most pleasing opiate to pain that 
 could have been administered. 
 
 Johnson being now better disposed to obtain information con- 
 cerning Pope than he was last year [see p. 231], sent by me to 
 my Lord Marchmont, a present of those volumes of his " Lives of 
 the Poets," which were at this time published, with a request to 
 have permission to wait on him; and his Lordship, who had 
 called on him twice, obligingly appointed Saturday the ist of May, 
 for receiving us. 
 
 On that morning Johnson came to me from Streatham, and 
 after drinking chocolate at General Paoli's in South Audley Street, 
 we proceeded to Lord Marchmont's in Curzon Street. His Lord- 
 ship met us at the door of his library, and with great politeness 
 said to Johnson, " I am not going to make an encomium upon 
 myself, by telling you the high respect I have {or you, Sir." Johnson 
 was exceedingly courteous ; and the interview, which lasted about 
 two hours, during which the Earl communicated his anecdotes of 
 Pope, was as agreeable as I could have wished. When we came 
 out, I said to Johnson, that, considering his Lordship's civihty, I 
 should have been vexed if he had again failed to come. ''Sir," 
 said he, " I would rather have given twenty pounds than not 
 have come." I accompanied him to Streatham, where we dined, 
 and returned to town in the evening. 
 
 On Monday, May 3, 1 dined with him at Mr. Billy's ; I pressed 
 him this day for his opinion on the passage on Parnell, concern- 
 ing which I had in vain questioned him in several letters, and at 
 length obtained it in due form of law. 
 
 Case for Dr. Johnson's Opinion ; 
 3d of May, 1779. 
 
 " Parnell, in his ' Hermit,' has the following passage : 
 
 " ' To clear this doubt, to know the world by sight, 
 To find if books and swains report it right; 
 (For yet by swains alone the world he knew, 
 Whose feet came wand'ring o'er the nightly dew.)' 
 
 ^ Allan Ramsay's residence. — 
 
 Cunningham. 
 
264 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 Is there not a contradiction in its being Jirsf supposed that the 
 Hermit knew ^ot/i what books and swains reported of the world ; 
 yet afterwards said, that he knew it by swains alone ? " 
 
 " / thmk it an inaccuracy. He mentions two 
 instructors in the first line, and says he had only 
 one in the next.'" ' 
 
 This evening I set out for Scotland. 
 
 TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD. 
 
 Dear Madam: Mr. Green has informed me that you are much better: I 
 hope I need not tell you that I am glad of it. I cannot boast of being much 
 better; my old nocturnal complaint still pursues me, and my respiration is 
 difficult, though much easier than when I left you the summer before last. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Thrale are well; Miss has been a little indisposed; but she is 
 got well again. They have since the loss of their boy had two daughters; 
 but they seem likely to want a son. 
 
 I hope you had some books which I sent you. I was sorry for poor Mrs. 
 Adey's death, and am afraid you will be sometimes solitary; but endeavour, 
 whether alone or in company, to keep yourself cheerful. My friends likewise 
 die very fast; but such is the state of man. I am, dear love, your most 
 humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 4, 1779. 
 
 He had, before I left London, resumed the conversation con- 
 cerning the appearance of a ghost at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
 which Mr. John Wesley believed, but to which Johnson did not 
 give credit. I was, however, desirous to examine the question 
 closely, and at the same time wished to be made acquainted with 
 
 1 " I do not," says Mr. Malone, " see any difficulty in this passage, and wonder 
 that Dr. Johnson should have acknowledged it to be inaccurate. The Hermit, it 
 should be observed, had no actual experience of the world whatsoever : all his 
 knowledge concerning it had been obtained in two ways ; from book.'i and from the 
 relations of those country swains, who had seen a little of it. The plain meaning, 
 therefore, is, ' To clear his doubts concerning Providence, and to obtain some 
 knowledge of the world by actual experience ; to see whether the accounts fur- 
 nished by books, or by the oral communications of swains, werejust representations 
 of it ; [I say, swains\ , for his oral or vivH voce information had been obtained from 
 that part of mankind alone, 8cc.' The word alone here does not relate to the whole 
 of the preceding line, as has been supposed, but, by a common license, to the 
 words, — 0/ all mankind, which are understood, and of which it is restrictive." Mr. 
 Malone, it must be owned, has shown much critical ingenuity in his explanation 
 of this passage. His interpretation, however, seems to me much too recondite. 
 The 7neaning of the passage may be certain enough ; but surely the expression is 
 confused, and one part of it contradictory to the other. — B. Croker has pointed 
 out a misquotation which makes all the difference; the second line should run 
 " books or swains." But in his letter of February 28, 1778, Boswell quoted the pas- 
 sage correctly. — Napier. 
 
Age 70.] 
 
 THE REV. JOHN WESLEY. 
 
 265 
 
 Mr. John Wesley ; for though I differed from him in some points, 
 I admired his various talents, and loved his pious zeal. At my 
 request, therefore, Dr. Johnson gave me a letter of introduction 
 to him. 
 
 TO THE REVEREND MR. JOHN WESLEY. 
 
 Sir: Mr. Boswell, a gentleman who has been long known to me, is de- 
 sirous of being known to you, and has asked this recommendation, which I 
 give him with great wilhngness, because J think it very much to be wished 
 that worthy and religious men should be acquainted with each other. I am, 
 Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 3, 1779. 
 
 Mr. Wesley being in the course of his ministry at Edinburgh, 
 I presented this letter to him, and was very politely received. I 
 begged to have it returned to me, which was accordingly done. 
 His state ' of the evidence as to the ghost did not satisfy me. 
 
 I did not write to Johnson, as usual, upon my return to my 
 family ; but tried how he would be affected by my silence. Mr. 
 Dilly sent me a copy of a note which he received from him. on 
 the 13th of July, in these words : 
 
 TO MR. DILLY. 
 
 Sir: Since Mr. Boswell's departure I have never heard from him; please 
 to send word what you know of him, and whether you have sent my books to 
 his lady. I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 My readers will not doubt that his solicitude about me was 
 very flattering. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: What can possibly have happened, that keeps us two such 
 strangers to each other? I expected to have heard from you when you came 
 home; I expected afterwards. I went into the country and returned, and yet 
 there is no letter from Mr. Boswell. No ill I hope has happened; and if ill 
 should happen, why should it be concealed from him who loves you? Is it 
 a fit of humour that has disposed you to try who can hold out longest without 
 writing? If it be, you have the victory. But I am afraid of something bad; 
 set me free from my suspicions. 
 
 My thoughts are at present employed in guessing the reason of your 
 silence; you must not expect that I should tell you anything, if I had 
 anything to tell. Write, pray write to me, and let me know what is, or 
 what has been the cause of this long interruption. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 13, 1779. 
 
 ^ State = statement. 
 
266 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, July 17, 1779. 
 My DEAR Sir: What may be justly denominated a supine indolence of 
 mind has been my state of existence since I last returned to Scotland. In a 
 livelier state I had often suffered severely from long intervals of silence on 
 your part; and I had even been chid by you for expressing my uneasiness. 
 I was willing to take advantage of ray insensibility, and while I could bear 
 the experiment, to try whether your. affection for me would, after an unusual 
 silence on my part, make you write first. This afternoon I have had very 
 high satisfaction by receiving your kind letter of inquiry, for which I most 
 gratefully thank you. I am doubtful if it was right to make the experiment; 
 though I have gained by it. I was beginning to grow tender, and to upbraid 
 myself, especially after having dreamt two nights ago that I was with you. I 
 and my wife, and my four children, are all well. I would not delay one post 
 to answer your letter; but as it is late, I have not time to do more. You 
 shall soon hear from me upon many and various particulars; and I shall never 
 again put you to any test. I am, with veneration, my dear Sir, your much 
 obliged, and faithful humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 On the 2 2d of July, I wrote to him again; and gave an account 
 of my last interview with my worthy friend Mr. Edward Dilly, 
 at his brother's house at Southill in Bedfordshire, where he died 
 soon after I parted from him, leaving me a very kind remem- 
 brance of his regard. 
 
 I informed him that Lord Hanes, who had promised to fur- 
 nish him with some anecdotes for his " Lives of the Poets," 
 had sent me three instances of Prior's borrowing from Gombauld, 
 in " Recueil des Poetes," tome 3. Epigram, " To John I owed 
 great obligation," p. 25. "To the Duke of Noailles," p. 32. 
 "Sauntering Jack and Idle Joan," p. 25. 
 
 My letter was a pretty long one, and contained a variety of 
 particulars ; but he, it should seem, had not attended to it ; for 
 his next to me was as follows : 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Sir: Are you playing the same trick again, and trying who can 
 keep silence longest? Remember that all tricks are either knavish or child- 
 ish: and that it is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a 
 friend, as upon the chastity of a wife. 
 
 What can be the cause of this second fit of silence, I cannot conjecture: 
 but after one trick, I will not be cheated by another, nor will harass my 
 thoughts with conjectures about the motives of a man who, probably, acts 
 only by caprice. I therefore suppose you are well, and that Mrs. Boswell 
 is well too: and that the fine summer has restored Lord Auchinleck. I am 
 much better than you left me; I think I am better than when I was in Scot- 
 land. 
 
Age 70.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S AVOCATIONS. 
 
 267 
 
 I forgot whether I informed you that poor Thrale has been in great, 
 danger.^ Mrs. Thrale likewise has miscarried, and been much indisposed. 
 Everybody else is well; Langton is in camp. I intend to put Lord Hailes's 
 description of Dryden^ into another edition, and as I know his accuracy, wish 
 he would consider the dates, which I could not always settle to my own 
 mind, 
 
 Mr. Thrale goes to Brighthelmston about Michaelmas, to be jolly and ride 
 a hunting. I shall go to town or perhaps to Oxford. Exercise and gaiety, 
 or rather carelessness, will, I hope, dissipate all remains of his malady; and I 
 likewise hope by the change of place to find some opportunities of growing 
 yet better myself. I am, dear Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Streatham, Sept. 9, 1779. 
 
 My readers will not be displeased at being told every slight cir- 
 ciuiistance of the manner in which Dr. Johnson contrived to 
 amuse his solitary hours. He sometimes employed himself in 
 chemistry, sometimes in watering and pruning a vine, sometimes 
 in small experiments, at which those who may smile, should 
 recollect that there are moments which admit of being soothed 
 only by trifles.^ 
 
 On the 20th of September, I defended myself against his sus- 
 picion of me, which I did not deserve ; and added : " Pray, let us 
 write frequently. A whim strikes me, that we should send off a 
 
 1 From a stroke of apoplexy which he suffered in June. But by the first of 
 August, he had entirely recovered his faculties and vigor. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 wiiich I communicated to him from his Lordship, but it has not yet been pub- 
 lished. I have a copy of it. — B. 
 
 3 In one of his manuscript diaries, there is the following entry, which marks his 
 curious minute attention. 
 
 "July 26, 1768. I shaved my nail by accident in whetting the knife, about an 
 eighth of an inch from the bottom, and about a fourth from the top. This I 
 measure that I may know the growth of nails ; the whole is about five-eighths of 
 an inch." 
 
 Another of the same kind appears, " Aug. 7, 1779, Partem brachii dextri carpo 
 proximam et cutcm pectoris circa vianiillaiii dcxtram rasi, ut notum fieret quanta 
 temporis pill renovare/itur." And, " Aug. 15, 1783, I cut from the vine 41 leaves, 
 which weighed five oz. and a half and eight scruples : I lay them upon my book- 
 case, to see what weight they will lose by drying." — B. 
 
 "Dr. Johnson" (Mrs. Piozzi's " Anecdotes," p. 237) "was always exceedingly 
 fond of chemistry; and we made up a sort of laboratory at Streatham one summer, 
 and diverted ourselves with drawing essences and coloring liquors. But the 
 danger in which Mr. Thrale found his friend one day, when I had driven to Lon- 
 don, and he had got the children and servants assembled around him to see some 
 experiments performed, put an end to all our entertainment ; as Mr. Thrale was 
 persuaded that his short sight would have occasioned his destruction in a moment 
 by bringing him close to a fierce and violent flame. Indeed it was a perpetual 
 miracle that he did not set himself on fire reading abed, as was his constant cus- 
 tom, when quite unable even to keep clear of mischief with our best help ; and ac- 
 cordingly the foretopsof all his wigs were burned by the candle down to the very 
 network. Future experiments in chemistry were, however, too dangerous, and Mr. 
 Thrale insisted that we should do no more towards finding the philosopher's stone." 
 — Croker. See The Idler, No. 31, in which Johnson gives a portrait of himself. 
 
268 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 sheet once a week, like a stage coach, whether it be full or not ; 
 nay, though it should be empty. The very sight of your hand- 
 writing would comfort me : and were a sheet to be thus sent reg- 
 ularly, we should much oftener convey something were it only a 
 few kind words." 
 
 My friend Colonel James Stuart,' second son of the Earl of 
 Bute, who had distinguished himself as a good officer of the Bed- 
 fordshire militia, had taken a public-spirited resolution to serve 
 his country in its difficulties, by raising a regular regiment, and 
 taking the command of it himself. This, in the heir of the im- 
 mense property of Wortley, was highly honorable. Having been 
 in Scotland recruiting, he obligingly asked me to accompany him 
 to Leeds, then the head-quarters of his corps ; from thence to 
 London for a short time, and afterwards to other places to which 
 the regiment might be ordered. Such an offer, at a time of the 
 year when I had full leisure, was very pleasing ; especially as I 
 was to accompany a man of sterling good sense, information, 
 discernment, and conviviality ; and was to have a second crop, 
 in one year, of London and Johnson. Of this I informed my 
 illustrious friend, in characteristical warm terms, in a letter dated 
 the 30th of September, from Leeds. 
 
 On Monday, October 4, 1 called at his house before he was up. 
 He sent for me to his bedside, and expressed his satisfaction at 
 this incidental meeting, with as much vivacity as if he had been 
 in the gayety of youth. He called briskly, " Frank, go and get 
 coffee, and let us breakfast splendor y 
 
 During this visit to London I had several interviews with him, 
 which it is unnecessary to distinguish particularly. I consulted 
 him as to the appointment of guardians to my children, in case 
 of my death. ''Sir," said he, "do not appoint a number of 
 guardians. When there are many, they trust one to another, 
 and the business is neglected. I would advise you to choose 
 only one ; let him be a man of respectable character, who, for 
 his own credit, will do what is right ; let him be a rich man, so 
 that he may be under no temptation to take advantage ; and let 
 him be a man of business, who is used to conduct affairs with 
 ability and expertness, to whom, therefore, the execution of the 
 trust will not be burdensome." 
 
 ^ Colonel Stuart assumed successively the names of Stuart and Mackenzie, 
 but was best known as Mr. Stuart-Wortley. He was father of the first Lord 
 Wharnciiffe, and died in 1814. — Croker. 
 
 ^ He made his will in his wife's lifetime and appointed her and Sir William 
 ]*"orbes, or the survivor of them, "tutors and curators" of his children. " Bos- 
 welliana," p. 186. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 70.] SUPERFLUITY OF LABORERS. 
 
 269 
 
 On Sunday, October 10, we dined together at Mr. Strahan's. 
 The conversation having turned on the prevaiUng practice of 
 going to the East-Indies in quest of wealth ; Johnson : " A 
 man had better have 10,000/. at the end of ten years passed in 
 England, than 20,000/. at the end of ten years passed in India, 
 because you must compute what you give for money ; and a man 
 who has lived ten years in India, has given up ten years of social 
 comfort, and all those advantages which arise from living in 
 England. The ingenious Mr. Brown, distinguished by the name 
 of Capability B7'0W7i,^ told me, that he was once at the seat of 
 Lord Clive, who had returned from India with great wealth ; and 
 that he showed him at the door of his bed-chamber a large chest, 
 which he said he had once had full of gold ; upon which Brown 
 observed, ' I am glad you can bear it so near your bed-chamber.' " 
 
 We talked of the state of the poor in London. Johnson : 
 ^' Saunders Welch, the Justice, who was once high-constable of 
 Holborn, and had the best opportunities of knowing the state of 
 the poor, told me that I under-rated the number, when I com- 
 puted that twenty a week, that is above a thousand a year, died 
 of hunger ; not absolutely of immediate hunger, but of the wast- 
 ing and other diseases which are the consequences of hunger. 
 This happens only in so large a place as London, where people 
 are not known. What we are told about the great sums got by 
 begging is not true : the trade is overstocked. And you may 
 depend upon it, there are many who cannot get work. A par- 
 ticular kind of manufacture fails ; those who have been used to 
 work at it can, for some time, work at nothing else. You meet 
 a man begging : you charge him with idleness : he says, ' I am 
 willing to labor. Will you give me work ? ' — 'I cannot.' — ' Why 
 then you have no right to charge me with idleness.' " 
 
 We left Mr. Strahan's at seven, as Johnson had said he intended 
 to go to evening prayers. As we walked along he complained 
 of a little gout in his toe, and said : " I shan't go to prayers to- 
 night; I shall go to-morrow: Whenever I miss church on a 
 Sunday, I resolve to go another day. But I do not always do 
 it." This was a fair exhibition of that vibration between pious 
 resolutions and indolence, which many of us have too often ex- 
 perienced. 
 
 I went home with him, and we had a long quiet conversation. 
 I read him a letter from Dr. Hugh Blair concerning Pope (in 
 
 ^ Head gardener at Hampton Court and Windsor. He got his name by saying 
 that the grounds which he was asked to lay out had Capabilities, 
 
270 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 writing whose Life he was now employed), which I shall insert 
 as a literary curiosity.' 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: In the year 1763, being at London, I was carried by Dr. 
 John Blair, Prebendary of Westminster, to dine at old Lord Bathurst's ; 
 where we found the late Mr. Mallet, Sir James Porter, who had been Ambas- 
 sadour at Constantinople, the late Dr. Macaulay, and two or three more. 
 The conversation turning on Mr. Pope, Lord Bathurst told us, that " The 
 Essay on Man " was originally composed by Lord Bolingbroke in prose, and 
 that Mr. Pope did no more than put it into verse: that he had read Lord 
 Bolingbroke's manuscript in his own hand-writing: and remembered well, 
 that he was at a loss whether most to admire the elegance of Lord Boling- 
 broke's prose, or the beauty of Mr. Pope's verse. When Lord Bathurst told 
 this, Mr. Mallet bade me attend, and remember this remarkable piece of in- 
 formation; as, by the course of Nature, I might survive his Lordship, and be 
 a witness of his having said so. The conversation was indeed too remarkable 
 to be forgotten. A few days after, meeting with you, who were then also at 
 London, you will remember that I mentioned to you what had passed on this 
 subject, as I was much struck with this anecdote. But what ascertains^ my 
 recollection of it beyond doubt, is, that being accustomed to keep a journal 
 of what passed when I was at London, which I wrote out every evening, I 
 find the particulars of the above information, just as I have now given them, 
 distinctly marked; and am thence enabled to fix this conversation to have 
 passed on Friday, the 22d of April, 1763. 
 
 I remember also distinctly (though I have not for this the authority of 
 my journal) that the conversation going on concerning Mr. Pope, I took 
 notice of a report which had been sometimes propagated that he did not 
 understand Greek, Lord Bathurst said to me that he knew that to be false; 
 for the part of the Iliad was translated by Mr. Pope in his house in the 
 country; and that in the morning when they assembled at breakfast, Mr. 
 Pope used frequently to repeat, with great rapture, the Greek lines which he 
 had been translating, and then to give them his version of them, and to 
 compare them together. 
 
 If these circumstances can be of any use to Dr. Johnson, you have my 
 full liberty to give them to him. I beg you will, at the same time, present to 
 him my most respectful compliments, with best wishes for his success and 
 
 ^ The Rev. Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle, in the preface to his valuable edition of 
 Archbishop King's " Essay on the Origin of Evil," mentions that the principles main- 
 tained in it had been adopted by Pope in his " Essay on Man ;" and adds : " The fact, 
 notwithstanding such denial (Bishop Warburton's) might have been strictly verified 
 by an unexceptionable testimony, viz. that of the late Lord Bathurst who saw the 
 very same system of the to /^cAnor (taken from the Archbishop) in Lord Boling- 
 broke's own hand, lying before Mr. Pope, while he was composing his Essay." 
 This is respectable evidence ; but that of Dw Blair is more direct from the fountain- 
 head, as well as more full. Let me add to it that of Ur. Joseph Warton : " The 
 late Lord Bathurst repeatedly assured me that he had read the whole scheme of 
 'The Essay on Man,' in the handwriting of Bolingbroke, and drawn up in a series 
 of propositions, which Pope was to versify and illustrate." "Essay on the Genius 
 and Writing of Pope," vol. ii. p. 62. — B. 
 
 2 Ascertain, to establish. — Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
Age 70.] HOW TO MAKE A FIRE BURN. 
 
 271 
 
 fame in all his literary undertakings. I am, with great respect, my dearest 
 Sir, your most affectionate, and obliged humble servant, 
 
 Hugh Blair. 
 
 Broughton Park, Sept. 21, 1779. 
 
 Johnson : " Depend upon it, Sir, this is too strongly stated. 
 Pope may have had from Bolingbroke the philosophic stamina 
 of his Essay ; and admitting this to be true, Lord Bathurst did 
 not intentionally falsify. But the thing is not true in the latitude 
 that Blair seems to imagine ; we are sure that the poetical ima- 
 gery, which makes a great part of the poem, was Pope's own. 
 It is amazing, Sir, what deviations there are from precise truth, 
 in the account which is given of almost every thing. I told Mrs. 
 Thrale, ' You have so little anxiety about truth, that you never 
 tax your memory with the exact thing.' Now what is the use of 
 the memory to truth, if one is careless of exactness? Lord 
 Hailes's ' Annals of Scotland ' are very exact ; but they contain 
 mere dry particulars. They are to be considered as a diction- 
 ary. You know such things are there ; and may be looked at 
 when you please. Robertson paints ; but the misfortune is, you 
 are sure he does not know the people whom he paints ; so you 
 cannot suppose a likeness. Characters should never be given 
 by a historian, unless he knew the people whom he describes, 
 or copies from those who knew them." 
 
 BoswELL : " Why, Sir, do people play this trick which I observe 
 now, when I look at your grate, putting the shovel against it to 
 make the fire burn? " Johnson : They play the trick, but it does 
 not make the fire burn. Thej-e is a better (setting the poker 
 perpendicularly up at right angles with the grate). Li days of 
 superstition they thought, as it made a cross with the bars, it 
 would drive away the witch." 
 
 BoswELL : " By associating with you. Sir, I am always getting 
 an accession of wisdom. But perhaps a man, after knowing his 
 own character — the limited strength of his own mind, should 
 not be desirous of having too much wisdom, considering, quid 
 valeant humeri,^ how little he can carry." Johnson : " Sir, be 
 as wise as you can ; let a man be aliis IcEtus, sapiens sihi : 
 
 " ' Though pleas'd to see the dolphins play, 
 I mind jny compass and my way.' ^ 
 
 ^ Horace : " Ars Poet." 1. 39. 
 
 * " The Spleen," a poem. — B. By Matthew Green. — Dr, Hill. 
 
272 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 You may be as wise in your study in the morning, and gay in 
 company at a tavern in the evening. Every man is to take care 
 of his own wisdom and his own virtue, without minding too much 
 what others think." 
 
 He said : " Dodsley first mentioned to me the scheme of an 
 English 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, — and have done it very well." Boswell: 
 " An excellent climax ! and it has availed you. In your preface 
 you say, ' What would it avail me in this gloom of solitude ? ' 
 You have been agreeably mistaken." 
 
 In his Life of Milton, he observes, " I cannot but remark a 
 kind of respect, perhaps unconsciously, paid to this great man by 
 his biographers : every house in which he resided is historically 
 mentioned, as if it were an injury to neglect naming any place 
 that he honored by his presence." I had, before I read this 
 observation, been desirous of showing that respect to Johnson, 
 by various inquiries. Finding him this evening in a very good 
 humor, I prevailed on him to give me an exact list of his places 
 of residence, since he entered the metropolis as an author, which 
 I subjoin in a note.' 
 
 I mentioned to him a dispute between a friend of mine and 
 his lady, concerning conjugal infidelity, which my friend had 
 maintained was by no means so bad in the husband as in the wife. 
 Johnson : " Your friend was in the right. Sir. Between a man 
 and his Maker it is a different question : but between a man and 
 his wife, a husband's infidelity is nothing. They are connected 
 by children, by fortune, by serious- considerations of community. 
 Wise married women do n't trouble themselves about infidelity in 
 their husbands." Boswell : " To be sure there is a great differ- 
 ence between the offence of infidelity in a man and that of his 
 wife." Johnson : " The difference is boundless. The man im- 
 poses no bastards upon his wife." 
 
 1 (i) Exeter Street, off Catherine Street, Strand. [March, 1737.] (2) Green- 
 wich. [July, 1737.] (3) Woodstock Street, near Hanover Square. [End of 
 1737.] (4) Castle Street, Cavendish Square, No. 6. [Spring and October, 1738.] 
 (5) Strand. (6) Boswell Court. (7) Strand, again. (8) Bow Street. (9) Hol- 
 born. (10) Fetter Lane. (11) Holborn, again, (12) Cough Square. [Here 
 " Rasselas" was written.] (13) Stajile Inn. [He moved here March 23, i^SQ.] 
 (14) Gray's Inn. (15) Inner Temple Lane, No. i.* (16) Johnson's Court, No. 
 7. (17) Bolt Court, No. 8. From about 1765, he had an " apartment" at Streat- 
 ham and from about 1765 to about 1780 one at Southwark ; from about the 
 beginning of 1781 to the Spring of 1783, he had a room either in Grosvenor Square 
 or Argyll Street.— B. /Jr. J J ill. 
 
Age 70.] 
 
 HUMOR OF OPPOSITION. 
 
 278 
 
 Here it may be questioned whether Johnson was entirely in the 
 right. I suppose it will not be controverted that the difference 
 in the degree of criminality is very great, on account of conse- 
 quences : but still it may be maintained, that, independent of 
 moral obligation, infidelity is by no means a light offence in a 
 husband : because it must hurt a delicate attachment, in which a 
 mutual constancy is implied, with such refined sentiments as 
 Massinger has exhibited in his play of "The Picture." Johnson 
 probably at another time would have admitted this opinion. And 
 let it be kept in remembrance, that he was very careful not to 
 give any encouragement to irregular conduct. A gentleman, not 
 adverting to the distinction made by him upon this subject, sup- 
 posed a case of singular perverseness in a wife, and heedlessly 
 said, "That then he thought a husband might do as he pleased 
 with a safe conscience." Johnson: "Nay, Sir, this -is wild in- 
 deed (smiling) ; you must consider that fornication is a crime in a 
 single man : and you cannot have more liberty by being married." 
 
 He this evening expressed himself strongly against the Roman 
 Catholics ; observing, " In everything in which they differ from us, 
 they are wrong." He was even against the invocation of saints ; 
 in short, he was in the humor of opposition. 
 
 Having regretted to him that I had learnt little Greek, as is too 
 generally the case in Scotland ; that I had for a long time hardly 
 applied at all to the study of that noble language, and that I was 
 desirous of being told by him what method to follow ; he recom- 
 mended to me as easy helps, Sylvanus's " First Book of the Iliad ; " 
 Dawson's " Lexicon to the Greek New Testament; " and " He- 
 siod," with Pasoris Lexicon at the end of it. 
 
 On Tuesday, October 12, 1 dined with him at Mr. Ramsay's with 
 Lord Newhaven,^ and some other company, none of whom I 
 recollect, but a beautiful Miss Graham,^ a relation of his Lord- 
 ship's, who asked Dr. Johnson to hob or nob with her. He was 
 flattered by such pleasing attention, and politely told her he never 
 drank wine ; but if she would drink a glass of water, he was 
 much at her service. She accepted. " Oho, Sir ! (said Lord 
 Newhaven) you are caught." Johnson : " Nay, I do not see 
 hoiv I am caught; but if I am caught, I don't want to get free 
 again. If I am caught I hope to be kept." Then when the two 
 glasses of water were brought, smiling placidly to the young lady, 
 he said, " Madam, let us reciprocated 
 
 ^One of a creation of eighteen Irish peers in 1776. — Dr. Hill. 
 Now the Lady of Sir Henry Dashwood, Bart. 
 
 Vol. II. — iS 
 
274 
 
 BOSWELTJS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 Lord Newhaven and Johnson carried on an argument for some 
 time concerning the Middlesex election. Johnson said : " Par- 
 liament may be considered as bound by law, as a man is bound 
 where there is nobody to tie the knot. As it is clear that the 
 House of Commons may expel, and expel again and again, why 
 not allow of the power to incapacitate for that Parhament, rather 
 than have a perpetual contest kept up between Parliament and 
 the people." Lord Newhaven took the opposite side ; but 
 respectfully said, I speak with great deference to you. Dr. 
 Johnson; I speak to be instructed." This had its full effect 
 upon my friend. He bowed his head almost as low as the table, 
 to a complimenting nobleman ; and called out, " My Lord, my 
 Lord, I do not desire all this ceremony : let us tell our minds to 
 one another quietly." After the debate was over, he said, " I 
 have got lights on the subject to-day, which I had not before." 
 This was a great deal from him, especially as he had written a 
 pamphlet ' upon it. 
 
 He observed : " The House of Commons was originally not 
 a privilege of the people, but a check, for the Crown, on the 
 House of Lords. I remember Henry the Eighth wanted them 
 to do something ; they hesitated in the morning, but did it in the 
 afternoon. He told them, ' It is well you did ; or half your 
 heads should have been upon Temple Bar.' But the House of 
 Commons is now no longer under the power of the Crown, and 
 therefore must be bribed." He added, " I have no delight in 
 talking of public affairs." 
 
 Of his fellow-collegian, the celebrated Mr. George Whitefield, 
 he said : " Whitefield never drew as much attention as a mounte- 
 bank does ; he did not draw attention by doing better than 
 others, but by doing what was strange. Were Astley to preach 
 a sermon standing upon his head on a horse's back, he would 
 collect a multitude to hear him : but no wise man would say he 
 had made a better sermon for that. I never treated Whitefield's 
 ministry with contempt ; I believe he did good. He had devoted 
 himself to the lower classes of mankind, and among them he was 
 of use. But when familiarity and noise claim the praise due to 
 knowledge, art, and elegance, we must beat down such preten- 
 sions." 
 
 What I have preserved of his conversation during the re- 
 
 1 " The False Alarm." 
 
 * Heads were first placed on Temple Bar in the time of William III. — P. Cun- 
 ningham. 
 
 A 
 
Age 70.] ASSOCIATING WITH INFIDELS. 275 
 
 mainder of my stay in T.ondon at this time, is only what follows : 
 I told him that when I objected to keeping company with a no- 
 torious infidel, a celebrated friend of ours said to me : I do 
 not think that men who live laxly in the world, as you and I do, 
 can with propriety assume -such an authority: Dr. Johnson may, 
 who is uniformly exemplary in his conduct. But it is not very 
 consistent to shun an infidel to-day, and get drunk to-morrow." 
 Johnson : " Nay Sir, this is sad reasoning. Because a man can 
 not be right in all things, is he to be right in nothing? Because 
 a man sometimes gets drunk, is he therefore to steal ? This doc- 
 trine would very soon bring a man to the gallows." 
 
 After all, however, it is a difficult question how far sincere Chris- 
 tians should associate with the avowed enemies of religion ; for in the 
 first place, almost every man's mind may be more or less " cor- 
 rupted by evil communications;" secondly, the world may very 
 naturally suppose that they are not really in earnest in religion, 
 who can easily bear its opponents ; and thirdly, if the profane 
 find themselves quite well received by the pious, one of the 
 checks upon an open declaration of their infidelity, and one of 
 the probable chances of obliging them seriously to reflect, which 
 their being shunned would do, is removed. 
 
 He, I know not why, showed upon all occasions an aversion to 
 go to Ireland, where I proposed to him that we should make a 
 tour. Johnson : " It is the last place where I should wish to 
 travel." Boswell : "Should you not like to see Dublin, Sir ? " 
 Johnson : " No, Sir ; Dublin is only a worse capital." Boswell : 
 "Is not the Giant's Causeway worth seeing?" Johnson: 
 "Worth seeing? yes; but not worth going to see." 
 
 Yet he had a kindness for the Irish nation, and thus generously 
 expressed himself to a gentleman from that country, on the sub- 
 ject of an UNION which artful politicians have often had in view — 
 " Do not make an union with us, Sir, we should unite with you 
 only to rob you. We should have robbed the Scotch, if they had 
 had anything of which we could have robbed them." 
 
 Of an acquaintance of ours, whose manners and everything 
 about him, though expensive, were coarse, he said, " Sir, you see 
 in him vulgar prosperity." 
 
 A foreign minister of no very high talents, who had been in 
 his company for a considerable time quite overlooked, happened 
 luckily to mention that he had read some of his Rambler in 
 Italian, and admired it much. This pleased him greatly ; he ob- 
 served that the title had been translated, " II Genio errante," 
 
276 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON, [A.D. 1779. 
 
 though I have been told it was rendered more ludicrously, " II 
 Vagabondo ; " ' and finding that this minister gave such a proof of 
 his taste, he was all attention to him, and on the first remark 
 which he made, however simple, exclaimed, " The ambassador 
 says well; His Excellency observes- — And then he ex- 
 panded and enriched the little that had been said, in so strong a 
 manner, that it appeared something. of consequence. This was 
 exceedingly entertaining to the company who were present, and 
 many a time afterwards it furnished a pleasant topic of merri- 
 ment : " T/ie ambassador says weW^ became a laughable term of 
 applause, when no mighty matter had been expressed. 
 
 I left London on Monday, October 18, and accompanied Col- 
 onel Stuart to Chester, where his regiment was to lie for some 
 time. 
 
 MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 Chester, October 22, 1779. 
 My dear Sir: It was not till one o'clock on Monday morning, that 
 Colonel Stuart and I left London; for we chose to l)id a cordial adieu to 
 Lord Mountstuart, who was to set out on that day on his embassy to Turin. 
 We drove on excellently, and reached Lichfield in good time enough that 
 night. The Colonel had heard so preferable a character of the George, that 
 he would not put up at the Three Crowns, so that I did not see our host Wil- 
 kins. We found at the George as good accommodations as we could wish to 
 have, and I fully enjoyed the comfortable thought that / luas in Lichfield 
 again. Next morning it rained very hard; and as I had much to do in a 
 little time, I ordered a post-chaise, and between eight and nine sallied forth 
 to make a round of visits. I first went to Mr. Green, hoping to have had him 
 to accompany me to all my other friends, but he was engaged to attend the 
 Bishop of Sodor and Man, who was then lying at Lichfield very ill of the 
 gout. Having taken a hasty glance at the additions to Green's museum, from 
 which it was not so easy to break away, I next went to the Friery, where I at 
 first occasioned some tumult in the ladies, who were not prepared to receive 
 company so early: but my name, which has by wonderful felicity come to be 
 closely associated with yours, soon made all easy; apd Mrs. Cobb and Miss 
 Adye re-assumed their seats at the breakfast-table, which they had quitted with 
 some precipitation. They received me with the kindness of an old acquaint- 
 ance: and after we had joined in a cordial chorus \.o yotir praise, Mrs. Cobb 
 gave me the high satisfaction of hearing that you said, " Roswell is a man who 
 I believe never left a house without leaving a wish for his return." And she 
 afterwards added, that she bid you tell me, that if ever I came to Lichfield, 
 she hoped I would take a bed at the Friery. From thence I drove to Peter 
 Garrick's, where I also found a very flattering welcome. He appeared to me 
 to enjoy his usual chearfulness; and he very kindly asked me to come when I 
 
 ^An Italian prince once dining with Dr. Johnson called out from the top of 
 the table to the bottom, " At your health, Mr. Vagabond," and Mme. D'Arblay in her 
 memoirs of Dr. Burney relates how General Paoli at Mrs. Thrale's table begged 
 leave to give one toast, and with smiling pomposity, pronounced, " The great Vaga- 
 bond." — Dr. Hill'. 
 
Age 70.] 
 
 BOS WELL AT CHESTEH. 
 
 m 
 
 could, and pass a week with him. From Mr. Garrick's I went to the Palace to 
 wait on Mr. Seward. I was tirst entertained by his lady and daughter, he 
 himself being in bed with a cold, according to his valetudinary custom. But 
 he desired to see me; and I found him drest in his black gown, with a 
 white flannel night-gown above it; so that he looked like a Dominican friar. 
 He was good-humoured and polite; and under his roof too my reception was 
 very pleasing. I then proceeded to Stow-hill and first paid my respects to 
 Mrs. Gastrell, whose conversation I was not willing to quit. But my sand- 
 glass was now beginning to run low, as I could not trespass too long on the 
 Colonel's kindness, who obligingly waited for me; so I hastened to Mrs. 
 Aston's, whom I found much better than T feared I should; and there I met 
 a brother-in-law of these ladies, who talked much of you, and very well too, 
 as it appeared to me. It then only remained to visit Mrs. Lucy Porter, which I 
 did, I really believ^, with sincere satisfaction on both sides. I am sure 
 I was glad to see her again; and, as I take her to be very honest, I trust she 
 was glad to see me again; for she expressed herself so, that I could not doubt 
 of her being in earnest. What a great key-stone of kindness, my dear Sir, 
 were you that morning ! for we were all held together by our common attach- 
 ment to you. I cannot say that I ever passed two hours with more self-com- 
 placency than I did those two at Lichfield. Let me not entertain any suspicion 
 that this is idle vanity. Will not you confirm me in my persuasion, that he 
 who finds himself so regarded has just reason to be happy? 
 
 We got to Chester about midnight on Tuesday; and here again I am in a 
 state of much enjoyment. Colonel Stuart and his officers treat me with all 
 the civility I could wish; and I play my part admiral^ly. Lccliis aliis, sapiens 
 sibi, the classical sentence which you, I imagine, invented the other day, is 
 exemplified in my present existence. The Bishop,' to whom I had the hon- 
 our to be known several years ago, shews me much attention; and I am edi- 
 fied by his conversation. I must not omit to tell you, that his Lordship 
 admires, very highly, your Prefaces to the Poets. I am daily obtaining an 
 extension of agreeable acquaintance, so that I am kept in animated variety; 
 and the study of the place itself, by the assistance of books, and of the Bishop, 
 is sufficient occupation. Chester pleases my fancy more than any town I ever 
 saw. But I will not enter upon it at all in this letter. 
 
 How long I shall stay here I cannot yet say. I told a very pleasing young 
 lady,^ niece to one of the Prebendaries, at whose house I saw her, " I have 
 come to Chester, Madam, I cannot tell how; and far less can I tell how I am 
 to get away from it." Do not think me too juvenile. I beg it of you, my 
 dear Sir, to favour me with a letter while I am here, and add to the happiness 
 of a happy friend, who is ever, with affectionate veneration, most sincerely 
 yours, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 If you do not write directly, so as to catch me here, I shall be disap- 
 pointed. Two lines from you will keep my lamp burning bright. 
 
 - TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: Why should you importune me so earnestly to write? Of 
 what importance can it be to hear of distant friends, to a man who finds him- 
 self welcome wherever he goes, and makes new friends faster than he can 
 
 ^ Dr. Porteous, afterwards Bishop of London. — Croker. 
 *Miss Letitia Barnston. — B. 
 
2T8 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 want them? If to the delight of such universal kindness of reception, any 
 thing can be added by knowing that you retain my good-will, you may indulge 
 yourself in the full enjoyment of that small addition. 
 
 I am glad that you made the round of Lichfield w'ith so much success; the 
 oftener you are seen, the more you will be liked. It was pleasing to me to 
 read that Mrs. Aston was so well, and that Lucy Porter was so glad to see 
 you. 
 
 In the place where you now are, there is much to be observed; and you 
 will easily procure yourself skilful directors. But what will you do to keep 
 away the black dog that worries you at home? If you would, in compliance 
 with your father's advice, inquire into the old tenures and old characters of 
 Scotland, you would certainly open to yourself many striking scenes of the 
 manners of the Middle Ages. The feudal system, in a country half-barbarous, 
 is naturally productive of great anomalies in civil life. The knowledge of past 
 times is naturally growing less in all cases not of publick record; and the 
 past time of Scotland is so unlike the present, that it is already difficult for a 
 Scotchman to image the oeconomy of his grandfather. Do not be tardy nor 
 negligent; but gather up eagerly what can yet be found.' 
 
 We have, I think, once talked of another project, a history of the late in- 
 surrection in Scotland, with all its incidents. Many falsehoods are passing 
 into uncontradicted history. Voltaire, Vv^ho loved a striking story, has told 
 what he could not find to be true.^ 
 
 You may make collections for either of these projects, or for both, as 
 opportunities occur, and digest your materials at leisure. The great direction 
 which Burton has left to men disordered like you, is this, Be not solitary ; he 
 not idle : ^ which I would thus modify; If you are idle be not solitary; if 
 you are solitary, be not idle. 
 
 There is a letter for you, from your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, October 27, 1779. 
 
 to dr. samuel johnson. 
 
 Carlisle, Nov. 7, 1779. 
 My dear Sir: That I should importune you to write to me at Chester, is 
 not wonderful, when you consider what an avidity I have for delight; and 
 that the a/noj' of pleasure, like the ajnor minimi,'^ increases in proportion with 
 the quantity which we possess of it. Your letter, so full of polite kindness 
 and masterly counsel, came like a large treasure upon me, while already glit- 
 tering with riches. I was quite enchanted at Chester, so that I could with 
 difficulty quit it. But the enchantment was the reverse of that of Circe; for 
 so far was there from being any thing sensual in it, that I was all mind. I 
 do not mean all reason only : for my fancy was kept finely in play. And why 
 not? — If you please I will send you a copy, or an abridgment of my Chester 
 journal, which is truly a log-book of felicity. 
 
 ^ I have a valuable collection made by my father, which with some additions 
 and illustrations of my own, I intend to publish. I have some hereditary claim to 
 be an antiquary; not only from my father, but as being descended, by the mother's 
 side, from the able and learned Sir John Skene, whose merit bids defiance to all 
 the attempts which have been made to lessen his fame. — B. 
 
 * In chapters xxiv. and xxv. of his " Siecle de Louis XV." 
 ^ Burton : " The Anatomy of Melancholy." 
 
 * Juvenal, xiv. 139. 
 
Age 70.] 
 
 THE BLACK DOG. 
 
 279 
 
 The Bishop treated me with a kindness which was very flattering. I told 
 him that you regretted you had seen so little of Chester. His Lordship bade 
 me tell you, that he should be glad to shew you more of it. I am proud to 
 find the friendship with which you honour me is known in so many places. 
 
 I arrived here late last night. Our friend the Dean ' has been gone from 
 hence some months ; but I am told at my inn, that he is very populous 
 (popular). However, I found Mr. Law, the Archdeacon, son to the Bishop, 
 and with him I have breakfasted and dined very agreeably. I got acquainted 
 with him at the assizes here about a year and a half ago; he is a man of great 
 variety of knowledge, uncommon genius, and, I believe, sincere religion. I 
 received the holy sacrament in the cathedral in the morning, this being the 
 first Sunday in the month ; and was at prayers there in the morning. It is 
 divinely cheering to me to think that there is a cathedral so near Auchinleck; 
 and I now leave Old England in such a state of mind as I am thankful to Gon 
 for granting me. 
 
 The black dog that worries me at home I cannot but dread; yet as I have 
 been for some time past in a military train, I trust I shall repulse him. To 
 hear from you will animate me like the sound of a trumpet; I therefore hope, 
 that soon after my return to the northern field, I shall receive a few lines from 
 you. 
 
 Colonel Stuart did me the honour to escort me in his carriage to shew me 
 Liverpool, and from thence back again to Warrington, where we parted.^ In 
 justice to my valuable wife, I must inform you she wrote to me, that as I was 
 so happy, she would not be so selfish as to wish me to return sooner than 
 business absolutely required my presence. She made my clerk write to me a 
 post or two after to the same purpose, by commission from her; and this day 
 a kind letter from her met me at the Post-Office here, acquainting me that she 
 and the little ones were well, and expressing all their wishes for my return 
 home. I am, more and more, my dear Sir, your affectionate and obliged 
 humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: Your last letter was not only kind but fond. But I wish you 
 to get rid of all intellectual excesses, and neither to exalt your pleasures, nor 
 aggravate your vexations beyond their real and natural state. Why should you 
 not be as happy at Edinburgh as at Chester? In culpa est ani/niis, qui se non 
 effugit usqua))i? Please yourself with your wife and children, and studies, 
 and practice. 
 
 I have sent a petition ■* from Lucy Porter, with which I leave it to your 
 discretion whether it is proper to comply. Return me her letter, which I have 
 sent, that you may know the whole case, and not be seduced to any thing 
 
 * Dean Percy. 
 
 2 His regiment was afterwards ordered to Jamaica, where he accompanied it, 
 and almost lost his life by the climate. This impartial order I should think a suffi- 
 cient refutation of the idle rumor that "there was still something behind the throne 
 greater than the throne itself." — B. Boswell refers to the influence over the King 
 attributed to Lord Bute, which might have been supposed sufficient to save his son's 
 regiment from being ordered to Jamaica. 
 
 ^ Horace: " Epistles," i. 14, 13. 
 
 * Requesting me to inquire concerning the family of a gentleman who was then 
 paying his addresses to Miss Doxy. — B. 
 
280 
 
 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1779. 
 
 that you may afterwards repent. Miss Doxy perhaps you know to be Mr. 
 Garrick's niece. 
 
 If Dean Percy can be popular at Carlisle, he may be very happy. He has 
 in his disposal two livings, each equal, or almost equal in value to the dean- 
 ery; he may take one himself, and give the other to his son. 
 
 How near is the cathedral to Auchinleck, that you are so much delighted 
 with it? It is, I suppose, at least an hundred and fifty miles off.^ However, 
 if you are pleased, it is so far well. 
 
 Let me know what reception you have from your father, and the state of 
 his health. Please him as much as you can, and add no pain to his last years. 
 
 Of our friends here I can recollect nothing to tell you. I have neither seen 
 nor heard of Langton. Beauclerk is just returned from Brighthelmston, I am 
 told, much better. Mr. Thrale and his family are still there; and his health 
 is said to be visibly improved: he has not bathed but hunted. 
 
 At Bolt-court there is much malignity, but of late little open hostility.' I 
 have had a cold but it is gone. 
 
 Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, &c. 
 
 I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Nov. 13, 1779. 
 
 On November 22, and December 21, 1 wrote to him from Edin- 
 burgh, giving a very favorable report of the family of Miss Doxy's 
 lover ; that after a good deal of inquiry I had discovered the 
 sister of Mr. Francis Stewart, one of his amanuenses when writ- 
 ing his Dictionary ; that I had, as desired by him, paid her a 
 guinea for an old pocket-book of her brother's which he had re- 
 tained ; and that the good woman, who was in very moderate 
 circumstances, but contented and placid, wondered at his scru- 
 pulous and liberal honesty, and received the guinea as if sent her 
 by Providence. That I had repeatedly begged of him to keep 
 his promise to send me his letter to Lord Chesterfield, and that 
 this ??iemento, like Delenda est Carthago, must be in every letter 
 that I shotild write to him, till I had obtained my object. 
 
 In 1780, the world was kept in impatience for the completion 
 of his " Lives of the Poets," upon which he was employed so far 
 as his indolence allowed him to labor. 
 
 I wrote to him on January i, and March 13, sending him my 
 notes of Lord Marchmont's information concerning Pope ; com- 
 plaining that I had not heard from him for almost four months, 
 though he was two letters in my debt ; that I had suffered again 
 from melancholy ; hoping that he had been in so much better 
 company (the Poets), that he had not time to think of his distant 
 friends ; for if that were the case, I should have some recompense 
 
 * It is little more than half that distance. — Dr. HilL 
 
 * See p. 247, Nov., 1778. 
 
BISHOP PERCY. 
 
Age 7t.] 
 
 THE LOSS OF A WIFE. 
 
 281 
 
 for my uneasiness ; that the state of my affairs did not admit of my 
 coming to London this year ; and begging he would return me 
 Goldsmith's two poems, with his lines marked. 
 
 His friend Dr. Lawrence having now suffered the greatest 
 affliction to which a man is liable, and which Johnson himself 
 had felt in the most severe manner ; Johnson wrote to him in an 
 admirable strain of sympathy and pious consolation. 
 
 TO DR. LAWRENCE. 
 
 Dear Sir : At a time when all your friends ought to shew their kindness, 
 and with a character which ought to make all that know you your friends, you 
 may wonder that you have yet heard nothing from me. 
 
 I have been hindered by a vexatious and incessant cough, for which within 
 these ten days I have been bled once, fasted four or five times, taken physick 
 five times, and opiates, I think, six. This day it seems to remit. 
 
 The loss, dear Sir, which you have lately suffered, I felt many years ago, 
 and know therefore how much has been taken from you, and how little help 
 can be had from consolation. He that outlives a wife whom he has long 
 loved, sees himself disjoined from the only mind that has the same hopes, and 
 fears, and interest; from the only companion with whom he has shared much 
 good or evil; and with whom he could set his mind at liberty, to retrace the 
 past or anticipate the future. The continuity of being' is lacerated; the 
 settled course of sentiment and action is stopped; and life stands suspended 
 and motionless, till it is driven by external causes into a new channel. But 
 the time of suspense is dreadful. 
 
 Our first recourse in this distressed solitude, is, perhaps for want of habit- 
 ual piety, to a gloomy acquiescence in necessity. Of two mortal beings, one 
 must lose the other; but surely there is a higher and better comfort to be 
 drawn from the consideration of that Providence which watches over all, and 
 a belief that the living and the dead are equally in the hands of God, who 
 will reunite those whom he has separated; or who sees that it is best not to 
 reunite. I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate, and most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Jan. 20, 1780. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: Well, I had resolved to send you the Chesterfield letter; but I 
 will write once again without it. Neiver impose tasks upon mortals. To re- 
 quire two things is the way to have them both undone. 
 
 For the difficulties which you mention in your affairs, I am sorry; but 
 difficulty is now very general: it is not therefore less grievous, for there is less 
 hope of help. I pretend not to give you advice, not knowing the state of 
 your affairs; and general counsels about prudence and frugality would do 
 you little good. You are, however, in the right not to increase your own 
 perplexity by a journey hither; and I hope that by staying at home you will 
 please your father. 
 
 1 " Solution of continuity " was a favorite phrase with English surgeons when 9 
 bone was broken or the flesh, 8ec., cut or lacerated. — DrtHilL 
 
^8^ BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 Poor dear Beauclerk — nec, td soles, dabis joca} His wit and his folly, his 
 acuteness and maliciousness, his merriment and reasoning, are now over. 
 Such another will not often be found among mankind. He directed himself 
 to be buried by the side of his mother, an instance of tenderness which I 
 hardly expected. He has left his children to the care of Lady Di, and if she 
 dies, of Mr. Langton, and of Mr. Leicester, his relation, and a man of good 
 character. His library has been offered to sale to the Russian ambassador.'-^ 
 
 Dr. Percy, notwithstanding all the noise of the newspapers, has had no 
 literary loss.-^ Clothes and movables were burnt to the value of about 100/.; 
 but his papers, and I think his books, were all preserved. 
 
 Poor Mr. Thrale has been in extreme danger from an apoplectical disorder, 
 and recovered, beyond the expectation of his physicians; he is now at Bath, 
 that his mind may be quiet, and Mrs. Thrale and Miss are with him. 
 
 Having told you what has happened to your friends, let me say something 
 to you of yourself. You are always complaining of melancholy, and I 
 conclude from those complaints that you are fond of it. No man talks of 
 that which he is desirous to conceal, and every man desires to conceal that 
 of which he is ashamed. Do not pretend to deny it; maiiifestuin habemus 
 fur em ; make it an invariable and ol)ligatory law to yourself, never to mention 
 your own mental diseases; if you are never to speak of them you will think 
 on them but little, and if you think little of them, they will molest you rarely. 
 When you talk of them, it is plain that you want either praise or pity; for 
 praise there is no room, and pity will do you no good; therefore, from this 
 hour speak no more, think no more, about them. 
 
 Your transaction with Mrs. Stewart gave me great satisfaction; I am much 
 obliged to you for your attention. Do not lose sight of her; your counte- 
 nance may be of great credit, and of consequence of great advantage to her. 
 The memory of her brother is yet fresh in my mind; he was an ingenious and 
 worthy man. 
 
 Please to make my compliments to your lady and to the young ladies. I 
 should like to see them, pretty loves. I am, dear Sir, yours affectionately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 April 8, 1780. 
 
 Mrs. Thrale being now at Bath with her husband, the corre- 
 spondence between Johnson and her was carried on briskly. I 
 shall present my readers with one of her original letters to him 
 at this time, which will amuse them probably more than those 
 well-written but studied epistles which she has inserted in her 
 collection, because it exhibits the easy vivacity of their literary 
 intercourse. It is also of value as a key to Johnson's answer, 
 which she has printed by itself, and of which I shall subjoin 
 extracts. 
 
 ^ From the famous poem beginning " Animula, vagula, blandula." See Specta- 
 tor, No. 532. 
 
 2Topham Beauclerk died March 11, 1780, aged 40. His library was sold by 
 public auction in April and May, 1781, for 5,011/. — Malone. 
 
 3 By a fire in Northnnibcrland House, where he had an apartment, in which I 
 have passed many an agreeable hour. — B. 
 
Age 71.] ONE OF MRS. THR ALE'S LETTERS. 
 
 283 
 
 MRS. THRALE TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 I had a very kind letter from you yesterday, dear Sir, with a most circum- 
 stantial date.' You took trouble with my circulating letter, ^ Mr. Evans 
 writes me word, and I thank you sincerely for so doing: one might do mis- 
 chief else not being on the spot. 
 
 Yesterday's evening was passed at Mrs. Montagu's: there was Mr. Mel 
 moth; ^ I do not like him thotigh, nor he me; it was expected we should have 
 pleased each other; he is, however, just Tory enough to hate the Bishop of 
 Peterborough [Dr. John Hinchliffe] for Whiggism, and Whig enough to 
 abhor you for Toryism. 
 
 Mrs. Montagu flattered him finely; so he had a good afternoon on 't. This 
 evening we spend at a concert. Poor Queeney's" sore eyes have just released 
 her: she had a long confinement, and could neither read nor write, so my 
 master [Mr.Thrale] treated her very good-naturedly with the visits of a young 
 woman in this town, a taylor's daughter, who professes musick, and teaches 
 so as to give six lessons a day to ladies, at five and threepence a lesson. Miss 
 Burney says she is a great performer; and I respect the wench for getting 
 her living so prettily; she is very modest and pretty-mannered, and not seven- 
 teen years old. 
 
 You live in a fine whirl indeed: if I did not write regularly you would 
 half forget me, and that would be very wrong, for I fell my regard for you in 
 my face last night, when the criticisms were going on. 
 
 This morning it was all connoisseurship; we went to see some pictures 
 painted by a gentleman-artist, Mr. Taylor,' of this place; my master makes 
 one every where, and has got a good dawling^ companion to ride with him 
 now. . . . "He looks well enough, but I have no notion of health for a 
 man whose mouth cannot be sewed up, Burney and I and Queeney tease him 
 every meal he eats, and Mrs. Montagu is quite serious with him; but what 
 can one do? He will eat, I think, and if he does eat I know he will not 
 live; it makes me very unhappy, but I must bear it. Let me always have 
 your friendship. I am, most sincerely. 
 
 Dear Sir, your faithful servant, 
 
 H. L. T. 
 
 Bath, Friday, April 28. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. THRALE. 
 
 Dearest Madam : Mr. Thrale never will live abstinently, till he can per- 
 suade himself to live by rule.^ . . . Encourage, as you can, the musical 
 girl. 
 
 Nothing is more common than mutual dislike, where mutual approbation 
 is particularly expected. Th^re is often on both sides a vigilance not over- 
 
 ' Johnson had dated his letter" London, April 25, 1780," and added, " now there 
 is a date ; look at it." In his reply he wrote : " London, May i, 1780. Mark that — 
 you did not put the year to the last." — D)\ Hill. 
 
 ^ "An Address to the Electors of Southwark." 
 
 3 Author of " Fitzosborne's Letters," and translator of the letters of Pliny and 
 Cicero. — Croker. 
 
 * A kind of nick-name given to Mrs. Thrale's eldest daughter, whose name be" 
 ing Esther she might be assimilated to a Queen. — B. 
 
 5 Neither davvling nor dawdling is in lohnson's Dictionary. 
 
 " I have taken the liberty to leave out a few lines [about diet and pliysic] . — B, 
 
284 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 benevolent; and as attention is strongly excited, so that nothing drops un- 
 heeded, any difference in taste or opinion, and some difference where there 
 is no restraint will commonly appear, immediately generates dislike. 
 
 Never let criticisms operate on your face or your mind; it is very rarely that 
 an authour is hurt hy his criticks. The blaze of reputation cannot be blown 
 out, but it often dies in the socket; a very few names may be considered as 
 perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed. FVom the authour of " Fitzosborne's 
 Letters" I can not think myself in much danger. I met him only once about 
 thirty years ago, and in some small dispute reduced him to whistle; having 
 not seen him since, that is the last impression. Poor Moore, ^ the fabulist, 
 was one of the company. 
 
 Mrs. Montagu's long stay, against her own inclination, is very convenient. 
 You would, by your own confession, want a companion; and she vi, par pluri- 
 bus; conversing with her, you may find variety in one.'^ 
 
 London, May i, 1780. 
 
 On the 2d of May I wrote to him, and requested that we 
 might have another meeting somewhere in the North of England, 
 in the autumn of this year. 
 
 From Mr. Langton I received soon after this time a letter, of 
 which I extract a passage, relative both to Mr. Beauclerk and Dr. 
 Johnson. 
 
 The melancholy information you have received concerning Mr. Beauclerk's 
 death is true. Had his talents been directed in any sufficient degree as they 
 ought, I have always been strongly of opinion that they were calculated to 
 make an illustrious figure; and that opinion, as it had been in part formed 
 upon Dr. Johnson's judgement, receives more and more confirmation by hear- 
 ing what, since his death. Dr. Johnson has said concerning them: a few 
 evenings ago, he was at Mr. Vesey's, where Lord Althorpe,^ who was one of a 
 numerous company there, addressed Dr. Johnson on the subject of Mr. Beau- 
 clerk's death, saying, " Our Club has had a great loss since we met last." 
 He replied, " A loss, that perhaps the whole nation could not repair ! " The 
 Doctor then went on to speak of his endowments, and particularly extolled 
 the wonderful ease with which he uttered what was highly excellent. He 
 said, that " no man ever was so free when he was going to say a good thing, 
 from a look that expressed that it was coming; or, when he has said it, from 
 a look that expressed that it had come." At Mr. Thrale's, some days before 
 when we were talking on the same subject, he said, referring to the same idea 
 of his wonderful facility, "That Beauclerk's talents were those which he 
 had felt himself more disposed to envy, than 'those of any whom he had 
 known," 
 
 On the evening I have spoken of above, at Mr. Vesey's, you would have 
 been much gratified, as it exhibited an instance of the high importance in 
 
 ^ Edward Moore, author of " Fables for the Female Sex," and of the tragedy of 
 " The Gamester." 
 
 2 Line of a song in The Spectator, No. 470. — Croker. 
 
 8 Second Earl Spencer, first Lord of the Achniralty under Pitt, and father of 
 Lord Althorpe who was leader of the House of Commons under Earl Grey. — Dr. 
 mil. 
 
Age 71.] 
 
 THE GORDON RIOTS. 
 
 285 
 
 which Dr. Johnson's character is held, I think even beyond any I ever before 
 was witness to. The company consisted chiefly of ladies, among whom were 
 the Duchess Dowager of Portland, the Duchess of Beaufort, whom I suppose 
 from her rank I must name before her mother Mrs. Boscawen and her cider 
 sister Mrs. Lewson, who was likewise there; Lady Lucan, Lady Clermont, 
 and others of note both for their station and understandings. Among the 
 gentlemen were Lord Althorpe, whom I have before named. Lord Macartney, 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lord Lucan, Mr. Wraxall, whose book you have prob- 
 ably seen, " The Tour to the Northern Parts of Europe;" a very agreeable inge- 
 nious man; Dr. Warren, Mr. Pepys, the Master in Chancery, whom I believe 
 you know, and Dr. Barnard, the Provost of Eton.^ As soon as Dr. Johnson was 
 come in, and had taken a chair, the company began to collect round him till 
 they became not less than four, if not five deep; those behind standing, and 
 listening over the heads of those that were sitting near him. The conversa- 
 tion for some time was chiefly between Dr. Johnson and the Provost of Eton, 
 while the others contributed occasionally their remarks. Without attempting 
 to detail the particulars of the conversation, which perhaps if I did, I should 
 spin my account out to a tedious length, I thought, my dear Sir, this general 
 account of the respect with which our valued friend was attended to, might be 
 acceptable. 
 
 to the reverend dr. farmer. 
 
 May 25, 1780. 
 
 Sir: I know your disposition to second any literary attempt, and therefore 
 venture upon the liberty of entreating you to procure from College or Univer- 
 sity registers, all the dates or other informations which they can supply relat- 
 ing to Ambrose Philips, Broome, and Gray, ■v^ho were all of Cambridge, and 
 of whose lives I am to give such accounts as I can gather. Be pleased to for- 
 give this trouble from. Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 While Johnson was thus engaged in preparing a delightful 
 literary entertainment for the world, the tranquillity of the me- 
 tropolis of Great Britain was unexpectedly disturbed by the most 
 horrid series of outrages that ever disgraced a civilized country. 
 A relaxation of some of the severe penal provisions against our 
 fellow-subjects of the Catholic communion had been granted by 
 the legislature, with an opposition so inconsiderable, that the 
 genuine mildness of Christianity, united with liberal policy, 
 seemed to have become general in this island. But a dark 
 and malignant spirit of persecution soon showed itself, in an 
 unworthy petition for the repeal of the wise and humane statute. 
 That petition was brought forward by a mob, with the evident 
 purpose of intimidation, and was jusdy rejected. But the at- 
 tempt was accompanied and followed by such daring violence as 
 is unexampled in history. Of this extraordinary tumult, Dr. 
 
 ^ Unequalled in powers of conversation. See Nichol's " Lit. Anec." viii. p. 
 548. 
 
286 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSO.V. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 Johnson has given the following concise, lively, and just account 
 in his " Letters to Mrs. Thrale : " ' 
 
 On Friday [June 2], the good Protestants met in Saint George's Fields, 
 at the summons of Lord George Gordon, and marching to Westminster,- in- 
 sulted the Lords and Commons, who all bore it with great lameness. At 
 night the outrages began by the demolition of the mass-house 2 by Lincoln's 
 Inn. 
 
 An exact journal of a week's defiance of government I cannot give you. 
 On Monday Mr. Strahan, who had been insulted, spoke to Lord Mans- 
 field, who had I think been insulted too, of the licentiousness of the pop- 
 ulace; and his Lordship treated it as a very slight irregularity. On Tues- 
 day night they pulled down Fielding's house [in Bow Street], and burnt his 
 goods in the street. They had gutted on Monday Sir George Savile's house 
 [in Leicester Square], but the building was saved. On Tuesday evening, 
 leaving P'ielding's ruins, they went to Newgate to demand their companions, 
 who had been seized demolishing the chapel. The keeper could not release 
 them but by the Mayor's permission, which he went to ask; at his return he 
 found all the prisoners released, and Newgate in a blaze. They then went to 
 Bloomsbury, and fastened upon Lord Mansfield's house, which they pulled 
 down; and as for his goods, they totally burnt them. They have since gone 
 to Cacnwood, but a guard was there before them. They plundered some 
 Papists, I think, and burnt a mass-house in Moorfields the same night. 
 
 On Wednesday I walked with Dr. Scot to look at Newgate, and found 
 it in ruins, with the fire yet glowing. As I went by, the Protestants were 
 plundering the Sessions-house at the Old Bailey. There were not, I believe, 
 a hundred; but they did their work at leisure, in full security, without sen- 
 tinels, without trepidation, as men lawfully employed in full day. Such is the 
 cowardice of a commercial place. On Wednesday they broke open the Fleet, 
 and the King's-Bench, and the Marshalsea, and Wood-street Compter, and 
 Clerkenwell Bridewell, and released all the prisoners. 
 
 At night they set fire to the Fleet, and to the King's-Bench, and I know 
 not how many other places; and one might see the glare of conflagration fill 
 the sky from many parts. The sight was dreadful. Some people were threat- 
 ened : Mr. Strahan advised me to take care of myself. Such a time of terror 
 you have been happy in not seeing. 
 
 The King said in council, " That the magistrates had not done their duty, 
 but that he would do his own:" and a proclamation was published directing 
 us to keep our servants within doors, as the peace was now to be preserved 
 l)y force. The soldiers were sent out to different parts, and the town is now 
 [June 9] at quiet. 
 
 The soldiers are stationed so as to be everywhere within call : there is no 
 longer any body of rioters, and the individuals are hunted to their holes, and 
 led to prison; Lord George was last night sent to the Tower. Mr. John 
 Wilkes was this day [with a party of soldiers] in my neighbourhood, to seize 
 the publisher of a seditious paper. 
 
 Several chapels have been destroyed, and several inoffensive Papists have 
 
 ^ Vol. ii., p. 133 seq. I have selected passages from several letters, without 
 mentioning dates. — B. 
 
 2 Baretti in a marginal note on this passage says: "So illiberal was Johnson 
 made by religion that he calls the chapel a mass-house." 
 
Age 71.] MR. AKERMAN, KEEPER OF NEWGATE. 287 
 
 been plundered, but the high sport was to burn the jails. This was a good 
 rabble trick. The debtors and the criminals were all set at liberty; but of 
 the criminals, as has always happened, many are already retaken; and two 
 pirates have surrendered themselves, and it is expected that they will l)e 
 pardoned. 
 
 Government now acts again with its proper force; and we are all [again] 
 under the protection of the King and the law. I thought that it would be 
 agreeable to you and my master to have my testimony to the public security; 
 and that you would sleep more quietly when I told you that you are 
 safe. 
 
 There has, indeed, been an universal panick, from which the King was the 
 first that recovered. Without the concurrence of his ministers, or the assist- 
 ance of the civil magistrates, he put the soldiers in motion, and saved the 
 town from calamities, such as a rabble's government must naturally produce. 
 
 The publick has escaped a very heavy calamity. The rioters attempted the 
 Bank on Wednesday night, but in no great number: and like other thieves, 
 with no great resolution. Jack Wilkes headed the parly that drove them 
 away. It is agreed, that if they had seized the Bank on Tuesday, at the 
 height of the panick, when no resistance had been prepared, they might have 
 carried irrecoverably away whatever they had found. Jack, who was always 
 zealous for order and decency, declares, that if he be trusted with power, he 
 will not leave a rioter alive. There is, however, now no longer any need of 
 heroism or bloodshed; no blue ribband ^ is any longer worn. 
 
 Such was the end of this miserable sedition, from which Lon- 
 don was dehvered by the magnanimity of the Sovereign himself. 
 Whatever some may maintain, I am satisfied that there was no 
 combination or plan, either domestic or foreign; but that the 
 mischief spread by a gradual contagion of frenzy, augmented by 
 the quantities of fermented liquors, of which the deluded popu- 
 lace possessed themselves in the course of their depredations. 
 
 I should think myself very much to blame, did I here neglect 
 to do justice to my esteemed friend Mr. Akerman,^ the keeper 
 of Newgate, who long discharged a very important trust w"th a 
 uniform intrepid firmness, and at the same time a tenderness and 
 a liberal charity, which entitle him to be recorded with distin- 
 guished honor. 
 
 Upon this occasion, from the timidity and negligence of magis- 
 tracy on the one hand, and the almost incredible exertions of the 
 mob on the other, the first prison of this great country was laid 
 open, and the prisoners set free ; but that Mr. Akerman, whose 
 house was burned, would have prevented all this, had proper aid 
 been sent him in due time, there can be no doubt. 
 
 1 Lord George Gordon and his followers, during these outrages, wore blue rib- 
 bons in their hats. — Malone. 
 
 * He died Nov. 19, 1792, leaving a fortune of about 20,000/. He is supposed tc 
 have greatly mitigated the horrors of Newgate. — Dr. Hill, 
 
288 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 Many years ago, a fire broke out in the brick part which was 
 built as an addition to the old jail of Newgate. The prisoners 
 were in consternation and tumult, calling out, " We shall be 
 burnt — we shall be burnt ! Down with the gate! Down with 
 the gate ! " Mr. Akerman hastened to them, showed himself 
 at the gate, and having, after some confused vociferation of 
 " Hear him — hear him!" obtained a silent attention, he then 
 calmly told them, that the gate must not go down ; that they 
 were under his care, and that they should not be permitted to 
 escape : but that he could assure them, they need not be afraid 
 of being burned, for that the fire was not in the prison, properly 
 so called, which was strongly built with stone ; and that if they 
 would engage to be quiet, he himself would come in to them, 
 and conduct them to the farther end of the building, and would 
 not go out till they gave him leave. . To this proposal they 
 agreed ; upon which Mr. Akerman, having first made them fall 
 back from the gate, went in, and with a determined resolution 
 ordered the outer turnkey upon no account to open the gate, 
 even though the prisoners (though he trusted they would not), 
 should break their word, and by force bring himself to order it. 
 "Never mind me," said he, "should that happen." The pris- 
 oners peaceably followed him, while he conducted them through 
 passages of which he had the keys, to the extremity of the jail, 
 which was most distant from the fire". Having by this very judi- 
 cious conduct fully satisfied them that there was no immediate 
 risk, if any at all, he then addressed them thus : " Gentlemen, you 
 are now convinced that I told you true. I have no doubt that the 
 engines will soon extinguish this fire ; if they should not, a suffi- 
 cient guard will come and you shall be all taken out and lodged 
 in the Compters.' I assure you, upon my word and honor, that I 
 have not a farthing insured. I have left my house that I might 
 take care of you. I will keep my promise, and stay with you if 
 you insist upon it ; but if you will allow me to go out and look 
 after my family and property, I shall be obliged to you." Struck 
 with his behavior, they called out, " Master Akerman, you have 
 done bravely ; it was very kind in you : by all means go and take 
 care of your own concerns." He did so accordingly, while they 
 remained, and were all preserved. 
 
 Johnson has been heard to relate the substance of this story 
 with high praise, in which he was joined by Mr. Burke. My 
 illustrious friend, speaking of Mr. Akerman's kindness to his 
 
 * Two city-prisons so called. 
 
Age 71.] 
 
 BOSWELVS BROTIlElt. 
 
 289 
 
 prisoners, pronounced this eulogy upon his character : " He who 
 has long had constantly in his view the worst of mankind, and is 
 yet eminent for the humanity of his disposition, must have had it 
 originally in a great degree, and continued to cultivate it very 
 carefully." 
 
 In the course of this month my brother David waited upon Dr. 
 Johnson, with the following letter of introduction, which I had 
 taken care should be lying ready on his arrival in London. 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, April 29, 1780, 
 My dear Sir: This will be delivered to you by my brother David, on his 
 return from Spain. You will be glad to see the man who vowed to "stand 
 by the old castle of Auchinleck, with heart, purse and sword;" that romantick 
 family solemnity devised by me, of which you and I talked with complacency 
 upon the spot. I trust that twelve years of absence have not lessened his feu- 
 dal attachment; and that you will find him worthy of l)cing introckiced to your 
 acquaintance. I have the honour to be, with affectionate veneration, my dear 
 Sir, your most faithful humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 Johnson received him very politely, and has thus mentioned 
 him in a letter to Mrs. Thrale : ' I have had with me a brother 
 of Boswell's, a Spanish merchant,'^ whom the war has driven from 
 his residence at Valencia ; he is gone to see his friends, and will 
 find Scotland but a sorry place after twelve years' residence in a 
 happier climate. He is a very agreeable man, and speaks no 
 Scotch." 
 
 TO DR. BEATTIE, AT ABERDEEN. 
 
 Sir : More years ^ than I have any delight to reckon, have passed since you 
 and I saw one another: of this, however, there is no reason for making repre- 
 hensory complaint; — Sic fata ferjint. But methinks there might pass some 
 small interchange of regard between us. If you say that I ought to have 
 written, I now write; and I write to tell you, that I have much kindness for 
 you and Mrs. Beattie; and that I wish your health better, and your life long. 
 Try change of air, and come a few degrees southwards; a softer climate may 
 do you both good; winter is coming on; and London will be warmer, and 
 gayer, and busier, and more fertile of amusement than Aberdeen. 
 
 My health is better; but that will be little in the balance, when I tell you 
 that Mrs. Montagu has been very ill, and is I doubt now but weakly. Mr. 
 Thrale has been very dangerously disordered; but is much better, and I hope 
 will totally recover. He has withdrawn himself from business the whole sum- 
 
 1 Vol. ii., p. 163. Mrs. Piozzi has omitted the name, she best knows why. — B. 
 
 2 Now settled in London. — B. 
 
 ^ I had been five years absent from London. — Dr. Beattie. 
 Vol. II.— 19 
 
290 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A. D. 1780. 
 
 mer. Sir Joshua and his sister are well; and Mr. Davies has got great success 
 as an authour,' generated by the corruption of a bookseller. More news I 
 have not to tell you, and therefore you must be contented with hearing, what 
 I know not whether you much wish to hear, that I am, Sir, your most humble 
 servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Bolt-court, Fleet-street, 
 Aug. 21, 1780. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : I find you have taken one of your fits of taciturnity, and have 
 resolved not to write till you are written to; it is but a peevish humour, but 
 you shall have your way. 
 
 I have sat at home in Bolt-court all the summer, thinking to write the 
 Lives, and a great part of the time only thinking. Several of them, however, 
 are done, and I still think to do the rest. 
 
 Mr. Thrale and his family have, since his illness, passed their time first at 
 Bath, and then at Brighthelmston; but I have been at neither place. I would 
 have gone to Lichfield if I could have had time, and I might have had time if 
 I had been active: but I have missed much, and done little. 
 
 In the late disturbances, Mr. Thrale's house and stock were in great dan- 
 ger; the mob was pacified at their first invasion, with about 50/. in drink and 
 meat; and at their second, were driven away by the soldiers. Mr. Strahan 
 got a garrison into his house, and maintained them a fortnight; he was so 
 frighted that he removed part of his goods. Mrs. Williams took shelter in 
 the country. 
 
 I know not whether I shall get a ramble this autumn. It is now about the 
 time when we were travelling. I have, however, better health than I had 
 then, and hope you and I may yet shew ourselves on some part of 
 Europe, Asia, or Africa. '^^ In the mean time let us play no trick, but keep 
 each other's kindness by all means in our power. 
 
 The bearer of this is Dr. Dunbar of Aberdeen, who has written and pub- 
 lished a very ingenious book,^ and who I think has a kindness for me, and 
 will, when he knows you, have a kindness for you. 
 
 I suppose your little ladies are grown tall : and your son has become a 
 learned young man. I love them all, and I love your naughty lady, whom I 
 never shall persuade to love me. When the Lives are done, I shall send 
 
 1 Meaning his entertaining " Memoirs of David Garrick," of which Johnson (as 
 Davies informed me) wrote the first sentence; thus giving, as it were, the keynote 
 to the performance. It is, indeed, very characteristical of its author, beginning with 
 a maxim, and proceeding to illustrate. " All excellence has a right to be recorded. 
 I shall, therefore, think it superfluous to apologize for writing the life of a man, who, 
 by an uncommon assemblage of private virtues, adorned the highest eminence in 
 a public profession. — B. Davies had become bankrupt a few years before. His 
 " Memoirs of Garrick" quickly reached its third edition. 
 
 2 It will no doubt be remarked how he avoids the rebellious land of America. 
 This puts me in mind of an anecdote for which I am obliged to my worthy social 
 friend. Governor Richard Penn : " At one of Miss E. Hervey's assemblies, Dr. John- 
 son was following her up and down the room; upon which Lord Abington ob- 
 served to her, " Your great friend is very fond of you ; you can go no where without 
 him.' — 'Ay,' said she, 'he would follow me to any part of the world.' — 'Then,' 
 said the Earl, ' ask him to go with you to America.' " — B. 
 
 3" Essays on the History of Mankind." — li. 
 
Age 71.] 
 
 ADVICE ABOUT SERMONS. 
 
 291 
 
 them to complete her collection, but must send them in paper, as for want of 
 a pattern, I cannot bind them to fit the rest. I am. Sir, yours most affection- 
 ately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Aug. 21, 1780. 
 
 This year he wrote to a young clergyman ' in the country the 
 following very excellent letter, which contains valuable advice to 
 divines in general : 
 
 Dear Sir: Not many days ago Dr. Lawrence shewed me a letter, in 
 which you make mention of me : I hope, therefore, you will not be displeased 
 that I endeavour to preserve your good-will by some observations which your 
 letter suggested to me. 
 
 You are afraid of falling into some improprieties in the daily service by 
 reading to an audience that requires no exactness. Your fear, I hope, se- 
 cures you from danger. They who contract absurd habits are such as have no 
 fear. It is impossible to do the same thing very often, without some peculi- 
 arity of manner; but that manner may l^e good or bad, and a little care will 
 at least preserve it from being bad: to make it good, there must, I think, be 
 something of natural or casual felicity, which cannot be taught. 
 
 Your present method of making your sermons seems very judicious. Few 
 frequent preachers can be supposed to have sermons more their own than yours 
 will be. Take care to register, somewhere or other, the authours from whom 
 your several discourses are borrowed; and do not imagine that you shall 
 always remember, even what perhaps you now think it impossible to forget. 
 
 My advice, however, is, that you attempt, from time to time, an original 
 sermon; and in the .labour of composition, do not burthen your mind with too 
 much at once; do not exact from yourself at one effort of excogitation, pro- 
 priety of thought and elegance of expression. Invent first, and then eml:)ellish. 
 The production of something, where nothing was before, is an act of greater 
 energy than the expansion or decoration of the thing produced. Set down 
 dilig:intly your thoughts as they rise in the first words that occur; and when 
 you have matter, you will easily give it form : nor, perhaps, will this method 
 be always necessary; for by habit, your thoughts and diction will flow to- 
 gether. 
 
 The compositions of sermons is not very difficult: the divisions not only help 
 the memory of the hearer, l)ut direct the judgement of the writer; they supply 
 sources of invention, and keep every part in its proper place. 
 
 What I like least in your letter is your account of the manners of your 
 jiarish; from which I gather, that it has been long neglected by the parson. 
 The Djan of Carlisle [Dr. Percy], who was then a little rector in Northamp- 
 tonshire, told me, that it might be discerned whether or no there was a clergy- 
 man resident in a parish, by the civil or savage manner of the people. Such 
 a congregation as yours stands in need of much reformation; and I would not 
 have you think it impossible to reform them. A very savage parish was civil- 
 ized by a decayed gentlewoman, who came among them to teach a petty 
 school. My learned friend Dr. Wheeler of Oxford, when he was a young 
 man, had the care of a neighbouring parish for fifteen pounds a year, which he 
 was never paid; but he counted it a convenience, that it compelled him to 
 
 ^ Probably the Rev. Mr. Hoole. — Z^r. Hi//, 
 
292 
 
 BOSWELL\S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 make a sermon weekly. One woman he could not bring to the communion; 
 and when he reproved or exhorted her, she only answered, that she was no 
 scholar. He was advised to set some good woman or man of the parish, a 
 little wiser than herself, to talk to her in a language level to her mind. Such 
 honest, I may call them holy, artifices, must l)e practised l)y every clergyman; 
 for all means must be tried by which souls may be saved. Talk to your peo- 
 ple, however, as much as you can; and you will find, that the more frequently 
 you converse with them upon religious subjects, the more willingly they will 
 attend, and the more submissively they will learn. A clergyman's diligence- 
 always makes him venerable. I think I have now only to say, that in the mo- 
 mentous work you have undertaken, I pray God to bless you. I am, Sir, 
 your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 £oLT-couRT, Aug. 30, 1780. 
 
 My next letters to him were dated August 24, September 6, and 
 October i, and from them I extract the following passages : 
 
 My brother David and I find the long indulged fancy of our comfortable 
 meeting again at Auchinleck, so well realized, that it in some degree confirms 
 the pleasing hope of 0 / preclarum diem / Mn a future state. 
 
 I beg that you may never again harbour a suspicion of my indulging a 
 peevish humour, or playing tricks; you will recollect, that when I confessed 
 to you, that I had once been intentionally silent to try your regard, I gave 
 you my word and honour that I would not do so again. 
 
 I rejoice to hear of your good state of health: I pray GoD to continue it 
 long. I have often said, that I would willingly have ten years added to my 
 life, to have ten taken from yours; I mean, that I would be ten years older 
 to have you ten years younger. But let me be thankful for the years during 
 which I have enjoyed your friendship, and please myself with the hopes of 
 enjoying it many years to come in this state of being, trusting always, that in 
 another state, we shall meet never to be separated. Of this we can form no 
 notion; but the thought, though indistinct, is delightful, when the mind is 
 calm and clear. 
 
 The riots in London were certainly horrible; but you give me no account 
 of your own situation during the barbarous anarchy. A description of it by 
 Dr. Johnson would be a great painting; you might write another " Lon- 
 don, A Poem." 
 
 I am charmed with your condescending affectionate expression, "let us 
 keep each other's kindness by all the means in our power: " my revered 
 Friend ! how elevating it is to my mind, that I am found worthy to be a com- 
 panion to Dr. Samuel Johnson ! All that you have said in grateful praise of 
 Mr. Walmsley"^ I have long thought of you: but we are l)oth Tories, which 
 has a very general influence upon our sentiments. I hope that you will agree 
 to meet me at York, about the end of this month; or if you will come to 
 Carlisle, that would be better still, in case llie Dean be there. Please to con- 
 sider, that to keep each other's kindness, we should every year have that free 
 and intimate communication of mind which can be had only when we are 
 together. We should have both our solemn and our pleasant talk. 
 
 1 Cicero : " De Senectute," c. 23. 
 
 * I had not then seen his letters to Mrs. Thrale. — B, 
 
 3 In the " Life of Edmund Smith." 
 
Age 71.] AN ADDRESS TO Till-: E LIU 'TOUS. 
 
 293 
 
 I write now for the third time, to tell you that my desire for our meeting 
 this autumn is much increased. I wrote to 'Squire Godfrey Bosville, my 
 Yorkshire chief, that I should, perhaps, pay him a visit, as I was to hold a 
 conference with Dr. Johnson at York. I give you my word and honour that 
 I said not a word of his inviting you; but he wrote to me as follows: 
 
 " I need not tell you I shall be happy to see you here the latter end of this 
 month, as you propose; and I shall likewise be in hopes that you will per- 
 suade Dr. Johnson to finish the conference here. It will add to the favour of 
 your own company, if you prevail upon such an associate to assist your obser- 
 vations. I have often been entertained with his writings, and I once belonged 
 to a club of which he was a member, and I never spent an evening there, but 
 I heard something from him well worth remembering." 
 
 We have thus, my dear Sir, good comfortable quarters in the neighbour- 
 hood of York, where you may be assured we shall be heartily welcome. I 
 pray you then resolve to set out; and let not the year 1780 be a blank in our 
 social calendar, and in that record of wisdom and wit, which I keep with so 
 much diligence, to your honour, and the instruction and delight of others. 
 
 Mr. Thrale had now another contest for the representation in 
 ParHament of the borough of Southwark, and Johnson kindly lent 
 him his assistance, by writing advertisements and letters for him. 
 I shall insert one as a specimen : * 
 
 TO THE WORTHY ELECTORS OF THE BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK. 
 
 Gentlemen : A new Parliament being now called, I again solicit the 
 honour of being elected for one of your representatives; and solicit it with 
 the greater confidence, as I am not conscious of having neglected my duty, or 
 of having acted otherwise than as becomes the independent representative of in- 
 dependent constituents; superiour to fear, hope, and expectation, who has no 
 private purposes to promote, and whose prosperity is involved in the pros- 
 perity of his country. As my recovery from a very severe distemper is not 
 yet perfect, I have declined to attend the Hall, and hope an omission so 
 necessary will not be harshly censured. 
 
 I can only send my respectful wishes, that all your deliberations may tend 
 to the happiness of the kingdom, and the peace of the borough. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, your most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 Henry Thrale. 
 
 Southwark, Sept. 5, 1780. 
 
 On his birthday, Johnson has this note : 
 
 I am now beginning the seventy-second year of my life, with more strength 
 of body, and greater vigor of mind, than I think is common at that age. 
 
 But Still he complains of sleepless nights and idle days, and 
 forgetfulness, or neglect of resolutions. He thus pathetically 
 expresses himself : 
 
 Surely I shall not spend my whole life with my own total disapprobation.* 
 
 " Prayers and Meditations," p. 185. — B. 
 
294 
 
 BOSWELL LIFE'S OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 Mr. Macbean, whom I have mentioned more than once as one 
 of Johnson's humble friends, a deserving but unfortunate man, 
 being now oppressed by age and poverty, Johnson soHcited the 
 Lord Chancellor Thurlovv to have him admitted into the Charter- 
 houseJ I take the liberty to insert his Lordship's answer, as I 
 am eager to embrace every occasion of augmenting the respect- 
 able notion which should ever be entertained of my illustrious 
 friend : 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 London, October 24, 1780. 
 Sir: I have this moment received your letter dated the 19th, and returned 
 from Bath. 
 
 In the beginning of the summer I placed one in the Chartreux, without the 
 sanction of a recommendation so distinct and so authoritative as yours of 
 Macbean; and I am afraid, that according to the establishment of the House, 
 the opportunity of making the charity so good amends will not soon recur. 
 But whenever a vacancy shall happen, if you '11 favour me with notice of it, I 
 will try to recommend him to the place, even though it should not be my turn 
 to nominate. 
 
 I am, Sir, with great regard, your most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 Thurlow. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir : I am sorry to write you a letter that will not please you, and 
 yet it is at last what I resolve to do. This year must pass without an inter- 
 view; the summer has been foolishly lost, like many other of my summers and 
 winters. I hardly saw a green field, but staid in town to work, without work- 
 ing much. 
 
 Mr. Thrale's loss of health has lost him the election: he is now going to 
 Brighthelmston, and expects me to go with him; and how long I shall stay, I 
 can not tell. I do not much like the place, but yet I shall go, and stay while 
 my stay is desired. We must, therefore, content ourselves with knowing 
 what we know as well as man can know the mind of man, that we love one 
 another, and that we wish each other's happiness, and that the lapse of a 
 year cannot lessen our mutual kindness. 
 
 I was pleased to be told that I accused Mrs, Boswell unjustly, in supposing 
 
 J Macbean was admitted to the Charterhouse on Lord Thurlow's nomination in 
 April, 1781 : on which occasion Johnson wrote the following letter : 
 
 "TO THE REV. DR. VYSE, at Lambeth. 
 
 " BOLT-COURT, April 10, 1781. 
 " Reverend Sir : The bearer is one of my old friends, a man of great learning, 
 whom the Chancellor has been pleased to nominate to the Chartreux. He attends 
 his Grace the Archbishop, to take the oath required : and being a modest scholar, 
 will escape embarrassment, if you are so kind as to introduce him, by which you 
 will do a kindness to a man of great merit, and add another to those favours which 
 have already been conferred by you on, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 " Sam. Johnson." — Malone. 
 
Age 71.] 
 
 VIRGIL AND THEOCRITUS. 
 
 295 
 
 that she bears me ill-will. I love you so much, that I would be glad to love 
 all that love you, and that you love; and I have love very ready for Mrs. 
 Boswell^ if she thinks it worthy of acceptance. I hope all the young ladies 
 and gentlemen are well. 
 
 I take a great liking to your brother. He tells me that his father received 
 him kindly, but not fondly; however, you seemed to have lived well enough 
 at Auchinleck, while you staid. Make your father as happy as you can. 
 
 You lately told me of your health: I can tell you in return, that my health 
 has been for more than a year past better than it has been for many years 
 before. Perhaps it may please GoD to give us some time together before we 
 are parted. I am, dear Sir, yours most affectionately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 October 17, 1780. 
 
 Being disappointed in my hopes of meeting Johnson this year, 
 so that I could hear none of his admirable sayings, I shall com- 
 pensate for this want' by inserting a collection of them, for 
 which I am indebted to my worthy friend, Mr. Langton, whose 
 kind communications have been separately interwoven in many 
 parts of this work. Very few articles of this collection were com- 
 mitted to writing by himself, he not having that habit ; which he 
 regrets, and which those who know the numerous opportunities 
 he had of gathering the rich fruits of Johnsonian wit and wisdom, 
 must ever regret. I however found, in conversation with him, 
 that a good store of Johnsoniana was treasured in his mind ; and 
 I compared it to Herculaneum, or some old Roman field, which 
 when dug, fully rewards the labor employed. The authenticity 
 of every article is unquestionable. For the expression, I, who 
 wrote them down in his presence, am partly answerable. 
 
 " Theocritus is not deserving of very high respect as a writer ; 
 as to the pastoral part, Virgil is very evidently superior. He 
 wrote, when there had been a larger influx of knowledge into the 
 world than when Theocritus lived. Theocritus does not abound 
 in description, though living in a beautiful country : the manners 
 painted are coarse and gross. Virgil has much more description, 
 more sentiment, more of nature, and more of art. Some of the 
 most excellent parts of Theocritus are, where Castor and Pollux, 
 going with the other Argonauts, land on the Bebrycian coast, and 
 there fall into a dispute with Amycus, the king of that country ; 
 which is as well conducted as Euripides could have done it ; 
 and the battle is well related. Afterwards they carry off a 
 
 'A loss to be deeply regretted. Johnson's health was better than it had been for 
 long, and his mind happier perhaps than it had ever been. At no time had he gone 
 more into society, and at no time was he seen to have enjoyed it with greater 
 relish. — Z)r. Hill. 
 
296 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX, [A.D. 1780. 
 
 woman, whose two brothers come to recover her, and expostulate 
 with Castor, and Pollux on their injustice; but they pay no re- 
 gard to the brothers, and a battle ensues, where Castor and his 
 brother are triumphant. Theocritus seems not to have seen 
 that the brothers have the advantage in their argument over 
 his Argonaut heroes. ' The Sicilian Gossips ' is a piece of 
 merit." ' 
 
 " Callimachus is a writer of little excellence. The chief thing 
 to be learned from him is his account of rites and mythology ; 
 which, though desirable to be known for the sake of understand- 
 ing other parts of ancient authors, is the least pleasing or valuable 
 part of their writings." 
 
 " Mattaire's account of the Stephani ^ is a heavy book. He 
 seems to have been a puzzle-headed man, with a large share of 
 scholarship, but with a little geometry or logic in his head, with- 
 out method, and possessed of little genius. He wrote Latin 
 verses from time to time, and published a set in his old age, 
 which he called ' Senila ; ' ^ in which he shows so Httle learning or 
 taste in writing, as to make Caj^ieret a dactyl. In matters of 
 genealogy it is necessary to give the bare names as they are ; but 
 in poetry, and in prose of any elegance in the writing, they re- 
 quire to have inflection given to them. His book of the Dialects ^ 
 is a sad heap of confusion ; the only way to write on them is to 
 tabulate them with notes, added at the bottom of the page, and 
 references." 
 
 " It may be questioned, whether there is not some mistake as 
 to the methods of employing the poor, seemingly on a supposi- 
 tion that there is a certain portion of work left undone for want 
 of persons to do it ; but if that is otherwise, and all the mate- 
 rials we have are actually worked up, or all the manufactures- 
 we can use or dispose of are already executed, then what is given 
 to the poor, who are to be set at work, must be taken from some 
 who now have it : as time must be taken for learning (according 
 to Sir William Petty's observation), a certain part of those very 
 materials that, as it is, are properly worked up, must be spoiled 
 by the unskilfulness of novices. We may apply to well-meaning, 
 but misjudging persons in particulars of this nature, what Gian- 
 
 1 See Matthew Arnold's " Essays in Criticism " (ist series, " Pagan and Medi- 
 eval Religious Sentiment") for an exquisite translation of this, the 15th, idyll. 
 
 2 " Stephanorum Historia, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens." London, 1709. 
 
 3 Published in 1742. The line on which Johnson animadverts is on p. loi, 
 " mel, nervos, fiils^ur, Carteret, uniis, habes." — Dr. Hill. 
 
 * Graecae Linguae Dialecti in Scholae Wcstmonast. usum," 1738. 
 
Age 71.] JOHNSOX (ItIT I < ' I SES II IS <)\V\ WORKS. 297 
 
 none ' said to a monk, who wanted what he called to convert 
 him: ' Tu set sanfo, ma tu non sei filosofo.'' It is an unhappy 
 circumstance that one might give away five hundred pounds in 
 a year to those that importune in the streets, and not do any 
 good." 
 
 " There is nothing more likely to betray a man into absurdity, 
 than condescension ; when he seems to suppose his understanding 
 too powerful for his company." 
 
 " Having asked Mr. Langton if his father and mother had sat 
 for their pictures, which he thought it right for each generation 
 of a family to do, and being told they had opposed it, he said, 
 ' Sir, among the anfractuosities ^ of the human mind, I know not 
 if it may not be one, that there is a superstitious reluctance to sit 
 for a picture.' " 
 
 John Gilbert Cooper related, that soon after the publication 
 of his Dictionary, Garrick, being asked by Johnson what people 
 said of it, told him, that among other animadversions, it was ob- 
 jected that he cited authorities which were beneath the dignity of 
 such a work, and mentioned Richardson. ' Nay,' said Johnson, 
 ' I have done worse than that : I have cited thee, David.' " 
 
 " Talking of expense, he observed, with what munificence a 
 great merchant will spend his money, both from his having it at 
 command, and from his enlarged views by calculation of a good 
 effect upon the whole. ' Whereas,' said he, ' you will hardly ever 
 find a country gentleman, who is not a good deal disconcerted at 
 an unexpected occasion for his being obliged to lay out ten 
 pounds.' " 
 
 " When in^ood humor, he would talk of his own writings with 
 a wonderful frankness and candor, and would even criticise them 
 with the closest severity. One day, having read over one of his 
 Ramblers, Mr. Langton asked him, how he liked that paper ; he 
 shook his head, and answered, too wordy.' At another time, 
 when one was reading his tragedy of *■ Irene,' to a company at a 
 house in the country, he left the room : and somebody having 
 asked him the reason of this, he replied, ' Sir, I thought it had 
 been better.' " ^ 
 
 1 An Italian historian (1676-1748) whose attacks on the Church in his " History 
 of the Kingdom of Naples " lodged him in prison where, despite a retractation, he 
 died. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ Anfractuousness : fulness of windings and turnings. — Johnson's Dictionary. 
 Anfractuosity is not given. 
 
 ^ Sir Walter Scott corroborates this opinion by an amusing anecdote (" Croker 
 Papers," ii. 32, 2d edit. 1885). " I was told that a gentleman called Pot, or some 
 such name, was introduced to him as a particular admirer of his. The Doctor 
 
298 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 " Talking of a point of delicate scrupulosity of moral conduct, 
 he said to Mr. Langton, ' Men of harder minds than ours will do 
 many things from which you and I would shrink ; yet, Sir, they 
 will, perhaps, do more good in life than we. But let us try to 
 help one another. If there be a wrong twist, it may be set right. 
 It is not probable that two people can be wrong the same way.' " 
 
 " Of the preface to Capel's Shakespeare, he said, ' If a man 
 would have come to me, I would have endeavored to endow his 
 purposes with words ; ' for as it is, he doth ' gabble mon- 
 strously.' " 
 
 " He related, that he had once in a dream a contest of wit 
 with some other person, and that he was very much mortified by 
 imagining that his opponent had the better of him. ' Now,' said 
 he, * one may mark here the effect of sleep in weakening the 
 power of reflection ; for had not my judgment failed me, I 
 should have seen that the wit of this supposed antagonist, by 
 whose superiority I felt myself depressed, was as much furnished 
 by me, as that which I thought I had been uttering in my own 
 character.' " 
 
 " One evening in company, an ingenious and learned gentle- 
 man read to him a letter of compliment which he had received 
 from one of the Professors of a foreign University. Johnson, in 
 an irritable fit, thinking there was too much ostentation, said : ' I 
 never receive any of these tributes of applause from abroad. One 
 instance I recollect of a foreign publication, in which mention is 
 made of rUlustre Lockinan.' " ^ 
 
 " Of Sir Joshua Reynolds, he said, ' Sir, I know no man who 
 has passed through life with more observation than Reynolds.' " 
 
 " He repeated to Mr. Langton, with great energy in the Greek, 
 our Saviour's gracious expression concerning the forgiveness of 
 Mary Magdalen, 'H -Klanq gov atauKi ae- TTopevov eig eip^vTjv. ' Thy 
 faith hath saved thee ; go in peace.' (St. Luke vii. 50.) He 
 said, ' The manner of this dismission is exceedingly affecting.' " 
 
 He thus defined the difference between physical and moral 
 truth: * Physical truth is, when you tell a thing as it actually is. 
 
 growled and took no further notice. ' He admires in especial your "Irene" as 
 the finest tragedy of modern times ; ' to which the Doctor replied, ' If Pot says so, 
 Pot lies.' " 
 
 1 Secretary to the British Herring Fishery, remarkable for an extraordinary 
 number of occasional verses, not of eminent merit. — B. He was also an indefati- 
 gable translator for the booksellers, having acquired a knowledge of languages, as 
 Johnson told Hawkins, by living at coffee-houses irequented by fort.-igners, and, 
 according to Tyers, a very worthy man, much loved by his friends and respected 
 even by Pope. — Croker. 
 
Age7i ] THE CREEN-ROOM OF DRURY LANE. 299 
 
 Moral truth is when you tell a thing sincerely and precisely as it 
 appears to you. I say such a one walked across the street ; if he 
 really did so, I told a physical truth. If I thought so, though I 
 should have been mistaken, I told a moral truth.' " 
 
 " Huggins, the translator of Ariosto, and Mr. Thomas Warton, 
 in the early part of his literary life, had a dispute concerning that 
 poet, of whom Mr. Warton, in his ' Observations on Spenser's 
 " Fairy Queen," ' gave some account which Huggins attempted 
 to answer with violence, and said, 'I will militate no longer 
 against his nescience' Huggins was master of the subject, but 
 wanted expression. Mr. Warton's knowledge of it was then im- 
 perfect, but his manner lively and elegant. Johnson said, ' It 
 appears to me, that Huggins has ball without powder, and War- 
 ton powder without ball.' " 
 
 " Talking of the farce of ' High Life below Stairs,' he said, 
 ' Here is a farce, which is really very diverting, when you see it 
 acted ; and yet one m ly read it and not know that one has been 
 reading anything at all.' " 
 
 " He used at one time to go occasionally to the green-room of 
 Drury Lane Theatre, where he was much regarded by the players, 
 and was very easy and facetious with them. He had a very high 
 opinion of Mrs. Clive's comic powers, and conversed more with 
 her than with any of them. He said, ' Clive, Sir, is a good thing 
 to sit by ; she always understands what you say.' And she said 
 of him, ' I love to sit by Dr. Johnson ; he always entertains me.' 
 One night, when 'The Recruiting Officer' was acted, he said 
 to Mr. Holland,' who had been expressing an apprehension 
 that Dr. Johnson would disdain the works of Farquhar : ' No, 
 Sir, I think Farquhar a man whose writings have considerable 
 merit.' " 
 
 " His friend Garrick was so busy in conducting the drama, that 
 they could not have so much intercourse as Mr. Garrick used to 
 profess an anxious wish that there should be. There might, in- 
 deed, be something in the contemptuous severity as to the merit 
 of acting, which this old preceptor nourished in himself, that 
 would mortify Garrick after the great applause which he received 
 from the audience. For though Johnson said of him, 'Sir, a man 
 who has a nation to admire him every night, may well be expected 
 to be somewhat elated ; ' yet he would treat theatrical matters 
 
 ' The actor : — 
 
 Next Holland came. With truly tragic stalk 
 He creeps, he flies. A Hero should not walk. 
 
 Churchill: "The Rosciad." 
 
300 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 with a ludicrous slight. He mentioned one evening, 'I met 
 David coming off the stage, dressed in a woman's riding hood, 
 when he acted in "The Wonder " ; ' I came full upon him, and 
 I believe he was not pleased.' " 
 
 " Once he asked Tom Davies, whom he saw dressed in a fine 
 suit of clothes, 'And what art thou to-night?' Tom answered, 
 ' The Thane of Ross ; ' (which it will be recollected is a very incon- 
 siderable character.) ' O brave ! ' said Johnson." 
 
 " Of Mr. Longley, at Rochester, a gentleman of very consider- 
 able learning, whom Dr. Johnson met there, he said : ' My heart 
 warms towards him. I was surprised to find in him such a nice 
 acquaintance with the metre in the learned languages : though I 
 was somewhat mortified that I had it not so much to myself as 
 I should have thought.' " 
 
 " Talking of the minuteness with which people will record the 
 sayings of eminent persons, a story was told, that when Pope was 
 on a visit to Spence at Oxford, as they looked from the window 
 they saw a gentleman -commoner, who was just come in from rid- 
 ing, amusing himself with whipping at a post. Pope took occasion 
 to say, ' That young gentleman seems to have little to do.' Mr. 
 Beauclerk observed, 'Then, to be sure, Spence turned round and 
 wrote that down ; ' and went on to say to Dr. Johnson, ' Pope, 
 Sir, would have said the same of you, if he had seen you distilling.' 
 Johnson : ' Sir, if Pope had told me of my distilling, I would have 
 told him of his grotto.' " 
 
 " He would allow no settled indulgence of idleness upon 
 principle, and always repelled every attempt to urge excuses for 
 it. A friend one day suggested, that it was not wholesome to 
 study soon after dinner. Johnson: 'Ah, Sir, don't give way 
 to such a fancy. At one time of my life I had taken .it into 
 my head that it was not wholesome to study between breakfast 
 and dinner.' " 
 
 " Mr. Beauclerk one day repeated to Dr. Johnson Pope's lines, 
 
 " ' Let modest Foster, if he will, excel 
 
 Ten metropolitans in preaching well : ' ^ 
 
 then asked the Doctor, 'Why did Pope say this?' Johnson: 
 'Sir, he hoped it would vex somebody.'" 
 
 1 " The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret," by Mrs. Centlivre. First acted 
 in 1714 at Drury Lane. Revived by Garrick in 1757. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Recorder of Rochester and father of Archbishop Longley. — Dr. Hill. 
 " Epilogue to the Satires," i. 131. 
 
Age 71.] 
 
 JOHNSON AND DYER. 
 
 301 
 
 " Dr. Goldsmith, upon occasion of Mrs. Lennox's bringing out 
 a play/ said to Dr. Johnson at the Club, that a person had ad- 
 vised him to go and hiss it, because she had attacked Shakespeare 
 in her book called 'Shakespeare Illustrated.' Johnson: 'And 
 did you not tell him that he was a rascal?' Goldsmith: 'No, 
 Sir, I did not. Perhaps he did not mean what he said.' Johnson : 
 ' Nay, Sir, if he lied, it is a different thing.' Colman slyly said, 
 (but it is believed Dr. Johnson did not hear him,) 'Then the 
 proper expression should have been, — Sir, if you do n't lie, you 
 are a rascal.' " 
 
 " His affection for Topham Beauclerk was so great, that when 
 Beauclerk was laboring under that severe illness which at last 
 occasioned his death, Johnson said, (with a voice foltering with 
 emotion,) 'Sir, I would walk to the extent of the diameter of the 
 earth to save Beauclerk.' " 
 
 " One night at the Club he produced a translation of an epi- 
 taph which Lord Elibank had written in English for his Lady, and 
 requested of Johnson to turn it into Latin for him. Having read 
 Domina de North et Gray, he said to Dyer,^ ' You see. Sir, what 
 barbarism we are compelled to make use of, when modern titles 
 are to be specifically mentioned in Latin inscriptions.' When 
 he had read it once aloud, and there had been a general approba- 
 tion expressed by the company, he addressed himself to Mr. 
 Dyer ^ in particular, and said, ' Sir, I beg to have your judgment, 
 for I know your nicety.' Dyer then very properly desired to 
 read it over again ; which having done, he pointed out an incon- 
 gruity in one of the sentences. Johnson immediately assented to 
 the observation, and said : ' Sir, this is owing to an alteration of 
 a part of the sentence, from the form in which I had first written 
 it : and I believe, Sir, you may have remarked, that the making a 
 partial change, without a due regard to the general structure of 
 the sentence, is a very frequent cause of error in composition.' " 
 
 " Johnson was well acquainted with Mr. Dossie, author of a 
 treatise on Agriculture ; and said of him, ' Sir, of the objects 
 which the Society of Arts have chiefly in view, the chemical 
 effects of bodies operating upon other bodies, he knows more 
 than almost any man.' Johnson, in order to give Mr. Dossie 
 
 1 Probably " The Sisters," a comedy performed one night only, at Covent Garden 
 in 1769. Dr. Goldsmith wrote an excellent epilogue to \\.—Malone. 
 
 2 The words in the epitaph are Domino North et Gray, and refer to the lady's 
 first husband. — Croker. 
 
 " Said by Malone to be the author of the Junius Letters. He was "A man of 
 profound and general erudition." — Burke. 
 
 ♦ " Memoirs of Agriculture and other CEconomical Arts." London, 1768-82. 
 
302 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [AD. 1780. 
 
 his vote to be a member of this Society, paid up an arrear which 
 had run on for two years. On this occasion he mentioned a cir- 
 cumstance as characteristic of the Scotch. ' One of that nation,' 
 said he, ' who had been a candidate, against whom I had voted, 
 came up to me with a civil salutation. Now, Sir, this is their way. 
 An Englishman would have stomached it, and been sulky, and 
 never have taken farther notice of you ; but a Scotchman, Sir, though 
 you vote nineteen times against him, will accost you with equal 
 complaisance after each time, and the twentieth time. Sir, he will 
 get your vote.' '\ 
 
 "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 our own. You do 
 not know what a Brahmin has to say for himself.' In short. Sir, 
 I have got no farther 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. Martyrdom is the test.' " 
 
 " A man, he observed, should begin to write soon : for, if he 
 waits till his judgment is matured, his inability, through want of 
 practice to express his conceptions, will make the disproportion 
 so great between what he sees and what he can attain, that he 
 will probably be discouraged from writing at all. As a proof of 
 the justness of this remark, we may instance what is related of 
 the great Lord Granville ; ^ that after he had written his letter, 
 giving an account of the battle of Dettingen, he said, ' Here is a 
 letter, expressed in terms not good enough for a tallow-chandler 
 to have used.' " 
 
 Talking of a court-martial that was sitting upon a very 
 momentous public occasion,'* he expressed much doubt of an 
 
 1 Here Lord Macartney remarks, "A Brahmin or any caste of the Hindoos 
 will neither admit you to be of their religion, nor be converted to yours ; a thing 
 which struck the Portuguese with the greatest astonishment, when they first dis- 
 covered the East Indies. " — R. 
 
 2 John, Lord Carteret and first Earl Granville, who died, January 2, 1763. — 
 Malone. Lord Chesterfield said of him : " He had brought away with him from Ox- 
 ford a great stock of Greek and Latin ^nd had made himself master of all the 
 modern languages. He was one of the best speakers in the House of Lords, 
 both in the declamative and argumentative way." 
 
 3 Probably the court-martial which sat at Portsmouth in 1779 on Admiral Keppel 
 for his conduct of the action with the French fleet off Ushant on July 27, 1778, and 
 acquitted him on every charge. The excitement was great in London, where the 
 mob were all on Keppel's side. See Mahon's " Hist, of Eng." vi. 256-8. 
 
Age 71.] LTNES ON THE DUKE OF LEEDS. 303 
 
 enlightened decision ; and said, that perhaps there was not a 
 member of it, who in the whole course of his life, had ever spent 
 an hour by himself in balancing probabilities." 
 
 Goldsmith one day brought to the CLur3 a printed ode, which 
 he, with others, had been hearing read by its author in a public 
 room, at the rate of five shillings each for admission. One of 
 the company having read it aloud. Dr. Johnson said, ' Bolder 
 words and more timorous meaning, I think never were brought 
 together.' " 
 
 Talking of Gray's Odes, he said, ' They are forced plants, 
 raised in a hotbed ; and they are poor plants ; they are but 
 cucumbers after all.' A gentleman present, who had been 
 running down ode-writing in general, as a bad species of poetry, 
 unluckily said, ' Had they been literally cucumbers, they had 
 been better things than odes. — 'Yes, Sir,' said Johnson, 'for a 
 
 hog: " 
 
 *' His distinction of the different degrees of attainment of learn- 
 ing was thus marked upon two occasions. Of Queen Elizabeth 
 he said, ' She had learning enough to have given dignity to a 
 bishop ; ' and of Mr. Thomas Davies, he said, ' Sir, Davies has 
 learning enough to give credit to a clergyman.' " 
 
 " He used to quote, with great warmth, the saying of Aristotle 
 recorded by Diogenes Laertius ; ' ' That there was the same 
 difference between one learned and unlearned, as between the 
 living and the dead.' " 
 
 " It is very remarkable, that he retained in his memory very 
 slight and trivial, as well as important things. As an instance 
 of this, it seems that an inferior domestic of the Duke of Leeds 
 had attempted to celebrate his grace's marriage in such homely 
 rhymes as he could make : and this curious composition having 
 been sung to Dr. Johnson, he got it by heart, and used to repeat 
 it in a very pleasant manner. Two of the stanzas were these : 
 
 '* ' When the Duke of Leeds shall married be, 
 To a fine young lady of high quality, 
 How happy will that gentlewoman be 
 In his grace of Leeds's good company. 
 
 *' ' She shall have all that 's fine and fair, 
 And the best of silk and satin shall wear; 
 And ride in a coach to take the air, 
 And have a house in St. James's Square.' ^ 
 
 1 Bk. V. ch. i. 
 
 * The correspondent of The Gentleman s Magazine who subscribes himself 
 SCIOLUS, furnishes the following supplement: "A lady of my acquaintance re- 
 
304 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780 
 
 To hear a man, of the weight and dignity of Johnson, repeating 
 such humble attempts at poetry, had a very amusing effect. He, 
 however, seriously observed of the last stanza repeated by him, 
 that it nearly comprised all the advantages that wealth can give." 
 
 " An eminent foreigner, when he was shown the British Mu- 
 seum, was very troublesome with many absurd inquiries. ' Now 
 there. Sir,' said he, ' is the difference between an Englishman and 
 a Frenchman. A Frenchman must be always talking, whether 
 he knows anything of the matter or not ; an Englishman is con- 
 tent to say nothing, when he has nothing to say.' '' 
 
 " His unjust contempt for foreigners was, indeed, extreme. 
 One evening, at Old Slaughter's coffee-house,' when a number of 
 them were talking loud about little matters, he said, ' Does not 
 this confirm old Meynell's observation — For any fhi7ig I see, for- 
 eigners are fools ' " 
 
 " He said, that once, when he had a violent toothache, a 
 Frenchman accosted him thus : ' Ah, Monsieur, vous etudiez 
 trop: " 
 
 Having spent an evening at Mr. Langton's with the Reverend 
 Dr. Parr, he was much pleased with the conversation of that 
 learned gentleman ; and, after he was gone, said to Mr. Langton : 
 ' Sir, I am obliged to you for having asked me this evening. 
 Parr is a fair man. I do not know when I have had an occasion 
 of such free controversy. It is remarkable how much of a man's 
 life may pass without meeting with any instance of this kind of 
 open discussion.' " 
 
 " We may fairly institute a criticism between Shakespeare and 
 Corneille,' as they both had, though in a different degree, the 
 lights of a latter age. It is not so just between the Greek dra- 
 
 members to have heard her uncle sing those homely stanzas more than forty-five 
 years ago. He repeated the second thus : 
 
 " ' She shall breed young lords and ladies fair, 
 
 And ride abroad in a coach and three pair, 
 
 And the best, &c. 
 
 And have a house, &c.' 
 And remembered a third which seems to have been the introductory one, and is 
 believed to have been the only remaining one : 
 
 " ' When the Duke of Leeds shall have made his choice 
 Of a charming young lady that 's beautiful and wise. 
 She '11 be the happiest young gentlewoman under the skies. 
 As long as the sun and moon shall rise, 
 And how happy shall, &c.' " 
 It is with pleasure I add that this stanza could never be more truly applied than 
 at this present time [1792] , — B. 
 
 > " Corneille is to Shakespeare as a clipped hedge is to a forest." — Dr. John- 
 son. 
 
Age 71.] 
 
 SPANISH PLAYS. 
 
 305 
 
 matic writers and Shakespeare.' It may be replied to what is 
 said by one of the remarkers on Shakespeare, that though Darius's 
 shade hsid prescie72{:e, it does not necessarily follow that he had 
 all /^zj-/ particulars revealed to him." 
 
 " Spanish plays, being wildly and improbably farcical, would 
 please children here, as children are entertained with stories full 
 of prodigies ; their experience not being sufficient to cause them 
 to be so readily startled at deviations from the natural course of 
 life. The machinery of the Pagans is uninteresting to us : when 
 a goddess appears in Homer or Virgil, we grow weary ; still TOore 
 so in the Grecian tragedies, as in that kind of composition a 
 nearer approach to Nature is intended. Yet there are good 
 reasons for reading romances : as — the fertility of invention, the 
 beauty of style and expression, the curiosity of seeing with what 
 kind of performances the age and country in which they were 
 written was delighted : for it is to be apprehended that at the 
 time when very wild improbable tales were well received, the 
 people were in a barbarous state, and so on the footing of chil- 
 dren, as has been explained." 
 
 " It is evident enough that no one who writes now can use the 
 Pagan deities and mythology ; the only machinery, therefore, 
 seems that of ministering spirits, the ghosts of the departed, 
 witches, and fairies, though these latter, as the vulgar superstition 
 concerning them (which, while in its force, infected at least the 
 imagination of those that had more advantage in education, 
 though their reason set them free from it), is every day wearing 
 out, seem likely to be of little further assistance in the machinery 
 of poetry. As I recollect, Hammond introduces a hag or witch 
 into one of his love-elegies, where the effect is unmeaning and 
 disgusting." 
 
 " The man who uses his talent of ridicule in creating or grossly 
 exaggerating the instances he gives, who imputes absurdities that 
 did not happen, or when a man was a little ridiculous, describes 
 him as having been very much so, abuses his talents greatly. The 
 great use of delineating absurdities is, that we may know how far 
 human folly can go ; the account, therefore, ought of absolute 
 necessity to be faithful. A certain character (naming the per- 
 son) as to the general cast of it, is well described by Garrick, 
 but a great deal of the phraseology he uses in it, is quite his 
 own, particularly in the proverbial comparisons, ' obstinate as 
 a pig,' &c., but I don't know whether it might not be true of 
 1 See Mrs. Montagu's " Essay on Shakespeare." 
 Vol. II. — 20 
 
306 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 Lord ^ that from a too great eagerness of praise and popu- 
 larity, and a politeness carried to a ridiculous excess, he was likely, 
 after asserting a thing in general, to give it up again in parts. For 
 instance, if he had said Reynolds was the first of painters, he was 
 capable enough of giving up, as objections might happen to be 
 severally made, first, his outline, — then the grace in form, — then 
 the coloring, — and lastly, to have owned that he was such a 
 mannerist, that the disposition of his pictures was all alike." 
 
 " For hospitality, as formerly practised, there is no longer the 
 samq reason ; heretofore the poorer people were more numerous, 
 and from want of commerce, their means of getting a livelihood 
 more difficult; therefore the supporting them was an act of great 
 benevolence ; now that the poor can find maintenance for them- 
 selves, and their labor is wanted, a general undiscerning hospi- 
 tality tends to ill, by withdrawing them from their work to idleness 
 and drunkenness. Then, formerly rents were received in kind, 
 so that there was a great abundance of provisions in possession 
 of the owners of the lands, which, since the plenty of money af- 
 forded by commerce, is no longer the case." 
 
 " Hospitality to strangers and foreigners in our country is now 
 almost at an end, since, from the increase of them that come to 
 us, there have been a sufficient number of people that have found 
 an interest in providing inns and proper accommodations, which 
 is in general a more expedient method for the entertainment of 
 travellers. Where the travellers and strangers are few, more of 
 that hospitality subsists, as it has not been worth while to provide 
 places of accommodation. In Ireland there is still hospitality to 
 strangers, in some degree ; in Hungary and Poland probably 
 more." 
 
 " Colman, in a note on his translation of Terence, talking of 
 Shakespeare's learning, asks, 'What says Farmer to this? What 
 says Johnson? ' Upon this he observed, ' Sir, let Farmer answer 
 for himself: never engaged in this controversy. I always 
 said, Shakespeare had Latin enough to grammaticize his 
 English.' " 
 
 " A clergyman, whom he characterized as one who loved to say 
 little oddities, was affecting one day, at a bishop's table, a sort of 
 slyness and freedom not in character, and repeated, as if part of 
 *The Old Man's Wish,' a song by Dr. Walter Pope, a verse bor- 
 dering on licentiousness. Johnson rebuked him in the finest 
 
 ^ Perhaps Lord Corke and Orrery. — Croker, 
 * See Colman's " Terence," ii. 390. 
 
Age 71.] LANGTON'S KNOWLEDGE OE GREEK. 307 
 
 manner, by first showing that he did not know the passage he was 
 aiming at, and thus humbling him ; 'Sir, that is not the song : it 
 is thus.' And he gave it right. Then looking steadfastly on him, 
 ' Sir, there is a part of that song which I should wish to exemplify 
 in my own life : 
 
 " ' May I govern my passions with absolute sway ! ' " 
 
 " Being asked if Barnes knew a good deal of Greek, he an- 
 swered, ' I doubt, Sir, he was unociclus inter ccecos.' " 
 
 He used frequently to observe, that men might be very emi- 
 nent in a profession, without our perceiving any particular power 
 of mind in them in conversation. ' It seems strange,' said he, 
 * that a man should see so far to the right, who sees so short a 
 way to the left. Burke is the only man whose common conver- 
 sation corresponds with the general fame which he has in the 
 world. Take up whatever topic you please, he is ready to meet 
 you.' " 
 
 " A gentleman, by no means deficient in literature, having dis- 
 covered less acquaintance with one of the classics than Johnson 
 expected, when the gentleman left the room, he observed, ' You 
 see, now, how little any body reads.' Mr. Langton happening to 
 mention his having read a good deal in Clenardus's Greek Gram- 
 mar, * Why, Sir,' said he, ' who is there in this town who knows 
 any thing of Clenardus but you and I ? ' And upon Mr. Lang- 
 ton's mentioning that he had taken the pains to learn by heart 
 the Epistle of St. Basil, which is given in that grammar as. a 
 praxis, ' Sir,' said he, ' I never made such an effort to attain 
 Greek.' " 
 
 " Of Dodsley's 'Public Virtue, a Poem,' he said, ' It was fine 
 blank; (meaning to express his usual contempt for blank verse :) 
 however, this miserable poem did not sell, and my poor friend 
 Doddy said. Public Virtue was not a subject to interest the 
 age.' " 
 
 " Mr. Langton, when a very young man, read Dodsley's 
 ' Cleone, a Tragedy,' to him, not aware of his extreme im- 
 patience to be read to. As it went on he turned his face to the 
 back of his chair, and put himself into various attitudes, which 
 marked his uneasiness. At the end of an act, however, he said, 
 ' Come, let 's have some more, let 's go into the slaughter-house 
 again, Lanky. But I am afraid there is more blood than brains.' 
 Yet he afterwards said, ' When I heard you read it I thought 
 
308 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 higher of its power of language : when I read it myself, I was 
 more sensible of its pathetic effect ; ' and then he paid it a com- 
 pliment which many will think very extravagant. ' Sir,' said he, 
 ' if Otway had written this play, no other of his pieces 'would 
 have been remembered.' Dodsley himself, upon this being re- 
 peated to him, said, ' It was too much : ' it must be remembered, 
 that Johnson always appeared not to be sufficiently sensible of 
 the merit of Otway." ' 
 
 " ' Snatches of reading,' said he, ' will not make a Bentley or 
 a Clarke. They are, however, in a certain degree advantageous. 
 I would put a child into a library (where no unfit books are) and 
 let him read at his choice. A child should not be discouraged 
 from reaching anything that he takes a liking to, from a notion 
 that it is above his reach. If that be the case, the child will soon 
 find it out and desist ; if not, he of course gains the instruction ; 
 which is so much the more likely to come, from the inclination 
 with which he takes up the study.' " 
 
 " Though he used to censure carelessness with great vehemence, 
 he owned, that he once, to avoid the trouble of locking up. five 
 guineas, hid them, he forgot where, so that he could not find 
 them." 
 
 " A gentleman who introduced his brother to Dr. Johnson, was 
 earnest to recommend him to the Doctor's notice, which he did 
 by saying, ' When we have sat together some time, you '11 find my 
 brother grow very entertaining.' — ' Sir,' said Johnson, ' I can 
 wait.' " 
 
 " When the rumor was strong that we should have a war, be- 
 cause the French would assist the Americans, he rebuked a friend 
 with some asperity for supposing it, saying, ' No, Sir, national 
 faith is not yet sunk so low.' " 
 
 " In the latter part of his life, in order to satisfy himself 
 whether his mental faculties were impaired, he resolved that he 
 would try to learn a new language, and fixed upon the Low Dutch, 
 for that purpose, and this he continued till he had read about one 
 half of 'Thomas a Kempis ; ' and finding that there appeared no 
 abatement of his power of acquisition, he then desisted, as 
 thinking the experiment had been duly tried. Mr. Burke 
 justly observed, that this was not the most vigorous trial. Low 
 Dutch being a language so near to our own ; had it been one of 
 
 1 This assertion concerning Johnson's insensibility to the pathetic powers of 
 Otway is too round. I once asked him, whether he did not think Otway frequently 
 lender : when he answered, " Sir, he is all tenderness." — Burney. 
 
Age 71.] GOLDSMJril'S VISIONARY PllOJECT. 309 
 
 the languages entirely different, he might have been very soon 
 satisfied." 
 
 " Mr. Langton and he having gone to see a freemason's funeral 
 procession, when they were at Rochester, and some solemn music 
 being played on French horns, he said, ' This is the first time 
 that I have ever been affected by musical sounds ; ' adding, ' that 
 the impression made upon him was of a melancholy kind.' Mr. 
 Langton saying, that this effect was a fine one : Johnson : 'Yes, 
 if it softens the mind so as to prepare it for the reception of sal- 
 utary feelings, it may be good : but inasmuch as it is melancholy 
 per se, it is bad.' " 
 
 "Goldsmith had long a visionary project, that some time or 
 other when his circumstances should be easier, he would go to 
 Aleppo, in order to acquire a knowledge, as far as might be, of 
 any arts peculiar to the East, and introduce them into Britain. 
 When this was talked of in Dr. Johnson's company, he said : ' Of 
 all men Goldsmith is the most unfit to go out upon such an 
 inquiry; for he is utterly ignorant of such arts as we already 
 possess, and consequently could not know what would be ac- 
 cessions to our present stock of mechanical knowledge. Sir, he 
 would bring home a grinding-barrow, which you see in every 
 street in London, and think he had furnished a wonderful im- 
 provement.' " 
 
 " Greek, Sir," said he, " is like lace ; every man gets as much 
 of it as he can." ' 
 
 " When Lord Charles Hay, after his return from America, was 
 preparing his defence to be offered to the court-martial, which he 
 had demanded, having heard Mr. Langton as high in expressions 
 of admiration of Johnson, as he usually was, he requested that 
 Dr. Johnson might be introduced to him ; and Mr. Langton hav- 
 ing mentioned it to Johnson, he very kindly and readily agreed ; 
 and being presented by Mr. Langton to his Lordship, while under 
 arrest, he saw him several times ; upon one of which occasions 
 Lord Charles read to him what he had prepared, which Johnson 
 signified his approbation of, saying, ' It is a very good soldierly 
 defence.' Johnson said, that he had advised his Lordship that, 
 as it was in vain to contend with those who were in possession of 
 power, if they would offer him the rank of lieutenant-general 
 and a government, it would be better judged to desist from urg- 
 ing his complaints. It is well known that his Lordship died 
 before the sentence was made known." 
 
 ' This was written when lace was very generally worn. — Malone, 
 
310 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 17S0. 
 
 " Dr. Johnson one day gave high praise to Dr. Bentley's verses^ 
 in Dodsley's Collection, which he recited with his usual energy 
 Dr. Adam Smith, who was present, observed in his decisive pro- 
 fessorial manner, 'Very well — very well.' Johnson however 
 added, ' Yes, they a?'e very well, Sir ; but you may observe in 
 what manner they are well. They are the forcible verses of a 
 man of a strong mind, but not accustomed to write verse ; for there 
 is some uncouthness in the expression.' " ^ 
 
 * Dr. Johnson, in his Life of Cowley, says, that these are " the only English 
 verses which Bentley is known to have written." I shall here insert them, and hope 
 my readers will apply them. 
 
 " Who strives to mount Parnassus' hill 
 And thence poetic laurels bring, 
 Must first acquire due force and skill, 
 Must fly with swan's or eagle's wing. 
 
 "Who Nature's treasures would explore, 
 Her mysteries and arcana know ; 
 Must high as lofty Newton soar, 
 
 Must stoop as delving Woodward low. 
 
 "Who studies ancient laws and rites; 
 Tongues, arts, and arms, and history: 
 Must drudge, like Selden, days and nights. 
 And in the endless labor die. 
 
 " Who travels in religious jars, 
 
 (Truth mixed with error, shades with rays,) 
 Like Whiston, wanting pyx or stars, 
 In ocean wide or sinks or strays. 
 
 " But grant our hero's hope, long toil 
 And comprehensive genius crown, 
 All sciences, all arts his spoil, 
 
 Yet what reward, or what renown ? 
 
 " Envy, innate in vulgar souls, 
 
 Envy steps in and stops his rise; 
 Envy with poison'd tarnish fouls 
 His lustre, and his worth decries. 
 
 " Inglorious or by wants enthralled. 
 
 To college and old books confin'd 
 A pedant from his learning called. 
 
 Dunces advanced, he 's left behind : 
 Yet left content, a genuine Stoic he. 
 Great without patron, rich without South Sea." — B. 
 
 The last stanza is corrected from a better copy found by J. Bosvvell, jr. — Croker, 
 The difference between Johnson and Smith is apparent even in this slight in- 
 stance. Smith was a man of^ extraordinary application, and had his mind crowded 
 with all manner of subjects ; but the force, acutcness, and vivacity of Johnson were 
 not to l)e found there. He had book-making so much in his thoughts, and was so 
 chary of what might be turned to account in that way, that he once said to Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, that he made it a rule when in company, never to talk of what he 
 understood. Beauclerk had for a short time a pretty high opinion of Smith's con- 
 versation. Garrick after listening to him for a while, as to one of whom his expec- 
 tations had been raised, turned slvly to a friend, and whispered him, " What say 
 you to this ? — eh ? flabby, I think." — B. 
 
Age 71.] JOHNSON IN A CONTEST OF RAILLERY. 311 
 
 " Drinking tea one day at Garrick's with Mr. Langton, he was 
 questioned if he was not somewhat of a heretic as to Shakespeare ; 
 said Garrick, ' I doubt he is a httle of an infidel.' — ^ Sir,' said 
 Johnson, ' I will stand by the lines I have written on Shakespeare 
 in my prologue at the opening of your theatre.' Mr. Langton 
 suggested, that in the line 
 
 " ' And panting Time toil'd after him in vain; ' 
 
 Johnson might have had in his eye the passage in the ' Tempest,' 
 where Prospero says of Miranda, 
 
 '* ' . . . She will outstrip all praise, 
 And make it halt behind her.' ' 
 
 Johnson said nothing. Garrick then ventured to observe, ' I * 
 do not think that the happiest line in the praise of Shakespeare.' 
 Johnson exclaimed, smiling, ' Prosaical rogues ! Next time I 
 write, I '11 make both time and space pant.' " ^ 
 
 " It is well known that there was formerly a rude custom for 
 those who were sailing upon the Thames, to accost each other as 
 they passed in the most abusive language they could invent, gen- 
 erally, however, with as much satirical humor as they were capable 
 of producing. Addison gives a specimen of this ribaldry, in 
 Number 383 of The Spectator, when Sir Roger de Coverly and 
 he are going to Spring Garden (Vauxhall). Johnson was once 
 eminently successful in this species of contest ; a fellow having 
 attacked him with some coarse raillery, Johnson answered him 
 thus, ' Sir, your wife, under pretence of keeping a bawdy-house, is 
 a receiver of stolen goods.' One evening when he and Mr. Burke 
 and Mr. Langton were in company together, and the admirable 
 
 ^ " The Tempest," Act iv. sc. i. 
 
 2 I am sorry to see in the " Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh," 
 vol. ii., " An Essay of the Character of Hamlet," written, I should suppose, by a 
 very young man, though called " Reverend; " who speaks of presumptuous petu- 
 lance of the first literary character of his age. Amidst a cloudy confusion of words 
 (which hath of late too often passed in Scotland for victapliysics) , he thus ventures 
 to criticise one of the noblest lines in our language : " Dr. Johnson has remarked, 
 that ' time toiled after him in vain.' But I should apprehend, that this is entirely 
 to mistake the character. Time toils after every great man, as well as after Shakes- 
 peare. The ivorkings of an ordinary mind keep pace, indeed, with time; they move 
 no faster ; they have their begniuing, their middle, and their end ; but superior natures 
 can reduce these into a point. They do not. indeed, suppress them ; but they suspend, 
 or they lock them up in the breasts The learned Society, under whose sanction such 
 gabble is ushered into the world, would do well to offer a premium to any one 
 who will discover its meaning. — B. 
 
312 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 scolding of Timoii of Athens was mentioned, this instance of 
 Johnson's was quoted, and thought to have at least equal ex- 
 cellence." 
 
 " As Johnson always allowed the extraordinary talents of Mr. 
 Burke, so Mr. Burke was fully sensible of the wonderful powers 
 of Johnson. Mr. Langton recollects having passed an evening 
 with both of them, when Mr. Burke repeatedly entered upon 
 topics which it was evident he would have illustrated with exten- 
 sive knowledge and richness of expression ; but Johnson always 
 seized upon the conversation, in which, however, he acquitted 
 himself in a most masterly manner. As Mr. Burke and Mr. 
 Langton were walking home, Mr. Burke observed that Johnson 
 had been very great that night ; Mr. Langton joined in this, but 
 added, he could have wished to hear more from another person 
 (plainly intimating that he meant Mr. Burke) ; ' Oh, no,' said 
 ' Mr. Burke, ' it is enough for me to have rung the bell to 
 him.' " 
 
 " Beauclerk having observed to him of one of their friends, 
 that he was awkward at counting money, ' Why, Sir,' said John- 
 son, ' I am likewise awkward at counting money. But then. Sir, 
 the reason is plain; I have had very little money to count.' " 
 
 " He had an abhorrence of affectation. Talking of old Mr. 
 Langton, of whom he said, ' Sir, you will seldom see such a 
 gentleman, such are his stores of literature, such his knowledge 
 in divinity, and such his exemplary life ; ' he added, ' and Sir, he 
 has no grimace, no gesticulation, no bursts of admiration on 
 trivial occasions ; he never embraces you with an overacted 
 cordiality.' " 
 
 " Being in company with a gentleman who thought fit to main- 
 tain Dr. Berkeley's ingenious philosophy, that nothing exists but 
 as perceived by some mind; when the gentleman was going away, 
 Johnson said to him, 'Pray, Sir, don't leave us; for we may per- 
 haps forget to think of you, and then you will cease to exist.' " 
 
 " Goldsmith upon being visited by Johnson one day in the 
 Temple, said to him with a little jealousy of the appearance of 
 his accommodation, * I shall soon be in better chambers than 
 these.' Johnson at the same time checked him and paid him a 
 handsome compliment, implying that a man of his talents should 
 be above attention to such distinctions, — ' Nay, Sir, never mind 
 that. JVi/ te qucesiveris extra J " ' 
 
 " At the time when his pension was granted to him, he said 
 
 Persius : " Sat." i. 7. 
 
Age 71.] RICHAIWSON'S CONVERi^ATION. 
 
 313 
 
 with a noble literary ambition, 'Had this happened twenty years 
 ago, I should have gone to Constantinople to learn Arabic, as 
 Pococke did.' " 
 
 " As an instance of the niceness of his taste, though he praised 
 West's translation of Pindar, he pointed out the following pas- 
 sages as faulty, by expressing a circumstance so minute as to 
 detract from the general dignity which should prevail : 
 
 " ' Down then from thy glittering nail, 
 Take, O muse, thy Dorian lyre.' " 
 
 " When Mr. Vesey was proposed as a member of the Literary 
 Club, Mr. Burke began by saying that he was a man of gentle 
 manners. ' Sir,' said Johnson, ' you need say no more. When 
 you have said a man of gentle manners, you have said enough.' " 
 
 "The late Mr. Fitzherbert told Mr. Langton, that Johnson said 
 to him : ' Sir, a man has no more right to say an uncivil thing, 
 than to ac^ one ; no more right to say a rude thing to another 
 than to knock him down.' " 
 
 " ' My dear friend Dr. Bathurst,' said he, with a warmth of 
 approbation, ' declared, he was glad that his father, who was a 
 West Indian planter, had left his affairs in total ruin, because 
 having no estate, he was not under the temptation of having 
 slaves.' " 
 
 " Richardson had little conversation, except about his own 
 works, of which Sir Joshua Reynolds said he was always willing 
 to talk, and glad to have them introduced. Johnson when he 
 carried Mr. Langton to see him, professed that he could bring 
 him out into conversation, and used this allusive expression, ' Sir, 
 I can make him rear.^ But he failed ; for in that interview 
 Richardson said little else than that there lay in the room a trans- 
 lation of his 'Clarissa' into German." ' 
 
 1 A literary lady has favored me with a characteristic anecdote of Richardson. 
 One day at his country house at Northend, where a large company was assembled 
 at dinner, a gentleman who was just returned from Paris, willing to please Mr. 
 Richardson, mentioned to him a very flattering circumstance, — that he had seen his 
 'Clarissa' lymg on the King's brother's table. Richardson observing that part of 
 the company were engaged in talking to each other, affected then not to attend to 
 it. But by and by, when there was a general silence, and he thought that tlie flattery 
 might be fully heard, he addressed himself to the gentleman, ' I think. Sir, you were 
 saying something at)out — ,' pausing in a high flutter of expectation. The gentle- 
 man provoked at his inordinate vanity, resolved not to indulge it, and with an 
 exquisitely sly air of indifference, answered, ' A m'ere trifle. Sir, not worth repeat- 
 ing.' The mortification of Richardson was visible, and he did not speak ten 
 words more the whole day. Dr. Johnson was present, and appeared to enjoy it 
 much.— B. 
 
814 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 " Once when somebody produced a newspaper in which there 
 was a letter of stupid abuse of Sir Joshua Reynolds, of which 
 Johnson himself came in for a share, — ' Pray,' said he, ' let us 
 have it read aloud from beginning to end ; ' which being done, 
 he with a ludicrous earnestness, and not directing his look to any 
 particular person, called out, 'Are we alive after all this satire !' " 
 
 " He had a strong prejudice against the political character of 
 Seeker,' one instance of which appeared at Oxford, where he ex- 
 pressed great dissatisfaction at his varying the old established 
 toast, ' Church and King.' ' The Archbishop of Canterbury,' 
 said he (with an affected smooth smiling grimace), 'drinks. Con- 
 stitution in Church and State.' Being asked what difference 
 there was between the two toasts, he said, ' Why, Sir, you may 
 be sure he meant something.' Yet when the life of that prelate, 
 prefixed to his sermons by Dr. Porteus and Dr. Stinton, his chap- 
 lains, first came out, he read' it with the utmost avidity, and said, 
 'It is a life well written, and that well deserves to be recorded.' " 
 
 " Of a certain noble Lord, he said, ' Respect him, you could 
 not ; for he had no mind of his own. Love him you could not ; 
 for that which you could do with him, every one else could.' " 
 
 " 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.' " 
 
 " He told in his lively manner the following literary anecdote : 
 'Green and Guthrie, an Irishman and a Scotchman, undertook a 
 translation of Duhalde's history of China. Green said of Guthrie, 
 that he knew no English, and Guthrie of Green, that he knew no 
 French ; and these two undertook to translate Duhalde's history 
 of China. In this translation there was found " the twenty-sixth 
 day of the new moon." Now as the whole age of the moon 
 is but twenty-eight days, the moon instead of being new, was 
 nearly as old as it could be. The blunder arose from their mis- 
 taking the word neiivihiie ninth, for noiivelle or neiive, new.' " 
 
 " Talking of Dr. Blagden's copiousness and precision of com- 
 munication, Dr. Johnson said, ' Blagden, Sir, is a delightful fel- 
 low.' " 
 
 " On occasion of Dr. Johnson's publishing his pamphlet of 
 'The False Alarm,' there came out a very angry answer (by many 
 supposed to be by Mr. Wilkes). Dr. Johnson determined on not 
 answering it ; but, in conversation with Mr. Langton, mentioned 
 a particular or two, which "if he had replied to it, he might per- 
 haps have inserted. In the answerer's pamphlet, it had been 
 
 1 Archbishop of Canterbury, died Aug. 3, 1768. 
 
Age 71.] A CURTAILING INNOVATION. 
 
 B15 
 
 said with solemnity, ' Do you consider, Sir, that a House of Com- 
 mons is to the people as a creature is to its Creator?' — '"Jo this 
 question,' said Dr. Johnson, ' I could have replied, that — in the 
 first place — the idea of a Creator must be such as that he has 
 a power to unmake or annihilate his creature. Then' it cannot 
 be conceived that a creature can make laws for its CkEATOR.' " ' 
 
 " ' Depend upon it,' said he, ' that if a man ^a//es of his mis- 
 fortunes, there is something in them that is not disagreeable to 
 him ; for where there is nothing but pure misery, there never is 
 any recourse to the mention of it.' " 
 
 ^' A man must be a poor beast, that should read no more in 
 quantity than he could i^^fer aloud." 
 
 " Imlac in ' Rasselas,' I spelt with a c at the end, because it is 
 less like English, which should always have the Saxon k added to 
 the r."' 
 
 " Many a man is mad in certain instances, and goes through 
 life without having it perceived : for example, a madness has 
 seized a person of supposing himself obliged literally to pray con- 
 tinually ; had the madness turned the other way, and the person 
 thought it a crime ever to pray, it might not improbably have 
 continued unobserved." 
 
 " He apprehended that the delineation of chai-acters in the 
 end of the first book of the ' Retreat of the Ten Thousand,' was 
 the first instance of the kind that was known." 
 
 "Supposing," said he, " a wife to be of a studious'^ or argu- 
 mentative turn, it would be very troublesome : for instance, — if a 
 woman should continually dwell upon the subject of the Arian 
 heresy." 
 
 " No man speaks concerning another, even suppose it be in 
 his praise, if he thinks he does not hear him exactly as he would, 
 if he thought he was within hearing." 
 
 " ' The applause of a single human being is of great conse- 
 quence.' This he said to me with great earnestness of manner, 
 
 1 His profound adoration of the GREAT FIRST Cause was such as to set him 
 above that " philosophy and vain deceit," with which men of narrow conceptions 
 have been infected. I have heard him strongly maintain that "what is right is not 
 so from any natural fitness, l)ut because God wills it to be right ; " and it is certainly 
 so, because he has predisposed the relations of things so as that which he wills 
 must be right. — B. 
 
 2 I hope the authority of the great master of our language will stop that curtail- 
 ing innovation, by which we see critic, public, &c., frequently written instead of 
 critick,publick, &.c. — B. "If the work should at any future period be reprinted, I 
 hope care will be taken of my orthography. — Preface to Boswell's " Corsica." 
 
 3 He gave Miss Burney and Mrs. Thrale lessons in Latin and once remarked 
 that " no woman was the worse for sense and knowledge." — Dr. Hill, 
 
316 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1780. 
 
 very near the time of his decease, on occasion of having desired 
 me to read a letter addressed to him from some person in the 
 North of England ; which when I had done, and he asked me 
 what the contents were, as I thought being particular upon it 
 might fatigue him, it being of great length, I only told him in 
 general that it was highly in his praise ; and then he expressed 
 himself as above." 
 
 " He mentioned with an air of satisfaction what Baretti had 
 told him that, meeting, in the course of his studying English, with 
 an excellent paper in the Spectator, one of four ^ that were written 
 by the respectable Dissenting Minister, Mr. Grove of Taunton, 
 and observing the genius and energy of mind that it exhibits, it 
 greatly quickened his curiosity to visit our country ; as he thought, 
 if such were the lighter periodical essays of our authors, their 
 productions on more weighty occasions must be wonderful 
 indeed ! " 
 
 " He observed once, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, that a beggar in 
 the street will more readily ask alms from a ina7i, though there 
 should be no marks of wealth in his appearance, than from even 
 a well-dressed woman which he accounted for from the great 
 degree of carefulness as to money that is to be found in women ; 
 saying farther upon it, that, the opportunities in general that they 
 possess of improving their condition are much fewer than men 
 have ; and adding, as he looked round the company, which con- 
 sisted of men only, — there is not one of us who does not think 
 he might be richer, if he would use his endeavor." 
 
 " He thus characterized an ingenious writer of his acquaint- 
 ance : ' Sir, he is an enthusiast by rule.' " ^ 
 
 ^ He may hold up that shield against all his enemies;^ was 
 an observation on Homer, in reference to his description of the 
 shield of Achilles, made by Mrs. Fitzherbert wife to his friend 
 Mr. Fitzherbert of Derbyshire, and respected by Dr. Johnson as 
 a very fine one. He had in general a very high opinion of that 
 lady's understanding." 
 
 An observation of Pkthurst's may be mentioned, which John- 
 son repeated, appearing to acknowledge it to be well founded ; 
 namely, it was somewhat remarkable how seldom on occasion of 
 coming into the company of any new person, one felt any wish 
 or inclination to see him again." 
 
 ^ Nos. 588, 601, 626, and 635. 
 
 ^ Sterna is of a direct contrary opinion. See his " Sentimental lournev," article, 
 " The Mystery." — B. 
 
 « Very hkely Dr. Warton. — Dr. Hill. 
 
nge 72.] COMPLETION OF THE LI VES. 
 
 317 
 
 This year the Reverend Dr. Franckhn having published a 
 translatioh of " Lucian/' inscribed to him the " Demonax " thus : 
 
 To Dr. Samuel Johnson, the Demonax of the present age, this piece is 
 inscribed by a sincere admirer of his respectable talents. 
 
 The Translator. 
 
 Though upon a particular comparison of Demonax and Johrf- 
 son, there does not seem to be a great deal of similarity betwee|n 
 them, this dedication is a just compliment from the genera;^ 
 character given by Lucian of the ancient Sage, " aptoTov ol6a kyoj 
 <pLkoa6(pijv yevojuevov, the best philosopher whom I have ever seen or 
 known." 
 
 In 1 781, Johnson at last completed his " Lives of the Poets," 
 of which he gives this account : " Some time in March I finished 
 the ' Lives of the Poets,' which I wrote in my usual way, 
 dilatorily and hastily, unwilling to work, and working with vigor 
 and haste." Prayers and Meditations," p. 190.) In a memo- 
 randum previous to this, he says of them : " Written, I hope, in 
 such a manner as may tend to the promotion of piety." ("Pray- 
 ers and Meditations," p. 174.) 
 
 This is the work, which of all Dr. Johnson's writings will per- 
 haps be read most generally, and with most pleasure. Philology 
 and biography were his favorite pursuits, and those who lived 
 most in intimacy with him, heard him upon all occasions, when 
 there was a proper opportunity, take delight in expatiating upon 
 the various merits of the English Poets : upon the niceties of 
 their characters, and the events of their progress through the 
 world which they contribute to illuminate. His mind was so full 
 of that kind of information, and it was so well arranged in his 
 memory, that in performing what he had undertaken in this way, 
 he had little more to do than to put his thoughts upon paper ; 
 exhibiting first each poet's life, and then subjoining a critical ex- 
 amination of his genius and works. But when he began to write, 
 the subject swelled in such a manner, that instead of prefaces to 
 each poet, of no more than a few pages, as he had originally in- 
 tended,^ he produced an ample, rich, and most entertaining view 
 
 1 His design is thus announced in his " Advertisement " : " The booksellers 
 having determined to publish a body of English Poetry, I was persuaded to prom- 
 ise them a preface to the works of each author; an undertaking, as it was then pre- 
 sented to my mind, not very tedious or difficult. My purpose was only to have 
 allotted to every poet an advertisement, like that [those] which we find in the French 
 Miscellanies, containing a few dates, and a general character; but I have been led 
 beyond my intention, I hope by the honest desire of giving useful pleasure." — B. 
 
318 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 of them in every respect. In this he resembled QuintiUan, who 
 tells us, that in the composition of his Institutions of Oratory/ 
 " Latins se tameji aperiente materia, plus quain imponebatur 
 oneris sponte suscepi'' The booksellers, justly sensible of the 
 great additional value of the copyright, presented him with an- 
 pther hundred pounds, over and above two hundred, for which 
 his agreement was to furnish such prefaces as he thought fit."^ 
 
 This was, however, but a small recompense for such a col- 
 lection of biography, and such principles and illustrations of 
 criticism, as, if digested and arranged in one system, by some 
 modern Aristotle or Longinus, might form a code upon that sub- 
 ject, such as no other nation can show. As he was so good as to 
 make me a present of the greatest part of the original and indeed 
 only manuscript of this admirable work, I have an opportunity of 
 observing with wonder the correctness with which he rapidly 
 struck off such glowing composition. He may be assimilated to 
 the Lady in Waller, who could impress with " Love at first sight : " 
 
 " Some other nymphs with colors faint, 
 And pencil slow, may Cupid paint, 
 And a weak heart in time destroy; 
 She has a stamp, and prints the boy." 
 
 That he, however, had a good deal of trouble, and some 
 anxiety in carrying on the work, we see from a series of letters 
 to Mr. Nichols, the printer,^ whose variety of literary inquiry 
 
 ^ " Institutiones," lib. i. prooemium 3. 
 
 2 On this occasion, Dr. Johnson observed to me : " Sir, I always said the book- 
 sellers were a generous set of men. Nor in the present instance have I reason to 
 complain. The fact is not that they have paid me too little, but that I have written 
 too much. The ' Lives ' were soon published in a separate edition ; when for a 
 very few corrections he was presented with another hundred guineas." Nichols's 
 " Literary Anecdotes," viii. 416. , 
 
 ^*Thus : " In the ' Life of Waller,' Mr. Nichols will find a reference to the ' Par- 
 liamentary History,' from which a long quotation is to be inserted. If Mr. Nichols 
 cannot easily find the book, Mr. Johnson will send it from Streatham." " Claren- 
 don is here returned." " By some accident, I laid your note upon Duke up so 
 safely, that I cannot find it. Your informations have been of great use to me. I 
 must beg it again : with another list of our authors, for I have laid that with the 
 other. I have sent Stepney's Epitaph. Let me have the revises as soon as can be. 
 Dec, 1778." " I have sent Philips, with his epitaphs, to be inserted. The fragment of 
 a preface is hardly worth the impression, but thut we may seem to do something. It 
 may be added to the ' Life of Philips.' The Latin page is to be added to the ' Life 
 of Smith.' I shall be at home to revise the two sheets of Milton. March i, 1779." 
 " Please to get me the last edition of Hughes's letters; and try to get Dennis upon 
 Blackmore, and upon Cato, and anything of the same writer against Pope. Our 
 materials are defective." "As Waller professed to have.imitatcd Fairfax, do you 
 think a few pages of Fairfax would enrich our edition? Few readers have seen it, 
 and it may please them. But it is not necessary." " An account of the lives and 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 THE ME 1\ [Ell YSl CA L POE TS. 
 
 319 
 
 and obliging disposition, rendered him useful to Johnson. Mr. 
 Steevens appears, from the papers in my possession, to have sup- 
 plied him with some anecdotes and quotations : and I observe 
 the fair hand of Mrs. Thrale as one of his copyists, of select pas- 
 sages. But he was principally indebted to my steady friend Mr. 
 Isaac Reed, of Staple Inn, whose extensive and accurate knowl- 
 edge of English literary history I do not express with exaggera- 
 tion, when I say it is wonderful ; indeed his labors ' have proved 
 it to the world ; and all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance 
 can bear testimony to the frankness of his communications in 
 private society. 
 
 It is not my intention to dwell upon each of Johnson's " Lives 
 of the Poets," or attempt an analysis of their merits, which, were 
 I able to do it, would take up too much room in this work ; yet I 
 shall make a few observations upon some of them, and insert a 
 few various readings. 
 
 The Life of Cowley he himself considered as the best of 
 the whole, on account of the dissertation which it contains on the 
 Metaphysical Poets. Dryden, whose critical abilities were equal 
 to his poetical, had mentioned them in his excellent dedication 
 of his "Juvenal," but had barely mentioned them. Johnson has 
 exhibited them at large, with such happy illustration from their 
 writings, and in so luminous a manner, that indeed he may be 
 allowed the full merit of novelty, and to have discovered to us, 
 as it were, a new planet in the poetical hemisphere. 
 
 It is remarked by Johnson, in considering the works of a poet,^ 
 that " amendments are seldom made without some token o 
 a rent ; " but I do not find that this is applicable to prose. We 
 shall see that though his amendments in this work are for the 
 better, there is nothing of the pannus assiitus ; ^ the texture is 
 
 works of some of the most eminent English Poets. By, &c. ' The English Poets, 
 biographically and critically considered, by Sam. JOHNSON.' Let Mr. Nichols 
 take his choice, or make another to his mind. May, 1781." " You somehow for- 
 got the advertisement for the new edition. It was not enclosed. Of Gay's letters, 
 I see not that any use can be made, for they give no information of any thing. That 
 he was a member of a Philosophical Society is something; but surely he could be 
 but a corresponding member. However, not having his life here, I know not how 
 to put it in, and it is of little importance." See several more in The Gentleman'' s 
 Magazine, 1785. The editor of that Miscellany, in which Johnson wrote for several 
 years, seems justly to think that every fragment of so great a man is worthy of being 
 preserved. — B. 
 
 1 He published in 1782 a revised edition of Baker's " Biographia Dramatica." — 
 Dr. Hill. 
 
 * The Life of Sheffield (Duke of Buckinghamshire). — B. Boswell had just pre- 
 viously recorded a very similar observation on alterations in prose. See p. 301. 
 3 Horace : " Ars Poet." 15, 
 
320 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON, [A.D. 1781. 
 
 uniform : and indeed, what had been there at first, is very seldom 
 unfit to have remained. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS ' IN THE LIFE OF COWLEY. 
 
 All [future votaries of] that may hereafter pant for solitude. 
 To conceive and execute the [agitation or perception] pains and the pleas- 
 ures of other minds. 
 
 The wide effulgence of [the blazing] a summer noon. 
 
 In the Life of Waller, Johnson gives a distinct and animated 
 narrative of public affairs in that variegated period, with strong 
 yet nice touches of character ; and having a fair opportunity to 
 display his political principles, does it with an unqualified manly 
 confidence, and satisfies his readers how nobly he might have 
 executed a Toij History of his country. 
 
 So easy is his style in these Lives, that I do not recollect more 
 than three uncommon or learned ^ words ; one, when giving an 
 account of the approach of Waller's mortal disease, he says, he 
 found his legs grow tumid ; " by using the expression his legs 
 swelled, he would have avoided this ; and there would have been 
 no impropriety in its being followed by the interesting question 
 to his physician, "What that swelling meant?" Another, when 
 he mentions that Pope had emitted proposals : when published, 
 or issued, would have been more readily understood ; and a third, 
 when he calls Orrery and Dr. Delany, writers both undoubtedly 
 ve7'acious ; when true, honest, or faithful, might have been used. 
 Yet, it must be owned, that none of these are hard or too big 
 words : that custom would make them seem as easy as any other; 
 and th.ii a language is richer and capable of more beauty of ex- 
 pression, by having a greater variety of synonyms. 
 
 His dissertation upon the unfitness of poetry for the awful sub- 
 jects of our holy religion, though I do not entirely agree with 
 him, has all the merit of originality, with uncommon force and 
 reasoning. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF WALLER. 
 
 Consented to [the insertion of their names] their own nomination. 
 [After] paying a fine of ten thousand pounds. 
 
 Congratulating Charles the Second on his [coronation] recovered right. 
 
 1 The original reading is enclosed in crotchets, and the present one is printed in 
 italics. — B. 
 
 -Dr. Hill supplies several other examples: "Languages divaricate;" "The 
 mellifluence of Pope's numbers ; " "A subject flux and transitory ; " " His prose i.s 
 pure without scrupulosity;" " His style is soinctimcs concatenated." 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 THE LIFE OF MILTON. 
 
 321 
 
 He that has flattery ready for all whom the vicissitudes of the world happen 
 to exalt, must be [confessed to degrade his powers] scorned as a prosli tided 
 mind. 
 
 The characters by which Waller intended to distinguish his writings are 
 [elegance] sprightliness and dignity. 
 
 Blossoms to be valued only as they [fetch] forelell fruits. 
 
 Images such as the superficies of nature [easily] readily supplies. 
 
 [His] So?7ie applications [are sometimes] may he llioughi too remote and 
 unconsequential. 
 
 His images are [sometimes confused] not akvays distinct. 
 
 Against his Life of Milton, the hounds of Whiggism have 
 opened in full cry. But of Milton's great excellence as a poet, 
 where shall we find such a blazon as by the hand of Johnson? I 
 shall select only the following passage concerning Paradise 
 Lost : " 
 
 Fancy can hardly forbear to conjecture with what temper Milton surveyed 
 the silent progress of his work, and marked his reputation stealing its way in 
 a kind of subterraneous current, through fear and silence. I cannot but con- 
 ceive him calm and confident, little disappointed, not at all dejected, relying 
 on his own merit with steady consciousness, and waiting without impatience, 
 the vicissitudes of opinion, and the impartiality of a future generation. 
 
 Indeed even Dr. Towers, who may be considered as one of the 
 warmest zealots of The Revolution Society itself, allows, that 
 "Johnson has spoken in the highest terms of the abilities of that 
 great poet, and has bestowed on his principal poetical composi- 
 tions the most honorable encomiums." ' • 
 
 That a man, who venerated the Church and Monarchy as 
 Johnson did, should speak with a just abhorrence of Milton as a 
 politician, or rather as a daring foe to good polity, was surely to 
 be expected ; and to those who censure him, I would recomiiiend 
 his commentary on Milton's celebrated complaint of his situa- 
 
 ^ See " An Essay on the Life, Character, and Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson," 
 London, 1787; which is very well written, making a proper allowance for the 
 deniocratical bigotry of its author: whom I cannot however Xmi admire for his 
 liberality in speaking thus of my illustrious friend : — "He possessed extraordinary 
 powers of understanding, which were much cultivated by study, and still more by 
 meditation and reflection. His memory was remarkably retentive, his imagination 
 uncommonly vigorous, and his judgment keen and penetrating. He had a strong 
 sense of the importance of religion ; his piety was sincere, and sometimes ardent; 
 and his zeal for the interests of virtue was often manifested in his conversation and 
 his writings. The same energy which was displa\ed in his literary productions 
 was exhibited also in his conversation, which was various, striking, and instructive; 
 and perhaps no man ever equalled him for nci vous and pointed repartees. His 
 Dictionary, his moral Essays, and his productions in polite literature, will convey 
 useful instruction, and elegant entertainment, as long as the language in which 
 they are written shall be understood." — B. 
 
 Vol. II. — 21 
 
322 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 tion, when by the lenity of Charles the Second, " a lenity of 
 which (as Johnson well observes) the world has had perhaps no 
 other example, he, who had written in justification of the murder 
 of his Sovereign, was safe under an Act of Oblivion^ 
 
 No sooner is he safe than he finds himself in danger, fallen on evil days 
 and tongues, zvilh darkness and 7uilh dangers co;nfiassed rounds This darkness, 
 had his eyes been better employed, had undoul)tedly deserved compassion : but 
 to add the mention of danger, was ungrateful and unjust. He was fallen, in- 
 deed, on evil days ; the time was come in which regicides could no longer boast 
 their wickedness. But of evil tongues for Milton to complain, required im- 
 pudence at least equal to his other powers; Milton, whose warmest advocates 
 must allow, that he never spared any asperity of reproach, or brutality of 
 insolence. 
 
 I have, indeed, often wondered how Milton, " an acrimonious 
 and surly republican," — "a man who in his domestic relations 
 was so severe and arbitrary," and whose head was filled with the 
 hardest and most dismal tenets of Calvinism, should have been 
 such a poet ; should not only have written with sublimity, but 
 with beauty, and even gayety ; should have exquisitely painted 
 the sweetest sensations of which our nature is capable ; imaged 
 the delicate raptures of connubial love ; nay, seemed to be ani- 
 mated with all the spirit of revelry. It is a proof that in the 
 human mind the departments of judgment and imagination, per- 
 ception and temper, may sometimes be divided by strong parti- 
 tions, and that the light and shade in the same character may be 
 kept so distinct as never to be blended. 
 
 In the Life of Milton, Johnson took occasion to maintain his 
 own and the general opinion of the excellence of rhyme over 
 blank verse, in English poetry ; and quotes this apposite illustra- 
 tion of it by " an ingenious critic," that it seems to be verse only 
 to the eye? The gentleman whom he thus characterizes, is (as 
 he told Mr. Seward) Mr. Locke, of Norbury Park in Surrey, 
 whose knowledge and taste in the fine arts is universally cele- 
 brated ; with whose elegance of manners the writer of the present 
 work has felt himself much impressed, and to whose virtues a 
 
 1 " Paradise Lost," vii. 26. 
 
 ^ Mr. Malone thinks it is rather a proof that he felt nothing of those cheerful 
 sensations which he has described : that on these topics it is the poet, and not the 
 man, that writes. — B. 
 
 ^ One of tlie most natural instances of tlie effect of blank verse occurred to the 
 late Earl of Ilopetoun. His Lordship observed one of his shepherds poring in the 
 fields upon Milton's" Paradise Lost;" and having asked hiiu what book it was, 
 the man answered, " An 't jilease your Lordship, tiiis is a very odd sort of an 
 author; he would fain rhyme, but cannot get at it." — B. 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 THE LIFE OF DIIYDEN. 
 
 323 
 
 common friend, who has known him long and is not much ad- 
 dicted to flattery, gives the highest testimony. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF MILTON. 
 
 I cannot find any meaning but this which [his most bigoted advocates] 
 eveji kindness and reverence can give. 
 
 [Perhaps no] scarcely any man ever wrote so much, and praised so few. 
 A certain [rescue] presei'valive from obhvion. 
 
 Let me not be censured for this digression, as [contracted] pedantic or 
 paradoxical. 
 
 Socrates rather was of opinion, that what we had to learn was how to [ob- 
 tain and communicate happiness] do good and avoid evil. 
 Its elegance [who can exhibit?] is less ailainable. 
 
 I could, with pleasure, expatiate upon the masterly execution 
 of the Life of Dryden, which we have seen {^ante^ p. 47) was one of 
 Johnson's literary projects at an early period, and which it is re- 
 markable, that after desisting from it, from a supposed scantiness 
 of materials, he should, at an advanced age, have exhibited so 
 amply. 
 
 His defence of that great poet against the illiberal attacks upon 
 him, as if his enabracing the Roman Catholic communion had 
 - been a time-serving measure, is a piece of reasoning at once able 
 and candid. Indeed, Dryden himself, in his " Hind and Pan- 
 ther," hath given such a picture of his mind, that they who know 
 the anxiety for repose as to the awful subject of our state be- 
 yond the grave, though they may think his opinion ill-founded, 
 must think charitably of his sentiment : 
 
 " But, gracious God, how well dost thou provide 
 For erring judgments an unerring guide ! 
 Thy throne is darkness in the abyss of light, 
 A blaze of glory that forl)ids the sight. 
 O ! teach me to believe thee thus conceal'd. 
 And search no farther than thyself reveal'd ; 
 But Her alone for my director take, 
 Whom thou hast promis'd never to forsake. 
 My thoughtless youth was wing'd with vain desires ; 
 My manhood long misled by wand'ring fires, 
 Follow'd false lights ; and when their glimpse was gone, 
 My pride struck out new sparkles of her own. 
 Such was I, such by nature still I am ; 
 Be thine the glory, and be mine the shame. 
 Good life be now my task : my doubts are done ; 
 What more could shock [fright] my faith than Three in One? " ' 
 
 1 It may be found interesting to compare the sentiments expressed in these lines 
 with those of Newman's famous hymn, " Lead, kindly light," &c, 
 
324 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 In drawing Dryden's character, Johnson has given, though I 
 suppose unintentionally, some touches of his own. Thus : 
 
 The power that predominated in his intellectual operations was rather 
 strong reason than quick sensibility. Upon all occasions that were presented, 
 he studied rather than felt; and produced sentiments not such as Nature en- 
 forces, but meditation supplies. With the simple and elemental passions as 
 they spring separate in the mind, he seems not much acquainted. He is, 
 therefore, with all his variety of excellence, not often pathetic; and had so 
 little sensibility of the power of effusions purely natural, that he did not esteem 
 them in others. 
 
 It may indeed be observed, that in all the numerous writings 
 of Johnson, whether in prose or verse, and even in his tragedy, 
 of which the subject is the distress of an unfortunate princess, 
 there is not a single passage that ever drew a tear.' 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF DRYDEN. 
 
 The reason of this general perusal, Addison has attempted to [find in] 
 derive froDi the delight which the mind feels in the investigation of secrets. 
 
 Mis best actions are but [convenient] inability of wickedness. 
 
 When once he had engaged himself in disputation, [matter] thoughts^o^^^ 
 in on either side. 
 
 The abyss of an un-ideal [emptiness] vacancy. 
 
 These, like [many other harlots,] the harlots of other vien, had his love 
 though not his approbation. 
 
 He [sometimes displays] descends to display his knowledge with pedantic 
 ostentation. 
 
 French words which [were then used in] had then crept into conversation. 
 
 The Life of Pope " was written by Johnson con amore, both 
 from the early possession which that writer had taken of his mind, 
 and from the pleasure which he must have felt, in forever silenc- 
 ing all attempts to lessen his poetical fame, by demonstrating his 
 excellence, and pronouncing the following triumphant eulogium : 
 
 After all this, it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once 
 been asked, ^yhether Pope was a poet? otherwise than by asking in return, if 
 Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found? To circumscribe poetry by 
 a definition, will only show the narrowness of the definer; though a definition 
 which shall exclude Pope, will not easily be made. Let us look round upon 
 the present time, and back upon the past; let us inquire to whom the voice of 
 mankind has decreed the wreath of poetry; let their productions be examined, 
 and their claims stated, and the pretensions of Pope will be no more disputed. 
 
 ' Sir Walter Scott declared that " the deep and pathetic morality of The Vanity 
 of Human Wislies ' had often extracted tears from those wliose eyes wander dry 
 over the pages of professed sentimentality." Johnson himself was affected to tears 
 by his own works. — Dr. J J ill. 
 
Age 72.] WARBUnrON, IHIRD. AX/) PARR. 
 
 325 
 
 I remember once to have heard Johnson say, " Sir, a thousand 
 years may elapse before there shall appear another man with a 
 power of versification equal to that of Pope." That power must 
 undoubtedly be allowed its due share in enhancing the value of 
 his captivating composition. 
 
 Johnson who had done liberal justice to Warburton in his 
 edition of Shakespeare, which was published during the life of that 
 powerful writer, with still greater liberality took an opportunity, in 
 the Life of Pope, of paying the tribute due to him when he was 
 no longer in "high place," but numbered with the dead.' 
 
 It seems strange, that two such men as Johnson and Warburton, 
 who lived in the same age and country, should not only not have 
 
 ^ Of Johnson's conduct towards Warburton, a very honorable notice is taken by 
 the editor of " Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, not admitted into the 
 Collection^of their respective Works." After an able and "fond, though not undis- 
 tinguishing," consideration of Warburton's character, he says: " In two immortal 
 works Johnson has stood forth in the foremost rank of his admirers. By the testi- 
 mony of such a man, impertmence must be abashed, and malignity itself must be 
 softened. Of literary merit, Johnson, as we all know, was a sagacious, but a most 
 severe judge. Such was his discernment, that he pierced into the most secret springs 
 of human actions ; and such was his integrity, that he always weighed the moral 
 characters of his fellow-creatures, in the ' balance of the sanctuary.' He was too 
 courageous to propitiate a rival, and too proud to truckle to a superior. Warburton 
 he knew, as I know him, and as every man of sense and virtue would wish to be 
 known, — I mean, both from his own writings, and from the writings of those who 
 dissented from his principles, or who envied liis reputation. But, as to favors, he 
 had never received or asked any from the Bishop of Gloucester : and if my memory 
 fails me not, he had seen him only once, when they met almost without design, con- 
 versed without much effort, and parted without any lasting impression of hatred or 
 affection. Yet, with all the ardor of sympathetic genius, Johnson had done that 
 spontaneously and ably, which, by some writers, had been before attempted injudi- 
 ciously, and which, by others, from whom more successful attempts might have been 
 expected, has not hitherto been done at all. He spoke well of Warburton, without 
 insulting those whom Warburton despised. He suppressed not the imperfections 
 of this extraordinary man, while he endea vored to do justice to his numerous and 
 transcendental excellences. He defended him when living, amidst the clamors of 
 his enemies ; and praised him when dead, amidst silence of his friends." Having 
 availed myself of this editor's eulogy on my departed friend, for which I warmly 
 thank him, let me not suffer the lustre of his reputation, honestly acquired by pro- 
 found learning and vigorous eloquence, to be tarnished by a charge of illiberality. 
 He has been accused of invidiously dragging again into light certain writings of a 
 person respectable by his talents, his learning, his station, and his age, which were 
 published a great many years ago, and have since, it is said, been silently given up 
 by their author. But when it is considered that these writings were not sins of youth 
 but deliberate works of one well advanced in life, overflowing at once with flattery 
 to a great man of great interest in the Church, and with unjust and acrimonious 
 abuse of two men of eminent merit ; and that, though it would have been unreason- 
 able to expect a humiliating recantation, no apology whatever has been made in the 
 cool of the evening, for the oppressive fervor of the heat of the day ; no slight re- 
 lenting indication has appeared in any note, or any corner of later publications ; is 
 it not fair to understand him as superciliously persevering? When he allows the 
 shafts to remain in the wounds, and will not stretch forth a lenient hand, is it wrong, 
 is it not generous to become an indignant avenger ? — B.. The editor was Dr. Parr, 
 and the Warburtonian Bishop Hurd. — Croker. 
 
326 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 been in any degree of intimacy, but been almost personally un- 
 acquainted. But such instances, though we must wonder at them, 
 are not rare. If I am rightly informed, after a careful inquiry, 
 they never met but once, which was at the house of Mrs. French, 
 in London, well known for her elegant assemblies, and bringing 
 eminent characters together. The interview proved to be mutually 
 agreeable. 
 
 I am well informed, that Warburton said of Johnson, " I admire 
 him, but I cannot bear his style : " and that Johnson being told 
 of this, said, "That is exactly my case as to him." The manner 
 in which he expressed his admiration of the fertility of Warbur- 
 ton's genius and of the variety of materials, was : *'The table is 
 always full. Sir. He brings things from the north, and the south, 
 and from every quarter. In his ' Divine Legation,' you are always 
 entertained. He carries you round and round, without carrying 
 you forward to the point ; but then you have no wish to be car- 
 ried forward." He said to the Reverend Mr. Strahan, "Warbur- 
 ton is perhaps the last man who has written with a mind full of 
 reading and reflection." 
 
 It is remarkable, that in the " Life of Broome," Johnson takes 
 notice of Dr. Warburton using a mode of expression which he 
 himself used, and that not seldom, to the great offence of those 
 who did not know him. Having occasion to mention a note, 
 stating the different parts which were executed by the associated 
 translators of " The Odyssey," he says, " Dr. Warburton told me, 
 in his warm language, that he thought the relation given in the 
 note a lie. The language is warm indeed ; and, I must own, 
 cannot be justified in consistency with a decent regard to the 
 established forms of speech." Johnson had accustomed himself 
 to use the word lie, to express a mistake 'or an error in relation ; 
 in short, when the thing was not so as told, though the relator 
 did not mean to deceive. When he thought there was intentional 
 falsehood in the relator, his expression was, "He lies and he 
 knows he lies'' 
 
 Speaking of Pope's not having been known to excel in con- 
 versation, Johnson observes that, " Traditional memory retains no 
 sallies of raillery, [n]or sentences of observation ; nothing either 
 pointed or solid, [either] wise or merry ; and that one apophthegm 
 only is recorded." ^ In this respect Pope differed widely from 
 Johnson, whose conversation was, perhaps, more admirable than 
 even his writings, however excellent. Mr. Wilkes has, however. 
 
 1 " Stands upon record " is the original. 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 POPE ' 5- RE PA R TE ES. 
 
 327 
 
 favored me with one repartee of Pope, of which Johnson was not 
 informed. Johnson, after justly censuring him for having " nursed 
 in his mind a foohsh disesteem of kings," tells us, "yet a little 
 regard shown him by the Prince of Wales melted his obduracy ; 
 and he had not much to say when he was asked by his Royal 
 Highness, /ww he could love a pfi?ice, while he disliked kings ? " 
 The answer which Pope made, was, " The young lion is harmless, 
 and even playful ; but when his claws are full grown he becomes 
 cruel, dreadful, and mischievous." 
 
 But although we have no collection of Pope's sayings, it is not 
 therefore to be concluded, that he was not agreeable in social 
 intercourse ; for Johnson has been heard to say, that " the hap- 
 piest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remem- 
 bered, but a general effect of pleasing impression." The late 
 Lord Somerville,* who saw much of great and brilliant life, told 
 me, that he had dined in company with Pope, and that after 
 dinner the Utile man, as he called him, drank his bottle of Bur- 
 gundy, and was exceedingly gay and entertaining. 
 
 I cannot withhold from my great friend a censure of at least 
 culpable inattention, to a nobleman, who, it has been shown, be- 
 haved to him with uncommon politeness. He says, "Except 
 Lord Bathurst, none of Pope's noble friends were such as that a 
 •good man would wish to have his intimacy with them known to 
 posterity." This will not apply to Lord Mansfield, who was not 
 ennobled in Pope's lifetime ; but Johnson should have recollected, 
 that Lord Marchmont was one of those noble friends. He in- 
 cludes his Lordship along with Lord Bolingbroke, in a charge of 
 neglect of the papers which Pope left by his will ; when in truth, 
 as I myself pointed out to him, before he wrote that poet's life, 
 the papers were " committed to the sole care and judgment of 
 Lord Bolingbroke, unless he (Lord Bolingbroke) shall not sur- 
 vive me ; " so that Lord Marchmont had no concern whatever 
 with them. After the first edition of the Lives, Mr. Malone, 
 whose love of justice is equal to his accuracy, made, in my hear- 
 ing, the same remark to Johnson ; yet he omitted to correct the 
 
 ^ Let me here express my grateful remembrance of Lord Somerville's kmdness 
 to me, at a very early period. He was the first person of high rank that took par- 
 ticular notice of me in the way most flattering to a young man fondly ambitious of 
 being distinguished for his literary talents : and by the honor of his encouragement 
 made me think well of myself, and aspire to deserve it better. He had a happy art 
 of communicating his varied knowledge of the world, in short remarks and anec- 
 dotes, with a quiet pleasant gravity that was exceedingly engaging. Never shall I 
 forget the hours which I enjoyed with him at his apartments in the Royal Palace of 
 Holyrood House, and at his seat near Edinburgh, which he himself'had formed 
 with an elegant taste. — B. 
 
828 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. rA.D. 1781. 
 
 erroneous statement. These particnlars I mention, in the belief 
 that there was only forgetfulness in my friend ; but I owe this 
 much to the Earl of Marchmont's reputation, who, were there no 
 other memorials, will be immortalized by that line of Pope, in 
 the verses on his grotto : 
 
 " And the bright flame was shot through Marchmont's soul." 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF POPE. 
 
 [Somewhat free] sufficiently hold \n his criticism. 
 
 All the gay [niceties] varieties of diction. 
 
 Strikes the imagination with far [more] greater force. 
 
 It is [probably] certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has 
 ever seen. 
 
 Every sheet enabled him to write the next with [less trouble] more facility. 
 No man sympathizes with [vanity depressed] the sorrorvs of vanity. 
 It had been [criminal] less easily excused. 
 
 When he [threatened to lay down] talked of laying down his pen. 
 Society [is so named emphatically in opposition to] politically regulated, is 
 a state contradistinguished from a state of nature. 
 A fictitious life of an [absurd] infatuated scholar. 
 A foolish [contempt, disregard] disesteem of kings. 
 
 His hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows [were like those of other mor- 
 tals] acted strongly upon his mind. 
 
 Eager to pursue knowledge and attentive to [accumulate] retain it. 
 
 A mind [excursive] active, ambitious, and adventurous. 
 
 In its [noblest] widest searches still longing to go forward. 
 
 He wrote in such a manner as might expose him to few [neglects] haz- 
 ards. 
 
 The [reasonableness] y'z^^/zV^ of my determination. 
 A [favorite] delicious employment of the poets. 
 
 More terrific and more powerful [beings] phantoms y^txioxm on the stormy 
 ocean. 
 
 The inventor of [those] this petty [beings] nation. 
 The [mind] heart naturally loves truth. 
 
 In the Life of Addison we find an unpleasing account of 
 his having lent Steele a hundred pounds, and " reclaimed his 
 loan by an execution." In the new edition of the " Biographia 
 Britannica," the authenticity of this anecdote is denied. But 
 Mr. Malone has obliged me with the following note concerning 
 it : 
 
 Many persons having doubts concerning this fact, I applied to Dr. John- 
 son, to learn on what authority he asserted it. He told me, he had it from 
 Savage, who lived in intimacy with Steele, and who mentioned, that Steele 
 told him the story with tears in his eyes. Ben Victor,' Dr. Johnson said, 
 
 ^Benjamin Victor, author of a " Letter to Steele" (1722) and " Letters, Dra- 
 matic Pieces and Poems " (1776), 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 A STORY OF ADDISON. 
 
 B29 
 
 likewise informed him of this remarkable transaction, from the relation of Mr. 
 Wilks the comedian, who was also an intimate of Steele's.' Some in de- 
 fence of Addison, have said, that " the act was done with the good-natured 
 view of rousing Steele, and correcting that profusion which always made him 
 necessitous." — "If that were the case," said Johnson, "and that he only 
 wanted to alarm Steele, he would afterwards have returned the money to his 
 friend, which it is not pretended he did." — " This, too," he added, " might 
 be retorted by an advocate for Steele, who might allege, that he did not repay 
 the loan inteniionally, merely to see whether Addison would be mean and un- 
 generous enough to make use of legal process to recover it. But of such 
 speculations there is no end: we cannot dive into the hearts of men; but their 
 actions are open to observation." 
 
 I then mentioned to him that some people thought that Mr. Addison's 
 character was so pure, that the fact, though true, ought to have been sup- 
 pressed. He saw no reason for this. If nothing but the bright side of char- 
 acters should be shown, we should sit down in despondency, and think it 
 utterly impossible to imitate them in any thing. The sacred writers (he 
 observed) related the vicious as well as the virtuous actions of men; which 
 had this moral effect, that it kept mankind from despair, into which otherwise 
 they would naturally fall, were they not supported by the recollection that 
 others had offended like themselves, and by penitence and amendment of life 
 had been restored to the favor of Heaven. — E. M. 
 
 March 15, 1782. 
 
 The last paragraph of this note is of great importance ; and I 
 request that my readers may consider it with particular attention. 
 It will be afterwards referred to in this work.^ 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF ADDISON. 
 
 [But he was our first example] He was, however, one of our earliest ex- 
 amples of correctness. 
 
 And [overlook] despise their masters. 
 
 His instructions were such as the [state] character of his [own time] 
 readers made [necessary] proper. 
 
 His purpose was to [diffuse] infuse literary curiosity by gentle and unsus- 
 pected conveyance [among] into the gay, the idle, and the wealthy. 
 
 Framed rather for those that [wish] are learning \.o write. 
 
 Domestic [manners] scenes. 
 
 In his Life of Parnell, I wonder that Johnson omitted to in- 
 sert an epitaph which he had long before composed for that 
 amiable man, without ever writing it down, but which he was so 
 good as, at my request, to dictate to me, by which means it has 
 been preserved. 
 
 1 The late Mr. Burke informed me, in 1782, that Lady Dorothea Primrose, who 
 died at a great age, I think in 1768, and had been well acquainted with Steele, told 
 him the same story. — Malone. 
 
 2 Dec. 2, 1784. 
 
330 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 *' /fie requiescit THOMAS parnell, S. T.P. 
 
 " Qui sacerdos pariter et poela, 
 Utrasque partes ita implevit, 
 Ut neque sacerdoti suavitas poetse, 
 Nec poetse sacerdotis sanctitas, deesset." 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF PARNELL. 
 
 About three years [after] afle^'^vards. 
 
 [Did not much want] ivas in no great need of improvement. 
 
 But his prosperity did not last long [was clouded with that which took away 
 all his powers of enjoying either profit or pleasure, the death of his wife, whom 
 he is said to have lamented with such sorrow, as hastened his end ']. His end, 
 whatever was the cause, was now approaching. 
 
 In the Hermit, the [composition] narrative, as it is less airy, is less 
 pleasing. 
 
 In the Life of Blackmore, we find that writer's reputation gen- 
 erously cleared by Johnson from the cloud of prejudice which 
 the malignity of contemporary wits had raised around it. In 
 this spirited exertion of justice, he has been imitated by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, in his praise of the architecture of Van- 
 brugh. 
 
 We trace Johnson's own character in his observations on 
 Blackmore's ''magnanimity as an author." "The incessant at- 
 tacks of his enemies, whether serious or merry, are never dis- 
 covered to have disturbed his quiet, or to have lessened his 
 confidence in himself." Johnson, I recollect, once told me, 
 laughing heartily, that he understood it had been said of him, 
 " He appears not to feel ; but when he is alone, depend upon it, 
 he suffers sadly'' I am as certain as I can be of any man's real 
 sentiments, that he enjoyed the perpetual shower of little hostile 
 arrows as evidences of his fame. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF BLACKMORE. 
 
 To [set] engage poetry [on the side] /// the cause of virtue. 
 He likewise [established] enforced the truth of Revelation. 
 [Kindness] benevolence was ashamed to favor. 
 His practice, which was once [very extensive] invidiously great. 
 There is scarcely any distemper of dreadful name [of] which he has not 
 [shown] taught his reader how [it is to be opposed] to oppose. 
 Of this [contemptuous] indecent ixxxogo.ncG. 
 [He wrote] but prodtued Wkc^'i^c a work of a different kind. 
 
 ' I should have thought that Johnson, who had felt the severe affliction from which 
 Parnell never recovered, would have preserved this passage. — B. A reference to 
 the " Life " might have shown lioswell tiiat Johnson did preserve the sense of it in 
 another passage, and also tin; re.ison of tliis'alteration. 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 VARIOUS READTNGS. 
 
 331 
 
 At least [written] compiled with integrity. 
 
 Faults which many tongues [were desirous] zvonld have made haste to 
 publish. 
 
 But though he [had not] could not boast of much critical knowledge. 
 He [used] waited for no felicities of fancy. 
 
 Or had ever elated his [mind] vieivs born to that ideal perfection which 
 every \ys\\x\di'\ genius born to excel is condemned always to pursue and never 
 overtake. 
 
 The [first great] fundamental principle of wisdom and of virtue. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF PHILIPS. 
 
 His dreadful [rival] antagonist Fope. 
 They [have not often much] are not loaded with thought. 
 . In his translation from Pindar, he [will not be denied to have reached] 
 found the art of reaching all the obscurity of the Theban bard. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF CONGREVE. 
 
 Congreve's conversation must surely have been at least equally pleasing 
 with his writings. 
 
 It apparently [requires] presupposes a familiar knowledge of many char- 
 acters. 
 
 Reciprocation of [similes] conceits. 
 
 The dialogue is quick and [various] sparkling. 
 
 Love for Love; a comedy [more drawn from life] of nearer alliance to 
 life. 
 
 The general character of his miscellanies, is that they show little wit and 
 [no] little virtue. 
 
 [Perhaps] certainly he had not the fire requisite for the higher species of 
 lyric poetry. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF TICKELL. 
 
 [Longed] long zvished to peruse it. 
 
 At the [accession] arrival of King George, 
 
 Fiction [unnaturally] unskilfully compounded of Grecian deities and 
 Gothic fairies. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF AKENSIDE. 
 
 For [another] a different pwxpose. 
 
 A [ furious ]-<7;z unnecessary and outrageous zeal. 
 
 [Something which] Tvhat he called and thought liberty. 
 
 A [favorer of innovation] lover of contradiction. 
 
 Warburton's [censure] objections. 
 
 His rage [for liberty] of patriotism. 
 
 Mr. Dyson with [a zeal] an ardor of friendship.' 
 
 1 There is a passage in Johnson's criticism on Akenside's Odes which may be 
 commended to our reviewers : " To examine such compositions singly, cannot be 
 required ; they liave doubtless brighter and darker parts : but, when once they are 
 found to be generally dull, all further labor may be spared ; for to what use can the 
 work be criticised that will not be read ? " 
 
332 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 In the Life of Lyttelton, Johnson seems to have been not 
 favorably disposed towards that nobleman. Mrs. Thrale suggests 
 that he was offended by Molly Aston' s preference of his Lord- 
 ship to him.' I can by no means join in the censure bestowed 
 by Johnson on his Lordship, whom he calls ''poor Lyttelton," 
 for returning thanks to the Critical Reviewers, for having " kindly 
 commended" his ''Dialogues of the Dead." Such "acknowl- 
 edgments," says my friend, ''never can be proper, since they 
 must be paid either for flattery or for justice." In my opinion, 
 the most upright man, who has been tried on a false accusation, 
 may, when he is acquitted, make a bow to his jury. And when 
 those, who are so much the arbiters of literary merit, as in a con- 
 siderable degree to influence the public opinion, review an 
 author's work, placido lumine^^ when I am afraid mankind in gen- 
 eral are better pleased with severity, he may surely express a 
 grateful sense of their civility. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF LYTTELTON. 
 
 He solaced [himself] his grief by writing a long poem to her memory. 
 The production rather [of a mind that means well than thinks vigorously] 
 as it seems of leisure than of study, rather effusions than compositions. 
 His last literary [work] production. 
 [Found the way] undertook to persuade. 
 
 As the introduction to his critical examination of the genius 
 and writings of Young, he did Mr. Herbert Croft, then a Barris- 
 ter of Lincoln's Inn, now a clergyman, the honor to adopt a life 
 
 ^ Let not my readers smile to think of Johnson's being a candidate for female 
 favor; Mr. Peter Garrick assured me. that he was told by a lady, that in her opin- 
 ion, ]ohnson was " a very j^'i/z/r/zi'^ many Disadvantages of person and manner 
 may be forgotten, where intellectual pleasure is communicated to a susceptible 
 mind; and that Johnson was capable of feeling the most delicate and disinterested 
 attachment, appears from the following letter which is published by Mrs. Thrale, 
 with some others to the same person, ot which the excellence is not so apparent. 
 
 to miss 1500thby. 
 
 January, 1775. 
 
 Dearest Madam : Though I am afraid your illness leaves you little leisure 
 for the reception of airy civilities, yet I cannot forbear to pay you my congratula- 
 tions on the new year; and to declare my wishes that your years to come may be 
 many and happy. In this wish, indeed, I include myself, who liave none but you 
 on whom my heart reposes ; yet surely I wish your good, even though your situa- 
 tion w(?re such as should permit you to communicate no gratifications to, dearest, 
 dearest Madam, your, &c., 
 
 Sam. Johnson. — B. 
 
 It was not Molly Aston, but this same Miss Hill Boothby, of whom Mrs. Thrale 
 wroXe.— Dr. Hill. 
 
 - Horace : " Odes," iv. 3. 2. 
 
Age 72.] CROFT'S IMITATION OF JOHNSON. 
 
 388 
 
 of Young written by that gentleman, who was the friend of Dr. 
 Young's son, and wished to vindicate him from some very er- 
 roneous remarks to his prejudice. Mr. Croft's performance was 
 subjected to the revision of Dr. Johnson, as appears from the 
 following note to Mr. John Nichols : 
 
 This life of Dr. Young was written by a friend of his son. What is crossed 
 with black is expunged by the author, what is crossed with red is expunged 
 by me. If you find anything more that can be well omitted, I shall riot be 
 sorry to see it yet shorter. — Gent. Mag. Iv. lo. 
 
 It has always appeared to me to have a considerable share of 
 merit, and to display a pretty successful imitation of Johnson's 
 style. When I mentioned this to a very eminent literary charac- 
 ter [Burke], he opposed me vehemently exclaiming, ''No, no, 
 it is not a. good imitation of Johnson : it has all his pomp without 
 his force; it has all the nodosities of the oak without its strength." 
 This was an image so happy, that one might have thought he 
 would have been satisfied with it ; but he was not. And setting 
 his mind again to work, he added, with exquisite felicity, " It 
 has all the contortions of the Sibyl, without the inspiration." 
 
 Mr. Croft very properly guards us against supposing that Young 
 was a gloomy man ; and mentions, that " His parish was indebted 
 to the good-humor of the author of the ' Night Thoughts ' for an 
 Assembly and a Bowling-Green." A letter from a noble foreigner 
 is quoted, in which he is said to have been " very pleasant in 
 conversation." 
 
 Mr. Langton, who frequently visited him, informs me, that 
 there was an air of benevolence in his manner, but that he could 
 obtain from him less information than he had hoped to receive 
 from one who had lived so much in intercourse with the brightest 
 men of what has been called the Augustan age of England ; and 
 that he showed a degree of eager curiosity concerning the com- 
 mon occurrences that were then passing, which appeared somewhat 
 remarkable in a man of such intellectual stores, of such an ad- 
 vanced age, and who had retired from Hfe with declared disap- 
 pointment in his expectations. 
 
 An instance at once of his pensive turn of mind, and his 
 cheerfulness of temper, appeared in a little story which he himself 
 told to Mr. Langton, when they were walking in his garden : 
 " Here," said he, " I had put a handsome sun-dial, with this in- 
 scription, fugaces!^ which (speaking with a smile) was sadl^ . 
 
 * Horace : " Odes, " ii. 14. i. 
 
334 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 verified, for by the next morning my dial had been carried 
 off." ' 
 
 It gives me much pleasure to observe, that however Johnson 
 may have casually talked, yet when he sits, as " an ardent judge 
 zealous to his trust, giving sentence"'"^ upon the excellent works 
 of Young, he allows them the high praise to which they are justly 
 entitled. 'The Universal Passion,' " says he, " is indeed a very 
 great performance, — his distichs have the weight of solid senti- 
 ment, and his points the sharpness of resistless truth." 
 
 But I was most anxious concerning Johnson's decision upon 
 " Night Thoughts," which I esteem as a mass of the grandest 
 and richest poetry that human genius has ever produced : and 
 was delighted to find this character of that work : " In his 'Night 
 Thoughts,' he has exhibited a very wide display of original 
 poetry, variegated with deep reflection and striking allusions : a 
 wilderness of thought, in which the fertility of fancy scatters 
 flowers of every hue and of every odor. This is one of the few 
 poems in which blank verse could not be changed for rhyme but 
 with disadvantage." And afterwards : '' Particular lines are not 
 to be regarded ; the power is in the whole ; and in the whole 
 there is a magnificence like that ascribed to Chinese plantation,^ 
 the magnificence of vast extent and endless diversity." 
 
 But there is in this poem not only all that Johnson so well 
 brings in view, but a power of the pathetic beyond almost any 
 example that I have seen. He who does not feel his nerves shaken, 
 and his heart pierced by many passages in this extraordinary 
 work, particularly by that most affecting one, which describes the 
 gradual torment suffered by the contemplation of an object of 
 affectionate attachment visibly and certainly decaying into dissolu- 
 tion, must be of a hard and obstinate frame." 
 
 To all the other excellences of "Night Thoughts " let me add 
 the great and peculiar one, that they contain not only the noblest 
 
 1 The late Mr. James Ralph told Lord Macartney, that he passed an evening 
 with Dr. Yount^ at Lord Melcombe's (then Mr. Doddington) at Hammersmith. 
 The Doctor happening to go out into the garden, Mr. Doddington observed to him 
 on his return, tliat it was a dreadful night, as in truth it was, there being a violent 
 storm of rain and wind. " No, Sir," replied the Doctor, " it is a very fine night. 
 The Lord is abroad." — B. 
 
 2 Pope : " Essay on Criticism," 1. 677. 
 
 3 Johnson refers to Chambers's " Dissertation on Oriental Gardening" ridiculed 
 in the " Heroic Epistle." — Dr. Hill. 
 
 * Dr. Hill has pointed out that this reference is to the death of Narcissa in the 
 hird of the " Night Thoughts." While Boswell was engaged on his great work his 
 was dying of consumption in " the rigid north." She was dead nearly two 
 s before the Life was publislied. 
 
Age 72.2 JOHNSON'S PREJUDICE AGAINST SWIFT. 335 
 
 sentiments of virtue, and contemplations on immortality, but the 
 CJuHstian Sacj-ifice, the Divine Pi'opitiation, with all its interesting 
 circumstances, and consolations to " a wounded spirit," solemnly 
 and poetically displayed in such imagery and language, as cannot 
 fail to exalt, animate, and soothe the truly pious. No book what- 
 ever can be recommended to young persons, with better hopes of 
 seasoning their minds with vital religion, than Young's Night 
 Thoughts." 
 
 In the Life of Swift, it appears to me that Johnson had a certain 
 degree of prejudice against that extraordinary man, of which I 
 have elsewhere had occasion to speak. Mr. Thomas Sheridan 
 imputed it to a supposed apprehension in Johnson, that Swift had 
 not been sufficiently active in obtaining for him an Irish degree 
 when it was solicited (see Vol. L, p. 69), but of this there was 
 not sufficient evidence ; and let me not presume to charge 
 Johnson with injustice, because he did not think so highly of the 
 writings of this author as I have done from my youth upwards. 
 Yet that he had an unfavorable bias is evident, were it only from 
 that passage in which he speaks of Swift's practice of saving, as, 
 " first ridiculous and at last detestable ; " and yet after some 
 examination of circumstances, finds himself obliged to own that. 
 It will perhaps appear that he only liked one mode of expense 
 better than another, and saved merely that he might have some- 
 thing to give." 
 
 One observation which Johnson makes in Swift's life should be 
 often inculcated : 
 
 It may be justly supposed, that there was in his conversation what appears 
 so frequently in his letters, an affectation of familiarity with the great, an am- 
 bition of momentary equality, sought and enjoyed by the neglect of those 
 ceremonies which custom has established as the barriers between one order of 
 society and another. This trangression of regularity was by himself and his 
 admirers termed greatness of soul; but a great mind disdains to hold anything 
 by courtesy, and therefore never usurps what a lawful claimant may take away. 
 He that encroaches on another's dignity, puts himself in his power; he is 
 either repelled with helpless indignity, or endured by clemency and condescen- 
 sion. 
 
 VARIOUS READINGS IN THE LIFE OF SWIFT. 
 
 Charity may be persuaded to think that it might be written by a man of a 
 peculiar [opinions] character, without ill intention. 
 He did not [disown] deny it. 
 
 [To] by whose kindness it is not unlikely that he was [indebted for] 
 advanced lo his benefices. 
 
 [With]y^>r this purpose he had recourse to Mr. Harley. 
 
336 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 Sharpe, whom he [represents] describes as "the harmless tool of others' 
 hate." 
 
 Harley was slow because he was [irresolute] doubtful. 
 
 When [readers were not many] we were not yet a nation of readers. 
 
 [Every man who] he that could say he knew him. 
 
 Every man of known influence has so many [more] petitions [than] 
 which he [can] cannot grant, that he must necessarily offend more than he 
 [can gratify] gratifies. 
 
 Ecclesiastical [preferments] benefices. 
 
 Swift [procured] contrived an interview. 
 
 [As a writer] In his works he has given very different specimens. 
 On all common occasions he habitually [assumes] affects a style of 
 [superiority] arrogance. 
 
 By the [omission] neglect oi those ceremonies. 
 
 That their merits filled the world [and] or that there was no [room for] 
 hope of more. 
 
 I have not confined myself to the order of the "Lives," in 
 making my few remarks. Indeed a different order is observed 
 in the original publication, and in the collection of Johnson's 
 Works. And should it be objected, that many of my various read- 
 ings are inconsiderable, those who make an objection will be 
 pleased to consider, that such small particulars are intended for 
 those who are nicely critical in composition, to whom they will be 
 an acceptable selection. 
 
 "Spence's Anecdotes," which are frequently quoted and re- 
 ferred to in Johnson's ''Lives of the Poets," are in a manuscript 
 collection, made by the Reverend Mr. Joseph Spence,^ contain- 
 ing a number of particulars concerning eminent men. To each 
 anecdote is marked the name of the person on whose authority 
 it is mentioned. This valuable collection is the property of the 
 Duke of Newcastle, who, upon the application of Sir Lucas Pepys, 
 was pleased to permit it to be put into the hands of Dr. Johnson, 
 who I am sorry to think made but an awkward return. " Great 
 assistance," says he, "has been given me by Mr. Spence's Collec- 
 tion, of which I consider the communication as a favor worthy of 
 public acknowledgment : " but he has not owned to whom he was 
 obliged, so that the acknowledgment is unappropriated to his 
 Grace. 
 
 While the world in general was filled with admiration of John- 
 son's " Lives of the Poets," there were narrow circles in which 
 
 1 The Rev. Joseph Spence, A.M., Rector, of Great Harvvood in Buckingham- 
 shire, and Prebendary of Durham, died at Byfleet in Surrey, August 20, 1768. lie 
 was a Fellow of New College in Oxford, and held the office of Professor of Poetry 
 in that University from 1728 to 1738. — Malone. The Anecdotes were first pub- 
 lished in 1820 by Murray, with notes by Malone, and other editions have since been 
 issued. See Quart. Rev,, xxiii. 400. 
 
Age 72.] JOHNSON AND WARREN HASTINGS. 337 
 
 prejudice and resentment were fostered, and from which attacks 
 of different sorts issued against him.' By some violent Whigs he 
 was arraigned of injustice to Milton ; by some Cambridge men of 
 depreciating Gray ; and his expressing with a dignified freedom 
 what he really thought of George Lord Lyttelton, gave offence 
 to some of the friends of that nobleman, and particularly produced 
 a declaration of war against him from Mrs. Montagu, the ingenious 
 Essayist on Shakespeare, between whom and his Lordship a com- 
 merce of reciprocal compliments had long been carried on. In 
 this war the smallest powers in alliance with him were of course 
 led to engage, at least on the defensive, and thus I for one, was 
 excluded from the enjoyment of " A Feast for Reason," such as 
 Mr. Cumberland has described, with a keen, yet just and delicate 
 pen, in his Observer^ These minute inconveniences gave not the 
 least disturbance to Johnson. He nobly said, when I talked to 
 him of the feeble, though shrill outcry which had been raised : 
 " Sir, I considered myself as intrusted with a certain portion of 
 truth. I have given my opinion sincerely; let them show where 
 they think me wrong." 
 
 While my friend is thus contemplated in the splendor derived 
 from his last and perhaps most admirable work, I introduce him 
 with peculiar propriety as the correspondent of Warren Hastings ! 
 a man whose regard reflects dignity even upon Johnson ; a man 
 the extent of whose abilities was equal to that of his power ; and 
 who, by those who are fortunate enough to know him in private 
 life, is admired for his literature and taste, and beloved for the 
 candor, moderation, and mildness of his character. Were I 
 capable of paying a suitable tribute of admiration to him, I should 
 certainly not withhold it at a moment ^ when it is not j^ossible 
 that I should be suspected of being an interested flatterer. But 
 how weak would be my voice after that of the millions whom he 
 governed. His condescending and obliging compliance with my 
 solicitation, I with humble gratitude acknowledge : and while by 
 publishing his letter to me, accompanying the valuable communi- 
 
 ^ From this disreputable class, I except an ingenious, though not satisfactory 
 defence of Hammond, which I did not see till lately, by the favor of its author, 
 my amiable friend, the Reverend Mr. Bevill, who published it without his name. It 
 is a juvenile performance, but elegantly written, with classical enthusiasm of senti- 
 ment, and yet with a becoming modesty, and great respect for Dr. Johnson. — B. 
 
 2 A periodical described by the author as "a body of original essays" and 
 claimed by him to be "fairly enrolled amongst the standard classics of our native 
 language. The " Feast of Reason " is in No. 25. 
 
 3 January, 1791. — B. Hastings's trial was now just entering on its third year. It 
 began in 1788 and ended in 1795. 
 
 Vol. II. — 22 
 
338 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 cation, I do eminent honor to my great friend, I shall entirely 
 disregard any invidious suggestions, that as I in some degree par- 
 ticipate in the honor, I have, at the same time, the gratification 
 of my own vanity in view. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Park Lane, Dec. 2, 1790. 
 
 Sir: I have been fortunately spared the troublesome suspense of a long 
 search, to which in performance of my promise I had devoted this morning, 
 by lighting upon the objects of it among the first papers that I laid- my hands 
 on: my veneration for your great and good friend, Dr. Johnson, and the pride, 
 or I hope something of a better sentiment, which I indulge in possessing such 
 memorials of his good will towards me, having induced me to bind them in a 
 parcel containing other select papers, and labelled with the titles appertaining 
 to them. They consist but of three letters which I believe were all that I ever 
 received from Dr. Johnson. Of these, one which was written in quadruplicate, 
 under the different dates of its respective dispatches, has already been made 
 publick,' but not from any communication of mine. This, however, I have 
 joined to the rest; and have now the pleasure of sending them to you for the 
 use to which you informed me it was your desire to destine them. 
 
 My promise was pledged with the condition, that if the letters were found 
 to contain any thing which should render them improper for the publick eye, 
 you would dispense with the performance of it. You will have the goodness, 
 I am sure, to pardon my recalling this stipulation to your recollection, as I 
 shall be loath to appear negligent of that obligation which is always implied 
 in an epistolary confidence. In the reservation of that right I have read them 
 over with the most scrupulous attention, but have not seen in them the slight- 
 est cause on that ground to withhold them from you. But, though not on 
 that, yet on another ground I own I feel a little, yet but a little, reluctance to 
 part with them: I mean on that of my own credit, which I fear will suffer by 
 the information conveyed by them, that I was early in the possession of such 
 valuable instructions for the beneficial employment of the influence of my late 
 station, and (as it may seem) have so little availed myself of them. . Whether 
 I could, if it were necessary, defend myself against such an imputation, it 
 little concerns the world to know. I look only to the effect which these 
 relicks may produce, considered as evidences of the virtues of their authour: 
 and believing that they will l)e found to display an uncommon warmth of 
 private friendship, and a mind ever attentive to the improvement and extension 
 of useful knowledge, and solicitous for the interests of mankind, I can cheer- 
 fully submit to the little sacrifice of my own fame, to contribute to the illus- 
 tration of so great and venerable a character. They cannot be belter applied, 
 for that end, than by being entrusted to your hands. Allow me, with this 
 offering, to infer from it a proof of the very great esteem with which I have 
 the honour to profess myself, Sir, your most obedient and most humble 
 servant. 
 
 Warren Hastings. 
 
 P.S. At some future time, and when you have no further occasion for 
 these papers, I shall be obliged to you if you would return them. 
 
 ^ GenL Mag. for 1785, p. 412. 
 
Age 72.] JOHNSON'S LETTERS TO HASTINGS. 
 
 839 
 
 The last of the three letters thus graciously put into my hands, 
 and which has already appeared in public, belongs to this year ; 
 but I shall previously insert the first two in the order of their 
 dates. They altogether form a grand group in my biographical 
 picture. 
 
 TO THE HONOURABLE WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ. 
 
 Sir: Though I have had but little personal knowledge of you, I have had 
 enough to make me wish for more; and though it be now_ a long time since I 
 was honoured by your visit, I had too much pleasure from it to forget it. By 
 those whom we delight to remember, we are unwilling to be forgotten; and 
 therefore I cannot omit this opportunity of reviving myself in your memory by 
 a letter which you will receive from the hands of my friend Mr. Chambers;' 
 a man, whose purity of manners and vigour of mind are sufificient to make every 
 thing welcome that he brings. 
 
 That this is my only reason for writing, will be too apparent by the useless- 
 ness of my letter to any other purpose. I have no questions to ask; not that 
 I want curiosity after either the ancient or present state of regions, in which 
 have been seen all the power and splendour of wide-extended empire'; and 
 which, as by some grant of natural superiority, supply the rest of the world 
 with almost all that pride desires, and luxury enjoys. But my knowledge of 
 them is too scanty to furnish me with proper topicks of enquiry; I can only 
 wish for information; and hope that a mind comprehensive like yours willfind 
 leisure amidst the cares of your important station, to enquire into many sub- 
 jects of which the European world either thinks not at all or thinks with 
 deficient intelligence and uncertain conjecture. I shall hope, that he ^ho 
 once intended to increase the learning of his country by the introduction of 
 the Persian language,^ will examine nicely the traditions and histories of the 
 East; that he will survey the wonders of its ancient edifices, and trace 
 the vestiges of its ruined cities; and that, at his return, we shall know the 
 arts and opinions of a race of men, from whom very little has been hitherto 
 derived. 
 
 You, Sir, have no need of being told by me, how much may be added by 
 your attention and patronage to experimental knowledge and natural history. 
 There are arts of manufacture practised in the countries in which you preside, 
 which are yet very imperfectly known here, either to artificers or philosophers. 
 Of the natural productions, animate and inanimate, we yet have so little intel- 
 ligence, that our books are filled, I fear, with conjectures about things which 
 an Indian peasant knows by his senses. 
 
 Many of those things my first wish is to see; my second to know, by such 
 accounts as a man like you will be al)le to give. 
 
 As I have not skill to ask proper questions, I have likewise no such access 
 to great men as can enable me to send you any political information. Of the 
 agitations of an unsettled Government, and the struggles of a feeble Ministry, 
 care is doubtless taken to give you more exact accounts than I can obtain. If 
 you are inclined to interest yourself much in publick transactions it is no misfor- 
 tune to you to be so distant from them. 
 
 That literature is not totally forsaking us, and that your favourite language 
 
 * Afterwards Sir Robert Chambers, one of his Majesty's Judges in India. — B. 
 
 * See Macaulay's " Essays," ed. 1884, iii. 220. 
 ' Lord North's : which lasted till 1782, 
 
340 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 is not neglected, will appear from the book,^ which I should have pleased 
 myself more with sending, if I could have presented it bound; but time was 
 wanting. I beg, however. Sir, that you will accept it from a man very desirous 
 of your regard; and that if you think me able to gratify you by anything 
 more important you will employ me. 
 
 I am now going to take leave, perhaps a very long leave, of my dear Mr. 
 Chambers. That he is going to live where you govern, may justly alleviate 
 the regard of parting; and the hope of seeing both him and you again, which 
 I am not willing to mingle with doubt, must at present comfort, as it can, Sir, 
 your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 March 30, 1774. 
 
 to the same. 
 
 Sir : Being informed that by the departure of a ship, there is now an op- 
 portunity of writing to Bengal, I am unwilling to slip out of your memory by 
 my own negligence, and therefore take the liberty of reminding you of my ex- 
 istence, by sending you a book which is not yet made publick. 
 
 I have lately visited a region less remote, and less illustrious than India, 
 which afforded some occasions for speculation; what has occurred to me I have 
 put into the volume, [" Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland,"] of 
 which I beg your acceptance. 
 
 Men in your station seldom have presents totally disinterested; my book is 
 received, let me now make my request. 
 
 There is. Sir, somewhere within your government, a young adventurer, one 
 Chauncey Lawrence, whose father is one of my oldest friends. Be pleased to 
 shew' the young man what countenance is fit, whether he wants to be re- 
 strained by your authority, or encouraged by your favour. His father is now 
 President of the College of Physicians, a man venerable for his knowledge, 
 and more venerable for his virtue. 
 
 I wish you a prosperous government, a safe return, and a long enjoyment 
 of plenty and tranquillity. I am, Sir, your most obedient and most humble 
 servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson.^ 
 
 London, Dec. 20, 1774. 
 
 to the same. 
 
 Jan. 9, 1781. 
 
 Sir : Amidst the importance and multiplicity of affairs in which your great 
 office engages you, I take the liberty of recalling your attention for a moment 
 to literature, and will not prolong the interruption by an apology which your 
 character makes needless. 
 
 Mr. Hoole, a gentleman long known, and long esteemed in the India 
 House, after having translated Tasso, has undertaken Ariosto. How well he 
 is qualified for his undertaking he has already shewn. He is desirous. Sir, of 
 
 1 [Sir W.] Jones's " Persian Grammar" [published in 1771] . — B. 
 
 2 It is a remarkable circumstance that one of the letters of Hastings to Dr. 
 Johnson [the answer to the above] bears date a very few hours after the death of 
 Nuncomar. While the whole settlement was in commotion, while a mighty and 
 ancient priesthood were weeping over the remains of their chief, the conqueror in 
 that deadly grapple sat down, with characteristic self-possession, to write about 
 the "Tour to the Hebrides," Jones's " Persian Grammar," and the history, tradi- 
 tions, arts, and natural productions of India. — Macaulay. 
 
Age 72.] JOHNSON'S PECULIAR MARCH. 
 
 341 
 
 your favour in promoting his proposals, and flatters me by supposing that my 
 testimony may advance his interest. 
 
 It is a new thing for a clerk of the India House to translate poets; — it is new 
 for a Governour of Bengal to patronize learning. That he may find his inge- 
 nuity rewarded, and that learning may flourish under your protection, is the 
 wish of, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 I wrote to him in February, complaining of having been 
 troubled by a recurrence of the perplexing question of liberty and 
 necessity; and mentioning that I hoped soon to meet him 
 again in London. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: I hoped you had got rid of all this hypocrisy of misery. What 
 have you to do with Liberty and Necessity? Or what more than to hold your 
 tongue about it? Do not doubt but I shall be most heartily glad to see you 
 here again, for I love every part about you but your affectation of distress. 
 
 I have at last finished my Lives, and have laid up for you a load of copy, 
 all out of order, so that it will amuse you a long time to set it right. Come to 
 me, my dear Bozzy, and let us be as happy as we can. We will go again to 
 the Mitre, and talk old times over. I am, dear Sir, yours affectionately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 March 14, 1781. 
 
 On Monday, March 19, I arrived in London, and on Tuesday 
 the 20th met him in Fleet Street, walking, or rather indeed mov- 
 ing, along ; for his peculiar march is thus described in a very just 
 and picturesque manner in a short Life ^ of him published very 
 soon after his death : 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 ad- 
 vanced 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, 
 
 1 Published by Kearsley, with this well-chosen motto : 
 
 " . . . From his cradle 
 He was a SCHOLAR, and a ripe and good one : 
 And, to add greater honors to his age 
 Than man could give him, he died fearing Heaven." 
 
 Shakespeare. — B, 
 Dr. Hill calls the quotation " a patched-up one." But, with the exception of Heaven 
 for God, which may be Boswell's mistake in transcribing, the words are quite cor- 
 rect. They are from the beginning and the end of Grififith's defence of Wolsey to 
 JCatherine, " Henry VHI." iv. 2. 
 
342 
 
 nOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 and eyed the huge figure with much earnestness, till he was satis- 
 fied that his wisest course was to be quiet and take up his burden 
 again. 
 
 Our accidental meeting in the street after a long separation, 
 was a pleasing surprise to us both. He stepped aside with me 
 into Falcon Court, and made kind inquiries about my family, and 
 as we were in a hurry going different ways, I promised to call on 
 him next day ; he said he was engaged to go out in the morning. 
 " Early, Sir?" said I. Johnson : " Why, Sir, a London morning 
 does not go with the sun." 
 
 I waited on him next evening, and he gave me a great portion 
 of his original manuscript of his " Lives of the Poets," which he 
 had preserved for me. 
 
 I found on visiting his friend, Mr. Thrale, that he was now very 
 ill, and had removed, I suppose by the solicitation of Mrs. Thrale, 
 to a house in Grosvenor Square. I was sorry to see him sadly 
 changed in his appearance. 
 
 He told me I might now have the pleasure to see Dr. Johnson 
 drink wine again, for he had lately returned to it. When I men- 
 tioned this to Johnson, he said, I drink it now sometimes, but 
 not socially." The first evening that I was with him at Thrale's"^ 
 I observed that he poured a large quantity of it into a glass, and 
 swallowed it greedily. Everything about his character and man- 
 ners was forcible and violent ; there never was any moderation ; 
 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 copiously. He could practise abstinence, but not tem- 
 perance. 
 
 Mrs. Thrale and I had a dispute, whether Shakespeare or 
 Milton had drawn the most admirable picture of a man.^ I was 
 
 * Shakespeare makes Hamlet thus describe his father: 
 
 " See what a grace w as seated on this brow : — 
 Hyperion's curls, the front of jove himself, 
 An eye like Ahirs, to threaten and command; 
 A station like tlie herald Mercury 
 New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill ; 
 A combination and a form, indeed. 
 Where every god did seem to set his seal, 
 To give the world assurance of a man." 
 
 [Act iii. sc. 4.] 
 
 Milton thus portrays our first parent, Adam : 
 
 " His fair large front and eye sublime declar'd 
 Absolute rule; and hyacinthin locks 
 Round from his parted forelock manly hung 
 Clust'ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad." 
 
 [P. L. iv.300.] — B 
 
Age 72.] jMRS. MONTAGUE DROPS JOHNSON. 343 
 
 for Shakespeare ; Mrs. Thrale for Milton ; and after a fair think- 
 ing, Johnson decided for my opinion. 
 
 I told him of one of Mr. Burke's playful sallies upon Dean 
 Marlay : ' "I don't like the Deanery of Feiiis, it sounds so 
 like a barren title." — ''Dr. Heath should have it;" said I. 
 Johnson laughed, and, condescending to trifle in the same mode 
 of conceit, suggested Dr. Moss. 
 
 He said, " Mrs. Montagu has dropped me. Now, Sir, there 
 are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not 
 wish to be dropped by." He certainly was vain of the society of 
 ladies, and could make himself very agreeable to them, when he 
 chose it; Sir Joshua Reynolds agreed with me that he could. 
 Mr. Gibbon, with his usual sneer, controverted it, perhaps in re- 
 sentment of Johnson's having talked with some disgust of his 
 ugliness, which one would think a philosopher would not mind. 
 Dean Marlay wittily observed, " A lady may be vain, when she 
 can turn a wolf-dog into a lap-dog." 
 
 The election for Ayrshire, my own county, was this spring tried 
 upon a petition before a Committee of the House of Commons. 
 I was one of the counsel for the sitting member, and took the 
 liberty of previously stating different points to Johnson, who never 
 failed to see them clearly, and to supply me with some good 
 hints. He dictated to me the following note upon the registra- 
 tion of de?ds : 
 
 All laws are made for the convenience of the community; what is legally 
 done should be legally recorded, that the state of things maybe known, and 
 that wherever evidence is requisite, evidence may be had. For this reason, 
 the obligation to frame and establish a legal register is enforced by a legal 
 penalty, which penalty is the want of that perfection and plenitude of right 
 which a register would give. Thence it follows, that this is not an objection 
 merely legal; for the reason on which the law stands being equitable, makes 
 it an equitable objection. 
 
 "This," said he, " you must enlarge on, when speaking to the 
 Committee. You must not argue there, as if you were arguing 
 in the school ; close reasoning will not fix their attention ; you 
 
 ^ Dr. Richard Marlay, afterwards Lord Bishop of Waterford, a very amiable, 
 benevolent, and ingenious man. He was chosen a member of the LITERARY 
 Club in 1777, and died in Dublin, July 2. 1802, in his 75th year. — Malone. It was 
 he who, when his coachman objected to fetching water trom the well, on the ground 
 that it was his business to drive and the footman's to run on errands, ordered the 
 man to bring out the coach and four and drive to the well with the pitcher inside. 
 — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ That is, at a University. 
 
S44 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 must say the same thing over and over again, in different words. 
 If you say it but once, they miss it in a moment of inatten- 
 tion. It is unjust. Sir, to censure lawyers for multiplying 
 words, when they argue ; it is often necessary for them to 
 multiply words." 
 
 His notion of the duty of a member of Parliament sitting upon 
 an election-committee was very high ; and when he was told of a 
 gentleman upon one of those committees, who read the news- 
 papers part of the time and slept the rest, while the merits of a 
 vote were examined by the counsel ; and as an excuse, when 
 challenged by the chairman for such behavior, bluntly answered, 
 "I had made up my mind upon that case;" Johnson, with an 
 indignant contempt, said, " If he was such a rogue as to make 
 up his mind upon a case without hearing it, he should not have 
 been such a fool as to tell it." — "I think," said Mr. Dudley Long, 
 now North, "the Doctor has pretty. plainly made him out to be 
 both rogue and fool." 
 
 Johnson's profound reverence for the hierarchy made him ex- 
 pect from bishops the highest degree of decorum ; he was offended 
 even at their going to taverns : A bishop," said he, " has noth- 
 ing to do at a tippling-house. It is not indeed immoral in him 
 to go to a tavern ; neither would it be immoral in him to whip a 
 top in Grosvenor Square : but if he did, I hope the boy3 would 
 fall upon him, and apply the whip to him. There are gradations 
 in conduct ; there is morality, — decency, — propriety. None of 
 these should be violated by a bishop. A bishop should not go to 
 a house where he may meet a young fellow leading out a wench." 
 BoswELL : " But, Sir, every tavern does not admit women." John- 
 son : " Depend upon it. Sir, any tavern will admit a well-dressed 
 man and a well-dressed woman ; they will not perhaps admit a 
 woman whom they see every night walking by their door in the 
 street. But a well-dressed man may lead in a well-dressed woman 
 to any tavern in London. Taverns sell meat and drink, and will 
 sell them to anybody who can eat and can drink. You may as 
 well say, that a mercer will not sell silks to a woman of the 
 town." 
 
 He also disapproved of bishops going to routs, at least of their 
 staying at them longer than their presence commanded respect. 
 He mentioned a particular bishop. " Poh ! " said Mrs. Thrale, 
 "the Bishop of [St. Asaph] is never minded at a rout." Bos- 
 well : " When a bishop places himself in a situation where he 
 has no distinct character and is of no consequence, he degrades 
 
Age 72,] 
 
 THE CLERICAL PROFESSION. 
 
 345 
 
 the dignity of his order." Johnson : " Mr. Boswell, Madam, has 
 said it as correctly as it could be." 
 
 Nor was it only in the dignitaries of the Church that Johnson 
 required a particular decorum and delicacy of behavior; he 
 justly considered that the clergy, as persons set apart for the 
 sacred ofifice of serving at the altar, and impressing the minds of 
 men with the awful concerns of a future state, should be somewhat 
 more serious than the generality of mankind, and have a suitable 
 composure of manners. A due sense of the dignity of their pro- 
 fession, independent of higher motives, will ever prevent them 
 from losing their distinction in an indiscriminate sociality ; and 
 did such as affect this, know how much it lessens themi in the 
 eyes of those whom they think to please by it, they would feel 
 themselves much mortified. 
 
 Johnson, and his friend Beauclerk, were once together in 
 company with several clergymen, who thought that they should 
 appear to advantage by assuming the lax jollity of 7nen of the 
 world ; which, as it maybe observed in similar cases, they carried 
 to noisy excess. Johnson, who they expected would be enter- 
 tained, sat grave and silent for some time ; at last, turning to 
 Beauclerk, he said, by no means in a whisper, "This merriment of 
 parsons is mighty offensive." 
 
 Even the dress of a clergyman should be in character, and 
 nothing can be more despicable than conceited attempts at 
 avoiding the appearance of the clerical order ; attempts which 
 are as ineffectual as they are pitiful. Dr. Porteus, now Bishop of 
 London, in his excellent charge when presiding over the diocese 
 of Chester, justly animadverts upon this subject ; and observes of 
 a reverend fop, that he " can be but half a beau.''' 
 
 Addison, in The Spectator,'^ has given us a fine portrait of a 
 clergyman, who is supposed to be a member of his Club ; and 
 Johnson has exhibited a model, in the character of Mr. Mudge 
 (Vol. I., p. 213), which has escaped the collectors of his works, 
 but which he owned to me and which indeed he showed to Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds at the time when it was written. It bears the 
 genuine marks of Johnson's best manner, and is as follows : 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Zachariah Mudge, Prebendary of Exeter, and Vicar 
 of St. Andrew's in Plymouth; a man equally eminent for his virtues and 
 abilities, and at once beloved as a companion and reverenced as a pastor. He 
 had the general curiosity to which no kind of knowledge is indifferent or 
 
 * No. 2. 
 
346 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 superfluous; and that general benevolence by which no order of men is hated 
 or despised. 
 
 His principles both of thought and action were great and comprehensive. 
 By a solicitous examination of objections, and judicious comparison of oppo- 
 site arguments, he attained what inquiry never gives but to industry and per- 
 spicuity, a firm and unshaken settlement of conviction. But his firmness was 
 without asperity; for, knowing with how much difficulty truth was sometimes 
 found, he did not wonder that many missed it. 
 
 The general course of his life was determined by his profession; he studied 
 the sacred volumes in the original languages; with what diligence and success, 
 his Notes upon the Psalms give sufficient evidence. He once endeavored to 
 add the knowledge of Arabic to that of Hebrew; but finding his thoughts too 
 much diverted from other studies, after some time desisted from his purpose. 
 
 His discharge of parochial duties was exemplary. How his ser/uons were 
 composed, may be learned from the excellent volume which he has given to 
 the public; but how they were delivered, can be known only to those that 
 heard them; for as he appeared in the pulpit, words will not easily describe 
 him. His delivery, though unconstrained, was not negligent, and though 
 forcible was not turbulent; disdaining anxious nicety of emphasis, and labored 
 artifice of action, it captivated the hearer by its natural dignity, it roused the 
 sluggish, and fixed the volatile, and detained the mind upon the subject with- 
 out directing it to the speaker. 
 
 The grandeur and solemnity of the preacher did not intrude upon his gen- 
 eral behavior; at the table of his friends he was a companion communicative 
 and attentive, of unaffected manners, of manly cheerfulness, willing to please 
 and easy to be pleased. His acquaintance was universally solicited, and his 
 presence obstructed no enjoyment which religion did not forbid. Though 
 studious he was popular; though argumentative he was modest; though inflex- 
 ible he was candid: and though metaphysical yet orthodox." ' 
 
 On Friday, March 30, 1 dined with him at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, 
 with the Earl of Charlemont, Sir Annesley Stewart, Mr. Eliot of 
 Port Eliot, Mr. Burke, Dean Marlay, Mr. Langton ; a most agree- 
 able day, of which I regret that every circumstance is not pre- 
 served ; but it is unreasonable to require such a multiplication 
 of felicity. 
 
 Mr. Eliot, with whom Dr. Walter Harte (see Vol. L, p. 361) 
 had travelled, talked to us of his " History of Gustavus Adolphus," 
 which he said was a very good book in the German translation. 
 Johnson : " Harte was excessively vain. He put copies of his 
 book in manuscript into the hand of Lord Chesterfield and Lord 
 Granville, that they might revise it. Now how absurd was it to 
 suppose that two such noblemen would revise so big a manuscript. 
 Poor man ! he left London the day of the publication of his book 
 that he might be out of the way of the great praise he was to 
 
 ' London Chronicle, May 2, 1769. This respectable man is there mentioned to 
 have died on the 3d of April, that year, at Cofflect, the seat of Thomas Veale, Esq., 
 in his way to London. — B. 
 
Age 72.] MAHOGANY AND ATHOL PORRIDGE. 
 
 347 
 
 receive ; and he was ashamed to return, when he found how ill 
 his book had succeeded. It was unlucky in coming out on the 
 same day with Robertson's ' History of Scotland.' ' His hus- 
 bandry,^ however, is good." Boswell : " So he was fitter for 
 that than for heroic history : he did well when he turned his sword 
 into a ploughshare." 
 
 Mr. Eliot mentioned a curious liquor peculiar to his country, 
 which the Cornish fishermen drink. They call it mahogany ; and 
 it is made of two parts gin, and one part treacle ; well beaten 
 together. I begged to have some of it made, which was done 
 with proper skill by Mr. Eliot. I thought it very good liquor; and 
 said it was a counterpart of what is called Athol porridge in the 
 Highlands of Scotland, which is a mixture of whiskey and honey. 
 Johnson said, "That must be a better liquor than the Cornish, 
 for both its component parts are better." He also obsei-ved. 
 Mahogany must be a modern name ; for it is not long since the 
 wood called mahogany was known in this country." I mentioned 
 his scale of liquors : claret for boys, — port for men, — brandy 
 ■for heroes. Then," said Mr. Burke, " let me have claret : I 
 love to be a boy ; to have the careless gayety of boyish days." 
 Johnson : " I should drink claret too, if it would give me that ; 
 but it does not : it neither makes boys men, nor men boys. 
 You '11 be drowned by it before it has any effect upon you." 
 
 I ventured to mention a ludicrous paragraph in the news- 
 papers, that Dr. Johnson was learning to dance of Vestris. Lord 
 Charlemont, wishing to excite him to ' talk, proposed in a whis- 
 per that he should be asked whether it was true. " Shall I ask 
 him?" said his Lordship. We were, by a great majority, clear 
 for the experiment. Upon which his Lordship very gravely, and 
 with a courteous air, said, Pray, Sir, is it true that you are 
 taking lessons of Vestris?" This was risking a good deal, and 
 required the boldness of a General of Irish Volunteers to make 
 the attempt. Johnson was at first startled, and in some heat an- 
 swered, " How can your Lordship ask so simple a question?" 
 But immediately recovering himself, whether from unwillingness 
 to be deceived, or to appear deceived, or whether from real good 
 humor, he kept up the joke : " Nay, but if anybody were to an- 
 swer the paragraph, and contradict it, I 'd have a reply, and would 
 say, that he who contradicted it was no friend either to Vestris 
 
 1 Robertson's "Scotland"' came out in February, 1759: Harte's " Gustavus 
 Adolphus" and Humes's " England " in March, 1759. 
 
 2 " Essays on Husbandry," 1764, 
 
§48 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 or me. For why should not Dr. Johnson add to his other powers 
 a Httle corporeal agility? Socrates learnt to dance at an ad- 
 vanced age, and Cato learnt Greek at an advanced age. Then it 
 might proceed to say, that this Johnson, not content with dancing 
 on the ground, might dance on the rope ; and they might intro- 
 duce the elephant dancing on the rope. A nobleman ^ wrote a 
 play called ' Love in a Hollow Tree.' He found out that it was 
 a bad one, and therefore wished to buy up all the copies, and 
 burn them. The Duchess of Marlborough had kept one ; and 
 when he was against her at an election, she had a new edition of 
 it printed, and prefixed to it, as a frontispiece, an elephant danc- 
 ing on a rope ; to show, that his Lordship's writing comedy was 
 as awkward as an elephant dancing on a rope." 
 
 On Sunday, April i, I dined with him at Mr. Thrale's, with Sir 
 Philip Jennings Clerk and Mr. Perkins [Vol. L p., 468], who had 
 the superintendence of Mr. Thrale's brewery, with a salary of five 
 hundred pounds a year. Sir Philip had the appearance of a gen- 
 tleman of ancient family, well advanced in life. He wore his own 
 white hair in a bag of goodly size, a black velvet coat, with an 
 embroidered waistcoat, and very rich laced ruffles ; which Mrs. 
 Thrale said were old fashioned, but which, for that reason, I 
 thought the more respectable, more like a Tory ; yet Sir Philip 
 was then in Opposition in Parliament. " Ah, Sir," said Johnson, 
 
 ancient ruffles and modern principles do not agree." Sir 
 Philip defended the Opposition to the American war ably and 
 with temper, and I joined him. He said the majority of the 
 nation was against the Ministry. Johnson: Sir, am against 
 the Ministry ; but it is for having too little of that, of which Op- 
 position thinks they have too much. Were I minister, if any 
 man wagged his finger against me, he should be turned out ; for 
 that which it is in the power of the Government to give at pleasure 
 to one or to another, should be given to the sup])orters of Gov- 
 ernment. If you will not oppose at the expense of losing your 
 place, your opposition will not be honest, you will feel no serious 
 grievance ; and the present opposition is only a contest to get what 
 others have. Sir Robert Walpole acted as I would do. As to the 
 American war, the sense of the nation is with the Ministry. The 
 majority of those who can understand is with it ; the majority of 
 
 1 William, the first Viscount Grimston. — B. Two editions were published, ap- 
 parently by Grimston himself, one bearing his name but no date, tin- other the date 
 of 1705, but no name. The third edition with the elephant on tlu- tight-rope was 
 published in 1736. The election was lor St. Alban's, lor which borough he was 
 thrice returned. — Dr. IJill. 
 
 \ 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 EXAGGERATED JIJD(UIENTS. 
 
 349 
 
 those who can only hea?-, is against it ; and as those who can only 
 hear are more numerous than those who can understand, and 
 Opposition is always loudest, a majority of the rabble will be 
 for Opposition." 
 
 This boisterous vivacity entertained us : but the truth in my 
 opinion was, that those who could understand the best were against 
 the American war, as almost every man now is, when the question 
 has been coolly considered. 
 
 Mrs. Thrale gave high praise to Mr. Dudley Long, (now North). 
 Johnson : " Nay, my dear lady, do n't talk so. Mr. Long's char- 
 acter is very short. It is nothing. He fills a chair. He is a 
 man of genteel appearance, and that is all.^ I know nobody who 
 blasts by praise as you do : for whenever there is exaggerated 
 praise, everybody is set against a character. They are provoked 
 to attack "it. Now, there is Pepys ; ^ you praised that man with 
 such disproportion, that I was incited to lessen him, perhaps 
 more than he deserves. His blood is upon your head. By the 
 same principle,. your malice defeats itself; for your censure is too 
 violent. And yet (looking to her with a leering smile) she is the 
 first woman in the world, could she but restrain that wicked 
 tongue of hers ; she would be the only woman, could she but 
 command that little whirligig." 
 
 Upon the subject of exaggerated praise I took the liberty to 
 say, that I thought there might be very high praise given to a 
 known character which deserved it, and therefore it would not be 
 exaggerated. Thus, one might say of Mr. Edmund Burke, he is 
 a very wonderful man. Johnson : " No, Sir, you would not be 
 safe, if another man had a mind perversely to contradict. He 
 might answer, 'Where is all the wonder? Burke is, to be sure, a 
 man of uncommon abilities, with a great quantity of matter in his 
 mind, and a great fluency of language in his mouth. But we are 
 not to be stunned and astonished by him.' So you see, Sir, even 
 Burke would suffer, not from any fault of his own, but from your 
 folly." 
 
 ' Here Johnson condescended to play upon the words Long and s/iori. But 
 little did he know that, owing to Mr. Long's reserve in his presence, he was talking 
 thus of a gentleman distinguished amongst his acquaintance for acuteness of wit, 
 one to whom I think the French expression, // petdle esprit, is particularly suited. 
 He has gratified me by mentioning that he heard Dr. Johnson say, " Sir, if I were 
 to lose Boswell, it would be a limb amputated." — B. 
 
 2 William Weller Pepys, Esq., one of the Masters in the High Court of Chan- 
 cery, and well known in polite circles. My acquaintance with him is not sufficient 
 to enable me to speak of him from my own judgment. But I know that both at 
 Eton and Oxford he was the intimate friend of the late Sir James Macdonald, the 
 M'arcellus of Scotland, whose extraordinary talents, learning, and virtues, will ever 
 be remembered with admiration and regret. — B. 
 
860 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 Mrs. Thrale mentioned a gentleman who had acquired a fortune 
 of 4000/. a year in trade, but was absolutely miserable because he 
 could not talk in company ; so miserable, that he was impelled to 
 
 lament his situation in the street to ' whom he hates, 
 
 and who he knows despises him. " I am a most unhappy man," 
 said he. "I am invited to conversations. I go to conversa- 
 tions; but, alas! I have no conversation." Johnson: "Man 
 commonly cannot be successful in different ways. This gentle- 
 man has spent, in getting 4000/. a year, the time in which he 
 might have learnt to talk ; and now he cannot talk." Mr. Per- 
 kins made a shrewd and droll remark : " If he had got his ^000/. 
 a year as a mountebank, he might have learnt to talk at the same 
 time that he was getting his fortune." 
 
 Some other gentlemen came in. The conversation concerning 
 the person whose character Dr. Johnson had treated so slightingly, 
 as he did not know his merit, was resumed. Mrs. Thrale said, 
 "You think so of him. Sir, because he is quiet, and does not exert 
 himself with force. You '11 be saying the same thing of Mr. 
 
 there, who sits as quiet — ." This was not well-bred ; 
 
 and Johnson did not let it pass without correction. "Nay, 
 
 Madam, what right have you to talk thus? Both Mr. 
 
 and I have reason to take it ill. Vou may talk of Mr. ; 
 
 but why do you make ;;/<f do it. Have I said anything against 
 
 Mr. ? You have se^ him, that I might shoot him : but I 
 
 have not shot him." 
 
 One of the gentlemen said, he had seen three folio volumes of 
 Dr. Johnson's sayings collected by me. " I must put you right. 
 Sir," said I ; " for I am very exact in authenticity. You could 
 not see folio volumes, for I have none : you might have seen 
 some in quarto and octavo. This is an inattention which one 
 should guard against." Johnson : " Sir, it is a want of concern 
 about veracity. He does not know that he saw any volumes. 
 If he had seen them he could have remembered their size." 
 
 Mr. Thrale appeared very lethargic to-day. I saw him again 
 on Monday evening, at which time he was not thought to be in 
 immediate danger ; but early in the morning of Wednesday the 
 4th, he expired. Johnson was in the house, and thus mentions 
 the event : " I felt almost the last flutter of his pulse, and looked 
 for the last time upon the face that for fifteen years had never 
 been turned upon me but with respect and benignity." (" Prayers 
 and Meditations," p. 191.) Upon that day there was a Call oi 
 
 ' Probably Mr. Seward, who was constantly at the Thrales ', — Z?r, Hill. 
 
Age 72.] THE DEATH OE MR. TIIRALE. 
 
 351 
 
 the Literary Club ; but Johnson apologized for his absence by 
 the following note : 
 
 Mr. Johnson knows that Sir Joshua Reynolds and the other gentlemen 
 will excuse his incompliance with the call, when they are told that Mr. Thrale 
 died this morning. 
 
 Wednesday. * 
 
 Mr. Thrale's death was a very essential loss to Johnson, who, 
 although he did not foresee all that afterwards happened, was 
 sufficiently convinced that the comforts which Mr. Thrale's family 
 afforded him would now in a great measure cease. He, however, 
 continued to show a kind attention to his widow and children as 
 long as it was acceptable : and he took upon him, with a very 
 earnest concern, the office of one of his executors, the importance 
 of which seemed greater than usual to him, from his circum- 
 stances having been always such, that he had scarcely any share 
 in the real business of life. His friends of the Club were in 
 hopes that Mr. Thrale might have made a liberal provision for 
 him for his life, which, as Mr. Thrale left no son and a very large 
 fortune, it would have been highly to his honor to have done ; 
 and, considering Dr. Johnson's age, could not have been of long 
 duration ; but he bequeathed him only two hundred pounds, 
 which was the legacy given to each of his executors. . I could 
 not but be somewhat diverted by hearing Johnson talk in a pom- 
 pous manner of his new office, and particularly of the concerns 
 of the brewery, which it was at last resolved should be sold. Lord 
 Lucan tells a very good story, which, if not precisely exact, is 
 certainly characteristical : that when the sale of Thrale's brewery 
 was going forward, Johnson appeared bustling about, with an 
 inkhorn and pen in his button-hole, like an exciseman ; and on 
 being asked what he really considered to be the value of the 
 property which was to be disposed of, answered, " We are not 
 here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of 
 growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice." ^ 
 
 On Friday, April 6, he carried me to dine at a club, which, at 
 his desire, had been lately formed at the Queen's i\rms in St. 
 Paul's Churchyard. He told Mr. Hoole that he wished to have 
 a City Club, and asked him to collect one ; but, said he, " Do n't 
 
 ^ The brewery was sold to Barclay & Perkins for ;/^i35,ooo. — Wright. Baretti, 
 in a MS. note on the " Piozzi Letters," i. 369, says that in the two last years of 
 Thrale's life his brewery brought him ^"30,000 a Near net profit. — Dr. Hill. 
 
352 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 let them be patriots^ ' The company were to-day very sensible, 
 well-behaved men. I have preserved only two particulars of his 
 conversation. He said he was glad Lord George Gordon^ had 
 escaped, rather than that a precedent should be established for 
 hanging a man for const7'iictive treason ; which, in consistency 
 with his true, manly, constitutional Toryism, he considered would 
 be a dangerous engine of arbitrary power. And upon its being 
 mentioned that an opulent and very indolent Scotch nobleman, 
 who totally resigned the management of his affairs to a man of 
 knowledge and abilities, had claimed some merit by saying, 
 " The next best thing to managing a man's own affairs well, is 
 being sensible of incapacity, and not attempting it, but having 
 full confidence in one who can do it." Johnson : " Nay, Sir, 
 this is paltry. There is a middle course. Let a man give ap- 
 plication, and depend upon it he will soon get above a despicable 
 state of helplessness, and attain the power of acting for himself," 
 
 On Saturday, April 7, I dined with him at Mr. Hoole's with 
 Governor Bouchier and Captain Orme, both of whom had been 
 long in the East hidies ; and being men of good sense and ob- 
 servation, were very entertaining. Johnson defended the oriental 
 regulation of different castes of men, which was objected to as 
 totally destructive of the hopes of rising in society by personal 
 merit. He showed that there was a principle in it sufficiently 
 plausible *by analogy. "We see," said he, "in metals that there 
 are different species ; and so likewise in animals, though one 
 species may not differ very widely from another, as in the species 
 of dogs, — the cur, the spaniel, and the mastiff. The Brahmins are 
 the mastiffs of mankind." 
 
 On Thursday, April 12, I dined with him at a bishop's, where 
 were Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Berenger, and some more com- 
 pany. He had dined the day before at another bishop's. I 
 have unfortunately recorded none of his conversation at the 
 bishops where we dined together : ^ but I have preserved his 
 ingenious defence of his dining twice abroad in Passion Week ; 
 a laxity, in which I am convinced he would not have indulged 
 himself at the time when he wrote his solemn paper in The 
 
 1 In the fourth edition of his Dictionary published in 1773, Johnson introduced 
 a second definition of patriot : " It is sometimes used for a factious disturber of the 
 government." — Dr. Hill. 
 
 He was tried on Feb. 5 and 6, 1781. 
 
 ^ Dr. Hill quotes a passage from Hannah More's " Memoirs" (i. 210) to show 
 that the bishop was Dr. Shipley of St. Asaph, and the reason for Boswell having 
 left the conversation unrecorded was that he was too (hHvnk to remember it. 
 
Age 72.] JOHNSON'S ADMIRABLE SOPHISTRY. 
 
 353 
 
 Rainbler,^ upon that awful season. It appeared to me, that by 
 being much more in company, and enjoying more luxurious living, 
 he had contracted a keener relish for pleasure, and was conse- 
 quently less rigorous in his religious rites. This he would not 
 acknowledge ; but he reasoned with admirable sophistry, as fol- 
 lows : " Why, Sir, a bishop's calling company together in this 
 week, is, to use the vulgar phrase, not the thing. But you must 
 consider laxity is a bad thing ; but preciseness is also a bad 
 thing ; and your general character may be more hurt by precise- 
 ness than by dining with a bishop in Passion Week. There 
 might be a handle for reflection. It might be said, ' He refuses 
 to dine with a bishop in Passion Week, but was three Sundays 
 absent from church.'" Boswell : "Very true, Sir. But sup- 
 pose a man to be uniformly of good conduct, would it not be 
 better that he should refuse to dine with a bishop in this week, 
 and so not encourage a bad practice by his example ? " Johnson : 
 " Why, Sir, you are to consider whether you might not do more 
 harm by lessening the influence of a bishop's character by your 
 disapprobation in refusing him, th^^n by going to him." 
 
 TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD. 
 
 Dear Madam: Life is full of troubles. I have just lost my dear friend 
 Thrale. I hope he is happy; but I have had a great loss. I am otherwise 
 pretty well. I require some care of myself, but that care is not ineffectual; 
 and when I am out of order, I think it often my own fault. 
 
 The spring is now making quick advances. As it is the season in which 
 the whole world is enlivened and invigorated, I hope that both you and I 
 shall partake of its benefits. My desire is to see Lichfield; but being left ex- 
 ecutor to my friend, I know not whether I can be spared; but I will try, for 
 it is now long since we saw one another, and how little we can promise our- 
 selves many more interviews we are taught by hourly examples of mortality. 
 Let us try to live so as that mortality may not be an evil. Write to me soon, 
 my dearest; your letters will give me great pleasure. 
 
 I am sorry that Mr. Porter has not had his box; but by sending it to Mr. 
 Matthias, who very readily undertook its conveyance, I did the best I could, 
 and perhaps before now he has it. 
 
 Be so kind as to make my compliments to my friends; I have a great value 
 for their kindness, and hope to enjoy it before summer is past. Do write to 
 me. I am, dearest love, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, April 12, 1781. 
 
 On Friday, April 13, being Good Friday, I went to St. Clement's 
 Church with him as usual. There I saw again his old fellow-col- 
 
 VOL. II. -23 
 
 1 No. 7. 
 
354 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 legian, Edwards, to whom I said, " I think, Sir, Dr. Johnson and 
 you meet only at church." — Sir," said he, " it is the best place 
 we can meet in, except heaven, and I hope we shall meet there 
 too." Dr. Johnson told me that there was very little communica- 
 tion between Edwards and him, after their unexpected renewal of 
 acquaintance. " But," said he, smiling, " he met me once, and 
 said, ' I am told you have written a very pretty book called TAe 
 Rambler.^ I was unwilling that he should leave the world in 
 total darkness, and sent him a set." 
 
 Mr. Berenger ' visited him to-day, and was very pleasing. We 
 talked of an evening society for conversation at a house in town, 
 of which we were all members, but of which Johnson said : " It 
 will never do, Sir. There is nothing served about there, neither 
 tea, nor coffee, nor lemonade, nor anything whatever ; and depend 
 upon it. Sir, a man does not love to go to a place from whence 
 he comes out exactly as he went in." I endeavored for argu- 
 ment's sake, to maintain that men of learning and talents might 
 have very good intellectual society, without the aid of any little 
 gratifications of the senses. Berenger joined with Johnson, and 
 said, that without these any meeting would be dull and insipid. 
 He would therefore have all the slight refreshments ; nay, it 
 would not be amiss to have some cold meat, and a bottle of wine 
 upon a sideboard. " Sir (said Johnson to me, with an air of 
 triumph), Mr. Berenger knows the world. Every body loves to 
 have good things furnished to them without any trouble. I told 
 Mrs. Thrale once, that as she did not choose to have card-tables, 
 she should have a profusion of the best sweetmeats, and she 
 would be sure to have company enough come to her." I agreed 
 with my illustrious friend upon this subject ; for it has pleased 
 God to make man a composite animal, and where there is noth- 
 ing to refresh the body, the mind will languish. 
 
 On Sunday, April 15, being Easter Day, after solemn worship 
 in St. Paul's Church, I found him alone ; Dr. Scott, of the Com- 
 mons, came in. He talked of its having been said, that Addison 
 wrote some of his best papers in The Spectator^ when warm 
 with wine. Dr. Johnson did not seem willing to admit this. Dr. 
 Scott, as a confirmation of it, related, that Blackstone, a sober 
 man, composed his "Commentaries" with a botde of port 
 
 1 Richard Berenger, Esq., many years Gentleman of the Horse to his present 
 Majesty, and author of "The History and Art of Horsemanship," 1771. — Slalone. 
 Hannah More (" Memoirs," i. 175) lias described him as " all chivalry, blank verse, 
 and anecdote" ( Crokcr) ; and Mrs. Piozzi (" Anec." 156), as Johnson's " standard 
 of true elegance." — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 72.] THE RESURRECriON OF THE BODY. 355 
 
 before him ; and found his mind invigorated and supported in 
 the fatigue of his great work by a temperate use of it. 
 
 I told him that, in a company where I had lately been, a desire 
 was expressed to know his authority for the shocking story of 
 Addison's sending an execution into Steele's house. " Sir," said 
 he, " it is generally known ; it is known to all who are acquainted 
 with the literary history of that period : it is as well known, as that 
 he wrote ' Cato.' " Mr. Thomas Sheridan once defended Addison 
 to me, by alleging that he did it in order to cover Steele's goods 
 from other creditors, who were going to seize them. 
 
 We talked of the difference between the mode of education at 
 Oxford and that in those colleges where instruction is chiefly 
 conveyed by lectures. Johnson : ^' Lectures were once useful ; 
 but now, when all can read, and books are so numerous, lectures 
 are unnecessary. If your attention fails, and you miss a part of 
 the lecture, it is lost ; you can not go back as you do upon a 
 book." Dr. Scott agreed with him. But yet," said I, " Dr. 
 Scott, you yourself gave lectures at Oxford." ' He smiled. 
 ^'You laughed, then," said I, "at those who came to you." 
 
 Dr. Scott left us, and soon afterwards we went to dinner. Our 
 company consisted of Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Desmoulins, Mr. 
 Levett, Mr. Allen, the printer, [Mr. Macbean] and Mrs. Hall, 
 sister of the Reverend Mr. John Wesley, and resembling him, as 
 I thought, both in figure and manner. Johnson produced now, 
 for the first time, some handsome silver salvers, which he told me 
 he had bought fourteen years ago ; so it was a grer.t day. I was 
 not a little amused by observing Allen perpetually struggling to 
 talk in the manner of Johnson, like the little frog in the fable 
 blowing himself up to resemble the stately ox. 
 
 I mentioned a kind of religious Robin Hood Society, which 
 met every Sunday evening at Coachmakers' Hall, for free debate : '"^ 
 and that the subject for this night was, the text which relates, 
 with other miracles which happened at our Saviour's death : 
 
 And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints 
 which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrec- 
 tion, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." ^ 
 Mrs. Hall said it was a very curious subject, and she should like 
 to hear it discussed. Johnson (somewhat warmly) : ''One would 
 
 1 William Scott (Lord Stowell) was a tutor at University College for ten years, 
 from 1765-1775. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Dr, Hill refers to Prior's " Life of Goldsmith," i. 420 for an amusing story con- 
 cerning this Society, of which Goldsmith was once a member and, it is said, Burke, 
 
 ^ Matthew xxvii. 52. 
 
356 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 not go to such a place to hear it, — one would not be seen in such 
 a place, — to give countenance to such a meeting." I, however, 
 resolved that I would go. But, Sir," said she, to Johnson, " I 
 should like to hear yoti discuss it." He seemed reluctant to 
 engage in it. She talked of the resurrection of the human race 
 in general, and maintained that we shall be raised with the same 
 bodies. Johnson : " Nay, Madam, we see that it is not to be the 
 same body ; for the Scripture uses the illustration of grain sown, 
 and we know that the grain which grows is not the same with 
 what is sown.^ You cannot suppose that we shall rise with a dis- 
 eased body ; it is enough if there be such a sameness as to dis- 
 tinguish identity of person." She seemed desirous of knowing 
 more, but he left the question in obscurity. 
 
 Of apparitions, he observed : " A total disbelief of them is 
 adverse to the opinion of the existence of the soul between death 
 and the last day ; the question simply is, whether departed spirits 
 ever have the power of making themselves perceptible to us : a 
 man who thinks he has seen an apparition, can only be convinced 
 himself; his authority will not convince another; and his convic- 
 tion, if rational, must be founded on being told something which 
 cannot be known but by supernatural means." 
 
 He mentioned a thing as not unfrequent, of which I had never 
 heard before, — being called, that is, hearing one's name pro- 
 nounced by the voice of a known person at a great distance, far 
 beyond the possibility of being reached by any sound uttered by 
 human organs. " An acquaintance, on whose veracity I can de- 
 pend, told me, that walking home one evening to Kilmarnock, 
 he heard himself called from a wood by the voice of a brother 
 who had gone to America ; and the next packet brought accounts 
 of that brother's death." Macbean asserted that this inexplicable 
 calling was a thing very well known. Dr. Johnson said, that one 
 day at Oxford, as he was turning the key of his chamber, he 
 heard his mother distinctly call — Sam. She was then at Lich- 
 field ; but nothing ensued. This phenomenon is, I think, as 
 wonderful as any other mysterious fact, which many people are 
 very slow to believe, or rather, indeed, reject with an obstinate 
 conte mpt. 
 
 Some time after this, upon his making a remark which escaped 
 my attention, Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Hall were both together 
 striving to answer him. He grew angry, and called out loudly, 
 " Nay, when you both speak at once, it is intolerable." But 
 
 ^ I. Corinthians xv. 37. 
 
Age 72.] A DINNER AT MRS. CIARRTCK'S. 
 
 357 
 
 checking Jiimself, and softening, he said, "This one may say, 
 though you ai-e ladies." Then he brightened into gay humor, 
 and addressed them in the words of one of the songs in " The 
 Beggar's Opera " : 
 
 "But two at a time there 's no mortal can bear." ' 
 
 "What, Sir," said I, "are you going to turn Captain Macheath? " 
 There was something as pleasantly ludicrous in this scene as can 
 be imagined. The contrast between Macheath, Polly and Lucy — 
 and Dr. Samuel Johnson ; blind, peevish Mrs. Williams ; and 
 lean, lank, preaching Mrs. Hall, was exquisite. 
 
 I stole away to Coachmakers' Hall, and heard the difficult text 
 of which we had talked discussed with great decency, and some 
 intelligence, by several speakers. There was a difference of opin- 
 ion as to the appearance of ghosts in modern times, though the 
 arguments for it, supported by Mr. Addison's authority,^ prepon- 
 derated. The immediate subject of debate was embarrassed by 
 the bodies of the saints having been said to rise, and by the ques- 
 tion what became of them afterwards : did they return again 
 to their graves ? or were they translated to heaven ? Only one 
 evangelist mentions the fact, (St. Matthew, xxvii. 52, 3,) and the 
 commentators whom I have looked at do not make the passage 
 clear. There is, however, no occasion for our understanding it 
 farther, than to know that it was one of the extraordinary mani- 
 festations of divine power, which accompanied the most impor- 
 tant event that ever happened. 
 
 On Friday, April 20, I spent with him one of the happiest 
 days that I remember to have enjoyed in the whole course of my 
 life. Mrs. Garrick, whose grief for the loss of her husband was, 
 I believe, as sincere as wounded affection and admiration could 
 produce, had this day, for the first time since his death, a select 
 party of his friends to dine with her.^ The company was Miss 
 Hannah More, who lived with her and whom she called her 
 chaplain, Mrs. Boscawen, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds, Dr. Burney, Dr. Johnson, and myself. We found ourselves 
 very elegantly entertained at her house in the Adelphi, where I 
 have passed many a pleasing hour with him " who gladdened 
 
 1 " One wife is too much for most husbands to hear; 
 
 But two at a time there 's no mortal can bear." Act iii. sc. 4. 
 * Spectator, No. no. 
 
 ' Garrick had been dead a little more than two years : since Jan. 20, 1779. 
 
358 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 life." ^ She looked well, talked of her husband with coijiplacency, 
 and, while she cast her eyes on his portrait which hung over the 
 chimney-piece, said, that " death was now the most agreeable 
 object to her." The very semblance of David Garrick was cheer- 
 ing. Mr. Beauclerk, with happy propriety, inscribed under that 
 fine portrait of him, which by Lady Diana's kindness is now the 
 property of my friend Mr. Langton, the following passage from 
 his beloved Shakespeare : 
 
 " . . . A merrier man, 
 Within the limit of becoming mirth, 
 I never spent an hour's talk withal: 
 His eye begets occasion for his wit; 
 For every object that the one doth catch 
 The other turns to a mirth-moving jest; 
 Which his fair tongue, conceit's expositor, 
 Delivers in such apt and gracious words, 
 That aged years play truant at his tales 
 And younger hearings are quite ravished; 
 So sweet and voluble is his discourse." 
 
 *' Love's Labour 's Lost," ii. i. 
 
 We were all in fine spirits ; and I whispered to Mrs. Boscawen, 
 ''I believe this is as much as can be made of life." In addition 
 to a splendid entertainment, we were regaled with Lichfield ale, 
 which had a peculiar appropriate value. Sir Joshua, and Dr. 
 Burney, and I, drank cordially of it to Dr. Johnson's health ; and 
 though he would not join us, he as cordially answered, " Gentle- 
 men, I wish you all as well as you do me." 
 
 The general effect of this day dwells upon my mind in fond 
 remembrance ; but I do not find much conversation recorded. 
 What I have preserved shall be faithfully given. 
 
 One of the company mentioned Mr. Thomas Hollis, the strenu- 
 ous Whig, who used to send over Europe presents of den'iocrati- 
 cal books with their boards stamped with daggers and caps 
 of Liberty. Mrs. Carter said, " He was a bad man : he used 
 to talk uncharitably." Johnson: ''Poh! poh ! Madam; who is 
 the worse for being talked of uncharitably? Besides, he was a 
 dull poor creature as ever lived : and I believe he would not have 
 done harm to a man whom he knew to be , of very opposite princi- 
 ples to his own. I remember once at the Society of Arts, when 
 an advertisement was to be drawn up, he pointed me out as the 
 
 ^ Boswell quotes from Johnson's eulogium on Garrick in his " Life of Edmund 
 Smith." — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 72.] THE LIFE OF A LITERARY MAN. 
 
 359 
 
 man who cauld do it best. This, you will observe, was kindness 
 to me. I however sHpped away and escaped it." 
 
 Mrs. Carter having said of the same person, " I doubt he was 
 an atheist." Johnson : " I do n't know that. He might perhaps 
 have become one, if he had had time to ripen. (Smiling.) He 
 might have exuberated into an atheist." 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds praised Mudge's " Sermons." Johnson : 
 " Mudge's ' Sermons ' are good, but not practical. He grasps more 
 sense than he can hold ; he takes more corn than he can make 
 into meal ; he opens a wide prospect, but it is so distant, it is in- 
 distinct. I love Blair's ' Sermons.' Though the dog is a Scotch- 
 man, and a Presbyterian, and every thing he should not be, I was 
 the first to praise them. Such was my candor." (Smiling.) 
 Mrs. BoscAWEN : " Such his great merit, to get the better of all 
 your prejudices." Johnson : " Why, Madam, let us compound 
 the matter; let us ascribe it to my candor, and his merit." 
 
 In the evening we had a large company in the^rawing-room ; 
 several ladies, the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Percy, Mr. Chamber- 
 layne of the Treasury, &c. &c. Somebody said, the life of a mere 
 hterary man could not be very entertaining. Johnson : " But it 
 certainly may. This is a remark which has been made, and re- 
 peated, without justice ; why should the life of a literary man be 
 less entertaining than the life of any other man? Are there not 
 as interesting varieties in such a life ? a literaiy life it may 
 be very entertaining." Boswell : " But it must be better surely, 
 when it is diversified with a little active variety — such as his 
 having gone to Jamaica ; — or his having gone to the Heb- 
 rides." Johnson was not displeased at this. 
 
 Talking of a very respectable author, he told us a curious cir- 
 cumstance in his life, which was, that he had married a printer's 
 devil. Reynolds: "A printer's devil. Sir! Why, I thought a 
 printer's devil was a creature with a black face and in rags." 
 Johnson : " Yes, Sir. But I suppose he had her face washed, 
 and put clean clothes on her." (Then looking very serious, and 
 very earnest.) " And she did not disgrace him ; the woman had 
 a bottom of good sense." The word bottom thus introduced 
 was so ludicrous when contrasted with his gravity, that most of us 
 could not forbear tittering and laughing ; though I recollect that 
 the Bishop of Killaloe kept his countenance with perfect steadi- 
 ness, while Miss Hannah More slyly hid her face behind a lady's 
 back who sat on the same settee with her. His pride could not 
 bear that any expression of his should excite ridicule, when he 
 
360 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSO^\ [A.D. 1781. 
 
 did not intend it ; he therefore resolved to assume and exercise 
 despotic power, glanced sternly around, and called out in a strong 
 tone, ''Where 's the merriment?" Then collecting himself, and 
 looking awful, to make us feel how he could impose restraint, and 
 as it were searching his mind for a still more ludicrous word, he 
 slowly pronounced, " I say the woman was fundamentally sensi- 
 ble ; " as if he had said, hear this now, and laugh if you dare. 
 We all sat composed as at a funeral. 
 
 He and I walked away together ; we stopped a little while by 
 the rails of the Adelphi, looking on the Thames, and I said to 
 him with some emotion, that I was now thinking of two friends 
 we had lost, who once lived in the buildings behind us, Beauclerk 
 and Garrick. "Ay, Sir," said he, tenderly, "and two such 
 friends as can not be supplied." 
 
 For some time after this day I did not see him very often, and 
 of the conversation which I did enjoy I am sorry to find I have 
 preserved buf^ttle. I was at this time engaged in a variety of 
 other matters, which required exertion and assiduity, and neces- 
 sarily occupied almost all my time. 
 
 One day, having spoken very freely of those who were then in 
 power, he said to me, " Between ourselves, Sir, I do not like to 
 give Opposition the satisfaction of knowing how much I dis- 
 approve of the Ministry." And when I mentioned that Mr. 
 Burke had boasted how quiet the nation was in George the 
 Second's reign, when Whigs were in power, compared wdth 
 the present reign, when Tories governed : " Why, Sir," said 
 he, "you are to consider that Tories having more reverence 
 for government, will not oppose with the same violence as 
 Whigs, who being unrestrained by that principle, will oppose by 
 any means." 
 
 This month he lost not only Mr. Thrale, but another friend, 
 Mr. William Strahan junior, printer, the eldest son of his old and 
 constant friend. Printer to his Majesty. 
 
 TO MRS. STRAHAN. 
 
 Dear Madam : The grief which I feel for the loss of a very kind friend, is 
 sufficient to make me know how much you suffer by the death of an amiable 
 son; a man, of whom I think it may be truly said, that no one knew him who 
 does not lament him. I look upon myself as having a friend, another friend, 
 taken from me. 
 
 Comfort, dear Madam, I would give you, if I could; but I know how little 
 the forms of consolation can avail. Let me, however, counsel you not to 
 waste your health in unprofitable sorrow, but go to Bath, and endeavour 
 
Age 72.] RAILLERY AGAINST SCOTLAND. 
 
 361 
 
 to prolong your own life; but when we have all done all that we can, one 
 friend must in time lose the other. I am, dear Madam, your most humble 
 servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 April 23, 1781. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 8, I had the pleasure of again dining with 
 him and Mr. Wilkes, at Mr. Billy's. No 7tegotiation was now re- 
 quired to bring them together; for Johnson was so well satisfied 
 with the former interview, that he was very glad to meet Wilkes 
 again, who was this day seated between Dr. Beattie and Dr. 
 Johnson (between Tj^iith and Reason, as General Paoli said, 
 when I told him of it) . Wilkes : " I have been thinking, Dr. 
 Johnson, that there should be a bill brought into Parliament that 
 the controverted elections for Scotland should be tried in that 
 country, at their own abbey of Holyrood House, and not here ; 
 for the consequence of trying them here is, that we have an in- 
 undation 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 posses- 
 sion of two thousand pounds, what remains for all the rest of the 
 nation?" Wilkes: "You know, in the last war, the immense 
 booty which 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. 
 
 The subject of quotation being introduced, Mr. Wilkes cen- 
 sured it as pedantry. Johnson : " No, Sir, it is a good thing ; 
 there is a community of mind in it. Classical quotation is the 
 parole of literary men all over the world." Wilkes : " Upon the 
 Continent they all quote the Vulgate Bible. Shakespeare is 
 
 *Thurot's squadron was the only one of those destined for the French invasion 
 of England in 1759-60 which had succeeded in escaping our Channel fleet. He 
 was eventually killed and his ships taken in an engagement ofT Carrickfergus, which 
 he had just plundered. 
 
362 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 chiefly quoted here ; and we quote also Pope, Prior, Butler, 
 Waller, and sometimes Cowley. 
 
 We talked of letter-writing. Johnson : " It is now become so 
 much the fashion to publish letters, that in order to avoid it, I 
 put as little into mine as I can." Boswell : " Do what you will. 
 Sir, you cannot avoid it. Should you even write as ill as you 
 can, your letters would be published as curiosities : 
 
 ** * Behold a miracle ! instead of wit, 
 
 See two dull lines with Stanhope's pencil writ.' " ' 
 
 He gave us an entertaining account of Bet Flint, a woman of 
 the town, who, with some eccentric talents and much effrontery, 
 forced herself upon his acquaintance. Bet," said he, " wrote 
 her own Life in verse,^ which she brought to me, wishing that I 
 would furnish her with a preface to it. (Laughing.) I used to 
 say of her, that she was generally slut and drunkard ; occasionally 
 whore and thief. She had, however, genteel lodgings, a spinnet 
 on which she played, and a boy that walked before her chair. 
 Poor Bet was taken up on a charge of stealing a counterpane, 
 and tried at the Old Bailey. Chief Justice [Willes], who loved 
 a wench, summed up favorably, and she was acquitted.^ After 
 which. Bet said, with a gay and satisfied air, 'Now that the # 
 counterpane is 7ny own, I shall make a petticoat of it.' " 
 
 Talking of oratory, Mr. Wilkes described it as accompanied 
 with all the charms of poetical expression. Johnson : " No, Sir ; 
 oratory is the power of beating down your adversary's arguments, 
 and putting better in their place." Wilkes : " But this does not 
 move the passions." Johnson : " He must be a weak man, who 
 is to be so moved." Wilkes (naming a celebrated orator) : 
 
 ^" Accept a miracle," &c. Young told Spence ("Anecdotes," 377) that the lines 
 were his own, and written with Lord Chesterfield's diamond on a drinking-glass at 
 a club called " The World," held at the King's Head in Fall Mall. 
 
 2 Johnson, whose memory was wonderfully retentive, remembered the first 
 four lines of this curious production, which have been communicated to me by a 
 young lady of his acquaintance : 
 
 " When first I drew my vital breath, 
 A little minikin I came upon earth; 
 And then I came from a dark abode, 
 Into this gay and gaudy world." — B. 
 *The account which Johnson had received on this occasion, was not quite 
 accurate. Bet was tried at the Old Bailey in September, 1758, not by the Chief 
 ustice here alluded to (who however tried another cause on the same day), but 
 efore Sir William Moreton, Recorder; and she was acquitted, not in consequence 
 of any favorable summing up of the judge, but because the prosecutrix, Mary Wal- 
 thow, could not prove that the goods charged to have been stolen (a counterpane, 
 a silver spoon, two napkins, &c.) were her property. — Malone. 
 
Age 72.] ENGLISH TENACITY OF FORMS. 
 
 363 
 
 4» 
 
 "Amidst all the brilliancy of [Burke's] imagination, and the ex- 
 uberance of his wit, there is a strange want of taste. It was 
 observed of Apelles's Venus, that her flesh seemed as if she had 
 been nourished by roses : his oratory would sometimes make one 
 suspect that he eats potatoes and drinks whiskey." 
 
 Mr. Wilkes observed, how tenacious we are of forms in this 
 country ; and gave as an instance, the vote of the House of Com- 
 mons for remitting money to pay the army in America in Portu- 
 gal pieces, when in reality, the remittance is made not in Portugal 
 money, but in our specie. Johnson : Is there not a law. Sir, 
 against exporting the current coin of the realm?" Wilkes: 
 "Yes, Sir; but might not the House of Commons, in case of real 
 evident necessity, order our own current coin to be sent into our 
 own colonies? " Here Johnson, with that quickness of recollec- 
 tion which distinguished him so eminently, gave the Middlesex 
 Patriot an admirable retort upon his own ground. " Sure, Sir, 
 you do n't think a 7'esolution of the House of Commons equal to 
 the law of the land.'' Wilkes (at once perceiving the applica- 
 tion) : " God forbid, Sir." To hear what had been treated with 
 such violence in "The False Alarm," now turned into pleasant 
 repartee, was extremely agreeable. Johnson went on : " Locke 
 observes well, that a prohibition to export the current coin is im- 
 *politic; for when the balance of trade happens to be against a 
 state, the current coin must be exported." 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk's great library * was this season sold in London 
 by auction. Mr. Wilkes said, he wondered to find in it such a 
 numerous collection of sermons : seeming to think it strange that 
 a gentleman of Mr. Beauclerk's character in the gay world, should 
 have chosen to have many compositions of that kind. Johnson : 
 " Why, Sir, you are to consider, that sermons make a consider- 
 able branch of English literature ; so that a library must be very 
 imperfect if it has not a numerous collection of sermons ; ^ and 
 
 1 It contained upwards of 30,000 volumes ; and the sale extended over fifty days. 
 It brought ;^5oii. 
 
 2 Mr. Wilkes probably did not know that there is an English sermon the most 
 comprehensive and lively account of that entertaining faculty, for which he himself 
 was so much admired. It is in Barrow's first volume, and fourteenth sermon, 
 " Against foolish Talking and Jesting." My old acquaintance, the late Corbyn 
 Morris, in his ingenious " Essay on Wit, Hiunor, and Ridicule," calls it " a profuse 
 description of wit : " but I do not see how it could be curtailed without leaving out 
 some good circumstance of discrimination. As it is not generally known, and may 
 perhaps dispose some to read sermons, from which they may receive real advan- 
 tage, while looking only for entertainment, I shall here subjoin it. " But first (says 
 the learned preacher) it may be demanded, what the thing we speak of is? Or 
 what this facetiousncss (or wit, as he calls it betore) doth import? To which 
 questions I might reply, as Democritus did to him that asked the definition of a 
 
364 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 in all collections, Sir, the desire of augmenting them grows 
 stronger in proportion to the advance in acquisition ; as motion 
 is accelerated by the continuance of the impetus. Besides, Sir 
 (looking at Mr. Wilkes with a placid but significant smile), a man 
 may collect sermons with intention of making himself better by 
 them. I hope Mr. Beauclerk intended, that some time or other 
 that should be the case with him." 
 
 Mr. Wilkes said to me, loud enough for Dr. Johnson to hear, 
 " Dr. Johnson should make me a present of his ' Lives of the 
 Poets' as I am a poor patriot, who cannot afford to buy them." 
 Johnson seemed to take no notice of this hint ; but in a little 
 while, he called to Mr. Dilly, " Pray, Sir, be so good as to send a 
 set of my ^ Lives ' to Mr. Wilkes, with my compliments." This 
 was accordingly done ; and Mr. Wilkes paid Dr. Johnson a visit, 
 was courteously received, and sat with him a long time. 
 
 man, ' 'T is that which we all see and know.' Any one better apprehends what it is 
 by acquaintance, than I can inform him by description. It is, indeed, a thing so ver- 
 satile and multiform, appearing in so many shapes, so many postures, so many 
 garbs, so variously apprehended by several eyes and judgments, that it seemeth no 
 less hard to settle a clear and certain notion thereof, than to make a portrait of 
 Proteus, or to define the figure of the fleeting air. Sometimes it lieth in pat allusion 
 to a known story, or in seasonable application of a trivial saying, or in forging an 
 apposite tale; sometimes it playeth in words and phrases, taking advantage from 
 the ambiguity of their sense, or the affinity of their sound : sometimes it is wrapped 
 in a dress of humorous expression : sometimes it lurketh under an odd similitude : 
 sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason, in 
 a shrewd intimation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly retorting an objection : some- 
 times it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, 
 in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of contradictions, or in acute non- 
 sense : sometimes a scenical representation of persons or things, a counterfeit speech, 
 a mimical look or gesture, passeth for it: sometimes an affected simplicity, some- 
 times a presumptuous bluntness giveth it being : sometimes it riseth only from a lucky 
 hitting upon what is strange : sometimes from a crafty wresting obvious matter to the 
 purpose. Often it consisteth in one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly 
 tell how. Its ways are unaccountable, and inexplicable ; being answerable to the num- 
 berless rovings of fancy, and windings of language. It is, in short, a manner of speak- 
 ing out of the simple and plain way (such as reason teachethand proveth things by), 
 which by a pretty surprising uncouthness in conceit or expression, doth affect and 
 amuse the fancy, stirring in it some wonder, and breeding some delight thereto. It 
 raiseth admiration as signifying a nimble sagacity of apprehension, a special felicity 
 of invention, a vivacity of spirit, and reach of wit more than vulgar: it seeming to 
 argue a rare quickness of parts, that one can fetch in remote conceits applicable; a 
 notable skill, that he can dexterously accommodate them to the purpose before him; 
 together witli a lively briskness of humor, not apt to damp those sportful flashes of 
 imagination. (Whence in Aristotle such persons are termed e-t6.^ioi, dexterous 
 men, and exjTpojioi. men of facile or versatile manners, who can easily turn themselves 
 to all things, or turn all things to themselves.) It also procureth delight, by gratify- 
 ing curiosity with its rareness, as semblance of difficulty (as monsters, not for their 
 beauty, but their rarity: as juggling tricks, not for their use, but their abstruseness, 
 are bc^held with pleasure) : by diverting the mind from its road of serious thoughts; 
 by instilling gayety and airiness of spirit; by provoking to such dispositions of spirit 
 in way of emulation or complaisance: and by seasoning matters, otherwise distaste- 
 ful or insipid, with an unusual and thence grateful tang." — B. 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 BLUE-STOCKING CLUB. 
 
 365 
 
 The company gradually dropped away. Mr. Dilly himself was 
 called down-stairs upon business ; I left the room for some time ; 
 when I returned, I was struck with observing Dr. Samuel Johnson 
 and John Wilkes, Esq., literally tete-d-tete ; for they were reclined 
 upon their chairs, with their heads leaning almost close to each 
 other, and talking earnestly, in a kind of confidential whisper, of 
 the personal quarrel between George the Second and the King of 
 Prussia.^ Such a scene of perfectly easy sociality between two 
 such opponents in the war of political controversy, as that which 
 I now beheld, would have been an excellent subject for a picture. 
 It presented to my mind the happy days which are foretold in 
 Scripture, when the lion shall lie down with the kid.^ 
 
 After this day there was another pretty long interval, during 
 which Dr. Johnson and I did not meet. When I mentioned it to 
 him with regret, he was pleased to say, " Then, Sir, let us live 
 double." 
 
 About this time it was much the fashion for several ladies to 
 have evening assemblies, where the fair sex might participate in 
 conversation with literary and ingenious men, animated by a de- 
 sire to please. These societies were denominated Blue-stocking 
 Clubs, the origin of which title being little known, it may be 
 worth while to relate it. One of the most eminent members of 
 those societies, when they first commenced, was Mr. Stillingfleet,^ 
 whose dress was remarkably grave, and in particular it was ob- 
 served, that he wore blue stockings. Such was the excellence of 
 his conversation, that his absence was felt as so great a loss, that 
 it used to be said, We can do nothing without the blue stock- 
 ings and thus by degrees the title was established. Miss Han- 
 nah More has admirably described a Blue-stocking Club, in her 
 " Bas Bleu," a poem in which many of the persons who were most 
 conspicuous there are mentioned. 
 
 Johnson was prevailed with to come sometimes into these cir- 
 cles, and did not think himself too grave even for the lively Miss 
 Monckton (now Countess of Cork,) who used to have the finest 
 bit of blue at the house of her mother. Lady Galway. Her vivac- 
 ity enchanted the Sage, and they used to talk together with all 
 
 ^The quarrel arose from the destruction by George II. of George I.'s will. The 
 King of Prussia, Frederick the Great, was George I.'s grandson, and thought his 
 mother had been remembered in the will. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 When I mentioned this to the Bishop of Killaloe, " With the goat," said his 
 Lordship. Such, however, was the engaging politeness and pleasantry of Mr, 
 Wilkes, and such the social good humor of the Bishop, that when they dined to- 
 gether at Mr. Dilly's where I also was, they were mutually agreeable. — B. 
 
 3 Mr. Benjamin Stillingfieet, author of tracts relating to natural history, &c. — B. 
 
366 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 imaginable ease. A singular instance happened one evening, 
 when she insisted that some of Sterne's writings were very 
 pathetic. Johnson bluntly denied it. ^' I am sure," said she, 
 " they have affected — Why," said Johnson, smiling, and 
 rolling himself about, " that is, because, dearest, you 're a dunce." 
 When she some time afterwards mentioned this to him, he said 
 with equal truth and politeness, " Madam, if I had thought so, I 
 certainly should not have said it." 
 
 Another evening Johnson's kind indulgence towards me had a 
 pretty difficult trial. I had dined at the Duke of Montrose's with 
 a very agreeable party, and his Grace, according to his usual cus- 
 tom, had circulated the bottle very freely. Lord Graham and I 
 went together to Miss Monckton's, where I certainly was in ex- 
 traordinary spirits, and above all fear or awe. In the midst of a 
 great number of persons of the first rank, amongst whom I recol- 
 lect with confusion a noble lady of the most stately decorum, I 
 placed myself next to Johnson, and thinking myself now fully his 
 match, talked to him in a loud and boisterous manner, desirous 
 to let the company know how I could contend with Ajax. I 
 particularly remember pressing him upon the value of the pleas- 
 ures of the imagination, and as an illustration of my argument, 
 
 asking him, " What, Sir, supposing I were to fancy that the 
 
 (naming the most charming duchess in his Majesty's domin- 
 ions) were in love with me, should I not be very happy?" My 
 friend with much address evaded my interrogatories, and kept me 
 as quiet as possible ; but it may easily be conceived how he must 
 have felt.' However, when a few days afterwards I waited upon 
 
 ^ Next day I endeavored to give what had happened the most ingenious turn I 
 could, by the following verses : 
 
 TO THE HONORABLE MISS MONCKTON. 
 
 Not that with th' excellent Montrose 
 
 I had the happiness to dine; 
 Not that I late from table rose, 
 
 From Graham's wit, from generous wine. 
 
 It was not these alone which led 
 
 On sacred manners to encroach ; • 
 And made me feel what most I dread, 
 
 Johnson's just frown, and self-reproach. 
 
 But when I enter'd, not abash'd, 
 
 From your bright eyes were shot such rays. 
 
 At once intoxication flash'd, 
 
 And all my frame was in a blaze ! 
 
 But not a brilliant blaze I own. 
 
 Of the dull smoke I'm yet asham'd; 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 ROBUST SOPHISTRY. 
 
 367 
 
 him and made an apology, he behaved with the most friendly 
 gentleness. While I remained in London this year, Johnson and 
 I dined together at several places. I recollect a placid day at 
 Dr. Butler's, who had now removed from Derby to Lower Gros- 
 venor Street, London ; but of his conversation on that and other 
 occasions during this period, I neglected to keep any regular 
 record, and shall therefore insert here some miscellaneous articles 
 which I find in my Johnsonian notes. 
 
 His disorderly habits when making provision for the day that 
 was passing over him," appear from the following anecdote com- 
 municated to me by Mr. John Nichols: "In the year 1763, a 
 young bookseller, who was an apprentice to Mr. Whiston, waited 
 on him with a subscription to his ' Shakspeare ' : and observing 
 that the Doctor made no entry in any book of the subscriber's 
 name, ventured diffidently to ask, whether he would please to 
 have the gentleman's address, that it might be properly inserted 
 in the printed list of subscribers. ' / shall print no list of sub- 
 scribers,' said Johnson, with great abruptness, but almost imme- 
 diately recollecting himself, added, very complacently, ' Sir, I 
 have two very cogent reasons for not printing any list of sub- 
 scribers ; one, that I have lost all the names, — the other, that I 
 have spent all the money." 
 
 Johnson could not brook appearing to be worsted in argument, 
 even when he had taken the wrong side, to show the force and 
 dexterity of his talents. When, therefore, he perceived that his 
 opponent gained ground, he had recourse to some sudden mode 
 of robust sophistry. Once when I was pressing upon hun with 
 visible advantage, he stopped me thus : " My dear Boswell, 
 let 's have no more of this ; you '11 make nothing of it. I 'd rather 
 have you whistle a Scotch tune." 
 
 Care, however, must be taken to distinguish between Johnson 
 when he "talked for victory," and Johnson when he had no de- 
 sire but to inform and illustrate. " One of Johnson's principal 
 talents (says an eminent friend of his [Gerard Hamilton]), was 
 shown in maintaining the wrong side of an argument, and in a 
 
 I was a dreary ruin grown, 
 And not enlighten'd though inflam'd. 
 
 Victim at once to wine and love, 
 
 I hope, Maria, you '11 forgive; 
 While I invoke the powers above, 
 
 That henceforth I may wiser live. 
 
 The lady was generously forgiving, returned me an obliging answer, and I thus 
 obtained an Act of Oblivion, and took care never to offend again. — B. 
 
I 
 
 368 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 splendid perversion of the truth. If you could contrive to have 
 his fair opinion on a subject, and without any bias from personal 
 prejudice, or from a wish to be victorious in argument, it was 
 wisdom itself, not only convincing, but overpowering." 
 
 He had, however, all his life habituated himself to consider 
 conversation as a trial of intellectual vigor and skill ; and to this, 
 I think, we may venture to ascribe that unexampled richness and 
 brilliancy which appeared in his own. As a proof at once of his 
 eagerness for colloquial distinction, and his high notion of this 
 
 eminent friend, he once addressed him thus : , we now 
 
 have been several hours together; and you have said but one 
 thing for which I envied you." 
 
 He disliked much all speculative desponding considerations, 
 which tended to discourage men from diligence and exertion. He 
 was in this like Dr. Shaw,' the great traveller, who, Mr. Daines 
 Barrington told me, used to say, " I hate a cm bono man." Upon 
 being asked by a friend ^ what he should think of a man who was 
 apt to say non est tanti ; "That he's a stupid fellow. Sir," 
 answered Johnson : " What would these tanti men be doing the 
 while?" When I, in a low-spirited fit, was talking to him with 
 indifference of the pursuits which generally engage us in a course 
 of action, and inquiring a reasoii for taking so much trouble : 
 " Sir," said he, in an animated tone, it is driving on the system 
 of life." 
 
 He told me, that he was glad that I had, by General Ogle- 
 thorpe's means, become acquainted with Dr. Shebbeare. Indeed 
 that gentleman, whatever objections were made to him, had 
 knowledge and abilities much above the class of ordinary writers, 
 and deserves to be remembered as a respectable name in liter- 
 ature, were it only for his admirable Letters on the English 
 Nation," under the name of Battista Angeloni, a Jesuit." ^ 
 
 Johnson and Shebbeare,"* were frequently named together, as 
 having in former reigns had no predilection for the family of 
 Hanover. The author of the celebrated " Heroic Epistle to Sir 
 William Chambers," introduces them in one line, in a list of 
 those "who tasted the sweets of his present Majesty's reign." 
 
 1 Thomas Shaw, D.D., author of "Travels to Barbary and the Levant." 
 a Probably Boswell himself. 
 
 8 "Letters on the English Nation," by Battista Angeloni, a Jesuit, who resided 
 many years in London. Translated from the original Italian by the author of " The 
 Marriage Act." A novel. 2 vols. 1755. Shebbeare published also six " Letters to 
 the People of England," the last of which brought him to the pillory. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 *I recollect a ludicrous paragraph in the newspapers that the King had pen- 
 sioned both a //^-bear and a She-h^zx. — B. 
 
Age 72.] THE EARL OF CARLISLE'S POEMS. 
 
 369 
 
 Such was Johnson's candid relish of the merit of that satire, that 
 he allowed Dr. Goldsmith, as he told me, to read it to him from 
 beginning to end, and did not refuse his praise to its execu- 
 tion. 
 
 Goldsmith could sometimes take adventurous liberties with 
 him, and escape unpunished. Beauclerk told me that when 
 Goldsmith talked of a project for having a third theatre in Lon- 
 don solely for the exhibition of new plays, in order to deliver 
 authors from the supposed tyranny of managers, Johnson treated 
 it slightingly, upon which Goldsmith said, "■ Ay, ay, this may be 
 nothing to you, who can now shelter yourself behind the corner 
 of a pension ; " and that Johnson bore this with good-humor. 
 
 Johnson praised the Earl of Carlisle's poems, which his Lord- 
 ship had published with his name, as not disdaining to be a can- 
 didate for literary fame.^ My friend was of opinion, that when 
 a man of rank appeared in that character, he deserved to have 
 his merit handsomely allowed.^ In this I think he was more 
 liberal than Mr. William Whitehead, in his " Elegy to Lord 
 Villiers," in which, under the pretext of ''superior toils demand- 
 ing all their care," he discovers a jealousy of the great paying 
 their court to the Muses : 
 
 ^ Frederick, fifth Earl of Carlisle, the kinsman and guardian to whom Byron 
 dedicated the second edition of " Hom-s of Idleness," and whom he satirized in 
 " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," for which however he subsequently made 
 amends in the third canto of" Childe Harold." 
 
 2 Men of rank and fortune however should be pretty well assured of having a 
 real claim to the approbation of the public, as writers, before they venture to stand 
 forth. Dryden in his preface to " All for Love," thus expresses himself : " Men of 
 pleasant conversation (at least esteemed so) and endued with a trifling kind of 
 fancy, perhaps helped out by a smattering of Latin, are ambitious to distinguish 
 themselves from the herd of gentlemen, by their poetry ; 
 
 ' Rarus enim ferme sensus communis in ilia 
 Fortuna.' [Juvenal. " Sat." viii. 73.] 
 
 And is not this a wretched affectation, not to be contented with what fortune has 
 done for them, and sit down quietly with their estates, but they must call their wits 
 in question, and needlessly expose their nakedness to public view? Not consider- 
 ing that they are not to expect the same approbation from sober men which they 
 have found from their flatterers after the third bottle : If a little glittering in dis- 
 course has passed them on us for witty men, where was the necessity of undeceiv- 
 ing the world? Would a man, who has an ill title to an estate, but yet is in 
 possession of it, would he bring it out of his own accord to be tried at Westminster? 
 We who write, if we want the talents, yet have the excuse that we do it for a poor 
 subsistence ; but what can be urged in their defence, who, not having the vocation 
 of poverty to scribble, out of mere wantonness take pains to make themselves 
 ridiculous? Horace was certainly in the right when he said, ' That no man is sat- 
 isfied with his own condition.' A poet is not pleased, because he is not rich ; and 
 the rich are discontented because the poets will not admit them of their number." 
 
 Vol. II. — 2^ 
 
370 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 *' . . . to the chosen few 
 
 Who dare excel, thy fost'ring aid afford; 
 Their arts, their magic powers, with honors due 
 Exalt; but be thyself what they record." 
 
 Johnson had called twice on the Bishop of Killaloe before his 
 Lordship set out for Ireland, having missed him the first time. 
 He said : " It would have hung heavy on my heart if I had not 
 seen him. No man ever paid more attention to another than 
 he has done to me ; ^ and I have neglected him, not wilfully, but 
 from being otherwise occupied. Always, Sir, set a high value on 
 spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to 
 cultivate your friendship of his own accord, will love you more 
 than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you." 
 
 Johnson told me, that he was once much pleased to find that 
 a carpenter, who lived near him, was very ready to show him 
 some things in his business which he wished to see : " It was 
 paying," said he, respect to literature." 
 
 I asked him, if he was not dissatisfied with having so small a 
 share of wealth, and none of those distinctions in the state which 
 are the objects of ambition. He had only a pension of three 
 hundred a year. Why was he not in such circumstances as to 
 keep his coach? Why had he not some considerable office? 
 Johnson : " Sir, I have never complained of the world ; nor do I 
 think that I have reason to complain. It is rather to be wondered 
 at that I have so much. My pension is more out of the usual 
 course of things than any instance that I have known. Here, 
 Sir, was a man avowedly no friend to Government at the time, 
 who got a pension without asking for it. I never courted the 
 great ; they sent for me ; but I think they now give me up. They 
 are satisfied : they have seen enough of me." Upon my observ- 
 ing that I could not believe this, for they must certainly be highly 
 
 1 This gave me very great pleasure, for there had been once a pretty smart alter- 
 cation between Dr. Barnard and him, upon a question, whether a man could im- 
 prove himself after the age of forty-five; when Johnson in a hasty humor, 
 expressed himself in a manner not quite civil. Dr. Birnard made it the subject 
 of a copy of pleasant verses, in which he supposed himself to learn different per- 
 fections from different men. They concluded with delicate irony: 
 
 " Johnson shall teach me how to place 
 In fairest light each borrow'd grace; 
 
 From him I '11 learn to write: 
 Copy his clear familiar style, 
 And by the roughness of his file 
 Grow, like lutnself, polite." 
 I know not whether Johnson ever saw the poem, but I had occasion to find that as 
 Dr. Barnard and he knew each other better, their mutual regard increased. — B. 
 
Age 72.] JOHNSON NOT SOUGHT BY THE GL'JwiT. 371 
 
 pleased by his conversation : conscious of his own superiority, he 
 answered, " No, Sir ; great lords and great ladies do n't love to 
 have their mouths stopped." This was very expressive of the 
 effect which the force of his understanding and brilliancy of his 
 fancy could not but produce ; and, to be sure, they must have 
 found themselves strangely diminished in his company. When 
 I warmly declared how happy I was at all times to hear him : 
 " Yes, Sir," said he ; " but if you were Lord Chancellor, it would 
 not be so : you would then consider your own dignity." 
 
 There was much truth and knowledge of human nature in this 
 remark. But certainly one should think, that in whatever elevated 
 state of life a man who knew the value of the conversation of 
 Johnson might be placed, though he might prudently avoid a 
 situation in which he might appear lessened by comparison ; yet 
 he would frequently gratify himself in private with the participa- 
 tion of the rich intellectual entertainment which Johnson could 
 furnish. Strange, however, is it, to consider how few of the 
 great sought his society ; so that if one were disposed to take 
 occasion for satire on that account, very conspicuous objects pre- 
 sent themselves. His noble friend. Lord Elibank, well observed, 
 that if a great man procured an interview with Johnson, and did 
 not wish to see him more, it showed a mere idle curiosity, and a 
 wretched want of relish for extraordinary powers of mind. Mrs. 
 Thrale justly and wittily accounted for such conduct by saying, 
 that Johnson's conversation was by much too strong for a person 
 accustomed to obsequiousness and flattery ; it was mustard in a 
 young child's mouth ! 
 
 One day, when I told him that I was a zealous Tory, but not 
 enough " according to knowledge," and should be obliged to him 
 for " a reason," he was so candid, and expressed himself so well, 
 that I begged of him to repeat what he had said, and I wrote 
 down as follows : 
 
 OF TORY AND WHIG. 
 
 A wise Tory and a wise Whig, I believe, 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 prejudice of the Tory is for es- 
 tablishment; 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 con- 
 siderable influence, founded on the opinion of mankind; the Whig is for 
 limiting and watching them with a narrow jealousy. 
 
372 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 TO MR. PERKINS. 
 
 Sir: However often I have seen you, I have hitherto forgotten the note, 
 but I have now sent it : with my good wishes for the prosperity of you and 
 your partner,' of whom, from our short conversation, I could not judge 
 otherwise than favourably. I am. Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 June 2, 1781. 
 
 On Saturday, June 2, I set out for Scotland, and had promised 
 to pay a visit in my way, as I sometimes did, at Southill, in Bed- 
 fordshire, at the hospitable mansion of 'Squire Dilly, the elder 
 brother of my worthy friends, the booksellers in the Poultry. 
 Dr. Johnson agreed to be of the party this year, with Mr. Charles 
 Dilly and me, and to go and see Lord Bute's seat at Luton Hoe. 
 He talked little to us in the carriage, being chiefly occupied in 
 reading Dr. Watson's^ second volume of "Chemical Essays," 
 which he liked very well, and his own " Prince of Abyssinia," on 
 which he seemed to be intensely fixed ; having told us, that he 
 had not looked at it since it was first published. I happened to 
 take it out of my pocket this day, and he seized upon it with 
 avidity. He pointed out to me the following remarkable 
 passage : 
 
 " By what means," said the prince, "are the Europeans thus powerful? or 
 why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade or conquest, can- 
 not the Asiatics and Africans invade their coasts, plant colonies in their ports, 
 and give laws to their natural princes? The same wind that carried them back 
 would bring us thither." — "They are more powerful, Sir, than we," an- 
 swered Imlac, "because they are wiser. Knowledge will always predominate 
 over ignorance, as man governs the other animals. But why their knowledge 
 is more than ours, I know not what reason can be given, but the unsearchable 
 will of the Supreme Being." 
 
 He said, " This, Sir, no man can explain otherwise." 
 
 We stopped at Welwyn, where I wished ixiuch to see, in com- 
 pany with Johnson, the residence of the author of " Night 
 Thoughts," which was then possessed by his son, Mr. Young. 
 
 1 Mr. Barclay, a descendant of Robert Barclay, of Ury, the celebrated apologist 
 of the people called Quakers, and remarkable for maintaining the principles of his 
 venerable progenitor, with as much of the elegance of modern manners as is con- 
 sistent with primitive simplicity. — B. 
 
 2 Now Bishop of I^landaff, one of the poorest bishoprics in this Kingdom. His 
 Lordship has written with much zeal to show the propriety of equalizing the rev- 
 enues of bishops. He has informed us that he has burnt all his chemical papers. 
 The friends of our excellent constitution, now assailed on every side by innovators 
 and levellers, would have less regretted the suppression of some of his Lordship's 
 other writings. — B. 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 DR. young's residence. 
 
 373 
 
 Here some address was requisite, for I was not acquainted with 
 Mr. Young, and had I proposed to Dr. Johnson that we should 
 send to him, he would have checked my wish, and perhaps been 
 offended. I therefore concerted with Mr. Dilly, that I should 
 steal away from Dr. Johnson and him, and try what reception I 
 could procure from Mr. Young ; if unfavorable, nothing was to be 
 said ; but if agreeable, I should return and notify it to them. I 
 hastened to Mr. Young's, found he was at home, sent in word 
 that a gentleman desired to wait upon him, and was shown into a 
 parlor, where he and a young lady, his daughter, were sitting. 
 He appeared to be a plain, civil country gentleman ; and when I 
 begged pardon for presuming to trouble him, but that I wished 
 much to see his place, if he would give me leave, he behaved 
 very courteously, and answered, " By all means. Sir, we are just 
 going to drink tea; will you sit down?" I thanked him, but 
 said that Dr. Johnson had come with me from London, and I 
 must return to the inn to drink tea with him ; that my name 
 was Boswell, I had travelled with him in the Hebrides. "Sir," 
 said he, " I should think it a great honor to see Dr. Johnson 
 here. Will you allow me to send for him?" Availing myself of 
 this opening, I said that " I would go myself and bring him, when 
 he had drunk tea ; he knew nothing of my calling here." Having 
 been thus successful, I hastened back to the inn, and informed 
 Dr. Johnson that, " Mr. Young, son of Dr. Young, the author of 
 * Night Thoughts,' whom I had just left, desired to have the 
 honor of seeing him at the house where his father lived." Dr. 
 Johnson luckily made no inquiry how this invitation had arisen 
 but agreed to go, and when we entered Mr. Young's parlor, he 
 addressed him with a very polite bow, "Sir, I had a curiosity to 
 come and see this place. I had the honor to know that great 
 man, your father." We went into the garden, where we found a 
 gravel walk, on each side of which was a row of trees, planted by 
 Dr. Young, which formed a handsome Gothic arch. Dr. Johnson 
 called it a fine grove. I beheld it with reverence. 
 
 We sat some time in the summer-house, on the outside wall of 
 which was inscribed, " A7nbidantes in horto audiebant vocem 
 Dei ; ^ and, in reference to a brook by which it is situated, 
 " Vivendi recte qui prorogat horam,'" ^ &c. I said to Mr. 
 Young, that I had been told his father was cheerful. " Sir," said 
 he, " he was too well-bred a man not to be cheerful in company ; 
 
 ^ Genesis iii. 8. 
 
 ^ Horace : " Epist." i. 2. 41, 
 
374 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.t). 1781. 
 
 but he was gloomy when alone. He never was cheerful after my 
 mother's death, and he had met with many disappointments." 
 Dr. Johnson observed to me afterward : " That this was no favor- 
 able account of Dr. Young ; for it is not becoming in a man to 
 have so little acquiescence in the ways of Providence, as to be 
 gloomy because he has not obtained as much perferment as he 
 expected ; nor to continue gloomy for the loss of his wife. Grief 
 has its time." The last part of this censure was theoretically 
 made. Practically, we know that grief for the loss of a wife may 
 be continued very long, in proportion as affection has been 
 sincere. No man knew this better than Dr. Johnson. 
 
 We went into the church, and looked at the monument erected 
 by Mr. Young to his father. Mr. Young mentioned an anecdote, 
 that his father had received several pounds of subscription- 
 money for his " Universal Passion," but had lost it in the South 
 Sea.' Dr. Johnson thought this must be a mistake ; for he had 
 never seen a subscription-book. 
 
 Upon the road we talked of the uncertainty of profit with 
 which authors and booksellers engage in the publication of literary 
 works. Johnson : " My judgment I have found is no certain 
 rule as to the sale of a book." Boswell : " Pray, Sir, have you 
 been much plagued with authors sending you their works to 
 revise?" Johnson: "No, Sir; I have been thought a sour, 
 surly fellow." Boswell: "Very lucky for you. Sir, — in that 
 respect." I must however observe, that notwithstanding what 
 he now said, which he no doubt imagined at the time to be the 
 fact, there was, perhaps, no man who more frequently yielded to 
 the solicitations even of very obscure authors, to read their 
 manuscripts, or more hberally assisted them with advice and 
 correction. 
 
 He found himself very happy at 'Squire Dilly's, where there is 
 always abundance of excellent fare, and hearty welcome. 
 
 On Sunday, June 3, we all went to Southill church, which is very 
 near to Mr. Dilly's house. It being the first Sunday of the 
 month, the holy sacrament was administered, and I stayed to par- 
 take of it. When I came afterwards into* Dr. Johnson's room, 
 he said, " You did right to stay and receive the communion ; I 
 had not thought of it." This seemed to imply that he did not 
 choose to approach the altar without a previous preparation, as 
 
 ^ This assertion is disproved by a comparison of dates. The first four satires 
 of Young were published in 1725. The South Sea scheme (which appears to be 
 meant), was in 1720. — Malone, 
 
Age 72.] BOSWELL'S PIOUS ELEVATION. 375 
 
 to which good men entertain different opinions, some holding 
 that it is irreverent to partake of that ordinance without consider- 
 able premeditation ; others, that whoever is a sincere Christian, 
 and in a proper frame of mind to discharge any other ritual duty 
 of our religion, may, without scruple, discharge this most solemn 
 one. A middle notion I believe to be the just one, which is, that 
 communicants need not think a long train of preparatory forms 
 indispensably necessary; but neither should they rashly and 
 lightly venture upon so awful and mysterious an institution. 
 Christians must judge each for himself what degree of retirement 
 and self-examination is necessary upon each occasion. 
 
 Being in a frame of mind which, I hope for the felicity of 
 human nature, many experience, — in fine weather, — at the 
 country-house of a friend, — consoled and elevated by pious 
 exercises, I expressed myself with an unrestrained fervor to my 
 " guide, philosopher, and friend : " ^ " My dear Sir, I would fain 
 be a good man ; and I am very good now.^ I fear God, and 
 honor the King, I wish . to do no ill, and to be benevolent to all 
 mankind." He looked at me with a benignant indulgence; but 
 took occasion to give me wise and salutary caution. Do not. 
 Sir, accustom yourself to trust to hnpressions. There is a middle 
 state of mind between conviction and hypocrisy, of which many 
 are conscious. By trusting to impressions, a man may gradually 
 come to yield to them, and at length be subject to them, so as 
 not to be a free agent, or what is the same thing in effect, to 
 suppose that he is not a free agent. A man who is in that state, 
 should not be suffered to live ; if he declares he cannot help 
 acting in a particular way, and is irresistibly impelled, there can 
 be no confidence in him, no more than in a tiger. But, Sir, no 
 man believes himself to be impelled irresistibly ; we know that 
 he who says he believes it, lies. Favorable impressions at par- 
 ticular moments, as the state of our souls, may be deceitful and 
 dangerous. In general no man can be sure of his acceptance 
 with God ; some, indeed, may have had it revealed to them. St. 
 Paul, who wrought miracles, may have had a miracle wrought on 
 himself, and may have obtained supernatural assurance of pardon, 
 and mercy, and beatitude ; yet St. Paul, though he expresses 
 strong hope, also expresses fear, lest having preached to others, 
 he himself should be a cast-away." 
 
 * Pope : " Essay on Man," iv. 390. 
 
 * He had within the last seven weeks gone up drunk, at least twice, to a lady's 
 drawing-room. — Dr. Hill. 
 
376 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 The opinion of a learned bishop of our acquaintance, as to 
 there being merit in religious faith, being mentioned : Johnson : 
 ^' Why, yes. Sir, the most licentious man, were hell open before 
 him, would not take the most beautiful strumpet to his arms. 
 We must, as the Apostle says, live by faith, not by sight." ' 
 
 I talked to him of original sin,^ in consequence of the fall of 
 man, and of the atonement made by our Saviour. After some 
 conversation, which he desired me to remember, he, at my 
 request, dictated to me as follows : 
 
 With respect to original sin, the inquiry is not necessary; for whatever is 
 the cause of human corruption, men are evidently and confessedly so corrupt, 
 that all the laws of heaven and earth are' insufficient to restrain them from 
 crimes. 
 
 Whatever difficulty there may be in the conception of vicarious punish- 
 ments, it is an opinion which has had possession of mankind in all ages. 
 There is no nation that has not used the practice of sacrifices. Whoever, 
 therefore, denies the propriety of vicarious punishments, holds an opinion 
 which the sentiments and practice of mankind have contradicted, from the 
 beginning of the world. The great sacrifice for the sins of mankind was 
 offered at the death of the Messiah, who is called in Scripture "The Lamb 
 of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." To judge of the reasonable- 
 ness of the scheme of redemption, it must be considered as necessary to the 
 government of the universe, that GoD should make known his perpetual and 
 irreconcilable detestation of moral evil. He might indeed punish, and punish 
 only the offenders; but as the end of punishment is not revenge of crimes, 
 but propagation of virtue, it was more becoming the Divine clemency to find 
 another manner of proceeding, less destructive to man, and at least equally 
 powerful to promote goodness. The end of punishment is to reclaim and 
 warn. T/iai punishment will both reclaim and warn, which shows evidently 
 such abhorrence of sin in GOD, as may deter us from it, or strike us with 
 dread of vengeance when we have committed it. This is effected by vicarious 
 punishment. Nothing could more testify the opposition between the nature 
 of God and moral evil, or more amply display his justice, to men and angels, 
 to all orders and successions of beings, than that it was necessary for the 
 highest and purest nature, even for Divinity itself, to pacify the demands of 
 vengeance, by a painful death; of which the natural effect will be, that when 
 justice is appeased, there is a proper place for the exercise of mercy; and that 
 such propitiation shall supply in some degree, the imperfections of our obedi- 
 ence, and the inefficacy of our repentance: for, obedience and repentance, 
 
 ^ II. Corinthians v. 7. 
 
 2 Dr. Ogden, in his second sermon " On the Articles of the Christian Faith," 
 with admirable acuteness thus addresses the opposers of that doctrine, which ac- 
 counts for the confusion, sin, and misery, which we find in this Hfe : " It would be 
 severe in GOD, you think, to degrade us to such a sad state as this, for the offence 
 of our first parents : but you can allow him to place us in it without any induce- 
 ment. Are our calamities lessened for not being ascribed to Adam? If your con- 
 dition be unhappy, is it not still unhappy, whatever was the occasion? with the 
 aggravation of this reflection, that if it was as good as it was at first designed, there 
 seems to be somewhat the less reason to look lor its amendment." — B. 
 
Age 72.] THE ADVANTAGES OF WEALTH. 377 
 
 such as we can perform, are still necessary. Our Saviour has told us, that 
 he did not come to destroy the law but to fulfil : to fulfil the typical law, by 
 the performance of what those types had foreshown; and the moral law, by 
 precepts of greater purity and higher exaltation. 
 
 Here he said, " God bless you with it." I acknowledged 
 myself much obliged to him ; but I begged that he would go on 
 as to the propitiation being the chief object of our most holy 
 faith. He then dictated this one other paragraph : 
 
 The peculiar doctrine of Christianity is, that of a universal sacrifice, and 
 perpetual propitiation. Other prophets only proclaimed the will and the 
 threatenings of God. Christ satisfied his justice. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Palmer,' Fellow of Queen's College, Cam- 
 bridge, dined with us. He expressed a wish that a better pro- 
 vision were made for parish clerks. Johnson : " Yes, Sir, a parish 
 clerk should be a man who is able to make a will, or write a letter 
 for anybody in the parish." 
 
 I mentioned Lord Monboddo's notion^ that the ancient Egyp- 
 tians, with all their learning, and all their arts, were not only 
 black, but woolly-haired. Mr. Palmer asked how did it appear 
 upon examining the mummies ? Dr. Johnson approved of this 
 test. 
 
 Although upon most occasions I never heard a more strenuous 
 advocate for the advantages of wealth than Dr. Johnson, he this 
 day, I know not from what caprice, took the other side. " I 
 have not observed," said he, " that men of very large fortunes 
 enjoy anything extraordinary that makes happiness. What has 
 
 1 This unfortunate person, whose full name was Thomas Fysche Palmer, after- 
 wards went to Dundee in Scotland, where he officiated as minister to a congregation 
 of the sect who call themselves Unitarians, from a notion that they distinctively 
 worship ONE GOD, because they doty the mysterious doctrine of the TRINITY. 
 They do not advert that the great body of the Christian Church in maintaining that 
 mystery, maintain also the Unity oi the GODHEAD; the " TRINITY in Unity 1 — 
 three persons and ONE GOD." The Church humbly adores the Divinity as ex- 
 hibited in the holy Scriptures. The Unitarian sect vainly presumes to comprehend 
 and define the Almighty. Mr, Palmer having heated his mind with polidcal 
 speculations, became so much dissatisfied with our excellent constitution, as to 
 compose, publish, and circulate writings, which were found to be so seditious and 
 dangerous, that upon being found guilty by a jury, the Court of Justiciary in Scot- 
 land sentenced him to transportation for fourteen years. A loud clamor against 
 this sentence was made by some Members of both Houses of Parliament ; but both 
 Houses approved of it by a great majority ; and he was conveyed to the settlement 
 for convicts in New South Wales. — B. He died on his return from Botany Bay, 
 in the year 1803. — Malone. Dr. Hill shows from the Attn. Reg. for 1793 that 
 Palmer's sentence was seven, not fourteen years. His colleague, Muir, an advocate, 
 was sentenced to the longer term. 
 
 ' Taken from " Herodotus." [Book ii. ch. 104.] — B, 
 
378 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 the Duke of Bedford ? What has the Duke of Devonshire ? The 
 only great instance that I have ever known of the enjoyment of 
 wealth was, that of Jamaica Dawkins/ who going to visit Palmyra, 
 and hearing that the way was infested by robbers, hired a troop 
 of Turkish horse to guard him." 
 
 Dr. Gibbons,^ the Dissenting minister, being mentioned, he 
 said, " I took to Dr. Gibbons." And addressing himself to Mr. 
 Charles Dilly, added, I shall be glad to see him. Tell him if 
 he '11 call on me, and dawdle over a dish of tea in an afternoon, I 
 shall take it kind." 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Smith, Vicar of Southill, a very respectable 
 man, with a very agreeable family, sent an invitation to us to 
 drink tea. I remarked Dr. Johnson's very respectful politeness. 
 Though always fond of changing the scene, he said, " We must 
 have Mr. Dilly's leave. We cannot go from your house, Sir, 
 without your permission." We all went, and were well satisfied 
 with our visit. I however remember nothing particular, except 
 a nice distinction which Dr. Johnson made with respect to the 
 power of memory, maintaining that forgetfulness was a man's own 
 fault. "To remember and to recollect," said he, "are different 
 things. A man has not the power to recollect what is not in his 
 mind ; but when a thing is in his mind he may remember it." 
 
 The remark was occasioned by my leaning back on a chair, 
 which a Httle before I had perceived to be broken, and pleading 
 forgetfulness as an excuse. " Sir," said he, " its being broken 
 was certainly in your mind." 
 
 When I observed that a housebreaker was in general very 
 timorous — Johnson : " No wonder, Sir ; he is afraid of being 
 shot getting into a house, or hanged when he has got ouf of it." 
 
 He told us, that he had in one day written six sheets of a trans- 
 lation from the French ; ^ adding : " I should be glad to see it 
 now. I wish that I had copies of all the pamphlets written against 
 me, as it is said Pope had. Had I known that I should make so 
 much noise in the world, I should have been at pains to collect 
 them. I believe there is hardly a day in which there is not some- 
 thing about me in the newspapers." 
 
 On Monday, June 4, we all went to Luton Hoe, to see Lord 
 Bute's magnificent seat, for which I had obtained a ticket. As 
 
 1 He visited Palmyra in 1751. 
 
 2 Author of a " Life of Watts" quoted by Johnson. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 3 Courayer's " Life of Paul Sarpi and Notes," of which some sheets were printed 
 off. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 72.] SCOTTISH LACK OF HUMOR. 
 
 879 
 
 we entered the park, I talked in a high style of my old friendship 
 with Lord Mountstuart, and said, " I shall probably be much at 
 this place." The Sage, aware of human vicissitudes, gently 
 checked me : " Do n't you be too sure of that." He made two 
 or three peculiar observations ; as when shown the botanical gar- 
 den, "Is not every garden a botanical garden?" When told that 
 there was a shrubbery to the extent of several miles : " That is 
 making a very foolish use of the ground ; a little of it is very 
 well." When it was proposed that we should walk on the pleas- 
 ure-ground ; " Do n't let us fatigue ourselves. Why should we 
 walk there? Here 's a fine tree, let 's get to the top of it." But 
 upon the whole, he was very much pleased. He said : " This is 
 one of the places I do not regret having come to see. It is a 
 very stately place, indeed ; in the house magnificence is not 
 sacrificed to convenience, nor convenience to magnificence. 
 The library is very splendid ; the dignity of the rooms is very 
 great; and the quantity of pictures is beyond expectation, be- 
 yond hope." 
 
 It happened without any previous concert, that we visited the 
 seat of Lord Bute upon the King's birthday ; we dined and 
 drank his Majesty's health at an inn in the village of Luton. 
 
 In the evening I put him in mind of his promise to favor me 
 with a copy of his celebrated letter to the Earl of Chesterfield, 
 and he was at last pleased to comply with this earnest request, 
 by dictating it to me from his memory ; for he believed that he 
 himself had no copy. There was an animated glow in his coun- 
 tenance while he thus recalled his high-minded indignation. 
 
 He laughed heartily at a ludicrous action in the Court of Ses- 
 sion, in which I was counsel. The Society of Frocii7^ators, or At- 
 torneys, entitled to practise in the inferior courts at Edinburgh, 
 had obtained a royal charter, in which they had taken care to 
 have their ancient designation of Procui-ato?'s changed into that 
 of Solicitor's from a notion, as they supposed, that it was more 
 genteel. And this new title they displayed by a public advertise- 
 ment for a Genei-al Meeting at their Hall. 
 
 It has been said that the Scottish nation is not distinguished 
 for humor ; and, indeed, what happened on this occasion may in 
 some degree justify the remark ; for although this society had 
 contrived to make themselves a very prominent object for the 
 ridicule of such as might stoop to it, the only joke to which it 
 gave rise, was the following paragraph, sent to the newspaper 
 called The Caledonian Mercury : 
 
880 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 A correspondent informs us, that the Worshipful Society of Chaldeans, 
 Cadies, or Running- Stationers of this city are resolved, in imitation, and en- 
 couraged by the singular success of their brethren, of an equally respectable 
 Society, to apply for a Charter of their Privileges, particularly of the sole 
 privilege of Procuring, in the most extensive sense of the word, exclusive of 
 chairmen, porters, penny-post men, and other inferior ranks; their brethren 
 the R — Y — L S — LL — RS, alias P — c — RS, before the inferior Courts of this 
 City, always excepted. 
 
 Should the Worshipful Society be successful, they are farther resolved not 
 to be puffed tip thereby, but to demean themselves with more equanimity and 
 decency than their Royal, learned, and very modest brethren above mentioned 
 have done, upon their late dignification and exaltation. 
 
 A majority of the members of the Society prosecuted Mr. 
 Robertson, the pubhsher of the paper, for damages ; and the first 
 judgment of the whole Court very wisely dismissed the action : 
 Solventitr lisu tab nice, tit missus abibis} But a new trial or re- 
 view was granted upon a petition, according to the forms in Scot- 
 land. This petition I was engaged to answer, and Dr. Johnson, 
 with great alacrity, famished me this evening with what follows : 
 
 All injury is either of the person, the fortune, or the fame. Now it is a 
 certain thing, it is proverbially known, that a jest breaks no bones. They 
 never have gained half-a-crown less in the whole profession since this mis- 
 chievous paragraph has appeared; and, as to their reputation, what is their 
 reputation but an instrument of getting money? If, therefore, they have lost 
 no money, the question upon reputation may be answered by a very old posi- 
 tion, — De minimis non curat Prcctor. 
 
 Whether there was, or was not, an animus ijfuriandi, is not worth in- 
 quiring, if no injuria can be proved. But the truth is, there was no animus 
 injuriandi . It was only an anivius irritandi ,^ which happened to be exer- 
 cised upon a genus irritabile produced unexpected violence of resentment. 
 Their irritability arose only from an opinion of their own importance, and 
 their delight in their new exaltation. What might have been borne by a Pro- 
 curator could not be borne by a Solicitor. Your Lordships well know that 
 honores niutant mores. Titles and dignities play strongly on the fancy. As a 
 madman is apt to think himself grown suddenly great, so he that grows sud- 
 denly great, is apt to borrow a little from the madman. To co-operate with 
 their resentment would be to promote their frenzy; nor is it possible to guess 
 to what they might proceed, if to the new title of Solicitor should be added 
 the elation of victory and triumph. 
 
 We consider your Lordships as the protectors of our rights, and the guar- 
 dians of our virtues; but believe it not included in your high office, that you 
 should flatter our vices, or solace our vanity; and, as vanity only dictates this 
 prosecution, it is humbly hoped your Lordships will dismi:-s it. 
 
 If every attempt, however light or ludicrous, to lessen anotlicr's rejnUation, 
 is to be punished by a judicial sentence, what punishment can l)e sufficiently 
 
 1 Horace : " Satires," ii. i. 86. 
 
 2 Mr. Robertson altered this word to jocandi,\\e. having found in Bjackstone that 
 to irritate is actionablq. — B. 
 
Age 72.] 
 
 ENGLISH E D UCA TION. 
 
 381 
 
 severe for him who attempts to diminish the reputation of the Supreme Court 
 of Justice by reclaiming upon a cause already determined, without any change 
 in the state of the question? Does it not imply hopes that the judges will 
 change their opinion? Is not uncertainty and inconstancy in the highest de- 
 gree disreputable to a Court? Does it not suppose, that the former judgment 
 was temerarious or negligent? Does it not lessen the confidence of the public? 
 Will it not be said, that Jtis est aut iiicogniium, aut vagum? and will not the 
 consequence be drawn, misera est servitiis ? Will not the rules of action be 
 obscure? Will not he who knows himself wrong to-day, hope that the Courts 
 of Justice will think him right to-morrow? Surely, my Lords, these are at- 
 tempts of dangerous tendency, which the solicitors, as men versed in the law, 
 should have foreseen and avoided. It was natural for an ignorant printer to 
 appeal from the Lord Ordinary; but from lawyers, the descendants of lawyers, 
 who have practised for three hundred years, and have now raised themselves to 
 a higher denomination, it might be expected, that they should know the rever- 
 ence due to a judicial determination : and, having been once dismissed, should 
 sit down in silence. 
 
 I am ashamed to mention, that the Court, by a plurality of 
 voices, without having a single additional circumstance before 
 them, reversed their own judgment, made a serious matter of this 
 dull and foolish joke, and adjudged Mr. Robertson to pay to the 
 Society five pounds, (sterling money) and costs of suit. The de- 
 cision will seem strange to English lawyers. 
 
 On Tuesday, June 5, Johnson was to return to London. He 
 was very pleasant at breakfast; I mentioned a friend of mine 
 having resolved never to marry a pretty woman. Johnson : " Sir, 
 it is a very foolish resolution to resolve not to marry a pretty woman. 
 Beauty is of itself very estimable. No, Sir, I would prefer a 
 pretty woman, unless there are objections to her. A pretty 
 woman may be foolish ; a pretty woman may be wicked ; a pretty 
 woman may not like me. But there is no such danger in marry- 
 ing a pretty woman as is apprehended ; she will not be persecuted 
 if she does not invite persecution. A pretty woman, if she has 
 the mind to be wicked, can find a readier way than another ; and 
 that is all." 
 
 I accompanied him in Mr. Dilly's chaise to Shefford, where, 
 talking of Lord Bute's never going to Scotland, he said : "As an 
 Englishman, I should wish all the Scotch gentlemen should be 
 educated in England ; Scotland would become a province ; they 
 would spend all their rents in England." This is a subject of 
 much consequence, and much delicacy. The advantage of an 
 English education is unquestionably very great to Scotch gentle- 
 men of talents and ambition ; and regular visits to Scotland, and 
 perhaps other means, might be effectually used to prevent them 
 
382 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1781. 
 
 from being totally estranged from their native country, any more 
 than a Cumberland or Northumberland gentleman, who has been 
 educated in the south of England. I own, indeed, that it is no 
 small misfortune for Scotch gentlemen, who have neither talents 
 nor ambition, to be educated in England, where they may be 
 perhaps distinguished only by a nickname, lavish their fortune in 
 giving expensive entertainments to those who laugh at them, and 
 saunter about as mere idle insignificant hangers-on even upon the 
 foolish great ; when if they had been judiciously brought up at 
 home, they might have been comfortable and creditable members 
 of society. 
 
 At ShefTord I had another affectionate parting from my revered 
 friend, who was taken up by the Bedford coach and carried to the 
 metropolis. I went with Messieurs Dilly to see some friends at 
 Bedford ; dined with the officers of the militia of the county, and 
 next day proceeded on my journey. 
 
 TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: How welcome your account of yourself and your invitation to 
 your new house was to me, I need not tell you, who consider our friendship 
 not only as formed by choice, but as matured by time. We have been now 
 long enough acquainted to have many images in common, and therefore to 
 have a source of conversation which neither the learning nor the wit of a new 
 companion can supply. 
 
 My " Lives " are now published; and if you will tell me whither I shall 
 send them, that they may come to you, I will take care that you shall not be 
 without them. 
 
 You will, perhaps, be glad to hear, that Mrs. Thrale is disencumbered of 
 her brewhouse; and that it seemed to the purchaser so far from an evil, that 
 he was content to give for it a hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds. Is 
 the nation ruined? 
 
 Please to make my respectful compliments to Lady Rothes, and keep me in 
 the memory of all the little dear family, particularly pretty Mrs. Jane.' I am, 
 Sir, your affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 BoLT-couRT, June 16, 1781. 
 
 Johnson's charity to the poor was uniform and extensive, both 
 from inclination and principle. He not only bestowed liberally 
 out of his own purse, but what is more difficult as well as rare, 
 would beg from others, when he had proper objects in view. 
 This he did judiciously as well as humanely. Mr. Philip Met- 
 calfe tells me, that when he has asked him for some money for 
 persons in distress, and Mr. Metcalfe has offered what Johnson 
 
 ^ His goddaughter. 
 
Age 72.] ASTLE'S NOTES ON ALFRED. 
 
 883 
 
 thought too much, he insisted on taking less, saying, " No, no, 
 Sir; we must not pam/>er them.'' 
 
 I am indebted to Mr. Maione, one of Sir Joshua Reynolds's 
 executors, for the following note, which was found among his 
 papers after his death, and which, we may presume, his unaffected 
 modesty prevented him from communicating to me with the 
 other letters from Dr. Johnson with which he was pleased to fur- 
 nish me. However slight in itself, as it does honor to that illus- 
 trious painter, and most amiable man, I am happy to introduce it. 
 
 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Dear Sir: It was not before yesterday that I received your splendid bene- 
 faction. To a hand so liberal in distributing, I hope nobody will envy the 
 power of acquiring. I am, dear Sir, your obliged and most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 June 23, 1781. 
 
 to thomas astle, esq. 
 
 Sir: I am ashamed that you have been forced to call so often for your 
 books, but it has been by no fauU on either side. They have never been out 
 of my hands, nor have I ever been at home without seeing you; for to see a 
 man so skilful in the antiquities of my country, is an opportunity of improve- 
 ment not willingly to be missed. 
 
 Your notes on Alfred ^ appear to me very judicious and accurate, but they 
 are too few. Many things familiar to you are unknown to me, and to most 
 others; and you must not think too favourably of your readers; by supposing 
 them knowing, you will leave them ignorant. Measure of land, and value of 
 money, it is great importance to state with care. Had the Saxons any gold 
 coin? 
 
 I have much curiosity after the manners and transactions of the middle 
 ages, but have wanted either diligence or opportunity, or both. You, Sir, 
 have great opportunities, and I wish you both diligence and success. I am. 
 Sir, &c., 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 17, 1781. 
 
 The following curious anecdote I insert in Dr. Burney's own 
 words : 
 
 Dr. Burney related to Dr. Johnson the partiality which his writings had ex- 
 cited in a friend of Dr. Burney's, the late Mr, Bewley, well known in Norfolk 
 by the name of the Philosopher of Massinghani : who, from the Ramblers and 
 Plan of his Dictionary, and long before the author's fame was established by 
 the Dictionary itself, or any other work, had conceived such a reverence for 
 him, that he earnestly begged Dr. Burney to give him the cover of his first 
 
 1 The Will of King Alfred, alluded to in this letter, from the orignal Saxon in the 
 library of Mr. Astle, has been printed at the expense of the University of Oxford.-^ 
 B. For Astle see Vol. I., p. 84, note j. 
 
384 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D.17S1. 
 
 letter he had received from him, as a relic of so estimable a writer. This was 
 in 1755. In 1760,^ when Dr. Burney visited Dr. Johnson at the Temple in 
 London, where he had then chambers, he happened to arrive there before he 
 was up; and being shown into the room where he was to breakfast, finding 
 himself alone, he examined the contents of the apartment, to try whether, he 
 could undiscovered steal anything to send to his friend Bewley, as another 
 relic of the admirable Dr. Johnson. But finding nothing better to his purpose, 
 he cut some bristles off his hearth-broom, and enclosed them in a letter to his 
 country enthusiast, who received them with due reverence. The Doctor was 
 so sensible of the honor done him by a man of genius and science, to whom 
 he was an utter stranger, that he said to Dr. Burney: "Sir, there is no man 
 possessed of the smallest portion of modesty, but must be flattered with the 
 admiration of such a man. I '11 give him a set of my ' Lives,' if he will do me 
 the honor to accept of them." In this he kept his word; and Dr. Burney 
 had not only the pleasure of gratifying his friend with a present more worthy 
 of his acceptance than the segment from the hearth-broom, but soon after 
 introducing him to Dr. Johnson himself in Bolt Court, with whom he had the 
 satisfaction of conversing a considerable time, not a fortnight before his death; 
 which happened in St. Martin's Street, during his visit to Dr. Burney, in the 
 house where the great Sir Isaac Newton had lived and died before. 
 
 In one of his little memorandum-books is the following 
 minute : 
 
 August 9, 3 p.m. setat. 72, in the summer-house at Streatham. 
 
 After innumerable resolutions formed and neglected, I have retired hither, 
 to plan a life of greater diligence, in hope that I may yet be useful, and be 
 daily better prepared to appear before my Creator and my Judge, from whose 
 infinite mercy I humbly call for assistance and support. 
 
 My purpose is. 
 
 To pass eight hours every day in some serious employment. 
 Having prayed, I purpose to employ the next six weeks upon the Italian 
 language for my settled study. 
 
 How venerably pious does he appear in these moments of 
 sohtude, and how spirited are his resolutions for the improve- 
 ment of his mind, even in elegant literature, at a very advanced 
 period of life, and when afiflicted with many complaints. 
 
 In autumn he went to Oxford, Birmingham, Lichfield, and 
 Ashbourne, for which very good reasons might be given in the 
 conjectural yet positive manner of writers, who are proud to 
 account for every event which they relate.^ He himself, how- 
 ever, says. 
 
 The motives of my journey I hardly know; I omitted it last year, and am 
 not willing to miss it again. (" Prayers and Meditations," 201.) 
 
 ^ Dr. Burney visited Dr. Johnson first in 1758. 
 
 ^ This remark is believed by Dr. Hill to be aimed at Hawkins who in his " Life 
 of Dr. johnson " (p. 553) pretends to account lor this trip. 
 
Age 72.] JOHNSON'S TOTTERING HEALTH. 
 
 385 
 
 But some good considerations arise, amongst which is the 
 kindly recollection of Mr. Hector, surgeon of Birmingham. 
 
 Hector is likewise an old friend, the only companion of niy childhood 
 that passed through the school with me. We have always loved one another; 
 perhaps we may be made better by some serious conversation, of which how- 
 ever I have no distinct hope. 
 
 He says too, 
 
 At Lichfield, my native place, I hope to show a good example by frequent 
 attendance on public worship. 
 
 My correspondence with him during the rest of this year was, 
 I know not why, very scanty, and all on my side. I wrote him 
 one letter to introduce Mr. Sinclair (now Sir John), the Member 
 for Caithness, to his acquaintance ; and informed him in another, 
 that my wife had again been affected with alarming symptoms 
 of illness. 
 
 In 1782, his complaints increased, and the history of his life 
 this year is little more than a mournful recital of the variations 
 of his illness, in the midst of which, however, it will appear from 
 his letters, that the powers of his mind were in no degree im- 
 paired. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : I sit down to answer your letter on the same day in which I 
 received it, and am pleased that my first letter of the year is to you. No man 
 ought to be at ease while he knows himself in the wrong; and I have not 
 satisfied myself with my long silence. The letter relating to Mr. Sinclair, 
 however, was, I believe, never brought. 
 
 My health has been tottering this last year: and I can give no very laud- 
 able account of my time. I am always hoping to do better than I have ever 
 hitherto done. 
 
 My journey to Ashbourne and Staffordshire was not pleasant; for what en- 
 joyment has a sick man visiting the sick? Shall we ever have another frolic 
 like our journey to the Hebrides? 
 
 I hope that dear Mrs. Boswell will surmount her complaints; in losing her 
 you will lose your anchor, and be tost, without stability, by the waves of life.' 
 I wish both her and you v,ery many years, and very happy. 
 
 For some months past, I have been so withdrawn from the world, that I 
 can send you nothing particular. All your friends, however, are well, and 
 will be glad of your return to London. I am, dear Sir, yours most affection- 
 ately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 January 5, 1782. 
 
 iThe proof of this has been proved by sad experience. — B. Mrs. Boswell 
 died June 4, 1789. — Malone. 
 
 V'oL. II. —25 
 
386 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1782. 
 
 At a time when he -was less able than he had once been to 
 sustain a shock, he was suddenly deprived of Mr. Levett, which 
 event he thus communicated to Dr. Lawrence. 
 
 Sir: Our old friend, Mr. Levett, who was last night eminently cheerful, 
 died this morning. The man who lay in the same room, hearing an uncom- 
 mon noise, got up and tried to make him speak, but without effect. He then 
 called Mr. Holder, the apothecary, who, though when he came, he thought 
 him dead, opened a vein, but could draw no blood. So has ended the long 
 life of a very useful and very blameless man. I am. Sir, your most humble 
 servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Jan. 17, 1782. 
 
 In one of his memorandum-books in my possession, is the 
 following entry : 
 
 January 20, Sunday. Robert Levett was buried in the churchyard of 
 Bridewell, between one and two in the afternoon. He died on Thursday 17, 
 about seven in the morning, by an instantaneous death. He was an old and 
 faithful friend; I have known him from about 46. Commendavi. May GOD 
 have mercy on him. May he have mercy on me. 
 
 Such was Johnson's affectionate regard for Levett,' that he 
 honored his memory with the following pathetic verses-: 
 
 "Condemn'd to Hope's delusive mine, 
 As on we toil from day to day, 
 By sudden blast or slow decline 
 Our social comforts drop away. 
 
 ** Well try'd through many a varying year. 
 See Levett to the grave descend; 
 Officious, innocent, sincere. 
 
 Of every friendless name the friend. 
 
 *' Yet still he fills affection's eye, 
 
 Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind, 
 Nor, letter'd Arrogance,^ deny 
 Thy praise to merit unrefin'd. 
 
 **"When fainting Nature call'd for aid. 
 
 And hov'ring Death prepar'd the blow. 
 His vigorous remedy display 'd 
 
 The power of art without the show. 
 
 *' In Misery's darkest caverns known. 
 His ready help was ever nigli, 
 
 ^ See an account of him in The Gentleman s Magazine, Feb. 1785. — B. 
 2 In botli editions of Sir John Hawkins's " Life of Dr. Johnson," " letter'd ign0' 
 ranee" is printed. — B. 
 
Age 73-] HIS MEAN OPINION OF THE MINISTRY. ^87 
 
 Where hopeless Anguish pour'd his groan, 
 And lonely want retir'd to die.' 
 
 *' No summons mock'd by chill delay, 
 No petty gains disdain'd by pride; 
 The modest wants of every day 
 The toil of every day supply'd, 
 
 " His virtues walk'd their narrow round, 
 Nor made a pause, nor left a void; 
 And sure the eternal Master found 
 His single talent well employ'd. 
 
 "The busy day, the peaceful night, 
 Unfelt, uncounted, glided by; 
 His frame was firm, his powers were bright, 
 Though now his eightieth year was nigh. 
 
 "Then, with no throbs of fiery pain, 
 No cold gradations of decay, 
 Death broke at once the vital chain, 
 And freed his soul the nearest way." 
 
 In one of Johnson's registers of this year, there occurs the fol- 
 lowing curious passage : 
 
 Jan. 20.^ The Ministry is dissolved. I prayed with Francis, and gave 
 thanks. (" Prayers and Meditations," 209 [207].) 
 
 It has been the subject of discussion, whether there are two 
 distinct particulars mentioned here ? Or that we are to under- 
 stand the giving of thanks to be in consequence of the dissolution 
 of the Ministry? In support of the last of these conjectures may 
 be urged his mean opinion of that Ministry, which has frequently 
 appeared in the course of this work ; and it is strongly confirmed 
 by what he said on the subject to Mr. Seward : "I am glad the 
 Ministry is removed. Such a bunch of imbecility never dis- 
 graced a country. If they sent a messenger into the City to take 
 u^) a printer, the messenger was taken up instead of the printer, 
 
 and committed by the sitting alderman. If they sent one army 
 t 
 
 1 Johnson repeated this line to me thus : 
 
 " And Labor steals an hour to die," 
 
 But he afterwards altered it to the present reading. — B. This poem is printed 
 in the Ann. Reg. for 1753. p. 189, with the following variations: 1. 18, for "ready 
 help" useful care ; 1. 28, " His single talent" the single talent ; 1. 33, " no throbs of 
 fiery pain " no throbbing fiery pain ; 1. 36, " and freed " and forced. On the next page 
 is printed " John Gilpm." — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ Boswell has misquoted the date, which should be AhTrch 20. Lord North's 
 Administration was superseded by Lord Rockingham's on March 19. — Croker. 
 
388 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1782. 
 
 to the relief of another, the first army was defeated and taken be- 
 fore the second arrived/ I will not say that what they did was 
 always wrong; but it was always done at a wrong time." 
 
 TO MRS. ST RAH AN. 
 
 Dear Madam: Mrs. Williams showed me your kind letter. This little 
 habitation is now but a melancholy place, clouded with the gloom of disease 
 and death. Of the four inmates, one has been suddenly snatched away; iwo 
 are oppressed by very afflictive and dangerous illness; and I tried yesterday 
 to gain some relief hy a third bleeding, from a disorder which has for some 
 time distressed me, and I think myself to-day much better. 
 
 I am glad, dear Madam, to hear that you are so far recovered as to go to 
 Bath. Let me once more entreat you to stay till your health is not only ob- 
 tained, but confirmed. Your fortune is such as that no moderate expense 
 deserves your care; and you have a husband, who, I believe, does not regard 
 it. Stay, therefore, till you are quite well. I am, for my part, very much 
 deserted; but complaint is useless. I hope GoD will bless you, and I desire 
 you to form the same wish for me. I am, dear Madam, your most humble 
 servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Feb. 4, 1782. 
 
 to edmond malone, esq. 
 
 Sir: I have for many weeks been so much out of order, that I have gone 
 out only in a coach to Mrs. Thrale's, where I can use all the freedom that 
 sickness requires. Do not, therefore, take it amiss, that I am not with you 
 and Dr. Farmer. I hope hereafter to see you often. I am, Sir, your most 
 humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Feb. 27, 1782. 
 
 TO the same. 
 
 Dear Sir: I hope I grow better, and shall soon be able to enjoy the kind- 
 ness of my friends. I think this wild adherence to Chatterlon '"^ more unac- 
 countable than the obstinate defence of Ossian. In Ossian there is a national 
 
 1 Lord Cornwallis's ai iny surrendered at York Town five days before Sir Henry 
 Clinton's fleet and army arrived up the Chesapeak. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 This note was in answer to one which accompanied one of the earliest pam- 
 phlets on the subject of Chatterton's forgery, entitled " Cursory Observations on the 
 Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley," ^c. Mr. Thom^is VVurton's very able " In- 
 quiry" appeared about three months afterwards : and Mr. Tyrvvhitt's admirable 
 "Vindication of his Appendix," in the summer of the same year, left the believers in 
 his daring imposture nothing but " the resolution to say again what had been said 
 before," Daring, however, as this fiction was, and wild as was the adherence to 
 Chatterton, both were greatly exceeded in 1795 and the following year, by a still 
 more audacious imposture, and the pertinacity of one of its adherents, who has 
 immortalized his name hy publishing a bulky volume, of which the direct and mani- 
 fest oljject was, to prove the authenticity of certain papers altril)uted to Shake- 
 speare, after the fnbricator of the spurious trash had i^ublicly acknowledged the 
 imposture ! — Malone. An illusion to the forgeries of W. H. Ireland. — Crokcr, 
 
Age 73-] 
 
 WEEKS or JLLiVESS. 
 
 389 
 
 pride, which may be forgiven, though it cannot l)e applauded. In Chatter- 
 ton there is nothing but the resokition to say again what has once been said. 
 I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 March 7, 1782. 
 
 These short letters show the regard which Dr. Johnson enter- 
 tained for Mr. Malone, who the more he is known is the more 
 highly valued. It is much to be regretted that Johnson was pre- 
 vented from sharing the elegant hospitality of that gentleman's 
 table, at which he would in every respect have been fully grati- 
 fied. Mr. Malone, who has so ably succeeded him as an editor 
 of Shakespeare, has, in his preface, done great and just honor to 
 Johnson's memory. 
 
 TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD. 
 
 Dear Madam: I went away from Lichfield ill, and have had a trouble- 
 some time with my breath; for some weeks I have been disordered by a cold, 
 of which I could not get the violence abated, till I had been let blood three 
 times. I have not, however, been so bad but that I could have written, and 
 am sorry that I neglected it. 
 
 My dwelling is but melancholy; both Williams, and Desmoulins, and my- 
 self, are very sickly: Frank is not well; and poor Levett died in his bed the 
 other day, by a sudden stroke; I suppose not one minute passed between 
 health and death; so uncertain are human things. 
 
 Such is the appearance of the world about me; I hope your scenes are 
 more cheerful. But whatever befalls us, though it is wise to be serious, it is 
 useless and foolish, and perhaps sinful, to be gloomy. Let us, therefore, 
 keep ourselves as easy as we can; though the loss of friends will be felt, and 
 poor Levett had been a faithful adherent for thirty years. 
 
 Forgive me, my dear love, the omission of writing; I hope to mend that 
 and my other faults. Let me have your prayers. 
 
 Make my compliments to Mrs. Cobb, and Miss Adey, and Mr. Pearson, 
 and the whole company of my friends. I am, my dear, your most humble 
 servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, March 2, 1782. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 Dear Madam: My last was but a dull letter, and I know not that this 
 will be much more cheerful; I am, however, willing to write, because you are 
 desirous to hear from me. 
 
 My disorder has now begun its ninth week, for it is not yet over. I was 
 last Thursday blooded for the fourth time, and have since found myself much 
 relieved, but I am very tender and easily hurt; so that since we parted I have 
 had but little comfort, but I hope that the spring will recover me^ and that in 
 the summer I shall see Lichfield again, for I will not delay my visit another 
 year to the end of autumn. 
 
 I have, by advertising, found poor Mr. Levett's brothers in Yorkshire, who 
 
B90 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1782. 
 
 will take the little he has left : it is but little, yet it will be welcome, for I 
 believe they are of very low condition. 
 
 To be sick, and to see nothing but sickness and death, is but a gloomy 
 state; but I hope better times, even in this world, will come, and whatever 
 this world may with-hold or give, we shall be happy in a better state. Pray 
 for me, my dear Lucy. 
 
 Make my compliments to Mrs. Cobb, and Miss Adey, and my old friend, 
 Hetty Baily, and to all the Lichfield ladies. I am, dear Madam, yours 
 affectionately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Bolt-court, Fleet-street, March 19, 1782. 
 
 On the day on which this letter was written, he thus feelingly 
 mentions his respected friend, and physician, Dr. Lawrence : 
 
 Poor Lawrence has almost lost the sense of healing; and I have lost the 
 conversation of a learned, intelligent, and communicative companion, and a 
 friend whom long familiarity has much endeared. Lawrence is one of the best 
 men whom I have known. Nostrum omnium miserere Deusy ("Prayers 
 and Meditations," p. 207.) 
 
 It was Dr. Johnson's custom when he wrote to Dr. Lawrence 
 concerning his own health, to use the Latin language. I have 
 been favored by Miss Lawrence with one of these letters as a 
 specimen : 
 
 t. lawrencio. Medico^ S. 
 
 Novum frigus, nova tussis, nova spirandi dijiailias, novam sanguinis 
 missionem suadenl, quam iamen te inconsulto jiolim fieri. Ad te venire vix 
 possum, nec est cur ad me venias. Licere vel non licere una verba dicendum 
 est; ccctera mihi et Iloldero'^ reliqueris. Si per te licet, i?nperatur nuncio 
 Holderum ad me deducere. 
 
 Maiis Calendis, 1782. 
 
 Posfquam tu discesseris, quo me vertam ?^ 
 
 * Mr. Holder, in the Strand, Dr. Johnson's apothecary. — B. 
 
 2 " Fresh cold, renewed cough, and an increased difficulty of breathing; all sug- 
 gest a further letting of blood, which however I do not choose to have done with- 
 out your advice. I cannot well come to you, nor is there any occasion for your 
 commg to me. You may say in one word, yes or no, and leave the rest to Holder 
 and me. If you consent the messenger will bring Holder to me. When you shall 
 be gone, whither shall I turn myself?" — Croker. See Macaulay's review of 
 Croker's first edition. This translation, as it now stands, is one of many proofs 
 how greatly Croker and his work profited by Macaulay's criticisms. 
 
 Soon after the above letter, Dr. Lawrence left I^ondon, but not before the palsy 
 had made so great a progress as to render him unable to write for himself. The 
 following are extracts from letters addressed by Dr. Johnson to one of his 
 daughters: " You will easily believe with what gladness I read that you had heard 
 once again that voice to which we have all so often delighted to attend. May you 
 often hear it. If we had his mind, and his tongue, we could spare the rest," "I 
 am not vigorous, but much better than when dear Dr. Lawrence held my pulse the 
 last time. Be so kind as to let me know, from one little interval to another, the 
 rotate of his body. I am ])lcased that he remembers me, and hope that it never can 
 I )(; possible for me to forget him. july 22, 1782." "I am much delighted even 
 with the small advances which dear Dr. Lawrence makes towards recovery. If we 
 
Age 73-] 
 
 A WEARY PILGRIM AGE. 
 
 391 
 
 TO CAPTAIN LANGTON,' IN ROCHESTER. 
 
 Dear Sir: It is now long since we saw one another; and, whatever has 
 been the reason, neither you have written to me, nor I to you. To let friend- 
 ship die away by neghgence and silence, is certainly not wise. It is volunta- 
 rily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of this weary pilgrimage, of 
 which when it is, as it must be, taken finally away, he that travels on alone, 
 will wonder how his esteem could be so little. Do not forget me; you see 
 that I do not forget you. It is pleasing in the silence of solitude to think, 
 that there is one at least, however distant, of whose benevolence there is little 
 doubt, and whom there is yet hope of seeing again. 
 
 Of my life, from the time we parted, the history is mournful. The spring 
 of last year deprived me of Thrale, a man whose eye for fifteen years had 
 scarcely been turned upon me but with respect or tenderness; for such 
 another friend the general course of human things will not suffer man to hope. 
 I passed the summer at Streatham, but there was no Thrale; and having idled 
 away the summer with a weakly body and neglected mind, I made a journey 
 to Staffordshire on the edge of winter. The season was dreary, I was sickly, 
 and found the friends sickly whom I went to see. After a sorrowful sojourn, 
 I returned to a habitation possessed for the present by two sick women, where 
 my dear old friend, Mr. Levett, to whom, as he used to tell me, I owe your 
 acquaintance, died a few weeks ago, suddenly in his bed; there passed not, 
 I believe, a minute between health and death. At night, as at Mrs. Thrale's, I 
 was musing in my chamber, I thought with uncommon earnestness, that how- 
 ever I might alter my mode of life, or whithersoever I might remove, I would 
 endeavour to retain Levett about me; in the morning my servant brought me 
 word that Levett was called to another state, a state for which, I think, he 
 was not unprepared, for he was very useful to the poor. How much soever I 
 valued him, I now wish that I had valued him more. 
 
 I have myself been ill more than eight weeks of a disorder, from which, at 
 the expense of about fifty ounces of blood, I hope I am now recovering. 
 
 You, dear Sir, have, I hope, a more cheerful scene; you see George fond 
 of his book, and the pretty misses airy and lively, with my own little Jenny 
 equal to the best: and in whatever can contribute to your quiet or pleasure, 
 you have Lady Rothes ready to concur. May whatever you enjoy of good be 
 encreased, and whatever you suffer of evil be diminished. I am, dear Sir, 
 your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 BoLT-couRT, Fleet-street, 
 March 20, 1782. 
 
 could have again but his mind, and his tongue in his mind, and his right hand, we 
 should not much lament the rest. I should not despair of helping the swelled hand 
 by electricity, if it were frequently and diligently supplied. Let ine know from time 
 to time whatever happens ; and I hope I need not tell you, how much I am inter- 
 ested in every change. Aug. 26, 1782." " Though the account with which you 
 favoured me in your last letter could not give me the pleasure that I wished, yet I 
 was glad to receive it; for my affection to my dear friend makes me desirous of 
 knowing his state, whatever it be. I beg, therefore, that you continue to let me 
 know, from time to time, all that you observe. Many fits of severe illness have, 
 for about three months past, forced my kind physician often upon my mind. I am 
 now better; and hope gratitude, as well as distress, can be a motive to remembrance. 
 Bolt-court, Fleet-street, Feb. 4, 1783." — B. 
 
 ' Mr. Langton being at this time on duty at Rochester, he is addressed bv his 
 military title. — B. 
 
892 
 
 nOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1782 
 
 TO MR. HECTOR, IN BIRMINGHAM.* 
 
 Dear Sir: I hope I do not very grossly flatter myself to imagine that you 
 and dear Mrs. Careless will be glad to hear some account of me. I per- 
 formed the journey to London with very little inconvenience, and came safe to 
 my habitation, where I found nothing but ill health, and, of consequence, 
 very little cheerfulness. I then went to visit a little way into the country, 
 where I got a complaint by a cold which has hung eight weeks upon me, and 
 from which I am, at the expense of fifty ounces of blood, not yet free. I am 
 afraid I must once more owe my recovery to warm weather, which seems to 
 make no advances towards us. 
 
 Such is my health, which will, I hope, soon grow better. In other respects 
 I have no reason to complain. I know not that I have written any thing more 
 generally commended than the "Lives of the Poets"; and have found the 
 world willing enough to caress me, if my health had invited me to be in much 
 company; but this season I have been almost wholly employed in nursing 
 myself. 
 
 When summer comes I hope to see you again, and will not put off my visit 
 to the end of the year. I have lived so long in London, that I did not re- 
 member the difference of seasons. 
 
 Your health, when I saw you, was much improved. You will be prudent 
 enough not to put it in danger. I hope, when we meet again, we shall con- 
 gratulate each other upon fair prospects of longer life; though what are the 
 pleasures of the longest life when placed in comparison with a happy death? 
 I am, dear Sir, yours most affectionately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, March 21, 1782. 
 
 to the same. 
 
 [ Withoiit a date, but supposed to be about this time. ] ^ 
 
 Dear Sir: That you and dear Mrs. Careless should have care or curiosity 
 about my health, gives me that pleasure which every man feels from finding 
 himself not forgotten. In age we feel again that love of our native place and 
 our early friends, which in the bustle or amusements of middle life were over- 
 borne and suspended. You and I should now naturally cling to one another: 
 we have outlived most of those who could pretend to rival us in each other's 
 kindness. In our walk through life we have dropped our companions, and 
 are now to pick up such as chance may offer us, or to travel on alone. You, 
 indeed, have a sister, with whom you can divide the day: I have no natural 
 friend left; but Providence has been pleased to preserve me from neglect; I 
 have not wanted such alleviations of life as friendship could supply. My 
 health has been, from my twentieth year, such as has seldom afforded me a 
 single day of ease; but it is at least not worse; and I sometimes make myself 
 believe that it is better. My disorders are, however, still sufficiently oppres- 
 sive. 
 
 ^ A part of this letter having been torn off, I have, from the evident meaning, sup- 
 plied a few words and half words at the ends and beginning of lines. — B. 
 
 *Sce Vol. I., p. 577. — B. She was Hector's widowed sister and Johnson's first 
 \ovc. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ Dr. Hill believes it impossible to place this letter this year: he conjectures it 
 to belong in 1777 or 1778. 
 
Age 73.] "^lE BE A UTIES OF JOHNSON. 393 
 
 I think of seeing Staffordshire again this autumn, and intend to find my 
 way through Birmingham, where I hope to see you and dear Mrs. Careless 
 well. I am, Sir, your affectionate friend, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 1 wrote to him at different dates ; regretted that I could not 
 come to London this spring, but hoped we should meet some- 
 where in the summer ; mentioned the state of my affairs, and 
 suggested hopes of some preferment ; informed him, that as 
 " The Beauties of Johnson" had been published in London, some 
 obscure scribbler had published at Edinburgh, what he called 
 ''The Deformities of Johnson." 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: The pleasure which we used to receive from each other on 
 Good Friday and Easter Day,^ we must be this year content to miss. Let us, 
 however, pray for each other, and hope to see one another yet from time to 
 time with mutual delight. My disorder has been a cold, which impeded the 
 organs of respiration, and kept me many weeks in a state of great uneasiness; 
 but by repeated phlebotomy it is now relieved; and next to the recovery of 
 Mrs. Boswell, I flatter myself that you will rejoice at mine. 
 
 What we shall do in the summer it is yet too early to consider. You want 
 to know what you shall do now; I do not think this time of bustle and con- 
 fusion like to produce any advantage to you.^ Every man has those to reward 
 and gratify who have contributed to his advancement. To come hither with 
 such expectations at the expense of borrowed money, which, I find, you know 
 not where to borrow, can hardly be considered prudent. I am sorry to find, 
 what your solicitations seem to imply, that you have already gone the whole 
 length of your credit. This is to set the quiet of your whole life at hazard. If 
 you anticipate your inheritance, you can at last inherit nothing; all that you re- 
 ceive must pay for the past. You must get a place, or pine in penury, with 
 the empty name of a great estate. Poverty, my dear friend, is so great an 
 evil, and pregnant with so much temptation and so much misery, that I cannot 
 but earnestly enjoin you to avoid it. Live on what you have; live if you can 
 on less; do not borrow either for vanity or pleasure; the vanity will end in 
 shame, and the pleasure in regret : stay therefore at home till you have saved 
 money for your journey hither. 
 
 '* The Beauties of Johnson " ^ are said to have got money teethe collector; 
 if " The Deformities," have the same success, I shall be still a more extensive 
 benefactor. 
 
 Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, who is, I hope, reconciled to me; 
 and to the young people, whom I have never offended. 
 
 You never told me the success of your plea against the Solicitors. I am, 
 dear Sir, your most affectionate, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, March 28, 1782. 
 
 ^They met on those days in the years 1772, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 81, and 83. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 The ministry had resigned on the 20th. 
 
 3 This book, published in 1781, is said by Lowndes to have reached its seventh 
 edition by 1787. 
 
394 
 
 BOSWELVS life of J0HNS0$^. [A.D. 1782. 
 
 Notwithstanding his afflicted state of body and mind this year, 
 the following correspondence affords a proof not only of his be- 
 nevolence and conscientious readiness to relieve a good man from 
 error, but by his clothing one of the sentiments in his Rainbler 
 in different language, not inferior to that of the original, shows 
 his extraordinary command of clear and forcible expression. 
 
 A clergyman at Bath wrote to him, that in The Morning 
 Chronicle, a passage in the " The Beauties of Johnson," article 
 Death, had been pointed out as supposed by some readers to 
 recommend suicide, the words being, To die is the fate of man ; 
 but to die with lingering anguish is generally his folly ; " and re- 
 spectfully suggesting to him, that such an erroneous notion of any 
 sentence in the writings of an acknowledged friend of religion and 
 virtue, should not pass uncontradicted. 
 
 Johnson thus answered the clergyman's letter : 
 
 TO THE REVEREND MR. , AT BATH. 
 
 Sir: Being now ^ in the country in a state of recovery, as I hope, from a 
 very oppressive disorder, I cannot neglect the acknowledgment of your 
 Christian letter. The book called "The Beauties of Johnson," is the pro- 
 duction of I know not whom; I never saw it but by casual inspection, and 
 considered myself as utterly disengaged from its consequences. Of the pas- 
 sage you mention, I remember some notice in some paper; but knowing that 
 it must be misrepresented, I thought of it no more, nor do I know where to 
 find it in my own books. I am accustomed to think little of newspapers; but 
 an opinion so weighty and serious as yours has determined me to do, what I 
 should without your seasonable admonition have omitted : and I will direct 
 my thought to be shewn in its true state. ^ If I could find the passage I would 
 direct you to it. I suppose the tenor is this: "Acute diseases are the im- 
 mediate and inevitable strokes of Heaven; but of them the pain is short, and 
 the conclusion speedy; chronical disorders, l^y which we are suspended in 
 tedious torture between life and death, are commonly the effect of our own 
 misconduct and intemperance. To die, &c." This, Sir, you see is all true 
 and all blameless. I hope some time in the next week to have all rectified. 
 My health has been lately much shaken; if you favour me with any answer, it 
 will be a comfort to me to know that I have your prayers. I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 15, 1782. 
 
 ^ The clergyman's letter was dated May 4. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ What follows, appeared in The Morning Chronicle of May 29, 1782. " A cor- 
 respondent having mentioned, in The Morning Chronicle of December 12, the last 
 clause of the following paragraph, as seeming to favor suicide ; we arc requested to 
 print the whole passage, that its true meaning may appear, which is not to recom- 
 mend suicide but exercise. Exercise cannot secure us from that dissolution to 
 which we are decreed ; but while the soul and body continue united, it can make 
 the association pleasing, and give probable hopes that they shall be disjoined by an 
 easy separation. It was a principle among the ancients, that acute diseases are 
 from Heaven, and chronical from ourselv(>s; the dart of death, indeed, falls from 
 Heaven, but we poison it by our own misconduct : to die is the fate of man ; but to 
 die with lingering anguish is generally his folly." The Rambler, No. 85. — B. 
 
Age 73.] 
 
 DEBT A CALAMITY. 
 
 395 
 
 This letter, as might be expected, had its full effect, and the 
 clergyman acknowledged it in grateful and pious terms.* 
 
 The following letters require no extracts from mine to intro- 
 duce them. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: The earnestness and tenderness of your letter is such, that I 
 cannot think myself shewing it more respect than it claims by sitting down to 
 answer it on the day on which I received it. 
 
 This year has afflicted me with a very irksome and severe disorder. My 
 respiration has been much impeded, and much blood has been taken away. 
 I am now harassed by a catarrhous cough, from which my purpose is to seek 
 relief by change of air; and I am, therefore, preparing to go to Oxford. 
 
 Whether I did right in dissuading you from coming to London this spring, I 
 will not determine. You have not lost much time by missing my company; 
 T have scarcely been well for a single week. I might have received comfort 
 from your kindness; but you would have seen me afflicted, and, perhaps, 
 found me peevish. Whatever might have been your pleasure or mine, I know 
 not how I could have honestly advised you to come hither with borrowed 
 money. Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; 
 you will find it a calamity. Poverty takes away so many means of doing good, 
 and produces so much inability to resist evil, both natural and moral, that it is 
 by all virtuous means to be avoided. Consider a man whose fortune is very 
 narrow; whatever be his rank by birth, or whatever his reputation by intel- 
 lectual excellence, what can he do? or what evil can he prevent? That he 
 cannot help the needy is evident; he has nothing to spare. But, perhaps, his 
 advice or admonition may be useful. His poverty will destroy his influence : 
 many more can find that he is poor, than that he is wise : and few will rever- 
 ence the understanding that is of so little advantage to its owner. I say 
 nothing of the personal wretchedness of a debtor, which, however, has passed 
 into a proverb.^ Of riches it is not necessary to write the praise. Let it, how- 
 ever, be remembered, that he who has money to spare, has it always in his 
 power to benefit others; and of such power a good man must always be de- 
 sirous. 
 
 I am pleased with your account' of Easter.-^ We shall meet, I hope, in 
 autumn, both well and both cheerful; and part each the better for the other's 
 company. 
 
 Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and to the young charmers. I 
 am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, June 3, 1782. 
 
 TO MR. PERKINS. 
 
 Dear Sir : I am much pleased that you are going a very long journey, 
 which may by proper conduct restore your health and prolong your life. 
 
 ^ The correspondence may be seen at length in The Gentleman's Magazine, 
 Feb., 1786. — B. 
 
 * I_et him who sleeps too much borrow the pillow of a debtor. 
 
 ^ Which I celebrated in the Church-of-England chapel at Edinburgh, founded by 
 Lord Chief Baron Smith of respectable and pious memory. — B. 
 
BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1782. 
 
 Observe these rules : 
 
 1. Turn all care out of your head as soon as you mount the chaise. 
 
 2. Do not think about frugality; your health is worth more than it can cost. 
 
 3. Do not continue any day's journey to fatigue. 
 
 4. Take now and then a day's rest. 
 
 5. Get a smart sea-sickness, if you can. 
 
 6. Cast away all anxiety, and keep your mind easy. 
 
 This last direction is the principal; with an unquiet mind, neither exercise, 
 nor diet, nor physick can be of much use. 
 
 I wish you, dear Sir, a prosperous journey, and a happy recovery. I am, 
 dear Sir, your most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 28, 1782. 
 
 to james boswell, esq. 
 
 Dear Sir : Being uncertain whether I should have any call this autumn 
 into the country, I did not immediately answer your kind letter. I have no 
 call; but if you desire to meet me at Ashbourne, I believe I can come thither; 
 if you had rather come to London, I can stay at Streatham: take your choice. 
 
 This year has been very heavy. From the middle of January to the middle 
 of June I was battered by one disorder after another ! I am now very much 
 recovered, and hope still to be better. What happiness it is that Mrs. Boswell 
 has escaped. 
 
 My " Lives," are reprinting, and I have forgotten the authour of Gray's 
 character; * write immediately, and it may be perhaps yet inserted. 
 
 Of London or Ashbourne you have your free choice; at any place I shall 
 be glad to see you. I am, dear Sir, yours, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 August 24, 1782. 
 
 On the 30th of August, I informed him that my honored father 
 had died that morning; a complaint under which he had long 
 labored having suddenly come to a crisis while I was upon a visit 
 at the seat of Sir Charles Preston, from whence I had hastened 
 the day before, upon receiving a letter by express. 
 
 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- 
 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 life had 
 been pious, his thoughts had doubtless for many years past been turned upon 
 eternity. That you did not find hini sensible must doubtless grieve you : his 
 disposition towards you was undoubtedly that of a kind, though not of a fond 
 father. Kindness, at least actual, is in our power, l)ut fondness is not; and 
 if by negligence or imprudence you had extinguished his fondness, he could 
 
 'The Reverend Mr. Temple, Vicar of St. Gluvias, Cornwall. — B. 
 
Age 73-] 
 
 MAXIMS OF CONDUCT. 
 
 39T 
 
 not at will rekindle it. Nothing then remained between you but mutual for- 
 giveness 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 life 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, 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 life 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 attention to the interest 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 gaiety, 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 compliments 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 Rasay ^ has been here; we dined cheerfully 
 together, I entertained lately a young gentleman from Corrichatachin."* 
 
 1 received your letters only this morning. I am, dear Sir, yours, &c, 
 
 Sam, Johnson, 
 
 London, Sept. 7, 1782. 
 
 In answer to my next letter, I received one from him, dissuad- 
 ing me from hastening to him as I had proposed ; what is proper 
 for publication is the following paragraph, equally just and tender : 
 
 One expence, however, I would not have you to spare; let nothing be 
 omitted that can preserve Mrs. Boswell, though it should be necessary to 
 transplant her for a time into a softer climate. She is the prop and stay of 
 your life. How much must your children suffer by losing her. 
 
 My wife was now so much convinced of his sincere friendship 
 for me, and regard for her, that, without any suggestion on my 
 part, she wrote him a very polite, and grateful letter. 
 
 ^ Dr. Rogers asserts in " Boswelliana " that he settled on James the ancestral es- 
 tate with an unencumbered rental of /"i,6oo a year. But Boswell in 1791 com- 
 plained that he could reckon on only £goo a year of clear money. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Cowley : " Ode to Liberty," stanza vi, 
 ^MacLeod, the Laird of Rasay. 
 
 A farm in the Island of Skye where Johnson wrote his Latin Ode to Mrs. Thrale. 
 — Dr. Hill, 
 
398 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1782. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. BOSWELL. 
 
 Dear Lady : I have not often received so much* pleasure as from your in- 
 vitation to Auchinleck. The journey thither and back is, indeed, too great for 
 the latter part of the year; but if my health were fully recovered, I would 
 suffer no little heat and cold, nor a wet or a rough road to keep me from you. 
 I am, indeed, not without hope of seeing Auchinleck again; but to make it a 
 pleasant place I must see its lady well, and brisk, and airy. For my sake 
 therefore, among many greater reasons, take care, dear Madam, of your 
 health, spare no expence, and want no attendance that can procure ease, or 
 preserve it. Be very careful to keep your mind quiet; and do not think it too 
 much to give an account of your recovery to, Madam, yours, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Sept. 7, 1782. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: Having passed almost this whole year in a succession of dis- 
 orders, I went in October to Brighthelmston, whither I came in a state of so 
 much weakness, that I rested four times in walking between the inn and the 
 lodging. By physick and abstinence I grew better, and am now reasonably 
 easy, though at a great distance from health. I am afraid, however, that 
 health begins, after seventy, and long before, to have a meaning different 
 from that which it had at thirty. But it is culpable to murmur at the estab- 
 lished order of the creation, as it is in vain to oppose it; he that lives, must 
 grow old; and he that would rather grow old than die, has GOD to thank for 
 the infirmities of old age. 
 
 At your long silence I am rather angry. You do not, since now you are 
 the head of your house, think it worth your while to try whether you or your 
 friend can live longer without writing, nor suspect that after so many years of 
 friendship, that, when I do not write to you, I forget you. Put all such useless 
 jealousies out of your head, and disdain to regulate your own practice by the 
 practice of another, or by any other principle than the desire of doing right. 
 
 Your oeconomy, I suppose, begins now to be settled; your expences are ad- 
 justed to your revenue, and all your people in their proper places. Resolve 
 not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to 
 human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues im- 
 practicable, and others extremely difficult. 
 
 Let me know the history of your life, since your accession to your estate. 
 How many houses, how many cows, how much land in your own hand, and 
 what bargains you make with your tenants. 
 
 Of my " Lives of the Poets," they have printed a new edition in octavo, 
 I hear, of three thousand. Did I give a set to Lord Hailes? If I did not, I 
 will do it out of these. What did you make of all your copy? ^ 
 
 Mrs. Thrale and the three Misses are now for the winter in Argyll-street. 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds has been out of order, but is well again; and I am, dear 
 Sir, your affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Dec. 7, 1782. 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson gave Boswell the greatest part of the copy or manuscript of " The 
 Lives of the Poets." 
 
Age 73 ] JOHNSON'S LOSS BY TIIliALE'S DEATH. 399 
 
 TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 Edinburgh, Dec. 20, 1782. 
 Dear Sir : I was made happy by your kind letter, which gave us the agree- 
 able hop^s of seeing you in Scotland again. 
 
 I am much flattered by the concern you are pleased to take in my recovery. 
 I am better, and hope to have it in my power to convince you by my attention, 
 of how much consequence I esteem your health to the world and to myself. I 
 remain, Sir, with grateful respect, your obliged and obedient servant, 
 
 Margaret Boswell. 
 
 The death of Mr. Thrale had made a very material alteration 
 with respect to Johnson's reception in that family. The manly 
 authority of the husband no longer curbed the lively exuberance 
 of the lady ; and as her vanity had been fully gratified, by having 
 the Colossus of Literature attached to her for many years, she 
 gradually became less assiduous to please him. Whether her at- 
 tachment to him was already divided by another object, I am 
 unable to ascertain : but it is plain that Johnson's penetration 
 was alive to her neglect or forced attention ; for on the 6th of 
 October this year, we find him making a " parting use of the 
 library" at Streatham, and pronouncing a player which he com- 
 posed on leaving Mr. Thrale's family. 
 
 Almighty GoD, Father of all mercy, help me by thy grace, that I may, with 
 humble and sincere thankfulness, remember the comforts and conveniences 
 which I have enjoyed at this place; and that I may resign them with holy sub- 
 mission, equally trusting in thy protection when Thou givest, and when Thou 
 takest away. Have mercy upon me, O 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. 
 (" Prayers and Meditations," p. 214.) 
 
 One cannot read this prayer, without some emotions not very 
 favorable to the lady whose conduct occasioned it. 
 
 In one of his memorandum-books I find Sunday, went to 
 church at Streatham. Templo valedixi cum oscido^ 
 
 He met Mr. Philip Metcalfe often at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, and 
 • other places, and was a good deal with him at Brighthelmston this 
 autumn, being pleased at once with his excellent table and animated 
 conversation. Mr. Metcalfe showed him great respect, and sent 
 him a note that he might have the use of his carriage whenever he 
 pleased. Johnson (3d October, 1 782) returned this polite answer : 
 " Mr. Johnson is very much obliged by the kind offer of the 
 
400 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [A.D. 1782. 
 
 carriage, but he has no desire of using Mr. Metcalfe's carriage, 
 except when he can have the pleasure of Mr. Metcalfe's com- 
 pany." Mr. Metcalfe could not but be highly pleased that his 
 company was thus valued by Johnson, and he frequently attended 
 him in airings. They also went together to Chichester, and they 
 visited Petworth, and Cowdray, the venerable seat of the Lords 
 Montacute.^ "Sir," said Johnson, "I should like to stay here 
 four-and-twenty hours. We see here how our ancestors lived." 
 
 That his curiosity was still unabated, appears from two letters 
 to Mr. John Nichols, ot the loth and 20th of October this year. 
 In one he says, "I have looked into your 'Anecdotes,' and you 
 will hardly thank a lover of literary history for telling you that he 
 has been much informed and gratified. I wish you would add 
 your own discoveries and intelligence to those of Dr. Rawlinson, 
 and undertake the supplement to Wood. Think of it." In the 
 other, " I wish. Sir, you could obtain some fuller information of 
 Jortin, Markland, and Thirlby.^ They were three contemporaries 
 of great eminence." 
 
 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Dear Sir: I heard yesterday of your late disorder,*' and should think ill 
 of myself if I had heard of it without alarm. I heard likewise of your re- 
 covery, which I sincerely wish to be complete and permanent. Your country 
 has been in danger of losing one of its brightest ornaments, and I of losing 
 one of my oldest and kindest friends; but I hope you will still live long, for 
 the honour of the nation: and that more enjoyment of your elegance, your 
 intelligence, and your benevolence, is still reserved for, dear Sir, your most 
 affectionate, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Brighthelmston, Nov. 14, 1782. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Wilson having dedicated to him his " Ar- 
 chaeological Dictionary," that mark of respect was thus acknowl- 
 edged : 
 
 TO THE REVEREND MR. WILSON, CLITHEROE, LANCASHIRE. 
 
 Reverend Sir: That I have long omitted to return you thanks for the 
 honour conferred upon me by your dedication I entreat you with great 
 earnestness not to consider as more faulty than it is. A very importunate and 
 
 ^ An interesting account of Cowdray, which was burned in the same month in 
 which its owner, the last of his line, was drowned in Switzerland, will be found in 
 that pleasant book of English travel, " Field Paths and Green Lanes," (ch. ix.), by 
 Mr. I^. J. Jennings, M.P. 
 
 2 Nichols published in 1784 a brief account of Thirlby (1692-1753) of which 
 nearly half was written by Johnson. — Dr. Hill, 
 
 ^ A slight paralytic affection. 
 
Age 74-^FllUGALlTY THE BASIS OF BENEFICENCE. 401 
 
 oppressive disorder has for some time debarred me from the pleasures, and 
 obstructed me in the duties of life. The esteem and kindness of wise and good 
 men is one of the last pleasures which I can be content to lose : and gratitude 
 to those from whom this pleasure is received, is a duty of which I hope never 
 to be reproached with the final neglect. I therefore now return you thanks 
 for the notice which I have received from you, and which I consider as giving 
 to my name not only more bulk, but more weight; not only as extending its 
 superficies, but as increasing its value. Your book was evidently wanted, and 
 will, I hope, find its way into the school, to which, however, I do not mean 
 to confine it; for no man has so much skill in ancient rites and practices as 
 not to want it. As I suppose myself to owe part of your kindness to my ex- 
 cellent friend. Dr. Patten, he has likewise a just claim to my acknowledgment, 
 which I hope you. Sir, will transmit. There will soon appear a new edition of 
 my Poetical Biography; if you will accept of a copy to keep me in your mind, 
 be pleased to let me know how it may be conveniently conveyed to you. This 
 present is small, but it is given with good will by, Reverend Sir, your most, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 December 31, 1782. 
 
 In 1783, he was more severely afflicted than ever, as will ap- 
 pear in the course of his correspondence ; but still the same 
 ardor for literature, the same constant piety, the same kindness 
 for his friends, and the same vivacity, both in conversation and 
 writing, distinguished him. 
 
 Having given Dr. Johnson a full account of what I was doing 
 at Auchinleck, and particularly mentioned what I knew would 
 please him, — my having brought an old man of eighty-eight 
 from a lonely cottage to a comfortable habitation within my en- 
 closures, where he had good neighbors near to him, — I received 
 an answer in February, of which I extract what follows : 
 
 I am delighted with your account of your activity at Auchinleck, and wish 
 the old gentleman, whom you have so kindly removed, may live long to pro- 
 mote your prosperity by his prayers. You have now a new character and new 
 duties; think on them and practice them. 
 
 Make an impartial estimate of your revenue, and whatever it is, live upon 
 less. Resolve never to be poor. Frugality is not only the basis of quiet, but 
 of beneficence. No man can help others that wants help himself: we must 
 have enough before we have to spare. 
 
 I am glad to find that Mrs. Boswell grows well; and hope that to keep her 
 well, no care nor caution will be omitted. May you long live happily to- 
 gether. 
 
 When you come hither, pray bring with you Baxter's " Anacreon." I can- 
 not get that edition in London. 
 
 On Friday, March 21, having arrived in London the night be- 
 fore, I was glad to find him at Mrs. Thrale's house, in Argyll 
 Street, appearances of friendship between them being still kept 
 
 Vol. II. — 26 
 
402 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D- 1783. 
 
 up. I was shown into his room, and after the first salutation, he 
 said, " I am glad you are come : I am very ill." He looked pale, 
 and was distressed with a difficulty of breathing : but after the 
 common inquiries he assumed his usual strong animated style of 
 conversation. Seeing me now for the first time as a Laird, or 
 proprietor of land, he began thus : Sir, the superiority of a 
 country-gentleman over the people upon his estate is very agree- 
 able : and he who says he does not feel it to be agreeable lies ; 
 for it must be agreeable to have a casual superiority over those 
 who are by nature equal with us." Boswell : Yet, Sir, we see 
 great proprietors of land who prefer living in London." John- 
 son : "Why, Sir, the pleasure of living in London, the intellectual 
 superiority that is enjoyed there, may counterbalance the other. 
 Besides, Sir, a man may prefer the state of the country-gentle- 
 man upon the whole, and yet there may never be a moment when 
 he is willing to make the change to quit London for it." He 
 said;, " It is better to have five per cent, out of land, than out of 
 money, because it is more secure ; but the readiness of transfer, 
 and promptness of interest, make many people rather choose 
 the funds. Nay, there is another disadvantage belonging to land, 
 compared with money. A man is not so much afraid of being 
 a hard creditor, as of being a hard landlord." Boswell : " Be- 
 cause there is a sort of kindly connection between a landlord and 
 his tenants." Johnson : " No, Sir : many landlords with us never 
 see their tenants. It is because if a landlord drives away his 
 tenants, he may not get others ; whereas the demand for money 
 is so great, it may always be lent." 
 
 He talked with regret and indignation of the factious opposi- 
 tion to Government at this time, and imputed it in a great meas- 
 ure to the Revolution. " Sir," said he, in a low voice, having 
 come nearer to me, while his old prejudices seemed to be 
 fomenting in his mind, " this Hanoverian family is isolee here. 
 They have no friends. Now the Stuarts had friends who stuck 
 by them so late as 1745. When the right of the king is not 
 reverenced, there will not be reverence for those appointed by 
 the king." 
 
 His observation that the present royal family has no friends, 
 has been too much justified by the very ungrateful behavior of 
 many who were under great obligations to his Majesty ; at the 
 same time there are honorable exceptions : and the very next 
 year after this conversation, and ever since, the King has had as 
 extensive and generous support as ever was given to any monarch, 
 
Age 74-] THE ART OF CONVERSATION. 
 
 408 
 
 and has had the satisfaction of knowing that he was more and 
 more endeared to his people. 
 
 He repeated to me his verses on Mr. Levett, with an emotion 
 which gave them full effect ; and then he was pleased to say : 
 " You must be as much with me as you can. You have done me 
 good. You cannot think how much better I am, since you came 
 in." 
 
 He sent a message to acquaint Mrs. Thrale that I was arrived. 
 I had not seen her since her husband's death. She soon 
 appeared, and favored me with an invitation to stay to dinner, 
 which I accepted. There was no other company but herself and 
 three of her daughters, Dr. Johnson, and I. She too said, she 
 was very glad I was come, for she was going to Bath, and should 
 have been sorry to leave Dr. Johnson before I came. This 
 seemed to be attentive and kind ; and I who had not been in- 
 formed of any change, imagined all to be as well as formerly. 
 He was little inchned to talk at dinner, and went to sleep after 
 it ; but when he joined us in the drawing-room, he seemed re- 
 vived, and was again himself. 
 
 Talking of conversation, he said : " There must, in the first 
 place, be knowledge, there must be materials ; in the second 
 place, there must be a command of words ; in the third place, 
 there must be imagination, to place things in such views as they 
 are not commonly seen in ; and in the fourth place, there must 
 be presence of mind, and a resolution that it is not to be over- 
 come by failures ; this last is an essential requisite ; for want of 
 it many people do not excel in conversation. Now / want it ; I 
 throw up the game upon losing a trick." I wondered to hear 
 him talk thus of himself, and said, " I do n't know. Sir, how this 
 may be ; but I am sure you beat other people's cards out of their 
 hands." I doubt whether he heard this remark. While he went 
 on talking triumphantly, I was fixed in admiration, and said to 
 Mrs. Thrale, " O, for short-hand to take this down I" — "You '11 
 carry it all in your head," said she ; " a long head is as good as 
 short-hand." 
 
 It has been observed and wondered at, that Mr. Charles Fox 
 never talked with any freedom in the presence of Dr. Johnson ; 
 though it is well known, and I myself can witness, that his con- 
 versation is various, fluent, and exceedingly agreeable. Johnson's 
 own experience, however, of that gentleman's reserve, was a 
 sufficient reason for his going on thus : Fox never talks in 
 private company ; not from any determination not to talk, but 
 
404 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 because he has not the first motion. A man who is used to the 
 applause of the House of Commons, has no wish for that of a 
 private company. A man accustomed to throw for a thousand 
 pounds, if set down to throw for sixpence, would not be at the pains 
 to count his dice. Burke's talk is the ebullition of his mind ; he 
 does not talk from a desire of distinction, but because his mind 
 is full." 
 
 He thus curiously characterized one of our old acquaintance : 
 " [Sheridan] is a good man. Sir ; but he is a vain man and a 
 liar. He, however, only tells lies of vanity; of victories, for 
 instance, in conversation, which never happened." This alluded 
 to a story which I had repeated from that gentleman, to enter- 
 tain Johnson with its wild bravado : "This Johnson, Sir," said he, 
 " whom you are all afraid of, will shrink, if you come close to him 
 in argument and roar as loud as he. He once maintained the 
 paradox, that there is no beauty but in utility. 'Sir,' said I, 
 'what say you to the peacock's tail, which is one of the most 
 beautiful objects in nature, but would have as much utility if its 
 feathers were all of one color ? ' He /^// what I thus produced, 
 and had recourse to his usual expedient, ridicule ; exclaiming, 
 ' A peacock has a tail, and a fox has a tail ; ' and then he burst 
 out into a laugh. ' Well, Sir,' said I, with a strong voice, looking 
 him full in the face, ' you have unkennelled your fox ; pursue him 
 if you dare.' He had not a word to say, Sir." Johnson told me, 
 that this was fiction from beginning to end.' 
 
 After musing for some time, he said, " I wonder how I should 
 have any enemies ; for I do harm to nobody." ^ Boswell : "In 
 the first place, Sir, you will be pleased to recollect, that you set 
 out with attacking the Scotch ; so you got a whole nation for your 
 enemies." Johnson : " Why, I own, that by my definition of 
 
 1 Were I to insert all the stories which have been told of the contests boldly 
 maintained with him, imaginary victories obtained over him, of reducing him to 
 silence, and of making him own that his antagonist had the better of him in argu- 
 ment, my volumes would swell to an immoderate size. One instance, I find, has 
 circulated both in conversation and in print; that when he would not allow the 
 Scotch writers to have merit, the late Dr. Rose, of Chiswick, asserted that he 
 could name one Scotch writer, whom Dr. Johnson himself would allow to have 
 written better than any man of the age; and upon Johnson's asking who it was, 
 answered, " Lord Bute, when he signed the warrant for your pension." Upon 
 which, Johnson, struck with the repartee, acknowledged that this icnis true. When 
 I mentioned it to Johnson, " Sir," said he, " if Rose said this, I never heard it." 
 — B. 
 
 2 This reflection was very natural in a man of a good heart, who was not con- 
 scious of any ill will to mankind, though the sharj) sayings which were sometimes 
 produced by his discrimination and vivacity, which he perhaps did not recollect, 
 were, I am afraid, too often remembered with resentment." — B, 
 
Age 74-] JOHNSON AN UNRULY PATIENT. 405 
 
 oats ^ I meant to vex them." Boswell : " Pray, Sir, can you 
 trace the cause of your antipathy to the Scotch? " Johnson : " I 
 can not, Sir." Boswell : Old Mr. Sheridan says, it was because 
 they sold Charles the First." Johnson: "Then, Sir, old Mr. 
 Sheridan has found out a very good reason." 
 
 Surely the most obstinate and sulky nationality, the most deter- 
 mined aversion to this great and good man, must be cured when 
 he is seen thus playing with one of his prejudices, of which he 
 candidly admitted that he could not tell the reason. It was, 
 however, probably owing to his having had in his view the worst 
 part of the Scottish nation, the needy adventurers, many of whom 
 he thought were advanced above their merits by means which 
 he did not approve. Had he in his early life been in Scotland, 
 and seen the worthy, sensible, independent gentlemen, who live 
 rationally and hospitably at home, he never could have enter- 
 tained such unfavorable and unjust notions of his fellow-subjects. 
 And accordingly we find, that when he did visit Scotland in the 
 latter period of his life, he was fully sensible of all that it de- 
 served, as I have already pointed out, when speaking of his 
 "Journey to the Western Islands." 
 
 Next day, Saturday, March 22, I found him still at Mrs. 
 Thrale's, but he told me that he was to go to his own house in 
 the afternoon. He was better, but I perceived he was an unruly 
 patient, for Sir Lucas Pepys, who visited him while I was with 
 him said, " If you were tractable, Sir, I should prescribe for 
 you." 
 
 I related to him a remark which a respectable friend had made 
 to me, upon the then state of Government, when those who had 
 been long in Opposition had attained to power, as it was sup- 
 posed, against the inclination of the Sovereign.^ " You need not 
 be uneasy," said this gentleman, " about the King. He laughs 
 at them all; he plays them one against another." Johnson: 
 " Do n't think so. Sir. The King is as much oppressed as a man 
 can be. If he plays them one against another, he wins nothing." 
 
 1 had paid a visit to General Oglethorpe in the morning, and 
 was told by him that Dr. Johnson saw company on Saturday even- 
 ings, and he would meet me at Johnson's that night. When I 
 
 *A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland sup- 
 ports the people. — Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
 2 Lord North's Ministry lasted from 1770 to March, 1782. It was followed by 
 the Rockingham Ministry, (March to July), and the Shelburne Ministry, (July, 
 1782-April, 1783), which in its turn was at this very time giving way to the Coalition 
 or Portland Ministry, (April 5-Dec. 18, 1783), to be followed by the Pitt Adminis- 
 tration. 
 
406 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHJ^SOX. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 mentioned this to Johnson, not doubting that it would please 
 him, as he had a great value for Oglethorpe, the fretfulness of his 
 disease unexpectedly showed itself ; his anger suddenly kindled, 
 and he said, with vehemence, " Did not you tell him not to come ? 
 Am I to be hunted'm this manner? " I satisfied him that I could 
 not divine that the visit would not be convenient, and that I cer- 
 tainly could not take it upon me of my own accord to forbid the 
 General. 
 
 I found Dr. Johnson in the evening in Mrs. Williams's room, at 
 tea and coffee with her and Mrs. Desmoulins, who were also both 
 ill ; it was a sad scene, and he was not in a very good humor. 
 He said of a performance that had lately come out : Sir, if you 
 should search all the madhouses in England, you would not find 
 ten men who would write so, and think it sense." 
 
 I was glad when General Oglethorpe's arrival was announced, 
 and we left the ladies. Dr. Johnson attended him in the parlor, 
 and was as courteous as ever. The General said, he was busy 
 reading the writers of the Middle Age. Johnson said they were 
 very curious. Oglethorpe : " The House of Commons has 
 usurped the power of the nation's money, and used it tyrannically. 
 Government is now carried on by corrupt influence, instead of 
 the inherent right in the king." Johnson : ''Sir, the want of in- 
 herent right in the king occasions all this disturbance. What we 
 did at the Revolution was necessary : but it broke our constitu- 
 tion." ' Oglethorpe : " My father did not think it necessary." 
 
 On Sunday, March 23, I breakfasted with Dr. Johnson, who 
 seemed much relieved, having taken opium the night before. 
 He, however, protested against it, as a remedy that should be 
 given with the utmost reluctance, and only in extreme necessity. 
 I mentioned how commonly it was used in Turkey, and that 
 therefore it could not be so pernicious as he apprehended. He 
 grew warm, and said : " Turks take opium, and Christians take 
 opium ; but Russel, in his account of Aleppo, tells us, that it is as 
 disgraceful in Turkey to take too much opium, as it is with us to 
 get drunk. Sir, it is amazing how things are exaggerated. A 
 gentleman was lately telling in a company where I was present, that 
 in France as soon as a man of fashion marries, he takes an opera- 
 
 1 I have in my " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," [p. 200, Sept. 13] fully ex- 
 pressed my sentiments upon this subject. The Revolutio:i was necessary, but not a 
 subject iox glory ; because it for a long time blasted the generous feelings of loyalty. 
 And now, when by the benignant effect ot time the prescMit Royal Fiimily are estab- 
 lished in our affections, how unwise is it to revive by celei)rations the memory of a 
 shock, which it would surely have been better that our constitution had not required. 
 — B, 
 
GENERAL OGLETHORPE. 
 
Age 74- J COMPLAINTS OF THE WORLD UNJUST. 407 
 
 girl into keeping ; and this he mentioned as a general custom. 
 ' Pray, Sir,' said I, ' how many opera-girls may there be ? ' He 
 answered, ' About fourscore.' — ' Well then. Sir,' said I, ' you see 
 there can be no more than fourscore men of fashion who can do 
 this.' " 
 
 Mrs. Desmoulins made tea ; and she and I talked before him 
 upon a topic which he had once borne patiently from me when 
 we were by ourselves, — his not complaining of the world, be- 
 cause he was not called to some great office, nor had attained to 
 great wealth. He flew into a violent passion, I confess with some 
 justice, and commanded us to have done : " Nobody," said he, 
 " has a right to talk in this manner, to bring before a man his 
 own character, and the events of his life, when he does not choose 
 it should be done. I never have sought the world ; the world was 
 not to seek me. It is rather wonderful that so much has been 
 done for me. All the complaints which are made of the world 
 are unjust. I never knew a man of merit neglected ; it was gen- 
 erally by his own fault that he failed of success. A man may hide 
 his head in a hole : he may go into the country, and publish a 
 book now and then, which nobody reads, and then complain he 
 is neglected. There is no reason why any person should exert 
 himself for a man who has written a good book : he has not 
 written it for any individual. I may as well make a present to a 
 postman who brings me a letter. When patronage was limited, 
 an author expected to find a Maecenas, and complained if he did 
 not find one. Why should he complain? This Maecenas has 
 others as good as he, or others who have got the start of him." 
 BoswELL : " But surely. Sir, you will allow that there are men of 
 merit at the bar, who never get practice." Johnson : " Sir, you 
 are sure that practice is got from an opinion that the person em- 
 ployed deserves it best ; so that if a man of merit at the bar 
 does not get practice, it is from error, not from injustice. He is 
 not neglected. A horse that is brought to market may not be 
 bought, though he is a very good horse ; but that is from igno- 
 rance, not from intention." 
 
 There was in this discourse much novelty, ingenuity, and dis- 
 crimination, such as is seldom to be found. Yet I cannot help 
 thinking that men off merit, who have no success in life, may be 
 forgiven for la?7ienting, if they are not allowed to cotnplain. They 
 may consider it as hard that their merit should not have its suitable 
 distinction. Though there is no intentional injustice towards 
 them on the part of the world, their merit not having been per- 
 
408 BOSWELL'S LIF^l OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 ceived, they may yet repine against fortune or fate, or by what- 
 ever name they choose to call the supposed mythological power 
 of Destmy. It has, however, occurred to me as a consolatory 
 thought, that men of merit should consider thus : How much 
 harder would it be, if the same persons had both all the merit and 
 all the prosperity. Would not this be a miserable distribution for 
 the poor dunces ? Would men of merit exchange their intellect- 
 ual superiority, and the enjoyments arising from it, for external 
 distinction and the pleasures of wealth? If they would not, let 
 them not envy others, who are poor where they are rich, a com- 
 pensation which is made to them. Let them look inwards and 
 be satisfied ; recollecting with conscious pride what Virgil finely 
 says of Coryciiis Senex, and which I have, in another place,^ with 
 truth and sincerity applied to Mr. Burke. 
 
 " Regum aequabat opes animis.'" 
 
 On the subject of the right employment of wealth, Johnson 
 observed : " A man cannot make a bad use of his money, so far 
 as regards society, if he do not hoard it ; for if he either spends 
 it or lends it out, society has the benefit. It is in general better 
 to spend money than to give it away ; for industry is more pro- 
 moted by spending money than by giving it away. A man who 
 spends his money is sure he is doing good with it : he is not sure 
 when he gives it away. A man who spends ten thousand a year 
 will do more good than a man who spends two thousand and 
 gives away eight." 
 
 In the evening I came to him again. He was somewhat fret- 
 ful from his illness. A gentleman ^ asked him whether he had been 
 abroad to-day. " Do n't talk so childishly," said he. " You 
 may as well ask if I hanged myself to-day." I mentioned poli- 
 tics. Johnson : " Sir, I 'd as soon have a man to break my bones 
 as talk to me of public affairs, internal or external. I have 
 lived to see things all as bad as they can be." 
 
 Having mentioned his friend, the second Lord Southwell, he 
 said : " Lord Southwell was the highest bred man without inso- 
 lence, that I ever was in company with ; the most qualitied I ever 
 saw. Lord Orrery was not dignified ; Lord Chesterfield was, but 
 
 ^ " Letter to the People of Scotland against the attempt to diminish the number 
 of the Lords of Session, 1785." — B. 
 2 " Georgics," iv, 132. 
 « Probably Boswell himself. 
 
Age 74.] GOLDSMITH^S BLUNDERING SPEECH. 409 
 
 he was insolent. Lord ^ is a man of coarse manners, but a 
 
 man of abilities and* information. I do n't say he is a man I would 
 set at the head of a nation, though perhaps he may be as good as 
 the next Prime Minister that comes ; but he is a man to be at the 
 head of a club ; I do n't say our Club ; for there's no such 
 club." BoswELL : But, Sir, was he not once a factious man ? " 
 Johnson : " O yes, Sir ; as factious a fellow as could be found ; 
 one who was for sinking us all into the mob." Boswell : " How 
 then. Sir, did he get into favor with the King?" Johnson: 
 " Because, Sir, I suppose he promised the King to do whatever 
 the King pleased." 
 
 He said : " Goldsmith's blundering speech to Lord Shelburne, 
 which has been so often mentioned, and which he really did 
 make to him, was only a blunder in emphasis : ' I wonder they 
 should call your Lordship Malagrida, for Malagrida was a very 
 good man ; ' meant, I wonder they should use Malagrida as a 
 term of reproach." ^ 
 
 Soon after this time I had an opportunity of seeing, by means 
 of one of his friends,^ a proof that his talents, as well as his 
 obliging service to authors, were ready as ever. He had revised 
 "The Village," an admirable poem by the Reverend Mr. Crabbe. 
 Its sentiments as to the false notions of rustic happiness and rustic 
 virtue, were quite congenial with his own ; and he had taken the 
 trouble not only to suggest slight corrections and variations, but 
 to furnish some lines, when he thought he could give the writer's 
 meaning better than in the words of the manuscript.* 
 
 ^ Lord Shelburne, who with Pitt for his Chancellor of the Exchequer, was now 
 head of the short-lived Ministry of 1782, which was ousted by the Coalition shortly 
 after this conversation. 
 
 2 Malagrida was a Jesuit who was put to death at Lisbon in 1761 on suspicion of 
 having sanctioned, in his capacity of confessor, an attempt to assassinate King 
 Joseph of Portugal. " His name," writes Wraxall in his "Memoirs," "is become 
 proverbial among us to express duplicity." It was first applied to Lord Shelburne 
 in a squib attributed to Wilkes. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ Most likely Reynolds who introduced Crabbe to Johnson. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 * I shall give an instance, marking the original by Roman, and Johnson's substi- 
 tution in italic characters : 
 
 " In fairer scenes, where peaceful pleasures spring, 
 Tityrus, the pride of Mantuan swains, might sing ; 
 But charmed by him, or smitten with his views, 
 Shall modern poets court the Mantuan muse? 
 From Truth and Nature shall we widely stray, 
 Where Fancy leads, or Virgil led the way ? " 
 
 " On Mincio's banks, in Ccssar's bounteous reign, 
 If Tityrus found the golden age again , 
 Must sleepy bards the fatter ing dream prolong, 
 
410 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 On Sunday, March 30, I found him at home in the evening, 
 and had the pleasure to meet with Dr. Brockleisby, whose reading, 
 and knowledge of life, and good spirits, supply him with a never- 
 failing source of conversation. He mentioned a respectable 
 gentleman, who became extremely penurious near the close of 
 his life. Johnson said there must have been a degree of madness 
 about him. " Not at all. Sir," said Dr. Brocklesby, " his judgment 
 was entire." Unluckily, however, he mentioned that although he 
 had a fortune of twenty-seven thousand pounds, he denied him- 
 self many comforts, from an apprehension that he could not afford 
 them. "Nay, Sir," cried Johnson, "when the judgment is so 
 disturbed that a man cannot count, that is pretty well." 
 
 I shall here insert a few of Johnson's sayings, without the for- 
 mality of dates, as they have no reference to any particular time 
 or place. 
 
 "The more a man extends and varies his acquaintance the 
 better." This, however, was meant with a just restriction; for he 
 on another occasion said to me, " Sir, a man may be so much of 
 everything, that he is nothing of anything." 
 
 "Raising the wages of day-laborers is wrong; for it does not 
 make them live better, but only makes them idler, and idleness is 
 a very bad thing for human nature." 
 
 " It is a very good custom to keep a journal for a man's own 
 use ; he may write upon a card a day all that is necessary to be 
 written, after he has had experience of life. At first there is a 
 great deal to be written, because there is a great deal of 
 novelty; but when once a man has settled his opinions, there 
 is seldom much to be set down." 
 
 " There is nothing wonderful in the Journal which we see Swift 
 kept in London, for it contains slight topics, and it might soon be 
 written." 
 
 I praised the accuracy of an account-book of a lady whom I 
 mentioned. Johnson : " Keeping accounts. Sir, is of no use when 
 a man is spending his own money, and has nobody to whom he 
 is to account. You won't eat less beef to-day, because you have 
 written down what it cost yesterday." I mentioned another lady 
 
 Mechanic echoes of the Mantuan song? 
 From Truth and Nature shall we widely stray, 
 Where Virgil, not where Fancy, leads the way f' 
 
 Here we find Johnson's poetical and critical powers undiminished. I must, 
 however, observe, that the aids he gave to this poem, as to " The Traveller," and 
 " Deserted Village," of Goldsmith, were so small as by no means to impair the dis- 
 tinguished merit of the author. — B. 
 
Age 74.] THE USE OF KEEPING ACCOUNTS. 411 
 
 who thought as he did, so that her husband could not get her to 
 keep an account of the expense of the family, as she thought it 
 enough that she never exceeded the sum allowed her. Johnson : 
 " Sir, it is fit she should keep an account, because her husband 
 wishes it; but I do not see its use." I maintained that keeping 
 an account had this advantage, that it satisfies a man that his 
 money has not been lost or stolen, which he might sometimes be 
 apt to imagine, were there no written state of his expense ; and 
 besides, a calculation of economy, so as not to exceed one's in- 
 come, can not be made without a view of the different articles in 
 figures, that one may see how to retrench in some particulars less 
 necessary than others. This he did not attempt to answer. 
 
 Talking of an acquaintance of ours,^ whose narratives, which 
 abounded in curious and interesting topics, were unhappily found 
 to be very fabulous ; I mentioned Lord Mansfield's having said to 
 me, "Suppose we believe one half of what he tells." Johnson: 
 "Ay; but we do n't know which half to believe. By his lying we 
 lose not only our reverence for him, but all comfort in his conver- 
 sation." BoswELL : " May we not take it as amusing fiction?" 
 Johnson : " Sir, the misfortune is, that you will insensibly believe 
 as much of it as you incline to believe." It is remarkable, that 
 notwithstanding their congeniality in politics, he never wns ac- 
 quainted with a late eminent noble judge, whom I have heard 
 speak of him as a writer, with great respect.^ Johnson, I know 
 not upon what degree of investigation, entertained no exalted 
 opinion of his Lordship's intellectual character. Talking of him 
 to me one day, he said, " It is wonderful. Sir, with how little real 
 superiority of mind men can make an eminent figure in public 
 life." He expressed himself to the same purpose concerning 
 another law-lord, who, it seems, once took a fancy to associate 
 with the wits of London ; but with so little success, that Foote 
 said, " What can he mean by coming among us? He is not only 
 dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others." Trying him by 
 the test of his colloquial powers, Johnson had found him very de- 
 fective. He once said to Sir Joshua Reynolds, "This man now 
 has been ten years about town, and has made nothing of it;" 
 meaning as a companion.''' He said to me, " I never heard any- 
 
 ^ George Steevens. 
 
 2 Lord Mansfield ; Boswell using late in the sense of in retirement, for Mansfield 
 was alive when the Life was published, having retired from the Bench three years 
 before (1788). — Dr. Hill. 
 
 3 Knowing as well as I do what precision and elegance of oratory his Lordship 
 can display, I cannot but suspect that his unfavorable appearance in a social circle, 
 
412 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 thing from him in company that was at all striking, and depend upon 
 it, Sir, it is when you come close to a man in conversation that 
 you discover what his real abilities are : to make a speech in a 
 public assembly is a knack. Now I honor Thurlow, Sir ; Thurlow 
 is a fine fellow ; he fairly puts his mind to yours." 
 
 After repeating to him some of his pointed, lively sayings, I 
 said, " It is a pity, Sir, you do n't always remember your own good 
 things, that you may have a laugh when you will." Johnson : 
 " Nay, Sir, it is better that I forget them that I may be reminded 
 of them, and have a laugh on their being brought to my recollec- 
 tion." 
 
 When I recalled to him his having said as we sailed up Loch 
 Lomond, ' that if he wore anything fine, it should be very fine ; ' 
 I observed that all his thoughts were upon a great scale. John- 
 son : " Depend upon it. Sir, every man will have as fine a thing 
 as he can get ; as large a diamond for his ring." Boswell : 
 
 Pardon me, Sir : a man of a narrow mind will not think of it, a 
 slight trinket will satisfy him : 
 
 " ' Nec sufferre queat majoris pondera gemmae.' " ' 
 
 I told him I should send him some Essays " which I had 
 written,^ which I hoped he would be so good as to read, and pick 
 out the good ones. Johnson : " Nay, Sir, send me only the good 
 ones ; do n't make 7ne pick them." 
 
 1 heard him once say, " Though the proverb ^Nullum numen 
 abesf, si sit prudentia,' ^ does not always prove true, we may be 
 certain of the converse of it. Nullum numen adest, si sit im- 
 prudentiay 
 
 Once, when Mr. Seward was going to Bath, and asked his com- 
 mands, he said, " Tell Dr. Harrington that I wish he would pub- 
 lish another volume of the ^ Nugae antiquae ' ; " it is a very i)retty 
 book." Mr. Seward seconded this wish, gnd recommended to 
 Dr. Harrington to dedicate it to Johnson, and take for his motto 
 what Catullus says to Cornelius Nepos : 
 
 which drew such animadversions upon him, must be owing to a cold affectation of 
 consequence, from being reserved and stiff. If it be so and he might be an 
 agreeable man if he would, we cannot be sorry that he misses his aim. — B. No 
 doubt Lord Loughborough ( Wedderburne). — Croker. 
 
 * Juvenal: " Satires," i. 1. 29. 
 
 2 Under the title of "The Hypochondriac." Seventy essays in the London 
 Magazine, 1777-1783. See Vol. L, p. 28, /tote i. 
 
 ^ Juvenal : " Satires," x. 1. 365. 
 
 * It has since appeared. — B. A new and greatly improved edition of this very 
 curious collection was published by Mr. Park in 1804, in two volumes octavo. — 
 Malone. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 UNTHA CED Q UO TA Tl ONS. 
 
 413 
 
 " . . . namque tu solebas, 
 Meas esse aliquid putare NUGAS." 
 
 ["Od."i. 3.] 
 
 As a small proof of his kindliness and delicacy of feeling, the 
 following circumstance may be mentioned : one evening when 
 we were in the street together, and I told him I was going to sup 
 at Mr. Beauclerk's, he said, " I '11 go with you." After having 
 walked part of the way, seeming to recollect something, he sud- 
 denly stopped and said, " I can not go, — but/ t/o not love Beau- 
 clerk the less.'' 
 
 On the frame of his portrait Mr. Beauclerk had inscribed, 
 
 *' . . . Ingenium ingens 
 
 Inculto latet hoc sub corpore." ^ 
 
 After Mr. Beauclerk's death, when it became Mr. Langton's prop- 
 erty, he made the inscription be defaced. Johnson said com- 
 placently, " It was kind in you to take it off ; " and then after a 
 short pause added, "and not unkind in him to put it on." 
 
 He said, " How few of his friends' houses would a man choose 
 to be at when he is sick ! " He mentioned one or two. I recol- 
 lect only Thrale's. 
 
 He observed : " There is a wicked inclination in most people 
 to suppose an old man decayed in his intellects. If a young or 
 middle-aged man, when leaving a company, does not recollect 
 where he laid his hat, it is nothing ; but if the same inattention 
 is discovered in an old man, people will shrug up their shoulders, 
 and say, ' His memory is going.' " 
 
 When I once talked to him of some of the sayings which 
 everybody repeats, but nobody knows where to find, such as, 
 Quos Deus villi pei'dei-e, p7ius dementat ;^ he told me that he was 
 once offered ten guineas to point out from whence Semel in- 
 sanivinius omnes was taken. He could not do it ; but many 
 years afterwards met with it by chance in " Johannes Baptista 
 Mantuanus." ^ 
 
 I am very sorry that I did not take a note of an eloquent ar- 
 gument in which he maintained that the situation of Prince of 
 
 1 Horace : " Satires," i. 3, 33. 
 
 2 The words are probably a rough translation from a fragment of Euripides. — 
 Dr. Hill. 
 
 3 Baptista Mantuanus Carmelita : " Adolescentia seu Bucolica." Ecloga I., 'pub- 
 lished 1498. Dr. Jolinson declared that his works, though written in unclassic 
 Latin, were read in English schools till the beginning of the i8th century. 
 
414 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 Wales was the happiest of any person's in the kingdom, even be- 
 yond that of the Sovereign. I recollect only — the enjoyment of 
 hope, — the high superiority of rank, without the anxious cares 
 of government, — and a great degree of power, both from natu- 
 ral influence wisely used, and from the sanguine expectations of 
 those who look forward to the chance of future favor. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds communicated to me the following par- 
 ticulars : 
 
 Johnson thought the poems published as translations from 
 Ossian had so little merit, that he said, " Sir, a man might write 
 such stuff forever, if he would abandon his mind to it." 
 
 He said, " A man should pass a part of his time with the 
 laughers^ by which means anything ridiculous or particular about 
 him might be presented to his view, and corrected." I ob- 
 served, he must have been a bold laugher who would have ven- 
 tured to tell Dr. Johnson of any of his particularities.^ 
 
 Having observed the vain ostentatious importance of many 
 people in quoting the authority of dukes and lords, as having 
 been in their company, he said, he went to the other extreme, 
 and did not mention his authority when he should have done it, 
 had it not been that of a duke or a lord. 
 
 Dr. Goldsmith said once to Dr. Johnson, that he wished for 
 some additional members to the Literary Club, to give it an 
 agreeable variety; "for," said he, "there can now be nothing 
 new among us ; we have travelled over one another's minds." 
 Johnson seemed a little angry and said, " Sir, you have not trav- 
 elled over my mind, I promise you." Sir Joshua, however, 
 thought Goldsmith right, observing that : " When people have 
 lived a great deal together, they know what each of them will say 
 on every subject. A new understanding, therefore, is desirable ; 
 because though it may only furnish the same sense upon a ques- 
 tion which would have been furnished by those with whom we 
 are accustomed to live, yet this sense will have a different color- 
 ing ; and coloring is of much effect in everything else as well as 
 in painting." 
 
 Johnson used to say that he made it a constant rule to talk as 
 well as he could both as to sentiment and expression, by which 
 
 ' I am happy, however, to mention a pleasing instance of his enduring with 
 great gentleness to hear one of his most striking particularities pointed out : Miss 
 Hunter, a niece of his iriend Christopher Smart, when a very young girl, struck by 
 his dxtraordinary motions, said to him, " Pray, Dr. Johnson, why do you make such 
 strange gestures?" — " From bad habit," he replied. " Do you, my dear, take care 
 to guard against bad habits." This I was told by the young lady's brother at Mar- 
 gate.— B. 
 
Age 74 ] JOHNSON'S DEXTERITY IN RETORTS. 415 
 
 means, what had been originally effort became fomiliar and easy. 
 The consequence of this, Sir Joshua observed, was, that his com- 
 mon conversation in all companies was such as to secure him 
 universal attention, as something above the usual colloquial style 
 was expected. 
 
 Yet, though Johnson had this habit in company, when another 
 mode was necessary, in order to investigate truth, he could de- 
 scend to a language intelligible to the meanest capacity. An in- 
 stance of this was witnessed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, when they 
 were present at an examination of a little blackguard boy by Mr. 
 Saunders Welch, the late Westminster Justice. Welch, who 
 imagined that he was exalting himself in Dr. Johnson's eyes by 
 using big words, spoke in a manner that was utterly unintelligible 
 to the boy ; Dr. Johnson perceiving it, addressed himself to the 
 boy, and changed the pompDus phraseology into colloquial lan- 
 guage. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was much amused by this 
 procedure, which seemed a kind of reversing of what might have 
 been expected from the two men, took notice of it to Dr. John- 
 son, as they walked away by themselves. Johnson said that it 
 was continually the case ; and that he was always obliged to 
 t7'anslate the justice's swelling diction (smiling) so that his mean- 
 ing might be understood by the vulgar, from whom information 
 was to be obtained. 
 
 Sir Joshua once observed to him that he had talked above the 
 capacity of some people with whom they had been in company 
 together. " No matter. Sir," said Johnson ; they consider it as 
 a compliment to be talked to, as if they were wiser than they are. 
 So true is this. Sir, that Baxter made it a rule in every sermon 
 that he preached, to say something that was above the capacity 
 of his audience." ' 
 
 Johnson's dexterity in retort, when he seemed to be driven to 
 an extremity by his adversary, was very remarkable. Of his power 
 in this respect, our common friend, Mr. Windham of Norfolk, has 
 been pleased to furnish me with an eminent instance. However 
 unfavorable to Scotland, he uniformly gave liberal praise to George 
 Buchanan, as a writer. In a conversation concerning the literary 
 merits of the two countries, in which Buchanan was introduced, a 
 Scotchman, imagining that on this ground he should have an un- 
 doubted triumph over him, exclaimed, "Ah, Dr. Johnson, what 
 
 The justness of this remark is confirmed bythe following storv.for which I am 
 indebted to T^ord ElHot : A country parson, uho was remarkable for quoting scraps 
 of Latin in his sermons, having died, one of his parishoners was asked how he liked 
 his successor ; " He is a very good preacher, ' was his answer, " but no latincr, " — B. 
 
416 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 would you have said of Buchanan, had he been an EngHshman?" 
 — " Why, Sir," said Johnson, after a httle pause, " I should not have 
 said of Buchanan, had he been an Englishman, what I will now 
 say of him as a Scotchman, — that he was the only man of genius 
 his country ever produced." 
 
 And this brings to my recollection another instance of the same 
 nature. I once reminded him that when Dr. Adam Smith was 
 expatiating on the beauty of Glasgow, he had cut him short by 
 saying, ''Pray, Sir, have you ever seen Brentford?" and I took 
 the liberty to add, "My dear Sir, surely that was shocking^ — 
 "Why, then. Sir," he rephed, "you have never seen Brentford." 
 
 Though his usual phrase for conversation was talk, yet he made 
 a distinction ; for when he once told me that he dined the day 
 before at a friend's house, with "a very pretty company; " and I 
 asked him if there was good conversation, he answered, " No, Sir ; 
 we had talk enough, but no conversation ; there was nothing dis- 
 cussed.'"' 
 
 Talking of the success of the Scotch in London, he imputed 
 it in a considerable degree to their spirit of nationality. " You 
 know, Sir," said he, " that no Scotchman publishes a book, or has 
 a play brought upon the stage, but there are five hundred people 
 ready to applaud him." 
 
 He gave much praise to his friend. Dr. Burney's elegant and 
 entertaining travels,^ and told Mr. Seward that he had them in his 
 eye, when writing his " Journey to the Western Islands of Scot- 
 land." 
 
 Such was his sensibility, and so much was he affected by pathetic 
 poetry, that when he was reading Dr. Beattie's "Hermit," in my 
 presence, it brought tears into his eyes.'^ 
 
 He disapproved much of mingling real facts with fiction. On 
 this account he censured a book entitled " Love and Madness."^ 
 
 Mr. Hoole told him, he was born in Moorfields, and had re- 
 ceived part of his early instruction in Orub Street. " Sir," said 
 Johnson, smiling, "you have been regularly educated." Having 
 asked who was his instructor, and Mr. Hoole having answered, 
 
 ^ "The Present State of Music in France and Italy," 1771, and " The Present 
 State of Music in Germany," 1773. 
 
 2 The particular passage which excited the strong emotion, was, as I have heard 
 from my father, the third stanza, " 'T is Night," cS:c. — J. Boswclljun. 
 
 3 " Love and Madness " was written by the Rev. Sir Herbert Croft, author of the 
 '* Life of Young " in the " Lives of the Poets." It purports to be a correspondence 
 between Hackman and the Miss Ray whom he murdered (see ante, p. 257). Its 
 only interest lies in the fact that the strange story of Chatterton's life and death was 
 first pul)lishe(l in it. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 THE CLUB IN OLD STREET. 
 
 417 
 
 My uncle, Sir, who was a tailor ; " Johnson, recollecting himself, 
 said, " Sir, I knew him ; we called him the metaphysical tailor. 
 He was of a club in Old Street, with me and George Psalmanazer, 
 and some others: but pray. Sir, was he a good tailor?" Mr. 
 Hoole having answered that he believed he was too mathematical, 
 and used to draw squares and triangles on his shop-board, so that 
 he did not excel in the cut of a coat ; " I am sorry for it," 
 said Johnson, " for I would have every man to be master of his 
 own business." 
 
 In pleasant reference to himself and Mr. Hoole as brother 
 authors, he often said, " Let you and I, Sir, go together, and eat a 
 beef-steak in Grub Street," 
 
 Sir William Chambers, that great architect,' whose works show 
 a sublimity of genius, and who is esteemed by all who know him, 
 for his social, hospitable, and generous qualities, submitted the 
 manuscript of his " Chinese Architecture," to Dr. Johnson's 
 perusal. Johnson was much pleased with it, and said, " It wants 
 no addition nor correction, but a few lines of introduction;" 
 which he furnished, and Sir William adopted.''^ 
 
 He said to Sir William Scott : The age is running mad after 
 innovation ; and all the business of the world is to be done in a 
 new way ; men are to be hanged in a new way ; Tyburn itself is 
 not safe from the fury of innovation." ^ It having been argued 
 that this was an improvement — No, Sir," said he" eagerly, " it is 
 not an improvement ; they object, that the old method drew to- 
 gether a number of spectators. Sir, executions are intended to 
 draw spectators. If they do not draw spectators they do n't answer 
 their purpose. The old method was most satisfactory to all 
 parties ; the public was gratified by a procession ; the criminal 
 
 _ ^ The Honorable Horace Walpole, late Earl of Oxford, thus bears testimony to 
 this gentleman's merit as a writer: " Mr. Chambers's ' Treatise on Civil Architect- 
 ure,' is the most sensible book, and the most exempt from prejudices, that ever was 
 written on that science, " " Preface to Anecdotes of Painting in England. " — B. 
 
 ^ The introductory lines are these : " It is difficult to avoid praising, too little or 
 too much. The boundless panegyrics which have been lavished upon the Chinese 
 learning, policy, and arts, show with what power novelty attracts regard, and how 
 naturally esteem swells into admiration. I am far from desiring to be numbered 
 among the exaggerators of Chinese excellence. I consider them as great, or wise, 
 only in comparison with the nations that surround them ; and have no intention to 
 place them in competition either with the ancients or with the moderns of this part 
 of the world ; yet they must be allowed to claim our notice as a distinct and very 
 singular race of men : as the inhabitants of a region divided by its situation from 
 all civilized countries, who have formed their own manners, and invented their own 
 arts, without the assistance of example, " — B. 
 
 3 The last execution at Tyburn was on Nov. 7, 1783 ; the first at Newgate was a 
 month later (Dec. 9) when ten men were hanged. — Gent. Mag. 1783. 
 
 Vol, II. — 27 
 
418 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 was supported by it. Why is all this to be swept away?" I 
 perfectly agree with Dr. Johnson upon this head, and am per- 
 suaded that executions now, the solemn procession being discon- 
 tinued, have not nearly the -effect which they formerly had. 
 Magistrates, both in London and elsewhere, have, I am afraid, in 
 this had too much regard to their own ease. 
 
 Of Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester, Johnson said to a friend, 
 " Hurd, Sir, is one of a set of men who account for everything 
 systematically ; for instance, it has been a fashion to wear scarlet 
 breeches ; these men would tell you that, according to causes and 
 effects, no other wear could at that time have been chosen." He, 
 however, said of him at another time to the same gentleman, 
 " Hurd, Sir, is a man whose acquaintance is a valuable acqui- 
 sition." 
 
 That learned and ingenious prelate it is well known published 
 at one period of his life " Moral and Political Dialogues," with a 
 wofully Whiggish cast. Afterwards his Lordship, having thought 
 better, came to see his error, and republished the work with a 
 more constitutional spirit. Johnson, however, was unwilling to 
 allow him full credit for his political conversion. I remember 
 when his Lordship declined the honor of being Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, Johnson said, ^' I am glad he did not go to Lambeth ; 
 for, after all, I fear he is a Whig in his heart." 
 
 Johnson's attention to precision and clearness in expression was 
 very remarkable. He disapproved of a parenthesis ; and I believe 
 in all his voluminous writings, not half a dozen of them will be 
 found. He never used the phrases /he former and the latter, hav- 
 ing observed that they often occasioned obscurity ; he therefore 
 contrived to construct his sentences so as not to have occasion for 
 them, and would even rather repeat the same words, in order to 
 avoid them. Nothing is more common than to mistake surnames, 
 when we hear them carelessly uttered for the first time. To prevent 
 this, he used not only to pronounce them slowly and distinctly, but to 
 take the trouble of spelling them ; a practice which I have often 
 followed, and which I wish were general. 
 
 Such was the heat and irritability of his blood, that not only 
 did he pare his nails to the quick ; but scraped the joints of his 
 fingers with a penknife, till they seemed quite red and raw. 
 
 The heterogeneous composition of human nature was remark- 
 ably exemplified in Johnson. His liberality in giving his money 
 to persons in distress was extraordinary. Yet there lurked about 
 him a propensity to paltry saving. One day I owned to him 
 
Age 74.] THE EARL OF SHELBURNE. 
 
 419 
 
 that " I was occasionally troubled with a fit of narrowness.''^ — 
 " Why, Sir," said he, so am I. But I do not tell ity He has 
 now and then borrowed a shilling of me ; and when I asked him 
 for it again, seemed to be rather out of humor. A droll little 
 circumstance once occurred : as if he meant to reprimand my 
 minute exactness as a creditor, he thus addressed me ; " Boswell, 
 lend me sixpence not to be repaid.'' 
 
 This great man's attention to small things was very remarkable. 
 As an instance of it, he one day said to me : " Sir, when you 
 get silver in change for a guinea, look carefully at it : you may 
 find some curious piece of coin." 
 
 Though a stern, true-born Englishman, and fully prejudiced 
 against all other nations, he had discernment enough to see, and 
 candor enough to censure, the cold reserve too common among 
 Englishmen towards strangers : " Sir," said he, " two men of any 
 other nation who are shown into a room together, at a house 
 where they are both visitors, will immediately find some conver- 
 sation. But two Englishmen will probably go each to a different 
 window, and remain in obstinate silence. Sir, we as yet do not 
 enough understand the common rights of humanity." 
 
 Johnson was at a certain period of his life a good deal with the 
 Earl of Shelburne,' now Marquis of Lansdowne, as he doubtless 
 could not but have a due value for that nobleman's activity of 
 mind and uncommon acquisitions of important knowledge, how- 
 ever much he might disapprove of other parts of his Lordship's 
 character, which were widely different from his own. 
 
 Morice Morgann, Esq., author of the very ingenious " Essay 
 on the Character of Falstaff," being a particular friend of his 
 Lordship, had once an opportunity of entertaining Johnson for a 
 day or two at Wycombe, when this Lord was absent, and by him 
 I have been favored with two anecdotes. 
 
 One is not a little to the credit of Johnson's candor. Mr. 
 Morgann and he had a dispute pretty late at night, in which 
 Johnson would not give up, though he had the wrong side, and 
 in short, both kept the field. Next morning, when they met in 
 the breakfast room, Dr. Johnson accosted Mr. Morgann thus : 
 " Sir, I have been thinking on our dispute last night. You were 
 in the right.''' 
 
 1 Johnson knew Lord Shelburne as early as 1778 ; he was also intimate with his 
 brother. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Johnson being asked his opinion of this Essay, answered : " Why, Sir, we shall 
 have the man come forth again ; and as he lias proved Falstaff to be no coward, he 
 may prove lago to be a very good character." — B. 
 
420 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 The other was as follows : Johnson, for sport perhaps, or from 
 the spirit of contradiction, eagerly maintained that Derrick had 
 merit as a writer. Mr. Morgann argued with him directly in vain. 
 At length he had recourse to this device. " Pray, Sir," said he, 
 "whether do you reckon Derrick or Smart the best poet?" 
 Johnson at once felt himself roused ; and answered, " Sir, there is 
 no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea." ' 
 
 Once, when checking my boasting too frequently of myself in 
 company, he said to me : " Boswell^ you often vaunt so much as 
 to provoke ridicule. You put me in mind of a man who was 
 standing in the kitchen of an inn with his back to the fire, and 
 thus accosted the person next to him, ' Do you know. Sir, who I 
 am ? ' — ' No, Sir,' said the other, ' I have not that advantage.' — 
 'Sir,' said he, * I am the^r<fd?/ Twalmley, who invented the New 
 Floodgate Iron." ^ The Bishop of Killaloe, on my repeating the 
 story to him, defended Twalmley by observing that he was en- 
 titled to the epithet oi great ; for Virgil in his group of worthies in 
 the Elysian fields — 
 
 Hie manus, ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi, &c. 
 
 mentions 
 
 Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes.^ 
 
 He was pleased to say to me one morning when we were left 
 alone in his study, " Boswell, I think I am easier with you than 
 with almost any body." 
 
 He would not allow Mr. David Hume any credit for his political 
 principles, though similar to his own ; saying of him, " Sir, he was 
 a Tory by chance." 
 
 His acute observation of human life made him remark, " Sir, 
 there is nothing by which a man exasperates most people more, 
 than by displaying a superior ability of brilliancy in conversation. 
 They seem pleased at the time ; but their envy makes them 
 curse him at their hearts." 
 
 My readers will probably be surprised to hear that the great Dr. 
 Johnson could amuse himself with so slight and playful a species 
 of composition as a charade. 'I have recovered one which he 
 
 1 In The European Magazine (Sept., 1796) the comparison is said to have been 
 made between Derrick and Boyse, which, as Crokcr observes, is more probable. 
 
 2 What Xhcgrea/ 'V\y MM\A'.\ was so i)rou(l of having invented, was neither more 
 nor less than a kind of box-iron for smootliing Hnen. — B. 
 
 3 /Encid, vi. 1. 660. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 DR. JOHNSON'S CHARADE. 
 
 421 
 
 made on Dr. Barnan/, now Lord Bishop of Killaloe ; who has 
 been pleased for many years to treat me with so much intimacy 
 and social ease, that I may presume to call him not only my 
 Right Reverend, but my very dear friend. I therefore with 
 peculiar pleasure give to the world a just and elegant compliment 
 thus paid to his Lordship by Johnson. 
 
 Charade. 
 
 " My ^rsf shuts out thieves from your house or your room, 
 My second expresses a Syrian perfume. 
 My whole is a man in whose converse is shar'd. 
 The strength of a Bar and the sweetness of Nard." 
 
 Johnson asked Richard Owen Cambridge, Esq., if he had read 
 the Spanish translation of Sallust, said to be written by a Prince 
 of Spain,' with the assistance of his tutor who is professedly the 
 author of a treatise annexed on the Phoenician language. 
 
 Mr. Cambridge commended the work, particularly as he 
 thought the translator understood his author better than is com- 
 monly the case with translators ; but said he was disappointed in 
 the purpose for which he borrowed the book ; to see whether a 
 Spaniard could be better furnished with inscriptions from monu- 
 ments, coins, or other antiquities, which he might more proba- 
 bly find on a coast so immediately opposite to Carthage, than 
 the antiquaries of any other countries. Johnson : I am very 
 sorry you were ^ not gratified in your expectations." Cambridge : 
 " The language would have been of little use, as there is no his- 
 tory existing in that tongue to balance the partial accounts which 
 the Roman writers have left us." Johnson: " No, Sir. They 
 have not been partial, they have told their own story, without 
 shame or regard to equitable treatment of their injured enemy ; 
 they had no compunction, no feeling for a Carthaginian. Why, 
 Sir, they would never have borne Virgil's description of yEneas's 
 treatment of Dido, if she had not been a Carthaginian." 
 
 I gratefully acknowledge this and other communications from 
 Mr. Cambridge, whom, if a beautiful villa on the banks of the 
 Thames a few miles distant from London, a numerous and ex- 
 cellent library which he accurately knows and reads, a choice col- 
 lection of pictures which he understands and relishes, an easy 
 fortune, an amiable family, an extensive circle of friends and 
 
 ^ Don Gabriel, third son of the King of Spain. 
 
 ^ Bosvvell reports Dr. fohnson as saying, You WAS, but Dr. Hill doubts if Dr. 
 Johnson ever so expressed himself. 
 
422 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 acquaintance, distinguished by rank, fashion and genius, a liter- 
 ary fame various, elegant, and still increasing, colloquial talents' 
 rarely to be found, and with all these means of happiness enjoy- 
 ing, when well advanced in years, health and vigor of body, 
 serenity and animation of mind, do not entitle to be addressed 
 fo7'tunate senex ! ^ I know not to whom, in any age, that 
 expression could with propriety have been used. Long may he 
 hve to hear and to feel it.^ 
 
 Johnson's love of little children, which he discovered upon all 
 occasions, calling them " pretty dears," and giving them sweet- 
 meats, was an undoubted proof of the real humanity and gentle- 
 ness of his disposition. 
 
 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 intimately acquainted with him, knew to be true. 
 
 Nor would it be just, under this head, to omit the fondness 
 which he showed for animals which he had taken under his pro- 
 jection. 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, 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 frequendy suffered a good deal from the pres- 
 ence 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 liked better 
 than this ; " and then, as if perceiving Hodge to be out of counte- 
 nance, adding, " but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed." 
 
 This reminds me of the ludicrous account which he gave Mr. 
 Langton, of the despicable state of a young gentleman of good 
 family. " Sir, when I heard of him last he was running about 
 town shooting cats." And then in a sort of kindly revery, he 
 bethought himself of his own favorite cat, and said, " But Hodge 
 shan't be shot : no, no, Hodge shall not be shot." 
 
 He thought Mr. Beauclerk made a shrewd and judicious re- 
 mark to Mr. Langton, who, after having been for the first time in 
 
 1 Virgil : " Eclogues," i. 47. 
 
 2 Mr. Cambridge enjoyed all the blessings here enumerated for many years after 
 this passage was written. He died at his scat near Twickenham, Sept. 17, 1802, in 
 his eighty-sixth year. — Malone. 
 
Age 74.] HISTORY OF BOSWELVS FAMILY. 
 
 423 
 
 company with a well-known wit about town, was warmly admiring 
 and praising him, — "See him again," said Beauclerk. 
 
 His respect for the hierarchy, and particularly the dignitaries of 
 the Church, has been more than once exhibited in the course 
 of this work. Mr. Seward saw him presented to the Archbishop 
 of York, and described his l?ow to an Archbishop, as such a 
 studied elaboration of homage, such an extension of limb, such 
 a flexion of body, as have seldom or ever been equalled. 
 
 I cannot help mentioning with much regret, that by my own 
 negligence I lost an opportunity of having the history of my fam- 
 ily from its founder Thomas Boswell, in 1504, recorded and illus- 
 trated by Johnson's pen. Such was his goodness to me, that 
 when I presumed to solicit him for so great a favor, he was 
 pleased to say, " Let me have all the materials you can collect, 
 and I will do it both in Latin and English ; then let it be printed, 
 and copies of it to be deposited in various places for security and 
 preservation." I can now only do the best I can to make up for 
 this loss, keeping my great master steadily in view. Family his- 
 tories, like the imagines majornm of the ancients, excite to virtue ; 
 and I wish that they who really have blood, would be more care- 
 ful to trace and ascertain its course. Some have affected to 
 laugh at the history of the House of Yvery ; ' it would be well if 
 many others would transmit their pedigrees to posterity, with the 
 same accuracy and generous zeal, with which the noble lord who 
 compiled that work has honored and perpetuated his ancestry. 
 
 On Thursday, April 10, I introduced to him, at his house in 
 Bolt Court, the Honorable and Reverend William Stuart, son of 
 the Earl of Bute ; a gentleman truly worthy of being known to 
 Johnson ; being, with all the advantages of high birth, learning, 
 travel, and elegant manners, an exemplary parish priest in every 
 respect. 
 
 After some compliments on both sides, the tour which Johnson 
 and I had made to the Hebrides was mentioned. Johnson : 
 " I got an acquisition of more ideas by it than by anything that I 
 remember. I saw quite a different system of life." Boswell : 
 " You would not like to make the same journey again? " John- 
 son : " Why no. Sir, not the same : it is a tale told. Gravina, an 
 Italian critic, observes, that every man desires to see that of 
 which he has read ; but no man desires to read an account of 
 
 1 A genealogy of the Perceval family written by Lord Perceval, afterwards John 
 Earl of Egmont : " Strange, and I think in a great m.^asure fabulous," says Croker. 
 " It cost him 3000/. and was so ridiculous," savs Horace VValpole, (quoted by Dr. 
 Hill/ "that he has since tried to suppress all the copies." 
 
424 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 what he has seen : so much does description fall short of reality. 
 Description only excites curiosity : seeing satisfies it. Other 
 people may go and see the Hebrides." Boswell : " I should 
 wish to go and see some country totally different from what I 
 have been used to ; such as Turkey, where religion and everything 
 else are different." Johnson : Yes, Sir; there are two subjects 
 of curiosity, — the Christian world, and the Mahometan world. 
 All the rest may be considered as barbarous." Boswell : " Pray, 
 Sir, is the ' Turkish Spy ' a genuine book ? " Johnson : " No, Sir. 
 Mrs. Manley, in her ' Life,' says, that her father wrote the first 
 two volumes : and in another book, ' Dunton's Life and Errors,' 
 we find that the rest was written by one Sault, at two guineas 
 a sheet, under the direction of Dr. Midgeley." ^ 
 
 Boswell : This has been a very factious reign, owing to the 
 too great indulgence of Government." Johnson: think so, 
 Sir. What at first was lenity, grew timidity. Yet this is reason- 
 ing d posteriori, and may not be just. Supposing a few had at 
 first been punished, I believe faction would have been crushed ; 
 but it might have been said, that it was a sanguinary reign. A 
 man cannot tell d prio?i what will be best for Government to do. 
 This reign has been very unfortunate. We have had an unsuccess- 
 ful war ; but that does not prove that we have been ill governed. 
 One side or other must prevail in war, as one or other must win 
 at play. When we beat Louis we were not better governed ; nor 
 were the French better governed when Louis beat us." 
 
 On Saturday, April 12, I visited him, in company with Mr. 
 Windham of Norfolk, whom, though a Whig, he highly valued. 
 One of the best things he ever said was to this gentleman ; who 
 before he set out for Ireland as Secretary to Lord Northington, 
 when Lord Lieutenant, expressed to the sage some modest and 
 virtuous doubts, whether he could bring himself to practise those 
 arts which it is supposed a person in that situation has occasion 
 to employ. " Do n't be afraid. Sir," said Johnson, with a pleas- 
 ant smile, " you will soon make a very pretty rascal." 
 
 He talked to-day a good deal of the wonderful extent and 
 variety of London, and observed, that men of curious inquiry 
 might see in it such modes of life as very few could even imagine. 
 
 ' " The Turkish Spy " was pretended to have been written originally in Arabic ; 
 from Arabic translated into Italian, and thence into English. The real author of 
 the work, which was in fact originally written in Italian, was I. F. Marana, a Gen- 
 oese, who died at I^aris in 1693. John Dunton in his life says, that " Mr. William 
 Bradshaw received from Dr. Midgeley forty shillings a sheet for writing part of the 
 'Turkish Spy; "' l)iit I do not find that he any where mentions Sault as engaged in 
 that work. — Malonc. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 MR. LOWE THE PAINTER. 
 
 425 
 
 He in particular recommended to us to explore Wapping, wliich 
 we resolved to do.' 
 
 Mr. Lowe, the painter, who was with him, was very much dis- 
 tressed that a large picture which he had painted was refused to 
 be received into the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Mrs. 
 Thrale knew Johnson's character so superficially, as to represent 
 him as unwilling to do small acts of benevolence ; and mentions, 
 in particular, that he would hardly take the trouble to write a 
 letter in favor of his friends. The truth, however, is, that he was 
 remarkable, in an extraordinary degree, for what she denies to 
 him ; and, above all, for this very sort of kindness, writing letters 
 for those to whom his solicitations might be of service. He now 
 gave Mr. Lowe the following, of which I was diligent enough, 
 with his permission, to take copies at the next coffee-house while 
 Mr. Windham was so good as to stay by me. 
 
 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Sir: Mr. Lowe considers himsalf as cut off from all credit and all hope, 
 by the rejection of his picture from the Exhibition. Upon this work he has 
 exhausted all his powers, and suspended all his expectations: and, certainly, 
 to be refused an opportunity of taking the opinion of the publick is in itself a 
 very great hardship. It is to be condemned without a trial. 
 
 If you could procure the revocation of this incapacitating edict, you 
 would deliver an unhappy man from great affliction. The Council has some- 
 times reversed its own determination; and I hope, that by your interposition 
 this luckless picture may be got admitted. I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 April 12, 1783. 
 
 to mr. barry. 
 
 Sir: Mr. Lowe's exclusion from the exhibition gives him more trouble than 
 you and the other gentlemen of the Council could imagine or intend. He con- 
 siders disgrace and ruin as the inevitable consequence of your determination. 
 
 He says that some pictures have been received after rejection; and if 
 there be any such precedent, I earnestly entreat that you will use your inter- 
 est in his favour. Of his work I can say nothing; I pretend not to judge of 
 painting; and this picture I never saw: but I conceive it extremely hard to 
 shut out any man from the possibility of success; and therefore I repeat my 
 request that you will propose the re-consideration of Mr. Lowe's case; and if 
 there be any among the Council with whom my name can have any weight, be 
 pleased to communicate to them the desire of. Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 April 12, 1783. 
 
 1 We accordingly carried our scheme into execution, in October, 1792; but 
 whether from that uniformity which has in modern times, m a great degree, spread 
 through every part of the metropolis, or from our want of sufficient exertion, we 
 were disappointed. — B. Windham notes in his Diary, how annoyed he was at 
 being " foolishly drawn by Boswell " into this exploration, and thereby missing a 
 prize-fight " which turned out a very good one." — Napier. 
 
426 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 Such intercession was too powerful to be resisted ; and Mr. 
 Lowe's performance was admitted at Somerset Place. The sub- 
 ject, as I recollect, was the Deluge, at that point of time when 
 the water was verging to the top of the last uncovered mountain. 
 Near to the spot was seen the last of the antediluvian race, exclu- 
 sive of those who were saved in the ark of Noah. This was one 
 of those giants, then the inhabitants of the earth, who had still 
 strength to swim, and with one of his hands held aloft his infant 
 child. Upon the small remaining dry spot appeared a famished 
 lion, ready to spring at the child and devour it. Mr. Lowe told 
 me that Johnson said to him, " Sir, your picture is noble and 
 probable." — "A compliment, indeed," said Mr. Lowe, " from a 
 man who can not lie, and can not be mistaken." ' 
 
 About this time he wrote to Mrs. Lucy Porter, mentioning his 
 bad health, and that he intended a visit to Lichfield. " It is," 
 says he, " with no great expectation of amendment that I make 
 every year a journey into the country ; but it is pleasant to visit 
 those whose kindness has been often experienced." 
 
 On April 18 (being Good Friday), I found him at breakfast, 
 in his usual manner upon that day, drinking tea without milk, 
 and eating a cross-bun to prevent faintness ; we went to St. 
 Clement's Church, as formerly. When we came home from 
 church, he placed himself on one of the stone seats at his garden 
 door, and I took the other, and thus in the open air, and in a 
 placid frame of mind, he talked away very easily. Johnson : 
 " Were I a country gentleman, I should not be very hospitable, I 
 should not have crowds in my house." Boswell : " Sir Alexan- 
 der Dick tells me, that he remembers having a thousand people 
 in a year to dine at his house ; that is, reckoning each person as 
 one each time that he dined there." Johnson : " That, Sir, is 
 about three a day." Boswell : " How your statement lessens 
 the idea." Johnson : " That, Sir, is the good of counting. It 
 brings everything to a certainty, which before floated in the mind 
 indefinitely." Boswell: ''But omne ignotiim pi'o magnifico est : 
 one is sorry to have this diminished." Johnson: "Sir, you 
 should not allow yourself to be delighted with error." Boswell : 
 
 ^The picture, says Northcote ("Life of Reynolds"), was execrable beyond 
 belief. It was hung by itself in the Antique Academy room ( Taylor's " Life of 
 Reynolds"). Miss Burncy (afterwards Madam D'Arblay) called him "a poor 
 wretch of a villainous painter." On Nov. i, 1855, The Tunes j^rinted a letter signed 
 by Carlyle, Dickens, and l-'orstcr, asking subscriptions for Lo\v(.>'s two daughters, then 
 very old and destitute, one of whom was Johnson's goddaughter. See " Napier," 
 iv. appendix 9. An annuity was raised for them. Lord Palmerston gave a large 
 subscription. — Dr. I J ill. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 WALLED GARDENS. 
 
 427 
 
 " Three a day seem but few." Johnson : " Nay, Sir, he who 
 entertains three a day, does very liberally. And if there is a 
 large family, the poor entertain those three, for they eat what the 
 poor would get : there must be superfluous meat ; it must be 
 given to the poor, or thrown out." Boswell : " I observe in 
 London, that the poor go about and gather bones, which I under- 
 stand are manufactured." Johnson: ''Yes, Sir; they boil them, 
 and extract a grease from them for greasing wheels and other 
 purposes. Of the best pieces they make a mock ivory, which is 
 used for hafts to knives and various other things ; the coarser 
 pieces they burn and pound, and sell the ashes." Boswell : 
 "For what purpose. Sir?" Johnson: " Why, Sir, for making a 
 furnace for the chemists for melting iron. A paste made of burnt 
 bones will stand a stronger heat than anything else. Consider, 
 Sir ; if you are to melt iron, you cannot line your pot with brass, 
 because it is softer than iron, and would melt sooner ; nor with 
 iron, for though malleable iron is harder than cast iron, yet it 
 would not do; but a paste of burnt bones will not melt." Bos- 
 well : " Do you know. Sir, I have discovered a manufacture to a 
 great extent, of what you only piddle at, — scraping and drying the 
 peel of oranges.' At a place in Newgate Street, there is a prodig- 
 ious quantity prepared, which they sell to the distillers." Johnson : 
 " Sir, I believe they make a higher thing out of them than a spirit ; 
 they make what is called orange-butter, the oil of the orange in- 
 spissated, which they mix perhaps with common pomatum, and 
 make it fragrant. The oil does not fly off in the drying." 
 
 Boswell : " I wish to have a good walled garden." Johnson : 
 " I do n't think it would be worth the expense to you. We com- 
 pute in England, a park-wall at a thousand pounds a mile ; now 
 a garden-wall must cost at least as much. You intend your trees 
 should grow higher than a deer will leap. Now let us see ; for 
 a hundred pounds you could only have forty-four square yards, 
 which is very little ; for two hundred pounds, you may have 
 eighty-four square yards, which is very well.^ But when will you 
 
 ' It is suggested to me by an anonymous annotator on my work, that the reason 
 why Dr. Johnson collected the peels of squeezed oranges, may be found, in the 
 358th letter in Mrs. Piozzi's Collection, where it appears that he recommended 
 " dried orange-peel, finely powdered," as a medicine. — B. 
 
 ■•^The Bishop of Ferns observes that Boswell here mistakes forty-four square 
 yards for {ox\.y-{c)\xx yards square, ViWd thus makes Johnson talk nonsense. — Croker. 
 Dr. Hill has also pointed out the mistake of ei^i^hty-four for eiglity-eiglit. If a wall 
 cost ^1000 a mile, ^100 would build 176 yards of wall which would form a square 
 of forty-four yards and enclose an area of 1936 square yards; and £,2.00 would build 
 352 yards of wall which would form a square of eighty-eight yards, and enclose an 
 area of 7744 square yards. 
 
428 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 get the value of two hundred pounds of walls, in fruit, in your 
 climate ? No, Sir, such contention with Nature is not worth while. 
 I would plant an orchard, and have plenty of such fruit as ripen 
 well in your country. My friend. Dr. Madden, of Ireland, said that 
 ' in an orchard there should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, 
 enough to be stolen, and enough to rot upon the ground.' Cherries 
 are an early fruit, you may have them ; and you may have the early 
 apples and pears." Boswell : ''We cannot have nonpareils." 
 Johnson : " Sir, you can no more have nonpareils than you can 
 have grapes." Boswell: "We have them, Sir; but they are 
 very bad." Johnson : '' Nay, Sir, never try to have a thing 
 merely to show that you ca7i nof\\3.YQ it. From ground that would 
 let for forty shillings you may have a large orchard ; and you see 
 it costs you only forty shillings. Nay, you may graze the ground 
 when the trees are grown up ; you can not, while they are young." 
 Boswell : '' Is not a good garden a very common thing in Eng- 
 land, Sir? " Johnson : " Not so common. Sir, as you imagine. In 
 Lincolnshire there is hardly an orchard ; in Staffordshire very 
 little fruit." Boswell Has Langton no orchard ? " Johnson: 
 " No, Sir." Boswell: '' How so. Sir ? " Johnson: "Why, Sir, 
 from the general negligence of the county. He has it not, 
 because nobody else has it." Boswell : " A hot-house is a cer- 
 tain thing ; I may have that." Johnson: " A hot-house is pretty 
 certain ; but you must first build it, then you must keep fires in 
 it, and you must have a gardener to take care of it." Boswell : 
 "But, if I have a gardener, at any rate?" Johnson: "Why, 
 yes." Boswell : "I 'd have it near my house ; there is no need 
 to have it in the orchard." Johnson: "Yes, I 'd have it near 
 my house. I would plant a great many currants ; the fruit is 
 good, and they make a pretty sweetmeat." 
 
 I record this minute detail, which some may think trifling, in 
 order to show clearly how this great man, whose mind could 
 grasp such large and extensive subjects, as he has shown in his 
 literary labors, was yet well-informed in the common affairs of 
 life, and loved to illustrate them. 
 
 Mr. Walker, the celebrated master of elocution, came in, and 
 then we went up stairs into the study. I asked him if he had 
 taught many clergymen. Johnson : " I hope not." Walker : 
 " I have taught only one, and he is the best reader I ever heard, 
 not by my teaching, but by his own natural talents." Johnson : 
 " Were he the best reader in the world, I would not have it told 
 that he was taught." Here was one of his peculiar prejudices. 
 
Age 74.] THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE. 
 
 429 
 
 Could it be any disadvantage to the clergyman to have it known 
 that he was taught an easy and graceful delivery ? Boswell : 
 " Will you not allow, Sir, that a man may be taught to read well ? " 
 Johnson : " Why, Sir, so far as to read better than he might do 
 without being taught, yes. Formerly it was supposed that there 
 was no difference in reading, but that one read as well as another." 
 Boswell : " It is wonderful to see old Sheridan as enthusiastic 
 about oratory as ever." Walker : " His enthusiasm as to what 
 oratory will do, maybe too great : but he reads well." Johnson : 
 " He reads well, but he reads lo^ ; and you know it is much 
 easier to read low than to read high, for when you read high you 
 are much more limited, your loudest note can be but one, and so 
 the variety is less in proportion to the loudness. Now some peo- 
 ple have occasion to speak to an extensive audience, and must 
 speak loud to be heard." Walker : " The art is to read strong, 
 though low." 
 
 Talking of the origin of language ; Johnson : " It must have 
 come by inspiration. A thousand, nay, a million of children 
 could not invent a language. While the organs are pliable, there 
 is not understanding enough to form a language ; by the time that 
 there is understanding enough, the organs are become stiff. We 
 know that after a certain age we can not learn to pronounce a new 
 language. No foreigner, who comes to England when advanced 
 in life, ever pronounces English tolerably well ; at least such in- 
 stances are very rare. When I maintain that language must 
 have come by inspiration, I do not mean that inspiration is re- 
 quired for rhetoric, and all the beauties of language ; for 
 when once man has language, we can conceive that he may 
 gradually form modifications of it. I mean only that inspira- 
 tion seems to me to be necessary to give man the faculty of 
 speech ; to inform him that he may have speech ; which I think 
 he could no more find out without inspiration, than cows or 
 hogs would think of such a faculty." Walker : " Do you think, 
 Sir, that there are any perfect synonyms in any language?" 
 Johnson : " Originally there were not ; but by using words 
 negligently, or in poetry, one word comes to be confounded with 
 another." 
 
 He talked of Dr. Dodd. "A friend of mine," said he, " came 
 to me and told me, that a lady wished to have Dr. Dodd's pict- 
 ure in a bracelet, and asked me for a motto. I said, I could 
 think of no bettfer than Currat Lex. I was very willing to have 
 him pardoned, that is, to have the sentence changed to transpor- 
 
430 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 tation ; but, when he was once hanged, I did not wish he should 
 be made a saint." 
 
 Mrs. Burney, wife of his friend Dr. Burney, came in, and 
 he seemed to be entertained with her conversation. 
 
 Garrick's funeral was talked of as extravagantly expensive. 
 Johnson, from his dislike to exaggeration, would not allow that 
 it was distinguished by any extraordinary pomp. "Were there 
 not six horses to each coach?" said Mrs. Burney. Johnson: 
 " Madam, there were no more six horses than six phoenixes."^ 
 
 Mrs. Burney wondered that some very beautiful new buildings 
 should be erected in Moorfielas, in so shocking a situation as 
 between Bedlam and St. Luke's Hospital ; and said she could not 
 live there. Johnson : Nay, Madam, you see nothing there to hurt 
 you. You no more think of madness by having windows that look 
 to Bedlam, than you think of death by having windows that 
 look to a churchyard." Mrs. Burney : " We may look to a 
 churchyard. Sir ; for it is right that we should be kept in mind of 
 death." Johnson : " Nay, Madam, if you go to that, it is right that 
 we should be kept in mind of madness, which is occasioned by too 
 much indulgence of imagination. I think a very moral use may 
 be made of these new buildings : I would have those who have 
 heated imaginations live there, and take warning." Mrs. 
 Burney : " But, Sir, many of the poor people that are mad, have 
 become so from disease, or from distressing events. It is, there- 
 fore, not their fault, but their misfortune ; and, therefore, to think 
 of them is a melancholy consideration." 
 
 Time passed on in conversation till it was too late for the ser- 
 vice of the church at three o'clock. I took a walk, and left him 
 alone for some time ; then returned, and we had coffee and con- 
 versation again by ourselves. 
 
 I stated the character of a noble friend of mine, as a curious 
 case for his opinion : " He is the most inexplicable man to me 
 that I ever knew. Can you explain him. Sir? He is, I really be- 
 lieve, noble-minded, generous, and princely. But his most inti- 
 mate friends may be separated from him for years, without his 
 ever asking a question concerning them. He will meet them 
 with a formality, a coldness, a stately indifference ; but when they 
 come close to him, and fairly engage him in conversation, they 
 
 » There certainly were coaches and six, and Johnson himself went in one of 
 them, — Croker. The ridiculous ostentation of Garrick" s funeral was common 
 talk at the time. Three years later Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale that the under- 
 taker had not yet been paid and was ruined. And yet Garrick left his widow a 
 large fortune. — Dr. Hill, 
 
Age 74 ] BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN LONDON. 431 
 
 find him as easy, pleasant, and kind, as they could wish. One 
 then supposes that what is so agreeable will soon be renewed ; 
 but stay away from him half a year, and he will neither call on 
 you, nor send to inquire about you." Johnson : " Why, Sir, I 
 can not ascertain his character exactly, as I do not know him ; but 
 I should not like to have such a man for my friend. He may 
 love study, and wish not to be interrupted by his friends ; Aniici 
 fui^es temporis. He may be a frivolous man, and be so much oc- 
 cupied with petty pursuits, that he may not want friends. Or he 
 may have a notion that there is a dignity in appearing indifferent, 
 while he in fact may not be more indifferent at his heart than 
 another." 
 
 We went to evening prayers at St. Clement's, at seven, and then 
 parted. 
 
 On Sunday, April 20, being Easter Day, after attending solemn 
 service at St. Paul's, I came to Dr. Johnson, and found Mr. Lowe, 
 the painter, sitting with him. Mr. Lowe mentioned the great num- 
 ber of new buildings of late in London, yet that Dr. Johnson had 
 observed that the number of inhabitants was not increased. 
 Johnson : " Why, Sir, the bills of mortality prove that no more 
 people die now than formerly \ so it is plain no more live. The 
 register of births proves nothing, for not one-tenth of the people 
 of London are born there." Boswell : I believe, Sir, a great 
 many of the children born in London die early." Johnson : Why, 
 yes. Sir." Boswell : " But those who do live, are as stout and strong 
 people as any : Dr. Price says, they must be naturally strong to 
 get through." Johnson : "That is system. Sir. A great traveller 
 observes that it is said there are no weak or deformed people 
 among the Lidians ; but he with much sagacity assigns-the rea- 
 son of this, which is, that the hardship of their life, as hunters 
 and fishers, does not allow weak or diseased children to grow up. 
 Now had I been an Indian, I must have died early ; my eyes 
 would not have served me to get food. I indeed now could fish, 
 give me English tackle ; but had I been an Indian I must have 
 starved, or they would have knocked me on the head, when they 
 saw I could do nothing." Boswell : " Perhaps they would have 
 taken care of you : we are told they are fond of oratory ; you 
 would have talked to them." Johnson : " Nay, Sir, I should not 
 have lived long enough to be fit to talk ; I should have been 
 dead before I was ten years old. Depend upon it, Sir, a savage, 
 when he is hungry, will not carry about with him a looby of nine 
 years old who can not help himself. They have no affection. Sir." 
 
432 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSOX. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 BoswELL : " I believe natural affection, of which we hear so much, 
 is very small." Johnson : " Sir, natural affection is nothing : but 
 affection from principle and established duty is sometimes won- 
 derfully strong." Lowe: "A hen, Sir, will feed her chickens in 
 preference to herself." Johnson : " But we do n't know that the 
 hen is hungry ; let the hen be fairly hungry, and I '11 warrant 
 she '11 peck the corn herself. A cock, I believe, will feed hens 
 instead of himself; but we do n't know that the cock is hungry." 
 BoswELL : " And that. Sir, is not from affection but gallantry. 
 But some of the Indians have affection." Johnson : " Sir, that 
 they help some of their children is plain ; for some of them live, 
 which they could not do without being helped." 
 
 1 dined with him ; the company were, Mrs. WilHams, Mrs. Des- 
 moulins, and Mr. Lowe. He seemed not to be well, talked Httle, 
 grew drowsy soon after dinner, and retired, upon which I went 
 away. 
 
 Having next day gone to Mr. Burke's seat in the country, from 
 whence I was recalled by an express, that a near relation of mine 
 had killed his antagonist in a duel, and was himself dangerously 
 wounded,' I saw little of Dr. Johnson till Monday, April 28, when 
 I spent a considerable part of the day with him, and introduced 
 the subject which then chiefly occupied my mind. Johnson : I 
 do not see, Sir, that fighting is absolutely forbidden in Scripture ; 
 I see revenge forbidden, but not self-defence." Boswell : " The 
 Quakers say it is ; ' Unto him that smiteth thee on one cheek, 
 offer him also the other.' " ^ Johnson : " But stay, Sir ; the text is 
 meant only to have the effect of moderating passion ; it is plain 
 that we are not to take it in a literal sense. We see this from 
 the context, where there are other recommendations, which I 
 warrant you the Quaker will not take literally ; as, for instance, 
 * From him that would borrow of thee, turn thou not away.' ^ Let 
 a man whose credit is bad, come to a Quaker, and say, ' Well, 
 Sir, lend me a hundred pounds ; ' he '11 find him as unwilling as 
 any other man. No, Sir, a man may shoot the man who invades 
 his character, as he may shoot him who attempts to break into 
 
 ^ The combatants were Mr, Cunningham of the Scots Greys (wounded), and 
 Mr. Riddell of the Life Guards (killed). (7e//t Ma^. for 17^;^. — Croker. The 
 duel was fouglit on April 21. Riddell had the first fire and shot Cunningham through 
 the breast. After a pause of two minutes Cunningham rc'turned the fire and gave 
 Riddell a wound of which he died the next day. Boswell's grandfather's grand- 
 mother was a Cuimingham, and Dr. Hill remarks that so much kindred as that 
 makes men near relations in Scotland. 
 
 2 Luke vi. 29. 
 Matt. V, 42. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 DUELLING. 
 
 438 
 
 his house.' So in 1745, my friend, Tom Gumming the Quaker, 
 said he would not fight, but he would drive an ammunition-cart ; 
 and we know that the Quakers have sent flannel waistcoats to our 
 soldiers, to enable them to fight better." Boswell : " When a 
 man is the aggressor, and by ill-usage forces on a duel in which 
 he is killed, have we not little ground to hope that he is gone to 
 a state of happiness ? " Johnson : Sir, we are not to judge deter- 
 minately of the state in which a man leaves this life. He may in 
 a moment have repented effectually, and it is possible may have 
 been accepted of God. There is in ' Gamden's Remains,' an 
 epitaph upon a very wicked man, who was killed by a fall from 
 his horse, in which he is supposed to say, 
 
 " ' Between the stirrup and the ground, 
 I mercy asked, I mercy found.' " ^ 
 
 Boswell : " Is not the expression in the burial-service, ' in the 
 sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection, too strong to be 
 used indiscriminately, and, indeed, sometimes when those over 
 whose bodies it is said have been notoriously profane? " John- 
 son : " It is sure and certain hope, Sir : not belief.'' I did not 
 insist further ; but cannot help thinking that less positive words 
 would be more proper.^ 
 
 1 I think it necessary to caution my readers against concluding that in this, or 
 any other conversation of Dr. Johnson, they have his serious and deliberate opinion 
 on the subject of duelling. In my "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," 3 edit. p. 
 386, it appears that he made this frank confession: " Nobody at times talks more 
 laxly than I do ; " and, ibid. p. 231. " He fairly owned he could not explain the 
 rationality of duelling." We may, therefore, infer, that he could not think that 
 justifiable, which seems so inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel. At the same 
 time it must be confessed that, from the prevalent notions of honor, a gentleman 
 who receives a challenge is reduced to a dreadful alternative. A remarkable in- 
 stance of this is furnished by a clause in the will of the late Colonel Thomas, of the 
 Guards, written the night before he fell in a duel, September 3, 1785 : " In the first 
 place, I commit my soul to Almighty GOD, in hopes of his mercy and pardon for 
 the irreligious step I now (in compliance with the unwarrantable customs of this 
 wicked world) put myself under the necessity of taking." — B. 
 
 2" A gentleman falling off his horse brake his neck, which sudden hap gave 
 occasion of much speech of his former life and some in this judging world judged 
 the worst. In which respect a good friend made this good epitaph remembering 
 that of Saint Augustine, Miser icordia Domini inter pontem et fonteni : 
 " ' My friend, judge not me, 
 Thou seest I judge not thee ; 
 Betwixt the stirrop and the ground, 
 Mercy I askt, mercy I found.' " 
 
 Catnden's Remains quoted by Dr. Hill. 
 
 3 Upon this objection the Reverend Mr. Ralph Churton, Fellow of Brasenose 
 College, Oxford, has favored me with the following satisfactory observation. " The 
 passage in the burial-service does not mean the resurrection of the person interred, 
 but the general resurrection ; it is in sure and certain hope of the resurrection ; not 
 
 Vol. n.-?S 
 
434 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A. U. 1783. 
 
 Talking of a man who was grown very fat, so as to be incom- 
 moded with corpulency ; he said, " He eats too much. Sir." 
 BoswELL : I do n't know. Sir ; you will see one man fat who eats 
 moderately, and another lean who eats a great deal." Johnson : 
 " Nay, Sir, whatever may be the quantity that a man eats, it is 
 plain that if he is too fat, he has eaten more than he should have 
 done. One man may have a digestion that consumes food better 
 than common ; but it is certain that solidity is increased by putting 
 something to it." Boswell : " But may not solids swell and be 
 distended?" Johnson: "Yes, Sir, they may swell and be dis- 
 tended ; but that is not fat." 
 
 We talked of the accusation against a gentleman for supposed 
 delinquencies in India [Warren Hastings]. Johnson: "What 
 foundation there is for accusation I know not, but they will not 
 get at him. Where bad actions are committed at so great a dis- 
 tance, a delinquent can obscure the evidence till the scent becomes 
 cold ; there is a cloud between, which can not be penetrated : 
 therefore all distant power is bad. I am clear that the best plan 
 for the government of India is a despotic governor ; for if he be a 
 good man, it is evidently the best government; and supposing 
 him to be a bad man, it is better to have one plunderer than 
 many. A governor, whose power is checked, lets others plunder, 
 that he himself may be allowed to plunder ; but if despotic he 
 sees that the more he lets others plunder the less there will be for 
 himself, so he restrains them ; and though he himself plunders, 
 the country is a gainer, compared with being plundered by 
 numbers." 
 
 I mentioned the very liberal payment which had been received 
 for reviewing ; and, as evidence of this, that it had been proved 
 in a trial, that Dr. Shebbeare had received six guineas a sheet ' 
 for that kind of literary labor. Johnson : " Sir, he might get six 
 guineas for a particular sheet, but not coiiwiunibus sheeiibus.'' 
 Boswell : " Pray, Sir, by a sheet of review is it meant that it 
 
 his resurrection. Where the deceased is really spoken of. the expression is very 
 different, ' as our hope is this our brother doth * [rest in Christ] , a mode of speech 
 consistent with every thing but absolute certainty that the person departed doth not 
 rest in Christ, which no one can be assured of, without immediate revelation from 
 Heaven. In the first of these places also, 'eternal life" does not necessarily mean 
 eternity of bliss, but merely the eternity of the state, whether in happiness or in 
 misery, to ensue upon the resurrection ; which is probably the sense of ' the life 
 everlasting,' in the Apostles' Creed." See Wheatly and Bennet on the Common 
 Prayer. — B. 
 
 ' A sheet was sixteen pages, and during the time that Jeffrey edited the Edin- 
 burgh Review the minimum price was sixteen guineas, though often twenty or 
 twenty-five guineas a sheet was paid. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 74-] 
 
 PEOPLE WITHOUT RELKJION. 
 
 435 
 
 shall be all of the writer's own composition? or are extracts, made 
 from the book reviewed, deducted?" Johnson: "No, Sir, it is 
 a sheet, no matter of what." Boswell : I think that is not 
 reasonable." Johnson : " Yes, Sir, it is. A man will more 
 easily write a sheet all his own than read an octavo volume to get 
 extracts." To one of Johnson's wonderful fertility of mind, I 
 believe writing was really easier than reading and extracting ; but 
 with ordinary men the case is very different. A great deal, in- 
 deed, will depend upon the care and judgment with which extracts 
 are made. I can suppose the operation to be tedious and diffi- 
 cult ; but in many instances we must observe crude morsels cut 
 out of books as if at random ; and when a large extract is made 
 from one place, it surely may be done with very little trouble. 
 One, however, I must acknowledge, might be led, from the prac- 
 tice of reviewers, to suppose that they take a pleasure in original 
 writing; for we often find, that instead of giving an accurate 
 account of what has been done by the author whose work they 
 are reviewing, which is surely the proper business of a literary 
 journal, they produce some plausible and ingenious conceits of 
 their own upon the topics which have been discussed. 
 
 Upon being told that old Mr. Sheridan, indignant at the neg- 
 lect of his oratorical plans, had threatened to go to America; 
 Johnson : " I hope he will go to America." Boswell : " The 
 Americans do n't want oratory." Johnson : " But we can want 
 Sheridan." 
 
 On Monday,^ April 29, I found him at home in the forenoon, 
 and Mr. Seward with him. Horace having been mentioned ; 
 Boswell : " There is a great deal of thinking in his works. One 
 finds there almost everything but religion." Seward : " He speaks 
 of his returning to it, in his ode Parens Deorum cultor et mfre- 
 quensy ^ Johnson : " Sir, he was not in earnest ; this was merely 
 poetical." Boswell: ''There are, I am afraid, many people who 
 have no religion at all." Seward: "And sensible people too." 
 Johnson : " Why, Sir, not sensible in that respect. There must 
 be either a natural or a moral stupidity, if one lives in a total neg- 
 lect of so very important a concern." Seward : " I wonder that 
 there should be people without religion." Johnson : " Sir, you 
 need not wonder at this, when you consider how large a propor- 
 tion of almost every man's life is passed without thinking of it. 
 I myself was for some years totally regardless of religion. It had 
 
 ' April 29 was Tuesday : for Monday, April 28, see ante, p. 432. 
 ' Horace : " Odes," i. 34. i. 
 
436 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 dropped out of my mind. It was at an early part of my life. 
 Sickness brought it back, and I hope I have never lost it since." 
 BoswELL : " My dear Sir, what a man must you have been without 
 religion ! Why you must have gone on drinking, and swearing, 
 and — " Johnson (with a smile) : "I drank enough and swore 
 enough to be sure." Seward : " One should think that sickness, 
 and the view of death would make more men religious." John- 
 son : " Sir, they do not know how to go about it : they have not 
 the first notion. A man who has never had religion before, no 
 more grows religious when he is sick than a man who has never 
 learnt figures can count when he has need of calculation," 
 
 I mentioned a worthy friend of ours [Langton] whom we val- 
 ued much, but observed that he was too ready to introduce re- 
 ligious discourse upon all occasions. Johnson : Why, yes. Sir, 
 he will introduce religious discourse without seeing whether it 
 will end in instruction and improvement, or produce some pro- 
 fane jest. He would introduce it in the company of Wilkes, and 
 twenty more such." 
 
 I mentioned Dr. Johnson's excellent distinction between liberty 
 of conscience and liberty of teaching. Johnson : Consider, 
 Sir ; if you have children whom you wish to educate in the prin- 
 ciples of the Church of England, and there comes a Quaker who 
 tries to pervert them to his principles, you would drive away the 
 Quaker. You would not trust to the predomination of right which 
 you believe is in your opinions : you will keep wrong out of their 
 heads. Now the vulgar are the children of the State. If any 
 one attempts to teach them doctrines contrary to what the State 
 approves, the magistrate may and ought to restrain him." Sew- 
 ard : " Would you restrain private conversation, Sir? " Johnson : 
 " Why, Sir, it is difficult to say where private conversation begins, 
 and where it ends. If we three should discuss even the great 
 question concerning the existence of a Supreme Being by our- 
 selves, we should not be restrained ; for that would be to put an 
 end to all improvement. But if we should discuss it in the pres- 
 ence of ten boarding-school girls and as many boys, I think the 
 magistrate would do well to put us in the stocks, to finish the de- 
 bate there." 
 
 Lord Hailes had sent him a present of a curious little printed 
 poem, on repairing the University of Aberdeen, by David Mal- 
 loch, wiiich he thought would please Johnson, as affording clear 
 evidence that Mallet had appeared even as a literary character 
 by the name of Malloch ; his changing which to one of softer sound, 
 
Age 74.] THE DIFFUSION OF LEARNING. 
 
 437 
 
 had given Johnson occasion to introduce him into his Dictionary, 
 under the article Alias} This piece was, I suppose, one of 
 Mallet's first essays. It is preserved in his works, with several 
 variations. Johnson having read aloud from the beginning of it, 
 where there were some common-place assertions as to the supe- 
 riority of ancient times ; " How false," said he, " is all this, to 
 say that in ancient times learning was not a disgrace to a peer as 
 it is now. In ancient times a peer was as ignorant as any one 
 else. He would have been angry to have it thought he could 
 write his name. Men in ancient times dared to stand forth with 
 a degree of ignorance with which nobody would dare now to stand 
 forth. I am always angry, when I hear ancient times praised at 
 the expense of modern times. There is now a great deal more 
 learning in the world than there was formerly ; for it is universally 
 diffused. You have, perhaps, no man who knows as much Greek 
 and Latin as Bentley ; no man who knows as much mathematics 
 as Newton : but you have many more men who know Greek and 
 Latin, and who know mathematics." 
 
 On Thursday, May i, I visited him in the evening along with 
 young Mr. Burke. He said : " It is strange that there should be 
 so little reading in the world, and so much writing. People in 
 general do not willingly read, if they can have anything else to 
 amuse them. There must be an external impulse ; emulation, or 
 vanity, or avarice. The progress which the understanding makes 
 through a book has more pain than pleasure in it. Language is 
 ■ scanty, and inadequate to express the nice gradations and mixt- 
 ures of our feelings. No man reads a book of science from 
 pure inclination. The books that we do read with pleasure are 
 light compositions, which contain a quick succession of events. 
 However, I have this year read all Virgil through. I read a book 
 of the ' T^^neid ' every night ; so it was done in twelve nights, 
 and I had a great delight in it. The ' Georgics ' did not give 
 me so much pleasure, except the fourth book. The ' Eclogues ' 
 I have almost all by heart. I do not think the story of the 
 ' v^^neid ' interesting. I like the story of the ' Odyssey ' much 
 better ; ^ and this not on account of the wonderful things which 
 it contains ; for there are wonderful things enough in the '^neid ;' 
 
 1 A notion has been entertained, that no such exemplification oi Alias is to be 
 found in Johnson's Dictionary, and that the whole story was waggishly fabricated by 
 Wilkes in the NORTH BRITON. The real fact is, that it, is not to be found in the 
 folio or quarto editions, but was added by Johnson in his own octavo abridgment 
 in i'js(i-—7- BoszocU, J tin. 
 
 2 He told Mr. Windhnm that he had never read the " Odyssey " through in the 
 original. — Dr. Hill. 
 
438 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 the ships of the Trojans turned to sea-nymphs, the tree at 
 Polydorus's tomb dropping blood. The story of the ' Odyssey ' 
 is interesting, as a great part of it is domestic. It has been said 
 there is pleasure in writing, particularly in writing verses. I allow, 
 you may have pleasure from writing, after it is over, if you have 
 written well ; but you do n't go willingly to it again. I know 
 when I have been writing verses, I have run my finger down the 
 margin, to see how many I had made and how few I had to 
 make." 
 
 He seemed to be in a very placid humor, and although I have 
 no note of the particulars of young Mr. Burke's conversation, it 
 is but justice to mention in general, that it was such that Dr. 
 Johnson said to me afterwards, ^' He did very well indeed ; I 
 have a mind to tell his father." ' 
 
 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Dear Sir : The gentleman who waits on you with this, is Mr. CruiksHanks, 
 who wishes to succeed his friend Dr. Hunter, as Professor of Anatomy in the 
 Royal Academy. His qualifications are very generally known and it adds dig- 
 nity to the institution that such men ^ are candidates. I am. Sir, your most 
 humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 2, 1783. 
 
 1 have no minute of any interview with Johnson till Thursday, 
 May 1 5 th, when I find what follows : Boswell : " I wish much to 
 be in Parliament,^ Sir." Johnson: "Why, Sir, unless you come 
 resolved to support any administration, you would be the worse 
 for being in Parliament, because you would be obliged to live 
 more expensively." Boswell: ''Perhaps, Sir, I should be the 
 less happy for being in Parliament. I never would sell my vote, 
 and I should be vexed if things went wrong." Johnson : " That 's 
 cant, Sir. It would not vex you more in the House, than in the 
 gallery : public affairs vex no man." Boswell : " Have not 
 they vexed yourself a little. Sir? Have not you been vexed by 
 all the turbulence of this reign, and by that absurd vote of the 
 
 * Richard Burke died Aug. 2, 1794, in his thirty-fifth year. The fond partiality of 
 his fiither for his talents is now well known. He is said to liave remarked how 
 extraardinary it was that I^ord Chatham, Lord Holland, and he should each have 
 had a son so superior to their fathers. — Croker. 
 
 2 Let it be remembered by those who accuse Dr. Johnson of illiberality, that both 
 were Scotchmetr. — B. 
 
 3 In the winter of 1788-9 Boswell began a canvas of his own county. He also 
 courted Lord Lonsdale, in the hope of getting one of the seats in his gift. But 
 Lonsdale first fooled him and then treated him with great brutality. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 LIVING IN THE COUNTRY. 
 
 439 
 
 House of Commons, 'That the influence of the Crown has in- 
 creased, is increasing, and ought, to be diminished ' ? " Johnson : 
 " Sir, I have never slept an hour less, nor ate an ounce less meat. 
 I would have knocked the factious dogs on the head, to be sure ; 
 but I was not vexed'' Boswell : " I declare. Sir, upon my 
 honor, I did imagine I was vexed and took a pride in it ; but it 
 was, perhaps, cant; ' for I own I neither ate less, nor slept less." 
 Johnson : " My dear friend, clear your mind of cant. You may 
 talk as other people do : you may say to a man, ' Sir, I am your 
 most humble servant.' You are not his most humble servant. 
 You may say, ' These are bad times ; it is a melancholy thing to 
 be reserved to such times.' You do n't mind the times. You 
 tell a man, ' I am sorry you had such bad weather the last day of 
 your journey, and were so much wet.' You don't care sixpence 
 whether he is wet or dry. You may talk in this manner ; it is a 
 mode of talking in society : but do n't think foolishly." 
 
 I talked of living in the country. Johnson: ''Don't set up 
 for what is called hospitality : it is a waste of time, and a waste 
 of money ; you are eaten up and not the more respected for your 
 liberahty. If your house be like an inn, nobody cares for you. 
 A man who stays a week with another, makes him a slave for a 
 week." Boswell : " But there are people. Sir, who make their 
 houses a home to their guests, and are themselves quite easy." 
 Johnson : " Then, Sir, home must be the same to the guests, and 
 they need not come." Here he discovered a notion common 
 enough in persons not much accustomed to entertain company, 
 that there must be a degree of elaborate attention, otherwise 
 company will think themselves neglected ; and such attention is 
 no doubt very fatiguing. He proceeded : " I would not, how- 
 ever, be a stranger in my own country ; I would visit my neigh- 
 bors, and receive their visits ; but I would not be in haste to 
 return visits. If a gentleman comes to see me, I tell him he 
 does me a great deal of honor. I do not go to see him perhaps 
 for ten weeks ; then we are very complaisant to each other. No, 
 Sir, you will have much more influence by giving or lending 
 money where it is wanted, than by hospitality." 
 
 On Saturday, May 17, I saw him for a short time. Having 
 mentioned that I had that morning been with old Mr. Sheridan, 
 he remembered their former intimacy with a cordia^ warmth, and 
 
 1 Cant. I. A corrupt dialect used by beggars and vagabonds. 2. A particular 
 form of speaking peculiar to some certain class or body of men. 3. A whining 
 pretension to goodness in formal and affected terms. 4. Barbarous jargon. 5. 
 Auction. — Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
440 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 said to me, "Tell Mr. Sheridan, I shall be glad to see him, and 
 shake hands with him." Boswell : It is to me very wonderful 
 that resentment should be kept up so long." Johnson: "Why, 
 Sir, it is not altogether resentment that he does not visit me ; it 
 is partly falling out of the habit, — partly disgust, as one has at a 
 drug that has made him sick. Besides, he knows that I laugh at 
 his oratory." 
 
 Another day I spoke of one of our friends,' of whom he, as 
 well as I, had a very high opinion. He expatiated in his praise ; 
 but added, " Sir, he is a cursed Whig, a bottomless Whig, as they 
 all are now." 
 
 I mentioned my expectations from the interest of an eminent 
 person then in power, adding, " but I have no claim but the 
 claim of friendship ; however, some people will go a great way 
 for that motive." Johnson : " Sir, they will go all the way from 
 that motive." A gentleman talked of retiring. " Never think of 
 that," said Johnson. The gentleman urged, " I should then do 
 no ill." Johnson : " Nor no good either. Sir, it would be a 
 civil suicide." 
 
 On Monday, May 26, I found him at tea, and the celebrated 
 Miss Burney, the author of " Evelina" and "Cecilia," with him. 
 I asked, if there would be any speakers in Parliament, if there 
 were no places to be obtained. Johnson : " Yes, Sir. Why do 
 you speak here? Either to instruct and entertain, which is a 
 benevolent motive ; or for distinction, which is a selfish motive." 
 I mentioned "Cecilia." Johnson (with an air of animated satis- 
 faction) : "Sir, if you talk of 'Cecilia,' talk on." 
 
 We talked of Mr. Barry's exhibition of his pictures. Johnson : 
 " Whatever the hand may have done, the mind has done its part. 
 There is a grasp of mind there, which you find nowhere else." ^ 
 
 I asked, whether a man naturally virtuous, or one who has over- 
 come wicked inclinations, is the best. Johnson : " Sir, to you, 
 the man who has overcome wicked inclinations, is not the best. 
 He has more merit to himself: I would rather trust my money to 
 a man who has no hands, and so a physical impossibility to steal, 
 than to a man of the most honest principles. There is a witty 
 satirical story of Foote. He had a small bust of Garrick placed 
 
 1 Probably Burke, Paymaster of the Forces, as also " the eminent person " in the 
 next paragraph. 
 
 2 In Mr. Barry's printed analysis, or description of these pictures, he speaks of 
 Johnson's character in the highest terms. — H. Barry in one of his pictures, placed 
 Johnson l)etween the two beautiful Duchesses of Fiutland and Devonshire, pointing 
 to their Graces Mrs. Montagu as an example. — Dr. Hill. 
 
JAMES BOSWELL. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 DYING IN SIN. 
 
 441 
 
 upon his bureau. * You may be surprised,' said he, ' that I allow 
 him to be so near my gold ; but you will observe, he has no 
 hands.' " 
 
 On Friday, May 29, being to set out for Scotland next morn- 
 ing, I passed a part of the day with him in more than usual 
 earnestness ; as his health was in a more precarious state than at 
 any time when I had parted from him. He, however, was quick 
 and lively, and critical as usual. I mentioned one who was a 
 very learned man. Johnson : Yes, Sir, he has a great deal of 
 learning ; but it never lies straight. There is never one idea by 
 the side of another; 't is all entangled : and then he drives it so 
 awkwardly upon conversation ! " 
 
 I stated to him an anxious thought, by which a sincere Chris- 
 tian might be disturbed, even when conscious of having lived a 
 good life so far as is consistent with human infirmity ; he might 
 fear that he should afterwards fall away, and be guilty of such 
 crimes as would render all his former religion vain. Could there 
 be, upon this awful subject, such a thing as balancing of accounts? 
 Suppose a man, who has led a good life for seven years, commits 
 an act of wickedness, and instantly dies ; will his former good 
 life have any effect in his favor? Johnson : "Sir, if a man has led 
 a good life for seven years, and then is hurried by passion to do 
 what is wrong, and is suddenly carried off, depend upon it he will 
 have the reward of his seven years' good life : God will not take a 
 catch of him. Upon this principle Richard Baxter believes that 
 a suicide maybe saved. 'If,' says he, ' it should be objected that 
 what I maintain may encourage suicide, I answer, I am not to 
 tell a lie to prevent it.' " Boswell : " But does not the text say 
 'As the tree falls, so it must lie'?"' Johnson: "Yes, Sir; as 
 the tree falls : but, — (after a little pause) — that is meant as to 
 the general state of the tree, not what is the effect of a sudden 
 blast." In short, he interpreted the expression as referring to 
 condition, not to position. The common notion, therefore, 
 seems to be erroneous ; and Shenstone's witty remark on divines 
 trying to give the tree a jerk upon a death-bed, to make it lie 
 favorably, is not well founded. 
 
 I asked him what works of Richard Baxter's I should read. He 
 said, " Read any of them ; they are all good." . 
 
 He said, " Get as much force of mind as you can. Live with- 
 in your income. Always have something saved at the end of the 
 
 1 Ecclesiastes xi. 3. 
 
44^ 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 year. Let your imports be more than your exports, and you '11 
 never go far wrong." 
 
 I assured him that, in the extensive and various range of his 
 acquaintance, there never had been any one who had a more 
 sincere respect and affection for him than I had. He said : I 
 believe it, Sir. Were I in distress, there is no man to whom I 
 should sooner come than to you. I should like to come and 
 have a cottage in your park, toddle about, live mostly on milk, 
 and be taken care of by Mrs. Boswell. She and I are good 
 friends now ; are we not? " 
 
 Talking of devotion, he said : " Though it be true that ' God 
 dvvelleth not in temples made with hands,' ^ yet in this state of 
 being, our minds are more piously affected in places appropriated 
 to divine worship, than in others. Some people have a par- 
 ticular room in their houses, where they say their prayers ; of 
 which I do not disapprove, as it may animate their devotion." 
 
 He embraced me and gave me his blessing as usual when I 
 was leaving him for any length of time. I walked from his door 
 to-day, with a fearful apprehension of what might happen before I 
 returned. 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM WINDHAM. 
 
 Sir: The bringer of this leUer is the father of Miss PhiHps,^ a singer, who 
 comes to try her voice on the stage at Dublin. 
 
 Mr. Philips is one of my old friends; and as I am of opinion that neither 
 he nor his daughter will do anything that can disgrace their benefactors, I 
 take the liberty of entreating you to countenance and protect them so far as 
 may be suitable to your station"* and character; and shall consider myself as 
 obliged by any favourable notice which they shall have the honour of receiv- 
 ing from you. 
 
 I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, May 31, 1783. 
 
 The following is another instance of his active benevolence : 
 
 TO sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have sent you some of my god-son's^ performances, of which 
 I do not pretend to form any opinion. VVhen I took the liberty of mention- 
 ing him to you, I did not know what I have since been told, that Mr. Moser 
 had admitted him among the students of the Academy. What more can be 
 
 1 Acts xvii. 24. 
 
 2 Now the celebrated Mrs. Crouch. — B. 
 
 Mr. Windham was at this time in Dublin, secretary to the Earl of Northing- 
 ton, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. — B. See ante, p. 425, under April 12. 
 < Son of Mr. Samuel Patterson. — B. 
 
Age 74-] 
 
 A STROKE OF THE J'ALSY. 
 
 443 
 
 done for him, I earnestly entreat you to consider; for I am very desirous that 
 he should derive some advantage from my connexion with him. If you are 
 inclined to see him, I will bring him to wait on you, at any time that you 
 shall be pleased to appoint. 
 
 I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam, Johnson. 
 
 June 2, 1783. 
 
 My anxious apprehensions at parting with him this year, proved 
 to be but too well founded ; for not long afterwards he had a 
 dreadful stroke of the palsy, of which there are very full and ac- 
 curate accounts in letters written by himself, to show with what 
 composure of mind, and resignation to the Divine Will, his steady 
 piety enabled him to behave. 
 
 TO MR. EDMUND ALLEN.' 
 
 Dear Sir: It has pleased God, this morning, to deprive me of the powers 
 of speech : and as I do not know but that it may be his further good pleasure 
 to deprive me soon of my senses, I request you will on the receipt of this 
 note, come to me, and act for me, as the exigencies of my case may require. 
 
 I am, sincerely yours, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 June 17, 1783. 
 
 to the reverend dr. JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Dear Sir: It has pleased God, by a Paralytick stroke in the night, to de- 
 prive me of speech. 
 
 I am very desirous of Dr. Heberden's^ assistance, as I think my case is 
 not past remedy. Let me see you as soon as it is possible. Bring Dr. Heber- 
 den with you, if you can; InU come yourself at all events. I am glad you 
 are so well, when I am so dreadfully attacked. 
 
 I think that by a speedy application of stimulants much may be done. I 
 question if a vomit, vigorous and rough, would not rouse the organs of speech 
 to action. As it is too early to send, I will try to recollect what I can, that 
 can be suspected to have brought on this dreadful distress. 
 
 I have been accustomed to bleed frequently for an asthmatick complaint; 
 but have forborne for some time by Dr. Pepys's persuasion, who perceived my 
 legs beginning to swell. I sometimes alleviate a painful, or more properly an 
 oppressive, constriction of my chest, by opiates; and have lately taken opium 
 frequently, but the^last, or two last times, in smaller ciuantities. My largest 
 dose is three grains, and last night I took but two. You will suggest these 
 things (and they are all that I can call to mind) to Dr. Heberden. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 Sam. Johnson.^ 
 
 June 17, 1783. 
 
 * Mr. Allen was his landlord and next neighbor in Bolt Court. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ " Virtuous and faithful Heberden." See Covvper : " Retirement." 
 
 ^ Boswell omitted the Postscript : " Dr. Brocklesby will be with me to meet Dr. 
 Heberden, and I shall have previously make {sic) master of the case as well as I 
 can." An exact reprint of the letter appears in Notes and Queries, 6th s. v. 481. — - 
 Dr. Hill. 
 
444 
 
 BOSWELL's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 Two days after he wrote thus to Mrs. Thrale : ' 
 
 On Monday, the i6th, I sat for my picture,^ and walked a considerable 
 way with little inconvenience. 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 understanding. This prayer, that I might try the 
 integrity of my faculties, I made in Latin verse. The lines were not very 
 good, but I knew them not to be very good: I made them easily, and con- 
 cluded myself to be unimpaired in my faculties.^ 
 
 Soon after I perceived that I had suffered a paralytick stroke, and that my 
 speech was taken from me. I had no pain, and so little dejection in this 
 dreadful state, that I wondered at my own apathy, and considered that per- 
 haps death itself, when it should come, would excite less horrour than seems 
 now to attend it. 
 
 In order to rouse the vocal organs, I took two drams. Wine has been 
 celebrated for the production 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. 
 
 1 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 are very friendly, and 
 give me great hopes; but you may imagine my situation. I have so far recov- 
 ered 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. 
 
 TO MR. THOMAS DAVIES. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have had, indeed, a very heavy blow; but GoD, who 
 yet spares my life, I huml)ly hope will spare my understanding, and restore 
 my speech. As I am not at all helpless, I want no particular assistance, l)ut am 
 strongly affected by Mrs. Davies's tenderness; and when I think she can do 
 me good, shall be very glad to call upon her. I had or(tered friends to be 
 shut out; but one or two have found the way in; and if you come you shall 
 be admitted: for I know not whom I can see, that will bring more amuse- 
 ment on his tongue, or more kindness in his heart. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 . Sam. Johnson. 
 
 June 18, 1783. 
 
 * Vol. ii. p. 268, of Mrs. Thralc's Collection. — B. 
 
 2 To Miss Reynolds, of whose work Nortlicote records that Sir Joshua said it 
 made otlier ])eople lau^h and liim cry. — Dr. HilL 
 
 Compare a somewhat similar experiment made by Sir Waller Scott during one 
 of his severe illnesses in 1819. Lockharfs " Life of Scott," vi. 6(j--jo. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 JOHNSON ' S RE CO VER Y. 
 
 445 
 
 It gives me great pleasure to preserve such a memorial of 
 Johnson's regard for Mr. Davies, to whom I was indebted for my 
 introduction to him.' He indeed loved Davies cordially, of 
 which I shall give the following little evidence. One day when 
 he had treated him with too much asperity, Tom, who was not 
 without pride and spirit, went off in a passion ; but he had hardly 
 reached home, when Frank, who had been sent after him, deliv- 
 ered this note: "Come, come, dear Davies, I am always sorry 
 when we quarrel ; send me word that we are friends." 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: Your anxiety about my health is very friendly, and very agree- 
 able with your general kindness. I have, indeed, had a very frightful blow. 
 On the 17th of last month, about three in the morning, as near as I can guess, 
 I perceived myself almost totally deprived of speech. I had no pain. My 
 organs were so obstructed that I could say 7io, but could scarcely say yes. I 
 wrote the necessary directions, for it pleased God to spare my hand, and sent 
 for Dr. Heberden and Dr. Brocklesby. Between the time in which I discov- 
 ered my own disorder, and that in which I sent for the doctors, I had, I be- 
 lieve, in spite of my surprize and solicitude, a little sleep, and Nature began 
 to renew its operations. They came and gave the directions which the disease 
 required, and from that time I have been continually improving in articula- 
 tion. I can now speak, but the nerves are weak, and I cannot continue dis- 
 course long; but strength, I hope, will return. The physicians consider me 
 as cured. I was last Sunday at Church. On Tuesday I took an airing to 
 Hampstead, and dined with the club, where Lord Palmerston was proposed, 
 and, against my opinion, was rejected.''^ I designed to go next week with Mr. 
 Langton to Rochester, where I purpose to stay about ten days, and then try 
 some other air. I have many kind invitations. Your brother has very fre- 
 quently enquired after me. Most of my friends have, indeed, been very at- 
 tentive. Thank dear Lord Hailes for his present. 
 
 I hope you found at your return everything gay and prosperous, and your 
 lady in particular, quite recovered and confirmed. Pay her my respects. I 
 am, dear Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, July 3, 1783. 
 
 TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD. 
 
 t 
 
 Dear Madam: The account which you give of your health is but melan- 
 choly. May it please God to restore you. My disease affected my speech, 
 and still continues, in some degree, to obstruct my utterance; my voice is dis- 
 tinct enough for a while: but the organs being still weak are quickly weary: 
 'but in other respects I am, I think, rather better than I have lately been; and 
 can let you know my state without the help of any other hand. 
 
 In the opinion of my friends, and in my own, I am gradually mending. 
 
 ^ Poor Derrick, however, though he did not himself introduce me to Dr. John- 
 son as he promised, had the merit of introducing me to Davies, the immediate 
 introductor. — B. 
 
 - His Lordship was soon after chosen, and is now a member of THE CLUB. — B. 
 
446 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 The physicians consider me as cured, and I had leave four days ago to wash 
 the cantharides from my head. Last Tuesday I dined at THE CLUB. 
 
 I am going next week into Kent, and purpose to change the air frequently 
 this summer; whether I shall wander so far as Staffordshire I cannot tell. I 
 should be glad to come. Return my thanks to Mrs. Cobb, and Mr. Pearson, 
 and all that have shown attention to me. 
 
 Let us, my dear, pray for one another, and consider our sufferings as notices 
 mercifully given us to prepare ourselves for another state. 
 
 I live now but in a melancholy way. My old friend Mr. Levett is dead, 
 who lived with me in the house, and was useful and companionable; Mrs. 
 Desmoulins is gone away; and Mrs. Williams is so much decayed that she can 
 add little to another's gratifications. The world passes away, and we are 
 passing with it; but there is, doubtless, another world, which will endure for- 
 ever. Let us all fit ourselves for it. I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, July 5, 1783. 
 
 Such was the general vigor of his constitution, that he recovered 
 from this alarming and severe attack with wonderful quickness ; 
 so that in July he was able to make a visit to Mr. Langton at 
 Rochester, where he passed about a fortnight, and made little ex- 
 cursions as easily as at any time of his life. In August he went 
 as far as the neighborhood of Salisbury, to Heale, the seat of 
 William Bowles, Esq., a gentleman whom I have heard him praise 
 for exemplary religious order in his family. In his diary I find a 
 short but honorable mention of this visit : " August 28, I came 
 to Heale without fatigue. 30. I am entertained quite to my mind." 
 
 TO DR. BROCKLESBY. 
 
 Heale, near Salisbury, Aug. 29, 1783. 
 
 Dear Sir : Without appearing to want a just sense of your kind attention, 
 I can not omit to give an account of the day which seemed to appear in some 
 sort perilous. I rose at five, and went out at six; and having reached Salis- 
 bury about nine, went forward a few miles in my friend's chariot. I was no 
 more wearied with the journey, though it was a high-hung, rough coach, than 
 I should have been forty years ago. We shall now see what air will do. The 
 country is all a plain; and the house in which I am, so far as I can judge from 
 my window, for I write before I have left my chamber, is sufficiently pleasant. 
 
 Be so kind as to continue your attention to Mrs. Williams; it is a great 
 consolation to the well, and still greater to the sick, that they find themselves 
 not neglected; and I know that you will be desirous of giving comfort, even 
 where you have no great hone of giving help. 
 
 Since I wrote the former part of the letter, I find that by the course of the 
 post I cannot send it before the thirty-first. I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 While he was here, he had a letter from Dr. Brocklesby, ac- 
 
Age 74-] THE DEATH OF MRS. WILLIAMS. 447 
 
 quainting him of the death of Mrs. Williams/ which affected him 
 a good deal. Though for several years her temper had not been 
 complacent, she had valuable qualities, and her departure left a 
 blank in his house. Upon this occasion he, according to his 
 habitual course of piety, composed a prayer. (" Prayers and Med- 
 itations," p. 226.) 
 
 1 shall here insert a few particulars concerning him, with which 
 I have been favored by one of his friends.'"^ 
 
 He had once conceived the design of writing the Life of Oliver Cromwell, 
 saying, that he thought it must be highly curious to trace his extraordinary rise 
 to the supreme power from so obscure a beginning. He at length laid aside 
 his scheme, on discovering that all that can be told of him is already in print ; and 
 that it is impracticable to procure any authentic information in addition to what 
 the world is already possessed of. 
 
 He had likewise projected, but at what part of his life is not known, a 
 work to show how small a quantity of REAL FICTION there is in the world; and 
 that the same images, with very little variation, have served all the authors 
 who have ever written. 
 
 His thoughts in the latter part of his life were frequently employed on his 
 deceased friends. He often muttered, these, or such like sentences: " Poor 
 man ! and then he died." ^ 
 
 Speaking of a certain literary friend, " He is a very pompous puzzling 
 fellow," said he; " he lent me a letter once that somebody had written to 
 him, no matter what it was about; but he wanted to have the letter back, and 
 expressed a mighty value for it; he hoped it was to be met with again, he 
 would not lose it for a thousand pounds. I laid my hands upon it soon after- 
 wards, and gave it him. I believe I said I was very glad to have met with it. 
 O, then he did not know that it signified anything. So you see, when the 
 letter was lost it was worth a thousand pounds, and when it was found it was 
 not worth a farthing." 
 
 The style and character of his conversation is pretty generally known; it 
 
 ^ In his letter to Miss Susanna Thrale, Sept. 9, 1783, he thus writes : " Pray show 
 Mamma this passage of a letter from Dr. Brocklesby. ' Mrs. Williams, from mere 
 inanition, has at length paid the great debt to nature about three o'clock this morn- 
 ing. (Sept. 6.) She died without a struggle, retaining her laculties to the very last, 
 and, as she expressed it, having set her house in order, was prepared to leave it at 
 the last summons of nature.'" In his letter to Mrs. Thrale, Sept. 22, he adds, 
 " Poor Williams has, I hope, seen the end of her afflictions. She acted with pru- 
 dence, and she bore with fortitude. She has left me. 
 
 " ' Thou thy weary (worldly) task hast done. 
 Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.' 
 
 [" Cymbeline," Act iv. sc. 2.] 
 Had she had good humor and prompt elocution, her universal curiosity and com- 
 prehensive knowledge would have made her the delight of all that knew her. She 
 has left her little to your charity school." — Maloiie. 
 
 2 Probably Mr. Bowles at whose house he had just been visiting. Mr. Bowles 
 had married a Dinah, fourth daughter of Sir Thomas Frankland, and a descendant 
 of Cromwell. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 3 So Lamb in the last days of his life was frequently heard to say to himself, 
 "Coleridge is dead." Canon Ainger's " Charles Lamb," p. 200. 
 
448 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 was certainly conducted in conformity with a precept of Lord Bacon, but it is 
 not clear, I apprehend, that this conformity was either perceived or intended 
 by Johnson. The precept alluded to is as follows: " In all kinds of speech, 
 either pleasant, grave, severe, or ordinary, it is convenient to speak leisurely, 
 and rather drawlingly than hastily: because hasty speech confounds the 
 memory, and oftentimes, besides the unseemliness, drives a man either to 
 stammering, a nonplus, or harping on that which should follow; whereas a 
 slow speech confirmeth the memory, addeth a conceit of wisdom to the hearers, 
 besides a seemliness of speech and countenance." ' Dr. Johnson's method of 
 conversation was certainly calculated to excite attention, and to amuse and in- 
 struct (as it happened), without wearying or confusing his company. He was 
 always most perfectly clear and perspicuous; and his language was so accurate, 
 and his sentences so neatly constructed, that his conversation might have been 
 all printed without any correction. At the same time, it was easy and natural; 
 the accuracy of it had no appearance of labor, constraint, or stiffness; he 
 seemed more correct than others, by the force of habit, and the customary 
 exercises of his powerful mind. 
 
 He spoke often in praise of French literature. " The French are excellent 
 in this," he would say, " they have a book on every subject," From what he 
 had seen of them he denied them the praise of superior politeness, and men- 
 tioned, with very visible disgust, the custom they have of spitting on the floors 
 of their apartments. "This," said the Doctor, "is as gross a thing as can 
 well be done; and one wonders how any man, or set of men, can persist in so 
 offensive a practice for a whole day together; one should expect that the first 
 effort towards civilization would remove it even among savages." 
 
 Baxter's " Reasons of the Christian Religion," he thought contained the 
 best collection of the evidences of the divinity of the Christian system. 
 
 Chemistry was always an interesting pursuit with Dr. Johnson. Whilst he 
 was in Wiltshire, he attended some experiments that were made by a physician 
 at Salisbury, on the new kinds of air. In the course of the experiments, fre- 
 quent mention being made of Dr. Priestley, Dr. Johnson knit his brows, and 
 in a stern manner inquired, " Why do we hear so much of Dr. Priestley? " ^ 
 
 1 "Short Notes for Civil Conversation." Bacon's Works, edited by Spedding, 
 vii. 109. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 I do not wonder at Johnson's displeasure when the name of Dr. Priestley was 
 mentioned ; for I know no writer who has been suffered to publish more pernicious 
 doctrines. I shall instance only three. First, materialism ; by which mind is denied 
 to human nature; which, if believed, must deprive us of every elevated principle. 
 Secondly, necessity ; or the doctrine that every action, whether good or bad, is in- 
 cluded in an unchangeable and unavoidable system ; a notion utterly subversive of 
 moral government. Thirdly, that we have no reason to think that the future world 
 (which, as he is pleased to inform us, will be adapted to our merely improved nainre) , 
 will be materially different from this ; which, if believed, would sink wretched mor- 
 tals into despair, as they could no longer hope for the " rest that remaineth for the 
 people of God," or for that happiness which is revealed to us as something beyond 
 our present conceptions; but would feel themselves doomed to a continuation of 
 the imeasy state under which they now groan. I say nothing of the petulant in- 
 temperance with which he dares to insult the venerable establishments of his 
 country. As a specimen of his writings, I shall quote the following j^assage, which 
 appears to me equally absurd and impious, and which might have been retorted 
 upon him by the men who were prosecuted for burning his house. "I cannot," 
 says he, "as a ttecessariati [meaning necessitarian'], hate any man ; because I con- 
 sider him as beini^, in all respects, just what Goi) has made him to be ; and also as 
 doini^tuith respect to me, nothing but what he wa'^ expressly desiirncd appointed 
 to (lo : God Ijcing tiie <?;//>' and men nothnig more than the instruments in 
 
Age 74.] A THREA TE 'kED OPERA TION. 
 
 449 
 
 He was very properly answered, "Sir, because we are indebted to him for 
 these important discoveries. " On this Dr. Johnson appeared well content; 
 and replied, " Well, well, I believe we are; and let every man have the honor 
 he has merited." 
 
 A friend was one day, about two years before his death, struck with some 
 instance of Dr. Johnson's great candor. " Well, Sir," said he, "I will al- 
 ways ^ay that you are a very candid man." — "Will you? " replied the 
 Doctor; " I doubt then you will be very singular. But, indeed, Sir," con- 
 tinued he, " I look upon myself to be a man very much misunderstood. I am 
 not an uncandid nor am I a severe man. I sometimes say more than I mean, 
 in jest; and people are apt to believe me serious: however, I am more candid 
 than I was when I was younger. As I know more of mankind, I expect less 
 of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than 
 I was formerly." 
 
 On his return from Heale he wrote to Dr. Burney. 
 
 I came home on the i8th ^ [of September], at noon, to a very disconsolate 
 house. You and I have lost our friends;^ but you have more friends at 
 home. My domestick companion is taken from me. She is much missed, for 
 her acquisitions were many, and her curiosity universal; so that she partook of 
 every conversation. I am not well enough to go much out; and to sit, and 
 eat, or fast alone, is very wearisome. I always mean to send my compliments 
 to all the ladies. 
 
 His fortitude and patience met with severe trials during this 
 year. The stroke of the palsy has been related circumstantially ; 
 but he was also afflicted with the gout, and was besides troubled 
 with a complaint which not only was attended with immediate 
 inconvenience, but threatened him with a chirurgical operation, 
 from which most men would shrink. The complaint was a 
 saj'cocele, which Johnson bore with uncommon firmness, and was 
 not at all frightened while he looked forward to amputation. He 
 
 his hands to execute all his pleasure " — " Illustrations of Philosophical Necessitv," 
 p. III. The Reverend Dr. Parr, in a late tract, appears to suppose that Dr. John- 
 son not only endured, but almost solicited, an intervietsj with Dr. Priestley. In justice 
 to Dr. Johnson, I declare my firm belief that he never did. My illustrious friend 
 was particularly resolute in not giving countenance to men whose writings he con- 
 sidered as pernicious to society. I was present at Oxford when Dr. Price, even be- 
 fore he had rendered himself so generally obnoxious by his zeal for the French 
 Revolution, came into a company where Johnson was, who instantly left the room. 
 Much more would he have reprobated Dr. Priestley. Whoever wishes to see a per- 
 fect delineation of this Literary Jack of all Trades, may find it in an ingenious tract, 
 entitled, "A small Whole-Length of Dr. Priestley," printed for Rivington's in St. 
 Paul's Churchyard. — B. 
 
 1 The eighteenth was his birthday, and he ordered his servant Frank to prepare 
 a little dinner to which he desired Mrs. Desmoulins, Mrs. Davis " that was about 
 Mrs. Williams," and Mr. Allen and Mr. Gardiner invited. 
 
 2 Dr. Burney had lost Mr. Bewley the Broom gentleman and Mr. Crisp. — Dr. 
 Hill. 
 
 Vol. II. — 29 
 
450 BOS WELL'S LIFE *0F JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 was attended by Mr. Pott and Mr. Cruikshank. I have before 
 me a letter of the 30th of July this year, to Mr. Cruikshank, in 
 which he says, " I am going to put myself into your hands : " and 
 another accompanying a set of his " Lives of the Poets," in 
 which he says, 
 
 I beg your acceptance of these volumes, as an acknowledgment of the 
 great favours which you have bestowed on, Sir, your most obliged and most 
 humble servant. 
 
 I have in my possession several more letters from him to Mr. 
 Cruikshank, and also to Dr. Mudge at Plymouth, which it would 
 be improper to insert, as they are filled with unpleasing tech- 
 nical details. I shall, however, extract from his letters to Dr. 
 Mudge such passages as show either a felicity of expression or the 
 undaunted state of his mind. 
 
 My conviction of your skill, and my belief of your friendship, determine 
 me to entreat your opinion and advice." — " In this state I with great earnest- 
 ness desire you to tell me what is to be done. Excision is doubtless necessary 
 to the cure, and I know not any means of palliation. The operation is 
 doubtless painful; but is it dangerous? The pain I hope to endure with de- 
 cency; but I am loath to put life into much hazard." — "By representing the 
 gout as an antagonist to the palsy, you have said enough to make it welcome. 
 This is not strictly the first fit, but I hope it is as good as the first; for it is 
 the second that ever confined me; and the first was ten years ago, much less 
 fierce and fiery than this." — " Write, dear Sir, what you can to inform or en- 
 courage me. The operation is not delayed by any fears or objections of 
 mine." 
 
 TO BENNET LANGTON, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: You may very reasonably charge me with insensibility of your 
 kindness, and that of Lady Rothes, since I have suffered so much time to pass 
 without paying any acknowledgment. I now, at last, return my thanks; and 
 why I did it not sooner I ought to tell you, I went into Wiltshire as soon 
 as I well could, and was there much employed in palliating my own malady. 
 Disease produces much selfishness. A man in pain is looking after ease; and 
 lets most other things go as chance shall dispose of them. In the mean time 
 I have lost a companion, [Mrs. Anna Williams] to whom I have had recourse 
 for domestick amusement for thirty years, and whose variety of knowledge 
 never was exhausted; and now return to a habitation vacant and desolate. I 
 carry about a very troublesome and dangerous complaint, which admits no 
 cure but by the chirurgical knife. Let me have your prayers. I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Sept. 29, 1783. 
 
 Happily the complaint abated without his being put to the 
 torture of amputation. But we must surely admire the manly 
 resolution which he discovered, while it hung over him. 
 
Age 74.] .1 VISIT FROM MRS. SIDDONS. 
 
 451 
 
 In a letter to the same gentleman he writes : 
 
 The gout has within these four days come upon me with a violence which 
 I never experienced before. It made me helpless as an infant. 
 
 And in another, having mentioned Mrs. Williams, he says : 
 
 Whose death following that of Levett, has now made my house a solitude. 
 She left her little substance to a charity-school. She is, I hope, where there 
 is neither darkness, nor want, nor sorrow. 
 
 I wrote to him, begging to know the state of his health, and 
 mentioned that Baxter's "'Anacreon,' which is in the library at 
 Auchinleck, was, I find, collated by my father in 1727 with the 
 MS. belonging to the University of Leyden, and he has made a 
 number of notes upon it. Would you advise me to publish a new 
 edition of it? " 
 
 His answer was dated September 30th. 
 
 You should not make your letters such rarities, when you know, or might 
 know, the uniform state of my health. It is very long since I heard from you; 
 and that I have not answered is a very insufficient reason for the silence of a 
 friend. Your " Anacreon " is a very uncommon book; neither London nor 
 Cambridge can supply a copy of that edition. Whether it should be reprinted, 
 you cannot do better than consult Lord Hailes. — Besides my constant and 
 radical disease, I have been for these ten days much harassed with the gout; 
 but that has now remitted. I hope God will yet grant me a little longer life, 
 and make me less unfit to appear before him. 
 
 He this autumn received a visit from the celebrated Mrs. Sid- 
 dons. He gives this account of it in one of his letters to Mrs. 
 Thrale [October 27] : 
 
 Mrs. Siddons, in her visit to me, behaved with great modesty and propriety, 
 and left nothing behind her to be censured or despised. Neither praise nor 
 money, the two powerful corrupters of mankind, seem to have depraved her. 
 I shall be glad to see her again. Her brother Kemble calls on me, and 
 pleases me very well. Mrs. Siddons and I talked of plays; and she told me 
 her intention of exhibiting this winter the characters of Constance, Catharine, 
 and Isabella, in Shakspeare. 
 
 Mr. Kemble has favored me with the following minute of what 
 passed at this visit. 
 
 When Mrs. Siddons came into the room, there happened to be no chair 
 ready for her, which he observing, said with a smile, " Madam, you who so 
 often occasion a want of seats to other people, will the more easily excuse the 
 want of one yourself." 
 
452 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 Having placed himself by her, he with great good humor entered upon a 
 consideration of the English drama; and, among other inquiries, particularly 
 asked her which of Shakespeare's characters she was most pleased with. 
 Upon her answering that she thought the character of Queen Catharine in 
 " Henry the Eighth," the most natural: " I think so too. Madam," said he; 
 " and whenever you perform it, I will once more hobble out to the theatre my- 
 self." Mrs. Siddons promised she would do herself the honor of acting his 
 favorite part for him; but many circumstances happened to prevent the rep- 
 resentation of " King Henry the Eighth " during the Doctor's life. 
 
 In the course of the evening he thus gave his opinion upon the merits of 
 some of the principal performers whom he remembered to have seen upon the 
 stage. " Mrs. Porter in the vehemence of rage, and Mrs. Clive in the spright- 
 liness of humor, I have never seen equalled. What Clive did best, she did 
 better than Garrick; but could not do half so many things well; she was a 
 better romp than any I ever saw in nature. Pritchard, in common life, was a 
 vulgar idiot; she would talk of hex gozvnd ; but, when she appeared upon the 
 stage, seemed to be inspired by gentility and understanding. I orxe talked 
 with Colley Cibber, and thought him ignorant of the principles of his art. 
 Garrick, Madam, was no declaimer; there was not one of his own scene-shift- 
 ers who could not have spoken 7^o be, or not to be, better than he did ; yet he 
 was the only actor I ever saw whom I could call a master both in tragedy and 
 comedy; though I liked him best in comedy. A true conception of char- 
 acter, and natural expression of it, were his distinguished excellences." 
 Having expatiated, with his usual force and eloquence, on Mr. Garrick's 
 extraordinary eminence as an actor, he concluded with this compliment to 
 his social talent; " And after all, Mad am, I thought him less to be envied on 
 the stage than at the head of a table." 
 
 Johnson, indeed, had thought more upon the subject of acting 
 than might be generally supposed. Talking of it one day to Mr. 
 Kemble, he said, Are you. Sir, one of those enthusiasts who 
 believe yourself transformed into the very character you repre- 
 sent?" Upon Mr. Kemble's answering that he had never felt so 
 strong a persuasion himself, To be sure not, Sir," said Johnson : 
 " the thing is iiiipossible. And if Garrick really believed him- 
 self to be that monster, Richard the Third, he deserved to be 
 hanged every time he performed it." ^ 
 
 ^ My worthy friend, Mr. John Nichols, was present when Mr. Henderson, the 
 actor, paid a visit to Dr. Johnson : and was received in a very courteous manner. 
 See Ge77tlcman s Magazine, June, 1791. I found among Dr. Johnson's papers the 
 following letter to him from the celebrated Mrs. Bellamy : 
 
 TO DR. JOHNSON. 
 
 Sir : The flattering remembrance of the partiality you honoured me with, some 
 years ago, as well as the humanity you are known to possess, has encouraged me 
 to solicit your patronage at my Benefit. 
 
 By a long Chancery suit, and a complicated train of unfortunate events, I am 
 reduced to the greatest distress ; which obliges nie, once more, to request the in- 
 dulgence of the publick. 
 
 Give mc; leave to solicit the honour of your company, and to assure you, if you 
 grant my request, the gratification I shall feel, from being patronized by Dr. John- 
 
Age 74.] MR. Hamilton's <; em: nous offer. 453 
 
 A pleasing instance of the generous attention of one of his 
 friends has been discovered by the publication of Mrs. Thrale's 
 collection of Letters. In a letter to one of the Miss Thrales, 
 [Vol. ii., p. 328] he writes, 
 
 A friend, whose name I will tell when your mamma has tried to guess 
 it, sent to my physician to inquire whether this long train of illness had 
 brought me into difficulties for want of money, with an invitation to send to 
 him for what occasion required. I shall write this night to thank him, hav- 
 ing no need to borrow. 
 
 And afterwards, in a letter to Mrs. Thrale, 
 
 Since you cannot guess, I will tell you, that the generous man was Ger- 
 ard Hamilton. I returned him a very thankful and respectful letter. [Vol. 
 ii., p. 342.] 
 
 I appHed to Mr. Hamilton, by a common friend, and he has 
 been so obliging as to let me have Johnson's letter to him upon 
 this occasion, to adorn my collection. 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON. 
 
 Dear Sir : Your kind inquiries after my affairs, and your generous offers, 
 have been communicated to me by Dr. Brocklesby. I return thanks with 
 great sincerity, having lived long enough to know what gratitude is due to 
 such friendship; and entreat that my refusal may not be imputed to sullen- 
 ness or pride. I am, indeed, in no want. Sickness is, by the generosity of 
 my physicians, of little expence to me. But if any unexpected exigence should 
 press me, you shall see, dear Sir, how cheerfully I can be obliged to so much 
 liberality. I am. Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 November 19, 1783. 
 
 I find in this, as in former years, notices of his kind attention 
 to Mrs. Gardiner, who though in the humble station of a tallow- 
 chandler upon Snow Hill, was a woman of excellent good sense, 
 pious, and charitable. She told me, she had been introduced to 
 him by Mrs. Masters, the poetess, whose volumes he revised, and, it 
 is said, illuminated here and there with a ray of his own genius. 
 
 son, will be infinitely superiour to any advantage that may arise from the Benefit; 
 as I am, with the profoundest respect, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 G. A. Bellamy. 
 
 No. 10 Duke-street, St. James's, 
 May II, 1783, 
 
 I am happy in recording these particulars, which prove that my illustrious friend 
 lived to think much more favorably of players than he appears to have done iii 
 the early part of his life. — B. 
 
454 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 Mrs. Gardiner was very zealous for the support of the Ladies' 
 Charity-School in the parish of St. Sepulchre. It is confined to 
 females ; and, I am told, it afforded a hint for the story of " Betty 
 Broom" in T/ie Idler [nos. 26, 29]. Johnson this year, I find, 
 obtained for it a sermon from the late Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. 
 Shipley, whom he, in one of his letters to Mrs. Thrale, charac- 
 terizes as " knowing and conversible " ; and whom all who knew 
 his Lordship, even those who differed from him in politics, 
 remember with much respect. 
 
 The Earl of Carlisle having written a tragedy, entitled " The 
 Father's Revenge," some of his Lordship's friends applied to Mrs. 
 Chapone,' to prevail on Dr. Johnson to read and give his opin- 
 ion of it, which he accordingly did, in a letter to that lady. Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds having informed me that this letter was in Lord 
 Carlisle's possession, though I was not fortunate enough to have 
 the honor of being known to his Lordship, trusting to the gen- 
 eral courtesy of literature, I wrote to him requesting the favor of 
 a copy of it, and to be permitted to insert it in my Life of Dr. 
 Johnson. His Lordship was so good as to comply with my 
 request, and has thus enabled me to enrich my work with a very 
 fine piece of writing, which displays both the critical skill and 
 politeness of my illustrious friend ; and perhaps the curiosity 
 which it will excite, may induce the noble and elegant author to 
 gratify the world by the publication ^ of a performance, of which 
 Dr. Johnson has spoken in such terms. 
 
 TO MRS. CHAPONE. 
 
 Madam : By sending the tragedy to me a second time,^ I think that a very 
 honourable distinction has been shown me, and I did not delay the perusal, of 
 which I am now to tell the effect. 
 
 The construction of the play is not completely regular; the stage is too 
 often vacant, and the scenes are not sufificiently connected. This, however, 
 would be called by Dryden only a mechanical defect; which takes away little 
 from the power of the poem, and which is seen rather than felt. 
 
 A rigid examiner of the diction might, perhaps, wish some words changed, 
 and some lines more vigorously terminated. But from such petty imperfec- 
 tions what writer was ever free? 
 
 The general form and force of the dialogue is of more importance. It 
 
 ^ Mrs. Chapone though very repulsive in appearance, was in reality a woman of 
 "superior attainment and extensive knowledge " wherelDy she was known as " the 
 admirable Mrs. Chapone." She was one of the literary ladies who sat at Richard- 
 son's feet. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 A few copies only of this tragedy have been printed, and given to the author's 
 friends. — B. 
 
 3 Dr. Johnson having been very ill when the tragedy was first sent to him, had 
 declined the consideration of it. — B. 
 
Age 74.] 
 
 TWO QUESTIONS. 
 
 455 
 
 seems to want that quickness of reciprocation which characterises the English 
 drama, and is not always sufficiently fervid or animated. 
 
 Of the sentiments, I remember not one that I wished omitted. In the 
 imagery I cannot forbear to distinguish the comparison of joy succeeding grief 
 to light rushing on the eye accustomed to darkness. It seems to have all that 
 can be desired to make it please. It is new, just, and delightful.^ 
 
 With the characters, either as conceived or preserved, I have no fault to 
 find: but was much inclined to congratulate a writer, who, in defiance of 
 prejudice and fashion, made the archbishop a good man, and scorned all 
 thoughtless applause which a vicious churchman would have l)rought him. 
 
 The catastrophe is affecting. The father and daughter both culpable, both 
 wretched, and both penitent, divide between them our pity and our sorrow. 
 
 Thus, Madam, I have performed what I did not willingly undertake, and 
 could not decently refuse. The noble writer will be pleased to remember that 
 sincere criticism ought to raise no resentment, because judgment is not under 
 the controul of will; but involuntary criticism, as it has still less of choice, 
 ought to be more remote from possibility of offence. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Nov. 28, 1783. 
 
 I consulted him on two questions of a very different nature : 
 one, whether the unconstitutional influence exercised by the 
 peers of Scotland in the election of the representatives of the 
 Commons, by means of fictitious qualifications, ought not to be 
 resisted ; the other, what in propriety and humanity, should be 
 done with old horses unable to labor ? I gave him some account 
 of my life at Auchinleck ; and expressed my satisfaction that the 
 gentlemen of the county had, at two public meetings, elected me 
 their presses, or chairman. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : Like all other men who have great friends, you begin to feel 
 the pangs of neglected merit; and all the comfort that I can give you is, by 
 telling you that you have probably more pangs to feel, and more neglect to 
 suffer. You have, indeed, begun to complain too soon; and I hope I am the 
 only confidant of your discontent. Your friends have not yet had leisure to 
 gratify personal kindness; they have hitherto been busy in strengthening their 
 ministerial interest. If a vacancy happens in Scotland, give them early intel- 
 ligence; and as you can serve Government as powerfully as any of your prob- 
 able competitors, you may make in some sort a warrantable claim. 
 
 Of the exaltations and depressions of your mind you delight to talk, and I 
 hate to hear. Drive all such fancies from you. 
 
 On the day when I received your letter, I think, the foregoing page was 
 
 " I could have borne my woes ; that stranger joy 
 Wounds while it smiles : The long imprison'd wretch, 
 Emerging from the night of his damp cell, 
 Shrinks from the sun's bright beams ; and that which flings 
 Gladness o'er all, to him is agony." — B. 
 
456 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 written; to which one disease or another has hindered me from making any 
 additions. I am now a little better. But sickness and solitude press me very 
 heavily. I could bear sickness better, if I were relieved from solitude. 
 
 The present dreadful confusion of the publick' ought to make you wrap 
 yourself up in your hereditary possessions, which, though less than you may 
 wish, are more than you can want; and in an hour of religious retirement 
 return thanks to GoD, who has exempted you from any strong temptation to 
 faction, treachery, plunder, and disloyalty. 
 
 As your neighbours distinguish you by such honours as they can bestow, 
 content yourself with your station, without neglecting your profession. Your 
 estate and the Courts will find you full employment, and your mind, well oc- 
 cupied, will be quiet. 
 
 The usurpation of the nobility, for they apparently usurp all the influence 
 they gain by fraud and misrepresentation, I think it certainly lawful, perhaps 
 your duty, to resist. What is not their own they have only by robbery. 
 
 Your question about the horses gives me more perplexity. I know not well 
 what advice to give you. I can only recommend a rule which you do not 
 want; give as little pain as you can. I suppose that we have a right to their 
 service while their strength lasts; what we can do with them afterwards, I 
 can not so easily determine. But let us consider. Nobody denies that man 
 has a right first to milk the cow, and to shear the sheep, and then to kill them 
 for his table. May he not, by parity of reason, first work a horse, and then 
 kill him the easiest way, that he may have the means of another horse, or 
 food for cows and sheep? Man is influenced in both cases by different motives 
 ^ of self-interest. He that rejects the one must reject the other. 
 
 I am, &c, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Dec. 24, 1783. 
 
 A happy and pious Christmas; and many happy years to you, your lady, 
 and children. 
 
 The late ingenious Mr. Mickle/ some time before his death, 
 wrote me a letter concerning Dr. Johnson, in which he mentions : 
 " I was upwards of twelve years acquainted with him, was fre- 
 quently in his company, always talked with ease to him, and can 
 truly say, that I never received from- him one rough word." 
 
 In this letter he relates his having, while engaged in translat- 
 ing the " Lusiad," had a dispute of considerable length with 
 Johnson, who, as usual, declaimed upon the misery and corrup- 
 tion of a sea life, and used this expression : " It had been 
 happy for the world. Sir, if your hero Ciama, Prince Henry of 
 Portugal, and Columbus, had never been born, or that their 
 schemes had never gone farther than their «wn imaginations." 
 
 1 The rejection by the Lords of Fox's India Bill had resulted in the sudden dis- 
 missal of the Coalition Ministry on ilu; 19th of December. Three days later Earl 
 Temple resigned his position as Scci(>tary of State. 
 
 2 Mr. Mickle died Oct. 28, 1788. — Dr. 11 ill. 
 
Age 74.] SHAW'S PAMPHLET ON OSS I AN. 
 
 "This sentiment," says Mr. Mickle, " which is to he found in liis ' Intro- 
 duction to the World Displayed,' I, in my Dissertation prefixed to the ' Lusiad,' 
 have controverted; and though autliors are said to be bad judges of their own 
 works, I am not ashamed to own to a friend, that that dissertation is my 
 favorite above all that I ever attempted in prose. Next year, when the 
 ' Lusiad ' was published, 1 waited on Dr. Johnson, who addressed me with 
 one of his good-humored smiles : ' Well, you have remembered our dispute 
 about Prince Henry, and have cited me too. You have done your part very 
 well indeed: you have made the best of your argument; but I am not con- 
 vinced yet.' 
 
 " Before publishing the ' Lusiad,' I sent Mr. Hoole a proof of that part of 
 the introduction in which I make mention of Dr. Johnson, yourself, and other 
 well-wishers to the work, begging it might be shown to Dr. Johnson. This 
 was accordingly done; and in place of the simple mention of him which I 
 had made, he dictated to Mr. Hoole the sentence as it now stands. 
 
 " Dr. Johnson told me in 1772 that, about twenty years before that time, 
 he himself had a design to translate the ' Lusiad,' of the merit of which he 
 spoke highly, but had been prevented by a number of other engagements." 
 
 Mr. Mickle reminds me in this letter of a conversation at 
 dinner one day at Mr. Hoole's with Dr. Johnson, when Mr. 
 Nicol, the king's bookseller, and I attempted to controvert the 
 maxim, " better that ten guilty should escape, than one innocent 
 person suffer ; " and were answered by Dr. Johnsgn with great 
 power of reasoning and eloquence. I am very sorry that I have 
 no record of that day : but I well recollect my illustrious friend's 
 having ably shown that, unless civil institutions ensure protection 
 to the innocent, all the confidence which mankind should have 
 in them would be lost. 
 
 I shall here mention what, in strict chronological arrangement, 
 should have appeared in my account of last year; but may more 
 properly be introduced here, the controversy having not been 
 closed till this. The Reverend Mr. Shaw, a native of one of 
 the Hebrides, having entertained doubts of the authenticity 
 of the poems ascribed to Ossian, divested himself of national 
 bigotry ; and having travelled in the Highlands and Islands 
 of Scotland, and also in Ireland, in order to furnish himself 
 with materials for a Gaelic Dictionary, which he afterwards 
 compiled, was so fully satisfied that Dr. Johnson was in the right 
 upon the question, that he candidly published a pamphlet, stating 
 his conviction, and the proofs and reasons on which it was 
 founded. A person at Edinburgh, of the name of Clark, 
 answered this pamphlet with much zeal, and much abuse of its 
 author. Johnson took Mr. Shaw under his protection, and gave 
 him his assistance in writing a reply, which has been admired by 
 the best judges, and by many been considered as conclusive. A 
 
458 
 
 BOSWELTJs life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 few paragraphs, which sufficiently mark their great author, shall 
 be selected. 
 
 My assertions are, for the most part, purely negative: I deny the existence 
 of Fingal, because in a long and curious peregrination through the Gaelic 
 regions I have never been able to find it. What I could not see myself I 
 suspect to be equally invisible to others; and I suspect with the more reason, 
 as among all those who have seen it no man can show it. 
 
 Mr. Clark compares the obstinacy of those who disbelieve the genuineness 
 of Ossian to a blind man, who should dispute the reality of colors, and deny 
 that the British troops are clothed in red. The blind man's doubt would be 
 rational, if he did not know by experience that others have a power which he 
 himself wants : but what perspicacity has Mr. Clark which Nature has with- 
 held from me or the rest of mankind? 
 
 The true state of the parallel must be this. Suppose a man, with eyes like 
 his neighbors, was told by a boasting corporal that the troops, indeed, wore 
 red clothes for their ordinary dress, but that every soldier had likewise a suit 
 of black velvet, which he put on when the king reviews them. This he 
 thinks strange, and desires to see the fine clothes, but finds nobody in forty 
 thousand men that can produce either coat or waistcoat. One, indeed, has 
 left them in his chest at Port Mahon; another has always heard that he ought 
 to have velvet clothes somewhere; and a third has heard somebody say that 
 soldiers ought to wear velvet. Can the inquirer be blamed if he goes away 
 believing that a soldier's red coat is all that he has? 
 
 But the most obdurate incredulity may be shamed or silenced by facts. To 
 overpower contradictions, let the soldier show his velvet coat, and the Fin- 
 galist the original of Ossian. 
 
 The difference between us and the blind man is this: the blind man is un- 
 convinced, because he cannot see; and we, because, though we can see, we 
 find that nothing can be shown. 
 
 Notwithstanding the complication of disorders under which 
 Johnson now labored, he did not resign himself to despondency 
 and discontent, but with wisdom and spirit endeavored to console 
 and amuse his mind with as many innocent enjoyments as he 
 could procure. Sir John Hawkins has mentioned the cordiality 
 with which he insisted that such of the members of the old club 
 in Ivy Lane as survived, should meet again and dine together, 
 which they did, twice at a tavern, and once at his house : and in 
 order to ensure himself society in the evening for three days in 
 the week, he instituted a club at the Essex Head, in Essex 
 Street, then kept by Samuel Greaves, an old servant of Mr. 
 Thrale's. 
 
 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Dear Sir: It is inconvenient to me to come out; I should else have 
 waited on you with an account of a little evening club which we are establish- 
 ing in Essex Street, in the Strand, and of which you are desired to be one. 
 It will be held at the Essex Head, now kept by an old servant of Thrale's. 
 
Age 74-] MEMBERS OF THE ESSEX HEAD CLUB. 459 
 
 The company is numerous, and as you will see by the list, miscellaneous. 
 The terms are lax, and the expenses light. Mr. Barry was adopted by 
 Dr. Brocklesby, who joined with me in forming the plan. We meet thrice a 
 week, and he who misses forfeits two-pence.' 
 
 If you are willing to become a member, draw a line under your name. 
 Return the list. We meet for the first time on Monday at eight. I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Dec. 4, 1783. 
 
 It did not suit Sir Joshua to be one of this club. But when I 
 mention only Mr. Daines Barrington, Dr. Brocklesby, Mr. 
 Murphy, Mr. John Nichols, Mr. Cooke, Mr. Joddrel, Mr. Paradise, 
 Dr. Horsley, Mr. Windham,^ I shall sufficiently obviate the mis- 
 representation of it by Sir John Hawkins, as if it had been a low 
 alehouse association, by which Johnson was degraded. Johnson 
 himself, like his namesake Old Ben, composed the rules of his 
 club.=^ 
 
 In the end of this year he was seized with a spasmodic asthma 
 of such violence, that he was confined to the house in great pain, 
 being sometimes obliged to sit all night in his chair, a recumbent 
 posture being so hurtful to his respiration, that he could not en- 
 dure lying in bed ; and there came upon him at the same time 
 that oppressive and fatal disease, a dropsy. It was a very se- 
 vere winter, which probably aggravated his complaints ; and the 
 
 ' See Spectato7- : No. ix. The Two-Penny Club. 
 
 2 I was in Scotland when this club was founded, and during all the winter. 
 Johnson, however, declared I should be a member, and invented a word upon the 
 occasion : " Bosvvell," said he, " is a very cliibable man." When I came to town, I 
 was proposed by Mr, Barrington, and chosen. I believe there are few societies 
 where there is better conversation or more decorum. Several of us resolved to 
 continue it after our great founder was removed by death. Other members were 
 added ; and now, above eight years since that loss, we go on happily. — B. 
 
 3 Rules. 
 
 " To-day deep thoughts with me resolve [with me] to drench 
 In mirth, which [that] after no repenting draws." 
 
 Milton. [Sonnets, xxi.j 
 (i) "The Club shall consist of four-and-twenty. (2) The meetings shall be on 
 the Monday, Thursday, and Saturday of every week ; but in the week before 
 Easter there shall be no meeting. (3) Every member is at liberty to introduce a 
 friend once a week, but not oftener. (4) Two members shall oblige themselves to 
 attend in their turn every night from eight to ten, or to procure two to attend in 
 their room. (5) Every member present at the Club shall spend at least sixpence: 
 and every member who stays away shall forfeit threepence. (6) The master of the 
 house shall keep an account of the absent members : and deliver to the president 
 of the night a list of the forfeits incurred. (7) When any member returns after 
 absence, he shall immediately lay down his forfeits : which if he omits to do, the 
 president shall require. (8) There shall be no general reckoning, but every man 
 shall adjust his own expenses. (9) The night of indispensable attendance will 
 come to every member once a month. Whoever shall lor three months together 
 omit to attend himself, or by substitution, nor shall make any apology in the fourth 
 
460 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1783. 
 
 solitude in which Mr. Levett and Mrs. Williams had left him, 
 rendered his life very gloomy. Mrs. Desmoulins, who still lived, 
 was herself so very ill, that she could contribute very little to 
 his relief. He, however, had none of that unsocial shyness 
 which we commonly see in people afflicted with sickness. He 
 did not hide his head from the world, in solitary abstraction ; 
 he did not deny, himself to the visits of his friends and ac- 
 quaintances ; but at all times, when he was not overcome by 
 sleep, was ready for conversation as in his best days. 
 
 TO MRS. LUCY PORTER IN LICHFIELD. 
 
 Dear Madam: You may perhaps think me negligent that I have not 
 written to you again upon the loss of your brother; but condolences and 
 consolations are such common and such useless things, that the omission of 
 them is no great crime: and my own diseases occupy my mind, and engage 
 my care. My nights are miserably restless, and my days, therefore, are 
 heavy. I try, however, to hold up my head as high as I can. 
 
 I am sorry that your health is impaired; perhaps the spring and the sum- 
 mer may, in some degree, restore it; but if not, we must submit to the in- 
 conveniences of time, as to the other dispensations of Eternal Goodness. Pray 
 for me, and write to me, or let Mr. Pearson write for you. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Nov. 29, 1783. 
 
 And now I am arrived at the last year of the life of Samuel 
 Johnson ; a year in which, although passed in severe indisposi- 
 tion, he nevertheless gave many evidences of the continuance of 
 those wondrous powers of mind, which raised him so high in the 
 intellectual world. His conversation and his letters of this year 
 were in no respect inferior to those of former years. 
 
 The following is a remarkable proof of his being alive to the 
 most minute curiosities of literature. 
 
 TO MR. DILLY, bookseller, IN THE POULTRY. 
 
 Sir: There is in the world a set of books which used to be sold by the 
 booksellers on the bridge, and which I must entreat you to procure me. They 
 
 month, shall be considered as having abdicated the Club. (10) When a vacancy is 
 to be filled, the name of the candidate, and of the member recommending him. 
 shall stand in the Club-room three nights. On the fourth he may be chosen by 
 ballot; six members at least being present, and two-thirds of the ballot being in 
 his favor; or the majority , should the numbers not be divisible by three. (11) 
 The master of the house shall give notice, six days before, to each of those mem- 
 bers whose turn of necessary attendance is come. (12) The notice may be in 
 
 these words: "Sir, On the of .will be your turn of 
 
 presiding at the Essex Head. Your company is therefore earnestly requested." 
 (13) One penny shall be left by each member for the waiter." Johnson's defini- 
 tion of a Club in this sense, in liis Dictionary, is, "An assembly of good fellows, 
 meeting under certain conditions." — B. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 BURTON'S BOOKS. 
 
 461 
 
 are called, '< Burton's Books; " ^ the title of one is "Admirable Curiosities, 
 Rarities, and Wonders in England." I believe there are about five or six of 
 them; they seem very proper to allure backward readers: tee so kind as to get 
 them for me, and send me them with the best printed edition of Baxter's 
 *' Call to the Unconverted." 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Jan. 6, 1785. 
 
 to mr. perkins. • 
 
 Dear Sir : I was very sorry not to see you when you were so kind as to 
 call on me: but to disappoint friends, and if they are very good-natured, to 
 disobhge them, is one of the evils of sickness. If you will please to let me 
 know which of the afternoons in this week I shall be favoured with another 
 visit by you and Mrs. Perkins, and the young people, I will take all the 
 measures that I can to be pretty well at that time. I am, dear Sir, your most 
 humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Jan. 21, 1784. 
 
 His attention to the Essex Head Club appears from the follow- 
 ing letter to Mr. Alderman Clark, a gentleman for whom he 
 deservedly entertained a great regard. 
 
 TO RICHARD CLARK, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : You will receive a requisition, according to the rules of the 
 Club, to be at the house as President of the night. This turn comes once a 
 month, and the member is obliged to attend, or send another in his place. 
 You were enrolled in the Club by my invitation, and I ought to introduce you; 
 but as I am hindered by sickness, Mr. Hoole will very properly supply my 
 place as introductor, or yours as President. I hope in milder weather to be 
 a very constant attendant. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Jan. 27, 1784. 
 
 You ought to be informed that the forfeits began with the year, and that 
 every night of non-attendance incurs the mulct of threepence, that is, nine- 
 pence a week. 
 
 On the 8th of January I wrote to him, anxiously inquiring as 
 to his health, and enclosing my " Letter to the People of Scot- 
 land, on the Present State of the Nation." '-^ — ''I trust," said I, 
 " that you will be liberal enough to m'ake allowance for my differ- 
 
 ^ See Lowndes's " Bibliographers' Manual," i. 328-30 where the list includes forty- 
 six volumes. Some of them were reprinted by Stace in 1810-13 in six* volumes 
 quarto. "They were small chapmen's books and cheap. Forty volumes in all." 
 — " Franklin's Memoirs." 
 
 2 Boswell's purpose in this letter was to recommend the Scotch to address a 
 letter to the King to express their satisfaction that the East India Company Bill had 
 been rejected by the Lords. — Dr. Hill. 
 
462 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 ing from you on two points [the Middlesex Election, and the 
 American War] ^ when my general principles of government are 
 according to your own heart, and when, at a crisis of doubtful 
 event, I stand forth with honest zeal as an ancient and faithful 
 Briton. My reason for introducing those two points was, that as 
 my opinions with regard to them had been declared at the 
 periods when they»were least favorable, I might have the credit 
 of a man who is not a worshipper of ministerial power." 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : I hear of many enquiries which your kindness has disposed 
 you to make after me. I have long intended you a long letter, which per- 
 haps the imagination of its length hindered me from beginning. I will, 
 therefore, content myself with a shorter. 
 
 Having promoted the institution of a new Club in the neighbourhood, at 
 the house of an old servant of Thrale's, I went thither to meet the company, 
 and was seized with a spasmodick asthma, so violent, that with difficulty I 
 got to my own house, in which I have been confined eight or. nine weeks, and 
 from which I know not when I shall be able to go even to church. The 
 asthma, however, is not the worst. A dropsy gains ground upon me; my 
 legs and thighs are very much swollen with water, which I should be content 
 if I could keep there, but I am afraid that it will soon be higher. My nights 
 are very sleepless and very tedious. And yet I am extremely afraid of dying. 
 
 My physicians try to make me hope, that much of my malady is the effect 
 of cold, and that some degree at least of recovery is to be expected from 
 vernal breezes and summer suns. If my life is prolonged to autumn, I should 
 be glad to try a warmer climate; though how to travel with a diseased body, 
 without a companion to conduct me, and with very, little money, I do not well 
 see. Ramsay has recovered his limbs in Italy; and Fielding was sent to 
 Lisbon, where, indeed, he died; but he was, I believe, past hope when he 
 went. Think for me what I can do. 
 
 I received your pamphlet, and when I write again may perhaps tell you 
 some opinion about it; but you will forgive a man struggling with disease his 
 neglect of disputes, politicks, and pamphlets. Let me have your prayers. 
 My compliments to your lady, and young ones. Ask your physicians about 
 my case: and desire Sir Alexander Dick to write me his opinion. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Feb. II, 1784. 
 
 TO MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD. 
 
 My Dearest Love : I have been extremely ill of an asthma and dropsy, 
 but received, by the mercy of GoO, sudden and unexpected relief last Thurs- 
 day, by the discharge of twenty pints of water. Whether I shall continue 
 free, or shall fill again, cannot be told. Pray for me. 
 
 Death, my dear, is very dreadful; let us think nothing worth our care but 
 how to prepare for it; what we know amiss in ourselves let us make haste toj 
 amend, and put our trust in the mercy of God, and the intercession of our I 
 Saviour. I am, dear Madam, you most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Feb. 23, 1784. 
 
Age 75-] SCOTCH PHYSICIANS CONSULTED. 468 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have just advanced so far towards recovery as to read a 
 pamphlet; and you may reasonably suppose that the first pamphlet which I 
 read was yours. I am very much of your opinion, and, like you, feel great 
 indignation at the indecency with which the King is every day treated. Your 
 paper contains very considerable knowledge of history and of the constitution, 
 very properly produced and applied. It will certainly raise your character,^ 
 though perhaps it may not make you a Minister of State. 
 
 I desire you to see Mrs. Stewart once again, and tell her, that in the letter- 
 case was a letter relating to me, for which I will give her, if she is willing to 
 give it me, another guinea. The letter is of consequence only to me. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, Feb. 27, 1784. 
 
 In consequence of Johnson's request that I should ask our 
 physicians about his case, and desire Sir Alexander Dick to send 
 his opinion, I transmitted him a letter from that very amiable 
 baronet, then in his eighty-first year, with his faculties as entire 
 as ever ; and mentioned his expressions to me in the note 
 accompanying it, — "With my most affectionate wishes for Dr. 
 Johnson's recovery, in which his friends, his country, and all man- 
 kind have so deep a stake ; " and at the same time a full opinion 
 upon his case by Dr. Gillespie, who, like Dr. Cullen, had the 
 advantage of having passed through the gradations of surgery and 
 pharmacy, and by study and practice had attained to such skill, 
 that my father settled on him two hundred pounds a year for five 
 years, and fifty pounds a year during his life, as an honorarium 
 to secure his particular attendance. The opinion was conveyed 
 in a letter to me, beginning, " I am sincerely sorry for the bad 
 state of health your very learned and illustrious friend, Dr. John- 
 son, labors under at present." 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : Presently, after I had sent away my last letter, I received your 
 kind medical packet. I am very much obliged both to you and to your 
 physicians for your kind attention to my disease. Dr. Gillespie has sent me 
 
 * I sent it to Mr. Pitt, with a letter, in which I thus expressed myself: " My prin- 
 ciples may appear to you too monarchical ; but I know and am persuaded, they are 
 not inconsistent with the true principles of liberty. Be this as it may, you. Sir, are 
 now the Prime Minister, called by the Sovereign to maintain the right of the Crown, 
 as well as those of the people, against a violent faction. As such, you are entitled 
 to the warmest support of every good subject in every department." He answered : 
 " I am extremely obliged to you for the sentiments you do me the honor to ex- 
 press, and have observed with great pleasure the zealous and able support given to 
 the Cause of the Public in the work you were so good to transmit to me." — B. 
 
464 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 an excellent consilium medicM?i, all solid practical experimental knowledge. 
 I am at present in the opinion of my physicians (Dr. Heberden and Dr. 
 Brocklesby), as well as my own, going on very hopefully. I have just begun 
 to take vinegar of squills. The powder hurt my stomach so much, that it 
 could not be continued. 
 
 Return Sir Alexander Dick my sincere thanks for his kind letter; and 
 bring with you the rhubarb ^ which he so tenderly offers me. 
 
 I hope dear Mrs. Boswell is now quite well, and that no evil, either real 
 or imaginary, now disturbs you. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, March 2, 1784. 
 
 I also applied to three of the eminent physicians who had 
 chairs in our celebrated school of medicine at Edinburgh, Doc- 
 tors CuUen, Hope, and Munro, to each of whom I sent the 
 following letter : 
 
 Dear Sir: Dr. Johnson has been very ill for some time; and in a letter 
 of anxious apprehension he writes to me, " Ask your physicians about my 
 case." 
 
 This, you see, is not authority for a regular consultation: but I have no 
 doubt of your readiness to give your advice to a man so eminent, and who, in 
 his " Life of Garth," has paid your profession a just and elegant compliment: 
 " I believe every man has found in physicians great liberality and dignity of 
 sentiment, very prompt effusions of beneficence, and willingness to exert a 
 lucrative art, where there is no hope of lucre." 
 
 Dr. Johnson ,is aged seventy-four. Last summer he had a stroke of the 
 palsy, from which he recovered almost entirely. He had, before that, been 
 troubled with a catarrhous cough. This winter he was seized with a spas- 
 modick asthma, by which he has been confined to his house for about three 
 months. Dr. Brocklesby writes to me, that upon the least admission of cqld, 
 there is such a constriction upon his breast, that he cannot lie down in his 
 bed, but is obliged to sit up all night, and gets rest and sometimes sleep, only 
 by means of laudanum and syrup of poppies; and that there are oedematous 
 tumours in his legs and thighs. Dr. Brocklesby trusts a good deal to the 
 return of mild weather. Dr. Johnson says, that a dropsy gains ground upon 
 him; and he seems to think that a warmer climate would do him good. I 
 understand he is now rather better, and is using vinegar of squills. I am, 
 with great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 James Boswell. 
 
 March 7, 1784. 
 
 All of them paid the most polite attention to my letter, and 
 its venerable object. Dr. CuUen's words concerning him were : 
 " It would give me the greatest pleasure to be of any service to 
 
 1 From his garden at Preslonfield, where he cultivated that plant with such 
 success, that he was presented with a gold medal by the Society of London for the 
 encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. — B. 
 
Age 75.] ANSWERS OF THE SCOTCH PHYSICIANS. 465 
 
 a man whom the public properly esteem, and whom I esteem 
 and respect as much as I do Dr. Johnson." Dr. Hope's : ''Few 
 people have a better claim on me than your friend, as hardly a 
 day passes that I do not ask his opinion about this or that word." 
 Dr. Munro's : " I most sincerely join you in sympathizing with 
 that very worthy and ingenious character, from whom his country 
 has derived much instruction and entertainment." 
 
 Dr. Hope corresponded with his friend Dr. Brocklesby. Doc- 
 tors Cullen and Munro wrote their opinions and prescriptions to 
 me, which I afterwards carried with me to London, and, so far as 
 they were encouraging, communicated to Johnson. The liber-* 
 ality on one hand, and grateful sense of it on the other, I have 
 great satisfaction in recording. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: I am too much pleased with the attention which you and your 
 dear lady ' shew to my welfare, not to be diligent in letting you know the 
 progress which I make towards health. The dropsy, by God's blessing, has 
 now run almost totally away by natural evacuation : and the asthma, if not 
 irritated by cold, gives me little trouble. While I am writing this, I have not 
 any sensation of debility or disease. But I do not yet venture out, having 
 been confined to the house from the 13th of December, now a quarter of a 
 year. 
 
 When it will be fit for me to travel as far as Auchinleck, I am not able to 
 guess; but such a letter as Mrs. Boswell's might draw any man, not wholly 
 motionless, a great way. Pray tell the dear lady how much her civility and 
 kindness have touched and gratified me. 
 
 Our parliamentary tumults have now begun to subside, and the King's 
 authority is in some measure re-established.^ Mr. Pitt will have great power; 
 but you must remember, that what he has to give, must, at least for some 
 time, be given to those who gave, and those who preserve, his power. A new 
 Minister can sacrifice little to esteem or friendship: he must, till he is settled, 
 think only of extending his interest. 
 
 If you come hither through Edinburgh, send for Mrs. Stewart, and give 
 for me another guinea for the letter in the old case, to which I shall not be 
 satisfied with my claim, till she gives it me. 
 
 Please to bring with you Baxter's " Anacreon and if you procure heads 
 of Hector Boece, the historian, and Arthur Johnston, the poet, I will put 
 them in my room; or any other of the fathers of Scottish literature. 
 
 I wish you an easy and happy journey, and hope I need not tell you that 
 you will be welcome to, dear Sir, your most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, March 18, 1784. 
 
 ^ Who had writen him a very kind letter. — B. 
 
 - On January 12, the Ministry had been in a minority of thirty-nine in a House " 
 of 425; on March 8, the minority was reduced to one in a House of 381. Parlia- 
 ment was dissolved on the 25th. In the first division in the new Parliament the 
 Ministry were in a majority of ninety-seven in a House of 369. — Dr. Hill. 
 Vol. II. — 30 
 
466 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 I wrote to him, March 28, from York, informing him that I 
 had a high gratification in the triumph of monarchical principles 
 over aristocratical influence, in that great county, in an address 
 to the King ; that I was thus far on my way to him, but that the 
 news of the dissolution of Parliament having arrived, I was to 
 hasten back to my own county, where I had carried an Address 
 to his Majesty by a great majority, and had some intention of 
 being a candidate to represent the county in Parliament. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 t 
 
 Dear Sir : You could do nothing so proper as to hasten back when you 
 found the ParUament dissolved. With the influence which your address must 
 have gained you, it may reasonably be expected that your presence will be of 
 importance, and your activity of effect. 
 
 Your solicitude for me gives me that pleasure which every man feels from 
 the kindness of such a friend; and it is with delight I relieve it by telling that 
 Dr. Brocklesby's account is true, and that I am, by the blessing of God, 
 wonderfully relieved. 
 
 You are entering upon a transaction which requires much prudence. You 
 must endeavour to oppose without exasperating; to practise temporary hostility, 
 without producing enemies for life. This is, perhaps, hard to be done; yet it 
 has been done by many, and seems most likely to be effected by opposing 
 merely upon general principles, without descending to personal or particular 
 censures or objections. One thing I must enjoin you, which is seldom ob- 
 served in the conduct of elections; I must entreat you to be scrupulous in 
 the use of strong liquors. One night's drunkenness may defeat the labours of 
 forty days well employed. Be firm, but not clamorous; be active, but not 
 malicious; and you may form such an interest, as may not only exalt yourself, 
 but dignify your family. 
 
 We are, as you may suppose, all busy here. Mr. Fox resolutely stands for 
 Westminster, and his friends say will carry the election. However that be, 
 he will certainly have a seat.' Mr. Hoole has just told me, that the city leans 
 towards the King. 
 
 Let me hear, from time to time, how you are employed, and what progress 
 you make. 
 
 Make dear Mrs. Boswell, and all the young Boswells, the sincere compli- 
 ments of. Sir, your affectionate humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, March 30, 1784. 
 
 To Mr. Langton he wrote with that cordiality which was suit- 
 able to the long friendship which had subsisted between him and 
 that gentleman. 
 
 ^ Fox was returned for Westminster after a poll which lasted from April i to 
 May 17, and a scrutiny which lasted for nearly a year. His opponent was Sir Cecil 
 Wray, whom he defeated by 236 votes. During the scrutiny he sat for Kirkwall, 
 for which place he had been also returned. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 LETTERS TO Mil. LANG TON. 
 
 467 
 
 March 27. Since you left me, I have continued in my own opinion, and 
 in Dr. Brocklesby's, to grow better with respect to all my formidal)le and dan- 
 gerous distempers : though to a body battered and shaken as mine has lately 
 been, it is to be feared that weak attacks may be sometimes mischievous. I 
 have, indeed, by standing carelessly at an open window, got a very trouble- 
 some cough, which it has been necessary to appease by opium, in larger quan- 
 tities than I like to take, and I have not found it give way so readily as I 
 expected; its obstinacy, however, seems at last disposed to submit to the 
 remedy, and I know not whether I should then have a right to complain of 
 any morbid sensation. My asthma is, I am afraid, constitutional and incur- 
 able; but it is only occasional, and unless it be excited by labour or by cold, 
 gives me no molestation, nor does it lay very close siege to life; for Sir John 
 Floyer,^ whom the physical race consider as authour of one of the best books 
 upon it, panted on to ninety, as was supposed; and why were we content with 
 supposing a fact so interesting, of a man so conspicuous? because he cor- 
 rupted, at perhaps seventy or eighty, the register, that he might pass for 
 younger than he was. He was not much less than eighty, when to a man of 
 rank who modestly asked his age, he answered, " Go look;" though he was 
 in general a man of civility and elegance. 
 
 The ladies, I find, are at your house all well, except Miss Langton, who 
 will probably soon recover her health by light suppers. Let her eat at dinner 
 as she will, but not take a full stomach to bed. Pay my sincere respects to 
 dear Miss Langton in Lincolnshire, let her know that I mean not to break 
 our league of friendship, and that I have a set of " Lives " for her, when I 
 have the means of sending it. 
 
 April 8. I am still disturbed by my cough; but what thanks have I not to 
 pay, when my cough is the most painful sensation that I feel? and from that I 
 expect hardly to be released, while winter continues to gripe us with so much 
 pertinacity. The year has now advanced eighteen days beyond the equinox, 
 and still there is very little remission of the cold. When warm weather 
 comes, which surely must come at last, I hope it will help both me and your 
 young lady. 
 
 The man so busy about addresses is neither more nor less than our own 
 Boswell, who had come as far as York towards London, but turned back on 
 the dissolution, and is said now to stand for some place. Whether to wish 
 him success, his best friends hesitate. 
 
 Let me have your prayers for the completion of my recovery : I am now 
 better than I ever expected to have been. May GoD add to his mercies the 
 grace that may enable me to use them according to his will. My compli- 
 ments to all. 
 
 April 13. I had this evening a note from Lord Portmore,^ desiring that I 
 
 5 Floyer was the Lichfield physician on whose advice Johnson was " touched " 
 by Queen Anne. 
 
 ^ To which Johnson returned this answer : 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL OF PORTMORE. 
 Dr. Johnson acknowledges with great respect the honour of Lord Portmore's 
 notice. He is better than he was ; and will, as his Lordship directs, write to Mr. 
 Langton. 
 
 BOLT-COURT, FLEET-STREET, April 13, 1784. — B. 
 
 Johnson here assumes his title of Doctor which Boswell thought he had never 
 done. 
 
468 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 would give you an account of my health. You might have had it with less 
 circumduction, I am, by God's blessing, I believe free from all morbid sen- 
 sations, except a cough, which is only troublesome. But I am still weak, 
 and can have no great hope of strength till the weather shall be softer. 
 The summer, if it be kindly, will, I hope, enable me to support the winter. 
 God, who has so wonderfully restored me, can preserve me in all sea- 
 sons. 
 
 Let me enquire in my turn after the state of your family, great and little. 
 I hope Lady Rothes and Miss Langton are both well. That is a good basis 
 of content. Then how goes George on with his studies? How does Miss 
 Mary? And how does my own Jenny? I think I owe Jenny a letter, which 
 I will take care to pay. In the mean time tell her that I acknowledge the 
 debt. 
 
 Be pleased to make my compliments to the ladies. If Mrs. Langton comes 
 to London, she will favour me with a visit, for I am not well enough to go 
 out. 
 
 TO OZIAS HUMPHREY,' ESQ. 
 
 Sir: Mr. Hoole has told me with what benevolence you listened to a 
 request which I was almost afraid to make, of leave to a young painter ^ to 
 attend you from time to time in your painting-room, to see your operations, 
 and receive your instructions. 
 
 The young man has perhaps good parts, but has been without a regular 
 education. He is my god-son, and therefore I interest myself in his progress 
 and success, and shall think myself much favoured if I receive from you a 
 permission to send him. 
 
 My health is, by God's blessing, much restored, but I am not yet allowed 
 by my physicians to go abroad: nor, indeed, do I think myself yet able to 
 endure the weather. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 April 5, 1784. 
 
 TO the same. 
 
 Sir : The bearer is my god-son, whom I take the liberty of recommending 
 to your kindness; which I hope he will deserve by his respect to your ex- 
 cellence and his gratitude for your favours. I am. Sir, your most humble 
 servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 April 10, 1784. 
 
 ^ The eminent painter, representative of the ancient family of Homfrey (now 
 Humphry) in the west of England; who, as appears from their arms which they 
 have invariably used, have been (as I have seen authenticated by the best author- 
 ity) one of those among the knights and esquires of honor who are represented by 
 Holinshed as having issued from the Tower of London on coursers apparelled for 
 the jousts, accompanied by ladies of honor, leading every one a knight with a chain 
 of gold, passing through the streets of London into Smithfield, on Sunday, at three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, being the first Sunday after Michaelmas, in the fourteenth 
 year of King Richard the Second. This family once enjoyed large possessions, but, 
 like others, have lost them in the progress of ages. Their blood, however, remains 
 to them well ascertained ; and they may hope, in the revolution of events, to re- 
 cover that rank in society, for which, in modern times, fortune seems to be an 
 indispensable requisite. — B. 
 
 2 Son of Mr. Samuel Paterson, eminent for his knowledge of books. — B. 
 
Age 75-] ^^-S* GENTLENESS AND COMPLACENCY. 46S 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 Sir : I am very much obliged by your civilities to my godson, but must beg 
 of you to add to them the favour of permitting him to see you paint, that he 
 may know how a picture is begun, advanced, and completed. 
 
 If he may attend you in a few of your operations, I hope he will shew that 
 the benefit has been properly conferred, both by his proficiency and his grati- 
 tude. At least I shall consider you as enlarging your kindness to, Sir, your 
 humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 31, 1784. 
 
 to the reverend dr. taylor, ashbourne, derbyshire. 
 
 Dear Sir: What can be the reason that I hear nothing from you? I hope 
 nothing disables you from writing. What I have seen, and what I have felt, 
 gives me reason to fear every thing. Do not omit giving me the comfort of 
 knowing that after all my losses I have yet a friend left. 
 
 I want every comfort. My life is very solitary and very cheerless. Though 
 it has pleased God wonderfully to deliver me from the dropsy, I am yet very 
 weak, and have not passed the door since the 13th of December.' I hope 
 for some help from warm weather, which will surely come in time. 
 
 I could not have the consent of the physicians to go to church yesterday; 
 I therefore received the holy sacrament at home, in the room where I com- 
 municated with dear Mrs. Williams, a little before her death. O! my friend, 
 the approach of death is very dreadful. I am afraid to think on that which I 
 know I cannot avoid. It is vain to look round and round for that help which 
 can not be had. Yet we hope and hope, and fancy that he who has lived 
 to-day may live to-morrow. But let us learn to derive our hope only from 
 God. 
 
 In the meantime, let us be kind to one another. I have no friend now 
 living but you and Mr. Hector, that was the friend of my youth. Do not 
 neglect, dear Sir, your; affectionately, 
 
 Sam. Johnson, 
 
 London, Easter-Monday. 
 April 12, 1784. 
 
 What follows is a beautiful specimen of his gentleness and 
 complacency to a young lady his godchild, one of the daughters 
 of his friend Mr. Langton, then I think in her seventh year. 
 He took the trouble to write it in a large round hand, nearly re- 
 sembling printed characters, that she might have the satisfaction 
 of reading it herself. The original lies before me, but shall be 
 faithfully restored to her ; and I dare say will be preserv^ed by her 
 as a jewel, as long as she lives. 
 
 ^ He was confined 129 days. 
 
 2 This friend of Johnson's youth survived him somewhat more than three years, 
 having died Feb. 19, 1788. — Malone. 
 
470 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 TO MISS JANE LANGTON, IN ROCHESTER, KENT. 
 
 My DEAREST Miss Jenny: I am sorry that your pretty letter has been so 
 long without being answered; but, when I am not pretty well, I do not always 
 write plain enough for young ladies. I am glad, my dear, to see that you 
 write so well, and hope that you mind your pen, your book, and your 
 needle, for they are all necessary. Your books will give you knowledge, and 
 make you respected; and your needle will find you useful employment when 
 you do not care to read. When you are a little older, I hope you will be 
 very diligent in learning arithmetick; and, above all, that through your whole 
 life you will carefully say your prayers, and read your Bible. I am, my dear, 
 •your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 May 10, 1784. 
 
 On Wednesday, May 5, I arrived in London, and next morn- 
 ing had the pleasure to find Dr. Johnson gready recovered. 
 I but just saw him, for a coach was waiting to carry him to 
 IsHngton, to the house of his friend the Reverend Mr. Strahan, 
 where he went sometimes for the benefit of good air, which, not- 
 withstanding his having formerly laughed at the general opinion 
 upon the subject, he now acknowledged was conducive to health. 
 
 One morning afterwards, when I found him alone, he com- 
 municated to me, with solemn earnestness, a very remarkable 
 circumstance which had happened in the course of his illness, 
 when he was much distressed by the dropsy. He had shut him- 
 self up, and employed a day in particular exercises of religion, 
 — fasting, humiliation, and prayer. On a sudden he obtained 
 extraordinary relief, for which he looked up to Heaven with 
 grateful devotion. He made no direct inference from this fact ; 
 but from his manner of telling it, I could perceive that it ap- 
 peared to him as something more than an incident in the com- 
 mon course of events. For my own part, I have no difficulty to 
 avow that cast of thinking, which, by many modern pretenders 
 to wisdom, is called superstitions. But here I think even men 
 of dry rationality may believe, that there was an intermediate in- 
 terposition of divine Providence, and that " the fervent prayer of 
 this righteous man " availed.' 
 
 ^ Upon this subject there is a very fair and judicious remark in the " Life of Dr. 
 Abernethy," in the first edition of the " Biographia Britannica," which I should 
 have been glad to see in his Life which has been written for the second edition of 
 that valuable work. "To deny the exercise of a particular providence in the 
 Deity's government of the world, is certainly impious, yet nothing serves the cause 
 of the scorner more than an incautious forward zeal in determining the particular 
 instances of it." In confirm.-iiion of my sentiments, I am also lia])py to quote that 
 sensible and elegant writer, Mr. Mclmotli, in Letter X'lii.othis colh^-tion, jnib- 
 lished under the name of I'Uzosbonic. " We jnay salely assert, tliat the belief 
 
Age 75.] JOHNSON AND THE BISHOP OF EXETER. 471 
 
 On Sunday, May 9, I found Colonel Valiancy, the celebrated 
 antiquary and engineer of Ireland, with him. On Monday, the 
 loth, I dined with him at Mr. Paradise's, where was a large com- 
 pany ; Mr. Bryant, Mr. Joddrel, Mr. Hawkins Browne, &c. On 
 Thursday, the 13th, I dined with him at Mr. Joddrel's with 
 another large company ; the Bishop of Exeter, Lord Monboddo,' 
 Mr. Murphy, &c. 
 
 On Saturday, May 15, I dined with him at Dr. Brocklesby's, 
 where were Colonel Valiancy, Mr. Murphy, and that ever-cheer- 
 ful companion Mr. Devaynes, apothecary to his Majesty. Of 
 these days and others on which I saw him, I have no memorials, 
 except the general recollection of his being able and animated 
 in conversation, and appearing to relish society as much as the 
 youngest man. I find only these three small particulars : When 
 a person was mentioned, who said, " I have lived fifty-one years 
 in this world, without having had ten minutes of uneasiness ; " 
 he exclaimed, " The man who says so, lies : he attempts to im- 
 pose on human credulity." The Bishop of Exeter in vain ob- 
 served that men were very different. His Lordship's manner 
 was not impressive : and I learnt afterwards, that Johnson did 
 not find out that the person who talked to him was a prelate ; if 
 he had, I doubt not that he would have treated him with more 
 respect : for once talking of George Psalmanazar, whom he rev- 
 erenced for his piety, he said, " I should as soon think of con- 
 tradicting a Bishop." One of the company provoked him greatly 
 by doing what he could least of all bear, which was quoting 
 something of his own writing against what he then maintained, 
 "What, Sir," cried the gentleman, "do you say to 
 
 *' 'The busy day, the peaceful night, 
 Unfelt, uncounted, glided by ' ? " ^ 
 
 Johnson finding himself thus presented as giving an instance of a 
 
 of a particular Providence is founded upon such probable reasons as may well 
 justify our assent. It would scarce, therefore, be wise to renounce an opinion 
 which affords so firm a support to the soul, in those seasons wherein she stands in 
 most need of assistance, merely because it is not possible, in questions of this kind, 
 to solve every difficulty which attends them." — B. 
 
 1 I was sorry to observe Lord Monboddo avoid any communication with Dr. 
 Johnson. I flattered myself that I had made them very good friends (see " Journal 
 of a Tour to the Hebrides," third edition, p. 67), but unhappily his Lordship had 
 resumed and cherished a violent prejudice against my illustrious friend, to whom 
 I must do the justice to say there was on his part not the least anger, but a good- 
 humored sportiveness. Nay, though he knew of his Lordship's indisposition 
 towards him, he was even kindly : as appeared from his inquiring of me after him, 
 by an abbreviation of his nnme, "Well, how does Monnyf" — B. 
 
 a Verses on the death of Mr. Levett. — B. 
 
472 
 
 BOS well's life OP JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 man who had lived without uneasiness, was much offended, for 
 he looked upon such a quotation as unfair. His anger burst out 
 in an unjustifiable retort, insinuating that the gentleman's remark 
 was a sally of ebriety ; " Sir, there is one passion I would advise 
 you to command: when you have drunk out that glass, don't 
 drink another." ' Here was exemplified what Goldsmith said of 
 him, with the aid of a very witty image from one of Gibber's com- 
 edies : " There is no arguing with Johnson : for if his pistol 
 misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it." 
 
 Another was this : when a gentleman ^ of eminence in the 
 literary world was violently censured for attacking people by 
 anonymous paragraphs in newspapers, he, from thr^ spirit of con- 
 tradiction as I thought, took up his defence, and said : " Gome, 
 come, this is not so terrible a crime ; he means only to vex them 
 a little. I do not say that I should do it ; but there is a great 
 difference between, him and me ; what is fit for Hephaestion is 
 not fit for Alexander." Another, when I told him that a young 
 and handsome countess had said to me, I should think that to 
 be praised by Dr. Johnson would make one a fool all one's life ; " 
 and that I answered, " Madam, I shall make him a fool to-day, by 
 repeating this to him ; " he said : " I am too old to be made a fool ; 
 but if you say I am made a fool, I shall not deny it. I am much 
 pleased with a compliment, especially from a pretty woman." 
 
 On the evening of Saturday, May 15, he was in fine spirits, at 
 our Essex Head Glub. He told us : I dined yesterday at Mrs. 
 Garrick's with Mrs. Garter,^ Miss Hannah More, and Miss Fanny 
 Burney. Three such women are not to be found : I know not 
 where I could find a fourth, except Mrs. Lennox, who is superior 
 to them all.'"* Boswell : "What ! had you them all to yourself, 
 Sir?" Johnson: "1 had them all as much as they were had; 
 but it might have been better had there been more company 
 there." Boswell : " Might not Mrs. Montagu have been a 
 fourth?" Johnson : " Sir, Mrs. Montagu does not make a trade 
 of her wit ; but Mrs. Montagu is a very extraordinary woman ; 
 she has a constant stream of conversation, and it is always im- 
 pregnated ; it has always meaning." Boswell: "Mr. Burke has 
 a constant stream of conversation." Johnson: "Yes, Sir; if a 
 
 ^ This " retort " leaves little doubt that the offender was Boswell himself. 
 ^ George Steevens. 
 
 ^ To whom Johnson forty-six years before had composed a Greek epigram. 
 These ladies all lived to a great age. Mrs. Montagu, 80; Mrs. I^ennox, 83 ; 
 Miss Burney (Mine. D'Arblay), 87; Miss More and Mrs. (Miss) Carter, 88; 
 Mrs. Garrick, 97 or 98. — D/: Hill. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 BURKE AND FOOTE. 
 
 473 
 
 man were to go by chance at the same time with Burke under a 
 shed, to shun a shower, he would say — ^This is an extraor- 
 dinary man.' If Burke should go into a stable to see his horse 
 dressed, the ostler would say — ' We have had an extraordinary 
 man here.' " Boswell : " Foote was a man who never failed in 
 conversation. If he had gone into a stable — " Johnson : 
 " Sir, if he had gone into the stable, the ostler would have said, 
 * Here has been a comical fellow ; ' but he would not have re- 
 spected him." Boswell : " And, Sir, the ostler would have 
 answered him, would have given him as good as he brought, as 
 the common saying is." Johnson: "Yes, Sir; and Foote would 
 have answered the ostler. When Burke does not descend to be 
 merry, his conversation is very superior indeed. There is no 
 proportion between the powers which he shows in serious talk 
 and in jocularity. When he lets himself down to that, he is in 
 the kennel." I have in another place ' opposed, and I hope with 
 success, Dr. Johnson's very singular and erroneous notion as to 
 Mr. Burke's pleasantry. Mr. Windham now said low to me, 
 that he differed from our great friend in this observation; for 
 that Mr. Burke was often very happy in his merriment. It would 
 not have been right for either of us to have contradicted Johnson 
 at this time, in a society all of whom did not know and value Mr. 
 Burke as much as we did. It might have occasioned something 
 more rough, and at any rate would probably have checked the 
 flow of Johnson's good-humor. He called to us with a sudden 
 air of exultation, as the thought started into his mind : " O 
 gentlemen, I must tell you a very great thing. The Empress 
 of Russia has ordered the Rambler to be translated into the 
 Russian language : ^ so I shall be read on the banks of the Volga. 
 Horace boasts that his fame would extend as far as the banks of 
 the Rhone ; now the Volga is farther from me than the Rhone 
 was from Horace." Boswell: "You must certainly be pleased 
 with this. Sir." Johnson : " I am pleased. Sir, to be sure. A 
 man is pleased to find he has succeeded in that which he has 
 endeavored to do." 
 
 One of the company mentioned his having seen a noble person 
 driving in his carriage, and looking exceedingly well, notwith- 
 standing his great age. Johnson : " Ah, Sir ; that is nothing. 
 
 ^ " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," third edition, p. 20. — B. 
 
 2 I have since heard that the report was not well founded ; but the elation dis- 
 covered by Johnson in the belief that it was true, showed a noble ardor for literary 
 feme. — B. 
 
474 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 Bacon observes, that a stout healthy old man is like a tower 
 undermined." 
 
 On Sunday, May 16, I found him alone; he talked of Mrs. 
 Thrale with much concern, saying, " Sir, she has done everything 
 wrong, since Thrale's bridle was off her neck; " and was proceed- 
 ing to mention some circumstances which have since been the 
 subject of public discussion, when he was interrupted by the 
 arrival of Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Salisbury. 
 
 Dr. Douglas, upon this occasion, refuted a mistaken notion 
 which is very common in Scotland, that the ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline of the Church of England, though duly enforced, is in- 
 sufficient to preserve the morals of the clergy, inasmuch as all 
 delinquents may be screened by appealing to the Convocation, 
 which being never authorized by the King to sit for the despatch 
 of business, the appeal never can be heard. Dr. Douglas observed 
 that this was founded upon ignorance ; for that the bishops have 
 sufficient power to maintain discipline, and that the sitftng of 
 the Convocation was wholly immaterial in this respect, it being 
 not a Court of Judicature, but like a Parliament, to make canons 
 and regulations as times may require. 
 
 Johnson, talking of the fear of death, said : "Some people are 
 not afraid, because they look upon salvation as the effect of an 
 absolute decree, and think they feel in themselves the marks of 
 sanctification. Others, and those the most rational in my opinion, 
 look upon salvation as conditional ; and as they never can be sure 
 that they have complied with the conditions, they are afraid." 
 
 In one of his little manuscript diaries, about this time, I find 
 a short notice, which marks his amiable disposition more cer- 
 tainly than a thousand studied declarations. " Afternoon spent 
 cheerfully and elegantly, I hope without offence to God or man ; 
 though in no holy duty, yet in the general exercise and cultiva- 
 tion of benevolence." 
 
 On Monday, May 17, I dined with him at Mr. Dilly's, where 
 were Colonel Valiancy, the Reverend Dr. Gibbons, and Mr. 
 Capel Lofft, who, though a most zealous Whig, has a mind so 
 full of learning and knowledge, and so much exercise in various 
 departments, and withal so much liberality, that the stupendous 
 powers of the literary Goliath, though they did not frighten this 
 little David of popular spirit, could not but excite his admira- 
 tion. There was also Mr. Braithwaite of the Post Office, that 
 amiable and friendly man, who, with modest and unassuming 
 manners, has associated with many of the wits of the age. John- 
 
Age 75.] THE DUTY OF COLLECTING BOOKS. 475 
 
 son was very quiescent to-day. Perhaps too I was indolent. I 
 find nothing more of him in my notes, but that when I men- 
 tioned that I had seen in the King's hbrary sixty-three editions 
 of my favorite Thomas a Kempis," — amongst which it was in 
 eight languages, Latin, German, French, Italian, Spanish, English^ 
 Arabic, and Armenian, — he said, he thought it unnecessary to 
 collect many editions of a book, which were all the same, except 
 as to the paper and print ; he would have the original, and all 
 the translations, and all the editions which had any variations in 
 the text. He approved of the famous collection of editions of 
 Horace by Douglas, mentioned by Pope, who is said to have had 
 a closet filled with them ; and he added, " Every man should try 
 to collect one book in that manner, and present it to a public 
 library." 
 
 On Tuesday, May 18, I saw him for a short time in the morn- 
 ing. I told him that the mob had called out, as the King 
 passed, " No Fox — No Fox," which I did not like. He said, 
 ''They were right, Sir." I said, I thought not; for it seemed to 
 be making Mr. Fox the King's competitor. There being no 
 audience, so that there could be no triumph in a victory, he 
 fairly agreed with me. I said it might do very well, if ex- 
 plained «thus : "Let us have no Fox;" understanding it as a 
 prayer to his Majesty not to appoint that gentleman minister. 
 
 On Wednesday, May 19, I sat a part of the evening with him, 
 by ourselves. I observed, that the death of our friends might 
 be a consolation against the fear of our own dissolution, because 
 we might have more friends in the other world than in this. He 
 perhaps felt this as a reflection upon his' apprehension as to 
 death, and said, with heat : " How can a man know w/iere his 
 departed friends are, or whether they will be his friends in the 
 other world? How many friendships have you known formed 
 upon principles of virtue ? Most friendships are formed by 
 caprice or by chance, mere confederacies in vice or leagues in 
 folly." 
 
 We talked of our worthy friend Mr. Langton. He said, " I 
 know not who will go to Heaven if Langton does not. Sir, I 
 could almost say, Si^ anima mea cin7i Langton I mentioned 
 a very eminent friend * as a virtuous man. Johnson : " Yes, Sir ; 
 
 but has not the evangelical virtue of Langton. , 
 
 I am afraid, would not scruple to pick up a wench." 
 
 ' Either W. G. Hamilton who was " an eminent friend " of Johnson but was not 
 Bosweil's friend, or Burke. 
 
476 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 He however charged Mr. Langton with what he thouglit want 
 of judgment upon an interesting occasion. "When I was ih," 
 said he, " I desired he would tell me sincerely in what he 
 thought my life was faulty. Sir, he brought me a sheet of paper, 
 on which he had written down several texts of Scripture, recom- 
 mending Christian charity. And when I questioned him what 
 occasion I had given for such an animadversion, all that he 
 could say amounted to this, — that I sometimes contradicted 
 people in conversation. Now what harm does it do to any man 
 to be contradicted? " Boswell : " I suppose he meant the ?na7i- 
 ner of doing it ; roughly, and harshly." . Johnson : And who 
 is the worse for that?" Boswell: "It hurts people of weaker 
 nerves." Johnson: "I know no such weak-nerved people." 
 Mr. Burke, to whom I related this conference, said, " It is well, if 
 when a man comes to die, he has nothing heavier upon his con- 
 science than having been a litde rough in conversation." 
 
 Johnson, at the time when the paper was presented to him, 
 though at first pleased with the attention of his friend, whom he 
 thanked in an earnest manner, soon exclaimed in a loud and 
 angry tone, "What is your drift. Sir?" Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 pleasantly observed, that it was a scene for a comedy, to see a 
 penitent get into a violent passion and belabor his confessor.' 
 
 I have preserved no more of his conversation at the times 
 when I saw him during the rest of this month, till Sunday, the 
 30th of May, when I met him in the evening at Mr. Hoole's, 
 where there was a large company both of ladies and gentlemen. 
 Sir James Johnston happened to say, that he paid no regard to 
 the arguments of counsel at the bar of the House of Commons, 
 because they were paid for speaking. Johnson : " Nay, Sir, ar- 
 gument is argument. You cannot help paying regard to their 
 arguments, if they are good. If it were testimony, you might 
 disregard it, if you knew that it were purchased. There is a 
 
 ^ After all, I cannot but be of opinion, that as Mr. Langton was seriously re- 
 quested by Dr. Johnson to mention what appeared to him erroneous in the char- 
 acter of his friend he was bound as an honest man to intimate what he really 
 thought, which he certainly did in the most delicate manner; so that Johnson him- 
 self, when in a quiet frame of mind, was pleased with it. The texts suggested are 
 now before me, and I shall quote a few of them. " Blessed are the meek, for they 
 shall inherit the earth." Mat. v. 5. " I, therefore, the i^risoner of the Lord, 
 beseech you, that ye walk worthy of Ihe vocation wherewith ye are called, with all 
 lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love." 
 Ephcs. V. T, 2. "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of 
 perfectness." Col. iii. 14. " Charity suffereth long, and is kind : charity envicth 
 not, charity vaunteth not itsell, is not puffed up: doth not behave itself unseemly, 
 is not easily provoked." L Cor. xiii. 4. 5. — B. 
 
Age 75-] JOHNSON'S JAUNT TO OXFORD. 
 
 477 
 
 beautiful image in Bacon ' upon this subject : testimony is like an 
 arrow shot from a long bow ; the force of it depends on the 
 strength of the hand that draws it. Argument is like an arrow 
 from a crossbow, which has equal force though shot by a child." 
 
 He had dined that day at Mr. Hoole's, and Miss Helen Maria 
 Williams being expected in the evening, Mr. Hoole put into his 
 hands her beautiful "Ode on the Peace : " ^ Johnson read it over, 
 and when this elegant, and accomplished young lady ^ was pre- 
 sented to him, he took her by the hand in the most courteous 
 manner, and repeated the finest stanza of her poem ; this was the 
 most delicate and pleasing compliment he could pay. Her re- 
 spectable friend. Dr. Kippis, from whom I had this anecdote, 
 was standing by, and was not a little gratified. 
 
 Miss Williams told me, that the only other time she was 
 fortunate enough to be in Dr. Johnson's company, he asked her 
 to sit down by him, which she did, and upon her inquiring how 
 he was, he answered, " I am very ill indeed. Madam. I am very 
 ill even when you are near me ; what should I be were you at a 
 distance ? " 
 
 He had now a great desire to go to Oxford, as his first jaunt 
 after his illness ; we talked of it for some days, and I had 
 promised to accompany him. He was impatient and fretful to- 
 night, because I did not at once agree to go with him on Thurs- 
 day. When I considered how ill he had been, and what allowance 
 should be made for the influence of sickness upon his temper, I 
 resolved to indulge him, though with some inconvenience to my- 
 self, as I wished to attend the musical meeting in honor of 
 Handel, in Westminster Abbey, on the following Saturday. 
 
 In the midst of his own diseases and pains, he was ever com- 
 passionate to the distresses of others, and actively earnest in 
 procuring them aid, as appears from a note to Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 
 ^ Dr. Johnson's memory deceived him. The passage referred to is not Bacon's, 
 but Boyle's : and may be found with a slight variation, in Johnson's Dictionary, 
 under the word, Crossbozo. — Malone. 
 
 2 The peace made by that very able statesman, the Earl of Shelburne, now 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, which may fairly be considered as the foundation of all 
 the prosperity of Great Britain since that time. — B. 
 
 3 In the first edition of my Work, the epithet amiable was given. I was sorry to 
 be obliged to strike ii out; but I could not in justice suffer it to remain, after this 
 young lady had not only written in favor of the savage anarchy with which France 
 has been visited, but had (as I have been informed by good authority), walked 
 without horror over the ground at the Tuileries when it was strewed with tiie naked 
 bodies of the faithful Swiss guards, who were barbarously massacred for having 
 bravely defended, against a crew of ruffians, the monarch whom they had taken an 
 oath to defend. From Dr. Johnson she could now expect not endearment but 
 repulsion. — B. 
 
478 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 of June, in these words : *' I am ashamed to ask for some rehef 
 for a poor man, to whom, I hope, I have given what I can be 
 expected to spare. The man importunes me, and the blow goes 
 round. I am going to try another air on Thursday." 
 
 On Thursday, June 3, the Oxford post-coach took us up in the 
 morning at Bolt Court. The other two passengers were Mrs. 
 Beresford and her daughter, two very agreeable ladies from 
 America ; they were going to Worcestershire, where they then 
 resided. Frank had been sent by his master the day before to 
 take places for us ; and I found from the way-bill that Dr. Johnson 
 had made our names be put down. Mrs. Beresford, who had 
 read it, whispered me, " Is this the great Dr. Johnson?" I told 
 her it was ; so she was then prepared to listen. As she soon 
 happened to mention in a voice so low that Johnson did not hear 
 it, that her husband had been a member of the American Congress, 
 I cautioned her to beware of introducing that subject, as she 
 must know how very violent Johnson was against the people of 
 that country. He talked a great deal. But I am sorry I have 
 preserved little of the conversation. Miss Beresford was so much 
 charmed, that she said to me aside, " How he does talk ! Every 
 sentence is an essay." She amused herself in the coach with 
 knotting; he would scarcely allow this species of employment 
 any merit. " Next to mere idleness," said he, " I think knotting 
 is to be reckoned in the scale of insignificance ; though I once 
 attempted to learn knotting. Dempster's sister (looking to me) 
 endeavored to teach me it ; but I made no progress." 
 
 I was surprised at his talking without resei"ve in the public 
 post-coach of the state of his affairs : "I have," said he, "about 
 the world, I think, above a thousand pounds, which I intend 
 shall afford Frank an annuity of seventy pounds a year." Indeed 
 his openness with people at a first interview was remarkable. 
 He said once to Mr. Langton, I think I am like 'Squire Richard 
 in 'The Journey to London,'' /'w 7iever strange in a strange 
 place y He was truly social. He strongly censured what is 
 much too common in England among persons of condition, — 
 maintaining an absolute silence, when unknown to each other ; 
 as for instance, when occasionally brought together in a room 
 before the master or mistress of the house has appeared. ''Sir, 
 that is being so uncivilized as not to understand the common 
 rights of humanity." 
 
 ^ Vanbrugh and CoUey Gibber : " The Provoked Husband ; or a Journey to 
 London : " Act ii. sc. i. 
 
Age 75-] JOHNSON'S GLEE AT OXFORD. 
 
 479 
 
 At the inn where we stopped he was exceedingly dissatisfied 
 with some roast mutton which he had for dinner. The ladies, I 
 saw, wondered to see the great philosopher, whose wisdom and 
 wit they had been admiring all the way, get into ill-humor from 
 such a cause. He scolded the waiter, saying, " It is as bad as 
 bad can be : it is ill-fed, ill-killed, ill-kept, and ill-dressed." 
 
 He bore the journey very well, and seemed to feel himself 
 elevated as he approached Oxford, that magnificent and venerable 
 seat of Learning, Orthodoxy, and Toryism. Frank came in the 
 heavy coach, in readiness to attend him ; and we were received 
 with the most polite hospitality at the house of his old friend Dr. 
 Adams, Master of Pembroke College, who had given us a kind 
 invitation. Before we were set down, I communicated to John- 
 son, my having engaged to return to London directly, for the 
 reason I have mentioned, but that I would hasten back to him 
 again. He was pleased that I had made this journey merely to 
 keep him company. He was easy and placid with Dr. Adams, 
 Mrs. and Miss Adams, and Mrs. Kennicot, widow of the learned 
 Hebraean, who was here on a visit. He soon dispatched the 
 inquiries which were made about his illness and recovery, by a 
 short and distinct narrative ; and then assuming a gay air, 
 repeated from Swift, 
 
 "Nor think on our approaching ills, 
 And talk of spectacles and pills." ^ 
 
 Dr. Newton, the Bishop of Bristol, having been mentioned, 
 Johnson recollecting the manner in which he had been censured 
 by that prelate,^ thus retaliated : " Tom knew he should be dead 
 
 1 Swift : " Lines on Stella's Birth-day," 1726-7. 
 
 2 Dr. Newton in his Account of his o\\ n Life, after animadverting upon Mr, 
 Gibbon's History, says, " Dr. Johnson's ' Lives of tiie Poets ' afforded more amuse- 
 ment : but candor was much hurt and offended at the malevolence that predominates 
 in every part. Some passages, it must be allowed, are judicious and well-written, 
 but make not sufficient compensation for so much spleen and ill-humor. Never 
 was any biographer more sparing of his praise, or more abundant in his cen- 
 sures. He seemingly delights more in exposing blemishes, than in recommend- 
 ing beauties ; slightly passes over excellences, enlarges upon imperfections, and, 
 not content with his own severe reflections, revives old scandal, and produces 
 large quotations from the forgotten works of former critics. His reputation was so 
 high in the republic of letters, that it wanted not to be raised upon the ruins of 
 others. But these Essays, instead of raising a higher idea than was before enter- 
 tained of his understanding, have certainly given the world a worse opinion of his 
 temper." The Bishop was therefore the more surprised and concerned for his 
 townsman, for " He respected him not only for his genius and learning, but valued 
 him ?nuch for the more amiable part of his character, his humanity and charity, his 
 morality and religion." The last sentence we may consider as the general and 
 
480 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 before what he has said of me would appear. He durst not have 
 printed it while he was alive." Dr. Adams: "I believe his 
 ' Dissertations on the Prophecies' is his great work." Johnson: 
 " Why, Sir, it is Tout's great work ; but how far it is great, or how 
 much of it is Tom's are other questions. I fancy a considerable 
 part of it was borrowed." Dr. Adams : " He was a very success- 
 ful man." Johnson : " I do n't think so, Sir. He did not get 
 very high. He was late in getting what he did get ; and he did 
 not get it by the best means. I believe he was a gross flatterer." ^ 
 
 .1 fulfilled my intention by going to London, and returned to 
 Oxford on Wednesday the 9th of June, when I was happy to find 
 myself again in the same agreeable circle at Pembroke College, 
 with the comfortable prospect of making some stay. Johnson 
 welcomed my return with more than ordinary glee. 
 
 He talked with great regard of the Honorable Archibald Camp- 
 bell, whose character he had given at the Duke of Argyll's table, 
 when we were at Inverary ; ^ and at this time wrote out for me, 
 in his own hand, a fuller account of that learned and venerable 
 writer, which I have published in its proper place. Johnson 
 made a remark this evening which struck me a good deal. " I 
 never," said he, " knew a Nonjuror who could reason." ^ Surely 
 he did not mean to deny that faculty to many of their writers ; to 
 Hickes, Brett, and other eminent divines of that persuasion ; and 
 did not recollect that the seven bishops, so justly celebrated for 
 their magnanimous resistance of arbitrary power, were yet Non- 
 permanent opinion of Bishop Newton ; the remarks which precede it must, by all 
 who have read Johnson's admirable work, be imputed to the disgust and peevish- 
 ness of old age. I wish they had not appeared, and that Dr. Johnson had not 
 been provoked by them to express himself not in respectful terms, of a prelate 
 whose labors were certainly of considerable advantage both to literature and 
 religion. — B. 
 
 ^Newton was born Jan. i, 1704, made Bishop 1761, died 1781. 
 
 ^"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," third edit. p. 371.— B. 
 
 3 The Rev. Mr. Agutter has favored me v\ ith a note of a dialogue between Mr. 
 John Henderson and Dr. Johnson on this topic, as related by Mr. Henderson, and 
 it is evidently so authentic that I shall here insert it: HENDERSON: "What do 
 you think. Sir, of William Law?" JOHNSON: "William Law, Sir, wrote the best 
 j)iece of Parenetic Divinity; but William Law was no reasoner." HENDERSON: 
 "Jeremy Collier, Sir?" JOHNSON: "Jeremy Colhcr fought without a rival, and 
 therefore could not claim the victory." Mr. Henderson mentioned Kenn and 
 Kettlewell ; but some objections were made ; at last he said, " But. Sir, what do you 
 think of Lesley?" JOHNSON: "Charles Lesley I had forgotten. Lesley 7vas a 
 reasoner, and a reasoner who 7vas i?ot to be reasoned against " — B. Many tried to 
 answer Collier's famous attack on the English stage, Congreve and Vanbrugh, and 
 perhaps Wycherley, among the number; but the victory remained with Collier. 
 Dryden alone dared to confess his offences, and ask pardon for them. Bui Dryden 
 alone was great enough to do this. See Macaulay's essay on the Comic Dramatists 
 of the Restoration. For Lesley, and for the mistake in Boswell's note, see Mac- 
 aulay's " History of England," iii. 455-6. 
 
Age 75.] THE LEARNED MRS. KEN N I COT. 
 
 481 
 
 jurors to the new Government. The nonjuring clergy of Scotland, 
 indeed, who, excepting a few, have lately, by a sudden stroke, 
 cut off all ties of allegiance to the House of Stuart and resolved 
 to pray for our present lawful Sovereign by name, may be thought 
 to have confirmed this remark ; as it may be said, that the divine 
 indefeasible hereditary right which they professed to believe, if 
 ever true, must be equally true still. Many of my readers will be 
 surprised when I mention, that Johnson assured me he had never 
 in his life been in a nonjuring meeting-house. 
 
 Next morning at breakfast, he pointed out a passage in Savage's 
 "Wanderer," saying "These are fine verses." — "If," said he, 
 "I had written with hostility of Warburton in my 'Shakspeare,' 
 I should have quoted this couplet : 
 
 " ' Here Learning, blinded first, and then beguil'd, 
 Looks dark as Ignorance, as Frenzy wild.' 
 
 You see they 'd have fitted him to a Z"" (smiling). Dr. Adams : 
 " But you did not write against Warburton." Johnson : " No, Sir, I 
 treated him with great respect both in my preface and in my notes." 
 
 Mrs. Kennicot spoke of her brother, the Reverend Mr. Cham- 
 berlayne, who had given up great prospects in the Church of 
 England on his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. John- 
 son, who warmly admired every man who acted from a conscien- 
 tious regard to principle, erroneous or not, exclaimed fervently, 
 "God bless him." 
 
 Mrs. Kennicot, in confirmation of Dr. Johnson's opinion that 
 the present was not worse than former ages, mentioned that her 
 brother assured her, there was now less infidelity on the Continent 
 than there had been; Voltaire and Rousseau were less read. 
 I asserted, from good authority, that Hume's infidelity was cer- 
 tainly less read. Johnson : " All infidel writers drop into oblivion, 
 when personal connections and the floridness of novelty are gone ; 
 though now and then a foolish fellow, who thinks he can be witty 
 upon them, may bring them again into notice. There will some- 
 times start up a college joker, who does not consider that what 
 is a joke in a college will not do in the world. To such de- 
 fenders of religion I would apply a stanza of a poem which I 
 remember to have seen in some old collection : 
 
 " ' Henceforth be quiet and agree, 
 Each kiss his empty brother; 
 Religion scorns a foe like thee, 
 
 But dreads a friend like t'other.' 
 
 Vol. II — 31 
 
482 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 The point is well, though the expression is not correct ; one and 
 not f/iee, should be opposed to /' others ^ 
 
 On the Roman Catholic religion he said : " If you join the 
 Papists externally, they will not interrogate you strictly as to 
 your belief in their tenets. No reasoning Papist beheves every 
 article of their faith. There is one side on which a good man 
 might be persuaded to embrace it. A good man of a timorous 
 disposition in great doubt of his acceptance with God, and 
 pretty credulous, may be glad to be of a church where there 
 are so many helps to get to Heaven. I would be a Papist if 
 I could. I have fear enough ; but an obstinate rationality 
 prevents me. I shall never be a Papist, unless on the near 
 approach of death, of which I have a very great terror. I 
 wonder that women are not all Papists." Boswell : "They 
 are not more afraid' of death then men are." Johnson: "Be- 
 cause they are less wicked." Dr. Adams: "They are more 
 pious." Johnson: "No, hang 'em, they are not more pious. 
 A wicked fellow is the most pious when he takes to it. He '11 
 beat you all at piety." 
 
 He argued in defence of some of the peculiar tenets of the 
 Church of Rome. As to the giving the bread only to the laity, 
 he said : "They may think, that in what is merely ritual, devia- 
 tions from the primitive mode may be admitted on the ground of 
 convenience, and I think they are as well warranted to make this 
 alteration, as we are to substitute sprinkling in the room of the 
 ancient baptism." As to the invocation of saints, he said : 
 " Though I do not think it authorized, it appears to me, that the 
 ^ communion of saints ' in the Creed means the communion with 
 the saints in Heaven, as connected with 'The holy Catholic 
 
 1 I have inserted the stanza as Johnson repeated it from memory; but I have 
 since found the poem itself, in " The Foundling Hospital for Wit," printed at Lon- 
 don, 1749. It is as follows : 
 
 " Epigram, occasioned by a religious dispute at Bath. 
 
 " On Reason, Faith, and Mystery, high, 
 Two wits harangue the table; 
 
 B y believes he knows not why, 
 
 N swears 't is all a fable. 
 
 " Peace, coxcombs, peace, and both agree ; 
 
 N , kiss thy empty brother; 
 
 Religion laughs at foes like thee. 
 
 And dreads a friend like t' other." — B. 
 
 The disputants are supposed to have been Beau Nash and Bentlcy, son of the 
 Doctor. — Crokcr. 
 
Age 75.] THE INFLUENCE OF EVIL SPIRITS. 483 
 
 Church.' " ' He admitted the influence of evil spirits upon our 
 minds, and said, " Nobody who beUeves the New Testament can 
 deny it." • 
 
 I brought a volume of Dr. Hurd, the Bishop of Worcester's 
 Sermons, and read to the company some passages from one of 
 them, upon this text, " Resist the Devil and he will flee from 
 you.'" James iv. 7. I was happy to produce so judicious and 
 elegant a supporter^ of a doctrine, which, I know not why, 
 should in this world of imperfect knowledge, and therefore of 
 wonder and mystery in a thousand instances, he contested by 
 some with an unthinking assurance and flippancy. 
 
 After dinner, when one of us talked of there being a great 
 enmity between Whig and Tory ; Johnson : " Why, not so much, 
 I think, unless when they come into competition with each 
 other. There is none when they are only common acquaintance, 
 none when they are of different sexes. A Tory will marry into a 
 
 ^ Waller, in his " Divine Poesie," Canto first, has the same thought* finely ex- 
 pressed : 
 
 " The Church triumphant, and the Church below, 
 In songs of praise their present union show; 
 Their joys are lull, our expectation long. 
 In life we differ, but we join in song ; 
 Angels and we assisted by this art. 
 May sing together, though we dwell apart." — B. 
 
 ^ The sermon thus opens : " That there are angels and spirits, good and bad ; 
 that at the head of these last there is ONE more considerable and malignant than 
 the rest, who, in the form or under the name of a serpent, was deeply concerned in 
 the fall of man, and whose head, as the prophetic language is, the son of man was 
 one day to bruise ; that this evil spirit, though that prophecy be in part completed, 
 has not yet received his death's wound, but is still permitted, for ends unsearchable 
 to us, and in ways which we cannot particularly explain, to have a certain degree of 
 power in this world hostile to its virtue and happiness, and sometimes exerted with 
 too much success : all this is so clear from Scripture, that no believer, unless he be 
 first of all spoiled by philosophy aud vain deceit, can possibly entertain a doubt of 
 it." Having treated of possessions, his Lordship says, " As I have no authority to 
 affirm that there are now any such, so neither may I presume to say with confi- 
 dence, that there are fiot any." " But then with regard to the infiuence of evil 
 spirits at tliis day upon the SOULS of men, I shall take leave to be agreat deal more 
 peremptory." [Then, having staled the various proofs, he adds], " All tliis, I say, 
 is so manifest to every one who reads the Scriptures, that, if we respect their au- 
 thority, the question concerning the reality of the demoniac influence upon the 
 minds of men is clearly determined." Let it be remembered, that these are not the 
 words of an antiquated or obscure enthusiast, but of a learned and polite prelate 
 now alive; and were spoken, not to a vulgar congregation, but to the Honorable 
 Society of Lincoln's Inn. His Lordship in this sermon explains the words, " de- 
 liver us from evil^" in the Lord's Prayer, as signifying a request to be protected 
 from " the evil one," that is, the Devil. This is well illustrated in a short but ex- 
 cellent commentary by my late worthy friend, the Rev. Dr. Lort, of whom it may 
 \.\:\i\y he ?>di\d, Multis ille bonis Jlebilis occidit. It is remarkable that Waller in his 
 Rejlections on the several Petitions, in that sacred form of devotion , lins understood 
 this in the same sense : " Guard us from all temptations of the FoE." — B. 
 
484 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 Whig family, and a Whig into a Tory family, without any reluc- 
 tance. But indeed, in a matter of much more concern than 
 political tenets, and that is religion, men and women do not con- 
 cern themselves much about difference of opinion ; and ladies 
 set no value on the moral character of men who pay their ad- 
 dresses to them ; the greatest profligate will be as well received 
 as the man of the greatest virtue, and this by a very good woman, 
 by a woman who says her prayers three times a day." Our 
 ladies endeavored to defend their sex from this charge ; but he 
 roared them down ! No, no, a lady will take Jonathan Wild 
 as readily as St. Austin, if he has threepence more ; and, what 
 is worse, her parents will give her to him. Women have a per- 
 petual envy of our vices ; they are less vicious than we, not from 
 choice, but because we restrict them ; they are the slaves of 
 order and fashion ; their virtue is of more consequence to us than 
 our own, so far as concerns this world." 
 
 Miss Adams mentioned a gentleman of licentious character, 
 and said, " Suppose I had a mind to marry that gentleman, 
 would my parents consent?" Johnson: "Yes, they 'd consent, 
 and you 'd go. You 'd go, though they did not consent." Miss 
 Adams : " Perhaps their opposing might make me go." John- 
 son : O, very well ; you 'd take one whom you think a bad man, 
 to have the pleasure of vexing your parents. You put me in 
 mind of Dr. Barrowby, the physician, who was very fond of 
 swine's flesh. One day, when he was eating it, he said, ' I wish I 
 was a Jew.' — 'Why so,' said somebody; 'the Jews are not al- 
 lowed to eat your favorite meat.' — ' Because,' said he, ' I should 
 then have the gust of eating it, with the pleasure of sinning.'" 
 Johnson then proceeded in his declamation. 
 
 Miss Adams soon afterwards made an observation that I do 
 not recollect, which pleased him much ; he said with a good- 
 humored smile, "That there should be so much excellence 
 united with so much depravity is strange." 
 
 Indeed, this lady's good qualities, merit, and accomplish- 
 ments, and her constant attention to Dr. Johnson, were not 
 flost upon him. She happened to tell him that a little coffee- 
 pot, in which she had made him coffee, was the only thing she 
 could call her own. He turned to her with a complacent gal- 
 lantry, " Do n't say so, my dear ; I hope you do n't reckon my 
 heart as nothing." 
 
 I asked him if it was true as reported, that he had said lately, 
 
 I am for the King against Fox ; but I am for Fox against Pitt," 
 
WILLIAM PITT. 
 
Age 75.] A PROPOSED BOOK OF PRA VERS. 
 
 485 
 
 Johnson : " Yes, Sir ; the King is my master ; but I do not 
 know Pitt ; and Fox is my friend." ' 
 
 " Fox," added he, " is a most extraordinary man : he is a man 
 (describing him in strong terms of objection in some respects 
 according as he apprehended, but which exalted his abihties the 
 more), who has divided the kingdom with Caesar; so that it was 
 a doubt whether the nation should be ruled by the sceptre of 
 George the Third, or the tongue of Fox." 
 
 Dr. Wall, physician at Oxford, drank tea with us. Johnson 
 had in general a peculiar pleasure in the company of physicians, 
 which was certainly not abated by the conversation of this 
 learned, ingenious, and pleasing gentleman. Johnson said : " It 
 is wonderful how little good Radcliffe's travelling fellowships ^ have 
 done. I know nothing that has been imported by them ; yet 
 many additions to our medical knowledge might be got in 
 foreign countries. Inoculation, for instance, has saved more 
 lives than war destroys ; and the cures performed by the Peru- 
 vian bark are innun^erable. But it is in vain to send our travel- 
 ling physicians to France, and Italy, and Germany, for all that is 
 known there is known here : I 'd send them out of Christendom ; 
 I 'd send them among barbarous nations." 
 
 On Friday, June 11, we talked at breakfast of forms of prayer. 
 Johnson : " I know of no good prayers but those in the ' Book 
 of Common Prayer.'" Dr. Adams (in a very earnest manner) : 
 " I wish, Sir, you would compose some family prayers." John- 
 son : " I will not compose prayers for you. Sir, because you can 
 do it for yourself. But I have thought of getting together all the 
 books of prayers which I could, selecting those which should 
 appear to me the best, putting out some, inserting others, adding 
 some prayers of my own, and prefixing a discourse on prayer." 
 We all now gathered about him, and two or three of us at a time 
 joined in pressing him to execute this plan. He seemed to be a 
 little displeased at the manner of our importunity, and in great 
 agitation called out : " Do not talk thus of what is so awful. I 
 know not what time God will allow me in this world. There are 
 many things which I wish to do." Some of us persisted, and Dr. 
 
 1 He may have taken the more to Fox as he had taken to Beauclerk on account 
 of his descent from Charles II. Fox was the great-great-grandson of that king. — 
 Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Dr. John Radcliffe who died in 1714 left by his will, among other great bene- 
 factions to the University of Oxford " £600 yearly to tw o persons, when they are 
 Masters of Arts and entered on the physic-line, for their maintenance for the space 
 of ten years ; the half of which time at least they are to travel in parts beyond sea 
 for their better improvement," — Dr. Hill. 
 
486 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 Adams said, " I never was more serious about anything in my 
 life." Johnson : " Let me alone, let me alone ; I am over- 
 powered." And then he put his hands before his face, and re- 
 clined for some time upon the table. 
 
 I mentioned Jeremy Taylor's using, in his forms of prayer, ''I 
 am the chief of sinners," and other such self-condemning expres- 
 sions. "Now," said I, "this cannot be said with truth by every 
 man, and therefore is improper for a general printed form. I 
 myself cannot say that I am the worst of men ; I wi/l not say so." 
 Johnson : " A man may know that physically, that is in the real 
 state of things, he is not the worst man ; but that morally he may 
 be so. Law observes, that ' Every man knows something worse 
 of himself than he is sure of in others.' You may not have com- 
 mitted such crimes as some men have done ; but you do not 
 know against what degree of light they have sinned. Besides, 
 Sir, ' the chief of sinners ' is a mode of expression for ' I am a 
 great sinner.' So St. Paul, speaking of our Saviour's having 
 died to save sinners, says, ' of whom I am . the chief ; ' yet he 
 certainly did not think himself so bad as Judas Iscariot." Bos- 
 well : " But, Sir, Taylor means it literally, for he founds a con- 
 ceit upon it. When praying for the conversion of sinners, and of 
 himself in particular, he says, ' Lord, thou wilt not leave thy 
 chief woik undone.' " Johnson : " I do not approve of figurative 
 expressions in addressing the Supreme Being; and I never use 
 them. Taylor gives a very good advice : ' Never lie in your 
 prayers ; never confess more than you really believe ; never 
 promise more than you mean to perform.' " I recollected this 
 precept in his " Golden Grove ; " but his example for prayer 
 contradicts his precept. 
 
 Dr. Johnson and I went in Dr. Adams's coach to dine with 
 Mr. Nowell, Principal of St. Mary Hall, at his beautiful villa at 
 IfHey, on the banks of the Isis, about two miles from Oxford. 
 While we were upon the road, I had the resolution to ask John- 
 son whether he thought that the roughness of his manner had 
 been an advantage or not, and if he would not have done more 
 good if he had been more gentle. [ proceeded to answer my- 
 self thus : " Perhaps it has been of advantage, as it has given 
 weight to what you said : you could not, perhaps, have talked 
 with such authority without it." Johnson: "No, Sir; I have 
 done more good as I am. Obscenity and impiety have always 
 been repressed in my company." Boswrll : "True, Sir; and 
 that is more than can be said of every bishop. Greater liberties 
 
Age 75-] 
 
 A HIGH TORY SERMON. 
 
 487 
 
 have been taken in the presence of a bishop, though a very good 
 man, from his being milder, and therefore not commanding such 
 awe. Yet, Sir, many people who might have been benefited by 
 your conversation, have been frightened away. A worthy friend 
 of ours^ has told me, that he has often been afraid to talk to 
 you." Johnson : " Sir, he need not have been afraid if he had 
 anything rational to say. If he had not, it was better he did 
 not talk." 
 
 Dr. Noweli is celebrated for having preached a sermon before 
 the House of Commons-, on the 30th of January, 1772, full of 
 high Tory sentiments, for which he was thanked as usual, and 
 printed it at their request ; but, in the midst of that turbulence 
 and faction which disgraced a part of the present reign, the 
 thanks were afterwards ordered to be expunged.''^ This strange 
 conduct sufficiently exposes itself ; and Dr. Nowell will ever 
 have the honor which is due to a lofty friend of our monarchical 
 constitution. Dr. Johnson said to me, "Sir, the Court will be 
 very much to blame, if he is not promoted." I told this to Dr. 
 Nowell ; and asserting my humbler, though not less zealous ex- 
 ertions in the same cause, I suggested, that whatever return we 
 might receive, we should sjill have the consolation of being like 
 Butler's steady and generous Royalist, 
 
 " True as the dial to the sun, 
 Although it be not shone [shined] upon." 
 
 We were well entertained and very happy at Dr. Nowell's, 
 where was a very agreeable company ; and we drank " Church 
 and King " after dinner, with true Tory cordiality. 
 
 We talked of a certain clergyman of extraordinary character, 
 who by exerting his talents in writing on temporary topics, and 
 displaying uncommon intrepidity, has raised himself to affluence.^ 
 I maintained that we ought not to be indignant at his success ; 
 
 1 Mr. Langton. 
 
 2 Townshend (afterwards Lord Sydney) moved that the sermon be burned by 
 the common hangman. The House was very near carrying the motion, till they rec- 
 ollected their former vote of thanks and contented themselves, after an acrimonious 
 debate, with ordering the vote to be expunged from their journals. Mahon's " Hist, 
 of Engl.," V. 303. 
 
 3 The Rev. Henry Bate, commonly known as the "fighting parson," who as- 
 sumed the name of Dudley and was created a baronet. He founded JVie Morning 
 Post, and afterwards, on a quarrel with his colleagues, The Morning Herald. He 
 fought more than one duel, and was sentenced to a year's imprisonment lor " an 
 atrocious libel" on the Duke of Richmond (Walpole's "Journal of the Reign of 
 George the Third," quoted by Dr. Hill). The latter portion of his life was more 
 decorous. — Croker. 
 
488 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 for merit of every sort was entitled to reward. Johnson : " Sir, 
 I will not allow this man to have merit. No, Sir ; what he has 
 is rather the contrary ; I will, indeed, allow him courage, and on 
 this account we so far give him credit. We have more respect for 
 a man who robs boldly on the highway, than for a fellow who 
 jumps out of a ditch, and knocks you down behind your back. 
 Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is 
 always respected, even when it is associated with vice." 
 
 1 censured the coarse invectives which were become fashion- 
 able in the House of Commons, and said that if members of Par- 
 liament must attack each other personally in the heat of debate, 
 it should be done more genteelly. Johnson : " No, Sir ; that 
 would be much worse. Abuse is not so dangerous when there is 
 no vehicle of wit or delicacy, no subtle conveyance. The differ- 
 ence between coarse and refined abuse is as the difference between 
 being bruised by a club, and wounded by a poisoned arrow." I 
 have since observed his position elegantly expressed by Dr. 
 Young : 
 
 " As the soft plume gives swiftness to the dart, 
 Good breeding sends the satire to the heart." ^ 
 
 On Saturday, June 12, there drank 'tea with us at Dr. Adams's, 
 Mr. John Henderson, student of Pembroke College, celebrated for 
 his wonderful acquirements in alchemy, judicial astrology, and 
 other abstruse and curious learning ; and the Reverend Herbert 
 Croft, who, I am afraid, was somewhat mortified by Dr. Johnson's 
 not being highly pleased with some " Family Discourses," which 
 he had printed ; they were in too familiar a style to be approved 
 of by so manly a mind. I have no note of this evening's con- 
 versation, except a single fragment. When I mentioned Thomas 
 Lord Lyttelton's vision, the prediction of the time of his death 
 and its exact fulfilment ; Johnson : It is the most extraordi- 
 nary thing that has happened in my day. I heard it with my own 
 ears, from his uncle. Lord Westcote.^ I am so glad to have every 
 evidence of t>he spiritual world, that I am willing to believe it." 
 Dr. Adams : " You have evidence enough ; good evidence which 
 needs not such support." Johnson : " I like to have more." 
 
 Mr. Henderson, with whom I had sauntered in the venerable 
 walks of Merton College, and found him a very learned and pious 
 
 ' " Epistle to Mr, Pope," li. 165. 
 
 2 See an account of him, in a sermon by the Rev. Mr. Agutter. — B. The sermon 
 was published in 1788, in which year he died. 
 
 3 For this vision see Gent. Mag. for 1816, ii. 422; and for 1818, i. 597.— Croker, 
 
Age 75] JOHNSON'S FEAR OF DAMNATION. 489 
 
 man, supped with us. Dr. Johnson surprised him not a little, by 
 acknowledging with a look of horror that he was much oppressed 
 by the fear of death. The amiable Dr. Adams suggested that (tOD 
 was infinitely good. Johnson : " That He is infinitely good, as 
 far as the perfection of His nature will allow, I certainly believe : 
 but it is necessary, for good upon the whole, that individuals 
 should be punished. As to an individual, therefore. He is not 
 infinitely good ; and as I cannot be sure that I have fulfilled the 
 conditions on which salvation is granted, I am afraid I may be one 
 of those who shall be damned. " (Looking dismally.) Dr. Adams : 
 -'What do you mean by damned?" Johnson (passionately and 
 loudly) : " Sent to Hell, Sir, and punished everlastingly. " Dr. 
 Adams : " I do n't believe that doctrine." Johnson : Hold, Sir, 
 do you believe that some will be punished at all? " Dr. Adams : 
 " Being excluded from Heaven will be a punishment ; yet there may 
 be no great positive suffering." Johnson: ''Well, Sir; but, if you 
 admit any degree of punishment, there is an end of your argument 
 for infinite goodness simply considered ; for, infinite goodness 
 would inflict no punishment whatever. There is not infinite good- 
 ness physically considered; morally there is. " Boswell : ''But 
 may not a man attain to such a degree of hope as not to be un- 
 easy from the fear of death? " Johnson : " A man may have such 
 a degree of hope as to keep him quiet. You see I am not quiet, 
 from the vehemence with which I talk ; but I do not despair." 
 Mrs. Adams : " You seem, Sir, to forget the merits of our Re- 
 deemer. " Johnson : " Madam, I do not forget the merits of my 
 Redeemer ; but my Redeemer has said that He will set some on 
 His right hand and some on His left." He was in gloomy agita- 
 tion, and said, " I '11 have no more on 't." If what has now been 
 stated should be urged by the enemies of Christianity, as if its 
 influence on the mind were not benignant, let it be remembered 
 that Johnson's temperament was melancholy, of which such direful 
 apprehensions of futurity are often a common effect. We shall 
 presently see that when he approached nearer to his awful change, 
 his mind became tranquil, and he exhibited as much fortitude as 
 becomes a thinking man in that situation. 
 
 From the subject of death we passed to discourse of life, 
 whether it was upon the whole more happy or miserable. John- 
 son was decidedly for the balance of misery : * in confirmation of 
 
 ^ The Reverend Mr. Ralph Churton, Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, has 
 favored me with the following remarks on my work, whicli he is pleased to say, 
 " I have hitherto extolled, and cordially approve. I'he chief part of what I have 
 to observe is contained in the following transcript from a letter to a Iriend, which, 
 
490 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784.. 
 
 which I maintained that no man would choose to lead over again 
 the life which he had experienced. Johnson acceded to that 
 opinion in the strongest terms. This is an inquiry often made ; and 
 its being a subject of disquisition is a proof that much misery presses 
 upon human feelings ; for those who are conscious of a felicity of 
 existance, would never hesitate to accept of a repetition of it. I 
 have met with very few who would. I have heard Mr. Burke 
 make use of a very ingenious and plausible argument on this 
 
 with his concurrence, I copied for this purpose ; and, whatever may be the merit or 
 justness of the remarks you may be sure that being written to a most intimate 
 friend, without any intention that they ever should go farther, they are the genuine 
 and undisguised sentiments of the writer. ' Jan. 6, 1792. Last week, I. was reading 
 the second volume of Boswell's Johnson, with increasing esteem for the worthy 
 author, and increasing veneration of the wonderful and excellent man who is the 
 subject of it. The writer throws in, now and then, very properly some serious 
 religious reflections ; but there is one remark, in my mind an obvious and just one, 
 which I think he has not made, that Johnson's " morbid melancholy," and constitu- 
 tional infirmities, were intended by Providence, like St. Paul's thorn in the flesh, to 
 check intellectual conceit and arrogance; which the consciousness of his extraor- 
 dinary talents, awake as he was to the voice of praise, might otherwise have 
 generated in a very culpable degree. Another observation strikes me, that in con- 
 sequence of the same natural indisposition, and habitual sickliness (for he says he 
 scarcely passed one day without pain after his twentieth year), he considered and 
 represented human life as a scene of much greater misery than is generally experi- 
 enced. There may be persons bowed down with affliction all their days ; and tt ere 
 are those, no doubt, whose iniquities rob them of rest ; but neither calamities nor 
 crimes, I hope and believe, do so much and so generally abound, as to justify 
 the dark picture of life which Johnson's imagination designed, and his strong 
 pencil delineated. This I am sure, the coloring is far too gloomy for what I have 
 experienced, though as far as I can remember, 1 have had more sickness (I do not 
 say more severe, but only more in quantity), than falls to the lot of most people. 
 But then daily debility and occasional sickness were far overbalanced by inter- 
 venient days and, perhaps, weeks void of pain, and overflowing with comfort. So 
 that in short, to return to the subject, human life, as far as I can perceive from 
 experience or observation, is not that state ot constant wretchedness which John- 
 son always insisted it was; which misrepresentation (for such it surely is), his 
 biographer has not corrected, I suppose, because, unhappily, he has himself a large 
 portion of melancholy in his constitution, and fancied the portrait a faithful copy of 
 life.'" The learned wiitcr then proceeds thus in his letter tome: "1 have con- 
 versed with some sensible man on this subject, who all seem to entertain the same 
 sentiments, respecting life with those which are expressed or implied in the 
 foregoing paragraph. It might be added that as the representation here spoken 
 of, appears not consistent with fact and experience, so neither does it seem to be 
 countenanced by Scripture. There is, perhaps, no part of the sacred volume 
 which at first sight promises so much to lend its sanction to these dark and de- 
 sponding notions as the book of Ecclesiastes, which so often, and so emphatically, 
 proclaims the vanity of. things sublunary. But 'the design of this whole book (as 
 it has been justly observed) is not to put us out of conceit with life, but to cure our 
 vain expectations of a complele and perfect hapj^iness in this world; to convince 
 us, that there is no such thing to be found in mere external enjoyments; and to 
 teach us — to seek for happiness in the practice of virtue, in the knowledge and 
 love of God, and in the hopes of a better life. For this is the application of all : 
 Lei us hear, Sec, xii, 13, Not only his duty, but his happiness too : For GOD, &c., 
 ver. 14.' — See Sherlock 'On Providence,' p. 299. The New 'I'estament tells us, 
 indeed, and most truly, that ' sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof; ' and, 
 therefore, wisely forbids us to increase our burden by forebodings of sorrow ; but 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 LIVING LIFE OVER. 
 
 491 
 
 subject ; " Every man," said he, "would lead his life over again; 
 for, every man is willing to go on and take an addition to his life, 
 which, as he grows older, he has no reason to think will be better, 
 or even so good, as what has preceded." I imagine, however, 
 the truth is, that there is a deceitful hope that the next part of life 
 will be free from the pains, and anxieties, and sorrows, which we 
 have already felt. We are for wise purposes " Condemn'd to 
 Hope's delusive mine," as Johnson finely says; and I may also 
 
 I think it nowhere says that even our ordinary afflictions are not consistent with a 
 very considerable degree of positive comfort and satisfaction. And, accordingly, 
 one whose sufferings as well as merits were conspicuous, assures us, that in pro- 
 portion ' as the sufferings of Christ abounded in them so their consolation also 
 abounded by Christ,' II. Cor. i. 5. It is needless to cite, as indeed it would be end- 
 less even to refer to, the multitude of passages in both Testaments holding out, in 
 the strongest language, promises of blessings, even in this world, to the faithful 
 servants of GOD. 1 will only refer to St. Luke xviii. 29, 30, and I. Tim. iv. 8. Upon 
 the whole, setting aside instances of great and lastmg bodily pain, of minds 
 peculiarly oppressed by melancholy, and of severe temporal calamities, from which 
 extraordinary cases we surely should not form our estimate of the general tenor 
 and complexion of life : excluding these from the account, I am convinced that as 
 well the gracious constitution of things which Providence has ordained, as the 
 declarations of Scripture and the actual experience of individuals, authorize the 
 sincere Christian to hope that his humble and constant endeavors to perform his 
 duty, checkered as the best life is with many failings, will be crowned with a greater 
 degree of present peace, serenity, and comfort, than he could reasonably permit 
 himself to expect, if he measured his views and judged of life from the opinion of 
 Dr. Johnson, often and energetically expressed in the Memoirs of him, without any 
 animadversion or censure by his ingenious biographer. If he himself, upon review- 
 ing the subject, shall see the matter in this light, he will, in an octavo edition, which 
 is eagerly expected, make such additional remarks or corrections as he shall judge 
 fit : lest the impressions which these discouraging passages may leave on the 
 reader's mind, should in any degree hinder what otherwise the whole spirit and 
 energy of the work tends, and, I hope, successfully, to promote, — pure morality 
 and true religion." Though I have, in some degree, obviated any reflections 
 against my illustrious friend's dark views of life, when considering, in the course of 
 this work, his Rambler and his " Rasselas," I am obliged to Mr. Churton for 
 complying with my request of his permission to insert his remarks, being conscious 
 of the weight of what he judiciously suggests as to the melancholy in my own con- 
 stitution. His more pleasing views of life, I hope, are just, I'alea/it, qiia)itum 
 valere possunt. Mr. Churton concludes his letter to me in these words : " Once, 
 and only once, I had the satisfaction of seeing your illustrious friend ; and as I 
 feel a particular regard for all whom he distinguished with his esteem and friend- 
 ship, so I derive much pleasure from reflecting that I once beheld, though but 
 transiently near our college gate, one whose works will for ever delight and 
 improve the world, who was a sincere and zealous son of the Church of England, 
 an honor to his country, and an ornament to human nature." His letter was 
 accompanied with a present from himself of his "Sermons at the Bampton Lecture," 
 and from his friend. Dr. Townson, the venerable Rector of Malpas in Cheshire, of 
 his " Discourses on the Gospels," together with the follow ing extract of a letter from 
 that excellent person, who is now gone to receive the reward of his labors: " Mr. 
 Boswell is not only very entertaining in his works, but they are so replete with morai 
 and religious sentiments, without an instance, as far as I know, of a contrary 
 tendency, that I cannot help having a great esteem for him : and if you think such 
 a trifle as a copy of the ' Discourses, ex dono authorise would be acceptable to 
 him, I should be happy to give him this small testimony of my regards." Such 
 spontaneous testimonies of approbation from such men, without any personal 
 acquaintance with me, are truly valuable and encouraging. — B. 
 
492 
 
 BOS well's life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 quote the celebrated lines of Dryden, equally philosophical and 
 poetical : 
 
 " When I consider life, 't is all a cheat, 
 
 Yet fool'd with hope, men favor the deceit; 
 Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay; 
 To-morrow's falser than the former day; 
 Lies worse; and while it says we shall be blest 
 With some new joys, cuts off what we possest. 
 Strange cozenage ! none would live past years again; 
 Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain; 
 And from the dregs of life think to receive, 
 What the first sprightly running could not give." 
 
 ("Aurungzebe," Act iv. sc. I.) 
 
 It was observed to Dr. Johnson, that it seemed strange that he, 
 who had so often delighted his company by his lively and brilliant 
 conversation, should say he was miserable. Johnson : " Alas ! it 
 is all outside ; I may be cracking my joke, and cursing the sun. 
 Sun, how I hate thy beams " ' I knew not well what to think 
 of this declaration ; whether to hold it as a genuine picture of 
 his mind,^ or as the effect of his persuading himself contrary to 
 fact, that the position which he had assumed as to human un- 
 happiness, was true. We may apply to him a sentence in Mr. 
 Greville's "Maxims, Characters, and Reflections:" (p. 139) a 
 book which is entitled to much more praise than it has received : 
 " Aristarchus is charming : how full of knowledge, of sense, of 
 sentiment. You get him with difficulty to your supper ; and after 
 having delighted every body and himself for a few hours, he is 
 obliged to return home ; he is finishing his treatise, to prove 
 that unhappiness is the portion of man." 
 
 On Sunday, June 13, our philosopher was calm at breakfast. 
 There was something exceedingly pleasing in his leading a 
 college life, without restraint, and with superior elegance, in con- 
 sequence of our living in the Master's house and having the 
 company of ladies. Mrs. Kennicot related, in his presence, a 
 lively saying of Dr. Johnson to Miss Hannah More, who had ex- 
 pressed a wonder that the poet who had written " Paradise Lost," 
 should write such poor sonnets — "Milton, Madam, was a genius 
 that could cut a Colossus from a rock, but could not carve heads 
 upon cherry-stones." 
 
 ^ Milton : " Paradise Lost," iv. 35. 
 
 ^ Yet there is no doubt tliat a man may appear very gay in company, who is sad 
 at heart. His merriment is like the sound of drums and trumpets in a battle, to 
 (hovv n tlie groans of the wounded and dying. — B. jj 
 
Age 75.] A CASUISTICAL QUESTION. 
 
 498 
 
 We talked of the casuistical question, Whether it was allowable 
 at any time to depart from fruif/i ? Johnson : " The general rule 
 is, that truth should never be violated, because it is of the utmost 
 importance to the comfort of life, that we should have a full 
 security by mutual faith ; and occasional inconveniences should 
 be willingly suffered, that we may preserve it. There must, how- 
 ever, be some exceptions. If, for instance, a murderer should 
 ask you which way a man is gone, you may tell him what is not 
 true, because you are under a previous obligation not to betray a 
 man to a murderer." Boswell : " Supposing the person who 
 wrote ' Junius ' were asked whether he was the author, might he 
 deny it?" Johnson: ''I don't know what to say to this. If 
 you were sm-e that he wrote 'Junius' would you, if he denied it, 
 think as well of him afterwards ? Yet it may be urged, that what 
 a man has no right to ask, you may refuse to communicate ; and 
 there is no other effectual mode of preserving a secret, and an 
 important secret, the discovery of which may be very hurtful to 
 you, but a flat denial ; for if you are silent, or hesitate, or evade, 
 it will be held equivalent to a confession. But stay. Sir, here is 
 another case. Supposing the author had told me confidentially 
 that he had written ' Junius ' and I were asked if he had, I should 
 hold myself at liberty to deny it, as being under a previous 
 promise, express or implied, to conceal it. Now what I ought 
 to do for the author, may I not do for myself? But I deny the 
 lawfulness of telling a lie to a sick man, for fear of alarming him. 
 You have no business with consequences ; you are to tell the 
 truth. Besides, you are not sure what effect your telling him 
 that he is in danger may have. It may bring his distemper to a 
 crisis, and that may cure him. Of all lying I have the greatest 
 abhorrence of this, because I beheve it has been frequently prac- 
 tised on myself." 
 
 I cannot help thinking that there is much weight in the opinion 
 of those who have held, that truth, as an eternal and immutable 
 principle, ought, upon no account whatever, to be violated, from 
 supposed previous or superior obligations, of which every man 
 being to judge for himself, there is great danger that we too 
 often from partial motives, persuade ourselves that they exist ; 
 and probably whatever extraordinary instances may sometimes 
 occur, where some evil may be prevented by violating this 
 noble principle, it would be found that human happiness 
 would, upon the whole, be more perfect were truth universally 
 preserved. 
 
494 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [AD. 1784. 
 
 In the notes to the " Dunciad," we find the following verses, 
 addressed to Pope : ^ 
 
 " While malice, Pope, denies thy page 
 Its own celestial fire; 
 While critics, and while bards in rage, 
 Admiring, won't admire: 
 
 " While wayward pens thy worth assail, 
 And envious tongues decry; 
 These times, though many a friend bewail, 
 These times bewail not I. 
 
 *' But when the world's loud praise is thine, 
 And spleen no more shall blame : 
 
 . When with thy Homer thou shalt shine 
 In one establish'd fame ! 
 
 " When none shall rail, and every lay 
 Devote a wreath to thee; 
 That day (for come it will) that day 
 Shall I lament to see." 
 
 It is surely not a little remarkable, that they should appear 
 without a name. Miss Seward, knowing Dr. Johnson's almost 
 universal and minute literary information, signified a desire that 
 I should ask him who was the author. He was prompt with his 
 answer : " Why, Sir, they were written by one Lewis, who was 
 either under- master or an usher of Westminster School, and 
 published a Miscellany, in which 'Grongar Hill ' first came out." ^ 
 Johnson praised them highly, and repeated them with a noble 
 animation. In the twelfth line, instead of " one establish'd 
 fame," he repeated " one unclouded flame," which he thought 
 was the readmg in former editions : but I believe was a flash of 
 his own genius. It is much more poetical than the other. 
 
 On Monday, June 14, and Tuesday, 15, Dr. Johnson and I 
 dined, on one of them, I forget which, with Mr. Mickle, trans- 
 lator of the " Lusiad," at Wheatley, a very pretty country place 
 
 * The annotator calls them "amiable verses."— B. The annotator was Pope 
 himself. — Croker. 
 
 2 Lewis's verses addressed to Pope (as Mr. Bindley suggests to me), were first 
 published in a collection of " Pieces in Verse and Prose on Occasion of the Dun- 
 ciad," 8vo, 1732. They are there called an epigram. " Grongar Hill," the same 
 gentleman observes, was first ])rinted in Savage's " Miscellanies," as an ode (it is 
 singular that |ohnson should not have recollected this), and was rcprbttcd in the 
 same year (1726), in Lewis's " Miscellany," in the form it now bears. The Deanj 
 of Westminster, who has been pleased at my request to make some inquiry on thisj 
 subject, has not found any vestige of Lewis having ever been employed at the 
 School. — Malone. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 READING BOOKS T II ROUGH. 
 
 495 
 
 a few miles from Oxford ; and on the other with Dr. Wetherell, 
 Master of University College. From Dr. Wetherell's he went to 
 visit Mr. Sackville Parker, the bookseller ; and when he returned 
 to us, gave the following account of his visit, saying : I have 
 been to see my old friend, Sack. Parker ; I find he has married 
 his maid ; he has done right. She had lived with him many 
 years in great confidence, and they had mingled minds ; I do 
 not think he could have found any wife that would have made 
 him so happy. The woman was very attentive and civil to me ; 
 she pressed me to fix a day for dining with them, and to say 
 what I liked, and she would be sure to get it for me. Poor 
 Sack ! He is very ill, indeed. We parted as never to meet 
 again. It has quite broken me down." This pathetic narrative 
 was strangely diversified with the grave and earnest defence of a 
 man's having married his maid. I could not but feel it as in some 
 degree ludicrous. 
 
 In the morning of Tuesday, June 15, while we sat at Dr. 
 Adams's, we talked of a printed letter from the Reverend Her- 
 bert Croft to a young gentleman who had been his pupil, in 
 which he advised him to read to the end of whatever books he 
 should begin to read. Johnson : This is surely a strange 
 advice ; you may as well resolve that whatever men you happen 
 to get acquainted with, you are to keep to them for life. A book 
 may be good for nothing ; or there may be only one thing in it 
 worth knowing : are we to read it all through ? These voyages 
 (pointing to the three large volumes of 'Voyages to the South 
 Sea,'' which were just come out), who will read them through? 
 A man had better work his way before the mast, than read them 
 through ; they will be eaten by rats and mice before they are 
 read through. There can be little entertainment in such books ; 
 one set of savages is like another." Boswell : "I do not think 
 the people of Otaheite can be reckoned savages." Johnson : 
 "Don't cant in defence of savages." Boswell: "They have 
 the art of navigation." Johnson: "A dog or a cat can swim." 
 Boswell : " They carve very ingeniously." Johnson : " A cat 
 can scratch, and a child with a nail can scratch." I perceived 
 this was none of the mollia tempora faitdi,'^ so desisted. 
 
 Upon his mentioning that when he came to College he wrote 
 his first exercises twice over, but never did so afterwards ; Miss 
 
 ^ Cook's third voyage. " A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean in the years 1776-80 " ; 
 London, 1784, 3 vols. 4to. The first two vols, by Capt. Cook, the third by Capt. 
 King. See Mr. Fiesant's " Captain Cook " (Macmillan's " Men of Action"). 
 
 ^ Virgil : " ^neid," iv. 293. 
 
496 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 Adams: "I suppose, Sir, you could not make them better?" 
 Johnson : " Yes, Madam, to be sure, I could make them better. 
 Thought is better than no thought." Miss Adams : Do you 
 think, Sir, you could make your Raniblei-s better? Johnson: 
 " Certainly I could." Boswell : " I '11 lay a bet. Sir, you can- 
 not." Johnson : "But I will. Sir, if I choose. I shall make the 
 best of them you shall pick out, better." Boswell : " But you 
 may add to them. I will not allow of that." Johnson : " Nay, 
 Sir, there are three ways of making them better ; putting out, — 
 adding, — or correcting." 
 
 During our visit at Oxford, the following conversation passed 
 between him and me on the subject of my trying my fortune 
 at the English Bar.* Having asked, whether a very extensive 
 acquaintance in London, which was very valuable and of great 
 advantage to a man at large, might not be prejudicial to a lawyer, 
 by preventing him from giving sufficient attention to his business? 
 Johnson : Sir, you will attend to business, as business lays 
 hold on you. When not actually employed, you may see your 
 friends as much as you do now. You may dine at a club every 
 day, and sup with one of the members every night ; and you 
 may be as much at public places as one who has seen them all 
 would wish to be. But you must take care to attend constantly 
 in Westminster Hall ; both to mind your business, as it is almost 
 all learnt there (for nobody reads now), and to show that you 
 want to have business. And you must not be too often seen at 
 public places, that competitors may not have it to say, ^ He is 
 always at the playhouse or at Ranelagh, and never to be found 
 at his chambers.' And, Sir, there must be a kind of solemnity 
 in the manner of a professional man. I have nothing in particu- 
 lar to say to you on the subject. All this I should say to any 
 one ; I should have said it to Lord Thurlow twenty years ago." 
 
 The Profession may probably think this representation of 
 what is required in a barrister who would hope for success, to be 
 much too indulgent ; but certain it is, that as 
 
 " The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame," 
 
 some of the lawyers of this age who have risen high, have by no 
 means thought it absolutely necessary to submit to that long and 
 painful course of study which a Plovvden, a Coke, and a Hale, 
 
 1 Boswell began to eat dinners in the Inner Temple so early as 1775. He was 
 not called till Hilary Term, 1786. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 Johnson : " Prologue at the opening of Drury Lane Theatre." 
 
Age 75-] 
 
 JOHNSON'S EYESIGHT. 
 
 497 
 
 considered as requisite. My respected friend, Mr. Langton, has 
 shown me in the handwriting of his grandfather, a curious ac- 
 count of a conversation which he had with Lord Chief Justice 
 Hale, in which that great man tells him, Uhat for two years 
 after he came to the inn of court, he studied sixteen hours a day ; 
 however (his Lordship added), that by this intense application he 
 almost brought himself to his grave, though he were of a very 
 strong constitution, and after reduced himself to eight hours ; but 
 that he would not advise anybody to so much ; that he thought 
 six hours a day, with attention and constancy, was sufficient ; that 
 man must use his body as he would his horse, and his stomach ; 
 not tire him at once but rise with an appetite.' 
 
 On Wednesday, June 19 [16], Dr. Johnson and I returned to 
 London ; he was not well to-day, and said very little, employing 
 himself chiefly in reading "Euripides." He expressed some dis- 
 pleasure at me, for not observing sufficiently the various objects 
 upon the road. "If I had your eyes. Sir," said he, "I should 
 count the passengers." It was wonderful how accurate his 
 observation of visual objects was, notwithstanding his imperfect 
 eyesight, owing to a habit of attention. That he was much 
 satisfied with the respect paid to him at Dr. Adams's is thus 
 attested by himself: "I returned last night from Oxford, after 
 a fortnight's abode with Dr. Adams, who treated me as well as I 
 could expect or wish ; and he that contents a sick man, a man 
 whom it is impossible to please, has surely done his part well." 
 [" Letters to Mrs. Thrale," ii. 372.] 
 
 After his return to London from this excursion, I saw him 
 frequently, but have few memorandums ; I shall therefore here 
 insert some particulars which I collected at various times. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Astle, of Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, brother 
 to the learned and ingenious Thomas Astle, Esq., was from his 
 early years known to Dr. Johnson, who obligingly advised him 
 as to his studies, and recommended to him the following books, of 
 which a list, which he has been pleased to communicate, lies 
 before me, in Johnson's own handwriting : 
 
 Universal History (ancient). — Rollin's Ancient History. — Puffendorf's 
 Introduction to History. — Vertot's History of Knights of Malta. — Vertot's 
 Revolution of Portugal. — Vertot's Revolution of Sweden. — Carte's History 
 of England. — Present State of England. — Geographical Grammar. — Pri- 
 deaux's Connexion. — Nelson's Feasts and Fasts. — Duty of Man. — Gentle- 
 man's Religion. — Clarendon's History. — Watts's Improvement of the 
 Mind, — Watts's Logic. — Nature Displayed. — Lowth's English Gram- 
 
 VoL. II. -32 
 
498 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 mar. — Blackwell on the Classics. — Sherlock's Sermons. — Burnet's Life 
 of Hale. — Dupin's History of the Church. — Shuckford's Connexions. — 
 Law's Serious Call. — Walton's Complete Angler. — Sandys's Travels. — 
 Spratt's History of the Royal Society. — England's Gazetteer. — Goldsmith's 
 Roman History. — Some Commentaries on the Bible. 
 
 It having been mentioned to Dr. Johnson that a gentleman 
 who had a son whom he imagined to have an extreme degree 
 of timidity, resolved to send him to a public school that he 
 might acquire confidence ; " Sir," said Johnson, " this is a pre- 
 posterous expedient for removing his infirmity ; such a disposi- 
 tion should be cultivated in the shade. Placing him at a public 
 school is forcing an owl upon day." 
 
 Speaking of a gentleman * whose house was much frequented 
 by low company; " Rags, Sir," said he, "will always make their 
 appearance, where they have a right to do it." 
 
 Of the same gentleman's mode of living, he said : " Sir, the 
 servants, instead of doing what they are bid, stand round the 
 table in idle clusters, gaping upon the guests ; and seem as unfit 
 to attend a company, as to steer a man-of-war." 
 
 A dull country magistrate ^ gave Johnson a long tedious account 
 of his exercising his criminal jurisdiction, the result of which was 
 having sentenced four convicts to transportation. Johnson, in an 
 agony of impatience to get rid of such a companion, exclaimed, 
 " I heartily wish. Sir, that I were a fifth." 
 
 Johnson was present when a tragedy was read, in which there 
 occurred this line : 
 
 " Who rules o'er freemen should himself be free." ^ 
 
 The company having admired it much, " I cannot agree with 
 you," said Johnson. " It might as well be said, 
 
 " ' Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.' " 
 
 He was pleased with the kindness of Mr. Cator, who was 
 joined with him in Mr. Thrale's important trust, and thus de- 
 scribes him. " There is much good in his character, and much 
 usefulness in his knowledge." [" Letters to Mrs. Thrale," ii. 
 284.] He found a cordial solace at that gentleman's seat at 
 
 1 Conjectured to be Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 ^ The Mayor of Windsor. — Dr. Hill. 
 ^ Brooke : " Earl of Essex," Act i. 
 
Age 75-] HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. 499 
 
 Beckenham in Kent, which is indeed one of the finest places at 
 which I ever was a guest ; and where I find more and more a 
 hospitable welcome. 
 
 Johnson seldom encouraged general censure of any profession ; 
 but he was willing to allow a due share of merit to the various 
 departments necessary in civilized life. In a splenetic, sarcasti- 
 cal, or jocular frame of mind, however, he would sometimes 
 utter a pointed saying of that nature. One instance has been 
 mentioned (Vol. I., p. 364), where he gave a sudden satirical 
 stroke to the character of an attorney. The too indiscriminate 
 admission to that employment, which acquires both abilities and 
 integrity, has given rise to injurious reflections, which are totally 
 inapplicable to many very respectable men who exercise it with 
 reputation and honor. 
 
 Johnson having argued for some time with a pertinacious 
 gentleman : his opponent, who had talked in a very puzzling 
 manner, happened to say, " I don't understand you. Sir; " upon 
 which Johnson observed, Sir, I have found you an argument ; 
 but I am not obliged to find you an understanding." 
 
 Talking to me of Horry Walpole (as Horace late Earl of Orford * 
 was often called), Johnson allowed that he got together a great 
 many curious little things and told them in an elegant manner. 
 Mr. Walpole thought Johnson a more amiable character after 
 reading his " Letters to Mrs. Thrale " : but never was one of the 
 true admirers of that great man.^ We may suppose a prejudice 
 conceived, if he ever heard Johnson's account to Sir George 
 Staunton, that when he made the speeches in Parliament 
 for the Gentleman' s Magazine, " He always took care to put 
 Sir Robert Walpole in the wrong, and to say everything he could 
 against the electorate of Hanover." The celebrated " Heroic 
 Epistle," in which Johnson is satirically introduced, has been 
 ascribed both to Mr. Walpole and Mr. Mason. One day at Mr. 
 Courtenay's, when a gentleman expressed his opinion that 
 there was more energy in that poem than could be expected ' 
 from Mr. Walpole ; Mr. Warton, the late Laureate, observed, 
 
 ^ He succeeded to the title in Dec, 1791. He died March 2, 1797. 
 
 ^ In his Posthumous Works, he has spoken of Johnson in the most contemptu- 
 ous manner ! — Malone. He spoke of him as " one of the venal champions of the 
 Court," " a renegade," " a brute," " an old decrepit hireling." In his " Memoirs of 
 the Reign of George the Third," iv. 297, he says : " W^ith a lumber of learning and 
 some strong parts johnson was an odious and mean character. His manners were 
 sordid, supercilious, and brutal ; his style ridiculously bombastic and vicious, and, 
 in one word, with all the pedantry, he had all the gigantic littleness of a country 
 school master." — Dr. Hill. He called Boswell " that quintessence of busy bodies.'' 
 
500 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 " It may have been written by Walpole, and buckram'' d by 
 Mason.' 
 
 He disapproved of Lord Hailes, for having modernized the 
 language of the ever-memorable John Hales of Eton, in an edi- 
 tion which his Lordship pubUshed of that writer's works. " An 
 author's language, Sir," said he, "is a characteristical part of his 
 composition, and is also characteristical of the age in which he 
 writes. Besides, Sir, when the language is changed we are not 
 sure that the sense is the same. No, Sir : I am sorry Lord 
 Hailes has done this." 
 
 Here it may be observed, that his frequent use of the ex- 
 pression, No, Sir, was not always to intimate contradiction ; for 
 he would say so when he was about to enforce an affirmative 
 proposition which had not been denied, as in the instance last 
 mentioned. I used to consider it as a kind of flag of defiance : 
 as if he had said, " Any argument you may offer against this, is 
 not just. No, Sir, it is not." It was like Falstaff's " I deny 
 your major." ^ 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds having said that he took the altitude of a 
 man's taste by his stories and his wit, and of his understanding 
 by the remarks which he repeated ; being always sure that he 
 must be a weak man, who quotes common things with an empha- 
 sis as if they were oracles ; Johnson agreed with him ; and Sir 
 Joshua having also observed that the real character of a man was 
 found out by his amusements, — Johnson added, "Yes, Sir; no 
 man is a hypocrite in his pleasures." 
 
 I have mentioned Johnson's general aversion to a pun. He 
 once, however, endured one of mine. When we were talking 
 of a numerous company in which he had distinguished himself 
 highly, I said, " Sir, you were a Cod surrounded by smelts. Is 
 not this enough for you ? at a time too when you were not fishing 
 for a compliment?" He laughed at this with a complacent ap- 
 probation. Old Mr. Sheridan observed, upon my mentioning it 
 to him, " He liked your compliment so well, he was willing to 
 take it with pim sauced For my own part, I think no innocent 
 species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed : and that a 
 good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellences of 
 lively conversation. 
 
 Had Johnson treated at large Dc Claris Oi-atoribus, he might 
 
 1 It is now (1804) known that the " Heroic Epistle " was written by Mason. — 
 Malone. 
 
 '■^ " Henry IV.," Act ii. sc. 4. 
 
Age 75. J 
 
 JOHNSON ON ORATORY. 
 
 501 
 
 have given us an admirable work. When the Duke of Bedford 
 attacked the Ministry as vehemently as he could, for having taken 
 upon them to extend the time for the importation of corn,' Lord 
 Chatman, in his first speech in the House of Lords, boldly 
 avowed himself to be an adviser of that measure. " My col- 
 leagues," said he, " as I was confined by indisposition, did me the 
 signal honor of coming to the bed-side of a sick man, to ask his 
 .opinion. But, had they not thus condescended, I should have 
 taken up my bed and ivalked, in order to have delivered that 
 opinion at the Council-Board." Mr. Langton, who was present, 
 mentioned this to Johnson, who observed : Now, Sir, we see 
 that he took these words as he found them ; without considering, 
 that though the expression in Scripture, take up thy bed and walk, 
 strictly suited the instance of the sick man restored to health and 
 strength, who would of course be supposed to carry his bed with 
 him, it could not be proper in the case of a man who was lying 
 in a state of feebleness, and who certainly would not add to the 
 difficulty of moving at all, that of carrying his bed." 
 
 When I pointed out to him in the newspaper one of Mr. 
 Grattan's animated and glowing speeches in favor of the freedom 
 of Ireland, in which this expression occurred (I know not if accu- 
 rately taken) : "We will persevere, till there is not one link of 
 the English chain left to clank upon the rags of the meanest 
 beggar in Ireland;" — "Nay, Sir," said Johnson, "don't you 
 perceive that one link cannot clank?" 
 
 Mrs.Thrale has published ("Anecdotes," p. 43), as Johnson's, 
 a kind of parody or counterpart of a fine poetical passage in one 
 of Mr. Burke's speeches on American Taxation. It is vigorously 
 but somewhat coarsely executed ; and I am inclined to suppose, 
 is not quite correctly exhibited. I hope he did not use the words 
 " vile agents'' for the Americans in the House of Parliament ; and 
 if he did so in an extempore effusion, I wish the lady had not 
 committed it to writing. 
 
 Mr. Burke uniformly showed Johnson the greatest respect ; 
 and when Mr. Townshend, now Lord Sydney, at a period when 
 he was conspicuous in opposition, threw out some reflection in 
 Parliament upon the grant of a pension to a man of such political 
 principles as Johnson ; Mr. Burke, though then of the same party 
 
 1 A mistake. The Ministry was attacked for prohibiting, without an order of 
 Parliament, the export of corn before the price had been reached at which exporta- 
 tion ceased to Vje lawful. It was on this occasion that Chatham made his first 
 speech in the House of Lords, defending his bold stretch of the prerogative against 
 Mansfield. — Mahon's " Hist, of Engl," v. 166 and 196. 
 
502 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 with Mr. Townshend, stood warmly forth in defence of his friend, 
 to whom, he justly observed, the pension was granted solely on 
 account of his eminent literary merit. ^ I am well assured, that 
 Mr. Townshend's attack upon Johnson was the occasion of his 
 "hitching in a rhyme ; " ^ for, that in the original copy of Gold- 
 smith's character of Mr. Burke, in his " Retaliation," another 
 person's name stood in the couplet where Mr. Townshend is now 
 introduced : 
 
 " Though fraught with all learning kept [yet] straining his throat, 
 To persuade Tommy Tozvnshend to lend him a vote." 
 
 It may be worth remarking, among the minuti(E of my collec- 
 tion, that Johnson was once drawn to serve in the militia, the 
 Trained Bands of the City of London, and that Mr. Rackstrow, 
 of the Museum in Fleet Street, was his Colonel. It may be 
 believed he did not serve in person ; but the idea, with all its 
 circumstances, is certainly laughable. He upon that occasion 
 provided himself with a musket, and with a sword and belt, which 
 I have seen hanging in his closet. 
 
 He was very constant to those whom he once employed, if 
 they gave him no reason to be displeased. When somebody 
 talked of being imposed on in the purchase of tea and sugar, 
 and such articles : " That will not be the case," said he, " if you 
 go to a stately shop, as I always do. In such a shop it is not 
 worth their while to take a petty advantage." 
 
 An author of most anxious and restless vanity being mentioned, 
 "Sir," said he, "there is not a young sapling upon Parnassus 
 more severely blown about by every wind of criticism than that 
 poor fellow." 
 
 The difference, he observed, between a well-bred and an ill- 
 bred man is this : " One immediately attracts your liking, the 
 other your aversion. You love the one till you find reason to 
 hate him ; you hate the other till you find reason to love him." 
 
 The wife of one of his acquaintance had fraudulently made a 
 purse for herself out of her husband's fortune. Feeling a proper 
 compunction in her last moments she confessed how much she 
 
 1 It appears from the " Cavendish Debates," i. 514, and from " Pari. Hist.," xvii. 
 1054, that to neither of Townshend's attacks on Johnson, in 1770 or in 1774, did 
 Burke make any answer. Fitzherbert was the defender on the first occasion, Fox 
 on the second. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 " Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time, 
 Shdes into verse and hitches in a rhyme." 
 
 Pope : " Imitations of Horace," i. 78. 
 
 J 
 
Age 75.] THE JOHNSONESE STYLE. 
 
 503 
 
 had secreted ; but before she could tell where it was placed, she 
 was seized with a convulsive fit and expired. Her husband said 
 he was more hurt by her want of confidence in him, than by the 
 loss of his money. " I told him," said Johnson, " that he should 
 console himself : for pei-haps the money might be found, and he 
 was sure that his wife was gone.'' 
 
 A foppish physician once reminded Johnson of his having been 
 in company with him on a former occasion : I do not remember 
 it, Sir." The physician still insisted ; adding that he that day 
 wore so fine a coat that it must have attracted his notice. " Sir," 
 said Johnson, " had you been dipped in Pactolus, I should not have 
 noticed you." 
 
 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 pronounced a more 
 round sentence : " It has not vitality enough to preserve it from 
 putrefaction." 
 
 He censured a writer ' of entertaining travels for assuming a 
 feigned character, saying (in his sense of the word) "He carries 
 out one lie ; we know not how many he brings back." At another 
 time, talking of the same person, he observed : " Sir, your assent 
 to a man whom you have never known to falsify, is a debt : but 
 after you have known a man to falsify, your assent to him then is 
 a favor." 
 
 Though he had no taste for painting, he admired much the 
 manner in which Sir Joshua Reynolds treated of his art, in his 
 "Discourses to the Royal Academy." He observed one day of a 
 passage in them, " I think I might as well have said this myself : " 
 and once when Mr. Langton was sitting by him, he read one of 
 them very eagerly, and expressed himself thus : "Very well, 
 Master Reynolds ; very well, indeed. But it will not be under- 
 stood." 
 
 When I observed to him that painting was so far inferior to 
 poetry, that the story or even emblem which it communicates 
 must be previously known, and mentioned as a natural and 
 laughable instance of this, that a little Miss on seeing a picture 
 of Justice with the scales, had exclaimed to me, " See, there 's a 
 
 ^The Rev. Martin Sherlock, author of " Letters of an English Traveller," trans- 
 lated from the French, 1781. — Croker. Dr. Thomas Campbell, author of " Philo- 
 sophical Survey of the South of Ireland." — Dr. Hill. 
 
504 
 
 BOSWELVS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 woman selling sweetmeats ; " he said, " Painting, Sir, can illustrate, 
 but cannot inform." 
 
 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 decent, sensible man, who had 
 composed about one-half of his Dictionary, when in Mr. Strahan's 
 printing-house ; and a great part of his " Lives of the Poets," 
 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 candidly 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 discovered that she 
 was one of those wretched females who had fallen into the lowest 
 state of vice, poverty, 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 
 endeavored to put her into a virtuous way of living.^ 
 
 He thought Mr. Caleb Whitefoord singularly happy in hitting 
 on the signature of Papyrius Cursor, to his ingenious and divert- 
 ing cross-readings of the newspapers ; it being a real name of an 
 ancient Roman, and clearly expressive of the thing done in this 
 lively conceit."' 
 
 He once in his life was known to have uttered what is called a 
 bull : Sir Joshua Reynolds, when they were riding together in 
 Devonshire, complained that he had a very bad horse, for that 
 
 * Compositor in the Printing-house means, the person who adjusts the types in 
 the order in which they are to stand for printing; and arranges what is called the 
 form, from which an impression is taken. — B. 
 
 2 The circumstance therefore alluded to in Mr. Courtenay's " Poetical Character" 
 of him is strictly true. My informer was Mrs. Desmoulins, who lived many years 
 in Dr. Johnson's house. — B. 
 
 3 He followed his " Cross-Readings" by a still more witty paper on the " Errors 
 of the Press." These two laughable essays are preserved in "The Foundling 
 Hospital for Wit." — Crokcr. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 STEEVENS'S ANECDOTES. 
 
 505 
 
 even when going downhill he moved slowly step by step. "Ay," 
 said Johnson, " and when he goes uphill, he stands stills 
 
 He had a great aversion to gesticulating in company. He 
 called once to a gentleman * who offended him in that point, 
 "Do n't attitudinise y And when another gentleman ^ thought he 
 was giving additional force to what he uttered, by expressive 
 movements of his hands, Johnson fairly seized them, and held 
 them down. 
 
 An author ^ of considerable eminence having engrossed a good 
 share of the conversation in the company of Johnson, and having 
 said nothing but what was trifling and insignificant ; Johnson 
 when he was gone, observed to us : " It is wonderful what a 
 difference there sometimes is between a man's powers of writing 
 
 and of talking. writes with great spirit, but is a poor 
 
 talker; had he held his tongue, we might have supposed him to 
 have been restrained by modesty ; but he has spoken a great 
 deal to-day; and you have heard what stuff it was." 
 
 A gentleman having said that a conge d'elire^ has not, perhaps, 
 the force of a command, but may be considered only as a strong 
 recommendation; "Sir," replied Johnson, who overheard him, 
 " it is such a recommendation, as if I should throw you out of a 
 two pair of stairs window, and recommend to you to fall soft."^ 
 
 Mr. Steevens, who passed many a social hour with him during 
 their long acquaintance, which commenced when they both lived 
 in the Temple, has preserved a good number of particulars con- 
 cerning him, most of which are to be found in the department of 
 Apophthegms, &c., in the Collection of Johnson's Works. ^ But 
 he has been pleased to favor me with the following, which are 
 original : 
 
 One evening, previous to the trial of Baretti, a consultation of his friends 
 was held at the house of Mr. Cox, the solicitor, in Southampton Buildings, 
 Chancery Lane. • Among others present were Mr. Burke and Dr. Johnson, 
 who differed in sentiments concerning the tendency of some part of the 
 defence the prisoner was to make. When the meeting was over, Mr. Steevens 
 observed, that the question between him and his friend had been agitated with 
 
 1 Mr. Musgrove. 
 
 2 Perhaps Dr. Warton. — Hill. 
 
 3 Probably Dr. Beattie. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 ^ Conge d'cUre: the King's permission royal to a dean and chapter in time of 
 vacation, to choose a bishop. — Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
 ^This has been printed in other publications, "fall to the ground!' But John- 
 son himself gave me the true expression which he had used as above ; meaning 
 that the recommendation left as little clioice in the one case as the other. — B. 
 
 "This refers to Hawkins's edition in 15 vols. 8vo, Lond., 1787-9. The Apoph- 
 thegms are reprinted in Napier's " Johnsoniana." 
 
506 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 rather too much warmth. "It may be so, Sir," replied the Doctor, "for 
 Burke and I should have been of one opinion, if we had had no audience." 
 
 Dr. Johnson once assumed a character in which perhaps even Mr. Boswell 
 never saw him. His curiosity having been excited by "the praises bestowed 
 on the celebrated Torre's fireworks at Marylebone Gardens, he desired Mr. 
 Steevens to accompany him thither. The evening had proved showery; and 
 soon after the few people present were assembled, public notice was given, 
 that the conductors to the wheels, suns, stars, &c., were so thoroughly water- 
 soaked, that it was impossible any part of the exhibition should be made. 
 "This is a mere excuse," says the Doctor, " to save their crackers for a more 
 profitable company. Let us both hold up our sticks, and threaten to break 
 those colored lamps that surround the orchestra, and we shall soon have our 
 wishes gratified. The core of the fireworks cannot be injured; let the dif- 
 ferent pieces be touched in their respective centres, and they will do their 
 offices as well as ever." Some young men who overheard him, immediately 
 began the violence he had recommended, and an attempt was speedily made 
 to fire some of the wheels which appeared to have received the smallest 
 damage; but to little purpose were they lighted, for most of them completely 
 failed. The author of TAe Rambler^ however, may be considered on this 
 occasion, as the ringleader of a successful riot, though not as a skilful 
 pyrotechnist. 
 
 It has been supposed that Dr. Johnson, so far as fashion was concerned, 
 was careless of his appearance in public. But this is not altogether true, as 
 the following slight instance may show: Goldsmith's last comedy was to be 
 represented during some court-mourning; ' and Mr. Steevens appointed to 
 call on Dr. Johnson, and carry him to the tavern where he was to dine with 
 others of the poet's friends. The Doctor was ready dressed, but in colored 
 clothes: yet being told that he would find every one else in black, received 
 the intelligence with a profusion of thanks, hastened to change his attire, all 
 the while repeating his gratitude for the information that had saved him from 
 an appearance so improper in the front row of a front box. " I would not," 
 added he, " for ten pounds have seemed so retrograde to any general observ- 
 ance." 
 
 He would sometimes found his dislikes on very slender circumstances. 
 Happening one day to mention Mr. Flexman, a Dissenting Minister, with 
 some compliment to his exact memory in chronological matters; the Doctor 
 replied, "Let me hear no more of him, Sir. That is the fellow who made 
 the index to my Ramblers, and set down the name of Milton thus: Milton, 
 Mr. John." 
 
 Mr. Steevens adds this testimony : 
 
 It is unfortunate, however, for Johnson, that his particularities and frailties 
 can be more distinctly traced than his good and amiable exertions. Could the 
 many bounties he studiously concealed, the many acts of humanity he per- 
 formed in private, be displayed with equal circumstantiality, his defects would 
 be so far lost in the blaze of his virtues, that the latter only would be regarded. 
 
 Though from my very high admiration of Johnson, I have won- 
 dered that he was not courted by all the great and all the eminent 
 
 ' " She stoops to conquer " was first acted on March 15, 1773. The King of Sar- 
 dinia had died Feb. 20. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 75.J PLAN FOR JOHNSON'S VISITING ITALY. 507 
 
 persons of his time, it ought fairly to be considered that no man 
 of humble birth, who lived entirely by literature, in short no 
 author by profession, ever rose in this country into that personal 
 notice which he did. In the course of this work a numerous 
 variety of names has been mentioned, to which many might be 
 added. I cannot omit Lord and Lady Lucan, at whose house 
 he often enjoyed all that an elegant table and the best company 
 can contribute to happiness ; he found hospitality united with 
 extraordinary accomplishments, and embellished with charms of 
 which no man could be insensible. 
 
 On Tuesday, June 22, I dined with him at The Literary 
 Club, the last time of his being in that respectable society. The 
 other members present were the Bishop of St. Asaph, Lord Eliot, 
 Lord Palmerston, Dr. Fordyce, and Mr. Malone. He looked ill ; 
 but had such a manly fortitude, that he did not trouble the com- 
 pany with melancholy complaints. They all showed evident 
 marks of kind concern about him, with which he w^as much 
 pleased, and he exerted himself to be as entertaining as his in- 
 disposition allowed him. 
 
 The anxiety of his friends to preserve so estimable a life, as 
 long as human means might be supposed to have influence, made 
 them plan for him a retreat from the severity of a British winter 
 to the mild climate of Italy. This scheme was at last brought to 
 a serious resolution at General Paoli's, where I had often talked 
 of it. One essential matter, however, I understood was neces- 
 sary to be previously settled, which was obtaining such an addi- 
 tion to his income as would be sufficient to enable him to defray 
 the expense in a manner becoming the first literary character of 
 a great nation, and, independent of all his other merits, the 
 author of "The Dictionary of the English Language." The 
 person to whom I above all others thought I should apply to 
 negotiate this business, was the i,ord Chancellor, because I knew 
 that he highly valued Johnson, and that Johnson highly valued 
 his Lordship ; so that it was no degradation of my illustrious 
 friend to solicit for him the favor of such a man. I have men- 
 tioned what Johnson said of him to me when he was at the bar ; 
 and after his Lordship was advanced to the seals, he said of him, 
 " I would prepare myself for no man in England but Lord Thur- 
 low. When I am to meet with him, I should wish to know a day 
 before." How he would have prepared himself, I cannot con- 
 jecture. Would he have selected certain topics, and consid- 
 ered them in every view, so as to be in readiness to argue them 
 
508 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784 
 
 at all points? and what may we suppose those topics to have 
 been? I once started the curious inquiry to the great man 
 who was the subject of this compliment : he smiled, but did not 
 pursue it. 
 
 I first consulted with Sir Joshua Reynolds, who perfectly co- 
 incided in opinion with me ; and I therefore, though personally 
 very little known to his Lordship, wrote to him,' stating the case, 
 and requesting his good offices for Dr. Johnson. I mentioned 
 that I was obliged to set out for Scotland early in the following 
 week, so that if his Lordship should have any commands for me 
 as to this pious negotiation, he would be pleased to send them 
 before that time ; otherwise Sir Joshua Reynolds would give all 
 attention to it. 
 
 This application was made not only without any suggestion on 
 the part of Johnson himself, but was utterly unknown to him, nor 
 had he the smallest suspicion of it. Any insinuations, therefore, 
 which since his death have been thrown out, as if he had stooped 
 to ask what was superfluous, are without any foundation. But, 
 had he asked it, it would not have been superfluous ; for though 
 the money he had saved proved to be more than his friends 
 imagined, or than I believe he himself, in his carelessness con- 
 cerning worldly matters knew it to be, had he travelled upon the 
 Continent, an augmentation of his income would by no means 
 have been unnecessary. 
 
 On Wednesday, June 23, I visited him in the morning, after 
 having been present at the shocking sight of fifteen men exe- 
 cuted before Newgate. I said to him, I was sure that human 
 life was not machinery, that is to say, a chain of fatality planned 
 and directed by the Supreme Being, as it had in it so much 
 wickedness and misery, so many instances of both, as that by 
 which my mind was now clouded. 
 
 Were it machinery, it would b« better than it is in these re- 
 spects, though less noble, as not being a system of moral gov- 
 ernment. He agreed with me now, as he always did, upon the 
 great question of the liberty of the human will, which has been 
 in all ages per])lexed with so much sophistry : " But, Sir, as to 
 the doctrine of Necessity, no man believes it. If a man should 
 give me arguments that 1 do not see, though I could not answer 
 them, should I believe that I do not see?" It will be observed, 
 
 • It is strange that Sir ]ohn Hawkins should have related that the application 
 was made by Sir )()siiua Reynolds, when he could so easily have been informed of 
 the truth by inquiring of Sir Joshua, Sir John's carelessness to ascertain facts is 
 very remarkable. — Li. 
 
Age 75.] OLD MR. SHERIDAN'S ANIMOSITY. 
 
 509 
 
 that Johnson at all times made the just distinction between doc- 
 trines contrary to reason, and doctrines above reason. 
 
 Talking of the religious discipline proper for unhappy convicts, 
 he said : "Sir, one of our regular clergy will probably not impress 
 their minds sufficiently : they should be attended by a Methodist 
 preacher;^ or a Popish priest." Let me however observe, in jus- 
 tice to the Reverend Mr. Vilette, who has been Ordinary of New- 
 gate for no less than eighteen years, in the course of which he has 
 attended many hundreds of wretched criminals, that his earnest 
 and humane exhortations have been very effectual. His extraor- 
 dinary diligence is highly praiseworthy, and merits a distinguished 
 reward.^ 
 
 On Thursday, June 24, I dined with him at Mr. Dilly's, where 
 were the Rev. Mr. (now Dr.) Knox, master of Tunbridge School, 
 Mr. Smith, Vicar of Southill, Dr. Beattie, Mr. Pinkerton, author 
 of various literary performances, and the Rev. Dr. Mayo. At my 
 desire old Mr. Sheridan was invited, as I was earnest to have 
 Johnson and him brought together again by chance, that a rec- 
 onciliation might be effected. Mr. Sheridan happened to come 
 early, and having learned that Dr. Johnson was to be there, went 
 away ; so I found, with sincere regret, that my friendly intentions 
 were hopeless. I recollect nothing that passed this day, except 
 Johnson's quickness, who, when Dr. Beattie observed, as some- 
 thing remarkable which had happened to him, that he had 
 chanced to see both No. i, and No. 1,000, of the hackney- 
 coaches, the first and the last ; " Why, Sir," said Johnson, " there 
 is an equal chance for one's seeing those two numbers as any 
 other two." He was clearly right ; yet the seeing of the two ex- 
 tremes, each of which is in some degree more conspicuous than 
 the rest, could not but strike one in a stronger manner than the 
 sight of any other two numbers. Though I have neglected to 
 preserve his conversation, it was perhaps at this interview that 
 Dr. Knox formed the notion of it which he has exhibited in his 
 " Winter Evenings." 
 
 On Friday, June 25, I dined with him at General Paoli's, 
 where he says in one of his letters to Mrs. Thrale, " I love to 
 
 1 A friend of mine happened to be passing by a field congregation in the en- 
 virons of London, when a Methodist preacher quoted this passage with triumph. 
 — B. 
 
 - I trust that THE CiTY OF LONDON, now happily in unison with THE COURT, 
 will have the justice and generosity to obtain preferment for this reverend gentle- 
 man, now a worthy old servant of that magnificent Corporation. — B. This wish 
 was not gratified. Mr. Vilette died in 1799, having been for nearly thirty years 
 chaplain of Newgate. — Croker. 
 
510 
 
 BOSWELLS LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 dine." There was a variety of dishes much to his taste, of all 
 which he seemed to me to eat so much, that I was afraid he 
 might be hurt by it ; and I whispered to the General my fear, 
 and begged he might not press him. "Alas!" said the Gen- 
 eral, " see how very ill he looks ; he can live but a very short 
 time. Would you refuse any slight gratifications to a man under 
 sentence of death? There is a humane custom in Italy, by 
 which persons in that melancholy situation are indulged with 
 having whatever they like best to eat and drink, even with expen- 
 sive delicacies." ^ 
 
 1 showed him some verses on Lichfield by Miss Seward, which 
 I had that day received from her, and had the pleasure to hear 
 him approve of them. He confirmed to me the truth of a high 
 compliment which I had been told he had paid to that lady, 
 when she mentioned to him " The Colombiade," an epic poem, 
 by Madame du Boccage : ^ " Madam, there is not anything 
 equal to your description of the sea round the North Pole, in 
 your ode on the death of Captain Cook." 
 
 On Sunday, June 27, I found him rather better. I mentioned 
 to him a young man who was going to Jamaica with his wife and 
 children, m expectation of being provided for by two of her 
 brothers settled in that Island, one a clergyman, and the other a 
 physician. Johnson : It is a wild scheme, Sir, unless he has a 
 positive and deliberate invitation. There was a poor girl, who 
 used to come about me, who had a cousin in Barbadoes, that, in 
 a letter to her, expressed a wish she should come out to that 
 island, and expatiated on the comforts and happiness of her 
 situation. The poor girl went out : her cousin was much sur- 
 prised, and asked her how she could think of coming. ' Because,' 
 said she, ^you invited me.' — 'Not I,' answered the cousin. The 
 letter was then produced. ' I see it is true,' said she, ' that I did 
 invite you : but I did not think you would come.' They lodged 
 her in an out-house, where she passed her time miserably ; and 
 as soon as she had an opportunity she returned to England. 
 Always tell this, when you hear of people going abroad to rela- 
 tions, upon a notion of being well received. In the case which 
 you mention, it is probable the clergyman spends all he gets, 
 and the physician does not know how much he is to get." 
 
 We this day dined at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, with General 
 
 ^ See Lockhart's " Life of Scott," x. 178, for a very similar scene at a dinner 
 given to Sir Waiter at Rome by the Duchess Torlonia. 
 
 2 Madam du Boccage made a French translation of Milton which Lord Chester- 
 field preferred! to the original. 
 
Age 75.] CHESTEHFIELD AND PETERBOROL/GII. 511 
 
 Paoli, Lord Eliot (formerly Mr. Eliot of Port Eliot), Dr. Beattie, 
 and some other company. Talking of Lord Chesterfield : 
 Johnson : " His manner was exquisitely elegant, and he had 
 more knowledge than I expected." Boswkll : " Did you find, 
 Sir, his conversation to be of a superior style? " Johnson : " Sir, 
 in the conversation which I had with him I had the best right to 
 superiority, for it was upon philology and literature." Lord 
 Eliot, who had travelled at the same time with Mr. Stanhope, 
 Lord Chesterfield's natural son, justly observed, that it was strange 
 that a man who showed he had so much affection for his son as 
 Lord Chesterfield did, by writing so many long and anxious 
 letters to him, almost all of them when he was Secretary of 
 State,' which certainly was a proof of great goodness of disposi- 
 tion, should endeavor to make his son a rascal. His Lordship 
 told us that Foote had intended to bring on the stage a father 
 who had thus tutored his son, and to show the son an honest 
 man to every one else, but practising his father's maxims upon 
 him, and cheating him. Johnson : " I am much pleased with 
 this design ; but I think there was no occasion to make the son 
 honest at all. No ; he should be a consummate rogue : the con- 
 trast between honesty and knavery would be the stronger. It 
 should be contrived so that the father should be the only sufferer 
 by the son's villany, and thus there would be poetical justice." 
 
 He put Lord Eliot in mind of Dr. Walter Harte. " I know," 
 said he, " Harte was your Lordship's tutor, and he was also tutor 
 to the Peterborough family. Pray, my Lord, do you recollect 
 any particulars that he told you of Lord Peterborough? He is a 
 favorite of mine, and is not enough known ; his character has 
 been only ventilated in party pamphlets." Lord Eliot said, if 
 Dr. Johnson would be so good as to ask him any questions, he 
 would tell what he could recollect. Accordingly some things 
 were mentioned.' " But," said his Lordship, " the best account 
 of Lord Peterborough that I have happened to meet with, is in 
 ' Captain Carleton's Memoirs.' Carleton was descended of an 
 ancestor who had distinguished himself at the siege of Derry.^ 
 He was an officer ; and, what was rare at that time, had some 
 knowledge of engineering." Johnson said, he had never heard 
 
 ^ Chesterfield was Secretary of State from Nov. 1746 to Feb. 1748. His letters 
 to his son extend from 1739 to 1768. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 * An anachronism. Carleton himself served in the navy for many years before 
 the siege of Derry. — Crokcr. Sir Walter Scott publislied an edition of the " M.'- 
 moirs " in 1808. For their probable authorship see Mr. Stebbing's " Peterborough,'' 
 53-6 (Macmillan's *' Men of Action"). 
 
512 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 of the book. Lord Eliot had it at Port Eliot ; but, after a good 
 deal of inquiry, procured a copy in London, and sent it to John- 
 son, who told Sir Joshua Reynolds that he was going to bed when 
 it came, but was so much pleased with it, that he sat up till he 
 had read it through, and found in it such an air of truth that he 
 could not doubt of its authenticity ; adding, with a smile (in al- 
 lusion to Lord Eliot's having recently been raised to the peer- 
 age), ''I did not think a young Lord could have mentioned to 
 me a book in the English history that was not known to me." 
 
 An addition to our company came after we went up to the 
 drawing-room : Dr. Johnson seemed to rise in spirits as his 
 audience increased. He said, ' he wished Lord Orford's pict- 
 ures, and Sir Ashton Lever's Museum, might be purchased by 
 the public, because both the money, and the pictures, and the 
 curiosities would remain in the country ; whereas if they were 
 sold into another kingdom, the nation would indeed get some 
 money, but would lose the pictures and curiosities, which it would 
 be desirable we should have, for improvement in taste and natural 
 history. The only question was, as the nation was much in want 
 of money, whether it would not be better to take a large price 
 from a foreign State ? ' ' 
 
 He entered upon a curious discussion of the difference between 
 intuition and sagacity ; one being immediate in its effect, the 
 other requiring a circuitous process ; one he observed was the 
 eye of the mind, the other the 710 se of the mind. 
 
 A young gentleman [Richard Eurke] present took up the 
 argument against him, and maintained that no man ever thinks 
 of the nose of the mind, not adverting that, though that figurative 
 sense seems strange to us as very unusual, it is truly not more 
 forced than Hamlet's "In my minds eye, Horatio."^ He per- 
 sisted much too long, and appeared to Johnson as putting himself 
 forward as his antagonist with too much presumption : upon 
 which he called to him in a loud tone, What is it you are con- 
 tending for, if you be contending?" And afterwards imagining 
 that the gendeman retorted upon him with a kind of smart 
 drollery, he said, " Mr. [Burke], it does not become you to talk 
 
 * The Houghton Collection was sold in 1779 by the third Earl of Orford to the 
 Empress of Russia for /'40,555. — P. Ctoniwgham, in a note to Walpoie's " Letters," 
 vii. 227. The Museum (valued at /,"53,ooo) was sold in 1784 by private lottery to 
 a Mr. Parkinson, who removed it to Albion Place. Blackfriars Bridge, where it was 
 for many years open as an exhibition. The contents were eventually sold sepa- 
 rately by auction. — Croker. 
 
 2 " Hamlet," Act i. sc. 2, 
 
Age 75.] THURLOW'S LETTER .TO BOS WELL. 513 
 
 so to me. Besides, ridicule is not your talent ; you have thetr 
 neither intuition nor sagacity." The gentleman protested that 
 he had intended no improper freedom, but had the greatest re- 
 spect for Dr. Johnson. After a short pause, during which we 
 were somewhat uneasy. Johnson : " Give me your hand, Sir. 
 You were too tedious, and I was too short." Mr. [Burke] : 
 "Sir, I am honored by *your attention in any way." Johnson: 
 " Come, Sir, let 's have no more of it. We offended one another 
 by our contention ; let us not offend the company by our compli- 
 ments." 
 
 He now said, " He wished much to go to Italy, and that he 
 dreaded passing the winter in England." I said nothing: but 
 enjoyed a secret satisfaction in thinking that I had taken the 
 most effectual measures to make such a scheme practicable. 
 
 On Monday, June 28, I had the honor to receive from the 
 Lord Chancellor the following letter : 
 
 TO JAMES BOS WELL, ESQ. 
 
 Sir: I should have answered your letter immediately; if (being much en- 
 gaged when I received it) I had not put it in my pocket, and forgot to open 
 it till this morning. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for the suggestion; and I will adopt and press it 
 as far as I can. The best argument, I am sure, and I hope it is not likely to 
 fail, is Dr. Johnson's merit. But it will be necessary, if I should be so unfor- 
 tunate as to miss seeing you, to converse with Sir Joshua on the sum it will 
 be proper to ask — in short, upon the means of setting him out. It would be 
 a reflection on us all, if such a man should perish for want of the means to 
 take care of his health. 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 Thurlow. 
 
 This letter gave me a very high satisfaction ; I next day went 
 and showed it to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was exceedingly 
 pleased with it. He thought that I should now communicate 
 the negotiation to Dr. Johnson, who might afterwards complain 
 if the attention with which he had been honored should be too 
 long concealed from him. I intended to set out for Scotland 
 next morning; but Sir Joshua cordially insisted that I should 
 stay another day, that Johnson and I might dine with him, that 
 we three might talk of his Italian tour, and, as Sir Joshua ex- 
 pressed himself, " have it all out." I hastened to Johnson, and 
 was told by him that he was rather better to-day. Boswell : " I 
 • am very anxious about you. Sir, and particularly that you should 
 ^o to Italy for the winter, which I believe is your own wish." 
 
 Vol. II. -33 
 
514 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 Johnson: "It is, Sir." Boswell : "You have no objection, I 
 presume, but the money it would require." Johnson : " Why 
 no, Sir." Upon which I gave him a particular account of what 
 had been done, and read to him the Lord Chancellor's letter. 
 He listened with much attention : then warmly said, " This is 
 taking prodigious pains about a man." — " O, Sir," said I with 
 most sincere affection, " your friends woltld do everything for you." 
 He paused, — grew more and more agitated, — till the tears 
 started into his eyes, and he exclaimed with fervent emotion, 
 " God bless you all." I was so affected that I also shed tears. 
 After a short silence, he renewed and extended his grateful bene- 
 diction, " God bless you all, for Jesus Christ's sake." We both 
 remained for some time unable to speak. He rose suddenly and 
 quitted the room, quite melted in tenderness. He stayed but a 
 short time, till he had recovered his firmness ; soon after he re- 
 turned I left him, having first engaged him to dine at Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds's next day. I never was again under that roof which I 
 had so long reverenced. 
 
 On Wednesday, June 30, the friendly confidential dinner with 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds took place, no other company being present. 
 Had I known that this was the last time that I should enjoy in 
 this world the conversation of a friend whom I so much re- 
 spected, and from whom I derived so much instruction and 
 entertainment, I should have been deeply affected. When I now 
 look back to it, I am vexed that a single word should have been 
 forgotten. 
 
 Both Sir Joshua and I were so sanguine in our expectations, 
 that we expatiated with confidence on the liberal provision which 
 we were sure would be made for him, conjecturing whether mu- 
 nificence would be displayed in one large donation, or in an 
 ample increase of his pension. He himself catched so much of 
 our enthusiasm, as to allow himself to suppose it not impossible 
 that our hopes might in one way or other be realized. He said 
 that he would rather have his pension doubled than a grant of a 
 thousand pounds ; " For," said he, " though probably I may not 
 live to receive as much as a thousand pounds, a man would have 
 the consciousness that he should pass the remainder of his life in 
 splendor how long soever it might be." Considering what a 
 moderate proportion an income of six hundred pounds a year 
 bears to innumerable fortunes in this country, it is worthy of re- 
 mark, that a man so truly great should think it sjjlendor. 
 
 As an instance of extraordinary liberality of friendship he told 
 
Age 75-1 BOSWELVS rARTING WITH JOHNSON. 515 
 
 us, that Dr. Brocklesby had upon this occasion offered him a 
 hundred a year for his Hfe.' A grateful tear started into his eye, 
 as he spoke this in a faltering tone. 
 
 Sir Joshua and I endeavored to flatter his imagination with 
 agreeable prospects of happiness in Italy. " Nay," said he, " I 
 must not expect much of that ; when a man goes to Italy merely 
 to feel how he breathes the air, he can enjoy very litde." 
 
 Our conversation turned upon living in the country, which 
 Johnson, whose melancholy mind required the dissipation of 
 quick successive variety, had habituated himself to consider as a 
 kind of mental imprisonment. " Yet, Sir," said I, there are 
 many people who are content to live in the country." Johnson : 
 " Sir, it is in the intellectual world as in the physical world : we 
 are told by natural philosophers that a body is at rest in the place 
 that is fit for it ; they who are content to live in the country, are 
 fit for the country." 
 
 Talking of various enjoyments, I argued that a refinement of 
 taste was a disadvantage, as they who have attained to it must be 
 seldomer pleased than those who have no nice discrimination, 
 and are therefore satisfied with everything that comes in their 
 way. Johnson : " Nay, Sir ; that is a paltry notion. Endeavor 
 to be as perfect as you can in every respect." 
 
 I accompanied him in Sir Joshua Reynolds's coach, to the 
 entry of Bolt Court. He asked me whether I would not go with 
 him to his house; I declined it, from an apprehension that my 
 spirits would sink. We bade adieu to each other affectionately 
 in the carriage. When he had got down upon the foot- pavement 
 he called out, "Fare you well;" and without looking back, 
 sprung away with a kind of pathetic briskness, if I may use that 
 expression, which seemed to indicate a struggle to conceal un- 
 easiness, and impressed me with a foreboding of our long, long 
 separation. 
 
 I remembered one day more in town, to have the chance of 
 talking over my negotiation with the Lord Chancellor ; but the 
 multiplicity of his Lordship's important engagements 'did not 
 allow of it ; so I left the management of the business in the 
 hands of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 
 Soon after this time Dr. Johnson had the mortification of 
 being informed by Mrs. Thrale, that, " what she supposed he 
 never believed," was true ; namely, that she was actually going to 
 
 ^ He also pressed Johnson in his last illness to remove to his house for the more 
 immediate convenience of medical advice. — Croker, 
 
516 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 marry Signer Piozzi, an Italian music-master. Letters to 
 Mrs. Thrale," ii. 375.] He endeavored to prevent it ; but 
 in vain. If she would publish the whole of the correspondence 
 that passed between Dr. Johnson and her on the subject, we 
 should have a fiiU view of his real sentiments. As it is, our 
 judgment must be biassed by that characteristic specimen which 
 Sir John Hawkins has given us : " Poor Thrale, I thought that 
 either her virtue or her vice would have restrained her from 
 such a marriage. She is now become a subject for her enemies 
 to exult over ; and for her friends, if she has any left, to forget 
 or pity." ' 
 
 It must be admitted that Johnson derived a considerable por- 
 tion of happiness from the comforts and elegances which he 
 enjoyed in Mr. Thrale's family ; but Mrs. Thrale assures us he 
 was indebted for these to her husband alone, who certainly 
 respected him sincerely. Her words are : 
 
 Veneration for his virtue, reverejice for his talents, delight in his conversa- 
 tion, ^z^za' habitual endurance of a yoke my husband first put upon me, and of 
 which he contentedly bore his share for sixteen or seventeen years, made me go 
 on so longzvith Mr. Johnson; but the perpetual confinement I will oiun to have 
 been terrifying in the first years of our friendship, <7;/(^/ irksome in the last : nor 
 could I pretend to support it without help, when 7ny coadjutor was no more.''^ 
 ("Anecdotes," p. 293.) 
 
 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 intimacy. 
 
 As a sincere friend of the great man whose life I am writing, I 
 think it necessary to guard my readers against the mistaken 
 notion of Dr. Johnson's character, which this lady's " Anecdotes " 
 jfof him suggest ; for from the very nature and form of her book, 
 " it lends deception lighter wings to fly." ^ 
 
 ' Dr. Johnson's letter to Sir John Hawkins, "Life," p. 570. — B. The corre- 
 spondence maybe read in Hayward's " Autobiography of Mrs. Piozzi," i. 110-14. 
 After all the abuse showered on the unfortunate woman it is pleasant to know that 
 the marriage proved a happy one in every respect. Piozzi, who was really a well- 
 mannered, amiable man, — Rogers described him as " a very handsome, gentle- 
 manly, and amiable person," — took every care of his wife's fortune, and on their 
 return to England her family and friends were soon reconciled to him. He died in 
 1809 at his villa in Wales ; his wife died at Clifton in 1821, in her eighty-second year. 
 
 2 " Blest paper credit ! last and best supply 
 That lends corruption lighter wings to fly." 
 
 Pope : " Moral Essays," iii. 39. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 MRS. PJOZZVS ANECDOTES. 
 
 517 
 
 " Let it be remembered," says an eminent critic,' " that she has comprised 
 in a small volume all that she could recollect of Dr. Johnson in huenly years, 
 during which period, doubtless, some severe things were said by him; and 
 they who read the book in tivo hours, naturally enough suppose that his whole 
 conversation was of this complexion. But the fact is, I have been often in 
 his company, and never once heard him say a severe thing to any one; and 
 many others can attest the same. When he did say a severe thing, it was 
 generally extorted by ignorance pretending to knowledge, or by extreme 
 vanity or by affectation. 
 
 "Two instances of inaccuracy," adds he, "are peculiarly worthy of notice: 
 
 " It is said, ' That natural roughness of his fnanner so ofieit moitioned, 
 would, notzvithstanding the regularity of his notions, hurst through the/n all 
 from time to time ; and he once bade g very celebrated lady, who praised hint 
 with too much zeal perhaps, or perhaps too strong an etnphasis {ivhich always 
 offended him'), consider ivhat her flattery was worth, before she choked him with 
 it.' (' Anecdotes,' p. 183.) 
 
 "Now let the genuine anecdote be contrasted with this. The person 
 thus represented as being harshly treated, though a very celebrated lady, was 
 then just come to London from an obscure situation in the country.^ At Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds's one evening, she met Dr. Johnson. She very soon began 
 to pay her court to him in the most fulsome strain. 'Spare me, I beseech 
 you, dear Madam,' was his reply. She still laid it on. ' Pray, Madam, let 
 us have no more of this; ' he rejoined. Not paying any attention to these 
 warnings, she continued still her eulogy. At length, provoked by this indeli- 
 cate and vain obtrusion of compliment, he exclaimed, ' Dearest lady, con- 
 sider with yourself what your flattery is worth, before you bestow it so freely.' 
 
 " How different does this story appear, when accompanied with all these 
 circumstances which really belong to it, but which Mrs. Thrale either did not 
 know, or has suppressed. 
 
 "She says in another place, ' Ojie gentleman, however, who dined at a 
 noblejnan'' s house in his company, and that of Mr. Thrale, to lohom I xvas 
 obliged for the anecdote, zvas willing to enter the lists in defence of King Will- 
 iam's character ; and having opposed and contradicted Johnson txuo or three 
 times, petulantly enough, the master of the house began to feel uneasy, and ex- 
 pect disagreeable consequences ; to avoid which he said, loud enough for the 
 Doctor to hear, — ' Our friend here has no meaiiing 710W in all this except Just 
 to relate at club to-tnorroiu hozo he teased Johnson at dinner to-day ; this is ale 
 to do himself honor.' — ' A'o, upon my word (^replied the other), I see no honor 
 in it, whatever you viay do.'' — ' IVell, Sir {returned Dx. Johnson, sternly) if 
 you do not see the honor I am sure I feel the disgrace.'' (flbid., p. 242.) 
 
 " This is all sophisticated. Mr. Thrale was not in the company, though 
 he might have related the story to Mrs. Thrale. A friend, from whom I had 
 the story, was present; and it was not at the house of a nobleman. On the 
 observation being made by the master of the house on a gentleman's contra- 
 dicting Johnson, that he had talked for the honor, &c., the gentleman mut- 
 tered in a low voice, * I see no honor in it; ' and Dr. Johnson said nothing: 
 so all the rest (though bien trouvee) is mere garnish." 
 
 1 Who has been pleased to furnish me with his remarks. — B. The critic was 
 no doubt Malone, whose MS. notes on the " Anecdotes " contain the germ of these 
 criticisms. — Croker. 
 
 2 Hannah More, who with her sister had been keeping a boarding-school at 
 Bristol. She first saw Johnson in June, 1774. 
 
518 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 I have had occasion several times, in the course of this work, 
 to point out the incorrectness of Mrs. Thrale, as to particulars 
 which consisted with my own knowledge. But indeed she has, 
 in flippant terms enough, expressed her disapprobation of that 
 anxious desire of authenticity which prompts a person who is to 
 record conversations, to write them down at the moment. {Idid.j 
 p. 44.) Unquestionably, if they are to be recorded at all, the 
 sooner it is done the better. This lady herself says : " To recol- 
 lect, however, and to repeat the sayings of Dr. Johnson, is almost 
 all that can be done by the W7'iters of his Life ; as his life, at least 
 since my acquaintance with hii^, consisted in little else than talk- 
 ing, when he was not \absoliitcly\ employed in some serious piece 
 of work.'' p. 23.) She boasts of her having kept a com- 
 
 monplace book ;^ and we find she noted, at one time or other, in 
 a very lively manner, specimens of the conversation of Dr. John- 
 son, and of those who talked with him ; but had she done it 
 recently, they probably would have been less erroneous ; and we 
 should have been relieved from those disagreeable doubts of their 
 authenticity, with which we must now peruse them. 
 
 She says of him : 
 
 He was the ??iost charitable of mortals, without being what we call an 
 active friend. Admirable at giving counsel ; no man saw his way so clearly ; 
 but he would not stir a finger for the assistance of those to whom he was zuillijtg 
 enough to give advice. And again on the same page, If you wanted a 
 slight favor, you imcst apply to people of other dispositioits ; for not a step 
 would Johnson move to obtain a man a vote in a society, to repay a compli- 
 ment which jnight be tiseful or pleasing, to write a letter of request, ^c, or to 
 obtain a hundred pounds a year more for a friend zvho perhaps had already 
 two or three. No force could urge him to diligence, no iinportunity could con- 
 quer his resolution to stand still. (^Ibid., p. 51 [192].) 
 
 It is amazing that one who had such opportunities of knowing 
 Dr. Johnson, should appear so little acquainted with his real 
 character. I am sorry this lady does not advert that she herself 
 contradicts the assertion of his being obstinately defective in the 
 petites morales, in the little endearing charities of social life, in 
 conferring smaller favors ; for she says : 
 
 Dr. Johnson was liberal enough in g'ajtting literary assistance to others, I 
 think ; and innumerable are the prefaces, sertnons, lectures, and dedications 
 which he used to make for people who begged of him. {^Ibid., p. 193 [51].) 
 
 'p. 45. She kept a copious diary and note-book called "Thraliana" from 1776 
 to 1809. It is now [1861] in the possession of Mr. Salusbury. — llayioard quoted 
 by Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 75.] JOHNSON AND C IIOLMONDE LEY. 
 
 519 
 
 I am certain that a more active friend has rarely been found in 
 any age. This work, which I fondly hope will rescue his memory 
 from obloquy, contains a thousand instances of his benevolent 
 exertions in almost every way that can be conceived ; and par- 
 ticularly in employing his pen with a generous readiness for those 
 to whom its aid could be useful. Indeed his obliging activity in 
 doing little offices of kindness, both by letters and personal ap- 
 plication, was one of the most remarkable features in his charac- 
 ter ; and for the truth of this I can appeal to a number of his 
 respectable friends : Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Langton, Mr. 
 Hamilton, Mr. Burke, Mr. Windham, Mr. Malone, the Bishop of 
 Dromore, Sir William Scott, Sir Robert Chambers. And can 
 Mrs. Thrale forget the advertisements which he wrote for her hus- 
 band at the time of his election contest ; the epitaphs on him 
 and her mother; the playful and even trifling verses, for the 
 amusement of her and her daughters ; his corresponding with her 
 children, and entering into their minute concerns, which shows 
 him in the most amiable light ? 
 
 She relates, that Mr. Cholmondeley unexpectedly rode up to 
 Mr. Thrale's carriage, in which Mr. Thrale and she, and Dr. 
 Johnson were travelling ; that he paid them all his proper com- 
 pliments, but observing that Dr. Johnson, who was reading, did 
 not see him, ^' fapt hi?n gently on the shoulder. T is Mr. Chol- 
 mondeley says my husband. ' Well, Sir — and zuhat if it is 
 Mr. Cholmondeley? ' says the other, sternly, just lifting his eyes a 
 moment from his book, and retuiiiing to it again with irnewed 
 avidity.''' {Ibid., p. 258.) This surely conveys a notion of 
 Johnson, as if he had been grossly rude to Mr. Cholmondeley,^ a 
 gentleman whom he always loved and esteemed. If, therefore, 
 there was an absolute necessity for mentioning the story at all, it 
 might have been thought that her tenderness for Dr. Johnson's 
 character would have disposed her to state anything that could 
 soften it. Why then is there a total silence as to what Mr. Chol- 
 mondeley told her ? — that Johnson, who had known him from 
 his earliest years, having been made sensible of what had doubt- 
 less a strange appearance, took occasion, when he afterwards met 
 him, to make a very courteous and kind apology. There is 
 
 ^ George James Cholmondeley, Esq., grandson of George third Earl of Chol- 
 mondeley, and one of the Commissioners of Excise ; a gentleman respected for his 
 abilities, and elegance of manners. — B. When I spoke to him a few years before 
 his death (in 1831, aged 79) upon this point, I found him very sore at being made 
 the subject of such a debate, and very unvyilling to remember anything about either 
 the offence or the apology. — Croker. 
 
520 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 another little circumstance which I cannot but remark. Her 
 book was published in 1785, she had then in her possession a 
 letter from Dr. Johnson, dated in 1777, which begins thus: 
 Cholmondeley's story shocks me, if it be true, which I can 
 hardly think, for I am utterly unconscious of it : I am very sorry, 
 and very much ashamed." ("Letters to Mrs. Thrale," ii. 12.) 
 Why then publish the anecdote ? Or if she did, why not add the 
 circumstances, with which she was well acquainted? 
 In his social intercourse she thus describes him : 
 
 Ever musing till he was called out to converse, and conversing till the 
 fatigue of his friejids, or the pro?nptitude of his own temper to take offence, con- 
 signed him back again to silent meditation. (" Anecdotes," p. 23.) 
 
 Yet in the same book she tells us : 
 
 He was, hozvever, seldoj>i inclined to be silent, when any moral or literary 
 question was started ; and it was on such occasions that, like the Sage in 
 ' ' Rasselas, ' ' he spoke, and attention watched his lips, he reasoned, and conviction 
 closed his periods. (^Ibid., p. 302.) 
 
 His conversation, indeed, was so far from ever fatiguing his 
 friends, that they regretted when it was interrupted or ceased, and 
 could exclaim in Milton's language, 
 
 " With thee conversing, I forgot all time." 
 
 I certainly, then, do not claim too much in behalf of my il- 
 lustrious friend in saying, that however smart and entertaining 
 Mrs. Thrale's Anecdotes " are, they must not be held as good 
 evidence against him ; for wherever an instance of harshness and 
 severity is told, I beg leave to doubt its perfect authenticity ; 
 for though there may have been so7?ie foundation for it, yet, 
 like that of his reproof to the "very celebrated lady," it may 
 be so exhibited in the narration as to be very unlike the real 
 feet. 
 
 The evident tendency of the following anecdote is to represent 
 Dr. Johnson as extremely deficient in affection, tenderness, or 
 even common civility. " When I otie day lame7iied the loss of a 
 first cousin killed in America, — 'Prithee, my dear,' said he, 
 'have done with canting ; how would the world he the worse for 
 it, I may ask, if all your relations were at once spitted like lai'ks, 
 and roasted for Presto's supper ? ' — (Presto was the dog that lay 
 under the table while we talked)'' (^Il?id.,\f. 6;^.) I suspect 
 
Age 75-] ROSWELL'S PIOUS NEGOTIATION. 
 
 ^21 
 
 this too of exaggeration and distortion. I allow that he made 
 her an angry speech ; but let the circumstances fairly appear, as 
 told by Mr. Baretti, who was present : 
 
 Mrs. Thrale, while supping very heartily upon larks, laid down her knife 
 and fork, and abruptly exclaimed, " O, my dear John, do you know what has 
 happened? The last letters from abroad have brought us an account that our 
 poor cousin's head was taken off by a cannon-ball." Johnson, who was 
 shocked both at the fact, and her light unfeeling manner of mentioning it, 
 replied, " Madam, it would give you very little concern if all your relations 
 were spitted like those larks and dressed for Presto's supper." ' 
 
 It is with concern that I find myself obliged to animadvert on 
 the inaccuracies of Mrs. Piozzi's " Anecdotes," and perhaps I 
 may be thought to have dwelt too long upon her little collection. 
 But as from Johnson's long residence under Mr. Thrale's roof, 
 and his intimacy with her, the account which she has given of 
 him may have made an unfavorable and unjust impression, my 
 duty, as a faithful biographer, has obhged me reluctantly to per- 
 form this unpleasing task. 
 
 Having left the J>ioiis negotiation, as I called it, in the best 
 hands, I shall here insert what relates to it. Johnson wrote to 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds on July 6, as follows : 
 
 I am going, I hope, in a few days, to try the air of Derbyshire, but hope 
 to see you before I go. Let me, however, mention to you what I have much 
 at heart.. If the Chancellor should continue his attention to Mr. Boswell's 
 request, and confer with you on the means of relieving my languid state, I am 
 very desirous to avoid the appearance of asking money upon false pretences. 
 I desire you to represent to his Lordship, what, as soon as it is suggested, he 
 will perceive to be reasonable, — That, if I grow much worse, I shall be afraid 
 to leave my physicians, to suffer the inconveniences of travel, and pine in the 
 solitude of a foreign country; — That, if I grow much better, of which indeed 
 there is now little appearance, I shall not wish to leave my friends and my 
 domestick comforts; for I do not travel for pleasure or curiosity; yet if I 
 should recover, curiosity would revive. In my present state, I am desirous to 
 make a struggle for a little longer life, and hope to obtain some help from a 
 softer climate. Do for me what you can. 
 
 1 Upon mentioning this to my friend Mr. Wilkes, he, with his usual readiness, 
 pleasantly matched it with the following scntiiiiciifal a/wcdofe. He was invited by a 
 voung man of fashion at Paris, to sup with him and a lady, who had been for some 
 lime his mistress, but with whom he was going to part. He said to Mr. Wilkes 
 that he really felt very much for her, she was in such distress : and that he meant 
 to make her a present of two hunrlred io/fis d'ors. Mr. W ilkes observed the be- 
 havior of Mademoiselle, who sighed indeed very piteously, and assumed every pa- 
 thetic air of grief : but ate no less than three Frencii pigeons, which are as large as 
 English partridges, besides other things. Mr. Wilkes whispered the gentleman, 
 " We often say in England, Excessive sorroxv is exceeding dry, but I never heard 
 Excessive sorroiu is exceeding hungry. Perhaps one hundred will do." The gen- 
 tleman took the hint. — B. 
 
522 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 He wrote to me July 26 : 
 
 I wish your affairs could have permitted a longer and continued exertion of 
 your zeal and kindness. They that have your kindness, may want your ar- 
 dour. In the meantime I am very feeble, and very dejected. 
 
 By a letter from Sir Joshua Reynolds I was informed, that the 
 Lord Chancellor had called on him, and acquainted him that the 
 application had not been successful, but that his Lordship, after 
 speaking highly in praise of Johnson, as a man who was an honor 
 to his country, desired Sir Joshua to let him know, that on grant- 
 ing a mortgage of his pension, he should draw on his Lordship 
 to the amount of five or six hundred pounds ; and that his Lord- 
 ship explained the meaning of the mortgage to be, that he wished 
 the business to be conducted in such a manner that Dr. Johnson 
 should appear to be under the least possible obligation. Sir 
 Joshua mentioned that he had by the same post communicated 
 all this to Dr. Johnson. 
 
 How Johnson was affected upon the occasion will appear from 
 what he wrote to Sir Joshua Reynolds : 
 
 Ashbourne, Sept. 9. Many words I hope are not necessary between you 
 and me, to convince you what gratitude is excited in my heart by the Chan- 
 cellor's liberality, and your kind offices. 
 
 I have enclosed a letter to the Chancellor, which when you have read it, 
 you will be pleased to seal with a head, or any other general seal, and convey 
 it to him : had I sent it directly to him, I should have seemed to overlook the 
 favour of your intervention. 
 
 TO THE LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR.* 
 
 My. Lord: After a long and not inattentive observation of mankind, the 
 generosity of your Lordship's offer raises in me not less wonder than gratitude. 
 Bounty, so liberally bestowed, I should gladly receive, if my condition made 
 it necessary; for to such a mind, who would not be proud to own his obliga- 
 tions? But it has pleased God to restore me to so great a measure of health, 
 that if I should now appropriate so much of a fortune destined to do good, I 
 could not escape from myself the charge of advancing a false claim. My 
 journey to the continent, though I once thought it necessary, was never much 
 encouraged by my physicians; and I was very desirous that your Lordship 
 should be told of it by Sir Joshua Reynolds, as an event very uncertain; for 
 if I grew much better, I should not be willing, if much worse, not able, to 
 
 1 Sir Joshua Reynolds, on account of the excellence both of the sentiment and 
 expression of this letter, took a copy of it, which he sliowed to some of his Iriends ; 
 one of whom, who admired it, being allowed to ])eruse it leisurely at home, a copy 
 was made, and found its way into the newspapers and mai^azint^s. It was tran- 
 scribed with some inaccuracies. I print it ivom the original draft in Johnson's own 
 handwriting. — B. 
 
Age 75-] BOSWELL'S REMOVING TO LONDON. 523 
 
 migrate. Your Lordship was first solicited without my knowledge; but, when 
 I was told that you were pleased to honour me with your patronage, I did not 
 expect to hear of a refusal; yet, as I have had no long time to brood hope, 
 and have not rioted in imaginary opulence, this cold reception has been scarce 
 a disappointment; and, from your Lordship's kindness, I have received a 
 benefit, which only men like you are al)le to bestow. I shall now live mi/ii 
 carior, with a higher opinion of my own merit. I am, my Lord, your Lord- 
 ship's most obliged, most grateful and most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 September, 1784. ♦ 
 
 Upon this unexpected failure I abstain from presuming to make 
 any remarks, or to offer any conjectures.' 
 
 Having, after repeated reasonings, brought Dr. Johnson to 
 agree to my removing to London, and even to furnish me with 
 arguments in favor of what he had opposed ; I wrote to him re- 
 questing he would write them for me ; he was so good as to com- 
 ply, and I shall extract that part of his letter to me of June 11, 
 as a proof how well he could exhibit a cautious yet encouraging 
 view of it : 
 
 1 remember, and entreat you to remember, that vh'lus est vitium fiigere ;^ 
 the first approach to riches is security from poverty. The condition upon 
 which you have my consent to settle in London is, that your expence never 
 exceeds your annual income. Fixing this basis of security, you cannot be 
 hurt, and you may be very much advanced. The loss of your Scottish busi- 
 ness, which is all that you can lose, is not to be reckoned as any equivalent to 
 the hopes and possibilities that open here upon you. If you succeed, the 
 question of prudence is at an end; every body will think that done right 
 which ends happily; and though your expectations, of which I would not ad- 
 vise you to talk too much, should not be totally answered, you can hardly fail 
 to get friends who will do for you all that your present situation allows you to 
 hope; and if, after a few years, you should return to Scotland, you will return 
 with a mind supplied by various conversation, and many opportunities of en- 
 quiry, with much knowledge, and materials for reflection and instruction. 
 
 Let US now contemplate Johnson thirty years after the death of 
 his wife, still retaining for her all the tenderness of affection. 
 
 TO THE REVEREND MR. BAGSHAW, AT BROMLEY. 
 
 Sir: Perhaps you may remember, that in the year 1753,^ you committed 
 to the ground my dear wife. I now entreat your permission to lay a stone 
 
 ^ It was reported that the King's refusal was the cause of the failure ; but a letter 
 from Thuiiow to Reynolds, printed by Croker, seems to prove that the King was 
 never informed of the proposal, and makes it doubtful whether it was ever laid be- 
 fore Pitt. Why this letter was never communicated to Boswell is not clear. See 
 Johnson's subsequ(>nt letter to Reynolds under dates Sept. 9 and Oct. 12. 
 
 2 Horace : I. " Epistles," i. 41. 
 
 * Mrs. Johnson died March 17, 1752. See Vol. L, p. 134, 7iote i. 
 
524 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 upon her; and have sent the inscription, that, if you find it proper, you may 
 signify your allowance. 
 
 You will do me a great favour by shewing the place where she lies, that the 
 stone may protect her remains. 
 
 Mr. Ryland will wait on you for the inscription, and procure it to be en- 
 graved. You will easily believe that I shrink from this mournful office. 
 When it is done, if I have strength remaining, I will visit Bromley once again, 
 and pay you part of the respect to which you have a right from, Reverend Sir, 
 your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 July 12, 1784. 
 
 On the same day he wrote to Mr. Langton : 
 
 I cannot but think that in my languid and anxious state, I have some 
 reason to complain that I receive from you neither enquiry nor consolation. 
 You know how much I value your friendship, and with what confidence I ex- 
 pect your kindness, if I wanted any act of tenderness that you could perform; 
 at least if you do not know it, I think your ignorance is your own fault. 
 Yet how long is it that I have lived almost in your neighbourhood without 
 the least notice. I do not, however, consider this neglect as particularly 
 shewn to me; I hear two of your most valuable friends make the same com- 
 plaint. But why are all thus overlooked? You are not oppressed by sick- 
 ness, you are not distracted by business; if you are sick, you are sick of 
 leisure: And allow yourself to be told, that no disease is more to be dreaded 
 or avoided. Rather to do nothing than to do good, is the lowest state of a 
 degraded mind. Boileau says to his pupil, 
 
 " Que les vers ne soient pas voire etertiel emploi, 
 Cultivez vos amis.''^ ^ 
 
 That voluntary debility, which modern language is content to term indolence, 
 will, if it is not counteracted by resolution, render in time the strongest facul- 
 ties lifeless, and turn the flame to the smoke of virtue. I do not expect nor 
 desire to see you, because I am much pleased to find that your mother stays so 
 long with you, and I should think you neither elegant nor grateful, if you did 
 not study her gratification. You will pay my respects to both the ladies, and 
 to all the young people. I am going Northward for a while, to try what help 
 the country can give me; but, if you will write, the letter will come after 
 me. 
 
 Next day he set out on a jaunt to Staffordshire and Derbyshire, 
 flattering himself that he might be in some degree relieved. 
 
 During his absence from London he kept up a correspondence 
 with several of his friends, from which I shall select what ap])ears 
 to me proper for publication, without attending nicely to chrono- 
 logical order. 
 
 To Dr. Brocklesby, he writes, Ashbourne, July 20 : 
 
 * " Art Po6tique " : chant iv. 
 
Age 75-] LETTERS TO DR. BROCKLESBY. 
 
 525 
 
 The kind attention which you have so long shewn to my health and happi- 
 ness, makes it as much a debt of gratitude as a call of interest, to give you an 
 account of what befals me, when accident removes me from your immediate 
 care. The journey of the first day was performed with very little sense of 
 fatigue; the second day brought me to Lichfield, without much lassitude; but 
 I am afraid that I could not have borne such violent agitation for many days 
 together. Tell Dr. Heberden, that in the coach I read " Ciceronianus," 
 which I concluded as I entered Lichfield. My affection and understanding 
 went along with Erasmus, except that once or twice he somewhat unskilfully 
 entangles Cicero's civil or moral, with his rhetorical character. I staid five 
 days at Lichfield, but, being unable to walk, had no great pleasure, and yes- 
 terday (19th) I came hither, where I am to try what air and attention can 
 perform. Of any improvement in my health I cannot yet please myself with 
 the perception. . . . The asthma has no abatement. Opiates stop the 
 fit, so as that I can sit and sometimes lie easy, but they do not now procure 
 me the power of motion; and I am afraid that my general strength of body 
 does not encrease. The weather indeed is not benign; but how low is he 
 sunk whose strength depends upon the weather ! I am now looking into 
 Floyer, who lived with his asthma to almost his ninetieth year. His book by 
 want of order is obscure; and his asthma, I think, not of the same kind with 
 mine. Something however I may perhaps learn. My appetite still continues 
 keen enough; and what I consider as a symptom of radical health, I have a 
 voracious delight in raw summer fruit, of which I was less eager a few years 
 ago. You will be pleased to communicate this account to Dr. Heberden, and 
 if any thing is to be done, let me have your joint opinion. Now — abiie 
 curcB ; let me enquire after the Club.^ 
 
 July 31. Not recollecting that Dr. Heberden might be at Windsor, I 
 thought your letter long in coming. But, you know, nocitura peiunlur,"^ the 
 letter which I so much desired, tells me that I have lost one of my best and 
 tenderest friends.^ My comfort is, that he appeared to live like a man that 
 had always before his eyes the fragility of our present . existence, and was 
 therefore, I hope, not unprepared to meet his judge. Your attention, dear 
 Sir, and that of Dr. Heberden, to my health, is extremely kind. I am loth to 
 think that I grow worse; and cannot fairly prove even to my own partiality, 
 that I grow much better. 
 
 August 5. I return your thanks, dear Sir, for your unwearied attention, 
 both medicinal and friendly, and hope to prove the effect of your care by living 
 to acknowledge it. 
 
 August iL2^ Pray be so kind as to have me in your thoughts, and mention 
 my case to others as you have opportunity. I seem to myself neither to gain 
 nor lose strength. I have lately tried milk, but have yet found no advantage, 
 and I am afraid of it merely as a liquid. My appetite is still good, which I 
 know is dear Dr. Heberden's criterion of the vis viUc. As we cannot now see 
 each other, do not omit to write, for you cannot think with what warmth of 
 expectation I reckon the hours of a post-day. 
 
 August 14. I have hitherto sent you only melancholy letters; you will be 
 glad to hear some better account. Yesterday the asthma remitted, percepti- 
 bly remitted, and I moved with more ease than I have enjoyed for many 
 weeks. May GoD continue his mercy. This account I would not delay, 
 
 1 At the Essex Head, Essex Street. — B. 
 ^Juvenal : " Satires," x. 8. 
 ' Mr. Allen, the printer. — B, 
 
 * On this day he wrote the prayer given post, p. 536. 
 
526 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 because I am not a lover of complaints, or complainers, and yet I have since 
 we parted, uttered nothing till now but terrour and sorrow. Write to me, 
 dear Sir. 
 
 August 16. Better I hope, and better. My respiration gets more and more 
 ease and liberty. I went to church yesterday, after a very liberal dinner, 
 without any inconvenience; it is indeed no long walk, but I never walked it 
 without difficulty, since I came, before. . . . the intention was only to 
 overpower the seeming vis inertite of the pectoral and pulmonary muscles. I 
 am favoured with a degree of ease that very much delights me, and do not de- 
 spair of another race upon the stairs of the Academy. If I were, however, of 
 a humour to see, or to shew the state of my body, on the dark side, I might 
 say, 
 
 *' Quid te ejcempta juvat \levat\ spinis de plurilms una ? " 
 
 (Hor. 2 " Ep." ii., 212.) 
 
 The nights are still sleepless, and the water rises, though it does not rise very 
 fast. Let us, however, rejoice in all the good that we have. The remission 
 of one disease will enable nature to combat the rest. The squills I have not 
 neglected; for I have taken more than a hundred drops a day, and one day 
 took two hundred and fifty, which, according to the popular equivalent of a 
 drop to a grain, is more than half an ounce. I thank you, dear Sir, for your 
 attention in ordering the medicines; your attention to me has never failed. 
 If the virtue of medicines could be enforced by . the benevolence of the pre- 
 scriber, how soon should I be well ! 
 
 August 19. The relaxation of the asthma still continues, yet I do not trust 
 it wholly to itself, but soothe it now and then with an opiate. I not only 
 perform the perpetual act of respiration with less labour, but I can walk with 
 fewer intervals of rest, and with greater freedom of motion. I never thought 
 well of Dr. James's compounded medicines; his ingredients appear to me some 
 times inefficacious and trifling, and sometimes heterogeneous and destructive 
 of each other. This prescription exhibits a composition of about three hun- 
 dred and thirty grains, in which there are four grains of emetick tartar, and six 
 drops [of] thebaick tincture. He that writes thus surely writes for show. 
 The basis of his medicine is the gum ammoniacum, which dear Dr. Lawrence 
 used to give, but of which I never saw any effect. We will, if you please, 
 let this medicine alone. The squills have every suffrage, and in the squills we 
 will rest for the present. 
 
 August 21. The kindness which you shew by having me in you/ thoughts 
 upon all occasions, will, I hope, always fill my heart with gratitude. Be 
 pleased to return my thanks to Sir George Baker, for the consideration which 
 he has bestowed upon me. Is this the balloon that has been so long expected, 
 this balloon to which I subscribed, but without payment? It is pity that phi- 
 losophers have been disappointed, and shame that they have been cheated: but 
 I know not well how to prevent either. Of this experiment I have read noth- 
 ing; where was it exhibited? and who v/as the man that ran away with so 
 much money? ' Continue, dear Sir, to write often and more at a time, for 
 
 ' On Aug. 10, 1784, De Moret, a Frenchman, proposed to ascend in a balloon 
 from a tea-garden in the Five Fields (now Belgravia), havmg first collected a con- 
 siderable sum of money. The machine, which was of the clumsiest kind, caught 
 fire, and the mob, thinking they had been swindled, played havoc in the gardens. 
 De Moret however got off with his guineas. On Sept. 15, V^incent Lunardi, an 
 attach^ of the Neapolitan Embassy, made a successful ascent from the Artillery 
 
Age 75-] LETTERS TO DR. JiROCKLESBY. 
 
 527 
 
 none of your prescriptions operate to their proper uses more certainly than 
 your letters operate as cordials. 
 
 August 26. I suffered you to escape last post without a letter, but you 
 are not to expect such indulgence very often; for I write not so much be- 
 cause I have any thing to say, as because I hope for an answer; and the 
 vacancy of my life here makes a letter of great value. I have here little com- 
 pany and little amusement, and thus abandoned to the contemplation of my 
 own miseries, I am something gloomy and depressed; this too I resist as I 
 can, and find opium, I think, useful, but I seldom take more than one grain. 
 Is not this strange weather? Winter absorbed the spring, and now autumn 
 is come before we have had summer. But let not our kindness for each other 
 imitate the inconstancy of the seasons. 
 
 Sept. 2. Mr. Windham has been here to see me; he came, I think, forty 
 miles out of his way, and stayed about a day and a half; perhaps I make the 
 time shorter than it was. Such conversation I shall not have again till I 
 come back to the regions of literature; and there Windham is, inter Stellas'^ 
 Luna minores. [He then mentions the effects of certain medicines, as taken; 
 that]. Nature is recovering its original powers, and the functions returning to 
 their proper state. God continue his mercies, and grant me to use them 
 rightly. 
 
 Sept. 9. Do you know the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire? And 
 have you ever seen Chatsworth? I was at Chatsworth on Monday: I had 
 seen it before, but never when its owners were at home: I was very kindly 
 received, and honestly pressed to stay; but I told them that a sick man is not 
 a fit inmate of a great house. But I hope to go again some time. 
 
 Sept. II. I think nothing grows worse, but all rather better, except sleep, 
 and that of late has been at its old pranks. Last evening, I felt what I had 
 not known for a long time, an inclination to walk for amusement; I took a 
 short walk, and came back again neither breathless nor fatigued. This has 
 been a gloomy, frigid, ungenial summer, but of late it seems to mend; I hear 
 the heat sometimes mentioned, but I do not feel it. 
 
 " Prseterea minimus gelido jam in corpore sanguis 
 Febre calet sola." [Juv. " Sat." x., 217.] 
 
 I hope, however, with good help, to find means of supporting a winter at 
 home, and to hear and tell at the Club what is doing, and what ought to be 
 doing in the world. I have no company here, and shall naturally come home 
 hungry for conversation. To wish you, dear Sir, more leisure, would not be 
 kind; but what leisure you have, you must bestow upon me. 
 
 Sept. 16. I have now let you alone for a long time, having indeed little 
 to say. You charge me somewhat unjustly with luxury. At Chatsworth, you 
 should remember, that I have eaten but once; and the doctor, with whom I 
 live, follows a milk diet. I grow no fatter, though my stomach, if it be not 
 disturbed by physick, never fails me. I now grow weary of solitude, and 
 think of removing next week to Lichfield, a place of more society, but other- 
 Ground at Moorfields before, it is said, the largest crowd ever assembled in Lon- 
 don. It is to this ascent that ]ohnson refers under date Sept. 29. At that time all 
 people were very much excited about the possibility of ballooninsf. 
 
 ' It is remarkable that so good a f.atin scliolar as Johnson should have been so 
 inattentive to the metre, as by mistake to have written Stellas instead oiignes. — B. 
 (Her. "Od." i., 12. 46.) 
 
528 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 wise of less convenience. When I am settled, I shall write again. Of the 
 hot weather that you mentioned, we have [not] had in Derbyshire very much, 
 and for myself I seldom feel heat, and suppose that my frigidity is the effect of 
 my distemper; a supposition which naturally leads me to hope that a hotter 
 climate may be useful. But I hope to stand another English winter. 
 
 Lichfield, Sept. 29. On one day I had three letters about the air-balloon: 
 yours was far the best, and has enabled me to impart to my friends in the 
 country an idea of this species of amusement. In amusement, mere amuse- 
 ment, I am afraid it must end, for I do not find that its course can be directed 
 so as that it should serve any purposes of communication : and it can give no 
 new intelligence of the state of the air at different heights, till they have as- 
 cended above the height of mountains, which they seem never likely to do. 
 I came hither on the 27th. How long I shall stay, I have not determined. 
 My dropsy is gone, and my asthma much remitted, but I have felt myself a 
 little declining these two days, or at least to-day; but such vicissitudes must 
 be expected. One day may be worse than another; but this last month is 
 far better than the former: if the next should be as much better than this, I 
 shall run about the town on my own legs. 
 
 October 6. The fate of the balloon I do not much lament : to make new 
 balloons, is to repeat the jest again. We now know a method of mounting 
 into the air, and, I think, are not likely to know more. The vehicles can 
 serve no use till we can guide them; and they can gratify no curiosity till we 
 mount with them to greater heights than we can reach without; till we rise 
 above the tops of the highest mountains, which we have yet not done. We 
 know the state of the air in all its regions, to the top of Teneriffe, and there- 
 fore learn nothing from those who navigate a balloon below the clouds. The 
 first experiment, however, was bold, and deserved applause and reward. But 
 since it has been performed, and its event is known, I had rather now find a 
 medicine that can ease an asthma. 
 
 October 25. You write to me with a zeal that animates, and a tenderness 
 that melts me. lam not afraid either of a journey to London, or a residence 
 in it. I came down with little fatigue, and am now not weaker. In the 
 smoky atmosphere I was delivered from the dropsy, which I consider as the 
 original and radical disease. The town is my element;' there are my friends, 
 there are my books, to which I have not yet bid farewell, and there are my 
 amusements. Sir Joshua told me long ago, that my vocation was to publick 
 life, and I hope still to keep my station, till God shall bid me Go in Peace. 
 
 TO MR. HOOLE. 
 
 Ashbourne, Aug. 7. Since I was here, I have two little letters from you, 
 and have not had the gratitude to write. But every man is most free with his 
 best friends, because he does not suppose that they can suspect him of inten- 
 tional incivility.' One reason for my omission is, that being in a place to 
 
 * His love of London continually appears. In a letter from him to Mrs. Smart, 
 wife of his friend the poet, vvhicli is published in a well-written life of him prefixed 
 to an edition of his poems in 1791, there is the follovvinef sentence : "To one that 
 has passed so many years in the pleasures and opulence of London, there are few 
 places that can give much delight." Once, upon reading that line in the curious 
 epitaph quoted in The Spectator [No. 518] , 
 
 " Born in New England, did in London die," 
 he laughed and said, " I do not wonder at this. It would have been strange, if 
 born in London, he had died in New England." — B. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 LETTERS TO DR. BURNEY, 
 
 529 
 
 which you are wholly a stranger, I have no topicks of correspondence. If 
 you had any knowledge of Ashbourne, I could tell you of two Ashbourne men, 
 who, being last week condemned at Derby to be hanged for a rol)l)ery, went 
 and hanged themselves in their cell. But this, however it may supply us with 
 talk, is nothing to you. Your kindness, I know, would make you glad to 
 hear some good of me, but I have not much good to tell; if I grow not worse, 
 it is all that I can say. I hope Mrs. Hoole receives more help from her mi- 
 gration. Make her my compliments, and write again to, dear Sir, your 
 affectionate servant. 
 
 Aug. 13. I thank you for your affectionate letter. I hope we shall both be 
 the better for each other's friendship, and I hope we shall not very quickly 
 be parted. Tell Mr. Nicholls that I shall be glad of his correspondence, when 
 his business allows him a little remission; though to wish him less business, 
 that I may have more pleasure, would be too selfish. To pay for seats at 
 the balloon is not very necessary, because in less than a minute, they who 
 gaze at a mile's distance will see all that can be seen. About the wings I am 
 of your mind; they can not at all assist it, nor I think regulate its motion. I 
 am now grown somewhat easier in my body, but my mind is sometimes de- 
 pressed. About the Club I am in no great pain. The forfeitures go on, and 
 the house, I hear, is improved for our future meetings. I hope we shall meet 
 often and sit long, 
 
 Sept. 4. Your letter was, indeed, long in coming, but it was very wel- 
 come. Our acquaintance has now subsisted long, and our recollection of 
 each other involves a great space, and many little occurrences, which melt 
 the thoughts to tenderness. Write to me, therefore, as frequently as you can. 
 I hear from Dr. Brocklesby and Mr. Ryland, that the Club is not croud'^d. I 
 hope we shall enliven it when winter brings us together. 
 
 TO DR. BURNEY. 
 
 August 2. The weather, you know, has not been balmy; I am now re- 
 duced to think, and am at last content to talk of the weather. Pride must 
 have a fall. I have lost dear Mr. Allen; and wherever I turn, the dead or 
 the dying meet my notice, and force my attention upon misery and mortality. 
 Mrs. Burney's escape from so much danger, and her ease after so much pain, 
 throws, however, some radiance of hope upon the gloomy prospect. May 
 her recovery be perfect, and her continuance long. I struggle hard for life. 
 I take physick, and take air; my friend's chariot is always ready. We have 
 run this morning twenty-four miles, and could run forty-eight more. But 
 who can run the race with death ? 
 
 Sept. 4. [Concerning a private transaction, in which his opinion was 
 asked, and after giving it, he makes the following reflections, which are ap- 
 plicable on other occasions.] Nothing deserves more compassion than wrong 
 conduct with good meaning; than loss or obloquy suffered by one, who, as 
 he is conscious only of good intentions, wonders why he loses that kindness 
 which he wishes to preserve; and not knowing his own fault, if, as may 
 sometimes happen, nobody will tell him, goes on to offend by his endeavours 
 to please. I am delighted by finding that our opinions are the same. You 
 will do me a real kindness by continuing to write. A post-day has now been 
 long a day of recreation. 
 
 Nov. I. Our correspondence paused for want of topicks. I had said 
 what I had to say on the matter proposed to my consideration; and nothing 
 remained but to tell you that I waked or slept; that I was more or less sick. 
 
 Vol. II. — 34 
 
530 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 I drew my thoughts in upon myself, and supposed yours employed upon your 
 book.^ That your book has been delayed I am glad, since you have gained 
 an opportunity of being more exact. Of the caution necessary in adjusting 
 narratives, there is no end. Some tell what they do not know, that they may 
 not seem ignorant, and others from mere indifference about truth. All truth 
 is not, indeed, of equal importance; but, if little violations are allowed, every 
 violation will in time be thought little; and a writer should keep himself vigi- 
 lantly on his guard against the first temptations to negligence or supineness. 
 I had ceased to write, because respecting you I had no more to say, and re- 
 specting myself could say little good. I cannot boast of advancement, and 
 in case of convalescence it may be said, with few exceptions, non progredi, 
 est regredi. I hope I may be excepted. My great difficulty was with my 
 sweet Fanny, '-^ who, by her artifice of inserting her letter in yours, had given 
 me a precept of frugality which I was not at liberty to neglect; and I know 
 not who were in town under whose cover I could send my letter. I re- 
 joice to hear that you are so well, and have a delight particularly sympathetick 
 in the recovery of Mrs. Burney. 
 
 TO MR. LANGTON. 
 
 Aug. 25. The kindness of your last letter, and my omission to answer it, 
 begins to give you, even in my opinion, a right to recriminate, and to charge 
 me with forgetfulness for the absent. I will, therefore, delay no longer to 
 give an account of myself, and wish I could relate what would please either 
 myself or my friend. On July 13, I left London, partly in hope of help from 
 new air and change of place, and partly excited by the sick man's impatience 
 of the present. I got to Lichfield in a stage vehicle, with very little fatigue, 
 in two days, and had the consolation ^ to find, that since my last visit my three 
 old acquaintance are all dead. July 20, I went to Ashbourne, where I have 
 been till now; the house in which we live is repairing. I live in loo much 
 solitude, and am often deeply dejected : I wish we were nearer, and rejoice in 
 your removal to London. A friend, at once cheerful and serious, is a great 
 acquisition. Let us not neglect one another for the little time which Provi- 
 dence allows us to hope. Of my health I cannot tell you, what my wishes 
 persuaded me to expect, that it is much improved by the season or by reme- 
 dies. I am sleepless; my legs grow weary with a very few steps, and the 
 water breaks its boundaries in some degree. The asthma, however, has re- 
 mitted: my breath is still much obstructed, but is more free than it was. 
 Nights of watchfulness produce torpid days; I read very little, though I am 
 alone; for I am tempted to supply in the day what I lost in bed. This is my 
 history; like all other histories a narrative of misery. Yet am I so much 
 better than in the beginning of the year, that I ought to be ashamed of com- 
 plaining. I now sit and write with very little sensibility of pain or weakness; 
 l)ut when I rise I shall find my legs betraying me. Of the money which you 
 mentioned, I have no immediate need, keep it, however, for me, unless some 
 exigence requires it. Your papers I will show you certainly, when you would 
 see them; but I am a little angry at you for not kecjjing minutes of your own 
 accepium et expenstun, and think a little time might be spared from Aristo- 
 
 Account of the Musical Performances in Commemoration 6f Handel-" 
 ^The celeljrated Miss Fanny Burney. — B. 
 
 » Malone and others have been mucli puzzled over this word, suggesting other 
 readings, or supplying epithets to explain it. It is surely obvious that it was used, 
 as Croker says, " in sad irony." 
 
Age 75.] LETTERS TO VARIOUS FRIENDS. 
 
 531 
 
 phanes for the 7'es fainiliares. Forgive me, for I mean well. I hope, dear 
 Sir, that you and Lady Rothes, and all the young people, too many to enu- 
 merate, are well and happy. God bless you all. 
 
 TO MR. WINDHAM. 
 
 August. The tenderness with which you have been pleased to treat me 
 through my long illness, neither health nor sickness can, I hope, make me 
 forget; and you are not to suppose that after we parted you were no longer in 
 my mind. But what can a sick man say, but that he is sick? His thoughts 
 are necessarily concentered in himself; he neither receives nor can give delight; 
 his inquiries are after alleviations of pain, and his efforts are to catch some 
 momentary comfort. Though I am now in the neighbourhood of the Peak, 
 you must expect no account of its wonders, of its hills, its waters, its caverns, 
 or its mines; but I will tell you, dear Sir, what I hope you will not hear with 
 less satisfaction, that, for about a week past, my asthma has been less afflic- 
 tive. 
 
 Lichfield, Oct. 2. I believe you had been long enough acquainted with 
 the phcenomena of sickness, not to be suprised that a sick man wishes to be 
 where he is not, and where it appears to every body but himself that he might 
 easily be, without having the resolution to remove. I thought Ashbourne a 
 solitary place, but did not come hither till last Monday. I have here more 
 company, but my health has for this last week not advanced; and in the lan- 
 guor of disease how little can be done? Whither or when I shall make my 
 next remove, I cannot tell; but I entreat you, dear Sir, to let me know from 
 time to time, where you may be found, for your residence is a very powerful 
 attractive to. Sir, your most humble servant. 
 
 TO MR. PERKINS. 
 
 Dear Sir: I cannot but flatter myself that your kindness for me will make 
 you glad to know where I am, and in what state. 
 
 I have been struggling very hard with my diseases. My breath has been 
 very much obstructed, and the water has attempted to encroach upon me 
 again. I past the first part of the summer at Oxford, afterwards I went to 
 Lichfield, thence to Ashbourne in Derbyshire, and a week ago I returned to 
 Lichfield. 
 
 My breath is now much easier, and the water is in a great measure run 
 away, so that I hope to see you again before winter. 
 
 Please make my compliments to Mrs. Perkins, and to Mr. and Mrs. Bar- 
 clay. I am, dear Sir, Your most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Lichfield, Oct. 4, 1784. 
 
 to the right HON. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON. 
 
 Dear Sir : Considering what reason you gave me in the spring to con- 
 clude that you took part in whatever good or evil might befal me, I ought not 
 to have omitted so long the account which I am now about to give you. My 
 diseases are an asthma and a dropsy, and, what is less cural)le, seventy-five. 
 Of the dropsy, in the beginning of the summer, or in the spring, I recovered 
 to a degree which struck with wonder both me and my physicians; the asthma 
 now is likewise, for a time, very much relieved. I went to Oxford, where the 
 
532 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 asthma was very tyrannical, and the dropsy began again to threaten me; but 
 seasonable physick stopped the inundation : I then returned to London, and in 
 July took a resolution to visit Staffordshire and Derbyshire, where I am yet 
 struggling with my disease. The dropsy made another attack, and was not 
 easily ejected, but at last gave way. The asthma suddenly remitted in bed, 
 on the 13th of August, and, though now very oppressive, is, I think, still 
 something gentler than it was before the remission. My limbs are miserably 
 debilitated, and my nights are sleepless and tedious. When you read this, 
 dear Sir, you are not sorry that I wrote no sooner. I will not prolong my 
 complaints. I hope still to see you in a happier hottr,'^ to talk over what we 
 have often talked, and perhaps to find new topicks of merriment, or new in- 
 citements to curiosity. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Lichfield, Oct. 20, 1784. 
 
 TO JOHN PARADISE, ESQ.^ 
 
 Dear Sir: Though in all my summer's excursion I have given you no 
 account of myself, I hope you think better of me than to imagine it possible 
 for me to forget you, whose kindness to me has been too great and too con- 
 stant not to have made its impression on a harder breast than mine. Silence 
 is not very culpable, when nothing pleasing is suppressed. It would have 
 alleviated none of your complaints to have read my vicissitudes of evil. I 
 have struggled hard with very formidable and obstinate maladies; and though 
 I can not talk of health, think all praise due to my Creator and Preserver for 
 the continuance of my life. The dropsy has made two attacks, and has given 
 way to medicine; the asthma is very oppressive, but that has likewise once re- 
 mitted. I am very weak, and very sleepless; but it is time to conclude the 
 tale of misery. I hope, dear Sir, that you grow better, for you have likewise 
 your share of human evil, and that your lady and the young charmers are well. 
 I am, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Lichfield, Oct. 27, 1784. 
 
 TO MR. GEORGE NICOL.^ 
 
 Dear Sir: Since we parted, I have been much oppressed by my asthma, 
 but it has lately been less laborious. When I sit J am almost at ease, and I 
 can walk, though yet very little, with less difficulty for this week past, than 
 before. I hope I shall again enjoy my friends, and that you and I shall have 
 a little more literary conversation. Where I now am, every thing is very 
 
 ^ Johnson refers to Pope's lines on Walpole : 
 
 " Seen him I have but in his happier hour 
 Of social pleasure ill-exchanged for power." 
 
 " Satires," Epilogue, i. 29. — Dr. Hill. 
 2 Son of the late Peter Paradise, Esq., his Britannic Majesty's Consul at Sa- 
 lonica, in Macedonia, by his lady a native of that country. He studied at Oxford, 
 and has been honored by that University with the degree of I^L.D. He is dis- 
 tinguislicd not only by his learning and talents, but by an amiable disposition, 
 gentk;ness of manners, and a very general acquaintance with well-informed and 
 accomplished persons of almost all nations. — B. 
 ^ Bookseller to his Majesty. — B. 
 
Age 75.] LETTERS TO THREE FRIENDS. 
 
 533 
 
 liberally provided for me but conversation. My friend is sick himself , and the 
 reciprocation of complaints and groans afford not much of either pleasure or 
 instruction. What we have not at home this town does not supply, and I 
 shall be glad of a little imported intelligence, and hope that you will bestow 
 now and then a little time on the relief, and entertainment of, Sir, yours, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Ashbourne, Aug. 19, 1784. 
 
 TO MR. CRUIKSHANK. 
 
 Dear Sir : Do not suppose that I forget you ; I hope I shall never be 
 accused of forgetting my benefactors. I had, till lately, nothing to write but 
 complaints upon complaints, of miseries upon miseries; but within this fort- 
 night I have received great relief. Have your lectures any vacation? Hi 
 you are released from the necessity of daily study, you may find time for a 
 letter to me. [In this letter he states the particulars of his case.] In re- 
 turn for this account of my health let me have a good account of yours, and 
 of your prosperity in all your undertakings. I am, dear Sir, yours, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Ashbourne, Sept. 4, 1784. 
 
 TO MR. THOMAS DAVIES. 
 
 Aug. 14. The tenderness with which you always treat me, makes me 
 culpable in my own eyes for having omitted to write in so long a separation; 
 I had, indeed, nothing to say that you could wish to hear. All has been 
 hitherto misery accumulated upon misery, disease corroborating disease, till 
 yesterday my asthma was perceptibly and unexpectedly mitigated. I am 
 much comforted with this short relief, and am willing to flatter myself that it 
 may continue and improve. I have at present, such a degree of ease, as not 
 only may admit the comforts, but. the duties of life. Make my compliments 
 to Mrs. Davies. Poor dear Allen, he was a good man. 
 
 TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Ashbourne, July 21. The tenderness with which I am treated by my 
 friends, makes it reasonable to suppose that they are desirous to know the 
 state of my health, and a desire so benevolent ought to be gratified. I came 
 to Lichfield in two days without any painful fatigue, and on Monday came 
 hicher, where I purpose to^tay and try what air and regularity will effect. I 
 cannot yet persuade myself that I have made much progress in recovery. My 
 sleep is little, my breath is very much encumbered, and my legs are very 
 weak. The water has encreased a little, but has again run off. The most dis- 
 tressing symptom is want of sleep. 
 
 Aug. 19. Having had since our separation little to say that could please 
 you or myself by saying, I have not been lavish of useless letters; but I flatter 
 myself that you will partake of the pleasure with which I can now tell you, 
 that about a week ago I felt suddenly a sensible remission of my asthma, and 
 consequently a greater lightness of action and motion. Of this grateful alle- 
 viation I know not the cause, nor dare depend upon its continuance, but 
 while it lasts I endeavour to enjoy it, and am desirous of communicating, 
 while it lasts, my pleasure to my friends. Hitherto, dear Sir, I had written 
 before the post, which stays in this town but a little while, brought me your 
 
534 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 letter. Mr. Davies seems to have represented my little tendency to recover 
 in terms too splendid. I am still restless, still weak, still watery, but the 
 asthma is less oppressive. Poor Ramsay ! ^ On which side soever I turn, 
 mortality presents its formidable frown. I left three old friends at Lichfield, 
 when I was last there, and now found them all dead. I no sooner lost sight 
 of dear Allan, than I am told that I shall see him no more. That we must all 
 die, we always knew; I wish I had sooner remembered it. Do not think me 
 intrusive or importunate, if I now call, dear Sir, upon you to remember it. 
 
 Sept. 2. I am glad that a little favour from the Court has intercepted 
 your furious purposes.^ I could not in any case have approved such public 
 violence of resentment, and should have considered any who encouraged it, 
 as rather seeking sport for themselves, than honour for you. Resentment 
 gratifies him who intended an injury, and pains him unjustly who did not in- 
 tend it. But all this is now superfluous. I still continue by God's mercy to 
 mend. My breath is easier, my nights are quieter, and my legs are less in 
 bulk, and stronger in use. I have, however, yet a great deal to overcome, 
 before I can yet attain even an old man's health. Write, do write to me now 
 and then; we are now old acquaintance, and perhaps few people have 
 lived so much and so long together, with less cause of complaint on either 
 side. The retrospection of this is very pleasant, and I hope we shall never 
 think on each other with less kindness. 
 
 Sept. 9. I could not answer your letter before this day, because I went 
 on the sixth to Chatsworth, and did not come back till the post was gone. 
 Many words, I hope, are not necessary between you and me, to convince you 
 what gratitude is excited in my heart by the Chancellor's liberality and your 
 kind offices. I did not indeed expect that what was asked by the Chancellor 
 would have been refused, but since it has, we will not tell that any thing has 
 been asked. I have enclosed a letter to the Chancellor, which, when you 
 have read it, you will be pleased to seal with a head, or other general seal, 
 and convey it to him; had I sent it directly to him, I should have seemed to 
 overlook the favour of your intervention. My last letter told you of my 
 advance in health, which, I think, in the whole still continues. Of the hydrop- 
 ick tumour, there is now very little appearance; the asthma is much less 
 troublesome, and seems to remit something day after day. I do not despair 
 of supporting an English winter. At Chatsworth I met young Mr. Burke, 
 who led me very commodiously into conversation with the Duke and Duchess. 
 We had a very good morning. The dinner was publick.^ 
 
 Sept. 18. I flattered myself that this week would have given me a letter 
 from you, but none has come. Write to me now and then, but direct your 
 next to Lichfield. I think, and I hope am sure, that I still grow better; I 
 have sometimes good nights; but am still in my legs weak, but so much 
 mended, that I go to Lichfield in hope of being able to pay my visits on foot, 
 for there are no coaches. I have three letters this day, all about the balloon; 
 I could have been content with one. Do not write about the balloon, what- 
 ever else you may think proper to say. 
 
 1 Allan Ramsay, Esq., painter to his Majesty, who died August 10, 1784, in the 
 71st year of his age, much regretted l)y his friends. — B. 
 
 ^An allusion to Sir Joshua's appointment as Court-Painter. He expected it on 
 Allan Ramsay's death, and not immediately receiving it threatened to resign the 
 Presidency of the Royal Academy (Northcote's and Taylor's " Life of Reynolds)." 
 — Dr. Hill. 
 
 Alluding to the former custom at great English houses to give dinners at 
 which any of the neighboring gentry and clergy might present themselves as 
 guests without invitation. — Dr. Hill, 
 
Age 75.] WRITING BY FITS AND STARTS. 
 
 535 
 
 October 2. I am always proud of your approbation, and therefore was 
 much pleased that you liked my letter. When you copied it, you invaded the 
 Chancellor's right rather than mine. The refusal I did not expect, but I had 
 never thought much about it, for I doubted whether the Chancellor had so 
 much tenderness for me as to ask. He, being keeper of the King's con- 
 science, ought not to be supposed capable of an improper petition. All is not 
 gold that glitters, as we have often been told ; and the adage is verified in 
 your place and my favour; but if what happens does not make us richer, we 
 must bid it welcome, if it makes us wiser. I do not at present grow better, 
 nor much worse; my hopes, however, are somewhat abated, and a very great 
 loss is the loss of hope, but I struggle on as I can. 
 
 TO MR. JOHN NICHOLS. 
 
 Lichfield, Oct. 20. When you were here, you were pleased, as I am told, 
 to think my absence an inconvenience. I should certainly have been very glad 
 to give so skilful a lover of antiquities any information about my native place, 
 of which, however, I know not much, and have reason to believe that not 
 much is known. Though I have not given you any amusement, I have received 
 amusement from you. At Ashbourne, where I had very little company, I had 
 the luck to borrow " Mr, Bowyer's Life ";^ a book so full of contemporary 
 history, that a literary man must find some of his old friends, I thought that I 
 could now and then, have told you some [names] worth your notice; and per- 
 haps we may talk a life over, I hope we shall be much together; you must now 
 be to me what you were before, and what dear Mr. Allen was, besides. He 
 was taken unexpectedly away, but I think he was a very good man. I have 
 made little progress in recovery. I am very weak, and very sleepless : but I 
 live on and hope. 
 
 This various mass of correspondence, which I have thus 
 brought together, is valuable, both as an addition to the store 
 which the public already has of Johnson's writings, and as exhib- 
 iting a genuine and noble speciman of vigor and vivacity of 
 mind, which neither age nor sickness could impair or diminish. 
 
 It may be observed, that his writings in every way, whether for 
 the public, or privately to his friends, was by fits and starts ; for 
 we see frequently that many letters are written on the same day. 
 When he had once overcome his aversion to begin, he was, I 
 suppose, desirous to go on, in order to relieve his mind from the 
 uneasy reflection of delaying what he ought to do. 
 
 While in the country, notwithstanding the accumulation of 
 illness which he endured, his mind did not lose its powers. He 
 
 ^"Anecdotes of William Bowyer, Printer," were republished by Nichols in 
 1812-15 with many additions in nine volumes under the title of " Literary Anec- 
 dotes of the Eighteenth Century." Sir George Trevelyan tells us that annotating 
 this work, " with a minute diligence such as lew men have the patience to bestow 
 upon a book they do not intend to re-edit," was one of the last occupations of 
 Macaulay's Hfe. He finished the last volume a week before he died. " Life and 
 Letters of Lord Macaulay," ii. 484. 
 
536 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 translated an ode of Horace, which is printed in his works, and 
 composed several prayers. I shall insert one of them, which is 
 so wise and energetic, so philosophical and so pious, that I doubt 
 not of its affording consolation to many a sincere Christian, when 
 "in a state of mind to which I believe the best are sometimes 
 liable.^ 
 
 And here I am enabled fully to refute a very unjust reflection, 
 by Sir John Hawkins, both against Dr. Johnson, and his faithful 
 servant Mr. Francis Barber ; as if both of them had been guilty 
 of culpable neglect towards a person of the name of Heely, whom 
 Sir John choose to call a relation of Dr. Johnson's. The fact is, 
 that Mr. Heely was not his relation ; he had indeed been married 
 to one of his cousins, but she had died without having children 
 and he had married another woman ; so that even the slight con- 
 nection which there once had been by alliance was dissolved. 
 Dr. Johnson, who had shown very great liberality to this man, 
 while his first wife was alive, as has appeared in a former part of 
 this work (Vol. I., p. 306), was humane and charitable enough 
 to continue his bounty to him occasionally ; but surely there 
 was no strong call of duty upon him or upon his legatee, to do 
 more. The following letter, obligingly communicated to me by 
 Mr. Andrew Strahan, will confirm what I have stated : 
 
 TO MR. HEELY, NO. 5, IN PYE-STREET, WESTMINSTER. 
 
 Sir: As necessity obliges you to call so soon again upon me, you should 
 at least have told the smallest sum that will supply your present want : you 
 can not suppose that I have much to spare. Two guineas is as much as you 
 ought to be behind with your creditor. If you wait on Mr. Strahan, in New 
 Street, Fetter Lane, or in his absence, on Mr. Andrew Strahan, shew this, by 
 which they are entreated to advance you two guineas, and to keep this as a 
 voucher. I am. Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Ashbourne, Aug. 12, 1784. 
 
 1 Against inquisitive and pei-plexing thoughts. " O LORD, my Maker and Pror 
 tector, who hast graciously sent me into this world to work out my salvation, enable 
 me to drive from me all such unquiet and perplexing thoughts as may mislead or 
 hinder me in the practice of those duties which Thou hast required. When I be-? 
 hold the works of thy hands, and consider the course of thy providence, give me 
 grace always to remember that thy thoughts are not my thoughts, nor thy ways my 
 ways. And while it shall please Thee to continue me in this world, where much is 
 to be done, and little to be known, teach me by thy Holy Spirit, to withdraw my 
 mind h-oin unprofitable and dangerous enquiries, from difficulties vainly curious, 
 and doubts impossible to be solved. Let me rejoice in tlie light which Thou hast 
 imparted, let me serve Thee with active zeal and humble confidence, and wait with 
 patient expectation for the time in which the soul which Thou receivest shall be 
 satisfied with knowledge. Grant this, O LORD, for jESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen.'" 
 — B. " Prayers and Meditations," p. 219. 
 
Age 75.] SIR JOHN HA WKINS REFUTED. 
 
 537 
 
 Indeed it is very necessary to keep in mind that Sir John 
 Hawkins has unaccountably viewed Johnson's character and con- 
 duct in ah-nost every particular, with an unhappy prejudice.' 
 
 We now behold Johnson for the last time in his native city, for 
 which he ever retained a warm affection, and which, by a sudden 
 apostrophe, under the word Lich^ he introduces, with reverence, 
 into his immortal work, "The English Dictionary": Salve 
 magna parens / " ^ While here, he felt a revival of all the tender- 
 ness of filial affection, an instance of which appeared in his order- 
 ing the grave-stone and inscription over Elizabeth Blaney (Vol. I., 
 p. 9) to be substantially and carefully renewed. 
 
 To Mr. Henry White, a young clergyman, with whom he now 
 
 1 1 shr.U add one instance only to those which I have thought it incumbent on 
 me to point out. Talking of Mr. Garrick's having signified his willingness to let 
 Johnson have the loan of any of his books to assist him in his edition of Shake- 
 speare ; Sir John says (p. 444) , " Mr. Garrick knew not what risk he ran by this 
 offer. Johnson had so strange a forgetfulness of obligations of this sort, that 
 few who lent him books ever saw them again." This surely conveys a most unfa- 
 vorable insinuation, and has been so understood. Sir John mentions the single 
 case of a curious edition of Politian, which he tells us, appeared to belong to Pem- 
 broke College, which, probably, had been considered by Johnson as his own, for 
 upwards of fifty years. Would it not be fairer to consider "this as an inadvertence, 
 and draw no general inference? The truth is that Johnson was so attentive, that 
 in one of his manuscripts in my possession, he has marked in two columns, books 
 borrowed, and books lent. In Sir John Hawkins's compilation, there are, however, 
 some passages concerning Johnson which have unquestionable merit. One of 
 them I shall transcribe, in justice to a writer whom I have had too much occasion 
 to censure, and to show my fairness as the biographer of my illustrious friend : 
 " There was wanting in his conduct and behavior, that dignity which results from 
 a regular and orderly course of action, and by an irresistible power commands es- 
 teem. He could not be said to be a staid man, nor so to have adjusted in his 
 mind the balance of reason and passion, as to give occasion to say what may be 
 observed of some men, that all they do is just, fit, and right." Yet a judicious 
 friend well suggests, " It might, however, have been added, that such men are often 
 merely just, and rigidly correct, while their hearts are cold and unfeeling; and that 
 
 ohnson's virtues were of a much higher tone than those of the staid, orderly man, 
 
 ere described. — B. 
 
 2 Licit, a dead carcass ; whence Lichfield, the field of the dead, a city in Stafford- 
 shire, so named from martyred Christians. Salve magna parens. — Johnson's Dic- 
 tionary. 
 
 3 The following circumstance, mutually to the honor of Johnson and the cor- 
 poration of his native city, has been communicated to me by the Reverend Dr. 
 Vyse, from the town clerk : " Mr. Simpson has now before him, a record of the re- 
 spect and veneration which the Corporation of Lichfield, in the year 1767, had for 
 the merits and learning of Dr. Johnson. His father built the corner house in the 
 market-place, the two fronts of which, towards Market and Broadmarket street, 
 stood upon waste land of the Corporation, under a forty years' lease, which was 
 then expired. On the 15th of August, 1767, at a common-hall of the bailiffs and 
 citizens, it was ordered (and that without any solicitation) , that a lease should be 
 granted to Samuel Johnson, Doctor of Laws, of the encroachments at his house, 
 for the term of ninety-nine years, at the old rent, which was five shillings. Of which, 
 as town-clerk, Mr. Simpson had the honor and pleasure of informing him, and 
 that he was desired to accept it without paving anv fine on the occasion, which 
 lease was afterwards granted, and the Doctor died possessed of this property." — B. 
 
5S8 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 formed an intimacy, so as to talk to him with great freedom, he 
 mentioned that he could not in general accuse himself of having 
 been an undutiful son. " Once, indeed," said he, " I was dis- 
 obedient ; I refused to attend my father to Uttoxeter market. 
 Pride was the source of that refusal, and the remembrance of it 
 was painful. A few years ago I desired to atone for this fault ; I 
 went to Uttoxeter in very bad weather, and stood for a consider- 
 able time bareheaded in the rain, on the spot where my father's 
 stall used to stand. In contrition I stood, and I hope the pen- 
 ance was expiatory." 
 
 " I told him," says Miss Seward, " in one of my latest visits to 
 him, of a wonderful learned pig, which I had seen at Nottingham ; 
 and which did all that we have observed exhibited by dogs and 
 horses. The subject amused him. ' Then,' said he, ' the pigs 
 are a race unjustly calumniated. Pig has, it seems, not been 
 wanting to man, but 77tan to pig. We do not allow ti7ne for his 
 education ; we kill him at a year old.' Mr. Henry White, who 
 was present, observed that if this instance had happened in or 
 before Pope's time, he would not have been justified in instanc- 
 ing the swine as the lowest degree of grovelling instinct.* Dr. 
 Johnson seemed pleased with the observation, while the person 
 who made it proceeded to remark, that great torture must have 
 been employed, ere the indocility of the animal could have been 
 subdued. ' Certainly,' said the Doctor ; ' but,' turning to me, 
 ' how old is your pig?' I told him, three years old. 'Then,' 
 said he, ' the pig has no cause to complain ; he would have been 
 killed the first year if he had not been educated, and protracted 
 existence is a good recompense for very considerable degrees of 
 torture.' " 
 
 As Johnson had now very faint hopes of recovery, and as Mrs. 
 Thrale was no longer devoted to him, it might have been sup- 
 posed that he would naturally have chosen to remain in the com- 
 fortable house of his beloved wife's daughter, and end his life 
 where he began it. But there was in him an animated and lofty 
 spirit,^ and however complicated diseases might depress ordinary 
 mortals, all who saw him beheld and acknowledged the invictum 
 
 J Pope: " Essay on Man," i. 221. 
 
 2 Mr. Burke suggested to me as applicable to Johnson, what Cicero, in his 
 "Cato Major," says of Appius : " Intentum eniin aniinuin, tanquam arcitin, habebat, 
 nec languescens siiccuinbebat seiiectuti ; " repeating, at the same time, the following 
 noble words in the same passage : " //a cniin scnectits hoiiesta est, si se ipsa de fcndit, 
 si jus suum retinet, si neinini einaiicipata est, si usque ad extremuin vitcc spiritum 
 vindicat jus suum." — B. The last lines read : " Si usque ad ultiinuin spiritum domi- 
 natur in suos," " Cato Major," xi. 38. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 75.] JOHNSON'S INTELLECTUAL ARDOR. 539 
 
 animum Catonis} Such was his intellectual ardor even at this 
 time, that he said to one friend, " Sir, I look upon every day to 
 be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance;" and to 
 another, when talking of his illness, " I will be conquered ; I will 
 not capitulate." And such was his love of London, so high a 
 relish had he of its magnificent extent, and variety of intellectual 
 entertainment, that he languished when absent from it, his mind 
 having become quite luxurious from the long habit of enjoying 
 the metropolis ; and, therefore, although at Lichfield, surrounded 
 with friends who loved and revered him, and for whom he had a 
 very sincere affection, he still found that such conversation as 
 London affords, could be found no where else. These feelings, 
 joined, probably, to some flattering hopes of aid from the emi- 
 nent physicians and surgeons in London, who kindly and gener- 
 ously attended him without accepting fees, made him resolve to 
 return to the capital. 
 
 From Lichfield he came to Birmingham, where he passed a 
 few days with his worthy old schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, who thus 
 writes to me : 
 
 He was very solicitous with me to recollect some of our most early trans- 
 actions, and transmit them to him, for I perceived nothing gave him greater 
 pleasure than calling to mind those days of our innocence. I complied with 
 his request, and he only received them a few days before his death. I have 
 transcribed for your inspection exactly the minutes I wrote to him. 
 
 This paper having been found in his repositories after his 
 death, Sir John Hawkins has inserted it entire, and I have made 
 occasional use of it and other communications from Mr. Hector,^ 
 in the course of this work. I have both visited and corresponded 
 with him since Dr. Johnson's death, and by my inquiries con- 
 cerning a great variety of particulars have obtained additional in- 
 formation. I followed the same mode with the Reverend Dr. 
 Taylor, in whose presence I wrote down a good deal of what he 
 
 ^ Horace : 2 " Odes," i. 24 — Atrocem animum Catonis, are Horace's words, and it 
 may be doubted whether atrox is used by any other original writer in the same 
 sense. Stubborn is perhaps the most correct translation of tliis epithet. — Malone. 
 
 2 It is a most agreeable circumstance attending the publication of this work, that 
 Mr. Hector has survived his illustrious school-fellow so many years; that he still 
 retains his health and spirits ; and has gratified me with the following acknowledg- 
 ment : " I thank you, most sincerely thank you, for the great and long continued 
 entertainment your life of Dr. Jolmson has afforded me, and others, of my particu- 
 lar friends." Mr. Hector, besides setting me right as to the verse on a sprig of 
 myrtle [Vol. I., p. 43, note ij,has favored me with two English odes, written by Dr. 
 Johnson, at an early period of his life, which will appear in my edition of his 
 poems. — B. 
 
540 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 could tell ; and he, at my request, signed his name, to give it au- 
 thenticity. It is very rare to find any person who is able to give 
 a distinct account of the life even of one whom he has known 
 intimately, without questions being put to them. My friend Dr. 
 Kippis ' has told me, that on this account it is a practice with 
 him to draw out a biographical catechism. 
 
 Johnson then proceeded to Oxford, where he was again kindly 
 received by Dr. Adams, who was pleased to give me the following 
 account in one of his letters (Feb. 17th, 1785) : 
 
 His last visit was, I believe, to my house, which he left, after a stay of 
 four or five days. We had much serious talk together, for which I ought to 
 be the better as long as I live. You will remember some discourse which we 
 had in the summer upon the subject of prayer, and the difficulty of this sort of 
 composition. He reminded me of this, and of my having wished him to try 
 his hand, and to give us a specimen of the style and manner that he approved. 
 He added, that he was now in a right frame of mind, and as he could not 
 possibly employ his time better, he would in earnest set about it. But I find 
 upon inquiry, that no papers of this sort were left behind him, except a few 
 short ejaculatory forms suitable to his present situation. 
 
 Dr. Adams had not then received accurate information on this 
 subject ; for it has since appeared that various prayers had been 
 composed by him at different periods, which intermingled with 
 pious resolutions, and some short notes of his life were entitled 
 by him " Prayers and Meditations," and have, in pursuance of 
 his earnest requisition, in the hopes of doing good, been pub- 
 lished, with a judicious well-written preface, by the Reverend Mr. 
 Strahan, to whom he delivered them. This admirable collection, 
 to which I have frequently referred in the course of this work, 
 evinces, beyond all his compositions for the public, and all the 
 eulogies of his friends and admirers, the sincere virtue and piety 
 of Johnson. It proves with unquestionable authenticity, that 
 amidst all his constitutional infirmities, his earnestness to con- 
 form his practice to the precepts of Christianity was unceasing, 
 and that he habitually endeavored to refer every transaction of 
 his life to the will of the Supreme Being.^ 
 
 • Editor of the " Biographia Britannica." 
 
 ^Boswell seems to have been the only one of Johnson's friends who Approved 
 of tliis publication. Strahan says in his preface that Johnson placed the pajjers in 
 his hands and charged him with the work. We have no right to disbelieve him, or 
 to call his conduct, as Croker does, " disingenuous and culpable." Only portions of 
 the MSS. are preserv(nl in the library of Pembroke College. These show occasional 
 traces of r(;vision such as Johnson would hardly have given to what he did not con- 
 template being published. On IIk; oihrs hand it is difficult to Ijelieve that he would 
 have sanctioned everything Strahan thought fit to print. Dr. Adams, whose au- 
 
Age 75.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH BOS WELL. 
 
 541 
 
 He arrived in London on the i6th of November, and next day 
 sent to Dr. Burney the following note, which I insert as the last 
 token of his remembrance of that ingenious and amiable man, 
 and as another of the many proofs of the tenderness and benig- 
 nity of his heart : 
 
 Mr. Johnson, who came home last night, sends his respects to dear Doctor 
 Burney, and all the dear Burneys, little and great. 
 
 TO MR. HECTOR, IN BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 Dear Sir : I did not reach Oxford until Friday morning and then I sent 
 Francis to see the balloon fly, but could not go myself. I staid at Oxford 
 till Tuesday, and then came in the common vehicle easily to London. I am 
 as I was, and having seen Dr. Brocklesby, am to ply the squills; but, whatever 
 be their efficacy, this world must soon pass away. Let us think seriously on 
 our duty. I send my kindest respects to dear Mrs. Careless : let me have the 
 prayers of both. We have all lived long, and must soon part. GoD have 
 mercy on us, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 London, November 17, 1784. 
 
 His correspondence with me, after his letter on the subject of 
 my settling in London, shall now, so far as is proper, be produced 
 in one series. 
 
 July 26, he wrote to me from Ashbourne : 
 
 On the 14th I came to Lichfield, and found every body glad enough to see 
 me. On the 20th I came hither, and found a house half built, of very un- 
 comfortable appearance; but my own room has not been altered. That a 
 man worn with diseases, in his seventy-second or third year, should condemn 
 part of his remaining life to pass among ruins and rubbish, and that no incon- 
 siderable part, appears to me very strange. I know that your kindness makes 
 you impatient to know the state of my health, in which I cannot boast of 
 much improvement. I came through the journey without much inconvenience, 
 but when I attempt self-motion I find my legs weak, and my breath very short; 
 this day I have been much disordered. I have no company; the Doctor 
 [Taylor] is busy in his fields, and goes to bed at nine, and his whole system 
 is so different from mine, that we seem formed for diffcient elements; I have, 
 therefore, all my amusement to seek within myself. 
 
 Having written to him in bad spirits a letter filled with dejec- 
 tion and fretfulness, and at the same time expressing anxious 
 
 thority had been claimed in the preface, shortly after the appearance of the book 
 denied all knowledge of its contents, and emphatically declared that, had he been 
 consulted, he would never have consented to the publication. The probable truth 
 is that Strahan was expected to exercise more discretion than he had, a not uncom- 
 mon result of literary bequests to friends. 
 
542 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 apprehensions concerning him, on account of a dream which had 
 disturbed me ; his answer was chiefly in terms of reproach, for a 
 supposed charge of " affecting discontent, and indulging the 
 vanity of complaint." It, however, proceeded : 
 
 Write to me often, and write like a man. I consider your fidelity and ten- 
 derness as a great part of the comforts which are yet left me, and sincerely 
 wish we could be nearer to each other. . . . My dear friend, life is very 
 short and very uncertain; let us spend it as well as we can. My worthy 
 neighbor, Allen, is dead. Love me as well as you can. Pay my respects to 
 dear Mrs. Boswell. Nothing ailed me at that time; let your superstition at 
 last have an end. 
 
 Feeling very soon that the manner in which he had written 
 might hurt me, he two days afterwards, July 28, wrote to me 
 again, giving me an account of his sufferings ; after which, he 
 thus proceeds : 
 
 Before this letter, you will have had one which I hope you will not take 
 amiss; for it contains only truth, and that truth kindly intended. . . . 
 Spartam quam nactus es orna ; ^ make the most and best of your lot, and 
 compare yourself not with the few that are above you, but with the multitudes 
 which are below you. . . . Go steadily forwards with lawful business or 
 honest diversions. "j5'i'(as Temple says of the 'Dxxichmd.n) 7vell when you 
 are not ill, and pleased when you are not angry.'''' . . . This may seem 
 but an ill return for your tenderness; but I mean it well, for I love you with 
 great ardour and sincerity. Pay my respects to dear Mrs. Boswell, and teach 
 the young ones to love me. 
 
 I unfortunately was so much indisposed during a considerable 
 part of the year, that it was not, or at least I thought it was not, 
 in my power to write to my illustrious friend as formerly, or with- 
 out expressing such complaints as offended him. Having conjured 
 him not to do me the injustice of charging me with affectation, 
 I was with much regret long silent. His last letter to me then 
 came, and affected me very tenderly. 
 
 TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have this summer sometimes amended, and sometimes re- 
 lapsed, but, upon the whole, have lost ground very much. My legs are ex- 
 tremely weak, and my breath very short, and the water is now encreasing upon 
 me. In this uncomfortable state your letters used to relieve; what is the 
 reason that I have them no longer? Are you sick, or are you sullen? What- 
 ever be the reason, if it be less than necessity, drive it away; and of the short 
 
 1 Spartam nactus es, hanc orna ; quoted by Erasmus from Cicero's " Letters to 
 Atticus," iv. 6. — Dr. Hill. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 .^(ilil EPHEMERIS. 
 
 543 
 
 life that we have, make the best use for yourself and for your friends. . . . 
 I am sometimes afraid that your omission to write has some real cause, and 
 shall be glad to know that you are not sick, and that nothing ill has befallen 
 dear Mrs. Boswell, or any of your family. 
 
 I am, Sir, your, 8cc. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Lichfield, November 5, 1784. ^ 
 
 Yet it was not a little painful to me to find that, in a paragraph 
 of this letter which I have omitted, he still persevered in arraign- 
 ing me as before, which was strange in him who had so much 
 experience of what I suffered. I, however, wrote to him two as 
 kind letters as I could ; the last of which came too late to be read 
 by him, for his illness increased more rapidly upon him than I 
 had apprehended ; but I had the consolation of being informed 
 that he spoke of me on his death-bed with affection, and I look 
 forward with humble hope of renewing our friendship in a better 
 world. 
 
 I now relieve the readers of this work from any further personal 
 notice of its author ; who, if he should be thought to have ob- 
 truded himself too much upon their attention, requests them to 
 consider the peculiar plan of his biographical undertaking. 
 
 Soon after Johnson's return to the metropolis, both the asthma 
 and dropsy became more violent and distressful. He had for 
 some time kept a journal in Latin of the state of his illness, and 
 the remedies which he used, under the tide of " ^gri Ephemeris," 
 which he began on the 6th of July, but continued it no longer 
 than the 8th of November ; finding, I suppose, that it was a 
 mournful and unavailing register. It is in my possession ; and is 
 written with great care and accuracy. 
 
 Still his love of literature ' did not fail. A very few days before 
 
 ^ It is truly wonderful to consider the extent and constancy of Johnson's literary 
 ardor, notwithstanding the melancholy which clouded and embitteied his existence. 
 Besides the numerous and various works which he executed, he had, at different 
 times, formed schemes of a great many more, of which the following catalogue was 
 given by him to Mr. Langton, and by that gentleman presented to his Majesty : 
 
 " Divinity. — A small book of precepts and directions for piety : the hint taken 
 from the directions in Morton's exercise. 
 
 "Philosophy, History, and Literature in general. 
 
 " History of Criticism, as it relates to judging of authors, from Aristotle to the 
 present age. An account of the rise and improvements of that art ; of the different 
 . opinions of authors, ancient and modern. 
 " Translation of the History of Herodian. 
 
 " New edition of Fairfax's Translation of Tasso, with notes, glossary, Sec. 
 
 " Chaucer, a new edition of him.lrom manuscripts and old editions, w ith various 
 readings, conjectures, remarks on his langiiagr, and the changes it had undergone 
 from the earliest times to his age, and from his to the present ; with notes explanatory 
 
544 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 his death he transmitted to his friend Mr. John Nichols a Hst of 
 the authors of the " Universal History," mentioning their several 
 shares in that work. It has, according to his direction, been de- 
 posited in the British Museum, and is printed in the Gentle- 
 man's Magazine for December, 1784. 
 
 of customs, &c. and referenc'es to Boccace, and other authors from whom he has 
 borrowed, with an account of the liberties he has taken in telling the stories ; his 
 life and an exact etymological glossary. Aristotle's Rhetoric, a translation of it 
 into English. A collection of Letters, translated from the modern writers, with 
 some account of the several authors. Oldham's Poems, with notes, historical and 
 critical. Roscommon's Poems, with note§. Lives of the Philosophers, written with 
 a polite air, in such a manner as may divert as well as instruct. History of the 
 Heathen Mythology, with an explication of the fables, both allegorical and histori- 
 cal ; with references to the poets. History of the State of Venice, in a compendious 
 manner. Aristotle's Ethics, an English translation of them, with notes. Geograph- 
 ical Dictionary, from the French. Hierocles upon Pythagoras, translated into Eng- 
 lish, perhaps with notes. This is done by Norris. A book of Letters, upon all 
 kinds of subjects. Claudian, a new edition of his works, cum notis variorum, in the 
 manner of Barman. Tully's Tusculan Questions, a translation of them. Tully's 
 De Natura Deorum, a ti-anslation of those Books. Benzo's New History of the 
 New World, to be translated. Machiavel's History of Florence, to be translated. 
 History of the Revival of Learning in Europe, containing an account of whatever 
 contributed to the restoration of literature ; such as controversies, printing, the de- 
 struction of the Greek empire, the encouragement of great men, with the lives of the 
 most eminent patrons, and most eminent early professors of all kinds of learning in 
 different countries. A Body of Chronology, in verse, with historical notes. A 
 Table of the Spectators, Tatlers, and Guardians, distinguished by figures into six 
 degrees of value, with notes, giving the reasons of preterence or degradation. A 
 Collection of Letters from English authors, with a preface giving some account of 
 the writers ; with reasons for selection, and criticism upon styles ; remarks on each 
 letter, if needful. A Collection of Proverbs from various languages. Jan. 6, — 53. 
 A Dictionary to the Common Prayer, in imitation of Calmet's Dictionary of the 
 Bible. March, — 52. A Collection of Stories and Examples, like those of Valerius 
 Maximus. Jan. 10, — 53. From .^lian, a volume of select stories, perhaps from 
 others. Jan. 28, — 53. Collection of Travels, Voyages, Adventures, and Descrip- 
 tions of Countries. Dictionary of Ancient History and Mythology. Treatise on 
 the Study of Polite Literature, containing the history of learning, directions for edi- 
 tions, commentaries, &c. Maxims, Characters, and Sentiments, after the manner 
 of Bruyere, collected out of ancient authors, particularly the Greek with Apoph- 
 thegms. Classical Miscellanies, Select Translations from ancient Greek. and Latin 
 authors. Lives of Illustrious Persons, as well of the active as the learned, in imita- 
 tion of Plutarch. Judgment of the learned upon English authors. Poetical Dic- 
 tionary of the English tongue. Considerations upon the present state of London. 
 Collection of Epigrams, with notes and observations. Observations on the Eng- 
 lish language, relating to words, phrases, and modes of speech. Minutiae Lite- 
 rarios. Miscellaneous reflections, criticisms, emendations, notes. History of the 
 Constitution. Comparison of Philosophical and Christian Morality, by sentences 
 collected from the moralists and fathers. Plutarch's Lives, in English, with notes. 
 Poetry and works of Imagination. — Hymn to Ignorance. The Palace of 
 Sloth, — a vision. Coluthus, to be translated. Prejudice, a poetical essay. The 
 Palace of Nonsense, — a vision." Johnson's extraordinary facility of composition, 
 when he shook off his constitutional indolence, and resolutely sat down to write, is 
 admirably described by Mr. Courtenay, in his Political Review, which I have sev- 
 eral times quoted : 
 
 " While through life's maze he sent a piercing view. 
 His mind expansive to the object grew. 
 With various stores of erudition fraught, 
 The lively image, the deep-searching thought, 
 
Age 75-] AMUSEMENTS OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. 545 
 
 During his sleepless nights he amused himself by translating 
 into Latin verse, from the Greek, many of the epigrams in the 
 " Anthologia." These translations, with some other poems by 
 him in Latin, he gave to his friend Mr. Langton, who, having 
 
 Slept in repose ; — but when the moment press'd, 
 The bright ideas stood at once confess'd ; 
 Instant his genius sped its vigorous rays. 
 And o'er the letter'd world diffus'd a blaze : 
 As womb'd with fire the cloud electric flies, 
 And calmly o'er th' horizon seems to rise : 
 Touch'd by the pointed steel, the lightning flows, 
 And all th' expanse with rich effulgence glows." 
 We shall in vain endeavor to know with exact precision every production of 
 ohnson's pen. He owned to me that he had written about forty sermons ; but as 
 understood that he had given or sold them to diff^erent persons, who were to 
 preach them as their own, he did not consider himself at liberty to acknowledge 
 them. Would those who were thus aided by him, who are still alive, and the 
 friends of those who are dead, fairly inform the world, it would be obligingly grati- 
 fying a reasonable curiosity, to which there should, I think, now be no objection. 
 Two volumes of them, published since his death, are sufficiently ascertained [see 
 p. 120]. I have before me, in his handwriting, a fragment of twenfy quarto leaves 
 of a translation into English of Sallust, De Bella Catiliiiario. When it was done I 
 have no nodon ; but it seems to have no very superior merit to mark it as his. Be- 
 sides the publications heretofore mentioned, I am satisfied, from internal evidence, 
 to admit also as genuine the following, which, notwithstanding all my chronological 
 • care, escaped me in the course of this work : " Considerations on the Case of Dr. 
 Trapp's Sermons," t published in 1739 [1787] , in The GciitlenuDi s Magazine. It is 
 a very ingenious defence of the right of abridging an author's work, without being 
 held as infringing his property. This is one of the nicest questions in the " Law of 
 Literature ; " and I can not help thinking that the indulgence of abridging is often 
 exceedingly injurious to authors and booksellers, and should in very few cases be per- 
 mitted. At any rate, to prevent difficult and uncertain discussion, and give an abso- 
 lute security to authors in the property of their labors, no abridgment whatever should 
 be permitted, till after the expiration of such a number of years as the Legislature 
 may be pleased to fix. But, though it has been confidently ascribed to him, I 
 cannot allow that he wrote a Dedication to both Houses of Parliament of a book 
 entitled " The Evangelical History Harmonized." He was no croaker ; no declaimer 
 against the times. He would not have written, " That we are fallen upon an age in 
 which corruption is not barely universal, is universally confessed." Nor, " Rapine 
 preys on the public without opposition, and perjury betrays it without inquir\." 
 Nor would he, to excite a speedy reformation, have conjured up such phantoms of 
 terror as these: "A few years longer, and perhaps all endeavors will be in vain. 
 We may be swallowed by an earthquake : we may be delivered to our enemies." 
 This is not Johnsonian. There are, indeed, in this dedication several sentences 
 constructed upon the model of those of Johnson. But the imitation of the form, 
 w ithout the spirit of his style, has been so general, that this of itself is not sufficient 
 evidence. Even our newspaper writers aspire to it. In an account of the funeral 
 of Edwin, the comedian, in The Diary of Nov. g, 1790, that son of drollery is thus 
 described : " A man who had so often cheered the sullen ness of vacancy, and sus- 
 pended the approaches of sorrow," and in The Dublin Evening Post, August i6, 
 1791, there is the following paragraph: "It is a singular circumstance, that in a 
 city like this, containing 200,000 people, there are three months in the year during 
 which no place of public amusement is open. Long vacation is here a vacation 
 from pleasure, as well as business ; nor is there any mode of passing the listless 
 evenings of declining summer, but in the riots of a tavern, or the stupidity of a 
 coffee-house." I have not thought it necessary to specify every copy of verses 
 written by Johnson, it being my intention to publish an authentic edition of all his 
 poetry, with notes. — B. 
 
 Vol. II. — 35 
 
546 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 added a few notes, sold them to the booksellers for a small sum 
 to be given to some of Johnson's relations, which was accord- 
 ingly done ; and they are printed in the collection of his works. 
 
 A very erroneous notion has circulated as to Johnson's de- 
 ficiency in the knowledge of the Greek language, partly owing to 
 the modesty with which, from knowing how much there was to 
 be learnt, he used to mention his own comparative acquisitions. 
 When Mr. Cumberland ^ talked to him of the Greek fragments 
 which are so well illustrated in T/ie Observer, and of tlie Greek 
 dramatists in general, he candidly acknowledged his insufficiency 
 in that particular branch of Greek literature. Yet it may be said, 
 that though not a great, he was a good Greek scholar. Dr. Charles 
 Burney, the younger, who is universally acknowledged by the best 
 judges to be one of the few men of this age who are very eminent 
 for their skill in that noble language, has assured me, that Johnson 
 could give a Greek word for almost every English one ; and that 
 although not sufficiently conversant in the niceties of the language, 
 he, upon some occasions discovered, even in these, a considerable 
 degree of critical acumen. Mr. Dalzel, Professor of Greek at 
 Edinburgh, whose skill in it is unquestionable, mentioned to me, 
 in very liberal terms, the impression which was made upon him 
 by Johnson, in a conversation which they had in London con- 
 cerning that language. As Johnson, therefore, was undoubtedly 
 one of the first Latin scholars in modern times, let us not deny to 
 his fame some additional splendor from Greek.^ 
 
 I shall now fulfil my promise of exhibiting specimens of various 
 sorts of imitation of Johnson's style. 
 
 In the "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 1787," 
 there is an " Essay on the Style of Dr. Samuel Johnson," by the 
 Reverend Robert Burrowes, whose respect for the great object of 
 his criticism ^ is thus evinced in the concluding paragraph : 
 
 ^ Mr. Cumberland assures me, that he was always treated with great courtesy by 
 Dr. Johnson, who, in his " Letters to Mrs. Thrale," ii. 68, thus cpeaks of that 
 earned, ingenious, and accomplished gentleman : " The want of company is an in- 
 convenience, but Mr. Cumberland is a million." — B. 
 
 ^Gifford relates in his " Life of Ford" that discussing this matter with Jacob 
 Bryant he urged that Johnson himself admitted that he was not a good Greek 
 scholar. " Sir," was the answer, " it is not easy for us to say what such a man as 
 Johnson could call a good Greek scholar." — Croker. Dr. Hill quotes a characteristic 
 testimonial from Dr. Parr to diaries Burney's scholarshi]). " There are three great 
 Grecians in England : Porson is the first ; Burney is the third ; and who is the 
 second I need not tell." 
 
 3 We must smile at a little inaccuracy of metaphor in the preface to the Trans- 
 actions, which is written by Mr. Burrowes. The critic of the style t;/" Johnson 
 having, with a just zeal for literature, observed, that the whole nation are called on 
 to exert themselves, afterwards says : " They are called on by every tie which can 
 have a laudable influence on the heart of man." — B. 
 
Age 75 ] IMITATIONS OF JOHNSONESE. 
 
 547 
 
 I have singled him out from the great body of the English writers, because 
 his universally acknowledged beauties would be most apt to induce imitation; 
 and I have treated rather on his faults than his perfections, because an essay 
 might comprise all the observations I could make upon his faults, while vol- 
 umes would not be suflicient for a treatise on his perfections. 
 
 Mr. BuRROWES has analyzed the composition of Johnson, and 
 pointed out its peculiarities with much acuteness ; and I would 
 recommend a careful perusal of his Essay to those who, being 
 captivated by the union of perspicuity and splendor which the 
 writings of Johnson contain, without having a sufficient portion 
 of his vigor of mind, may be in danger of becoming bad copyists 
 of his manner. I, however, cannot but observe, and I observe 
 it to his credit, that this learned gentleman has himself caught no 
 mean degree of the expansion and harmony, which, independent 
 of all other circumstances, characterize the sentences of John- 
 son. Thus, in the preface to the volume in which the Essay 
 appears, we find : 
 
 If it be said that in societies of this sort, too much attention is frequently 
 bestowed on subjects barren and speculative, it may be answered, that no 
 one science is so little connected with the rest, as not to afford many princi- 
 ples whose use may extend considerably beyond the science to which they 
 primarily belong; and that no proposition is so purely theoretical as to be 
 totally incapable of being applied to practical purposes. There is no appar- 
 ent connection between duration and the cycloidal arch, the properties of which, 
 duly attended to, have furnished us with our best regulated methods of meas- 
 uring time: and he who has made himself master of the nature and affections 
 of the logarithmic curve, is not aware that he has advanced considerably to- 
 wards ascertaining the proportionable density of the air at its various distances 
 from the surface of the earth. 
 
 The ludicrous imitators of Johnson's style are innumerable. 
 Their general method is to accumulate hard words, without con- 
 sidering that, although he was fond of introducing them occasion- 
 ally, there is not a single sentence in all his writings where they 
 are crowded together, as in the first verse of the following im- 
 aginary ode by hitn to Mrs. Thrale,' which appeared in the news- 
 papers : 
 
 ^ Johnson's wishing to unite himself with this rich widow, was much talked of 
 but I believe without loundation. The report, however, gave occasion to a poem, 
 not without characteristical merit, entitled " Ode to Mrs. Thrale, by Samuel John- 
 son, LL.D., on their supposed approaching Nuptials: " printed for Mr. Faulder, in 
 Bond Street. I shall quote as a specimen, the first three stanzas. 
 
 " If e'er my fingers touch'd the lyre. 
 In satire fierce, in pleasure gay; 
 Shall not my Thrai.ia's smile inspire? 
 Shall Sam refuse the sportive lay? 
 
548 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 ** Cervista/ coc/or^s vz(/ua/e dsixne, 
 OpinsU thou his gigantic fame, 
 
 Pi' 0 Climbing 2X that shrine; 
 Shall, catenated hy thy charms, 
 A captive in thy ambient arms, 
 Perennially be thine? " 
 
 This, and a thousand other such attempts, are totally unlike 
 the original which the writers imagined they were turning into 
 ridicule. There is not similarity enough for burlesque, or even 
 for caricature. 
 
 Mr. CoLMAN, in his "Prose on several occasions," has "A 
 Letter from Lexiphanes ; containing Proposals for a Glossary 
 or Vocabulary of the Vulgar Tongue : intended as a supplement 
 to a larger Dictionary." It is evidently meant as a sportive 
 sally of ridicule on Johnson, whose style is thus imitated, without 
 being grossly overcharged : 
 
 It is easy to foresee, that the idle and illiterate will complain that I have 
 increased their labors by endeavoring to diminish them; and that I have ex- 
 plained what is more easy by what is more difificult — ignotuni per ignotius. I 
 expect, on the other hand, the liberal acknowledgments of the learned. He 
 who is buried in scholastic retirement, secluded from the assemblies of the 
 gay, and remote from the circles of the polite, will at once comprehend the 
 definitions, and be grateful for such a seasonable and necessary elucidation 
 of his mother-tongue. . . . Annexed to this letter is a short specimen 1 of 
 the work, thrown together in a vague and desultory manner, not even adhering 
 to alphabetical concatenation. 
 
 " My dearest Lady ! view your slave, 
 Behold him as your very Scrub ; 
 Eager to write as author grave, 
 Or govern well, the brewing-tub. 
 
 " To rich felicity thus raised, 
 
 My bosom glows with amorous fire. 
 Porter no longer shall be praised, 
 
 'T is I MYSELF am Thrale's En/ire^ — B. 
 
 * " Higledy-piggledy , — Conglomeration and confusion. 
 
 "Hodge-podge, — A culinary mixture of heterogeneous ingredients: applied met- 
 aphorically to all discordant combinations. 
 " Tit-for- Tat, — Adequate retaliation. 
 " Sliilly S/ially., — Hesitation and irresolution. 
 " Fef fan! ftiin! — Gigantic intonations. 
 " Rigmarole, — Discourse, incoherent and rhapsodical. 
 " Crincum cranciim, — Lines of irregularity and involution. 
 
 "Ding-dong, — 'I'intinabulary chimes, used metaphorically to signify dispatch 
 and vehemence." — B. On the publication of BosweU's own book the Press teemed 
 with parodies. The best of these was "A Lesson in Biography; or, How to 
 write the Life of one's Friend," by Alexander Chalmers, it was rei)rinte(l by 
 Croker in an appendix to his edition, and is one of the best parodies ever written. 
 
Age 75.] IMITATIONS OF JOHNSON'S STYLE. 549 
 
 The serious imitators of Johnson's style, whether intentionally 
 or by the imperceptible effect of its strength and animation, are, 
 as I have had already occasion to observe, so many, that I might 
 introduce quotations from a numerous body of writers in our 
 language, since he appeared in the literary world. I shall point 
 out the following : 
 
 WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D. 
 
 In other parts of the globe, man, in his rudest state, appears as lord of the 
 creation, giving law to various tribes of animals which he has tamed and re- 
 duced to subjection. The Tartar follows his prey on the horse which he has 
 reared, or tends his numerous herds which furnish him both with food and 
 clothing: the Arab has rendered the camel docile, and avails himself of its 
 persevering strength; the Laplander has formed the rein-deer to be subser- 
 vient to his will; and even the people of Kamschatka have trained their dogs 
 to labor. This command over the inferior creatures is one of the noblest 
 prerogatives of man, and among the greatest efforts of his wisdom and power. 
 Without this, his dominion is incomplete. He is a monarch who has no sub- 
 jects; a master without servants; and must perform every operation by the 
 strength of his own arm. (" History of America," i. 332.) 
 
 EDWARD GIBBON, ESQ. 
 
 Of all our passions and appetites, the love of power is of the most impe- 
 rious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one man requires the submis- 
 sion of the multitude. In the tumult of civil discord the laws of society lose 
 their force, and their place is seldom supplied by those of humanity. The 
 ardor of contention, the pride of victory, the despair of success, the memory 
 of past injuries, and the tear of future dangers, all contribute to inflame the 
 mind and to silence the voice of pity. ("Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire," i., ch. 4.) 
 
 MISS BURNEY. 
 
 My family, mistaking ambition for honor, and rank for dignity, have 
 long planned a splendid connection for me, to which, though my invariable 
 repugnance has stopped any advances, their wishes and their views immov- 
 ably adhere. I am but too certain they will now listen to no other. I dread, 
 therefore, to make a trial where I despair of success; I know not how to risk 
 a prayer with those who may silence me by acommand. ("Cecilia," bk. vii. 
 ch. i. [v.])i 
 
 REVEREND MR. NARES.'^ 
 
 In an enlightened and improving age, much perhaps is not to be apprehended 
 from the inroads of mere caprice; at such a period it will generally be per- 
 
 ^ See Macaulay's essay on the " Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay " for her 
 imitations of Johnson's style. 
 
 2 Tlie passage which I quote is taken from that gentleman's "Elements of Or- 
 thoepy ; containing a distinct View of the whole Analogy of the English Language, 
 so far as relates to Pronunciation, Accent, and Quantity," London, 1784. I beg 
 leave to offer my particular acknowledgments to the author of a work ot imcom- 
 mon merit and great utility. I know no book which contains, in the same compass, 
 more learning, polite literature, sound sense, accuracy of arrangement, and per- 
 spicuity of expression. — B. 
 
550 
 
 BOSWELL'S life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 ceived, that needless irregularity is the worst of all deformities, and that 
 nothing is so truly elegant in language as the simplicity of unviolated analogy. 
 Rules will, therefore, be observed, so far as they are known and acknowl- 
 edged : but, at the same time, the desire of improvement having been once 
 excited will not remain inactive; and its efforts, unless assisted by knowledge, 
 as much as they are prompted by zeal, will not unfrequently be found per- 
 nicious; so that the very persons whose intention it is to perfect the instru- 
 ment of reason, will deprave and disorder it unknowingly. At such a time, 
 then, it becomes peculiarly necessary that the analogy of language should be 
 fully examined and understood; that its rules should be carefully laid down; 
 and that it should be clearly known how much it contains, which being al- 
 ready right should be defended from change and violation; how much it has 
 that demands amendment: and how much that, for fear of greater inconven- 
 iences, must, perhaps, be left, unaltered, though irregular. 
 
 A distinguished author in The Mu-roi-,^ a periodical paper pub- 
 lished at Edinburgh, has imitated Johnson very closely. Thus in 
 No. 16 : 
 
 The effects of the return of spring have been frequently remarked' as well 
 in relation to the human mind as to the animal and vegetable world. The re- 
 viving power of this season has been traced from the fields to the herds that 
 inhabit them, and from the lower classes of beings up to man. Gladness and 
 joy are described as prevailing through universal Nature, animating the low of 
 the cattle, the carol of the birds, and the pipe of the shepherd. 
 
 The Reverend Dr. Knox,^ master of Tunbridge School, appears 
 to have the imitaj-i aveo of Johnson's style perpetually in his 
 mind ; and to his assiduous, though not servile, study of it, we 
 may partly ascribe the extensive popularity of his writings."* 
 
 1 That collection was presented to Dr. Jolinson, I believe by its authors; and I 
 heard him speak very well of it. — B. The Min or was published in lyytj-So. By 
 1793 it reached its ninth edition. Henry Mackenzie, author of the " Man of Feel- 
 ing," was conductor and chief contributor. — Dr, Hill. 
 
 2 As late as 1824 the works of the Rev. Vicesimus Knox were published in seven 
 octavo volumes. His essays were translated into most European languages. — 
 Dr. Hill. 
 
 3 Lucretius, iii. 6. 
 
 4 It were to be wished, that he had imitated that great man in every respect, and 
 had not followed the example of Dr. Adam Smith, in ungraciously attacking liis 
 venerable Alma Mater, Oxford. It must, however, be observed, that he is much 
 less to blame than Smith : he only objects to certain particulars ; Smith to the whole 
 institution, though indebted for much of his learning to an exhibition which he on- 
 joyed for many years at Balliol College. Neither of them, however, will do any 
 hurt to the noblest university in the world. While I animadvert on what appears 
 to me exceptionable in some of the works of Dr. Knox, I cannot refuse due praise 
 to others of his productions; particularly his sermons, and to the spirit with which 
 he maintains, against presumptuous heretics, the consolatory doctrines peculiar to 
 the Christian Revelation. This he has done in a manner equally strenuous a.W 
 conciliating. Neither ought I to omit mentioning a remarkal)le instance of his 
 candor notwithstanding the wide clilfrrence of our opinions upon the important 
 subject of University education, in a letter to me concerning this work, he thus ex- 
 
ADAM SMITH. 
 
Age 75-] 
 
 A PERFECT IMITATION, 
 
 551 
 
 In his " Essays, Moral and Literary," No. 3, we find the fol- 
 lowing passage : " The polish of external grace may indeed be 
 deferred till the approach of manhood. When solidity is ob- 
 tained by pursuing the modes prescribed by our forefathers, then 
 may the file be used. The firm substance will bear attrition, and 
 the lustre then acquired will be durable." 
 
 There is, however, one in No. 1 1, which is blown up into such 
 tumidity as to be truly ludicrous. The writer means to tell us 
 that Members of Parliament, who have run in debt by extrava- 
 gance, will sell their votes to avoid an arrest,' which he thus ex- 
 presses : " They who build houses and collect costly pictures and 
 furnitures, with the money of an honest artisan or mechanic, will 
 be very glad of emancipation from the hands of a bailiff by a sale 
 of their senatorial suffrage." 
 
 But I think the most perfect imitation of Johnson is a professed 
 
 one, entitled " A [continuation of Dr. J n's] Criticism on 
 
 [the Poems of Gray] Gray's ' Elegy in a Country Churchyard,' " 
 said to be written by Mr. Young, Professor of Greek at Glasgow, 
 and of which let him have the credit, unless a better title can be 
 shown. It has not only the particularities of Johnson's style, but 
 that very species of literary discussion and illustration for which 
 he was eminent. Having already quoted so much from others, 
 I shall refer the curious to this performance, with an assurance 
 of much entertainment.^ 
 
 Yet whatever merit there may be in any imitations of Johnson's 
 style, every good judge must see that they are obviously different 
 from the original ; for all of them are either deficient in its force, 
 or overloaded with its peculiarities ; and the powerful sentiment 
 to which it is suited is not to be found. 
 
 Johnson's affection for his departed relations seemed to grow 
 warmer as he approached nearer to the time when he might hope 
 to see them again. It probably appeared to him that he should 
 upbraid himself with unkind inattention, were he to leave the 
 world without having paid a tribute of respect to their memory. 
 
 presses himself : " I thank you for the very great entertainment your ' Life of John- 
 son ' gives me. It is a most valuable work. Yours is a new species of biography. 
 Happy for Johnson that he had so able a recorder of his wit and wisdom " — B. 
 
 ^ Dr. Knox, in his " Moral and Literary" abstraction, may be excused for not 
 knowing the political regulations of his country. No senator can be in the hands 
 of a bailiff. — B. 
 
 2 According to Dr. Hill Sir Walter Scott (" Croker Papers," ii. 34"^ would seem 
 to be alone in sharing Boswell's opinion of this imitation. Everybody else, from 
 Horace Walpole to Croker, could make nothing of it. 
 
552 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 TO MR. GREEN, APOTHECARY, AT LICHFIELD. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have enclosed the epitaph' for my father, mother, and brother, 
 to be all engraved on the large size, and laid in the middle aisle in St.tMichael's 
 church, which I request the clergyman and churchwardens to permit. 
 
 The first care must be to find the exact place of interment, that the stone 
 may protect the bodies. Then let the stone be deep, massy, and hard; and 
 do not let the difference of ten pounds, or more, defeat our purpose,. 
 
 I have enclosed ten pounds, and Mrs. Porter will pay you ten more, which 
 I gave her for the same purpose. What more is wanted shall be sent; and 
 I beg that all possible haste may be made, for I wish to have it done while I 
 am yet alive. Let me know, dear Sir, that you receive this. I am, Sir, your 
 most humble servant, 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 2 
 
 Dec. 2, 1784. 
 
 to MRS. LUCY PORTER, IN LICHFIELD.^ 
 
 Dear Madam: I am very ill, and desire your prayers. I have sent Mr. 
 Green the epitaph, and a power to call on you for ten pounds. 
 
 1 laid this summer a stone over Tetty, in the chapel of Bromley, in Kent. 
 The inscription is in Latin, of which this is the English. [Here a transla- 
 tion.] 
 
 That this is done, I thought it fit that you should know. What care will 
 be taken of us, who can tell ? May God pardon and bless us all, for Jesus 
 Christ's sake. I am, &c. 
 
 Sam. Johnson. 
 
 Dec. 2, 1784. 
 
 1 H. S. E. 
 
 Michael Johnson. 
 Vir impavidus, constans, animosus, periculorum immemor, laborum patientissi- 
 mus ; fiducia Christiana fortis fervidusque ; paterfamilias apprime strenuus ; bib- 
 liopoia admodum peritus ; mente et libris et negotiis exculta; animo ita firmo, ut, 
 rebus adversis diu conflictatus, nee sibi nec suis defuerit ; lingua sic temperata, ut 
 ei nihil quod aures vel pias, vel castas lassisset, aut dolor, vel voluptas unquam ex- 
 presserit. 
 
 NATUS CUBLI^ IN AGRO DERBIENSI 
 
 Anno mdclvi 
 Obiit mdccxxxi 
 Apposita est Sara conjux. 
 Antiqua FORDORUM gente oriunda ; quam donii sedulam, foris paucis notam ; 
 nulli molestam, mentis acumine et judicii subtilitate prascellentem ; aliis multum, 
 sibi parum indulgentem ; aeternitati semper attentam ; omne fere virtutis nomen 
 commendavit. 
 
 Nata nortoniae Regis, in agro Varvicensi, Anno mdclxix. 
 Ohht mdcclix 
 
 Cum Nathanaele, illorum filio, qui natus MDCCXII cum vires et anirni et 
 corporis multa pollicerentur, anno MDCCXXXVII, vitam brevem pia morti finivit. 
 
 2 It was not done. Dr. Harvvood tells us (" Hist, of Lichfield "), till after John- 
 son's death. When the church was re-paved in 1796, the stone was removetl and 
 could never agam be found. — Croker. A fresh one, with the same inscriptions, 
 was placed in the church on the hundredth anniversary of Johnson's death by Mr. 
 Robert Thorp of Buxton Road House, Macclesfield. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 This lady, whose name so frequently occurs in the course of this work, sur- 
 vived IJr. Johnson just thirteen months. She died at Lichfield, in her 71st year, 
 January 13, 1786. — Malone. 
 
Age 75.] JOHNSON PREPARING FOR DEATH. 553 
 
 My readers are now, at last, to behold Samuel Johnson pre- 
 paring himself for that doom, from which the most exalted powers 
 afford no exemption to man. Death had always been to him an 
 object of terror; so that, though by no means happy, he still 
 clung to life with an eagerness at which many have wondered. 
 At any time when he was ill, he was very much pleased to be told 
 that he looked better. An ingenious member of the Eumelian 
 Club ' informs me, that upon one occasion, when he said to him 
 that he saw health returning to his cheek, Johnson seized him by 
 the hand and exclaimed, " Sir, you are one of the kindest friends 
 I ever had." 
 
 His own state of his views of futurity will appear truly rational ; 
 and may, perhaps, impress the unthinking with seriousness. 
 
 " You know," says he, " I never thought confidence with respect to futur- 
 ity, any part of the character of a brave, a wise, or a good man. Bravery 
 has no place where it can avail nothing; wisdom impresses strongly the con- 
 sciousness of those faults, of which it is, perhaps, itself an aggravation; and 
 goodness, always wishing to be better, and imputing every deficiency to crim- 
 inal negligence, and every fault to voluntary corruption, never dares to sup- 
 pose the condition of forgiveness fulfilled, nor what is wanting in the crimes 
 supplied by penitence. 
 
 This is the state of the best; but what must be the condition of him whose 
 heart will not suffer him to rank himself among the best, or among the good? 
 Such must be his dread of the approaching trial, as will leave him little at- 
 tention to the opinion of those whom he is leaving for ever; and the serenity 
 that is not felt, it can be no virtue to feign. (Mrs. Thrale's Collection, 
 Vol. ii., p. 350.) 
 
 His great fear of death, and the strange dark manner in which 
 Sir John Hawkins imparts the uneasiness which he expressed on 
 account of offences with which he charged himself, may give oc- 
 casion to injurious suspicions, as if there had been something of 
 more than ordinary criminality weighing upon his conscience. On 
 that account, therefore, as well as from the regard to truth which 
 he inculcated {ante, p. 3 29),' I am to mention (with all possible 
 respect and delicacy, however), that his conduct, after he came 
 to London, and had associated with Savage and others, was not 
 so strictly virtuous, in one respect, as when he was a younger man. 
 It was well known that his amorous inclinations were uncom- * 
 monly strong and impetuous. He owned to many of his friends, 
 
 ^ A club in London, founded by the learned and ingenious physician, Dr. Ash, 
 in honor of whose name it was called Eumelian, from the Greek Eu/aeAia? : though 
 it was warmly contended, and even put to a vote, that it should have the more 
 obvious appellation oi Fraxinean, from the Latin. — B. Ev/xeAtas means " armed 
 with ash spear." 
 
554 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 that he used to take women of the town to taverns, and hear them 
 relate their history. In short, it must not be concealed, that, like 
 many other good and pious men, among whom we may place the 
 apostle Paul upon his own authority, Johnson was not free from 
 propensities which were ever " warring against the law of his 
 mind," — and that in his combats with them, he was sometimes 
 overcome. 
 
 Here let the profane and licentious pause ; let them not thought- 
 lessly say that Johnson was an hypociHte, or that his pi'inciples were 
 not firm, because his practice was not uniformly conformable to 
 what he professed. 
 
 Let the question be considered independent of moral and re- 
 ligious associations ; and no man will deny that thousands, in 
 many instances, act against conviction. Is a prodigal, for ex- 
 ample, an hypocrite, when he owns he is satisfied that his extrava- 
 gance will bring him to ruin and misery ? We are sure he believes 
 it ; but immediate inclination, strengthened by indulgence, pre- 
 vails over that belief in influencing his conduct. Why then shall 
 credit be refused to the sincerity of those who acknowledge their 
 persuasion of moral and religious duty, yet sometimes fail of liv- 
 ing as it requires ? I heard Dr. Johnson once observe, " There 
 is something noble in publishing truth, though it condemns one's 
 self. " ' And one who said in his presence, " he had no notion 
 of people being in earnest in their good professions, whose 
 practice was not suitable to them," was thus reprimanded by 
 him : " Sir, are you so grossly ignorant of human nature as not 
 to know that a man may be very sincere in good principles, with- 
 out having good practice? " 
 
 But let no man encourage or soothe himself in presumptuous 
 sin," ^ from knowing that Johnson was sometimes hurried into 
 indulgences which he thought criminal. I have exhibited this 
 circumstance as a shade in so great a character, both from my 
 sacred love of truth, and to show that he was not so weakly 
 scrupulous as he had been represented by those who imagine 
 that the sins, of which a deep sense was upon his mind, were 
 merely such little venial trifles as pouring milk into his tea on 
 Good Friday. His understanding will be defended by my state- 
 
 ' " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," 3d edit. p. 209. On the same subject, in 
 his letter to Mrs. Thrale, dated Nov. 29, 1783, he makes the following just observa- 
 tion : " Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression ; we 
 must always purpose to do more or better than in time past. The mind is enlarged 
 and elevated by mere purposes, though tlicy end as they b(\gan, by airy contempla- 
 tion. We compare and judge, though we do not iMactise." — B. 
 
 2 Psalms xix. 13. 
 
Age 75-] 
 
 JOHNSON'S PENITENCE. 
 
 555 
 
 ment, if his consistency of conduct be in some degree impaired. 
 But what wise man would, for momentary gratifications, deHber- 
 ately subject himself to suffer such uneasiness as we find was ex- 
 perienced by Johnson in reviewing his conduct as compared with 
 his notion of the ethics of the Gospel ? Let the following pas- 
 sages be kept in remembrance : 
 
 0 God, giver and preserver of all life, by whose power I was created, 
 and by whose providence I am sustained, look down upon me with tenderness 
 and mercy; grant that I may not have been created to be finally destroyed; 
 that I may not be preserved to add wickedness to wickedness. " Prayers 
 and Meditations," p. 47. — O Lord, let me not sink into total depravity; 
 look down upon me, and rescue me at last from the captivity of sin. I/nc/., 
 p. 68. — Almighty and most merciful Father, who hast continued my life 
 from year to year, grant that by longer life I may become less desirous of 
 sinful pleasures, and more careful of eternal happiness, Ibid.^ p. 84. 
 — Let not my years be multiplied to increase my guilt; l)ut as my age ad- 
 vances, let me become more pure in my thoughts, more regular in my desires, 
 and m.ore obedient to thy laws. Ibid., p. 120. — Forgive, O merciful 
 Lord, whatever I have done contrary to thy laws. Give me such a sense of 
 my wickedness as may produce true contrition and effectual repentance; so 
 that when I shall be called into another state, I may be received among the 
 sinners to whom sorrow and reformation have obtained pardon, for Jesus 
 Christ's sake. Amen. /(^zV/,, p. 130. 
 
 Such was the distress of mind, such the penitence of Johnson, 
 in his hours of privacy, and in his devout approaches to his Maker. 
 His sincerity, therefore, must appear to every candid mind un- 
 questionable. 
 
 It is of essential consequence to keep in view, that there was in 
 this excellent man's conduct, no false principle of commutation, 
 no deliberate indulgence in sin, in consideration of a counter- 
 balance of duty. His offending, and his repenting, were distinct 
 and separate : ' and when we consider his almost unexampled 
 attention to truth, his inflexible integrity, his constant piety, who 
 will dare to " cast a stone at him " ? Besides, let it never be 
 forgotten, that he cannot be charged with any offence indicating 
 badness of heai't, anything dishonest, base, or malignant ; but that, 
 on the contrary, he was charitable in an extraordinary degree ; so 
 that even in one of his own rigid judgments of himself (Easter- 
 eve, 1781), while he says, " I have corrected no external habits;" 
 he is obliged to own, " I hope that since my last communion I 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson related with very earnest approbation, a story of a gentleman 
 who, in an impulse of passion, overcame the virtue of a young woman. When she 
 said to him, " I am afraid we have done wrong ! " be answered, " Yes, we have done 
 wrong; for I would not debauch her mind." — B. 
 
556 
 
 BOS WELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 have advanced by pious reflections, in my submission to God, 
 and my benevolence to mm." "Prayers and Meditations," p. 
 192. 
 
 I am conscious that this is the most difficult and dangerous 
 part of my biographical work, and I cannot but be very anxious 
 concerning it. I trust that I have got through it, preserving at 
 once my regard to truth, — to my friend, — and to the interests 
 of virtue and religion. Nor can I apprehend that more harm 
 can ensue from the knowledge of the irregularities of Johnson, 
 guarded as I have stated it, than from knowing that Addison and 
 Parnell were intemperate in the use of wine ; which he himself, in 
 his Lives of those celebrated writers and pious men, has not for- 
 borne to record.' 
 
 It is not my intention to give a very minute detail of the 
 particulars of Johnson's remaining days, of whom it is now evi- 
 dent, that the crisis was fast approaching, when he must " tfie like 
 men, and fall like one of the princes^ Yet it will be instructive, 
 as well as gratifying to the curiosity of my readers, to record a few 
 circumstances, on the authenticity of which they may perfectly 
 rely, as I have been at the utmost pains to obtain an accurate 
 account of his last illness from the best authority. 
 
 Dr. Heberden, Dr. Brocklesby, Dr. Warren, and Dr. Butter, 
 physicians, generously attended him without accepting any fees, 
 as did Mr. Cruikshank, surgeon ; and all that could be done from 
 professional skill and ability was tried, to prolong a life so truly 
 valuable. He himself, indeed, having, on account of his very bad 
 constitution, been perpetually applying himself to medical in- 
 quiries, united his own efforts with those of the gentlemen who 
 attended him ; and imagining that the dropsical collection of 
 water which oppressed him might be drawn off by making 
 incisions in his body, he, with his usual resolute defiance of 
 pain, cut deep, when he thought that his surgeon had done it too 
 tenderly.^ 
 
 About eight or ten days before his death, when Dr. Brocklesby 
 paid him his morning visit, he seemed very low and desponding, 
 
 1 For Ihe probable reasons of Boswell's curious performance of this " most diffi- 
 cult and dangerous part of niy biographical work," see a letter from Croker to 
 Brougham, " Croker i^apers." iii. 24. 
 
 ^ 't his bold experiment Sir John Hawkins has related in such a manner as to 
 suggest a charge against Jolmson of intentionally hastening his end; a charge so 
 very inconsistent with his character in every respect, that it is injurious even to 
 refute it, as Sir )ohn has thoiit^lit it necessary to do. It is evident, that what Johii- 
 ?-on did in hopes of relief, indicated an extraordinary eagerness to retard his dissolu- 
 tion.— B. 
 
Age 75-] THE SPIRIT OF THE GRAMMARIAN. 
 
 557 
 
 and said, "I have been as a dying man all night." He then 
 emphatically broke out in the words of Shakespeare, — 
 
 " Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd; 
 Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow; 
 Raze out the written troul:)les of the brain; 
 And, with some sweet obHvious antidote, 
 Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff 
 Which weighs upon the heart ? ' ' 
 
 To which Dr. Brocklesby readily answered, from the same great 
 poet : 
 
 " . . . therein the patient 
 Must minister to himself." * 
 
 Johnson expressed himself much satisfied with the application. 
 
 On another day, after this, when talking on the subject of 
 prayer. Dr. Brocklesby repeated from Juvenal, 
 
 " Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano," ^ 
 
 and so on to the end of the tenth satire ; but in running it 
 quickly over, he happened, in the line, 
 
 " Qui spatium vitse extremum inter munera ponat," 
 
 to pronounce sitpj'-emum for ext7'emui)i ; at which Johnson's 
 critical ear instantly took offence, and discoursing vehemently on 
 the unmetrical effect of such a lapse, he showed himself as full 
 ns ever of the spirit of the grammarian. 
 
 Having no other relations, it hall been for some time John- 
 son's intention to make a liberal provision for his faithful servant 
 Mr. Francis Barber, whom he looked upon as particularly under 
 his protection, and whom he had all along treated truly as a 
 humble friend. Having asked Dr. Brocklesby what would be a 
 proper annuity to a favorite servant, and being answered that it 
 must depend on the circumstances of the master ; and, that in 
 the case of a nobleman, fifty pounds a year was considered as 
 an adequate reward for many years' feithful service ; " Then," 
 said Johnson, shall I be nobilissimus, for I mean to leave Frank 
 seventy pounds a year, and I desire you to tell him so." It is 
 strange, however, to think, that Johnson was not free from that 
 
 ^ " Macbeth," Act v, sc. 3. 
 ^ " Satires," x. 356. 
 
558 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 general weakness of being averse to execute a will, so that he 
 delayed it from time to time ; and had it not been for Sir John 
 Hawkins's repeatedly urging it, I think it is probable that his 
 kind resolution would not have been fulfilled. After making one, 
 which, as Sir John Hawkins informs us, extended no further than 
 the promised annuity, Johnson's final disposition of his property 
 was established by a will and codicil, of which copies are sub- 
 joined.* 
 
 1" In THE Name of God. Amen. I, Samuel Johnson, being in full pos- 
 session 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 m the hands of 
 Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore ; one thousand pounds, three /^r ^r^/zA annuities m 
 the public funds ; and one hundred pounds now lying by me in ready money : all 
 these before-mentioned sums and property I leave, I say, to Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. William Scott, of Doctors Commons, in trust, for the 
 following uses : That is to say, to pay to the representatives of the late William 
 Innys, bookseller, in St. Paul's Churchyard, the sum of two hundred pounds; to 
 Mrs. White, my female servant, one himdred pounds stock in the three per coit, 
 annuities aforesaid. The rest of the aforesaid sums of money and property, to- 
 gether with my books, plafe, and household furniture, I leave to the before-men- 
 tioned 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 aforesaid Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir John Hawkins, 
 and Dr. William Scott, sole executors of this my last will and testament, hereby re- 
 voking all former wills and testaments whatever. In witness whereof, I hereunto 
 subscribe my name, and affix my seal, this eighth day of December, 1784. Sam. 
 Johnson (L. S.). Signed, sealed, published, declared and delivered, by the said 
 testator, as his last will and testament, in the presence of us, the word two being 
 first inserted in the opposite page. George Strahan, John Desmoulins. By 
 way of codicil to my last will and testament, I, SAMUEL JOHNSON, give, devise, 
 and bequeath, my messuage or tenement situate at Lichfield, in the county of 
 Stafford, with the appurtenances in the tenure and occupation of Mrs. Bond, of 
 Lichfield aforesaid, or of Mr. Hinchnian, lier under-tenant, to my executors in 
 trust, to sell and dispose of the same ; and the money arising from such sale I give 
 and bequeath as follows, viz. : To Tliomas and Benjamin, the sons of Fisher John- 
 son, late of Leicester, and Whiting, daughter of Thomas Johnson, late of 
 
 Coventry, and the granddaughter of the said Thomas Johnson, one full and equal 
 fourth-part each ; but in case there shall be more granddaughters than one of the 
 said Thomas Johnson, living at the time of my decease, I give and bequeath tlie part 
 or share of that one to and equally Ijetwcen such granddaughters. 1 give and be- 
 queath to the Rev. Mr. Rogers, of Berkley, near Froom, in the county of Somerset, 
 tlie sum of one hundred pounds, requesting him to apply the same towards the 
 maintenance of lilizabcth Heme, a lunatic. I also give and bequeath to my god- 
 children, the son and daughter of Mauritius Lowe, painter, each of them one hun- 
 dred pounds of mv stoc k in the three per ^:tv//. consolidated annuities, to be applied 
 and disposed of by and at the discretion of my executors, in the education or 
 settlement in the world of them my said legatees. Also I give and bequeath to Sir 
 John Hawkins, one of my executors, the " Annales Ecclesiastici " of Baronius, and 
 Holinshed's and Stowe's Chronicles, and also an octavo Common Prayer-Book. 
 To Bennet Langton, Esq., I give and bequeath my Polyglot Bible, To Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, my great I'Vench Dictionary, by Martini^re, and my own copy'of my 
 folio English Dictionary of the last revision. To Dr. William Scott, one of my 
 
Age 75-] 
 
 JOHNSON'S BEQUESTS. 
 
 559 
 
 The consideration of numerous papers of which he was pos- 
 sessed, seems to have struck Johnson's mind with a sudden 
 anxiety, and as they were in great confusion, it is much to be 
 lamented that he had not intrusted some faithful and discreet 
 person with the care and selection of them ; instead of which, he, 
 in a precipitate manner, burnt large masses of them, with litde re- 
 gard, as I apprehend, to discrimination. Not that I suppose we 
 have thus been deprived of any compositions which he had ever 
 
 executors, the " Dictionnaire de Commerce," and Lectius's edition of the Greek 
 Poets. To Mr. Windham, " Poetos Grasci Heroici per Henricum Stephanum." 
 To tliL- Rev. Mr. Strahan, vicar of Islington, in Middlesex, Mill's Greek Testament, 
 Beza's (jreek Testament, by Stephens, all my Latin Bibles, and my Greek Bible by 
 Wechelius. To Ur. Heberden, Dr. Brocklesby, Dr. Butter, and Mr. Cruikshank, 
 the surgeon who attended me, Mr. Holder, my apothecary, Gerard Hamilton, Esq., 
 Mrs. Gardmer, of Snow-hill, Airs. Frances Reynolds, Mr. Hoole, and the Reverend 
 Mr. Hoole, his son, each a book at their election, to keep as a token of remem- 
 brance. I also give and bequeath to Mr. john Desmoulins, two hundred pounds 
 consolidated three per cent, annuities: and to Mr. Sastres, the Italian master, the 
 sum of five pounds, to be laid out in books of piety for his own use. And whereas 
 the said Bennet Langton hath agreed in consideration of the sum of seven hundred 
 and fifty pounds, mentioned in my w ill to be in his hands, to grant and secure an 
 annuity of seventy pounds payable during the life of me and my servant, Francis Bar- 
 ber, and the life of the survivor of us, to Mr. George Stubbs, in trust for us ; my mind 
 and will is, that in case of my decease before the said agreement shall be perfected, the 
 said sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds, and the bond for securing the said 
 sum, shall goto the said Francis Barber; and I hereby give and bequeath to iiim the 
 same, in lieu of the bequest in his favor, contained in my said will. And I hereby 
 empower my executors to deduct and retain all expenses that shall or may be in- 
 curred in the execution of my said w ill, or of this codicil thereto, out of such estate 
 and effects as I shall die possessed of. All the rest, residue and remainder of my 
 estate and effects I give and bequeath to my said executors, in trust for the said 
 Francis Barber, his executors, and administrators. Witness my hand and seal, this 
 ninth day of December, 1784. Sam. JOHNSON (L. S.). Signed, sealed, published, 
 declared, and delivered, by the said Samuel johnson, as, and for a codicil to his 
 last will and testament, in the presence of us, who, in his presence, and at his re- 
 quest, and also in the presence of each other, have hereto subscribed our names 
 as witnesses. JOMN Copely, William Gihson, Henry Cole." 
 
 Upon these testamentary deeds it is proper to make a few observations. 
 
 His express declaration with his dying breath as a Christian, as it had been 
 often practised in such solemn writings, was of real consequence from this great 
 man, for the conviction of a mind equally acute and strong might well overbalance 
 the doubts of others, who were his contemporaries. The expression polluted, may, 
 to some, convey an impression of more than ordinary contamination ; but that is 
 not warranted by its genuine meaning, as appears from The Rambler, No. 42. 
 The same word is used in the will of Dr. Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln, who was 
 piety itself. 
 
 His legacy of two hundred pounds to the representatives of Mr. Innys, book- 
 seller, in St. Paul's Churchyard, proceeded from a very worthy motive. He told 
 Sir John Hawkins, that his father having become a bankrupt, Mr. Innys had 
 assisted him with money or credit to continue his business. " This," said he, " I 
 consider as an obligation on me to be grateful to his descendants." 
 
 The amount of his property proved to be considerably more than he had sup- 
 posed it to ])e. Sir John Hawkins estimates the bequest to Francis Barber at a 
 sum little short of fifteen hundred pounds, including an annuity of seventy pounds 
 to be paid to him by Mr. Langton, in consideration of seven hundred and fifty 
 pounds, which Johnson had lent to that gentleman. Sir John seems not a little 
 
 I 
 
560 
 
 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 intended for the public eye ; but from what escaped the flames I 
 judge that many curious circumstances, relating both to himself 
 and other literary characters, have perished. 
 
 Two very valuable articles, I am sure, we have lost, which 
 were two quarto volumes, containing a full, fair, and most partic- 
 ular account of his own life, from his earliest recollection. I 
 owned to him, that having accidentally seen them, I had read a 
 great deal in them ; and apologizing for the liberty I had taken, 
 asked him if I could help it. He placidly answered, " Why, Sir, 
 I do not think you could have helped it." I said that I had, for 
 once in my life, felt half an inclination to commit theft. It had 
 come into my mind to carry off those two volumes, and never see 
 him more. Upon my inquiring how this would have affected 
 him, " Sir," said he, " I believe I should have gone mad." ' 
 
 angry at this bequest, and mutters " a caveat against ostentatious bounty and favor 
 to negroes." But surely when a man has money entirely of his own acquisition, 
 especially when he has no near relations, he may, without blame, dispose of it as he 
 pleases, and with great propriety to a faithful servant. Mr. Barber, by the recom- 
 mendation of his master, retired to Lichfield, where he might pass the rest of his 
 days in comfort. 
 
 It has been objected that Johnson has omitted many of his best friends when 
 leaving books to several as tokens of his last remembrance. The names of Dr. 
 Adams, Dr. Taylor, Dr. Burney, Mr. Hector, Mr. Murphy, the author of this work, 
 and others who were intimate with him, are not to be found in his will. This may 
 be accounted for by considering, that as he was very near his dissolution at the 
 time, he probably mentioned such as happened to occur to him ; and that he may 
 have recollected that he had formerly shown others such proofs of his regard, that 
 it was not necessary to crowd his will with their names. Mrs. Lucy Porter was 
 much displeased that nothing was left to her : but besides what I have now stated, 
 she should have considered that she had left nothing to Johnson by her will, which 
 was made during his lifetime, as appeared at her decease. 
 
 His enumerating several persons in one group, and leaving them each a book 
 at their election, might possibly have given occasion to a curious question as to the 
 order of choice, had they not luckily fixed on different books. His library, though by 
 no means handsome in its appearance, was sold by Mr. Christie, for tu o hundred and 
 forty-seven pounds, nine shillings ; many people being desirous to have a book which 
 had belonged to Johnson. In many of them he had written, little notes : sometimes 
 tender memorials of his departed wife; as, "This was dear Tetty's book; " some- 
 times occasional remarks of tlilTcrcnt sorts. Mrs. Lyons, of Clifford's Inn, has 
 favored me with the tw o follow ing : In " Holy Rules and Helps to Devotions," bv 
 Bryan Duj^pa, Lord Bishop of VVinton. " Prcccs qiddam videfiir diligenter ti ac- 
 tasse ; spero non inai/di/ns." In " The Rosicrucian Iniallible Axiomata," by John 
 Heydon, Gent., prefixed to which are some verses addressed to the author, signed 
 Ambr. Waters, A.M. Coll, Ex. Oxon. " These Latin verses were written to Hobbes 
 by Bathurst, upon his Treatise on Human Nature, and have no relation to the book. 
 An odd frauds'' — B. 
 
 ^ One of these volumes. Sir John Hawkins informs us, he put into his pocket; 
 for which the excuse he states is that he meant to preserve it from falling into the 
 hands of a person whom he describes so as to make it sufiiciently clear who is 
 meant; " having strong reasons," said he, " to suspect that this man might find and 
 make an ill use of the book." Why Sir John should supjiose that the gentleman 
 alluded to would act in this manner, he has not thought fit to explain. But what 
 he did was not approved of by Johnson ; who, upon being acquainted of it without 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 ATTACHMENT OF FRIENDS. 
 
 561 
 
 During his last illness, Johnson experienced the steady and 
 kind attachment of his numerous friends. Mr. Hoole has drawn 
 up a narrative of what passed in the visits which he paid him 
 during that time from the loth of November to the 13th of 
 December, the day of his death, inclusive, and has favored me 
 with a perusal of it, with permission to make extracts, which I 
 have done. Nobody was more attentive to him than Mr. Lang- 
 ton, to whom he tenderly said, Te tcncam inoriens deficiente 
 manu} And I think it highly to the honor of Mr. Windham, 
 that his important occupations as an active statesman did not 
 prevent him from paying assiduous respect to the dying Sage 
 whom he revered. Mr. Langton informs me that : " One day he 
 found Mr. Burke and four or five more friends sitting with John- 
 son. Mr. Burke said to him, ^ I am afraid. Sir, such a number 
 of us may be oppressive to you.' — ' No, Sir,' said Johnson, ' it 
 is not so ; and I must be in a wretched state, indeed, when your 
 company would not be a dehght to me.' Mr. Burke, in a tremu- 
 lous voice, expressive of being very tenderly affected, replied, 
 ' My dear Sir, you have always been too good to me.' Immedi- 
 ately afterwards he went away. This was the last circumstance 
 in the acquaintance of these two eminent men." 
 
 The following particulars of his conversation within a few days 
 of his death, I give on the authority of Mr. John Nichols : ^ 
 
 delay by a friend, expressed great indignation, and warmly insisted on the book 
 being delivered up ; and, afterwards, in the supposition of his missing it, without 
 knowing by whom it had been taken, he said, " Sir, I should have gone out of the 
 world distrusting half mankind." Sir John next day wrote a letter to Johnson, as- 
 signing reasons for his conduct ; upon which Johnson observed to Mr. Langton, 
 " Bishop Sanderson could not have dictated a better letter. I could almost say, 
 Melius est sic pce/iitiiisse quam non errasseT The agitation into which Johnson 
 was thrown by this incident, probably made him hastily burn those precious records 
 which must ever be regretted. — B. According to Croker, George Steevens was the 
 man whom Hawkins suspected. 
 
 1 Tibullus (to Cynthia), Lib. L, El. i. 73. 
 
 ^ On the same undoubted authority I give a few articles, which should have 
 been inserted in chronological order; but which, now that they are before me, I 
 should be sorry to omit : 
 
 "In 1736, Dr. Johnson had a particular inclination to have been engaged as an 
 assistant to the Reverend Mr. Budworth, then head master of the Grammar-school 
 at Brewood, in Staffordshire, ' an excellent person, who possessed every talent of a 
 perfect instructor of youth, in a degree which (to use the words of one of the bright- 
 est ornaments of literature, the Reverend Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester) has been 
 rarely found in any of that profession since the days of Quintilian.' Mr. Budworth, 
 'who was less known in his lifetime, from that obscure situation to which the 
 caprice of fortune oft condemns the most accomplished characters, than his highest 
 merit deserved,' had been bred under Mr. Brackwell, at Market Bosworth, where 
 Johnson was some time an usher; which might naturally lead to the application. 
 Mr. Budworth was certainly no stranger to the learning or abilities of Johnson, as 
 
 Vol. it.— 36 
 
562 
 
 BOSWELL\S UFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 He said, that the Parliamentary Debates were the only part of his writ- 
 ings which then gave him any compunction : but that at the time he wrote 
 them, he had no conception he was imposing upon the world, though they 
 were frequently written from very slender materials, and often from none at 
 all, — the mere coinage of his own imagination.' He never wrote any part of 
 his works with equal velocity. Three columns of the Magazine in an hour 
 was no uncommon effort, which was faster than most persons could have 
 transcribed that quantity. 
 
 Of his friend Cave, he always spoke with great affection. " Yet," said he, 
 '*Cave (who never looked out of his window, but with a view to the Gen- 
 tleman'' s Magazine ) was a penurious paymaster; he would contract for lines 
 by the hundred, and expect the long hundred; but he was a good man, and 
 always delighted to have his friends at his table." 
 
 When talking of a regular edition of his own works, he said, that he had 
 power [from the booksellers] to print such an edition if his health admitted 
 it; but had no power to assign over any edition, unless he could add notes 
 and so alter them as to make them new works; which his state of health for- 
 bade him to think of. " I may possibly live," said he, "or rather breathe, 
 three days, or perhaps three weeks; but find myself daily and gradually 
 weaker." 
 
 He said at another time, three or four days only before his death, speaking 
 of the little fear he had of undergoing a chirurgical operation, " I would give 
 one of these legs for a year more of life, I mean of comfortable life, not such 
 as that which I now suffer;" and lamented much his inability to read during 
 
 he more than once lamented his having been under the necessity of declining the 
 engagement from an apprehension that the paralytic affection, under which our 
 great Philologist labored through life, might become the object of imitation or of 
 ridicule among his pupils." Captain Budworth, his grandson, has confirmed to 
 me this anecdote. 
 
 "Among the early associates of Johnson, at St. Johns Gate, was Samuel Boyse, 
 well known by his ingenious productions; and not less noted for his imprudence. 
 It was not unusual for Boyse to be a customer to the pawnbroker. On one of 
 these occasions. Dr. Johnson collected a sum of money to redeem his friend's 
 clothes, which in two days after were pawned again. ' The sum,' said Johnson, 
 ' was collected by sixpences, at a time when to me sixpence was a serious considera- 
 tion.' " 
 
 " Speaking one day of a person for whom he had a real friendship, but in whom 
 vanity was somewhat too predominant, he observetl that ' Kelly [the playwright] 
 was so fond of displaying on his sideboard the plate which he possessed, that he 
 added to it his spurs. For my part,' said he, ' J never was master of a pair of spurs, 
 but once ; and they are now at the bottom of the ocean. By the carelessness of 
 Boswell's servant, they were dropped from the end of the boat, on our return from 
 the Isle of Sky.' " 
 
 The late Reverend Mr. Samuel Badcock, having been introduced to Dr. Johnson, 
 by Mr. Nichols, some years before his death, thus expressed himself in a letter to 
 that gentleman : 
 
 " How much I am obliged to you for the favor you did me in introducing me to 
 Dr. Johnson 1 Tantum vidi Virgilium. But to have seen him and to have received 
 a testimony of respect from him, was enough. I recollect all the conversation, 
 and shall never forget one of his expressions. Speaking of Dr. [Priestly] (whose 
 writings, I saw, he estimated at a low rate), he said, ' You have i)roved him as de- 
 ficient \n probity as he is in learning.' I called him an 'Index-scholar; ' but he was 
 not willing to allow liiin a claim even to that merit. He said, 'that he borrowed 
 ■from those wlio liad l^een l)orrowers themselves, and did not know that the mistakes 
 he adopted had been answered by others.' I often think of our sliort, l)ut precious, 
 visit to this great man. I shall consider it as a kind of an era in my life." — B. 
 
Age 75.] ANECDOTES BY MR. NICHOLS. 563 
 
 his hours of restlessness. " I used formerly," he added, " when sleepless 
 in bed, to read like a I'tirk.^'' 
 
 Whilst confined by his last illness, it was his regular practice to have the 
 church service read to him by some attentive and friendly divine. The Rev. 
 Mr. Hoole performed this kind office in my presence for the last time, when, 
 by his own desire, no more than the litany was read; in which his responses 
 were in the deep and sonorous voice which Mr. Boswell has occasionally 
 noticed, and with the most profound devotion that can be imagined. His 
 hearing not being quite perfect, he more than once interrupted Mr. Hoole with, 
 " Louder, my dear Sir, louder, I entreat you, or you pray in vain ! " — and, 
 when the service was ended, he, with great earnestness, turned round to an 
 excellent lady who was present, saying, " I thank you. Madam, very heartily, 
 for your kindness in joining me in this solemn exercise. Live well, I conjure 
 you; and you will not feel the compunction at the last which I now feel." 
 So truly humble were the thoughts which this great and good man entertained 
 of his own approaches to religious perfection. 
 
 He was earnestly invited to publish a volume of " Devotional Exercises; 
 but this (though he listened to the proposal with much complacency, and a 
 large sum of money was offered for it) he declined, from motives of the sin- 
 cerest modesty. 
 
 He seriously entertained the thought of translating " Thuanus." ^ He often 
 talked to me on the subject; and once, in particular, when I was rather wishing 
 that he would favor the world, and gratify his Sovereign, by a Life of Spen- 
 ser (which he said that he would readily have done, had he been able to obtain 
 any new materials for the purpose), he added, " I have been thinking again, Sir, 
 of Thuanus: it would not be the laborious task which you have supposed it. 
 I should have no trouble but that of dictation, which would be performed as 
 speedly as an amanuensis could write." 
 
 It is to the mutual credit of Johnson and divines of different 
 communions, that although he was a steady Church-of- England 
 man, there was, nevertheless, much agreeable intercourse between 
 him and them. Let me particularly name the late Mr. La Trobe, 
 and Mr. Hutton, of the Moravian profession. His intimacy with the 
 English Benedictines, at Paris, has been mentioned ; and as an 
 additional proof of the charity in which he lived with good men of 
 the Romish Church, I am happy in this opportunity of recording 
 his friendship with the Reverend Thomas Hussey, D.D., His 
 Catholic Majesty's Chaplain of Embassy at the Court of London, 
 that very respectable man, eminent not only for his powerful elo- 
 quence as a preacher, but for his various abilities and acquisitions. 
 Nay, though Johnson loved a Presbyterian the least of all, this did 
 not prevent his having a long and uninterrupted social connec- 
 tion with the Reverend Dr. James Fordyce, who, since his death, 
 hath gratefully celebrated him in a warm strain of devotional 
 composition. 
 
 Amidst the melancholy clouds which hung over the dying 
 
 1 The French historian Jacques-Augusta de Thou (1553-1617), author of " His- 
 toria sui Temporis," in 138 books. — Dr, Hill, 
 
564 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 Johnson, his characteristical manner showed itself on different 
 occasions. 
 
 When Dr. Warren, in the usual style, hoped that he was bet- 
 ter ; his answer was, " No, Sir ; you cannot conceive with what 
 acceleration I advance towards death." 
 
 A man whom he had never seen before was employed one 
 night to sit up with him. Being asked next morning how he 
 liked his attendant, his answer was, " Not at all, Sir : the fellow's 
 an idiot ; he is as awkward as a turnspit when first put into the 
 wheel, and as sleepy as a dormouse." 
 
 Mr. Windham having placed a pillow conveniently to support 
 him, he thanked him for his kindness, and said, " That will do, — 
 all that a pillow can do." 
 
 He repeated with great spirit a poem, consisting of several 
 stanzas, in four lines, in alternate rhyme, which he said he had 
 composed some years before on occasion of a rich, extravagant 
 young gentleman's coming of age ; ^ saying he had never repeated 
 it but once since he composed it, and had given but one copy of 
 it. That copy was given to Mrs. Thrale, now Piozzi, who has 
 published it in a book which she entitles " British Synonymy," 
 but which is truly a collection of entertaining remarks and stories, 
 no matter whether accurate or not. Being a piece of exquisite 
 satire, conveyed in a strain of pointed vivacity and humor, and in 
 a manner of which no other instance is to be found in Johnson's 
 writings, I shall here insert it. 
 
 Long-expected one-and-twenty, 
 
 Ling'ring year, at length is flown; 
 Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty, 
 
 Great [Sir John] are now your own. 
 
 Loosen'd from the minor's tether, 
 
 Free to mortgage or to sell, 
 Wild as wind, and light as feather, 
 
 Bid the sons of thrift farewell. 
 
 Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies, 
 
 All the names that l)anish care; 
 Lavish of your grandsire's guineas. 
 
 Show the spirit of an heir. 
 
 All that prey on vice and folly 
 Joy to see their quarry fly; 
 
 ' Sir John Lade, the posthumous son of the fourth baronet by Mr. Thrale's sister. 
 He entered eagerly into all the follies of the day, was a noted whip, and married a 
 woman of the town. — Croker. 
 
Age 75-] *N0 LETTERS IN THE GRAVE. 
 
 565 
 
 There the gamester, light and jolly, 
 There the lender, grave and sly. 
 
 Wealth, my lad, was made to wander, 
 
 Let it wander as it will; 
 Call the jockey, call the pander, 
 
 Bid them come and take their fill. 
 
 When the bonny blade carouses, 
 
 Pockets full, and spirits high — 
 What are acres? what are houses? 
 
 Only dirt, or wet or dry. 
 
 Should the guardian, friend, or mother 
 
 Tell the woes of wilful waste; 
 Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother, — 
 
 You can hang or drown at last. 
 
 As he opened a note which his servant brought to him, he 
 said, " An odd thought strikes me : we shall receive no letters in 
 the grave." 
 
 He requested three things of Sir Joshua Reynolds : to forgive 
 him thirty pounds which he had borrowed of him ; to read the 
 Bible ; and never to use his pencil on a Sunday. Sir Joshua 
 readily acquiesced. 
 
 Indeed he showed the greatest anxiety for the religious improve- 
 ment of his friends, to whom he discoursed of its infinite conse- 
 quence. He begged of Mr. Hoole, to think of what he had said, 
 and commit it to writing ; and, upon being afterwards assured 
 that this was done, pressed his hands, and in an earnest tone 
 thanked him. Dr. Brocklesby having attended him with the ut- 
 most assiduity and kindness as his physician and friend, he was pe- 
 culiarly desirous that this gentleman should not entertain any loose 
 speculative notions, but be confirmed in the truths of Christianity, 
 and insisted on his writing down in his presence, as nearly as he 
 could collect it, the import of what passed on the subject ; and 
 Dr. Brocklesby having complied with the request, he made him 
 sign the paper, and urged him to keep it in his own custody as 
 long as he lived. 
 
 Johnson, with that native fortitude, which, amidst all his bodily 
 distress and mental sufferings, never forsook him, asked Dr. 
 Brocklesby, as a man in whom he had confidence, to tell him 
 plainly whether he could recover. ''Give me," said he, "a 
 direct answer." The Doctor having first asked him if he could 
 bear the whole truth, which way soever it might lead, and being 
 answered that he could, declared that, in his opinion, he could 
 
666 BOSWELVS life of JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 not recover without a miracle. ''Then," said Johnson, " I will 
 take no more physic, not even my opiates ; for I have prayed" 
 that I may render up my soul to God unclouded." In this reso- 
 lution he persevered, and, at the same time, used only the weak- 
 est kinds of sustenance. Being pressed by Mr. Windham to take 
 somewhat more generous nourishment, lest too low a diet should 
 have the very effect which he dreaded, by debilitating his mind, 
 he said, " I will take anything but inebriating sustenance." 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Strahan, who was the son of his friend and 
 had been always one of his great favorites, had, during his last 
 illness, the satisfaction of contributing to soothe and comfort him. 
 That gentleman's house, at Islington of which he is Vicar, afforded 
 Johnson, occasionally and easily, an agreeable change of place 
 and fresh air ; and he attended also upon him in town in the 
 discharge of the sacred offices of his profession. 
 
 Mr. Strahan has given me the agreeable assurance that, after 
 being in much agitation, Johnson became quite composed, and 
 continued so till his death. 
 
 Dr. Brocklesby, who will not be suspected of fanaticism, 
 obliged me with the following accounts : 
 
 For some time before his death, all his fears were calmed and absorbed 
 by the prevalence of his faith, and his trust in the merits and propitiation of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 He talked often to me about the necessity of faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, 
 as necessary, beyond all good works whatever, for the salvation of mankind. 
 
 He pressed me to study Dr. Clarke and to read his sermons. I asked him 
 why he pressed Dr. Clarke, an Arian.* " Because," said he, " he is the fullest 
 on the propitiatory sacrifice.^'' 
 
 Johnson having thus in his mind the true Christian scheme, at 
 once rational and consolatory, uniting justice and mercy in the 
 Divinity, with the improvement of human nature, previous to his 
 receiving the Holy Sacrament in his apartment, composed and 
 fervently uttered this prayer : 
 
 The change of his sentiments with regard to Dr. Clarke is thus mentioned to 
 me in a letter from the late Dr. Adams, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. " The 
 Doctor's prejudices were the strongest, and certainly in another sense the weakest 
 that ever possessed a sensible man. You know liis extreme zeal for orthodoxy. 
 But did you ever hear what he told me himself? That he had made it a rule not to 
 admit Dr. Clarke's name in his Dictionary. This, however, wore off. At some 
 distance of time he advised with me what books he should read in defence of the 
 Christian religion. I recommended Clarke's ' Evidences of Natural and Revealed 
 Religion," as the best of the kind ; and I find in what is called his ' Prayers and 
 Meditations,' that he was frequently employed in the latter part of his time in read- 
 ing Clarke's sermons." — B. 
 
 2 The Reverend Mr. Strahan took care to have it preserved, and has inserted it 
 in " Prayers and Meditations," p. 216." — B. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S DEATH. 
 
 567 
 
 Almighty and most merciful Father, I am now, as to human eyes it seems, 
 about to commemorate, for the last time, the death of thy Son Jesus Christ, 
 our Saviour and Redeemer. Grant, O Lord, that my whole hope and confi- 
 dence may be in his merits, and thy mercy; enforce and accept my imperfect 
 repentance; make this commemoration available to the confirmation of my 
 faith, the establishment of my hope, and the enlargement of my charity; and 
 make the death of thy Son Jesus Christ effectual to my redemption. Have 
 mercy upon me, and pardon the multitude of my offences. Bless my friends: 
 have mercy upon all men. Support me, by thy Holy Spirit, in the days of 
 weakness, and at the hour of death; and receive me, at my death, to ever- 
 lasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 Having, as has been already mentioned, made his will on the 
 8th and 9th of December, and settled all his worldly affairs, he 
 languished till Monday, the 13th of that month, when he expired, 
 about seven o'clock in the evening, with so little 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 resigned, was seldom or never fretful or out of temper, 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 greatest importance: " he 
 also explained to him passages in the scripture, and seemed to have pleasure 
 in talking upon religious sulDjects. 
 
 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 increased 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 following very agreeable 
 account was communicated to Mr. Malone, in a letter by the 
 Honorable 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 oan gather from him, it 
 should seem that Dr. Johnson was perfectly composed, steady in hope, and 
 
 ^ Servant to the Right Honorable William Windham. — B. 
 
568 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 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 cyder and water. He said his mind was prepared, and the time to his 
 dissolution seemed long. At six in the morning he inquired the hour, and, on 
 being informed, said that all went on regularly, 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, Windham's servant: I thank you: bear my remem- 
 brance to your master." Cawston says that no man could appear more col- 
 lected, more devout, or less terrified at the thoughts of the approaching 
 minute. 
 
 This account, which is so much more agreeable than, and somewhat differ- 
 ent from, yours, had given us the satisfaction of thinking that that great man 
 died as he lived, 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 be- 
 ing answered, "Doubtless in Westminster Abbey," seemed to 
 feel a satisfaction very natural to a poet ; and indeed in my opin- 
 ion very natural to every man of any imagination, who has no 
 family sepulchre in which he can be laid with his fathers. Ac- 
 cordingly, upon Monday, December 20, his remains were de- 
 posited in that noble and renowned edifice : and over his grave 
 was placed a large blue flag-stone, with this inscription : 
 
 Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 
 ObiU xni die Decembris 
 Anno Domini 
 
 M. DCC. LXXXIV. 
 
 yEia/is suce LXXV. 
 
 His funeral was attended by a respectable number of his friends, 
 particularly such of the members of i he Literary Club as were 
 then in town ; and was also honored 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. Colman, bore his pall. His schoolfellow, Dr. Taylor, per- 
 formed the mournful office of reading the burial service. 
 
 I trust I shall not be accused of affectation, when I declare, 
 that I find myself unable to express all that I felt upon the loss 
 of such a "Guide, Philosopher, and Friend." ' I shall, there- 
 
 ' On the subject of Johnson I may adopt the words of Sir John Harrington, 
 concerning his venerable Tutor and Diocesan, Sir ]ohn Still, Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells ; " Who hath given me some helps, more hopes, all encouragements in my 
 
BUST BY NOLLEKENS. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 NO ONE LIKE JOHNSON. 
 
 669 
 
 fore, not say one word of my own, but adopt those of an eminent 
 friend [Gerard Hamilton], which he uttered with an abrupt 
 felicity, superior to all studied compositions : " He has made a 
 chasm, which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has 
 a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead. Let us go to the next 
 best : — there is nobody : no man can be said to put you in 
 mind of Johnson." 
 
 As Johnson had abundant homage paid to him during his life,' 
 
 best studies : to whom I never came but I grew more religious ; from whom I never 
 went, but I parted better instructed. Of him therefore, my acquaintance, my friend, 
 my instructor, if I speak much, it were not to be marvelled ; if I speak frankly, it is 
 not to be blamed ; and though I speak partially, it were to be pardoned." " Nugse 
 Antiquae," vol. i. p. 136. There is one circumstance in Sir John's character of 
 Bishop Still, which is peculiarly applicable to Johnson : " He became so famous a 
 disputer, that the learnedest were even afraid to dispute with him : and he finding 
 his own strength, could not stick to warn them in their arguments to take heed to 
 their answers, hke a perfect fencer that will tell aforehand in which button he will 
 give the venew, or like a cunning chess-player that will appoint aforehand with 
 which pawn and in what place he will give the mate." /did. — B. 
 
 1 Beside the dedications to him by Dr. Goldsmith, the Reverend Dr. Franklin, 
 and the Reverend Mr. iWilson, which I have mentioned according to their dates, 
 there was one by a lady, of a versification of " Aningait and Ajut [Ramd/er, No. 
 186] , and one by the ingenious Mr. Walker, of his " Rhetorical Grammar." I have 
 introduced into this work several compliments paid to him in the writings of his 
 contemporaries ; but the number of them is so great, that we may fairly say that 
 there was almost a general tribute. Let me not be forgetful of the honor done to 
 him by Colonel Myddleton, of Gwaynynog, near Denbigh ; who, on the banks of a 
 rivulet in his park, where Johnson delighted to stand and repeat verses, erected an 
 urn with the following inscription : 
 
 " This spot was often dignified by the presence of 
 "Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 
 " Whose moral writings, exactly conformable to the precepts of Christianity, 
 " Gave ardor to Virtue and confidence to Truth." 
 
 As no inconsiderable circumstance of his fame, we must reckon the extraordinary 
 zeal of the artists to extend and perpetuate his image. I can enumerate a bust by 
 Mr. Nollekens, and the many casts which are made from it ; several pictures by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, from one of which, in the possession of the Duke of Dorset, Mr. 
 Humphry executed a beautiful miniature in enamel : one by Mrs. Frances Reynolds, 
 Sir Joshua's sister; one by Mr. Zoffany ; and one by Mr. Opie; and the following 
 engravings of his portrait : i. One by Cooke, from Sir Joshua, for the proprietors' 
 edition of his folio Dictionary. — 2. One from ditto, by ditto, for their quarto edition. 
 — 3. One from Opie, by Heath, for Harrison's edition of his Dictionary. — 4. One 
 from NoUekens's bust of him, by Bartolozzi, for Fielding's quarto edition of his Dic- 
 tionary. — 5. One small, from Harding, by Trotter, for his "Beauties." — 6. One 
 small, from Sir Joshua, by Trotter, for his " Lives of the Poets." — 7. One small, from 
 Sir Joshua, by Hall, for T/w Rambler. — 8. One small, fi-om an original drawing, 
 in the possession of Mr. John Simco, etched by Trotter, for another edition of his 
 " Lives of the Poets." —9. One small, no painter's name, etched by Taylor, for his 
 " Johnsoniana." — 10. One folio whole-length, with his oak-stick, as described in 
 Boswell's " Tour," drawn and etched by Trotter. — 11. One large mezzotinto, from 
 Sir Joshua, by Doughty. — 13. One large Roman head, from Sir Joshua, by Marchi. 
 — 12. One octavo, holding a book to his eye, from Sir Joshua, by Hall, for his 
 Works. — 14. One small, trom a drawing from the life, and engraved by Trotter, for 
 his Life published by Kearsley. — 15. One large, from Opie, by Mr. Townley (brother 
 of Mr. Townley of the Commons), an ingenious artist, who resided sometime at 
 Berlin, and has the honor of being engraver to his Majesty the King of Prussia, 
 
670 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 so no writer in this nation ever had such an accumulation of 
 Hterary honors after his death. A sermon upon that event was 
 preached in St. Mary's Church, Oxford, before the University, by 
 the Reverend Mr. Agutter of Magdalen College.' The Lives, 
 the Memoirs, the Essays, both in prose and verse, which have 
 been published concerning him, would make many volumes. The 
 numerous attacks too upon him I consider as part of his conse- 
 quence, upon the principle which he himself so well knew and 
 asserted. Many who trembled at his presence, were forward in 
 assault, when they no longer apprehended danger. When one of 
 his little pragmatical foes was invidiously snarling at his fame, at 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds's table, the Reverend Dr. Parr exclaimed, 
 with his usual bold animation, " Ay, now that the old lion is dead, 
 every ass thinks he may kick at him." 
 
 A monument for him, in Westminster Abbey, was resolved upon 
 soon after his death, and was supported by a most respectable 
 contribution ; but the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's having come 
 to a resolution of admitting monuments there upon a liberal and 
 magnificent plan, that Cathedral was afterwards fixed on as the 
 place in which a cenotaph should be erected to his memory ; ^ 
 
 This is one of the finest mezzotintos that ever was executed ; and what renders it 
 of extraordinary value, the pla"te was destroyed after four or five impressions only 
 were taken off. One of them is in the possession of Sir William Scott. Mr. Town- 
 ley has lately been prevailed with to execute and publish another of the same, 
 that it may be more generally circulated among the admirers of Dr. Johnson. — 16. 
 One large, from Sir Joshua's first picture of him, by Heath, for this work in 
 quarto. — 17. One octavo, by Baker, for the octavo edition. — 18. And one for 
 Lavater's " Essays on Physiognomy," in which Johnson's countenance is analyzed 
 upon the principles of that fanciful writer. There are also several seals with his 
 head cut on them, particularly a very fine one by that eminent artist, Edward Burch, 
 Esq., R.A., in the possession of the younger Dr. Charles Burney. Let me add, as 
 a proof of the popularity of his character, that there are copper pieces struck at 
 Birmingham with his head impressed on them, which pass current as halfpence 
 there, and in the neighboring parts of the country. — B. 
 
 litis not yet published. — In a letter to me, Mr. Agutter says : " My sermon 
 before the University was more engaged with Dr. Johnson's 7uoral than his in- 
 tellectual character. It particularly examined his fear of death, and suggested 
 several reasons for the apprehensions of the good, and the indifference of the 
 infidel in their last hours ; this was illustrated by contrasting the death of Dr. 
 Johnson and Mr. Hume: the text was Job xxi. 22-26." — B. It was published in 
 1800. Neither Johnson nor Hume is mentioned byname. Its chief perhaps its 
 sole merit is its brevity. — Dr. Hill. 
 
 2 The subscription for this monument, which cost ;,^'ii55, was begun by the 
 Literary Club, and completed by the aid of Johnson's other friends and admirers. 
 • — Malone. The work was executed by John Bacon, and, irrespective of the indif- 
 ferent likeness, is perhaps the most absurd object to be seen either in St. Paul's 
 Cathedral or in Westminster Abbey. As some of the members of the committee 
 for its erection had signed the famous remonstrance to Johnson on Goldsmith's 
 epitaph, it is a pity that they did not now take Flood's adVice and insist tliat the 
 genius of the autiior of the English Dictionary should be commemorated in the 
 English language. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S EPITAPH. 
 
 571 
 
 and in the cathedral of his native city of Lichfield, a smaller one 
 is to be erected.^ To compose his epitaph, could not but ex- 
 cite the warmest competition of genius.^ If laiidari a laudato 
 viro be praise which is highly estimable, I should not forgive 
 myself were I to omit the following sepulchral verses on the 
 author of The English Dictionary, written by the Right Hon- 
 orable Henry Flood : ^ 
 
 iThis monument has been since erected. It consists of a medallion, with a 
 tablet beneath, on which is this inscription: "The friends of Samukl jOHNSON, 
 LL.D., a native of Lichfield, erected this Monument, as a tribute of respect to the 
 memory of a man of extensive learning, a distinguished moral writer, and a sincere 
 Christian. He died Dec. 13, 1784, aged 75." — Malone. 
 
 2 The Reverend Dr. Parr, on being requested to undertake it, thus expressed 
 himself in a letter to William Seward, Esq.: "I leave this mighty task to some 
 hardier and some abler writer. The variety and splendor of Johnson's attainments, 
 the peculiarities of his character, his private virtues, and his literary publications, 
 fill me with confusion and dismay, when I reflect upon the confined and difficult 
 species of composition, in which alone they can be expressed, with propriety, upon 
 his monument." But I understand that this great scholar, and warm admirer of 
 Johnson, has yielded to repeated solicitations, and executed the very difficult un- 
 dertaking. — B. Most of those who read the inscription will probably regret that 
 Parr did not adhere to his original resolution. It is as follows : 
 
 A f 12 
 
 SAMVELI . lOHNSON 
 GRAMMATICO • ET • CRITICO 
 SCRIPTORVM . ANGLICORVxM • LiTEKATE . PERITO 
 POETAE . LVMINIKVS • SENTENTl ARVM 
 ET . PONDERIBVS . VERBORVM . ADMIRABILI 
 MAGISTRO . VIRTVTIS • GRAVlSSIMO 
 HOMINI • OPTIMO . ET • SINGVLARIS . EXEMPLI 
 
 QUI • VIXIT . ANN . LXXV • MENS • ll • DIEB • XIIlI 
 DECISSIT • IDIB • DECEMBR • ANN • CHKIST CLO • LOCC • LXXXIIlI 
 SEPVLT • IN • AED • SANCT • PETR . W EhTM I NsTE R lENS 
 XIlI- KAL • lANVAR . ANN • CHRIST Clo • lOCC • LXXXV 
 
 AMICI . ET . SODALES • LiTTERARII 
 PECVNIA . CON LATA 
 H . M . FACIVND . CVRAVER 
 
 On a scroll in his hand are the words. 
 
 ENMAKAPE22inONnXANTAai02EINAMOIBH 
 
 On one side of the Monument • 
 
 Faciebat 
 
 Johannes Bacon, Scvlptor ann . christ • m • dcc . lxxxxv. 
 
 ^ To prevent any misconception on this subject, Mr. Malone, by whom these 
 lines were obligingly communicated, requests me to add the following remark : 
 
 " Injustice to the late Mr. Flood, now himself wanting, and highly meriting, an 
 epitaph from his country, to which his transcendent talents did the highest honor, 
 as well as the most important service ; it should be observed, that these lines were 
 by no means intended as a regular monumental inscription for Dr. fohnson. Had 
 he undertaken to write an appropriate and disci iminative epitaph for that excellent 
 and extraordinary man, those who knew Mr. Flood's vigor of mind, will have no 
 doubt that he would have produced one w orthy of his illustrious subject. But the 
 
672 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 " No need of Latin or of Greek to grace 
 
 Our Johnson's memory, or inscribe his grave; 
 His native language claims this mournful space, 
 To pay the immortality he gave." 
 
 The character of Samuel Johnson has, I trust, been so de- 
 veloped in the course of this work, that they who have honored 
 it with a perusal, may be considered as well acquainted with 
 him. As, however, it may be expected that I should collect 
 into one view the capital and distinguishing features of this ex- 
 traordinary man, I shall endeavor to acquit myself of that part 
 of my biographical undertaking,^ however difficult it may be 
 to do that which many of my readers will do better for them- 
 selves. 
 
 His figure was large and well formed, and his countenance of 
 the cast of an ancient statue ; yet his appearance was rendered 
 strange and somewhat uncouth by convulsive cramps, by the 
 scars of that distemper which it was once imagined the royal 
 touch could cure, and by a slovenly mode of dress. He had the 
 use only of one eye ; yet so much does mind govern and even 
 supply the deficiency of organs, that his visual perceptions, as 
 far as they extended, were uncommonly quick and accurate. 
 So morbid was his temperament that he never knew the natural 
 joy of a free and vigorous use of his limbs : when he walked, 
 it was like the struggling gait of one in fetters ; when he rode, 
 he had no command or direction of his horse, but was carried 
 as if in a balloon. That with his constitution and habits of 
 life he should have lived seventy-five years, is a proof that 
 an inherent vivida vis ^ is a powerful preservative of the human 
 frame. 
 
 Man is, in general, made up of contradictory qualities ; and 
 these will ever show themselves in strange succession, where a. 
 consistency in appearance at least, if not reality, has not been 
 
 fact was merely this : In Dec. 1789, after a large subscription had been made for 
 Dr. Johnson's monument, to which Mr. Flood liberally contributed, Mr. Malone 
 happened to call on him at his house in Berners Street, and the conversation turn- 
 ing on the proposed monument, Mr. Malone maintained that the epitaph, by w hom- 
 soever it should be written, ought to be in Latin. Mr. Flood thought difterently. 
 The next morning, in the postscript to a note on another subject, he mentioned that 
 he continued of the same opinion as on the preceding day, and sul)joined the lines 
 above given." — B. 
 
 ' As I do not see any reason to give a different character of mv illustrious friend 
 now, from what 1 formerly gave, the greatest part of the sketch of him in my 
 " Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides " is here adopted. — B. 
 
 2 Lucretius, i. 72. 
 
Age 75.] 
 
 JOHNSON'S CHARACTER. 
 
 573 
 
 attained by long habits of philosophical discipline. In proportion 
 to the native vigor of the mind, the contradictory qualities will be 
 the more prominent, and more difficult to be adjusted ; and, 
 therefore, we are not to wonder that Johnson exhibited an emi- 
 nent example of this remark which I have made upon human 
 nature. At different times he seemed a different man, in some 
 respects ; not, however, in any great or essential article, upon 
 which he had fully employed his mind, and settled certain princi- 
 ples of duty, but only in his manners, and in the display of argu- 
 ment and fancy in his talk. He was prone to superstition, but 
 not to credulity. Though his imagination might incline him to a 
 belief of the marvellous and the mysterious, his vigorous reason 
 examined the evidence with jealousy. He was a sincere and 
 zealous Christian, of high Church-of- England and monarchical 
 principles, which he would not tamely suffer to be questioned ; 
 and had, perhaps, at an early period, narrowed his mind some- 
 what too much, both as to religion and politics. His being im- 
 pressed with the danger of extreme latitude in either, though he 
 was of a very independent spirit, occasioned his 'appearing some- 
 what unfavorable to the prevalence of that noble freedom of senti- 
 ment which is the best possession of man. Nor can it be denied, 
 that he had many prejudices ; which, however, frequently sug- 
 gested many of his pointed sayings, that rather show a playfulness 
 of fancy than any settled malignity. He was steady and inflexible 
 in maintaining the obligations of religion and morality ; both from 
 a regard for the order of society, and from a veneration for the 
 Great Source of all order ; correct, nay, stern in his taste ; hard 
 to please, and easily offended ; impetuous and irritable in his tem- 
 per, but of a most humane and benevolent heart,' which showed it- 
 self not only in a most liberal charity, as far as his circumstances 
 would allow, but in a thousand instances of active benevolence. 
 He was afflicted with a bodily disease which made him often rest- 
 less and fretful ; and with a constitutional melancholy, the clouds 
 which darkened the brightness of his fancy, and gave a gloomy 
 cast to his whole course of thinking : we, therefore, ought not to 
 wonder at his sallies of impatience and passion at any time ; es- 
 
 ^ In the 6>//a Podrida, a collection of essays published at Oxford, there is an 
 admirable paper upon the character of Johnson, written by the Reverend Dr. Horne, 
 the last excellent Bishop of Norwich. The following passage is eminently happy : 
 " To reject wisdom, because the person of him who communicates it is uncouth, and 
 his manners are inelegant ; what is it but to throw away a pine-apple, and assign 
 for a reason the roughness of its coat? " — B. OUa Podrida was published in weekly 
 numbers in 1787-8. Boswell's quotation is from No. 13. — Dr. Hill. 
 
674 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D 1784. 
 
 pecially when provoked by obtrusive ignorance, or presuming petu- 
 lance ; and allowance must be made for his uttering hasty and 
 satirical sallies even against his best friends. And, surely, when 
 it is considered, that, " amidst sickness and sorrow, " he exerted 
 his faculties in so many works for the benefit of mankind, and 
 particularly that he achieved the great and admirable Dictionary 
 of our language, we must be astonished at his resolution. The 
 solemn text, " of him to whom much is given, much will be re- 
 quired," seems to have been ever present to his mind, in a rigor- 
 ous sense, and to have made him dissatisfied with his labors and 
 acts of goodness, however comparatively great ; so that the una- 
 voidable consciousness of his superiority was, in that respect, a 
 cause of disquiet. He suffered so much from this, and from the 
 gloom which perpetually haunted him and made solitude fright- 
 ful, that it may be said of him, " If in this life only he had hope, 
 he was of all men most miserable." He loved praise, when it was 
 brought to him ; but was too proud to seek for it. He was some- 
 what susceptible of flattery. As he was general and unconfined in 
 his studies, he cannot be considered as master of any one particu- 
 lar science ; but he had accumulated a vast and various collection 
 of learning and knowledge, which was so arranged in his mind, as 
 to be ever in readiness to be brought forth. But his superiority 
 over other learned men consisted chiefly in what may be called 
 the art of thinking, the art of using his mind : a certain continual 
 power of seizing the useful substance of all that he knew, and ex- 
 hibiting it in a clear and forcible manner ; so that knowledge, 
 which we often see to be no better than lumber in men of dull 
 understanding, was in him true, evident, and actual wisdom. His 
 moral precepts are practical ; for they are drawn from an intimate 
 acquaintance with human nature. His maxims carry conviction ; 
 for they are founded on the basis of common sense, and a very 
 attentive and minute survey of real life. His mind was so full of 
 imagery, that he might have been perpetually a poet; yet it is re- 
 markable, that, however rich his prose is in this respect, his poet- 
 ical pieces, in general, have not much of that splendor, but are 
 rather distinguished by strong sentiment, and acute observation, 
 conveyed in harmonious and energetic verse, particularly in 
 heroic couplets. Though usually grave, and even awful in his 
 deportment, he possessed uncommon and peculiar powers of wit 
 and humor ; he frequently indulged himself in colloquial pleasan- 
 try ; and the heartiest merriment was often enjoyed in his com- 
 pany ; with this great advantage, that as it was entirely free from any 
 
Age 75 ] HIS ACCURACY IN CONVERSATION. 575 
 
 poisonous tincture of vice or impiety, it was salutary to those who 
 shared in it. He had accustomed himself to such accuracy in his 
 common conversation,' that he at all times expressed his thoughts 
 with great force, and an elegant choice of language, the effect of 
 which was aided by his having a loud voice and a slow deliberate 
 utterance. In him were united a most logical head with a most 
 fertile imagination, which gave him an extraordinary advantage in 
 arguing : for he could reason close or wide, as he saw best for the 
 moment. Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity, he 
 could, when he pleased, be the greatest sophist that ever con- 
 tended in the Hsts of declamation ; and, from a spirit of con- 
 tradiction and a delight in showing his powers, he would often 
 maintain the wrong side with equal warmth and ingenuity ; so 
 that when there was an audience, his real opinions could seldom 
 be gathered from his talk ; though when he was in company with a 
 single friend, he would discuss a subject with genuine fairness ; 
 but he was too conscientious to make error permanent and per- 
 nicious by deliberately writing it ; and, in all his numerous 
 
 ^ Though a perfect resemblance of Johnson is not to be found in any age, parts 
 of his character are admirably expressed' by Clarendon in drawing that of Lord 
 Falkland, whom the noble and masterly historian describes at his seat near Oxford : 
 "Such an immenseness of wit, such a solidity of judgment, so infinite a fancy 
 bound in by a most logical ratiocination. His acquaintance was cultivated by the 
 most polite and accurate men, so that his house was a University in less volume, 
 whither they came, not so much for repose as study, and to examine and refine those 
 grosser propositions, which laziness and consent made current in conversation." 
 Bayle's account of Menage may also be quoted as exceedingly applicable to the 
 great subject of this work. " His illustrious friends erected a very glorious monu- 
 ment to him in the collection entitled " Menagiana." Those who judge of things 
 aright, will confess that this collection is very proper to show the extent of genms 
 and learning which was the character of Menage. And I may be bold to say, that 
 the excellent works he published zvill not distinguish him from other learned men so 
 advantageously as this. To publish books of great learning, to make Greek and 
 Latin verses exceedingly well turned, is not a common talent, I own ; neither is it 
 extremely rare. It is incomparably more difficult to find men who can furnish dis- 
 course about an infinite number of things, and who can diversify them an hundred 
 ways. How many authors are there who are admired for their works, on ac- 
 count of the vast learning that is displayed in them, who are not able to sustain a 
 conversation. Those who know Menage only by his books, might think he re- 
 sembled those learned men ; but if you show the Menagiana, you distinguish him 
 from them, and make him known by a talent which is given to very few learned men. 
 There it appears that he was a man who spoke offliand a thousand good things. 
 His memory extended to what was ancient and modern ; to the court and to the 
 city; to the dead and to the living languages; to things serious and things jocose; 
 in a word, to a thousand sorts of subjects. That which appeared a trifle to some 
 readers of the " Menagiana," who did not consider circumstances, caused admiration 
 in other readers, who mincled the difference between what a man speaks without 
 preparation, and that which he prepares for the press. And, therefore, we cannot 
 sufficiently commend the care which his illustrious friends took to erect a monu- 
 ment so capable of giving him immortal glory. They were not obliged to rectify 
 what they had heard him say; for, in so doing, they had not been faithful historians 
 of his conversation." — B. 
 
576 
 
 BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. [A.D. 1784. 
 
 works he earnestly inculcated what appeared to him to be the 
 truth; his piety being constant, and the ruling principle of all 
 his conduct. 
 
 Such was Samuel Johnson, a man whose talents, acquirements, 
 and virtues, were so extraordinary, that the more his character is 
 considered, the more he will be regarded by the present age, and 
 by posterity, with admiration and reverence. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 AbeRCROMBIE, James, of Philadelphia, 
 
 i. 415. 438 «. 
 
 Abernethy, Dr., Life of, in " Biographia 
 Britannica," quoted, ii. 470;^. 
 
 Abington, Mrs., Johnson attends her 
 benefit, 1. 490, 492, 495; sups with, 
 507- 
 
 Abreu, Marquis of, i. 199. 
 
 Abyssinia, voyage to, by Lobo, translated 
 
 by Johnson, i. 39, 41 ; ii. 4. 
 Academia della Crusca, i. 167, 253. 
 Academy, French, i. 103, 167, 169 
 Academy, Royal, origin of, i. 205. 
 Academy, Royal Irish, transactions of, 
 
 quoted, ii. 546. 
 Adam, Robert and James, i. 492; 
 
 "Works in Architecture" referred to, 
 
 ii. 105. 
 Adamites, the, i. 446. 
 
 Adams, Dr., Master of Pembroke Col- 
 lege, Oxford, i. 34, 69, 98, 148, 278 ; 
 describes Johnson at Oxford, 23, 
 33 ; discusses dictionary-making with 
 Johnson, 103 ; describes first repre- 
 sentation of "Irene," 109; advising 
 Johnson as to his projected Biblio- 
 theque, 159; visited by Johnson, 565; 
 ii. 479; letters to Boswell, i. 147; ii. 
 540, 566 «. 
 
 Adams, Miss, ii. 479, 484. 
 
 Adams, William, founder of Newport 
 School, i. 68 n. 
 
 Adams, Mr.; Johnson writes dedication 
 for his " Treatise on the Globes," i. 
 315- 
 
 Addison, Joseph, i. \oon., 173, 203, 449, 
 569 ii. 345, 357; tradition of his 
 boyhood, i. 13 «. ; his style compared 
 with Johnson's, 125 ; Johnson discusses 
 him and his writings, 242, 418, 506, 521 ; 
 ii. 21, 153, 311, 355; said to have 
 written for Budgell, 29; intemperate 
 in use of wine, 556; saying of, 228; 
 quoted, i. 321, 505; ii. 188; Johnson's 
 Life oi, quoted, 329. 
 
 " Address of the Painters to George III. 
 on his Accession," by Johnson, i. 199. 
 
 " Address to the Reader," by Johnson, 
 i- 74. 
 
 Vol. II. —37 
 
 Adey, Mary, of Lichfield, i. 582 ; ii. 276 ; 
 
 letter to Boswell, i. 10. 
 Adey, Mrs., death of, ii. 264. 
 " Ad Lauram parituram Epigramma," 
 
 by Johnson, quoted, i. 85. 
 "Adventurer, The," i. 115, 129, 140-143, 
 
 180. 
 
 " Adversaria," specimen of Johnson's, i. 
 113- 
 
 Adye, see Adey. 
 
 " Agriculture, Farther Thoughts on," i. 
 171. 
 
 Agutter, Rev. Mr., ii. 480;/. ; preaches on 
 Johnson's death, 570; letter to Bos- 
 well, 570 
 
 Aikin, Anna Letitia, i. 543 ; copies John- 
 son's style, 114. 
 
 Akenside, Mark, i. 203 ; criticised by 
 Johnson, 388; ii. 20; extracts from 
 Johnson's Life of, 331. 
 
 Akerman, Mr., keeper of Newgate, brave 
 conduct of, ii. 287. 
 
 Alberti, Leandro, i. 506. 
 
 Alcibiade's dog, ii. 153. 
 
 Aldrich, Rev. Mr., of Clerkenvvell, i. 231. 
 
 Alexander the Great, i. 138, 407. . 
 
 Alfred, King, will of, ii. 383 «. 
 
 Allen, Edmund, printer, Johnson's land- 
 lord in Bolt Court, i. 270, 504; ii. 91, 
 95> I79> 210, 255, 355, 444; letter to, 
 from Johnson, 443. 
 
 Almack's, high play at, ii. 15 n. 
 
 Althorp, Lord, ii. 257 285. 
 
 Amanuenses employed on the Diction- 
 ary, list of, i. 104. 
 
 American affairs, i. 472, 484, 486. 
 
 Amyat, Dr., physician, tells anecdote of 
 Johnson, i. 212 n. 
 
 Andrews, Dr., Provost of Dublin Uni- 
 versity, i. 282. 
 
 Angel, Captain, i. 197. 
 
 Angel, Mr., asks Johnson to write him a 
 preface, i. 427. 
 
 " Annales," by Johnson, i. 33. 
 
 Anne, Queen, Johnson's recollection of, 
 i. 12. 
 
 "Annual Register," i. 46o«. 
 1 Apicius, i. 568. 
 I ApoUonius Rhodius, i. 162. 
 
578 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 "Appeal to the Public in behalf of the 
 Editor," by Johnson, i. 74. 
 
 Appleby in Leicestershire, school offered 
 to Johnson at (?) , i. 68 n. 
 
 Arbuthnot, Dr., i. 522 ; praised by John- 
 son, 242. 
 
 Argenson, Mr., visited by Johnson, i.533. 
 Argyle, Archibald, Duke of, i. 104; ii. 
 
 480 ; Sir A. Maclean's suit against, 
 
 i. 526 ii. 66; entertains Wilkes, 48. 
 Argyle, Duchess of, i. 136. 
 Aristotle, i. 107 Ji. ; his doctrine of the 
 
 purpose of tragedy discussed, ii. 25; 
 
 saying of, quoted, 303. 
 Aristarchus, Greville's praise of, ii. 492. 
 Armstrong, Johnny, song of, quoted, i. 
 
 228. 
 
 Arnaud, ii. 234. 
 
 Arnold, Thomas, M.D., his " Observa- 
 tions on Insanity," ii. 116. 
 " Art of Living in London," by Johnson, 
 
 i. 51. 
 
 Articles, Thirty-nine, petition against 
 
 subscription to, i. 379, 
 Ascham, Johnson's Life of, i. 267. 
 Ashbourne, Johnson stays at, i. 36; ii. 
 
 88, 112, 384. 
 Assassination Plot, i. 401 n. 
 Astle, Thomas, i. 84; ii. 497; letter to, 
 
 from Johnson, 383. 
 Astle, Rev. Mr., advised by Johnson as 
 
 to studies, ii. 497. 
 Aston, Catherine, i, 37 
 Aston, Misses, i. 36. 
 
 Aston, Molly, i. 37, 582; ii. 332; epi- 
 gram on, by Johnson, i. 37 n. ; ii. 229. 
 
 Aston, Mrs., i. 582. 584; ii. 278; her ill- 
 ness, 87, 140. 
 
 Aston, Sir Thomas, i. 37, 52 «. 
 
 Athol, Earl of, tortured, i. 291. 
 
 Athol porridge, ii. 347. 
 
 Atterbury, Bishop, his sermons, ii. 151, 
 164. 
 
 Auchinleck in Ayrshire, visited by 
 Johnson, i. 458 ; entail of estate, 546- 
 553. 
 
 Auchinleck, Lord, i. 415, 471 n. ; ii. 143, 
 
 160; his marriage, 62; his death, 396. 
 Ayrshire, election petition in, .ii. 343. 
 
 Bacon, Lord, i. 122, 384; Johnson on, 
 
 ii, 129; quoted, i. 7; ii. 448. 
 Bagshaw, Rev. Mr., Johnson's letters to, 
 
 i. 450; ii.523. 
 Baldwin, Mr., printer, ii. 504. 
 Ballow, Thomas, ii. 14. 
 Banks, Mr., of Dorsetshire, i. 78. 
 Banks, Sir Joseph, i. 276, 376, 377 n. ; ii. 
 
 115 246, 248, 257 «. ; pall-bearer at 
 
 Johnson's funeral, 568 ; letter from 
 
 Johnson, i. 374, 
 
 Bannatine, George, i. 203. 
 
 Barbauld, Mrs., see Aikin, Anna Letitia. 
 
 Barber, Francis, Johnson's black servant, 
 
 i. 8«., 130,290, 307/2., 376, 420, 465, 
 524 ; ii. 536, 541 ; his early history, i. 
 132//.; his account of Johnson's grief 
 for his wife, 134 ; serves in the Navy, 
 197 ; goes to school, 325 ; receives re- 
 ligious instruction from Johnson, 514; 
 
 ii. 567 ; Johnson's liberal provision for, 
 557; letters from Johnson, i. 325,358. 
 
 Barclay, A., " The Ship of Fools," i. 155. 
 
 Barclay, Mr., of Oxford, answers Ken- 
 rick's attack on Johnson, i. 287. 
 
 Barclay, Mr., brewer, ii. 372 
 
 Barclay, Robert, of Ury, ii. 372 n. 
 
 Baretti, Joseph, i. 145, 155, 292 327, 
 529, 570; ii. 4, 12, 63, 107, 251 ; his his- 
 tory, i. 169; introduced to Rev. T. 
 Warton by Johnson, 187 ; praised by 
 Johnson, 323; arraigned at Old Bailey 
 for murder, acquitted, 343, 345 ; quar- 
 rels with Davies,4i4 ; writes against 
 Mrs. Thrale in " The European Maga- 
 zine," ii. 31//.; consultation of his 
 friends before trial, 505 ; his anecdote 
 of Mrs. Thrale, 521 ; Johnson's letters 
 to, i. 204, 209, 214; his Italian arid 
 English Dictionary, Johnson writes 
 Dedication for, 199 ; " Easy Lessons in 
 Italian and English," Preface by John- 
 son for, 47c; " Frusta Letteraria," ii. 
 114. 
 
 Barnard, Dr., Bishop of Killaloe, i. 276, 
 481; ii. 359; tells anecdote of John- 
 son, i. 49;?, ; Johnson calls on, ii. 370; 
 charade on, by lohnson, 421 ; verses 
 quoted, 370 
 
 Barnard, Dr., Dean of Kerry, ii. 158. 
 
 Barnard, Dr., Provost of Eton, ii. 285. 
 
 Barnard, Mr., King's librarian, i. 309, 
 313- 
 
 Barnes, Joshua, his Macaronic verses, 
 ii. 189. 
 
 Barnston, Letitia, ii. 277. 
 
 Barretier, Philip, Johnson's Life ot, i. 79. 
 
 Barrington, Hon. Daines, ii. 459; his es- 
 say against migration of birds, i. 443 ; 
 Johnson seeks his acquaintance, ii. 
 210. 
 
 Barrow, Dr., his sermon quoted, ii. 363//. 
 Barry, Sir Edward, Bart., his" System of 
 
 Physic," ii. 21. 
 Barry, Mr., exhibition of pictures by, ii. 
 
 440; letter from Johnson to, 425. 
 Barter, Mr., i. 388. 
 
 Baskerville's edition of Virgil, Johnson 
 presents copy of, to Trinity College, 
 Oxford, i. 328; of Barclay's " Apol- 
 ogy." 576. 
 
 " Bastard, The," a poem, i. 91. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 579 
 
 Bate, Rev. Henry, the " fighting parson," 
 ii. 487 n. 
 
 Bateman, Mr., of Christchurch, Oxford, 
 i- 33- 
 
 Bath, visited by Johnson, ii. 28. 
 Batheaston Villa, near Bath, i. 500. 
 Bathurst, Colonel, i. 132-'/. 
 Bathurst, Dr. Richard, i. 105, 129, 132//., 
 
 140, 141 ; ii. 313 ; death of, i. 134 
 
 215. 
 
 Bathurst, Lord, i. 81 ; ii. 234, 270, 327. 
 
 Baxter, Richard, i. 447; his " Anacreon," 
 collated by Lord Auchinleck with Ley- 
 den MS., ii. 451; his "Call to the 
 Unconverted," 461 ; his Erse version 
 of, presented by Johnson to Bodleian, 
 
 i. 463 ; Johnson commends his works, 
 
 ii. 441, 448. 
 
 Bayle, Pierre, his " Dictionary," praised 
 by Johnson, i. 242; his account of 
 Menage, applied well, to Johnson, ii. 
 
 Beach, Thomas, his " Eugenio," i. 438;-'. 
 
 Beattie, Dr. J., i. 408, 451,455; ii. 361, 
 509, 511; introduced to Johnson, i. 
 372; his wife, 375, 377; his college, 
 375; his popularity, 378, 454; letter to 
 Boswell, 377 letter to, from John- 
 son, ii. 289; Johnson's admiration for 
 his works, i. 413 ; ii. 416. 
 
 Beauclerk, Lady Di, i. 437, 472 ; her bet 
 with Boswell, 495. 
 
 Beauclerk, Lord Sidney, i. 137. 
 
 Beauclerk, Topham, i. 45, 137, 202, 210, 
 214, 245, 275, 308, 360, 430, 434, 437, 
 442«., 476, 488, 492, 504, 505 506, 
 526; ii. 12, 129 139, 236, 238, 258, 
 280, 301, 312; entertains Johnson at 
 Windsor, i. 138 ; visits "Cambridge 
 with, 280; witness at Baretti's trial, 
 345 ; called Bean, 450; his illness, 472, 
 484 ; ii. 67 ; his sayings, i. 514 ; ii. 423 ; 
 anecdote told by, i. 542; his equable 
 disposition, ii. 3, 128 ; his account of 
 play at Almack's, 14; argues with 
 Johnson, 187; quarrels with Johnson, 
 257 ; criticised by Johnson, 262; his 
 death, 282, 284; Johnson's affection 
 for him, 301 ; his inscription under 
 Johnson's portrait, 358, 413; his li- 
 brary sold, 363 ; letter to, from John- 
 son, i. 134;/. 
 
 Beaufort, Duchess of, ii. 285. 
 
 Beaumont, Francis, i. 33. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, anecdote of, 
 i. 499. 
 
 "Beauties of Johnson," unauthorized 
 publication, ii. 393 ; criticised, 394. 
 
 Beckford, Alderman, ii. 50, 134. 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, attacks Ministry, ii. 
 SOI. 
 
 Bedlam, visited by Johnson, i. 523. 
 
 Beggars' Opera, the, criticised by John- 
 son, ii. 215 ; quoted, 357. 
 
 Behmen, Jacob, i. 362. 
 
 Belgrade, siege of, described by Paoli, 
 i- 399- 
 
 Bell, [ohn, his " Travels," i. 322. 
 
 Bell, Mrs., Johnson writes part of Epitaph 
 on, i. 414 n. 
 
 Bellamy, Mrs., letter to Johnson, ii. 452 n. 
 
 Belsham, W., his " Essay on Dramatic 
 Poetry," quoted, i. 219. 
 
 Bennet, Mr., Johnson writes Dedication 
 for, i. 267. 
 
 Bentham, Rev. Dr., of Oxford, i. 567. 
 
 Bentley, R., i. 31 ; works praised by John- 
 son, 567 ; ii. 310. 
 
 Berenger, Richard, ii. 352, 354. 
 
 Beresford, Mrs., an American lady, ii. 
 478. 
 
 Beresford, Rev. Mr., ii. 190. 
 
 Berkeley, Bishop, ii. 109; his sophistry, 
 i. 271; ii. 312; Johnson's opinion of 
 him, i. 367. 
 
 Berwick, Memoirs of the I^uke of, ii. 191. 
 
 Berwick-upon-Tweed, Johnson passes 
 through, i. 455. 
 
 Bevill, Rev. Mr., his " Defence of Ham- 
 mond," ii. 337 n. 
 
 Bibliotheque, Johnson's scheme of, i. 
 159- 
 
 Bickerstaff, Isaac, i. 337. 
 
 Bicknell, Mr., his " Musical Travels of 
 
 Joel Collyer," Johnson ridiculed in, 
 
 i. 177. 
 
 Binning, Lord, i. 403 ; ii. 222. 
 
 " Biographia Britannica," i. 569 ; Johnson 
 declines to edit, ii. 115; quoted, 219^2. 
 
 " Biographia Dramatica," i. 203 n. 
 
 " Biographical Dictionary," i. 203;;. 
 
 Birch, Rev. Dr. T., letters to Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Carter, i. 73; to Johnson, 160; 
 letters to, from Cave, 80, 82; from 
 Johnson, 87, 126, 159; from Earl of 
 Orrery, 103 ; from Bishop Warbur- 
 ton, 3. 
 
 Birmingham, i. 8, 37, 45, 51; visited by 
 Johnson, 38, 42, 574 ; ii. 384. 
 
 Bishop, a liquor, i. 139. 
 
 Blackfriars Bridge, i. 198. 
 
 Blacklock, Dr. Thomas, i. 186; John- 
 son's opinion of his poetry, 268. 
 
 Blackmore, Sir Richard, his poems, ii. 
 249; criticised by Johnson, i. 353; 
 Johnson's Life of, quoted, ii. 330. 
 
 Blackstone, Judge, i. 33; ii. 258, 354; 
 quoted, i. 511 ti. 
 
 Blackwall, Anthony, i. 37. 
 
 Blagden, Dr., ii. 314. 
 
 Blair, Rev. Dr. Hugh, i. 203, 223, 325, 
 1 461, 463, 474; ii. 31; his sermons 
 
580 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 praised by Johnson, 63, 67, 110, 140, 
 
 228, 359; attacks Johnson's style, 114; 
 
 letter to Boswell, 270. 
 Blair, Rev. Robert, "The Grave," a 
 
 poem, ii. 30. 
 Blake, Admiral, Johnson's Life of, i. 79. 
 Blanchetti, Marquis and Marchioness, 
 
 1. 532. 
 
 Bland, Richard, of Virginia, i. 415 n. 
 Blaney, Elizabeth, i. 9 ; ii. 537. 
 Blenheim Park, i. 570. 
 Bocage, i. 532. 
 Bocardo, i. 108 n. 
 
 Bodleian Library, i. 153, 310; ii. 247; 
 Johnson presents books to, i. 169, 
 463 n. 
 
 Boerhave, i.522; liis Life by Johnson, 74. 
 Boethius, i. 74, 364. 
 
 Boileau, ii. 234 ; his imitation of Juvenal, 
 
 i. 60; quoted, ii. 524. 
 Bolingbroke, Lady, her description of 
 
 Pope, ii. 217. 
 Bolingbroke, Lord, ii. 231, 234, 236, 270, 
 327; condemned by Johnson, i. 150, 
 184; letter to Sir William Wyndham, 
 
 ii. 156;?. 
 
 Bolingbroke, second Lord, i. 442 
 Bologna sausages, praised by Johnson, 
 
 i. 408. 
 
 Bonhours, Dominique, on beauty, i. 341. 
 Bonner, Bishop, i. 33^. 
 " Bon Ton," a play, i. 492. 
 Booksellers, provincial, rare m Johnson's 
 time, i. 8. 
 
 Boothby, Miss, correspondence with 
 Johnson, i. 8 496 n. ; letter from John- 
 son to, ii. 332 ?i. 
 
 Boothby, Mrs. Hill, i. 37. 
 
 Boscawen, Hon. Mrs., ii. 222, 285, 358. 
 
 Boscovich, Pere Roger Joseph, i. 363 ; 
 praises Johnson's Latin conversation, 
 542. 
 
 Bosville, Mrs., i. 391. 
 
 Boswell, Sir Alexander, i. 399 «. 
 
 Boswell, Claude Irvine, Lord Balmuto, 
 
 ii. 62 n. 
 
 Boswell, David, ancestor of J. Boswell, 
 i. 546. 
 
 Boswell, Dr., i. 250; his description of 
 Johnson, ii. 5. 
 
 Boswell, Mrs., i. 459, 462, 526, 528 ; ii. 
 244; dislikes Johnson, i. 457; present 
 from Johnson to, ii. 250; illness and 
 death, 142, 385 letter to Johnson, 
 399; letters to, from Johnson, 57, 398. 
 
 Boswell, James, his views on biography, 
 i. 3-7 ; on the Slave Trade, ii. 135 ; 
 first interview with Johnson, i. 221 ; 
 gives Johnson a sketch of his life, 
 229 ; anecdote of his childhood, 246 n. ; 
 goes with Johnson to Greenwich, 262 ; 
 
 to Oxford, 316, 564; to the Pantheon, 
 391; to Bedlam, 523; to Birmingham, 
 574 ; to Lichfield, 578 ; to Bath, ii. 29 ; 
 to Bristol, 31; to Ashbourne, 88; to 
 Keddlestone, 105 ; to Derby, 107 ; to 
 Shefford, 382; goes abroad, i. 271; 
 goes to Shakespeare Jubilee, 329; 
 visits the Thrales at Streatham, 334 ; 
 ii. 149, 232; presents Paoli to Johnson, 
 i. 335 ; witnesses execution at Tyburn, 
 342 ; at Newgate, ii. 508 ; quarrels 
 with Johnson, i. 352; ii. 227; marries 
 his cousin, i. 371 ; questions Johnson 
 as to his history, 390; goes to Mrs. 
 Abington's benefit, 490; has a room 
 in Johnson's house, 524; consults 
 Lord Hailes about the entail, 550; his 
 conversation wiih Captain Cook, ii. 5; 
 lives with General Paoli, 22 ; defends 
 liberty of pulpit, 37; sends Johnson 
 Lord Hailes' "Annals of Scotland," 
 
 78 ; regrets his censure of " Biographia 
 Britannica," 116 engaged at the 
 Parliamentary Bar, 148 ; his shorthand, 
 179 ; is introduced to Wesley, 265 ; his 
 illness, 262; procures for Johnson in- 
 formation about Pope, 280 ; attends 
 meeting of Robin Hood Society, 355, 
 357 ; engaged in ludicrous action in 
 Court of Sessions, 379 ; parts with 
 apprehension from Johnson, 441, 443 ; 
 makes application to Lord Thurlow 
 on Johnson's behalf, 507; bids fare- 
 well to Johnson, 515; letters to Dr. 
 Cullen, "464 ; to I3r. Hope, 464 ; to 
 Johnson, 1. 274, 301, 323, 371-374- 4i3. 
 457. 463. 465. 471. 472, 482, 526, 529, 
 542, 552; 11.57, 59,60, 65,69, 70,76, 
 
 79 83-87, 139, 143, 145, 184, 242, 
 249, 262, 266, 276, 278, 289, 292, 451, 
 455; to Munro,464; to Dr. Percy, 185; 
 to Pitt, 463 letters to, from Dr. 
 Adams, 540, 566 n. ; from Rev. Mr. 
 Agutter, 570 //. ; from Dr. Beattie, i. 
 377 from Dr. Blair, ii. 270; from 
 E. Dilly, 71 ; from Sir W. Forbes, en- 
 closing the Round Robin, 54; from 
 Lord Hailes, i. 247; from Warren 
 Hastings, ii. 338 ; from Johnson, i. 272, 
 289, 300, 323, 330, 354, 375, 412, 414, 
 
 454-474. 483. 526-530. 544. 547-553 5 
 li, 28, 57, 58, 61, 67-70, 78-80, 83-88, 
 139-143, 185, 244, 248, 250, 263-266, 
 277-281, 290. 294, 341, 385, 393, 396- 
 401, 445. 451, 455. 462, 463, 465, 522, 
 523, 541, 542; from Langton, 243, 284; 
 from Mickle, 456; from Lord Tlmr- 
 low, 513; from Rev. Dr. Vyse, 82; his 
 "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides," 
 i- 279, 398 421 //., 478 ; ii. 67 126, 
 216/1., 243, 406 471 480 554 
 
INDEX. 
 
 581 
 
 praised by Courtenay, by Mrs. Thrale, 
 i. 456, 527; quoted, 8, 56, 90, 112, 
 124 197, 246, 261; ii. 433-^.; his 
 "Thesis in Civil Law," i. 299; his 
 "Account of Corsica" published, 316; 
 quoted, 329 «. ; his " Hypochondriac," 
 342 ii. 512 his "Matrimonial 
 Thought," i. 355; his " Essence of the 
 Douglas cause," 431 n. ; Journal, ii. 
 138; quoted, 149; verses to Hon. Miss 
 Monckton, quoted, 366-^.; letter to the 
 people of Scotland, 408 n. 
 Boswell, Thomas, founder of the family, 
 i. 546. 
 
 Bosvveli, Thomas David, ii. 121 292; 
 introduced to Johnson, 289; his ac- 
 count of Johnson's death, 567. 
 
 Bouchier, Governor, ii. 352. 
 
 Bouftier, Claude, 1. 271 n. 
 
 Boufflers, Madame de, visits Johnson, 
 
 i. 360, 542. 
 
 Boulter, Archbishop, i. 179. 
 Bouquet, Mr., bookseller, i. 135. 
 Bourdonne, Madame de, i. 438. 
 Bowles, William, Johnson stays with, ii. 
 446. 
 
 Bowyer, William, Life of, ii. 535 ». 
 
 Boydell, Alderman, i. 472 n. 
 
 Boyle, Mr., his " Martyrdom of Theo- 
 dora." i. 175. 
 
 Bradley, in Derbyshire, visited by John- 
 son, i. 36. 
 
 Braithwaite, Mr., of the Post Ofifice, ii.474. 
 Bramhall, Bishop, on " Liberty and 
 
 Necessity," i. 350. 
 Brett, Colonel, i. 96 n. 
 Brighthelmstone, Johnson visits, i. 329 ; 
 
 ii. 62, 139, 398. 
 
 Bristol, Johnson visits, ii. 31. 
 
 Brocklesby, Dr., ii. 410, 444, 453, 459, 
 464, 471; his generosity to Johnson, 
 515, 556; his account of Johnson's 
 death, 566 ; letter to Johnson, 447 n., 
 letters to, from Johnson, 446, 525-528. 
 
 Bromley, in Kent, i. 134. 
 
 Brooke, Henry, author of " The Fool of 
 Quality " and " Gustavus Vasa," 75 n. ; 
 Johnson's essay on the latter, 75. 
 
 Brooks's Club, origin of, ii. 15 ?i. 
 
 Broome, Life of, by Johnson, ii. 326. 
 
 Brown, Capability, i. 571 ; ii. 269. 
 
 Brown, Rev. Robert, of Utrecht, i. 292; 
 ii. 192. 
 
 Brown, Tom, teaches Johnson, i. 13. 
 Browne, Isaac Hawkins, i. 501 ; ii. 471. 
 Browne, Rev. Dr. John, of Cambridge, 
 i. 366. 
 
 Browne, Sir Thomas, i. 33 ; ii, 196; influ- 
 ence on Johnson's style, i. 123 ; his 
 " Christian Morals," edited by John- 
 son, with life prefixed, 172. 
 
 Bruce, James, criticised by Johnson, i. 
 498. 
 
 Bruce, Robert, i. 457. 
 
 Brumoy, Pere, Johnson translates for 
 
 Mrs. Lenox's English version of, i. 
 
 195- 
 
 Brydone, Patrick, " A Tour through 
 Sicily and Malta," i. 505, 583; ii. 240. 
 
 Buchan, Earl of, i. 396. 
 
 Buchanan, George, Johnson admires his 
 poems, i. 264, 344; ii. 415, 
 
 Buckingham, Duchess of, ii. 159. 
 
 Budgell, Eustace, i. 430; ii. 29. 
 
 Budworth, Rev. Mr., 37 n. 
 
 Bulse, Indian measure of diamonds, ii. 
 240. 
 
 Bunbury, Sir Charles, i. 276, 461,488; 
 
 ii. 257 n. ; pallbearer at Johnson's 
 
 funeral, 568. 
 Bunbury, Henry, 1.235/2. 
 Bunyan, John, admired by Johnson, i. 
 
 436. 
 
 Burgoyne, General, his surrender at 
 Saratoga, ii. 240. 
 
 Burke, Edmund, i. 194, 276, 297, 370, 399, 
 426 n., 437, 449, 507 n. ; ii. 29, 52, 174, 
 204, 207, 253, 254, 312, 333, 346, 347, 
 360, 472, 519; in praise of Johnson, 
 
 i. 40; ii. 40; Johnson's views on, i. 259, 
 366, 570; ii. 164 witness at Baret- 
 ti's trial, i. 344; Goldsmith's view of 
 his oratory, 452; writes Round Robin, 
 
 ii. 55; his equable disposition, 128; his 
 witticisms, 216, 343 ; his argument on 
 happiness, 491 ; his speech parodied 
 by Johnson, 501 ; his defence of John- 
 son, 501 ; differs from Johnson on 
 Baretti's case, 505; compares Johnson 
 to Appius, 538/2.; at Johnson's sick- 
 bed, 561 ; pallbearer at Johnson's fu- 
 neral, 568 ; his " Vindication of Natural 
 Society," i. 266 «.; his essay on the 
 Sublime and Beautiful, 341 ; his speech 
 on American Taxation, 473; his 
 " Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol," 
 criticised by Johnson, ii. 124. 
 
 Burke, Richard, i. 276 ; ii. 534 ; his death, 
 438/2.; his argumentwith Johnson, 512. 
 
 Burlington, Lord, ii. 234. 
 
 Burnet, Bishop, " History of his own 
 Times," criticised by Johnson, i. 419. 
 
 Burney,* Dr. Charles, i. 224, 276, 287, 
 543; ii. 171, 358; praises Johnson's 
 " Preface to Shakespeare," i. 287 ; en- 
 gaged on his " History of Music," 
 ii. 246, 247 ; his " Travels," praised 
 by Johnson, 416 ; letters to, from John- 
 son, i. 160, 182, 183, 287 ; ii. 449, 529, 
 541; from a lady, i. 319; quoted, 184, 
 
 243 454 503 ii-383- 
 I Burney, Dr. Charles, the younger, ii. 546. 
 
582 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Burney, Frances, ii, 283, 472, 530 ; takes 
 tea with Johnson, 440; quoted, 549. 
 
 Burney, Mrs., i. 284;?.; ii. 430; her ill- 
 ness, 529. 
 
 Burrowes, Rev. Robert, his " Essay on 
 the style of Dr. Samuel Johnson," 
 ii. 546. 
 
 Burrows, Rev. Dr., his sermon, ii. 254. 
 
 Burton, Robert, at Oxford, i. 24; his 
 "Anatomy of .Melancholy" praised 
 by Johnson, 361, 565. 
 
 Burton's Books, ii. 461. 
 
 Bute, Earl of, i. 211, 217, 490 510, 511 ; 
 ii. 51 ; Johnson's opinion of, i. 585 ; 
 letters from Johnson to, 212, 214. 
 
 Butler, Samuel, i. 437 ; Johnson's opin- 
 ion of " Hudibras," 520; quoted, ii. 
 487. 
 
 Butter, Dr., of Derby, i. 589; ii. loi, 108, 
 556. 
 
 Byng, Admiral, i. 365 ; defended by 
 Johnson, 176; his Epitaph quoted, 
 176. 
 
 Byng, Hon. John, his letter to Malone, 
 ii." 567. 
 
 Cadell, Mr., i. 555 ; ii. 224. 
 Caesar, Julius, Bacon's remark on,i. 7. 
 Caledonian Mercury, The, quoted, ii. 
 380. 
 
 Callimachus, Johnson's opinion of, ii. 
 296. 
 
 Cambridge, visited by Johnson, i. 280. 
 Cambridge, Richard Owen, i. 515; ii. 
 
 166; communicates particulars about 
 
 Johnson, 421 ; his death, 422;?. 
 Camden, Lord, i. 486 his judgment 
 
 on Douglas Cause, 431 ; anecdote of, 
 
 ii. 208. 
 
 Camden, William, his " Remains," ii. 
 204, 433- 
 
 Cameron, Dr. Archibald, execution of, i. 
 78. 
 
 Campbell, Archibald, his " Lexiphanes," 
 
 satire on Johnson, i. 315. 
 Campbell, Hon. Archibald, non-juring 
 
 bishop, i. 421 ; praised by Johnson, ii. 
 
 480. 
 
 Campbell, Sir Archibald, ii. 37. 
 Campbell, Rev. Dr., of St. Andrew's, i. 
 203. 
 
 Campbell, Dr. John, i. 319, 484 ; 'John- 
 son's opinion of, 237, 420, 569 ; ii. 161. 
 
 Campbell, Rev. John, of Kippen, letter 
 to Boswell, i. 305 n. 
 
 Campbell, Mungo, case of, ii. 125. 
 
 Campbell, Dr. Thomas, i. 501, 503, 508; 
 ii. 73; his " Diary of a Visit to Mng- 
 land," quoted, i. 47 n., 179 ; his " I^hil- 
 osophical Survey of the South of Ire- 
 land," 501. 
 
 " Candide," compared with " Rasselas," 
 
 i. 192 ; ii. 240. 
 
 Canus, Melchior, of Toledo, i. 533. 
 Cardross, Lord, see Buchan, Earl of. 
 Careless, Mrs., Johnson's first love, i, 577, 
 578. 
 
 Carleton, Captain, his " Memoirs," ii. 
 511- 
 
 Carlisle, Frederick, fifth Earl of, his 
 poems criticised by Johnson, ii. 369, 
 454- 
 
 Carmichael, Miss, ii. 147. 
 
 Carter, Dr. Nicholas, i. 63 «. 
 
 Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth, i. 134, 257;?.; ii. 
 357, 472 ; account of, i. 6^n. ; writes in 
 the " Rambler," 112; her early rising, 
 
 ii. Ill; letter from Dr. Birch to, i. 73. 
 Carteret, Lord, see Granville, Lord. 
 Catcot, George, ii. 31. 
 
 Catiline, Sallust on, i. 5. 
 Cator, Mr., ii. 498. 
 Catullus, quoted, ii. 412. 
 Cave, Miss, i. 42. 
 
 Cave, Edward, i. 57, 59, 80, 87, 91 n., 117 ; 
 ii. 215 ; Johnson's first publisher, i. 50 ; 
 begins "Gentleman's Magazine," 56; 
 sees a ghost, 397; Johnson's opinion 
 of, ii. 562 ; his letters to Dr. Birch, i. 
 74, 82; letters from Johnson 10,42,52, 
 62, 63, 64, 71, 72, 85; Johnson's life 
 of, 143- 
 
 Cavendish Debates, ii. 502 n. 
 Caxton, William, ii. 169. 
 Cecil, Colonel, i. 401. 
 Cervantes, i. 521. 
 Chalmers, George, i. 81 n. 
 Chamberlayne, Rev. Mr., ii. 481. 
 Chambers, Catherine, i. 190, 192, 314. 
 Chambers, Ephraim, his " Proposal" for 
 
 the Dictionary, i. 122. 
 Chambers, Sir Robert, i. 187, 209, 276, 
 
 454- 459. 464 ; ii- 14. 339. 5^9 ; his in- 
 timacy with Johnson, i. 303 ; Vinerian 
 Professor, 316; draws Langton's will, 
 453 ; his marriage, 461 ; letter to, from 
 Johnson, 153. 
 Chambers, Sir William, his " Chinese 
 Architecture" praised by Johnson, ii. 
 417. 
 
 Chamier, Mr., i. 275, 505 u. ; ii. 144, 168. 
 
 " Champion, The," quoted, i. 92. 
 
 Chaponc, Mrs., writes for the " Ram- 
 bler," i. 112; letter from Johnson to, 
 ii. 454. 
 
 Charlemont, James, first Earl of, i. 276, 
 434 ; ii. 238 346. 347. 
 
 Charles L, i. 419, 520, 521. 
 
 Charles I L, i. 137, 253, 313, 520, 521 ; de- 
 fended by Johnson, 502. 
 
 Charles V., witty saying of, i. 336; cen- 
 sured by Lord Karnes, ii. 164. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 588 
 
 Charles XII., of Sweden, ii. 176; John- 
 son's lines on, i. 108. 
 
 Charles Edward, Prince, i. 158 n., 245. 
 
 Charlotte, Queen, i. 373. 
 
 Charterhouse, the, i. 104; ii, 294. 
 
 Chatham, Earl of, i. 363, 425 428, 486; 
 Johnson's opinion of, ii. 241 ; first 
 speech in House of Lords, 501. 
 
 Chatsworth, visited by Johnson, ii. 527. 
 
 Chatterton, T., the " Rowley Poems," ii. 
 31, 388. 
 
 Chelsea College, i. 326. 
 
 Chesterfield, Philip, fourth Earl of, i. [ 
 48^., 80, isgn., 502; ii, 45, 260, 346; \ 
 " Plan" of Dictionary addressed to, i. 
 102; his insolence, 143; ii. 408 ; his 
 eulogy of the " Dictionary " in the 
 " World," i. 144 ; his epigram on Sir 
 Thomas Robinson, 248 n. ; his pro- 
 nunciation, 386; Johnson's opinion of. 
 him, 149, 418; ii, 511; letter from | 
 Johnson to, i, 146; Dilly's edition of j 
 his miscellaneous works, ii, 237 ; his 
 " Letters " criticised by Johnson, i, 
 149, 495; ii.33; Literary Property of 
 letters contested, i. 149 ; quoted, 16, 
 
 Chesterfield, Phihp, fifth Earl of, at 
 Dodd's trial, ii. 91, 
 
 Cheyne, Dr. George, " The English Mal- 
 ady," i. 27 ; ii. 17, 58. 
 
 Cheynel, Johnson's Life of, i. 127. 
 
 China, wall of, ii. 179. 
 
 Choisi, Abbe, ii. 226, 
 
 Cholmondeley, George James, anecdote 
 of, ii, 519, 
 
 Cholmondeley, Hon, Mrs., 1. 363 ; ii. 
 
 171, 174, 213. 
 Christian, Rev, Mr,, of Docking, i, 319, 
 Churchill, Rev. C, i. 223, 241 Ji. ; ii. 165 ; 
 
 satirizes Johnson in " The Ghost," i. 
 
 231 ; his poems criticised by Johnson, 
 
 238; his "Prophecy of Famine," 238; 
 
 his " Rosciad," 311 327;?.; quoted, 
 
 65, 180, 278 ; ii. 148, 
 Churton, Rev. Ralph, i. 450;^,; his views 
 
 on a passage in the burial service, ii, 
 
 433;?.; on Boswell's Life of Johnson,- 
 
 489 n. 
 
 Cibber, Colley, i. 96^., 143; ii, \I75 ; 
 Johnson's epigram on, i, 80, 228 ; his 
 opinion of, 228, 342, 501 ; ii. 452 ; Poet 
 Laureate, i. xo2.n.\ his recollection of 
 Dryden, ii, 47 ; consults Johnson, 122; 
 his "Provoked Husband," i. 317; his 
 "Nonjuror," 490; quoted, 347; ii, 
 472. 
 
 Cibber, Mrs., i, 110, 342. 
 Cibber, Theophilus, " Lives of the Poets," 
 ii. 19. 
 
 Clare, Lord, see Nugent, Robert. 
 Clarendon, Lord, his " History," i. 166 n. ; 
 
 his MSS. presented to the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford, 554; criticised bv John- 
 son, ii. 171; his account of Villier's 
 Ghost, 237; his character of Falkland, 
 575 n. 
 
 Clarendon Press, i. 554, 565. 
 
 Clark, Mr,, of Edinburgh, his pamphlet 
 answered by Johnson, ii, 457, 
 
 Clark, Alderman Richard, letter from 
 Johnson to, ii, 461, 
 
 Clarke, Rev, Dr,, i, 105 225, 350 ; ii. 
 566; his sermons, 164. 
 
 Clenardus's Greek Grammar, ii, 307, 
 
 Clerk, Sir Philip Jennings, ii. 348, 
 
 Clermont, Lady, ii, 285. 
 
 Clive, Lord, ii. 225 ; his suicide, 237 ; anec- 
 dote of, 269, 
 
 Clive, Mrs,, i, 2.0611.; 11,452; Johnson's 
 praise of, 299. 
 
 Clubs : the Literary, i, 275, 297, 299, 434, 
 449. 488, 495; ii. 84, 139, I53«., 187, 
 246, 248, 257 ??., 568 ; proposed augmen- 
 tation of, 69; note to, from Johnson, 
 351 ; the Blue-Stocking, 365 ; the city, 
 351; the Eumelian, 553; the Essex 
 Head, i, 26 «, ; ii, 458, 460 n., 461, 525 ; 
 the King's Head, i. 106;/.; 11,458. 
 
 Cobb, Mrs., i, 531, 582; ii, 276, 
 
 Cock Lane Ghost, 11,178 ; Johnson's ac- 
 count of, i. 231, 
 
 Cohausen, J, H., his " H&rmippus Re- 
 divivus," i. 237, 556, 
 
 Coke, Lord, i. 384, 
 
 Col, Island of, visited by Johnson, i. 456, 
 479 ; the Laird of, 478. 
 
 Colchester, visited by Johnson, i. 269, 
 
 Collins, W,, i, 154,155; his character, 
 written by Johnson, 215. 
 
 Colman, George, the elder, i, 116, 276, 
 317??., 488; 11,63, 215, 301,306; pall- 
 bearer at Johnson's funeral, 568 ; his 
 " Jealous Wife," i, 206; his " Odes to 
 Obscurity and Oblivion," 498; his 
 " Letter from Lexiphanes," quoted, ii. 
 548. 
 
 Colman, George, the younger, his " Ran- 
 dom Records," quoted, ii, 34 ?i. 
 
 Colson, Rev. John, letter from Walms- 
 ley, i, 50. 
 
 Combabus, story of, ii, 158 
 
 " Comus," Johnson's Prologue to, i. 
 126. 
 
 Confession of Faith of Assembly of Di- 
 vines at Westminster (Erse), i, 463. 
 
 Congreve, Rev. Charles, Johnson's 
 school-fellow, i, 14; Johnson laments 
 his condition, 1. 577, 588, 
 
 Congreve, W,, his " Mourning Bride," 
 praised by Johnson, i, 339, 344; his 
 verdict on the " Beggar's Oi^era," 
 519 ?^,; stays at Islam, ii. 124; quoted, 
 
584 INDEX. 
 
 i. 219, 429 ; Johnson's life of, quoted, 
 ii- 331- 
 
 " Connoisseur,' the, i. 239. 
 " Considerations on dispute between 
 Crousaz and Warburton," by Johnson, 
 
 i. 85. 
 
 Cook, Captain, ii. 5 ; his " Voyages to 
 
 the South Sea," 495. 
 Cooksey, R., Essay on Life of Lord 
 
 Somers, i. 489?/. 
 Cooper, John Gilbert, ii. 297 ; nicknamed 
 
 by Johnson, i. 365 ; anecdote of, ii. 
 
 97- 
 
 Coriat, Tom, his travels, i. 395. 
 Cork, Countess of (Miss Monckton), 
 ii- 365- 
 
 Cork and Orrery, Earl ol, i. 167 ; writes 
 
 in "The World," 144 Johnson's 
 
 opinion of, 365; ii. 121. 
 Cotterell, Admiral, i. 135. 
 Cotterell, the Misses, i. 135, 209, 215. 
 Coughlan, Anne, wife of Hon. Thomas 
 
 Hervey, i. 308 n. 
 Court of Session, decision of, in the 
 
 Negro cause, ii. 140. 
 Courtenay, John, i. 276; ii. 204 ; on the 
 
 " Beggar's Opera," i. 519 ; his " Poetical 
 
 Review of Johnson," 489 ; ii. 504^. ; 
 
 quoted, i. 25, 100 123, 177, 194; ii. 
 
 544 f^- 
 
 Coverley, Sir Roger de, praised by John- 
 son, i, 521. 
 
 Covington, Lord, i. 142. 
 
 Cowley, Abraham, on " Plants," i. 
 140 7t.\ Hurd's selection of his works, 
 
 ii. 150 ; Johnson's Life of, i. 98 ; quoted, 
 ii. 320. 
 
 Cowper, William, ii. 224??. 
 
 Coxeter, Mr., his collection of English 
 Poets, ii. 103. 
 
 Crabbe, Rev. George, his "Village" re- 
 vised by Johnson, ii. 409. 
 
 Cradock, Mr., author of " Zobeide," ii. 
 24. 
 
 Crashaw, R., quoted, ii. 204. 
 Craven, Lady, ii. 14. 
 
 "Critical Review," The, i. 200; John- 
 son's writings in, 233, 277; opinion of, 
 312; ii. 21 ; quoted, i. 233 ; ii. 113. 
 
 " Critical Strictures," pamphlet by Bos- 
 wcll and others, i. 232. 
 
 Croft, Rev. Sir Herbert, ii. 488 ; his " Life 
 of Young," 332; his " Love and Mad- 
 ness," 416 his advice to his pupil, 
 495- 
 
 Crouch, Mrs., ii. 442. 
 
 Crousaz, his Examen of Pope's " Essay 
 
 on Man," i. 72. 
 Cruikshfink, Mr., ii. 438; letters from 
 
 Johnson to, 450, 533. 
 Cullen, Dr., i. 522; on sleep, ii. iii ; his 
 
 letter to Boswell,-464 ; letter to, from 
 Boswell, 464. 
 Cullen, Mr., concerned in Negro cause, 
 ii. 83, 141. 
 
 Cumberland, William, Duke of, i. 158 n., 
 524; ii, 167 «. 
 
 Cumberland, R., ii. 26 n., 546 ; his 
 " Memoirs," i. 51 n., 381 n.; his " Ob- 
 server," ii. 337 ; his " Odes," 28. 
 
 Gumming, a Quaker, ii.433. 
 
 Cunningham, Mr., his duel, ii. 432 «. 
 
 Gust, Francis Cockayne, i. 88 n., 93. 
 
 Dacier, Madame, ii. 224 
 
 Daline, his History of Sweden, i. 382. 
 
 Dalrymple, Sir David, see Hailes, Lord. 
 
 Dalrymple, Sir John, his " Memoirs of 
 Great Britain and Ireland " criticised by 
 Johnson, i. 417. 
 
 Dalzel, Professor, on Johnson's knowl- 
 edge of Greek, ii. 546. 
 
 Dante, i. 436; quoted, ii. 152 «. 
 
 Dartineuf, Charles, i. 569 n. 
 
 Dashwood, Sir Francis, i. 65 n. 
 
 Davies, Thomas, i. 241, 278, 325, 326, 
 337. 339. 450 ; ii- 300, 303 ; introduces 
 Boswell to Johnson, i. 221; quarrels 
 with Baretti, 414; his unauthorized 
 publication of Johnson's miscellanies, 
 458 ; misquotes bon mot of Johnson's, 
 508; describes Johnson's laugh, 525; 
 in bad circumstances, ii. 148; plans 
 benefit at Drury Lane, 165; his " Me- 
 moirs of David Garrick," 290 ; Johnson 
 dines with, i. 476, 501; ii. 24; John- 
 son's views on, i. 343 ; ii. 303 ; letters 
 from Johnson to, 444, 533. 
 
 Davies, Mrs., i. 220, 279. 
 
 Davison, Secretary, i. 247 «. 
 
 Dawkins, " Jamaica," ii. 378. 
 
 Dawson, his " Lexicon to the Greek 
 New Testament," ii. 273. 
 
 Deane, Rev. Mr., his essay " On the 
 future life of Brutes," i. 320. 
 
 Death-warrants, ii. 79 ft. 
 
 " Debates on Proposal of Parliament to 
 Cromwell to assume the Title of 
 King,"' by Johnson, i. 80. 
 
 Defoe, Daniel, i. 388 n.; Johnson gives . 
 list of his works, ii. 177. 
 
 DeGroot befriended by Johnson, ii. 81. 
 
 Delany, his " Observations on Swift " 
 praised by Johnson, ii. 166. 
 
 DeMoret, aeronaut, ii. 526 n. 
 
 Demosthenes, i. 393, 418. 
 
 Dempster, Mr., i. 232, 248, 250, 251,408, 
 480; censured by Johnson, 253; letter 
 to Boswell quoted, 478. 
 
 Dennis, John, his "Critical Works" 
 commefided by Johnson, ii. 26. 
 
 Derby, Johnson married at, i. 45. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 585 
 
 Derby, Rev. Mr., Johnson writes Dedi- 
 cation for, ii. 73. 
 
 Derrick, Samuel, ii. 445 ; Johnson on, 
 i. 217, 222, 261 ; ii. 420; quoted, i. 64; 
 anecdote of, 261. 
 'Desmoulins, Mrs., i. 377; ii. 446; sup- 
 ported by Dr. Johnson, i. 27, 37; ii. 
 148; her story of Mrs. Johnson's 
 selfishness, i. 132; her illness, ii. 406, 
 460; her anecdote of Jolinson, 504; 
 at Johnson's death-bed, 567. 
 
 Devaynes, Mr., apothecary to His Maj- 
 esty, ii. 471. 
 
 Devonshire, Duchess of, ii. 251. 
 
 Devonshire, Duke and Duchess of, en- ■ 
 tertain Johnson at Chatsworth, ii. 
 527- 
 
 Devonshire, William, third Duke of, 
 characterized by Johnson, ii. 124. 
 
 Diamond, Mr., i. 134. 
 
 Diary, Johnson's, quoted, i. 30, 35, 37, 
 139, 142, 281, 288; ii. 384, 386, 446, 
 474 ; his " ^gri Ephemeris," 543. 
 
 Dibden, C., i. 355. 
 
 Dick, Sir Alexander, Bart., ii. 83 ; con- 
 sulted by Johnson, 462; his letter to 
 Johnson, 66. 
 
 Dictionary of the English language, by 
 Johnson, i. 121, 143, 160, 162, 216 n., 
 253, 266, 382,414, 416, 450; ii. 297 
 first proposed to Johnson by Dodsley, 
 
 i. loi ; ii. 272 ; publication of Plan, i. 
 100; its dedication to Lord Chester- 
 field, loi ; praised by Lord Orrery, 
 103 ; mode of writing, 104 ; dis- 
 cussed, 164-169 ; not a financial suc- 
 cess, 170; reviewed in the " Biblio- 
 th^que des Savans," 182; quoted, loi, 
 139 165, 167; ii. 12,1 n., 233;?.; par- 
 ody of, quoted, 548. 
 
 Dictionary, Medicinal, Johnson's Dedi- 
 cation to Dr. Mead, quoted, i. 86. 
 Dilly, Charles and Edward, i. 443, 555 ; 
 
 ii. 4, 191 ; Johnson dines with, i. 501 ; 
 ii. 44, 190, 241, 242, 263, 361, 474, 509; 
 letters to Charles from Johnson, 265, 
 460; letter from Edward to Boswell, 
 71 ; death of Edward, 266. 
 
 ^ Dilly, Mr., of Southill, Beds., i. 145, 443 ; 
 Johnson stays with, ii. 372. 
 
 Diogenes Laertius, records saying of 
 Aristotle, ii. 303. 
 
 D'Israeli, Isaac, " Calamities and Quar- 
 rels of Authors," i. 60 n. 
 
 " Dissertation on the State of Literature 
 and Authors," by Johnson, i. 172. 
 
 Dixie, Sir Wolstan, Johnson disagrees 
 with, i. 38. 
 
 Dodd, Rev. Dr. William, ii. 83, 187 ; j 
 history of his crime, 90-97 ; his execu- | 
 tion, 78, 96; Johnson's opinion of, 79, 
 
 109,429; his sermons, 165; his poem, 
 " Thoughts in Prison," 179; his letters 
 to Johnson, 94, 96. 
 
 Doddington, Mr. {see Lord Melcombe), 
 ii. 334 ?t. 
 
 Dodsley, James, i. loi, no. 
 
 Dodsley, fiobert, i. 63, 64, loi, 112;?., 
 134, 148, 161, 178, 192, 568; suggests 
 the "Dictionary" to Johnson, loi ; 
 ii. 272; buys " Irene," i. no; disputes 
 with Goldsmith, ii. 24; "Public Vir- 
 tue," a poem by, 307 ; " Cleone," a 
 tragedy by, i. 189 ; ii. 307. 
 
 Dominicetti, Italian quack, i. 346. 
 
 Donaldson, Alexander, bookseller, cen- 
 sured by Johnson, i. 250. 
 
 Donne, Dr., Walton's Life of, i. 568; 
 praised by Johnson, 517. 
 
 Don Quixote, i. 30 
 
 Dosa, the brothers, i. 291 n. 
 
 Dossie, Mr., Johnson's kindness to, ii. 
 301. 
 
 Douglas, his collection of editions of 
 Horace, ii. 475. 
 
 Douglas, Dr., Bishop of Salisbury, i. 75, 
 145 n., 276, 325, 327 ; his history, 65 ; 
 detects Lander's forgery, 127; investi- 
 gates Cock Lane Ghost, 231 ; anecdote 
 of Johnson by, 246; Johnson dines 
 with, 542; calls on Johnson, ii. 474. 
 
 Douglas, Dr., his literary fraud, i. 203. 
 
 Douglas Estate, litigation concerning 
 the, i. 431 ; ii. 5. 
 
 Douglas, Mr. and Lady Jane, i. 431. 
 
 Douglas, Sir James, ii. 118. 
 
 Doxy, Miss, Garrick's niece, ii, 279 
 280. 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, Johnson's Life of, i. 
 79- 
 
 " Draughts, Introduction to the Game 
 
 of," Johnson's dedication for, i. 178. 
 Dreghorn, Lord, see Maclaurin, Mr. 
 Drelincourt on Death, i. 387. 
 Dromore, Bishop of, see Percy, Dr. 
 Drunigold, Colonel, Johnson dines with, 
 
 i. 538 ; praised by Johnson, 540. 
 Drummond, Dr., ii. 58, 257. 
 Drummond of Hawthornden, his " Po- 
 
 lemo-Middinia," ii. 189. 
 Drummond, William, i.304; letters from 
 
 Johnson to, 304-307. 
 Drury Lane Journal, i. 121 n. 
 Drury Lane Theatre, i. 56, 82, 100, 108, 
 
 126, 232, 492. 
 Dryden, J., i. 391; ii. 319; Johnson on, 
 
 i- 33S, 492; ii. 234; quoted, i. 363, 426, 
 
 438; ii. 324, 492; Johnson's Life of, 
 
 quoted, 324. 
 Dublin Journal, i. 381 n. 
 Dublin Society, i. ijgn. 
 Dublin, Trinity College, i. 234; confers 
 
586 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Doctor's degree on Johnson, 281 ; 
 
 Flood's bequest to, 181 n. 
 Du Boccage, Madame, " The Colom- 
 
 biade," by, ii. 510. 
 Du Bos, his " Reflexions Critiques sur 
 
 la Poesie et la Peinture," i, 341. 
 Ducket, George, i, 179 72. 
 Du Halde, his " Description of China," 
 
 i. 72 ?t., 322 ; ii. 314. 
 Dunbar, Dr., of Aberdeen, ii. 290. 
 " Dunciad," The, i. 83 n. 
 Duncombe, Mr., of Canterbury, praised 
 
 by Johnson, ii. 210. 
 
 Dundas, Henry (Lord Melville), i. 149; 
 his pronunciation, 385 ; counsel lor 
 Joseph Knight (the negro), ii. 141. 
 
 Dunfermline, contested election for, i. 37. 
 
 Dunning, John, Lord Ashburton, i. 276; 
 
 ii. 84 ; his accent, i. 384 ; compUments 
 Johnson, ii. 160. 
 
 Dunsinan, Lord, ii. 26. 
 
 Dunvegan, House of, i. 527. 
 
 Dury, Major-General Alexander, i. 188. 
 
 Dyer, John, " The fleece," by, i. 572. 
 
 Dyer, Samuel, i. 276, 297??.; ii. 301. 
 
 EasTON MAiJDir, visited by Johnson, 
 
 i. 280. 
 
 Eccles, Rev. Mr., literary fraud by, i. 203. 
 Eccles, Mr., i. 241. 
 Ecclesiasticus, quoted, ii. 120. 
 ficole Militaire, visited by Johnson, i. 
 532. 
 
 Eddystone, Johnson tries to land on, 1. 
 213. 
 
 Edial, i. 56, 373 ; Johnson's school at, 46. 
 Edinburgh visited by Johnson, i. 455, 
 
 456; Advocate's Library at, 117;^.; 
 
 Transactions of Royal Society of, 
 
 quoted, 536 «. 
 Edward L, Lord Hailes on, i. 466. 
 Edwards, fellow-collegian of Johnson's, 
 
 ii. 202, 353. 
 
 Edwards of New England, on Grace, ii. 
 194. 
 
 Edwards, Rev. Dr., of Oxford, Johnson's 
 
 letter to, ii. 247. 
 Edwards, Thomas, his " Canons of Crit- 
 icism," i. 1^7 n. 
 Egg, Isle of, Erse MSS. from, i. 483. 
 Eglinton, Alexander, Earl of, discusses 
 
 Johnson, i. 327 ; his death, ii. 125 ; 
 
 Countess of, 246; his successor, 212. 
 Egmont, John, Earl of, his history of 
 
 the House of Yvery, ii. 423. 
 Eld, Mr., his definition of a Tory, ii. 218. 
 Elibank, Patrick. Lord, i. 376, 403, 406, 
 
 461 ; ii. 15, 36; his epitaph on his wife, 
 
 301. 
 
 Eliot, Lord, i. 276; ii. 34, 346, 507, 511. 
 Elizabeth, Madame, i. 535. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, ii. 303. 
 Elliock, Lord (of Session), ii. 142. 
 Elliot, Mr., i. 197. 
 
 Elliot, Sir Gilbert, his pronunciation, i. 
 . 385. 
 
 Ellis, Jack, the money-scrivener, John- 
 son used to dine with, ii. 13. 
 
 Ellsfield, near Oxford, i. 152, 163. 
 
 Elphinston, James, i. 306, 428; assists 
 Johnson with the " Rambler," 116, 125 ; 
 his translation of Martial, ii. 172 ; let- 
 ters to, from Johnson, 117; from 
 Tytler, 479. 
 
 Ehval, E., heretic, i. 388, 446. 
 
 Emmet, Mrs., i. 581. 
 
 England, Church of, i. 267, 379. 
 
 Epictetus, Discourses of, translated by 
 Mrs. Carter, i. 63. 
 
 Epigrams, by Johnson, on Molly Aston, 
 i. 37;-'. ; ii. 229; on George H. and 
 Colley Gibber, i. 80. 
 
 Epitaphs, by Johnson, on Phillips, i. 79; 
 on Sir T. Hanmer. 98 ; on Mrs.Johnson, 
 134;?.; on Mrs. Bell, 414 n.; on Mrs. 
 Salusbury, 454; on Goldsmith, ii. 54; 
 Johnson's Essay on, i. 79 ; Johnson's 
 dissertation on the epitaphs written by 
 Pope, 172. 
 
 Erasmus, his " Dialogus Ciceronianus," 
 
 ii- 525- 
 Errol, Lord, ii. 112. 
 Erskine, Hon. Andrew, i. 232; ii. 98. 
 Erskine, Sir Harry, i. 217. 
 Erskine, Thomas, Lord Erskine, i. 394, 
 
 396. 
 
 Esquimaux, in London, i. 442. 
 
 Essays, by Johnson, in the " Literary 
 Magazine," i. 172; on Dr. Halde's de- 
 scription of China, 85 ; on epitaphs, 79 ; 
 on the Duchess of Marlborough, 82. 
 
 Essex, Robert, Earl of, letter to Lord 
 Rutland, quoted, i. 247. 
 
 Ethiopia, History of, i. 39 «. 
 
 " Eugenio," a poem, i. 63 ; quoted, 437. 
 
 Euripides, i. 31, 398; quoted, 155. 
 
 "European Magazine," i. 204 307 
 353//.; ii. 420;/. ; quoted, i. 44«. 
 
 Eutropius, i. 436. 
 
 Evans, bookseller, beaten by Goldsmith, • 
 i. 417. 
 
 Exeter, Bishop of, ii. 471. 
 
 Falconer, Rev. Dr., non-juring 
 Bishop, ii. 250. 
 
 Falkland's Islands, Johnson's pamphlet 
 on, i. 368, 376, 485 ; suppressed by 
 Lord North, 368. 
 
 " l-'alse Alarm, The," pamphlet by John- 
 son, i. 355. 376, 487. 
 
 " Fantoccini," the, i. 235. 
 
 Farmer, Rev. Dr., Master of I'2mmanuel 
 
INDEX. 
 
 587 
 
 College, Cambridge, i. 208; his 
 " lissay on the Learning of Shake- 
 speare," ii. 24 ; letters to, from John- 
 son, i. 357; ii. 285. 
 
 Farquhar, "The Recruiting Officer," 
 by, ii, 299. 
 
 Faulkner, George, printer, i. 381. 
 
 Fawkener, Sir Everard, i. 100 
 
 " Felixmarte of Hircania," i. 16. 
 
 Fenton, Johnson's Life of, quoted, i. 
 490 «. 
 
 Ferguson, Sir Adam, presented to John- 
 son, i. 392. 
 
 Ferguson, James, astronomer, i. 346. 
 
 Ferguson, James, advocate, ii. 141. 
 
 Fernior, Arabella, i. 534; her niece. 
 Abbess of Austin nuns, 534. 
 
 Ferrara, Princess of, i. 216 n. 
 
 Fielding, Henry, i. 93; ii. 143; his 
 novels, i. 30;;.; ii. 28; Johnson's 
 opinion of them. i. 317, 395. 
 
 Fielding, Sir John, i. 241 ; ii. 286. 
 
 Fife, Countess Dowager, her masquer- 
 ade, i. 414. 
 
 " Fingal," poem of, i. 473 ; Johnson's 
 opinion of, 364.. 
 
 Fitzherbert, Alleyne, i. 36. 
 
 Fitzherbert, Mr., i. 36, 205, 425, 430 
 ii. 45, 158, 259, 313, 316; Johnson's 
 opinion of, 97. 
 
 Fitzherbert, William, his suicide, i. 430. 
 
 Fitzherbert, Mrs., ii. 316. 
 
 Five Fields ( Belgravia), ii. 526/2. 
 
 Flatman, poems by, ii. 19. 
 
 Fleet Street, cheerfulness of, i. 500; ii. 
 202. 
 
 Fleetwood, Mr., rejects " Irene," i.56, 82. 
 
 Flexman, Mr., Dissenting Minister, his 
 index to " Ramblers " censured by 
 Johnson, ii. 506. 
 
 Flint, Bet, anecdotes of, ii. 362. 
 
 Flood, Right Hon. Henry, his will, i. 
 i8i«. ; his opinion of Johnson's ora- 
 tO''y. 371 J his sepulchral verses on 
 Johnson, quoted, ii. 572. 
 
 Flood, Lady Frances, i. 181 «. 
 
 Floyd, anecdote of, i. 262. 
 
 Floyer, Sir John, physician, i. 13 ; his 
 works, 42 «. ; ii. 572. 
 
 Fludyer, companion of Johnson at Ox- 
 ford, i. 567. 
 
 Fontainebleau, visited by Johnson, i. 
 529, 535- 
 
 Fontenelle, Memoires de, ii. 164. 
 
 Foote, Samuel, i. 201, 239 ti., 259, 352, 
 404^., 420, 523, 538; ii. 123, 175, 473, 
 511; Johnson dines with, i. 82;/.; cen- 
 sured by Johnson, 343 ; his powers of 
 mimicry, 381, 476; ii. 46; his death, 
 63 n. ; anecdote of, 440. 
 
 Forbes, Sir William, of Pitsligo, ii. 26, 
 
 147; letter to Boswell enclosing the 
 
 Round h'obin, 54 ; letter to Boswell, 
 
 quoted, 138. 
 Ford, Cornelius, Johnson's uncle, i. 16. 
 Ford, Parson, johnson's cousin, i. 16; 
 
 story of his gliost, ii. 235. 
 Ford, Sarah, see Johnson, Sarah. 
 Fordyce, Dr. George, i. 276, 461, 488; ii. 
 
 507- 
 
 Fordyce, Rev. Dr. James, i. 223 ; his 
 friendship with Johnson, ii. 563. 
 
 Forrester, Colonel, ii. 13. 
 
 Forster, G., his " Voyage to the South 
 Seas," ii. iig. 
 
 Fort Augustus, Johnson passes through, 
 
 i. 456, 479- 
 
 Foster, Mrs. Elizabeth, befriended by 
 Johnson, i. 127, 128. 
 
 Fothergill, Rev. Dr., Vice-chancellor of 
 the University of Oxford, i. 496, 497. 
 
 " Foundling Hospital for Wit, The," ii. 
 482 504;/. 
 
 Fox, Charles James, i. 248;?., 276, 461, 
 488, 5057/.; his India Bill, 174; re- 
 turned for Westminster and Kirkwall, 
 
 ii. 466 fi. ; his unpopularity, 475 ; on 
 deep play, 15 ; on Goldsmith's 
 "Traveller," 168, 173; Johnson's opin- 
 ion of, 177, 403, 485. 
 
 France, Johnson's views on life in, i. 540. 
 Francis, Philip, Johnson commends his 
 
 Horace, ii. 240. 
 Franklin, Rev. Dr., i. 200, 486; inscribes 
 
 " Demonax" to Johnson, ii. 317. 
 Frauds, literary, i. 203. 
 Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, 
 
 Johnson's views on his writings, i. 248. 
 French, Mrs., her assemblies, ii. 326. 
 Freron, Mr., Johnson calls on, i. 533. 
 Friendship, Johnson's ode on, quoted, i. 
 
 86. 
 
 Frisick language, Johnson's interest in 
 
 the, i . 274. 
 Fullarton, William, meets Johnson, ii. 
 
 240. 
 
 Galway, Lady, ii. 365. 
 
 Ganganelli, his Letters, ii. 191. 
 
 Gardiner, Mrs., i. 134; ii. 14; Johnson's 
 kindness to, 453. 
 
 Gardner, Mr., bookseller, i. 505. 
 
 Garrick, Captain, i. 35. 
 
 Garrick, David, i. 35, 49, 50, 56, 79, 82, 
 108, 109, no. III, 126, 135, 137, 139, 
 189, 206 221, 228, 276, 277, 287 
 311, 3177?., 337, 355. 366, 428, 429, 437, 
 449. 476, 484. 492, 525. 544. 563 ; ii- i5. 
 22, 32, 99, 172, 196, 215, 297, 299, 311, 
 452; pupil at Lichfield School, at 
 Johnson's school, i. 13, 46; describes 
 Mrs. Johnson, 47; anecdote of, 92; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 becomes manager of Drury Lane The- 
 atre, icq; quarrels with Johnson, log ; 
 Johnson's opinion of, 120, 225, 335, 
 342, 406 ; ii. 22, 122, 175, 259 ; on Gold- 
 smith, i. 234 ;z. ; on johnson's wit, 432 ; 
 his performance of " Ranger," 318 ; at 
 Shakespeare Jubilee, 329; discusses 
 with Johnson, 338 ; witness at Baretti's 
 trial, 345 ; compliments the Queen, 
 433; mimics Johnson, 493; discussed 
 by Johnson and Wilkes, ii. 45; his 
 death, 249 ; extravagance of his funeral, 
 430; portrait and inscription, 358; 
 bust, 440 ; ode on death of Pelham, i. 
 150; epigram on Johnson's Diction- 
 ary, 169; on Dr. J. "Hill, 311 i-z, 
 
 Garrick, George, i. 46 ; ii. 90. 
 
 Garrick, Mrs., entertains Johnson at din- 
 ner, ii. 357, 472. 
 
 Garrick, Peter, i, 49, 56, 484, 579, 582 ; ii. 
 276. 
 
 Garth, Life of, by Johnson, ii. 464. 
 
 Gastrel, Rev. Mr., cuts down Shake- 
 speare's mulberry tree, i. 585. 
 
 Gastrel, Mrs., i. 584; ii. 277. 
 
 Gaubius, Professor, of Leyden, on delu- 
 sions, i. 27. 
 
 Gay, "The Beggar's Opera," by, i. 518, 
 519- 
 
 *' General Advertiser," letter to, from 
 Johnson, i. 126. 
 
 Gentleman, Mr., i. 216. 
 
 "Gentleman's Magazine," i. 42, 56-116 
 passim, 128, 180, 199, 231, 280, 578; ii. 
 2.00 ft., 215, 499, 544, 562; Johnson's 
 School advertisement appears in, i. 46; 
 Johnson's contributions to, 42-106 
 passim, 143, 180, 199, 231 ; ii. 499, 544, 
 562; quoted, i. 99, 280; ii. 14??., 303/?., 
 333- 
 
 George L, Johnson inveighs against, i. 
 503- 
 
 George II., i, 78, 116, 205, 388; Johnson 
 inveighs against, 503 ; epigram on, by 
 Johnson, 80. 
 
 George III., i. 122, 199, 204, 210, 328, 
 426 ; ii. 475, 484 ; MS. of " Irene " pre- 
 sented to, i. 53; his first speech to 
 Parliament, 19972. ; his interview with 
 Johnson, 309-313; complimented by 
 Johnson, 356; accepts a book from 
 Johnson, 470; gives a vast sum of 
 money to the nation, 510/2. ; letter to, 
 from Dr. Dodd, written by Johnson, ii. 
 94. 
 
 Ghcrardi, Marchese, of Lombardy, ii. 
 218. 
 
 Ghost, The Cock Lane, Johnson's ac- 
 count of, i. 231. 
 Ghosts, Johnson's views on, i. 230. 
 Giannone, Italian historian, ii. 296. 
 
 Giardini, Felix, i. 427. 
 
 Gibbon, Edward, i. 276, 460, 505 n., 518 ■, 
 
 ii. 34, 166; succeeds Goldsmith as 
 
 Professor in Ancient History, i. 328 n. ; 
 
 on the Pantheon, 391 n.; his history, 
 
 ii. 162; first volume published, i. 569; 
 
 imitates Johnson, ii. 549. 
 Gibbons, Rev. Dr., ii. 378, 474. 
 Gilbert, Rev. Mr., i. 95 n. 
 Gillespie, Dr., his opinion on Johnson's 
 
 case, ii. 463. 
 Gisborne, Dr., physician to His Majesty, 
 
 ii. 98 ?t. 
 
 Glasse, Mrs., her " Cookery Book," ii. 
 190. 
 
 Gloucester, Duke of, i. 426 n. 
 Goa, i. 34. 
 
 Goldsmith, Dr. Isaac, Dean of Cloyne, 
 
 i. 23s n. 
 
 Goldsmith, Rev. Mr., 1. 400. 
 
 Goldsmith, Mrs., a relation of the poet's, 
 
 ii. 65. 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, i. 239, 241, 243, 275, 
 287, 295, 360, 369, 399, 400, 422, 424- 
 427, 437, 443-445, 451, 513; ii. 301, 
 303, 414, 506; character and history, 
 
 i. 233; Johnson's opinion of, 232, 403, 
 408,420, 431; ii. 23, no, 163, 180, 309, 
 314; his attachment to Johnson, i. 
 237; his compliment to Johnson, 313; 
 on Johnson, 328, 421; ii. 472; his 
 bloom-colored coat, i. 337 ; engaged 
 in writing his Natural History, 400; 
 writes " She Stoops to Conquer, " 414; 
 his Apology to the public for beating 
 a bookseller, 417; dedicates "She 
 Stoops to Conquer " to Johnson, 421 ; 
 sings song from " She Stoops to Con- 
 quer," 422 ; quarrels with Johnson, 
 447, 449; his death, 464; ii. 108; his 
 dispute with Robert Dodsley, 24; 
 anecdotes of, 208, 312; his comedies 
 refused, 215 ; writes epilogue to " The 
 Sisters," 301;/.; takes liberties with 
 Johnson, 369; makes a blundering 
 speech to Lord Shelburne, 409; his 
 "Good-natured Man," i. iig; pro- 
 logue for, by Johnson, 315 ; praised by 
 Johnson, 317; his "Traveller," 236, 
 435 ; ii. 215 ; Johnson's account of, in 
 " Critical Review," i. 277 ; Johnson 
 furnishes some lines to, 290; quoted, 
 
 ii. 168 ; his " Citizen of the World," i. 
 234; his " Inquiry into the presentstate 
 of Polite Learning in Europe," 234; 
 "The Bee," 234//.; his "Vicar of 
 Wakefield," 235; ii. 215; quoted, 252; 
 his " Retaliation," i. 287 «. ; quoted, ii. 
 502; his "Deserted Village," i. 435; 
 Johnson furnishes some lin(>s to, 291; 
 liis "Life of Parneli," 389; "She 
 
INDEX, 
 
 589 
 
 Stoops to Conquer " praised by John- 
 son, 433; his "History of Animated 
 Nature," ii. 9; his Epitaph in West- 
 minster Abbey written by Johnson, i, 
 234 «. ; ii. 54 ; Johnson's tetrastick on, 
 quoted, 465. 
 
 Gordon, Hon. Alexander, i. 270. 
 
 Gordon, Sir Alexander, Professor at 
 Aberdeen, i. 457. 
 
 Gordon, Rev. Dr., Chancellor of Lin- 
 coln, ii. 242. 
 
 Gordon, Lord George, ii. 286, 287 
 352. 
 
 .Gordon Riots, Johnson's account of the, 
 \ ii. 286, 287. 
 
 Gower, Lord, i. 8/?., censured in Diction- 
 ary, 166; letter from, 69. 
 
 Graham, Colonel, of the Royal High- 
 landers, i. 383. 
 
 Graham, Rev. George, his " Telem- 
 achus " reviewed by Johnson, i. 233. 
 
 Graham, Lord, afterwards third Duke of 
 Montrose, ii. 256, 366. 
 
 Graham, Miss, afterwards wife of Sir H. 
 Dashwood, Bart., ii. 273. 
 
 Grainger, Dr. J., his " Sugar-Cane," i. 
 572 ; Johnson's opinions of, 277, 573; 
 his "Ode on Solitude" praised by 
 Johnson, ii. 131. 
 
 Granger, Rev. J., his " Biographical His- 
 tory," ii. 60. 
 
 Grantham, Lord, see Robinson, Sir 
 Thomas. 
 
 Grantley, Lord, see Norton, Sir Fletcher. 
 Granville, Lord, ii. 346; anecdote of, 302. 
 Grattan, Right Hon. Henry, speech by, 
 
 quoted, ii. 501. 
 Graves, Mr., letter from Shenstone to, i. 
 
 572. 
 
 Graves, Morgan, i. 44 
 
 Gravina, Italian critic, ii. 423. 
 
 Gray, Mr., bookseller, i. 82. 
 
 Gray, Thomas, poems, i. 499 ; criticised 
 by Johnson, 228 ; ii. 303 ; quoted, i. 
 zgon., 494; Mason's Memoirs of, 3, 
 388 ; ii, 20. 
 
 Gray, Sir James, i. 396. 
 
 Gray's Inn journal, i. 183, 201. 
 
 Greaves, Samuel, landlord of Essex 
 Head, ii. 458, 
 
 Greek Comedy, Dissertation on, by 
 Johnson, i. 196. 
 
 Greek Epigram to Dr. Birch, by John- 
 son, i. 74. 
 
 Green, Bishop of Lincoln, usher at Lich- 
 field School, i. 14. 
 
 Green, Richard, ii. 276; his museum at 
 Lichfield, i. 581 ; letter to, from John- 
 son, ii. 552. 
 
 Greenwich, Johnson at, i. 52, 262. 
 
 Grenville, George, character of, i. 368, 
 
 Greville, Mr., his " Maxims, Characters, 
 
 and Reflections," quoted, ii. 492. 
 Grey, Dr. Richard, ii. 213. 
 Grey, Dr. Zachary, ii. 213. 
 Grierson, Mr.,- His Majesty's Printer at 
 
 Dublin, i. 359. 
 Grierson, Mis., i. 359 «. 
 Grimston, first Viscount, his play, " Love 
 
 in a Hollow Tree," ii. 348. 
 Grotius, i. 128; Johnson on, 260; his 
 
 " Adanius Exulus," 129;?. 
 Grove, Mr., of Taunton, writer in " The 
 
 Spectator," ii. 316. 
 Grub Street defined in Dictionary, i. 167. 
 " Guardian," The, i. in. 
 Guimene, Princess of, i. 535. 
 Guthrie, William, i. 59; his "Apotheosis 
 
 of Milton," 74 ; Johnson on, 320. 
 Gwyn, Colonel, i. '235«. 
 Gwyn, Mr., i. 198 ; his " Thoughts on the 
 
 Coronation of George III.," 204; his 
 
 discussion with Johnson, 564. 
 Gwyn, Mrs., i. 235'??. 
 Gwynne, Nell, i. 137 
 
 Hackman, Rev, Mr., murderer of Miss 
 Ray, ii. 258. 
 
 Hague, usher at Lichfield School, i. 14. 
 
 Hailes, Lord, i. 149, 412, 466, 471, 568 ; ii. 
 60; toasted by Johnson, i. 258; on 
 Ossian, 474 ; on the entail of Auchm- 
 leck, 548-553; sends presents to John- 
 son, ii. 87, 436; censures Prior's 
 poems, 128, 266; on the Negro 
 cause, 143, 145 ; his " Annals of Scot- 
 land," revised by Johnson, 1,463-468, 
 472, 498, 526-529; Johnson's opinion 
 of, ii, 37, 271; his edition of John 
 Hales's Works, 500; his letter to Bos- 
 well, i. 247, 
 
 Hale, Judge, i. 504; praised by Johnson, 
 384; conversation with Langton's 
 grandfather, ii. 497 ; quoted, i. 4. 
 
 Hall, Mrs., Wesley's sister, ii. 355. 
 
 Halsey, Edmund, i, 283, 
 
 Hamilton, Sir William, i, 276. 
 
 Hamilton, Gavin, i, 458, 
 
 Hamilton, of Bangor, his poems criticised 
 by Johnson, ii, 98, 
 
 Hamilton, William Gerard, i, 371,498;/, ; 
 ii. 162/?., 519; complimented by john- 
 son, i. 282 ; advises johnson, 488; la- 
 ments Johnson's death, ii. 569; letters 
 to, from Johnson, 453, 531. 
 
 Hampstead, Johnson stays at, i. 106. 
 
 Handel, festival in honor of, ii. 477. 
 
 Hanmer, Sir Thomas, his " Shake- 
 speare " criticised by Johnson, i. 97; 
 epitaph on, translated by Johnson, 
 98. 
 
 Hanover, House of, i. 216 n., 245. 
 
590 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hanway, Jonas, his " Essay on Tea," i. 
 173 ; his " Eight Days' Journey," 362. 
 
 Harcourt, Lord Chancellor, i. 33??. 
 
 Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, ii. 21; 
 praises " Dirleton's Doubts," 136. 
 
 Hardwicke, second Lord, i. 145??. 
 
 Harleian Catalogue, Johnson writes ad- 
 vertisement for, i. 85. 
 
 Harleian Miscellany, Johnson writes 
 Preface for, i. 96. 
 
 Harriui^ton, Countess of, ii. 91. 
 
 Harrington, Sir John, quoted, \\.$6Zn. 
 
 Harris, James, of Salisbury, i. 427; ii. 
 162, 171; compliments Johnson, i. 
 518 ; quoted, ii. 75. 
 
 Harris. Mr., proprietor of Covent Gar- 
 den Theatre, ii. 74. 
 
 Harrison, Elizabeth, her " Miscellanies," 
 reviewed by Jolinson, i. 175. 
 
 Harry, Jane, convert to Quakerism, ii. 
 199. 
 
 Harte, Rev. Dr. Walter, ii. 511; tells 
 anecdote of Johnson, i. 89 n. ; John- 
 son's opinion of, 361 ; ii. 346. 
 
 Harwich, visited by Johnson, i. 271. 
 
 Harwood, Dr., ii. 24. 
 
 Hastie, Mr., client of Boswell's, i. 401, 
 413. 
 
 Hastings, Warren, ii. 434 ; his letter to 
 Bosweil, 338 ; letters to, from John- 
 son, 339, 340. 
 
 Hawkesworth, Dr. J., i. 104, 134, 360; 
 begins the "Adventurer," 129; imi- 
 tates Johnson, 140, 420; his " Voy- 
 ages to the South Sea," 443 ; ii. 5 ; his 
 preface to Swift's works, i. 489;?. 
 
 Hawkins, Mr., teaches Johnson, i. 13. 
 
 Hawkins, Professor, i. 33; his " Siege of 
 Aleppo," ii. 172. 
 
 Hawkins, Sir John, i. 297, 570; called 
 " an unclubabie man," 276 n. ; his inac- 
 curacy, ii. 5o8«. ; his unjust reflec- 
 tions against Johnson, 536; Johnson's 
 executor, 568 ; his Life of Johnson, i. 
 2,11,23?/., 37 63 81, 103, 106 n., 
 115;/., 161 173, 192, 236, 307 315, 
 370 386/"/. ; ii. 14 //., 152, 386«., 459, 
 539. 553. 556 n., 558 ; quoted, i. 65 n., 
 75, 89^., 113, 128, 133, 142 190, 
 198//., 571;/. ;ii. 2jn.,gj\ liis edition 
 of Johnson's works, 505 n. ; letter to, 
 from Johnson, 516, 
 
 Hay, Lord Charles, his death, ii. 6, 309. 
 
 Hay, Sir George, i. 197. 
 
 Hayes, Rev. Mr., publishes Dr. Taylor's 
 sermons, ii. 120. 
 
 Heale, Johnson stays at, ii. 446. 
 
 Heberden, Dr., i. 484; ii. 443, 444, 464, 
 525; refuses fee from Johnson, 556. 
 
 Hector, Edmund, surgeon at Birming- 
 ham, i. 9, 12, 15, 17, 2o;/., 21 n., 43, 44, 
 
 85 n., 86, 90, 574, 575, 577 ; Johnson 
 stays with, 38; ii. 539; Johnson's 
 affection for, 385 ; letters to Bosweil, i. 
 43 7z.; ii. 539;?.; letters to, from John- 
 son, i. 37; ii. 392, 541. 
 
 Heely, Mr., Johnson's kindness to, i.306; 
 ii. 536; letter to, from Johnson, 536. 
 
 Henderland, Lord, ii. 6. 
 
 Henderson, Mr,, the actor, i, 493 ii. 
 452. 
 
 Henderson, John, student of Pembroke 
 College, ii. 488. 
 
 tienn, Mr., letter from, in the " Gentle- 
 man's Magazine," i. 6()n. 
 
 Henry, Dr. R., his " History of Britain," 
 ii. 224. 
 
 Herbert, George, quoted, i. 514 «. 
 
 Hertford, Lady, i. 96 
 
 Hervey, Hon. Henry, i. 37/?.; Johnson's 
 affection for, i. 52. 
 
 Hervey, Hon. Thomas, quarrels with his 
 wife, i. 308 ; his present to Johnson, 
 308 ; Johnson's opinion of, 502. 
 
 Hetherington's charity, i. 468. 
 
 Hierocles, Jests of, translated by John- 
 son, i. 80. 
 
 "High Life below Stairs," farce, criti- 
 cised by Johnson, ii. 299. 
 
 Hill, Aaron, letter to Mallet, i. iio«. 
 
 Hill, Sir John, ii. 190; Johnson's opinion 
 of, i. 312. 
 
 Hinchliffe, Bishop, i. 276; ii. 283. 
 
 " Historia Studiorum," list of Johnson's 
 works, ii. 215. 
 
 Hitch, Charles, bookseller, i. loi. 
 
 Hoadley, Dr. Benjamin, his " Suspicious 
 Husband," i. 318. 
 
 Hogarth, W., his " Modern Midnight 
 Conversation," i. i6n.\ ii. 235. 
 
 Holbrook, usher at Lichfield School, i. 
 14. 
 
 HoUis, Thomas, Johnson's opinion of, 
 ii. 358. 
 
 Home, Henry, see Karnes, Lord. 
 Home, John, ii. 107 «. ; his gold medal, 
 
 i. 489"; his " Douglas " quoted, 261 ; ii. 
 
 53- 
 
 Homer, ii. 129, 222; Johnson's transla- 
 tion from, i. 19; quoted, 365; ii. 224, 
 437. 
 
 Hooke, Abbe, i. 537 ; ii. 191. 
 
 Hoole, John, i. 498 ; ii. 23, 230, 352, 416. 
 417, 457, 461, 468, 476, 565 ; his trans- 
 lation of Tasso, Johnson writes dedi- 
 cation for, i. 216 ; his " Cleonice," 470 ; 
 his translation of Ariosto, ii. 340; his 
 narrative of Johnson's last days, 561; 
 letters to, from Johnson, i.470; ii. 528. 
 
 Hoole, Rev. Mr., ii. 563. 
 
 Mope, Dr., his letter to Bosweil, ii. 465; 
 letter to, from Bosweil, 464. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 591 
 
 Horace, i. 514; ii. 128, 240, 261, 435; his 
 villa, 166; his "Art of Poetry," 48; 
 translations from, by Jolinson, i. 18, 
 19; ii. 536; translation of "Carmen 
 Seculare" set to music, 251; quoted, 
 
 i. 47, 122, 335, 359, 372, 509 ; ii. 48, 136, 
 167, 186, 216, 526, 539. 
 
 Home, Bishop, i. 464, 466, 568; quoted, 
 
 ii. 573 «. 
 
 Horneck, the Misses, i. 235;^. 
 Horrebow, his " Natural History of 
 
 Iceland," ii. 186. 
 Horton, Mrs., i. 426;^. 
 Howard, Hon. Edward, his " British 
 
 Princess," quoted, i. 353/2. 
 Howard, Mr., of Lichfield, i. 35; tells 
 
 anecdote of Johnson, ii. 148. 
 Howard, General, Sir George, i. 524;?. 
 Huddesford, Rev. Dr., i. 157, 181. 
 Huetius, quoted, i. 41 fi. 
 Huggins, Mr., dispute with T. Warton, 
 
 ii. 299. 
 
 Hughes, J., his edition of Spenser, i. 
 151- 
 
 Hume, David, 1. 100 117 ti., 257;/., 
 267, 292, 320, 331, 352, 435, 487 ;ii. 
 125, 192; tells anecdote of Johnson, 
 i. Ill; Johnson's opinions of, 254; ii. 
 100; his " Essay on Miracles," i. 566; 
 his life written by himself, ii. 77. 
 
 Hummums, The, ii. 235. 
 
 Humphrey, Ozias, letters to, from John- 
 son, ii. 468. 
 
 Hunter, Prebendary, Head-master of 
 Lichfield School, i. 13, 14, 376. 
 
 Hunter, Miss, ii. 414//. 
 
 Hunter, Dr., ii. 438. 
 
 Hurd, Bishop, i. 37; Johnson's opinion 
 of, ii. 418 ; his edition of Cowley, 19, 
 150 ; his sermons quoted, 483 n. 
 
 Husbands, Johnson writes in his " Mis- 
 cellany of Poems," i. 25. 
 
 Hussey, Rev. John, ii. 248; letter to, 
 from Johnson, 248. 
 
 Hussey, Rev. Thomas, his friendship 
 with johnson, ii. 563. 
 
 Hutchinson, V., his " Moral Philos- 
 ophy," ii. 33. 
 
 Hutton, Mr., a Moravian, ii. 563. 
 
 Hutton, W., his " History of Derby," ii. 
 
 108 71. 
 
 " Hypochondriac, The." essays by Bos- 
 well in " The London Magazine," i. 
 28 «. 
 
 " Hypocrite, The," performed at Mrs. 
 Abington's benefit, i. 490. 
 
 Iceland, chapter on snakes in, ii. 186. 
 Icolmkill, visited by Johnson, i. 456; 
 
 Johnson's description of, ii. 115. 
 "Idler, The," i. i, 195; ii. 206 454; 
 
 first appearance, i. 184 ; quoted, 122, 
 
 166//., 186. 
 Iffley, visited Ijy Johnson, ii.486. 
 "II Palmiero d'l nghilterra," romance 
 
 praised by Cervantes, i. 590. 
 Imlac, i. 193. 
 
 I nee, Mr., writer in "The Spectator," ii. 
 21. 
 
 Inchkenneth, visited by Johnson, i. 456; 
 
 Johnson's verses on, 472, 474. 
 India, judges in, i. 503. 
 Innes, Rev. Mr., accomplice of Psal- 
 
 manazar, i. 203. 
 Inverary, visited by Johnson, i. 456; ii. 
 
 480; by Wilkes, 48. 
 Inverness, visited by Johnson, i, 456, 
 
 479- 
 
 " Irene," i. 49, 52, 82; original sketch of, 
 53 ; refused by Fleetwood, 56 ; pro- 
 duced on the stage, 109 ; quoted, 54, 
 109;?., 131. 
 
 Irwin, Captain, with lohnson in France, 
 i- 533- 
 
 Jackson, Harry, schoolfellow of John- 
 son's, i. 579; his death, ii. 87. 
 
 Jackson, Richard (the all-knowing), ii. 
 12. 
 
 Jackson, Rev. Mr., i. 132;/. 
 James I. of Scotland, i. 291. 
 James IV. of Scotland, granted Auchin- 
 leck to Thomas Boswell, i. 546. 
 
 James I. of England, i. 395. 
 
 James II., i. 502. 
 
 James, Dr., praised by Johnson, i. 36; 
 begins epigram for Johnson, 85 n. ; his 
 "Medicinal Dictionary," Johnson 
 writes part of, 86; ii. 14; death of, 2; 
 his powders, 28«. ; Johnson's opinion 
 of his medicines, 526. 
 
 January 30th, fast of, Johnson's views 
 on, i. 380. 
 
 " Janus Vitalis," quoted, ii. 167. 
 
 Jeffrey, Lord, quotes Johnson's views on 
 duelling, i. 399 n. 
 
 Jenkinson, Right Hon. Charles, letter to, 
 from Johnson, ii. 95. 
 
 Jennings, Mr., his marble dog, ii. 153. 
 
 Jenyns, Soame, his " Inquiry into the 
 Origin of Evil," reviewed by Johnson, 
 i. 176; epitaph on, quoted, 177 
 his epitaph on Johnson quoted, ijj n.; 
 criticised by Johnson, ii. 30 ; re- 
 turns to Christianity, 186; his "View 
 of the Internal Evidence of the Chris- 
 tian Religion," Johnson's opinion of, 
 193- 
 
 Jesuits, the, satirized by Oldham, i. 60 «. 
 " Jessamy Bride, The," i. 235 n. 
 Joddrel, Mr., ii. 459, 471. 
 Johnson, Elizabeth, Dr. Johnson's wife, 
 
592 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 i- 44. 47j 53. 129, 131, 333; stays at 
 Hampstead, 106 ; praises " The Ram- 
 bler," 116 • her death and burial. 130- 
 134- 
 
 Johnson, Michael, Dr. Johnson's father, 
 i. 8, 9, 24, 25, 258 ; his death, 35. 
 
 Johnson, Nathaniel, Dr. Johnson's 
 brother, i. 8, 41. 
 
 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, birth and parent- 
 age, i. 7; childhood, 10, 11; school- 
 days, 13-23; partially blind, 12; 
 touched for scrofula, 12 ; various ill- 
 nesses, 26, 278 ; ii. 58, 385, 443, 449, 459, 
 556; consults Dr. Swinfen, i. 26; con- 
 sults Sir A. Dick and other Scotch 
 doctors, ii. 463 ; goes to Oxford, i. 
 23 ; compelled by poverty to leave 
 Oxford, 34 ; returns to Lichfield, 35 ; 
 becomes an usher in Market-Bosworth 
 School, 37 ; leaves Market-Bosworth 
 School, 38 ; stays with Mr. Hector, at 
 Birmingham, 38 ; becomes acquainted 
 with Mr. Porter, 38; returns to Lich- 
 field, 41 ; goes again to Birmingham, 
 42; falls in love with Olivia Lloyd, 
 42; with Mrs. Porter, 44; his mar- 
 riage, 45 ; sets up school, 46 ; fails as 
 a teacher, 46; goes to London, 50; 
 lodges at Greenwich, 52 ; visits Lich- 
 field, 55 ; takes his wife to London, 
 56 ; his various habitations, 56 ; ii. 
 272; is offered a school, i. 68; is re- 
 fused degree of M.A. by Dublin, 70 ; 
 wishes to practise as an advocate, 
 70; his poverty, 73, 87, 89; forms a 
 club in Ivy Lane, 105 ; Literary Club 
 founded, 275 ; institutes his Essex-St. 
 Club, ii. 458 ; lodges at Hampstead, 
 
 i. 106; grief at his wife's death, 130; 
 visits Oxford, 150, 196, 303, 328, 564 ; 
 
 ii. 384, 479, 540 ; receives degree of 
 M.A. Oxon., i. 154,155; of LL.D. 
 Dublin, 281; of D.C.L. Oxon., 496; 
 his scheme of a Bibliotkeqiie, 159; 
 refuses the offer of a living, 180; re- 
 ceives a pension, 211; visits Devon- 
 shire, 212; his library, 249; visits 
 Greenwich with Boswell, 262; accom- 
 panies Boswell to Harwich, 267 ; visits 
 Langton at Langton, 274 ; at Warley 
 Camp, ii. 243 ; at Rochester, 446 ; 
 visits Beauclerk at Windsor, i. 138; 
 at Cambridge, 280; visits Dr. Percy 
 at Easton Mandit, 280; becomes ac- 
 quainted with the Thralcs, 283; de- 
 scribes the family, 283; stays some 
 months with them, 303; at Streatham, 
 ii. 147; last visit to Streatham, 399; 
 stays with Mrs. Thrale in Argyll St., 
 401; his grief at Mrs. Thrale's en- 
 gagement to Piozzi, 515; presides at 
 
 Club on Mondays, i. 299 ; has an in- 
 terview with the King in the Royal 
 Library, 309; visits Lichfield, 314, 328, 
 578 ; ii. 384, 537 ; takes leave of 
 Catharine Chambers, i. 314; sends 
 Francis Barber to school, 325 ; visits 
 Brighthelmstone, 329 ; ii. 62, 139, 398 ; 
 appointed professor in Ancient 
 Literature by the Royal Academy, 
 
 i. 328 ; becomes acquainted with 
 General Paoli, 335 ; appears as a 
 witness at Baretti's trial, 344 ; recom- 
 mended for Parliament to the Treasury, 
 369; visits the Pantheon, 389, 391; 
 proposes Boswell at the Literary Club, 
 434 ; offends Goldsmith, 447, 449 ; asks 
 I3urney to teach him music, 454 n. ; 
 travels in Scotland, 455; in ^Vales, 
 465 ; presents books to the Bodleian 
 Library, 463 n. ; sends a book to the 
 King, 470 ; writes inscription for pict- 
 ure of Mary Queen of Scots, 472 n. ; 
 threatens to resign his pension, 488 ; 
 goes to Mrs. Abington's benefit, 492; 
 visits Bedlam, 523; assigns to Bos- 
 well a room in his house, 524 ; visits 
 the Continent, 528 ; interested in the 
 Clarendon Press, 554 ; mistaken for a 
 watchman, 561 ; drives through Blen- 
 heim Park, 570; at Stratford-upon- 
 Avon, 572; visits Birmingham, 574; 
 
 ii. 384, 539; introduces Boswell to 
 Lucy Porter, i. 579; in love with Mrs. 
 Emmet, 581 ; visits Richard Green's 
 Museum, 581; visits Dr. Taylor at 
 Ashbourne, 587 ; ii. 384 ; kindness to 
 Mrs. Williams, 16, 230; to Mrs. 
 Gardiner, 453 ; visits Bath, 28 ; visits 
 Bristol, 31; examines the Rowley 
 Poems, 31 ; meets Wilkes at the 
 Dillys', 42-52; confidential conversa- 
 tion with Wilkes, 365 ; applies to 
 Swinney and Cibber for information 
 about Dryden, 47 ; Round Robin ad- 
 dressed to, 56 ; proposes R. B. Sheri- 
 dan at The Club, 75 ; tries to get De 
 Groot into the Charterhouse, 81; 
 efforts on behalf of Dr. Dodd, 90-97; 
 visits Keddlestone, 105 ; visits Derby, 
 107; visits Islam, 124; interview with 
 Lord Marchmont, 231, 263; difference 
 with Strahan, 245 ; helps Dr. Burney's 
 son to Winchester, 247 ; consulted by 
 a minor poet, 251 ; refuses to go to 
 Ireland, 275; frequents green-room 
 of Drury Lane, 299; his affection for 
 Beauclerk, 301 ; impressed by solemn 
 music at a funeral, 309; rumor about 
 his dancing lessons, 347; visits Squire 
 Dilly at Southill, 372; visits Mr. 
 Young at Welwin, 372 ; parts from 
 
INDEX. 
 
 593 
 
 Boswell at Shefford, 382; goes with 
 Metcalfe to Chichester, Petworth, and 
 Cowdray, 400 ; visits Morice Morgann 
 at Wycombe, 419; sits to Miss Rey- 
 nolds, 444; visits Mr. Bowles at 
 Heale, 446; visited Vjy Mrs. Siddons, 
 451 ; meets Miss H. M. Williams, 477 ; 
 makes out list of books for Rev. Mr. 
 Astle, 497 ; stays with Mr. Cator at 
 Beckenham, 498 ; drawn to serve in 
 militia, 502; apologizes to composi- 
 tor, 504; declines Lord Thurlow's 
 offer of a loan, 522 ; sets out for Strai- 
 fordshire and Derbyshire, 524 ; visits 
 Duke and Duchess of Devonshire at 
 Chatsworth, 527 ; liberality towards 
 Heely,536; presented with his father's 
 house, 537^.; wildness of his early 
 life in London, 553; his will, 558 ; 
 burns many of his papers, 559 ; his 
 death-bed, 563-567 ; his death, 567 ; 
 burial in Westminster Abbey, 568 ; 
 epitaph, 568 ; funeral sermon on, by 
 Rev. Mr. Agutter, 570; cenotaphs in 
 St. Paul's and Lichfield Cathedrals, 
 570. 
 
 Personal traits, method of writing, 
 &c. : his power of mastering a book, 
 i. 31; ii. 190; his pride, i. 34 ; his good 
 memory, 10; his ways among his 
 school-fellows, 15, 16; his irregular 
 mode of study, 22, 32 ; dreads insanity, 
 28; his rapid writing, 31, 112; ii. 27; 
 his affection for his wife, i. 45, 47; ii. 
 523,551; his economy, i. 50 ; prejudice 
 against actors, 91, 434, 541; gorgeous 
 dress at performance of " Irene," iii ; 
 a great tea-drinker, 175 ; love of Lon- 
 don, 180, 332, 360 ; ii. 254, 528 ; dislike 
 of the sea, i. 197, 563 ; ii. 177 ; his re- 
 ligious tolerance, i. 230; ii. 563; given 
 to soliloquy, i. 278 ; superstitious habit, 
 279; tricks, 279; inscription on his 
 watch, 323 ; his fear of death, 342, 352, 
 476; ii. loo, 197, 469, 489, 553; his 
 general mode of life, i. 360; unsuccess- 
 ful in public speaking, 371 ; his nick- 
 names for his friends, 450 ; his boister- 
 ous laughter, 453, 525 ; his courage, 
 476; his rnode of utterance and pro- 
 nunciation, 493, 580; ii. 131; collects 
 orange peel, i. 495 ; 11.427;?.; speaks 
 Latin, i. 541, 542; dislikes to have his 
 birthday noticed, ii. 103 ; dislikes 
 colloquial barbarisms, 131 ; his liberal- 
 ity, 148,382; his unbusinesslike habits, 
 367 ; his fondness for his cat, 422 ; his 
 kindness to a poor woman, 504 ; his 
 filial affection, 537, 551 ; personal ap- 
 pearance, 572. 
 
 Opinions and arguments, &c. : his re- 
 VoL. II. -3S 
 
 ligious opinions, i. 29; scheme for in- 
 struction in Latin and Greek, 48 ; in- 
 vective against George IL, 78 ; on Lord 
 Chesterfield, 148 ; defence of tea-drink- 
 ing, 175 ; defence of Admiral Byng, 176 ; 
 on a future state, 386 ; ii. 133; on duel- 
 ling, i.398, 428; ii. 432; on the law of 
 vicious intromission, i. 409-412; on 
 church patronage in Scotland, 439- 
 442; on toleration, 444 ; on the liberty 
 of the pulpit, ii. 37-40; against slavery, 
 134 ; on the registration of deeds, 343 ; 
 on Tory and Whig, 371 ; on original 
 sin, 376; defence of "The Caledonian 
 Mercury," 380. 
 
 Letters from Johnson : to Thomas 
 Astle, ii.383 ; to Edmund Allen, 443 ; to 
 Rev. Mr. Bagshaw, 523 ; to Sir Joseph 
 Banks, i. 374; to Francis Barber, 325, 
 358 ; to Baretti, 204, 209, 214 ; to Mr, 
 Barry, ii.425 ; to Dr. Beattie, 289 ; to Dr. 
 Birch, i. 87, 159; to Richard Bland, 
 415 ; to Miss Boothby, ii. 332;?. ; to Bos- 
 well, i. 272, 289, 300, 323, 330, 354, 371, 
 
 375- 412, 414- 454. 45S> 457- 459. 460, 
 461, 462, 463, 464, 466, 468, 469, 470, 
 471. 473. 474. 483. 520, 527- 528, 544. 
 545. 547. 548, 550. 551. 552, 553 ; n- 28, 
 57, 58, 61, 62, 67, 70, 78, 80, 83, 85, 86, 
 88, 139, 142, 143, 185, 244, 248, 250, 
 265, 277, 279, 281, 290, 294, 341, 385, 
 
 393- 395. 398. 401. 445. 451- 455. 462, 
 463, 465, 522, 523, 541, 542; to Mrs. 
 Boswell, 57 ; to Rev. Mr. Bagshaw, i. 
 450 ; to Dr. Brocklesby, ii. 446, 525-528 ; 
 to Dr. Burney, i. 160, 182, 183, 287; ii. 
 449, 529, 541 ; to Lord Bute, i. 212, 
 214; to Mr. Cave, 42, 52, 62, 63, 64, 71, 
 72, 73 ; to Sir Robert Chambers, 153 ; 
 to Mrs. Chapone, ii. 454 ; to Lord Ches- 
 terfield, i. 146; to Richard Clark, ii. 
 461 ; to a clergyman at Bath, 394; to 
 a young clergyman, 291 ; to Countess 
 
 de (in French), i. 541 ; to Mr. 
 
 Cruikshank, ii. 450, 533 ; to Dr. Dodd, 
 95, 96; to William Drummond, i. 304, 
 306 ; to r<ev. Dr. Edwards, ii. 247 ; to 
 James Elphinstone, i. 117; to Rev. Dr. 
 Farmer, 357; ii. 285^ in the "General 
 Advertiser," i. 126; in the " Gentle- 
 man's Magazine," 90 ; to George III. 
 (for Dr. Dodd). ii. 94; to Mr. Green, 
 apothecary at Lichfield, 552; to Right 
 Hon. William Gerard Hamilton, 453, 
 531; to Warren Hastings, 339, 340; 10 
 Mr. Hector, 392, 541 ; to Mr. Heely, 
 536; to John Hoole, i. 470; ii. 528; 
 to Ozias Humphrey, 468; to John 
 Hussey, 248 ; to Right Hon. Charles 
 Jenkinson, 95 ; to his mother,!. 191; 
 to a presummg lady, 208 ; to Bennet 
 
594 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 I.angton, 182, 188, 201, 297, 315, 368, 
 372, 375, 464, 515, 525 ; ii. 81, 246, 382, 
 391-450. 467. 524.5305^0 Jane Lang- 
 ton, 470; to Dr. Lawrence, i. 474 ; ii. 
 281, 386, 390 (in Latin) ; to Dr. Law- 
 rence's daughter, 390 n.; to Dr. Le- 
 land, i. 282;?.; to Robert Levett, 465, 
 528; ii. 61; to James Macpherson, i. 
 475 ; to Edmond Malone, ii, 388 ; to P. 
 Metcalfe, 399 ; to Dr. Mudge, 450; to 
 George Nicol. 532; to John Nichols, 
 333, 400, 535 ; to Mr. Nichols, the 
 printer, 318 ; to Charles O'Connor, 
 
 i. 181; ii. 73; to John Paradise, 532; 
 to Mr. Perkins, i. 468 ; ii. 372, 395,461, 
 531; to Lucy Porter, i. 190, 191, 530, 
 531; ii. 264, 353, 389, 426, 445, 460, 
 462, 552; to Right Hon. the Earl of 
 Portmore, 467 n. ; to Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds, i. 280,372, 374; ii. 53, 60, 383, 
 400, 425, 438, 442, 458, 522, 533; to 
 William Sharp, 82; to Joseph Simp- 
 son, i. 195 ; to Mrs. Smart, ii. 528 n. ; to 
 Sir George Staunton, 1. 207 ; to George 
 Steevens, 460; ii. 65; to Mrs. Strahan, 
 360, 388 ; to William Strahan, 245 ; to 
 Rev. Dr. John Taylor, i. 132; ii, 443, 
 469; to Mrs, Thrale, i. 497 525 «. ; 
 
 ii. 51 2>j n., 247, 283, 286,444, 451, 
 
 453. 497. 498, 509. 515.546^., 554^'-; 
 to the Miss Thrales, ^47 n., 453; to 
 Lord Thurlow, 522; to the Vice-Chan- 
 cellor of Oxford, i. 158; to Rev, Dr. 
 Vyse, ii. 81, 294/?.; to Dr. Joseph 
 Warton, i. 140, 358; to Rev. T. War- 
 ton, 151, 154, 155, 156, 162, 163, 181, 
 187, 329, 357 ; to Saunders Welch, ii. 
 144; to Rev. Dr. Wetherell, i. 554; to 
 Rev. John Wesley, ii. 265; to Rev. 
 Dr. Wheeler, 246; to Rev. Mr. Wil- 
 son, 400; to Right Hon, William 
 Windham, 442, 531. 
 
 Letters to Johnson: from Mrs. 
 Bellamy, ii. 452-'/. ; from Dr. Birch, i. 
 160; from Dr. Brocklesby, ii. 447 «. ; 
 from Boswell, i. 301, 371, 372, 374, 413, 
 458, 463, 465, 471, 472, 482, 542, 552 ; ii. 
 57.59.60, 65, 68, 69, 76, 79«., 82,84, 
 85, 87, 139,140,^42, 145, 146, 147, 184, 
 2^2, 2j\g, 262, 2fj6, 276, 278, 289, 292; 
 from Mrs. Boswell, 399; from Sir 
 Alexander Dick, 66; from Dr. Dodd, 
 94,96; from Mrs. Thrale, 283; from 
 Lord Thurlow, 294. 
 
 Works : early poems, i. 17, 22, 43 ; 
 extracts from his diary, 32, 35, 159, 
 170, 469; ii. 267/?.; from his journal 
 in France, i. 532-539; list of projected 
 writings, ii. 543 «. ; for his other works, 
 see their several titles. 
 
 Johnsoniana: eulogies of Johnson, i. 
 
 36, 97; his early prose style, 39; com- 
 pared to Politian, 41 ; to Appius, ii. 
 538 his skill as a translator, 1. 59 ; 
 his style compared with Addison's, 
 125 ; called the Great Cham of Lit- 
 erature, The Caliban of Literature, 
 Oddity Johnson, and Gargantua, 197, 
 365; ii. 138, 170; excels in writing 
 Dedications, 1. 288; attacked by Sheri- 
 dan, 339; by Bishop of Bristol, ii. 479; 
 notes on, by Langton, 295-316; by a 
 friend, 447 ; his knowledge of Greek, 
 546; liomage of his contemporaries, 
 569/?.; character, 572-576; Life of, 
 published by Kearsley, 341/2.; list of 
 portraits, busts, &c., 569 n. 
 
 Johnson, Samuel, Librarian of St. Mar- 
 tin's in the Fields, i. 71. 
 
 Johnson, Sarah, Dr. Johnson's mother, i. 
 7, 9, 12, 28, 41 n., 45, 55, 87, 117, 162; 
 her death, 191; Johnson's letters to, 
 191, 
 
 Johnson, Irish equestrian, i. 226. 
 
 Johnsonian style, begins to appear, i. 40, 
 
 " Johnsoniana, or, Bon-Mots of Dr, John- 
 son," unauthorized publication, i, 560 ; 
 sale of, ii. 218. 
 
 Johnston, Sir James, ii. 476. 
 
 Johnstone, Arthur, Johnson's views on 
 his verse, i. 264. 
 
 Jones, Miss, poetess, i. 181. 
 
 Jones, Phil., companion of Johnson's at 
 Oxford, i. 567. 
 
 Jones, Rev. River, i. 182 «. 
 
 Jones, Sir William, i. 276, 437; ii, 259. 
 
 Jopp, Mr., Provost of Aberdeen, i. 471. 
 
 Jorden, Mr., Johnson's tutor, i. 24, 34. 
 
 jortin, Rev. Dr. J., his sermons, ii. 164. 
 
 Journal, Johnson's, quoted, i. 30, 32, 35, 
 159, 170, 465, 470; ii. 267 «. 
 
 Journal in France, Johnson's, i. 532-539. 
 
 '' Journey to the Western Islands of Scot- 
 land," i. 477, 483, 518; ii. 62. 89, 174. 
 201, 416; in the press, i. 463-469; criti- 
 cised, 477-482, 516; sale of, 483; 
 quoted, ii. 115 n 
 
 " Journal des Savans," criticised by 
 1 Johnson, i. 312. 
 
 [Junius, Letters of, i. 389; ii. 253, 493; 
 I attacked by Johnson, i. 368. 
 j Justitia, the, hulk at Woolwich, ii, 178. 
 1 Juvenal, i, 31, 63 ; imitated in Johnson's 
 I "Vanity of Human Wishes," 106; 
 i quoted, 147, 189, 429; ii. 170, 241, 
 369 412, 527, 557. 
 
 K/iMES, Lord, i. 79, 320; his" Elements of 
 Criticism," Johnson's opinion of, 222 ; 
 his " Historical Law Tracts," 410, 412; 
 his " Sketches of the History of Man." 
 ii. 164, 229, 237. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 595 
 
 Kearsley, bookseller, letter to, from 
 
 Johnson, i. 119 n. 
 Kecldlestone, visited by Johnson, ii. 105. 
 Kelly, Hugh, his "False Delicacy," i. 
 
 317; Johnson writes prologue to "A 
 
 Word to the Wise," ii. 74. 
 Kemble, John Philip, describes Mrs. 
 
 Siddons's visit to Johnson, ii. 451. 
 Kempis, Thomas a. ii. 150, 308, 475. 
 Ken, Bishop, his early rising, ii. iiin. 
 Kennedy, Dr., tragedy by, ii. 158. 
 Kennedy, Rev. Dr., Johnson writes dedi- 
 cation for, i. 206. 
 Kennicott, Benjamin, his "Collations of 
 
 Hebrew MSS.," i. 364. 
 Kennicott, Mrs., ii. 479, 481, 492. 
 Kenrick, William, i. 315 ; his attacks on 
 
 Johnson, 287, 325 ; on Goldsmith and 
 
 Garrick, 287 n. 
 Keppel, Admiral, court-martial on, ii. 
 
 302 
 
 Killaloe, Bishop of, see Barnard. 
 
 Killingley, M., landlady of the Green 
 Man at Ashbourne, her address to 
 Boswell, ii. 138. 
 
 Kimchi. Rabbi David, i. 6. 
 
 King, Captain, his "Voyages to the 
 South Sea," ii. 495. 
 
 King, Dr., bishop of Chichester, i. $17 n. 
 
 King, Dr., dissenting minister, ii. 193. 
 
 King, Dr., Principal of St. Mary Hall, i. 
 156, 158 7?., 196. 
 
 King's Head, meeting-place of Ivy-lane 
 Club, i. io6n. 
 
 King's Library, MS. of " Irene" depos- 
 ited in, i. 53. 
 
 Kippis, Dr., ii. 477, 540; his edition of 
 " Biographia Britannica," 115. 
 
 Knapton, Messrs., booksellers, i. loi. 
 
 Kneller, Sir Godfrey, anecdote of, ii. 157. 
 
 Knight, Joseph, Johnson's argument on 
 his behalf, ii. 134; wins his cause, 141. 
 
 Knight, Lady, her account of Mrs. John- 
 son, i. 44 n. 
 
 Knollesi, his " History of the Turks," i. 
 49 «. 
 
 Knowles, Mrs., Quaker lady, ii. 51 ; con- 
 versation with Johnson, 190-199. 
 
 Knox, Mr., on Johnson's " Tour to the 
 Hebrides," i. 479. 
 
 Knox, Rev. Dr., Master of Tunbridge 
 School, ii. 509; copies Johnson's style, 
 i. 123 ii. 550; attack's Oxford, 550 
 
 Kristrom, Mr., a Swede, i. 382. 
 
 Lade, Sir John, ii. 564 
 
 Lafeldt, battle of, ii. 167. 
 
 Langley, Rev. Mr., head-master of Ash- 
 bourne School, ii. 90. 
 
 Langton, Bennet, copies draft of " Irene " 
 for George III., i. 53; introduced to 
 
 Johnson, 136; midnight ramble with 
 Johnson, 139; writes tor " The Idler," 
 185; an original member of the Liter- 
 ary Club, 276 ; his account of P. Lang- 
 ton, 298 n. ; succ(;eds Johnson as Pro- 
 fessor in Ancient Literature, 137??., 
 328/2. ; his marriage, 369 ?2. ; entertains 
 Johnson at dinner, 451; ii. 186, 227; 
 makes his will, i. 452 ; Johnson's opin- 
 ion of, 472 ; ii. 106, 235, 436, 475 ; edits 
 Johnson's Latin verses, i. 474 ; his 
 extravagance, ii. 30, 211; militia of- 
 ficer, 243-246, 391 ; recollection of 
 Johnson dictated, 296-316; defaces in- 
 scription on Johnson's portrait, 413; 
 Johnson stays witli. i. 274 ; ii. 243, 446; 
 sells some of Johnson's Latin poems, 
 545 ; his devotion in Johnson's last 
 illness, 561 ; one of Johnson's pall- 
 bearers, 568 ; letters to Boswell, 243, 
 284; letters to, fiom Johnson, i. 162, 
 182, 188, 201, 315, 372, 375, 464, 515, 
 525 ; ii. 81. 246, 382, 391, 450, 451, 467, 
 524, 530. 
 
 Langton, George, i. 465. 
 
 Langton, Jane, letter to, from Johnson, 
 ii. 470. 
 
 Langton, Miss, i. 297, 298, 375. 
 
 Langton, Mr., the elder, i. 202, 297, 298 ; 
 offers Johnson a living, 180; entertains 
 Johnson at dinner, 246; Johnson 
 stays with, 274; Johnson's opinion of, 
 274; ii. 30, 312. 
 
 Langton, Mrs., i. 202, 297, 369. 
 
 Langton, Peregrine, death of, i. 297 ; ac- 
 count of, 298 
 
 Langton, Stephen, the Archbishop, i. 
 137- 
 
 Lansdowne, Marquis of, ii. 419, 477 
 his " Drinking Song to Sleep " quoted, 
 
 i. 139; Johnson's opinion of, ii. 22, 
 409; on money matters, 176; John- 
 son's intimacy with, 419, 
 
 Lapland, reindeer imported from, i. 391 71. 
 Lapukhin, Madame, ii. 229. 
 La Trobe, Mr., a Moravian, ii. 563. 
 Laud, Archbishop, his diary quoted, i. 
 419. 
 
 Lauder, William, Johnson writes pref- 
 ace to his Essay on Milton, i. 127, 
 128. 
 
 Lauderdale, Lord, ii. 15 
 Law, Archdeacon, ii. 279. 
 Law, Bishop of Carlisle, ii. 270 279. 
 Law, William, his "Serious Call" 
 praised by Johnson,!. 29, 362; quoted, 
 
 ii. 486. 
 
 Lawrence, Chauncey, ii. 340. 
 Lawrence, Dr., i. 36, 189; ii. 14, 291, 
 
 526; letters to, from Johnson, i. 474; 
 
 ii. 281, 386, 390 (Latin). 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Lea, Rev. Samuel, head-master of New- 
 port School, i. 17. 
 
 Le Courayer, Dr., History of the Coun- 
 cil of Trent, French translation by,i. 
 52. 
 
 Lee, Alderman, ii. 51. 
 
 Lee, Arthur, American diplomatis* ii. 
 
 44. 45. so- 
 Lee, Jack, ii. 149. 
 
 Leeds, Duke of, i. 276 ; verses on his 
 
 marriage quoted, ii. 303. 
 Leek, in Staffordshire, earthquake at, 
 
 ii. 88. 
 
 Le Fleming, Sir Michael, i. 265;/. 
 Legrand, Abbe, i. 39??. 
 Leibnitz, G. W., i. 382. 
 Leland, Rev. Dr. T., letter to, from 
 ohnson, i. 282;^.; his "History of 
 reland," 448. 
 Lenox, Mrs. C, ii. 301, 472; Johnson 
 writes dedication for, i. 142, 207 ; trans- 
 lates for, 195. 
 Le Roy, Julian, i. 533. 
 " Lethe," a dramatic satire, i. 127. 
 Lever, Sir Ashton, his Museum, ii. 512. 
 Levet, Robert, i. 135, 136, 237, 249, 290, 
 419; ii. 14, 16, 36, 215, 24s,. 251, 355; 
 his marriage, i. 209, 215 ; lives with 
 Johnson, 209 ?/. ; his death, ii. 389, 
 391, 446 ; Johnson's verses to his mem- 
 ory, 386, 471 ; letters to, from Johnson, 
 1. 465, 528 ; ii. 61. 
 Levett, Mr., of Lichfield, i. 35; letter to, 
 
 from Johnson, 88. 
 Lewis, F., writes for the " Rambler," i. 
 125. 
 
 Lewis, Mr., his " Miscellany," ii. 494 ; 
 verses quoted, 494. 
 
 Lewis, Mrs. Charlotte, i. 209, 215. 
 
 " Lexiphanes," a satire on Johnson, i. 315. 
 
 Lichfield, i. 29, 52, 162; ii. 277; John- 
 son's birth-place, i. 7 ; Johnson edu- 
 cated at, 13 ; lives at, 35, 41, 53, 55 ; 
 visits, 314, 328,476, 578 ; ii. 384, 525, 537 ; 
 manufactures of, i. 580; accent, 580; 
 ale, ii. 358 ; verses on, by Miss Seward, 
 510; tribute, in Dictionary, 537; cor- 
 poration of, presents to Johnson his 
 father's house, 537 n. 
 
 Lichfield, Lord, death of, ii. 207. 
 
 Liddel, Sir Henry, brings reindeer to 
 Northumberland, i. 391 n. 
 
 Lilliburlero, ballad of, i. 506. 
 
 Lincoln, ii. 242. 
 
 Lintot, Mr., bookseller, i, 50. 
 
 " Literary Magazine," The, comes out, 
 i. 172; gradually declines, 180; John- 
 son contributes to, 172, 176, 183 ; article 
 by Johnson quoted, ii. 152. 
 
 Literary Property, question before the 
 Lords, i. 460, 505. 
 
 Liverpool, Earl of, see Jenkinson, Right 
 Hon. Charles. 
 
 " Lives of the Poets," i. 16 31 n., 83 n., 
 91 179^2., 290;/., 494 ii. 89, 114, 
 232; advertised, 71 ; first four volumes 
 published, 249 ; advertisement quoted, 
 317??.; book completed, 317 ; Johnson 
 gives copy to Mrs. Boswell, 250; to 
 Lord Marchmont, 263 ; to Wilkes, 
 364; general observations on, 317-338; 
 quoted, i. 35, 531 ??. ; ii. 260, 319-337. 
 
 Lloyd, Mr., a Quaker, i. 575. 
 
 Lloyd, Mrs., i. 575. 
 
 Lloyd, Olivia, Johnson in love with, 
 i. 42. 
 
 Lloyd, R., his " Odes to Obscurity and 
 Oblivion," i. 498. 
 
 Lobo, his " Voyage to Abyssinia," trans- 
 lated by Johnson, i. 39. 
 
 Lochlomond, Johnson visits, i. 456; 
 climate of, ii. 256. 
 
 Lock, Mr., of Norbury Park in Surrey, 
 quoted by Johnson, ii. 322. 
 
 Locke, John, his " Commonplace Book," 
 
 i. 113; his "Thoughts on Education," 
 401 ; ii. 242. 
 
 Lockman, Mr., ii. 298. 
 
 Lofft, Capel, ii. 474. 
 
 Lombe, John, his silk mill, ii. 108. 
 
 London, Johnson first goes to, i. 49; set- 
 tles in, with his wife, 56; his love of, 
 180, 332, 360; ii. 168, 253; his views 
 on, i. 240, 5ii2. 
 
 " London," Johnson's poem, i. 107, 260, 
 338 ; publication of, 60-68 ; Pope's 
 note concerning, 76 ; quoted, 67,264; 
 
 ii. 45. 
 
 "London Chronicle," The, i. 417; ii. 
 
 147 ; Johnson writes Introduction to, i. 
 
 178; Boswell reads aloud to Johnson, 
 
 349 ; quoted, ii. 345. 
 "London Magazine" The, i. 75«. ; 
 
 quoted, 367. 
 " London Review," The, i. 287. 
 Long, Dudley, afterwards North, ii. 
 
 344; Johnson on, 349. ' 
 Longlands, Mr., i. 403. 
 Longley, Mr., ii. 300. 
 Longman, the Messrs., i. loi. 
 Looking-glasses, manufacture of, i. 536. 
 Loudoun, Countess of, ii. 246. 
 Loughborough, Lord, see Wedderburn, 
 
 Alexander. 
 Louis XIV., i. 313, 392, 521,536; saying 
 
 of, 390; statue" of, 532; his embassy 
 
 to Siam, ii. 226. 
 Louis XVI., i. 529, 535, 536 «. 
 Lovage, or Levisticum, i. 515. 
 Love, Mr., of Drury Lane Theatre, i. 385. 
 Lovediiy, Dr. John, i. 45o«. 
 Loveday, John, of Caversham, i. 450 «. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 59T 
 
 Lovibond, E., poems, i. 50. 
 
 Lowe, Rev. Canon, schoolfellow ot 
 Johnson's, i. 14, 15. 
 
 Lowe, Mauritius, a poor artist, beh-iended 
 by Johnson, ii. 217, 255, 425, 426, 431. 
 
 Lowth, R., Professor of Poetry, his con- 
 troversy with Warburton, i. 311. 
 
 Loyola, St. Ignatius, his asceticism, i. 34. 
 
 Lucan, Lord, i. 276; ii. 285, 507; tells 
 anecdote of Johnson, 351. 
 
 Lucan, Lady, ii. 285, 507. 
 
 Lucas, Dr., his "Essay on Waters," re- 
 viewed by Johnson, i. 174. 
 
 Lucian, quoted, ii. 317. 
 
 Lumm, Sir Francis, i. 309;/. 
 
 Lunardi, Vincent, his balloon ascent, ii, 
 526 
 
 Lutterel, Colonel, Wilkes's opponent, i. 
 355- 
 
 Lydiat, history, i. 107 n. 
 
 Lye, Edward, his " Saxon and Gothic 
 
 Dictionary," i. 297. 
 Lynne Regis, i. 160. 
 
 Lyttelton, George, Lord, i. 143, 149, 424, 
 
 435; ii. 21, 162, 337 ; his "History," i. 
 
 311 ; his Dialogues, 363, 568 ; Johnson's 
 
 Life of, quoted, ii. 332. 
 Lyttelton, Thomas, Lord, his vision, ii. 
 
 488. 
 
 Macaronic verses, discusse'd by John- 
 son, ii. 189. 
 
 Macartney, Lord, i. 207 214, 237 
 276,490 n.; ii. 285; tells anecdote of 
 Johnson, 14 n. ; quoted, 161 n., 302 
 
 Macaulay, Rev. Kenneth, his " History 
 of St. Kilda," i. 319; criticised by 
 Johnson, 379. 
 
 Macaulay, Mrs., wife of Rev. K. Macau- 
 lay, i. 526. 
 
 Macaulay, Mrs. Catherine, i. 134, 423 ; 
 ii. 123; Johnson tells anecdote of, i. 
 256; ii. 51; criticises, i. 281, 499; ii. 
 29. 
 
 Macbean, Mr.,i.73 ii'2i6,355 ; Johnson's 
 amanuensis, i. 104 ; Johnson writes 
 preface to his " Dictionary of Ancient 
 Geography," 414; admitted to Char- 
 terhouse, ii. 294. 
 
 Macbeth, Johnson's pamphlet on, i. 197. 
 
 Macclesfield, Anne, Countess of, i. 93, 
 96. 
 
 Macconochie, Mr., pleads for J. Knight, 
 ii. 141. 
 
 Macdonald, Sir Alexander, i. 383, 384, 
 394- 
 
 Macdonald, Angus, Lord of the Isles, i. 
 457 «• 
 
 Macdonald, Flora, i. 456, 461 n. 
 Macdonald, Sir fames, i. 257; ii. 349 
 Macdonald, Lady Margaret, ii. 257. 
 
 Macdonald, Ronald, i. 482. 
 
 Macdonalds, The, at Culloden, i. 457. 
 
 Mackenzie, Henry, his "Man of Feel- 
 ing," i. 203. 
 
 Macklin, Charles, i. 217; ii. i. 
 
 Maclaurin, Mr., imitates Johnson, i. 516 ; 
 resents ridicule of his father, ii. 9; his 
 argument in favor of J. Knight, 57, 58, 
 66, 141. 
 
 Maclean, of Col, death of, i. 468, 469. 
 Maclean, Alexander, of Col, i. 482, 542. 
 Maclean, Sir Allan, his suit against the 
 
 Duke of Argyle, i. 526; ii. 66, 83. 
 Maclcod, Mr., of Rasay, i. 478. 
 McNicol, Rev. Donald, " Remarks on 
 
 Johnson's Journey to the H-ebrides," 
 
 1. 482 n. 
 
 Macpherson, James, i. 473, 482, 483 ; ii. 
 191 ; Ossian's Poems, i. 223, 471 ; his 
 insolence to Johnson, 475 ; letter to, 
 from Johnson, 475. 
 
 Macqueen, Rev. Donald, i. 527. 
 
 Macquharrie, chief of Ulva's Isle, i. 482; 
 ii. 63 77., 66 ; sale of his lands, 83, 87. 
 
 Macrobius, quoted, ii. 16. 
 
 Madan, Dr., Irish clergyman, i. 490. 
 
 Madden, Dr. Samuel, his poem, " Boul- 
 ter's Monument," revised by Johnson, 
 i. 179. 
 
 Mahogany, a Cornish drink, ii. 347, 
 Maitland, Mr., Johnson's amanuensis, i. 
 104. 
 
 Malagrida, ii. 409. 
 
 Mallet, David, i. 184; publishes Boling- 
 broke's Works, 150; his tragedy of 
 *' Elvira," 232; Johnson criticises him, 
 365 ; ii. 259 ; discards Scotch name, i. 
 385 ; ii. 436; his "Lite of Bacon," 
 citicised by Johnson, 129; his poem 
 on the " University of Aberdeen," 
 436; letter to, from A. Hill, i. 110 n. 
 
 Malone, Edmond, i. 125, 234, 276; ii. 
 204, 507, 519 ; one of Reynolds's execu- 
 tors, 383; letters to, from Hon. J. 
 Byng, 567 ; from Johnson, 388 ; quoted, 
 i. 146 n. ; ii. 327, 571 
 
 Mandeville, B., his " Private Vices, 
 Public Benefits," ii. 195. 
 
 Manley, Mrs., quoted, ii. 424. 
 
 Manning, Mr., compositor, ii. 504. 
 
 Manningham, Dr., li. 106. 
 
 Mansfield, Lord, ,1. 100 166 384,407, 
 430, 500; ii. 176, 178, 327, 411; his 
 eloquent speech in the House of 
 Lords, i. 403 ; his judgment in the 
 Douglas Cause, 431//.; his levees, 
 488 ; his decision in Court of King's 
 Bench, ii. 58 ; his house wrecked in 
 Gordon riots, 286. 
 I Mantuanus, Johannes Baptista, quoted 
 I by Johnson, ii. 413. 
 
698 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Manucci, Count, i. 532, 535 ; ii. 59, 60. 
 
 Manyfold, underground river, ii. 125. 
 
 Marana, I. P., his " Turkish Spy," ii. 424. 
 
 Marchmont, Earl of, i. 385; ii. 234, 327, 
 328; gives Johnson information about 
 Pope, 231, 232, 263 ; Johnson gives him 
 a copy of " Lives of the Poets," 263. 
 
 Marie Antoinette, i.529, 535. 
 
 Marischal College, i. 378, 454. 
 
 Market Bosworth School, i. 37. 
 
 Marlay, Dr. Richard, Bishop of Water- 
 ford, ii. 343, 346. 
 
 Marlborough, John, Duke of, i. 570; 
 anecdote of, ii. 36. 
 
 Marlborough, Duchess of, ii. 348. 
 
 Marmor Norfolciense, pamphlet by 
 Johnson, i. 75. 
 
 Marsili, Dr., of Padua, i. 181. 
 
 Martin, M., his " Account of the Western 
 Islands of Scotland," i. 257 ; criticised 
 by Johnson, ii. 161. 
 
 Martinelli, Signor, his " History ot Eng- 
 land," in Italian, 1. 424. 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, Buchanan's verses 
 to, i. 264 ; Latin inscription for pict- 
 ure of, 458, 464, 472 
 
 Mason, Miss, see Macclesfield, Lady. 
 
 Mason, Rev. W., his" Memoirs of Gray," 
 
 i. 3, 388, 487; criticised by johnson, 
 
 ii. 20 ; of Whitehead, i. 5 ; his " Elfrida " 
 criticised by Johnson, 499; his " Car- 
 actacus," 499 ; his prosecution of Mr. 
 Murray, ii. 196; his " Heroic Epistle," 
 499. 
 
 Masquerade in Edinburgh, i. 414. 
 Massinger, P., his play of " The Picture," 
 ii. 273. 
 
 Masters, Mrs., i. 134; Johnson revises 
 
 her poetry, ii. 453. 
 Mattaire, criticised by johnson, ii. 296. 
 Maty, Dr. Matthew, i. 159. 
 Maupertuis, quoted by Johnson, i. 321. 
 Maxwell, Rev. Dr., his " Recollections of 
 
 Johnson," i. 358-367. 
 Maynell, Mr., i. 36. 
 
 Mayo, Rev. Dr., i. 443, 447; ii. 190, 509; 
 
 called the Literary Anvil, i. 447 n. 
 Mead, Dr., i. 87 f?.; ii. 240; Johnson 
 
 writes Dedication for, i. 86; on sleep, 
 
 ii. III. 
 
 Medmenham Abbey, Monks of, i.65 «. 
 
 Mecke, Rev. Mr., i. 152, 153. 
 
 Melancthon, i. 6, 351. 
 
 Melcomlie. I.ord, ii. 334 «. 
 
 Melmoth, W., Johnson's opinion of, ii. 
 
 283 ; quoted, 470 n. 
 Melville, Viscount, see Dundas, Henry. 
 Memis, Dr., liis case, i. 471, 475; ii. 65; 
 
 Johnson's opinion of, i. 522. 
 Menage, Bayles's account of, quoted, ii. 
 
 575 «• 
 
 " Menagiana," i. 438 ; quoted, ii. 229 
 575 «• 
 
 Messiah, Pope's, translated into Latin by 
 Johnson, i. 25. 
 
 Metcalfe, Philip, his intimacy with John- 
 son, ii. 399 ; note from Johnson to, 
 399- 
 
 Methodists, The, satirized in the " Hypo- 
 crite," i. 490. 
 
 Middlesex, Earl of, i. 207. 
 
 Middlesex election, Johnson's opinion 
 on, i. 70, 355, 467; ii. 274. 
 
 Mickle. W. J., translator of the " Lusiad," 
 
 i. 401 ; ii. 23, 494 ; his dispute with 
 Johnson over the " Lusiad," 456; his 
 letter to Boswell, quoted, 457. 
 
 Millar, Andrew, bookseller, i. 101,134; 
 
 ii. 224; conducts publication of the 
 " Dictionary," i. 161. 
 
 Miller, Sir John, i. 501 ; ii. 45. 
 Miller, Lady.her vase, i. 500, 
 Milner, Rev. Joseph, quoted, i. 263 
 Milton, apotheosis of, by Guthrie, i. 74 ; 
 Johnson's opinion of, 126, 127, 437, 
 499 ; ii. 337 ; his " Tractate of Educa- 
 tion," criticised by Johnson, 242; 
 quoted, 342, 520; Johnson's Life of, 
 quoted, 272, 321, 322. 
 " Mirror, The," quoted, ii. 550. 
 Miscellaneous Pieces, by Johnson, i. 
 187 n. ■ 
 
 Mitre Tavern, favorite resort of John- 
 son's, i. 226. 
 
 Monboddo, Lord, i. 404 527; ii. 377 ; 
 Johnson's opinion of, i. 332, 376, 423, 
 451, 527; his prejudice against John- 
 son, 332/;.; ii. 471 «. ; his "Origin 
 and Progress of Language," i. 332 n. ; 
 Johnson gives him a copy of the 
 "Journey to the Hebrides," ii. 66; he 
 criticises its style, 114; his early rising, 
 110; his views on slavery, 142. 
 
 Monckton, Miss, see Cork, Countess of. 
 
 " Moniteur, Le," founded by Panc- 
 koucke, i. 161 ti. 
 
 Montague, Mrs. E., i. 366; ii. 30, 177, 
 283; painted by Miss Reynolds, 162 ; 
 Johnson's opinion of, 162, 472; her 
 " Essay on Shakespeare," criticised by 
 Johnson, i. 340; her illness, 289; her 
 controversy with Johnson, 337. 
 
 Montesquieu, his " Lettres Persannes," 
 ii. 195 «. 
 
 " Monthly Review, The," Johnson's opin- 
 ion of, i. 312 ; ii. 21 ; quoted, 19 n. 
 
 Montrose, Duke of, ii. 366; anecdote of, 
 159 n. 
 
 Monville, Mr., i. 532. 
 
 Moody, Mr., i. 501, 503, 504. 
 
 More, Hannah, ii. 171, 357.472, 492; 
 her flattery of Johnson, 196, 517 ; her 
 
INDEX. 
 
 599 
 
 Memoirs, 352 quoted, 354 her 
 
 poem " Bas Bleu," 365. 
 More, Dr. Henry, the Platonist, i. 386. 
 More, Sir Thomas, i. 163. 
 Morgann, Morice, tells two anecdotes of 
 
 Johnson, ii. 419. 
 " Morning Chronicle, The," quoted, ii. 
 
 394 n. 
 
 Morris, Corbyn, quoted, ii. 363 n. 
 Morris, Miss, at Johnson's death-bed, ii. 
 567. 
 
 Mother's Catechism (in Erse), presented 
 by Johnson to Bodleian Library, i. 
 463- 
 
 Mounsey, Dr., censured by Johnson, i. 
 326. 
 
 Mountstuart, Lord, ii. 61, 276, 379 ; his bill 
 
 for a Scotch militia, i. 559, 589. 
 Mudge, Dr., i. 213; letters to, from 
 
 Johnson, quoted, ii. 450. 
 Mudge, Rev. Zachariah, i. 213 ; his 
 
 "Sermons," criticised by Johnson, ii. 
 
 359- 
 
 Mulgrave, Lord, ii. 5. 
 Mull, visited by Johnson, i. 456, 479. 
 Muller, Mr., engineer, i. 198 n. 
 Mulso, Miss, see Chapone, Mrs. 
 Munro, Dr., his letter to Boswell, 
 
 quoted, ii. 465; letter to, from Boswell, 
 
 464. 
 
 Murphy, Arthur, i. 173, 257 337, 360, 
 450. 460, 523 ; ii. 18, 150, 459, 471 ; his 
 Essay on Johnson, i. 30;^., 82 220;?. ; 
 his "Gray's Inn Journal," 183; his 
 "Orphan of China," 189; his Poetical 
 Epistle to Johnson, quoted, 200; his 
 share in procuring Johnson's pen- 
 sion, 211; introduces Johnson to the 
 Thrales, 285 ; criticised by Johnson, 
 364- 
 
 Murray, Lord George, i. 457 n. 
 
 Murray, J., bookseller, prosecuted by 
 
 Mason, ii. 196. 
 Murray, William, see Mansfield, Lord, 
 Musgrave, Sir William, i. 82. 
 Musgrave, Dr., ii. 213. 
 Mylne, Mr., architect, i. 198. 
 Mysargyrus, i. 140. 
 
 NaIRNE, Mr., j^<? Dunsinan, Lord. 
 Nares, Rev. Mr., imitates Johnson, ii. 
 549- 
 
 Nash, his " History of Worcestershire," 
 
 i. 33 n. ; ii. 180 n. 
 Nash, Beau, i. 64 t?. 
 Negro cause, see Knight, Joseph. 
 Nelson, R., his " Festivals and Fasts," 
 
 commended by Johnson, i. 576, 
 Neni, Count, ii. 22. 
 
 Newbery, Mr., publisher, i. 184 195. 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, Johnson passes 
 
 through, I. 455; story of a ghost at, 
 ii. 198. 
 
 Newcastle, Duke of, i. 81, 248??.; lends 
 Rev. J. Spence's collection to Johnson, 
 ii-336. 
 
 Newhaven, Lord, argues with Johnson, 
 ii. 273. 
 
 Newport School, i. 17, 68 
 New Testament (Erse), presented by 
 Johnson to the Bodleian Library, i. 463. 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, praised by Johnson, 
 
 i. 363. 
 
 Newton, Dr., Bishop of Bristol, his cen- 
 sure of Johnson, 11,479; his" Disserta- 
 tions on the Prophecies," 480. 
 
 Nichols, Dr., i. 511; his " De Anima 
 Medica," ii. 108. 
 
 Nichols, John, ii. 452;^., 459; editor of 
 the " Gentleman's Magazine," 1. 42;?.; 
 possesses papers of Johnson's, 48, 
 71; ii. 544; anecdotes of Johnson, i. 
 50 n. ; ii. 367 ; his account of Johnson's 
 last days, 561 ; letters to, from Johnson, 
 333, 535. 
 
 Nichols, Mr., the printer, letters to, from 
 
 Johnson, quoted, ii. 318//. 
 Nicol, George, the King's bookseller, 
 
 ii. 457 ; letter to, from Johnson, 532. 
 Nicolaida, a learned Greek, 1. 526. 
 Nores, Jason de, his " Comments upon 
 
 Horace," i. 567. 
 
 Norris, Mr., Johnson lodges vvith, 1. 51. 
 
 North, Lord, suppresses pamphlet of 
 Johnson's, i. 368 ; unfriendly to John- 
 son, 371 376; his letter to Vice- 
 Chancellor concerning Johnson's de- 
 gree, 496. 
 
 Northumberland, reindeer in, i. 391 n. 
 Northumberland, Duke of, 1. 326, 367. 
 Northumberland, Duchess of, i. 500. 
 Northumberland, Elizabeth, Duchess of, 
 ii. 181 n. 
 
 Northumberland House, fire in, ii. 282. 
 Norton, Sir Fletcher (Lord Grantley), 
 
 Speaker of the House of Commons, i. 
 
 341. 587- 
 
 Nottingham, learned pig of, ii. 538. 
 
 Nourse, Mr., bookseller, ii. gn. 
 
 Nowell, Dr., Principal of St. Mary Hall, 
 
 visited by Johnson, ii. 486. 
 Nugent, Dr., i. 275, 297, 437. 
 Nugent, Robert, Lord Clare, i. 369; ii. 
 
 208. 
 
 " Observations on the Present State of 
 Affairs," by Johnson, quoted, i. 173. 
 
 O'Connor, Charles, account of. ii. 73«. ; 
 letters to, from Johnson, i. 181 ; ii. 73. 
 
 Odes by johnson, on Friendship, i. 86; 
 on VVinter, 100. 
 
 Of^ely, Mr., pupil of Johnson's, i. 46. 
 
600 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ogden, Dr., his " Sermons," ii. 165 ; ser- 
 mon quoted, 376;/. 
 
 Ogilvie, Dr. John, his poems criticised 
 by Johnson, i. 241. 
 
 Oglethorpe, General, history of, i, 66 ; 
 Johnson dines with, 398, 422, 432, 508 ; 
 ii. 32, 188; tells anecdote of Prince of 
 Wirtemberg, i. 399; tells ghost story, 
 400; Johnson's remark on his conver- 
 sation, ii. 36 ; calls on Johnson, 406 ; 
 his death, i. 509??. 
 
 Oldfield, Dr., anecdote of, ii. 36. 
 
 Oldfield, Mrs., speaks epilogue to "The 
 Distressed Mother," i. 100 
 
 Oldham, John, his Satires quoted, i. 61. 
 
 Oldmixon, John, i. 166;^. 
 
 Oldys, William, i. 83; his literary work, 
 96. 
 
 Oliver, Dame, teaches Johnson, i. 13. 
 " Olla Podrida," Oxford collection of 
 
 essays, ii. 573 n. 
 Omai, a South Sea Islander, Johnson's 
 
 account of, ii. 5. 
 Orford, Earl of, see Walpole, Horace. 
 Orme, Captain, ii, 352. 
 Orme, R., historian of Hindostan, on 
 
 maps, i. 512; in praise of Johnson, 
 
 477 ; ii. 189. 
 Orrery, Earl of, i. 135 ; ii. 159, 210, 408 ; 
 
 his letter to Dr. Birch, i. 103 ; Johnson 
 
 writes dedication to, 142; his book on 
 
 Swift, ii. 166. 
 Osborne, Francis, Johnson's opinion of 
 
 his writings, i. 407. 
 Osborne, Thomas, bookseller, i. 83; ii. 
 
 104; chastised by Johnson, i. 83; ii. 
 
 231. 
 
 Oseney Abbey, visited by Johnson, i. 152. 
 
 Ossian, controversy on, i. 223, 473, 477, 
 482; ii. 224)^.; Johnson's views on, i. 
 474, 478, 484, 488, 506; Shaw's pam- 
 phlet on, ii. 457. 
 
 Ossory, Lord, i. 276. 
 
 Otaheite, i. 432 ; Johnson's views on, ii. 
 31- 
 
 "Othello," quoted, ii. 234; Johnson's 
 
 opinion of, 25. 
 Otway, T., ii. 308. 
 
 Overbury, Sir Thomas, his poem quoted, 
 i. 333. 
 
 Ovid, i. 31; quoted, 176, 436, 492; ii. 
 186; Pope's translation of, quoted, i. 
 400 «. 
 
 Oxford, Johnson goes to, i. 23 ; leaves, 
 34; visits, 150,196,303,328; ii. 384; 
 All Souls Library, i. 310; Bodleian 
 Library, 310; Broadgate Hall, see 
 Pembroke College; Christ Church, 
 34; Christ Church Library, 310; Christ 
 Church Meadow, 152; Merton Col- 
 lege, ii. 488 ; Pembroke College, i. 33, 
 
 34, 39, 151, 565; ii. 202, 205, 480; fifth 
 of November celebrated at, i. 24; St. 
 Edmund's Hall, expulsion of six Meth- 
 odists, 403 ; Trinity College, 137, 152, 
 568; University College, 512, 564; 
 University of, 521 ; grants Master's 
 degree to Johnson, 157 ; letter from the 
 Chancellor concerning degree, 157 ; 
 Methodists at, 263 n. ; grants Doctor's 
 degree to Johnson, 497 ; letter from the 
 Chancellor of, concerning degree, 496; 
 gift of MSS. from Lord Clarendon's 
 heirs, 554 ; proposed Manege, 554. 
 
 Palais Bourbon, Johnson visits, i. 
 534- 
 
 Palais Marchand, visited by Johnson, i. 
 533. 534- 
 
 Palais Royal, visited by Johnson, i. 534. 
 Palmer, John, of Islington, his " Answer 
 
 to Dr. Priestly," ii. 195 ri. 
 Palmer, Rev. Thomas Fysche, curious 
 
 history of, ii. 377. 
 Palmerston, Lord, i. 197 276; ii. 445, 
 
 507- 
 
 Panckoucke, Charles Joseph, bookseller, 
 i. 161. 
 
 Pantheon, Johnson visits, i. 389, 391; 
 history of, 391 n. 
 
 Panting, Dr., Master of Pembroke Col- 
 lege, overhears Johnson's soliloquy, i. 
 32. 
 
 Paoli, Pascal, Lieutenant-General of Cor- 
 sica, i. 325; ii. 184, 248, 507; history 
 of, i. 331 7t. ; first interview with John- 
 son, 335, 541 ; calls on Johnson, 405 ; 
 Johnson dines with, 389, 423, 452 ; ii. 
 22, 32, 217, 509; Johnson pleased 
 with a remark of his, loi. 
 
 Paradise, John, ii. 259,459; account of, 
 i. 26;/.; ii. 532;^.; Johnson dines with, 
 471 ; letter to, from Johnson, 532. 
 
 Paris, Johnson visits, i. 529. 
 
 Paris, Peace of, i. 510 «. 
 
 Parker, Sackville, bookseller, Johnson 
 visits, ii.495. 
 
 Parliamentary Debates, by Johnson, i. 
 80, 82, 85 ; ii. 562. 
 
 Parnell, T., ii. 556; his poems quoted, 
 146, 263 ; Johnson's Life of, quoted, 330 ; 
 Johnson's epitaph on, quoted, 330. 
 
 Parr, Rev. Dr., Johnson pleased with, ii, 
 304; defends Johnson's memory, 570; 
 his letter to William Seward, quoted, 
 571 «. 
 
 " Pascal, Les Pens6es de," Johnson gives 
 
 Boswell, ii. 255. 
 Paterson, Samuel, his " Coriat Junior," 
 
 i. 395. 
 
 Paterson v. Alexander, Johnson's views 
 on case of, i. 523. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 601 
 
 "Patriot, The," pamphlet by Johnson, 
 published, i. 467. 
 
 Paul, Father, Life of, by Johnson, i. 74. 
 
 Payne, William, his " Introduction to the 
 Game of Draughts," Johnson writes 
 part of, i. 178. 
 
 Pearce, Dr. Zachary, Bishop of Roches- 
 ter, i. 71, 165 ; Johnson writes Dedica- 
 tion for his " Commentary," ii. 73. 
 
 Pearson, Bishop, Johnson recommends 
 his works, i. 225. 
 
 Peiresc, i. 521. 
 
 Pelham, Mr., Garrick's Ode on, quoted, 
 
 i. 150. 
 Pelisson, i. 41 ?i. 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of, i. 521 ; on Johnson's 
 sayings, 493 7t. 
 
 Penmanmaur, Johnson visits, i. 466. 
 
 Pennant, T., his Travels, i. 506; John- 
 son on, ii. 180-182; praises Johnson, 
 183. 
 
 Pepys, Dr., ii. 443. 
 
 Pepys, Sir Lucas, ii. 336, 405. 
 
 Pepys, Sir W., Master in Chancery, i. 
 429 ; ii. 285, 349. 
 
 Percy, Dr., Bishop of Dromore, i. 106, 
 276, 488, 505;?., 524 71. \ ii. 171, 359, 
 519; genealogy, 180 as Dean of 
 Carlisle, 246, '280, 291 ; popular in 
 Carlisle, 279; property burnt, 282; 
 Johnson stays with, i. 280; dines with, 
 
 ii, 180; disputes with Johnson, i. 326; 
 ii. 180, i8i; his anecdotes of Johnson, 
 i. 16, 17; on Johnson's appearance, 
 49«. ; on Johnson's mode of writing 
 his Dictionary, 105 n.\ on Johnson's 
 conversation, ii. 213; possesses Pope's 
 note concerning Johnson, i. 76; on 
 Grainger's "Sugar-Cane," c^j2Jt.\ 
 Johnson jokes about, 573 ; " Hermit 
 of Warkworth " parodied by John- 
 son, 369 " Reliques," 506;?.; 
 "Northern Antiquities," ii. 182; letter 
 to Boswell, i. 32 ; letter to, from Bos- 
 well, ii. 185. 
 
 Percy, Earl, ii. 184. 
 
 Perkins, Mr., manager of Mr. Thrale's 
 brewery, ii. 348 ; shrewd remark, 350; 
 letters from Johnson, i. 468; ii. 372, 
 
 395. 461, 531- 
 Perth, Duke of, ii. 151. 
 Peterborough, Lord, Johnson's interest 
 
 in, ii. 511. 
 
 Peyton, Mr., amanuensis, i. 104, 382, 
 helped by Johnson, 104; Johnson's 
 consideration for, 382, 
 
 Philidor, Monsieur, ii. 251. 
 
 Philips, Johnson's Life of, quoted, ii.331. 
 
 Phillips, Charles Claudius, Epitaphs on, 
 i. 79. 
 
 " Philosophical Transactions," i. 312. 
 
 " Pilgrim's Progress," i. 30 n. 
 Piozzi, Mrs., see Thrale, Mrs. 
 Piozzi, Mr., ii. 516. 
 
 Pitt, William, i. 82, 248 297, 396; ii. 
 
 409.;-/. ; characterized by Johnson, i. 
 
 68, 408 ; ii. 484 ; his correspondence 
 
 with Boswell, 463 n. 
 " Plain Dealer, The," i. 85, 96. 
 Plaxton, Rev. George, letter from, i. 
 
 8n. 
 
 Players, Johnson's opinion of, i. 91, 434, 
 541. 
 
 Plott, " History of Staffordshire," ii. 125. 
 Plutarch, quoted, i. 5 ; ii. 169 ; his " Life 
 
 of Alcibiades," 177 
 Plymouth, Johnson visits, i. 213, 214. 
 Pococke, Canon Edward, verses on, ii. 
 
 178;^. 
 
 Pococke, R., Bishop of Ossory, ii. 178 n. ; 
 " Travels," i. 505. 
 
 Poets' Corner, Johnson visits, i. 436. 
 
 Politian, Latin Poems of, Johnson pro- 
 poses to print, i. 41. 
 
 " Political Tracts," Johnson's, i. 486, 
 565. 
 
 Pomfret, his poems, ii. 249. 
 " Pomponius Mela de Shu Orbis," i. 268. 
 " Pomposo," caricature of Johnson, i. 
 231, 
 
 Port, family of, former owners of Islam, 
 ii. 124. 
 
 Porter, Elizabeth, Johnson, Elizabeth. 
 
 Porter, Mr., i. 38. 
 
 Porter, Mr., the younger, i. 531. 
 
 Porter, Lucy, i. 10, 41 /i., 44, 56, 131, 209, 
 579. 583. 584 ; ii. 278, 279 ; death of, 
 552«.; letters to, from Johnson, i. 191, 
 530, 531 ; ii. 264, 353, 389, 426, 445, 460, 
 462, 552. 
 
 Porteus, Dr., Bishop of London, ii. 186, 
 277, 279, 314; his charge quoted, 345. 
 
 Portmore, Right Hon. the Earl of, note 
 to, from Johnson, ii. 467 n. 
 
 Pope, Alexander, i. loi, 182/2., 184, 212, 
 436,513, 519 534, 569/2.; li. 109, 
 167; admires Johnson's *' London," 
 
 i. 66 ; recommends Johnson to Lord 
 Gower, 69; his note concerning John- 
 son, quoted, 77 ; borrows from Gua- 
 rini, ii. 233; Johnson's opinion of his 
 poems, i. 338, 498 ; ii. 171, 223, 325 ; 
 on his lack of conversation, 326 ; Lady 
 Bolingbroke's description of, 217; 
 Lord Marchmont's anecdotes of, 231, 
 263; verses to, 494; Dr. Joseph War- 
 ton's Essay on, i. 257; letter from Dr. 
 Blair to Boswell concerning, ii. 270 ; Life 
 of, by Johnson, i. 311 //., quoted, ii. 
 324 ; letter to, from Swift, quoted, 209 ; 
 imitations of Horace, i. 122/2., 569/2.; 
 
 ii. 261 /2. }" Essay on Man," 1,311/2.; 
 
602 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 " Artemisias," 333 ;" Prologue to the 
 Satires," 430 n. ; " The Dying Christian 
 to his Soul," ii. 19 ; quoted, i. 138, 400 
 509;ii. 47, 50 133 \S1 ^-^ i^^. 
 233, 300, 328 ; " Messiah," quoted, i. 
 152, Johnson's Latin translation of, 25. 
 
 Pope, Dr. Walter, " The Old Man's 
 Wish," ii. 306. 
 
 Portland, Duchess Dowager of, ii. 285. 
 
 Pott, Mr., surgeon to Johnson, ii. 450. 
 
 Pott, Archdeacon, Johnson praises his 
 sermons, i. 576. 
 
 Prayer, forms of, ii. 486. 
 
 Prayer, quoted, i. 130; ii. 536;?. 
 
 " Prayers and Meditations," i. 46, 170, 171, 
 263 328, 534 71. ; ii. 255, 447 ; pub- 
 lished with Preface by Rev. Mr. 
 Strahan, i. 131; ii. 540; Johnson's 
 friends disapprove of publication, 
 540 ; quoted, i. 12, 112, 131, 133, 185, 
 190 198, 200, 202, 277, 278, 281, 282, 
 
 314. 357. 373. 405, 448, 453. 459. 514; 
 li. 59, 64, 65, 71, 202, 293, 317, 350, 384, 
 387. 390. 399. 555. 566. 
 " Preceptor, The," Johnson writes Preface 
 for, i. 106. 
 
 Prefaces by Johnson to " Gentleman's 
 
 Magazine," i. 74, 79, 82, 85. 
 Prendergast, or Pendergrass, story of, i. 
 
 400. 
 
 Priestley, Dr., ii. 195 n.\ Johnson's opin- 
 ion of, i. 362 ; ii. 448. 
 
 Primrose, Lady Dorothea, ii. 329 71. 
 
 Pringle, Sir John, President of the Royal 
 Society, ii. 4, 164 ; dislikes Johnson, 
 42. 
 
 Prior, Matthew, Johnson's opinion of his 
 
 poems, ii. 128 ; borrows from Gom- 
 
 bauld, 266. 
 Pritchard, Mrs., i. 110, 206 342, 507; 
 
 Johnson's opinion of her acting, 507 ; 
 
 ii.452. 
 
 " Proceedings of Committee for Clothing 
 
 the French Prisoners," Johnson writes 
 
 Introduction for, 1, 199. 
 Prologue in honor of opening of Drury 
 
 Lane Theatre, by Johnson, i. 100. 
 " Proposals for printing Bibliotheca Har- 
 
 leiana," by Johnson, i. 83. 
 Proposals for translating Politian, quoted, 
 
 i. 41. 
 
 " Proposals for publishing the Works of 
 Mrs. Charlotte Lennox," by Johnson, 
 quoted, i. 470. 
 
 Psalmanazar, George, i. 203 ii. 210, 
 
 417. 471- 
 Psalms in Metre, quoted, ii. 3 v. 
 *' Public Advertiser, The," Essay by 
 
 Wilkes in, quoted, i. 168. 
 Pulteney, Mr., i. 82; ii. 159. 
 Pym, John, i. 33 «. 
 
 QUEENSBERRY, Dukc of, i. 519. 
 Quintilian, quoted, ii. 318. 
 
 Rabelais, i. 432; ii. 170. 
 
 Rackstrow, Mr., of Museum in Fleet 
 street, ii. 502. 
 
 Radcliffe, Dr., Master of Pembroke Col- 
 lege, i. 151. 
 
 Radcliffe, travelling fellowship, Johnson's 
 views on, ii. 485. 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, i. 126. 
 
 " Rambler, The," i. 6«., 26 31 n,, 4g7t., 
 82, 374; ii. 354; first appearance, i. 
 112; Scotch edition, 116; sketch of 
 No. 196, 114; general description of, 
 118-T26; last paper published, 129; 
 sale of, 142; against gulosity, 269; 
 Goldsmith borrows from, 317 ; paro- 
 died by Dr. Blair, ii. 114; criticised by 
 Johnson, 297; to be translated into 
 Russian, 473 ; quoted, i. 5, 41, 74, 
 263 7?.., 444 ; parody of, 121 «. 
 
 Ramsay, Allan, on fiorace, ii. 166; John- 
 son dines with, 222, 256, 273 ; death 
 of, 534 
 
 Ranby, John, his " Doubts on the Aboli- 
 tion of the Slave Trade," ii. 136. 
 
 " Random, Roderick," i. 197 7t. 
 
 Ranelagh, i. 239 «. ; Johnson frequents, 
 360; Johnson admires, 391 ; ii. 132. 
 
 Rann, John, highwayman, ii. 24. 
 
 Rasay, family of, i. 479. 
 
 " Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia," i. 27; 
 ii. 212, 372; published, i. 192; dis- 
 cussed, 192, 193 ; compared with Can- 
 dide, 192; ii. 240; Lord Hailes on, i. 
 247 ; American edition, 416 ; quoted, 
 193- 
 
 Ray, his " Nomenclature,' i. 515. 
 Ray, Miss, shot by Hackman, ii. 257. 
 Reed, Isaac, of Staple Inn, i. 93 ; ii. 319. 
 " Rehearsal, The," criticised by Johnson, 
 
 i. 391; ii. 503. 
 " Respublicne Elzevirianae," ii. 33. 
 " Respublica Hungarica," i. 291. 
 " Review, The Monthly," i. 312; ii. 20. 
 Reviews, in the " Literary Magazine," 
 
 list of Johnson's, i. 173; Johnson's, 
 
 quoted, 175. 
 Rewley, near Oxford, visited by Johnson, 
 
 i. 152. 
 
 Reynolds, Sir [.,1.67//., 76, 234 w., 277, 
 337,456. 472," 480, 515. 517, 528;;.; ii. 
 173, 208, 236, 263, 313, 500, 519; de- 
 scribes Johnson's manners, i. 77, 354 ; 
 his anecdotes of Johnson, 89, 136, 
 279; ii. 414, 504; his conversations 
 with Johnson, i. in, 113, 136, 168, 
 211,340; ii. 26,230; raises his prices, 
 i. 189; praised by Johnson, 206; ii. 
 298 ; his income, i. 209, 215 ; goes with 
 
INDEX. 
 
 603 
 
 Johnson into Devonshire, 212; por- 
 traits of Johnson, 221, 372; first pro- 
 poser of The Club, 275 ; supports Mrs. 
 Abingtons benefit, 492; Johnson dines 
 with, i. 542; ii. 166, 213," 227, 255, 346, 
 510, 514; his equable disposition, 3, 
 128 ; his present from the Empress of 
 Russia, 249; his "Discourses to the 
 Royal Academy," 249, 503 ; praises 
 Vanbrugh, 330; dines with Mrs. Gar- 
 rick, 357 ; tries to have Johnson's pen- 
 sion raised, 508 ; threatens to resign 
 Presidency of Royal Academy, 534 fi. ; 
 letters to, from Johnson, i. 280, 372, 
 374; ii, 53, 60, 383, 400, 425, 438, 442, 
 458, 522, 533. 
 
 Reynolds, Miss, ii. 170, 196, 214, 262, 
 444 Johnson's affection for, i. 
 280??.; paints Mrs. Montague, ii. 162. 
 
 Richardson, Samuel, i. 189; Johnson 
 visits, 78; ii. 122; writes in "The 
 Rambler," i. 112; Johnson compares 
 him with Fielding, 317, 395 ; with 
 French novelists, 363 ; cited in Dic- 
 tionary, ii. 297; his lack of conversa- 
 tion, 313 ; death of, i. 209. 
 
 Richardson, Mr., son of the painter, i. 
 66, 76. 
 
 Richmond, Duke of, ii. 487 n. 
 
 Riddell, Mr., duel with Mr. Cunning- 
 ham, ii. 432 
 
 Ritter, Joseph, Boswell's Bohemian ser- 
 vant, i. 545. 
 
 Rivers, Earl, i. 93, 94. 
 
 Roberts, Miss, complimented by John- 
 son, i, 246. 
 
 Robertson, Rev. Dr. W., historian, i. 
 172, 306, 326, 432 ; ii. 222, 224, 225, 
 237, 271 ; Johnson's opinion of, i. 320, 
 435 ; his style formed on Johnson's, ii. 
 114; as imitator of Johnson, quoted, 
 549- 
 
 Robertson, Mr., publisher of " The Cale- 
 donian Mercury," ii. 380. 
 
 Robin Hood Society for debate, ii. 355. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe, i. 30 n. 
 
 Robinson, Sir Thomas, i. 248, 366. 
 
 Rochester, Johnson at, li. 446. 
 
 Rochester, Earl of, his poems, ii. 127 ; 
 quoted, 19. 
 
 Rochford, Earl of, Johnson writes dedi- 
 cation to, i. 178. 
 
 Rodney, Adm. Sir George, i. 538. 
 
 Rolt, his " Dictionary of I'rade and 
 Commerce," preface written by John- 
 son for, i. 202, 504. 
 
 Roman Catholic Religion, Johnson's 
 views on, i. 349. 
 
 Roscommon, Life of, by Johnson, i. 106. 
 
 Rothes, Lady, wife of Bennet Langton, 
 i- 369. 373. 375- 
 
 Round Robin, addressed to Johnson, 
 on Goldsmith's Epitaph, ii. 56. 
 
 Rousseau, Jean Jacques, i. 332, 420; cen- 
 sured by Johnson, 294. 
 
 Rowe, Mrs., i. 175. 
 
 Rowley, T., poems, attributed to {see 
 Chatterton), ii. 31, 389. 
 
 Royal Academy, origin of, i. 205;?.; 
 Johnson Professor of Ancient Litera- 
 ture, 328. 
 
 Royal Marriage Act, i. 426 n. ; disap- 
 proved of by Johnson, 380. 
 
 Royal Society, i. 39/2.; Dryden's poem 
 on, quoted, 438. 
 
 Rudd, Margaret Caroline, i. 570;^.; ii. 
 52, 222. 
 
 Ruddiman, Thomas, i. 300, 421 ; ii. 250; 
 
 history of, i. 117 n. 
 Ruffhead, his Life of Pope, censured by 
 
 Johnson, i. 390. 
 Russell, Lord, i. 417 
 Russia, increase of population in, i. 348. 
 Russia, Empress of, present to Sir J. 
 
 Reynolds, ii. 249. 
 Rutland, Roger, Earl of, letter to, from 
 
 Lord Essex , i. 247. 
 Rutty, Dr. John, Quaker, his " Spiritual 
 
 Diary and Soliloquies," quoted, ii. 112. 
 
 SacHEVEREL, Dr., heard by Johnson, 
 
 i. 10. 
 
 St. Andrews, Johnson passes through, 
 i- 455- 
 
 St. Asaph, visited by Johnson, i. 466. 
 St. Asaph, Bishop of, ii. 507. 
 St. Basil, Epistle of, ii. 307. 
 St. Cas, i. 188 n. 
 
 St. Cloud, visited by Johnson, i. 537, 
 St. Denis, visited by Johnson, i. 538. 
 St. Germain, Library of, i. 538. 
 St. Germains, Benedictines of, Johnson 
 
 lodges with, i. 538. 
 St. James, General Epistle of, quoted, 
 
 ii. 483. 
 
 St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, i. 56. 
 
 St. Kilda, i. 258, 378 ; Rev. K. Macaulay's 
 
 " History of," 319, 379. 
 St. Luke, quoted, ii. 298. 
 St. Paul, i. 362 ; ii. 375 ; quoted, 197, 
 
 486. 
 
 St. Sepulchre, Ladies' Charity School, 
 ii. 454. 
 
 Salamanca, University of, praised by 
 
 Johnson, i. 260. 
 Salusbury, Hester Lynch, see Thrale, 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 Salusbury, Mrs., ii. 226; death of, i. 454. 
 Sallust, his account of Catiline, i. 5; 
 
 Spanish translation of, ii. 421. 
 Sanderson, Professor, i. 405. 
 Sandwich, Lord, 1. 65^.; li. 257«, 
 
604 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sans-terre, brewer, i. 536. 
 
 Saratoga, surrender of, ii. 240. 
 
 Sarpi. Father Paul, his " History of the 
 
 Council of Trent," i. 70, 71. 
 Sastres, Mr., ii. 14. 
 
 Satires, Johnson's and Oldham's, com- 
 pared, i. 61. 
 
 Savage, Richard, his character, i. 88 ; 
 his poverty, 88 ; his mfluence on 
 Johnson, 89; his history, 93-96; 
 letter to Lord Tyrconnel, 88 ?z. ; his 
 " Sir Thomas Overbury," ii. 75 ; his 
 " Wanderer," quoted, 481 ; Johnson's 
 Life of, i. 88, iii, 135 ; praised by "The 
 Champion," 92. 
 
 Sawbridge, Catherine, see Macaulay, 
 Catherine. 
 
 Scaliger, quoted, i. 25. 
 
 Scarsdale, Lord, ii. 105, 106. 
 
 Scotch Courts of Session, procedure in, 
 i. 471 
 
 Scotland, Church of, dissensions in, i. 378. 
 
 Scotland, Episcopal Church of, li. 250; 
 its liturgy, i. 387. 
 
 Scots Magazine, i. 57. 
 
 Scott, Archibald, i. ton. 
 
 Scott, John, of Amwell, i. 501; his 
 " Elegies," criticised by Johnson, 509. 
 
 Scott, Sir William (Lord Stowell), i. 
 265, 276; ii. 174, 207, 355, 519. 
 
 Seeker, Archliishop, Johnson's preju- 
 dice against, li. 314; quoted, i. 6. 
 
 Segued, Emperor of Abyssinia, i. 40. 
 
 " Sentinel, Th^," i. 399/2. 
 
 Settle, Elkanah, City-Poet, ii. 50. 
 
 " 1738," Satire by Pope, i. 65. 
 
 Sevigne, Madame de, ii. 33. 
 
 Seward, Anna, i. 43 ?2., 583; ii. 190, 194, 
 494; quotes "Acis and Galatea," 
 i6on.', reproaches [ohnson, 194; tells 
 story of learned pig, 538 ; letter to 
 Boswell, quoted, 1. 43/2.; her poems 
 praised by Johnson, ii. 510; quoted 
 1. II n. 
 
 Seward, Canon, i. 35/2., 582; ii. 277; 
 Johnson's opinion of, 99. 
 
 Seward, William, ii. 80, 82, 412, 435; 
 sees Johnson bow to the Archbishop 
 of York, 423; letter to, from Rev. Dr. 
 Parr, 571 n. 
 
 Shaftesbury, Earl of, i. 267. 
 
 Shakespeare, Jubilee at Stratford-on- 
 Avon, i. 329 ; " Modern Characters 
 from," pamphlet, ii. 170; his witches, 
 256; Johnson compares him to Coi- 
 neille, 304; Johnson's edition of, i. 
 286, 288, 406, 414; ii. 35; Johnson 
 criticises Sir T. Ilanmer's edition of, 
 Mrs. Montague's Essay on. Preface to 
 Capei's edition of, i. 97, 340 ; li. 298 ; 
 quoted, 170, 311, 341/-!., 342//., 557. 
 
 Sharp, Dr. John, his letter in "Gentle- 
 man's Magazine," quoted, i. 280. 
 
 Sharp, William, letter to, from Johnson, 
 ii. 82. 
 
 Sharpe, Rev. Gregory, sermon by, i. 366. 
 
 Sharpe, S., his " Letters on Italy," 
 praised by Johnson, ii. 34. 
 
 Shaw, Cuthbert, his portrait of Johnson 
 in " The Race," quoted, i. 307. 
 
 Shaw, Rev. Mr., ii. 142; his Erse Gram- 
 mar, 69; his Gaelic Dictionary, 457; 
 Johnson's defence of his pamphlet, 
 457- 
 
 Shebbeare, Dr., ii. 211 n., 434; his " Let- 
 ters on the English Nation," 368. 
 
 Sheffield, John, Duke of Buckingham- 
 shire, Johnson's Life of, quoted, ii.319. 
 
 Shelburne, Earl of, see Lansdowne, 
 Marquis of. 
 
 Shenstone, W., i. 33 ; his letter to Greaves 
 about Johnson, quoted, 572. 
 
 Sheridan, Charles, his "Account of the 
 late Revolution in Sweden," ii. 190. 
 
 Sheridan, Frances, Johnson's affection 
 for, i. 202 ; her " Memoirs of Miss 
 Sydney Biddulph," 219. 
 
 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, his marriage, 
 
 i. 520; poetical compliment to John- 
 son, quoted, ii. 75 ; proposed by John- 
 son at The Club, 75. 
 
 Sheridan, Thomas, i. 276; ii. i, 75,216, 
 253. 335, 355. 500. 509; Johnson's opin- 
 ion of, i. 202, 218, 259, 339, 365 ; ii. 435 ; 
 his quarrel with Johnson, i. 217,219; 
 his share in procuring Johnson's pen- 
 sion, 211; attacks Johnson in his 
 " Life of Swift," 219, 339; his pronun- 
 ciation, 385, 386; is called Sherry, 
 450; gives Home a gold medal, 489; 
 jolinson sends message to, ii. 440. 
 
 Sherlock, Bishop, his " Sermons," ii. 164. 
 
 Shiels, Mr., Johnson's amanuensis, i. 
 104; Johnson's kindness to, 134; 
 writes most of Gibber's " Lives of the 
 Poets," ii. 19; anecdote of, 24. 
 
 Shipley, Bishop, 1. 276; li. ib6; quotes 
 Plutarch, 169 ; Johnson's opinion of, 
 454- 
 
 Siam, King of, French Embassy to, ii. 
 226. 
 
 Sibbald, Sir Robert, Life of, ii. 150. 
 Siddons, Mrs., visits Johnson, ii. 451. 
 Sidney, Sir Philip, his " Profitable In- 
 structions," i. 247;/.; sonnet quoted, 
 
 ii. 86. 
 
 Simpson, Mr., of Lichfield, i. 35. 
 
 Simpson, joseph. his tragedy, " The 
 Patriot," ii. i3 ; letter to, from John- 
 son, i. 195. 
 
 Simpson, Thomas, mathematician, i. 
 198 n. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 605 
 
 Skene, Sir John.ii. 278 
 Sky, Isle of, visited by Johnson, i. 456, 
 479- 
 
 Smalbroke, Dr., of the Commons, i. 70. 
 
 Smallridge, his Sermons, ii. 164. 
 
 Smart, Christopher, the poet, writes for 
 " Universal Visiter," i. 171, 505 ; John- 
 son's opinion of, 224. 
 
 Smart, Mrs., letter to, from Johnson, ii. 
 528 «. 
 
 Smith, Dr. Adam, i. 257 276; ii. 223, 
 310, 416; his opinion of Johnson, i. 
 31; Johnson's opmion of, 244; his 
 "Wealth of Nations," 558; ii. 8«, ; 
 his attack on Oxford, 550/2. 
 
 Smith, Captain, ii. 244. 
 
 Smith, Edmund, Johnson's Life of, i. 
 ■35- 
 
 Smith, Rev. Mr., Vicar of Southill, ii. 
 378, 509- 
 
 Smollett, T., i. 2577/.; ii. 156; founds 
 " Critical Review," 21 ft. ; his letter to 
 Wilkes, i. 197. 
 
 Snowden, Johnson ascends, i. 466. 
 
 Society for encouragement of learning, i. 
 82 «. 
 
 Society of Artists, i. 205/2. 
 
 Society of Arts, 1. 205 n. 
 
 Society for Propagating Christian 
 
 Knowledge in Scotland, i. 304, 463. 
 Soho, near Birmingham, i. 577. 
 Solander, Dr., i. 374, 376, 377/2. 
 Solihull Grammar School, i. 37 72. 
 Somerville, Lord, tells anecdote of Pope, 
 
 ii. 327. 
 
 " Somnium," verses by Johnson, i. 24. 
 Sorbonne, visited by Johnson, i. 537. 
 South, Rev. R., his Sermons, i. 350; ii. 
 164* 
 
 Southill, Johnson stays at, i. 145 ; ii. 
 372. 
 
 Southwark, i. 283, 468 tt. ; Thrale's letter 
 to electors of, ii. 293. 
 
 Southwell, Lord, i. 134; Johnson's 
 opinion of, ii. 408. 
 
 " Spectator, The," i. iii, 332, 353 n., 407 ; 
 ii. 114, 153, 311, 316, 345, 354; dis- 
 cussed by Johnson, i. 418, 521 ; ii. 21, 
 29; epitaph from, quoted, 528/2. 
 
 Spence, Rev. Joseph , his " Anecdotes," 
 ii. 336. 
 
 Spencer, Lady Diana, wife of Topham 
 
 Beauclerk, i. 442/2. 
 Spencer, Lord, i. 276. 
 Spenser, Edmund, his "Fairy Queen," 
 
 T. Warton's observations on, ii. 299. 
 Spottiswoode, John, the younger, ii. 
 
 2l8. 
 
 " Stage, a complete Vindication of the 
 
 Licensers of," by Johnson, i. 75. 
 Stamp Act, speeches on the, i. 297 n. 
 
 Stanhope, Philip, Lord Chesterfield's 
 
 son, i. 149 //., 361 n. ; ii. 511. 
 Stanyan, Temple, traveller, ii. 240. 
 Staunton, Sir George, ii. 499 ; letter to, 
 
 from Johnson, i. 207. 
 Steele, J., his " Prosodia Rationalis," i. 
 
 493- 
 
 Steele, Mr., Secretary to the Treasury, i. 
 75- 
 
 Steele, Sir Richard, i. 353/2., 569/2.; ii. 
 21 ; anecdote of, 329, 355 ; his " Chris- 
 tian Hero," i. 569; quoted, 96 //., 284/2. 
 
 Steevens, George, i. 276, 353, 357, 360, 
 461, 488, 505/2., 524/2.; ii. 127, 239, 
 257 //., 259 ; has Johnson's dial-plate, i. 
 323; republishes Johnson's Shake- 
 speare, 414; helps Johnson with " Lives 
 of the Poets," ii. 319; gives particulars 
 concerning Johnson, 505; letters to, 
 from Johnson, i. 460; ii. 65. 
 
 Sterne, Rev. L., i. 395 ; his " Sentimental 
 Journey," ii. 316 //. ; Johnson's opinion 
 of, 366. 
 
 Stewart, Mr., Johnson's amanuensis, i. 
 104. 
 
 Stewart, Sir Annesley, ii. 346. 
 Still, Bishop, compared to Johnson, ii. 
 568 n. 
 
 Stillingfleet, Benjamin, ii. 365. 
 Stinton, Dr., ii. 186 ; his " Life of Seeker," 
 314- 
 
 Stirling, Corporation of, declared cor- 
 rupt, i. 523. 
 
 Stirling, road-bill in the county of, ii. 148. 
 
 Stockdale, Rev. Mr., i. 377 ; his " Re- 
 monstrance," 356. 
 
 Stopford, Hon. Colonel Edward, i. 524. 
 
 Stourbridge, Johnson educated at, i. 16. 
 
 Stowe, Richard, of Apsley, i. 89/2. 
 
 Strahan, Andrew, ii. 536. 
 
 Strahan, Mrs., i. 117; letters to, from 
 Johnson, ii. 360, 388. 
 
 Strahan, Rev. Mr., i. 311 /2. ; ii. 326,470; 
 publishes Johnson's " Prayers and 
 Meditations," 540 //. ; at Johnson's 
 death-bed, 566. 
 
 Strahan, William, i. 134, 161, 192, 309/2., 
 428, 465, 469, 483, 490, 491 ; ii. 62, 63, 
 147, 149, 172, 191, 223, 269, 286, 504, 536 ; 
 his difference with [ohnson, 245 ; his 
 letter to the Treasury, i. 369; letter to, 
 from Johnson, ii. 245. 
 
 Strahan, William, junior, death of, ii. 
 360. 
 
 Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare Jubilee, 
 
 i. 329; johnson visits, 572. 
 Streatham, Johnson at, ii. 147, 399. 
 Stuart, Andrew, his letters to Lord 
 
 Mansfield, i. 430. 
 Stuart, Clan of, i. 457. 
 Stuart, House of, i. 423. 
 
606 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Stuart, Rev. James, i. 305 n. 
 Stuart, Colonel James, ii. 268, 276. 
 Stuart, Hon. and Rev. William, ii. 
 423- 
 
 Stuart, Mr., of Dunearn, i. 399 
 "Student, The," a Miscellany, i. 116, 
 127. 
 
 Suetonius, quoted, ii. 189 
 
 Swift, Dean, i. 69, 139 n., 247, 406, 438 ft., 
 569 n. ; Johnson's opinion of him and 
 his works, 259, 326, 367,43472., 488 ; his 
 letter to Pope, quoted, ii. 209; quoted, 
 \.j6n., 531^2.; ii. 479 ; Johnson's Life 
 of, quoted, 335. 
 
 Swinfen, Dr., Johnson's god-father, i. 
 23^2., 35,37; ii. 147^-; betrays John- 
 son's confidence, i. 27. 
 
 Swinney, tells anecdote of Dryden, ii. 47. 
 
 Swinton, Rev. Mr., i, 153. 
 
 Sydenham, Dr., quoted, i. 77 ; Johnson's 
 Life of, 83. 
 
 Sydney, Algernon, i. 417. 
 
 Sydney, Lord, ii. 487;?.; his attack on 
 Johnson, 501. 
 
 Table, sinking, i. 534 n. 
 
 Tacitus, Johnson's opinion of, i. 404. 
 
 Talbot, Mrs. Catherine, writes in "The 
 Rambler," i. 112. 
 
 Tasso, his "Jerusalem," criticised by 
 Johnson, ii.'222. 
 
 "'Tatler, The," i. iii, 407/?., 569 
 
 "Tatler, The, Revived," i. iii. 
 
 " Taxation no Tyranny," pamphlet by 
 Johnson, i. 499; ii. 146; quoted, i. 
 485 ; ii. 134 ; praised by Orme, 190. 
 
 Taylor, " Demosthenes," Johnson's ac- 
 count of him.ii. 213. 
 
 Taylor, Jeremy, ii. 486. 
 
 Taylor, Mr., of Birmingham, i. 38. 
 
 Taylor, Rev. Dr., i. 132, 583; ii. 83; his 
 opinion of Lichfield School, i. 14; at 
 Oxford, 33; visited by Johnson, 36, 
 583, 587, 588 ; ii. 32, 88, 147, 158 ; tells 
 anecdote of Johnson, i. 92; reads MS. 
 of Plan of Dictionary, 102 ; meditates 
 between Johnson and Garrick, 109; 
 disi^utes with Johnson, ii. 102; his 
 friendship with Johnson, 120; John- 
 son writes sermons for him, 120; his 
 bull-dog, T26; gives Boswell informa- 
 tion about Johnson, 539; reads John- 
 son's burial service, 568 ; letters to, 
 from Johnson, i. 132; ii. 443, 469. 
 
 Temple, Sir William, i. 181, 434; ii. 221 ; 
 his style compared with Johnson's, i. 
 122; praised by Johnson, ii. 171. 
 
 Temple, Rev. Mr., i. 249, 443, 521 ; 
 meets Johnson, 293 ; writes Gray's 
 character, ii. 396; letter to Boswell, 
 quoted, i. 487. 
 
 Temple Bar, i. 436. 
 
 Testament, New Greek, quoted, i. 323. 
 Theobald, compared with Warburton 
 
 by Johnson, i. 184. 
 Theocritus, i. 31 ; compared with Virgil 
 
 by Johnson, ii. 295. 
 Thicknesse, P., his " Travels " com- 
 mended by Johnson, ii. 156. 
 Thomas, Nathaniel, ii. 61 n. 
 Thomas, Colonel, of the Guards, his 
 
 will quoted, ii. 433 ft. 
 Thomson, James, his poems, i. 519; 
 
 Johnson's opinion of, 259, 326; ii. 24 ; 
 
 quoted, i. 46. 
 Thomson, Rev. James, case against, in 
 
 the Court of Session, ii. 37-41. 
 Thornton, Bonnel, i. n6, 223; his mock 
 
 "Rambler," 121 n.\ his burlesque, 
 
 " Ode on St. Cecilia's Day," quoted, 
 
 238. 
 
 Thrale. Mr., i. 303, 329, 334, 378 418, 
 428, 432, 442, 464, 465, 467, 484, 493, 
 SOI, 507, 528, 529, 543, 556; u. 4, II, 
 14, 15, 18, 28, 86, 264, 267, 280, 282, 348 ; 
 family history, i. 283 ; High Sheriff 
 for Surrey, 28372.; his opinion of 
 French cookery, 540; death of his 
 only son, 583 ; rumor of his own death, 
 ii. 70; illness and partial recovery, 
 282, 289 ; contests Southwark, 293 ; 
 loses election, 294 ; his illness and re- 
 * moval to Grosvenor Square, 342 ; his 
 death, 350, 391; his brewery sold to 
 Barclay and Perkins, 351 382; his 
 letter to electors of Southwark, 293. 
 
 Thrale, Mrs., i. 3, 13, 99, 233, 236, 329, 
 334. 373. 377, 404 459. 464. 4^7. 468, 
 478, 493, 494. 526, 527, 528, 544, 556, 586, 
 589 ; ii. 4, 18, 19, 22, 28, 30, 86, 123, 142, 
 149, 150, 165, 211, 218, 232, 233, 245, 264, 
 280, 282, 342, 349, 371, 474, 538, 564; 
 her poem, " The Three Warnings," 
 i. 304; sells her correspondence with 
 Johnson, 314^^; her coarse mode of 
 flattery, 507 ; copies passages foi 
 Johnson, ii. 319; her affection for John- 
 son on the wane, 399 ; her engagr- 
 ment to Signor Piozzi, 515; her in- 
 accuracy, 516; imaginary ode to, 548: 
 her letters to Johnson, i. 277 ; ii. 283, 
 515; letters to, from Johnson, i. 277, 
 497 525 «. ; ii. 247,283-287, 427 
 
 444. 451. 453. 497. 498, 509. 546 
 554 «.; quoted, i. 29«., 30;?., 377;., 
 43«., 47 ff ., 133 ft', 270;/., 407 ii. 
 27/1., 226;/., 267 3547?., 501, 517- 
 520. 
 
 Thrale, the Misses, i. 544 ; ii. 282, 447 
 
 453- 
 Fhuanus, i. 5. 
 Thucydides, ii. 222. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 607 
 
 Thurlovv, Lord, i. 505; ii. 14; befriends 
 Macbean, i. 104; ii. 294; opinion on 
 the case of the Rev. James Thomson, 
 41 ; application to him to augment 
 Johnson's income, 507 ; offers to lend 
 Johnson journey money, 522; his 
 letter to Johnson, 294; to Boswell, 
 513 ; letter to, from Johnson, 522. 
 
 Thurot, ii. 361. 
 
 Tickell, T., i. 353 ; Life of, quoted, ii. 
 331. 
 
 Tillotson, Archbishop, his sermfns, ii. 
 164. 
 
 Tonson, bookseller, Johnson dines with, 
 
 i. 147 
 
 Tooke, J. Horne, censured by Johnson, 
 
 ii. 211; his "Letter to Mr. Dunning 
 on the English Particle," 239. 
 
 Toplady, Rev. Mr., i. 443, 447. 
 
 Topsel, Edward, his " History of Four- 
 footed Beasts and Animals," i. 73 n. 
 
 Torre, pyrotechnist, ii. 506. 
 
 Torrington family, vault of, in Southill 
 Church, i. 176. 
 
 Towers, Dr. Joseph, " Letter to Dr. 
 Samuel Johnson," quoted, i. 487 ; es- 
 say on Johnson, quoted, ii. 321 n. 
 
 Townshend, Right Hon. Charles, anec- 
 dote of, i. 425. 
 
 Townson, Rev. Dr., " Discourse on the 
 Evangelical History," i. 450 «. 
 
 Trecothick, Barlow, Lord Mayor, ii.- 50, 
 134. 
 
 Trianon, Johnson at the, i. 536. 
 Trimlestown, Lord, ii. 150, 151. 
 Tuilleries, The, Johnson at, i. 534. 
 Turk's Head Coffee House, Johnson 
 
 sups at, i. 255. 
 Turk's Head, meeting place of The Club, 
 
 i. 275. 
 
 Tursellinus, his " Life of St. Ignatius 
 
 Loyola," i. 34. 
 Turton, Dr., ii. 108. 
 
 Twalmley, " the Great," inventor of a 
 
 kind of box-iron, ii. 420. 
 Twiss, his " Travels in Spain," criticised 
 
 by Johnson, i. 505. 
 Tyburn, i. 342. 
 
 Tyers, Jonathan, founder of Vauxhall 
 Gardens, ii. 206. 
 
 Tyers, Thomas, i. 353 ; parodies a phrase 
 of Johnson's, 176 ; describes John- 
 son, ii. 206 ; history of, 206. 
 
 Tyrawley, Lord, i. 418. 
 
 Tyrconnel, Lord, i. 88«., 95. 
 
 Tytler, William, his vindication of Mary 
 Queen of Scots, i. 199; his letter to 
 Elphinston, quoted, 479. 
 
 Tytler, P. F., " History of Scotland," ii. 
 
 " Union, The," collection of Poems, i. 
 59 
 
 "Universal Chronicle, The," "Idler' 
 appears in, i. 184; )ohnson writes ad- 
 vertisement for, 195 //. 
 
 " Universal History," list of authors of, 
 written by Johnson, ii. 544. 
 
 " Universal Visitor, The," Johnson's Es- 
 says in, i. 171. 
 
 " Universal Visitor, The," extraordinary 
 contract with, i. 504. 
 
 Usher, Archbishop, praised by Johnson, 
 
 i. 367. 
 
 Uttoxeter, Johnson does penance there, 
 
 ii. 538. 
 
 Vallancy, Colonel, antiquary, ii. 471, 
 474- 
 
 Vanbrugh, Sir John, i. 317/?. 
 
 " Vanity of Human Wishes," i. 193, 291, 
 
 296, 352 ; ii. 132 ; publication of, i. 106 ; 
 
 quoted, 108. 
 Vansittart, Dr. Robert, of Oxford, i. 196, 
 
 406, 407 n. 
 Vauxhall Gardens, ii. 206. 
 Veal, Mrs., story of the ghost of, i. 387. 
 Versailles, visited by Johnson, i. 529, 
 
 535- 
 
 Verses to Lady Firebrace, by Johnson, i. 
 72. 
 
 Vertot, Rene Aubert, Sieur de, his 
 " Revolutions Romaines," i. 436. 
 
 Vesey, Mr., i. 276, 488 ; ii. 313. 
 
 Vestris, report of Johnson's taking danc- 
 ing lessons with, ii. 347. 
 
 Vilette, Rev. Mr., Chaplain of Newgate, 
 praised by Johnson, ii. 509. 
 
 Virgil, i. 31, 146,469; ii. 223; Johnson's 
 translation from, i. 17; edited by Dr. 
 Joseph Warton, 140?/.; compared with 
 Homer, ii. 129 ; with Theocritus, 295 ; 
 discussed, 437 ; quoted, i. 28, 264, 301, 
 365, 414 ; ii. 141 408, 420. 
 
 " Vision of Theodore the Hermit," by 
 Johnson, i. 106. 
 
 " Vitalis, Janus," quoted, ii. 167. 
 
 Voltaire, i. 161 294, 320, 340, 533, 542; 
 ii. 191, 223; his cruel jest on Admiral 
 Byng, i. 176; his comparison between 
 Pope and Dryden, 290 ; attacks John- 
 son in " Dictionnaire Philosophique," 
 287; his "Candide" compared with 
 " Rasselas," 192 ; ii. 240 ; quoted, i. 
 194, 249. 
 
 Vyse, Rev. Dr., letters to, from Johnson, 
 ii. 8i, 294 «. ; his letter to Boswell, 82. 
 
 WalDEGRAVE, Ladies, Reynolds' por- 
 trait of, i. 189 fi. 
 Wales, Johnson's impression 01, 1. 466. 
 
608 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Walker, Joseph Cooper, i. i8o; his letter 
 to Boswell, quoted, ii. 73 
 
 Walker, Mr., master of elocution, his 
 conversation with Johnson, ii. 428. 
 
 Wall, Dr., physician at Oxford, ii. 485. 
 
 Waller, Edmund, quoted, i. 515 ; ii. 
 320, 483;?.; Life of, in " Biographia 
 Britannica," quoted, 219 n. ; Johnson's 
 Life of, quoted, 320. 
 
 Walmsley, Gilbert, eulogized by John- 
 son, in " Lives of Poets," i. 35 ; con- 
 sulted by Johnson about " Irene," 49 ; 
 his prediction about Johnson, 110 ; his 
 letter to Rev. J. Colson, 50. 
 
 Walpole, Horace, i. 189 257 ;;. ; con- 
 tributes to " The World," 144^2.; sale 
 of his pictures, ii. 512; Johnson on, 
 499; his "Reminiscences," i. 503;?.; 
 his account of Dr. Dodd, ii. 91 ; 
 his collection of bon mots, 128 n. ; his 
 Memoirs of the Reign of George IIL, 
 499 «. ; quoted, i. 234 n., 391 n. ; ii. 
 417 n., 423 n., 487 n. ; his Letters, i. 
 226 n., 430 500 n., quoted, 84 n. 
 
 Walpole, Sir R., i. 75 n. ; ii. 159, 499 ; 
 Johnson on, i. 68, 408 ; ii. 36, 348. 
 
 Walton, Izaak, i. '517; his "Complete 
 Angler," 73^.; his Lives, 464, 466, 
 568 ; ii. 69 ; praised by Johnson, i. 517. 
 
 Warburton, Bishop, i. 309??., 390^.; ii. 
 481 ; his compliment to Johnson, i. 97 ; 
 his friendly message to Johnson, 147 ; 
 compared by Johnson with Theobald, 
 184 ; controversy with Lowth, 311 ; on 
 Mallet's "Life of Bacon," 129; his! 
 style of comment, 207;?.; tribute to, 
 from Johnson, 326; his " Divine Lega- 
 tion," 326; his letter to Dr. Birch, 
 quoted, i. 3. 
 
 Ward, well-known quack, ii. 261. 
 
 Wardlaw, Lady, her ballad of Hardy- 
 knute, i. 341. 
 
 Warley Camp, Johnson visits, ii. 243. 
 
 Warren, Dr., Johnson's physician, i. 276 ; 
 ii. 556, 564. 
 
 Warren, John, of Pembrokeshire, i. 41. 
 
 Warren, Mr., bookseller, i. 38, 41. 
 
 Warton, Rev. Joseph, i. 6o«., 276, 309;?., 
 313; ii. 247; his Essay on Pope, 
 praised by Johnson, i. 257, 390; ii. 152; 
 letters to, from Johnson, i. 140, 358. 
 
 Warton, Thomas, the elder. Professor of 
 Poetry, i. 140 
 
 Warton, Rev. T., the younger, i. 6o«., 
 140/?., 276; his account of Johnson's 
 visit to Oxford, 151 ; his poem, " The 
 Progress of Discontent," 158;/. ; elected 
 Professor of Poetry at Oxford, 181 n. ; 
 writes in "The Idler," 185; visited by 
 Johnson, 568; Johnson criticises his 
 poetry, ii. 104; his History of EngHsh 
 
 Poetry, 189 n. ; his dispute with Hug- 
 gins about Ariosto, 299 ; his witty say- 
 ing, 499; letters to, from Johnson, 
 quoted, i. 151, 154, 155, 156, 158, 181, 
 187, 328, 357. 
 
 Watson, Dr., Bishop of Llandaff, his 
 " Chemical Essays," ii. 372. 
 
 Watts, Dr. Isaac, his poems, ii. 249; 
 criticised by Johnson, i. 175 ; ii. 82, 
 242; Johnson's Life of, 249. 
 
 Webster, Rev, Dr. Alexander, i. 459, 460, 
 461 ;# his account of parishes in Scot- 
 land, 460 n. 
 
 Wedderburne, Alexander (Lord Lough- 
 borough), i. 523; his pronunciation, 
 217 ; ii. I ; helps Johnson to his pension, 
 
 i. 210, 211, 212. 
 
 " Weekly Miscellany," quoted, i. 70 «. 
 
 Welch, Anne, ii. 144. 
 
 W^elch, Saunders, ii. 269; his intimacy 
 
 with Johnson, 143, 145 n. ; anecdote of, 
 
 415 ; letter to, from Johnson, 144. 
 Wentworth, Mr., Master at Stourbridge 
 
 School, i. 16, 17. 
 Wesley, Rev. John, believes Newcastle 
 
 ghost story, ii. 198 ; Johnson's opinion 
 
 of his conversation, 153 ; quoted, i. 
 
 3627?,; letter to, from Johnson, ii. 265. 
 West, G., his translation of Pindar 
 
 criticised by Johnson, ii. 313. 
 Westmoreland, Earl of, i. 196 «. 
 Wetherell, Dr., Master of University 
 
 College, Oxford, i. 512; Johnson calls 
 
 on, 565; dines with, ii. 495; letter to, 
 
 from Johnson, i. 554. 
 Wheatley, near Oxford, johnson at, ii. 
 
 494. 
 
 Wheeler, Rev. Dr., ii. 291 ; letter to, from 
 
 Johnson, 246. 
 Whitaker, Rev. J., i. 353 n. ; his " History 
 
 of Manchester," ii. 224. 
 White, Rev. Dr., Bishop of Episcopal 
 
 Church in Virginia, letter to, from 
 
 Johnson, i. 416. 
 Whitefield, George, the preacher, i. 33 ; 
 
 Johnson's opinion of his oratory, 335 ; 
 
 "ii. 274. 
 
 Whitefoord, Caleb, his amusing essays, 
 
 ii. 504. 
 
 Whitehead, Paul, Johnson's .prejudice 
 against, i. 65. 
 
 Whitehead, William, Poet Laureate, i. 
 102; Mason's Memoirs of, 5; his 
 Elegy to Lord Villiers, quoted, ii. 370. 
 
 "Whole Duty of Man," Johnson dis- 
 cusses authorship of, i. 437. 
 
 Wickins, Lichfield draper, his anecdote 
 of Johnson, i. 225;/. 
 
 Wight, Mr., counsel in Negro cause, ii. 
 141 V. 
 
 Wilcox, Mr., bookseller, i. 50//. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 609 
 
 Wilkes, Friar, i. 538. 
 
 Wilkes, Dr., his Epitaph on Phillips, 
 quoted, i. 79. 
 
 Wilkes, John, i. 65;?., 70, 223, 293, '331 ; 
 essay in " The Public Advertiser," 168 ; 
 befriends Francis Barber, 197; John- 
 son writes against, 355 ; meets John- 
 son at the Dillys', ii. 41-52; Johnson 
 on, 121 ; his conversation with Bos- 
 well, 149; his attack on Garrick, 259; 
 his conduct during the Gordon riots, 
 286, 287; repeats repartee of Pope's, 
 326; his conversation with Johnson, 
 361-364 ; tells sentimental anecdote, 
 521 n. ; letter to, from Dr. Smollett, i. 
 197. 
 
 Willes, Chief justice, ii. 362. 
 William III., Johnson's opinion of, i. 
 449. 502. 
 
 Williams, Anna, i. 135, 141, 378, 428; 
 her account of Mrs. Johnson, 44 n. ; 
 lives with Johnson, 129, 290; her in- 
 timacy with Johnson, 239, 266; with 
 Johnson at Oxford, 329 ?t. ; her dex- 
 terity in making tea, 346; petitioner 
 for Hetherington's charity, 468 ; John- 
 son's forbearance with, ii. 16, 43, 230; 
 angry with the Thrales, 34 ; dines with 
 Dr. Percy, 180; her illness, 61, 63, 80, 
 84, 86, 140, 245, 406 ; her death, 447 ; 
 her writings, i. 79, 303 ; Johnson's tale 
 in her " Miscellanies," 432. 
 
 Williams, Helen Maria, complimented 
 by Johnson, ii. 477. 
 
 Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury, i. 308. 
 
 Williams, Dr. Zachariah, Johnson writes 
 a pamphlet for, i. 153 n., 169. 
 
 Wilson, case of, Johnson's opinion on, 
 i.409. 
 
 Wilson, Father, i. 532. 
 
 Wilson, Rev. Mr., dedicates to Johnson 
 his " Archaeological Dictionary," ii. 
 400 ; letter to, from Johnson, 400. 
 
 Wilton, Joseph, R.A., i. 461. 
 
 Windham, Right Hon. William, i. 276, 
 480; ii. 239. 415, 459, 473, 519, 527; at 
 
 Vol. II. —39 
 
 Johnson's death-bed, 564, 566; pall- 
 bearer, 568; letters to, from Johnson, 
 442, SSI- 
 Windsor, visited by Johnson, i. 138. 
 "Winter's Walk, The," by Johnson, 
 
 quoted, i. 98. 
 Wirgman's toy-shop in St. James's Street, 
 ii. 217. 
 
 Wirtemberg, Prince of, anecdote of, i. 
 399- 
 
 Wise, F., Radclivian librarian, i. 152. 
 Wofifington, Peg, anecdote of, ii. 176. 
 Wood, Antony a, quoted, i. 24. 
 Woodhouse, the poetical shoemaker. 
 
 criticised by Johnson, i. 364. 
 " World, The," i. 144, 145 ; Johnson's 
 
 opinion of, 239. 
 " World Displayed, The," Introduction 
 
 to, by Johnson, i. 195. 
 Wraxall, N. W., ii. 285; his Memoirs, 
 
 quoted, 409 «. 
 Wray, Sir Cecil, ii. 466 «. 
 Wyndham, Sir William, letter from 
 
 Bolingbroke to, quoted, ii. 156 
 
 Xenophon, his " Treatise of Economy," 
 ii. 62. 
 
 Xerxes, i. 429 ; n. 133. 
 
 Yalden, poems by, ii. 249. 
 
 Yonge, Sir William, i. 386; writes Epi- 
 logue to " Irene," 109. 
 
 York, Edward, Duke of, i. 288. 
 
 Young, Dr., i. 119; ii. 167; his "Uni- 
 versal Passion," 334; his "Satires," 
 374 «. ; his " Night Thoughts," i. 344; 
 ii. 334; quoted, 108, 205, 362, 488 ; life 
 of, by Sir Herbert Croft, 332. 
 
 Young, Professor, imitates Johnson, ii. 
 551- 
 
 Young, son of the poet, ii. 372. 
 Yvery, House of, ii. 423. 
 
 Zeck, George and Luke, i. 291. 
 Zon, Mr., His Excellency, Venetian Resi- 
 dent, i. 153. 
 
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