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THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

ASTOR,  LENOX  AND 
Til AV-N  FOUNDATIONS. 


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7 


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THE    LIFE 


or 


SAMUEL     JOHNSON,   LL.  D. 


WCLUDINO 


A  JOURNAL  OF  A  TOUR  TO  THE   HEBRIDES. 


BY  JAMES   BOSWELL,    ESQ. 


A    NEW    EDITIO.N. 
WITH   NUMEROUS   ADDITIONS  AND   NOTES, 

BT 

JOHN  WILSON  CROKER,  LL.D.  F.R.S. 


Qui  fit  vt  oiiHii 

Votivt  pateat  veloti  descripta  tabellt 

Vita  imii Hobat.  1  S«t  lib.  B. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I.       * 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED  BY  CARTER,  HENDEE  AND  CO. 


1  832.  -  Digitized  by  GoCK 


If? 


pFHENEW  ^OR* 

|  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

529071 
*****  LO,0VJL.  i 

TtUD&i  FOUNDATION* 

RT,UW  1911      _Li 


BOSTON: 

1.    B.    aiMCKLKY    AND    CO.,    FBI  NT  BBS, 
WO.     14     WATER    BTBKET. 


PRESS  OFG.Ii.  ADAMS  A  SON, 
Ho.  llf  D«v<m*Iilre  Street. 


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PREFACE. 


It  were  superfluous  to  expatiate  on  the  merits,  at  least  as  a  source  of  amuse- 
ment, of  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson.  Whatever  doubts  may  have  existed  as 
to  the  prudence  or  the  propriety  of  the  original  publication — however  naturally 
private  confidence  was  alarmed,  or  individual  vanity  offended,  the  voices  of 
criticism  and  complaint  were  soon  drowned  in  the  general  applause.  And  no  i 
wonder:  the  work  combines  within* itself  the  four  most  entertaining  classes  of 
writing — biography,  memoirs,  familiar  letters,  and  that  assemblage  of  literary 
anecdotes  which  the  French  have  taught  us  to  distinguish  by  the  termination  Ana.* 

It  was  originally  received  with  an  eagerness  and  relished  with  a  zest  whi<j|F" 
undoubtedly  were  sharpened  by  the  curiosity  which  the  unexpected  publication 
of  the  words  and  deeds  of  so  many  persons  still  living  could  not  but  excite. 
But  this  motive  has  gradually  become  weaker,  and  may  now  be  said  to  be  ex- 
tinct; yet  we  do  not  find  that  the  popularity  of  the  work,  though  somewhat 
changed  in  quality,  is  really  diminished;  and  as  the  interval  which  separates 
us  from  the  actual  time  and  scene  increases,  bo  appear  to  increase  the  interest 
and  delight  which  we  feel  at  being  introduced,  as  it  were,  into  that  distinguished 
society  of  which  Dr.  Johnson  formed  the  centre,  and  of  which  his  biographer  is 
the  historian. 

But  though  every  year  thus  adds  something  to  the  interest  and  instruction 
which  this  work  affords,  something  is,  on  the  other  hand,  deducted  from  the 
amusement  which  it  gives,  by  the  gradual  obscurity  that  time  throws  over  the 
persons  and  incidents  of  private  life :  many  circumstances  known  to  all  the  world 
when  Mr.  Boswell  wrote,  are  already  obscure  to  the  beat  informed,  and  wholly 
forgotten  by  the  rest  of  mankind  !. 

For  instance,  when  he  relates  (vol.  i.  p.  90.)  that  a  "  great  personage  "  called 
the  English  Divines  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  "  Gtants,"  we 
guess  that  George  III.  was  the  great  personage;  but  all  the  editor's  inquiries 
(and  some  of  His  Majesty's  illustrious  family  have  condescended  to  permit  these 
inquiries  to  extend  even  to  them)  have  failed  to  ascertain  to  what  person  or  on 
what  occasion  that  happy  expression  was  used. 

Again:  When  Mr.  Boswell's  capricious  delicacy  induced  him  to  suppress 
names  and  to  substitute  such  descriptions  as  "an  eminent  friend,"  "a  young 
gentleman,"  "  a  distinguished  orator,"  these  were  well  understood  by  the  so- 
ciety of  the  day;  but  it  is  become  necessary  to  apprize  the  reader  of  our  times, 
that  Mr.  Burke,  Mr.  Sheridan,  and* Mr.  Fox,  were  respectively  meant.  Nor 
is  it  always  easy  to  appropriate  Mr.  Boswell's  circumlocutory  designations.  It 
will  be  seen  in  tha  course -of  this  work,  that  several  of  them  have  become  so  ob- 
scure that  even  the  surviving  members  of  the  Johnsonian  society  are  unable  to 
recollect  who  were  meant,  and  'it  was  qb  ode  of  these  occasions  that  Sir  James 
Mackintosh  told  the  editor  that  "his  work  had,  at  least,  not  come. too  soon." 

Mr.  Boswell's  delicacy  is  termed  capricious ,  because  he  is  on  some  occasions 
candid  even  to  indiscretion,  and  on  others  unaccountably  mysterious.     In  the 

1  "  Dr.  JohiMon  talked  with  approbation  of  an  intended  edition  of  the  Spectator,  with  notes. 
He  observed  that  all  works  which  describe  manners  require  notes  in  sixty  or  seventy  yean  or 
less."  Post,  vol.  L  pp.  804-5.  And  Dean  Swift  wrote  to  Pope  on  the  subject  of  the  Duncisd,  "  I 
eonld  wish  the  notes  to  be  very  large  in  what  relates  to  the  persons  concerned;  for  I  have  long 
observed,  that  twenty  miles  from  London  nobody  understands  hints,  initial  letters,  or  town  facta  or 
,  and  in  a  Jew  years  not  even  those  who  live  in  London."    Lett*  10,  July,  1TI8.— Ep.] 

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iy  PREFACE. 

report  of  a  conversation  he  will  dearly  designate  half  the  interlocutors,  while 
the  other  half,  without  any  apparent  reason,  he  casts  into  studied  obscurity. 

Considering  himself  to  be  (as  he  certainly  has  been  to  a  greater  degree  than 
he  could  have  contemplated)  one  of  the  distributors  of  fame,  he  has  sometimes 
indulged  his  partialities  or  prejudices '  by  throwing  more  or  less  light,  and  lights 
more  or  less  favourable,  on  the  different  persons  of  his  scene  ;  some  of  whom 
he  obtrudes  into  broad  day,  while  others  he  only  "  adumbrates"  by  imperfect  al- 
lusions. But  many,  even  of  those  the  most  clearly  designated  and  spoken  of 
as  persons  familiar  to  every  ear,  have  already  lived  their  day,  and  are  hardly 
to  be  heard  of  except  in  these  volumes.  Yet  these  volumes  must  be  read  with 
imperfect  pleasure,  without  some  knowledge  of  the  history  of  those  more  than 
half  forgotten  persons. 

Facts,  too,  fade  from  memory  as  well  as  names;  and  fashions  and  follies  are 
still  more  transient.  But,  in  a  book  mainly  composed  of  familiar  conversation, 
how  large  a  portion  must  bear  on  the  facts,  the  follies,  and  the  fashions  of  the 
time  ! 

To  clear  up  these  obscurities — to  supply  these  deficiencies — to  retrieve  obso- 

te  and  to  collect  scattered  circumstances — and  so  to  restore  to  the  work  as 

ch  as  possible  of  its  original  clearness  and  freshness,  have  been  the  main  ob- 
fcts  of  the  editor.  He  is  but  too  well  aware  how  unequal  he  is  to  the  task, 
and  how  imperfectly  he  has  accomplished  it.  But  as  the  time  was  rapidly  pass- 
ing away  in  which  any  aid  could  be  expected  from  Jhe  contemporaries  of  John- 
son, or  even  of  Bos  well,  the  editor  determined  to  undertake  the  wcrk — believing 
that,  however  ill  he  might  perform  it,  he  should  still  do  it  better  than,  twenty 
years  hence,  it  could  be  done  by  any  diligence  of  research  or  any  felicity  of 
conjecture. 

But  another  and  more  striking  object  of  this  edition  is  the  incorporation  with 
BoswelPs  Life  of  numerous  other  authentio  works  connected  with  the  biography 
of  Johnson:  as  this  is,  as  far  as  the  editor  knows,  a  novel  attempt,  and  as  it  must 
give  his  work  somewhat  of  a  confused  and  heterogeneous  appearance,  he  thinks 
it  necessary  to  state  some  of  the  reasons  which  induced  him  to  adopt  so  unusual 
a  course. 

The  first  and  most  cogent  is  the  authority  of  Mr.  Boswell  himself ;  who  in 
his  original  edition  inserted,  and  in  his  subsequent  editions  continued  to  add, 
letters,  memoranda*,  notes,  and  anecdotes  collected  from  everv  quarter;  but 
the  appearance  of  his  work  was  so  long  delayed,  that  Sir  John  Hawkins,  Mrs. 
Piozzi,  Dr.  Strahan,  Mr.  Tyers,  Mr.  Nichols,  and  many  others,  had  anticipated 
much  of  what  he  would  have  been  glad  to  tell.  Some  squabbles  about  copy- 
right had  warned  him  that  he  must  not  avail  himself  of  their  publications';  and 

1  Mr.  Boswell  confesses  that  he  has  sometimes  been  influenced  by  the  subsequent  conduct  of  per* 
tons  in  exhibiting  or  suppressing  Dr.  Johnson's  unfavourable  opinion  of  them. — See  the  canes  of 
J  ord  Monboddo,  vol.  L  p.  265,  and  of  Mr.  Sheridan,  vol.  i.  p.  260;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  he  has  sometimes 
done  so  without  confessing,  perhaps  without  being  conscious  of  the  prejudice.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  is  sometimes  more  amiably  guilty  of  extenuation,  as  in  the  instances  of  Doctors  Robertson  and 
Beattie,  vol.  L  p.  237,  247,  299,  and  314. 

It  is  not  easy  to  explain  why  Mr.  Boswell  was  unfavourably  disposed  towards  Sheridan  and  Gold- 
smith, though  the  bias  is  obvious;  but  wholly  unaccountable  are  the  frequent  ridicule  and  censure 
which  he  delighted  to  provoke  and  to  record  against  his  inoffensive  and  amiable  friend  Mr. 
Langton. 

Those  who  knew  Mr.  Boswell  intimately,  inform  us  (as  indeed  he  himself  involuntarily  does) 
that  bis  vanity  was  very  sensitive,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  personal  pique  tinged  many  pas- 
sages of  his  book,  which,  whenever  the  editor  could  trace  it,  he  has  not  failed  to  notice. — Ed. 

*  On  the  use  of  this  Latinwm,  the  editor  ventures  to  repeat  a  pleasant  anecdote  told  by  the 
Bishop  of  Ferns.  The  late  Lord  Avonmore,  giving  evidence  relative  to  certain  certificates  of 
degrees  in  the  University  of  Dublin,  called  them  (as  thev  are  commonly  called)  "  Testimoni- 
um*." As  the  clerk  was  writing  down  tbe  word,  one  of  the  counsel  said,  '<  Should  it  not  be  rather 
testimonia  7  "  '<  Yes,"  replied  Loid  Avonmore,  "  if  yon  think  it  better  English!**  This  pleas- 
antry contains  a  just  grammatical  criticism;  but  memoranda  has  of  late  been  so  generally  used  as 
an  English  plural  that  the  editor  has  ventured  to  retain  it — Ed. 

*  It  is  a  curious  proof  of  these  jealousies,  that  Mr.  Boswell  entered  at  Stationers'  Hail  as  distinct 

•      Digitized  by  LiOOQ IC 


PREFACE.  T 

he  was  on  such  had  terms  with  his  rival  biographers  that  he  could  not  expect  any 
assistance  or  countenance  from  them.  He  nevertheless  went  as  far  as  he  thought 
the  law  would  allow  in  making  frequent  quotations  from  the  preceding  publica- 
tions; but  as  to  all  the  rest,  which  he  did  not  venture  to  appropriate  to  his  own 
use, — the  grapes  tsere  sour — and  he  took  every  opportunity  of  representing  the 
anecdotes  of  his  rivals  as  extremely  inaccurate  and  generally  undeserving  of 
credit. 

It  is  certain  that  none  of  them  have  attained — indeed  they  do  not  pretend  to 
— that  extreme  verbal  accuracy  with  which  Mr.  Boswell  had,  by  great  zeal  and 
diligence,  learned  to  record  conversations;  nor  in  the  details  of  facts  are  they 
so  precise  as  Mr.  Boswell  with  good  reason  claims  to  be. 

Mr.  Boswell  took,  indeed,  extraordinary  and  most  laudable  pains  to  attain 
accuracy1.  Not  only  did  he  commit  to  paper  at  night  the  conversation  of  the 
day,  but  even  in  general  society  he  would  occasionally  take  a  note  of  any  thing 
remarkable  that  occurred;  and  he  afterwards  spared  no  trouble  in  arranging 
and  supplying  the  inevitable  deficiencies  of  these  hasty  memoranda. 

But,  after  all,  Mr.  Boswell  himself  is  not  exempt  from  these  errors— 

quas  ant  incnria  fudit, 

Ant  humana  parum  cavit  nature; 

and  an  attentive  examination  and  collation  of  the  authorities  (and  particularly 
of  Mr.  BoswelPs  own)  have  convinced  the  editor  that  the  minor  biographers  are 
entitled  not  merely  to  more  credit  than  Mr.  Boswell  allows  them,  but  to  as  much 
as  any  person  writing  from  recollection,  and  not  from  notes  made  at  the  moment, 

can  be.  '»«■«. 

As  Mr.  Boswell  had  borrowed  much  from  Sir  J.  Hawkins  and  Mrs.  Piozzi, 
the  editor  has  thought  himself  justified  in  borrowing,  more ;  and  he  has  therefore 
(as  he  thinks  Mr.  Boswell  would  have  done  if  he  could)  incorporated  with  tha 
text  nearly  the  whole  of  Mrs.  Piozzi'g  Anecdotes,  and  such  passages  of  Haw* 
kins'  "Life"  and*'  Collection  of  Anecdotes"  as  relate  to  circumstances  which  Mr. 
Boswell  had  either  not  mentioned  at  all,  or  touched  upon  imperfectly. 

The  same  use  has  been  made  of  several  other  publications,  particularly  Mur- 
phy's Essay  on  the  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Tyers'  eccentric  but  amusing 
Sketch,  and  Mr.  Nichols'  contributions  to  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  a  publi- 
cation which,  under  that  gentleman's  superintendence,  was  of  peculiar  authority 
in  all  that  relates  to  Dr.  Johnson.  r 

The  editor  had  another  important  object  in  adopting  this  incorporation.  .Not- 
withstanding the  diligence  and  minuteness  with  which  Mr.  BosweJl  detailed  what 
he  saw  of  Dr.  Johnson's  life,  his  work  left  large  chasms.  It  must  be  recollected 
that  ttiey  never  resided  in  the  same  neighbourhood,  and  that  the  detailed  account 
of  Johnson's  domestic  life  and  conversation  is  limited  to  the  opportunities  afforded 
by  Mr  BoswelPs  occasional  visits  to  London— by  the  Scottish  Tour— and  by 
one  meeting  at  Dr.  Taylor's,  in  Derbyshire.     Of  above  twenty  years,  therefore, 

Mbtications,  Dr.  Johnson's  Letter  to  Lord  Chesterfield,  and  the  acconnt  of  his  Conversa- 
tion with   Qeorge  III.,  which  occupy  a  few  pages  of  the  Life.— Ed. 

>  Mr.  Wordsworth  has  obligingly  furnished  the  editor  with  the  following  copy  of  a  note  in  a  blank 
page  of  his  copy  of  BoswelPs  work,  dictated  and  signed  in  Mr.  Wordsworth's  presence  by  the  late 
.  Sir George  Beaumont,  whose  own  accuracy  was  exemplary,  and  who  lived  very  much  m  the  society 
of  Johr-on's  latter  days.  .*««-*  iltM  «* 

•«  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  told  me  at  his  table,  immediately  after  the  publication  of  thu  book, 
that  every  word  of  it  might  be  depended  upon  as  if  given  on  oath.  Boswell  was  m(A« 
habit  of  bringing  the  proof  sheets  to  his  house  previously  to  their  being  ^truck^T,  ana  \f 
any  of  the  company  happened  to  have  been  present  at  the  conversation  recorded,  he  re- 
quested him  or  them  to  correct  any  error;  and  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  would  run  over  all 
London  for  the  sake  of  verifying  any  single  word  which  m^h\^i^^AUMOjrr^ 

Although  it  cannot  escape  notice,  that  Sir  Joshua  is  here  reported  to  nave  drawn  a  somewhat 
wider  inference  than  the  premises  warranted,  the  general  testimony  is  satisfactory,  and  it  n  to  a 
conakierable  often!  eofioborated  by  every  kind  of  evidence,  external  and  internal--**. 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


vi  PREFACE. 

that  their  acquaintance  lasted,  periods  equivalent  in  the  whole  to  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  year  only l  fell  under  the  personal  notice  of  Bosioell — and  thus  has 
been  left  many  a  long  hiatus — valde  dejbndus,  but  now,  alas,  quite  irreparable ! 

Mr.  Bos  well  endeavoured,  indeed,  to  fill  up  these  chasms  as  well  as  he  could 
with  Johnson's  letters  to  his  absent  friends;  but  much  the  largest,  and,  for  this 
purpose,  the  most  valuable  part  of  his  correspondence,  was  out  of  his  reach; 
namely,  that  which  Dr.  Johnson  for  twenty  years  maintained  with  Mrs.  Thrale, 
and  which  she  published  in  1788,  in  two  volumes  octavo.  For  the  copyright  of 
these,  Mr.  Boswell  says,  in  a  tone  of  admiring  envy,  IC  she  received  five  hun- 
dred pounds."  The  publication,  however,  was  not  very  successlul-^it  uc-ver 
reached  a  second  edition,  and  is  now  almost  forgotten.  But  through  these  let- 
ters are  scattered  almost  the  only  information  we  have  relative  to  Johnson  during 
the  long  intervals  between  Mr.  Bodwell's  visits;  and  from  them  he  has  occasion- 
ally but  cautiously  (having  the  fear  of  the  copyright  law  before  his  eyes)  made 
interesting  extracts. 

These  letters  being  now  public  property,  the  editor  has  been  at  liberty  to  fol- 
low up  Mr.  Boswell's  imperfect  example,  and  he  has  therefore  made  numerous 
and  copious  selections  from  them,  less  as  specimens  of  Johnson's  talents  for 
letter-writing,  than  as  notices  of  his  domestic  and  social  life  during  the  intervals 
of  Mr.  Boswell's  narrative.  Indeed,  as  letters,  few  of  Johnson's  can  have  any 
great  charm  for  the  common  reader;  'they  are  full  of  good  sense  and  go<  d  na- 
ture, but  in  forms  too  didactic  and  ponderous  to  be  very  amusing.  If  the  tditor 
could  have  ventured  to  mate  so  great  an  alteration  in  Mr.  Boswell's  original 
plan,  he  would— instead  of  adding  so  many  letters* — have  been  inclined  to  have 
omitted  all,  except  those  which  might  be  remarkable  for  some  peculiar  merit, 
or  which  might  tend  to  complete  the  history  of  Johnson's  life.  In  the  large  ex- 
tracts which  have  been  made  from  Mrs.  Thrale's  correspondence,  he  has  been 
guided  entirely  by  this  latter  object. 

The  most  important  addition,  however,  which  the  editor  has  made,  is  one  that 
needs  no  apology — he  has  incorporated  with  the  Life  the  whole  of  the  To  or 
to  the  Hebrides,  which  Mr.  Boswell  published  in  one  volume  in  1785,  and 
which,  no  doubt,  if  he  could  legally  have  done  so,  he  would  himself  have  in- 
corporated in  the  Life — of  which  indeed  he  expressly  tells  us,  he  looks  on  the 
Tour  but  as  a  portion.  It  is  only  wonderful,  that  since  the  copyright  has  ex- 
pired, any  edition  of  the  Life  of  Johnson  should  have  been  published  without  the 
addition  of  this,  the  most  original,  curious,  and  amusing  portion  of  the  whole 
biography. 

The  Prayers  and  Meditations,  published  with  rather  too  mueh  haste  after 
Johnson's  death  by  Dr.  Strahan,  have  also  been  made  use  of  to  an  extent  which 
was  forbidden  to  Mr.  Boswell.     What  Dr.  Strahan  calls  Meditations  *  are,  in  fact, 

1  It  appears  from  the  Life,  that  Mr.  Boswell  visited  England  a  dozen  times  daring  his  acquaint- 
ance with  Dr.  Johnson,  and  that  the  number  of  days  on  which  they  met  were  about  180,  to  which 
is  to  be  added  the  time  of  the  Tottr,  during  which  they  met  daily  from  the  18th  August,  to 
the  22d  November,  1773;  in  the  whole  about  276  days.  The  number  of  pages  in  the  late  edi- 
tions of  the  two  works  is  2528,  of  which,  1320  are  occupied  by  the  history  of  these  276  days;  so 
that  little  lets  than  an  hundredth  part  of  Dr.  Johnson's  life  occupies  above  one  half  of  Mr. 
Boswell  V  works.  Every  one  must  regret  that  his  personal  intercourse  with  his  great  friend  was  not 
more  frequent  or  more  continued;  but  the  editor  could  do  but  little  towards  rectifying  this  dispro- 
portion, except  by  the  insertion  of  the  correspondence  with  Mrs.  Thrale. — En. 

*  The  number  of  original  letters  in  this  edition  is  about  100 — the  number  of  those  collected  from 
various  publications  (including  the  extracts  from  Mrs.  Piozzi's)  is  about  200.— -Ed. 

3  These  Meditations  have  been  the  cause  of  much  ridicule  and  some  obloquy,  which  would  be 
not  wholly  undeserved  if  it  were  true,  as  Dr.  Strahan  thoughtlessly  gave  the  world  to  suppose,  tliat 
they  were  arranged  by  Dr.  Johnson,  and  delivered  to  Dr.  Strahan  for  the  express  purpose  of  publi- 
cation. An  inspection  of  the  original  manuscripts  (now  properly  and  fortunately  lodged  in  Pembroke 
College)  has  convinced  the  editor  (and,  as  he  is  glad  to  find,  every  body  else  who  has  examined 
them),  that  the  opinion  derived  from  Dr.  Stratum's  statement  echoed  by  Mr.  Boswell,  is  wholly  un- 
founded. In  the  confusion  of  a  mind  which  the  approach  of  death  was  beginning  to  affect,  and  in  the 
agitation  which  a  recent  attempt  to  spoliate  two  of  his  note  books  had  occasioned,  Dr.  Johnson  seems 
to  have  given  Dr.  Strahan  a  confused  bundle  of  loose  papers—scraps,  half-sheets,  and  a  few  leaves 

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PREFACE.  vii 

nothing  but  Diarie*  of  the  author's  moral  and  religious  state  of  mind,  intermixed 
with  some  notices  of  his  bodily  health  and  of  the  interior  circumstances  of  his 
domestic  life.  Mr.  Boswell  had  ventured  to  quote  some  of  these:  the  present 
edition  contains  all  that  appear  to  offer  any  thing  of  interest. 

The  editor  has  also  incorporated  in  this  work  a  small  volume,  published  in 
1802,  but  now  become  scarce,  containing  an  Account  of  Dr.  Johnson's  Early  Life, 
written  by  himself  \  and  a  curious  correspondence  with  Miss  Boothby,  of  which 
Mr.  Boswell  had  given  one,  and  Mrs.  Piozzi  three  or  four  letters1. 

Mr.  Duppa  published  in  1806,  with  copious  explanatory  notes,  a  diary  which 
Johnson  had  kept  during  a  Tour  through  North  Wales,  made,  in  1775,  in  compa- 
ny with  Mr.  Thrale  and  his  family.  Mr.  Boswell  had,  it  appears,  inquired  in 
vain  for  tffis  diary:  if  he  could  have  obtained  it,  he  would,  no  doubt,  have  in- 
serted it,  as  he  did  the  similar  notes  of  the  Tour  in  France  in  the  succeeding 
year.  By  the  liberality  of  Mr.  Duppa,  the  editor  has  been  enabled  to  incorpo- 
rate this  volume  with  the  present  edition. 

The  editor  will  now  recapitulate  the  publications  which  will  be  found,  in  the 
whole  or  in  part,  in  the  volumes  of  the  present  edition; 

1.  The  whole  of  Mr.  Malone's  edition  of  Boswell's  Life  ofJohnson,  4  vols.  8vo. 

2.  The  whole  of  the  first  and  most  copious*  edition  of  Boswell's  Tour  to  the 
Hebrides,  1  vol.  8vo., 

3.  The  whole  (though  differently  arranged)  of  Mrs.  Piozzi 's  Anecdotes  of  Dr 
Johnson,  1  vol.  sm.  8vo. " 

4.  The  whole  of  Dr.  Johnson's  Tour  in  Wales,  with  notes,  by  R.  Duppa, 
Esq.,  1  vol.  12mo. 

5.  The  whole  of  an  Account  of  the  Early  IJfe  of  Br.  Johnson,  with  his  Corres- 
pondence with  Miss  Boothby,  1  vol.  16mo. 

6.  A  great  portion  of  the  Letters  to  and  from  Dr.  Johnson,  published  by  H.  L. 
Piozzi,  2  vols.  8vo. 

7.  Large  extracts  from  the  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,  by  Sir  J.  Hawkins,  1  vol.  8vo. 

8.  All,  that  had  not  been  already  anticipated  by  Mr.  Boswell  or  Mrs.  Piozzi, 
of  the  "Apophthegms,  Sentiments,  and  Opinions  of  Dr.  Johnson"  published  by 
Sir  J.  Hawkins,  in  his  edition  of  Johnson's  works. 

9.  Extracts  from  Sketches  of  Dr.  Johnson,  by  Thomas  Tyers,  Esq.,  a  pam- 
phlet, in  8vo. 

10.  Extracts  from  Murphy's  Essay  on  the  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,  from  Mr.  Nich- 
ols9 and  Mr.  Stevens'  contributions  to  the  Gentleman's  and  London  Magazines, 
and  from  the  Lives  and  Memoirs  of  Cumberland,  Cradock,  Miss  Hawkins,  Lord 
Charlemont,  the  Wartons,  and  other  friends  and  acquaintances  of  Dr.  Johnson. 

1 1 .  The  whole  of  a  Poetical  Review  of  the  Character  of  Dr.  Johnson,  by  John 
Courtenay,  Esq.,  in  4to. 

But  besides  these  printed  materials,  the  editor  has  been  favoured  with  many 
papers  connected  with  Dr.  Johnson,  his  life,  and  society,  hitherto  unpublished. 
Of  course,  his  first  inquiries  were  directed  towards  the  original  manuscript  of 
Mr.  Boswell's  Journal,  which  would  no  doubt  have  enabled  him  to  fill  up  all  the 
blanks  and  clear  away  much  of  the  obscurity  that  exist  in  the  printed  Life.  It 
was  to  be*  hoped  that  the  archives  of  AuehMeck,  which  Mr.  Boswell  frequently 
and  pompously  mentions,  would  contain  the  original  materials  of  these  works, 
which  he  himself,  as  well  as  the  world  at  large,  considered  as  his  best  claims  to 

ftitehed  together.  The  greater  part  of  theee  papera  were  the  Prayers,  the  publication  of  which,  do 
doubt  {for  Dr.  Strahan  says  so),  Dr.  Johnson  sanctioned;  bat  mixed  with  them  were  those  Diaries 
to  which  it  is  probable  that  Dr.  Johnson  did  not  advert,  and  which  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  he 
never  could  have  intended  to  submit  to  any  human  eve  but  his  own.  Well  understood,  as  nie  secret 
confessions  of  his  own  contrite  conscience,  they  do  honour  to  Dr.  Johnson's  purity  and  piety ;  but 
very  different  would  be  their  character,  if  it  appeared  that  he  bad  ostentatiously  prepared  them  for 
the  press.  See  more  on  this  subject  in  the  notes,  vol.  i.  p.  97,  and  vol.  U.  November  16,  1784. 
—Ed. 

1  This  correspondence  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  vol.  if. — Ed. 

*  Mr.  Boswell,  in  his  subsequent  editions,  omitted  some  and  softened  down  other  passages,  which* 
the  reason  for  the  alterations  having  gone  by,  are  restored. — Ed. 


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viii  PREFACE. 

distinction.  And  the  editor  thought  that  he  was  only  fulfilling  the  duties  of 
courtesy  in  requesting  from  Mr.  Bos  well's  representative  any  information  which 
he  might  be  disposed  to  afford  on  the  subject.  To  that  request  the  editor  has 
never  received  any  answer:'  though  the  same  inquiry  was  afterwards,  on  his  be- 
half, repeated  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  whose  influence  might  have  been  expected 
to  have  produced  a  more  satisfactory  result1. 

But  the  editor  was  more  fortunate  in  other  quarters.  The  Reverend  Doctor 
Hall,  Master  of  Pembroke  College,  was  so  good  as  to  collate  the  printed  copy 
of  the  Prayers  and  Meditations  with  the  original  papers,  now  (most  appropriately) 
deposited  in  the  library  of  that  college,  and  some,  not  unimportant,  light  has 
been  thrown  on  that  publication  by  the  personal  inspection  of  the  papers  which 
be  permitted  the  editor  to  make.  * 

Doctor  Halt  has  also  elucidated  some  facts  and  corrected  some  mistatementa 
in  Mr.  Boswell's  account  of  Johnson's  earlier  life,  by  an  examination  of  the 
college  records;  and  he  has  found  some  of  Johnson's  college  exercises,  one  or 
two  specimens  of  which  have  been  selected  as  likely  to  interest  the  classical 
reader.  He  has  also  been  so  obliging  as  to  select  and  copy  several  letters 
written  by  Dr.  Johnson  to  his  early  and  constant  friends,  the  daughters  of  Sir 
Thomas  Aston,  which,  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Parker,  were  by 
her  son,  the  Reverend  S.  H.  Parker,  presented  to  Pembroke  College.  The 
papers  derived  from  this  source  are  marked  Pemb.  MSS.*  Dr.  Hall,  feeling  a 
fraternal  interest  in  the  most  illustrious  of  the  sons  of  Pembroke,  has  continued 
(as  will  appear  in  the  course  of  the  work),  to  favour  the  editor  with  his  valuable 
assistance. 

The  Reverend  Dr.  Harwood,  the  historian  of  Lichfield,  procured  for  the  ed- 
itor, through  the  favour  of  Mrs.  Pearson,  the  widow  of  the  legatee  of  Miss  Lucy 
Porter,  many  letters  addressed  to  this  lady  by  Dr.  Johnson;  for  which,  it  seems, 
Mr.  Boswell  had  inquired  in  vain.  These  papers  are  marked  Pearson  MSS. 
Dr.  Harwood  supplied  also  some  other  papers,  and  much  information  collected 
by  himself. 

Lord  Rokeby,  the  nephew  and  heir  of  Mrs.  Montagu,  has  been  so  kind  as  to 
communicate  Dr.  Johnson's  letters  to  that  lady. 

Mr.  Langton,  the  grandson  of  Mr.  Bennet  Langton,  has  furnished  the  editor 
with  some  of  his  grandfather's  papers,  and  several  original  MSS.  of  Dr.  John- 
son's Latin  poetry,  which  have  enabled  the  editor  to  explain  some  errors  and 
obscurities  in  the  published  copies  of  those  compositions. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Palmer,  the  grand-nephew  of  Sir  Joshna  Reynolds  and  of  Miss 
Reynolds,  has  most  liberally  communicated  all  the  papers  of  that  lady,  contain- 
ing a  number  of  letters  or  rather  notes  of  Dr.  Johnson  to  her,  which,  however 
trivial  in  themselves,  tend  to  corroborate  all  that  the  biographers  have  stated 
of  the  charity  and  kindness  of  his  private  life.  Mr.  Palmer  has  also  contributed 
a  paper  of  more  importance — a  MS.  of  about  seventy  pages,  written  by -Miss 
Reynolds,  and  entitled  Recollections  of  Dr.  Johnson9.  The  authenticity  and  gen- 
eral accuracy  of  these  Recollections  cannot  be  doubted,  and  the  editor  has  there- 
fore admitted  extracts  from  them  into  the  textj  but  as  he  did  not  receive  the 
paper  till  a  great  portion  of  the  work  had  been  printed,  he  has  given* the  parts 
which  he  could  not  incorporate  with  the  text,  in  the  General  Appendix. 

1  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  Sir  James  Boswell  to  whom,  as  the  grandson  of  Mr.  Boswell,  the  inquiries 
were  addressed,  unfortunately  missed  one  another  in  mutual  calls;  but  the  editor  has  heard  from 
another  quarter  that  the  original  journals  do  not  exist  at  Auchmleck:  perhaps  to  this  fact  the  silence 
of  Sir  James  Boswell  may  be  attributed.  The  manuscript  of  the  Tour  was,  it  is  known,  fairly 
transcribed,  and  so,  probably,  were  portions  of  the  Life;  bnt  it  appears  from  a  memorandum  book 
and  other  papers  in  Mr.  Anderdon's  possession,  that  Mr.  Boswell's  materials  were  in  a  variety  of 
forms;  and  it  is  feared  that  they  have  been  irretrievably  dispersed. — En. 

9  Dr.  Harwood  has  ajso  favoured  the  editor  with  permwion  to  engrave,  for  this  edition,  the  earli- 
est known  portrait  of  Dr.  Johnson — a  miniature  worn  in  a  bracelet  by  his  wife,  which  Dr.  Harwood 
purchased  from  Francis  Barber,  Dr.  Johnson's  servant  and  legatee. — Ed.] 

*  A  less  perfect  copy  of  these  Recollections  was  also  communicated  by  Mr.  Gwatkin,  who 
married  one  of  Sir  Joshua's  nieces,  for  which  the  editor  begs  leave  to  offer  his  thanks. — En. 


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PREFACE.  ix 

Mr.  Markland  has,  as  the  reader  will,  in  some  degree,  see  by  the  notes  to 
which  his  name  is  affixed,  contributed  a  great  deal  of  zealous  assistance  and 
valuable  information. 

He  also  communicated  a  copy  of  Mrs.  Piozzi's  Anecdotes,  copiously  anno- 
tated, propria  mom*,  by  Mr.  Malone.  These  notes  have  been  of  use  in  ex- 
plaining some  obscurities;  they  guide  us  also  to  the  source  of  many  of  Mr. 
boswell 's  charges  against  Mrs.  Piozzi;  and  have  had  an  effect  that  Mr.  Ma- 
lone could  neither  have  expected  or  wished — that  of  tending  rather  to  confirm 
than  to  impeach  that  lady's  veracity. 

Mr.  J.  L.  Anderdon  favoured  the  editor  with  the  inspection  of  a  portfolio 
bought  at  the  sale  of  the  library  of  Mr.  James  Bos  well,  junior,  which  contained 
some  of  the  original  letters,  memoranda,  and  note  books,  which  had  been  used 
as  materials  for  the  Life.  Their  chief  value,  now,  is  to  show  that  as  far  as  we 
may  judge  from  this  specimen,  the  printed  book  is  a  faithful  transcript  from  the 
original  notes,  except  only  as  to  the  suppression  of  names.  Mr  Anderdon 's 
portfolio  also  contains  Johnson's  original  draft  of  the  Prospectus  of  the  Diction- 
ary, and  a  fair  copy  of  it  (written  by  an  amanuensis,  but  signed,  in  form,  by 
Johnson),  addressed  to  Lord  Chesterfield,  on  which  his  lordship  appears  to  have 
made  a  few  critical  notes1. 

Macleod,  the  son  of  the  young  gentleman  who,  in  1773,  'received  Dr.  John- 
son and  Mr.  Boswell  at  his  ancient  castle  of  Dunvegan,  has  communicated  a 
fragment  of  an  autobiography  of  his  father,  which,  on  account  as*well  of  the 
mention  of  that  visit  as  of  the  interest  which  the  publications  of  both  Johnson 
and  Boswell  excited  about  this  young  chieftain,  the  editor  has  preserved  in  the 
appendix  to  the  first  volume. 

Through  the  obliging  interposition  of  Mr.  Appleyard,  private  secretary  of 
Lord  Spencer,  Mrs.  Kose,  the  daughter  of  Dr.  St  rah  an,  has  favoured  the  editor 
with  copies  of  several  letters  of  Dr.  Johnson  to  her  father,  one  or  two  only  of 
which  Mr.  Boswell  had  been  able  to  obtain. 

In  addition  to  these  contributions  of  manuscript  materials,  the  editor  has  to 
acknowledge  much  and  valuable  assistance  from  numerous  literary  and  distin- 
guished friends. 

The  venerable  Lord  Stowel,  the  friend  and  executor  of  Dr.  Johnson,  was  one 
of  the  first  persons  who  suggested  this  work  to  the  editor:  he  was  pleased  to 
take  a  great  interest  in  it,  and  kindly  endeavoured  to  explain  the  obscurities 
which  were  stated  to  him;  but  he  confessed,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  appli- 
cation had  in  some  instances  come  rather  too  late,  and  regretted  that  an  edition 
on  this  principle  had  not  been  undertaken  when  full  light  might  have  been  ob- 
tained. His  lordship  was  also  so  kind  as  to  dictate,  in  his  own  happy  and  pe- 
culiar style,  some  notes  of  his  recollections  of  Dr.  Johnson.  These,  by  a  very 
unusual  accident  *,  were  lost,  and  his  lordship's  great  age  and  increasing  in- 
firmity have  detersedthe  editor  from  again  troubling  him  on  the  subject.  A  few 
points,  however,  in  which  the  editor  could  trust  to  his  recollection,  will  be  found 
in  the  notes. 

To  his  revered  friend,  Dr.  Ellington,  Lord  Bishop  of  Ferns,  the  editor  begs 
leave  to  offer  his  best  thanks  for  much  valuable  advice  and  assistance,  and  for 
-  -  -  -  -  ■  - 

1  Tins  attention  on  the  part  of  Lord  Chesterfield  renders  still  more  puzzling  Johnson's  conduct  to- 
wards his  lordship  (sse  vol  i.  p.  110,  et  seq.),  and  shows  that  there  was  some  mistake  in  the  state- 
ment attributed  to  Doctor  Taylor  (v.  L  p.  74)  that  the  manuscript  had  reached  Lord  Chesterfield 
accidentally,  and  without  Dr.  Johnson's  knowledge  or  consent — En. 

*  They  were  transmitted  by  post,  addressed  to  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  Edinburgh  for  his  perusal;  after 

a  considerable  lapse  of  time.  Sir  Walter  was  written  to  to  return  them — he  had  never  had  them.    It 

then  appeared  that  the  post  office  bag  which  contained  this  packet  and  several  others  had  been  lost, 

,  and  it  has  never  been  heard  of.    Some  of  the  editor's  friends  have  reproached  him  with  want  of  due 

'      "  >  thinks  unjnstly.    There  is,  perhaps,  no  indi- 
» great  a  number  of  letters  as  the  editor, 
he  can  scarcely  i 

B 


i  m  having  trusted  this  packet  to  the  post,  bat  be  thinki 
new  alive  who  has  despatched  and  received  so  great 
i  scarcely  recollect  an  instance  of  a  similar  loss.— En. 

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X  PREFACE 

a  continuance  of  thai  friendly  interest  with  which  his  lordship  has  for  many 
years,  and  in  more  important  concerns,  honoured  him. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  whose  personal  kindness  to  the  editor  and  indefatigable 

food-nature  to  every  body  are  surpassed  only  by  his  genius,  found  time  from 
is  higher  occupations  to  annotate  a  considerable  portion  of  this  work — the 
.Tour  to  the  Hebrides — and  has  continued  his  aid  to  the  very  conclusion. 

The  Right  Honourable  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  whose  acquaintance  with  lite- 
rary men  and  literary  history  is  so  extensive,  and  who,  although  not  of  the 
Johnsonian  circle,  became  early  in  life  acquainted  with  most  of  the  survivors  of 
that  society,  not  only  approved  and  encouraged  the  editor's  design,  but  has,  as 
the  reader  will  see,  been  good  enough  to  contribute  to  its  execution.  It  were 
to  be  wished,  that  he  himself  could  have  been  induced  to  undertake  the  work — 
too  humble  indeed  for  his  powers,  but  which  he  is,  of  all  men  now  living,  per- 
haps, the  fittest  to  execute. 

Mr.  Alexander  Chalmers,  the  ingenious  and  learned  editor  of  the  last  London 
edition,  has,  with  great  candour  and  liberality,  given  the  present  editor  all  the 
assistance  in  his  power — regretting  and  wondering,  like  Lord  Stowel  and  Sir 
James  Mackintosh,  that  so  much  should  be  forgotten  of  what,  at  no  remote  pe- 
riod, every  body  must  have  kuown. 

To  Mr.  D'Israeli's  love  and  knowledge  of  literary  history,  and  to  his  friendly 
assistance,  the  editor  is  very  much  indebted;  as  well  as  to  Mr.  Ellis  of  the 
British  Mifteum,  for  the  readiness  he  has  on  this  and  all  other  occasions  shown 
to  afford  the  editor  every  information  in  his  power. 

The  Marquis  Wellesley  has  taken  an  encouraging  interest  in  the  work, 
and  has  improved  it  by  some  valuable  observations;  and  the  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne,  Earl  Spencer,  Lord  fiexley,  and  Lord  St.  Helens,  the  son  of  Dr. 
Johnson's  early  friend  Mr.  Fitzherbert,  have  been  so  obliging  as  to  answer 
some  inquiries  with  which  it  was  found  necessary  to  trouble  them. 

How  the  editor  may  have  arranged  all  these  materials,  and  availed  himself 
of  so  much  assistance,  it  is  not  for  nim  to  decide.  Situated  as  he  was  when  he 
began  and  until  he  had  nearly  completed  this  work,  he  could  not  have  ventured 
to  undertake  a  more  serious  task;  and  he  fears  that  even  this  desultory  and 
gossiping  kind  of  employment  will  be  found  to  have  suffered  from  the  weightier 
•ccupations  in  which  he  was  engaged,  as  well  as  from  his  own  deficiencies. 

If  unfortunately  he  shall  be  found  to  have  failed  in  his  attempt  to  improve  the 
original  work,  he  will  still  have  the  consolation  of  thinking  that  there  is  no  great 
harm  done.  For,  as  he  has  retrenched  nothing  from  the  best  editions  of  the 
Life  and  the  Tour,  and  has  contrived  to  compress  all  his  additions  within  the 
same  number  of  volumes,  he  trusts  that  the  purchasers  of  this  edition  can  have 
no  reasonable  cause  to  complain.  The  additions  are  carefully  discriminated  l, 
and  hardly  a  syllable3  of  Mr.  BoswelPs  text  or  of  the  notes  in  Mr.  Malone's 
editions  have  been  omitted.  So  that  the  worst  that  can  happen  is  that  all  the 
present  editor  has  contributed  may,  if  the  reader  so  pleases,  be  rejected  as  sur- 
plusage. 

Of  the  value  of  the  notes  with  which  his  friends  have  favoured  bim,  the  editor 
can  have  no  doubt;  of  his  own,  he  will  only  say,  that  he  has  endeavoured  to 
make  them  at  once  concise  and  explanatory.  He  hopes  he  has  cleared  up  some 
obscurities,  supplied  some  deficiencies,  and,  in  many  cases,  saved  the  reader 
the  trouble  of  referring  to  dictionaries  and  magazines  for  notices  of  the  various 
persons  and  facts. which  are  incidentally  mentioned9. 

1  By  being  inserted  between  brackets,  thus  [  ].  In  a  few  instances,  one  or  other  of  these  marks 
has  been  by  an  error  of  the  press  omitted,  but  it  is  hoped  that  the  context  will  always  enable  the 
reader  to  rectify  the  mistake.— Ed. 

*  In  two  or  three  places  an  indelicate  expression  has  been  omitted;  and,  in  half  a  dozen  instances 
(always,  however,  stated  in  the  notes),  the  insertion  of  new  matter  has  occasioned  the  omission  or 
alteration  of  a  few  words  in  the  text — Ed 

3  As  some  proof  of  diligence,  the  editor  may  be  allowed  to  state  that  the  Variorum  notes  to  the 
former  edition  were  fewer  than  1100,  while  the  number  of  his  additional  notes  is  nearly  2500.— Ed 

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PREFACE.  XI 

In  some  cases  he  has  candidly  confessed,  and  in  many  more  he  fears  he  will 
hare  shown,  his  own  ignorance;  bat  he  can  say,  that  when  he  has  so  failed,  it 
has  not  been  for  want  of  diligent  inquiry  after  the  desired  information. 

He  has  not  considered  it  any  part  of  his  duty  to  defend  or  to  controvert  the 
statements  or  opinions  recorded  in  the  text ;  but  in  a  few  instances,  in  which 
either  a  matter  of  fact  has  been  evidently  mistated,  or  an  important  principle 
has  been  heedlessly  invaded  or  too  lightly  treated,  he  has  ventured  a  few  words 
towards  correcting  the  error. 

The  desultory  nature  of  the  work  itself,  the  repetitions  in  some  instances  and 
the  contradictions  in  others,  are  perplexing  to  those  who  may  seek  for  Dr. 
Johnson's  final  opinion  on  any  given  subject.  This  difficulty  the  editor  could 
not  hope,  and  has,  therefore,  not  attempted,  to  remove;  it  is  inevitable  in  the 
transcript  of  table-talk,  so  various,  so  loose,  and  so  extensive;  but  he  has  en- 
deavoured to  alleviate  it  by  occasional  references  to  the  different  places  where 
the  same  subject  is  discussed,  and  by  a  copious,  and  he  trusts,  satisfactory  index. 

With  respect  to  the  spirit  towards  Dr.  Johnson  himself  by  which  the  editor  is 
actuated,  he  begs  leave  to  say  that  he  feels  and  has  always  felt  a  great,  but,  he 
hopes,  not  a  blind  admiration  of  Dr.  Johnson.  For  his  writings  he  feels  that 
admiration  undivided  and  uninterrupted.  In  his  personal  conduct  and  conver- 
sation there  may  be  occasionally  something  to  regret  and  (though  rarely)  some- 
thing to  disapprove,  but  less,  perhaps,  than  there  would  be  in  those  of  any  other 
man,  whose  words,  actions,  and  even  thoughts  should  be  exposed  to  public  ob- 
servation so  nakedly  as,  by  a  strange  concurrence  of  circumstances,  Dr.  John- 
son *s  have  been. 

Having  no  domestic  ties  or  duties,  the  latter  portion  of  his  life  was,  as  Mrs. 
Piozzi  observes,  nothing  but  conversation,  and  that  conversation  was  watched 
and  recorded  from  night  to  night  and  from  hour  to  hour  with  zealous  attention 
and  unceasing  diligence.  No  man,  the  most  staid  or  the  most  guarded,  is  al- 
ways the  same  in  health,  in  spirits,  in  opinions.  Human  life  is  a  series  of  in- 
consistencies; and  when  Johnsons'  early  misfortunes,  his  protracted  poverty, 
his  strong  passions,  his  violent  prejudices,  and,  above  all,  his  mental  infirmities 
are  considered,  it  is  only  wonderful  that  a  portrait  so  laboriously  minute  and  so 
painfully  faithful  does  not  exhibit  more  of  blemish,  incongruity,  and  error. 

The  life  of  Dr.  Johnson  is  indeed  a  most  curious  chapter  in  the  history  of  man; 
for  certainly  there  is  no  instance  of  the  life  of  any  other  human  being  having 
been  exhibited  in  so  much  detail,  or  with  so  much  fidelity.  There  are,  per- 
haps, not  many  men  who  have  practised  so  much  self-examination  as  to  know 
themselves  as  well  as  every  reader  knows  Dr.  Johnson. 

We  roust' recollect  that  it  is  not  bis  table-talk  or  his  literary  conversations  on- 
ly that  have  been  published:  all  his  most  private  and  most  trifling  correspon- 
dence— all  his  most  common  as  well  as  his  most  confidential  intercourses — all  his 
most  secret  communion  with  his  own  conscience — and  even  the  solemn  and  con- 
trite exercises  of  his  piety,  have  been  divulged  and  exhibited  to  the  "garish 
eye  "  of  the  world  without  reserve — I  had  almost  said,  without  delicacy.  Young, 
with  gloomy  candour,  has  said 

"  Heaven's  Sovereign  saves  all  beings  but  himself 
That  hideous  sight,  a  naked  human  heart" 

What  a  man  must  Johnson  have  been,  whose  heart,  having  been  laid  more  bare 
than  that  of  any  other  mortal  ever  was,  has  passed  almost  unblemished  through 
so  terrible  an  ordeal ! 

The  editor  confesses,  that  if  he  could  have  had  any  voice  as  to  the  original 
publications,  he  probably  might  have  shrunk  from  the  responsibility  incurred  by 
Mrs.  Piozzi,  Mr.  Bos  well,  and,  above  all,  Dr.  Strahan— even  though  they  ap- 
pear to  have  had  (at  least,  in  some  degree)  Dr.  Johnson's  own  sanction  for  the 
disclosures  they  have  made.  But  such  disclosures  having  been  made,  it  has 
appeared  to  the  editor  interesting  and  even  important  to  concentrate  into  one 
foil  and  perfect  view  every  thing  that  can  serve  to  complete  a  history — so  ex- 
traordinary— so  unique. 

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xil  PREFACE. 

'  But  while  we  contemplate  with  such  interest  this  admirable  and  perfect  por- 
trait, let  us  not  forget  the  painter:  pupils  and  imitators  have  added  draperies  and 
back  grounds,  but  the  head  and  figure  are  by  Mr.  Boswell! 

Mr.  Burke  told  Sir  James  Mackintosh  that  he  thought  Johnson  showed  more 
powers  of  mind  in  company  than  in  his  writings;  and  on  another  occasion  said, 
that  he  thought  Johnson  appeared  greater  in  Mr.  Boswell's  volumes  than  even 
in  his  own. 

It  was  a  strange  and  •  fortunate  concurrence,  that  one  so  prone  to  talk  and 
who  talked  so  well,  should  be  brought  into  such  close  contact  and  confidence 
with  one  so  zealous  and  so  able  to  record.  Dr.  Johnson  was  a  man  of  extraor- 
dinary powers,  but  Mr.  Boswell  had  qualities,  in  their  own  way,  almost  as  rare. 
He  united  lively  manners  with  indefatigable  diligence,  and  the  volatile  curiosi- 
ty of  a  man  about  town  with  the  drudging  patience  of  a  chronicler.  With  a  very 
good  opinion  of  himself,  he  was  quick  in  discerning,  dnd  frank  in  applauding, 
the  excellencies  of  others.  Though  proud  of  his  own  name  and  lineage,  and 
ambitious  of  the  countenance  of  the  great,  he  was  yet  so  cordial  an  admirer  of 
merit,  wherever  found,  that  much  public  ridicule,  and  something  like  contempt, 
were  excited  by  the  modest  assurance  with  which  he  pressed  his  acquaintance  on 
all  the  notorieties  of  his  time,  and  by  the  ostentatious  (but,  in  the  main,  lauda- 
ble) assiduity  with  which  he  attended  the  exile  Paoli  and  the  low-born  Johnson ! 
These  were  amiable,  and,  for  us,  fortunate  inconsistencies.  His  contempora- 
ries indeed,  not  without  some  colour  of  reason,  occasionally  complained  of  him 
as  vain,  inquisitive,  troublesome,  and  giddy;  but  his  vanity  was  inoffensive — 
his  curiosity  was  commonly  directed  towards  laudable  objects — when  he  med- 
dled, he  did  so,  generally,  from  good-natured  motives — and  his  giddiness  was 
only  an  exuberant  gaiety,  which  never  failed  in  the  respect  and  reverence  due 
to  literature,  morals,  and  religion:  and  posterity  gratefully  acknowledges  the 
taste,  temper,  and  talents  with  which  he  selected,  enjoyed,  and  described  that 
polished  and  intellectual  society  which  still  lives  in  his  work,  and  without  his 
work  had  perished! 

•*  Vtxere  fortes  ante  Agamemnons 
Multi:  sed  omnes  illaciymabiles 
Urgentnr,  ignotique  longa 
Nocte,  carent  quia  vate  sacro." 

Such  imperfect  though  interesting  sketches  as  Ben  Jonson's  visit  to  Drummond, 
Selden's  Table  Talk,  Swift's  Journal,  and  Spence's  Anecdotes,  only  tantalise 
our  curiosity  and  excite  our  regret  that  there  was  no  Boswell  to  preserve  the 
conversation  and  illustrate  the  life  and  times  of  Addison,  of  Swift  himself,  of 
Milton,  and,  above  all,  of  Shakspeare!  We  can  hardly  refrain  from  indulging 
ourselves  with  the  imagination  of  works  so  instructive  and  delightful ;  but  that 
were  idle,  except  as  it  may  tend  to  increase  our  obligation  to  the  faithful  and 
fortunate  biographer  of  Dr.  Johnson. 

Mr.  Boswell's  birth  and  education  familiarized  him  with  the  highest  of  his  ac- 
quaintance, and  his  good-nature  and  conviviality  with  the  lowest.  He  describes 
society  of  all  classes  with  the  happiest  discrimination.  Even  his  foibles  assisted 
his  curiosity ;  he  was  sometimes  laughed  at,  but  always  well  received ;  he  ex- 
cited no  envy,  he  imposed  no  restraint.  It  was  well  known  that  he  made  notes 
of  every  conversation,  yet  no  timidity  was  alarmed,  no  delicacy  demurred;  and 
we  are  perhaps  indebted  to  the  lighter  parts  of  his  character  for  the  patient  in- 
dulgence with  which  every  body  submitted  to  sit  for  their  pictures. 

Nor  were  his  talents  inconsiderable.  He  had  looked  a  good  deal  into  books, 
and  more  into  tbe  world.  The  narrative  portion  of  his  works  is  written  with 
good  sense,  in  an  easy  and  perspicuous  style,  and  without  (which  seems  odd 
enough)  any  palpable  imitation  of  Johnson.  But  in  recording  conversations  he 
is  unrivalled:  that  he  was  eminently  accurate  in  substance,  we  have  the  evi- 
dence of  all  his  contemporaries;  but  he  is  also  in  a  high  degree  characteristic 
—dramatic.    The  incidental  observations  with  which  he  explains  or  enlivens 

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PREFACE.  xiii 

the  dialogue,  ere  terse,  appropriate,  and  picturesque-— we  not  merely  hear  his 


ompany,  we  $ee  them! 

Yet  his  father  was,  we  are  told,  by  no  means  satisfied1  with  the  life  he  led, 
nor  his  eldest  ton  with  the  kind  of  reputation  he  attained ;  neither  liked  to  hear 
of  his  connexion  even  with  Paoli  or  Johnson;  and  both  would  have  been  better 
pleased  if  he  had  contented  himself  with  a  domestic  life  of  sober  respectability. 

The  public,  however,  the  d  spenser  of  fame,  has  judged  differently,  and  con- 
siders the  biographer  of  Johnson  as  the  most  eminent  branch  of  the  family  pedi- 
gree. With  less  activity,  less  indiscretion,  less  curiosity,  less  enthusiasm,  he 
might,  perhaps,  have  been  what  the  old  lord  would,  no  doubt,  have  thought 
more  respectable;  and  have  been  pictured  on  the  walls  of  Auchinleck  (the  very 
name  of  which  we  never  should  have  heard)  by  some  stiff  provincial  painter  in 
a  lawyer's  wig  or  a  squire's  hunting  cap;  but  his  portra  t,  by  Reynolds*,  would 
not  have  been  ten  times  engraved ;  his  name  could  never  have  become— as  it  is 
likely  to  be — as  far  spread  and  as  lasting  as  the  English  language;  and  "  the 
world  had  wanted  "  a  work  to  which  it  refers  as  a  manual  of  amusement,  a  re- 
pository of  wit,  wisdom,  and  morals,  and  a  lively  and  faithful  history  of  the 
manners  and  literature  of  England,  during  a  period  hardly  second  in  brilliancy, 
and  superior  in  importance,  even  to  the  Augustan  age  of  Anne. 

1*  shy,  1831.  J.  W.  C. 

1  See  toL  L  p.  468,  n.  This  feeling  is  less  surprising  in  old  Lord  Auchinleck  than  in  Sir  Alexan- 
der, who  wai  himself  a  man  of  the  world,  clever,  literary,  and  social. — Ed. 

•  The  following  letter  (in  the  Reynolds  papers)  from  Mr.  Botwell  to  Sir  Joshua,  on  the  subject 
of  this  portrait,  ought  not  to  be  lost 

«  London,  7th  June,  1785. 

"My  deai  sin,— The  debts  which  I  contracted  in  my  lather's  lifetime  will  not  be  cleared  off 
by  me  for  some  years.  1  therefore  think  it  unconscientious  to  indulge  myself  in  any  expensive  article 
of  elegant  hiznry.  Bui  in  the  mean  time,  yon  may  die,  or  I  may  die;  and  I  should  regret  very  much 
that  there  should  not  be  at  Auchinleck  my  portrait  painted  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  with  whom  I 
have  the  felicity  of  living  in  social  intercourse. 

"  I  have  a  proposal  to  make  to  you.  I  am  for  certain  to  be  called  to  the  English  bar  next  Febru- 
ary. Will  yon  now  do  my  picture,  and  the  price  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  first  fees  which  I  receive 
as  a  barrister  in  Westminster  HalL  Or  if  that  fund  should  &U,  it  shall  be  paid  at  any  rate  in  five 
yean  hence,  by  myself  or  my  representatives. 

"  If  you  are  pleased  to  approve  of  thk  proposal,  your  signifying  your  concurrence  underneath,  upon 
two  duplicates,  one  of  which  shall  be  kept  by  each  of  us,  will  be  a  sufficient  voucher  of  the  obligation. 
I  ever  am,  with  very  sincere  regard,  my  dear  sir,  your  fiuthfol  and  affectionate  humble  servant, 

"  Jam  us  Bos  will." 

44 1  agree  to  the  above  conditions. 

^  "/.  Reynolds.1 


>  IOiA  Sept.  1785." 

An  engraving  from  Sir  Joshua's  portrait  is  prefixed  to  one  of  these  volumes :  but  the  editor  has  been 
favoured  by  Mrs.  Denham  with  a  pencil  sketch  of  Mr.  Boswell  in  later  life,  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence, 
which,  ahlwngh  bordering  on  caricature,  is  so  evidently  characteristic,  and  (as  the  editor  is  assured) 
so  identically  Kke,  that  he  has  had  it  copied,  and  thinks  it  will  be  acceptable  as  a  lively  illustration  of 
both  the  mind  and  manners  of  Mr.  Boswell— busy  self-importance  and  dogmatical  good-nature  were 
never  more  strongly  expressed.— E». 


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[original  title-page.] 
THE 

LIFE 

OF 

SAMUEL   JOHNSON,   LL,  D, 

COMPREHENDING 

AN   ACCOUNT  OF   HIS   STUDIES, 

AND  NUMEROUS  WORKS, 

IN   CHRONOLOGICAL  ORDER  5 

A  SERIES  OF  HIS  EPISTOLARY  CORRESPONDENCE 

AND   CONVERSATIONS   WITH   MANY  EMINENT  PERSONS; 
AND 

VARIOUS  ORIGINAL  PIECES  OF  HIS  COMPOSITION, 
NEVER  BEFORE  PUBLISHED. 

THE   WHOLE   EXHIBITING  A  VIEW   OF  LITERATURE  AND  LITERART 

MEN  IN   GREAT-BRITAIN,   FOR  NEAR   HALF  A  CENTURY 

DURING  WHICH   HE   FLOURISHED. 

BY  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 


-Qudfitut  OMXH 


Votiva  pateat  veluti  descripta  tabella 

Vita  sunis 

Horat. 


LONDON : 

PRINTED    BY   HENRY   BALDWIN, 

FOR  CHARLES   DILLY,  IN   THE  POULTRY. 

M  DCC  XCI. 


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"  After  my  death  I  wish  no  other  herald. 
No  other  speaker  of  my  living  actions, 
To  keep  mine  honour  from  corruption, 
But  such  an  honest  chronicler  as  Griffith  V 

Shakspcare,  Henry  VIIL 


»  See  Dr.  Johnson's  letter  to  Mre.  Thrale,  dated  Ostkk  in  Skie,  September  30,  1773:  "  Boewell 
writes  a  regular  Journal  of  our  travels,  which  I  think  contains  as  mnch  of  wnai  I  say  and  do,  as  of 
all  other  occurrences  together;  'for  inch  a  faithful  chronicler  is  Griffith.9  " — Bos  well. 


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DEDICATION. 


TO    SIR    JOSHUA    REYNOLDS. 


Mt  dear  sib, — Every  liberal  motive  that 
can  actuate  an  authour  in  the  dedication 
of  his  labours  concurs  in  directing  me  to 
you,  as  the  person  to  whom  the  following 
work  should  be  inscribed. 

If  there  be  a  pleasure  in  celebrating  the  dis- 
ting-uished  merit  of  a  contemporary,  mixed 
with  a  certain  degree  of  vamty,  not  alto- 
gether inexcusable,  in  appearing  fully  sen- 
sible of  it,  where  can  I  find  one,  in  compli- 
menting whom  I  can  with  more  general  ap- 
probation gratify  those  feelings  ?  Your  ex- 
cellence not  only  in  the  art  over  which  you 
have  long  presided  with  unrivalled  fame,  out 
also  in  philosophy  and  elegant  literature,  is 
well  known  to  the  present,  and  will  continue 
to  be  the  admiration  of  future  ages.  Your 
equal  and  placid  temper,  your  variety  of 
conversation,  your  true  politeness,  by  which 
you  are  so  amiable  in  private  society,  and 
that  enlarged  hospitality  which  has  long 
made  your  house  a  common  centre  of  union 
for  the  great,  the  accomplished,  the  learned, 
and  the  ingenious;  all  these  qualities  I  can, 
in  perfect  confidence  of  not  being  accused  of 
flattery,  ascribe  to  you. 

If  a  man  may  indulge  an  honest  pride,  in 
having  it  known  to  the  world  that  he  has 
been  thought  worthy  of  particular  attention 
by  a  person  of  the  first  eminence  in  the  age 
in  which  he  lived,  whose  company  has  been 
universally  courted,  I  am  justified  in  availing 
myself  of  the  usual  privilege  of  a  dedication, 
when  I  mention  that  there  has  been  a  long 
and  uninterrupted  friendship  between  us. 

If  gratitude  should  be  acknowledged  for 
favours  received,  I  have  this  opportunity, 
my  dear  sir,  most  sincerely  to  thank  you 
for  the  many  happy  hours  which  I  owe  to 
your  kindness, — for  the  cordiality  with 
which  you  have  at  all  tunes  been  pleased  to 
welcome  me,— for  the  number  of  valuable 
acquaintances  to  whom  you  have  introduced 
me, — for  the  nodes  cwnaque  Deum,  which 
I  have  enjoyed  under  your  roof. 

If  a  work  should  be  inscribed  to  one  who 
is  master  of  the  subject  of  it,  andwhose  ap- 
probation, therefore,  must  ensure  it  credit 
and  success,  the  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson  is, 
vol.  i.  1 


with  the'  greatest  propriety,  dedicated  to 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who  was  the  intimate 
and  beloved  friend  of  that  great  man;  the 
friend  whom  he  declared  to  oe  "  the  most 
invulnerable  man  he  knew;  whom,  if  he 
should  quarrel  with  him,  he  should  find  the 
most  difficulty  how  to  abuse."  You,  my 
dear  sir,  studied  him,  and  knew  him  well; 
you  venerated  and  admired  him.  Yet  lu- 
minous as  he  was  upon  the  whole,  you  per- 
ceived all  the  shades  which  mingled  in  the 
grand  composition,  all  the  little  peculiarities 
and  slight  blemishes  which  marked  the  lite- 
rary Colossus.  Your  very  warm  commen- 
dation of  the  specimen  which  I  gave  in  my 
"  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,"  of 
my  being  able  to  preserve  his  conversation 
in  an  authentick  and  lively  manner,  which 
opinion  the  publick  has  confirmed,  was  the 
best  encouragement  for  me  to  persevere  in 
my  purpose  of  producing  the  whole  of  my 
stores. 

In  one  respect,  this  work  will  in  some 
passages  be  different  from  the  former.  In 
my  "Tour,"  I  was  almost  unboundedly 
open  in  my  communications;  and  from  my 
eagerness  to  display  the  wonderful  fertility 
and  readiness  of  Johnson's  wit,  freely 
showed  to  the  world  its  dexterity,  even 
when  I  was  myself  the  object  of  it.  I 
trusted  that  I  should  be  liberally  understood, 
as  knowing  very  well  what  I  was  about, 
and  by  no  means  as  simply  unconscious  of 
the  pointed  effects  of  the  satire.  I  own, 
indeed,  that  I  was  arrogant  enough  to  sup- 
pose that  the  tenour  of  the  rest  of  the  book 
would  sufficiently  guard  me  against  such  a 
strange  imputation.  But  it  seems  I  judged 
too  well  or  the  world;  for,  though  I  could 
scarcely  believe  it,  I  have  been  undoubtedly 
informed,  that  many  persons,  especially  in 
distant  quarters,  not  penetrating  enough 
into  Johnson's  character,  so  as  to  under- 
stand his  mode  of  treating  his  friends,  have 
arraigned  my  judgment,  instead  of  seeing 
that  I  was  sensible  of  all  that  they  could 

It  is  related  of  the  great  Dr.  Clarke,  that 
when  in  one  of  his  leisure  hours  he  was  un- 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


2 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


bending  himself  with  a  few  friends  in  the  most 
playful  and  frolicksome  manner,  he  observed 
Beau  Nash  approaching;  upon  which  he 
suddenly  stopped.  "My  boys,"  said  he, 
"let  us  be  grave — here  comes  a  fool." 
The  world,  my  friend,  I  have  found  to  be 
a  great  fool  as  to  that  particular  on  which 
it  has  become  necessary  to  speak  very  plain- 
ly.    I  have  therefore  in  this  work  been  more 

London,  20th  April,  1791. 


reserved:  and  though  I  tell  nothing  but  the 
truth,  I  nave  still  kept  in  my  mind  that  the 
whole  truth  is  not  always  to  be  exposed. 
This,  however,  I  have  managed  so  as  to 
occasion  no  diminution  of  the  pleasure  which 
my  book  should  afford,  though  malignity- 
may  sometimes  be  disappointed  of  its  grati- 
fications. I  am,  my  dear  sir,  your  much 
obliged  friend  and  faithful  humble  servant, 
JAMES  BOSWELL. 


MR.  BOSWELL'S  ADVERTISEMENTS. 


TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


I  at  last  deliver  to  the  world  a  work 
which  I  have  long  promised,  and  of  which, 
I  am  afraid,  too  high  expectations  have  been 
raised.  The  delay  of  its  publication  must 
be  imputed,  in  a  considerable  degree,  to  the 
extraordinary  zeal  which  has  been  shown 
by  distinguished  persons  in  all  quarters  to 
supply  me  with  additional  information  con- 
cerning its  illustrious  subject;  resembling 
in  this  the  grateful  tribes  of  ancient  nations, 
of  which  every  individual  was  eager  to 
throw  a  stone  upon  the  grave  of  a  departed 
hero,  and  thus  to  share  in  the  pious  office 
of  erecting  an  honourable  monument  to  his 
memory. 

The  labour  and  anxious  attention  with 
which  I  have  collected  and  arranged  the 
materials  of  which  these  volumes  are  com- 
posed, will  hardly  be  conceived  by  those 
*  who  read  them  with  careless  facility.  The 
stretch  of  mind  and  prompt  assiduity  by 
which  so  many  conversations  were  pre- 
served, I  myself,  at  some  distance  of  tune, 
contemplate  with  wonder;  and  I  must  be 
allowed  to  suggest,  that  the  nature  of  the 
work,  in  other  respects,  as  it  consists  of  in- 
numerable detached  particulars,  all  which, 
even  the  most  minute,  I  have  spared  no 
pains  to  ascertain  with  a  scrupulous  au- 
thenticity, has  occasioned  a  degree  of  trou- 
ble far  beyond  that  of  any  other  species  of 
composition.  Were  I  to  detail  the  books 
which  I  have  consulted,  and  the  inquiries 
which  I  have  found  it  necessary  to  make  by 
various  channels,  I  should  probably  be 
thought  ridiculously  ostentatious.  Let  me 
only  observe,  as  a  specimen  of  my  trouble, 
that  I  have  sometimes  been  obliged  to  run 
half  over  London,  in  order  to  fix  a  date  cor- 
rectly: which,  when  I  had  accomplished,  I 
well  knew  would  obtain  me  no  praise, 
though  a  failure  would  have  been  to  my  dis- 
credit. And  after  all,  perhaps,  hard  as  it 
may  be,  I  shall  not  be  surprised  if  omissions 
or  mistake*  be  pointed  out  with  invidious 


severity.  I  have  also  been  extremely  care- 
ful as  to  the  exactness  of  my  quotations; 
holding  that  there  is  a  respect  due  to  the 
publick,  which  should  oblige  every  authour 
to  attend  to  this,  and  never  to  presume  to 
introduce  them  with,  "  I  think  I  have  read," 
or  "  If  I  remember  right,"  when  the  origi- 
nals may  be  examined. 

I  beg  leave  to  express  my  warmest  thanks 
to  those  who  have  been  pleased  to  favour 
me  with  communications  and  advice  in 
the  conduct  of  my  work.  But  I  cannot 
sufficiently  acknowledge  my  obligations  to 
my  friend  Mr.  Malone,  who  was  so  good  as 
to  allow  me  to  read  to  him  almost  the  whole 
of  my  manuscript,  and  made  such  remarks 
as  were  greatly  for  the  advantage  of  the 
work;  though  it  is  but  fair  to  him  to  men- 
tion, that  upon  many  occasions  I  differed 
from  him,  and  followed  my  own  judgment. 
I  regret  exceedingly  that  I  was  deprived  of 
the  benefit  of  his  revision,  when  not  more 
than  one  half  of  the  book  had  passed  through 
the  press;  but  after  having  completed  ms 
very  laborious  and  admirable  edition  of 
Shakspeare,  for  which  he  generously  would 
accept  of  no  other  reward  but  that  fame 
which  he  has  so  deservedly  obtained,  he 
fulfilled  his  promise  of  a  long-wished-for 
visit  to  his  relations  in  Ireland;  from  whence 
his  safe  return  Jmibu$  Aticia  is  desired  by 
his  friends  here,  with  all  the  classical  ar- 
dour of  Sic  U  Diva  potent  Cypri}  for  there 
is  no  man  in  whom  more  elegant  and  wor- 
thy qualities  are  united;  and  whose  society, 
therefore,  is  more  valued  by  those  who  know 
him. 

It  is  painful  to  me  to  think,  that  while  I 
was  carrying  on  this  work,  several  of  those 
to  whom  it  would  have  been  most  interest- 
ing have  died.  Such  melancholy  disap- 
pointments we  know  to  be  incident  to  hu- 
manity; but  we  do  not  feel  them  the  less. 
Let  me  particularly  lament  the  Reverend 
Thomas  Warton  and  the  Reverend  Dr. 


Digitized  by  LiOOQ IC 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


Adams.  Mr.  Warton,  amidst  his  variety 
of  genius  and  learning,  was  an  excellent 
biographer.  His  contributions-  to  my  col- 
lection are  highly  estimable;  and  as  he  had 
a  true  relish  of  my  "  Tour  to  the  Hebrides," 
I  trust  I  should  now  have  been  gratified 
with  a  larger  share  of  his  kind  approbation. 
Dr.  Adams,  eminent  as  the  head  of  a  col- 
lege, as  a  writer,  and  as  a  most  amiable 
man,  had  known  Johnson  from  his  early 
years,  and  was  his  friend  through  life. 
What  reason  I  had  to  hope  for  the  counte- 
nance of  that  venerable  gentleman  to  this 
work  will  appear  from  what  he  wrote  to  me 
upon  a  former  occasion  from  Oxford,  No- 
vember 17, 1785: — "  Dear  sir,  I  hazard  this 
letter,  not  knowing  where  it  will  find  you, 
to  thank  you  for  your  very  agreeable  'Tour,' 
which  I  found  here  on  my  return  from  the 
country,  and  in  which  you  have  depicted 
our  friend  so  perfectly  to  my  fancy,  in  every 
attitude,  every  scene  and  situation,  that  I 

London,  20th  April,  1791. 


have  thought  myself  in  the  company  and 
of  the  party  almost  throughout,  u  has 
given  very  general  satisfaction:  and  those 
who  have  found  most  fault  with  a  passage 
here  and  there,  have  agreed  that  they  could 
not  help  going  through,  and  being  enter- 
tained with  the  whole.  I  wish,  indeed, 
some  few  gross  expressions  had  been  soft- 
ened, and  a  few  of  our  hero's  foibles  had 
been  a  little  more  shaded;  but  it  is  useful  to 
see  the  weaknesses  incident  to  great  minds; 
and  you  have  given  us  Dr.  Johnson's  au- 
thority that  in  history  all  ought  to  be  told." 
Such  a  sanction  to  my  faculty  of  giving 
a  just  representation  of  Dr.  Johnson  I  could 
not  conceal.  Nor  will  I  suppress  my  sat- 
isfaction in  the  consciousness,  that  by  re- 
cording so  considerable  a  portion  of  the 
wisdom  and  wit  of  "the  brightest  ornament 
of  the  eighteenth  century1,"  I  have  largely 
provided  for  the  instruction  and  entertain- 
ment of  mankind. 

J.  BOSWELL. 


TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


That  I  was  anxious  for  the  success  of  a 
work  which  had  employed  much  of  my  time 
and  labour,  I  do  not  wish  to  conceal;  but 
whatever  doubts  I  at  any  time  entertained, 
have  been  entirely  removed  by  the  very  fa- 
vourable reception  with  which  it  has  been 
honoured.  That  reception  has  excited  my 
best  exertions  to  render  my  book  more 
perfect:  and  in  this  endeavour  I  have  had 
the  assistance  not  only  of  some  of  mya  par- 
ticular friends,  but  of  many  other  learned 
and  ingenious  men,  by  which  I  have  been 
enabled  to  rectify  some  mistakes,  and  to  en- 
rich the  work  with  many  valuable  additions. 
These  I  hsve  ordered  to  be  printed  sepa- 
rately in  quarto,  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  purchasers  of  the  first  edition.  May  I  be 
permitted  to  say  that  the  typography  of  both 
editions  does  honour  to  the  press  of  Mr. 
Henry  Baldwin,  now  Master  of  the  Wor- 
shipful Company  of  Stationers,  whom  I 
have  long  known  as  a  worthy  man  and  an 
obliging  friend. 

In  the  strangely  mixed  scenes  of  human 
existence,  our  feelings  are  often  at  once  pleas- 
ing and  painful.  O f  this  truth ,  the  progress 
or  the  present  work  furnishes  a  striking 
instance.  It  was  highly  gratifying  to  me 
that  my  friend,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  to 
whom  it  is  inscribed,  lived  to  peruse  it,  and 
to  give  the  strongest  testimony  to  its  fidel- 
ity; but  before  a  second  edition,  which  he 
contributed  to  improve,  could  be  finished, 
the  world  has  been  deprived  of  that  most 
valuable  man;  a  loss  of  which  the  regret 
will  be  deep  and  lasting,  and  extensive, 
proportionate  to  the  felicity  which  he  dif- 
fused through  a  wide  circle  of  admirers  and 
friends. 


In  reflecting  that  the  illustrious  subject 
of  this  work,  by  being  more  extensively  and 
intimately  known,  however  elevated  before, 
has  risen  in  the  veneration  and  love  of  man- 
kind, I  feel  a  satisfaction  beyond  what  fame 
can  afford.  We  cannot,  indeed,  too  much 
or  too  often  admire  his  wonderful  powers 
of  mind,  when  we  consider  that  the  princi- 
pal store  of  wit  and  wisdom  which  this  work 
contains  was  not  a  particular  selection  from 
his  general  conversation,  but  was  merely 
his  occasional  talk  at  such  times  as  I  had 
the  good  fortune  to  be  in  his  company;  and, 
without  doubt,  if  his  discourse  at  other  pe- 
riods had  been  collected  with  the  same  at- 
tention, the  whole  tenour  of  what  he  ut- 
tered would  have  been  found  equally  ex* 
cellent.  * 

His  strong,  clear,  and  animated  enforce- 
ment of  religion,  morality,  loyalty,  and 
subordination,  while  it  delights  and  im- 
proves the  wise  and  the  good,  will,  I  trust, 
prove  an  effectual  antidote  to  that  detesta- 
Dle  sophistry  which  has  been  lately  import- 
ed from  France,  under  the  false  name  of 
philosophy,  and  with  a  malignant  industry 
has  been  employed  against  the  peace,  good 
order,  and  happiness  of  society,  in  our  free 
and  prosperous  country :  but,  thanks  be  to 
God,  without  producing  the  pernicious  e£ 
fects  which  were  hoped  for  by  its  propaga- 
tors. 

It  seems  to  me,  in  my  moments  of  self- 
complacency,  that  this  extensive  biograph- 
ical work,  however  inferior  in  its  nature, 
may  in  one  respect  be  assimilated  to  the 

1  See  Mr.  Malone's  Preface  to  hk  edition  of 
Shakspeare. — Boswbll. 

Digitized  by  LiOOQ IC 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


Odyssey.  Amidst  a  thousand  entertaining 
and  instructive  episodes,  the  hero  is  never 
long  out  of  sight;  for  they  are  all  in  some 
degree  connected  with  him;  and  he,  in  the 
whole  course  of  the  history,  is  exhibited  by 
the  authour  for  the  best  advantage  of  his 
readers: 

— Quid  virtus  et  quid  npteotia  pewit, 
Utile  proposnit  nobis  exemplar  Ulyssen. 

Should  there  be  any  cold-blooded  and 
morose  mortals  who  really  dislike  this  book, 
I  will  give  them  a  story  to  apply.  When 
the  great  Duke  of  Marlborough,  accom- 
panied by  Lord  Gadogan,  was  one  day  re- 
connoitring the  army  in  Flanders,  a  heavy 
rain  came  on,  and  they  both  called  for  then* 
cloaks.  Lord  Cadogan's  servant,  a  £Ood- 
humoured  alert  lad,  brought  his  lordship's  in 
a  minute.  The  duke's  servant,  a  lazy  sulky 
dog,  was  so  sluggish,  that  his  grace  being 
wet  to  the  skin,  reproved  him,  and  had  for 
answer,  with  a  grunt,  "  I  came  as  fast  as  I 
could:"  upon  which  die  duke  calmly  said, 
"  Cadogan,  I  would  not  for  a  thousand 
pounds  have  that  fellow's  temper." 

There  are  some  men,  I  believe,  who  have, 
or  think  they  have,  a  very  small  share  of 
vanity.  Such  may  speak  of  their  literary 
fame  in  a  decorous  style  of  diffidence.  But 
I  confess,  that  I  am  so  formed  by  nature 
and  by  habit,  that  to  restrain  the  effusion 
of  delight,  on  having  obtained  such  fame, 

1st  July,  1793. 


to  me  would  be  truly  painful.  Why  then 
should  I  suppress  it?  Why  "  out  of  the 
abundance  of  the  heart"  should  I  not  speak? 
Let  me  then  mention  with  a  warm,  but  no 
insolent  exultation,  that  I  have  been  re- 
galed with  spontaneous  praise  of  my  work 
by  many  and  various  persons,  eminent  for 
their  rank,  learning,  talents,  and  accom- 
plishments; much  of  which  praise  I  have 
under  their  hands  to  be  repoeited  in  my 
archives  at  Auchinleck.  An  honourable 
and  reverend  friend  speaking  of  the  favour- 
able reception  of  my  volumes,  even  in  the 
circles  of  fashion  and  elegance,  said  to  me, 
"  you  have  made  them  all  talk  Johnson." 
Yes,  I  may  add,  I  have  Johnsonised  the 
land;  and  I  trust  they  will  not  only  talk  but 
think  Johnson. 

To  enumerate  those  to  whom  I  have  been 
thus  indebted  would  be  tediously  ostenta- 
tious. I  cannot  however  but  name  one, 
whose  praise  is  truly  valuable,  not  only  on 
account  of  his  knowledge  and  abilities,  but 
on  account  of  the  magnificent,  yet  danger- 
ous embassy,  in  which  he  is  now  employed, 
which  makes  every  thing  that  relates  to  him 
peculiarly  interesting.  Lord  Macartney 
favoured  me  with  his  own  copy  of  my  book, 
with  a  number  of  notes,  of  which  I  have 
availed  myself!  On  the  first  leaf  I  found, 
in  his  lordship's  hand-writing,  an  inscrip- 
tion of  such  high  commendation,  that  even 
I,  vain  as  I  am,  cannot  prevail  on  myself  to 
publish  it. 

J.  BOSWELL. 


MR.  MALONE'S  ADVERTISEMENTS. 


TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 


Several  valuable  letters,  and  other  cu- 
rious matter,  having  been  communicated 
to  the  authour  too  Tate  to  be  arranged  in 
that  chronological  order,  which  he  had  en- 
deavoured uniformly  to  observe  in  his  work, 
he  was  obliged  to  introduce  them  in  his  se- 
cond edition,  by  way  of  Addenda,  as  com- 
modiously  as  he  could.  In  the  present  edi-. 
tion,  they  have  been  distributed  in  their 
proper  places.  In  revising  his  volumes  for 
a  new  edition,  he  had  pointed  out  where 
some  of  these  materials  should  be  inserted; 
but  unfortunately,*  in  the  midst  of  his  la- 
bours, he  was  seized  with  a  fever,  of  which, 
to  the  great  regret  of  all  his  friends,  he  died 
on  the  19th  of  May,  1795.  All  the  notes 
that  he  had  written  in  the  margin  of  the 
copy,  which  he  had  in  part  revised,  are  here 
faithfully  preserved;  and  a  few  new  notes 
have  been  added,  principally  by  some  of 
those  friends  to  whom  the  authour,  in  the 
former  editions,  acknowledged  liia  obliga- 
tions. Those  subscribed  with  the  letter  B. 
were  communicated  by  Dr.  Burney;  those 


to  which  the  letters  J.  B.  are  annexed,  by 
the  Rev.  J.  B.  Blakeway,  of  Shrewsbury, 
to  whom  Mr.  Boswell  acknowledged  him- 
self indebted  for  some  judicious  remarks  on 
the  first  edition  of  his  work;  and  the  letters 
J.  B — .  O.  are  annexed  to  some  remarks 
furnished  by  the  authour 's  Becond  son,  a 
student  of  Brazen-Nose  College  in  Oxford. 
Some  valuable  observations  were  commu- 
nicated by  James  Bindley,  Esq.  first  com- 
missioner in  the  stamp-office,  which  have 
been  acknowledged  in  their  proper  places. 
For  all  those  without  any  signature,  Mr. 
Malone  is  answerable.  Every  new  remark, 
not  written  by  the  authour,  for  the  sake  of 
distinction  has  been  enclosed  within  crotch- 
etsj  in  one  instance,  however,  the  printer, 
by  mistake,  has  affixed  this  mark  to  a  note 
relative  to  the  Rev.  Thomas  Fysche  Palm- 
er, (see  vol.  iv.  p.  129},  which  was  written 
by  Mr.  Boswell,  and  therefore  ought  not  to 
have  been  thus  distinguished. 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  the  proof-sheets 
of  the  present  edition  not  having  passed 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


through  my  hands,  I  am  not  answerable  for 
any  typographical  errors  that  may  he  found 
in  it.  Having,  however,  been  printed  at 
the  very  accurate  Dress  of  Mr.  Baldwin,  I 
make  no  doubt  it  will  he  found  not  less  per- 

8th  April,  1799. 


feet  than  the  former  edition;  toe  greatest 
care  having  been  taken,  by  correctness  and 
elegance,  to  do  justice  to  one  of  the  most 
instructive  and  entertaining  works  in  the 
English  language. 

EDM.  MALONE. 


TO  THE  FOURTH  EDITION. 


In  this  edition  are  inserted  some  new  let- 
ters, of  which  the  greater  part  has  been 
obligingly  communicated  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Vyae,  Hector  of  Lambeth.  Those  written 
by  Dr.  Johnson,  concerning  his  mother  in 
her  last  illness,  furnish  a  new  proof  of  his 
great  piety  and  tenderness  of  heart,  and 
therefore  cannot  but  be  acceptable  to  the 
readers  of  this  very  popular  work.  Some 
new  notes  also  have  been  added,  which,  as 
well  as  the  observations  inserted  in  the  third 
edition,  and  the  letters  now  introduced,  are 
carefully  included  within  crotchets,  that 
the  authouT  may  not  be  answerable  for  any 
thing  which  had  not  the  sanction  of  his  ap- 
probation. The  remarks  of  his  friends  are 
distinguished  as  formerly,  except  those  of 
Mr.  M  alone,  to  which  the  letter  M.  is  now 
subjoined.  Those  to  which  the  letter  K. 
■  affixed  were  communicated  by  my  learned 
friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Kearney,  formerly 
senior  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
and  now  beneficed  in  the  diocess  of  Ra- 
phoe,  in  Ireland,  of  which  he  is  archdea- 
con. 

Of  a  work  which  has  been  before  the 
pobhek  for  thirteen  years  with  increasing 
approbation,  and  of  which  near  four  thou- 


sand copies  have  been  dispersed,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  say  mores  yet  I  cannot  refrain 
from  adding,  that,  highly  as  it  is  now  esti- 
mated, it  will,  I  am  confident,  be  still  more 
valued  by  posterity  a  century  hence,  when 
all  the  actors  in  the  scene  shall  be  numbered 
with  the  dead;  when  the  excellent  and  ex- 
traordinary man,  whose  wit  and  wisdom 
are  here  recorded,  shall  be  viewed  at  a  still 
greater  distance;  and  the  instruction  and 
entertainment  they  afford  will  at  once  pro- 
duce reverential  gratitude,  admiration,  and 
delight  i.  E.  M. 

20th  Jane,  1804. 


i  [Mr.Malone  published  a  fifth  edition  in  1807, 
and  a  sixth  in  1811 ;  Mr.  Chalmers  a  seventh  in 
1822;  and  an  anonymous  editor  another ,  in  Ox* 
ford,  in  1828.  Of  publications  so  recent,  the  ed- 
itor would  not  have  felt  justified  in  making  an 
unpermitted  use;  but  in  fact  there  was  little  to  be 
borrowed  from  any  of  them,  except  that  of  Mr. 
Chalmers;  and  his  liberality,  by  pointing  out  such 
of  the  original  sources  of  information  as  the  editor 
had  not  himself  previously  discovered,  has  ena- 
bled him  to  complete  this  edition  with  all  the  in- 
formation which  Mr.  Chalmen  could  afford. — 
Ed.] 


MR.  BOSWELL'S  INTRODUCTION. 


To  wrile  the  Life  of  him  who  excelled  all 
mankind  in  writing  the  lives  of  others,  and 
who,  whether  we  consider  his  extraordina- 
ry endowments,  or  his  various  works,  has 
been  equalled  by  few  in  any  age,  is  an  ardu- 
ous, and  may  be  reckoned  in  me  a  presump- 
tuous task. 

Had  Dr.  Johnson  written  his  own  Life, 
in  conformity  with  the  opinion  which  he 
has  given2,  that  every  man's  life  may  be 
best  written  by  himself;  had  he  employed 
in  the  preservation  of  his  own  history,  that 
clearness  of  narration  and  elegance  of  lan- 
guage in  which  he  has  embalmed  so  many 
eminent  persons,  the  world  would  probably 
have  had  the  most  perfectexample  of  biog- 
raphy that  was  ever  exhibited.     But  aJ- 


*  Idler,  No.  84.— Boswelx* 


though  he  at  different  times,  in  a  desultory 
manner,  committed  to  writing  many  par- 
ticulars of  the  progress  of  his  mind  and  for- 
tunes, he  never  had  persevering  diligence 
enough  to  form  them  into  a  regular  compo-  . 
sition.  Of  these  memorials  a  few  have  been 
preserved;  but  the  greater  part  was  con- 
signed by  him  to  the  flames,  a  few  days  be- 
fore his  death. 

As  I  had  the  honour  and  happiness  of 
enjoying  his  friendship  for  upwards  of  twen- 
ty years;  as  I  had  the  scheme  of  writing 
his  life  constantly  in  view;  as  he  was  well 
apprised  of  this  circumstance,  and  from  time 
to  time  obligingly  satisfied  my  inquiries,  by- 
communicating  to  me  the  incidents  of  his 
early  years:  as  I  acquired  a  facility  in  recol- 
lectinff,  and  was  very  assiduous  in  record- 
ing, his  conversation,  of  which  the  extraor- 


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MR.  BOSWELL'S 


dinary  vigour  and  vivacity  constituted  one 
of  the  first  features  of  his  character;  and  as 
I  have  spared  no  pains  in  obtaining  materi- 
als concerning  him,  from  every  quarter 
where  I  could  discover  that  they  were  to 
be  found,  and  have  been  favoured  with  the 
most  liberal  communications  by  his  friends; 
I  flatter  myself  that  few  biographers  have 
entered  upon  such  a  work  as  this  with  more 
advantages;  independent  of  literary  abilities, 
in  which  I  am  not  vain  enough  to  compare 
myself  with  some  great  names  who  have 
gone  before  me  in  this  kind  of  writing. 

Since  my  work  was  announced,  several 
Lives  and  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Johnson  have  been 
published,  the  most  voluminous  of  which 
is  one  compiled  for  the  booksellers  of  Lon- 
don, by  Sir  John  Hawkins,  Knt.1,  a  man, 
whom,  during  my  long  intimacy  with  Dr. 
Johnson,  I  never  saw  in  his  company,  I 
think,  but  once,  and  I  am  sure  not  above 
twice.  Johnson  might  have  esteemed  him 
fbr  his  decent,  religious  demeanour,  and  his 
knowledge  of  books  and  literary  history; 
but  from  the  rigid  formality  of  his  manners, 
it  is  evident  that  they  never  could  have  lived 
together  with  companionable  ease  and  fa- 
miliarity; nor  had  Sir  John  Hawkins  that 
nice  perception  which  was  necessary  to 
mark  the  finer  and  less  obvious  parts  of 
Johnson's  character.  His  being  appointed 
one  of  his  executors  gave  him  an  opportu- 
nity of  taking  possession  of  such  fragments' 
of  a  diary  and  other  papers  as  were  left;  of 
which,  before  delivering  them  up  to  the  re- 
siduary legatee,  whose  property  they  were, 
he  endeavoured  to  extract  the  substance. 
In  this  he  has  not  been  very  successful,  as 
I  have  found  upon  a  perusal  of  those  papers, 
which  have  been  since  transferred  to  me. 
Sir  John  Hawkins's  ponderous  labours,  I 
must  acknowledge,  exhibit  a  farrago,  of 
which  a  considerable  portion  is  not  devoid 
of  entertainment  to  the  lovers  of  literary 


<  l  The  greatest  part  of  this  book  was  written 
while  Sir  John  Hawkins  was  alive;  and  I  avow, 
that  one  object  of  my  strictures  was  to  make  him 
feel  some  compunction  for  his  illiberal  treatment 
of  Dr.  Johnson.  Since  his  decease,  I  have  sup- 
pressed several  of  my  remarks  upon  his  work. 
But  though  I  would  not  "  war  with  the  dead*' 
offensively,  I  think  it  necessary  to  be  strenuous 
in  defence  of  my  illustrious  friend,  which  I  can- 
Bot  be,  without  strong  animadversions  upon  a  wri- 
ter who  has  greatly  injured  him.  Let  me  add, 
that  though  I  doubt  I  should  not  have  been  very 
prompt  to  gratify  Sir  John  Hawkins  with  any 
compliment  in  ho  lifetime,  I  do  now  frankly  ac- 
knowledge, that,  in  my  opinion,  his  volume,  how- 
ever inadequate  and  improper  as  a  life  of  Dr. 
Johnson,  and  however  discredited  by  unpardona- 
ble inaccuracies  in  other  respects,  contains  a  col- 
lection of  curious  anecdotes  and  observations, 
which  few  men  but  its  author  could  have  brought 
together.— BoawjELL. 


gossiping;  but  besides  its  being  swelled  out 
with  long  unnecessary  extracts  from  various 
works  (even  one  of  several  leaves  from  Os- 
borne's Harleian  Catalogue,  and  those  not 
compiled  by  Johnson,  but  by  Oldys),  a  ve- 
ry small  part  of  it  relates  to  the  person  who 
is  the  subject  of  the  book ;  and  in  that  there  is 
such  an  inaccuracy  in  the  statement  of  facts, 
as  in  so  solemn  an  authour  is  hardly  excu- 
sable, and  certainly  makes  his  narrative  ve- 
ry unsatisfactory.  But  what  is  still  worse, 
there  is  throughout  the  whole  of  it  a  dark 
uncharitable  cast,  by  which  the  most  un- 
favourable construction  is  put  upon  almost 
every  circumstance  in  the  character  and 
conduct  of  my  illustrious  friend;  who,  I 
trust,  will,  by  a  true  and  fair  delineation, 
be  vindicated  both  from  the  injurious  mis- 
representations of  this  authour,  and  from 
the  slighter  aspersions  of  a  lady  who  once 
lived  in  great  intimacy  with  him. 

There  is,  in  the  British  Museum,  a  let- 
ter from  Bishop  Warburton  to  Dr.  Birch, 
on  the  subject  of  biography ;  which,  though 
I  am  aware  it  may  expose  me  to  a  charge 
of  artfully  raising  the  value  of  my  own 
work,  by  contrasting  it  with  that  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  is  so  well  conceived  and  ex- 
pressed, that  I  cannot  refrain  from  here  in- 
serting it. 

"  24th  Nov.  1737. 

"  I  shall  endeavour,"  says  Dr.  Warbur- 
ton, "  to  give  you  what  satisfaction  I  can 
in  any  thing  you  want  to  be  satisfied  in  any 
subject  of  Milton,  and  am  extremely  glad 
you  intend  to  write  his  life.  Almost  all  the 
life-writers  we  have  had  before  Toland  and 
Desmaiseaux,  are  indeed  strange  insipid 
creatures;  and  yet  I  had  rather  read  the 
worst  of  them,  than  be  obliged  to  go 
through  with  this  of  Milton's,  or  the  other's 
life  of  Boileau,  where  there  is  such  a  dull, 
heavy  succession  of  long  quotations  of  dis- 
interesting  passages,  that  it  makes  their 
method  quite  nauseous.  But  the  verbose, 
tasteless  Frenchman,  seems  to  lay  it  down 
as  a  principle,  that  every  life  must  be  a  book; 
and  what's  worse,  it  proves  a  book  without 
a  life;  for  what  do  we  know  of  Boileau,  af- 
ter all  his  tedious  stuff  ?  You  are  the  only 
one  (and  I  speak  it  without  a  compliment), 
that  Dy  the  vigour  of  your  style  and  senti- 
ments,' and  the  real  importance  of  your  ma- 
terials, have  the  art  (which  one  would  im- 
agine no  one  could  have  missed)  of  adding 
the  agreements  to  the  most  agreeable  sub- 
ject m  the  world,  which  is  literary  history  V 

Instead  of  melting  down  my  materials 
into  one  mass,  and  constantly  speaking  in 
my  own  person,  by  which  I  might  have  ap- 
peared to  have  more  merit  in  the  execution 
of  the  work,  I  have  resolved  to  adopt  and 


*  British  Museum,   4320,   Ayscough'a  CataL 
Sloane  MSS. — Boawsi*!*. 


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INTRODUCTION. 


enlarge  upon  the  excellent  plan  of  Mr.  Ma- 
son, in  his  Memoirs  of  Gray.  Wherever 
narrative  is  necessary  to  explain,  connect 
and  supply,  I  furnish  it  to  the  host  of  my 
abilities;  but  in  the  chronological  series  of 
Johnson's  life,  which  I  trace  as  distinctly 
as  1  can,  year  by  year,  I  produce,  wherever 
it  is  in  my  power,  his  own  minutes,  letters, 
or  conversation,  being  convinced  that  this 
mode  is  more  lively,  and  will  make  my  rea- 
ders better  acquainted  with  him  than  even 
most  of  those  were  who  actually  knew  him, 
bat  could  know  him  only  partially;  where- 
as there  is  Here  an  accumulation  of  intelli- 
gence from  various  points,  by  which  his 
character  is  more  fully  understood  and  il- 
lustrated. 

Indeed  I  cannot  conceive  a  more  perfect 
mode  of  writing  any  man's  life,  than  not  on- 
ly relating  all  the  most  important  events  of 
it  in  their  order,  but  interweaving  what  he 
privately  wrote,  and  said,  and  thought; 
by  which  mankind  are  enabled  as  it  were 
to  see  him  live,  and  to  "  live  o'er  each  scene  " 
with  him,  as  he  actually  advanced  through 
the  several  stages  of  his  life.  Had  his  other 
friends  been  as  diligent  and  ardent  as  I 
was,  he  might  have  been  almost  entirely 
preserved.  As  it  is,  I  will  venture  to  say 
that  he  will  be  seen  in  this  work  more  com- 
pletely than  any  man  who  has  ever  yet  lived. 

And  he  will  be  seen  as  he  really  was;  for 
I  profess  to  write  not  his  panegyrick,  which 
must  be  all  praise,  but  his  life,  which,  great 
and  good  as  he  wss,  must  not  be  supposed 
to  be  entirely  perfect.  To  be  as  he  was,  is 
indeed  subject  of  panegyrick  enough  to  any 
man  in  this  state  of  being;  but  in  every  pic- 
tare  there  should  be  shade  as  well  as  light, 
and  when  I  delineate  him  without  reserve, 
I  do  what  he  himself  recommended,  both 
by  his  precept  and  his  example. 

"  If  the  biographer  writes  from  personal 
knowledge,  and  makes  haste  to  gratify  the 
publick  curiosity,  there  is  danger  lest  his  in- 
terest, his  fear,  his  gratitude,  or  his  tender- 
ness, overpower  his  fidelity,  and  tempt  him 
to  conceal,  if  not  to  invent.  There  are 
many  who  think  it  an  act  of  piety  to  hide 
the  faults  or  failings  of  their  friends,  even 
when  they  can  no  longer  suffer  by  their  de- 
tection; we  therefore  see  whole  ranks  of 
characters  adorned  with  uniform  panegy- 
rick,  and  not  to  be  known  from  one  another 
but  by  extrinsick  and  casual  circumstances. 
1  Let  me  remember,*  says  Hale,  '  when  I 
find  myself  inclined  to  pity  a  criminal,  that 
there  is  likewise  a  pity  due  to  the  country.'  , 
If  we  owe  regard  to  the  memory  of  the 
dead,  there  is  yet  more  respect  to  be  paid  to 
knowledge,  to  virtue,  and  to  truth  l.» 

What  I  consider  as  the  peculiar  value  of 
the  following  work,  is  the  quantity  it  con- 


1  •  Rambler,  No.  60.— Boswkll. 


tains  of  Johnson's  conversation,  which  is 
universally  acknowledged  to  have  been  em- 
inently instructive  and  entertaining;  and  of 
which  the  specimens  that  I  have  given  up- 
on a  former  occasion  have  been  received 
with  so  much  approbation,  that  I  have 
good  grounds  for  supposing  that  the  world 
will  not  be  indifferent  to  more  ample  com- 
munications of  a  similar  nature. 

That  the  conversation  of  a  celebrated  man, 
if  his  talents  have  been  exerted  in  conver- 
sation, will  best  display  his  character,  is,  I 
trust,  too  well  established  in  the  judgment 
of  mankind  to  be  at  all  shaken  by  a  sneer- 
ing observation  of  Mr.  Mason,  in  his  me- 
moirs of  Mr.  William  Whitehead,  in 
which  there  is  literally  no  life,  but  a  mere 
dry  narrative  of  facts.  I  do  not  think  it  was 
quite  necessary  to  attempt  a  depreciation  of 
what  is  universally  esteemed,  because  it  was 
not  to  be  found  in  the  immediate  object  of 
the  ingenious  writer's  pen;  for  in  truth, 
from  a  man  so  still  and  so  tame,  as  to  be  con- 
tented to  pass  many  years  as  the  domestick 
companion  of  a  superannuated  lord  and  lady, 
conversation  could  no  more  be  expected  than 
from  a  Chinese  mandarin  on  a  chimney- 
piece,  or  the  fantastick  figures  on  a  gilt 
leather  skreen. 

If  authority  be  required,  let  us  appeal  to 
Plutarch,  the  prince  of  ancient  biographers. 
Ovrt  Tout  nrt<pa.nmatmuc  wgaffn  jr«fr*f  irartv 
hXJM-lS    tfgfJ-JK    »    StfJtMf,      4AAA     npty/M    fif*xy 

iroxxaxK,  nuu  /»«/*«»  tuu  mujia.  ric  *f*Q&rn  «6««f 
vroav-it  potior  »  f^x**  tMiM*HiM*  *"«$*t*£mc  «* 
/xrytrrtu,  tua  ToAj&fxJ*  otomov.  "  Nor  is  it  al- 
ways in  the  most  distinguished  achieve- 
ments that  men's  virtues  or  vices  may  be  best 
discerned;  but  very  often  an  action  of  small 
note,  a  short  saying,  or  a  jest,  shall  distin- 
guish a  person's  real  character  more  than 
the  greatest  sieges  or  the  most  important 
battles  a." 

To  this  may  be  added  the  sentiments  of 
the  very  man  whose  life  I  am  about  to  exhi- 
bit. "  The  business  of  the  biographer  is 
often  to  pass  slightly  over  those  perform- 
ances and  incidents  which  produce  vulgar 
greatness,  to  lead  the  thoughts  into  domes- 
tick  privacies,  and  display  the  minute  details 
o£  daily  life,  where  exteriour  appendages 
are  cast  aside,  and  men  excel  each  other  on* 
ly  by  prudence  and  by  vfrtue.  The  account 
of  l'huanus  is  with  great  propriety  said  by 
its  authour  to  have  been  written,  that  it 
might  lay  open  to  posterity  the  private  and 
familiar  character  of  that  man,  cujtu  inge- 
nium  et  candorem  ex  ipsius  scrxptis  $unt 
olim  semper  miraturi,  whose  candour  and 
genius  will  to  the  end  of  time  be  by  his  wri- 
tings preserved  in  admiration. 

"  Tnere  are  many  invisible  circumstances 


*  Plutarch's  Life  of  Alexander^-Langhome's 
translation. — Boswbxl. 


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MR.  BOSWELL'S  INTRODUCTION. 


which,  whether  we  read  as  inquirers  after 
natural  or  moral  knowledge,  whether  we  in- 
tend to  enlarge  our  science  or  increase 
our  virtue,  are  more  important  than  publick 
occurrences.  Thus  Sallust,  the  great  mas- 
ter of  nature,  has  not  forgotten,  in  his  ac- 
count of  Catiline,  to  remark,  that  his  walk 
was  now  quick,  and  again  slow,  as  an  indi- 
cation of  a  mind  revolving  with  violent 
commotion.  Thus  the  story  of  Melancthon 
affords  a  striking  lecture  on  the  value  of 
time,  hy  informing  us,  that  when  he  had 
made  an  appointment,  he  expected  not  on- 
ly the  hour,  hut  the  minute  to  be  fixed, 
that  the  day  might  not  run  out  in  the  idle- 
ness of  suspense:  and  all  the  plans  and  en- 
terprises orDe  Wit  are  now  of  less  impor- 
tance to  the  world  than  that  part  of  his 
personal  character,  which  represents  him 
as  careful  of  his  health,  and  negligent  of 
his  life. 

"  But  biography  has  often  been  allotted 
to  writers,  who  seem  very  little  acquainted 
with  the  nature  of  their  task,  or  very  neg- 
ligent about  the  performance.  They  rare- 
ly afford  any  other  account  than  might  be 
collected  from  publick  papers,  but  imagine 
themselves  writing  a  life,  when  they  exhib- 
it a  chronological  series  of  actions  or  pre- 
ferments; and  have  so  little  regard  to  the 
manners  or  behaviour  of  their  heroes,  that 
more  knowledge  may  be  gained  of  a  man's 
real  character,  by  a  short  conversation  with 
one  of  his  servants,  than  from  a  formal  and 
studied  narrative,  begun  with  his  pedigree, 
and  ended  with  his  funeral. 

"There  are,  indeed,  some  natural  rea- 
sons why  these  narratives  are  often  written 
by  such  as  were  not  likely  to  give  much  in- 
struction or  delight,  and  why  most  ac- 
counts of  particular  persons  are  barren  and 
useless,  if  a  life  be  delayed  till  interest 
and  envy  are  at  an  end,  we  may  hope  for 
impartiality,  but  must  expect  little  intelli- 
gence; for  the  incidents  which  give  excel- 
lence to  biography  are  of  a  volatile  and  ev- 
anescent kind,  such  as  soon  escape  the  me- 
mory, and  are  rarely  transmitted  by  tradi- 
tion. We  know  how  few  can  pourtray  a 
living  acquaintance,  except  by  his  most 
prominent  and  observable  particularities, 
and  the  grosser  features  of  his  mind;  and 
it  may  be  easily  imagined  how  much  of  this 
little  knowledge  may  be  lost  in  imparting 
it,  and  how  soon  a  succession  of  copies  will 
lose  all  resemblance  of  the  original  V 

I  am  fully  aware  of  the  objections  which 
may  be  made  to  the  minuteness  on  some 
occasions  of  my  detail  of  Johnson's  conver- 


1  Rambler,  No.  00.— Boiwbll. 


sation,  and  how  happily  it  is  adapted  lor 
the  petty  exercise  of  ridicule,  by  men  of 
superficial  understanding,  and  ludicrous 
fancy;  but  I  remain  firm  and  confident  in 
my  opinion,  that  minute  particulars  are 
frequently  characteristic,  and  always  amu- 
sing, when  they  relate  to  a  distinguished 
man.  I  am  therefore  exceedingly  unwilling 
that  any  thing,  however  slight,  which  my 
illustrious  friend  thought  it  worth  his  while 
to  express,  with  any  degree  of  point,  should 
perish.  For  this  almost  superstitious  rev- 
erence, I  have  found  very  old  and  venerable 
authority,  quoted  by  our  great  modern  pre- 
late, Seeker,  in  whose  tenth  sermon  there 
is  the  following  passage: 

"  Rabbi  David  Kimchi,  a  noted  Jewish 
commentator,  who  lived  about  five  hundred 
years  ago,  explains  that  passage  in  the  first 
psalm, '  His  leaf  also  shall  not  wither/  from 
Rabbins  yet  older  than  himself,  thus:  That 
even  the  idle  talk,  so  he  expresses  it,  of  a 
good  man  ought  to  be  regarded;  the  most 
superfluous  things  he  saith  are  always  of 
some  value.  And  other  ancient  authours 
have  the  same  phrase,  nearly  in  the  same 
sense." 

Of  one  thing  I  am  certain,  that  consider- 
ing how  highly  the  small  portion  which  we 
have  of  the  table-talk  and  other  anecdotes 
of  our  celebrated  writers  is  valued,  and  how 
earnestly  it  is  regretted  that  we  have  not 
more,  I  am  justified  in  preserving  rather  too 
many  of  Johnson's  sayings,  than  too  few; 
especially  as  from  the  diversity  of  disposi- 
tions it  cannot  be  known  with  certainty 
beforehand,  whether  what  may  seem  trifling 
to  some,  and  perhaps  to  the  collector  him- 
self, may  not  oe  most  agreeable  to  many; 
and  the  greater  number  that  an  authour  can 
please  in  any  degree,  the  more  pleasure 
does  there  arise  to  a  benevolent  mind. 

To  those  who  are  weak  enough  to  think 
this  a  degrading  task,  and  the  time  and  la- 
bour which  have  been  devoted  to  it  misem- 
ployed, I  shall  content  myself  with  opposing 
the  authority  of  the  greatest  man  of  any 
age,  Julius  Caesar,  of  whom  Bacon  ob- 
serves, that  "  in  his  book  of  apophthegms 
which  he  collected,  we  see  that  he  esteem- 
ed it  more  honour  to  make  himself  but  a 
pair  of  tables,  to  take  the  wise  and  pithy 
words  of  others,  than  to  have  every  word 
of  his  own  to  be  made  an  apophthegm  or 
an  oracle2." 

Having  said  thus  much  by  way  of  intro- 
duction, I  commit  the  following  pages  to 
the  candour  of  the  publick. 


■  Bacon's  "  Advancement  of  Learning,"  Book 

L— -BOflWBI*!* 


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LIFE 


OF 


SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  LL.D. 


of  11*, 
P.* 

tor,  i 
He 


Samvu.  Johvs ok  was  born  at  Lichfield, 
in  Staffordshire,  on  the  18th  of  September, 
N.  S.  1709,  [as  he  himself  states, 
adding,  "that  his  mother  had  a 
very  difficult  and  dangerous  labour, 
and  was  assisted  by  George  Hec- 
man-midwife  of  great  reputation, 
born  almost  dead1,  and  could  not 
cry  ibr  some  time."]  His  initiation  into 
the  Christian  church  was  not  delayed;  for 
his  baptism  is  recorded,  in  the  register  of 
St.  Mary's  parish  in  that  city,  to  have 
been  performed  on  the  day  of  his  birth :  his 
father  is  there  styled  Gentleman,  a  circum- 
stance of  which  an  ignorant  panegyrist  has 
praised  him  for  not  being  proud;  when  the 
truth  is,  that  the  appellation  of  Gentleman, 
though  now  lost  in  the  indiscriminate  as- 
sumption of  Eeqmre,  was  commonly  taken 
fay  those  who  could  not  boast  of  gentility9. 
His  father  was  Michael  Johnson,  a  native 
of  Derbyshire,  of  obscure  extraction,  who 
settled  in  Lichfield  as  a  bookseller  and 
stationer  *.    [He— being  that  year  sheriff  of 


1  [To  have  been  bom  a!mo&t  dead  has  been 
nlmed  of  many  eminent  men,  amongst  othen  of 
Addison,  Lad  Lyttehon,  and  Voltaire.-- Ed.] 

■  [The  tide  Gentleman  had  still,  in  1700, 
name  degree  of  its  original  meaning,  and  as  Mr. 
Johnson  served  the  office  of  sheriff  of  Lichfield 
ia  that  year,  he  seems  to  have  been  rally  entitled 
to  it  The  Doctor,  at  ms  entry  on  the  books  of 
Pembroke  college,  and  at  his  matricalataon,  de- 
signaled  himself  as  fiiius  qeneroei. — En .] 

*  [There  seems  some  difficahy  in  arriving  at  a 
r  opinion  as  to  Michael  Johnson's  real 
instances.  That  in  the  latter 
yean  of  bis  life  he  was  poor,  is  certain;  and  Doc- 
tar  Johnson  (ia  the  "  Account  of  his  early  Life,") 
not  only  admjfai  the  general  fret  of  poverty,  but 
gross  several  instances  of  what  may  be  called  in- 
digence* jet,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  evidence 
mat  for  near  fiftv  years  he  occupied  a  respectable 


feUow-cinsens,  and 
the  aiinsJs  of  IJehneld  on  occasions  not 
In  1*87,  a  sabaeription  for 


vax.  i. 


Lichfield,  and  to  ride  the  circuit  of  _____ 
the  county  the  day  after  his  son'a    ** J^*» 
birth,  which  was  a  ceremony  then    p' 
performed    with  great  pomp,  was   asked 


the  bishop,  dean,  Ate  aided  by  the  iieighbouring 
sentry :  Michael  Johnson's  name  stanch  the  twelfth 
m  the  list;  and  his  contribution,  though  only  10«., 
was  not  comparatively  contemptible;  for  no  one, 
except  the  bishop  and  dean,  gave  so  much  as  10/. 
Baronets  and  knights  gave  a  guinea  or  two,  and 
the  great  body  of  the  contributor!  gave  less  than 
Johnson.  (Harwood't  Lichfield,  p.  69.}  In 
1694,  we  find  him  buying  in  the  cathedral,  and 
placing  a  marble  stone  over  a  young  woman  in 
whose  fate  he  was  interested.  His  boose,  a  hand- 
some one,  and  in  one  of  the  best  situations  in  the 
town,  was  his  own  freehold;  and  he  appeals  to 
have  added  to  it,  for  we  find  in  the  books  of  the 
corporation  the  following  entry:  "  1708,  Jaly  18. 
Agreed,  that  Mr.  Michael  Johnson,  bookseller, 
have  a  lease  of  his  encroachment  of  his  boose  in 
Sadler'e-etreet,  for  forty  yean,  at  2_.  6_f.  per  an." 
And  thai  lease,  at  the  expiration  of  the  forty  yean, 
was  renewed  to  the  Doctor,  as  a  mark  of  the  re- 
spect of  his  fellow-citizens.  In  1709,  Michael 
Johnson  served  the  office  of  sheriff  of  the  county 
of  the  city  of  Ucbfield.  In  1718,  he  was  elected 
junior  bailiff;  and  in  1725,  senior  bailiff,  or  chief 
magistrate.  Tims  respected  and  apparent!  y  thriv- 
ing in  Lichfield,  the  foUowing  extract  of  a  letter, 
written  by  the  Rev.  George  Plaxton,  chaplain  to 
Lord  Gower,  will  show  the  high  estimation  in 


is  now  here;  he  propagate,  learning  all  over  this 
advanced,    knowledge  to  its  just 


height;  all  the  clergy  here  are  his  pupils,  and  took 
all  they  have  from  him;  Allen  cannot  make  a 
warrant  without  his  precedent,  nor  our  quonaam 
John  Evans  draw  a  recognizance  ease  dweeHone 
MiehaeUs."  {GentUman'e  Magazine,  Octo- 
ber, 1791.)  On  the  whole,  it  seems  probable 
that  the  growing  expenses  of  a  aunily,  and  loases 
in  trade,  had  in  his  latter  years  reduced  Mr.  John- 
son, from  the  state  of  competency  which  he  had 
before  enjoyed,  to  very  narrow  ' 
En.] 


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1709.— iETAT.  1. 


by  Mrs.  Johnson,  "whom  he  would  in- 
vite to  the  Riding?"  and  answered,  "  all 
the  town  note."  He  feasted  the  citizens 
with  uncommon  magnificence,  and  was 
the  last  but  one  that  maintained  the 
splendour  of  the  Riding.]  His  mother 
was  Sarah  Ford,  descended  of  an  ancient 
race  of  substantial  yeomanry  in  Warwick- 
shire; [Mrs.  Piqzzi  states  her  to 
J1**1'  have  been  the  daughter  of  a  gen- 
'  tleman  in  the  country,  such  as 
there  were  many  of  in  those  days,  who 
possessing,  perhaps,  one  or  two  hundred 
pounds  a  year  in  land,  lived  on  the  profits, 
and  sought  not  to  increase  their  income.] 
They  were  well  advanced  in  years  when 
they  married,  [he  past  fifty,  and  she  above 
forty,]  and  never  had  more  than  two  chil- 
dren, both  sons;  Samuel,  their  first-born, 
who  lived  to  be  the  illustrious  character 
whose  various  excellence  I  am  to  endeavour 
to  record,  and  Nathanael,  who  died  in  his 
twenty-fifth  year1,  [and  of  whose 
manly  spirit  Mrs.  Piozzi  heard  his 
brother  speak  with  pride  and  plea- 
sure. The  two  brothers  did  not,  how- 
ever, much  delight  in  each  other's  company, 
being  always  rivals  for  their  mother's  fond- 
ness; and  many  of  the  severe  reflections  on 
domestic  life  in  Rasselas  took  their  source 
from -its  authour's  keen  recollections  of  his 
early  years.] 

Mr.  Michael  Johnson  was  a  man  of  a  large 
and  robust  body,  and  of  a  strong  and  active 
mind;  yet,  as  in  the  most  solid  rocks  veins 
of  unsound  substance  are  often  discovered, 
there  was  in  him  a  mixture  of  that  disease, 
the  nature  of  which  eludes  the  most  minute 
inauiry,  though  the  effects  are  well  known 
to  be  a  weariness  of  life,  an  unconcern  about 
those  things  which  agitate  the  greater  part 
of  mankind,  and  a  general  sensation  of 
gloomy  wretchedness.  From  him  then  his 
son  inherited,  with  some  other  qualities, "  a 
vile  melancholy,"  which  in  his  too  strong 
expression  of  any  disturbance  or 
•  l8»  the  mind,  "  made  him  mad  all  his 
life,  at  least  not  sober9." 


». *,  e. 


SB:' 


1  Nathanael  was  bom  in  1712,  and  died  in  1787. 
Their  father,  Michael  Johnson,  waa  bom  at  Cub- 
ley  in  Derbyshire,  in  1656,  and  died  at  Lichfield, 
in  .1781,  at  the  age  of  seventy-cut.  Sarah  Ford, 
his  wife,  was  bom  at  King's  Norton,  in  the  coun- 
ty of  Worcester,  in  1669,  and  died  at  Lichfield 
in  January,  1759,  in  her  ninetieth  year. — King's 
Norton  Dr.  Johnson  supposed  to  be  in  Warwick- 
shire (see  his  inscription  for  his  mother's  tomb), 
but  it  is  in  Worcestershire,  probably  on  the  eon- 
fines  of  the  county  of  Warwiek. — M alone. 

*  [One  of  the  most  curious  and  important  chap- 
ters in  the  history  of  the  human  mind  is  still  to  be 
written,  that  of  hereditary  insanity.  The  symp- 
tomatic facts  by  which  the  disease  might  be 
traced  are  generally  either  disregarded  from  jgno- 
>  of  their  real  cause  and  character,  or  when 


[The  elder  Johnson  was,  as  his  Moad, 
son  informed  Mrs.  Piozzi,  -a  very  P-2*6- 
pious  and  worthy  man,  but  wrong-headed, 
positive,  and  afflicted  with  melancholy: 
his  business,  however,  leading  him  to  be 
much  on  horseback,  contributed  to  the 
preservation  of  his  bodily  health,  and  men- 
tal sanity;  which,  when  he  stayed  long  at 
home,  would  sometimes  be  about  to  give 
way;  and  Dr.  Johnson  said,  that  when  his 
workshop,  a  detached  building,  had  fallen 
half  down  for  want  of  money  to  repair  it, 
his  father  was  not  less  diligent  to  lock  the 
door  every  night,  though  he  saw  that  any 
body  might  walk  in  at  the  back  part,  and 
knew  that  there  was  no  security  obtained 
by  barring  the  front  door.  "  This  (said  his 
son)  was  madness,  you  may  see,  and  would 
have  been  discoverable  in  other  instances 
of  the  prevalence  of  imagination,  but  that 
poverty  prevented  it  from  playing  such 
tricks  as  riches  and  leisure  encourage." 
Michael  was  a  man  of  still  larger  size  and 
greater  strength  than  his  son,  who  was 
reckoned  very  like  him,  but  did  not  delight 
in  talking  much  of  his  family — "  One  has 
(says  he)  $o  little  pleasure  in  reciting  the 
anecdotes  of  beggary !"  One  day,  however, 
hearing  Mrs.  Piozzi  praise  a  favourite  friend : 
"  Why  do  you  like  tnat  man's  acquaintance 
so?"  said  he.  "Because,"  replied  she, 
"he  is  open  and  confiding,  ana  tells  me 
stories  of  his  uncles  and  cousins:  I  love  the 

observed,  carefully  suppressed  by  domestic  or 
professional  delicacy.  This  is  natural  and  even 
laudable;  yet  there  are  several  important  reasons 
why  the  obscurity  in  which  such  facts  are  usually 
buried  may  be  regretted.  Morally,  we  should 
wish  to  know,  as  far  as  may  be  permitted  to  us, 
the  nature  of  our  own  intellect,  its  powers  and  its 
weaknesses; — medically,  h  might  be  possible,  by 
early  and  systematic  treatment,  to  avert  or  miti- 
gate the  disease  which,  there  is  reason  to  sup- 
pose, is  now  often  unknown  or  mistaken; — legal- 
ly, H  would  be  desirable  to  have  any  additional 
means  of  discriminating  between  guilt  and  misfor- 
tune, and  of  ascertaining  with  more  precision  the 
nice  bounds  which  divide  moral  guilt  from  what 
may  be  called  physical  errors; — and  in  the  lush- 
est and  most  important  of  all  the  springs  of  hu- 
man thought  or  action,  it  would  be  consolatory 
and  edifying  to  be  able  to  distinguish  with  great- 
er certainty  rational  faith  and  judicious  piety,  from 
the  enthusiastic  confidence  or  the  gloomy  despon- 
dence of  disordered  imaginations.  The  memory 
of  every  man  who  has  lived,  not  inattentively,  m 
society,  will  furnish  him  with  instances  to  which 
these  considerations  might  have  been  usefully  ap- 
plied. But  in  reading  the  life  of  Doctor  Johnson 
(who  was  conscious  of  the  disease  and  of  its 
cause,  and  of  whose  blood  there-  remains  no  one 
whose  feelings  can  be  now  offended),  they  should 
be  kept  constantly  in  view;  not  merely  as  a  sub- 
ject of  general  interest,  but  as  elucidating  and  ex- 
plaining many  of  die  errors,  peculiarities,  and 
men.— En.) 


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11 


ht  parts  of  a  solid  character."  "  Nay, 
i/you  arc  for  family  history  (said  Dr.  John- 
son, good-humouredly),  Jean  fit  you:  I 
had  an  uncle,  Cornelius  Ford,  who,  upon  a 
journey,  stopped  and  read  an  inscription 
written  on  a  stone  he  saw  standing  hy  the 
way-side,  set  up,  as  it  proved,  in  honour  of 
a  man  who  had  leaped  a  certain  leap  there- 
abouts, the  extent  of  which  was  specified 
upon  the  stone:  Why  now,  said  my  uncle, 
I  could  leap  it  in  my  boots ;  and  he  did 
leap  it  in  his  boots.  I  had  likewise  another 
uncle,  Andrew  (continued  he),  my  father's 
brother,  who  kept  the  ring  in  Smithfietd, 
where  they  wrestled  and  boxed,  for  a  whole 

Star,  and  never  was  thrown  or  conquered, 
ere  now  'are*  uncles  for  you,  mistress*, 
if  that's  the  way  to  your  heart."] 


1  [Miss  Seward,  who  latterly  showed  a  great 
deal  of  malevolence  towards  Johnson,  delighted 
to  repeat  a  story  that  one  of  his  uncles  had  suf- 
fered the  last  penalty  of  the  law.  "  Shortly  after 
Mr.  Porter's  death,  Johnson  asked  bis  mother's 
consent  to  marry  the  old  widow.  After  express 
mg  her  surprise  at  a  request  so  extraordinary—- 

*  No,  8am,  my  willing  consent  yon  will  never 
have  to  so  preposterous  a  union.  You  ore  not 
twenty-five,  and  she  is  turned  fifty.  If  she  had 
any  prudence,  this  request  had  never  been  made 
to  me.  Where  are  your  means  of  subsistence  ? 
Porter  has  died  poor,  in  consequence  of  his  wife's 
expensive  habits.  You  have  great  talents,  but  as 
yet  have  turned  them  into  no  profitable  channel. ' — 

•  Mother,  1  have  not  deceived  Mm.  Porter;  I  have 
told  her  the  worst  of  me;  that  I  am  of  mean  ex- 
traction; that  I  have  no  money;  and  that  I  have 
had  an  uncle  hanged..'  She  replied, '  that  she 
Timed  no  one  more  or  lees  for  his  descent;  that 
she  had  no  more  money  than  myself;  and  that, 
though  she  had  not  had  a  relation  hanged,  she 
had  fifty  who  deserved  hanging.' " — (Seward's 
Letters,  vol.  i,  p.  45.)  This  account  was  given 
to  Mr.  Bo* well,  who,  as  Miss  Seward  could  not 
have  known  it  of  her  own  knowledge,  asked  the 
lady  for  her  authority.  Miss  Seward,  in  reply, 
quoted  Mrs.  Cobb,  an  old  .friend  of  Johnson's, 
who  resided  at  Lichfield.  To  her,  then,  Bos- 
well addressed  himself;  and,  to  his  equal  satisfac- 
tion and  surprise,  was  answered  that  Mrs.  Cobb 
had  not  only  never  told  such  a  story,  but  that  she 
had  not  even  ever  heard  of  h. — (  Gent.  Mag.  vol. 
63,  p.  1009.)  It  is  painful  to  have  to  add,  that 
notwithstanding  this  denial,  Miss  Seward  persisted 
hi  her  story  to  the  last  The  report  as  to  the 
hanging  was  probably  derived  from  a  coarse 
— — -,  in  the  Rev.  Donald  M'Nieol's  Remarks 


on  Dr.  Job  neon 's  Journey  to  the  Hebrides.  ' '  But 
whatever  the  Doctor  may  insinuate  about  the  pre- 
sent scarcity  of  trees  in  Scotland,  we  are  much  de- 
ceived by  fame  if  a  very  near  ancestor  of  his,  who 
was  a  native  of  that  country,  did  not  find  to  his 
cost  that  a  tree  was  not  quite  such  a  rarity  in  his 
days."  (P.  18.  ed.  1779.)  That  some  Scotch- 
man, of  the  name  of  Johnston,  may  have  been 
hanged  in  the  seventeenth  century,  is  very  likely; 
but  there  seems  no  reason  whatsoever  to  believe 
that  any  of  Dr.  Johnson's  family  were  natives 
of  Scotland— En.] 


[Of  some  other  members  of  his  family  ha 
gave  the  following  account: 

"This  Whitsuntide  (1719),  I  Account 
and  my  brother  were  sent  to  pass  **  *£*> 
some  time  at  Birmingham;  I  he-  p* 
lieve  a  fortnight.  Why  such  boys  were 
sent  to  trouble  other  homes,  I  cannot 
tell.  My  mother  had  some  opinion  that 
much  improvement  was  to  be  had  by  chang- 
ing the  mode  of  life.  My  uncle,  Harrison, 
was  a  widower;  and  his  house  was  kept  by 
Sally  Ford,  a  young  woman  of  such  sweet- 
ness of  temper,  that  I  used  to  say  she  had 
no  fault  We  lived  most  at  uncle  Ford's, 
being  much  caressed  by  my  aunt,  a  good- 
natured,  coarse  woman,  easy  of  converse, 
but  willing  to  find  something  to  censure  in 
the  absent.  My  uncle,  Harrison,  did  not 
much  like  us,  nor  did  we  like  him.  He  was 
a  very  mean  and  vulgar  man,  drunk  every 
night,  but  drunk  with  little  drink;'  very 
peevish,  very  proud,  very  ostentatious,  but, 
luckily,  not  rich.  At  my  aunt  Ford's  I  eat 
so  much  of  a  boiled  leg  of  mutton  3,  that 
she  used  to  talk  of  it.  "My  mother,  who 
had  lived  in  a  narrow  sphere,  and  was  then 
affected  by  little  things,  told  me  seriously 
that  it  would  be  hardly  ever  forgotten.  *  Her 
mind,  I  think,  was  afterwards  very  much 
enlarged,  or  greater  evils  wfere  out  the*  care 
of  less. 

"  I  staid  after  (he  vacation  was  over  some 
days;  and  remember,  when  I  wrote  home, 
that  I  desired  the  horses  to  come  on 
Thursday  of  the  first  school  week;  and 
not  till  men.  I  was  much  pleased  with  a 
rattle  to  my  whip,  and  wrote  of  it  to  my 
mother. 

"When  my  father  came  to  fetch  us 
home,  he  told  the  ostler  that  he  had  twelve 
miles  home,  and  two  boys  under  his  care. 
This  offended  me.  He  had  then  a  watch  *, 
which  he  returned  when  he  was  to  pay 
for  it."l  Michael  Johnson  was,  however, 
forced  by  the  narrowness  of  his  circum- 
stances to  be  very  diligent  in  business,  not 
only  in  his  shop,  but  by  occasionally'  re- 
sorting to  several  towns  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, some  of  which  were  at  a  considerable 


*  [The  reader  is  requested  to  observe,  that  Dr. 
Johnson  used  familiarly  to  designate  Mrs.  Thrale 
(Piozzi)  as  his  "  mispress."— En.} 

3  [All  these  trifles— since  Dr.  Johnson  in  the 
height  of  his  fame  <for  the  Account  most  hare 
been  written  subsequent  to  1768)  thought  them 
worth  recording — appear  worth  quoting.  It  will 
be  seen  hereafter  that  his  voracious  love  of  a  leg 
of  mutton  adhered  to  him  through  life;  and  the 
prophesy  of  his  mother,  that  it  never  would  be 
forgotten,  is  realised  in  a  wav  the  good  woman 
could  not  have  anticipated. — Ed.] 

4  [The  convenience  of  a  watch,  now  so  *en- 
eral,  Doctor  Johnson  himself,  as  Sir  J.  Haw- 
king reports  (p.  460),  did  not  possess  till  1768.— 
Ed.] 


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1709.— jETAT.  1. 


distance  from  Lichfield.  At  that  time  book- 
sellers' shops  in  the  provincial  towns  of 
England  were  very  rare,  so  that  there  was 
not  one  even  in  Birmingham,  in  which  town 
old  Mr.  Johnson  used  to  open  a  shop  every 
market-day.  He  was  a  pretty  good  Latin 
scholar,  and  a  citizen  so  creditable  as  to  be 
made  [as  has  been  stated]  one  of  the  ma- 
gistrates of  Lichfield;  and,  being  a  man  of 
good  sense,  and  skill  in  his  trade,  ne  acquired 
a  reasonable  share  of  wealth,  of  which  how- 
ever he  afterwards  lost  the  greatest  part,  by 
engaging  unsuccessfully  in  a  manufacture 
of  parchment  [In  this  underta- 
Sy  king,  nothing  prospered;  they  had 
"  no  sooner  bought  a  large  stock  of 
skins,than  a  heavy  duty  was  laid  upon  that 
article,  and  from  Michael's  absence  by  his 
many  avocations  as  a  bookseller,  the  parch- 
ment business  was  committed  to  a  faithless 
servant,  and  thence  they  gradually  declined 
into  strait  circumstances1.]  He  was  a 
zealous  high-church  man  and  royalist,  and 
retained  his  attachment  to  the  unfortunate 
house  of  Stuart,  though  he  reconciled  him- 
self by  casuisticaf  arguments  of  expediency 
and  necessity,  to  take  the  oaths  imposed  by 
theprevailing  power. 

Tnere  is  a  circumstance  in  his  life  some- 
what9 romantick,  but  so  well  authenticated 

1  [Johnson,  in  hit  Dictionary,  defines  "ex- 
cise, a  hateful  tax,  levied  upon  commodities,  and 
adjudged  not  by  the  common  judges  of  property, 
bat  by  wretches  hired  by  those  to  whom  excise 
■  paid;*'  and  in  the  Idler  (No.  65),  he  calls  a 
Commissioner  of  Excise  "  one  of  the  lowest 
of  all  human  beings."  This  violence  of  lan- 
guage seems  so  little  reasonable,  that  the  Editor 
was  induced  to  suspect  some  cause  of  personal 
animosity;  this  mention  of  the  trade  in  parch- 
ment (an  exciseable  article)  afforded  a  cine, 
which  has  led  to  the  confirmation  of  that  sus- 
picion. In  the  records  of  the  Excise  Board  is  to 
be  found  the  following  letter,  addressed  to  the 
supervisor  of  excise  at  Lichfield:  "July  27, 
1725. — The  Commissioners  received  yours  of  the 
22d  instant,  and  since  the  justices  would  not  give 
judgment  against  Mr.  Michael  Johnson,  the  tan- 
ner, notwithstanding  the  (acts  were  fairly  against 
him,  the  Board  direct  that  the  next  time  he  of- 
fends, you  do  not  lay  an  information  against  him, 
but  send  an  affidavit  of  the  fret,  that  be  may  be 
prosecuted  in  the  Exchequer."  It  does  not  ap- 
pear whether  he  offended  again,  but  here  is  a  saf- 


pearw 

ncient  cause  of  his  son's,  animosity  against  Com- 
missioners of  Excise,  and  of  toe  allusion  in 
the  Dictionary  to  the  special  jurisdiction 
which  that  revenue  is  administered.  The 
luctance  of  the  justices  to  convict  will 
not  unnatural,  when  it  is  recollected  that  M.  John- 
son was,  this  very  year,  chief  magistrate  of  the 
city.— Ed.] 

*  [The  romanHe  part  of  this  story  does  not 
seem  otherwise  authenticated  than  by  an  asser- 
tion in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  vol.  55,  p.  100* 
on,  a*  it  would  seem,  the  doubtful  authority  of 


Piom, 
p.  a. 


that  I  shall  not  omit  it  A  young 
of  Leek,  in  Staffordshire,  while  he  served 
his  apprenticeship  there,  conceived  a  violent 
passion  for  him;  and  though  it  met  with  no 
favourable  return,  followed  him  to  Lich- 
field, where  she  took  lodgings  opposite  to  the 
house  in  which  he  lived,  and  indulged  her 
hopeless  flame.  When  he  was  informed 
that  it  so  pTeyed  upon  her  mind  that  her 
life  was  in  danger,  ne,  with  a  generous  hu- 
manity, went  to  her  and  offered  to  many 
her,  but  it  was  then  too  late:  her  vital 
power  was  exhausted;  and  she  actually  ex- 
hibited one  of  the  very  rare  instances  of 
dying  for  love.  She  was  buried  in  the  ca- 
thedral of  Lichfield;  and  he,  with  a  tender 
regard,  placed  a  stone  over  her  grave  with 
this  inscription: 

Here  lies  the  body  of 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Blanky,  a 
She  departed  tins  life 
20  of  September,  1694. 

Johnson's  mother  [was  slight  in 
her  person,  and  rather  below  than 
above  the  common  size.  So  excel- 
lent was  her  character,  and  so  blameless 
her  life,  that  when  an  oppressive  neighbour 
once  endeavoured  to  take  from  her  a  little 
field  she  possessed,  he  could  persuade  no 
attorney  to  undertake  the  cause  against  a 
woman  so  beloved  in  her  narrow  circle: 
and  it  is  this  incident  he  alludes  to  in  the 
line  of  his  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes,  call- 
ing her 

Tne  general  favourite  as  the  general  friend* 

Nor  could  any  one  pay  more  willing  hom- 
age to  such  a  character,  though  she  had  not 
been  related  to  him,  than  did  Dr.  Johnson  on 
every  occasion  that  offered:  his  disquisition 
on  Pope's  epitaph  placed  over  Mrs.  Corbet, 
is  a  proof  of  that  preference  always  given 
by  him  to  a  noiseless  life  over  a  bustling 
one.]  She  was  a  woman  of  distinguished 
understanding.  [It  was  not,  however,  Mr. 
Malone  observes,  much  cultivated,  as  may 
be  collected  from  Dr.  Johnson's  own  ac- 
count. "My  father  and  mother 
(said  he}  had  not  much  happiness  JuJJ* 
from  eacn  other.  She  had  no  value  p.  it  * 
for  his  relations;  those  indeed  whom 
we  knew  of  were  much  lower  than  hers. 
This  contempt  began,  I  know  not  on  which 


Miss  Seward,  that  Doctor  Johnson  had  told  it 
Admitting  that  he  did  so,  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
the  fact  happened  fifteen  years  before  his  birth; 
and  his  father  may  be  excused  if  he  gave  to  his 
wife  and  son  a  romantic  account  of  an  affair  of 
this  nature.  Such  delicacy  of  sentiment  and  con- 
duct as  is  here  ascribed  to  these  young  and  bumble 
lovers  is,  it  ■  to  be  feared,  very  rare  in  persons 
of  sny  age  or  station,  and  would  seem  to  require 
better  authentication  than  can  be  found  for  the 
details  of  this  story.— En.) 


Digitized  by  VJ 


oogle 


1710.— ;ETAT.  2. 


IS 


side,  very  early;  bat  as  my  father  was  little 
at  home  it  had  not  much  effect.  They  sel- 
dom conversed;  for  my  father  could  not 
bear  to  talk  of  his  affairs;  and  my  mother, 
being  unacquainted  with  book*,  cared  not 
to  talk  of  any  thine  else.  Had  my  mother 
been  more  literate,  tnev  had  been  better  com- 
panions. She  might  have  sometimes  intro- 
duced her  unwelcome  tonick  with  more  suc- 
cess, if  she  could  have  diversified  her  con- 
versation* Of  business  she  had  no  distinct 
conception;  and  therefore  her  discourse  was 
composed  only  of  complaint,  fear,  and  sus- 
picion. Neither  of  them  ever  tried  to  cal- 
culate the  profits  of  trade,  or  the  expenses 
of  living'.  My  mother  concluded  that  we 
were  poor,  because  we  lost  bv  some  of  our 
trades;  but  the  truth  was,  that  my  father, 
having  in  the  early  part  of  his  life  contract- 
ed debts,  never  had  trade  sufficient  to 
enable  nun  to  pay  them,  and  to  maintain 
his  family:  he  got  something,  but  not 
enough.  My  father  -considered  tea  as  very 
expensive,  and  discouraged  my  mother  from 
keeping  company  with  the  neighbours,  and 
from  paying  visits  and  receiving  them. 
She  lived  to  say,  many  years  after,  that  if 
the  time  were  to  pass  again,  she  would  not 
comply  with  such  unsocial  injunctions.  It 
was  not  till  about  1768,  that  I  thought  to 
calculate  the  returns  of  my  father's  trade, 
and  by  that  estimate  his  probable  profits. 
This,  I  believe,  my  parents  never  dia."]  I 
asked  his  old  school-fellow,  Mr.  Hector, 
surgeon  of  Birmingham,  if  she  was  not  vain 
of  her  son.  He  said,  "  she  had  too  much 
good  sense  to  be  vain,  but  she  knew  her 
son's  value."  Her  piety  was  not  inferior 
to  her  understanding;  and  to  her  must  be 
inscribed  those  early  impressions  of  religion 
upon  the  mind  of  her  son,  from  which  the 
world  afterwards  derived  so  much  benefit. 
He  told  me  *,  that  he  remembered  distinctly 
having  had  the  first  notice  of  heaven,  "  a 
place  to  which  good  people  went,"  and  hell, 
"  a  place  to  which  bad  people  went,"  com- 
municated to  him  by  her,  when  a  little  child 
in  bed  with  her;  and  that  it  might  be  the 
better  fixed  in  his  memory,  she  sent  him  to 
repeat  it  to  Thomas  Jackson,  their  man-ser- 
vant » ;  he  not  being  in  the  way,  this 


not  done;  but  there  was  no  occasion  for 
any  artificial  aid  for  its  preservation.  [When 
he  related  this  circumstance  to  Mrs.  Tiozzi, 
he  added,  that  little  people  should  be  en- 


1  rTh»  it  told  nearly  in  the  same  words  in  the 
Account  of  the  Life,  and  k  an  additional  proof 
of  the  authenticity  of  that  little  work-— Ed.] 
[Mis.  PSoszi  says  a  workman,  and,  in  thk 
'  r  aeeoant  k  more  likely  to  be  acca- 
-jewell'i.    Hub  trifle  k  observed  to  jas- 
early  the  editor*!  opinion,  that  even  in 
I  matters  in  which  Botwell  delights  to 

Mis.  Pbzzi  of  inaccuracy,  she  " 

times  probably  as  comet  as  he  is.— E».] 


eouraged  always  to  tell  whatever  ««"*» 
they  hear  particularly  striking,  to  P-21*2* 
some  brother,  sister,  or  servant,  immediate- 
ly before  the  impression  is  erased  by  the 
intervention  of  newer  occurrences.] 

In  following  so  very  eminent  a  man  from 
his  cradle  to  his  grave,  every  minute  partic- 
ular, which  can  throw  light  on  the  progress 
of  his  mind,  is  interesting.  That  he  was 
remarkable,  even  in  his  earliest  years,  mav 
easily  be  supposed;  for  to  use  his  own  words 
in  his  Life  or  Sydenham,  u  That  the  strength 
of  his  understanding,  the  accuracy  ofhis 
discernment,  and  the  ardour  of  his  curiosi- 
ty, might  have  been  remarked  from  his  in- 
fancy, by  a  diligent  observer,  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt.  For  there  is  no  instance 
of  any  man,  whose  history  has  been  mi- 
nutely related,  that  did  not  in  every  part 
of  life  discover  the  same  proportion  of  intel- 
lectual vigour." 

In  all  such  investigations  it  is  certainly  un- 
wise to  pay  too  much  attention  to  incidents 
which  the  credulous  relatf  with  eager  sat- 
isfaction, and  the  more  scrupulous  or  witty 
inquirer  considers  only  as  topicks  of  ridicule : 
yet  there  is  a  traditional  story  of  the  infant 
Hercules  of  Toryism,  so  curiously  charac- 
teristick,  that  I  shall  not  withhold  it.  It 
was  communicated  to  me  in  a  letter  from 
Miss  Mary  Adye,  of  Lichfield. 

"  When  Dr.  Sacheverel  was  at  Lichfield, 
Johnson  was  not  quite  three  years  old. 
My  grandfather  Hammond  observed  him  at 
the  cathedral  perched  upon  his  father's 
shoulders,  listening  and  gaping  at  the  much 
celebrated  preacher.  Mr.  Hammond  asked 
Mr.  Johnson  how  he  could  possibly  think 
of  bringing  such  an  infant  to  church,  and 
in  the  midst  of  so  great  a  crowd.  He  an- 
swered, because  it  was  impossible  to  keep 
him  at  home:  for,  young  as  he  was,  he  be- 
lieved he  had  caught  the  publick  spirit  and 
zeal  for  Sacheverel,  and  would  have  stayed 
for  ever  in  the  church,  satisfied  with  behold- 
ing him  3." 

Pf or  can  I  omit  a  little  instance  of  that 
jealous  independence  of  spirit,  and  impetu- 
osity of  temper,  which  never  forsook  him. 
The  fact  was  acknowledged  to  me  by  him- 


*  [The  gossiping  anecdotes  of  the  Lichfield  la- 
dies are  all  apocryphal  Sacheverel,  by  hfc  sen- 
tence pronoanced  in  Feb.  1710,  was  interdicted 
for  three  years  from  preaching;  so  that  he  could 
not  have  preached  at  Lichfield  while  Johnson 
was  under  three  yeais  of  age.  But  what  decides 
the  fissehaod  of  Mini  Adye's  story  kt  that  Sache- 
verel's  triumphal  progress  through  the  midland 
counties  was  in  1710;  and  it  appears  by  the  books 
of  the  corporation  of  Lichfield,  that  he  was  receiv- 
ed in  that  town  and  complimented  by  the  attend- 
ance of  the  corporation,  "  and  a  present  of  three 
dozen  of  wine,"  on  the  16th  Jane,  1710;  when 
the  "infant  HcrcuUx  of  torywn"  was  jast 
nine  month*  old.— En.) 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


14 


1712.— iETAT.  4. 


self,  upon  the  authority  of  his  mother. 
One  day,  when  the  servant  who  used  to  be 
sent  to  school  to  conduct  him  home  had  not 
come  in  time,  he  set  out  by  himself,  though 
he  was  then  so  near-sighted,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  stoop  down  on  his  hands  and 
knees  to  take  a  view  of  the  kennel  before 
he  ventured  to  step  over  it.  His  school- 
mistress, afraid  that  he  miff ht  miss  his  way, 
or  fall  into  the  kennel,  or  ne  run  over  by  a 
cart,  followed  him  at  some  distance.  He 
happened  to  turn  about  and  perceive  her. 
Feeling  her  careful  attention  as  an  insult  to 
his  manliness,  he  ran  back  to  her  in  a  rage, 
and  beat  her,  as  well  as  his  strength  would 
permit  *. 

Of  the  power  of  his  memory,  for  which 
he  was  aft  his  life  eminent  to  a  degree  al- 
most incredible,  the  following  early  instance 
was  told  me  in  his  presence  at  Lichfield,  in 
1776,  by  his  step-daughter,  Mrs.  Lucy  Por- 
ter, as  related  to  her  by  his  mother.  When 
he  was  a  child  in  petticoats,  and  had  learnt 
to  read,  Mrs.  Johnson  one  morning  put  the 
common  prayer-book  into  his  hands,  pointed 
to  the  collect  for  the  day,  and  said,  "  Sam, 
you  must  get  this  by  heart."  She  went  up 
stairs,  leaving  him  to  study  it:  but  by  the 
lime  she  had  reached  the  second  floor,  she 
neard  him  follow  her.  "What's  the  mat- 
ter?" said  she.  "I  can  say  it,"  he  replied, 
and  repeated  it  distinctly,  though  he  could 
not  have  read  it  more  than  twice. 

There  has  been  another  story  of  his  in- 
fant precocity  generally  circulated,  and  gen- 
erally believed,  the  truth  of  which  I  am  to 
refute  upon  his  own  authority.  It  is  told, 
that,  when  a  child  of  three  years  old,  he 
chanced  to  tread  upon  a  duckling,  the  elev- 
enth of  a  brood,  and  killed  it;  upon  which, 
it  is  said,  he  dictated  to  his  mother  the  fol- 
lowing epitaph: 

"  Hero  lief  good  matter  dock, 
Whom  Samuel  Johnson  trod  on; 

If  h  had  lived,  it  had  been  good  luck, 
For  then  we'd  had  an  odd  one." 

There  is  surely  internal  evidence  that  this 
little  composition  combines  in  it,  what  no 
child  of  three  years  old  could  produce,  with- 
out an  extension  of  its  faculties  by  immedi- 
ate inspiration;  vet  Mrs.  Lucy  Porter,  Dr. 
Johnson's  step-daughter,  positively  main- 
tained to  me,  in  his  presence,  that  there 
could  be  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  this  anec- 
dote, for  she  had  heard  it  from  his  mother. 
So  difficult  is  it  to  obtain  an  authentick  re- 
lation of  facts,  and  such  authority  may  there 
be  for  errour:  for  he  assured  me,  that  his 
father  made  the  verses,  and  wished  to  pass 

1  [This  story  seems  also  disproved  by  internal 
evidence,  for  if  Johnson  was  so  blind  as  not  to  be 
able  to  see  a  kennel  without  stooping  on  his  hands 
and  knees,  bow  could  he  distinguish  a  person  fol- 
lowing him  at  some  distaneep+ED.} 


them  for  his  child's.  He  added,  "my  fa- 
ther was  a  foolish  old  man;  that  is  to  say, 
foolish  in  talking  of  his  children  V 
[He  always  seemed  more  mortified  at  VjFk 
the  recollection  of  the  bustle  his  pa-  *' 
rents  made  with  his  wit,  than  pleased  with 
the  thoughts  of  possessing  it.  "  That 
(said  he  one  day  to  Mrs.  Piozzi)  is  the 
great  misery  of  late  marriages:  the  unhap- 
py produce  of  them  becomes  the  plaything 
of  dotage:  an  old  man's  child  (continued 
he  J  leads  much  such  a  life,  I  think,  as 
a  little  boy '8  dog,  teased  with  awkward 
fondness,  and  forced,  perhaps,  to  sit  up  and 
beg,  as  we  call  it,  to  divert  a  company,  who 
at  last  go  away  complaining  of  their  dis- 
agreeable entertainment."  In  consequence 
oi  these  maxims,  and  full  of  indignation 
against  such  parents  as  delight  to  produce 
their  young  ones  early  into  the  talking 
world,  I  have  known  Dr.  Johnson  give  a 
good  deal  of  pain  by  refusing  to  hear  the 
verses  that  children  could  recite,  or  the 
songs  they  could  sing;  particularly  to  one 
friend  who  told  him  that  his  two  sons  should 
repeat  Gray's  Elegy  to  him  alternately,  that 
he  might  judge  wno  had  the  happiest  ca- 
dence. "No,  pray,  sir  (said  he),  let  the 
little  dears  both  speak  it  at  once;  more 
noise  will  by  that  means  be  made,  and  the 
noise  will  be  sooner  over."] 

Young  Johnson  had  the  misfortune  to  be 
much  afflicted  with  the  scrophula,  or  king's- 
evil,  which  disfigured  a  countenance  natural- 
ly well  formed,  and  hurt  his  visual  nerves 
so  much,  that  he  did  not  see  at  all  with  one 
of  his  eyes,  though  its  appearance  was  lit- 
tle different  from  that  of  the  other.  There 
is  amongst  his  prayers,  one "  inscribed 
"  When  my  ete  was  restored  to  its  use," 
which  ascertains  a  defect  that  many  of  his 
friends  knew  he  had,  though  I  never  per- 
ceived it9.  I  supposed  him  to  be  only 
near-sighted:  and  indeed  I  must  observe, 
that  in  no  otner  respect  could  I  discern  any 
defect  in  his  vision;  on  the  contrary,  the 
force  of  his  attention  and  perceptive  quick- 
ness made  him  see  and  distinguish  all  man- 
ner of  objects,  whether  of  nature  or  of  art, 
with  a  nicety  that  is  rarely  to  be  found. 
When  he  and  Fwere  travelling  in  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland,  and  I  pointed  out  to  him 
a  mountain,  which  I  observed  resembled  a 
cone,  he  corrected  my  inaccuracy,  by  show- 


9  [This  anecdote  of  the  dock,  though  disproved 
b y  internal  and  external  evidence,  is  one  of  those 
the  authenticity  of  which  Mias  Seward  persisted  in 
aerating;  and  she  maintained  a  very  wronghead- 
ed  hostility  and  paper  war  with  Boswell  on  this 
and  a  similar  subject  (  The  verses  on  a  sprig  of 
myrtle) ,  in  which,  as  we  shall  see  more  fully 
hereafter,  she  was  wrong  every  way. — En.] 

3  Speaking  himself  of  the  imperfection  of  one  of 
his  eyes,  he  said  to  Dr.  Burney, <(  the  dog  was 
never  good  for  much. ' '—Bur net. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1716,— jETAT.  7. 


15 


ing  me,  that  it  was  indeed  pointed  at  the  top, 
but  that  one  aide  of  it  was  larger  than  the 
other.    And  the  ladies  with  whom  he  was 
acquainted  agree,  that  no  man  was  more 
nicely  and  minutely  critical  in  the  elegance 
of  female  dress.     When  I  found  that  he  saw 
the  romantick  beauties  of  Ham,  in  Derby- 
shire, much  better  than  I  did,  I  told  him 
that  he  resembled  an  able  performer  upon  a 
bad  instrument.    How  false  and  contempti- 
ble then  are  all  the  remarks  which  have  been 
made  to  the  prejudice  either  of  his  candour 
or  of  his  philosophy,  founded  upon  a  suppo- 
sition that  he  was  almost  blind.    It  has  been 
said  that  he  contracted  this  grievous  mala- 
dy from  his  nurse.     [H*8  own  ac- 
^eemt   count  was,  that  Dr.  Swinfen1  told 
Jf  *f£*    him,  that  the  scrofulous  sores  which 
*       afflicted  him  proceeded  from  the  bad 
humours  of  his  nurse,  whose  son  had  the 
same  distemper,  and  was  likewise  short- 
sighted, but  both  in  a  less  degree  (than  he). 
His  mother  thought  his  diseases  derived 
from  her  family2.     She  visited  him  every 
day,  and  used  to  go  different  ways,  that 
her    assiduity  might  not   expose    her   to 
ridicule,  and  often  left  her  fan  or  glove  be- 
hind, that  she  might  have  a  pretence  for 
coming  back  unexpected,  but  she  never  dis- 
covered any  token  of  neglect.    In  ten  weeks 
he  was  taken  home  a  poor  diseased  infant, 
almost  blind.    Dr.  Swinfen  used  to  say, 
that  he  never  knew  any  child  reared  with 
so  much  difficulty.]    His  mother,--yielding 
to  the  superstitious  notion  which,  it  is  won- 
derful to  think,  prevailed  so  long  in  this 
country,  as  to  the  virtue  of  the  regal  touch; 
a  notion  which  our  kings  encour- 
Accooat    aged,  and  to  which  a  man  of  such 
?  J£*'     inqui  ry  and  such  judgment  as  C  arte 
could  give  credit— carried  him  to 
London  [in  Lent,  1712],  where  he  was 
actually  touched  by  queen   Anne.    Mrs. 
Johnson  indeed,  as  Mr.  Hector  informed 
me,  acted  by  the  advice  of  the  celebrated 
Sir  John  Floyer,  then  a  physician  in  Lich- 
field.    Johnson  used  to  talk  of  this  very 
frankly;  and  Mrs.  Piozzi  has  preserved  his 
very  picturesque  description  ol  the  scene,  as 
it  remained  upon  his  fancy.    Being  asked  if 
he  could  remember  queen.  Anne, — 
***■••      "  He  had  (he  said)  a  confused,  but 
*  somehow  a  sort  ol  solemn  recollec- 

tion of  a  lady  in  diamonds,  and  a  long  black 
hood."  This  touch,  however,  was  with- 
out any  effect.    I  ventured  to  say  to  him, 


in  allusion  to  the  political  principles  in 
which  he  was  educated,  and  of  which  he 
ever  retained  some  odour,  that "  his  mother 
had  not  carried  him  far  enough;  she  should 
have  taken  him  to  Rosea3." 

[The  following  is  his  own  recollection  of 
this  journey. — "I  was   taken  to 
London  to  be  touched  for  the  evil   ^fgjf1 
by  queen  Anne.    I  always  retain-    p.  is.  ' 
ed  some  memory  of  this  journey, 
though  I  was  then  but  thirty  months  old. 
I  remember  a  boy  crying  at  the  palace 
when  I  went  to  be  touched.    My  mother 
was  at  Nicholson's,  the  famous  bookseller 
in  Little  Britain.    I  remember  a  little  dark 
room  behind  the  kitchen,  where  the  jack- 
weight  fell  through  a  hole  in  the  floor,  into 
which  I  once  slipped  my  leg. 

"  Being  asked, ( on  which  side  of  the  shop 
was  the  counter?'  I  answered,  'on  the 
left  from  the  entrance,'  many  years  after,  and 
spoke  not  by  guess  but  by  memory.  We 
went  in  the  stage-coach,  and  returned  in 
the  waggon,  as  my  mother  said,  because  my 
cough  was  violent.  The  hope  of  saving  a 
few  shillings  was  no  slight  motive;  for 
she,  not  having  been  accustomed  to  money, 
was  afraid  of  such  expenses  as  now  seem 
very  small.  She  sewed  two  guineas  in  her 
petticoat,  lest  she  should  be  robbed. 

"We  were  troublesome  to  the  passen- 
gers; but  to  suffer  such  inconveniences  in  the 
stage-coach  was  common  in  these  days,  to 
persons  in  much  higher  rank.  She  bought 
me  a  small  silver  cup  and  spoon,  marked 
SAM.  J.,  lest  if  they  had  been  marked 
S.  J.,  (Sarah  being  her  name),  they  should, 
upon  her  death,  have  been  taken  from  me. 
She  bought  me  a  speckled  linen  frock, 
which  I  knew  afterwards  by  the  name  of 
my  London  frock.  The  cup  was  one  of 
the  last  pieces  of  plate  which  dear  4  Tetty 
sold  in  our  distress.  I  have  now  the  spoon. 
She  bought  at  the  same  time  two  tea- 
spoons, and  till  my  manhood  she  had  no 
more5."] 

He  was  first  taught  to  read  English  by 
Dame  Oliver,  a  widow,  who  kept  a  school 
for  young  children  in  Lichfield.     He  told 


>  [Samuel  Swinfen,  who  took  a  degree  of  doc- 
tor of  medicine  from  Pembroke  College  in  1712. 
— Haul.] 

•  [His  mother  and  Dr.  Swinfen  were  both  per- 
haps wrong  in  their  conjecture  as  to  the  origin  of 
die  disease;  he  more  probably  inherited  it  from 
ms  father,  with  the  morbid  melancholy  which  is 
so  commonly  an  attendant  on  scrofulous  habits. — 
Ed.] 


*  [To  t|>e  Pretender.— Ed.] 

*  [His  wife,  whom  he  called  by  this  familiar 
contraction  of  Elizabeth. — Ed.] 

*  [When  Dr.  Johnson,  at  an  advanced  age, 
recorded  all  these  minute  circumstances,  he  con- 
templated, we  are  told,  writing  the  history  of  hie 
own  life,  and  probably  intended  to  develope,  from 
ms  own  infant  recollections,  the  growth  and 
powers  of  the  faculty  of  memory,  which  he  pos- 
sessed in  so  remarkable  a  degree.  From  the  Hfc- 
tle  details  of  his  domestic  history  he  perhaps  meant 
also  to  trace  the  progressive  change  in  the  habits 
of  the  middle  classes  of  society.  But  whatever 
may  have  been  bis  motive,  the  Editor  could  not 
properly  omit  what  Johnson  thought  worth  pre- 

"    ] 


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1710.— <ETAT.  10. 


me  she  could  read  the  black  letter?  and  asked 
him  to  borrow  for  her,  from  his  father,  a 
bible  in  that  character.  When  he  was  go- 
ing to  Oxford,  she  came  to  take  leave  of 
him,  brought  him,  in  the  simplicity  of  her 
kindness,  a  present  of  gingerbread,  and  said 
he  was  the  oest  scholar  she  ever  had.  He 
delighted  in  mentioning  this  early  compli- 
ment; adding,  with  a  smile,  that  "  this  was 
as  high  a  proof  of  his  merit  as  he  could  con- 
ceive." His  next  instructor  in  English 
was  a  master,  whom  when  he  spoke  of  him 
to  me,  he  familiarly  called  Tom  Brown, 
who,  said  he,  "  published  a  spelling-book, 
and  dedicated  it  to  the  UicrvansE;  but,  I 
fear,  no  copy  of  it  can  now  be  had." 

He  began  to  learn  Latin  with  Mr.  Haw- 
kins, usher  or  under-master  of  Lichfield 
school,  "  a  man  (said  he)  very  skilful  in  his 
little  way."    "With  him  he  continued  two 

years,  and  [perhaps,  four  months. 
*»2*  «  The  time,"  he  added,  "  till  I  had 
p  as,  26.  computed  it,  appeared  much  longer 

by  the  multitude  of  incidents  and  of 
novelties  which  it  supplied,  than  many  im- 
portant thoughts  which  it  produced.  Per- 
haps it  is  not  possible  that  any  other  period 
can  make  the  same  impression  on  the  memo- 
ry." In  the  spring  of  1719,  his  class  was 
removed  to  the  upper  school,  and  put  under 
Holbrook,  a  peevish  and  ill-tempered  man. 
They  were  removed  sooner  than  had  been 
the  custom;  for  the  head-master,  intent  on 
his  boarders,  generally  left  the  town-boys 
too  long  in  the  lower  school;  the  earlier 
removal  of  Johnson's  class  was  caused  by  a 
reproof  of  the  town-clerk;  and  Hawkins 
complained  that  he  had  lost  half  his  profit. 
At  tnis  removal  Johnson  says  that  he  cried, 
but  the  rest  were  indifferent.  He]  then 
rose  to  be  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Hunter  i,  the 
head-master,  who,  according  to  his  account, 
"  was  very  severe,  and  wrong-headedly  se- 
vere. He  used  (said  he)  to  beat  us  un- 
mercifully; and  he  did  not  distinguish  be- 
tween ignorance  and  negligence:  for  he 
would  beat  a  boy  equally  for  not  knowing 
a  thing,  as  for  neglecting  to  know  it.    He 


1  ["  Mr.  Hunter  was  an  odd  mixture  of  the  pe- 
dant and  the  sportsman;  he  was  a  veiy  severe 
disciplinarian  and  a  great  setter  of  game.  Happy 
was  the  boy  who  could  inform  his  offended  mas- 
ter where  a  covey  of  partridges  was  to  be  found; 
this  notice  was  a  certain  pledge  of  his  pardon." 
Jtoefet*  Lift  of  GarrUk,  vol  L  p.  8.  He  was 
a  prebendary  in  die  Cathedral  of  Lichfield,  and 
graadfiither  to  Miss  Seward.  One  of  this  lady's 
complaints  against  Johnson  was,  that  he,  in  all  his 
works,  never  expressed  any  gratitude  to  his  pre- 
ceptor. It  does  not  appear  that  he  owed  him 
much;  for  besides  the  severity  of  his  discipline,  it 
seems  that  he  was  inattentive  to  that  class  of  boys 
to  which  Johnson  belonged,  and  h  also  appeare, 
that  he  refused  to  readmit  him  after  one  of  the 
vacations,  on  some  pretence  now  forgotten. — En.] 


would  ask  a  boy  *  question,  and  if  he  did 
not  answer  it,  be  would  beat  him,  without 
considering  whether  Jie  had  an  opportunity 
of  knowing  how  to  answer  it.  For  instance, 
he  would  call  up  a  boy  and  ask  him  Latin 
for  a  candlestick,  which  the  boy  could  not 
expect  to  be  asked.  Now,  sir y  if  a  boy  could 
answer  every  question,  there  would  be  no 
need  of  a  master  to  teach  him." 

It  is,  however,  but  justice  to  the  memory 
of  Mr.  Hunter  to  mention,  that  though  he 
might  err  in  being  too  severe,  the  school  of 
Lichfield  was  very  respectable  in  his  time. 
The  late  Dr.  Taylor,  Prebendary  of  West- 
minster, who  was  educated  under  him, 
told  me  that "  he  was  an  excellent  master, 
and  that  his  ushers  were  most  of  them  men 
of  eminence;  that  Holdbrook,  one  of  the 
most  ingenious  men,  best  scholars,  and  best 
preachers  of  his  age,  was  usher  during  the 
greatest  part  of  the  time  that  Johnson  was 
at  school.  Then  came  Hague,  of  whom  as 
much  might  be  said,  with  the  addition  that 
he  was  an  elegant  poet.  Hague  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Green,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  whose  character  in  the  learned 
world  is  well  known.  In  the  same  form 
with  Johnson  was  Congreve,  who  after- 
wards became  chaplain  to  Archbishop 
Boulter,  and  by  that  connexion  obtained 
good  preferment  in  Ireland.  He  was  a 
younger  son  of  the  ancient  family  of  Con- 
greve, in  Staffordshire,  of  which  the  poet 
was  a  branch.  His  brother  sold  the  estate. 
There  was  also  Lowe,  afterwards  Canon 
of  Windsor. 

Indeed  Johnson  was  very  sensible  how 
much  he  owed  to  Mr.  Hunter.  Mr.  Lang- 
ton  one  day  asked  him  how  he  had  acquired 
so  accurate  a  knowledge  of  Latin,  in  which, 
I  believe,  he  was  exceeded  by  no  man  of 
his  time:  he  said,  "  My  master  whipt  me 
very  well.  Without  that,  sir,  I  should 
have  done  nothing.9'  He  told  Mr.  Laiuj- 
ton,  that  while  Hunter  was  flogging  ma 
boys  unmercifully,  he  used  to  say,  "  And 
this  I  do  to  save  you  from  the  gallows." 
Johnson,  upon  all  occasions,  expressed  his 
approbation  of  enforcing  instruction  by 
means  of  the  rod8.  "  I  would  rather  (said 
he)  have  the  rod  to  be,  the  general  terror 
to  all,  to  make  them  learn,  than  tell  a  child, 
if  you  do  thus  or  thus,  you  will  be  more 
esteemed  than  your  brothers  or  sisters. 
The  rod  produces  an  effect  which  termi- 
nates in  itself.  A  child  is  afraid  of  being 
whipped,  and  gets  his  task,  and  there's  an 
end  ont;  whereas,  by  exciting  emulation 
and  comparisons  of  superiority,  you  lay  the 
foundation  of  lasting  mischief:  you  make 
brothers  and  sisters  hate  each  other." 

*  Johnson's  observations  to  Dr.  Rose,  on  this 
subject,  may  be  found  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this 
work,  near  the  end  of  the  year  1775.— BuairsT. 


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17 


When  Johnson  saw  some  young  ladies 
in  Lincolnshire  who  were  remarkably  well 
behaved,  owing  to  their  mother's  strict  dis- 
cipline and  severe  correction,  he  exclaimed, 
in  one  of  Shakspeare's  lines,  a  little  varied l, 

"Rod,  I  will  honour  thee  for  this  thy  duty." 

[Yet  when  talking  of  a voung  fel- 
JJ^1*  low,  who  used  to  come  often  to  Mr. 
*"  *  Thrale's  house,  who  was  about 
fifteen  years  old  or  less,  and  had  a  manner 
at  once  sullen  and  sheepish — "That  lad 
(said  Johnson)  looks  like  the  son  of  a 
schoolmaster;  which  (added  he)  is  one  of 
the  verv  worst  conditions  of  childhood; 
such  a  boy  has  no  father,  or  worse  than 
none;  he  never  can  reflect  on  his  parent 
but  the  reflection  brings  to  his  mind  some 
idea  of  pain  inflicted,  or  of  sorrow  suffered." 
He  was,  indeed,  himself  exceed- 
J*"*'  ingly  disposed  to  the  general 
*"  indulgence  of  children,  and  was 

even  scrupulously  and  ceremoniously  atten- 
tive not  to  offend  them:  he  had  strongly 
persuaded  himself  of  the  difficulty  people 
always  find  to  erase  early  impressions,  either 
of  kindness  or  resentment,  and  said,  "  he 
should  never  have  so  loved  his  mother 
when  a  man,  had  she  not  given  him  coffee 
she  could  ill  afford,  to  gratify  his  appetite 
when  a  boy."  "  If  you  had  had  children, 
sir,"  said  Mrs.  Piozzi,  "  would  you  have 
taught  them  any  thing?"  "  I  hope  (replied 
he)  that  I  should  have  willingly  lived  on 
bread  and  water  to  obtain  instruction  for 
them:  but  I  would  not  have  set  their  future 
friendship  to  hazard  for  the  sake  of  thrust- 
ing into  their  heads  knowledge  of  things 
for  which  they  might  not  perhaps  have 
either  taste  or  necessity.  You  teach  your 
daughters  the  diameters  of  the  planets,  and 
wonder  when  you  have  done  that  they  do 
not  delight  in  your  company.  No  science 
can  be  communicated  by  mortal  creatures 
without  attention  from  the  scholar;  no  at- 
tention can  be  obtained  from  children 
without  the  infliction  of  pain,  and  pain  is 
never  remembered  without  resentment." 
That  something  should  be  learned  was,' 
however,  so  certainly  his  opinion,  that  Mrs. 
Piozzi  heard  him  say,  that  education  had 
been  often  compared  to  agriculture,  yet 
that  it  resembled  it  chiefly  in  this:  "that 
if  nothing  is  sown,  no  crop  can  be  ob- 
tained."] 
That  superiority  over  his  fellows,  which 


1  More  than  a  little.  The  line  m  in  Kino 
Hinrt  VI.  Part  ii.  act  iv.  sc.  last : 

"  grail,  I  will  hallow  thee  tor  this  thy  deed." 

Maxokk. 

[It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Mr.  BoeweU  was  mis- 
taken as  to  the  sex  and  age  of  the  children  :  the 
idea  of  disciplining  young;  ladUi  by  the  rod  is 
absurd  and  disgusting. — En.] 

vol.   i.  $ 


he  maintained  with  so  much  dignity  in  his 
march  through  life,  was  not  assumed  from 
vanity  and  ostentation,  but  was  the  natu- 
ral and  constant  effect  of  those  extraordina- 
ry powers  of  mind,  of  which  he  could  not 
but  be  conscious  by  comparison;  the  intel- 
lectual difference,  which  in  other  cases  of 
comparison  of  characters,  is  often  a  matter 
of  undecided  contest,  being  as  clear  in  his 
case  as  the  superiority  of  stature  in  some 
men  above  others.  Johnson  did  not  strut 
or  stand  on  tip-toe;  he  only  did  not  stoop. 
From  his  earliest  years,  his  superiority  was 
perceived  and  acknowledged.  He  was 
from  the  beginning  Ar«£  «v4p»,  a  king  of 
men.  His  schoolfellow,  Mr.  Hector,  has 
obligingly  furnished  me3  with  many  par- 
ticulars of  his  bovish  days;  and  assured  me 
that  he  never  knew  him  corrected3  at 
school,  but  for  talking  and  diverting  other 
boys  from  their  business.  He  seemed  to 
learn  by  intuition;  for  though  indolence 
and  procrastination  were  inherent  in  his 
constitution,  whenever  he  made  an  exertion 
he  did  more  than  any  one  else.  In  short, 
he  is  a  memorable  instance  of  what  has 
been  often  observed,  that  the  boy  is  the 
man  in  miniature:  and  that  the  distinguish- 
ing characteristics  of  each  individual  are 
the  same,  through  the  whole  course  of  life. 
His  favourites  used  to  receive  very  liberal 
assistance  from  him;  and  such  was  the 
submission  and  deference  with  which  he 
was  treated,  such  the  desire  to  obtain  his 
regard,  that  three  of  the  boys,  of  whom 
Mr.  Hector  was  sometimes  one,  used  to 
come  in  the  morning  as  his  humble  attend- 
ants, and  carry  him  to  school.  One  in 
the  middle  stooped,  while  he  sat  upon  his 
back,  and  one  on  each  side  supported  him; 
and  thus  he  was  borne  triumphant.  Such 
a  proof  of  the  early  predominance  of  intel- 
lectual vigour  is  very  remarkable,  and  does 
honour  to  human  nature  4.  Talking  to  me 
once  himself  of  his  being  much  distinguished 
at  school,  he  told  me,  "  they  never  thought 
to  raise  me  by  comparing?  me  to  any  one; 
they  never  said,  Johnson  is  as  good  a  scho- 
lar as  such  a  one,  but  such  a  one  is  as  good 


1  [Thk  is  not  quite  candid  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Boswell.  All  these  particulars  are  found  in  a 
paper  furnished  (it  would  seem)  by  Mr.  Hector 
to  Sir  J.  Hawkins,  and  published  in  extenso  by 
Aim.— Ed.] 

*  [This  is  not  consistent  with  Johnson's  own 
statement,  ante,  p.  16.— En.] 

4  [<«  This  ovation  Mr.  Boswell  believed  to  have 
been  an  honour  paid  to  the  early  predominance 
of  his  intellectual  powers  alone;  but  they  who 
remember  what  boys  are,  and  who  consider  that 
Johnson's  corporeal  prowess  was  by  no  means 
despicable,  will  be  apt  to  suspect  that  the  homage 
was  enforced,  at  least  as  much  by  awe  of  the  one 
as  by  admiration  of  the  other."— Andenon's 
Life  of  Johmon.— En.] 


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1721.— iETAT.  12. 


a  scholar  as  Johnson;  and  this  was  said 
but  of  one — but  of  Lowe1;  and  I  do  not 
think  he  was  as  good  a  scholar." 

He  discovered  a  great  ambition  to  excel, 
which  roused  him  to  counteract  his  indolence. 
He  was  uncommonly  inquisitive;  and  his 
memory  was  so  tenacious,  that  he  never 
forgot  any  thing  that  he  either  heard  or  read. 
Mr.  Hector  remembers  having  recited  to 
him  eighteen  verses,  which,  after  a  little 
pause,  he  repeated  verbatim,  varying  only 
one  epithet,  by  which  he  improved  the  line. 

He  never  joined  with  the  other  boys  in 
their  ordinary  diversions:  his  only  amuse- 
ment9 was  in  winter,  when  he  took  a  plea- 
sure in  being  drawn  upon  the  ice  by  a  boy 
barefooted,  who  pulled  him  along  by  a  gar- 
ter fixed  round  him  5  no  very  easy  operation, 
as  his  size  was  remarkably  large.  His  de- 
fective sight,  indeed,  prevented  him  from 
enjoying  the  common  sports;  and  he  once 
pleasantly  remarked  to  me,  "  how  wonder- 
fully well  he  had  contrived  to  be  idle  with- 
out them."  Lord  Chesterfield,  however, 
has  justly  observed  in  one  of  his  letters  j  when 
earnestly  cautioning  a  friend  against  the 
pernicious  effects  of  idleness,  that  active 
sports  are  not  to  be  reckoned  idleness  in 
young  people j  and  that  the  listless  torpor 
of  doing  nothing  alone  deserves  that  name. 
Of  this  dismal  inertness  of  disposition,  John- 
son had  all  his  life  too  great  a  share.  Mr. 
Hector  relates,  that  "  he  could  not  oblige 
him  more  than  by  sauntering  away  the  hours 
of  vacation  in  the  fields,  during  which  he 
was  more  engaged  in  talking  to  himself  than 
to  his  companion."  [Mr.  Hector 
2*8?*"  concludes  by  saying,  "After  a  long 
absence  from  Lichfield,  when  he 
returned  I  was  apprehensive  of  something 
wrong  in  his  constitution,  which  might  either 
impair  his  intellect  or  endanger  his  life,  but, 
thanks  to  Almighty  God,  my  fears  have 
proved  false."] 

Dr.  Percy,  the  Bishop  of  Dromore,  who 
was  long  intimately  acquainted  with  him, 
and  has  preserved  a  few  anecdotes  concern- 
ing him,  regretting  that  he  was  not  a  more 
diligent  collector,  informs  me,  that  "  when 
a  boy  he  was  immoderately  fond  of  reading 
romances  of  chivalry,  and  he  retained  his 
fondness  for  them  through  life  3;  so  that 


1  [See  ante,  p.  16.— En.] 

*  [Mr.  Hector,  in  the  paper  printed  by  Hawkins, 
only  lays,  "  He  never  associated  with  any  of  us 
in  our  diversions,  except  in  winter,  when  the  ice 
was  firm  enough  to  be  drawn  along  by  a  boy  bare- 
footed;" but  this  does  not  justify  the  absurd  as- 
sertion that  Johnson  had  no  amusement  whatso- 
ever except  in  winter,  and  then  only  this  one:  oth- 
er amusements  he  doubtless  had,  though  probably 
not  of  a  gregarious  nature. — Ed.] 

3  [In  one  of  his  journeys  we  shall  see  (27th 
March,  1776),  that  he  took  with  him"/*  Pal- 
merino  d'lngkUterra"  in  Italian,  but  then  it 


(adds  his  lordship)  spending  part  of  a  sum- 
mer at  my  parsonage-house  in  the  country, 
he  chose  for  his  regular  reading  the  old 
Spanish  romance  of  Felixmarte  of  Hir- 
cania,  in  folio,  which  he  read  quite  through. 
Yet  I  have  heard  him  attribute  to  these  ex- 
travagant fictions  that  unsettled  turn  of 
mind  which  prevented  his  ever  fixing  in  any 
profession." 

[In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1725, 
he  received  an  invitation  from  his  J*,-*" 
uncle4,  Cornelius  Ford,  to  spend  a 
few  days  with  him  at  his  house,  wliich  I 
conjecture  to  have  been  on  a  living  of  his 
in  one  of  the  counties  bordering  upon  Staf- 
fordshire; but  it  seems  that  the  uncle,  dis- 
covering that  the  boy  was  possessed  of  un- 
common parte,  was  unwilling  to  let  him  re- 
turn, and  to  make  up  for  the  loss  he  might 
sustain  by  his  absence  from  school,  became 
his  instructor  in  the  classics,  and  farther  as- 
sisted him  in  his  studies;  so  that  it  was  not 
till  the  Whitsuntide  following,  that  John- 
son went  back  to  Lichfield.  Whether  Mr. 
Hunter  was  displeased  to  find  a  visit  of  a 
few  days  protracted  into  a  vacation  of  many 
months,  or  that  he  resented  the  interference 
of  another  person  in  the  tuition  of  one  of 
his  scholars,  and  he  one  of  the  most  promis- 
ing of  any  under  his  care,  cannot  now  be 
known;  but,  it  seems,  that  at  Johnson's 
return  to  Lichfield,  he  was  not  received  in- 
to the  school  of  that  city;]  and  he  was,  at 
the  age  of  fifteen,  removed  to  the  school  of 
Stourbridge,  in  Worcestershire,  of  which 
Mr.  Wentworth  was  then  master. 

This  step  was  taken  by  the  advice  of  his 
cousin,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ford,  a  man  in  whom 
both  talents  and  good  dispositions  were  dis- 
graced by  licentiousness — (he  is  said  to  be 
the  original  of  the  parson  in  Hogarth's  Mo- 
dern Midnight  Conversation5) — bu,t  who 


was  for  exercise  in  the  language,  and  betook  no 
pleasure  in  the  work  itself. — Ed.] 

4  Cornelius  Ford,  according  to  Sir  John  Haw- 
kins, was  bis  cousin-german,  being  the  son  of  Dr» 
Joseph  [Q.  Nathanael?]  Ford,  an  eminent  phy- 
sician, who  was  brother  to  Johnson's  mother 

Malone.    [Sir  John  Hawkins,  in  this  passage 
of  his  first  edition,  distinctly  calls  Cornelius  Ford 
his  untie,  as  Boswell  also  does,  but  it  was  proba 
bly  an  error,  as  Hawkins  corrected  it  in  the  second 
edition  to  coutin. — Ed.] 

6  [This  fact  has  been  doubted;  but  the  blame- 
able  levity  of  his  character,  Johnson  himself  ad- 
mits. In  his  Life  of  Fenton,  he  mentions  "  Ford, 
a  clergyman  at  that  time  too  well  known,  whose 
abilities,  instead  of  furnishing  convivial  merriment 
to  the  voluptuous  and  dissolute,  might  have  ena- 
bled him  to  excel  among  the  virtuous  and  the 
wise."  In  the  Historical  Register  for  1731, 
we  find,  "  Died  Aug.  22,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ford,  well 
known  to  the  world  for  his  great  wit  and  abilities.'* 
And  the  Gentleman's  Magasine  of  the  same 
date  states  that  he  was  "  esteemed  for  his  polite 
and  agreeable  conversation. "    Mr.  Murphy  1 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1727.— iETAT.  18. 


19 


was  a  very  able  judge  of  what  was  right. 
[Johnson  always  spoke  of  his  cousin 
*™5jf »  to  Mrs.  Piozzi  with  tenderness,  prais- 
ing his  acquaintance  with  life  and 
manners,  and  recollecting  one  piece  of  ad- 
vice that  no  man  surely  ever  followed  more 
exactly:  "  Obtain  (says  Ford)  some  general 
principles  of  every  science;  he  who  can  talk 
only  on  one  subject,  or  act  only  in  one  depart- 
ment, is  seldom  wanted  and  perhaps  never 
wished  for;  while  the  man  of  general  know- 
ledge can  often  benefit  and  always  please." 
He  used  to  relate,  however,  another  story 
less  to  the  credit  of  his  cousin's  penetration, 
how  Ford  on  some  occasion  said  to  him, 
"  You  will  make  your  way  more  easily  in 
the  world,  I  see,  as  you  are  contented  to 
dispute  no  man's  claim  to  conversation  ex- 
cellence; they  will,  therefore,  more  willing- 
ly allow  your  pretensions  as  a  writer." 

At  the  school  of  Stourbridge  he  did  not 
receive  so  much  benefit  as  was  expected. 
It  has  been  said,  that  he  acted  in  the  capa- 
city of  an  assistant  to  Mr.  Wentworth  in 
teaching  the  younger  boys.  "  Mr.  Went- 
worth (he  told  me)  was  a  very  able  man, 
but  an  idle  man,  and  to  me  very  severe; 
but  I  cannot  blame  him  much.  I  was  then 
a  big  boy;  he  saw  I  did  not  reverence  him; 
and  that  he  should  get  no  honour  by  me. 
I  had  brought  enough  with  me,  to  carry 
me  through;  and  all  I  should  get  at  his 
school  would  be  ascribed  to  my  own  labour, 
or  to  my  former  master.  Yet  he  taught 
me  a  great  deal." 

He  thus  discriminated,  to  Dr.  Percy, 
Bishop  of  Dromore,  his  progress  at  his  two 
grammar-schools.  "At  one  [LichfielcH,  I 
learned  much  in  the  school,  but  little  from 
the  master:  in  the  other  [Stourbridge],  I 
learnt  mucn  from  the  master,  but  little  in 
the  school." 

The  bishop  also  informs  me  that  "  Dr. 
Johnson's  father,  before  he  was  received  at 
Stourbridge,  applied  to  have  him  admitted 
as  a  scholar  and  assistant  to  the  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Lea,  M.  A.,  head-master  of  Newport 
school,  in  Shropshire  (a  very  diligent  good 
teacher,  at  that  time  in  high  reputation, 
under  whom  Mr.  Hollis  is  said,  in  the  Me- 
moirs of  his  Life,  to  have  been  also  edu- 
cated) K  This  application  to  Mr.  Lea  was 
not  successful;  but  Johnson  had  afterwards 
the  gratification  to  hear  that  the  old  gentle- 
man, who  lived  to  a  very  advanced  age, 
mentioned  it  as  one  of  the  most  memorable 
events  of  his  life,  that  he  was  very  near  hav- 
ing that  great  man  for  his  scholar." 

He  remained  at  Stourbridge  little  more 
than  a  year,  and  then  he  returned  home, 
where  he  may  be  said  to  have  loitered,  for 


that  he  was  chaplain  to  Lord  Chesterfield,  but 
gives  no  authority. — Ed.] 

1  As  was  likewise  the  Bishop  of  Dromore  many 
yean  afterwards— Boaw ill. 


two  years,  in  a  state  very  unworthy  his 
uncommon  abilities.  [His  father 
was  for  some  time  at  a  loss  how  to  *a9w*' 
dispose  of  him:  he  probably  had  a 
view  to  bring  him  up  to  his  own  trade;  for 
Sir  J.  Hawkins  heard  Johnson  say,  that  he 
himself  was  able  to  bind  a  book.]  He  had 
already  given  several  proofs  of  his  poetical 
genius,  both  in  his  school-exercises  and  in 
other  occasional  compositions.  Of  these  I 
have  obtained  a  considerable  collection,  by 
the  favour  of  Mr.  Wentworth,  son  of  one 
of  his  masters,  and  of  Mr.  Hector,  his 
schoolfellow  and  friend;  from  which  I  select 
some  specimens  [which  will  be  found  in  the 
Appendix]. 

The  two  years  which  he  spent  at  home,, 
after  his  return  from  Stourbridge,  he  passed 
in  what  he  thought  idleness,  and  was  scold- 
ed by  his  father  for  his  want  of  steady  ap- 
plication. He  had  no  settled  plan  of  lire, 
nor  looked  forward  at  all,  but  merely  lived 
from  day  to  day.  Yet  he  read  a  great  deal 
in  a  desultory  manner,  without  any  scheme 
of  study,  as  chance  threw  books  in  his  way, 
and  inclination  directed  him  through  them. 
He  used  to  mention  one  curious  instance 
of  his  casual  reading,  when  but  a  boy. 
Having  imagined  that  his  brother  had  hid 
some  apples  behind  a  large  folio  upon  an 
upper  shelf  in  his  father's  shop,  he  climbed 
up  to  search  for  them.  There  were  no 
apples;  but  the  large  folio  proved  to  be 
Petrarch9,  whom  he  had  seen  mentioned, 
in  some  preface,  as  one  of  the  restorers  of 
learning.  His  curiosity  having  been  thus 
excited,  he  sat  down  with  avidity,  and  read 
a  great  part  of  the  book.  What  he  read 
during  these  two  years,  he  told  me,  was 
not  works  of  mere  amusement,  "  not  voy 
ages  and  travels,  but  all  literature,  sir,  all 
ancient  writers,  all  manly:  though  but  little 
Greek,  only  some  of  Anacreon  and  Hesiod: 
but  in  this  irregular  manner  (added  he)  I 
had  looked  into  a  great  many  books,  which 
were  not  commonly  known  at  the  Univer- 
sities, where  they  seldom  read  any  books 
but  what  are  put  into  their  hands  dv  their 
tutors;  so  that  when  I  came  to  Oxford, 
Dr.  Adams,  now  master  of  Pembroke  Col- 
lege, told  me,  I  was  the  best  qualified  for 
the  University  thst  he  had  ever  known 
come  there." 

In  estimating  the  progress  of  his  mind 
during  these  two  years,  as  well  as  in  future 
periods  of  his  life,  we  must  not  regard  his 
own  hasty  confession  of  idleness;  for  we 
see,  when  he  explains  himself,  that  he  waa 
acquiring  various  stores;  and,  indeed,  -he 
himself  concluded  the  account,  with  saying, 


*  [This  was  probably  the  folio  edition  of  Pe- 
trarch's Opera  Omnia  qua  extant,  Bat.  1654. 
It  could  have  been  only  the  Latin  works  that 
Johnson  read,  as  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose rthat 
he  was,  at  this  period,  able  to  read  Itahan*— Ed.] 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


so 


1738.— jETAT.  19. 


"  I  would  not  have  you  think  I  was  doing 
nothing  then."  He  might,  perhaps,  have 
studied  mere  assiduously;  but  it  may  be 
doubted,  whether  such  a  mind  as  his  was 
not  more  enriched  by  roaming  at  large  in 
the  fields  of  literature,  than  if  it  had  oeen 
confined  to  any  single  spot.  The  analogy 
between  body  and  mind  is  very  general, 
and  the  parallel  will  hold  as  to  their  food, 
as  well  as  any  other  particular.  The  flesh 
of  animals  who  feed  excursively  is  allowed 
to  have  a  higher  flavour  than  that  of  those 
who  are  cooped  up.  May  there  not  be  the 
same  difference  between  men  who  read  as 
their  taste  prompts,  and  men  who  are 
confined  in  cells  and  colleges  to  stated 
tasks  i? 

That  a  man  in  Mr.  Michael  Johnson's 
circumstances  should  think  of  sending  his 
son  to  the  expensive  university  of  Oxford, 
at  his  own  charge,  seems  very  improbable. 
The  subject  was  too  delicate  to  question 
Johnson  upon;  but  I  have  been  assured  by 
Dr.  Taylor,  that  the  scheme  never  would 
have  taken  place,  had  not  a  gentleman  of 
Shropshire,  one  of  his  schoolfellows,  spon- 
taneously undertaken  to  support  him  at 
Oxford,  m  the  character  of  his  companion: 
though,  in  fact,  he  never  received  any  as- 
sistance whatever  from  that  gentleman. 

[Sir  John  Hawkins,  thus  states 
pTsib.    tn*8  circumstance:  A  neighbouring 

'  gentleman,  Mr.  Andrew  Corbett, 
having  a  son,  who  had  been  educated  in 
the  same  school  with  Johnson,  whom  he 
was  about  to  send  to  Pembroke  College  in 
Oxford,  a  proposal  was  made  and  accepted, 
that  Johnson  should  attend  this  son  thither, 
in  quality  of  assistant  in  his  studies;  and 
accordingly,  on  the  31st  day  of  October, 
1728,  they  were  both  entered,  Corbett  as  a 
gentleman  commoner,  and  Johnson  as  a 
commoner.  Whether  it  was  discourage- 
ment in  the  outset  of  their  studies,  or  any 
other  ground  of  disinclination  that  moved 
him  to  it,  is  not  known,  but  this  is  certain, 
that  young  Corbett  could  not  brook  sub- 
mission to  a  man  who  seemed  to  be  little 
more  learned  than  himself,  and  that  having 
a  father  living,  who  was  able  to  dispose  of 
him  in  various  other  ways,  he,  after  about 
two  years'  stay,  left  the  college,  and  went 
home.  But  the  case  of  Johnson  was  far 
different;  his  fortunes  were  at  sea;  his  title 
to  a  stipend  was  gone,  and  all  that  he  could 
obtain  from  the  lather  of  Mr.  Corbett  was 

1  [Dr.  Johnson's  prodigious  memory  and  talents 
enabled  him  to  collect  from  desultory  reading  a 
vast  mass  of  general  information;  but  he  was  in 
no  science,  and  indeed  we  might  almost  say  in 
no  branch  of  literature,  what  is  usually  called  a 
profound  scholar— *hat  character  is  only  to  be 
earned  by  laborious  study;  and  Mr.  Boswell's  fan- 
ciful allusion  to  the  flavour  of  the  flesh  of  animals 
i  fallacious,  not  to  say  foolish.— Ed,] 


an  agreement,  during  his  continuance  at 
college,  to  pay  for  his  commons9.] 

He,  however,  went  to  Oxford,  and  was 
entered  a  commoner  of  Pembroke  College, 
on  the  31st  of  October,  1738,  being  then 
in  his  nineteenth  year. 

The  Reverend  Dr.  Adams,  who  after- 
wards presided  over  Pembroke  College  with 
universal  esteem,  told  me  he  was  present, 
and  gave  me  some  account  of  what  passed 
on  the  night  of  Johnson's  arrival  at  Oxford. 
On  that  evening,  his  father,  who  had  anx- 
iously accompanied  him,  found  means  to 
have  him  introduced  to  Mr.  Jorden,  who 
was  to  be  his  tutor.  His  being  put  under 
any  tutor,  reminds  us  of  what  Wood  says 
of  "Robert  Burton,  authour  of  the  "Anato- 
my of  Melancholy,"  when  elected  student 
of  Christ-church;  "  for  form's  sake,  though 
he  wanted  not  a  tutor,  he  was  put  under  the 
tuition  of  Dr.  John  Bancroft,  afterwards 
BishopofOxonS." 

His  father  seemed  very  full  of  the  merits 
of  his  son,  and  told  the  company  he  was  a 
good  scholar,  and  a  poet,  and  wrote  Latin 
verses.  His  figure  and  manner  appeared 
strange  to  them;  but  he  behaved  modestly, 
and  sat  silent,  till  upon  something  which 
occurred  in  the  course  of  conversation,  he 
suddenly  struck  in  and  quoted  Macrobius; 
and  thus  he  gave  the  first  impression  of  that 
more  extensive  reading  in  which  he  had  in- 
dulged himself. 
His  tutor  4,  Mr.  Jorden,  fellow  of  Pembroke, 


*  [Mr.  Murphy,  in  his  Life  of  Johnson,  follows 
Hawkins;  bnt  the  date  of  Mr.  Corbett  *»  entiy  into 
and  retirement  from  college  does  not*  tally  with 
either  Boswell's  or  Hawkins's  account  Andrew 
Corbett  appears,  from  the  books  of  Pembroke 
College  (as  Dr.  Hall  informs  me),  to  have  been 
admitted  24th  February,  1727,  and  his  name  was 
removed  from  the  books  February  21,  1782:  so 
that,  as  Johnson  entered  in  Oct  1728,  and  does 
not  appear  to  have  returned  after  Christmas,  1729, 
Corbett  was  of  the  University  twenty  months  he- 
fore,  and  twelve  or  thirteen  months  after  John- 
son. And,  on  reference  to  the  college  books,  h 
appears  that  Corbett's  residence  was  so  irregular, 
and  so  little  coincident  with  Johnson's,  that  there 
h  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Johnson  was  employ- 
ed either  as  the  private  tutor  of  Corbett,  as 
Hawkins  states,  or  his  companion,  as  Boswell 
suggests. — En.] 

*  A  then.  Oxon.  edit  1721,1  627. — Boswell. 
4  [There  are,  as  Dr.  Hall  observes  to  me,  many 

small  errors  in  Mr.  Boswell's  account  of  Johnson's 
college  life,  and  particularly  as  to  the  relation  be- 
tween him  and  Mr.  Jorden,  I  Wis  not  the  cus- 
tom at  Pembroke  to  assign  particular  tutors  to  in- 
dividual students.  There  are  two  college  tutors 
appointed  fos  the  whole.  Mr.  Jorden  was  there- 
fore no  more  the  tutor  of  Johnson  than  of  any 
other  student,  and  Johnson  was  equally  the  pupil 
of  the  other  college  tutor;  though,  as  the  latter 
was  probably  the  tutor  in  mathematics,  it  seems 
likely  that  Johnson  dkl  not  pay  him  much  atten- 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1729.— jETAT.  20. 


31 


i  not,  it  seems,  a  man  of  such  abilities  as 
we  should  conceive  requisite  for  the  instruc- 
tor of  Samuel  Johnson,  who  [would 
£*£*-  oftener  risk  the  payment  of  a  small 
fine  than  attend  his  lectures;  nor  was 
he  studious  to  conceal  the  reason  of  his  ab- 
sence. Upon  occasion  of  one  such  imposi- 
tion, he  said  to  Jorden,  "  Sir,  you  nave 
sconced  me  two-pence  for  non-attendance 
at  a  lecture  not  worth  a  penny  V]  He 
gave  me  the  following  account  of  him: 
"  He  was  a  very  worthy  man,  but  a  heavy 
man,  and  I  did  not  profit  much  by  his  in- 
structions. Indeed,  I  did  not  attend  him 
much.  The  first  day  after  I  came  to  col- 
lege, I  waited  upon  him,  and  then  staid 
away  four.  On  the  sixth,  Mr.  Jorden  ask- 
ed me  why  I  had  not  attended.  I  answered 
I  had  been  sliding  in  Christ-church  mea- 
dow. And  this  I  said  with  as  much  non- 
chalance as  I  am  now  talking  to  you.  I 
had  no  notion  that  I  was  wrong  or 
°*{jjjj»  irreverent  to  my  tutor."  Boswell. 
itis.  "  "  That,  sir,  was  great  fortitude  of 
mind."  Johnson.  "  No,  sir;  stark 
maenaibUity2." 

[When  he  told  this  anecdote  to 
Mrs.  Piozzi,  he  laughed  very  heart- 
ily at  the  recollection  of  his  own  in- 
solence, and  said  they  endured  it  from  him 
with  wonderful  acquiescence,  and  a  gentle- 
ness that,  whenever  he  thought  of  it,  as- 
tonished himself.  He  said,  too,  that  when 
he  made  his  first  declamation,  he  wrote 
over  but  one  copy,  and  that  coarsely;  and 
having  given  it  into  the  hand  of  the  tutor 
who  stood  to  receive  it  as  he  passed,  was 
obliged  to  begin  by  chance  and  continue  on 
how  he  could,  for  he  had  got  but  little  of 
it  by  heart;  so,  fairly  trusting  to  his  pres- 
ent powers  for  immediate  supply,  he  finish- 
ed by  adding  astonishment  to  the  applause 
of  all  who  knew  how  little  was  owing  to 
study.  A  prodigious  risk,  however,  said 
some  one :  "  Not  at  all  (exclaims  Johnson) : 
no  man,  I  suppose,  leaps  at  once  into  deep 
water  who  does  not  know  how  to  swim."] 
The  fifth  of  November  was  at  that  time 
kept  with  great  solemnity  at  Pembroke  Col- 
lege, and  exercises  upon  the  subject  of  the 
day  were  required.  Johnson  neglected  to 
perform  his,  which  is  much  to  be  regretted: 
for  his  vivacity  of  imagination,  and  force  of 


*»• 


bod.  Mr.  Boswell  either  did  Dot  consult  Dr. 
Adams,  or  did  not  remember  accurately  what  the 
Doctor  most  have  told  him  on  these  points. — Ed.] 

1  [It  has  been  thought  worth  while  to  preserve 
this  anecdote,  as  an  early  specimen  of  the  anti~ 
tketical  style  of  Johnson's  conversation.— Ed.] 

*  It  ought  to  be  remembered,  that  Dr.  Johnson 
was  apt,  in  his  literary  as  well  as  moral  exercises, 
to  overcharge  his  defects.  Dr.  Adams  informed 
me,  that  he  attended  his  tutor's  lectures,  and  also 
the  lectures  in  the  College  Hall,  very  regularly. 

— BOS*  ELL. 


language,  would  probably  have  produced 
something  sublime  upon  the  Gunpowder 
Plot  To  apologise  for  his  neglect,  he  gave 
in  a  short  copy  of  verses,  entitled  Somntum, 
containing  a  common  thought:  "  that  the 
Muse  had  come  to  him  in  his  sleep,  and 
whispered,  that  it  did  not  become  mm  to 
write  on  such  subjects  as  politics;  he  should 
confine  himself  to  humbler  themes:"  but 
the  versification  was  truly  Virgilian. 

He  had  a  love  and  respect  for  Jorden,  not 
for  his  literature,  but  for  his  worth.  "  When- 
ever (said  he)  a  young  man  becomes  Jor- 
den's  pupil,  he  becomes  his  son." 

Having  given  such  a  specimen  of  his  po- 
etical powers,  he  was  asked  by  Mr.  Jorden, 
to  translate  Pope's  Messiah  into  Latin  verse, 
as  a  Christmas  exercise3.  He  performed  it 
with  uncommon  rapidity,  and  in  so  master- 
ly a  manner,  that  he  obtained  great  applause 
from  it,  which  ever  after  kept  him  high  in 
the  estimation  of  his  college,  and,  indeed, 
of  all  the  university-. 

It  is  said,  that  Mr.  Pope  expressed  him- 
self concerning  it  in  terms  of  strong  appro- 
bation. [The  poem  having  been 
shown  to  him  by  a  son  of  Dr.  Ar-  p  *Js. 
buthnot,  then  a  gentleman  com- 
moner of  Christ-church,  was  read,  and  re- 
turned with  this  encomium :  "  The  writer 
of  this  poem  will  leave  it  a  question  for  pos- 
terity, whether  his  or  mine  be  the  original.9*] 
Dr.  Taylor  told  me,  that  it  was  first  printed 
for  old  Mr.  Johnson,  Without  the  knowledge 
of  his  son,  who  was  very  anj?ry  when  he 
heard  of  it.  A  Miscellany  of  Poems  collect- 
ed by  a  person  of  the  name  of  Husbands4, 
was  published  at  Oxford  in  1731.  In  that 
Miscellany,  Johnson's  Translation  of  the 
Messiah  appeared,  with  this  modest  motto 
from  Scaliger's  Poeticks,  "  Ex  alieno  ingcn~ 
to  Poeta,  ex  tuo  tantwn  ver$ifitator.n 

I  am  not  ignorant  that  critical  objections 
have  been  made  to  this  and  other  specimens 
of  Johnson's  Latin  poetry.  I  acknowledge 
myself  not  competent  to  decide  on  a  ques- 
tion of  such  extreme  nicety.  But  I  am  sat- 
isfied with  the  just  and  discriminative  eulo 
ey  pronounced  upon  it  by  my  friend  Mr. 
Courtenay,  [in  his  Poetical  Review  of  the 
Literary  and  Moral  Character  of  Dr.  John* 
son.] 

"  And  with  like  ease,  his  vivid  lines  assume 
The  garb  and  dignity  of  ancient  Rome. — 
Let  college  verse-men  trite  conceits  express, 
Trick'd  out  in  splendid  shreds  of  Virgil's  dress: 


*  [If  Dr.  Hall's  inferences  from  the  dates  in 
the  college  books  be  correct,  this  must  have  been 
the  Christmas  immediately  following  his  entry  into 
college. — Ed.] 

4  [John  Husbands,  the  editor  of  this  Miscellany, 
was  a  cotemporary  of  Johnson  at  Pembroke  Col- 
lege, having  been  admitted  a  fellow  and  A,  M.  in 
1728.— Hall.] 


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From  playful  Ovid  call  the  tints!  phrase, 
And  vapid  notions  hitch  in  pilfer'd  Isys; 
Then  with  mosaic  art  the  piece  combine, 
And  boast  the  glitter  of  each  dulcet  line: 
Johnson  adventur'd  boldly  to  transfuse 
His  vigorous  sense  into  the  Latin  muse; 
Aspir'd  to  shine  by  unrefleeted  light, 
And  with  a  Roman's  ardor  think  and  write. 
He  feh  the  tuneful  Nine  his  breast  inspire, 
And,  like  a  master,  wak'd  the  soothing  lyre: 
Horatian  strains  a  grateful  heart  proclaim, 
While  Sky's  wild  rocks  resound  his  Thralia's 


Hesperia's  plant,  in  some  less  skilful  hands, 
To  bloom  a  while,  factitious  heat  demands: 
Though  glowing  Bfaro  a  faint  warmth  supplies, 
The  swkJy  blossom  in  the  hot-house  dies: 
By  Johnson's  genial  culture',  fit,  and  toil, 
Its  root  strikes  deep,  and  owns  the  fost'ring  soil; 
Imbibes  our  sun  through  all  its  swelling  veins, 
And  grows  a  native  of  Britannia's  plains." 

The  "  morbid  melancholy,"  which  was 
lurking  in  his  constitution,  and  to  which  we 
may  ascribe  those  particularities,  and  that 
aversion  to  regular  life,  which,  at  a  very 
early  period,  marked  his  character,  gathered 
such  strength  in  his  twentieth  year,  as  to 
afflict  him  in  a  dreadful  manner.  While  he 
was  at  Lichfield,  in  the  college  vacation  of 
the  year  17299,  he  felt  liimself  overwhelm- 
ed with  a  horrible  hypochondria,  with  per- 
petual irritation,  fretfulness,  and  impatience; 
and  with  a  dejection,  gloom,  and  despair, 
which  made  existence  misery.  From  this 
dismal  malady  he  never  afterwards  was  per- 
fectly relieved;  and  all  his  labours,  ana  all 
his  enjoyments,  were  but  -temporary  inter- 
ruptions of  its  baleful  influence.  How  won- 
derful, how  unsearchable  are  the  ways  of 
Goo !  Johnson,  who  was  blest  with  all  the 
powers  of  genius  and  understanding  in  a  de- 
gree far  above  the  ordinary  state  of  human 
nature,  was  at  the  same  time  visited  with  a 
disorder  so  afflictive,  that  they  who  know  it 
by  dire  experience,  will  not  envy  his  exalt- 
ed endowments.  That  it  was,  in  some  de- 
gree, occasioned  by  a  defect  in  his  nervous 
system,  that  inexplicable  part  of  our  frame, 
appears  highly  probable.  He  told  Mr.  Pa- 
radise 3  that  he  was  sometimes  so  languid 

1  [This  refers  to  a  Latin  ode  addressed  to  Mis. 
Thrale  from  the  hie  of  Skie,  which  will  be  men- 
tioned in  it*  proper  place,  under  6th  September, 
1778.— Ed.] 

*  [It  seems,  as  Dr.  Hall  suggests,  probable,  that 
this  is  a  mistake  for  1730:  Johnson  appears  to 
have  remained  in  college  during  the  vacation  of 

1729,  and  we  have  no  trace  of  him  in  the  year 

1730,  during  which  he  was,  possibly,  labouring 
under  this  malady,  and,  on  that  account,  absent 
from  college. — Ed.] 

*  [John  Paradise,  Esq.  D.  C.  L.  of  Oxford,  and 
F.  R.  S„  was  of  Greek  extraction,  the  son  of  the 
English  Consul  at  Salonica,  where  he  was  born: 
he  was  educated  at  Padua,  bat  resided  the  greater 


and  inefficient,  that  he  could  not  distinguish 
the  hour  upon  the  town-clock. 

Johnson,  upon  the  first  violent  attack  of 
this  disorder,  strove  to  overcome  it  by  forci- 
ble exertions4.  He  frequently  walked  to 
Birmingham  and  back  arain,  and  tried  many 
other  expedients,  .but  all  in  vain.  His  ex- 
pression concerning  it  to  me  was,  "  I  did 
not  then  know  how  to  manage  it."  His 
distress  became  so  intolerable,  that  he  ap- 
plied to  Dr.  Swinfen,  physician  in  Lichfield, 
iris  godfather*,  and  put  into  his  hands  a 
state  of  his  case,  written  in  Latin.  Dr. 
Swinfen  was  so  much  struck  with  the  ex- 
traordinary acnteness,  research,  and  elo- 
quence of  this  paper,  that  in  his  zeal  for  his 
godson  he  showed  it  to  several  people.  His 
daughter,  Mrs.  Desmoulins,  wno  was  many 
years  humanely  supported  in  Dr.  Johnson's 
house  in  London,  told  me,  that  upon  his 
discovering  that  Dr.  Swinfen  had  communi- 
cated his  case,  he  was  so  much  offended, 
that  he  was  never  afterwards  fully  reconciled 
to  him.  He  indeed  had  good  reason  to  be 
offended:  for  though  Dr  Swinfen's  motive 
was  good,  he  inconsiderately  betrayed  a  mat- 
ter deeply  interesting  and  of  great  delicacy, 
which  liad  been  intrusted  to  him  in  confi- 
dence; and  exposed  a  complaint  of  his  young 
friend  and  patient,  which  in  the  superfi- 
cial opinion  of  the  generality  of  mankind,  is 
attended  with  contempt  and  disgrace. 

But  let  not  little  men  triumph  upon 
knowing  that  Johnson  was  an  Htpochok- 
d*i  ac a,  was  subject  to  what  the  learned,  phi- 
losophical, and  pious  Dr.  Cheyne  has  so  well 
treated  under  the  title  of  "  The  English 
Malady."  Though  he  suffered  severely 
from  it,rhe  was  not  therefore  degraded. 
The.,  powers  of  his  great  mind  might  be 


part  of  his  life  in  London;  in  the  literary  circles 
of  which  he  wss  generally  known  and  highly  es- 
teemed. He  seems  to  have  been  a  good  classical 
scholar,  and  certainly  spoke  most  European  lan- 
guages (amongst  the  rest,  modern  Greek  and  Turk- 
ish) with  great  facility.  This  unusual  accomplish- 
ment was  probably  the  cause  of  his  intimacy  with 
Sir  William  Jones,  to  whom  we  learn  ( TVtgn- 
mouth*$  Ltfe  of  Jones,  p.  221.)  that  he  address- 
ed a  distich  in  ancient  Greek,  which  had  the  sin- 
gular honour  of  being  copied  by  the  hand  of  the 
celebrated  Duchess  of  Devonshire.  Mr.  Paradise 
became  intimate  with  Johnson  in  the  latter  por- 
tion of  the  Doctor's  life;  was  a  member  of  his 
Essex-street  club;  and  attended  his  funeral.  Mr. 
Paradise  died,  at  his  house  in  Titchfield  street,  12 
Dec.  1795.— Ed.] 

4  £It  appears,  from  his  own  account  of  his  fa- 
ther {ante,  p.  10),  that  he  thought  exercise  and 
change  of  place  alleviated  tins  disease,  which  he 
inherited  from  him.  It  seems  that  he  did  not,  in 
his  own  mind,  connect  this  disease  with  the  scrof- 
ula, which  he  derived,  as  he  thought,  from  his 
mother,  or,  as  Dr.  Swinfen  believed,  from  his 
Ed.] 

•  [See  ante,  p.  1&— Ed.] 


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troubled,  and  their  full  exercise  suspended 
at  times;  but  the  mind  itself  was  ever  en- 
tire. As  a  proof  of  this,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  consider,  that  when  he  was  at  the 
very  wont,  he  composed  that  state  of  his 
own  case,  which  showed  an  uncommon 
vigour,  not  only  of  fancy  and  taste,  but  of 
judgement.  I  am  aware  that  he  himself 
was  too  ready  to  call  such  a  complaint  by 
the  name  of  madness;  in  conformity  with 
which  notion,  he  has  traced  its  gradations, 
with  exquisite  nicety,  in  one  of  the  chap- 
ters 1  of  his  Rassblas.  But  there  is  sure- 
ly a  clear  distinction  between  a  disorder 
which  affects  only  the  imagination  and  spir- 
its, while  the  judgement  is  sound,  and  a  disor- 
der bv  which  the  judgement  itself  is  im- 
paired. This  distinction  was  made  to  me 
by  the  late  Professor  Gaubius  of  Leyden, 
physician  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  in  a  con- 
versation which  I  had  with  him  several 
years  ago,  and  he  expanded  it  thus:  "If 
(said  he}  a  man  tell  me  that  he  is  grievous- 
ly disturbed,  for  that  he  imagines  ne  sees  a 
ruffian  coming  against  him  with  a  drawn 
sword,  though  at  the  same  time  he  is  con- 
scious it  is  a  delusion,  I  pronounce  him  to 
have  a  disordered  imagination;  but  if  a  man 
tell  me  that  he  sees  this,  and  in  consterna- 
tion calls  to  me  to  look  at  it,  I  pronounce 
him  to  be  mad." 

It  is  a  common  effect  of  low  spirits  or  me- 
lancholy, to  make  those  who  are  afflicted 
with  it  imagine  that  they  are  actually  suffer- 
ing those  evils  which  happen  to  be  most 
strongly  presented  to  their  minds:  Some 
have  fancied  themselves  to  be  deprived  .of 
the  use  of  their  limbs,  some  to  labour  under 
acute  diseases,  others  to  be  in  extreme  pov- 
erty; when,  in  truth,  there  was  not  the 
least  reality  in  any  of  the  suppositions;  so 
that  when  the  vapours  were  dispelled,  they 
were  convinced  of  the  delusion.  To  John- 
son, whose  supreme  enjoyment  was  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  reason,  the  disturbance  or  ob- 
scuration of  that  faculty  was  the  evil  most 
to  be  dreaded.  Insanity,  therefore,  was  the 
object  of  his  most  dismal  apprehension;  and 
he  fancied  himself  seized  by  it,  or  approach- 
ing to  it,  at  the  very  time  when  ne  was 
giving  proofs  of  a  more  than  ordinary  sound- 
ness and  vigour  oQudgement  That  his  own 
diseased  imagination  should  have  so  far  de- 
ceived him  is  strange;  but  it  is  stranger 
still  that  some  of  his  friends  should  have 
given  credit  to  his  groundless  opinion,  when 
they  had  such  undoubted  proofs  that  it  was 
totally  fallacious;  though  it  is  by  no  means 
surprising  that  those  who  wisn  to  depre- 
ciate him  should,  since  his  death,  have  laid 
hold  of  this  circumstance,  and  insisted  upon 
it  with  very  unfair  aggravation  9. 


1  [Ch.  58.  on  the  Dangerous  Prevalence  of  Im- 
pnaikro.— Ed.] 
*  [This,  it  is  to  be 


!,  was  BoswelTf 


Amidst  the  oppression  and  distraction  of 
a  disease  which  very  few  have  felt  in  its  full 
extent,  but  many  3  have  experienced  in  a 
lighter  degree,  Johnson,  in  his  writings, 
and  in  his  conversation,  never  failed  to  dis- 
play all  the  varieties  of  intellectual  excel- 
lence. In  his  march  through  this  world  to 
a  better,  his  mind  still  appeared  grand  and 
brilliant,  and  impressed  all  around  him  with 
the  truth  of  Virgil's  noble  sentiment — 

"Igneus  est  olHs  vigor  et  calestis  origo." 

The  history  of  his  mind  as  to  religion  is 
an  important  article.  I  have  mentioned  the 
early  impressions  made  upon  his  tender  im- 
agination by  his  mother,  who  continued  her 
pious  cares  with  assiduity,  but,  in  his  opi- 
nion, not  with  judgement.  "  Sunday  (said 
he)  was  a  heavy  day  to  me  when  I  was  a 
boy.  My  mother  confined  me  on  that  day, 
and  made  me  read  'The  Whole  Duty  of 
Man,'  from  a  great  part  of  which  I  could 
derive  no  instruction.  When,  for  instance, 
I  had  read  the  chapter  on  theft,  which  from 
my  infancy  I  had  been  taught  was  wrong, 
I  was  no  more  convinced  that  thefl  was 
wrong  than  before;  so  there  was  no  acces- 
sion of  knowledge.  A  boy  should  be  intro- 
duced to  such  books,  by  having  his  atten- 
tion directed  to  the  arrangement*  to  the 
style,  and  other  excellencies  of  composition; 
that  the  mind  being  thus  engaged  by  an 
amusing  variety  of  objects  may  not  grow 
weary." 

He  communicated  to  me  the  following 
particulars  upon  the  subject  of  his  religious 
progress.  "  I  fell  into  an  inattention  to  re- 
ligion, or  an  indifference  about  it,  in  my 
ninth  year.  The  church  at  Lichfield,  in 
which  we  had  a  seat,  wanted  reparation,  so 
I  was  to  £0  and  find  a  seat  in  other  churches: 
and  having  bad  eyes,  and  being  awkward 
about  this,  I  used  to  go  and  read  in  the 
fields  on  Sunday.  This  habit  continued  till 
my  fourteenth  year;  and  still  I  find  a  great 


reason  for  concealing  that  passage  of  Mr.  Hector's 
paper  which  is  restored  in  p.  18  ,  but  Johnson  him- 
self was  not  so  scrupulous.  He  says,  in  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Warton  (which  will  he  found  under  24  Dec. 
1754),  "  Poor  dear  Collins !  I  have  been  often 
near  his  state,  and  therefore  have  it  in  great  com- 
miseration:" It  is  wonderful,  that  Boswell  does 
not  see  the  inconsistency  of  blaming  others  for  re- 
peating what  Johnson  himself  frequently  avowed, 
and  what  Boswell  himself  first  told  the  world. 
See  ante,  p.  10. — Ed.] 

*  [Mr.  Boswell  himself,  as  will  be  seen  by  his 
own  complaints,  and  as  was  well  known  to  his 
friends,  was  himself  occasionally  afflicted  with 
this  morbid  depression  of  spirits,  and  was,  at  in- 
tervals, equally  liable  to  paroxysms  of  what  may 
be  called  morbid  vivacity*  He  wrote,  as  Mr. 
D*  Israeli  observes,  a  Series  of  Essays  in  the  Lon- 
don Magazine,  under  the  title  of  the  "  Hypo- 
chondriac," commeneing  in  1777,  and  carried  on 
till  1782*— Ed.] 


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reluctance  to  go  to  church.  I  then  became 
a  sort  of  lax  talker  against  religion,  for  I  did 
not  much  think  against  it;  and  this  lasted 
till  I  went  to  Oxford,  where  it  would  not 
be  tuffered.  When  at  Oxford,  I  took  up 
<  Law's  Serious  Call  to  a  Holy  Life,'  ex- 
pecting to  find  it  a  dull  book  (as  such  books 
Smeraily  are),  and  perhaps  to  laugh  at  it. 
ut  I  found  Law  quite  an  overmatch  for 
me;  and  this  was  the  first  occasion  of  my 
thinking  in  earnest  of  religion,  after  I  be- 
came capable  of  rational  inquiry V  From 
this  time  forward  religion  was  the  predomi- 
nant object  of  his  thoughts;  though,  with 
the  just  sentiments  of  a  conscientious  Chris- 
tian, he  lamented  that  his  practice  of  its 
duties  fell  far  short  of  what  it  ought  to  be. 

This  instance  of  a  mind  such  as  that  of 
Johnson  being  first  disposed,  by  an  unex- 
pected incident,  to  think  with  anxiety  of 
the  momentous  concerns  of  eternity,  and  of 
"  what  he  should  do  to  be  saved,"  may  for 
ever  be  produced  in  opposition  to  the  su- 
perficial and  sometimes  profane  contempt 
that  has  been  thrown  upon  those  occasion- 
al impressions  which  it  is  certain  many 
Christians  have  experienced;  though  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  weak  minds,  from  an 
erroneous  supposition,  that  no  man  is  in  a 
state  of  grace  who  has  not  felt  a  particular 
conversion,  have,  in  some  cases,  Drought  a 
degree  of  ridicule  upon  them;  a  ridicule,  of 
which  it  is  inconsiderate  or  unfair  to  make 
a  general  application. 

How  seriously  Johnson  was  impressed 
with  a  sense  of  religion,  even  in  the  vigour 
of  his  youth,  appears  from  the  follow- 
ing passage  in  his  minutes  kept  by  way  of 
dairy: 

"  Sept  7,  1736*.  I  have  this  day  enter- 
ed upon  my  28th  year.  Mayest  thou,  O 
God,  enable  me,  for  JesusChrist's  sake,  to 
spend  this  in  such  a  manner,  that  I  may  re- 
ceive comfort  from  it  at  the  hour  of  death, 
and  in  the  day  of  judgement!    Amen." 


1  [Mr.  Boswell  here  adds  a  note,  complaining 
that  Mrs.  Piozzi  had,  in  her  Anecdotes,  misrepre- 
sented this  matter:  the  misrepresentation,  after  all, 
is  not  great,  and  the  editor  therefore  omits  a  long 
controversial  note. — Ed.] 

*  [This  Boswell  has  borrowed,  without  acknow- 
ledgement, from  Sir  J.  Hawkins  (p.  163).  But 
it  is  to  be  observed,  that  after  a  prayer  on  his 
birthday  in  1788,  Johnson  (on  transcribing  it  in 
1768)  adds,  "This  is  the  first  solemn  prayer  of 
which  I  have  a  copy  ;  whether  1  composed  any 
before  this,  I  question."  Pr.  and  Med.  p,  3. 
He  had  either  forgotten  the  prayer  of  1736,  or 
considered  it  only  an  occasional  ejaculation,  and 
not  a  solemn  prayer.  But  serious  and  pious  medi- 
tations and  resolutions  had  been  early  familiar  to 
his  mind.  He  writes,  in  1764,  that  "  from  al- 
most the  earliest  time  that  he  could  remem- 
ber, he  had  been  forming  schemes  for  a  better 
Hfe."    Pr.  and  Med.  p.  57.— Ed. J 


The  particular  course  of  his  reading 
while  at  Oxford,  and  during  the  time  of 
vacation  which  he  passed  at  home,  cannot 
be  traced.  [He  had  but  little  rel- 
ish for  mathematical  learning,  and  p*JJk* 
was  content  with  such  a  degree  of 
knowledge  in  physicks,  as  he  could  not 
but  acquire  in  the  ordinary  exercises  of  the 

Slace:  hte  fortunes  and  circumstances  had 
etermined  him  to  no  particular  course  of 
study,  and  were  such  as  seemed  to  exclude 
him  from  every  one  of  the  learned  profess- 
ions.] Enough  has  been  said  of  his  irregu lar 
mode  of  study.  He  told  me,  that  from  his 
earliest  years  he  loved  to  read  poetry,  but 
hardly  ever  read  any  poem  to  an  end;  that 
he  read  Shakspeare  at  a  period  so  early,  that 
the  speech  of  the  Ghost  in  Hamlet  terrified 
him  when  he  was  alone;  that  Horace's  Odes 
were  the  compositions  in  which  he  took 
most  delight  3,  and  it  was  long  before  he 
liked  his  Epistles  and  Satires.  He  told  me 
what  he  read  solidly  at  Oxford  was  Greek: 
not  the  Grecian  historians,  but  Homer  and 
Euripides,  and  now  and  then  a  little  Epi- 
gram; thai  the  study  of  which  he  was  the 
most  fond  was  Metaphvsicks,  but  he  had 
not  read  much ,  even  in  that  way.  I  always 
thought  that  he  did  himself  injustice  in  his 
account  of  what  he  had  read,  and  that  he 
must  have  been  speaking  with  reference  to 
the  vast  portion  of  study  which  is  possible, 
and  to  which  a  few  scholars  in  the  whole 
history  of  literature  have  attained;  for  when 
I  once  asked  him  whether  a  person,  whose 
name  I  have  now  forgotten,  studied  hard, 
he  answered,  "  No,  sir.  I  do  not  believe 
he  studied  hard.  I  never  knew  a  man  who 
studied  hard.  I  conclude,  indeed,  from  the 
effects,  that  some  men  have  studied  hard,  as 
Bentley  and  Clarke."  Trying  him  upon  that 
criterion  upon  which  he  formed  his  judge- 
ment of  others,  we  may  be  absolutely  cer- 
tain, both  from  his  writings  and  his  conversa- 
tion, that  his  reading  was  very  extensive. 
Dr.  Adam  Smith,4  than  whom  few  were 


*  [Though  some  of  his  odes  are  easy,  and  in 
what  he  no  doubt  thought  the  Horatian  style,  "we 
shall  see  that  to  Miss  Carter  he  confessed  a  fond- 
ness for  Martial ,  and  his  epigrams  certainly  were  in- 
fluenced by  that  partiality.  Dr.  Hall  has  a  small 
volume  of  Hendecasyllabic  poetry,  entitled  ''Poets* 
Rusticantis  Literatum  Otium  sive  Carmina  An- 
dreas Francisci  Landesii.  Lond.  1713;"  which 
belonged  to  Johnson,  and  some  peculiarities  of 
the  style  of  these  verses  may  be  traced  in  his  col- 
lege compositions. — Ed.] 

*  [Boswell  might  have  selected,  if  not  a  bet- 
ter judge,  at  least  better  authority,  for  Adam 
Smith  had  comparatively  litUe  intercourse  with 
Johnson,  and  the  sentence  pronounced  is  one 
which  could  only  be  justified  by  an  intimate  lite- 
rary acquaintance.  But  Boswell's  nationality 
(though  he  fancied  he  had  quite  subdued  it)  incli- 
ned him  to  quote  the  eminent  Scottish  professor. 


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better  judges  on  this  subject,  once  observed 
to  me,tnat"  Johnson  knew  more  books  than 
any  man  alive."  He  had  a  peculiar  facili- 
«  ty  in  seizing  at  once  what  was  valuable  in 
any  book,  without  submitting  to  the  labour 
of  perusing  it  from  beginning  to  end.  He 
had,  from  the  irritability  of  his  constitution, 
at  all  times,  an  impatience  and  hurry  when 
he  either  read  or  wrote.  A  certain  appre- 
hension arising  from  novelty,  made  him 
write  his  first  exercise  at  college  twice  over; 
but  he  never  took  that  trouble  with  any 
other  composition:  and  we  shall  see  that 
his  most  excellent  works  were  struck  off  at 
a  heat,  with  rapid  exertion  K 

Tet  he  appears,  from  his  early  notes  or 
memorandums  in  my  possession,  to  have  at 
various  times  attempted,  or  at  least  planned, 
a  methodical  course  of  study,  according  to 
computation,  of  which  he  was  all  his  life 
fond,  as  it  fixed  his  attention  steadily  upon 
something  without,  and  prevented  his  mind 
from  preying  upon  itself.  Thus  I  find  in 
his  hand-writing  the  number  of  lines  in  each 
of  two  of  Euripides's  Tragedies,  of  the 
Georgicks  of  Virgil,  of  the  first  six  books 
of  the  JEneid,  of  Horace's  Art  of  Poetry,  of 
three  of  the  books  of  O  vid's  Metamorphoses, 
of  some  parts  of  Theocritus,  and  of  the 
tenth  Satire  of  Juvenal;  and  a  table,  show- 
ing at  the  rate  of  various  numbers  a  day  (I 
suppose,  verses  to  be  read),  what  would  be, 
in  each  case,  the  total  amount  in  a  week, 
month  and  year.  Tin  his  Prayers  and  Med- 
itations there  are  frequent  computations  of 
this  kind  applied  to  the  Scriptures. 

"  I  resolve  to  study  the  Scriptures:  I  hope 
in  the  original  languages.  Six  hundred 
and  forty  verses  every  Sunday  will  nearly 
comprise  the  Scriptures  in  a  year. 

"The  plan  which  I  formed  for  reading 
the  Scriptures  was  to  read  six  hundred  verses 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  two  hundred  in 
the  New,  every  week."] 

No  man  had  a  more  ardent  love  of  litera- 
ture, or  a  higher  respect  for  it,  than  John- 
son. Hia  apartment  in  Pembroke  College 
was  that  upon  the  second  floor  over  the  gate- 
way. The  enthusiast  of  learning  will  ever 
contemplate  it  with  veneration.  One  day, 
while  he  was  sitting  in  it  quite  alone,  Dr. 
Panting  9,  then  master  of  the  College,  whom 
he  called  "a  fine  Jacobite  fellow,"  over- 


We  shall  Me  many 


of  a  similar  (not  U- 


laadaUe)  disposition.-- Ed.] 

1  Ho  told  Dr.  Barney,  that  he  never  wrote  any 
of  his  works  that  were  printed  twice  over.  Dr. 
Barney's  wonder  at  seeing  several  pages  of  his 
"  Lives  of  the  Poets"  in  manuscript,  with  scarce 
a  blot  or  erasare,  drew  this  observation  from  him. 
— Ma  lowe. 

1  rDr.  Matthew  Panting,  Master  of  Pembroke, 
is  staled,  in  the  Historical  Register,  to  have  died 
96th  Nov.  1729  ;  bvt  Dr.  Hall  informs  me  that 
his  death  wsj  certainty  m  Feb.  1788.— Et>.] 

vol.  r.  4 


heard  him  uttering  this  soliloquy  in  his  strong 
emphatic  voice:  "Well,  I  have  a  mind  to 
see  what  is  done  in  other  places  of  learning. 
I'll  go  and  visit  the  Universities  abroad. 
I'll  go  to  France  and  Italy.  I'll  go  to  Pa- 
dua. And  I'll  mind  my  business.  For  an 
Athenian  blockhead  is  the  worst  of  all  block- 
heads 3." 

Dr.  Adams  told  me  that  Johnson,  while 
he  was  at  Pembroke  College,  "  was  caress- 
ed and  loved  by  all  about  him,  was  a  gay 
and  frolicksome  fellow,  and  passed  there  the 
happiest  part  of  his  life."  But  this  is  a 
striking  proof  of  the  fallacy  of  appearances, 
and  how  little  any  of  us  know  of  the  real 
internal  state  even  of  those  whom  we  see 
most  frequently;  for  the  truth  is,  that  he 
was  then  depressed  by  poverty,  and  irritat- 
ed by  disease.  When  I  mentioned  to  him 
this  account  as  given  me  by  Dr.  Adams, 
he  said  "  Ah,  sir,  I  was  mad  and  violent. 
It  was  bitterness  which  they  mistook  for 
frolick.  I  was  miserably  poor,  and  I  thought 
to  fight  my  way  by  my  literature  and  my 
wit;  so  I  disregarded  all  power  and  all  au- 
thority." 

The  Bishop  of  Dromore  [Percy]  observes 
in  a  letter  to  me,  "  The  pleasure  he  took  in 
vexing  the  tutors  and  fellows  has  been  often 
mentioned.  But  I  have  heard  him  say,  what 
ought  to  be  recorded  to  the  honour  of  the 

S resent  venerable  master  of  that  college,  the 
Leverend  William  Adams,  D.  D.  who  was 
then  very  young4,  and  one  of  the  junior  fel- 
lows; that  the  mild  but  judicious  expostula- 
tions of  this  worthy  man,  whose  virtue  aw- 
ed him,  and  whose  learning  he  revered,  made 
him  really  ashamed  of  himself,  c  though  I 
fear  (said  he)  I  was  too  proud  to  own 
it.' 

"I  have  heard  from  some  of  his  contem- 
poraries that  he  was  generally  seen  lounging 
at  the  college  gate,  with  a  circle  of  young 
students  round  him,  whom  he  was  entertain- 
ing with  wit,  and  keeping  from  their  studies, 
if  not  spiriting  them  up  to  rebellion  against 
the  college  discipline,  which  in  his  maturer 
years  he  so  much  extolled." 

[There  are  preserved  in  Pembroke 
College  some  of  these  themes,  or  exer- 


*  I  had  tins  anecdote  from  Dr.  Adams,  and 
Dr.  Johnson  confirmed  it  Bramston,  in  his 
"  Man  of  Taste,"  has  the  same  thought : 

"  flare,  of  all  blockhead*,  actaolan  an  the  wo*rt."— 

BoiWBLL. 

Johnson's  meaning,  however,  is,  that  a  scholar 
who  »  a  blockhead,  most  be  the  worst  of  all  block- 
heads, because  be  is  without  excuse.  But  Bram- 
ston, in  the  assumed  character  of  an  ignorant  cox- 
comb, maintains,  that  all  scholars  are  blockheads, 
on  account  of  their  scholarship. — J.  Bos  will. 

4  [Dr.  Adams  was  about  two  yean  older  than 
Johnson,  having  been  bora  in  1707.  He  became 
a  Fellow  of  Pembroke  in  1728,  D.'  D.  in  1766, 
and  Master  of  the  College  in  1775.— Hauu]  . 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1780.— iETAT.  21. 


Pemb. 
Mfl8. 


rises,  both  in  prose  and  verse:  the  follow- 
ing, though  the  two  first  lines  are  awkward, 
has  more  point  and  pleasantry  than  his  epi- 
grams usually  have.  It  may  be  surmised 
that  the  college  beer  was  at  this  time  indif- 
ferent. 

44  Me  a  nee  Falernm 
Ttmperant  etfea,  neque  Forrmani 
Pocula  collet." 
"  Quid  mirnm  Maro  quod  digits  canit  arms  vi- 
rumqoe, 
Quid  quod  patidolum  nostra  Camsma  lonat  ? 
Limosnm  nobis  Promos  dot  calhdus  haustum, 

Virailio  vires  ova  Falerna  dedh. 
Carmine  vit  nostri  scribant  meliora  Poets? 
Ingeniom  jubeas  porior  haustos  alat ! " 

Another,  is  in  a  graver  and  better  style. 
"Mjecere  bona  paulo  plus  arti$  Athena." 
"  Qnas  natua  dedit  dotes,  Academia  promit; 

Dat  menti  propriis  Musa  nitero  bonis. 
Matoriam  status  sic  probet  mannora  telle*, 
Saxea  Phidiaci  spiral  imago  man*  V] 

He  very  early  began  to  attempt  keeping 
notes  or  memorandums,  by  way  of  a  diary 
of  his  life.  I  find,  in  a  parcel  of  loose  leaves, 
the  following  spirited  resolution,  to  contend 
against  his  natural  indolence: 

"  Oct.  1729.  Desidict  valedixi;  syrenis 
istiw  cantibut  turdam  potthac  aurem  06- 
vertumu. — I  bid  farewell  to  Sloth,  being 
resolved  henceforth  not  to  listen  to  her  si- 
ren strains." 

I  have  also  in  my  possession  a  few  leaves 
of  another  Libctttu,  or  little  book,  entitled 
Ann  a  lbs,  in  which  some  of  the  early  par- 
ticulars of  his  history  are  registered  in  La- 
tin. 

I  do  not  find  that  he  formed  any  close  in- 
timacies with  his  fellow-collegians.  But 
Dr.  Adams  told  me  that  he  contracted  a  love 
and  regard  for  Pembroke  College,  which  he 
retained  to  the  last.  A  short  time  before 
his  death  he  sent  to  that  college  a  present 
of  alia  his  works,  to  be  deposited  in  their 
library:  and  he  had  thoughts  of  leaving  to 
it  his  house  at  Lichfield;  but  his  friends 
who  were  about  him  very  properly  dissuad- 
ed him  from  it,  and  he  bequeathed  it  to  some 
poor  relations.    He  took  a  pleasure  in  boast- 


1  [Johnson  repeated  this  idea  in  the  Latin 
verses  on  the  termination  of  hk  Dictionary,  enti- 
tled TNnei  2EATTON,  bat  not,  as  the  editor 
thinks,  so  elegantly  as  in  the  epigram.  These 
themes,  with  much  other  information  (which  is 
distinguished  by  the  addition  of  his  name),  have 
been  supplied  by  the  Rev.  George  William  Hall, 
D.  D.  now  Master  of  Pembroke  College,  who  has 
felt  a  generous  anxiety  to  contribute  as  much  as 
was  in  his  power  to  the  history  of  him  whom 
Pembroke  must  reckon  as  one  of  her  most  illus- 
trious sons.— £©.] 

*  [Certainly  not  a//,  and  those  which  we  have 
are  not  $Ul  marked  as  presented  by  him.— Ham..] 


ing  of  the  many  eminent  men  who  had  been 
educated  at  Pembroke.  In  this  list  are  found 
the  names  of  Mr.  Hawkins  the  Poetry  Pro- 
fessor, Mr.  Shenstone,  Sir  William  Black- 
stone,  and  others3:  not  forgetting  the  cele- 
brated popular  preacher,  Mr.  George  White- 
field,  of  whom,  though  Dr.  Johnson  did  not 
think  very  highly,  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  his  eloquence  was  powerful,  his  views 
pious  and  charitable,  his  assiduity  almost  in- 
credible; and  that,  since  his  death,  the  in- 
tegrity of  his  character  has  been  fully  vin- 
dicated. Being  himself  a  poet,  Johnson 
was  peculiarly  happy  in  mentioning  how 
many  of  the  sons  ol  Pembroke  were  poets; 
adding,  with  a  smile  of  sportive  triumph, 
"  Sir,  we  are  a  nest  of  singing  birds." 

He  was  not,  however,  blind  to  what  he 
thought  the  defects  of  his  own  college:  and 
I  have,  from  the  information  of  Dr.  Taylor, 
a  very  strong  instance  of  that  rigid  honesty 
which  he  ever  inflexibly  preserved.  Tay- 
lor had  obtained  his  father's  consent  to  be 
entered  of  Pembroke,  that  he  might  be  with 
his  schoolfellow  Johnson,  with  whom, 
though  some  years  older  than  himself,  he 
was  very  intimate.  This  would  have  been 
a  great  comfort  to  Johnson.  But  he  fairly 
tojd  Taylor  that  he  could  not,  in  conscience, 
suffer  him  to  enter  where  he  knew  he 
could  not  have  an  able  tutor.  He  then 
made  inquiry  all  round  the  University,  and 
having  round  that  Mr.  Bateman  of  Christ- 
church  was  the  tutor  of  highest  reputation, 
Taylor  was  entered  of  that  college  4.  Mr. 
Bateman's  lectures  were  so  excellent,  that 
Johnson  used  to  come  and  get  them  at  sec- 
ond-hand from  Taylor,  till  his  poverty  be- 
ing so  extreme,  that  his  shoes  were  worn  out, 
and  his  feet  appeared  through  them,  he  saw 
that  this  humiliating  circumstance  was  per- 
ceived by  the  Christ-church  men,  and  he 
came  no  more.  He  was  too  proud  to  ac- 
cept of  money,  and  somebody  having  set  a 
pair  of  new  shoes  at  his  door,  he  threw  them 
away  with  indignation.  How  must  we  feel 
when  we  read  such  an  anecdote  of  Samuel 
Johnson! 

His  spirited  refusal  of  an  eleemosynary 
supply  of  shoes  arose,  no  doubt,  from  a  pro- 
per pride.  But,  considering  his  ascetic  dis- 
position at  times,  as  acknowledged  by  him- 
self in  his  Meditations,  and  the  exaggera- 
tion with  which  some  have  treated  the  pe- 
culiarities of  his  character,  I  should  not  won- 
der to  hear  it  ascribed  to  a  principle  of  su- 
perstitious mortification;  as  we  are  told  by 

*  See  Nash's  History  of  Worcestershire,  vol.  i 
p.  029. 

4  [Authoritatively  and  circumstantially  as  this 
story  is  told,  there  is  good  reason  for  disbelieving 
it  altogether.  Taylor  was  admitted  commoner  of 
Christ-church,  June  27,  1780:  but  it  will  be  seen 
in  the  notes  in  the  next  page,  that  Johnson  left  Ox- 
ford six  months  before. — En.] 


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1781.— JETAT.  22. 


27 


Tuneliinus,  in  his  Life  of  St  Ignatius  Loy- 
ola, that  this  intrepid  founder  ol  the  order  of 
Jesuits,  when  he  arrived  at  Goa,  after  hav- 
ing made  a  severe  pilgrimage  through  the 
eastern  deserts,  persisted  in  wearing  his  mis- 
erable shattered  shoes,  and  when  new  ones 
were  offered  him,  rejected  them  as  an  unsuit- 
able indulgence. 

The  res  angueta  domi1  prevented  him 
from  having  the  advantage  of  a  complete 
academical  education.  The  friend  to  whom 
he  had  trusted  for  support  had  deceived  him. 
His  debts  in  college,  though  not  great,  were 
increasing;  and  his  scanty  remittances  from 
Lichfield,  which  had  all  along  been  made 
with  great  difficulty,  could  be  supplied  no 
longer,  his  father  having  fallen  into,  a  state 
of  insolvency.  Compelled,  therefore,  by 
irresistible  necessity,  he  left  the  college  in 
autumn,  1731,  without  a  degree,  having 
been  a  member  of  it  little  more  than  three 
years*. 

Dr.  Adams,  the  worthy  and  respectable 
master  of  Pembroke  College,  has  generally 
had  the  reputation  of  being  Johnson's  tu- 
tor. The  fact,  however,  is,  that,  in  1731, 
Mr.  Jorden  quitted  the  college,  and  his 
pupils  were  transferred  to  Dr.  Adams;  so 


1  [Notwithstanding  what  hat  been  said  on  this 
subject,  as  faros  we  can  judge  from  a  cursory  view 
of  the  weekly  account  in  the  buttery  books,  John- 
son appears  to  have  lived  as  well  as  the  other  com- 
moners and  scholars,  and  he  left  no  college  debts. 
— Hall.] 

*  [He  was  not  quite  three  years  a  member  of 
the  college,  haying  been  entered  Oct  81,  1728, 
and  bis  name  having  been  finally  removed  Oct  8, 
1781.  It  would  appear  by  temporary  suspensions 
of  his  name,  and  replacements  of  it,  as  if  he  had 
contemplated  an  earlier  departure  from  college, 
and  had.  been  induced  to  continue  on  with  the 
hope  of  returning :  this,  however,  he  never  did 
after  has  absence,  Dec.  1729,  having  kept' a  con- 
tuwoisi  residence  of  sixty  weeks. — -Hall.] 

[It  will  be  observed,  that  Mr.  Boswell  slurs  over 
the  yean  1729,  1780,  and  1781,  under  the  gene- 
ral inference  that  they  were  all  spent  at  Oxford; 
but  Dr.  Hall's  accurate  statement  of  dates  from 
the  college  books,  proves  that  Johnson  personal- 
ly left  college  12th  Dec.  1729,  though  his  name 
remained  on  the-books  near  two  years  longer,  viz. 
tffl  8th  Oct  1731.  Here  then  are  tw6  important 
years,  the  21st  and  22d  of  his  age,  to  be  account- 
ed for,  and  Mr.  Boawell's  assertion  (a  little  farther 
on),  that  he  could  not  have  been  assktant  to  An- 
thony Blackwell,  because  Blaekwell  died  in  1730, 
before  Johnson  had  left  college,  falls  to  the  ground. 
That  these  two  years  were  not  pleasantly  or  profit- 
ably spent,  may  be  inferred  from  the  silence  of 
Johnson  and  all  his  friends  about  them.  It  is  due 
to  Pembroke  to  note  particularly  this  absence,  be- 
cause that  institution  possesses  (on  the  foundation 
of  Sir  J.  Bennett,  Lord  Ossulston),  two  scholar- 
ships, to  one  of  which  Johnson  would  have  been 
eligible,  and  probably  (considering  his  claims) 
elected  in  1780,  had  he  been  a  candidate.— Ep.] 


that  had  Johnson  returned,  Dr.  Adams 
would  have  been  his  tutor.  It  is  to  be 
wished  that  this  connexion  had  taken  place. 
His  equal  temper,  mild  disposition,  and  po- 
liteness of  manners,  might  have  insensibly 
softened  the"  harshness  of  Johnson,  and  in- 
fused into  him  those  more  delicate  chari- 
ties, those  petites  morales,  in  which,  it 
must  be  confessed,  our  great  moralist  was 
more  deficient  than  his  best  friends  could 
fully  justify.  Dr.  Adams  paid  Johnson 
this  high  compliment.  He  said  to  me  at 
Oxford,  in  1776,  "  I  was  his  nominal  tutor; 
but  he  was  above  my  mark."  When  I  re- 
peated it  to  Johnson,  his  eyes  flashed  with 
grateful  satisfaction,  and  he  exclaimed, 
"  That  was  liberal  and  noble3." 

And  now  (I  had  almost  said  poor)  Sam- 
uel Johnson  returned  to  his  native  city, 
destitute,  and  not  knowing  how  he  should 
gain  even  a  decent  livelihood.  His  father's 
misfortunes  in  trade  rendered  him  unable  to 
support  his  son:  [he  had  become 
insolvent,  if  not,  as  Dr.  Johnson  "■*£ 
told  Sir  J.  Hawkins,  an  actual 
bankrupt];  and  for  some  time  there  ap- 
peared no  means  by  which  he  could  main- 
tain himself.  In  December  of  this  year 
his  father  died4. 

The  state  of  poverty  in  which  he  died, 
appears  from  a  note  in  one  of  Johnson's  lit- 
tle diaries  of  the  following  year,  which 
strongly  displays  his  spirit  and  virtuous 
dignity  of  mind. 

"  1732,  Julii  15.     Undecim  aureos  de- 


9  [This  seems  hardly  consistent  with  the  preced- 
ing facts.  If  Adams  called  himself  his  nominal 
tutor,  only  because  the  pupil  was  above  his 
mark,  the  expression  would  be  liberal  and  noble; 
but  if  he  was  his  nominal  tutor,  only  because  he 
would  have  been  his  tutor  if  Johnson  had  return- 
ed, the  case  is  different,  and  Boswell  is,  cither 
way,  guilty  of  an  inaccuracy,  t which  (however 
trifling)  he  would  not  have  forgiven  in  Hawkins  or 
Mrs.  PiozzL  Nor  does  there  seem  any  reason  for 
the  regret  (disparaging  towards  Mr.  Jorden) 
which  Boswell  expresses,  that  "this  connexion 
between  Johnson  and  Dr.  Adams  had  not  taken 
place;"  for  Johnson,  as  we  have  seen  {ante,  p. 
21),  gave  Jorden  the  highest  moral  praise,  by 
saying,  that  "when  a  young  man  became  ms 
pupil,  he  became  his  son.  •  ■  Of  the  regard  which 
his  pupils  felt  for  Mr.  Jorden,  Dr.  Hall  has  point- 
ed out  a  remarkable  instance  in  the  Monthly 
Chronicle  for  November,  1729.  "About  the 
time,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jorden,  B.  D.,  Fellow  of 
Pembroke  College,  in  Oxford,  was  presented,  by 
Mr.  Vyse,  a  young  gentleman,  his  pupil,  to  the 
rectory  of  Standon,  in  Staffordshire,  vacant  by  the 
death  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jarvis.^— Ed,] 

4  [Among  the  MSS.  of  Pembroke  College  are 
a  few  little  bills  for  books  had  by  Mr.  Walmesley 
of  Michael  Johnson,  with  letters  from  the  widow, 
the  son  Nathanael,  and  others  about  payment, 
which  declare  the  state  of  poverty  she  was  left  in 
—Hall,] 


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posus,  gao  <*f>  ^Mteftifil  tfnle  morrw/tmiM 
(guoa  ftffiMfi  «t<^r«cor]|  <fe  patemis  bonis 
sperari  licet,  vifinti  scilicet  libra*  accept. 
Usque  adeo  mihi  fortuna  fingenda  e$t. 
hUerea9ne  paupertate  vires  animi  Ungues- 
eanty  nee  %n  Jtagitia  cgestas  abigat,  cav- 
endum.  I  layed  by  eleven  guineas  on  this 
day,  when  I  received  twenty  pounds,  ba- 
ing  all  that  I  have  reason  to  hope  for  out 
ormy  father's  effects,  previous  to  the  death 
of  my  mother;  an  event  which,  I  pray  God, 
may  be  very  remote.  I  how,  therefore,  see 
that  I  must  make  my  own  fortune.  Mean- 
while, let  me  take  care  that  the  powers  of 
my  mind  be  not  debilitated  by  poverty,  and 
that  indigence  do  not  force  me  into  any 
criminal  act." 

Johnson  was  so  far  fortunate,  that  the  re- 
spectable character  of  his  parents,  and  his 
own  merit,  had,  from  his  earliest  years, 
secured  him  a  kind  reception  in  the  best 
families  in  Lichfield.  Among  these  I  can 
mention  Mr.  Howard,  Dr.  Swinfen,  Mr. 
Simpson,  Mr.  Levett,  Captain  Garrick,  fa- 
ther of  the  great  ornament  of  the  British 
stage;  but  above  all,  Mr.  Gilbert  Walma- 
ley A,  Registrar  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Court 
of  Lichfield,  whose  character,  long  after  his 
decease,  Dr.  Johnson  has,  in  his  life  of  Ed- 
mund Smith,  thus  drawn  in  the  glowing 
colours  of  gratitude: 

"  Of  Gilbert  Walmsley,  thus  presented 
to  my  mind,  let  me  indulge  myself  in  the 
remembrance.  I  knew  liim  very  early;  he 
was  one  of  the  first  friends  that  literature 
procured  me,  and  I  hope  that,  at  least,  my 
gratitude  made  me  worthy  of  his  notice. 

"  He  was  of  an  advanced  age,  and  I  was 
only  not  a  boy,  yet  he  never  received  my 
notions  with  contempt.  He  was  a  whig, 
with  all  the  virulence  and  malevolence  of 
his  party;  yet  difference  of  opinion  did  not 
keep  us  apart.  I  honoured  him,  and  he 
endured  me. 

"He  had  mingled  with  the  gay  world 
without  exemption  from  its  vices  or  its  fol- 


1  Mr.  Warton  informs  me,  "that  this  early 
friend  of  Johnson  wan  entered  a  commoner  of 
Trinity  College,  Oxford,  aged  17,  in  1698  ;  and 
is  the  author  of  many  Latin  vene  translations  in 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  One  of  them  u 
a  translation  {Gent.  Mag.  vol.  15,  p.  102)  of 
"  My  time,  O  ye  Muses,  was  happily  spent,"  &c 
He  [was  bora  in  1680,  and]  died  August  S, 
1751.  A  monument  to  his  memory  has  been 
erected  in  the  cathedral  of  Lichfield,  with  an  in- 
scription written  by  Mr.  Seward,  one  of  the  preben- 
daries.— Boiwkll,  [He  was  the  son  of  W. 
Walmeslev,  LL,  D.  chancellor  of  the  diocese  of 
Lichfield  from  L69£  to  1713,  who  was  elected 
M.  P.  Ibr  that  city  in  1701,  and  brother  of  Dr. 
Walmesley,  Dean  of  Lichfield,  who  died  in  Sept 
1790,  Johnson,  and  Boswell  after  him,  spell  this 
name  Walinsley,  but  the  true  spelling  is  that  which 
has  been  adopted  in  this  note. — En.  J 


lies;  but  had  never  neglected  the  cultiva- 
tion of  his  mind.  His  belief  of  revelation 
waa  unshaken;  his  learning  preserved  his 
principles;  he  grew  first  regular,  and  then 
pious. 

"  His  studies  had  been  so  various,  that  I 
am' not  able  to  name  a  man  of  equal  know- 
ledge. His  acquaintance  with  books  waa 
great,  and  what  he  did  not  immediately 
know,  he  could,  at  least,  tell  where  to  find. 
Such  was  his  amplitude  of  learning,  and 
such  his  copiousness  of  communication,  that 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  a  day  now  pass- 
es, in  which  I  have  not  some  advantage 
from  his  friendship. 

"  At  this  man's  table9  I  enjoyed  many 
cheerful  and  instructive  hours,  with  com- 
panions, such  as  are  not  often  found— with 
one  who  has  lengthened,  and  one  who  has 
gladdened  life— with  Dr.  James,  whose 
skill  in  physick  will  be  Ion?  remembered; 
and  with  David  Garrick,  whom  I  hoped  to 
have  gratified  with  this  character  of  our 
common  friend.  But  what  are  the  hopes 
of  man !  I  am  disappointed  by  that  stroke 
of  death,  which  has  eclipsed  the  gaiety  of 
nations,  and  impoverished  the  pubhek  stock 
of  harmless  pleasure." 

In  these  families  he  passed  much  time  in 
his  early  years.  In  most  of  them  he  was 
in  the  company  of  ladies,  particularly  at 
Mr.  Waimsley's,  whose  wife  and  sisters-in- 
law,  of  the  name  of  Aston,  and  daughters 
of  a  baronet,  were  remarkable  for  good 
breeding;  so  that  the  notion  which  has 
been  industriously  circulated  and  believed, 
that  he  never  was  in  good  company  till  late 
in  life,  and,  consequently,  had  been  con- 
firmed in  coarse  and  ferocious  manners  by 
long  habits,  is  wholly  without  foundation. 
Some  of  the  ladies  have  assured  me,  they 
recollected  him  well  when  a  young  man,  as 
distinguished  foj  his  complaisance. 

And  that  his  politeness  3  was  not  merely 
occasional  and  temporary,  or  confined  to 
the  circles  of  Lichfield,  is  ascertained  by 
the  testimony  of  a  lady4,  who,,  in  a  paper 
with  which  I  have  been  favoured  by  a 
daughter  of  his  intimate  friend  and  physi- 
cian, Dr.  Lawrence,  thus  describes  Dr. 
Johnson  some  years  afterwards: 

"  As  the  particulars  of  the  former  part  of 


*  [This  acknowledgement  does  not  seem  quit* 
adequate  to  Johnson's  obligations  to  Mr.  Walmea- 
Jey,  who  certainly  gave  him  more  active  proofs  of 
his  benevolence  than  the  mere  admission  to  his 
table  and  society. — Ed.] 

3  [There  is,  it  will  be  observed,  in  all  this, 
no  testimony  to  Johnson's  personal  politeness,  but 
only  to  his  having  been  admitted  to  polite  compa- 
ny.— Ed.] 

4  [It  were  to  be  wished  that  Boswell  had  stat- 
ed the  name  of  this  lady,  as  he  has  given  us  so 
much  reason  to  distrust  the  information  derived 
from  "  the  circles  of  Lichfield."— Ed.] 


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S9 


Dr.  Johnson's  life  do  not  seem  to  be  very 
accurately  known,  a  lady  hopes  that  the 
following  information  may  not  be  unac- 
ceptable. 

"  She  remembers  Dr.  Johnson  on  a  visit 
to  Dr.  Taylor *,  at  Aahbourn,  some  time 
between  the  end  of  the  year  87,  and  the 
middle  of  the  year  40;  she  rather  thinks  it 
to  have  been  after  he  and  his  wife  were  re- 
moved to  London.  During  his  stay  at 
Aahbourn,  he  made  frequent  visits  to  Mr. 
Meynell,  at  Bradley,  where  his  company 
was  much  desired  by  the  ladies  of  the  fam- 
ily, who  were,  perhaps,  in  point  of  elegance 
and  accomplishments,  mferiour  to  few  of 
those  with  whom  he  was*  afterwards  ac- 
quainted. Mr.  Mevnell's  eldest  daughter 
was  afterwards  married  to  Mr.  Fitzherbert, 
father  to  Mr.  Alleyne  Fitzherbert,  lately 
minister  to  the  court  of  Russia  [and  since 
Lord  St  Helens.]  Of  her,  Dr.  Johnson 
said,  in  Dr.  Lawrence's  study,  that  she  had 
the  best  understanding  he  ever  met  with  in 
any  human  being.  At  Mr.  Meynell's  he  also 
commenced  that  friendship  with  Mrs.  Hill 
Boochby,  sister  to  the  present  Sir  Brook 
Boothby,  which  continued  till  her  death  9. 

The  young  woman  whom  he  used  to 
"•■*■      call  Molly  Aston,  was  sister  to  Sir 

Thomas  Aston,  and  daughter  to  a 
baronet;  she  was  also  sister  to  the  wife  of 
his  friend,  Mr.  Gilbert  WalmsleyS.    Be- 


1  [Dr.  Taylor  must  have  been  at  this  time  a 
vary  young  man.  His  residence  at  Aahbourn  was 
patrimonial,  and  not  ecclesiastical,  as  baa  been 
supposed.  The  house  and  grounds  which  Dr. 
Johnson  *a  visits  have  rendered  remarkable  are  now 
the  property  of  Mr.  Webster,  Dr.  Taylor's  leg- 
atee.—Ed.]  riv 

•  [For  the  last  few  years  of  her  life  tins  lady 
coiieaponded  with  Dr.  Johnson,  and  some  of  her 
letters,  are  appended  to  the  Account  of  his  early 
Life*  ao  often  quoted.  Indeed,  they  occupy  126 
pages  of  the  144  of  which  that  little  publication 
rmansfs  Miss  Seward  hints  that  there  was  an 
early  attachment  between  Johnson  and  Miss  Booth- 
by. Miss  Seward's  anecdotes  are  so  justly  dis- 
credited, that  it  is  hardly  worth  observing,  that 
there  appears  no  ground  whatsoever  for  this  story; 
and  the  published  letters,  which  are  of  a  very  seri- 
ous and  pious  cast,  not  only  negative  Miss  Sew- 
ard's  gossiping  fancies,  but  throw  some  doubt 
an  the  accuracy  of  Mr.  BoswelTs  informant,  for 
they  seem  to  prove  that  there  had  not  been  any 
mtimete  or  even  early  acquaintance  between  the 
putties.  Miss  Boothby  was  bom  in  1708,  and 
died  in  1756.— Ed.] 

*  Sir  Thomas  Aston,  Bart,  who  died  in  Jan- 
uary, 1724-0,  left  one  son,  named  Thomas  also, 
and  eight  daughters.  Of  the  daughters,  Catherine 
married  Johnson's  friend,  the  Hon,  Henry  Her- 
vej;  Margaret,  Gilbert  Walmsley.  Another  of 
these  ladies  [Jane]  married  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gastrell 
[the  clergyman  who  cut  down;Shakspeare's  mul- 
berry-tree].   Mary,  or  Molly  Aston,  as  she  was 

fly  called,  became  the  wife  of  Captain  Brodie 


aides  his  intimacy  with  the  above-mention- 
ed persons,  who  were  surely  people  of  rank 
and  education,  while  he  was  yet  at  Lich- 
field he  used  to  be  frequently  at  the  house 
of  Dr.  Swinfen,  a  gentleman  of  very  an- 
cient family  in  Staffordshire,  from  which, 
aller  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  he  in- 
herited a  good  estate.  He  was,  beside,  a 
physician  of  very  extensive  practice;  but 
for  want  of  due  attention  to  the  manage- 
ment of  his  domestic  concerns,  left  a  very 
large  family  in  indigence.  One  of  his 
daughters,  Mrs.  Desmoulins,  afterwards 
found  an  asylnm  in  the  house  of  her  old 
friend,  whose  doors  were  always  open  to 
the  unfortunate,  and  who  well  observed 
the  precept  of  the  Gospel,  for  he  '  was  kind 
to  the  unthankful  and  to  the  evil4.' " 

In  the  forlorn  state  of  his  circumstances, 
he  accepted  of  an  offer  to  be  employed  as 
usher  in  the  school  of  Market-Boeworth,  in 
Leicestershire,  to  which  it  appears,  from 
one  of  his  little  fragments  of  a  diary,  that 
he  went  on  foot,  on  the  16th  of  July.— 
"Julii  16.  Bosvortiam  pedes 
petit"  But  it  is  not  true,  as  JJ^J^* 
has  been  erroneously  related,  that 
he  was  assistant  to  the  famous  Anthony 
Blackwall,  whose  merit  has  been  honour- 
ed by  the  testimony  of  Bishop  Hurd 5, 
who  was  his  scholar;  for  Mr.  Blackwall 
died  on  the  8th  of  Apnl,  1730  6,  more  than 
a  year  before  Johnson  left  the  University. 

This  employment  was  very  irksome  to 
him  in  every  respect,  and  he  complained 


of  the  Navy.  Another  sister,  who  was  unmarried, 
was  living  at  Lichfield  in  1776. — Malom.  [Of 
the  latter,  whose  name  was  Elizabeth,  Miss  Sew- 
ard has  put  an  injurious  character  into  the  mouth 
of  Dr.  Johnson  (in  a  dialogue  which  she  reports 
herself  to  have  had  with  him).  She  died  in 
1785,  in  the  78th  year  of  her  age.— Ed.] 

*  [Here  Mr.  Boswell  has  admitted  the  insin- 
uation of  an  anonymous  informant  against  poor 
Mrs.  Desmoulins,  as  bitter,  surely,  as  any  thine; 
which  can  be  charged  against  any  of  his  rival  bi- 
ographers; and,  strange  to  say,  this  scandal  is 
conveyed  in  a  quotation  from  the  book  of  Chari- 
ty. Mrs.  Desmoulins  was  probably  not  popular 
with  "  the  ladies  of  Lichfield."  She  is  supposed 
to  have  forfeited  the  protection  of  her  own  fam- 
ily by,  what  they  thought,  a  derogatory  marriage. 
Her  husband,  it  is  said,  was  a  writing-master. 
—Ed.] 

6  There  is  here  (as  Mr.  James  Boswell  observes 
to  me)  a  slight  inacauracy.  Bishop  Hurd,  in  the 
Epistle  Dedicatory  prefixed  to  his  Commentary 
on  Horace's  Art  of  Poetry,  &c,  does  not  praise 
Blackwall,  but  the  Rev.  Mr.  Budworth,  head- 
master of  the  grammar-school  at  Brewood,  in 
Staffordshire,  who  had  himself  been  bred  under 
BlackwalL^MALOKE.  [We  shall  see  presently, 
on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Nichols,  that  Johnson  pro- 
posed himself  to  Mr.  Budworth  as  an  assistant— 
Ed.] 

•  [See  ante,  p.  27.— Ed.] 


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MM.— iBTAT.  24. 


grievously  of  it  in  hia  letters  to  his  friend, 
Mr.  Hector,  who  was  now  settled  as  a  sur- 
ffeon  at  Birmingham.  The  letters  are  lost; 
but  Mr.  Hector  recollects  hia  writing  "  that 
the  poet  had  described  the  dull  sameness  of 
his  existence  in  these  words, '  Vitam  eon- 
tinet  una  dies'  (one  day  contains  the  whole 
of  my  life) ;  that  it  was  unvaried  as  the 
note  of  the  cuckow;  and  that  he  did  not 
know  whether  it  was  more  disagreeable  for 
him  to  teach,  or  the  boys  to  learn,  the 
grammar  rules."  His  general  aversion  to 
this  painful  drudgery  was  greatly  enhanc- 
ed bv  a  disagreement  between  him  and  Sir 
Woktan  Dixie,  the  patron  of  the  school, 
in  whose  house,  I  have  been  told,  he  officia- 
ted as  a  kind  of  domestic  chaplain,  so  far, 
at  least,  as  to  say  grace  at  table,  but  was 
treated  with  what  he  represented  as  intole- 
rable harshness;  and,  after  suffering  for  a 
few  months  such  complicated  misery 1,  he 
relinquished  a  situation  which  aH  his  life 
afterwards  he  recollected  with  the  strongest 
aversion,  and  even  a  degree  of  horrour.s 


1  [Mr.  Malone,  in  a  note  on  this  passage,  states 
that  he  had  read  a  letter  of  Johnson's  to  a  friend, 
dated  27th  July,  1732,  saying  that  he  had  then  re- 
cently left  Sir  Wolstan  Dixie's  house,  and  that 
he  had  some  hopes  of  succeeding,  either  as  mas- 
ter or  usher,  in  the  school  of  Ashbourn. 

If  Mr.  Malone  be  correct  in  the  date  of  this  let- 
ter, and  Mr.  Boswell  be  also  right  in  placing  the 
extract  from  the  diary  under  the  year  17327John- 
son's  sojourn  at  Bosworth  could  have  been  not 
move  than  ten  days,  a  time  too  short  to  be  charac- 
terized as  "  a  period  of  complicated  misery,''  and 
to  be  remembered  during  a  long  life  "  with  the 
strongest  aversion  and  horror."  It  must  also  be 
observed,  that  according  to  the  statement  of  Messrs. 
Boswell  and  Malone  compared  with  the  College 
books,  Johnson's  life,  from  December,  1729,  to 
the  beginning  of  1733,  is  wholly  unaccounted  for, 
except  the  ten  days  supposed  to  have  been  so  la- 
mentably spent  at  Bosworth.  The  only  proba- 
ble solution  of  these  difficulties  is,  that  the  walk  to 
Bosworth  on  the  16th  July,  1732,  was  not  his  first 
appearance  there;  but  that  having  been  called  to 
Lichfield,  to  receive  his  share  ofhis  father's  pro- 
perty, which,  we  have  seen,  p.  27,  that  he  did  on 
the  15th  July,  he  returned  to  Bosworth  on  the 
16th,  perhaps  for  the  purpose  of  making  arrange- 
ments for  finally  leaving  it,  which  he  did  within 
ten  days.  It  seems  very  extraordinary,  that  the 
laborious  diligence,  and  the  lively  curiosity  of 
Hawkins,  Boswell,  Murphy,  and  Malone,  were 
able  to  discover  so  little  of  the  history  of  John- 
son'i  life  from  December,  1729,  to  his  marriage 
in  July,  1736,  and  that  what  they  have  told  should 
be  liable  to  so  much  doubt  It  may  be  inferred, 
that  it  was  a  period  to  which  Johnson  looked  back 
with  little  satisfaction,  and  of  which  he  did*  not 
love  to  talk;  though  it  cannot  be  doubted  that, 
during  these  five  or  six  important  years,  he  must 
have  collected  a  large  portion  of  that  vast  stock 
of  information,  with  which  he  afterwards  sur- 
prised and  delighted  the  world.— Ed.] 
*  [There  seems  reason  to  suspect  that  Sir  Wol- 


But  it  is  probable  that  at  this  period,  what- 
ever uneasiness  he  may  have  endured,  he 
laid  the  foundation  of*much  future  emi- 
nence by  application  to  his  studies. 

Being  now  again  totally  unoccupied,  he 
was  invited  by  Mr.  Hector  to  pass  some 
time  with  him  at  Birmingham,  as  his  guest, 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Warren,  with  whom 
Mr.  Hector  lodged  and  boarded.  Mr. 
Warren  was  the  first  established  bookseller 
in  Birmingham,  and  was  very  attentive  to 
Johnson,  who  he  soon  found  could  be  of 
much  service  to  him  in  his  trade,  by  his 
knowledge  of  literature;  and  he  even  ob- 
tained the  assistance  of  his  pen  in  furnish- 
ing some  numbers  of  a  periodical  Essay, 
printed  in  the  newspaper  of  which  Warren 
was  proprietor.  After  very  diligent  in- 
quiry, I  have  not  been  able  to  recover  those 
early  specimens  of  that  particular  mode  of 
writing  by  which  Johnson  afterwards  so 
greatly  distinguished  himself. 

He  continued  to  live  as  Mr.  Hector's 
guest  for  about  six  months,  and  then  hired 
lodgings  in  another  part  of  the  town  3,  find- 
ing himself  as  well  situated  at  Birmingham 
as  he  supposed  he  could  be  any  where, 
while  he  had  no  settled  plan  of  life,  and 
very  scanty  means  of  subsistence.  He 
made  some  valuable  acquaintances  there, 
amongst  whom  were  Mr.  Porter,  a  mercer, 
whose  widow  he  afterwards  married,  and 
Mr.  Taylor,  who,  by  his  ingenuity  in  me- 
chanical inventions  and  his  success  in  trade 
acquired  an  immense  fortune.  But  the  com- 
fort of  being  near  Mr.  Hector,  his  old  school- 
fellow and  intimate  friend,  was  Johnson's 
chief  inducement  to  continue  here. 

In  what  manner  he  employed  Ins  pen  at 
this  period,  or  whether  he  derived  from  it 
any  pecuniary  advantage,  I  have  not  been 
able  to  ascertain.  He  probably  got  a  little 
money  from  Mr.  Warren;  and  we  are  cer- 
tain, that  he  executed  here  one  piece  of  lit- 
erary labour,  of  which  Mr.  Hector  has  fa- 
voured me  with  a  minute  account.  Having 
mentioned  that  he  had  read  at  Pembroke 
College  a  Voyage  to  Abyssinia,  by  Lobo 
(a  Portuguese  Jesuit),  and  that  he  thought 
an  Abridgement  and  translation  of  it  from 
the  French  into  English  might  be  an  use- 
ful and  profitable  publication,  Mr.  Warren 
and  Mr.  Hector  joined  in  urging  him  to  un- 
dertake it.  He  accordingly  agreed;  and 
the  book  not  being  to  be  found  in  Birming- 


stan  Dixie's  temper  was,  to  say  the  least  of  it 
irregular  and  violent;  but  it  must  also  be  recol- 
lected, that  Johnson's  own  mind  had  recently 
been  in  a  state  of  morbid  disturbance. — Ed.] 

3  Sir  John  Hawkins  states,  from  one  of  John- 
son's diaries,  that  he  lodged,  in  June,  1738,  in 
Birmingham,  at  the  house  of  a  person  named  Jer- 
vis,  probably  a  relation  of  Mrs.  Porter,,  whom  he 
afterwards  married,  and  whose  maiden  name  was 
Jervkv — Malokx. 


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ham,  he  borrowed  it  of  Pembroke  College. 
A  part  of  the  work  being  very  soon  done, 
one  Osborn,  who  was  Mr.  Warren's  print- 
er, was  set  to  work  with  what  was  ready, 
and  Johnson  engaged  to  supply  the  press 
with  copv  as  it  should  be  wanted;  but  his 
constitutional  indolence  soon  prevailed,  and 
the  work  was  at  a  stand.  Mr.  Hector, 
who  knew  that  a  motive  of  humanity 
would  be  the  most  prevailing  argument  with 
his  friend,  went  to  Johnson,  and  represent- 
ed to  him  that  the  printer  could  have  no 
other  employment  till  this  undertaking  was 
finished,  and  that  the  poor  man  and  his  fa- 
mily were  suffering.  Johnson,  upon  this, 
exerted  the  powers  of  his  mind,  though  his 
body  was  relaxed.  He  lay  in  bed  with  the 
book,  which  was  a  quarto,  before  him,  and 
dictated  while  Hector  wrote.  Mr.  Hector 
carried  the  sheets  to  the  press,  and  correct- 
ed almost  all  the  proof  sheets,  very  few  of 
which  were  even  seen  by  Johnson.  In  this 
manner,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Hector's  active 
friendship,  the  book  was  completed,  and 
was  published  in  1735,  with  Londpn  upon 
the  title-page,  though  it  was  in  reality 
printed  at  Birmingham,  a  device  too  com- 
mon with  provincial  publishers.  For  this 
work  he  had  from  Mr.  Warren  only  the  sum 
of  five  guineas. 

This  being  the  first  prose  work  of  John- 
son, it  is  a  curious  object  of  inquiry  how 
much  may  be  traced  m  it  of  that  style 
which  marks  his  subsequent  writings  with 
such  peculiar  excellence— with  so  happy  an 
union  of  force,  vivacity,  and  perspicuity. 
I  have  perused  the  book  with  this  view, 
and  have  found  that  here,  as  I  believe  in 
every  other  translation,  there  is  in  the 
work  itself  no  vestige  of  the  translator's 
own  style;  for  the  language  of  translation 
being  adapted  to  the  thoughts  of  another 
person,  insensibly  follows  their  cast,  and, 
as  it  were,  runs  into  a  mould  that  is  ready 
prepared. 

Thus,  for  instance,  taking  the  first  sen- 
tence that  occurs  at  the  opening  of  the 
book,  p.  4i 

"  I  lived  here  above  a  year,  and  complet- 
ed my  studies  in  divinity;  in  which  time 
some  letters  were  received  from  the  fathers 
of  Ethiopia,  with  an  account  that  Sultan 
Segned,  Emperour  of  Abyssinia,  was  con- 
verted to  the  church  of  Rome ;  that  many 
of  his  subjects  had  followed  his  example, 
and  that  there  was  a  great  want  of  mis- 
sionaries to  improve  these  prosperous  be- 
ginnings. Every  body  was  very  desirous  of 
seconding  the  zeal  of  our  fathers,  and  of 
sending  mem  the  assistance  they  request- 
ed; to  which  we  were  the  more  encouraged, 
because  the  emperour's  letter  informed  our 
provincial  that  we  might  easily  enter  his 
dominions  by  the  way  of  Dancala;  but,  un- 
happily, the  secretary  wrote  Geila  for  Dan- 


cala, which  cost  two  of  our  fathers  their 
lives." 

Every  one  acquainted  with  Johnson's 
manner  will  be  sensible  that  there  is  noth- 
ing of  it  here;  but  that  this  sentence  might 
have  been  composed  by  any  other  man. 

But,  in  the  Preface,  the  Johnsonian  style 
begins  to  appear;  and  though  use  had  not 
yet  taught  his  wing  a  permanent  and  equa- 
ble flight,  there  are  parts  of  it  which  ex- 
hibit his  best  manner  in  full  vigour.  I  had 
once  the  pleasure  ot  examining  it  with  Mr. 
Edmund  Burke,  who  confirmed  me  in  this 
opinion  by  his  superiour  critical  sagacity, 
and  was,  1  remember,  much  delighted  with 
the  following  specimen: 

"  The  Portuguese  traveller,  contrary  to 
the  general  vein  of  his  countrymen,  has 
amused  his  reader  with  no  romantick  ab- 
surdity, or  incredible  fictions  ;  whatever  he 
relates,  whether  true  or  not,  is  at  least  prob- 
able: and  he  who  tells  nothing  exceeding 
the  hounds  of  probability,  has  a  right  to 
demand  that  they  should  believe  him  who 
cannot  contradict  him. 

"He  appears,  by  his  modest  and  un- 
affected narration,  to  have  described  things 
as  he  saw  them,  to  have  copied  nature  from 
the  life,  and  to  have  consulted  his  senses, 
not  his  imagination.  He  meets  with  no 
basilisks  that  destroy  with  their  eyes,  his 
crocodiles  devour  their  prey  without  tears, 
and  his  cataracts  fall  from  the  rocks  without 
deafening  the  neighbouring  inhabitants. 

"The  reader  will  here  find  no  regions 
cursed  with  irremediable  barrenness,  or  blest 
with  spontaneous  fecundity;  no  perpetu- 
al gloom,  or  unceasing  sunshine;  nor  are 
the  nations  here  described,  either  devoid  of 
all  sense  of  humanity,  or  consummate  in  all 
private  or  social  virtues.  Here  are  no  Hot- 
tentots without  religious  policy  or  articu- 
late language;  no  Chinese  perfectly  polite 
and  completely  skilled  in  all  sciences;  he 
will  discover,  what  will  always  be  discov- 
ered by  a  diligent  and  impartial  inquirer,  that 
wherever  human  nature  is  to  be  found,  there 
is  a  mixture  of  vice  and  virtue,  a  contest  of 
passion  and  reason;  and  that  the  Creator 
doth  not  appear  partial  in  his  distribu- 
tions, but  has  balanced,  in  most  countries, 
their  particular  inconveniences  by  particu- 
lar favours." 

Here  we  have  an  early  example  of  that 
brilliant  and  energetick  expression,  which, 
upon  innumerable  occasions  in  his  subse- 

auent  life,  justly  impressed  the  world  with 
tie  highest  admiration. 
Nor  can  any  one,  conversant  with  the 
writings  of  Johnson,  fail  to  discern  his 
hand  in  this  passage  of  the  Dedication  to 
John  Warren,  Esq.  of  Pembrokeshire, 
though  it  is  ascribed  tcrWarren  the  book- 
seller. 
"  A  generous  and  elevated  mind  is  distin- 


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1784— iETAT.  *5. 


guished  by  nothing  more  certainly  than  an 
eminent  degree  of  curiosity1 5  nor  is  that  cu- 
riosity ever  more  agreeably  or  usefully  em- 
ployed, than  in  examining  the  laws  and 
customs  of  foreign  nations.  I  hope,  there- 
fore, the  present  I  now  presume  to  make, 
will  not  be  thought  improper;  which,  how- 
ever, it  is  not  my  business  as  a  dedicator  to 
commend,  nor  as  a  bookseller  to  depreciate." 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  his  hav- 
ing been  thus  accidentally  led  to  a  particular 
study  of  the  history  and  manners  of  Abys- 
sinia, was  the  remote  occasion  of  his  writ- 
ing, many  years  afterwards,  his  admirable 
philosophical  tale,  the  principal  scene  of 
which  is  laid  in  that  country. 

Johnson  returned  to  Lichfield  early  in 
1734,  and  in  August  that  year  he  made  an 
attempt  to  procure  some  little  subsistence 
by  his  pen;  for  he  published  proposals  for 
printing  by  subscription  the  Latin  Poems  of 
Politian»: 

"  Angeli  Politiani  Poemaia  LaHna,  qui- 
bus,  Notas  cum  historid  Latina  poeseos  a 
PetrarehtB  asvo  ad  Politiani  tempora  de- 
ductd,  el  vitd  Politiani  Justus  quam  ante- 
hoe  enarratdj  addidit  Sam.  Johnson  3." 

It  appears  that  his  brother  Nathanael 
had  taken  up  his  father's  trade 4;  for  it  is 


1  See  Rambler,  No.  108.  [Cariosity  is  the 
thirst  of  the  soul,  fee. — En.] 

9  May  we  not  trace  a  Janeiro!  similarity  be- 
tween Politian  and  Johnson?  HueUus,  speaking 
of  Paolus  Petiflsonras  Fontanerius,  says  "  — in  quo 
Natara,  nt  olim  in  Angelo  Potibano,  deformitatem 
oris  ezoellehtis  ingenii  prastantia  compensavft." 
— Comment  de  reb.  ad  earn  pertin.  Edit  AmsteL 
1718.  p.  200. — Boswell.  [In  this  learned  mas- 
querade of  Paulus  Pelissonius  Fontanerius, 
we  have  some  difficulty  in  detecting  Madame  de 
Sevigne's  friend,  M.  Pelisson,  of  whom  another 
of  that  lady's  friends,  M.  de  Guilleragues,  used 
the  phrase,  which  has  since  grown  into  a  proverb, 
"  qu'il  abusait  de  la  permission  qa'ont  les  hom- 
mes  d'etre  laids." — See  Madame  de  Sevigne's 
letter,  5th  Jan.  1674.— Huet,  Bishop  of  Avranche, 
wrote  Memoirs  of  his  own  time,  in  Latin,  from 
which  Boswell  has  extracted  this  scrap  of  ped- 
antry.— Ed.] 

3  The  book  was  to  contain  more  than  thirty 
sheets;  the  price  to  be  two  shillings  and  sixpence 
at  the  time  of  subscribing,  and  two  shillings  and 
sixpence  at  the  delivery  of  a  perfect  book  in 
qaires.— Boswkll. 

4  [Nathanael  kept  the  shop  as  long  as  he  lived, 
as  did  his  mother,  after  him,  till  her  death,  though 
on  somewhat,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  of  a  towered 
scale.  Miss  Seward,  who,  in  such  a  matter  as 
this,  may  perhaps  be  trusted,  tells  us  that  Miss  Lu- 
cy Porter,  from  the  age  of  twenty  to  her  fortieth 
year  (when  she  was  raised  to  a  state  of  compe- 
tency by  the  death  of  her  eldest  brother);  "  had 
boarded  in  Lichfield  with  Dr  Johnson's  mother, 
who  still  kept  that  little  bookseller's  shop  by  which 
her  husband  had  supplied  the  scanty  means  of  sub- 

s ;  meantime  Lucy  Porter  kept  the  best  corn- 


mentioned  that  "  subscriptions  are  taken  in 
by  the  Editor,  or  N.  Johnson,  bookseller, 
of  Lichfield."  Notwithstanding  the  merit 
of  Johnson,  and  the  cheap  price  at  which 
this  book  was  offered,  there  were  not  sub- 
scribers enough  to  ensure  a  sufficient  sale; 
so  the  work  never  appeared,  and,  probably, 
never  was  executed. 

We  find  him  again  this  year  at  Birming- 
ham, and  there  is  preserved  the  following 
letter  from  him  to  Mr.  Edward  Cave*,  the 
original  compiler  and  editor  of  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine: 

"TO   MR.    CAVE. 

"Nov.  25, 1784 

"  Sir, — As  you  appear  no  less  sensible 
than  your  readers  of  the  defects  of  your 
poetical  article,  you  will  not  be  displeased, 
if,  in  order  to  the  improvement  of  it,  I  com- 
municate to  you  the  sentiments  of  a  person, 
who  will  undertake;  on  reasonable  terms, 
sometimes  to  fill  a  column. 

"  His  opinion  is,  that  the  publick  would 
not  give  you  a  bad  reception,  if,  beside  the 
current  wit  of  the  month,  which  a  critical 
examination  would  generally  reduce  to  a 
narrow  compass,  you  admitted  not  only 
poems,  inscriptions,  &c.  never  printed  be- 
fore, which  he  will  sometimes  supply  you 
with;  but  likewise  short  literary  disserta- 
tions in  Latin  or  English,  critical  remarks 
on  au thou  re  ancient  or  modern,  forgotten 
poems  that  deserve  revival,  or  loose  pieces, 
like  Floyer's  6,  worth  preserving.  By  this 
method,  your  literary  article,  for  so  it  might 
be  called,  will,  he  thinks,  be  better  recom- 
mended to  the  publick  than  by  low  jests, 
awkward  buffoonery,  or  the  dull  scurrilities 
of  either  party. 

"  If  such  a  correspondence  will7  be  agree- 

pany  in  our  little  city,  but  would  make  no  engage- 
ment on  market-days,  lest  Granny,  as  she  call- 
ed Mrs.  Johnson,  should  catch  cold  by  serving 
in  the  shop.  There  Lucy  Porter  took  her  place, 
standing  behind  the  counter,  nor  thought  it  a  dis- 
crace to  thank  a  poor  person  who  purchased  from 
her  a  penny  batdedoor. "— JLett.  1.  117.— Ed.] 

*  Miss  Cave,  the  grand-niece  of  Mr.  Edw.  Cave, 
has  obligingly  shown  me  the  originals  of  this  and 
the  other  letters  of  Dr.  Johnson  to  him,  which 
were  first  published  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
with  notes  by  Mr.  John  Nichols,  the  worthy  and 
indefatigable  editor  of  that  valuable  miscellany, 
signed  N.;  some  of  which  I  shall  occasionally 
transcribe  in  the  course  of  this  work. — Boswell. 

[The  present  editor  has  felt  justified  by  this  and 
many  other  testimonies  to  the  accuracy  of  Mr. 
Nichols,  to  admit  into  his  notes  and  even  into  the 
text  the  information  supplied  by  him.— Ed.] 

•  Sir  John  Floyer's  Treatise  on  Cold  Baths. 
Gent,  Mag,  1784,  p.  197. 

7  [Is  the  use  of  toill  and  shall  in  this  sentence 
quite  grammatical  ?  Dr.  Johnson  seems  sometimes 
to  have  used  the  word  shall  where  it  k  now 


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33 


able  to  yon,  be  pleased  to  inform  me  in 
two  posts,  what  the  conditions  are  on 
which  you  shall  expect  it.  Your  late  of- 
fer1 gives  me  no  reason  to  distrust  your 
generosity.  If  you  engage  in  any  literary 
projects  besides  this  paper,  I  have  other  de- 
signs to  impart,  if  I  could  be  secure  from 
having  others  reap  the  advantage  of  what  I 
should  hint. 

"Your  letter  by  being  directed  to  S. 
Smith,  to  be  left -at  the  Castle  in  Birming- 
ham, Warwickshire,  will  reach 

"  Your  humble  servant." 

Mr.  Care  has  put  a  note  on  this  letter, 
"Answered  Dec.  2."  But  whether  any 
thing  was  done  in  consequence  of  it  we 
are  not  informed2. 

[In  the  year  1735,  Mr.  Walmes- 
ley's  kindness  endeavoured  to  pro- 
cure him  the  mastership  of  the  grammar 
school  at  Solihull  in  Warwickshire:  this 
and  the  cause  of  failure  appear  by  the  fol- 
lowing curious  and  characteristical  letter, 
addressed  to  Mr.  Walmesley,  and  preserv- 
ed in  the  records  of  Pembroke  College: 

<<  Solihull  ye  80  August,  1735. 
uSiR,-7l  was  favoured  with  yours  of 
y«  ISth  inst.  in  due  time,  but  deferred  an- 
swering it  til  now,  it  takemg  up  some 
time  to  informe  the  flceofees  [of  the  school] 
of  the  contents  thereof;  and  before  they 
would  return    an  Answer,   desired  some 


Ed 


more  customary  to  employ  may:  for  instance, 
speaking  of  one  dead,  be  said,  "I  trust  he  shall 
find  mercy;"— and  again,  in  his  "  Prayers  and 
Meditations' '  (see  extract,  post,  p.  85),  Dr.  Hall 
(who  has  examined  the  original  in  the  Pembroke 
MSS.),  informs  me,  that  "no  rational  wish  is 
now  left  but  that  we  may  meet  at  last,"  &c  was 
at  first  written  that  we  shall  meet,  and  afterwards 
altered  to  may.  It  may  seem  presumptuous  to 
differ  from  Dr.  Johnson  on  a  grammatical  point, 
hot  the  norma  loquendi  of  the  present  day 
would  hardly  tolerate  the  use  of  the  word  shall  in 
any  of  the  foregoing  cases. — Ed.] 

1  A  prize  of  fifty  pounds  for  the  best  poem  on 
"life,  Death,  Judgment,  Heaven,  and  HelL" 
See  Gentleman's  Magazine,  vol.  iv.  p.  560. — 
Nichols.  [A  second  prize  of  forty  pounds,  and 
some  others  of  inferior  valve,  were  offered  by 
Cave,  at  subsequent  periods,  for  poems  on  similar 
subjects.  It  seems  extraordinary  that  Johnson, 
whose  wants  were  urgent,.and  who  was  glad,  so 
soon  after,  to  sell  his  London  for  ten  pounds,  did 
not  endeavour  to  obtain  Cave's  prize.  Did  his 
dignity  of  mind  reject  such  a  Mectenas  as  Cave  ? 
or  did  he  make  the  attempt  and  afterwards  con- 
ceal his  failure  in  prudential  silence  ? — Ed.] 

*  [Sir  J.  Hawkins,  who  gives  us  to  understand 
that  he  had  seen  Cave's  answer,  says,  that  "  he 
therein  accepted  the  services  of  Johnson,  and  re- 
tained him  as  a  correspondent  and  contributor  to  his 
Magazine"  (p.  29),  but  his  subsequent  corres- 
pondence with  Cave  seems  to  negative  this  early 
connexion. — Ed.  J 

vox*,  i.  5 


time  to  make  enquiry  of  y*  caracter  of  Mr. 
Johnson,  who  all  agree  that  he  is  an  excel- 
lent scholar,  and  upon  that  account  deserves 
much  better  than  to  be  schoolmaster  of 
Solihull.  But  then  he  has  the  caracter  of 
being  a  very  haughty  ill-natured  gent,  and 
yt  he  has  such  a  way  of  distorting  his  fface 
(wh  though  he  ca'nt  help)  ye  gent,  think  it 
may  affect  some  young  ladds;  Tor  these  two 
reasons  he  is  not  approved  on,  y«  late  mas- 
ter Mr.  Crompton's  huffing  the  ffceofees 
being  stil  in  their  memory.  However  we 
are  all  exstreamly  obliged  to  you  for  think- 
ing of  us,  and  for  proposeing  so  good  a 
schollar,  but  more  especially  is,  dear  sir, 
your  very  humble  servant, 

Henry  Gueswold." 


Eo. 


It  was  probably  prior  to  this  that 
a  more  humble  attempt  to  obtain 
the  situation  of  assistant  in  Mr.  Budworth's 
school,  at  Brewood,  had  also  failed,  and  for 
the  same  reasons.  Mr.  Budworth  __. .  _ 
was  certainly  no  stranger  to  the  N,cho1-* 
learning  and  abilities  of  Johnson,  as  he  more 
than  once  lamented  his  having  been  under 
the  necessity  of  declining  the  engagement 
from  an  apprehension  that  the  paralytic  af- 
fection under  which  Johnson  laboured 
through  life  might  become  the  object  of 
imitation  or  ridicule  amongst  his  pupils. 
This  anecdote  Captain  Budworth,  his 
grandson,  confirmed  to  Mr.  Nichols.] 

Johnson  had,  from  his  early  youth,  been 
sensible  to  the  influence  of  female  charms. 
When  at  Stourbridge  school,  he  was  much 
enamoured  of  Olivia  Lloyd,  a  young  qua- 
ker,  to  whom  he  wrote  a  copy  of  verses, 
which  I  have  not  been  able  to  recover3; 
but  with  what  facility  and  elegance  he 
could  warble  the  amorous  lay  will  appear 
from  the  following  lines  which  he  wrote  for 
his  friend  Mr.  Edmund  Hector. 

Verses  to  a  Lady,  on  receiving  from  her  a 

Sprig  of  Myrtle. 
"  What  hopes,  what  terrors  does  thy  gift  create, 
Ambiguous  emblem  of  uncertain  fate! 


•  He  also  wrote  some  amatory  verses,  before 
he  left  Staffordshire,  which  our  author  appears 
not  to  have  seen.  They  were  addressed  "to 
Miss  Hickman,  playing  on  the  spinet."  At  the 
backjof  this  early  poetical  effusion,  of  which  the 
original  copy,  in  Johnson's  handwriting,  was 
obligingly  communicated  to  me  [as  it  also  was  to 
the  present  editor]  by  Mr.  John  Taylor,  is  the 
following  attestation: 

«« Written  by  the  late  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  on 
my  mother,  then  Miss  Hickman,  playing  on  the 
Spinet     J.  Turton." 

Dr.  Turton,  the  physician,  writer  of  this  certifi- 
cate, who  died  in  April,  1806,  in  his  71st  year, 
was  born  in  1735.  The  verses  in  question,  there- 
fore, which  have  been  printed  in  some  late  edi- 
tions of  Johnson's  poems,  must  have  been  writ- 
ten before  that  year. — Miss  Hickman,  it  is  believ- 
ed, was  a  lady  of  StafFoidahire.--MAi<oirs. 

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1785.— JETAT.  2«. 


Hie  myrtle,  ensign  of  supreme  command, 
Consign 'd  by  Venus  to  Melissa's  hand; 
Not  teat  capricious  than  a  reigning  fair, 
Now  grants,  and  now  rejects  a  lover's  prayer. 
In  myrtle  shades  oft  sings  the  happy  swain, 
In  myrtle  shades  despairing  ghosts  complain: 
The  myrtle  crowns  the  happy  lovers'  heads, 
The  unhappy  lover's  grave  the  myrtle  spreads; 
O  then  the  meaning  of  thy  gift  impart, 
And  ease  the  throbbings  of  an  anxious  heart! 
Soon  must  this  bough,  as  you  shall  fix  his  doom, 
Adorn  Philander's  head,  or  grace  his  tomb1." 


1  Mrs.  Piozzi  gives  the  following  account  of  this 
little  composition  from  Dr.  Johnson's  own  rela- 
tion to  her,  on  her  inquiring  whether  it  was  right- 
ly attributed  to  him. — "  I  mink  it  is  now  just  for- 
ty years  ago,  that  a  young  fellow  had  a  sprig  of 
myrtle  given  him  by  a  girl  he  courted,  and  asked 
me  to  write  him  some  verses  that  he  might  pre- 
sent her  in  return.  I  promised,  but  forgot;  and 
whenjhe  called  for  his  lines  at  the  time  agreed  on 
.— JSit  still  a  moment,  (says  I)  dear  Mund,  and 
I'll' fetch  them  thee— so  stepped  aside  for  five 
minutes,  and  wrote  the  nonsense  you  now  keep 
such  a  stir  about" — Anecdotes,  p.  84. 

In  ray  first  edition  I  was  induced  to  doubt  the 
authenticity  of  this  account,  by  the  following  cir- 
cumstantial statement  in  a  letter  to  me  from  Miss 
Seward  of  Lichfield: — "  I  know  those  verses  were 
addressed  to  Lucy  Porter,  when  he  was  ena? 
moured  of  her  in  his  boyish  days,  two  or  three 
years  before  he  had  seen  her  mother,  his  future 
wife.  He  wrote  them  at  my  grandfather's  [Mr. 
Hunter,  the  schoolmaster],  and  gave  them  to  Lu- 
cy in  the  presence  of  my  mother,  to  whom  he 
showed  them  on  the  instant  She  used  to  repeat 
them  to  me,  when  I  asked  her  for  the  Verses  Dr. 
Johnson  gave  her  on  a  Sprig  of  Myrtle,  which 
lie  had  stolen  or  begged  from  her  bosom. 
We  all  know  honest  Lucy  Porter  to  have  been 
incapable  of  the  mean  vanity  of  applying  to  her- 
self a  compliment  not  intended  for  her."  Such 
was  this  lady's  statement,  which  I  make  no  doubt 
she  supposed  to  be  correct;  but  it  shows  how  dan- 
gerous it  is  to  trust  too  implicitly  to  traditional  tes- 
timony and  ingenious  inference;  for  Mr.  Hector 
has  lately  assured  me  that  Mrs.  Piozzi's  account 
is  in  this  instance  accurate,  and  that  he  was  the 
person  [as  his  name  Edmund  additionally  proves] 
for  whom  Johnson  wrote  those  verses,  which 
have  been  erroneously  ascribed  to  Mr.  Hammond. 

I  am  obliged  in  so  many  instances  to  notice 
Mrs.  Piozzi's  incorrectness  of  relation,  that  I  glad- 
ly seize  this  opportunity  of  acknowledging,  that 
however  often,  she  is  not  always  inaccurate. 

rHie  authour  having  been  drawn  into  a  contro- 
versy with  Miss  Anna  Seward,  in  consequence  of 
the  preceding  statement  (which  may  be  found  in 
"  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,"  vol.  lxiiL  and 
lxiv.) ,  received  the  following  letter  from  Mr.  Hec- 
tor, on  the  subject: 

"  Dear  sir, — I  am  sorry  to  see  you  are  en- 
gaged in  altercation  with  a  lady,  who  seems  un- 
wwing  to  be  convinced  of  her  errors.  Surely  it 
would  be  more  ingenuous  to  acknowledge  than  to 
persevere. 

"  Lately,  in  looking  over  some  papers  I  meant 
to  burn,  I  found  the  original  manuscript  of  the 


His  juvenile  attachments  to  the  fair  sex 
were,  nowever,  very  transient:  and  it  is 
certain,  that  he  formed  no  criminal  connex- 
ion whatsoever.  Mr.  Hector,  who  lived 
with  him  in  his  younger  days  in  the  ut- 
most intimacy  and  social  freedom,  has  as- 
sured me,  that  even  at  that  ardent  season 
his  conduct  was  strictly  virtuous  in  that  re- 
spect; and  that  though  he  loved  to  exhila- 
rate himself  with  wine,  he  never  knew  him 
intoxicated  but  once. 

In  a  man  whom  religious  education  has 
secured  from  licentious  indulgences,  the 
passion  of  love,  when  once  it  has  seized 
nim,  is  exceedingly  strong;  being  unim- 
paired by  dissipation,  and  totally  concen- 
trated in  one  object  This  was  experienced 
by  Johnson,  when  he  became  the  fervent 
admirer  of  Mrs.  Porter,  after  her  first  hus- 
band's death.  Miss  Porter  told  me,  that 
when  he  was  first  introduced  to  her  mother, 
his  appearance  was  very  forbidding;  he 
was  then  lean  and  4ank,  so  that  his  im- 
mense structure  of  bones  was  hideously- 
striking  to  the  eye,  and  the  scars  of  the 
scrofula  were  deeply  visible.  He  also  wore 
his  hair,  which  was  straight  and  stiff,  and 
separated  behind;  and  he  often  had,  seem- 
ingly, convulsive  starts  and  odd  gesticula- 
tions, which  tended  to  excite  at  once  sur- 
prise and  ridicule.     Mrs.   Porter  was   so 


myrtle,  with  the  date  on  it,  1731,  which  I  have 
enclosed. 

"The  true  history  (which  I  could  swear  to) 
is  as  follows:  Mr.  Morgan  Graves,  the  elder  brother 
of  a  worthy  clergyman  near  Bath,  with  whom  I 
was  acquainted,  waited  upon  a  lady  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood, who  at  parting  presented  him  the  branch. 
He  showed  it  me,  and  wished  much  to  return  the 
compliment  in  verse.  I  applied  to  Johnson,  who 
was  with  me,  and  in  about  half  an  hour  dictated 
the  verses  which  I  sent  to  my  mend. 

"  I  most  solemnly  declare,  at  that  time,  John- 
son was  an  entire  stranger  to  the  Porter  family; 
and  it  was  almost  two  yean  after  that  I  introduced 
him  to  the  acquaintance  of  Porter,  whom  I  bought 
my  clothes  of. 

'*  If  you  intend  to  convince  this  obstinate  wo- 
man, and  to  exhibit  to  the  publick  the  truth  of  your 
narrative,  you  are  at  liberty  to  make  what  use  you 
please  of  this  statement 

'*  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me  for  taking  up  so 
much  of  your  time.  Wishing  you  multos  et  /e- 
Kces  annosy  I  shall  subscribe  myself  your  oblig- 
ed humble  servant,  £.  Hector. — Birmingham, 
Jan.  9th,  1794." — Bostvxi.L.  [Of  the  supposed 
attachment  of  Dr.  Johnson  to  the  daughter  of  his 
wife  there  is  no  evidence  whatsoever,  but  the  as- 
sertion of  Miss  Seward,  whose  anecdotes  have 
turned  out  to  be  in  almost  every  instance  worse 
than  nothing;  and,  in  this  case,  if  it  were  worth 
while  to  seek  for  any  evidence  beyond  Mk  Hec- 
tor's, the  dates  would  disprove  Miss  Seward's  state- 
ment, which  it  is  but  too  evident  that  she  made 
with  the  view  of  disparaging  and  ridiculing  Dr. 
Johnson. — En.] 


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1786.— J3TAT.  27. 


35 


much  engaged  by  his  conversation  that  she 
overlooked  all  these  external  disadvantages, 
and  said  to  her  daughter,  "  this  is  the  most 
sensible  man  that  I  ever  saw  in  mv  life." 

Though  Mrs.  Porter  was  double  the  age 
of  Johnson1,  and  her  person  and  manner, 
as  described  to  me  by  trie  late  Mr.  Garrick, 
were  by  no  means  pleasing  to  others3,  she 
must  have  had  a  superiority  of  understand- 
ing and  talents,  as  she  certainly  inspired 
him  with  more  than  ordinary  passion;  and 
she  having  signified  her  willingness  to  ac- 
cept of  hia  hand,  he  went  to  Lichfield  to 
astc  his  mother's  consent  to  the  marriage; 
which  he  could  not  but  be  conscious  was  a 
very  imprudent  scheme,  both  on  account 
of  their  disparity  of  years,  and  her  want  of 
fortune.  But  Mrs.  Johnson  knew  too  well 
the  ardour  of  her  son's  temper,  and  was  too 
tender  a  parent  to  oppose  his  inclinations3. 
I  know  not  for  what  reason  the  marriage 
ceremony  was  not  performed  at  Birming- 
ham; but  a  resolution  was  taken  }hat  it 
should  be  at  Derby,  for  which  place  the 
bride  and  bridegroom  set  out  on  horseback, 
I  suppose  in  very  good  humour.  But  though 
Mr.  Topham  IJeauclerk  used  archly  to  men- 
tion Johnson's  having  told  him  with  much 
gravity,  "  Sir,  it  was  a  love-marriage  on 
both  sides,"  I  have  had  from  my  illustrious 
friend  the  following  curious  account  of  their 
« journey  to  church  upon  the  nuptial  morn: 
(9th  July)—"  Sir,  she  had  read  the  old 
romances,  and  had  got  into  her  head  the 
fantastical  notion  that  a  woman  of  spirit 
should  use  her  lover  like  a  dog.  So,  sir,  at 
first  she  told  me  that  I  rode  too  fast,  and 
she  could  not  keep  up  with  me;  and,  when 
^  I  rode  a  little  slower,  she  passed  me,  and 
complained  that  I  lagged  oehind.     I  was 


1  Though  there  was  a  great  disparity  of  years 
between  her  and  Dr.  Johnson,  she  was  not  quite 
so  old  as  she  is  here  represented,  having  only 
completed  her  forty-eighth  year  in  the  month  of 
February  preceding  her  marriage,  as  appears  by  the 
following  extract  from  the  parish-register  of  Great 
Pestling,  in  Leicestershire,  which  was  obligingly 
made  at  my  request,  by  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Ryder,  rector  of  Lutterworth,  in  that  county: 

"  Anno  Dom.  1688-9,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
William  Jerris,  Esq.  and  Mrs.  Anne,  his  wife,  was 
born  the  4th  day  of  February  and  motif,  baptized 
ISfb  day  of  the*  same  month  by  Mr.  Smith,  curate 
of  Little  Peallrog. 

"  John  Allen,  Vicar."— Malowk. 

[Johnson's  size,  hard  features,  and  decided 
manners,  probably  made  him  look  older  than  he 
really  was,  and  diminished  the  apparent  dispro- 
portion.— En.] 

*  Hut  in  Johnson's  eyes  she  was  handsome, 
appears  from  the  epitaph  which  he  caused  to  be 
■scribed  on  her  tomb-stone  not  loog  before  his 
own  death,  and  which  may  be  found  in  a  subse- 
■t  page,  under  the  year  1752. — Malonb, 
[See  ante,  p.  11,  w.— En.] 


not  to  be  made  the  slave  of  caprice;  and  I 
resolved  to  begin  as  I  meant  to  end.  I 
therefore  pushed  on  briskly,  till  I  was  fairly 
out  of  her  sight.  The  road  lay  between 
two  hedges,  so  I  was  sure  she  could  not 
miss  it;  and  I  contrived  that  she  should 
soon  come  up  with  me.  When  she  did,  I 
observed  her  to  be  in  tears." 

This,  it  must  be  allowed,  was  a  singular 
beginning  of  connubial  felicity;  but  there 
is  no  doubt  that  Johnson,  though  he  thus 
showed  a  manly  firmness,  proved  a  most 
affectionate  and  indulgent  husband  to  the 
last  moment  of  Mrs.  Johnson's  life:  and  in 
his  "  Prayers  and  Meditations,"  we  find 
very  remarkable  evidence  that  his  regard 
and  fondness  for  her  never  ceased,  even  af- 
ter her  death. 

[For  instance: 

"  Wednesday,  March  28, 1770. 

"This  is  the  day  on  which,  in  1752,  I 
was  deprived  of  poor  dear  Tetty.  Having 
left  off  the  practice  of  thinking  on  her  with 
some  particular  combinations,  I  have  recall- 
ed her  to  my  mind  of  late  less  frequently; 
but  when  I  recollect  the  time  in  which  we 
lived  together,  my  grief  for  her  departure  is 
not  abated;  and  I  have  less  pleasure  in  any 
good  that  befais  me,  because  she  does  not 
partake  it.  On  many  occasions,  I  think  what 
she  would  have  said  or  done.  When  I  saw 
the  sea  at  Brighthelmstone,  I  wished  for  her 
to  have  seen  it  with  me.  But  with  respect 
to  her,  no  rational  wish  is  now  left,  but  that 
we  may  meet  at  last  where  the  mercy  of 
God  shall  make  us  happy,  and  perhaps 
make  us  instrumental  to  the  happiness  of 
each  other.     It  is  now  eighteen  years." 

He  now  set  up  a  private  academy,  for 
which  purpose  he  hired  a  large  house,  well 
situated  near  his  native  city.  In  the  Gen- 
tleman's Magazine  for  1736 4,  there  is  the 
following  advertisement; 

"  At  Edial,  near  Lichfield,  in  Stafford- 
shire, young  gentlemen  are  boarded  and 
taught  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  by 
Samuel  Johxsoh5." 

But  the  only  pupils  that  were  put  under       ^ 
his  care  were  the  celebrated  David  Garrick 
and  his  brother  George,  and  a  Mr.  Offely, 


*  [This  project  moat  have  been  formed  before 
his  marriage,  for  the  advertisement  appears  in  the 
Magazine  for  June  and  July,  1786.  Is  it  not  pos- 
sible, that  the  obvious  advantage  of  having  a  wo- 
man of  experience  to  superintend  an  establishment 
of  this  kind  may  have  contributed  to  a  match  so 
disproportionate  in  point  of  age  ? — En.] 

*  [It  may  be  observed,  as  an  additional  proof 
of  the  public  respect  for,  and  curiosity  about,  Dr. 
Johnson,  that  one  of  the  few  plates  in  Harwood's 
History  of  Lichfield  is  a  view  of"  Edial  Hall,  the 
residence  of  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson;"  and  Mr.  Har- 
wood  adds,  "  the  house  has  undergone  no  material 
alteration  since  it  was  inhabited  by  this  Uliutri- 
mu  tenant"— JETor.  HUt.  Lieh.  p.  564.— Ed.] 


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1736.— JETAT.  27. 


a  young  gentleman  of  good  fortune  who 
died  early.  As  yet,  his  name  had  nothing 
of  that  celebrity  which  afterwards  com- 
manded the  highest  attention  and  respect  of 
mankind.  Had  such  an  advertisement  ap- 
peared after  the  publication  of  his  London, 
or  his  Rambler,  or  his  Dictionary,  how 
would  it  have  burst  upon  the  world !  with 
what  eagerness  woula  the  great  and  the 
wealthy  have  embraced  an  opportunity  of 
putting  their  sons  under  the  learned  tuition 
of  Samuel  Johnson !  The  truth,  however, 
is,  that  he  was  not  so  well  qualified  for  be- 
ing a  teacher  of  elements,  and  a  conductor 
in  learning  by  regular  gradations,  as  men 
of  inferior  powers  of  mind.  His  own  ac- 
quisitions had  been  made  by  fits  and  starts, 
by  violent  irruptions  into  the  regions  of 
knowledge;  and  it  could  not  be  expected 
that  his  impatience  would  be  subdued,  and 
his  impetuosity  restrained,  so  as  to  fit  him 
for  a  quiet  guide  to  novices.  The  art  of 
communicating  instruction,  of  whatever 
kind,  is  much  to  be  valued;  and  I  have  ever 
thought  that  those  who  devote  themselves 
to  this  employment,  and  do  their  duty  with 
diligence  and  success,  are  entitled  to  very 
high  respect  from  the  community,  as  John- 
son himself  often  maintained.  Yet  I  am  of 
opinion,  that  the  greatest  abilities  are  not 
only  not  required  for  this  office,  but  render  a 
man  less  fit  for  it. 

While  we  acknowledge  the  justness  of 
Thomson's  beautiful  remark, 

"  Delightful  task!  to  rear  the  tender  thought, 
And  teach  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot!" 

we  must  consider  *  that  this  delight  is  per- 
ceptible only  by  "  a  mind  at  ease,"  a  mind 
at  once  calm  and  clear;  but  that  a  mind 
gloomy  and  impetuous,  like  that  of  Johnson, 
cannot  be  fixed  for  any  length  of  time  in 
minute  attention,  and  must  be  so  frequently 
irritated  by  unavoidable  slowness  and  er- 
rour  in  the  advances  of  scholars,  as  to  per- 
form the  duty,  with  little  pleasure  to  the 
teacher,  and  no  great  advantage  to  the  pu- 
pils. Good  temper  is  a  most  essential  re- 
quisite in  a  preceptor.  Horace  paints  the 
character  as  bland: 

" Ut  pueris  olim  dant  crustula  blandi 

JDoetores,  elementa  velint  ut  discere  prima." 

Johnson  was  not  more  satisfied  with  his 
situation  as  the  master  of  an  academy,  than 
with  that  of  the  usher  of  a  school:  we  need 
not  wonder,  therefore,  that  he  did  not  keep 
his  academy  above  a  year  and  a  half.  From 
Mr.  Garrick's  account  he  did  not  appear  to 


1  [Thomson's  beautiful  remark  w  just,  only  be- 
came the  poet  applies  it  to  the  firet  education  of 
a  child  by  its  own  fond  parents,  and  not  to  the 
drudgery  of  hired  instruction  in  the  advanced 
stages  of  learning.— En.] 


have  been  profoundly  reverenced  by  his  pu- 
pils. His  oddities  of  manner,  and  uncouth 
gesticulations,  could  not  but  be  the  subject 
of  merriment  to  them;  and  in  particular,  the 
young  rogues  used  to  listen  at  the  door  of 
his  bedchamber,  and  peep  through  the  key- 
hole, that  they  might  turn  into  ridicule  his 
tumultuous  and  awkward  fondness  for  Mrs. 
Johnson,  whom  he  used  to  name  by  the 
familiar  appellation  of  Tetty  or  Tetsey, 
which,  like  Betty  or  Betsey,  is  provincially 
used  as  a  contraction  for  Elizabeth,  her  chris- 
tian name,  but  which  to  us  seems  ludicrous, 
when  applied  to  a  woman  of  her  age  and  ap- 
pearance. Mr.  Garrick  described  Tier  to  me 
as  very  fat,  with  a  bosom  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary protuberance,  with  swelled  cheeks,  of  a 
florid  red,  produced  by  thick  painting,  and 
increased  by  the  liberal  use  of  cordials;  flar- 
ing and  fantastick  in  her  dress,  and  affected 
both  in  her  speech  and  her  general  beha- 
viour a.  I  have  seen  Garrick  exhibit  her,  by 
his  exquisite  talent  of  mimickry,  so  as  to 
excite  the  heartiest  bursts  of  laughter;  but 
he,  probably,  as  is  the  case  in  all  such  repre- 
sentations, considerably  aggravated  the  pic- 
ture. 

That  Johnson  well  knew  the  most  proper 
course  to  be  pursued  in  the  instruction  of 
youth  3,  is  authentically  ascertained  by  the 
following  paper  in  his  own  hand-writing, 
given  about  this  period  to  a  relation,  and  I 
now  in  possession  of  Mr.  John  Nichols: 

"Scheme  for  the  Classes  of  a  Grammar  School. 

"When  the  introduction,  or  formation 
of  nouns  and  verbs,  is  perfectly  mastered, 
let  them  learn 

"  Corderius  by  Mr.  Clarke,  beginning  at 


*  [In  Loggan's  drawing  of  the  company  at 
Tonbridge  Wells,  in  1748,  engraved  and  published 
in  Richardson's  Correspondence,  vol.  3,  Mrs  John- 
son's figure  is  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  other  ladies 
(some  of  whom  were  fashionable  beauties)  either 
in  shape  or  dress;  bat  it  is  a  slight  sketch,  and  too 
small  and  indistinct  to  be  relied  upon  for  details: 
bat  she  most  have  been  a  silly  woman  to  have 
contracted  so  disproportionate  an  alliance. — Ed.] 

•  [That  this  crude  sketch,  for  the  arrangement 
of  the  lower  classes  of  a  grammar  school  "  au- 
thentically ascertains  that  Johnson  well  knew 
the  most  proper  course  to  be  pursued  in  the  in- 
struction of  youth,"  is  a  bold  and  illogical  as- 
sertion. It  may  even  be  doubted  whether  it  is 
good  as  far  as  it  goes,  and  whether  the  beginning 
with  authors  of  inferior  latinity,  and  allowing 
the  assistance  of  translations,  be  indeed  the  mo*t 
proper  course  of  classical  instruction;  nor  are  we, 
while  ignorant  of  the  peculiar  circumstances  lor 
which  the  paper  was  drawn  up,  entitled  to  con- 
clude that  it  contains  Dr.  Johnson's  mature  and 
general  sentiments,  on  even  the  narrow  branch  of 
education  to  which  it  refers.  Indeed,  in  the  sec- 
ond paper,  Johnson  advises  his  friend  not  to  read 
"  the  latter  authours  till  you  are  well  versed  in 
those  of  the  purer  ages." — En,] 


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1736.-- dETAT.  2f.   \ 


the  same  time  to  translate  out  of  the  intro- 
duction, that  by  this  meangrthey  may  learn 
the  syntax.     Then  let  them  proceed  to 

"  Erasmus,  with  an  English  translation, 
by  the  same  authour. 

"  Class  II.  learns  Eutropius  and  Corne- 
fim  Nepos,  or  Justin,  with  the  translation. 

"  N.  B.  The  first  class  gets  for  their  part 
every  morning  the  rules  which  they  have 
learned  before,  and  in  the  afternoon  learns 
the  Latin  rules  of  the  nouns  and  verbs. 

"  They  are  examined  in  the  rules  which 
they  have  learned,  every  Thursday  and  Sat- 
urday. 

"  The  second  class  does  the  same  whilst 
they  are  in  Eutropius $  afterwards  their  part 
m-m  the  irregular  nouns  and  verbs,  and  in 
the  rules  for  making  and  scanning  verses. 
They  are  examined  as  the  first. 
^  "Class  III.  Ovid's  Metamorphoses  in 
the  morning,  and  Caesar's  Commentaries  in 
the  afternoon. 

"  Practise  in  the  Latin  rules  till  they  are 

Swfect  in  them;  afterwards  in  Mr.  Leeds' 
reek  Grammar.  Examined  as  before. 
"  Afterwards  they  proceed  to  Virgil,  be- 
ginning at  the  same  time  to  write  themes 
and  verses,  and  to  learn  Greek;  from  thence 
passing  on  to  Horace,  &c.  as  shall  seem 
most  proper l. 

c<  I  know  not  well  what  books  to  direct 
you  to,  because  you  have  not  informed  me 
what  study  you  will  apply  yourself  to.  I 
believe  it  will  be  most  for  your  advantage 
to  apply  yourself  wholly  to  the  languages, 
till  you  go  to  the  university.  The  Greek 
authours  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  read  are 
these:  s 

"  Cebes. 

"  .ffilian.  ) 

"  Lucian  by  Leeds.  >  Attick. 

"  Xenophon.  } 

"Homer.  '  Ionick. 

"  Theocritus.  Dorick. 

"Euripides.  Attick  and  Dorick. 

"  Thus  you  will  be  tolerably  skilled  in  all 
the  dialects,  beginning  with  the  Attick,  to 
which  the  rest  must  be  referred. 

"  In  the  study  of  Latin,  it  is  proper  not  to 
read  the  latter  authours,  till  you  are  well 
versed  in  those  of  the  purest  ages;  as  Ter- 
ence, Tully,  Ccesar,  Sallust,  Nepos,  Vel- 
lerus-  Paterculus,  Virgil,  Horace,  rhsedms. 

"  The  greatest  and  most  necessary  task 
still  remains,  to  attain  a  habit  of  expression, 
without  which  knowledge  is  of  little  use. 
This  b  necessary  in  Latin,  and  more  neces- 
sary in  English;  and  can  only  be  acquired  by 
a  daily  imitation  of  the  best  and  correctest 
authours.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

1  [Mr.  Boswell  and  all  subsequent  editors  have 
printed  these  as  one  paper;  bat  it  seems  clear  that 
they  are  two  separate  schemes,  the  first  for  a 
school,  the  second  for  the  individual  studies  of 
same  young  friend. — Ed.] 


X 


37 


While^ Johnson  kept  his  academy,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was  insensibly  fur- 
nishing his  mind  with  various  knowledge; 
but  I  have  not  discovered  that  he  wrote  any 
thing  except  a  great  part  of  his  tragedy  of 
Irene.  Mr.  Peter  Garrick,  the  elder  bro- 
ther of  David,  told  me  that  he  remembered 
Johnson's  borrowing  the  Turkish  History 
of  him,  in  order  to  form  his  play  from  it. 
When  he  had  finished  some  part  of  it,  he 
read  what  he  had  done  to  Mr.  Walmsley, 
who  objected  to  his  having  already  brought 
his  heroine  into  great  distress,  and  asked 
him,  "how  can  you  possibly  contrive  to 
plunge  her  into  deeper  calamity!"  John- 
son, in  sly  allusion  to  the  supposed  oppres- 
sive proceedings  of  the  courts  of  which  Mr. 
Walmsley  was  registrar,  replied,  "  Sir,  I 
can  put  her  into  the  Spiritual  Court!" 

Mr.  Walmsley,  however,  was  well  pleas- 
ed with  this  proof  of  Johnson's  abilities  as 
a  dramatick  writer,  and  advised  him  to  fin- 
ish the  tragedy,  and  produce  it  on  the  stage. 

Johnson  now  thought  of  trying  his  for- 
tune in  London,  the  great  field  of  genius 
and  exertion,  where  talents  of  every  kind 
have  the  fullest  scope,  and  the  highest  en- 
couragement. It  is  a  memorable  circum- 
stance that  his  pupil  David  Garrick  went 
thither  at  the  same  time9,  with  intent  to 
complete  his  education,  and  follow  the  pro- 
fession of  the  law,  from  which  he  was  soon 
diverted  by  his  decided  preference  for  the 
stage. 

This  joint  expedition  of  these  two  emi- 
nent men  to  the  metropolis,  was  many  years 
afterwards  noticed  in  an  allegorical  poem  on 
Shakspeare'?  Mulberry-tree,  by  Mr.  Lovi- 
bond  3,  the  ingenious  authour  of  "  the  Tears 
of  Old  May-day." 


*  Both  of  them  used  to  talk  pleasantly  of  this 
their  first  journey  to  London.  Garrick,  evidently 
meaning  to  embellish  a  little,  said  one  day  in  my 
hearing,  "  We  rode  and  tied."  And  the  Bishop 
of  Kifialoe  (Dr.  Barnard)  informed  me,  that  at 
another  time,  when  Johnson  and  Garrick  were 
dining  together  in  a  pretty  large  company,  John- 
son humorously  ascertaining  the  chronology  of 
something,  expressed  himself  thus:  "That  was 
the  year  when  I  came  to  London  with  twopence 
halfpenny  in  my  pocket."  Garrick,  overhear- 
ing him,  exclaimed,  "Eh?  what  do  you  say? 
with  twopence  halfpenny  m  your  pocket?"—* 
Johnson:  "  Wh^,  yes;  when  I  came  with  two* 
pence  halfpenny  in  my  pocket,  and  thou,  Davy, 
with  three  halfpence  m  thine." — Bosweli*. 
[This  may  have  been  said  in  raillery,  but  could 
not  have  been  true.  Indeed  Bo  swell,  in  the  next 
page,  acknowledges  that  Johnson  had  a  little 
money  at  his  arrival;  but,  however  that  may  be, 
Garrick,  a  young  gentleman  coming  to  town,  not 
as  an  adventurer,  but  to  complete  his  education 
and  prepare  for  the  bar,  could  not  have  been  in 
such  indigent  circumstances. — Ed.] 

3  [Edward  Lovibond,  esq.  was  a  gentleman 
residing  at  Hampton,  who  wrote,  it  seems,  for 
hi$  own  amusement  (and  probably  succeeded 

Digitized  byVjOOQlC 


38 


vm.— jetat.  28f 


They  were  recommended  to  Mr.  Colson  i, 
an  eminent  mathematician  and  master  of  an 


in  that  object),  bat  whose  works  were  little 
known  in  his  own  day,  and  are  now  quite  neg- 
lected, though  Doctor  Anderson  has  introduced 
him  into  the  Scotch  edition  of  the  British  Poets, 
and  noticed  the  two  productions  mentioned  in  the 
text  in  the  following  hyperbolic  strain: 

"  The  English  language,  probably,  cannot  boast 
a  finer  example  of  the  power  of  poetry  than  the 
'Tears  of  Old  May-day;9  the  happy  union 
which  it  exhibits  of  genius  and  of  art  is  so  truly 
admirable,  that  it  may  be  pronounced  inimitable. 
His  *  Mulberry-tree,'  an  allegorical  tale,  is  equal- 
ly remarkable  for  fertility  of  invention,  facility  of 
expression,  and  propriety  of  application.  Gar- 
rick  and  Dr.  Johnson  are  characterised  with  equal 
happiness  and  skill ! !  I "— Life  of  LombowL 
To  the  editor  this  boasted  allegory  seems  little 
better  than  rhymed  nonsense;  the  meaning  (if  it 
has  any)  seems  to  be,  that  Shakspeare's  works  are 
a  mulberry-tree,  which  Garrick  climbs  to  gath- 
er the  fruit,  while  Johnson,  "  less  frolic,"  puts  his 
•'  mighty  haunches"  to  the  trunk  and  shakes 
down 

«  Wltaer'd  leaves,  wither'd  limbs,  blighted  fruits,  bllgfaU 
ed  flowers," 

and  when  "  rubbish  enough"  has  been  shaken 
down,  poor,  toithered,  blighted,  rubbishy  Shak- 
speare  is  dismissed  with  the  following  elegant  and 
complimentary  salvo: 

"  Yet  mistake  me  not,  rabble,  this  tree's  a  good  tree  j 
Does  honour,  Dame  Nature,  to  Britain  and  thee. 
And  the  fruit  on  the  top,  take  Its  merit  in  brief, 
Makes  a  noble  dessert,  when  the  dinner's  roa*t  btef." 

Mr.  Lovibond  leaves  us  to  guess  what  the  roast 
beef  is,  compared  to  which  Shaksfsa&e  is  but 
a  plate  of  mulberries. — Ed.] 

1  The  reverend  John  Colson  was  bred  at  Em- 
manuel College  in  Cambridge,  and  in  1728,  when 
George  the  Second  visited  that  university,  was 
created  master  of  arts.  About  that  time  he  be- 
came first  master  of  the  free  school  at  Rochester, 
founded  by  Sir  Joseph  Williamson.  In  1739,  he 
was  appointed  Lucasian  Professor  of  Mathemat- 
ics in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  on  the  death 
of  Professor  Sanderson,  and  held  that  office  till 
1751,  when  he  died.  He  published  Lectures  on 
Experimental  Philosophy,  translated  from  the 
French  of  l'Abbc  Nodet,  8vo.  1782,  and  some 
other  tracts.  Our  author,  it  is  believed,  was  mis- 
taken in  stating  him  to  have  been  master  of  an 
academy.  Garrick,  probably,  during  his  short  re- 
sidence at  Rochester,  lived  in  his  house  as  a  pri- 
vate pupil. — Malone. 

[Mr.  Malone's  note  js  not  quite  accurate. 
Mr.  Colson  was  elected  to  Rochester  school, 
not  about  1728,  but  June  1,  1709;  and  the  Abb©" 
whose  lectures  Mr.  Colson  translated  was  JVbllet, 
and  not  Nodet,  and  his  lectures  were  not  publish- 
ed in  Paris  till  1742.  Mrs.  Piozzi,  and  after  her 
Mr.  Malone,  and,  of  course,  all  subsequent  editors, 
have  stated  that  the  character  of  Gelidus,  in  the 
24th  Rambler,  was  meant  to  represent  Mr.  Col- 
eon,*  but  this  may  be  doubted,  for,  as  Mr.  Colson 
resided  constantly  at  Rochester  till  his  removal  to 
Cambridge,  it  is  not  likely  that  Mr.  Walmesley's 
letter  could  produce  any  intercourse  or  acquaint- 


academy,  by  the  following  letter  from  Mr. 
WalmsTey: 

"TO  THE  REVEREND  MR.  COLSON. 

"  Lichfield,  March  2, 1787. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  had  the  favour  of  yours, 
and  am  extremely  obliged  to  you;  but  I  can- 
not say  I  had  a  greater  affection  for  you  up- 
on it  than  I  had  before,  being  long  since  so 
much  endeared  to  you,  as  well  by  an  early 
friendship,  as  by  your  many  excellent  and 
valuable  qualifications;  and,  had  I  a  son  of 
my  own,  it  would  be  my  ambition,  instead 
of  sending  him  to  the  university,  to  dispose 
of  him  as  this  young  gentleman  is. 

"  He,  and  another  neighbour  of  mine, 
one  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson,  set  out  this  morn- 
ing for  London  together.  David  Garrick 
is  to  be  with  yon  early  the  next  week,  and 
Mr.  Johnson  to  try  his  fate  with  a  tragedy, 
and  to  get  himself  employed  in  some  transla- 
tion, either  from  the  Latin  or  the  French. 
Johnson  is  a  very  good  scholar  and  poet, 
and  I  have  great  hopes  will  turn  out  a  fine 
tragedy-writer.  If  it  should  any  way  lie  in 
your  way,  doubt  not  but  you  would  be  rea- 
dy to  recommend  and  assist  your  country- 
"G.Walmsley." 


How  he  employed  himself  upon  his  first 
coming  to  London  is  not  particularly  known3. 
I  never  heard  that  he  found  any  protection 
or  encouragement  by  the  means  or  Mr.  Col 
son,  to  whose  academy  David  Garrick  went. 
Mrs.  Lucy  Porter  told  me,  that  Mr.  Walme- 
ley  gave  him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Lin- 
tot  his  bookseller,  and  that  Johnson  wrote 
some  things  for  him;  but  I  imagine  this  to 
be  a  mistake,  for  I  have  discovered  no  trace 
of  it,  and  I  am  pretty  sure  he  told  me,  that 
Mr.  Cave  was  the  first  publisher  3  by  whom 
his  pen  was  engaged  in  London. 


ance  between  him  and  Johnson:  and  it  appears, 
from  Davies's  L\fe  of  Garrick  (vol.  L  p.  14),  a 
work  revised  by  Johnson,  that  Mr.  Colson 's  char- 
acter could  have  no  resemblance  to  the  absurdi- 
ties of  Gelidus.  This  gentleman,  commonly 
called  Professor  Colson,  must  not  be  confounded 
with  Mr.  Colson,  Fellow  of  University  College, 
Oxford,  who  was,  as  Lord  Stowell  informs  me, 
an  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Johnson's,  and  not  a 
tittle  eccentric  in  his  habits  and  manners. — Ed.] 

*  Otoe  curious  anecdote  was  communicated  by 
himself  to  Mr.  John  Nichols.  Mr.  Wilcox,  the 
bookseller,  on  being  informed  by  him  that  his  in- 
tention was  to  get  his  livelihood  as  an  authour,'  eyed 
his  robust  frame  attentively,  and  with  a  significant 
look,  said,  "  You  had  bettor  buy  a  porter's  knot" 
He,  however,  added,  "  Wilcox  was  one  of  my 
best  friends." — Bos  well. 

[Wilcox  could  only  have  been  one  of  Ms  best 
friends  by  affording  him  employment;  perhaps 
this  observation  may  lead  to  a  discovery  of  soma 
of  Johnson's  earlier  publications. — Ed.] 

*  [Perhaps  he  meant  thot  Cave  was  the  first  to 
whom  he  was  regularly  and  constantly  engaged; 
but  Wilcox  and  Lintot  may  have  employed  him 


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1787.— iETAT.  28. 


39 


He  had  a  little  money  when  he  came  to 
town,  and  he  knew  how  he  could  live  in 
the  cheapest  manner.  His  first  lodgings 
were  at  tne  house  of  Mr.  Norris,  a  stayma- 
ker,  in  Exeter-Street,  adjoining  Catherine- 
street,  in  the  Strand.  "I  dined  (said  he) 
very  well  for  eightpence,  with  very  good 
company,  at  the  Fine- Apple  in  New-street, 
just  hy.  Several  of  them  had  travelled. 
They  expected  to  meet  every  day;  hut  did 
not  know  one  another's  names.  It  used  to 
cost  the  rest  a  shilling,  for  they  drank  wine: 
but  I  had  a  cut  of  meat  for  sixpence,  and 
bread  for  a  penny,  and  gave  the  waiter  a 
penny;  so  that  I  was  quite  well  served,  nay, 
tetter  than  the  rest,  for  they  gave  the  wait- 
er nothing  i.» 

He  at  this  time,  I  believe,  abstained  en- 
tirely from  fermented  liquors:  a  practice  to 
which  he  rigidly  conformed  for  many  years 
together,  at  different  periods  of  his  life9. 


occasionally;  and  Dodsley  certainly  printed  his 
London  before  Cave  had  printed  any  thing  of  his 
but  two  or  three  trifles  in  the  Gentleman'*  Maga- 
zine.—Ed.] 

1  [But  if  we  may  trust  Mr.  Cumberland's  re- 
collection, he  was  about  this  time,  or  very  soon 
after,  reduced  still  lower;  "  for  painful  as  it  is  to 
relate"  (says  that  gentleman  in  his  Memoirs,  vol. 
1.  p.  865),  "  I  have  heard  that  illustrious  scholar, 
Dr.  Johnson,  assert,  and  he  never  varied  from  the 
truth  of  fact,  that  he  subsisted  himself  for  a  con- 
sMerable  space  of  time  upon  the  scanty  pittance 
of  fburpence  halfpenny  per  day."  When  we 
find  Dr.  Johnson  tell  unpleasant  truths  to,  or  of, 
other  men,  let  us  recollect  that  he  does  not  appear 
to  have  spared  himself  on  occasions  in  which  he 
might  be  forgiven  for  having  done  so. — En.] 

*  [At  Una  time  bis  abstinence  from  wine  may, 
perhaps,  be  attributed  to  poverty,  but  in  his  sub- 
sequent life  he  was  restrained  from  that  indulgence 
by,  as  it  appears,  moral  or  rather  medical  consi- 
deration*. He  probably  found  by  experience  that 
wine,  though  it  dissipated  for  a  moment,  yet  even- 
tually aggravated  the  hereditary  disease  under 
which  he  suffered;  and  perhaps  it  may  have 
been  owing  to  a  long  course  of  abstinence  that  his 
mental  health  seems  to  have  been  better  in  the 
latter  than  in  the  earlier  portion  of  his  life.  He 
says,  m  his  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p,  73, 
"  By  abstinence  from  wine  and  rappers,  I  obtained 
sudden  and  great  relief,  and  had  freedom  of  mind 
restored  to  me;  which  I  have  wanted  for  all  this 
year,  without  being  able  to  find  any  means  of  ob- 
taining it  "—See  also  16th  September,  1773.— 
8eldea  had  the  same  notions;  for  being  consulted 
by  a  person  of  quality  whose  imagination  was 
strangely  disturbed,  he  advised  him  "  not  to  dis- 
order himself  with  eating  or  drinking;  to  eat  very 
little  supper,  and  say  his  prayers  duly  when  he 
went  to  bed;  and  I  (Selden)  made  but  little  ques- 
tkra  but  he  would  be  well  in  three  or  four  days." 
—Table  Talk,  p.  17. 

These  remarks  are  important,  because  depres- 
sion of  spirits  is  too  often  treated  on  a  contrary 
system,  from  ignorance  of,  or  inattention  to,  what 
nay  be  its  real  cause,— En.] 


His  OrzLLUS  in  the  Jhi  of  Living  in 
London,  I  have  heard  him  relate,  was  an 
Irish  painter,  whom  he  knew  at  Birming- 
ham, and  who  had  practised  his  own  pre- 
cepts of  economy  for  several  years  in  the 
British  capital.  He  assured  Johnson,  who, 
I  suppose,  was  then  meditating  to  try  his 
fortune  in  London,  but  was  apprehensive 
of  the  expense,  "  that  thirty  pounds  a  year 
was  enough  to  enable  a  man  to  live  there 
without  being  contemptible.  He  allowed 
ten  pounds  for  clothes  and  linen.  He  said 
a  man  might  live  in  a  garret  at  eighteen- 
pence  a  week;  few  people  would  inquire 
where  he  lodged;  and  u  they  did,  it  was 
easy  to  say,  '  Sir,  I  am  to  be  found  at  such 
a  place.'  By  spending  threepence  in  a  cof- 
fee-house, he  might  be  fbr  some  hours 
every  day  in  very  good  company;  he  might 
dine  for  sixpence,  breakfast  on  bread  and 
milk  fbr  a  penny,  and  do  without  supper. 
On  clean-shirt-day  he  went  abroad,  and 
paid  visits."  I  have  heard  him  more  than 
once  talk  of  his  frugal  friend,  whom  he  re- 
collected with  esteem  and  kindness,  and  did 
not  like  to  have  one  smile  at  the  recital. 
"  This  man  (said  he,  gravely)  was  a  very 
sensible  man,  who  perfectly  understood 
common  affairs:  a  man  of  a  great  deal  of 
knowledge  of  the  world,  fresh  from  life,  not 
strained  through  books.  He  borrowed  a 
horse  and  ten  pounds  at  Birmingham. 
Finding  himself  master  of  so  much  money, 
he  set  off  for  West  Chester,  in  order  to  get 
to  Ireland.  He  returned  the  horse,  and 
probably  the  ten  pounds  too,  after  he  got 
home." 

Considering  Johnson's  narrow  circum- 
stances in  the  early  part  of  his  life,  and  par- 
ticularly at  the  interesting  era  of  his  launch- 
ing into  the  ocean  of  London,  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at,  that  an  actual  instance, 
proved  by  experience,  of  the  possibility  of 
enjoying  the  intellectual  luxury  of  social 
life  upon  a  very  small  income,  should  deeply 
engage  his  attention,  and  be  ever  recollected . 
by  hnii  as  a  circumstance  of  much  import- 
ance. He  amused  himself,  I  remember,  by 
computing  how  much  more  expense  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  live  upon  the  same 
scale  with  that  which  his  friend  described, 
when  the  value  of  money  was  diminished 
by  the  progress  of  commerce.  It  may  be 
estimated  that  double  the  money  might 
now  with  difficulty  be  sufficient. 

Amidst  this  cold  obsenrity,  there  was 
one  brilliant  circumstance  to  cheer  him;  he 
was  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Henry  Her- 
vey *,  one  or  the  branches  of  the  noble  fam- 


1  The  Honourable  Henrv  Hervey,  third  son  of 
the  first  Earl  of  Bristol,  quitted  the  army  and  took 
orders.  He  married  a  sister  of  Sir  Thomas  Aston, 
by  whom  he  got  the  Aston  estate,  and  assumed  the 
name  and  arms  of  that  family. — Vide  Collins'* 
Peerage.— Boswbu* 


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40 


1787.— jETAT.  28. 


fly  of  that  name,  who  had  heen  quartered 
at  Litchfield  as  an  officer  of  the  army,  and 
had  at  this  time  a  house  in  London,  where 
Johnson  was  frequently  entertained,  and 
had  an  opportunity  of  meeting  genteel  com- 
pany. Not  very  long  hefore  his  death,  he 
mentioned  this,  among  other  particulars  of 
his  life,  which  he  was  kindly  communicat- 
ing to  me;  and  he  described  this  early 
friend,  "  Harry  Hervey,"  thus:  "  He  was  a 
very  vicious l  man,  but  very  kind  to  me.  If 
you  call  a  dog  He r vet,  I  shall  love  him." 

He  told  me  he  had  now  written  only 
three  acts  of  his  Irene,  and  that  he  retired 
for  some  time  to  lodgings  at  Greenwich, 
where  he  proceeded  in  it  somewhat  further, 
and  used  to  compose,  walking  in  the  Park; 
hut  did  not  stay  long  enough  at  that  place 
to  finish  it 

At  this  period  we  find  the  following  let- 
ter from  him  to  Mr.  Edward  Cave,  which, 
as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  his  literary  history, 
it  is  proper  to  insert: 

"  TO    MR.    CAVE. 
"  Greenwich}  next  door  to  tne  Golden  Heart, 
Church-street,  July  12, 1737. 

"  Sia, — Having  observed  in  your  papers 
very  uncommon  offers  of  encouragement  to 
men  of  letters,  I  have  chosen,  being  a  stran- 
ger in  London,  to  communicate  to  you  the 
following  design,  which,  I  hope,  if  you  join 
in  it,  wifl  be  of  advantage  to  both  of  us. 

"  The  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent 
having  been  lately  translated  into  French, 
and  published  with  large  notes  by  Dr.  Le 
Courayer,  the  reputation  of  that  Book  is  so 
much  revived  in  England,  that,  it  is  pre- 
sumed, a  new  translation  of  it  from  the 
Italian  9,  together  with  Le  Courayer's  notes 
from  the  French,  could  not  fail  of  a  favour- 
able reception. 

"  If  it  be  answered,  that  the  History  is 

The  Honourable  Henry  Hervey  was  nearly  of 
the  same  age  with  Johnson,  having  been  born 
about  nine  months  before  him,  in  the  year  1700. 
He  married  Catherine,  the  sister  of  Sir  Thomas 
Aston,  in  1789 ;  and  as  that  lady  had  seven  sisters, 
she  probably  succeeded  to  the  Aston  estate  on  the 
death  of  her  brother  under  his  will  Mr.  Hervey 
took  the  degree  of  master  of  arts  at  Cambridge,  at 
the  late  age  of  thirty-five,  in  1744;  about  which 
time,  it  is  believed,  he  entered  into  holy  orders. — 
Ma  lone.  [Mr.  Hervey 's  acquaintance  and 
kindness  Johnson  probably  owed  to  his  friend  Mr. 
Walmesley. — Walmesley  and  Hervey,  it  will  be 
recollected,  married  sisters. — Ed.] 

1  [For  the  excesses  which  Dr.  Johnson  char- 
acterises as  vicious,  Mr  Hervey  was,  probably,  as 
much  to  be  pitied  as  blamed.  He  was  very  ec- 
centric.— Ed.] 

*  [This  proves  that  Johnson  had  now  acquired 
Italian — probably  directed  to  that  study  by  the 
volume  of  Petrarch  (mentioned  ante,  p.  19),  the 
latter  part  of  which  contained  his  Italian  poems.—- 
Ed.] 


already  in  English,  it  must  be  remembered, 
that  there  was  the  same  objection  against 
Le  Courayer's  undertaking,  with  this  dis- 
advantage, that  the  French  had  a  version 
by  one  of  their  best  translators,  whereas 
you  cannot  read  three  pages  of  the  English 
history  without  discovering  that  the  style  is 
capable  of  great  improvements;  but  whether 
those  improvements  are  to  be  expected  from 
this  attempt,  you  must  judge  from  the 
specimen,  whicn,  if  you  approve  the  propo- 
sal, I  shall  submit  to  your  examination. 

"  Suppose  the  merit  of  the  versions  equal, 
we  may  nope  that  the  addition  of  the  notes 
will  turn  the  balance  in  our  favour,  consider- 
ing the  reputation  of  the  annotator. 

"  Be  pleased  to  favour  me  with  a  speedy 
answer,  if  you  are  not  willing  to  engage 
in  this  scheme;  and  appoint  me  a  day  to 
wait  upon  you,  if  you  are. — I  am,  sir,  your 
humble  servant  Sam.  Johnson." 

It  should  seem  from  this  letter,  though 
subscribed  with  his  own  name,  that  he  had 
not  yet  been  introduced  to  Mr.  Cave.  We 
shall  presently  see  what  was  done  in  con- 
sequence of  the  proposal  which  it  contains. 
In  the  course  of  the  summer  he  returned 
to  Lichfield,  where  he  had  left  Mrs.  John- 
son, and  there  he  at  last  finished  his  trage- 
dy, which  was  not  executed  with  his  ra- 
pidity of  composition  upon  other  occasions, 
out  was  slowly  and  painfully  elaborated. 
A  few  days  before  his  death,  while  burning 
a  great  mass  of  papers,  he  picked  out  from 
among  them  the  original  unformed  sketch 
of  this  tragedy,  in  his  own  hand-writing, 
and  gave  it  to  Mr.  Lang  ton,  by  whose  fa- 
vour a  copy  of  it  is  now  in  my  possession. 
It  contains  fragments  of  the  intended  plot 
and  speeches  for  the  different  persons  of  the 
drama,  partly  in  the  raw  materials  of  prose, 
partly  worked  up  into  verse;  as  also  a  variety 
of  hints  for  illustration,  borrowed  from  the 
Greek,  Roman,  and  modern  writers.  The 
hand-writing  is  very  difficult  to  be  read, 
even  by  those  who  were  best  acquainted 
with  Johnson's  mode  of  penmanship,  which 
at  all  times  was  very  particular.  The  king 
having  graciously  accepted  of  this  manu- 
script as  a  literary  curiosity,  Mr.  Langton 
made  a  fair  and  distinct  copy  of  it,  which 
he  ordered  to  be  bound  up  with  the  orig- 
inal and  the  printed  tragedy;  and  the  vol- 
ume is  deposited  in  the  King's  library. 
His  majesty  was  pleased  to  permit  Mr. 
Lantrton  to  take  a  copy  of  it  for  himself. 

The  whole  of  it  is  rich  in  thought  and 
imagery,  and  happy  expressions;  and  of 
the  disjecta  3  membra  scattered  throughout, 
and  as  yet  unarranged,  a  good  dram  a  tick 
poet  might  avail  himself  with  considerable 
advantage.    I  shall  give  my  readers  some 


[Diajecti  membra)  poetou    Hor. — En.J 


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41 


i  of  different  kinds,  distinguishing 
t  by  the  Italic  character. 

**  JVor  think  to  say,  here  will  I  stop, 
Here  will  I  fix  the  limits  of  transgression, 
Wor farther  tempt  the  avenging  rage  of  heaven. 
When  guilt  like  this  once   harbours  in  the 

breast, 
Those  holy  beings,  whose  unseen  direction 
Guides  through  the  mate  of  hfe  the  steps  of 


Fhf  the  detested  mansions  of  impiety, 

And  quit  their  charge  to  horrour  and  to  ruin.9' 

A  small  part  only  of  this  interesting  ad- 
monition is  preserved  in  the  play,  and  is 
varied,  I  think,  not  to  advantage: 

"  The  soul  once  tainted  with  so  foal  a  crime, 
No  more  dull  glow  with  friendship's  hallow'd  a*- 


the 


Those  holy  beings  whose  superior  care 
Guides  erring  mortals  to  the  paths  of  virtue, 
Affrighted  at  impiety  like  thine, 
Resign  their  charge  to  baseness  and  to  rum." 

"  I  feel  the  soft  infection 
Flush  in  my  cheek,  and  wander  in  my  veins. 
Teach  me  the  Grecian  arts  of  soft  persua- 
sion." 

"  Sure  this  is  love,  which  heretofore  I 
eoneeived  the  dream  of  idle  maids,  and 
wanton  poets." 

"  Though  no  comets  or  prodigies  fore- 
told the  ruin  of  Greece,  signs  which  heaven 
must  by  another  miracle  enable  us  to  un- 
derstand, yet  might  it  be  foreshown,  bv 
tokens  no  less  certain,  by  the  vices  which 
always  bring  it  on." 

This  last  passage  is  worked  up  in 
tragedy  itself,  as  follows: 

LSOVTI17S. 

«« That  power  that  kindly  spreads 

The  clouds,  a  signal  of  impending  showers, 
To  warn  the  wand'ring  linnet  to  the  shade, 
Beheld,  without  concern,  expiring  Greece, 
And  not  one  prodigy  foretold  our  fete. 

DKKKTRIUS. 

A  thousand  horrid  prodigies  foretold  it; 
A  feeble  government,  eluded  laws, 
A  factious  populace,  luxurious  nobles, 
And  all  the  maladies  of  sinking  states. 
When  public  villany,  too  strong  for  justice, 
Shows  his  bold  front,  the  harbinger  of  ruin, 
Can  brave  Leontius  call  for  airy  wonders, 
Which  cheats  interpret,  and  which  fools  regard? 
When  some  neglected  fabrick  nods  beneath 
The  weight  of  years,  and  totters'to  the  tempest, 
Must  heaven  despatch  the  messengers  of  light, 
Or  wake  the  dead,  to  warn  as  of  its  fell  ?" 

Mahomet  (to  Irehk).  "  I  have  tried 
thee,  and  joy  to  find  that  thou  deservest  to 
be  loved  by  Mahomet,— with  a  mind  great 
as  his  own.  Sure,  thou  art  an  errour  of  na- 
ture, and  an  exception  to  the  rest  of  thy  sex, 

vol.  i.  6 


and  art  immortal;  for  sentiments  like  thine 
were  never  to  sink  into  nothing.  I  thought 
all  the  thoughts  of  the  fair  had  been  to  se- 
lect the  graces  of  the  day,  dispose  the  col- 
ours of  the  flaunting  (flowing)  robe,  tune 
the  voice  and  roll  the  eye,  place  the  gem, 
choose  the  dress,  and  add  new  roses  to  the 
fading  cheek,  but — sparkling." 

Thus  in  the  tragedy: 

**  Illustrious  maid,  new  wondera  fix  me  thine; 
Thy  soul  completes  the  triumphs  of  thy  face; 
I  thought,  forgive  my  fair,  the  noblest  aim, 
The  strongest  effort  of  a  female  soul, 
Was  but  to  choose  the  graces  of  the  day, 
To  tune  the  tongue,  to  teach  the  eyes  to  roll, 
Dispose  the  colors  of  the  flowing  robe, 
And  add  new  roses  to  the  faded  cheek." 

I  shall  select  one  other  passage,  on  ac- 
count of  the  doctrine  which  it  illustrates. 

Irene  observes,  "  that  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing will  accept  of  virtue,  whatever  outward 
circumstances  it  may  be  accompanied  with, 
and  may  be  delighted  with  varieties  of  wor- 
ship: but  is  answered,  That  variety  cannot 
affect  that  Being,  who,  infinitely  hapvy  in 
hts  own  perfections,  wants  no  external  gra- 
tifications; nor  can  infinite  truth  be  delight- 
ed with  falsehood;  that  though  he  may 
guide  or  pity  those  he  leaves  in  darkness, 
he  abandons  those  who  shut  their  eyes 
against  the  beams  of  day." 

Johnson's  residence  at  Lichfield,  on  his 
return  to  it  at  this  time,  was  only  for  three 
months;  and  as  he  had  as  vet  seen  but  a 
small  part  of  the  wonders  of  the  metropolis, 
he  had  little  to  tell  his  townsmen1.  He 
related  to  me  the  following  minute 
anecdote  of  this  period:  "  In  the 
last  age,  when  my  mother  lived  in 
London,  there  were  two  sets  of  people, 
those  who  gave  the  wall,  and  those  who 
took  it:  the  peaceable  and  the  quarelsome. 
When  I  returned  to  Lichfield,  after  having 
been  in  London,  my  mother  asked  me 
whether  I  was  one  of  those  who  gave  the 
wall,  or  those  who  took  it.  Now  it  is  fix- 
ed that  every  man  keep  to  the  right;  or, 
if  one  is  taking  the  wall,  another  yields  it; 
and  it  is  never  8  dispute." 

He  now  removed  to  London  with  Mrs. 
Johnson;  but  her  daughter,  who  had  lived 
with  them  at  -Edial,  was  left  with  her  rela- 
tions9 in  the  country.  His  lodgings  were 
for  some  time  in  Woodstock-street,  near 
Hanover-square,  and  afterwards  in  Castle- 


so  Sept. 
ms. 


1  [On  the  contrary,  if  he  lived  after  the  man- 
ner of  his  Ofellus,  he  probably  saw  more  of  com. 
mon  life  than  when  he  was,  in  his  subsequent 
residence,  constrained  bv  the  presence  of  Mrs. 
Johnson  to  more  domestic  and  regular  habits.— 
E©.] 

1  [She  very  soon,  it  appears,  resided  with  old 
Mrs.  Johnson.    See,  ante  p.  82.  En.] 


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42 


1787.— iETAT.  28. 


street,  near  Cavendish-square.  As  there  is 
something  pleasingly  interesting,  to  many, 
in  tracing  so  great  a  man  through  all  his  dif- 
ferent habitations,  I  shall  present  my  read- 
ers with  an  exact  list  of  his  lodgings  and 
houses,  in  order  of  time,  which,  in  placid 
condescension  to  mv  respectful  curiosity, 

he  one  evening  dictated  to  me,  hut 
vm?      without   specifying  how  long  he 

lived  at  each  K 

1.  Exeter-street,  off  Catherine-street, 

Strand  [1737]. 

2.  Greenwich  [1737]. 

8.  Woodstock-street,    near     Hanover- 
square  [1737], 

4.  Castle-street,  Cavendish-square,  No. 

6  [1738], 

5.  Boswell-court. 

6.  Strand.     . 

7.  Strand  again. 

8.  Bow-street. 

9.  Holborn. 
IX).  Fetter-lane. 

11.  Holborn  again  [at  the   Golden  An- 

chor, Holborn-bare,  1748]. 

12.  Gough-square  [1748]. 

13.  Staple-inn  [1758]. 

14.  Gray's-inn. 

15.  Inner  Temple-lane,  No.  1  [1760], 

16.  Johnson-court,  Fleet  street,  No.  7 


[1765], 
olt- 


17.  Bolt-court,  "Fleet-street,  No.  8 
[1777]. 

In  the  progress  of  liis  life  I  shall  have  oc- 
casion to  mention  some  of  them  as  connect- 
ed with  particular  incidents,  or  with  the 
writing  of  particular  parts  of  his  works. 
To  some,  this  minute  attention  may  appear 
trifling;  but  when  we  consider  the  punctil- 
ious exactness  with  which  the  different 
houses  in  whioh  Milton  resided  have  been 
traced  by  the  writers  of  his  life,  a  similar 
enthusiasm  may  be  pardoned  in  the  biogra- 
pher of  Johnson. 

His  tragedy  being  by  this  time,  as  he 
thought,  completely  finished  and  fit  for  the 
stage,  he  was  very  desirous  that  it  should 
be  brought  forward.  Mr.  Peter  Garrick 
told  me,  that  Johnson  and  he  went  togeth- 
er to  the  Fountain  tavern,  and  read  it  over, 
and  that  he  afterwards  solicited  Mr.  Fleet- 
wood, the  patentee  of  Drury-lane  theatre, 
to  have  it  acted  at  his  house;  but  Mr.  Fleet- 
wood would  not  accept  it,  probably  because 
it  was  not  patronized  by  some  man  of  high 
rank:  and  it  was  not  acted  till  1749,  when 
his  friend  David  Garrick  was  manager  of 
that  theatre. 

1  [This  list  Mr.  Boswell  placed  under  the  date 
at  which  it  wan  dictated  to  him.  It  seems  more 
conveniently  introduced  here,  and  the  editor  has 
aiMed,  as  far  as  he  has  discovered,  the  year  in 
which  Johnson  first  appear,  in  any  of  these  re- 


The  Gentleman's  Magazine,  begun  and 
carried  on  by  Mr.  Edward  Cave,  under  the 
name  of  Sylvanus  Urban,  had  attracted  the 
notice  and  esteem  of  Johnson,  in  an  emi- 
nent degree,  before  he  came  to  London  as 
an  adventurer  in  literature.  He  told  me, 
that  when  he  first  saw  St.  John's  Gati 
the  place  where  that  deservedly  populai 
miscellany  was  originally  printed,  he  "  be- 
held it  with2  reverence."  I  suppose,  in- 
deed, that  every  young  authour  has  had  the 
same  kind  of  feeling  for  the  magazine  or 
periodical  publication  which  has  first  enter- 
tained him,  and  in  which  he  has  first  had 
an  opportunity  to  see  himself  in  print,  with- 
out the  risk  of  exposing  his  name.  I  my- 
self recollect  such  impressions  from  "  The 
Scots  Magazine,"  which  was  begun  at  Ed- 
inburgh in  the  year  1739,  and  has  been 
ever  conducted  with  judgment,  accuracy, 
and  propriety.  I  yet  cannot  help  thinking 
of  it  with  an  affectionate  regard.  Johnson 
has  dignified  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  by 
the  importance  with  which  he  invests  the 
life  of  Gave;  but  he  has  given  it  still  great- 
er lustre  by  the  various  admirable  Essays 
which  he  wrote  for  it. 

Though  Johnson  was  often  solicited  by 
his  friends  to  make  a  complete  list  of  his 
writings,  and  talked  of  doing  it,  I  believe 
with  a  serious  intention  that  they  should 
all  be  collected  on  his  own  account,  he  put 
it  off  from  year  to  year,  and  at  last  died 
without  having  done  it  perfectly.  I  have 
one  in  his  own  hand-writing,  which  con- 
tains a  certain  number;  I  indeed  doubt  if 
he  could  have  "remembered  every  one  of 
them,  as  they  were  so  numerous,  so  various, 
and  scattered  in  such  a  multiplicity  of  un- 
connected publications;  nay,  several  of  them 
published  under  the  names  of  otherpersons," 
to  whom  he  liberally  contributed  from  the 
abundance  of  his  mind.  We  must,  there- 
fore, be  content  to  discover  them,  partly 
from  occasional  information  given  by  him 


*  [If,  as  Mr.  Boswell  supposes,  Johnson  look- 
ed at  St  John's  Gate  as  the  printing  office  of 
Cave,  surely  a  less  emphatical  term  than  rever- 
•ence  would  have  been  more  just  The  Gentle- 
man9* Magazine  had  been  at  this  time  bat  six 
yeara  before  the  pnblick,  and  its  contents  were, 
until  Johnson  himself  contributed  to  improve  it, 
entitled  to  any  thing  rather  than  reverence;  but 
it  is  much  more  probable  that  Johnson's  rever- 
ence was  excited  by  the  recollections  connected 
with  the  ancient  gate  itself,  the  last  retiqne  of  the 
once  extensive  and  magnificent  priory  of  the  hero- 
ic knights  of  the  order  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem, 
suppressed  at  the  dissolution,  and  destroyed  by 
successive  dilapidations.  Its  last  prior,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Weston,  though  compensated  with  the  an- 
nual pension  (enormous  m  those  days)  of  1000*. 
died  of  a  broken  heart,  on  Ascension-day,  1540, 
the  very  day  the  house  was  suppressed. — En.] 


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1788.— iETAT.  29. 


45 


to  hk  friends,  and  partly  from  internal  evi- 


Hia  first  performance  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  which  for  many  years  was  his 
principal  resource  for  employment  and  sup- 
port, was  a  copy  of  Latin  verses,  in  March, 
1738,  addressed  to  the  editor  in  so  happy  a 
style  of  compliment,  that  Cave  must  have 
been  destitute  hoth  of  taste  and  sensibility  «, 
bad  he  not  felt  himself  highly  gratified. 

"Ad  Urbawum*.  fj 

Urbane,  nullisfesse  laboribus, 
Uiba5e,  nullis  victe  calumniis, 
Ctrifrontc  sertum  in  eruditd 
Perpetuo  viret  et  virebit; 

Quid  moliatur  gens  imitanHum, 
Quid  et  mmetur,  solicitus  pctriim, 
Vocare  soUs  perge  Musis, 
Juxta  ammo  studiisque  felix. 

Lingua  procaeis  plumbea  spicula, 
Fkienst  superbo  firange  sUentio; 
Victrix  per  obstantes  catenas 
BedvHtas  ammosa  tendet. 

bUende  nervos,  fortis,  inanibus 
Risurus  oKm  nisibus  amuli; 
hUendejam  nervos,  habebis 
ParHcipes  opera  Camamas. 

JVbft  ulla  Musis  pagina  gratior, 
•  Quam  qua  sevens  ludiara  Jungere 
Abatf,  fatigatamque  nugis 
UHHbus  reereare  mentem. 


1  While  in  the  coarse  of  my  narrative  I  enu- 
merate his  writing*,  I  shall  take  care  that  my  read- 
en  shall  not  be  left  to  waver  in  doaht,  between 
certainty  and  conjecture,  with  regard  to  their  au- 
thenticity, and,  for  that  purpose,  shall  mark  with 
an  asterisk  (*)  those  which  he  acknowledged 
to  his  friends,  and  with  a  dagger  (t)  those  which 
are  ascertained  to  be  his  by  internal  evidence. 
When  any  other  pieces  are  ascribed  to  him,  I 
shall  give  my  reasons. — Boswsxi*. 

*  [Taste  and  sensibility  were  very  certainly  not 
the  distfagajshing  qualities  of  Cave;  bat  was  this 
ode,  indeed,  "a  happy  style  of  compliment  V* 
Are  "Jronte  sertum  in  eruditS," — "  Lingua 
plumbea,  spicula" — "Victrix  per  obstantes 
eatervas'9 — Lyeoris  and  his — the  rose — the  vi- 
e/el—and the  rainbow — in  any  way  appropri- 
ate to  the  printer  of  St  John's  Gate,  his  mag- 
azine, or  bis  antagonists  ?  How  Johnson  would 
in  later  life  have  derided,  in  another ,  such  misap- 
plied pedantry!  Mr.  Murphy  surmises  that  "  the 
ode  may  have  been  suggested  to  the  mind  of  John- 
son, who  had  meditated  a  history  of  the  modern 
Latin  poets  (see  ante,  p.  58),  by  Casimk's  ode 
to  Pope  Urban, 

<  Urban*  regum  maxims,  maxims 
Urbane  vaiom.'  "—Ed.] 

A  translation  of  this  Ode,  bv  an  unknown 
correspondent,  appeared  in  the  Magazine  for  the 
month  of  May  following  — Bosweli*  [As  did, 
in  1784,  another,  attributed  by  Mr.  Nichols  to 
Mr.  Jackson,  of  Canterbury.-— Ed.] 


Texente  JSfymphis  serta  Lycoride, 
Rosa  ruborem  •sic  viola  adjuvat 
Immista,  sic  Iris  refulget 
Mthereis  variata  fucis.  8.  J." 

It  appears  that  he  was  now  enlisted  byMr. 
Cave  as  a  regular  coadjutor  in  his  maga- 
zine, by  which  he  probably  obtained  a  tole- 
rable livelihood. 

(This  drew  Johnson  into  a  close 
(intimacy  with  Cave:  he  was  much  H*Jk- 
at  St.  John's  Gate,  and  taught  Gar-  p' 
rick  the  way  thither.  Cave  had  no  great 
relish  for  mirth,  but  he  could  bear  it;  and 
having  been  told  bv  Johnson,  that  his  friend 
had  talents  for  the  theatre,  and  was  come 
to  London  with  a  view  to  the  profession  of 
an  actor,  expressed  a  wish  to  see  him  in 
some  comic  character :  Garrick  readily  com- 
plied; and,  as  Cave  himself  told  me,  with,  a 
little  preparation  of  the  room  over  the  great 
arch  of  St.  John's  Gate,  and  with  the  assist- 
ance of  a  few  journeymen  printers,  who 
were  called  together  for  the  purpose  of  read 
ing  the  other  parts,  represented,  with  all 
the  graces  of  comic  humour,  the  principal 
character  in  Fielding's  farce  of  the  Mock- 
Doctor. 

Cave's  temper  was  phlegmatic:  and 
though  he  assumed,  as  the  publisher  of  the 
Magazine,  the  name  of  Sylvanus  Urban, 
he  had  few  of  those  qualities  that  constitute 
the  character  of  urbanity.  Judge  of  his 
want  of  them  by  this  question,  which  he 

once  put  to  an  authour:  "Mr. 3, 1 

hear  you  have  just  published  a  pamphlet, 
and  am  told  there  is  a  very  good  paragraph 
in  it,  upon  the  subject  of  musick:  did  you 
write  that  yourself?"  His  discernment 
was  also  slow;  and  as  he  had  already  at  his 
command  some  writers  of  prose  and  verse, 
who,  in  the  language  of  booksellers,  are 
called  good  hands,  he  was  the  backwarder 
in  making  advances,  or  courting  an  intima- 
cy with  Johnson.  Upon  the  first  approach 
of  a  stranger,  his  practice  was  to  continue 
sitting,  a  posture  in  which  he  was  ever  to 
be  found,  and,  for  a  few  minutes,  to  continue 
silent:  if  at  any  time  he  was  inclined  to 
begin  the  discourse,  it  was  generally  by 
putting  a  leaf  of  the  Magazine,  then  in  the 
press,  into  the  hand  of  his  visitor,  and  ask- 
ing his  opinion  of  it.  Sir  John  Hawkins 
remembered  that,  calling  in  on  him  once, 
he  gave  him  to  read  the  beautiful  poem  of 
Coffins,  written  for  Shakspeare's  Cymbe. 
line, "  To  fair  Fidele's  grassy  tomb,"  which, 
though  adapted  to  a  particular  circumstance 
in  the  play,  Cave  was  for  inserting  in  his 
Magazine,  without  any  reference  to  the 
subject:  Hawkins  told  him  it  would  lose  of 
its  oeauty  if  it  were  so  published:  this  he 
could  not  see;  nor  could  he  be  convinced  of 


[Perhaps  Hawkins  hunselE— Ed.] 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


44 


1788.— iETAT.  ». 


theproprietyofthename  JWeJe.'  bethought 
Pastor*  a  better,  and  so  printed  it. 

He  was  so  incompetent  a  judge  of  John- 
son's abilities,  that,  meaning  at  one  time  to 
dazzle  him  with  the  splendour  of  some  of 
those  luminaries  in  literature  who  favoured 
him  with  their  correspondence,  he  told  him 
that,  if  he  would,  in  the  evening,  be  at  a 
certain  ale-house  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Clerkenwell,  he  might  have  a  chance  of 


Senate  of  Lilliput,"  sometimes  with  feigned 
denominations  of  the  several  speakers,  some- 
times with  denominations  formed  of  the  let- 
ters of  their  real  names,  in  the  manner  of 
what  is  called  anagram,  so  that  they  might 
easily  be  deciphered.  Parliament  then  kept 
the  press  in  a  Kind  of  mysterious  awe,  which 
made  it  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  such 
devices.  In  our  time  it  has  acquired  an 
unrestrained  freedom,  so  that  the  people  in 


seeing l  Mr.  Browne,  and  one  or  two  other*  pH  parts  of  the  kingdom  have  a  fair,  open, 
of  the  persons  employed  in  the  Magazine.  *maer~A 3       sA  ~-  --*-- '  ——-»--  — 


Johnson  accepted  the  invitation;  and  was 
introduced  by  Cave,  dressed  in  a  loose 
horseman's  coat9,  and  such  a  great  busby 
uncombed  wig  as  he  constantly  wore,  to 
the  sight  of  Mr.  Browne,  whom  he  found 
sitting  at  the  upper  end*  of  a  long  table,  in 
a  cloud  of  tobacco-smoke,  and  had  his  curi- 
osity gratified. 

Johnson  saw  very  clearly  those  offensive 
particulars  that  made  a  part  of  Cave's  char- 
acter; but,  as  he  was  one  of  the  most  quick- 
sighted  men  in  discovering  the  Rood  and 
amiable  qualities  of  others,  a  faculty  which 
he  has  displayed,  as  well  in  the  life  of  Cave, 
as  in  that  of  Savage,  printed  among  his 
works,  so  was  he  ever  inclined  to  palliate 
their  defects;  and  though  be  was  above 
courting  the  patronage  of  a  man,  whom, 
for  many  reasons,  he  could  not  but  hold 
cheap,  he  disdained  not  to  accept  it,  when 
tendered  with  any  degree  of  complacency.] 

At  what  time,  or  by  what  means,  he  had 
acquired  a  competent  knowledge  both  of  3 
French  and  Italian,  I  do  not  know;  but  he 
was  so  well  skilled  in  them,  as  to  be  suffi- 
ciently qualified  for  a  translator.  That  part 
of  his  labour  which  consisted  in  emendation 
and  improvement  of  the  productions  of  oth- 
er contributors,  like  that  employed  in  level- 
ling ground,  can  be  perceived  only  by  those 
who  nad  an  opportunity  of  comparing  the 
original  with  tne  altered  copy,  what  we 
certainly  know  to  have  been  done  by  him 
in  this  way  was  the  Debates  in  both  houses 
of  Parliament,  under  the  name  of  "  The 


1  [About  this  period  we  find  Mr.  M.  Browne  a 
constant  bat  feeble  contributor  to  the  Magazine. — 
Ed.] 

*  [This  is  a  good  description  of  the  figure  John- 
son makes  in  the  earliest  portrait  of  him  (if  it 
can  be  so  called)  which  we  have,  in  the  drawing 
by  Loggan,  in  1748.    See  ante,  p.  36. — Ed.] 

*  [French  evidently  early,  as  he  translated  Lobo 
in  1733,  and,  though  he  appears  never  to  have 
attained  ease  and  fluency  in  speaking  that  lan- 
guage, we  see  by  his  communication  with  General 
Paoh"  ( 10th  Oct.  1769),  and  by  a  letter  to  a  French 
lady  (probably  Madame  de  Boufflers),  preserved 
by  Mm.  Piozzi,  that  he  could  write  it  with  idioma- 
tic ease.  We  find  that  he  proposed  to  translate 
Father  Paul  from  the  Italian,  and  in  his  letter  to 
Cave,  undated  but  prior  to  1744,  he  gave  an  opin- 
ion on  some  Italian  production. — Ed.]  , 


exact  report  of  the  actual  proceedings 
of  their  representatives  and  legislators, 
which  in  our  constitution  is  highly  to  be 
valued:  though,  unquestionably,  there  has 
of  late  been  too  much  reason  to  complain  of 
the  petulance  with  which  obscure  scribblers 
have  presumed  to  treat  men  of  the  most  re- 
spectable character  and  situation. 

This  important  article  of  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  was,  for  several  years,  executed 
by  Mr.  William  Guthrie,  a  man  who  de- 
serves to  be  respectably  recorded  in  the  lite- 
rary annals  of  this  country.  He  was  descend- 
ed of  an  ancient  family  in  Scotland;  *but 
having  a  small  patrimony,  and  being  an  ad- 
herent of  the  unfortunate  house  of  Stuart, 
he  could  not  accept  of  any  office  in  the  state; 
he  therefore  came  to  London,  and  employed 
his  talents  and  learning  as  an  "  authour  by 
profession."  His  writings  in  history,  criti- 
cism, and  politics,  had  considerable  merit 4. 
He  was  the  first  English  historian  who  had 
recourse  to  that  au  then  tick  source  of  infor- 
mation, the  Parliamentary  Journals;  and 
such  was  the  power  of  his  political  pen, 
that,  at  an  early  period,  government  thought 
it  worth  their  while  to  keep  it  quiet  by  a 

Sension,  which  he  enjoyed  till  his  death  5. 
ohnson  esteemed  him  enough  to  wish 
that  his  life  should  be  written.  The  de- 
bates in  Parliament,  which  were  brought 
home  and  digested  by  Guthrie,  whose  me- 
mory, though  surpassed  by  others  who 
have  since  followed  him  in  the  same  de- 
partment, was  yet  very  quick  and  tenacious, 
were  sent  by  Cave  to  Johnson  for  his  re- 
vision; and,  after  some  time,  when  Guth- 
rie had  attained  to  greater  variety  of  em- 
ployment, and  the  speeches  were  more  and 
more  enriched  by  the  accession  of  Johnson's' 
genius,  it  was  resolved  that  he  should  do 
the  whole  himself,  from  the  scanty  notes 
furnished  by  persons  employed  to  attend  in 


4  How  much  poetry  he  wrote,  I  know  not;  bnt 
he  informed  me  that#  he  was  the  authour  of  the 
beautiful  little  piece,  4<  The  Eagle  and  Robin  Red- 
breast," in  the  collection  of  poems  entitled  "  The 
Union,"  though  it  is  there  said  to  be  written  by 
Archibald  Scott,  before  the  year  1600.— Bos- 
well. 

5  [See  a  letter,  from  Guthrie  to  the  minister, 
offering  his  services,  and  fixing  on  "  the  quarterly 
payments,*'  in  Mr.  D 'Israeli's  interesting  work, 
"The  Calamities  of  Authors,'1 


nteresting  wor 
1  p.  6.— Ed  ] 


Digitized  by  LiOOQ IC 


1788.— jETAT.  19. 


45 


both  houses  of  Parliament.  Sometimes, 
however,  as  he  himself  told  me,  he  had  no- 
thing more  communicated  to  him  than  the 
names  of  the  several  speakers,  and  the  part 
which  they  had  taken  in  the  debate. 

Thus  was  Johnson  employed  during  some 
of  the  best  years  of  his  life,  as  a  mere  litera- 
ry labourer  "  for  gain  not  glory,"  solely  to 
obtain  an  honest  support.  He  however  in- 
dulged himself  in  occasional  little  sallies, 
which  the  French  so  happily  express  by  tim 
term  jeux  d>  esprit,  and  which  will  be  no? 
ticed  in  their  order,  in  the  progress  of  this 
work. 

But  what  first  displayed  his  transcendent 
powers,  and  "  gave  the  world  assurance  of 
the  Max,"  was  his  "  London,  a  Poem,  in 
Imitation  of  the  Third  Satire  of  Juvenal;" 
which  came  out  in  May  this  year,  and  burst 
forth  with  a  splendour,  the  rays  of  which 
will  for  ever  encircle  his  name.  Boileau 
had  imitated  the  same  satire  with  great 
success,  applying  it  to  Paris:  but  an  atten- 
tive comparison  will  satisfy  every  reader, 
that  he  is  much  excelled 1  by  the  English 
Juvenal.  Oldham  had  also  imitated  it,  and 
applied  it  to  London;  all  which  perform- 
ances concur  to  prove,  that  great  cities,  in 
every  age,  and  in  every  country,  will  fur- 
nish similar  topicks  of  satire.  Whether 
Johnson  had  previously  read  Oldham's  im- 
itation, I  do  not  know;  but  it  is  not  a  little 
remarkable,  that  there  is  scarcely  any  co- 
incidence found  between  the  two  perform- 
ances, though  upon  the  very  same  subject. 
The  only  instances  are,  in  describing  Lon- 
don as  the  rink  of  foreign  worthlessness: 


-the  common  shore, 


Where  France  does  all  her  filth  and  ordore  pour.' 

,  Oldham. 

"  The  common  shore  of  Paris  and  of  Rome." 

Johnson. 

and 

«  No  calling  or  profession  comes  amiss: 
A  needy  monsieur  can  be  what  he  please." 

Oldham. 


"  All  sciences  a  fasting  monsieur  knows." 

Johnson. 

The  particulars  which  Oldham  has  col- 
lected, Both  as  exhibiting  the  horrours  of 
London,  and  of  the  times  contrasted  with 
better  days,  are  different  from  those  of 
Johnson,  and  in  general  well  chosen,  and 
well  expressed9. 

1  [It  is  hardly  fair  to  compare  the  poems  in 
this  hostile  way:  BoUean's  was  a  mere  badinage, 
complaining  of,  or  laughing  at,  the  personal  dan- 
pan  and  inconveniences  of  Paris.  Johnson's  ob- 
ject was  to  satirise  the  moral  depravity  of  a  great 


city.— Ed.] 
•  I  < 


[  own  it  pleased 
one  trait  of  the  i 

►  to  I 


to  find  amongst  them 

i  of  the  age  in  London,  in 

of  En. 


i  age  ii 
i  the  i 


There  are,  in  Oldham's  imitation,  many 
prosaick  verses  and  had  rhymes,  and  his 
poem  sets  oat  with  a  strange  inadvertent 
blunder: 

"  Tho*  mnch  concern'd  to  leave  my  dear  old 
friend, 
I  most,  however,  his  design  commend 
Of  fixing  in  the  country ." 

It  is  plain  he  was  not  going  to  leave  his 
friend,  his  friend  was  going  to  leave  Aim. 
A  young  lady  at  once  corrected  this  with 
good  critical  sagacity,  to 

"  Tho'  mnch  concern'd  to  lose  my  old  dew 

friend." 

There  is  one  \ 
ter  transfused  hy  Of 
son: 


j  in  the  original  bet- 
than  By  John- 


"  Ml  habet  infelix  paupertas  durius  in  se, 
Quam  quod  ridiculos  homines  facit:" 

which  is  an  exquisite  remark  on  the  galling 
meanness  and  contempt  annexed  to  pover- 
ty.   Johnson's  imitation  is, 

**  Of  all  the  griefe  that  harass  the  distrest, 
Sure  the  most  hitter  is  a  scornful  jest" 

Oldham's,  though  less  elegant,  is  more 
just: 

"  Nothing  in  poverty  so  ill  is  home, 

As  its  exposing  men  to  grinning  scorn."  - 

Where,  or  in  what  manner  this  poem 
was  composed,  I  am  sorry  that  I  neglected 
to  ascertain  with  precision  from  Johnson's 
own  authority.  He  has  marked  upon  his 
corrected  copy  of  the  first  edition  of  it 
"  Written  in  1738;"  and,  as  it  was  publish 
ed  in  the  month  of  May  in  that  year,  it  is 
evident  that  much  time  was  not  employed 
in  preparing  it  for  the  press.  The  history 
of  its  publication  I  am  enabled  to  give  in 
a  very  satisfactory  manner;  and  judging 
from  myself,  and  many  of  my  friends,  I 
trust  that  it  will  not  be  Uninteresting  to  my 
readers. 

We  may  be  certain,  though  it  is  not  ex- 

Sressly  named  in  the  following  letters  to 
Ir.  Cave,  in  1738,  that  they  all  relate  to 
it. 

"TO   MR.    CAVE. 
"  Caattoetreet,  Wednesday  Morning,  [March,  178**.] 
«  Sin,— When  I  took  the  liberty  of  writ- 
ing to  you  a  few  days  ago,  I  did  not  ei- 


ghth ridicule,  what  was  soma  time  ago  too  com- 
mon a  practice  in  my  native  city  of  Edinburgh! 

"  If  whet  I*re  said  can't  from  the  town  effHght, 
Consider  other  danger*  of  the  night ; 
When  brickbat!  are  from  upper  atoriea  thrown, 
And  emptied  chamberpot*  come  pouring  down 
From  garret  urindoiet.'WBoawjiix. 


>  [The  editor  has  ventared,  torn  internal  evi- 
dence,  compared  with  the  respective  pnbUontiona 


Digitized  by 


Google 


46 


1788.— iETAT.  29. 


pect  a  repetition  of  this  same  pleasure  so 
soon;  for  a  pleasure  I  shall  always  think  it, 
to  converse  in  any  manner  with  an  ingen- 
ious and  candid  man:  but  having  the  enclos- 
ed poem  in  my  hands  to  dispose  of  for  the 
benefit  of  the  authour  (of  whose  abilities  I 
shall  say  nothing,  since  I  send  you  his  per- 
formance), I  believe  I  could  not  procure 
more  advantageous  terms  from  anv  person 
than  from  you,  who  have  so  much  distin- 
guished yourself  by  your  generous  en- 
couragement of  poetry;  and  whose  judge- 
ment of  that  art  nothing  but  your  com- 
mendation of  my  trifle  can  give  me  any  oc- 
casion to  call  in  question.  I  do  not  doubt 
but  you  will  look  oyer  this  poem  with  an- 
other eye,  and  reward  it  in  a  different  man- 
ner from  a  mercenary  bookseller,  who  counts 
the  lines  he  is  to  purchase,  and  considers 
nothing  but  the  bulk.  I  cannot  help  taking 
notice,  that  besides  what  the  authour  may 
hope  for  on  account  of  his  abilities,  he  has 
likewise  another  claim  to  your  regard,  as 
he  lies  at  present  under  very  disadvantage- 
ous circumstances  of  fortune.  I  bee,  there- 
fore, that  you  will  favour  me  with  a  let- 
ter to-morrow,  that  I  mav  know  what  you 
can  afford  to  allow  him,  that  he  mav  either 
part  with  it  to  you,  or  find  out  (which  I  do 
not  expect)  some  other  way  more  to  his  sat- 
isfaction. 

"  I  have  only  to  add,  that  as  I  am  sensi- 
ble I  have  transcribed  it  very  coarsely, 
which,  after  having  altered  it,  I  was  oblig- 
ed to  do,  I  will,  if-you  please  to  transmit 
the  sheets  from  the  press,  correct  it  for  you; 
and  take  the  trouble  of  altering  any  stroke 
of  satire  which  you  mav  dislike. 

"By  exerting  on  tnis  occasion  your 
usual  generosity,  you  will  not  only  encour- 
age learning,  and  relieve  distress,  but 
(though  it  be  in  comparison  of  the  other 
motives  of  very  small  account)  oblige  in  a 
very  sensible  manner,  sir,  your  very  hum- 
ble servant,  "  Sam.  Johksov." 

"TO    MR.    CAVE. 
«  Monday,  No. «,  Caatl»«treet,  {March,  1788.] 

"  Sir, — I  am  to  return  you  thanks  for 
the  present1  you  were  so  kind  as  to  send 
by  me,  and  to  intreat  that  you  will  be  pleas- 
ed to  inform  me  by  the  penny-post,  whether 
you  resolve  to  print  the  poem.  If  you 
please  to  send  it  me  by  the  post,  with  a  note 
to  Dodsley,  I  will  go  and  read  the  lines  to 


him,  that  we  mav  have  his  consent  to  put 
his  name  in  the  title-page. "  As  to  the  print- 
ing, if  it  can  be  set  immediately  about,  I 
will  be  so  much  the  authour's  friend,  as 
not  to  content  myself  with  mere  solicita- 
tions in  his  favour.  I  propose,  if  my  calcu- 
lation be  near  the  truth,  to  engage  for  the 
reimbursement  of  all  that  you  shall  lose  by 
an  impression  of  five  hundred;  provided,  as 
you  very  generously  propose,  that  the  pro- 
Hfc  if  any,  oe  set  aside  for  the  authour's  use, 
CTTcepting  the  present  you  made,  which,  if 
he  be  a  gainer,  it  is  fit  he  should  repay.  I 
bey  that  you  will  let  one  of  your  servants 
write  an  exact  account  of  the  expense  of 
such  an  impression,  and  send  it  with  the 
poem,  that  I  may  know  what  I  engage  for. 
I  am  very  sensible,  from  your  generosity 
on  this  occasion,  of  your  regard  to  learn- 
ing, even  in  its  unhappiest  state;  and  cannot 
but  think  such  a  temper  deserving  of  the 
gratitude  of  those  who  suffer  so  often  from 
a  contrary  disposition  — I  am,  sir,  your  most 
humble  servant,  "Sam.  Johnson." 

ccTO  MR.    CAVE. 

[April,  ITS*.] 

"  Sir, — I  waited  on  you  to  take  the  copy 
to  Dodsley's:  as  I  remember  the  number 
of  lines  which  it  contains,  it  will  be  no  long- 
er than  Eugenio9,  with  the  quotations, 
which  must  be  subjoined  at  the  bottom  of 
the  page;  part  of  the  beauty  of  the  per- 
formance (if  any  beauty  be  afiowed  it)  con- 
sisting in  adapting  Juvenal's  sentiments  to 
modern  facts  and  persons.  It  will,  with 
those  additions,  very  conveniently  make 
five  Bheets.  And  since  the  expense  will  be 
no  more,  I  shall  contentedly  ensure  it,  as  I 
mentioned  in  my  last.  If  it  be  not  therefore 
gone  to  Dodsley's,  I  beg  it  may  be  Bent  me 
by  the  penny-post,  that  I  may  have  it  in 
the  evening.  I  have  composed  a  Greek 
Epigram  to  Eliza3,  and  think  she  ought  to 


of  the  Ode  Ad  Urbanum  (which  was  no  doubt 
the  trifle  referred  to  m  the  first  letter),  of  the 
Epigram  to  EH/ea,  and  of  London  itself,  to  as- 
sign the  dates  of  March  and  April,  1788,  to  these 
letters!.— Ed.] 

1  [Though  Cave  had  not  taste  enough,  to  be 
struck  with  the  value  of  the  poem,  he  had,  we 
see,  charity  enough  to  relieve  the  pressing  wi 
o/ the  author  in  the  shape  of  a  present— -En.] 


*  A  poem,  puhUshed  in  1787,  of  which  see  an 
account,  pott,  under  April  80,  1778. — Bos- 
well. 

*  The  learned  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Carter.  Thie 
lady,  of  whom  frequent  mention  will  be  found  in 
these  Memoirs,  was  daughter  of  Nicholas  Carter, 
D.  D.  She  [was  bom  at  Deal  on  the  14th  De- 
cember, 1717,  and]  died  in  Clarges-street,  Feb- 
ruary  19,  1806 — Malowe — [in  the  eighty-ninth 
year  "  of  a  lift**  (as  the  editor  had  the  pleasure 
of  saying  on  a  former  occasion)  "  sweetened  and 
adorned  by  learning  and  by  piety;  by  the  friend- 
ship of  those  who  approached  her,  and  the  respect 
of  the  world  at  large."  Her  early  acquaintance 
whh  Johnson  is  thus  noticed  by  her  nephew  and 
biographer:  "Mr.  Cave  was  much  connected 
with  the  literary  world,  and  his  friendship  for 
Mrs.  Carter  was  the  means  of  introducing  her  to 
many  authour*  and  scholars  of  note;  among  those 
was  Mr.  afterwards  Dr.  Johnson.  This  was  ear- 
ly in  his  life,  and  his  name  was  them  but  begin* 


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be  celebrated  in  as  many  different  languages 
as  Lewis  le  Grand.  Pray  send  me  word 
when  yon  will  begin  upon  the  poem,  for  it 
is  a  long  way  to  walk.  I  would  leave  my 
Epigram,  but  have  not  daylight  to  tran- 
scribe it. — I  am,  air,  yours,  &c. 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"TO   MR.    CAVB. 

(April,  1788.] 

"  Sin, — I  am  extremely  obliged  by  your 
kind  letter,  and  will  not  fail  to  attend  you 
to-morrow  with  Irene,  who  looks  upon 
you  as  one  of  her  best  friends. 

"  I  was  to-day  with  Mr.  Dodsley,  who  de- 
clares very  warmly  in  favour  of  the  paper 
you  sent  him,  which  he  desires  to  have  a 
share  in,  it  being,  as  he  says,  a  creditable 
*  thing  to  be  concerned  in.  I  Jpiew  not  what 
answer  to  make  till  I  had  consulted  you, 
nor  what  to  demand  on  the  authour's  part, 
but  am  very  willing  that,  if  you  please, 
he  should  have  a  part  in  it,  as  he  will  un- 
doubtedly be  more  diligent  to  disperse  and 
promote  it.  If  you  can  send  me  word  to- 
morrow what  I  shall  say  to  him,  I  will  set- 
tie  matters,  and  bring  the  poem  with  me  for 
the  press,  which,  as  the  town  empties, 1  we 
cannot  be  too  quick  with. — I  am,  sir,  yours, 
fee.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

To  us  who  have  long  known  the  man- 
ly force,  bold  spirit,  and  masterly  ver- 
sification of  this  poem,  it  is  a  matter  of 
curiosity  to  observe  the  diffidence  with 
which  its  authour  brought  it  forward  into 
pnblick  notice,  while  he  is  so  cautious  as 
not  to  avow  it  to  be  his  own  production; 
and  with  what  humility  he  offers  to  allow 
the  printer  to  "  alter  any  stroke  of  satire 


ning  to  be  known,  having  just  published  his  cele- 
brated Imitation  of  the  TTiird  Satire  of  Juvenal, 
sate  the  name  of  London.  Neither  this  work 
nor  hie  general  character  were  as  vet  much  known 
m  the  country;  for  Dr.  Carter,  in  a  letter  to  his 
daughter,  dated  Jane  26,  1788,  says:  -  You 
mention  Johnson;  but  thai  is  a  name  with  which 
I  am  utterly  unacquainted.  Neither  his  scholas- 
tic, critical,  nor  poetical  character  ever  reached 
my  ears.'  I  a  little  suspect  his  judgement,  if  he  is 
very  fond  of  Martial.9  This  was  evidently  in 
answer  to  what  his  daughter  had  said  of  him;  and 
k  shows  her  high  opinion  of  him  before  the  judg- 
ment of  the  world  could  have  had  any  considera- 
ble influence  upon  it  Their  friendship  continued 
as  long  as  Johnson  lived,  and  he  always  expressed 
the  greatest  esteem  and  regard  for  her.  Notwith- 
standing the  rudeness  of  his  manners  occasionally, 
even  to  women,  f  have  frequently  heard  her  say 
mat  he  never  treated  her  but  with  civility,  atten- 
tion, and  respect"  Lift  of  Mr:  Carter,  p. 
».— En.] 

1  [The  publishing  season  was  men  in  October, 
when  the  fashionable  world  were  returning  to  the 
metropolis  for  the  winter. — D'Isbaxli.] 


which  he  might  dislike."  That  any  such 
alteration  was  made,  we  do  not  know.  If 
we  did,  we  could  not  but  feel  an  indignant 
regret;  but  how  painful  is  it  to  see  that  a 
writer  of  such  vigorous  powers  of  mind  was 
actually  in  such  distress,  that  the  small  profit 
which  so  short  a  poem,  however  excellent! 
could  yield,  was  courted  as  a  "  relief.9' 

It  has  been  generally  said,  I  know  not 
with  what  truth,  that  Johnson  offered  his 
"  London"  to  several  booksellers,  none  of 
whom  would  purchase  it.  To  this  circum- 
stance Mr.  Derrick  alludes  in  the  following 
lines  of  his  "  Fortune,  a  Rhapsody :" 

"  WEI  no  kind  patron  Johnson  own  ? 
Shall  Johnson  friendless  range  the  town  ? 
And  every  publisher  refuse 
The  o&pring  of  us  happy  Muse?" 

But  we  have  seen  that  the  worthy,  mo- 
dest, and  ingenious  Mr.  Robert  Dodsley, 
had  taste  enough  to  perceive  its  uncommon 
merit,  and  thought  it  creditable  to  have  a 
share  in  it  The  fact  is,  that,  at  a  future 
conference,  he  bargained  for  the  whole  pro- 
perty of  it,  for  which  he  gave  Johnson  ten 
guineas;  who  told  me,  "  I  might  perhaps 
have  accepted  of  less;  but  that  Paul  White- 
head had  a  little  before  got  ten  guineas  for 
a  poem;  and  I  would  not  take  less  than 
Paul  Whitehead  »." 

I  may  here  observe,  that  Johnson  ap- 
peared to  me  to  undervalue  Paul  White- 
head upon  every  occasion  when  he  was 
mentioned,  and,  m  my  opinion,  did  not  do 
him  justice;  but  when  it  is  considered  that 
Paul  Whitehead  was  a  member  of  a  riot- 
ous and  profane  club,  we  may  account  for 
Johnson's  having  a  prejudice  against  him. 
Faul  Whitehead  was,  indeed,  unfortunate 
in  being  not  only  slighted  by  Johnson,  but 
violently  attacked  by  Churchill,  who  utters 
the  following  imprecation : 

"  May  I  (can  worse  disgrace  on  manhood  fall  ?) 
Be  born  a  Whitehead,  and  baptised  a  Paul !" 

yet  I  shall  never  be  persuaded  to  think 
meanly  of  the  author  t>f  so  brilliant  and 
pointed  a  satire  as  "  Manners." 

Johnson's  London  was  published  in  May, 
"  1738  3;  and  it  is  remarkable,  that  it  came 


*  [The  reader  will  have  observed  that  in  his 
letter  to  Cave,  Johnson,  so  far  from  insisting  on 
ten  guineas,  or  any  other  price,  humbly  desires 
to  consult  him  as  to  what  he  ought  to  ask. — Ed.] 

•  Sir  John  Hawkins,  p.  86,  tells  us,  "  The  event 
(Savage's  retirement)  is  antedated,  in  the  poem 
of  *  London;'  but  in  every  particular,  except  the 
difference  of  a  year,  what  is  there  said  of  the  de- 
parture of  Tholes,  must  be  understood  of  Savage, 
and  looked  upon  as  true  history."  Tms  con- 
jecture is,  I  believe,  entirely  groundless.  I  have 
been  assured  that  Johnson  said  he  was  not  so 
much  as  acquainted  with  Savage,  when  he  wrote 
his  "  London."    If  the  departure  mentioned*  m 


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1738.— JBTAT.  29. 


out  on  the  same  morning  with  Pope's  sa- 
tire, entitled  "  1738;"  so  that  England  had 
at  once  its  Juvenal  and  Horace  as  poeti- 
cal monitors.  The  Reverend  Dr.  Doug- 
las i,  now  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  to  whom  I 
am  indebted  for  some  obliging  communica- 
tions, was  then  a  student  at  Oxford,  and 
remembers  well  the  effect  which  "  London" 
produced.  Every  body  was  delighted  with 
it;  and  there  being  no  name  to  it,  the  first 


it  was  the  departure  of  Savage,  the  event  was  not 
antedated  bat  foreseen;  for  "  London"  was  pub- 
lished in  May,  1788,  and  Savage  did  not  fit  oat 
for  Wales  till  July,  1789.  However  well  Johnson 
could  defend  the  credibility  of  second  sight ,  he 
did  not  pretend  that  he  hunseaf  was  possessed  of 
that  faculty. — Bobwklx.. 

[Notwithstanding  Mr.  BoswelTs  proofs,  and 
Dr.  Johnson's  own  assertions,  the  identity  of  Sav- 
age and  Thales  has  been  repeated  by  all  the  bi- 
ographers, and  has  obtained  general  vogue.  It 
may,  therefore,  be  worth  while  to  add,  that  John- 
son's residence  at  Greenwich  (which  as  it  was 
the  scene  of  his  fancied  parting  from  Thales,  is 
currently  taken  to  have  been  that  of  his  real  sep- 
aration from  Savage)  occurred  two  years  before 
the  latter  event;  and  at  that  time  it  does  not  ap- 
pear that  Johnson  was  so  much  as  acquainted  won 
Savage,  or  even  with  Cave,  at  whose  house  be 
first  met  Savage: — again;  Johnson  distinctly  tells 
us,  in  his  Life  of  Savage,  that  the  latter  took 
his  departure  for  Wales,  not  by  embarking  at 
Greenwich,  but  by  the  Bristol  stage  coach:  and, 
finally  and  decisively,  Johnson,  if  Thales  had 
been  Savage,  could  never  have  admitted  into  his 
poem  two  lines  which  seem  to  point  so  forcibly  at 
the  drunken  fray  when  Savage  stabbed  a  Mr.  Sin- 
clair, for  which  he  was  convicted  of  murder. 

"  Some  froHc  drunkard,  reeling  from  a  feast, 
Provokes  a  broil,  and  stab*  you  in  a  jest." 

There  is,  certainly,  a  curious  coincidence  be- 
tween some  points  of  the  characters  of  Thales  and 
Savage;  but  it  seems  equally  certain  that  the  coinci- 
dence was  fortuitous.  Mr.  Murphy  endeavours  to 
reconcile  the  difficulties  by  supposing  that  Savage's 
retirement  was  in  contemplation  eighteen  months 
before  it  was  carried  into  effect;  but  even  if  this 
were  true  (which  maxwell  be  doubted),  it  would 
not  alter  the  facts,  that  London  was  written  be- 
fore Johnson  knew  Savage;  and  that  one  of  the 
severest  strokes  in  the  satire  touched  Savage's  sor- 
est point — Ed.] 

1  [He  was  a  Scotchman  by  birth,  but  educated 
at  St  Mary -Hall  and  Balliol  College,  Oxford, 
(M.  A.  1748,  D.  D.  1758),  and  owed  his  first 
promotions  to  Lord  Bath  (to  whose  son  he  had 
>been  tutor),  and  his  literary  reputation  to  his  de- 
tection of  Lander.  He  wrote  several  political 
and  party  pamphlets,  and  prepared  Captain  Cook's 
third  journal  for  publication.  But  his  most  valu- 
able work  is  The  Criterion,  a  refutation  of  the 
objections  of  Hume  and  others  to  the  miracles  re- 
corded in  the  New  Testament  He  was  mads 
Bishop  of  Carlisle  in  1788,  and  translated  to  Salis- 
bury in  1791.  inVhich  see  he  died  in  1807. — 
En.] 


buzz  of  the  literary  circles  was,  "  Here  is 
an  unknown  poet,  greater  even  than  Pope." 
And  it  is  recorded  in  the  Gentleman's  Mag- 
azine of  that  year  (p.  269),  that  it  "  got  to 
the  second  edition  in  the  course  of  a  week." 
One  of  the  warmest  patrons  of  this  poem 
on  its  first  appearance  was  General  Ogle- 
thorpe9,   whose  "strong  benevolence  of 


*  [James  Edward  Oglethorpe,  born  in  1G98,  ad- 
mitted of  C.  C.  C.  Oxford  in  1714;  but  he  soon 
after  entered  the  army,  and  served  under  Prince 
Eocene  against  the  Turks.  Dr.  Warton,  (who 
calls  Oglethorpe  "  a  great  hero  and  a  great  legist 
later,")  informs  us  mat "  neither  he  (Oglethorpe!) 
nor  Prince  Eugene  loved  Marlborough;"  and  that 
Oglethorpe  related  that  Eugene  said,  sneeringly,  of 
his  illustrious  colleague,  "  there  is  a  great  differ- 
ence between  making  war  en  maitre  or  en  «eo-  • 
cat, *  •  The  fame  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  will 
not  be  much  impaired  by  wanting  the  love  of 
Oglethorpe,  who  did  not  leave  school  till  after  that 
groat  man  had  terminated  his  public  career;  and 
even  Oglethorpe's  authority  would  not  induce  us  to 
believe  that  Prince  Eugene  (supposing  him  to  have 
wished  to  depreciate  Marlborough)  would  have 
talked  such  absurd  nonsense  as  that  above  quoted. 
Oglethorpe's  activity  in  settling  the  colony  of 
Georgia  obtained  for  him  the  immortality  of  Pope's 
celebrated  panegyrick  quoted  in  the  text: 

"  One,  driren  by  strong  benevolence  of  soul, 
Shall  fly  like  Oglethorpe  from  pole  to  pole.*' 

In  1745,  Oglethorpe  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  major-general,  and  had  a  command  during  the 
Scotch  rebellion.  His  corps,  consisting  of  light 
cavalry,  was  the  van  of  the  Duke  of  Cumber- 
land's army,  and  was  ordered  to  press  on  the  rear 
of  the  rebels  when  retreating  through  Westmore- 
land. Oglethorpe,  arriving  in  front  of  a  little  vil- 
lage called  Snap,  (where  the  enemy's  rear  was 
supposed  to  be),  just  before  nightfall,  in  very  bad 
weather,  held  a  consultation  with  his  officers,  in 
which  it  was  decided,  that  the  lateness  of  the 
hour,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  troops,  rendered 
It  inexpedient  to  attack  that  night;  and  Oglethorjje 
therefore  marched  off  to  a  neighbouring  village  to 
forage  and  refresh.  Meanwhile  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland  pressed  on;  and  next  morning  when 
ho  came  to  Shap,  found  that  it  had  been  aban- 
doned by  the  rebels,  but  H.  R.  H.  was  surprised 
by  seeing,  on  his  right  towards  the  rear,  an  unex- 
pected body  of  troops;  it  turned  out  to  be  Ogle- 
thorpe's corps,  which,  from  being  the  van  guard 
of  his  army,  had  thus  unaccountably  become  the 
rear.  The  duke  caused  Oglethorpe  to  be  brought 
to  a  court  martial  (from  the  original  minutes  of 
which  the  foregoing  particulars  are  taken),  and 
though  acquitted,  he  was  never  again  employed. 
It  is  by  no  means  surprising  that  this  "  neglect" 
should  have  mortified  a  man  of  Oglethorpe's  sen- 
sibility; and  it  is  to  be  inferred  fpom  Mr.  Boswell's 
expressions,  that  late  in  life  he  had  in  vain  solicit- 
ed for  some  "  mark  of  distinction**  to  heal 
his  wounded  feelings.  General  Oglethorpe  sat  in 
five  or  six  pariUmenta,  and  was  in  general  noli- 
tics  a  tory,  and  even  suspected  of  being  a  Jacobite: 
to  this  may,  perhaps  be  referred  moat  of  the 


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soul"  waa  unabated  during  the  course  of  a 
very  long  life;  though  it  is  painful  to  think, 
that  he  had  but  too  much  reason  to  be- 
come cold  and  callous,  and  discontented 
with  the  world,  from  the  neglect  which 
he  experienced  of  his  publick  and  private 
worth,  by  those  in  whose  power  it  was  to 
gratify  so  gallant  a  veteran  with  marks  of 
distinction.  This  extraordinary  person  was 
as  remarkable  for  his  learning  and  taste,  as 
for  his  other  eminent  qualities;  and  no  man 
was  more  prompt*  active,  and  generous,  in 
encouraging  merit.  I  have  heard  Johnson 
gratefully  acknowledge,  in  his  presence, 
the  kind  and  effectual  support  which  he 
gave  to  his  "  London,"  though  unacquaint- 
ed with  its  authour. 

Pope,  who  then  filled  the  poetical  throne 
without  a  rival,  it  may  reasonably  be  pre- 
sumed, must  have  been  particularly  struck 
by  the  sudden  appearance  of  such  a  poet; 
and,  to  his  credit,  let  it  be  remembered, 
that  his  feelings  and  conduct  on  the  occa- 
sion were  candid  and  liberal.  He  request- 
ed Mr.  Richardson  i,  son  of  the  painter,  to 
endeavour  to  find  out  who  this  new  au- 
thour waa.  Mr.  Richardson,  after  some  in- 
quiry, having  informed  him  that  he  had 
discovered  only  that  his  name  was  Johnson, 
and  that  he  was  some  obscure  man,  Pope 
said,  "He  will  soon  be  deterri*."  We 
shall  presently  see,  from  a  note  written  by 
Pope,  that  he  was  himself  afterwards  more 
successful  in  his  inquiries  than  his  friend. 

That  in  this  justly  celebrated  poem  may 
be  found  a  few  rhymes  which  the  critical 
precision  of  English  prosody  at  this  day 
would  disallow,  cannot  be  denied;  but  with 
this  small  imperfection,  which  in  the  general 
blaze  of  its  excellence  is  not  perceived,  till 
the  mind  has  subsided  into  cool  attention, 
it  is,  undoubtedly,  one  of  the  noblest  pro- 
ductions in  our  language  both  for  senti- 
ment and  expression.     The   nation  was 


particulars  of  his  history — his  dislike  of  the  Duke 
of  Marlborough— the  praises  of  Pope— his  par- 
tiality towards  Johnson's  political  poetry — the 
suspicion  of  not  having  done  his  best  against  the 
rebel*— and  the  "  neglect"  of  the  court  He  died 
30th  June,  1785.— Ed.] 

1  [There  were  three  Rkhardsons  known  at  this 
period  in  the  literary  world:  1st.  Jonathan  Rich- 
ardson the  elder,  usually  called  the  Painter,  though 
he  was  an  author  as  well  as  a  painter;  he  died  in 
1745,  aged  80.  2d.  Jonathan  the  younger,  who  is 
the  person  mentioned  in  the  text,  who  also  paint- 
ed, though  not  as  a  profession,  and  who  publish- 
ed several  works;  he  died  in  1771,  aged  77. 
3d.  Samuel  Richardson,  the  author  of  the  celebrat- 
ed no  vela.  He  was  by  trade  a  printer,  and  had 
the  good  sense  to  continue,  during  the  height  of 
his  tame,  his  attention  to  his  business.  He  died 
in  1761,  aged  72.— Ed.] 

1  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  from  the  information  of 
the  younger  Richardson. — Boswxll. 

VOL.    I.  7 


then  in  that  ferment  against  the  court  and 
the  ministry,  which  some  years  after  ended 
in  the  downfall  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole;  and 
as  it  has  been  said,  that  tories  are  whigs 
when  out  of  place;  and  whigs  tories  when 
in  place;  so,  as  a  whig  administration  ruled 
with  what  force  it  could,  a  tory  opposition 
had  all  the  animation  and  all  the  eloquence 
of  resistance  to  power,  aided  by  the  com- 
mon topics  of  patriotism,  liberty,  and  in- 
dependence !  Accordingly,  we  find  in  John- 
son's "  London"  the  most  spirited  invec- 
tives against  tyranny  and  oppression,  the 
warmes  predilection  for  his  own  country, 
and  the  purest  love  and  virtue;  interspers- 
ed with  traits  of  his  own  particular  charac- 
ter and  situation,  not  omitting  his  preju- 
dices as  a  "  true-born  Englishman  3,"  not 
only  against  foreign  countries,  but  against 
Ireland  and  Scotland.  On  some  of  these 
topiclu  I  shall  quote  a  few  passages: 

«*  The  cheated  nation's  happy  fav'rites  see; 
Mark  whom  the  great  caress,  who  frown  on 
me." 

"  Has  heaven  reserv'd,  in  phy  to  the  poor, 
No  pathless  waste,  or  undiscovered  shore  ? 
No  secret  island  in  the  boundless  main  ?  _ 
No  peaceful  desert  yetunclaim'd  by  Spain  ? 
Quick  let  us  rise,  the  happy  seats  explore, 
And  bear  Oppression's  insolence  no  more." 

"  How,  when  competitors  like  these  contend, 
Can  ivrly  Virtue  hope  to  find  a  friend?" 

"This  mournful  truth  is  everywhere  confess'd, 
Slow  risks  worth,  by  poverty  d«- 
press'd!" 

We  may  easily  conceive  with  what  feel- 
ing a  great  mind  like  his,  cramped  and  gall- 
ed by  narrow  circumstances,  uttered  this 
last  line,  which  he  marked  by  capitals. 
The  whole  of  the  poem  is  eminently  excel- 
lent, and  there  are  in  it  such  proofs  of  a 
knowledge  of  the  world,  and  of  a  mature 
acquaintance  with  life  4,  as  cannot  be  con- 


3  It  is,  however,  remarkable,  that  he  uses  the 
epithet,  which  undoubtedly,  since  the  union  be- 
tween England  and  Scotland,  ought  to  denomin- 
ate the  natives  of  both  parts  of  our  island. 
"  Was  early  taught  a  BbitorN  rights  to  prise."— 

BOfWKlX. 

[This  m  not  quite  correct  The  union  of  the 
crowns  gave  the  whole  island  the  title  of  Great 
Britain,  but  the  term  Briton  had  been  always 
nsed  in  contradistinction  to  Caledonian. — Ed.  ] 

«  [What  follows  will  show  that  BosweU  him- 
self was  of  opinio?  that  London  was  dictated 
rather  by  youthrW  feeling,  inflamed  by  the  politi- 
cal frenzy  of  the  times,  than  by  any  "  knowledge 
of  the  world,"  or  any  <€  mature  acquaintance)  with 
life. "  Nor  is  it  the  least  remarkable  of  tho  incon- 
aistencies  between  Johnson's  early  precepts  and 
subsequent  practice,  that  he,  who  was  in  all  his 
latter  age  the  most  constant  and  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirer of  London,  should  have  begun  life  with  this 


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1788.— iETAT.  29. 


templated  without  wonder,  when  we  con- 
sider that  he  was  then  only  in  his  twentv- 
ninth  year,  and  had  yet  been  so  little  in  the 
•c  busy  haunts  of  men." 

Yet  while  we  admire  the  poetical  excel- 
lence of  this  poem,  candour  obliges  us  to 
allow,  that  the  flame  of  patriotism  and  zeal 
for  popular  .resistance  with  which  it  is 
fraught  had  no  just  cause.  There  was,  in 
truth,  no  "  oppression:"  the  "  nation"  was 
not  "  cheated."  Sir  Robert  Walpole  was 
a  wise  and  a  benevolent  minister,  who 
thought  that  the  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  a  commercial  country  like  ours  would  be 
best  promoted  by  peace,  which  he  accord- 
ingly maintained  with  credit,  during  a  very 
long  period.  *  Johnson  himself  afterwards 
acknowledged  the  merit  of  Walpole,  whom 
he  called  "  a  fixed  star;"  while  he  charac- 
terised his  opponent,  Pitt,  as  a  "  meteor." 
But  Johnson's  juvenile  poem  was  naturally 
impregnated  with  the  fire  of  opposition,  and 
upon  every  account  was  universally  ad- 
mired. 

Though  thus  elevated  into  fame,  and 
conscious  of  uncommon  powers,  he  had  not 
that  bustling  confidence,  or  I  may  rather 
say,  that  animated  ambition,  which  one 
might  have  supposed  would  have  urged  him 
to  endeavour  at  rising-  in  life.  But  such 
was  his  inflexible  dignity  of  character,  that 
he  could  not  stoop  to  court  the  great;  with- 
out which,  hardly  any  man  has  made  his 
way  to  a  high  station  K  He  could  not  ex- 
pect to  produce  many  such  works  as  his 
"  London,"  and  he  felt  the  hardships  of 
writing  for  bread:  he  was  therefore  willing 
to  resume  the  office  of  a  schoolmaster,  so 
as  to  have  a  sure,  though  moderate  in- 
come for  his  life;  and  an  offer  being  made 
to  him  of  the  mastership  of  a  school a  [at 

vigorous  and  bitter  invective  against  it  The 
truth  is,  he  was  now  writing  for  bread,  cared  com- 
paratively little  about  the  real  merits  or  defects 
of  the  minuter  or  the  metropolis,  and  only  thought 
how  best  to  make  his  poem  sell. — Ed.] 

1  [This  seems  to  be  an  erroneous  and  mischiev- 
ous assertion.  If  Mr.  Boswell,  by  stooping  to 
court  the  great,  means  base  flatteries  and  un- 
worthy compliances,  then  it  may  be  safely  as- 
serted that  such  arts,  (whatever  small  successes 
they  may  have  had),  are  not  those  by  which  men 
hare  risen  to  high  stations.  Look  at  the  in- 
stances of  elevation  to  be  found  in  Mr.  Boswell  's 
own  work — bord  Chatham,  Lord  Mansfield,  Mr. 
Burke,  Mr.  Hamilton,  Lord  Loughborough,  Lord 
Thurlow,  Lord  Stowell,  and  so  many  dignitaries 
of  the  law  and  the  church,  in  whose  society  Dr. 
Johnson  passed  his  latter  days — with  what  can  they 
be  charged  which  would  have  disgraced  Johnson  ? 
Boswell,  it  may  be  suspected,  wrote  this  under 
some  little  personal  disappointment  in  his  own 
courtship  of  the  great,  which  be  more  than  once 
hints  at  Johnson's  opinions  on  this  point  will 
be  found  under  Feb.  1766,  and  Sept  1777.— En.] 

8  [Mr.  Boswell  bad  here  inserted  a  long  note  to 


Appleby,  in  Leicestershire,]  pro-  Hawk 
vided  he  could  obtain  the  degree  of  p* **" 
Master  of  Arts,  Dr.  Adams  was  applied  to, 
by  a  common  friend,  to  know  whether  that 
could  be  granted  him  as  a  favour  from  the 
university  of  Oxford.  But  though  he  had 
made  such  a  figure  in  the  literary  world,  it 
was  then  thought  too  great  a  favour  to 
be  asked.  "  .-  1 

Pone,  without  any  knowledge  of  him  but 
from  his  "  London,"  recommended3  him  to       ■ 
Earl  Gower,  who  endeavoured  to  procure 
for  him  a  degree  from  Dublin,  by  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  a  friend  of  Dean  Swift: 

"Sin, — Mr.  Samuel  Johnson  (authour 
of  London,  a  satire,  and  some  other  poeti- 
cal pieces)  is  a  native  of  this1  country,  and 
much  respected  by  some  worthy  gentlemen 
in  this  neighbourhood,  who  are  trustees  of 
a  charity-school  now  vacant;  the  certain 
salary  is  sixty  pounds  a  vear,  of  which  they 
are  desirous  to  make  nun  master;  but,  Un- 
fortunately he  is  not  capable  of  receiving' 
their  bounty,  which  would  make  him  hap- 
py for  life,  by  not  being  a  matter  of  arts; 
which,  by  the  statutes  of  this  school,  the 
master  of  it  must  be. 

"  Now  these  gentlemen  do  me  the  hon- 
our to  think  that  I  have  interest  enough  in 
you,  to  prevail  upon  you  to  write  to  Dean 
Swift,  to  persuade  the  university  of  Dublin 
to  send  a  diploma  to  me,  constituting  this 
poor  man  master  of  arts  in  their  universi- 
ty. They  highly  extol  the  man's  learning 
and  probity j  and  will  not  be  persuaded, 
that  the  university  will  make  any  difficul- 
ty of  conferring  such  a  favour  upon  a  strutt- 
er, if  he  is  recommended  by  the  dean, 
"hey  say,  he  is  not  afraid  of  the  strictest 


¥ 


prove,  first,  that  the  school  in  question  was  New* 
port  in  Shropshire;  and  secondly,  on  the  evidence 
of  a  writer  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  (May, 
179S),*  that  it  was  Appleby  in  Leicestershire, 
though  Mr.  Pope,  by  mistake,  had  said  Shropshire; 
but  as  Sir  J.  Hawkins  had  already  stated  Appleby 
to  be  the  school  in  question,  Mr.  Boswell  took  a 
great  deal  of  unnecessary  trouble,  and  his  note  is 
therefore  omitted. — Ed.] 

*  [It  seems  not  easy  to  reconcile  Lord  Gower's 
and  Pope's  letters,  and  Mr.  Boswell's  account  of 
this  transaction.  Lord  Gower's  letter  says  that  it 
k  written  at  the  request  of  some  Staffordshire 
neighbours.  Nothing  more  natural.  He  does  not 
even  allude  to  Pope;  and  certainly  it  would  have 
been  most  extraordinary  that  Pope,  the  dearest 
friend  of  Swift,  should  solicit  Lord  Gower  to  ask 
a  favour  of  the  Dean.  Pope  says  (see  post ,  p. 
56.)  that  he  wrote  unsolicited  to  Lord  Gower 
in  Johnson's  favour;  but  did  not  succeed.  He 
makes  no  allusion  to  Swift,  or  the  master's  degree. 
Perhaps  Pope's  application  to  Lord  Gower  related, 
as  his  letter  says,  to  a  school  in  SJtropshire,  and, 
failing  there,  the  school  of  Appleby  was  thought 
of  afterwards.  This  supposition  would  remove 
all  difficulties.— -En.] 


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1788.— iETAT.  29. 


61 


examination,  though  he  is  of  bo  long  a  jour- 
ney; and  will  venture  it,  if  the  dean  thinks 
it  necessary;  choosing  rather  to  die  upon 
the  road,  than  be  starved  to  death  in  trans- 
lating/or booksellers;  which  has  heen  his 
only  subsistence  for  some  time  past. 

"  I  fear  there  is  more  difficulty  in  this 
affair  than  those  good-natured  gentlemen 
apprehend;  especially  as  their  election  can- 
not be  delayed  longer  than  the  11th  of  next 
month.  If  you  see  this  matter  in  the  same 
light  that  it  appears  to  me,  I  hope  you 
will  burn  this,  and  pardon  me  for  giving 
you  so  much  trouble  about  an  impracticable 
thing;  but,  if  you  think  there  is  a  probabili- 
ty©? obtaining  the  favour  asked,  1  am  sure 
your  humanity  and  propensity  to  relieve 
merit  in  distress  will  incline  you  to  serve 
the  poor  man,  without  my  adding  any 
more  to  the  trouble  I  have  already  given 
you,  tnan  assuring?  you  that  I  am,  with  great 
truth,  sir,  your  faithful  servant, 

"  Gower. 

"Treatham,  Aug.  1,  1789." 

It  was,  perhaps,  no  small  disappointment 1 
to  Johnson  that  this  respectable  application 
had  not  the  desired  effect:  vet  how  much 
reason  has  there  been,  both  for  himself  and 
his  country,  to  rejoice  that  it  did  not  suc- 
ceed, as  he  might  probably  have  wasted  in 
obscurity  those  hours  in  which  he  after- 
wards produced  his  incomparable  works. 

About  this  time  he  made  one  other  effort 
to  emancipate  himself  from  the  drudgery  of 
authorship.  He  applied  fp  Dri  Adams,  to 
consult  Dr.  Smalbroke9  of  the  Commons, 


1  [We  shall  hereafter  see  strong  instances  of 
Johnson's  dislike  both  of  Lord  Gower  and  Dean 
Swift;  and,  considering  how  Johnson  was  influenc- 
ed by  personal  prejudices,  h  seems  not  unreasona- 
ble to  suppose,  that  this  disappointment  had  soi 
ed  him  against  both  Swift  and  Lord  Gower.  It 
does  not  appear  that  Johnson  ever  saw  his  leid- 
ship's  letter;  nor,  if  he  had,  would  he  be  much 
pleased  at  the  terms  in  which  he  is  mentioned. 
As  to  Swift,  his  mind  was  certainly,  at  this  time,  in 
no  condition  to  exert  itself  on  any  remote  object; 
and  if  his  friends  ventured  to  mention  the  subject 
to  him,  it  is  likely  the  Dean  gave  a  peevish  an- 
swer, particularly  as  he  happened  to  be  at  this 
period  on  very  bad  terms  with  the  heads  of  the 
university.  Johnson  probably  knew  no  more  than 
that  an  unsuccessful  application  on  his  behalf  had 
been  made  both  to  Lord  Gower  and  to  Dean  Swift, 
and  resented  the  failure  without  being  very  scrupu- 
lous in  apportioning  the  blame. — En.] 

s  [Richard  Smalbroke,  LL.  D.,  second  son  of 
Bishop  Smalbroke,  succeeded  his  brother  Thomas 
as  chancellor  of  the  diocese  of  Lichfield  in  1778, 
and  died  the  senior  member  of  the  College  of  Ad- 
vocates. The  long  connexion  of  the  Smalbroke 
family  with  Lichfield,  probable  pointed  him  out  to 
Johnson  as  a  person  able  and  willing  to  advise  him. 
—Ed.] 


whether  a  person  might  be  permitted  to 
practise  as  an  advocate  there,  without  a 
doctor's  decree  in  civil  law.  "lam  (said 
he)  a  total  stranger  to  these  studies;  but 
whatever  is  a  profession,  and  maintains 
numbers,  must  be  within  the  reach  of  com- 
mon abilities,  and  some  degree  of  industry." 
Dr.  Adams  was  much  pleased  with  John- 
son's design  to  employ  his  talents  in  that 
manner,  being  confident  he  would  have  at- 
tained to  great  eminence.  And,  indeed,  I 
cannot  conceive  a  man  better  qualified  to 
make  a  distinguished  figure  as  a  lawyer; 
for  he  would  have  brought  to  his  profession 
a  rich  store  of  various  knowledge,  an  un- 
common acuteness,  and  a  command  of  lan- 
guage, in  which  few  could  have  equalled, 
and  none  have  surpassed  him.  He  who 
could  display  eloquence  and  wit  in  defence 
of  the  decision  of  the  House  of  Commons 
upon  Mr.  Wilkes's  election  for  Middlesex, 
and  of  the  unconstitutional  taxation  of  our 
fellow-subjects  in  America,  must  have  been 
a  powerful  advocate  in  any  cause.  But' 
here,  also,  the  want  of  a  degree  was  an  in- 
surmountable bar. 
He  was,  therefore,  under  the  necessity  of 

Eersevering  in  that  course  into  which  he 
ad  been  forced;  and  we  find  that  his  pro- 
posal from  Greenwich  to  Mr.  Cave,  for  a 
translation  of  Father  Paul  Sarpi's  History, 
was  accepted  3. 

Some  sheets  of  this  translation  were  print- 
ed off,  but  the  design  was  dropt;  for  it  hap- 
pened, oddly  enough,  that  another  person 
of  the  name  of  Samuel  Johnson,  Librarian 
of  St.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  and  curate  of 
that  parish,  engaged  in  the  same  undertak- 
ing, and  was  patronised  by  the  clergy,  pat- 

3  In  theWeekly  Miscellany,  October  21, 1788, 
there  appeared  the  following  advertisement:  "  Just 
published,  Proposals  for  printing  the  History  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  translated  from  the  Italian 
of  Father  Panl'Sarpi;  with  the  Authour's  Life, 
and  Notes  theological,  historical,  and  critical,  from 
the  French  edition  of  Dr.  Le  Courayer.  To  which 
are  added,  Observations  on  the  History,  and  Notes 
and  IHustratioiis  from  various  Authours,  both  print*, 
ed  and  manuscript  By  S.  Johnson.  1.  The  work 
will  consist  of  two  hundred  sheets,  and  be  two  vol- 
umes in  quarto,  printed  on  good  paper  and  let- 
ter. 2.  The  price  will  be  18s.  each  volume,  to 
be  paid,  half  a  guinea  at  the  delivery  of  the  first 
volume,  and  the  rest  at  the  delivery  of  the  second 
volume  in  sheets.  8.  Twopence  to  be  abated  for 
every  sheet  less  than  two  hundred.  It  may  be 
had  on  a  large  paper,  in  three  volumes,  at  the 
price  of  three  guineas;  one  to  be  paid  at  the  time 
of  subscribing,  another  at  the  delivery  of  the  first, 
and  the  rest  at  the  delivery  of  the  other  volumes. 
The  work  is  now  in  the  press,  and  will  be  diligent* 
ly  prosecuted.  Subscriptions  are  taken  in  by  Mr. 
Dodsiey  in  Pali-Mall,  Mr.  Rivington  in  St  Paul's 
Church-yard,  by  £.  Cave  at  St  John's  Gate,  and 
the  Translator,  at  No.  6,  in  Castle-street,  by  Cav- 
endish-square."— Boswxll. 


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1788.— jOTAT.  ». 


tkularly  by  Dr.  Pearce,  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Rochester.  Several  light  skirmishes  pass- 
ed between  the  rival  translators,  in  the  news- 
papers of  the  day;  and  the  consequence  was 
that  they  destroyed  each  other,  for  neither 
of  them  went  on  with  the  work.  It  is  much 
to  be  regretted,  that  the  able  performance 
of  that  celebrated  genius  Fa*  Paolo  lost 
the  advantage  of  being  incorporated  into 
British  literature  by  the  masterly  hand  of 
Johnson. 

I  have  in  my  possession,  by  the  favour  of 
Mr.  John  Nichols,  a  paper  in  Johnson's 
hand-writing,  entitled  "  Account  between 
Mr.  Edward  Cave  and  Sam.  Johnson,  in 
relation  to  a  version  of  Father  Paul,  &c. 
begun  August  the  2d,  1738;"  by  which  it 
appears,  that  from  that  day  to  the  21st  of 
April,  1799,  Johnson  received  for  this  work 
492.  7#.  in  sums  of  one,  two,  three,  and 
sometimes  four  guineas  at  a  time,  most  fre- 
quently two.  And  it  is  curious  to  observe 
the  minute  and  scrupulous  accuracy  with 
which  Johnson  had  pasted  upon  it  a  slip  of 
paper,  which  he  has  entitled  "  Small  ac- 
count," and  which  contains  one  article, 
"Sept.  9th,  Mr.  Cave  laid  down  2*.  6d.i" 
There  is  subjoined  to  this  account,  a  list  of 
some  subscribers  to  the  work,  partly  in 
Johnson's  hand-writing,  partly  in  that  of 
another  person;  and  there  follows  a  leaf  or 
two  on  which  are  written  a  number  of  char- 
acters which  have  the  appearance  of  a  short 
hand,  which,  perhaps,  Johnson  was  then 
trying  to  learn. 

"  TO  MR.  CAVE. 

"Wednesday,  [August  or  Sept.  17S8.J 

u  Sir, — I  did  not  care  to  detain  your  ser- 
vant while  I  wrote  an  answer  to  jv>ur  letter, 
in  which  you  seem  to  insinuate  that  I  had 

J  promised  more  than  I  am  ready  to  perform, 
f  I  have  raised  your  expectations  by  any 
thing  that  may  have  escape*?  my  memory, 
I  am  sorry;  and  if  you  remind  me  of  it, 
shall  thank  you  for  the  favour.  If  I  made 
fewer  alterations  than  usual  in  the  debates, 
it  was  only  because  there  appeared,  and 
still  appears  to  be,  less  need  of  alteration. 
The  verses  to  Lady  Firebrace  a  may  be  had 
when  you  please,  for  you  know  that  such 
a  subject  neither  deserves  much  thought, 
nor  requires  it. 

1  [Probably  a  tavern  reckoning. — Ed.] 
1  [They  afterwards  appeared  in  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  (for  Sept   1738),  with  this 

title:  "  Verses  to  lady  F ,  at  Buy  Assizes." 

It  seams  quite  unintelligible  how  these  six  silly 
lines  (at  best,  only  excusable  if  written  impromptu 
on  the  occasion)  should  be  the  production  of 
Johnson,  and  made  to  the  order  (to  use  the  trades- 
man's ptease)  of  Cave.  These  considerations, 
and  some  stupid  lines  in  praise  of  Suffolk  beauties 
in  the  same  volume,  lead  to  a  conjecture  *N»t 


"  The  Chinese  Stories9  may  be  had  fold- 
ed down  when  you  please  to  send,  jn  which 
I  do  not  recollect  that  you  desired  any  al- 
terations to  be  made. 

"  An  answer  to  another  query  I  am  very 
willing  to  write,  and  had  consulted  with 
you  about  it  last  night,  if  there  had  been 
time;  for  I  think  it  the  most  proper  way  of 
inviting  such  a  correspondence  as  may  be 
an  advantage  to  the  paper,  not  a  load  upon 
it. 

"  As  to  the  Prize  Verses,  a  backwardness 
to  determine  their  degrees  of  merit  is  not 
peculiar  to  me.  You  may,  if  you  please, 
still  have  what  I  can  say;  but  I  shall  en- 
gage with  little  spirit' in  an  affair,  which  I 
shall  hardly  end  to  my  own  satisfaction, 
and  certainly  not  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
parties  concerned4. 

"  As  to  Father  Paul,  I  have  not  yet  been 
just  to  my  proposal,  but  have  met  with  im- 
pediments, which,  I  hope,  are  now  at  an  end; 
and  if  you  find  the  progress  hereafter  not 
Buch  as  you  have  a  right  to  expect,  you  can 
easily  stimulate  a  negligent  translator. 

"  If  any  or  all  of  these  have  contributed 
to  your  discontent,  I  will  endeavour  to  re- 
move it;  and  desire  you  to  propose  the 
question  to  which  you  wish  for  an  answer. 

"  I  am,  sir,  your  humble  servant, 

"Sam.  Johnson." 

"TO  MR.  CAVE. 

[8ept.  17».] 
"  Sir, — I  am  pretty  much  of  your  opin- 
ion, that  the  Commentary  cannot  be  pros- 
ecuted with  any  appearance  of  success: 
for  as  the  names  of  the  authours  concerned 
are  of  more  weight  in  the  performance  than 
its  own  intrisick  merit,  the  publick  will  be 
soon  satisfied  with  it.  And  I  think  the  Ex- 
amen  should  be  pushed  forward  with  the 
utmost  expedition.  Thus, '  This  day,  &c. 
An  Examen  of  Mr.  Pope's  Essay,  &c.  con- 
taining a  succinct  Account  of  the  Philoso- 
phy of  Mr.  Leibnitz  on  the  System  of  the 
Fatalists,  with  a  Confutation  of  their  Opin- 
ions, and  an  Illustration  of  the  Doctrine  of 
Free-will;'  (with  what  else  you  think  pro- 
per).  

Cave  may  have  sent  some  verses  of  another  corres- 
pondent, on  Lady  Firebrace,  to  Johnson  to  cor- 
rect or  curtail.  It  is  next  to  impossible  that  they 
could  be  originally  Johnson's  own;  and  h  may 
abo  be  observed,  that  Boswell  does  not  afterwards 
mention  them  in  his  list  of  Johnson's  contribu- 
tions to  the  magazine. — En.] 

3  Du  Halde's  Description  of  China  was  then 
publishing  by  Mr.  Cave  in  weekly  numbers,  whence 
Johnson  was  to  select  pieces  for  the  embellish- 
ment of  the  magazine. — Nichols. 

4  A  premium  of  forty  pounds  proposed  for  the 
best  poem  on  the  divine  attributes  is  here  alluded 
to. — Nichols.  [See  note  p.  88,  as  to  a  similar 
premium. — Ed.] 


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53 


"  It  will,  above  all,  be  necessary  to  take 
notice,  that  it  is  a  thing  distinct  from  the 
Commentary. 

"  I  was  so  far  from  imagining  they  *  stood 
still,  that  I  conceived  them  to  have  a  good 
deal  beforehand,  and  therefore  was  less  anx- 
ious in  providing  them  more.  But  if  ever 
they  stand  still  on  my  account,  it  must 
doubtless  be  charged  to  me;  and  whatever 
else  shall  be  reasonable,  I  shall  not  oppose; 
but  beg  a  suspension  of  judgement  till  morn- 
ing, when  I  must  entreat  you  to  send  me  a 
dozen  proposals9,  and  you  shall  then  have 
copy  to  spare.  I  am,  sir,  yours,  impransus, 
"  Sam.  Johnson. 

"  Pray  muster  up  the  Proposals,  if  you 
can,  or  let  the  boy  recal  them  from  the  book* 
sellers." 

Bat  although  he  corresponded  with  Mr. 
Cave  concerning  a  translation  of  Crousaz's 
Examen  of  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  and  gave 
advice  as  one  anxious  for  its  success,  I  was 
long  ago  convinced  by  a  perusal  of  the  Pre- 
face, that  this  translation  was  erroneously 
ascribed  to  him;  and  I  have  found  this  point 
ascertained  beyond  all  doubt,  by  the  follow- 
ing article  in  Dr.  Birch's  Manuscripts  in  the 
British  Museum. 

"  Elisa  Ca*terje,  S.  P.  D.  Thomas 
BiacH. 

"  Versionem  tspam  Examinis  Crousazv- 
anijamperlegi.  Summam  $tyli  etelegan- 
Ham,  ettnre  difficiUima  proprietatem,  ad- 
ssjarsjltf*. 

"  Dabam  Novemh.  27°,  1738." 

Indeed  Mrs.  Carter  has  lately  acknow- 
ledged to  Mr.  Seward,  that  she  was  the 
translator  of  the  "  Examen  3." 

1  The  compositors  in  Mr.  Cave's  printing-office, 
who  appear  by  this  letter  to  have  then  waited  for 
copy. — Nichols. 

*  (These  were,  no  doubt,  the  proposals  for  the 
translation  of  Father  Paul;  and  as  Johnson  seems 
to  ask  lor  them  as  affording  him  a  pecuniary  re- 
source, they  must  have  been  the  proposals  for  the 
large  paper,  for  which,  as  we  see  by  the  preced- 
ing note,  (p.  51.)  one  guinea  was  payable  at  the 
time  of  subscribing;  and  it  may  be  concluded  that 
Cave  was  more  ready  to  make  advances  to  his  au- 
thor in  this  paper  than  in  cash. — Ed.] 

*  [There  m  no  doubt  that  Miss  Carter  was  the 
translator  of  the  Examination,  &c,  but  it  is  not 
so  certain  that  Johnson  was  not  himself,  at  the 
date  of  this  letter,  employed  on  a  similar  work, 
in  which  he  preferred  keeping  the  Latin  title  of 
an  Examen.  The  work  Johnson  alludes  to,  was 
no  doubt  to  have  been  printed  by  Cave — Miss 
Carter's  was  printed  by  A.  Dodd.  So  that  un- 
less Dodd  was  a  prite^nom  to  Cave,  it  might  be 
mfeired  that  Johnson  was  employed  on  a  transla- 
tion which  gave  way  to  Miss  Carter's;  but,  as  I 
find  in  Cave's  Magazine  for  September  Miss  Car- 
ter's Examination  announced  by  an  anticipatory 
advertisement  (very  unusual  in  that  magazine),  as 
"  being  in  the  press,  and  speedily  to  be  publish- 


It  is  remarkable,  that  Johnson's  last  quot- 
ed letter  to  Mr.  Cave  concludes  with  a  fair 
confession  that  he  had  not  a  dinner;  and  it 
is  no  less  remarkable,  that  though  in  this 
state  of  want  himself,  his  benevolent  heart 
was  not  insensible  to  the  necessities  of  an 
humble  labourer  in  literature,  as  appears 
from  the  very  next  letter, 

"to  MR.  CAVE. 

[N9  date.] 

"  Dear  sir, — You  may  remember  I  have 
formerly  talked  with  you  about  a  Military 
Dictionary.  The  eldest  Mr.  Macbean,  who 
was  with  Mr.  Chambers,  has  very  good 
materials  for  such  a  work,  which  I  have 
seen,  and  will  do  it  at  a  very  low  rate  4.  I 
think  the  terms  of  war  and  navigation  might 
he  comprised,  with  good  explanations,  in 
one  8vo,  pica,  which  he  is  willing  to  do  for 
twelve  shillings  a  sheet,  to  be  made  up  a 
guinea  at  the  second  impression.  If  you 
think  on  it,  I  will  wait  on  you  with  him.  I 
am,  sir,  your  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson. 

"  Pray  lend  me  Topsel  on  Animals." 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention,  that  this 
Mr.  Macbean  was  a  native  of  Scotland5. 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  of  this 
year,  Johnson  gave  a  Life  of  Father  Paul  * 
(p.  583);  and  he  wrote  the  Preface  to  the 
Volume  f>  which,  though  prefixed  to  it 
when  bound,  is  always  published  with  the 
Appendix,  and  is  therefore  the  last  compo- 
sition belonging  to  it.  The  ability  and 
nice  adaptation  with  which  he  could  draw  up 
a  prefatory  address,  was  one  of  his  peculiar 
excellencies. 

It  appears  too,  that  he  paid  a  friendly  at- 
tention to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Carter:  [and he- 
sides  the  interest  which  it  seems  probable 
that  he  took  in  her  translation  or 
the  Examen,}  I  find,  in  a  letter  from  BD' 
Mr.  Cave  to  Dr.  Birch,  November  28,  this 
year, 

"  Mr.  Johnson  advises  Miss  C.  to  under- 
take a  translation  of  Boetkius  de  Cons,  be- 
cause there  is  prose  and  verse,  and  to  put 
her  name  to  it  when  published. n 

This  advice  was  not  followed :  probably 
from  an  apprehension  that  the  work  was 
not  sufficiently  popular  for  an  extensive 
sale,  How  well  Johnson  himself  could 
have  executed  a  translation  of  this  philoso- 


ed,"  I  conclude,  that  Dodd  was  employed  by 
Cave;  that  the  above  letter  refers  to  Miss  Carter's 
translation;  and  that  the  anticipatory  advertisement 
(though  not  in  the  words  famished"  by  Johnson) 
was  published  in  pursuance  of  the  suggestion  in 
his  letter  to  Cave.— En.] 

«  This  book  was  published. — Boswell. 

*  [Mr.  Boswell's  nationality  delights  in  show- 
ing that  Johnson's  prejudices  did  not  prevent  his 
employing  and  recommending  Scotchmen. — En-3 


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1788.— JETAT.  id. 


pbic  poet,  we  may  judge  from  the  following 
specimen  which  he  has  given  in  the  Ram* 
bier:  {Motto  to  No.  7.) 

«« O  qui  perpetna  mnndnm  ratione  gubemas, 

Terninim  antique  sator! 

Disjice  terrene  nebulas  et  pondera  motis, 
Atqne  tao  splendors  mica!  Tu  namque  serenum, 
Tu  iequies  tranquilla  pus.     Te  cemere  finis, 
Principhun,  vector,  dux,  semita, 


1 0  thou  whose  power  o'er  moving  worlds  pre- 


Whose  voice  created,  and  whose  wisdom  guides, 
On  darkling  man  in  pure  effulgence  shine, 
And  cheer  the  clouded  mind  with  light  divine. 
Tis  thine  alone  to  calm  the  pious  breast, 
With  silent  confidence  and  holy  rest; 
FVom  thee,  great  God!  we  spring,  to  thee  we  tend, 
Path,  motive,  guide,  original,  and  end!" 

B  [He  addressed  to  her,  in  the  Maga- 

*"•  zine  for  April,  1738 1,  an  epigram  to 
Eliza*,  both  in  Greek  and  Latin  (p.  310); 
and  probably,  also,  the  following  Latin  epi- 
gram in  that  for  July  (p.  972) : 

"  Elysios  Popi  dum  ludit  lata  per  hortos, 
En  avida  lauros  carph  Elisa  manu. 

Nil  opus  fiirto.  Lauros  tibi,  dulcis  Elisa, 
Si  neget  optata  Popus,  Apollo  dabit" 

This  year's  Magazine  also  contains  the 
celebrated  Latin  epigram  "  To  a  ladV  (Miss 
Maria  Aston)  wno  spoke  in  Defence  of 
Liberty"  (p.  311);  and  a  Greek  epigram 
to  "  Doctor  Birch"  (p.  654).] 

In  1739,  besides  the  assistance  which  he 
gave  to  the  Parliamentary  Debates,  his 
writings  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine 
were,  "  The  Life  of  Boerhaave  •"  (p.  87), 
in  which  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  he  discov- 
ers that  love  of  chymistry  which  never  for- 
sook him;  "An  appeal  to  the  Publick  in 
behalf  of  the  Editorf"  (p.  Ill);  "An  Ad- 
dress to  the  Reader  t"  (p.  223): 
"English  verses  to  Eliza#*;"  [and 


Bo. 


1  [It  seems  extraordinary  that  Mr.  Boswell, 
with  all  his  research  and  accuracy,  should  have 
stated  that  the  epigrams  to  Eliza  and  Dr.  Birch 
are  to  be  found  in  the  volume  for  1739,  instead  of 
that  for  1738,  and  should  have  omitted  the  ac- 
knowledged epigram  on  Maria,  and  not  even  no- 
ticed the  epigram  on  Eliza  gathering  laurels  in 
Pope's  garden,  which  there  is  every  reason  for 
supposing  to  be  his.  Johnson  might  even  have 
accompanied  his  young  friend  to  visit  Pope's  villa, 
and  been  a  witness  to  the  incident — En.] 

*  [I  have  permitted  this  statement  to  remain  in 
the  text,  though  I  can  find  in  the  Magazine  for 
1739  but  one  copy  of  English  verses  to  Eliza. 
They  are  in  December,  and  signed  Jlmatius, 
which  is  the  signature  of  some  other  pieces  now 
known  to  have  been  written  by  Collin*;  but  as 
Boswell  erroneously  attributed  the  Greek  and  La- 
tin verses  to  Eliza  to  this  year,  the  English  verses 
may,  like  the  others,  have  belonged  to  1738; 
though  even  in  that  volume  I  can  find  nothing  ad- 


probably3  the  following  Latin  Epigram  to 
Dr.  Birch  •  (p.  2): 

"In  Birchium. 
Arte  nova  rar&que  fide  perscripserat  ausus 

Birchius  egregios  claraque  gesta  viruni. 
Hunc  oculis  veri  Fantrix  lustravh  acutis, 

Et  placido  tandem  hoc  edidit  ore,  Dea: 
'Perge  modo,  atqne  tuas  olim  post  funera  laudes 

Qui  scribat  meritas  Birchius  alter  erit*  " 

It  has  been  erroneously  supposed,  that  an 
Essay  published  in  that  Magazine  this  year, 
entitled  "  The  Apotheosis  of  Milton,"  was 
written  by  Johnson;  and  on  that  supposi- 
tion it  has  been  improperly  inserted  in  the 
edition  of  his  works  by  the  booksellers,  af- 
ter his  decease.  Were  there  no  positive  tes- 
timony as  to  this  point,  the  style  of  the  per- 
formance, and  the  name  of  Shakspeare  not 
being  mentioned  in  an  Essay  professedly  re- 
viewing the  principal  English  poets,  would 
ascertain  it  not  to  be  the  projection  of  John- 
son. But  there  is  here  no  occasion  to  re- 
sort to  internal  evidence;  for  my  Lord  Bish- 
op of  Salisbury  (Dr.  Douglas}  has  assured 
me  that  it  was  written  by  Guthrie.  He  al- 
so published,  separately,  "  A  Complete  Vin- 
dication of  the  Licensers  of  the  Stage,  from 
the  malicious  and  scandalous  Aspersions  of 
Mr.  Brooke,  Authour  of  Gustavus  Vasa  •;" 
being  an  ironical  attack  upon  them  for  their 
suppression  of  that  tragedy.  [This 
interposition  of  legal  authority  was  H-5Jk* 
looked  upon  by  Mr.  Brooke's  p' 
friends,  in  which  number  were  included  all 
the  Jacobites  in  the  kingdom,  as  an  infrac- 
tion of  a  natural  right,  and  as  affecting  the 
cause  of  liberty.  To  express  their  resent* 
ment  of  this  injury,  they  advised  him  to  send 
it  to  the  press  «,  and  by  a  subscription  to  the 
publication,  of  near  a  thousand  persons,  en- 
couraged others  to  the  like  attempts.  Up- 
on occasion  of  this  publication,  Johnson 
was  employed  by  one  Corbet,  a  bookseller 
of  small  note,  to  take  up  the  cause  of  this 
injured  author,  and  he  did  it  in  this  pam- 
phlet. In  the  course  of  this  mock  vindica- 
tion of  power,  Johnson  has  taken  a  wide 


dressed  to  Eliza  in  English  which  could  be  John- 
son's, except  a  translation  of  his  own  (as  I  con- 
ceive) Latin  epigram  on  the  gathering  Pope's  lau- 
rels. It  is  not  easy  to  account  for  the  inaccuracy 
with  which  Mr.  Boswell  confounds  these  two 
yean. — Ed.] 

3  [My  chief  reasons  for  supposing  this  Latin  epi- 
gram to  be  Johnson's  are,  that  it  is  a  version  of  Ins 
own  acknowledged  Greek  epigram  which  appeared 
in  the  preceding  Magazine,  and  that  he  had  follow- 
ed his  Greek*  epigram  on  Eliza  with  a  Latin 
paraphrase  in  the  same  style  as  this. — Ed.] 

4  [Mr.  Brooke  appears  to  have  circulated  MS. 
copies  of  Gustavus  Vasa  before  it  was  complet- 
ed.— I  have  one  of  these  presentation  copies. — 

DISRAKLI.] 


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scope,  and  adopted  all  the  vulgar  topicks  of 
complaint.] 

He  also  published  "  Marmor  Norfolciense; 
or  an  Essay  on  an  ancient  prophetical  In* 
ecription,  in  monkish  Rhyme,  lately  discov- 
ered near  Lynne,  in  Norfolk,  by  ProbusBrit- 
annicus*."  In  this  latter  performance,  he, 
in  a  feigned  inscription,  supposed  to  hare 
been  found  in  Norfolk,  the  county  of  Sir 
Robert  Walpoie,  then  the  obnoxious  prime 
minister  of  this  country,  inveighs  against 
the  Brunswick  succession,  and  the  measures 
of  government  consequent  upon  it.  To 
this  supposed  prophecy  he  added  a  Com- 
mentary, making  each  expression  apply  to 
the  times,  with  warm  Anti-Hanoverian  zeal. 

This  anonymous  pamphlet,  I  believe,  did 
not  make  so  much  noise  as  was  expected, 
and,  therefore,  had  not  a  very  extensive  cir- 
culation. Sir  John  Hawkins  relates  that 
"  warrants  were  issued,  and  messengers  em- 
ployed to  apprehend  the  author;  who, 
though  he  had  forborne  to  subscribe  his 
name  to  the  pamphlet,  the  vigilance  of  those 
in  pursuit  or  him  had  discovered;"  and  we 
are  informed  that  he  lay  concealed  in  Lam- 
beth-marsh till  the  scent  after  him  grew  cold. 
This,  however,  is  altogether  without  found- 
ation, for  Mr.  Steele,  one  of  the  secretaries 
of  the  treasury,  who,  amidst  a  variety  of 
important  business,  politely  obliged  me  with 
his  attention  to  my  inquiry,  informed  me 
that  "  he  directed  every  possible  search  to 
be  made  in  the  records  or  the  treasury  and 
secretary  of  state's  office,  but  could  find  no 
trace  whatever  of  any  warrant  having  been 
issued  to  apprehend  the  authour  of  this  pam- 
phlet." 

«*  Marmor  Norfolciense"  became  exceed- 
ingly scarce,  so  that  I  for  many  years  en- 
deavoured in  vain  to  procure  a  copy  of  it. 
At  last  I  was  indebted  to  the  malice  of  one 
of  Johnson's  numerous  petty  adversaries, 
who,  in  1775,  published  a  new  edition  of  it, 
"with  Notes»and  a  Dedication  to  Samuel 
Johnson,  LL.  D.  by  Tribunus;"  in  which 
some  puny  scribbler  invidiously  attempted 
to  found  upon  it  a  charge  or  inconsistency 
against  its  authour,  because  he  had  accepted 
of  a  pension  from  his  present  majesty,  and 
had  written  in  support  of  the  measures  of 
government.  As  a  mortification  to  such 
impotent  malice,  of  which  there  are  so 
many  instances  towards  men  of  eminence, 
I  am  happy  to  relate,  that  this  telutn  imbelle 
did  not  reach  its  exalted  object  till  about  a 
year  after  it  thus  appeared,  when  I  men- 
tioned it  to  him,  supposing  that  he  knew  of 
the  re-publication.  To  my  surprise  he  had 
not  yet  heard  of  it.    He  requested  me  to 

S>  directly  and  get  it  for  him,  which  I  did. 
e  looked  at  it  and  laughed,  and  seemed  to 
be  much  diverted  with  the  feeble  efforts 
of  his  unknown  adversary,  who,  I  hope,  is 
ahve  to  read  this  account.    "  Now  (said  he) 


here  is  somebody  who  thinks  he  has  vexed 
me  sadly:  yet  if  it  had  not  been  for  vou, 
you  rogue,  I  should  probably  never  have 
seen  it." 

[These  two  satirical  pamphlets 
were,  Sir  J.  Hawkins  thinks,  in  some  J'm,  w. 
degree  prompted  by  the  principle 
which  Johnson  frequently  declared  to  be  the 
only  true  genuine  motive  to  writing,  name- 
ly, pecuniary  profit.  This  principle  was 
not  only  avowed  by  Johnson,  but  seems  to 
have  been  wrought  by  him  into  a  habit. 
He  was  never  greedy  of  money,  but  with- 
out money  could  not  be  stimulated  to  write. 

Tet  was  he  not  so  indifferent  to  the  sub* 
jects  that  he  was  requested  to  write  on,  as 
at  any  time  to  abandon  either  his  religious 
or  political  principles.  He  would  no  more 
have  put  his  name  to  an  Arianor  Socinian 
tract  than  to  a  defence  of  Atheism.  At  the 
time  when  "  Faction  Detected"  came  out, 
a  pamphlet  of  which  the  late  Lord  Egmont 
is  now  generally  understood  to  have  been 
the  authour,  Osborne,  the  bookseller,  held 
out  to  him  a  strong  temptation  to  answer  it, 
which  he  refused,  being  convinced,  as  he 
assured  Sir  J.  Hawkins,  that  the  charge 
contained  in  it  was  made  good,  and  that  the 
argument  grounded  thereon  was  unanswer- 

The  truth  is,  that  Johnson's  po- 
litical prejudices  were  a  mist  that  J^jj, 
the  eye  or  his  judgement  could  not  * 
penetrate:  in  all  the  measures  of  Walpole's 
government  he  could  see  nothing  right;  nor 
could  he  be  convinced,  in  his  invectives 
against  a  standing  army,  as  the  Jacobites  af- 
fected to  call  it,  that  the  peasantry  of  a 
country  was  not  an  adequate  defence  against 
an  invasion  of  it  by  an  armed  force.  He  al- 
most asserted  in  terms,  that  the  succession 
to  the  crown  had  been  illegally  interrupted, 
and  that  from  whig-politicks  none  of  the 
benefits  of  government  could  be  expected. 
From  hence  it  appears,  and  to  his  honour 
be  it  said,  that  his  principles  co-operated 
with  his  necessities,  and  that  pro$tituti on 
of  his  talents  could  not,  injustice,  be  imput- 
ed to  him.  1 

As  Mr.  rope's  note  concerning  Johnson, 
alluded  to  in  a  former  page,  refers  both  to 
his  "  London,"  and  his  "Marmor  Norfol- 
ciense," I  have  deferred  inserting  it  till  now. 
I  am  indebted  for  it  to  Dr.  Percy,  the  bishop 
of  Dromore,  who  permitted  me  to  copy  it 
from  the  original  in  his  possession.  It  was 
presented  to  his  lordship  by  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds, to  whom  it  was  given  by  the  son  of 
Mr.  Richardson  the  painter,  the  person  to 
whom  it  is  addressed.  I  have  transcribed 
it  with  minute  exactness,  that  the  peculiar 
mode  of  writing,  and  imperfect  spelling  of 
that  celebrated  poet,  may  be  exhibited  to 
the  curious  in  literature.  It  justifies  Swift's 
epithet  of  "  paper-sparing  Pope,"  for  it  is 


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1789.— ^ETAT.  30. 


written  on  a  slip  no  larger  than  a  common 
message-card,  and  was  sent  to  Mr  Richard- 
son, along  with  the  imitation  of  Juvenal. 
*  "  This  is  imitated  by  one  Johnson  who 
put  in  for  a  Publick-school  in  Shropshire  *, 
but  was  disappointed.  He  has  an  infirmity 
of  the  convulsive  kind,  that  attacks  him 
sometimes,  so  as  to  make  Him  a  sad  Spec- 
tacles. Mr.  P.  from  the  Merit  of  This 
Work  which  was  all  the  knowledge  he  had 
of  Him3  endeavoured  to  serve  Him  without 
his  own  application;  &  wrote  to  my  IA 
gore,  but  he  did  not  succeed.  Mr.  Johnson 
published  afterw^.  another  Poem  in  Latin 
with  Notes  the  whole  very  Humerous 
call'd  the  Norfolk  Prophecy.  "P." 

Johnson  had  been  told  of  this  note;  and  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  informed  him  of  the  com- 
pliment which  it  contained,  but,  from  deli- 
cacy, avoided  showing  him  the  paper  itself. 
When  Sir  Joshua  observed  to  Johnson  that 
he  seemed  very  desirous  to  see  Pope's  note, 
he  answered,  "  Who  would  not  be  proud  to 
have  such  a  man  as  Pope  so  solicitous  in 
inquiring  about  him?" 

The  infirmity  to  which  Mr.  Pope  alludes, 
appeared  to  me  also,  as  will  be  here- 
17?5L  alter  observed,  to  be  of  the  convul- 
sive kind,  and  of  the  nature  of  that 
distemper  called  St.  Vitus's  dance;  and  in 
this  opinion  I  am  confirmed  by  the  descrip- 
tion which  Sydenham  gives  of  that  disease. 
"  This  disorder  is  a  kind  of  convulsion.  It 
manifests  itself  by  halting  or  unsteadiness 
of  one  of  the  legs,  which  the  patient  draws 
after  him  like  an  idiot.  If  the  hand  of  the 
same  side  be  applied  to  the  breast,  or  any 
other  part  of  the  body,  he  cannot  keep  it  a 
moment  in  the  same  posture,  but  it  will 
be  drawn  into  a  different  one  by  a  convul- 
sion, notwithstanding  all  his  efforts  to  the 
contrary."  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  howev- 
er, was  of  a  different  opinion,  and  favoured 
me  with  the  following  paper: 

"  Those  motions  or  tricks  of  Dr.  John- 
son are  improperly  called  convulsions.  He 
could  sit  motionless  when  he  was  told  so  to 
do,  as  well  as  any  other  man.  My  opinion 
is,  that  it  proceeded  from  a  habit4  which  he 


1  [This  has  been  supposed  to  be  an  error,  as 
Appleby  is  in  Leicester:  but  see  ante,  p.  60, 
where  it  is  suggested  that  Johnson  may  have  "put 
in"  for  a  school  in  Shropshire,  as  well  as  for  tfce 
school  in  Leicestershire. — Ed.] 

*  [It  is  clear  that,  as  Johnson  advanced  in  life, 
these  convulsive  infirmities,  though  never  entirely 
absent,  were  so  for  subdued  that  he  could  not  be 
called  a  tad  spectacle.  We  have  seen  that  he 
was  rejected  from  two  schools  on  account  of  these 
distortions,  which  in  his  latter  years  were  certainly 
not  violent  enough  to  excite  disgust. — En.] 

3  [This  seems  hardly  consistent  with  the  story 
(told  ante,  p,  21.)  of  Pope's  approbation  of  John- 
son's translation  of  his  Messiah. — Ed.] 

4  Sir  Joshua  Reynold's  notion  on  this  subject 


had  indulged  himself  in,  of  accompanying 
his  thoughts  with  certain  untoward  actions, 
and  those  actions  always  appeared  to  me 
as  if  they  were  meant  to  reprobate  some 
part  of  his  past  conduct.  Whenever  he 
was  not  engaged  in  conversation,  such 
thoughts  were  sure  to  rush  into  his  mind  j 
and,  for  this  reason,  any  company,  any  em- 
ployment whatever,  he  preferred  to  being1 
alone.  The  great  business  of  his  life  (he 
said)  was  to  escape  from  himself.  This 
disposition  he  considered  as  the  disease  of 
his  mind,  which  nothing  cured  hut  com* 
pany. 

"  One  instance  of  his  absence  of  mind  and 
particularity,  as  it  is  characteristick  of  the 
man,  may  be  worth  relating.  When  he  and 
I  took  a  journey  together  into  the  west,  we 
visited  the  late  Mr.  Bankes,  of  Dorsetshire; 
the  conversation  turning  upon  pictures, 
which  Johnson  could  not  well  see,  he  retired 
to  a  corner  of  the  room,  stretching  out  his 
right  leg  as  far  as  he  could  reach  before 
him,  then  bringing  up  his  left  leg,  and 
stretching  his  right  still  further  on.  The 
old  gentleman  observing  him,  went  up  to 
him,  and  in  a  very  courteous  manner  assur- 
ed him,  though  it  was  not  a  new  house, 
the  flooring  was  perfectly  safe.  The  Doc- 
tor started  from  his  reverie,  like  a  person 
waked  out  of  his  sleep,  but  spoke  not  a 
word." 

While  we  are  on  this  subject,  my  readers 
may  not  be  displeased  with  another  anec- 
dote, communicated  to  me  by  the  same 
friend,  from  the  relation  of  Mr.  Hogarth. 

Johnson  used  to  be  a  pretty  frequent  vis* 
itor  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Richardson  5,  au- 
thor of  Clarissa,  and  other  novels  of  exten- 
sive reputation.  Mr.  Hogarth  came  one 
day  to  see  Richardson,  soon  after  the  exe- 
cution of  Dr.  Cameron,  for  having  taken 
arms  for  the  house  of  Stuart  in  1745-6;  and 
being  a  warm  partisan  of  George  the  Se- 
cond, he  observed  to  Richardson,  that  cer- 
tainly there  must  have  been  some  very  un- 
favourable circumstances  lately  discovered 
in  this  particular  case,  which  had  induced 
the  king  to  approve  of  an  execution  for  re- 
bellion so  long  after  the  time  when  it  was 
committed,  as  this  had  the  appearance  of 
putting  a  man  to  death  in  cold  bloody  and 


is  confirmed  by  what  Johnson  himself  said  to  a 
young  lady,  the  niece  of  his  friend  Christopher 
Smart  See  a  note  by  Mr.  Boswell  on  some  par- 
ticulars communicated  by  Reynolds,  under  March 
80,  1783. — Malone. 
*  [See  ante,  p.  49.— -Ed*]  * 

6  Impartial  posterity  may,  perhaps,  be  as  UV 
tie  inclined  as  Dr.  Johnson  was  to  justify  the  on- 
common  rigour  exercised  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Archi- 
bald Cameron.  He  was  an  amiable  and  truly 
honest  man;  and  his  offence  was  owing  to  a  gen- 
erous, though  mistaken  principle  of  duty.  Being 
obliged,  after  1746,  to  give  up  his  profession  as  a 


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67 


was  wr  unlike  his  majesty's  usual  clemen- 
cy, miile  he  was  talking,  he  perceived  a 
person  standing  at  a  window  in  the  room, 
shaking  his  head,  and  rolling  himself  about 
in  a  strange  ridiculous  manner.  He  con- 
cluded that  he  was  an  idiot,  whom  his  re- 
lations had  put  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Rich- 
ardson, as  a  very  good  man.  To  his  great 
surprise,  however,  this  figure  stalked  for- 
wards to  where  he  and  Mr.  Richardson  were 
sitting,  and  all  at  once  took  up  the  ar- 
gument, and  burst  out  into  an  invective 
against  George  the  Second,  as  one  who, 
upon  all  occasions,  was  unrelenting  and 
barbarous;  mentioning  many  instances,  par- 
ticularly ,  that  when  an  officer  of  high  rank 
had  been  acquitted  by  a  court-martial, 
George  the  Second  had  with  his  own  hand 
struck  his  name  off  the  list  K  In  short,  he 
displayed  such  a  power  of  eloquence,  that 
Hogarth  looked  at  him  with  astonishment, 
and  actually  imagined  that  this  idiot  had 
been  at  the  moment  inspired.  Neither 
Hogarth  nor  Johnson  were  made  known  to 
^~  each  other  at  this  interview.  [They 
^frft  afterwards,  as  we  learn  from  Mrs. 
Piozzi,  became  better  acquainted. 
"  Johnson,'9  she  adds,  "  made  four  lines  on 
the  death  of  poor  Hogarth,  which  were 
equally  true  and  pleasing:  I  know  not  why 
Garrick's  were  preferred  to  them, 

*  The  hand  of  him  here  torpid  Ha, 

That  drew  the  essential  form  of  grace; 
Here  clos'd  m  death  the  attentive  eyes, 
Tint  saw  the  manners  in  the  face.'  " 

Mr.  Hogarth,  among  a  variety  of  kind- 
nesses shown  to  Mrs.  Piozzi,  was  used  to 
be  very  earnest  that  she  should  obtain  the 
acquaintance,  and  if  possible,  the  friendship, 

,  and  to  go  into*  foreign  parts,  he  was 
I  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  both  in  the 
French  and  Spanish  service,  He  was  a  son  of 
the  ancient  and  respectable  family  of  Cameron,  of 
Lochia!;  and  hsj  brother,  who  was  the  chief  of 
that  brave  clan,  distinguished  himself  by  modera- 
tion and  humanity,  while  the  Highland  army 
marched  victorious  through  Scotland.  It  is  re- 
markable of  this  chief,  that  though  he  had  earnest- 
ly remonstrated  again**  the  attempt  as  hopeless, 
be  was  of  too  heroic  a  spirit  not  to  venture  his  life 
and  fortune  in  the  cause,  when  personally  asked  by 
him  whom  he  thought  his  prince. — Boswell.  * 
1  fJDr.  Cameron  was  executed  on  the  7th  June, 
1763.  No  instance  can  be  traced  in  the  War  or 
Admiralty  Offices  of  any  officer  of  high  rank  be- 
ing struck  out  of  the  list  about  that  period,  after 
acquittal  by  a  court-martial.  It  may  be  surmised 
that  Mr.  Hogarth's  statement,  or  .Sir  Joshua's  re- 

Sof  it,  was  not  quite  accurate  in  details,  and 
Jotfsjpn  alluded  to  the  case  of  his  friend 
General  Oglethorpe,  wboy  after  acquitted  by  a 
court-martial,  was  (to  use  a  vulgar  but  expres- 
sive phrase)  jrut  upon  the  sAefyfr— See  onle,  p. 
48.— Ed.] 

vol.  I.  8 


of  Dr.  Johnson,  whose  conversation  was 
(he  said)  to  the  talk  of  other  men,  like  Ti- 
tian's painting  compared  to  Hudson's.  Of 
Dr.  Johnson,  when  that  lady's  father  and 
Hogarth  were  talking  together  about  him 
one  day,  the  latter  said,  "  That  man  is  not 
contented  with  believing  the  Bible,  but  he 
fairly  resolves,  I  think,  to  believe  nothing 
but  the  Bible. "  Johnson  (added  he) ,  though 
so  wise  a  fellow,  is  more  like  king  Dsvid 
than  king  Solomon;  for  he  says,  in  his  haste, 
that  all  men  are  liars.] 

In  1740  he  wrote  for  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  "  the  Preface  t2;"  "  the  Life  of 
Admiral  Blake#"  Q>.  801);  and  the  first 
parts  of  those  of "  Sir  Francis  Drake*  (p. 
389), and  Philip  Barretier*"  3  (p.  612);  both 
which  he  finished  the  following  year.  He 
also  wrote  an  "  Essay  on  Epitaphs*"  (p. 
593);  and  an  "  Epitaph  on  Philips,  a  mu- 
sician*" (p.  4C4);  wnich  was  afterwards 
Published ;  with  some  other  pieces  of  his,  in 
Irs.  Williams's  Miscellanies.  This  epitaph 
is  so  exquisitely  beautiful,  that  I  remember 
even  Lord  Karnes4,  strangely  prejudiced  as 
he  was  against  Dr.  Johnson,  was  compell- 
ed to  allow  it  very  hiyh  praise.  It  has  been 
ascribed  to  Mr.  Garrick,  from  its  appearing 
at  first  with  the  signature  G;  but  I  have 
heard  Mr.  Garrick  declare,  that  it  was  writ- 
ten by  Dr.  Johnson,  and  give  the  following 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  com- 
posed. Johnson  and  he  were  sitting  to- 
gether; when,  amongst  other  things,  Gar- 
rick repeated  an  epitaph  upon  this  Philips 
by  a  Dr.  Wilkes,  in  these  words: 


*  [This  Preface  is,  in  fact,  a  learned  essay 
"  on  the  Acta  Diurna"  of  the  old  Romans,  and 
has  little  of  Johnson's  manner.— Ed.] 

*  [His  attention  was  probably  drawn  to  Barretier, 
by  his  friend  Miss  Carter,  with  whom  that  ingen- 
ious young  man  corresponded. — He  died  in  1740; 
and  Johnson  begins  the  life  in  the  magazine  of  that 
year  by  stating  that "  he  had  few  materials  for  his 
work  but  the  tetters  of  Barretier's  father,"  which, 
probably,  were  communicated  by  Miss  Carter. 
In  1742,  however,  Mr.  Barretier,  senior,  trans- 
mitted to  that  lady  a  life  of  his  son,  printed,  as  it 
seems,  by  his  friends;  and,  in  1742,  we  find  Dr. 
Johnson  re-writing  his  life,  with  large  additions. 
Not  having  seen  the  foreign  life,  the  Editor  can- 
not say  how  for  Dr.  Johnson  may  have  borrowed 
fiom.it;  but  if  we  were  to  form  an  opinion  of  the 
extent  of  Barretier's  learning,  the  force  of  his 
mind,  or  the  goodness  of  his  taste,  from  what  has 
been  preserved  of  his  correspondence  in  the  life 
of  Miss  Carter  (p.  70—94),  the  praises  lavished 
on  him  by  his  biographer  would  appear  very  ex- 
travagant, and  the  extraordinary  accounts  given 
of  him  seem  rather  those  of  parental  partiality 
than  of  credible  history. — En.] 

4  [Henry  Home,  one  of  the  Lords  of  Session 
in  Scotland,  author  of  the  Elements  of  Criticism, 
Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  and  several 
other  less  celebrated  but  valuable  works.— En,  J 


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58 


1741.— JETAT.  t& 


"  Exalted  soul!  whose  harmony  could  please 
The  love-sick  virgin,  and  the  gouty  ease: 
Could  jarring  discord,  like  Amphion,  move 
To  beauteous  order  and  harmonious  love; 
Rest  here  in  peace,  till  angels  bid  thee  rise, 
And  meet  thy  blessed  Saviour  in  the  skies.'* 

Johnson  shook  his  head  at  these  common- 
place funeral  lines,  and  said  to  Garrick,  f '  I 
think,  Davy,  I  can  make  abetter."  Then, 
stirring  about  his  tea  for  a  little  while,  in  a 
state  of  meditation,  he  almost  extempore 
produced  the  following  verses: 

"  Philips,  whose  touch  harmonious  could  remove 
The  pangs  of  guilty  power  or  hapless  love; 
Rest  here,  distress'd  by  poverty  no  more, 
Here  find  the  calm  thou  gav'st  so  oft  before; 
Sleep  undisturb'd,  within  this  peaceful  shrine, 
Till  angels  wake  thee  with  a  note  like  thine  M" 

At  the  same  time  that  Mr.  Garrick  favour- 
ed me  with  this  anecdote,  he  repeated  a 
verypointed  epigram  by  Johnson,  on  George 
the  Second  and  Colley  Cibber,  which  has 
never  yet  appeared,  and  of  which  I  know 
not  the  exact  date.  Dr.  Johnson  afterwards 
gave  it  to  me  himself: 

"  Augustus  still  survives  in  Maro*s  strain, 
.  And  Spenser's  verse  prolongs  Eliza's  reign; 

Great  George's  acts  let  tuneful  Cibber  sing; 

For  Nature  form'd  the  Poet  for  the  King." 

In  1741  he  wrote  for  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  "  the  Prefacef;"  "  Conclusion  of 
his  Lives  of  Drake*  (p.  3S)  and  Barretier*" 
(p.  87);  "  a  free  Translation  of  the  Jests 
of  Hierocles,  with  an  Introductionf "  (p. 
477):  and,  I  think,  the  following  pieces: 
"  Debate  on  the  Proposal  of  Parliament  to 
Cromwell*,  to  assume  the  Title  of  King, 
abridged,  modified,  and  digested  2t"  (p.  94); 
"  Translation  of  Abbe  Guyon's  Disserta- 
tion on  the  Amazonsf"  (p.  202);  "  Trans- 
lation of  Fontenelle's  Panegyrick  on  Dr. 
Morinf"  (p.  375).  Two  notes  upon  this 
appear  to  me  undoubtedly  his.  He  this 
year,  and  the  two  following,  wrote  the  Par- 


1  The  epitaph  of  Philips  is  in  the  porch  of 
Wolverhampton  church.  Mr.  Garrick  appears 
not  to  have  recited  the  verses  correctly;  and  one 
of  the  various  readings  is  remarkable,  as  it  is  the 
germ  of  Johnson's  concluding  line, 

"  And  meet  thy  Saviour's  contort  in  the  skies."— 

Bot  WELL. 

IBy  eonsorty  I  suppose  concert  is  meant;  bnt 
still  I  do  not  see  the  germ  of  Johnson's  thought. 
That  music  may  be  among  the  joys  of  heaven 
has  been  sometimes  suggested;  but  that  the  dead 
were  to  be  "  awakened  by  harmonioua  notes," 
seems  quite  new,  and  not  quite  orthodox. — Ed.] 
*  [This  is  only  a  reprint,  better  arranged,  of  a 
debate,  published  in  1660,  with  a  few  introduc- 
tory sentences  (which  may  be  by  Johnson),  stat- 
ing that  the  editor  had  reduced  the  confusion 
and  intricacies  of  the  original  report  into  a  more 
intelligible  order.  -En.] 


liamentary  Debates.  He  told  me  himself, 
that  he  was  the  sole  composer  of  them  for 
those  three  years  only.  He  was  not,  how- 
ever, precisely  exact  in  his  statement,  which 
he  mentioned  from  hasty  recollection;  for 
it  is  sufficiently  evident  that  his  composition 
of  them  began  November  19, 1740,  and  end- 
ed February  23,  1742-3. 

It  appears  from  some  of  Cave's  letters  to 
Dr.  Birch,  that  Cave  had  better  assistance 
for  that  branch  of  his  Magazine  than  has 
been  generally  supposed;  and  that  he  was 
indefatigable  in  getting  it  made  as  perfect  as 
he  could. 

Thus  21st  July,  1735, 

"  I  trouble  you  with  the  enclosed,  because 
you  said  you  could  easily  correct  what  is 

here  given  for  Lord  C ld?s  speech.     I 

beg  you  will  do  so  as  soon  as  you  can  for 
me,  Decause  the  month  is  far  advanced.5 * 

And  15th  July,  1737, 

"  As  you  remember  the  debates  so  far  as 
to  perceive  the  speeches  already  printed  are 
not  exact,  I  beg  the  favour  that  you  will 
peruse  the  enclosed,  and,  in  the  best  man- 
ner your  memory  will  serve,  correct  the 
mistaken  passages,  or  add  any  thing  that  is 
omitted.     I  should  be  very  glad  to  have 

something  of  the  Duke  of  Pf le^  speech, 

which  would  be  particularly  of  service. 

"A  gentleman  has  Lord  Bathurat's 
speech  to  add  something  to." 

And  July  3,  1744, 

"  You  will  see  what  stupid,  low,  abomi- 
nable stuff  is  puta  upon  your  noble  and 
learned  friend's  4  character,  such  as  I  should 
quite  reject,  and  endeavour  to  do  something 
better  towards  doing  justice  to  the  charac- 
ter. But  as  I  cannot  expect  to  attain  my 
desire  in  that  respect,  it  would  be  a  great 
satisfaction,  as  well  as  an  honour  to  our 
work,  to  have  the'favour  of  the  genuine 
speech.  It  is  a  method  that  several  have 
been  pleased  to  take,  as  I  could  show,  but  I 
think  myself  under  a  restraint.  I  shall  say 
so  far,  that  I  have  had  some  by  a  third 
hand,  which  I  understood  well  enough  to 
come  from  the  first;  others  by  penny-post, 
and  others  by  the  speakers  themselves,  who 
have  been  pleased  to  visit  St.  John's-gate, 
and  show  particular  marks  of  their  being 
pleased.6" 

.  There  is  no  reason,  I  believe,  to  doubt  the  • 
veracity  of-Cave.  It  is,  however,  remark- 
able that  none  of  these  letters  are  in  the 
years  during  which  Johnson  alone  furnish- 
ed the  Debates,  and  one  of  them  is  in  the 
very  year  after  he  ceased  from  that  labour. 
[That  Johnson  was   the  authour  of  the 


•  3  I  suppose  in  another  compilation  of  the  same 
kind. — Boswell. 

4  Doubtless,  Lord  Hard  wick. — Bos  well. 

**  Birch  s  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum,  4302. 
— Bo  8  WELL. 


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59 


-L .  debates  during  that  period  was  not 
J*48"4,  generally  known;  hut  the  secret 
transpired  several  years  afterwards,  and  was 
avowed  by  himself  on  the  following  occa- 
sion. Mr.  Wedderburne  (afterwards  Lord 
Loughborough  and  Earl  of  Rosslyn),  Dr. 
Johnson,  Dr.  Francis  (the  translator  of  Ho- 
race), Mr.  Murphy,  who  relates  the  anec- 
dote, and  others,  dined  with  the  late  Mr. 
Foote.  An  important  debate  towards  the 
end  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole's  administration 
being  mentioned,  Dr.  Francis  observed, 
"that  Mr.  Pitt's  speech1  on  that  occasion 
was  the  best  he  had  ever  read."  He  add- 
ed, "that  he  had  employed  eight  years  of 
his  life  in  the  study  of  Demosthenes,  and 
finished  a  translation  of  that  celebrated  or- 
ator, with  all  the  decorations  of  style  and 
language  within  the  reach  of  his  capacity; 
but  he  had  met  with  nothing  equal  to  the 
speech  above-mentioned."  Many  of  the 
company  remembered  the  debate;  and  some 
passages  were  cited,  with  the  approbation 
and  applause  of  all  present.  During  the  ar- 
dour or  conversation,  Johnson'  remained  si- 
lent. As  soon  as  the  warmth  of  praise  sub- 
skied,  he  opened  with  these  words :  "  That 
speech  I  wrote  in  a  garret  in  Exeter-street." 
The  company  was  struck  with  astonishment. 
After  staring  at  each  other  in  silent  amaze, 
Dr.  Francis  asked  "  how  that  speech  could 
be  written  by  him  ?"  "  Sir,"  said  Johnson, 
"  I  wrote  it  in  Exeter-street 9.  I  never  had 
been  in  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons but  once.  Cave  had  interest  with  the 
door-keepers.  He,  and  the  persons  employ- 
ed under  him,  gained  admittance:  they 
brought  away  the  subject  of  discussion,  the 
names  of  the  speakers,  the  sides  they  took, 
and  the  order  in  which  they  rose,  together 
frith  notes  of  the  arguments  advanced  in  the 
course  o£  the  debate.  The  whole  was  after- 
wards communicated  to  me,  and  I  composed 
the  speeches  in  the  form  which  they  now 
have  in  the  parliamentary  debates."  To  this 
discovery  Dr.  Francis  made  answer:  "Then, 
sir,  you  nave  exceeded  Demosthenes  him- 
self;* for  to  say  that  you  have  exceeded 
Francis's  Demosthenes*  would  be  saying  no^ 
thing."  The  rest  of  the  company  bestow- 
ed lavish  encomiums  on  Johnson :  one,  in 
particular,  praised  his  impartiality;  observ- 
ing that  he  dealt  out  reason  and  eloquence 
with  an  equal  hand  to  both  parties.  "  That 
is  not  quite  true,"  said  Johnson:  "  I  saved 
appearances  tolerably  well,  but  I  took  care 

1  [No  doubt  that  celebrated  reply  to  old  Hor- 
ace Walpole,-  which  begins  "  The  atrocious  crime 
of  being  a  young  man,"  10th  March,  1741. — 
En.] 

9  [There  is  here  boom  inaccuracy;  the  debate 
in  question  was  written  in  1741.  In  Mr.  Bos- 
wefl's  list  of  Johnson's  residences,  he  appears  not 
to  have  resided  in  Exeter-street  after  bis  return  to 
London,  in  1787.— En.] 


that  the  Whig  dogs  should  not  hare  the 
best  of  it."] 

[In  the  perusal  of  these  de-  ?aj2lJ29 
bates,  we  cannot  but  wonder  at 
the  powers  that  produced  them.  The 
authour  had  never  passed  those  grada- 
tions that  lead  to  the  knowledge  of  men  and 
business:  born  to  a  narrow  fortune,  of  no 
profession,  conversant  chiefly  with  books, 
unacquainted  with  the  style  of  any  other 
than  academical  disputation,  and  so  great  a 
stranger  to  senatorial  manners,  that  he  nev- 
er was  within  the  walls  of  either  house  of 
parliament.  That  a  man,  under  these  dis- 
advantages, should  be  able  to  frame  a  system 
of  debate,  to  compose  speeches  of  such  ex- 
cellence, both  in  matter3  and  form,  as  scarce- 
ly to  be  equalled  by  those  of  the  most  able 
and  experienced  statesmen,  is,  I  say,  matter 
of  astonishment,  and  a  proof  of  talents  that 
qualified  him  for  a  speaker  in  the  most  au- 
gust assembly  on  earth. 

Cave,  who  had  no  idea  of  the  powers  of 
eloquence  over  the  human  mind,  became 
sensible  of  its  effects  in  the  profits  it  brought 
him :  he  had  long  thought  that  the  success 
of  his  Magazine  proceeded  from  those  parts 
of  it  that  were  conducted  by  himself,  which 
were  the  abridgement  of  weekly  papers  writ- 
ten against  the  ministry,  such  as  the  Crafts- 
man, Fog's  Journal,  Common  Sense,  the 
Weekly  Miscellany,  the  Westminster  Jour- 
nal, and  others,  and  also  marshalling  the 
pastorals,  the  elegies,  and  the  songs,  the 
epigrams,  and  the  rebuses  that  were  sent 
him  by  various  correspondents,  and  was 
scarcely  able  to  see  the  causes  that  at  this 
time  increased  the  sale  of  his  pamphlet  from 
ten  to  fifteen  thousand  copies  a  month.  But . 
if  he  saw  not,  he  felt  them,  and  manifested 
his  good  fortune  by  buying  an  old  coach 
and  a  pair  of  older  horses;  and,  that  he 
might  avoid  the  suspicion  of  pride  in  setting 
up  an  equipage,  he  displayed  to  the  world 
the  source  of  his  affluence,  by  a  representa- 
tion of  St.  John's  Gate,  instead  of  nis  arms, 
on  the  door-panel.  This  he  himself  told 
Sir  J.  Hawkins  was  the  reason  of  distin- 
guishing his  carriage  from  others,  by  what 
some  might  think  a  whimsical  device,  and 
also  for  causing  it  to  be  engraven  on  all  his 
plate. 

Johnson  had  his  reward,  over  and  above 
the  pecuniary  recompense  vouchsafed  him 
by  tJave,  in  the  general  applause  of  his  la- 
bours, which  the  increased  demand  for  the 
Magazine  implied4;  but  this,  as  his  perform- 


1  With  the  matter  he  was  supplied,  though, 
probably  imperfectly. — En.] 

*  [Sir  J.  Hawkins  seems  (as  well  as  the  other 
.biographers)  to  have  overrated  the  value,  to  Cava 
and  the  public,  of  Johnson's  Parliamentary  De- 
bates. It  is  shown  in  the  preface  t©  the  Parlia- 
mentary History  for  1738  (ed.  1812),  that  one 
of  Cave's  rivals,  the  London  Magazine,  often 


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60 


1741.— jETAT.  82. 


ances  fell  short  of  hjs  powers,  gratified  him 
but  little;  on  the  contrary,  he  disapproved 
the  deceit  he  was  compelled  to  practice;  his 
notions  of  morality  were  so  strict,  that  he 
would  scarcely  allow  the  violation  of  truth 
in  the  most  trivial  instances,  and  saw,  in- 
falsehood  of  all  kinds,  a  turpitude  that  he 
could  never  be  thoroughly  reconciled  to; 
and  though  the  fraud  was  perhaps  not  great- 
er than  the  fictitious  relations  in  Sir  Thomas 
More's  Utopia,  Lord  Bacon's  Nova  Atlantis, 
and  Bishop  Hall's  Mundus  alter  et  idem, 
Johnson  was  not  easy  till  he  had  disclosed 
the  deception. 

In  the  mean  time  it  was  curious  to  observe 
how  the  deceit  operated.  It  has  above  been 
remarked,  that  Johnson  had  the  art  to  give 
different  colours  to  the  several  speeches,  so 
that  some  appear  to  be  declamatory  and 
energetic,  resembling  the  orations  of  De- 
mostnenes;  others  like  those  of  Cicero,  calm, 
persuasive;  others,  more  particularly  those 
attributed  to  such  country  gentlemen,  mer- 
chants, and  seamen  as  had  seats  in  parlia- 
ment, bear  the  characteristic  of  plainness, 
bluntness,  and  unaffected  honesty  as  op- 
posed to  the  plausibility  of  such  as  were  un- 
derstood or  suspected  to  be  courtiers :  the 
artifice  had  its  effect;  Voltaire  was  betray- 
ed by  it  into  a  declaration,  that  the  eloquence 
of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  was  revived  in 
the  British  senate,  and  a  speech  of  the  late 
Earl  of  Chatham  when  Mr.  Pitt,  in  opposi- 
tion to  one  of  Mr.  Horatio  Walpole,  received 
the  highest  applause,  and  was  by  all  that 
read  it  taken  lor  genuine. 

It  must  be  owned,  that  with  respect  to  the 
general  principles  avowed  in  the  speeches, 
and  the  sentiments  therein  contained,  they 
agree  with  the  characters  of  the  persons  to 
whom  they  are  ascribed.  Thus,  to  instance 
in  those  of  the  upper  house,  the  speeches  of 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  the  Lords  Carteret 
and  Hay,  are  calm,  temperate,  and  persua- 
sive; those  of  the  Duke  of  Argyleand  Lord 
Talbot  furious  and  declamatory,  and  Lord 
Chesterfield's1  and  Lord  Hervey's  florid 
but  flimsy.  In  the  other  house  the  speeches 
may  be  thus  characterised:  the  minister's 
mild  and  conciliatory:  Mr.  Pulteney's  ner- 


excelled  the  Gentleman* $  Magazine,  in  the 
priority  and  accuracy  of  its  parliamentary  reports, 
which  were  contributed  by  Gordon,  the  translator 
ofTacitus.~ED.] 

1  [It  if  very  remarkable  that  Dr.  Maty,  wlib 
wrote  the  life  and  edited  the  works  of  Lord  Ches- 
terfield, with  the  use  of  his  lordship's  papers,  un- 
der the  eye  of  his  surviving  friends,  and  in  the 
lifetime  of  Johnson,  should  have  published,  as 
"  specimens  of  his  tadship's  eloquence,  in  the 
strong  nervous  style  of  Demosthenes,  as  well  as 
in  the  witty  ironical  maimer  of  Tally,"  three 

rshes,  which  are  certainly  the  composition  of 
Johnson.     See  Chesterfield's    War A**,  voL 
ii  p.  319.— Ed.J 


vous,  methodical,  and  weighty;  Mr.  Shio- 
pen's  blunt  and  dogmatical;  Sir  John  Bar- 
nard's clear,  especially  on  commercial  sub- 
jects; Lyttelton's  stiff  and  imitative  of  the 
Roman  oratory;  and  Pitt's  void  of  argu- 
ment, but  rhapeodicaily  and  diffusively  elo- 
quent. 

The  confession  of  Johnson  above-men- 
tioned was  the  first  that  revealed  the  secret 
that  the  debates  inserted  in  the.  Gentleman's 
Magazine  were  fictitious,  and  composed  by 
himself.  After  that,  he  was  free,  and  indeed 
industrious,  in  the  communication  of  it,  for 
being  informed  that  Dr.  Smollet  was  writ- 
ing a  history  of  England,  and  had  brought 
it  down  to  the  last  reign,  he  cautioned  him 
not  to  rely  on  the  debates  as  given  in  the 
Magazine,  for  that  they  were  not  authentic, 
but,  excepting  as  to  their  general  import, 
the  work  of  his  own  imagination.] 

Johnson  told  me  that  as  soon  as  he  found 
that  the  speeches  were  thought  genuine, 
he  determined  that  he  would  write  no  more 
of  them;  "for  he  would  not  be  accessary 
to  the  propagation  of  falsehood."  And  such 
was  the  tenderness  of  his  conscience,  that  a 
short  time  before  his  death  he  expressed 
his  regret  for  his  having  been  the  authour 
of  fictions,  which  had  passed  for  realities. 

He  nevertheless  agreed  with  me  in  think- 
ing, that  the  debates  which  he  had  framed 
were  to  be  valued  as  orations  upon  ques- 
tions of  publick  importance.  They  have 
accordingly  been  collected  in  volumes,  prop- 
erly arranged,  and  recommended  to  the 
notice  of  parliamentary  speakers  by  a  pre- 
face, written  by  no  inferior  hand  3.  I  must, 
however,  'observe,  that  although  there  is  in 
those  debates  a  wonderful  store  of  political 
information,  and  very  powerful  eloquence, 
I  cannot  agree  that  tney  exhibit  the  manner 
of  each  particular  speaker,  as  Sir  John 
Hawkins  seems  to  think.  But,  indeed, 
what  opinion  can  we  have  of  his  judgment, 
and  taste  in  public  speaking,  who  presumes 
to  give,  as  the  characteristicks  of  two  cele- 
brated orators, "  the  deep-mouthed 
rancour  of  Pulteney,  and  the  yelp-  ?f  Jq£ 
ing  pertinacity  of  fitt?" 

This  year  I  find  that  his  tragedy  of  Irene 
had  been  for.  some  time  ready  for  the  stage, 
and  that  his  necessities  marie  him  desirous 
of  getting  as  much  as  he  could  for  it  with- 


*  I  am  assured  that  the  editor  is  Mr.  George 
Chalmers,  whose  commercial  works  are  well 
known  and  esteemed. — Poswell.  [This  collec- 
tion is  stated  in  the  preface  to  the  Parliamentary 
History,  vol.  ii.  to  be  very  incomplete— of  thirty- 
two  debates,  twelve  are  given  under  wrong  dates, 
and  several  of  Johnson's  best  compositions  are 
wholly  omitted ;  amongst  others,  the  important  de- 
bate of  the  13th  February,  1741,  on  Mr.  Sandys 's 
motion  for  the  removal  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole; 
other  omissions,  equally  striking,  are  complained 
of.— En.] 


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174*.— ,ETAT.  88. 


61 


eat  delay;  for  there  is  ihe  Mowing  letter 
from  Mr.  Cave  to  Dr.  Birch  in  the  same 
volume  of  manuscripts  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, from  which  I  copied  those  above 
quoted.  They  were  most  obligingly  point- 
ed out  to  me  by  Sir  William  Musgrave, 
one  of  the  curators  of  that  noble  repository. 

"  Sept.  9, 1741. 
"I  have  put  Mr.  Johnson's  play  into 
Mr.  Gray's '  hands,  in  order  to  sell  it  to  him, 
if  he  is  inclined  to  buy  it;  but  I  doubt 
whether  he  will  or  not.  He  would  dispose 
of  the  copy,  and  whatever  advantage  may 
be  made  by  acting  it.  Would  your  society  *, 
or  any  gentleman,  or  bodv  of  men  that  you 
know,  take  such  a  bargain?  He  and  I  are 
very  unfit  to  deal  with  theatrical  persons. 
Fleetwood  was  to  have  acted  it  last. season, 
but  Johnson's  diffidence  or  3       pre- 

vented it." 

I  have  already  mentioned  that "  Irene" 
was  not  brought  into  public  notice  till  Gar- 
rick  was  manager  of  Drury-lane  theatre. 

In  17424  he  wrote  for  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  the  "  Prefacef,"  the  "  Parlia- 
mentary Debates*,"  "Essay  on  the  Ac- 
count of  the  Conduct  of  the  Duchess  of 
Marlborough  (p.  128)*,"  then  the  popu- 
lar topick  or  conversation.  This  Essay  is 
a  short  but  masterly  performance.  We 
find  him,  in  No.  18  of  his  Rambler,  censur- 
ing a  profligate  sentiment  in  that  "Ac- 
count;" and  again  insisting  upon  it  strenu- 
ously in  conversation.  "An  Ac- 
*■*•  *»  count  of  the  Life  of  Peter  Bur- 
™"  man  (p.  306)*,"  I  believe  chiefly 
taken  from  a  foreign  publication;  as,  in- 
deed, he  could  not  himself  know  much 
about  Barman;  "  Additions  to  his  JJfe  of 
Barretier  *  (p.  242)* ;"    "  The  Life  of  Sy 


1  A  bookseller  of  London. 

*  Net  the  Royal  Society:  [as  Boswell  in  his 
first  and  second  editions  had  strangely  supposed. — 
Ed.]  bat  a  society  for  the  encouragement  of 
learning,  of  which  Dr.  Bireh  was  a  tending  mem- 
ber. Their  object  was,  to  assist  anthonn  in  print- 
ing expensive  works,  it  existed  from  about  1735 
to  1746,  when,  having  incurred  a  considerable 
debt,  it  was  dknolved. — Boswell. 

*  There  is  no  erasure  here,  but  a  mere  blank: 
to  fill  up  which  may  be  an  exercise  for  ingenious 
conjecture. — Boswell.  [Probably  pride. 
Such,  at  least,  is  the  common-place,  antithesis. — 
Ed.) 

4  From  one  of  his  letters  to  a  friend,  written  in 
Jane,  1742,  it  should  seem  that  he  then  purposed 
to  write  a  play  on  the  subject  of  Charles  the 
Twelfth  of  Sweden,  and  #have  it  ready  for  the 
ensuing  winter.  The  passage  alluded  to ,  however, 
is  somewhat  ambiguous;  and  the  work  which  he 
then  had  in  contemplation  may  have  been  a  his- 
tory of  that  monarch. — Malowe. 

*  [See  ante,  p.  57.  Miss  Carter  received 
Bomber's  life  from  his  family  in  March  or  April 


denham  (p.  633)*,"  afterwards  prefixed  to 
Dr.  Swan's  edition  of  his  works;  "  Propo- 
sals for  printing  Bibliotheca  Harleiane,  or 
a  Catalogue  of  the  Library  of  the  Earl  of 
Oxford  (p.  686)*.''    His  account  of  that 
celebrated  collection  of  books,  in  which  he 
displays  the  importance  to  literature,  of 
what  the  French  call  a  catalogue  rauonni, 
when  the  subjects  of  it  are  extensive  and 
various,  and  it  is  executed  with  ability,  can* 
not  fail  to  impress  all  his  readers  with  ad- 
monition of  his  philological  attainments. 
It  was  afterwards  prefixed  to  the  first  vol- 
ume of  the  Catalogue,  in  which  the  Latin 
accounts  of  books  were  written  by  him. 
He  was  employed  in  this  business  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Osborne,  the  bookseller,  who  pur- 
chased  the  library  for  13,000/.,  a  sum  which 
Mr.  Oldys  says,  in  one  of  his  manuscripts, 
was  not  more  than  the  binding  of  the 
books  had  cost;  vet,  as  Dr.  Johnson  as- 
sured me,  the  slowness  of  the  sale  was 
such,  that  there  was  not  much  gained  by 
it.    It  has  been  confidently  related,  witn 
many  embellishments,  that  Johnson  one„  / 
day  knocked  Osborne  down  in  his  shop- > 
with  a  folio,  and  put  his  foot  upon  his  neck. 
The  simple  truth  I  had  from  Johnson  him- 
self.   "  Sir,  he  was  impertinent  to  me,  and 
I  beat  him.    But  it  was  not  in  his  shop* 
it  was  in  my  own  chamber." 

A  very  diligent  observer  may  trace  him 
where  we  should  not  easily  suppose  him  to 
be  found.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  wrote  the 
little  abridgement  entitled  "  Foreign  His- 
tory," in  the  Magazine  for  December  (p. 
660).  To  prove  it,  I  shall  quote  the  in- 
troduction. 

"  As  this  is  that  season  of  the  year  in 
which  Nature  may  be  said  to  command  a 
suspension  of  hostilities,  and  which  seems 
jntended,  by  putting  a  short  stop  to  vio- 
lence and  slaughter,  to  afford  time  for  mal- 
ice to  relent,  and  animosity  to  subside;  we 
can  scarce  expect  any  other  account  than 
of  plans,  negotiations,  and  treaties,  of.  pro- 
posals for  peace,  and  preparations  for  war." 
As  also  this  passage: 
"  Let  those  who  despise  the  capacity  of 
the  Swiss  tell  us  by  what  wonderful  policy, 
or  by  what  happy  conciliation  of  interests, 
it  is  brought  to  pass,  that  in  a  body  made 
up  of  different  communities  and  different 
religions,  there  should  be  no  civil  commo- 
tions, though  the  people  are  so  watlike,  thai 
to  nominate  and  raise  an  army  is  the  same." 
I  would  also  ascribe  to  him  an  "  Essay  on 
the  Description  of  China,  from  the  French 
ofDuHaldefp.  330)f." 

I  am  obliged  to  Mr.  Astle  for  his  ready 
permission  to  copy  the  two  following  let- 
ters, of  which  the  originals  are  in  his  pos- 


of  this  year,  and  from  it  no  doubt  Johnson  made 
these  additions.— Ed. 


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174S.— JETAT.  34. 


session.  Their  contents  show  that  they 
were  written  about  this  time,  and  that 
Johnson  was  now  engaged  in  preparing  an 
historical  account  of  the  British  Parlia- 
ment. 

"to  MR.  CAVE. 

[Aug.  1743]. 

«  Sin, — I  believe  I  am  going  to  write  a 
long  letter,  and  have  therefore  taken  a 
whole  sheet  of  paper.  The  first  thing  to 
be  written  about  is  our  historical  design. 

*  *  You  mentioned  the  proposal  of  pnnting 
in  numbers  as  an  alteration  in  the  scheme, 
but  I  believe  you  mistook,  some  way  or 
other,  my  meaning;  I  had  no  other  view 
than  that  you  might  rather  print  too  many 
of  five  sheets  than  of  five  and  thirty. 

"  With  regard  to  what  I  shall  say  on  the 
manner  of  proceeding,  I  would  have  it  un- 
derstood as  wholly  indifferent  to  me,  and 
my  opinion  only,  not  my  resolution.  Emp- 
toris  sit  eligcre. 

"  I  think  the  insertion  of  the  exact  dates 
of  the  most  important  events  in  the  margin, 
or  of  so  many  events  as  may  enable  the 
reader  to  regulate  the  order  of  facts  with 
sufficient  exactness,  the  proper  medium  be- 
tween a  journal,  which  has  regard  only  to 
time,  and  a  history  which  ranges  facts  ac- 
cording to  their  dependence  on  each  other, 
and  postpones  or  anticipates  according  to 
the  convenience  of  narration.  I  think  the 
work  ought  to  partake  of  the  spirit  of  his- 
tory, which  is  contrary  to  minute  exact- 
ness, and  of  the  regularity  of  a  journal, 
which  is  inconsistent  with  spirit.  For  this 
reason  I  neither  admit  numbers  or  dates,  nor 
reject  them. 

"I  am  of  your  opinion  with  regard  to 
placing  most  of  the  resolutions,  &c.  in  the 
margin,  and  think  we  shall  give  the  most 
complete  account  of  parliamentary  proceed- 
ings that  can  be  contrived.  The  naked 
papers,  without  an  historical  treatise  in- 
terwoven, require  some  other  book  to  make 
them  understood.  I  will  date  the  succeed- 
ing facts  with  some  exactness,  but  I  think 
in  the  margin. 

"  You  told  me  on  Saturday  that  I  had 
received  money  on  this  work,  and  found 
set  down  IS/.  2*.  6d.  reckoning  the  half 
guinea  of  last  Saturday.  As  you  hinted  to 
me  that  you  had  many  calls  for  money,  I 
would  not  press  you  too  hard,  and  therefore 
shall  desire  only,  as  J  send  it  in,  two  guineas 
for  a  sheet  of  copy;  the  rest  you  may  pay 
me  when  it  may  be  more  convenient:  and 
even  by  this  sheet  payment  I  shall,  for 
some  time,  be  very  expensive. 

"  The  Life  of  Savage  I  am  ready  to  go 
upon;  and  in  Great  Primer,  and  Pica  notes, 
I  reckon  on  sending-  in  half  a  sheet  a  day; 
but  the  money  for  that  shall  likewise  lie  by 
in  your  hands  till  it  is  done.    With  the  de- 


bates, shall  not  I  have  business  enough?  if 
I  had  but  good  pens. 

"  Towards  Mr.  Savage's  Life  what  more 
have  you  got?  I  would  willingly  have  his 
trial,  &c.  and  know  whether  his  defence  be 
at  Bristol,  and  would  have  his  collection  of 
Poems,  on  account  of  the  Preface; — '  The 
Plain  Dealer,91 — all  the  magazines  that 
have  any  thing  of  his  or  relating  to  him. 

"  I  thought  my  letter  would  be  long,  but 
it  is  now  ended;  and  I  am,  sir,  yours,  &c. 
"Sam.  Johnson. 

"  The  boy  found  me  writing  this  al- 
most in  the  dark,  wjien  I  could  not  quite 
easily  read  yours. 

"  I  have  read  the  Italian : — nothing  in  it 
is  well. 

"  I  had  no  notion  of  having  any  thing  for 
the  inscription2.  I  hope  you  don't  think  I 
kept  it  to  extort  a  price.  I  could  think  of 
nothing  till  to-day.  If  you  could  spare  me 
another  guinea  for  the  history,  I  should  take 
it  very  kindly,  to-night;  but  if  you  do  not, 
I  shaft  not  think  it  an  injury. 1  am  al- 
most well  again." 

"to  MR.  CAVE. 
"  Sir, — You  did  not  tell  me  your  deter- 
mination about  the  Soldier' a  Letter, 3  which 
I  am  confident  was  never  printed.     I  think 
it  will  not  do  by  itself,  or  in  any  other 

f>lace,  so  well  as  the  Mag.  Extraordinary, 
f  you  will  have  it  at  all,  I  believe  you 
do  not  think  I  set  it  high,  and  I  will  be  glad 
if  what  you  give  you  will  give  quickly. 

"  You  need  not  be  in  care  about  some- 
thing to  print,  for  I  have  got  the  State 
Trials,  and  shall  extract  Layer  Atterbury 
and  Macclesfield  from  them,  and  shall  brine 
them.ty  you  in  a  fortnight;  after  which  1 
will  try  to  get  the  South  Sea  Report." 
lJ)fo  date  nor  signature.] 

His  writings  in  the  Gentleman's  Maga 
zineinl743>  are,  the  "Prefaccf,"  "  the  Par- 
liamentary Debates  f,"  "  Considerations  on 
the  Dispute  between  Crousaz  and  War- 


1  '<  The  Plain  Dealer"  was  published  in  1724, 
and  contained  some  account  of  Savage. 

•  Perhaps  the  Runic  Inscription,  Gent.  Mag. 
vol.  zii.  p.  132. — Malone. 

[Certainly  not — that  was  published  in  March, 
1742,  at  least  seventeen  months  before  this  letter 
was  written;  nor  does  there  appear  in  the  Maga- 
zine any  inscription  to  which  this  can  refer.  It 
seemed  at  first  sight  probable  that  it  might  allude 
to  the  translation  of  Pope's  Inscription  on  his 
Grotto,  which  appeared  (with  an  apology  for 
haste)  in  the  next  J^gazine;  but  the  expression 
"  I  could  think  of.  nothing  till  to-day,'*  negatives 
that  supposition.  The  inscription,  then,  was  prob- 
ably one  which  Cave  requested  Johnson  to  de- 
vise, and  which,  when  Johnson  after  a  long  delay 
produced  it,  Cave  surprised  him  by  paying. — Ed.] 

*  I  have  not  discovered  what  this  was. 


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1748.— ^TAT.  84. 


tartan,  on  Pope's  Essay  on  Man  (p.  151. 
587  )tj"  in  which,  while  he  defends  Crou- 
saz,  he  shows  an  admirable  metaphysical 
acuteness  and  temperance  in  controversy; 
"  Ad  Lauram  paritoram  Epigramma l  (p. 
S78)#;»  "  A  Latin  Translation  of  Pope's 
Verses  on  his  Grotto  (p.  558)V 

And  as  he  could  employ  his  pen  with 
equal  success  upon  a  small  matter  as  a  great, 
1  suppose  him  to  be  the  authour  of  an  ad- 
vertisement for  Osborne,  concerning  the 
great  Harleian  Catalogue  [at  the  end  of  the 
volume]. 

Gene.  Ms*.  [The  following  elegant  Latin 
t.  is,  ode,  as   Mr.  Malone  states,  was 

p-  ***>  many  years  ago  pointed  out  to 
James  Bindley,  Esq.  as  written  by  John- 
son* and  may  safely  be  attributed  to  him: 

"  AD  ORNATTSSIMAM  PUELLAM. 

Vans  sit  arti,  ait  studio  modus, 
Formosa  viigo:  sit  speculo  quies, 
Curamque  quawendi  decoris 
Mitte,  supervacuosque  coitus. 

Vt  fortuitis  verna  coloribus 
Depicts  volgo  rare  magis  placent, 
Nee  invident  hoito  nitenti 
Diviuas  operosiores: 

Lenkrae  Ions  cum  niormure  pulchrior 
Obliquat  ultro  pnecipitem  fugam 
Inter  reluctantes  lapillos,  et 
Ducit  aquas  temerd  sequentes: 

Utque  inter  undas,  inter  ef  arbores, 
Jam  vere  primo  dales  strtipunt  aves, 
Et  arte^nulla  gratiores 

Ingeminant  sine  lege  cantos: 

Natrva  sic  te  gratia,  te  nhor 
Simplex  decebit,  te  veneres  tine; 

Nadus  Cupido  suspicatur 

^  Artifices  nimis  apparatus. 


63 


*  Angliaca*  inter  pnlcherrima  Laura  paellas, 
Mox  uteri  pondut  deposhura  grave, 
Adrit,  Laura,  tlbi  Ottilia  Luciaa  dolenti, 
Neve  tibi  sooeat  prawituine  De». 

Mr.  Hector  was  present  when  this  epigram  was 
made  impromptu.  The  6rst  line  was  proposed 
by  Dr.  James,  and  Johnson  was  called  upon  by 
the  company  Jo  finish  it,  which  he  instantly  did. 
— Bo*  well. 

[This  epigram  seems  hardly  worth  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  specially  quoted.  If  the  first  line  was 
proposed  as  a  thesis,  we  cannot  much  admire  the 
style  in  which  H  was  followed  up:  the  designa- 
tion, surely,  of  the  lady  napuella  would  lead  us 
to  expect  any  thing  rather  than  the  turn  which 
the  epigram  takes.  Is  not  the  second  line  gross 
and  awkward;  the  third  pedantic;  and  the  con- 
ceit of  the  fourth  not  even  classical — for  Lucina 
was  never  famed  Tor  her  beauty;  and  does  not 
the  whole  seem  \\ery  strange  subject  Tor  poetical 
compliment  P_£n.] 


Ergo  fluentem  tu  male  sedula, 
Ne  sonra  inuras  semper  acu  comam; 
Nee  sparsa  odorato  nitentes 
Pulyere  dedecores  capillos; 

Quales  nee  olim  vel  Ptolemaeia 
Jactabat  uxor,  sidereo  in  choro 
Utcunque  devote  refulgent 
Verticis  exuvia  decori; 

Nee  diya  mater,  cum  similem  tns 
Mentita  formam,  et  pulchrior  aspici,     * 
Permisit  incomptas  protervis 
Fusa  comas  agitare  ventisV 

But  I  should  think  myself  much  wanting', 
hoth  to  my  illustrious  friend  and  my  read- 
ers, did  I  not  introduce  here,  with  more 
than  ordinary  respect,  an  exquisitely  beau- 
tiful Ode,  which  has  not  been  inserted  in 
any  of  the  collections  of  Johnson's  poetry, 
written  by  him  at  a  very  early  period,  as 
Mr.  Hector  informs  me,  and  inserted  in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  of  this  year  (p.  375.) 

"FRIENDSHIP,  AN  ODE». 

Friendship,  peculiar  boon  of  heay'n, 
The  noble  mind's  delight  and  pride, 

To  men  and  angels  only  giv'n, 
To  all  the  lower  world  denied. 

While  loye,  unknown  among  the  blest, 
Parent  of  thousand  wild  desires, 

The  savage  and  the  human  breast 
Torments  alike  with  raging  fires; 

Witfc  bright,  but  oft  destructive,  gleam, 
Alike  o'er  all  his  lightnings  fly; 

Thy  lambent  glories  only  beam 
Around  the  fav'rites  of  the  sky. 

Thy  gentle  flows  of  guiltless  joys 
On  fools  and  villains  ne'er  descend; 

In  vain  for  thee  the  tyrant  sighs, 
And  hugs  a  flatterer  for  a  friend. 

Directress  of  the  brave  and  just, 
O  guide  us  through  life's  darksome  way! 


*  In  vol  xiv.  p.  46,  of  the  Gentleman's  Mag- 
azine, an  elegant  epigram  was  inserted,  in  an- 
swer to  the  above  Ode,  which  was  written  by 
Dr.-  Inyon  of  Pulham,  in  Norfolk,  a  physician, 
and  an  excellent  classical  scholar; 

"  M  Authorem  Carmimis  ad  Ork atissim am 

PtTELLAM. 
"  O  col  non  potait,  qaln  cults,  placers  poena, 
Qui  ■pens  Muaam  pone  plscere  tusm  ?"— Malowe. 

[Out  of  deference  to  Mr.  Malone  and  Mr.  Bind- 
ley, whose  assertion  has  been  so  long  before  the 
publick  uncontradicted,  the  editor  has  inserted 
the  foregoing  ode;  but  it  appears  to  him  to  be  in 
a  different  and  (may  he  venture  to  add?)  better 
style  than  Johnson's;  and  he  finds,  in  the  New 
Foundling  Hospital  for  Wit,  that  it  is  attributed 
to  Bishop  Lowth. — Ejd.] 


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1744.— jETAT.  *5. 


And  let  the  tortures  of  mistrust 
On  selfish  boeomi  only  prey. 

Nor  shall  thine  ardour  cease  to  glow, 
When  souls  to  blissful  climes  remove: 

What  raised  our  virtue  here  below, 
8hall  aid  our  happiness  above." 

Johnson  had  now  an  opportunity  of  oblig- 
ing his  schoolfellow  Dr.  James,  of  whom 
he  once  observed,  "no  man  brings  more 
mind  to  his  profession."  James  published 
this  year  his  "Medicinal  Dictionary,"  in 
three  volumes  folio.  Johnson,  as  I  under- 
stood from  him,  had  written,  or  assisted  in 
writing,  the  proposals  for  this  work;  and 
being  very  fond  of  the  study  of  phvsick,  in 
which  James  was  his  master,  he  furnished 
some  of  the  articles.  He,  however,  cer- 
tainly wrote  for  it  the  Dedication  to  Dr. 
Meadf,  which  is  conceived  with  great  ad- 
dress, to  conciliate  the  patronage  of  that 
very  eminent  man. 

It  has  been  circulated,  I  know  not  with 
what  authenticity  *,  that  Johnson  consider- 
ed Dr.  Birch  as  a  dull  writer,  and  said  of 
him,  "  Tom  Birch  is  as  brisk  as  a  bee  in 
conversation;  but  no  sooner  does  he  take  a 
pen  in  his  hand,  than  it  becomes  a  torpedo 
to  him,  and  benumbs  all  his  faculties." 
That  the  literature  Of  this  country  is  much 
indebted  to  Birch's  activity  and  diligence 
must  certainly  be  acknowledged.  We  have 
seen  that  Johnson  honoured9  him  with  a 
Greek  Epigram;  and  his  correspondence 
with  him,  during  many  years,  proves  that 
he  had  no  mean  opinion  of  him. 

"  TO  DR.  BIRCH. 

«« Thursday,  Sept.  29, 1749. 

"  Sir, — I  hope  you  will  excuse  me  for 
troubling  you  oa  an  occasion  on  which  I 
know  not  whom  else  I  can  apply  to;  I  am 
at  a  loss  for  the  lives  and  characters  of  Earl 
Stanhope,  the  two  Craggs,  and  the  minis- 
ter Sunderland  8;  and  beg  that  you  will  in- 


1  [It  is  stated  by  Hawkins:  we  shall  see  all 
through  this  work,  the  very  peculiar  value  which 
Johnson  set  on  conversational  powers;  and  there 
seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Dr.  Birch's  conver- 
sation exceeded  his  writings  in  vivacity.  The 
editor  has  seen  a  IVfS.  letter  of  Bishop  Warbur- 
ton's,  in  which  fee  insists,  in  his  usual  decisive 
tone,  on  the  poor  use  which  Birch  made  in  his 
writings  of  the  materials  which  he  possessed. — 
Ed.] 

*  [No  donbt,  as  the  case  has  turned  out,  Birch 
is  honoured  by  Johnson's  compliment;  but  at 
the  time  when  it  was  written,  Birch  was  of  emi- 
nence in  the  literary  world,  and  (what  affected 
Johnson  more  nearly),  high  in  the  estimation  of 
Cave;  and  Johnson's  learned  flatteries  of  him, 
Miss  Carter,  and  Mr.  Urban,  were  all  probably 
prompted  by  the  same  motive,  a  desire  to  propi- 
tiate Cave.— Ed.] 

*  [Wanted,  probably,  for  the  Parliamentary 


form  (me)  where  1  may  find  them,  and  send 
any  pamphlets,  &c.  relating  to  them  to  Mr. 
Cave,  to  be  perused  for  a  few  days  by,  sir, 
your  most  humble  servant, 

"Sam.  Johnson." 

His  circumstances  were  at  this  time  em- 
barrassed; yet  his  affection  for  his  mother 
was  so  warm,  and  so  liberal 4,  that  he  took 
upon  himself  a  debt  of  hers,  which,  though 
small  in  itself,  was  then  considerable  to  him* 
This  appears  from  the  following  letter  which 
he  wrote  to  Mr.  Levett,  of  Lichfield,  the) 
original  of  which  lies  now  before  me. 

"TO  MR.  LEVETT,  IN  LICHFIELD. 

«  December  l,  1748. 

"  Sib, — I  am  extremely  sorry  that  we 
have  encroached  so  much  upon  your  for- 
bearance with  respect  to  the  interest,  which 
a  great  perplexity  of  affairs  hindered  me 
from  thinking  of.  with  that  attention  that  I 
ought,  and  which  I  am  not  immediately 
able  to  remit  to  you,  but  will  pav  it  (I  think 
twelve  pounds),  in  two  months.  I  look 
upon  this,  and  on  the  future  interest  of  that 
mortgage,  as  my  own  debt;  and  beg  that 
you  will  be  pleased  to  give  me  directions 
how  to  pay  it,  and  not  to  mention  it  to  my 
dear  mother.  If  it  be  necessary  to  pay  this  in 
less  time,  I  believe  I  can  do  it:  but  I  take 
two  months  for  certainty,  and  beg  an  an- 
swer whether  you  can  allow  me  so  much 
time.  I  think  myself  very  much  obliged  to 
your  forbearance,  and  shall  esteem  it  a  neat 
happiness  to  be  able  to  serve  you.  I  nave 
great  opportunities  of  dispersing  any  thing 
that  you  may  think  it  proper %>  make  pub- 
lick.  I  will  give  a  note  for  the  money, 
payable  at  the  time  mentioned,  to  any  one 
here  that  you  shall  appoint.— I  am,  sir, 
your  most  obedient  ana  most  humble  ser- 
vant, "Sam  Johksof. 

"At  Mr.  Osborne*,  bookseller,  In  Gray's  Inajf' 

5  It  does  not  appear  that  he  wrote  any 


History  mentioned  in  the  preceding  letter  -of  Au- 
gust—Ed.] 

4  [Dr.  Johnson  wa*  a  good  son,  and  even  to 
indifferent  persons  the  most  charitable  of  men; 
but  the  praises  which  Boswell  lavishes  on  this 
particular  affair  are  uncalled  for,  as  the  debt  won 
hardly  so  much  Johnson's  mother's  as  his  own. 
ft  has  already  appeared  that  he  had  something  of 
his  father's  property  to  expect  after  his  mother's 
death  (p.  27);  this  was  the  house  in  Lichfield, 
which  was,  it  seems,  mortgaged  to  Mr.  Levett: 
by  the  nonpayment  of  the  interest  Levett  would 
have  been  entitled  to  get  possession  of  the  prop- 
erty; and  in  that  case  Johnson  would  have  lost 
his  reversion,  so  that  he  very  justly  says,  that 
'« he  looks  upon  this  and  the  future  interest  oa 
the  mortgage  as  his  own  elebt.*' — to.] 

•  [In  this  and  the  two  next  yjsra,  Mr.  Boswell 
has  not  assigned  to  Johnson  any  cdetributiona  to 
the  Gentleman'*  Mofagme,  yettfhere  seems 


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thing  in  1744  for  the  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine but  the  Prefacef.  His  life  of  Barretter 
wa»  now  re-published  in  a  pamphlet  by  it- 
self. But  he  produced  one  work  this  year, 
fully  sufficient  to  maintain  the  high  reputa- 
tion which  he  had  acquired.  This  was 
"The  Lira  or  Richard  Savage*;"  a 
man  of  whom  it  is  difficult  to  speak  impar- 
tially, without  wondering  that  he  was  for 
some  time  the  intimate  companion  of  John- 
son; for  his  character I  was  marked  by  pro- 
fligacy, insolence,  and  ingratitude:  yet,  as 
he  undoubtedly  had  a  warm  and  vigorous, 
though  unregulated  mind,  had  seen  life  in 
all  its  varieties,  had  been  much  in  the  com- 
pany of  the  statesmen  and  wits  of  his  time, 
ne  could  communicate  to  Johnson  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  such  materials  as  his  philo- 
sophical curiosity  most  eagerly  desired;  and 
as  Savage^  misfortunes  and  misconduct  had 
reduced  him  to  the  lowest  state  of  wretch- 
edness as  a  writer  for  bread,  his  visits  to  St 
John's  Gate  naturally  brought  Johnson  and 
him  together9. 


Utile  doubt  that  from  his  connexion  with  that 
work  be  derived  for  tome  yean  the  chief  and  al- 
most the  only  means  of  subsistence  for  himself 
and  his  wife:  perhaps  he  may  have  acted  as  gen- 
with  an  annual  af* 


allowance,  and  he  no 
doubt  employed  himself  on  more  literal*/  works 
than  have  been  acknowledged.  In  tab  point  the 
public  loss  is  perhaps  not  great  What  he  was 
\  to  avow  we  need  not  be  very  solicitous 
isonal  history  is  about 
I  a  blank,  Hidden,  it  is  to  be  feared,  in 
the  obscurity  of  indigence;  and  we  cannot  but 
thank  with  a  tender  esmmiseration  of  the  "  dis- 
tress" of  such  a  man,  renierad  more  poignant 
by  being  shared  with  a  woman  whom  he  so  ten- 
derly loved.— Ed.] 

1  As  a  specimen  of  Savage's  temper,  I  insert 
the  following  letter  from  him  to  a  noble  lord 
fTyrconnel],  to  whom  he  was  under  great  obliga- 
tions, but  who,  on  account  of  his  bad  conduct, 
was  obliged  to  discard  him.  The  original  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  late  Francis  Cockayne  Cast, 
Esq.  one  of  his  majesty's  counsel  learned  in  the 
law: 
*•  Might  Honourable  Brute  and  Boost. 

••  1  find  you  want  (as  Mr. is  pleased  to 

hint)  to  swear  away  my  life,  that  is,  the  life  of 
your  creditor,  because  be  asks  you  for  a  debt 
The  pubuek  shall  soon  be  acquainted  with  this, 
to  judge  whether  you  are  not  fitter  to  be  an  Irish 
evidence,  than  to  be  an  Irish  peer. — I  defy  and 
despise  you. — Ism,  your  determined  adversary, 
E.  8."—  BbswBU. 

9  Sir  John  Hawkins  gives  the  world  to  uuder- 
*  stand,  that  Johnson,  "  being  an  admirer  of  genteel 
manners,  was  captivated  by  the  address  and  do- 
aaeanour  of  Savage,  who,  as  to  his  exterior,  was 
to  a  remarkable  degree  sccompUsbed." — Haw- 
Mine's  Life,  p.  62.  But  Sir  John's  notions  of 
s/iilHily  must  appear  somewhat  ludicrous,  from 
his  stating  the  following  circumstance  as  presump- 
tive evidence  mat  Savage  was  a  good  swordsman; 
"  That  he  understood  the  exercise  of  a  gentleman's 

vol.  i  9 


It  is  melancholy  to  reflect,  that  Johnson 
and  Savage  were  sometimes  in  such  extreme 
indigence3,  that  they  could  not  pay  for  a 
lodging;  so  that  thejr  have  wandered  to- 
gether whole  nights  in  the  streets4.    Yet 


weapon,  may  be  inferred  from  the  use  made  of  it 
in  that  rash  encounter  which  is  related  in  his 
Life."  The  dexterity  here  alluded  to  was,  that 
Savage,  in  a  nocturnal  fit  of  drunkenness,  stabbed 
a  man  at  a  coffee-house,  and  killed  him:  for 
which  he  was  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey,  and  found 
guilty  of  murder. 

Johnson,  indeed,  describe*  him  as  having;  "  a 
grave  and  manly  deportment,  a  solemn  dignity 
of  mien;  but  which,  upon  a  nearer  acquaintance, 
softened  into  an  engaging  easinesi  of  manners." 
How  highly  Johnson  admired  him  for  that  know- 
ledge which  he  himself  so  much  cultivated,  and 
what  kindness  he  entertained  for  him,  appears 
from  the  following  lines  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  for  April,  1788,  which  I  am  assured 
were  written  by  Johnson: 

"  Ad  Ricaroum  Savage. 
"  Huwumi  studium  generis  cut  peeters  fervet 
O  coiat  kmaumum  tsfoveatque  genu*."— Botwxix. 

[Boswell  should  have  stated  bis  authority  for 
attributing  this  poor,  obscure,  and  harsh  couplet 
to  Johnson.  The  absurd  title  prefixed  to  it  in  the 
Magazine  (which  Boswell,'  more  prudently  than 
candidly,  sinks)  is  still  less  in  Johnson's  manner, 
and  reminds  us  of  Marat  and  Anathartis  Clootx. 

"  Ad  BJcardoai  Savage, 
Mhtmani  generis  Amatsrem  !  !  I " 

If  Johnson  wrote  this  sad  stuff,  it  was  probably 
he  knew  much  of  Savage.  They  were 
not,  aa  he  himself  said,  acquainted  till  after  Lon* 
don  was,  written.  Now  London  was  written  in 
1788,  and  finished,  probably  in  March,  certainly 
in  April;  and  Johnson  was  in  negotiation  with 
Cave  and  Dodsley  for  the  sale  or  it  when  this 
epigram  was  published.  Perhaps,  at  this  tune, 
Johnson  supposed  Savige  to  stand  high-  in  the 
opinion  of  Cave,  and  may  have  hoped  to  propi- 
tiate the  latter  by  praise  of  the  former,  as  there 
is  reason  to  suspect  he  did,  about  the  same  time, 
in  the  cases  of  Miss  Carter  and  Dr  Birch.  (See 
ante,  p.  64.  note.)— En.] 

*  The  following  striking  proof  of  Johnson's  ex- 
treme indigence,  when  be  published  the  Life  of 
Savage,  was  communicated  to  Mr.  Boswell,  by  Mr. 
Richard  Stowe  of  Apaley,  in  Bedfordshire,  from 
the  information  of  Mr.  Walter  Harte,  author  of 
the  Life  of  Gustavus  Adolphus: 

"  Soon  after  Savage's  Life  was  published,  Mr. 
Harte  dined  with  Edward  Cave,  and  occasion- 
ally praised  it  Soon  after  meeting  him,  Cave  said, 
'  you  made  a  man  very  happy  t'other  day. ' — «  How 
could  that  be  ?'  says  Harte;  <  nobody  was  there 
but  .ourselves.'  Cave  answered,  by  reminding 
him  that  a  plate  of  victuals  was  sent  behind  a 
screen*  which  was  to  Johnson,  dressed  so  shab- 
bily, that  he  did  not  choose  to  appear;  but  on 
hearing  the  conversation,  he  was  highly  delighted 
with  the  encomiums  on  bis  book." — M  alone. 

4  A»  Johnson  was  married  before  he  settled  in 
London,  and  must  have  always  had  a  habitation 
for  his  wife,  some  readers  have  wondered  how  be 


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1744.— iETAT.  85. 


in  these  almost  incredible  scenes  of  distress, 
we  may  suppose  that  Savage  mentioned 
many  of  the  anecdotes  with  which  Johnson 
afterwards  enriched  the  life  of  his  unhappy 
companion,  and  those  of  other  poets. 

He  told  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  that  one 
night  in  particular,  when  Savage  and  he 
walked  round  St.  James's-square  lor  want  of 
a  lodging,  they  were  not  at  all  depressed  by 
their  situation;  but,  in  high  spirits  and 
brimful  of  patriotism,  traversed  the  square 
for  several  hours*  inveighed  against  the  min- 
ister, and  "  resolved  tney  would  stand  by 
their  country." 

I  am  afraid,  however,  that  by  associating 
with  Savage,  who  was  habituated  to  the 
dissipation  and  licentiousness  of  the  town, 
Johnson,  though  his  Rood  principles  remain- 
ed steady,  did  not  entirely  preserve  that  con- 
duct, for  which,  in  days  of  greater  simplici- 
ty, he  was  remarked  by  his  friend  Mr.  Hec- 
tor; but  was  imperceptibly  led  into  some 
indulgences  which  occasioned  much  distress 
to  his  virtuous  mind1. 


ever  could  have  been  driven  to  stroll  about  with 
Savage,  all  night,  for  want  of  a  lodging.  Bat  it 
should  be  remembered,*  that  Johnson,  at  different 
periods,  had  lodgings  in  the  vicinity  of  London; 
and  his  finances  certainly  would  not  admit  of  a 
doable  establishment.  When,  therefore,  he  spent 
a  convivial  day  in  London,  and  found  it  too  late 
to  return  to  any  country  residence  he  may  occa- 
sionally have  had,  having  no  lodging  in  town, 
he  was  obliged  to  pass  the  night  in  the  manner 
described  above;  for  though,  at  that  period,  h  was 
not  uncommon  fbr  two  men  to  sleep  together, 
Savage,  it  appears,  could  accommodate  him  with 
nothing  but  his  company  in  the  open  air. — The 
epigram  given  above,  which  doubtless  was  written 
by  Johnson,  shows,  that  their  acquaintance  com- 
menced before  April,  17S8.  See  p.  103,  n. — 
Malore.  [Mr!  Malone  appeals  to  have  for- 
gotten that  Sir  J.  Hawkins  relates,  that  about  this 
period  of  Johnson's  intimacy  with  Savage,  a  kind 
of  separation  took  place  between  him  and  his  wife, 
who  went  to  reside  with  some  relations  near  the 
Tower:  this  was,  probably,  part  of  the  period 
which  Johnson  calls  their  distress;  which,  if  Mr. 
Malone 's  anecdote  of  the  plate  of  victuals  sent  be- 
hind the  screen  be  correct,  must  have  extended  to, 
at  least,  1744,  and  may,  it  is  feared,  have  lasted 
a  few  years  later.  As  to  the  inference  Mr.  Ma- 
.  lone  draws  from  the  epigram,  it  may  be  observed, 
that  it  by  no  means  proves  any  intimacy  y  and  it 
has  been  shown  in  toe  last  note  that  if  any  ac- 
quaintance existed  at  the  time  the  epigram  was 
written,  it  must  have  been  very  recent — En.] 

1  [Sir  John  Hawkins  very  uncharitably  attri- 
butes to  the  influence  of  Savage  a  separation 
which  took  place  (as  he  alone  asserts),  between 
Johnson  and  his  wife  about  this  period,  "  when 
•be  was  harboured,*'  as  he  expressess  it,  "  by  a 
fiiendnearthe  Tower.''  This  separation  (if  Haw- 
kins be  even  so  far  correct)  may  be  explained  with- 
out any  reference  to  Savage.  The  whole  course 
of  Johnson's  life  and  conduct  warrants  us  in  sup- 


That  Johnson  was  anxious  that  an  ar> 
thentick  and  favourable  account  of  his  ex- 
traordinary friend  should  first  get  posses- 
sion of  the  publick  attention,  is  evident 
from  a  letter  which  he  wrote  in  the  Gen- 
tleman's Magazine  for  August  of  the  year 
preceding  its  publication. 

"  Mr.  Urban, — As  your  collections  show 
how  often  you  have  owed  the  ornaments 
of  your'poetical  pages  to  the  correspondence 
of  the  unfortunate  and  ingenious  Mr.  Sav- 
age, I  doubt  not  hut  you  hav«  so  much 
regard  to  his  memory  as  to  encourage  any 
design  that  may  have  a  tendency  to  the 
preservation  of  it  from  insults  or  calumnies; 
and  therefore  with  some  degree  of  assur- 
ance, entreat  vou  to  inform  the  publick, 
that  his  life  will  speedily  he  published  by  a 
person  who  was  favoured  with  his  confi- 
dence, and  received  from  himself  an  ac- 
count of  most  of  the  transactions  which  he 
proposes  to  mention,  to  the  time  of  his  re^ 
tirenient  to  Swansea  in  Wales. 

*"From  that  period,  to  his  death  in  the 
prison  of  Bristol,  the  account  will  be  con- 
tinued from  materials  still  less  liable  to  ob- 
jection; his  own  letters,  and  those  of  his 
friends,  some  of  which  will  be  inserted  in 
the  work,  and  abstracts  of  others  subjoined 
in  the  margin. 

"  It  may  be  reasonably  imagined,  that 
others  may  have  the  same  design;  but  as  it 
is  not  credible  that  they  can  obtain  the  same 
materials,  it  must  be  expected  they  will  sup- 
ply from  invention  the  want  of  intelligence: 
and  that  under  the  title  of  « The  Life  of 
Savage,'  they  will  publish  only  a  novel,  fill- 
ed with  romantick  adventures  and  imagi- 
nary amours.  You  may  therefore,  perhaps, 
gratify  the  lovers  of  truth  and  wit,  by  giving 
me  leave  to  inform  them  in  your  Magazine, 
that  my  account  will  be  published  in  8vo. 
by  Mr.  Roberts,  in  Warwick-lane." 

[JVb  Signature^ 


posing  that  this  temporary  separation  was  pro- 
duced by  pecuniary  distress,  and  not  by  an  inter- 
ruption of  affection.  Johnson  would  be  naturally 
solicitous  that  his  wife  should  find  in  her  own 
family  a  temporary  refuge  from  the  want  with 
which  he  was  straggling.  There  never  has  ex- 
isted any  human-being,  all  the  details  of  whose  life, 
ail  the  motives  of  whose  actions,  all  the  thoughts 
of  whose  mind,  have  been  so  unreservedly  brought 
before  the  publick;  even  his  prayers,  his  most  se- 
cret meditations,  and  his  most  scrupulous  self  re- 
proaches, have  been  laid  before  the  world;  and  * 
there  is  not  to  be  found,  in  all  the  unparalleled 
mass  of  information  thus  exposed  to  us,  a  single 
trace  to  justify  the  accusation  which  Hawkins  so 
wantonly  and  so  odiously,  and  it  may  be  assumed, 
so  falsely  makes.  Johnson's  fate  in  this  particu- 
lar is  a  little  hard;  he  is  at  once  ridiculed  for 
being  extravagantly  uxorious,  and  censured  for  a 
profligate  disregard  of  his  wife. — En.] 


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In  February,  1744,  it  accordingly  came 
forth  from  the  shop  of  Roberts,  between 
whom  and  Johnson  I  have  not  traced  any 
connexion,  except  the  casus]  one  of  this 
publication1.  In  Johnson'?  "  Life  of  Sav- 
age," although  it  must  be  allowed  that  its 
moral  is  the  reverse  of—"  Respicere  exem- 
plar vitce  morumque  jubebo,"  a  very  useful 
lesson  is  inculcated,  to  guard  men  of  warm 
passions  from  a  too  free  indulgence  of  them; 
and  the  various  incidents  are  related  in  so 
dear  and  animated  a  manner,  and  illuminat- 
ed throughout  with  so  much  philosophy, 
that  it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  narra- 
tives in  the  English  language3.  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  told  me,. that  upon  his  return 
from  Italy  he  met  with  it  in  Devonshire, 
knowing  nothing  of  its  authour,  and*began 
to  read  it  while  he  was  standing  with  his 
arm  leaning  against  a  chimneypiece.  It 
seized  his  attention  so  strongly,  that,  not 
being  able  to  lay  down  the  book  till  he  had 
finished  it,  when  he  attempted  to  move,  he 
found  his  arm  totally  benumbed.  The  ra- 
pidity with  which  this  work  was  composed 
is  a  wonderful  circumstance.     Johnson  has 

been  heard  to  say,  "  I  wrote  forty- 
Jjnfc        eight  of  the  printed  octavo  pages 

of  the  Life  or  Savage  at  a  sitting; 
but  then. J  sat  up  all  night." 

He  exhibits  the  genius  of  Savage  to  the 
best  advantage,  in  the  specimens  ofnis  poe- 
try which  he  has  selected,  some  of  which 
arc  of  uncommon  merit.  We,  indeed,  oc- 
casionally find  such  vigour  and  such  point, 
as  might  make  us  suppose  that  the  generous 
aid  o!  Johnson  had  been  imparted  to  his 
friend.  Mr.  Thomas  Warton  made  this 
remark  to  me;  and,  in  support  of  it,  quoted 
from  the  poem  entitled  "  The  Bastard,"  a 
tine  in  which  the  fancied  superiority  of  one 
"  stamped  in  Nature's  mint  with  ecstasy" 
is  contrasted  with  a  regular  lawful  descend- 
ant of  some  great  and  ancient  family: 

1  [There  seems  reason  to  Suppose  tfmt  Cave 
sometimes  permitted  the  name  of  another  printer 
to  appear  on  the  title  pages  of  books  of  which  he 
was  in  (act  the  publisher;  see  ctale,  p.  63.  In 
th»  case  the  feet  is  certain ;  as  it  appears  from  the 
letter  to  Cave,  August,  1738  {ante,  p.  62),  that 
Johnson  sold  the  work  to  him  even  before  it  was 
written. — Ed.] 

*  [It  gives,  like  Raphael's  Lazarus  or  Murillo's 
Beggar,  pleasure  as  a  work  of  art,  while  the  orig- 
inal could  only  excite  disgust.  Johnson  has 
spread  over  Savage's  character  the  varnish,  or 
rather  the  veil,  of  stately  diction,  and  extenuatory 
phrases,  but  cannot  prevent  the  observant  reader 
from  seeing  that  the  subject  of  this  biograpicnl 
essay  was,  as  Mr.  Boswell  calls  him,  "  an  un- 
grateful and  insolent  profligate;"  and  so  little 
do  his  works  show  of  that  poetical  talent  for 
which  he  has  been  celebrated,  that  if  it  had  not 
been  for  Johnson's  embalming  partiality,  his 
works  would  probably  be  now  as  unheard  of  as 
they  are  unread. — Ed.] 


'  Nb  tenth  transmitter  of  a  foolish  face.* 


But  the  fact  is,  that  this  poem  was  publish- 
ed some  years  before  Jonnson  and  Savage 
were  acquainted. 

It  no  where  appears  when  they  became 
cquainted  3,  and  in  the  whole  of  Johnson's 
life  of  his  profligate  friend  there  is  no  kind 
of  date. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  in  this  biographical 
disquisition  there  appears  a  very  strong 
symptom  of  Johnson's  prejudice  against 
players 4;  a  prejudice  which  may  be  attri- 
buted to  the  following  causes:  first,  the 
imperfection  of  his  organs,  which  were  so 
detective  that  he  was  not  susceptible  of  the 
fine  impressions  which  theatrical  excellence 
produces  upon  the  generality  of  mankind; 
secondly,  trie  cold  rejections  of  his  tragedy; 
and,  lastly,  the  brilliant  success  of  Garrick, 
who  had  been  his  pupil,  who  had  come  to 
London  at  the  same  time  with  himf  not  in 
a  much  more  prosperous  state  than  him- 
self, and  whose  talents  he  undoubtedly 
rated  low,  compared  with  his  own.  His 
being  outstripped  by  his  pupil  in  the  race 
of  immediate  fame,  as  well  as  of  fortune, 
probably  made  him  feel  some  indignation, 
as  thinking  whatever  might  be  Garrick's 
merits  in  his  art,  the  reward  was  too  great 
when  compared  with  whaf  th%  most  suc- 
cessful efforts  of  literary  labour  could  at- 
tain. At  all  periods  of  his  life  Johnson 
used  to  talk  contemptuously  of  players; 
but  in  this  work  he  speaks  of  them  wjtn  pe- 
culiar acrimony;  for  which,  perhaps,  there 
was  formerly  too  much  reason  from  the  li- 
centious and  dissolute  manners  of  those  en- 
gaged in  that  profession.  It  is  but  justice 
to  add,  that  in  our  own  time  such  a  change 
has  taken  place,  that  there  is  no  longer 
room  for  such  an  unfavourable  distinction. 

His  schoolfellow  and  friend,  Dr.  Taylor, 
told  me  a  pleasant  anecdote  of  Johnson's 
triumphing  over  his  pupil,  David  Garrick. 
When  that  great  actor  had  played  some 


*  [This  acquaintance  probably  commenced  in 
the  spring  of  1738;  certainly  not  earlier,  if  it  be 
true,  that  they  first  met  at  St  John's  Gate,  as 
Johnson  was  not  known  to  Cave  till  February  or 
March,  1788— Ed.] 

*  [It  is  another  of  those  remarkable  inconsis- 
tencies in  Johnson's  character,  before  alluded  to 
(p.  49),  that  as  the  first  publication  of  this  de^ 
termined  admirer  of  the  metropolis  was  a  satire  ■ 
on  London,  so  the  first  production  of  this  despiser 
of  the  stage  should  be  a  play!  Mr.  Boswell  is 
obliged  te  admit  what  was  too  obvious  to  be  con- 
cealed—but he  does  so  with  reluctance  and  great 
tenderness  of  expression— that  Dr.  Johnson  envied 
Garrick,  and  we  shall  see  that  he  even  envied 
Sheridan,  and  to  this  source  must,  we  fear,  be  at- 
tributed his  <'  indignation"  against  players.  This 
is  no  doubt  a  blot  on  Johnson's  character,  and 
we  have  seen,  and  shall  see,  too  many 
of  this  infirmity. — En.] 

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1744.— jETAT.  86. 


little  time  at  Goodman's-fields,  Johnson 
and  Taylor  went  to  see  him  perform,  and 
afterwards  passed  the  evening  at  a  tavern 
with  him  and  old  Giffard.  Johnson,  who 
was  ever  depreciating  stage-players,  after 
censuring  some  mistakes  in  emphasis,  which 
Garrick  had  committed  in  the  course  of 
that  night's  acting,  said,  "The  players, 
sir,  have  got  a  kind  of  rant,  with  which 
they  run  on,  without  any  regard  either  to 
accent  or  emphasis."  Both  Garrick  and 
Giffard  were  offended  at  this  sarcasm,  and 
endeavoured  to  refute  it;  upon  which  John- 
son rejoined,  "Well  now,  I'll  give  you 
something  to  speak,  with  which  you  are 
little  acquainted,  and  then  we  shall  see  how 
just  my  observation  is.  That  shall  be  the 
criterion.  Let  me  hear  you  repeat  the 
ninth  commandment:  '  Thou  shalt  not  bear 
false  witness  against  thy  neighbour.'" 
Both  tried  at  it,  said  Dr.  Taylor,  and  both 
mistook  the  emphasis,  which  should  be  up- 
on not  and  false  witness 1.  Johnson  put 
them  right,  and  enjoyed  his  victory  with 
great  glee. 

His  "Life  of  Savage"  was  no  sooner 
published,  than  the  following  liberal  praise 
was  given  to  it,  m  "  The  Champion,"  a 
periodical  paper: 

"  This  pamphlet  is,  without  flattery  to 
its  authour,  as  just  and  well  written  a  piece 
of  its  kind  as  I  ever  saw;  so  that  at  the  same 
time  that  it  highly  deserves,  it  certainly 
stands  very  little  in  need  of  this  recommen- 
dation. As  to  the  history  of  the  unfortu- 
nate person,  whose  memoirs  compose  this 
work,  it  is  certainly  penned  with  equal  accu- 
racy and  spirit,  of  which  I  am  so  much  the 
better  judge,  as  I  know  many  df  the  facts 
mentioned  to  be  strictly  true,  and  very  fair- 
ly related.     Besides,  it  is  jiot  only  the  story 


*  I  suspect  Dr.  Taylor  wan  inaccurate  in  this 
statement  The  emphasis  should  be  equally 
upon  shalt  and  not,  as  both  concur  to  form  the 
negative  injunction;  and  false  witness,  like  the 
other  acts  prohibited  in  the  decalogue,  should  not 
be  marked  by  any  peculiar  emphask,  but  only  be 
distinctly  enunciated. — 60s  well,. 

A  moderate  emphasis  should  be  placed  on  false. 
— Kiarnky.  [Dr.  Kearney  is  clearly  right; 
whatever  empWw  there  is  should  be  on  false. 
The  error  of  Johnson's  suggestion  of  making  two 
or  three  emphatic  words  will  be  the  more  clearly 
.  shown  by  observing  that  several  of  the  command- 
ments consist,  in  the  Greek  and  the  Latin  (as 
well  as  in  the  original  Hebrew),  of  only  two 
words,  as  O*  ***4«c,  Aon  furabcris;  and  Bos- 
well's  opinion,  that  false  witness  should  not  be 
emphatical,  is  contradicted  by  the  fact,  that  in  the 
Greek  version  false  witness  is  doubly  forbidden, 
Oi/  •IwiifJL-'efTvr.rw  fA*m§i**  ^lyf*.  Yet  Dr. 
WooII,  in  h:s  Life  of  J.  Warton  (p.  101)  seems 
to  have  so  little  considered  the  matter  as  to  ap- 
prove of,  what  he  calls,  Johnson's  "  reproof 
of  tfamrfr."- Ed.] 


of  Mr.  Savage,  but  innumerable  incidents 
relating  to  other  persons,  and  other  a£ 
fairs,  which  render  this  a  very  amusing, 
and,  withal,  a  very  instructive  and  valuable 
performance.  The  authour's  observations 
are  qjhort,  significant,  and  just,  as  his  narra- 
tive is  remarkably  smooth  and  well  dispos- 
ed; his  reflections  open  to  all  the  recesses 
of  the  human  heart;  and,  in  a  wdrd,  a  more 
just  or  pleasant,  a  more  engaging  or  a  more 
improving  treatise,  on  all  the  excellences 
and  defects  of  human  nature,  is  scarce  to 
be  found  in  our  own,  or,  perhaps,  any 
other  language8." 

Johnson's  partiality  for  Savage  made 
him  entertain  no  doubt  of  his  stogy,  how- 
ever., extraordinary  and  improbable.  It 
never  occurred  to  him  to  Question  his  being 
the  son  of  the  Countess  or  Macclesfield,  of 
whose  unrelenting  barbarity  he  so  loudly 
complained,  and  the  particulars  of  which 
are  related  in  so  strong  and  affecting  a 
manner  in  Johnson's  Life  of  him.  John- 
son was  certainly  well  warranted  in  pub- 
lishing his  narrative,  however  offensive  it 
might  be  to  the  lady  and  her  relations,  be- 
cause her  alleged  unnatural  and  cruel  con- 
duct to  her  son,  and  shameful  avowal  of 
guilt,  were  stated  in  a  Life  of  Savage  now 
lying  before  me,  which  came  out  so  early 
as  1727,  and  no  attempt  had  been  made  to 
confute  it,  or  to  punish  the  authouror  prin- 
ter as  a  libeller:  nut  for  the  honour  or  hu- 
man nature,  we  should  be  glad  to  find  the 
shocking  tale  not  true;  and  from  a  re- 
spectable gentleman  *,  connected  with  the 
lady's  family,  I  have  received  such  infor- 
mation and  remarks,  as,  joined  to  my  -own 
inquiries,  will,  I  think,  render  it  at  least 
somewhat  doubtful,  especially  when  we 
consider  that  it  must  have  originated  from 
the  person  himself  who  went  by  the  name 
of  Richard  Savage. 

If  the  maxim,  falsum  in  uno>  falsum  in 
omnibus,  were  to  be  received  without  qual- 
ification, the  credit  of  Savage's  narrative,  as 
conveyed  to  us,  would  be  annihilated;  for 
it  contains  some  assertions  which,  beyond 
a  question,  are  not  true. 
.  1.  In  order  to  induce  a  belief  that  the 
Earl  Rivers,  on  account  of  a  criminal  con- 
nexion with  whom  Lady  Macclesfield  is 
said  to  have  been  divorced  from  her  hus- 
hand,  by  Act  of  Parliament  (1697},  had  a 
peculiar  anxiety  about  the  child  which  she 


*  This  character  of  the  Life  of  Savage  was  not 
written  by  Fielding,  as  has  been  supposed,  bat 
most  probably  by  Ralph,  who,  as  appears  from  the 
minutes  of  the  Partners  of  **  The  Champion,"  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Reed  of  Staple  Inn,  suc- 
ceeded Fielding  in  his  share  of  the  paper,  before 
the  date  of  that  eulogium. — Bos  well.. 

*  The  late  Francis  Cockayne  Cast,  esq.  one  of 
his  majesty's  council — Bpbwei>l., 


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bote  to  him,  it  is  alleged,  that  his  lordship 
gave  him  his  own  name,  and  had  it  duly 
recorded  in  the  register  of  St.  Andrew's, 
Hofbora.  I  have  carefully  inspected  that 
register,  but  no  such  entry  is  to  be  found1. 


1  Mr.  Coat's  reasoning,  with  respect  to  the  fili- 
ation of  Richard  Savage,  always  appeared  to  me  ex- 
tremely unsatisfactory;  and  is  entirely  overturned 
by  the  following  decisive  observations,  for  which 
the  reader  is  indebted  to  the  unwearied  researches 
of  Mr.  Bindlev.— The  story  on  which  Mr.  Cast  so 
much  relies,  that  Savage  was  a  snpposititioas  child, 
not  the  son  of  Lord  Rivers  and  Lady  Maccles- 
field, but  die  oflspring  of  a  shoemaker,  introduced 
in  consequence  of  her  real  son's  death,  was,  with- 
out doubt,  grounded  on  the  circumstance  of  Lady 
Macclesfield  having,  in  1696,  previously  to  the 
birth  of  Savage,  had  a  daughter  by  the  Earl  Riv- 
en, who  died  in  her  infancy:  a  fact  which,  as  the 
same  gentleman  observes  to  me,  was  proved  in 
the  course  of.  the  proceedings  on  Lord  Maccles- 
field's Bill  of  Divorce.  Most  fictions  of  this  kind 
have  some  admixture  of  truth  in  them. — Ma  lone. 

From  "the  Earl  of  Macclesfield's  Case," 
which,  in  1697-8,  was  presented  to  the  Lords,  m 
order  to  procure  an  act  of  divorce,  it  appears  that 
Anne,  Countess  -of  Macclesfield,  under  the  name 
of  Madam  Smith,  was  delivered  of  a  male  child 
a  Fox-court,  near  Brook-street,  Holborn,  by 
Mm.  Wright,  a  midwife,  on  Saturday,  the  16th 
of  January,  1696-7,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, who  war  baptised  on  the  Monday  following, 
and  registered  by  the  name  of  Richard,  the  son 
of  John  Smith,  by  Mr.  Burbridge,  assistant  to  Dr. 
lfanuungham's  curate  for  St  Andrew's,  Holborn: 
that  the  child  was  christened  on  Monday,  the  18th 
of  January,  m  Fox-court;  and,  from  the  privacy, 
"  by  Mr.  Burbridge  to  be  "  a  by- 
?  It  also  appears  that,  during 
the  lady  wore  a  mask;  and  that 
Mary  Pegier,  on  the  next  dav  alter  the  baptism 
(Tuesday),  took  a  male  child,  whose  mother 
was  catted  Madam  Smith,  from  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Pheasant,  in  Fox-court  [running  from  Brook-street 
into  Gray's-inn4ane],  who  went  by  the  name  of 
Mrs.  Lee. 

Conformable  to  this  statement  is  the  entry  in 
die  register  of  St  Andrew's,  Holborn,  which  is 
as  follows,  and  which  unquestionably  records  the 
baptism  of  Richard  Savage,  to  whom  Lord  Rivers 
gaye  his  own  Christian  name,  prefixed  to  the  as- 
sumed surname  of  his  mother:  Jan.  1696-7. 
«  Rich  Ann,  son  of  John  Smith  and  Mary,  in 
Fox-court,  in  Gray'«-in-lane,  baptized  the  18th." 
— Bi  holey.  [Mr.  Cost  and  Mr.  BosweU'a  share 
of  the  argument  and  assertions  in  the  text  not  be- 
ing distinguished,  it  is  not  possible  to  say  which 
of  them  hazarded  the  assertion  relative  to  the 
parish  register  of  St  Andrew's,  which  certainly 
does  contain  what  the  text  asserts  is  not  to  be 
found  in  it  If  the  maxim,  therefore,  fa/sum  in 
emo,  falrum  in  omnibus,  were  to  be  applied  to 
them,  all  their  observations  must  be  rejected. 
On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Bindley's  researches 
seem  only  to  prove  what  has  been  generally  ad- 
mitted,' that  Lady  Macclesfield  had  a  child,  by 
Lord  Rivers,  baptized  by  the  name  of  Richard; 


9.  It  is  stated,  that  "  Lady  Macclesfield 
having  lived  for  some  time  upon  very 
uneasy  terms  with  her  husband,  thought  a 
public  confession  of  adultery  the  most  obvi- 
ous and  expeditious  method  of  obtaining 
her  liberty;"  and  Johnson,  assuming  this  to 
be  true,  stigmatises  her  with  indignation,  as 
"the  wretch  who  had,  without  scruple,  pro- 
claimed .  herself  an  adulteressV  But  I 
have  perused  the  Journals  of  both  houses 
of  Parliament  at  the  period  of  her  divorce, 
and  there  find  it  authentically  ascertained, 
that  so  far  from  voluntarily  submitting  to 
the  ignominious  charge  of  adultery,  she 
made  a  strenuous  defence  by  her  counsel: 
the  bill  having  been  first  moved  the  15th  or 
January,  1697-8,  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  proceeded  on  (with  various  applications 
for  tune  to  bring  up  witnesses  at  a  distance, 
&c.)  at  intervals,  till  the  3d  of  March,  when 
it  passed.  It  was  brought  to  the  Commons, 
by  a  message  from  the  Lords,  the  5th  of 
March,  proceeded  on  the  7th,  10th,  11th, 
14th,  and  15th,  on  which  day,  after  a  full 
examination  of  witnesses  on  both  sides,  and 
hearing  of  counsel,  it  was  reported  without 
amendments,  passed,  and  carried  to  the 
Lords.  That  Lady  Macclesfield  was  con- 
victed of  the  crime  of  which  she  was  accus- 
ed, cannot  he  denied;  bat  the  question  now 
is,  whether  the  person  calling  himself  Rich- 
ard Savage  was  her  son. 

It  has  been  said  3,  that  when  Earl  Rivers 
was  dying,  and  anxious  to  provide  for  all 
his  natural  children,  he  was  informed  by 
Lady  Macclesfield  that  her  son  by  him  was 
dead.  Whether,  then,  shall  we  believe  that 
this  was  a  malignant  lie,  invented  by  a  mo- 
ther to  prevent  her  own  child  from  receiv- 
ing the  bounty  of  his  father,  which  was  ac- 
cordingly the  consequence,  if  the  person 
whose  life  Johnson  wrote  was  her  son;  or 
shall  we  not  rather  believe  that  the  person 
who  then  assumed  the  name  of  Richard  Sav- 
age was  an  impostor,  being  in  reality  the 
son  of  the  shoemaker  under  whose  wife's 
care4  Lady  Macclesfield's  child  was  placed; 


but  it  does  not  disprove  the  assertion,  that  this 
child  died  m  its  infancy,  and  that  Savage,  when 
between  seventeen  and  eighteen,  assumed  its 
name.  Savage,  in  a  letter  to  Miss  Carter,  ad- 
mits that  hu  did  pass  under  another  name  till  he 
was  seventeen  years  of  age,  but  not  the  name  of 
any  person  he  lived  with. — Life  of  Mrs,  Carter, 
vol.  l  p.  59. — Ed.] 

•  No  divorce  can  be  obtained  in  the  courts  on 
confession  of  the  party.  Hiere  must  be  proofs.— 
Kearney. 

»  By  Johnson  in  his  JAfe  of  Savage.— Malok  «. 

4  This,  as  an  accurate  friend  remarks  to  me, 
is  not  correctly  stated.  The  shoemaker  under 
whose  care  Savage  was  placed,  with  a  view  to  his 
becoming  his  apprentice,  was  not  the  husband  of 
his  nurse.— See  Johnson's  Lift  of  Savage.— J. 

BOSWBLL. 


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that  after  the  death  of  the  real  Richard  Say- 
age,  he  attempted  to  personate  him:  and 
that  the  fraud  being  known  to  Lady  Mac- 
clesfield, he  was  therefore  repulsed  hy  her 
with  just  resentment. 

There  is  a  strong  circumstance  in  support 
of  the  last  supposition;  though  it  has  been 
mentioned  as  an  aggravation  of  Lady  Mac- 
clesfield's unnatural  conduct,  and  that  is, 
her  having  prevented  him  from  obtaining 
the  benefit  of  a  legacy  left  to  him  by  Mrs. 
Lloyd,  his  godmother.  For  if  there  was 
such  a  legacy  left,  his  not  being  able  to.  ob- 
tain payment  of  it  must  be  imputed  to  his 
consciousness  that  he  was  not  the  real  per- 
son. The  just  inference  should  be,  that  by 
the  death  of  Lady  Macclesfield's  child  be- 
fore its  godmother,  the  legacy  became  laps- 
ed, and  therefore  that  Johnson's  Richard 
Savage  was  an  impostor. 

If  he  had  a  title  to  the  legacy,  he  could 
not  have  found  any  difficulty  in  recovering 
it;  for  had  the  executors  resisted  his  claim, 
the  whole  costs,  as  well  as  the  legacy,  must 
have  been  paid  by  them,  if  he  had  been  the 
child  to  whom  it  was  given1. 
.  The  talents  of  Savage,  and  the  mingled 
fire,  rudeness,  pride,  meanness,  and  ferocity 
of  his  character9,  concur  in  making  it  credi- 
ble that  he  was  fit  to  plan  and  carry  on  an 
ambitious  and  daring  scheme  of  imposture, 
similar  instances  of  which  have  not  been 
wanting  in  higher  spheres,  in  the  history  of 
different  countries,  and  have  had  a  consi- 
derable degree  of  success. 

Yet  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  companion 
of  Johnson  (who,  through  whatever  medi- 
um he  was  conveyed  into  this  world,  be  it 
.  ever  so  doubtful,  "  to  whom  related,  or  by 
whom  begot,"  was,  unquestionably,  a  man 
of  no  common  endowments),  we  must  allow 
the  weight  of  general  repute  as  to  his  Sta- 
tus or  parentage,  though  illicit;  and  suppos- 
ing him  to  be  an  impostor,  it  seems  strange 
that  Lord  Tyrconnel,  the  nephew  of  Lady 
Macclesfield,  should  patronise  him,  and 
even  admit  him  as  a  guest  in  his  family3. 


1  [This  reasoning  is  decisive;  if  Savage  were 
what  be  represented  himself  to  be,  nothing  could 
have  prevented  his  recovering  his  legacy. — Ed.] 

'  Johnson's  companion  appears  to  have  per- 
suaded that  lofty-minded  man,  that  he  resembled 
him  in  having  a  noble  pride;  for  Johnson,  after 
painting  in  strong  colours  the  quarrel  between 
Lord  Tyrconnel  and  Savage,  asserts  that  "the 
spirit  of  Mr.  Savage,  indeed,  never  suffered  him 
to  solicit  a  reconciliation:  he  returned  reproach 
for  reproach,  and  insult  for  insult"  But  the  re- 
spectable gentleman  to  whom  I  have  alluded  has 
in  his  possession  a  letter  from  Savage,  after  Lord 
Tyrconnel  had  discarded  him,  addressed  to  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Gilbert,  his  Lordship's  chaplain,  in 
which  be  requests  him,  in  the  humblest  manner, 
to  represent  his  case  to  the  viscount.— Boswell. 

*  frosting  to  Savage's  information,  Johnson 


Lastly,  it  must  ever  appear  very  SttStolcious 
that  three  different  accounts  or  the  Life  of 
Richard  Savage,  one  published  in  "  The 
Plain  Dealer,"  in  1724,  another  in  1727, 
and  another  by  the  powerful  pen  of  John- 
son, in  1744,  and  all  of  them  while  Lady 
Macclesfield4  was  alive,  should,  notwith- 
standing the  severe  attacks  upon  her,  have 
been  suffered  to  pass  without  any  publick 
and  effectual  contradiction5. 


represents  this  unhappy  man's  being  received  and 
pensioned  by  his  lordship,  as  posterior  to  Savage's 
conviction  and  pardon.  But  I  am  assured  thai 
Savage  had  received  the  voluntary  bounty  of  Lord 
Tyrconnel,  and  had  been  dismissed  by  him  long 
before  the  murder  was  committed,  and  that  his 
lordship  was  very  instrumental  in  procuring  Sav- 
age's pardon,  by  his  intercession  with  the  queen, 
through  Lady  Hertford.  If,  therefore,  he  had  been 
desirous  of  preventing  the  publication  by  Savage, 
he  would  have  left  him  to  his  fate.  Indeed,  I 
must  observe,  that  although  Johnson  mentions 
that  Lord  Tyrconnel's  patronage  of  Savage  was 
*'  upon  his  promise  to  lay  aside  his  design  of  ex- 
posing the  cruelty  of  his  mother,*'  the  great  bi- 
ographer has  forgotten  that  he  himself  has  men- 
tioned that  Savage's  story  had  been  told,  several 
yean  before,  in  "  The  Plain  Dealer;"  from  which 
he  quotes  this  strong  saying  of  the  generous  Sir 
Richard  Steele,  that  the  "  inhumanity  of  his  mo- 
ther had  given  him  a  right  to  find  every  good 
man  his  father."  At  the  same  time  it  must  be 
acknowledged,  that  Lady  Macclesfield  and  her 
relations  might  still  wish  that  her  story  should  not 
be  brought  into  more  conspicuous  notice  by  the 
satirical  pen  of  Savage. — Boswell. 

4  Miss  Mason,  after  having  forfeited  the  title  of 
Lady  Macclesfield  by  divorce,  was  married  to 
Colonel  Brett,  and,  it  is  said,  was  well  known  in 
all  the  polite  circles.  Colley  Cihber,  I  am  in- 
formed, had  so  high  an  opinion  of  her  taste  and 
judgment  as  to  genteel  life  and  manners,  that  he 
submitted  every  scene  of  his  "  Careless  Husband" 
to  Mrs.  Brett's  revisal  and  correction.  Colonel 
Brett  was  reported  to  be  free  in  his  gallantry  with 
his  lady's  maid.  Mrs.  Brett  came  into  a  room 
one  day  in  her  own  house,  and  found  the  colonel 
and  the  maid  both  fast  asleep  in  two  chairs.  She 
tied  a  white  handkerchieQround  her  husband's  neck 
which  was  a  sufficient  pjftof  that  she  had  discov- 
ered his  intrigue;  but  she  never  at  any  time  took 
notice  of  it  to  him.  This  incident,  as  I  am  told, 
gave  occasion  to  the  well-wrought  scene  of  Sir 
Charles  and  Lady  Easy  and  Edging. — Boswell. 
[Can  Mr.  Boswell  have  been  well  informed  that 
Lady  Macclesfield,  after  her  divorce  and  re- 
marriage, was  received  in  all  the  polite  circles! 
—Ed.] 

5  [It  should,  however,  be  recollected,  before 
we  draw  any  conclusions  from  Lady  Maccles- 
field's forbearance  to  prosecute  a  libeller,  that 
however  innocent  she  might  be  as  to  Savage,  she 
was  undeniably  and  inexcusably  guilty  in  other 
respects,  and  would  have  been  naturally  reluctant 
to  drag  her  frailties  again  before  the  publick.  If 
it  had  not  been  for  the  accident  of  Johnson  having, 
near  twenty  years  after,  happened  to  write  Sev- 


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I  tare  thus  endeavonrea'  to  sum  up  the 
evidence  upon  the  case  as  fairly  as  I  can; 
and  the  result  seems  to  be,  that  the  world 
must  vibrate  in  a  state  of  uncertainty  as  to 
what  was  the  truth. 

This  digression,  I  trust,  will  not  be  cen- 
sored, as  it  relates  to  a  matter  exceedingly 
curious,  and  very  intimately  connected  with 
Johnson,  both  as  a  man  and  an  authour. 

He  this  year  wrote  the  "  Preface  to  the 
Harleian  Miscellany  *."  The  selection  of 
the  pamphlets  of  which  it  was  composed 
was  made  by  Mr.  Oldys,  a  man  of  eager 
curiosity,  and  indefatigable  diligence,  who 
first  exerted  that  spirit  of  inquiry  into  the 
literature  of  the  old  English  writers,  by 
which  the  works  of  our  great  dramatick  poet 
have  of  late  been  so  signally  illustrated. 

In  1745  he  published  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"  Miscellaneous  Observations  on  the  Trag- 
edy of  Macbeth,  with  Remarks  on  Sir  T. 
H.'b  (Sir  Thomas  Hanmer's)  edition  of 
Shakspeare*."  To  which  he  affixed,  pro- 
posals for  a  new  edition  of  that  poet. 

As  we  do  not  trace  any  thing  else1  pub- 
lished by  him  during  the  course  of  this  year, 
we  may  conjecture  that  he  was  occupied 
entirely  with  that  work.  But  the  little  en- 
couragement which  was  given  by  the  pub- 
lick  to  his  anonymous  proposals  for  the  ex- 
ecution of  a  task  which  Warburton  was 
known  to  have  undertaken,  probably  damp- 
ed his  ardour.  His  pamphlet,  however,  was 
highly  esteemed,  and  was  fortunate  enough 
to  obtain  the  approbation  even  of  the  su- 
percilious Warburton  himself,  who,  in  the 
Preface  to  his  Shakspeare,  published  two 
years  afterwards,  thus  mentioned  it:  "As 
to  all  those  things  which  have  been  publish- 
ed under  the  titles  of  Essay*,  Remarks  9  Ob- 
serrations,  fye.  on  Shakspeare,  if  you  ex- 
cept some  Critical  Notes  on  Macbeth,  given 
as  a  specimen  of  a  projected  edition,  and 
written,  as  appears,  by  a  man  of  parts  and 
genius,  the  rest  are  absolutely  below  a  seri- 
ous notice." 

Of  this  flattering  distinction  shown  to 
him  by  Warburton,  a  very  grateful  remem- 
brance was  ever  entertained  by  Johnson, 
who  said,  "  He  praised  me  at  a  time  when 
praise  was  of  value  to  me." 

In  1746  it  is  probable  that  he  was  still 
employed  upon  his  Shakspeare,  which  per- ' 
haps  he  laid  aside  for  a  time,  upon  account 
of  the  high  expectations  which  were  form- 
ed of  Warburton's  edition  of  that  great 
poet.  It  is  somewhat  curious,  that  lus  lite- 
rary career  appears  to  have  been  almost  to- 


vage's  life,  the  original  libel  would  never  have 
been  heard  ot — Ed.] 

1  [Upon  the  produce  of  these,  few  and  small 
works  he,  of  course,  could  not  have  existed  :  but 
how  he  was  otherwise  employed,  as  feoswell  fail- 
ed to  discover,  we  cannot  now  hope  to  ascertain : 
see  ante,  p.  64,  note. — En.] 


tally  suspended  in  the*  feite  tf4&  and  1746, 
those  years  which  were  marked  by  a  civil 
war  in  Great  Britain,  when  A  rttoh  attempt 
was  made  to  restore  the  house  of  Stuart  to 
the  throne.  That  he  had  a  tenderness  for 
that  unfortunate  house  is  well  knownj  and 
some  may  fancifully  imagine,  that  a  sympa> 
thetick  anxiety  impeded  the  exertion  of  hia 
intellectual  powers;  but  I  am  inclined  to 
think,  that  he  was,  during  this  time,  sketch- 
ing the  outlines  of  his  great  philological 

None  of  his  letters  during  those  years 
are  extant,  so  far  as  I  can  discover.  This 
is  much  to  be  regretted.  It  might  afford 
some  entertainment  to  see  how  he  then  ex- 
pressed himself  to  his  private  friends  con- 
cerning state  affairs.  Dr.  Adams  informs 
me,  that  "  at  this  time  a  favourite  object 
which  he  had  in  contemplation  was,  c  the 
Life  of  Alfred;5  in  which,  from  the  warmth 
with  which  he  spoke  about  it,  he  would,  I 
believe,  had  he  been  master  of  his  own  will, 
have  engaged  himself,  .rather  than  on  any 
other  subject." 

In  1747  it  is  supposed  that  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  for  May  (p.  2S9)  was  en- 
riched by  him  with  five  short  poetical  pieces, 
distinguished  by  three  asterisks 9.  The  first 
is  a  translation,  or  rather  a  paraphrase,  of 
a  Latin  epitaph  on  Sir  Thomas  Hanmer. 
Whether  the  Latin  was  his,  or  not,  I  have 
never  heard,  though  I  should  think  it  prob- 
ably was,  if  it  be  certain  that  he  wrote  the 
English:  as  to  which  my  only  cause  of  doubt 
is,  that  his  slighting  character  of  Hanmer 
as  an  editor,  in  his  "  Observations  on  Mac- 
beth," is  very  different  from  that  in  the 
Epitaph.  It  may  be  said,  that  there  is  the 
same  contrariety  between  the  character  in 
the  Observations,  and  that  in  his  own  Pre- 
face to  Shakspeare;  but  a  considerable  time 
elapsed  between  the  one  publication  and  the 
other,  whereas  the  Observations  and  the 
Epitaph  came  close  together.    The  others 

are,  "To  Miss ,  on  her  giving  the 

Authour  a  "gold  and  silk  net-work  Purse  of 
her  own  weaving;"  "  Stella  in  Mourning;" 
"The  Winter's  Walk;"  "An  Ode;"  and, 
"  To  Lyce,  an  elderly  Lady."  I  am  not 
positive  that  all  these  were  his  productions; 
but  as  "  The  Winter's  Walk"  has  never 
been  controverted  to  be  his,  and  all  of  them 
have  the  same  tnark,  it  is  reasonable  to  con- 


1  In  the  Universal  Visiter,  to  which  Johnson 
contributed,  the  mark  which  is  affixed  to  some 
pieces,  unquestionably  his,  if  also  found  subjoined 
to  others,  of  which  he  certainly  was  not  the  au- 
thour. The  mark,  therefore,  will  not  ascertain  the 
poems  in  question  to  have  been  written  by  him. 
Some  of  them  were  probably  the  productions  of 
Hawkesworth,  who,  it  is  believed,  was  afflicted 
with  the  gout.  The  verses  on  a  purse  were  in- 
serted afterwards  in  Mrs.  Williams's  Miscellanies, 
and  are  unquestionably  Johnson's, — Maloic*. 


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elude  that  they  Me  all  written  by  the  aame 
hand  *.  Yet  to  the  Ode,  in  which  we  find 
a  passage  very  characteristick  of  him,  being 
a  learned  description  of  the  gout, 

"  Unhappy,  whom  to  beds  of  pain 
Jirthritick  tyranny  consigns," 

there  is  the  following  note,  "  The  authonr 
being  ill  of  the  gout:"  but  Johnson  was 
not  attacked  with  that  distemper  till  a  very 
late  period  of  his  life.  May  not  this,  how- 
ever, be  a  poetical  fiction?  Why  may  not 
a  poet  suppose  himself  to  have  the  put,  as 
well  as  suppose  himself  to  be  in  love,  of 
which  we  nave  innumerable  instances,  and 
which  has  been  admirably  ridiculed  by  John- 
son in  his  "  Life  of  Cowley  ?  "  I  have  also 
some  difficulty  to  believe  that  he  could  pro- 
duce such  a  group  of  conceits  as  appear  in 
the  verses  to  Lyce>  in  which  .he  claims  for 
this  ancient  personage  as  good  a  right  to  be 
assimilated  to  heaven,  as  nymphs  whom 
other  poets  have  flattered;  he  therefore 
ironically  ascribes  to  her  the  attributes  of 
the  sky,  in  such  stanzas  as  this: 

"  Her  teeth  the  nig  ht  with  darkness  dies, 
She's  storr' d  with  pimples  o'er  ; 

Her  tongue  like  nimble  lightning  plies, 
And  can  with  thunder  roar." 

But  as,  at  a  very  advanced  age,  he  could 
condescend  to  trifle  in  namby-pamby  rhymes, 
* .  to  please  Mrs.  Thrale  and  her  daughter,  he 
may  have,  in  his  earlier  years,  composed 
such  a  piece  as  this. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  in  this  first  edition 
of  "  The  Winter's  Walk,'*  the  concluding 
line  is  much  more  Johnsonian  than  it  was 
afterwards  printed;  for  in  subsequent  edi- 
tions, after  praying  Stella  "  to  snatch  him 
to  her  arms,"  he  says, 

"  And  shield  me  from  the  tils  of  life.'9 

....  Whereas  in  the  first  edition  it  is 

"  And  hide  me  from  the  eight  of  lit*." 


1  [There  is  no  evidence  whatever  that  any  of 
these  were  Johnson's,  and  every  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  they  are  Hawkesworth's.  Tlic  ode 
which  Boswell  doubts  about,  on  internal  evidence, 
is  the  ode  to  Springy  which,  with  those  on  Sum- 
mer, Autumn,  and  Winter,  have  been  of  late 
published  as  Johnson's,  and  are,  no  doubt,  all  by 
the  same  hand.  We  see  that  Spring  bears  inter- 
nal marks  of  being  Hawkesworth's.  Winter 
and  Summer,  Mr.  Chalmers  (in  the  preface  to 


the  Mtenturer  and  in  the  Biog.  Diet) 
to  be  his  also  ;  and  (which  seems  quite  conclusive) 
file  index  to  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  1748  attributes 
Summer  to  Mr.  OrevUle,  a  name  known  to 
have  been  assumed  by  Hawkesworth.  The  verses 
on  the  "Purse,"  and  to  "Stella  in  Mourning/' 
are  certainly  by  the  same  hand  as  the  four  odes,  and 
the  whole  must  therefore  be  assigned  to  Hawkes- 
worth, and  should  be  removed  from  their  place 
in  Johnson's  works.— En.] 


A  horrour  at  life  in  general  is  more  con- 
sonant with  Johnson's  habitual  gloomy  cast 
of  thought  a. 
I  have  heard  him  repeat  with  great  ener- 
f  the  following  verses,  which  appeared  in 
ie  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  April  this 
year;  but  I  have  no  authority  to  say  they 
were  his  own.     Indeed ,  one  of  the  best  critp- 
icks  of  our  age  suggests  to  me,  that  "  the 
word  indifferently  being  used  in  the  sense 
of  without  concern,  and  being  also  very  un- 
poetical,  renders  it  improbable  that  they 
should  have  been  his  composition." 

"  On  Lord  Lovat's  Execution. 

"  Pitied  by  gentle  minds,  Kilmarnock  died  ; 
The  brave,  Balmerino,  were  on  thy  side  ; 
Radcliffe,  unhappy  in  his  crimes  of  youth, 
Steady  m  what  he  still  mistook  for  truth, 
Beheld  bis  death  so  decently  unmoved, 
The  soft  lamented,  and  the  brave  approved. 
But  Lovat's  fate  indifferently  we  view, 
True  to  no  king,  to  no  religion  true : 
No  fair  forgets  the  ruin  he  has  done  ; 
No  child  laments  the  tyrant  of  his  son  ; 
No  rory  pities,  thinking  what  he  was  ; 
No  whig  compassions,  for  he  left  the  cause  ; 
Hm  brave  regret  not,  for  he  was  not  brave ; 
Hie  honest  mourn  not,  knowing  him  a  knave  *  ! " 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  Decem- 
ber this  year,  he  inserted  an  "  Ode  on  Win- 
ter" (p.  588),  which  is,  I  think,  an  admira- 
ble specimen  of  his  genius  for  lyrick  poetry. 

*  [Johnson's  habitual  horrour  was  not  of  Itfe, 
bat  of  death.— Ed.] 

*  These  verses  are  somewhat  too  severe  on  the 
extraordinary  person  who  is  the  chief  figure  in 
them ;  for  he  was  undoubtedly  brave.  His 
pleasantry  during  his  solemn  trial  (in  which,  by 
the  way,  I  have  heard  Mr*  David  Hume  observe, 
that  we  have  one  of  the  very  few  speeches  of  Sir. 
Murray,  now  Earl  of  Mansfield,  authentically  giv- 
en) waf*very  remarkable.  When  asked  if  he 
had  any  questions  to  put  to  Sir  Everard  Fawkener, 
who  was  one  of  the  strongest  witnesses  against 
him,  he  answered,  "  I  only  wish  him  joy  of  his 
young  wife."  And  after  sentence  of  death,  in  the 
horrible  terms  in  such  cases  of  treason,  .was  pro- 
nounced upon  him,  and  he  was  retiring  from  the 
bar,  he  said,  "  Fare  you  well,  my  lords  ;  we  shall 
not  all  meet  again  in  one  place."  He  behaved 
•wkh  perfect  composure  at  his  execution,  and  call- 
ed out,  "  Dulce  et  deeorum  est  pro  patrut  mo- 
ri." — Boswell.'  [He  was  a  profligate  villain, 
and  deserved  death  for  his  moral,  at  least,  as 
much  as  for  his  political  offences.  There  p  in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  for  April  an  account  of  the 
behaviour  of  Lord  Lovat  at  his  execution,  the  lat- 
ter part  of  which,  censuring  pleasantry  in  articulo 
mortis,  bears  strong  internal  evidence,  both  in 
matter  and  manner,  of  having  been  written  by 
Johnson.  'Hie  'interest  which  he  took  in  thai 
transaction  may  have  fixed  in  his  memory  the 
Ones  on  Lord  Lovat,  which  certainly  do  not  re- 
semble bis  own  style.— Ed.] 


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This  year  his  old  pupil  and  friend,  David 
Garrick,  having  become  joint  patentee  and 
manager  of  Drury-lane  theatre,  Johnson 
honoured  his  opening  of  it  with  a  Prologue*; 
which  for  just  and  manly  drama  tick  criticism 
on  the  whole  range  of  the  English  stage, 
as  well  as  for  poetical  excellence l,  is  unri- 
valled. Like  the  celebrated  Epilogue  to  the 
"Distressed  Mother,"  it  was,  during  the 
season,  often  called  for  by  the  audience. 
The  most  striking  and  brilliant  passages  of 
it  have  been  so  often  repeated,  and  so  well 
recollected  bv  all  the  lovers  of  the  drama  and 
of  poetry,  tnat  it  would  be  superfluous  to 
point  them  out. 

But  the  year  1747  is  distinguished  as  the 
epoch  when  Johnson's  arduous  and  impor- 
tant work,  his  "  Dictionary  of  the  Eng- 
lish Language,'*  was  announced  to  the 
world  by  the  publication  of  its  Plan  or  Pro- 
spectus. 

How  long  this  immense  undertaking  had 
been  the  object  of  his  contemplation,  I  do 
not  know.  I  once  asked  him  by  what  means 
he  had  attained  to  that  astonishing  know- 
ledge of  our  language,  by  which  he  was  ena- 
bled to  realize  a  design  of  such  extent  and 
accumulated  difficulty.  He  told  me,  that 
"  it  was  not  the  effect  of  particular  study; 
but  that  it  had  grown  up  in  his  mind  insen- 
sibly." I  have  been  informed,  by  Mr. 
James  Dodsley,  that  several  years  before 
this  period,  when  Johnson  was  one  day  Bit- 
tine  in  his  brother  Robert's  shop,  he  heard 
his  brother  suggest  to  him,  that  a  Dictiona- 
ry of  the  English  Language  would  be  a 
work  that  would  be  well  received  by  the 
publick;  that  Johnson  seemed,  at  first,  to 
catch  at  the  proposition;  but,  after  a  pause, 
said,  in  his  abrupt  decisive  manner,  "  I  be- 
lieve I  shall  not  undertake  it"  That  he, 
however,  had  bestswed  much  thought  upon 
the  subject  before  he  published  his  "  Plan," 
is  evident  from  the  enlarged,  dear,  and  ac- 
curate views  which  it  exhibits;  and  we  find 
him  mentioning  in  that  tract,  that  many  of 
the  writers  whose  testimonies  were  "to  be 
produced  as  authorities  were  selected  by 
Pope;  which  proves'  that  he  had  been  fur- 
nished, probably  by  Mr.  Robert  Dodsley, 
with  whatever  hints  that  eminent  poet  had 
contributed  towards  a  great  literary  project, 
that  had  been  the  subject  of  important  con- 
sideration in  a  former  reign. 

The  booksellers   who  contracted  with 

My  friend,  Mr.  Courtnay,  whose  eulogy  on 
been 


Johnson's  Latin  poetry  has  been  inserted  in  thii 
work,  is  no  lets  happy  in  poising  his  English 
poetry. 

!  the  strain  era  ?ope  admires; 

own  bard  iasnlrss, 
HeaHms  aa  Jareaal  he  poors  his  lays, 
Aed  with  the  Roman  shares  congenial  praise|— 


In  glowing  numbers  no* 
And  Baakspeare'S  sun 


now  he  fires  the 


VOL.    I. 


10 


clouted 

Botwaii. 


Johnson,  single  and  unaided,  for  the  execu- 
tion of  a  work,  which  in  other  countries  has 
not  been  effected  but  by  the  co-operating 
exertions  of  many,  were  Mr.  Robert  Dods- 
ley, Mr.  Charles  Hitch,  Mr.  Andrew  Mil- 
lar, the  two  Messieurs  Longman,  and  the 
two  Messieurs  Knapton.  The  price  stipu- 
lated was  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-five 
pounds. 

The  "Plan"  was  addressed  to  Philip 
Dormer,  Earl  of  Chesterfield,  then  one  of 
his  majesty's  principal  secretaries  of  state; 
a  nobleman  who  was  very  ambitious  of 
literary  distinction,  and  who,  upon  being 
informed  of  the  design,  had  expressed 
himself  in  terms  very  favourable  to  its 
success.  There  is,  perhaps,  in  every  thing 
of  any  consequence,  a  secret  history  which 
it  would  be  amusing  to  know,  could  we 
have  it  authentically  communicated.  John- 
son told  me2,  "  Sir,  the  way  in  which  the 
plan  of  my  Dictionary  came  to  be  inscrib- 
ed to  Lord  Chesterfield  was  this:  I  had 
neglected  to  write  it  by  the  time  appointed. 
Dodsley  suggested  a  desire  to  have  it  ad- 
dressed to  Lord  Chesterfield.  I  laid  hold 
of  this  as  a  pretext  for  delay,  that  it  might 
be  better  done,  and  let  Dodsley  have  his 
desire.  I  said  to  my  friend,  Dr.  Bathurst, 
'  Now,  if  any  good  comes  of  my  address- 
ing to  Lord  Chesterfield,  it  will  be  ascrib- 
ed to  deep  policy,  when  in  fact,  it  was  only 
a  casual  excuse  for  laziness3.'" 

It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  the 
"  Plan  "  has  not  only  the  substantial  merit 
of  comprehension,  perspicuity,  and  pre- 
cision, but  that  the  language  of  it  is  unex- 
ceptionably  excellent;  it  being  altogether 
free  from  that  inflation  of  style,  and  those 
uncommon,  but  apt  and  energetick  words, 
which,  in  some  of  his  writings,  have  been 
censured,  with  more  petulance  than  justice; 
and  never  was  there  a  more  dignified  strain 
of  compliment  than  that  in  which  he  courts 
the  attention  of  one,  who,  he*  had  been 
persuaded  to  believe,  would  be  a  respectable 
patron. 

"  With  regard  to  questions  of  purity  or 
propriety  (says  he),  I  was  once  in  doubt 
whether  I  should  not  attribute  to  myself  too 
much  in  attempting  to  decide  them,  and 
whether  my  province  was  to  extend  beyond 


*  September  22, 1777,  going  from  Ashbourne 
to  Islam. — Bobwbll. 

*  [The  reader  will  see,  in  the  very  next  page, 
that  this  account  of  the  affiur  was,  to  say  the  beet 
of  it,  inaccurate  ;  but  if  it  were  correct,  would  it 
not  invalidate  Johnson's  subsequent  complaint  of 
Lord  Chesterfield's  inattention  and  ingratitude  t  for, 
even  if  his  lordship  had  neglected  what  was  dedi- 
cated to  him  only  by  laziness  and  accident,  ha 
could  not  justly  be  charged  with  ingratitude ;  a 
dedicator  who  means  no  compliment,  has  no  rea- 
son to  complain  if  he  be  not  rewarded :  but  mora 
of  tins  hereafter.— Ed.] 


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1747.— iETAT.  88. 


the  proposition  of  the  question,  and  the 
display  of  the  suffrages  on  each  side;  hut  I 
have  been  since  determined,  by  your  lord- 
ship's opinion,  to  interpose  my  own  judge- 
ment, and  shall  therefore  endeavour  to 
support  what  appears  to  me  most  conso- 
nant to  grammar  and  reason.  Ausonius 
thought  that  modesty  forbade  him  to  plead 
inability  for  a  task  to  which  Caesar  had 
judged  him  equal: 

*Cur  me  posse  negem,  posse  quod  tile  pvtatV 

And  I  hope,  my  lord,  that  since  you,  whose 
authority  in  our  language  is  so  generally 
acknowledged,  have  commissioned  me  to  de- 
clare my  own  opinion,  I  shall  be  considered 
as  exercising  a  kind  of  vicarious  jurisdiction; 
and  that  the  power  which  might  have  been 
denied  to  my  own  claim,  will  oe  readily  al- 
lowed me  as  the  delegate  of  your  lordship." 

This  passage  proves,  that  Johnson's  ad- 
dressing his  "  Plan  "  to  Lord  Chesterfield 
was  not  merely  in  consequence  of  the  re- 
sult of  a  report  by  means  of  Dodsley 
that  the  earl  favoured  the  design  ;  but 
that  there  had  been  a  particular  communi- 
cation with  his  lordship  concerning  it.  Dr. 
Taylor  told  me  that  Johnson  sent  his 
"  Plan  "  to  him  in  manuscript  for  his  peru- 
sal; and  that  when  it  was  lying  upon  his 
table,  Mr.  William  Whitehead  happened 
to  pay  him  a  visit,  and  being  shown  it,  was 
highly  pleased  with  such  parts  of  it  as  he 
had  time  to  read,  and  begged  to  take  it 
home  with  him,  which  he  was  allowed  to 
do;  that  from  him  it  got  into  the  hands  of 
a  noble  lord,  who  carried  it  to  Lord  Ches- 
terfield. l  When  Taylor  observed  this  might 
be  an  advantage,  Johnson  replied,  "  No, 
sir,  it  would  have  come  out  with  more 
bloom  if  it  had  not*  been  seen  before  by 
anybody." 

The  opinion  conceived  of  it  by  another 
noble  authour  appears .  from  the  following 
extract  from  the  Earl  of  Orrery's  note  to 
Dr.  Birch: 

"  Caledoii,  Deo.  80,  1747. 

"  I  have  just  now  seen  the  specimen  of 
Mr.  Johnson's  Dictionary,  addressed  to 
Lord  Chesterfield.  I  am  much  pleased 
with  the  plan,  and  I  think  the  specimen  is 
one  of  the  best  that  1  have  ever  read. 
Most  specimens  disgust  rather  than  pre- 
judice us  in  favour  of  the  work  to  follow; 
but  the  language  of  Mr.  Johnson's  is  good, 


1  [This  also  most  be  inaccurate,  for  the  plan 
contains  numerous  allusions  and  references  to 
Lord  Chesterfield's  opinions  ;  and  there  is  the  evi- 
dence both  of  Lord  Chesterfield  and  Johnson,  that 
Dodsley  was  the  person  who  communicated  with 
his  lordship  on  the  subject.  And  the  remark 
about  the  bloom  of  the  plan  seems  almost  unin- 
telligible. The  bloom  of  a  work,  as  regards  the 
public,  cannot  be  impaired  by  its  being  communi- 
cated to  two  or  three  private  friends.— F.n.] 


and  the  arguments  are  properly  and  mod- 
estly expressed.  However,  some  expres- 
sions may  be  cavilled  at,  but  they  are  tri- 
fles. I'll  mention  one:  the  barren  laurel. 
The  laurel  is  not  barren,  in  any  sense  what- 
ever; it  bears  fruits  or  flowers.  Sed  has 
sunt  nugce2,  and  I  have  great  expectations 
from  the  performance3." 

That  he  was  fully  aware  of  the  arduous 
nature  of  the  undertaking  he  acknow- 
ledges; and  shows  himself  perfectly  sensi- 
ble of  it  in  the  conclusion  of  his  "  Plan;" 
but  he  had  a  noble  consciousness  of  his 
own  abilities,  which  enabled  him  to  go  on 
with  undaunted  spirit. 

Dr.  Adams  found  him  one  day* busy  at 
his  Dictionary,  when  the  following  dia- 
logue ensued: — "Adams.  This  is  a  great 
work,  sir.  How  are  you  to  get  all  the  ety- 
mologies? Johnson.  Why,  sir,  here  is  a 
shelf  with  Junius,  and  Skinner,  and  others; 
and  there  is  a  Welsh  gentleman  who  has 
published  a  collection  of  Welsh  proverbs, 
who  will  help  me  with  the  Welsh.  Adams. 
But,  sir,  how  can  you  do  this  in  three 
years?  Johnson.  Sir,  I  have  no  doubt 
that  I  can  do  it  in  three  years.  Adams. 
But  the  French  Academy,  which  consists 
of  forty  members,  took  forty  years  to  com- 
pile their  Dictionary.  Johnson.  Sir,  thus 
it  is.  This  is  the  proportion.  Let  me  see; 
forty  times  forty  is  sixteen  hundred.  As 
three  to  sixteen  hundred,  so  is  the  propor- 
tion of  an  Englishman  to  a  Frenchman.'* 
With  so  much  ease  and  pleasantry  could  he 
talk  of  that  prodigious  labour  which  he  had 
undertaken  to  execute. 

The  publick  has  had,  from  Sir  John 
Hawkins  4,  a  long  detail  of  what  had  been 
done  in  this  country  by  prior  Lexicogra- 
phers: and  no  doubt  Johnson  was  wise  to 
avail  himself  of  them,  so  far  as  they  went: 
but  the  learned,  yet  judicious  research  of 
etymology,  the  various,  yet  accurate  dis- 
play of  definition,  and  the  rich  collection  of 
authorities,  were  reserved  for  the  superiour 
mind  of  our  great  philologist.  For  the  me- 
chanical part  he  employed,  as  he  told  me, 
six  amanuenses;  and  let  it  be  remembered 
by  the  natives  of  North  Britain,  to  whom 
he  is  supposed  to  have  been  so  hostile,  that  .-' 
five  of  them  were  of  that  country5.  There 
were  two  Messieurs  Macbean;  Mr.  [Rob- 


*  [JVug**  indeed  !  for,  though  the  laurel,  of 
course,  goes  through  the  process  of  fructification, 
it  is,  not  only  in  the  allegorical  but  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word,  barren. '  Its.  flowers  have 
neither  hue  nor  odour,  nor  is  its  fruit  edible.— 
En.] 

*  Birch  MSS.  Brit  Mas.  4303.— Boiwell. 

4  Sir  John  Hawkins's  list  of  former  Encfiah 
Dictionaries  fe,  however,  by  no  means  complete. 

— M  ALONE. 

'  [See  ante,  note,  p.  53. — En.] 


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Apr.  10, 


est]  Shiels,  who,  we  shall  hereafter 
see,  partly 1  wrote  the  Lives  of  the 
Poets  to  which  the  name  of  Cibber 
is  affixed;  Mr.  Stewart,  son  of  Mr.  George 
Stewart,  bookseller  at  Edinburgh;  and  a 
Mr.  Maitland.  The  sixth  of  these  humble 
assistants  was  Mr.  Peyton,  who,  I  believe, 
taught  French,  and  published  some  elemen- 
tary tracts. 

To  all  these  painful  labourers  Johnson 
showed  a  never-ceasing  kindness,  so  far  as 
they  stood  in  need  of  it.  The  elder  Mr. 
Macbean  had  afterwards  the  honour  of  be- 
ing Librarian  to' Archibald,  Duke  of  Ar- 
gyte,  for  many  years,  but  was  left  without 
a  shilling.  Johnson  wrote  for  him  a  Pre- 
face to  "  A  System  of  Ancient  Geography:" 
and,  by  the  favour  of  Lord  Thunow,  got 
him  admitted  a  poor  brother  of  the  Char- 
ter-house. For  Shiels,  who  died  of  a 
consumption,  he  had  much  tenderness;  and 
it  has  been  thought  that  some  choice  sen- 
tences in  Shiels'  Lives  of  the  Poets  were 
supplied  by  him.  Peyton,  when  reduced 
to  penury,  had  frequent  aid  from  the  boun- 
ty of  Johnson,  who  at  last  was  at  the  ex- 
pense of  burying  him  and  his  wife. 

While  the  Dictionary  was  going  for- 
ward, Johnson  lived  part  of  the  time  in 
Holborn,  part  in  Gough-square,  Fleet- 
street;  and  he  had  an  upper  room  fitted  up 
like  a  counting-house  for  the  purpose,  in 
which  he  gave  to  the  copyists  their  several 
tasks.  The  words  partly  taken  from  other 
dictionaries,  and  partly  supplied  by  him- 
aelf,  having  been  first  written  down  with 
spaces  left  between  them,  he  delivered  in 
writing  their  etymologies,  definitions,  and 
various  significations.  The  authorities 
were  copied  from  the  books  themselves,  in 
which  he  had  marked  the  passages  with  a 
black-lead  pencil,  the  traces  of  which  could 


1  (It  seems  strange  that  Mr.  Boswell  should 
have  stated  that  Shiels  only  partly  wrote  what 
are  called  "  CSbber's  Lives  of  the  Poets,"  and 
intimated  that  Johnson  contributed  some  choice 
sentences  to  these  *«  Lives ;  "  for  Johnson  him- 
self, in  the  Life  of  Hammond,  tells  the  story  in 
a  way  which  seems  inconsistent  with  Mr.  BoswelTs 
assertions : — 

"I  take  this  opportunity  to  testify,  that  the 
book  called  « Gibber's  Lives  of  the  Poets9 
was  not  written,  nor,  I  believe,  ever  seen  by  ei- 
ther of  the  Gibbers,  bnt  wot  the  work  of  Robert 
Sftnels,  a  native  of  Scotland,  a  man  of  a  very 
acute  iindentanding,  though  with  little  scholastic 
education,  who,  not  long  after  the  publication  of 
his  work,  died  in  London  of  a  consumption.  His 
life  was  virtuous  and  his  end  was  pious.  The- 
ophilus  Cibber,  then  a  prisoner  for  debt,  imparted, 
as  I  was  told,  bis  name  for  ten  guineas.  The 
manuscript  of  Shiels  is  now  in  my  possession." 
Johnson,  we  see,  says  the  whole  work  was 
Shifts* ,  to  the  exclusion  of  himself  as  well  as 
Cibber.  See  more  on  this  subject  post,  10th 
April,  1776.— Ed.] 


easily  be  effaced.  I  have  seen  several  of 
them,  in  which  that  trouble  had  not  been 
taken  j  sO  that  they  were  just  as  when  used 
by  the  copyists.  It  is  remarkable  that  he 
was  so  attentive  in  the  choice  of  the  passa- 
ges in  which  words  were  authorised,  that 
one  may  read  page  after  page  of  his  Diction- 
ary with  improvement  and  pleasure;  and  it 
should  not  pass  unobserved,  that  he  has 
quoted  no  authour  whose  writings  had  a 
tendency  to  hurt  sound  religion  and  moral- 
ity. 

The  necessary  expense  of  preparing  a 
work  of  such  magnitude  for  the  press  must 
have  been  a  considerable  deduction  from 
the  price  stipulated  to  be  paid  for  the 
copyright.  I  understand  that  nothing  was 
allowed  by  the  booksellers  on  that  account; 
and  I  remember  his  telling  me,  that  a  larjre 
portion  of  it  having,  by  mistake,  been  writ- 
ten upon  both  sides  of  the  paper,  so  as  to 
be  inconvenient  for  the  compositor,  it  cost 
him  twenty  pounds  to  have  it  transcribed 
upon  one  side  only. 

He  is  now  to  be  considered  as  "  tugging 
at  his  oar,"  as  engaged  in  a  steady  contin- 
ued course  of  occupation,  sufficient  to  em- 
ploy all  his  time  for  some  years;  and  which 
was  the  best  preventive  of  that  constitu- 
tional melancholy  which  was  ever  lurking 
about  him,  ready  to  trouble  his  quiet.  But 
his  enlarged  and  lively  mind  could  not  be 
satisfied  without  more  diversity  of  employ- 
ment, and  the  pleasure  of  animated  relaxa- 
tion. He  therefore  not  only  exerted  his 
talents  in  occasional  composition  very  dif- 
ferent from  Lexicography,  but  formed  a 
club  [that  met  every  Tuesday  eve- 
ning at  the  King's  Head,  a  famous  H*wk 
beef-steak  house]  in  Ivy-lane,  Pa- 
ternoster-row, with  a  view  to  enjoy  litera- 
ry discussion,  and  amuse  his  evening  hours. 
[Thither  he  constantly  resorted, 
and,  with  a  disposition  to  please  r'JJjy* 
and  be  pleased,  would  pass  those 
hours  in  a  free  and  unrestrained  inter- 
change of  sentiments,  which  otherwise  had 
been  spent  at  home  in  painful  reflection. 
The  persons  who. composed  this  little  so- 
ciety were  nine  in  number:  they  were,  the 
Reverend  Dr.  Salter,  father  of  the  late 
master  of  the  Charter-house;  Dr.  Hawkes- 
worth;  Mr.  Ryland,  a  merchant,  a  relation 
of  his a;  Mr.  John  Payne,  then  a  booksel- 
ler, but  now  or  very  lately  chief  account- 
ant of  the  bank;  Mr.  Samuel  Dyer,  a  learn- 
ed voung  man  intended  for  the  dissenting 
ministry;  Dr.  William  M'Ghie,  a  Scots 
physician;  Dr.  Edmund  Barker,  a  young 
physician;  Dr.  Richard  Bathurst,  also  a 
young  physician;  and  Sir  J.  Hawkins3. 

*  [His  brother-in-law. — Ed.] 

8  [Sir  J.  Hawkins  gives  an  account  of  the 
members  of  this  club,  too  diffuse  to  be  quoted 
here,  but  which  is  worthy  the  attention  of  auy 


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1740  — iBTAT.  40. 


At  these  meetings  Sir  J.  Hawkins  ob- 
serves not  only  that  in  conversation  John- 
son made  it  a  rule  to  talk  his  best, 
Httj2'     Dut  tnat  on  many  subjects  he  was 
p"  not  uniform  in  his  opinions,  con- 

tending as  often  for  victory  as  for  truth :  at 
one  time  good,  at  another  evil  was  predom- 
inant in  the  moral  constitution  of  the  world. 
Upon  one  occasion,  he  would  deplore  the 
non-observance  of  Good-Fridav,  and  on  an- 
other deny,  that  among  ub  of  the  present 
age  there  is  any  decline  of  public  worship. 
He  would  sometimes  contradict  self-evident 
propositions,  such  as,  that  the  luxury  of 
this  country  has  increased  with  its  riches; 
and  that  the  practice  of  card-plaving  is 
more  general  than  heretofore.  At  this  ver- 
satility of  temper,  none,  however,  took  of- 
fence: as  Alexander  and  Caesar  were  born 
for  conquest,  so  was  Johnson  for  the  office 
of  a  symposiarch,  to  preside  in  all  conversa- 
tions; and  Sir  J.  Hawkins  adds  that  he 
never  yet  saw  the  man  who  would  venture 
to  contest  his  right. 

Let  it  not,  however,  be  imagined,  that 
the  members  of  this  club  met  together  with 
the  temper  of  gladiators,  or  that  there  was 
wanting  among  them  a  disposition  to  yield 
to  each  other  m  all  diversities  of  opinion: 
and,  indeed,  disputation  was  not,  as  in 
many  associations  of  this  kind,  the  purpose 
of  the  meeting;  nor  were  their  conversa- 
tions, like  those  of  the  Rota  club,  restrain- 
ed to  particular  topicks.  On  the  contrary, 
it  may  be  said,  that  with  the  gravest  dis- 
courses was  intermingled  "  mirth,  that  af- 
ter no  repenting  draws"  ( Milton) ;  for  not 
only  in  Johnson's  melancholy  there  were 
lucid  intervals,  but  he  was  a  great  contri- 
butor to  the  mirth  of  conversation,  by  the 
many  witty  sayings  he  uttered,  and  the 
many  excellent  stories  which  his  memory 
had  treasured  up,  and  he  would  on  oc- 
casion relate;  so  that  those  are  greatly  mis- 
taken who  infer,  either  from  the  general 
tendency  of  his  writings,  or  that  appear- 
ance of  hebetude  which  marked  his  counte- 
nance when  living,  and  is  discernible  in  the 
pictures  and  prints  of  him,  that  he  could 
only  reason  and  discuss,  dictate  and  control. 

In  the  talent  of  humour  there  hardly  ever 
was  his  equal.  Bv  this  he  was  enabled  to 
give  to  any  relation  that  required  it  the 
graces  and  aids  of  expression,  and  to  dis- 
criminate with  the  nicest  exactness  the 
characters  of  those  whom  it  concerned.  In 
aping  this  faculty,  Sir  J.  Hawkins  says 
that  he  had  seen  even  Warburton 
J^JJeT  disconcerted,  and  when  he  would 
fain  have  been  thought  a  man  of 
pleasantry,  not  a  little  out  of  countenance. 

[Mr.  Murphy,  a  better  judge  than  Sir 


reader  who  may  bo  curious  aboot  Johnson's  early 
associates.— Ed,] 


J.  Hawkins,  tells  ns,  to  the  same  KjP** 
effect,  that  Johnson  was  surprised  J^Se. 
to  be  told,  but  it  was  certainly  true, 
that  with  all  his  great  powers  of  mind,  wit 
and  kumour  were  his  most  shining  tal- 
ents i;]  [and  Mrs.  Piozzi  bsvb,  that      PIoeI> 
his  vein  of  humour  was  rich  and      p.  iss, 
apparently  inexhaustible — to  such      l89- 
a  degree  that  Mr.  Murphy  used  to  say  he 
was  incomparable  at  buffoonery.] 

[For  the  sake  of  further  relaxa-  ***** 
tion  from  his  literary  labours,  and  DO  ' 
probably  also  for  Mrs.  Johnson's  health,  he 
this  summer  visited  Tunbridge  Wells,  then 
a  place  of  much  greater  resort  than  it  is  at 
present.  In  the  print*,  representing  some 
of  "  the  remarkable  characters"  who  were 
at  Tunbridge  Wells,  in  1748,  and  copied 
from  a  drawing  of  the  same  size,  Dr.  John- 
son stands  the  first  figure.]  [On 
the  opposite  side  of  the  drawing  his  °" 

wife  is  represented,  as  are  also  Garrick, 
Cibber,  Speaker  Onslow,  Lord  Chatham, 
Lord  Lyttelton,  and  Miss  Chudleigh,  and 
several  other  celebrated  persons;  and  in  this 
assemblage,  as  has  been  already  stated, 
neither  Johnson  or  his  wife  exhibit  any 
appearance  of  inferiority  to  the  rest  of  the 
company.] 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  May 
of  this  year  he  wrote  a  "  Life  of  Roscom- 
mon*," with  Notes  (p.  216);  which  he  aP- 
terwards  much  improved  (indenting  the 
notes  into  text),  and  inserted  amongst  his 
Lives  of  the  English  Poets. 

Mr.  Dodsley  this  year  brought  out  his 
"  Preceptor,"  one  of  the  most  valuable 
books  for  the  improvement  of  young  minds 
that  has  appeared  in  any  language;  and  to 
this  meritorious  work  Johnson  furnished 
1  The  Preface*,"  containing  a  general, 
sketch  of  the  book,  with  a  short  and 
perspicuous  recommendation  of  each  pfj 
article  [this  he  sat  up  a  whole 
night  to  write] ;  and  also, "  The  Vision  of 
Theodore,  the  Hermit,  found  in  his  Cell  •," 
a  most  beautiful  allegory  of  human  life, 
under  the  figure  of  ascending  the  mountain 
of  Existence.  The  Bishop  of  Dromore 
[Percy]  heard. Dr.  Johnson  say,  that  he 
thought  this  was  the  best  thing  he  ever 
wrote  [and  he  told  Mr.  Tyere  that  he  com- 
posed it  also,  in  one  night,  after  finishing  an 
evening  in  Holborn], 

In  January,  1749,  he  published  "The 
Vanity  of  Human  Wishes,  being  the  Tenth 
Satire  of  Juvenal  imitated*."    He,  I  be- 


1  [This  should  be  borne  in  mind  m  reading 
Johnson's,  conversations,  because  much  of  that 
peculiarity  called  humour  cannot  be  adequately 
conveyed  in  words  and  many  things  may  appear 
trite,  dull,  or  offensively  rode  in  mere  narration, 
which  were  enlivened  or  softened  by  the  air  and 
style  of  the  delivery.— Ed.] 

1  See  ante,  p.  34,  85. 


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1740.— ^TTAT.  40. 


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tieve,  composed  it  the  preceding1  year1. 
Mrs.  Johnson,  for  the  Bake  of  country  air, 
had  lodgings  at  Hampstead,  to  which  he 
resorted  occasionally,  and  there  the  greatest 
part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  this  imitation  was 
written.  The  fervid  rapidity  with  which 
it  was  produced  is  scarcely  credible.  I  have 
heard  nim  say,  that  he  composed  seventy 
lines  of  it  one  day,  without  putting  one  of 
them  upon  paper  till  they  were  finished9. 
I  remember  when  I  once  regretted  to  him 
that  he  had  not  given  us  more  of  Juvenal's 
Satires,  he  said,  he  probably  should  give 
more,  lor  he  had  them  all  in  his  head;  by 
which  I  understood,  that  he  had  the  origi- 
nals and  correspondent  allusions  floating  in 
his  mind,  which  he  could,  when  he  pleased, 
embody  and  render  permanent  without 
much  labour.  Some  of  them3,  however, 
he  observed  were  too  gross  for  imitation. 

The  profits  of  a  single  poem,  however  ex- 
cellent, appear  to  have  been  very  small  in 
the  last  reign,  compared  with  what  a  pub- 
lication of  the  same  size  has  since  been 
known  to  yield.  I  have  mentioned  upon 
Johnson's  own  authority,  that  for  his  "  Lon- 
don" he  had  only  ten  guineas;  and  now, 
after  his  fame  was  established,  he  got  for 
his  "  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes"  but  five 
guineas  more,  as  is  proved  by  an  authentick 
document  in  my  possession  4. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  he  reserves  to 
himself  the  right  of  printing  one  edition  of 
this  satire,  which  was  his  practice  upon  oc- 
i  of  the  sale  of  all  his  writings;  it  be- 


1  Sir  John  Hawkins,  with  solemn  inaccura- 
cy* represents  this  poem  as  a  consequence  of  the 
indifferent  reception  of  his  tragedy..  But  the  fact 
■,  that  the  poem  was  published  on  the  9th  of 
January,  and  the  tragedy  was  not  acted  till  the  6th 
of  the  February  following. — Boswell.  [Mr. 
Boswefl  is  here  more  solemnly  inaccurate  than 
8sr  John,  who,  though  he  erroneously  inverts  the 
order  of  appearance  of  the  two  works,  does  not 
represent  the  poem  as  a  consequence  of  the  in- 
different reception  of  the  play,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, neutralizes  the  mistake  he  makes  as  to  time, 
by  warning  his  reader  nor  to  impute  the  transla- 
tion of  Juvenal  to  the  failure  of  the  tragedy. — 
En.] 

*  [Hiis  was  Johnson  *8  general  habit  of  com- 
posing: his  defect  of  sight  rendered  writing  and 
written  corrections  troublesome,  and  he  therefore 
exercised  his  memory  where  others  would  hare 
employed  pen  and  paper. — Ed.] 

*  [He  probably  said  "some  passages  of 
them;"  for  there  are  none  of  Juvenal's  .Satires  to 
which  the  same  objection  may  be  made  as  to 
one  of  Horace's,  that  it  is  altogether  gross  and 
licentious.-- En.] 

4  "Nov,  25,  1748, 1  received  of  Mr.  Dodsley 
fifteen  guineas,  for  which  I  assign  to  him  the  right 
of  copy  of  an  Imitation  of  the  Tenth  Satire  of 
Juvenal,  written  by  me;  reserving  to  myself  the 
right  of  printing  one  edition. — Sam.  Johnson." 
— Boswell. 


ing  his  fixed  intention  to  publish  at  some 
period,  for  his  own  profit,  a  complete  collec- 
tion of  his  works. 

Tiis  "  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes"  has 
less  of  common  life,  but  more  of  a  philosoph- 
ick  dignity  than  his  "London."  More 
readers,  therefore,  will  be  delighted  with  the 
pointed  spirit  of  "  London,"  than  with  the 
profound  reflection  of  "  The  Vanity  of  Hu- 
man wishes."  Garrick,  for  instance,  ob- 
served in  his  sprightly  manner,  with  more 
vivacity  than  regard  to  just  discrimination, 
as  is  usual  with  wits,  "When  Johnson 
lived  much  with  the  Herveys,  and  saw  a 
good  deal  of  what  was  passing  in  life,  he 
wrote  his  'London,'  which  is  lively  and 
easy:  when  he  became  more  retired,  he 
gave  us  his  « Vanity  of  Human  Wishes,' 
which  is  as  hard  as  Greek.  Had  he  gone 
on  to  imitate  another  satire,  it  would  have 
been  as  hard  as  Hebrew  5." 

But  "  The  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes" 
is,  in  the  opinion  of  the  best  judges,  as  high 
an  effort  or  ethick  poetry  as  anjr  language 
can  show.  The  instances  of  variety  of  dis- 
appointment are  chosen  so  judiciously,  and 
painted  so  strongly,  that,  the  moment  they 
are  read,  they  bring  conviction  to  every 
thinking  mind. 

That  of  the  warrior,  Charles  of  Sweden, 
is,  I  think,  as  highly  finished  a  picture  as 
can  possibly  be  conceived.  That  of  the 
scholar  must  have  depressed  the  too  san- 
guine expectations  of  many  an  ambitious 
student6. 


6  From  Mr.  Langton. — Bobwelx,.  [Gar- 
rick's  criticism  (if  it  deserves  the  name)  and  his 
facts  are  both  unfounded.  "  The  Vanity  of  Hu- 
man Wishes"  is  in  a  graver  and  higher  tone 
than  the  London,  but  not  harder  to  be  under- 
stood. On  the  contrary,  some  classical  allusions, 
inconsistent  with  modern  manners,  obscure  pas- 
sages of  the  latter;  while  all  the  illustrations,  sen- 
timents, and  expressions  of  the  former  are,  though 
wonderfully  noble  and  dignified^  yet  perfectly  in- 
telligible, and  almost  familiar.  Moreover,  we 
have  seen  that  when  Johnson  wrote  London, 
he  was  not  living  the  gay  and  fashionable  life 
which  Mr.  Garrick  is  represented  as  mentioning. 
Alas!  he  was  starving  in  obscure  lodgings  on 
eightpence  and  even  fourpence  a  day  (see  ante, 
p.  39),  and  there  is  in  London  nothing  to  show 
any  intimacy  with  the  great  or  fashionable  world. 
As  to  the  Herveys,  h  may  be  here  observed— - 
contrary  to  Mr.  BosweU's  (as  well  as  Mr.  Gar- 
rick's)  supposition — that  he  was  intimate  with 
that  family  previous,  to  the  publication  of  Lon- 
don:— that  the  sneer  in  that  poem  at  "  Clodio's 

jest,"  stood  in  the  first  edition  "  H y's  jest," 

and  was  probably  aimed  at  Lord  Hervey,  who 
was  a  favourite  theme  of  satire  with  the  opposition 
writers  of  the  day. — Ed.] 

•  In  this  poem  one  of  the  instances  mentioned 
of  unfortunate  learned  men  is  Lydiat: 

«  Hear  Lydiat  '•  Life,  and  Galileo1!  end." 


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1749.— jETAT.  40. 


Pkwi,  [When  Dr.  Johnson,  one  day, 
p.  as,  58.  j^yj  n^  own  gatire,  in  which  the 
life  of  a  scholar  is  painted,  with  the  va- 
rious obstructions  thrown  in  his  way  to 
fortune  and  to  fame,  he  burst  into  a  passion 
of  tears:  Mr.  Thrale's  family  and  Mr. 
Scott1  only  were  present,  who,  in  a  jocose 
way,  clapped  him  on  the  back,  and  said, 
ttWhatfs  ail  this,  my  dear  sir?  Why  you, 
and  I,  and  Hercules*,  you  know,  were  all 
troubled  with  melancholy."  He  was  a 
very  large  man,  and  made  out  the  triumvi- 
rate with  Johnson  and  Hercules  comically 
enough.] 

Were  all  the  other  excellencies  of  this 
poem  annihilated,  it  must  ever  have  our 

The  History  of  Lydiat  being  little  known,  the 
following  account  of  him  may  be  acceptable  to 
many  .of  my  readera.  It  appeared  as  a  note  in 
the  Supplement  to  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for 
1748,  in  which  some  passages  extracted  from 
Johnson 's  poem  were  inserted,  and  it  should  have 
been  added  in  the  subsequent  editions. — "  A 
very  learned  divine  and  mathematician,  Fellow 
of  New  College,  Oxon,  and  Rector  of  Okerton, 
near  Banbury.  He  wrote,  among  many  others, 
a  Latin  treatise  *  De  natura  cali,  4rc*  hi  which 
he  attacked  the  sentiments  of  Scaliger  and  Aris- 
totle, not  bearing  to  hear  it  urged,  that  some 
things  are  true  in  philosophy,  and  false  in  di- 
vinity. He  made  above  600  Sermons  on  the 
harmony  of  the  Evangelists.  Being  unsuccessful 
in  publishing  his  works,  he  lay  in  the  prison  of 
Bocardo  at  Oxford,  and  in  the  King's  Bench,  till 
Bishop  Usher,  Dr.  Laud,  Sir  William  BosweH, 
and  Dr.  Pink,  released  him  by  paying  his  debts. 
He  petitioned  King  Charles  I.  to  be  sent  into 
Ethiopia,  &c.  to  procure  MSS.  Having  spoken 
in  favour  of  monarchy  and  bishops,  he  was 
plundered  by  the  parliament  forces,  and  twice 
carried  away  prisoner  from  his  rectory;  and  af- 
terwards had  not  a  shirt  to  shift  him  in  three 
months,  without  he  borrowed  it,  and  died  very 
poor  in  164«."— Bos  will.  [In  1609,  Lydiat 
accompanied  Usher  into  Ireland,  and  obtained 
(probably  by  his  interest)  the  office  of  chapel- 
reader  in  Tnnity"CoUege,  Dublin,  at  a  salary  of 
91.  6«.  8rf.  per  quarter:  he  was  resident  mere 
about  two  years;  and  in  March,  1612,  it  appears, 
that  he  had  from  the  college  "5/.  to  furnish  him 
for  his  journey  to  England."  The  remembrance 
of  Lydiat  was  traditionally  preserved  in  Dublin 
College;  and  the  Editor  recollects  to  have  heard, 
about  1797,  that,  in  some  ancient  buildings,  then 
recently  removed,*  Lydiat  had  resided — evidence, 
either  that  he  had  left  a  high  reputation  behind 
him,  or,  more  probably,  that  Johnson's  mention 
of  him  had  revived  the  memory  of  his  sojourn  in 
that  university. — En.] 

1  [-George  Lewis  Scott,  F.  R.  S.,  an  amiable 
and  learned  man,  formerly  sub-preceptor  to 
George  the  Third,  and  afterwards  a  Commission- 
er of  Excise*  whom  it  seems  Johnson  did  not 
now  reckon  as  "  one  of  the  lowest  of  all  human 
beings."     See  ante,  p.  10. — Ed.] 

*  [In  allusion  to  the  madness  of  Hercules  on 
Mount  Oeta.— Ed.] 


prateful  reverence  from  its  noble  conclusion, 
in  which  we  are  consoled  with  the  assur- 
ance that  happiness  may  be  attained,  if  we 
"  apply  our  hearts  "  to  piety: 

1  *  Where  then  shall  hope  and  fear  their  objects  find? 
Shall  dull  suspense  corrupt  the  stagnant  mind? 
Must  helpless  man,  in  ignorance  sedate, 
Rolf  darkling  down  the  torrent  of  his  fate? 
Shall  no  dislike  alarm,  no  wishes  rise, 
No  cries  attempt  the  mercy  of  the  skies? 
Inquirer,  cease;  petitions  yet  remain, 
Which  Heav'n  may  hear,  nor  deem  Religion  vain 
Still  raise  for  good  the  supplicating  voice, 
But  leave  to  Heaven  the  measure  and  the  choice 
Safe  in  His  hand,  whose  eye  discerns  afar 
The  secret  ambush  of  a  specious  pray'r; 
Implore  His  aid,  in  His  decisions  rest, 
Secure,  whatever  He  gives,  He  gives  the  best: 
Yet  when  the  sense  of  sacred  presence  fires, 
And  strong  devotion  to  the  skies  aspires, 
Pour  forth  thy  fervours  for  a  healthful  mind, 
Obedient  passions,  and  a  will  resigned; 
For  love,  which  scarce  collective  man  can  fill; 
For  patience,  sovereign  o'er  transmuted  ill; 
For  faith,  which  panting  for  a  happier  seat, 
Counts  death  kind  Nature's  signal  for  retreat: 
These  goods  for  man  the  laws  of  Heaven  ordain. 
These  goods  He  grants,  who  grants  the  power  to 

gain; 
With  these  celestial  wisdom  calms  the  mind, 
And  makes  the  happiness  she  does  not  find1." 

Garrick  being  now  vested  with  theatrical 
power  by  being  manager  of  Dniry-iane 
theatre,  he  kindly  and  generously  made 
use  of  it  to  bring  out  Johnson's  tragedy* 
which  had  been  long  kept  back  for  want  of 
encouragement.  But  in  this  benevolent 
purpose  he  met  with  no  small  difficulty 
from  the  temper  of  Johnson,  which  could 
not  brook  that  a  drama  which  he  had 
formed  with  much  study,  and  had  been 
obliged  to  keep  more  than  the  nine  years 
of  Horace,  should  be  revised  and  altered  at 
the  pleasure  of  an  actor.  Yet  Garrick 
knew  well,  that  without  some  alterations  it 
would  not  be  fit  for  the  stage.  A  violent 
dispute  having  ensued  between  them,  Gar- 
riek  applied  to  the  Reverend  Dr.  Taylor  to 


*  In  this  poem,  a  line  in  which  the  danger  aft- 
tending  on  female  beauty  is  mentioned,  has  very 
generally,  I  believe,  been  misunderstood: 

"  Tst  Vans  could  tell  what  ilk  from  beauty  spring, 
And  Sedley  cura'd  the  form  ibat  pleaa'd  a  king." 

The  lady  mentioned  in  tbe  first  of  these  verses 
was  not  the  celebrated  Lady  Vane,  whose  me- 
moirs were  given  to  the  publick  by  Dr.  Smollett, 
but  Anne  Vane,  who  was  mistress  to  Frederick, 
Prince  of  Wales,  and  died  in  1786,  not  long  be- 
fore Johnson  settled  in  London.  Some  account 
of  this  lady  was  published,  under  the  title  of 
««  The  Secret  History  of  Vanella,  8vo.  1782." 
See  also  "  Vanella  in  the  Stratc,  4to.  1782." 
— Boswell.  [Seeposf,  17  Aug.  1778,  some 
observations  respecting  the  lines  in  question. — 
En.] 


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interpose.  Johnson  was  at  first  very  ob- 
stinate. "  Sir  (said  he),  the  fellow  wants 
me  to  make  Mahomet  run  mad,  that  he 
may  have  an  opportunity  of  tossing  his 
hands  and  kicking  his  heels 1."  He  was, 
however,  at  last,  with  difficulty,  prevailed 
on  to  comply  with  Garrick's  wishes,  so  as 
to  allow  of  some  changes;  but  still  there 
were  not  enough.  • 

Dr.  Adams  was  present  the  first  night  of 
the  representation  of  Irene,  and  gave  me 
the  following  account:  "Before  the  cur- 
tain drew  up,  there  were  catcalls  whistling, 
which  alarmed  Johnson's  friends.  The 
Prologue,  which  was  written  by  himself  in 
a  manly  strain,  soothed  the  audience2,  and 
the  play  went  ofT  tolerably,  till  it  came  to 
the  conclusion,  when  Mrs.  Pritchard,  the 
heroine  of  the  piece,  was  to  be  strangled 
upon  the  stage,  and  was  to  speak  two  lines 
with  the  bow-string  round  her  neck.  The 
audience  cried  out  'Murder!  murder*? 
She  several  times  attempted  to  speak;  but 
in  vain.  At  last  she  was  obliged  to  go  off 
the  stage  alive."  This  passage  was  after- 
wards struck  out,  and  she  was  cached  off 
to  be  put  to  death  behind  the  scenes,  as  the 
play  now  has  it.  The  Epilogue,  as  John- 
son informed  me4,   was  written  by  Sir 


1  Mahomet  was  in  fad  played  by  Mr.  Barry, 
aad  Demetrius  by  Mr.  Garrick:  but  probably 
the  parte  were  not  yet  cast. — Bo  swill.  [It  has 
been  said  that  Garrick  originally  intended  to  have 
taken  the  part  of  Mahomet,  and  he  probably 
yielded  it  to  Barry  to  propitiate  him  in  the  au- 
thour's favour. — Ed.] 

9  The  expression  used  by  Dr.  Adams  was 
"  soothed."  I  should  rather  think  the  audience 
was  awed  by  the  extraordinary  spirit  and  dignity 
of  the  following  lines : 

"  Be  tab  at  least  hit  prabe,  be  this  his  pride, 
To  force  applause  no  modern  arts  are  tried : 
SaKmld  partial  catcalls  all  his  hopes  confound, 
He  Mds  no  trampet  quell  the  fatal  sound  j 
Should  welcome  sleep  relieve  the  weary  wit, 
He  rolls  no  thunders  o*er  the  drowsy  pit  j 
No  snares -to  captivate  the  judgement  spreads, 
Nor  bribes  your  eyes,  to  prejudice  your  heads. 
Unmoved,  though  witlings  sneer  and  rivals  rail, 


i  to  please,  yet  not  ashamed  to  fail, 
He  scorns  the  meek  address,  the  suppliant  strain, 
With  merit  needless,  and  without  it  vsin ; 
In  Reason,  Nature,  Truth,  he  dares  to  trust : 
Ye  mpa  be  silent,  and  ye  wits  be  just ! " 

*  This  shows  how  ready  modern  audiences  are 
to  condemn  in  a  new  play  what  they  have  fre- 
quently endured  very  quietly  in  an  old  one. 
Rowe  has  made  Moneses,  in  Tamerlane,  die 
by  the  bow-string,  without  offence. — Malone. 
[And  Davie*  tell  as,  in  his  "  Life  of  Garrick," 
voL  L  p.  128,  that  the  strangling  Irene,  contrary 
to  Horace's  rale,  coram  populo,  was  suggested 
by  Garrick.— Ed.] 

4  [Dr.  Anderson  says  in  has  Life*  that" Mr. 
Boswell  ascribes  this  epilogue  to  Sir  W.  Yonge 
on  no  cood  foundation  :  "  yet  Mr.  Boswell,  who 
hi  Ins  mat  edition  had  simply  stated  the  fact,  added 
m  the  second,  "  as  Johnson  informed  me." 
Mr.  Murphy  too  asserts  (Life,  p.  164),  that  the 


Wifliam  Yongpe.  I  know  not  how  his  play 
came  to  be  thus  graced  by  the  pen  of  a 
person  then  so  eminent  in  the  political 
worlds 

Notwithstanding  all  the  support  of  such 
performers  as  Garrick,  Barry,  Mrs.  Cibber, 
Mrs.  Pritchard,  and  every  advantage  of 
dress  and  decoration,  the  tragedy  of  Irene 
did  not  please  the  publiclr*.  Mr.  Garrick's 
zeal  carried  it  through  for  nine  nights,  so 
that  the  authour  had  his  three  nights'  pro-, 
fits;  and  from  a  receipt  signed  by  him,  now 
in  the  hands  of  Mr.  James  Dodsley,  it  ap- 
pears that  his  friend,  Mr.  Robert  Dodsley, 


epilogue  was  always  supposed  to  be  Johnson's, 
and  that  Mr.  Boswell  's  account  is  a  "  new  discov- 
ery, and  by  no  means  probable,"  and  he  adds, 
that  "  it  were  to  be  wished  that  the  epilogue 
could  be  transferred  to  any  other  writer,  it  being 
the  worst  jeu  d*  esprit  which  ever  fell  from  John- 
son's pen."  Mr.  John  Taylor  also  has  lately  in- 
formed'the  editor  that  Murphy  subsequently  re- 
peated to  him  that  Johnson  wss  the  author  of  the 
epilogue.  The  first  fourteen  lines  certainly  de- 
serve Murphy's  censure,  and  could  hardly  have 
been  written  by  the  pen  of  Johnson  ;  but  the  last 
ten  lines  are  much  better,  and  it  may  be  suspect- 
ed that  these  Johnson  added  to  or  altered  from  the 
original  copy. — En.] 

•  [It  has  been  observed  that  he  must,  before 
this,  nave  some  acquaintance  with  Sir  W.  Yonge, 
who  told  him  that  great  should  be  pronounced 
so  as  to  rhyme  with  seat ,  while  Lord  Chesterfield 
had  said  it  should  rhyme  to  state.  (See  post , 
27th  March,  1772.  >— Ed.] 

*  I  know  not  what  Sir  John  Hawkins  means 
by  the  cold  reception  of  Irene.  [See  ante, 
note,  p.  77.]  I  was  at  the  first  representation  ; 
and  most  of  the  subsequent.  It  was  much  ap- 
plauded the  first  night,  particularly  the  speech  on 
to-morrow.  It  ran  nine  nights  at  least.  It  did 
not  indeed  become  a  stock-play,  but  there  was 
not  the  least  opposition  during  the  representation, 
except  the  first  night  in  the  last  act,  where  Irene 
was  to  be  strangled  on  the  stage,  which  John 
[2ta//]  could  not  bear,  though  a  dramatick  poet 
may  stab  or  slay  by  hundreds. .  The  bow-string 
was  not  a  Chistian  nor  an  ancient  Greek  or  Ro- 
man death.  Bnt  this  offence  was  removed  after 
the  first  night,  and  Irene  went  off  the  stage  to  be 
strangled. — Many  stories  were  circulated  at  the 
time,  of  the  authour's  being  observed  at  the  repre- 
sentation to  be  dissatisfied  with  some  of  the 
speeches  and  conduct  of  the  play  himself ;  and, 
like  La  Fontaine,  expressing  his  disapprobation 
aloud. — BrjRNBY. 

[Mr.  Murphy  (Life,  p.  53,)  says,  "  the  amount 
of  the  three  benefit  nights  for  the  tragedy  of 
Ibene,  it  is  to  be  feared,  were  not  very  consid- 
erable, as  the  profit,  that  stimulating  motive,  nev- 
er invited  the  authour  to  another  dramatick  at- 
tempt-" But  Mr.  Isaac  Reed  discovered  that  the 
authour's  three  nights,  after  deducting  about  190/. 
for  the  expenses  of  the  house,  amounted  together 
to  near  200/.,  besides  the  100/.  for  the  copy. 
These  were,  at  the  time,  large  sums  to  Dr.  John- 
son.— Ed.] 


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gave  him  one  hundred  pounds  for  the  copy, 
with  his  usual  reservation  of  the  right  of 
one  edition. 

Irene,  considered  as  a  poem,  is  entitled 
to  the  praise  of  superiour  excellence.  An- 
alysed into  parts,  it  will  furnish  a  rich  store 
of  noble  sentiments,  fine  imagery,  and  beau- 
tiful language;  but  it  is  deficient  in  pathos, 
in  that  delicate  power  o£  touching  the  hu- 
man feelings,  wnich  is  the  principal  end  of 
the  drama  K  Indeed  Garrick  has  complain- 
ed to  me,  that  Johnson  not  only  had  not 
the  faculty  of  producing  the  impressions  of 
tragedy,  but  that  he  had  not  the  sensibility 
to  perceive  them.  His  great  friend  Mr. 
Wamsley 's  prediction,  that  he  would  "  turn 
out  a  fine  tragedy  writer,"  was,  therefore, 
ill-founded.  Johnson  was  wise  enough  to 
be  convinced  that  he  had  not  the  talents 
necessary  to  write  successfully  for  the 
stage,  and  never  made  another  attempt  in 
that  species  of  composition. 

When  asked  how  he  felt  upon  the  ill  suc- 
cess of  his  tragedy,  he  replied,  "  Like  the 
Monument;"  meaning  that  he  continued 
firm  and  unmoved  as  that  column 2  And 
let  it  be  remembered,  as  an  admonition  to 
the  genus  irritabile  of  dramatick  writers, 
that  this  great  man,  instead  of  peevishly 
complaining  of  the  bad  taste  of  tne  town, 
submitted  to  its  decision  without  a  mur- 
mur. He  had,  indeed,  upon  all  occasions  a 
great  deference  for  the  general  opinion: 
"  A  man  (said  he)  who  writes  a  book, 
thinks  himself  wiser  or  wittier  than  thereat 
of  mankind;  he  supposes  that  he  can  in- 
struct or  amuse  them,  and  the  publick  to 
whom  he  appeals  must,  after  all,  be  the 
judges  of  his  pretensions." 

On  occasion  of  this  play  being  brought 
upon  the  stage,  Johnson  had  a  fancy  that 
as  a  dramatick  authour  his  dress  should  be 
more  gay  than  what  he  ordinarily  wore; 
he  therefore  appeared  behind  the  scenes, 
and  even  in  one  of  the  side-boxes,  in  a  scar- 
let waistcoat,  with  rich  gold-lace,  and  a 
gold-lace  hat.  He  humorously  observed 
to  Mr.  Langton,  "that when  in  that  dress 
he  could  not  treat  people  with  the  same 
ease  as  when  in  his  usual  plain  clothes." 


1  Aaron  Hill  (vol.  ii.  p.  355),  in  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Mallett,  gives  the  following  account  of  Irene 
after  having  seen  it  "  I  was  at  the  anomalous 
Mr.  Johnson's  benefit,  and  found  the  play  his  pro- 
per representative ;  strong  sense  ungraced  by 
sweetness  or  decorum." — Bobweli*. 

1  [Or,  more  modestly  perhaps,  that  he  felt  no 
more  than  the  Monument  could  feel.  It  may,  in- 
deed, be  presumed,  from  Dr.  Barney's  evidence, 
and  from  considering  that  it  produced  him  more 
money  than  he  probably  had  ever  before  possess- 
ed, that  he  was  far  from  thinking  that  his  tragedy 
had  failed.  The  London  Magazine  for  Februa- 
ry, states  that  Irene  was  then  acting  with  great 
applause. — Ed.] 


Dress  indeed,  we  must  allow,  has  more  ef- 
fect 'even*  upon  strong  minds  than  one 
should  suppose,  without  having  had  the  ex- 
perience or  it.  His  necessary  attendance 
while  his  play  was  in  rehearsal,  and  during 
its  performance,  brought  him  acquainted 
with  many  of  the  performers  of  both  sexes, 
which  produced  a  more  favourable  opinion^ 
of  their  profession  than  he  had  harshly  ex- 
pressed in"  his  Life  of  Savage.  With  some' 
of  them  he  kept  up  an  acquaintance  as  long 
as  he  and  they  lived,  and  Was  ever  ready  to 
show  them  acts  of  kindness.  He  for  a  con- 
siderable time  used  to  frequent  the  Green 
Room,  and  seemed  to  take  delight  in  dissi- 
pating his  gloom,  by  mixing  in  the  spright- 
ly chit-chat  of  the  motley  circle  then  to  he 
found  there.  Mr.  David  Hume*  related  to 
me  from  Mr.  Garrick,  that  Johnson  at  last 
denied  himself  this  amusement,  from  consid- 
erations of  rijrid  virtue,  saying,  '<  I  '11  come 
no  more  behind  your  scenes,  David j  for 
the  silk  stockings  and  white  bosoms  of  your 
actresses  excite  my  amorous  propensities." 

["  DRWOHNSON  TO  MISS  PORTER4.       ** 

"  Goff  *  Square,  July  12, 1749. 
"  Dear  miss, — I  am  extremely  obliged 
to  you  for  your  letter,  which  I  would  have 
answered  last  post,  but  that  illness5 pre- 
vented me.  I  nave  been  often  out  of  or- 
der of  late,  and  have  very  much  neglect- 
ed my  affairs.  You  have  acted  very  pru- 
dently with  regard  to  Levett's  affair,  wnich 
will,l  think,  not  at  all  embarrass  me,  for 
you  may  promise  him,  that  the  mortgage 
shall  be  taken  up  at  Michaelmas,  or,  at  least, 
some  time  between  that  and  Christmas: 
and  if  he  requires  to  have  it  done  sooner,  I 
will  endeavour  it.  I  make  no  doubt,  by  that 
time,  of  either  doing  it  myself,  or  persuad- 
ing some  of  my  freinds  to  do  it  for  me  *. 

"  Please  to  acquaint  him  with  it,  and  let 
me  know  if  he  be  satisfied.  When  he  once 
called  on  me,  his  name  was  mistaken,  and 
therefore  I  did  not  see  him;  butfinding  the 
mistake,  wrote  to  him  the  same  day,  but 
never  heard  more  of  him,  though  I  entreat- 
ed him  to  let  me  know  where  to  wait  on 
him.  You  frighted  me,  you  little  gipsy, 
with  your  black  wafer,  for  I  had  forgot  you 


*  [This  appean  to  have  been  by  no  means  the 
case.  His  most  acrimonious  attacks  on  Garrick, 
and  Sheridan,  and  players  in  general,  were  subse- 
quent to  this  period. — Ed.] 

4  [This  letter,  and  some  others,  which  will  ap- 
pear in  their  proper  places,  I  owe  to  the  unsolic- 
ited kindness  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Harwood,  the  his- 
torian of  Lichfield,  who  procured  the  copies, 
with  permission  to  publish  them,  from  Mrs.  Pear- 
son of  Lichfield,  who  is  in  possession  of  the  origi- 
nals.—Ed.] 

6  [Thus  in  the  original. — Ed.] 

*  [This  confirms  the  statement,  as  to  this  debt, 
in  page  64.  n. — Ed.] 


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were  in  mourning,  and  was  afraid  your 
letter  had  brought  me  ill  news  of  my  mo- 
ther, whose  death  is  one  of  the  few  calami- 
ties on  which  I  think  with  terronr.  I  long 
to  know  how  she  does,  and  how  you  all  do. 
Tour  poor  mamma  is  come  home,  but  very 
weak:  yet  I  hope  she  will  grow  better, 
else  sne  shall  go  into  the  country.  She  is 
now  up  stairs,  and  knows  not  of  my  writing. 
I  am,  dear  miss,  your  most  humble  ser- 
vant, "Sam.  Johnson."] 

In  1750  he  came  forth  in  the  character 
for  which  he  Was  eminently  qualified,  a 
majestick  teacher  of  moral  and  religious 
wisdom.  The  vehicle  which  he  chose  was 
that  of  a  periodical  paper,  which  he  knew 
had  been,  upon  former  occasions,  employ- 
ed with  great  success.  The  Taller,  Spec- 
tator, and  Guardian,  were  the  last  of  the 
kind  published  in  England,  which  had  stood 
the  test  of  a  long  trial;  and  such  an  inter- 
val had  now  elapsed  since  their  publication, 
as  made  him  justly  think  that,  to  many  of 
his  readers,  this  form  of  instruction  would, 
in  some  degree,  have  the  advantage  of 
novelty.  A  few  days  before  the  first  of  his 
Essays  came  out,  there  started  another 
competitor  for  fame  in  the  same  form,  un- 
der the  title  of"  The  Tatler  Revived," 
which  I  believe  was  "born  but  to  die." 
Johnson  was,  I  think,  not  very  happy  in 
the  choice  of  his  title,—"  The  Rambler;" 
which  certainly  is  not  suited  to  a  series  of 
fnve  and  moral  discourses:  which  the  Ital- 
ians have  literally,  but  ludicrously,  trans- 
lated by  R  VagabondOy  and  which  has 
been  lately  assumed  as  the  denomination  of 
a  vehicle  of  licentious  tales,  "  The  Ram- 
bler's Magazine."  He  gave  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  the  following  account  of  its  get- 
ting this  name:  "  What  must  be  done,  sir, 
wiu  be  done.  When  I  was  to  begin  pub- 
tishing  that  paper,  I  was  at  a  loss  how  to 
name  it.  I  sat  down  at  night  upon  my 
bedside,  and  resolved  that  I  would  not  go 
to  sleep  till  I  had  fixed  its  title.  The  Ram- 
bler seemed  the  best  that  occurred,  and  I 
took  it  i." 

With  what  devout  and  conscientious  sen- 
timents this  paper  was  undertaken,  is  evi- 


1  I  have  heard  Dr.  Warton  mention,  that  he 
was  at  Mir.  Robert  Dodaley's  with  the  late  Mr. 
Moore,  aad  several  of  hw  friends,  considering 
what  should  be  the  name  of  the  periodical  paper 
which  Moore  had  undertaken.  Garrick  proposed 
the  Salad,  which,  by  a  curious  coincidence,  was 
afterwards  applied  to  himself  by  Goldsmith : 

•*  Oar  QmnkkH  a  salad,  Sir  fat  Mm  w  me 
OH,  TOMgar,  sugar,  aad  saltaass  agree! M 


At  last,  the  company  having  separated,  without 


any  thing  of  which  thev  approved  having  I 
ottered,  Doddey  himself  thought  of  The  World. 


11 


vol*  I. 


denced  by  the  following;  prayer,  which  he 
composed  and  offered  up  on  the  occasion: 

"  Almighty  Gon,  the  giver  of  all  good 
things,  without  whose  help  all  labour  is 
ineffectual,  and  without  whose  grace  all 
wisdom  is  folly:  grant,  I  beseech  Thee, 
that  in  this  undertaking  thy  Holy  Spirit 
may  not  be  withheld  from  me,  but  that  I 
may  promote  thy  glory,  and  the  salvation  of 
myself  and  others:  grant  this,  O  Lord, 
for  the  sake  of  thy  Son,  Jesus  Christ. 
AmenV 

The  first  paper  of  the  Rambler  was  pub- 
lished on  Tuesday  the  20th  of  March, 
1749-50:  and  its  authour  was  enabled  to  con- 
tinue it  without  interruption,  every  Tues- 
day and  Saturday,  till  Saturday  the  17th 
of  March3,  1752,  on  which  day  it  closed. 
This  is  a  strong  confirmation  of  the  truth 
of  a  remark  of  his,  which  I  have 
had  occasion  to  quote  elsewhere,  JJ,£* 
that  "a  man  may  write  at  any 
time,  if  he  will  set  himself  doggedly  to  it;" 
for,  notwithstanding  his  constitutional  in- 
dolence, his  depression  of  spirits,  and  his 
labour  in  carrying  on  his  Dictionary,  he  an- 
swered the  stated  calls  of  the  press  twice  a 
week  from  the  stores  of  his  mind,  during 
all  that  time;  having  received  no  assistance 
except  four  billets  in  No.  10,  by  Miss  Mul- 
so,  now  Mrs.  Chapone;  No.  30,  by  Mrs. 
Catherine  Talbot;  No.  97,  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Richardson,  whom  he  describes  in  an  in- 
troductory note  as  "  An  authour  who  has 
enlarged  the  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  taught  the  passions  to  move  at  the 
command  of  virtue*;  and  Numbers  44  and 

*  In  the  Pemb.  MS.  the  last  sentence  runs — 
"  the  salvation  both  of  myself  and  others :  giant 
this,  O  Lord,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ"— 
Hall. 

*  This  is  a  mistake,  into  which  the  authour 
was  very  pardonably  led  by  the  inaccuracy  of  the 
original  folio  edition  of  the  Rambler,  in  which  the 
concluding  paper  of  that  work  is  [obviously  by 
an  error  of  the  press]  dated  on  "  Saturday,  March 
17."  But  Saturday  was  in  fact  the  fourteenth 
of  March  Thif  circumstance,  though  it  may  at 
first  appear  of  very  little  importance,  is  yet  worth 
notice  ;  for  Mrs.  Johnson  died  on  the  seventeenth 
of  March — Malowk. 

4  [Lady  Bradshaigh,  one  of  Mr.  Richardson's 
female  sycophants,  thus  addresses  him  on  the  sub- 
ject of  this  letter :  "A  few  days  ago  I  was  pleas- 
ed with  hearing  a  very  sensible  lady  greatly  pleas- 
ed with  the  Rambler,  No.  97.  She  happened 
to  be  in  town  when  it  was  published  ;  and  I  ask- 
ed if  she  knew  who  was  die  author  ?  She  said, 
it  was  supposed  to  be  one  who  was  concerned  in 
the  Spectators,  it  being  much  better  written  than 
any  of  the  Ramblers.  I  wanted  to  aay  who  was 
really  the  author,  but  durst  not,  without  your  per- 
mission." Rich,  Cor.  vol.  vl  p.  108.  It  was 
probably  on  some  such  authority  that  Mr.  Payne 
told  Mr.  Chalmers  (Brit  Eg$.  vol.  ziz.  p.  14), 
that  No.  97  was  "the  only  paper  which  bad  a 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


82 


1760.— iETAT.  41. 


FlOBl, 

p.M 


10,  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Carter; 
[which  latter,  signed  Chariessa, 
had  much  of  his  esteem,  though  he  blamed 
Mrs.  Piozzi  for  preferring  it  to  the  allego- 
ry (No.  45),  where  Religion  and  Supersti- 
tion are  indeed  most  masterly  delineated.] 
Posterity  will  be  astonished  when  they 
are  told,  upon  the  authority  of  Johnson 
himself,  that  many  of  these  discourses, 
which  we  should  suppose  had  been  labour- 
ed with  all  the  slow  attention  of  literary  lei- 
sure, were  written  in  haste  as  the  moment 
Eressed,  without  even  being  read  over  by 
im  before  they  were  printed.  [The  fine 
Rambler  on  Procrastination1  was 
J^S*'  hastily  composed  in  Sir  Joshua 
'  Reynolds's  parlour9  while  the  boy 
waited  to  carry  it  to  the  press,  and  number- 
less are  the  instances  of  his  writing  under 
the  immediate  pressure  of  imDOrtunity  or 
distress.]  It  can  be  accounted  for  only  m 
this  way;  that  by  reading  and  meditation, 
and  a  very  close  inspection  of  life,  he  had 
accumulated  a  great  fund  of  miscellaneous 
knowledge,  which,  by  a  peculiar  prompti- 
tude of  mind,  was  ever  ready  at  his  call, 
and  which  he  had  constantly  accustomed 
himself  to  clothe  in  the  most  apt  and  ener- 
getick  expressions.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
once  asked  him  by  what  means  he  had  at- 
tained his  extraordinary  accuracy  and  flow 
of  language.  He  told  him,  that  he  had 
early  laid  it  down  as  a  fixed  rule  to  do  his 
best  on  every  occasion,  and  in  every  com- 
pany :  to  impart  whatever  he  knew  in  the 
most  forcible  language  he  could  put  it  in. 
and  that  by  constant  practice,  and  never 
suffering  any  careless  expressions  to  escape 
him,  or  attempting  to  deliver  his  thoughts 
without  arranging  them  in  the  clearest 
manner,  it  became  habitual  to  him  3. 

Yet  he  was  not  altogether  unprepared  as 


prosperous  sale,  and  was  popular."  The  flatte- 
lies  which  Richardson's  coterie  lavished  on  bun 
and  all  his  works  were  quite  extravagant :  the  pa- 
per is  rather  a  poor  one. — Ed.] 

1  [I  suppose  No.  134  is  meant. — D'Israh.1.] 
*  [Mrs.  Piozzi's  date  of  the  paper  on  Procras- 
tination must  be  a  mistake,  as  Johnson  did  not 
know  Sir  J.  Reynolds  so  early.    See  vol.  i.  p. 
103,  and  vol.  Hi.  p.  000.— Ed.] 

>  The  rule  which  Dr.  Johnson  observed  is  sanc- 
tioned by  the  authority  of  two  great  writers  of  an- 
tiquity :  "  Ne  id  quidem  tacendum  est,  quod  ei- 
dem  Ciceroni  placet,  nullum  nostrum  usquam  neg- 
ligentem  esse  aermonem:  quicquid  loqucmur, 
ubicunque,  sit  pro  sua  sciHcet  portions  perfee- 
turn.*9  QninctiL  x.  7.~-Malone.  [It  has 
been  slated  by  Mr.  Chalmers,  in  his  edition  of  the 
British  Essayists,  that  Johnson  most  elaborately 
revised  and  extensively  corrected  the  Ramblers 
when  he  collected  mem  into  volumes  ;  but  this 
does  not  disprove  Mr.  BoswelTs  account  of  the 
celerity  and  ease  with  which  they  were  original- 
ly written.— Er.] 


a  periodical  writer;  for  I  have  in  my  1 
sion  a  small  duodecimo  volume,  in  which 
he  has  written,  in  the  form  of  Mr.  Locke's 
Common-Place  Book,  a  variety  of  hints  for 
essays  on  different  subjects.  He  has  mark- 
ed upon  the  first  blank  leaf  of  it,  "  To  the 
128th  page,  collections  for  the  Rambler;" 
and  in  another  place,  "  in  fifty-two  there 
were  seventeen  provided;  in  97 — 21;  in  190 
— 25."  At  a  subsequent  period  (probably 
after  the  work  was  finished)  he  added, "  In 
all,  taken  of  provided  materials,  SO '." 

Sir  John  Hawkins,  who  is  un-  wfc 

lucky*  upon  all  occasions,  tells  us,  pfsss! 
that  "  this  method  of  accumulating 
intelligence  has  been  practised  by  Mr.  Ad- 
dison, and  is  humorously  described  in  one 
of  the  Spectators,  wherein  he  feigns  to 
have  dropped  his  paper  oCnotitnda,  consist- 
ing of  a  diverting  medley  of  broken  senten- 
ces and  loose  hints,  which  he  tells  us  he 
had  collected,  and  meant  to  make  use  of 
Much  of  the  same  kind  is  Johnson's  Adver- 
saria." But  the  truth  is,  that  there  is  no 
resemblance  at  all  between  them.  Addison's 
note  was  a  fiction,  in  which  unconnected 
fragments  of  his  lucubrations  were  purpose- 
ly jumbled  together,  in  as  odd  a  manner  as 
he  could,  in  order  to  produce  a  laughable 
effect.  Whereas  Johnson's  abbreviations 
are  all  distinct,  and.  applicable  to  each  sub- 
ject of  which  the  head  is  mentioned. 

For  instance,  there  is  the  following  speci- 
men: 

"  Youth's  Entry,  $c. 

"  Baxter's  account  of  things  in  which  he 
had  changed  his  mind  as  he  grew  up.  Vo- 
luminous.— No  wonder. — If  every  man  was 
to  tell,  or  mark,  on  how  many  subjects  he 
has  changed,  it  would  make  vols,  but  *the 
changes  not  always  observed  bv  man's 
self. — From  pleasure  to  bus.  [business}  to 
quiet;  from  though tfulness  to  reflect,  to 
piety;  from  dissipation  to  domestic,  by  im- 
perfect gradat.  but  the  change  is  certain. 
Dial  non  progredi,  progress,  esse  conspic- 
imus.  Look  back,  consider  what  was 
thought  at  some  dist.  period. 

"  Hope  predom.  in  youth.    Mind  not 


«  [This,  no  doubt,  means,  that  of  the  fint  52 
Ramblers,  17  had  been  prepared,  and  so  on,  till, 
at  the  completion  of  the  whole  208  numbers,  he 
found  that  only  30  had  been  formed  of  materials 
previously  provided. — Ed.] 

5  [In  this  instance  Mr.  Boswell  is  more  un- 
lucky than  Hawkins,  whose  account  is  by  no 
means  incorrect.  He  knew  very  well,  and  dis- 
tinctly states,  that  Addison's  published  JVbtanda 
were  a  mere  pleasantry,  consisting  of  tonkin 
drolly  selected  and  arranged ;  but  he  infers,  ra- 
tionally enough,  that  Addison  had  taken  the  idea 
from  his  own  real  practice  of  collecting  notanda  g 
and  he  is  quits  justified  in  adding  "  much  of  die 
same  kind  are  Johnson's  Adversaria, "—-En.) 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1750.— iETAT.  41. 


89 


wSkmght  indulges  unpleasing  thought: 
The  world  lies  ail  enamelled  before  him,  as 
a  distant  prospect  sun-gilt  *;  inequalities  on- 
ly found  by  coming  to  it.  Love  is  to  be  all 
joy— -children  excellent — Fame  to  be  con- 
stant—caresses of  the  great — applauses  of 
the  learned — smiles  of  Beauty. 

"  Fear  of disgrace — Bashfulness — Finds 
things  of  less  importance.  Miscarriages  for- 
got tike  excellencies: — if  remembered,  of  no 
import.  Danger  or  sinking  into  negligence 
of* reputation; — lest  the  fear  of  disgrace  de- 
stroy activity. 

"  Confidence  in  himself.  Long  tract  of 
life  before  him — No  thought  of  sickness — 
Embarrassment  of  affaire. — Distraction  of 
family.  Publick  calamities. — No  sense  of 
the  prevalence  of  bad  habits.  Negligent  of 
time — ready,  to  undertake— careless  to  pur- 
sue—all changed  by  time. 

"  Confident  of  others-^ unsuspecting  as 
unexpenenced— imagining  himself  secure 
against  neglect,  never  imagines  they  will 
venture  to  treat  him  ill.  Ready  to  trust; 
expecting  to  be  trusted.  Convinced  by  time 
of  the  selfishness,  the  meanness,  the  cow- 
ardice, the  treachery  of  men. 

"  Youth  ambitious,  as  thinking  honours 
easy  to  be  had. 

"Different  kinds  of  praise  pursued  at 
different  periods.  Of  the  gay  m  youth, — 
dang,  hurt,  &c.  despised. 

"  Of  the  fancy  in  manhood.  Ambit. — 
stocks — bargains. — Of  the  wise  and  sober 
in  old  age — seriousness— formality— max- 
ims, but  general— only  of  the  rich,  other- 
wise age  is  happy — but  at  last  everything 
referred  to  riches — no  having  fame,  honour, 
influence,  without  subjection  to  caprice. 

"  Horace. 

"  Hard  it  would  be  if  men  entered  life 
with  the  same  views  with  which  they 
leave  it,  or  left  as  they  enter  it — No  hope — 
no  undertaking — no  regard  to  benevolence- 
no  fear  of  disgrace,  &c. 

"  Youth  to  be  taught  the  piety  of  age- 
age  to  retain  the  honour  of  youth." 

This,  it  will  be  observed,  is  the  sketch  of 
Number  196  of  the  Rambler.  I  shall  grati- 
fy my  readers  with  another  specimen: 

"  Confederacies  difficult;  why. 
"  Seldom  in  war  a  match  for  single  per- 
sons— nor  in  peace;  therefore  kings  make 
themselves  absolute.  Confederacies  in  learn- 
ing—every great  work  the  work  of  one, 
Bruv.  Scholars'  friendship  like  ladies. 
Scribebamus,  &c.  Mart.9   Tne  apple  of  dis- 


1  This  meet  beautiful  image  of  the  enchanting 
i  of  youthful  prospect  hat  not  been  need 
'  of  Johnson's  essays, 
zii  96.    "  InTneeam 
"—Malowe, 


'.■K1 


cord— the  laurel  of  discord— the  poverty 
of  criticism.  Swift's  opinion  of  the  power 
of  six  geniuses  united.  That  union  scarce 
possible.  His  remarks  just; — man  a  social, 
not  steady  nature.  Drawn  to  man  by 
words,  repelled  by  passions.  Orb  drawn 
by  attraction,  rep.  [repelled]  by  centri- 
fugal. 

"  Common  danger  unites  by  crushing 
other  passions — but  they  return.  Equality 
hinders  compliance.  Superiority  produces 
insolence  and  envy.  Too  much  regard  in 
each  to  private  interest; — too  little. 

"  The  mischiefs  of  private  and  exclusive 
societies. — The  fitness  of  social  attraction 
diffused  through  the  whole.  The  mischiefs 
of  too  partial  love  of  our  country.  Contrac- 
tion or  moral  duties. — "Oi  **m,  «  <p<;*f. 

"  Every  man  moves  upon  his  own  cen- 
tre, and  therefore  repels  others  from  too 
near  a  contact,  though  he  may  comply  with 
some  general  laws. 

"  Of  confederacy  with  superiors  every 
one  knows  the  inconvenience.  With  equals, 
no  authority; — every  man  his  own  opinion 
— his  own  interest. 

"Man  and  wife  hardly  united; — scarce 
ever  without  children.  Computation,  if  two 
to  one  against  two,  how  many  against  five? 
If  confederacies  were  easy — useless;  -many 
oppresses  many. — If  possible  only  to  some, 
dangerous,    Principum  omieitias." 

Here  we  see  the  embryo  of  Number  45 
of  the  Adventurer;  and  it  is  a  confirmation 
of  what  I  shall  presently  have  occasion  to 
mention,  that  the  papers  in  that  collection 
marked  T.  were  written  by  Johnson. 

This  scanty  preparation  of  materials  will 
not,  however,  much  diminish  our  wonder 
at  the  extraordinary  fertility  of  his  mind; 
for  the  proportion  which  they  bear  to  the 
number  of  essays  which  he  wrote  is  very 
small;  and  it  is  remarkable,  that  those  for 
which  he  had  made  no  preparation  are  as 
rich  and  as  highly  finished,  as  those  for 
which  the  hints  were  lying  by  him.  It  is 
also  to  be  observed,  that  the  papers  formed 
from  his  hints  are  worked  up  with  such 
strength  and  elegance,  that  we  almost  lose 
sight  of  the  hints,  which  become  like (f  drops 
in  the  bucket."  Indeed,  in  several  instan- 
ces, he  has  made  a  very  slender  use  of  them, 
so  that  many  of  them  remain  still  unap- 
plied*. 


*  Sir  John  Hawkins  has  selected  from  this  lit- 
tle collection  of  materials,  what  he  calls  the 
"  Rudiments  of  two  of  the  papers  of  the  Rambler." 
But  he  has  not  been  able  to  read  the  manuscript 
distinctly.  Thus  he  writes,  p.  266,  «•  Sailor's 
fete  any  mansion ; "  whereas  the  original  b 
"  Sailor's  life  my  aversion."  He  has  also  tran- 
scribed the  unappropriated  hints  on  Writers  for 
bread,  in  which  he  deciphers  these  notable  pos- 
sages,  one  in  Latin,  fatui  non  fama,  instead  of 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


84 


17M.— ^TAT.  41. 


As  the  Rambler  was  entirely  the  work  of 
one  man,  there  was,  of  course,  such  a  uni- 
formity in  its  texture,  as  very  much  to  ex- 
clude the  charm  of  variety;  and  the  grave 
and  often  solemn  cast  of  thinking,  which 
distinguished  it  from  other  periodical  papers, 
made  it,  for  some  time,  not  generally  liked. 
So  slowly  did  this  excellent  work,  of  which 
twelve  editions  have  now  issued  from  the 
press,  gain  upon  the  world  at  large,  that 
even  in  the  closing  number  the  authour 
says,  "  I  have  never  been  much  a  favourite 
ofthepublick." 

Yet,  very  soon  after  its  commencement, 
there  were  who  felt  and  acknowledged  its 
uncommon  excellence.  Verses  in  its  praise 
appeared  in  the  newspapers;  and  the  editor 
of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  mentions,  in 
October,  his  having  received  several  letters 
to  the  same  purpose  from  the  learned. 
"  The  Student,  or  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
Miscellany,"  in  which  Mr.  Bonnel  Thorn- 
ton and  Mr.  Colman  were  the  principal  writ- 
ers, describes  it  as  "  a  work  that  exceeds  any 
thing  of  the  kind  ever  published  in  this  king- 
dom, some  of  the  Spectators  excepted, — if 
indeed  they  may  be  excepted."  And  after- 
wards, "  May  the  publick  favours  crown  his 
merits,  and  may  not  the  English,  under  the 
auspicious  reign  of  George  the  Second, 
neglect  a  man,  who,  had  he  lived  in  the  first 
century,  would  have  been  one  of  the  great- 
est favourites  of  Augustus."  This  flattery 
of  the  monarch  had  no  effect  It  is  too  well 
known,  that  the  second  George  never  was 
an  Augustus  to  learning  or  genius. 
_  [Richardson,  the  authour  of  Cla- 

°m  rissa,  to  whom  Cave  had  sent  the 
five  first  numbers  of  the  Rambler,  became, 
as  they  proceeded,  "  so  inexpressibly  pleas- 
ed with  them,"  that  he  wrote  to  Cave  in 
strong  commendation,  and  intimated  his 
conviction  (the  name  of  the  authour  being 
still  a  secret}  that  Johnson  was  the  only 
man  who  could  write  them.  Cave's  answer 
seems  worth  inserting,  as  giving  a  higher 
idea  of  his  own  station  in  society  than  has 
been  hitherto  entertained,  as  well  as  more 
clearly  explaining  some  points  of  Dr.  John- 
son's life. 


Rich.  Cor. 
▼ol.  1. 
p.  lW. 


MR  CAVE  TO  MR.  RICHARDSON. 

«  St.  John's  Gate,  August  28, 1750 

"Dear  sir, — 1    received  the  pleasure 

fami  nan  fama ;  Johnson  having  in  his  mind 
what  Thnanos  says  of  the  learned  German  anti- 
quary and  linguist,  Xylander,  who,  he  tells  us, 
uvea  in  such  poverty,  that  he  was  supposed  fami 
non  fama  icribere  ;  and  another  in  French,  De- 
gente  de  fate  et  affami  d'argent,  instead  of 
Degouti  de  fame  (an  old  word  for  rencmnU) 
et  affami  d*  argent.  The  manuscript,  being 
written  in  an  exceedingly  small  hand,  is  indeed 
very  hard  to  read  ;  but  it  would  have  been  better 
to  have  left  blanks  than  to  write  nonsense.— 
Boswsli*. 


of  your  letter  of  the  9th  inst.  at  Gloucester, 
and  did  intend  to  answer  it  from  that  city, 
though  I  had  but  one  sound  hand  (the  cold 
and  rain  on  my  journey  having  given  me  the 
gout) ;  but,  as  soon  as  I  could  write  I  went  to 
Westminster1,  the  seat  of  Mr.  Cambridge9, 
who  entertained  the  Prince  3  there,  and, 
in  his  boat,  on  the  Severn.  He  kept  me 
one  night,  and  took  me  down  part  of  hie 
river  to  the  Severn,  where  I  sailed  in  one  of 
his  boats,  and  took  a  view  of  another  of  a 
peculiar  make,  having  two  keels,  or  being  - 
rather  two  long  canoes,  connected  by  a  floor 
or  stage.  I  was  then  towed  back  again 
to  sup  and  repose.  Next  morning  he  ex- 
plained to  me  the  contrivance  of  some 
waterfalls,  which  seem  to  come  from  a  piece 
of  water  which  is  four  feet  lower.  The 
three  following  days  I  spent  in  returning  to 
town,  and  could  not  find  time  to  write  in 
an  inn. 

"  I  need  not  tell  you  that  the  Prince  ap- 
peared highly  pleased  with  every  thing  that 
Mr.  Cambridge  showed,  though  he  called 
him  upon  deck  often  to  be  seen  by  the 
people  on  the  shore,  who  came  in  prodi- 
gious crowds,  and  thronged  from  place  to 
place,  to  have  a  view  as  often  as  they  could, 
not  satisfied  with  one;  so  that  many  who 
came  between  the  towing  line  and  the  bank  of 
the  river  were  thrown  into  it,  and  his  royal 

Shness  could  scarce  forbear  laughing;  but 
ately  said  to  them, ( I  am  sorry  for  your 
condition.' 

"  Excuse  this  ramble  from  the  purpose  of 
your  letter.  I  return  to  answer,  that  Mr. 
Johnson  is  the  Great  Rambler,  being,  as 
you  observe,  the  only  man  who  can  furnish 
two  such  papers  in  a  week,  besides  his  other 
great  business,  and  has  not  been  assisted 
with  above  three. 

"  I  may  discover  to  you,  that  the  world 
is  not  so  kind  to  itself  as  you  wish  it.  The 
encouragement,  as  to  sale,  is  not  in  propor- 
tion to  the  high  character  given  to  the  work 
by  the  judicious,  not  to  say  the  raptures  ex- 
pressed by  the  few  that  do  read  it;  but  its 
being  thus  relished  in  numbers  gives  hope 
that  the  sets  must  go  off,  ds  it  is  a  fine  pa- 
per, and,  considering  the  late  hour  of  hav- 
ing the  copy,  tolerably  printed. 

"  When  the  authour  was  to  be  kept  pri- 
vate (which  was  the  first  scheme),  two 
gentlemen,  belonging  to  the  Prince's  court, 


1  [So  in  the  work  quoted,  but  it  is  a  mistake 
for  Whitminster  in  Gloucestershire,  the  seat  then, 
as  now,  of  the  family  of  Cambridge. — Ed.] 

*  [Richard  Owen  Cambridge,  author  of  the 
Scribbleriad,  and  a  considerable  contributor  to 
the  World.  He  was  bom  in  1714,  and  died  in 
1802  at  his  seat  opposite  Richmond. — Ed.] 

a  [In  July  and  August  of  this  year  the  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Wales,  and  their  eldest  daughter 
(the  late  Duchess  of  Brunswick),  made  a  tour 
through  Gloucestershire, 
Hampshire.— Ed.] 


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came  to  me  to  inquire  his  name,  in  order  to 
do  him  service;  and  also  brought  a  list  of 
seven  gentlemen  to  be  served  with  the 
Rambler.  As  I  was  not  at  liberty,  an  infer- 
ence was  drawn,  that  I  was  desirous  to 
keep  to  myself  so  excellent  a  writer.  Soon 
after,  Mr.  Doddington l  sent  a  letter  direct- 
ed to  the  R&mbUr,  inviting  him  to  his 
home,  when  he  should  be  disposed  to  en- 
luge  his  acquaintance.  In  a  subsequent 
number*  a  kind  of  excuse  was  made,  with 
t  hint  that  a  good  writer  might  not  appear 
to  advantage  in  conversation.  Since  that 
time  several  circumstances,  and  Mr.  Oarrick 
and  others,  who  knew  the  authour's  powers 
and  style  from  the  first,  unadvisedly  as- 
serted their  (but)  suspicions,  overturned 
the  scheme  of  secrecy.  (About  which 
there  is  also  one  paper9.') 

"  I  have  had  letters  of  approbation  from 
Dr.  Foung,  Dr.  Hartley,  Dr.  Sharpe,  Miss 
Carter,  &c.  &c.  most  of  them,  like  you, 
letting  them  in  a  rank  equal,  and  some 
wpenour,  to  the  Spectators  (of  which  I 
have  not  read  many,  for  the  reasons  3  which 
yon  assign) :  but,  notwithstanding  such  re- 
commendation, whether  the 'price  of  two- 
ftset,  or  the  unfavourable  season  of  their 
first  publication,  hinders  the  demand,  no 
hoaat  can  be  made  of  it. 

"The  authour  (who  thinks  highly  of 
jour  writings)  is  obliged  to  you  for  contri- 
buting your  endeavours;  and  so  is,  for  sev- 
eral marks  of  your  friendship,  good  sir, 
your  admirer,  and  very  humble  servant, 
"E.  Cave."] 

Johnson  told  me,  with  an  amiable  fond- 
usb,  a  tittle  pleasing  circumstance  relative 
tothi8  work.  Mrs.  Johnson,  in  whose  judge- 
ment and  taste  he  had  great  confidence,  said 
[<>  him,  after  a  few  numbers  of  the  Rambler 
W  come  out,  "  I  thought  very  well  of  you 
before;  but  I  did  not  imagine  you  could  have 
written  any  thing  equal  to  this."  Distant 
Pnise,  from  whatever  quarter,  is  not  so  de- 
lightful as  that  of  a  wife  whom  a  man  loves 
ud  esteems.  Her  approbation  may  be  said 
to  "  come  home  to  his  bosom,"  and  being 

1  [Gauge  Babb  Doddington,  afterwaidi  Lord 
jWeombe,  whose  fame  as  a  statesman  and  a  wit 
■■  haan  obscured,  if  not  obliterated,  by  the  pub- 
"Jtionofhis  Diary.— Ed.] 

[The  two  Ramblers  referred  to  are  probably 
hsa  U land  18.— Ed.] 

(Richardson  had  said,  "  I  remember  not  any 
""•f  in  those  Spectators  that  I  read,  for  Inev- 
*  found  time  to  read  them  all,  that  half  so 
■"N*  struck  me."  It  seems  very  strange  that 
ya  of  literary  habits,  like  Richardson  and  Cave, 
■■•Id  have  read  the  Spectator  so  imperfectly. 
{*■  the  stranger,  with  regard  to  Richardson,  for 
«■  aaly  paper  in  the  Rambler  (No.  07)  is  writ- 
JJ*  ai  the  character  of  a  professed  admirer  of  the 
Bpactator.— Ed.] 


so  near,  its  effect  is  most  sensible  and  perma- 
nent 

Mr.  James  Elphinston  *,  who  has  since 
published  various  works,  and  who  was  ever 
esteemed  by  Johnson  as  a  worthy  man,  hap- 
pened to  be  in  Scotland  while  the  Rambler 
was  coining  out  in  single  papers  at  London. 
With  a  laudable  zeal  at  once  for  the  improve- 
ment of  his  countrymen,  and  the  reputation 
of  his  friend,  he  suggested  and  took  the 
charge  of  an  edition  of  those  Essays  at 
Edinburffh,  which  followed  progressively 
the  London  publication  5. 

The  following  letter  written  at  this  time, 
though  not  dated,  will  show  how  much 
pleased  Johnson  was  with  this  publication, 
and  what  kindness  and  regard  he  had  for 
Mr.  Elphinston. 

"TO   MR.   JAMES   ELPHINSTON. 

(JVb  date.) 
"  Dear  sir, — I  cannot  but  confess  the 
failures  of  my  correspondence,  but  hope 


4  [Mr.  James  Elphinston  was  born  in  Edin- 
burgh, in  1721.  He,  when  very  young,  was  a 
private  tutor  in  two  or  three  eminent  families : 
bat  about  1752  set  up  a  boarding-school  at  Ken- 
sington, where,  as  we  shall  see,  Dr.  Johnson 
sometimes  visited  him.  He  died  in  1809.  His 
works  are  forgotten  or  remembered  for  their  ab- 
surdity. He  translated  Martial,  of  which  Dr. 
Beatne  says,  "  It  is  truly  an  unique — the  speci- 
mens formerly  published  did  very  well  to  laugh 
at ;  but  a  whole  quarto  of  nonsense  and  gibberish 
is  too  much.  It  is  strange  that  a  man  not  whol- 
ly illiterate  should  hare  lived  so  long  in  England 
without  learning  the  language." — Biog.  Die, 
And  it  was,  no  doubt,  of  this  strange  work  that 
Mrs.  Piozzi  relates,  that  "  of  a  modern  Martial, 
when  it  came  out,  Dr.  Johnson  said  there  are  in 
these  verses  too  much  folly  for  madness,  I  think, 
and  too  much  madness  for  folly." — Piozzi,  p. 
47.— Ed.] 

*  It  was  executed  in  the  printing-office  of 
Sands,  Murray,  and  Cochran,  with  uncommon 
elegance,  upon  writing  paper,  of  a  duodecimo 
size,  and  with  the  greatest  correctness :  and  Mr. 
Elphinston  enriched  it  with  translations  of  the  mot- 
to*. When  completed,  it  made  eight  handsome 
volumes.  It  is,  unquestionably,  the  most  accurate 
and  beautiful  edition  of  this  work ;  and  there  be- 
ing but  a  small  impression,  h  is  now  become 
scarce,  and  sells  at  a  very  high  price. — Boswelz,. 
With  respect  to  the  correctness  of  this  edition, 
my  father  probably  derived  his  information  from 
some  other  person,  and  appears  to  have  been  mis- 
informed ;  for  it  was  not  accurately  printed,  as 
we  learn  from  Mr.  A.  Chalmers.— J.  Boswell. 
[Mr.  Chalmers  a  little  misrepresents,  and  Mr. 
James  Boswell  wholly  mistook  the  fact  Ei- 
phinston's  edition  teas  correctly  printed  after  the 
original  folio  numbers  as  they  came  out.  Mr. 
Chalmers  denies  its  accuracy,  because  it  has  not 
the  various  corrections  subsequently  made  by 
Johnson  when  he  republished  the  Rambler  in 
volumes.— En.] 


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1750.— iETAT.  41. 


the  same  regard  which  you  express  for  me 
on  every  other  occasion,  will  incline  you  to 
forgive  me.  I  am  often,  very  often,  ill; 
and,  when  I  am  well,  am  obliged  to  work: 
and,  indeed,  have  never  much  used  myself 
to  punctuality.  You  are  however,  not 
to  make  unkind  inferences,  when  I  forbear 
to  reply  to  your  kindness;  for  be  assured, 
I  never  receive  a  letter  from  you  without 
great  pleasure,  and  a  very  warm  sense  of 
your  generosity  and  friendship,  which  I 
heartily  blame  myself  for  not  cultivating 
with  more  care.  In  this,  as  in  many  other 
cases,  I  go  wrong,  in  opposition  to  convic- 
tion; for  I  think  scarce  any  temporal  good 
equally  to  be  desired  with  the  regard  and 
familiarity  of  worthy  men.  I  hope  we 
shall  be  some  time  nearer  to  each  other,  and 
have  a  more  ready  way  of  pouring  out  our 
hearts. 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  still  find  encourage- 
ment to  proceed  in  your  publication,  and 
shall  beg  the  favour  of  six  more  volumes 
to  add  to  my  former  six,  when  you  can  with 
any  convenience  send  them  me.  Please  to 
present  a  set  in  my  name  to  Mr.  Ruddiman1, 
of  whom,  I  hear,  that  his  learning  is  not  his 
highest  excellence.  I  have  transcribed  the 
mottos,  and  returned  them,  I  hope  not  too 
late,  of  which  I  think  many  very  happily 
performed.  Mr.  Cave  has  put  the  last  in 
the  magazine  2,  in  which  I  think  he  did  well. 
I  beg  of  you  to  write  soon,  and  to  write 
often,  and  to  write  long  letters,  which  I 
hope  in  time  to  repay  you:  but  you  must 
be  a  patient  creditor.  I  nave,  however, 
this  of  gratitude,  that  I  think  of  you  with 
regard,  when  I  do  not,  perhaps,  give  the 
proofs  which  I  ought,  of  being,  sir,  your 
most  obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam,  Johwsok," 

This  year  he  wrote  to  the  same  gentle- 
man another  letter  upon  a  mournful  occa- 
sion. 


1  Mr.  Thomas  Ruddiman,  the  learned  gramma- 
rian of  Scotland,  well  known  for  his  various  ex- 
cellent works,  and  for  his  accurate  editions  of 
several  authours.  He  was  also  a  man  of  a  most 
worthy  private  character.  His  zeal  for  the  royal 
House  of  Stuart  did  not  render  him  less  estimable 
in  Dr.  Johnson's  eye. — Boswell. 

*  If  the  Magazine  here  referred  to  be  that  for 
October,  1752  (see  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  22,  p.  468), 
then  this  letter  belongs  to  a  later  period.  If  it  re- 
lates to  the  Magazine  for  September,  1750  (see 
Gent.  Mag.  vol.  20,  p.  406),  then  it  may  be  as- 
cribed to  the  month  of  October  in  that  year,  and 
should  have  followed  the  subsequent  letter. — Ma- 
loni.  [It  seems  clear  from  the  expression  of 
the  letter  that  it  refers  to  Cave's  first  publication 
of  tho  mottos,  and  was  probably  written  in  Oct 
1750  ;  but  in  either  case  it  should  have  followed 
the  letter  of  the  25th  Sept ;  though  the  editor  has 
not  thought  it  worth  while  to  disturb  Mr.  Bos- 
well's  original  arrangement — Ed.] 


<fT0  MR.  JAMES  ELPHINSTON. 

"  September  25, 1750. 

"Dear  sin, — You  have,  as  I  find  by 
every  kind  of  evidence,  lost  an  excellent 
mother;  and  I  hone  you  will  not  think  me 
incapable  of  partaking  of  your  grief.  I  have 
a  mother,  now  eighty-two  years  of  age, 
whom,  therefore,  I  must  soon  lose,  unless 
it  please  God  that  she  should  rather  mourn 
for  me.  I  read  the  letters  in  which  you  re- 
late your  mother's  death  to  Mrs.  Strahan  3, 
and  think  I  do  myself  honour,  when  I  tell 
you  that  I  read  them  with  tears;  but  tears 
are  neither  to  you  nor  to  me  of  any  farther 
use,  when  once  th,e  tribute  of  nature  has 
been  paid.  The  business  of  life  summons 
us  away  from  useless  grief,  and  calls  us  to 
the  exercise  of  those  virtues  of  which  we 
are  lamenting  our  deprivation.  The  great- 
est benefit  which  one  friend  can  confer  upon 
another  is  to  guard,  and  excite,  and  elevate, 
his  virtues.  This  your  mother  will  still 
perform,  if  you  diligently  preserve  the  mem- 
ory of  her  life,  and  of  her  death:  a  life,  so 
far  as  I  can  learn,  useful,  wise,  and  inno- 
cent; and  a  death  resigned,  peaceful,  and 
holy.  I  cannot  forbear  to  mention,  that 
neither  reason  nor  revelation  denies  you  to 
hope,  that  you  may  increase  her  happiness 
by  obeying  her  precepts;  and  that  she  may, 
in  her  present  state,  look  with  pleasure  upon 
every  act  of  virtue  to  which  her  instructions 
or  example  have  contributed4.  Whether 
this  be  more  than  a  pleasing  dream,  or 
a  just  opinion  of  separate  spirits,  is,  indeed, 
of  no  great  importance  to  us,  when  we  con- 
sider ourselves  as  acting  under  the  eye  of 
God;  yet,  surely,  there  is  something  pleas- 
ing in  the  belief,  that  our  separation  from 
those  whom  we  love  is  merely  corporeal; 
and  it  may  be  a  great  incitement  to  virtu- 
ous friendship,  if  it  can  be  made  probable 
that  that  union  that  has  received  the  divine 
approbation  shall  continue  to  eternity. 

"  There  is  one  expedient  by  which  yon 
may,  in  some  degree,  continue  her  presence. 
If  you  write  down  minutely  what  you  re- 
member of  her  from  her  earliest  years,  you 
will  read  it  with  great  pleasure,  and  receive 
from  it  many  hints  of  soothing  recollection, 
when  time  shall  remove  her  yet  farther  from 
you,  and  your  grief  shall  be  matured  to  ven- 
eration. To  this,  however  painful  for  the 
present,  I  cannot  but  advise  you,  as  to  a 
source  of  comfort  and  satisfaction  in  the 
time  to  come;  for  all  comfort  and  all  satis- 


*  [Sister  to  Mr.  Ephinston.— Gent.  Mag. 
1785,  p.  755.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that,  for 
many  of  his  early  acquaintance,  Johnson  waa  in- 
debted to  the  society  of  Mr.  Strahan.— Ed.] 

4  [This  letter  may,  as  the  editor  of  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  observes  {lot.  eif.),  be  read  as  a 
commentary  on  the  celebrated  passages  in  John- 
son's Meditations,  relative  to  the  intermediate) 
state  of  departed  friends. — En.] 

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faction  is  sincerely  wished  you  by,  dear  sir, 
your  most  obliged,  most  obedient,  and  most 
humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson.  '* 

The  Rambler  has  increased  in  fame  as 
in  age.  Soon  after  its  first  folio  edition  was 
concluded  it  was  published  in  six  duodecimo 
volumes  1;  and  its  author  lived  to  see  ten  nu- 
merous editions  of  it  in  London,  beside  those 
of  Ireland  and  Scotland. 

I  profess  myself  to  have  ever  entertained 
a  profound  veneration  for  the  astonishing 
force  and  vivacity  of  mind  which  the  Ram- 
bler exhibits.  That  Johnson  had  penetra- 
tion enough  to  see,  and,  seeing,  would  not 
disguise,  the  general  misery  of  man  in  this 
state  of  being,  may  have  given  rise  to  the 
superficial  notion  of  his  being  too  stern  a 
philosopher.  But  men  of  reflection  will  be 
sensible  that  he  has  given  a  true  representa- 
tion of  human  existence,  and  that  he  has,  at 
the  same  time,  with  a  generous  benevolence, 
displayed  every  consolation  which  our  state 
affords  us:  not  only  those  arising  from  the 
hopes  of  futurity,  but  such  as  may  be  at- 
tained in  the  immediate  progress  through 
life.  He  has  not  depressed  the  soul  to  de- 
spondency and  indifference.  He  has  every 
where  inculcated  study,  labour,  and  exer- 
tion. Nay,  he  has  shown,  in  a  very  odious 
light,  a  man,  whose  practice  is  to  go  about 
darkening  the  views  of  others,  by  perpetual 
complaints  of  evil,  and  awakening  those  con- 
siderations of  danger  and  distress,  which  are, 
for  the  most  part,  lulled  into  a  quiet  oblivion. 
This  he  has  done  very  strongly  in  his  char- 
acter of  Suspirius,  (No.  55)  from  which 
Goldsmith  took  that  of  Croaker,  in  his  com- 
edy of  "  The  good-natured  Man,"  as  John- 
son told  me  he  acknowledged  to  him,  and 
which  is,  indeed,  very  obvious. 

To  point  out  the  numerous  subjects  which 
the  Rambler  treats,  with  a  dignity  and  per- 
spicuity which  are  there  united  in  a  manner 
which  we  shall  in  vain  look  for  any  where 
eke,  would  take  up  too  large  a  portion  of 
my  book,  and  would,  I  trust,  be  superflu- 


1  This  »  not  quite  accurate.  In  the  Qent. 
Mag.  for  Nov.  1751,  while  the  work  was  yet 
proceeding,  is  an  advertisement,  announcing  that 
fntr  volumes  of  the  Rambler  would  speedily  be 
published;  and,  it  is  believed,  that  they  were  pub- 
fished  in  the  next  month.  The  fifth  and  sixth  vol- 
unes,  with  tables  of  contents,  and  translations  of 
themottos,  were  published  in  July,  1752,  by  Payne 
(the  original  publisher),  three  months  after  the 
close  of  the  work.  When  the  Rambler  was  col- 
looted  into  volumes,  Johnson  revised  and  correct- 
ed it  throughout  Mr.  Boswell  was  not  aware  of 
das  circumstance,  which  has  lately  been  discov- 
ered, and  accurately  stated,  by  Mr.  Alexander 
Chalmers,  in  a  new  edition  of  these  and  various 
other  periodical  essays,  under  the  tide  of  "  The 
Britkh  Essayists."— Malonb. 


ous,  considering  how  universally  those  vol- 
umes are  now  disseminated.  Even  the  most 
condensed  and  brilliant  sentences  which  they 
contain,  and  which  have  very  properly  been 
selected  under  the  name  of  "Beauties2," 
are  of  considerable  bulk.  But  I  may  shortly 
observe,  that  the  Rambler  furnishes  such  an 
assemblage  of  discourses  on  practical  reli- 
gion and  moral  duty,  of  critical  investiga- 
tions, and  allegorical  and  oriental  tales,  that 
no  mind  can  be  thought  very  deficient  that 
has,  by  constant  study  and  meditation,  as- 
similated to  itself  all  that  may  be  found 
there.  No.  7,  wfitten  in  Passion-week,  on 
abstraction  and  self-examination,  and  No. 
110,  on  penitence  and  the  placability  of  the 
Divine  Nature,  cannot  be  too  often  read. 
No.  54,  on  the  effect  which  the  death  of  a 
friend  should  have  upon  us,  though  rather 
too  dispiriting,  may  be  occasionally  very 
medicinal  to  the  mind.  Every  one  must 
suppose  the  writer  to  have  been  deeply  im- 
pressed by  a  real  scene  5  but  he  told  me  that 
was  not  tne  case;  which  shows  how  well  his 
fancy  could  conduct  him  to  the  "  house  of 
mouniinp;."  Some  of  these  more  solemn 
papers,  I  doubt  not,  particularly  attracted 
the  notice  of  Dr.  Young,  the  author  of 
"  The  Night  Thoughts,"  of  whom  my  esti- 
mation is  such,  as  to  reckon  his  applause  an 
honour  even  to  Johnson.  I  have  seen  some 
volumes  of  Dr.  Young's  copy  of  the  Ram- 
bler, in  which  he  has  marked  the  passages 
which  he  thought  particularly  excellent,  dv 
folding  down  a  corner  of  the  page;  and  such 
as  he  rated  in  a  supereminent  degree  are 
marked  by  double  folds.  I  am  sorry  that 
some  of  the  volumes  are  lost.  Johnson 
was  pleased  when  told  of  the  minute  atten- 
tion with  which  Young  had  signified  his 
approbation  of  his  essays. 

I  will  venture  to  say,  that  in  no  writings 
whatever  can  be  found  more  bark  and  steel 
for  the  mind,  if  I  may  use  the  expression; 
more  that  can  brace  and  invigorate  every 
manly  and  noble  sentiment.  No.  32,  on 
patience,  even  under  extreme  misery,  is  won- 
derfully lofty,  and  as  much  above  the  rant 
of  stoicism,  as  the  sun  of  Revelation  is 
brighter  than  the  twilight  of  Pagan  philoso- 
phy. I  never  read  the  following  sentence 
without  feeling  my  frame  thrill:  "I  think 
there  is  some  reason  for  questioning  wheth- 
er the  body  and  mind  are  not  so  proportion- 
ed, that  the  one  can  bear  all  which  can  be 
inflicted  on  the  other;  whether  virtue  can- 


s  Dr.  Johnson  was  gratified  by  seeing  this  se- 
lection, and  wrote  to  Mr.  Kearsley,  bookseller, 
in  Fleet  street,  the  following  note: — 

"  Mr.  Johnson  sends  compliments  to  Bfr.  Kears- 
ley, and  begs  the  favour  of  seeing  him  as  soon 
as  he  can.  Mr.  Kearsley  is  desired  to  bring 
with  him  the  last  edition  of  what  he  has  bmoured 
with  the  name  of  Beauties.    May  20, 1782." 

— BOHWKXfl*. 


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TOO.— JETAT.  41. 


not  stand  its  ground  as  long  as  life,  and 
whether  a  sow  well  principled  will  not  he 
sooner  separated  than  subdued." 

Though  instruction  be  the  predominant 
purpose  of  the  Rambler,  yet  it  is  enlivened 
witn  a  considerable  portion  of  amusement. 
Nothing  can  be  more  erroneous  than  the 
notion  which  some  persons  have  entertain- 
ed, that  Johnson  was  then  a  retired  authour, 
ignorant  of  the  world;  and,  of  consequence, 
that  he  wrote  only  from  his  imagination, 
when  he  described  characters  and  manners. 
He  said  to  me  that,  before  he  wrote  that 
work,  he  had  been  "  running  about  the 
world,"  as  he  expressed  it,  more  than  al- 
most any  body;  and  I  have  heard  him  relate, 
with  much  satisfaction,  that  several  of  the 
characters  in  the  Rambler  were  drawn  so 
naturally,  that  when  it  first  circulated  in 
numbers,  a  club  in  one  of  the  towns  in  Es- 
sex imagined  themselves  to  be  severally  ex- 
hibited in  it,  and  were  much  incensed  against 
a  person  who,  they  suspected,  had  thus 
made  them  objects  of  publick  notice;  nor 
were  they  quieted  till  authentick  assurance 
was  given  them,  that  the  Rambler  was 
written  by  a  person  who  had  never  heard 
of  any  one  of  them  K  Some  of  the  charac- 
ters are  believed  to  have  been  actually  drawn 
from,  the  life  9,  particularly  that  of  Prospero 
from  Oarrick  s,  who  never  entirely  forgave 

1  [This  anecdote  was,  according  to  Mm.  Piozzi, 
communicated  to  Johnson  by  Mr.  Murphy,  bat 
(as  the  lady  tells  it),  with  details  which  savour 
mors  of  a  desire  to  make  a  good  story  than  to  tell 
a  true  one.    See  Piozzi,  p.  180. — Ed.] 

*  That  of  Gklidus,  in  No.  24,  from  Profes- 
sor Colson,  and  that  of  Euphuks  in  the  same  pa- 
per, which,  with  many  othen,was  doubtless  drawn 
from  the  life.  Euphuss,  I  once  thought,  might 
have  been  intended  to  represent  either  Lord 
Chesterfield  or  Soame  Jenyns;  but  Mr.  Bindley, 
with  more  probability,  thinks  that  George  Bubb 
Doddington,  who  was  remarkable  for  the  homeli- 
ness of  his  person,  and  the  finery  of  his  dress, 
was  the  person  meant  under  that  character.  Ma- 
lone.  [See  {ante,  p.  88)  reasons  for  doubting 
mat  GeHdus  could  be  meant  for  Professor  Col- 
son. The  folly  of  such  guesses  at  characters  is 
forcibly  exemplified  in  Mr.  Malone's  producing 
three  such  different  candidates  for  that  of  Eu- 
phuee,  as  Lord  Chesterfield,  Soame  Jenyns,  and 
Bubb  Doddington!— Ed.] 

*  [Having  jost  seen  Garrick's  generous  and 


generous  i 

die  fame  i 


successful  endeavours  to  advance  the  fame  and 
improve  the  fortunes  of  his  friend,  it  were  mel- 
ancholy to  be  obliged,  by  the  evidence  of  Boa- 
well,  Murphy,  and  Mrs.  Piozzi,  to  believe  that 
Johnson  meant  to  satirize  that  amiable,  inoffen- 
sive, and  (to  him)  most  friendly  man,  whose  pro- 
fession, as  well  as  his  personal  feelings,  rendered 
him  peculiarly  sensitive  to  such  attacks.  Mr. 
Murphy,  with  less  taste  and  good  nature  than  is 
usual  to  him,  seems  to  make  light  of  poor  Gar- 
rick's vexation;  bat  amongst  the  many  instances 
which  have  been  adduced  of  that  infirmity  of 


ita  pointed  satire.  [Sophron  waa  ««■*• 
likewise  a  picture  drawn  from  reali-  **  *7# 
ty;  and  by  Gelidus,  the  philosopher,  he 
meant  to  represent  Mr.  Coulson,  a  mathe- 
matician, wno  formerly  lived  at  Roches- 
ter. The  man  immortalized  for  purring; 
like  a  cat  waa,  as  he  told  Mra.  Piozzi,  one 
Busby,  a  proctor  in  the  Commons.  He 
who  barked  so  ingeniously,  and  then  called 
the  drawer  to  drive  away  the  dog,  was  fathe- 
to  Dr.  Salter,  of  the  Charterhouse.  He  who 
sung  a  song,  and,  by  correspondent  motions 
of  his  arm,  chalked  out  a  giant  on  the  wall, 
was  one  Richardson,  an  attorney4.] 

For  instances  of  fertility  of  fancy,  and  ac- 
curate description  of  real  life,  I  appeal  to 
No.  19,  a  man  who  wanders  from  one  pro- 
fession to  another,  with  most  plausible  rea- 
sons for  every  change:  No.  34,  female  fas- 
tidiousness and  timorous  refinement:  No. 
82,  a  virtuoso  who  has  collected  curiosities: 
No.  88,  petty  modes  of  entertaining  a  com- 
pany, and  conciliating  kindness:  No.  1&9, 
fortune-hunting:  No.  194 — 195,  a  tutor's 
account  of  the  follies  of  his  pupil:  No.  197 
— 198,  legacy-hunting:  He  has  erven  a 
specimen  of  his  nice  observation  of  the  mere 
external  appearances  of  life,  in  the  following 
passage  in  No.  179,  against  affectation,  that 
frequent  and  most  disgusting  quality :  "  He 
that  stands  to  contemplate  the  crowds  that 
fill  the  streets  of  a  populous  city  will  see 
many  passengers,  whose  air  and  motions  it 
will  be  difficult  to  behold  without  contempt 
and  laughter:  but  if  he  examine  what  are 
the  appearances  that  thus  powerfully  excite 
his  risibility,  he  will  find  among  them  nei- 
ther poverty  nor  disease,  nor  any  involunta- 
ry or  painful  defect.  The  disposition  to 
derision  and  insult  is  awakened  by  the  soft- 
ness of  foppery,  the  swell  of  insolence,  the 
liveliness  or  levity,  or  the  solemnity  of  gran- 
deur; by  the  sprightly  trip,  the  stately  walk, 
the  formal  strut,  and  the  lofty  mien;  by  ges- 
tures intended  to  catch  the  eye,  and  by  looks 


Johnson's  temper,  which  almost  amounted  to  en- 
©y,  there  is  none  that  seems,  all  the  circumstances 
considered,  more  unjustifiable  than  this  would 
have  been.  Hawkins,  however,  who  seldom 
missed  an  opportunity  of  displaying  Johnson's 
faults  or  frailties,  does  not,  even,  when  censur- 
ing his  conduct  towards  Garrick,  allude  to  this 
offence.  (See  JJfe  p.  421).  Let  us  therefore 
hope,  that  the  other  biographers  made  an  appli- 
cation of  the  character  of  Prospero  which  John- 
son did  not  intend. — Ed.] 

4  [These  characters  are  alluded  to  in  the  con- 
clusion of  the  188th  Rambler,  but  so  slightly  that 
it  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  inquire  whether 
the  hints  were  furnished  by  observation  or  inven- 
tion. As  to  the  anecdote  told  of  the  elder  Dr. 
Salter,  it  could  have  only  been,  as  Mr.  Chalmers 
observes,  the  repetition  of  some  story  of  his  youth- 
ful days,  for  he  was  70  years  of  age  before  ha 
became  a  member  of  the  Ivy-lane  club.— En.] 


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1750.— iETAT.  41. 


89 


elaborately  formed  as  evidences  of  impor- 
tance." 

[Of  tte  allegorical  ^papers  in  the 
J*"*  Rambler,  Labour  and  Rest  (No.  33) 
h  was  Johnson's  favourite;  but  Sero- 
tinus (No  165),  the  man  who  returns  late 
in  life  to  receive  honours  in  his  native  coun- 
try, and  meets  with  mortification  instead  of 
respect,  was  considered  by  him  as  a  master- 
piece in  the  science  of  life  and  manners.] 

Every  page  of  the  Rambler  shows  a  mind 
teeming  with  classical  allusions  and  poetical 
imagery:  illustrations  from  other  writers 
ue,  upon  ail  occasions,  so  ready,  and  min- 
gle so  easily,  in  his  periods,  that  the  whole 
appears  of  one  uniform  vivid  texture. 

The  style  of  this  work  has  been  censured 
by  some  shallow  criticks  as  involved  and 
turgid,  and  abounding  with  antiquated  and 
hard  words.  So  ill-founded  is  the  first  part 
of  this  objection,  that  I  will  challenge  all 
,  who  may  honour  this  book  with,  a  perusal, 
'  to  point  out  any  English  writer  whose  lan- 
guage conveys  his  meaning  with  equal  force 
and  perspicuity  K  It  must,  indeed,  be  al- 
lowed, that  the  structure  of  his  sentences  is 
expanded,  and  often  has  somewhat  of  the 
inversion  of  Latin:  and  that  he  delighted  to 
express  familiar  thoughts  in  philosophical 
language;  being  in  this  the  reverse  of  Socra- 
tes, who,  it  is  said,  reduced  philosophy  to  the 
simplicity  of  common  life.  But  let  us  at- 
tend to  what  he  himself  says  in  his  conclud- 
ing paper:  "When  common  words  were 
leas  pleasing  to  the  ear,  or  less  distinct  in  their 
Bonification,  I  have  familiarized  the  terms 
of  philosophy,  by  applying  them  to  popular 
ideas."  And,  as  to  the  second  Dart  or  this 
objection,  upon  a  late  careful  revision  of  the 
work,  I  can  with  confidence  say,  that  it  is 
amazing  how  few  of  those  words,  for  which 
it  has  been  unjustly  characterised,  are  act- 
ually to  be  found  in  it:  I  am  sure  not  the 
proportion  of  one  to  each  paper3.    This 


idle  charge  has  been  echoed  from  one  bab- 
bler to  another,  who  have  confounded  John- 
son's Essays  with  Johnson's  Dictionary; 
and  because  he  thought  it  right  in  a  lexicon 
of  our  language  to  collect  many  words  which 
had  fallen  into  disuse,  but  were  supported 
by  great  authorities,  it  has  been  imagined 
that  all  of  these  have  been  interwoven  into 
his  own  compositions.  That  some  of  them 
have  been  adopted  by  him  unnecessarily, 
may,  perhaps,  be  allowed;  but,  in  general, 
they  are  evidently  an  advantage,  for  with- 
out them  his  stately  ideas  would  be  confined 
and  cramped.  "  He  that  thinks  with  more 
extent  than  another,  will  want 
words  of  a  larger  meanings."  He  !Per»- 
once  told  me,  that  he  bad  formed 


No.  70> 


1  Yet  his  style  did  not  escape  the  harmless  shafts 
•f  pleasant  humour;  for  the  ingenious  Bonnell 
Thornton  published  a  mock  Rambler  in  the  Dru- 
ry-lane  Journal — Bos  well. — [And  Mr.  Mur- 
phy, in  commenting  on  this  passage,  quotes  the 
witty  observation  of  Dryden:  "If  so  many  for- 
eign words  are  poured  in  upon  us,  it  looks  as  if 
twj  were  designed  not  to  assist  the  natives  but  to 
wnquer  them."     Life,  p.  157.— Ed.] 

*  [Mr.  BoswelTs  zeal  carries  him  too  far: 
Johnson's  style,  especially  in  the  Rambler,  is  fre- 
quently turgid,  even  to  ridicule;  but  he  has  been 
too  often  censured  with  a  malicious  flippancy, 
whieh  Boswell  may  be  excused  for  resenting; 
•adores  graver  critics  have  sometimes  treated 
him  with  inconsiderate  injustice;  for  instance, — 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Burrowes  (now  Dean  of  Cork),  in 
•a  "  Essay  on  the  Style  of  Dr.  Johnson," 
Pabfished  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Transaction* 
•f  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  (1787),  observes: 

"  Johnson  says  that  he  has  rarely  admitted  any 

vol.  i.  12 


word  not  authorized  by  former  writers;  but 
where  are  we  to  seek  authorities  for  *  resuscitation, 
orbity,  volant,  fatuity,  divaricate,  asinine,  nar- 
cotic, vulnerary,  empveumatic,  papilionaceous,'  . 
and  innumerable  others  of  the  same  stamp,  which 
abound  in  and  disgrace  his  pages? — for  '  obtund, 
disruption,  sensory,  or  panoply,'  all  occurring  in 
the  short  compass  of  a  single  essay  in  the  Ram- 
bler;— or  for  '  cremation,  horticulture,  germina- 
tion, and  decussation,'  within  a  few  pages  in  his 
Life  of  Browne?  They  may  be  found,  perhaps, 
in  the  works  of  former  writers,  but  they  make  no 
part  of  the  English  language.  They  are  the  ille- 
gitimate offspring  of  learning  by  vanity."  It  ja, 
wonderful,  that,  instead  of  asking  where  these 
words  were  to  be  found,  Dr.  Burrowes  did  not 
think  of  referring  to  Johnson's  own  dictionary. 
He  would  have  found  good  authorities  for  almost 
every  one  of. them ;  for  instance,  for  resuscitation, 
Milton  and  Bacon  are  quoted;  for  volant,  Milton 
and  Phillips;  for  fatuity,  Arbuthnot;  for  asinine, 
Milton;  for  narcotic,  and  vulnerary,  Browne; 
for  germination,  Bacon,  and  so  on.  But  al- 
though these  authorities,  which  Dr.  Burrowes 
might  have  found  in  the  dictionary,  are  a  sufficient 
answer  to  his  question,  let  it  be  also  observed, 
that  many  of  these  words  were  in  use  in  mare  fa- 
miliar authors  than  Johnson  chose  to  quote,  and 
that  the  majority  of  them  are  now  become  fa- 
miliar,  which  is  a  sufficient  proof  that  the  English 
language  has  not  considered  them  aa  illegitimate. 
—Ed.] 

*  [This  is  a  truism  m  the  disguise  of  a  sophism. 
«« He  that  thinks  with  more  extent  will,'*  no 
doubt,  "  want  words  of  a  larger  meaning,*'  bat 
the  words  themselves  may  be  plain  and  simple; 
the  number  of  syllables,  and  oro+otundity  (if 
one  may  venture  to  use  the  expression)  of  the 
sound  of  a  word  can  never  add  much,  and  may, 
in  some  cases,  do  injury  to  the  meaning.  Wlat 
words  were  ever  written  of  a  larger  meaning 
than  the  following,  which,  however,  are  the  most 


and  say,  that  "  he  who  thinka  feebly  needs-  bigger 
words  to  cover  his  inanity,"  we  should  be  nearer 
the  truth.  But  it  must  be  admitted  (as  Mr.  Bos- 
well soon  after  observes)  that  Johnson  (though 
he,  in  some  of  hk  works,  pushed  his  peculiarity* 


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90 


1750.— iETAT.  41. 


his  style  upon  that  of  Sir  William  Temple, 
and  upon  "  Chambers's  Proposal  for  his 
Dictionary  i. "  He  certainly  was  mistaken ; 
or  if  he  imagined  at  first  that  he  was  imi- 
tating Temple,  he  was  very  unsuccessful2; 
for  nothing' can  be  more  unlike  than  the  sim- 
plicity of  Temple,  and  the  richness  of  John- 
son. Their  styles  differ  as  plain  cloth  and 
brocade.  Temple,  indeed,  seems  equally 
erroneous  in  supposing  that  he  himself  had 
formed  his  style  upon  Sandys's  View  of  the 
State  of  Religion  in  the  Western  Parts  of 
the  World. 

The  style  of  Johnson  was,  undoubtedly, 
much  formed  upon  that  of  the  great  writers 
in  the  last  century,  Hooker,  Bacon,  Sander- 
son, Hakewill,  and  others;  those  "  Giants,'9 
as  they  were  well  characterised  by  a  gre>t 
personage3,  whose  authority,  were  I  to 


to  an  absurd  extent)  has  been  on  the  whole  a 
benefactor  to  our  language;  he  has  introdaced 
more  dignity  into  oar  style,  more  regularity  into 
our  grammatical  construction,  and  given  a  fuller 
and  more  sonorous  sound  to  the  march  of  our 
sentences  and  the  cadence  of  our  periods. — Ed.] 
1  The  paper  here  alluded  to  was,  I  believe, 
Chamber's  Proposal  for  a  second  and  improved 
edition  of  his  Dictionary,  which,  I  think,  appear- 
ed in  1738.  This  proposal  was  probably  in 
circulation  m  1787,  when  Johnson  first  came  to 
^Dndon. — Ma  Lo  nx. 

*  The  author  appears  to  me  to  have  misunder- 
stood Johnson*  in  this  instance.  He  did  not, 
I  conceive,  mean  to  say  that,  when  he  first  began 
to  write,  he  made  Sir  William  Temple  his  mod- 
el, with  a  view  to  form  a  style  that  should  resem- 
ble his  in  all  its  parts ;  but  that  he  formed  his  style 
on  that  of  Temple  and  others,  by  taking  from 
each  those  characteristic  excellencies  which  were 
roost  worthy  of  imitation.  See  this  matter  further 
explained  under  April  9,  1778  ;  where,  in  a  con- 
venation  at  Sir  Joshua  Reynold's,  Johnson  him- 
self mentions  the  particular  improvements  which 
Temple  made  in  the  English  style.  These, 
doubtless,  were  the  objects  of  his  imitation,  so  far 
as  that  writer  was  his  model. — Ma  lone. 

*  [Here  is  an  instance  of  the  difficulty  of  ex- 
plaining, after  the  lapse  of  a  very  few  years,  cir- 
cumstances once  of  great  notoriety.  My  learned 
and  excellent  friend,  the  Bishop  of  Ferns,  writes 
to  me,  "  State  that  this  Great  Personage  was 
his  late  majesty,  George  the  Third.  Every  one 
knows  it  now,  but  who  will  know  h  fifty  years 
hence?1'  No  doubt  tbe  generality  of  readers 
have  understood  Mr.  Boswell  to  refer  to  the  late 
king;  but,  although  the  Editor  has  made  very  ex- 
tensive inquiries  amongst  those  who  were  most 
likely  to  know,  he  has  not  been  able  to  discover 
any  precise  authority  on  this  point,  nor  has  he 
obtained  even  a  conjecture  as  to  the  person  to 
whom,  or  the  occasion  on  which,  his  majesty 
used  this  happy  expression.  The  editor  had  for- 
merly heard,  but  lie  does  not  recollect  from  whom, 
that  when,  on  some  occasion,  the  great  divines 
of  the  17th  century  were  mentioned  in  the  king's 
presence,  bis  majesty  said,  «•  Yes— there  were 
et ants  in  these  days,"— 4n  allusion  to  G< 


Hawk. 
p.  271. 


name  him,  would  stamp  a  reverence  on  the 
opinion. 

[That  Johnson  owed  his  excel- 
lence as  a  writer  to  the  divines  and 
others  of  the  last  century,  Sir  John 
Hawkins  attests,  from  having  been  the  wit- 
ness of  his  course  of  reading,  and  heard  him 
declare  his  sentiments  of  their  works. 
Hooker  he  admired  for  his logicaiprecision, 
Sanderson  for  his  acuteness,  and  Taylor  for 
his  amazing  erudition;  Sir  Thomas  Browne 
for  his  penetration,  and  Cowley  for  the  ease 
and  unaffected  structu  re  of  his  periods.  The 
tinsel  of  Sprat  disgusted  him,  and  he  could 
but  just  endure  the  smooth  verbosity  of  Til- 
lotson.  Hammond  and  Barrow  he  thought 
involved;  and  of  the  latter  that  he  was  un- 
necessarily prolix  4 .  ] 

We  may,  with  the  utmost  propriety,  ap- 
ply to  his  learned  style  that  passage  of  Hor- 
ace, a  part  of  which  he  has  taken  as  the 
motto  to  his  Dictionary: 

"  Cum  tabulis  animum  censoris  sumet  honesti; 
Audebh  qusscumque  parflm  splendoris  habebunt 
Et  sine  ponders  erunt,  et  honore  indigna  ferentor, 
Verba  movere  loco,  quamvis  in  vita  recedant, 
Et  versentur  adhuc  intra  penetralia  Vestas. 
Obscurata  din  populo  bonus  eruet,  atone 
Proferet  in  lucem  speciosa  vocabula  rerun, 
Quss  priscis  memorata  Catonibus  atque  Cethegis, 
Nunc  situs  informis  premit  et  deserta  vetustas: 
Adsciscet  nova,  quse  genitor  produxerit  usus: 
Vehemens,  et  liquidus,  puroque  simillimus  amni, 
Fundet  opes  Lattumque  beabit  divite  lingua." 
Epist.  1.  ii  e.  2. 

To  so  great  a  master  of  thinking,  to  one 
of  such  vast  and  various  knowledge  as  John- 
son, might  have  been  allowed  a  liberal  in- 
dulgence of  that  licence  which  Horace  claims 
in  another  place : 


•  Si  forte 


Indiciis  monstrare  recentibus  abdita  rennn, 


vi  4.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  Mr.  Boswell,  in 
his  first  edition,  attributed  this  anecdote  to  "  one 
whose  authority,  &c:"  in  subsequent  editions  he 
changed  "  one"  into  "  great  p£&soita.gk." 
—Ed.] 

4  [The  editor  has  thought  it  right  to  preserve 
the  foregoing,  as  the  evidence  of  an  eye-witness  to 
Johnson's  course  of  reading;  though  it  may  be 
well  doubted  whether  Sir  J.  Hawkins  has  pre- 
served exactly  the  characteristic  qualities  which 
he  attributed  to  these  illustrious  men.  It  is  not 
easy  to  conceive  how  the  erudition  of  Taylor  or 
the  penetration  of  Browne  could  have  improved 
Johnson's  style;  nor  is  it  likely  that  Johnson  would 
have  celebrated  the  eloquent  and  subtile  Taylet 
for  erudition  alone,  or  the  pious  and  learned 
Browne  for  mere  penetration.  Johnson's  friend, 
Mr.  Fitzherbert,  said  (see  post,  6th  April,  1775) 
that "  it  was  not  every  man  who  could  carry  a 
bon  mot  ,*"  certainly  Hawkins  was  not  a  man 
likely  to  convey  adequately  Dr.  Johnson's  critical 
opinion  of  Jeremy  Taylor.— En.] 


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91 


i  bob  exsndita  Cetbegi* 
Coatongst,  dabiturque  licentia  sumpta  pudenter: 
Et  Btfi  actaqoe  naper  babebunt  verba  fidem,  si 
Grace  Jbole  cadant,  pared  detorta.     Quid  autem 
Ccdbo  Plautoque  dabit  Roinauus,  adamptum 
Yagiho  Varioqae  ?  Ego  car,  acquirere  pauca 

,  iavideor;  com  lingua  Catonis  et  Enni 
i  patrinm  ditaverit,  et  nova  reram 
i  protnlerit  ?  Licuit,  semperque  Iicebit 
i  prasente  nota  producere  nomen," 

De  Arte  Poetied. 

Yet  Johnson  assured  me,  that  he  had  not 
taken  upon  him  to  add  more  that  four  or 
five  words  to  the  English  language,  of  his 
own  formation;  and  he  was  very  much  of- 
fended at  the  general  licence  hy  no  means 
"modestly  taken"  in  his  time,  not  only  to 
coin  new  words,  hut  to  use  many  words  in 
•rases  quite  different  from  their  established 
meaning,  and  those  frequently  very  fantas- 
tical 

Sir  Thomas  Browne,  whose  Life  John- 
son wrote,  was  remarkably  fond  of  Anglo- 
Latin  diction;  and  to  his  example  we  are  to 
■scribe  Johnson's  sometimes  indulging  him- 
self in  this  kind  of  phraseology1.  John- 
ion's  comprehenson  of  mind  was  the  mould 
lor  his  language.  Had  his  conceptions  been 
narrower,  his  expression  would  have  been 
easier.  His  sentences  have  a  dignified 
march;  and  it  is  certain,  that  his  example 
has  given  a  general  elevation  to  the  lan- 
guage of  his  country,  for  many  of  our  best 
writers  have  approached  very  near  to  him: 
and,  from  the  influence  which  he  has  had 
J»on  our  composition,  scarcely  any  thing 
it  written  now  that  is  not  better  expressed 
than  was  usfial  before  be  appeared  to  lead 
the  national  taste. 

This  circumstance,  the  truth  of  which 
must  strike  every  critical  reader,  has  heen 
ao  happily  enforced  hy  Mr.  Courtenay,  in 
us  "  Moral  and  Literary  Character  of  Dr. 
Johnson,"  that  I  cannot  prevail  on  myself 
to  withhold  it,  notwithstanding  his,  perhaps, 
too  great  partiality  for  one  of  his  friends : 

"By  nature's  gifts  ordain 'd  mankind  to  rale, 
He,  like  a  Titian,  form'd  hie  brilliant  school; 
And  taught  congenial  spirits  to  excel, 
While  «om  bis  lips  impressive  wisdom  fell. 
Oar  boasted  Goldsmith  felt  the  sovereign  sway; 
Ram  him-derived  the  sweet,  yet  nervous  lay. 
Ts  Fame's  proud  cliff  he  bade  our  Raffaelle  rise: 
Hcnee  ReynoMb'  pen  with  Reynolds'  pencil  vies. 
Jjjh  Johnson's  flame  melodious  Barney  glows, 
wafla  the  grand  strain  in  smoother  cadence  flows. 


'Ins  observation  of  his  having  imitated  Sir 
ponies  Browne  has  been  made  hy  many  peo- 
P*;  and  lately  H  has  been  insisted  on,  and  Ulus- 
tatod  by  a  variety  of  quotations  from  Browne, 
»  one  of  the  popular  Essays  written  by  the  Rev. 
Jv.  Knox,  master  of  Tunbridge-school,  whom  I 
hive  set  down  in  my  list  of  those  who  have  some- 
taeiiiot  unsuccessfully  imitated  Dr.  Johnson's 
•fw- — BOSWKLL. 


And  yon,  Malone,  to  critic  learning  dear, 
Correct  and  elegant,  refined  though  clear, 
By  studying  him,  acquired  that  classic  taste, 
Which  high  in  Sbakspeare's  fane  thy  statue  placed 
Near  Johnson  Steevens  stands,  on  acenick  ground, 
Acute,  laborious,  fertile,  and  profound. 
Ingenious  llawkesworth  to  this  school  we  owe, 
And  scarce  the  pupil  from  the  tutor  know. 
Here  early  parts  accomplish  d  Jones  sublimes, 
And  science  blends  with  Asia's  lofty  rhyu.es: 
Harmonious  Jones!  who  in  his  splendid  strains 
Sings  Caiudeo's  sports,  on  Agra's  flowery  plains, 
In  Hindu  fictions,  while  we  fondly  trace 
Love  and  the  Muses,  deck'd  with  Attiek  grace. 
Amid  these  names  can  Boswell  be  forgot, 
Scarce  by  North  Britons  now  esteem1?  a  Scot  *; 
Who  to  the  sage  devoted  from  his  youth, 
Imbibed  from  him  the  sacred  love  of  truth; 
The  keen  research,  the  exercise  of  mind, 
And  that  best  ait,  the  art  to  know  mankind.— 
Nor  was  his  energy  confined  alone 
To  friends  around  his  philosophick  throne; 
Its  influence  wide  improved  our  lettered  isle, 
And  lucid  vigour  mark'd  the  general  style: 
Ab  Nile's  proud  waves,  swoln  from  their  oozy  bed, 
First  o  'er  the  neighbouring  meads  majestick  spread ; 
Till  gathering  force,  they  more  and  more  expand, 
And  with  new  virtue  fertilise  the  land." 

Johnson's  language,  however,  must  be 
allowed  to  be  too  masculine  for  the  delicate 
gentleness  of  female  writing.  His  ladies, 
therefore,  seem  strangely  formal,  even  to 
ridicule;  and  are  well  denominated  by  the 
names  which  he  has  given  them,  as  Misella, 
Zozima,  Properantia,  Rhodoclia  3. 

It  has  of  late  been  the  fashion  to  compete 
the  style  of  Addison  and  Johnson,  and  to 
depreciate4, 1  think,  very  unjustly,  the  style 


9  The  following  observation  in  Ms.  Boswell  *s 
Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides  may  suffi- 
ciently account  for  that  gentleman *s  being  "  now 
scarcely  esteemed  a  Scot"  by  many  of  his  coun- 
trymen: "  If  he  (Dr.  Johnson)  was  particularly 
prejudiced  against  the  Scots,  it  was  because  they 
were  more  in  his  way;  because  he  thought  their 
success  in  England  rather  exceeded  the  due  pro- 
portion of  their  real  merit;  and  because  he  could 
not  but  see  in  them  that  nationality,  which,  I 
believe,  no  liberal-minded  Scotchman  will  de- 
ny." Mr.  Boswell,  indeed,  is  so  free  from  na- 
tional prejudices,  that  he  might  with  equal  pro- 
priety nave  been  described  as — 
"  Scarce  by  South  Britons  now  esteemed  a  Scot," 

CogHTBfUY. 

*  .[Mr.  Burke  said  pleasantly,  that  "  his  ladies 
were  all  Johnsons  in  petticoats.**  Mr.  Murphy 
(Ltfe,  p.  159)  seems  to  pass  somewhat  of  the 
same  censure  on  the  letter  in  the  12th  Rambler, 
from  a  young  woman  that  wants  a  place:  vet — 
such  is  the  uncertainty  of  criticism — this  is  the 
paper  quoted  by  Mr.  Chalmers,  as  an  example  of 
such  ease  and  familiarity  of  style,  which  made 
him  almost  doubt  whether  it  was  Johnson's 
Brit.  Ess.  vol.  xix.  p.  44. — Ed.] 

4  [Where  did  Mr.  Boswell  discover  this,  ex- 
cept in  Sir  J.  Hawkins,  who  says  (p.  270),  with 
more  than  usual  absurdity  and  bad  taste,  "  I  find 


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1750.— ^ETAT.  41. 


of  Addison  as  nerveless  and  feeble,  because 
it  has  not  the  strength  and  energy  of  that 
of  Johnson.  Their  prose  may  be  balanced 
like  the  poetry  of  Dryden  and  Pope.  Both 
are  excellent,  though  in  different  ways. 
Addison  writes  with  the  ease  of  a  gentle- 
man. His  readers  fancy  that  a  wise  and 
accomplished  companion  is  talking  to  them: 
so  that  he  insinuates  his  sentiments  and 
taste  into  their  minds  by  an  imperceptible 
influence.  Johnson  writes  like  a  teacher. 
He  dictates  to  his  readers  as  if  from  an  ac- 
ademical chair.  They  attend  with  awe 
and  admiration;  and  his  precepts  are  im- 
pressed upon  them  by  his  commanding  elo- 
quence. Addison's  style,  like  a  light  wine, 
pleases  every  body  from  the  first.  John- 
son's, like  a  liquor  of  more  body,  seems  too 
strong  at  first,  but,  by  degrees,  is  highly 
relished;  and  such  is  the  melody  of  his 
periods,  so  much  do  they  captivate  the  ear, 
and  seize  upon  the  attention,  that  there  is 
scarcely  any  writer,  however  inconsidera- 
ble, who  does  not  aim,  in  some  degree,  at 
the  same  species  of  excellence.  But  let  us 
not  ungratefully  undervalue  that  beautiful 
style,  which  has  pleasingly  conveyed  to 
us  much  instruction  and  entertainment. 
Though  comparatively  weak,  opposed  to 
Johnson's  Herculean  vigour,  let  us  not  call 
it  positively  feeble.  Let  us  remember  the 
character  of  his  style,  as  given  by  Johnson 
himself:  "  What  he  attempted  he  perform- 
ed; he  is  never  feeble,  and  he  did  not  wish 
to  be  energetick;  he  is  never  rapid,  and  he 
never  stagnates.  His  sentences  have  nei- 
ther studied  amplitude,  nor  affected  brevity; 
his  periods,  though  not  diligently  rounded, 
are  voluble  and  easy K    Whoever  wishes  to 


an  opinion  gaining  ground,  not  much  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  Mr.  Addison's  style,  the  characteris- 
tics of  which  are  feebleness  and  inanity — I  speak 
of  that  alone,  for  his  sentiments  are  excellent 
and  his  humour  exquisite."  What  the  worthy 
knight  meant  by  inanity,  as  applied  to  Addison fs 
style,  is  not  worm  inquiring. — Ed.] 

1  When  Johnson  showed  me  a  proof-sheet  of 
the  character  of  Addison,  in  which  he  so  highly 
extols  his  style,  I  could  not  help  observing,  that 
it  had  not  been  his  own  model,  as  no  two  styles 
could  differ  more  from  each  other.  "  Sir,  Addi- 
son had  his  style,  and  I  have  mine."  When  I 
ventured  to  ask  him,  whether  the  difference  did 
not  consist  in  this,  that  Addison's  style  was  foil 
of  idioms,  colloquial  phrases,  and  proverbs ;  and 
his  own  more  strictly  grammatical  and  free  from 
such  phraseology  and  modes  of  speech  as  can 
never  be  literally  translated  or  understood  by  for- 
eigners ;  he  allowed  the  discrimination  to  he  just 
Let  any  one  who  doubts  it,  try  to  translate  one 
of  Addison's  Spectators  into  Latin,  French,  or 
Italian  ;  and  though  so  easy,  familiar,  and  ele- 
gant, to  an  Englishman,  as  to  give  the  intellect  no 
trouble ;  yet  he  would  find  the  transfusion  into 
another  language  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impos- 


attain  an  English  style,  familiar  bat  not 
coarse,  and  elegant  but  not  ostentatious, 
must  give  his  days  and  nights  to  the  volumes 
of  Addison  V 

[His  manner  of  criticising  and  ^^ 
commending  Addison's  prose  was  p.  1A*! 
the  same  in  conversation  as  we  read 
it  in  his  printed  strictures,  and  many  of 
the  expressions  used  have  been  heard  to 
fall  from  him  on  common  occasions.  It  was 
notwithstanding  observable  enough  (or 
Mrs.  Piozzi  fancied  so),  that  he  never  liked, 
though  he  always  thought  fit,  to  praise  it; 
and  his  praises  resembled  those  of  a  man 
who  extols  the  superiour  elegance  of  high- 
painted  porcelain,  while  he  himself  always 
chooses  to  eat  off  plate.  She  told  him  so 
one  day,  and  he  neither  denied  it  nor  appear- 
ed displeased. 

But  his  opinion  of  Steele's  essays  ^^ 
was  not  so  favourable.  "  They  are  pJ^SV 
too  thin  (said  he)  for  an  English- 
man's tasfe;  mere  superficial  observations 
on  life  and  manners,  without  erudition 
enough  to  make  them  keep,  like  the  light 
French  wines,  which  turn  sour  with  stand- 
ing awhile,  for  want  of  body,  as  we  call 
it*."] 

Though  the  Rambler  was  not  concluded 
till  the  year  1752, 1  shall,  under  this  year, 
say  all  that  I  have  to  observe  upon  it. 
Some  of  the  translations  of  the  mottos,  by 
himself,  are  admirably  done.  He  acknow- 
ledges to  have  received  "  elegant  transla- 
tions" of  many  of  them  from  Mr  James 
Elphinston;  and  some  are  very  happily 
translated  by  a  Mr.  F.  Lewis,  of  whom  I 
never  heard  more,  except  that  Johnson  thus 
described  him  to  Mr.  M  alone:  "  Sir,  he  liv- 
ed in  London,  and  hung  loose  upon  socie- 
ty4."    The  concluding  paper  of  his  Ram- 


sible.  But  a  Rambler,  Adventurer,  or  Idler,  of 
Johnson,  would  fall  into  any  classical  or  Europe- 
an language,  as  easily  as  if  it  had  been  originally 
conceived  in  it — Bur  nit. 

1  I  shall  probably,  in  another  work,  maintain 
the  merit  of  Addison's  poetry,  which  has  been 
very  unjustly  depreciated. — Boswell.  [Mr. 
Boswell  never,  that  the  editor  knows  of,  executed 
this  intention. — Ed.] 

*  [This  illustration  (which  Mr.  Boswell  has  ap- 
plied to  Addison  and  Johnson)  seems,  in  this  in- 
stance, not  very  happy,  and  still  less  just.  Steele's 
Essays  have  outlived  a  century,  and  are  certainly 
not  yet  sour  to  any  good  taste. — Ed.] 

4  In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  Octo- 
ber, 1762,  p.  468,  he  is  styled  "the  Rev.  Fran- 
cis Lewis,  of  Chiswick."  The  late  Lord  Ma- 
cartney, while  he  resided  at  Chiswick,  at  my  re- 
quest, made  some  inquiry  concerning  him  at  that 
place,  but  no  intelligence  was  obtained. 

The  translations  of  the  mottos  supplied  by  Mr. 
Elphinston  appeared  first  in  the  Edinburgh  edi- 
tion of  the  Rambler,  and  in  some  instances  were 
revised  and  improved,  probably  by  Johnson,  be- 


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1750.— JSTAT.  41. 


93 


Wct  is  tt  onee  dignified  and  pathetick.  I 
cannot,  however,  but  wish  that  he  had  not 
ended  it  with  an  unnecessary  Greek  verse, 
translated  also  into  an  English  couplet: 

Arm  at  fxoitfm  «rr«£jof  •»  &pot/h. 
Celestial  powers!  that  piety  regard, 
From  jon  my  laboara  wait  their  last  reward." 

It  ib  too  much  like  the  conceit  of  those 
dramatick  poets,  who  used  to  conclude  each 
act  with  a  rhyme;  and  the  expression  in 
the  first  line  of  his  couplet,  "  Celestial 
sewers,"  though  proper  in  Pagan  poetry, 
uiU  suited  to  Christianity,  with  "  a  con- 
formity" to  which  he  consoles  himself. 
How  much  better  would  it  have  been  to 
have  ended  with  the  prose  sentence, "  I  shall 
never  envy  the  honours  which  wit  and  learn- 
ing obtain  in  any  other  cause,  if  I  can  be 
numbered  among  the  writers  who  have 
given  ardour  to  virtue,  and  confidence  to 
troth." 

His  friend  Dr.  Birch  being  now  engaged 
in  preparing  an  edition  of  Ralegh's  smaller 
pieces,  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  the  following 
feller  to  that  gentleman : 

"to  dr.  birch. 

"  Gough  Square,  May  13, 1750. 
"  Sin,— Knowing  that  you  are  now  pre- 
paring to  favour  the  publick  with  a  new  edi- 
tion of  Ralegh's  miscellaneous  pieces,  I  have 
taken  the  liberty  to  send  vou  a  manuscript, 
which  fell  by  chance  within  my  notice.  I 
perceive  no  proofs  of  forgery  in  my  exami- 
nation of  it;  and  the  owner  tells  roe,  that,  as 
iehas  heard,  the  handwriting  is  Sir  Wal- 
ter's. If  you  should  find  reason  to  conclude 
itgeauine,  it  will  be  a  kindness  to  the  owner, 
t  blind  person8,  to  recommend  it  to  the  book- 
sellers, I  am,  air,  your  most  humble  ser- 
vant, "Sam.  Johwson." 

His  just  abhorrence  of  Milton's  political 
notions  was  ever  strong.  But  this  did  not 
prevent  his  warm  admiration  of  Milton's 
i  peat  poetical  merit,  to  which  he  has  done 
nlustfKHis  justice,  beyond  all  who  have  writ- 
ten upon  the  subject.    And  this'  year  he 


fere  teW  were  inserted  in  the  London  octavo  edi- 
tioa.'  -TV  translations  of  the  mottos  affixed  to 
the  first  thirty  numbers  of  the  Rambler  were  pub- 
firtsd,  from  the  Edinburgh  edition,  in  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  for  September,  1750,  before 
the  work  was  collected  into  volumes. — Maloni. 
[Those  of  the  next  twenty-seven  numbers,  mark- 
ed with  the  initials  of  the  translators,  are  to  be 
fesad  in  the  same  magazine  for  October,  1752, 
with  two  admirable  improvements  of  the  former 
trandaiion  of  the  mottos  to  Nos.  7  and  11,  one 
of  which  is  already  quoted,  ante,  p.  54. — Ed.] 

1  Not  in  the  original  edition,  in  folio. — 
Malonk. 

*  Mrs.  Williams  is  probably  the  person  meant 
— Boiwki.1*. 


not  only  wrote  a  Prologue,  which  was  spo- 
ken by  Mr.  Garrick  before  the  acting  of 
Comus  at  Drury-lane  theatre,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  Milton's  grand-daughter,  but  took  a 
very  zealous  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
charity.  On  the  day  preceding  the  perform- 
ance, he  published  the  following  letter  in 
the  "  General  Advertiser,"  addressed  to 
the  printer  of  that  paper: 

"  Sir, — That  a  certain  degree  of  reputa- 
tion is  acquired  merely  by  approving  the 
works  of  genius,  and  testifying  a  regard  to 
the  memory  of  authours,  is  a  truth  too  evi- 
dent to  be  denied;  and  therefore  to  ensure  a 
participation  of  fame  with  a  celebrated  poet, 
many,  who  would,  perhaps,  have  contri- 
buted to  starve  him  when  alive,  have  heap- 
ed expensive  pageants  upon  his  grave3. 

"  It  must,  indeed,  be  confessed,  that  this, 
method  of  becoming  known  to  posterity 
with  honour  is  peculiar  to  the  great,  or  at 
least  to  the  wealthy;  but  an  opportunity 
now  offers  for  almost  every  individual  to 
secure  the  praise  of  paving  a  just  regard  to 
the  illustrious  dead,  united  with  the  plea- 
sure of  doing*  good  to  the  living.  To  assist 
industrious  indigence,  struggling  with  dis- 
tress, and  debilitated  by  age,  is  a  display  of 
virtue,  and  an  acquisition  of  happiness  and 
honour. 

"Whoever,  then,  would  be  thought  ca- 
pable of  pleasure  in  reading  the  works  of 
our  incomparable  Milton,  and  not  so  desti- 
tute of  gratitude  as  to  refuse  to  lay  out  a 
trifle  in  rational  ancFelegant  entertainment, 
for  the  benefit  of  his  living  remains,  for  the 
exercise  of  their  own  virtue,  the  increase  of 
their  reputation,  and  the  pleasing  conscious- 
ness of  doing  good,  should  appear  at  Drury- 
lane  theatre  to-morrow,  April  5,  when 
Comus  will  be  performed  for  the  benefit  of 
Mrs  Elizabeth  Foster,  grand-daughter  to 
the  authour  4,  and  the  only  surviving  branch 
of  his  family. 

"  N.  B.  There  will  be  a  new  prologue  on 
the  occasion,  written  by  the  authour  of 
Irene,  and  spoken  by  Mr.  Garrick;  and,  by 
particular  desire,  there  will  be  added  to  the 
Masque  a  dramatick  satire,  called  Lethe,  in 
which  Mr.  Garrick  will  perform." 

In  1751  we  are  to  consider  him  as  cany- 
ing  on  both  his  Dictionary  and  Rambler. 
But  he  also  wrote  «  The  Life  of  CheynelV 
in  the  miscellany  called  "The  Student;" 


*  Alluding  probably  to  Mr.  Auditor  Benson, 
[who  erected  a  monument  to  Milton  in  West- 
minster Abbey.— Ed.]  Seethe  Dttnciad,  b.  iv. 
— Ma  lows. 

«  [She  survived  this  benefit  but  three  years, 
and  died  without  issue.  It  is  remarkable  that 
none  of  our  great,  and  few  of  our  second-rate  po- 
ets have  left  rjosterity.--ED.] 


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1751.— ^TAT.  43. 


and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Douglas  having  with  un- 
common acuteness  clearly  detected  a  gross 
forgery  and  imposition  upon  the  publick  by 
William  Lauder,  a  Scotch  schoolmaster, 
who  had,  with  equal  impudence  and  ingen- 
uity, represented  Milton  as  a  plagiary  from 
certain  modern  Latin  poets,  Johnson,  who 
had  been  so  far  imposed  upon  as  to  furnish 
a  Preface  and  Postscript  to  his  work,  now 
dictated  a  letter  for  Lauder,  addressed  to 
Dr.  Douglas,  acknowledging  his  fraud  in 
terms  of  suitable  contrition  K 

This  extraordinary  attempt  of  Lauder 
was  no  sudden  effort.  He  had  brooded  over 
it  for  many  years:  and  to  this  hour  it  is  un- 
certain what  his  principal  motive  was,  un- 
less it  were  a  vain  notion  of  his  superiority, 
in  being  able,  by  whatever  means,  to  de- 
ceive mankind.  To  effect  this,  he  produced 
certain  passages  from  Grotius,  Masenius, 
and  others,  which  had  a  faint  resemblance 
to  some  parts  of  the  "  Paradise  Lost."  In 
these  he  interpolated  some  fragments  of 
Hog's  Latin  translation  of  that  poem,  alleg- 
ing that  the  mass  thus  fabricated  was  the 
archetype  from  which  Milton  copied.  These 
fabrications  he  published  from  time  to  time 
in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine;  and  exulting 
in  his  fancied  success,  he  in  1750  ventured 


1  Lest  there  should  be  any  person,  at  any  fu- 
ture period,  aboard  enough  to  suspect  that  John- 
son was  a  partaker  in  Lander's  fraud,  or  had  any 
knowledge  of  it,  when  he  assisted  him  with  his 
masterly  pen,  it  is  proper  here  to  quote  the  words 
of  Dr.  Douglas,  now  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  at  the 
time  when  he  detected  the  imposition.  "  It  is  to 
be  hoped,  nay  it  is  expected,  that  the  elegant 
and  nervous  writer,  whose  judicious  sentiments 
and  inimitable  style  point  out  the  author  of 
Lauder's  Preface  and  Postscript,  will  no  longer 
allow  one  to  plume  himself  with  his  feathers, 
who  appeareth  so  little  to  deserve  assistance :  an 
assistance  which  I  am  persuaded  would  never 
have  been  communicated,  had  there  been  the 
least  suspicion  of  those  facts  which  I  have  been 
the  instrument  of  conveying  to  the  world  in  these 
sheets."  Milton  no  Plagiary,  2d  edit.  p.  78. 
And  h»  lordship  has  been  pleased  now  to  author- 
ise me  to  say,  in  the  strongest  manner,  that  there 
is  no  ground  whatever  for  any  unfavourable  re- 
flection against  Dr.  Johnson,  who  expressed  the 
strongest  indignation  against  Lauder. — Bos  well. 
[See,  however,  note  in  p.  95. — Ed.] 

[In  the  Gentleman* s  Magazine  for  1754,  is 
a  short  account  of  a  renewed  attack  by  Lauder 
on  Milton's  character,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"The  Grand  Imposter  detected,  or  Milton  con- 
victed of  Forgery  against  King  Charles  I." — Mr. 
Chalmers  thinks  that  this  review  was  probably 
written  by  Johnson  ;  but  it  is,  on  every  account, 
very  unlikely.  The  article  is  trivial,  and  seems 
to  be  written  neither  in  the  style  nor  sentiments 
of  Johnson. — En.  ] 

Lauder  afterwards  went  to  Barbadoes,  where 
be  died  very  miserably  about  the  year  1771.— 
Maloitk. 


to  collect  them  into  a  pamphlet,  entitled 
"  An  Essay  on  Milton's  Use  and  Imitation 
of  the  Moderns  in  his  Paradise  Lost."    To 
this  pamphlet  Johnson  wrote  a  Preface,' in 
full  persuasion  of  Lauder's  honesty,  and  a 
Postscript  recommending,  in  the  most  per- 
suasive terms,  a  subscription  for  the  relief 
of  the 'grand-daughter  of  Milton,  of  whom 
he  thus  speaks:  "  It  is  yet  in  the  power  of 
a  great  people  to  reward  the  poet  whose 
name  they  boast,  and  fVom  their  alliance  to 
whose  genius  they  claim  some  kind  of  su- 
periority to  every  other  nation  of  the  earth: 
that  poet,  whose  works  may  possibly  be  read 
when  every  other   monument  of  British 
greatness  shall  be  obliterated;  to  reward 
him,  not  with  pictures  or  with  medals,  which, 
if  he  sees,  he  sees  with  contempt,  but  with 
tokens  of  gratitude,  which  he,  perhaps,  may 
even  now  consider  as  not  unworthy  the  re- 
gard of  an  immortal  spirit."    Surely  this  is 
inconsistent  with  "  enmity  towards  Milton," 
which  Sir  John  Hawkins  imputes  to  John- 
son upon  this  occasion,  adding,  "  I  could  ail 
along  observe  that  Johnson  seemed  to  ap- 
prove not  only  of  the  design,  but  of  the  ar- 
gument; and  seemed  to  exult  in  a  persua- 
sion, that  the  reputation  of  Milton  was  like- 
ly to  suffer  by  this  discovery.    That  he  was 
not  privy  to  the  imposture,  I  am  well  per- 
suaded; that  he  wished  well  to  the  argu- 
men  t,  may  be  inferred  from  the  preface,  which 
indubitably  was  written  by  Johnson."     Is 
it  possible  for  any  man  of  clear  judgement 
to  suppose  that  Johnson,  who  so  nobly 
prajsecl  the  poetical  excellence  of  Milton  in 
a  postscript  to  this  very  •'•'  discovery,"  as  he 
then  supposed  it,  could,  at  the  same  time, 
exult  in  a  persuasion  that  the  great  poet's  re- 
pu  tation  was  likely  to  suffer  by  it  ?  This  is  an 
inconsistency  of  which  Johnson  was  incapa- 
ble; nor  can  any  thing  more  be  fairly  infer- 
red from  the  Preface,  than  that  Johnson, 
who  was  alike  distinguished  for  ardent  curi- 
osity and  love  of  truth9 ,  was  pleased  with 
an  investigation  by  which  both  were  grati- 
fied.    That  he  was  actuated  by  these  mo- 
tives, and  certainly  by  no  unworthy  desire 
to  depreciate  our  great  epick  poet,  is  evident 
from  his  own  words;  for,  after  mentioning 
the  general  zeal  of  men  of  genius  and  lite- 
rature, "  to  advance  the  honour,  and  distin- 
guish the  beauties  of  Paradise  Lost,"  be 
says,  "  Among  the  inquiries  to  which  this 


1  [But  is  it  not  extraordinary  that  Johnson, 
who  had  himself  meditated  a  history  of  modern 
Latin  poetry  (see  ante,  p.  82),  should  not  have 
shown  his  curiosity  and  love  of  truth  by,  at 
least,  comparing  Lauder's  quotations  with  the 
original  authors  ?  It  was,  we  might  say,  his  du- 
ty to  have  done  so,  before  he  so  far  pronounced 
his  judgment  as  to  assist  Lauder  ;  and  had  he  at- 
tempted but  to  verify  a  single  quotation,  he  must 
have  immediately  discovered  the  fraud. — Ed.] 


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1751.— jETAT.  42. 


»5 


ardour  of  criticism  has  naturally  pvcn  oc-  |  of  Harriot  Stuart,"  which  in  the  spring  of 
casion,  none  is  more  obscure  in  itself,  or    1751  was  ready  for  publication.    One  even* 
more  worthy  of  rational  curiosity,  than  a    ing  at  the  [Ivy-lane]  club,  Johnson  propos- 
retrospect  of  the  progress  of  this  mighty    — '  *k-  ~~  i-a.— : — .lv-i^_*i_  _*.»*      f 
genius  in  the  construction  of  his  work;  a 
view  of  the  fabrick  gradually  rising,  perhaps, 
from  small  beginnings,  till  its  foundation 
rests  in  the  centre,  and  its  turrets  sparkle 
in  the  skies;  to  trace  back  the  structure 
through  all  its  varieties,  to  the  simplicity  of 
its  first  plan;  to  find  what  was  first  project- 
ed, whence  the  scheme  was  taken,  how  it 
was  improved,  by  what  assistance  it  was 
executed,  and  from  what  stores  the  mate- 
rials were  collected;  whether  its  founder  dug 
them  from  the  quarries  of  Nature,  or  demol- 
ished other  buildings  to  embellish  his  own '," 
—Is  this  the  language  of  one  who  wishes 
to  blast  the  laurels  of  Milton? 

[Mrs.  Lenox9,  a  lady  now  well 

b.2ss-t.    known  in  the  literary  world,  had 

written  a  novel  entitled  "  The  Life 


1  *•  Proposals  (written  evidently  by  Johnson) 
fcr  printing  the  Adamus  Exul  of  Grotius,  with 
a  Translation  and  Notes  by  Wm.  Lander,  A.  M." 
Grnl.  Mag.  1747.  vol-  17,  p.  404.— Malor e. 
*  [Mm.  Charlotte  Lenox  was  bora  in  1720. 
Her  father,  Colonel  Ramsay,  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York,  sent  her  over  to  England  at 
the  age  of  fifteen  ;  bat,  unfortunately,  the  relative 
to  whose  care  she  was  consigned  was  either  dead 
sr  in  a  state  of  insanity  on  Miss  Ramsay's  arrival. 
A  lady  who  heard  of,  and  pitied  so  extraordinary 
s  disappointment,  interested  Lady  Rockingham 
is  the  late  of  Miss  Ramsay  ;  and  the  result  was, 
that  she  was  received  into  her  ladyship's  family, 
i  she  remained  till  she  fancied  that  a  gen- 
who  visited  at  the  house  had  become 
I  of  her ;  though  she  is  said  to  have 
l  very  plain  in  her  person.    This  fancied  pas- 
sion fed  her  into  some  extravagances  of  vanity  and 
jealousy,   which  terminated  her  residence  with 
Lady  Rockingham.     Her  moral  character,  how- 
ever, was  never  impeached,  and  she  obtained  some 
countenance  and  protection  from  the  Duchess  of 
Newcastle  ;  but  was  chiefly  dependant  for  a  live- 
lihood on  her  own  literary  exertions.    In  1747, 
she  published  a  volume  of  poems,  and  became, 
probably  about  that  time,  known  to  Mr.  Stratum, 
the  printer,  in  consequence  of  which  she  became 
acquainted  with  and  married  a  Mr.  Lenox,  who 
was  in  Mr.  Strahan's  employ,  but  in  what  capaci- 
ty is  not  known.     She  next  published,  in  1751, 
the  novel  of  Harriot  Stuart,  mentioned  in  the  text, 
8a  which  it  is  supposed  she  gave  her  own  history. 
Tie  Duchess  of  Newcastle  honoured  her  by  stand- 
ing godmother  to  her  first  child,  who  was  called 
Henrietta  Holies,  and  did  her  the  more  substantial 
benefits  of  procuring  for  Mr.  Lenox  the  place  of 
tidewaiter   in  the  customs,  and  for  herself  an 
apartment  in  Somerset-house.     Nothing  more  is 
remembered  of  Mr.  Lenox,  except  that  he,  at  a 
later  period  of  life,  put  forward  some  claim  to  a 
Scottish  peerage.      Mrs.  Lenox  lost  her  apart- 
ments by  the  pulling  down  of  Somerset-house ; 
and,  in  the  latter  part   of  her  life,  was    redo- 


ed  the  celebrating  the  birth  of  Mrs.  Lenox's 
first  literary  child,  as  he  called  her  book,  by 
a  whole  night  spent  in  festivity.    Upon  his 
mentioning  it  to  Sir  J.  Hawkins,  he  told  him 
he  had  never  sat  up  a  whole  night  in  his  life: 
but  Johnson  continuing  to  press  him,  and 
saying,  that  he  should  find  great  delight  in 
it,  he,  as  did  all  the  rest  of  our  company, 
consented.    The  place  appointed  was  the 
Devil  tavern,  and  there,  about  the  hour  of 
eight,  Mrs.  Lenox  and  her  husband,  and  a 
lady  of  her  acquaintance,  still  [1785]  living, 
as  also  the  club,  and  friends  to  the  number 
of  near  twenty,  assembled.     The  supper 
was  elepant,  and  Johnson  had  directed  that 
a  magnificent  hot  apple-pie  should  make  a 
part  of  it,  and  this  he  would  have  stuck  with 
bay  leaves,  because,  forsooth,  Mrs.  Lenox 
was  an  authoress,  and  had  written  verses; 
and  further,  he  had  prepared  for  her  a  crown 
of  laurel,  with  which,  but  not  till  he  had  in- 
voked the  muses  by  some  ceremonies  of  his 
own  invention,  he  encircled  her    brows. 
The  night  passed,  as  must  be  imagined,  in 
pleasant  conversation  and  harmless  mirth, 
intermingled  at  different  periods  with  the 
refreshments  of  coffee  and  tea.     About  five, 
Johnson's  face  shone  with  meridian  splen- 
dour, though  his  drink  had  been  only  lemon- 
ade; but  the  far  greater  part  of  the  com- 
pany had  deserted  the  colours  of  Bacchus, 
and  were  with  difficulty  rallied  to  partake 
of  a  second  refreshment  of  coffee,  which 
was  scarcely  ended  when  the  day  began  to 
dawn.      This  phenomenon  began  to  put 
them  in  mind  of  the  reckoning*  but  the 
waiters  were  all  so  overcome  with  sleep, 
that  it  was  two  hours  before  a  hill  could  be 
had,  and  it  was  not  till  near  eight  that  the 
creaking  of  the  street  door  gave  the  signal 
of  departure.] 

["  TO  MR.  RICHARDSON.  *jp*.Cer. 
"  March  9, 17£0-1.  T*  *  p' 2BU 
"  Dear  sir, — Though  Clarissa  wants  no 
help  from  external  splendour,  I  was  glad  to 
see  her  improved  in  her  appearance,  but 
more  glad  to  find  that  she  was  now  got  above 
all  fears  of  prolixity,  and  confident  enough 


ced  to  great  distress.  Besides  her  acquaintance 
with  Dr.  Johnson  (who  was  always 'extremely 
hind  to  her),  and  other  literary  characters,  she 
had  the  good  fortune  to  become  acquainted,  at 
Mr.  Strahan's,  with  the  late  Right  Hon.  George 
Rose,  who  liberally  assisted  her  in  the  latter  years 
of  her  life— particularly  in  her  last  illness,  and 
was  at  the  expense  of  her  burial  in  the  beginning 
of  January,  1804. 

For  most  of  the  foregoing  details,  die  editor  is 
indebted  to  his  friend  the  Right  Hop.  Sir  George 
Rose,  whose  venerable  mother  still  remembers 
Mis,  Lenox. — En.] 


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1752.— JETAT.  48. 


of  success  to  supply  whatever  had  heen 
hitherto  suppressed.  I  never  indeed  found 
a  hint  of  any  such  defalcation,  hut  I  regret- 
ted it;  for  though  the  story  is  long,  every 
letter  is  short. 

"  I  wish  you  would  add  an  index  rerwn, 
that  when  the  reader  recollects  any  incident, 
he  may  easily  find  it,  which  at  present  he 
cannot  do,  unless  he  knows  in  which  volume 
it  is  told;  for  Clarissa  is  not  a  performance 
to  he  read  with  eagerness,  and  laid  aside  for- 
ever; hut  will  he  occasionally  consulted  hy 
the  busy,  the  aged,  and  the  studious;  and 
therefore  I  beg  that  this  edition,  by  which 
I  suppose  posterity  is>to  abide,  may  want 
othing  that  can  facilitate  its  use.— I  am, 


nothing  1 

sir,  yours,  &c. 


"  S,  Johkson."] 


mL  [This  proposition  of  an  index 

rerwn  to  a  novel  will  appear  extra- 
ordinary, but  Johnson  at  this  tune  appears 
to  have  been  very  anxious  to  cultivate  the 
acquaintance  of  Richardson l,  who  lived  in 
an  atmosphere  of  flattery,  and  Johnson 
found  it  necessary  to  fall  into  the  fashion 

of  the  society.]  [Mr.  Northcote 
life  of  relates  that  Johnson  introduced 
J^gr""'  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  his  sister 

to  Richardson,  but  hinted  to  them, 
at  the  same  time,  that  if  they  wished  to  see 
the  latter  in  good  humour,  they  must  ex- 
patiate on  the  excellencies  of  Clarissa  2] ; 
_^^  [and  Mrs.  Piozzi  tells  us,  that  when 
p  142'      talking  of  Richardson,  he  once  said, 

"  You  think  I  love  flattery — and  so 
I  do;  but  a  little  too  much  always  disgusts 
me:  that  fellow,  Richardson,  on  the  contra- 
ry, could  not  be  contented  to  sail  quietly 
down  the  stream  of  reputation  without 
longing  to  taste  the  froth  from  every  stroke 
of  the  oar."] 

In  1752  he  was  almost  entirely  occupied 
with  his  Dictionary.  The  last  paper  of 
his  Rambler  was  published  March  2  3,  this 


1    [See  post ,  18th  Ap.  1778.— Ed.] 

*  [See  Mr.  Langton's  testimony  to  the  same 
effect,  post, -1780. — Ed.] 

•  Here  the  authour's  memory  failed  him,  for,  ac- 
cording to  the  account  given  in  a  former  page 
(see  p.  81),  we  should  here  read  March  17 ; 
bat,  in  truth,  as  has  been  already  observed,  the 
Rambler  closed  on  Saturday  the  fourteenth  of 
March  ;  at  which  time  Mrs.  Johnson  was  near 
her  end,  for  she  died  on  the  following  Tuesday, 
March  17.  Had  the  concluding  paper  of  that 
work  been  written  on  the  day  of  her  death,  it 
would  have  been  still  more  extraordinary  than  it 
is,  considering  the  extreme  grief  into  which  the 
authour  was  plunged  by  that  event  The  melan- 
choly cast  of  that  concluding  essay  is  sufficiently 
accounted  for  by  the  situation  of  Mrs.  Johnson  at 
the  time  it  was  written ;  and  her  death  three  days 
afterwards  put  an  end  to  the  paper. — Malone. 
[Mr.  Malone  seems  also  to  have  fallen  into  some 
errors,  from  not  adverting  to  the  change  of  style. 
Johnson,  at  this  period,  used  the  old  style; 


year;  after  which  there  was  a  cessation  for 
some  time  of  any  exertion  of  his  talents  a* 
an  essayist.  But,  in  the  same  year,  Dr. 
Hawkesworth,  who  was  his  warm  admirer, 
and  a  studious  imitator  of  his  style,  and 
then  lived  in  great  intimacy  with  him,  be- 
gan a  periodical  paper,  entitled  "  The  Ad- 
venturer," in  connexion  with  other  gen- 
tlemen, one  of  whom  was  Johnson's  much- 
loved  friend,  Dr.  Bathurst;  and,  without 
doubt,  they  received  many  valuable  hints 
from  his  conversation,  most  of  his  friends 
having  been  so  assisted  in  the  course  of 
their  works. 

[The  curiosity  of  the  reader  [as 
to  the  several  wri  ters  of  the  Ad ven-  Bm^t 
turer]  is,  to  a  small  degree,  gratifi-  && 
ed  by  the  last  paper,  which  assigns 
to  Dr.  Joseph  Warton  such  as  have  the 
signature  Z.,  and  leaves  to  Dr.  Hawkes- 
worth himself  the  praise  of  such  as  are 
without  any.  To  the  information  there 
given,  Sir  John  Hawkins  adds,  that  the 
papers  marked  A.  which  are  said  to  have 
come  from  a  source  that  soon  failed,  were 
supplied  by  Dr.  Bathurst,  an  original  asso- 
ciate in  the  work,  and  those  distinguished 
by  the  letter  T.  [the  first  of  which  is  dated 
3d  March,  1753,]  by  Johnson,  who  receiv- 
ed two  guineas  for  every  number  that  he 
wrote;  a  rate  of  payment  which  he  had 
before  adjusted  in  his  stipulation  for  the 
Rambler,  and  was  probably  the  measure  of 
reward  to  his  fellow-labourers.] 

That  there  should  be  a  suspension  of  hie 
literary  labours  during  a  part  of  the  year 
1752,  will  not  seem  strange,  when  it  »  con- 
sidered that  soon  after  closing  he  Rambler, 
he  suffered  a  toss  which,  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  affected  him  with  the  deepest  dis- 
tress. For  on  the  17th  of  March,  O.  8. 
his  wife  died.  Why  Sft  John  Hawkins 
should  unwarrantably  take  upon  him  even 
to  suppose  that  Johnson's  fondness  for  her 
waa  dissembled  (meaning  simulated  or  as- 
sumed 4),  and  to  assert,  that  if  it  was  not 

so  that  Mr.  Boswell  may  have  copied  from  some 
MS.  note  the  date  of  the  2d  of  March  as  that  on 
which  the  last  Rambler  was  written,  though  it 
was  published  next  day,  viz.  the  3d,  O.  S.  or 
14th,  N.  S.  ;  and  as  Mrs.  Johnson's  death  waa  oa 
the  17th,  O.  S.t  or  28th,  N.  S.,  the  Rambler  waa 
conceded  a  fortnight  before  that  event;  and 
was  concluded  because,  as  Dr.  Johnson  expressly 
says  in.  the  last  number,  "  having  supported  it 
for  two  years,  and  multiplied  his  essays  to  six 
volumes,  he  determined  to  desist"  It  died 
therefore  a  natural  death,  though  it  is  very  likely 
that  the  loss  of  Mis.  Johnson  would  have  stopped 
it,  had  it  not  been  already  terminated. — Ed.] 

4  [Mr.  Boswell  is  a  little  unlucky  in  this  criti- 
cism, as  Johnson  himself  has  in  his  Dictionary 
given  to  the  word  "dissembled"  the  same 
meaning  in  which  it  is  here  used  by  Hawkma, 
He  adds,  however,  very  justly,  that  such  s  sis 
of  it  is  erroneous.— En.] 


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97 


the  ease,  "it  was  a  lesson  he  had  learned 
hjwte,"  I  cannot  conceive;  unless  it  pro- 
ceeded from  a  want  of  similar  feelings  in 
kis  own  breast.  To  argue  from  her  being 
much  older  than  Johnson,  or  any  other 
circumstances,  that  he  could  not  really  love 
her,  is  absurd;  for  love  is  not  a  subject  of 
reasoning,  but  of  feeling,  and  therefore 
there  are  no  common  principles  upon  which 
one  can  persuade  another  concerning  it. 
£very  man  feels  for  himself,  and-  knows 
how  he  is  affected  by  particular  qual- 
ities in  the  person  he  admires,  the  im- 
pressions of  which  are  too  minute  and  deli- 
cate to  be  substantiated  in  language. 

The  following  very  solemn  and  affecting 
prayer  was  found  after  Dr.  Johnson's  de- 
cease, hy  his  servant,  Mr.  Francis  Barber, 
who  delivered  it  to  my  worthy  friend  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Strahan,  vicar  of  Islington, 
who  at  my  earnest  request  has  obligingly 
favoured  me  with  a  copy  of  it,  which  he 
and  I  compared  with  the  original.  I  pre- 
sent it  to  the  world  as  an  undoubted  proof 
of  a  circumstance  in  the  character  of  my  il- 
lustrious friend,  which,  though  some, 
whose  hard  minds  I  never  shall  envy,  may 
attack  as  superstitious,  will  I  am  sure  en- 
dear him  more  to  numbers  of  good  men.  I 
have  an  additional,  and  that  a  personal  mo- 
tive for  presenting  it,  because  it  sanctions 
what  I  myself  have  always  maintained  and 
am  fond  to  indulge : 

"April  36, 1752,  being  ate  IS  at  night  of  the  95th. 
"O  Lord!  Governour  of  heaven  and 
earth,  in  whose  hands  are  embodied  and 
departed  Spirits,  if  thou  hast  ordained  the 
Souls  of  the  Dead  to  minister  to  the  Living, 
and  appointed  my  departed  Wife  to  have 
care  of  me,  grant  that  I  may  enjoy  the  good 
effects  of  her  attention  and  ministration, 
whether  exercised  by  appearance,  impulses, 
dreams,  or  in  any  other  manner  agreeable 
to  thy  government.  Forgive  my  presump- 
tion, enlighten  my  ignorance,  and  however 
meaner  agents  are  employed,  grant  me  the 
blessed  influences  of  thy  holy  Spirit,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord/  Amen," 

What  actually  followed  upon  this  most 
interesting  piece  of  devotion  by  Johnson, 
we  are  not  informed;  but  I,  whom  it  has 
pleased  God  to  afflict  in  a  similar  manner  to 
that  which  occasioned  it,  have  certain  ex- 
perience of  benignant  communication  by 
dreams. 

That  his  love  for  his  wife  was  of  the 
most  ardent  kind,  and,  during  the  long  pe- 
riod of  fifty  yean,  was  unimpaired  by  the 
lapse  of  time,  is  evident  from  various  pas- 
sages in  the  series  of  his  Prayers  and  Medi- 
tations1, published  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Strahan, 


as  well  as  from  other  memorials,  two  of 
which  I  select,  as  strongly  marking  the  ten* 
derness  and  sensibility  of  his  mind. 

"  March  28,  1753.  I  kept  this  day  as 
the  anniversary  of  my  Tetty's  death,  with 
prayer  and  tears  in  the  morning.  In  the 
evening  I  prayed  for  her  conditionally,  if  it 
were  lawful." 

"  April  23,  1753.  I  know  not  whe.ther  I 
do  not  too  much  indulge  the  vain  longings 
of  affection;  but  I  hope  they  intenerate  my 
heart,  and  that  when  I  die  like  my  Tetty, 
this  affection  will  be  acknowledged  in  a  hap- 
py interview,  and  that  in  the  mean  time  I 
am  incited  by  it  to  piety.  I  will,  however, 
not  deviate  too  much  from  common  and  re- 
ceived methods  of  devotion3." 


[Tlie  originals  of  this  publication  are  now 
"  \  Peatjhroke  College.    It  is  to  be  ob- 


served  that  they  consist  of  a  few  little  memoran- 
dum books,  and  a  great  number  of  separate  scraps 
of  paper,  and  bear  no  marks  of  having  been  ar- 
ranged or  intended  for  publication  by  Dr.  John- 
son. Each  prayer  is  on  a  separate  piece  of  pa- 
per, generally  a  sheet  (but  sometimes  a  fragment) 
of  note  paper.  The  memoranda  and  observa- 
tions are  generally  in  little  books  of  a  few  leaves 
sewed  together.  This  subject  will  be  referred  to 
hereafter  ;  but  it  is  even  now  important  that  the 
reader  should  recollect  that  Mr.  Strahan's  publi- 
cation was  not  prepared  by  Dr.  Johnson  him- 
self, but  formed  by  the  reverend  gentleman  out  of 
the  loose  materials  above  mentioned. — Ed.] 

*  [Miss  Seward,  with  equal  truth  and  taste, 
thus  expresses  herself  concerning  these  and  similar 
passages :  "  Those  pharisaic  meditations,  with 
their  popish  prayers  for  old  Tetty's  soul ;  their 
contrite  parade  about  lying  in  bed  on  a  morning  ; 
drinking  creamed  tea  on  a  fast  day  ;  snoring  at 
sermons  ;  and  having  omitted  to  ponder  well  Bel 
and  the  Dragon,  and  Tobit  and  his  Dog."  And 
in  another  letter  she  does  not  scruple  to  say  that 
Mr.  Boswell  confessed  to  her  his  idea  that  Jobs- 
son  was  «« a  Roman  Catholic*  in  his  heart."  Miss 
Seward's  credit  is  by  this  time  so  low  that  it  « 
hardly  necessary  to  observe  how  improbable  it  is 
that  Mr.  Boswell  could  have  made  any  such  con- 
fession. Dr.  Johnson  thought  charitably  of  the  - 
Roman  Catholics,  and  defended  their  religion 
from  the  coarse  language  of  our  political  tests, 
which  call  it  impious  and  idolatrous  (post,  26th 
Oct  1769)  ;  but  he  strenuously  disclaimed  all 
participation  in  the  doctrines  of  that  'church  (see 
post,  8d  May,  1778 ;  5th  April,  1776 ;  10th 
Oet  1779 ;  10th  June,  1784).  Lady  Knight 
(the  mother  of  Miss  Cornelia  Knight,  the  accom- 
plished author  of  Marcus  Flaminius  and  other  in* 
genkras  works)  made  the  following  communica- 
tion to  Mr.  Hoole,  which  may  be  properly  quot- 
ed on  this  point :  "  Dr.  Johnson's  political  prin- 
ciples ran  high,  both  in  church  and  state:  he 
wished  power  to  the  king  and  to  the  heads  of  the 
church,  as  the  laws  of  England  have  established ; 
but  I  know  he  disliked  absolute  power ;  and  I  am 
very' sore  of  bis  disapprobation  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  church  of  Rome ;  because  about  three 
weeks  before  we  came  abroad,  he  said  to  my 
Cornelia,  *  you  are  going  where  the 
pomp  of  church  ceremonies  attracts  the 

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1752.— JETAT.  48. 


Her  wedding-ring,  when  she  became  his 
wife,  was,  after  her  death,  preserved  by  him, 
as  long  as  he  lived,  with  an  affectionate 
care,  in  a  little  round  wooden  box,  in  the 
inside  of  which  he  pasted  a  slip  of  paper, 
thus  inscribed  by  him  in  fair  characters,  as 
follows: 

"  Eheu  ! 

EH*.  Johruon, 

JVupta  Jul.  9°.  1786, 

Mortua,  eheu  ! 
Mart.  17°.  1752  V 

After  his  death,  Mr.  Francis  Barber,  his 
faithftil  servant,  and  residuary  legatee,  offer- 
ed this  memorial  of  tenderness  to  Mrs.  Lucy 
Porter,  Mrs.  Johnson's  daughter;  but  she 
having  declined2  to  accept  of  it,  he  had  it 
enamelled  as  a  mourning  ring  for  his  old 
master,  and  presented  it  to  his  wife,  Mrs. 
Barber,  who  now  has  it. 

The  state  of  mind  in  which  a  man  must 
be  upon  the  death  of  a  woman  whom  he 
sincerely  loves,  had  been  in  his  contem- 
plation many  years  before.  In  his  Irene, 
we  find  the  following  fervent  and  tender 
speech  of  Demetrius,  addressed  to  his  As- 
pasia: 

"  From  those  bright  regions  of  eternal  day, 

Where  now  thou  shin'st  amongst  thy  fellow  saints, 

Array  'd  in  purer  light,  look  down  on  me  ! 

In  pleasing  visions  and  assuasive  dreams, 

O !  soothe  my  soul,  and  teach  me  how  to  lose  thee." 

I  have,  indeed,  been  told  by  Mrs.  Des- 
moulins,  who,  before  her  marriage,  lived 

tion;  but  if  they  want  to  persuade  you  to  change, 
you  must  remember,  that  by  increasing  your  faith, 
you  may  be  persuaded  to  become  Turk.'  If  these 
were  not  the  words,  I  have  kept  up  to  the 
express  meaning/'  Mrs.  Piozzi  also  says, 
"  though  beloved  by  all  his  Roman  Catholic  ac- 
quaintance, yet  was  Mr.  Johnson  a  most  unshaken 
tkurch-of-England  man ;  and  I  think,  or  at 
least  I  once  did  think,  that  a  letter  written  by  him 
to  Mr.  Barnard,  the  king's  librarian,  when  he 
was  in  Italy  collecting  books,  contained  some 
very  particular  advice  t*  his  friend  to  be  an  his 
guard  against  the  seductions  of  the  church  of 
Rome."  And,  finally—which,  may  perhaps  be 
thought  more  likely  to  express  his  real  sentiments 
than  even  a  more  formal  assertion — when  it  was 
proposed  (see  post,  30th  April,  1773),  that  mon- 
uments of  eminent  men  should  in  future  be  erect- 
ed in  St.  Paul's,  and  when  some  one  in  conver- 
sation suggested  to  begin  with  Pope,  Johnson 
observed,  "Why,  sir,  as  Pope  was  a  Roman 
Catholic,  I  would  not  have  his  to  be  first" — Ed.] 

[l  It  seems  as  if  Dr.  Johnson  had  been  a  little 
ashamed  of  the  disproportion  between  his  age  and 
that  of  his  wife,  for  neither  in  this  inscription  nor 
that  over  her  grave,  written  thirty  yean  later, 
does  he  mention  her  age,  which  was  at  her  death 
$ixty-thrcc. — Ed.] 

*  [Offended  perhaps,  and  not  unreasonably, 
that  she  was  not  mentioned  in  Johnson's  will. — 
Ed.] 


for  sometime  with  Mrs.  Johnson  at  Hemp- 
stead, that  she  indulged  herself  in  country 
air  and  nice  living,  at  an  unsuitable  expense, 
while  her  husband  was  drudging  in  the 
smoke  of  London,  and  that  she  by  no  means 
treated  him  with  that  complacency  which 
is  the  most  engaging  quality  in  a  wife; 
[and  when  Mrs.  Piozzi  asked  him 
if  he  ever  disputed  with  his  wife  p.  u^ls. 
(that  lady  having  heard  that  he  had 
loved  her  passionately),  "  Perpetually  (said 
he):  my  wife  had  a  particular  reverence 
for  cleanliness,  and  desired  the  praise  of 
neatness  in  her  dress  and  furniture,  as  many 
ladies  do,  till  they  become  troublesome  to 
their  best  friends,  slaves  to  their  own  be- 
soms, and  only  sigh  for  the  hour  of  sweep- 
ing tfieir  husbands  out  of  the  house  as  dirt 
and  useless  lumber:  a  clean  floor  is  so  com- 
fortable, she  would  say  sometimes,  by  way 
of  twitting;  till  at  last  I  told  her,  that  I 
thought  we  had  had  talk  enough  about 
the  floor,  we  would  now  have  a  touch  at 
the  ceiling."  On  another  occasion  Mrs. 
Piozzi  heard  him  blame  her  for  a  fault  ma- 
ny people  have,  of  setting  the  miseries  of 
their  neighbours  half  unintentionally,  half 
wantonly,  before  their  eyes,  showing  them 
the  bad  side  of  their  profession,  situation, 
&c.  He  said,  "  she  would  lament  the  de- 
pendence of  pupilage  to  a  young  heir,  &c 
and  once  told  a  waterman  who  rowed  hef 
along  the  Thames  in  a  wherry,  that  he  was 
no  happier  than  a  galley-slave,  one  being 
chained  to  the  oar  by  authority,  the  other 
by  want.  I  had,  however  (said  he,  laugh- 
ing), the  wit  to  get  her  daughter  on  my 
side  always  before  we  began  the  dispute  s." J 
But  all  this  is  perfectly  compatible  with 
his  fondness  for  ner,  especially  when  it  is 
remembered  that  he  had  a  high  opinion  of 
her  understanding,  and  that  the  impressions 
which  her  beauty,  real  or  imaginary,  had 
originally  made  upon  his  fancy,  being  con- 
tinued by  habit,  had  not  been  effaced,  though 
she  herself  was  doubtless  much  altered  for 
the  worse.  [Garrick  told  Mr. 
Thrale,  however,  that  she  was  a  p.  uaU* 
little  painted  puppet,  of  no  value 
at  all,  and  quite  disguised  with  affectation, 
full  of  odd  airs  of  rural  elegance ;  and  he 
made  out  some  comical  scenes,  by  mimick- 
ing her  in  a  dialogue  he  pretended  to  have 
overheard.  Dr.  Johnson  told  Mrs.  Piozzi 
that  her  hair  was  eminently  beautiful,  quite 
blonde  like  that  of  a  baby ;  but  that  she 
fretted  about  the  colour,  and  was  always 
desirous  to  dye  it  black,  which  he  very 
judiciously  hindered  her  from  doing.  A 
picture  found  of  her  at  Lichfield  was  very 

9  [This  must  have  referred  to  some  circum- 
stances ofaarly  life,  for  it  does  not  appear  that 
Miss  Porter  ever  resided  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  John- 
son after  they  left  Edial  in  17OT.— En.] 

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99 


pretty,  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Lucy  Por- 
ter, said  it  was  like.  The  intelligence 
Mn.  Piozzi  gained  of  her  from  Mr.  Levett 
was  only  perpetual  illness  and  perpetual 
opium  i.  j 

The  dreadful  shock  of  separation  took 
place  in  the  night:  and  Dr.  Johnson  imme- 
diately despatched  a  letter  to  his  friend,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Taylor,  which,  as  Taylor  told 
me,  expressed  grief  in  the  strongest  manner 
he  had  ever  read;  so  that  it  is  much  to  be 
regretted  it  has  not  been  preserved  9.  The 
letter  was  brought  to  Dr.  Taylor,  at  his 
house  in  the  Cloysters,  Westminster,  about 
three  in  the  morning;  and  as  it  signified  an 
earnest  desire  to  see  him,  he  got  up,  and 
went  to  Johnson  as  soon  as  he  was  dressed, 
and  found  him  in  tears  and  in  extreme  agi- 
tation. After  being  a  little  while  together, 
Johnson  requested  him  to  join  with  him  in 
prayer.  He  then  prayed  extempore,  as  did 
Dr.  Taylor;  and  thus  by  means  of  that  pie- 
ty which  was  ever  his  primary  object,  his 
troubled  mind  was,  in  some  degree,  soothed 
and  composed. 

The  next  day  he  wrote  as  follows : 

"TO   THE   REV.    DR.    TAYLOR, 

"Dear  si  a, — Let  me  have  your  com- 
pany and  instruction.  Do  not  live  away 
from  me.    My  distress  is  great. 

"  Pray  desire  Mrs.  Taylor  to  inform  me 
what  mourning  I  should  buy  for  my  mother 
and  Miss  Porter,  and  bring  a  note  in  writ- 
ing with  you. 

"  Remember  me  in  your  prayers,  for  vain 
is  the  help  of  man.  I  am,  dear  sir,  &c. 
"  Sam.  Johnson. 

"Man*  18, 1752." 

That  his  sufferings  upon  the  death  of  his 
wife  were  severe,  beyond  what  are  com- 
monly endured,  I  have  no  doubt,  from  the 
information  of  many  who  were  then  about 
him,  to  none  of  whom  I  give  more  credit 
than  to  Mr.  Francis  Barber,  his  faithful  ne- 
gro servant 3,  who  came  into  his  family  about 


1  [Levett  did  not  know  Mn.  Johnson  till  the 
year  1746,  when  the  was  fiftyseven  or  eight  jean 
of  age,  and  in  very  ill  health. — En.] 

*  In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  Februa- 
ly,  1794  (p.  100),  was  printed  a  letter  pretend- 
ing to  be  that  written  by  Johnson  on  the  death 
of  his  wife.  But  it  is  merely  a  transcript  of  the 
41st  number  of  "  The  Idler,"  on  the  death  of  a 
friend.  A  fictitious  date,  March  17,  1751,  O.  S. 
was  added  by  some  person,  previously  to  this  pa- 
per's being  sent  to  the  publisher  of  that  miscella- 
ny, to  give  a  colour  to  this  deception. — Malone. 
[The  date  m  1752 — the  year  of  Mrs.  Johnson's 
decease. — En.] 

a  Francis  Barber  was  born  in  Jamaica,  and 
was  brought  to  England  in  1750  by  colonel  Ba- 
tfannt,  fattier  of  Johnson's  very  intimate  friend, 
Dr.  Batfaant.    He  was  sent,  for  some  time,  to  the 


a  fortnight  after  the  dismal  event.  These 
sufferings  were  aggravated  by  the  melan- 
choly inherent  in  his  constitution;  and  al- 
though he  probably  was  not  oflener  in  the 
wrong  than  she  was,  in  the  little  disagree- 
ments which  sometimes  troubled  his  married 
state,  during  which,*  he  owned  to  me,  that 
the  gloomy  irritability  of  his  existence  was  ' 
more  painful  to  him  than  ever,  he  might 
very  naturally,  after  her  death,  be  tenderly 
disposed  to  charge  himself  with  slight  omis- 
sions and  offences,  the  sense  of  which  would 
give  him  much  uneasiness4.  Accordingly 
we  find,  about  a  year  after  her  decease,  that 
he  thus  addressed  the  Supreme  Being: 

"  O  Lord,  who  givest  the  grace  of  repent- 
ance, and  hearest  the  prayers  of  the  peni- 
tent, grant  that  by  true  contrition  I  may 
obtain  forgiveness  of  all  the  sins  committed, 
and  of  all  duties  neglected,  in  my  union 
with  the  wife  whom  thou  hast  taken  from 
me;  for  the  neglect  of  joint  devotion,  patient 
exhortation,  and  mild  instruction.9' 

The  kindness  of  his  heart,  notwithstand- 
ing the  impetuosity  of  his  temper,  is  well 
known  to  his  friends;  and  1  cannot  trace 
the  smallest  foundation  for  the  following 
dark  and  uncharitable  assertion  by  Sir  John 
Hawkins:  "  The  apparition  of  his 
departed  wife  was  altogether  of  the  p  *Jia 
terrifick  kind,  and  hardly  afforded 
him  a  hope  that  she  was  in  a  state  of  hap- 
piness.'9 That  he,  in  conformity  with  the 
opinion  of  many  of  the  most  able,  learned, 
and  pious  Christians  in  all  ages,  supposed 
that  there  was  a  middle  state3  after  death, 
previous  to  Ihe  time  at  which  departed  souls 

Rev.  Mr.  JacMbn's  school,  at  Barton,  in  York- 
shire. The  colonel  by  his  will  left  him  his  free- 
dom, and  Dr.  Bathuret  was  willing  that  he  should 
enter  into  Johnson's  service,  in  which  he  contin- 
ued from  1752  till  Johnson's  death,  "with  the  ex- 
ception of  two  intervals  ;  in  one  of  which,  upon  - 
some  difference  with  his  master,  he  went  and 
served  an  apothecary  in  Cheapside,  bat  still  visit- 
ed Dr.  Johnson  occasionally  ;  in  another,  ha 
took  a  fancy  to  go  to  sea.  Part  of  the  time,  in- 
deed, be  was,  by  the  kindness  of  his  master,  at  a 
school  in  Northafriptonehire,  that  he  might  have 
the  advantage  of  some  learning.  So  early  and 
so  lasting  a  connexion  was  there  between  Dr. 
Johnson  and  this  humble  friend. — Boswell. 

4  See  his  beautiful  and  affecting  Rambler,  No. 
54. — MALOifS. 

6  It  does  not  appear  that  Johnson  was  rally 
persuaded  that  there  was  a  middle  state:  ha 
prayers  being  only  conditional,  i.  e.  if  such  a 
state  existed. — Maloki.  [This  is  not  an  exact 
view  of  the  matter ;  the  condition  was  that  tf 
should  be  lawful  to  him  so  to  intercede  ;  and 
in  all  his  prayers  of  this  nature  he  scrupulously  in- 
troduces the  humble  limitation  of  "  as  far  as  it  hi 
lawful,"  or  "as  far  as  may  be  permitted,  I 
recommend,9'  fee  ;  but  it  is  also  to  be  observed 
that  he  sometimes  prays  that  <<  the  Almighty  may 
have  had  mercy  "  on  the  departed,  as  if  ha  be- 

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1751— iETAT.  48. 


are  finally  received  to  eternal  felicity,  ap- 
pears, I  think,  unquestionably  from  his  de- 
votions: 

"  And,  O  Lord,  so  far  as  it  may  be  law- 
ful in  me,  I  commend  to  thy  fatherly  good- 
ness the  soul  of  my  departed  wife;  beseech- 
ing thee  to  grant  her  whatever  is  best  in 
her  present  state,  and  finally  to  receive  her 
to  eternal  happiness." 

But  this  state  has  not  been  looked  upon 
with  horrour,  but  only  as  less  gracious. 

He  deposited  tho  remains  of  Mrs.  John- 
son in  the  church  of  Bromley  in  Kent  *,  to 
which  he  was  probably  led  by  the  residence 
of  his  friend  Hawkesworth  at  that  place. 
The  funeral  sermon  which  he  composed  for 
her,  which  was  never  preached,  but,  having 
been  given  to  Dr.  Taylor,  has  been  publish- 
ed since  his  death,  is  a  performance  of  un- 
common excellence,  and  full  of  rational  and 
pious  comfort  to  such  as  are  depressed  by 
that  severe  affliction  which  Johnson  felt 
when  he  wrote  it.  When  it  is  considered 
that  it  was  written  in  such  an  agitation  of 
mind,  and  in  the  short  interval  between  her 
death  and  burial,  it  cannot  be  read  without 
wonder. 

Though  Johnson's  circumstances  were 
at  this  time  far  from  being  easy,  his  humane 
and  charitable  disposition  wss  constantly 
exerting  itself.  Mrs.  Anna  Williams,  daugh- 
ter of  a  very  ingenious  Welsh  physician, 
and  a  woman  of  more  than  ordinary  talents 
and  literature,  having  come  to  London  in 
hopes  of  being  cured  of  a  cataract  in  both 
her  eyes,  which  afterwards  ended  in  total 
blindness,  was  kindly  received  as  a  constant 
visitor  at  his  house  while  Mrapohnson  liv- 
ed; and  after  her  death,  having  come  under 
his  roof  in  order  to  have  an  operation  upon 
her  eyes  performed  with  more  comfort  to  ner 
than  in  lodgings,  she  had  an  apartment  from 
him  during  the  rest  of  her  life,  at  all  times 
when  he  had  a  house. 

[Before  the  calamity  of  total  de- 

^Sal     privation  of  sight  befel  her,  she, 

ot.         with  the  assistance  of  her  father, 

1  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 


fofred  the  sentence  to  hare  been  already  pro- 
nounced.— En.} 

1  A  few  months  before  his  death,  Johnson  hon- 
oured her  memory  by  the  following  epitaph, 
which  was  inscribed  on  her  tombstone,  in  the 
ohnrch  of  Bromley  : 

Hie  condnntnr  relkpuft) 

ELIZABETHS 

Antiqni  Jarvisiorum  gente, 

Peatlingn,  apod  Leicestrienses,  orta  ; 

Formosa,  eulte,  ingeniose,  pis ; 

Uxoris,  prim'u  nuptiis,  Henrici  Porter, 

Secundis,  Samuklis  Johnson  : 

Qui  mnltam  amatam,  diuque  defletam 

Hoc  lapide  contexit. 

Obiit  Londini,  Menae  Mart 

A.  D.  MDCCLIL- Mamkb. 


French  and  Italian  languages,  and  had  made 
great  improvements  in  literature,  which, 
together  with  the  exercise  of  her  needle,  at 
which  she  was  very  dexterous,  as  well  after 
the  loss  of  her  sight  as  before,  contributed 
to  support  her  under  her  affliction,  till  a 
time  when  it  was  thought  by  her  friends, 
that  relief  might  be  obtained  from  the  hand 
of  an  operating  surgeon.  At  the  request  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  Sir  J.  Hawkins  went  with 
her  to  a  friend  of  his,  Mr.  Samuel  Sharp, 
senior  surgeon  of  Guy's  hospital,  who  be- 
fore had  given  him  to  understand  that  he 
would  couch  her  gratis  if  the  cataract  was 
ripe,  but  upon  making  the  experiment  it 
was  found  otherwise,  and  that  the  crystal- 
line humour  was  not  sufficiently  inspissated 
for  the  needle  to  take  effect.  £he  had  been 
almost  a  constant  companion  of  Mrs.  John- 
son for  some  time  before  her  decease,  but 
had  never  resided  in  the  house;  afterwards, 
for  the  convenience  of  performing  the  in- 
tended operation,  Johnson  took  her  home, 
and,  upon  the  failure  of  that,  kept  her  as 
the  partner  of  his  dwelling  till  he  removed 
into  chambers.  Afterward,  in  1766,  upon 
his  taking  a  house  in  Johnson's-conrt,  in 
Fleet-street,  he  invited  her  thither,  and  in 
that,  and  his  last  house,  in  Bolt-court,  she 
successively  dwelt  for  the  remainder  of  her 
life*. 


1  Lady  Knight,  in  a  paper  already  referred  to 
(ante,  p.  97),  gives  the  following  account  of 
Mrs.  Williams :  "  She  was  a  person  extremely 
interesting.  She  had  an  uncommon  firmness  of 
mind,  a  boundless  cariosity,  retentive  memory, 
and  strong  judgment  She  had  various  powers 
of  pleasing.  Her  personal  afflictions  and  slender 
fortune  she  seemed  to  forget,  when  she  had  the 
power  of  doing  an  act  of  kindness  :  she  was  so- 
cial, cheerful,  and  active,  in  a  state  of  body  that 
was  truly  deplorable.  Her  regard  to  Dr.  Johnson 
was  formed  with  such  strength  of  judgment  and 
firm  esteem,  that  her  voice  never  hesitated  when 
she  repeated  bis  maxims,  or  recited  his  good 
deeds  ;  though  upon  many  other  occasions  her 
want  of  sight  had  led  her  to  make  so  much  use 
of  her  ear,  as  to  affect  her  speech. 

Mrs.  Williams  was  blind  before  she  was  ac- 
quainted with  Dr.  Johnson. — She  had  many  re- 
sources, though  none  very  great.  With  the  Miss 
Wilkinsons  she  generally  passed  a  part  of  the 
year,  and  received  from  them  presents,  and  from 
the  first  who  died,  a  legacy  of  clothes  and  money. 
The  last  of  them,  Mrs.  Jane,  left  her  an  annual 
rent ;  but  from  the  blundering  manner  of  the  will, 
f  fear  she  never  reaped  the  benefit  of  it  The 
lady  left  money  to  erect  an  hospital  for  ancient 
maids:  but  the  number  she  had  allotted  being 
too  great  for  the  donation,  the  doctor  (Johnson) 
said,  it  would  be  better  to  expunge  the  word 
maintain,  and  put  in  to  starve  such  a  number  of 
old  maids.  They  asked  him,  what  name  should 
be  given  it  ?  he  replied,  *  Let  it  be  called  Jbh- 
ny's  whim.'  (The  name  of  a  well-known  tav- 
ern near  Chelsea,  in  former  days.) ' 

Digitized  by  LiOOQ IC 


1752— iETAT.  43. 


101 


The  km  of  her  sight  made  hut  a  small 
abatement  of  her  cheerfulness,  and  was 
scarce  any  interruption  of  her  studies.  With 
the  assistance  of  two  female  friends,  she 
translated  from  the  French  of  Pere  La  Ble- 
trie  "  the  Life  of  the  Emperor  Julian  V 
and,  in  1766,  she  published,  by  subscription, 
a  quarto  volume  of  miscellanies,  in  prose 
and  verse,  and  thereby  increased  her  little 
fond  to  three  hundred  pounds , which,  being 
prudently  invested,  yielded  an  income  that, 
under  such  protection  as  she  experienced 
from  Dr.  Johnson,  was  sufficient  for  her 
rapport. 

Sue  was  a  woman  of  an  enlightened  under- 
standing; plain,  as  it  is  called,  in  her  person, 
and  easily  provoked  to  anger,  but  possess- 
ing, nevertheless,  some  excellent  moral  qual- 
ities, among  which  no  one  was  more  con- 
spicuous than  her  desire  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  others,  and  of  this  she 
gave  a  signal  proof,  by  her  solicitude  in  fa- 
vour of  an  institution  for  the  maintenance 
and  education  of  poor  deserted  females  in 
the  parish  of  St.  Sepulchre,  London,  sup- 
ported by  the  voluntary  contributions  of 

"  Lady  Phillips  made  her  a  small  annual  al- 
lowance, and  some  other  Welsh  ladies,  to  all  of 
whom  she  was  related.  Mrs.  Montagu,  on  the 
death  of  Mr.  Montagu,  settled  upon  her  (hy  deed) 
ten  pounds  per  annum. — As  near  as  I  can  calcu- 
late, Mrs.  Williams  had  about  thirty-five  or  forty 
posses  a  year.  The  furniture  ahe  used  [in  her 
apartment  in  Dr.  Johnson's  house]  was  her  own  ; 
asr  expenses  were  small,  tea  and  bread  and  but- 
ler being  at  least  half  of  her  nourishment.  Some- 
times she  had  a  servant  or  char-woman  to  do  the 
laser  offices  of  the  house  ;  but  she  was  herself 
active  and  industrious.  I  have  frequently  seen 
her  at  work.  Upon  remarking  one  day  her  fa- 
tuity in  moving  about  the  house,  searching  into 
dnrwers,  and  finding  books,  without  the  help  of 
afcbt,  « Believe  me  (said  she),  persons  who  can- 
aot  do  these  common  offices  without  sight,  did 
bat  little  while  they  enjoyed  that  blessing.  '— 
Beauty  cocuinstances,  bad  health,  and  blindness, 
are  surely  a  sufficient  apology  for  her  being  some- 
umes  impatient :  her  naturaT disposition  was  good , 
friendly,  sad  humane." — Malons. 

[The  following  description  of  Mrs.  Williams 
(eta  later  date)  may  be  here  introduced:  "I 
■as  her  now  a  pale,  shrunken  old  lady,  dressed 
hi  sesriet,  made  in  the  handsome  French  fashion 
ef  the  time  (1775), "with  a  lace  cap,  with  two 
•nflened  projecting  wings  on  the  temples,  and  a 
black  lace  hood  over  it  Her  temper  has  been 
neerded  as  marked  with  Welsh  fire,  and  this 
■right  be  excited  by  some  of  the  meaner  inmates 
ef  the  upper  floors  [of  Dr.  Johnson's  house]  ;  but 
her  tootle  kindness  to  me  I  never  shall  forget,  or 
uunk  consistent  with  a  bad  temper.  I  know 
nobody  from  whose  discourse  there  was  a  better 
chance  of  deriving  high  ideas  of  moral  rectitude." 
-*ai  Haut kin*'*  Memoirs,  vol.  2,  p.  152. — 
En.] 

1  See  it  mentioned  in  Nichols's  Life  of  Bowyer. 


ladies,  and,  as  the  foundation-etone  of  a 
fund  for  its  future  subsistence,  she  be- 
queathed to  it  the  whole  of  the  little  which 
she  had  been  able  to  accumulate.  To  the 
endowments  and  qualities  here  ascribed  to 
her,  may  be  added,  a  larger  share  of  exper- 
imental prudence  than  is  the  lot  of  most  of 
her  sex.  Johnson,  in  many  exigences, 
found  her  an  able  counsellor,  and  seldom 
showed  bis  wisdom  more  than  when  he 
hearkened  to  her  advice.  In  return,  she 
received  from  his  conversation  the  advan- 
tages of  religious  and  moral  improvement, 
which  she  cultivated  so,  as  in  a  great  meas- 
ure to  smooth  the  constitutional  asperity  of 
her  temper.  When  these  particulars  are 
known,  this  intimacy,  which  be^an  with 
compassion,  and  terminated  in  a  friendship 
that  subsisted  till  dea|h.  dissolved  it,  will  be 
easily  accounted  fbf. 

[Mrs.  C  ha  pone,  in  one  of  her         e©. 
letters,  fives    an  interesting    ac- 
count of  her  meeting  Johnson  and  Miss 
Williams  at  Richardson's  country-house 
near  Fulham,  about  this  time. 

"  MRS.  CHAPONB  TO  MISS  CARTHL 

"10th  July,  17«. 

"  We  had  a  viai  t,  whilst  at  North  cw 
end,  from  your  friend  Mr.  Johnson  works, 
and  poor  Mrs.  Williams.  I  was  !^£ 
charmed  with  his  behaviour  to  her, 
which  was  like  that  of  a  fond  father  to  his 
daughter.  She  seemed  much  pleased  with  her 
visits  showed  very  good  sense,  with  a  great 
deal  of  modesty  and  humility;  and  so  much 
patience  and  cheerfulness  under  her  misfor- 
tune, that  it  doubled  my  concern  for  her. 
Mr.  Johnson  was  very  communicative  and 
entertaining,  and  did  me  the  honour  to  ad- 
dress most  of  his  discourse  to  me.  I  had 
the  assurance  to  dispute  with  him  on  the' 
subject  of  human  malignity,  and  wondered 
,to  hear  a  man,  who,  by  his  actions,  shows 
so  much  benevolence,  maintain  that  the  hu- 
man heart  is  naturally  malevolent,  and  that 
all  the  benevolence  we  see  in  the  few  who 
are  good  is  acquired  by  reason  and  religion. 
You  may  believe  I  entirely  disagreed  with 
him,  being,  as  you  know,  fully  persuaded 
that  benevolence,  or  the  love  of  our  fellow- 
creatusas,  is  as  much  a  part  of  our  natures 
as  self-love;  and  that  it  cannot  be  suppress- 
ed or  extinguished  without  great  violence 
from  the  force  of  other  passions.  I  told  him, 
I  suspected  him  of  these  bad  notions  from 
some  of  his  Ramblers,  and  had  accused  him 
to  you;  but  that  you  had  persuaded  me  I 
had  mistaken  his  sense.  To  which  he  an- 
swered, that  if  he  had  betrayed  such  senti- 
ments in  the  Ramblers,  it  was  without  de- 
sign; for  that  he  believed  that  the  doctrine 
of  human  malevolence,  though  a  true  one, 
is  not  a  useful  one,  and  ought  not  to  be  pub- 
i  lished  to  the  world.    Is  there  any  truth  thai 


IOC 


1752.— yETAT.  43. 


would  not  be  useful,  or  that  should  not  be 
known?"] 

[By  some  papers,  in  the  hands  of 
?*5£  Sir  John  Hawkins,  it  seems  that, 
£7.  notwithstanding  Johnson  was  paid 
for  writing  the  Rambler,  he  had 
"a  remaining  interest  in  the  copy-right  of 
that  paper,  which  about  this  time  he  sold. 
The  produce,  thereof,  the  pay  he  was  receiv- 
ing for  his  papers  in  the  Adventurer  *,  and 
the  fruits  of  his  other  literary  labours,  had 
now  exalted  him  to  such  a  state  of  com- 
parative8 affluence,  as,  in  his  judgment, 
made  a  man-servant  necessary.  Soon  after 
the  decease  of  Mrs.  Johnson,  the  father 
of  Dr.  Bathurst  arrived  in  England,  from 
Jamaica,  and  brought  with  him  a  negro- 
servant,  a  native  of  that  island,  whom 
he  caused  to  be  baptized,  and  named  Fran- 
cis Barber,  and  sent  for  instruction  to  Bur- 
ton-upon-Tees,  in  Yorkshire.  Cpon  the 
decease  of  Captain  Bathurst  (for  so  he 
was  called),  Francis  went  to  live  with  his 
son,  who  willingly  parted  with  him  to 
Johnson.  The  uses  for  which  he  was  in- 
tended to  serve  this  his  last  master  were 
not  very  apparent,  for  Diogenes  himself 
never  Wanted  a  servant  less  than  he  seem- 
ed to  do.  The  great  bushy  wig,  which, 
throughout  his  life,  he  affected  to  wear, 
by  that  closeness  of  texture  which  it  had 
contracted  and  been  suffered  to  retain,  was 
ever  nearly  as  impenetrable  by  a  comb  as  a 
quickset  hedge  ;  and  little  of  the  dust  that 
had  once  settled  on  his  outer  garments  was 
ever  known  to  have  been  disturbed  by  the 
brush.] 

From  Mr.  Francis  Barber  I  have  had 
the  following  au  then  tick  and  artless  ac- 
count of  the  situation  in  which  he  found 
him  recently  after  his  wife's  death:  "  He 
was  in  great  affliction.  Mrs.  Williams  was 
then  living  in  his  house,  which  was  in 
Though-square.  He  was  busy  with  the. 
Dictionary.  Mr.  Shiels,  and  some  others 
of  the  gentlemen  who  had  formerly  writ- 
ten for  him,  used  io  come  about  him.  He 
had  then  Little  for  himself,  but  frequently 
sent  money  to  Mr.  Shiels 3  when  in  dis- 
tress. The  friends  who  visited  him  at  that 
time  were  chiefly  Dr.   Bathurst,  and  Mr. 


1  [Mr.  Boswell  states  on  evidence,  which 
(however  improbable  the  fact)  it  is  hard  to  resist, 
that  Johnson  resigned  to  Dr.  Bathurst  some,  if  not 
all,  the  profits  of  the  Adventurer,  which  at  most 
were  two  guineas  a  paper  for  about  thirty  papers. 
—Ed.] 

9  [This  is  hardly  consistent  with  all  the  other 
accounts,  which  lead  to  a  belief  that  Johnson  was, 
from  the  death  of  his  wife  in  1752,  to  the  time 
of  his  pension  in  1762,  in  very  narrow  circum- 
stances. He  most  probably  was  induced  to  take 
the  negro  by  charity  and  his  love  for  Dr.  Bathurst 
—Ed.] 

•  [See  ante,  p.  75.— Ed.] 


Diamond,  an  apothecary  in  Cork-street, 
Burlington-gardens,  with  whom  he  and 
Mrs.  Williams  generally  dined  every  Sun- 
day. There  was  a  talk  of  his  going  to 
Iceland  with  him,  which  would  probably 
have  happened,  had  he  lived.  There  were 
also  Mr.  Cave,  Dr.  Hawkesworth,  Mr. 
Rvland,  merchant  on  Tower-hill,  Mrs* 
Masters  *,  the  poetess,  who  lived  with  Mr. 
Cave,  Mrs.  Carter,  and  sometimes  Mrs. 
MacaulayS;  also,  Mrs.  Gardiner,  wife  of 
a  tallow-chandler,  on  Snow-hill,  not  in  the 
learned  way,  but  a  worthy  good  woman*; 
Mr.  (now  Sir  Joshua)  Reynolds;  Mr.  Mil- 
ler, Mr.  Dodsley,  Mr.  Boquet,  Mr.  Payne, 
of  Paternoster-row,  booksellers;  Mr.  Stra- 
han,  the  printer;  the  Earl  of  Orrery 79 
Lord  Southwell8,  Mr.  Garrick." 

Many  are,  no  doubt,  omitted  in  this 
catalogue  of  his  friends,  and  in  particular, 
his  humble  friend  Mr.  Robert  Levet,  an 
obscure  practiser  in  phvsick  amongst  the 
lower  people,  his  fees  being  sometimes  very- 
small  sums,  sometimes  whatever  provisions 
his  patients  could  afford  him;  but  of  suck 
extensive  practice  in  that  way,  that  Mrs, 
Williams  has  told  me  bie  walk  was  from 
Houndsditch  to  Marybone.      It  appears, 


4  [Mary  Masters  published  a  small  volume  of 
poems  about  1738,  and,  in  1756 — "Familiar 
Letter*  and  Poems,*'  in  octavo.  She  is  suppos* 
ed  to  have  died  about  1759.— Ed.] 

ft  [Catharine  Sawbridge,  sister  of  Mrs.  Alder- 
man Sawbridge,  was  bom  in  1783;  but  h  was 
not  till  1760  that  she  was  married  to  Dr.  Ma- 
canly,  a  physician;  so  that  Barber's  account  was, 
in  respect  to  her,  incorrect,  either  in  date  or  name. 
She  was  married  a  second  time,  in  1778,  to  a 
Mr.  Graham,  with  no  increase  of  respectability. 
She  died  in  1791.— Ed.] 

0  [With  this  good  wtfman,  who  was  introduced 
to  him  by  Mrs.  Masters,  he  kept  up  a  constant 
intercourse,  and  remembered  her  in  his  will,  by 
the  bequest  of  a  book.  See  poet,  Nov.  1783.— 
Ed.] 

7  [John  Boyle,  bom  in  1707;  educated  fin* 
under  the  private  tuition  of  Fenton  the  poet,  and 
afterwards,  at  Westminster  school  and  Christ 
Church  College,  Oxford;  succeeded  his  father  as 
fifth  Earl  of  Orrery  in  1737;  D.  C.  L.  of  Oxford 
in  1748;  F.  R.  S.  in  1750;  and,  on  the  death  of 
his  cousin,  1753,  fifth  Earl  of  Corke.  He  pub 
lished  several  works,  but  the  only  original  one  of 
any  note  is  bis  Life  of  Swift,  written  with  great 
professions  of  friendship,  but  in  fact  with  consid- 
erable severity  towards  the  dean.  Lord  Orrery's 
acquaintance  may  have  tended  to  increase  John- 
son's aversion  to  Swift.  Lord  Orrery's  estate 
was  much  encumbered,  and  his  circumstances 
were  consequently  embarrassed.  Mr.  Tyers  in- 
timates (Biog.  8k.  p.  7.)  that,  if  it  had  been  in 
ht$  power,  Lord  Orrery  would  have  afforded 
Johnson  pecuniary  assistance. — En.] 

8  [Thomas,  second  Lord  Southwell,  F.  R.  8., 
born  1698,  succeeded  his  fether  in  1720,  and 
died  1766.— Ed.] 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1752.— JETAT.  48. 


1QS 


from  Johnson's  diary,  that  their  acquain- 
tance commenced  about  the  year  174$;  and 
such  was  Johnson's  predilection  for  him, 
and  fanciful  estimation  of  his  moderate  abil- 
ities, that  I  have  heard  him  say  he  should 
not  be  satisfied,  though  attended  by  all  the 
college  of  physicians,  unless  he  had  Mr. 
Levet  with  him.  Ever  since -I  was  ac- 
quainted with  Dr.  Johnson*  and  many 
years  before,  as  I  have  been  assured  by 
those  who  knew  him  earlier,  Mr.  Levet  had 
an  apartment  in  his  house,  or  his  cham- 
bers, and  waited  upon  him  every  morning, 
through  the  whole  course  of  his  late  and 
tedious  breakfast.  He  was  of  a  strange 
grotesque  appearance,  stiff  and  formal  in 
his  manner,  and  seldom  said  a  word  while 
any  company  was  present  K 

The  circle  of  his  friends,  indeed,  at  this 
time  was  extensive  and  various,  far  beyond 
what  has  been  generally  imagined9.  To 
trace  his  acquaintance  with  each  particular 
person,  if  it  could  be  done,  would  be  a 
task,  of  which  the  labour  would  not  be  re- 
paid by  the  advantage.  But  exceptions 
are  to  be  made;  one  of  which  must  be  a 
friend  so  eminent  as  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
who  was  truly  his  dulee  dectu,  and  with 
whom  he  maintained  an  uninterrupted  in- 
timacy to  the  last  hour  of  life.  When 
Johnson  lived  in  Castle-street,  Cavendish- 
square,  he  used  frequently  to  visit  two 
ladies,  who  lived  opposite  to  him  3,  Miss 


1  A  more  particular  account  of  this  person  may 
be  found  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for 
February,  1785.  It  originally  appeared  in  the  St. 
James's  Chronicle,  and,  I  bolieve,  was  written 
by  the  late  George  Steevens,  Esq. — Ma  lone. 

*  [Mr.  Murphy,  who  is,  as  to  this  period,  bet- 
ter authority  than  Mr.  Boswell,  sap,  "  It  was 
late  in  life  before  he  had  the  habit  of  mixing, 
otherwise  than  occasionally,  with  polite  compa- 
ny; and  Dr.  Harwood  has  favoured  me  with  the 
following  memorandum,  in  Johnson's  writing, 
made  about  this  time-,  of  certain  visits  which  he 
was  to  make  (perhaps  on  his  return  from  Ox- 
ford in  1754),  and  which,  as  it  contains  the 
names  of  some  of  the  highest  and  lowest  of  his 
acquaintance,  is  probably  a  list  of  nearly  all  his 
foods: 


Visits  to 

Brodie 

Hawkesworth 

Bathurst 

Fowke 

Gardiner 

Grainger 

Taylor 

Drew 

Baker 

Etphinston 

Lawrence 

Weston 

Osborne 

Garrick 

Millar 

Garden  [er] 

Robinson,  sen. 

Craster 

Richardson 

Boyle 
WUson 

Simpson 

fitraban 

Rose 

Millar 

Henry 

Giffard 

Tonson 

Tyera 

Gregory 

Dodsley 

Hawkins 

Desmoulins 

Reynolds 

Ryland 

Lloyd 

Lenox 

Payne 

Sherrard. 

F^r      ,_ 

Newberry 

En.] 

'  [It  might  be  inferred,  from  an 

expression  or 

Cotteiells,  daughters  of  Admiral  CotterelK 
Reynolds*  used  also  to  visit  there,  and  thus 
they  met.  Mr.  Reynolds,  as  I  have  ob- 
served above,  had,  from  the  first  reading  of 
his  "  Life  of  Savage,"  conceived  a  very 
high  admiration  of  Johnson's  powers  of 
writing.  His  conversation  no  less  delight*  ' 
ed  him;  and  he  cultivated  his  acquaintance 
with  the  laudable  zeal  of  one  who  was  ambi- 
tious of  general  improvement.  Sir  Joshua, 
indeed,  was  lucky  enough,  at  their  very  first 
meeting,  to  make  a  remark,  which  was  so 
much  above  the  common-place  style  of  con- 
versation, that  Johnson  at  once  perceived 
that  Reynolds  had  the  habit  of  thinking 
for  himself.  The  ladies  were  regretting 
the  death  of  a  friend,  to  whom  they  owed 
great  obligations;  upon  which  Reynolds 
observed,  "  You  have,  however,  the  com- 
fort of  being  relieved  from  a  burden  of  gra- 
titude." They  were  shocked  a  little  at 
this  alleviating  suggestion,  as  too  selfish: 
but  Johnson  defended  it  in  his  clear  and 
forcible  manner,  end  was  much  pleased 
with  the  mind,  the  fair  view  of  human  na- 
ture 6  which  it  exhibited,  like  some  of  the 


two  in  his  letters  to  Barretti  (see  post,  1761  and 
1762),  that  these  ladies  were  connexions  of  his 
wife,  but  Dr.  Harwood  informs  me,  on  the  au- 
thority of  Mrs.  Pearson,  that  there  was  no  rela- 
tionship.— Ed.] 

4  ["  Captain  Charles  Cotterell  retired  totally 
from  the  service  in  July,  1747,  heing  put,  with  a 
number  of  #her  gentlemen,  on  the  superannuated 
list,  with  the  rank  and  pay  of  a  rear-admiral. 
He  died  in  July,  1754. »-'     JBiog.  Abe.— En.] 

6  [It  would  be  naturally  inferred  from  Mr. 
Boswell 's  account,  that  the  acquaintance  between 
Johnson  and  Sir  Joshua  took  place  so  early  as  the 
time  when  the  former  resided  in  Castle-street 
This  can  hardly  have  been  the  case.  Reynolds, 
then  a  youth  under  age,  passed  the  years  1741 
and  1742  in  London,  but  did  not  again  revisit  the 
metropolis  till  the  end  of  1752.  (See  JVbrth- 
cote*s  Life,  p.  12,  81,  and  82.)  That  the  ac- 
quaintance did  not  commence  on  the  first  visit,  » 
proved  by  its  having  occurred  after  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Life  of  Savage,  which  was  in  1744. 
Barber  also  must  have  been  in  error  when  he  des- 
cribed Reynolds  as  ono  of  Johnson's  intimates  at 
the  period  of  his  wife's  death. — Ed.] 

0  Johnson  himself  has  a  sentiment  somewhat 
similar  in  his  87th  Rambler:  "There  are  minds 
so  impatient  of  inferiority,  that  their  gratitude  is  a 
species  of  revenge,  and  they  rejura  benefits,  not 
because  recompense  is  a  pleasure,  but  because 
obligation  is  a  pain." — J.  BoswelL.  [This  », 
no  doubt,  "  a  somewhat  similar  sentiment;"  but 
in  the  Rambler,  Johnson  mentions  it  with  the 
censure  it  deserves;  whereas,  in  the  text,  he  m 
represented  as  applauding  it  Such  an  observa- 
tion is  very  little  like  the  usual  good  manners, 
good  nature,  and  good  sense  of  Sir  Joshua;  and 
we  cannot  but  suspect  the  authority,  whatever  it 
was,  on  which  Boswell  admitted  this  anecdote.— 
Ed.] 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


104 


174»— JBTAT.  40. 


reflections  of  Rochefoucault.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  he  went  home  with  Rey- 
nolds, and  supped  with  him. 

Sir  Joshua  told  me  a  pleasant  character- 
istics! anecdote  of  Johnson  about  the  time 
of  their  first  acquaintance.  When  they 
were  one  evening  together  at  the  Miss  Cot- 
terehV,  the  then  Duchess  of  Argyle l  and 
another  lady  of  high  rank  came  in.  John- 
son thinking  that  the  Miss  Cotterells  were 
too  much  engrossed  by  them,  and  that  he 
and  his  friend  were  neglected,  as  low  com- 
pany, of  whom  they  were  somewhat  asham- 
ed, grew  angry  j  "and  resolving  to  shock 
their  supposed  pride,  by  making  their  great 
visitors  imagine  that  his  friend  and  he  were 
low  indeed,  he  addressed  himself  in  a  loud 
tone  to  Mr.  Reynolds,  saying,  "  How  much 
do  you  think  you  and  I  could  get  in  a 
week,  if  we  were  to  work  as  hard  as  we 
could?"  as  if  they  had  been  common  me- 
chanicks. 

p^  [Of  Dr.  Bathurst,  who  stands 

».  u,  64.  first  in  the  foregoing  list  of  his 
friends,  Dr.  Johnson  told  Mrs.  Pi- 
ozzi  that  he  loved  "dear,  dear  Bathurst, 
better  than  he  ever  loved  any  human  crea- 
ture;" and  it  was  on  him  that  he  bestowed 
the  singular  eulogy  of  being  a  good  hater. 
"  Dear  Bathurst,"  said  he  to  Mrs.  Piozzi, 
"  was  a  -man  to  my  very  heart's  content} 
he  hated  a  fool,  and  he  hated  a  rogue,  and 
he  hated  a  whig — he  was  a  very  good  ha- 
ter!99] 

Dr.  Bathurst,  though  a  physician  of  no 
inconsiderable  merit,  had  not  the  good  for- 
tune to  get  much  practice  in  London  8.  He 
was,  therefore,  willing  to  accept  of  employ- 
ment abroad,  and,  to  the  regret  of  all  who 
knew  him,  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  destructive 
climate,  in  the  expedition  against  the  Ha- 
vannah. Mr.  Langton  recollects  the  fol- 
lowing passage  in  a  Tetter  from  Dr.  Johnson 
to  Mr.  Beauclerk:  "  The  Havannah  is  ta- 
ken :-r-a  conquest  too  dearly  obtained;  for 
Bathurst  died  before  it. 

**Vix  Priamus  tanti  totaque  Zrcjafuit," 

[It  would  seem  from  the  two  fol- 
lowing letters  that  Dr.  Bathurst 
left  London  and  returned  to  the  West  In- 
dies some  years  before  the  expedition  against 
»the  Havannah;  nor  is  his  name  to  be  found 
in  the  list  of  medical  officers  who  accompa- 

1  [Jane  Warburton,  second  wife  of  John,  second 
Bake  of  Aigylc.  His  Grace  died  in  1743.  She 
survived  till  17«7.— -Ed.] 

*  [Sir  John  Hawkins  is  the  authority  on  which 
these  few  and  meagre  particulars,  relative  to  Dr. 
Bathnrat,  have  been  preserved.  He  adds,  how- 
ever, that  Dr.  Bathnrat,  before  he  went  abroad, 
had  been  elected  physician  to  an  hospital  (the 
Middlesex);  bat  though  Sir  John  tells  so  little 
(and  that  little  not,  it  seems,  very  correctly)  of 
the  immediate  subject  of  has  notice,  he  gives  a 


Bo. 


nied  the  army  from  England;  he  probably, 
therefore,  joined  the  expedition  in  the  West 
Indies. 

"DR.  BATHURST  TO  DR.  JOHNSON. 

"  Bnrbadoet,  13  Jan.  1707 
"  Dear  sir, — The  many  acts 
of  friendship  and   affection  you   SjJT'JS^ 
have  conferred  upon  me,  so  fully  p.  <a,ta 
convince  me  of  your  being* inter- 
ested in  my  welfare,  that  even  my  present 
stupidity  will  not  prevent  my  taking  a  pen 
in  my  hand  to  acquaint  you  that  I  am  this 


most  fervently  that  the  Supreme  Being  wiS 
enable  me  to  deserve  the  approbation  and 
friendship  of  so  great  and  so  good  a  man: 
alas !  you  little  know  how  undeserving  I  am 
of  the  favours  I  have  received  from  you. 
May  health  and  happiness  forever  attend 
you.  Excuse  my  dropping  my  pen,  for  it 
is  impossible  that  it  should  express  the  grat- 
itude that  is  due  to  you,  from  your  most 
affectionate  friend,  and  most  obliged  ser- 
vant, "  Richard  Bathurst. 

"  P.  S.  Let  me  trouble  you  with  compli- 
ments to  Miss  Williams,  to  Mrs  Lennox, 
to  Dr.  Lawrence,  and  his  family;  in  abort, 
to  all  who  shall  be  so  obliging  as  to  inquire 
after  me;  and  if  it  will  put  you  to  no  great 
inconvenience,  let  me  beg  that  you  will  send 
to  Mr.  Scrocold  and  to  Mr.  Bathurst  an  ac- 
count of  my  arrival  at  this  place.  I  know 
you  will  call  me  a  lazy  dog,  and,  in  truth,  I 
deserve  it;  but  I  am  afraid  I  shall  never 
mend.  I  have  indeed  long  known  that  I 
can  love  my  friends  without  *being  able  to 
tell  them  so.  I  find  that  I  can  write  a  long 
postscript,  though  I  was  not  bred  in  Mr. 
Richardson's  school:  how  easy  is  it  to  copy 
imperfections. — Is  it  not  better  to  be  blind 
than  to  be  able  to  see  our  faults  without  be- 
ing able  to  correct  them?  I  must  entreat 
you  once  more,  my  dear  Mr.  Johnson,  to 
continue  your  forgiveness  to  me.  Adieu, 
my  dearest  friend." 

"  DR.  BATHURST  TO  DR    JOHNSON. 

"  Jamaica .  18  March,  1WJ. 
"Dear    sir, — In    compliance 
with  my  promise  to  acquaint  you  ff*™ff 
by  the  first  conveyance  of  my  p.  4«b. 
arrival  at  this  place,  I  have  now 
taken  a  pen  into  my  hand,  but  with  what 
fear  and  dread  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  ex- 
press; the  danger  of  .offending  the  bent  of 
friends,  to  whom  I  stand  indebted  for  all  the 
little  virtue   and    knowledge  that  I  have, 
could  scarcely  compel  me  to  it;  and  I  now 


very  amusing  account  of  the  various 
and  fortunes  of  several  of  the  medical  profej 
in  London  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 
See  his  Life  of  Johnson,  pp.  284,  fee.— E».J 


1759.— iETAT.  48. 


105 


tNanUe  to  think  that  I  shall  not  long  be  able 
to  avoid  the  horrid  imputation  of  ingrati- 
tude. I  esteem,  I  honour,  and  I  love  you, 
and  though  I  cannot  write,  I  shall  for  ever  be 
proat)  to  acknowledge  myself,  your  most 
obliged  and  most  affectionate 

"  Richard  Bathurst. 
•  "  P.  S.  The  inhabitants  of  this  execrable 
ftfcfen  are  much  addicted  to  the  making  of 
pttfafees  which,  they  never  intend  to  per- 
form,  or  I  might  flatter  myself  from  the  as- 
surances of  Mr.  Joyce,  the  heir  of  Mr. 
Lamb,  deceased,  with  a  speedy  return  to 
England.  Nothing,  I  think,  but  absolute 
want  can  force  me  to  continue  where  I  am. 
let  we  request  the  continuance  of  your 
fiendahip,  and  kind  wishes  for  a  quick  de- 
orerence.    Adieu."] 

His  acquaintance  with  Bennet  Langton  i, 
«q.,  of  Langton,  in  Lincolnshire,  another 
much-valued  friend,  commenced  soon  after 
the  conclusion  of  his  Rambler,  which  that 
gentleman,  then  a  youth9,  had  read  with 
so  much  admiration',  that  he  came  to  Lon- 
don chiefly  with  a  view  of  endeavouring  to 
fee  introduced  to  its  authour.  By  a  fortu- 
nate chance,  he  happened  to  take  lodgings 
in  a  hotfee  where  Mr.  Levet  frequently  vis- 
ited: and  having  mentioned  his  wish  to  his 
landlady,  she  introduced  him  to  Mr.  Levet, 
who  readily  obtained  Johnson's  permission 
to  bring  Mr.  Langton  to  him;  as,  indeed, 
Johnson,  during  the  whole  course  of  his 
life,  had  no  shyness,  real  or  affected,  but 


1  (Hs.  Langton  was  bom  about  1737,  and  en- 
taeb%  as  Dr.  Hall  informs  me,  of  Trinity  Col- 
lage, Oxford,  7th  July,  1757.    So  much  of  h» 
bkftry  ■  told  with  that  of  Dr.  Johnson's,  that  it 
■  ameeesaary  to  say  more  in  this  place,  except 
that  he  was  remarkable  for  his  knowledge  of 
Greek,  and  that  be  seems,  at  one  time  of  bis  life, 
ta  have  practised  engineering  as  a  profession. 
On  Dr.  Johnson's  death,  he  succeeded  him  as 
professor  of  ancient  literature  in  the  Royal  Acade- 
my.   He  died  on  the  10th  December,  1801,  and 
was  boned  at  Southampton.    The  following  des- 
cription of  his  person  and  appearance  later  in  life 
nay  be  amusing.     "  O!  that  we  could  sketch 
him  with  his  mild  countenance,  his  elegant  fea- 
tees,  and  has  sweet  smile,  sitting  with  one  leg 
twnted  round  the  other,  as  if  fearing  to  occupy 
BJore  space  than  was  equitable;  his  person  in- 
diamg  forward,  as  if  wanting  strength  to  support 
ail  height,  and  his  arms  crossed  over  his  bosom, 
or  ua  bands  locked  together  on  his  knee;  his  ob- 
taa;  gold-mounted  snuff-box,   taken   from  the 
waistcoat  pocket  opposite  his  hand,  and  either  re- 
aanamg  between  his  fingers  or  set  by  him  on  the 
teste;  but  which  war  never  used  but  when  his 
auad  was  occupied  on  conversation;  so  soon  as 
emanation   began,  the    box  was  produced.*' 
MU$  Hawkuu'g  Memoir*,  vol  2,  p.  282.— 
En.) 

*  [Mr.  Langton  was  only  tHh^m  when  the 
batter  was  termmated.— &>.] 
▼OL.  i.  14 


was  easy  of  access  to  all  who  were  properly 
recommended,  and  even  wished  to  see  num- 
bers at  his  levee,  as  his  morning  circle  of 
company  might,  with  strict  propriety,  be 
called.     Mr.  Langton  was  exceedingly  sor- 

Erised  when  the  sage  first  appeared.  He 
ad  not  received  the  smallest  intimation  of 
his  figure,  dress,  or  manner.  From  perus- 
ing his  writings,  he  fancied  he  should  see  a 
decent,  well-dressed,  in  short,  a  remarkably 
decorous  philosopher.  Instead  of  which, 
down  from  Ids  bedchamber,  about  noon, 
came,  as  newly  risen,  a  huge  uncouth  fig- 
ure, with  a  little  dark  wig,  which  scarcely 
covered  his  head,  and  his  clothes  hanging 
loose  about  him.  But  his  conversation  was 
so  rich,  so  animated,  and  so  forcible,  and 
his  religious  and  political  notions  so  conge- 
nial with  those  in  which  Langton  had  been 
educated,  that  he  conceived  for  him  that 
veneration  and  attachment  which  he  ever 
preserved.  Johnson  was  not  the  less  ready 
to  love  Mr.  Langton  for  his  being  of  a  very 
ancient  family;  Ihr  I  have  heard  him  say, 
with  pleasure,  "  Langton,  sir,  has  a  grant 
of  free-warren  from  Henry  the  Second;  and 
Cardinal  Stephen  Langton,  in  King  John's 
reign,  was  or  this  family  V 

Sir.  Langton  afterwards  went  to  pursue 
his  studies  at  Trinity  College,  Oxford, 
where  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  his 
fellow-student,  Mr.  Topham  Beaucierk*: 
who,  though  their  opinions  and  modes  or 
life  were  so  different,  that  it  seemed  utterly 
improbable  that  they  should  at  all  agree, 
had  so  ardent  a  love  of  literature,  so  acute 
an  understanding,  such  elegance  of  man- 
ners, and  so  well  discerned  the  excellent 
qualities  of  Mr.  Langton,  a  gentleman  emi- 
nent not  only  for  worth  and  learning,  but 
for  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  entertaining 
conversation,  that  they  became  intimate 
friends. 
Johnson,  soon  after  this  acquaintance  be* 

fan,  passed  a  considerable  time  at  Oxford, 
[e  at  first  thought  it  strange  that  Langton 
should  associate  so  much  with  one  who  had 
the  character  of  being  loose,  both  in  his 


*  fit  is  to  be  wondered  that  he  did  not  also 
mention  Bishop  Langton,  a  distinguished  benefac- 
tor to  tbe  cathedral  of  Lichfield,  and  who  also  had 
a  grant  of  free-warren  over  his  patrimonial  inner* 
itance,  from  Edward  I.;  the  relationship  might 
probably  be  as  clearly  traced  in  the  one  ease  aa 
in  the  other.  Harwood't  History  of  IAeh&eU* 
p.  189.— Ed.] 

4  [Only  son  of  Lord  Sidney,  third  son  of  the 
first  Duke  of  St  Albans.  He  was  entered  (aa 
Dr.  Hall  informs  me) ,  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford, 
11th  Nov;  1757,  as  "  Topham,  the  son  of  Sidney 
of  Windsor,  Esq.  aged  seventeen;"  and  I  find  in  the 
Gent.  Mag.  that  the  lady  of  Lord  Sidney  Beaav 
clerk  was  on  the  "  21st  Dec  1789,  delivered  of 
a  aotf  and  behy'— •*©  doabt  file  person  m  a, 
—En.] 


Digitized  by 


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106 


1751.— jKTAT.  a. 


wriBotplM  and  practice:  but  by  degrees,  he 
himself  was  fascinated.  Mr.  Beauclerk's 
being  of  the  Si.  Albans  family,  and  having, 
in  some  particulars,  a  resemblance  to  Charles 
the  Second,  contributed,  in  Johnson's  im- 
agination, to  throw  a  lustre  upon  his  other 
qualities;  and,  in  a  short  time,  the  moral, 
pious  Johnson,  and  the  gay,  dissipated 
Beauclerk,  were  companions.  "What  a 
coalition !  (said  Garrick,  when  he  heard  of 
this:)  I  shall  have  my  old  friend  to  bail  out 
of  the  round-house."  But  I  can  bear  tes- 
timony that  it  was  a  very  agreeable  asso- 
ciation. Beauclerk  was  too  polite,  and 
valued  learning  and  wit  too  much,  to  offend 
Johnson  by  sallies  of  infidelity  or  ticentious- 
•  Bess;  and  Johnson  delighted  in  the  good 

aualities  of  Beauclerk,  and  hoped  to  correct 
tie  eviL  Innumerable  were  the  scenes  in 
which  Johnson  was  amused  by  these  young 
men.  Beauclerk  could  take  more  liberty 
with  him,  than  any  body  with  whom  I 
ever  saw  him;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  Beau- 
clerk was  not  spared  by  his  respectable  com- 
panion, when  reproof  was  proper.  Beau- 
clerk had  such  a  propensity  to  satire,  that 
at  one  time  Johnson  said  to  him,  "You 
never  open  your  mouth  but  with  intention 
to  give  pain;  and  you  have  often  given  me 
pain,  not  from  the  power  of  what  you  said, 
nut  from  seeing  vour  intention.'1  At  an- 
other time  applying;  to  him,  with  a  slight 
alteration,  a  line  oi  Pope,  he  said, 

•'  Thy  love  of  folly,  and  thy  acorn  of  fools— 

Every  thing  thou  dost  shows  the  one,  and 
everything  thou  sayest  the  other."  At 
another  tune  he  said  to  htm,  "  Thy  body 
is  all  vice,  and  thy  mind  all  virtue."  Beau- 
clerk not  seeming  to  relish  the  compliment, 
Johnson  said,  "  Nay,  sir,  Alexander  the 
Great,  marching  in  triumph  into  Babylon, 
could  not  have  desired  to  have  had  more 
■aid  to  him." 

Johnson  was  some  time  with  Beauclerk 
at  his  house  at  Windsor,  where  he  was 
entertained  with  experiments  in  natural 
philosophy  K  One  Sunday,  when  the  weath- 
er was  very  fine,  Beauclerk  enticed  him, 
insensibly,  to  saunter,  about  all  the  morning. 
They  went  into  a  church-yard,  in  the  time 
of  divine  service,  and  Johnson  laid  himself 
down  at  his  ease  upon  one  of  the  tomb- 
stones. "  Now,  sir,  (said  Beauclerk)  you 
are  like  Hogarth*s  Idle  Apprentice. "  When 
Johnson  sot  his  pension,  Beauclerk  said  to 
him,  in  the  humourous  phrase  of  Faistaff, 
"  I  hope  you'll  now  purge,  and  live  cleanly, 
like  a  gentleman." 

One  night,  when  Beauclerk  and  Langton 

1  [Probably  tome  experiments  in  electricity, 
which  was  at  one  time  a  Jaabionable  curiosity:  it 
aaaaat  be  supposed  that  the  natnral  philosophy 
m  Mir.  Beeaoierk's  coentry-honse  went  very  deep. 


had  supped  at  a  tavern  in  London,  and  set 
till  about  three  in  the  morning,  it  came  into 
their  heads  to  go  and  knock  up  Johnson, 
and  see  if  they  could  prevail  on  him  to  join 
them  in  a  ramble.  They  rapped  violently 
at  the  door  of  his  chambers  in  the  Temple, 
till  at  last  he  appeared  in  his  shirt,  with  his 
little  black  wig  on  the  top  of  his  head,  in- 
stead of  a  nightcap,  and  a  poker  in  his  hand, 
imagining,  probably,  that  some  ruffians  were 
coming  to  attack  him.  When  he  discover- 
ed who  they  were,  and  was  told  their  errand, 
he  smiled,  and  with  great  good-humour 
agreed  to  their  proposal :  "  What,  is  it  yon, 
you  dogs!  I 'II  have  a  frisk  with  you  i."  He 
was  soon  dressed,  and  they  sallied  forth  to- 
gether into  Covent-garden,  where  the  green- 
grocers and  fruiterers  were  beginning  to 
arrange  their  hampers,  just  come  in  from  the 
country.  Johnson  made  some  attempts  to 
help  them;  but  the  honest  gardeners  stared 
so  at  his  figure  and  manner,  and  odd  inter- 
ference, that  he  soon  saw  his  services  were 
not  relished.  They  then  repaired  to  one  of 
the  neighbouring  taverns,  and  made  a  bowl 
of  that  liquor  called  bishop,  which  Johnson 
hsd  always  liked :  while,  in  joyous  contempt 
of  sleep,  from  which  he  had  been  roused,  he 
repeated  the  festive  lines, 

"  Short,  O  short,  then,  be  thy  reign, 
And  give  as  to  the  world  again  3  !" 

They  did  not  stay  long,  but  walked  down 
to  the  Thames,  took  a  boat  and  rowed  to 
Billingsgate.  Beauclerk  and  Johnson  were 
so  well  pleased  with  their  amusement,  that 
they  resolved  to  persevere  in  dissipation  * 
for  the  rest  of  the  day :  but  Langton  desett- 
ed  them,  being  engaged  to  breakfast  with 
some  young  ladies.  Johnson  scolded  him 
for  "  leaving  his  social  friends,  to  go  and 
sit  with  a  set  of  wretched  tawdee'd  girls.49 
Garrick  being  told  of  this  ramble,  said  to 
him  smartly,  "  I  heard  of  your  froBck 
V  other  night  You  Ml  be  in  the  Chroni- 
cle."   Upon  which  Johnson  afterwards  ob- 


*  Johnson,  as  Mr.  Kemble  observes  to  me, 
might  here  have  had  in  his  thooebts  the  words  of 
Sir  John  Brnte  (a  character  which,  doubtless,  he 
had  seen  represented  by  Garrick),  who  uses  near- 
ly the  same  expression  in  "  the  Provoked  Wife," 
'act  iil  sc  1. — Malojte. 

*  Mr.  Langton  recollected,  or  Dr.  Johnson  re- 
peated, the  passage  wrong.  The  lines  are  from 
Lord  Lansdowne's  Drinking  Song  to  Sleep,  and 
ran  thus: 

"  Short,  Tery  thort,  be  then  thy  reign, 

For  I'm  m  haste  to  laugh  sad  drink  again.*— Botwaix. 


4  [As  Johnson's  companions  in  this  frohe  \ — .. 
both  thirty  years  younger  than  he,  itift  no  won)* 
dor  that  Garriofc  should  be  a  little  alarmed  at  such 
extravagances.    Nor  can  we  help  smiling  at  the 


extravagances.  Nor  can  we  help  u..^  —  ...~ 
philosopher  of  fifty  scolding  a  young  man  of  twen- 
ty, for  having  the  bad  taste  to  prefer  the  compa- 
ny of  a  set  or  wretched  ne-iaWd  girls.— £d.) 


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1753.— JBTAT.  44. 


101 


served,  "  He  durst  not  do  such  a  thing. 
Hw  sw^e1  would  not  let  him !" 

[His  acquaintance  was  now 
JeSTm  sought  by  persons  of  the  first  em- 
inence in  literature,  and  his  house, 
in  respect  of  the  conversations  there,  be- 
came an  academy.  Many  persons  were 
desirous  of  adding  him  to  the  number  of 
their  friends.  Invitations  to  dine  with 
sach  of  those  as  he  liked,  he  so  seldom  de- 
dined,  that,  to  a  friend  of  his,  he  said,  "  I 
•ever  but  once,  upon  a  resolution  to  em- 
ploy myself  in  study,  balked  an  invitation 
out  to  dinner,  and  then  I  stayed  at  home 
and  did  nothing."  Little,  however,  did 
that  laxity  of  temper,  which  this  confession 
seems  to  imply,  retard  the  progress  of  the 
great  work  in  which  he  was  employed:  the 
conclusion,  and  also  the  perfection  of  his 
dictionary,  were  objects  from  which  his  at- 
tention was  not  to  be  diverted.  The  avo- 
cations he  gave  way  to  were  such  only 
as,  when  complied  with,  served  to  invigor- 
ate his  mind  to  the  performance  of  his  en- 
gagements to  his  employers  and  the  pub- 
fick,  and  hasten  the  approach  of  the  day 
that  was  to  reward  his  labour  with  ap- 
plause.] 

He  entered  upon  this  year,  1753,  with 
his  usual  piety,  as  appears  from  the  follow- 
ing prayer,  which  I  transcribed  from  that 
part  of  bis  diary  which  he  burnt  a  few  days 
More  his  death: 

•«  Jan.  1,  17  W,  N.  S.  which  I  shall  use 
for  the  future.  ^» 

"  Almighty  GoA^^mfio  hast  continued 
my  list  to  tms  day,  grant  that,  by  the  as- 
mtanee  of  thy  Holy  Spirit,  I  may  improve 
die  time  which  thou  sfialt  grant  me,  to  my 
eternal  salvation.  Make  me  to  remember, 
to  thy  glory,  thy  judgments,  and  thy  mer- 
cies. Make  me  so  to  consider  the  loss  of 
my  wife,  whom  thou  hast  taken  from  me, 
mat  it  may  dispose  me,  by  tfcy  grace,  to 
lead  the  residue  of  my  life  in  thy  fear. 
Grant  this,  O  Loan,  for  Jesus  Ch*is*'s 
sake.    Amen." 

He  now  relieved  the  drudgery  of  InS 
Dictionary,  and  the  melancholy  of  his  grief, 
by  taking  an  active  part  in  the  composition 
of"  The  Adventurer,"  in  which  he  began 
to  write,  April  10,  marking  his  essays  with 
the  signature  T,  by  which  most  of  his  pa- 
pers in  that  collection  are  distinguished: 
those,  however,  which  have  that  signature, 
and  also  that  of  Mysargytw,  were  not 
written  by  ^im,  but,  as  I  suppose,  by  Dr. 
Bathurst.  Indeed  Johnson's  energy  of 
thought  and  richness  of  language  are  still 
more  decisive  marks  than  any  signature. 

.  *  (Thai  aercaauc  allusion  to  Gaitick's  domes- 
ale  habits  teems  a  little  inconsistent  with  that  al- 
mest  morbid  regret  which  Johnson  felt  so  long  for 
iha  loss  of  his  own  wife* — En-3 


As  a  proof  of  this,  my  readers,  1  imagine* 
will  not  doubt  that  number  59,  on  Sleep,  is 
his:  for  it  not  only  has  the  general  texture 
and  colour  of  his  style,  but  the  authoum 
with  whom  he  was  peculiarly  conversant 
are  readily  introduced  in  it  in  cursory  allu- 
sion. The  translation  of  a  passage  in  Sta- 
tiusa,  quoted  in  that  paper,  and  marked 
C.  B.,  has  been  erroneously  ascribed  to 
Dr.  Bathurst,  whose  christian  name  was 
Richard.  How  much  this  amiable  man  ac- 
tually contributed  to  "The  Adventurer,1* 
cannot  be  known.  Let  me  add,  that 
Hawkesworth'8  imitations  of  Johnson  are 
sometimes  so  happy,  that  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  distinguish  them,  with  certainty, 
from  the  composition  of  his  great  archetype. 
Hawkeswortn  was  his  closest  imitator,  a 
circumstance  of  which  that  writer  would 
once  have  been  proud  to  be  told;  though, 
when  he  had  become  elated  by  having 
arisen  into  some  degree  of  consequence,  he, 
in  a  conversation  with  me,  had  the  provok- 
ing effrontery 3  to  say  he  was  not  sensible 
of  it. 

Johnson  was  truly  zealous  for  the  suc- 
cess of  "  The  Adventurer;"  and  very  soon 
after  his  engaging  in  it,  he  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter: 

"to  the  rev.  dr.  josefh  warton. 

«  8  March,  17W. 

Dear  sir, — I  ought  to  have  written  to 
you  before  now,  but  I  ought  to  do  many 
things,  which  I  do  not:  nor  can  T,  indeed, 
claim  any  merit  from  f  his  letter;  for  being 
desired  by  the  authors  and  proprietor  of  the 
Adventurer  to  look  out  for  another  hand, 
my  thoughts  necessarily  fixed  upon  you, 
whose  fund  of  literature  will  enaole  you  to 
assist  them,  with  very  little  interruption  of 
your  studies. 

"  They  desire  you  to  engage  to  furnish 
one*  paper  a  month,  at  two  guineas  a  paper, 
which  you  may  very  readily  perform.  We 
have  considered  that  a  paper  should  con- 
sist of  pieces  of  imagination,  pictures  of 
life,  and  disquisitions  of  literature.    The 


1  This  ■  a  alight  inaccuracy.  The  Latin  8ap- 
phicks  translated  by  C.  B.  in  that  paper  were 
written  by  Cowley,  and  are  in  his  fourth  book  on 
Plants. — M  alon  e. 

*  [This  is  not  a  tone  in  which  Mr.  Boswefl 
should  hare  allowed  himself  to  speak  of  Doctor 
Hawkesworth  on  sach  an  occasion;  the  unproved 
style  of  Dr.  Johnson  in  the  Idler  might  as  weU 
be  said  to  be  borrowed  from  the  Adventurer,  as 
that  of  the  Adventurer  from  the  Rambler.  John- 
son and  Hawkesworth  may  have  influenced  each 
other,  and  yet  either  might  say,  without  tffronU- 
ry%  that  he  was  not  conscious  of  H.  BosweD  had 
the  mania  of  imagining,  that  evenr  eminent  wrW 
ter  of  the  day  owed  bis  fame  to  being  an  imita- 
tor of  Johnson;  we  shall  see  several  instances  sf 
it  in  the  course  of  the  work.— En.] 


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106 


1768.— iETAT.  44, 


part  which  depends  on  the  imagination  ifi 
Tery  well  supplied,  as  you  will  find  when 
you  read  the  paper;  for  descriptions  of  life, 
there- is  now  a  treaty  almost  made  with  an 
authour  and  an  autnouress ';  and  the  pro- 
vince of  criticism  and  literature  they  are 
very  desirous  to  assign  to  the  commenta- 
tor on  Virgil. 

"  I  hope  this  proposal  will  not  he  reject- 
ed, and  that  the  next  post  will  brine  us 
your  compliance.  I  speak  as  one  of  the 
fraternity,  though  I  have  no  part  in  the  pa- 
per, beyond  now  and  then  a  motto;  but  two 
of  the  writers  are  my  particular  friends, 
and  I  hope  the  pleasure  of  seeing  a  third 
united  to  them  will  not  be  denied  to,  dear 
sir,  your  most  obedient  and  most  humble 
servant,  "  Sam  Johnson.] 

The  consequence  of  this  letter  was,  Dr. 
Warton's  enriching  the  collection  with  sev- 
eral admirable  essays. 

[And  here,  though  a  little  out  of 
the  order  of  date,  may  be  introdu- 
ced Doctor  Johnson's  letter  to  Dr.  Warton 
on  the  conclusion  of  the  Adventurer. 

"  8  March,  1754. 

iv* «f  "  Deae  sir, — I  cannot  but  con- 
Jit  **"  gratulate  you  upon  the  conclusion 
p.  Jw.  of  a  work,  in  which  you  have  borne 
so  great  a  part  with  so  much  re- 
putation, I  immediately  determined  that 
your  name  should  be  mentioned,  but  the 
paper  having  been  some  time  written,  Mr. 
Hawkesworth,  I  suppose,  did  not  care  to 
disorder  its  text,  and  therefore  put  your 
eulogy  in  a  note.  He  and  every  other  man 
mentions  your  papers  of  Criticism  with 
great  commendation,  though  not  with 
greater  than  they  deserve, 

"But  how  little  can  we  venture  to  ex- 
ult in  any  intellectual  powers  or  literary  at- 
tainments, when  we  consider  the  condition 
of  poor  Collins.  I  knew  him  a  few  years 
ago  full  of  hopes  and  full  of  projects,  versed 
in  many  languages,  high  in  fancy,  and 
Strong  in  retention.  This  busy  ami  forci- 
ble mind  is  now  under  the  government  of 
those  who  lately  would  not  have  been  able 
to  comprehend  the  least  and  most  narrow 
of  its  designs.  What  do  you  hear  of  him  ? 
are  there  hopes  of  his  recovery?  or  is  he 
to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  misery 
and  degradation?  perhaps  with  complete 
consciousness  of  his  calamity. 

"You  have  flattered  us,  dear  sir,  for 
some  time  with  hopes  of  seeing  you;  when 
you  come  you  will  find  your  reputation 
increased,  and  with  it  the  kindness  of  those 

1  [Mr.  Maloae  here  added  a  long  note,  sur- 
mising that  this  author  and  authoress  were  Henry 
Fielding  and  hi*  ritfer;  but  he  produces  no  proof, 
and  seems  to  admit,  that  even  if  they  were  the 
lersons  meant,  they  never  coutributed.~Epf] 


friends  who  do  not  envy  you;  for  success 
always  produces  either  love  or  hatred.  I 
enter  my  name  among  those  that  love,  and 
love  you  more  and  more  in  proportion,  as 
by  writing  more  you  are  more  known;  and 
believe,  that  as  you  continue  to  diffuse 
among  us  your  integrity  and  learning,  I 
shall  he  still  with  greater  esteem  and  affec- 
tion, dear  sir,  your  most  obedient  and  most 
humble  servant,        "  Sam.  Johnson."] 

Johnson's  saying  "  I  have  no  part  in  the 
paper,  beyond  now  and  then  a  motto," 
may  seem  inconsistent  with  his  being  ther 
authour  of  the  papers  marked  T.  But  he 
had,  at  this  time,  written  only  one  number*; 


*  The  authour,  I  conceive,  is  here  in  an  errour. 
He  had  before  stated,  that  Johnson  began  to 
write  in  '<  The  Adventurer  "  on  April  10th  (when 
No.  45  was  published),  above  a  month  after  the 
date  of  his  letter  to  Dr.  Warton.  The  two  pa- 
pers published  previously  with  the  signature  T, 
and  subscribed  Mysargyrus  (No.  34  and  41), 
were  written,  I  believe,  by  Bonnet  Thornton, 
who  contributed  also  the  papers  signed  A.  This 
information  I  received  several  years  ago  ;  but  do 
not  precisely  remember  from  whom  I  derived  it. 
1^  believe,  however,  my  informer  was  Dr.  Warton. 
"  With  respect  to  No.  39,  on  Sleep,  which  our 
authour  has  ascribed  to  Johnson  (see  p.  107), 
even  if  it  were  written  by  him,  it  would  not  be 
inconsistent  with  his  statement  to  Dr.  Warton; 
for  it  appeared  on  March  20th,  near  a  fortnight 
after  the  date  of  Johnson's  letter  to  that  gentle- 
man.—But  on  considering  it  attentively,  though 
the  style  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  that  of 
Johnson,  I  believe  it  was  written  by  his  friend, 
Dr.  Bathnrst,  and  perhaps  touched  in  a  few  places 
by  Johnson.  Mr.  Boswell  has  observed,  that 
"  this  paper  not  only  has  the  general  tenure  and 
colour  of  his  style,  but  the  aulhoure  with  whom 
he  was  peculiarly  conversant  ore  readily  introdu- 
ced in  it,  in  cursory  allusion.'*  Now  the  au- 
thours  mentioned  in  that  paper  are  Fontenelle,  Mil- 
ton, Ramazziai,  Madlle.  Scuderi,  Swift,  Homer, 
Barretier,  Statins,  Cowley,  and  Sir  Thomas 
Browne.  With  many  of  these,  doubtless,  John- 
son was  particularly  conversant ;  but  I  doubt 
whether  he  would  have  characterised  the  expres- 
sion quoted  from  Swift  as  elegant ;  and  with  the 
works  of  Ramazsrini  it  b  very  improbable  that  he 
should  have  been  acquainted.  Ramazzini  was  a 
celebrated  physician,  who  died  at  Padua,  in  1714, 
at  the  age  of  8 1 ;  with  Whose  writings  Dr.  Batimnt 
may  be  supposed  to  have  been  conversant  So 
also  with  respect  to  Cowley  :  Johnson,  without 
doubt,  had  read  his  Latin  poem  on  plants  ;  but 
Bathurst's  profession  probably  led  him  to  read  it 
with  more  attention  than  his  friend  had  given  to 
it ;  and  Cowley's  eulogy  on  the-  poppy  would 
more  readily  occur  to  the  naturalist  and  the  phy- 
sician, than  to  a  more  general  reader.  I  believe, 
however,  that  the  last  paragraph  of  the  paper  on 
Sleep,  in  which  Sir  Thomas  Browne  is  quoted, 
to  show  the  propriety  of  prayer,  before  we  lie 
down  to  rest,  was  added  by  Johnson. — Malohe. 
[There  is  a  great  confusion  and,  as  it  seems, 


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17SS.— JBTAT*  44. 


09 


and  besides,  even  at  any  after  period,  he 
might  hare  used  the  same  expression,  con- 
sidering it  as  a  point  of  honour  not  to  own 
them;  for  Mrs.  Williams  told  me  that,"  as 
be  had  pven  those  Essays  to  Dr.  Bathurst, 
who  sou  them  at  two  guineas  each,  he 
never  would  own  them:  nay,  he  used  to 
sty  he  did  not  write  them :  but  the  fact 
was,  that  he  dictated  them  while  Bathurst 
wrote."  I  read  to  him  Mrs.  Williams's 
account;  he  smiled  and  said  nothing. 

I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with  the  casuis- 
try1 by  which  the  productions  of  one  per- 
son are  thus  passed  upon  the  world  for  the 
productions  of  another.  I  allow  that  not 
only  knowledge,  but  powers  and  qualities 
of  mind  may  be  communicated;  but  the  ac- 
tual effect  of  individual  exertion  never  can 
be  transferred,  with  truth,  to  any  other 
than  its  own  original  cause.     One  person's 

several  anon  in  Mr.  Boswell's  and  Mr.  Malone's 
aceoont  of  Johnson's  share  in  the  Adventurer,  bat 
it  may  be  confidently  asserted,  on  the  evidence 
af  Dr.  Warton,  and  on  Johnson's  own  confession 
to  Miss  Boothby  (Letters,  p.  48),  that  he  wrote 
•11  those  marked  with  the  signature  T.  of  which 
Na.  89  on  Sleep  is  one.  The  only  difficulty  is, 
that  on  the  Sth  March  he  tells  Dr.  Warton  that 
he  had  **  no  part  in  the  paper,"  and  that  one  of* 
the  letters  of  Mysargyrus,  marked  T.,  was  pub- 
fahed  on  the  3d :  but  Johnson,  whether  he  gave 
sane  of  these  essays  to  Dr.  Bathurst  or  not,  pro- 
bably did  not  consider  himself  as  having,  by  the 
writing  one  letter,  a  purr,— that  is,  a  proprieta- 
ry or  responsible  part, —in  the  paper ;  and 
even  if  the  letters  principally  in  question  had  not 
had  the  mark  T.f  the  pedantic  signature  My- 
targyrus  would  have  been  enough  to  lead  us  to 
ssjpect  that  they  were  Johnson's.  Almost  all 
the  names,  whether  of  men  or  women,  affixed  to 
the  letters  m  the  Rambler  and  Idler  are  of  the 
same  class. — Ed.] 

1  [Mr.  Boswell's  reprehension  of  this  casuistry 
seems  just  and  candid.  A  man  may  undoubtedly 
ad  the  works  of  his  mind  as  well  as  of  his  hands, 
bat  in  neither  case  can  falsehood  (which  might 
become  fraud)  be  justified.  Dollond  would 
have  had  a  perfect  right  to  present  a  friend  with 
ase  of  his  instruments  to  be  sold  to  that  friend's 
advantage,  but  he  would  not  have  been  justifiable 
ia  allowing  another  maker  to  use  his  name.  If 
a  pabuaher  had,  on  the  strength  of  these  papers 
ia  the  Adventurer,  offered  Dr.  Bathurst  a  large 
shea  for  a  literary  work,  could  Johnson  have 
poerfbry  acquiesced  in  such  a  mistake?  But  after 
all,  it  seems  doubtful  that  Johnson  did  give  up  all 
las  share  of  the  profits  of  the  Adventurer  to  Dr. 
Bathurst,  who,  as  Hawkins  says,  wrote  the  pa- 
ps* marked  A.  Johnson  was  at  this  period  in 
fieat  pecuniary  distress — greater,  we  may  sup- 
pose, than  Bathurst  was  likely  to  be  in.  Mr. 
Chalmers  treats  lightly  Dr.  Johnson's  seeming  ac- 
ejBieseence  in  Mrs.  Williams's  statement :  "  Dr. 
.  Jahnson,''  says  he,  '<  probably  smiled  to  see  his 
friend  puzzling  himself  with  a  difficulty  which  a 
■Jain  question  could  in  a  moment  have  removed." 
—Brit.  E$s.  vol.  xxiii.  p.  82. — Ed.] 


child  may  be  made  the  child  of  another 
person  by  adoption,  as  among  the  Romans, 
or  by  the  ancient  Jewish  mode  of  a  wife 
having  children  borne  te>  her  npon  her 
knees,  by  her  handmaid.  But  these  were 
children  in  a  different  sense  from  that  of 
nature.  It  was  clearly  understood  that 
they  were  not  of  the  blood  of  their  nomin- 
al parents.  So  in  literary  children,  an  au- 
thour  may  give  the  profits  and  fame  of  bis 
composition  to  another  man,  but  cannot 
make  that  other  the  real  authour.  A  High- 
land gentleman,  a  younger  branch  of  a  fam- 
ily, once  consulted  me  it  he  could  not  valid- 
ly purchase  the  chieftainship  of  his  family 
from  the  chief,  who  was  willing  to  sell  it. 
I  told  him  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  ac- 
quire, by  purchase,  a  right  to  be  a  different 
person  from  what  he  really  was;  for  that 
the  right  of  chieftainship  attached  to  the 
blood  of  primogeniture,  and,  therefore,  was 
incapable  of  being  transferred.  I  added, 
that  though  Esau  sold  his  birthright,  or 
the  advantages  belonging  to  it,  he  still  re- 
mained the  first-born  of  his  parents;  and 
that  whatever  agreement  a  chief  might 
make  with  any  of  the  clan,  the  heralds'-o£ 
fice  could  not  admit  of  the  metamorphosis, 
or  with  any  decency  attest  that  the  young- 
er was  the  elder;  but  I  did  not  convince  the 
worthy  gentleman. 

Johnson's  papers  in  the  Adventurer  are 
very  similar  to  those  of  the  Rambler3;  but 
being  rather  more  varied  in  their  subjects, 
and  being  mixed  with  essays  by  other  wri- 
ters, upon  topicks  more  generally  attractive 
than  even  the  most  elegant  ethical  dis- 
courses, the  sale  of  the  work,  at  first,  was 
more  extensive.  Without  meaning,  how- 
ever, to  depreciate  the  Adventurer,  I  must 
observe,  that  as  the  value  of  the  Rambler 
came,  in  the  progress  of  time,  to  be  better 
known,  it  grew  upon  the  publick  estimation, 
and  that  its  sale, has  far  exceeded  that  of 
any  other  periodical  papers  since  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne. 

In  one  ofjhe  books  of  his  diary  I  find  the 
following  entry: 

"  Apr.  3,  1753.  I  began  the  second  vol. 
of  my  Dictionary,  room  being  left  in  the 
first  for  Preface,  Grammar,  and  History, 
none  of  them  yet  begun. 

"  O  God,  who  hast  hitherto  supported 
me,  enable  me  to  proceed  in  this  labour, 


*  Dr.  Johnson  lowered  and  somewhat  dis- 
guised his  style,  in  writing  the  Adventurers,  in 
order  that  has  papers  might  pass  for  those  of  Dr. 
Bathurst  to  whom  he  consigned  the  profits.  Ttiia 
was  Hawkesworth's  opinion. — Bun  net. 

[This  seems  very  improbable  ;-ft  is  much  more 
likely  that,  observing  and  feeling  that  a  lighter 
style  was  better  suited  to  such  essays,  he,  with 
his  natural  good  sense,  fell  a  little  into  the  easier 
manner  of  h*  colleagues.  See  ante,  p.  102,  it. 
—En.] 


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■ad  in  the  whole  task  of  my  present  state; 
■ad  when  I  shall  render  up,  at  the  last  day, 
an  account  of  the  talent  committed  to  me, 
I  may  receive  pardon,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus 
Christ.    Amen." 

P'DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  RICHARDSON. 

L  "SStfaSepwttsS. 

"Dear  sir, — I  return  you  my  sincerest 
thanks  for  the  volumes  of  your  new  work*; 
but  it  is  a  kind  of  tyrannical  kindness  to  give 
only  so  much  at  a  time,  as  makes  more 
longed  for;  but  that  will  probably  *  be 
thought,  even  of  the  whole,  when  you  have 
given  it. 

"  I  have  no  objection  but  to  the  preface, 
in  which  you  first  mention  the  letters  as 
fallen  by  some  chance  into  your  hands,  and 
afterwards  mention  your  health  as  such, 
that  you  almost  despaired  of  going  through 
your  plan.  If  you  were  to  require  my 
opinion  which  part  should  be  changed,  I 
should  be  inclined  to  the  suppression  of  that 
part  which  seems  to  disclaim  the  composi- 
tion. What  is  modesty,  if  it  deserts  from 
truth?  Of  what  use  is  the  disguise  by 
which  nothing  is  concealed?  . 

"You  must  forgive  this,  because  it  is 
meant  welL 

"  I  thank  you  once  more,  dear  sir,  for 
your  books;  but  cannot  I  prevail  this  time 
for  an  index  ? — such  I  wished,  and  shall  wish, 
to  Clarissa  9.  Suppose  that  in  one  volume 
an  accurate  index  was  made  to  the  three 
works— but  while  I  am  writing  an  objection 
arises—such  an  index  to  the  three  would 
look  like  the  preclusion  of  a  fourth,  to  which 
I  will  never  contribute;  for  if  I  cannot  bene- 
fit mankind,  I  hope  never  to  injure  them.  I 
am,  sir,  your  most  obliged  and  most  hum- 
ble servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson."] 

He  this  year  favoured  Mrs.  Lenox  with 
a  Dedication*  to  the  Earl  of  Orrery,  of  her 
"  Shakspeare  Illustrated  «." 


1  [Sir  Charles  Graitdnon,  which  *was  original- 
ly published  in  successive  volumes.  This  re- 
lates to  the  sixth  and  seventh  volumes. — Ed.] 

•  Richardson  adopted  Johnson's  hint ;  for  in 
1765  he  published  in  octavo,  "  A  Collection  of 
the  Moral  and  Instructive  Sentiments,  Maxims, 
Cautions,  and  Reflections,  contained  in  the  His- 
tories of  Pamela,  Clarissa,  and  Sir  Charles  Gran- 
dison,  digested  under  proper  heads."  It  is  re- 
markable, that  both  to  this  book,  and  to  the  first 
two  volumes  of  Clarissa,  is  prefixed  a  Preface  by 
a  friend.  The  "  friend,"  in  this  latter  instance, 
was  the  celebrated  Dr.  Warburton. — Malone. 

*  [Dr.  Warton,  in  a  letter  to  his  brother,  7th 
June,  1758,  says,  "I want  to  see  Charlotte 
Lennox's  book,"  upon  which  Mr.  Wooll  adds  the 
following  note  :  «« This  eminently  learned  lady 
translated  the  Enchiridion  of  Epictetus,  and  the 
Greek  Theatre  of  Le  P6re  Brurooy."— Life  of 
W.  p.  217.    Poor  Airs.  Lennox  had  no  claim 


In  1754  I  can  trace  nothing  published  by 
him,  except  his  numbers  of  the  Adventurer, 
and  "  The  Life  of  Edward  Cave*,"  in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  for  February.  In 
biography  there  can  be  no  Question  that  W 
excelled,  beyond  all  who  have  attempted 
that  species  of  composition;  upon  which, 
indeed,  he  set  the  highest  value.  To  the 
minute  selection  4  of  characteristical  circum- 
stances, for  which  the  ancients  were  remark- 
able, he  added  a  philosophical  research,  and 
the  most  perspicuous  and  energetick  lan- 
guage. Cave  was  certainly  a  man  of  esti- 
mable qualities,  and  was  eminently  diligent 
and  successful  in  his  own  business,  which, 
doubtless,  entitled  him  to  respect  But  he 
was  peculiarly  fortunate  in  being  recorded 
by  Johnson;  who,  of  the  narrow  life  of  a 
printer  and  publisher,  without  any  digres- 
sion or  adventitious  circumstances,  has  made 
an  interesting  and  agreeable  narrative. 

The  Dictionary,  we  may  believe,  afforded 
Johnson  full  occupation  this  year.  As  it 
approached  to  its  conclusion,  he  probably 
worked  with  redoubled  vigour,  as  seamen 
increase  their  exertions  and  alacrity  when 
they  have  a  near  prospect  of  their  haven. 

Lord  Chesterfield,  to  whom  Johnson  had 
paid  the  high  compliment  of  addressing  to 
his  lordship  the  Plan  of  his  Dictionary,  had 
behaved  to  him  in  such  a  manner  as  to  ex- 
cite his  contempt  and  indignation.  The 
world  has  been  for  many  years  amused  with 
a  story  confidently  told,  and  as  confidently 
repeated  with  additional  circumstances,  that 
a  sudden  disgust  was  taken  by  Johnson  upon 
occasion  of  his  having  been  one  day  kept 
long  in  waiting  in  his  lordship's  antecham- 
ber, for  which  the  reason  assigned  was,  that 
he  had  company  with  him;  and  that  at  last, 
when  the  door  opened,  out  walked  CoUey 
Gibber;  and' that  Johnson  was  so  violently 
provoked  when  he  found  for  whom  he  had 
been  so  long  excluded,  that  he  went  away 


to  the  title  of  «*  an  eminently  learned  lady.9* 
She  did  not  translate  Epictetus ;  and  her  trans- 
lation from  the  French  of  Brumoy  was  not  pub- 
lished till  1769.  It  was  probably  her  above-* 
mentioned  book  on  Shakspeare  that  Dr.  Warton 
was  desirous  of  seeing  in  1763. — Ed.] 

4  [This  is  not  Johnson's  appropriate  praise; 
and  indeed  his  want  of  attention  to  details  is  his 
greatest  if  not  his  only  fault  as  a  biographer.  la 
the  whole  Life  of  Savage  there  is  not  one  date: 
and  no  one,  from  his  Life  of  Cave,  would  have 
imagined  that  Cave  had  been  invited  to  meet  the 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  at  a  country-house. 
Several  details  and  corrections  of  errors,  with 
which  he  was  furnished  for  his  Lives  of  the  Po- 
ets, were  wholly  neglected.  But  in  truth  Mr. 
Bosvcell  himself  has,  more  than  any  other  writer, 
contributed  to  create  the  public  taste  for  biographi- 
cal details ;  "  the  minute  selection  of  character 
wtic  circumstances,''  was  neither  the  style  of 
Johnson,  nor  the  fashion  of  his  day. — Ed.] 


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^ 


lit  peamn,  and  never  would  return.  I 
member  hiving  mentioned  this  story  to 
Getege  Lord  Lytteiton,  who  told  me  he 
wm  very  intimate  with  Lord  Chesterfield  ; 
tad  holding  it  as  a  well-known  truth,  de- 
fended Lord  Chesterfield  by  saying,  that 
"  Gibber,  who  had  been  introduced  familiar- 
ly by  the  back-stairs,  had  probably  not  been 
there  above  ten  minutes'"  It  may  seem 
strange  even  to  entertain  a  doubt  concern- 
ing a  story  so  long  and  so  widely  current, 
sad  thus  implicitly  adopted,  if  not  sanction- 
ed, fav  the  authority  which  I  have  men- 
tioned ;  but  Johnson  himself  assured  me, 
tkat  there  was  not  the  least  foundation  for 
it  K  He  told  me,  that  there  never  was  any 
particular  incident  which  produced  a  quar- 
rel between  Lord  Chesterfield  and  him;  but 
that  his  lordship's  continued  neglect*  was 


1  (Hawkins,  who  lived  much  with  Johnson, 
abort  thii  period,  attributes  the  breach  between 
amend  Lord  Chesterfield  to  the  offence  taken  by 
Mason  at  being  kept  waiting  daring  a  visit  of 
CSbeer's  ;  and  Johnson  himself,  in  his  celebrated 
letter,  seams  to  give  colour  to  this  latter  opinion. 
He  ssjs :  **  It  is  seven  yean  since  I  waited  in 
fssr  setter  room;  or  was  repulsed  from  your 
sssr,  daring  which  I  have  poshed  my  work  to 
las  veqm  of  publication  without  one  act  of  assis- 


w  >  of  publication 
nmee,  one  word  of  encouragement,  or  one  smile 
of  favour  ;  the  expressions,  "  waited  in  your 
mster  rooms1*  and  repulsed  from  your  door  " 
certainly  gave  colour  to  "  the  long  current  and  im- 
pnafly  adopted  story  "  as  told  by  Hawkins,  and 
ssacuoned  by  Lord  Lytteiton.  In  all  this  affair, 
Johnson's  account,  as  given  by  Poswell,  is  in- 
volved in  inconsistencies,  which  seem  to  prove 
that  has  pride,  or  his  waywardness,  had  taken  of- 
fines  at  what  he  afterwards  feh,  in  his  own  heart, 
to  be  no  adequate  cause  of  animosity. — Ed.] 

1 1  Why  was  it  to  be  expected  that  Lord  Ches- 
tsnVdd  should  cultivate  his  private  acquaintance  ? 
tast  he  did  not  do  so,  was  a  toss  to  his  lordship  ; 
and  the  "  amour  propre  "  of  Johnson  might  be 
(at,  indeed,  it  probably  was)  offended  at  that  ne- 
ifat,  bat  surely  it  was  no  ground  for  the  kind  of 
chug*  which  is  made  against  his  lordship. 

Bat  even  this  neglect  of  Johnson's  acquaintance 
»  not  without  some  excuse.  Johnson's  personal 
annnem  and  habits,  even  at  a  later  and  more  pol- 
hued  period  of  his  life,  would  probably  not  have 
been  much  to  Lord  Chesterfield's  taste  ;  but  it 
aust  be  remembered,  that  Johnson's  introduction 
*fwd  Chesterfield  did  not  take  place  till  his 
hnldnp  was  past  fifty,  and  he  was  soon  after  at- 
tacked by  a  disease  which  estranged  him  from 
Matty.  *Hie  neglect  lasted,  H  is  charged,  from 
1748  to  1755  :  the  following  extracts  of  his  pri- 
**fe  letters  to  his  most  intimate  friends  will  prove 
fat  daring  that  period  Lord  Chesterfield  may  be 
•ttssed  for  not  cultivating  Johnson's  society  : — 

Mth  January,  1749. — "  My  old  disorder  in 
By  bead  hindered  me  from  acknowledging  your 
fcnaer  letters." 

10th  June,  1752. — "  I  am  here  in  my  hernii- 
*t*>*e>y  deaf,  and  consequently  alone  j.but  I 


the  reason  why  he  resolved  to  have  no  con- 
nexion with  him.  When  the  Dictionary 
was  upon  the  eve  of  publication,  Lord  Ches- 
terfield, who,  it  is  said,  had  flattered  him* 
self  with  expectations  that  Johnson  would 
dedicate  the  work  to  him,  attempted,  in  a 
courtly  manner,  to  soothe  and  insinuate 
himself  with  the  sage,  conscious,  as  it  should 
seem,  of  the  cold  indifference  with  which  he 
had  treated  its  learned  authour:  and  fur- 
ther attempted  to  conciliate  him,  by  writing 
two  papers  in  "The  World,"  in  recom- 
mendation of  the  work;  and  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, that  they  contain  some  studied  com- 
pliments, so  finely  turned,  that  if  there  had 
been  no  previous  offence,  it  is  probable  that 
Johnson  would  have  been  highly  delighted. 
Praise,  in  general,  was  pleasing  to  him;  but 


am  leu  dejected  than  most  people  in  my  situ- 
ation would  be." 

11th  Nov.  1752.—"  The  waters  have  done  my 
head  some  good,  but  not  enough  to  refit  me  for 
social  hfe." 

16th  Feb.  1753.—"  I  grow  deafer,  and  conse- 
quently more  '  isoli '  from  society  every  day." 

10th  Oct  1758.— "I  belong  no  more  to  so- 
cial Iffe,  which,  when  I  quitted  busy  publick 
life,  I  flattered  myself  would  be  the  comfort  of 
my  declining  age." 

16th  Nov.  175S. — "  I  give  up  all  hopes  of  cure. 
I  know  my  place  and  form  my  plan  accordingly, 
for  /  strike  society  out  of  it. ' ' 

7th  Feb.  1754. — "  At  my  age,  and  with  my 
shattered  constitution,  freedom  from  pain  is  the 
best  I  can  expect" 

1st  March,  1754. — "  I  am  too  much  isoli,  too 
much  secluded  either  from-the  busy  or  the  beau 
monde,  to  give  you  any  account  of  either." 

25th  Sept  1754.—"  In  truth,  all  the  ia&jnities 
of  an  age  still  more  advanced  than  mine  crowd 
upon  me.  In  this  situation  you  will  easily  sup- 
pose that  I  have  no  pleasant  houra." 

10th  July,  1755. — "  My  deafness  is  extremely 
increased,  and  daily  increasing,  and  cuts  me 
wholly  off  from  the  society  of  others,  and  my 
other  complaints  deny  me  the  society  of  myself." 

Johnson,  perhaps,  knew  nothing  of  aU  this, 
and  imagined  that  Lord  Chesterfield  declined  his 
acquaintance  on  some  opinion  derogatory  to  his 
personal  pretensions.  Mr.  Tyers  however,  who 
knew  Johnson  early  and  more  familiarly  than  the 
other  biographers,  suggests  a  more  precise  and 
probable  ground  for  Johnson's  animosity  than 
Boswell  gives,  by  hinting  that  Johnson  expected 
some  pecuniary  assistance  from  Lord  Chester- 
field. He  says,  "  It  does  not  appear  that  Lord 
Chesterfield  showed  any  substantial  proofs  of  ap- 
probation to  our  philo'.oger.  A  small  present 
Johnson  would  liave  disdained,  and  he  was  not 
of  a  temper  to  put  up  with  the  affront  of  a  oVa* 
appointment.  He  revenged  himself  in  a  letter 
to  his  lordship  written  with  great  acrimony. 
Lord  Chesterfield  indeed  commends  and  recom- 
mends Mr.  Johnson's  Dictionary  in  two  or  three 
numbers  of  the  World  :  but  '  not  words  alone 
please  him.*  "— Biog.  Sketch,  p.  7.— En.] 


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by  praise  from  a  man  of  rank  and  elegant 
accomplishments,  he  was  peculiarly  grati- 
fied. 

His  lordship  says, "  I  think  the  publick  in 
general,  and  the  republick  of  letters  in  par- 
ticular, are  greatly  obliged  to  Mr.  Johnson, 
ibr  having  undertaken  and  executed  so  great 
and  desirable  a  work.  Perfection  is  not  to 
be  expected  from  man:  but  if  we  are  to 
judge  oy  the  various  works  of  Johnson  al- 
ready published,  we  have  good  reason  to 
believe,  that  he  will  bring  this  as  near  to 
perfection  as  any  man  could  do.  The  plan 
of  it,  which  he  published  some  years  ago, 
seems  to  me  to  be  a  proof  of  it.  Nothing 
can  be  more  rationally  imagined,  or  more 
accurately  and  elegantly  expressed.  I  there- 
fore recommend  the  previous  perusal  of  it 
to  all  those  who  intend  to  buy  the  Diction- 
ary, and  who,  I  suppose,  are  all  those  who 
can  afford  it 

•  •  •  •  • 

"  It  must  be  owned,  that  our  language 
is,  at  present,  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  and 
hitherto,  perhaps,  it  may  not  have  been  the 
worse  for  it.  During  our  free  and  open 
trade,  many  words  and  expressions  have 
been  imported,  adopted,  and  naturalized 
from  other  languages,  which  have  greatly 
enriched  our  own.  Let  it  still  preserve  what 
real  strength,  and  beauty  it  may  have  bor- 
rowed from  others;  but  let  it  not,  like  the 
Tarpeian  maid,  be  overwhelmed  and  crush- 
ed by  unnecessary  ornaments.  The  time 
for  discrimination  seems  to  be  now  come. 
Toleration,  adoption,  and  naturalization 
have  run  their  lengths.  Good  order  and 
authority  are  now  necessary.  But  where 
shall  we  find  them,  and  at  the  same  time, 
the  obedience  due  to  them  ?  We  must  have 
recourse  to  the  old  Roman  expedient  in 
times  of  confusion,  and  choose  a  dictator. 
Upon  this  principle  I  give  my  vote  for  Mr. 
Johnson,  to  fill  that  great  and  arduous  post; 
and  I  hereby  declare  that  I  make  a  total 
surrender  of  all  my  rights  and  privileges  in 
the  English  language,  as  a  free-Dorn  British 
subject,  to  the  said  Mr.  Johnson,  during 
the  term  of  his  dictatorship.  Nay  more,  I 
will  not  only  obey  him  like  an  okl  Roman, 
as  my  dictator,  but,  like  a  modern  Roman, 
I  will  implicitly  believe  in  him  as  my  pope, 
and  hold  him  to  be  infallible  while  in  the 
chair,  but  no  longer.  More  than  this  he 
cannot  well  require;  for,  I  presume,  that 
'  obedience  can  never  be  expected,  when  there 
is  neither  terrour  to  enforce,  nor  interest  to 
invite  it. 

*  •  •  •  • 

"  But  a  Grammar,  a  Dictionary,  and  a 
History  of  our  Language,  through  its  sev- 
eral stages,  were  still  wanting  at  home,  and 
importunately  called  for  from  abroad.  Mr. 
Johnson's  labours  will  now,  I  dare  say,  very 
fully  supply  that  want,  and  greatly  contri- 


bute to  the  farther  spreading  of  our  language 
in  other  countries.  Learners  were  discour- 
aged, by  finding  no  standard  to  resort  to: 
and,  consequently,  thought  it  incapable  of 
any.  They  will  now  be  undeceived  and 
encouraged." 

This  courtly  device  failed  of  its  effect. 
Johnson,  who  thought  that  "  all  was  false 
and  hollow,"  despised  the  honeyed  words, 
and  was  even  indignant  that  Lord  Ches- 
terfield should,  for  a  moment,  imagine  that 
he  could  be  the  dupe  of  such  an  artifice  K 
His  expression  to  me  concerning  Lord  Ches- 
terfield, upon  this  occasion,  was,  "  Sir,  after 
making  great  professions,  he  had,  for  many 

S»ars,  taken  no  notice  of  me;  but  when  my 
ictionary  was  coming  out,  he  fell  a  scrib- 
bling in  cThe  World*  about  it.  Upon 
which,  I  wrote  him  a  letter  expressed  in 
civil  terms,  but  such  as  might  show  him 
that  I  did  not  mind  what  he  said  or  wrote, 
and  that  I  had  done  withliim." 

This  is  that  celebrated  letter  of  which  so 
much  has  been  said,  and  about  which  curi- 
osity has  been  so  long  excited,  without  being 
gratified.  I  for  many  years  solicited  John- 
son to  favour  me  with  a  copy  of  it,  that  so 
excellent  a  composition  might  not  be  lost 
to  posterity.  He  delayed  from  time  to  time 
to  give  it  to  me2;  till  at  last,  in  1781,  when 
we  were  on  a  visit  at  Mr.  D  illy '8,  at  Sou  thin 
in  Bedfordshire,  he  was  pleased  to  dictate 
it  to  me  from  memory.  He  afterwards 
found  among  his  papers  a  copy  of  it,  which 
he  had  dictated  to  Mr.  Baretti,  with  its 
title  and  corrections,  in  his  own  hand-writ- 
ing. This  he  gave  to  Mr.  Langton;  adding 
that  if  it  were  to  come  into  print,  he  wished 
it  to  be  from  that  copy.  By  Mr.  Langtonto 
kindness,  I  am  enabled  to  enrich  my  work 
with  a  perfect  transcript  of  what  the  world 
has  so  eagerly  desired  to  see. 

"to  the  earl  of  chesterfield. 

"7th  February,  ITS*, 

"  My  lord, — I  have  been  lately  informed, 
by  the  proprietor  of c  The  World,'  that  two 

1  [It  does  not  appear  that  there  was  any  thing 
like  "  device1'  or  "  artifice."— En.] 

*  Dr.  Johnson  appeared  to  have  had  a  remarka- 
ble delicacy  with  respect  to  the  circulation  of  this 
letter;  for  Dr.  Douglas,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  in- 
forms me,  that  having  many  years  ago  pressed 
him  to  be  allowed  to  read  it  to  the  second  Lord 
Hardwicke,  who  was  very  desirous  to  hear  it 
(promising  at  the  same  time,  that  no  copy  of  it 
should  be  taken),  Johnson  seemed  much  pleased 
that  it  had  attracted  the  attention  of  a  nobleman 
of  such  respectable  character;  but  after  pausing 
some  time,  declined  to  comply  who  the  request, 
saying,  with  a  smile,  "  No  Sir;  I  have  hurt  the 
dog  too  much  already ;"  or  wordt  to  that  purpose. 
—Bos well.  [Thar  admission  favours  the  edi- 
tor's opinion  that  Johnson,  when  the  first  ebulli- 
tion of  temper  had  subsided,  felt  that  he  had  been 
unrealonably  violent. — En.] 


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oogle 


I 


1754.— >ETAT.  45. 


113 


papers,  in  which  my  Dictionary  is  recom- 
mended to  the  publick,  were  written  by 
tow  lordship.  To  be  so  disti  ngirished  is  an 
honour,  which,  being  very  little  accustomed 
to  fivoure  from  the  great,  I  know  not  well 
how  to  receive,  or  in  what  terms  to  acknow- 
ledge. 

"When,  upon  some  slight  encourage- 
ment, I  first  visited  your  lordship,  I  was 
overpowered,  like  the  restof  mankind,  by  the 
enchantment  of  your  address,  and  could  not 
forbear  to  wish  that  I  might  boast  myself 
Lewrinqueur  du  vainqueur  de  la  terre l  : — 
that  I  might  obtain  that  regard  for  which  I 
saw  the  world  contending ;  but  I  found  my 
attendance  so  little  encouraged,  that  neither 
pride  nor  modesty  would  suffer  me  to  con- 
tinue it  When  I  had  once  addressed  your 
lordship  in  publick,  I  had  exhausted  all  the 
art  of  pleasing  which  a  retired  and  uncourtly 
scholar  can  possess.  I  had  done  all  that  I 
coald ;  and  no  man  is  well  pleased  to  have 
his  all  neglected,  be  it  ever  so  little. 

"  Seven  years,  my  lord,  have  now  past, 
since  I  waited  in  your  outward  rooms,  or 
was  repulsed  from  your  door ;  during  which 
time  I  have  been  pushing  on  my  work 
through  difficulties,  of  which  it  is  useless  to 
complain,  and  have  brought  it,  at  last,  to 
the  verge  of  publication,  without  one  act  of 
assistance2,  one  word  of  encouragement,  or 
one  smile  of  favour.  Such  treatment  I  did 
not  expect,  for  I  never  had  a  patron  before. 
"The  shepherd  in  Virgil  grew  at  last  ac- 
quainted witn  Love,  and  found  him  a  na- 
tive of  the  rocks3. 


1  [No  very  moderate  expectation  for  "  a  re- 
tired and  aneourtly  scholar!" — Ed.] 

*  The  following  note  is  subjoined  by  Mr.  Lang- 
ton:  "  Dr.  Johnson,  when  he  gave  me  this  copy 
of  hii  letter,  desired  that  I  would  annex  to  it  hi 
iafennation  to  me,  that  whereas  it  is  said  in  the 
letter,  that '  no  assistance  had  been  received,'  he 
bid  once  receive  from  Lord  Chesterfield  the  sum 
often  pounds;  bat  as  that  was  so  inconsiderable 
a  am,  he  thought  the  mention  of  it  could  not 
properly  find  a  place  in  a  letter  of  the  kind  that 
thai  was." — Bo  swill.  [This  sorely  is  an  un- 
satisfactory excuse;  for  the  sum,  though  now  so 
inconsiderable,  was  one  which  many  years  before, 
Johnson  tells  us,  that  Paul  Whitehead,  then  a 
isshionable  poet,  received  for  a  new  work;  it  was 
as  much  as  Johnson  himself  had  received  lor  the 
copyright  of  his  best  poetical  production:  and 
when  Dr.  Madden,  some  years  after,  gare  him  the 
same  sum  lor  revising  a  work  of  his,  Johnson  said 
that  the  Doctor  "  was  eery  generous,  for  ten 
guineas  was  to  me,  at  that  time,  a  great  sum" 
(sea  post,  1766).  When  Johnson  alleged  against 
Lard  Chesterfield  such  a  trifle  as  the  waiting  in 
at*  anteroom,  he  ought  not  to  have  omitted  a 


er7 


s  [The  editor  confesses  that  he  does  not  see 
the  object  of  this  ajhwoo;  if  some  more  ' 

TOL.    I.  15 


"  Is  not  a  patron,  my  lord,  one  who  looks 
with  unconcern  on  a  man  struggling  for  life 
in  the  water,  and,  when  he  has  reached 
ground,  encumbers  him  with  help?  The 
notice  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  take 
of  my  labours,  had  it  been  early  ',  had  been 
kind  ;  but  it  has  been  delayed  till  I  am  in- 
different, and  cannot  enjoy  it ;  till  I  am  sol- 
itary, and  cannot  impart  it*;  till  I  am 
known,  and  do  not  want  it  I  hope  it  is 
no  very  cynical  asperity,  not  to  confess  ob- 
ligations where  no  benefit  has  been  received, 
or  to  be  unwilling  that  the  publick  should 
consider  me  as  owing  that  to  a  patron, 
which  Providence  has  enabled  me  to  do 
for  myself. 

"Having  carried  on  my  work  thus  far 
with  so  little  obligation  to  any  favourer  of 
learning,  I  shall  not  be  disappointed  though 
I  should  conclude  it,  if  less  be  possible,  with 
less ;  for  I  have  been  Ions;  wakened  from 
that  dream  of  hope,  in  which  I  once  boast- 
ed myself  with  so  much  exultation.  My 
lord,  your  lordship's  most  humble,  most 
obedient  servant,       "Sam.  Johnson*." 

"  While  this  was  the  talk  of  the  town  7, 
(says  Dr.  Adams,  in  a  letter  to  me)  I  hap- 
pened to  visit  Dr.  Warburton,  who,  finding 
that  I  was  acquainted  with  Johnson,  de- 
sired me  earnestly  to  carry  his  compliments 
to  him,  and  to  tell  him,  that  he  honoured 
him  for  his  manly  behaviour  in  rejecting 


eye  should  discover  a  meaning,  it  must  still  be 
admitted  to  be  pedantic.-— Ed.] 

«  [The  notice*  could  not  have  been,  for  any 
useful  purpose,  taken  earlier.  Johnson  might 
have  complained  that  notice  of  some  other  land 
had  not  been  taken,  hut  "  the  notice  which  hie 
lordship  was  pleased  to  take39  was  'peculiarly 
well  timed,  and  could  not  properly  have  come 
sooner. — Ed.] 

•  In  this  passage  Dr.  Johnson  evidently  alludes 
to  the  loss  of  his  wife.  We  find  the  same  tender 
recollection  recurring  to  his  mind  upon  innumera- 
ble occasions :  and  perhaps  no  man  ever  mors 
forcibly  felt  the  truth  of  the  sentiment  so  elegantly 
expressed  by  my  friend  Mr.  Malone,  in  his  pro- 
logue to  Mr.  Jephson's  tragedy  of  Julia: 

<*  Vain— wealth,  and  flune,  and  fortune*!  tottering  ears, 
If  no  food  breast  the  splendid  bleaalnga  ehare  j 
And,  each  day'a  buttling  pageantry  once  paat, 
There,  only  there,  our  bike  it  found  at  la*."— BotwcLL. 

0  Upon  comparing  this  copy  with  that  which 
Dr.  Johnson  dictated  to  me  from  recollection,  the 
variations  are  found  to  be  so  slight,  that  this  must 
be  added  to  the  many  other  proofs  which  he  gave 
of  the  wonderful  extent  and  accuracy  of  his  mem- 
ory. To  gratify  the  curious  in  composition.  I  have 
deposited  both  the  copies  in  the  British  Museum. 
— Boswbxl. 

7  If  this  letter  was  the  talk  of  the  town,  it  ap- 
fiom  all  the  evidence,  that  H  must  have 
known  through  Lord  Chesterfield,  as 
Johnson  always  refined  to  let  it  he  seen^-ED.] 


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114 


1704.— ^TAT.  45. 


these  condescensions  of  Lord  Chesterfield, 
and  for  resenting  the  treatment  he  had  re- 
ceived from  him  with  a  proper  spirit.  John- 
son was  visibly  pleased  with  this  compli- 
ment, for  he  had  always  a  high  opinion  of 
Warburton  K"  Indeed,  the  force  of  mind 
which  appeared  in  this  letter  was  congeni- 
al with  that  which  Warburton  himself  am- 
ply possessed. 

There  is  a  curious  minute  circumstance 
which  struck  me,  in  comparing  the  various 
editions  of  Johnson's  Imitations  of  Juve- 
nal. In  the  tenth  Satire  one  of  the  coup- 
lets upon  the  vanity  of  wishes  even  for  lit- 
erary distinction  stood  thus: 

"  Yet  think  what  ills  the  scholar's  life  assail, 
Toil,  envy,  want,  the  garret,  and  the  jail." 

But  after  experiencing  the  uneasiness  which 
Lord  Chesterfield's  fallacious  patronsge 
made  him  feel,  he  dismissed  the  word  gar- 
ret from  the  sad  group,  and  in  all  the  sub- 
sequent editions  the  line  stands, 

"  Toil,  envy,  want,  the  Patron,  and  the  jail." 

That  Lord  Chesterfield  must  have  been 
mortified  by  the  lofty  contempt,  and  polite, 
yet  keen,  satire  with  which  Johnson  exhib- 
ited him  to  himself  in  this  letter,  it  is  im- 
possible to  doubt.  He,  however,  with  that 
glossy  duplicity  which  was  his  constant 
study,  affected  to  be  quite  unconcerned. 
Dr.  Adams  mentioned  to  Mr.  Robert  Dods- 
lev  that  he  was  sorry  Johnson  had  written 
his  letter  to  Lord  Chesterfield.  Dodsley, 
with  the  true  feelings  of  trade,  said,  "  he 
was  very  sorry  too;  for  that  he  had  a  pro- 
perty in  the  Dictionary,  to  which  his  lord- 
ship's patronage  might  have  been  of  con- 
sequence." He  then  told  Dr.  Adams,  that 
Lord  Chesterfield  had  shown  him  the  let- 
ter. "  I  should  have  imagined  (replied  Dr. 
Adams)  that  Lord  Chesterfield  would  have 
concealed  it."  "Poh!  (said  Dodsley)  do 
you  think  a  letter  from  Johnson  could  hurt 
Lord  Chesterfield?  Not  at  all,  sir.  It  lay 
upon  his  table,  where  any  body  might  see 
it.  He  read  it  to  me;  said, ( this  roan  has 
great  powers,'  pointed  out  the  severest  pas- 
sages, and  observed  how  well  they  were 

1  Soon  after  Edwards's  *'  Canons  of  Criticism" 
came  oat,  Johnson  was  dining  at  Tonson  the 
bookseller's  with  Hayman  the  painter  and  some 
more  company.  Hayman  related  to  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  that  the  conversation  having  turned 
upon  Edwards's  book,  the  gentlemen  praised  it 
much,  and  Johnson  allowed  its  merit  But  when 
they  went  farther,  and  appeared  to  put  that  au- 
thour  upon  a  level  with  Warburton,  '*  Nay  (said 
Johnson),  he  has  given  him  some  smart  hits,  to 
be  sure;  but  there  is  no  proportion  between  the 
two  men;  they  must  not  be  named  together.  A 
fly,  sir,  may  sting  a  stately  home,  and  make  him 
wince;  but  one  ■  but  an  insect,  and  the  other  is  a 
bene  stuV»— Boswxu* 


expressed. "  The  air  of  indifference,  which 
imposed  upon  the  worthy  Dodsley,  was 
certainly  nothing"  but  a  specimen  of  that 
dissimulation  9  which  Lord  Chesterfield  in- 
culcated as  one  of  the  most  essential  lessons 
for  the  conduct  of  life.  His  lordship  en- 
deavoured to  justify  himself  to  Dodsley 
from -the  charges  brought  against  him  by- 
Johnson;  but  we  may  judge  of  the  fiimsi- 
ness  of  his  defence,  from  his  having  excused 
his'  neglect  of  Johnson,  by  saying,  that  "  he 
had  heard  he  had  changed  his  lodgings,  and 
did  not  know  where  he  lived;"  as  if  there 
could  have  been  the  smallest  difficulty  to 
inform  himself  of  that  circumstance,  by  in- 
quiring in  the  literary  circle  with  which 
his  lordship  was  well  acquainted,  and  was, 
indeed,  himself,  one  of  its  ornaments. 

Dr.  Adams  expostulated  with  Johnson, 
and  suggested,  that  his  not  being  admitted 
when  he  called  on  him,  was  probably  not  to 
be  imputed  to  Lord  Chesterfield;  for  his 
lordship  had  declared  to  Dodsiey,  that  "  he 
would  nave  turned  off  the  best  servant  he 
ever  had,  if  he  had  known  that  he  denied 
him  to  a  man  who  would  have  been  always 
more  than  welcome;"  and  in  confirmation 
of  this,  he  insisted  on  Lord  Chesterfield's 
general  affability  and  easiness  of  access, 
especially  to  literary  men.  "  Sir  (said 
Johnson),  that  is  not  Lord  Chesterfield; 
he  is  the  proudest  man  this  day  existing." 
"  No  (said  Dr.  Adams'),  there  is  one  per- 
son, at  least,  as  proud;  I  think,  by  your 
own  account,  you  are  the  prouder  man  of 
the  two."  "But  mine  (replied  Johnson 
instantly)  was  defensive  pride."  This,  as 
Dr.  Adams  well  observed,  was  one  of  those 
happy  turns  3  for  which  he  was  so  remark- 
ably ready. 

Johnson  having  now  explicitly  avowed 
his  opinion  of*  Lord  Chesterfield,  did  not  re- 
frain from  expressing  himself  concerning 
that  nobleman  with  pointed  freedom :  "  This 
roan  (said  he}  I  thought  had  been  a  lord 
among  wits :  nut,  I  find,  he  is  only  a  wit 
among  lords !"  And  when  his  Letters  to 
his  natural  son  were  published,  he  observ- 


*  [Why?  If,  as  may  have  been  the  case, 
Lord  Chesterfield  felt  that  Johnson  was  unjust  to- 
wards him,  be  would  not  have  been  mortified — 
//  n'y  a  que  la  verite  qui  blesse.  By  Mr.  Bos- 
well's  own  confession  it  appears  that  Johnson  did 
not  give  copies  of  this  letter;  that  for  many  yean 
Boswell  had  in  vain  solicited  him  to  do  so,  and 
that  he,  after  the  lapse  of  twenty  years,  did  so  re- 
luctantly. With  all  these  admissions,  how  can 
Mr.  Boswell  attribute  to  any  thing  but  conscious 
rectitude  Lord  Chesterfield's  exposure  of  a  letter 
which  the  authour  was  so  willing  to  bury  in  obli- 
vion ? — Ed.] 

9  [This,  like  all  the  rest  of  the  afiaDr,  seems 
discoloured  by  prejudice.  Lord  Chesterfield 
made  no  attack  on  Johnson,  who  certainly  acted 
on  the  offensive,  and  not  the  defensive.— in.] 


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17M.— jETAT.  45. 


ed,  that  "they  teach  the  morals  of  a  pros- 
titute, and  the  manners  of  a  dancing-mas- 
ter i.» 

The  character  of  a  "  respectable  Hotten- 
tot," in  Lord  Chesterfield's  Letters,  has 
been  generally  understood  to  be  meant  for 
Johnson,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  was. 
But  I  remember  when  the  literary  proper- 
ty  of  those  letters  was  contested  in  the 
court  of  session  in  Scotland,  and  Mr.  Hen- 
ry Dundas9,  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  pro- 
prietors, read  this  character  as  an  exhibition 
of  Johnson,  Sir  David  Dalrymple,  Lord 
Hailes,  one  of  the  judges,  maintained,  with 
some  warmth,  that  it  was  not  intended  as  a 
portrait  of  Johnson,  but  of  a  late  noble 
lord3,   distinguished  for  abstruse  science. 


115 


1  That  collection  of  letters  cannot  be  .vindica- 
ted from  the  serious  charge  of  encouraging,  in 
some  passages,  one  of  the  vices  most  destructive 
to  the  tood  order  and  comfort  of  society,  which 
his  lormhip  represents  a  mere  fashionable  gallant- 
ly; and,  in  others,  of  inculcating  the  base  practice 
of  dissimulation,  and  recommending,  with  dispro- 
portionate anxiety,  a  perpetual  attention  to  external 
elegance  of  manners.  But  it  must,  at  the  same 
time,  be  allowed,  that  they  contain  many  good  pre- 
cepts of  conduct,  and  much  genuine  information 
upon  life  and  manners,  very  happily  expressed; 
and  that  there  was  considerable  merit  in  paying 
so  much  attention  to  the  improvement  of  one  who 
was  dependent  upon  his  lordship's  protection;  it 
has,  probably,  been  exceeded  in  no  instance  by 
the  most  exemplary  parent;  and  though  I  can  by 
no  means  approve  of  confounding  the  distinction 
between  lawful  and  illicit  -offspring,  which  is,  in 
effect,   insulting  the  civil  establishment  of  our 


country,  to  look  no  higher;  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing it  laudable  to  be  kindly  attentive  to  those,  of 
whose  existence  we  have,  in  any  way,  been  the 


Mr.  Stanhope's  character  has  been  unjustly 
1  as  diametrically  opposite  to  what  Lord 
1  wished  him  to  be.  He  has  been 
called  dull,  gross,  and  awkward  :  but  I  knew  him 
at  Dresden,  when  he  was  envoy  to  that  court; 
and  though  he  could  not  boast  of  the  grace* ,  he 
was,  in  truth,  a  sensible,  civil,  well-behaved  man. 
^.— Boswxll,. 

*  Now  (1792)  one  of  his  majesty's  principal 
secretaries  of  state. — Boswell.  [And  afterwards 
Viscount  Melville.— Ed.] 

3  [Probably  George,  second  Earl  of  Maccles- 
field, who  published,  in  1751,  a  learned  pamphlet 
on  the  alteration  of  the  style,  and  was,  in  1752, 
elected  president  of  the  Royal  Society.  Lord 
Macclesfield's  manner  was,  no  doubt,  awkward 
and  embarrassed,  but  little  else  in  his  character 
resembles  that  of  the  "respectable  Hottentot," 
which  more  probably  was,  as  the  world  has  sup- 
posed, intended  for  Johnson. 

Lord  Macclesfield  assisted  Lord  Chesterfield  in 
the  bill  for  changing  the  style;  and  Lord  Ches- 
terfield very  candidly  confessed  that  his  own 
lighter  and  more  graceful  way  of  treating  a  subject 
which  he  understood  but  superficially  ran  away 
with  the  applause  which  was  more  justly  due  to  the 
and  science  of  Lord  Mac- 


I  have  heard  Johnson  himself  talk  of  the 
character,  and  say  that  it  was  meant  for 
George  Lord  Littleton,  in  which  I  could 
by  no  means  agree;  for  his  lordship  had 
nothing  of  that  violence  which  is  a  conspic- 
uous feature  in  the  composition.  Finding 
that  my  illustrious  friend  could  bear  to 
have  it  supposed  that  it  might  be  meant  for 
him,  I  said,  laughingly,  that  there  was  one 
trait  which  unquestionably  did  not  belong 
to  him;  "  he  throws  his  meat  any  where 
hut  down  his  throat."  "  Sir  (said  he), 
Lord  Chesterfield  never  saw  me  eat  in  his 
life  4." 

On  the  6th  of  March  came  out  Lord  Bo- 
lingbroke's  works,  published  by  Mr.  David 
Mallet.  The  wild  and  pernicious  ravings, 
under  the  name  of  "  Philosophy,"  which 
were  thus  ushered  into  the  worfe,  gave  great 
offence  to  all  well-principled  men.  Johnson, 
hearing  of  their  tendency,  which  nobody 
disputed,  was  roused  with  a  just  indigna- 
tion, and  pronounced  this  memorable  sen- 
tence 5  upon  the  noble  authour*  and  his  edi- 
tor. "  Sir,  he  was  a  scoundrel,  and  a  cow- 
ard: a  scoundrel  for  charging  a  blunderbuss 
against  religion  and  morality;  a  coward,  he- 
cause  he  had  not  resolution  to  fire  it  off  him- 
self, hut  left  half  a  crown  to  a  beggarly 
Scotchman7  to  draw  the  trigger  after  his 
death!".  Garrick,  who  I  can  attest  from 
my  own  knowledge  had  his  mind  seasoned 


clesfield.    See  Lord  Chesterfield'*  Life  by  Ma- 
ty, p.  199.— Ed.] 

4  [Lord  Chesterfield's  picture,  if  meant  for  John- 
son, was  not  overcharged;  for  what  between  his 
blindness,  his  nervousness,  and  his  eagerness,  all 
his  friends  describe  his  mode  of  eating  to  have 
been  something  worse  than  awkward.  See  po*t9 
5th  Aug.  1768.— Ed.] 

5  [It  was  the  first  remarkable  phrase  which 
Mr.  Murphy  ever  heard  him  utter. — Ed.] 

0  [It  is,  however,  remarkable  that  Johnson 
bad  not  read  what  he  thus  indignantly  censured. 
See  poit,  March,  1658,  where,  in  conversation 
with  Dr.  Burney,  be  confessed  that  he  had  not 
read  Bolingbroke's  works;  and  was,  therefore, 
not  anxious  about  their  refutation. — Ed.] 

7  [Mallet's  wife,  a  foolish  and  conceited  woman, 
one  evening  introduced  herself  to  David  Hume* 
at  an  assembly,  saying,  "  We  deists,  Mr.  Hume, 
should  know  one  another."  Hume  was  exceed* 
ingly  displeased  and  disconcerted,  and  replied, 
"  Madam,  I  am  no  deist;  I  do  not  so  style  my- 
self, neither  do  I  desire  to  be  known  by  that  ap- 
pellation. *  '—Hardy'*  Life  of  Lord  Charlemont, 
vol.  L  p.  285.  The  imputation  might,  even  on 
mere  worldly  grounds,  be  very  disagreeable  to 
Hume;  for  the  editor  has  in  his  possession  proof 
that  when  Lord  Hertford  (whose  private  secreta- 
ry, in  his  embassy  to  Paris,  Hume  had  been)  was 
appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  his  lordship 
declined  continuing  him  in  the  same  character, 
alleging  as  a  reason  the  dissatisfaction  that  it 
would  excite  on  account  of  Hume's  i 
principles. — Ed.] 


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1754.--  JETAT.  U. 


wKh  pious  reverence,  and  sincerely  disap- 
proved of  the  infidel  writings  of  several, 
whom  in  the  course  of  his  almost  universal 
gay  intercourse  with  men  of  eminence,  he 
treated  with  external  civility,  distinguished 
himself  upon  this  occasion.  Mr.  Pelham 
having  died  on  the  very  day  on  which  Lord 
Bolingbroke's  works  came  out,  he  wrote  an 
elegant  Ode  on  his  death,  beginning 

"  Let  others  hail  the  rising  emu, 
I  bow  to  that  whose  course  is  ran." 

In  which  is  the  following  stanza: 

"  The  same  sad  mom,  to  church  and  state 
(So  for  our  sins  't  was  fixed  by  fete), 

A  double  stroke  was  given; 
Black  as  the  whirlwinds  of  the  north, 
St  John's  fell  genius  issued  forth, 

And  Pelham  fled  to  heaven." 

Johnson  this  year  found  an  interval  of 
leisure  to  make  an  excursion  to  Oxford,  for 
the  purpose  of  consulting  the  libraries  there. 
Of  this,  and  of  many  interesting  circum- 
stances concerning  him,  during  a  part  of 
his  life  when  he  conversed  but  little  with 
the  world  *,  I  am  enabled  to  give  a  particu- 
lar account,  by  the  liberal  communications 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas  Warton,  who 
obligingly  furnished  me  with  several  of  our 
common  friend's  letters,  which  he  illustrated 
with  notes.  These  I  shall  insert  in  their 
proper  places. 

"  DR.    JOHNSON   TO   MR.    WARTON. 

«  (London),  16  July,  1754. 

"  Sir, —  It  is  but  an  ill  return  for  the 
book  with  which  you  were  pleased  to  fa- 
vour me 9,  to  have  delayed  my  thanks  for 
it  till  now.  I  am  too  apt  to  be  negligent; 
but  I  can  never  deliberately  show  my  dis- 
respect to  a  man  of  your  character;  and  I 
now  pay  you  a  very  honest  acknowledge- 
ment, for  the  advancement  of  the  literature 
of  our  native  country.  You  have  shown 
to  all,  who  shall  hereafter  attempt  the  study 
of  Our  ancient  authours,  the  way  to  suc- 
cess; by  directing  them  to  the  perusal  of 
the  books  which  those  authours  had  read. 
Of  this  method,  Hughes  3,  and  men  much 
greater  than  Hughes,  seem  never  to  have 
thought.  The  reason  why  the  authours, 
which  are  yet  read,  of  the  sixteenth  centu- 
ry, are  so  little  understood,  is,  that  they 
are  read  alone;  and  no  help  is  borrowed 
from  those  who  lived  with  them,  or  before 
them.    Some  part  of  this  ignorance  I  hope 

i  to  invalidate  Mr.  BoswelTs  former 
102,  and  to  support  that  of  Mr. 
Murphy.— Ed.] 

1  Observations  on  Spenser's  Fairy  Queen,  the 
first  edition  of  which  was  now  published.— WAR- 
TOJf. 

•  Hughes  published  an  edition  0f  Spenser,— 
Waeto*. 


to  remove  by  my  book4,  which  now  draws 
towards  its  end;  but  which  I  cannot  finish 
to  my  mind,  without  visiting  the  libraries 
of  Oxford,  which. I  therefore  nope  to  see  in 
a  fortnight 5.  I  know  not  how  lone;  I  shall 
stay,  or  where  I  shall  lodge;  but  shall  be  sure 
to  look  for  you  at  my  arrival,  and  we  shall 
easily  settle  the  rest.  I  am,  dear  sir,  your 
most  obedient,  &c. 

"Sam.  Johnson." 

Of  his  conversation  while  at  Oxford  at 
this  time,  Mr.  Warton  preserved  and  com- 
municated to  me  the  following  memorial, 
which,  though  not  written  with  all  the  care 
and  attention  which  that  learned  and  ele- 
gant writer  bestowed  on  those  compositions 
which  he  intended  for  the  publick  eye,  is  so 
happily  expressed  in  an  easy  style,  that  I 
should  injure  it  by  any  alteration : 

"When  Johnson  came  to  Ox- 
ford in  1754,  the  long  vacation  ^Lrton! 
was  beginning,  and  most  people 
were  leaving  the  place.  This  was  the  first 
time  of  his  being  there,  after  quitting  the 
University.  The  next  morning  after  his 
arrival,  he  wished  to  see  his  old  college, 
Pembroke.  I  went  with  him.  He  was 
highly  pleased  to  find  all  the  college  servants 
which  he  had  left  these  still  remaining,  par- 
ticularly a  very  old  butler,  and  expressed 
great  satisfaction  at  being  recognised  by 
them,  and  conversed  with  them  familiarly. 
He  waited  on  the  master,  Dr.  Radcliffe, 
who  received  him  very  coldly.  Johnson  at 
least  expected,  that  the  master  would  order 
a  copy  of  his  Dictionary,  now  near  publica- 
tion; but  the  master  did  not  choose  to  talk 
on  the  subject,  never  asked  Johnson  to  dine, 
nor  even  to  visit  him  while  he  stayed  at  Ox- 
ford. After  we  had  left  the  lodgings,  John- 
son said  to  me, '  There  lives  a  man,  who 
lives  by  the  revenues  of  literature,  and  will 
not  move  a  finger  to  support  it*.    If  I 


4  His  Dictionary. — Wartow. 

*  He  came  to  Oxford  within  a  fortnight,  and 
stayed  about  five  weeks.  He  lodged  at  a  house 
called  KetteJ-haD,  near  Trinity  College.  But 
during  his  visit  at  Oxford,  he  collected  nothing  in 
the  libraries  for  his  Dictionary. — Wartow. 
[Probably  because,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  he 
found  sufficient  employment  in  the  private  libra- 
ry of  Mr.  Wise.— Ed].  Kettel-Hall  v  an  an- 
cient tenement,  adjoining  to  Trinity  College, 
built  about  the  year  1615,  by  Dr.  Ralph  Kettel, 
then  president,  for  the  accommodation  of  com- 
moners of  that  society.  In  this  ancient  hostel, 
then  in  a  very  ruinous  state,  about  forty  years  af- 
ter Johnson  had  lodged  there,  Mr.  Windham  and 
the  present  writer  were  accommodated  with  two 
chambers,  of  primitive  simplicity,  during  the  in- 
stallation of  the  Duke  of  Portland  as  chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Oxford,  in  1798.  It  has  since 
been  converted  into  a  commodious  private  house. 

—  M  ALONE. 

•  [Them  is  some  excuse  for  Doctor  Batetiff 

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Ill 


eome  to  fire  at  Oxford,  I  shall  take  up  my 
abode  at  Trinity  V  We  then  called  on  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Meeke,  one  of  the  fellows, 
and  of  Johnson's  standing.  Here  was  a 
most  cordial  greeting  on  both  sides.  On 
leaving  him,  Johnson  said, '  I  used  to  think 
Meeke  had  excellent  parts,  when  we  were 
boys  together  at  the~coUege:  but,  alas  I 

*  Lost  in  a  convent's  solitary  gloom!' — 

I  remember,  at  the  classical  lecture  in  the 
hall,  I  could  not  bear  Meeke's  superiority, 
and  I  tried  to  sit  as  far  from  him  as  I  could, 
that  I  might  not  hear  him  construe.' 

**  As  we  were  leaving  the  college,  he  said, 
'Here  I  translated  Pope's  Messiah.  Which 
do  you  think  is  the  best  line  in  i  t  ?  My  own 
favourite  is, 

*  Vallie  aromaticas  fundit  Saronica  imbes.' 

I  told  him,  I  thought  it  a  very  sonorous 
hexameter.  I  did  not  tell  him,  it  was  not 
in  the  Virgilian  style.  He  much  regretted 
that  h»fir$t  tutor  was  dead;  for  whom  he 
seemed  to  retain  the  greatest  regard.  He 
said,  '  I  once  had  been  a  whole  morning 
eliding  in  Christ-Church  meadows,  and 
missed  his  lecture  in  logick.  After  dinner 
he  sent  for  me  to  his  room.  I  expected  a 
sharp  rebuke  for  my  idleness,  and  went  with 
a  heating  heart9.  When  we  were  seated, 
be  told  me  he  had  sent  for  me  to  drink  a 


(so  be  ipeit  his  name)  net  ordering  a  copy  of 
the  book,  for  this  visit  occurred  seven  or  eight 
naoafhs  before  the  Dictionary  was  published. 
Hm  personal  neglect  of  Johnson  is  less  easily  to 
be  accounted  for,  unless  it  be  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  great  invalid ;  but  the  imputation  of  his 
Irving  by  the  revenues  of  literature,  and  doing 
nothing  for  it,  cannot,  as  Dr.  Hail  informs  me,  be 
justly  made  against  Dr.  RetclhT ;  for  he  bequeath- 
ed to  bis  college  10002.  4  per-cents.  for  the  estab- 
nshment  of  an  exhibition  for  the  son  of  a  Glouces- 
tershire clergyman — 10001.  for  the  improvement 
of  the  college  bufldings — 100/.  worth  of  books — 
and  100/.  for  contingent  expenses.  The  residue 
of  hie  property  he  (except  600/.  left  for  the  re- 
pair of  the  prebendai  house  at  Gloucester)  left  to 
the  oW  butler  mentioned  in  the  text,  who  had 
long  been  his  servant :  a  bequest  which  Johnson 
himself  imitated  in  favour  of  his  own  servant, 
Berber.— En.] 

1  [Hr.  Warton'sownColkjge.— Ed.J 
s  [This  wu  Johnson's  earliest  account  of  this 
fettle  event,  and  probably  the  most  accurate ; 
many  yearn  after  this  he  told  the  story  to  Boswell 
and  Mis.  Piozzi,  and  made  a  parade  of  his  having 
waited  on  ms  tutor,  not  with  a  **  beating  heart," 
but  with  "  nonchalance  and  even  insolence." 
It  would  seem  as  if  Johnson  had  .been  induced, 
by  the  too  obsequious  deference  of  bis  later  ad- 
mirezs,  to  assign  to  his  character  in  youth  a  little 
more  of  that  sturdy  dignity  than,  when  his  recol- 
lection was  fresher  and  bis  ear  unspoiled  by  flat- 
tery, he  assumed  to  Mr.  Warton  (see  ante,  p.  21, 


glass  of  wine  with  him,  and  to  teQ  me,  he 
was  not  angry  with  me  for  missing  his  lec- 
ture. This  was,  in  fact,  a  most  severe  re- 
primand. Some  more  of  the  boys  were 
then  Bent  for,  and  we  spent  a  very  pleasant 
afternoon.'  Besides  Mr.  Meeke,  there  was 
only  one  other  fellow  of  Pembroke  now  re- 
sident: from  both  of  whom  Johnson  receiv- 
ed the  greatest  civilities  during  this  visit, 
and  they  pressed  him  very  much  to  have  a 
room  in  tne  college. 

"  In  the  course  of  this  visit  (1754)  John- 
son and  I  walked  three  or  four  times  to  EUs- 
field,  a  village  beautifully  situated  about 
three  miles  from  Oxford,  to  see  Mr.  Wise, 
Radclivian  librarian,  with  whom  Johnson 
was  much  pleased.  At  this  place,  Mr. 
Wise  had  fitted- up  a  house  and  gardens,  in 
a  singular  manner,  but  with  -great  taste. 
Here  was  an  excellent  library,  particularly 
a  valuable  collection  of  books  in  Northern 
literature,  with  which  Johnson  was  often 
very  busy.  One  day  Mr.  Wise  read  to  us 
a  dissertation  which  he  was  preparing  for 
the  press,  entitled  '  A  History  and  Chronol- 
ogy of  the  Fabu lous  Ages.'  Some  old  divin- 
ities of  Thrace,  related  to  the  Titans,  and 
called  the  Cabiri,  made  a  very  important 
part  of  the  theory  of  this  piece;  and  in  con- 
versation afterwards,  Mr.  Wise  talked  much 
of  his  Cabiri.  As  we  returned  to  Oxford 
in  the  evening,  I  outwalked  Johnson,  and 
he  cried  out  Sufflamina,  a  Latin  word,  which 
came  from  his  mouth  with  peculiar  grace, 
and  was  as  much  as  to  say,  Put  on  your 
drag  chain.  Before  we  got  home,  I  again 
walked  too  fast  for  him;  and  he  now  cried 
out,  *  Whv,  you  walk  as  if  you  were  pur- 
sued by  all  the  Cabiri  in  a  body.'  In  an 
evening  we  frequently  took  long  walks  from  - 
Oxford  into  the  country,  returning  to  sup- 
per. Once,  in  our  way  home,  we  viewed 
the  ruins  of  the  abbies  of  Oseney  and  Rew- 
ley,  near  Oxford.  After  at  least  half  an 
hour's  silence,  Johnson  said,  c  I  viewed 
them  with  indignation  3  !*  We  had  then  a 
long  conversation  on  Gothic  buildings:  and 
in  talking  of  the  form  of  old  halls,  he  said, 
'  In  these  halls,  the  fireplace  was  anciently 
always  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  till  the 
whigs  removed  it  on  one  side4.'  About 
this  time  there  had  been  an  execution  of 
two  or  three  criminals  at  Oxford  on  a  Mon- 
day. Soon  afterwards,  one  day  at  dinner, 
I  was"  saying  that  Mr.  Swinton,  the  chap- 


*  [The  Scotch,  who  were  so  angry  at  Johnson's 
indignation  at  the  desecration  and  dilapidation  of 
religious  edifices  in  Scotland,  would  have  been 
pacified  had  they  sooner  known  that  a  similar  in- 
dignation was  excited  by  similar  causes  in  Eng- 
land.—En.] 

*  [What  can  this  mean  ?  What  had  the  whigs 
to  do  with  removing  the  smoky  hearths  from  the 
centre  of  the  great  nails  to  a  mom 
chimney  at  the  side  ?— En.] 


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lain  of  the  gaol  *,  and  also  a  frequent  preach- 
er before  the  university,  a  learned  man,  but 
often  thoughtless  and  absent,  preached  the 
condemnation  sermon  on  repentance,  before 
the  convicts,  on  the  preceding  day,  Sunday; 
and  that  in  the  close  he  told  his  audience, 
that  he  should  give  them  the  remainder  of 
what  he  had  to  say  on  the  subject,  the  next 
Lord's  Day.  Upon  which,  one  of  our  com- 
pany, a  doctor  of  divinity,  and  a  plain  mat- 
ter-of-fact man,  by  way  of  offering  an  apol- 
ogy for  Mr.  Swinton,  gravely  remarked, 
that  he  had  probably  preached  the  same  ser- 
mon before  the  university;  c  Yes  sir,  (savs 
Johnson)  but  the  university  were  not  to  be 
hanged  the  next  morning.' 

"i  forgot  to  observe  before,  that  when 
he  lefY  Mr.  Meeke  (as  I  have  told  above), 
he  added,  '  About  the  same  time  of  life, 
Meeke  was  left  behind  at  Oxford  to  feed  on 
a  fellowship,  and  I  went  to  London  to  get 
my  Hving:  now,  sir,  see  the  difference  of 
our  literary  characters  a!'  " 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  Dr. 
Johnson  to  Mr.  Chambers,  of  Lincoln  Col- 
lege, afterwards  Sir  Robert  Chambers  3,  one 
of  the  judges  in  India: 

"TO  MR.  CHAMBERS  OF  LINCOLN  COLLSGR. 
"  21st  Not.  1754. 

"  Dear  sir, — The  commission  which  I 
delayed  to  trouble  you  with  at  your  depart- 
ure, I  am  now  obliged  to  send  you;  and 
beg  that  you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  carry  it 
to  Mr  Warton,  of  Trinity,  to  whom  I 
should  have  written  immediately,  but  that 
I  know  not  if  he  be  yet  come  back  to  Ox- 
ford. 

"  In  the  Catalogue  of  MSS.  of  Gr.  Brit, 
see  vol.  i.  pag.  18.  MSS.  Bodl.  Martyrium 


1  [The  Rev.  Mr.  Swinton,  who  had  eo  con- 
spicuous a  share  in  the  Universal  History. — Bee 
post,  6  Dec.  1784.— Ed.] 

*  [Curt*  aeuens  morlalia  corda.  Poverty 
was  the. stimulus  which  made  Johnson  exert  a 
genius  naturally,  it  may  be  supposed,  more  vig- 
orous than  Meeke 's,  and  he  was  now  beginning 
to  enjoy  the  fame,  of  which  so  many  painful  years 
of  distress  and  penury  had  laid  the  foundation. 
Meeke  had  lived  an  easy  life  of  decent  compe- 
tence ;  and  on  the  whole,  perhaps,  as  little  envied 
Johnson,  as  Johnson  him  :  the  goodness  and  jus- 
tice of  Providence  equalize  to  a  degree,  not  al- 
ways visible  at  first  sight,  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind— nee  vixit  male  qui  natus  mortensque 
fefellU.— Ed.] 

9  [Sir  Robert  Chambers  was  born  in  1737,  at 
Newcastle-on-Tvne,  and  educated  at  the  same 
school  with  Lord  Stowell  and  his  brother  the  Earl 
of  Eldon,  and  afterwards  (like  them)  a  member 
of  University  College.  It  was  by  visiting  Cham- 
bers, when  a  fellow  of  University,  that  Johnson 
became  acquainted  with  Lord  Stowell ;  and  when 
Chambers  went  to  India,  Lord  Stowell,  as  he  ex- 
pressed it  to'the  Editor,  "  seemed  to  succeed  to 
his  place  in  Johnson's  friendship.*' — En.] 


xv.  martyrum  sub  Juliano,  auetore  Tks- 
ophylacto. 

It  is  desired  that  Mr.  Warton  will  inquire, 
and  send  word,  what  will  be  the  cost  of 
transcribing  this  manuscript. 

"  Vol.  ii.  p.  32.  Num.  1022.  58.  Coll. 
Nov. — Commentaria  in  Acta  Apostol.— 
Comment,  in  Septem  Epistolas  Catholicas. 

"  He  is  desired  to  tell  what  is  the  age  of 
each  of  these  manuscripts;  and  what  it  will 
cost  to  have  a  transcript  of  the  two  first 
pages  of  each. 

"  If  Mr.  Warton  be  not  in  Oxford,  you 
may  try  if  you  can  get  it  done  by  any  body 
else;  or  stay  till  he  comes  according  to  your 
own  convenience.  It  is  for  an  Italian  ftie- 
rato. 

"  The  answer  is  to  be  directed  to  his 
excellency  Mr.  Zon,  Venetian  resident,  So- 
ho-square. 

"  I  hope,  dear  sir,  that  you  do  not  regret 
the  change  of  London  for  Oxford.  Mr. 
Baretti  is  well,  and  Miss  Williams;  and  we 
shall  all  be  glad  to  hear  from  you,  whenever 
you  shall  be  so  kind  as  to  write  to,  sir,  your 
most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson*" 

The  degree  of  master  of  arts,  which,  it 
has  been  observed,  could  not  be  obtained 
for  him  at  an  early  period  of  his  life,  was 
now  considered  as  an  honour  of  considerable 
importance,  in  order  to  grace  the  title-page 
of  his  Dictionary;  and  his  character  in  the 
literary  world  being  by  this  time  deservedly 
high,  his  friends  thought  that,  if  proper  ex- 
ertions were  made,  the  University  of  Ox- 
ford would  pay  him  the  compliment. 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  WARTON. 

"  (London),  28th  Not.  17*4. 

"  Deab  sir, — I  am  extremely  obliged  to 
you  and  to  Mr.  Wise,  for  the  uncommon 
care  which  you  have  taken  of  my  interest  *: 
if  you  can  accomplish  your  kind  design,  I 
shall  certainly  take  me  a  little  habitation 
among  you. 

"  The  books  which  I  promised  to  Mr. 
Wise5,  I  have  not  been  able  to  procure: 
but  I  shall  send  him  a  Finnick  dictionary, 
the  only  copy,  perhaps,  in  England,  which 
was  presented  to  me  by  a  learned  Swede: 
but  I  keep  it  back,  that  it  may  make  a  set 
of  my  own  books  of  the  new  edition  6,  with 
which  I  shall  accompany  it,  more.welcome. 
You  will  assure  him  of  my  gratitude. 


4  In  procuring  him  the  degree  of  master  of  arts 
by  diploma  at  Oxford. — Warton. 

•  Lately  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  and  at  this 
time  Radclivian  librarian  at  Oxford.  He  was  a 
man  of  very  considerable  learning,  and  eminently 
skilled  in  Roman  and  Anglo-Saxon  antiquities. 
He  died  in  1767.— Warton. 

0  [This  mnst£are  been  a  new  edition  of  the 
Rambler.— En.] 


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1755.— JETAT.  46. 


119 


"Poor  dear  Coffins*!— -Would  a  letter 
give  him  any  pleasure?  I  have  a  mind  to 
write. 

"  I  am  glad  of  your  hindrance  in  your 
Spenserian  design',  yet  I  would  not  have 
it  delayed.  Three  hours  a  day  stolen  from 
sleep  and  amusement  will  produce  it.  Let  a 
servitour3  transcribe  the  quotations,  and 
interleave  them  with  references,  to  save 
lime.  This  will  shorten  the  work,  and  les- 
sen the  fatigue. 

"  Can  I  do  any  thing  to  promote  the  di- 
ploma? I  would  not  be  wanting-  to  co-ope- 
rate with  your  kindness;  of  which  whatev- 
er be  the  effect,  I  shall  be,  dear  sir,  your 
most  obliged,  &c. 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  WARTON. 

"  (London),  21  Dec.  1754. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  am  extremely  sensible  of 
the  favour  done  me  both  by  Mr.  Wise  and 
yourself!     The  book4  cannot  I  think,   be 

B"  rinted  in  less  than  six  weeks,  nor  proba- 
ly  so  soon;  and  I  will  keep  back  the  title- 
page,  for  such  an  insertion  as  you  seem  to 
promise  me.  Be  pleased  to  let  me  know 
what  money  I  shall  send  you  for  bearing 
the  expense  of  the  affair  j  and  I  will  take 
care  that  you  may  have  it  ready  at  your 
hand. 

"  I  had  lately  the  favour  of  a  letter  from 
your  brother,  with  some  account  of  poor 
Collins,  for  whom  I  am  much  concerned. 
I  have  a  notion,  that  by  very  great  temper- 
ance, or  more  properly  abstinence  5,  he  may 
yet  recpver. 

"  There  is  an  old  English  and  Latin  book 
of  poems  by  Barclay,  called  '  The  Ship  of 
Fools  :*  at  the  end  of  which  are  a  number 
of  Egloguew, — so  he  writes  it,  from  Egloga, 
— which  are  probably  the  first  in  our  lan- 
guage. If  you  cannot  find  the  book,  I  will 
get  Mr.  Dodsley  to  send  it  you. 
i  "  I  shall  he  extremely  glad  to  hear  from 
you  again,  to  know  if  the  affair  proceeds  6. 


1  Collins  (the  poet)  was  at  this  time  at  Oxford, 
•a  a  Tisit  to  Mr.  Warton  ;  bat  labouring  under 
the  most  deplorable  languor  of  body  and  dejec- 
tion of  mind.  Warton.  (See  ante,  p.  108. 
—Ed.} 

Mr.  Collins,  who  was  the  son  of  a  hatter  at 
Chichester,  was  born  December  25,  1720,  and 
was  released  from  the  dismal  state  here  so  patheti- 
cally described,  in  1756. — Malone.  [See  an- 
te, p.  108.— Ed.] 

*  Of  publishing  a  volume  of  observations  on  the 
best  of  Spenser's  works.  It  was  hindered  by  my 
takmg  pupils  in  this  college. — Warton. 

*  Young  students  of  the  lowest  rank  at  Oxford 
are  so  called. — Waston. 

4  His  Dictionary. — Wabton. 

*  [See  ante,  p.  89,  note. — Ed.) 

*  Of  the  degree  at  Oxford.— Warton. 


I  have  memtioned  it  to  none  of  my  friends, 
for  fear  of  being  laughed  at  for  my  disap- 
pointment. 

"  You  know  poor  Mr.  Dodsley  has  lost 
his  wife ;  I  believe  he  is  much  affected.  I 
hope  he  will  *not  suffer  so  much  as  I  yet 
suffer  for  the  loss  of  mine. 

OtfAor  n  f  otfMi',  dwr«  y*p  irvrorQ&jum7. 

I  have  ever  since  seemed  to  myself  broken 
off  from  mankind;  a  kind  of  solitary  wan- 
derer in  the  wild  of  life,  without  any  direc- 
tion, or  fixed  point  of  view:  a  gloomy  gaz- 
er on  the  world  to  which  I  have  little  rela- 
tion. Yet  I  would  endeavour,  by  the  help 
of  you,  and  your  brother,  to  supply  the 
want  of  closer  union,  by  friendship;  and 
hope  to  have  long  the  pleasure  of  being, 
dear  sir,  most  affectionately  yours, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  WARTON. 

"  (London),  24th  Dec.  17M. 

"Dear  sir, — I  am  sat  down  to  answer 
your  kind  letter,  though  I  know  not  wheth- 
er I  shall  direct  it  so  as  that  it  may  reach 
you;  the  miscarriage  of  it  will  be  no  great 
matter,  as  I  have  nothing  to  send  but  thanks, 
of  which  I  owe  you  many,  vet  if  a  few 
should  be  lost,  I  shall  ampfy  find  them  in 
my  own  mind;  and  professions  of  respect, 
of  which  the  profession  will  easily  be  renew- 
ed while  the  respect  continues:  and  the 
same  causes  which  first  produced  can  hard- 
ly fail  to  preserve  it.  Pray  let  me  know, 
however,  whether  my  letter  finds  its  way 
to  you. 

"  Poor  dear  Collins ! — Let  me  know 
whether  you  think  it  would  give  him  pleas- 
sure  if  I  should  write  to  him.  /  have  often 
been  near  his  state  * ,  and  therefore  have  it 
in  great  commiseration. 

"  I  sincerely  wish  you  the  usual  pleasures 
of  this  joyous  season,  and  more  than  the 
usual  pleasures,  those  of  contemplation  on 
the  great  event  which  this  festival  com- 
memorates. I  am,  dear  sir,  your  most  af- 
fectionate and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

In  1755  we  behold  him  to  great  advan- 
tage; his  degree  of  master  of  arts  conferred 
upon  him,  his  Dictionary  published,  his  cor- 
respondence animated,  his  benevolence  ex- 
ercised. 


7  This  verse  is  taken  from  the  long  lost  B*i*- 
lerophox,  a  tragedy  by  Euripides.  It  is  pre- 
served by  Suidas  in  his  Lexicon,  Voc.  Otjuot  II.  p. 
666,  where  the  reading  is,  but*,  to*  Tcrordatyuir.— 
Burnet.  [The  meaning  is,  Alas !  bat  why 
should  I  say  alas  1  we  have  suffered  only  the 
common  lot  of  mortality  ! — Ed.] 

•  [See  ante,  p.  10.— Ed.] 


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190 


170**— ATAT.  40. 


•*  DR.  JOHNf  Off  TO    BIB.  WA&TOlf . 

*-<Loo*»),lF«b.  17*5. 

"  dkar  sir,— I  wrote  to  you  Bomc  weeks 
ago,  but  believe  did  not  direct  accurately, 
and  therefore  know  not  whether  you  had 
my  letter.  I  would,  likewise,  write  to  your 
brother,  but  know  not  where  to  find  him. 
I  now  begin  to  see  land,  after  having  wan- 
dered, according  to  Mr.  Warburton's  phrase, 
in  this  vast  sea  of  words.  What  reception 
I  shall  meet  with  on  the  shore,  I  know  not; 
whether  the  sound  of  bells,  and  acclamations 
of  the  people,  which  Ariosto  talks  of  in  his 
last  canto,  or  a  general  murmur  of  dislike,  I 
know  not:  whether  I  shall  find  upon  the 
coast  a  Calypso  that  will  court,  or  a  Poly- 
pheny that  will  resist.  But  if  Polypheme 
comes,  have  at  his  eye !  I  hope,  however, 
the  criticks  will  let  me  be  at  peace;  for 
though  I  do  not  much  fear  their  skill  and 
strength,  I  am  a  little  afraid  of  myself,  and 
would  not  willingly  feel  so  much  ill-will  in 
my  bosom  as  literary  quarrels  are  apt  to  ex- 
cite. 

'<  Mr.  Baretti  is  about  a  work  for  which 
he  is  in  great  want  of  Crescimbeni,  which 
you  may  have  again  when  you  please. 

"  There  is  nothing  considerable  done  or 
doing  among  us  here.  We  are  not  perhaps 
'  as  innocent  as  villagers,  but  most  of  us  seem 
to  be  as  idle.  I  hope,  however,  you  are 
busy;  and  should  be  glad  to  know  what  you 
are  doing.  I  am,  dearest  sir,  your  humble 
servant,  "  Sam  Johnson." 

"DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  WARTON. 

"(London),  4  Peb.  1756. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  received  your  letter  this 
day,  with  great  sense  of  the  favour  that  has 
been  done  me1;  for  which  I  return  my  most 
sincere  thanks;  and  entreat  you  to  pay  to 
Mr.  Wise  such  returns  as  I  ought  to  make 
for  so  much  kindness  so  little  deserved. 

"  I  sent  Mr.  Wise  the  Lexicon,  and  after- 
wards wrote  to  him;  but  know  not  whether 
he  had  either  the  book  or  letter.  Be  so 
good  as  to  contrive  to  inquire. 

"  But  why  does  my  dear  Mr.  Warton 
tell  me  nothing  of  himself?  Where  hangs 
the  new  volume9?  Can  I  help?  Let  not 
the  past  labour  be  lost,  for  want  of  a  little 
more;  but  snatch  what  time  you  can  from 
the  hall,  and  the  pupils,  and  the  coffee-house, 
and  the  parks  3,  and  complete  your  design. 
I  am,  dear  sir,  &c. 

Sam.  Johnson." 

1  His  degree  had  now  pent,  according  to  the 

lal  form,  the  suffrages  of  the  heads  of  colleges; 
but  was  not  jet  finally  granted  bjr  the  university. 
It  was  carried  without  a  single  dissentient  voice, 
— Warton. 

*  On  Spenser.— Wabtoit. 

9  [The  walks  near  Oxford  so  called.— En.] 


"SB.  JOHNSON  TO  M&.  WA&TOlf. 

«  (London),  u  Feb.  175*. 

"  Dkab  sir,— I  had  a  letter  last  week 
from  Mr.  Wise,  but  have  yet  heard  nothing 
from  you,  nor  know  in  what  state  my  affair  * 
stands;  of  which  I  beg  you  to  inform  me,  if 
you  can  to-morrow,  by  the  return  of  the  post 

"  Mr.  Wise  sends  me  word,  that. he  has 
not  had  the  Finnick  Lexicon  yet,  which  I 
sent  some  time  ago;  and  if  he  has  it  not,  yon 
must  inquire  after  it.  However,  do  not  let 
your  letter  stay  for  that. 

"  Your  brother,  who  is  a  better  corres- 
pondent than  you,  and  not  much  better, 
sends  me  word  that  your  pupils  keep  you  in 
college:  but  do  they  keep  you  from  writing 
too?  Let  them,  at  least,  give  you  time  to 
write  to,  dear  sir,  your  most  affectionate,  etc 
"  Sam.  Johnson/ 

"  DK.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  WARTON. 

"(London).  Feb.  1755. 

"  Drab  sir, — Dr.  Kin?  5  was  with  me  a 
few  minutes  before  your  letter;  this,  how- 
ever, is  the  first  instance  in  which  your  kind 
intentions  tome  have  ever  been  frustrated6. 
I  have  now  the  full  effect  of  your  care  and 
benevolence;  and  am  far  from  thinking  it  a 
slight  honour,  or  a  small  advantage;  since  it 
will  put  the  enjoyment  of  your  conversation 
more  frequently  in  the  power  of,  dear  air, 
your  most  obliged  and  affectionate 

"  Sam.  Johnson. 

"  P.  S.  I  have  enclosed  a  letter  to  the 
vice-chancellor  7,  which  vou  will  read;  and 
if  you  like  it,  seal  and  give  him." 


4  Of  the  degree.— Wabtow. 

•  Principal  of  Saint  Mary  Hall  at  Oxford.  Ha 
brought  with  him  the  diploma  from  Oxford. — 
Warton.  [Bom  in  1685.  Entered  of  Balio* 
in  1701.  D.  C.  L.  1715,  and  Principal  of  St. 
Mary  Hall  in  1718.    In  1722  he  waa  a  i 


for  the  representation  of  the  university  in  parlia- 
ment, on  the  tory  interest ;  bat  was  defeated.  He 
died  in  1768.  He  was  a  wit  and  a  scholar,  and. 
in  particular,  celebrated  for  his  latinity ;  highly 
obnoxious  to  the  Hanoverian  party,  and  the  idol 
of  the  Jacobites.  It  appears  from  his  Memoirs, 
lately  published,  that  he  was  one  of  those  who 
was  intrusted  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Pretend- 
er's being  in  London  in  the  latter  end  of  the  reign 
of  George  the  Second,  where  Dr.  King  was  intro- 
duced to  him.  In  the  memoirs,  the  year  is  sta- 
ted to  have  been  1756,  but  there  is  reason  to  sus- 
pect that  this  is  an  error  of  the  transcriber  or  the 
press,  for  the  Pretender's  visit  is  elsewhere  said  to 
have  been  in  1750. — En.] 

•  I  suppose  Johnson  means  that  my  kind  ti*- 
tention  of  being  the  firtt  to  give  him  the  good 
news  of  the  degree  being  granted  waa  frustrated, 
because  Dr.  King  brought  it  before  my  intelli- 
gence arrived. — Warton. 

7  Dr.  Huddesfordy  President  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege.— Wa&toit. 


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1755.— JETAT.  46. 


121 


As  the  publick  will  doubtless  be  pleased 
'to  see  the  whole  progress  of  this  well-earned 
academical  honour,  I  shall  insert  the  Chan- 
cellor of  Oxford's  letter  to  the  university l, 
the  diploma,  and  Johnson's  letter  of  thanks 
to  the  vice-chancellor. 

TO  TUB  RBV.  DR.  HUDDESFORD,  Vice-chancellor 
•f  the  University  of  Oxford ;  to  be  communicated  to  the 
mdt  of  hornets,  and  proposed  in  convocation. 

"Grosrenor-itreet,  Feb.  115$. 
"  Ma.  VICE-CHANCELLOR,  AND   GENTLE- 

Miir, — Mr.  Samuel  Johnson,  who  was  for- 
merly of  Pembroke  College,  having  very 
eminently  distinguished  himself  by  the  pub- 
lication of  a  series  of  essays,  excellently  cal- 
culated to  form  the  manners  of  the  people, 
and  in  which  the  cause  of  religion  and  mo- 
rality is  every  where  maintained  by  the 
strongest  powers  of  argument  and  lan- 
guage; and  who  shortly  intends  to  publish 
a  Dictionary  of  the  English  Tongue,  form- 
ed on  a  new  plan,  and  executed  with  the 
greatest  labour  and  judgment;  I  persuade 
myself  that  I  shall  act  agreeable  to  the  sen- 
timents of  the  whole  university,  in  desiring 
that  it  may  be  proposed  in  convocation  to 
confer  on  him  the  degree  of  master  of  arts 
by  diploma,  to  which  I  readily  ffive  my 
consent;  and  am,  Mr.  Vice-chancellor,  and 
gentlemen,  your  affectionate  friend  and 
servant,       *  "  Arran." 

Term 

Srt.HUutl.    "DIPLOMA  MAG1STRI  JOHNSON. 

1755. 

"  Cancellakitjs,  Magistri  et  Scholares 
VnwersitatU  Oxonicnsis  omnibus  ad  quo*  hoc 
present  seriptum  pervenerit,  talutem  in  Do- 
mino sempiternam. 

"  Cum  turn  in  finem  gradus  academici  d 
majoribus  nottris  instituti  fuerint,  ut  viri  in- 
genio  et  doctrml  prastantes  titulis  quoque 
prater  cater os  insignirentur ;  cumque  vir 
dcttissimus  Samael  Johnson  i  Collegia  Pem- 
brochiensi,  seriptis  suit  popularium  mores  w- 
firmantibus  dudum  liter  at  o  orbi  innotuerit ; 
pctn  et  lingua  patria  turn  ornanda  turn  sta- 
htknda  {Lexicon  scilicet  AngUcanum  sum- 
mo  studio,  summo  d  se  judicio  congestum  pro- 
pediem  editurus)  etiam  nunc  utilissimam  im- 
pendat  operant;  nos  igitur  Cancellarius, 
Mogistri,  et  Scholares  antedicti,  ne  virum  de 
Uteris  humanioribus  optimi  meritum  diutius 
mJumoratum  pratereamus,  in  solenni  convo- 
caticne  Doetorum,  Magistrorum,  Re  gentium, 
et  ncn  Regenthtm,  decimo  die  mensis  Febru- 
arn  Anno  Domini  MUltsimo  Septingentesi- 
mo  Qumquagesimo  quinto  habit  A,  prafatum 
lirum  Sanraelem  Johnson  {conspirantibus  om- 
nium suffragns)  Magistrum  in  Artibus  re- 
nunciavimus  et  constituimus ;  cumque,  virtute 
prasentis  diplomatic,  singulis  juribus  privi- 
legiis  et  honoribus  ad  istum  gradum  qudqud 
ptrtinentibus  frui  et  gaudere  jussimus. 

1  Extracted  from  the   Convocation  Register, 
(Word.-— Boswell. 
vol.  i.  16 


"  In  cujus  rei  testimonium  sigiUum  Uni- 
versitatis  Oxonicnsis  prasentibus  apponi 
feeimus. 

"  Datum  in  domo  nostra  Convocation^ 
die  20»  mensis  Feb.  Anno  Dom.  pradicto. 

"  Diploma  supra  seriptum  per  Registrari- 
um  ledum  erat,  et  ex  dccreto  venerabilis 
Domits  communi  Universitatis  sigi/lo  munir 
turn9.'* 

"  Londtni.  ito  Cat.  Mart.  1758. 
"  VIRO  REVERENDO  [GEOR6IO]    HUDDESFORD, 
8.   T.  P.  UNIVERSITATIS    OXONIENSIS  V1CE- 
CANCELLARIO  D1GN1S8IMO,  S.  P.  D. 

»  SAM.  JOHNSON  3. 
"  Ingratus  plane  et  tibi  et  mihi  videar,  ni- 
si quanto  me  g audio  affectrint,  quos  nuper 
mihi  honor es  (te,  credo,  auctore),  deerevit  Se- 
natUM  Academicus,  liter  arum,  quo  tamen  ni- 
hil leviu8,  officio,  significem ;  ingratus  etiam, 
nisi  comitatem,  qua  vir  eximius*  mihi  vestri 
testimonium  amoris  in  manus  tradidit,  ag- 
noseam  et  laud  em.  Si  quid  est,  unde  rei  tarn 
grata  accedat  gratia,  hoc  ipso  magis  mihi  pla- 
cet, quod  eo  tempore  in  ordines  Academicos 
denuo  cooptatus  sim,  quo  tuam  imminuere 
auctoritatem,  famamque  Oxonii  ladere,  om- 
nibus modis  conantur  homines  vafri,  nee  ta- 
men acuti :  quibus  ego,  prout  viro  umbratico 
licuit,  semper  restiti,  semper  restiturus. 
Qui  enim,  inter  has  rerum  procellas,  vel  ti- 
bi vel  Academia  defuerit,  ilium  virluti  et 
Uteris,  sibique  ct  posteris,  defuturum  exist** 
mo.     Vale." 

"  DR.   JOHNSON    TO    MR.    WARTON. 

(London)  20ih  March,  1755. 

"  Dear  sir, — After  I  received  my  diplo- 
ma, I  wrote  you  a  letter  of  thanks,  with  a 
letter  to  the  Vice-chancellor,  and  sent  an- 
other to  Mr.  Wise;  hut  have  heard  from 
nobody  since;  and  begin  to  think  myself 
forgotten.  It  is  true,  I  sent  you  a  double 
letter,  and  you  may  fear  an  expensive  cor- 
respondent; but  I  would  have  taken  it  kind- 
ly, if  you  had  returned  it  treble :  and  what 
is  a  double  letter  to  a  petty  king,  that  hav- 
ing fellowship  and  fines,  can  sleep  without 
a  modus  in  his  head  5? 

2  The  original  m  in  my  possession.— Bos- 
well. 

9  The  superscription  of  this  letter  was  not  qnite 
correct  in  the  early  editions  of  this  work.  It  m 
here  given  from  Dr.  Johnson's  original  letter,  now 
before  me. — Ma  lone. 

4  We  may  conceive  what  a  high  gratification 
it  must  have  been  to  Johnson  to  receive  his  diplo- 
ma from  the  hands  of  the  great  Dr.  King,  whose 
principles  were  so  congenial  with  his  own.— 
Bos  well.  [The  reader  will  see  in  the  pre- 
ceding note,  p.  120,  why  Mr.  Boswell  calls  this 
gentleman  the  great  Dr.  King.— En.] 

*  The  words  in  Italicks  are  allusions  to  pas- 
sages in  Mr.  Warton's  poem,  called  "  The  Pre 
stress  of  Discontent,"  now  lately  published.— 
Wahton. 


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1780.— ^TAT.  46\ 


"Dear  Mr.  Wirton,  let  me  hear  from 
you,  and  tell  me  something,  I  eare  not 
what,  so  I  hear  it  but  from  you.  Some- 
thing I  wilt  tell  you: — I  hope  to  see  my 
Dictionary  bound  and  lettered  next  week; — 
vastd  mole  superbus.  And  I  have  a  great 
mind  to  come  to  Oxford  at  Easter;  but  you 
will  not  invite  me.  Shall  I  come  unin- 
vited, or  stay  here  where  nobody  perhaps 
would  miss  me  if  I  went?  A  hard  choice ! 
But  such  is  the  world  to,  dear  sir,  yours, 
lie.  "  Sam  Johhsoii." 

[The  following  extract  of  a  let- 
"D'  ter  from  Mr.  Warton  to  his  broth- 
er will  show  his  first  sentiments  on  this 
great  work. 

"  19th  April,  1755. 

X«Qs.  or  «  The  Dictionary  is  arrived;  the 
p.r'm  preface  is  noble.  There  is  a  gram- 
mar prefixed,  and  the  history  of  the 
language  is  pretty  full:  but  you  may  plain- 
ly perceive  strokes  of  laxity  and  indolence. 
They  are  two  most  unwieldy  Volumes.  I 
have  written  him  an  invitation.  I  fear  his 
preface  will  disgust,  by  the  expression  of  his 
consciousness  of  superiority,  and  of  his  con- 
tempt of  patronage.  The  Rawlinson  bene- 
faction1 won't  do  for  Johnson,  which  is 
this — a  professorship  of  802.  per  annum, 
which  is  not  to  take  place  these  forty  years; 
a  fellowship  to  Hertford  College,  which  is 
too  ample  for  them  to  receive  agreeably  to 
Newton's  statutes;  and  a  fellowship  to  St. 
John's  College.  Neither  of  the  last  are  to 
take  place  these  forty  years."] 

"DR.   JOHNSON   TO   MR.    WARTON. 

"(London),  25th  March,  1755.*' 

"Dbar  sir, — Though  not  to  write, 
when  a  man  can  write  so  well,  is  an  offence 
sufficiently  heinous,  yet  I  shall  pass  it  by. 
I  am  very  glad  that  the  Vice-chancellor 
was  pleased  with  my  note.  I  shall  impa- 
tiently expect  you  at  London,  that  we  may 
consider  what  to  do  next.  I  intend  in  the 
winter  to  open  a  Bibliotheque,  and  remem- 
ber, that  you  are  to  subscribe  a  sheet  a 
year:  let  us  try,  likewise,  if  we  can  per- 
suade your  brother  to  subscribe  another. 
My  book  is  now  coming  in  luminis  or  at. 
What  will  be  its  fate  I  know  not,  nor  think 
much,  because  thinking  is  to  no  purpose. 
it  must  stand  the  censure  of  the  great  vul- 
gar and  the  small;  of  those  that  understand 
it,  and  that  understand  it  not.  But  in  all 
this,  I  suffer  not  alone;  every  writer  has 
the  same  difficulties,  and,  perhaps,  every 
writer  talks  of  them  more  than  he  thinks. 

"You  will  be  pleased  to  make  my  com- 


[Bv  this,  I  suppose,  is  meant  the  Anglo-Sax- 
on professorship  which  was  founded  in  1750, 
bat  did  not  take  effect  before  1795,  exactly  forty 
yean  from  the  date  of  this  letter.— Hall.) 


pliments  to  all  my  friends;  and  be  so  kind, 
at  every  idle  hour,  as  to  remember,  dear 
sir,  yours,  etc.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

Dr.  Adams  told  me,  that  this  scheme  of 
a  Bibliotkeque  was  a  serious  one:  for  upon 
his  visiting  him  one  day,  he  found  his  par* 
lour  floor  covered  with  parcels  of  foreign 
and  English  literary  journals,  and  he  toid 
Dr.  Adams  he  meant  to  undertake  a  Re- 
view. "  How,  sir  (said  Dr.  Adams),  can 
you  think  of  doing  it  alone?  Ail  branches 
of  knowledge  must  be  considered  in  it.  Do 
you  know  Mathematicks?  Do  you  know 
Natural  History?"  Johnson  answered, 
"  Why,  sir,  I  must  do  as  well  as  I  can. 
My  chief  purpose  is  to  give  my  countrymen 
a  view  of  what  is  doing  in  literature  upon 
the  continent;  and  I  shall  have,  in  a  rood 
measure,  the  choice  of  my  subject,  tor  I 
shall  select  such  books  as  I  best  under- 
stand." Dr.  Adams  suggested,  that  as 
Dr.  Maty  &  had  just  then  finished  his  jBi- 
bliotheque  Britannique,  which  was  a  well- 
executed  work,  giving  foreigners  an  account 
of  British  publications,  he  might,  witk 
great  advantage,  assume  him  as  an  assist- 
ant. "  He  (said  Johnson),  the  little  black 
dog!  I'd  throw  him  into  the  Thames. *• 
The  scheme,  however,  was  dropped. 

In  one  of  his  little  memorandum  books  I 
find  the  following  hints  for  his  intended 
Review  or  Literary  Journal: 

"  The  annah  of  Literature,  foreign  at 
well  as  domestick.  Imitate  Le  Clerc— 
Bayle — Barbeyrac.  Infelicity  of  Journals 
in  England.  «  Works  of  the  learned.'  We 
cannot  take  in  all.  Sometimes  copy  from 
foreign  Journalists.    Always  tell." 

tcDR.    JOHNSON   TO   DR.  BIRCH. 

"  29th  March,  1755. 

"Si a, — I  have  sent  some  parts  of  my 
Dictionary,  such  as  weje  at  hand,  for  your 


■  [Matthew  Maty,  M.  D.  and  F.  R.  S.  Ha 
was  bora  in  Holland  in  1718,  and  educated  at 
Leyden,  bnt  he  came  in  1740  to  settle  in  Eng- 
land. He  became  secretary  to  the  Royal  Socie- 
ty in  1765,  on  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Birch,  and 
in  1772,  principal  librarian  of  the  British  Muse- 
um, Maty  being  the  friend  and  admirer  of 
Lord  Chesterfield,  whose  works  he  afterwards 
published,  would,  as  Dr.  Hall  observes,  particu- 
larly at  this  period,  have  little  recommendation  to 
the  good  opinion  of  the  lexicographer ;  but  his 
Journal  Britannique  is  mentioned  by  Mr  Gib- 
bon in  a  tone  very  different  from  Dr.  Johnson's. 
"  This  humble  though  useful  labour,  which  had 
once  been  dignified  by  the  genius  of  Bayle  and 
the  learning  of  Le  Clerc,  was  not  disgraced  by  the 
taste,  the  knowledge,  and  the  judgment  of  Maty. 
His  style  is  pore  and  eloquent,  and  in  Iris  virtues 
or  even  in  his  defects  he  may  be  reckoned  as  one 
of  the  last  disciples  of  the  school  of  Fontenelle." 
— Gibbon's  Misc.  Works.  Dr.  Maty  died  in 
1776.— Ed.] 

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1768.— jETAT.  46. 


123 


inspection.  The  favour  which  I  beg  is, 
that  if  7011  60  not  like  them,  you  will  say 
nothing.  I  am,  sir,  your  most  affectionate 
humble  servant,         "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"TO  MR.  SAMUEL   JOHNSON. 

«*  Norfolk-street,  23  April,  1755. 

"Sim, — The  part  of  your  Dictionary 
which  you  have  favoured  me  with  the  sight 
of,  has  given  me  such  an  idea  of  the  whole, 
that  I  most  sincerely  congratulate  the  pub- 
lick  upon  the  acquisition  of  a  work  long 
wanted,  and  now  executed  with  an  indus- 
try, accuracy,  and  judgement,  equal  to  the 
importance  of  the  subject  You  might, 
perhaps,  have  chosen  One  in  which  your 
genius  would  have  appeared  to  more  advan- 
tage, but  you  could  not  have  fixed  upon 
any  other  in  which  your  labours  would 
have  done  such  substantial  service  to  the 
present  age  and  to  posterity.  I  am  glad 
that  your  health  has  supported  the  applica- 
tion necessary  to  the  performance  of  so 
vast  a  task;  and  can  undertake  to  promise 
you  as  one  (though  perhaps  the  only)  re- 
ward of  it,  the  approbation  and  thanks  of 
every  well-wisher  to  the  honour  of  the 
English  language.  I  am  with  the  greatest 
regard,  sir,  your  most  faithful  and  most  af- 
fectionate humble  servant, 

"Tho.  Birch." 

Mr.  Charles  Burney,  who  has  since  dis- 
tinguished himself  so  much  in  the  science 
of  musick,  and  obtained  a  doctor's  degree 
from  the  University  of  Oxford,  had  been 
driven  from  the  capital  by  bad  health,  and 
was  now  residing  at  Lynne  Regis  in  Nor- 
folk. He  had  been  so  much  delighted  with 
Johnson's  Rambler,  and  the  plan  of  his 
Dictionary,  that  when  the  great  work  was 
announced  in  the  newspapers  as  nearly 
finished,  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Jonnson,  begging 
to  be  informed  when  and  in  what  manner 
bis  Dictionary  would  be  published;  entreat- 
ing, if  it  should  be  by  subscription  or.  he 
should  have  any  books  at  his  own  disposal, 
to  be  favoured  with  six  copies  for  himself 
•ad  friends. 

In  answer  to  this  application,  Dr.  John- 
ton  wrote  the  following  letter,  of  which 
(to  use  Dr.  Burney's  own  words)  "  if  it  be 
remembered  that  it  was  written  to  an  ob- 
■eare  young  man,  who  at  this  time  had  not 
much  distinguished  himself  even  in  his  own 

C  Session,  but  whose  name  could  never 
ve  reached  the  authour  of  The  Ram- 
bler, the  politeness  and  urbanity  may  be  op- 
posed to  some  of  the  stories  which  have 
been  lately  circulated  of  Dr.  Johnson's  na- 
tural rudeness  and  ferocity." 

MT0MR.  BURNET,  LYNNS  REGIS,  NORFOtK. 
«•  GoucMqwe,  Fteet-rtreet,  I  April,  1755. 

11  Sir*— If  you  imagine  that  by  delaying 


my  answer  I  intended  to  show  any  neglect 
of  the  notice  with  which  you  have  favour- 
ed me,  you  will  neither  think  justly  of  your- 
self nor  of  me.  Your  civilities  were  offered 
with  too  much  elegance  not  to  engage  at- 
tention; and  I  have  too  much  pleasure  in 
pleasing  men  like  you,  not  to  feel  very  sen- 
sibly the  distinction  you  have  bestowed 
upon  me* 

"  Few  consequences  of  my  endeavours 
to  please  or  to  benefit  mankind  have  delight- 
ed me  more  than  your  friendship  thus  vol- 
untarily offered,  which  now  I  have  it  I  hope 
to  keep,  because  I  hope  to  continue  to  de- 
serve it 

"  I  have  no  Dictionaries  to  dispose  of 
for  myself,  but  shall  be  glad  to  have  you 
direct  your  friends  to  Mr.  Dodsley,  because 
it  was  by  his  recommendation  that  I  was 
employed  in  the  work. 

"  When  you  have  leisure  to  think  again 
upon  me,  let  me  be  favoured  with  another 
letter;  and  another  yet,  when  you  have 
looked  into  my  Dictionary.  If  you  find 
faults,  I  shall  endeavour  to  mend  them: 
if  you  find  none,  I  shall  think  you  blinded 
by  kind  partiality:  but  to  have  made  you 
partial  in  his  favour,  will  very  much  gratify 
the  ambition  of,  sir,  your  most  obliged  ana 
most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

Mr.  Andrew  Millar,  bookseller  in  the 
Strand,  took  the  principal  charge  of  con- 
ducting the  publication  of  Johnson's  Dic- 
tionary; and  as  the  patience  of  the  proprie- 
tors was  repeatedly  tried  and  almost  ex- 
hausted, by  their  expecting  that  the  work 
would  be  completed,  within  the  time 
which  Johnson  had  sanguinely  supposed, 
the  learned  authour  was  often  goaded  to  de- 
spatch, more  especially  as  he  had  received 
all  the  copy  money,  by  different  drafts,  a 
considerable  time  before  he  had  finished  his 
task.  When  the  messenger  who  carried 
the  last  sheet  to  Millar  returned,  Johnson 
asked  him,  "Well,  what  did  he  say?"— 
"  Sir,  (answered  the  messenger),  he  said, 
thank  God  I  have  done  with  him." — "I 
am  glad  (replied  Johnson  with  a  smile) 
that  he  thanks  God  for  any  thing  V  It  is 
remarkable,  that  those  with  whom  Johnson 
chiefly  contracted  for  his  literary  labours 
were  Scotchmen,  Mr.  Millar  and  Mr.  Stra- 
han.  Miliar,  though  himself  no  great  judge 
of  literature,  had  good  sense  enough  to  have 
for  his  friends  very  able  men,  to  give  him 
their  opinion  and  advice  in  the  purchase  of 


1  Sir  John  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  841),  inserts 
two  notes  as  having  passed  formerly  between 
Andrew  Millar  and  Johnson,  to  the  above  effect 
I  am  assured  this  was  not  the  case.  In  the  way 
of  incidental  remark  it  was  a  pleasant  play  of 
raillery.  To  have  deliberately  written  notes  in 
such  terms  would  have  been  morose.— Boswexa. 


Digitized  by  LiOOQ IC 


1*4 


1755.— ^TAT.  48. 


copyright}  the  consequence  of  which  was 
his  acquiring  a  very  large  fortune  with  great 
liberality.  Johnson  said  of  him, i '  I  respect 
Millar,  sir:  he  has  raised  the  price  of  litera- 
ture." The  same  praise  may  be  justly 
given  to  Panckoucke,  the  eminent  booksel- 
ler of  Paris.  Mr.  Strahan's  liberality,  judg- 
ment, and  success,  are  well  known. 

"  TO  BENNET  LANGTON,  ESQ.  AT  LANGTON. 

<(  6  May,  1756. 

"Sir, — It  has  been  long  observed,  that 
men  do  not  suspect  faults  which  they  do  not 
commit;  your  own  elegance  of  manners,  and 
punctuality  of  complaisance,  did  not  suffer 
you  to  impute  to  me  that  negligence  of 
which  I  was  guilty,  and  [for l]  which  I 
have  not  since  atoned.  1  received  both  your 
letters,  and  received  them  with  pleasure  pro- 
portioned to  the  esteem  which  so  short  an 
acquaintance  strongly  impressed,  and  which 
I  hope  to  confirm  by  nearer  knowledge, 
though  I  am  afraid  that  gratification  will  be 
for  a  time  withheld. 

"I  have,  indeed,  published  my  book2,  of 
which  I  beg  to  know  your  father's  judge- 
ment, and  yours;  and  I  have  now  staid  long 
enough  to  watch  its  progress  in  the  world. 
It  has,  you  see,  no  patrons,  and  I  think  has 
yet  had  no  opponents,  except  the  cri ticks  of 
the  coffee-house,  whose  outcries  are  soon 
dispersed  into  the  air,  and  are  thought  on 
no  more;  from  this,  therefore,  I  am  at  lib- 
erty, and  think  of  taking  the  opportunity 
of  this  interval  to  make  an  excursion,  and 
why  not  then  into  Lincolnshire?  or,  to 
mention  a  stronger  attraction,  why  not  to 
dear  Mr.  Langton?  I  will  give  the  true 
reason,  which  I  know  you  will  approve : 
— I  have  a  mother  more  than  eighty 
years  old,  who  has  counted  the  days  to 
the  publication  of  my  book,  in  hopes  of 
seeing  me;  and  to  her  if  I  can  disengage 
myself  here,  I  resolve  to  go3. 

"  As  I  know,  dear  sir,  that  to  delay  my 
visit  for  a  reason  like  this,  will  not  deprive 
me  of  your  esteem,  I  beg  it  may  not  lessen 
your  kindness.  I  have  very  seldom  receiv- 
ed an  offer  of  friendship  which  I  so  earnest- 
ly desire  to  cultivate  and  mature.  I  shall 
rejoice  to  hear  from  you,  till  I  can  see  you, 
and  will  see  you  as  soon  as  I  can;  for  when 
the  duty  that  calls  me  to  Lichfield  is  dis- 
charged, my  inclination  will  carry  me  to 
Langton.  I  shall  delight  to  hear  the  ocean 
roar4,  or  see  the  stars  twinkle,  in  the  com- 


1  The  word  "  for  "  has  here  probably  slipped 
oat  by  error  of  the  transcriber  or  the  press.  See 
the  word  atone,  in  Johnson's  Dictionary. — Ed.] 

*  Hb  Dictionary. — Bos  well. 

*  [It  is  to  be  feared  that  this  duty  was  not  per- 
formed :  see  post,  January,  1759. — En.] 

4  [This  must  refer  to  some  general  allusion 
in  Mr.  Langton's  letters,  for  the  village  of  Lang- 
ton is  ten  or  twelve  miles  from  the  coast — En.] 


pany  of  men  to  whom  nature  does  not 
spread  her  volume  to  utter  her  voice  in  vain. 
"Do  not,  dear  sir,  make  the  slowness  of 
this  letter  a  precedent  for  delay,  or  imagine 
that  I  approved  the  incivility  that  I  have 
committed;  for  I  have  known  you  enough 
to  love  you,  and  sincerely  to  wish  a  further 
knowledge;  and  I  assure  you  once  more, 
that  to  live  in  a  house  that  contains  such  a 
father  and  such  a  son,  will  be  accounted  a 
very  uncommon  degree  of  pleasure,  by, 
dear  sir,  your  most  obliged,  and  most  hum* 
ble  servant.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"DR.    JOHNSON    TO  MR.  WARTON. 

"(London),  13  May,  1755. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  am  grieved  that  you 
should  think  me  capable  of  neglecting  your 
letters;  and  beg  you  will  never  admit  any 
such  suspicion  again.  I  purpose  to  come 
down  next  week  if  you  shall  be  there;  or 
any  other  week,  that  shall  be  more  agree- 
able to  you.  Therefore  let  me  know.  I 
can  stay  this  visit  but  a  week;  but  intend 
to  make  preparations  for  longer  stay  next 
time;  being  resolved  not  to  lose  sight  of  the 
university.  How  goes  Apollonius5?  Don't 
let  him  be  forgotten.  Some  things  of  this 
kind  must  be  done,  to  keep  us  up.  Pay  my 
compliments  to  Mr.  Wise,  and  all  my  other 
friends.  I  think  to  come  to  Kettel-Hall.  I 
am,  sir,  your  most  affectionate,  &c. 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

["  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  RICHARDSON4. 
"  17  May,  1755. 

"  Dear  sir, — As  you  were  the  first  that 
gave  me  notice  of  this  paragraph,  I  send  it 
to  you,  with  a  few  little  notes,  which  I 
wish  you  would  read.  It  is  well,  when 
men  of  learning  and  penetration  busy  them- 
selves in  these  inquiries,  but  what  is  their 
idleness  is  my  business.  Help,  indeed,  now 
comes  too  late  for  me,  when  a  large  part  of 
my  book  has  passed  the  press. 

"  I  shall  be  glad  if  these  strictures  appear 
to  you  not  unwarrantable;  for  whom  should 
he,  who  toils  in  settling  a  language,  desire 
to  please  but  him  who  is  adorning  it?  I  hope 
your  new  book  is  printing.  Matte  novd 
virtvte.  I  am,  dear  sir,  most  respectfully 
and  most  affectionately,  your  humble  ser- 
vant, "  Sam.  Johnson."] 

ccDR.    JOHNSON    TO    MR.    WARTON. 

"(London),  10  June,  1755. 
"Dear  sir, — It  is  strange  how  many 
things  will  happen  to  intercept  every  plea- 
sure, though  it  (be)  only  that  of  two  friends 
meeting  together.  I  have  promised  my- 
self every  day  to  inform  you  when  you 
might  expect  me  at  Oxford,  and  have  not 

6  A  translation  of  Apollonius  Rhodius  was  now 
intended  by  Mr.  Warton. — Warton. 
•  (Communicated  by  Dr.  HarwoooV— En.] 


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1755.— JETAT.  46. 


125 


I  tamable  to  fix  a  time.  This  time,  howev- 
er, is,  I  think,  at  last  come;  and  I  promise 
myself  to  repose  in  Kettell-hail,  one  of  the 
fint  nights  of  the  next  week.  I  am  afraid 
my  stay  with  you  cannot  be  long;  but  what 

!  k  the  inference?  We  must  endeavour  to 
make  it  cheerful.  I  wish  your  brother 
could  meet  us,  that  we  might  go  and  drink 
tea  with  Mr.  Wise  in  a  body.  I  hope  he 
will  be  at  Oxford,  or  at  his  nest  of  British 
and  Saxon  antiquities l.  I  shall  expect  to 
see  Spenser  finished,  and  many  other  things 
begun.  Dodsley  is  gone  to  visit  the  D  utch. 
The  Dictionary  sells  well.  The  rest  of  the 
world  goes  on  as  it  did.  Dear  sir,  your 
most  affectionate,  &c.    "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"DR.   JOHNSON   TO   MR.    WARTON. 

«  (London),  24  June,  1755. 

"Dear  sir, — To  talk  of  coming  to  you 
•nd  not  yet  to  come,  has  an  air  of  trifling 
which  I  would  not  willingly  have  among 
you;  and  which,  I  believe ,  you  will  not 
willingly  impute  to  me,  when  I  have  told 
you,  that  since  my  promise,  two  of  our 
partners8  are  dead,  and  that  I  was  solicited 
to  suspend  my  excursion  till  we  could  re- 
cover from  our  confusion. 

"  I  have  not  laid  aside  my  purpose;  for 
every  day  makes  me  more  impatient  of 
staying  from  you.  But  death,  you  know, 
hears  not  supplications,  nor  pays  any  re- 
gard to  the  convenience  of  mort  als.  1  hope 
now  to  see  you  next  week;  but  next  week 
v  but  another  name  for  to-morrow,  which 
has  been  noted  for  promising  and  deceiv- 
ing.   I  am,  &c. .       "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  WARTON. 

"  (London),  7  Aug.  1756. 

"Dear  sir, — I  told  you  that  among 
the  manuscripts  are  some  things  of  Sir 
Thomas  More.  I  beg  you  to  pass  an  hour 
in  looking  on  them,  and  procure  a  tran- 
script of  the  ten  or  twenty  first  lines  of 
«ach,  to  be  compared  with  what  I  have; 
that  I  may  know  whether  they  are  yet 
published.     The  manuscripts  are  these: 

"Catalogue  of  Bodi.  MS.  pag.  122.  F. 
••    Sir  Thomas  More. 

"  1.  Fall  of  angels.  2.  Creation  and  fall 
of  mankind.  3.  Determination  of  the  Trini- 
ty for  the  rescue  of  mankind.  4.  Five  lec- 
tures of  our  Saviour's  passion,  5.  Of  the  in- 
rtitution  of  the  Sacrament,  three  lectures. 
I.  Uow  to  receive  the  blessed  body  of  our 
Lord  sacramen tally.  7.  Neomenia,  the  new 
moon.  8.  De  triititid,  tctdio,  pavore,  et 
vratione  Christi  ante  captionem  ejus. 


1  At  Ellsfield,  a  Tillage  three  miles  from  Oz- 
fcri— -Warton. 

1  BookseUen  concerned  in  his  Dictionary. — 
Waktoh.  [Mr.  Paid  Knapton  died  on  the 
lfch,and  Mr.  Thomas  Longman  on  the  18th 
Has,  TOtWEn.] 


"Catalogue,  pag.  154.  Life  of  Sir 
Thomas  More.  $«.  Whether  Roper's? 
Page  363.  De  resignatione  Magni  Sigil- 
li  inmarius  regis  per  D.  Thotnam  Morum. 
Pag.  364.     Mot*  Defensio  Moria. 

"  If  you  procure  the  young  gentleman  in 
the  library  to  write  out  what  you  think  fit 
to  be  written,  I  will  send  to  Mr.  Prince  the 
bookseller  to  pay  him  what  you  shall  think 
proper. 

"  Be  pleased  to  make  my  compliments  to 
Mr.  Wise,  and  all  my  friends.  I  am,  sir, 
your  affectionate,  &c. 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

The  Dictionary,  with  a  Grammar  and 
History  of  the  English  Language,  being 
now  at  length  published,  in  two  volumes 
folio,  the  world  contemplated  with  wonder 
so  stupendous  a  work  achieved  by  one 
man,  while  other  countries  had  thought 
such  undertakings  fit  only  for  whole  acad- 
emies. Vast  as  his  powers  were,  I  cannot 
but  think  that  his  imagination  deceived 
him,  when  he  supposed  that  by  constant 
application  he  might  have  performed  the 
task  in  three  years.  Let  the  Preface  be 
attentively  perused,  in  which  is  given,  in 
a  clear,  strong,  and  glowing  style,  a  com- 
prehensive, yet  particular  view  of  what  he 
nad  done;  and  it  will  be  evident,  that  the 
time  he  employed  upon  it  was  comparative 
ly  short.  I  am  unwilling  to  swell  my  book 
with  long  quotations  from  what  is  in  every 
body's  hands,  and  I  believe  there  are  few 
prose  compositions  in  the  English  language 
that  are  read  with  more  delight,  or  are 
more  impressed  upon  the  memory,  than 
that  preliminary  discourse.  One  of  its  ex- 
cellencies has  always  struck  me  with  pecu- 
liar admiration:  I  mean  the  perspicuity 
with  which  he  has  expressed  abstract  sci- 
entifick  notions.  As  an  instance  of  this,  I 
shall  quote  the  following  sentence:  "  When 
the  radical  idea  branches  out  into  parallel 
ramifications,  how  can  a  consecutive  series 
be  formed  of  senses  in  their  own  nature  col- 
lateral3?" We  have  here  an  example  of 
what  has  been  often  said,  and  I  believe  with 
justice,  that  there  is  for  every  thought  a 
certain  nice  adaption  of  words  which  none 
other  could  equal,  and  which,  when  a  man 
has  been  so  fortunate  as  to  hit,  he  has  at- 
tained, in  that  particular  case,  the  perfec- 
tion of  language. 

The  extensive  reading  which  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  accumulation  of 
authorities,  and  which  alone  may  account 


3  [Mr.  BoswelTs  apprehension  was  much  clear- 
er than,  or  his  ideas  of  perspicuity  very  different 
from  those  of  the  editor,  who  is  not  ashamed  to 
confess  that  he  does  not  understand  this  perspicu- 
ous passage.  There  seems,  moreover,  to  be 
something  like  a  contradiction  in  the  terms:  how 
can  parallels  be  said  to  branch  out  ? — Ed.] 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


128 


1755,— ^TAT.  4*. 


for  Johnson's  retentive  mind  being'  enrich- 
ed with  a  very  large  and  various  store  of 
knowledge  and  imagery,  must  have  occu- 
pied several  years.  The  Preface  furnishes 
an  eminent  instance  of  a  double  talent,  of 
which  Johnson  was  fully  conscious.  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  heard  him  say,  "  There 
are  two  things  which  I  am  confident  I  can 
do  very  well:  one  is  an  introduction  to  any 
literary  work,  stating  what  it  is  to  contain, 
and  how  it  should  be  executed  in  the  most 
perfect  manner:  the  other  is  a  conclusion, 
showing  from  various  causes  why  the  ex- 
ecution has  not  been  equal  to  what  the  au- 
thour  promised  to  himself  and  to  the  pub- 
lick." 

How  should  puny  scribblers  be  abashed 
and  disappointed,  when  they  find  him  dis- 
playing a  perfect  theory  of  lexicographical 
excellence,  yet  at  the  same  time  candidly 
and  modestly  allowing  that  he  "had  not 
satisfied  his  own  expectations."  Here  was 
a  fair  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  Johnson's 
modesty,  when  he  was  called  upon  to  com- 
pare his  own  arduous  performance,  not 
with  those  of  other  individuals  (in  which 
case  his  inflexible  regard  to  truth  would 
have  been  violated  had  he  affected  dif- 
fidence), but  with  speculative  perfection; 
as  he,  who  can  outstrip  all  his  compe- 
titors in  the  race,  may  yet  be  sensible 
of  his  deficiency  when  he  runs  against 
time.  Well  might  he  say,  that  "  the  Eng- 
lish Dictionary  was  written  with  little  as- 
sistance of  the  learned;"  for  he  told  me, 
that  the  only  aid  which  he  received  was  a 
paper  containing  twenty  etymologies,  sent 
to  him  by  a  person  then  unknown,  who  he 
was  afterwards  informed  was  Dr.  Pearce, 
Bishop  of  Rochester.  The  etymologies, 
though  they  exhibit  learning  and  judge- 
ment, are  not,  I  think,  entitled  to  the  first 
praise  amongst  the  various  parts  of  this 
immense  work.  The  definitions  have  al- 
ways appeared    to  me  such    astonishing 

'  proofs  of  acuteness  of  intellect  and  preci- 
sion of  language,  as  indicate  a  genius  of  the 
highest  rank.  This  it  is  which  marks  the 
fluperiour  excellence  of  Johnson's  Diction- 
ary over  others  equally  or  even  more  volu- 
minousj  and  must  have  made  it  a  work  of 
much  greater  mental  labour  than  mere  Lex- 
icons, or  Word-Books,  as  the  Dutch  call 
them.  They,  who  will  make  the  experi- 
ment of  trying:  how  they  can  define  a  few 
words  of  whatever  nature,  will  soon  be 
satisfied  of  the  unquestionable  justice  of  this 
observation,  whicn  I  can  assure  my  read- 
ers is  founded  upon  much  study,  and  up- 
on communication  with  more  minds  than 
my  own. 

A  few  of  his  definitions  must  be  admitted 
to  be  erroneous.  Thus  Windward  and  Lee- 

ward,  though  directly  of  opposite  meaning, 


ward  the  wind]  i;  as  to  which  inconsidera- 
ble specks  it  is  enough  to  observe,  that  his 
Preface  announces  that  he  was  aware  there 
might  be  many  such  in  so  immense  a  work; 
nor  was  he  at  all  disconcerted  when  an  in- 
stance was  pointed  out  to  him.  A  lady 
once  asked  him  how  he  came  to  define  Pat- 
tern the  knee  of  a  horse :  instead  of  making 
an  elaborate  defence,  as  she  expected,  he  at 
once  answered,  "  Ignorance,  madam,  pure 
ignorance."  His  definition  of  Network— 
[any  thing  reticulated  or  decussated  at  equal 
distances,  with  interstices  between  the  in- 
tersections] — has  been  often  quoted  with 
sportive  malignity,  as  obscuring  a  thing  in 
itself  very  plain.  But  to  tliese  frivolous 
censures  no  other  answer  is  necessary  than 
that  with  which  we  are  furnished  by  his 
own  Preface.  "  To  explain,  requires  the 
use  of  terms  less  abstruse  than  thai  which 
is  to  be  explained,  and  such  terms  cannot 
always  be  found.  For  as  nothing  can  be 
proved  but  by  supposing  something  intui- 
tively known,  and  evident  without  proofs 
so  nothing  can  be  defined  but  by  the  use  of 
words  too  plain  to  admit  of  definition. 
Sometimes  easier  words  are  changed  into 
harder;  as  burial,  into  sepulture  or  inter* 
ment;  dry,  into  desiccattve;  dryness  into 
siccity  or  aridity;  fit,  into  paroxysm;  for 
the  easiest  word,  whatever  it  be,  can  never 
be  translated  into  one  more  easy." 

His  introducing  his  own  opinions,  and 
even  prejudices,  under  general  definitions  of 
words,  while  at  the  same  time  the  origmal 
meaning  of  the  words  is  not  explained,  and 
a  few  more,  cannot  be  fully  defended,  and 
must  be  placed  to  the  account  of  capricious 
and  humorous  indulgence.     Such  are 

Tort  [a  cant  term,  derived,  I  suppose, . 
from  an  Irish  word  signifying  a  savage. 
One  who  adheres  to  the  ancient  constitu- 
tion of  the  state  and  the  apostolic  hierarchy 
of  the  church  of  England:  opposed  to  m 
Whig}. 

Whig  [the  name  of  a  faction]. 

Pension  [an  allowance  made  to  any  one 
without  an  equivalent.  In  -England  it  it 
generally  understood  to  mean  pay  given  to 
a  state  hireling  for  treason  to  his  country]. 

Pensioner  [a  slave  of  state  hired  by  m 
stipend  to  obey  his  master], 

Oats  [a  grain  which  in  England  is  gen- 
erally riven  to  horses,  but  in  Scotland  sup- 
ports the  people]. 

Excise  [a  hateful  tax  levied  upon  com- 
modities, and  adjudged  not  by  the  common 
judges  of  property,  but  by  wretches  hired 
by  those  to  whom  excise  is  paid2]. 


1  He  owm  in  his  Preface  the  deficiency  of  the 
technical  part  of  his  work;  and  he  said  he  aboatd 
be  much  obliged  to  me  for  definition*  of  musical 
terms  for  his  next  edition,  which  he  did  not  life 

wmra,  inougn  curecuy  or  opposite  meaning,    to  supenntend.--Bt7*N«Y. 

axe  defined  identically  the  same  way— [to- 1     •  fa  CoinnuMonan  of  1 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


17M.~ ^TAT.  4*. 


1ST 


Talking  to  me  upon  this  subject  when  we 
were  at  Ashbourne  in  1777,  he  mentioned 
t  still  stronger  instance  of  the  predominance 
of  his  private  feelings  In  the  composition  of 


by  this  severe  reflection,  consulted  Mr.  Murray, 
tan  Attorney-General,  to  know  whether  redress 
could  be  legally  obtained.  I  wished  to  have  pro- 
eared  for  my  readers  a  copy  of  the  opinion  which 
he  gave,  and  which  may  now  be  justly  considered 
as  history;  but  the  mysterious  secrecy  of  office  it 
seems  would  not  permit  it  I  am,  however,  in- 
fcrmed,  by  very  good  authority,  that  its  import 
was,  that  the  passage  might  be  considered  as  ac- 
tionable; bat  that  it  would  be  more  prudent  in  the 
board  not  to  prosecute.  Johnson  never  made  the 
smallest  alteration  m  this  passage.  We  find  he 
stfll  retained  his  early  prejudice  against  Excise;  for 
k  "  The  Idler,  No.  65,"  there  is  the  following 
Tory  extraordinary  paragraph:  "  The  authenticity 
of  Clarendon's  history,  though  printed  with  the 
sanction  of  one  of  the  first  Universities  of  the 
world,  had  not  an  unexpected  manuscript  been 
happfly  discovered,  would,  with  the  help  of  fac- 
tious credulity,  have  been  brought  into  question, 
by  the  two  lowest  of  all  human  beings,  a  Scribbler 
for  a  party,  and  a  Commissioner  of  Excise."  The 
Bassoon  to  whom  ho  alludes  were  Mr.  John  Old- 
auana,  and  George  Ducket,  Esq. — Boswxll. 
pfta  present  Editor  is  more  fortunate  than  Mr. 
Boswell,  in  being  able  (through  the  favour  of  Sir. 
F.  H.  Doyle,  now  Deputy-Chairman  of  the  Excise 
Board)  to  present  the  reader  with  a  copy  of  the 
ease  submitted  to  Lord  Mansfield  and  his  opinion: 

"Cam  aw  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Attorney-General. 
"  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson  has  lately  published  a 
book  entitled  *  A  dictionary  of  the  English 
Language,  «jt  which  the  words  are  deduced 
from  their  originals,  and  illustrated  in  their 
different  significations  by  examples  from  the 
best  writers.  To  which  are  prefixed,  a  His- 
tory of  ike  Language  and  an  English  Gram- 
mar.* 

'Under  this  tide,  Excise,  are  the  following 


"Excise,  n.  t.  (Accijs,  Dutch;  Excisum, 
Latin.} — A  bateml  tax  levied  upon  commodities, 
and  adjudged  not  by  the  common  judges  of  prop- 
erty, bat  wretches  hired  by  those  to  whom  excise 


"  *  The  people  should  pay  m  ratable  tax  for 
Hear  shoes ,  and  an  excise  for  every  thing  which 
they  should  eat.' — Hatward. 

" '  Ambitious  now  to  take  emeise 

Cf  a  more  fragrant  poradi* «.'— Cl«at*lawd. 

"<RxeUt 

IflB*  kmndred  rowe  of  teeth,  the  shark  exceed*, 

dad  on  mil  trades,  like  eaeoawar,  erne  feed*.'— of  aitsl. 

44  *  Can  hire  large  houses,  and  oppress  tl\c 
•       poor  by  farmed  excise.9    Dry  Daw's  Juvenal, 

"  The  author's  definition  being  observed  by  the 
Commissioners  of  Excise,  they  desire  the  favour 
of  your  opinion. 
I  "Q«.    Whether  it  will  not  be  considered  as  a 

hoe),  and  if  so,  whether  it  is  not  proper  to  pro- 
ceed against  the  author,  printed,  and  publishers 


thia  work,  than  any  now  to  be  found  in  it 
"  Yon  know,  air,  Lord  Gower  forsook  the  old 
Jacobite  interest.  When  I  came  to  the  word 
Rencgado,  after  telling  that  it  meant  '  one 
who  deserts  to  the  enemy,  a  revolter,'  I 
added  Sometimes  we  say  a  Gower  i.  Thus 
it  went  to  the  press:  but  the  printer  had 
more  wit  than  I,  and  struck  it  out." 

Let  it,  however,  be  remembered,  that  this 
indulgence  does  not  display  itself  only  in 
sarcasm  towards  others,  but  sometimes  in 
playful  allusion  to  the  notions  commonly 
entertained  of  his  own  laborions  task.  Thus : 
"  Grub-street,  the  name  of  a  street  in  Lon- 
don, much  inhabited  by  writers  of  small  his* 
tories,  dictionaries,  and  temporary  poems; 
whence  any  mean  production  is  called  Grub- 
street." — "  Lexicographer,  a  writer  of  dic- 
tionaries, a  harmless  drudge9.99 

At  the  time  when  he  was  concluding  his 
very  eloquent  Preface,  Johnson's  mind  ap- 
pears to  have  been  in  such  a  state  of  de- 
pression, that  we  cannot  contemplate  with- 
out wonder  the  vigorous  and  splendid 
thoughts  which  so  highly  distinguish  that 
performance.  "  I  (says  he)  may  surely  be 
contented  without  the  praise  of  perfection, 
which  if  I  could  obtain  in  this  gloom  of  soli- 
tude, what  would  it  avail  me?  I  have  pro- 
tracted my  work  till  most  of  those  whom  I 
wished  to  please  have  sunk  into  the  grave; 
and  success  and  miscarriage  are  empty 
sounds.  1  therefore  dismiss  it  with  frigid 
tranquillity,  having  little  to  fear  or  hope 
from  censure  or  from  praise."    That  this 


thereof,  or  any  and  which  of  them  by  information, 
or  how  otherwise  ? 

"  I  am  of  opinion  that  it  is  a  libel.  But  under 
all  the  circumstances,  I  should  think  it  better  to 
give  him  an  opportunity  of  altering  his  definition; 
and,  in  case  he  do  not,  to  threaten  him  with  an 
information. 

"  29th  Nov.  1765.  "  W.  Mubray." 

Whether  any  such  step  was  taken,  Sir  Francis 
Doyle  has  not  been  able  to  discover:  probably 
not;  but  Johnson,  in  his  own  octavo  abridgment 
of  the  Dictionary,  bad  the  good  sense  to  omit  the 
more  offensive  parts  of  the  definitions  of  both  Ex- 
cise and  Pension.  We  have  already  seen 
(ante,  p.  12)  the  probable  motivo  of  the  attack  on 
the  Excise.— Ed  J 

1  [Lord  Gower,  after  a  long  opposition  to  the 
whig  ministry  (which  was  looked  upon  at  equiva- 
lent to  Jacobitism),  accepted,  in  1742,  the  office 
of  Privy-Seal,  and  was  the  object  of  much  censure 
both  with  Whigs  and  Tories.  Sir  Charles  H. 
Williams  ironically  calls  him  "  Hanoverian 
Gower;"  but  it  is  probable  that  Johnson's  aver- 
sion to  Lord  Gower  arose  out  of  something  more 
personal  \  perhaps  the  disappointment  about  Ap- 
pleby school,  see  ante,  p.  51. — En.] 

*  [A  writer  of  dictionaries,  who  should  admit 
such  reflections  as  those  on  the  Excise*  Lord 
Qawer,  fee,  could  hardly  hope  to  pass  as  a 
harmless  drudge. — Ed.] 


Digitized  by 


Google 


128 


1754.— iETAT.  45. 


indifference  was  rather  a  temporary  than  an 
habitual  feeling,  appears,  I  think,  from  his 
letters  to  Mr.  Warton;  and  however  he 
may  have  been  affected  for  the  moment,  cer- 
tain it  is  that  the  honours  which  his  great 
work  procured  him,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  were  very  grateful  to  him.  His 
friend  the  Earl  of  Corke  and  Orrery  \  being 
at  Florence,  presented  it  to  the  Aeademia 
delta  Crusea.  That  Academy  sent  Johnson 
their  Pocabolario,  and  the  French  Acade- 
my sent  him  their  Dictionnaire,  which  Mr. 
Langton  had  the  pleasure  to  convey  to  liim. 

It  must  undoubtedly  seem  strange,  that 
the  conclusion  of  his  Preface  should  be  ex- 
pressed in  terms  so  desponding,  when  it  is 
considered  that  the  authour  was  then  only 
in  his  forty-sixth  year.  But  we  must  as- 
cribe its  gloom  to  that  miserable  dejection 
of  spirits  to  which  he  was  constitutionally 
subject,  and  which  was  aggravated  by  the 
death  of  his  wife  two  years  before.  I  have 
heard  it  ingeniously  observed  by  a  lady  of 
rank  and  elegance,  that  "his  melancholy 
was  then  at  its  meridian."  It  pleased  God 
to  grant  him  almost  thirty  years  of  life  after 
this  time;  and  once  when  he  was  in  a  placid 
frame  of  mind,  he  was  obliged  to  own  to  me 
that  he  had  enjoyed  happier  days,  and  had 
many  more  friends,  since  that  gloomy  hour, 
than  before. 

It  if  a  sad  saying,  that  "  most  of  those 
whom  he  wished  to  please  had  sunk  into 
the  grave;"  and  his  case  at  forty-five  was 
singularly  unhappy,  unless  the  circle  of  his 
friends  was  very  narrow.  I  have  often 
thought,  that  as  longevity  is  generally  desir- 
ed, and  I  believe  generally  expected,  it 
would  be  wise  to  be  continually  adding  to 
the  number  of  our  friends,  that  the  loss  of 
some  may  be  supplied  by  others.  Friend- 
ship, "  the  wine  of  life,"  should,  like  a 
well-stocked  cellar,  be  thus  continually  re- 
newedj  and  it  is  consolatory  to  think,  that 
although  we  can  seldom  add  what  will  equal 
the  generous  first  growths  of  our  youth, 
yet  friendship  becomes  insensibly  old  in 
much  less  time  than  is  commonly  imagined, 
and  not  many  years  are  required  to  make  it 
very  mellow  and  pleasant,  warmth  will,  no 
doubt,  make  a  considerable  difference.  Men 
of  affectionate  temper  and  bright  fancy  will 
coalesce  a  great  deal  sooner  than  those  who 
are  cold  and  dull. 

The  proposition  which  I  have  now  en- 
deavoured to  illustrate  was,  at  a  subsequent 
Eeriod  of  his  life,  the  opinion  of  Johnson 
imself.  He  said  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
"  If  a  man  does  not  make  new  acquain- 
tance as  he  advances  through  life,  he  will 
soon  find  himself  left  alone.  A  man,  sir, 
should  keep  his  friendship  in  constant  re- 
pair." 

The  celebrated  Mr.  Wilkes,  whose  no- 


[See  ante,  p.  102.— Ed.] 


tions  and  habits  of  life  were  very  opposite 
to  his,  but  who  was  ever  eminent  for  litera- 
ture and  vivacity,  sallied  forth  with  a  little 
jeu  d*  esprit  upon  the  following  passage  in 
his  Grammar  of  the  English  Tongue,  pre- 
fixed to  the  Dictionary:  "JJ seldom,  per- 
haps never,  begins  any  out  the  first  syllable.'* 
In  an  essay  printed  in  "  the  Publick  Adver- 
tiser," this  lively  writer  enumerated  many 
instances  in  opposition  to  this  remark;  for 
example :  c '  Trie  authour  of  this  observation 
must  oe  a  man  of  a  quick  appre-hension,  and 
of  a  most  cotnpre-hensive  genius."  The 
position  is  undoubtedly  expressed  with  too 
much  latitude. 

This  light  sally,  we  may  suppose,  made 
no  great  impression  on  our  Lexicographer; 
for  we  find  that  he  did  not  alter  the  passage 
till  many  years  afterwards9. 

He  had  the  pleasure  of  being  treated  in  a 
very  different  manner  by  his  old  pupil  Mr. 
Garrick,  in  the  following  complimentary- 
Epigram  : 

on  Johnson's  dictionary. 

"  Talk  of  war  with  a  Briton,  he'll  boldly  advance, 
That  one  English  soldier  will  beat  ten  of  France; 
Would  we  alter  the  boast  from  the  sword  to  the 

pen, 
Oar  odds  are  still  greater,  still  greater  oar  men; 
In  the  deep  mines  of  science  though  Frenchmen 

may  toil, 
Cam  their  strength  be  compared  to  Locke,  New* 

ton,  and  Boyle  ? 
Let  them  rally  their  heroes,  send  forth  all  their 

pow'rs, 
Their  verse-men  and  prose-men,  then  match  them 

with  ours! 
First  Shakspeare  and  Milton,  like  gods  in  the  fight. 
Have  put  their  whole  drama  and  epick  to  flight; 
In  satires,  epistles,  and  odes,  would  they  cope, 
Their  numbers  retreat  before  Dryden  and  Pope; 
And  Johnson,  well-arm 'd  like  a  hero  of  yore, 
Has  beat  forty  French  3,  and  will  beat  forty  mora4!*9 

Johnson  this  year  gave  at  once  a  proof 
of  his  benevolence,  quickness  of  apprehen- 
sion, and  admirable  art  of  composition,  in 
the  assistance  which  he  gave  to  Mr.  Zach- 
ariah  Williams,  father  of  the  blind  lady 


9  In  the  third  edition,  published  ia  1773,  he 
left  out  the  words  perhaps  never,  and  added  the 
following  paragraph: 

"  It  sometimes  begins  middle  or  final  syllables 
in  words  compounded,  as  block-head,  or  derived 
from  the  Latin,  as  compre-hended.' — Bos  well. 

a  The  number  of  the  French  Academy  em- 
ployed in  settling  their  language. — Bos  well. 

4  [This  compliment  is  creditable  to  Garrick *t 
placability,  if  we  are  to  believe  that  he  took  to 
himself  the  character  of  Prospero  in  the  Rambler 
of  the  15th  Feb.  1752  (see  ante,  p.  88);  but  it 
surely  is  not  a  very  happy  effort  of  wit  "  Well 
arm'd  like  a  hero  of  yore,39  and  **  will  beat 
more,"  have  little  meaning,  and  are  awk- 
ezplenves,  added,  it  would  seem,  merely 

*v*«^*bo5le 


forty* 
ward  i 


1758.— iETAT.  46, 


m 


whom  he  had  humanely  received  under  Bis 
root  Mr.  Williams  had  followed  the  pro- 
fession of  physick  in  Wales;  hut  having  a 
very  strong  propensity  to  the  study  of  na- 
tural philosophy,  had  pade  many  ingenious 
advances  towards  a  discovery  of  the  longi- 
tude, and  repaired  to  London  in  hopes  of 
obtaining  the  great  parliamentary  reward  K 
He  failed  of  success;  hut  Johnson  having 
made  himself  master  of  his  principles  and 
experiments,  «nrrote  for  liim  a  pamphlet, 
published  in  quarto,  with  the  following  ti- 
tle: **  An  Account  of  an  Attempt  to  ascer- 
tain the  Longitude  at  Sea,  by  an  exact 
Theory  of  the  Variation  of  the  Magnetical 
Needle;  with  a  Table  of  the  Variations  at 
the  most  remarkable  Cities  in  Europe,  from 
the  year  1660  to  1860  f."  To  diffuse  it 
more  extensively,  it  was  accompanied  with 
an  Italian  translation  on  the  opposite  pa^e, 
which  it  is  supposed  was  the  work  of  Sig- 
aor  Baretti  *,  an  Italian  of  considerable  lite- 
rature, who  having  come  to  England  a  few 
years  before,  had  been  employed  in  the  ca- 
I  paeity  both  of  a  language  master  and  an 
atrthour,  and  formed  an  intimacy  with  Dr. 
Johnson.  This  pamphlet  Johnson  present- 
ed to  the  Bodleidn  Library  3.  On  a  blank 
leaf  of  it  is  pasted  a  paragraph  cut  out  of 


1  [Mr.  Williams,  as  early  as  1721,  persuaded 
himself  that  he  had  discovered  the  means  of  ascer- 
taining the  longitude,  and  he  seems  to  have  pass- 
ed a  long  life  in  that  delusion. — Ed.] 

9  This  ingenious  foreigner,  who  was  a  native 
of  Piedmont,  came  to  England  about  the  year 
1753,  and  died  in  London,  May  5, 1789.  A  very 
candid  and  judicious  account  of  him  and  his  works, 
beginning  with  the  words,  "  So  much  asperity," 
and  written,  it  is  believed,  by  a  distinguished  dig- 
nitary in  the  church,  [Dr.  Vincent,  Dean  of 
Westminster],  may  be  found  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  for  that  year,  p.  469.— -Malonb. 

9  When  Dr.  Johnson  was  with  me  at  Oxford, 
m  1755,  he  gave  to  the  Bodleian  Library  a  thin 
qaarto  of  twenty-one  pages,  a  work  in  Italian, 
wan  an  English  translation  on  the  opposite  page. 
He  English  title-page  is  this:  "  An  Account  of 
an  Attempt  to  ascertain  the  Longitude  at  Sea,  by 
an  exact  Variation  of  the  Magnetical  Needle,  &c 
By  Zachariah  Williams.  London,  printed  for 
Dodsley,  1755."  The  English  translation,  from 
Ike  strongest  internal  marks,  is  unquestionably 
the  work  of  Johnson.  In  a  blank  leaf,  Johnson 
has  written  the  age,  and  time  of  death,  of  the  au- 
Z.  Williams,  as  I  have  said  above.  On 
'  blank  leaf  is  pasted  a  paragraph  from  a 


newspaper,  of  the  death  and  character  of  Williams, 
waiflb  is  plainly  written  by  Johnson.     He  was 


about  placing  this  book  in  the  Bod- 
leian; aad,  for  fear  of  any  omission  or  mistake, 
ha  catered,  in  the  gnat  Catalogue,  the  title-page 
of  it  with  his  own  hand.— Wartok. 

la  this  statement  there  is  a  slight  mistake.  The 
English  account,  which  was  written  by  Johnson, 
was  the  original;  the  Italian  was  a  translation, 
done  by  Baretti.-- Maloitx. 

▼ex.  i  17 


a  newspaper,  containing  an  account  of  the 
death  and  character  of  Williams,  plainly 
written  by  Johnson  *. 

In  July  this  year  he  had  formed  some 
scheme  of  mental  improvement,  the  partic- 
ular purpose  of  which  does  not  appear. 
But  we  find  in  his  "  Prayers  and  Medita- 
tions," p.  25,  a  prayer  entitled  "  On  the 
Study  of  Philosophy,  as  an  instrument  of 
living;"  and  after  it  follows  a  note,  "This 
study  was  not  pursued." 

On  the  13th  of  the  same  month  he  wrote 
in  his  Journal  the  following  scheme  of  life, 
for  Sunday:  "Having  lived"  (as  he  with 
tenderness  of  conscience  expresses  himself) 
"  not  without  an  habitual  reverence  for  the 
Sabbath,  yet  without  that  attention  to 
its  religious  duties  which  Christianity  re- 
quires:" 

"  1.  To  rise  early,  and  in  order  to  it,  to 
go  to  sleep  early  on  Saturday. 

"2.  To  use  some  extraordinary  devo* 
tion  in  the  morning. 

"  3.  To  examine  the  tenour  of  my  life, 
and  particularly  the  last  week;  and  to  mark 
my  advances  in  religion,  or  recession  from, 
it. 

"4.  To  read  the  Scripture  methodical- 
ly with  such  helps  as  are  at  hand. 

"5.  To  go  to  church  twice. 

"6.  To  read  books  of  Divinity,  either 
speculative  or  practical. 

"7.  To  instruct  my  family , 

"8.  To  wear  off  by  meditation  any 
worldly  soil  contracted  in  the  week5." 

In  1756  Johnson  found  that  the  great 
fame  of  his  Dictionary  had  not  set  him 
above  the  necessity  of  "making  provision 
for  the  day  that  was  passing  over  him." 
No  royal  or  noble  patron  extended  a  muni- 
ficent hand  to  give  independence  to  the  man 
who  had  conferred  stability  on  the  lan- 
guage of  his  country.  We  may  feel  indig- 
nant that  there  should  have  been  such  un- 
worthy neglect;  but  we  must,  at  the  same 
time,  congratulate  ourselves,  when  we  con- 
sider, that  to  this  very  neglect,  operating 
to  rouse  the  natural  indolence  of  nis  con- 
stitution, we  owe  many  valuable  produc- 


4  "  On  Saturday  the  12th  [July,  1755],  abort 
twelve  at  night,  died  Mr.  Zachariah  Williams,  in 
his  eighty-third  year,  after  an  illness  of  e^ht 
months,  in  fall  possession  of  his  mental  faculties. 
He  has  been  long  known  to  philosophers  and 
seamen  for  his  skill  in  magnetism,  and  his  propo- 
sal to  ascertain  the  longitude  by  a  peculiar  sys- 
tem of  the  variation  of  the  compass.  Ha  was  a 
man  of  industry  indefatigable,  of  conveisntioB 
inoffensive,  patient  of  adversity  and  disease,  em- 
inently sober,  temperate,  and  pious;  and  worthy 
to  have  ended  life  with  better  fortune." 

*  [In  1755  Johnson  seems  to  have  written  for 
Mrs.  Lenox  die  dedication  to  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle of  her  XrOnelation  of  8uUv>$  Mm 
—Ed.] 


'  Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


130 


1756.— jETAT.  47. 


tionS)  which   otherwise,    perhaps,  might 
never  have  appeared. 

He  had  spent,  during  the  progress  of  the 
work,  the  money  for  which  he  had  contract- 
ed to  write  his  Dictionary.  We  have  seen 
that  the  reward  of  his  labour  was  only  fif- 
teen hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds;  and 
when  the  expense  of  amanuenses  and  paper, 
and  other  articles,  are  deducted,  his  clear 
profit  was  very  inconsiderable.  I  once  said 
to  him,  "  I  am  sorry,  sir,  you  did  not  get 
more  for  your  Dictionary."  His  answer 
was,  "I  am  sorry  too.  But  it  was  very 
well.  The  booksellers  are  generous,  liber- 
al-minded men."  He,  upon  all  occasions, 
did  ample  Justice  to  their  character  in  this 
respect.  He  considered  them  as  the  patrons 
of  literature;  and,  indeed,  although  they 
have  eventually  *  been  considerable  gainers 
by  his  Dictionary,  it  is  to  them  that  we 
owe  its  having  been  undertaken  and  carried 
through  at  the  risk  of  great  expense,  for 
they  were  not  absolutely  sure  of  being  in- 
demnified. 

[In  1756,  Mr.  Garrick,  ever  dis- 

?"g£      fiosed  to  help  the  afflicted,  indulged 

Miss  Williams  with  a  benefit-play, 

that  produced  her  two  hundred  pounds.] 

[Johnson,  as  might  be  expected, 

exerted  his  influence  to  swell  the 

profits  of  this  act  of  kindness,  which  indeed 

was  probably  intended  by  Garrick  as  a  mark 

of  regard  as  much  to  Johnson  as  to  Miss 

Williams.] 

["  DR.  JOHNSON  TO   MISS  CARTER. 

"Gough-tquare,  l4ih  Jan.  1756. 
H«rwoo4.  «  Madam, — tfrom  the  liberty  of 
writing  to  you,  if  I  have  hitherto 
been  deterred  from  the  fear  of  your  under- 
standing, I  am  now  encouraged  to  it  from 
the  confidence  of  your  goodness. 

"  I  am  soliciting  a  benefit  for  Miss  Wil- 
liams, and  beg  that  if  you  can  by  letters  in- 
fluence any  in  her  favour  (and  who  is  there 
whom  you  cannot  influence?)  you  will  be 
pleased  to  patronize  her  on  this  occasion. 
Yet,  for  the  time  is  short,  and  as  you  were 
not  in  town,  I  did  not  till  this  day  remem- 
ber that  you  might  help  us,  and  recollect 
how  widely  and  how  rapidly  light  is  diffused. 
"  To  every  joy  is  appended  a  sorrow. 
The  name  of  Miss  Carter  introduces  the 
memory  of  Cave.  Poor  dear  Cave!  lowed 
him  much;  for  to  him  I  owe  that  I  have 
known  you.  Bfe  died,  I  am  afraid,  unex- 
pectedly to  himself,  yet  surely  unburthened 
with  any  great  crime,  and  for  the  positive 

m  duties  of  religion  I  have  yet  no  right  to  con- 

'  demn  him  for  neglect. 

1  [They  seem  to  have  been  immediately 
considerable  gainers,  for  a  second  folio  edition 
was  (if  we  may  credit  the  title-page)  published 
in  the  same  year  as  the  firstp-^an  extraordinary 
sale  for  so  great  and  expensive  a  work.— Ed.] 


u  I  am,  with  respect,  which  I  neither  owe 
nor  pay  to  any  other,  madam,  your  moat 
obedient  and  most  humble  servant, 

"Sam.  Johnson."] 

On  the  first  day  of  this  year,  we  find* 
from  his  private  devotions,  that  he  had 
then  recovered  from  sickness,  and  in  Feb- 
ruary that  his  eye  was  restored  to  its  use. 
The  pious  gratitude  with  which  he  acknow- 
ledges mercies  upon  every  occasion  is  very 
edifying :  as  is  the  humble  submission  which 
he  breathes,  when  it  is  the  will  of  his  heav- 
enly Father  to  try  him  with  afflictions. 
As  such  dispositions  become  the  state  of 
man  here,  and  are  the  true  effect  of  relhrious 
discipline,  we  cannot  but  venerate  in  John- 
son one  of  the  most  exercised  minds  that 
our  holy  religion  hath  ever  formed.  If 
there  be  any  thoughtless  enough  to  suppose 
such  exercise  the  weakness  of  a  great  un- 
derstanding, let  them  look  up  to  Johnson, 
and  be  convinced  that  what  he  so  earnest- 
ly practised  must  have  a  rational  founda- 
tion. 

[The  two  next  letters  are  mel-  ^ 
ancholy  evidence  of.  the  pecuniary 
distress  in  which  he  was  at  this  period 
involved.  It  is  afflicting  to  contemplate  the 
authour  of  the  Rambler  and  the  Dictionary 
reduced  to  such  precarious  means  of  exis- 
tence as  the  casual  profits  from  magazines 
and  reviews,  and  subjected  to  all  the  evils 
and  affronts  of  a  state  of  penury;  but  it,  at 
the  same  time,  raises  our  admiration  and 
esteem  to  recollect  that  even  in  this  season 
of  distress  he  continued  to  share  his  mite 
with  Miss  Williams,  Mr.  Levett,  and  the 
other  objects  of  his  charitable  regard.] 

["DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  RICHARDSON. 
"Tuesday,  19th  Feb.  176S. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  return  you  my 
sincerest  thanks  for  the  favour®  Jotk, 
which  you  were  pleased  to    do  p.  2*5. 
me  two  nights  ago. 

c^  Be  pleased  to  accept  of  this  little  book9, 
which  is  all  that  I  have  published  this  win- 
ter. The  inflammation  is  come  again  into 
my  eye,  so  that  I  can  write  very  little,  I 
am,  sir,  your  most  obliged  and  most  hum- 
ble servant, 

"Sam.  Johnson."] 


*  ["  This  letter  was  written  in  consequence 
of  Mr.  Richardson's  having  given  bail  for 
Dr.  Johnson."  The  foregoing  note  is  from 
Richardson's  Correspondence;  bat  there  must  be 
some  mistake  in  the  date  of  the  letter  itself 
The  19lh  Feb.  1756*,  fell  on  a  Thursday.  As 
Johnson's  handwriting  is  not  easily  read,  perhaps 
the  transcriber  mistook  Thursday  for  Tuesday. 
—Ed.] 

3  [No  work  of  Johnson's  appears  to  have  bean 
published  separately  about  this  time,  except  Wfl- 
liams's  Account  of  the  Longitude. — Ed.] 

Digitized  by  VjOOQ'IC    ' 


17B6.— iETAT.  4*. 


191 


["TO   ML   RICHARDSON. 

»  Goqgh  Square,  16th  March,  1756. 
fl«u  *c  Sir, — I  am  obliged  to  entreat 

«?«.  yotir  assistance;  I  am  now  under 
f.  479.  an  arrest  fpr  five  pounds  eighteen 
shillings.  Mr.  Strahan,  from  whom 
I  should  have  received  the  necessary  help 
in  this  case,  is  not  at  home,  and  I  am  afVaid 
of  not  finding  Mr.  Millar.  If  you  will  be 
to  good  as  to  send  me  this  sum,  I  will  very 
gratefully  repay  you,  and  add  it  to  all  for- 
mer obligations.  I  am,  sir,  your  most  obe- 
dient and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 
"  Sent  six  guineas l. 

"Witness  William  Richardson."] 

[uDR.    JOHNSON  TO   DR.    WARTON." 
"  15th  April,  1756. 

Ifaa.  "Dbar    sir, — Though,    when 

of  Dr.  you  and  your  brother  were  in  town, 
J^J£n>  you  did  not  think  my  humble  habi- 
tation  worth  a  visit,  yet  I  will  not 
so  far  give  way  to  sullenness  as  not  to  tell 
you  that  I  have  lately  seen  an  octavo  books 
which  I  suspect  to  be  yours,  though  I  have 
not  yet  read  above  ten  pages.  That  way  of 
publishing,  without  acquainting  your 
mends,  is  a  wicked  trick.  However,  I  will 
not  so  far  depend  upon  a  mere  conjecture  as 
to  charge  you  with  a  fraud  which  I  can- 
not prove  you  to  have  committed. 

"I  should  be  glad  to  hear  that  you  are 
pleased  with  your  new  situation4.  You 
have  now  a  kind  of  royalty,  and  are  to  be 
answerable  for  your  conduct  to  posterity. 
I  suppose  you  care  not  now  to  answer  a  let- 
ter, except  there  be  a  lucky  concurrence  of 
t  postdav  with  a  holiday.  These  restraints 
are  troublesome  for  a  time,  but  custom 
makes  them  easy  with  the  help  of  some  hon- 


1  [Upon  this  Mr.  Murphy  regrets,  "for  the 
honour  of  an  admired  writer,  not  to  find  a  more 
liberal  entry — to  his  friend  in  distress  he  sent 
sight  shillings  more  than  was  wanted!  Had  an 
modem  of  this  kind  occurred  m  one  of  his  ro- 
mances, Richardson  would  have  known  how  to 
gmce  Ins  hero;  but  in  fictitious  scenes  generosity 
eo*  the  writer  nothing."— -Life,  p.  87.     This  is 

2r  unjust  We  have  seen  that  Mr.  Richardson 
,  just  the  month  before,  been  called  upon  to 
&>  Johnson  a  similar  service;  and  it  has  been 
stated  that  about  this  period  Richardson  was  his 
constant  resource  in  difficulties  of  this  kind. 
Richardson  moreover  had  numerous  calls  of  the 
■sine  nature  from  other  quarters,  which  he  an- 
swered with  a  ready  and  well-regulateAharity. 
Isstead,  therefore,  of  censuring  him  for  not  giving 
ante,  Mr.  Murphy  might  have  praised  him  for 
hating  done  all  that  was  required  on  the  particu- 
lar occasion.— Ed.] 

•  [Hii  essay  on  the  writings  and  genius  of 
Pope.— Ed.] 

1  [His  appointment  of  head-master  of  Win- 
shester  school.— Ed. 


our,  and  a  great  deal  of  profit,  and  I  doubt 
not  but  your  abilities  wift  obtain  both. 

"  For  my  part,  I  have  not  lately  done 
much.  I  have  been  ill  in  the  winter,  and 
my  eye  has  been  inflamed;  but  I  please  my- 
self with  the  hopes  of  doing  many  things 
with  which  I  have  long  pleased  and  deceiv- 
ed myself. 

"  What  becomes  of  poor  dear  Collins5? 
I  WTOte  him  a  letter  which  he  never  answer- 
ed. I  suppose  writing  is  very  troublesome 
to  him.  That  man  is  no  common  loss.  The 
moralists  all  talk  of  the  uncertainty  of  for- 
tune, and  the  transitoriness  of  beauty;  but 
it  is  yet  more  dreadful  to  consider  that  the 
powers  of  the  mind  are  equally  liable  to 
change,  that  understanding  may  make  its 
appearance  and  depart,  that  it  may  blaze 
and  expire. 

"  Let  me  not  be  long  without  a  letter, 
and  I  will  forgive  you  the  omission  of  the 
visit;  and  if  you  can  tell  me  that  you  are 
now  more  happy  than  before,  you  will  give 
great  pleasure  to,  dear  sir,  your  most  affec- 
tionate and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson."] 

His  works  this  year  were,  an  abstract  or 
epitome,  in  octavo,  of  his  folio  Dictionary, 
and  a  few  essays  in  a  monthly  publication, 
entitled  "  The  Universal  Visits*." 
Christopher  Smart,  with  whose  unhappy 
vacillation  of  mind  he  sincerely  sympathised, 
was  one  of  the  stated  undertakers  of  this 
miscellany;  and  it  was  to  assist  him  that 
Johnson  sometimes  employed  his  pen.  All 
the  essays  marked  with  two  asterisk$  have 
been  ascribed  to  him;  but  I  am  confident, 
from  internal  evidence,  that  of  these,  neither 
"  The  Life  of  Chaucer,"  "  Reflections  on 
the  State  of  Portugal,"  nor  an  "  Essay  on 
Architecture,"  were  written  by  him.  I  am 
equally  confident,  upon  the  same  evidence, 
that  he  wrote  "  Further  Thoughts  on  Agri- 
culture t; "  being  the  sequel  of  a  very  info* 
rior  essay  on  the  same  subject,  and  which, 
though  carried  on  as  if  by  the  same  hand, 
is  both  in  thinking  and  expression  so  far 
above  it,  and  so  strikingly  peculiar,  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  of  its  true  parent;  and  that 
he  also  wrote  "  A  Dissertation  on  the  State 
of  Literature  and  Authorst,"  and  "A  Dis- 
sertation on  the  Epitaphs  written  by  Pope*." 
The  last  of  these,  indeed,  he  afterwards  ad- 
ded to  his  "  Idler."  Why  the  essays  truly 
written  by  him  are  marked  in  the  same  man- 
ner with  some  which  he  did  not  write,  I  can- 
not explain;  but  with  deference  to  those 
who  tave  ascribed  to  him  the  three  essays 
which  I  have  rejected,  they  want  all  the 
characteristical  marks  of  Johnsonian  compo- 
sition. 

He  engaged  also  to  superintend  and  i 


4  [Collins  died  in  this  year.— En.] 

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m 


17M.-3J3TAT.  47. 


tribute  largely  to  another  monthly  publica- 
tion, entitled  "  Thb  Litkkibt  Magazine, 
ok  Universal  Review  •  i  5 "  the  first  num- 
ber of  which  came  out  in  May  this  year. 
What  were  his  emoluments  from  this  under- 
taking, and  what  other  writers  were  em- 
ployed in  it,  I  have  not  discovered.  He 
continued  to  write  in  it,  with  intermissions, 
till  the  fifteenth  number;  and  I  think  that 
he  never  gave  better  proofs  of  the  force, 
acuteness,  and  vivacity  of  his  mind,  than  in 
this  miscellany,  whether  we  consider  his  or- 
iginal essays,  or  his  reviews  of  the  works  of 
others.  The  "  Preliminary  Addresst "  to 
the  publick  is  a  proof  how  this  great  man 
could  embellish,  with  the  graces  of  stipe  ri- 
our  composition,  even  so  trite  a  thing  as  the 
plan  of  a  magazine. 

His  original  essays  are,  "  An  introduction 
to  the  Political  State  of  Great  Britianf; " 
"  Remarks  on  the  Militia  Bill  t ; "  "  Obser- 
vations on  his  Britannick  Majesty's  Trea- 
ties with  the  Empress  of  Russia  and  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel  t; "  "  Observa- 
tions on  the  present  State  of  Affairsf; "  and 
"  Memoirs  of  Frederick  III.  King  of  Prus- 
siaf."  In  all  these  he  displays  extensive 
political  knowledge  and  sagacity,  expressed 
with  uncommon  energy  and  perspicuity, 
without  any  of  those  words  which  he  some- 
times took  a  pleasure  in  adopting,  in  imita- 
tion of  Sir  Thomas  Browne;  of  whose 
"  Christian  Morals"  he  this  year  gave  an 
edition,  with  his  "  Life# "  prefixed  to  it, 
which  is  one  of  Johnson's  best  biographical 
performances.  In  one  instance  only  in  these 
essays  has  he  indulged  his  Brovmism.  Dr. 
Robertson,  the  historian,  mentioned  it  to 
me,  as  having  at  once  convinced  him  that 
Johnson  was  the  authour  of  the  "  Memoirs 
of  the  King  of  Prussia."    Speaking  of  the 

Eride  which  the  old  king,  the  father  of  his 
ero,  took  in  beirig  master  of  the  tallest  regi- 
ment in  Europe,  he  says,  "  To  review  this 
towering  regiment  was  his  daily  pleasure; 
and  to  perpetuate  it  was  so  much  nis  care, 
that  when  he  met  a  tall  woman  he  imme- 
diately commanded  one  of  liis  Titanian  re- 
tinue to  marry  her,  that  they  might  propa- 
gate proeeriiy."  For  this  Anglo-Latian 
word  procerity,  Johnson  had,  however,  the 
authority  of  Addison. 

His  reviews  are  of  the  following  books: 
"  Birch's  History  of  the  Royal  Society  t;" 
"  Murphy's  Gray's-Inn  Journalf;"  "  War- 
ton's  Essay  on  the  Writings  and  Genius  of 
Pope,  vol.  I.t;M  "  Hampton's  Translation 
of  Polybiust;"  "Blackwell's  Memoirs  of 
the  Court  of  Auguatusf;"  "  Russel's  Natu- 
ral History  of  Aleppof;"  "  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton's Arguments  in  Proof  of  a  Deityf;" 

1  [Probably  this  was  the  execution  of  the  de- 
sign which  he  mentioned  to  Dr.  Adams.  See 
ante,  p.  122.— Ed.] 


"  Borlase's  History  of  the  Isles  of  Scillyf; 
"  Holme's  Experiments  on  Bleachingt;" 
"  Browne's  Christian  Moralsf;"  "  Hales  on 
distilling  Sea-Water,  Ventilators  in  Snipe, 
and  curing  an  ill  Taste  in  Milkf;"  "  Lucas's 
Essay  on  Waterst;"  "  Keith's  Catalogue 
of  the  Scottish  Bishopst;  "Browne's  His- 
tory of  Jamaica! ;"  "  Philosophical  Trans- 
actions, vol.  XLlX.f;"  "  Mrs.  Lenox's 
Translation  of  Sully's  Memoirs*;"  "  Mis- 
cellanies by  Elizabeth  Harrisonf;"  "  Ev- 
ans's Map  and  Account  of  the  Middle  Col- 
onies in  Americaf;"  "  Letter  on  the  Case 
of  Admiral  Byng  •;"  "  Appeal  to  the  Peo- 
ple concerning  Admiral  fiyng*;"  "  Han- 
way's  Eight  Days'  Journey,  and  Essay  on 
Tea*;"  "  The  Cadet,  a  Military  Trea- 
tise!;" "  Some  further  Particulsrs  in  Rela- 
tion to  the  Case  of  admiral  Byng,  by  a 
Gentleman  of  Oxford*;"  "  The  Conduct 
of  the  Ministry  relating  to  the  present  Wax 
impartially  examinedt;"  "  A  Free  Inquiry 
into  the  Nature  and  Origin  of  Evil*."  All 
these,  from  internal  evidence,  were  written 
by  Johnson:  some  of  them  I  know  he 
avowed,  and  have  marked  them  with  an  a#» 
terisk  accordingly.  Mr.  Thomas  Davies, 
indeed,  ascribed  to  him  the  Review  of  Mr. 
Burke's  "  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  our 
Ideas  of  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful;"  and 
Sir  John  Hawkins,  with  equal  discernment, 
has  inserted  it  in  his  collection  of  Johnson's 
works:  whereas  it  has  no  resemblance  to 
Johnson's  composition,  and  is  well  known 
to  have  been  written  by  Mr.  Murphy,  who 
has  acknowledged  it  to  me  and  many 
others. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  in  justice  to  John- 
son's political  character,  which  has  been 
misrepresented9  as  abjectly  submissive  to 
power,  that  his  "  Observation  on  the  pres- 
ent State  of  Affairs"  glow  with  as  animat- 
ed a  spirit  of  constitutional  liberty  as  can 
be  found  any" where.     Thus  he  begins: 

"The  time  is  now  come,  in  which  every 
Englishman  expects  to  be  informed  of  the 
national  affairs;  and  in  which  he  has  a  right 
to  have  that  expectation  gratified.  For, 
whatever  may  be  urged  by  ministers,  or 


*  [Dr.  Johnson's  political  bias  m  nowhere, 
that  the  editor  knows,  represented  as  having 
been,  at  this  date,  "abjectly  submissive  to  pow- 
er." On  the  contrary,  he  was  supposed,  and 
with  some  justice,  to  be  adverse  to  the  reigning 
house  and  its  successive  ministers.    The  charge 


(which  Mr.  Boswell  thus  ingenionsly  answers  by 
$hiftir£  it)  was,  that  after  the  grant  of  hie 
pension  he  became  too  "  submissive  to  power ; " 
but  the  truth  is,  that  in  spite  of  his  party  bias, 
Johnson  was  always  a  friend  to  discipline  in  the 
political,  as  in  the  social  world  ;  and  although  be 
joined  in  the  clamour  against  Walpole,  and  hated 
George  the  Second,  his  general  disposition  was 
always  to  support  the  monarohical  part  of  the 
constitution. — £n.  ] 

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1756.— -OTAT.  47. 


133 


thorn  whom  vanity  or  interest  make  the 
followers  of  ministers,  concerning  the  ne- 
cessity of  confidence  in  our  governoure,  and 
the  presumption  of*  prying  with  profane 

rinto  the  recesses  of  policy,  it  is  evident 
this  reverence  can  he  claimed  only  by 
counsels  yet  unexecuted,  and  projects  sus- 
pended in  deliberation.     But  when  a  de- 
sign has  ended  in  miscarriage  or  success, 
when  every  eye  and  every  ear  is  witness  to 
general  discontent,  or  general  satisfaction, 
it  is  then  a  proper  time  to  disentangle  con- 
radon  and  illustrate  obscurity;  to  show  by 
▼hat  causes  every  event  was  produced,  and 
in  what  effects  it  was  likely  to  terminate; 
to  lay  down    with    distinct   particularity 
what  rumour  always  huddles  in  general  ex- 
clamation, or  perplexes  by  indigested  nar- 
ratives; to  show  whence  happiness  or  ca- 
lamity is  derived,  and  whence  it  may  be 
expected;  and  honestly  to  lay  before  the 
people  what  inquiry  can  gather  of  the  past, 
and  conjecture  can  estimate  of  the  future." 
Here  we  have  it  assumed  as  an  incontro- 
vertible principle,  that  in  this  country  the 
people  are  the  superintendents  of  the  conduct 
and  measures  of  those  by  whom  govern- 
ment is  administered;  of  the  beneficial  effect 
of  which  the  present  reign  afforded  an  il- 
lustrious example,  when  addresses  from  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom  controlled  an  auda- 
cious attempt  to  introduce  a  new  power 
subversive  of  the  crown1. 

A  still  stronger  proof  of  his  patriotick 
spirit  appears  in  his  review  of  an  "  Essay 
on  Waters,  by  Dr.  Lucas 2,"  of  whom, 
slier  describing  him  as  a  man  well  known 
to  the  world  for  his  daring  defiance  to  pow- 
er, when  he  thought  it  exerted  on  the  side 
of  wrong,  he  thus  speaks: 

"  The  Irish  ministers  drove  him  from  his 
native  country  by  a  proclamation,  in  which 
they  charge  him  with  crimes  of  which  they 
never  intended  to  be  called  to  the  proo£ 
and  oppressed  him  by  methods  equally  ir- 
WMstible  by  guilt  and  innocence. 

u  Let  the  man  thus  driven  into  exile,  lor 
having  been  the  friend  of  his  country,  be 
received  in  every  other  place  as  a  confessor 
of  liberty;  and  let  the  tools  of  power  be 
tsught  in  time,  that  they  may  rob,  but  can- 
not impoverish. " 
Some  of  his  reviews  in  this  magazine 


*  l  [Mr.  Boawell  means  Mr.  Fox's  celebrated 
hdia  Bill,  as  an  adversary  of  which  he  distin- 
pished  himself  as  mochas  a  man  in  a  private 
*&m  conld  do.— Ed.] 

*  [Dr.  Lucas  was  an  apothecary  in  Dublin,  who 
foaght  himself  into  public  notice  and  a  high  de- 
gree of  popularity  by  his  writings  and  speeches 
*pimt  the  government  He  was  elected  repre- 
sentative of  the  city  of  Dublin  in  1761  ;  and 

•  marble  statue  to  his  honor  is  erected  in  the  Roy- 
al Exchange  of  that  city.    He  died  in  Nov.  1771. 


are  very  short  accounts  of  the  pieces  no- 
ticed, and  I  mention  them  only  that  Dr. 
Johnson's  opinion  of  the  works  may  be 
known  j  but  many  of  them  are  examples  of 
elaborate  criticism,  in  the  most  masterly 
style.  In  his  review  of  the  "  Memoirs  of 
the  Court  of  Augustus,"  he  has  the  resolu- 
tion to  think  and  speak  from  his  own  mind, 
regardless  of  the  cant  transmitted  from  age 
to  age,  in  praise  of  the  ancient  Romans* 
Thus: 

"  I  know  not  why  any  one  but  a  school- 
boy in  his  declamation  should  whine  over  the 
commonwealth  of  Rome  which  grew  great 
only  by  the  misery  of  the  rest  of  mankind. 
The  Romans,  like  others,  as  soon  as  they 
grew  rich,  crew  corrupt;  and  in  their  cor- 
ruption sold  the  lives  and  freedoms  of  them- 
selves, and  of  one  another." 

Again, 

"  A  people,  who  while  they  were  poor 
robbed  mankind;  and  as  soon  as  they  be- 
came rich  robbed  one  another." 

In  his  review  of  the  Miscellanies  in  prose 
and  verse,  published  by  Elizabeth  Harrison, 
but  written  fry  many  hands,  he  gives  an 
eminent  proof  at  once  of  his  orthodoxy  and 
candour. 

"  The  authours  of  the  essays  in  prose 
seem  generally  to  have  imitated,  or  tried  to 
imitate,  the  copiousness  and  luxuriance  of 
Mrs*  Rowe.  This,  however,  is  not  all 
their  praise;  they  have  laboured  to  add  to 
her  brightness  of  imagery,  her  purity  of 
sentiments.  The  poets  have  had  Dr.  Watts 
before  their  eyes;  a  writer  who,  if  he  stood 
not  in  the  first  class  of  genius,  compensated 
that  defect  by  a  ready  application  of  his 
powers  to  the  promotion  or  piety.  The  at- 
tempt  to  employ  the  ornaments  of  romance 
in  the  decoration  of  religion  was,  I  think, 
first  made  by  Mr.  Boyle's  Martyrdom  of 
Theodora;  but  Boyle's  philosophical  studies 
did  not  allow  him  time  for  the  cultivation 
of  style:  and  the  completion  of  the  great 
design  was  reserved  for  Mrs.  Rowe.  Dr. 
'Watts  was  one  of  the  first  who  taught  the 
dissenters  to  write  and  speak  like  other 
men,  by  showing  them  that  elegance  might 
consist  with  piety.  They  would  have  both 
done  honour  to  a  better  society,  for  they 
had  that  charity  which  might  well  make 
their  failings  forgotten,  and  with  which  the 
whole  Christian  world  might  wish  for  com- 
munion. They  were  pure  from  all  the 
heresies  of  an  age,  to  which  every  opinion 
is  become  a  favourite  that  the  universal 
church  has  hitherto  detested !" 

"  This  praise  the  general  interest  of  man- 
kind requires  to  be  given  to  writers  who 
please  and  do  not  corrupt,  who  instruct 
and  do  not  weary.  But  to  them  all  human 
eulogies  are  vain,  whom  I  believe  applauded 
by  angels,  and  numbered  with  the  just." 

His  defence  of  tea  against  Mr.  Jonas 

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134 


1766.— iETAT.  47. 


Hanway*s  violent  attack  upon  that  elegant 
and  popular  beverage,  shows  how  very  well 
a  man  of  genius  can  write  upon  the  slight- 
est subject,  when  he-writes,  -as  the  Italians 
say,  con  amove:  I  suppose  no  person  ever 
enjoyed  with  more  relish  the  infusion  of 
that  fragrant  leaf  than  Johnson.  The 
quantities  which  he  drank  of  it  at  all  hours 
were  so  great,  that  his  nerves  must  have 
been  uncommonly  strong,  not  to  have  been 
extremely  relaxed  by  such  an  intemperate 
use  of  it1.  He  assured  me  that  he  never 
felt  the  least  inconvenience  from  it;  which 
is  aproofthatthefaultofhis  constitution 
was  rather  a  too  great  tension  of  fibres,  than 
the  contrary.  Mr.  Hanway  wrote  an  an- 
gry answer  to  Johnson's  review  of  his  Es- 
say on  Tea,  and  Johnson,  after  a  full  and 
deliberate  pause,  made  a  reply  to  it;  the 
only  instance,  I  believe,  in  the  whole  course 
of  his  life,  when  he  condescended  to  oppose 
any  thing  that  was  written  against  him. 
I  suppose  when  he  thought  of  any  of  his 
little  antagonists,  he  was  ever  justly  aware 
of  the  high  sentiment  of  Ajax  in  Ovid: 

"  Isle  tulit  pretium  jam  none  certaminis  hujus, 
Q,ui,  cum  victus  erit,  mecum  certasse  feretar." 

But,  indeed,  the  good  Mr.  Hanway  laid 
himself  so  open  to  ridicule,  that  Johnson's 
animadversions  upon  his  attack  were  chiefly 
to  make  sport.  %  ' 

The  generosity  with  which  he  pleads 
the  cause  of  Admiral  Byng  is  highly  to  the 
honour  of  his  heart  and  spirit.  Though 
Voltaire  affects  to  be  witty  upon  the  fate  of 
that  unfortunate  officer,  observing  that  he 
was  shot  "pour  eneottrager  les  autres," 
the  nation  has  long  been  satisfied  that  his 
life  was  sacrificed  to  the  political  fervour"  of 
the  times  9.  In  the  vault  belonging  to  the 
Torrington  family,  in  the  church  of  South- 
hill,  in  Bedfordshire,  there  is  the  following 


1  [Sir  John  Hawkins  calls  his  addiction  to  it 
unmanly,  and  almost  gives  it  the  colour  of  a 
crime.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Parker,  of  Henley,  is  in 
possession  of  a  teapot  which  belonged  to  Dr. 
Johnson,  and  which  contains  above  two  quarts. 
—Ed.] 

'  [Nothing  can  be  more  unfounded  than  the 
assertion  that  Byng  fell  a  martyr  to  political  par- 
ty. It  is  impossible  to  read  the  trial  without  be- 
ing convinced  that  he  had  misconducted  himself ; 
and  the  extraordinary  proceedings  in  both  houses 
of  parliament  subsequent  to  his  trial  prove  at  once 
the  zeal  of  his  friends  to  invalidate  the  finding  of 
the  Court-Martial,  and  the  absence  of  all  reason 
for  doing  so.  By  a  strange  coincidence  of  circum- 
stances, it  happened  that  there  was  a  total  change 
of  ministry  between  his  condemnation  and  his 
death  ;  so  that  one  party  presided  at  his  trial  and 
another  at  his  execution  : — there  can  be  no  stronger 
proof  that  he  was  not  a  political  martyr.  See 
this  subject  treated  at  large  in  the  Quarterly 
Review,  for  March,  1822,  article  Lord  Oxford's 
Memoirs.— Ed.] 


epitaph  upon  his  monument,  which  I  have 
transcribed: 

<«  TO    THE    PERPETUAL   DISGRACE 

OF    PUBLIC    JUSTICE, 

THE    HONOURABLE  JOHN    BYNG,    ESQ. 

ADMIRAL    OF   THE    BLUE, 

FELL    A   MARTYR   TO    POLITICAL 

PERSECUTION, 
MARCH    14,    IN    THE    YEAR    1767; 
WHEN    BRAVERY    AND    LOYALTY 
WERE    INSUFFICIENT    SECURITIES 
FOR    THE    LIFE    AND    HONOUR    OF 
A    NAVAL   OFFICER.'* 

Johnson's  most  exquisite  critical  essay 
in  the  Literary  Magazine,  and  indeed  any 
where,  is  his  review  of  Soame  Jenyns's 
"  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  Evil."  Jeny  ns 
was  possessed  of  lively  talents,  and  a  style 
eminently  pure  and  easy,  and  could  very 
happily  play  with  a  light  subject,  either  in 
prose  or  verse:  but  when  he  speculated  on 
that  most  difficult  and  excruciating  ques- 
tion, the  Origin  of  Evil,  he  "ventured  far 
beyond  his  depth,"  and  accordingly,  was 
exposed  by  Johnson,  both  with  acute  argu- 
ment and  brilliant  wit.  I  remember  when 
the  late  Mr.  Bicknell's  humourous  perform- 
ance, entitled  "The  Musical  Travels  of 
Joel  Collyer,"  in  which  a  slight  attempt  is 
made  to  ridicule  Johnson,  was  ascribed  to 
Soame  Jenyns,  "Hal  (said  Johnson)  I 
thought  I  had  given  him  enough  of  it." 

His  triumph  over  Jenyns  is  thus  describ- 
ed by  my  friend  Mr.  Courtenay  in  his 
"  Poetical  Review  of  the  literary  and  moral 
Character  of  Dr.  Johnson; "  a  performance 
of  such  merit,  that  had  I  not  been  honoured 
with  a  very  kind  and  partial  notice  in  it,  I 
should  echo  the  sentiments  of  men  of  the 
first  taste  loudly  in  its  praise: 

"  When  specious  sophists  with  presumption  scan 
The  source  of  evil  hidden  still  from  man  ; 
Revive  Arabian  tales,  and  vainly  hope 
To  rival  St.  John,  and  his  scholar  Pope  : 
Though  metaphysicks  spread  the  gloom  of  night, 
By  reason's  star  he  guides  our  aching  sight ; 
The  bounds  of  knowledge  marks,  and  points  the 

way 
To  pathless  wastes,  where  wilder'd  sages  stray; 
Where,  like  a  farthing  link-boy,  Jenyns  standi 
And  the  dim  torch  drops  from  his  feeble  bandar1." 

8  Some  time  after  Dr.  Johnson's  death,  there 
appeared  in  the  newspapers  and  magazines  [the 
following]  illiberal  and  petulant  attack  upon  him, 
in  the  form  of  an  Epitjrph,  under  the  name  of 
Mr.  Soame  Jenyns,  very  unworthy  of  that  gen- 
tleman, who  had  quietly  submitted  to  the  critical 
lash  while  Johnson  lived.  It  assumed,  as  char- 
acteristicks  of  him,  all  the  vulgar  circumstances 
of  abuse  which  had  circulated  amongst  the  igno- 
rant . 

[Epitaph.     By  Soame  Jenyns,  Esq. 
«  Here  lies  poor  Johnson.    Reader,  have  a  care. 

Tread  lightly,  lest  you  rouse  a  sleeping  bear  j 

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175*.— .OTAT.  47. 


136 


itog,  [It  was  about  this  time  that  Mr. 
"v.  Tyere,  by  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
*^  topher  Smart,  formed  that  acquaint- 
ance with  Johnson  which  lasted  to 
the  doctor's  death,  with,  it  is  believed,  un- 
abated cordiality. 

Johnson,  whose  hearing  was  not  always 
good,  understood  Smart  called  him  by  the 
name  of  Thyer,  that  eminent  scholar,  libra- 
rian of  Manchester,  and  a  nonjuror.  This 
mistake  was  rather  beneficial  than  other- 
wise to  Mr.  Tyers.  Johnson  had  been 
much  indisposed  all  that  day,  and  repeated 
a  psalm  he  had  just  translated,  during  his 
affliction,  into  Latin  verse,  and  did  not  com- 
mit to  paper.  For  so  retentive  was  m> 
memory,  that  he  could  always  recover  what* 
erer  he  lent  to  that  faculty.  Smart  in  re- 
tain recited  some  of  his  own  Latin  compo- 
sitions. He  had  translated  with  success, 
and  to  Mr.  Pope's  satisfaction,  his  St.  Ce- 
eilian  Ode. 

Come  when  you  would,  early  or  late  (for 
Johnson  desired  to  be  called  from  bed  when 
a  visitor  was  at  the  door)  the  tea-table  was 
sore  to  be  spread,  Te  veniente  die,  je  de- 
eedente. — With  tea  he  cheered  the  morn- 
ing; with  tea  he  solaced  the  evening.  This 


Religions,  morel,  generous,  and  humane 
He  was— but  seif-eufficient,  rude,  and  Tain : 
Ill-bred  and  over-bearing  in  dispute, 
A  scholar  and  a  Christian— yet  a  brute. 
Would  you  know  all  his  wisdom  and  his  folly, 
Bis  actions,  sayings,  mirth  and  melancholy, 
Bmwell  and  Thraie,  retailers  of  his  wit, 
Will  tell  you  how  he  wrote,  and  talked,  and  cough'd, 
and  ■pit." 

Gent.  Mag.  1786,  p.  428.] 

That  was  an  unbecoming  indulgence  of  puny 
fmotment,  at  a  time  when  be  himself  was  at  a 
tot  advanced  age,  and  had  a  near  prospect  of 
descending  to  the  grave.  I  was  truly  sorry  for  it ; 
fcr  he  was  then  become  an  avowed  and  (as  my 
Laid  Bishop  of  London,  who  had  a  serious  con- 
versation  with  him  on  the  subject,  assures  me)  a 
nacere  Christian.  He  could  not  expect  that  John- 
ton's  numerous  friends  would  patiently  bear  to 
save  the  memory  of  their  master  stigmatized  by 
ao  mean  pen,  bat  that,  at  least,  one  would  be 
fcaad  to  retort.  Accordingly,  this  unjust  and 
autastick  Epitaph,  was  mel  m  the  same  publick 
field  by  an  answer,  in  terms  by  no  means  soft, 
aad  such  as  wanton  provocation  only  could 
JBjfaTy : 


Epitaph, 
Prepared  for  a  creature  not  quite  dead  yet, 
w  Here  lies  a  little  ugly  nauseous  elf, 
Who  judging  only  from  his  wretched  self, 
Feebly  attempted,  petulant  and  vain, 
The '  Origin  of  Evil '  to  explain. 
▲  mighty  genius  at  this  elf  displeas'd, 
With  a  strong  critick  grcsp  the  urchin  sqneez'd. 
For  thirty  years  its  coward  spleen  it  kept, 
Till  in  the  dust  the  mighty  Genius  slept : 
Then  stunk  and  fretted  in  expiring  snuff, 
And  blinkM  at  Johnson  with  its  last  poor  puff." 

tTbe  answer  was  no  doubt  by  Mr.  Boswell 
nfaself,  and  does  more  credit  to  his  zeal  than 
o»  poetical  talents.— Ed.] 


pun  upon  his  favourite  liquor  he  heard  with 
a  smile.  Though  his  tune  seemed  to  he 
bespoke,  and  quite  engrossed,  his  house  was 
always  open  to  all  his  acquaintance,  new 
and  old.  His  amanuensis  has  given  up  his 
pen,  the  printer's  devil  has  waited  on  the 
stairs  for  a  proof  sheet,  and  the  press  has 
often  stood  still,  while  his  visitors  were  de- 
lighted and  instructed.  No  subject  ever 
came  amiss  to  him*  He  could  transfer  his 
thoughts  from  one  thing  to  another  with 
the  most  accommodating  facility.  He  had 
the  art,  for  which  Locke  was  famous,  of 
leading  people  to  talk  on  their  favourite  sub- 
jects, and  on  what  they  knew  best.  By  this 
he  acquired  a  great  deal  of  information. 
What  he  once  heard  he  rarely  forgot.  They 
gave  him  their  best  conversation,  and  he 
generally  made  them  pleased  with  them- 
selves, for  endeavouring  to  please  him. 
Poet  Smart  used  to  relate,  "  that  liis  first 
conversation  with  Johnson  was  of  such  vari- 
ety and  length,  that  it  began  with  poetry  and 
ended  at  fluxions."  He  always  talked  as  if 
he  was  talking  upon  oath.  .He  was  the 
wisest  person,  and  had  the  most  knowledge 
in  ready  cash,  that  Tyere  ever  knew.  John- 
son's advice  was  consulted  on  all  occasions. 
He  was  known  to  be  a  good  casuist,  and 
therefore  had  many  cases  submitted  for  his 
judgment.  His  conversation,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  several,  was  thought  to  he  equal  to 
his  correct  writings.  Perhaps  the  tongue 
will  throw  out  more  animated  expressions 
than  the  pen.  He  said  the  most  common 
things  in  the  newest  manner.  He  always 
commanded  attention  and  regard.  His  per- 
son, though  unadorned  with  dress,  and  even 
deformed  by  neglect,  made  you  expect  some- 
thing, and  you  was  hardly  ever  disappoint- 
ed. His  manner  was  interesting :  the  tone 
of  his  voice,  and  the  sincerity  of  his  expres- 
sions, even  when  they  did  not  captivate 
your  affections,  or  carry  conviction,  pre- 
vented contempt.  If  the  line,  by  Pope, 
on  his  father,  can  he  applied  to  Johnson,  it 
is  characteristick  of  him,  who  never  swore, 
nor  told  a  lie.  If  the  first  part  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  oath  of  allegiance 1,  it  will  he 
useful  to  insert  it. 

"  Nor  dared  an  oath,  nor  hazarded  a  lie." 

It  must  he  owned,  his  countenance,  on 
some  occasions,  resembled  too  much  the  me- 
dallic  likeness  of  Magliabechi9,  as  exhibited 
before  the  printed  account  of  him  bv  Mr. 
Spence.     No  man  dared  to  take  liberties 


1  [Mr.  Tyers  seems  to  mean  that  the  oath  of 
allegiance  is  the  only  justifiable  oath  ;  and  in 
allusion,  perhaps,  to  Johnson's  political  princi- 
ples, he  insinuates,  that  even  that  oath  he  would 
not  have  willingly  taken. — Ed.] 

*  [Librarian  to  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Florence, 
and  celebrated  for  vast  erudition  and  extreme 
slovenliness.    He  died  in  1714,  aged  80.— En.] 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


136 


1756.— jETAT.  47. 


with  him,  nor  flatly  contradict  htra;  for  he 
could  repel  any  attack,  having  always  ahout 
him  the  weapons  of  ridicule,  of  wit,  and  of 
argument.  It  must  he  owned,  that  some 
who  had  the  desire  to  he  admitted  to  him 
thought  him  too  dogmatical,  and  as  exact- 
ing tdo  much  homage  to  his  opinions,  and 
came  no  more.  For  they  said,  while  he 
presided  in  his  library,  surrounded  by  his 
admirers,  he  would,*1  like  Cato,  give  his  lit- 
tle senate  laws."  He  had  great  knowledge 
in  the  science  of  human  nature,  and  of  the 
fashions  and  customs  of  life,  and  knew  the 
world  well.  He  had  often  in  his  mouth  this 
line  of  Pope, 

"  The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man." 

He  was  desirous  of  surveying  life  in  all  its 
modes  and  forms,  and  in  all  climates.  He 
once  offered  to  attend  his  friend  Vansittart 1 
to  India,  who  was  invited  there  to  make  a 
fortune;  but  it  did  not  take  place.  He  talk- 
ed much  of  travelling  into  Poland,  to  ob- 
serve the  life  of  the  Palatines,  the  account 
of  which  struck  his  curiosity  very  much. 

His  benevolence  to  mankind  was  known 
to  all  who  knew  htm.  Though  so  declared 
a  friend  to  the  church  of  England  and  even 
a  friend  to  the  convocation,  it  assuredly 
was  not  in  his  wish  to  persecute  for  specu- 
lative notions.  He  used  to  say,  he  had  no 
quarrel  with  any  order  of  men,  unless  they 
disbelieved  in  revelation  and  a  future  state. 
He  would  indeed  have  sided  with  Sachever- 
ell  against  Daniel  Burgess,  if  he  thought  the 
church  was  in  danger.  His  hand  and  his 
heart  were  always  open  to  charity.  The 
objects  under  his  own  roof  were  only  a  few 
of  the  subjects  for  relief.  He  was  ever  at 
the  head  or  subscription  in  cases  of  distress. 
His  guinea,  as  he  said  of  another  man  of  a 
bountiful  disposition,  was  always  ready. 
He  wrote  an  exhortation  to  publick  bounty. 
He  drew  up  a  paper  to  recommend  the 
Frenchprisonere,  in  the  last  war  but  one, 
to  the  English  benevolence;  which  was  of 
service.  He  implored  the  hand  of  benevo- 
lence for  others,  even  when  he  almost  seem- 
ed a  proper  object  of  it  himself. 

It  may  be  inserted  here,  that  Johnson, 
soon  after  his  coming  to  London,  had  thought 
of  writing  a  history  of  the  revival  of  learn- 
ing. The  booksellers  had  other  service  to 
oner  him.     But  he  never    undertook  it. 


1  [This  proposition  of  an  adventure  to  India  is 
nowhere  else,  that  the  editor  has  seen,  alluded  to. 
Dr.  Vansittart,  of  Oxford,  was  a  great  friend  of 
Johnson's,  and  it  is  possible  that  he  may  have 
been  invited  by  his  younger  brother,  Mr.  Henry 
Vansittart,  when  Governor  of  Bengal,  to  join  him 
in  India,  and  Dr.  Vansittart  might  perhaps  have 
had  some  idea  of  including  Johnson  in  the  ar- 
rangement It  seems  doubtful  whether  Jolinson 
was  personally  acquainted  with  Mr.  Henry  Van- 
■ttart— £n.] 


The  proprietors  of  the  Universal  History 
wished  him  to  take  any  part  in  that  volumin- 
ous work.    But  he  declined  their  offer2.] 

This  gentleman,  whom  he  familiarly  call- 
ed Tom  Tyers,  was  the  son  of  Mr.  Jonathan 
Tvers,  the  founder  of  that  excellent  place 
of  publick  amusement,  Vauxhali  Gardens, 
which  must  ever  be  an  estate  to  the  propri- 
etor, as  it  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  taste 
of  the  English  nation;  there  being  a  mix- 
ture of  curious  show,  gay  exhibition,  mu- 
sick,  vocal  and  instrumental,  not  too  refined 
for  the  general  ear, — for  all  which  only  a 
shilling  is  paid  3;  and,  though  last,  not 
least,  good  eating  and  drinking  for  those  who 
Choose  to  purchase  that  regale.  Mr.  Thom- 
as Tyers  was  bred  to  the  law;  but  hav- 
ing a  handsome  fortune,  vivacity  of  temper, 
and  eccentricity  of  mind,  he  could  not  con- 
fine himself  to  the  regularity  of  practice. 
He  therefore  ran  about  the  world  with  a 

Eleasant  carelessness,  amusing  every  body 
y  his  desultory  conversation.  He  abound- 
ed in  anecdote,  but  was  not  sufficiently  at- 
tentive to  accuracy4.    I  therefore  cannot 


3  [Although  much,  of  the  foregoing  extract 
founded  on  Mr.  Tyers's  later  observations,  yet, 
as  it  refers  more  particularly  to  the  impression 
made  at  the  commencement  of  theii  acquaintance, 
when  there  is  little  said  by  Mr.  Boswell  of  Dr. 
Johnson's  personal  history,  it  is  thought  right  to 
insert  the  whole  in  this  place.  Here,  too,  is  ad- 
ded Mr.  Boswell's  account  of  Mr.  Tyers,  which, 
in  the  former  editions,  is  found  sub  anno  1778. — 
Ed.] 

3  In  summer,  1792,  additional  and  more  ex- 
pensive decorations  having  been  introduced,  the 
price  of  ad  mission  was  raised  to  two  shillings.  I 
cannot  approve  of  this.  The  company  may  be 
more  select ;  but  a  number  of  the  honest  com- 
monalty are,  I  fear,  excluded  from  sharing  in  ele- 
gant and  innocent  entertainment  An  attempt  to 
abolish  the  one-shilling  gallery  at  the  playhouse 
has  been  very  properly  counteracted. — Boswell. 
[The  admission  has  been  since  raised  to  four 
shillings,  without  improving,  it  is  said,  either  the 
class  of  company,  or  the  profits  of  the  proprietors. 
Ed.] 

4  [Mr.  Boswell,  who  was  justly  proud  of  the 
happy  diligence  with  which  he  made  daily  notes 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  conversation,  is  too  apt  to  blame 
every  other  reporter  of  anecdotes  for  '*  inaccu- 
racy." We  have  seen,  and  shall  have  future 
occasions  to  observe,  that  his  own  written  records 
are  sometimes  liable  to  the  same  imputation,  and 
of  course  still  more  so  must  be  the  relations  of 
those  who  not  only  made  no  notes,  but  who,  at 
the  time,  never  contemplated  writing.  Mr.  T^r- 
ers  very  modestly  calls  his  pamphlet  a  sketch,  lid 
he  certainly  writes,  as  Mr.  Boswell  says,  in  a  care- 
less and  desultory  style  ;  but  there  seems,  on  ex- 
amination, no  reason  to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  his 
facts ;  indeed,  all  the  other  biographers  (not 
excepting  Mr.  Boswell  himself)  have  either  bor- 
rowed from  T^rers,  or  have  told  the  same  stories 
in  the  same  way  as  he  has  done,  and  thus  vouch- 
ed for  his  general  accuracy.— Ed.] 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


lim— iETAT.  4T. 


187 


venture  to  trafl  myself  ouch  of  a  biograph- 
ical sketch  of  Johnson  which  he  published, 
Mug'  one  trnonp  the  various  persons  ambi- 
tions of  appending  their  names  to  that  of 
my  illustrious  friend.  That  sketch  is,  how- 
ever, an  entertaining  little  collection  of  frag- 
ments, Those  which  he  published  of  Pope 
and  Addison. are  of  higher  merit;  but  his 
fame  must  chiefly  rest  upon  his  "  Political 
Conferences,"  in  which  he  introduces  sever- 
al eminent  persons  delivering  their  senti- 
ments in  the  way  of  dialogue,  and  discovers 
a  considerable  share  of  learning,  various 
knowledge,  and  discernment  of  character. 
This  much  may  I  be  allowed  to  say  of  a 
man  who  was  exceedingly  obliging  to  me, 
and  who  lived  with  Dr.  Johnson  in  as  easy 
a  manner  as  almost  any  of  his  very  numer- 
ous* acquaintance. 

This  year  Mr.  William  Payne,  brother 
of  the  respectable  bookseller  or  that  name, 
published  "  An  Introduction  to  the  Game 
of  Draughts,"  to  which  Johnson  contribut- 
ed a  Dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Rochford  *, 
and  a  Preface  *,  both  of  which  are  admira- 
bly adapted  to  the  treatise  to  which  they  are 
prefixed.  Johnson,  I  believe,  did  not  play 
at  draughts  after  leaving  college,  by  which 
he  suffered;  for  it  would  have  afforded  him 
an  innocent  soothing  relief  from  the  melan- 
choly which  distressed  him  so  often.  I  have 
beam  him  regret  that  he  had  not  learned  to 
play  at  cards;  and  the  frame  at  draughts 
we  know  is  peculiarly  calculated  to  fix  the 
attention  without  straining  it.  There  is  a 
composure  and  gravity  in  draughts  which 
insensibly,  tranquillizes  the  mind;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, the  Dutch  are  fbnd  of  it,  as  they 
are  of  smoking,  of  the  sedative  influence  of 
which,  though  he  himself  never  smoked,  he 
J,  .  had  a  high  opinion1.  [Sir  J.  Hawk- 
I.  sis!  in*  heard  him  say  that  insanity  had 
grown  more  frequent  since  smoking 
bad  gone  out  of  fashion.]  Besides,  there 
ie  in  draughts  some  exercise  of  the  faculties; 
and,  accordingly,  Johnson  wishing  to  digni- 
ty the  subject  in  his  Dedication  with  what 
ft  most  estimable  in  it,  observes,  "  Triflers 
may  find  or  make  anything  a  trifle:  but 
■bee  it  is  the  great  charactenstick  of  a  wise 
nan  to  see  events  in  their  causes,  to  obviate 
consequences,  and  ascertain  contingencies, 
your  lordship  will  think  nothing  a  trifle  by 
which  the  mind  is  inured  to  caution,  fore- 
tight,  and  circumspection." 

As  one  of  the  little  occasional  advantages 
which  he  did  not  disdain  to  take  by  his  pen, 
■a  a  man  whose  profession  was  literature, 
he  this  year  accepted  of  a  guinea  from  Mr. 
Robert  Dodaley,  for  writing  the  introduc- 
tion to  "  The  London  Chronicle,"  an  eve- 
ning newspaper j  and  even  in  so  slight  &per- 
tbrmance  exhibited  peculiar  talents.    This 


1  flee /oaf,  1Mb  Aug.  177& 
VOL.  I.  18 


Chronicle  still  subsists,  and  from  what  I  ob- 
served, when  I  was  abroad,  has  a  more  ex- 
tensive circulation  upon  the  continent  than 
any  of  the  English  newspapers.  It  was 
constantly  read  by  Johnson  himself;  and  it 
is  but  just  to  observe,  that  it  has  all  along 
been  distinguished  for  good  sense,  accuracy, 
moderation,  and  delicacy. 

Another  instance  of  the  same  nature  has 
been  communicated2  to  me  by  die  Rev. 
Dr.  Thomas  Campbell3,  who  has  done  him- 
self considerable  credit  by  his  own  writings. 
"  Sitting  with  Dr.  Johnson  one  morning 
alone,  he  asked  me  if  I  had  known  Dr.  Mad- 
den, who  was  authour  of  the  premium- 
scjieme  4  in  Ireland.  On  my  answering  in 
the  affirmative,  and  also  that  I  had  for  some 
years  "lived  in  his  neighbourhood,  &c.  he 
begged  of  me  that  when  I  returned  to  Ire- 


tid, 


land,  I  would  endeavour  to  procure  for  him 
a  poem  of  Dr.  Madden's  called  '  Boulter's 
Monument5.*  '  The  reason  (said  he)  why 
I  wish  for  it  is  this:  when  Dr.  Madden 
came  to  London,  he  submitted  that  work  to 
my  castigation;  and  I  remember  I  blotted  a 
great  many  lines,  and  might  have  blotted 
many  more  without  making  the  poem 
worse6.     However,  the  doctor  was  very 


*  [Hawkina  had  told  the  same  story  on  John- 
son's written  authority,  bat  Boswell  is  always  re- 
luctant to  have  any  obligations  to  Hawkins.— 
Ed.] 

3  [See  post,  eta  April,  I'm.— En.] 
«  In  the  college  of  Dublin,  four  quarterly  exam- 
inations of  the  students  are  held  in  each  year,  in 
various  prescribed  branches  of  literature  and  sci- 
ence ;  and  premiums,  consisting  of  books  im- 
pressed with  the  college  aims,  are  judged  by  ex- 
aminers (composed  generally  of  the  junior  fellows), 
to  those  wbo  have  most  distinguished  themselves 
in  the  several  classes,  after  a  very  rigid  trial, 
which  lasts  two  days  :  this  regulation,  which  has 
subsisted  about  seventy  years,  has  been  attended 
with  the  roost  beneficial  effects.  Dr.  Samuel 
Madden  was  the  first  proposer  in  that  university. 
They  were  instituted  about  the  year  1784.  lie 
was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Dublin  Socie- 
ty for  the  encouragement  of  arts  and  agriculture. 
In  addition  to  the  premiums  which  were  and  are 
still  annually  given  by  that  society  for  this  pur- 
pose, Dr.  Madden-  gave  others  from  his  own  fund. 
Hence  be  was  usually  called  "Premium  Mad- 
den."—M  alone. 

*  Dr.  Hugh  Boulter,  archbishop  of  Armagh, 
and  primate  of  Ireland.  He  died  m  Sept  27, 
1742,  at  which  time  he  was,  for  the  thirteenth 
time,  one  of  the  lordi  justices  of  that  kingdom. 
Johnson  speaks  of  him  in  high  terms  of  commen- 
dation, in  his  Life  of  Ambrose  Philips. — Bos- 
well. 

*  Dr.  Madden  wrote  very  bad  verses.  Vide 
those  prefixed  to  Leland's  Life  of  Philip  of  Maes- 
don,  4to.  1758.— Kbahnky.  [It  m  needless  to 
look  further  than  the  work  in  question.  Boulter's 
Monument  is,  in  spite  of  Johnson's  i 


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thankful,  and  very  generous,  for  he  gave  me 
ten  guineas,  which  woe  to  me  at  that  time  a 
great  ram.'  "  [Such  casual  emolu- 
Bawk.  menu  as  these  Johnson  frequently 
fcj*1'  derived  from  his  profession  of  an 
authour.  For  the  dedication  to  his 
present  majesty,  of  Adams's  hook  on  the 
use  of  the  globes,  he  was,  as  himself  inform- 
ed me,  gratified  with  a  present  of  a  very  cu- 
rious meteorological  instrument,  of  a  new 
and  ingenious  construction. 

About  this  time,  as  it  is  supposed,  he  com- 
posed pulpit  discourses  for  sundry  clergy- 
men, snd  for  these,  he  made  no  scruple  of 
confessing,  he  was  paid:  his  price,  I  am  in- 
formed, was  a  moderate  one,  a  guinea;  and 
such  was  his  notion  of  justice,  that  having 
been  paid,  he  considered  them  so  absolutely 
the  property  of  the  purchaser*  as  to  renounce 
ail  claim  to  them.  He  reckoned  that  he  had 
written  shout  forty  sermons;  but,  except  as 
to  some,  knew  not  in  what  hands  they  were 
— "  I  have,"  said  he,  "  been  paid  for  them, 
and  have  no  right  to  inquire  about  them1."] 
[About  the  year  1756,  time  had 
p .'Sol  produced  a  change  in  the  situation 
sit.  of  many  of  Johnson's  friends,  who 
were  used  to  meet  him  in  Ivy-lane. 
Death  had  taken  from  them  M'Ghie;  Bar- 
ker went  to  settle  as  a  practising  physician  at 
Trowbridge;  Dyer  went  abroad;  Hawkes- 
worth  was  busied  in  forming  new  connex- 
ions; and  Sir  J.  Hawkins  had  lately  made 
one  that  removed  from  him  all  temptations 
to  pass  his  evenings  from  home.  The  con- 
sequence was,  that  the  club  at  the  King's- 
head  broke  up,  and  he  who  had  first  formed 
it  into  a  society  wss  left  with  fewer  around 
him  than  were  able  to  support  it. 

All  this  while,  the  booksellers,  who,  by 
his  own  confession,  were  his  best  friends, 
had  their  eyes  upon  Johnson,  and  reflected 
with  some  concern  on  what  seemed  to  them 
a  misapplication  of  his  talents.  The  fur- 
nishing magazines,  reviews,  snd  even  news- 
papers, with  literary  intelligence,  and  the 
authours  of  books,  who  could  not  write  them 
for  themselves,  with  dedications  and  pre- 
faces, they  looked  on  as  employments  be- 
neath him,  who  had  attained  to  such  emi- 
nence as  a  writer;  they,  therefore,  in  the 
year  1756,  found  out  for  him  such  a  one  as 
seemed  to  afford  a  prospect  both  of  amuse- 
ment and  profit:  this  was  an  edition  of 
Shakspeare's  dramatic  works,  which,  by  a 
concurrence  of  circumstances,  was  now  be- 
come necessary,  to  answer  the  increasing 
demand  of  the  publick  for  the  writings  of 
that  authour. 

1  [Thai  practise  i§  of  very  doubtful  propriety. 
In  the  ease  of  an  elective  chapel,  it  might,  as  the 
Bishop  of  Ferns  observes  to  me,  amount  to  an 
absolute  fraud,  as  a  person  might  be  chosen  for 
the  merits  of  a  ssnnon  not  written  by  himself. 
See  ante,  p,  109,  nofe,— Ed.] 


17M.— iETAT.  47. 

In  consequence  of  this  application],  he 
this  year  resumed  his  scheme  of  giving  an 
edition  of  Shakspeare  with  notes.  He  is- 
sued Proposals  of  considerable  length s,  in 
which  he  showed  that  he  perfectly  well 
knew  what  8  variety  of  research  such  an 
undertaking  required;  but  his  indolence  pre- 
vented him  from  pursuing  it  with  that  dili- 
gence which  alone  can  collect  those  scatter- 
ed facts,  that  genius,  however  acute,  pen- 
etrating, and  luminous,  cannot  discover  by 
Its  own  force.  It  is  remarkable,  that  this 
time  his  fancied  activity  was  for  the  mo- 
ment so  vigorous,  that  he  promised  his  work 
should  be  published  before  Christmas,  1757. 
Yet  nine  years  elapsed  before  it  saw  the 
light.  His  throes  in  bringing  it  forth  had 
been  severe  and  remittent;  and  at  last  we 
may  almost  conclude  that  the  Caesatean 
operation  was  performed  by  the  knife  of 
Churchill,  whose  upbraiding  satire,  I  dare 
say,  made  Johnson's  friend  urge  him  to  des- 
patch. 


Hawk. 


was  SO 


"  He  for  subscribers  baits  his  hook, 

And  takes  your  cash;  but  where's  the  book  ? 

No  matter  where;  wise  fear,  yoa  know, 

Forbids  the  robbing  of  a  foe; 

But  what,  to  serve  our  private  ends, 

Forbids  the  cheating  of  our  friends  ?  " 

A  stranger  to  Johnson's  charac- 
ter and  temper  would  have  thought, 
that  the  study  of  an  authour,  whose 
skill  in  the  science  of  human  life 
deep,  and  whose  perfections  were  so  many 
and  various  as  to  be  above  the  reach  of  all 
praise,  must  have  been  the  most  plessing 
employment  that  his  imagination  could  sug- 
gest, but  it  was  not  so:  in  a  visit  that  he 
one  morning  made  to  Sir  J.  Hawkins,  the 
latter  congratulated  him  on  his  being  now 
engaged  in  a  work  that  suited  his  genius,and 
that,  requiring  none  of  that  severe  applica- 
tion which  his  Dictionary  had  condemned 
him  to,  would,  no  doubt,  be  executed  eon 
amore. — His  answer  was,  "  I  look  upon  this 
as  I  did  upon  the  Dictionary:  it  is  all  work, 
and  my  inducement  to  it  is  not  love  or  de- 
sire of  fame,  but  the  want  of  money,  which 
is  the  only  motive  to  writing  that  I  know 
of." — And  the  event  was,  Sir  J.  Hawkins 
sdd8,  evidence  to  him,  that  in  this  speech 
he  declared  his  genuine  sentiments;  for  nei- 
ther did  he  set  himself  to  collect  early  edi- 
tions of  his  authour,  old  plays,  translations 
of  histories,  and  of  the  classics,  and  other 
materials  necessary  for  his  purpose,  nor 
could  he  be  prevailed  on  to  enter  into  that 
course  of  reading,  without  which  it  seemed 
impossible  to  come  at  the  sense  of  his  au- 
thour. It  was  provoking  to  all  his  friends 
to  see  him  waste  his  days,  his  weeks,  and 

*  They  have  been  reprinted  by  Mr.  Melons  m 
the  preface  to  his  edition  of  ~" 
well. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1757.— iETAT.  48. 


139 


hit  months  so  long ,  that  they  feared  a  men- 
tal lethargy  had  seized  him,  out  of  which  he 
would  never  recover.  In  this,  however, 
they  were  happily  deceived,  for,  after  two 
years'  inactivity,  they  find  him  roused  to 
action,  and  engaged — not  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  work,  for  the  completion  whereof  he 
stood  doubly  bound,  but — in  a  new  one,  the 
furnishing  a  series  of  periodical  essays,  enti- 
tled, and  it  may  be  thought  not  improperly, 
"  The  Idler,"  as  his  motive  to  the  employ- 
ment was  aversion  to  a  labour  he  had  under- 
taken, though  in  the  execution,  it  must  be 
owned;  it  merited  a  better  name.] 

About  this  period  he  was  offered  a  living 
of  considerable  value  in  Lincolnshire,  if  he 
were  inclined  to  enter  into  holy  orders.  It 
was  a  rectory  in  the  fill  of  Mr.  Langton, 
the  father  of  his  much-valued  friend.  But 
he  did  not  accept  of  it;  partly  I  believe  from 
a  conscientious  motive,  being  persuaded  that 
his  temper  and  habits  rendered  him  unfit 
for  that  assiduous  and  familiar  instruction 
of  the  vulgar  and  ignorant,  which  he  held 
to  be  an  essential  duty  in  a  clergyman:  and 
partly  because  his  love  of  a  London  life  was 
so  strong,  that  he  would  have  thought  him- 
self an  exile  in  any  other  place,  particularly 
if  residing  in  the  country.  Whoever  would 
wish  to  see'his  thoughts  upon  that  subject 

Splayed  in  their  full  force,  may  peruse  the 
venturer,  Number  126. 

In  1757  it  does  not  appear  that  he  publish- 
ed any  thing,  except  some  of  those  articles 
in  the  Literary  Magazine,  which  have  been 
mentioned.  That  magazine,  after  Johnson 
ceased  to  write  in  it,  gradually  declined, 
though  the  popular  epithet  of  AntigaUican 
was  added  to  it;  and  in  July,  1758,  it  ex- 
pired. He  probably  prepared  a  part  of  his 
Shakspeare  this  year,  and  he  dictated  a 
speech  on  the  subject  of  an  address  to  the 
throne,  after  the  expedition  to  Rochefort, 
which  was  delivered  by  one  of  his  friends,  I 
know  not  in  what  publick  meeting.  It  is 
printed  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for 
October,  1785  (p.  764),  as  his,' and  bears 
sufficient  marks  of  authenticity. 

By  the  favour  of  Mr.  Joseph  Cooper 
Walker,  of  the  treasury,  Dublin,  I  have 
obtained  a  copy  of  the  following  letter  from 
Johnson  to  the  venerable  authour  of  "  Dis- 
sertations on  the  History  of  Ireland." 

TO  CHARLES  O'CONNOR,  ESQ,.1 

London,  9  April,  1757. 

c<  Sin, — I  have  lately,  by  the  favour  of 
Mr.  Faulkner,  seen  your  account  of  Ireland, 


1  Of  this  gentleman,  who  died  at  his  seat  at 
Ballinegare,  in  the  comity  of  Roscommon,  4n 
Ireland,  July  1,  1791,  in  his  eighty-second  year, 
some  account  may  be  found  in  theGentleman's 
Magazine  of  that  date.  Of  the  work  here  allud- 
ed to  by  Dr.  Johnson — "  Dissertations  on  the 
History  of  Ireland" — a  second  and  much  im- 

VOL.   I. 


ana  cannot  forbear  to  solicit  a  prosecution 
of  your  design.  Sir  William  Temple  com- 
plains that  Ireland  is  less  known  than  any 
other  country,  as  to  its  ancient  state.  The 
natives  have  had  little  leisure,  and  little  en- 
couragement for  inquiry;  and  strangers,  not 
knowing  the  language,  have  had  no  ability. 

"  I  have  long  wished  that  the  Irish  litera- 
ture were  cultivated  K  Ireland  is  known  by 
tradition  to  have  been  once  the  seat  of  piety 
and  learning;  and  surely  it  would  be  very 
acceptable  to  all  those  who  are  curious  ei- 
ther in  the  original  of  nations,  or  the  affini- 
ties of  languages,  to  be  further  informed  of 
the  revolution  of  a  people  so  ancient,  and 
once  so  illustrious. 

"What  relation  there  is  between  the 
Welsh  and  Irish  language,  or  between  the 
language  of  Ireland  and  that  of  Biscay,  de- 
serves inquiry.  Of  these  provincial  and  un- 
extended  tongues,  it  seldom  happens  that 
more  than  one  are  understood  by  any  one 
man;  and,  therefore,  it  seldom  happens  that 
a  fair  comparison  can  be  made.  I  nope  you 
will  continue  to  cultivate  this  kind  ot  learn- 
ing, which  has  too  long  lain  neglected,  and 
which,  if  it  be  suffered  to  remain  in  oblivion 
for  another  century,  may,  perhaps,  never 
he  retrieved.  As  I  wish  well  to  all  useful 
undertakings,  I  would  not  forbear  to  let  you 
know  how  much  you  deserve,  in  my  opinion, 
from  all  lovers  of  study,  and  how  much 
pleasure  your  work  has  given  to,  sir,  your 
most  obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnson.' 

"TO  THE  EEV.  MR.  THOMAS  WARTOff. 

« (Loudon),  21  June,  1757. 
"  Dear  sir, — Dr.  Marsili,  of  Padua,  a 
learned  gentleman,  and  good  Latin  poet, 
has  a  mind  to  see  Oxford.  I  have  given 
him  a  letter  to  Dr.  Huddersford  3,  and  shall 
be  glad  if  you  will  introduce  him,  and  show 
him  any  thing  in  Oxford. 


proved  edition  was  published  by  the  anthonr  in 
1766. — Mjllone. 

s  The  celebrated  oratovr,  Mr.  Flood,  has  shown 
himself  to  be  of  Dr.  Johnson's  opinion  ;  having 
by  his  will  bequeathed  bis  estate,  after  the  death 
of  his  wife  Lady  Frances,  to  the  Univenity  of 
Dublin;  desiring  that  immediately  after  the  said 
estate  shall  come  into  their  possession,  they  shall 
appoint  two  professors,  one  for  the  study  of  the 
native  Erae  or  Irish  language,  and  the  other  for 
the  study  of  Irish  antiquities  and  Irish  history,  and 
for  the  study  of  any  other  European  language  il- 
lustrative of,  or  auxiliary  to,  the  study  of  Irish  an* 
tiquRies  or  Irish  history:  and  that  they  shall  give 
yearly  two  liberal  premiums  for  two  compositions, 
one  in  Terse,  and  the  other  in  prose,  in  the  Irish 
language. — Boswell. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  Mr.  Flood's  will 
has  been  set  aside,  after  a  trial  at  bar,  in  the  court 
of  exchequer  in  Ireland.-MAi.oNS. 

>  Now,  or  laje,  vioeHAaacaUor.— Wabtow. 

•    D 


140 


17*7.— iETAT.  48. 


« I  am  printing  m y  new  edition  of  Shak- 
apeare. 

"  I  long  to  see  you  all,  but  cannot  con- 
veniently come  yet.  You  might  write  to 
me  now  and  then,  if  you  were  good  for  any 
thing.  But  i  konores  mutant  mores.  Pro- 
fessors forget  their  friends.  I  shall  certain- 
ly complain  to  Miss  Jones 9.  I  am,  your, 
fcc.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  Please  to  make  my  compliments  to  Mr. 
Wise." 

11  TO   BENNBT    LANGTON,    ESO,.  OF   TRIN. 
COLL.  OXFORD9. 

»  38  June,  176ft. 

«  Dear  sie,— Though  I  might  have  ex- 
pected to  hear  from  you,  upon  your  entrance 
into  a  new  state  of  life  at  a  new  place,  yet 
recollecting  (not  without  some  degree  of 
shame)  that  I  owe  you  a  letter  upon  an  old 
account,  I  think  it  my  part  to  write  first. 
This,  indeed,  I  do  not  only  from  complai- 
sance but  from  interest;  for  living  on  in  ihe 
old  way,  I  am  very  glad  of  a  correspondent 
so  capable  as  yourself,  to  diversify  the  hours. 
You  have,  at  present,  too  many  novelties 
about  you  to  need  any  help  from  me  to 
drive  along  your  time. 

"  f  know  not  any  thing  more  pleasant, 
or  more  instructive,  than  to  compare  expe- 
rience with  expectation,  or  to  register  from 
time  to  time  the  difference  between  idea 
and  reality,  ft  is  by  this  kind  of  observa- 
tion that  we  grow  daily  less  liable  to  be  dis- 
appointed. You,  who  are  very  capable  of 
anticipating  futurity,  and  raising  phantoms 
before  your  own  eyes,  must  often  nave  ima- 
gined to  yourself  an  academical  life,  and 
nave  conceived  what  would  be  the  manners, 
the  views  and  the  conversation,  of  men  de- 
roted  to  letters;  how  they  would  choose 
their  companions,  how  they  would  direct 
their  studies,  and  how  they  would  regulate 


1  Mr.  Warton  was  elected  Professor  of  Poetry 
at  Oxford  in  the  preceding  year. — Warton. 

*  Miss  Jones  lived  at  Oxford,  and  was  often  of 
ear  parties.  She  was-  a  very  ingenious  poetess, 
and  published  a  volume  of  poems;  and,  on  the 
whole,  was  a  most  sensible,  agreeable,  and  amia- 
ble woman.  She  was  sister  to  the  Reverend 
River  Jones,  Chanter  of  Christ-church  cathedral 
at  Oxford,  and  Johnson  used  to  call  her  me  chan- 
tress.  I  have  heard  him  often  address  her  in  this 
passage  from  "  II  Penseroso:" 

**  Thee,  ebantrees,  oft  the  wooda  among 
I  woo,  Ac." 

She  died  unmarried. — Wartow. 

*  [This  letter  m  dated  June,  1768,  and  so  placed 
by  Mr.  Boswell;  but  it  ii  evident  that  this  must 
be  a  mistake;  for  it  is  written  on  Mr.  Langton's 
lint  entrance  into  college  life;  and  we  shall  see  in 
the  letter  slated  Jane  1, 1758  {p.  14S),  that  Lang- 
Ion  had  been  already  same  thne  the  pupil  of  Mr. 
Warton.  The  true  date,  therefore,  of  thai  letter 
was  probably  Jane,  1757*— Ed,] 


their  lives.  Let  me  know  what  you  ex- 
pected, and  what  ydn  have  found.  At 
Feast  record  it  to  yourself  before  custom  has 
reconciled  you  to  the  scenes  before  you, 
and  the  disparity  of  your  discoveries  to 
your  hopes  has  .vanished  from  your  mind. 
It  is  a  rule  never  to  be  forgotten,  that  what- 
ever strikes  strongly  should  be  described 
while  the  first  impression  remains  fresh  up* 
on  the  mind. 

"  I  love,  dear  sir,  to  think  on  you,  and 
therefore  should  willingly  write  more  to 
you,  but  that  the  post  will  not  now  give 
me  leave  to  do  more  than  send  my  compli- 
ments to  Mr.  Warton,  and  tell  you  that  I 
am,  dear  sir,  most  affectionately,  your  very 
humble  servant,  "  Sam.  Johssoic." 

Mr.  Burney  having  enclosed  to  him  an 
extract  from  the  review  of  his  Dictionary 
in  the  Bibliotheque  des  Savon*  *,  and  a  list 
of  subscribers  to  his  Skakspeare,  which  Mr. 
Burney  had  procured  in  Norfolk,  he  wrote 
the  following  answer: 

"  TO  MR.  BURNET,  IN  LTNNE,  NORFOLK. 
"Goufh-«qoart,  24  Dec.  1757. 

"  Sin, — That  I  may  show  myself  sensi- 
ble of  your  favours,  and  not  commit  the 
same  fault  a  second  time,  I  make  haste  to 
answer  the  letter  which  I  received  this 
morning.  The  truth  is,  the  other  likewise 
was  received,  and  I  wrote  an  answer;  but 
being  desirous  to  transmit  you  some  pro- 
posals and  receipts,  I  waited  till  I  could  find 
a  convenient  conveyance,  and  day  was 
passed  after  day,  till  other  things  drove  it 
from  my  thoughts;  yet  not  so,  nut  that  I 
remember  with  great  pleasure  your  com- 
mendation of  my  Dictionary,  i  our  praise 
was  welcome,  not  only  because  I  believe  it 
was  sincere,  but  because  praise  has  been  very 
scarce.  A  man  of  your  candour  will  be  sur- 
prised when  I  tell  you  that  among  all  my 
acquaintances,  there  were  only  tvro,  who, 
upon  the  publication  of  my  book,  did  not 
endeavour  to  depress  me  with  threats  of 
censure  from  the  publick,  or  with  objec- 
tions learned  from  those  who  had  learned 
them  from  my  own  preface.  Yours  is  the 
only  letter  of  good-will  that  I  have  re- 
ceived; though,  indeed,  I  am  promised 
something  of  that  sort  from  Sweden. 

"  How  my  new  edition  of  Shakspeare 
will  be  received  I  know  not;  the  subscrip- 
tion has  not  been  very  successful.  I  shall 
publish  about  March. 

"  If  you  can  direct  me  how  to  send  pro- 
posals, I  should  wish  that  they  were  in 
such  hands. 

"  I  remember,  sir,  in  some  of  the  first 
letters  with  which  you  favoured  me,  yott 
mentioned  your  lady.    May  I  inquire  after 


4  Tom.  HL  p.  482. 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


175&~-iETAT.  49. 


141 


kerf  In  return  for  the  favours  which  you 
have  shown  me,  it  is  not  much  to  tell  you, 
that  I  wish  yon  and  her  all  that  can  con> 
dnce  to  your  happiness.  I  am,  sir,  your 
Most  obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnson." 

In  1758,  we  find  him,  it  should  seem,  in 
si  easy  and  pleasant  a  state  of  existence,  as 
eossiimtional  unhappiness  ever  permitted 
him  to  enjoy*. 

11  TO  MR.  BURNET,  AT  LYNNE,  NORFOLK. 
"  London,  S  March,  176*. 

"  Sib-,— Your  kindness  is  so  great,  and 
bt  claim  to  any  particular  regard  from  you 
so  little,  that  I  am  at  a  loss  how  to  express 
■y  sense  of  vour  favouis2;  hut  I  am,  in- 
deed, much  pleased /to  be  thus  distinguish- 
ed by  you. 

"I  am  ashamed  to  tell  you  that  my 
Saikspe are  will  not  be  out  so  soon  as  I  prom- 
ised my  subscribers;  but  I  did  not  prom- 
ise them  more  than  I  promised  myself. 
It  will,  however,  be  published  before  sum- 
Mr. 

"I  have  sent  you  a  bundle  of  proposals, 
which  I  think,  do  not  profess  more  than  I 
fctfe  hitherto  performed.  I  have  printed 
many  of  the  plays,  and  have  hitherto  left 
▼err  few  passages  unexplained:  where  I 
ua  quite  at  loss,  I  confess  my  ignorance, 
which  is  seldom  done  by  commentators. 

"  I  have  likewise  enclosed  twelve  receipts; 
*ot  that  I  mean  to  impose  upon  you  the 
table  of  pushing  them  with  more  impor- 
tunity than  may  seem  proper,  but  that  you 
■tv  rather  have  more  than  fewer  than  you 
▼ill  want  The  proposals  you  will  dissemi- 
*Ue  as  there  shall  be  an  opportunity.  I  once 
printed  them  at  length  in  the  Chronicle, 
tnd  some  of  my  friends  (I  believe  Mr. 
Marshy,  who  formerly  wrote  the  Grav's- 
»n  Journal)  introduced  them  with  a  splen- 
did eocomium. 

"  Since  the  life  of  Browne,  I  have  been 
sKttle  engaged,  from  time  to  time,  in  the 
Literary  Magazine,  but  not  very  lately.  I 
we  not  the  collection  by  me,  and  there- 
wte  cannot  draw  out  a  catalogue  of  my 
°*a  parts,  but  will  do  it,  and  send  it  Do 
**  buy  them,  for  I  will  gather  all  those 
that  have  any  thine  of  mine  in  them,  and 
*Qd  them  to  Mrs.  Burney,  as  a  small  token 
Jfrratitude  for  the  regard  which  she  is 
P"*sed  to  bestow  upon  me.  I  am,  sir, 
jour  most  obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnsok." 


J_  [Here,  in  his  later  editions,  Mr.  Boswell  had 
•Jasonsly  inserted  a  letter  to  Mr.  Langton, 
tftica  will  be  found  in  its  real  place  at  the  be- 
ffwjjf  of  the  next  year.— Ed.] 

1  law  letter  was  an  answer  to  one,  in  which 
**>  enclosed  a  draft  for  the  payment  of  some 
""  i  to  hai8bakspeare.--0O8WXLii. 


Dr.  Burney  has  kindly  favoured  me  with 
the  following  memorandum,  which  I  take 
the  liberty  to  insert  in  his  own  genuine 
easy  style.  I  love  to  exhibit  sketches  of  my 
illustrious  friend  by  various  eminent  hands. 

"  Soon  after  this,  Mr.  Burney,  during  a 
visit  to  the  capital,  had  an  interview  with 
him  in  Gough-squareS,  where  he  dined  and 
drank  tea  with  him,  and  was  introduced  to 
the  acquaintance  of  Mrs.  Williams.    After 
dinner,  Mr.  Johnson  proposed  to  Mr.  Bur- 
ney to  go  up  with  him  into  his  garret,  which 
being  accepted,  he  there  found  about  five 
or  six  Greek  folios,  a  deal  writing-desk, 
and  a  chair  and  a  half.    Johnson  giving 
to  his  guest  the  entire  seat,  tottered  him- 
self on  one  with  only  three  legs  and  one 
arm.     Here  he  gave  Mr.   Burney  Mrs, 
Williams's  history,  and  showed  him  some 
volumes  of  his  Shakspeare  already  printed, 
to  prove  that  he  was  in  earnest.    Upon 
Mr.  Burney 's  opening  the  first  volume,  at  the 
Merchant  of  Venice,  he  observed  to  him, 
that  he  seemed  to  be  more  severe  on  War- 
burton  than  Theobald.     '  O  poor  Tib.  I 
(said  Johnson)  he  was.ready  knocked  down 
to  my  hands;  Warburton  stands  between 
me  and  him.' — 'But  sir  (said   Mr.  Bur- 
ney), you'll  have  Warburton  upon  your 
bones,  won't  you?' — 'No,  sir;    he'll  not 
come  out:  he'll  only  growl  in  his  den.'— - 
'  But  you  think,  sir,  that  Warburton  is  a 
superiour  critick  to  Theobald?' — 'O,  sir, 
he'd  make  two-and-fifty  Theobalds,  cut  in- 
to slices!    The  worst  of  Warburton  is, 
that  he  has  a  rage  for  saying  something, 
when  there's  nothing  to  be  said.' — Mr.  Bur- 
ney then  asked  him  whether  he  had  seen 
the  letter  which  Warburton  had  written  in 
answer  to  a  pamphlet  addressed  ( To  the 
most  impudent  Man  alive.'     He  answer- 
ed in  the  negative.    Mr.  Burney  told  him 
it  was  supposed  to  be  written  by  Mallet 
The  controversy  now  raffed  between  the 
friends  of  Pope  and  Bolingoroke;  and  War- 
burton and  Mallet  were  the  leaders  of  the 
several  parties.  Mr.  Burney  asked  him  then 
if  he  had  seen  Warburton's  book  against 
Bolingbroke's  Philosophy?      'No,  sir;    I 
have  never  read  Bolingoroke's  impiety,  and 
therefore  am  not  interested  about  its  confu- 
tation V 

On  the  fifteenth  of  April  he  began  a  new 
periodical  paper,  entitled  "  THslnLEa  •," 
which  came  out  every  Saturday  in  a  week- 
ly   Newspaper,    called    "  The   Universal 


*  If  the  enror  in  the  date  of  the  letter  to  Mr. 
Langton,  of  January,  1759,  had  not  been  discov- 
ered, we  might  hare  doubted  the  accuracy  of  Dr. 
Barney  as  to  his  having  been  entertained  by  John- 
son, in  Gough-aqnare,  bo  late  in  the  spring  of 
1768:  bnt  it  is  now  plain  that  it  was  not  till  the 
spring  of  1769  that  he  broke  up  his  establish- 
ment there. — En.]  x 

*  [See  ante,  p.  115.— En.] 


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1768.— uETAT.  48. 


Chronicle,  or  Weekly  Gazette,"  published 
by  Newbery  i.  These  essays  were  contin- 
ued till  April  5, 1760.  Of  one  hundred  and 
three,  their  total  number,  twelve  were  con- 
tributed by  his  friends;  of  which,  Numbers 
33,  93,  and  96,  were  written  by  Mr.  Thom- 
as Warton;  No.  67,  by  Mr.  Lang  ton;  and 
No.  76,  79,  and  82,  by  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds; the  concluding  words  of  No.  82, 
"  and  pollute  his  canvas  with  deformity," 
being  added  by  Johnson;  as  Sir  Joshua  in- 
formed me. 

The  Idler  is  evidently  the  work  of 
the  same  mind  which  produced  the  Ram- 
bler, but  has  less  body  and  more  spirit. 
It  has  more  variety  of  real  life,  and  greater 
facility  of  language.  He  describes  the 
miseries  of  idleness,  with  the  lively  sensa- 
tions of  one  who  has  felt  them;  and  in  his 
private  memorandums  while  engaged  in  it, 
we  find  "  This  year  I  hope  to  learn  dili- 
gence." Many  of  these  excellent  essays 
were  written  as  hastily  as  an  ordinary  letter. 
Mr.  Langton  remembers  Johnson,  when  on 
a  visit  at  Oxford,  asking  him  one  evening 
how  long  it  was  till  the  post  went  out;  and 
on  being  told  about  half  an  hour,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  then  we  shall  do  very  well." 
He  upon  this  instantly  sat  down  and  finish- 
ed an  Idler,  which  it  was  necessary  should 
be  in  London  the  next  day.  Mr.  Langton 
having  signified  a  wish  to  read  it,  "  Sir, 

isaid  he)  you  shall  not  do  more  than  I  have 
one  myself."    He  then  folded  it  up,  and 
sent  it  off. 

Yet  there  are  in  the  Idler  several  papers 
which  show  as  much  profundity  of  thought, 
and  labour  of  language,  as  any  of  this  great 
man's  writings.  No.  14,  "  Robbery  of 
Time;"  No.  24,  "Thinking;"  No.  41, 
"  Death  of  a  Friend;"  No.  43,  "  Flight  of 
Time;"  No.  51,  "Domestic  greatness  un- 
attainable;" No.  52,  "Self-denial;"  No. 
58,  "  Actual,  how  short  of  fancied,  excel- 
lence;" No.  89,  "Physical  evil  moral 
good;"  and  his  concluding  paper  on  "  The 
horrour  of  the  last,"  willprove  this  asser- 
tion. I  know  not  why  a  motto,  the  usual 
trapping  of  periodical  papers,  is  prefixed 
to  very  few  of  the  Idlers,  as  I  have  heard 
Johnson  commend  the  custom;  and  he  nev- 
er could  be  at  a  loss  for  one,  his  memory 
being  stored  with  innumerable  passages  of 
the  classicks.  In  this  series  of  essays  he 
exhibits  admirable  instances  of  grave  hu- 
mour, of  which  he  had  an  uncommon  share. 
Nor  on  some  occasions  has  he  repressed 
that  power  of  sophistry  which  he  possessed 


1  This  is  a  slight  mistake.  The  first  number 
of  "  The  Idler"  appeared  on  the  15th  of  April, 
1758,  in  No.  2  of  the  Universal  Chronicle,  fee., 
which  was  published  by  J.  Payne,  for  whom  also 
the  Rambler  had  been  printed.  On  the  29th  of 
April  this  newspaper  assumed  the  title  of  Payne's 
Universal  Chronicle,  &c. — Maloitb. 


in  bo  eminent  a  degree.  In  No.  11,  he 
treats  with  the  utmost  contempt  the,  opin- 
ion that  our  mental  faculties  depend,  in 
some  degree,  upon  the  weather;  an  opinion, 
which  they  who  have  never  experienced  its 
truth  are  not  to  be  envied,  and  of  which 
he  himself  could  not  but  be  sensible,  as  the 
effects  of  weather  upon  him  were  very  visi- 
ble. Yet  thus  he  declaims:  "  Surely  noth- 
ing is  more  reproachful  to  a  being  endowed 
with  reason,  than  to  resign  its  powers  to 
the  influence  of  the  air,  and  live  in  depend- 
ence on  the  weather  and  the  wind  for  the 
only  blessings  which  nature  has  put  into 
our  power,  tranquillity  and  benevolence. — 
This  distinction  of  seasons  is  produced  only 
by  imagination  operating  on  luxury.  To 
temperance,  every  day  is  bright  \  and  every 
hour  is  propitious  to  diligence.  He  that 
shall  resolutely  excite  his  faculties,  or  exert 
his  virtues,  will  soon  make  himself  snperi- 
our  to  the  seasons;  and  may  set  at  defiance 
the  morning  mist  and  the  evening  damp,  the 
blasts  of  the  east,  and  the  clouds  of  the 
south." 

Alas  !  it  is  too  certain,  that  where  the 
frame  has  delicate  fibres,  and  there  is  a  fine 
sensibility,  such  influences  of  the  air  are  ir- 
resistible. He  might  as  well  have  bid  defi- 
ance to  the  ague,  the  palsy,  and  all  other 
bodily  disorders.  Such  boasting  of  the 
mind  is  false  elevation: 

"  I  think  the  Romans  call  it  Stoicism." 

But  in  this  number  of  his  Idler  his  spirits 
seem  to  run  riot9  ;  for  in  the  wantonness  of 
his  disquisition  he  forgets,  for  a  moment, 
even  the  reverence  for  that  which  he  held  in 
high  respect;  and  describes  "  the  attendant 
on  a  court 3,"  as  one  "whose  business  is  to 
watch  the  looks  of  a  being,  weak  and  fool- 
ish as  himself." 

His  unqualified  ridicule  of  rhetorical  ges- 
ture or  action  is  not,  surely,  a  test  of  truth; 
yet  we  cannot  help  admiring  how  well  it  is 
adapted  to  produce  the  effect  which  he  wish- 
ed. "  Neither  the  judges  of  our  laws,  nor 
the  representatives  of  our  people,  would  be 
much  affected  by  laboured  gesticulations,  or 
believe  any  man  the  more  because  he  rolled 
his  eyes,  or  puffed  his  cheeks,  or  spread 
abroad  his  arms,  or  stamped  the  ground,  or 
thumped  his  breast;  turned  his  eyes  some- 
times to  the  ceiling  and  sometimes  to  the 
floor" 


*  [This  doctrine  of  the  little  influence  of  the 
weather,  however,  seems  to  have  been  his  fixed 
opinion:  he  often  repeated  it  in  conve 
See  post,  9th  July,  1763.— Ed.] 

3  [See  ante,  p.  132.  Mr.  Boswell 
solved  to  forget  that  Johnson's  reverence  for  the 
court  had  not  yet  commenced.  George  II.  was 
still  alive,  whom  Johnson  always  abused,  and 
sometimes  very  indecently.  See  onto,  p.  67, 
and  post,  6th  April,  1775.— Ed.] 

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A  casual  coincidence  with  other  writers; 
or  an  adoption  of  a  sentiment  or  image 
which  has  been  found  in  the  writings  of 
another,  and  afterwards  appears  in  the  mind 
at  one's  own,  is  not  unfrequent.  The  rich- 
new  of  Johnson's  fancy,  which  could  supply 
h»  page  abundantly  on  all  occasions,  and 
the  strength  of  his  memory,  which  at  once 
detected  the  real  owner  of  any  thought, 
made  him  less  liable  to  the  imputation  of 
plagiarism  than,  perhaps,  any  of  our  writers. 
In  the  Idler,  however,  there  is  a  paper,  in 
which  conversation  is  assimilated  to  a  bowl 
of  punch,  where  there  is  the  same  train  of 
comparison  as  in  a  poem  by  Blacklock,  in 
his  collection  published  in  1756;  in  which  a 
parallel  is  ingeniously  drawn  between  human 
life  and  that  liquor.    It  ends, 

MSty,  then,  physicians  of  each  kind, 
Who  cure  the  body  or  the  mind,  > 

What  harm  in  drinking  can  there  be, 
Since  punch  and  life  so  well  agree  ?  " 

To  the  Idler,  when  collected  in  volumes, 
he  added,  beside  the  Essay  on  Epitaphs, 
and  the  dissertation  on  those  of  Pope,  an 
Easay  on  the  Bravery  of  the  English  com- 
mon Soldiers.  He,  however,  omitted  one 
of  the  original  papers,  which  in  the  folio 
copy  is  No.  22 1. 

j.   .  [The  profits  accruing  from  the 

j.  set.  sale  of  this  paper,  and  the  subscrip- 
tions which,  from  the  year  1756,  he 
was  receiving  for  the  edition  of  Shakspeare 
by  him  proposed,  were  the  only  known  means 
or  his  subsistence  for  a  period  of  near 
four  years,  and  we  may  suppose  them  hard- 
ly adequate  to  his  wants,  for,  upon  finding 
the  balance  of  the  account  for  the  Dictiona- 
w.  ry  against  him',  he  [found  it  neces- 
Mpw.  stuy  *°  retrench  his  expenses.  He 
?ave  up  his  house  in  Gough-sauare. 
Mrs.  Williams  went  into  lodgings.  He  re- 
ared to  Gray*s-Inn,  and  soon  removed  to 
chambers  in  the  Inner  Temple-lane,  where 
ne  lived  in  poverty,  total  idleness,  and  the 
pride  of  literature.  Magni  stat  nominu 
mbra.  Mr.  Fitzherbert  (the  father  of 
Lord  St.  Helen's),  a  man  distinguished 
through  life  for  his  benevolence  and  other 
amiable  qualities,  used  to  say,  that  he  paid  a 
morning  visit  to  Johnson,  intending  from  his 
chambers  to  send  a  letter  into  the  city;  but, 
to  his  great  surprise,  he  found  an  authour 
h  profession  without  pen,  ink,  or  paper. 
The  present  Bishop  of  Salisbury  was  also 
Hrcng  those  who  endeavoured,  by  constant 
Mention,  to  soothe  the  cares  of  a  mind 
*hich  he  knew  to  be  afflicted  with  gloomy 
apprehensions.] 


1  This  paper  may  be  found  in  Stockdale's  sup- 
fkmeotal  volume,  of  Johnson's  Miscellaneous 
necs*. — Boswell. 


"DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MR.  WARTON. 

"(London),  14th  April,  176a, 

"  Dear  sin, — Your  notes  upon  my  poet 
were  very  acceptable.  I  beg  that  you  will 
be  so  kind  as  to  continue  your  searches.  It 
will-be  reputable  to  my  work,  and  suitable 
to  your  professorship,  to  have  something  of 
yours  in  the  notes.  As  you  have  given  no 
directions  about  your  name,  I  shall  therefore 
put  it.  I  wish  your  brother  would  take 
the  same  trouble.  A  commentary  must 
arise  from  the  fortuitous  discoveries  of  many 
men  in  devious  walks  of  literature.  Some 
of  your  remarks  are  on  plays  already  print- 
ed: but  I  purpose  to  add  an  Appendix  of 
Notes,  so  that  nothing  comes  too  late. 

"  You  rive  yourself  too  much  uneasiness, 
dear  sir,  about  the  loss  of  the  papers  a.  The 
loss  is  nothing,  if  nobody  has  found  them; 
nor  even  then,  perhaps,  if  the  numbers  be 
known.  You  are  not  the  only  friend  that 
has  had  the  same  mischance.  You  may  re- 
pair your  want  out  of  a  stock,  which  is  de- 
posited with  Mr.  Allen  of  Magdalen  Hall; 
or  out  of  a  parcel  which  I  have  just  sent  to 
Mr.  Chambers  3  for  the  use  of  any  body  that 
will  be  so  kind  as  to  want  them.  Mr.  Lang- 
tons  are  well;  and  Miss  Roberts4,  whom  I 
have  at  last  brought  to  speak,  upon  the  in- 
formation which  you  gave  me,  that  she  had 
something  to  say.    I  am,  &c. 

"  Sam.  Johhsow." 

"to  mr.  warton. 

"  (London,)  lat  June,  175*. 

"  Dear  sir, — You  will  receive  mis  by 
Mr.  Baretti,  a  gentleman  particularly  en- 
titled to  the  notice  and  kindness  of  the  pro- 
fessor of  poesy.  He  has  time  but  for  a 
short  stay,  and  will  be  glad  to  have  it  filled 
up  with  as  much  as  he  can  hear  and  see. 

"In  recommending  another  to  your  fa- 
vour, I  ought  not  to  omit  thanks  for  the 
kindness  which  you  have  shown  to  myself. 
Have  you  any  more  notes  on  Shakspeare? 
I  shall  be  glad  of  them. 

"  I  see  your  pupil  sometimes5;  his  mind  is 
as  exalted  as  his  stature.  I  am  half  afraid 
of  him;  but  he  is  no  less  amiable  than  formi- 
dable. He  will,  if  the  forwardness  of  his 
spring  be  not  blasted,  be  a  credit  to  you. 
and  to  the  university.  He  brings  some  of 
my  plays6  with  him,  which  he  has  my  per- 


*  Receipts  for  Shakspeare. — Warton. 
a  Then  of  Lincoln  College.— Warton. 

4  [Miss  Roberts  was*  a  near  relation  of  Mr. 
Langton  ;  the  subject  on  which  she  was  to  afibrd 
information  does  not  appear. — Ed.  J 

*  Mr.  Langton. — Warton.  |He  waa  y^ 
tall.— Ed. 

*  Part  of  the  impression  of  the  Shakspeare, 
which  Dr.  Johnson  conducted  alone,  and  pub- 
lished by  subscription.  This  edition  came  oat  hi 
1765.— Warto* 


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171ft,— JETAT.  49. 


i  to  show  you,  on  condition  you  will 
hide  thatn  from  every  body  else.  I  am, 
dear  sir,  &c.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  TO  BBNlCETtiJfGTON,  ESO^.  AT  LANGTON. 

«  21rt  Sept.  1188. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  should  be  sorry  to  think 
that  what  engrosses  the  attention  of  my 
friend  should  have  no  part  of  mine.  Your 
mind  is  now  full  of  the  fate  of  Dmry1;  but 
his  fate  is  past,  and  nothing  remains  but  to 
try  what  reflection  will  suggest  to  mitigate 
the  terrours  of  a  violent  death,  .which  is 
more  formidable  at  the  first  glance,  than  on 
a  nearer  and  more  steady  view.  A  violent 
death  is  never  very  painful :  the  only  danger 
is,  lest  it  should  be  unprovided.  But  u  a 
man  can  be  supposed  to  make  no  provision 
for  death  in  war,  what  can  be  the  state  that 
would  have  awakened  him  to  the  care  of  fu- 
turity? When  would  that  man  have  pre- 
pared himself  to  die,  who  went  to  seek  death 
without  preparation?  What  then  can  be 
the  reason  why  we  lament  more  him  that 
dies  of  a  wound,  than  him  that  dies  of  a  fe- 
ver? A  man  that  languishes  with  disease, 
ends  his  life  with  more  pain,  but  with  less 
virtue:  he  leaves  no  example  to  his  friends, 
nor  bequeaths  any  honor  to  his  descendants. 
The  only  reason  why  we  lament  a  soldier's 
death,  is,  that  we  think  he  might  have  lived 
longer;  yet  this  cause  of  grief  is  common  to 
many  otner  kinds  of  death,  which  are  not 
so  passionately  bewailed.  The  truth  is, 
that  every  death  is  violent  which  is  the  ef- 
fect of  accident;  every  death,  which  is  not 
gradually  brought  on  by  the  miseries  of 
age,  or  when  life  is  extinguished  for  any 
other  reason  than  that  it  is  burnt  out.  He 
that  dies  before  sixty,  of  a  cold  or  consump- 
tion, dies,  in  reality,  by  a  violent  death;  yet 
his  death  is  borne  with  patience,  only  be- 
cause the  cause  of  his  untimely  end  is  silent 
and  invisible.  Let  us  endeavour  to  see 
things  as  they  are,  and  then  inquire  wheth- 
er we  ought  to  complain.  Whether  to  see 
life  as  it  is,  will  give  us  much  consolation, 
I  know  not;  but  the  consolation  which  is 
drawn  from  truth,  if  any  there  be,  is  solid 
and  durable:  that  which  may  be  derived 
from  errour,  must  be,  like  its  original,  falla- 
cious and  fugitive.  I  am,  dear,  dear  sir, 
your  most  humble  servant, 

"Sam.  Johnson." 


1  Major  General  Alexander  Dury,  of  the  first 
regiment  of  foot-guards,  who  fell  in  the  gallant 
discharge  of  his  duty,  near  St.  Cas,  in  the  well- 
known  unfortunate  expedition  against  France,  in 
17*8.  Hit  lady  and  Mr.  Langton's  mother  were 
sisters.  He  left  an  only  son,  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Dury,  who  has  a  company  in  the  same  regiment 
— ■ Boswbu.. 


!'  TO  BENITO  LANOTOR,  ESQ,  AT  LaHGTOR*. 

"9th  Jan.  1758.  [17S&] 

"Dearest  sir, — I  must  have  indeed 
slept  very  fast,  not  to  have  been  awakened 
by  your  letter.  None  of  your  suspicions 
are  true;  I  am  not  much  richer  than  when 
you  left  me;  and  what  is  worse,  my  omis- 
sion of  an  answer  to  your  first  letter  will 
prove  that  I  am  not  much  wiser.  But  I  go 
on  as  I  formerly  did,  designing  to  be  some 
time  or  other  both  rich  and  wise;  and  yet 
cultivate  neither  mind  nor  fortune.  Do  you 
take  notice  of  my  example,  and  learn  the 
danger  of  delay.  When  I  was  as  yon  aie 
now,  towering  in  [the]  confidence  of  twen- 
ty-one, little  did  I  suspect  that  I  should  be, 
at  forty-nine,  what  I  now  am*. 

"  But  you  do  not  seem  to  need  my  admo- 
nition. You  are  busy  in  acquiring  and  in 
communicating  knowledge,  and  white  you. 
are  studying,  enjoy  the  end  of  study,  by 
making  others  wiser  and  happier.  I  waa 
much  pleased  with  the  tale  that  you  told 
me  of  being  tutour  to  your  sisters/  I,  who 
have  no  sisters  nor  brothers,  look  with  some 
degree  of  innocent  envy  on  those  who  may 
be  said  to  be  born  to  friends4;  and  cannot 


*  This  letter  was  by  Mr.  Boswell  misplaced 
under  the  year  1758,  of  which  it  bears  the  data. 
Johnson  frequently,  at  the  beginning  of  a  new 
year,  continued  inadvertently  the  date  of  the  old 
one.  But  the  reference  to  Cleone,  which  was 
acted  in  the  autumn  of  1758,  shows  this  letter  to 
have  been  written  in  January,  1759,  about  the 
time  when  pecuniary  distress  obliged  him  to 
break  up  his  establishment  in  Gough-sqeare,  and 
retire  to  chambers,  first  in  Staple-inn,  and  after- 
wards in  the  Inner  Temple  ;  which  he  alludes  to 
in  this  letter  by  saying  that  he  has  **  given  up 
housekeeping."  In  tne  hst  of  Johnson's  resi- 
dences {ante,  p.  42),  the  editor,  misled  by  the 
date  of  this  letter,  the  error  of  which  he  had  not 
then  discovered,  placed  the  time  of  Johnson's 
residence  at  Staple-inn  a  year  too  soon.  A  amb- 
ient letter  to  Bliss  Porter  ascertains  the  point 


>0 


3£ 

3  [If  the  reader  will  look  back  to  Johnson** 
deplorable  situation  when  he  was  about  the  ago 
of  twenty-one,  he  will  be  inclined  to  think  that 
he  might  rather  have  prided  himself  at  having  at- 
tained to  the  station  which  he  now  held  in  society. 
—Ed.] 

4  [See,  however  (ante,  p.  10),  Johnson's  ob- 
servation to  Mrs.  Piozzi,  from  which,  as  well  as 
from  other  circumstances,  it  may  be  inferred  that 
he  did  not,  while  he  possessed  it,  sufficiently  ap- 
preciate the  happiness  of  fraternal  intercourse- 
Mr.  Gibbon,  in  ms  memoirs,  alludes  to  this  sub- 
ject with  good  taste  and  feeling:  "Ftobi  my 
childhood  to  the  present  hour,  I  have  deeply  and 
sincerely  regretted  my  sister,  whose  life  was 
somewhat  prolonged,  and  whom  I  remember  to 
have  seen  an  amiable  infant  The  relation  of  a 
brother  and  a  sister,  particularly  if  they  do  not 
marry,  appears  to  me  of  a  vary 


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145 


sea*  without  wonder,  how  rarefy  that  native 
union  is  afterwards  regarded.  It  sometimes, 
indeed,  happens,  that  some  supervenient 
cause  of  discord  may  overpower  this  origi- 
nal amity;  but  it  seems  to  me  more  fre- 
quently thrown  away  with  levity,  or  lost  by 
negligence,  than  destroyed  by  injury  or  vio- 
lence. We  tell  the  ladies  that  pood  wives 
make  good  husbands;  I  believe  it  is  a  more 
certain  position  that  good  brothers  make 
good  sisters. 
,  "  I  am  satisfied  with  your  stay  at  home, 
|  as  Juvenal  with  his  friend's  retirement  to 
Come:  I  know  that  your  absence  is  best, 
though  it  be  not  best  for  me. 

'Qnamrii  diagram  veteris  confasus  amici, 
Lndo  tamen  vacua  quod  aedem  figere  Cumia 
Destinet,  atque  mam  civem  donare  Sibyllas." 

"  Langton  is  a  good  Cumm,  but  who  must 
be  Sibylla?     Mrs.  Langton  is  as  wise  as 

S,  and  as  good;  and  will  live,  if  my 
8  can  prolong  life,  till  she  shall  in  time 
be  at  old.  But  she  differs  in  this,  that  she 
has  not  scattered  her  precepts  in  the  wind, 
at  least  not  those  which  she  bestowed  upon 
you. 

"  The  two  Wartons  just  looked  into  the 
town,  and  were  taken  to  see  Cleone,  where, 
David  [Garrick]  says,  they  were  starved  for 
want  ol  company  to  keep  them  warm.  Da- 
vid and  Doody l  have  had  a  new  quarrel, 
and,  I  think,  cannot  conveniently  quarrel 
any  more.  *  Cleone'  was  well  acted  by  all 
the  characters,  but  Bellamy9  left  nothing 
to  be  desired.  I  went  the  first  night,  and 
supported  it  as  well  as  I  might;  for  Doddy, 
you  know,  is  my  patron,  and  I  would  not 
desert  him.  The  play  was  very  well  receiv- 
ed. Doddy,  after  the  danger  was  over, 
went  every  night  to  the  stage-side,  and  cried 
at  the  distress  ofpoor  Cleone. 

*'  I  have  left  on  housekeeping,  and  there- 
fere  made  presents  of  the  game  which  you 
were  pleased  to  send  me.  The  pheasant  I 
gave  to  Mr.  Richardson3,  the  bustard  to  Dr. 
Lawrence,  and  the  pot  I  placed  with  Miss 
'Williams,  to  be  eaten  by  myself.  She  de- 
tires  that  her  compliments  and  good  wishes 
nay  be  accepted  try  the  family;  and  I  make 
the  same  request  for  myself. 

Its  a  familiar  and  tender  friendship  with  a  fe- 
male orach  about  our  own  age  ;  an  affection  per- 
aapi  softened  by  the  secret  influence  of  the  sex, 
tat  pure  from  any  mixture  of  sensual  desire — the 
aria  species  of  Platonic  love  that  can  be  indulged 


With  truth  and  without  danger."— .Mem.  ».  26. 
—Ed.] 
1  Mr.  Dodsley,  the  authour  of  Cleone. — Boa- 

*  [The  well-known  Miss  George  Anne  Bella- 
■y,  who  played  the  heroine. — En.] 
1  The  authour  of  Clarissa.--BosWKU» 
▼ox,  i.  19 


"  Mr.  Reynolds  has  within  these  few  days 
raised  his  price  to  twenty  guineas  a  head3, 
and  Miss4  is  much  employed  in  miniatures, 
I  know  not  anybody  (else)  whoae  prosperi- 
ty has  increased  since  you  left  them. 

"  Murphy  is  to  have  his  'Orphan  of  Chi- 
na' acted  next  month;  and  is  therefore,  I 
suppose,  happy.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  of 
any  great  good  to  which  I  was  approaching, 
hut  at  present  my  prospects  do  not  much  de- 
light me;  however,  l  am  always  pleased 
when  I  find  that  you,  dear  sir,  remember 
your  affectionate,  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

In  1759,  in  the  month  of  January,  his 
mother  died  at  the  great  age  of  ninety,  an 
event  which  deeply  affected  him;  not  that 
"  his  mind  had  acquired  no  firm- 
ness  by  the  contemplation  of  mor-  p.aJas, 
tality5,*"  but  that  his  reverential 
affection  for  her  was  not  abated  by  years; 
as  indeed  he  retained  all  his  tender  feelings 
even  to  the  latest  period  of  his  life.  I  have 
been  told,  that  he  regretted  much  his  not 
having  gone  to  visit  his  mother  for  several 
years  previous  to  her  death.  But  he  was 
constantly  engaged  in  literary  labours  which 
confined  him  to  London:  and  though  he 
had  not  the  comfort  or  seeing  his  aged 
parent,  he  contributed  liberally  to  her 
support. 


4  [Sir  Joshua  afterwards  greatly  advanced  faia 
price.  I  have  been  informed  by  Sir  Thomas 
Lawrence,  his  admirer  and  rival,  that  in  1787  his 
prices  were  two  hundred  guineas  Jbr  the  whole 
length,  one  hundred  for  the  half-length ,  seventy 
for  the  kit-cat,  and  fifty  for  (what  is  called)  die 
three-quarters.  But  even  on  these  prices  some 
increase  must  have  been  made,  as  Horace  Wal- 
pole  said,  "  Sir  Joshua,  in  his  old  age,  becomes 
avaricious.  He  bad  one  thousand  guineas  for  my 
picture  of  the  three  ladies  WsJdegrave.''---  WaU 
poliana.  This  picture  are  half-length*  of  the 
three  ladies  on  one  canvas.— En.] 

•  [Miss  Reynold*,  the  sister  of  Sir  Joshua.— 
En.] 

•  [Mr.  Boswell  contradicts  Hawkins,  for  the 
mere  pleasure,  as  it  would  seem,  of  doing  so. 
The  reader  must  observe  that  Mr.  Boswell'i 
work  is  full  of  anecdotes  of  Johnson's  want  of 
firmness  in  contemplating  mortality  :  and  though 
Johnson  may  have  been  in  theory  an  affection- 
ate son,  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  he  had  never 
visited,  and,  consequently,  not  seen  his  mother 
since  1737.  Mr.  Boswell  alleges  as  an  excuse, 
that  he  was  engaged  in  literary  labours,  which 
confined  him  to  London.  Such  an  excuse  for  an 
absence  of  twenty  years  m  idle  ;  besides,  it  ia 
stated  that  Johnson  visited  Ashbourn  about  1740 
(ante,  p,  »),  Tunbridge  Wells  in  1748  (ante, 
p.  76),  Oxford  in  1764  (ante,  p.  116).  We 
shall  see  presently,  that  Johnson  feh  remorse  ftr 
this  neglect  of  ms  parent— En.] 


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146 


1760.— iETAT.  50. 


"TO  MBS.  JOHNSON,   IN  LICHFIELD1. 

««13th  Jan.  1768  ». 
"  Honoured  madam, — The  ac- 
count which  Miss  [Porter]  gives 
me  of  your  health  pierces  my  heart.  God 
comfort  and  preserve  you  and  save  you  for 
the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  I  would  have  miss  read  to  you  from 
time  to  time  the  Passion  of  our  Saviour, 
and  sometimes  the  sentences  in  the  Com- 
munion Service,  beginning — Come  unto  me, 
all  ye  that  travel  artf  are  heavy  laden,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest. 

"  I  have  just  now  read  a  physical  book, 
which  inclines  me  to  think  that  a  strong  in- 
fusion of  the  bark  would  do  you  good.  Do, 
dear  mother,  try  it. 

"  Pray,  send  me  your  blessing,  and  for- 
give all  that  I  have  done  amiss  to  you.  And 
whatever  you  would  have  done,  and  what 
debts  you  would  have  paid  first,  or  any  thing 
else  that  you  would  direct,  let  Miss  [Porter] 
put  it  down;  I  shall  endeavour  to  obey  you. 

"  I  have  pot  twelve  guineas3  to  send  you, 
but  unhappily  am  at  a  loss  how  to  send  it 
to-night  If  I  cannot  send  it  to-night,  it  will 
come  by  the  next  post. 

"  Pray,  do  not  omit  any  thing  mentioned 
in  tills  letter.  God  bless  you  lor  ever  and 
ever. — I  am  your  dutiful  son, 

"  Sam,  Johnson." 

"  TO  MISS  PORTER  AT  MRS.  JOHNSON'S,  IN 
LICHFIELD. 

"  16th  Jan.  1759. 

1Woi|e         "  Mt  dear  miss, — I  think  my- 
self obliged  to  you  beyond  all  ex- 
Sression  of  gratitude  for  your  care  of  my 
ear  mother.     God  grant  it  may  not  be  with- 
out success.    Tell  Kitty4  that  I  shall  never 


1  Sine©  the  publication  of  the  third  edition  of 
this  work,  the  following  letters  of  Dr.  JohsBon, 
occasioned  by  the  last  illness  of  his  mother, 
were  obligingly  communicated  to  Mr.  Malone,  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Vyse.  They  are.placed  here  agree- 
ably to  the  chronological  order  almost  uniformly 
observed  by  the  authour  ;  and  so  strongly  evince 
Dr.  Johnson's  piety  and  tenderness  of  heart,  that 
every  reader  must  be  gratified  by  their  insertion. 
— Malone. 

*  Written  by  mistake  for  1759,  as  the  subse- 
quent letters  show  [see  ante,  p.  1 40] .  In  the  next 
letter,  he  had  inadvertently  fallen  into  the  same 
errour,  but  corrected  it  On  the  outside  of  the 
letter  of  the  18th  was  written  by  another  hand — . 
«« Pray  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  this  by  return 
of  post,  without  njfl.*' — A|ai.one. 

*  Six  of  these  twelve  guineas  Johnson  appears 
to  have  borrowed  from  Mr.  Allen,  the  printer. 
See  Hawkins's  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  866,  n. — 
Malone. 

4  Catherine  Chambers,  Mrs.  Johnson's  maid- 
servant She  died  in  October,  1767.  See  Dr. 
Johnson's  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  71.: 
••  Sunday,  Oct  18,  1767.  Yesterday,  Oct  17, 
I  took  my  leave  for  ever  of  my  dear  old  friend, 


forget  her  tenderness  for  her  mistress. 
Whatever  you  can  do,  continue  to  do.  My 
heart  is  very  full. 

"  I  hope  you  received  twelve  guineas  on 
Monday.  I  found  a  way  of  sending  them 
by  means  of  the  postmaster,  after  I  had 
written  my  letter,  and  hope  they  came  safe. 
I  will  send  you  more  in  a  few  days.  God 
bless  you  all.  I  am,  my  dear,  your  most 
obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  Over  the  leaf  is  a  letter  to  my  mother.*' 

"  leth  Jan.  1759. 

"Dear  honoured  mother, —  Your 
weakness  afflicts  me  beyond  what  I  am  wil- 
ling to  communicate  to  you.  I  do  not  think 
you  unfit  to  face  death,  but  I  know  not  how 
to  bear  the  thought  of  losing  you.  Endeav- 
our to  do  all  you  [can]  for  yourself.  Eat 
as  much  as  you  can. 

'  I  pray  often  for  you;  do  you  pray  for 

.     I  have  nothing  to  add  to  my  last  let- 

I  am,  dear,  dear  mother,  your  dutiful 


me, 
ter, 


!  Sam.  Johnson." 


"TO  MRS.  JOHNSON  IN  LICHFIELD. 
'<  18th  Jan.  nm. 
"  Dear  honoured  mother, — I 
fear  you  are  too  ill  for  long  letters; 
therefore  I  will  only  tell  you,  you  have 
from  me  all  the  regard  that  can  possibly 
subsist  in  the  heart.  I  pray  God  to  bless 
you  for  ever  more,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake. 
Amen. 

"  Let  miss  write  to  me  every  post,  how- 
ever short. 

"  I  am,  dear  mother,  your  dutiful  son, 
"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  TO  MISS  PORTER,  AT  MRS.  JOHNSON '8  IN 
LICHFIELD. 

«  20th  Jan.  nas, 
"Dear   miss, — I  will,  if  it  be    y>TlHlt 
possible,  come  down  to  you.     God 

grant  I  may  yet  [find]  my  dear  mother 
reathing  and  sensible.  Do  not  tell  her  lest 
I  disappoint  her.  If  I  miss  to  write  next 
post,  I  am  on  the  road.  I  am  my  dearest  miss, 
your  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  On  the  other  side." 

"  20th  Jan.  1758. 

"  Dear  honoured  mother  5, — Neither 
your  condition  nor  your  character  make  it 
fit  for  me  to  say  much.    You  have  been  the 


Catherine  Chambers,  who  came  to  live  with  my 
mother  about  1724,  and  has  been  but  little  part- 
ed from  us  since.  She  buried  my  lather,  my 
brother,  and  my  mother.  She  is  now  fifty-eight 
yean  old. ' ' — Ma  lone. 

*  This  letter  was  written  on  the  second  leaf 
of  the  preceding,  addressed  to  Miss  Porter. — 
Malone. 

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1759.— iETAT.  60. 


147 


best  mother,  and  I  believe  the  best  woman 
in  the  world.     I  thank  you  for  your  indul- 

f?nce  to  me,  and  beg  forgiveness  of  all  that 
have  done  ill,  and  all  that  I  have  omitted 
to  do  well  i.  God  grant  you  his  Holy  Spirit, 
and  receive  you  to  everlasting  happiness, 
for  Jesus  Christ's  sake.  *  Amen.  Lord  Je- 
sus receive  your  spirit.  Amen.— I  am,  dear, 
dear  mother,  ytmr  dutiful  son,  • 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"TO  MISS  PORTER,  IN  LICHFIELD. 

«23d  Jan.  1750  ». 

c*  You  will  conceive  my  sorrow 
for  the  loss  of  my  mother,  of  the 
best  mother.  If  she  were  to  live  again, 
surely  I  should  behave  better  to  her.  But 
she  is  happy,  and  what  is  past  is  nothing  to 
her;  and  lor  me,  since  I  cannot  repair  my 
faults  to  her,  I  hope  repentance  will  efface 
them.  I  return  you  and  all  those  that  have 
been  good  to  her  my  si  nee  rest  thanks,  and 
pray  God  to  repay  you  all  with  infinite  ad- 
vantage. Write  to  me,  and  comfort  me, 
dear  child.  I  shall  be  glad  likewise,  if  Kit- 
ty will  write  to  me.  f  shall  send  a  bill  of 
twenty  pounds  in  a  few  days,  which  I 
thought  to  have  brought  to  my  mother ; 
but  Sod  suffered  it  not.  I  have  not  power 
or  composure  to  say  much  more.  God 
bless  you,  and  bless  us  all.  I  am,  dear 
miss,  your  affectionate  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnson.'9 

["  TO  MISS  LUCY  PORTER. 

«  25th  Jan.  1760. 

(The  beginning  of  the  writing 
torn  and  lost.) 
"  You  will  forgive  me  if  I  am  not  yet  so 
composed  as  to  give  any  directions  about 
any  thing.  But  you  are  wiser  and  better 
than  I,  and  I  shall  be  pleased  with  all  that 
'  you  shall  do.  It  is  not  of  any  use  for  me 
now  to  come  down3;  nor  can  I  bear  the 


1  So,  in  the  prayer  which  he  composed  on 
this  occasion  :  "  Almighty  God,  merciful  Father, 
in  whose  hands  are  life  and  death,  sanctify  onto 
me  the  sorrow  which  I  now  feel.  Forgive  me 
whatever  I  have  done  unkindly  to  my  mother, 
and  whatever  I  have  omitted  to  do  kindly. 
Make  me  to  remember  her  good  precepts  and 
good  example,  and  to  reform  my  life  according 
to  thy  holy  word,  fcc." — Prayers  and  Medita- 
tumst  p.  81. — Malokz. 

1  Mrs.  Johnson  probably  died  on  the  20th  or 
21st  January,  and  was  buried  on  the  day  this  let- 
ter was  written. — Malone. 

*  [Mr.  Murphy  states  :  "  With  this  supply 
(the  price  of  Rasselas)  Johnson  set  out  for  Lich- 
field ;  but  did  not  arrive  in  time  to  close  the  eyes 
of  a  parent  whom  he  loved.  He  attended  the 
funeral,  which,  as  appears  among  his  memoran- 
dums, was  on  the  28d  of  January,  1759."  It  is 
dear,  from  all  these  letters,  that  he  did  not  per- 
sonally attend  on  that  occasion,  and  the  memo- 


place.  If  you  want  any  directions,  Mr, 
Howard  4  will  advise  you.  The  twenty 
pounds  I  could  not  get  a  bill  for  to-night, 
but  will  send  it  on  Saturday.  I  am,  my 
dear,  your  affectionate  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  TO  MRS.  LUCY  PORTER. 

"  8th  Feb.  17fi9. 

"  Dear  miss,— I  have  no  reason 
to  forbear  writing,  but  that  it  makes  EH?"1 
my  heart  heavy,  and  I  had  nothing 
particular  to  say  which  might  not  be  delay- 
ed to  the  next  post;  but  had  no  thoughts 
of  ceasing  to  correspond  with  my  dear  Lu- 
cy, the  only  person  now  lelt  in  the  world 
with  whom  I  think  myself  connected.  There 
needed  not  my  dear  mother's  desire,  for 
every  heart  must  lean  to  somebody,  and  I 
have  nobody  but  you;  in  whom  1  put  all 
my  little  affairs  with  too  much  confidence 
to  desire  you  to  keep  receipts  as  you  pru- 
dently proposed. 

"  Ifvou  and  Kitty  will  keep  the  house,! 
think  I  shall  like  it  best.  Kitty  may  carry 
on  the  trade  for  herself,  keeping  her  own. 
stock  apart,  and  laying  aside  any  money 
that  she  receives  for  any  of  the  goods,  which 
her  good  mistress  has  left  behind  her.  I  do 
not  see,  if  this  scheme  be  followed,  any  need 
of  appraising  the  books.  My  mother's  debts, 
dear  mother,  I  suppose  I  may  pay  with  lit-, 
tie  difficulty;  and  the  little  trade  may  go 
silently  forward.  I  fancy  Kitty  can  do  no- 
thing better;  and  I  shall  not  want  to  put 
her  out  of  a  house,  where  she  has  lived  so 
long,  and  with  so  much  virtue.  I  am  very 
sorry  that  she  is  ill,  and  earnestly  hope  that 
she  will  soon  recover;  let  her  know  that  I 
have  the  highest  value  for  her,  and  would 
do  any  thing  for  her  advantage.  Let  her 
think  of  this  proposal.  I  do  not  see  any 
likelier  method  by  which  she  may  pass  the 
remaining  part  of  her  life  in  quietness  and 
competence. 

"  You  must  have  what  part  of  the  house 
you  please,  while  you  are  inclined  to  stay 
m  it;  but  I  flatter  myself  with  the  hope  that 
you  and  I  shall  some  time  pass  our  days  to- 

f  ether.  I  am  very  solitary  and  comfortless, 
ut  will  not  invite  you  to  come  hither  till  I 
can  have  hope  of  making  you  live  here  so 
as  not  to  dislike  your  situation.  Pray,  my 
dearest,  write  to  me  as  often  as  you  can.  I 
am,  dear  madam,  your  affectionate  humble 
servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson."] 


random  mentioned  most  have  referred  to  the  date 
or  expenses  of  the  funeral,  and  not  to  his  own 
presence.  Rasselas  was  not  ton* f tent  nor  of 
course,  it  may  he  presumed,  sofct,  till  two  months 
later.-— Ed.] 

4  rMr.'  Howard  was  in  the  law,  and  resided  in 
the  Close.  Ho  was  grandfather  of  the  present  la- 
dy of  Sir  Robert  Wflmot,  Bart  of  Osmaston,  near 
Derby. — Habwood.} 

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ws 


1759.— ^ETAT.  60. 


[No.  41  of  the  Idler,  though  it 
"^S*  takes  the  character  of  a  letter  to  the 
f*  authour,  was  written  hy  Johnson 

himself  on  his  mother's  death,  and  may  he 
supposed  to  describe  as  truly  as  pathetical- 
ly his  sentiments  on  the  separation  of  friends 
and  relations  K 

T"TO  MRS.   LUCY  PORTER. 

« lit  March,  17»  «. 

"  Dear  madam,— I  thought  your 
Eg?0*  last  letter  long  in  coming;  and 
did  not  require  or  expect  such  an 
inventory  of  little  things  as  you  have  sent 
me.  I  could  have  token  your  word  for  a 
matter  of  much  greater  value.  I  am  glad 
that  Kitty  is  better;  let  her  be  paid  first,  as 
my  dear,  dear  mother  ordered,  and  then  let 
me  know  at  once  the  sum  necessary  to  dis- 
charge her  other  debts,  and  I  will  send  it  you 
very  soon. 

"  I  beg,  my  dear,  that  you  would  act  for 
me  without  the  least  scruple,  for  I  can  re- 
pose myself  very  confidently  upon  your  pru- 
dence, and  hope  we  shall  never  have  reason 
to  love  each  other  less.  I  shall  take  it  very 
kindly  if  you  make  it  a  rule  to  write  to  me 
once  at  least  every  week,  for  I  am  now  very 
desolate,  and  am  loth  to  be  universally  for- 
gotten. I  am,  dear  sweet,  your  affectionate 
servant,  "  Sam.  Joh»Son.m 

_  Soon  after  his  mother's  death,  he 

**  wrote  his  "  Rasselas,  Prince  of 
Abyssinia*:  [which  he  modestly  calls,  in  a 
subsequent  letter  to  Miss  Porter,  "  a  little 
story-book"]  concerning  the  publication  of 
which  Sir  John  Hawkins  guesses  vaguely 
and  idly3,  instead  of  having  taken  the  trou- 
ble to  inform  himself  with  authentick  pre- 
cision. Not  to  trouble  my  readers  with  a 
repetition  of  the  knight's  reveries,  I  have  to 
mention,  that  the  late  Mr.  Strahan  the 
printer  told  me,  that  Johnson  wrote  it,  that 
with  the  profits  he  might  defray  the  expense 
of  his  mother's  funeral,  and  pay  some  little 
debts  which  she  had  left.  He  told  Sir  Josh- 
ua Reynolds,  that  he  composed  it  in  the 
evenings  of  one  week  4,  sent  it  to  the  press 

1  [Bat  it  is  observable  that  the  Idlers  which 
now  bear  the  dates  of  the  13th  and  20th  January 
are  on  trivial  subjects,  and  are  evon  written  in  a 
vein  of  pleasantry. — Ed.] 

*  [Johnson  had  written  the  figure  8  instead  of 
9,  which  is  evidently  a  mistake.— Harwood. 
See  ante,  p.  144.— Ed.] 

*  [Sir  John  Hawkins  does  not  "  guess  vaguely 
and  idly,"  but  after  saying  that  there  were  vague 
reports  on  the  subject,  he  gives  an  account  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  Mr.  BosweU's.  The  only 
difference  is,  that  Sir  J.  Hawkins  says  that  he 
bad  before  meditated  such  a  work,  the  execution 
of  which  was  now  accelerated  by  the  spur  of 
necessity. — Ed.] 

*  Rasselas  was  published  in  March  or  April, 
175&— Boswatu 


in  portions  as  it  was  written,  and  had  never 
since  read  it  over5.  Mr.  Strahan,  Mr.  John- 
ston, and  Mr.  Dodsley,  purchased  it  for  a 
hundred  pounds,  hut  .afterwards  paid  him 
twenty-five  pounds  'more,  when  it  came  to 
a  second  eoition. 

Considering  the  large  sums  which  have 
heen  received  for  compilations,  and  works* 
requiring  not  much  more  genius  than  com- 

Eiiations,  we  cannot  hut  wonder  at  the  very 
>w  price  which  he  was  content.to  receive 
for  this  admirable  performance;  which, 
though  he  had  written  nothing  else,  would 
have  rendered  his  name  immortal  in  the 
world  of  literature.  None  of  his  writings 
has  been  so  extensively  diffused  over  Eu- 
rope; for  it  has  fceen  translated  into  most, 
if  not  all,  of  the  modern  languages.  This 
tale,  with  all  the  charms  of  oriental  image- 
ry, and  all  the  force  and  beauty  of  which  the 
English  language  is  capable,  leads  us 
through  the  most  important  scenes  of  hu- 
man life,  and  shows  us  that  this  stage  of  our  • 
being  is  full  of  "  vanity  and  vexation  of 
spirit."  To  those  who  look  no  further 
than  the  present  life,  or  who  maintain  that 
human  nature  has  not  fallen  from  the  state 
in  which  it  was  created,  the  instruction  of 
this  sublime  story  will  be  of  no  avail.  But 
they  who  think  justly,  and  feel  with  strong 
sensibility,  will  listen  with  eagerness  and 
admiration  to  its  truth  and  wisdom.  Vol- 
taire's Cakdide,  written  to  refute  the  sys- 
tem of  Optimism,  which  it  has  accomplished 
with  brilliant  success,  is  wonderfully  similar 
in  its  plan  and  conduct  to  Johnson's  Ras- 
selas; insomuch,  that  I  have  heard  John- 
son say,  that  if  they  had  not  been  publish- 
ed so  closely  one  alter  the  other  that  there 
was  not  lime  for  imitation,  it  would  have 
been  in  vain  to  deny  that  the  scheme  of  that 
which  came  latest  was  taken  from  the  other. 
Though  the  proposition  illustrated  by  both 
these  works  was  the  same,  namely,  that  in 
our  present  state  there  is  more  "evil  than 
good,  the  intention  of  the  writers  was  very  • 
different.  Voltaire,  I  am  afraid,  meant  only 
by  wanton  profaneness  to  obtain  a  sportive 
victory  over  religion,  and  to  discredit  the 
belief  of  a  superintending  Providence: 
Johnson  meant,  oy  showing  the  unsatisfac- 
tory nature  of  things  temporal,  to  direct  the 
hopes  of  man  to  things  eternal.  Rasselas, 
as  was  observed  to  me  by  a  very  accomplish- 
ed lady,  may  be  considered  as  a  more  enlarg- 
ed and  more  deeply  philosophical  discourse  in 
prose,  upon  the  interesting  truth,  which  in 
nis  "  Vanity  of  Human  W  ishes,"  he  had  so 
successfully  enforced  in  verse. 

The  fund  of  thinking  which  this  work 
contains  is  such,  that  almost  every  sentence 

*  See  under  June  2,  1781.  Finding  it  then 
accidentally  in  a  chaise  with  Mr.  BosweU,  ha 
read  it  eagerly. — This  was  doubtless  lone  after  has 
declaration  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, — Maxoxc 


louDtless  lone  attei 
ejnolds. — Maxo 

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1769.— iETAT.  60. 


149 


of  it  may  furnish  a  subject  of  long  medita- 
tion. I  am  not  satisfied  if  a  year  passes 
without  my  having  read  it  through;  and  at 
every  perusal,  my  admiration  of  the  mind 
which  produced  it  is  so  highly  raised,  that 
I  can  scarcely  believe  that  I  had  the  hon- 
our of  enjoying  the  intimacy  of  such  a 


I  restrain  myself  from  quoting  passages 
from  this  excellent  work,  or  even  referring 
to  them,  because  I  should  not  know  what 
to  select,  or,  rather,  what  to  omit  I  shall, 
however,  transcribe  one,  as  it  shows  how 
well  he  could  state  the  arguments  of  those 
who  believe  in  the  appearance  of  departed 
spirits;  a  doctrine  which  it  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  he    himself  ever  positively 

"  If  all  your  fear  be  of  apparitions  (said  the 
prince),  I  will  promise  you  safety:  there  is 
no  danger  from  the  dead;  he  that  is  once 
buried  will  be  seen  no  more. 

•c  That  the  dead  are  seen  no  more  (said 
Imlac),  I  will  not  undertake  to  maintain, 
against  the  concurrent  and  unvaried  testi- 
mony of  all  ages,  and  of  all  nations.  There  is 
no  people,  rude  or  learned,  among  whom  ap- 
paritions of  the  dead  are  not  related  and  be- 
ne ved.  This  opinion,  which  prevails  as  far 
as  human  nature  is  diffused,  could  become 
universal  only  by  its  truth1;  those  that  never 
heard  of  one  another, -would  not  have  agreed 
in  a  tale  which  nothing  but  experience  can 
make  credible.  That  it  is  doubted  by  sin- 
gle cavillers,  can  very  little  weaken  the  gen- 
eral evidence;  and  some  who  deny  it  with 
their  tongues,  confess  it  by  their  fears." 

Notwithstanding  my  hijrh  admiration  of 
Rasselas,  I  will  not  maintain  that  the  "  mor- 
bid melancholy"  in  Johnson's  constitution 
may  not,  perhaps,  have  made  life  appear  to 
him  more  insipid  and  unhappy  than  it  gen- 
erally is:  for  I  am  sure  that  he  had  less  en- 
joyment from  it  than  I  have.  Yet,  what- 
ever additional  shade  his  own  particular  sen- 
sations may  have  thrown  on  his  representa- 
tion of  life,  attentive  observation  and  close 
inquiry  have  convinced  me,  that  there  is 
too  much  reality  in  the  gloomy  picture. 
The  truth,  however,  isj  that  we  judge  of 
the  happiness  and  misery  of  life  differently 
at  different  times,  according  to  the  state  of 
our  changeable  frame.  I  always  remember 
a  remark  made  to  me  by  a  Turkish  lady, 
educated  in  France:  "  Ma  foi,  monsieur, 
noire  bonheur  depend  de  la  fafon  qae  notre 
sang  cxrcvU\"  "This  have  I  learnt  from  a 


1  [This  is  a  mere  sophism  ;  all  ages  and  all 
nations  are  not  agreed  on  this  point,  though  such 
a  belief  may  have  existed  in  particular  persons, 
m  all  ages  and  all  nations.  He  might  as  well 
have  said  that  insanity  was  the  natural  and  true 
state  of  the  human  mind,  because  it  has  existed 
in  all  nations  and  all  ages.— En.} 

■  [Mr.  BosweU  no  doubt  fancied  these  words 


pretty  hard  course  of  experience,  and 
would,  from  sincere  benevolence,  impress 
upon  all  who  honour  this  book  with  a  peru- 
sal, that  until  a  steady  conviction  is  ob- 
tained, that  the  present  life  is  an  imperfect 
state,  and  only  a  passage  to  a  better,  if  we 
comply  with  the  divine  scheme  of  progres- 
sive improvement;  and  also  that  it  is  a  part 
of  the  mysterious  plan  of  Providence,  that 
intellectual  beings  must  "  be  made  perfect 
through  suffering  ; "  there  will  be  a  con- 
tinual recurrence  of  disappointment  and  un- 
easiness. But  if  we  walk  with  hope  in  "  the 
mid-day  sun"  of  revelation,  our  temper  and 
disposition  will  be  such,  that  the  comforts 
and  enjoyments  in  our  way  will  be  relished, 
while  we  patiently  support  the  inconveni- 
ences and  pains.  After  much  speculation 
and  various  reasonings,  I  acknowledge  my- 
self convinced  of  the  truth  of  Voltaire's 
conclusion,  "  Apres  taut  e'est  un  monde 
passable."  But  we  must  not  think  too 
deeply: 


-where  ignorance  is  bliss, 


"Tib  folly  to  be  wise,' 

is,  in  many  respects,  more  than  poetically 
just.  Let  us  cultivate,  under  the  command 
of  good  principles,  "la  theorie  des  sensa- 
tions agreables;"  and,  as  Mr.  Burke  once 
admirably  counselled  a  grave  and  anxious 
gentleman,  "  live  pleasant." 

The  effect  of  Rasselas,  and  of  Johnson's 
other  moral  tales,  is  thus  beautifully  illus- 
trated by  Mr.  Courtenay: 

"  Impressive  troth,  in  splendid  fiction  drest, 
Checks  the  vain  wish,  and  calms  the  troubled 

breast ; 
O'er  the  dark  mind  a  light  celestial  throws, 
And  sooths  the  angry  passions  to  repose  ; 
As  oil  efius'd  illumes  and  smooths  the  deep, 
When  round  the  bark  the  foaming  surges  sweep." 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  during  all  this 
year  he  carried  on  his  Idler.  This  paper 
was  in  such  high  estimation  before  it  was 
collected  into  volumes,  that  it  was  seized  on 
with  avidity  by  various  publishers  of  news- 
papers and  magazines,  to  enrich  their  pub- 
lications. Johnson,  to  put  a  stop  to  this 
unfair  proceeding,  wrote  for  the  Universal 
Chronicle  the  following  advertisement ;  in 
which  there  is,  perhaps,  more  pomp  of 
words  than  the  occasion  demanded: 

"  London,  Jan.  5,  1759.  Advertise- 
ment. The  proprietors  of  the  paper  entitled 
'  The  Idler,' having  found  that  those  essays 
are  inserted  in  the  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines with  so  little  regard  to  justice  or  de- 
cency, that  the  Universal  Chronicle,  in 
which  they  first  appear,  is  not  always  men- 
tioned, think  it  necessary  to  declare  to  the 


had  some  meaning,  or  he  would  hardly  have 
quoted  them ;  but  what  that  meaning  is  the  edi- 
tor cannot  guess. — En.] 

Digitized  by  LiOOQ IC 


150 


1759.— JETAT.  50. 


publishers  of  those  collections,  that  however 
patiently  they  have  hitherto  endured  these 
injuries,  made  yet  more  injurious  by  con- 
tempt, they  have  now  determined  to  endure 
them  no  longer.  They  have  already  seen 
essays,  for  which  a  very  large  price  is  paid, 
transferred,  with  the  most  shameless  rapacity, 
into  the  weekly  or  monthly  compilations,  and 
their  right,  at  least  for  the  present,  alienated 
from  them,  before  they  could  themselves  be 
said  to  enjoy  it.  But  they  would  not  willingly 
be  thought  to  want  tenderness,  even  for  men 
by  whom  no  tenderness  hath  been  shown. 
The  past  is  without  remedy,  and  shall  be 
without  resentment.  But  those  who  have 
been  thus  busy  With  their  sickles  in  the  fields 
of  their  neighbours  are  henceforward  to  take 
notice,  that  the  time  of  impunity  is  at  an 
end.  Whoever  shall,  without  our  leave,  lay 
the  hand  of  rapine  upon  our  papers,  is  to 
expect  that  we  shall  vindicate, our  due,  by 
the  means  which  justice  prescribes,  and 
which  are  warranted  by  the  immemorial  rire* 
scriptions  of  honourable  trade.  We  shall 
lay  hold,  in  our  turn,  on  their  copies,  degrade, 
them  from  the  pomp  of  wide  mangrn  and 
diffuse  typography,  contract  them  into  a 
narrow  space,  and  sell  them  at  an  humble 
price;  yet  not  with  a  view  of  growing  rich 
oy  confiscations,  for  we  think  not  much  bet- 
ter of  money  got  by  punishment  than  by 
crimes.  We  shall  therefore,  when  our 
losses  are  repaid,  give  what  profit  shall  re- 
main to  the  Magdelens;  for  we  know  not 
who  can  be  more  properly  taxed  for  the  sup- 
port of  penitent  prostitutes,  than  prostitutes 
in  whom  there  yet  appears  neither  penitence 
nor  shame." 

No  doubt  he  was  also  proceeding,  though 
slowly,  in  his  edition  of  Shakspeare.  He, 
however,  from  that  liberality  which  never 
failed,  when  called  upon  to  assist  other  la- 
bourers in  literature,  found  time  to  translate, 
for  Mrs.  Lenox*s  English  version  of  Bru- 
moy,  "  A  Dissertation  on  the  Greek  Come- 
dyt"  and  "  The  General  Conclusion  of  the 
Bookf1." 

An  inquiry  into  the  state  of  foreign  coun- 
tries was  an  object  that  seems  at  all  times  to 
have  interested  Johnson.  Hence  Mr.  New- 
bery  found  no  great  difficulty  in  persuading 
him  to  write  the  introduction*  to  a  collec- 
tion of  voyages  and  travels-  published  by 
him  under  the  title  of  "  The  World  Dis- 
played:" the  first  volume  of  which  appear- 
ed this  year,  and  the  remaining  volumes  in 
subsequent  years. 


1  [In  Mr.  Park's  edition  of  the  Noble  Jluthovrs 
(vol.  iv.  p.  259),  it  is  stated  that  Mre.  Lenox's 
Translation  of  Bramoy's  Greek  Theatre  had  a 
"  Preface,"  written  by  Lord  Orrery  ;  who  also 
translated  "  The  Discourse  upon  tlie  Theatre  of 
the  Greeks ,  the  Origin  of  Tragedy,  and  the 
Parallel  of  the  Theatres,"  but  he  cites  no  au- 
thority.—Ed.] 


I  would  ascribe  to  this  year  the  following 
letter  to  a  son  of  one  of  his  early  friends  at 
Lichfield,  Mr.  Joseph  Simpson,  barrister, 
and  authour  of  a  tract,  entitled  "  Reflections 
on  the  Study  of  the  Law." 

"  TO  JOSEPH    SIMPSON,  ESQ. 

"Dear  sir, — Your  father's  inexorability 
not  only  grieves  but  amazes  me:  he  is  your 
father;  he  was  always  accounted  a  wise  man; 
nor  do  I  remember  any  thing  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  his  good  nature;  but  in  his  refu- 
sal to  assist  you  there  is  neither  good  nature, 
fatherhood,  nor  wisdom.  It  is  the  practice 
of  good  nature  ty  overlook  faults  which  have 
already,  by  the  consequences,  punished  the 
^delinquent.  It  is  natural  for  a  father  to 
think  more  favourably  than  others  of  his 
children;  and  it  is  always  wise  to  give  as- 
sistance, while  a  little  help  will  prevent  the 
necessity  of  greater. 

"  If  you  married  imprudently,  you  mis- 
carried at  your  own  hazard,  at  an  age  when 
you  had  a  right  of  choice.  It  would  be 
hard  if  the  man  might  not  choose  his  own 
wife,  who  has  a  right  to  plead  before  the 
judges  of  his  country. 

"  If  roar  imprudence  has  ended  in  difficul- 
ties and  inconveniences,  you  are  yourself  to 
support  them;  and,  with  the  help  of  a  little 
better  health,  you  would  support  them  and 
conquer  than.  Surely,  that  want  which 
accident  and  sickness  produce  is  to  be  sup- 
ported in  every  region  of  humanity,  though 
there  were  neither  friends  nor  fathers  in  tne 
world.  You  have  certainly  from  your  fath- 
er the  highest  claim  of  charity;  though  none 
of  right :  and  therefore  I  would  counsel  you 
to  omit  no  decent  nor  manly  degree  of  im- 
portunity. Your  debts  in  the  whole  are  not 
large,  and  of  the  whole  but  a  small  part  is 
troublesome.  Small  debts  are  like  small 
shot;  they  are  rattling  on  every  side,  and 
can  scarcely  be  escaped  without  a  wound: 
great  debts  are  like  cannon;  of  loud  noise, 
but  little  danger.  You  must,  therefore,  be 
enabled  to  discharge  petty  debts,  that  yon 
may  have  leisure,  witn  security,  to  struggle 
with  the  rest.  Neither  the  great  nor  little 
debts  disgrace  you.  I  am  sure  you  have 
my  esteem  for  the  courage  with  which  you 
contracted  them,  and  the  spirit  with  which 
you  endure  them.  I  wish  my  esteem  could 
be  of  more  use.  I  have  been  invited,  or 
have  inv4ted  myself,  to  several  parts  of  the 
kingdom;  and  will  not  incommode  my  dear 
Lucy  by  coming  to  Lichfield,  while  her  pres- 
ent lodging  is  of  any  use  to  her2.  I  hope, 
in  a  few  days,  to  be  at  leisure,  and  to  make 


*  [She  resided  in  the  house  which,  by  his  mo- 
ther's death,  was  now  become  the  property  of 
Johnson.  It  appean  that  there  was  not  accom- 
modation for  an  additional  inmate.— En.] 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


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161 


▼into.  Whither  I  shall  fly  is  matter  of  no 
importance.  A  man  unconnected  is  at  home 
every  where;  unless  he  may  he  said  to  he 
at  home  no  where.  I  am  sorry,  dear  sir, 
that  where  you  have  parents,  a  man 
of  your  merits  should  not  have  a  home. 
I  wish  I  could  give  it  you.  I  am,  my  dear 
air,  affectionately  yours, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

He  now  refreshed  himself  hy  an  excursion 
to  Oxford,  of  which  the  following  short 
characteristics!  notice,  in  his  own  words,  is 
preserved: 

" is  now  making  tea  for 

ntl'^  me.  I  have  been  in  my  gown 
*.»«.  ever  since  I  came  here1,  ft  was, 
at  my  first  coming,  quite  new  and 
handsome.  I  have,  swum  thrice,  which  I 
had  disused  for  many  years.  I  have  pro- 
posed to  Vansittart2  climbing  over  the  wall, 
rot  he  has  refused  me.  And-I  have  clapped 
my  hands  till  they  are  sore,  at  Dr.  King's 
apeech3.» 

His  negro  servant,  Francis  Barber,  hav- 
ing left  him,  and  been  some  time  at  sea,  not 
pressed  as  has  been  supposed,  but  with  his 
own  consent,  it  appears  from  a  letter  to 
John  Wilkes,  Esq.  from  Dr.  Smollett,  that 
his  master  kindly  interested  himself  in  pro- 
coring  his  release  from  a  state  of  life  of 
which  Johnson  always  expressed  the  utmost 
abhorrence.  He  once  said,  "No 
55"  *  man  will  be  a  sailor  who  has  contriv- 
ance enough  to  get  himself  into  a 
jail;  for  being  in  a  ship  is  being  in  a  jail, 
with  the  chance  of  being  drowned."  And 
■--  sa  a*  anotner  time,  "  A  man  in  a  jail 
^  has  more  room,  better  food,  and 
commonly  better  company."  The 
letter  was  as  follows: 


1778. 


"Chelsea,  ieth  March,  1759. 
Dxar  sin, — I  am  again  your  petitioner, 
in  behalf  of  that  great  Cham4  of  literature, 


1  [Lord  Stowell  informs  me  that  he  prided  him- 
sdf  in  being,  during  bis  vista  to  Oxford,  accu- 
rately academic  in  all  points ;  and  he  wore  his 
gown  almost  ostentatiously. — Ed.] 

1  Bee  ante,  p.  186,  and  post,  vol.  iL  p.  000. 
En.] 

3  [Dr.  King's  speech  at  the  installation  of  the 
Earl  of  Westmoreland  as  chancellor  of  the  uni- 
uanty.— Ed.] 

4  In  my  drst  edition  this  word  was  printed 
Chum,  as  it  appeals  in  one  of  Mr.  Wilkes's 
Miscellanies,  and  I  animadverted  on  Dr.  Smol- 
lett's ignorance ;  for  which  let  me  propitiate  the 
manes  of  that  ingenious  and  benevolent  gentle- 
man. Chum  was  certainly  a  mistaken  read- 
ing for  Cham,  the  title  of  the  Sovereign  of  Tar- 
tary,  which  is  well  applied  "  Johnson,  the  Mon- 
arch of  Literature ;"  and  was  an  epithet  familiar  to 


Samuel  Johnson.  His  Mack  servant,  whose 
name  is  Francis  Barber,  has  been  pressed 
on  hoard  the  Stag  frigate,  Captain  Angel, 
and  our  lexicographer  is  in  great  distress. 
He  says  the  boy  is  a  sickly  lad,  of  a  delicate 
frame,  and  particularly  subject  to  a  malady 
in  his  throat,  which  renders  him  very  unfit  for 
his  majesty's  service.  You  know  what  mat- 
ter of  animosity  the  said  Johnson  has  against 
you :  and  I  dare  say  you  desire  no  other 
opportunity  of  resenting  it,  than  that  of 
laying  him  under  an  obligation.  He  was 
humble  enough  to  desire  my  assistance  on 
this  occasion,  though  he  and  I  were  never 
cater-cousins;  and  I  gave  him  to  understand 
that  I  would  make  application  to  my  friend 
Mr.  Wilkes,  who*  perhaps,  by  his  interest 
with  Dr.  Hay  and  Mr.  Elliot,  might  be 
able  to  procure  the  discharge  of  his  lacquey. 
It  would  be  superfluous  to  say  more  on  the 
subject,  which  I  leave  to  your  own  consid- 
eration; "but  I  cannot  let  slip  this  opportuni- 
ty of  declaring  that  I  am,  with  the  most  in- 
violable esteem  and  attachment,  dear  sir, 
your  affectionate,  obliged,  humble  servant, 
"  T.  Smollett." 

Mr.  Wilkes,  who  upon  all  occasions  has 
acted,  as  a  private  gentleman,  with  most  po- 
lite liberality,  applied  to  his  friend  Sir  George 
Hay,  then  one  of  the  Lords  Commissioners 
of  the  Admiralty;  and  Francis  Barber  was 
discharged5,  as  he  has  told  me,  without  any 
wish  of  his  own.  He  found  his  old  master 
in  Chambers  in  the  Inner  temple,  and  return- 
ed to  his  service. 

[The  date  of  Dr.  Johnson's  first  _d 

acqu aintance  with  Mrs.  Montagu  is 
not  ascertained,  but  it  probably  began  about 
this  period.  We  find,  in  this  year,  the  first 
of  the  many  applications  which  he  is  known 
to  have  made  to  the  extensive  and  unweari- 
ed charity  of  that  excellent  woman.] 


Smollett.  See  "  Roderick  Random,"  chap.  56. 
For  this  correction  1  am  indebted  to  Lord  Pal- 
merston,  whose  talents  and  literary  acquirements 
accord  well  with  his  respectable  pedigree  of  Tem- 
ple.— Bos  WELL. 

After  the  publication  of  the  second  edition  of 
this  work,  the  authour  was  furnished  by  Mr. 
Abercrombie,  of  Philadelphia,  with  the  copy  of 
a  letter  written  by  Dr.  John  Armstrong,  the  poet, 
to  Dr.  Smollett,  at  Leghorn,  containing  the  fol- 
lowing paraghraph : 

"  As  to  the  K.  Bench  patriot,  it  is  hard  to  say 
from  what  motive  he  published  a  letter  of  youra 
asking  some  trifling  favour  of  him  in  behalf  of 
somebody  for  whom  the  great  Cham  of  litera- 
ture, Mr.  Johnson,  had  interested  himself." — 
Malone. 

6  [He  was  not  discharged  till  June,  1760. 
How  the  discharge  (if,  indeed,  it  was  granted  on 
this  application)  came  to  be  so  long  delayed  does 
not  appear. — Ed.] 


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152 


Wd.— iETAT.  60. 


["DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MRS.  MONTAGU1. 

«  9th  June,  1T59. 

"Madam.— I  am  desired  by  Mrs. 
Williams  to  sigu  receipts  with  her 
name  for  the  subscribers  which  you 
have  been  pleased  to  procure,  and  to  return 
her  humble  thanks  for  your  favour,  which 
was  conferred  with  all  the  grace  that  ele- 
ffaiice  can  add  to  beneficence.  I  am,  ma- 
3am,  your  most  obedient  and  most  humble 
servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson."] 

What  particular  new  scheme  of  life  John- 
son had  in  view  this  year,  I  have  not  dis- 
covered; but  that  he  meditated  one  of  some 
sort,  is  clear  from  his  private  devotions,  in 
which  we  find,  [24th  March,]  "  the  change 
of  outward  things  which  I  am  now  to 
make; "  and  "  Grant  me  the  grace  of  thy 
Holy  Spirit,  that  the  course  which  I  am 
now  beginning  may  proceed  according  to 
thy  laws,  and  end  in  the  enjoyment  of  thy 
favour."  But  he  did  not,  in  fact,  make  any 
external  or  visible  change. 
Bd>  [The  change  of  life  of  which  Mr. 

Boswell  could  discover  no  trace  was 
probably  the  breaking  up  his  establishment 
in  Gough-square,  where  he  had  resided  for 
ten  years,  and  retiring  to  chambers  in  Sta- 
ple-inn; while  Mrs.  Williams  went  into 
lodgings.  This  economical  arrangement, 
as  we  Team  from  the  following  letter,  com- 
municated by  Mrs.  Pearson,  through  Dr. 
Harwood,  took  place  just  at  this  period. 

"  TO  MRS.  LUCY  PORTER. 

«« 23d  March,  1759. 

"Dear  mmdam, — I  beg  your 
pardon  for  having  so  long  omitted 
to  write.  One  thing  or  other  has 
put  me  off.  I  have  this  day  moved  my 
things,  and  you  are  now  to  direct  to  me  at 
Staple-inn,  London.  I  hope,  my  dear,  you 
are  well,  and  Kitty  mends.  I  wish  her  suc- 
cess in  her  trade.  I  am  going  to  publish  a 
little  story  book,9  which  I  will  send  you 
when  it  is  out.     Write  to  me,  my  dearest 

?irl,  for  I  am  always  glad  to  hear  irom  you, 
am,  my  dear,  your  humble  servant, 

"Sam.  Johnson."]" 


1  [This  and  several  other  letters,  which  will 
be  found  in  the  proper  places,  (marked  in  the 
margin  Montagu  MSS.)t  the  Editor  owes  to 
the  kindness  and  liberality  of  the  present  Lord 
Rokeby,  the  nephew  and  heir  of  Mrs.  Montagu, 
and  the  Editor  of  her  Letters — a  work  which  the 
literary  world  desires  to  see  continued.  It  is  ne- 
cessary to  request  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the 
warm  terms  in  which  Johnson  so  frequently  ex- 
presses his  admiration  and  esteem  for  Mrs.  Mon- 
tagu, as  we  shall  see  that  he  afterwards  took  anoth- 
er tone. — Ed.] 

*  [Johnson  hare  alludes  to  his  "  Rasselas." — 
Harwood.] 


At  this  time  there  being  a  competitiofi 
among  the  architects  of  London  to  be  em- 
ployed in  the  building  of  Blackfriars-bridge, 
a  question  was  very  warmly  agitated  wheth- 
er semicircular  or  elliptical  arohes  were  pre- 
ferable. In  the  design  offered  by  Mr. 
Mylne,  the  elliptical  form  was  adopted,  and 
therefore  it  was  the  great  object  of  his  ri- 
vals to  attack  it.  Johnson's  regard  for  hie 
friend  Mr.  Gwyn  induced  him  to  engage  in 
this  controversy  against  Mr.  Mylne3;  and 


9  Sir  John  Hawkins  baa  given  a  long  detail 
of  it,  in  that  manner  vulgarly,  but  significantly, 
called  rigmarole  ;  in  which,  amidst  an  ostenta- 
tious exhibition  of  arts  and  artists,  he  talks  of 
"  proportions  of  a  column  being  taken  from  that 
of  the  human  figure,  and  adjusted  by  JVfcftire— 
masculine  and  feminine — in  a  man,  sesquioctav* 
of  the  head,  and  in  a  woman  sesqtdrumat ;  nor 
has  he  foiled  to  introduce  a  jargon  of  musical 
teems,  which  do  not  seem  much  to  eotrespeiul 
with  the  subject,  but  serve  to  nuke  up  tile  hetero- 
geneous mass.  To  follow  the  knight  through 
all  this,  would  be  an  useless  fctigue  to  myself,  and 
not  a  fittle  disgusting  to  my  ■  readers.  I  shall, 
thereto*,  only  make  a  few  remarks  upon  his 
statement. — lis  seems  to  exult  in  having  detect- 
ed Johnson  in  procuring  "  from  a  person  eminently 
skilled  in  mathematicks  and  the  principles  of  archi- 
tecture, answers  to  a  string  of  questions  drawn  up 
by  himself,  touching  the  comparative  strength  ef 
semicircular  and  elliptical  arches.'*  Now  1  can- 
not conceive  how  Johnson  could  have  acted  more 
wisely.  Sir  John  complains  that  the  opinion  of 
that  excellent  mathematician,  Mr.  Thomas  Simp- 
son, did  not  preponderate  in  favour  of  the  semi- 
circular arch.  But  he  should  have  known,  that 
however  eminent  Mr.  Simpson  was  in  the  higher 
parts  of  abstract  mathematical  science,  he  was  lit- 
tle versed  in  mixed  and  practical  mechanicha. 
Mr.  Muller,  of  Woolwich  Academy,  the  scholae- 
tick  father  of  all  the  great  engineers  which  this 
country  has  employed  for  forty  years,  decided  the 
question  by  declaring  clearly  in  favour  of  the 
elliptical  arch.  * 

It  is  ungraciously  suggested,  that  Johnson's  mo- 
tive for  opposing  Mr.  Mylne's  scheme  may  have 
been  his  prejudice  against  him  as  a  native  of  North 
Britain;  when  in  truth,  as  has  been  stated,  he 
gave  the  aid  of  his  able  pen  to  a  friend,  who  was 
one  of  the  candidates;  and  bo  ftr  was  he  from  hav- 
ing any  illiberal  antipathy  to  Mr.  Mylne,  that  he 
afterwards  lived  with  that  gentleman  upon  very 
agreeable  toms  of  acquaintance,  and  dined  with 
him  at  his  house.  Sir  John  Hawkins,  indeed, 
gives  full  vent  to  his  own  prejudice  in  abusing 
Blackfriars-bridge,  calling  it  •«  an  edifice,  in 
which  beauty  and  symmetry  are  in  vain  sought 
for;  by  which  the  citizens  of  London  have  per- 
petuated their  own  disgrace,  and  subjected  a  whole 
nation  to  the  reproach  of  foreigners."  Whoever 
has  contemplated  placido  famine,  this  stately, 
elegant,  and  airy  structure,  which  has  bo  fine  an 
effect,  especially  on  approaching  the  capital  on 
that  quarter,  must  wonder  at  such  unjust  and  ill- 
tempered  censure;  and  I  appeal  to  all  foreigners  of 
good  taste,  whether  this  bridge  be  not  one  of  the 


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1760— iETAT.  61. 


m 


'  being"  at  considerable  pains  to  study 
the  subject,  he  wrote  three  several  letters 
in  the  Gazetteer,  in  opposition  to  his  plan. 
If  it  should  be  remarked  that  this  was  a 
controversy  which  lay  quite  out  of  John- 
son's way,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  after 
aO,  his  employing  his  powers  of  reasoning 
and  etoquencce  upon  a  subject  which  he  had 
studied  on  the  moment,  is  not  more  strange 
than  what  we  often  observe  in  lawyers, 
who,  as  Qwcquid  agwU  homines  is  the 
matter  of  lawsuits,  are  sometimes  obliged 
to  pick  up  a  temporary  knowledge  of  an  art 
or  science,  of  which  they  understood  no- 
thing till  tiieir  brief  was  delivered,  and  ap- 
pear to  be  much  masters  of  it.  In  like  man- 
ner, members  of  the  legislature  frequently 
iatroduce  and  expatiate  upon  subjects  of 
which  they  have  informed  jthemselves  for 
the  occasion. 

[M  BB,  JOHNSON  TO  MISS  LUCY  PORTER. 
"10th  May,  1758. 

"DsAt'  madam, — I  am  almost 
ashamed  to  tell  you  that  all  your  let- 
ters came  safe,  and  that  I  hare  been 
always  very  well,  but  hindered,  I  hardly 
know  how,  from  writing.  I  sent,  last  week, 
some  of  my  works,  one  for  you,  one  for  your 
aunt  Hunter,  who  was  with  my  poor  dear 
mother  when  she  died,  one  for  Mr.  Howard, 
and  one  for  Kitty*  , 

"  I  beg  you,  my  dear,  to  write  often  to 
use,  and  tell  me  how  you  like  my  little  book. 
I  am,  dear  love,  your  affectionate  humble 
Servant,  "  Sam.  Johwsoic."]    • 

["  DR.  JOHNSON  TO   MRS.  MONTAGU. 

"Gray's-inn,  17th  Dec.  17».    ' 

M  ^^  "  Madam, — Goodness  so  con- 
ikSl  spicuous  as  yours  will  be  often  so- 
licited, and  perhaps  sometimes  so- 
licited by  those  who  have  little  pretension 
to  your  favour.  It  is  now  my  turn  to  in- 
troduce a  petitioner,  but  such  as  I  have 
reason  to  believe  you  will  think  worthy  of 
your  notice.  Mrs.  Ogle,  who  kept  the  mu- 
siek-room  in  Soho-square,  a  woman  who 


BMMt  dbtinguished  ornaments  of  London.  As  to 
the  stability  of  the  fabrick,  it  is  certain  that  the 
city  of  London  took  every  precaution  to  have  the 
Sot  Portland  stone  for  it;  bnt  as  this  is  to  be  found 
in  the  quarries  belonging  to  the  public,  under  the 
direction  of  the  lords  of  the  treasury,  it  so  hap- 
pened that  parliamentary  interest,  which  is  often 
the  boos  of  fair  pursuits,  thwarted  their  endea- 
vours Notwithstanding  this  disadvantage,  h  is 
well  known  that  not  only  has  Blackfnars-bridge 
sever  sunk  either  in  its  foundation  or  in  its  arches, 
which  were  so  much  the  subject  of  contest,  but 
any  injuries  which  it  has  suffered  from  the  effects 
of  severe  frosts  have  been  already,  in  some  mea- 
sure, repaired  with  sounder  stone,  and  every  ne- 
•  renewal  can  be  completed  at  a  moderate 

0. — BOSWXLL. 
VOL.  I.  SO 


struggles  with  great  industry  for  the  sup- 
port of  eight  children,  hopes  by  a  benefit 
concert  to  set  herself  free  from  a  few  debts, 
which  she  cannot  otherwise  discharge.  She 
has,  I  know  not  why,  so  high  an  opinion  of 
me  as  to  believe  that  you  will  pay  less  re- 
gard to  her  application  than  to  mine.  You 
know,  madam,  I  am  sure  you  know,  how 
hard  it  is  to  deny,  and  therefore  would  not 
wonder  at  my  compliance,  though  I  were  to 
suppress  a  motive  which  you  know  not, 
the  vanity  of  being  supposed  to  be  of  any 
importance  to  Mrs  Montagu.  But  though 
I  may  be  willing  to  see  the  world  deceived 
for  my  advantage,  I  am  not  deceived  my- 
self, for  I  know  that  Mrs.  Ogle  will  owe 
whatever  favours  she  shall  receive  from  the 
patronage  which  we  humbly  entreat  on  this 
occasion,  much  more  to  your  compassion 
for  honesty  in  distress,  than  to  the  request 
of,  madam,  your  most  obedient  and  most 
humble  servant,        "  Sam.  Johnson.  "] 

In  1760,  he  wrote  "  an  Address  of  the 
Painters  to  George  HI.  on  his  Accession  to 
the  Throne  of  these  Kingdoms  t,"  which 
no  monarch  ever  ascended  with  more  sincere 
congratulations  from  his  people.  Two  gene- 
rations of  foreign  princes  had  prepared  their 
minds  to  rejoice  in  having  again  a  king, 
who  gloried  in  being  "  born  a  Briton."  He 
also  wrote  for  Mr.  Baretti  the  Dedication! 
of  his  Italian  and  English  Dictionary,  to 
the  Marquis  of  Abreu,  then  envoy-extraor- 
dinary from  Spain  at  the  court  of  Great 
Britain. 

Johnson  was  now  either  very  idle,  or  very 
busy  with  his  Shakspeare;  for  I  can  find 
no  other  publick  composition  by  him  except 
an  Introduction  to  tne  proceedings  of  the 
Committee  for  clothing  the  French  Prison- 
ers9; one  of  the  many  proofs  that  he  was 
ever  awake  to  the  calls  of  humanity;  and 
an  account  which  he  gave  in  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  of  Mr.  Tytler's  acute  and 
able  vindication  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots  *. 
The  generosity  of  Johnson's  feelings  shine 
forth  m  the  following  sentence 1 :  "It  has 
now  been  fashionable,  for  near  half  a  cen- 
tury, to  defame  and  vilify  the  house  of  Stu- 
art, and  to  exalt  and  magnify  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth.  The  Stuarts  have  found  few 
apologists,  for  the  dead  cannot  pay  for 
praise;  and  who  will,  without  reward,  op- 
pose the  tide  of  popularity?  Yet  there  re- 
mains still  among  us,  not  wholly  extinguish- 
ed, a  zeal  for  truth,  a  desire  of  establishing 
right  in  opposition  to  fashion." 

[The    following    memorandum, 
made  on  his  birth-day  in  this  year, 


So. 


1  [This  sentence  may  be  generous,  but  it  is  not 
very  logical.  Elizabeth  was  surely  as  dead  as 
the  Stuarts,  and  could  no  more  fay  for  praise 
than  they  could. — En.] 

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154 


1760.— uETAT.  51. 


may  be  quoted  as  an  example  of  the  rules 
and  resolutions  which  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  making,  for  the  guidance  of  his  moral 
conduct  and  literary  studies:  the  fourth 
item  seems  obscure  and  strange : 

"  Sept.  18. 

"  Resolved,  D.  (co)  j  (uoante), 

*'  To  combat  notions  of  obligation. 

*e  To  apply  to  stud  v. 

"  To  reclaim  imaginations. 

"To  consult  the  resolves   on  Tetty's 

coffin. 
**  To  rise  early. 
u  To  study  religion. 
"  To  go  to  church. 
"  To  drink  less  strong  liquors. 
"  To  keep  a  journal. 
"  To  oppose  laziness,  by  doing  what  is 

to  oe  done  tomorrow. 
"  Rise  as  early  as  I  can. 
"  Send  for  books  for  Hist,  of  War.      . 
"  Put  books  in  order. 
"Scheme  of  life."] 

In  this  year  I  have  not  "discovered  a  sin- 
gle private  letter  written  by  him  to  any  of 
his  friends.  It  should  seem  that  he  had  at 
this  period  a  floating  intention  of  writing  a 
history  of  the  recent  and  wonderful  succes- 
es  of  the  British  arms  in  all  quarters  of  the 
globe;  for  among  the  [foregoing]  resolu- 
tions* or  memorandums,  there  is,  "  Send  for 
books  for  Hist,  of  War."  How  much  is  it 
to  be  regretted  that  this  intention  was  not 
fulfilled.  His  majestick  expression  would 
have  carried  down  to  the  latest  posterity 
the  glorious  achievements  of  his  country, 
with  the  same  fervent  glow  which  they  pro- 
duced on  the  mind  at  the  time.  He  would 
have  been  under  no  temptation  to  deviate 
in  any  degree  from  truth,  which  he  held 
very  sacred,  or  to  take  a  licence,  which  a 
learned  divine  told  me  he  once  seemed,  in 
a  conversation,  jocularly  to  allow  to  histo- 
rians, "  There  are  (said  he)  inexcusable 
lies,  and  consecrated  lies.  For  instance, 
we  are  told  that  on  the  arrival  of  the  news 
of  the  unfortunate  battle  of  Fontenoy,  eve- 
ry heart  beat,  and  every  eye  was  in  tears. 
Now  we  know  that  no  man  eat  his  dinner 
the  worse,  but  there  should  have  been  all 
this  concern;  and  to  say  there  was  (smiling), 
may  be  reckoned  a  consecrated  lie." 

This  year  Mr.  Murphy,  having  thought 
himself  ill-treated  by  the  Reverend  Dr. 
Franklin,  who  was  one  of  the  writers  of 
"The  Critical  Review,"  published  an  in- 
dignant vindication  in  "  A  Poetical  Epistle 
to  Samuel  Johnson,  A.  M. l."  in  which  he 


1  [It  seems  strange  and  very  uncandid  that  Mr. 
Murphy  did  not  acknowledge  that  this  poetical 
epistle  was  an  imitation  of  Poileau's  Epitre  d 
MaHert.    I  subjoin  a  few  couplets  from  both 


compliments  Johnson  in  a  just  and  elegant 
manner: 

"  Transcendent  Genius!  whose  prolifick  vein 
Ne'er  knew  the  frigid  poet's  toil  and  pain; 
To  whom  Apollo  opens  all  his  store, 
And  every  Muse  presents  her  sacred  lore; 
Say,  powerful  Johnson,  whence  thy  verse  is 

fraught 
With  so  much  grace,  such  energy  of  thought; 
Whether  thy  Juvenal  instructs  the  age  -w 

In  chaster  numbers,  and  new  points  his  rage; 
Or  fair  Irene  sees,  alas!  too  late 
Her  innocence  exchanged  for  guilty  state; 
Whate'er  you  write,  in  every  golden  line 
Sublimity  and  elegance  combine; 
Thy  nervous  phrase  impresses  every  soul, 
While  harmony  gives  rapture  to  the  whole." 

Again,  towards  the  conclusion : 

"  Thou  then,  my  friend,  who  see'stthe  dang*rooB 

strife 
In  which  some  demon  bids  me  plunge  my  life, 
To  the  Aonian  fount  direct  my  feet, 
Say,  where  the  Nine  thy  lonely  musings  meet? 
Where  warbles  to  thy  ear  the  sacred  throng, 
Thy  moral  sense,  thy  dignity  of  song? 
Tell,  for  you  can,  by  what  unerring  ait 
You  wake  to  finer  feelings  every  heart; 
In  each  bright  page  some  truth  important  give* 
And  bid  to  future  times  thy  Rambler  live." 

I  take  this  opportunity  to  relate  the  man- 
ner in  which  an  acquaintance  first  commenc- 
ed between  Dr.  Johnson  and  Mr.  Murphy. 
During  the  publication  of  "  The  Gray  's-inn 
Journal,"  a  periodical  paper  which  was  suc- 
cessfully carried  on  by  Mr.  Murphy  alone, 
when  a  very  young  man,  he  happened  to 
be  in  the  country  with  Mr.  Foote;  and  hav- 
ing mentioned  mat  he  was  obliged  to  go  to 
London  in  order  to  get  ready  ibr  the  press 
one  of  the  numbers  of  that  journal,  Foote 
said  to  him,  "  You  need  not  go  on  that  ac- 
count Here  is  a  French  magazine,  in 
which  you  will  find  a  very  pretty  oriental 
tale;  translate  that,  and  send  it  to  your  prin- 
ter." Mr.  Murphy  having  read  the  tale, 
was  highly  pleased  with  it,  and  followed 
Foote's  advice.  When  he  returned  to  town, 
this  tale  was  pointed  out  to  him  in  "  The 
Rambler,"  from  whence  it  had  been  trana- 

Boileau  and  Murphy,  which  will  show  how  little 
the  epistle  of  the  latter  is  entitled  to  the  character 
of  originality — in  fact,  such  an  unacknowledged 
use  of  an  author  is  almost  plagiarism. 

Rare  et/ameux  esprit ,  dont  la  fertile  veine 
Ignore,  en   crivant.  It  travail  et  la  peine. 
Transcendent  genius!  whose  pi  oliflck  vein 
Ne'er  knew  the  frigid  poet's  toil  and  pain. 

Scuvantj'ai  beau  r  ver  du  matin  jusqu'au  sotr, 
Quandje  venx  dire  Mane,  la  quintewe  dii  noir* 
In  feverish  toil  1  pass  the  weary  night, 
And  when  1  would  say  black,  rhyme  answers  white. 

On  pui<que,  enftn,  tes  toins  y  straient  super/tut, 
Moli  ret  ennegne  moi  Cart  dene  rimer  plus. 
And  since  I  ne'er  can  learn  thy  classic  lore, 
Instruct  me,  Johnson,  how  to  write  no  more  t— Bo.| 


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1760.— jETAT.  51.' 


166 


bted  into  the  Frencb  magazine.  Mr.  Mur- 
phy then  waited  upon  Johnson,  to  explain 
this  carious  incident  His  talents,  literature, 
and  gentleman-like  manners,  were  soon  per- 
ceived by  Johnson,  and  a  friendship  was 
formed,  which  was  never  broken1. 

*  '  When  Mr.  Murphy  first  became  acquainted 
with  Dr.  Johnson,  he  waa  about  thirty-one  yean 
old.  He  died  at  Knightsbridge,  June  18,  1805, 
it  *  believed  in  his  eighty-second  year. 

In  an  account  of  this  gentleman,  published  re- 
cently after  his  death,  he  is  reported  to  have  said, 
that  "  he  was  but  twenty-one,  when  he  had  the 
impudence  to  write  a  periodical  paper,  during  the 
time  that  Johnson  was  publishing  "  the  Ram- 
bler."— In  a  subsequent  page,  in  which  Mr.  Bos- 
well  gives  an  account  of  his  first  introduction  to 
Johnson,  will  be  found  a  striking  instance  of  the 
incorrectness  of  Mr.  Murphy's  memory;  and  the 
sanction  above-mentioned,  if  indeed  he  made  it, 
which  is  by  no  means  improbable,  famishes  an 
additional  proof  of  his  inaccuracy ;  for  both  the 
facts  asserted  are  unfounded.  He  appears  to 
have  been  eight  years  older  than  twenty-one, 
when  he  began  the  GrayVInn  Journal;  and  that 
paper,  instead  of  running  a  race  with  Johnson's 
production,  did  not  appear  till  after  the  closing  of 
the  Rambler,  which  ended  March  1 4, 1 752.  The 
first  number  of  the  Gray's-Inn  Journal  made  its 
appearance  about  seven  months  afterwards,  in  a 
newspaper  of  the  time,  called  the  Craftsman, 
Oetofar  21,  1752;  and  in  that  form  the  first 
forty-nine  numbers  were  given  to  the  publick.  On 
Saturday,  Sept  29,  1753,  it  assumed  a  new  form; 
and  was  published  as  a  distinct  periodical  paper, 
and  in  that  shape  it  continued  to  be  published  till 
the  21st  of  Sept  1754,  when  it  finally  closed; 
farming  in  ifee  whole  one  hundred  and  one  Essays, 
•in  the  folio  copy.  The  extraordinary  paper  men- 
tioned in  the  text  is  No.  88  of  the  second  series, 
published  on  June  15,  1754;  which  is  a  re-trans- 
lation from  the  French  version  of  Johnson's  Ram- 
bler, No.  190.  It  was  omitted  in  the  re-publiea- 
aon  ef  these  Essays  in  two  volumes,  12mo.  in 
which  one  hundred  and  four  are  found,  and  in 
which  the  papers  are  not  always  dated  on  the 
days  when  they  really  appeared;  so  that  the  mot- 
to prefixed  to  this  Anglo-Gallick  Eastern  tale,  ob- 
seuris  vera  tnvolvens,  might  very  properly  have 
been  prefixed  to  this  work,  when  re-published. 
Mr.  Murphy  did  not,  I  believe,  wait  on  Johnson 
recently  after  the  publication  of  this  adumbration 
of  one  of  his  Ramblers,  as  seems  to  be  stated  in 
the  text;  for,  in  his  concluding  Essay,  Sept  21, 
1754,  we  find  the  following  paragraph: 

"  Besides,  why  may  not  a  person  rather  choose 
an  sir  of  bold  negligence,  than  the  obscure  dili- 
gence of  pedants  and  writers  of  affected  phraseol- 
ogy? For  my  part,  I  have  always  thought  an 
easy  style  more  eligible  than  a  pompous  diction, 
lifted  up  by  metaphor,  amplified  by  epithet,  and 
dignified  by  too  (refluent  insertions  of  the  Latin 
idiom."  It  is  probable  that  the  Rambler  was 
here  intended  to  be  censured,  and  that  the  authour, 
when  he  wrote  it,  was  not  acquainted  with  John- 
son, whom,  fy>m  his  first  introduction,  he  endeav- 
oured to  conciliate.    Their  acquaintance,*  there- 


"TO  BENNET  LANOTON,  ESQ,-  AT  LANGTON. 
"18th  Oct.  1760. 

"  Dear  sir, — You  that  travel  about  the 
world  have  more  materials  for  letters  than  I 
who  stay  at  home;  and  should,  therefore, 
write  with  frequency  equal  to  your  oppor- 
tunities. I  should  be  glad  to  have  all  Eng- 
land surveyed  by  you,  if  you  would  impart 
your  observations  in  narratives  as  agreea- 
ble as  your  last  Knowledge  is  always  to 
be  wished  to  those  who  can  communicate  it 
well.  While  you  have  been  riding  and  run- 
ning, and  seeing  the  tombs  of  the  learned, 
and  the  camps  of  the  valiant,  I  have  only 
staid  at  home,  and  intended  to  do  great 
things,  which  I  have  not  done.  Beau9  went 
away  to  Cheshire,  and  has  not  yet  found 
his  way  back.  Chambers  passed  the  vaca- 
tion at  Oxford. 

"I  am  very  sincerely  solicitous  for  the 
preservation  or  curing  of  Mr.  Langton's 
sight,  and  am  glad  that  the  chirurgeon  at 
Coventry  gives  him  so  much  hope.  Mr. 
Sharpe  is  of  opinion  that  the  tedious  mat- 
uration of  the  cataract  is  a  vulgar  errour3 , 
and  that  it  may  be  removed  as  soon  as  it  la 
formed.  This  notion  deserves  to  be  consid- 
ered; I  doubt  whether  it  be  universally  true; 
but  if  it  be  true  in  some  cases,  and  those  cases 
can  be  distinguished,  it  may  save  a  long  and 
uncomfortable  delav. 

"  Of  dear  Mrs.  jCangton  you  give  me  no 
account;  which  is  the  less  friendly,  as  you 
know  how  highly  I  think  of  her,  and  how 
much  I  interest  myself  in  her  health.  I  sup- 
pose you  told  her  of  my  opinion,  and  like- 
wise suppose  it  was  not  followed;  however, 
I  still  believe  it  to  be  right. 

"  Let  me  hear  from  you  again,  wherever 
you  ate,  or  whatever  you  are  doing;  wheth- 
er vou  wander  or  sit  still,  plant  trees  or 
make  Rusticks*,  play  with  your  sisters  or 
muse  alone;  and  in  return  I  will  tell  yoit 
the  success  of  Sheridan,  who  at  this  instant 
is  playing  Cato,  and  has  already  played 
Richard  twice.  He  had  more  company  the 
second  than  the  first  night,  and  will  make,  I 


fore,  it  may  be  presumed,  did  not  commence  toll 
towards  the  end  of  this  year  1754.  Murphy, 
however,  had  highly  praised  Johnson  in  the  pre- 
ceding year,  No.  14  of  the  second  series,  Dec. 
22, 1753. — M  alone.  [It  seems  uncandid  in  Mr. 
Malone  to  insinuate  a  charge  of  falsehood  against 
Mr.  Murphy  on  the  hearsay  of  an  anonymous 
writer.  Mr.  Murphy,  who  m  1786  republished 
the  Gray's-Inn  Journal,  with  the  original  date 
of  the  first  number,  21st  Oct  1752,  never  could 
have  said  that  h  was  contemporaneous  with  the 
Rambler.— En.] 

*  Mr.  Beaucterk. — Bos  well. 

'  [Mr.  Sharpe  seems  to  have  once  been  of  a 
different  opinion  on  this  point,  See  ante,  p.  100. 
—En.] 

4  Essays  with  that  title,  written  about  this  time 
by  Mr.  Langton,  bat  not  published. 


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17*1.— ATAT.  6S. 


believe,  a  good  figure  in  the  whole,  though 
his  faults  seem  to  be  very  many:  some  of 
natural  deicience,  and  some  or  laborious 
affectation.  He  has,  I  think,  no  power  of 
assuming  either  that  dignity  or  elegance 
which  some  men,  who  have  little  of  either 
in  common  life,  can  exhibit  on  the  stage. 
His  voice  when  strained  is  unpleasing,  and 
when  low  is  not  always  heard.  He  seems 
to  think  too  much  on  the  audience,  and 
turns  his  face  too  often  to  the  galleries. 

"  However,  I  wish  him  well;  and  among 
other  reasons,  because  I  like  his  wife1. 

"  Make  haste  to  write  to,  dear  sir,  your 
most  affectionate  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

In  1761  Johnson  appears  to  have  done 
little.  He  was  still,  no  doubt,  proceeding 
in  his  edition  of  Shakspeare;  but  what  ad- 
vances he  made  in  it  cannot  be  ascertained. 
He  certainly  was  at  this  time  not  active; 
for,  in  his  scrupulous  examination  of  him- 
self on  Easter  eve,  he  laments,  in  his  too 
rigorous  mode  of  censuring  his  own  conduct, 
that  his  life,  since  the  communion  of  the  pre- 
cede Easter,  had  been  "dissipated  and 
useless."  He,  however,  contributed 
J**  this  year  the  Preface*  to  "Rolfs 
^ p  Dictionary  of  Trade  and  Com- 
merce," in  which  he  displays  such  a  clear 
and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject, as  might  lead  the  reader  to  think  that 
its  authour  had  devoted  all  his  life  to  it.  I 
asked  him,  whether  he  knew  much  of  Rolt, 
and  of  his  work.  "  Sir  (said  he),  I  never 
saw  the  man,  and  never  read  the  book. 
The  booksellers  wanted  a  Preface  to  a  Dic- 
tionary of  Trade  and  Commerce.  I  knew 
very  well  what  such  a  Dictionary  should 
be,  and  I  wrote  a  Preface  accordingly." 
Rolt,  who  wrote  a  great  deal  for  the  book*' 
sellers,  was,  as  Johnson  told  me,  a  singular 
character.  Though  not  in  the  least  ac- 
quainted with  him,  he  used  to  say,  "lam 
just  come  from  Sam.  Johnson."  This  was 
a  sufficient  specimen  of  his  vanity  and  im- 
pudence.    But  he  gave  a  more  eminent 

1  Mra.  Sheridan  was  authour  of  "  Memoirs  of 
Miss  Sydney  Biddulph,"  a  novel  of  great  merit, 
and  of  some  other  piecei. — Bos  well.  [Her 
last  wotk  is,  perhaps,  her  best — Nourjahad,  an 
eastern  tale:  in  which  a  pure  morality  is  inculca- 
ted, with  a  great  deal  of  fancy  and  considerable 
force.  No  wonder  that  Dr.  Johnson  should  have 
Weed  her!  Dr.  Parr,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Moore, 
published  in  his  Life  of  R.  B.  Sheridan  (vol.  L  p. 
11),  thus  mentions  her:  "  I  once  or  twice  met 
his  mother—she  was  quite  celestial!  both  her 
virtues  and  her  genius  were  highly  esteemed." 
This  amiable  and  accomplished  woman  died  at 
Blois,  in  September,  1766,  as  Mr.  Moore  states, 
-and  as  is  proved  by  a  letter  of  Mr.  Sheridan's,  de- 
ploring that  event,  dated  in  October,  1766;  though 
the  Biog.  Diet,  and  other  authorities,  placed  her 
death  in  1767 Ed.] 


5 roof  of  it  in  our  sister  kingdom,  as  Dr. 
ohnson  informed  me.  When  Akenstde** 
"  Pleasures  of  the  Imagination"  first  came 
out,  he  did  not  put  his  name  to  the  poem. 
Rolt  went  over  to  Dublin,  published  an  edi- 
tion of  it,  and  put  his  own  name  to  it  Up- 
on the  fame  of  this  he  lived  for  several 
months,  being  entertained  at  the  best  tables)  " 
as  "  the  ingenious  Mr.  Rolt9."  His  con- 
versation, indeed,  did  not  discover  much  of 
the  fire  of  a  poet;  but  it  was  recollected 
that  both  Addison  and  Thomson  were  equal- 
ly dull  till  excited  by  wine.  Akeneide  hav- 
ing been  informed  of  this  imposition,  vindi- 
cated his  right  by  publishing  the  poem  with 
its  real  authour's  name.  Several  instances  of 
such  literary  fraud  have  been  detected. 
The  Reverend  Dr.  Campbell,  of  St.  An- 
drew's, wrote  "  An  Inquiry  into  the  origi- 
nal of  Moral  Virtue,"  the  manuscript  of 
which  he  sent  to  Mr.  Innes,  a  clergyman  in 
England,  who  was  his  countryman  and  ac- 
quaintance. Innes  published  it  with  his 
own  name  to  it;  and  before  the  imposition 
was  discovered,  obtained  considerable  pro- 
motion, as  a  reward  of  his  merit  3.  The 
celebrated  Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  and  his  cousin 
Mr.  George  Ballantine,  when  students  in 
divinity,  wrote  a  poem,  entitled  "  The  Re- 
surrection," copies  of  which  were  handed 
about  in  manuscript.  They  were  at  length 
very  much  surprised  to  see  a  pompons  edi- 
tion of  it  in  folio,  dedicated  to  the  Princess 
Dowager  of  Wales,  by  a  Dr.  Douglas,  as 
his  own.  Some  years  ago  a  little  novel,  en- 
titled "  The  Man  of  Feeling,"  was  assum- 
ed by  Mr.  Eccles,  a  young  Irish  clergyman, 
who  was  afterwards  drowned  near  Bath4. 
He  had  been  at  the  pains  to  transcribe  the 


1  I  have  had  inquiry  made  in  Ireland  as  to  this 
story,  but  do  not  find  it  recollected  there.  I  sirs 
it  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Johnson,  to  which  may 
be  added,  that  of  the  "  Biographical  Dictionary/' 
and  "  Biographia  Dramatics;"  in  both  of  which 
it  has  stood  many  years.  Mr.  Malone  observes, 
that  the  truth  probably  is,  not  that  an  edition  was 
published  with  Rolfs  name  in  the  tide-page,  but, 
that  the  poem  being  then  anonymous,  RoR  acqui- 
esced in  its  being  attributed  to  him  in  eonvenav- 
tion. — Bobweli*.  [In  the  late  edition  of  the 
Biographical  Dictionary,  the  foregoing  story  is  in- 
deed noticed,  but  with  an  observation  that  it  has 
been  completely  refuted.  Richard  Rolt  died  in 
March,  1770.— Ed.  J 

9  I  have  both  the  books.  Innes  was  the  cler- 
gyman who  brought  PsaJmanazar  to  England,  and 
was  an  accomplice  in  his  extraordinary  fiction. — 
Bobwkll. 

4  ["  Died,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Eccles,  at  Bath.  In 
attempting  to  save  a  boy,  whom  he  saw  sinking 
in  the  Avon,  he,  together  with  the  youth,  were 
both  drowned."— Gen*.  Mag.  Aug.  15,  1777. 
And  in  the  magazine  for  the  next  mouth  are  same 
verses  on  this  event,  with  an  epitaph,  of  which 
the  first*  line  is, 

Bensata  thai  stone  the  *wum  o/JMint9  Bat.-  Bp.) 

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1761.— iETAT.  52. 


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whole  book,  with  blottings,  interlineations, 
and  corrections,  that  it  might  he  shown  to 
several  people  as  an  original.  It  was,  in 
truth,  the  production  of  Mr.  Henry  Mac- 
kenzie, an  attorney  in  the  Exchequer  at 
Edinburgh,  who  is  the  authour  of  several 
other  ingenious  pieces;  but  the  belief  with 
regard  to  Mr.  Eccles  became  so  general, 
that  it  was  thought  necessary  for  Messieurs 
Strahan  and  Cadell  to  publish  an  advertise- 
ment in  the  newspapers,  contradicting  the 
report,  and  mentioning  that  they  purchased 
the  copyright  of  Mr.  Mackenzie.  I  can 
conceive  this  kind  of  fraud  to  be  very  easily 
practised  with  successful  effrontery.  The 
JUiatitm  of  a  literary  performance  is  difficult 
of  proof;  seldom  is  there  any  witness  pres- 
ent at  its  birth.  A  man,  either  in  confi- 
dence or  by  improper  means,  obtains  posses- 
sion of  a  copy  of  it  in  manuscript,  and  bold- 
ly publishes  it  as  his  own.  The  true  au- 
fbour,  in  many  cases,  may  not  be  able  to 
make  his  title  clear.  Johnson,  indeed,  from 
the  peculiar  features  of  his  literary  offspring, 
migrttt  bid  defiance  to  any  attempt  to  appro- 
priate them  to  others: 

««  Bat  Shakapeara'a  magick  could  not  copied  be  ; 
Within  that  circle  none  dnrat  walk  bat  he." 

"  £»R.  JOHNSON  TO  MISS  LUCT  PORTER. 
**  taner  Temple-taa« ,  isth  Jan.  1761. 
_  "  Dbarkst  madam, — I  ought  to 

I^Sl4*11  have  begun  the  new  year  with  re- 
pairing the  omissions  of  the  last, 
and  to  have  told  you  sooner,  what  I  can 
always  tell  yon  with  truth,  that  I  wish  you 
long  life  and  happiness,  always  increasing 
till  it  shall  end  at  last  in  the  happiness  or 
Heaven. 

"  I  hope,  my  dear,  you  are  well;  I  am  at 
present  pretty  much  disordered  by  a  cold  and 
cough;  1  have  just  been  blooded,  and  hope 
I  shall  be  better. 

"  Pray  give  my  love  to  Kitty.  I  should 
be  glad  to  hear  that  she  goes  on  well.  I 
am,  my  dearest  dear,  your  most  affectionate 
servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson."] 

He  this  year  lent  his  friendly  assistance 
to  correct  and  improve  a  pamphlet  written 
by  Mr.  Gwyn,  the  architect,  entitled 
"  Thoughts  on  the  Coronation  of  George 

Johnson  had  now  for  some  years  admitted 
Mr.  Baretti  to  his  intimacy;  nor  did  their 
friendship  cease  upon  their  being  separated 
by  Baretti'a  revisiting  his  native  country, 
aa  appears  from  Johnson's  letters  to  him. 

"TO  MB  JOSEPH  BARETTI,  AT  MILAN1. 

"(London),  10th  June,  lisi. 

"  You  reproach  me  very  often  with  par- 
simony of  writing;  but  you  may  discover  by 


1  11m  originals  of  Dr.  Johnson's  three  letteis 


the  extent  of  my  paper,  that  I  design  to  re- 
compense rarity  by  length.  A  short  letter 
to  a  distant  friend  is,  in  my  opinion,  an  in- 
sult like  that  of  a  slight  bow  or  cursory  sa- 
lutation; a  proof  of  unwillingness  to  do 
much,  even  where  there  is  a  necessity  of  do- 
ing something.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered, 
that  he  who  continues  the  same  coarse  of 
life  in  the  same  place  will  have  little  to  tell. 
One  week  and  one  year  are  very  like  one 
another.  The  silent  changes  made  by  time 
are  not  always  perceived;  end  if  they  are 
not  perceived,  cannot  be  recounted.  I  have 
risen  and  Iain  down,  talked  and  mused,  while 
you  have  roved  over  a  considerable  part  of 
Europe;  yet  I  have  not  envied  my  Baretti 
any  of  his  pleasures,  though,  perhaps,  I 
have  envied  others  his  company:  and  l  am 
glad  to  have  other  nations  made  acquainted 
with  the  character  of  the  English,  by  a  trav- 
eller who  has  so  nicely  inspected  our  man- 
ners, and  so  successfully  studied  our  litera- 
ture. I  received  your  kind  letter  from  Fal- 
mouth, in  which  you  gave  me  notice  of 
your  departure  for  Lisbon;  and  another 
from  Lisbon,  in  which  you  told  me,  that 
you  were  to  leave  Portugal  in  a  few  days. 
To  either  of  these  how  could  any  answer  be 
returned?  I  have- had  a  third  from  Turin, 
complaining  that  I  have  not  answered  the 
former.  Your  English  style  still  continues 
in  its  purity  and  vigour.    With  vigour  your 

genius  will  supply  it:  but  its  purity  must 
e  continued  by  close  attention.  To  use 
two  languages  familiarly,  and  without  con- 
taminating one  by  the  other,  is  very  dif- 
ficult; and  to  use  more  than  two,  is  hardly 
to  be  hoped.  The  praises  which  some  have 
received  for  their  multiplicity  of  languages 
may  be  sufficient  to  excite  industry,  but  can 
hardly  generate  confidence. 

""  I . know  not  whether  I  can  heartily  re- 
joice at  the  kind  reception  which  you  have 
found,  or  at  the  popularity  to  which  you 
are  exalted.  I  am  willing  that  your  merit 
should  be  distinguished:  but  cannot  wish 
that  your  affections  may  oe  gained.  I  would 
have  you  happy  wherever  yon  are:  yet  I 
would  have  you  wish  to  return  to  England. 
If  ever  you  visit  us  again  you  will  find  the 
kindness  of  your  friends  undiminished.  To 
tell  you  how  many  inquiries  are  made  after 
you  would  be  tedious,  or  if  not  tedious, 
would  be  vain ;  because  you  may  be  told  in  a 
very  few  words,  that  all  who  knew  you  wish 
you  well;  and  that  all  that  you  embraced  at 
your  departure  will  caress  you  at  your  re- 
turn: therefore  do  not  let  Italian  academi- 
cians nor  Italian  ladies  drive  us  from  your 


to  Mr.  Baretti,  which  are  among  the  very  beat 
he  ever  wrote,  were  communicated  to  the  pro- 
prietora  of  that  instructore  and  elegant  month- 
ly miscellany,  The  European  Magazine,  m 
which  they  first  appeared. — Boswau*. 


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1761.— iETAT.  62. 


thoughts.  You  may  find  among  us  what 
you  will  leave  behind)  soft  smiles  and  easy 
sonnets.  Yet  I  shall  not  wonder  if  all  our 
invitations  should  be  rejected:  for  there  is 
a  pleasure  in  being*  considerable  at  home, 
wnich  is  not  easily  resisted. 

"  By  conducting  Mr.  Southwell 1  to 
Venice,  you  fulfilled,  I  know,  the  original 
contract:  yet  I  would  wish  you  not  wholly 
to  lose  him  from  your  notice,  but  to  recom- 
mend him  to  such  acquaintance  as  may  best 
secure  him  from  suffering  by  his  own  jollies, 
and  to  take  such  general  care  both  of  his 
safety  and  his  interest  as  may  come  within 
your  power.  His  relations  will  thank  you 
for  any  such  gratuitous  attention:  at  least 
they  will  not  blame  you  for  any  evil  that 
may  happen,  whether  they  thank  you  or  not 
for  any  good. 

"  You  know  that  we  have  a  new  king 
and  a  new  parliament.  Of  the  new  parlia- 
ment Fitzherbert2  is  a  member.  We  were 
so  weary  of  our  old  king,  that  we  are  much 
pleased  with  his  successor;  of  whom  we 
are  so  much  inclined  to  hope  great  things, 
that  most  of  us  begin  already  to  believe 
them.  The  young  man  is  hitherto  blame- 
less; but  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect 
much  from  the  immaturity  of  juvenile  years, 
and  the  ignorance  of  princely  education. 
He  has  been  lone  in  the  hands  of  the  Scots, 
and  has  already  favoured  them  more  than 
the  English  will  contentedly  endure.  But, 
perhaps,  he  scarcely  knows  whom  he  has 
distinguished,  or  whom  he  has  disgusted. 

"  The  artists  have  instituted  a  yearly  ex- 
hibition of  pictures  and  statues,  in  imitation, 
as  I  am  told,  of  foreign  academies.  This 
year  was  the  second  ex  h  ibition.  They  please 
themselves  much  with  the  multitude  oispec- 
tators,  and  imagine  that  the  English  school 
will  rise  in  reputation.  Reynolds  is  with- 
out a  rival,  and  continues  to  add  thousands 
to  thousands,  which  he  deserves,  among 
other  excellencies,  by  retaining  his  kindness 
for  Baretti.  This  exhibition  has  filled  the 
Tieads  of  the  artists  and  lovers  of  art.  Sure- 
ly life,  it  be  not  long,  is  tedious,  since  we 
are  forced  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  so  ma- 
ny trifles  to  rid -us  of  our  time,  of  that  time 
which  never  can  return. 

"  I  know  my  Baretti  will  not  be  satisfied 
with  a  letter  in  which  I  give  him  no  ac- 
count of  myself:  yet  what  account  shall  I 
give  him?  1  have  not,  since  the  day  of 
of  our  separation,  suffered  or  done  any  thing 
considerable.  The  only  change  in  my  way 
of  life  is,  that  I  have  frequented  the  theatre 
more  than  in  former  seasons.  But  I  have 
gone  thither  only  to  escape  from  myself. 


1  [Probably,  the  Hon.  Thomas  Arthur  South- 
well, afterwards  second  Viscount  Southwell,  who 
was  born  in  1742,  and  succeeded  his  lather  in 
1780.— Ed.] 

1  For  Derby.    See  ante,  p.  29. 


We  have  had  many  new  farces,  and  the 
comedy  called  (  The  Jealous  Wife,'  which, 
though  not  written  with  much  genius,  was 
yet  so  well  adapted  to  the  stage,  and  so 
well  exhibited  by  the  actors,  that  it  was 
crowded  for  near  twenty  nights.  I  am  di- 
gressing from  myself  to  the  playhouse;  but 
a  barren  plan  must  be  filled  with  episodes. 
Of  myself  I  have  nothing  to  say,  but  that  I 
have  hitherto  lived  without  the  concurrence 
of  my  own  judgment;  yet  I  continue  to  flat- 
ter myself,  that  when  you  return,  you  will 
find  me  mended.  I  do  not  wonder  that 
where  the  monastick  life  is  permitted,  every 
order  finds  votaries,  and  every  monastery 
inhabitants.  Men  will  submit  to  any  rule, 
by  which  they  may  be  exempted  from  the 
tyranny  of  caprice  and  of  chance.  They 
are  glad  to  supply  by  external  authority 
their  own  want  of  constancy  and  resolution, 
and  court  the  government  of  others,  when 
long  experience  has  convinced  them  of  their 
own  inability  to  govern  themselves.  If  I 
were  to  visit  Italy,  my  curiosity  would  be 
more  attracted  by  convents  than  by  palaces; 
though  I  am  afraid  that  I  should  find  ex- 
pectation in  both  places  equally  disappointed, 
and  life  in  both  places  supported  with  im- 
patience and  quitted  with  reluctance.  That 
it  must  be  so  soon  quitted,  is  a  powerful 
remedy  against  impatience*  but  wnat  shall 
free  us  from  reluctance?  Those  who  have 
endeavoured  to  teach  us  to  die  well,  have 
taught  few  to  die  willingly:  yet  I  cannot 
but  hope  that  a  good  life  might  .end  at  last 
in  a  contented  death. 

"You  see  to  what  a  train  of  thought  I 
am  drawn  by  the  mention  of  myself.  Let 
me  now  turn  my  attention  upon  you.  I 
hope  you  take  care  to  keep  an  exact  journal, 
and  to  register  all  occurrences  and  observa- 
tions; for  your  friends  here  expect  such  a 
book  of  travels  as  has  not  been  often  seen. 
You  have  given  us  good  specimens  in  your 
letters  from  Lisbon.  I  wish  you  had  staid 
longer  in  Spain,  for  no  country  is  less  known 
to  the  rest  of  Europe;  but  the  quickness 
of  your  discernment  must  make  amends  for 
the  celerity  of  your  motions.  He  that  knows 
which  way  to  direct  his  views,  sees  much  in  a 
little  time. 

"  Write  to  me  very  often,  and  I  will  not 
neglect  to  write  to  you;  and  I  may  perhaps, 
in  time,  get  something  to  write:  at  least 
you- will  know  by  my  letters,  whatever  else 
they  may  have  or  want,  that  I  continue  to 
be  your  most  affectionate  friend, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

[The  classification  in  the  forego-  fc 
ing  letter  of  the  art  of  painting  and 
the  exhibition  of  its  productions  among  the 
trifles  with  which  mankind  endeavour  to 
get  rid  of  time,  will  excite  the  surprise  of 
some   readers;    but]   [of  the  beauties  of 


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H""**  painting,  notwithstanding  the  many 
**  *  eulogiums  on  that  art  which,  after 
the  commencement  of  his  friendship  with 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  he  inserted  in  his 
writings,  he  had  not  the  least  conception ; 
and  the  notice  of  this  defect  led  Sir  J. 
Hawkins  to  mention  the  following  fact 
One  evening,  at  the  club,  Hawkins  came  in 
witfi  a  small  roll  of  prints,  which,  in  the  af- 
ternoon, he  had  picked  up:  they  were  land- 
scapes of  Perelle,  and  laying  it  down  with 
his  hat,  Johnson's  curiosity  prompted  him 
to  take  it  up  and  unroll  it :  he  viewed  the 
prints  severally  with  great  attention,  and 
asked  Hawkins  what  sort  of  pleasure  such 
things  could  afford  him :  he  replied  that,  as 
representations  of  nature,  containing  an  as- 
semblage of  such  particulars  as  render  rural 
scenes  delightful,  they  presented  to  his 
mind  the  objects  themselves,  and  that  his 
imagination  realised  the  prospect  before  him. 
Johnson  said,  that  was  more  than  hu  would 
do,  for  that  in  his  whole  life  he  was  never 
capable  of  discerning  the  least  resemblance 
of  any  kind  between  a  picture  and  the  sub- 
ject it  was  intended  to  represent 

To  the  delights  of  musick,  he  was  equally 
insensible :  neither  voice  nor  instrument, 
nor  the  harmony  of  concordant  sounds,  had 
power  over  his  affections,  or  even  to  engage 
his  attention.  Of  music  in  general,  he  has 
been  heard  to  say,  "  it  excites  in  my  mind 
no  ideas,  and  hinders  me  from  contemplat- 
ing my  own ;"  and  of  a  fine  singer,  or  in- 
strumental performer,  that  "he  had  the 
merit  of  a  Canary-bird."  Not  that  his 
hearing  was  so  defective  as  to  account  for 
this  insensibility,  but  he  laboured  under  the 
misfortune  which  he  has  noted  in  the  life 
of  Barretier,  and  is  common  to  more  per- 
sons than  in  this  musical  age  are  willing  to 
confess  it,  of  wanting  that  additional  sense 
or  faculty  which  renders  music  grateful  to 
the  human  ear.] 

In  1762  he  wrote  for  the  Reverend  Dr. 
Kennedy,  Rector  of  Bradley  in  Derbyshire, 
in  a  strain  of  very  courtly  elegance,  a  Ded- 
ication to  the  King  •  of  that  gentleman's 
work,  entitled  "  A  complete  System  of  As- 
tronomical Chronology,  unfolding  the  Scrir> 
tores."  He  had  certainly  looked  at  this 
work  before  it  was  printed ;  for  the  con- 
cluding paragraph  is  undoubtedly  of  his 
composition,  of  which  let  my  readers  judge : 

"  Thus  have  I  endeavoured  to  free  reli- 
gion and  history  from  the  darkness  of  a  dis- 
puted and  uncertain  chronology;  from  diffi- 
culties which  have  hitherto  appeared  insu- 
perable, and  darkness  which  no  luminary  of 
learning  has  hitherto  been  able  to  dissipate. 
I  have  established  the  truth  of  the  Mosaical 
account,  by  evidence  which  no  transcription 
can  corrupt,  no  negligence  can  lose,  and  no 
interest  can  pervert.  I  have  shown  that 
the  universe  Dears  witness  to  the  inspira- 


tion of  its  historian,  by  the  revolution  of  its 
orbs  and  the  succession  of  its  seasons  :  that 
the  stars  in  their  courses  fight  against  in- 
credulity, that  the  works  of  God  give  hour- 
ly confirmation  to  the  law,  the  prophets, 
and  the  gospel,  of  which  one  day  telleth  an- 
other, and  one  night  certifieth  another;  and 
that  the  validity  of  the  sacred  writings  nev- 
er can  be  denied,  while  the  moon  shall  in- 
crease and  wane,  and  the  sun  shall  know 
his  going  down." 

He  this  year  wrote  also  the  Dedication  t 
to  the  Earl  of  Middlesex  of  Mrs.  Lenox's 
"  Female  Quixote,"  and  the  Preface  to  the 
"Catalogue  of  the  Artists'  Exhibition  f.M 

The  following  letter,  which,  on  account 
of  its  intrinsick  merit,  it  would  have  been 
unjust  both  to  Johnson  and  the  publick  to 
have  withheld,  was  obtained  for  me  by  the 
solicitation  of  my  friend  Mr.  Seward  : 

"  to  dr.  (now  sib  george)  staunton  i. 

"  1st  June,  1762. 

"Dear  sir,— I  make  haste  to  answer 
your  kind  letter,  in  hope  of  hearing  again 
from  you  before  you  leave  us.  I  cannot 
but  regret  that  a  man  of  your  qualifications 
should  find  it  necessary  to  seek  an  establish- 
ment in  Guadaloupe,  which  if  a  peace  should 
restore  to  the  French,  I  shall  think  it  some 
alleviation  of  the  loss,  that  it  must  restore 
likewise  Dr.  Staunton  to  the  English. 

"  It  is  a  melancholy  consideration,  that 
so  much  of  our  time  is  necessarily  to  be 


1  [George  Leonard  Staunton  was  bora  in  Gal- 
way,  in  Ireland,  in  1737,  and  haying  adopted  the 
profession  of  medicine,  which  he  studied  in 
France,  he  came  to  London  in  1760,  where  he 
wrote  for  the  periodical  publications  of  the  day, 
and  formed  an  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Johnson. 
In  1762  he  went  to  the  West  Indies,  where  he 
practised  as  a  physician  for  a  short  time,  and  by 
that  and  some  civil  offices,  accumulated  a  compe- 
tent fortune,  which  he  invested  in  estates  in  the 
island  of  Granada.  He  returned  to  England  in 
1770;  but,  in  1772*  again  went  to  Granada, 
where  he  was  appointed  attorney-general,  and 
made  the  valuable  acquaintance  of  Lord  Macart- 
ney, who  became  governor  of  that  island  in  1774. 
By  the  capture  of  Granada  by  the  French 
in  1779,  Lord  Macartney  lost  his  government, 
and  Staunton  his  property.  He  returned  to  Eng- 
land with,  it  is  supposed,  little  of  the  wreck  of 
his  fortune.  He,  however,  had  acquired  Lord 
Macartney's  friendship,  and  he  accompanied  his 
lordship  to  Madias  in  1781;  and  for  his  distin- 
guished services  during  hk  official  residence  there 
bad  a  pension  of  500/.  per  annum  settled  on  him, 
in  1784,  by  the  East  India  company,  and  was 
created  a  baronet  When  Lord  Macartney  was 
selected  for  the  celebrated  embassy  to  China, 
Sir  George  was  named  to  accompany  him  as 
secretary  and  minister  plenipotentiary.  Ha  splen- 
did account  of  that  embassy  is  well  known.  He 
died  in  London,  14th  January,  1601,  and  was 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.— En.] 


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1762.— jETAT.  58. 


spent  upon  the  care  of  living,  and  that  we 
can  seldom  obtain  ease  in  one  respect  but 
by  resigning  it  in  another :  yet  I  suppose  we 
are  by  this  dispensation  not  less  nappy  in 
the  whole,  than  if  the  spontaneous  bounty 
of  Nature  poured  all  that  we  want  into 
our  hands.  A  few,  if  they  were  left  thus 
to  themselves,  would,  perhaps,  spend  their 
time  in  laudable  pursuits :  but  the  greater 
part  would  prey  upon  tne  quiet  of  each 
other,  or,  in  the  want  of  other  objects, 
would  prey  upon  themselves. 

"  This,  however,  is  our  condition,  which 
we  must  improve  and  solace  as  we  can  : 
and  though  we  cannot  choose  always  our 
place  of  residence,  we  may  in  every  place 
nnd  rational  amusements,  and  possess  in 
every  place  the  comforts  of  piety  and  a 
pure  conscience. 

"  In  America  there  is  little  to  be  observed 
except  natural  curiosities.  The  new  world 
must  have  many  vegetables  and  animals 
with  which  philosophers  are  but  little  ac- 
quainted. 1  hope  you  will  furnish  your- 
self with  some  books  of  natural  history, 
and  some  glasses  and  other  instruments  of 
observation.  Trust  as  little  as  you  can  to 
report ;  examine  all  you  can  by  your  own 
senses.  I  do  not  doubt  but  you  will  be 
able  to  add  much  to  knowledge,  and,  per- 
haps, to  medicine.  Wild  nations  trust  to 
simples ;  and,  perhaps  the  Peruvian  bark  is 
not  the  only  specific  which  those  extensive 
regions  may  afford  us. 

•*  Wherever  you  are,  and  whatever  be 
your  fortune,  be  certain,  dear  sir,  that  you 
carry  with  you  my  kind  wishes  ;  and  that 
whether  you  return  hither  or  stay  in  the 
other  hemisphere,  to  hear  that  you  are  hap- 
py will  give  pleasure  to  sir,  your  most  af- 
fectionate humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  JohiTsok." 

A  lady  having  af  this  time  solicited  him 
to  obtain  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury's 
patronage  to  have  her  son  sent  to  the  Uni- 
versity, one  of  those  solicitations  which  are 
too  trequent,  where  people,  anxious  for  a 
particular  object,  do  not  consider  propriety, 
or  the  opportunity  which  the  persons  whom 
they  solicit  have  to  assist  them,  he  wrote 
to  her  the  following  answer;  with  a  copy  of 
which  I  am  favoured  by  the  Reverend  Dr. 
Farmer,  Master  of  Emanuel  College,  Cam- 
bridge. 

«  8th  June,  1768. 

"  Madam, — I  hope  you  will  believe  that 
my  delay  in  answering  your  letter  could 
proceed  only  from  my  unwillingness  to  de- 
stroy any  hope  that  you  had  formed.  Hope 
is  itself  a  species  of  happiness,  and,  perhaps, 
the  chief  happiness  which  this  world  af- 
fords :  but  like  all  other  pleasures  immod- 
erately enjoyed,  the  excesses  of  hope  must 


be  expiated  by  pam ;  and  expectations  im 
properly  indulged,  must  end  in  disappoint- 
ment. If  it  be  asked,  what  is  the  improper 
expectation  which  it  is  dangerous  to  in- 
dulge, experience  will  quickly  answer,  that 
it  is  such  expectation  as  is  dictated  not  by 
reason,  but  by  desire ;  expectation  raised, 
not  by  the  common  occurrences  of  life,  but 
by  the  wants  of  the  expectant ;  an  expecta- 
tion that  requires  the  common  course  of 
things  to  be  changed,  and  the  general  rules 
of  action  to  be  broken. 

"  When  you  made  your  request  to  me, 
you  should  have  considered,  madam,  what 
you  were  asking.  You  ask  me  to  solicit  a 
great  man  to  whom  I  never  spoke,  for  a 
young  person  whom  I  had  never  seen,  upon 
a  supposition  which  I  had  no  means  of  know- 
ing to  be  true.  There  is  no  reason  why, 
amongst  all  the  great,  I  should  choose  to 
supplicate  the  archbishop,  nor  why,  among 
all  the  possible  objects  of  his  bounty,  the 
archbishop  should  choose  your  son.  I 
know,  madam,  how  unwillingly  conviction 
is  admitted,  when  interest  opposes  it ;  but 
surely,  madam,  you  must  allow,  that  there 
is  no  reason  why  that  should  be  done  by 
me,  which  every  other  man  may  do  with 
equal  reason,  and  which,  indeed,  no  man 
can  do  properly,  without  some  very  partic- 
ular relation  both  to  the  archbishop  and  to 
you.  If  I  could  help  you  in  this  exigence 
by  any  proper  means,  it  would  give  me 
pleasure;  but  this  proposal  is  so  very  re- 
mote from  usual  methods,  that  I  cannot 
comply  with  it,  but  at  the  risk  of  such  an- 
swer and  suspicions  as  I  believe  you  do  not 
wish  me  to  undergo. 

**  I  have  seen  your  son  this  morning ;  he 
88ems  &  pretty  youth,  and  will,  perhaps, 
find  some  better  friend  than  I  can  procure 
him;  but  though  he  should  at  last  miss  the 
University,  he  may  still  be  wise,  useful, 
and  happy.  I  am,  madam,  your  most  hum- 
ble servant,  "  Sam.  Johnsov." 

"  TO  MJU  JOSEPH  BARETTI,  AT  MILAN. 
"  London,  20th  July,  1763. 

"  Sir,— However  justly  you  may  accuse 
me  for  want  of  punctuality  in  correspond- 
ence, I  am  not  so  tar  lost  in  negligence  as 
to  omit  the  opportunity  of  writing  to  you, 
which  Mr.  Beauclerk's  passage  through 
Milan  affords  me. 

li  I  suppose  you  received  the  Idlers,  and 
I  intend  that  you  shall  soon  receive  Shak- 
speare,  that  you  may  explain  his  works  to 
tne  ladies  of  Italy,  and  tell  them  the  story 
of  the  editor,  among  the  other  strange  nar- 
ratives with  which  your  long  residence  in 
this  unknown  region  has  supplied  you. 

"As you  have  now  been  long  away,  I 
suppose  your  curiosity  may  pant  »for  some 
news  of  your  old  friends.'  Miss  Williams 
and  I  live  much  as  we  did.    Miss  Cot* 


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1762.— ^ETAT.  68. 


161 


twrel  still  continues  to  cling  to  Mrs.  Porter*, 
and  Charlotte  is  now  big  of  the  fourth  child, 
Mr.  Reynolds  gets  six  thousands  a  year. 
Levet  is  lately  married,  not  without  much 
suspicion  that  he  has  been  wretchedly- 
cheated  in  his  match.  Mr.  Chambers  is 
gone  this  day,  for  the  first  time,  the  circuit 
with  the  judges.  Mr.  Richardson  is  dead 
of  an  apoplexy,  and  his  second  daughter9 
has  married  a  merchant. 

"  My  vanity  or  my  kindness,  makes  me 
flatter  myself,  that  you  would  rather  hear 
of  me  than  of  those  whom  I  have  mention-* 
ed ;  but  of  myself  I  have  very  little  which 
I  care  to  tell.  Last  winter  I  went  down  to 
my  native  town,  where  I  found  the  streets 
much  narrower  and  shorter  than  I  thought 
I  had  left  them,  inhabited  by  a  new  race  of 
people,  to  whom  I  was  very  little  known?. 
My  play-fellows  were  grown  old,  and  forced 
me  to  suspect  that  I  was  no  longer  young. 
My  only  remaining  friend4  has  changed  his 
principles,  and  was  become  the  tool  of  the 
predominant  faction.  My  daughter-in-law, 
from  whom  I  expected  most,  and  whom  I 
met  with  sincere  benevolence,  has  lost  the 
beauty  and  gaiety  of  youth,  without  having 
sained  much  of  the  wisdom  of  age.  I  wan- 
dered about  for  five  days,  and  took  the  first 
convenient  opportunity  of  returning  to  a 
place,  where,  if  there  is  not  much  happi- 
ness, there  is,  at  least,  such  a  diversity  of 
good  and  evil,  that  slight  vexations  do  not 
fix  upon  the  heart. 

"  I  think  in  a  few  weeks  to  try  another 
excursion;  though  to  what  end  /  Let  me 
know,  my  Baretti,  what  has  been  the  re- 
sult of  your  return  to  your  own  country  : 
whether  time  has  made  any  alteration  for 
the  better,  and  whether,  when  the  first  rap^ 
tares  of  salutation  were  over,  you  did  not 
find  your  thoughts  confessed  their  disap- 
pointment. 

"Moral  sentences  appear  ostentatious 
and  tumid,  when  they  have  no  greater  oc- 
casions than  the  journey  of  a  wit  to  his  own 
town  :  yet  such  pleasures,  and  such  pains 
make  up  the  general  mass  of  life ;  and  as 
nothing  is  little  to  him  that  feels  it  with 
great  sensibility,  a  mind  able  to  see  com- 
mon incidents  in  their  real  state  is  disposed 
by  very  common  incidents  to  very  serious 
contemplations.  Let  us  trust  that  a  time 
will  come,  when  the  present  moment  shall 
be  no  longer  irksome ;  when  we  shall  not 


1  [See  ante,  p.  108.  n.  Miss  Charlotte  Cot- 
terel  appeara  to  have  married  the  Rev.  John 
Lewis,  A.  M.,  who  became  Dean  of  Osaory,  in 
Inland,  in  17S5.    He  died  aboat  1782.— Ed.] 

9  [Martha  (tut  chief  amanuensis)  married  Ed- 
ward Bridgen,  24th  April,  1762.— Ed.] 

3  [All  thai  supports  the  opinion  that  he  had 
not  Tinted  Lichfield  between  1787  and  1761.— 
Ed.] 

•  [Probably  Dr.  Taylor  of  Ashboum.— Ed.J 

VOL.   I.  21 


borrow  all  our  happiness  from  hope,  which 
at  last  is  to  end  in  disappointment. 

"  I  beg  that  you  will  show  Mr.  Beau* 
clerk  all  the  civilities  which  you  hare  in 
your  power ;  for  he  has  always  been  kind 
tome. 

"  I  have  lately  seen  Mr.  Stratico,  Pro- 
fessor of  Padua,  who  has  told  me  of  your 
quarrel  with  an  Abbot  of  the  Celestine  or- 
der ;  but  had  not  the  particulars  very  ready 
in  his  memory.  When  you  write  to  Mr. 
Marsili,  let  him  know  that  I  remember  him 
with  kindness. 

"  May  you,  my  Baretti,  be  very  happy 
at  Milan,  or  some  other  place  nearer  to,  sir, 
your  most  affectionate  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johvsov." 

The  accession  of  George  the  Third  to 
the  throne  of  these  kingdoms  opened  a  new 
and  brighter  prospect  to  men  of  literary 
merit,  who  had  been  honoured  with  no 
mark  of  royal  favour  in  the  preceding  reiff n» 
His  present  majesty's  education  in  this 
country,  as  well  as  his  taste  and  benefi- 
cence, prompted  him  to  be  the  patron  of 
science  and  the  arts ;  and  early  this  year 
Johnson  having  been  represented  to  him 
as  a  very  learned  and  good  man,  without 
any  certain  provision,  his  majesty  was 
pleased  to  grant  him  a  pension  of  three 
hundred  pounds  a  year.  The  Earl  of  Bute, 
.who  was  then  prime  minister,  had  the  hon- 
our to  announce  this  instance  of  his  sove- 
reign's bounty,  concerning  which,  many 
and  various  stories,  all  equally  erroneous, 
have  been  propagated ;  maliciously  repre- 
senting it  ss  a  political  bribe  to  Johnson, 
to  desert  his  avowed  principles  and  become 
the  tool  of  a  government  which  he  had 
held  to  be  founded  in  usurpation.  I  have 
taken  care  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  refute 
them  from  the  most  authentick  information. 
Lord  Bute  told  me,  that  Mr.  Wedderburne, 
now  Lord  Loughborough,  was  the  person 
who  first  mentioned  this  subject  to  him. 
Lord  Loughborough  told  me,  that  the 
pension  was  granted  to  Johnson  solely  as 
the  reward  of  his  literary  merit,  without 
any  stipulation  whatever,  or  even  tacit  un- 
derstanding that  he  should  write  for  admin- 
istration. His  lordship  added,  that  he  was 
confident  the  political  tracts  which  John- 
son afterwards  did  write,  ss  they  were  en- 
tirely consonant  with  his  own  opinions, 
would  have  been  written  by  him,  though 
no  pension  had  been  granted  to  him5. 

•  [This  seems  hardly  confident  with  some  ad- 
mitted facto.  One,  at  least,  of  these  pamphlets, 
the  Patriot,  was  "  called  for  "  by  his*  political 
friends  (see  post,  letter  to  Mr.  Boswell,  26th 
Nov.  1774)  ;  and  two  of  the  others  were  (see 
post,  letter  to  Langton,  20th  March,  1771,  and 
21st  March,  1775)  snbmitted  to  the  revision  and 
correction  of  milliters.— -Ed.] 


Digitized  by  VJ 


oogle 


1762.— jETAT.  58. 


'  Mr.  Thomas  Sheridan  and  Mr.  Mi  m 
who  then  lived  a  good  deal  both  With  mm 
and  Mr.  Wedderburne,  told  me,  that  they 
previously  talked  with  Johnson  upon  this 
matter,  and  it  was  perfectly  understood  by 
all  parties  that  the  pension  was  merely  hon- 
orary. Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  told  me,  that 
Johnson  called  on  him  after  his  majesty's 
intention  had  been  notified  to  him,  and  said 
he  wished  to  consult  his  friends  as  to  the 
propriety  of  his  accepting  this  mark  of  the 
royal  favour,  after  the  definitions  which 
be  had  given  in  his  Dictionary  of  pennon 
and  pensioner.  He  said  he  should  not 
have  Sir  Joshua's  answer  till  next  day, 
when  he  would  call  again,  and  desired  ne 
might  think  of  it.  Sir  Joshua  answered 
that  he  was  clear  to  give  his  opinion  then, 
that  there  could  be  no  objection  to  his  re- 
ceiving from  the  king  a  reward  for  literary 
merit;  and  that  certainly  the  definitions 
in  his  Dictionary  were  not  applicable  to 
him.  Johnson,  it  should  seem,  was  satis- 
fied, for  he  did  not  call  again  till  he  had  ac- 
cepted the  pension,  and  had  waited  on  Lord 
Bute  to  thank  him.  He  then  told  Sir 
Joshua  that  Lord  Bute  said  to  him  express- 
ly, "  It  is  not  given  you  for  any  thing  you 
are  to  do,  but  tor  what  you  have  done1.," 
His  lordship,  he  said,  behaved  in  the 
handsomest  manner.  He  repeated  the 
words  twice,  that  he  might  be  sure  John- 
eon  heard  them,  and  thus  set  his  mind  per- 
fectly at  ease.  This  nobleman,  who  has 
been  so  virulently  abused,  acted  with  great 
honour  in  this  instance,  and  displayed  a 
mind  truly  liberal.  A  minister  of  a  more 
narrow  and  selfish  disposition  would  have 
availed  himself  of  such  an  opportunity  to 
fix  an  implied  obligation  on  a  man  of  John- 
son's powerful  talents  to  give  him  his  sup- 
port*. 

Mr.  Murphy3  and  the  late  Mr.  Sheridan 
severally  contended  for  the  distinction  of 


1  TSub  was  said  by  Lord  Bute,  as  Dr.  Barney 
was  informed  by  Johnson  himself,  in  answer  to 
a  question  which  he  put,  previously  to  his  ac- 
ceptance of  the  intended  bounty  :  "  Pray,  my 
lord,  what  am  I  expected  to  do  for  this  pension  ? " 
— Malojcx. 

*  [Sach  faronrs  are  never  conferred  under 
express  conditions  of  future  servility— the  phrases 
mid  on  this  occasion  have  been  employed  in  all 
similar  cases,  and  they  are  here  insisted  on  by 
Mr.  Boswell  to  cover  or  extenuate  the  inconsis- 
tency of  Johnson's  conduct  with  Ins  unlucky 
definitions  of  pension  and  pensioner. — En.] 

•  [This  is  not  correct,  Mr.  Murphy  did  not 
"contest  this  distinction "  with  Mr.  Sheridan. 
He  claimed,  we  see,  not  the  fust  suggestion  to 
Lord  Loughborough,  but  the  first  notice  from  his 
lordship  to  Johnson.  It  is  to  be  feared,  that  Mr. 
Boswefi's  misrepresentation  was  prompted  by  his 
anxiety  to  diminish  tho  importance  of  Sheridan's  I 
services,  which  Johnson  himself  so  ungratefully 
<*roked.    See  jm**,  p.  175,  &c— En.]  j 


having  been  the  first  who  mentioned  to 
Mr.  Wedderbume  that  Johnson  ought  to 
have  a  pension.  When  I  spoke  of  this  to 
Lord  Loughborough,  wishing  to  know  if 
he  recollected  the  prime  mover  in  the  busi- 
ness, he  said,  "  All  his  friends  assisted  : " 
and  when  I  told  him  that  Mr.  Sheridan 
strenuously  asserted  his  claim  to  it,  his 
lordship  said,  "  He  rang  the  bell."  And 
it  is  but  just  to  add,  that  Mr.  Sheridan  told 
me,  that  when  he  communicated  to  Dr. 
Johnson  that  a  pension  was  to  be  granted 
him,  he  replied  in  a  fervour  of  gratitude, 
"The  English  language  does  not  afford 
me  terms  adequate  to  my  feelings  on  this 
occasion.  I  must  have  recourse  to  the 
French.     I  am  penetri  with  his  majesty's 

Soodness."  "W  hen  I  repeated  this  to  6r. 
ohnson,  he  did  not  contradict  it. 
[Mr.  Murphy  relates,  (Essay,  p.  9a) 
that  Lord  Loughborough,  who,  perhaps, 
was  originally  a  mover  in  the  business,  had 
authority  to  mention  it.  He  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  Johnson ;  but,  having  heard 
much  of  his  independent  spirit,  and  of  the 
downfall  of  Osborne,  the  bookseller,  he  did 
not  know  but  his  benevolence  might  be  re- 
warded with  a  folio  on  his  head.  He  de- 
sired the  author  of  these  memoirs  to  under- 
take the  task.  This  writer  thought  the 
opportunity  of  doing  so  much  good  the 
most  happy  incident  in  his  life.  He  went, 
without  delay,  to  the  chambers  in  the  In- 
ner Temple-Jane,  which,  in  fact,  were  the 
abode  of  wretchedness.  By  slow  and  stud- 
ied approaches  the  message  was  disclosed. 
Johnson  made  a  long  pause  :  he  asked  if  it 
was  seriously  intended  ?  He  fell  into  a 
profound  meditation,  and  his  own  defini- 
tion of  a  pensioner  occurred  to  him.  He 
was  told,  "  that  he,  at  least,  did  not  come 
within  the  definition."  He  desired  to  ' 
meet  next  day,  and  dine  at  the  Mitre  tav- 
ern. At  that  meeting  he  gave  up  all  his  I 
scruples.  On  the  following  day  Lord 
Loughborough  conducted  him  to  the  Earl 
of  Bute.] 

His  definitions  of  pension  and  pensioner , 
partly  founded  on  the  satirical  verses  of 
Pope,  which  he  quotes,  may  be  generally 
true ;  and  yet  every  body  must  allow,  that 
there  may  be,  and  nave  been,  instances  of  * 
pensions  given  and  received  upon  liberal 
and  honourable  terms.  Thus,  then,  it  is 
clear,  that  there  was  nothing  inconsistent  \ 
or  humiliating  in  Johnson's  accepting  of  8 
pension  so  unconditionally  and  so  honoura- 
bly offered  to  him. 

But  I  shall  not  detain  my  readers  longer 
by  any  words  of  my  own,  on  a  subject  on 
which  I  am  happily  enabled,  by  the  favour 
of  the  Earl  of  Bute,  to  present  them  with 
what  Johnson  himself  wrote ;  his  lordship 
having  been  pleased  to  communicate  to  me 
a  copy  of  the  following  letter  to  his  late 
father,  which  does  great  honour  both  to 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1762.— J3TAT.  63. 


163 


the  writer,  and  to  the  noble  person  to  whom 
it  is  addressed : 

"to  the  bight  honourable  the  earl 

or    BUTE. 

«20th  July,  1782. 

"  Mt  lord, — When  the  bills1  were  yes- 
terday delivered  to  me  by  Mr.  Wedder- 
burne,  I  was  Informed  by  him  of  the  future 
favours  which  his  majesty  has,  bv  your 
lordship's  recommendation,  been  induced  to 
intend  for  me. 

"Bounty  always  receives  part  of  its 
value  from  the  manner  in  which  it  is  be- 
stowed ;  your  lordship's  kindness  includes 
every  circumstance  that  can  gratify  delica- 
cy, or  enforce  obligation.  You  have  con- 
ferred your  favours  on  a  man  who  has  nei- 
ther alliance  nor  interest 9,  who  has  not 
merited  them  by  services,  nor  courted  them 
.bv  officiousness;  you  have  spared  him  the 
shame  of  solicitation,  and  trie  anxiety  of 
suspense. 

"  What  has  been  thus  elegantly  given, 
will,  I  hope,  not  be  reproachfully  enjoyed; 
I  shall  endeavour  to  £ive  your  lordship  the 
only  recompense  which  generosity  desired 
—me  gratification  of  finding  that  your  ben- 
efits are  not  improperly  bestowed.  I  am, 
my  lord,  your  lordship's  most  obliged, 
most  obedient,  and  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnson." 

[The  addition  of  three  hundred 
J^Mi"      pounds  a  year,  to  what  Johnson 
was  able  to  earn  by  the  ordinary 
exercise  of  his  talents,  raised  him  to  a 
state  of  comparative  affluence,  and  afforded 
him  the  means  of  assisting  many  whose 
real  or  pretended  wants  had  formerly  ex- 
cited his  compassion.    He  now  practised  a 
rule  which  he  often  recommended  to  his 
friends,  always  to  carry  some  loose  money  to 
t      give  to  beggars,  imitating  therein,  though 
certainly  without  intending  it,  that  good 
but  weak  man,  old  Mr.  Wniston,  who  has 
been  seen  distributing,  in  the  streets,  mo- 
ney to  beggars  on  each  hand  of  him,  till 
his  pocket  was  nearly  exhausted.] 
JJUi.       ["When  he  was  in  the  habit  of  visit- 
rag  Lichfield,  towards  the  latter 
part  of  his  life,  he  was  accustomed,  on  his 
arrival,  to  deposit  with  Miss    Porter  as 


1  [It  does  not  appear  what  bills  these  were  : 
evidently  something  distinct  from  the  pennon, 
yet  probably  of  the  ssjne  nature,  a*  the  words 
"future  favours  "  teems  to  imply  that  there  had 
been  some  present  favour.— Ed.) 

*  [These  are  the  phrases  by  which  a  man  en- 
deavours to  deceive  himself  and  the  world.  John- 
son would  dignify  himself  by  attributing  his  pen- 
sion to  the  spontaneous  patronage  of  Lord  Bute, 
passing  over  in  silence  Sheridan  and  Mr.  Wed- 
derburne,  whose  solicitation  and  interest  un- 
doubtedly led  to  the  grant  of  the  pension.— Ed.] 


much  cash  as  would  pay  his  expenses  back 
to  London.  He  could  not  trust  himself 
with  his  own  money,  as  he  felt  himself 
unable  to  resist  the  importunity  of  the  nu- 
merous claimants  on  his  benevolence.] 
[Severity  towards  the  poor  was,  in 
Dr.  Johnson's  opinion  (as  is  visi-  JW^ 
ble  in  his  Life  of  Addison  particu- 
larly), an  undoubted  and  constant  atten- 
dant or  consequence  upon  whigpism*;  and 
he  was  not  contented  with  giving  them 
relief,  he  wished  to  add  also  indulgence. 
He  loved  the  poor,  says  Mrs.  Piozzi,  as  I 
never  yet  saw  any  one  else  do,  with  an 
earnest  desire  to  make  them  happy.  What 
signifies,  says  some  one,  giving  halfpence  to 
common  beggars?  they  only  lay  it  out  in 
ffin  or  tobacco.  "  And  why  should  they  be 
denied  such  sweetners  of  their  existence 
(says  Johnson)?  it  is  surely  very  savage 
to  refuse  them  every  possible  avenue  to 
pleasure,  reckoned  too  coarse  for  our  own 
acceptance.  Life  is  a  pill  which  none  of 
us  can  bear  to  swallow  without  gilding; 
yet  for  the  poor  we  delight  in  stripping  it 
still  barer,  and  are  not  ashamed  to  show 
even  visible  displeasure,  if  ever  the  bitter 
taste  is  taken  from  their  mouths."  In  pur* 
suance  of  these  principles  he  nursed  wnole 
nests  of  people  in  his  house,  where  the 
lame,  the  blind,  the  sick,  and  the  sorrowful, 
found  a  sure  retreat  from  all  the  evils 
whence  his  little  income  could  secure  them* 
and  at  the  time  when  he  commonly  spent 
the  middle  of  the  week  at  Streatham,  he 
kept  his  numerous  family  in  Fleet-street 
upon  a  settled  allowance;  but  returned  to 
them  every  Saturday,  to  give  them  three 
good  dinners,  and  his  company,  before  he 
came  back  to  Mr.  Thrale's  on  the  Monday 
night — treating  them  with  the  same,  or 
perhaps  more  ceremonious  civility,  than  he 
would  have  done  by  as  many  people  of 
fashion.] 

This  year,  his  friend,  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds, paid  a  visit  of  some  weeks  to  his  na- 
tive county,  Devonshire,  in  which  he  was 
accompanied  by  Johnson,  who  was  much 

S  leased  with  this  jaunt,  and  declared  he  had 
erived  from  it  a  great  accession  of  new 
ideas.  He  was  entertained  at  the  seats  of 
several  noblemen  and  gentlemen  in  the 
west  of  England;  but  the  greatest  part  of 
this  time  was  passed  at  Plymouth,  where 
the  magnificence  of  the  navy,  the  ship- 
building and  all  its  circumstances,  afforded 
him  a  grand  subject  of  contemplation.    At 

*  [That  Johnson  may,  in  conversation,  have 
made  this  strange  and  almost  unintelligible  charge 
against  the  whins  is  possible :  but  tf  by  the  allu- 
sion to  the  IAfe  of  Addison  is  meant  the  obser- 
vation on  the  character  of  Sir  Andrew  Freeport, 
Mrs.  Piozzi  has  misrepresented  the  matter.  It  is 
"  the  spirit  of  unfeeling  commerce"  and  not  of 
tchiggism,  that  Johnson  observes  upon.— Ed.) 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


164 


1761.— JETAT.  0S. 


one  of  these  seats  Dr.  Aniyat,  physician  in 
London,  told  me  he  happened  to  meet  him. 
In  order  to  amuse  him  till  dinner  should  he 
ready,  he  was  taken  out  to  walk  in  the  gar- 
den. The  master  of  the  house  thinking  it 
proper  to  introduce  something  scientinck 
into  the  conversation,  addressed  him  thus: 
"  Are  you  a  botanist,  Dr.  Johnson?"  "  No, 
sir,"  answered  Johnson,  "  I  am  not  a  bo- 
tanist; and  (alluding,  no  doubt,  to  his 
near-sightedness),  should  I  wish  to  become 
a  botanist,  I  must  first  turn  myself  into  a 
reptile."  The  commissioner l  of  the  dock- 
yard paid  him  the  compliment  of  ordering 
the  yacht  to  convey  him  and  his  friend  to 
the  feddystone,  to  which  they  accordingly 
sailed.  But  the  weather  was  so  tempestu- 
ous that  they  could  not  land. 

Reynolds  and  he  were  at  this  time  the 
guests  of  Dr.  Mudge,  the  celebrated  sur- 
geon, and  now  physician  of  that  place,  not 
more  distinguished  for*  quickness  of  parts 
and  variety  of  knowledge,  than  loved  and 
esteemed  for  his  amiable  manners;  and  here 
Johnson  formed  an  acquaintance  with  Dr. 
Mudge's  father9,  that  very  eminent  divine, 
the  Rev.  Zachariah  Mudge;  prebendary  of 
Exeter,  who  was  idolised  in  the  west,  both 
for  his  excellence  as  a  preacher  and  the  uni- 
form perfect  propriety  of  his  private  con- 
duct. He  preached  a  sermon  purposely 
that  Johnson  might  hear  him;  and  we  shall 
see  afterwards  that  Johnson  honoured  his 
memory  by  drawing  his  character.  While 
Johnson  was  at  Plymouth,  he  saw  a  great 
many  of  its  inhabitants,  and  was  not  spar- 
ing of  his  very  entertaining  conversation. 
It  was  here  that  he  made  that  frank  and 
truly  original  confession,  that  "  ignorance, 

Sure  ignorance,"  was  the  cause  of  a  wrong 
efinition  in  his  Dictionary  of  the  word 
pastern  [the  knee  of  a  horse],  to  the  no 
small  surprise  of  the  lady  who  put  the  ques- 
tion to  him;  who  having  the  most  pro- 
found reverence  for  his  character,  so  as  al- 
most to  suppose  him  endowed  with  infalli- 
bility, expected  to  hear  an  explanation  (of 
what,  to  he  sure,  seemed  strange  to  a  com- 
mon reader),  drawn  from  some  deep-learned 
source  with  which  she  was  unacquainted. 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  to  whom  I  was 
obliged  for  my  information  concerning  this 
excursion,  mentions  a  very  characteristics] 
anecdote  of  Johnson  while  at  Plymouth. 
Having  observed,  (hat  in  consequence  of 
the  dock-yard  a  new  town  had  arisen  about 
two  miles  off  as  a  rival  to  the  old;  and 
knowing  from  his  sagacity,  and  just  obser- 
vation of  human  nature,  that  it  is  certain  if 


a  man  hates  at  all,  he  will  hate  his  next 
neighbour;  he  concluded  that  this  new  aad 
rising  town  could  not  but  excite  the  envy 
and  jealousy  of  the  old,  in  which  conjecture 
he  was  very  soon  confirmed;  he  therefore 
set  himself  resolutely  on  the  Bide  of  the  old 
town,  the  established  town,  in  which  his 
lot  was  cast,  considering  it  as  a  kind  of 
duty  to  stand  by  it.  He  accordingly  en- 
tered warmly  into  its  interests,  and  upon 
every  occasion  talked  of  the  Dockers,  as 
the  inhabitants  of  the  new  town  were  catt- 
ed, as  upstarts  and  aliens*  Plymouth  is 
very  plentifully  supplied  with  water  by  a 
river  brought  into  it  from  a  great  distance, 
which  is  so  abundant  that  it  runs  to  waste 
in  the  town.  The  Dock,  or  Newtown, 
being  totally  destitute  of  water,  petitioned 
Plymouth  that  a  small  portion  of  the  con- 
duit might  be  permitted  to  go  to  them,  and 
this  was  now  under  consideration.  John- 
son, affecting  to  entertain  the  passions  of 
the  place,  was  violent  in  opposition;  and 
half-laughing  at  himself  for  his  pretended 
zeal,  where  he  had  no  concern,  exclaimed, 
"  No,  no!  I  am  against  the  Dockers*;  I 
am  a  Plymouth  man.  Rogues!  let  them 
die  of  thirst  They  shall  not  have  a  drop !" 
Lord  Macartney  obligingly  favoured  me 
with  a  copy  of  the  following  letter,  in  his 
own  handwriting,  from  the  original,  which 
was  found,  by  the  present  Earl  of  Bute, 
among  his  father's  papers. 

"  TO  THE  RIGHT  HON.  THE  EARL  OF  BUTE. 

*  Temple-lane,  3d  Not.  1763. 

"  My  lord, — That  generosity  by  which 
I  was  recommended  to  the  favour  of  his 
majesty  will  not  be  offended  at  a  solicitation 
necessary  to  make  that  favour  permanent 
and  effectual. 

"  The  pension  appointed  to  be  paid  me  at 
Michaelmas  I  have  not  received,  and  know 
not  where  or  from  whom  I  am  to  ask  it.  I 
beg,  therefore,  that  your  lordship  will  be 
pleased  to  supply  Mr.  Wedderburne  with 
such  directions  as  may  be  necessary,  which, 


1  [Captain  Frauds  Rogers.— Ed.] 

*  [Mr.  Thomas  Mudge,  the  ingenious  watch- 
maker in  Fleet-street,  who  made  considerable  im- 
provements in  tinie-keepeis,  and  wrote  a  book  on 
that  subject,  was  another  son  ef  Mr.  Path****** 
**-"-*— Hall.] 


*  A  friend  of  mine  once  heard  him,  during 
this  visit,  exclaim  with  the  utmost  vehemence, 
"I  hatb  a  Docker."— Blakeway.  [Tins 
feud  happily  subsided,  hut  the  Dockers  confess- 
ed to  our  own  days  dissatisfied  with  being  consid- 
ered as  a  mere  appendage  to  Plymouth ;  and 
they  solicited  and  obtained,  in  1828,  the  king's 
royal  licence  that  the  town  of  Plymouth-Dock 
should  be  hereafter  called  Deoonport— a  name 
singularly  ill-chosen  on  the  part  of  the  Dockers  * 
— lor  it  happens,  ludicrously  enough,  that  the  port 
of  Plymouth  is  wholly  within  the  county  of 
Devon ;  while  Hamoaze,  the  port  of  Dock,  is 
equally  in  Devon  and  Cornwall.  So  that  the 
Dockers  have  assumed  a  name  which  could 
properly  belong  only  to  the  antagonist  town  ;  and, 
to  crown  the  blunder,  the  separate  name  was 
given  just  when  the  increase  of  buikhnga  had  com- 
pleted the  union  of  the  two  towns.— Ed.] 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


im—iCTAT.  m. 


16* 


I  believe,  hit  friendship  will  make  him  think 
it  so  trouble  to  convey  to  me. 

"  To  interrupt  your  lordship,  at  a  time 
Eke  this,  with  such  petty  difficulties,  ia  im- 
proper and  unseasonable:  but  your  know- 
ledge of  the  world  has  long  since  taught 
you,  that  every  man's  affairs,  however  lit- 
tle, are  important  to  himself.  Every  man 
hopes  that  he  shall  escape  neglect;  and, 
with  reason,  may  every  man,  whose  vices 
do  not  preclude  his  claim,  expect  favour 
Horn  that  beneficence  which  has  been  ex- 
tended to,  my  lord,  your  lordship's  most 
obliged,  fee.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  TO  MB.  JOSEPH  BAR1TTI,  AT  MILAN. 

"London,  21  D*cl7«. 

"Six* — You  are  not  to  suppose,  with  all 
your  conviction  of  my  idleness,  that  I  have 
passed  all  this  time  without  writing  to  my 
Baretti.  I  gave  a  letter  to  Mr.  Beauclerk, 
who,  in  my  opinion,  and  in  his  own,  was 
hastening  to  Naples  for  the  recovery  of  his 
health;  but  he  has  stopped  at  Paris,  and 
I  know  not  when  he  will  proceed.  Lang- 
ton  is  with  him. 

"  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  speculations 
about  peace  and  war.  The  good  or  ill  suc- 
cess of  battles  and  embassies  extends  itself 
to  a  very  small  part  of  domestick  life:  we  ail 
have  good  ana  evil,  which  we  feel  more 
sensibly  than  our  petty  part  of  publick  mis- 
carriage or  prosperity.  1  am  sorry  for  your 
disappointment,  with  which  you  seem  more 
touched  than  I  should  expect  a  man  of  your 
resolution  and  experience  to  have  been,  did 
I  not  know  that  general  truths  are  seldom 
applied  to  particular  occasions;  and  that 
the  fallacy  of  our  self-love  extends  itself  as 
wide  as  our  interest  or  affections.  Every 
man  believes  that  mistresses  are  unfaithful, 
and  patrons  capricious;  but  he  excepts  his 
own  mistress,  and  his  own  patron.  We 
have  all  learned  that  greatness  is  negligent 
and  contemptuous,  and  that  in  courts  life 
is  often  languished  away  in  ungratified  ex- 
pectation; but  he  that  approaches  great- 
ness, or  glitters  in  a  court,  imagines  that 
destiny  has  at  last  exempted  him  from  the 
common  lot, 

"  Do  not  let  such  evils  overwhelmyou  as 
thousands  have  suffered  and  thousands 
have  surmounted;  but  turn  your  thoughts 
with  vigour  to  some  other  plan  of  life, 
and  keep  always  in  your  mind,  that, 
with  due  submission  to  Providence,  a  man 
of  genius  has  been  seldom  ruined  but  by 
himself.  Your  patron's  weakness  or  in- 
sensibility will  finally  do  you  little  hurt,  if 
he  is  not  assisted  by  your  own  passions. 
Of  your  love  I  know  not  the  propriety,  nor 
can  estimate  the  power;  but  in  love,  as  in 
every  other  passion  of  which  hope  is  the 
saw  nee,  we  ought  always  to  remember  the 
uncertainty  of  events.    There  is,  indeed, 


nothing  that  so  much  seduces  reason  from 
vigilance,  as  the  thought  of  passing  life 
with  an  amiable  woman;  and  if  all  would 
happen  that  a  lover  fancies,  I  know  not 
what  other  terrestrial  happiness  would  de- 
serve pursuit  But  love  and  marriage  are 
different  states.  Those  who  are  to  suffer 
the  evils  together  \  and  to  suffer  often  for 
the  sake  of  one  another,  soon  lose  that  ten- 
derness of  look,  and  that  benevolence  of 
mind,  which  arose  from  the  participation 
of  unmingled  pleasure  and  successive  amuse* 
men*.  A  woman,  we  are  sure,  will  not  be 
always  fair;  we  are  not  sure  she  will  always 
be  virtuous :  and  man  cannot  retain  through 
life  that  respect  and  assiduity  by  which  he 

E leases  for  a  day  or  for  a  month.  I  do  not, 
owever,  pretend  to  have  discovered  that 
life  has  any  thing  more  to  be  desired  than  a 
prudent  and  virtuous  marriage;  therefore 
know  not  what  counsel  to  give  you. 

"  If  you  can  quit  your  imagination  of 
love  and  greatness,  and  leave  your  hopes  of 
preferment  and  bridal  raptures  to  try  once 
more  the  fortune  of  literature  and  industry) 
the  way  through  France  is  now  open.  We 
flatter  ourselves  that  we  shall  cultivate,  with 
great  diligence,  the  arts  of  peace;  and  every 
man  will  be  welcome  among  us  who  can 
teach  us  any  thing  we  do  not  know.  For 
your  part,  you  will  find  all  your  old  friends 
willing  to  receive  you. 
"  Reynolds  still  continues  to  increase  in 

Xtation  and  in  riches.  Miss  Williams, 
very  much  loves  you,  goes  on  in  the 
old  way.  Miss  Cotterel  is  still  with  Mrs. 
Porter.  Miss  Charlotte  is  married  to  Dean 
Lewis,  and  has  three  children.  Mr.  Levet 
has  married  a  street-walker.  But  the  ga- 
zette of  my  narration  must  now  arrive  to 
tell  you,  that  Bathurst  went  physician  to 
the  army,  and  died  at  the  Havannan. 

"  I  know  not  whether  I  have  not  sent  you 
word  that  Huggins  s  and  Richardson  are 


1  Johnson  probably  wrote  "  the  evils  of  Mfe 
together.''  The  words  in  Italicks,  however,  eve 
not  found  in  Baretti**  original  edition  of  thai  letter, 
bat  they  may  have  been  omitted  inadvertently 
either  in  bis  transcript  or  at  the  preBB.-MAi.oirn. 

*  [Heggins,  the  translator  of  Arioeto.  fins 
enmity  to  Baretti  and  Johnson  will  be  explained 
by  the  following  extract  from  a  BIS.  letter  of  Dr. 
Warton  to  hie  brother,  dated  Winedale,  28th 
April,  1755. 

"  He  (Huggins)  abates  Baretti  inferaaUy,  and 
says  that  he  run  off  with  a  £©W  watch  (you  re- 
member the  present);  that  he  one  day  lent 
Barretti  the  watch  to  know  when  to  retain  from 
a  walk  to  dinner,  and  could  never  get  it  after- 
wards ;  that  he  applied  to  him  in  London  ;  that 
after  many  excuses  Baretti  skulked,  and  then  got 
Johns**  to  write  to  Mr.  Huggins  a  sappliant  let- 
ter.; that  this  letter  stopped  Hnggfot  awhile, 
while  Baretti  j 


i  sot  a  protection  from  the  Sardinian 
,  mat  tJtenJehasMhsdthsafjajaaos 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


166 


1768.— ^ETAT.  54. 


both  dead.  When  we  see  our  enemies  and 
friends  sliding  away  before  us,  let  us  not 
forget  that  we  are  subject  to  the  general 
law  of  mortality,  and  shall  soon  be  where 
our  doom  will  be  fixed  for  ever. — I  pray  God 
to  bless  you,  and  am,  sir,  your  most  affec- 
tionate humble  servant,  ' 
"  Write  soon.  "  Sam.  Johfsok." 

In  1765  he  furnished  to  "  The  Poetical 
Calendar,"  published  by  Fawkes  and  Woty, 
a  character  of  Collins*,  which  he  afterwards 
engrafted  into  his  entire  life  of  that  admira- 
ble poet,  in  the  collection  of  lives  which  he 
wrote  for  the  body  of  English  poetry,  form- 
ed and  published  by  the  booksellers  of  Lon- 
don. His  account  of  the  melancholy  de- 
pression with  which  Collins  was  severely 
afflicted,  and  which  brought  him  to  his 
grave,  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  most  tender 
and  interesting  passages  in  the  whole  series 
of  his  writings1.  He  also  favoured  Mr. 
Hooie  with  the  Dedication  of  his  transla- 
tions of  Tasso  to  the  Queen*,  which  is  so 
happily  conceived  and  elegantly  expressed, 
that  I  cannot  but  point  it  out  to  the  pecu- 
liar notice  of  my  readers  9. 


to  write  him,  Hoggins,  a  sneering  letter,  defying 
hu  power  to  touch  Baretti ;  and  then  Hoggins 
applied  to  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  secretary  of 
state,  to  get  the  ambassador  to  revoke  his  pro- 
tection, which  he  did ;  and  that,  at  last,  with 
great  difficulty,  the  watch  was  got  from  a  pawn- 
broker's, to  whom  Baretti  had  sold  it 

"  What  a  strange  story,  and  how  difficult  to  be 
believed,  especially  considering  who  it  comes 
from  !  Huggins  wanted  to  get  an  approbation  of 
his  translation  from  Johnson  ;  but  Johnson  would 
not,  though  Huggins  says  't  was  only  to  get 
money  from  him.  To  crown  all,  he  says  that 
Baretti  wanted  to  poison  Croker.  This  makes 
the  whole  improbable,  but  crowns  the  story.  Are 
not  these  rich  anecdotes  ?  I  told  Jones,  and  com- 
missioned him  to  tell  St  John  the  whole  truth. 

Dr.  Brown, 's  neighbour,  got  Ariosto   for 

Queen's.  By  some  means  or  other,  Johnson 
must  know  this  story  of  Huggins.  How  infamous 
is  it,  if  it  should  be  false  !  "  Baretti  had  been 
employed  by  Huggins  to  revise  his  translation. 

The  person  whom  Huggins  accused  Baretti  of 
an  attempt  to  poison  was  the  Rev.  Temple  Henry 
Croker,  the  author  of  several  works,  and  amongst 
others  of  a  translation  of  Ariosto 'b  Orlando,  pub- 
lished in  1755,  and  of  his  Satires,  in  1759 Ed.] 

i  [We  have  seen  ante,  p.  119,  the  peculiar 
sympathy  which  probably  gave  such  pathos  to 
Johnson's  account  of  the  mental  infirmities  of 
Collins.— Ed.] 

*  "  Madam, — To  approach  the  high  and  il- 
lustrious has  been  in  all  ages  the  privilege  of  po- 
ets ;  and  though  translators  cannot  justly  claim  the 
same  honour,  yet  they  naturally  follow  their  an- 
thems as  attendants ;  and  I  hope  that  in  return 
for  having  enabled  Tasso  to  diffuse  bis  fame 
through  the  British  dominions,  I  may  be  intro- 
duced by  him  to  the  presence  of  your  majesty. 


["TO  MRS.  LUCY  PORTBR,  IN  LICHFIELD. 

K  12th  April,  1T8S. 

"  My  dear, — The  newspaper 
has  informed  me  of  the  death  of 
Captain  Porter.  I  know  not  what 
to  say  to  you,  condolent  or  consolatory,  be- 
yond the  common  considerations  which  I 
suppose  you  have  proposed  to  others,  and 
know  how  to  apply  to  yourself.  In  all 
afflictions  the  first  relief  is  to  be  asked  of 
God. 

"  I  wish  to  be  informed  in  what  condi- 
tion your  brother's  death  has  left  your  for- 
tune; if  he  has  bequeathed  you  competence 
or  plenty,  I  shall  sincerely  rejoice;  if  yon 
are  in  any  distress  or  difficulty,  I  will  en- 
deavour to  make  what  I  have,  or  what  I 
can  get,  sufficient  for  us  both.— I  am,  ma- 
dam, yours  affectionately, 

"  Sam.  Johhsoh."] 


I  shall  now  present  my  readers 
with  some  Collectanea*,  obligingly 
furnished  to  me  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Maxwell, 
of  Falkland,  in  Ireland4,  some  time  assistant 


"  Tasso  has  a  peculiar  claim  to  your  majesty's 
favour,  as  follower  and  panegyrist  of  the  house  of 
Este,  which  has  one  common  ancestor  with  the 
house  of  Hanover;  and  in  reviewing  his  life,  it  u 
not  easy  to  forbear  a  wish  that  he  had  lived  in  a 
happier  time,  when  he  might  among  the  descend- 
ants of  that  illustrious  family  have  found  a  mora 
liberal  and  potent  patronage. 

"  I  cannot  but  observe,  madam,  how  unequal- 
ly reward  is  proportioned  to  merit,  when  I  reflect 
that  the  happiness  which  was  withheld  from  Tas- 
so is  reserved  for  me ;  and  that  the  poem  which 
once  hardly  procured  to  its  authour  the  counte- 
nance of  the  princes  of  Ferrara,  has  attracted  to  its 
translator  the  favourable  notice  of  a  British  queen. 

"  Had  this  been  the  fate  of  Tasso,  he  would 
have  been  able  to  have  celebrated  the  conde- 
scension of  your  majesty  in  nobler  language,  but 
could  not  have  felt  it  with  more  ardent  gratitude 
than,  madam,  your  majesty's  most  faithful  and 
devoted  servant" — Bobwell. 

3  [Mr.  Boswell  had  inserted  these  CoUeetanea 
under  1770,  to  supply  the  blank  occasioned  by 
his  not  having  visited  London  that  year  ;  but  as 
many  of  Dr.  Maxwell's  anecdotes  appear  to-  re- 
late to  a  period  antecedent  to  the  commence-' 
ment  of  Mr.  Boswell's  personal  acquaintance  in 
1763,  it  has  been  thought  better  to  remove  them 
to  this  place. — Ed.] 

4  [Dr.  William  Maxwell  was  the  son  of  Dr. 
John  Maxwell,  Archdeacon  of  Downe,  in  Ire- 
land, and  cousin  of  the  Honourable  Henry  Max- 
well, Bishop  of  Dromore  in  1765,  and  of  Month 
in  1766,  from  whom  he  obtained  preferment; 
but  having  a  considerable  property  of  his  own,  be 
resigned  the  living  when,  as  it  is  said,  his  resi- 
dence was  insisted  on  ;  and  he  fixed  himself  in 
Bath,  where  he  died  so  late  as  1818,  at  the  age  of 
87.  Although,  as  has  been  just  stated,  most  of 
the  anecdotes  probably  refer  to  the  period  when 
Johnson  resided  in  the  Temple,  Maxwell  must 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1763.— jETAT.  54. 


167 


preacher  at  the  Temple,  and  for  many  years 
the  social  friend  of  Johnson,  who  spoke  of 
him  with  a  very  kind  regard. 

"  My  acquaintance  with  that  great  and 
venerable    character    commenced    in    the 

5 ax  1754.  I  was  introduced  to  him  by 
r.  Grierson1,  his  majesty's  printer  at 
Dublin,  a  gentleman  of  uncommon  learning, 
and  great  wit  and  vivacity.  Mr.  Grierson 
died  in  Germany,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven. 
Dr.  Johnson  highly  respected  his  abilities, 
and  often  observed,  that  he  possessed  more 
extensive  knowledge  than  any  man  of  his 
years  he  had  ever  known.  His  industry  was 
equal  to  his  talents;  and  he  particularly  ex- 
celled in  every  species  of  philological  learn- 
ing, and  was,  perhaps,  the  best  critick  of  the 
age  he  lived  in. 

"  I  must  always  remember  with  gratitude 
my  obligation  to  Mr.  Grierson,  for  the  hon- 
our and  happiness  of  Dr.  Johnson's  ac- 
quaintance and  friendship,  which  continu- 
ed uninterrupted  and  undiminished  to  his 
death;  a  connexion,  that  was  at  once  the 
pride  and  happiness  of  my  life. 

"  What  pity  it  is,  that  so  much  wit  and 
good  sense  as  Johnson  continually  exhibited 
in  conversation  should  perish  unrecorded! 
Few  persons  quitted  his  company  without 
perceiving  themselves  wiser  and  better  than 
they  were  before.  On  serious  subjects  he 
flashed  the  most  interesting  conviction  upon 
his  auditors;  and  upon  lighter  topicks,  you 
might  have  supposed — Jllbano  tnusas  de 
monte  locutas. 

"  Though  I  can  hope  to  add  but  tittle  to 
the  celebrity  of  so  exalted  a  character,  by 
any  communications  I  can  furnish,  yet  out 
of  pure  respect  to  his  memory,  I  will  venture 
to  transmit  to  you  some  anecdotes  concern- 
ing him,  which  fell  under  my  own  observa- 
tion. The  very  minutim  of  such  a  charac- 
ter must  be  interesting,  and  may  be  com- 
pared to  the  filings  of  diamonds. 

"  In  politicks  he  was  deemed  a  Tory,  but 
certainly  was  not  so  in  the  obnoxious  or 
party  sense  of  the  term;  for  while  he  assert- 


fetvs  kept  up  occasional  intercourse  with  him,  as 
tome  of  fhem  undoubtedly  refer  to  a  later  time. 
Dr.  Maxwell  was  very  proud  of  his  acquaintance 
with  Johnson,  and  affected  to  imitate  his  style  of 
conversation. — En.] 

1  Son  of  the  learned  Mrs.  Grierson,  who  was 
patronized  by  the  late  Lord  Granville,  and  was 
the  editor  of  several  of  the  classics*. — Boswell. 
Her  edition  of  Tacitus,  with  the  notes  of  Ryckras, 
h  three  volumes,  8vo.  1730,  was  dedicated  in 
nrj  elegant  Latin  [from  her  own  pen]  to  John, 
Loci  Carteret  (afterwards  Earl  Granville),  by 
whom  she  was  patronized  during  his  residence  in 
Inland  as  lord-lieutenant  between  1724  and  1730. 
—Nalonb.  [Lord  Carteret  gave  her  family  the 
lucrative  patent  office  of  king's  printer  in  Ireland, 
stiU  enjoyed  by  her  descendants.  She  was  very 
beautiful,  as  well  as  learned.— En.] 


ed  the  legal  and  salutary  prerogatives  of  the 
crown,  he  no  less  respected  the  constitu 
tional  liberties  of  the  people.  Whiggism, 
at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  he  said,  was 
accompanied  with  certain  principles;  but 
latterly,  as  a  mere  party  distinction  under 
Walpole  and  the  Pelhams,  was  no  better 
than  the  politicks  of  stockjobbers,  and  the 
religion  of  infidels. 

"  He  detested  the  idea  of  governing  by 
parliamentary  corruption,  and  asserted  most 
strenuously,  that  a  prince  steadily  and  con- 
spicuously pursuing  the  interests  of  his  peo- 
ple, could  not  fail  of  parliamentary  concur- 
rence. A  prince  of  ability,  he  contended, . 
might  and  should  be  the  directing  soul  and 
spirit  of  his  own  administration;  in  short,  his 
own  minister  and  not  the  mere  head  of  a 
party;  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  would 
the  royal  dignity  be  sincerely  respected. 

"  Johnson  seemed  to  think  that  a  certain 
degree  of  crown  influences  over  the  houses 
of  parliament  (not  meaning  a  corrupt  and 
shameful  dependence}  was  very  salutary, 
nay,  even  necessary,  in  our  mixed  govern- 
ment. '  For,5  said  he, { if  the  members  were 
under  no  crown  influence,  and  disqualified 
from  receiving  any  gratification  from  court, 
and  resembled,  as  they  possibly  might,  Pym 
and  Haslerig,  and  other  stubborn  and  stur- 
dy members  of  the  long  parliament,  the 
wheels  of  government  would  be  totally  ob- 
structed. Such  men  would  oppose,  merely 
to  show  their  power,  from  envy,  jealousy, 
and  perversity  of  disposition;  and  not  gain- 
ing themselves,  would  hate  and  oppose  all 
who  did :  not  loving  the  person  of  the  prince, 
and  conceiving  they  owed  him  Jittle  grati- 
tude, from  the  mere  spirit  of  insolence  and 
contradiction,  they  would  oppose  and  thwart 
him  upon  all  occasions.' 

"  Tne  inseparable  imperfection  annexed 
to  all  human  governments  consisted,  he 
said,  in  not  being  able  to  create  a  sufficient 
fund  of  virtue  and  principle  to  carry  the 
laws  into  due  and  effectual  execution. 
Wisdom  might  plan,  but  virtue  alone  could 
execute.  And  where  could  sufficient  virtue 
be  found?  A  variety  of  delegated,  and  often 
discretionary  powers  must  be  intrusted  some- 
where; which,  if  not  governed  by  integrity 
and  conscience,  would  necessarily  be  abused, 
till  at  last  the  constable  would  sell  his  for  a 
shilling. 

"  This  excellent  person  was  sometimes 
charged  with  abetting  slavish  and  arbitrary 
principles  of  government  Nothing  in  my 
opinion  could  be  a  grosser  calumny  and  mis- 
representation; for  how  can  it  be  rationally 
supposed,  that  he  should  adopt  such  perni- 


9  On  the  necessity  of  crown  influence,  see 
Boucher's  Sermons  on  the  American  Revolution, 
p.  218  ;  and  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy,  B.  VI.  c 
vii.  p.  491,  4to.  there  quoted. — Blakewat. 


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cknifl  and  abserd  opinions,  who  supported 
his  philosophical  character  with  so  much 
dignity,  was  extremely  jealous  of  his  pereon- 
alliberty  and  independence,  and  could  not 
brook  the  smallest  appearance  of  neglect  or 
insult,  even  from  the  highest  personages? 

"  But  let  us  view  him  in  some  instances 
of  more  familiar  life. 

"  His  general  mode  of  life,  during  mv  ac- 

Snaintance,  seemed  to  be  pretty  uniform, 
ibout  twelve  o'clock  I  commonly  visited 
him,  and  frequently  found  him  in  hod,  or 
declaiming  over  his  tea,  which  he  drank 
very  plentifully.  He  generally  had  a  levee 
of  morning  visitors,  chiefly  men  of  letters; 
Hawkesworth,  Goldsmith,  Murphy,  Lang- 
ton,  Steevens,Beauclerk,  &c.  &c.  and  some- 
times learned  ladies;  particularly  I  remem- 
ber a  French  lady1  of  wit  and  fashion  doing 
him  the  honour  of  a  visit.  He  seemed  to 
me  to  he  considered  as  a  kind  of  publick 
oracle,  whom  every  hody  thought  they  had 
a  right  to  visit  and  consult;  and  doubtless 
they  were  well  rewarded.  I  never  could 
discover  how  he  found  time  for  his  composi- 
tions. He  declaimed  all  the  morning,  then 
went  to  dinner  at  a  tavern,  where  he  com- 
monly staid  late,  and  then  drank  his  tea  at 
some  friend's  house,  over  which  he  loitered 
a  great  while,  but  seldom  took  supper.  I 
fancy  he  must  have  read  and  wrote 'chiefly 
in  the  night,  for  I  can  scarcely  recollect 
that  he  ever  refused  going  with  me  to  a  tav- 
ern, and  he  often  went  to  Ranelagh,  which 
he  deemed  a  place  of  innocent  recreation. 

"  He  frequently  gave  all  the  silver  in  his 
pocket  to  the  poor,  who  watched  him,  be- 
tween his  house  and  the  tavern  where  he 
dined.  He  walked  the  streets  all  hours,  and 
said  he  was  never  robbed,  for  the  rogues 
knew  he  had  little  money,  nor  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  having  much. 

"  Though  the  most  accessible  and  com- 
municative man  alive,  yet  when  he  suspect* 
ed  he  was  invited  to  be  exhibited,  he  con- 
stantly spurned  the  invitation. 

"  Two  young  women  from  Staffordshire 
visited  him  when  I  was  present,  to  consult 
him  on  the  subject  of  Methodism,  to  which 
they  were  inclined.  c  Come  (Baid  he,  you 
pretty  fools,  dine  with  Maxwell  and  me  at 
the  Mitre,  and  we  will  talk  over  that  sub- 
ject; '  which  they  did,  and  after  dinner  he 
took  one  of  them  upon  his  knee,  and  fond- 
led her  for  half  an  hour  together. 

"  Upon  a  visit  to  me  at  a  country  lodg- 
ing near  Twickenham,  he  asked  what  sort 
of  society  I  had  there.  I  told  him  but  in- 
different, as  they  chiefly  consisted  of  opu- 
lent traders,  retired  from  business.  He 
said,  he  never  much  liked  that  class  of  peo- 
ple; '  For,  sir  (said  he),  they  have  lost  the 


civility  of  tradesmen,  without  acquiring  the 
manners  of  gentlemen.* 

"  Johnson  was  much  attached  to  Lon- 
don 9 :  he  observed,  that  a  man  stored  his 
mind  better  there  than  any  where  else;  and 
that  in  remote  situations  a  man's  body 
miff ht  be  feas  ted,  but  his  mind  was  starved, 
and  his  faculties  apt  to  degenerate,  from 
want  of  exercise  and  competition.  No  place 
(he  said)  cured  a  man's  vanity  or  arrogance 
so  well  as  London;  for  as  no  man  was  ei- 
ther great  or  good  per  *e,  but  as  compared 
with  others  not  so  good  or  great,  he  ws 


sure  to  find  in  the  metropolis  many  his 
equals,  and  some  his  supenours.  He  ob- 
served, that  a  man  in  London  was  in  less 
danger  of  falling  in  love  indiscreetly,  than 
any  where  else;  for  there  the  difficulty  of 
deciding  between  the  conflicting  pretensions 
of  a  vast  variety  of  objects  kept  him  sale. 
He  told  me,  that  he  had  frequently  been 
offered  country  preferment,  if  he  would  con- 
sent to  take  orders;  but  he  could  not  leave 
the  improved  society  of  the  capita],  or  eon- 
~nt  to  exchange  the  exhilarating  joys  and 

tlendid  decorations  of  publick  life,  for  the 
obscurity,  insipidity,  ana  uniformity  of  re- 
mote situations. 

"Speaking  of  a  Mr.  Harte,  Canon  of 
Windsor,  and  writer  of 'The  History  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,'  he  much  commended 
him  as  a  scholar,  and  a  man  of  the  most 


1    No  doubt 
p  188.— Ed.] 


Madame  de  Boomers.    See  po*t9 


9  Montaigne  had  the  same  affection  for  Paris, 
which  Johnson  had  for  London.-—"  Je  Taime 
tendroment  (says  he  in  ha  Essay  on  Vanity), 
jnsqne  a  sea  venues  et  a  aes  taches.  Je  ne  aula 
Francois,  qae  par  cette  grande  cite,  grandees 
peoples,  grande  en  fehcite  de  son  aaaWtte,  msaa 
ear  toot  grande  et  incomparable  en  variety  et  di- 
versity des  commoditea :  la  gloire  de  la  France, 
et  l'nn  des  pins  nobles  ornamens  do  monde.** 
Vol.  iil  p.  821,  edit  Amsterdam,  1781. — Bjlakx- 
way. 

1  [Walter  Harte,  born  about  1707,  A.  M.  of 
St  Mary  Hall,  in  Oxford,  was  tutor  to  Lord  Ches- 
terfield's natural  son,  Mr.  Stanhope,  and  was  by 
his  lordship's  interest  made  Canon  of  Windsor  ; 
be  died  in  1774.  Some  doubt  is  thrown  m  the 
Biographical  Dictionary  on  the  dates  of  his  both 
and  of  some  of  bis  earlier  publications,  from  m 
Walter  Harte  having  graduated  A.  M.  in  1720  ; 
but  they  were  clearly  not  the  same  persons :  there 
were,  as  Dr.  Hall  informs,  no  toss  than  /bear 
Hartes  who  might  have  been  living  at  the  same 
time,  viz.  Walter  Harte,  Pemb.  Coll.  A.  H  5th 
May,  1674  ;  Thomas  Harte,  Pemb.  ColL  A.  M. 
19th  An.  1681 ;  Walter  Harte,  Pemb.  CoJL  A. 
M.  80th  June,  1720  ;  and  Walter  Harte,  St  Ma- 
ry Hall,  A.  M.  21st  Jan.  1730 :  the  latter  was 
doubtless  the  poet  and  historian  ;  the  first  Waller 
was  probably  bis  rather ;  who  the  other  two 
Hartes  were  does  not  appear ;  but  the  date  of 
1780  for  the  historian's  degree  of  A.  M.  removes 
all  the  difficulties  started  m  the  Biog.  Dictionary. 
See  more  of  Harte,  nest,  80th  March,  178t.— 
Ed.] 


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169 


companionable  talents  he  had  ever  known. 
He  said,  the  defects  in  his  history  proceed- 
ed not  from  imbecility,  but  from  foppery. 

"  He  loved,  he  said,  the  old  black  letter 
books;  they  were  rich  in  matter,  though 
their  styte  was  inelegant;  wonderfully  so, 
considering  how  conversant  the  writers 
were  with  the  best  models  of  antiquity. 

"Burton's  'Anatomy  of  Melancholy,' 
lie  said,  was  the  only  book  that  ever  took 
him  out  of  bed  two  hours  sooner  than  he 
wished  to  rise. 

"  He  frequently  exhorted  me  to  set  about 
writing  a  History  of  Ireland,  and  archly  re- 
marked, there  had  been  some  good  Irish 
writers,  and  that  one  Irishman  might  at 
least  aspire  to  be  eaual  to  another.  He  had 
great  compassion  for  the  miseries  and  dis- 
tresses of  the  Irish  nation,  particularly  the 
Papists;  and  severely  reprobated  the  bar- 
barous debilitating  policy  of  the  British 
government,  which,  he  said,  was  the  most 
detestable  mode  of  persecution.  To  a  gen- 
tleman, who  hinted  such  policy  might  be 
necessary  to  support  the  authority  of  the 
English  government,  he  replied  by  saying, 
1  Let  the  authority  of  the  English  govern- 
ment perish,  rather  than  be  maintained  by 
iniquity.  Better  would  it  be  to  restrain  the 
turbulence  of  the  natives  by  the  authority 
of  the  sword,  and  to  make  them  amenable 
to  law  and  justice  by  an  effectual  and  vigor- 
ous police,  than  to  grind  them  to  powder 
by  all  manner  of  disabilities  and  incapaci- 
ties. Better  (said  he)  to  hang  or  drown 
people  at  once,  than  by  an  unrelenting  per- 
secution to  beggar  and  starve  them.9  The 
moderation  and  humanity  of  the  present 
times  have,  in  some  measure,  justified  the 
wisdom  of  his  observations. 

M  Dr.  Johnson  was  often  accused  of  prej- 
udices, nay,  antipathy,  with  regard  to  the 
natives  of  Scotland  K  Surely,  so  illiberal  a 
prejudice  never  entered  his  mind:  and  it  is 
well  known,  many  natives  of  that  respecta- 
ble country  possessed  a  large  share  in  his 
esteem :  nor  were  any  of  them  ever  exclud- 
ed from  his  good  offices  as  far  as  opportuni- 
ty permitted.  True  it  is,  he  considered  the 
Scotch,  nationally,  as  a  crafty,  designing 
people,  eagerly  attentive  to  their  own  inter- 
est, and  too  apt  to  overlook  the  claims  and 
pretensions  or  other  people.  '  While  they 
confine  their  benevolence,  in  a  manner,  ex- 
clusively to  those  of  their  own  country,  they 
expect  to  share  in  the  good  offices  of  other 
people.     Now  (said  Johnson)  this  princi- 


m  l  (It  would  be  curious  to  know  when  his  an- 
tipathy to  Scotland  became  so  strong,  and  what 
the  cause  of  h  was.  If  we  could  give  any  credit 
to  the  story  told  bv  Dr.  M'Nichol  and  Miss  Se- 
ward as  to  one  of  his  uncles  (see  ante,  p.  11.  n.), 
k  would  acoount  for  this  prejudice  ;  yet  many  of 
his  early  friends  and  associates  were  Scots.— 
Ed.] 


pie  is  either  right  or  wrong:  if  right,  we 
should  do  well  to  imitate  sucn  conduct;  if 
wrong,  we  cannot  too  much  detest  it.* 

"  Being  solicited  to  compose  a  funeral 
sermon  for  the  daughter  of  a  tradesman,  he 
naturally  inquired  into  the  character  of  the 
deceased;  and  being  told  she  was  remarka- 
ble for  her  humility  and  condescension  to 
inferiours,  he  observed,  that  those  were  very 
laudable  qualities,  but  it  might  not  be  so 
easy  to  discover  who  the  lady's  inferiours 
were. 

"  Of  a  certain  player9  he  remarked,  that 
his  conversation  usually  threatened  and  an- 
nounced more  than  it  performed;  that  he 
fed  you  with  a  continual  renovation  of  hope, 
to  end  in  a  constant  succession  of  disap- 
pointment 

"  When  exasperated  by  contradiction,  he 
was  apt  to  treat  his  opponent  with  too  much 
acrimony:  as, c  Sir,  you  don't  see  your  way 
through  that  question:* — '  Sir,  you  talk  the 
language  of  ignorance.'  On  my  observing 
to  him  that  a  certain  gentleman  had  re* 
mained  silent  the  whole  evening,  in  the 
midst  of  a  very  brilliant  and  learned  society, 
•  Sir  (said  he),  the  conversation  overflowed, 
and  drowned  him.' 

"  His  philosophy,  though  austere  and 
solemn,  was  by  no  means  morose  and  cyni- 
cal, and  never  blunted  the  laudable  sensi- 
bilities of  his  character,  or  exempted  him 
from  the  influence  of  the  tender  passions. 
Want  of  tenderness,  he  always  alleged,  was 
want  of  parts,  aud  was  no  less  a  proof  of 
stupidity  than  depravitv. 

"  Speaking  of  Mr.  If  anway,  who  pub- 
lished «  An  Eight  Days'  Journey  from  Lon- 
don to  Portsmouth,' '  Jonas  (said  he)  ac- 
quired some  reputation  by  travelling  abroad3, 
but  lost  it  all  by  travelling  at  home.' 

"Of  the  passion  of  love  he  remarked, 
that  its  violence  and  ill  effects  were  much 
exaggerated;  for  who  knows  any  real  suf- 
ferings on  that  head,  more  than  from  the 
exorbitancy  of  any  other  passion  ? 

"  He  much  commended4, c  Law's  Serious 
•Call,'  which  he  said  was  the  fines*  piece  of 
hortatory  theology  in  any  language.  '  Law 
(said  he)  fell  latterly  into  the  reveries  of 


2  [No  doubt,  Mr.  Sheridan.— En.] 
■  [He  had  published  «•  Jin  Account  of  the 
British  Trade  over  the  Caspian  Sea,  with 
Travels  through  Russia,  Persia,  Germany, 
and  Holland.'*  These  travels  contain  vety 
curious  details  of  the  then  state  of  Persia. — En.] 

*  [William  Law  was  born  1686,  entered  in 
1705  of  Em.  Col.  Camb.,  Fellow  in  1711,  and 
A.  M.  in  1712.  On  the  accession  of  the  Hano- 
ver family  he  refused  the  oaths.  He  was  tutor 
to  Mr.  Gibbon's  father,  ot  Putney,  and  finally  re- 
tired with  two  pious  ladies,  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and 
Mrs.  Gibbon,  the  aunt  of  the  historian,  to  a  kind 
of  conventual  seclusion  at  King's-cliffe,  his  native 
place :  he  died  in  1761.— Ed.] 

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Jacob  Behmeni,  whom  Law  alleged  to  have 
been  somewhat  in  the  same  state  with  St. 
Paul,  and  to  have  seen  unutterable  things. 
Were  it  even  so  (said  Johnson),  Jacob 
would  have  resembled  St.  Paul  still  more, 
by  not  attempting  to  utter  them.' 

"  He  observed,  that  the  established  cler- 
gy in  general  did  not  preach  plain  enough; 
and  that  polished  periods  and  glittering 
sentences  new  over  the  heads,  of  the  com- 
mon people,  without  any  impression  upon 
their  hearts.  Something  might  be  necessa- 
ry, he  observed,  to  excite  the  affections  of 
tne  common  people,  who  were  sunk  in  lan- 
guor and  letnargy,  and  therefore  he  sup- 
posed that  the  new  concomitants  of  me- 
thodism  might  probably  produce  so  desira- 
ble an  effect  The  mind,  like  the  body,  he 
observed,  delighted  in  change  and  novelty, 
and,  even  in  religion  itself,  courted  new 
appearances  and  modifications.  Whatever 
might  be  thought  of  some  methodist  teach- 
ers, he  said,  he  could  scarcely  doubt  the 
sincerity  of  that  man,  who  travelled  nine 
hundred  miles  in  a  month,  and  preached 
twelve  times  a  week;  for  no  adequate  re- 
ward, merely  temporal,  could  be  given  for 
for  such  indefatigable  labour. 

"  Of  Dr.  Priestley's  theological  works*, 
he  remarked,  that  they  tended  to  unsettle 
every  thing,  and  yet  settled  nothing. 

"  He  was  much  affected  by  the  death  of 
his  mother,  and  wrote  to  me  to  come  and 
assist  him  to  compose  his  mind,  which  in- 
deed I  found  extremely  agitated.  He  la- 
mented that  all  serious  and  religious  conver- 
sation was  banished  from  the  society  of  men, 
and  yet  great  advantages  might  be  derived 
from  it.  All  acknowledged,  Tie  said,  what 
hardly  any  body  practised,  the  obligations 
we  were  under  or  making  the  concerns  of 
eternity  the  governing  principles  of  our 
lives.  Every  man,  he  observed,  at  last 
wishes  for  retreat:  he  sees  his  expectations 
frustrated  in  the  world,  and  begins  to  wean 
himself  from  it,  and  to  prepare  for  everlast- 
ing separation. 

"  He  observed,  that  the  influence  of  Lou-- 
don  now  extended  every  where,  and  that 
from  all  manner  of  communication  being 


1  [A  German  fanatic,  bom  near  Gorlitz,  in 
Upper  Lasatia,  in  1675.  He  wrote  a  multitude 
of  religion*  works,  all  very  mystical  He  proba- 
bly was  deranged,  and  died  in  an  ecstatic  vision 
in  1624.  Mr.  I<aw  passed  many  of  the  latter 
years  of  his  life  in  translating  Behmen's  works, 
four  volumes  of  which  were  published  after  Mr. 
Law's  death.— Ed.) 

1  [None  of  Dr.  Priestley's  theological  works 
were  published  at  the  time  when  it  is  supposed 
Dr.  Maxwell's  intimacy  with  Johnson  termina- 
ted by  his  return  to  Ireland,  which  seems  to  have 
been  about  1765  or  1766,  so  that  this  and  such 
passages  must  be  referred  to  his  subsequent  occa- 
sional visits  to  London.— En.] 


opened,  there  shortly  would  be  no  remains 
of  the  ancient  simplicity,  or  places  of  cheap 
retreat  to  be  found. 

"  He  was  no  admirer  of  blank  verse,  and 
said  it  always  failed,  unless  sustained  by 
the  dignity  of  the  subject.  In  blank  verse, 
he  said,  the  language  suffered  more  distor- 
tion, to  keep  it  out  of  prose,  than  any  in- 
convenience or  limitation  to  be  apprehend- 
ed from  the  shackles  and  circumspection  of 
rhyme. 

"  He  reproved  me  once  for  saving  grace 
without  mention  of  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  hoped  in  future  I  would 
be  more  mindful  of  tne  apostolical  injunc- 
tion 3. 

"  He  refused  to  go  out  of  a  room  before 
roe  at  Mr.  Langton's  house,  saying,  he 
hoped  he  knew  his  rank  better  than  to  pre- 
sume to  take  place  of  a  doctor  in  divinity. 
I  mention  such  little  anecdotes,  merely  to 
show  the  peculiar  turn  and  habit  of  hie 
mind. 

"  He  used  frequently  to  observe,  that 
there  was  more  to  be  endured  than  enjoy- 
ed, in  the  general  condition  of  human  life; 
and  frequently  quoted  those  lines  of  Dry- 
den: 

•  Strange  cozenage  !  none  would  live  past  yeaa 

again, 
Yet  all  hope  pleasure  from  what  still  remain.9 

For  his  part,  he  said,  he  never  passed 
that  week  in  his  life  which  he  would  wiah 
to  repeat,  were  an  angel  to  make  the  pro- 
posal to  him. 

"  He  was  of  opinion,  that  the  English 
nation  cultivated  both  their  soil  and  their 
reason  better  than  any  other  people;  but 
admitted  that  the  French,  though  not  the 
highest,  perhaps,  in  any  department  of 
literature,  yet  in  every  department  were 
very  high.  Intellectual  pre-eminence,  he 
observed,  was  the  highest  superiority;  and 
that  every  nation  derived  their  highest  rep- 
utation from  the  splendour  and  dignity  of 
their  writers.  Voltaire,  he  said,  was  a 
good  narrator,  and  that  his  principal  merit 
consisted  in  a  happy  selection  and  arrange- 
ment of  circumstances. 

"  Speaking  of  the  French  novels,  com* 

Sared  with  Richardson's,  he  said,  they  might 
e  pretty  baubles,  but  a  wren  was  not  an 
eagle. 

"  In  a  Latin  conversation  with  the  Per* 
Boscovich4,  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Choi- 


'  [Alluding  probably  to  5th  Ephesians,  v.  SO, 
"  Giving  thanks  alu>ay$for  ail  thing*  «**• 
God  and  the  Father,  in  the  name  of  our  Lewd 
Jesus  Christ.'9— En.] 

*  {See  post,  December,  1775,  where  Mr.  Mat 
phy  states,  that  this,  er  a  similar  conversation 
took  place  in  the  house  of  Dr.  Douglas,  Bishop 
of  Salisbury .—Eo.] 


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171 


mondely,  I  heard  him  maintain  the  superi- 
ority of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  over  all  foreign 
philosophers  1,  with  a  dignity  and  eloquence 
that  surprised  that  learned  foreigner.  It 
being  observed  to  him,  that  a  rage  for  every 
thing  English  prevailed  much  in  France, 
after  Lord  Chatham's  glorious  war,  he 
said,  he  did  not  wonder  at  it,  for  that 
we  had  drubbed  those  fellows  into  a  pro- 
per reverence  for  us,  and  that  their  na- 
tional petulance  required  periodical  chastise- 
ment. 

"  Lord  Lyttelton's9  Dialogues  he  deem- 
ed a  nugatory  performance.  '  That  man,' 
said  he,  *  sat  down  to  write  a  book,  to  tell 
the  world  what  the  world  had  all  his  life 
been  telling  him. 

"Somebody  observing  that  the  Scotch 
Highlanders,  in  the  year  1745,  had  made 
surprising  efforts,  considering  their  numer- 
ous wants  and  disadvantages :  c  YeB,  sir,' 
said  he, '  their  wants  were  numerous  :  but 
you  have  not  mentioned  the  greatest  of 
them  all — the  want  of  law3. 

"  Speaking  of  the  inward  light,  to  which 
some  methodists  pretended,  he  said,  it  was 
a  principle  utterly  incompatible  with  social 
or  civil  security.  'If  a  man,'  said  he, 
*  pretends  to  a  principle  of  action  of  which 
I  can  know  nothing,  nay,  not  so  much  as 
that  he  has  it,  but  only  that  he  pretends  to 
it ;  how  can  I  tell  what  that  person  may 
be  prompted  to  do?  When  a  person  pro- 
fesses to  be  governed  by  a  written  ascer- 
tained law,  I  can  then  know  where  to  find 
a  him.9 

"  The  poem  of  Fingal,  he  said,  was  a 
mere  unconnected  rhapsody,  a  tiresome 
repetition  of  the  same  images.  c  In  vain 
shall  we  look  for  the- hteidus  or  do,  where 
there  is  neither  end  nor  object,  design  or 
moral,  nee  cert*  reeurrit  imago.* 

"Being  asked  by  a  young  nobleman, 
what  was  become  of  the  gallantry  and  mili- 
tary spirit  of  the  old  English  nobility,  he 
replied, '  Why,  my  lord,  I'll  tell  you  what 
is  become  of  it:  it  is  gone  into  the  cicy  to 
look  for  a  fortune.' 


1  In  a  Discourse  by  Sir  William  Jones,  ad- 
dressed to  the  Asiatick  Society,  Febmary  24, 
1785,  is  the  following  passage: 

•*  One  of  the  most  sagacious  men  in  this  age, 
who  continues,  I  hope,  to  improve  and  adorn  it, 
Samuel  Johnson,  remarked  in  my  hearing,  that 
if  Newton  had  flourished  in  ancient  Greece,  he 
would  have  been  worshipped  as  a  divinity." — 
Malomb. 

*  [We  shall  hereafter  see  more  of  Johnson's 
low  opinion  of  Lord  Lyttelton. — Ed.] 

*  [It  is  not  very  clear  what  was  meant :  /ate, 
abstractedly,  would  be  one  of  the  least  wants 
of  an  invading  army.  Johnson  perhaps  meant 
either  that  their  greatest  want  was,  that  they  had 
not  the  law  on  their  side,  or  that  they  had  not 
the  means  of  enforcing  discipline  by  law.— Ed.] 


"  Speaking  of  a  dull  tiresome  fellow, 
whom  he  chanced  to  meet,  he  said, c  That 
fellow  seems  to  me  to  possess  but  one  idea, 
and  that  is  a  wrong  one.' 

"Much inquiry  having  been  made  con- 
cerning a  gentleman  who  had  quitted  a 
company  where  Johnson  was,  and  no  in- 
formation being  obtained,  at  last  Johnson 
observed,  that «  he  did  not  care  to  speak  ill 
of  any  man  behind  his  back,  but  he  believed 
the  gentleman  was  an  attorney.' 

"  He  spoke  with  much  contempt  of  the 
notice  taken  of  Wood  house  *,  the  poetical 
shoemaker.  He  said  it  was  all  vanity  and 
childishness;  and  that  such  objects  were, 
to  those  who  patronized  them,  mere  mirrors 
of  their  own  superiority.  c  They  had  bet- 
ter,' said  he,  * furnish  the  man  with  good 
implements  for  his  trade,  than  raise  sub- 
scriptions for  his  poems.  He  may  make 
an  excellent  shoemaker,  but  can  never  make 
a  good  poet  A  schoolboy's  exercise  may 
be  a  pretty  thing  for  a  schoolboy  ;  but  it  is 
no  treat  for  a  man.' 

"  Speaking  of  Boetius,  who  was  the  fa- 
vourite writer  of  the  middle  ages,  he  said  it 
was  very  surprising  that,  upon  such  a  sub- 
ject, and  in  such  a  situation,  he  should  be 
magit  philosopJtus  quam  Christiana*. 

"  Speaking  of  Arthur  Murphy,  whom  he 
very  much  loved,  c  I  don't  know,'  said  he, 
'  that  Arthur  can  be  classed  with  the  very 
first  dramatick  writers;  yet  at  present  I 
doubt  much  whether  we  have  any  thing 
superiour  to  Arthur.' 

"  Speaking  of  the  national  debt,  he  said, 
itwas  an  idle  dream  to  suppose  that  the 
country  could  sink  under  it  Let  the  pub- 
lick  creditors  be  ever  so  clamorous,  the  in- 
terest of  millions  must  ever  prevail  over 
that  of  thousands5. 

"  Of  Dr.  Kennicott's  Collations «,  he  ob- 


4  [There  is  an  account  of  this  poetical  prodi- 
gy, as  be  was  called,  in  the  Gentleman* s  Mag- 
azine for  1764,  p.  289.  He  was  brought  into 
notice  by  Shenston. — Ed.] 

•  [He  meant  evidently  that  if  the  interest  of 
millions — the  country  at  large— required  that  the 
national  debt  should  be  sponged  off,  it  would  pro- 
Tail  over  the  interest  of  thousands — the  holders 
of  stock.— Ed.] 

•  [Dr,  Benjamin  Kennicott — born  in  1718,  A. 
M.  and  Fellow  of  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  in 
1750,  and  D,  D.  in  1760—  having  distinguished 
himself  by  a  learned  dissertation  on  the  state  of 
the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Old  Testament,  was, 
about  1769,  persuaded  by  Archbishop  Seeker, 
and  encouraged  by  a  large  subscription,  to  under- 
take a  collation  of  all  the  Hebrew  MSS.  of  the 
Old  Testament  Hie  first  volume  of  his  learned 
labour  was,  however,  not  published  till  1776; 
and  the  second,  with  a  general  dissertation,  com- 
pleted the  work  in  1788.  He  was  Radclifla  li- 
brarian, and  canon  of  Christ  Church,  in  which 
cathedral  he  was  buried  in  1783.— Ed. ] 


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1768.— ^TAT.  U. 


Aired,  that  though  the  text  should  not  he 
much  mended  therehy,  yet  it  was  no  small 
advantage  to  know  that  we  had  as  good  a 
text  as  the  most  consummate  industry  and 
diligence  could  procure. 

"  Johnson  observed,  that  so  many  ob- 
jections might  he  made  to  every  thing,  that 
nothing  could  overcome  them  out  the  ne- 
cessity of  doing  something.  No  man  would 
he  of  any  profession ,  as  simply  opposed  to 
not  being  of  it  5  but  every  one  must  do 
something. 

"He  remarked,  that  a  London  parish 
was  a  very  comfortless  thing:  for  the  cler- 
gyman seldom  knew  the  face  of  one  out  of 
ten  of  his  parishioners. 

"Of  the  late  Mr.  Mallet  he  spoke  with 
no  great  respect ;  said,  he  was  ready  for 
any  dirty  job:  that  he  had  wrote  against 
Byng  at  the  instigation  of  the  ministry,  and 
was  equally  ready  to  write  for  him,  provi- 
ded he  found  his  account  in  it. 

cc  A  gentleman  who  had  been  very  un- 
happy in  marriage,  married  immediately 
after  his  wife  died :  Johnson  said,  it  was  the 
triumph  of  hope  over  experience. 

"  He  observed,  that  a  man  of  sense  and 
education  should  meet  a  suitable  companion 
in  a  wife.  It  was  a  miserable  thing  when 
the  conversation  could  only  be  such  as, 
whether  the  mutton  should  be  boiled  or 
roasted,  and  probably  a  dispute  about  that. 

"  He  did  not  approve  of  late  marriages, 
observing  that  more  was  lost  in  point  of 
time,  than  compensated  for  by  any  possible 
advantages.  Even  ill  assorted  marriages 
were  preferable  to  cheerless  celibacy. 

"  Of  old  Sheridan  he  remarked,  that  he 
neither  wanted  parts  nor  literature;  but 
that  his  vanity  and  Quixotism  obscured  his 
merits. 

"  He  said,  foppery  was  never  cured ; 
it  was  the  bad  stamina  of  the  mind,  which, 
like  those  of  the  body,  were  never  rectified  : 
once  a  coxcomb,  and.  always  a  coxcomb. 

"  Being  told  that  Gilbert  Cooper  called 
him  the  Caliban  of  literature ;  *  Well,' 
■aid  he,  (I  must  dub  him  the  Punchi- 
nello V 

"  Speaking  of  the  old  Earl  of  Cork  and 
Orrery,  he  said,  *  that  man  spent  his  life  in 
catching  at  an  object  (literary  eminence), 
which  he  had  not  power  to  grasp. 

"To  find  a  substitution  for  violate*! 
morality,  he  said,  was  the  leading  feature 
in  all  perversions  of  religion. 

"  He  often  used  to  quote,  with  great  pa- 
thos, those  fine  lines  of  Virgil: 


1  [John  Gilbert  Cooper,  Fsq.  author  of  a  good 
deal  of  prose  and  verse,  but  best  known  as  the 
author  of  a  Life  of  Socrates,  and  a  consequent 
dispute  with  Bishop  Warbuiton.  Cooper  was  in 
person  short  and  squab  ;  hence  Johnson's  allusion 
to  Punch    He  died  m  1769.] 


'Optima  quaxrae  dies  mperis  mortalibas  am 
Prima  fugit ;  subeunt  moibi  tristisqne  senectus 
Et  labor,  et  dura)  rapit  inclementia  mortis.' 

8  Gear.  64. 
"  Speaking  of  Homer,  whom  he  venera- 
ted as  the  prince  of  poets9,  Johnson  remark- 
ed that  the  advice  given  to  Diomed3  by  his 
father,  when  he  sent  him  to  the  Trojan 
war,  was  the  noblest  exhortation  that  could 
be  instanced  in  any  heathen  writer,  and 
comprised  in  a  single  line: 

Am  *}trrww,  xau  Cm:p%pt  i/upn<u  *xxm : 

which,  if  I  recollect  well,  is  translated  by 
Dr.  Clarke  thus:  semper  appetere prctston- 
tissima,  et  omnibus  alii*  anteeellere. 

"  He  observed,  *  it  was  a  most  mortify- 
ing reflection  for  any  man  to  consider,  what 
he  had  done,  compared  with  what  he  might 
have  done.' 

"  He  said  few  people  had  intellectual  re- 
sources sufficient  to  forego  the  pleasures  of 
wine:  They  could  not  otherwise  contrive 
how  to  fill  the  interval  between  dinner  and 
supper. 

"  He  went  with  me  one  Sunday,  to  hear 
my  old  master,  Gregory  Sharpe «,  preach 
at  the  Temple. — In  the  prefatory  prayer, 
Sharpe  ranted  about  liberty,  as  a  blessing 
most  fervently  to  be  implored,  and  its  con- 
tinuance prayed  for.  Johnson  observed 
that  our  liberty  was  in  no  sort  of  danger: 
■^he  would  have  done  much  better  to  pray 
against  our  licentiousness. 

"  One  evening  at  Mrs.  Montagu's, 
where  a  splendid  company  was  assembled,* 
consisting  of  the  most  eminent  literary  char- 
acters, I  thought  he  seemed  highly  pleased 
with  the  respect  and  attention  thai  were 
shown  him,  and  asked  him,  on  our  return 
home,  if  he  was  not  highly  gratified  by  hit 
visit.  '  No,  sir,'  said  he, '  not  highly  grat- 
ified; yet  I  do  not  recollect  to  have  passed 
many  evenings  with  fewer  objection*.' 

"  Though  of  no  high  extraction  himself, 
he  had  much  respect  for  birth  and  family, 
especially  among  ladies.  He  said,  (  ad- 
ventitious accomplishments  may  be  poeseas- 

*  [Johnson's  usual  seal,  at  least  at  one  time  of 
his  life,  was  a  bead  of  Homer,  as  appeals  from 
the  envelopes  of  his  letters. — Ed.] 

3  Dr.  Maxwell's  memory  has  deceived  him. 
Glancus  is  the  person  who  received  this  counsel  ; 
and  Clarke's  translation  of  the  passage  (IL  x.  L 
208),  is  as  follows: 

"  Ut  semper  fortissimo  rem  gererom,  et  superior 
virtnte  essem  aliis." — James  Boswell. 

«  [Gregory  Sharpe,  D.  D.  F.  R.  S.  and  F.  A. 
S.,  born  in  1713.  He  published  some  religious 
works,  and  several  critical  essays  on  the  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin  languages.  Dr.  Maxwell  calls 
him  his  "  old  master,"  because  Dr.  Sharpe  was 
master  of  the  Temple  when  Maxwell  was  as- 
sistant preacher.  Dr.  Sharpe  died  in  the  Tempt*- 
house  in  1771,— En.  J 


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ITS 


ed  W  all  ranks  ;  but  one  may  easily  distin- 
guish the  born  gentlewoman.' 

"He  said,  'the  poor  in  England  were 
better  provided  for,  than  in  any  other  coun- 
try of  the  same  extent:  he  did  not  mean 
little  cantons,  or  petty  republicks.  Where 
a  great  proportion  of  the  people,9  said  he, 
'•re  suffered  to  languish  in  helpless  misery, 
that  country  must  be  ill  policed,  and  wretch- 
edly governed:  a  decent  provision  for  the 
poor  is  the  true  test  of  civilization.  Gen- 
tlemen of  education,'  he  observed,  c  were 
pretty  much  the  same  in  all  countries ;  the 
condition  of  the  lower  orders,  the  poor  es- 
pecially, was  the  true  mark  of  national  dis- 
crimination. ' 

"  When  the  corn  laws  were  in  agitation 
in  Ireland,  by  which  that  country  has  been 
enabled  not  only  to  feed  itself,  but  to  export 
corn  to  a  large  amount;  Sir  Thomas  Robin- 
son1 observed,  that  those  laws  might  be 
prejudicial  to  the  corn-trade  of  England. 
1  Sir  Thomas,'  said  he,  '  you  talk  the  lan- 
guage of  a  savage :  what,  sir,  would  you  pre- 
vent any  people  from  feeding  themselves, 
if  by  any  honest  means  they  can  do  it?' 

**  It  being  mentioned,  that  Gar  rick  assist- 
ed Dr.  Browne9,  the  authour  of  the  «  Esti- 
mate,' in  some  dramatick  composition, *  No, 
sir,'  said  Johnson;  c  he  would  no  more  suf- 
fer Garrick  to  write  a  line  in  his  play,  than 
he  would  suffer  him  to  mount  his  pulpit.' 

"  Speaking  of  Burke 3,  he  said,  e  It  was 
commonly  observed  he  spoke  too  often  in 
parliament;  but  nobody  could  say  he  did 
not  speak  well,  though  too  frequently  and 
too  familiarly.' 

u  Speaking  of  economy,  he  remarked,  it 
was  hardly  worth  while  to  save  anxiously 
twenty  pounds  a  year.  If  a  man  could  save 
to  that  decree,  so  as  to  enable  him  to  as- 
sume a  different  rank  in  society,  then,  in- 
deed, it  might  answer  some  purpose. 

"  He  observed,  a  principal  source  of  erro- 
neous judgment  was  viewing  things  partially 
and  only  on  one  tide;  as  for  instance  Jforten*- 
kmUers,  when  they  contemplated  the  for- 
tunes singly  and  separately,  it  was  a  daz- 


1  [The  elder  brother  of  the  first  Lord  Rokebjr, 
called  Long  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  on  account 
of  his  height,  and  to  distinguish  him  from  Sir 
Thomas  Robinson,  first  Lord  Grantham.  See 
p«f,  p.  196.— Ed.] 

*  [Dr.  John  Browne,  born  in  1715  ;  A.  B. 
of  St  John's,  Cambridge,  in  1785,  and  D.  D.  in 
1755;  besides  his  celebrated  "  Estimate  of  the 
Manners  and  Principles  of  the  Times," — a  work 
which,  in  one  year,  ran  through  seven  editions, 
ana  is  now  forgotten, — and  several  religious  and 
miscellaneous  works,  he  was  the  authour  of  two 
tragedies,  Barbarossa  and  Athelstan.  He  was  a 
aaaa  of  considerable  but  irregular  genius  ;  and  he 
died  insane,  by  his  own  hand,  in  1766. — Ed.] 

'  [Mr.  Burke  came  into  parliament  in  1765. — 
En.]  ^ 


zling  and  tempting  object;  but  when  they 
came  to  possess  the  wives  and  their  fortunes 
together,  they  began  to  suspect  they  had 
not  made  quite  so  good  a  bargain. 

"  Speaking  of  the  late  Duke  of  Northum- 
berland 4  living  very  magnificently  when 
Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  somebody  re- 
marked, it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  suit- 
able  successor  to  him:  'then,'  exclaimed 
Johnson,  *he  is  only  Jit  to  succeed  him- 
self.9 

"  He  advised  me,  if  possible,  to  have  a 
good  orchard.  He  knew,  he  said,  a  clergy- 
man of  small  income,  who  brought  up  a 
family  very  reputably,  which  he  chiefly  fed 
with  apple  dumplings  5. 

"He  said  he  had  known  several  good 
scholars  among  the  Irish  gentlemen;  but 
scarcely  any  of  them  correct  in  quantity. 
He  extended  the  same  observation  to  Scot- 
land. 

"  Speaking  of  a  certain  prelate  *,  who  ex- 
erted himself  very  laudably  in  building 
churches  and  parsonage-houses;  c  however,' 
said  he, '  I  do  not  find  that  he  is  esteemed 
a  man  of  much  professional  learning,  or  a 
liberal  patron  ofit ;-— yet,  it  is  well  where  a 
man  possesses  any  strong  positive  excel- 
lence.— Few  have  all  kinds  of  merit  belong- 
ing to  their  character.  We  must  not  ex- 
amine matters  too  deeply. — No,  sir,  a  fal- 
lible being  will  fail  somewhere.' 

"Talking  of  the  Irish  clergy,  he  said, 
e  Swift  was  a  man  of  great  parts,  and  the 
instrument  of  much  good  to  his  country. — 
Berkeley  was  a  profound  scholar,  as  well  as  a 
man  of  fine  imagination ;  but  Usher  V  ne 


4  [Sir  Hugh  Smithson,  who,  by  his  marriage 
with  the  daughter  of  Algernon,  Duke  of  Somerset, 
became  second  Earl  of  Northumberland  of  the 
new  creation,  was  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland 
from  1768  to  1765  ;  he  was  created  a  duke  in 
1766.— Ed.] 

*  [This  seems  a  strange  resource.  Perhaps 
Dr.  Maxwell,  at  the  interval  of  so  many  years, 
did  not  perfectly  recollect  Dr.  Johnson's  state- 
ment— Ed.] 

6  [Probably  Dr.  Richard  Robinson,  Bishop  of 
KUlaloe  in  1751,  of  Ferns  in  1759,  of  Kildare  in 
1761;  Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  Primate  of 
Ireland  from  1765  to  1795.  He  was  created 
Lord  Rokeby  in  1777,  with  remainder  to  the  is- 
sue of  his  cousin,  Matthew  Robinson,  of  West 
Lay  ton,  two  of  whose  sons  have  successively  suc- 
ceeded to  that  title.  He  built  what  is  called 
Canterbury-gate,  and  the  adjacent  quadrangle,  in 
Christ-Church,  Oxford.— Ed.] 

7  [The  Irish  church  has  too  long  neglected  to 
pay  hs  debt  of  gratitude  to  Usher;  but  the  Uni- 
versity of  Dublin  has  at  length  determined  to 
print  at  its  press  the  works  of  her  <c  great  lumina- 
ry." The  edition  and  the  care  of  prefixing  a 
life  of  the  prelate,  is  confided  to  the  able  hands 
of  Dr.  Charles  Elrington,  regius  professor  of  di- 
vinity in  that  university.— £d.] 


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laid, f  wts  the  great  luminary  of  the  Irish 
church;  and  a  greater,'  he  added,  'no 
church  could  boast  of;  at  least  in  modern 
times.' 

"  We  dined  UU-b-Ute  at  the  Mitre,  as  I 
was  preparing  to  return  to  Ireland,  after  an 
absence  of  many  years.  I  regretted  much 
leaving  London,  where  I  had  formed  many 
agreeable  connexions  :  c  Sir,9  said  he,  '  I 
do  n't  wonder  at  it:  no  man,  fond  of  letters, 
leaves  London  without  regret.  But  re- 
member, sir,  you  have  seen  and  enjoyed 
a  great  deal  : — you  have  seen  life  in  its 
highest  decorations,  and  the  world  has 
nothing  new  to  exhibit — No  man  is  so 
well  qualified  to  leave  publick  life  as  he 
who  has  long  tried  it  and  known  it  well. 
We  are  always  hankering  after  untried 
situations,  and  imagining  greater  felicity 
from  them  than  they  can  afford.  No,  sir, 
knowledge  and  virtue  may  be  acquired 
in  all  countries,  and  your  local  consequence 
will  make  you  some  amends  for  the  in- 
tellectual gratifications  you  relinquish.' 
Then  he  quoted  the  following  lines  with 
great  pathos  : 

*  He  who  has  early  known  the  pomps  of  state, 
(For  things  unknown,  't  is  ignorance  to  condemn;) 
And  after  having  view'd  the  gaudy  bak, 
Can  boldly  say,  the  trifle  I  contemn; 
With  such  a  one  contented  could  I  live, 
Contented  could  I  die 1.' — 


1  Being  desirous  to  trace  these  venes  to  the 
fountain  head,  after  having  in  vain  turned  over 
several  of  our  elder  poets  with  the  hope  of  light- 
ing on  them,  I  applied  to  Dr.  Maxwell,  now  resi- 
dent at  Bath,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  their 
authour  :  bat  that  gentleman  could  famish  no  aid 
on  this  occasion.  At  length  the  lines  have  been 
discovered  by  the  authour's  second  son,  Mr.  James 
Boswell,  in  the  London  Magazine  for  July,  1732, 
where  they  form  part  of  a  poem  on  Retire- 
ment, there  published  anonymously,  but  in  fact 
(as  he  afterwards  found)  copied  with  some  slight 
variations  from  one  of  Walsh's  smaller  poems, 
entitled  "  The  Retirement ;"  and  they  exhibit 
another  proof  of  what  has  been  elsewhere  ob- 
served by  the  authoor  of  the  work  before  us,  that 
Johnson  retained  in  his  memory  fragments  of 'ob- 
scure or  neglected  poetry.  In  quoting  verses  of 
that  description,  he  appears  by  a  slight  variation 
to  have  sometimes  given  him  a  moral  turn,  and 
to  have  dexterously  adapted  them  to  his  own  sen- 
timents, where  the  original  had  a  very  different 
tendency.  Thus,  in  the  present  instance  (as  Mr. 
J.  Boswell  observes  to  me),  "  the  authoor  of  the 
poem  above  mentioned  exhibits  himself  as  having 
retired  to  the  country,  to  avoid  the  vain  follies  of 
a  town  life, — ambition,  avarice,  and  the  pursuit 
of  pleasure,  contrasted  with  the  enjoyments  of 
the  country,  and  the  delightful  conversation  that 
the  brooks,  &c  furnish;  which  he  holds  to  be 
infinitely  more  pleasing  and  instructive  than  any 
which  towns  afford  He  is  then  led  to  consider 
the  weakness  of  the  human  mind,  and  after  la- 
menting that  he  (the  writer)  who  is  neither  en- 


"  He  then  took  a  moat  affecting;  leaveof 
me;  said,  he  knew  it  was  a  point  of  duly 
that  called  me  away. — *  We  shall  all  be 
sorry  to  lose  you,'  said  he;  < laudo  Ut- 
men.' "— Maxwell. 

This  is  to  me  a  memorable  year;  for  in  it 
I  had  the  happiness  to  obtain  the  acquaint- 
ance of  that  extraordinary  man  whose  me- 
moirs I  am  now  writing;  an  acquaintance 
which  I  shall  ever  esteem  as  one  of  the 
most  fortunate  circumstances  in  my  life. 
Though  then  but  two-and-twenty,  I  had 


slaved  by  avarice,  ambition,  or  pleasure,  has  yet 
made  himself  a  slave  to  tare,  he  thus  proceeds  : 

*  If  this  dire  passion  never  will  be  done, 

If  beauty  always  must  my  heart  enthral, 
O,  rather  let  me  be  enslaved  by  one, 
Than  madly  thus  become  a  slave  to  all: 

*  One  toso  sat  emrlp  known  the  pomp  of  stats, 

(For  thing*  unknown,  H  is  ignorance  to  condemn), 
And,  after  having  viewed  the  gaudy  bait, 
Cen.coldly  tap,  the  tryst  I  contemn  ; 

<  la  her  blest  arms  contented  could  I  live, 

Contented  could  I  die.    Bat,  O  my  mind 
Imaginary  scenes  of  bliss  deceive 
With  hopes  of  joys  impossible  to  find.' " 

Another  instance  of  Johnson's  retaining  m  Ins 
memory  verses  by  obscure  authours  is  given  [ poet , 
27th  August,  1778],  where,  in  consequence  of 
hearing  a  girl  spinning  in  a  chamber  over  that  in 
which  he  was  sitting,  he  repeated  these  lines, 
which  be  said  were  written  by  one  Giflard,  a 
clergyman;  but  the  poem  in  which  they  are  in- 
troduced has  hitherto  been  undiscovered : 

<  Verse  sweetens  toil,  however  rode  the  sound : 

All  at  her  work  the  village  maiden  sings  j 
Nor  while  she  torus  the  giddy  wheel  around, 
BovoItss  the  sad  vtetasitude  of  dungs.* » 

In  the  autumn  of  1782,  when  he  was  at 
Brighthelmstone,  he  frequently  accompanied  Mr. 
Philip  Metcalfe  in  his  chaise,  to  take  the  air; 
and  the  conversation  in  one  of  their  excursions 
happening  to  turn  on  a  celebrated  historian,  since 
deceased,  he  repeated,  with  great  precision,  some 
verses,  as  very  characteristic!  of  that  gentleman. 
These  furnish  another'  proof  of  what  has  been 
above  observed;  for  they  are  found  in  a  very 
obscure  quarter,  among  some  anonymous  poems 
appended  to  the  second  volume  of  a  collection 
frequently  printed  by  Lintot,  under  the  tide  of 
Pope's  Miscellanies  : 

"  Bee  how  the  wand'ring  Danube  flows, 
Realms  and  religions  parting ; 
A  friend  to  all  true  christian  foes, 
To  Peter,  Jack,  and  Martin. 

u  Now  Protestant,  and  Papist  now, 

Not  constant  long  to  either, 
At  length  an  infidel  does  grow, 

And  ends  his  journey  neither. 
M  Thus  many  a  youth  I  *ve  known  set  out, 

Half  Protestant,  half  Papist, 
And  rambling  long  the  world  about, 

Turn  infidel  or  atheist.'-' 

In  reciting  these  verses,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
Johnson  substituted  some  word  for  infidel,  m  the 
second  stanza,  to  avoid  the  disagreeable  repethmoa 
of  the  same  expression. — Malone. 


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175 


for  several  years  read  his  works  with  de- 
light and  instruction,  and  had  the  highest 
reverence  for  their  authour,  which  had 
grown  up  in  my  fancy  into  a  kind  of  myste- 
rious veneration,  hy  figurine  to  myself  a 
state  of  solemn  elevated  abstraction,  in 
which  I  supposed  him  to  live  in  the  im- 
nense  metropolis  of  London.  Mr.  Gentle- 
man I,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who  passed  some 
years  in  Scotland  as  a  player,  and  as  an  in- 
structor in  the  English  language,  a  man 
whose  talents  and  worth  were  depressed  by 
misfortunes,  had  given  me  a  representation 
of  die  figure  and  manner  of  Dictionary 
Johnson  !  as  he  was  then  generally  called  8; 
and  during  my  first  visit  to  London,  which 
was  for  three  months  in  1760,  Mr.  Derrick 
the  poet 3,  who  was  Gentleman's  friend  and 
countryman,  flattered  me  with  hopes  that  he 
would  introduce  me  to  Johnson,  an  honour 
of  which  I  was  very  ambitious.  But  he 
never  found  an  opportunity;  which  made 
me  doubt  that  he  had  promised  to  do  what 
was  not  in  his  power;  till  Johnson  some 

I  years  afterwards  told  me,  "  Derrick,  sir, 
might  very  well  have  introduced  you.  I 
had  a  kindness  for  Derrick,  and  am  sorry 

!      he  m  dead.'* 

In  the  summer  of  1761,  Mr.  Thomas 
Sheridan  was  at  Edinburgh,  and  delivered 
lectures  upon  the  English  Language  and 
Publick  Speaking  to  large  and  respectable 
audiences.   I  was  often  in  his  company,  and 


1  [Francis  Gentleman  was  bom'  in  1728,  and 
educated  in  Dublin.  His  father  was  an  officer  in 
the  army,  and  he,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  obtained 
a  commission  in  the  same  regiment ;  on  the  re- 
daction, at  the  peace  of  1748,  he  lost  this  pro- 
Session,  and  adopted  that  of  the  stage,  both  as  an 
aathor  and  an  actor  ;  in  neither  of  which  did  he 
attain  any  eminence.  He  died  in  December, 
1784  ;  having,  in  the  later  course  of  his  life,  ex- 
peiieaced  •*  all  the  hardships  of  a  wandering  ac- 
tor, and  all  the  disappointments  of  a  friendless 
asshor.'*— Ed.] 

9  Am  great  men  of  antiquity,  such  as  Scipio 
Afrit  anus,  had  an  epithet  added  to  their  names, 
in  consequence  of  some  celebrated  action,  so  my 
JOastrions  friend  was  often  called  Dictionary 
John  so  Bf,  from  that  wonderful  achievement  of 
Junius  and  labour,  his  "  Dictionary  of  the  English 
language  ; "  the  merit  of  which  I  contemplate 
with  more  and  more  admiration. — Boswell. 
[Boswell  himself  was  at  one  time  anxious  to  be 
called  Cornea  BoswelL  See  post,  September, 
1769.— Ed.] 

'  [Samuel  Derrick  was  an  Irishman,  bom  about 
1724  ;  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  linendraper,  but 
abandoned  trade  {or  the  stage  and  literature  ;  he 
amde,  at  least,  one  attempt  as  actor,  but  failed ; 
as  an  authour  he  was  more  successful,  but  is  now 
almost  equally  forgotten.  He  succeeded  Nash 
as  master  of  the  ceremonies  at  Bath  ;  but  his  ex- 
travagance and  irregularities  always  kept  him 
aeor,  and  he  died  in  1760  in  very  necessitous  cir- 
-Ed.J 


heard  him  frequently  expatiate  upon  John-* 
eon's  extraordinary  knowledge,  talents,  and 
virtues,  repeat  his  pointed  sayings,  describe 
his  particularities,  and  boast  of  his  being; 
his  guest  sometimes  till  two  or  three  in  the 
morning.  At  his  house  I  hoped  to  have 
many  opportunities  of  seeing  the  sage,  as 
Mr.  Sheridan  obligingly  assured  me  I 
should  not  be  disappointed. 

When  I  returned  to  London  in  the  end 
of  1762,  to  my  surprise  and  regret  I  found 
an  irreconcileable  difference  had  taken  place 
between  Johnson  and  Sheridan.  A  pen* 
sion  of  two  hundred  pounds  a  year  had 
heen  given  to  Sheridan.  Johnson,  who,  as 
ha*  been  already  mentioned,  thought  slight* 
ingly  of  Sheridan's  art,  upon  hearing  that 
he  was  also  pensioned,  exclaimed,  "What! 
have  they  given  Aim  a  pension?  Then  it 
is  time  for  me  to  give  up  njjne."  Wheth- 
er this  proceeded  from  a  momentary  indig- 
nation, as  if  it  were  an  affront  to  his  exalt- 
ed merit  that  a  player  should  be  rewarded 
in  the  same  manner  with  him,  or  was  the 
sudden  effect  of  a  fit  of  peevishness,  it  was 
unluckily  4  said,  and,  indeed,  cannot  be  jus- 
tified. Mr.  Sheridan's  pension  was  grant* 
ed  to  him  not  as  a  player,  but  as  a  sufferer5 


4  [  Unluckily  is  too  mild  a  term  ;  it  was  un» 
grateful  as  well  as  arrogant,  for  we  havo  seen  that 
Sheridan  had  no  small  share  in  obtaining  Johnson 
his  pension — he  rang  the  bell,  as  Lord  Lough- 
borough admitted.  Nor  was  Johnson's,  as  Mr. 
Boswell  represents  it,  a  tudden  fit  of  peevishness  : 
too  many  instances  will  occur  in  the  following 
pages  of  the  continued  and  studied  contumely 
with  which  Johnson  pursued  Sheridan. — Ed.] 

*  [Mr.  Boswell,  in  his  tenderness  to  the  amour 
propre  of  Doctor  Jphnsoo,  cannot  bear  to  admit 
that  Sheridan's  literary  character  had  any  thing 
to  do  with  the  pension,  and  no  doubt  he  endeav- 
oured to  soften  Johnson's  resentment  by  giving, 
as  he  does  in  the  above  passage,  this  favour  a 
political  colour ;  but  there  seems  no  reason  to 
believe  that  Sheridan's  pension  was  given  to  him 
as  a  sufferer  by  a  play-house  riot  It  was  proba- 
bly granted  (et  hmc  ilia  lacrymm)  on  the  same 
motive  as  Johnson's  own,  namely,  the  desire  of 
the  king  and  Lord  Bute  to  distinguish  the  com- 
mencement of  the  oew  reign  by  a  patronage  of 
literature.  Indeed  this  is  rendered  almost  certain 
by  the  following  passages  of  the  letters  of  Mrs, 
Sheridan  to  Mr.  White  : 

London,  Feb.  25th,  1762.— "Mr.  Sheridan's 
Dissertation  »,  you  see,  addressed  to  Lord  Bute. 
It  has  been  as  well  received  by  him  as  we  could 
possibly  wish,  and  even  beyond  the  expectation 
of  our  friends.  He  expressed  himself  highly 
pleased  with  the  design,  and  sent  Mr.  Sheridan 
word  that  it  should  receive  all  countenance  and 
encouragement" 

London,  March  80, 1702.— "  I  believe  I  told 
you  in  my  last  that  Lord  Bute  had  received  the 
Dissertation  and  Address  very  well,  and  pronusad 
the  plan  all  countenance  and  encouragement'* 


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in  the  cause  of  government  when  he  was 
manager  of  the  Theatre  Royal  in  Ireland, 
when  parties  ran  high  in  1753.  And  it 
must  also  he  allowed  that  he  was  a  man  of 
literature,  and  had  considerably  improved 
the  arts  of  reading  and  speaking  with  dis- 
tinctness and  propriety. 

Besides,  Johnson  should  have  recollected 
that  Mr.  Sheridan  taught  pronunciation1 
to  Mr.  Alexander  Wedderhurne,  whose 
sister  was  married  to  Sir  Harry  Erskine, 
an  intimate  friend  of  Lord  Bute,  who  was 
the  favourite  of  the  king;  and  surely  the 
most  outrageous  whig  will  not  maintain, 
that  whatever  ought  to  be  the  principle  in 
the  disposal  of  offices,  a  pension  ought 
never  to  be  granted  from  any  bias  of  court 
connexion.  Mr.  Macklin,  indeed,  shared 
with  Mr.  Sheridan  the  honour  of  instruct- 
ing Mr.  Wedderburne  2;  and  though  it  was 
too  late  in  life  for  a  Caledonian  to  acquire 
the  genuine  English  cadence,  yet  so  suc- 
cessful were  Mr.  Wedderburne's  instruct- 
ors, and  his  own  unabating  endeavours, 
that  he  got  rid  of  the  coarse  part  of  his 
Scotch  accent,  retaining  only  as  much  of 
the  "  native  wood-  note  wild,"  as  to  mark 
his  country;  which,  if  any  Scotchman 
should  afFect  to  forget,  I  should  heartily  de- 
spise him.  Notwithstanding  the  difficulties 
which  are  to  be  encountered  by  those  who 
have  not  had  the  advantage  of  an  English 
education,  he  by  degrees  formed  a  mode 
of  speaking,  to  which  Englishmen  do  not 
deny  the  praise  of  elegance.  Hence  his 
distinguished  oratory,  which  he  exerted  in 
his  own  country  as  an  advocate  in  the 
court  of  session,  and  a  ruling  elder  of  the 
kirk,  has  had  its  fame  and  ample  reward, 


London,  29,  1792. — 4t  Mr.  Sheridan  is  now,  as 
I  mentioned  to  you  formerly,  busied  in  the  Eng- 
lish Dictionary,  which  he  is  encouraged  to  pur- 
ine with  the  more  alacrity  as  his  majesty  has 
vouchsafed  him  such  a  mark  of  royal  favour.  I 
■oppose  you  have  heard  that  he  has  granted  him 
a  pension  of  200/.  a  year,  merely  as  an  encourage- 
ment to  his  undertaking,  and  this  without  solicita- 
tion, which  makes  it  the  more  valuable." — 
White's  Misc.  JVbva,  p.  104.  107.  111.— Ed.] 

1  [In  all  this  pretended  defence  of  Sheridan's 
pension,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  Boswell  is  infected 
with  Johnson's  spirit,  and  does  all  he  can  to  de- 
preciate the  motives  of  the  grant  He  seems  al- 
to inclined  to  sneer  a  little  at  his  own  countryman, 
Lord  Loughborough,  forgetting  that,  even  if  he 
had  committed  the  offence  (which  is  not  proved) 
of  suggesting  Sheridan's  pension,  he  had  actually 
procured  Johnson's. — Ed.] 

*  [This  is  an  odd  coincidence.  A  Scotchman 
who  wishes  to  learn  a  pure  English  pronuncia- 
tion employs  one  preceptor  who  happens  to  be  an 
Irishman,  and  afterwards  another ,  likewise  an 
Irishman,  and  this  Iran-taught  Scot  becomes 
—and  mainly  by  his  oratory — one  of  the  chief 
-  ornaments  of  the  English  senate,  and  the  firat  sub- 
ject in  the  British  empire.— Ed.] 


in  much  higher  spheres.  When  I  look 
hack  on  this  noble  person  at  Edinburgh,  in 
situations  so  unworthy  of  his  brilliant  pow- 
ers, and  hehold  Lord  Loughborough  at 
London,  the  change  seems  almost  like  one 
of  the  metamorphoses  in  Ovid,  and  as  his 
two  preceptors,  by  refining  his  utterance, 
gave  currency  to  his  talents,  we  may  say  in 
the  words  of  that  poet,  "  Nam  vos  mutas- 
tis." 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  upon  this  re- 
markable instance  of  successful  parts  and 
assiduity;  because  it  affords  animating  en- 
couragement to  other  gentlemen  of  North 
Britain  to  try  their  fortunes  in  the  so  at  hern 
part  of  the  island,  where  they  may  hope  to 
gratify  their  utmost  ambition;  and  now  that 
we  are  one  people  by  the  Union,  it  would 
surely  be  illiberal  to  maintain,  that  they 
have  not  an  equal  title  with  the  natives  of 
any  other  part  of  his  majesty's  dominions. 

Johnson  complained  that  a  man  who  dis- 
liked him  repeated  his  sarcasm  to  Mr.  Sher- 
idan, without  telling  him  what  followed, 
which  was,  that  after  a  pause  he  added, 
"  However,  I  am  glad  that  Mr.  Sheridan 
has  a  pension,  for  he  is  a  very  good  man." 
Sheridan  could  never  forgive  his  hastv  con- 
temptuous expression.  It  rankled  in  his 
mind;  and  though  I  informed  him  of  all 
that  Johnson  said,  and  that  he  would  bo 
very  glad  to  meet  him  amicably,  he  posi- 
tively declined  repeated  offers  which  I 
made,  and  once  went  off  abruptly  from  a 
house  where  he  and  I  were  engaged  to 
dine,  because  he  was  told  that  Johnson 
was  to  be  there.  I  have  no  sympathetic! 
feeling  with  such  persevering  resentment7. 
It  is  painful  when  there  is  a  breach  be- 
tween those  who  have  lived  together  social- 
ly and  cordially;  and  I  wonder  that  there 
is  not,  in  all  such  cases,  a  mutual  wish  that 
it  should  be  healed.  I  could  perceive  that 
Mr.  Sheridan  was  by  no  means  satisfied* 
with  Johnson's  acknowledging  him  to  be  a 
good  man.  That  could  not  soothe  his  in- 
jured vanity.  I  could  not  but  smile,  at  the 
same  time  that  I  was  offended,  to  observe 
Sheridan  in  the  Life  of  Swift,  which  he  af- 
terwards published,  attempting,  in  the  wri- 
things  oi  his  resentment,  to  depreciate 
Johnson,  by  characterising  him  as  "  A  wri- 
ter of  giffantick  fame,  in  these  days  of  little 
men:"  that  very  Johnson  whom  he  once 
so  highly  admired  and  venerated  5. 


9  [But  Johnson  seems  to  have  kept  it  alive  by 
persevering  sarcasms. — Ed.] 

4  [Why  should  he  have  been  I  His  goodness 
had  nothing  to  say  to  the  question.  Sheridan  *s 
pension  was  granted  to  him  for  his  literary  char- 
acter, and  Johnson's  following  up  his  insolent  at- 
tack on  bis  talents  by  a  supercilious  acknowledg- 
ment that  he  was  nevertheless  a  very  good  man, 
was  an   additional  insult — Ed.] 

•  [This  would  have  been  very  slight  retaha- 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1768.— ^TAT.  54. 


m 


This  rupture  with  Sheridan  deprived 
Johnson  of  one  of  his  most  agreeable  re- 
sources for  amusement  in  his  lonely  even- 
ings; for  Sheridan's  well-informed,  animat- 
ed, and  bustling  mind  never  suffered  con- 
versation to  stagnate;  and  Mrs.  Sheridan 
was  a  most  agreeable  companion  to  an  in- 
tellectual man.  She  was  sensible,  ingeni- 
ous, unassuming,  yet  communicative.  I 
recollect,  with  satisfaction,  many  pleasing 
hours  which  I  passed  with  her  under  the 
hospitable  roof  of  her  husband,  who  was  to 
Bie  a  very  kind  friend.  Her  novel,  entitled 
"Memoirs  of  Miss  Sydney  Biddulph," 
contains  an  excellent  moral,  while  it  incul- 
cates a  future  state  of  retribution1;  and 


tion  ;  bat,  in  truth,  Mr.  Boswell  is  not  quite  fair 
in  representing  it  as  an  attempt  at  retaliation  on 
Sheridan's  own  account  Dr.  Johnson  had  de- 
preciated the  talents  and  character  of  Dr.  Swift, 
not  merely  in  conversation,  but  in  his  Lives  of 
the  Poet 8.  Sheridan,  in  his  Life  of  Swift,  ad- 
vocated the  cause  of  the  dean,  for  whom  he  had 
a  natural  and  hereditary  veneration  ;  and  though 
he  observed  on  Johnson's  criticisms  and  censures 
with  a  severity  sharpened  probably  by  his  per- 
sonal feelings,  he  treated  him  on  all  other  points 
with  moderation  and  respect — En.] 

1  My  position  has  been  very  well  illustrated  by 
Mr.  Bebham  of  Uedford,  in  his  Essay  on  Dra- 
matick  Poetry.  "The  fashionable  doctrines 
(says  he)  both  of  moralists  and  critics?  in  these 
times  is,  that  virtue  and  happiness  are  constant 
concomitants ;  and  it  is  regarded  as  a  kind  of 
diamatick  impiety  to  maintain  that  virtue  should 
not  be  rewarded,  nor  vice  punished  in  the  last 
scene  of  the  last  act  of  every  tragedy.  This  conr 
duct  in  our  modern  poets  is,  however,  in  my 
opinion,  extremely  injudicious  ;  for  it  labours  in 
vain  to  inculcate  a  doctrine  in  theory,  which 
every  one  knows  to  be  false  in  fact,  viz.  that  vir- 
tue in  real  life  is  always  productive  of  happiness, 
sad  vice  of  misery.  Thus  Congreve  concludes 
the  tragedy  of  « The  JMourning  Bride '  with  the 
following  foolish  couplet : 

*  For  blearing!  ever  wait  on  virtuous  deeds,  ""* 
And,  though  a  late,  a  sure  reward  succeed*.' 

**  When  a  man  eminently  virtuous,  a  Brutus,  a 
Cato,  or  a  Socrates,  finally  sinks  under  the  pres- 
sure of  accumulated  misfortune,  we  are  not  only 
led  to  entertain  a  more  indignant  hatred  of  vice 
than  if  he  rose  from  his  distress,  but  we  are  in- 
evitably induced  to  cherish  the  sublime  idea  that 
a  day  of  future  retribution  will  arrive  when  he 
shall  receive  not  merely  poetical,  but  real  and 
substantial  justice."  Essays  Philosophical,  His- 
torical, and  literary,  London,  1791,  Vol.  II.  8vo. 
p.  317. 

Thk  is  well  reasoned  and  well  expressed.  I 
wish,  indeed,  that  the  ingenious  authour  had  not 
thought  it  necessary  to  introduce  any  instance 
of  "  a  man  eminently  virtuous  ; "  as  he  would 
then  have  avoided  mentioning  such  a  ruffian  as 
Brutus  under  that  description.  Mr.  Belsham  dis- 
covers in  his  "  Essays  "  so  much  reading  and 
thinking,  and  good  composition,  that  I  regret  his 

Y<TL.   I.  23 


what  it  teaches  is  impressed  upon  the  mind 
by  a  series  of  as  deep  distress  as  can  affect 
humanity ,  in  the  amiable  and  pious  heroine 
who  goes  to  her  grave  unrelieved,  but  re- 
signed, and  full  or  hope  of  "  heaven's  mer- 
cy." Johnson  paid  her  this  high  compli- 
ment upon  it:  "I  know  not,  madam,  that 
you  have  a  right*  upon  moral  principles,  to 
make  your  readers  suffer  so  much." 

Mr.  Thomas  Da  vies  the  actor,  who  then 
kept  a  bookseller's  shop  in  Russell-street* 
Covent-garden  2,  told  me  that  Johnson  was 
very  much  his  friend,  and  came  frequently 
to  his  house,  where  he  more  than  once  in- 
vited me  to  meet  him:  hut  hy  some  un- 
lucky accident  or  other  he  was  prevented 
from  coming  to  us. 

Mr.  Thomas  Davies  was  a  man  of  good 
understanding  and  talents,  with  the  advan- 
tage of  a  liberal  education.  Though  some- 
what pompous,  he  was  an  entertaining 
companion ;  and  his  literary  performances 
have  no  inconsiderable  share  of  merit.  He 
was  a  friendly  and  very  hospitable  man. 
Both  he  and  his  wife. (who  has  been  cele- 
brated3 for  her  beauty),  though  upon  the 
stage  for  many  years,  maintained  an  uni- 
form decency  of  character ;  and  Johnson 
esteemed  them,  and  lived  in  as  easy  an  inti- 
macy with  them  as  with  any  family  which 
he  used  to  visit.  Mr.  Davies  recollected 
several  of  Johnson's  remarkable  sayings, 
and  was  one  of  the  best  of  the  many  imita- 
tors of  his  voice  and  manner,  while  relat- 
ing them.  He  increased  my  impatience 
more  and  more  to  see  the  extraordinary 
man  whose  works  I  highly  valued,  and 
whose  conversation  was  reported  to  he  so 
peculiarly  excellent. 

At  last,  on  Monday  the  16th  of  May, 
when  I  was  sitting  in  Mr.  Davies's  back 


not  having  been  fortunate  enough  to  be  educated 
a  member  of  our  excellent  national  establishment 
Had  he  not  been  nursed  in  nonconformity,  he 
probably  would  not  have  been  tainted  with  those 
heresies  (as  I  sincerely,  and  on  no  slight  investi- 
gation, think  them)  both  in  religion  and  politicks, 
which,  while  I  read,  I  am  sure,  with  candour, 
I  cannot  read  without  offence. — Boswell. 

*  No.  8. — The  very  place  where  I  was  fortu- 
nate enough  to  be  introduced  to  the  illustrious 
subject  of  this  work  deserves  to  be  particularly 
marked.  I  never  pass  by  it  without  feeling  reve- 
rence and  regret. — Boswell. 

8  [By  Churchill,  in  the  Rosciad,  where,  rather, 
in  contempt  of  Davies  than  out  of  compliment  to 
his  wife,  he  exclaims, 


-on  my  His, 


That  Da? tea  baa  a  very  pretty  wife." 
Davies's  pompous  manner  of  reciting  his  part  the 
satirist  describes  with  more  force  than  delicacy  : 

"  He  mouths  a  sentence  as  curs  mouth  a  bone." 
Th»  sarcasm  drove,  it  is  said,  (post,  7th  April, 
1778),  poor  Davies  from  the  stage.— En.] 


Digitized  by 


Google 


179 


1768.— JETAT.  54 


parlour,  after  having  arank  tea  with  him 
and  Mrs.  Davies,  Johnson  unexpectedly 
came  into  the  shop  i;  and  Mr.  Davies  hav- 
ing perceived  him  through  the  glass-door 
in  the  room  in  which  we  were  sitting,  advanc- 
ing towards  us,  he  announced  his  awful  ap- 
proach to  me  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  an 
actor  in  the  part  of  Horatio,  when  he  ad- 
dresses Hamlet  on  the  appearance  of  his  fa- 
ther's ghost, "  Look,  my  lord,  it  comes."  I 
found  that  I  had  a  very  perfect  idea  of  John- 
eon's  figure,  from  the  portrait  of  him  paint- 
ed by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  soon  after  he 
had  published  his  Dictionary,  in  the  atti- 
tude of  sitting  in  his  easy  chair  in  deep 
meditation :  which  was  the  first  picture  his 
friend  did  for  him,  which  Sir  Joshua  very 
kindly  presented  to  me,  and  from  which  an 
engraving  has  been  made  for  this  work. 
Mr.  Davies  mentioned  my  name,  and  re- 
spectfully introduced  me  to  him.  I  was 
much  agitated  :  and  recollecting  his  preju- 
dice against  tne  Scotch,  of  which  I  had 
heard  much,  I  said  to  Davies,  "  Don't  tell 
him  where  I  come  from."  "  From  Scot- 
land," cried  Davies,  roguishly.  "  Mr.  John- 
eon  (said  I),  I  do  indeed  come  from  Scot- 
land, but  I  cannot  help  it."  I  am  willing 
to  flatter  myself  that  I  meant  this  as  light 
pleasantry  to  soothe  and  conciliate  him,  and 
not  as  an  humiliating  abasement  at  the  ex- 
pense of  my  country.  But  however  that 
might  be,  this  speech  was  somewhat  un- 
lucky ;  for  with  that  auickness  of  wit  for 
which  he  was  so  Yemarkable,  he  seized  the 
expression  "  come  from  Scotland,"  which 
I  used  in  the  sense  of  being  of  that  coun- 
try ;  and,  as  if  I  had  said  that  I  had  come 
away  from  it,  or  left  it,  retorted,  "  That, 
sir,  I  find  is  what  a  very  great  many  of 


1  Mr.  Murphy,  in  his  "  Essay  on  the  Life  and 
Genius  of  Dr.  Johnson,  has  given  an  account  of 
this  meeting  considerably  different  from  mine,  I 
am  persuaded  without  any  consciousness  of  errour. 
His  memory,  at  the  end  of  near  thirty  years,  has 
undoubtedly  deceived  him,  and  he  supposes  him- 
self to  have  been  present  at  a  scene,  which  he  has 
probably  heard  inaccurately  described  by  others. 
In  my  note  taken  an  the  very  day,  in  which  I 
am  confident  I  marked  every  thing  material  that 
passed,  no  mention  is  made  of  this  gentleman  ; 
and  I  am  sure,  that  I  should  not  have  omitted 
one  so  well  known  in  the  literary  world.  It  may 
easily  be  imagined  that  this  my  first  interview 
with  Dr.  Johnson,  with  all  its  circumstances, 
made  a  strong  impression  on  my  mind,  and  would 
be  registered  with  peculiar  attention. — Bo  a  weld. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  in  the  editions  of  Mur- 
phy's Life  of  Johnson,  published  subsequently  to 
the  appearance  of  this  note,  in  1791,  he  never 
corrected  the  misstatement  here  mentioned. — 
M  alone. 

[This  is  an  errour  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Malene. 
This  note  was  not  in  Boswell's  first  edition,  pub- 
lished in  1791,  and  indeed  could  not  be,  as  Mur- 
phy's Life  was  not  published  till  1793.— En.i 


your  countrymen  cannot  help,"  Thi» 
stroke  stunned  me  a  good  deal ;  and  when 
we  had  set  down,  I  felt  myself  not  a  'little 
embarrassed,  and  apprehensive  of  what 
might  come  next.  He  then  addressed  him- 
self to  Davies:  "What  do  you  think  of 
Garrick  ?  He  has  refused  me  an  order  for 
the  play  for  Miss  Williams,  because  he 
knows  the  house  will  be  full,  and  that  an 
order  will  be  worth  three  shillings.'*  Ea- 
ger to  take  any  opening  to  get  into  conver- 
sation wkh  him,  I  ventured  to  say,  "  O, 
sir,  I  cannot  think  Mr.  Garrick  would 
grudge  such  a  trifle  to  you."  "  Sir,  (said 
he,  with  a  stern  look),  I  have  known  Da- 
vid Garrick  longer  than  you  have  done  : 
and  I  know  no  nght  you  have  to  talk  to  me 
on  the  subject"  Perhaps  I  deserved  this 
check;  for  it  was  rather  presumptuous  in 
me,  an  entire  stranger,  to  express  any 
doubt  of  the  justice  of  his  animadversion 
upon  his  old  acquaintance  and  pupil  2.  I 
now  felt  myself  much  mortified,  and  began 
to  think  that  the  hope  which  I  had  long  in- 
dulged of  obtaining  his  acquaintance  was 
blasted.  And,  in  truth,  had  not  my  ardour 
been  uncommonly  Btrong,  and  my  resolu- 
tion uncommonly  persevering,  so  rough  a 
reception  might  have  deterred  me  lor  ever 
from  making  any  further  attempts.  For- 
tunately, however,  I  remained  upon  the 
field  not  wholly  discomfited ;  and  was  soon 
rewarded  bv  hearing  some  of  his  conversa- 
tion, of  which  I  preserved  the  following 
short  minute,  without  marking  the  ques- 
tions and  observations  by  which  it  was 
produced. 

"  People  (he  remarked)  may  be  taken  in 
once,  who  imagine  that  an  authour  is  great- 
er in  private  life  than  other  men.  Uncom- 
mon parts  require  uncommon  opportunities 
for  their  exertion. 

"In  barbarous  society,  superiority  of 
parts  is  of  real  consequence.  G  reat  strength 
or  £reat  wisdom  is  of  much  value  to  an  in- 
dividual. But  in  more  polished  times  there 
are  people  to  do  every  thing  for  money  j 
and  then  there  are  a  number  of  other  supe- 
riorities, such  as  those  of  birth  and  fortune, 
and  rank,  that  dissipate  men's  attention, 
and  leave  no  extraordinary  share  of  respect 


*  That  this  was  a  momentary  sally  against 
Garrick  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  for  at  Johnson's 
desire  he  had,  some  years  before,  given  a  benefit- 
night  at  bis  theatre  to  this  very  person,  by  which 
she  had  got  two  hundred  pounds.  Johnson,  in- 
deed, upon  all  other  occasions,  when  I  was  in 
his  company,  praised  the  very  liberal  charity  of 
Garrick.  I  once  mentioned  to  him,  "  It  is  ob- 
served, sir,  that  you  attack  Garrick  yourself, 
but  will  suffer  nobody  else  to  do  it."  Johnson, 
(smiling)  "  Why,  sir,  that  is  true." — Bos  well. 

[These  sallies  are  of  too  frequent  recurrence 
to  allow  us  to  receive  Boswell's  apologetical  as- 
sertion that  they  were  momentary, — Ed.) 

• 


1T63.— iETAT.  54. 


179 


for  personal  and  intellectual  superiority. 
Thia  is  wisely  ordered  by  Providence,  to 
preserve  some  equality  among  mankind." 

"Sir,  this  book  ('  The  Elements  of 
Criticism1  ,'  which  he  had  taken  up),  is  a 
pretty  essay,  and  deserves  to  be  held  in 
some  estimation,  though  much  of  it  is 
chimerical." 

Speaking  of  one9  who  with  more  than  or- 
dinary boldness  attacked  publick  measures 
and  the  royal  family,  he  said,  "I  think  he 
is  safe  from  the  law,  but  he  is  an  abusive 
scoundrel ;  and  instead  of  applying  to  my 
lord  chief  justice  to  punish  him,  I  would 
send  half  a  dozen  footmen  and  have  him 
well  ducked." 

"The  notion  of  liberty  amuses  the  peo- 
ple of  England,  and  helps  to  keep  off  the 
tadium  vitce.  When  a  butcher  tells  you 
that  hit  heart  bleeds  for  his  country ,  he 
has,  in  fact,  no  uneasy  feeling." 

"  Sheridan  will  not  succeed  at  Bath  with 
his  oratory.  Ridicule  has  gone  down  be- 
fore him,  and,  I  doubt,  Derrick  is  his 
enemy  3. 

"  Derrick  may  do  very  well,  as  long  as 
he  can  outrun  his  character ;  but  the  mo- 
ment his  character  gets  up  with  him,  it  is 
all  over." 

It  is,  however,  but  just  to  record,  that 
some  years  afterwards,  when  I  reminded 
him  or  this  sarcasm,  he  said,  "  Well,  but 
Derrick  has  now  got  a  character  that  he 
need  not  run  away  from." 

I  was  highly  pleased  with  the  extraordi- 
nary vigour  of  his  conversation,  and  regret- 
ted that  I  was  drawn  away  from  it  by  an 
engagement  at  another  place.  I  had  for  a 
part  of  the  evening  been  left  alone  with  him, 
and  had  ventured  to  make  an  observation 
now  and  then,  which  he  received  very  civ- 
illy; so  that  I  was  satisfied  that  though 
there  was  a  roughness  in  his  manner,  there 
was  no  ill-nature  in  his  disposition.  Da- 
vies  followed  me  to  the  door,  and  when 
I  complained  to  him  a  little  of  the  hard 
blows  which  the  great  man  had  given  me, 
he  kindly  took  upon  him  to  console  me  by 
saying,  "  Don't  be  uneasy.  I  can  see  he 
likes  you  very  well." 

A  few  days  afterwards  I  called  on  Davies, 
and  asked  him  if  he  thought  I  might  take 
die  liberty  of  waiting  on  Mr.  Johnson  at 
his  chambers  in  the  Temple.  He  said  I 
certainly  might,  and  that  Mr.  Johnson 
would  take  it  as  a  compliment.  So  on 
Tuesday  the  24th  of  May,  after  having 


1  [By  Henry  Home,  I*rd  Karnes.— En.] 

*  [Mr.  Wilkes,  no  doubt  Boswell  was  a 
friend  and,  personally,  an  admirer  of  Wilkes, 
and  therefore  concealed  the  name. — Ed.] 

•  Mr.  Sheridan  was  then  reading  lectures  upon 
oratory  at  Bath,  where  Derrick  was  master  of  the 
ceremonies ;  or,  as  the  phrase  is,  king.— Bos- 

WUiL 


been  enlivened  by  the  witty  sallies  of  Mes- 
sieurs Thornton,  Wilkes,  Churchill,  and 
Lloyd,  with  whom  I  had  passed  the  morn- 
ing, I  boldly  repaired  to  Johnson.  His 
chambers  were  on  the  first  floor  of  No.  1, 
Inner  Temple-4#ne,  and  I  entered  them 
with  an  impression  given  me  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Blair  of  Edinburgh,  who  had  been  in- 
troduced to  him  not  long  before,  and  de- 
scribed his  having  "  found  the  giant  in  his 
pen  ; "  an  expression  which,  when  I  came 
to  be  pretty  well  acquainted  with  Johnson, 
I  repeated  to  him,  and  he  was  diverted  at 
this  picturesque  account  of  himself.  Dr. 
Blair  had  been  presented  to  him  by  Dr 
James  Fordyce.  At  this  time  the  contro- 
versy concerning  the  pieces  publishe4  by 
Mr.  James  Macpherson,  as  translations 
from  Ossian,  was  at  its  height.  Johnson 
had  all  along  denied  their  authenticity;  and, 
what  was  still  more  provoking  to  their  ad- 
mirers, maintained  tnat  they  had  no  merit* 
The  subject  having  been  introduced  by 
Dr.  Fordyce,  Dr.  Blair,  relying  on  the  in- 
ternal evidence  of  their  antiquity,  asked  Dr. 
Johnson  whether  he  thought  any  man  of 
a  modern  age  could  have  written  such  po- 
ems ?  Johnson  replied,  "  Yes,  sir,  many 
men,  many  women,  and  many  children." 
Johnson,  at  this  time,  did  not  know  that 
Dr.  Blair  had  just  published  a  Dissertation, 
not  only  defending  their  authenticity,  but 
seriously  ranking  them  with  the  poems  of 
Homer  and  Virgil ;  and  when  he  was  after- 
wards informed  of  this  circumstance,  he  ex- 
pressed some  displeasure  at  Dr.  Fordyce's 
having  suggested  the  topick,  and  said,  "  I 
am  not  sorry  that  they  got  thus  much  for 
their  pains.  Sir,  it  was  like  leading  one  to 
talk  of  a  book,  when  the  authour  is  con- 
cealed behind  the  door." 

He  received  me  very  courteously;  but,  it 
must  be  confessed,  that  his  apartment,  and 
furniture,  and  morning  dress,  were  sufficient- 
ly uncouth.  His* brown  suit  of  clothes  look- 
ed very  rusty;  he  had  on  a  little  old  shrivell- 
ed unpowdered  wig,  which  was  too  small 
for  his  head;  his  shirt-neck  and  knees  of  his 
breeches  were  loose,  his  black  worsted  stock- 
ings ill  drawn  up;  and  he  had  a  pair  of  un- 
buckled shoes  by  way  of  slippers.  But  all 
these  slovenly  particularities  were  forgotten 
the  moment  that  he  began  to  talk.  Some 
gentlemen,  whom  I  do  not  recollect,  were 
sitting  with  him;  and  when  they  went  away, 
I  also  rose:  but  he  said  tome, "  Nay,  don't 
fo»  «  Sir,"  said  I,  "  I  am  afraid  that  I 
intrude  upon  you.  It  is  benevolent  to  allow 
me  to  sit  and  near  you."  He  seemed  pleas- 
ed with  this  compliment,  which  I  sincerely 
paid  him,  and  answered,  "  Sir,  I  am  oblig- 
ed to  any  man  who  visits  me."  I  have  pre- 
served the  following  short  minute  of  what 
passed  this  day. 

"Madness  frequently  discovers  itself 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


180 


1763.— JJTAT.  54. 


merely  by  unnecessary  deviation  from  the 
usual  modes  of  the  world.  My  poor  friend 
Smart  showed  the  disturbance  of  his  mind, 
by  falling  upon  his  knees,  and  saying  .his 
prayers  in  the  street,  or  in  any  other  unusu- 
al place.  Now  although,%ationally  speak- 
ing, it  is  greater  madness  not  to  pray  at  all, 
than  to  pray  as  Smart  did,  I  am  afraid  there 
are  so  many  who  do  not  pray,  that  their  un- 
derstanding is  not  called  in  question." 

Concerning  this  unfortunate  poet,  Chris- 
topher Smart,  who  was  confined  in  a  mad- 
house, he  had,  at  another  time,  the  follow- 
ing conversation  with  Dr.  Burnev.  Bur- 
key.  "  How  does  poor  Smart  do,  sir;  is 
he  likely  to  recover?"  Johnson.  "  It 
seems  as  if  his  mind  had  ceased  to  struggle 
with  the  disease;  for  he  grows  fat  upon  it" 
Bukney.  "  Perhaps,  sir,  that  may  be  from 
want  of  exercise?"  Johnson.  "  No,  sir; 
he  has  partly  as  much  exercise  as  he  used  to 
have,  for  he  digs  in  the  garden-.  Indeed, 
before  his  confinement,  he  used  for  exercise 
to  walk  to  the  alehouse:  but  he  was  carri- 
ed back  again.  I  did  not  think  he  ought 
to  be  shut  up.  His  infirmities  were  not 
noxious  to  society.    He  insisted  on  people 

£  raying  with  him;  and  I'd  as  lief  pray  with 
[it  Smart  as  any  one  else.  Another  charge 
was,  that  he  did  not  love  clean  linen;  and  I 
have  no  passion  for  it." 

Johnson  continued.  "  Mankind  have  a 
great  aversion  to  intellectual  labour1;  but 
even  supposing  knowledge  to  be  easily  at- 
tainable, more  people  would  be  content  to 
be  ignorant  than  would  take  even  a  little 
trouble  to  acquire  it. 

"  The  morality  of  an  action  depends  on 
the  motive  from  which  we  act  If  I  fling 
half  a  crown  to  a  beggar  with  intention  to 
break  his  head,  and  he  picks  it  up  and  buys 
victuals  with  it,  the  physical  effect  is  good; 
but  with  respect  to  me,  the  action  is  very 
wrong.  So,  religious  exercises,  if  not  per- 
formed with  an  intention  to  please  God, 
avail  us  nothing.  As  our  Saviour  says  of 
those  who  perform  them  from  other  motives, 
€  Verily  they  have  their  reward.' 

"  The  Christian  religion  has  very  strong 
evidences.  It,  indeed,  appears  in  some 
degree  strange  to  reason;  but  in  history  we 
have  undoubted  facts,  against  which,  in 
reasoning  h  priori,  we  have  more  arguments 
than  we  nave  for  them;  but  then,  testimony 
has  great  weight,  and  casts  the  balance.  I 
would  recommend  to  every  man  whose  faith 
is  yet  unsettled,  Grotius,  Dr.  Pearson,  and 
Dr.  Clarke." 

Talking  of  Garrick,  he  said,  "  He  is  the 
first  man  in  the  world  for  sprightly  conver- 
sation." 

When  I  rose  a  second  time,  Tie  again 
pressed  me  to  stay,  which  I  did. 


1  [See  post,  80th  July,  1768,  aa  opinion  some- 
what different— Ed.] 


He  told  me,  that  he  generally  went  abroad 
at  four  in  the  afternoon,  and  seldom  came 
home  till  two  in  the  morning.  I  took  the 
liberty  to  ask  if  he  did  not  think  it  wrong 
to  live  thus,  and  not  make  more  use  of  his 
great  talents.  He  owned  it  was  a  bad  hab- 
it On  reviewing,  at  the  distance  of  many 
years,  my  journal  of  this  period,  I  wonder 
how,  at  my  first  visit,  I  ventured  to  talk  to 
him  so  freely,  and  that  he  bore  it  with  so 
much  indulgence. 

Before  we  parted,  he  was  so  good  as  to 
promise  to  favour  me  with  his  company  one 
evening  at  my  lodgings;  and,  as  I  took  my 
leave,  shook  me  cordially  by  the  hand.  It 
is  almost  needless  to  add,  that  I  felt  no  little 
elation  at  having  now  so  happily  establish- 
ed an  acquaintance  of  which  1  had  been  so 
long  ambitious. 

My  readers  will,  I  trust,  excuse  me  for 
being  thus  minutely  circumstantial,  when 
it  is  considered  that  the  acquaintance  of 
Dr.  Johnson  was  to  me  a  most  valuable  ac- 
quisition, and  laid  the  foundation  of  what- 
ever instruction  and  entertainment  they  may 
receive  from  my  collections  concerning  the 
great  subject  of  the  work  which  they  are 
now  perusing. 

I  did  not  visit  him  again  till  Monday, 
June  13,  at  which  time  I  recollect  no  part 
of  his  conversation,  except  that  when  I  told 
him  I  had  been  to  see  Johnson 9  ride  upon 
three  horses,  he  said,  "  Such  a  man,  air, 
should  be  encouraged:  for  his  performances 
show  the  extent  of  tne  human  powers  in 
one  instance,  and  thus  tend  to  raise  our 
opinion  of  the  faculties  of  man.  He  shows 
what  may  be  attained  by  persevering  appli- 
cation; so  that  every  man  may  hope,  that  by 
giving  as  much  application,  although  per- 
haps he  may  never  ride  three  horses  at  a 
time,  or  dance  upon  a  wire,  yet  he  may  be 
equally  expert  in  whatever  profession  he  has 
chosen  to  pursue." 

He  again  shook  me  by  the  hand  at  part- 
ing, and  asked  me  why  I  did  not  come  often- 
er  to  him.  Trusting  that  I  was  now  in  his 
good  graces,  I  answered,  that  he  had  not 
given  me  much  encouragement,  and  remind- 
ed him  of  the  check  I  had  received  from 
him  at  our  first  interview.  "Poh,  poh! 
(said  he,  with  a  complacent  smile),  never  1 
mind  these  things.  Come  to  me  as  often  as 
you  can.    I  shall  be  glad  to  see  vou." 

I  had  learnt  that  his  place  of  frequent  re- 
sort was  the  Mitre  tavern  in  Fleet-street, 
where  he  loved  to  sit  up  late,  and  I  begged 


•  ["In  the  year  1762  one  John§on9  an  Irish- 
man, exhibited  many  feats  of  activity  in  horse- 
manship, and  was,  it  is  believed,  the  first  per- 
former in  that  time  in  or  about  London.  He  was 
an  active  clever  fellow  in  bis  way,  and  seemed 
to  be  patronised  bv  Mr.  Burke,  then  a  student  in 
the  Temple."— Prior's  L\fe  of  Burke,  vol.  L 
p.  124.— En.] 

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1768.— iETAt.  54. 


181 


I  might  be  allowed  to  pass  an  evening  with 
him  there  soon,  which  ne  promised  I  should. 
A  few  days  afterwards  I  met  him  near  Tem- 
ple-bar, about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  asked  if  he  would  then  go  to  the  Mitre. 
"Sir  f said  he),  it  is  too  late;  they  won't 
let  us  in.  But  I'll  go  with  you  another  night 
with  all  my  heart." 

A  revolution  of  some  importance  in  my 
plan  of  life  had  just  taken  placej  for  instead 
of  procuring  a  commission    in  the  foot- 

CrdSj  whicn  was  my  own  inclination,  I 
,  in  compliance  with  my  father's  wishes, 
agreed  to  study  the  law,  and  was  soon  to 
set  out  for  Utrecht,  to  hear  the  lectures  of 
an  excellent  civilian  in  that  university,  and 
then  to  proceed  on  my  travels.  Though 
very  desirous  of  obtaining  Dr.  Johnson's 
advice  and  instructions  on  the  mode  of  pur- 
suing my  studies,  I  was  at  this  time  so  oc- 
cupied, shall  I  call  it?  or  so  dissipated  by 
the  amusements  of  London,  that  our  next 
meeting  was  not  till  Saturday,  June  25, 
when  happening  to  dine  at  Clifton's  eating- 
house,  in  Butcher-row,  I  was  surprised  to 
perceive  Johnson  come  in  and  take  his  seat 
at  another  table.  The  mode  of  dining,  or 
rather  being  fed,  at  such  houses  in  London, 
is  well  known  to  many  to  be  particularly 
unsocial,  as  there  is  no  ordinary,  or  united 
company,  but  each  person  has  his  own  mess, 
and  is  under  no  obligation  to  hold  any  inter- 
course with  any  one.  A  liberal  and  full- 
minded  man,  however,  who  loves  to  talk, 
will  break  through  this  churlish  and  un- 
social restraint  Johnson  and  an  Irish  gen- 
tleman got  into,  a  dispute  concerning  the 
cause  of  some  part  of  mankind  being  black. 
"  Why,  sir  (said  Johnson),  it  has  been  ac- 
counted form  three  ways:  either  by  sup- 
posing that  they  aTe  the  posterity  of  Ham, 
who  was  cursed;  or  that  God  at  first  creat- 
ed two  kinds  of  men,  one  black  and  another 
white;  or  that  by  the  heat  of  the  sun  the 
skin »  scorched,  and  so  acquires  a  sooty 
hue.  This  matter  has  been  much  canvassed 
among  naturalists,  but  has  never  been 
brought  to  any  certain  issue."  What  the 
Irishman  said  is  totally  obliterated  from  my 
mind;  but  I  remember  that  he  became  very 
warm  and  intemperate  in  his  expressions: 

Tin  which  Johnson  rose,  and  quietly  walk- 
away. When  he  had  retired,  his  an- 
tagonist took  his  revenge,  as  he  thought,  by 
saying,  "  He  has  a  most  ungainly  figure, 
and  an  affectation  of  pomposity  unworthy 
of  a  man  of  genius." 

Johnson  han  not  observed  that  I  was  in 
the  room.  I  followed  him,  however,  and 
be  agreed  to  meet  me  in  the  evening  at  the 
Mitre.  I  called  on  him,  and  we  went  thither 
at  nine.  We  had  a  good  supper;  and  port' 
wine,  of  which  he  then  sometimes  drank  a 
bottle.  The  orthodox  high-church  sound 
of  the  Mitre, — the  figure  and  manner  of  the 


celebrated  Samuel  Johnson, — the  extraor 
dlnary  power  and  precision  of  his  conversa- 
tion, and  the  pride  arising  from  finding  myself 
admitted  as  his  companion,  produced  a  vari- 
ety of  sensations,  and  a  pleasing  elevation  of 
mind  beyond  what  I  had  ever  before  experi- 
enced. I  find  in  my  Journal  the  following 
minute  of  our  conversation,  which,  though 
it  will  give  but  a  very  faint  notion  of  what 
passed,  is,  in  some  degree,  a  valuable  re- 
cord; and  it  will  be  curious  in  this  view,  as 
showing  how  habitual  to  his  mind  were 
some  opinions  which  appear  in  his  works. 

"  Colley  Cibber1,  sir,  was  by  no  means  a 
blockhead:  but  by  arrogating  to  himself 
too  much,  he  was  in  danger  oNosing  that 
degree  of  estimation  to  which  he  was  enti- 
tled. His  friends  gave  out  that  he  intended 
his  birthday  Odes  should  be  bad:  but  that 
was  not  the  case,  sir;  for  he  kept  them 
many  months  by  him,  and  a  few  years  be- 
fore he  died  he  showed  me  one  of  them, 
with  great  solicitude  to  render  it  as  perfect 
as  might  be,  and  I  made  some  corrections, 
to  which  he  was  not  very  willing  to  submit. 
I  remember  the  following  couplet  in  allusion 
to  the  king  himself. 

'  Perch'd  on  the  eagle's  soaring  wing, 
The  lowly  linnet  loves  to  sing.' 

Sir,  he  had  heard  something  of  the  fabu- 
lous tale  of  the  wren  sitting  upon  the  eagle's 
wing,  and  he  had  applied  it  to  a  linnet 
Cibber's  familiar  style,  however,  was  better 
than  that  which  Whitehead  has  assumed. 
Grand  nonsense  is  insupportable.  White- 
head is  but  a  little  man  to  inscribe  verses 
to  ©/oyer*2." 

I  did  not  presume  to  controvert  this  cen- 
sure, which  was  tinctured  with  his  preju- 
dice against  players,  but  I  could  not  help 
thinking  that  a  dram  a  tick  poet  might  witn 
propriety  pay  a  compliment  to  an  eminent 
performer,  as  Whitehead  has  very  happily 
done  in  his  verses  to  Mr.  Garnck. 

"  Sir,  I  do  not  think  Gray  a  first-rate  po- 


1  [Colley  Cibber  was  born  in  1671,  bore  arms 
in  favour  of  the  revolution,  and  soon  after  went 
on  the  stage  as  an  actor.  In  1695  he  appeared 
as  a  writer  of  comedies  with  great  and  deserved 
success.  He  quitted  the  stage  in  1730,  on  being 
appointed  poet  laureate,  arid  died  in  1757.  Hm 
Memoirs  of  his  own  Life  is  not  only  a  very 
amusing  collection  of  theatrical  anecdotes,  bat 
shows  considerable  power  of  observation  and  de- 
lineation of  character. — Ed.  ] 

*  [This  was  a  sneer  aimed,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
more  at  Garrick  (to  whom  the  verses  were  in- 
scribed) than  at  Wliitehead.  William  White- 
head, bom  about  1715,  was  the  fashionable  poet 
of  a  day,  when  Horace's  exclusion  of  mediocri- 
ty was  forgotten.  He  succeeded  Cibber  as  laure- 
ate in  1757.  He  died  in  1785.  He  must  not  be 
confounded  with  Paul  Whitehead,  no  better  po- 
et, and  a  much  less  estimable  man. — En.] 


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182 


176S.— iETAT.  64. 


et  He  has  not  a  bold  imagination,  nor 
much  command  of  words.  The  obscurity 
in  which  he  has  involved  himself  will  not 
persuade  us  that  he  is  sublime.  His  Elegy 
in  a  churchyard  has  a  happy  selection  of  ima- 
ges1, but  I  don't  like  what  are  called  his 
great  things.'    His  ode  which  begins 

•  Ruin  seize  thee,  ruthless  king, 
Confusion  on  thy  banners  wait ! ' 

has  been  celebrated  for  its  abruptness,  and 
plunging  into  the  subject  all  at  once.  But 
such  arts  as  these  have  no  merit,  unless 
when  they  are  original.  We  admire  them 
only  once  j  and  this  abruptness  has  nothing 
new  in  it  We  have  had  it  often  before. 
Nay,  we  have  it  in  the  old  song  of  Johnny 
Armstrong: 

•Is  there  ever  a  man  m  all  Scotland, 
From  the  highest  estate  to  the  lowest  degree,  fee' 

And  then,  sir, 

•  Yes,  there  is  a  man  in  Westmoreland, 
And  Johnny  Armstrong  they  do  him  call.' . 

There,  now,  you  plunge  at  once  into  the 
subject  You  have  no  previous  narration 
to  lead  you  to  it — The  two  next  lines  in 
that  ode  are,  I  think,  very  good: 

«  Though  &nn'd  by  conquest's  crimson  wing, 
V:  t  mock  the  air  with  idle  state9.'  " 

Here  let  it  be  observed,  that  although  his 
opinion  of  Gray's  poetry  was  widely  differ- 
ent from  mine,  and  I  believe  from  that  of 
most  men  of  taste,  by  whom  it  is  with  jus- 
tice highly  admired,  there  is  certainly  much 
absurdity  in  the  clamour  which  has  been 
raised,  as  if  he  had  been  culpably  injurious 
to  the  merit  of  that  bard,  and  had  been  ac- 
tuated by  envy.  Alas  I  ye  little  short-sigh tr 
ed  criticks,  could  Johnson  be  envious  of  the 
talents  of  any  of  his  contemporaries 3  ? 
That  his  opinion  on  this  subject  was  what  in 
private  and  in  publickhe  uniformly  express- 
ed, regardless  of  what  others  might  think, 
we  may  wonder,  and  perhaps  regret;  but  it 
is  shallow  and  unjust  to  charge  him  with 
expressing  what  he  did  not  think. 


1  [And  surely  a  happy  selection  of  expression*. 
What  does  it  then  want?  As  to  the  criticism 
and  quotations  which  follow,  they  might  be  par- 
donable in  loose  conversation  ;  but  Johnson,  un- 
luckily for  his  own  reputation,  has  preserved  them 
in  his  criticism  on  Gray,  in  the  Lives  of  the  Po- 
eti.—En.] 

*  My  friend  Mr.  Malone,  in  his  valuable  com- 
ments on  Shakspeare,  has  traced  in  that  great  po- 
et the  disjecta  membra  of  these  lines. — Bos- 

WILL. 

1  [Even  under  the  penalty  of  being  called  little 
and  short-sighted,  it  is  impossible  not  to  give  an 
affirmative  answer  to  Mr.  Boswell's  interrogatory. 
The  evidence  of  the  envious  disposition  of  this 
otherwise  great  and  amiable  man  seems  too  fre- 
quent and  too  flagrant  to  be  doubted.— En.] 


Finding  him  in  a  placid  humour,  and 
wishing  to  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity 
which  I  fortunately  had  of  consulting  a 
sage,  to  hear  whose  wisdom,  I  conceived,  in 
the  .ardour  of  youthful  imagination,  that 
men  filled  with  a  noble  enthusiasm  for  in- 
tellectual improvement  would  gladly  have 
resorted  from  distant  lands;  I  opened  my 
mind  to  him  ingenuously,  and  gave  him  a 
little  sketch  of  my  life,  to  which  he  was 
pleased  to  listen  with  great  attention. 

I  acknowledged,  that  though  educated 
very  strictly  in  the  principles  of  religion,  I 
had  for  sometime  been  misled  into  a  certain 
degree  of  infidelity;  but  that  I  was  come 
now  to  a  better  way  of  thinking,  and  was 
fully  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
revelation,  though  I  was  not  clear  as  to  eve- 
ry point  considered  to  be  orthodox.  Being 
at  all  times  a  curious  examiner  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  and  pleased  with  an  undisguised 
display  of  what  had  passed  in  it,  he  called 
to  me  with  warmth,  "  Give  me  ypnr  hand; 
I  have  taken  a  liking  to  you."  He  then  be- 
gan to  descant  upon  the  force  of  testimony, 
and  the  little  we  could  know  of  final  causes: 
so  that  the  objections  of,  why  was  it  so? 
or  why  was  it  not  so?  ought  not  to  disturb 
us:  adding,  that  he  himself  had  at  one  pe- 
riod been  guilty  of  a  temporary  neglect  of 
religion,  but  that  it  was  not  the  result  of  ar- 
gument, but  mere  absence  of  thought. 

After  having  given  credit  to  reports  of 
his  bigotry,  I  was  agreeably  surprised  when 
he  expressed  the  following  very  liberal  sen- 
timent, which  has  the  additional  value  of 
obviating  an  objection  to  our  holy  religion, 
founded  upon  the  discordant  tenets  of  Chris- 
tians themselves :  "  For  my  part,  sir,  I  think 
all  Christians,  whether  papists  or  protea- 
tants,  agree  in  the  essential  articles,  and 
that  their  differences  are  trivial,  and  rather 
political  than  religious." 

We  talked  of  belief  in  ghosts.  He  said, 
"  Sir,  I  make  a  distinction  between  what  a 
man  may  experience  by  the  mere  strength 
of  his  imagination,  and  what  imagination 
cannot  possibly  produce.  Thus,  suppose  I 
should  trunk  that  I  saw  a  form,  and  neard  a 
voice  cry, c  Johnson,  you  are  a  very  wicked 
fellow,  and  unless  you  repent  you  will  cer- 
tainly be  punished; '  my  own  unworthinest 
is  so  deeply  impressed  upon  my  mind,  that 
I  might  imagine  I  thus  saw  and  heard,  and 
therefore  I  should  not  believe  that  an  exter- 
nal communication  had  been  made  to  me. 
But  if  a  form  should  appear,  and  a  voice 
should  tell  me  that  a  particular  man  had 
died  at  a  particular  place,  and  a  particular 
hour,  a  fact  which  I  had  no  apprehension 
of,  nor  any  means  of  knowing,  and  this  fact, 
with  all  its  circumstances,  should  afterwards 
be  unquestionably  proved,  I  should,  in  that 
case,  be  persuaded  that  I  had  supernatural 
intelligence  imparted  to  me." 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1768.— iETAT.  54. 


189 


Here  it  is  proper,  once  for  all,  to  give  a 
true  and  fair  statement  of  Johnson's  way  of 
thinking  upon  the  question,  whether  depart- 
ed spirits  are  ever  permitted  to  appear  in 
this  world,  or  in  any  way  to  operate  upon 
human  life.  He  has  heen  ignorantly  mis- 
represented as  weakly  credulous  upon  that 
suDJect;  and  therefore,  though  I  feel  an  in- 
clination to  disdain  and  treat  with  silent  con- 
tempt so  foolish  a  notion  concerning  my  il- 
lustrious friend,  yet,  as  I  find  it  has  gained 
ground,  it  is  necessary  to  refute  it.  .The 
real  fact  then  is,  that  Johnson  had  a  very 
philosophical  mind,  and  such  a  rational  re- 
spect for  testimony,  as  to  make  him  submit 
his  understanding  to  what  was  authentical- 
ly proved,  though  he  could  not  comprehend 
why  it  was  so.  Being  thus  disposed ,  he  was 
willing  to  inquire  into  the  truth  of  any  re- 
lation of  supernatural  agency,  a  general  be- 
lief of  whicn  has  prevailed  in  all  nations  and 
aires.  But  so  far  was  he  from  being  a  dupe 
of  implicit  faith,  that  he  examined  the  mat- 
ter with  a  jealous  attention,  and  no  man 
was  more  ready  to  refute  its  falsehood  when 
he  had  discovered  it.  Churchill,  in  his 
poem  entitled  "  The  Ghost,"  availed  him- 
self of  the  absurd  credulity  imputed  to  John- 
son, and  drew  a  caricature  or  him  under  the 
name  of  %t  Pomposo,"  representing  him  as 
one  of  the  believers  of  the  story  of  a  ghost 
in  Cock-lane,  which,  in  the  year  1762,  had 
gained  very  general  credit  in  London.  Ma- 
ny of  my  readers,  I  am  convinced,  are  to 
this  hour  under  an  impression  that  John- 
son was  thus  foolishly  deceived.  It  will 
therefore  surprise l  them  a  good  deal  when 
they  are  informed  upon  undoubted  authori- 
ty, that  Johnson  was  one  of  those  by  whom 
the  imposture  was  detected.  The  story 
had  become  so  popular,  that  he  thought  it 
should  be  investigated;  and  in  this  research 
he  was  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Douglas, 
now  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  the  great  detect- 
or of  impostures;  who  informs  me,  that  af- 
ter the  gentlemen  who  went  and  examined 
into  the  evidence  were  satisfied  of  its  falsi- 
ty, Johnson  wrote  in  their  presence  an  ac- 
count of  it,  which  was  published  in  the 
newspapers,  and  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
and  undeceived  the  world9. 


1  [No  rational  man  doubted  that  inquiry  would 
lead  to  detection ;  men  only  wondered  that  Dr. 
Johnson  should  bo  far  give  countenance  to  this 
flimsy  imposition  as  to  think  a  solemn  inquiry 
necessary. — En.] 

*  The  account  was  as  follows  :  "  On  the  night 
of  the  1st  of  February,  many  gentlemen,  eminent 
for  their  rank  and  character,  were,  by  the  invita- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Mr.  A  Ulrica,  of  Clerkenwell,  as- 
sembled at  his  house,  for  the  examination  of  the 
noises  supposed  to  be  made  by  a  departed  spirit, 
for  the  detection  of  some  enormous  crime. 

"  About  ten  at  night  the  gentlemen  met  in  the 
chamber  in  which  the  girl,  supposed  to  be  dis- 


[Mr.  Saunders  Welcha,  his  inti-  Hawk, 
mate  friend,  would  have  dissuaded  JJq. 
him  from  his  purpose  of  visiting 
this  place,  urging,  that  it  would  expose  him 
to  ridicule:  but  all  his  arguments  had  no 
efTect.  What  Mr.  Welch  foretold,  in  his 
advice  to  Johnson,  touching  this  imposture! 
was  now  verified :  he  was  censured  for  his 
credulity;  his  wisdom  was  arraigned,  and 
his  religious  opinions  resolved  into  supersti- 
tion. 

Nor  was  this  all:  that  facetious  gentle* 
man,  Mr.  Foote,  who,  upon  the  strength 
and  success  of  his  satirical  vein  In  comedy, 
had  assumed  (he  name  of  the  modern  Aris- 
tophanes, and  at  his  theatre  had  long  enter- 
tained the  town  with  caricatures  of  living 
persons,  with  all  their  singularities  and 
weaknesses,  thought  that  Johnson  at  this 
time  was  become  a  fit  subject  for  ridicule, 


tnrbed  by  a  spirit,  had,  with  proper  caution,  been 
put  to  bed  by  several  ladies.  They  sat  rather 
more  than  an  hour,  and  hearing  nothing,  went 
down  stairs,  when  they  interrogated  the  father  of 
the  girl,  who  denied,  in  the  strongest  terms,  any 
knowledge  or  belief  of  fraud. 

"The  supposed  spirit  had  before  publickly 
promised,  by  an  affirmative  knock,  that  it  would 
ajttend  one  of  the  gentlemen  into  the  vault  un- 
der the  church  of  St  John,  Clerkenwell,  where 
the  body  is  deposited,  and  give  a  token  ©*"  her 
presence  there,  by  a  knock  upon  her  c*"in ;  it 
was  therefore  determined  to  make  this  trial  of  the 
existence  or  veracity  of  the  supposed  spirit 

"  While  they  were  inquiring  and  -deliberating, 
they  were  summoned  into  the  girl's  chamber  by 
some  ladies  who  were  near  her  bed,  and  who  had 
heard  knocks  and  scratches.  When  the  gentle- 
men entered,  the  girl  declared  that  she  felt  the 
spirit  like  a  mouse  upon  her  back,  and  was  re- 
quired to  hold  her  hands  out  of  bed.  From  that 
time,  though  the  spirit  was  very  solemnly  required 
to  manifest  its  existence  by  appearance,  by  im- 
pression on  the  hand  or  body  of  any  present,  by 
scratches,  knocks,  or  any  other  agency,  no  evi- 
dence of  any  preternatural  power  was  exhibited. 

"  The  spirit  was  then  very  seriously  advertised, 
that  the  person  to  whom  the  promise  was  made 
of  striking  the  coffin  was  then  about  to  visit  the 
vault,  and  that  the  performance  of  the  promise 
was  then  claimed.  The  company  at  one  o'clock 
went  into  the  church,  and  the  gentleman  to  whom 
the  promise  was  made  went  with  another  into  the 
vault  The  spirit  was  solemnly  required  to  per- 
form its  promise,  but  nothing  more  than  silence 
ensued :  the  person  supposed  to  be  accused  by 
the  spirit  then  went  down  with  several  others, 
but  no  effect  was  perceived.  Upon  their  return 
they  examined  the  girl,  but  could  draw  no  confes- 
sion from  her.  Between  two  and  three  she  de- 
sired and  was  permitted  to  go  home  with  her  fa- 
ther. 

"  It  is,  therefore,  the  opinion  of  the  whole  as* 
sembly,  that  the  child  has  some  art  of  making  or 
counterfeiting  a  particular  noise,  and  that  there  is 
no  agency  of  any  higher  cause." 

3  [See  post,  February,  1778.— Ed.] 


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and  that  an  exhibition  of  him  in  a  drama 
written  for  the  purpose,  in  which  himself 
should  represent  Johnson,  and  in  his  mien, 
his  garb,  and  his  speech;  should  display  all 
his  comic  powers,. would  yield  him  a  golden 
harvest.  Johnson-  was  apprized  of  his  in- 
tention; and  gave  Mr.  Foote  to  understand, 
that  the  licence  under  which  he  was  per? 
mitted  to  entertain  the  town  would  not  jus- 
tify the  liberties  he  was  accustomed. to  take 
with  private  characters,  and  "that  if  he  per- 
sisted in  his  design,  he  would,  by  .a  severe 
chastisement  of  his  representative  on,  the 
stage,  and  in  the  face  of  the  , whole  audi- 
ence, convince  the  world,' that,  whatever 
were  his  infirmities,  or  even  his  foibles, 
they  should  not  be  made  the  sport  of  the 
pub  lick,  or  the  means  of  gain  to  any  one  of 
his  profession.  Foote,  upon  this  intima- 
tion, had  discretion  enough  to  desist  from 
his  purpose.  Johnson  entertained  no  re- 
sentment against  him,  and  they  were  ever 
after  friends.] 

Our  conversation  proceeded.  "  Sir," 
said  herf  "lama  friend  to  subordination,  as 
most  conducive  to  the  happiness  of  society. 
There  is  a  reciprocal  pleasure  in  governing 
and  being  governed." 

"Dr.  Goldsmith  is  one  of  the  first meji 
we  now  have  as  an  auth&ur,  and  he  is  a 
very  worthy  man  too.  .  He  has  been  loose 
in  his  principles,  but  he  is  coming  right." 

'  I  mentioned  Mallet's  tragedy  of  "  Elvi- 
ra," which  had  been  acted  the  preceding 
winter  at  Drury-lane,  and  that  the  honour- 
able Andrew  Erskine*,    Mr.  Dempster2, 

1  [Third  son  of  the  fifth  Earl  of  Kellie,  bora 
in  1736.  He  published  some  letters  and  poems, 
addressed  to  Mr.  Boswell ;  and  died  in  1793. — 
En.] 

8  [George  Dempster,  of  Dnnnichen,  secretary 
to  the  Order  of  the  Thistle.  He  was  a  man  of 
talents  and  very  agreeable  manners.  Barns  men- 
tions him  more  than  once  with  eulogy  :  As  Mr. 
Dempster  lived  a  good  deal  in  Johnson's  society, 
the  reader  may  be  glad  to  see  the  following  slip- 
shod but  characteristic  epitaph  (communicated 
to  me  by  Sir  Walter  Scott),  which  he  made  on 
himself  when  eighty-five,  though  (affecting,  even 
at  that  age,  to  look  forward  to  a  still  greater  lon- 
gevity) he  supposes  himself  to  have  lived  to  93. 

"  Pray  for  the  soul 

Of  deceased  George  Dempster, 
In  his  youth  a  great  Tool, 

In  his  old  age  a  gamester*. 

What  you  're  curious  to  know 
On  this  tomb  you  shall  see j — 

Life's  thread  he  let  go 

When  just  ninety-three. 

0o  sound  was  his  bottom, 

His  acquaintance  all  wondered 

How  old  Nick  had  got  him 

Till  he  lived  out  the  hundred. 

*  Gamester,  Scott  ic  2,  may  rhyme  with  Dempster. 
He,  however,  only  r!-Y*rftn>  trifles;  Indeed  the  whole 
is  a  mere  badinage*— W.  Bcott. 


and  myself,  had  joined  in  writing  a  pamph- 
let, entitled  "  Critical  Strictures,"  against 
it3.  That  the  mildness  of  Dempster's  dis- 
position had,  however,  relented;  and  he  had 
candidly  said,  ".We  have  hardly  a  right  to 
ahuse  this  tragedy; ;  for  Jbad  as.  it  is,«how 
vain  should  either  of  us  be  jtojpmte  on$  not 
near,  so  good."  Johnsok.  "  Why  n9y ars 
this  is  not  i ust  reasoning.  Yovtmay  abuse  a 
tragedy,  though  you  cannot  write  one..  Yon 
may  scold  a  carpenter  who  has  made  jou  a 
bad  table,  though  you  cannot  make  a  table. 
It  is  not  your  trade  to  make  tables;?' 

When  I  talked  to  him  of  the  paternal  es- 
tate to  which  I  was  heir,  he  said,  "  Sir,  let 
me  tell  you,  that  to  be  a  Scotch  landlord, 
where  you  have  a  number  of  families  de- 
pendent upon  you,  and  attached  to  you,  is, 
perhaps,  as  high  a  situation  as  humanity 
can  arrive  at.  A  merchant  -upon  the 
'Change  of  London,. with  a  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds,  is  nothing;  an  English  duke, 
with  an  immense  fortune,  is*  nothing*  he 
lias  no  tenants  who-  consider  themselves  as 
under  his  patriarchal  care,  -and  who  will 
follow  him  into  the  field  upon  an  .emer- 
gency." 

His  notions  of  the  dignity  of  a  Scotch 
landlord  had  been  formed  upon  what  he 
had  heard  of  the  highland  chiefs;  for  it  is 
long  since  a  lowland  landlord  has  been  so 
curtailed  in  his  feudal  authority,  that  he 
has  little  more  influence  over  fiis  tenants 
than  an  English  landlord;  and  of  late  years 
most  .of  the  highland  chiefs  have  destroyed, 
by  means  too  well  known,  the  princely  .pow- 
er which  they  once  enjoyed. 

He  proceeded:  "Your  £oing  abroad, 
sir,  ana  breaking  off  idle  habits,  may  be  of 
great  importance  to  you,.  I  would  go  Vhere 
there  are  courts  and  learned  men.  There 
is  a  great  deal  of  Spain  ,that  has  not  been 


To  his  money  concerns 
He  paid  Utile  attention, 

First  selling  his  land, 
Then  pawning  his 


But  his  precious  time 

He  much  better  did  B 
To  the  end  of  his  line 

From  his  earliest  nonage, 

He  divided  his  hours 

Into  two  equal  parts,     "•'  -** 

And  spent  one-half  in  sleeping, 

The  other  at  cartes.* 

Mr.  Dempster  was,  for  near  thirty  yean,  mem- 
ber for  the  Perth  district  of  burghs.  He  was  also 
an  East  India  director.  He  died  about  j. 790. — Ed.] 

•  The  Critical  Review,  in  which  "Mallet  him- 
self sometimes  wrote,  characterised  this  pamphlet 
as  ;« the  crude  efforts  of  envy,  petulance,  and 
self-conceit."  There  being  thus  three  epithets*  • 
we  the  three  authours  had  a  humorous  contention 
how  each  should  be  appropriated. — Bobwell. 

*  [The  Scotch,  in  familiar  life,  retain  many  French 
words  (tokens  of  their  early  intercourse  with  France), 
and  among  others  carte*  for  card*.— Eo.J 


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I 


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THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


ASTOR,  LENOX  AND 
TILOEN  FOUNDATIONS. 


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176*.-- jETAT.  54. 


185 


perambulated.  I  would  have  you  go  thith- 
er. A  man  of  inferior  talents  to  yours  may 
furnish  us  with  useful  observations  upon 
that  country."  His  supposing  me,  at  that 
period  of  life,  capable  or  writing  an  account 
of  my  travels  that  would  deserve  to  be  read, 
elated  me  not  a  little. 

I  appeal  to  every  impartial  reader  wheth- 
er this  faithful  detail  of  his  frankness,  comr 
placency,  and  kindness  to  a  young  man, 
a  stranger  and  a  Scotchman,  does  not  re- 
fute the  unjust  opinion  of  the  harshness  of 
his  general  demeanour.  His  occasional  re- 
proofs of  folly ,  impudence,  or  impiety,  and  ev- 
en the  sudden  sallies  of  his  constitutional  ir- 
ritability- of  temper,  which  have  been  preserv- 
ed for  the  poignancy  of  their  wit,  have  pro- 
duced that  opinion  among  those  who  have 
not  considered  that  such  instances,  though 
collected  by  Mrs.  Piozzi  into  a  small  vol- 
ume !,  and  read  over  in  a  few  hours,  were,  in 
fact,  scattered  through  a  long  series  of  years  : 
vears  in  which  his  time  was  chiefly  spent 
in  instructing  and  delighting  mankind  by 
his  writings  and  conversation,*  in  acts  of 
piety  to  God,  and  good-will  to  men. 

I  complained  to  him  that  I  had  not  yet 
acquired  much  knowledge r  and  asked  his 
advice  as  to  my  studies.  He  said,  "  Don't 
talk  of  study  now.  I  will  give  you  a  plan; 
but  it  will  require  some  time  to -consider  of 
it"  "  It  is  very  good  in  you,"*  I  replied, 
"  to  allow  me  to  be  with  you  thus.  Had 
it  been  foretold  to  me  some  vears  ago  that 
I  should  pass  an  evening  with  the  authour 
of  the  Rambler,  how  should  I  have  exult- 
ed!" What  I  then  expressed  was  sincere- 
ly from  the  heart.  He  was  satisfied  that  it 
was,  and  cordially  answered,  "  Sir,  I  am 
glad  we  have  met,  I  hope  we  shall  pass 
many  evenings,  and  mornings  too,  togeth- 
er." We  finished  a  couple  of  bottles  of 
port,  and  sat  till  between  one  and  two  in 
the  morning. 

Rewrote  this  year  in  the  Critical  Re- 
view the  account  of  "  Telemachus,  a 
Mask,"  by  the  Reverend  George  Graham, 
of  Eton  College.  The  subject  of  this  beau- 
tiful poem  was  particularly  interesting  to 
Johnson,  who  had  much  experience  of 
"  the  conflict  of  opposite  principles,"  which 
he  describes  as  "The  contention  between 
pleasure  and  virtue,  a  struggle  which  will 
always  be  continued  while  the  present  sys- 
tem of  nature  shall  subsist;  nor  can  histo- 
ry or  poetry  exhibit  more  than  pleasure 
triumphing  over  virtue,  and  virtue  subju- 
gating pleasure." 


1  [Mr.  Boswell,  here  and  elsewhere,  hints  blame 
span**  Hn.  Pioau  for  repeating  Johnson's  asperi- 
ties. Any  one  who  examines  the  two  works  will 
find  that  Boswell  relates,  ten  times  as  many  as 
tiMkdy*  No  one  could  honestly  relate  Johnson's 
conversation  without  giving  such  sallies.— Ed.] 

tol.   i.  24 


As  Dr.  Oliver  Goldsmith  will  frequently 
appear  in  this  narrative,  I  shall  endeavour 
to  make  my  readers  in  some  degree  ac- 
quainted with  his  singular  character.  He 
was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  a  contempora- 

Swith  Mr.  Burke,  at  Trinity  College, 
ublin,  but  did  not  then  give  much  pro- 
mise of  future  celebrity9.  He,  however, 
observed  to  Mr.  Malone,  that,  "  though  he 
made  no  great  figure  in  mathematicks, 
which  was  a  study  in  much  repute  there, 
he  -could  turn  an  ode  of  Horace  into  English 
better  than  any  of  them."  He  afterwards 
studied  physick  at  Edinburgh,  and  upon  the 
continent;  and,  I  have  been  informed,  was 
enabled  to  pursue  his  travels  on  foot,  partly 
by  demanding  at  Universities  to  enter  the 
lists  as  a  disputant,  by  which,  according  to 
the  custom  of  many  of  them,  he  was  enti- 
tled to  the  premium  of  a  crown,  when  lucki- 
ly for  him  his  challenge  was  not  accepted; 
so  that,  as  I  once  observed  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
he  disputed  his  passage  through  Europe. 
He  then  came  to  England,  and  was  employ- 
ed successively  in  the  capacities  of  an  usher 
to  an  academy,  a  corrector  of  the  press,  a 
reviewer,  and  a  writer  for  a  newspaper. 
He  had  sagacity  enough  to  cultivate  assidu- 
ously the  acquaintance  of  Johnson,  and  his 
•faculties  were  gradually  enlarged  by  the 
contemplation  of  such  a  model.  To  me 
and  many  others  it  appeared  that  he  stu- 
diously copied  the  manner  of  Johnson, 
though,  indeed,  upon  a  smaller  scale. 

At  this  time  I  think  he  had  published 
nothing  with  his  name,  though  it  was  pretty 
generally  known  that  one  Dr.  Goldsmith 
was  the  authour  of  "  An  Inquiry  into  the 
present  State  of  polite  Learning  in  Europe." 
and  of  "The  Citizen  of  the  World,"  a  se- 
ries of  letters  supposed  to  be  written  from 
London  by  a  Chinese  3.  No  man  had  the 
art  of  displaying  with  more  advantage,  as  a 
writer,  whatever  literary  acquisitions  he 
made.  "  Nihil  quod  tetigit  mm  ornavit 4." 
His  mind  resembled  a  fertile  but  thin  soiL 


*  Goldsmith  got  a  premium  at  a  Christmas  ex- 
amination in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  which  I 
have.  seen. — Kk  arney. 

A  premium  obtained  at  the  Christmas  examina- 
tion is  generally  more  honourable  than  any  other, 
because  it  ascertains  the  person  who  receives  k  to 
be  the  tint  in  literary  merit  At  the  other  exami- 
nations, the  person  thus  distinguished  may  be  only 
the  second  in  merit;  he  who  has  previously  ob- 
tained the  same  honorary  reward  sometimes  re- 
ceiving a  written  certificate  that  he  was  the  best 
answerer,  it  being  a  rule  that  not  more  than  one 
premium  should  be  adjudged  to  the  same  person  in 
one  year.     See  ante,  p.  137. — Malonk. 

»  He  had  also  published,  in  1759,  "  The  Bee, 
being  essays  on  the  most  interesting  subjects.' '•_- 
Malone. 

4  See  his  epitaph  in  Westminster  Abbey,  writ- 
ten by  Dr.  Johnson. — Boswell. 


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m3.-^ETAT.  04. 


There  was  a  quick,  bat  not  a  strong  vege- 
tation, of  whatever  chanced  to  be  thrown 
upon  it  No  deep  root  could  be  struck. 
The  oak  of  the  forest  did  not  grow  there: 
but  the  elegant  shrubbery  and  the  fragrant 
parterre  appeared  in  gay  succession.  It 
has  been  generally  circulated  and  believed 
that  he  was  a  mere  fool  in  conversation1; 
but,  in  truth,  this  has  been  greatly  exag- 
gerated. He  has,  no  doubt,  a  more  than 
common  share  of  that  hurry  of  ideas  which 
we  often  find  in  his  countrymen,  and  which 
sometimes  produces  a  laughable  confusion 
in  expressing  them.  He  was  very  much 
what  the  French  call  un  etourdi,  and  from 
vanity  and  an  eager  desire  of  being  con- 
spicuous wherever  he  was,  he  frequently 
talked  carelessly  without  knowledge  of  the 
subject,  or  even  without  thought.  His  per- 
son was  short,  his  countenance  coarse  and 
vulgar,  his  deportment  that  of  a  scholar 
awkwardly  affecting  the  easy  gentleman. 
Those  who  were  in  any  way  distinguished 
excited  envy  in  him  to  so  ridiculous  an  ex- 
cess, that  the  instances  of  it  are  hardly  cred- 
ible.. When  accompanying  two  beautiful 
young  ladies3  with  their  mother  on  a  tour 
in  France,  he  was  seriously  angry  that  more 
attention  was  paid  to  them  than  to  him ; 
and  once  at  the  exhibition  of  the  Fantocci- 
ni in  London,  when  those  who  sat  next  him 
observed  with  what  dexterity  a  puppet  was 
made  to  toss  a  pike,  he  could  not  bear  that 
it  should  have  such  praise,  and  exclaimed 
with  some  warmth,  "  Pshaw  !  I  can  do  it 
better  myself^!" 


1  In  allusion  to  this,  Mr.  Horace  Walpole,  who 
admired  his  writings,  said  he  was  "  an  inspired 
knot;"  and  Garrick  described  him  as  one 


-for 


caird  Noll, 


Wfco  wrote  like  an  angel/and  talk'd  like  poor  Poll." 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  mentioned  to  me  that  be  fre- 
quently heard  Goldsmith  talk  warmly  of  the  plea- 
sure of  being  liked,  and  observe  how  hard  it  would 
be  if  literary  excellence  should  preclude  a  man 
from  that  satisfaction,  which  he  perceived  it  often 
did,  from  the  envy  which  attended  it;  and  there- 
fore Sir  Joshua  was  convinced  that  he  was  inten- 
tionally more  absurd,  in  order  to  lessen  himself  in 
social  intercourse,  trusting  that  his  character  would 
be  sufficiently  supported  by  his  works.  If  it  in- 
deed was  his  intention  to  appear  absurd  in  com- 
pany, he  was  often  very  successful.  But  with  doe 
Reference  to  Sir  Joshua's  ingenuity,  I  think  the 
conjecture  too  refined. — Boswjcll. 

*  Miss  Hornecks,  one  of  whom  is  now  married 
to  Henry  Banbury,  esq.  and  the  other  to  Colonel 
Gwyn. — Bos  we  ll. 

3  He  went  home  with  Mr.  Burke  to  supper; 
and  broke  his  shin  by  attempting  to  exhibit  to  the 
company  how  much  better  he  could  jump  over  a 
stick  than,  the  puppets. — Boswbll.  [Colonel 
O'Moore,  of  Clogban  Castle  in  Ireland ,  told  the  Ed- 
itor an  amusing  instance  of  the  mingled  vanity  and 


[He  affected  Johnson's  style  and  *  *«j£ 
manner  df  conversation,  and,  when  *"  4^ 
he  had  uttered,  as  he  often  would, 
a  laboured  sentence,  so  tumid  as  to  be 
scarce  intelligible,  would  ask,  if  that  was 
not  truly  Johnsonian;  yet  he  loved  not 
Johnson,  but  rather  envied  him  for  his 
parts ;  and  once  entreated  a  friend  to 
desist  from  praising  him,  "  for  in  doing  so,'* 
said  he,  "  you  harrow  up  my  very  soul.** 

He  had  some  wit,  but  no  humour,  and 
never  told  a  story  but  he  spoiled  it  The 
following  anecdotes  will  convey  some  idea 
of  the  style  and  manner  of  his  conversation : 

He  was  used  to  say  he  could  play  on  the 
German-flute  as  well  as  most  men  ; — at  oth- 
er times,  as  well  as  any  man  living ;  and 
in  his  poem  of  the  Traveller,  has  hinted  at 
this  attainment ;  but,  in  truth,  he  under- 
stood not  the  character  in  which  musick  is 
written,  and  played  on  that  instrument,  as 
many  of  the  vulgar  do,  merely  by  ear. 
Roubiliac,  the  sculptor,  a  merry  fellow,  once 
heard  him  play,  and  minding  to  put  a  trick 
on  him,  pretended  to  be  so  charmed  with 
his  performance,  that  he  entreated  him  to 
repeat  the  air,  that  he  might  write  it  down. 

simplicity  of  Goldsmith,  which  (though  perhaps 
coloured  a  little,  as  anecdotes  too  often  are)  is 
characteristic  at  least  of  the  opinion  which  bis  best 
friends  entertained  of  Goldsmith.  One  afternoon, 
as  Colonel  O'Moore  and  Mr.  Burke  were  going  to 
dine  with  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  they  observed 
Goldsmith  (also  on  his  way  to  Sir  Joshua's)  stand- 
ing near  a  crowd  of  people,  who  were  staring  and 
shouting  at  some  foreign  women  in  the  windows 
of  one  of  the  houses  m  Leicester-square.  "  Ob- 
serve Goldsmith,"  said  Mr.  Burke  to  O'Moore, 
"  and  mark  what  passes  between  him  and  me  by- 
and-by  at  Sir  Joshua's."  They  passed  on,  and 
arrived  before  Goldsmith,  who  came  soon  after, 
and  Mr.  Burke  affected  to  receive  him  very  coolly. 
This  seemed  to  vex  poor  Goldsmith,  who  begged 
Mr.  Burke  would  teU  him  bow  he  had  had  the 
misfortune  to  offend  him.  Burke  appeared  very 
reluctant  to  speak,  but,  after  a  good  deal  of  press- 
ing, said,  "  that  he  was  really  ashamed  to  keep 
up  an  intimacy  with  one  who  could  be  guilty  of 
such  monstrous  indiscretions  as  Goldsmith  had  just 
exhibited  in  the  square."  Goldsmith,  with  great 
earnestness,  protested  he  was  unconscious  of 
what  was  meant:  " Why,"  said  Burke,  "did 
you  not  exclaim,  as  you  were  looking  up  at  those 
women,  what  stupid  beasts  the  crowd  must  be  for 
staring  with  such  admiration  at  those  painted 
jezabels;  while  a  man  of  your  talents  passed  by 
unnoticed?"  Goldsmith  was  horror-struck  and 
said,  "  Surely,  surely,  my  dear  friend,  I  did  not 
say  so  ?"  "  Nay,"  replied  Burke,  "  if  you  had 
net  said  so,  now  should  I  have  known  it?" 
"  That's  true,"  answered  Goldsmith,  with  great 
humility:  «« I  am  very  sorry — it  was  very  foolish: 
I  do  recollect  that  something  of  the  kind  pass- 
ed through  mymindyifut  I  did  not  think  I  had 
uttered  tr."— En.] 


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Goldsmith  readily  consenting,  Ronbiliac 
called  for  paper,  and  scored  thereon  a  few 
fire-lined  staves,  which  having  done, 
Goldsmith  proceeded  to  play,  and  Roubiliac 
to  write;  but  his  writing  was  only  such 
random  notes  on  the  lines  and  spaces  as 
any  one  might  set  down  who  had  ever  in- 
spected a  page  of  musick.  When  they 
had  both  done,  Ronbiliac  showed  the  pa- 
per to  Goldsmith,  who,  looking  it  over 
with  seeming  great  attention,  said  it  was 
very  correct,  and  that  if  he  had  not  seen 
him  do  it,  he  never  could  have  believed  his 
friend  capable  of  writing  musick  after  him. 
He  would  frequently  preface  a  story 
thus:  "  I'll  now  tell  you  a  story  of  myself, 
which  some  people  laugh  at,  and  some  do 
not." 
I  At  the  breaking  up  of  an  evening  at  a 

tavern,  he  entreated  the  company  to  sit 
down,  and  told  them  if  they  would  call  for 
another  bottle,  they  should  hear  one  of  his 
bon-mots.  They  agreed,  and  he  began 
thus:  "  I  was  once  told  that  Sheridan,  the 
player,  in  order  to  improve  himself  in  stage 
gestures,  had  looking-glasses,  to  the  num- 
ber often,  hung  about  his  room,  and  that 
he  practised  before  them ;  upon  which  I 
said,  then  there  were  ten  ugly  fellows  to- 

Sither."      The  company  were  all  silent, 
e  asked,  why  they  did  not  laugh?  which, 

!       they  not  doing,  he,  without  tasting   the 

i       wine,  left  the  room  in  anger. 

He  once  complained  to  a  friend  in  these 

I       words:  "  Mr.  Martinelli  is  a  rude  man  ;  I 
said,  in  his  hearing,  that  there  were  no 

I       good  writers  among  the  Italians,  and  he 

I       said  to  one  that  sat  near  him,  that  I  was 
very  ignorant." 

"  People,"  said  he,  "  are  greatly  mista- 
ken in  me.  A  notion  goes  about,  that 
when  I  am  silent,  I  mean  to  be  impudent ; 
but  I  assure  you,  gentlemen,  my  silence 
arises  from  bashfulness." 

Sir  John  Hawkins  havihg  one  day  a  call 
to  wait  on  the  late  duke,  then  earl,  of  North- 
umberland, found  Goldsmith  waiting  for  an 
audience  in  an  outer  room.  Hawkins  ask- 
ed what  had  brought  him  there:  he  repli- 
ed, an  invitation  from  his  lordship.  Haw- 
kins made  his  business  as  short  as  he  could, 
and,  as  a  reason,  mentioned,  that  Gold- 
smith was  waiting  without.  The  earl  ask- 
ed if  he  was  acquainted  with  him.  He  told 
him  he  was,  adding-  what  he  thought  like- 
ly to  recommend  him.  Hawkins  retired, 
and  staid  in  the  outer  room  to  take  Gold- 
smith home,  and,  upon  his  coming  out, 
asked  him  die  result  of  his  conversation. 
'His  lordship,"  says  he,  "  told  me  he  had 
lead  my  poem  (meaning  the  Traveller), 
and  was  much  delighted  with  it ;  that  he 
was  going  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and 
that,  hearing  that  I  was  a  native  of  that 
country,  he  should  be  glad  to  do  me  any 


kindness."  «€  And  what  did  you  answer," 
asked  Hawkins,  "to  this  ferocious  oner?" 
"  Why,"  said  he,  "  I  could  say  nothing, 
but  that  I  had  a  brother  there,  a  clergyman, 
that  stood  in  need  of  help.  As  for  myself, 
I  have  no  dependence  on  the  promises  of 
great  men  ;  I  look  to  the  booksellers  for 
support ;  they  are  my  best  friends,  and  I 
am  not; inclined  to  forsake  them  for  others." 

Thus  adds  Hawkins,  did  this  idiot1,  m 
the  afiairs  of  the  world,  trifle  with  his  for- 
tunes, and  put  back  the  hand  that  was  held 
out  to  assist  him!  Other  offers  of  a  like 
kind  he  either  rejected  or  failed  to  improve, 
contenting  himself  with  the  patronage  of  one 
nobleman  [Nugent,  Lord  Clare],  whose 
mansion  afforded  him  the  delights  of  a  splen- 
did table,  and  a  retreat  for  a  few  days  from 
the  metropolis. 

While  Hawkins  was  writing  the  History 
of  Musick,  Goldsmith,  at  the  club,  commu- 
nicated to  him  some  curious  matter,  which 
the  former  desired  he  would  reduce  to  wri- 
tingj  he  promised  to  do  so,  and  desired  to 
see  Hawkins  at  his  chambers.  He  called 
on  him  there;  Goldsmith  stepped  into  a 
closed,  and  tore  out  of  a  printed  book  six 
leaves  that  contained  what  he  had  men- 
tioned. 

His  poems  are  replete  with  fine  moral 
sentiments,  and  bespeak  a  great  dignity  of 
mind  ;  yet  he  had  no  sense  of  the  shame, 
nor  dread  of  the  evils,  of  poverty.] 

He,  I  am  afraid,  had  no  settled  system 
of  any  sort,  so  that  his  conduct  must  not 
be  strictly  scrutinized:  but  his  affections 
were  social  and  generous,  and  when  he  had 
money  he  gave  it  away  very  liberally.  His 
desire  of  imaginary  consequence  predomi- 
nated over  his  attention  to  truth.  When 
he  began  to  rise  into  notice,  he  said  he  had 
a  brother  who  was  Dean  of  Durham5,  a  fic- 
tion so  easily  detected,  that  it  is  wonderful 
how  he  should  have  been  so  inconsiderate 
as  to  hazard  it.  He  boasted  to  me  at  this 
time  of  the  power  of  his  pen  in  command- 
ing money,  which  I  believe  was  truo  in  a 
certain  degree,  though  in  ihe  instance  he 
gave  he  was  by  no  means  correct.  He 
told  me  that  he  had  sold  a  novel  for  four 
hundred  pounds.  This  was  his  "  Vicar  of 
Wakefield."  But  Johnson  informed  me, 
that  he  had  made  the  bargain  for  Gold- 
smith, and  the  price  was  sixty  pounds* 
"  And,  sir,"  said  he,  "  a  sufficient  price  too, 
when  it  was  sold ;  for  then  the  fame  of 


1  [It  is  hard  on  poor  Goldsmith  to  be  called  an 
idiot  for  what,  in  another  man,  would  have  been 
applauded  as  disinterestedness  and  magnanimity. 
—Ed.] 

*  I  am  willing  to  hope  that  there  may  have 
been  some  mistake  as  to  this  anecdote,  though  I 
had  it  from  a  dignitary  of  the  church.  Dr.  Isaac 
Goldsmith,  bis  near  relation,  was  Dean  of  Cloys* 
in  1747. — Boswell. 


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188 


1763.— ^TAT.  54 


p.  119. 


Goldsmith  had  not  been  elevated,  m  it  af- 
terwards was,  by  his « Traveller ; »  and  the 
bookseller  had  such  faint  hopes  of  profit  by 
his  bargain,  that  he  kept  the  manuscript 
by  him  a  long  time,  and  did  not  publish  it 
till  after  the  'Traveller3  had  appeared. 
Then,  to  be  sure,  it  was  accidently  worth 
more  money." 

Mrs.  Piozzi  and  Sir  John  .Hawk- 
ins *  have  strangely  mis-stated  the 
history  of  Goldsmith's  situation 
and  Johnson's  friendly  interference,  when 
this  novel  was  sold.  I  shall  give  it  authen- 
tically from  Johnson's  own  exact  narration : 
"  I  received  one  morning  a  message  from 
poor  Goldsmith  that  he  was  in  great  dis- 
tress, and  as  it  was  not  in  his  nower  to 
come  to  me,  begging  that  I  would  come  to 
him  as  soon  as  possible.  I  sent  him  a  guin- 
ea, and  promised  to  come  to  him  directly. 
I  accordingly  went  as  soon  as  I  was  dress- 
ed, and  found  that  his  landlady  had  arrest- 
ed him  for  his  rent,  at  which  he  was  in  a 
violent  passion.  I  perceived  that  he  had 
already  changed  my  guinea,  and  had  got  a 
bottle  of  madeira  and  a  glass  before  him. 
I  put  the  cork  into  the  bottle,  desired  he 
would  be  calm,  and  began  to  talk  to  him  of 
the  means  by  which  he  might  be  extricated. 
He  then  told  me  that  he  had  a  novel  ready 
for  the  press,  which  he  produced  to  me.  I 
looked  into  it,  and  saw  its  merit;  told  the 
landlady  I  should  soon  return,  and  having 
gone  to  a  bookseller,  sold  it  for  sixty 
pounds.  I  brought  Goldsmith  the  money, 
and  he  discharged  his  rent,  not  without  ra- 
ting his  landlady  in  a  high  tone  for  hav- 
ing used  him  so  ill 2." 


1  [How  Mr.  Boswell,  who  affects  such  extreme 
accuracy,  should  say  that  Hawkins  has  strangely 
mis-stated  this  affair  is  very  surprising ;  what  Haw- 
kins says  (Life,  p.  420),  is  merely  that,  under  a 
pressing  necessity,  he  wrote  the  Vicar  of  Wake- 
field, and  sold  it  to  Newbury  for  40/.  Hawkins's 
account  is  not  in  any  respect  inconsistent  with 
Boswell  'b;  aid  the  difference  between  the  prices 
Stated,  even  if  Hawkins  be  in  error,  is  surely  not 
sufficient  to  justify  the  charge  of  a  strange  mis- 
statement.— En.] 

*  It  may  not  be  improper  to  annex  here  Mrs. 
Piozzi's  account  of  this  transaction,  in  her  own 
words,  as  a  specimen  of  the  extreme  inaccuracy 
with  which  all  her  anecdotes  of  Dr.  Johnson  are 
■elated,  or  rather  discoloured  and  distorted.  "  I 
have  forgotten  the  year,  but  it  could  scarcely,  I 
think,  be  later-  than  1765  or  1766,  that  he  was 
tailed  abruptly  from  our  house  after  dinner, 
and  returning  in  about  three  hours,  said  he  had 
been  with  an  enraged  authour,  whose  landlady 
pressed  him  for  payment  within  doors,  while  the 
bailiffs  beset  him  without;  that  he  was  drinking 
himself  drunk  with  madeira,  to  drown  care,  and 
fretting  over  a  novel,  which,  when  finished,  was 
to  be  his  whole  fortune,  but  he  could  not  get  it 
dene  for  distraction,  nor  could  he  step  out  of 
doom  to  offer  it  fdr  sale.     Mr.  Johnson,  therefore. 


Here  let  me  not  forget  the  curious  anec- 
dote 3,  referred  to  by  Dr.  Maxwell,  which 
was  related  to  me  by  Mr.  Beauclerk,  and 
which  I  shall  endeavour  to  exhibit  as  well 
as  I  can  in  that  gentleman's  lively  manner; 
and,  in  justice  to  him,  it  is  proper  to  add, 
that  Dr.  Johnson  told  me  I  might  rely  both 
on  the  correctness  of  his  memory,  and  the 
fidelity  of  his  narrative.  "  When  M  adame 
de  Boufflers*  was  first  in  England  (said 
Beauclerk),  she  was  desirous  to  see  John- 
son. I  accordingly  went  with  her  to  his 
chambers  in  the  1'emple,  where  she  was 
entertained  with  his  conversation  for  some 
time.  When  our  visit  was  over,  she  and  I 
left  him,  and  were  got  into  Inner  Temple* 


sent  away  the  bottle,  and  went  to  the  bookseller, 
recommending  the  performance,  and  desiring 
some  immediate  relief;  which  when  he  brought 
back  to  the  writer,  he  called  the  woman  of  the 
house  directly  to  partake  of  punch,  and  past 
their  time  in  merriment.** — Anecdotes  of  Dr. 
Johnson,  p.  119. — Boswell.  [It  is  hardly  fair 
to  give  this  as  a  proof  of  Mrs.  Piozzi's  inaccu- 
racy in  all  her  anecdotes.  We  have  seen  some 
instances,  and  shall  see  more,  in  which  Dr.  John- 
son, according  even  to  Mr.  Boswell 's  report,  told 
an  anecdote  different  ways,  and  how  can  *  we  be 
sure  that  he  did  not  do  so  in  the  present  ease? 
The  greatest  discrepancy  between  the  two  stories  . 
is  the  rtiwe  of  the  day  at  which  it  happened;  and, 
unluckily,  the  admitted  fact  of  the  bottle  of  ma- 
deira seems  to  render  Mrs.  Piozzi's  version  the 
more  probable  of  the  two.  If,  according  to  Mr. 
Boswell 's  account,  Goldsmith  had,  in  the  morn- 
ing, changed  Johnson's  charitable  guinea  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  a  bottle  of  madeira,  we  cannot 
complain  that  Mrs.  Piozzi's  represents  him  as 
"drinking  himself  drunk  with  madeira;99 
which  Mr.  Boswell  thinks  so  violently  inaccurate, 
as  to  deserve  being  marked  in  italics. — En.] 

3  [Mr.  Boswell  had  placed  this  anecdote  under 
1775:  it  is  thought  right  to  introduce  it  near  the 
date  of  the  event — En.] 

4  [La  Comtesse  de  Boufflers  was  the  mistress  of 
the  Prince  de  Conti,  and  aspired  to  be  his  wife; 
she  was  a  bel-esprit,  and  in  that  character  thought 
it  necessary  to  be  an  Anglomane  and  to  visit 
England  in  the  summer  of  1763.  Horace  Wak 
pole  says  of  her,  in  a  letter  to  Montagu,  17th 
May,  1763,  "  Madame  de  Boufflers  will,  I  think, 
die  a  martyr  to  a  taste  (for  seeing  sights),  which 
she  fancied  she  had,  and  finds  she  had  not. 
Never  having  stirred  ten  miles  from  Paris,  and 
having  only  rolled  in  an  easy  coach  from  one 
hotel  to  another  on  a  gliding  pavement,  she  is 
already  worn  out  by  being  hurried  from  morning 
till  night  from  one  sight  to  another.  She  rises 
every  morning  so  fatigued  with  the  toils  of  the 
preceding  day,  that  she  has  not  strength,  if  she 
had  inclination,  to  observe  the  least  or  the  finest 
things  she  sees."  One  of  the  sights,  which  this 
inquisitive  traveller  was  taken  to  see,  was  Dr. 
Johnson,  and  a  strange  sight  it  seems  that  it  was. 
Madame  de  Boufflers  visited  England  a  second 
time  on  the  melancholy  necessity  of  the  emigra- 
tion.— Ed.] 


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by  when  all  at  once  I  heard  a  noise  like 
thunder.  This  was  occasioned  by  Johnson, 
who,  it  seems,  upon  a  little  recollection, 
had  taken  it  into  his  head  that  he  ought  to 
hare  done  the  honours  of  his  literary  resi- 
dence to  a  foreign  lady  of  quality,  and,  ea- 
ger to  show  himself  a  man  of  gallantry,  was 
hurrying  down  the  staircase  in  violent  agi- 
tation. He  overtook  us  before  we  reached 
the  Temple-gate,  and,  brushing  in  between 
me  and  Madame  de  Boufflers,  seized  her 
hand,  and  conducted  her  to  her  coach.  His 
dress  was  a  rusty  brown  morning  suit,  a 
pair  of  old  shoes  by  way  of  slippers,  a  tittle 
shrivelled  wig  sticking  on  the  top  of  his 
head,  and  the  sleeves  of  his  shirt  and  the 
knees  of  his  breeches  hanging  loose.  A 
considerable  crowd  of  people  gathered 
round,  and  were  not  a  little  struck  by  this 
singular  appearance." 

My  next  meeting  with  Johnson  was  on 
Friday,  the  1st  of  July,  when  he  and  I  and 
Dr.  Goldsmith  supped  at  the  Mitre.  I  was 
before  this  time  pretty  well  acquainted  with 
Goldsmith,  who  was  one  of  the  brightest 
ornaments  of  the  Johnsonian  school*. 
Goldsmith's  respectful  attachment  to  John- 
son was  then  at  its  height;  for  his  own 
literary  reputation  had  not  yet  distin- 
guished him  so  much  as  to  excite  a  vain 
desire  of  competition  with  his  great  master. 
He  had  increased  my  admiration  of  the 
goodness  of  Johnson's  heart,  by  incidental 
remarks  in  the  course  of  conversation,  such 
as,  when  I  mentioned  Mr.  Levet,  whom  he 
entertained  under  his  roof.  "  He  is  poor 
and  honest,  which  is  recommendation 
enough  to  Johnson;"  and  when  I  wonder- 
ed'that  he  was  very  kind  to  a  man  of  whom 
I  had  heard  a*  very  bad  character, "  He  is 
now  become  miserable,  and  that  ensures 
the  protection  of  Johnson." 

Goldsmith  attempted  this  evening  to 
maintain,  I  suppose  from  an  affectation  of 
paradox,  "  that  knowledge  was  not  desira- 
ble on  its  own  account,  for  it  often  was  a 
source  of  uiihappiness."  Johnson.'  Why, 
sir,  that  knowledge  may  in  some  cases  pro- 
duce unhappiness,  I  allow.  But  upon  the 
whole,  knowledge,  per  se,  is  certainly  an 
object  which  every  man  would  wish  to  at- 
tain, although,  perhaps,  he  may  not  take 
the  trouble  necessary  for  attaining  it." 
Dr.  John  Campbell,  the  celebrated  *  polit- 


ical and  biographical  writer,  being  mention- 
ed, Johnson  said,  "  Campbell  is  a  man  of 
much  knowledge,  and  has  a  good  share  of 
imagination.  His  '  Hermippus  Redivivus' 
is  very  entertaining,  as  an  account  of  the 
hermetick  philosophy,  and  as  furnishing  a 
curious  history  of  the  extravagancies  of 
the  human  mind.  If  it  were  merely  imagi- 
nary, it  would  be  nothing  at  all.  Camp. 
bell  is  not  always  rigidly  careful  of  truth 
m  his  conversation ;  but  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  any  thing  of  this  carelessness  in 
his  books.  Campbell  is  a  good  man,  a  pi- 
ous man.  I  am  afraid  he  has  not  been  in 
the  inside  of  a  church  for  many  years3 ; 
but  he  never  passes  a  church  without  pull- 
ing off  his  hat.  This  shows  that  he  has' 
good  principles.    I  used  to  go  pretty  often 


1  [Mr.  Boswell,  as  has  been  already  observed, 
sntgrned  that  all  the  literary  men  in  England  were 
mere  planets  moving  round  and  borrowing  light 
from  hie  great  luminary,  Johnson.  Goldsmith 
«w  an  ornament  of  the  Johnsonian  society,  but 
»  what  respect  can  he  be  said  to  have  belonged 
to  the  Johnsonian  school?  The  style  of  his  wri- 
tup,  the  torn  of  his  mind,  the  habits  of  his  life, 
woe,  in  almost  every  point,  strikingly  /Tuaiimilnr 
from  Johnson's.— Ed.] 

*  [Mr.  Boswell  a  little  exaggerates  the  literary 
*auon  of  his  countryman,  Dr.  Campbell;  who 


was,  no  doubt,  an  able,  industrious,  and  very 
voluminous  writer,  but  hardly  can  be  designated 
as  "  the  celebrated.'9  His  Lives  of  the  Admi- 
rals is  the  only  one  of  his  almost  innumerable 
publications  that  is  still  called  for  ;  his  last  and 
most  extensive  work,  "  A  Political  Survey  of 
Britain,"  published  in  1774,  has  become,  fiom 
the  Change  of  circumstances,  almost  obsolete,  but 
at  the  time  deserved  more  reputation  than  it  ob- 
tained. He  was  born  in  1708,  and  died  in  1775. 
— Ed.] 

3  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  he  was  mninfbrmed 
as  to  this  circumstance.     I  own  I  am  jealous  for 
my  worthy  friend  Dr.  'John    Campbell     For 
though  Milton  could  without  remorse  absent  him- 
self from  publick  worship,  I  cannot    On  the  con- 
trary, I  have  the  same  habitual  impressions  upon 
my  mind,  with  those  of  a  truly  venerable  judge, 
who  said  to  Mr.  Langton,  "  Friend  Langton,  if  I 
have  not  been  at  church  on  Sunday,  I  do  not  feel 
myself  easy."     Dr.  Campbell  was  a  sincerely 
religious  man.     Lord  Macartney,  who  is  «miw^nt 
for  his  variety  of  knowledge,  and  attention  to  men 
of  talents,  and  knew  him  well,  told  me,  that  when 
he  called  on  him  in  a  morning,  he  found  him 
reading  a  chapter  in  the  Greek  New  Testament, 
which  he  informed  his  lordship  was  his  constant 
practice.    The  quantity  of  Dr.  Campbell's  com- 
position  is  almost  incredible,  and    ms  labours 
brought  him  large  profits.     Dr.  Joseph  Warton 
told  me  that  Johnson  said  of  him,  *«  He  k  the 
richest  authour  that  ever  grazed  the  common  of 
literature."     [Mr.  Boswell  quotes  this  dictum  as 
if  it  was  evidence  only  of  Dr.  Campbell's  toealth; 
he  probably  did  not  see  that  it  characterised  his 
celebrated  friend,  by  no  very  complimentary  al- 
lusion, as  grazing  the  common  of  literature. 
The  strange  story  of  Campbell's  "  pulling  off  ms 
hat  whenever  he  passed  a  church,  though  he  had 
not  been  for  many  years  inside  one,"  must  have 
arisen  from  some  error.    Johnson  could  hardly 
have  seriously  told  such  an  absurdity.     It  »  well 
known,  that  the  members  of  the  kirk  of  Scotland 
do  not  think  it  necessary  to  uncover  on  entering 
places  of  womhip,  though  the  lower  classes  some- 
times show  a  kind  of  superstitious  veneration  for 
burial-places:  perhaps  Dr.  Campbell  may,  in  con- 
versation with  Johnson,  have  alluded  to  those 
circumstances,  and  thus  given  occasion  to  this 
whimsical  misapprehension. — En.] 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


190 


1763,— iBTAT.  64. 


to  Campbell's  on  a  Sunday  evening,  till  I 
began  to  consider  that  the  shoals  of  Scotch- 
men who  flocked  about  him  might  proba- 
bly say,  when  any  thing  of  mine  was  well 
done,  *  Ay,  ay,  he  has  learnt  this  of  Caw- 

He  talked  very  contemptuously  or 
Churchill's  poetry,  observing,  that  "  it  had 
a  temporary  currency,  only  from  its  audaci- 
ty of  abuse,  and  being  filled  with  living 
names,  and  that  it  would  sink  into  oblivion." 
I  ventured  to  hint  that  he  was  not  quite  a 
fair  judge,  as  Churchill  had  attacked  him 
violently.  Johnson.  "  Nay,  sir,  I  am  a 
very  fair  judge.  He  did  not  attack  me  vio- 
lently till-he  found  I  did  not  like  his  poe- 
try ;  and  his  attack  on  me  shall  not  pre- 
vent me  from  continuing  to  say  what  I 
think  of  him,  from  an  apprehension  that  it 
may  be  ascribed  to  resentment.  No,  sir,  I 
called  the  fellow  a  blockhead  at  first,  and 
I  will  call  him  a  blockhead  still.  How- 
ever, I  will  acknowledge  that  I  have  a  bet- 
ter opinion  of  him  now  than  I  once  had  ; 
for  he  has  shown  more  fertility  than  I  ex- 
pected. To  be  Bure,  he  is  a  tree  that  can- 
not produce  good  fruit  •  he  only  bears  crabs. 
But,  sir,  a  tree  that  produces  a  great  many 
crabs  is  better  than  a  tree  which  produces 
onlv  &  few  " 

la  this  depreciation  of  Churchill's  poetry 
I  could  not  agree  with  him.  It  is  very 
true  that  the  greatest  part  of  it  is  upon  the 
topicks  of  the  day,  on  which  account,  as  it 
brought  him  great  fame  and  profit  at  tire 
time,  it  must  proportionably  slide  out  of 
the  publick  attention  as  other  occasions) 
objects  succeed.  But  Churchill  had  ex- 
traordinary vigour  both  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression. His  portraits  of  the  players  will 
ever  be  valuable  to  the  true  lovers  of  the 
drama ;  and  his  strong  caricatures  of  seve- 
ral eminent  men  of  his  age  will  not  be  for- 
gotten by  the  curious.  Let  me  add,  that 
there  are  in  his  works  many  passages  which 
are  of  a  general  nature ;  and  his  "Prophecy 
of  Famine  "  is  a  poem  of  no  ordinary  mer- 
it. It  is,  indeed,  falsely  injurious  to  Scot- 
land ;  but  therefore  may  be  allowed  a 
greater  share  of  invention. 

Bonnell  Thornton  had  just  published  a 
burlesque  "  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day," 
adapted  to  the  ancient  British  musick,  viz. 
the  salt  box,  the  jew's-harp,  the  marrow- 
bones and  cleaver,  the  hum-strum  or  hurdy- 
gurdy,  &c.  Johnson  praised  its  humour, 
and  seemed  much  diverted  with  it.  He 
repeated  the  following  passage: 

"  In  strains  more  exalted  the  Salt-box  shall  join, 
And  clattering  and  battering  and  clapping  combine; 
With  a  rap  and  a  tap,  while  the  hollow  side  sounds, 
Up  and  down  leaps  the  flap,  and  with  rattling  re- 
bounds1." 


I  mentioned  the  periodical  paper  called 
"  The  Connoisseur."  He  said  it  wanted 
matter. — No  doubt  it  had  not  the  deep 
thinking  of  Johnson's  writings.  But  sure 
ly  it  has  just  views  of  the  surface  of  life, 
and  a  very  sprightly  manner.  His  opinion 
of  The  World  was  not  much  higher  than 
of  the  Connoisseur. 

Let  me  here  apologize  for  the  imperfect 
manner  in  which  I  am  obliged  to  exhibit 
Johnson's  conversation  at  this  period.  In 
the  early  part  of  my  acquaintance  with  him, 
I  was  so  wrapt  in  admiration  of  his  extra- 
ordinary colloquial  talents,  and  so  little  ac- 
customed to  his  peculiar  mode  of  expres- 
sion, that  I  found  it  extremely  difficult  to 
recollect  and  record  his  conversation  with 
its  genuine  vigour  and  vivacity.  In  progress 
of  time,  when  my  mind  was,  as  it  were, 
strongly  impregnated  with  the  Jokmonimn 
other  >  I  could,  with  much  more  facility  and 
exactness,  carry  in  my  memory  and  commit 
to  paper  the  exuberant  variety  of  his  wisdom 
and  wit. 

At  this  time  MU$  Williams,  as  she  was 
called,  though  she  did  not  reside  with  him 
in  the  Temple  under  his  roof,  but  had  lodg- 
ings in  Bolt-court,  Fleet-street,  had  so  much 
of  his  attention,  that  he  every  night  drank 
tea  with  her  before  he  went  home,  however 
late  it  might  be,  and  she  always  sat  up  for 
him.  This,  it  may  be  fairly  conjectured, 
was  not  alone  a  proof  of  his  regard  for  her9 
but  of  his  own  unwillingness  to  go  into  sol- 
itude, before  that  unseasonable  hour  at 
which  he  had  habituated  himself -to  expect 
the  oblivion  of  repose.  Dr.  Goldsmith,  be- 
ing a  privileged  man,  went  with  him  this 
night,  strutting  away,  and  calling  to  me 
with  an  air  of  superiority,  like  that  of  an 
esoterick  over  an  exoterick  disciple  of  a  sage 
of  antiquity*,  "  I  go  to  Miss  Williams.'*    I 


1  In  1769 1  set  for  Smart  and  Newbury,  Thorn- 


ton's burlesque  Ode  on  St  Cecilia's  day.  It  was 
performed  at  Ranelagh  in  masks,  to  a  very 
crowded  audience,  as  I  was  told;  for  I  then  re- 
sided in  Norfolk.  Beard  sung  the  salt-box  song, 
which  was  admirably  accompanied  on  that  instru- 
ment by  Brent,  the  fencing-master,  and  father  of 
Miss  Brent,  the  celebrated  singer;  SkeggB  on  the 
broomstick,  as  bassoon;  and  a  remarkable  per- 
former on  the  Jew's-harp, — "  Busing  twangs  the 
iron  lyre."  Cleavers  were  cast  in  bell-metal  lor 
this  entertainment  All  the  performed  of  the  old 
woman's  oratery,  employed  by  Foote,  were,  I 
believe,  employed  at  Rauelagh,  on  this  occasion. 
— Burnet.  [In  the  original  edition  of  this  oda 
now  before  the  editor,  the  date  on  the  title-pegs 
is  1749,  a  mistake,  no  doubt,  for  1769.  For  the 
use  to  which  Dr.  Burney  put  it,  as  a  burlesque 
vehicle  for  musick,  it  is  very  well;  but  as  a  literary 
production,  it  seems  without  object  or  meaning. 
It  has  not  even  the  low  merit  of  being  a  parody; 
the  best  line  is  that  on  the  jew's-harp,  above  quo- 
ted— "  Buzzing  twangs  the  iron  lyre." — Ed.]  • 
[It  may  perhaps  not  be  unnecessary  to  some 
to  explain  that  the  ancient  philosopher 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


176S.— JBTAT.  54. 


191 


confess,  I  then  envied  him  this  mighty  pri- 
vilege, of  which  he  seemed  so  proud;  but  it 
was  not  long  before  I  obtained  the  same 
mark  of  distinction. 

On  Tuesday,  the  5th  of  July,  I  again 
visited  Johnson.  He  told  me  he  had  looked 
into  the  poems  of  a  pretty  voluminous  wri- 
ter, Mr.  (now  Dr.)  John  Ogilvie,  one  of 
the  presbyterian  ministers  of  Scotland, 
which  had  lately  come  out,  but  could  find 
nothing  in  them.  Bo  swell.  "  Is  there 
sot  imagination  in  them,  sir?"  *  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  there  is  in  them  what  was  im- 
agination, but  it  is  no  more  imagination  in 
ami,  than  sound  is  sound  in  the  echo.  And 
his  diction  too  is  not  his  own.  We  have 
bag  ago  seen  white-robed  innocence,  and 
flower-bespangled  meads." 

Talking  of  London,  he  observed,  "  Sir, 
if  you  wish  to  have  a  just  notion  of  the 
magnitude  of  this  city,  you  must  not  be 
sitnfiedwith  seeing  its  great  streets  and 
squares,  but  must  survey  the  innumerable 
little  lanes  and  courts.  It  is  not  in  the 
showy  evolutions  of  buildings,  but  in  the 
multiplicity  of  human  habitations  which  are 
crowded  together,  that  the  wonderful  im- 
mensity of  London  consists." — I  have  often 
amused  myself  with  thinking  how  different 
aplace  London  is  to  different  people.  They, 
whose  narrow  minds  are  contracted  to  the 
consideration  of  some  one  particular  pursuit, 
view  it  only  through  that  medium.  A  po- 
litician thinks  of  it  merely  as  the  seat  of 
government  in  its  different  departments; 
t  grazier,  as  a  vast  market  for  cattle;  a 
mercantile  man,  as  a  place  where  a  prodi- 
gious deal  of  business  is*done  upon  'Change; 
*  dramatick  enthusiast,  as  the  grand  scene 
of  theatrical  entertainments;  a  man  ot  plea- 
aie,  as  an  assemblage  of  taverns,  and  sjie 
great  emporium  for  ladies  of  easy  virtue. 
Bat  the  intellectual  man  is  struck  with  it, 
a*  comprehending  the  whole  of  human  life 
in  all  its  variety,  the  contemplation  of  which 
« inexhaustible. 

["DB.  JOHNSON  TO  MISS  1.UCY  PORTER. 
"  5th  July,  1769. 

~ "  Mr  dearest  dear, — I  am  ex- 

IBR  tremely  glad  that  so  much  prudence 
and  virtue  as  yours  is  at  last  reward- 
ed with  so  awe  a  fortune*,  and  doubt  not  but 
that  the  excellence  which  you  have  shown 
is  circumstances  of  difficulty  will  continue 
the  same  in  the  convenience  of  wealth. 
.  "I  have  not  written  to  you  sooner,  hav- 
ing nothing  to  say,  which  you  would  not 


***  (apposed  to  have  two  seta  of  tenets— one, 
**  exoteric,  external,  or  public  doctrines — the 
•**  the  esoteric,  the  internal,  or  secret  doctrine, 
****  were  reserved  for  the  more  favoured  few. 
V-En.] 

[auas  Porter  had  jost  received  a  legacy  of 
IMOOJ.  by  the  death  of  her  brother.— En.] 


easily  suppose, — nothing  but  that  I  love  you 
and  wish  you  happy,  of  which  you  may  be 
always  assured,  whether  I  write  or  not 

"  I  have  had  an  inflammation  in  my  eyes, 
but  it  is  much  better,  and  will  be,  I  hope, 
soon  quite  well. 

"  Be  so  good  as  to  let  me  know  whether 
you  design  to  stay  at  Lichfield  this  summer: 
if  you  do,  I  purpose  to  come  down.  I  shall 
bring  Frank  with  me,  so  that  Kitty  must 
contrive  to  make  two  beds,  or  get  a  servant's 
bed  at  the  Three  Crowns,  which  may  be  as 
well.  As  I  suppose  she  may  want  sheets 
and  table-linen,  and  such  things,  I  have 
sent  ten  pounds,  which  she  may  lay  out  in 
conveniences.  I  will  pay  her  for  her  board 
what  you  think  proper;  I  think  a  guinea  a 
week  for  me  and  the  boy. 

"  Be  pleased  to  give  my  love  to  Kitty. — I 
am,  my  dearest  love,  your  most  humble  ser- 
vant, "  Sam.  Jomrsoir."] 

On  Wednesday,  July  6,  he  was  engaged 
to  sup  with  me  at  my  lodgings  in  Downing- 
street,  Westminster.  But  on  the  preced- 
ing night  my  landlord  having  behaved  very 
rudely  to  me  and  some  company  who  were 
with  me,  I  resolved  not  to  remain  another 
night  in  his  house.  I  was  exceedingly  un- 
easy at  the  awkward  appearance  I  supposed 
I  should  make  to  Johnson  and  the  other 
gentlemen  whom  I  had  invited,  not  being 
able  to  receive  them  at  home,  and  being 
obliged  to  order  supper  at  the  Mitre:  I 
went  to  Johnson  in  the  morning,  and  talk- 
ed of  it  as  of  a  serious  distress.  He  laugh- 
ed, and  said,  "  Consider,  sir,  how  insignifi- 
cant this  will  appear  a  twelvemonth  hence." 
Were  this  consideration  to  be  applied  to 
most  of  the  little  vexatious  incidents  of  life, 
by  which  our  quiet  is  too  often  disturbed, 
it  would  prevent  many  painful  sensations. 
I  have  tried  it  frequently  with  good  effect 
"  There  is  nothing  (continued  he)  in  this 
mighty  misfortune;  nay,  we  shall  be  better 
at  the  Mitre."  I  told  him  that  I  had  been 
at  Sir  John  Fielding's  office,  complaining 
of  my  landlord,  and  had  been  informed, 
that  though  I  had  taken  my  lodgings  for  a 
vear,  I  might,  upon  proof  of  his  bad  behav- 
iour, quit  them  when  I  pleased,  without  be- 
ing under  an  obligation  to  pay  rent  for 
any  longer  time  than  while  I  possessed 
them.  The  fertility  *of  Johnson's  mind 
could  show  itself  even  upon  so  small  a  mat- 
ter as  this.  "  Why,  sir  (said  he),  I  sup- 
pose this  must  be  the  law,  since  you  have 
been  told  so  in  Bow-street  But,  if  your 
landlord  could  hold  you  to  your  bargain,  and 
the  lodgings  should  be  yours  for  a  year, 
you  may  certainly  use  them  as  you  think 
fit9.    So,  sir,  you  may  quarter  two  life- 

*  [Certainly  not;  yon  must  use  them  according 
to  the  contract,  expressed  or  implied,  under  which 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


192 


nes.— iETAT.  M. 


guardmen  upon  him;  or  you  may  send  the 
greatest  scoundrel  you  can  find  into  your 
apartments;  or  you  nray  say  that  you  want 
to  make  some  experiments  in  natural  phi- 
losophy, and  may  hum  a  large  quantity  of 
assafcetida  in  his  house." 

I  had  as  my  guests  this  evening  at  the 
Mitre  tavern,  Dr.  Johnson,  Dr.  Goldsmith, 
Mr.  Thomas  Davies,  Mr.  Eccles1,  anirish 
gentleman,  for  whose  agreeable  company 
I  was  obliged  to  Mr.  Davies,  and  the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  John  Ogiivie2,  who  was  desirous 
of  being  in  company  with  my  illustrious 
friend,  while  I,  in  my  turn,  was  proud  to  have 
the  honour  of  snowing  one  of  my  countrymen 
upon  what  easy  terms  Johnson  permitted 
me  to  live  with  him. 

Goldsmith,  as  usual,  endeavoured,  with 
too  much  eagerness,  to  shine,  and  dispu- 
ted very  warmly  with  Johnson  against  the 
well  known  maxim  of  the  British  constitu- 
tion, "  the  king  can  do  no  wrong;"  affirm- 
ing, that  "  what  was  morally  false  could 
not  be  politically  true;  and  as  the  king 
might,  in  the  exercise  of  his  regal  power, 
command  and  cause  the  doing  of  what  was 
wrong,  it  certainly  might  be  said,  in  sense 
and  in  reason,  that  he  could  do  wrong." 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  you  are  to  consider,  that 
in  our  constitution,  according  to  its  true  prin- 
ciples, the  king  is  the  head,  he  is  supreme; 
he  is  above  every  thing,  and  there  is  no 
power  by  which  he  can  be  tried.  There- 
fore it  is,  sir,  that  we  hold  the  king  can  do 
no  wrong;  that  whatever  may  happen  to 
be  wrong  in  government  may  not  be  above 
our  reach,  by  being  ascribed  to  majesty. 
Redress  is  always  to  be  had  against  op- 
pression, by  punishing  the  immediate 
agents.  The  king,  though  he  should  com- 
mand, cannot  force  a  .judge  to  condemn  a 
man  unjustly;  therefore  it  is  the  judge  whom 

you  have  hired  them.  If  a  landlord  breaks  his 
part  of  the  contract,  the  law  will  relieve  the  other 
party;  but  the  latter  is  not  at  liberty  to  take  such 
violent  and  illegal  steps  as  Johnson  suggests. — 
Ed. 3 

1  [Isaac  Ambrose  Eccles,  Esq.  of  Cromroe,  in 
the  county  of  Wicklow,  in  Ireland:  he  published 
one  or  two  plays  of  Shakspeare,  with  notes. — 
En.] 

•  The  northern  bard  mentioned  page  191. 
When  I  asked  Dr.  Johnson's  permission  to  intro- 
duce him,  he  obligingly  agreed;  adding,  however, 
with  a  sly  pleasantry,  "  but  he  must  give  us  none 
of  his  poetry."  It  is  remarkable  that  Johnson 
and  Churchill,  however  much  they  differed  in 
other  points,  agreed  on  this  subject  See  Church- 
ill's "  Journey."  It  is,  however*-  bat  justice  to , 
Dr.  Ogiivie  to  observe,  that  his  "  Day  of  Judg- 
ment" has  no  inconsiderable  share  of  merit — 
Bohwell.  [BoswelTs  naivett  in  thinking  it 
remarkable  that  two  persons  should  agree  in  dis- 
liking the  poetry  of  his  northern  bard  is  amusing: 
it  might  have  been  more  remarkable  if  two  had 
agreed  in  liking  it — En.] 


we  prosecute  and  punish.  Political  insti- 
tutions are  formed  upon  the  consideration  of 
what  will  most  frequently  tend  to  the  good 
of  the  whole,  although  now  and  then  ex- 
ceptions may  occur.  Thus  it  is  better  in 
general  that  a  nation  should  have  a  supreme 
legislative  power,  although  it  may  at  times 
be  abused.  And  then,  sir,  there  is  this  con- 
sideration, that  if  the  abuse  be  enormous, 
Nature  will  rise  up,  and  claiming  her  ori- 
ginal rights,  overturn  a  corrupt  political 
system."  I  mark  this  animated,  sentence 
with  peculiar  pleasure,  as  a  noble  instance 
of  that  truly  dignified  spirit  of  freedom 
which  ever  glowed  in  his  neart,  though  he 
was  charged  with  slavish  tenets  by  super- 
ficial observers;  because  he  was  at  all  times 
indignant  against  that  false  patriotism,  that 

Eretended  love  of  freedom,  that  unruly  rest- 
jssness,  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  sta- 
ble authority  of  any  £ood  government. 

This  generous  sentiment,  which  he  utter- 
ed with  great  fervour,  struck  me  exceeding- 
ly, and  stirred  my  blood  to  that  pitch  of 
fancied  resistance,  the  possibility  of  which 
I  am  glad  to  keep  in  mind,  but  to  which  I 
trust  I  never  shall  be  forced. 

"  Great  abilities,"  said  he,  "  are  not  re- 
quisite for  an  historian;  for  in  historical 
composition,  all  the  greatest  powers  of  Hie 
human  mind  are  quiescent.  He  has  facts 
ready  to  his  hand:  so  there  is  no  exercise 
of  invention.  Imagination  is  not  required 
in  any  high  degree:  only  about  as  much  as 
is  used  in  the  lower  kinds  of  poetry.     Some 

genetration,  accuracy,  and  colouring,  will 
t  a  man  for  the  task,  if  he  can  give  the 
application  which  is  necessary." 

"  Bayle's  Dictionary  is  a  very  useful  work 
foAhose  to  consult  who  love  the  biographi- 
cal part  of  literature,  which  is  what  I  love 
most." 

Talking  of  the  eminent  writers  in  Queen 
Anne's  reign,  he  observed, "  I  think  Dr. 
Arbuthnot  the  first  man  among  them.  He 
was  the  most  universal  genius,  being  an  excel- 
lent physician,  a  man  of  deep  learning,  and 
a  man  of  much  humour.  Mr.  Addison  was, 
to.be  sure,  a  great  man :  his  learning  was  not 
profound;  but  his  morality,  his  humour, 
and  his  elegance  of  writing,  set  him  very 
high." 

Mr.  Ogiivie  was  unlucky  enough  to  choose 
for  the  topick  of  his  conversation  the  praises 
of  his  native  country.  He  began  with  say- 
ing, that  there  was  very  rich  land  around 
Edinburgh.  Goldsmith,  who  had  studied 
physick  there,  contradicted  this,  very  un- 
truly, with  a  sneering  laugh.  Disconcert- 
ed a  little  by  this,  "Mr.  Ogiivie  then  took  a 
new  ground,  where,  I  suppose,  he  thought 
himself  perfectly  safe;  for  he  observed,  that 
Scotland  had  a  great  many  noble  wild  pros- 
pects. Johnson.  "  I  believe,  sir,  you  nave  ^ 
a  great  many.    Norway,  too,  has  noble 


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wild  prospects;  and  Lapland  is  remarkable 
for  prodigious  noble  wild  prospects.  But, 
sir,  let  me  tell  you,  the  noblest  prospect 
which  a  Scotchman  ever  sees  is  the  high 
road  that  leads  him  to  England!"  This 
unexpected  and  pointed  sally  produced  a 
roar  of  applause.  After  all,  however,  those 
who  admire  the  rude  grandeur  of  nature 

cannot  deny  it  to  Caledonia.  Mrs. 
JJ^J^  Brooke1  received  an  answer  not 

'unlike  this,  when  expatiating  on  the 
accumulation  of  sublime  and  beautiful  ob- 
jects, which  form  the  fine  prospect  up  the 
river  St.  Lawrence  in  North  America: 
"  Come,  madam  (says  Dr.  Johnson),  con- 
fess that  nothing  ever  equalled  your  pleas- 
are  in  seeing  that  sight  reversed;  ana  find- 
ing yourself  looking  at  the  happyprospect 
bowk  the  river  St.  Lawrence."  \The  truth 
is,  he  hated  to  hear  about  prospects  and 
views,  and  laying  out  ground,  and  taste 
iz  «T1 


in  gardening:  "  That  was  the  best  garden 
f  he  said),  which  produced  most  roots  and 
fruits;  and  that  water  was  most  to  be  priz- 
ed which  contained  most  fish."  He  used 
to  laugh  at  Shenstone  most  unmercifully 
for  not  caring  whether  there  was  any  thing 
good  to  eat  in  the  streams  he  was  so  fond 
o£  Walking  in  a  wood  when  it  rained  was, 
Mrs.  Piozzi  thought,  the  only  rural  image 
which  pleased  his  fancy. 

He  loved  the  sight  of  fine  forest-trees, 
however,  and  detested  Brighthelmstone 
Downs,  w  because  it  was  a  country  so  truly 
desolate  (he  saidjk  that  if  one  had  a  mind 
to  hang  one's  self  for  desperation  at  being 
obliged  to  live  there,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find  a  tree  on  which  to  fasten  the  rope." 

On  Saturday,  July  9,  I  found  Johnson 
surrounded  with  a  numerous  levee,  but 
have  not  preserved  any  part  of  his  conver- 
sation. 


DB.  JOHNSON  TO  MISS   LUCY  PORTER. 
"12th  of  July,  1768. 

"  Mr  dearb&t  love, — I  had  for- 
__  rot  my  debt  to  poor  Kitty;  pray  let 
her  have  the  note,  and  do  what 
you  can  for  her,  for  she  has  been  always 
▼ery  good.  I  will  help  her  to  a  little  more 
noney  if  she  wants  it,  and  will  write.  I 
intend  that  she  shall  have  the  use  of  the 
wise  as  long  as  she  and  I  live. 

"  That  there  should  not  be  room  for  me 
at  the  house  is  some  disappointment  to  me, 
bat  the  matter  is  not  very  great.    I  am  sor- 


1  [Frances  Moore,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brooke, 
chaplain  to  the  forces  in  Canada,  whither  she  ac- 
tompanied  him,  and  wrote  a  novel  called  Emily 
Montague.  She  afterwards  produced  aeveral 
Junatic  pieces,  one  of  which,  Rorina,  still  keeps 
■***am.  She  is  said  to  have  been  much  es- 
tasmedby  Johnson.    She  died  in  1789.— En.] 

▼ol.  i.  25 


ry  you  have  had  your  head  filled  with  build- 
ing 9  for  many  reasons. 

"  It  was  not  necessary  to  settle  immediate- 
ly for  life  at  any  one  place;  you  might 
have  staid  and  seen  more  of  the  world. 

"  You  will  not  have  your  work  done,  as 
you  do  not  understand  it,  but  at  twice  the 
value. 

"You  might  have  hired  a  house  at  half 
the"  interest  of  the  money  for  which  you 
build  it,  if  your  house  cost  you  a  thousand 
pounds.  You  might  have  the  Palace  for 
twenty  pounds,  and  make  forty  of  your 
thousand  pounds;  so  in  twenty  years  you 
would  have  saved  forty  pounds,  and  still 
have  had  your  thousand.  I  am,  dear  dear, 
yours,  &c.  "  Sam.  Johnson."] 

On  the  14th  we  had  another  evening  by 
ourselves  at  the  Mitre.  It  happening  to 
be  a  very  rainy  night,  I  made  some  common- 
place observations  on  the  relaxation  of 
nerves  and  depressions  of  spirits  which  such 
weather  occasioned3;  adding,  however, 
that  it  was  good  for  the  vegetable  creation. 
Johnson,  who,  as  we  have  already  seen  *, 
denied  that  the  temperature  of  the  air  had 
any  influence  on  the  human  frame,  answer- 
ed, with  a  smile  of  ridicule,  u  Why,  yes, 
sir,  it  is  good  for  vegetables,  and  for  the 
animals  who  eat  those  vegetables,  and 
for  the  animals  who  eat  those  animals.'9 
This  observation  of  his  aptly  enough  intro- 
duced a  good  supper;  and  I  soon  forgot,  in 
Johnson's  company,  the  influence  of  a  moist 
atmosphere. 

[Though  Dr.  Johnson  owed  his  **& 
very  life  to  air  and  exercise,  given  p' 
him  when  his  organs  of  respiration  could 
scarcely  play,  in  the  year  1766,  yet  he  ever 
persisted  in  the  notion,  that  neither  of  them 
had  any  thing  to  do  with  health.  "  People 
live  as  long,"  said  he,  "in  Pepper-alley  as 
on  Salisbury  plain;  and  they  live  so  much 


9  [Miss  Porter  laid  ont  nearly  one-third  of  her 
legacy  in  building  a  handsome  house  at  Lichfield. 
—Ed.] 

8  Johnson  would  suffer  none  of  his  friends  to  nil 
up  chasms  in  conversation  with  remarks  on  the 
weather:  "  Let  us  not  talk  of  the  weather."— 
Burnet.  [The  French,  who  rally  us  for  talk- 
ing of  the  weather,  have  a  proverbial  saying, 
which  shows  that  they  are  also  driven  to  the  same 
resource — to  describe  an  idle  conversation  they 
say,  "  Parler  de  la  pluie  et  du  beau  temps,9* 
One  may  here  abo  remark  another  little  inconsis- 
tency of  our  neighbouis  on  this  point — they  make 
themselves  merry  with  our  English  fogs,  protest- 
ing that  there  is  no  such  thing  in  France.  Yet, 
when  they  made  their  descriptive  revolutionary 
calendar,  they  denominated  one  month  Brumaire. 
A  Cockney  could  not  have  told  a  severer  truth  of 
his  own  climate. — En.] 

*  [See  ante,  p.  142.— Ed.] 


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1768.— MTAT.  54. 


happier,  that  an  inhabitant  of  the  first 
would,  if  he  turned  cottager,  starve  his  un- 
derstanding for  want  of  conversation,  and 
perish  in  a  state  of  mental  inferiority."] 

Feeling  myself  now  quite  at  ease  as  his 
companion,  though  I  had  all  possible  rever- 
ence for  him,  I  expressed  a  regret  that  I 
could  not  be  easy  with  my  father,  though 
he  was  not  much  older  than  Johnson,  and 
certainly  however  respectable  had  not  iftore 
learning  and  greater  abilities  to  depress  me. 
I  asked  him  the  reason  of  this.  Johnson, 
"  Why,  sir,  I  am  a  man  of  the  world.  I 
live  in  the  world,  and  I  take,  in  some  degree, 
the  colour  of  the  world  as  it  moves  along. 
Your  father  is  a  judge  in  a  remote  part  of 
the  island,  and  all  his  notions  are  taken  from 
the  old  world.  Besides,  sir,  there  must  al- 
ways be  a  struggle  between  a  father  and  a 
son,  while  one  aims  at  power  and  the  other 
at  independence."  I  said  I  was  afraid  my 
father  would  force  me  to  be  a  lawyer. 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  you  need  not  be  afraid  of 
his  forcing  you  to' be  a  laborious  practising 
lawyer;  that  is  not  in  his  power.  For  as 
the  proverb  says,  c  One  man  may  lead  a 
horse  to  the  water,  but  twenty  cannot  make 
him  drink.'  He  may  be  displeased  that  you 
are  not  what  he  wishes  you  to  be;  but  that 
displeasure  will  not  go  far.  If  he  insists  on- 
ly on  your  having  as  much  law  as  is  neces- 
sary for  a  man  of  property,  and  then  endea- 
vours to  get  you  into  parliament,  he  is  quite 
in  the  right." 

He  enlarged  very  convincingly  upon  the 
excellence  of  rhyme  over  blank  verse  in 
English  poetry.  I  mentioned  to  him  that 
Dr.  Adam  Smith,  in  his  lectures  upon  com- 
position, when  I  studied  under  him  in  the 
college  of  Glasgow,  had  maintained  the 
same  opinion  strenuously,  and  I  repeated 
some  or  his  arguments.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  I 
was  once1  in  company  with  Smith,  and  we 
did  not  take  to  each  other;  but  had  I  known 
that  he  loved  rhyme  as  much  as  you  tell  me 
he  does,  I  should  have  hugged  him." 

Talking  of  those  who  denied  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  he  said,  "  It  is  always  easy  to 
be  on  the  negative  side.  If  a  man  were 
now  to  deny  that  there  is  salt  upon  the  ta- 
ble, you  could  not  reduce  him  to  an  absurd- 
ity. Come,  let  us  try  this  a  little  further. 
I  deny  that  Canada  is  taken,  and  I  can  sup- 

1  [Adam  Smith  was  admitted  to  the  club 
on  toe  lit  December,  1775,  which,  all  things 
considered*  would  have  appeared  remarkable 
enough;  but  on  inquiry  of  Mr.  Hatchett,  now 
treasurer  of  that  society,  he  informs  me,  that  the 
members  present  on  that  evening  were  only 
Messrs.  Beanclerk,  Jones,  Gibbon,  and  Sir  J. 
Reynolds.  Dr.  Barnard  was  admitted  at  the 
same  time.  Johnson  was  probably  at  Streatham. 
In  1777  it  was  resolved  that  not  less  than  seven 
should  make  a  quorum,  which  is  still  the  rule. — 
Ed.] 


port  my  denial  by  pretty  good  arguments. 
The  French  are  a  much  more  numerous 
people  than  we;  and  it  is  not  likely  that 
they  would  allow  us  to  take  it  *  But  the 
ministry  have  assured  us,  in  all  the  formal- 
ity of  the  Gazette,  that  it  is  taken.'  Very 
true.  But  the  ministry  have  put  us  to  an 
enormous  expense  by  the  war  in  America, 
and  it  is  their  interest  to  persuade  us  that 
we  have  got  something  for  our  money. 
*  But  the  fact  is  confirmed  by  thousands  of 
men  who  were  at  the  taking  of  it.'  Ay, 
but  these  men  have  still  more  interest  in  de- 
ceiving us.  They  don't  want  that  you 
should  think  the  French  have  beat  them,  < 
but  that  they  have  beat  the  French.  Now 
suppose  you  should  go  over  and  find  that  it 
really  is  taken,  that  would  only  satisfy  your- 
self; for  when  you  come  home  we  will  not 
believe  you.  We  will  say,  you  have  been 
bribed.  Yet,  sir,  notwithstanding  all  these 
plausible  objections,  we  have  no  doubt  that 
Canada  is  really  ours.  Such  is  the  weight 
of  common  testimony.  How  much  strong* 
er  are  the  evidences  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion !" 

"  Idleness  is  a  disease  which  must  be 
combated;  but  I  would  not  advise  a  rigid  ad- 
herence to  a  particular  plan  of  study3.  I  my- 
self have  never  persisted  in  any  plan  for  two 
days  together.  A  man  ought  to  read  just 
as  inclination  leads  him:  for  what  he  reads 
as  a  task  will  do  him  little  good.  A  young 
man  should  read  -five  hours  in  a  day,  and 
so  may  acquire  a  great  deal  of  knowledge.19 

To  a  man  of  vigorous  intellect  and  ar- 
dent curiosity  like  his  own,  reading  without 
a  regular  plan  maybe  beneficial;  though 
even -such  a  man  must  submit  to  it,  if  he 
would  attain  a  full  understanding  of  any  of 
the  sciences3. 

To  such  a  degree  of  unrestrained  frank- 
ness had  he  now  accustomed  me,  that  in  the 
course  of  this  evening?  I  talked  of  the  nu- 
merous reflections  which  had  been  thrown 
out  against  him  on  account  of  hia  having 
accepted  a  pension  from  hfe  presentmajestv. 
"  Why,  sir,"  said  he,  with  a  hearty  laugh, 
"it  is  a  mighty  foolish  noise  that  they 
make4.  I  have  accepted  of  a  pension  as  a 
reward  which  has  been  thought  due  to  mj 
literary  merit;  and  now  that  I  have  this 
pension,  I  am  the  same  man  in  every  re-  \ 
8pect  that  I  have  ever  been;  I  retain  the 
same  principles.  It  is  true,  that  I  cannot  now 
curse  (smiling)  the  house  of  Hanover;  nor 
would  it  be  decent  for  me  to  drink  king 

9  [See  post,  his  letter  to  Mr.  George  Strohea, 
25th  May,  1765.— Ed.] 

9  [See  ante,  p.  20.— Ed.] 

4  When  I  mentioned  the  same  idle  clamour  to 
him  several  years  afterwards,  he  said,  with  a 
smile,  "  I  wish  my  pension  were  twice  as  lane, 
that  they  might  make  twice  as  much  noise.*^- 
Boswkli*. 


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195 


Jamesfe  health  in  the  wine  that  King 
George  gives  me  money  to  pay  for.  But, 
air,  I  think  that  the  pleasure  of  cursing  the 
hone  of  Hanover,  and  drinking  King 
James's  health,  are  amply  overbalanced  by 
three  hundred  pounds  a  year." 

There  was  here,  most  certainly,  an  affec- 
tation of  more  Jacobitism  than  he  really 
had;  and  indeed  an  intention  of  admitting, 
for  the  moment,  in  a  much  greater  extent 
than  it  really  existed,  the  charge  of  disaffec- 
tion imputed  to  him  by  the  world,  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  how  dexterously 
he  could  repel  an  attack,  even  though  he 
were  placed  in  the  most  disadvantageous 
position;  for  I  have  heard  him  declare,  that 
if  holding  up  his  light  hand  would  have  se- 
cured victory  at  Culloden  to  Prince  Charles's 
army,  he  was  not  sure  he  would  have  held 
it  up;  so  little  confidence  had  he  in  the  right 
claimed  by  the  house  of  Stuart,  and  so  fear- 
ful was  he  of  the  consequences  of  another 
revolution  on  the  throne  of  Great  Britain; 
and  Mr.  Topham  Beauclerk  assured  me,  he 
had  heard  him  say  this  before  he  had  his 
pension.  At  another  time  he  said  to  Mr. 
Langton,  "  Nothing  has  ever  offered,  that 
has  made  it  worth  my  while  to  consider  the 

rition  fully."  He,  however,  also  said  to 
same  gentleman,  talking  of  King  James 
the  Second,  "  It  was  become  impossible  for 
him  to  reign  anv  longer  in  this  country." 
He  no  doubt  had  an  early  attachment  to  the 
house  of  Stuart;  but  his  zeal  had  cooled  as 
his  reason  strengthened.  Indeed  I  heard 
him  once  say,  "  that  after  the  death  of  a 
violent  whig,  with  whom  he  used  to  con- 
tend with  great  eagerness,  he  felt  his  tory- 
kmmuch  abated."  I  suppose  he  meant 
Mr.  Walmsleyi. 

Yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  at  earlier  peri- 
ods he  was  wont  often  to  exercise  both  his 
pleasantry  and  ingenuity  in  talking  Jacob- 
itism. My  much  respected  friend,  Dr. 
Douglas,  now  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  has  fa- 
voured me  with  the  following  admirable  in- 
stance from  his  lordship's  own  recollection. 
One  day  when  dining  at  old  Mr.  Lang- 
ton's,  where  Miss  Roberts,  his  niece,  was 
one  of  the  company,  Johnson,  with  his  usu- 
al complacent  attention  to  the  fair  sex, 
took  her  by  the  hand,  and  said,  "  My  dear, 
I  hope  you -are  a  Jacobite."  Old  Mr.  Lang- 
ton,  though  a-  high  and  steady  tory,  was  at- 
tached to  the  present  royal  family,  seemed 
offended,  and  asked  Johnson,  with  great 
warmth,  what  he  could  mean  by  putting 
•nch  a  question  to  his  niece?    "  Why,  sir, 


(said  Johnson),  I  meant  no  offence  to  your 
niece,  I  meant  her  a  great  compliment.  A 
Jacobite,  sir,  believes  in  the  divine  right  of 
kings.  He  that  behaves  in  the  divine  right 
of  kings  believes  in  a  divinity.  A  Jacobite 
believes  in  the  divine  right  of  bishops.  He 
that  believes  in  the  divine  right  of  bishops 
believes  in  the  divine  authority  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  Therefore,  sir,  a  Jacobite  is 
neither  an  atheist  nor  a  deist.  That  can- 
not be  said  of  a  whig;  for  whiggismu  a  ne- 
gation of  all  principle*." 

He  advised  me,  when  abroad,  to  be  as 
much  as  I  could  with  the  professors  in  the 
universities,  and  with  the  clergy;  for  from 
their  conversation  I  might  expect  the  best 
accounts  of  every  thing  in  whatever  coun- 
try I  should  be,  with  the  additional  advan- 
tage of  keeping  my  learning  alive. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  when  giving  me 
advice  as  to  my  travels,  Dr.  Johnson  did 
not  dwell  upon  cities,  and  palaces,  and  pic- 
tures, and  shows,  and  Arcadian  scenes. 
He  was  of  Lord  Essex's9  opinion  who  ad- 
vises his  kinsman  Roger  Earl  of  Rutland, 
"  rather  to  go  a  hundred  miles  to  speak 
with  one  wise  man,  than  five  miles  to  see  a 
fair  town4." 

I  described  to  him  an  impudent  fellow 
from  Scotland,  who  affected  to  be  a  savage, 
and  railed  at  all  established  systems.  John- 
son. "  There  is  nothing  surprising  in  this, 
sir.  He  wants  to  make  himself  conspicu- 
ous. He  would  tumble  in  a  hogsty,  as  long 
as  you  looked  at  him  and  called  to  him  to 
come  out.  But  let  him  alone,  never  mind 
him,  and  he'll  soon  give  it  over." 

I  added  that  the  same  person  maintained 
that  there  was  no  distinction  between  vir- 
tue and  vice.  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  if 
the  fellow  does  not  think  as  he  speaks,  he 
is  lying;  and  I  see  not  what  honour  he  can 
propose  to  himself  from  having  the  charac- 
ter of  a  liar.  But  if  he  does  really  think 
that  there  is  no  distinction  between  virtue 
and  vice,  why,  sir,  when  he  leaves  our 
houses,  let  us  count  our  spoons." 

Sir  David  Dalrymple  *  now  one  of  the 


1  [It  teems  unlikely  mat  he  and  Mr.  Walmsley 
•©aid  have  had  much  intercourse  since  Johnson 
■amoved  to  London,  in  1787:  it  was  more  pro- 
feaUy  some  member  of  the  Ivy-lane  dob,  Dyer, 
MHSbe,  or  Barker,  whose  political  and  vehgur- 
taaets  wen  what  Johnson  * 


] 


would  have  called 


9  He  used  to  tell,  with  great  humour,  from  my 
relation  to  him,  the  following  little  story  of  my 
early  years,  which  was  literally  true:  "  Boswell, 
in  the  year  1745,  was  a  fine  boy,  wore  a  white 
cockade,  and  prayed  for  King  James,  till  one  of 
his  uncles  (General  Cochran)  gave  him  a  shilling 
on  condition  that  he  would  pray  for  King  George, 
which  he  accordingly  did.  So  yon  see  (says  Bos- 
well) that  whigs  of  all  ages  are  made  the  same 
way.'9 — Boswell. 

'  [The  celebrated  and  unfortunate  Earl  of  Es- 
sex.—Ed.] 

4  [Letter  to  Rutland  on  Travel,  16mo.  1696. 
—Boswell. 

*  [This  learned  and  excellent  person  was  bom 
in  1726;  educated  at  Eton,  and  afterwards  at 
Utrecht;  called  to  the  Scotch  bar,  in  1748;  a  lord 


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196 


1768.— iETAT.  54. 


judges  of  Scotland  by  the  title  of  Lord  Hailes, 
bad  contributed  much  to  increase  my  hi$h 
opinion  of  Johnson,  on  account  of  his  writ- 
ings, long  before  I  attained  to  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  him;  I,  in  return,  had 
informed  Johnson  of  Sir  David's  eminent 
character  for  learning  and  religion;  and 
Johnson  was  so  much  pleased,  that  at  one 
of  our  evening  meetings  he  gave  him  for 
his  toast     I  at  this  time  kept  upa  very  fre- 

?ucnt  correspondence  with  Sir  David;  and 
read  to  Dr.  Johnson  to-night  the  follow- 
ing passage  from  the  letter  which  I  had  last 
received  from  him: 

"  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  think  that  you 
have  obtained  the  friendship  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Johnson.  He  is  one  of  the  best  moral  wri- 
ters which  England  has  produced.  At  the 
same  time,  I  envy  you  the  free  and  undis- 
guised converse  with  such  a  man.  May  I 
nee  you  to  present  my  best  respects  to  him, 
and  to  assure  him  of  the  veneration  which  I 
entertain  for  the  authour  of  the  Rambler  and 
of  Rasselas?  Let  me  recommend  this  last 
work  to  you ;  with  the  Rambler  you  certain- 
ly are  acquainted.  In  Rasselas  you  will  see 
a  tender-hearted  operator,  who  probes  the 
wound  only  to  heal  it.  Swift,  on  the  con- 
tary,  mangles  human  nature.  He  cuts  and 
slashes,  as  if  he  took  pleasure  in  the  opera- 
tion, like  the  tyrant  who  said,  Itaferi  ut  se 
$cntiat  eroort."  Johnson  seemed  to  be 
much  gratified  by  this  just  and  well-turned 
compliment. 

He  recommended  to  me  to  keep  a  journal 
of  mv  life,  full  and  unreserved.  He  said  it 
would  be  a  very  good  exercise,  and  would 

J  field  me  great  satisfaction  when  the  particu- 
ars  were  faded  from  my  remembrance.  I  was 
uncommonly  fortunate  in  having  had  a  previ- 
ous coincidence  of  opinion  with  him  upon 
this  subject,  for  I  had  kept  such  a  journal 
for  some  time;  and  it  was  no  small  pleasure 
to  me  to  have  this  to  tell  him,  and  to  receive 
his  approbation.  He  counselled  me  to  keep 
it  private,  and  said  I  might  surely  have  a 
friend  who  would  burn  it  in  case  of  my 
death.  From  this  habit  I  have  been  ena- 
bled to  give  the  world  so  many  anecdotes, 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  lost  to 
posterity*    I  mentioned  that  I  was  afraid  I 

Sut  into  my  journal  too  many  little  incidents. 
ohksok.  "  There  is  nothing,  sir,  too  lit- 
tle for  so  little  a  creature  as  man.  It  is  by 
studying  little  things  that  we  attain  the 
great  art  of  having  as  little  misery  and  as 
much  happiness  as  possible," 

Next  morning  Mr.  Dempster  happened 
to  call  on  me,  and  was  so  much  struck  even 
with  the  imperfect  account  which  I  gave 


of  session  b  1706.  He  died  in  1792.  He  wrote 
some  papen  in  the  World  and  Mirror,  and  pub- 
lished several  original  tracts  on  religious,  historical, 
and  antiquarian  subjects,  and  republished  a  great 
manv  more.-~ED.] 


him  of  Dr.  Johnson's  conversation,  that  to 
his  honour  be  it  recorded,  when  I  complain- 
ed that  drinking  port  and  sitting  up  late 
with  him  affected  my  nerves  for  some  time 
after,  he  said,  "  One  had  better  be  palsied 
at  eighteen  than  not  keep  company  with 
such  a  man." 

On  Tuesday,  July  18,  I  found  tall  Sir 
Thomas  Robinson  sitting  with  Johnson. 
Sir  Thomas  said,  that  the  King  of  Prussia 
valued  himself  upon  three  things; — upon  be- 
ing a  hero,  a  musician,  and  an  authour. 
Johnson.  "  Pretty  well,  sir,  for  one  man- 
As  to  hia  being  an  authour,  I  have  not  look- 
ed at  his  poetry;  but  his  prose  is  poor  stufE 
He  writes  iust  as  you  may  suppose  Vol- 
taire's footboy  to  do,  who  has  been  his 
amanuensis.  He  has  such  parts  as  the  va- 
let might  have,  and  about  as  much  of  the 
colouring  of  the  style  as  might  be  got  by 
transcribing  his  works."  When  I  was  at 
Ferney,  I  repeated  this  to  Voltaire,  in  order 
to  reconcile  him  somewhat  to  Johnson, 
whom  he,  in  affecting  the  English  mode  of 
expression,  had  previously  characterised  as 
"a  superstitious  dog:"  but  after  hearing 
such  a  criticism  on  Frederick  the  Great, 
with  whom  he  was  then  on  bad  terms,  he 
exclaimed,  "  An  honest  fellow  !" 

But  I  think  the  criticism  much  too  severe; 
for  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  House  of  Branden- 
burgh"  are  written  as  well  as  many  works 
of  that  kind.  His  poetry,  for  the  style  of 
which  he  himself  makes  a  frank  apology, 
"  jargormant  un  Franpois  barbare,*'  though 
fraught  with  pernicious  ravings  of  infidelity, 
has,  in  many  places,  great  animation,  and 
in  some' a  pathetick  tenderness. 

Upon  this  contemptuous  animadversion 
on  tne  King  of  Prussia,  I  observed  to  John- 
son, "  It  would  seem  then,  sir,  that  much 
less  parts  are  necessary  to  make  a  King, 
than  to  make  an  authour:  for  the  King  of 
Prussia  is  confessedly  the  greatest  king  now 
in  Europe,  yet  you  think  he  makes  a  very 
poor  figure  as  an  authour." 

Mr.  Levet  this  day  showed  me  Dr.  John- 
son's library,  which  was  contained  in  two 
garrets  over  his  chambers,  where  Lintot, 
son  of  the  celebrated  bookseller  of  that  name, 
had  formerly  his  warehouse.  I  found  a 
number  of  good  books,  but  very  dusty  and 
in  great  confusion.  The  floor  was  strewed 
with  manuscript  leaves,  in  Johnson's  own 
handwriting,  which  I  beheld  with  a  degree 
of  veneration,  supposing  they  perhaps 
might  contain  portions  of  the  Rambler,  or 
oflUsselas.  1  observed  an  apparatus  for 
cbymical  experiments,  of  which  Johnson 
was  all  his  life  very  fond.  The  place  seem- 
ed to  be  very  favourable  for  retirement  and 
meditation.  Johnson  told  me,  that  he  went 
up  thither  without  mentioning  it  to  his  ser- 
vant when  he  wanted  to  study,  secure  from 
interruption;  for  he  would  not  allow  his 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1762.~jETAT.  58. 


197 


servant  to  say  he  was  not  at  home  when  he 
really  was.  "  A  servant's  strict  regard  for 
truth,"  said  he,  "must  he  weakened  hy 
such  a  practice.  A  philosopher  may  know 
that  k  is  merely  a  form  of  denial;  hut  few 
servants  are  such  nice  distinguishes.  If  I 
accustom  a  servant  to  tell  a  lie  for  me,  have 
I  not  reason  to  apprehend  that  he  will  tell 
many  lies  for  himself?"  I  am,  however, 
satisfied  that  every  servant,  of  anv  degree 
of  intelligence,  understands  saying  his  mas- 
ter is  not  at  home,  not  at  all  as  the  affirma- 
tion of  a  fact,  hut  as  customary  words,  in- 
timating that  his  master  wishes  not  to  he 
seen;  so  that  there  can  he  no  had  effect  from 
it 

Mr.  Temple,  now  vicar  of  St.  Gluvias, 
Cornwall,  wno  had  heen  my  intimate  friend 
lor  many  years,  had  at  this  time  chambers 
in  Farrar's  buildings,  at  the  bottom  of  In- 
ner Temple-lane,  which  he  kindly  lent  me 
upon  my  quitting  my  lodgings,  he  being  to 
return  to  Trinity-hail,  Cambridge.  I  found 
them  particularly  convenient  for  me,  as  they 
were  so  near  Dr.  Johnson's. 

On  Wednesday,  July  20,  Dr.  Johnson, 
Mr.  Dempster,  and  my  uncle  Dr.  Bos  well, 
who  happened  to  be  now  in  London,  sup- 
ped witn  me  at  these  chambers.  Johnson. 
"Rtjr  is  not  natural  to  man.  Children 
are  always  cruel.  Savages  are  always  cru- 
el1. Pity  is  acquired  and  improved  by  the 
cultivation  of  reason.  We  may  have  un- 
easy sensations  from  seeing  a  creature  in 
distress,  without  pity;  for  we  have  not  pity 
unless  we  wish  to  relieve  them.  When  I 
am  on  my  way  to  dine  with  a  friend,  and 
finding  it  late,  have  bid  the  coachman  make 
haste,  if  I  happen  to  attend  when  he  whips 
his  horses,  I  may  feel  unpleasantly  that  the 
•mmftlfl  are  put  to  pain,  but  I  do  not  wish 
him  to  desist.  No,  sir,  I  wish  him  to  drive 
on." 

Mr.  Alexander  Donaldson,  bookseller,  of 
Edinburgh,  had  for  some  time  opened  a 
shop  in  Condon,  and  sold  his  cheap  editions 
of  the  most  popular  English  books,  in  defi- 
ance of  the  supposed  common-law  right  of 
Literary  Property.  Johnson,  though  he 
concurred  in  tne  opinion  which  was  after- 
wards sanctioned  by  a  judgment  of  the 

1  [  Johmon'f  antithesis  between  pity  and  cruelty 
a  not  exact,  and  the  argument  (such  as  it  is) 
drawn  from  it,  b  therefore  inconclusive-  Pity  is 
as  natural  to  man  as  any  other  emotion  of  the 
mind.  The  Bishop  of  Ferns  observes,  that  chil- 
dren are  said  to  be  cruel,  when  it  would  be  more 
jast  to  say  that  they  are  ignorant — they  do  not 
know  that  they  give  pain.  Nor  are  savages  cruel 
in  the  sense  here  used,  for  cruelty's  sake;  they 
ase  end  means  to  attain  an  object,  because  they 
know  no  other  mode  of  accomplishing  the  object; 
and  so  far  is  phy  from  being  acquired  solely  by 
the  cultivation  of  reason,  that  reason  is  one  of  the 
shocks  upon  the  pity  natural  to  mankind. — En.] 


house  of  lords,  that  there  was  no  such  right, 
was  at  this  time  very  angry  that  the  book- 
sellers of  London,  for  whom  he  uniformly 
professed  much  regard,  should  suffer  from 
an  invasion  of  what  they  had  ever  consider- 
ed to  be  secure  ;  and  he  was  loud  and  vio- 
lent against  Mr.  Donaldson.  "  He  is  a 
fellow  who  takes  advantage  of  the  law  to 
injure  his  brethren;  for  notwithstanding 
that  the  statute  secures  only  fourteen  years 
of  exclusive  right,  it  has  always  heen  un- 
derstood by  the  trade,  that  he  who  buys 
the  copyright  of  a  book  from  the  authour 
obtains  a  perpetual  property ;  and  upon 
that  belief,  numberless  bargains  are  made 
to  transfer  that  property  after  the  expira- 
tion of  the  statutory  term.  Now  Donald- 
son, I  say,  takes  advantage  here  of  people 
who  have  really  an  equitable  title  from 
usage ;  and  if  we  consider  how  few  of  the 
books,  of  which  they  buy  the  property, 
succeed  so  well  as  to  bring  profit,  we  should 
be  of  opinion  that  the  term  of  fourteen 
years  is  too  short ;  it  should  be  sixty 
years."  Dempster.  "  Donaldson,  sir,  is 
anxious  for  the  encouragement  of  literature. 
He  reduces  the  price  of  books,  bo  that  poor 
students  may  buy  them."  Johnson  (laugh- 
ing). "  Well,  sir,  allowing  that  to  be  his 
motive,  he  is  no  better  than  Robin  Hood, 
who  robbed  the  rich  in  order  to  give  to  die 
poor." 

It  is  remarkable,  that  when  the  great 
question  concerning  literary  property  came 
to  be  ultimately  tried  before  the  supreme 
tribunal  of  this  country,  in  consequence  of 
the  very  spirited  exertions2  of  Mr.  Donald- 
son, Dr.  Johnson  was  zealous  against  a 
perpetuity  ;  but  he  thought  that  the  term 
of  the  exclusive  right  ol  authours  should 
be  considerably  enlarged.  He  was  then 
forjrranting  a  hundred  years. 

The  conversation  now  turned  upon  Mr. 
David  Hume's  style.  Johnson.  "  Why, 
sir,  his  style  is  not  English  ;  the  structure 
of  his  sentences  is  French.  Now  the 
French  structure  and  the  English  structure 
may,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  equally 
good.  But  if  you  allow  that  the  English 
language  is  established,  he  is  wrong.  My 
name  might  originally  have  been  Nicholson, 
as  well  as  Johnson  j  but  were  you  to  call 
me  Nicholson  now,  you  would  call  me  very 
absurdly." 

Rousseau's  treatise  on  the  inequality 
of  mankind  was  at  this  time  a  fashionable 
topick.  It  gave  rise  to  an  observation  by 
Mr.  Dempster,  that  the  advantages  of  for- 
tune and  rank  were  nothing  to  a  wise  man, 
who  ought  to  value  only  merit.    Johnson. 


*  [R  savours  of  that  nationality  which  Mr. 
Beswell  was  so  anxious  to  disclaim,  to  talk  thus 
eulogisticaUy  of  "  the  very  spirited  exertions"  of 
a  piratical  bookseller. — En.] 

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198 


170&— £TAT.  64. 


« If  man  were  a  savage,  living  in  the  woods 
by  himself,  this  might  be  true  ;  but  in  civ- 
ilized society  weaB  depend  upon  each  oth- 
er, and  our  happiness  is  very  much  owing 
to  the  good  opinion  of  mankind.  Now, 
sir,  in  civilized  society,  external  advantages 
make  us  more  respected.  A  man  with  a 
good  coat  upon  his  back  meets  with  a  bet- 
ter reception  than  he  who  has  a  bad  one. 
Sir,  you  may  analyse  this,  and  say  what  is 
there  in  it?  But  that  will  avail  you 
nothing,  for  it  is  a  part  of  a  general  system. 
Pound  St.  Paul's  church  into  atoms,  and 
consider  any  single  atom  ;  it  is,  to  be  sure, 
good  for  nothing:  but  put  all  these  atoms 
together,  and  you  have  St.  Paul's  church. 
So  it  is  with  human  felicity,  which  is  made 
up  of  many  ingredients,  each  of  which  may 
be  shown  to  be  very  insignificant.  In  civ- 
ilized society,  personal  merit  will  not  nerve 
you  so  much  as  money  will.  Sir,  you  may 
make  the  experiment.  Go  into  the  street 
and  give  one  man  a  lecture  on  morality, 
and  another  a  shilling,  and  see  which  will 
respect  you  most.  If  you  wish  only  to 
support  nature,  Sir  William  Petty  fixes 
your  allowance  at  three  pounds  a  year; 
but  as  times  are  much  altered,  let  us  call  it 
six  pounds.  This  sum  will  fill  your  belly, 
shelter  you  from  the  weather,  and  even  get 
you  a  strong  lasting  coat,  supposing  it  to 
be  made  of  good  bull's  hide.  Now,  sir,  all 
beyond  this  is  artificial,  and  is  desired  in 
order  to  obtain  a  greater  degree  of  respect 
from  our  fellow-creatures.  And,  sir,  ir  six 
hundred  pounds  a  year  procure  a  man  more 
consequence,  and,  of  course,  more  happi- 
ness than  six  pounds  a  year,  the  same  pro- 
portion will  hold  as  to  six  thousand,  and  so 
on,  as  far  as  opulence  can  be  carried.  Per- 
haps he  who  has  a  large  fortune  may  not 
be  so  happy  as  he  who  has  a  small  one ; 
but  that  must  proceed  from  other  causes 
than  from  his  havinff  the  large  fortune: 
for,  casteri*  paribus,  he  who  is  rich  in  a 
civilized  society,  must  be  happier  than  he 
who  is  poor ;  as  riches,  if  properly  used 
(and  it  is  a  man's  own  fault  if  they  are 
not),  must  be  productive  of  the  highest  ad- 
vantages. Money,  to  be  sure,  of  itself  is 
of  no  use:  for  its  only  use  is  to  part  with 
it.  Rousseau,  and  all  those  who  deal  in 
paradoxes,  are  led  away  by  a  childish  de- 
sire of  novelty1.  When  I  was  a  boy,  I 
used  always  to  choose  the  wrong  side  of  a 
debate9,  because  most  ingenious  things, 
that  is  to  say,  most  new  things,  could  be 


1  Johnson  told  Dr.  Barney  that  Goldsmith  said, 
when  be  first  began  to  write,  he  determined  to 
commit  to  paper  nothing  bat  what  was  new;  bat 
he  afterwards  found  that  what  was  new  was  gene- 
rally false,  and  from  that  time  was  no  longer  so- 
licitous about  novelty. — Burniy. 

•  [This  boyish  practice  appeals  to  have  ad- 
hered, in  some  degree,  to  the  man. — En.] 


said  upon  it.  Sir,  there  is  nothing  fcr 
which  you  may  not  muster  up  more  plausi- 
ble arguments,  than  those  which  are  urged 
against  wealth  and  other  external  advan- 
tages. Why,  now,  there  is  stealing  ;  why 
should  it  be  thought  a  crime?  Wnen  we 
consider  by  what  unjust  methods  property 
has  been  often  acquired,  and  that  what  wis 
unjustly  got  it  must  be  unjust  to  keep, 
where  is  the  harm  in  one  man's  taking  the 
property  of  another  from  him?  Besides, 
sir,  when  we  consider  the  bad  use  that 
many  people  make  of  their  property,  and 
how  much  better  use  the  thief  may  make 
of  it,  it  may  be  defended  as  a  very  allowa- 
ble practice.  Yet,  sir,  the  experience  of 
mankind  has  discovered  stealing  to  be  to 
very  bad  a  thing,  that  they  make  no  scrapie 
to  hang  a  man  for  it.  When  I  was  run- 
ning about  this  town  a  very  poor  fellow,  I 
was  a  great  arguer  for  the  advantages  of 
poverty ;  but  I  was,  at  the  same  time,  very 
sorry  to  be  poor.  Sir,  all  the  argument! 
which  are  brought  to  represent  poverty  as 
no  evil,  show  it  to  be  evidently  a  great  eviL 
You  never  find  people  labouring  to  convince 
you  that  you  may  live  very  happily  upon  t 
plentiful  fortune.  So  you  hear  people  talk- 
ing how  miserable  a  king  must  be ;  and  yet 
they  all  wish  to  be  in  his  place." 

It  was  suggested  that  kings  must  be  un- 
happy because  they  are  deprived  of  the 
greatest  of  all  satisfactions,  easy  and  unre- 
served society.  Johnson.  "That  is  an 
ill-founded  notion.  Being  a  king  does  not 
exclude  a  man  from  such  society.  Great 
kings  have  always  been  social.  The  king 
of  Prussia,  the  only  great  king  at  present, 
is  very  social.  Charles  the  Second,  the 
last  king  of  England  who  was  a  man  of 
parts,  was  social ;  and  our  Henrys  and  Ed- 
wards were  all  social3." 

Mr.  Dempster  having  endeavoured  to 
maintain  that  intrinsick  merit  ought  to 
make  the  only  distinction  amongst  man- 
kind: Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  mankind 
have  found  that  this  cannot  be.  How  shall 
we  determine  the  proportion  of  intrinsick 
merit?  Were* that  to  be  the  only  distinc- 
tion amongst  mankind,  we  should  soon 
quarrel  about  the  degrees  of  it.  Were  all 
distinctions  abolished,  the  strongest  would 
not  long  acquiesce,  but  would  endeavour 
to  obtain  a  superiority  by  their  bodily 
strength.  But,  sir,  as  subordination  is  very 
necessary  for  society,  and  contentions  nr 
superiority  very  dangerous,  mankind,  that 
is  to  say,  all  civilized  nations,  have  settled 
it  upon  a  plain  invariable  principle.    A  man 


3  [This  opinion  baa  received  strong  confirma- 
tion from  his  late  majesty,  George  the  Fourth, 
whose  natural  abilities  were  undoubtedly  jery 
considerable,  whose  reign  was  eminently  porww, 
and  whose  private  life  was  amiable  and  social.— 
En.] 


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199 


is  born  to  hereditary  rank;  or,  his  being 
appointed  to  certain  offices  gives  him  a  cer- 
tain rank.  Subordination  tends  greatly  to 
human  happiness.  Were  we  all  upon  an 
equality,  we  should  have  no  other  enjoy* 
ment  than  mere  animal  pleasure." 

I  said,  I  consider  distinction  of  rank  to  be 
of  so  much  importance  in  civilized  society, 
that  if  I  were  asked  on  the  same  day  to  dine 
with  the  first  duke  in  England,  and  with 
the  first  man  in  Britain  for  genius,  I  should 
hesitate  which  to  prefer.  Johnson.  "  To 
be  sure,  sir,  if  you  were  to  dine  only  once, 
and  it  were  never  to  be  known  where  you 
dined,  you  would  choose  rather  to  dine  with 
the  first  man  for  genius  ;  but  to  gain  most 
respect,  you  should  dine  with  the  first  duke 
in  England.  For  nine  people  in  ten  that 
you  meet  with  would  have  a  higher  opin- 
ion of  you  for  having  dined  with  a  duke ; 
tnd  the  great  genius  himself  would  receive 
you  better,  because  you  had  been  with  the 
great  duke." 

He  took  care  to  guard  himself  against 
any  possible  suspicion  that  his  settled  prin- 
ciples of  reverence  for  rank  and  respect  for 
wealth  were  at  all  owing  to  mean  or  inter- 
ested motives ;  for  he  asserted  his  own  in- 
dependence as  a  literary  man.  "  No  man," 
said  he,  "  who  ever  lived  by  literature,  has 
lived  more  independently  than  I  have  done." 
fle  said  he  had  taken  longer  time  than  he 
needed  to  have  done  in  composing  his  Dic- 
tionary. He  received  our  compliments 
upon  that  great  work  with  complacency, 
and  told  us  that  the  academy  delta  Crusea 
could  scarcely  believe  that  it  was  done  by 
one  man. 

Next  morning  I  found  him  alone,  and 
have  preserved  the  following  fragments  of 
his  conversation.  Of  a  gentleman1  who  was 
mentioned,  he  said,  "  I  have  not  met  with 
any  man  for  a  long  time  who  has  given  me 
such  general  -  displeasure.  He  is  totally 
unfixed  in  his  principles,  and  wants  to  puz- 
zle other  people.'.'  I  said  his  principles 
had  been  poisoned  by  a  noted  infidel  writer, 
but  that  he  was,  nevertheless,  a  benevo- 
lent good  man.  Johnson.  "  We  can 
have  no  dependence  upon'  that  instinctive, 
mat  constitutional  goodness  which  is  not 
founded  upon  principle.  I  grant  you  that 
such  a  man  may  be  a  very  amiable  member 
of  society.  I  can  conceive  him  placed  in 
such  a  situation  that  he  is  not  much  tempt- 
ed to  deviate  from  what  is  right;  and  as 
tvery  man  prefers  virtue,  when  there  is 
not  some  strong  incitement  to  transgress 
its  precepts,  I  can  conceive  him  doing 
nothing  wrong.  But  if  such  a  man  stood 
u>  need  of  money,  I  should  not  like  to  trust 

1  [Probably  Mr.  Dempster,  whose  share  in  the 
preceding  conversation  was  very  likely  to  have 
*spU»sed  Johnson.  The  "  infidel  writer"  is  no 
wit*  Dempster's  countryman,  Mr*  Hume.— En.] 


him  j  and  I  should  certainly  not  trust  him 
with  young  ladies,  for  there  there  is  always 
temptation.  Hume,  and  other  sceptical 
innovators,  are  vain  men,  and  will  gratify 
themselves  at  any  expense.  Truth  win 
not  afford  sufficient  food  to  their  vanity j 
so  they  have  betaken  themselves  to  errour. 
Truth,  sir,  is  a  cow  which  will  yield  such 
people  no  more  milk,  and  so.  they  are  gone 
to  milk  the  bull.  If  I  could  have  allowed 
myself  to  gratify  my  vanity  at  the  expense 
of  truth,  what  fame  might  I  have  acquired? 
Every  thing  which  Hume  has  advanced 
against  Christianity  had  passed  through 
my  mind  long  before  he  wrote.  Always 
remember  this,  that  after  a  system  is  well 
settled  upon  positive  evidence,  a  few  par- 
tial objections  ought  not  to  shake  it.  The 
human  mind  is  so  limited,  that  it  cannot 
take  in  all  the  parts  of  a  subject,  so  that 
there  may  be  objections  raised  against  any 
thing.  There  are  objections  against  a 
plenum,  and  objections  against  a  vacuum  ; 
yet  one  of  them  must  certainly  be  true." 

I  mentioned  Hume's  argument  against 
the  belief  of  miracles,  that  it  is  more  proba^ 
ble  that  the  witnesses  to  the  truth  or  them 
are  mistaken,  or.  speak  falsely,  than  that 
the  miracles  should  be  true.  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  the  great  difficulty  of  proving 
miracles  should  make  us  very  cautious  in 
believing  them.  But  let  us  consider ;  al- 
though God  has  made  nature  to  operate 
by  certain  fixed  laws,  yet  it  is  not  unrea- 
sonable to  think  that  he  may  suspend  those 
laws,  in  order  to  establish  a  system  highly 
advantageous  to  mankind.  Now  the  Chris- 
tian religion  is  a  most  beneficial  system,  as 
it  gives  us  light  and  certainty  where  we 
were  before  in  darkness  and  doubt  The 
miracles  which  prove  it  are  attested  by 
men  who  had  no  interest  in  deceiving  us ; 
but  who,  on  the  contrary,  were  told  that 
they  should  suffer  persecution,  and  did  ac- 
tually lay  down  their  lives  in  confirmation 
of  the  truth  of  the  facts  which  they  assert- 
ed. Indeed,  for  some  centuries  the  hea- 
thens did  not  pretend  to  deny  the  miracles : 
but  said  they  were  performed  by  the  aid  of 
evil  spirits.  This  is  a  circumstance  of 
great  weight  Then,  sir,  when  we  take 
the  proofs  derived  from  prophecies  which 
have  been  so  exactly  fulfilled,  we  have 
most  satisfactory  evidence.  Supposing  a 
miracle  possible,  as  to  which,  in  my  opin- 
ion, there  can  be  no  doubt,  we  have  as 
strong  evidence  for  the  miracles  in  support 
of  Christianity,  as  the  nature  of  the  thing 
admits." 

At  night,  Mr.  Johnson  and  I  supped  in 
a  private  room  at  the  Turk's-head  coffee- 
house, in  the  Strand.  "  I  encourage  this 
house,"  said  he,  "  for  the  mistress  of  it  is 
a  good  civil  woman,  and  has  not  much 
business." 


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176H.— iETAT.  64. 


"  Sir,  T  love  the  acquaintance  of  young 
people ;  because,  in  the  first  place,  I  don't 
Eke  to  think  myself  growing  old.  In  the 
next  place,  young  acquaintances  must  last 
longest,  if  they  do  last ;  and  then,  sir,  young 
men  have  more  virtue  than  old  men  ;  they 
have  more  generous  sentiments  in  every 
respect.  I  love  the  young  dogs  of  this  age, 
they  have  more  wit  and  humour  and  know- 
ledge of  life  than  we  had1 ;  but  then  the 
dogs  are  not  so  good  scholars.  Sir,  in  my 
early  years  I  read  very  hard.  It  is  a  sad, 
reflection,  but  a  true  one,  that  I  knew  al- 
most as  much  at  eighteen  as  I  do  now2. 
My  judgment,  to  be  sure,  was  not  so 
good  ;  but  I  had  all  the  facts.  I  remember 
very  well,  when  I  was  at  Oxford,  an  o  d 
gentleman  said  to  me,  '  Young  man,  ply 
your  book  diligently  now,  and  acquire  a 
stock  of  knowledge;  for  when  years  come 
upon  you,  you  will  find  that  poring  upon 
books  will  be  but  an  irksome  task.'  " 

This  account  of  his  reading,  given  by 
himself  in  plain  words,  sufficiently  confirms 
what  I  have  already  advanced  upon  the 
disputed  question  as  to  his  application.  It 
reconciles  any  seeming  inconsistency  in  his 
way  of  talking  upon  it  at  different  times;  and 
shows  that  idleness  and  reading  hard  were 
with  him  relative  terms,  the  import  of 
which,  as  used  by  him,  must  be  gathered 
from  a  comparison  with  what  scholars  of  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  ardour  and  assiduity  have 
been  known  to  do.  And  let  it  be  remember- 
ed, that  he  was  now  talking  spontaneously, 
and  expressing  his  genuine  sentiments; 
whereas  at  other  times  he  might  be  induced, 
from  his  spirit  of  contradiction,  or  more  pro- 
perly from  his  love  of  argumentative  contest, 
to  speak  lightly  of  his  own  application  to 
study.  It  is  pleasing  to  consider  that  the  old 
gentleman's  gloomy  prophesy  of  the  irk- 
someness  of  books  to  men  of  an  advanced 
age,  which  is  too  often  fulfilled,  was  so  far 
from  being  verified  in  Johnson,  that  his  ar- 
dour for  literature  never  failed,  and  his  last 
writings  had  more  ease  and  vivacity  than 
any  of  his  earlier  productions. 

He  mentioned  it  to  me  now,  for  the  first 
time,  that  he  had  been  distressed  by  melan- 
choly, and  for  that  reason  had  been  obliged 
to  fly  frota  study  and  meditation  to  the  dis- 
sipating variety  of  life.    Against  melaneho- 

1  [The  justice  of  this  assertion  may  be  doubted. 
Johnson  was  comparing  men  of  such  a  rank  and 
station  as  he  now  met,  with  the  narrow,  provin- 
cial, and  inferior  society  in  which  his  own  youth 
was  spent — En.] 

*  His  great  period  of  study  was  from  the  age 
of  twelve  to  that  of  eighteen;  as  he  told  Mr. 
Langton,  who  gave  me  this  information. — Ma- 
Lomc.  [He  went  to  Oxford  in  his  nineteenth 
year,  and  seems  to  have  translated  the  Messiah 
when  he  had  been  there  not  quite  three  months. 
See  ante,  p.  21,  note.— Ed.] 


\y  he  recommended  constant  occupation  of 
mind,  a  great  deal  of  exercise,  moderation  in 
eating  and  drinking,  and  especially  to  shun 
drinking  at  night 3.  He  said  melancholy 
people  were  apt  to  fly  to  intemperance  for 
relief,  but  that  it  sunk  them  much  deeper 
in  misery.  He  observed,  that  labouring 
men  who  work  hard,  and  live  sparingly, 
are  seldom  or  never  troubled  with  low 
spirits. 

He  again  insisted  on  the  duty  of  main- 
taining subordination  of  rank.  "  Sir,  I 
would  no  more  deprive  a  nobleman  of  his 
respect  than  of  his  money.  I  consider  my- 
selras  acting  a  part  in  the  great  system  of 
society,  and  I  do  to  others  as  I  would  have 
them  to  do  to  me.  I  would  behave  to  a 
nobleman  as  I  should  expect  he  would  be- 
have to  me,  were  I  a  nobleman  and  he 
Sam.  Johnson.  Sir,  there  is  one  Mrs.  Ma- 
caul  ay  4  in  this  town,  a  great  republican. 
One  day  when  I  was  at  her  house,  I  put  on 
a  very  grave  countenance,  and  said  to  her, 
c  Madam,  I  am  now  become  a  convert  to 
your  way  of  thinking,  I  am  convinced  that 
all  mankind  are  upon  an  equal  footing;  and 
to  give  you  an  unquestionable  proof,  mad- 
am, that  I  am  in  earnest,  here  is  a  very  sen- 
sible, civil,  well-behaved  fellow-citizen,  your 
footman;  I  desire  that  he  may  be  allowed 
to  sit  down  and  dine  with  us.'  I  thus,  sir, 
showed  her  the  absurdity  of  the  levelling 
doctrine.  She  has  never  liked  me  since. 
Sir,  your  levellers  wish  to  level  down  as  far 
as  themselves;  but  they  cannot  bear  level- 
ling up  to  themselves.  They  would  all  have 
some  people  under  them;  why  not  then 
have  some  people  above  them?"  I  men- 
tioned a  certain  authour  5  who  disgusted  me 
by  his  forwardness,  and  by  showing  node£ 
erence  to  noblemen  into  whose  company  he 
was  admitted.  Johnson.  "  Suppose  a  shoe* 
maker  should  claim  an  equality  with  him, 
as  he  does  with  a  lord :  how  he  would  stare. 
c  Why,  sir,  do  you  stare  ?  (says  the  shoe- 
maker) I  do  great  service  to  society.  'Tib 
true  I  am  paid  for  doing  it;  but  so  are  yon, 
sir:  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  it,  better  paid 
than  I  am,  for  doing  something  not  so  ne- 
cessary. For  mankind  could  do  better 
without  your  books,  than  without  my  shoes.' 
Thus,  sir,  there  would  be  a  perpetual  strug- 
gle for  precedence  were  there  no  fixed  inva- 
riable rules  for  the  distinction  of  rank  which 
creates  no  jealousy,  as  it  is  allowed  to  be 
accidental." 

He  said,  Dr.  Joseph  Warton  was  a  very 
agreeable  man,   and  his  "  Essay  on  the 


3  [See  ante,  p.  39,  note. — En.] 

4  This  one  Mrs.  Macaulay  was  the  same  par- 
sonage who  afterwards  made  herself  so  math 
known  as  "the  celebrated  female  historian.'* 
[See  ante,  p.  102.— Ed.] 

*  [Something  of  this  kind  has  been  impated  *> 
Goldsmith.— Ed.] 


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17**.— iETAT.  54. 


901 


Genius  and  Writings  of  Pope,"  a  very 
pleasing  book.  I  wondered  that  he  delay- 
ed bo  long  to  give  us  the  continuation  of  it 
Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  I  suppose  he  finds 
himself  a  little  disappointed,  at  not  having 
been  able  to  persuade  the  world  to  be  of  his 
opinion  as  to  Pope." 
We  have  now  been  favoured  with  the 

»  concluding  volume,  in  which,  to  use  a  par- 
liamentary expression,  he  has  explained,  so 
as  not  to  appear  quite  so  adverse  to  the 

'  opinion  of  the  world,  concerning  Pope,  as 
was  at  first  thought;  and  we  must  all  agree, 
that  his  work  is  a  most  valuable  accession 
to  English  literature. 

A  writer  *  of  deserved  eminence  being 
mentioned,  Johnson  said,  "  Why,  sir,  he 
is  a  man  of  good  parts,  but  being  orig- 
inally poor,  he  has  got  a  love  of  mean 
company  and  low  jocularity,  a  very  bad 
thing,  sir.  To  laugh  is  good,  and  to  talk 
is  good.  But  you  ought  no  more  to  think 
it  enough  if  you  laugh,  than  you  are  to 
think  it  enough  if  you  talk.  You  may  laugh 
in  as  many  ways  as  you  talk;  and  sorely 
every  way  of  talking  that  is  practised  can- 
not oe  esteemed." 

I  spoke  of  Sir  James  Macdonald*  as  a 
young  man  of  most  distinguished  merit, 
who  united  the  highest  reputation  at  Eton 
and  Oxford,  with  the  patriarchal  spirit  of  a 
great  highland  chieftain.  I  mentioned  that 
Sir  James  had  said  to  me,  that  he  had 
never  seen  Mr.  Johnson,  but  he  had  a  great 
respect  for  him,  though  at  the  same  time  it 
was  mixed  with  some  degree  of  terrour. 
JonirsoN.  "  Sir,  if  he  were  to  be  acquaint- 
ed with  me,  it  might  lessen  both." 

The  mention  of  this  gentleman  led  us  to 
talk  of  the  Western  Islands  of  Scotland,  to 
visit  which  he  expressed  a  wish  that  then 
appeared  to  me  a  very  .romantick  fancy, 
which  I  little  thought  would  be  afterwards 
realised.  He  told  me  that  his  father  had 
put  Martin's  account  of  those  islands  into 
his  hands  when  he  was  very  young,  and 
that  he  was  highly  pleased  with  it;  that  he 
was  particularly  struck  with  the  St  Kilda 
man's  notion  that  the  high  church  of  Glas- 
gow had  been  hollowed  out  of  a  rock3;  a 

k  circumstance  to  which  old  Mr.  Johnson  had 
directed  his  attention.    He  said  he  would 


1  [It  is  not  easy  to  say  who  was  here  meant. 
Murphy,  who  was  born  poor,  was  distinguished 
lor  elegance  of  manners  and  conversation;  and 
Fielding,  who  could  not  have  been  spoken  of  as 
alive  in  1763,  was  born  to  better  prospects,  though 
he  kept  low  company;  and  had  it  been  Goldsmith, 
Boswell  would  probably  have  had  no  scruple  in 
naming  him. — -Ed.] 

'  [See  pott,  27th  March,  1772,  and  5th  Sep- 
twnbej,  1778.— -Ed.] 

3  [In  the  Spectator,  No.  60,  Addison  makes 
the  Indian  king  suppose  that  St  Paul's  was  carved 
out  of  a  rock.— Ed.] 

vol.  i.  26 


go  to  the  Hebrides  with  me,  when  I  return- 
ed from  my  travels,  unless  some  very  .good 
companion  should  offer  when  I  was  absent, 
which  he  did  not  think  probable:  adding, 
"  There  aTe  few  people  whom  I  take  bo 
much  to  as  you."  And  when  I  talked  of 
my  leaving  "England,  he  said  with  a  very 
affectionate  air,  "  My  dear  Boswell,  I 
should  be  very  unhappy  at  parting,  did  I 
think  we  were  not  to  meet  again.'9  I 
cannot  too  often  remind  my  readers,  that 
although  such  instances  of  his  kindness  are 
doubtless  very  flattering  to  me,  yet  I  hope 
my  recording  them  will  be  ascribed  to  a 
better  motive  than  to  vanity;  for  they  af- 
ford unquestionable  evidence  of  his  tender- 
ness and  complacency,  which  some,  while 
they  were  forced  to  acknowledge  his  great 
powers,  have  been  so  strenuous  to  deny.  . 

He  maintained  that  a  boy  at  school  was 
the  happiest  of  human  beings.  I  support- 
ed a  different  opinion,  from  which  I  nave 
never  yet  varied,  that  a  man  is  happier: 
and  I  enlarged  upon  the  anxiety  ana  suf- 
ferings which  are  endured  at  school.  John- 
so*.  Ah !  sir,  a  boy's  being  flogged  is  not 
so  severe  as  a  man's  having  the  hiss  of  the 
world  against  him.  Men  have  a  solicitude 
about  lame;  and  the  greater  share  they 
have  of  it,  the  more  afraid  they  are  of  losing 
it"  I  silently  asked  myself,  "  Is  it  possible 
that  the  great  Samuel  Johnson  really  en- 
tertains any  such  apprehension,  and  is  not 
confident  that  his  exalted  fame  is  establish- 
ed upon  a  foundation  never  to  be  shaken  P* 

He  this  evening  drank  a  bumper  to  Sir 
David  Dairymple,  [afterwards  Lord  HailesJ 
((  asB  man  of  worth,  a  scholar,  and  a 
wit"  "  I  have  (said  he)  never  heard  of 
him,  except  from  you;  but  let  him  know 
my  opinion  of  him :  for  he  does  not  show 
himself  much  in  the  world,  he  should  have 
the  praise  of  the  few  who  hear  of  him." 

On  Tuesday,  July  26, 1  found  Mr.  John- 
son alone.  It  was  a  very  wet  day,  and  I 
again  complained  of  the  disagreeabe  effects 
of  such  weather  *.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  this  is 
all  imagination  which  physicians  encour- 
age ;  for  man  lives  in  air,  as  a  fish  lives  in  wa- 
ter; so  that  if  the  atmosphere  press  heavy 
from  above,  there  is  an  equal  resistance  from 
below.  To  be  sure,  bad  weather  is  hard 
upon  people  who  are  obliged  to  be  abroad; 
and  men  cannot  labour  so  well  in  the  open 
air  in  bad  weather,  as  in  good;  but,  sir,  a 
smith  or  a  tailor,  whose  work  is  within 
doors,  will  surely  do  as  much  in  rainy 
weather,  as  in  fair.  Some  very  delicate 
frames,  indeed,  may  be  affected  by  wet 
weather;  but  not  common  constitutions." 

We  talked  of  the  education  of  children; 
and  I  asked  liim  what  he  thought  was  beat 
to  teach  them  first    Johnson.    "  Sir,  it 

4  [See  ante  pp.  142  and  198.— Ed.] 

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176l.—;frrAT.  04. 


C 


Is  no  matter  what  you  teach  them  first,  any 
more  than  what  leg  yon  shall  put  into  your 
breeches  first.  Sir,  you  may  stand  disput- 
ing which  is  best  to  put  in  first,  but  in  the 
mean  time  your  breech  is  bare.  Sir,  while 
you  are  considering  which  of  two  things 

>u  should  teach  your  child  first,  another 

>y  has  learnt  them  both." 

On  Thursday,  July  28,  we  again  supped 
in  private  at  the  TurVs-head  coffee-house. 
Johnson.  "  Swift  has  a  higher  reputation 
than  he  deserves.  His  excellence  is  strong 
sense;  for  his  humour,  though  very  well, 
is  not  remarkably  good.  I  doubt  whether 
the  «  Tale  of  a  Tub*  be  his;  for  he  never 
owned  it,  and  it  is  much  above  his  usual 
manner  V 

"  Thomson,  I  think,  had  as  much  of  the 
poet  about  him  as  most  writers.  Every 
thing  appeared  to  him  through  the  medium 
of  his  favourite  pursuit  lie  could  not 
have  viewed  those  two  candles  burning  but 
with  a  poetical  eye. 

"  Has  not *  a  great  deal  of  wit, 

sir?"  Johnson.  "  I  do  not  think  so,  sir. 
He  is,  indeed,  continually  attempting  wit, 
but  he  fails.  And  I  have  no  more  pleasure 
in  hearing  a  man  attempting  wit,  and  fail- 
ing, than  in  seeing  a  man  trying  to  leap 
over  a  ditch  and  tumbling  into  it." 

He  laughed  heartily  when  I  mentioned 
to  him  a  saying  of  his  concerning  Mr. 
Thomas  Sheridan,  which  Foote  took  a 
wicked  pleasure  to  circulate.  "  Why,  sir, 
Sherry  is  dull,  naturally  dull:  but  it  must 
have  taken  him  a  great  deal  or  pains  to  be- 
come what  we  now  see  him.  Such  an  ex- 
cess of  stupidity,  sir,  is  not  in  nature." — "  So 
(said  he),  I  allowed  him  all  his  own  merit." 

He  now  added,  "  Sheridan  cannot  bear 
me.  I  bring  his  declamation  to  a  point3. 
I  ask  him  a  plain  question, *  What  no  you 

1  This  opinion  was  ghren  by  him  more  at  huge 
at  a  subsequent  period.  See  post,  16th  Aug. 
1778. — Bos  well.  [How  could  Jobmon  doubt 
that  Swift  was  the  author  of  the  Tale  of  a  Tab, 
when,  at  he  himself  relates  in  hie  Life  of 
8wn%  "No  other  claimanti  can  be  produced; 
and  when  Archbishop  Sharp©  and  the  Duchess  of 
Somerset,  by  showing  it  to  Qaeen  Anne,  debarred 
Swift  of  a  bishopries:,  he  did  not  deny  it."  We 
have,  moreover,  Swift's  own  acknowledgment 
of  it,  in  his  letter  to  Ben.  Tooke  the  printer,  29th 
Jane,  1710.— Ed.] 

9  [There  is  no  doabt  that  this  blank  most  be 
filled  with  the  name  of  Mr.  Burke.  See  post, 
15th  Aug.  and  15th  Sept  1773,  and  25th  April, 
1778.— Ed.] 

*  [He  endeavours  to  assign  a  reason  for  Sheri- 
dan's dissatisfaction  very  different  from  the  true 
one ;  there  is  even  reason  to  suppose,  from  Mr. 
Boswell's  own  account,  that  Johnson  and  Sheridan 
never  met  after  Johnson's  insult  to  Sheridan  on 
the  subject  of  the  pension.  See  ante,  p.  176.— 
Ed.] 


mean  to  teach?*  Besides,  air,  what  influ- 
ence can  Mr.  Sheridan  have  upon  the  lan- 
guage of  this  great  country,  by  his  narrow 
exertions?  Sir,  it  is  burning  a  farthing 
candle  at  Dover,  to  show  light  at  Calais." 

Talking  of  a  young  man  who  was  unea- 
sy from  thinking  that  he  was  very  deficient 
in  learning  and  knowledge,  he  said,  "A 
man  has  no  reason  to  complain  who  holds 
a  middle  place,  and  has  many  below  him, 
and  perhaps  he  has  not  six  of  his  years  above 
him:  perhaps  not  one.  Though  he  may 
not  know  any  thing  perfectly,  the  general 
mass  of  knowledge  that  he  has  acquired  is 
considerable.  Time  will  do  for  him  all 
that  is  wanting." 

The  conversation  then  took  a  philosoph- 
ical turn.  Johnson.  "  Human  experience, 
which  is  constantly  contradicting  theory,  is 
the  great  test  of  truth.  A  system  built  up- 
on the  discoveries  of  a  great  many  minds  is 
alwavB  of  more  strength,  than  what  is  pro- 
duced bv  the  mere  workings  of  any  one 
mind,  which,  of  itself,  can  do  little.  There 
is  not  so  poor  a  book  in  the  world  that 
would  not  be  a  prodigious  effort  were  it 
wrought  out  entirely  by  a  single  mind, 
without  the  aid  of  prior  investigators.  The 
French  writers  are  superficial,  because  they 
are  not  scholars,  and  so  proceed  upon  the 
mere  power  of  their  own  minds;  and  we 
see  how  very  little  power  they  have." 

"  As  to  the  Christian  religion,  sir,  be- 
sides the  strong  evidence  which  we  have 
for  it,  there  is  a  balance  in  its  favour  from 
the  number  of  great  men  who  have  been 
convinced  of  its  truth,  after  a  serious  con- 
sideration of  the  question.  Grotiuswasan 
acute  man,  a  lawyer,  a  man  accustomed  to 
examine  evidence,  and  he  was  convinced. 
Grotrus  was  net  a  recluse,  but  a  man  of  the 
world,  who  certainly  had  no  bias  to  the 
side  of  religion.  Sir  Isaac  Newton4  set 
out  an  infidel,  and  came  to  be  a  very  firm 
believer.* 

He  this  evening  again  recommended  to 
me  to  perambulate  Spain  *.    I  said  it  would 


4  [Where,  the  Bishop  of  Ferns  asks,  did  John- 
son learn  tins  ?  It  is  true  that  Dr.  Horsely  de- 
clined publishing  some  papers  on  religious  subjects 
which  Newton  left  behind  him — some  ljave  sus- 
pected that  they  were  tainted  with  Unitariajusm  ; 
othen  (probably  from  a  consideration  of  his  work 
on  the  Revelations)  believed  that  they  were  in  a 
strain  of  mysticism  not  (in  the  opinion  of  his 
friends)  worthy  of  so  great  a  genius;  and  the  re- 
cent publication  of  his  two  lettera  to  Locke,  in  a 
style  of  infantine  simplicity  (see  Lord  King's  Lift 
of  Locke),  give  additional  colour  to  tins  latter 
opinion:  but  for  Johnson's  assertion  that  he  set  out 
an  infidel,  there  appears  no  authority,  and  all  the 
inferences  are  the  other  way. — Ed.] 

•  I  fully  intended  to  have  followed  advice  of 
such  weight}  but  having  staid  much  longer  both 
in  Germany  and  Italy  than  I  proposed  to  do,  and 


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176*.— jETAT.  54. 


SOS 


ogei 

Salamanca.  Johnson.  "  I  love  the  uni- 
versity of  Salamanca;  for  when  the  Span- 
iards were  in  doubt  as  to  the  lawfulness  of 
their  conquering  America,  the  university  of 
Salamanca  (rave  it  as  their  opinion  that  it 
was  oot  lawful."  He  spoke  this  with  great 
emotion,  and  with  that  generous  warmth 
which  dictated  the  lines  in  his  "  London," 
against  Spanish  encroachment. 

I  expressed  my  opinion  of  my  friend  Der- 
rick as  but  a  poor  writer1.  Johnson.  "  To 
be  sure,  sir,  ne  is:  but  are  you  to  consider 
that  his  being  a  literary  man  has  got  for 
him  all  that  he  has.  It  has  made  him  king 
of  Bath.  Sir,  he  has  nothing  to  say  for 
himself  but  that  he  is  a  writer.  Had  he 
not  been  a  writer,  he  must  have  been 
sweeping-  the  crossings  in  the  streets,  and 
asking  halfpence  from  every  body  that 
passed." 

In  justice,  however,  to  the  memory  of 
Mr.  Derrick,  who  was  my  first  tutor  in  the 
ways  of  London,  and  showed  me  the  town 
in  all  its  variety  of  departments  both  litera- 
ry and  sportive,  the  particulars  of  which 
Dr.  Johnson  advised  me  to  put  in  writing, 
it  k  proper  to  mention  what  Johnson,  at 
a*  subsequent  period,  said  of  him 
54*    botli  as  a  writer  and  editor:  «  Sir, 
I  have  often  said,  that  if  Derrick's 
letters  had  -fceen  written  by  one  of  a  more 
established   name,  they  would  have  been 
thought  very  pretty  letters."    And, 
\rST'  "  I  sent  Derrick  to  Dryden's  rela- 
tions to  gather  materials  for  his  life: 
and  I  believe  he  got  all  that  I  myself  should 
have  got" 

Poor  De Trick!  I  remember  him  with 
kindness.  Yet  I  cannot  withhold  from  my 
leaders  a  pleasant  humorous  sally  which 
eould  not  have  hurt  him  had  he  been  alive, 
and  now  is  perfectly  harmless.  In  his  col* 
lection  of  poems,  there  is  one  upon  enter- 
ing the  harbour  of  Dublin,  his  native  city, 
alter  a  long  absence.    It  begins  thus: 

"  Eblana!  much  loved  city,  hail! 
Where  fint  I  saw  the  light  of  day." 

And  after  a  solemn  reflection  on  his  beinjr 
*  numbered  with  forgotten  dead/'  there  is 
the  following  stanza : 

•  Unlea  my  lines  protract  my  lame. 

And  those,  who  chance  to  read  them,  cry, 
I  knew  him!  Derrick  was  his  name, 
In  yonder  tomb  hk  ashes  lie : " 

which  was  thus  happily  parodied  by  Mr. 
John  Home,  to  whom  we  owe  the  beauti- 
ful and  pathetJck  tragedy  of  Douglas: 

htrfag  abo  visited  Cornea,  I  found  that  I  had 
exceeded  the  time  allowed  me  by  my  lather,  and 
hauened  to  France  m  my  way  homewards. — 
BotWBi.i_ 
1  [Coif  ye  thai  backing  your  friends! — En.] 


"  Unleai  my  deeds  protract  my  nuns, 
And  he  who  panes  sadly  sings, 
I  knew  him!  Derrick  was  his  name, 
On  yonder  tree  his  carcass  swings  !  " 
I  doubt  much  whether  the  amiable  and 
ingenious  authour  of  these  burlesque  lines 
will  recollect  them;  for  thev  were  produced 
extempore  one  evening  while  he  and  I  were 
walking  together  in  the  dining  room  at 
Eglingtoune  Castle,  in  1760,  and  1  have 
never  mentioned  them  to  him  since. 

Johnson  said  once  to  me,  "  Sir,  I  honour 
Derrick  for  his  presence  of  mind.  One 
night,  when  Floya  9,  another  poor  authour, 
was  wandering  about  the  streets  in  the 
night,  he  found  Derrick  fast  asleep  upon  a 
bulk;  upon  being  suddenly  waked,  Derrick 
started  up:  '  My  dear  Floyd,  I  am  sorry  to 
see  you  m  this  destitute  state:  will  you  go 
home  with  me  to  my  lodgings  3P  " 

I  again  begged  his  advice  as  to  my  meth- 
od of  study  at  Utrecht.  "  Come,"  said 
he,  "  let  us  make  a  day  of  it  Let  us  go 
down  to  Greenwich  and  dine,  and  talk  of 
of  it  there."  The  following  Saturday  was 
fixed  for  this  excursion. 

As  we  walked  along  the  Strand  to-night 
arm  in  arm,  a  woman  of  the  town  accosted 
us,  in  the  usual  enticing  manner.  "  No, 
no,  my  girl,"  said  Johnson; "  it  won't  do." 
He  however,  did  not  treat  her  with  harsh- 
ness; and  we  talked  of  the  wretched  life 
of  such  women,  and  agreed,  that  much 
more  misery  than  happiness,  upon  the  whole, 
is  produced  by  illicit  commerce  between  the 
sexes. 

On  Saturday,  Jury  90,  Dr.  Johnson  and 
I  took  a  sculler  at  the  Temple-stairs,  and 
set  out  for  Greenwich.  I  asked  him  if  he 
really  thought  a  knowledge  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin  languages  an  essential  requisite 
to  a  good  education.  Johnson.  "  Most 
certainly,  sir;  for  those  who  know  them  have 
a  very  great  advantage  over  those  who  do 
not  Nay,  sir,  it  is  wonderful  what  a  di£ 
ference  learning  makes  upon  people  even 
in  the  common  intercourse  of  life,  which 
does  not  appear  to  be  much  connected  with 
it"  "And  yet,"  said  I,  "people  go 
through  the  world  very  well,  and  carry  on 
the  business  of  life  to  good  advantage, 
without  learning."  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir, 
that  may  be  true  in  cases  where  learning 
cannot  possibly  be  of  any  use;  for  instance, 
this  boy  rows  us  as  well  without  learning, 
as  if  he  could  sing  the  song  of  Orpheus  to 
the  Argonauts,  who  were  the  first  sailors." 
He  then  called  to  the  boy, "  What  would 


•  He  pablkhed  a  biographical  work,  containing 
an  account  of  eminent  writers,  in  three  volumes, 
8V0. 

*  [No  great  presence  of  mind;  for  Floyd  would 
naturally  have  accepted  the  proposal,  and  then 
Derrick  would  have  been  doubly  sxposed^-En.] 


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904 


1763.— jETAT.  64. 


yon  give,  my  lad,  to  know  about  the  Ar- 
gonauts?" "Sir,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  would 
give  what  I  have."  Johnson  was  much 
pleased  with  his  answer,  and  we  gave  him 
a  double  fare.  Dr.  Johnson  then  turning 
to  me, "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  a  desire  of  know- 
ledge is  the  natural  feeling  of  mankind; 
and  every  human  being  whose  mind  is  not 
debauched,  will  be  willing  to  give  all  that 
he  has  to  get  knowledge." 

We  landed  at  the  Old  Swan  l,  and  walk- 
ed to  Billings-gate,  where  we  took  oars,  and 
moved  smoothly  along  the  silver  Thames. 
It  was  a  very  fine  day.  We  were  enter- 
tained with  the  immense  number  and  varie- 
ty of  snipe  that  were  lying  at  anchor,  and 
with  the  beautiful  country  on  each  side  of 
the  river. 

I  talked  of  preaching,  and  of  the  great 
success  which  those  called  methodists2  have. 


1  [The  erection  of  a  new  London  bridge  may 
lender  it  useful  to  observe  that  with  the  ebb-tide 
it  is  dangerous  to  pass  through,  or  shoot ,  as  it  is 
called,  the  arches  of  the  old  bridge:  passengers, 
therefore,  land  above  the  bridge,  and  walk  to  some 
wharf  below  it— Ed.] 

9  All  who.  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
religion  (the  most  important,  sorely,  that  concerns 
the  human  mind),  know  that  the  appellation  of 
Methodists  was  first  given  to  a  society  of  students 
m  the  university  of  Oxford,  who,  about  the  year 
1730,  were  distinguished  by  an  earnest  and  me- 
thodical attention  to  devout  exercises.  This  dis- 
position of  mind  is  not  a  novelty,  or  peculiar  to 
any  sect,  but  has  been  and  still  may  be  found,  in 
many  Christians  of  every  denomination.  John- 
eon  himself  was,  in  a  dignified  manner,  a  metho- 
ds*. In  hk  Rambler,  No.  110,  he  mentions  with 
respect «« the  whole  discipline  of  regulated  piety;" 
and  in  his  "  Prayers  and  Meditations,"  many  in- 
stances occur  of  his  anxious  examination  into  his 
spiritual  state.  That  this  religious  earnestness, 
and  in  particular  an  observation  of  the  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  has  sometimes  degenerated  into 
folly,  and  sometimes  been  counterfeited  for  base 
purposes,  cannot  be  denied.  But  it  is  not,  there- 
fore, lair  to  decry  it  when  genuine.  The  princi- 
pal argument  in  reason  and  good  sense  against 
methodism  is,  that  it  tends  to  debase  human  na- 
ture, and  prevent  the  generous  exertions  of  good- 
ness, by  an  unworthy  supposition  that  God  will 
pay  no  regard  to  them  ;  although  it  is  positively 
said  in  the  scriptures,  that  he  "  will  reward  every 
man  according  to  his  works."  But  I  am  happy 
to  have  it  in  my  power  to  do  justice  to  those  whom 
it  is  the  fashion  to  ridicule,  without  any  knowledge 
of  their  tenets ;  and  this  I  can  do  by  quoting  a 
passage  from  one  of  their  best  apologists,  Mr. 
Milner,  who  thus  expresses  their  doctrine  upon 
this  subject:  "  Justified  by  faith,  renewed  in  his 
(acuities,  and  constrained  by  the  love  of  Christ, 
their  believer  moves  in  the  sphere  of  love  and 
gratitude,  and  all  his  duties  flow  more  or  less  from 
Sub  principle.  And  though  they  are  accumulat- 
ing for  him  in  heaven  a  treasure  of  bliss 
proportioned  to  his  faithfulness  and  activity, 
and  it  is  by  no  means  inconsistent  with  his 


Johnson.  "  Sir,  it  is  owing  to  their  express- 
ing themselves  in  a  plain  and  familiar  man- 
ner, which  is  the  only  way  to  do  good  to 
the  common  people,  and  which  clergymen 
of  genius  and  learning  ought  to  do  from  a 
principle  of  duty,  when  it  is  suited  to  their 
congregations;  a  practice,  for  which  they 
will  he  praised  hy  men  of  sense.  To  insist 
against  drunkenness  as  a  crime,  because  it 
debases  reason,  the  noblest  faculty  of  man, 
would  be  of  no  service  to  the  common  peo- 
ple: but  to  tell  them  that  they  may  die  in  a 
fit  of  drunkenness,  and  show  them  how 
dreadful  that  would  be,  cannot  fail  to  make 
a  deep  impression.  Sir,  when  your  Scotch 
clergy  give  up  their  homely  manner,  religion 
will  soon  decay  in  that  country."*  Let  this 
observation,  as  Johnson  meant  it,  be  ever 
remembered. 

I  was  much  pleased  to  find  myself  with 
Johnson  at  Greenwich,  which  he  celebrates 
in  his  "  London"  as  a  favourite  scene.  I 
had  the  poem  in  my  pocket,  and  read  the 
lines  aloud  with  enthusiasm : 

"  On  Thames's  banks  in  silent  thought  we  stood, 
Where  Greenwich  smiles  upon  the  silver  flood: 
Pleased  with  the  seat  which  gave  Eliza  birth, 
We  kneel,  and  kiss  the  consecrated  earth." 

He  remarked  that  the  structure  of  Green- 
wich hospital  was  too  magnificent  for  a  place 
of  charity,  and  that  its  parts  were  too  much 
detached,  to  make  one  great  wholes. 

Buchanan,  he  said,  was  a  very  fine  poet4; 
and  observed,  that  he  was  the  first  who  com- 
plimented a  lady,  by  ascribing  to  her  the 
different  perfections  of  the  heathen  goddes- 
ses5; but  that  Johnstone6  improved  upon 


principles  to  feel  the  force  of  this  consideration, 
yet  love  itself  sweetens  every  doty  to  his  mind ; 
and  he  thinks  there  is  no  absurdity  in  his  feeling 
the  love  of  God  as  the  grand  commanding  princi- 
ple of  his  life."  Essays  on  several  religious 
Subjects,  Ire.  by  Joseph  Milner,  jS.  M.  master 
of  the  grammar  school  of  Kingston-upon-Hutt, 
1789.  p.  11.— Bobwell.  [Mr.  Joseph  Mflner 
was  brother  of  Dr.  Isaac  Milner,  who  died  Dean 
of  Carlisle.— En.] 

3  [A  very  just  criticism,  which,  considering 
Johnson's  defective  vision,  and  his  consequent 
imperfect  judgment  on  all  the  fine  arts,  may  bs 
suspected  to  have  been  suggested  to  him  by  bis 
friend  Mr.  Gwynne,  the  architect. — En.] 

*  [See  post,  sub.  80th  March,  17S3.— Ed.] 

*  Epigram,  Lib.  II.  "  In  Elizabeth.  Angfie 
Reg.'*— I  suspect  that  the  authour'e  memory  hen 
deceived  him,  and  that  Johnson  said,  "  the  fiat 
modern  poet ; "  for  there  is  a  well  known  Epi- 
gram in  the  Antholoqia,  containing  this  kind 
of  eulogy. — Malonk. 

*  [Arthur  Johnstone,  born  near  Aberdeen  ia 
1687,  an  elegant  Latin  poet  His  principal  worla 
are  a  volume  of  epigrams,  (in  which  is  to  bs 
found  that  to  which  Dr.  Johnson  alludes,)  and  s 
Latin  paraphrase  of  the  Psalms.     He  died  at  Ox- 

I  lord  in  1641.— Ed.] 


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1763.— JETAT.  04. 


206 


this,  by  making  bis  lady,  at  the  same  time, 
free  from  their  defects. 

He  dwelt  upon  Buchanan's  elegant  verses 
to  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  Nymjpha  Cale- 
donia, Sec.  and  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the 
beauty  of  Latin  verse.  "  All  the  modern 
languages  (said  he)  cannot  furnish  so  me- 
lodious a  line  as 
"Formotrnnrttonare  dotes  JtmarUUda  iilvat." 

Afterwards  he  entered  upon  the  busi- 
ness of  the  day,  which  was  to  give  me  his 
advice  as  to  a  course  of  study.  And  here  I 
am  to  mention  with  much  regret,  that  my 
record  of  what  he  said  is  miserably  scanty. 
I  recollect  with  admiration  an  animating 
blaze  of  eloquence,  which  roused  every  in- 
tellectual power  in  me  to  the  highest  pitch, 
but  must  have  dazzled  me  so  much,  that 
mv  memory  could  not  preserve  the  substance 
01  his  discourse;  for  the  note  which  I  find 
of  it  is  no  more  than  this: — "  He  ran  over 
the  grand  scale  of  human  knowledge;  ad- 
vised me  to  select  some  particular  branch 
to  excel  in,  but  to  acquire  a  little  of  every 
kind."  The  defect  of  my  minntes  will  be 
fully  supplied  by  a  long  letter  upon  the  sub- 
ject, which  he  favoured  me  with,  after  I  had 
been  some  time  at  Utrecht,  and  which  my 
leaders  will  have  the  pleasure  to  peruse  in 
its  proper  place. 

We  walked  in  the  evening  in  Greenwich 
park.  He  asked  me,  I  suppose,  by  way  of 
trying  my  disposition,  "Is  not  this  very 
fine?"  Having  no  exquisite  relish  of  the 
beauties  of  nature,  and  being  more  delight- 
ed with  "  the  busy  hum  of  men,"  I  answered 
u  Yes,  sir;  but  not  equal  to  Fleet-street. " 
Johnson.  "  You  are  right,  sir." 

I  am  aware  that  many  of  my  readers  may 
censure  my  want  of  taste.  Let  me,  howev- 
er, shelter  myself  under  the  authority  of  a 
very  fashionable  baronet1  in  the  brilliant 
world,  who,  on  his  attention  being  called  to 
the  fragrance  of  a  May  evening  in  the  coun- 
try observed,  "  This  may  be  very  well;  but 
for  my  part  I  prefer  the  smell  of  a  flambeau 
at  the  playhouse.*' 

We  staid  so  long  at  Greenwich,  that  our 
sail  up  the  river,  in  our  return  to  London, 
was  oy  no  means  so  pleasant  as  in  the 
morning;  for  the  night  air  was  so  cold  that 


1  My  friend  Sir  Michael  Lo  Fleming.  This 
gentleman,  with  all  his  experience  of  sprightly 
and  elegant  life,  inherits,  with  the  beautiful  family 
domain,  no  inconsiderable  share  of  that  love  of 
lieiaUinj  winch  datmgnbned  his  venerable  grand- 
father, the  Bishop  of  Carlisle.  He  one  day  ob- 
served to  me,  of  Dr.  Johnson,  in  a  felicity  of 
phrase, '« There  is  a  blunt  dignity  about  him  on 
every  oecseion." — Bob  will. 

8v  Michael  Le  Fleming  died  of  an  apoplectick 
fit,  while  conversing  at  the  Admiralty  with  Lord 
Howick  (now  the  Earl  Grey),  May  19, 1806.— 

Ma  LONE. 


it  made  me  shiver.  I  was  tne  more  sensi- 
ble of  it  from  having  sat  up  all  the  night 
before  recollectino;  and  writing  in  my  Jour- 
nal what  I  thought  worthy  of  preservation; 
an  exertion  which,  during  the  first  part  of 
my  acquaintance  with  Johnson,  I  .frequent- 
ly made.  I  remember  having  sat  up  four 
nights  in  one  week,  without  being  much  in- 
commoded in  the  daytime. 

Johnson,  whose  robust  frame  was  not  in 
the  least  affected  by  the  cold,  scolded  me,  as 
if  my  shivering  had  been  a  paltry  effemina- 
cy, saying,  "Why  do  you  shiver?"  Sir 
William  Scott  %  of  the  commons,  told  me, 
that  when  he  complained  of  a  head-ache 
in  the  post-chaise,  as  they  were  travelling 
together  to  Scotland,  Johnson  treated  him 
in  the  same  manner:  "  At  your  age,  sir,  I 
had  no  head-ache."  It  is  not  easy  to  make 
allowance  for  sensations  in  others,  which  we 
ourselves  have  not  at  the  time.  We  must 
all  have  experienced  how  very  differently 
we  are  affected  by  the  complaints  of  our 
neighbours,  when  we  are  well  and  when  we 
are  ill.  In  full  health,  we  can  scarcely 
believe  that  they  suffer  much}  so  faint  is 
the  image  of  pain  upon  our  imagination: 
when  softened  by  sickness  we  readily 
sympathize  with  the  sufferings  of  others. 

We  concluded  the  day  at  the  Turk's- 
head  coffee-house  very  socially.  He  was 
pleased  to  listen  to  a  particular  account 
which  I  give  him  of  my  family,  and  of  its 
hereditary  estate,  as  to  the  extent  and  pop- 
ulation of  which  he  asked  questions,  and 
made  calculations;  recommending,  at  the 
same  time,  a  liberal  kindness  to  the  tenantry, 
as  people  over  whom  the  proprietor  was 

E laced  oy  Providence.  He  took  delight  in 
earing  my  description  of  the  romantick 
seat  of  my  ancestors.  "I  must  be  there, 
sir  (said  he),  and  we  will  live  in  the  old 
castle;  and  if  there  is  not  a  room  in  it  re- 
maining, we  will  build  one."  I  was  highly 
flattered,  but  could  scarcely  indulge  a  hops 
that  Auchlnleck  would  indeed  be  honoured 
by  his  presence,  and  celebrated  by  a  de- 
scription, as  it  afterwards  was,  in  bis  "  Jour- 
ney, to  the  Western  Islands." 

After  we  had  again  talked  of  my  setting 
out  for  Holland,  he  said,  "  I  must  see  thee 
out  of  England;  I  will  accompany  you  to 
Harwich."  I  could  not  find  words  to  ex- 
press what  I  felt  upon  this  unexpected 
and  very  great  mark  of  his  affectionate  re- 
gard. 

Next  day,  Sunday,  July  31, 1  told  him  I 
had  been  that  morning  at  a  meeting  of  the 
people  called  Quakers,  where  I  had  heard 
a  woman  preach.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  a  wo- 
man's preaching  is  like  a  dog's  walking  on 

*  [Now  Lord  Stowell,  who  accompanied  Dr. 
Johnson  from  Newcastle  to  Edinburgh  in  1778.— 
En.] 


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his  hind  legs.  It  is  not  done  well;  but  you 
are  surprised  to  find  it  done  at  all." 

On  Tuesday,  August  a,  (the  day  of  my 
departure  from  London  having  been  fixed 
for  the  5th,)  Dr.  Johnson  did  me  the  hon- 
our to  pass  a  part  of  the  morning  with  me 
at  my  cnambers.  He  said,  that  "lie  always 
'  felt  an  inclination  to  do  nothing."  I  observ- 
ed, that  it  was  strange  to  think  that  the 
most  indolent  man  in  Britain  had  written 
the  most  laborious  work,  Ths  Ewolish 
Dictionary. 

I  mentioned  an  imprudent  publication,  by 
a  certain  friend  of  his,  at  aft  early  period  of 
life,  and  asked  him  if  he  thought  it  would 
hurt  him.  Johnson.  "No,  sir,  not  much. 
It  may,  perhaps,  be  mentioned  at  an  elec- 
tioni.** 

I  had  now  made  good  my  title  to  be  a 
privileged  man,  and  was  carried  by  him  in 
the  evening  to  drink  tea  with  Miss  Wil- 
liams, whom,  though  under  the  misfortune 
of  having  lost  her  sight,I  found  to  be  agreea- 
ble in  conversation;  for  she  had  a  variety 
of  literature,  and  expressed  herself  well; 
but  her  peculiar  value  was  the  intimacy  in 
which  she  had  long  lived  with  Johnson,  bv 
which  she  was  well  acquainted  with  his 
habits,  and  knew  how  to  lead  him  on  to 
talk. 

After  tea  he  carried  me  to  what  he  called 
his  walk,  which  was  a  long  narrow  paved 
court  in  the  neighbourhood,  overshadowed 
by  some  trees.  There  we  sauntered  a  con- 
siderable time;  and  !I  complained  to  him 
that  my  love  of  London  and  of  his  compa- 
ny was  such,  that  I  shrunk  almost  from  the 
thought  of  going  away  even  to  travel,  which 
is  generally  so  much  desired  by  young  men. 
He  roused  me  by  manly  and  spirited  con- 
versation. He  advised  me,  when  settled 
in  any  place  abroad,  to  study  with  an  ea- 
gerness after  knowledge,  and  to  apply  to 
Greek  an  hour  every  day:  and  when  I  was 
moving  about,  to  read  diligently  the  great 
book  of  mankind.  « 

On  Wednesday,  August  8,  we  had  our 
last  social  evening  at  the  Turk's-head  cofc 


1  [This  probably  alludes  to  Mr.  Burke's  '<  Vin- 
dication of  Natural  Society,"  a  work  pnbhsh- 
ed  in  1756,  in  a  happy  imitation  of  Lord  Bottng- 
broke's  style,  and  in  an  ironical  adoption  of  his 
principles  :  the  whole  was  so  well  done  that  it  at 
first  passed  as  a  genuine  work  of  Lord  Boling- 
broke's,  and  subsequently  as  the  serious  and  (as 
m  style  and  imagery  it  certainly  is)  splendid  ex- 
position of  the  principles  of  one  of  his  disciples. 
Lord  Chesterfield  and  Bishop  Warbnrton  are  stated 
to  have  been  so  deceived;  and  it  would  seem  from 
the  passage  in  the  text,  that  Johnson  and  Boswell 
were  in  the  same  error.  In  1765,  Mr.  Burke  re- 
printed this  piece,  with  a  preface,  in  which  he 
throws  off  altogether  the  mask  of  irony.  Mr. 
Boswell  calls  him  a  friend  of  Johnson* $,  for  he 
himself  had  not  yet  met  Mr.  Burke.— En.] 


fee-house,  before  my  setting  out  for  foreign 
parts.  I  had  the  misfortune,  before  we 
parted,  to  irritate  him  unintentionally.  I 
mentioned  to  him  how  common  it  was  in 
the  world  to  tell  absurd  stories  of  him,  and 
to  ascribe  to  him  very  strange  sayings. 
Johnson.  "What  do  they  .make  me  say, 
sir?  "  Boswell.  "  Why,  air,  as  an  instance 
very  strange  indeed  (laughing  heartily  as  I 
spoke),  David  Hume  told  me,  you  said  that 
you  would  stand  before  a  battery  of  cannon 
to  restore  the  convocation  to  its  full  powers.0 
Little  did  I  apprehend  that  he  had  actually 
said  this:  but  I  was  soon  convinced  of  my 
errour;  for,  with  a  determined  look,  he 
thundered  out,  "And  would  I  not,  sir? 
Shall  the  presbyterian  kirk  of  Scotland  have 
its  general  assembly,  and  the  church  of 
England  be  denied  its  convocation8?** 
He  was  walking  up  and  down  the  room 
while  I  told  him  the  anecdote;  but  when  he 
uttered  this  explosion  of  high-church  zeal, 
he  had*  come  Close  to  my  chair,  and  his  eyes 
flashed  with  indignation.  I  bowed  to  the 
storm,  and  diverted  the  force  of  it,  by  lead- 
ing him  to  expatiate  on  the  influence  which 
religion  derived  from  maintaining  the  church 
with  great  external  respectability. 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention  that  he  this 
year  wrote  the  Life  of  Ascham  t>  end  the 
dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Shaftsburyt,  p 
fixed  to  the  edition  of  that  writer's  Engii 
works,  published  by  Mr.  Bennet, 

[Johnson  was  in  fact  the  editor 
of  this  work,  as  appears  from  the 
following  letter: 


MB.    T. 


SDK. 


DAV1ES    TO    Tint    BJ6V. 
BXTTB8WORTH. 

«*  Rwel-8unM«,Sd  Feb.  lies.* 
"  Reverend  sir, — I  take  the  liberty  to 
send  you  Roger  Ascham's  works  in  Eng- 
lish; he  is  generally  esteemed  one  of  the 
most  eminent  writers  of  the  days  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.     Though  Mr.  Bennetts  name 


1  [It  moat  be  confessed,  that  the  existing  prac- 
tice relative  to  convocations  is  an  absoid  anomaly; 
the  convocation  is  summoned  to  meet  when  par- 
liament does,  but  its  meeting  k  a  mere  form,  and 
it  neither  does  nor  dare  do  any  business.  It  is  a 
solemn  farce.  The  historical  inquirer  sees,  in  the 
tradition  of  the  convocation,  the  analogy  between 
the  British  parliament  and  convocation  and  the  old 
Stats  ghUraux  of  Franoa. — En.] 

*  [Such  is  the  date,  as  Dr.  Harwood  originally 
read  k,  and  it  agrees  with  that  of  the  |wH*cetion 
of  the  book,  but  is  inconsistent  with  the  mention 
of  Johnson  by  the  title  of  Doctor,  who  bad  not 
even  the  Dublin  degree  till  1765.  Dr.  Harwood, 
on  re-exaininmg  the  MS.,  observes  that  the  last 
figure  is  almost  illegible,  and  may  have  been  a  3, 
7,  or  9.— Ed.]— •[  On  farther  examination  of  the 
MS.,  the  editor  is  satisfied  that  the  date  is  right, 
but  that  Dr.  has  been  since  substituted  for  Mr.— 
En.] 


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SOT 


k  in  the  title,  the  editor  was  in  reality  Dr. 
Johnson,  the  authour  of  the  Rambler,  who 
wrote  the  life  of  the  authonr,  and  added  sev- 
eral notes,  besides  those  of  Mr.  Upton.  Dr. 
Johnson  gave  it  to  Mr.  Bennet,  for  his  ad- 
vantage. I  charge  you  no  more  than  book- 
seller's price,  10«.  6a.:  it  will  be  advertised 
at  12*.  If  not  agreeable  will  take  it  again. 
I  am,  reverend  air,  your  most  obedient  hum- 
ble servant,  "Thomas  Davies.m] 

On  Friday,  Aupst  B,  we  set  ont  early 
in  the  morning  in  the  Harwich  stage- 
coach. A  fat  elderly  gentlewoman,  and  a 
young  Dutchman,  seemed  the  most  inclin- 
ed among  us  to  conversation.  At  the  inn 
where  we  dined,  the  gentlewoman  said  that 
she  had  done  her  best  to  educate  her  chil- 
dren; and  particularly  that  she  had  never 
raftered  them  to  be  a  moment  idle.  Johk- 
toir.  "  I  wish,  madam,  you  would  educate 
me  too;  for  I  have  been  an  idle  fellow  all 
my  Kfe,"  "  I  am  sure,  (said  she),  you  have 
not  been  idle."  Johnson.  "Nay,  madam, 
it  is  very  true;  and  that  gentleman  there 
(pointing  to  me)  has  been  idle.  He  was 
idle  at  Edinburgh.  His  father  sent  him  to 
Glasgow,  where  he  continued  to  be  idle. 
He  then  came  to  London,  where  he  has 
been  very  idle;  and  now  he  is  going  to 
Utrecht,  where  he  will  be  as  idle  as  ever." 
|  I  asked  him  privately  how  he  could  expose 
I  me  so.  Johnson.  "  Poh,  poh !  (said  he]) 
they  know  nothing  about  you,  and  will 
think  of  it  no  more."    In  the  afternoon  the 

SnUewoman  talked  violently  against  the 
oman  Catholicks,  and  of  the  horrours  of 

\  the  inquisition.  To  the  utter  astonishment 
of  all  trie  passengers  but  myself,  who  knew 
that  he  could  talk  upon  any  side  of  a  ques- 
tion, he  defended  the  inquisition,  and  main- 
tained, that  "  false  doctrine  should  be  check- 
ed on  its  iirst  appearance;  that  the  civil 
power  should  unite  with  the  church  in  pun- 
ishing those  who  dare  to  attack  the  estab- 

;     hshed  religion,  and  that  such    only  were 

Slushed  hy  the  inquisition."  He  had  in 
i  pocket  •*  Pomponius  Mela  da  Situ  Or- 
*t«,"  in  which  he  read  occasionally,  and 
seemed  very  intent  upon  ancient  geography. 
Though  by  no  means  niggardly,  his  atten- 
tion to  what  was  generally  right  was  so 
minute,  that  having  observed  at  one  of  the 
stages  that  I  ostentatiously  gave  a  shilling 
to  the  coachman,  when  the  custom  was  for 
each  passenger  to  give  only  sixpence,  he 
took  me  aside  and  scolded  me,  saying  that 
what  I  had  done  would  make  the  coachman 
dissatisfied  with  all  the  rest  of  the  passen- 
gers, who  gave  him  no  more  than  his  due. 
This  was  a  just  reprimand;  for  in  whatev- 
er way  a  man  may  indulge  his  generosity 
er  his  vanity  in  spending  his  money,  for  the 
take  of  others  he  ought  not  to  raise  the  price 
of  any  article  for  which  there  is  a  constant 


He  talked  of  Mr.  Blackiock's  *  poetry,  so 
far  as  it  was  descriptive  of  visible  objects : 
and  observed  thst  "  as  its  authour  had  the 
misfortune  to  be  blind,  we  may  be  absolute- 
ly sure  that  such  passages  are  combinations 
of  what  he  has  remembered  of  the  works  of 
other  writers  who  could  see.  That  foolish 
fellow  Spence  has  laboured  to  explain  phi- 
losophically how  Blacklock  may  have  done, 
by  means  of  his  own  faculties,  what  it  is 
impossible  he  should  do.  The  solution,  as 
I  have  given  it,  is  plain.  Suppose  I  know 
a  man  to  be  so  lame  that  he  is  absolutely 
incapable  to  move  himself,  and  I  find  him 
in  a  different  room  from  that  in  which  I  left 
him;  shall  I  puzzle  myself  with  idle  con- 
jectures, that,  perhaps,  his  nerves  have  by 
some  unknown  change  all  at  once  become 
effective?  No,  sir,  it  is  clear  how  he  got 
into  a  different  room;  he  was  carried.'9 

Having  stopped  a  night  at  Colchester, 
Johnson  talked  of  that  town  with  venera- 
tion, for  having  stood  a  siege  for  Charles  the 
First  The  Dutchman  alone  now  remain- 
ed with  us.  He  spoke  English  tolerably 
well;  and  thinking  to  recommend  himself  to 
us  by  expatiating  on  the  superiority  of  the 
criminal  jurisprudence  of  this  country  over 
that  of  Holland,  he  inveighed  against  the 
barbarity  of  putting  an  accused  person  to 
the  torture,  in  order  to  force  a  confession. 
But  Johnson  was  as  ready  for  this,  as  for 
the  inquisition.  "  Why,  sir,  you  do  not,  I 
find,  understand  the  law  of  your  own  coun- 
try. To  torture  in  Holland  is  considered 
as  a  favour  to  an  accused  person;  for  no 
man  is  put  to  the  torture  there,  unless 
there  is  as  much  evidence  against  him  as 
would  amount  to  conviction  in  England. 
An  accused  person  among  you,  therefore, 
has  one  chance  more  to  escape  punishment 
than  those  who  are  tried  among  us9." 


1  [Dr.  Thomas  Blacklock  was  bom  in  1721 ; 
he  totally  lost  bis  sight  by  the  small-pox  at  the 
age  of  six  years,  but  was  nevertheleai  a  descrip- 
tive poet  He  died  in  1791.  "  We  may  con- 
ehide,"  says  his  biographer,  "  with  Deoina,  on 
his  Diseoreo  delta  Litteratura,  that  Blacklock 
will  appear  to  posterity  a  fable,  as  to  as  he  is  a 
prodigy.  It  will  be  thought  a  fiction,  that  a  man 
blind  from  his  infancy,  besides  having  made  him- 
self master  of  various  foreign  languages,  should  be 
a  great  poet  in  his  own,  and  without  having  hard- 
ly seen  the  light,  should  be  so  remarkably  happy 
in  description."  Johnson,  no  doubt,  gives  the 
true  solution  of  Blacklock's  power,  which  was 
memory  and  not  miracle;  and,  mark  the  result ! 
who  now  quotes,  nay,  who  reads  a  line  of  Black- 
lock?— Ed.] 

1  [Is  H  possible  that  Johnson  can  be  right  ?  If 
the  guilt  be  proved,  can  the  law  of  any  civilized 
country  ask  more  than  proof,  and  ask  it  under  the 
extreme  yet  most  doubtful  sanction  of  torture! 
If  the  Editor  has  not  forgotten  all  he  has  ever  read 
of  the  law  of  Holland,  Johnson  must  have  been 
Johnson's  position  is  to  be  found  in 

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H68.— iETAT.  54. 


At  supper  this  night  he  talked  of  good  eat- 
ing with  uncommon  satisfaction.  "  Some 
people,"  said  he,  "have  a  foolish  way  of  not 
minding  or  pretending  not  to  mind  what  they 
eat.  For  my  part,  I  mind  my  belly  very  stu- 
diously, and  very  carefully;  for  I  look  upon 
it,  that  he  who  does  not  mind  his  belly,  will 
hardly  mind  any  thing  else."  He  now  ap- 
peared to  me  Jean  Bull  philosopher  and  he 
was  for  the  moment,  not  only  serious,  but 
vehement.  Yet  I  have  heard  him,  upon 
other  occasions,  talk  with  great  contempt 
of  people  who  were  anxious  to  gratify  their 
palates;  and  the  206th  number  of  his  Ram- 
bler is  a  masterly  essay  against  gulosity. 
His  practice,  indeed,  I  must  acknowledge, 
may  be  considered  as  casting  the  balance  of 
his  different  opinions  upon  this  subject;  for 
I  never  knew  any  man  who  relished  good 
eating  more  than  he  did.  When  at  table, 
he  was  totally  absorbed  in  the  business  of 
the  moment;  his  looks  seemed  riveted  to  his 
plate;  nor  would  he,  unless  when  in  very  high 
company,  say  one  word,  or  even  pay  the 
least  attention  to  what  was  said  by  others, 
till  he  had  satisfied  his  appetite;  which  was 
so  fierce,  and  indulged  with  such  intense- 
ness,  that  while  in  the  act  of  eating,  the 
veins  of  his  forehead  swelled,  and  generally 
a  strong  perspiration  was  visible.  To  those 
whose  sensations  were  delicate,  this  could 
not  but  be  disgusting 1;  and  it  was  doubt- 
less not  very  suitable  to  the  character  of  a 
philosopher,  who  should  be  distinguished 
by  self-command.  But  it  must  be  owned, 
that  Johnson,  though  he  could  be  rigidly 
abstemious,  was  not  a  temperate  man  ei- 
ther in  eatinff  or  drinking.  He  could  re- 
frain %  but  ne  could  not  use  moderately. 
He  told  me  that  he  had  fasted  two  days 
without  inconvenience,  and  that  he  had  nev- 
er been  hungry  but  once.  They  who  beheld 
with  wonder  how  much  he  eat  upon  all  oc- 
casions, when  his  dinner  was  to  his  taste, 
could  not  easily  conceive  what  he  must  have 
meant  by  hunger;  and  not  only  was  he  re- 
markable for  the  extraordinary  quantity 
which  he  eat,  but  he  was,  or  affected  to  be, 
a  man  of  very  nice  discernment  in  the  sci- 
ence of  cookery.  He  used  to  descant  crit- 
ically on  the  dishes  which  had  been  at  table 
where  he  had  dined  or  supped,  and  to  re- 
collect very  minutely  what  ne  had  liked.  I 
remember  when  he  was  in  Scotland,  his 
praising  "  Gordon's  palate9*  (a  dish  of  pa- 
Lord  Karnes's  History  of  Man,  book  iii.  sec.  12. 
—Ed.] 

1  [See  ante,  p.  116.  n.— En.] 

1  [If  hypercritically  examined,  refrain  is  not, 
perhaps,  the  word  which  exactly  gives  Mr.  Bos- 
well's  meaning.  The  late  Mr.  Richard  Warton, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  anthoar  of  the  poem 
of  Roncesvalles,  used  to  express  the  idea  with 
more  verbal  accuracy,  by  saying  that  he  could 
abstain,  bat  found  it  hard  to  refrain. — Ed.] 


lates  at  the  honourable  Alexander  Gor- 
don's) with  a  warmth  of  expression  which 
might  have  done  honour  to  more  impor- 
tant subjects.  "  As  for  Maclaurin's  imita- 
tion of  a  made  dish,  it  was  a  wretched  at- 
tempt 3."  He  about  the  same  time  was  so 
much  displeased  with  the  performance  of 
a  nobleman's  French  cook,  that  he  ex- 
claimed with  vehemence,  "  I  'd  throw  such 
a  rascal  into  the  river:"  and  he  then  pro- 
ceeded to  alarm  a  lady  at  whose  house  he 
was  to  sup,  by  the  Mowing  manifesto  of 
his  skill:  "  I  madam,  who  live  at  a  variety 
of  good  tables,  am  a  much  better  judge  of 
cookery  than  any  person  who  has  a  very 
tolerable  cook,  but  lives  much  at  home;  for 
his  palate  is  gradually  adapted  to  the  taste 
of  his  cook:  whereas,  madam,  in  trying  by 
a  wider  range,  I  can  more  exquisitely 
judpe."  When  invited  to  dine,  even  with 
an  intimate  friend,  he  was  not  pleased  if 
something  better  than  a  plain  dinner  was 
not  prepared  for  him.  I  have  heard  him 
say  on  such  an  occasion, "  this  was  a  good 
dinner  enough,  to  be  sure;  but  it  was  not 
a  dinner  to  ask  a  man  to."  On  the  other 
hand,  he  was  wont  to  express,  with  great 
glee,  his  satisfaction  when  he  had  been  en- 
tertained quite  to.  his  mind.  One  day  when 
he  had  dined  with  his  neighbour  and  land- 
lord, in  Bolt-court,  Mr.  Allen,  the  printer, 
whose  old  housekeeper  had  studied  his  taste 
in  every  thine,  he  pronounced  this  eulogy: 
"  Sir,  we  could  not  have  had  a  better  din- 
ner had  there  been  a  synod  of  cooks." 

[Johnson's  notions  about  eating,  ,«__, 
however,  were  nothing  less  than  p.^i^m 
delicate;  a  leg  of  pork  boiled  till  it 
dropped  from  the  bone,  a  veal  pie  with 
plums  and  sugar,  or  the  outside  cut  of  a 
salt  buttock  of  beef,  were  his  favourite 
dainties:  with  regard  to  drink,  his  liking 
was  for  the  strongest,  as  it  was  not  the  fla- 
vour, but  the  effect  he  sought  for,  and  pro- 
fessed to  desire;  and  when  Mrs.  Piozri.  first 
knew  him,  he  used  to  pour  capillaire  into 
his  port  wine.  For  the  last  twelve  years, 
however,  he  left  off  all  fermented  liquors. 
To  make  himself  some  amends  indeed,  he 
took  his  chocolate  liberally,  pouring  in 
large  quantities  of  cream,  or  even  melted 
butter;  and  was  so  fond  of  fruit,  mat  though 
he  would  eat  seven  or  eight  large  peaches 
of  a  morning  before  breakfast  began,  and 
treated  them  with  proportionate  attention 
after  dinner  again,  yet  he  has  been  heard 


'  [On  returning  to  Edinburgh,  after  the  tour  to 
the  Hebrides,  he  dined  one  day  at  Mr.  Madanrin's, 
and  supped  at  the  Honourable  Alexander  Gor- 
don's :  the  former  was  son  of  the  celebrated 
mathematician,  and,  in  1787,  became  a  Lord  of 
Session,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Dreghom;  the  latter 
was  third  son  of  the  second  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  and, 
in  1788,  he  also  was  made  a  Lord  of  Session,  and 
took  the  title  of  Lord  RockviUe.— En.  J 


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1768.— jETAT.  54. 


to  protest,  that  he  never  had  quite  as  much 
as  ne  wished  of  wall-fruit,  except  once  in 
his  life,  and  that  was  when  he  and  the 
Thrales  were  all  together  at  Omberslev, 
the  seat  of  Lord  Sandys;  and  yet  when  his 
_  %m  Irish  friend  G Hereon,  hearing  him 
Jj~»jk  enumerate  the  qualities  necessary 
to  the  formation  of  a  poet,  began 
a  comical  parody  upon  his  ornamented  har- 
angue in  praise  of  a  cook,  concluding  with 
this  observation,  that  he  who  dressed  a 
good  dinner  was  a  more  excellent  and  more 
useful  member  of  society  than  he  who  wrote 
a  good  poem.  "  And  in  this  opinion,"  said 
Dr.  Johnson,  in  reply,  "  all  the  dogs  in  the 
town  will  join  you." 

Mrs.  Piozzi  also  relates  .that  he 
*|"jj  used  often  to  say  in  her  hearing, 
perhaps  for  her  edification, "  that 
wherever  the  dinner  is  ill  got  up  there  is  pov- 
erty, or  there  is  avarice,  or  there  is  stupidity ; 
in  short,  the  family  is  somehow  grossly 
wrong :  for,"  continued  he,  "  a  man  seldom 
thinks  with  more  earnestness  of  any  thing 
than  he  does  of  his  dinner:  and  if  he  cannot 
get  that  well  dressed,  he  should  be  suspected 
of  inaccuracy  in  other  things."  One  day, 
when  he  was  speaking  upon  the  subject, 
Mrs.  Piozzi  asked  him,  if  he  ever  huffed  his 
wife  about  his  dinner  ?  "So  often,"  replied 
he,  "  that  at  last  she  called  to  me,  when 
about  to  say  grace,  and  said, '  Nay,  hold, 
Mr.  Johnson,  and  do  not  make  a  farce  of- 
thanking  God  for  a  dinner  which  in  a  few 
minutes  you  will  pronounce  not  eatable.' "] 

While  we  were  left  by  ourselves,  after  the 
Dutchman  had  gone  to  bed,  Dr.  Johnson 
talked  of  that  studied  behaviour  which  ma- 
ny have  recommended  and  practised.  He 
disapproved  of  it;  and  said,  "  I  never  con- 
sidered whether  I  should  hie  a  grave  man, 
or  a  merry  man,  but  just  let  inclination,  for 
the  time,  nave  its  course." 

He  flattered  me  with  some  hopes  that  he 
would,  in  the  course  of  the  following  sum- 
mer, come  over  to  Holland,  and  accompany 
me  in  a  tour  through  the  Netherlands. 

I  teased  him  with  fancifut  apprehensions 
of  unhappiness.  A  moth  having  fluttered 
round  the  candle,  and  burnt  itself,  he  laid 
hold  of  this  little  inpident  to  admonish  me; 
saying,  with  a  sly  look,  and  in  a  solemn  but 
a  quiet  tone,  "  That  creature  was  its  own 
tormentor,  and  I  believe  its  name  was  Bob- 
well." 

Next  day  we  got  to  Harwich,  to  dinner; 
and  my  passage  in  the  packoftrboat  to  Hel- 
voctsluys  being  secured,  and  my  baggage 
put  on  board,  we  dined  at  our  inn  by  our- 
selves. I  happened  to  say,  it  would  be  ter- 
rible if  he  should  not  find  a  speedy  opportu- 
nity  of  returning  to  London,  and  be  con- 
fined in  so  dull  a  place.  Johhsof.  "  Don't, 
«r,  accustom  yourself  to  use  big  words 

vol.  i.  VI 


for  little  matters  h  It  would  not  be  terri- 
ble, though  I  were  to  be  detained  some 
time  here."  The  practice  of  using  words 
of  disproportionate  magnitude,  is,  no  doubt, 
too  frequent  every  where:  but,  I  think, 
most  remarkable  among  the  French,  of 
which,  all  who  have  travelled  in  France  must 
have  been  struck  with  innumerable  instan- 
ces. We  went  and  looked  at  the  church, 
and  having  gone  into  it,  and  walked  up  to 
the  altar,  Johnson,  whose  piety  was  con- 
stant and  fervent,  sent  me  to  my  knees,  say- 
ing, "  Now  that  you  are  going  to  leave 
your  native  country,  recommend  yourself 
to  the  protection  of  your  Creator  and  Re- 
deemer." 

After  we  came  out  of  the  church,  we 
stood  talking  for  some  time  together  of 
Bishop  Berkeley's  ingenious  sophistry  to 
prove  the  non-existence  of  matter,  and  that 
every  thing  in  the  universe  is  merely  ideal. 
I  observed,  that  though  we  are  satisfied  his 
doctrine  is  not  true,  ii  is  impossible  to  re- 
fute it.  I  never  shall  forget  the  alacrity 
with  which  Johnson  answered,  striking  his 
foot  with  mighty  force  against  a  large  stone, 
till  he  rebounded  from  it,  "  I  refute  it  thus\n 
This  was  a  stout  exemplification  of  the  first 
truths  of  PereBouffier,  or  the  original  prin- 
ciples of  Reid  and  of  Beattie;  without  ad- 
mitting which,  we  can  no  more  argue 
in  metaphysicks,  than  we  can  argue  in 
mathematicks  without  axioms.  To  me  it 
is  not  conceivable  how  Berkeley  can  be 
answered  by  pure  reasoning;  but  I  know 
that  the  nice  and  difficult  task  was  to  have 
been  undertaken  by  one  3  of  the  most  lumin- 
ous minds  of  the  present  age,  had  not  poli- 
ticks "turned  him  from  calm  philosophy 


1  [This  advice  comes  drolly  from  the  writer, 
who  makes  a  young  lady  talk  of  "  the  cosmetic 
discipline,"  "a  regular  lustration  with  bean- 
flower  water,  and  the  use  of  a  pommade  to  dis- 
cuss pimples  and  clear  discoloration.*' — Ramb. 
JVb.  130:  while  a  young  gentleman  teDs  us  of 
"  the  flaccid  sides  of  a  football  having  swelled 
put  into  stiffness  and  extension." — No.  117., 
%And  it  is  equally  amusing  to  find  Mr.  BosweU, 
after  his  various  defences  of  Johnson's  grandilo- 
quence, attacking  the  little  inflations  of  French 
convocation ;  straining  at  a  gnat,  after  having 
swallowed  a  camel.— Ed.] 

*  Dr.  Johnson  seems  to  have  been  imperfectly 
acquainted  with  Berkeley's  doctrine  :  as  his  ex- 
periment only  proves  that  we  have  the  sensation 
of  solidity,  which  Berkeley  did  not  deny.  Head- 
mined  that  we  had  sensations  or  ideas  that  are 
usually  called  sensible  qualities,  one  of  which  is 
solidity:  he  only  denied  the  existence  of  matter, 
L  e.  an  inert  senseless  substance,  in  which  they 
are  supposed  to  subsist.  Johnson's  exemplification 
concurs  with  the  vulgar  notion,  that  solidity  k 
matter. — Kxarnkt. 

»  [Mr.  Burke.— Ed.] 


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210 


1763.— JETAT.  54. 


aside. "  What  an  admirable  display  of  sub- 
tilty,  united  with  brilliance,  might  his  con- 
tending with  Berkeley  have  afforded  us! 
How  must  we,  when  we  reflect  on  the  loss 
of  such  an  intellectual  (east,  regret  that  he 
should  be  characterised  as  the  man, 

"  Who  born  for  the  univeree  narrow 'd  big  mind, 


And  to 


party  gave  np  what  was  meant 
und*?" 


for 


kind 


My  revered  friend  walked  down  with  me 
to  the  beach,  where  we  embraced  and  part- 
ed with  tenderness,  and  engaged  to  corres- 
pond by  letters.  I  said,  "  I  hope  sir,  you 
will  not  forget  me  in  my  absence."  John- 
sow.  "  Nay,  sir,  it  is  more  likely  you 
should  forget  me,  than  that  I  should  forget 
you."  As  the  vessel  put  out  to  sea,  I  kept 
my  eyes  upon  him  for  a  considerable  time, 
while  he  remained  rolling  his  majestick 
frame  in  his  usual  manner;  and  at  last  I 

Eerceived  him  walk  back  into  the  town,  and 
e  disappeared. 

Utrecnt  seeming  at  first  very  dull  to  me, 
after  the  animated  scenes  of  London,  my 
spirits  were  grievously  affected;  and  I 
wrote  to  Johnson  a  plaintive  and  despond- 
ing letter,  to  which  he  paid  no  regard. 
Afterwards,  when  I  had  acquired  a  firmer 
tone  of  mind,  I  wrote  him  a  second  letter, 
expressing  much  anxiety  to  hear  from  him. 
At  length  I  received  the  following  epistle, 
which  was  of  important  service  to  me,  and, 
I  trust,  will  be  so  to  many  others. 

"  A  MR.  BOSWSLL, 

a  la  Cour  dt  V  Empereur,  Utrecht. 

u  London,  8th  Dec.,  1763. 

**  Drae  sir,— You  are  not  to  think  your- 
self forgotten,  or  criminally  neglected,  that 
you  have  had  yet  no  letter  from  me.  I  love 
to  see  my  friends,  to  hear  from  them,  to 
talk  to  them,  and  to  talk  of  them;  but  it  is 
not  without  a  considerable  effort  of  resolu- 
tion that  I  prevail  upon  myself  to  write.  I 
would  not,  nowever,  gratify  my  own  indo- 
lence by  the  omission  or  any  important 
duty,  or  any  office  of  real  kindness.  M 

"  To  tell  you  that  I  am  or  am  not  well* 
that  I  have  or  have  not  been  in  the  coun- 
try, that  I  drank  your  health  in  the  room  in 
which  we  last  sat  together,  and  that  your 
acquaintance  continue  to  speak  of  you  with 
their  former  kindness,  topicks  with  which 
those  letters  are  commonly  rilled  which  are 
written  only  for  the  sake  of  writing,  I  sel- 
dom shall  think  worth  communicating;  but 
if  I  can  have  it  in  my  power  to  calm  any 
harassing  disquiet,  to  excite  any  virtuous 
desire,  to  rectify  any  important  opinion,  or 
fortify  any  generous  resolution,  you  need 


1  [In  the  latter  yean  of  his  life  Mr.  Burke  re- 
?e»ed  the  conduct  which  Goldsmith  so  elegantly 
ieurehends,  and  gave  up  party  for  what  he  con- 
ceited to  be  the  good  of  manJKnd.— Ed] 


not  doubt  but  I  shall  at  least  wish  to- prefer 
the  pleasure  of  gratifying  a  friend  much  less 
esteemed  than  yourself,  before  the  gloomy 
calm  of  idle  vacancy. '  Whether  I  shall  ea- 
sily arrive  at  an  exact  punctuality  of  cor- 
respondence, I  cannot  tell.  I  shall,  at  pip- 
sent,  expect  that  you  will  receive  this  in  re- 
turn for  two  which  I  have  had  from  you. 
The  first,  indeed,  gave  me  an  account  so 
hopeless  of  the  state  of  your  mind,  that  it 
hardly  admitted  or  deserved  an  answer; 
by  the  second  I  was  much  better  pleased; 
and  the  pleasure  will  still  be  increased  by 
such  a  narrative  of  the  progress  of  your  stu- 
dies, as  may  evince  the  continuance  of  an 
equal  and  rational  application  of  your  mind 
to  some  useful  inquiry. 

"  You  will,  perhaps,  wish  to  ask,  what 
study  I  would  recommend.  I  shall  not 
speak  of  theology,  because  it  ought  not  to 
be  considered  as  a  question  whether  you 
shall  endeavour  to  know  the  will  of  God. 

"  I  shall,  therefore,  consider  only  such 
studies  as  we  are  at  liberty  to  pursue  or  to 
neglect:  and  of  these  I  know  not  how  you 
will  make  a  better  choice,  than  by  studying 
the  civil,  law,  as  your  father  advises,  and 
the  ancient  languages,  as  you  had  determin- 
ed for  yourself;  at  least  resolve,  while  you 
remain  in  any  settled  residence,  to  spend 
a  certain  number  of  hours  every  day 
amongst  your  books.  The  dissipation  of 
thought  of  which  you  complain  is  nothing 
more  than  the  vacillation  of  a  mind  sus- 
pended between  different  motives,  and 
changing  its  direction  as  any  motive  gains 
or  loses  strength.  If  you  can  but  kindle  in 
your  mind  any  strong  desire,  if  vou  can 
but  keep  predominant  any  wish  for  some 
particular  excellence  or  attainment,  the 
gusts  of  imagination  will  break  away,  with- 
out any  effect  upon  your  conduct,  and 
commonly  without  any  traces  left  upon  the 
memory. 

"  There  lurks,  perhaps,  in  every  human 
heart  a  desire  of  distinction,  which  inclines 
every  man  first  to  hope,  and  then  to  believe, 
that  nature  has  given  him  something  pecu- 
liar to  himself.  This  vanity  makes  one 
mind  nurse  aversions,  and  another  actuate 
desires,  till  they  rise  by  art  much  above 
their  original  state  of  power :  and  as  affec- 
tation, in  time,  improves  to  habit,  they  at 
last  tyrannise  over  nim,  who  at  first  encour- 
aged them  only  for  show.  Every  desire  is 
a  viper  in  the  bosom,  who,  while  he  was 
chill,  was  harmless  ;  but  when  warmth  gave 
him  strength,  exerted  it  in  poison.  You 
know  a  gentleman9,  who,  when  first  he 


*  [This  perhaps  was  meant  for  Mr.  langfon, 
whose  indolence  and  aversion  from  business  John- 
son often  endeavored  to  correct;  but  Mr.  Langtou 
was  very  studious,  and  had  attained  a  deep  know- 
ledge of  Greek.  The  early  asmpation  seems  to 
suit  the  character  of  Beanclerk,  but  hit  retam  to 


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1768.— yETAT.  64. 


211 


set  his  foot  in  the  gay  world,  as  he  prepared 
himself  to  whirl  in  the  vortex  of  pleasure, 
imagined  a  total  indifference  and  universal 
negligence  to  he  the  most  agreeable  concom- 
itants of  youth,  and  the  strongest  indication 
of  an  airy  temper  and  a  quick  apprehension. 
Vacant  to  every  object,  and  sensible  of  ev- 
erv  impulse,  he  thought  that  all  appearance 
of  diligence  would  deduct  something  from 
the  reputation  of  genius  ;  and  hoped  that 
he  should  appear  to  attain,  amidst  all  the 
ease  of  carelessness,  and  all  the  tumults  of 
diversion,  that  knowledge  and  those  accom- 
plishments which  mortals  of  the  common 
iabrick  obtain  only  by  mute  abstraction  and 
solitary  drudgery.  He  tried  this  scheme  of 
hTe  awhile,  was  made  weary  of  it  by  his 
sense  and  his  virtue ;  he  then  wished  to  re- 
turn to  hisstudies;  and  finding  long  habits 
of  idleness  and  pleasure  harder  to  be  cured 
than  he  expected,  still  willing  to  retain  his 
claim  to  some  extraordinary  prerogatives, 
resolved  the  common  consequences  of  irreg- 
ularity into  an  unalterable  degree  of  destiny, 
and  concluded  that  nature  had  originally 
formed  him  incapable  of  rational  employ- 
ment. 

"  JLet  all  such  fancies,  illusive  and  de- 
structive, be  banished  henceforward  from 
your  thoughts  forever.  Resolve,  and  keep 
your  resolution ;  choose,  and  pursue  your 
choice.  If  you  spend  this  day  in  study, 
you  will  find  yourself  still  more  able  to  study 
to-morrow ;  not  that  you  are  to  expect  that 
you  shall  at  once  obtain  a  complete  victory. 
Depravity  is  not  very  easily  overcome. 
Resolution  will  sometimes  relax,  and  dili- 

Ence  will  sometimes  be  interrupted ;  but 
no    accidental    surprise   or    deviation, 
whether  short  or  long,  dispose  you  to  dc- 

Sondency.  Consider  these  failings  as  inci- 
nt  to  all  mankind.  Begin  again  where  you 
left  off,  and  endeavour  to  avoid  the  seduce- 
ments  that  prevailed  over  you  before. 

"  This,  my  dear  Boswell,  is  advice,  which, 
perhaps,  has  been  often  given  you,  and  giv- 
en you  without  effect.  But  this  advice,  if 
you  will  not  take  from  others,  you  must 
take  from  your  own  reflections,  if  you  pur- 
pose to  do  the  duties  of  the  station  to  which 
the  bounty  of  providence  has  called  you. 

"  JLet  me  have  a  long  letter  from  you  as 
soon  as  you  can.  I  hope  you  continue  your 
journal,  and  enrich  it  with  many  observa- 
tions upon  the  country  in  which  you  reside. 
It  will  be  a  favour  if  you  can  get  me  any 
books  in  the  Frisick  language,  and  can  in- 
quire how  the  poor  are  maintained  in  the 
seven  Provinces.  I  am,  dear  sir,  your 
moat  affectionate  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johicson." 


i  sobrieties  of  life  did  not  take  place  so  early  as 
s  date.— Ed.] 


.  I  am  sorry  to  observe,  that  neither  in  my 
own  minutes,  nor  in  my  letters  to  Johnson 
which  have  been  preserved  by  him,  can  I 
find  any  information  how  the  poor  are  main- 
tained in  the  Seven  Provinces.  But  I  shall 
extract  from  one  of  my  letters  what  I  learnt 
concerning  the  other  subject  of  his  curiosity. 

"  I  have  made  all  possible  inquiry  with 
respect  to  the  Frisick  language,  and  find  that 
it  has  been  less  cultivated  than  any  other  of 
the  northern  dialects ;  a  certain  proof  of 
which  is  their  deficiency  of  books.  Of  the 
old  Frisick  there  are  no  remains ;  except 
some  ancient  laws  preserved  by  Schotanus  in 
his  '  Beschryvinge  vandie  Heerlykheid  van 
Frietland?  and  his  ( Historia  flruica.9  I 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  find  these  books. 
Professor  Trotz,  who  formerly  was  of  the 
university  of  Vranyken  in  Friesland,  and  is  at 
present  preparing  an  edition  of  all  the  Fris- 
ick laws,  gave  me  this  information.  Of  the 
modern  Frisick,  or  what  is  spoken  by  the 
boors  of  this  day,  I  have  procured  a  speci- 
men. It  is  Gisbert  Japix's  c  RymelerieJ 
which  is  the  only  book  that  they  nave.  It ' 
is  amazing  that  they  have  no  translation  of 
the  Bible,  no  treatises  of  devotion,  nor  even 
any  of  the  ballads  and  story-books  which 
are  so  agreeable  to  country  people.  You 
shall  have  Japix  by  the  first  convenient  op- 
portunity. I  doubt  not  to  pick  up  Schota- 
nus. Mynheer  Trotz  has  promised  me  his 
assistance." 

Early  in  1764  Johnson  paid  a  visit  to  the 
Langton  family,  at  their  seat  of  Langton  in 
Lincolnshire,  where  he  passed  some  time, 
much  to  his  satisfaction.  His  friend,  Ben- 
net  Langton,  it  will  not  be  doubted,  did  ev- 
ery thing  in  his  power  to  make  the  place 
agreeable  to  so  illustrious  a  guest:  ana  the 
elder  Mr.  Langton  and  his  lady,  being  ful- 
ly capable  of  understanding  his  value,  were 
not  wanting  in  attention.  He,  however, 
told  me,  that  old  Mr.  Langton,  though  a 
-man  of  considerable  learning  *,  had  so  little 
allowance  to  make  for  his  occasional  "  laxity 
of  talk,"  that  because  in  the  course  of  dis- 
cussion he  sometimes  mentioned  what 
might  be  said  in  favour  of  the  peculiar  ten- 
ets of  the  Romish  church,  he  went  to  hift 
grave  believing  him  to  be  of  that  commu- 
nion. 

Johnson,  during  his  stay  at  Langton,  had 
the  advantage  of  a  rood  library,  and  saw 
several  gentlemen  of  the  neighbourhood.  I 
have  obtained  from  Mr.  Langton  the  follow- 
ing particulars  of  this  period. 

He  was  now  fully  convinced  that  he  could 
not  have  been  satisfied  with  a  country  living; 
for  talking  of  a  respectable  clergyman  in 
Lincolnshire,  he  observed,  "  This  man,  sir. 


1  [See  pott,  April,  1776,  an  anecdote  that 
does  not  say  much  for  Mr.  Langton 'i  learning,  or 
even  his  nndentanding. — Ed.  J 


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fflteupthe  duties  of  his  life  well/  I  approve 
of  Mm,  hut  could  not  imitate  him." 

To  a  lady  who  endeavoured  to  vindicate 
herself  from  hlame  for  neglecting  social  at- 
tention to  worthy  neighbours,  by  saying, 
"  I  would  go  to  them  if  it  would  do  them 
any  good;"  he  said,  "  What  good,  madam, 
do  vou  expect  to  have  in  your  power  to  do 
them  ?  It  is  showing  them  respect,  and 
that  is  doing  them  good." 

So  socially  accommodating  was  he,  that 
once  when  Mr.  Langton  and  he  were  driv- 
ing together  in  a  coach,  and  Mr.  Langton 
complained  of  being  sick,  he  insisted  that 
they  should  go  out,  and  sit  on  the  back  of 
it  in  the  open  air,  which  they  did.  And  be- 
ing sensible  how  strange  the  appearance 
must  be,  observed*  that  a  countryman  whom 
they  saw  in  a  field  would  probably  be  think- 
ing, "  If  these  two  madmen  should  come 
down,  what  would  become  of  me?" 

Soon  after  his  return  to  London,  which 
was  in  February,  was  founded  that  Club 
which  existed  long  without  a  name,  but  at 
Mr.  Garrick's  funeral  became  distinguished 
by  the  title  of  The  Literary  Club.  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  had  the^  merit  of  being 
the  first  proposer  of  it,  to  which  Johnson 
[wno  called  Sir  Joshua  their  Rornu- 
Pioni,  Jim]  acceded:  and  the  original  mem- 
p#  •*•  here  were,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Dr. 
Johnson,  Mr.  Edmund  Burke,  Dr.  Nugent, 
Mr.  Beauclerk,  Mr.  Langton,  Dr.  Gold- 
smith. Mr.  Chamier,  and  Sir  John  Haw- 
kins.- [It  was  Johnson's  original 
?ftW«4  intention,  that  the  number  of  this 
423, 42  .  clufe  should  not  exceed  nine,  but 
Mr.  Dyer,  a  member  of  that  in  Ivy-lane 
before  spoken  of,  and  who  for  some  years 
had  been  abroad,'  made  his  appearance 
among   thein  and  was  cordially  received. 

The  hours  which  Johnson  spent  in  this 
society  seemed  to  be  the  happiest  of  his  life. 
He  would  often  applaud  his  own  sagacity  in 
the  selection  of  it,  and  was  so  constant  at 
its  meetings  as  never  to  absent  himself.  It 
is  true  he  came  late,  but  then  he  stayed  late, 
for,  as  has  been  already  said  of  him,  he  lit- 
tle rega  rded  hours.  The  evening  toast  was 
the  motto  of  Padre  Paolo,  "  Esto  Perpet- 
ua. "  A  lady » ,  distinguished  by  her  beauty, 
and  taste  for  literature,  invited  the  club 
twice  to  a  dinner  at  her  house,  which  Haw- 
kins alone  was  hindered  from  accepting. 
Curiosity  was  her  motive,  and  possibly  a 
desire  of  intermingling  with  their  conversa- 
tion the  charms  of  her  own.  She  affected 
to  consider  them  as  a  set  of  literary  men, 
and  perhaps  gave  the  first  occasion  for  dis- 
tinguishing the  society  by  the  name  of  the 
Lite*  try  Club,  an  appellation  which  it  nev- 
er assumed  to  itself. 

At  these  meetings,  Johnson,  as  indeed  he 


[Probably  Jfcfa.  Montagu.— Ed.  J 


did  every  where,  led  the  conversation,  vet 
was  he  for  from  arrogating  to  himself  that 
superiority,  which,  some  years  before,  he 
was  disposed  to  contend  for.  He  had  seen 
enough  of  the  world  to  know,  that  respect 
was  not  to  be  extorted,  and  began  now  to 
be  satisfied  with  that  degree  of  eminence  to 
which  his  writings  had  exalted  him.  This 
change  in  his  behaviour  was  remarked  bjr 
those  who  were  best  acquainted  with  hn 
character,  and  it  rendered  him  an  easy  and 
delightful  companion.  The  discourse  was 
miscellaneous,  but  chiefly  literally.  Politics 
were  alone  excluded.]  They  met  at  the 
Turk's-head,  in  Gerrard-street,  Soho,  one 
evening  in  every  week,  at  seven,  and  gener- 
ally continued  their  conversation  till  a  pret- 
ty late  hour.  [It  was  a  supper-meeting 
then,  on  a  Friday  night,  and  Dr.  ^ 
Nugent,  [who  was  a  Roman  Catho-  pTsT* 
lie,]  would  sometimes  order  an 
omelet;  and  Johnson  felt  very  painful  sensa- 
tions at  the  sight  of  chat  dish  soon  after 
Nugent^  death,  and  cried,  "  Ah,  my  poor 
dear  friend,  I  shall  never  eat  omelet  with 
thee  again !"  quite  in  an  agony3.  The  truth 
is,  nobody  suffered  more  from  pungent  sor- 
row at  a  friend's  death  3  than  Johnson, 
though  he  would  suffer  no  one  to  complain 
of  their  losses  in  the  same  way.  "  For," 
said  he,  "we  must  either  outlive  our 
friends,  you  know,  or  out  friends  must  out- 
live usr  and  I  see  no  man  that  would  hesi- 
tate about  the  choice."]  This  club  has 
been  gradually  increased  to  its  present 
[1791]  number,  thirty-five.  After  about 
ten  years,  instead  of  supping  weekly,  it 
was  resolved  to  dine  together  once  a  fort- 
night during  the  meeting  of  parliament. 
Their  original  tavern  having  been  con- 
verted into  a  private  house,  they  moved 
first  to  Prince's  in  Sackville-street,  then  to 
Le  Teller's  in  Dover-street,  and  now 
meet  at  Parsloe's,  St.  James's-street4. 

Sir    John    Hawkins    represents 
himself  as  a  "  seceder"  from  this     J^jJ" 
society,  and  assigns  as  the  reason 
of  his  "  withdrawing'9  himself  from  it,  that 
its  late  hours  were  inconsistent  with  hie 
domestick  arrangements.     In  this  he  is  not 


*  [  This  association  of  the  omelet  and  the 
agony,  so  gravely  told,  is  too  characteristic,  and, 
at  all  events,  to  droll  to  be  omitted. — En.] 

*  [See,  however,  post,  28th  March,  1776. — 
Ed.]' 

4  The  Club,  some  years  after  Mr.  Bosweu's 
death,  removed  (in  1799)  from  Parsloe's  to  the 
Thatched-hoffee  in  St  James's-street,  where  taev 
still  continue  to  meet. — Ma  lone.  [A  paragraph 
of  Mr.  Boswell's  text  and  a  long  note  of  Mr.  Ma- 
ine's, giving  lists  of  the  Club  at  several  periods, 
are  here  omitted,  as  a  fall  list  of  all  its  rnemhem, 
from  hs  foundation  to  the  present  time,  will  be 
given  in  the  appendix.— Ed,] 


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1764.— iETAT.  55. 


SIS 


accurate;  for  the  fact  was,  that  he  one  even- 
ing attacked  Mr.  Burke  in  so  rude  a  man- 
ner, that  all  the  company  testified  their  dis- 
pleasure; and  at  their  next  meeting  his  re- 
ception was  such  that  he  never  came  again*, 
j^.  He  is  equally  inaccurate  with  re- 

p.  42&      apect  to  Mr.  Garrick,  of  whom  he 

says,  "  he  trusted  that  the  least  in- 
timation of  a  desire  to  come  among  us 
would  procure  him  a  ready  admission:"  hut 
in  this  he  was  mistaken.  Johnson  consult- 
ed me  upon  it;  and  when  I  could  find  no' 
objection  to  receiving  him,  exclaimed,  "  He 
will  disturb  us  by  nis  buffoonery;" — and 
afterwards  so  managed  matters,  that  he  was 
never  formally  proposed,  and,  by  conse- 
quence, never  admitted3. 

In  justice  both  to  Mr.  Garrick  and  Dr. 
Johnson,  I  think  it  necessary  to  rectify 
this  mis-statement.  The*  truth  is,  that  not 
very  long  after  the  institution  of  our  club, 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  was  speaking  of  it 
to  Garrick.  "  I  like  it  much,"  said  he;  "  I 
think  1  shall  be  of  you."  When  Sir  Josh- 
ua mentioned  this  to  Dr.  Johnson,  he  was 
much  displeased  with  the  actor's  conceit. 
"  He'll  be  of  «*,"  said  Johnson;  "  how 
does  he  know  we  will  permit  him  ?  the  first 
duke  in  England  has  no  right  to  hold  such 
language."  However,  when  Garrick  was 
regularly 'proposed  some  time  afterwards, 
Johnson,  though  he  had  taken  a  momenta- 
ry offence  at  his  arrogance,  wajrmly  and 
kindly  supported  him,  and  he  was  accord- 
ingly elected,  was  a  most  agreeable  member, 
and  continued  to  attend  our  meetings  to 
the  time  of  his  death. 

Mrs.  Piozzi  has  also  given  a  similar  mis- 
representation of  Johnson's  treatment  of 
Garrick,  in  this  particular,  as  if  he  had 
avowed  it  [to  Mr.  Thrale]  in  these  con- 
temptuous expressions:  "if  Garrick  doe$ 

apply,  I'll  black-ball  him."  ["Who, 
5^2*"*  sir?  Mr.  Garrick?  Your  friend, 
p[as7.      your  companion — black-ball  him!" 

"  Why,  sir,  I  love  my  little  David 


1  From  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,— Boswell. 
Has  knight  having  refined  to  pay  his  portion  of 
the  reckoning  for  Kipper,  became  he  usually  eat 
no  sapper  at  home,  Johnson  observed, "  Sir  John, 
air,  is  a  Tory  unelubable  man." — Bur  net. 
(Hare  is  some  mistake.  Hawkins  was  not  knight- 
ed till  long  after  he  had  left  the  club.— Ed.] 

*  [Hawkins  probably  meant  "  never  "  while 
he  himoelf  belonged  to  the  Club.  But  surely 
Mr.  Boswell  must  have  been  conscious  that  his 


1  when. Garrick  was  regularly  pro- 
posed some  time  after,  Johnson,  though  he  had 
taken  a  momentary  offence,"  fee — do  not  give 
a  fiur  account  of  the  matter;  for  it  was  not  till 
aenr  ten  yearn  after  the  foundation  of  the  Club 
that  Gamck  was  admitted,  and,  as  he  died  in  the 
bepnning  of  1779,  the  Club  enjoyed  but  for  five 
yean  that  agreeable  society  which,  but  for  John- 
son's opnoa*Jpa.  they  would  probably  have  en- 
joyed lor  fourteen  or  fifteen,— Ed.] 


dearly,  better  than  all  or  any  of  his  flatter- 
ers do;]  but,  surely,  one  ought  to  sit  in  a 
society  like  ours, 

*  UnelbowM  by  a  gamester,  pimp,  or  player.'  " 

I  am  happy  to  be  enabled  by  such  un- 
questionable authority  as  that  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds3,  as  well  as  from  my  own  knowl- 
edge, to  vindicate  at  once  the  heart  of 
Johnson  and  the  social  merit  of  Garrick. 

In  this  year,  except  what  he  may  have 
done  in  revising  Shakspeare,  we  do  not 
find  that  he  laboured  much  in  literature. 
He  wrote  a  review  of  Granger's  "  Sugar 
Cane,"  a  poem,  in  the  London  Chronicle. 
He  told  me,  that  Dr.  Percy  wrote  the 
greatest  part  of  this  review j  but,  I  imagine, 
he  did  not  recollect,  it  distinctly,  for  it  ap- 
pears to  be  mostly,  if  not  altogether,  his 
own.  He  abo  wrote  in  the  Critical  Review 
an  account  f  of  Goldsmith's  excellent  po- 
em, "  The  Traveller." 

The  ease  and  independence  to  which  he 
had  at  last  attained  oy  royal  munificence 
increased  his  natural  indolence.  In  his 
Meditations,  he  thus  accuses  himself: 

"  Good  Friday,  April  20,  1764.  I  have 
made  no  reformation;  I  have  lived  totally 
useless,  more  sensual  in  thought,  and  more 
addicted  to  wine  and  meat." 

And  next  morning  he  thus  feelingly  com- 
plains: 

"  My  indolence,  since  my  last  reception 
of  the  sacrament,  has  sunk  into  grosser 
sluggishness,  and  my  dissipation  spread  in- 
to wilder  negligence.  My  thoughts  have 
been  clouded  with  sensuality;  and,  except 
that  from  the  beginning  of  this  year  I  have, 
in  some  measure,  forborne  excess  of  strong 
drink,  my  appetites  have  predominated  over 
my  reason.  A  kind  of  strange  oblivion  has 
overspread  me,  so  that  I  know  not  what 
has  become  of  the  last  year;  and  perceive 
that  incidents  and  intelligence  pass  over 
me  without  leaving  any  impression." 

He  then  solemnly  says, 

"  This  is  not  the  life  to  which  heaven  is 
promised." 
And  he  earnestly  resolves  an  amendment.   ' 

[Easter-day,  *2d  April,  1764.—"  Having, 
before  I  went  to  bed,  composed  the  forego- 
ing meditation,  and  the  following  prayer; 
I  tried  to  compose  myself,  but  slept  un- 
quietly.  I  rose,  took  tea,  and  prayed  for 
resolution  and  perseverance.  Thought  on 
Tetty,  dear  poor  Tetty,  with  my  eyes  full. 


*  [It  does  not  appear  how  Sir  Joanna  Reynolds' 
authority  can  bo  made  available  in  this  ease. 
The  expression  is  stated  to  have  been  used  to  Mr, 
Thrale  ;  and  the  fart ,  that  Garrick  was  for  near 
ten  years  excluded  from  the  club,  and  the  num- 
berless occasions  in  which,  according;  to  Mr. 
Boswell *s  own  account,  Johnson  spoke  in  the 
most  contemptuous  manner  of  Garrick,  seem  to 
give  but  too  much  colour  to  this  sad  story . — E».} 


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1764.— iETAT.  55. 


"  I  went  to  church;  cams  in  at  the  first 
of  the  Psalms,  and  endeavored  to  attend 
the  service,  which  I  went  through  without 
perturbation.  After  sermon,  I  recommend- 
ed Tetty  in  a  prayer  by  herself;  and  my 
father,  mother,  brother,  and  Bathurst,  in 
another.  I  did  it  only  once,  so  far  as  it 
might  be  lawful  for  me. 

"  I  then  prayed  for  resolution  and  perse- 
verance to  amend  my  life.  I  received  soon : 
the  communicants  were  many.  At  the  al- 
tar, it  occurred  to  me  that  I  ought  to  form 
some  resolutions.  I  resolved,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God,  but  without  a  vow,  to  repel 
sinful  thoughts,  to  study  eight  hours  daily, 
and,  I  think,  to  go  to  church  every  Sunday, 
and  read  the  Scriptures.  I  gave  a  shilling; 
and  seeing  a  poor  girl  at  the  sacrament  m 
a  bedgown,  gave  her  privately  a  crown, 
though  I  saw  Hart's  Hymns  in  her  hand. 
I  prayed  earnestly  for  amendment,  and  re- 
seated my  prayer  at  home.  Dined  with 
Miss  [Williams] ;  went  to  prayers  at  church ; 
went  to 1,  spent  the  evening  not  pleas- 
antly. Avoided  wine,  and  tempered  a  very 
few  glasses  with  sherbet.  Came  home  and 
prayed. 

I  saw  at  the  sacrament  a  man  meanly 
dressed,  whom  I  have  always  seen  there  at 
Easter."] 

It  was  "his  custom  to  observe  certain  days 
with  a  pious  abstraction:  viz.  New-year's 
day,  the  day  of  his  wife's  death.  Good  Fri- 
day, Easter-day,  and  his  own  birthday. 
He  this  year  [on  his  birthday]  says, 

**  I  have  now  spent  fifty-five  years  in  re- 
solving: having,  from  the  earliest  time  al- 
most that  I  can  remember,  been  forming 
schemes  of  a  better  life.  I  have  done  noth- 
ing. The  need  of  doing,  therefore,  is  press- 
ing, since  the  time  of  doing  is  short.  O 
God,  grant  me  to  resolve  aright,  and  to 
keep  my  resolutions,  for  Jesus  Christ's 
sake.    Amen." 

Such  a  tenderness  of  conscience,  such  a 
fervent  desire  of  improvement,  will  rarely 
be  found.  It  is,  surely,  not  decent  in  those 
who  are  hardened  in  indifference  to  spiritu- 
al improvement,  to  treat  this  pious  anxiety 
of  Johnson  with  contempt. 

About  this  time  he  was 'afflicted  with  a 
very  severe  return  of  the  hypochondriack 
disorder,  which  was  ever  lurking  about  him. 
He  was  so  ill,  as,  notwithstanding  his  re- 
markable love  of  company,  to  be  entirely 
averse  to  society,  the  most  fatal  symptom 
of  that  malady.  Dr.  Adams  told  me,  that 
as  an  old  friend  he  was  admitted  to  visit 
him,  and  that  he  found  him  in  a  deplorable 
state,  sighing,  groaning,  talking  to  himself, 


1  In  the  original  MS.,  instead  of  this  blank  are 
the  letter*  Davi,  followed  by  some  other  letters, 
which  are  illegible.  They,  no  doubt,  meant 
either  Davie*  the  bookseller,  or  David  Garrick ; 
most  likely  the  former. — Ham* 


and  restlessly  walking  from  room  to  ___ 
He  then  used  this  emphatical  expression  of 
the  misery  which  he  felt:  "  I  would  con- 
sent to  have  a  limb  amputated  to  recover 
my  spirits." 

Talking  to  himself  was,  indeed,  one  of 
his  singularities  ever  since  I  knew  him9. 
I  was  certain  that  he  was  frequently  ot- 
tering pious  ejaculations;  for  fragments  of 
the  Lord's  prayer  have  been  distinctly  over- 
heard3. His  friend,  Mr.  Thomas  Da  vies, 
of  whom  Churchill  says, 

"  That  Davies  has  a  very  pretty  wile,—  " 

wherfDr.  Johnson  muttered,  "  lead  us  not 
into  temptation,"  used  with  waggish  and 
gallant  humour  to  whisper  Mrs.  Davies, 
"  You,  my  dear,  are  the  cause  of  this." 

He  had  another  particularity,  of  which 
none  of  his  friends  ever  ventured  to  ask  an 
explanation.  It  appeared  to  me  some  su- 
perstitious habit  which  «he  had  contracted 
early,  and  from  which  he  had  never  called 
upon  his  reason  to  disentangle  him.  This 
was  his  anxious  care  to  go  out  or  in  at  a 
door  or  passage,  by  a  certain  number  of 
steps  from  a  certain  point,  or  at  least  so  as 
that  either  his  right  or  his  led  foot  (I  am 
not  certain  which),  should  constantly  make 
the  first  actual  movement  when  he  came 
close  to  the  door  or  passage.  Thus  I  con- 
jecture: for  I  have,  upon  innumerable  occa- 
sions, observed  him  suddenly  stop,  and  then 
seem  to  count  his  steps  with  a  deep  earnest* 
ness;  and  when  he  had  neglected  or  gone 
wrong  in  this  sort  of  magical  movement,  I 
have  seen  him  go  hack  again,  put  himself 
in  a  proper  posture  to  begin  the  ceremony, 
and,  having  gone  through  it,  break  from  h» 
abstraction,  walk  briskty  on,  and  join  his 
companion4.    A  strange  instance  of  r~~ 


»  [Seejxwf,  12th  Oct  1773.— En.] 

*  It  used  to  be  imagined  at  Mr.  Thrale's,  l 
Johnson  retired  to  a  window  or  corner  of  the  room, 
by  perceiving  his  lips  in  motion,  and  hearing  a 
murmur  without  audible  articulation,  that  he  was 
praying  ;  bat  this  was  not  always  the  case,  for  I 
was  once,  perhaps  unperceived  by  him,  writing 
at  a  table,  so  near  the  place  of  his  retreat,  that  I 
heard  him  repeating  some  lines  in  an  ode  of  Ho- 
race, over  and  over  again,  as  if  by  iteration  to 
exercise  the  organs  of  speech,  and  fix  the  ode  as 
his  memory: 

"  Audlet  cfres  acculate  fernn 
Quo  graves  Persee  melius  perirent, 
Audlet  pugnaa    ....  * 

It  was  during  the  American  war. — BumwxT. 

*  [The  following  anecdote,   related  by  Mr, 
Whyte,  affords  another  carious  instanca  of  tail 


"  Mr.  Sheridan  at  one  time  lived  in  BedlbnJ» 
street,  opposite  Henrietta-street,  which  ranges  with 
the  south  side  of  Covent-garden,  so  that  the  pros- 
pect lies  open  the  whole  way  free  of  nterrantioa. 
We  were  standing  together  at  the  drawing  room, 
expecting  Johnson,  who  was  to  dine  there.    Mr. 

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thing  of  this  nature,  *ven  when  on  horse- 
hack,  happened  when  he  was  in  the  Isle  of 
Skv  [12th  Oct.  1773].  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds nas  observed  him  to  go  a  good  way 
about,  rather  than  cross  a  particular  alley  in 
Leicester-field;  but  this  Sir  Joshua  imput- 
ed to  his  having  had  some  disagreeable  re- 
eotieetion  associated  with  it. 

That  the  most  minute  singularities  which 
belonged  to  him,  and  made  very  observable 
parts  of  his  appearance  and  manner,  may 
not  be  omitted,  it  is  requisite  to  mention, 
that  while  talking  or  even  musing  as  he  sat 
in  his  chair,  he  commonly  held  his  head  to 
one  side  towards  his  right  shoulder,  and 
shook  it  in  a  tremulous  manner,  moving  his 
body  backwards  and  forwards,  and  rubbing 
his  left  knee  in  the  same  direction  with  the 
palm  of  his  hand.  In  the  intervals  of  arti- 
culating he  made  various  sounds  with  his 
mouth;  sometimes  as  if  ruminating,  or  what 
is  called  chewing  the  cud,  sometimes  giving 
a  half  whistle,  sometimes  making  his  tongue 
play  backwards  from  the  roof  of  his  mouth 
as  if  clucking  like  a  hen,  and  sometimes 
protruding  it  against  his  upper  gums  in  front, 
as  if  pronouncing  quickly  under  his  breath, 
too,  too,  too;  all  this  accompanied  some- 
times with  a  thoughtful  look,  but  more  fre- 
quently with  a  smile.  Generally  when  he 
had  conducted  a  period,  in  the  course  of  a 
dispute,  by  which  time  he  was  a  good  deal 
exhausted  by  violence  and  vociferation,  he 
used  to  blow  out  his  breath  like  a  whale. 
This  I  suppose  was  a  relief  to  his  lungs; 
and  seemed  in  him  to  be  a  contemptuous 
mode  of  expression,  as  if  he  had  made  the 
arguments  of  his  opponent  fly  like  eh  aff  be- 
fore the  wind. 

I  am  fully  aware  how  very  obvious  an 
occasion  I  here  give  for  the  sneering  jocular- 
ity of  such  aa  have  no  relish  of  an  exact 


Sheridan  asked  me,  could  I  see  the  length  of  the 
snidanr  <  No,  sir.'  [Mr.  Whyte  was  short-sight- 
ed.] 'Take  oat  your  opera-glass,  Johnson  is 
coining;  yon  may  know  him  by  his  gait'  I  per- 
ceived him  at  a  good  distance,  working  along  with 
•a  peculiar  solemnity  of  deportment,  and  an  awk- 
ward sort  of  measured  step.  At  that  time  the 
broad  flagging  at  each  side  the  streets  was  not 
universally  adopted,  and  stone  posts  were  in  fash- 
ion, to  prevent  the  annoyance  of  carriages.  Upon 
every  post  as.  he  passed  along,  I  could  observe, 
he  deliberately  laid  his  hand;  but  missing  one  of 
them  when  he  had  got  at  some  distance,  he 
seemed  suddenly  to  recollect  himself,  and  imme- 
diately returning  back,  carefully  performed  the 
accustomed  ceremony,  and  resumed  his  former 
coarse,  not  omitting  one  till  he  gained  the  cross- 
ing. This,  Mr.  Sheridan  assured  me,  however  odd 
at  might  appear,  was  his  constant  practice;  but 
why  or  wherefore  he  could  not  inform  me." 
Mucett.  Nova,  p.  49.  See  {ante,  p.  66)  his 
conduct  at  Mr.  Banke's,  which  seems  something 
of  the  same  kind.— Ed.] 


likeness;  which,  to  render  complete,  he  who 
draws  it  must  not  disdain  the  slightest 
strokes.  But  if  witlings  should  be  inclined 
to  attack  this  account,  let  them  have  the 
candour  to  quote  what  I  have  offered  in  my 
defence. 

["  DR  JOHNSON   TO  MRS.    LUCY  PORTER. 
"London  10  Jan.  1764. 

"  M v  de  ar , — I  was  in  hopes  that    p^^ 
you  would  have  written  to  me  be-    M8s. 
fore  this  time,  to  tell  me  that  your 
house  was  finished,  and  that  you  were  hap- 
py in  it.     I  am  sure  I  wish  you  happy. 

«  By  the  carrier  of  this  week  you  will  re- 
ceive a  box,  in  which  I  have  put  some  books, 
most  of  which  were  your  poor  dear  mamma's, 
and  a  diamond  ring1,  which  I  hope  you 
will  wear  as  my  new  year's  gift.  If  you  re- 
ceive it  with  as  much  kindness  as  I  send  it, 
you  will  not  slight  it  j  you  will  be  very  fond 
of  it 

"  Pray  give  my  service  to  Kitty,  who,  I 
hope,  keeps  pretty  well.  I  know  not  now 
when  I  shall  come  down:  I  believe  it  will 
not  be  very  soon.  But  I  shall  be-  glad  to 
hear  of  you  from  time  to  time. 

"  I  wish  you,  my  dearest,  many  happy 
years;  take  what  care  you  can  of  your  health. 
I  am,  my  dear,  your  -  affectionate  humble 
servant,  *        "Sam.  Johnson." 

He  was  for  some  time  in  the  summer  at 
Easton  Maudit  Northamptonshire,  on  a  vis- 
it to  the  Reverend  Dr.  Percy,  now  Bishop  of 
Bromore.  Whatever  dissatisfaction  he  felt 
at  what  he  considered  as  a  slow  progress  in 
intellectual  improvement,  we  find  tnat  his 
heart  was  tender,  and  his  affections  warm, 
as  appears  from  the  following  very  kind 
letter: 

"  TO  JOSHUA.  REYNOLDS,  ESQ.   IN  LEICES- 
TER-flELDS. 

"  Dear  sir,— I  did  not  hear  of  your 
sickness  till  I  heard  likewise  of  your  recove- 
ry, and  therefore  escaped  that  part  of  your 
pain  which  every  man  must  feel  to  whom 
you  are  known,  as  you  are  known  to  me. 

"  Having  had  no  particular  account  of 
your  disorder,  I  know  not  in  what  state  it 
has  left  you.  If  the  amusement  of  my  com- 
pany can  exhilarate  the  languor  of  a  slow 
recovery,  I  will  not  delay  a  day  to  conae  to 
you;  for  I  know  not  how  I  can  so  effectual- 
ly promote  my  own  pleasure  as  by  pleasing 
you,  or  my  own  interest  as  by  preserving 
you,  in  whom,  if  I  should  lose  you,  I  should 
Ipse  almost  the  only  man  whom  I  call  a 
friend. 

"  Pray  let  me  hear  of  you  from  yourself, 

1  [This  ring  is  now  in  the  poansrion  of  Mm. 
Pearson. — Harwood.] 


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or  from  dear  Miss  Reynolds1.  Make  my 
compliments  to  Mr.  Mudge.  I  am,  dear 
sir,  your  most  affectionate  and  most  humble 
servant,  "  Sam.  Johnsow. 

•«  At  the  Rev.  Mr.  Percy '■,  at  Euton  Maudit, 

Northamptomihire  (by  Castle  Aahby), 

19  Aug.  1764." 

Early  in  the  year  1765  he  paid  a  short 
visit  to  the  university  of  Cambridge,  with 
his  friend  Mr.  Beauclerk.  There  is  a  live- 
ly picturesque  account  of  his  behaviour  on 
this  visit,  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for 
March,  1785,  being  an  extract  of  a  letter* 
from  the  late  Dr.  John  Sharps. 


Gent. 
Ma«. 
▼ol.  M. 
p.  173. 

citadel 
evening. 


«•  Cambridge,  1  March,  1765. 
["As  to  Johnson,  you  will  be 
surprised  to  hear  that  I  have  had 
him  in  the  chair  in  wliich  I  am  now 
writing.  He  has  ascended  my  aerial 
He  came  down  on  a  Saturday 
o,  with  a  Mr.  Beauclerk,  who  has  a 
friend  at  Trinity*  Caliban,  you  may  be  sure, 
was  not  roused  from  his  lair  before  next  day 
noon,  and  his  breakfast  probably  kept  him 
till  night  I  saw  nothing  of  him,  nor  was 
he  heard*  of  by  any  one,  till  Monday  after- 
noon, when  I  was  sent  for  home  to  two 
gentlemen  unknown.  In  conversation  I 
made  a  strange  faux  pas  about  Burnaby 
Greene's  poems,  in  which  Johnson  is  drawn 
at  full  length].  He  drank  his  large  pota- 
tion of  tea  with  me,  interrupted  by  many 
an  indignant  contradiction,  and  many  a  no- 
ble sentiment.  [He  had  on  a  better  wig 
than  usual,  but  one  whose  curls  were  not, 
like  Sir  Cloudesley's,  formed  for  'eternal 


t  Sir  Joshua's  sister,  for  whom  Johnson  had  a 
particular  affection,  and  to  whom  he  wrote  many 
letters  which  I  have  seen,  and  wliich  I  am  sorry 
her  too  nice  delicacy  will  not  permit  to  be  pub- 
lished.— Bos  well.  [One  will  be  found  added 
by  Mr.  Malone,  post,  21st  July,  1781.— Of  Miss 
Reynolds  Johnson  thought  so  highly,  that  he  once 
said  to  Mrs.  Piozzi,  "  I  never  knew  but  one  mind 
which  would  bear  a  microscopical  examination, 
and  that  is  dear  Miss  Reynolds's,  and  hers  is  very 
near  to  purity  itself."  Piozzi,  p.  68.  Several 
others  have  reached  the  editor  since  this  note  was 
written— Ed.] 

»  [Of  this  letter  Mr.  Boswell  quotes  only  two 
short  paragraphs,  adding  that  "they  are  very 
cnaracterisucal,"  but  surely  the  rest  is  equally  so. 
—Ed.] 

a  [No  doubt  Dr.  John  Sharp,  grandson  of 
Sharp,  Archbishop  of  York,  and  son  of  the  Arch- 
deacon of  Durham,  in  which  preferment  he  suc- 
ceeded his  father.  He  was  a  member  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge.  He  died  in  1792,  aged  69. 
—Ed.] 

4  Mr.  Lister. — Boswell. 

*  [Edward  Burnaby,  who  took  the  name  of 
Greene,  published,  in  1756,  an  imitation  of  the 
10th  Ep.  of  the  first  book  of  Horace.  He  died  in 
1788.— Ed.] 


buckle  «.»    Our  conveieation  was  chiefly  on 
books,  you  may  be  sure.    He  was  much 

{>leased  with  a  small  Milton  of  mine,  pub- 
ished  in  the  author's  lifetime,  and  with  the 
Greek  epigram  on  his  own  effigy,  of  its  be- 
ing the  picture,  not  of  him,  but  of  a  bad 
painter.    There  are  many  manuscript  stan- 
zas, for  aught  I  know,  in  Milton's  own  hand- 
writing, and  several    interlined  hints  and 
fragments.    We  were  puzzled  about  one  of 
the  sonnets,  which  we  thought  was  not  to 
be  found  in  Newton's  edition,  and  dinered 
from  all  the  printed  ones.    But  Johnson 
cried, c  No !  no !'  repeated  the  whole  son- 
net instantly,  memoriter,  and  showed  it  us 
in  Newton's  book.    After  which  he  learn- 
edly harangued  on  sonnet-writing,  and  its 
different  numbers.    He  tells  me  he  will  come 
hither  again  (mickly,  and  is  promised  c  an 
habitation  in  Emanuel  college.'    He  went 
back  to  town  next  morning;  but  as  it  began 
to  be  known  that  he  was  in  the  university,] 
several  persons  got  into  his  company  the 
last  evening  at  Trinity,  where,  about  twelve, 
he  began  to  be  very  great;  stripped  poor 
Mrs.  Macaulay  to  the  very  skin,  then  gave 
her  for  his  toast,  and  drank  her  in  two 
bumpers." 

The  strictness  of  his  self-examination, 
and  scrupulous  Christian  humility,  appear 
in  his  pious  meditation  on  Easter-day  thin 
year. 

"  I  purpose  again  to  partake  of  the  bleat- 
ed sacrament;  yet  when  I  consider  how 
vainly  I  have  hitherto  resolved  at  this  an- 
nual commemoration  of  my  Saviour's  death* 
to  regulate  my  life  by  his  laws,  I  am  aliaeet 
afraid  to  renew  my  resolutions;* 

"  Since  the  last  Easter  I  have  reformed 
no  evil  habit;  my  time  has  been  unprofita- 
bly  spent,  and  seems  as  a  dream  that  hast 
left  nothing  behind.  My  memory  grow* 
confused,  and  I  know  not  how  the  rfoya 
pass  over  me.    Good  Lord,  deliver  me!" 

The  concluding  words  [of  the  last  sen- 
tence) are  very  remarkable,  and  show  that 
he  laboured  under  a  severe  depression  of 
spirits.     [He  proceeds:] 

["I  purpose  to  rise  at  eight,  because, 
though  I  shall  not  yet  rise  early,  it  will  be 
much  earlier  than  I  now  rise,  for  I  often  lie 
till  two,  and  will  gain  me  much  time,  and 
tend  to  a  conquest  over  idleness,  and  give 
time  fbr  other  duties.  I  hope  "to  rise  yet 
earlier.*' 

"  I  invited  home  with  me  the  man7  whose 
pious  "behaviour  I  had  for  several  years  ob- 
served on  this  day,  and  found  him  a  kind 
of  Methodist,  full  of  texts,  but  ill-instructed. 
I  talked  to  him  with  temper,  and  offered 
him  twice  wine,  which  he  refused.    I  su£» 


•  "Eternal  buckle  take  in  Parian 
Pope. 
»  [See  ante,  p.  214.— Ed.] 


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217 


fered  him  to  go  without  the  dinner  which  I 
had  purposed  to  give  him.  I  thought  this 
day  that  there  was  something  irregular  and 
particular  in  his  look  and  gesture;  but  hav- 
ing intended  to  invite  him  to  acquaintance, 
and  having  a  fit  opportunity  by  finding  him 
near  my  own  seat  after  I  had  missed  him,  I 
did  what  f  at  first  designed,  and  am  sorry  to 
have  been  so  much  disappointed.  Let  me 
not  be  prejudiced  hereafter  against  the 
appearance  of  piety  in  mean  persona,  who, 
with  indeterminate  notions,  and  perverse  or 
inelegant  conversation,  perhaps  are  doing 
all  they  can."] 

to  [The  following  letter  was  ad- 

dressed to  the  son  of  his  friend  Mr. 
Strahan,  afterwards  prebendary  to  Roches- 
ter, and  the  Editor  of.  Johnson's  Prayers 
and  Meditation*. 

"  TO  MR.  G.  STRAHAN,  UNIVER.  COLL.  OX.1 

"25  May,  1765. 

"Dear  sir, — That  I  have  answered  neither 
of  your  letters  you  must  not  impute  to  any 
declension  of  good  will,  but  merely  to  the 
want  of  something  to  sav.  I  suppose  you 
pursue  your  studies  diligently,  and  dili- 
gence will  seldom  fail  of  success.  Do  not 
tire  yourself  so  much  with  Greek  one  day 
as  to  be  afraid  of  looking  on  it  the  next;  but 
five  it  a  certain  portion  of  time,  suppose 
four  hours,  and  pass  the  rest  of  the  day  in 
Latin  or  English.  I  would  have  you  learn 
French,  and  take  in  a  literary  journal  once 
a  month,  which  will  accustom  you  to  vari- 
ous subjects,  and  inform  you  what  learning 
is  poing  forward  in  the  world.  Do  not 
omit  to  mingle  some  lighter  books  with 
those  of  more  importance;  that  which  is 
read  remisso  ammo  is  often  of  great  use, 
and  takes  great  hold  of  the  remembrance. 
However,  take  what  course  you  will,  if  you 
be  diligent  you  will  be  a  scholar.  I  am, 
dear  sir,  yours  affectionately, 

"  Sam.  Johnson.*1] 

No  man  was  more  gratefully  sensible  of 
any  kindness  done  to  him  than  Johnson. 
Then  is  a  little  circumstance  in  his  diary 
this  year,  which  shows  him  in  a  very  amia- 
ble light 

"  July  2. — I  paid  Mr.  Simpson  ten  guin- 
eas, which  he  had  formerly  lent  me  in  my 
necessity,  and  for  which  Tetty  expressed 
her  gratitude.9' 

"  July  7. — I  lent  Mr.  Simpson  ten  guin- 
eas more." 

Here  he  had  a  pleasing  opportunity  of  do- 
ing the  same  kindness  to  an  old  friend, 
which  he  had  formerly  received  from  him. 
Indeed  his  liberality  as  to  money  was  very 


1  [Thii  letter  has  been  communicated  to  Dr. 
Hall,  for  the  aw  of  this  edition,  by  the  kindneai 
of  the  Rev.  Charles  Ross,  Fellow  of  Lincoln  Col- 
lege, (Word.— Ed.] 

vol.   I.  38 


remarkable.  The  next  article  in  his  dairy 
is, 

"July  16th,  I  received  seventy-five 
pounds  a.     Lent  Mr.  Da  vies  twenty-five." 

Trinity  college,  Dublin,  at  this  time,  sur- 
prised Johnson  with  a  spontaneous  compli- 
ment of  the  highest  academical  honours,  by 
creating  him  doctor  of  Jaws.  The  diploma, 
which  is  in  my  possession,  is  as  follows: 

"Omnibus  ad  quos prce$ente$ Kterapcrve- 
nerint,  salutem,  JSTbs  Propositus  et  Socii 
Semores  Collegu  sacrosanct*  et  inamridua  Tri- 
nitatis  Megina  Elizabeth*  juxta  Dublin,  tes- 
tamur, Samneli  Johnson,  Armigero,  ob  egre- 
giam  scriptorum  elegantiam  et  utilitatem, 
gratiam  concessam  Jruisse  pro  gradu  Docto- 
ratus  in  utroque  Jure,  octavo  die  JuHi,  Anno 
Domini  millesimo  septingentesimo  sexagesi- 
mo-qumto.  In  cujus  ret  testimonium  singu- 
lorum  manus  et  sigillum  quo  in  hisce  utimur 
apposuimus,  vieesimo  tertio  die  Julii,  Anno 
Domini  millesimo  septingentesimo  sexagesi- 
mo-quinto. 

Fran.  Andrews.  Praps. 

Gul.  Clement.     R.  Murray. 

Tho.  Wilson.  RobM»  Law. 

Tho.  Leland.      »  Mich.  Kearney." 

This  unsolicited  mark  of  distinction,  con- 
ferred on  so  great  a  literary  character,  did 
much  honour  to  the  judgment  and  liberal 
spirit  of  that  learned  body.  Johnson  ac- 
knowledged the  favour  in  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Leland,  one  of  their  number;  but  I  have 
not  been  able  to  obtain  a  copy  of  it. 

J  After  the  publication    of   the    Mal0llt# 
edition  in  1604,  a  copy  of  this  letter 
was  communicated  to  Mr.  M alone  by  John 
Leland,  esq.  son  to  the  learned  historian,  to 
whom  it  is  addressed. 

"  TO  THE  REV.  PR.  LELAND. 

"  JohnsoB's-conrt,  Fleet-street, 
London,  17  Oct.  1765  +. 

"  Sir, — Among  the  names  subscribed  to 
the  degree  which  I  have  had  the  honour  of 
receiving  from  the  University  of  Dublin,  I 
find  none  of  which  I  have  any  personal  know- 
ledge but  those  of  Dr.  Andrews  and  your- 

"  Men  can  be  estimated  by  those  who 
know  them  not,  only  as  they  are  represent- 
ed by  those  who  knew  them;  and  therefore 
I  flatter  myself  that  I  owe  much  of  the 


1  [Probably  a  quarter's  pension. — En.) 

3  [The  same  who  has  contributed  some  notes 
to  the  late  editions  of  this  work.  He  was.  the 
elder  brother  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Ossory. — id.] 

4  [Hawkins  and  Murphy  seem  to  think  that  the 
degree  followed  the  publication  of  Shakspeare, 
but  the  former  was,  we  see,  in  -Jul?  (the  annual 
Commencement),  and  the  latter  in  October: 
Johnson's  acknowledgment  of  the  honour  was 
perhaps  postponed  to  the  end  of  the  academic  fa* 
oation,«-ED.] 


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1765.— jETAT.  56. 


pleasure  which  this  distinction  gives  me  to 
your  concurrence  with  Dr.  Andrews  in  re- 
commending me  to  the  learned  society. 

"Having  desired  the  provost  to  return 
my  general  thanks  to  the  university,  I  beg 
that  you,  sir,  will  accept  my  particular  and 
immediate  acknowledgments.  I  am,  sir, 
your  most  obedient  and  most  humble  ser- 
vant, "  Sam.  Johnson.1"] 

[His  great  affection  for  our  own 
p/iJe.  universities,  and  particularly  his 
attachment  to  Oxford,  prevented 
Johnson  from  receiving  this  honour3  as  it 
was  intended,  and  he  never  assumed  the 
tide  which  it  conferred.  He  was  as  little 
pleased  to  be  called  Doctor  in  consequence 
of  it,  as  he  was  with  the  title  of  domine, 
which  a  friend  of  his  once  incautiously  ad- 
dressed him  by.  He  thought  it  alluded  to 
his  having  been  a  schoolmaster;  and  though 
he  has  ably  vindicated  Milton  from  the  re- 
proach that  Salmasius  meant  to  fix  on  him, 
oy  saying  that  he  was  of  that  profession,  he 
wished  to  have  it  forgot,  that  himself  had 
ever  been  driven  to  it  as  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence, and  had  failed  in  the  attempt.] 

He  appears  this  year  to  have  been  seized 
with  a  temporary  fit  of  ambition,  for  he  had 
thoughts  both  of  studying  law,  and  of  en- 
gaging in  politicks.  His  "  Prayer  before 
the  Study  of  Law"  is  truly  admirable: 

"26  Sept.  1766. 

"  Almighty  God,  the  giver  of  wisdom, 
without  whose  help  resolutions  are  vain, 
without  whose  blessing  study  is  ineffectual; 
enable  me,  if  it  be  thy  will,  to  attain  such 
knowledge  as  may  qualify  me  to  direct  the 
doubtful,  and  instruct  the  ignorant;  to  pre- 
vent wrongs  and  terminate  contentions; 
and  grant  that  I  may  use  that  knowledge 
which  I  shall  attain,  to  thy  glory  and  my 
own  salvation,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake. 
Amen." 

His  prayer  in  the  view  of  becoming  a 
politician  is  entitled  "  Engaging  in  Poli- 
ticks with  H n,"  no  doubt,  his  friend, 

the  Right  Honourable  William  Gerard 
Hamilton3,  for  whom,  daring  a  long  ac- 


1  I  have  not  been  able  to  recover  the  letter 
which  Johnson  wrote  to  Dr.  Andrews  on  this  oc- 
casion.— Ma  lone.  . 

*  [*fliis  is  a  mistake  of  Hawkins,  which  Mur- 
phy also  adopts.  Mr.  Boswell  states,  (post,  7th 
April,  1775,  n.)  that  Johnson,  himself,  never 
used  the  title  of  Doctor  before  his  name,*  even 
after  his  Oxford  degree. — En.] 

3  [Mr.  Hamilton  had  been  secretary  to  Lord 
Halifax  as  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and  re- 
mained a  short  time  with  his  successor,  Lord 
Northumberland,  but  he  resigned  in  1764.  Though 
he  never  spoke  in  parliament  after  this,  his  biog- 
rapher informs  us  (perhaps  on  the  authority  of  thai 
passage),  that  he  meditated  taking  an  active  part 
m  political  life;  he,  however,  did  not,  and  his  si- 


quaintance,  he  had  a  great  esteem,  and  to 
whose  conversation  he  once  paid  this  high 
compliment:  "lam  very  unwilling  to  be 
left  alone,  sir,  and  therefore  I  go  with  my 
company' down  the  first  pair  of  stairs,  in 
some  hopes  that  they  may,  perhaps,  return 
again ;  I  go  with  you ,  sir ,  as  far  as  trie  street- 
door."  In  what  particular  department  he 
intended  to  engage4  does  not  appear,  nor 
can  Mr.  Hamilton  explain.  His  prayer  ii 
in  general  terms. 

"  Enlighten  my  understanding  with  know- 
ledge of  right,  and  govern  my  will  by  thy 
laws,  that  no  deceit  may  mislead  me,  nor 
temptation  corrupt  me;  that  I  may  always 
endeavour  to  do  good,  and  hinder  evil." 

There  is  nothing  upon  the  subject  .in  his 
diary. 

This  year  was  distinguished  by  his  being 
introduced  into  the  family  of  Mr.  Thrale, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  brewers  in  Eng- 
land, and  member  of  parliament  for  the  bor- 
ough of  Southwark.  Foreigners  are  not  a 
little  amazed,  when  they  hear  of  brewers, 
distillers,  and  men  in  similar  departments 
of  trade,  held  forth  as  persons  of  considera- 
ble consequence.  In  this  great  commercial 
country  it  is  natural  that  a  situation  which 


liance  with  Johnson,  whatever  it  was  intended  to 
be,  seems  to  have  produced  little  or  nothing,  at 
least  that  we  know  of.  Mr.  Hamilton  died  in 
1796,  a*.  68.— Ed.] 

4  In  the  preface  to  a  late  collection  of  Mr. 
Hamilton's  Pieces,  it  has  been  observed,  that  our 
authour  was,  by  the  generality  of  Johnson's 
words,  "  led  to  suppose  that  he  was  seized  with 
a  temporary  fit  of  ambition,  and  that  hence  ha 
was  induced  to  apply  his  thoughts  to  law  and 
politicks.  But  Mr.  Boswell  was  certainly  mistaken 
in  this  respect:  and  these  words  merely  allude  to 
Johnson's  having  at  that  time  entered  into  some 
engagement  with  Mr.  Hamilton  occasionally  to 
famish  him  with  his  sentiments  on  the  great  po- 
litical topicks  which  should  be  considered  in  par- 
liament." In  consequence  of  this  engagement, 
Johnson,  in  November,  1766,  wrote  a  very  valu- 
able tract,  entitled  "  Considerations  on  Corn," 
which  is  printed  as  an  appendix  to  the  works  of 
Mr.  Hamilton,  published  by  T.  Payne  in  1808. — 
Ma  lone.  [It  seems  very  improbable  that  so 
solemn  a  "prayer,  on  engaging  in  politic* ," 
should  have  had  no  meaning.  It  were  perhaps 
vain  now  to  inquire  after  what  Mr.  Hamilton  pro* 
fessed  not  to  be  able  to  explain;  but  we  may  bo 
sure  that  it  was,  in  Johnson's  opinion,  no  audi 
trivial  and  casual  assistance  as  is  suggested  in  Mr. 
Malone's  note.  From  a  letter  to  Miss  Porter, 
(post,  14th  January,  1766),  it  may  be  guessed, 
that  this  engagement  was  in  some  way  connected 
with  the  parliamentary  session,  and  it  may  have 
been  an  alliance  to  write  pamphlets  or  paragraphs 
in  favour  of  a  particular  line  of  politicks.  What- 
ever h  was,  h  may  be  inferred,  from  the  obscurity 
in  which  they  have  left  it,  that  it  was  something 
which  neither  Hamilton  nor  Johnson  chose  to 
talk  about.— Ed.] 


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produces  much  wealth  should  be  consider- 
ed as  very  respectable;  and,  no  doubt,  hon- 
est industry  is  entitled  for  esteem'.  But, 
perhaps,  th*  too  rapid  advances  of  men  of 
low  extraction  tends  to  lessen  the  value  of 
that  distinction  by  birth  and  gentility,  which 
has  ever  been  found  beneficial  to  the  grand 
scheme  of  subordination,  Johnson  used  to 
give  this  account  of  the  rise  of  Mr.  Thrale's 
father:  "  He  worked  at  six  shillings  a  week 
for  twenty  years  in  the  great  brewery, 
which  afterwards  was  his  own.  The  pro- 
prietor of  it 1  had  an  only  daughter,  who. 
was  married  to  a  nobleman,  lu  was  not  fit 
that  a  peer  should  continue  the  business. 
On  the  old  man's  death,  therefore,  the 
brewery  was  to  be  sold.  To  find  a  pur- 
chaser for  so  large  a  property  was  a  difficult 
matter;  and,  after  some  time,  it  was  sug- 
gested, that  it  would  be  advisable  to  treat 
with  Thrale,  a  sensible,  active,  honest  man, 
who  had  been  employed  in  the  house,  arid  to 
transfer  the  whole  to  him  for  thirty  thousand 
pounds,  security  being  taken  upon  the  pro- 
perty. This  was  accordingly  settled.  In 
eleven  vears  Thrale  paid  the  purchase-mo- 
ney. He  acquired  a  large  fortune,  and  liv- 
ed to  be  [high-sheriff  of  Surrey  in  1733, 
and]  member  of  parliament  for  South  wark9 
[in  1740.]  But  what  was  most  remarkable 
was  the  liberality  with  which  be  used  his 
riches.  He  gave  his  son  and  daughters  the 
best  education.  The  esteem  which  his  good 
conduct  procured  him  .from  the  nobleman 
who  had  married  his  master's  daughter  made 
him  be  treated  with  much  attention;  and  his- 
son, both  at  school  and  at  the  university  of 
Oxford,  associated  with  young  men  of  the 
first  rank.  His  allowance  from  his  father,  af- 
ter he  left  college,  was  splendid;  not  less  than 
a  thousand  a  year.  This,  in  a  man  who 
had  risen  as  old  Thrale  did,  was  a  very  ex- 
traordinary instance    of  generosity.    He 


.*  The  predecenor  of  old  Thrale  was  "Edmund 
Halsey,  esq.;  the  nobleman  who  married  his 
daughter  was  Lord  Cobham,  great  ancle  of  the 
Marquis  of  Buckinghsjo.  Bat,  I  believe,  Dr. 
Johnson  was  mistaken  in  assigning  so  very  low 
an  origin  to  Mr.  Thrale.  The  clerk  of  St.  Alban's, 
a  very  aged  man,  told  me,  that  he  (the  elder 
Thrale)  married  a  sister  of  Mr.  HaJsey.  It  is  at 
least  certain  that  the  family  of  Thrale  was  of 
some  consideration  in  that  town:  in  the  abbey 
church  k  a  handsome  monument  to  the  memory 
of  Mr.  John  Thrale,  late  of  London,  merchant, 
who  died  in  1704,  aged  54 ;  Margaret,  his  wife, 
and  three  of  their  children  who  died  young,  be- 
tween the  years  1676  and  1690.  The  arms  upon 
this  monument  are,  paly  of  eight,  gules  and  or, 
impaling,  ermine,  on  a  chief  indented  vert,  three 
wolves'  <or  gryphons')  heads,  or,  cooped  at  the 
neck; — Crest  on  a  ducal  coronet,  a  tree,  vert — 
Blakkwat. 

*  [He  died  in  An.  1758,  and  his  wile  In  1760. 
—Gent.  Mag.— Ed.]  . 


used  to  say, '  If  this  young  dog  does  not  find 
so  much  after  I  am  cone  as  he  expects,  Jet 
him  remember  that  he  has  had  a  great  deal 
in  rav*  own  time.' " 

The  son,  though  in  affluent  circumstan- 
ces, had  good  sense  enough  to  carry  on  his 
his  father's  trade,  which  was  of  such  extent, 
that  I  remember  he  once  told  me,  he  would 
not  quit  it  for  an  annuity  often  thousand  a 
year;  "For  (said  he) -that  I  get  ten  thou- 
sand a  year  by  it,  but  it  is  an  estate  to  a 
family."  Having  left  daughters  only,  the 
property  was  sold  for  the  immense  sum  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  pounds;  a 
magnificent  proof  of  what  may  be  done  by 
faic  trade  in  a  long  period  of  time- 
There  may  be  some  who  think  that  a  new 
system  of  gentilityS  might  be  established, 
upon  principles  totally  different  from  what 
have  nitherto  prevailed.  Our  present  her- 
aldyv  it  may  be  said,  is  suited  to  the  barba- 
rous times  in  which  it  had  its  origin.  It  is 
chiefly  founded  upon  ferocious  merit,  upon 
military  excellence.  Why,  in  civilized 
times,  we  may  be  asked,  should  there  not 
be  rank  and  honours,  upon  principles,  which, 
independent  of  long  custom,  are  certainly 
not  less  worthy,  and  which,  when  once  al- 
lowed to  be  connected  with  elevation '  and 
precedency,  would  obtain  the  same  dignity 
in  our  imagination?  Why  should  not  the 
knowledge,  the  skill,  the  expertness,  the  as- 
siduity, and  the  spirited  hazards  of  trade  and 
commerce,  when  crowned  with  success,  be 
entitled  to  give  those  flattering  distinctions 
by  which  mankind  are  so  universally  capti- 
vated? 

Such  are  the  specious,  but  false  arguments 
for  a  proposition  which  always  will  find  nu- 
merous advocates  in  a  nation  where  men 
are  every  day  starting  up  from  obscurity  to 
wealth.  To  refute  them  is  needless.  The 
general  sense  of  mankind  cries  out  with  ir- 


3  Mrs.  Burney  informs  me  that  she  heard  Dr. 
Johnson  say,  "  An  English  merchant  is  a  new 
species  of  gentleman."  He,  perhaps,  had  in  bis 
mind  the  following  ingenious  passage  in  "The 
Conscious  Lovers/'  Act  iv.  Scene  ii  where  Mr. 
Sealand  thus  addresses  Sir  John  Bevil:  "  Give  me 
leave  to  say,  that  we  merchants  are  a  species  of 
gentry  that  have  grown  into  the  world  this  last 
century,  and  are  as  honourable,  and  almost  as 
useful  as  you  landed-folks,  that  have  always 
thought  yourselves  so  much  above  us;  for  vour 
trading  forsooth  is  extended  no  farther  than  a  load 
of  hay,  or  a  at  ox.  You  are  pleasant  people 
indeed!  because  you  are  generally  bred  up  to  be 
lazy;  therefore,  I  warrant  you,  industry  is  dis- 
honourable,"— Boswell.  [If  indeed  Johnson 
called  mefchants  a  neto  species  of  gentlemen, 
he  must  have  forgotten  not  only  the  merchants  of 
Tyre  who  were  "princes,"  and  the  Medici  of 
Florence,  but  the  Greshams,  Cranfielda,  Osborne*, 
Duncombes,  and  so  many  omen  of  England. — 
Ed.] 


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resistible  force,  "  Un  gentilhomme  e*t  tovr 
jours  gentilhomme1." 

Mr.  Thrale  had  married  Miss  Heather 
Lynch  Salusbury,  of  good  Welsh  extrac- 
tion, a  lady  of  lively  talents,  improved  by 
education.  That  Johnson's  introduction 
into  Mr.  Thrale's  family,  which  contribut- 
ed so  much  to  the  happiness  of  his  life,  was 
owing  to  her  desire  for  his  conversation,  is 
a  very  probable  and  the  general  supposi- 
tion :  but  it  is  not  the  truth.  Mr.  Murphy, 
who  was  intimate  with  Mr.  Thrale,  having 
spoken  very  highly  of  Dr.  Johnson,  he  was 
requested  to  make  them  acquainted.  This 
being  mentioned  to  Johnson,  he  accepted 
of  an  invitation  to  dinner  at  Thrale's*,  and 
was  so  much  pleased  with  his  reception, 
both  by  Mr:  and  Mrs.  Thrale,  and  they  so 
much  pleased  with  him,  that  his  invitations 
to  their  house  were  more  and  more  frequent, 
till  at  last  he  became  one  of  the  family,  and 
an  apartment  was  appropriated  to  him,  both 
in  their  house  at  Southwark,  and  in  their 
villa  at  Streatham. 

Johnson  had  a  very  sincere  esteem  for 
Mr.  Thrale,  as  a  man  of  excellent  princi- 
ples, a  good  scholar,  well  skilled  in  trade, 
of  a  sound  understanding,  and  of  manners 
such  as  presented  the  character  of  a  plain 
independent  English  •squire.  [And 
J1™^  when,  as  Mrs.  Piozzi  tells  us,  with 
p"  an  amiable  glow  of  gratitude,  any 

perplexity  happened  to  disturb  Mr»  Thrale's 
quiet,  dear  Dr.  Johnson  left  him  scarce  a 
moment,  and  tried  every  artifice  to  amuse, 
as  well  as  every  argument  to  console  him: 
nor  is  it  more  possible  to  describe  than  to 
forget  his  prudent,  his  pious  attentions  to- 
wards the  man  who  had  some  years  before 
certainly  saved  his  valuable  life,  perhaps 
his  reason.] 

As  this  family  will  frequently  be  men- 
tioned in  the  course  of  the  following  pages, 
and  a«  a  false  notion  has  prevailed  that  Mr. 
Thrale  was  inferior,  and  in  some  degree  in- 
significant, compared  with  Mrs.  Thrale,  it 
may  be  proper  to  give  a  true  state  of  the 
case  from  the  authority  of  Johnson  himself 
in  his  own  words,, 

"  I  know  no  man  (said  he),  who  is  more 
master  of  his  wife  and  family  than  Thrale. 
If  he  but  holds  up  a  finger,  he  is  obeyed. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  she  is 
above  him  in  literary  attainments.  She  is 
more  flippant;  but  he  has  ten  times  her 
learning;  he  is  a  regular  scholar;  but  her 
learning  is  that  of  a  schoolboy  in  one  of  the 
lower  forms."  My  readers  may  naturally 
wish  for  some  representation  of  the  figures 


1  [This  dictum  is,  whatever  be  ta  value,  not 
applicable  to  this  cue,  where  the  question  is  not 
whether  a  gentleman  can  ever  cease  to  be  one, 
but  whether  a  plebeian  can  ever  become  a  gentle- 
so — Ed,] 


of  this  couple*. r  Mr.  Thrale  was  tall,  well 
proportioned,  and  stately.  As  for  madam 
or  my  mistrees,  by  which  epithets  Johnson 
used  to  mention  Mrs.  Thrale,  she 
was  short,  plump,  and  brisk  3.  She  pkjjj£ 
has  herself  given  us  a  lively  view  *" 
of  the  idea  which  Johnson  had  of  her  per- 
son, on  her  appearing  before  him  in  a  dark- 
coloured  gown :  "  You  little  creatures  should 
ne^er  wear  those  sort  of  clothes,  however: 
they  are  unsuitable  in  every  way.  What! 
have  not  all  insects  gay  colours?"  Mr. 
Thrale  gave  his  wife  a  liberal  indulgence, 
both  in  the  choice  of  their  companv,  and 
in  the  mode  of  entertaining  them.  He  un- 
derstood and  valued  Johnson,  without  re- 
mission, from  their  first  acquaintance  to  the 
day  of  his  death.  Mrs.  Thrale  was  enchant- 
ed with  Johnson's  conversation  for  its  own 
sake,  and  had  also  a  very  allowable  vanity 
in  appearing  to  be  honoured  with  the  atten- 
tion of  so  celebrated  a  man. 

Nothing  could  be  more  fortunate  for 
Johnson  man  this  connexion.  He  had  at 
Mr.  Thrale's  all  the  comforts  and  even  luxu- 
ries of  life:  his  melancholy  was  diverted, 
and  his  irregular  habits  lessened  by  associa- 
tion with  an  agreeable  and  well-ordered 
family.  He  was  treated  with  the  utmost 
respect  and  even  affection.  The  vivacity 
of  Mrs.  Thrale's  literary  talk  roused  him  to 
cheerfulness  and  exertion,  even  when  they 
were  alone.  But  this  was  not  often  the 
case;  for  he  found  here  a  constant  succes- 
sion of  what  jrave  him  the  highest  enjoy- 
ment, the  society  of  the  learned,  the  witty, 
and  the  eminent  in  every  way,  who  were 
assembled  in  numerous  companies;  called 
forth  his  wonderful  powers,  and  gratified 
him  with  admiration,  to  which  no  man 
could  be  insensible. 

[Johnson  formed,  says  Mr.  Ty- 
ers,  at  Streatham  a  room  for  a  li- 
brary, and  increased  by  his  recom- 
mendation the  number  of  books.  Here  he 
was  to  be  found  (himself  a  library)  when  a 
friend  called  upon  lmn ;  and  by  him  the 
friend  was  sure  to  oe  introduced  to  the 
dinner-table,  which  Mrs.  Thrale  knew  how 
to  spread  with  the  utmost  plenty  and  ele- 
gance, and  which  was  often  adorned  with 
such  guests,  that  to  dine  there  was  epulis 
aeeumbere  divum.  Of  Mrs.  Thrale,  if 
mentioned  at  all,  less  cannot  be  said,  than 
that  in  one  of  the  latest  opinions  of  John- 
son, "  If  she  was  not  the  wisest  woman  in 
the  world,  she  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
wittiest."  Besides  a  natural  vivacity  in 
conversation,  she  had  reading  enough,  and 


pi- 


1  [The  reader  will  not  fail  to  observe  the  tone 
in  which  Mr.  Boswell  talks  of"  thi*  couple."— 
Ed.] 

3  [She  was  twenty-five  yean  of  age,  when 
thai  acquaintance  commenced. — Eb.] 

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S.2IS. 


the  "gods  had  made  her  poetical. »  Her 
poem  of  "  The  Three  Warnings "  f  the 
subject  she  owned  not  to  be  original)  is 
highly  interesting  and  serious,  and  literally 
comes  home  to  every  body's  business  and 
bosom.  She  took,  or  caused  such  care  to 
be  taken  of  Johnson,  during  an  illness  of 
continuance,  that  Goldsmith  told  her,  "  he 
owed  his  recovery  to  her  attention."  She 
moreover  taught  him  to  lay  up  something 
of  his  income  every  year.] 

[Johnson  had  also  at  Streatham  oppor- 

^^      tunities  of  exercise,  and  the  plea- 

J^JJt      sure  of  airings  and  excursions.     In 

the  exercise  of  a  coach  he  had 

great  delight;  it  afforded  him  the  indul- 

Snce  of  indolent  postures,  and,  as  it  seems, 
5  noise  of  it  assisted  his  hearing.  ]  [When 
Mrs.  Piozzi  asked  him  why  he  do- 
ted on  a  coach  so,  he  answered, 
that,  "  in  the  first  place,  the  com- 
pany were  shut  in  with  nim  there,  and 
could  not  escape  as  out  of  a  room ;  and,  in 
the  next  place,  he  heard  all  that  was  said  in 
a  carriage.]  [He  was  prevailed 
F^JJ?"  on  by  Mr.  Thrale  to  join  in  the 
pleasures  of  the  chase,  in  which  he 
showed  himself  a  bold  1  rider,  for  he  either 
leaped,  or  broke  through,  the  hedges  that 
obstructed  him.  This  he  did,  not  because 
he  was*  eager  in  the  pursuit,  but,  as  he 
said,  to  save  the  trouble  of  alighting  and 
remounting.  He  did  not  derive  the  plea- 
sure or  benefit  from  riding  that  many  do : 
it  had  no  tendency  to  raise  his  spirits ; 
and  he  once  said  that,  in  a  journey  on  horse- 
back, he  fell  asleep.] 

[He  certainly  rode  on  Mr. 
Thrale*6  old  hunter  with  a  godfl 
firmness,  and  though  he  would  fol- 
low the  hounds  fifty  miles  an  end  some- 
times1, would  never  own  himself  either 
tired  or  amused.  "  I  have  now  learned," 
said  he,  "  by  hunting,  to  perceive  that  it  is 
no  diversion  at  all,  nor  ever  takes  a  roan 
out  of  himself  for  a  moment:  the  dogs 
have  less  sagacity  than  I  could  have  pre- 
vailed on  myself  to  suppose ;  and  the  gen- 
tlemen often  called  to  me  not  to  ride  over 
them.  It  is  very  strange  and  very  melan- 
choly, that  the  paucity  of  human  pleasures 
should  persuade  us  ever  to  call  hunting  one 
of  them."  He  was  however  proud*  to  be 
amongst  the  sportsmen;  and  Mrs.  Piozzi 
thought  no  praise  ever  went  so  close  to  his 
heart,  as  when  Mr.  Hamilton  called  out 
one  day  upon    Brighthelmstone   Downs, 


1  [Mr.  Boswell  says,  in  another  place,  that 
Johnson  once  hunted;  this  seems  more  probable 
than  Mrs.  Pfozzftand  Hawkins's  statements,  from 
which  it  would  be  inferred,  that  he  hunted  habit- 
wdly.  It  seems  hard  to  figure  to  one's  self  Dr. 
Johnson  fairly  joining  in  this  violent  and,  to  him, 
one  would  suppose,  extravagant  and  dangerous 


Fiflssi, 
p.  90. 


"  Why,  Johnson  rides  as  well,  for  aught  I 
see,  as  the  most  illiterate  fellow  in  Eng- 
land."] 

(Mrs.  Piozzi's  account  of  the 
commencement  and  progress  of 
this  acquaintance  deserves  to  be 
preserved  in  her  own  words:  ["  The  first 
time  I  ever,  saw  this  extraordinary  man 
was  in  the  year  1764,  when  Mr. 
Murphy,  who  had  long  been  the 
friend  and  confidential  intimate  of 
Mr.  Thrale,  persuaded  him  to  wish  fbr 
Johnson's  conversation,  extolling  it  in  terms 
which  that  of  no  other  person  could  have 
deserved,  till  we  were  only  in  doubt  how 
to  obtain  his  company,  and  find  an  excuse 
for  the  invitation.  The  celebrity  of  Mr. 
Woodhouse,  a  shoemaker,  whose  verses 
were  at  that  time  the  subject  of  common 
discourse,  soon  afforded  a  pretence,  and 
Mr.  Murphy  brought  Johnson  to  meet  him, 
giving  me  a  general  caution  not  to  be  sur- 
prised at  his  figure,  dress,  or  behaviour. 
What  I  recollect  best  of  the  day's  talk  was 
his  earnestly  recommending  Addison's 
works  to  Mr.  Woodhouse  as  a  model  for 
imitation.  rGive  nights  and  days,  sir,' 
said  he, '  to  the  study  of  Addison,  if  you 
mean  either  to  be  a  good  writer,  or,  what 
is  more  worth,  an  honest  man.'  When  I 
saw  something  like  the  same  expression  in 
his  criticism  on  that  authour,  lately  pub- 
lished, [in  the  Lives  of  the  Poets]  1  put 
him  in  mind  of  his  past  injunctions  to  the 
young  poet,  to  which  he  replied, '  That  he 
wished  the  shoemaker,  might  have  remem- 
bered them  as  well.'  Mr.  Johnson  liked 
his  new  acquaintance  so  much,  however, 
that  from  that  time  he  dined  with  us  every 
Thursday  through  the  winter,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  the  next  year  he  followed  us  to 
Brighthelmstone,  whence  we  were  gone  be- 
fore his  arrival ;  so  he  was  disappointed 
and  enraged,  and  wrote  us  a  letter  expres- 
sive of  anger,  which  we  were  desirous  to 
pacify,  and  to  obtain  his  company  again  if 
possible.  Mr.  Murphy  brought  him  back 
to  us  again  very  kindly,  and  from  that  time 
his  visits  grew  more  frequent,  till  in  the 
year  1766  his  health,  which  he  had  always 
complained  of,  grew  so  exceedingly  bad, 
that  he  could  not  stir  out  of  his  room  in 
the  court  he  inhabited  for  many  weeks  to- 
gether— I  think  months. 

"Mr.  Thrale's  attentions  and  my  own 
now  became  so  acceptable  to  him,  that  he 
often  lamented  to  us  the  horrible  condition 
of  his  mind,  which  he  said  was  nearly  dis- 
tracted; and  though  he  charged  us  to 
make  him  odd  solemn  promises  of  secrecy 
on  so  strange3  a  subject,  yet  when  we  wait- 


*  [In  the  second  month  of  his  acquaintance 
with  Mr.  Boswell,  we  have  seen  that  Johnson 
communicated  to  him  his  tendency  to  this  infirmi- 
ty, yet,  though  he  could  himself  be  so  i 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1765.— iETAT.  66. 


ed  ob  him  one  morning,  and  heard  him,  in 
the  most  pathetick  terms,  beg  the  prayers 
of  Dr.  Delap  *,  who  had  left  him  as  we 
came  in,  I  felt  excessively  affected  with 
grief,  and  well  remember  that  my  husband 
involuntarily  lifted  up  one  hand  to  shut  his 
mouth,  from  provocation  at  hearing  a  man 
80  wildly  proclaim  what  he  could  at  last 
persuade  no  one  to  believe,  and  what,  if 
true,  would  have  been  so  very  unfit  to 
reveal. 

"Mr.  Thrale  went  away  soon  after, 
leaving  me  with  him,  and  bidding  me  pre- 
vail on  him  to  quit  his  close  habitation  in 
the  court  and  come  with  us  to  Streatham, 
where  I  undertook  the  care  of  his  health, 
and  had  the  honour  and  happiness  of  con- 
tributing to  its  restoration."] 

In  the  October  of  this  year  he 

£a22i"  at  kngth  gave  to  tne  world  nis 
*"  edition  of  Shakspeare.     [He  was 

insensible  to  Churchill's  abuse;  but  the 
poem  before  mentioned  had  brought  to  re- 
membrance, that  his  edition  of  Shakspeare 
had  long  been  due.  His  friends  took  the 
alarm,  and,  by  all  the  arts  of  reasoning  and 
persuasion,  laboured  to  convince  him  that 
having  taken  subscriptions  for .  a«  work  in 
which  he  had  made  no  jprogress,  his  credit 
was  at  stake.  He  confessed  he  was*  culpa- 
ble, and  promised  from  time  to  time  to  be- 
gin a  course  of  such  reading  as  was  neces- 
sary to  qualify  him  for  the  work:  this  was 
no  more  than  he  had  formerly  done  in  an 
engagement  with  Coxeter2,  to  whom  he 
had  bound  himself  to  write  the  life  of 
Shakspeare,  but  he  never  could  be  prevail- 
ed on  to  begin  it,  so  that  even  now -it  was 
questioned  whether  his  premises  were  to  be 
relied  on.  For  this  reason  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  and  some  other  of  his  friends, 
who  were  more  concerned  for  his.  reputa- 
tion than  himself  seemed  to  be,  contrived 
to  entangle  him  by  a  wager,  or  some  other 
pecuniary  engagement,  to  perform  his  task 
by  a  certain  time.]  This  edition,  if  it  had 
no  other  merit  but  that  of  producing  his 
preface,  in  which  the  excellencies  and  de* 


rily  candid,  we  ■hall  sea  with  what  (frequency  and 
severity  he  used  to  blame  Boswell  when  He 
presumed  to  mention  his  own  mental  distresses. 
—Ed.] 

1  [Rector  of  Lewes  in  Sussex.— Ed.] 
9  Thomas  Coxeter,  Esq.  who  had  also  made  a 
large  collection  of  plays,  and  from  whose  manu- 
script notes  the  Lives  of  the  English  Poet^  by 
Sbiels  and  Gibber,  were  principally  compiled. 
Mr.  Coxeter  was  bred  at  Trinity  College,  Oxford, 
and  died  in  London,  April  17th,  1747,  in  his  fifty- 
ninth  year.  A  particular  account  of  him  may  be 
found  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1781, 
p,  173.— Malonjs.  [With  regard  to  Gibber's 
or  Sbiels's  Lives  of  the  Poets9  see  ante,  p.  75; 
and  post,  10th  April,  1776,  where  the  Subject  is 
resumed— Ed.] 


fects  of  that  immortal  bard  are  displayed 
with  a  masterly  hand,  the  nation  would 
have  had  no  reason  to  complain.  A  blind 
indiscriminate  admiration  of  Shakspeare 
had  exposed  the  British  nation  to  the  ridi- 
cule of  foreigners.  Johnson,  by  candidly 
admitting  the  faults  of  his  poet,  had  the 
more  credit  in  bestowing  on  nim  deserved 
and  indisputable  praise  ;  and  doubtless  none 
of  all  his  panegyrists  have  done  him  half 
so  much  nonour.  Their  praise  was  like 
that  of  a  counsel,  upon  his  own  side  of  the 
cause  ;  Johnson's  was  like  the  grave,  wefl 
considered,  and  impartial  opinion  of  the 
judge,  which  falls  from  his  lips  with  weight, 
and  is  received  with  reverence.  What  ha 
did  as  a  commentator  has  no  small  share  of 
merit,  though  his  researches  were  not  so 
ample,  and  his  investigations  so  acute,  as 
they  might  have  been  ;  which  we  now  cer- 
tainly know  from*  the  labours  of  other  able 
and  ingenious  checks  who  have  followed 
him.  He  has.  enriched  his  edition  with  a 
concise  account  of  each  play,  and  of  its 
characteristick  excellence.  Many  of  his 
notes  have  illustrated  obscurities  in  the 
text,  and  placed  passages  eminent  for  beau- 
ty in  a  more  conspicuous  light ;  and  he  has, 
in  general,  exhibited  such  a  mode  of  anno- 
tation, as  may  be  beneficial  to  all  subse- 
quent editors* 

[Though"  he. would  sometimes  PtasA 
divert  himself  by  tearing  Garrick  *"  jj 
by  commendations  on"  the  tomb 
scene. in  the*  Mourning  Bride,  protesting 
that  Shakspeare  had  in  the  same  line  of  ex- 
cellence nothing  as  good :  "  All  which  is 
strictly  true,"  he  would  add,  "  but  that  is 
flo  reason  for  supposing  that  Congreve  is 
to  stand  in  competition  with  Shakspeare: 
these  fellows  know  not  how  to  blame,  or 
how  to  commend."  Somebody  was  prais- 
ing Corneille  one  day  in  opposition  to 
ShakBpeare:  "Corneille  is  to  Shakspeare/' 
replied  Johnson,  "  as  a  clipped  hedge  is  to 
a  forest."  When  he  talked  of  authours, 
his  praise  would  fall  spontaneously  on  such 
passages  as  are  sure,  in  his  own  phrase,  to 
leave  something  behind  them  useful  ob 
common  occasions,  or  connected  with  com- 
mon manners.  It  was  net  Lear  cursing  his 
daughters,  or  deprecating  the  storm,  thtt 
he  would  quote  with  commendation,  hat 
Iago's  ingenious  malice  and  subtle  revenge*, 
or  Prince  Henry's  gay  compliances  with 
the  vices  of  Falstaff,  whom  he  all  the  while 
despised.  Those  plays  had  indeed  no  ri- 
vals in  Johnson's  favour.  "  No  man,"  he 
sard,  "  but  Shakspeare  could  have  drawn 
Sir  John."] 

His  Shakspeare  was  virulently  attacked 
by  Mr.  William  Kenrick,  who  obtained 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  a  Scotch  uni- 
versity, and  wrote  for  the  booksellers  in  s 
great  variety  of  branches.    Though   ha 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1765.— iETAT.  W. 


233 


certainly  was  not  without  considerable 
merit,  he  wrote  with  so  little  regard  to  de- 
eency,  and  principles,  and  decorum,  and  in 
to  hasty  a  manner,  that  his  reputation  was 
neither  extensive  nor  lasting.  I  remember 
one  evening,  when  some  of  his  works  were 
mentioned,  Dr.  Goldsmith  said  he  had  nev- 
er heard  of  them ;  upon  which  Dr.  John- 
ion  observed,  "  Sir,  ne  is  one  of  the  many 
who  have  made  themselves  publick,  with- 
out making  themselves  known1.99 

A  young  student  of  Oxford,  of  the  name 
of  Barclav,  wrote  an  answer  to  Kenrick's 
review  or  Johnson's  Shakspeare.  Johnson 
was  at  first  angry  that  Kenrick's  attack 
should  have  the  credit  of  an  answer.  But 
afterwards,  considering  the  young  man's 
good  intention,  he  kindly  noticed  him,  and 
probably  would  have  done  more,  had  not 
the  young  man  died* 

In  his  preface  to  Shakspeare,  Johnson 
treated  Voltaire  very  contemptuously,  ob- 
serving, upon  some  t>f  his  remarks,  "  These 
are  the  petty  cavils  of  petty  minds."  Vol- 
taire, in  revenge,  made  an  attack  upon  John- 
aon,  in  one  of  his  numerous  literary  sallies 
which  I  remember  to  have  res*!;  but  there 
being  no  general  index  to  his  voluminous 
workB,  have  searched'  in  vain,  and  therefore 
cannot  quote  it*         . 

Voltaire  was  an  antagonist  with  whom 
I  thought  Johnsoir  should  not  disdain  to 
contend.    I  pressed  him  to  answer.    He 
said,  he  perhaps  might;  but  he  never  did. 
b,  [He   appears,  in  the  courte  of 

this  summer,  to  have- paid  a  visit  to 
Dr.  Warton,  at  Winchester,  and,  on  the 
publication  of  his  Shakspeare,  he  addressed 
to  him  the  following  letter:]    - 


["DR.   JOHNSON   TO   DR.    WART05- 
«  9th  Oct.  1765. 

"  Dear  sir, — Mrs.  Warton  uses 


Wo*. 

u*  of  me  hardly  in  supposing  that  I  could 
tate"*  forget  so  mueh  kindness  and  civili- 
ty as  she  showed  me  at  Winchester. 
I  remember,  likewise,  our  conversation 
■tout  St.  Cross  2.  The  desire  of  seeing 
for  again  will  be  one  of  the  motives  that 
wiU  bring  me  into  Hampshire. 
"I  have  taken  care  or  your  book;  being 
I  *>  far  from  doubting  your  subscription,  that 
I  think  you  have  subscribed  twice:  you 
PDce  paid  your  guinea  into  my  own  hand 
j*  the  garret  in  Gough-square.  When  you 
tijTht  on  your  receipt,  throw  it  on  the  nre; 
tf  you  find  a  second  receipt,  you  may  have 
••econdbook. 

"""  i  ■  '      m 

1  [He  died  in  June,  1779.— Ed.] 

i       .[The  hospital  ot  St  Cross,  near  Winchester, 

!    JJJ*Wed  formerly  for  the  maintenance  of  70  resi- 

w  members,  clesgy  and  laity,  with  100  ont- 

V**oaen ;  but,  since  the  dissolution,  reduced 

J  M  residents,  with  the  master  and  chaplain,  and 


"  To  tell  the  troth,  as  I  felt  no  solicitude 
about  this  work,  I  receive  no  great  comfort 
from  its  conclusion;  but  yet  am  well  enough 
pleased  that  the  publick  has  no  farther  claim 
upon  me.  I  wish  you  would  write  more 
frequently  to,  dear  sir,  your  affectionate 
humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson."] 

Mr.  Burney  having  occasion  to  write  to 
Johnson  for  some  receipts  for  subscriptions 
to  his  Shakspeare,  which  Johnson  had  omit- 
ted to  deliver  when  the  money  was  paid, 
he  availed  himself  of  that  opportunity  of 
thanking  Johnson  for  the  great  pleasure  - 
which  he  had  received  from  the  perusal  of 
his  preface  to  SHakspeare;  which,  although 
it  excited  much  clamour  against  him  at  first, 
is  now  justly  ranked  among  the  most  excel- 
lent of  his  writings.  .  To  this  letter  Johnson 
returned  the  following  answer: 

"TO  CHARLES  BURNET,  ESQ.  IN  POLAND- 
STREET. 

«  16th  Oct.  1765. 

"  Sir, — I  am  sorry  that  your  kindness  to 
me  has  brought  upon  you  so  much  trouble, 
though  you  have  taken  care  to  abate  that 
sorrow,  by  the  pleasure  which  I  receive 
from  your  approbation.  I  defend  my  criti- 
cism m  the  same  manner  with  you.  We 
must  confess  the  faults  of  our  favourite,  to 
gain  credit  to  our  praise  of  his  excellencies* 
He  that  claims,  either  in  himself  or  for  ano- 
ther, the  honours  of  perfection,  will  surely 
injure  the  reputation  which  he  designs  to 


Be  pleased  to  make  my  compliments  to 
your  family.  I  am,  sir,  your  most  obliged 
and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson. n 

From  one  of  his  journals  I  transcribe 
What  follows: 

"  At  church,  Oct.— 65. 

"  To  avoid  all  singularity  j  Bonaventura*. 
."To  come  in  before  service,  and  compose 
my  mmd  by  meditation,  or  by  reading  some 
portions  of  scripture.     Tttiy. 

"  If  1  ean  hear  the  sermon,  to  attend  to  it, 
unless  attention  be  more  troublesome  than 
useful,  -     • 

1  c  To  consider  the  act  of  prayer  as  a  re- 
posal of  myself  upon  God,  and  a  resignation 
of  all  into  his  holy  hand." 

[Johnson  had  now  arrived  at  the 
filly-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  had  ?j£ 
actually  attained  to  that  state  of 
independence,  which  before  he  could  only 
affect  He  was  now  in  possession  of  an  in- 
come that  freed  him  from  the  apprehensions 
of  want,  and  exempted  him  from  the  neces- 


3  He  was  probably  proposing  to  himself  the 
model  of  this  excellent  peraon,  who,  for  his  piety, 
was  named  the  Scrapkkk  Doctor. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


224 


1766.— JETAT.  5T. 


sity  of  mental  labour.  He  had  discharged 
his  obligations  to  thepublick,  and,  with  no 
incumbrance  of  a  family,  or  any  thing  to 
control  his  wishes  or  desires,  he  had  his 
mode  of  living  to  choose.  Blest  with  what 
was  to  him  a  competence,  he  had  it  now  in 
his  power  to  study,  to  meditate,  and  to  put 
in  practice  a  variety  of  good  resolutions, 
which,  almost  from  his  first  entrance  into 
life,  he  had  been  making.] 

In  1764  and  1765  it  should  seem  that  Dr. 
Johnson  was  so  busily  employed  with  his 
edition  of  Shakspeare  as  to  have  had  little 
leisure  for  any  other  literary  exertion,  or, 
indeed,  even  for  private  correspondence l. 
He  did  not  favour  me  with  a  single  letter 
for  more  than  two  years,  for  which  it  will 
appear  that  he  afterwards  apologised. 

Notwithstanding  his  long  silence,  I  nev- 
er omitted  to  write  to  him,  when  I  had  any 
thing  worthy  of  communicating.  I  gener- 
ally kept  copies  of  my  le  iters  to  him,  that 
I  might  have  a  full  view  of  our  correspon- 
dence, and  never  be  at  a  loss  to  understand 
any  reference  in  his  letters.  He  kept  the 
greater  part  of  mine  very  carefully;  and  a 
short  time  before  his  death  was  attentive 
enough  to  seal  them  up  in  bundles,  and  or- 
der them  to  be  delivered  to  me,  which  was 
accordingly  done.  Amongst  them  I  found 
one,  of  which  I  had  not  made  a  copy,  and 
which  I  own  I  read  with  pleasure  at  the  dis- 
tance of  almost  twenty  years.  It  is  dated 
November,  1765,  at  the  Palace  of  Paoli,  in 
Corte,  the  capital  of  Corsica,  and  is  full  of 
generous  enthusiasm.  After  giving  a  sketch 
of  what  I  had  seen  and  heard  in  that  island, 
it  proceeded  thus :  "  I  dare  to  call  this  a  spir- 
ited tour.  I  dare  to  challenge  your  appro- 
bation." 

This  letter  produced  the  following  an- 
swer, which  I  found  on  my  arrival  at 
Paris. 

"  A   MR.    BOSWELL, 

chez  Mr.  Water*,  Banquier  d  Paris. 

«*  JohnaonVcotirt,  Fleet-*treet,  14  Jan.  1766. 

"  Dear  sir, — Apologies  are  seldom  of 
any  use.  We  will  delay  the  reasons,  good 
or  bad,  which  have  made  me  such  a  sparing 
and  ungrateful  correspondent.  Be  assured, 
for  the  present,  that  nothing  has  lessened 
either  the  esteem  or  love  with  which  I  dis- 
missed you  at  Harwich. — Both  have  been 


1  [This  trait  is  amusing:  Mr.  Boswell  concludes 
that  because  Johnson  did  not,  for  two  yean,  write 
to  him,  he  wrote  to  nobody,  and  was  exclusively 
occupied  with  his  Shakspeare,  though  we  have 
seen,  that,  in  those  years,  he  found  time  to  pay 
visits  to  his  friends  in  Lincolnshire  and  North- 
amptonshire, and  at  Cambridge  and  Winchester. 
He  also  visited  Brighton.  If  Mr.  Boswell  had 
been  those  two  years  in  London,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  he  would  have  found  Johnson  by  no 
means  absorbed  in  Shakspeare. — En. 


increased  by  all  that  I  have  been  told  of  yew 
by  yourself,  or  others  j  and  when  you  return, 
you  will  return  to  an  unaltered,  and,  I  hope, 
unalterable  friend. 

"  All  that  you  have  to  fear  from  me  « 
the  vexation  of  disappointing  me.  No  man 
loves  to  frustrate  expectations  which  have 
been  formed  in  his  favour;  and  the  pleasure 
which  I  promise  myself  from  your  journals 
and  remarks  is  so  great,  that  perhaps  no  de- 
gree of  attention  or  discernment  will  be 
sufficient  to  afford  it 

"  Come  home,  however,  and  take  vov 
chance.  I  long  to  see  you,  and  to  hear 
you;  and  hope  that  we  shall  not  be  so  long 
separated  again.  Come  home,  and  expect 
such  welcome  as  is  due  to  him,  whom  a  wise 
and  noble  curiosity  has  led,  where  perhaps 
no  native  of  this  country  ever  was  before. 

"  I  have  no  news  to  tell  you  that  can  de- 
serve your  notice;  nor  would  I  willingly 
lessen  the  pleasure  that  any  novelty  may 
give  you  at  your  return.  lam  afraid  we 
shall  find  it  difficult  to  keep  among  us  a 
mind  which  has  been  so  long  feasted  with 
variety.  But  let  us  try  what  esteem  and 
kindness  can  effect. 

"  As  your  father's  liberality  has  indulged 
you  witn  so  long  a  ramble,  I  doubt  not  but 
you  will  think  his  sickness,  or  even  his  de- 
sire to  see  you,  a  sufficient  reason  for  has- 
tening your  return.  The  longer  we  live, 
and  the  more  we  think,  the  higher  value  we 
learn  to  put  on  the  friendship  and  tender- 
ness of  parents  and  of  friends.  Parents  we 
can  have  but  once;  and  he  promises  himself 
too  much,  who  enters  life  with  the  expec- 
-  tation  of  finding  many  friends.  Upon  some 
motive,  I  hope,  that  you  will  be  here  soon; 
and  am  willing  to  think  that  it  will  be  an 
inducement  to  your  return,  that  it  is  sincere- 
ly desired  by,  dear  sir,  your  affectionate  hum- 
ble servant,  "  Sam.  Johjisoh." 

["DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MRS.  LUCY  PORTRK. 
"  Johnaon's-coiirt,  FtoeUrtrwt,  14  Jan.  lies. 
"Dear  madam, — The  reason  p^^ 
why  I  did  not  answer  your  letters  iBjfc 
was  that  Lean  please  myself  with 
no  answer.  I  was  loath  that  Kitty  should 
leave  the  house  till  I  had  seen  it  once  more, 
and  yet  for  some  reasons  I  cannot  well  come 
during  the  session  of  parliament9.     I  am 


*  [The  reasons  which  confined  him  to  London* 
during  the  session  of parliament ,  may  be  sas- 
pecteff  to  have  had  some  connexion  with  his 
engagement  in  politicks  urith  Hamilton;  end 
it  must  be  confessed,  that  Mr.  Hamilton's  de- 
claration, (antef  p.  218),  that  he  could  not  ex- 
plain what  these  allusions  meant,  looks  like  the 
evasion  of  a  question  which  that  gentleman  did 
not  wish,  perhaps  did  not  feel  himself  authorised, 
to  answer  unreservedly.  It  seems  clear,  thai 
Johnson  was  employed  by  or  with  Hamilton  m 
some  course  of  political  occupation,  which  obliged 


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1766.—JSTAT.  57. 


295 


unwilling  to  sell  it,  yet  hardly  know  why. 
If  it  can  be  let,  it  should  be  repaired,  and  I 
purpose  to  let  Kitty  have  part  of  the  rent 
while  we  both  live;  and  wish  that  you  would 
get  it  surveyed,  and  let  me  know  how  much 
money  will  be  necessary  to  fit  it  for  a  ten- 
ant I  would  not  have  you  stay  longer  than 
is  convenient,  and  I  thank  you  for  your  care 
of  Kitty. 

"  Do  not  take  my  omission  amiss.  I  am 
sorry  for  it,  but  know  not  what  to  say.  You 
must  act  by  your  own  prudence,  and  I  shall 
be  pleased.  Write  to  me  again;  I  do  not 
design  to  neglect  you  any  more.  It  is  great 
pleasure  for  me  to  hear  from  you;  but  this 
whole  affair  is  painful  to  me.  I  wish 
you,  my  dear,  many  happy  years.  Give 
my  respects  to  Kitty.  1  am,  dear  mad- 
am, your  most  affectionate  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnson."] 

_,       [We  find  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  Warton 
to  hit)  brother  some  account  of  Johnson 
and  his  society  at  this  period. 

19  DR.    WARTON   TO    MR.    WARTON. 

**22d  Jan.  1766. 

Man.  or  "I  only  dined  with  Johnson,  who 
l^ia.'  seemed  cold l  and  indifferent,  and 
scarce  said  any  thing  to  me:  per- 
haps he  has  heard  what  I  said  of  his  Shak- 
speare,  or  rather  was  offended  at  what  I 
wrote  to  him — as  he  pleases.  Of  all  solemn 
coxcombs,  Goldsmith  is  the  first;  yet  sen- 
sible—but  affects  to  use  Johnson's  hard 
words  in  conversation.  We  had  a  Mr. 
Dyer9  who  is  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman. 
Garrick  is  entirely  off  from  Johnson,  and 
cannot,  he  savs,  forgive  him  his  insinua- 
ting that  he  withheld  his  old  editions,  which 
were  always  onen  to  him,  nor  I  suppose  his 
never  mentioning  him  in  all  his  works."] 

aim  to  be  in  town  daring  the  session  of  parliament, 
and  which  Johnson  thought  likely  to  be  of  such 
continuance  and  importance,  as  to  require  his  pre- 
Buiag  for  entering  upon  it  by  the  solemnity  of  a 
pnyer.— Co.] 

1  [Tins  slight  coolness  between  Johnson  and 
Joseph  Warton  was  probably  not  serious.  A  sub- 
seqaent  difference,*  which  arose  ont  of  a  dispute 
it  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  table,  was  more  lasting. 
-En.) 

*  Samuel  Dyer,  Esq.  a  most  learned  and  in- 
genious member  of  the  literary  Club,  for  whose 
aadentanding  and  attainments  Dr.  Johnson  had 
peat  respect  He  died  September  14,  1772.  A 
■ore  particular  account  of  this  gentleman  may  be 
fraud  in  a  note  on  the  Life  of  Drydtn,  p.  186, 
prefixed  to  the  edition  of  that  great  writer's  prose 
work*,  in  four  volumes,  8vo.  1800:  in  which  his 
camracter  is  vindicated,  and  the  very  unfavourable 
and  unjust  representation  of  it,  given  by  Sir  John 
Hawkins  m  his  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  222—282,  is 
naautely  eaaniiiied.---MAX.oirx.  [Johnson  paid 
Djar  a  degree  of  deference  be  showed  to  nobody 
•»v-Ed.] 

voi»  i#  29 


I  returned  to  London  in  February,  and 
found  Dr.  Johnson  in  a  good  house  in 
Johnson's-court,  Fleet-street,  .in  which  he 
had  accommodated  Miss  Williams  with  an 
apartment  on  the  ground  floor,  while  Mr. 
Levett  occupied  his  post  in  the  garret:  his 
faithful  Francis  was  still  attending  upon 
him.  [An  upper  room,  which  had 
the  advantages  of  a  good  light  and  JJg2; 
free  air,  he  fitted  up  for  a  study,  and  p* 
furnished  with  books,  chosen  with  so  little 
regard  to  editions  or  their  external  appear- 
ance, as  showed  they  were  intended  for 
use,  and  that  he  disdained  the  ostentation 
of  learning.  Here  he  was  in  a  situation 
and  circumstances  that  enabled  him  to  en- 
joy the  visits  of  his  friends,  and  to  receive 
them  in  a  manner  suitable  to  the  rank  and 
condition  of  m any  of  them.  A  silver  stand- 
ish,  and  some  useful  plate,  which  he  had 
been  prevailed  onto  accept  as  pledges  of 
kindness  from  some  who  most  esteemed 
him,  together  with  furniture  that  would  not 
have  disgraced  a  better  dwelling,  banished 
those  appearances  of  squalid  indigence, 
which,  in  his  less  happy  days,  disgusted 
those  who  came  to  see  him.  In  one  of  his 
diaries  he  noted  down  a  resolution  to  take  a 
seat  in  the  church:  this  he  might  possibly 
do  about  the  time  of  this  removal.  The 
church  he  frequented  was  that  of  St.  Clem- 
ent Danes,  which,  though  not  his  parish 
church,  he  preferred  to  that  of  the  Temple, 
which  latter  Sir  John  Hawkins  had  recom- 
mended to  him  as  being  free  from  noise, 
and,  in  other  respects,  more  commodious. 
His  only  reason  was,  that  in  the,  former  he 
was  best  known.  He  was  not  constant  in 
his  attendance  on  divine  worship;  but, 
from  an  opinion  peculiar  to  himself,  and 
which  he  once  intimated  to  me,  seemed  to 
wait  for  some  secret  impulse  as  a  motive 
to  it.  The  Sundays  which  he  passed  at 
home  were,  nevertheless,  spent  in  private 
exercises  of  devotion,  and  sanctified  oy  acts 
of  charity  of  a  singular  kind:  on  that  day 
he  accepted  of  no  invitation  abroad,  but 
gave  a  dinner  to  such  of  his  poor  friends 
as  might  else  have  gone  without  one.  He 
had  little  now  to  conflict  with  but  what  he 
called  his  morbid  melancholy,  which,  though 
oppressive,  had  its  intermissions,  and  left  him 
the  free  exercise  of  all  his  faculties,  and  the 
power  of  enjoying  the  conversation  of  his 
numerous  friends  and  visitants.  These  re- 
liefs he  owed  in  a  great  measure  to  the  use 
of  opium 3,  which  he  was  accustomed  to 


>  [As  Boswsll  does  not  contradict  this  state 
meat,  it  must  be  presumed  to  be  true,  and  is 
therefore  admitted  into  the  text;  but  it  will  be 
seen  that,  many  years  after  this,  and  even  when 
labouring  under  his  last  fatal  illness,  Johnson  had 
some  scruples  about  the  use  of  opium.  Perhaps, 
if  we  are  to  give  credit  to  Hawkins's  assertion, 
later  scruples  may  have  arisen  from  Ins  hav- 

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1766.— ^ETAT.  ST. 


take  in  large  quantities,  the  effect  whereof 
was  generally  such  an  exhilaration  of  his 
spirits  as  he  sometimes  suspected  for  intox- 
ication. 

He  received  me  with  mnch  kindness. 
The  fragments  of  our  first  conversation, 
which  I  have  preserved,  are  these:  I  told 
him  that  Voltaire,  in  a  conversation  with 
me,  had  distinguished  Pope  and  Dryden 
thus:—"  Pope  drives  a  handsome  chariot, 
with  a  couple  of  neat  trim  nags;  Dryden  a 
coach,  and  six  stately  horses  *."  Johnson. 
"Why,  sir,  the  truth  is,  they  both  drive 
coaches  and  six;  but  Dryden's  horses  are 
either  galloping  or  stumbling:  Pope's  go 
at  a  steady  even  trot9."  He  said  of  Gold- 
smith's "  Traveller,"  which  had  been  pub- 
lished in  my  absence,  "  There  has  not  been 
so  fine  a  poem  since  Pope's  time  " 

And  here  it  is  proper  to  settle,  with  au- 
thentick  precision,  wtiat  has  Ion*  floated  in 
publick  report,  as  to  Johnson's  being  him- 
self the  authour  of  a  considerable  part  of 
that  poem.  Much,  no  doubt,  both  of  the 
sentiments  and  expression  were  derived 
from  conversation  with  him3,  and  it  was 
certainly  submitted  to  his  friendly  revision: 
but  in  the  year  1783,  he  at  my  request 
marked  with  a  pencil  the  lines  wluch  he  had 
furnished,  which  are  only  line  420th, 

"  To  stop  too  fearful,  and  too  faint  to  go;" 

and  the  concluding  ten  lines,  except  the 
last  couplet  but  one,  which  I  distinguish  by 
the  Italic  character: 

"  How  small  of  all  that  human  hearts  endure, 
That  part  which  kings  or  laws  can  cause  obcure. 
Still  to  ourselves  in  every  place  consign'd, 
Our'  own  felicity  we  make  or  find; 
With  secret  course  which  no  loud  storms  annoy, 
Glides  the  smooth  current  of  domestick  joy: 
The  lifted  axe,  the  agonizing  wheel, 
Luke' e  iron  crown,  and  Damien's  bed  of  steel, 


om  power, 
i,  and  consek 


ing  formerly  made  too  frequent  use  of  this  fasci- 
nating palliative. — Ed.] 

1  It  is  remarkable  that  Mr.  Gray  has  employed 
somewhat  the  same  image  to  characterize  Dryden. 
He  indeed  furnishes  his  car  with  but  two  horses; 
but  they  are  of  "  ethereal  race:" 

u  Behold  where  Drydeirt  leaf  presumptuous  car. 
Wide  o'er  the  fields  of  glory  beer 
Two  coursers  of  ethereal  race,  [pace." 

With  necks  in  thunder  clothed,  and  long  resounding 
Ode  on  the  Progreu  e/ Poesy.— JSoiwnix. 

*  [Johnson,  in  the  life  of  Pope,  has  made  a 
comparison  between  him  and  Dryden,  in  the 
spirit  of  this  correction  of  Voltaire's  metaphor.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  critical  passages  in  onr 
language,  and  was  probably  suggested  to  John- 
son's mind  by  this  conversation,  although  he  did 
not  make  use  of  the  same  illustration,— Ed.) 

*  [This  rests  on  no  authority  whatever,  and 
may  well  be  doubted.  The  Traveller  m  a  poem 
which,  in  a  peculiar  degree,  seems  written  from 
the  personal  observation  and  feelings  of  its  author. 
—Ed.]  ^ 


Leave  reason,  faith,  and  conscience,  all  ov  own." 

He  added,  "  These  are  all  of  which  I  earn 
he  sure."  They  bear  a  small  proportion 
to  the  whole,  which  consists  of  four  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  verses.  Goldsmith,  in  the 
couplet  which  he  inserted  *,  mentions  Luke 
as  a  person  well  known,  and  superficial 
readers  have  passed  it  over  quite  smoothly; 
while  those  of  more  attention  have  been  aw 
much  perplexed  by  Luke  as  by  Lydiat,  in 
"  The  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes."  The 
truth  is,  that  Goldsmith  himself  was  in  a 
mistake.  In  the  "  Retpublica  Hungarica," 
there  is  an  account  or  a  desperate  rebellion 
in  the  year  1514,  headed  by  two  brothers, 
of  the  name  of  Zeck,  George  and  Luke." 
When  it  was  quelled,  George,  not  Lttket 
was  punished  by  his  head  being  encircled 
with  a  red  hot  iron  crown:  "corond  -  — 


deteentef erred  coronatur."  The  same  se- 
verity of  torture  was  exercised  on  the  Earl 
of  Athol,  one  of  the  murderers  of  King 
James  I.  of  Scotland5. 

Dr.  Johnson  at  the  same  time  favoured 
me  by  marking  the  lines  which  he  furnished 
to  Goldsmith's  '<  Deserted  Village,"  which 
are  only  the  last  four: 

"  That  trade's  proud  empire  hastes  to  swift  decay t 
As  ocean  sweeps  the  labour *d  mole  away: 
While  self-dependent  power  can  time  defy, 
As  rocks  resist  the  billows  and  the  sky." 

Talking  of  education, "  People  have  now* 
adays  (said  he)  got  a  strange  opinion  that 
every  thing  should  be  taught  by  lectures. 
Now,  I  cannot  see  that  lectures  can  do  so 
much  good  as  reading  the  books  from 
which  the  lectures  are  token.  I  know  no- 
thing that  can  be  best  taught  by  lectures, 
except  where  experiments  are  to  be  shown. 
You  may  teach  chvmistry  by  lectures:— 
you  migrht  teach  making  shoes  by  lectures  !n 

At  night  I  supped  with  him  at  the  Mitre 
tavern,  that  we  might  renew  our  social  in- 
timacy at  the  original  place  of  meeting. 
But  there  was  now  a  considerable  difference 
in  his  way  of  living.  Having  had  an  ill- 
ness6, in  which  he  was  advised  to  leave  off 
wine,  he  had,  from  that  period,  continued 


4  [This  is  a  strange  way  of  speaking  of  the 
lines  of  an  author  in  his  own  poem — Johnson's 
were  rather  the  insertion;  and  it  must  be  ob- 
served that  they  could  only  have  been  alterations 
of,  or  substitutions  for  other  lines,  conveying, 
though  perhaps  in  less  effective  language,  the 
same  or  similar  sentiments. — En.] 

5  On  the  iron  crown,  see  Mr.  Steevens's  note 
7,  an  act  iv.  scene  i.  of  Richard  UL  It  seems  to 
be  alluded  to  in  Macbeth,  act  iv.  scene  L:  "  Thy 
crown  does  sear,"  fcc  See  also  Oough's  Coat- 
den;  vol.  UL  p.  396. — Blake  way. 

*  [Probably  the  severe  fit  of  hypochondria  re- 
ferred to  ante,  vol.  L  p  501.— Ed.] 

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1766.—jBTAT.  57. 


337 


to  abstain  from  it,  and  drank  only  water  or 
lemonade. 

I  told  him  that  a  foreign  friend  of  his1, 
whom  I  had  met  with  abroad,  was  so  wretch- 
edly perverted  to  infidelity,  that  he  treated 
the  hopes  of  immortality  with  brutal  levity; 
tod  said,  "  As  man  dies  like  a  dog,  let  him 
lie  like  a  dog."  Johnsok.  "  If  he  dies 
like  a  dog,  let  him  lie  like  a  dog."  I  added, 
that  this  man  said  to  me,  "  I  hate  man- 
kind, for  I  think  myself  one  of  the  best  of 
them,  and  I  know  how  bad  I  am."  Johh- 
soir.  "  Sir,  he  must  be  very  singular  in  his 
opinion,  if  he  thinks  himself  one  of  the  best 
of  men;  for  none  of  his  friends  think  him 
**.**— He  said,  "  No  honest  man  could  be  a 
Deist;  for  no  man  could  be  so  after  a  fair 
examination  of  the  proofs  of  Christianity." 
I  named  Hume.  Johnson.  "No,  sir; 
Hume  owned  to  a  clergyman  in  the  bishop- 
rick  of  Durham,  that  he  had  never  read  the 
New  Testament  with  attention." — I  men- 
tioned Hume's  notion,  that  all  who  are  hap- 
py are  equally  happy;  a  little  miss  with  a 
new  gown  at  a  dancing-** hool  ball,  a  ge- 
neral at  the  head  of  a  victorious  army,  and 
an  orator  after  having  made  an  eloquent 
speech  in  a  great  assembly.  Johnson. 
u  Sir,  that  all  who  are  happy  are  equally 
happy,  is  not  true.  A  peasant  and  a  phi- 
losopher may  be  equally  satisfied  but  not 
equally  happy.  Happiness  consists  in  the 
multiplicity  of  agreeable  consciousness.  A 
peasant  has  not  capacity  for  having  equal 
happiness  with  a  philosopher."  I  remem- 
ber this  very  question  very  happily  illustrat- 
ed in  opposition  to  Hume,  by  tne  Rev.  Mr. 
Robert  Brown,  at  Utrecht  "A  small 
dnnking-glass  and  a  large  one  (said  he)  may 
be  equally  full,  but  theJarge  one  holds  more 
than  the  small*." 


1  [Probably  Baretti.— Ed.] 
1  Bishop  lull,  in  discussing 
tat  same  image:    "  Yet  so  conceive  of 


>Hall,  in  discussing  this  subject,  has 


haivenly  degrees,  that  the  least  is  glorious.  So  do 
these  vessels  differ,  that  all  are  full.*9—Epis- 
tfct,  Dee.  uu  eap.  6.  "  Of  the  different  degrees 
ef  heavenly  glory."  This  most  learned  and  in- 
fsaioas  writer,  however,  was  not  the  first  who 
■ftnjtsted  this  image;  for  it  is  found  also  in  an  old 
book  entitled  "  A  Work  worth  the  reading,"  by 
Charles  Gibbon,  4to.  1591.  In  the  fifth  dialogue 
fifths  work,  in  which  the  question  debated  is, 
M  whether  there  be  degrees  of  giorie  in  heaven,  or 
Afierence  of  paines  in  hell,"  one  of  the  speakers 
•hserves,  that  "  no  doubt*Sn  the  world  to  come 
(where  the  least  pleasure  is  unspeakable),  it  can- 
sot  be  but  that  he  which  hath  bin  most  afflicted 
hare  shall  conceive  and  receive  more  exceeding 
JOTtban  he  which  hath  bin  touched  with  lease 
Inhalation:  and  yet  the  joyes  of  heaven  are  Julie 
compared  to  vessels  filled  with  Keour,  of  all 
f**ntitiei;  for  everie  man  shall  have  his  full 
aaaroe  there."  By  "  aU  quantities,"  this  wri- 
te (who  seems  to  refer  to  a  still  mom  ancient 


Dr.  Johnson  was  very  kind  this  evening! 
and  said  to  me,  «  You  have  now  lived  five- 
and-twenty  years,  and  you  have  employed 
them  well."  «  Alas,  sir,  (said  I),  I  fear  not 
Do  I  know  history?  Do  I  know  mathe- 
maticks?  Do  I  know  law?"  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  though  you  may  know  no  sci- 
ence so  well  as  to  be  able  to  teach  it,  and  no 
profession  so  well  as  to  be  able  to  follow  it, 
your  general  mass  of  knowledge  of  books 
and  men  renders  you  very  capable  to  make 
yourself  master  or  any  science,  or  fit  your- 
self for  any  profession."  I  mentioned  that 
a  gay  friend  bad  advised  me  against  being1 
a  lawyer,  because  I  should  be  excelled  by 
plodding  blockheads.  Johnson.  "Why, 
sir,  in  the  formulary  and  statutory  part  of 
jaw,  a  plodding  blockhead  may  excel;  but 
in  the  ingenious  and  rational  part  of  it,  a 
plodding  blockhead  can  never  excel." 

I  talked  of  the  mode  adopted  by  some  to 
rise  in  the  world,  by  courting  great  men  *, 
and  asked  him  whether  he  had  ever  submit- 
ted to  it  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  I  never 
was  near  enough  to  great  men,  to  court 
them.  You  may  be  prudently  attached  to 
great  men,  and  yet  independent.  You  are 
pot  to  do  what  you  think  wrong;  and, 
you  are  to  calculate,  and  not  pay  tooj;' 
for  what  you  get  You  must  not  j 
shilling's  worth  of  court  for  sixpence* 
of  good.  But  if  you  can  get  a 
worth  of  good  for  sixpence  wort 
you  are  a  fool  if  you  do  not  pay  < 

He  said,  "  If  convents  should  be  allowed 
at  all,  they  should  only  be  retreats  for  per- 
sons unable  to  serve  the  publick,  or  who 
have  served  it  It  is  our  first  duty  to  serve 
society4;  and  after  we  have  done  that,  we 


authour  than  himself),  I  suppose,  means  differ- 
ent quantities. — Malone. 

[All  these  illustrations,  like  most  physical  illustra- 
tions of  moral  subjects,  are  imperfect  A  little 
miss  and  a  great  general  are  not  full  of  the  same 
liquor:  the  peasant's  cap  may  be  as  full  as  the 
philosopher's,  but  one  may  be  fall  of  water  and 
the  other  of  wine.  Moral  and  intellectual  feeling! 
are  not  to  be  estimated  by  quantity  only,  but  by 
the  quality  also.— Ed.] 

9  [See  ante,  p.  50.— En.] 

4  [This  observation  has  given  eflenee,  as  if  it 
seemed  to  sanction  the  postponement  of  the  ears 
of  our  salvation,  until  we  should  have  performed 
all  our  duties  to  society;  which  would  be,  in  fact, 
an  adjournment  sine  die.  But  Dr.  Johnson  was 
talking  of  monastic  retirement,  and,  from  the  con- 
text, as  well  as  from  his  own  practice,  it  is  clear 
that  he  must  have  meant,  that  an  entire  abstrac- 
tion from  the  world,  and  an  exclusive  dedication 
to  recluse  devotion,  was  not  justifiable  as  long  as 
any  of  our  duties  to.  society  were  unperformed. 
Bishop  Taylor,  who  will  not  be  suspected  of 
worldlineaf,  has  a  sentiment  not  dissimilar:  "  If 
our  youth  be  chaste  and  temperate,  moderate  and 
industrious,  proceeding,  through  a  prudent  and 
sober  manhood,  to  a  religious  old  age,  then  we 


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may  attend  wholly  to  the  salvation  of  our 
own  souls.  A  youthful  passion  for  abstract- 
ed devotion  should  not  be  encouraged.'* 

I  introduced  the  subject  of  second  sight, 
and  other  mysterious  manifestations;  the 
fulfilment  of  which,  I  suggested,  might  hap- 
pen by  chance.  Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir,  but 
they  have  happened  so  often  i,  that  mankind 
have  agreed  to  think  them  not  fortuitous." 

I  talked  to  him  a  great  deal  of  what  I  had 
seen  in  Corsica,  and  of  my  intention  to 
publish  an  account  of  it  He  encouraged 
me  by  saying, "  You  cannot  go  to  the  bottom 
of  the  subject;  but  all  that  you  tell  us  will 
be  new  to  us.  Give  us  as  many  anecdotes 
as  you  can." 

Our  next  meeting  at  the  Mitre  was  on 
Saturday  the  15th  of  February,  when  I 
presented  to  him  my  old  and  most  intimate 
friend,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Temple,  then  of  Cam- 
bridge. I  having  memioned  that  I  had 
passed  some  time  with  Rousseau  in  his  wild 
retreat,  and  having  quoted  some  remark 
made  by  Mr.  Wilkes,  with  whom  I  had 
spent  many  pleasant  hours  in  Italy,  Johnson 
said  (sarcastically), "  It  seems,  sir,  you  have 
kept  very  good  company  abroad,  Rousseau 
and  Wilkes!"  Thinking  it  enough  to  de- 
fend one  at  a  time,  I  said  nothing  as  to  my 
gay  friend,  but  answered  with  a  smile, "  My 
dear  six,  you  don't  call  Rousseau  bad  com- 

5 any.  jbo  you  really  think  him  a  bad  man  ?" 
ohnso*.  "  Sir,  if  you  are  talking  jesting- 
ly of  this,"  I  don't  talk  with  you.  If  you 
mean  to  be  serious,  I  think  him  one  of  the 
worst  of  men;  a  rascal,  who  ought  to  be 
hunted  out  of  (society,  as  he  has  been. 
Three  or  four  nations  have  expelled  him : 
ana^it  is  a  shame  that  he  is  protected  in  this 
country."  Boswull.  "  I  don't  deny,  sir, 
but  that  his  novel9  may,  perhaps,  do  harm; 
but  I  cannot  think  his  intention  was  bad." 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  that  will  not  do.  We 
cannot  prove  any  man's  intention  to  be  bad. 


have  lived  our  whole  deration,  and  shall  never 
die."— Holy  Dying,  e.  L  s.  6.  Neither  the 
bkhopnorDr.  Johnson  could  mean  that  youth 
and  manhood  should  not  be  religion*,  but  that 
they  should  not  be  religions  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  social  duties  of  industry,  prudence,  Ice.  See 
post, 19th  August,  1778,  where  Johnson  quotes 
from  Hesiod,  a  line  which  Bishop  Taylor  had 
probably  in  his  mind. — Ed.] 

1  [The  fact  seems  rather  to  be,  that  they  have 
happened  so  seldom  that  (however  general  su- 
perstiHon  may  be)  there  does  not  seem  to  be  on 
record  in  the  profane  history  of  the  world,  one 
single  well  authenticated  instance  of  such  a  mani- 
festation—not one  such  instance  as  could  com- 
mand the  full  belief  of  rational  men.  Although 
Dr.  Johnson  generally  leaned  to  the  superstitious 
aide  of  this  question,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  oe*- 
casionsjly  took  a  different  and  more  rational  view 
of  it— Ed.] 

»  ILa  JsTouvtUt  Heloise.— Ed.] 


You  may  shoot  m  man  through  the  head, 
and  say  you  intended  to  miss  him;  but  the 
judge  will  order  you  to  be  hanged.  An  al- 
leged want  of  intention,  when  evil  is  com- 
mitted, will  not  be  allowed  in  a  court  of  jus- 
tice. Rousseau,  sir,  is  s  very  bad  man.  I 
would  sooner  sign  a  sentence  for  his  trans- 
portation, than  that  of  any  felon  who  has 
?>ne  from  the  Old  Bailey  these  man  v  yearn, 
es,  I  should  like  to  have  him  work  in  the 
plantations."  Boswnix.  "Sir,  do  you 
think  him  as  bad  a  man  as  Voltaire?" 
Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  it  is  difficult  to  set- 
tle the  proportion  of  iniquity  between 
them." 

This  violence  seemed  very  strange  to  me, 
who  had  read  many  of  Rousseau's  animated 
writings  with  great  pleasure,  and  even  edi- 
fication; had  been  much  pleased  with  his 
society,  and  was  just  come  from  the  Conti- 
nent, where  he  was  very  generally  admired. 
Nor  can  I  yet  allow  that  he  deserves  the 
very  severe  censure  which  Johnson  pro- 
nounced upon  him.  His  absurd  preference 
of  savage  to  civilized  life,  and  other  singu- 
larities, are  proofs  rather  of  a  defect  in  hit 
understanding,  than  of  any  depravity  in  his 
heart 3.  And  notwithstanding  the  unfavour- 
able opinion  which  many  worthy  men  have 
expressed  of  his  "  Profe—ion  de  Fai  dm 
Vxcavre  Savoyard,"  I  cannot  help  admir- 
ing it  as  the  performance  of  a  man  full  of 
sincere  reverential  submission  to  Divine 
Mystery,  though  beset  with  perplexing 
doubts:  astateofmindto  be  viewed  with 
pity  rather  than  with  anger. 

On  his  favourite  subject  of  subordination, 
Johnson  said, "  So  far  is  it  from  being  true 
that  men  are  naturally  equal,  and  no  two 
people  can  be  half  an  hour  together,  but 
one  shall  acquire  an  evident  superiority 
over  the  other4." 

I  mentioned  the  advice  given  us  by  phi- 
losophers, to  console  ourselves,  when  dis- 
tressed or  embarrassed,  by  thinking  of  those 
who  are  in  a  worse  situation  than  ourselves. 
This,  I  observed,  could  not  apply  to  all,  for 


[The  Confessions  of  this  miserable  man  hud 
not  been  at  this  time  published.  If  we  are  to  ad- 
mit Mr.  BoswelTs  distinction  between  the  under- 
standing and  the  heart,  it  would  seem  that  Ins 
judgment  on  this  point  should***  reversed,  for 
Rousseau's  understanding  was  sound  enough  When 
the  folly  and  turpitude  of  his  heart  did  not  disor- 
der it— En.] 

*  [No  mistake  was  ever  greater,  in  terms  or  m 
substance,  than  that  which  affirms  the  natvral 
equality  of  mankind.  Men,  on  the  contrary,  are 
bora  so  vejy^meqnal  in  capacities  and  powers, 
mental  and  corporeal,  that  H  requires  laws  and 
the  Institutions  of  civil  society  to  bring  them  to  a 
*  state  of  moral  equality.  Social  equality— that  is, 
equality  in  property,  power,  rank,  and  respect 
if  it  were  miraculously  established,  could  net 
maintain  itself  a  week— En.] 

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17*fc— iETAT.  67 


than  must  be  some  who  have  nobody  worn 
than  they  are.  Johhsoi*.  "  Why,  to  be 
sure,  sir,  there  are;  but  they  don't  know  it 
There  Is  no  being  so  poor  and  so  contempt- 
ible, who  does  not  think  there  is  somebody 
•till  poorer  and  still  more  contemptible." 

As  my  stay  in  London  at  this  time  was 
very  short,  I  had  not  many  opportunities  of 
being  with  Dr.  Johnson;  but  i  felt  my  ven- 
eration for  him  in  no  degree  lessened,  by  my 
having  seen  muitontm  hominum  more*  et 
urbes.  On  the  contrary,  by  having  it  in 
ntr  power  to  compare  him  with  many 
of  the  most  celebrated  persons  of  other 
countries,  my  admiration  of  his  extraordi- 
nary mind  was  increased  and  confirmed. 

The  roughness,  indeed,  which  sometimes 
appeared  in  his  manners,  was  more  striking 
to  me  now,  from  my  having  been  accustom- 
ed to  the  studied  smooth  complying  habits 
of  the  Continent;  and  I  clearly  recognized 
In  him,  not  without  respect  for  his  honest 
conscientious  zeal,  the  same  indignant  and 
sarcastkal  mode  of  treating  every  attempt 
to  unhinge  or  weaken  good  principles. 

One  evening  when  a  young  gentleman 
teased  him  with  an  account  of  the  infidelity 
of  his  servant,  who,  he  said,  would  not  be- 
lieve the  scriptures,  because  he  could  not 
read  them  in  the  original  tongues,  and  be 
sure  that  they  were  not  invented:  "  Why, 
foolish  fellow,"  said  Johnson,  "  has  he  any 
better  authority  for  almost  every  thing  that 
he  believes?"  Boswkll.  "Then  the  vul- 
gar, sir,  never  can  know  they  are  right,  but 
must  submit  themselves  to  the  learned." 
Johhsoic.  "  To  be  sure,  sir.  The  vulgar 
are  the  children  of  the  state,  and  must  be 
taught  like  children."  Boswell.  "Then, 
sir,  a  poor  Turk  must  be  a  Mahometan, 
just  as  a  poor  Englishman  must  be  a  Chris- 
tian?" Johnson.  "  Why,  yes,  sir;  and 
what  then?  This  now  is  such  stuff1  as  I 
used  to  talk  to  my  mother,  when  I  first 
began  to  think  myself  a  clever  fellow^  and 
she  ought  to  have  whipt  me  for  it" 

Another  evening  Dr.  Goldsmith  and  I 
called  on  him,  with  the  hope  of  prevailing 
on  him  to  sup  with  us  at  the  Mitre.  We 
found  him  indisposed,  and  resolved  not  to 
go  abroad.  "  Come  then,"  said  Goldsmith, 
"  we  will  not  go  to  the  Mitre  to-night,  since 

[It  may  be  suspected  that  Dr.  Johnson  called 
this  "  cktldith  stuff,"  somewhat  hastily,  and 
from  a  desire  of  evading  the  subject;  for,  no 
doubt,  the  principle  invoked  in  Mr.  Boswell 's  in- 
anities is  one  of  Terr  high  importance,  and  of  very 
mat  difficulty— difficnlty  so  great,  that  Johnson 
sameelf,  though,  indeed  (as  we  shall  see,  ©oaf, 
7th  May,  1773),  sometimes  led  to  talk  seriously, 
and  even  warmly  on  the  subject,  seems  unable  to 
maintain  the  rail  extent  of  lus  principles  by  solid 
season,  and  therefore  ends  the 
by  ridicule  or  violence. — En.] 


we  cannot  have  the  big  mm*  with  us." 
Johnson  then  called  for  a  hottle  of  port,  of 
which  Goldsmith  and  I  partook,  while  our 
friend,  now  a  water  drinker,  sat  by  us. 
Goldsmith.  "  I  think,  Mr.  Johnson,  you 
don't  go  near  the  theatres  now.  You  give 
yourself  no  more  concern  shout  a  new  play, 
than  if  you  had  never  had  any  thing  to  do 
with  the  stage."  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir, 
our  tastes  greatly  alter.  The  lad  does  not 
care  for  the  child's  rattle,  and  the  old  man 
does  not  care  for  the  young  man'&prostitute." 
Goldsmith.  "  Nay,  sir:  hut  your  Muse 
was  not  a  prostitute."  Johnson.  "  I  do 
not  think  she  was.  But  as  we  advance  in 
the  journey  of  life  we  drop  some  of  the 
things  which  have  pleased  us;  whether  it 
he  that  we  are  fatigued  and  don't  choose  to 
carry  so  many  things  any  farther,  or  that 
we  find  other  things  which  we  like  better." 
Boswkll.  "  But,  sir,  why  don't  you  give 
us  something  in  some  other  way?  "  Gold- 
smith. "  Ay,  sir,  we  have  a  claim  upon 
you."  Johnson.  "No,  sir,  I  am  not 
obliged  to  do  any  more.  No  man  is  obliged 
to  do  as  much  as  he  can  do.  A  man  is  to 
have  part  of  his  life  to  himself.  If  a  sol- 
dier has  fought  a  good  many  campaigns,  he 
is  not  to  be  blamed  if  he  retires  to  ease  and 
tranquillity.  A  physician  who  has  practis- 
ed long  in  a  great  city,  may  be  excused,  if 
he  retires  to  a  small  town,  and  takes  less 
practice.  Now,  sir,  the  good  I  can  do  by 
my  conversation  bears  the  same  proportion 
to  the  good  I  can  do  hy  my  writings,  that 
the  practice  of  a  physician,  retired '  to  a 
small  town,  does  to  his  practice  in  a  great 
city."  Boswell.  "But  I  wonder,  sir, 
you  have  not  more  pleasure  in  writing  than 
in  not  writing."  Johnson.  "  Sir,  yon 
aeay  wonder  3 1" 

He  talked  of  making  verses,  and  observed, 
"  The  great  difficulty  is,  to  know  when  yon 
have  made  good  ones.  When  composing, 
I  have  generally  had  them  in  my  mind, 

Serhans  fifty  at  a  time,  walking  up  and 
own  in  my  room,  and  then  I  have  written 
them  down,  and  often,  from  laziness,  have 
written  only  half  lines.  I  have  written  a 
hundred  lines  in  a  day.    I  remember  I  wrote 


*  [These  two  little  words  may  be  observed  as 
marks  of  Sir.  Boswell's  accuracy  m  reporting  the 
expressions  of  his  personages.  It  is  a  jocular  Irish 
phrase,  which,  of  all  Johnson's  acquaintance*,  no 
one,  probably,  but  Goldsmith  could  have  used.— 
En.] 

*  [Thie  is  another  amusing  trait  of  Mr.  Bos- 
well'a  accuracy  and  bonne  foi.  Can  any  thing 
be  mora  comic  than  Johnson's  affectation  of  su- 
periority, even  to  the  degree  of  supposing  that 
Boswell  would  not  dare  to  wonder  without  his 
special  sanction,  and  the  deference  wkh  which 
Boswetl  receives  and  records  such  gracious  con- 

?— Ed.] 


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1766.— ^TAT.  67. 


a  hundred  lines  of  ( The  Vanity  of  Human 
Wishes'  in  a  day.  Doctor  (turning  to 
Goldsmith),  I  am  not  quite  idle;  J  made  one 
line  t'other  day:  hut  I  made  no  more.'3 
Goldsmith.  "  Let  us  hear  it;  we'll  put  a 
had  one  to  it"  Johnso*.  "  No,  sir,  I 
have  forgot  it" 

Such  specimens  of  the  easy  and  playful 
conversation  of  the  great  Dr.  Samuel  John- 
son are,  I  think,  to  be  prized;  as  exhibiting 
the  little  varieties  of  a  mind  so  enlarged 
and  so  powerful  when  objects  of  conse- 
quence required  its  exertions,  and  as  giving 
us  a  minute  knowledge  of  his  character  and 
modes  of  thinking. 

CCT0  BENNST  LANGTON,  ESQ.  AT  LANGTON. 
"  JohiwonVcoort,  Fleet-street,  9th  March,  1766. 

"Dear  sir, — What  your  friends  have 
done,  that  from  your  departure  till  now 
nothing  has  been  heard  of  you,  none  of  us 
are  able  Jo  inform  the  rest;  but  as  we  are 
all  neglected  alike,  no  one  thinks  himself 
entitled  to  the  privilege  of  complaint 

"I  should  have  known  nothing  of  you 
or  of  Langton,  from  the  time  that  dear  Miss 
Langton l  left  us,  had  not  I  met  Mr.  Simp- 
son, of  Lincoln,  one  day  in  the  street,  by 
whom  I  was  informed  that  Mr.  Langton, 
your  mamma,  and  yourself,  had  been  all  ill, 
out  that  you  were  all  recovered. 

"  That  sickness  should  suspend  your  cor- 
respondence, I  did  not  wonder;  but  hoped 
that  it  would  be  renewed  at  your  recovery. 

*  Since  you  will  not  inform  us  where  you 
are,  or  how  you  live,  I  know  not  Whether 
you  desire  to  know  any  thing  of  us.  How- 
ever, I  will  tell  you  that  the  club  subsists; 
but  we  have  the  loss  of  Burke's  company 
since  he  has  been  engaged  in  publick  busi- 
ness 9  in  which  he  has  gained  more  reputa- 
tion than  perhaps  any  man  at  his  (first)  ap- 
pearance ever  gained  before.  *  He  made  two 
speeches  in  the  house  for  repealing  the 
stamp-act,  which  were  publickly  commend- 
ed by  Mr.  Pitt,  and  have  filled  the  town 
with  wonder. 

"  Burke  is  a  great  man  by  nature,  and  is 
expected  soon  to  attain  civil  greatness.  I 
am  grown  greater  too,  for  I  have  maintain- 
ed the  newspapers  these  many  weeks  3;  and 
what  is  greater  still,  I  have  risen  every 
morning  since  New-year's  day,  at  about 
eight:  when  I  was  up,  I  have  indeed  done 
but  little:  yet  it  is  no  slight  advancement  to 
obtain  for  so  many  hours  more  the  conscious- 
ness of  being. 

"  I  wish  you  were  in  my  new  study4 ;  I 

1  [Mr.  Langton's  eldest  sister.— Ed.] 

*  [Mr.  Burke  came  into  parliament  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  in  the 
year  1765.— -En.] 

3  [Probably  with  criticisms  on  his  Shakspeare. 
—Ed.] 

4  [He  refers  to  some  new  accommodations  of 


am  now  writing  the  first  letter  in  it.  I  think 
it  looks  very  pretty  about  me. 

"Dyer  is  constant  at  the  club;  Hawk- 
ins is  remiss;  I  am  not  over  diligent.  Dr. 
Nugent,  Dr.  Goldsmith,  and  Mr.  Reynolds, 
are  very  constant.  Mr.  Lye5  is  printing 
his  Saxon  aud  Gothick  Dictionary:  all  thi 
club  subscribes. 

"  You  will  pay  my  respects  to  all  my  Lin- 
colnshire friends.  I  am,  dear  sir,  most  af- 
fectionately yours,      "Sam.  Johhsok." 

"  TO  BENNBT  LANGTON,  ESQ.  AT  LANGTON. 
**  Johnson Vcoort,  Fleet-street,  10th  May,  1766. 
"  Dear  sir, — In  supposing  that  I  should 
be  more  than  commonly  affected  by  the 
death  of  Peregrine  Langton «,  you  were  not 
mistaken;  he  was  one  of  those  whom  I 
loved  at  once  by  instinct  and  by  reason.  I 
have  seldom  indulged  more  hope  of  any 
thing  than  of  being  able  to  improve  our  ac- 
quaintance to  friendship.  Many  a  time 
have  I  placed  myself  again  at  Langton, 
imagined  the  pleasure  with  which  I  should 
walk  to  Partney7  in  a  summer  morning; 
but  this  is  no  longer  possible.  We  must 
now  endeavour  to  preserve  what  is  left  us 
— his  example  of  piety  and  economy.  I 
hope  you  make  what  inouiries  you  can,  and 
write  down  what  is  told  you.  The  little 
things  which  distinguish  domestick  charac- 
ters are  soon  forgotten:  if  you  delay  to  in* 
quire,  you  will  have  no  information;  if  yon 
neglect  to  write,  information  will  be  vain  *.       j 


this  kind  in  the  prayer  composed  "  on 
Novum  Museum,' "  two  days  previews  to  the 
date  of  this  letter.  Prayers  and  Meditations, 
68.— Hall.] 

*  [Edward  Lye  is  stated,  in  the  Biographical 
Dictionary,  to  have  been  bom  in  1704,  probably 
by  mistake  for  1694.  He  was  of  Hart  HaB,  A. 
B.  in  1716,  and  A.  M.  in  1722.  He  published 
the  Etymologicum  Anglicanum*  of  Junius.  His 
great  work  is  that  referred  to  above,  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Gothic  Dictionary,  which  he  had  fin- 
ished, and  it  seems  was  printing,  but  he  did  not 
live  to  see  the  publication.  He  died  in  1767,  and 
the  Dictionary  was  published  by  the  Rev.  Owen 
Manning  in  1772.— .Ed.] 

6  Mr.  Langton's  ancle. 

7  The  place  of  residence  of  Mr.  Peregrins 
Langton. 

8  Mr.  Langton  did  not  disregard  this  counsel, 
but  wrote  the  following  account,  which  he  has 
been  pleased  to  communicate  <to  roe! 

"  The  circumstances  of  Mr.  Peregrine  Langton 
were  these.  He  had  aft  annuity  for  life  of  two 
hundred  pounds  per  annum.  He  resided  in  a  vil- 
lage in  Lincolnshire:  the  rent  of  his  house,  with 
two  or  three  small  fields,  was  twenty-eight 
pounds;  the  county  he  lived  in  was  not  mors 
than  moderately  cheap:  his  family  consisted  of  a 
sister,  who  paid  him  eighteen  pounds  annually  for 
her  board,  and  a  niece.  The  servants  were  two 
maids,  and  two  men  in  livery.  His  common  way 
of  living,  at  his  table,  was  three  or  four  i"  ' 


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"  His  art  of  life  certainly  deserves  to  be 
known  and  studied.  He  lived  in  plenty  and 
elegance  upon  an  income  which  to  many 


the  appurtenances  to  his  table  were  neat  and 
Jandaome;  he  frequently  entertained  company  at 
dinner,  and  then  his  table  was  well  served  with 
as  many  dishes  as  were  usual  at  the  tables  of  the 
other  gentlemen  in  the  neighbourhood.  His  own 
appearance,  as  to  clothes,  was  genteelly  neat  and 
plain.  He  had  always  a  postchafee,  and  kept 
three  horses. 

"  Such,  with  the  resources  I  have  mentioned, 
was  his  way  of  living,  which  he  did  not  suffer  to 
employ  his  whole  income;  for  he  had  always 
a  sum  of  money  lying  by  him  for  any  extraordi- 
nary expenses  that  might  arise.  Some  money  he 
put  into  the  stocks;  at  his  death,  the  sum  he  had 
there  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 
He  purchased  out  of  his  income  his  household  fur- 
niture and  linen,  of  which  latter  he  had  a  very 
ample  store;  and,  as  I  am  assured  by  those  that 
had  very  good  means  of  knowing,  not  less  than 
the  tenth  part  of  his  income  was  set  apart  for 
charity:  at  the  time  of  his  death,  the  sum  of  twen- 
ty-five pounds  was  found,  with  a  direction  to  be 
employed  in  such  uses. 

"  He  had  laid  down  a  plan  of  living  propor- 
tioned to  his  income,  and  did  not  practise  any  ex- 
traordinary degree  of  parsimony,  but  endeavoured 
that  in  hie  family  there  should  he  plenty  without 
waste.  As  an  instance  that  this  was  his  endea- 
vour, it  may  be  worth  while  to  mention  a  method 
he  took  in  regulating  a  proper  allowance  of  malt 
liquor  to  be  drunk  in  his  family,  that  there  might 
not  be  a  deficiency,  or  any  intemperate  profusion: 
— On  a  complaint  made  that  his  allowance  of  a 
hogshead  in  a  month  was  not  enough  for  his  own 
family,  he  ordered  the  quantity  of  a  hogshead  to  be 
pet  into  bottles,  had  it  locked  up  from  the  ser- 
vants, and  distributed  out,  every  day,  eight  quarts, 
which  is  the  quantity  each  day  at  one  hogshead 
in  a  month;  and  told  bis  servants,  that  if  that  did 
act  suffice,  he  would  allow  them  more;  but,  by 
thai  method,  it  appeared  at  once  that  the  allow- 
ance was  much  more  than  sufficient  for  his  small 
fcnuy;  and  this  proved  a  clear  conviction,  that 
eould  not  be  answered,  and  saved  all  future  dis- 
pute. He  was,  in  general,  very  diligently  and 
.  punctually  attended  and  obeyed  by  his  servants; 
he  was  rery  considerate  as  to  the  injunctions  he 

£ve,  and  explained  them  distinctly;  and,  at  their 
a  coming  to  his  service,  steadily  exacted  a  close 
compliance  with  them,  without  any  remission: 
and  the  servants  finding  this  to  be  the  case,  soon 
grew  habitually  accustomed  to  the  practice  of  their 
hminruy  and  then  very  little  further  attention  was 
accessary.  On  extraordinary  instances  of  good 
behaviour  or  diligent  service,  he  was  not  wanting 
hi  particular  encouragements  and  presents  above 
their  wages:  it  is  remarkable  that  he  would  per- 
mit their  relations  to  visit  them,  and  stay  at  his 
house  two  or  three  daya  at  a  time. 

"The  wonder,  with  most  that  hear  an  ac- 
eoant  of  his  economy,  will  be,  how  he  was  able, 
with  such  an  income,  to  do  so  much,  especially 
when  it  is  considered  that  be  paid  for  every  thing 
he  had.  He  had  no  land,  except  the  two  or  three 
•mall  Soldi  which  I  have  said  he  rented;  and,  in- 


would  appear  indigent,  and  to  moat  scanty. 
How  he  lived,  therefore,  every  man  has  an 
interest  in  knowing.  His  death,  I  hope, 
was  peaceful;  it  was  surely  happy. 

"  I  wish  I  had  written  sooner,  lest,  writ- 
ing now,  I  should  renew  yonr  grief;  but  I 
would  not  forbear  saying  what  I  have  now 
said. 

"  This  loss  is,  I  hope,  the  only  misfortune 

stead  of  gaining  any  thing  by  their  produce,  I  have 
reason  to  think  he  lost  by  them:  however,  ther 
furnished  him  with  no  further  assistance  towards 
his  housekeeping  than  grass  for  his  horses  (not 
hay,  for  that  I  know  he  bought),  and  for  two 
cows.  Every  Monday  morning  he  settled  his 
family  accounts,  and  so  kept  up  a  constant  atten- 
tion to  the  confining  his  expenses  within  his  in- 
come; and  to  do  it  more  exactly,  compared  those 
expenses  with  a  computation  hie  had  made,  bow 
much  that  income  would  afford  him  every  week 
and  day  of  the  year.  One  of  his  economical 
practices  was,  as  soon  as  any  repair  was  wanting 
in  or  about  his  bouse,  to  have  it  immediately  per- 
formed. When  he  had  money  to  spare,  he  chose 
to  lay  in  a  provision  of  linen  Or  clothes,  or  any 
other  necessaries;  as  then,  he  said,  he  could  afford 
it,  which  he  might  not  be  so  well  able  to  do 
when  the  actual  want  came;  in  consequence  of 
which  method  he  had  a  considerable  supply  of 
necessary  articles  lying  by  him,  beside  what  was 
in  use. 

"  But  the  main  particular  that  seems  to  have 
enabled  him  to  do  so  much  with  his  income,  was, 
that  he  paid  for  every  thing  as  soon  as  he  had  it, 
except  alone  what  were  current  accounts,  such  as 
rent  for 'his  house,  and  servants'  wages;  and  these 
he  paid  at  the  stated  times  with  the  utmost  exact- 
ness. He  gave  notice  to  the  tradesmen  of  the 
neighbouring  market-towns  that  they  should  no 
longer  have  his  custom,  if  they  let  any  of  his  ser- 
vants have  any  thing  without  their  paying;  for  h\ 
Thus  he  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  commit  those 
imprudences  to  which  those  are  liable  that  defer 
their  payments  by  using  their  money  some  other 
way  than  where  it  ought  to  go.  And  whatever 
money  he  had  by  him,  he  knew  that  it  was  not 
demanded  elsewhere,  but  that  he  might  safely 
employ  it  aa  he  pleased. 

"  His  example  was  confined,  by  the  seques- 
tered place  of  his  abode,  to  the  observation  of 
few,  though  his  prudence  and  virtue  would  have 
made  it  valuable  to  ail  who  could  have  known  it 
These  few  particulars,  which  I  knew  myself,  or 
have  obtained  from  those  who  lived  with  him, 
may  afford  instruction,  and  be  an  incentive  to  that 
wise  art  ofjiving  which  he  so  successfully  prac- 
tised/'—Boswbll.  [With  all  our  respect  for 
Mr.  Bonnet  Langton's  acknowledged  character 
for  accuracy  and  veracity,  there  seems  something, 
in  the  foregoing  relation,  absolutely  incompre- 
hensible— a  bouse,  a  good  table,  frequent  compa- 
ny, four  servants  (two  of  them  men  in  livery),  a 
carriage  and  three  horses  on  200/.  a  year!  Econ- 
omy and  ready  money  payments  wUl  do  much  to-^ 
diminish  current  expenses,  but  what  effect  can 
they  have  had  on  rent,  taxes,  wages,  and  other 
permanent  charges  of  a  respectable  domestic  ee- 
tablkhment?'---Ep.] 


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1766.— jETAT,  it. 


of  a  family  to  whom  no  misfortune  at  all 
should  happen,  if  my  wishes  could  avert  it 
Let  me  know  how  you  all  go  on.  Has  Mr. 
Langton  got  him  the  little  horse  that  I  re* 
commended?  It  would  do  him  good  to  ride 
about  his  estate  in  fine  weather. 

"  Be  pleased  to  make  my  compliments  to 
Mrs.  Langton,  and  to  dear  Miss  Langton, 
and  Miss  Di,  and  Miss  Juliet,  and  to  every 
body  else. 

"The  clvb  holds  very  well  together. 
Monday  is  my  night  K  I  continue  to  rise 
tolerably  well,  and  read  more  than  I  did.  I 
hope  something  will  yet  come  on  it.  I  am, 
air,  your  most  affectionate  servant, 

"Sam.  Johnson." 

After  I  had  been  some  time'  in  Scotland, 
I  mentioned  to  him  in  a  letter  that  "  On  my 
first  return  to  my  native  country,  after  some 
years  of  absence,  I  was  told  of  a  vast  num- 
ber of  my  acquaintance  who  were  all  gone 
to  the  land  of  forgetfulness,  and  I  found  my- 
self like  a  man  stalking  over  a  field  of  bat- 
tle, who  every  moment  perceives  some  one 
lying  dead."  I  complained  of  irresolution, 
and  mentioned  my  having  made  a  vow  as  a 
security  for  good  conduct.  I  wrote  to  him 
again  without  being  able  to  move  his'  indo- 
lence :  nor  did  I  hear  from  him  till  he  had 
received  a  copy  of  my  inaugural  Exercise, 
or  Thesis  in  Civil  Law,  which  I  published 
at  my  admission  as  an  advocate,  as  is  the 
custom  in  Scotland.  He  then  wrote  to  me 
as  Mows : 

"TO  JAMBS   BOSWKLL,    ISO,. 


.  list  Aqgtat,  11SS. 

"Dkak    sie,— The    reception  or  your 
Thesis  put  me  in  mind  of  my  debt  to  you. 
Why  did  you  •  •  •  •  •  •».    I  will  punish 

you  for  it,  by  telling  you  that  your  Latin 
wants  correction  3.    In  the  beginning  Spei, 


1  Ofhk  being  in  the  chair  of  the  Literary  Club, 
which  at  the  time  met  once  a  week  in  the  eve- 
ning.— Boswbli*  [The  day  was  soon  after 
changed  to  Friday. — Ed.] 

9  The  passage  omitted  alluded  to  a  private 
transaction.-— Boswbll. 

*  This  censure  of  my  Latin  relates  to  the  dedi- 
cation, which  was  as  follows  :  "  Viio  nobilnuimo 
omatimimo,  Joanni,  Vicecomhi  Moantstnait, 
atavis  edito  regions,  excels*  famine  de  Bote  apei 
alterm;  labente  sscalo,  nuum  homines  nu"' 
origkU*  genu*  swpiareopibua  aggredinntnr, 
gninis  antkroi  et  ittastris  semper  memori,  nata 
splendorem  Tutatibas  sagenti:  ad  pnblica  popnli 
comitia  jam  legato;  in  optimatinm  vero  magna 
Britannia  sonata,  jara  lnereditario,  olim  consomn 
to:  vim  insHam  varii  doctrioi  promovente,  nee 
tamen  so  venditante,  pnedito:  priscl  fide,  animo 
sjr  Kheirimo,  et  moram  elegantii  msigni:  in  Italia 
viritanda  itinere  socio  mo  bonoratiatnio,  hasce 
jurispradenuai  primiuas  devmctisBma  amicitia  et 
obssnranua,  monamentam,  D.  D.  C.  Q.  Jacobns 
BoswaU."— -Boswbul. 


•term,  not  to  urge  that  it  should  be  rn  isbsj, 
is  not  grammatical;  altera  should  be  rnllcru 
In  the  next  line  you  seem  to  use  genu*  ab- 
solutely, for  what  we  call  family,  that  in, 
for  iUuetriou*  extraction,  I  doubt  without 
authority.  Homines  nulliu*  origin**,  fee 
mdli*  orti  majoribu*,  or  nulla  loco  noli,  is, 
as  I  am  afraid,  barbarous. — Ruddiman  is 
dead  «. 

«I  have  now  vexed  you  enough,  and 
will  try  to  please  you.  Your  resolution  to 
obey  your  father  I  sincerely  approve ;  but 
do  not  accustom  yourself  to  enchain  your 
volatility  by  vows;  they  will  sometime* 
leave  a  thorn  in  your  mind,  which  you  will, 
perhaps,  never  be  able  to  extract  or  eject. 
Take  this  warning ;  it  is  of  great  impor- 
tance. 

"  The  study  of  the  law  is  what  you  very 
justly  term  it,  copious  and  generous5 ;  and 
in  adding  your  name  to  its  professors,  you 
have  done  exactly  what  I  always  wished, 
when  I  wished  you  best  I  hope  that  you 
will  continue  to  pursue  it  vigorously  and 
constantly.  You  gain,  at  least,  what  is  no 
small  advantage,  security  from  those  trouble- 
some and  wearisome  discontents,  which  are 
always  obtruding  themselves  upon  a  mind 
vacant,  unemployed,  and  undetermined. 

"  You  ought  to  think  it  no  small  induce- 
ment to  diligence  and  perseverance,  that 
they  will  please  your  father.  We  all  live 
upon  the  nope  of  pleasing  somebody,  and 
the  pleasure  of  pleasing  ought  to  be 
greatest,  and  at  last  always  will  be  greatest, 
when  our  endeavours  are  exerted  in  conse- 
quence of  our  duty. 

"  Life  is  not  long,  and  too  much  of  it 
must  not  pass  in  idle  deliberation  how  it 
shall  be  spent :  deliberation,  which  those 
who  begin  it  by  prudence,  and  continue  it 
with.subtilty,  must,  after  long  expense  of 
thought,  conclude  by  chance.  To  prefer 
one  future  mode  of  life  to  another,  upon 
just  reasons,  requires  faculties  which  it  has 
not  pleased  our  Creator  to  give  us. 

"If,  therefore,  the  profession  you  have 
chosen  has  some  unexpected  inconvenien- 
cies,  console  yourself  by  reflecting  that  no 
profession  is  without  them  j  and  that  all  the 
importunities  and  perplexities  of  business 
are  softness  and  luxury,  compared  with  the 
incessant  cravings  of  vacancy,  and  the  un- 
satisfactory expedience  of  idleness. 


4  [He  seys  Ruddiman  (a  great  grammarian} 
ts  dead— as  in  former  days  it  was  said  that  JVis- 
eion's  head  wa*  broken.  Ruddiman,  who  was 
bom  in  1644,  had  died  in  1757.  See  ante,  n, 
86.— Ed.] 

5  This  alludes  te  the  nnt  sentence  of  the  Proov 
of  my  Thesis.      «*  Jorispiudenuss  stndis 

i,  nullum  genefosins  :  in  legions  enhn 

aajtandis,  popnloram  moras,   varissQue  fortune) 

vices  ex  qtubus  leges  orf 

|  mlenunV'--BoswxjUE.. 


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•Hsje  rant  qua  nostra  potut  te  voce  menere; 
Vide,  age.' 

"As  to  your  History  of  Corsica,  you 
have  no  materials  which  others  have  not, 
or  may  not  have.  You  have,  somehow  or 
other,  wanned  your  imagination.  I  wish 
there  were  some  cure,  like  the  lover's  leap, 
for  all  heads  of  which  some  single  idea  has 
obtained  an  unreasonable  and  irregular 
possession.  Mind  your  own  affairs,  and 
leave  the  Corsicans  lo  theirs. — I  am,  dear 
air,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"TO   DR.    SAMUEL  JOHNSON. 

"  Auchinleck,  6th  Nov.  1768. 
"MUCH    ESTEEMED    AND     DEAR    8IR, 1 

plead  not  guilty  to  i  *        *        •        • 

"Having  thus,  I  hope,  cleared  myself 
of  the  charge*  "brought  against  me,  I  pre- 
sume you  will  not  be  displeased  if  I  escape 
the  punishment  which  you  have  decreed 
for  me  unheard.  If  you  have  discharged 
the  arrows  of  criticism  against  an  innocent 
man,  you  must  rejoice  to  find  they  have 
missed  him,  or  have  not  been'  pointed  so  as 
to  wound  him. 

"  To  talk  no  longer  in  allegory,  I  am, 
with  all  deference,  going  to  offer  a  few  ob- 
servations in  defence  of  my  Latin,  which 
you  have  found  fault  with. 

"You  think  I  should  have  used  spei 
prima,  instead  of  spei  altera.  Spes  is,  in- 
deed, often  used  to  express  something  on 
which  we  have  a  future  dependence,  as  in 
Virg.  JBclog.  i.  1,  14. 


-modo  namqne  gemellos 


Spem  gregis  ah!  eilice  in  nuda  conniia  reliqnh: ' 
and  in  Georg.  iii.  1.  479. 

*  Spemque  gregemque  rimul,' 

for  the  lambs  and  the  sheep.  Yet  it  is  also 
used  to  express  any  thing  on  which  we 
have  a  present  dependence,  and  is  well  ap- 
plied to  a  man  of  distinguished  influence, — 
our  support,  our  refuge  on  presidium,  as 
Horace  calls  Maecenas.  So,  JEneid  xii.  1. 
W,  Queen  Amata  adresses  her  son-in-law, 
Turnus: — c  Spes  tu  nunc  una:'  and  he  was 
then  no  future  hope,  for  she  adds, 

*  —  ecu  imperhunqae  Latini 
Te  penes; ' 

which  might  have  been  said  of  my  Lord 
Bute  some  years  ago.  Now  I  consider  the 
present  Earl  of  Bute  to  be  c  excelsm  fa- 
millet  d*  Bute  spes  prima;'  and  my  Lord 
Mountstuart,  as  his  eldest  son,  to  be  '  spe$ 
*Uera.>    So  in  JEneid  xii.  1.  168,  after  hav- 

1  The  passage  omitted  explained  the  transac- 
tion to  which  the  preceding  letter  had  alluded.— 
Boswxi*L. 

vol..  i.  80 


ing  mentioned  Pater  ^Eneas,  who  was  the 
present  spes,  the  reigning  spes,  as  my 
German  friends  would  say,  the  spes  prima, 
the  poet  adds, 

'  Et  juxta  Ascanius,  magna  spes  altera  Romas  V 

"  You  think  altera  ungrammatical,  and 
you  tell  me  it  should  have  been  alteri. 
You  must  recollect,  that  in  old  times  alter 
was  declined  regularly;  and  when  the  an- 
cient fragments  preserved  in  the  Juris 
Civilis  Fontes  were  written,  it  was  certain- 
ly declined  in  the  way  that  I  use  it.  This, 
I  should  think,  may  protect  a  lawyer  who 
writes  altera  in  a  dissertation  upon  part  of 
his  own  science.  But  as  I  could  hardly 
venture  to  quote  fragments  of  old  law  lo  so 
classical  a  man  as  Mr.  Johnson,  I  have  not 
made  an  accurate  search  into  these  re- 
mains, to  find  examples  of  what  I  am  able 
to  produce  in  poetical  composition.  We 
find  in  Plaut.  Rudens,  act  iii.  scene  4, 

*  Nam  huic  altera  patria  quoe  sit  profecto  nescio.' 

Plautus  is,  to  be  sure,  an  old  comick  writer; 
but  in  the  days  of  Scipio  and  Lelius,  we  find 
Terent.  Heautontim.  act  ii.  scene  8. 


-hoc  ipsa  in  itinera  altera 


Dnm  narrat,  forte  audivi. 

^You  doubt  my  having  authority  for 
usin£  genus  absolutely,  for  what  we  call 
family,  that  is,  for  illustrious  extraction. 
Now  I  take  genus  in  Latin  to  have  much 
the  same  signification  with  birth  in  English; 
both  in  their  primary  meaning  expressing 
simply  descent,  but  both  made  to  stand  **t' 
«fe^*y  for  noble  descent  Genus  is  thus 
used  in  Hor.  lib.  ii.  Sat.  v.  1.  8. 

*  Et  genus  et  virtus,  nisi  cum  re,  vilior  alga  est' 
And  in  lib.  i.  Epist  vi.  1.  37. 

•  Et  genus  et  formamRegina  pecunia  donat' 

And  in  the  celebrated  contest  between  Ajax 
and  Ulysses,  Ovid's  Metamorph.  lib.  xiii. 
1.  140. 

<  Nam  genus  et  proavos,  et  qua?  non  fecimoa  ipsi, 
Vix  ea  nostra  voco.' 

"Homines  nullius  originis.  for  nullis 
orti  majoribus,  or  huUo  loco  natty  b.  you 
are  afraid,  barbarous.' 


■  [It  is  very  strange  that  Johnson,  wno  a  n» 
letter  quotes  the  iEneid,  should  not  have  ~ool- 
lected  this  obvious  and  decisive  authority  for  spes 
altera,  nor  yet  the  remarkable  use  of  these  words, 
attributed  to  Cicero,  by  Servius  and  Donatus;  the 
expressions  of  the  latter  are  conclusive  in  Mr. 
Boswell's  favour: 

"  At  cum  Cicero  quosdam  versus  (  VtrgUii) 
audisset,  in  fine  ait:  •  Magna;  spes  altera  Ro- 
mas.' Quasi  ipse  lingua  Latina  spes  prima 
fuisset  et  Maro  futurus  esstt  tecunda." 
Donat  vit  Vir.  §  41.— En.] 


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1766.— jETAT.  57. 


"  Origo  is  used  to  signify  extraction,  as 
in  Virg.  J&neid  i.  386. 

•  Nascetur  pulchra  Trojanus  origine  Cassar: ' 
and  in  J&neidx.  1.  618, 

« Hie  tamen  nostra  deducit  origine  nomen.' 
And  as  nulltu  is  used  for  obscure,  it  is  not 
in  the  genius  of  the  Latin  language  to  write 
nullius  originit,  for  obscure  extraction? 

"  I  have  defended  myself  as  well  as  I 
could. 

"  Might  I  venture  to  differ  from  you  with 
regard  to  the  utility  of  vows?  I  am  sensi- 
ble that'it  would  be  very  dangerous  to  make 
vows  rashly,  and  without  a  due  considera- 
tion. But  1  cannot  help  thinking  that  they 
may  often  be  of  great  advantage  to  one  of 
a  variable  judgment  and  irregular  inclina- 
tions. I  always  remember  a  passage  in  one 
of  your  letters  to  our  Italian  friend  Baretti, 
where,  talking  of  the  monastick  life,  you 
say  you  do  not  wonder  that  serious  men 
should  put  themselves  under  the  protection 
of  a  religious  order,  when  they  have  found 
how  unable  they  are  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves. For  my  own  part,  without  affecting 
to  be  a  Socrates,  I  am  sure  I  have  a  more 
than  ordinary  struggle  to  maintain  with  the 
Evil  Principle;  and  all  the  methods  I  can 
devise  are  little  enough  to  keep  me  tolera- 
bly steady  in  the  paths  of  rectitude. 
•  •  •  •  * 

"  I  am  ever,  with  the  highest  veneration, 
your  affectionate  humble  servant, 

"  Jambs  Bobwell." 

tioni,  [Much  of  Johnson's  eloquence 

lii'3*  an<*  mucn  °f  ms  togfck  were  occa- 
sionally used  to  prevent  men  from 
making  vows  on  trivial  occasions;  and 
when  he  saw  a  person  oddly  perplexed  about 
a  slight  difficulty,  "  Let  the  man  alone  (he 
would  sajr),  and  torment  him  no  more  about 
it:  there  is  a  vow  in  the  case,  I  am  convinc- 
ed; but  is  it  not  very  strange  that  people 
should  be  neither  afraid  nor  ashamed  of 
bringing  in  God  Almighty  thus  at  every 
turn  between  themselves  and  their  dinner?" 
When  once  asked  what  ground  he  had  for 
such  im affiliations,  he  replied,  "  That  a 
young  lady  once  told  him  in  confidence, 
that  she  could  never  persuade  herself  to  be 
dressed  against  the  bell  rung  for  dinner, 
till  she  made  a  vow  to  heaven  that  she 
would  never  more  be  absent  from  the  fam- 
ily meals.1'] 

It  appears  from  Johnson's  diary  \  that  he 
was  this  year  at  Mr.  Thrale's,  from  before 
Midsummer  till  after  Michaelmas,  and  that 
he  afterwards  passed  a  month  at  Oxford. 


1  ["  I  returned  from  Streaiham,  Oct  1,  having 
lived  there  more  than  three  month*  "—Prayers 
and  Meditation*,  p.  70.— Ed.] 


He  had  then*  contracted  a  great  intimacy 
with  Mr.  Chambers  of  that  university,  af- 
terwards Sir  Robert  Chambers,  one  of  the 
judges  in  India. 

He  published  nothing  this  year  in  his  own 
name;  but  the  noble  dedication*  to  the 
king  of  Gwyn's  "  London  and  Westmin- 
ster Improved3,"  was  written  by  him;  and 
he  furnished  the  Preface  t,  and  several  of 
the  pieces,  which  compose  a  volume  of  Mis- 
cellanies by  Mrs.  Anna  Williams,  the  blind 
lady  who  had  an  asylum  in  his  house4.  Of 
these,  there  are  his  "  Epitaph  on  Phillips*; " 
"  Translation  of  a  Latin  Epitaph  on  Sir 
Thomas  Hanmerf  ;"  "Friendship,  an 
ode*;''  and  "The  Ant*,»  a  paraphrase 
from  the  Proverbs,  of  which  I  have  a  copy 
in  his  own  handwriting;  and,  from  internal 
evidence,  I  ascribe  to  him, "  To  Miss——, 


pily 
fen/ 


*  [He  had  known  him  at  least  twelve  yean  be- 
fore this.     See  ante,  p.  118.— Ed.] 

3  [In  this  work  Mr.  Gwyn  proposed  the  prin- 
ciple, and  in  many  instances  the  details,  of  the 
most  important  improvements  which  have  been 
made  in  the  metropolis  in  our  day.  A  bridge 
near  Somerset  House — a  great  street  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Haymarket  to  the  New 
Road — the  improvement  of  the  interior  of  St 
James's  Park — quays  along  the  Thames — new 
approaches  to  London  Bridge — the  removal  of 
Smithfield  market,  and  several  other  suggestions 
on  which  we  pride  ourselves  as  original  designs 
of  our  own  times,  are  all  to  be  found  in  Mr. 
Gwyn's  very  able  and  very  curious  work.  It  is 
singular,  that  he  denounced  a  row  of  booses, 
•then  building  in  Pimlico,  as  intolerable  nuisan- 
ces to  Buckingham  Palace,  and  of  these  very 
houses  the  public  voice  now  calk  for  the  destruc- 
tion.    Gwyn  had,  as  Mr.  D' Israeli  very   hap- 

ily  quotes,   "  the  prophetic  eye  of  taste." — 

4  In  a  paper  already  mentioned  (see  p.  97. 
100.)  the  following  account  of  this  publication 
is  given  by  a  ladv  [Lady  Knight]  well  acquainted 
with  Mrs.  Williams : 

"  As  to  her  poems,  she  many  years  attempted 
to  publish  them:  the  halfcrowns  she  bad  got 
towards  the  publication,  she  confessed  to  me, 
went  for  necessaries,  and  that  the  greatest  pain 
she  ever  felt  was  from  the  appearance  of  defraud- 
ing her  subscribers:  '  but  what  can  1  do?  the 
Doctor  (Johnson)  always  puts  me  off  with. 
Well,  we'll  think  about  it;  and  Goldsmith  says, 
Leave  it  to  me.'  However,  two  of  her  friends, 
under  her  directions,  made  a  new  subscription  at 
a  crown,  the  whole  price  of  the  work,  and  in  a 
very  little  time  raised  sixty  pounds.  Mrs.  Carter 
was  applied  to  by  Mrs.  Williams's  desire,  and 
soe,  with  the  utmost  activity  and  kindness,  pro- 
cured a  long  list  of  names.  At  length  the  work 
was  published,  in  which  is  a  fine  written  bat 
gloomy  tale  of  Dr.  Johnson.  The  money  Mm 
Williams  had  various  uses  for,  and  a  part  was 
funded.'' 

By  this  publication  Mm.  Williams  got  UOL 
Ibid. — Malone. 


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1766.— iETAT.  57. 


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on  her  riving  the  Authour  a  gold  and  silver 
net-work  puree  of  her  own  weaving  t  V 
and  "The  happy  Lifef."  Most  of  the 
pieces  in  this  volume  have  evidently  receiv- 
ed additions  from  his  superiour  pen,  particu- 
larly «  Verses  to  Mr.  Richardson,  on  his 
Sir  Charles  Grandison;  "  "The  Excur- 
sion ; "  "  Reflections  on  a  Grave  digging  in 
Westminster  Abbey."  There  is  in  this  col- 
lection a  poem,  "  On  the  death  of  Stephen 
Grey,  the  Electrician  •; "  which,  on  reading 
it,  appeared  to  me  to  be  undoubtedly  John- 
son's. I  asked  Mrs.  Williams  whether  it 
was  not  his.  "  Sir,"  said  she,  with  some 
warmth,  "  I  wrote  that  poem  before  I  had 
the  honour  of  Dr.  Johnson's  acquaintance." 
I,  however,  was  so  much  impressed  with  my 
first  notion,  that  I  mentioned  it  to  Johnson, 
repeating,  at  the  same  time,  what  Mrs. 
Williams  had  said.  His  answer  was,  "  It  is 
true,  sir,  that  she  wrote  it  before  she  was  ac- 
quainted with  me:  but  she  has  not  told  you 
that  I  wrote  it  all  over  again,  except  two 
lines."  "The  Fountains t,"  a  beautiful 
little  fairy  tale  in  prose,  written  with  exqui- 
site simplicity,  is  one  of  Johnson's  produc- 
tions; and  I  cannot  withhold9  from  Mrs. 
Thrale  the  praise  of  being  the  authour  of 
that  admirable  poem,  «  The  Three  Warn- 
ings." 

He  was,  indeed,  at  all  times  ready  to  give 
assistance  to  his  friends,  and  others,  in  re- 
vising their  works,  and  in  writing  for  them, 
or  greatly  improving,  their  Dedications. 
In  that  courtly-  species  of  composition  no 
man  excelled  Dr.  Johnson.  Though  the 
loftiness  of  his  mind  3  prevented  him  from 
ever  dedicating  in  his  own  person,  he  wrote 
a  very  great  number  of  dedications  for  oth- 
ers. Some  of  these  the  persons  who  were 
favoured  with  them  are  unwilling  should  be 
mentioned,  from  a  too  anxious  apprehen- 
sion, as  I  think,  that  they  might  be  suspect- 
ed of  having  received  larger  assistance; 
and  some,  after  all  the  diligence  I  have  be- 
stowed, have  escaped  my  inquiries.  He 
told  me,  a  great  many  years  ago,  "  he  be- 
lieved he  had  dedicated  to  all  the  royal  fam- 


1  [See  ante,  p.  71.  n.  where  it  is  shown  that 
the  translation  of  the  Epitaph  on  Hanmer  and 
the  Verses  on  the  Purse  are  by  Hawkesworth. 
—Ed. 

*  [This  is  almost  a  confession  that  he  would  if 
he  could,  and  shows  clearly  the  kind  of  feeling  he 
had  towards  that  lady.— Ed.] 

3  [This  is  sorely  not  the  occasion  on  which 
one  would  have  expected  to  hear  of  "  loftiness  of 
mind:"  a  dedicator  in  his  own  person  may  be 
sincere,  but  he  who  writes  a  dedication  for 
another  cannot  be  so,  and  is  moreover  accessary 
to  a  public  deception:  and  when  this  imposition 
Is  practised  for  hire  (however  it  may  be  excused), 
it  ought  not,  surely,  to  be  accompanied  by 
any  extravagant  eulogy  on  loftiness  of  mind. — 
Ed.] 


ily  round;"  and  it  was  indifferent  to  him 
what  was  the  subject  of  the  work  dedicated, 
provided  it  were  innocent  He  once  dedi- 
cated some  musick  for  the  German  Flute  lo 
Edward,  Duke  of  York.  In  waiting  dedi- 
cations for  others,  he  considered  himself  as 
by  no  means  speaking  his  own  sentiments. 
He  wrote  this  year  a  letter,  not  intended 
for  publication,  which  has,  perhaps,  as  strong 
marks  of  his  sentiment  and  style,  as  any  of 
his  compositions.  The  original  is  in  my 
possession.  It  is  addressed  to  the  late  Mr. 
William  Drummond,  bookseller  in  Edin- 
burgh, a  gentleman  of  good  family,  but 
small  estate,  who  took  arms  for  the  house  of 
Stuart  in  1775;  and  during  his  concealment 
in  London  till  the  act  of  general  pardon 
came  out,  obtained  the  acquaintance  of  Dr. 
Johnson,  who  justly  esteemed  him  as  a  very 
worthy  man.  It  seems,  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  society  in  Scotland  for  propaga- 
ting Christian  knowledge  had  opposed  the 
scheme  of  translating  the  holy  scriptures 
into  the  Erse  or  Gaelic  language,  from  po- 
litical considerations  of  the  disadvantage  of 
keeping  up  the  distinction  between  the  High- 
landers and  the  other  inhabitants  of  North 
Britain.  Dr.  Johnson  being  informed  of 
this,  I  suppose  by  Mt.  Drummond,  wrote 
with  a  generous  indignation  as  follows: 

"TO  MR.  WILLIAM  DRUMMOND. 
M  Johnsoo's-court,  FleeMtreet,  19th  August,  17«. 
"  Sir, — I  did  not  expect  to  hear  that  it 
could  be,  in  an  assembly  convened  for  the 
propagation  of  Christian  knowledge,  a 
question  whether  any  nation  uninstructed 
in  religion  should  receive  instruction;  or 
whether  that  instruction  should  be  imparted 
to  them  by  a  translation  of  the  holy  books 
into  their  own  language.  If  obedience  to 
the  will  of  God  be  necessary  to  happiness, 
and  knowledge  of  lus  will  be  necessary  to 
obedience,  I  know  not  how  he  that  with- 
holds this  knowledge,  or  delays  it,  can  be  said 
to  love  his  neighbour  as  himself.  He  that 
voluntarily  continues  in  ignorance  is  guilty 
of  all  the  crimes  which  ignorance  produ- 
ces; as  to  him  that  should  extinguish  the  ta- 
pers of  a  light-house,  might  justly  be  im- 
puted the  calamities  of  shipwrecks.  Chris- 
tianity is  the  highest  perfection  of  humanity ; 
and  as  no  man  is  good  but  as  he  wishes  the 
ood  of  others,  no  man  can  he  good  in  the 
'  best  degree,  who  wishes  not  to  others 
the  largest  measures  of  the  greatest  good. 
To  omit  for  a  year,  or  for  a  day,  the  most 
efficacious  method  of  advancing  Christiani- 
ty, in  compliance  with  any  purposes  that 
terminate  on  this  side  of  the  grave,  is  a 
crime  of  which  I  know  not  that  the  world 
has  yet  had  an  example,  except  in  the  prac- 
tice of  the  planters  of  America,  a  race  of 
mortals  whom,  I  suppose,  no  other  man 
wishes  to  resemble. 


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1766.— iETAT.  57. 


"  The  papists  have,  indeed,  denied  to  the 
laity  the  use  of  the  Bible;  but  this  prohi- 
bition, in  few  places  now  very  rigorously 
enforced,  is  defended  by  arguments,  which 
have  for  their  foundation  the  care  of  souls. 
To  obscure,  upon  motives  merely  political, 
the  light  of  revelation,  is  a  practice  reserv- 
ed for  the  reformed;  and,  surely,  the  black- 
est midnight  of  popery  is  meridian  sunshine 
to  such  a  reformation.  I  am  not  very  will- 
ing that  any  language  should  be  totally  ex- 
tinguished. The  similitude  and  deriva- 
tion of  languages  afford  the  most  indubita- 
ble proof  of  the  traduction  of  nations,  and 
the  genealogy  of  mankind.  They  add  often 
physical  certainty  to  historical  evidence; 
and  often  supply  the  only  evidence  of  an- 
cient migrations,  and  of  the  revolutions  of 
ages  which  left  no  written  monuments  be- 
hind them. 

"  Every  man's  opinions,  at  least  his  desires, 
are  a  little  influenced  by  his  favourite  studies. 
My  zeal  for  languages  may  seem,  perhaps, 
rather  over-heated,  even  to  those  by  whom 
I  desire  to  be  well  esteemed.  To  those  who 
have  nothing  in  their  thoughts  but  trade  or 
policy,  present  power,  or  present  money, 
I  should  not  think  it  necessary  to  defend 
my  opinions;  but  with  men  of  letters  I  would 
not  unwillingly  compound,  by  wishing  the 
continuance  of  every  language^  however 
narrow  in  its  extent,  or  however  incommo- 
dious for  common  purposes,  till  it  is  reposit- 
ed  in  some  version  ol  a  known  book,  that 
it  may  be  always  hereafter  examined  and 
compared  with  other  languages,  and  then 
*  permitting  its  disuse.  For  this  purpose,  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  is  most  to  be  desired. 
It  is  not  certain  that  the  same  method  will 
not  preserve  the  Highland  language,  for  the 
purposes  of  learning,  and  abolish  it  from 
daily  use.  When  the  Highlanders  read  the 
Bible,  they  will  naturally  wish  to  have  its 
obscurities  cleared,  and  to  know  the  history, 
collateral  or  appendant.  Knowledge  always 
desires  increase;  it  is  like  fire,  which  must 
be  kindled  by  some  external  agent,  but 
which  will  afterwards  propagate  itself. 
When  they  once  desire  to  learn  they  will 
naturally  have  recourse  to  the  nearest  lan- 
guage by  which  that  desire  can  be  gratified ; 
and  one  will  tell  another  that  if  he  would 
attain  knowledge,  he  must  learn  English. 

"  This  speculation  may,  perhaps,  be 
thought  more  subtle  than  the  ^rossness  of 
real  life  will  easily  admit  Let  it,  however, 
be  remembered,  that  the  efficacy  of  igno- 
rance has  long  been  tried,  and  has  not  pro- 
duced the  consequence  expected.  Let 
knowledge,  therefore,  take  its  turn;  and  let 
the  patrons  of  privation  stand  awhile  aside, 
and  admit  the  operation  of  positive  princi- 
ples..  .    . 

"  You  will  be  pleased,  sir,  to  assure  the 
worthy  man  who  is  employed  in  the  new 


translation  *,  that  he  has  my  wishes  for  his 
success;  and  if  here  or  at  Oxford  I  can  be 
of  any  use,  that  I  shall  think  it  more  than 
honour  to  promote  his  undertaking. 

«I  am  sorry  that  I  delayed  so  long  to 
write. — I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble  ser- 
vant, "  Sam.  Johnson.  " 

The  opponents  of  this  pious  scheme  be- 
ing made  ashamed  of  their  conduct,  the  be- 
nevolent undertaking  was  allowed  to  go 
on. 

The  following  letters,  though  not  written 
till  the  year  after,  being  chiefly  upon  the 
same  subject,  are  here  inserted: 

"  TO  MR.  WILLIAM  DRUMMOWD. 
-  "  JohnsonVcourt,  Fleet-street,  21st  April,  lift 
"DEAa  sir,— That  my  letter  should 
have  had  such  effects  as  you  mention  gives 
me  great  pleasure.  I  hope  you  do  not  flat- 
ter me  by  imputing  to  me  more  good  thaa 
I  have  really  done.  Those  whom  my  ar- 
guments have  persuaded  to  change  their 
opinion,  show  such  modesty  and  candour  at 
deserve  great  praise. 

"  I  hope  the  worthy  translator  goes  dili- 
gently forward.'  He  has  a  higher  reward 
in  prospect  than  any  honours  which  thii 
world  can  bestow.  I  wish  I  could  be  useful 
to  him. 

"  The  publication  of  my  letter,  if  it  could 
be  of  use  in  a  cause  to  which  all  other  causa 
are  nothing ,  I  should  not  prohibit.  But  first, 
I  would  have  you  to  consider  whether  the 
publication  will  really  do  anv  good;  next 
whether  by  printing  and  distributing  a  very 
small  number,  you  may  not  attain  all  that 
you  propose;  and,  what  perhaps  I  should 
have  said  first,  whether  the  letter,  which  I 
do  not  now  perfectly  remember,  be  fit  to 
be  printed. 

"  If  you  can  consult  Dr.  Robertson,  to 
whom  I  am  a  little  known,  I  shall  be  satis- 
fied about  the  propriety  of  whatever  j« 
shall  direct.     If  he  thinks  that  it  should  be 


1  The  Rev.  Mr.  John  Campbell,  minister  ef 
the  parish  of  Kippen,  near  Stirling,  who  bsj 
lately  favoured  me  with  a  long,  intelligent,  sad 
very  obliging  letter  upon  this  work,  makes  the 
following  remark:  "  l)r.  Johnson  has  alluded  to 
the  worthy  man  employed  in  the  translation  of 
the  New  Testament.  Alight  not  this  have  affoid- 
ed  you  an  opportunity  of  paying  a  proper  trflatf* 
of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  James 
Stuart,  late  minister  of  Killin,  distinguished  by 
his  eminent  piety,  learning  and  taste?  The  aune- 
ble  simplicity  of  his  life,  his  warm  benevolence, 
his  indefatigable  and  successful  exertions  for  crrin- 
zing  and  improving  the  parish  of  which  be  was 
minister  for  upwards  of  fifty  years,  entitle  him  to 
the  gratitude  of  his  country*  ^d  the  veneration 
of  all  good  men.  It  certainly  would  be  a  p«y» 
if  such  a  character  should  be  permitted  to  saw 
into  oblivion. "— Bosweia. 

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printed,  I  entreat  him  to  revise  it;  there 
may,  perhaps,  be  some  negligent  lines  writ- 
ten, and  whatever  is  amiss,  he  knows  very 
well  how  to  rectify  K 

"  Be  pleased  to  let  me  know,  from  time 
to  time,  how  this  excellent  design  goes  for- , 
ward. 

"  Make  my  compliments  to  young  Mr. 
Drummond,  whom  I  hope  you  will  live  to 
see  such  as  yon  desire  him. 

"  I  have  not  lately  seen  Mr.  Elphinston, 
but  believe  him  to  be  prosperous.  I  shall 
be  glad  to  hear  the  same  of  you,  for  I  am, 
air,  your  affectionate  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  TO   MR.   WILLIAM   DRUMMOND. 
M  Loudon,  JohflMflrt-conrt,  Fleet-street,  24th  Oct.  1767. 

"  Sir, — I  returned  this  week  from  the 
country,  after  an  absence  of  near  six 
months,  and  found  your  letter  with  many 
others,  which  I  should  have  answered 
sooner,  if  I  had  sooner  seen  them. 

"  Dr.  Robertson's  opinion  was  surely 
right.  Men  should  not  be  told  of  the  faults 
which  they  have  mended.  I  am  glad  the 
old  language  is  taught,  and  honour  the 
translator,  as  a  man  whom  God  has  distin- 
guished by  the  high  office  of  propagating 
his  word. 

"  I  must  take  the  liberty  of  engaging  you 
in  an  office  of  charity.  Mrs.  Heely,  the 
wife  of  Mr.  Heely,  who  had  lately  some  office 
in  your  theatre,  is  my  near  relation,  and  now 
in  jjreat  distress.  They  wrote  me  word  of 
their  situation  some  time  ago,  to  which  I 
returned  them  an  answer  which  raised  hopes 
of  more  than  it  is  proper  for  me  to  give 
them.  Their  representation  of  their  affairs 
I  have  discovered  to  be  such  as  cannot  be 
trusted:  and  at  this  distance,  though  their 
ease  requires  haste,  I  know  not  how  to  act 
She,  or  her  daughters,  may  be  heard  of  at 
Canongate-head.  I  must  beg,  sir,  that  you 
will  inquire  after  them,  and  let  me  know 
what  is  to  be  done.  I  am  willing  to  go 
to  ten  pounds,  and  will  transmit  you 
such  a  sum,  if  upon  examination  you  find 
it  likely  to  be  of  use.  If  they  are  in  imme- 
diate want,  advance  them  what  you  think 
proper.  What  I  could  do  .1  would  do  for 
the  woman,  having  no  great  reason  to  pay 
much  regard  to  Heely  himself  *. 


1  This  paragraph  shows  Johnson's  real 
6cm  of  the  character  and  abilities  of  the  celebra- 
ted Scottish  historian,  however  lightly,  in  a  mo- 
rn**! of  caprice,  he  may  have  spoken  of  his 
works. — Boswell.  [He  seems  never  to  have 
spoken  otherwise  than  slightingly  of  Dr.  Robert- 
son's works,  however  he  may  have  respected  his 
judgment  on  tins  particular  subject  See 
p.  247,  313,  and  299.— En.] 

*  This  Is  the  person  concerning  whom  Sir 
John  Hawkins  has  thrown  out  very  unwarrantable 
reflections  both  against  Dr.  Johnson  and  Mr. 


"  I  believe  you  may  receive  some  intelli- 
gence from  Mrs.  Baker  of  the  theatre, 
whose  letter  I  received  at  the  same  time 
with  yours;  and  to  whom,  if  you  see  her, 
you  will  make  my  excuse  for  the  seeming 
neglect  of  answering  her. 

"Whatever   you   advance   within    ten 

pounds  shall  be  immediately  returned  to 

you,  or  paid  as  you  shall  order.     I  trust 

wholly  to  your  judgment. — I  am,  sir,  &c. 

"  Sam.  Johwsow." 

Mr.  Cuthbert  Shaw3,  alike  distinguished 
by  his  genius,  misfortunes,  and  misconduct, 

Published  this  year  a  poem,  called  "  The 
Lace,  by  Mercurius  Spur,  Esq."  in"  which 
he  whimsically  made  the  living  poets  of 
England  contend  for  pre-eminence  of  fame 
by  running: 

"  Prove  by  their  heels  the  prowess  of  the  head." 
In  this  poem  there  was  the  following  por- 
trait of  Johnson: 
"  Here  Johnson  comes, — unblest  with  outward 

grace, 
His  rigid  morals  stamp'd  upon  bis  face; 
While  strong  conceptions  struggle  in  his  brain; 
(For  even  wit  is  brought  to  bed  with  pain:) 
To  view  him,  porters  with  their  loads  would  rest, 
And  babes  cling  frighted  to  the  nurses'  breast. 
With  looks  convulsed  he  roars  in  pompous  strain, 
And,  like  an  angry  lion,  shakes  his  mane. 
The  nine,  with  terrour  struck,  who  ne'er  had  seen 
Aught  human  with  so  terrible  a  mien, 
Debating  whether  they  should  stay  or  run, 
Virtue  steps  forth  and  claims  bim  for  her  son. 
With  gentle  speech  she  warns  him  now  to  yield, 
Nor  stain  his  glories  in  the  doubtful  field; 
But  wrapt  in  conscious  worth,  content  sit  down, 
Since  Fame,  resolved  his  various  pleas  to  crown, 
Though  forced  his  present  claim  to  disavow, 
Had  long  reserved  a  chaplet  tor  his  brow, 
He  bows,  obeys;  for  time  shall  first  expire, 
Ere  Johnson  stay,  when  Virtue  bids  retire." 


Frances  Barber. — Boswell.  [Hawkins  wished 
to  persuade  the  world  that  Dr.  Johnson  acted  un- 
justifiably in  preferring  (in  the  disposal  of  his 
property,)  Barber  to  this  man,  whom  Sir  John 
and  his  daughter,  in  her  Memoirs,  call,  with 
a  most  surprising  disregard  of  truth,  Johnson's 
relation,  but  who,  in  fact,  bad  only  married  his 
relation.  She  was  dead  and  Heely  had  married 
another  woman  at  the  time  when  Hawkins  affec- 
ted to  think  t|at  he  had  claims  to  be  Dr.  John- 
son's heir,  and  we  find  that,  so  early  as  this 
year,  Johnson  expressed  his  disregard  for  Heely 
himself.  Some  scenes  took  place  in  the  last 
days  of  Johnson's  life  which,  as  we  shall  see,  do 
little  credit  to  Sir  John  Hawkins,  and  it  seems 
probable  that  Barber  detected  and  repotted  them, 
as  was  his  duty,  to  his  master;  whence,  perhaps,  * 
Hawkins's  malevolence  both  to  Johnson  and  Bar- 
ber, and  his  endeavour  to  set  up  a  rival  to  the 
latter.  See  post,  12th  August,  and  «u6  Novem- 
ber, 1784.— En.] 

3  See  an  account  of  him  in  the  European 
Magazine,  Jan.  1786. — Boswell. 

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538 


17<H.— iETAT.  67. 


The  honourable  Thomas  Hervey  i  and 
his  lady  having  unhappily  disagreed,  and 
being  about  to  separate,  Johnson  interfered 
as  their  friend,  and  wrote  him  a  letter  of 
expostulation,  which  I  have  not  been  able 
to  find;  but  the  substance  of  it  is  ascertain- 
ed by  a  tetter  to  Johnson  in  answer  to  it, 
which  Mr.  Hervey  printed.  The  occasion 
of  this  correspondence  between  Dr.  John- 
son and  Mr.  Hervey  was  thus  related  to  me 
by  Mr.  Beauclerk.  "  Tom  Hervey  had  a 
great  liking  for  Johnson,  and  in  his  will 
had  left  him  a  legacy  of  fifty  pounds.  One 
day  he  said  to  me, '  Johnson  may  want  this 
money  now,  more  than  afterwards.  I  have 
a  mind  to  give  it  him  directly.  Will  you 
be  so  good  as  to  carry  a  fifty  pound  note 
from  me  to  him?'  This  I  positively  refused 
to  do,  as  he  might,  perhaps,  have  knocked 
me  down  for  insulting  him,  and  have  after- 
wards put  the  note  in  his  pocket.  But  I 
said,  if  Hervey  would  write  him  a  letter, 
and  enclose  a  fifty  pound  note,  I  should  take 
care  to  deliver  it.  He  accordingly  did  write 
him  a  letter,  mentioning  that  he  was  only 
paying  a  legacy  a  little  sooner.  To  his  let- 
ter he  added, '  P.  8.  I  am  going  to  part 
with  my  wife.9  Johnson  then  wrote  to  nim, 
saying  nothing  of  the  note,  but  remonstrat- 
ing with  him  against  parting  with  his 
wife." 

When  I  mentioned  to  Johnson  this  story, 
in  as  delicate  terms  as  I  could,  he  told  me 
that  the  fifty  pound  note  was  given2  to  him 

1  The  Honourable  Thomas  Hervey*  whose 
letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Hanmer,  in  1742,  was  much 
read  at  that  time.  He  was  the  second  son  of 
John,  the  first  earl  of  Bristol,  and  one  of  the 
brothers  of  Johnson's  early  friend,  Henry  Her- 
vey. He  [was  born  1698]  married  in  1744, 
Anne,  daughter  of  Francis  Cooghlan,  Esq.  and 
died  Jan.  20,  1775. — Maloke. 

*  [This  is  not  inconsistent  with  Mr.  Beauclerk*  s 
account.  It  may  have  been  in  consideration  of 
this  pamphlet  that  Hervey  left  Johnson  the  fifty 
pounds  in  his  will,  and  on  second  thoughts  he 
may  have  determined  to  send  it  to  him.  It  were 
however  to  be  wished,  that  the  story  had  stood 
en  its  original  ground.  The  acceptance  of  an  an- 
ticipated legacy  from  a  friend  would  have  had 
nothing  objectionable  in  it:  but  can  so  much  be 
•aid  for  the  employment  of  one's  pen  for  hire, 
in  the  disgusting  squabbles  of  so  njischievous  and 
profligate  a  madman  as  Mr.  Thomas  Hervey? 
"  He  was  well  known,"  says  the  gentle  biogra- 
pher of  the  Peerage,  "  for  his  genius  and  eccen- 
tricities." The  letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Hanmer, 
above  mentioned,  was  the  first,  it  is  believed,  of 
the  many  appeals  which  Mr.  Hervey  made  to 
the  public  relative  to  his  private  concerns.  The 
■abject  is  astonishing.  Lady  Hanmer  eloped 
from  her  husband  with  Mr.  Hervey,  and  made,  it 
seems,  a  will,  in  his  favour,  of  certain  estates,  of 
which  Sir  Thomas  had  a  life  possession.  Her- 
vey's  letter  avowa  the  adultery,  and  assigns  very 
strange  reasons  for  the  lady's  leaving  her  husband, 


hy  Mr.  Hervey  in  consideration  of  his  hav- 
ing written  for  him  a  pamphlet  against  Sir 

and  then  goes  on  to '  complain,  that  Sir  Thomsj 
was  cutting  timber  on  the  estate  which  had  be- 
longed to  ««  our  wife"  so  he  calk  her,  and  of 
which  the  reversion  was  his,  and  begging  that,  if 
he  did  sell  any  more  timber,  he  would  give  him, 
Hervey,  the  refusal  of  it  All  this  is  garnished, 
and  set  off  by  extravagant  flights  of  fine  writing, 
the  most  cutting  sarcasms,  the  most  indecent  de- 
tails, and  the  most  serious  expressions  of  the 
writer's  conviction,  that  his  conduct  was  natural 
and  delicate,  and  such  as  every  body  must  ap- 
prove; and  that,  finally,  in  Heaven,  Lady  Han- 
mer, in  the  distribution  of  wives  (suam  cinque,) 
would  be  considered  as  his.  Twenty  yean  did 
not  cool  his  brain.  Just  at  the  close  of  the  reign 
he  addressed  a  letter  to  King  George  the  Second, 
complaining  of  the  king's  ministers  for  not  paving 
him  2000/.  which  they  owed  him,  and  which 


sum  was  composed  of  200/.  per  annum  for  If 
years,  which  the  said  ministers  should  heme  ai- 
ded to  the  salary  of  an  office  which  Mr.  Herrey 
held.  In  this  letter  he  pretty  clearly  explains  the 
state  of  his  intellect.  He  talks  of**  the  hideous 
subject  of  his  mental  excruciation,9'  and  la- 
ments that  '*  a  troubled  and  resentful  mind  m 
a  distempered  body,  is  almost  the  consumma- 
tion of  human  misery."  He  complains  that 
"  his  doctor  mistook  his  case,  by  calling  that  a 
nervous  disorder  which  was  really  inflammatory, 
and,  in  consequence  of  that  fatal  error,  Hervey 
"passed  eleven  years  without  any  more  ae- 
count  of  time,  or  other  notice  of  things,  than 
a  person  asleep,  under  the  influence  of  some 
horrid  dream."  He  talks  of  his  father  as  a 
**  monster  of  iniquity,"  of  "  his  weak  and 
passionate  mother,"  of  "  his  base  and  cruel 
brother,"  and  so  on.  It  is  this  letter  which  Hor- 
ace Walpole  thus  characterizes:  "  Have  you  seta 
Tom  Hervey 's  letter  to  the  king?  rail  of  absurdi- 
ty and  madness,  but  with  here  and  there  gleans) 
of  genius  and  happy  expressions  that  are  wonder- 
fully fine."— Letter  to  Conway,  Dec.  I7f* 
His  quarrel  with  his  second  wife,  in  1767,  refer- 
red to  in  the  text,  he,  according  to  his  custom, 
blazoned  to  the  public  by  the  following  advertise- 
ment: "  Whereas  Mrs.  Hervey  has  been  three 
times  from  home  last  year,  and  at  least  as 
many  the  year  before,  without  my  leave  er 
privity,  and  hath  encouraged  her  son  to  per- 
sist in  the  like  rebellious  practices,  J  hereby 
declare  that  I  neither  am  nor  will  be  account- 
able for  any  future  debts  of  her  whatsoever. 
She  is  now  keeping  forcible  possession  of  my 
house,  to  which  I  never  did  invite  or  thought 
of  inviting  her  in  all  my  life.— Thomai 
Hervey."  He  afterwards  proceeded  farther, 
and  commenced  a  suit  against  his  lady  for  jactita- 
tion of  marriage,  which  finally  ended  in  his  dis- 
comfiture. Johnson,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter, 
characterized  his  friend,  Tom  Hervey,  as  he  had 
already  done  {ante,  p.  40.)  his  brother  Henry, 
as  very  vicious.  Alas  !  it  is  but  too  proba- 
ble, that  both  were  disordered  in  mind,  and  that 
what  was  called  vice  was,  in  truth,  disease, 
and  required  a  madhouse  rather  than  a  j 
En.] 


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1767.— JETtAT.  68. 


Charles  Hanbury  Williams,  who,  Mr.  Her- 
vey  imagined,  was  the  authour  of  an  at- 
tack upon  him;  but  that  it  was  afterwards 
discovered  to  be  the  work  of  a  garreteer  *, 
who  wrote  "The  Fool:"  the  pamphlet, 
therefore,  against  Sir  Charles  was  not 
printed. 

In  Februajy,  1767,  there  happened  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  incidents  of  John- 
son's life,  which  gratified  his  monarchical 
enthusiasm,  and  which  he  loved  to  relate 
with  all  its  circumstances,  when  requested 
by  his  friends.  This  was  his  being  honour- 
ed by  a  private  conversation  with  his  ma- 
jesty in  tne  library  at  the  queen's  house.  He 
had  frequently  visited  those  splendid  rooms, 
and  noble  collection  of  books2,  which  he 
used  to  say  was  more  numerous  and  curious 
than  he  supposed  any  person  could  have 
made  in  the  time  which  the  king  had  em- 
ployed. Mr.  Barnard,  the  librarian,  took 
care  that  he  should  have  every  accommoda- 
tion that  could  contribute  to  his  ease  and 
convenience,  while  indulging  his  literary 
taste  in  that  place;  so  that  he  had  here  a 
very  agreeable  resource  at  leisure  hours. 

His  majesty  having  been  informed  of  his 
occasional  visits,  was  pleased  to  signify  a 
desire  that  he  should  be.  told  when  Dr. 
Johnson  came  next  to  the  library.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  next  time  that  Johnson  did 
come,  as  soon  as  he  was  fairly  engaged  with 
a  book,  on  which,  while  he  sat  by  the  fire, 
he  seemed  quite  intent,  Mr.  Barnard  stole 
round  to  the  apartment  .where  the  king 
was,  and,  in  obedience  to  his  majesty's  com- 
mands, mentioned  that  Dr.  Johnson  was 
then  in  the  library.  His  majesty  said  he 
was  at  leisure,  and  would  go  to  him :  upon 
which  Mr.  Barnard  took  one  of  the  candles 
that  stood  on  the  king's  table,  and  lighted 
his  majesty  through  a  suite  of  rooms,  till 
they  came  to  a  private  door  into  the  libra- 
ry, of  which  nis  majesty  had  the  key. 
Being  entered,  Mr.  Barnard  stepped  for- 
ward hastily  to  Dr.  Johnson,  who  was  still 
in  a  profound  study,  and  whispered  him, 


239 

Johnson  started 


1  [Some  cariosity  would  naturally  be  felt  as  to 
who  the  garreteer  was,  who  wrote  a  pamphlet, 
which  was  attributed  to  Sir  C.  H.  Williams,  the 
wittiest  man  of  hk  day  and  to  answer  which,  the 
wild  and  sarcastic  genius  of  Hervey  required  the 
assistance  of  Dr.  Johnson.  His  name  was  Wil- 
liam Horsley,  but  his  acknowledged  works  axe 
Poor  productions.— Ed.] 

*  Dr.  Johnson  had  the  honour  of  contributing 
ai>  assistance  towards  the  formation  of  this  libra- 
ry; for  I  have  read  a  long  letter  from  him  to  Mr. 
Barnard,  giving  the  most  masterly  instructions  on 
the  subject  I  wished  much  to  have  gratified  my 
raaden  with  the  perusal  of  this  letter,  and  have 
Hason  to  think  that  his  majesty  would  have  been 
graciously  pleased  to  permit  its  publication  ;  but 
Mr.  Barnard,  to  whom  I  applied,  declined  it  "  on 
■i  own  account"— Boswdll.  But  see  the  let- 
ter ■  the  Appendix. 


"  Sir,  here  is  the  king." 
up,  and  stood  still.  His  majesty  approach- 
ed him,  and  at  once  was  courteously  easy  3. 
His  majesty  began  by  observing,  that  he 
understood  he  came  sometimes  to  the  libra- 
ry; and  then  mentioning  his  having  heard 
that  the  Doctor  had  been  lately  at  Oxford, 
asked  him  if  he  was  not  fond  of  going 
thither.  To  which  Johnson  answered, 
that  he  was  indeed  fond  of  going  to  Oxford 
sometimes,  but  was  likewise  glad  to  come 
back  again.  The  king  then  asked  him 
what  they  were  doing  at  Oxford.  Johnson 
answered,  he  could  not  much  commend 
their  diligence,  but  that  in  some  respects 
they  were  mended,  for  they  had  put  their 
press  under  better  regulations,  and  were  at 
that  time  printing  Polybius.  He  was  then 
asked  whether  there  were  better  libraries  at 
Oxford  or  Cambridge.  He  answered,  he 
believed  the  Bodleian  was  larger  than  any 
they  had  at  Cambridge;  at  the  same  time 
adding,  "  I  hope,  whether  we  have  more 
books  or  not  than,  they  have  at  Cambridge, 
we  shall  make  as  good  use  of  them  as  they 
do."  Being  asked  whether  All-Souls  or 
Christ-Church  library  was  the  largest,  he 
answered,  "  All-Souls  library  is  the  largest 
we  have,  except  the  Bodleian."  "  Ay," 
said  the  king,  "  that  is  the  publick  library." 
His  majesty  inquired  if  he  was  then  writ- 
ing any  thing.  He  answered,  he  was  not, 
for  he  had  pretty  well  told  the  world  what 
he  knew,  and  must,  now  read  to  acquire 
more  knowledge.  The  king  as  it  should 
seem  with  a  view  to  .urge  him  to  rely  on  his 
own  stores  as  an  original  writer,  and  to 


3  The  particulars  of  this  conversation  I  have 
been  at  great  pains  to  collect  with  the  utmost  au- 
thenticity, from  Dr.  Johnson's  own  detail  to  my- 
self ;  from  Mr.  Langton,  who  was  present  when 
he  gave  an  account  of  it  to  Dr.  Joseph  Warton, 
and  several  other  friends  at  Sir  Joshua  Reynold's; 
from  Mr.  Barnard;  from  the  copy  of  a  letter  writ- 
ten by  the  late  Mr.  Strahan,  the  printer,  to  Bish- 
op Warburton;  and  from  a  minute,  the  original 
of  which  is  among  the  papers  of  the  late  Sir  James 
Caldwell,  and  a  copy  of  which  was  most  obli- 
gingly obtained  for  me  from  his  son,  Sir  Francis 
Lamm.  To  all  these  gentlemen  I  beg  leave  to 
make  my  grateful  acknowledgments,  and  partic- 
ularly to  Sir  Francis  Lumm,  who  was  pleased  to 
take  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  and  even  had  the 
minute  laid  before  the  king  by  Lord  Caermarthen, 
now  Duke  of  Leeds,  then  one  of  his  majesty's 
principal  secretaries  of  state,  who  announced  to 
Sir  Francis  the  royal  pleasure  concerning  it  by  a 
letter,  in  these  words: — "  I  have  the  king's  com- 
mands to  assure  you,  sir,  how  sensible  his  majesty 
is  of  your  attention  in  communicating  the  minute 
of  the  conversation  previous  to  its  publication. 
As  there  appears  no  objection  to  your  complying 
with  Mr.  Boswell's  wishes  on  the  subject,  you 
are  at  full  liberty  to  deliver  it  to  that  gentleman, 
to  make  such  use  of  in  his  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,  aa 
he  may  think  proper." — Bos  well. 

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S40 


1767.— jETAT.  68. 


continue  his  labours,  then  said,  "  I  do  not 
think  you  borrow  much  from  any  body." 
Johnson  said,  he  thought  he  had  already 
done  his  part  as  a  writer.  "  I  should  have 
thought  so  too,"  said  the  king,  "  if  you  had 
not  written  so  well."  Johnson  observed  to 
me,  upon  this,  that  "  No  man  could  have 
paid  a  handsomer  compliment  *;  and  it  was 
fit  for  a  king  to  pay.  It  was  decisive." 
When  esked  by  another  friend,  at  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds's,  whether  he  made  any 
reply  to  this  high  compliment,  he  answered 
"  No,  sir.  When  the  King  had  said  it,  it 
was  to  be  so.  It  was  not  for  me  to  bandy 
civilities  with  my  sovereign."  Perhaps  no 
man  who  had  spent  his  whole  life  in  courts 
could  have  shown  a  more  nice  and  dignified 
sense  of  true  politeness  than  Johnson  did  in 
this  instance. 

His  majesty  having  observed  to  him  that 
he  supposed  he  must  have  read  a  great 
deal,  Johnson  answered,  that  he  thought 
more  than  he  read  ;  that  he  had  read  a 
great  deal  in  the  early  part  of  his  life,  but 
having  fallen  into  ill  health,  he  had  not 
been  able  to  read  much,  compared  with 
others:  for  instance,  he  said  he  had  not 
read  much,  compared  with  Dr.  Warbur- 
ton.  Upon  which  the  king  said,  that  he 
heard  Dr.  Warburton  was  a  man  of  such 
genera]  knowledge,  that  you  could  scarce 
talk  with  him  on  any  subject  on  which  he 
was  not  qualified  to  speak  ;  and  that  his 
learning  resembled  Garrick's  acting,  in  its 
universality9.    His  majesty  then  talked  of 

1  [Johnson  himself  imitated  it  to  Paoli  (see 
post,  10th  October,  1769)  ;  and  it  is  indeed  be- 
come one  of  the  common-placet  of  compliment 
—Ed.] 

*  The  Rev.  Mr.  Stratum  clearly  recollects 
having  been  told  by  Johnson,  that  the  king  ob- 
served that  Pope  made  Warburton  a  bishop. 
"  True,  sir  (said  Johnson),  bat  Warburton  did 
more  for  Pope;  he  made  him  a  Christian;'*  allud- 
ing, no  doubt,  to  his  ingenious  comments  on  the 
"Essay  on  Man."  [Mr.  Stratum's  recollection 
probably  failed  him.  His  majesty  and  Dr.  John- 
son were  both  too  well  informed  to  have  bandied 
such  idle  talk.  Warburton  had  published  the 
Divine  Legation,  and  was  chaplain  to  the  prince 
of  Wales  before  he  knew  Pope;  his  acquaintance 
with  that  poet,  but  of  four  years'  continuance, 
was  ended  by  Pope's  death  in  1744.  It  was  ten 
years  after,  that  he  became  a  king's  chaplain, 
and,  in  1755,  he  had  a  prebend  in  the  cathedral 
of  Durham.  In  1757,  he  was  made  dean  of  Bris- 
tol: and,  1760,  sixteen  years  after  Pope's 
death,  he  became  bishop  of  Gloucester.  If  it  be 
alleged,  that  Mr.  Strahan's  report  refers  to  the 
supposition,  that  his  commentary  on  Pope's  "  Es- 
say on  Man"  tended  to  create  that  character 
which  finally  raised  him  to  the  bench;  it  may  be 
observed,  that  he  published,  before  and  after  that 
commentary,  a  multitude  of  works  on  polemical 
and  religious  subjects,  much  more  important  and 
remarkable  than  the  Commentary  on  the  "  Essay 


the  controversy  between  Warburton  and 
Lowth,  which  he  seemed  to  have  read* 
and  asked  Johnson  what  he  thought  of  it 
Johnson  answered,  "  Warburton  has  most 
general,  most  scholastick  learning ;  Lowth 
is  the  more  correct  scholar.  I  do  not  know 
which  of  them  calls  names  best."  The 
king  was  pleased  to  say  he  was  of  the  same 
opinion  ;  adding,  "  You  do  not  think  then, 
Dr.  Johnson,  that  there  was  much  argu- 
ment in  the  case."  Johnson  said,  he  did 
not  think  there  was.  "  Why  truly  ("said 
the  king),  when  once  it  comes  to  calling 
names,  argument  is  pretty  well  at  an  end." 

His  majesty  then  asked  him  what  he 
thought  of  Lord  Lyttelton's  history,  which 
was  then  just  published.  Johnson  said, 
he  thought  his  style  pretty  good,  but 
that  he  had  blamed  Henry  the  Second 
rather  too  much.  "  Why  (said  the  king), 
they  seldom  do  these  things  by  halves." 
"No,  sir  (answered  Johnson),  not  to 
kings."  But  fearing  to  be  misunderstood, 
he  proceeded  to  explain  himself:  and  im- 
mediately subjoined,  "  That  for  those  who 
spoke  worse  of  kings  than  they  deserved, 
he  could  find  no  excuse ;  but  that  he  could 
more  easily  conceive  how  some  might  speak 
better  of  them  than  they  deserved,  without 
any  ill  intention;  for,  as  kings  had  much 
in  their  power  to  give,  those  who  were  fa- 
voured by  them  would  frequently,  from 
gratitude,  exaggerate  their  praises:  and  as 
this  proceeded  from  a  good  motive,  it  was 
certainly  excusable,  as  far  as  errour  could 
be  excusable."    • 

The  king  then  asked  him  what  he  thought 
of  Dr.  HiH.  Johnson  answered  that  he 
was  an  ingenious  man,  but  had  no  veracity ; 
and  immediately  mentioned,  as  an  instance 
of  it,  an  assertion  of  that  writer,  that  he 
had  seen  objects  magnified  to  a  much  great- 
er degree  by  using  three  or  four  microscopes 
at  a  time  than  by  using  one.  "  Now  (ad- 
ded Johnson)  every  one  acquainted  with 
microscopes  knows,  that  the  more  of  them 
he  looks  through,  the  less  the  object  will 
appears."    "  Why  (replied  the  king)  this 


on  Man.'*  The  troth  is,  Warburton  was  made  a 
bishop  by  his  numerous  works,  and  his  high  lite- 
rary character,  to  which  this  commentary  contrib- 
uted a  very  inconsiderable  part — Ed.) 

3  [Here,  as  the  bishop  of  Ferns  remarks,  Dr. 
Johnson  was  culpably  unjust  to  Hill,  and  showed 
that  he  did  not  understand  the  subject.  Hill  does 
not  talk  of  magnifying  objects  by  two  or  more 
miscroscopes,  but  by  applying  two  object  glasses 
to  one  miscroscope;  and  the  advantage  of  dimin- 
ished spherical  errors  by  this  contrivance  is  well 
known.  Hill's  account  of  the  experiment  (  Veg» 
System,  Lond.  1770,  p.  44)  is,  as  the  bishop 
further  observes,  obscurely  and  inaccurately  ex- 
pressed in  one  or  two  particulars;  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  he  is  substantially  right,  and  that  Dr. 
Johnson's  statement  was  altogether  unfounded.— 
Ed.] 


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is  not  only  telling  an  untruth,  but  telling 
it  clumsily ;  for,  if  that  be  the  case,  every 
one  who  can  look  through  a  microscope 
will  be  able  to  detect  him." 

"I  now  (said  Johnson  to  his  friends, 
when  relating  what  had  passed)  began  to 
consider  that  I  was  depreciating  this  man 
in  the  estimation  of. his  sovereign,  and 
thought  it  was  time  for  me  to  say  some- 
thing that  might  be  more  favourable."  He 
added,  therefore,  that  Dr.  Hill  was,  not- 
withstanding, a  very  curious  observer  ;  and 
if  he  would  have  been  contented  to  tell  the 
world  no  more  than  he  knew,  he  might 
have  been  a  very  considerable  man,  and 
needed  not  to  have  recourse  to  such  mean 
expedients  to  raise  his  reputation. 

The  king  then  talked  of  literary  journals, 
mentioned  particularly  the  Journal  det  Sa- 
•«fit ,  and  asked  Johnson  if  it  was  well  done. 
Johnson  said,  it  was  formerly  very  well 
done,  and  gave  some  account  of  the  persons 
who  began  it,  and  carried  it  on  for  some 
years ;  enlarging,  at  the  same  time,  on  the 
nature  and  use  of  such  works.  The  king 
asked  him  if  it  was  well  done  now.  John- 
son answered,  he  had  no  reason  to  think 
that  it  was.  The  king  then  asked  him  if 
there  were  any  other  literary  journals  pub- 
lished in  this  kingdom,  except  the  Monthly 
and  Critical  Reviews ;  and  on  being  an- 
swered there  was  no  other,  his  majesty  ask- 
ed which  of  them  was  the  best:  Johnson 
answered,  that  the  Monthly  Review  was 
done  with  most  care,  the  Critical  upon  the 
best  principles :  adding  that  the  authours  of 
the  Monthly  Review  were  enemies  to  the 
church.  This  the  king  said  he  was  sorry 
to  hear. 

The  conversation  next  turned  on  the 
Philosophical  Transactions,  when  John- 
son observed  that  they  had  now  a  better 
method  of  arranging  their  materials  than 
formerly.  "  Ay  (said  the  king),  they  are 
obliged  to  Dr.  Johnson  for  that ; "  for  his 
majesty  had  heard  and  remembered  the  cir- 
cumstance, which  Johnson  himself  had 
forpot. 

His  majesty  expressed  a  desire  to  have 
the  literary  biography  of  this  country  ably 
executed,  and  proposed  to  Dr.  Johnson  to 
undertake  it l.  Johnson  signified  his  readi- 
ness to  eotnply  with  his  majesty's  wishes. 

During  the  whole  of  this  interview, 
Johnson  talked  to  his  majesty  with  pro- 
found respect,  but  still  in  nis  firm  manly 
manner,  with  a  sonorous  voice,  and  never 
in  that  subdued  tone  which  is  commonly 
uaed  at  the  levee  and  in  the  drawing-room. 
After  the  king  withdrew,  Johnson  showed 
himself  highly  pleased  with  his  majesty's 


1  [This  perhaps  may  have  given  Dr.  Johnson 
the  nwt  idea  of  the  mot 

--En, 


conversation  and  gracious  behaviour.  He 
said  to  Mr.  Barnard,  "  Sir,  they  may  talk 
of  the  king  as  they  will ;  but  he  is  the  finest 
gentleman  I  have  ever  seen2."  And  he  af- 
terwards observed  to  Mr.  Langton,  "  Sir, 
his  manners  are  those  of  as  fine  a  gentleman 
as  we  may  suppose  Louis  XIV.  or  Charles 
II." 

At  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's,  when?  a  cir- 
cle of  Johnson's  friends  was  collected  round 
him  to  hear  his  account  of  this  memorable 
conversation,  Dr.  Joseph  Warton,  in  his 
frank  and  lively  manner,  was  very  active  in 
pressing  him  to  mention  the  particulars. 
"  Come  now,  sir,  this  is  an  interesting  mat- 
ter ;  do  favour  us  with  it."  Johnson,  with 
great  good  humour,  complied. 

He  told  them,  "  I  found  his  majesty 
wished  I  should  talk,  and  I  made  it  my 
business  to  talk.  I  find  it  does  a  man  good 
U>  be  talked  to  by  his  sovereign.  In  the 
first  place,  a  man  cannot  be  in  a  pas- 
sion 3 . "  Here  some  question  interrupted 

him,  which  is  to  be  regretted,  as  he  cer- 
tainly would  have  pointed  out  and  illustra- 
ted many  circumstances  of  advantage,  from 
being  in  a  situation  where  the  powers  of 
the  mind  are  at  once  excited  to  vigorous 
exertion,  and  tempered  by  reverential  awe. 

During  ail  the  time  in  which  Dr.  John- 
son was  employed  in  relating  to  the  circle 
at  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  the  particulars  of 
what  passed  between  the  king,  and  him, 
Dr.  Goldsmith  remained  unmoved  upon  a 
sofa  at  some  distance,  affecting  not  to  join 
in  the  least  in  the  eager  curiosity  of  the 
company.  He  assigned  as  a  reason  for  his 
gloom  and  seeming  inattention,  that  he  ap- 
prehended Johnson  had  relinquished  his 
purpose  of  furnishing  him  with  a  prologue 
to  his  play,  with  the  hopes  of  which  he  had 
been  flattered  ;  but  it  was  strongly  suspect- 
ed that  he  was  fretting  with  chagrin  and 
envy  at  the  singular  honour  Dr.  Johnson 
had  lately  enjoyed.  At  length,  the  frank- 
ness and  simplicity  of  his  natural  character 
prevailed.  He  sprung  from  the  sofa,  ad- 
vanced to  Johnson,  and  in  a  kind  of  flutter, 
from  imagining  himself  in  the  situation 
which  he  had  just  been  hearing  described, 
exclaimed,  "  Well^  you  acquitted  yourself 
in  this  conversation  better  than  I  should 
have  done  ;  for  I  should  have  bowed  and 
stammered  through  the  whole  of  it," 

[It  is  a  singularity  that,  how-  ^ 
ever  obvious,  has  not  been  before 


__  most  popular  and  entertain- 
of  all  hi  works,  "  The  Lives  of  the  Poets." 

▼ol.  i. 


51 


9  [This  reminds  as  of  Madame  de  Serjgne's 
charming  naivete,  when,  after  giving  an  account 
of  Loom  XIV.  having  danced  wtth  her,  she 
adds,  "  Ah!  c'est  le  plus  grand  roi  da  monde  !" 
—En.] 

'  [Johnson  was,  in  his  calmer  moments,  sensi- 
ble of  the  too  great  vehemence  of  his  con- 
versation; and  yet,  sea  pott,  19th  Maj,  1784.— 
En.] 

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1767.— JETAT.  W. 


c 


observed,  that  Johnson  should  have  been 
in  the  presence  of  Queen  Anne  and  of 
George  the  Fourth  K  He  once  told 
?"«?&  sir  Jonn  Hawkins,  [that,  in  a  visit 
to  Mrs.  Percy,  who  had  the  care 
of  one  of  the  young  princes,  at  the 
queen's  house,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  being 
then  a  child,  came  into  the  room,  and  be- 
an to  play  about ;  when  Johnson,  with 
is  usual  curiosity,  took  an  opportunity  of 
asking  him  what  books  he  was  reading, 
and,  in  particular,  inquired  as  to  his  know- 
ledge of  the  scriptures ;  the  prince,  in  his 
answers,  gave  him  great  satisfaction,  and, 
as  to  the  last,  said,  that  part  of  his  daily  ex- 
ercises was  to  read  Ostervald9.] 

I  received  no  letter  from'  Johnson  this 
year:  nor  have  I  discovered  any  of  the  cor- 
respondence3 he  had,  except  the  two  letters 
to  Mr.  Drummond,  which  have  been  in- 
serted, for  the  sake  of  connexion  with  that 
to  the  same  gentleman  in  1766.  His  diary 
affords  no  light  as  to  his  employment  at 
this  time.  lie  passed  [more  than4]  three 
months  at  Lichfield ;  and  I  cannot  omit 
an  affecting  and  solemn  scene  there,  as  re- 
lated by  himself: 

"Sunday,  Oct.  18,  1767.  Yesterday, 
Oct  17,  at  about  ten  in  the  morning,  I 
took  my  leave  for  ever  of  my  dear  old  friend, 
Catherine  Chambers,  who  came  to  live  with 
my  mother  about  1724,  and  has  been  but 
tittle  parted  from  us  since.  She  buried  my 
father,  my  brother,  and  my  mother.  She 
is  now  fifty-eight  years  old. 

"  I  desired  all  to  withdraw,  then  told 
her  that  we  were  to  part  for  ever  ;  that  as 


1  [George  the  First  he  probably  never  saw, 
bat  George  the  Second  he  mast  frequently  have 
seen,  and  he  had  the  honour  of  converging,  as 
above  stated,  with  George  the  Third  and  George 
the  Fourth,  and  thus  saw  four  of  the  five  last  sove- 
reigns, whose  reigns  already  include  above  a  cen- 
tury and  a  quarter. — En.] 

*  [No  doubt  the  popular  Catechism  and  "  A- 
bridgement  of  Sacred  History"  of  J.  F.  Ostervald, 
an  eminent  Swiss  divine.  He  died  in  1747, 
In  the  84th  year  of  his  age. — Ed.] 

•  It  is  proper  here  to  mention,  that  when  I 
speak  of  his  correspondence,  I  consider  it  independ- 
ent of  the  voluminous  collection  of  letters  which,  in 
the  course  of  many  years,  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale, 
which  forms  a  separate  part  of  his  works:  and  as 
a  proof  of  the  high  estimation  set  on  any  thing 
which  came  from  his  pen,  was  sold  by  that  lady 
for  the  sum  of  &ve  handled  pounds. — Bob  well. 
[See  the  preface  for  some  observations  on  these 
Utter*.— Ed.] 

4  la  his  letter  to  Mr.  Drummond,  dated  Oct 
24, 1767,  he  mentions  that  he  had  arrived  in 
London,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  six  months 
in  the  country.  Probably  part  of  that  time  was 
spent  at  OxfonL— M^jloni.  [He  dates  a  letter 
to  Mrs.  Thrale,  from  Lichfield,  as  early  as  the 
40th  July,  and  states  that  he  bad  already  bean 
thaekn^ertbanhemtendtd.    JLetters.^p.} 


Christians,  we  should  part  with  prayer; 
and  that  I  would,  if  she  was  willing,  say  a 
short  prayer  beside  her.  She  expressed 
great  desire  to  hear  me  j  and  held  up  her 
poor  hands,  as  she  lay  in  bed,  with  great 
fervour,  while  I  prayed,  kneeling  by  her, 
nearly  in  the  following  words: 

"Almighty  and  most  merciful  Father, 
whose  loving  kindness  is  over  all  thy  works, 
behold,  visit,  and  relieve  this  thy  servant, 
who  is  grieved  with  sickness.  Grant  that 
the  sense  of  her  weakness  may  add  strength 
to  her  faith,  and  seriousness  to  her  repent- 
ance. And  grant  that  by  the  help  of  thy 
holy  spirit,  after  the  pains  and  labours  of 
this  short  life,  we  may  all  obtain  everlasting 
happiness,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
for  whose  sake  hear  our  prayers5.  Amen. 
Our  Father,  &c. 

"  I  then  kissed  her.  She  told  me,  that  to 
part  was  the  greatest  pain  that  she  had  ever 
felt,  and  that  she  hoped  we  should  meet 
again  in  a  better  place.  I  expressed,  with 
swelled  eyes,  and  great  emotion  of  tender- 
ness, the  same  hopes.  We  kissed,  and  part- 
ed, I  humbly  hope  to  meet  again,  and  to 
part  no  more  6." 

By  those  who  have  been  taught  to  look 

rn  Johnson  as  a  man  of  a  harsh  and  stern 
racter,  let  this  tender  and  affectionate 
scene  be  candidly  read;  and  let  them  then 
judge  whether  more  warmth  of  heart  and 
grateful  kindness  is  often  found  in  human 
nature. 

"TO  MRS.  THRALE. 

*  LichfleW,  SO  Jtdy,  I1BT. 

"  Though  I  have  been  away  so 
much  longer  than  I  purposed  or  ex-    J£T^ 
pected,  I  have  found  nothing  that    p.  a.  I 

withdraws  my  affections  from  the 
friends  whom  I  left  behind,  or  which  makes 
me  less  desirous  of  reposing  at  that  place 
which  your  kindness  and  Mr.  Thrale's  al- 
lows me  to  call  my  home. 

"  Miss  Lucy  is  more  kind  and  civil  than 
I  expected,  and  has  raised  my  esteem  by 
many  excellencies  very  noble  and  resplen- 
dent, though  a  little  discoloured  by  hoary 
virginity.  Every  thing  else  recalls  to  my 
remembrance  years  in  which  I  proposed 
what,  I  am  afraid,  I  have  not  done,  and  pro- 
mised myself  pleasure  which  I  have  not 
found." 

We  have  the  following  notice  in  his  de- 
votional record: 

"  August  2, 1767.  I  have  been  disturbed 
and  unsettled  for  a  long  time,  and  have  been 


6  [The  greater  part  of  this  prayer  is,  as  the 
Bishop  of  Ferns  observes,  in  the  visitation  of 
the  sick  in  our  liturgy. — En.] 

6  ^Catherine  Cdjli»s«s  died  in  a  few  days  aftre 
this  interview,  and  was  buried  in  St  Chads, 
Lichfield,  on  the  7th  Nov.  1767.— lUawoeo.l 


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1767— iETAT.  66* 


243 


Without  resolution  to  apply  to  study  or 
to  business,  being  hindered  by  sudden 
matches. 

"  I  have  for  some  days  forborne  wine  and 
Biropen.  Abstinence  is  not  easily  practised 
in  another '8  house;  but  1  think  it  nt  to  try. 

"  I  was  extremely  perturbed  in  the  night, 
but  have  had  this  day  more  ease  than  I  ex- 
pected. D[eo]  gr[aual.  Perhaps  this  may 
be  such  a  sudden  relief  as  I  once  had  by  a 
good  night's  rest  in  Fetter-lane. 

"  From  that  time,  by  abstinence,  I  have 
had  more  ease.  I  have  read  five  books  of 
Homer,  and  hope  to  end  the  sixth  to-night 
I  have  given  Mrs. a  guinea. 

"  By  abstinence  from  wine  and  suppers,  I 
obtained  sudden  and  great  relief,  and  had 
freedom  of  mind  restored  to  me;  which  I 
have  wanted  for  all  this  year,  without  being 
able  to  find  my  means  of  obtaining  it." 

He,  however,  furnished  Mr.  Adams  with 
a  dedication9  to  the  king  of  that  ingenious 
gentleman's  "Treatise  on  the  Globes," 
conceived  and  expressed  in  such  a  manner 
as  could  not  fail  to  be  very  grateful  to  a 
monarch,  distinguished  for  his  love  of  the 
sciences. 

This  year  was  published  a  ridicule  of  his 
style,  under  the  title  of  "  Lexiphanes." 
&r  John  Hawkins  ascribes  it  to  Dr.  Ken- 
rick;  but  its  authour  was  one  Campbell,  a 
Scotch  puiaer  in  the  navy.  The  ridicule 
consisted  in  applying  Johnson's  "  words  of 
large  mining,"  to  insignificant  matters,  as 
if  one  should  put  the  armour  of  Goliath  up- 
on a  dwarf.  The  contrast  might  be  laugh- 
able; but  the  dignity  of  the  armour  must  re- 
main the  same  in  all  considerate  minds. 
This  malicious  drollery  l,  therefore,  it  may 
easily  be  supposed,  could  do  no  harm  to  its 
illustrious  object. 

"  TO  JENNET  LANGTON,  ESQ. 

"M  Nr.  MotkwW;  perfumer,  in-New  Bond-etreit, 

London. 

"  Lichfield,  lOih  October,  1767. 
«  Dear  sir,— That  you  have  been  all 
summer  in  London  is  one  more  reason  for 
which  I  regret  my  long  stay  in  the  country. 
I  hope  that  you  will  not  leave  the  town  be- 
fore my  return.  We  have  here  only  the 
chance  of  vacancies  in  the  passing  carnages, 
and  I  have  bespoken  one  that  may,  if  it  hap- 
pens, bring  me  to  town  on  the  fourteenth  3 
of  this  month;  but  this  is  not  certain. 

"  It  will  be  a  favour  if  you  communicate 
this  to  Mrs.  Williams;  1  long  to  see  all  my 
friends.  I  am,  dear  sir,  your  most  humble 
servant,  "  Sam.  Johhbon." 


*  [It  may  have  been  malicious,  bat  it  certain- 
ly m  not  droll.  It  is  so  over-charged,  as  to 
have  neither  resemblance  nor  pleasantry. — En.] 

»  [We  have  jast  seen  that  be  was  detained  till 
the  18th.— Ed.) 


["TO  MBS.  ASTOW*. 

"  17th  November,  1767. 

"  M  a  d  a  m, — If  you  impute  it  *  to 
disrespect  or  inattention,  that  I  took     £fl& 
no  leave  when  I  left  Lichfield,  you 
will  do  me  great  injustice.     I  know  you  too 
well  not  to  value  your  friendship. 

"  When  I  came  to  Oxford  I  inquired  af- 
ter the^ product  of  our  walnut-tree,  but  it 
had,  like  other  trees  this  year,  but  very  few 
nuts,  and  for  those  few  I  came  too  late. 
The  tree,  as  1  told  you,  madam,  we  cannot 
find  to  be  more  than  thirty  years  old,  and 
upon  measuring  it,  I  found  iL  at  about  one 
loot  from  the  ground,  seven  feet  in  circum- 
ference, and  at  the  height  of  about  seven 
feet,  the  circumference  is  five  feet  and  a 
half:  it  would  have  been,  I  believe,  still  big- 
ger out  that  it  has  been  lopped.  The  nuts 
are  small,  such  as  they  call  single  nuts; 
whether  this  nut  is  of  quicker  growth  than 
better  I  have  not  vet  inquired;  such  as  they 
are  I  hope  to  send  them  next  year. 

"You  know,  dear  madam,  the  liberty  I 
took  of  hinting,  that  I  did  not  think  your 
present  mode  of  life  very  pregnant  with 
happiness.  Reflection  has  not  yet  changed 
my  opinion.*  Solitude  excludes  pleasure, 
and  does  not  always  secure  peace.  Some 
communication  of  sentiments  is  commonly 
necessary"  to  give  vent  to  the  imagination, 
and  discharge  the  mind  of  its  own  flatu- 
lencies. Some  lady  surely  might  be  found 
in  whose  conversation  you  mijrht  delight, 
and  in  whose  fidelity  you  might  repose. 
The  world,  says  Locke,  has  people  of  all 
tort*.  You  will  forgive  me  this  obtrusion 
of  my  opinion  ;  I  am  sure  I  wish  you  well. 

"  Poor  Kitty  has  done  what  we  have  all 
to  do,  and  Lucy  has  the  world  to  begin 
anew;  I  hope  she  will  find  some  way  to 
more  content  than  I  left  her  possessing. 

"  Be  pleased  to  make  my  compliments 
to  Mrs.  Hinckley  and  Miss  Turton.  I  am, 
madam,  your  most  obliged  and  most  hum- 
ble servant,  "  Sam.  Johvson."] 

It  appears  from  his  notes  of  the  state  of 
his  mind,  that  he  suffered  great  perturba- 
tion and  distraction  in  1768. 

''Town-mamas4,  m  Kent,  18th  Sept.  1768,  at  night. 
"  I  have  now  begun  the  sixtieth  year  of 
my  life.    How  the  last  year  has  past,  I  am 


9  [Elizabeth,  one  of  the  younger  daughters  of 
Sir  Thomas  Aston:  see  ante,  p  .  29,  n.  Some 
letters  of  Johnson  to  Mrs.  Aston,  which  have 
been  communicated  since  that  note  was  print* 
ed,  are  written  with  a  uniform  spirit  of  tender- 
ness and  respect,  and,  though  of  tittle  other 
value,  afford  an  additional  proof  of  the  inaccura- 
cy of  Miss  Seward,  who  represents  Dr.  John- 
son as  statins  to  her  a  very  unfavourable  charac- 
ter of  Mrs.  Aston.— Ed.] 

*  [It  appears  that  he  visited,  with  the  Tbrales, 


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244 


•17«8.— iBTAT.  69. 


unwilling  to  terrify  myself  with  thinking. 
This  day  has  been  past  in  great  perturba- 
tion ;  I  was  distraoted  at  church  in  an  un- 
common degree,  and  my  distress  has  had 
very  little  intermission.  I  have  found  my- 
self somewhat  relieved  by  reading,  which 
I  therefore  intend  to  practise  when  I  am 
able. 

"  This  day  it  came  into  mv  mind  to  write 
the  history  of  my  melancholy.  On  this  I 
purpose  to  deliberate  ;  I  know  not  whether 
it  may  not  too  much  disturb  me." 

Nothing  of  his  writings  was  given  to  the 
publick  this  year,  except  the  Prologue  *  to 
his  friend  Goldsmith's  comedy  of  "  The 
Good-natured  Man."  The  first  lines  of 
this  prologue  are  strongly  characteristical 
of  the  dismal  gloom  of  his  mind;  which  in 
his  case,  as  in  the  case  of  all  who  are  dis- 
tressed with  the  same  malady  of  imagina- 
tion, transfers  to  others  its  own  feelings. 
Who  could  suppose  it  was  to  introduce  a 
comedy;  when  Mr.  Bensley  solemnly  be- 
gan, 


Mr.  Brooke  of  Town-mailing,  of  whose  primi- 
tive house  and  manners  we  find  some  account  in 
the  Letters. 

««  Dr.  Johnson  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  23d  August, 
1777. — « it  was  very  well  done  by  Mr.  Brooke 
to  send  for  yon,  His  house  is  one  of  my  favour- 
ite places.  His  water  is  very  commodious,  and 
the  whole  place  has  the  tme  old  appearance  of 
a  little  country  town.  I  hope  Miss  goes,  for  she 
takes  notice." 

"  Mrs.  Thrale  to  Dr.  Johnson,  ISth  Sep- 
t  ember  t  1777. — "  Come,  here  is  news  of  Town- 
mailing,  the  quiet  old-fashioned  place  in  Kent, 
that  you  liked  so,  because  it  was  agreeable  to 
your  owd  notions  of  a  rural  life.  I  believe  we 
were  the  first  people,  except  the  master  of  it,  who 
had,  for  many  years,  taken  delight  in  the  old 
coach  without  springs,  the  two  roasted  ducks  in 
one  dish,  the  fortified  flower-garden,  and  fir-trees 
cut  in  figures.  A  spirit  of  innovation  has  howev- 
er reached  even  there  at  last.  The  roads  are 
mended;  no  more  narrow  shaded  lanes,  but 
clear  open  turnpike  trotting.  A  yew  hedge,  or 
an  eugh  hedge  if  you  will,  newly  cut  down  too 
by  his  nephew's  desire.  Ah  !  those  nephews. — 
And  a  wall  pulled  away,  which  bore  incompara- 
ble fruit — to  call  in  the  country — is  the  phrase. 
Mr.  Thrale  is  wicked  enough  to  urge  on  these 
rough  reformers;  how  it  will  end  I  know  not. 
For  your  comfort,  the  square  canals  still  drop  into 
one  another,  and  the  chocolate  is  still  made  in  the 
room  by  a  maid,  who  curtsies  as  she  presents 
every  cup.  Dear  old  Daddy  Brooke  looks  well, 
and  even  handsome  at  eighty-one  years  old; 
while  I  saw  his  sister,  who  is  ninety-four  years 
old  and  calls  him  Frankey,  eat  more  venison  at 
a  sitting  than  Mr.  Thrale.  These  are  the  proper 
contemplations  of  this  season.  May  my  daugh- 
ter and  my  friend  but  enjoy  life  as  long,  and  use 
it  as  innocently  as  these  sweet  people  have 
done.  The  sight  of  such  a  family  consoles  one's 
heart"— En.) 


"  Press M  with  the  load  of  life,  the  weary  i 

Surveys  the  general  toil  of  human  kind  ?" 
But  this  dark  ground  might  make  Gold- 
smith's humour  shine  the  more l. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year,  having  pub- 
lished my  "  Account  of  Corsica,  with  the 
Journal  of  a  Tour  to  that  Island,"  I  return- 
ed to  London,  very  desirous  to  see  Dr. 
Johnson,  and  hear  nim  upon  the  subject. 
I  found  he  was  at  Oxford,  with  his  friend 
Mr.  Chambers,  who  was  now  Vinerian 
Professor,  and  lived  in  New-inn  HalL 
Having  had  no  letter  from  him  since  that 
in  which  he  criticised  the  Latinity  of  my 
Thesis,  and  having  been  told  by  somebody 
that  he  was  offended  at  my  having  put  into 
my  book  an  extract  of  his  letter  to  me  at 
Paris,  I  was  impatient  to  be  with  him,  and 
therefore  followed  him  to  Oxford,  where  I 
was  entertained  by  Mr.  Chambers,  with  a 
civility  which  I  shall  ever  gratefully  re- 
member. I  found  that  Dr.  Johnson  had 
sent  a  letter  to  me  to  Scotland,  and  that  I 
had  nothing  to  complain  of  but  his  being 
more  indifferent  to  my  anxiety  than  I  wish- 
ed him  to  be.  Instead  of  giving,  with  the 
circumstances  of  time  and  piece,  such  frag- 
ments of  his  conversation  as  I  preserved 
during  this  visit  to  Oxford,  I  shall  throw 
them  together  in  continuation. 

I  asked  him  whether,  as  a  moralist,  he 
did  not  think  that  the  practice  of  the  law, 
in  some  degree,  hurt  the  nice  feeling  of 
honesty.  Johnson.  "  Why  no,  sir,  if  you 
act  properly.  You  are  not  to  deceive  your 
clients  with  false  representations  of  your 
opinion :  you  are  not  to  tell  lies  to  a  judge. w 
Boswelt*.  "  But  what  do  you  think  of 
supporting  a  cause  which  you*  know  to  be 
bad?"  Johnson.  "  Sir,  you  do  not  know 
it  to  be  good  or  bad  till  the  judge  deter- 
mines it.  I  have  said  that  you  are  to  state 
facts  fairly;  so  that  your  thinking,  or  what 
you  call  knowing,  a  cause  to  be  bad,  must 
be  from  reasoning,  must  be  from  your  sup- 
posing your  arguments  to  be  weak  and  in- 
conclusive.    But,  sir,  that  i§  not  enough. 


1  In  this  prologue,  as  Mr.  John  Taylor  informs 
me,  after  the  fourth  line — ''And  social  sorrow 
loses  half  its  pain,"  the  following  couplet  was  in- 
serted: 

"  Amidst  the  toils  of  this  returning  year, 
When  senators  and  noble*  learn  to  fear, 
Our  little  bard  without  complaint  may  share 
The  bustling  season's  epklemick  care.* 

So  the  prologue  appeared  in  the  PubHck  Adoer- 
tizer  (the  theatrical  gazette  of  that  day,)  soon 
after  the  first  representation  of  this  comedy  in 
1768. — Goldsmith  probably  thought  that  the 
lines  printed  in  ttalick  characters,  which,  howev- 
er, seem  necessary,  or  at  least  improve  the  sense, 
might  give  offence,  and  therefore  prevailed  on 
Johnson  to  omit  them.  The  epithet  little,  which 
perhaps  the  authour  thought  might  diminish  his 
dignity,  was  also   changed   to    anxious. — Ma- 


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346 


An  moment  which  does  not  convince 
yourself,  may  convince  the  judge  to  whom 
you  urge  it;  and  if  it  does  convince  him, 
why,  then,  sir,  yon  are  wrong,  and  he  is 
right.  It  is  his  business  to  judge;  and  you 
are  not  to  be  confident  in  your  own  opinion 
that  a  cause  is  bad,  but  to  say  all  you  can 
for  your  client,  and  then  hear  the  judge's 
opinion."  Bobwell.  "  But,  sir,  does  not 
affecting  a  warmth  when  you  have  no 
warmth,  and  appearing  to  be  clearly  of  one 
opinion  when  you  are  in  reality  of  another 
opinion,  does  not  such  dissimulation  im- 
pair one's  honesty  ?  Is  there  not  some  dan- 
ger that  a  lawyer  may  put  on  the  same 
mask  in  common  life,  in  the  intercourse 
with  his  friends?"  Johnson.  "Why  no, 
sir.  Every  body  knows  you  are  paid  for 
affecting  warmth  for  your  client;  and  it  is, 
therefore,  properly  no  dissimulation;  the 
moment  you  come  from  the  bar  you  resume 
your  usual  behaviour.  Sir,'  a  man  will  no 
more  carry  the  artifice  of  the  bar  into  the 
common  intercourse  of  society,  than  a  man 
who  is  paid  for  tumbling  upon  his  hands 
will  continue  to  tumble  upon  his  Lands 
when  he  should  walk  on  his  feet  V 

Talking  of  some  of  the  modern  plays,  he 
said,  "  False  Delicacy  *"  was  totally  void  of 
character.  He  praised  Goldsmith's  "  Good- 
natured  Man;"  said  it  was  the  best  comedy 
that  had  appeared  since  "  The  Provoked 
Husband,"  and  that  there  had  not  been  of 
late  any  such  character  exhibited  on  the 
stage  as  that  of  Croaker.  I  observed  it  was 
the  Suspirius  of  his  Rambler.  He  said, 
Goldsmith'  had  owned  he  had  borrowed  it 
from  thence.  "Sir  (continued  he),  there 
is  all  the  difference  in  the  world  between 
characters  of  nature  and  characters  of  man- 
ners; and  there  is  the  difference  between 
the  characters  of  Fielding  and  those  of 
Richardson.  Characters  of  manners  are 
very  entertaining;  but  they  are  to  be  un- 
derstood by  a  more  superficial  observer 
than  characters  of  nature,  where  a  man 
must  dive  into  the  recesses  of  the  human 
heart." 

1  See  port,  15th  August,  1773,  where  Johnson 
ha*  eapported  the  same  argument — J.  Bobwell. 
[Cicero  touches  this  question  more  than  once,  but 
never  with  much  confidence.  "  Atqui  etiam  hoc 
pneceptnm  officii  diligenter  tenendum  est,  ne 
quem  unquam  innoceutem  judicio  capitis  arceseas; 
id,  enim,  sine  scelere  fieri  nullo  pacto  potest 
Nee  tamen,  ut  hoc  fugiendum  est,  ita  habendum 
est  religioni,  nocentem  aliquando,  modo  ne  ne- 
farhun  tmjnumque,  defendere.  Vuk  hoc  multi- 
tndo,  pathur  consuetudo,  fert  etiam  humanitas. 
Jadicb  est  semper  in  causas  verum  sequi  patroni, 
uomranquam  verigimile,  etiamsi  minus  sit  verum, 
defendere."  {De  Off  I.  2.  c.  14.)  We  might 
have  expected  a  less  conditional  and  apologetical 
defence  of  his  own  profession  from  the  great  phi- 
losophical orator*— En.] 

*  [By  Kelly,  the  poetical  staymaker.— Ed.] 


It  always  appeared  to  me  that  he  estima- 
ted the  compositions  of  Richardson  too 
highly  3,  and  that  he  had  an  unreasonable 
prejudice  against-Fielding,  In  comparing 
those  two  writers,  he  used  this  expression; 
"  that  there  was  as  great  a  difference  be- 
tween them,  as  between  a  man  who  knew 
how  a  watch  was  made,  and  a  man  who 
could  tell  the  hour  by  looking  on  the  dial- 
plate."  This  was  a  short  and  figurative 
state  of  his  distinction  between  drawing 
characters  of  nature  and  characters  only  of 
manners.  But  I  cannot  help  being  of  opin- 
ion that  the  neat  watches  of  Fielding  are 
as  well  constructed  as  the  large  clocks  of 
Richardson,  and  that  his  dial-plates  are 
brighter.  Fielding's  characters,  though 
they  do  not  expand  themselves  so  widely  in 
dissertation,  are  as  just  pictures  of  human 
nature,  and  I  will  venture  to  say,  have  more 
striking  features,  and  nicer  touches  of  the 
pencil;  and  though  Johnson  used  to  quote 
with  approbation  a  saying  of  Richardson's, 
"  that  the  virtues  of  Fielding's  heroes  were 
the  vices  of  a  truly  good  man,"  I  will  ven- 
ture to  add  that  the  moral  tendency  of 
Fielding's  writings,  though  it  does  not  en- 
courage a  strained  and  rarely  possible  vir- 
tue, is  ever  favourable  to  honour  and  hon- 
esty, and  cherishes  the  benevolent  and  gen- 
erous affections.  He  who  is  as  good  as 
Fielding  would  make  him,  is  an  amiable 
member  of  society,  and  may  be  led  on,  by 
more  regulated  instructors,  to  a  higher  state 
of  ethical  perfection. 

[Johnson  was  inclined,  as  being 
personally  acquainted  with  Rich ard-  J*^ 
son,  to  favour  the  opinion  of  his  ad- 
mirers that  he  was  acquainted  with  the  in- 
most recesses  of  the  human  heart,  and  had 
an  absolute  command  over  the  passions;  but 
he  seemed  not  firm  in  it,  and  could  at  any 
time  be  talked  into  a  disapprobation  of  all 
fictitious  relations,  of  which  he  would  fre- 
quently say  they  took  no  hold  of  the  mind.] 

Johnson  proceeded:  "Even  Sir  Francis 
Wronghead  is  a  character  of  manners, 
though  drawn  with  great  humour."  He 
then  repeated,  very  happily,  all  Sir  Fran- 
cis's credulous  account  to  Manly  of  his  be- 
ing with  "  the  great  man,"  and  securing  a 
place.  I  asked  him  if  "  The  Suspicious 
Husband"  did  not  furnish  a  well-drawn 
character,  that  of  Ranger.  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir;  Ranger  is  just  a  rake,  a  mere 
rake,  and  a  lively  young  fellow,  but  no 
character." 

The  great  Douglas  cause  was  at  this  time 
a  very  general  subject  of  discussion.  I  fou  nd 
he  had  not  studied  it  with  much  attention, 
but  had  only  heard  parts  of  it  occasionally. 
He,  however,  talked  of  it,  snd  said,  "  I  am 
of  opinion  that  positive  proof  of  fraud  should 


9  [See  ante,    p.  96,    and  pott,  6th  April, 
1772.— Ed.] 

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nes,— JEXJT.  it. 


sot  lie  required  of  the  plaintiff,  but  that  the 
judges  should  decide  according  as  probabili- 
ty shall  appear  to  preponderate,  granting  to 
the  defendant  the  presumption  of  filiation 
to  be  strong  in  his  favour.  And  I  think 
too,  that  a  good  deal  of  weight  should  be 
allowed  to  the  dying  declarations,  because 
they  were  spontaneous.  There  is  a  great 
difference  between  what  is  said  without 
our  being  urged  to  it,  and  what  is  said  from 
a  kind  of  compulsion.  If  I  praise  a  man's 
book  without  oeing  asked  my  opinion  of  it, 
that  is  honest  praise,  to  which  one  may 
trust.  But  if  an  authour  asks  me  if  I  like 
his  book,  and  I  give  him  something  like 
praise,  it  must  not  be  taken  as  my  real 
opinion." 

"  I  have  not  been  troubled  for  a  long  time 
with  authours  desiring  my  opinion  of  their 
works.  I  used  once  to  be  sadly  plagued 
with  a  man  who  wrote  verses,  but  who  liter- 
ally had  no  other  notion  of  a  verse  but  that 
it  consisted  of  ten  syllables.  Lay  your  knife 
**d  your  fork  across  your  plate,  was  to 
him  a  verse: 

Lay  your  knife  and  your  fork,  across  your  plate. 

As  he  wrote  a  great  number  of  verses,  he 
sometimes  by  chance  made  good  ones, 
though  he  did  not  know  it." 

[Dr.  Johnson  did  not  like  that  his 
?5Se'MT.  friends  should  bring  their  manu- 
'  '  scripts  for  him  to  read,  and  he  liked 
still  less  to  read  them  when  they  were 
brought:  sometimes,  however,  when  he 
could  not  refuse,  he  would  take  the  play  or 
poem,  or  whatever  it  was,  and  give  the  peo- 
ple his  opinion  from  some  one  page  that  he 
Had  peeped  into.  A  gentleman1  carried 
him  his  tragedy,  which,  because  he  loved 
the  authour,  Johnson  took,  and  it  lay  about 
our  rooms  at  Streatham  some  time.  "What 
answer  did  you  give  your  friend,  sir?" 
asked  Mrs.  Thrale,  after  the  book  had  been 
called  for.  " I  told  him,"  replied  he, « that 
there  was  too  much  Tig  and  Tirry  in  it" 
Seeing  her  laugh  most  violently,  "Why, 
what  wouldst  nave,  child?"  said  he.  "I 
looked  at  nothing  but  the  dramatis,  and 
there  was  Tsgranes  and  Ttrtdates,  or  Teri- 
bazus,  or  such  stuff.  A  man  can  tell  but 
what  he  knows,  and  I  never  got  any  farther 
than  the  first  page."] 

He  renewed  his  promise  of  coming  to 
Scotland,  and  going  with  me  to  the  Hebri- 
des, but  said  he  would  now  content  himself 
with  seeing  one  or  two  of  the  most  curious 
of  them.  He  said, "  Macaulay,  who  writes 
the  account  of  St  Kilda,  set  out  with  a  pre- 
judice against  prejudice,  and  wanted  to  be  a 
smart  modern  thinker;  and  yet  affirms  for  a 


1  [No  doubt  Mr.  Murphy,  in  whose  tragedy  of 
Zenobia,  acted  in  1768,  there  are  two  personages 
named  Tigranes  and  Teribazw. — Ed.] 


truth,  that  when  a  ship  arrives  there  all  tils 
inhabitants  are  seised  with  a  cold." 

Dr.  John  Campbell,  the  celebrated*  wri- 
ter, took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  ascertain 
this  fact,  and  attempted  to  account  for  it  on 
physical  principles,  from  the  eneet  of  efflu- 
via from  human  bodies.  Johnson, 
at  another  time,  praised  Macaulay  St* 
for  his  "  magnantmity,"  in  assert- 
ing this  wonderful  story,  because  it  was  well 
attested.  A  lady  of  Norfolk,  by  a 
letter  to  my  friend  Dr.  Burney,  has  Jt^ 
favoured  me  with-  the  following 
solution:  "  Now  for  the  explication  of  this 
seeming  mystery,  which  is  so  very  obvious 
as,  for  that  reason,  to  have  escaped  the  pen- 
etration of  Dr.  Johnson  and  his  friend,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  authour.  Reading  the 
book  with  my  ingenious  friend,  the  late 
Rev.  Mr.  Christian  of  Docking — after  ru- 
minating a  little, '  The  cause,9  says  he, « is  a 
natural  one.  The  situation  of  St.  Kilda 
renders  a  north-east  wind  indispensably  ne- 
cessary before  a  stranger  can  land.  The 
wimL  not  the  stranger,  occasions  an  epi- 
demicK  cold.'  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  Mr. 
Macaulay  is  dead;  if  living,  this  solution 
might  please  him,  as  I  hope  it  will  Mr. 
Boswell,  in  return  for  the  many  agreeable 
hours  his  works  have  afforded  us." 

Johnson  expatiated  on  the  advantages  of 
Oxford  for  learning.  "  There  is  here,  sir," 
said  he,  "such  a  progressive  emulation. 
The  students  are  anxious  to  appear  well  to 
their  tutors;  the  tutors  are  anxious  to 
have  their  pupils  appear  well  in  the  college; 
the  colleges  are  anxious  to  have  their  stu- 
dents appear  well  in  the  university;  and 
there  are  excellent  rules  of  discipline  in 
every  college.  That  the  rules  are  some- 
times ill  observed  may  be  true,  but  is 
nothing  against  the  system.  The  members 
of  an  university  may,  for  a  season,  be  un- 
mindful of  their  duty.  lam  arguing  for 
the  excellency  of  the  institution." 

Of  Guthrie,  he  said,  "  Sir,  he  is  a  man  of 
parts.  He  has  no  great  regular  fund  of 
knowledge;  but  by  reading  so  lone,  and 
writing  so  long,  he  no  doubt  has  picked  up 
a  good  deal." 

lie  said  he  had  lately  been  a  long  while 
at  Lichfield,  but  had  grown  very  weary  be- 
fore he  left  it.  Boswell.  "  I  wonder  at 
that,  sirxit  is  your  native  place."  John- 
son. "Why  so  is  Scotland  your  native 
place." 

His  prejudice  against  Scotland  appeared 
remarkably  strong  at  this  time.  When  I 
talked  of  our  advancement  in  literature, 
"  Sir,"  said  he, "  you  have  learnt  a  little  from 
us,  and  you  think  yourselves  very  great 
men.    Hume  would  never  have  written  his- 


•  [See  ante,  1st  July,  1768.— En.] 


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247 


tory,  had  net  Voltaire  written  it  before  him. 
He  is  an  echo  of  Voltaire."  Boswell. 
"  Bat,  air,  we  have  Lord  Karnes."  Johk- 
8ov.  "  You  have  Lord  Karnes.  Keep  him; 
ha,  ha,  ha !  We  dont  envy  you  him.  Do 
you  ever  see  Dr.  Robertson?"  Boswell. 
"Yes,  sir."  Johnson.  "Does  the  dog 
talk  of  mo?  *  Boswell.  "  Indeed,  sir,  he 
does,  and  loves  you."  Thinking  that  I 
now  had  him  in  a  corner,  and  being  solici- 
tous for  the  literary  fame  of  my  country,  I 
pressed  him  for  his  opinion  on  the  merit  of 
Dr.  Robertson's.  History  of  Scotland.  But, 
to  my  surprise,  he  escaped.  "  Sir,  I  love 
Robertson,  and  I  wont  talk  of  his  book." 

It  is  but  justice  both  to  him  and  Dr. 
Robertson  to  add,  that  though  he  indulged 
himself  in  this  sally  of  wit,  he  had  too  good 
teste  not  to  be  fully  sensible  of  the  merits 
of  that  admirable  work  K 

An  essay,  written  by  Mr.  Deane,  a  divine 
of  the  church  of  England,  maintaining  the 
future  life  of  brutes9,  by  an  explication  of 
certain  parts  of  the  scriptures,  was  men-' 
tioned,  and  the  doctrine  insisted  on  bv  a 
gentleman  who  seemed  fond  of  curious 
speculation.  Johnson,  who  did  not  like  to 
hear  of  any  thing  concerning  a  future  state 
which  was  not  authorised  by  the  regular 
canons  of  orthodoxy,  discouraged  this  talk; 
and  being  offended  at  its  continuation,  he 
watched  an  opportunity  to  give  the  gentle- 
man a  blow  of  reprehension.  So,  when  the 
poor  Bpeculatist,  with  a  serious  metaphysi- 
cal pensive  face,  addressed  him,  "  But  real- 
ly* sir,  when  we  see  a  very  sensible  dog, 
we  dont  know  what  to  think  of  him." 
Johnson,  rolling  with  joy  at  the  thought 
which  beamed  in  his  eye,  turned  quickly 
round,  and  replied,  "True,  sir:  and  when 
we  see  a  very  foolish  fellow,  we  don't  know 
what  to  think  of  Asm."  He  then*  rose  up, 
strided  to  the  fire,  and  stood  for  sometime 
laughing  and  exulting. 

I  told  him  that  I  had  several  times,  when  in 
Italy,  seen  the  experiment  of  placing  a  scor- 

1  [It » to  he  regretted  that  Mr.  Boswell  should 
hna  persisted  in  repeating  these  assertions.  Dr. 
Mann,  on  every  occasion,  seems  to  have  ex- 
pawjil  a  great  contempt  for  Dr.  Robertson's 
jwks — very  unjustly  indeed  ;  bat,  however  Mr. 
Boswell  might  lament  Johnson's  prejudice,  he  was 
aot  justified  in  thus  repeatedly  misstating  the  fact 
8ee<m/«,p.237.  8eeno*f,  sub  19th  April,  1772, 
where  Boswell  suppresses,  and  80th  April,  1778, 
where  he  again  misrepresents  Johnson's  opinions 
•f  Dr.  Robertson.— Ed.] 

*  [An  Essay  on  the  Future  Life  of  Brute  Crea- 
Jjai,  by  Richard  Deane,  curate  of  Middleton. 
This  work  is  reviewed  in  the  Gentleman's  Mag- 
**me  for  1768,  p.  177,  in  a  style  very  like  John- 
*a'»;  and  a  story  of  "  a  Tory  sensible  dog'*  is 
*tieed  with  censure.  It  is,  therefore,  not  im- 
probable that  it  may  have  been  written  by  John- 


pion  within  a  circle  of  burning  coals;  that  it 
ran  round  and  round  in  extreme  painf  and 
finding  noway  to  escape,  retired  to  the  cen- 
tre, and  like  a  true  Stoick  philosopher,  dart- 
ed its  sting  into  its  head,  and  thus  at  once 
freed  itself  from  its  woes.  "  This  must 
end  'em."  I  said,  this  was  a  cu  rious  fact,  as 
it  showed  deliberate  suicide  in  a  reptile. 
Johnson  would  not  admit  the  fact  He 
said,  Maupertuis3  was  of  opinion  that  it 
does  not  kill  itself,  but  dies  of  the  heat; 
that  it  gets  to  the  centre  of  the  circle  as  the 
coolest  place;  that  its  turning  its  tail  in  up- 
on its  head  is  merely  a  convulsion,  and  that 
it  does  not  sting  itself.  He  said  he  would 
be  satisfied  if  the  great  anatomist  Morgag- 
ni,  after  dissecting  a  scorpion  on  which  the  . 
experiment  had  been  tried,  should  certify 
that  its  sting  had  penetrated  into  its  head. 

He  seemed  pleased  to  talk  of  natural  phi- 
losophy 4.  «  That  woodcocks  (said  he) 
fly  over  the  northern  countries  is  proved, 
because  they  have  been  observed  at  sea. 
Swallows  certainly  sleep  all  the  winter.  A 
number  of  them  conglobulate  together,  by 
flying  round  and  round,  and  then  all  in  a 
heap  throw  themselves  under  water,  and 
lie  in  the  bed  of  a  river."  He  told  us,  one 
of  his  first  essays  was  a  Latin  poem  upon 
the  glow-worm:  I  am  sorry  I  did  not  ask 
where  it  was  to  be  found. 

Talking  of  the  Russians  and  the  Chinese, 
he  advised  me  to  read  Bell's  Travels5.  I 
asked  him  whether  I  should  read  Du  H aide's 
Account  of  China.  "  Why  yes  (said  he), 
as  one  reads  such  a  book;  that  is  to  say, 
consult  it" 
£Ie  talked  of  the  heinonsness  of  the  crime 


*  I  should  think  it  impossible  not  to  wonder  at 
the  variety  of  Johnson's  reading,  however  desul- 
tory it  might  have  been.  Who  could  have  im- 
agined that  the  high  church  of  England-man 
would  be  so  prompt  in  quoting  Maupertuis,  who, 
I  am*  sorry  to  think,  stands  in  the  list  of  those 
unfortunate  mistaken  men,  who  call  themselves 
f sprits  forts.  I  have,  however,  a  high  respect 
for  that  philosopher  whom  the  Great  Frederick  of 
Prussia  loved  and  honoured,  and  addressed  pa- 
thetically in  one  of  his  poems 

"  Maupertuis  cher  Maupertuis 
Que  notre  vie  eetpeu  de  chose** 

There  was  in  Maupertuis  a  vigour  and  yet  a  ten- 
derness of  sentiment,  united  with  strong  intellect-  . 
ual  powers,  and  uncommon  ardour  of  soul. 
Would  he  had  been  a  Christian  !  I  cannot  help 
earnestly  venturing  to  hope  that  he  is  one  now. — 
Boswell.  [Mr.  Boswell  seems  to  contemplate 
the  possibility  of  a  post  mortem  conversion  to 
Christianity. — Ed.]  ;  but  Maupertuis  died  in  1709 
at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  in  the  arms  of  the  Ber 
noulhs,  tris  chretiennement. — Burney. 
4  [Mr.  Boswell  means  natural  history. — Ed.] 

•  [John  Beti,  of  Antermony,  who  published, 
about  1768,  "  Travels  from  8t  Petersburgh,  in 
Russia,  to  divers  parti  of  Asia;"— En.] 


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1768.— jETAT.  69. 


of  adultery,  by  which  the  peace  of  families 
was  destroyed.  He  said,  "  Confusion  of 
progeny  constitutes  the  essence  of  the  crime; 
and  therefore  a  woman  who  breaks  her 
marriage  vows  is  much  more  criminal  than 
a  man  who  does  it.  A  man,  to  be  sure,  is 
criminal  in  the  sight  of  God:  but  he  does 
not  do  his  wife  a  very  material  injury,  if  he 
does  not  insult  her:  if,  for  instance,  from 
mere  wantonness  or  appetite,  he  steals  pri- 
vately to  her  chambermaid.  Sir,  a  wife 
ought  not  greatly  to  resent  this.  I  would 
not  receive  home  a  daughter  who  had  run 
away  from  her  husband  on  that  account  A 
wife  should  study  to  reclaim  her  husband  by 
more  attention  to  please  him.  Sir,  a  man 
will  not,  once  in  a  hundred  instances,  leave 
his  wife  and  go  to  a  harlot,  if  his  wife  has 
not  been  negligent  of  pleasing." 

Here  he  discovered  that  acute  discrimina- 
tion, that  solid  judgment,  and  that  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature,  for  which  he  was 
upon  all  occasions  remarkable.  Taking 
care  to  keep  in  view  the  moral  and  reli- 
gious duty,  as  understood  in  our  nation,  he 
showed  clearly,  from  reason  and  good  sense, 
the  greater  degree  of  culpability  in  the  one 
sex  deviating  from  it  than  the  other;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  inculcated  a  very  useful 
lesson  as  to  the  way  to  keep  him, 

I  asked  him  if  it  was  not  hard  that  one 
deviation  from  chastity  should  so  absolutely 
ruin  a  young  woman.  Johnson.  "  Why 
no,  sir;  it  is  the  great  principle  which  she  is 
taught.     When  she  has    given    up    that 

J>rinciple,  she  has  given  up  every  uotion  of 
emale  honour  and  virtue,  which  are  all  in- 
cluded in  chastity."  * 
A  gentleman  talked  to  him  of  a  lady 
whom  he  greatly  admired  and  wished  to 
marry,  but  was  afraid  of  her  superiority  of 
talente.  "  Sir  (said  he),  you  need  not  be 
afraid;  marry  her.  Before  a  year  goes 
about,  you'll  find  that  reason  much  weaker, 
and  that  wit  not  so  bright."  Yet  the  gen- 
tleman may  be  justified  in  his  apprehension 
by  one  of  Dr.  Johnson's  admirable  sen- 
tences in  his  life  of  Waller:  "  He  doubt- 
less praised  many  -whom  he  would  have 
been  afraid  to  marry;  and,  perhaps,  married 
one  whom  he  would  have  been  ashamed  to 
praise.  Many  qualities  contribute  to  do- 
mestick  happiness,  upon  which  poetry  has 
no  colours  to  bestow;  and  many  airs  and  sal- 
lies may  delight  imagination,  which  he  who 
flatters  them  never  can  approve." 

[The  general  and  constant  advice 
J1^'  he  gave  too,  when  consulted  about 
183, 194.  the  choice  of  a  wife,  a  profession, 
or  whatever  influences  a  man's  par- 
ticular and  immediate  happiness,  was  al- 
ways to  reject  no  positive  good  from  fears 
of  its  contrary  consequences.  "  Do  not 
(said  he)  forbear  to  marry  a  beautiful  wo- 


man if  you  can  find  such,  out  of  a  fancy 
that  she  will  be  less  constant  than  an  ugly 
one;  or  condemn  yourself  to  the  society  of 
coarseness  and  vulgarity  for  fear  of  the  ex- 
penses or  other  dangers  of  elegance  and 
personal  charms,  which  have  been  always 
acknowledged  as  a  positive  good,  and  tor 
the  want  of  which  there  should  be  always 
given  some  weighty  compensation.  I  have, 
however  (continued  Dr.  Johnson),  seen 
some  prudent  fellows  who  forbore  to  con- 
nect themselves  with  beauty  lest  coquetry 
should  be  near,  and  with  wit  or  birth  lest 
insolence  should  lurk  behind  them,  till  they 
have  been  forced  by  their  discretion  to  lin- 
ger life  away  in  tasteless  stupidity,  and 
choose  to  count  the  moments  oy  remem- 
brance of  pain  instead  of  enjoyment  of 
pleasure."  But  of  the  various  states  and 
conditions  of  humanity,  he  despised  none 
more  than  the  man  who  marries  for  a  main- 
tenance: and  of  a  friend  who  made  his  al- 
liance on  no  higher  principles,  he  said  once, 
"  Now  has  that  fellow  (it  was  a  nobleman 
of  whom  they  were  speaking)  at  length  ob- 
tained a  certainty  of  three  meals  a  day,  and 
for  that  certainly,  like  his  brother  dog  in  the 
fable,  he  will  get  his  neck  galled  for  life 
with  a  collar."] 

He  praised  Signor  Baretti.  "  His  account 
of  Italy  is  a  very  entertaining  book;  and, 
sir,  I  know  no  man  who  carries  his  head 
higher  in  conversation  than  Baretti.  There 
are  strong  powers  in  his  mind.  He  has  not, 
indeed,  many  hooks ;  but  with  what  hooks 
he  has,  he  grapples  very  forcibly." 

At  this  time  I  observed  upon  the  dial- 
plate  of  his  watch  a  short  Greek  inscrip- 
tion, taken  from  the#  New  Testament, 
Nuf  y*t  ^trretii,  being  "the  first  words  of 
our  Saviour's  solemn  admonition  to  the  im- 
provement of  that  time  which  is  allowed  to 
us  to  prepare  for  eternity ;  "  the  night  com- 
eth  wnen  no  man  can  work.  J*  He  some 
time  afterwards  laid  aside  this  dial-plate; 
and  when  I  asked  him  the  reason,  he  said, 
"  It  might  do  very  well  upon  a  clock  which 
a  man  keeps  in  his  closet ;  but  to  have  it 
upon  his  watch  which  he  carries  about  with 
him,  and  which  is  often  looked  at  by  oth- 
ers, might  be  censured  as  ostentatious." 
Mr.  Steevensis  now  possessed  of  the  dial- 
plate  inscribed  as  above. 

He  remained  at  Oxford  a  considerable 
time ;   [where  he  was  for  some    Lettaw  to 
time  confined  to  Mr.  Chambers's    pkmt, 
apartments  in  New-inn  Hall  by    ▼<*i- 
a  fit  of  illness.]     I  was  obliged  to    p*  14m 
go  to  London,  where  I  received  this  letter, 
which  had  been  returned  from  Scotland. 


1  ["  For  the  night  cometh."  The  inscription 
was,  however,  made  unintelligible  by  the  mwnks 
of  writing  ff*(  for  fv|.     Hawk.  p.  461. — Es.]    .< 


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1768^—iETAT.  W. 


"TO  JATtfES  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

•*  Oxford,  23d  March,  1768. 
"  Mr  dear  Boswell, — I  have  omitted 
a  long  time  to  write  to  you,  without  know- 
ing very  well  why.  I  could  now  tell  why  I 
should  not  write  ;  for  who  would  write  to 
men  who  publish  the  letters  of  their  friends, 
without  their  leave?  Yet  I  write  to  you 
in  spite  of  my  caution,  to  tell  you  that  I 
shall  he  glad  to  see  you,  and  that  I  wish  you 
would  empty  your  head  of  Corsica,  which 
I  think  has  filled  it  rather  too  long1.  But, 
at  all  events,  I  shall  be  glad,  very  glad  to 
see  you. — I  am,  sir,  yours  affectionately, 
"Sam.  Johnson." 

I  answered  thus: 

"TO    MR.    SAMUEL   JOHNSON. 

"  London,  26th  April,  1768. 
"  My  dear  sir, — I  have  received  your 
last  letter,  which,  though  very  short,  and 
by  no  means  complimentary,  yet  gave  me 
Teal  pleasure,  because  it  contains  these 
words,  (I  shall  be  glad,  very  glad  to  see 
you.'— Surely  you  have  no  reason  to  com- 
plain of  my  publishing  a  single  paragraph 
of  one  of  your  letters;  the  temptation  to 
it  was  so  strong.  An  irrevocable  grant  of 
your  friendship,  and  your  dignifying  my 
desire  of  visiting  Corsica  with  the  epithet 
of 'a  wise  and  noble  curiosity,'  are  to  me 
more  valuable  than  many  of  the  grants  of 


"  But  how  can  you  bid  me  c  empty  my 
head  of  Corsica?'  My  noble-minded 
friend,  do  you  not  feel  for  an  oppressed  na- 
tion bravely  struggling  to  be  free?  Con- 
aider  fairly  what  is  the  case.  The  Corsi- 
cans  never  received  any  kindness  from  the 
Genoese.  They  never  agreed  to  be  sub- 
ject to  them.  They  owe  them  nothing, 
and  when  reduced  to  an  abject  state  of 
slavery,  by  force,  shall  they  not  rise  in  the 
(peat  cause  of  liberty,  and  break  the  gall- 
ing yoke?  And  shall  not  every  liberal  soul 
be  warm  for  them?  Empty  my  head  of 
Corsica?  Empty  it  of  honour,  empty  it  of 
humanity,  empty  it  of  friendship,  empty  it 
of  piety*  No  !  while  I  live,  Corsica,  and 
the  cause,  of  the  brave  islanders,  shall  ever 
employ  much  of  my  attention,  shall  ever 
interest  me  in  the  sincerest  manner. 
•  •  «  *  • 

"  I  am,  &c.        "  James  Boswell.'1 

*cDR.   JOHNSON   TO    MRS.    THRALE. 
«  Oxford,  24th  March,  1768. 

j^  "  Our  election  was  yesterday.  Ev- 
voi  l  ery  possible  influence  of  hope  and 
P»-       fear  was,  I  believe,  enforced  on 


1  [Mr.  Boswell,  in  his  *•  Journal  of  a  Tour  in 
C°nica,"  had  printed  the  second  and  third  para- 
gnphs  of  Johnson's  letter  to  him  of  the  14th  Ja- 
■urr.  1766.    See  ante,  p.  224.— Ed.] 

▼ol.  i.  83 


this  occasion ;  the  slaves  of  power,  and  the 
solicitors  of  favour,  were  driven  hither  from 
the  remotest  corners  of  the  kingdom,  but 
judex  hone  stum  praetulit  utili.  The  vir- 
tue of  Oxford  has  once  more  prevailed. 

"The  death  of  Sir  Walter  Bagot,  a  little 
before  the  election,  left  them  no  great  time 
to  deliberate,  and  they  therefore  joined  Sir 
Roger  Newdigate,  their  old  representative, 
an  Oxfordshire  gentleman,  of  no  name,  no 
great  interest,  nor  perhaps  any  other  merit 
than  that  of  being  on  tne  right  side  ;  yet 
when  the  poll  was  numbered,  it  produced. 

For  Sir  K.  Newdigate    .  .     353 

Mr.  Page      .  .  .296 

Mr.  Jenkinson  .  .198 

Dr.  Hay        .  .  .62 

"  Of  this  I  am  sure  you  must  be  glad;  for, 
without  inquiring  into  the  opinions  or  con- 
duct of  any  party,  it  must  be  for  ever  pleas- 
ing to  see  men  adhering  to  their  principles 
against  their  interest,  especially  when  you 
consider  that  those  voters  are  poor,  and 
never  can  be  much  less  poor  by  the  favour 
of  those  whom  they  are  now  opposing."] 

"  TO    MRS.  LUCY  PORTER,  IN  LICHFIELD. 

"  Oxford,  I9ih  April,  1768. 

"  My  dear  dear  love, — You  Maioua. 
have  had  a  very  great  loss.  To 
lose  an  old  friend,  is  to  be  cut  off  from  a 
great  part  of  the  little  pleasure  that  this  life 
allows.  But  such  is  the  condition  of  our 
nature,  that  as  we  live  on  we  must  see 
those  whom  we  love  drop  successively,  and 
find  our  circle  of  relations  grow  less  and 
less,  till  we  are  almost  unconnected  with 
the  world;  and  then  it  must  soon  be  our 
turn  to  drop  into  the  grave.  There  is.  al- 
ways this  consolation,  that  we  have  one 
Protector  who  can  never  be  lost  but  by  our 
own  fault,  and  every  new  experience  of  the 
uncertainty  of  all  other  comforts  should  de- 
termine us  to  fix  our  hearts  where  true  joy* 
are  to  be  found.  All  union  with  the  inhabit- 
ants o£  earth  must  in  time  be  broken;  and 
all  the  hopes  that  terminate  here,  must  on 
(one)  part  or  other  end  in  disappointment. 

"  I  am  glad  that  Mrs.  Adey  and  Mrs. 
Cobb  do  not  leave  you  alone.  Pay  my  re- 
spects to  them,  and  the  Se wards,  and  all 
my  friends.  When  Mr.  Porter  comes,  he 
will  direct  you.  Let  me  know  of  his  arri- 
val, and  I  will  write  to  him. 

"  When  I  go  back  to  London,  I  will  take 
care  of  your  reading  glass.  Whenever  I 
can  do  anything  for  you,  remember,  my 
dear  darling,  that  one  of  my  greatest  plea- 
sures is  to  please  you. 

"  The  punctuality  of  your  correspondence 
I  consider  as  a  prcxrf"  of  great  regard.  When 
we  shall  see  each  other,  I  know  not,  but  let 
us  often  think  on  each  other,  and  think 
with  tenderness.  Do  not  forget  me  in  your 
prayers.    I  have  for  a  long  tune  back  been 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


150 


1706.— MT AT.  89. 


very  poorly;  but  of  what  use  nit  to  com- 
plain? 

"  Write  often,  for  your  letters  always  give 
great  pleasure  to,  my  dear,  your  most  affec- 
tionate and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnsoh." 

Upon  his  arrival  in  London  in  May,  he 
surprised  me  one  morning  with  a  visit  at 
my  lodging  in  Half-moon-street,  was  quite 
satisfied  with  my  explanation,  and  was  in 
the  kindest  and  most  agreeable  frame  of 
mind.  As  he  had  objected  to  a  part  of  one 
of  his  letters  being  published,  I  thought  it 
right  to  take  this  opportunity  of  asking  him 
explicitly  whether  it  would  be  improper  to 
publish  his  letters  after  his  death.  His  an- 
swer was,  "  Nay,  sir,  when  I  am  dead,  you 
may  do  as  you  will." 

He  talked  in  his  usual  style  with  a  rough 
contempt  of  popular  liberty.  "  They  make 
a  rout  about  universal  liberty,  without  con- 
sidering that  all  that  is  to  be  valued,  or  in- 
deed can  be  enjoyed  by  individuals,  is  pri- 
vate liberty.  Political  liberty  is  good  only 
so  far  as  it  produces  private  liberty.  Now, 
sir,  there  is  the  Uberty  of  the  press,  which 
you  know  is  a  constant  topick.  Suppose 
you  and  I  and  two  hundred  more  were  re- 
strained from  printing  our  thoughts:  what 
then?  What  proportion  would  that  re- 
straint upon  us  bear  to  the  private  happi- 
ness of  the  nation  >  ?" 

This  mode  of  representing  the  inconve- 
niencies  of  restraint  as  liyht  and  insignifi- 
cant was  a  kind  of  sophistry  in  which  he 
delighted  to  indulge  himself,  in  opposition 
to  the  extreme  laxity  for  which  it  has  been 
fashionable  for  too  many  to  argue,  when  it 
is  evident,  upon  reflection,  that  the  very 
essence  of  government  is  restraint;  and 
certain  it  is,  that  as  government  produces 
rational  happiness,  too  much  restraint  is 
better  than  too  little.  But  when  restraint 
is  unnecessary,  and  so  close  as  to  gall  those 
who  are  subject  to  it,  the  people  may  and 
ought  to  remonstrate;  and,  if  relief  is  not 
f  ranted,  to  resist.  Of  this  manly  and  spir- 
ited principle,  no  man  was  more  convinced 
than  Johnson  himself. 

About  this  time  Dr.  Kenrick  attacked 
him,  through  my  sides,  in  a  pamphlet,  en- 
titled "  An  Epistle  to  James  Boa  we  11,  Esq. 
occasioned  by  his  having  transmitted  the 
moral  writings  of  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  to 
Pascal  Paoli,  General  of  the  Corsicans."  I 
was  at  first  inclined  to  answer  this  pam- 

Shlet;  but  Johnson,  who  knew  that  my 
oing  so  would  only  gratify  Kenrick,  by 
keeping  alive  what  would  soon  die  away  of 


[Would  Johnson  have  talked  in  this  way  in 


itself,  would  not  suffer  me  to  take  any  no- 
tice of  it. 

[Johnson's  silence,  with  regard  to 
Kenrick's  attacks,  proceeded  not  more  D"J* 
from  his  contempt  of  such  an  adver-  *" 
sary,  than  from  a  settled  resolution  he  had 
formed,  of  declining  all  controversy  in  de- 
fence either  of  himself  or  of  his  writings. 

Against  personal  abuse  he  was  ever  arm- 
ed by  a  reflection  that  I  have  heard  him 
utter: — "Alas!  reputation  would  be  of 
little  worth,  were  it  in  the  power  of  every 
concealed  enemy  to  deprive  us  of  it;"  and 
he  defied  all  attacks  on  his  writings  by  an 
answer  of  Dr.  Bentley  to  one  who  threatened 
to  write  him  down,  that "  no  authour  was 
ever  written  down  but  by  himself.'9 

His  steady  perseverance  in  this  resolution 
afforded  him  great  satisfaction  whenever  he 
reflected  on  it;  and  he  would  often  feic*- 
tate  himself  that,  throughout  his  life,  he 
had  had  firmness  enough  to  treat  with  con- 
tempt the  calumny  and  abuse  as  well  of 
open  as  concealed  enemies,  and  the  malev- 
olence of  those  anonymous  scribblers  whose 
trade  is  slander,  and  wages  infamy.] 

His  sincere  regard  for  Francis  Barber,  his 
faithful  negro  servant,  made  him  so  de- 
sirous of  his  further  improvement,  that  be 
now  placed  him  at  a  school  at  Bishop  Stort- 
ford,  in  Hertfordshire3.  This  humane  at- 
tention does  Johnson's  heart  much  honour. 
Out  of  many  letters  which  Mr.  Barber  re- 
ceived from  his  master,  he  has  preserved 
three,  which  he  kindly  gave  me,  and  which 
I  shall  insert  according  to  their  dates. 

"TO    MX.    FRANCIS    BARBER. 

"  Stth  May,  ITS*. 

"Dear  Francis, — I  have  been  very 
much  out  of  order.  I  am  glad  to  hear  that 
you  s re  well,  and  design  to  come  soon  to 
you.  I  would  have  you  stay  at  Mrs. 
Clapp's  for  the  present,  nil  I  can  determine 
what  we  shall  do.     Be  a  good  boy. 

"  My  compliments  to  Mrs.  Clapp  and  to 
Mr.  Fowler.    I  am  yours  affectionately, 
"  Sam.  Johksov." 

ii 
Soon  afterwards,  he  supped  at  the  Crown 
and  Anchor  tavern,  in  the  Strand,  with  a 
company  whom  I  collected  to  meet  him. 

*  [The  sending  his  negro  servant,  now  proba- 
bly little  abort  of  thirty  years  of  age,  to  a  board- 
ing school,  seems  a  very  strange  exercise  of  bis 
good-nature.  It  was  a  very  unpopular  one  with 
some  of  Johnson's  inmates — when  Mrs.  Williams 
and  Francis  quarrelled,  as  was  very  frequent,  the 
lady  would  complain  to  the  doctor,  adding, "  Thai 
is  your  scholar,  on  whose  education  you  have 
'  300/."    Dr.  Johnson,  in  the  conclusion  of 


the  letter,  calk  him  a  "  say,' 
had  already  elapsed  atee  he 


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1768.— ^TAT.  09 


251 


They  were  Dr.  Percy,  now  Bishop  of  Dro- 
more,  Dr.  Douglas,  now  Bishop  or  Salisbu- 
ry, Mr.  Langton,  Dr.  Robertson  the  histo- 
rian, Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Davies,  who  wished  much  to  be  introduced 
to  these  eminent  Scotch  literati;  but  on  the 
present  occasion  he  had  very  little  opportu- 
nity of  hearing  them  talk,  for  with  an  ex- 
cess of  prudence,  for  which  Johnson  after- 
wards found  fault  with  them,  they  hardly 
opened  their  lips,  and  that  only  to  say  some- 
thing which  tney  were  certain  would  not 
expose  them  to  the  sword  of  Goliath;  such 
was  their  anxiety  for  their  fame  when  in 
the  presence  of  Johnson.  He  was  this  eve- 
ning in  remarkable  vigour  of  mind,  and  ca- 
rer to  exert  himself  in  conversation,  which 
be  did  with  great  readiness  and  fluency; 
but  I  am  sorry  to  find  that  I  have  preserved 
but  a  8msil  part  of  what  passed. 

He  allowed  high  praise  to  Thomson  as  a 
poet;  but  when  one  of  the  company  said 
he  was  also  a  very  good  man,  our  moralist 
contested  this  with  great  warmth,  accusing 
him  of  gross  sensuality  and  licentiousness 
of  manners.  I  was  very  much  afraid  that 
in  writing  Thomson's  life,  Dr.  Johnson 
would  have  treated  his  private  character 
with  a  stern  severity,  but  I  was  agreeably 
disappointed;  and  I  may  claim  a  little  ment 
in  it,  from  my  having  been  at-pains  to  send 
him  authentick  accounts  of  the  affeotionate 
and  generous  conduct  of  that  poet  to  his 
sisters,  one  of  whom,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Thom- 
son, schoolmaster  at  Lanark,  I  knew,  and 
was  presented  by  her  with  three  of  his  let- 
ters, one  of  which  Dr.  Johnson  has  inserted 
in  his  life. 

He  was  vehement  against  old  Dr.  Moun- 
sey1,  of  Chelsea  College,  as  "  a  fellow  who 
swore  and  talked'  loosely."  "  I  have  often 
been  in  his  company,"  said  Dr.  Percy, 
"  and  never  heard  him  swear  or  talk  loose- 
ly." Mr.  Davies,  who  sat  next  to  Dr. 
Percy,  having  after  this  had  some  conver- 
sation aside  with  him,  made  a  discovery 
which,  in  his  zeal  to  pay  court  to  Dr.  John- 
son, he  eagerly  proclaimed  aloud  from  the 
foot  of  the  table:  "  O,  sir,  I  have  found 
out  a  very  wood  reason  why  Dr.  Percy 
never  heard  Monnsey  swear  or  talk  loosely, 
for  he  tells  me  he  never  saw  him  but  at  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland's  table."    "And 

1  Messenger  Monnsey,  M.  D.  died  at  bis  apart- 
meati  in  Chelsea  College,  Dec.  26,  1788,  at  the 
great  age  of  ninety-five.  An  extraordinary  direc- 
tba  in  hk  wfll  may  be  found  in  the  Gentleman* t 
Magazine,  voL  50.  p.  ii.  p.  1188. — Ma  lone. 
[The  direction  was,  that  his  body  should  not  suf- 


fer any  funeral  ceremony,  but  undergo  dissection, 
sad,. after  that  operation,  be  thrown  into  the 


Thames,  or  where  the 


pleased.      It  is 


surgeon 
g,  that  this  coarse  humorist  should  have 
i  an  utimate  friend  and  favourite  of  the  ele- 
fast  sad  pious  Bin.  Montagu.— Ed.] 


so,  air,"  said  Dr.  Johnson  loudly  to  Dr. 
Percy,  "  you  would  shield  this  man  from 
the  charge  of  swearing  and  talking  loosely, 
because  he  did  not  do  so  at  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland's  table.  Sir,  you  might 
as  well  tell  us  that  you  had  seen  him  hold 
up  his  hand  at  the  Old  Bailey,  and  he  nei- 
ther swore  nor  talked  loosely ;  or  that  you 
had  seen  him  in  the  cart  at  Tyburn,  and 
he  neither  swore  nor  talked  loosely.  And 
is  it  thus,  sir,  that  you  presume  to  contro- 
vert what  I  have  related  ?  "  Dr.  Johnson's 
animadversion  was  uttered  in  such  a  man- 
ner, that  Dr.  Percy  seemed  to  be  displeas- 
ed, and  soon  afterwards  left  the  company, 
of  which  Johnson  did  not  at  that  time  take 
any  notice. 

Swift  having  been  mentioned,  Johnson, 
as  usual,  treated  him  with  little  respect  as 
an  authour.  Some1  of  us  endeavoured  to 
support  the  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  by  va- 
rious arguments.  One  in  particular  prais- 
ed his  "Conduct  of  the  Allies."  John- 
son. "  Sir,  his  « Conduct  of  the  Allies '  is 
a  performance  of  very  little  ability." 
"Surely,  sir,"  said  Dr.  Douglas,  "you 
must  allow  it  has  strong  facts2."  John- 
son. "  Why  yes,  sir ;  but  what  is  that  to 
the  merit  of  the  composition?    In  the  i 


sions-paper  of  the  6ld  Bailey  there  are 
strong  facts.  Housebreaking  is  a  strong 
fact;  robbery  is  a  strong  fact ;  and  mur- 
der is  a  mighty  strong  fact:  bat  is  great 
praise  due  to  the  historian  of  those  strong 
facte  ?  No,  sir,  Swift  has  told  what  he  had 
to  tell  distinctly  enough,  but  that  is  all. 
He  had  to  count  ten,  and  he  has  counted  it 
right."  Then  recollecting  that  Mr.  Da- 
vies, by  acting  as  an  informer,  had  been 
the  occasion  of  his  talking  somewhat  too 
harshly  to  his  friend  Dr.  Percy,  for  which, 
probably,  when  the  first  ebullition  was  over, 
he  felt  some  compunction,  he  took  an  op- 
portunity to  give  him  a  hit:  so  added,  with 
a  preparatory  laugh,  "  Why,  sir,  Tom  Da- 
vies might  have  written  « the  Conduct  of. 
the  Allies.'"  Poor  Tom  being  thus  sud- 
denly dragged  into  ludicrous  notice  in 
presence  of  the  Scottish  doctors,  to  whom 
he  was  ambitious  of  appearing  to  advan- 
tage, was  grievously  mortified.     Nor  did 


*  My  respectable  friend,  upon  reading;  this  pas- 
sage, observed  that  he  probably  must  have  said 
not  simply  "  strong  Jacto,"  but  "  strong  facta  well 
arranged."  His  Lordship,  however,  knows  too 
well  the  value  of  written  documents  to  insist  on 
setting  his  recollection  against  my  notes  taken  at 
the  time.  He  does  not  attempt  to  traverte  the 
record.  The  feet,  perhaps,  may  have  been, 
either  that  the  additional  words  escaped  me  in  the 
noise  of  a  numerous  company,  or  that  Dr.  John* 
son,  from  hit  impetuosity,  and  eagerness  to  seize 
an  opportunity  to  make  a  lively  retort,  did  not 
allow  Dr.  Douglas  to  fimeh  hii  i 

WJBLX.. 


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1769.— iETAT.  60. 


his  punishment  rest  here  ;  for  upon  subse- 

Sient  occasions,  whenever  he,  "  statesman 
1  o'er  i,"  assumed  a  strutting  importance, 
I  used  to  hail  him — "  the  Authour  of  the 
Conduct  of  the  Allies  » 

When  I  called  upon  Dr.  Johnson  next 
morning,  I  found  him  highly  satisfied  with 
his  colloquial  prowess  the  preceding  evening. 
"Well,"  said  he,  "we  had  good  talk." 
Bohwell.  "  Yes,  sir,  you  tossed  and 
gored  several  persons." 

The  late  Alexander  Earl  of  Eglintoune^, 
who  loved  wit  more  than  wine,  and  men  of 
genius  more  than  sycophants,  had  a  great 
admiration  of  Johnson ;  but  from  the  re- 
markable elegance  of  his  own  manners,  was, 
perhaps,  too  delicately  sensible  of  the  rough- 
ness which  sometimes  appeared  in  John- 
son's behaviour.  One  evening  about  this 
time,  when  his  lordship  did  me  the  honour 
to  sup  at  my  lodgings  with  Dr.  Robertson, 
and  several  other  men  of  literary  distinc- 
tion, he  regretted  that  Johnson  had  not 
been  educated  with  more  refinement,  and 
lived  more  in  polished  society.  "  No,  no, 
my  lord,"  said  Signor  Baretti,  "do  with 
him  what  you  would,  he  would  always 
have  been  a  bear."  -"  True,"  answered 
the  earl,  with  a  smile,  "but  he  would  have 
been  a  dancing  bear." 

To  obviate  all  the  reflections  which  have 

Sone  round  the  world  to  Johnson's  preju- 
ice,  by  applying  to  him  the  epithet  of  a 
bear,  let  me  impress  upon  my  readers  a 
just  and  happy  saying  of  my  friend  Gold- 
smith, who  knew  him  well: — "  Johnson, 
to  be  sure,  has  a  roughness  in  his  manner: 
but  no  man  alive  has  a  more  tender  heart. 
He  has  nothing  of  the  bear  but  hit  skin\" 

[DR.  JOHNSON    TO  MRS.  LUCY   PORTER. 

"18th  June,  1768. 

_  "  My. love, — It  gives  me  great 

Ma5?m    pleasure   to  find  that  you  are  so 

well  satisfied  with  what  little  things 

it  has  been  in  my  power  to  send  you.    I 

1  See  the  hard  drawing  of  him  in  Churchill's 
Rosciad. — Boswell. 

s  [Tenth  earl,  who  was  shot,  in  1769,  by 
Mango  Campbell,  whose  fowling-piece  Lord  Eglin- 
toone  attempted  to  seize.  To  this  nobleman  Bos- 
well  was  indebted,  as  he  himself  said,  to  his 
early  introduction  to  the  circle  of  the  great,  the 
gay,  and  the  ingenious.  Boswell  thus  mentions 
himself  in  a  tale  called  "  The  Cub  at  Newmar- 
ket," published  in  1762  : 


Lord  Eglhitoune,  who  lores,  yon 
A  little  fiiah  of  whim  or  to, 


know, 


By  chance  a  carious  cub  had  got 
On  Scotia's  mountains  newly  caught. 

Gent.  Mag.  I7&5,  471— Ed.] 

*  [It  was  drolly  said,  in  reference  to  the  pen- 
sions granted  to  Doctors  Sbebbeare  and  Johnson, 
that  the  king  had  pensioned  a  She-bear  and  a 
He-bear.— Ed.] 


hope  you  will  always  employ  me  in  any  of- 
fice that  can  conduce  to  your  convenience. 

"  My  health  is,  I  thank  God,  much  bet- 
ter, but  it  is  yet  very  weak  ;  and  very  little 
things  put  it  into  a  troublesome  state  ;  but 
still  I  hope  all  will  be  well.    Pray  for  me. 

"  My  friends  at  Lichfield  must  not  think 
that  I  forget  them.  Neither  Mrs.  Cobb, 
nor  Mrs.  Adey,  nor  Miss  Adey,  nor  Miss 
Seward,  nor  Miss  Vise,  are  to  suppose  that 
I  have  lost  all  memory  of  their  kindness. 
Mention  me  to  them  when  you  see  them. 
I  hear  Mr.  Vise  has  been  lately  very  much 
in  danger.     I  hope  he  is  better. 

"  When  you  write  again,  let  me  know 
how  you  go  on,  and  what  company  you 
keep,  and  what  you  do  all  day.  I  love  to 
think  on  you,  but  do  not  know  when  I  shall 
see  you.  Pray,  write  very  often.  I  am, 
dearest,  your  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johhsow."] 

In  1769,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  the 
publick  was  favoured  with  nothing  of  John- 
son's composition,  either  for  himself  or  any 
of  his  friends*.  His  "Meditations"  too 
strongly  prove  that  he  suffered  much  both 
in  body  and  mind  ;  yet  was  he  perpetually 
striving  against  evil,  and  nobly  endeavour- 
ing to  advance  his  intellectual  and  devotion- 
al improvement  Every  generous  and 
grateful  heart  must  feel  for  the  distresses 
of  so  eminent  a  benefactor  to  mankind  ;  and 
now  that  hisunhappiness  is  certainly  known, 
must  respect  that  dignity  of  character 
which  prevented  hiin  from  complaining. 

His  majesty  having  the  preceding  year 
instituted  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts  in 
London,  Johnson  had  now  the  honour  of 
being     appointed    Professor    in    Ancient 


4  [A  difference  took  place  in  the  March  of  this 
year  between  Mr.  Thrale  and  Sir  Joseph  Maw- 
bey,  his  colleague,  in  the  representation  of  South- 
wark,  when  Sir  Joseph  endeavoured  to  defend 
himself  from  some  anti-popular  step  he  had  taken, 
by  inculpating  Mr.  Thrale  ;  the  affair  is  related  in 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  and  it  seems  that 
the  concluding  paragraph  contains  internal  evidence 
of  having  been  written  by  Dr.  Johnson  : 

"If,  therefore,  delicacy  of  situation,  and  fear 
of  public  resentment,  were  the  motives  that  im- 
pelled Sir  Joseph  to  do  his  duty  against  his  opinion, 
let  his  excuse  have  its  full  effect;  but  when  be 
regrets  his  cowardice  of  compliance,  let  him  re- 
gret likewise  the  cowaglice  of  calumny;  and 
when  he  shrinks  from  vulgar  resentment,  let  him 
not  employ  falsehood  to  cover  his  retreat* * — • 
Gent.  Mag.  vol.  xxzix.  p.  162.  The  article 
proceeds  to  recommend  a  recurrence  to  triennial 
parliaments,  a  measure  to  which  Johnson's  hatred 
of  the  whig  septennial  bill  would  naturally  incline 
him;  and  as,  for  Mr.  Thrale's  sake,  he  was  oblig- 
ed, by  the  violence  of  the  times,  to  adopt  some 
popular  topic,  he  would  probably  select  that  of 
triennial  parliaments.— Ed.] 


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Literature1.  In  the  course  of  the  year  he 
wrote  some  letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  passed 
some  part  of  the  summer  at  Oxford  and  at 
Lichfield9,  and  when  at  Oxford  he  wrote 
the  following  letter: 

"TO   THE   REVEREND   MR.    THOMAS 

WAHTON. 

"SUt  May,  1769. 

u  Dear  sin, — Many  years  ago,  when  I 
used  to  read  in  the  library  of  your  college, 
I  promised  to  recompense  the  college  for 
that  permission,  by  adding  to  their  books  a 
Baskerville's  Virgil.  I  have  now  sent  it, 
and  desire  you  to  reposit  it  on  the  shelves 
in  my  name  3. 

i  "  If  you  will  be  pleased  to  let  me  know 

when  you  have  an  hour  of  leisure,  I  will 

|        drink  tea  with  you.    I  am  engaged  for  the 
afternoon,  to-morrow  and  on  Friday:  all 
my  mornings  are  my  own  4.    I  am,  &c. 
"  Sam  Johnson." 

["  TO  MRS.  THRALE. 
|  "Lichfield,  14th  AugUft,  1769. 

I  lf?tr""  "  I  ^  °ut  on  Thursday  morn- 
jTii,  ing>  an<l  found  my  companion,  to 
whom  I  was  very  much  a  stran- 
ger, more  agreeable  than  I  expected.  We 
went  cheerfully  forward,  and  passed  the 
night  at  Coventry.  We  came  in  late,  and 
went  out  early ;  and  therefore  I  did  not 
send  for  my  cousin  Tom,  but  I  design  to 
make  him  some  amends  for  the  omission. 
"  Next  day  we  came  early  to  Lucy, 
who  was,  I  believe,  glad  to  see  us.     She 


1  In  which  place  he  has  been  succeeded  by 
Bennet  Langton,  Esq.  When  that  truly  religions 
gentleman  was  elected  to  this  honorary  professor- 
ship, at  the  same  time  that  Edward  Gibbon, 
Esq.,  noted  for  introducing  a  kind  of  sneering  in- 
fidelity into  his  historical  writings,  was  elected 
Professor  of  Ancient  History,  in  the  room  of  Dr. 
Goldsmith,  I  observed  that  it  brought  to  my  mind 
'•Wicked  Will  Whiston  and  good  Mr.  Ditton." 
—I  am  now  also  of  that  admirable  institution,  as 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Correspondence,  by  the 
favour  of  the  academicians,  and  the  approbation 
of  the  sovereign. — Boswell. 

1  [He  dates  to  Mrs.  Thrale  from  Oxford,  27th 
Jane  and  10th  July.  He  seems  to  have  been 
there  ever  since  the  18th  May.— Ed.] 

3  "It  has  this  inscription  in  a  blank  leaf: 
4  Hunt  Ubrum  D.  D.  Samuel  Johnson,  to 
quod  hit  loci  ttudiu  interdum  vacareV  Of 
tail  library,  which  is  ah  old  Gothic  room,  he  was 
very  fond.  On  my  observing  to  him  that  some 
of  the  modern  libraries  of  the  University  were 
more  commodious  and  pleasant  for  study,  as  being 
more  spacious  and  airy,  he  replied,  *  Sir,  if  a  man 
has  a  mind  to  prance,  he  must  study  at  ChrkU 
CtsvebandAU-SouIs.''* 

4  "  During  this  visit  he  seldom  or  never  dined 
tat  He  appeared  to  be  deeply  engaged  in  some 
hterarvwork.  Miss  Williams  was  now  with  him 
at  Oxford. "— Wa*to  jr. 


had  saved  her  best  gooseberries  upon  the 
tree  for  me ;  and,  as  Steele  says,  I wa*  nei- 
ther too  proud  nor  too  uriie  to  gather  them. 
I  have  rambled  a  very  little  inter  fontes  et 
flumina  notay  but  I  am  not  yet  well.  They 
have  cut  down  the  trees  in  George-lane. 
Evelyn,  in  his  book  of  Forest  Trees,  tells 
us  of  wicked  men  that  cut  down  trees,  and 
never  prospered  afterwards;  yet  nothing 
has  deterred  these  audacious  aldermen  from 
violating  the  Hamadryad  of  George-lane. 
As  an  impartial  traveller  I  must,  however, 
tell  that,  in  Stow-street,  where  I  left  a 
draw-well,  I  have  found  a  pump,  but  the 
lading-well  in  this  ill-fated  George-lane  lies 
shamefully  neglected. 

"  I  am  going  to-day  or  to-morrow  to 
Ashbourne  ;  but  I  am  at  a  loss  how  I  shall 
get  back  in  time  to  London.  Here  are 
only  chance  coaches,  so  that  there  is  no 
certainty  of  a  place.  If  I  do  not  come,  let 
it  not  hinder  your  journey.  I  can  be  but 
a  few  days  behind  you  ;  and  I  will  follow 
in  the  Brighthelmstone  coach.  But  I  hope 
to  come."] 

["  TO    MRS.  ASTON. 

Bricatrtelmitone,  96  August,  1769. 

"  Madam, — I  suppose  you  have 
received  the  mill:  the  whole  ap-  JJsa 
paratus  seemed  to  be  perfect,  ex- 
cept that  there  is  wanting  a  little  tin  spout 
at  the  bottom,  and  some  ring  or  knob,  on 
which  the  bag  that  catches  the  meal  is 
to  be  hung.  When  these  are  added,  I 
hope  you  will  be  able  to  grind  your  own 
bread,  and  treat  me  with  a  cake,  made  by 
yourself,  of  meal  from  your  own  corn  of 
your  own  grinding. 

"  I  was  glad,  madam,  to  see  you  so  well, 
and  hope  your  health  will  long  increase,  and 
then  lone  continue.  I  am,  madam,  your 
most  obedient  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson."] 

I  came  to  London  in  the  autumn,  and 
having  informed  him  that  I  was  going  to  be 
married  in  a  few  months,  I  wished  to  have 
as  much  of  his  conversation  as  I  could  be- 
fore engaging  in  a  state  of  life  which  would 
probably  Keep  me  more  in  Scotland,  and 
prevent  me  seeing  him  so  often  as  when  I 
was  a  single  man;  but  I  found  he  was  at 
Brighthelmstone  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thrale. 
I  was  very  sorry  that  I  had  not  his  compa- 
ny s  with  me  at  the  Jubilee,  in  honour  of 


1  [Mr.  Boswell,  on  this  occasion,  justified  John- 
son's (brought  and  prudence,  in  advising  him  to 
"  clear  his  head  of  Corsica  :  "  nnhtckily  the  ad- 
vice had  no  effect,  for  Boswell  made  a  fool  of 
himself  at  the  Jubilee  by  sundry  enthusiastic 
freaks;  amongst  others,  lest  he  should  not  be 
sufficiently  distinguished,  he  wore  the  words  Com- 
sica  Boswiul  in  large  letters  round  his  hat— 
Ed.] 


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1760.— JSXAT.  «0. 


Shakspcare,  at  Stratford-upon-Avon,  the 
great  poet's  native  town.  Johnson's  con* 
nexion  both  with  Shakspeare  and  Garrick 
founded  a  double  claim  to  his  presence;  and 
it  would  have  been  highly  gratifying  to  Mr. 
Garrick.  Upon  this  occasion  I  particularly 
lamented  that  he  had  not  that  warmth  of 
friendship  for  his  brilliant  pupil,  which  we 
may  suppose  would  have  had  a  benignant 
effect  on  both.  When  almost  every  man 
of  eminence  in  the  literary  world  was  hap- 
py to  partake  in  this  festival  of  genius,  the 
absence  of  Johnson  could  not  but  be  won- 
dered at  and  regretted.  The  only  trace  of 
him  there,  was  in  the  whimsical  advertise- 
ment of  a  haberdasher,  who  sold  Shaks- 
perian  riband*  of  various  dyes;  and,  by  way 
of  illustrating  their  appropriation  to  the 
bard,  introduced  a  line  from  the  celebrated 
Prologue  at  the  opening  of  Drury-lane  the- 
atre: 

"  Each  change  of  many-colowr'd  life  he  drew." 

From  BrighthelmstoneDr.  Johnson  wrote 
ma  the  following  letter,  which  they  who 
may  think  that  I  ought  to  have  suppressed, 
must  have  less  ardent  feelings  than  I  have 
always  avowed1. 

"TO  JAMES   BOSWBLL,    ESQ. 

"  BricbthetaMUMM,  9th  September,  1799. 

"  Dear  sir, — Why  do  you  charge  me 
with  unkindness?  I  have  omitted  nothing 
that  could  do  you  good,  or  give  you  plea- 
sure, unless  it  be  that  I  have  forborne  to 


1  In  the  Preface  to  my  account  of  Conica, 
published  in  1768, 1  thus  express  myself : 

"  He  who  publishes  a  book  affecting  not  to  be 
an  anthonr,  and  professing  an  induTereuce  for  lit- 
erary fame,  may  possibly  impose  upon  many 
people  such  an  idea  of  his  consequence  as  he 
wishes  may  be  received.  For  my  part  I  should 
be  proud  to  be  known  as  an  anthonr,  and  I  have 
an  ardent  ambition  for  literary  fame  ;  for,  of  all 
possessions,  I  should  imagine  literary  fame  to  be 
the  most  valuable.  A  man  who  has  been  able  to 
i  a  book,  which  has  been  approved  by  the 
,  has  established  himself  as  a  respectable 
character  in  distant  society,  without  any  danger 
of  having  that  character  lessened  by  the  observa- 
tion of  his  weaknesses.  To  preserve  an  uniform 
dignity  among  those  who  see  us  every  day,  is 
hardly  possible ;  and  to  aim  at  it,  must  put  as 
under  the  fetters  of  perpetual  restraint  The  an- 
thonr of  an  approved  book  may  allow  hit  natural 
disposition  an  easy  play,  and  yet  indulge  the 
pride  of  superior  genius,  when  he  considers  that 
by  those  who  know  him  only  as  an  authour,  he 
never  ceases  to  be  respected.  Such  an  anthonr, 
when  in  his  hours  of  gloom  and  discontent,  may 
have  the  consolation  to  think  that  his  writings  are* 
at  that  very  time,  giving  pleasure  to  numbers  ; 
and  such  an  authour  may  cherish  the  hope  of 
being  remembered  after  death,  which  has  been  a 
neat  object  to  the  noblest  minds  in  all  ages."— - 
.  Bosweu*. 


tell  vo«  m?  opinion  of  yowr  '  Account  of 
Corsica.  *  I  believe  my  opinion,  if  you  think 
well  of  my  judgment,  might  have  given 
you  pleasure;  but  when  it  is  considered 
how  much  vanity  is  excited  by  praise,  I  am 
not  sure  that  it  would  have  done  you  jrood. 
Your  history  is  like  other  histories,  but 
your  journal  is  in  a  very  high  degree  curi- 
ous and  delightful.  There  is  between  the 
history  and  the  journal  that  difference 
which  there  will  always  be  found  between 
no^ons  borrowed  from  without,  and  no- 
tions generated  within.  Your  history  was 
copied  from  books;  your  journal  rose  out 
of  your  own  experience  and  observation. 
You  express  images  which  operated  strong- 
ly upon  yourself,  and  you  have  impressed 
them  with  great  force  upon  your  readers. 
1  know  not  whether  I  could  name  any  nar- 
rative by  which  curiosity  is  better  excited 
or  better  gratified. 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  are  going  to  be 
married;  and  as  I  wish  you  well  in  things 
of  less  importance,  wish  you  well  with  pro- 
portionate ardour  in  this  crisis  of  your  life. 
What  I  can  contribute  to  your  happiness,  I 
should  be  very  unwilling  to  withhold;  for  I 
have  always  loved  and  valued  you,  and 
shall  love  you  and  value  you  still  more,  as 
you  become  more  regular  and  useful :  effects 
which  a  happy  marriage  will  hardly  fail  to 
produce. 

"  I  do  not  find  that  I  am  likely  to  come 
back  very  soon  from  this  place.  I  shall, 
perhaps,  stay  a  fortnight  longer;  and  a 
Fortnight  is  a  long  time  to  a  lover  absent 
from  his  mistress.  Would  a  fortnight  ever 
have  an  end  ?  I  am,  dear  sir,  your  most 
affectionate  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  JoHirsoir." 

After  his  return  to  town,  we  met  frequent- 
ly, and  I  continued  the  practice  of  making 
notes  of  his  conversation,  though  not  with 
so  much  assiduity  as  I  wish  I  hsd  done.  At 
this  time,  indeed,  I  had  a  sufficient  excuse 
for  not  being  able  to  appropriate  so  much 
time  to  my  journal;  for  General  Paoli,  after 
Corsica  had  been  overpowered  by  the  mon- 
archy of  France,  was  now  no  longer  at  the 
head  of  his  brave  countrymen,  but  having 
with  difficulty  escaped  from  his  native 
island,  had  sought  an  asylum  in  Great  Bri- 
tain «;  and  it  was  my  duty,  as  well  as  my 
pleasure,  to  attend  much  upon  him  K  Such 
particulars  of  Johnson%  conversation  at  this 
period  as  I  have  committed  to  writing,  I 
shall  here  introduce,  without  any  strict  at- 


*  [21st  Sept  1769.    General  Paoli  arrived  at 
Mr.  Hntchinson's,  in  Old  Bond-street— 27th  Seat 
General  Paoli  was  presented  to  his  Majesty  at  St     I 
James's. — Ann.  Reg. — Ed.]  "  J 

a  [Mr.  BosweU's  ostentatumt  attendance  on     , 


General  Paoli  excited,  at  the  time,  a  good  deal 
of  observation  and  ridicule*--£i>.] 

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255 


tention  to  methodical  arrangement  Some- 
times short  notes  of  different  days  shall  he 
blended  together,  and  sometimes  a  day  may 
seem  important  enough  to  he  separately  dis- 
tinguished. 

He  said,  he  would  not  have  Sunday  kept 
with  rigid  severity  and  gloom,  but  with  a 
gravity  and  simplicity  of  behaviour. 

[He  ridiculed  a  friend  who,  looking 
Boot*  out  on  Streatham-common  from  our 
** 178#  windows  one  day,  lamented  the  enor- 
mous wickedness  of  the  times,  because  some 
bird-catchers  were  busy  there  one  fine  Sun- 
day morning 1.  "  While  half  the  Christian 
world  is  permitted,"  said  he,  "  to  dance  and 
sing,  and  celebrate  Sunday  as  a  day  of  fes- 
tivity, how  comes  your  puritanical  spirit  so 
offended  with  frivolous  and  empty  devia- 
tions from  exactness?  Whoever  loads  life 
with  unnecessary  scruples,  sir,"  continued 
he,  "  provokes  the  attention  of  others  on 
his  conduct,  and  incurs  the  censure  of  sin- 
gularity without  reaping  the  reward  of  su- 
perior virtue."] 

I  told  him  that  David  Hume  had  made  a 
short  collection  of  Scotticisms.  "  I  wonder 
(said  Johnson)  that  he  should  find  them3." 
He  would  not  admit  the  importance  of 
the  question  concerning  the  legality  of  gen- 
eral warrants.  "  Such  a  power  (he  ob- 
served) must  be  vested  in  every  government, 
to  answer  particular  cases  of  necessity;  and 
there  can  be  no  just  complaint  but  when  it 
is  abused,  for  which  those  who  administer 
government  must  be  answerable.  It  is  a 
matter  of  such  indifference,  a  matter  about 
which  the  people  care  so  very  little,  that 
were  a  man  to  oe  sent  over  Britain  to  offer 
them  an  exemption  from  it  at  a  halfpenny  a 
piece,  very  few  would  purchase  it."  This 
was  a  specimen  of  that  laxity  of  talking, 
which  I  had  heard  him  fairly  acknowledge; 
for  surely,  while  the  power  of  granting 
general  warrants  was  supposed  to  be  legal, 
and  the  apprehension  or  them  hung  over 
our  heads,  we  did  not  possess  that  security 
of  freedom,  congenial  to  our  happy  consti- 
tution, and  which,  by  the  intrepid  exertions 
of  Mr.  Wilkes,  has  been  happily  establish- 
ed- 
He  said,  "  The  duration  of  parliament, 
whether  for  seven  years  or  the  life  of  the 
king,  appears  to  me  so  immaterial,  that  I 
would  not  give  half-a-crown  to  turn  the 

scale  one  way  or  the  other.    The  habeas 

*■-..-  -  - 

1  [Though  Dr.  Johnson  may  have  been  induced 
by  a  spirit  of  contradiction  or  impatience,  to  say 
something  of  the  kind  here  stated  by  Mrs.  Piozo, 
it  b  proper  to  observe,  that  he  was,  both  in  pie- 
cant  and  practice*  a  decorous  and  generally  a 
etnet,  though  not  a  puritanical,  observer  of  the 


of  Hume's  History  of  Eag- 
tcisms,  many  of  which  be 
editiens.— -AUiK)irx. 


eorpue  is  the  single  advantage  which  our 
government  has  over  that  of  other  coun- 
tries 3." 

On  the  30th  of  September  we  dined  to- 
gether at  the  Mitre.  I  attempted  to  argue 
for  the  superiour  happiness  of  the  savage 
life,  upon  the  usual  fanciful  topicks.  John- 
son. "Sir,  there  can  be  nothing  more 
false.  The  savages  have  no  bodily  advan- 
tages beyond  those  of  civilized  men.  They 
have  not  better  health;  and  as  to  care  or 
mental  uneasiness,  they  are  not  above  it, 
but  below  it,  like  bears.  No,  sir;  you  are 
not  to  talk  such  paradox:  let  me  have  no 
more  on 't.  It  cannot  entertain,  far  less  can 
it  instruct  Lord  Monboddo,  one  of  your 
Scotch  judges,  talked  a  great  deal  of  such 
nonsense.  I  suffered  Asm;  but  I  will  not 
suffer  you."  Bos  well.  "But,  sir,  does 
not  Rousseau  talk  such  nonsense?  John- 
son. "  True,  sir,  but  Rousseau  knowe  he 
is  talking  nonsense,  and  laughs  at  the  world 
for  staring  at  him."  Boswbll.  "How 
so,  sir?"  Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  a  man 
who  talks  nonsense  so  well,  must  know  that 
he  is  talking  nonsense.  But  I  am  afraid 
(chuckling  and  laughing"),  Monboddo  does 
not  know  that  he  is  talking  nonsense4.*9 
Boswell.  "  Is  it  wrong  then,  sir,  to  affect 
singularity,  in  order  to  make  people  stare?" 
Johnson.  "  Yes,  if  you  do  it  by  propaga- 
ting errour;  and,  indeed,  it  is  wrong  in  any 
way.  There  is  in  human  nature  a  general 
inclination  to  make  people  stare,  and  every 
wise  man  has  himself  to  cure  of  it,  and  does 
cure  himself.  If  you  wish  to  make  people 
stare  by  doing  better  than  others,  wny 
make  them  stare  till  they  8tare  their  eyes 
.out  But  consider  how  easy  it  is  to  make 
people  stare,  by  being  absurd.  I  may  do  it 
by  going  into  a  drawing-room  without  my 
shoes,  You  remember  the  gentleman  in 
cThe  Spectator,'  who  had  a  commission 
of  lunacy  taken  out  against  him  for  his  ex- 
treme singularity,  such  as  never  wearing  a 
wig,  but  a  nightcap.  Now,  sir,  abstract- 
edly, the  nigtftcap  was  best;  but,  relatively, 
the  advantage  was  overbalanced  by  his) 
making  the  boys  run  after  him." 


3  [Did  he  reckon  the  power  of  the  commons 
over  the  public  puree  as  nothing  ?  and  did  he  cal- 
culate how  long  the  habeas  corpus  might  exist, 
if  the  liberty  of  the  press  were  destroyed;  and  the 
duration  of  parliament*  unlimited  ? — En.] 

4  His  lordship  having  frequently  spoken  in  an 
abusive  manner  of  Dr.  Johnson,  in  my  company, 
I  on  one  occasion,  daring  the  lifetime  of  my  fllas- 
trious  friend,  could  not  refrain  from  retaliation, 
end  repeated  to  him  this  saying.  He  has  since 
published  I  don't  know  bow  many  pages  in  one 
of  his  curious  books,  attempting  in  much  anger, 

*Dut  with  pitiful  effect,  to  persuade  mankind  that 
my  illustrious  friend  was  not  the  great  and  good 
man  which  they  esteemed  and  ever  will  esteem 
him  to  be,— Boswell. 


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1769.-T iETAT.  60. 


[All  desire  of  singularity  had 
Ptoad,      indeed  a  sure  enemy  in  Dr.  John- 

iku  80n*  Few  pcop^  fiad  a  more  8et" 
tled  reverence  for  the  world  than 
he,  or  was  less  captivated  by  new  modes 
of  behaviour  introduced,  or  innovations  on 
the  long  received  customs  of  common  life. 
One  day,  in  company  with  Mrs.  Thrale, 
they  met  a  friend  driving  six  very  small 
ponies,  and  stopped  to  admire  them. 
"  Why  does  nobody,*'  said  Johnson,  "  be- 
pin  the  fashion  of  driving  sjx  spavined 
horses,  all  spavined  of  the  same  leg  ?  it  would 
have  a  mighty  pretty  effect,  and  produce 
the  distinction  of  doing  something  worse 
than  the  common  way."  He  hated  the 
modern  way  of  leaving  a  company  without 
taking  notice  to  the  lady  of  the  house  that 
he  was  going;  and  did  not  much  like  any 
of  the  contrivances  by  which  ease  has  been 
lately  introduced  into  society  instead  of  cer- 
emony, which  had  more  of  his  approbation. 
Cards,  dress,  and  dancing,  however,  all 
found  their  advocates  in  Dr.  Johnson,  who 
inculcated,  upon  principle,  the  cultivation 
of  those  arts,  which  many  a  moralist  thinks 
himself  bound  to  reject,  and  many  a  Chris- 
tian holds  unfit  to  be  practised.  "  No  per- 
son," said  he,  one  day, "  goes  under-dressed 
till  he  thinks  himself  of  consequence  enough 
to  forbear  carrying  the  badge  of  his  rank 
upon  his  back."  And,  in  answer  to  the  ar- 
guments urged  by  Puritans,  Quakere,  &c. 
against  showy  decorations  of  the  human 
figure,  I  once  heard  him  exclaim,  "  Oh,  let 
us  be  found  when  our  Master  calls,  us  rip- 
ping not  the  lace  off  our  waistcoats,  "but  the 
spirit  of  contention  from  our  .souls  and 
tongues!  Let  us  all  conform  in  outward 
customs,  which  are  of  no  consequence,  to 
the  manners  of  those  whom  we  live  among, 
and  despise  such  paltry  distinctions.  Alas, 
sir,"  continued  he,  "  a  man  who  cannot  get 
to  heaven  in  a  green  coat,  will  not  find  his 
way  thither  the  sooner  in  a  grey  one."] 

Talking  of  a  London  life,  ne  said,  "  The 
happiness  of  London  is  not  to  be  conceived 
b«t  by  those  who  have  been  in  it.  I  will 
venture  to  say,  there  is  more  learning  and 
science  within  the  circumference  of  ten 
miles  from  where  we  now  sit,  than  in  all 
the  rest  of  the  kingdom."  Bo  swell. 
"  The  only  disadvantage  is  the  great  dis- 
tance at  which  people  live  from  one  an- 
ther." Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir;  but  that  is 
occasioned  by  the  largeness  of  it,  which  is 
the  cause  of  all  the  other  advantages." 
Boswell.  "  Sometimes  I  have  been  in 
the  humour  of  wishing  to  retire  to  a  desert." 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  you  have  desert  enough 
in  Scotland." 

Although  I  had  promised  myself  a  great 
deal  of  instructive  conversation  with  him 
on  the  conduct  of  the  married  state,  of 
which  I  had  then  a  near  prospect,  he  did 
not  say  much   upon   that  topick.     Mr. 


Seward  i  heard  him  once  say,  that  "  a  man 
has  a  very  bad  chance  for  happiness  in  that 
state,  unless  he  marries  a  woman  of  very 
strong  and  fixed  principles  of  religion."  He 
maintained  to  me,  contrary  to  the  common 
notion,  that  a  woman  would  not  be  the  worse 
wife  for  being  learned ;  in  which,  from  all  that 
I  have  observed  of  Artemisia*  %,  I  humbly 
differed  from  him.  That  a  woman  should 
be  sensible  and  well  informed,  I  allow  to  be 
a  great  advantage;  and  think  that  Sir 
Thomas  OverburyS,  in  his  rude  versifica- 
tion, has  very  judiciously  pointed  out  that 
degree  of  intelligence  which  is  to  be  desired 
in  a  female  companion : 

"  Give  me,  next  good%  an  understanding  wife, 
By  nature  wise,  not  learned  by  much  ait : 

Some  knowledge  on  her  tide  will  all  my  life 
More  scope  of  conversation  impart; 

Besides,  her  inborne  virtue  fortifie; 

They  are  most  firmly  good,  who  beat  know  why." 

When  I  censured  a  gentleman  of  my  ac- 
quaintance for  marrying  a  second  time,  as 
it  showed  a  disregard  of  his  first  wife,  he 
said,  "  Not  at  aO,  sir.  On  the  contrary, 
were  he  not  to  marry  again,  it  might  be 
concluded  that  his  first  wife  had  given  him 
a  disgust  of  marriage:  but  by  taking  a  sec- 
ond wife  he  pays  the  highest  compliment  to 
the  first,  by  showing  that  she  made  him  so 
happy  as  a  married  man,  that  he  wishes  to 
be  so  a  second  time."  So  ingenious  a  turn 
did  he  give  to  this  delicate  question.  And 
yet,  on  another  occasion,  he  owned  that  he 
once  had  almost  asked  a  promise  of  Mrs. 
Johnson  that  she  would  not  marry  again, 
but  had  checked  himself.  Indeed  I  cannot 
help  thinking,  that  in  his  case  the  reuuest 
would  have  been  unreasonable;  for  if  Mrs. 
Johnson  forgot,  or  thought  it  no  injury  to 
the  memory  of  her  first  love, — the  husband 
of  her  youth  and  the  father  of  her  children, 
— to  make  a  second  marriage,  why  should 
she  be  precluded  from  a  third,  should  she 
be  so  inclined?  In  Johnson's  persevering 
fond  appropriation  of  his  Tetty,  even  after 
her  decease,  he  seems  totally  to  have  over- 
looked the  prior  claim  of  the  honest  Bir- 
mingham trader  4.  I  presume  that  her  hav- 
ing been  married  before  had,  at  times, 
given  him  some  uneasiness;  for  I  remember 
his  observing  upon  the  marriage  of  one  of 
our  common  friends,  "  He  has  done  a  very 


1  [Mr.  William  Seward,  author  of  the  Anec- 
dote* of  Eminent  Persons,  and  some  other  jSna, 
who  mast  Dot  be  confounded  with  Mr.  Seward, 
the  canon  of  Lichfield. — Ed.] 

*  [See  Pope's  satirical  verses  against  a  learned 
lady,  entitled  "  Artemisia." — Ed.] 

»  "A  Wife/'  a  poem,  1614.— Boswbll. 

4  [Yet  his  inquisitive  mind  might  have  been 
struck  by  his  friend  Hervey's  startling  question  to 
Sir  Thomas  Hanmer,  relative  to  the  lady  who  was 
the  cause  of  their  contention:  "  In  heaven,  whose 
wife  shall  she  beV*    See  ante  p.  2S8.— Ed.] 


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foolish  things  sir;  he  has  married  a  widow, 
when  he  might  have  had  a  maid." 

We  drank  tea  with  Mrs.  Williams.  I 
had  last  year  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Mrs. 
Thrale  at  Dr.  Johnson's  one  morning,  and 
had  conversation  enough  with  her  to  ad- 
mire her  talents;  and  to  show  her  that  I 
was  as  Johnsonian  as  herself.  Dr.  Johnson 
had  probably  been  kind  enough  to  speak 
well  of  me,  lor  this  evening  he  delivered  me 
a  very  polite  card  from  Mr.  Thrale  and  her, 
inviting  me  to  Streatham. 

On  the  6th  October  I  complied  with  this 
obliging  invitation,  and  found,  at  an  elegant 
villa,  six  miles  from  town,  every  circum- 
stance that  can  make  society  pleasing. 
Johnson,  though  quite  at  home,  was  yet 
looked  up  to  with  an  awe,  tempered  by  affec- 
tion, and  seemed  to  he  equally  the  care  of 
his  host  and  hostess.  I  rejoiced  at  seeing 
him  so  happy. 

He  played  off  his  wit  against  Scotland 
with  a  good-humoured  pleasantry,  which 

fave  me,  though  no  bigot  to  national  preiu- 
ices,  an  opportunity  for  a  little  contest  with 
him.  I  having  said  that  England  was  ob- 
liged to  us  for  gardeners,  almost  all  their 
good  gardeners  being  Scotchmen:— John- 
son. "  Why,  sir,  that  is  because  garden- 
ing is  much  more  necessary  amongst  you 
than  with  us,  which  makes  so  many  of  your 
people  learn  it  It  is  all  gardening  with 
you.  Things  which  grow  wild  here,  must 
be  cultivated  with  great  care  in  Scotland. 
Pray  now  (throwing  himself  back  in  his 
chair,  and  laughing),  are  you  ever  able  to 
bring  the  she  to  perfection  ?*' 

I  boasted  that  we  had  the  honour  of  be- 
ing the  first  to  abolish  the  inhospitable, 
troublesome,  and  ungracious  custom  of  giv- 
ing veils  to  servants.  Johnson.  "Sir, 
you  abolished  veils,  because  you  were  too 
poor  to  be  able  to  give  them." 

Mrs.  Thrale  disputed  with  him  on  the 
merit  of  Prior.  He  attacked  him  power- 
fullyl;  said  he  wrote  of  love  like  a  man 
who  had  never  felt  it:  his  love  verses  were 
college  verses:  and  he  repeated  the  song 
"  Alexis  shunn'd  his  fellow  swains,"  &c.  in 
so  ludicrous  a  manner,  as  to  make  us  all 
wonder  how  any  one  could  have  been  pleas- 
ed with  such  fantastical  stuff.  Mrs.  1  hrale 
stood  to  her  gun  with  £reat  courage,  in  de- 
fence of  amorous  ditties,  which  Johnson 
despised,  till  he  at  last  silenced  her  by  say- 
ing, "  My  dear  lady,  talk  no  more  of  this. 
Nonsense  can  be  defended  but  by  non- 
sense." 

Mrs.  Thrale  then  praised  Garrick's  tal- 
ents for  light  ray  poetry;  and,  as  a  speci- 
men, repeated  his  song  in  "  Floriscel  and 


1  [We  shall  see  hereafter  (28d  Sept  1777) 
that,  with  km  justice,  be  chose  to  defend  Prior's 
<*e*eoey.— Ed.] 

vol.  i.  85 


Perdita,"  and  dwelt  with  peculiar  pleasure 
on  this  line: 

"  I'd  smile  with  the  simple,  and  feed  with  the 
poor." 

Johnson.  "  Nay,  my  dear  lady,  this  will 
never  do.  Poor  David!  Smile  with  the 
simple!— what  folly  is  that?  And  who 
would  feed  withthe  poor  that  can  help  it? 
No,  no;  let  me  smile  with  the  wise,  and 
feed  with  the  rich."  I  repeated  this  sally 
to  Garrick,  and  wondered  to  find  his  sensi- 
bility as  a  writer  not  a  little  irritated  by  it. 
To  soothe  him  I  observed,  that  Johnson 
spared  none  of  us;  and  I  quoted  the  passage 
in  Horace,  in  which  he  compares  one  who 
attacks  his  friends  for  the  sake  of  a  laugh  to 
a  pushing  ox,  that  is  marked  by  a  bunch  of 
hay  put  upon  his  horns:  foenum  habet  in 
cornu.  "Ay,"  said  Garrick  vehemently, 
"  he  has  a  whole  mow  of  it." 

Talking  of  history,  Johnson  said,  "  We 
may  know  historical  facts  to  be  true,  as  we 
may  know  facts  in  common  life  to  be  true. 
Motives  are  generally  unknown  2.  We 
cannot  trust  to  the  characters  we  find  in 
history,  unless  when  they  are  drawn  by 
those  who  knew  the  persons,  as  those,  for 
instance,  by  Sallust  and  by  Lord  Claren- 
don." 

He  would  not  allow  much  merit  to  Whit- 
field's oratory.  "  His  popularity,  sir,"  said 
he,  "  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  peculiarity  of 
his  manner.  He  would  be  followed  by 
crowds  were  he  to  wear  a  nightcap  in  the 
pulpit,  or  were  he  to  preach  from  a  tree." 

I  know  not  from  what  spirit  of  contradic- 
tion he  burst  out  into  a  violent  declamation 
against  the  Corsicans,  of  whose  heroism  I 
talked  in  hiarh  terms.  "Sir,"  said  he, 
"  what  is  all  this  rout  about  the  Corsicans? 
They  have  been  at  war  with  the  Genoese 
for  upwards  of  twenty  years,  and  have 
never  yet  taken  their  fortified  towns.  They 
might  have  battered  down  their  walls,  and 
reduced  them  to  powder  in  twenty  years. 
They  might  have  pulled  the  walls  in  pieces, 
and  cracked  the  stones  with  their  teeth  in 
twentv  years."  It  was  in  vain  to  argue 
with  him  upon  the  want  of  artillery:  he 
was  not  to  be  resisted  for  the  moment. 

On  the  evening  of  October  10, 1  presented 
Dr.  Johnson  to  General  Paoli.  I  had  great- 
ly wished  that  two  men,  for  whom  I  had 
the  highest  esteem,  should  meet.    They 


*  [This  was  what  old  Sir  Robert  Walpole  pro- 
bably meant  when,  his  son  Horace,  wishing  to 
amuse  him  one  evening,  after  his  tall,  offered  to 
read  him  some  historical  wwk.  "  Any  thing," 
said  the  old  statesman,  ••  bat  history — that  must 
be  false."  Mr.  Gibbon  says,  "  Malhearenx  sort 
de  Thistoire!  Les  spectateunsont  trap  peuiiistruits, 
et  les  acteuiB  trop  interests  poor  que  none  pul- 
sions compter  sw  les  recits  des  one  on  des  antres!" 
Mite,  Works,  vol  iv.  p.  410.— Ed.] 


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1760.— jETAT.  60. 


met  with  a  manly  case,  mutually  conscious 
of  their  own  abilities,  and  of  the  abilities 
of  each  other.  The  general  spoke  Italian, 
and  Dr.  Johnson  English,  and  understood 
one  another  very  well,  with  a  little  aid  of 
interpretation  from  me,  in  which  I  compar- 
ed myself  to  an  isthmus  which  joins  two 
great  continents.  Upon  Johnson's  ap- 
proach, the  general  said,  "From  what  I 
nave  read  of  your  works,  sir,  and  from  what 
Mr.  Boswell  has  told  me  of  you,  I  have  long 
held  you  in  great  veneration."  The  gene- 
ral talked  of  languages  being  formed  on  the 
particular  notions  and  manners  of  a  people, 
without  knowing  which,  we  cannot  know 
the  language.  We  may  know  the  direct 
signification  of  single  words;  but  by  these 
no  beauty  of  expression,  no  sally  of  genius, 
no  wit  is  conveyed  to  the  mind.  All  this 
must  be  by  allusion  to  other  ideas.  "  Sir," 
said  Johnson,  "  you  talk  of  language  as  if 
you  had  never  done  any  thing  else  but  stu- 
dy it,  instead  of  governing  a  nation."  The 
general  said,  "Questo  e  un  troppo  gran 
complimento;"  this  is  too  great  a  compli- 
ment. Johnson  answered,  "  I  should  have 
thought  so,  sir,  if  I.  had  not  heard  you 
talk  >."  The  general  asked  him  what  he 
thought  of  the  spirit  of  infidelity  which  was 
so  prevalent.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  this  gloom 
of  infidelity,  I  hope,  is  only  a  transient  cloud 
passing  through  the  hemisphere,  which  will 
soon  be  dissipated,  and  the  sun  break  forth 
with  his  usual  splendour."  "You  think 
then,"  said  the  general,  "that  they  will 
change  their  principles  like  their  clothes." 
Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  if  they  bestow  no 
more  thought  on  principles  than  on  dress,  it 
mujt  be  so."  The  general  said,  that "  a 
great  part  of  the  fashionable  infidelity  was 
owing  to  a  desire  of  showing  courage. 
Men  who  have  no  opportunities  of  showing 
it  as  to  things  in  this  life,  take  death  and 
futurity  as  objects  on  which  to  display  it." 
Johnson.  "  That  is  mighty  foolish  affec- 
tation. Fear  is  one  of  the  passions  of  human 
nature,  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  divest 
it.  You  remember  that  the  Emperour 
Charles  V.  when  he  read  upon  the  tomb- 
stone of  a  Spanish  nobleman,  *  Here  lies  one 
who  never  knew  fear,'  wittily  said,  '  Then 
he  never  snuffed  a  candle  with  his  fin- 
gers.' " 

He  talked  a  few  words  of  French  to  the 
general;  but  finding  he  did  not  do  it  with 
facility,  he  asked  for  pen,  ink,  and  paper, 
and  wrote  the  following  note : 

"  J'at  lu  dans  la  giographie  de  Lucas  de 
Linda  un  Paternoster  ierit  dans  une  ton- 
gue tout-a-fait  differente  de  I'  Italienne,  et 
de  toutes  autreslesqueUes  se  derivent  du 
Latin.    L3auteur  VapptUe  linguam  Cor- 


1  [See  antty  p.  240,  the  compliment  of  the  king 
to  bimself.--ED.] 


sic®  raticam :  eUe  a  peuUHre  pasti,  pevrh* 
peu;  mats  tile  a  certainement  prevakte 
autrefois  dans  les  montagnes  et  dans  la 
campagne.  Le  mime  auteur  dit  la  mime 
chose  en  parlant  de  Sardaigne;  qu'il  y  a 
deux  tongues  dans  VIsle,  une  des  viues, 
Vautre  de  la  eampagne." 

The  general  immediately  informed  him 
that  the  lingua  rustica  was  only  in  Sar- 
dinia 9. 

Dr.  Johnson  went  home  with  me,  and 
drank  tea  till  late  in  the  night  He  said, 
"  General  Paoli  had  the  loftiest  port  of  any 
man  he  had  ever  seen."  He  denied  that 
military  men  were  always  the  best  bred 
men.  "  Perfect  good  breeding  ( he  observ- 
ed) consists  in  having  no  particular  mark  of 
any  profession,  but  a  general  elegance  of 
manners;  whereas,  in  a  millitary  man,  you 
can  commonly  distinguish  the  brand  of  a 
soldier,  Vhomme  d'epie:"  {and  it 
was,  she  said,  the  essence  of  a  p*^ 
gentleman's  character  to  bear  the 
visible  mark  of  no  profession  whatever. 
He  once  named  Mr.  Berenger  as  the  stand- 
ard of  true  elegance;  but  some  one  object- 
ing, that  he  too  much  resembled  the  gen- 
tleman in  Congreve's  comedies,  Dr.  John- 
son said,  "  We  must  fix  then  upon  the  fa- 
mous Thomas  Hervey,  whose  manners 
were  polished  even  to  acuteness  and  bril- 
liancy, though  he  lost  but  little  in  solid  pow- 
er ol  reasoning,  and  in  genuine  force  of 
mind."  Johnson  had  an  avowed  and  scarce- 
ly limited  partiality  for  all  who  bore  the 
name,  or  boasted  the  alliance  of  an  Aston  oi 
a  Hervey.] 

Dr.  Johnson  shunned  to-night  any  dis- 
cussion of  the  perplexed  question  of  fate 
and  free  will,  which  I  attempted  to  agi- 
tate: "  Sir  (said  he),  we  know  our  will  is 
free,  and  there* s  an  end  on  *t" 

He  honoured  me  with  his  company  at 
dinner  on  the  16th  of  October,  at  my  lodg- 
ings in  Old  Bond-street,  with  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  Mr.  Garrick,  Dr.  Goldsmith, 
Mr.  Murphy,  Mr.  Bickerstaff3,  and  Mr. 


inquires 

not  possible  that  a  military  colony  of  Jews,  trans- 
ported into  Sardinia  in  the  time  of  Tiberias,  may 
have  left  some  traces  of  their  language  there. 
Tat.  An.  L  2,  c  85.  Suet.  vit.  Tib,  c.  36.  Joseph. 
1.  18,  c.  8.— Ed.] 

3  [Isaac  Bickerstaff,  the  authour  of  several  thea- 
trical pieces  of  considerable  merit  and  continued 
popularity.  This  unhappy  man  was  obliged  to 
fly  on  suspicion  of  a  capital  crime,  on  which  oc- 
casion Mrs.  Poizzi  relates,  that  "  when  Mr.  Biek- 
erstafPs  flight  confirmed  the  report  of  his  guilt,  and 
Mr.  Thrale  said,  in  answer  to  Johnson's  astonish-, 
ment,  that  he  had  long  been  a  suspected  man, 
'  By  those  who  look  close  to  the  ground,  dirt  wiH 
be  seen,  sir,'  was  the  lofty  reply;  '  I  hope  that  I 
see  things  from  a  greater  distance.* "  Ptasxt,  p. 
180.— En.] 


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259 


Thomas  Davies.  Garrick  played  round 
hipa  with  a  fond  vivacity,  taking  hold  of  the 
breast  of  his  coat,  and,  looking  up  in  his 
face  with  a  lively  archness,  complimented 
him  on  the  good  health  which  he  seemed 
then  to  enjoy:  while  the  sage,  shaking  his 
head,  beheld  him  with  a  gentle  complacen- 
cy. One  of  the  company  not  being  come 
at  the  appointed  hour,  I  proposed,  as  usual 
upon  such  occasions,  to  order  dinner  to  be 
served;  adding,  "Ought  six  people  to  be 
kept  waiting  lor  one?"  "  Why,  yes  (an- 
swered Johnson,  with  a  delicate  humanity), 
if  the  one  will  suffer  more  by  your  sitting 
down,  than  the  six  will  do  by  waiting."  Gold- 
smith, to  divert  the  tedious  minutes,  strut- 
ted about,  bragging  of  his  dress,  and  I  be- 
lieve was  seriously  vain  of  it,  for  his  mind 
was  wonderfully  prone  to  such  impressions: 
"  Come,  come  (said  Garrick),  talk  no  more 
of  that.  You  are,  perhaps,  the  worst — eh, 
eh!9' — Goldsmith  was  eagerly  attempting 
to  interrupt  him,  when  Garnck  went  on, 
laughing  ironically,  "  Nay,  you  will  always 
look  like  a  gentleman;  but  I  am  talking  of 
being  well  or  ill  drest"  "  Well,  let  me 
tell  you  (said  Goldsmith),  when  my  tailor 
brought  home  my  bloom-coloured  coat,  he 
said,  *  Sir,I  have  a  favour  to  beg  of  you. 
When  any  body  asks  you  who  made  your 
clothes,  be  pleased  to  mention  John  Filby, 
at  the  Harrow,  in  Water-lane.' "  Johk- 
sow-  "  Why,  sir,  that  was  because  he 
knew  the  strange  colour  would  attract 
crowds  to  gaze  at  it,  and  thus  they  might 
hear  of  him,  and  see  how  well  he  could 
make  a  coat  even  of  so  absurd  a  colour." 

After  dinner  our  conversation  turned  first 
upon  Pope.  Johnson  said,  his  characters 
or  men  were  admirably  drawn,  those  of  wo- 
men not  so  well.  He  repeated  to  us,  in  his 
forcible  melodious  manner,  the  concluding 
fines  of  the  Dunciad  i.  While  he  was  talking 
loudly  in  praise  of  those  lines,  one  of  the 
company  ventured  8  to  say,  "  Too  fine  for 
such  a  poem: — a  poem  on  what? "  John- 
son (with  a  disdainful  look).  "  Whv,  on 
dunce:  It  was  worth  while  being  a  dunce 
then.  Ah,  sir,  hadst  thou  lived  in  those 
days  !  It  is  not  worth  while  being  a  dunce 
now,  when  there  are  no  wits."  Bickerstaff 
observed,  as  a  peculiar  circumstance,  that 
PopeJ»  fame  was  higher  when  he  was  alive 
than  it  was  then.    Johnson  said,  his  Pas- 

1  Mr.  Langton  informed  me  that  he  once  rela- 
ted to  Johnson  (on  the  authority  of  Spence)  that 
Pope  himself  admired  those  linos  so  much,  that 
when  he  repeated  them,  his  voice  fanltered:  "  and 
well  it  might,  sir  (said  Johnson),  for  they  are  no- 
ble lines."— J.  Bosweli- 

1  [What  an  idea  of  the  tyranny  of  Johnson's 
conversation  does  this  word — ventured — give  ! 
There  u  reason,  as  will  appear  hereafter,  to  sus- 
pect that  Boswell  himself  was  the  object  of  this 
aucasm.--ED.] 


torals  were  poor  things,  though  the  versi- 
fication wss  fine.  He  told  us,  with  high 
satisfaction,  the  anecdote  of  Pope's  inquir- 
ing who  was  the  authour  of  his"  London," 
and  saying,  he  will  be  soon  deterrt.  He 
observed,  that  in  Dryden's  poetry  there 
were  passages  drawn  from  a  profundity 
which  Pope  could  never  reach.  He  repeat- 
ed some  fine  lines  on  love,  by  the  former 
(which  I  have  now  forgotten),  and  gave 
great  applause  to  the  character  of  Zimri*. 
Goldsmith  said,  that  Pope's  character  of 
Addison  showed  a  deep  knowledge  of  the 
human  heart.  Johnson  said,  that  the  de- 
scription of  the  temple,  in  "  The  Mourning 
Bride4,"  was  the  finest  poetical  passage  he 
had  ever  read;  he  recollected  none  in  Snaks- 
peare  equal  to  it. — "  But  (said  Garrick, 
all  alarmed  for  '  the  god  of  his  idolatry ')  we 
know  not  the  extent  and  variety  of  his 
powers.  We  are  to  suppose  there  are  such 
passages  in  his  works.  Shakspeare  must 
not  suffer  from  the  badness  of  our  memories." 
Johnson,  diverted  by  this  enthusiastic  jea- 
lousy, went  on  with  great  ardour:  "No, 
sir;  Congreve  has  nature  (smiling  on  the 
tragic  eagerness  of  Garrick)  j  but  composing 
himself,  he  added, "  Sir,  this  is  not  comparing 
Congreve  on  the  whole  with  Shakspeare 
on  the  whole:  but  only  maintaining  that 
Congreve  has  one  finer  passage  than  any 
that  can  be  found  in  Shakspeare.  Sir,  a 
man  may  have  no  more  than  ten  guineas 
in  the  world,  but  he  may  have  those  ten 
guineas  in  one  piece;  and  so  may  have  a 
finer  piece  than  a  man  who  has  ten  thou- 
sand pound :  but  then  he  has  only  one  ten- 
guinea  piece. — What  I  mean  is,  that  you 
can  show  me  no  passage  where  there  is 
simply  a  description  of  material  objects, 
without  any  intermixture  of  moral  notions5, 
which  produced  such  an  effect. "  M  r.  Mu r- 
phy  mentioned  Shakspeare's  description  of 
the  night  before  the  battle  of  Agincourt; 
but  it  was  observed  it  had  men  in  it.  Mr. 
Da  vies  suggested  the  speech  of  Juliet,  in 
which  she  figures  herself  awaking  in  the 
tomb  of  her  ancestors.  Some  one  mention* 
ed  the  description  of  Dover  Cliff.    Johk- 


9  [The  Duke  of  Buckingham,  in  Absalom  and 
Achitopbel.— Ed.] 

4  Act  ii.  scene  8. — Malone. 

1  In  Congreve's  description  there  seems  to  be 
an  intermixture  of  moral  notions;  as  the  af- 
fecting power  of  the  passage  arises  from  the  vivid 
impression  of  the  described  objects  on  the  mind  of 
the  speaker:  "And  shoots  a  dullness,''  fcc— 
Kearnit.  [So,  also,  the  very  first  words  of  the 
speech, "  how  reverend;"  and  again,  "  it  strike* 
an  awe  and  terror;99  and  again,  "  looking  tran- 
quillity.99 All  this  is  surely  describing  the  build- 
ing by  its  effects  on  the  mind.  The  truth  is,  as 
Mrs.  Pioszi  states,  Johnson  loved  to  tease  Garrick 
with  this  apparent  preference  of  Congreve  over 
Shakspeare.    See  ante,  p.  222.— Ed.] 


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1760.— iETAT.  60. 


•oh.  M  No,  sin  it  should  be  all  precipice — 
all  vacuum.  Tne  crows  impede  your  fall. 
The  diminished  appearance  of  the  boats, 
and  other  circumstances,  are  all  very  good 
description;  but  do  not  impress  the  mind  at 
once  with  the  horrible  idea  of  immense 
height.  The  impression  is  divided;  you 
pass  on  by  computation,  from  one  stage  of 
the  tremendous  space  to  another.  Had  the 
girl  in  'The  Mourning  Bride'  said,  she 
could  not  cast  her  shoe  to  the  top  of  one  of 
the  pillars  in  the  temple,  it  would  not  have 
aided  the  idea,  but  weakened  it." 

Talking  of  a  barrister  who  had  a  bad  ut- 
terance, some  one  (to  rouse  Johnson)  wick- 
edly said,  that  he  was  unfortunate  in  not 
having  been  taught  oratory  by  Sheridan. 
J  jh  if  son.  "Nay,  sir,  if  he  had  been 
taught  by  Sheridan,  he  would  have  cleared 
the  room."  GxaaicK.  "  Sheridan  has  too 
much  vanity  to  be  a  good  man." — We  shall 
n  >w  see  Johnson's  mode  of  defending  a 
man :  taking  him  into  his  own  hands  and  dis- 
criminating. Johhson.  "  No,  sir.  There 
is,  to  be  sure,  in  Sheridan,  something  to  re- 
prehend and  every  thing  to  laugh  at;  but, 
sir,  he  is  not  a  bad  man.  No,  sir;  were 
mankind  to  be  divided  into  good  and  bad, 
he  would  stand  considerably  within  the 
ranks  of  good.  And,  sir,  it  must  be  allow- 
ed that  Sheridan  excels  in  plain  declama- 
t.on,  though  he  can  exhibit  no  character." 

I  should,  perhaps,  have  suppressed l  this 
disquisition  concerning  a  person  of  whose 
merit  and  worth  I  think  with  respect,  had 
he  not  attacked  Johnson  so  outrageously  in 
his  Life  of  Swift,  an<£  at  the  same  time, 
treated  us  his  admirers  as  a  set  of  pigmies. 
He  who  has  provoked  the  lash  of  wit,  can- 
not complain  that  he  smarts  from  it. 

Mrs.  Montague,  a  lady  distinguished  for 
having  written  an  Essay  on  Shakspeare, 
being  mentioned — Reynolds.  "  I  think 
that  essay  does  her  honour."  Johnson. 
"  Yes,  sir;  it  does  her  honour,  but  it  would 
do  nobody  else  honour.  I  have,  indeed, 
not  read  it  all.  But  when  I  take  up  the 
end  of  a  web,  and  find  it  packthread,  I  do 
not  expect,  by  looking  further,  to  find  em- 
broidery. Sir,  I  will  venture  to  say,  there 
is  not  one  sentence  of  true  criticism  in  her 
book."  Garrick.  "  But,  Bir,  surely  it 
shows  how  much  Voltaire  has  mistaken 
Shakspeare;  which  nobody  else  has  done." 
Johnson.    "  Sir,  nobody  else  has  thought 

1  [This  is  a  singular  avowal,  which,  had  it  pro- 
ceeded from  Hawkins  or  Mrs.  Piozzi,  Boswell 
would  have  very  justly  censored.  Bat  the  phrase 
which  he  would  have  thus  suppressed,  out  of  re- 
gard to  Sheridan,  happens  to  be  the  most  favour- 
able to  his  character,  and  even  to  his  talents,  of 
the  many  observations  of  Johnson's  which  he  has 
recorded.  See  ante,  p.  176,  relative  to  what  Bos- 
well so  unjust! j  calls  Sheridan's  "  outrageous  at- 
tack" on  Johnson  and  bis  admirers. — Ed.] 


it  worth  while.  And  what  merit  is  there 
in  that?  You  may  as  well  praise  a  school* 
master  for  whipping  a  boy  who  has  construed 
ill.  No,  sir,  there  is  no  real  criticism  in  it; 
none  showing  the  beauty  of  thought,  as  form- 
ed on  the  workings  of  the  human  heart" 
The  admirers  of  this  essay9  may  be  of- 
fended at  the  slighting  manner  in  which 
Johnson  spoke  of  it:  but  let  it  be  remem- 
bered, that  he  gave  his  honest  opinion  un- 
biassed by  any  prejudice,  or  any  proud  jeal- 
ousy of  a  woman  intruding  herself  into  the 
chair  of  criticism;  for  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
has  told  me,  that  when  the  essay  first  came 
out,  and  it  was  not  known  who  had  written 
it,  Johnson  wondered  how  Sir  Joshua  could 
like  it.  At  this  time  Sir  Joshua  himself 
had  received  no  information  concerning  the 
authour,  except  being  assured  by  one  of  our 
most  eminent  literati,  that  it  was  clear  its 
authour  did  not  know  the  Greek  tragedies 
in  the  original.  One  day  at  Sir  Joshua's 
table,  when  it  was  related  that  Mrs.  Mon- 
tague, in  an  excess  of  compliment  to  the 
authour  3  of  a  modern  tragedy,  had  exclaim- 
ed, "  I  tremble  for  Shakspeare/'  Johnson 

said, "  When  Shakspeare  has  got for 

his  rival,  and  Mrs.  Montague  for  his  de- 
fender, he  is  in  a  poor  state  in-  ^^ 
deed."  [Yet  on  another  occa-  p/i$«7 
sion,  when  Mrs.  Montague 
showed  him  some  China  plates  which  had 
once  belonged  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  he  told 
her,  "  that  they  had  no  reason  to  be  asham- 
ed of  their  present  possessor,  who  was  so  lit- 
tle inferior  to  the  first4." 


*  Of  whom  i  acknowledge  myself  to  be  one 
considering  it  as  a  piece  of  the  secondary  or  com- 
parative species  of  criticism;  and  not  of  that  pro- 
found species  which  alone  Dr.  Johnson  would  al- 
low to  be  '*  real  criticism."  It  is,  besides,  clear- 
ly and  elegantly  expressed,  and  has  done  effectually 
what  it  professed  to  do,  namely,  vindicated  Shaks- 
peare from  the  misrepresentations  of  Voltaire; 
and  considering  how  many  young  people  were 
misled  by  his  witty,  though  false  observations, 
Mrs.  Montague's  essay  was  of  service  to  Shaks- 
peare with  a  certain  class  of  readers,  an4  is, 
therefore,  entitled  to  praise.  Johnson,  I  am  as- 
sured, allowed  the  merit  which  1  have  stated, 
saying  (with  reference  to  Voltaire),  "  it  is  con- 
clusive ad  hominem." — Boswell. 

9  [Probably  Mr.  Jephson,  the  authour  of  "  Bra- 
ganza,"  which  appeared,  with  great  and  somewhat 
exaggerated  applause,  in  1775,  to  which  dttc 
this  latter  conversation  most  therefore  be  referred. 
—Ed.] 

4  [It  has  been  supposed,  that  the  coolness  be- 
tween Mrs.  Montague  and  Dr.  Johnson  arose  out 
of  his  treatment  of  Lord  Lvttelton  in  the  Lives 
of  the  Poets;  but  we  see  that  he  began  to  speak 
disrespectfully  of  her  long  before  that  publication; 
and,  indeed,  there  is  hardly  any  point  of  Dr. 
Johnson's  conduct  less  respectable,  than  the  con- 
temptuous way  in  which  he  appears  to  have  some- 
times spoken  of  a  lady,  to  whom  he  continued  to 


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S61 


Jonnson  proceeded : — "  The  Scotchman  * 
has  taken  the  right  method  in  his  'Ele- 
ments of  Criticism. J  I  do  not  mean  that  he 
has  taught  us  any  thing;  hut  he  has  told 
lis  old  Slings  in  a  new  way."  Murphy. 
"He  seems  to  have  read  a  great  deal  of 
French  criticism,  and  wants  to  make  it  his 
own;  as  if  he  had  been  for  years  anatomis- 
ing the  heart  of  man,  and  peeping  into 
every  cranny  of  it."  Goldsmith.  "It  is 
easier  to  write  that  book,  than  to  read  it." 
Johhson.  "  We  have  an  example  of  true 
criticism  in  Burke's '  Essay  on  the  Sublime 
and  Beautiful;'  and  if  I  recollect,  there  is 
also  Du  Bos;  and  Bouhours,  who  shows 
ail  beauty  to  depend  on  truth.  There  is 
no  great  merit  in  telling  how  many  plays 
have  ghosts  in  them,  and  how  this  ghost  is 
better  than  that.  You  must  show  how  ter- 
rour  is  impressed  on  the  human  heart  In 
the  description  of  night  in  Macbeth,  the 
beetle  and  the  bat  detract  from  the  general 
idea  of  darkness, — inspissated  gloom." 

Politicks  being  mentioned,  he  said,  "  This 
petitioning8  is  a  new  mode  of  distressing 
government,  and  a  mighty  easy  one.  I 
will  undertake  to  get  petitions  either  against 
quarter  guineas  or  half  guineas,  with  the 
help  of  a  little  hot  wine.  There  must  be 
no  yielding  to  encourage  this.  The  object 
is  not  important  enough.  We  are  not  to 
blow  up  half  a  dozen  palaces,  because  one 
cottage  is  burning." 

The  conversation  then  took  another  turn. 
Johnson.  "  It  is  amazing  what  ignorance 
of  certain  points  one  sometimes  finds  in  men 
of  eminence.  A  wit  about  town,  who  wrote 
loose  Latin  verses,  asked  me  how  it  hap- 

i  pened  that  England  and  Scotland,  which 
were  once  two  kingdoms,  were  now  one: 
and  Sir  Fletcher  Norton  did  not  seem  to 

|       know  that  there  were  such  publications  as 

j       the  Reviews."    . 

"  The  ballad  of  Hardvkuute  has  no  great 
merit,  if  it  be  really  ancients.  People  talk 
of  nature.  But  mere  obvious  nature  may 
be  exhibited  with  very  little  power  of  mind." 
On  Thursday,  October  19,  I  passed  the 
evening  with  him  at  his  house.  He  advis- 
ed me  to  complete  a  Dictionary  of  words 

address  such  extravagant  compliments  as  that 
quoted  in  the  text,  and  to  write  such  flattering 
letters  as  we  shall  read  in  the  coarse  of  this  work. 
—Ed.] 

1  [Lord  Karnes.  See  ante,  p.  57,  and  179. 
--1-  .] 

9  [A  great  number  of  petitions,  condemnatory 
of  the  proceedings  against  Mr.  Wilkes,  and  in- 
flamed with  all  the  violence  of  party,  were  at 
thai  period  presented  to  the  king. — Ed.] 

'  li  ia  unquestionably  a  modern  fiction.  It  was 
written  by  Sir  John  Brace  of  Kinross,  and  first 
psblahed  at  Edinburgh  in  folio,  1719.  See  "  Per- 
cy's Relics  of  ancient  English  Poetry,"  vol.  ii. 
pp.  96.  111.    Fourth  edition.— Malonk. 


peculiar  to  Scotland,  of  which  I  showed  him 
a  specimen.  "Sir,"  said  he,  "Ray  has 
made  a  collection  of  north-country  words. 
By  collecting  those  of  your  country,  you 
will  do  a  useiul  thing  towards  the  history 
of  the  language."  He  bade  me  also  go  on 
with  collections  which  I  was  making  upon 
the  antiquities  of  Scotland.  "  Make  a  large 
book;  a  folio."  Boswell.  "  But  of  what 
use  will  it  be,  sir?"  Johnson.  "Never 
mind  the  use:  do  it." 

I  complained  that  he  had  not  mentioned 
Garrick  in  his  Preface  to  Shakspeare;  and 
asked  him  if  he  did  not  admire  him.  John- 
son. "  Yes,  as  '  a  poor  player4,  who  frets 
and  struts  his  hour  upon  the  stage; '  as  a 
shadow."  Boswell.  "But  has  he  not 
brought  Shakspeare  into  notice?"  John- 
son. "  Sir,  to  allow  that,  would  be  to 
lampoon  the  sge.  Many  of  Shakspeare's 
plays  are  the  worse  for  being  acted:  Mac- 
beth, for  instance."  Boswell.  "  Whst, 
sir,  is  nothing  gained  by  decoration  and  fic- 
tion ?  Indeed,  I  do  wish  that  you  had  men- 
tioned Garrick."  Johnson.  "My  dear 
sir,  had  I  mentioned  him,  I  must  have 
mentioned  many  more;  Mrs.  Pritchard, 
Mrs.  Gibber, — nay,  and  Mr.  Gibber  too; 
he  too  altered  Shakspeare."  Boswell. 
"  You  have  read  his  apology  5,  sir  ?  "  John- 
son. "  Yes,  it  is  very  entertaining.  But 
as  for  Gibber  himself,  taking  from  his  con- 
versation all  that  he  ought  not  to  have  said, 
he  was  a  poor  creature.  I  remember  when 
he  brought  me  one  of  his  Odes  to  have  my 
opinion  of  it,  I  could  not  bear  such  nonsense, 
and  would  not  let  him  read  it  to  the  end;  so 
little  respect  had  I  for  that  great  man  t 
(laughing.)  Yet  I  remember  Richardson 
wondering  that  I  could  treat  him  with  fa- 
miliarity." 

I  mentioned  to  him  that  I  had  seen  the 
execution  of  several  convicts  at  Tyburn  «, 
two  days  before,  and  that  none  of  them 
seemed  to  be  under  any  concern.  John- 
son. "  Most  of  them,  sir,  have  never 
thraght  at  all."  Boswell.  "  But  is  not 
the  fear  of  death  natural  to  man?  "  John- 
son. "  So  much  so,  sir,  that  the  whole  of 
life  is  but  keeping  sway  the  thoughts  of  it." 
He  then,  in  a  low  and  earnest  tone,  talked 
of  his  meditating  upon  the  awful  hour  of  his 
own  dissolution,  and  in  what  manner  he 
should  conduct  himself  upon  that  occasion : 
— "  I  know  not  (said  he),  whether  I  should 


*  [See  ante,  p.  218.— Ed.] 

*  [The  Memoirs  of  himself  and  of  the  stage, 
which  Gibber  published  under  the  modest  title  of 
an  Apology  tor  his  Life.  See  ante,  p.  181. 
—En.] 

*  [Six  unhappy  men  were  executed  at  Tyburn 
on  Wednesday  the  18th  (one  day  before).  It 
was  one  of  the  irregularities  of  Mr.  Boswell'a 
mind  to  be  passionately  fond  of  seeing  these  mel- 
ancholy spectacles. — En.] 


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im— £TAT.  eo. 


wish  to  have  a  friend  bv  me,  or  have  it  all 
between  God  and  myself." 

Talking  of  our  feeling  for  the  distresses 
of  others:  Johnsok.  "  Why,  sir,  there  is 
much  noise  made  about  it,  but  it  is  greatly 
exaggerated.  No,  sir,  we  have  a  certain 
degree  of  feeling  to  prompt  us  to  do  good; 
more  than  that,  Providence  does  not  intend. 
It  would  be  misery  to  no  purpose."  Bos- 
well.  "  But  suppose  now,  sir,  that  one 
of  your  intimate  friends  were  apprehended 
for  an  offence  for  which  he  might  be  hang- 
ed." Johnbok.  "I  should  do  what  I 
could  to  bail  him,  and  give  him  any  other 
assistance;  but  if  he  were  once  fairly 
hanged,  I  should  not  suffer."  Boswell. 
"Would  you  eat  your  dinner  that  day,  sir? " 
Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir,  and  eat  it  as  if  he 
were  eating  with  me.  Why,  there's  Ba- 
retti,  who  is  to  be  tried  for  his  life  to-mor- 
row; friends  have  risen  up  for  him  on  every 
side,  yet  if  he  should  be  hanged,  none  of 
them  will  eat  a  slice  of  plum-pudding  the 
less.  Sir,  that  sympathetick  feeling  roes  a 
very  little  way  in  depressing  the  mind." 

I  told  him  that  I  had  dined  lately  at 
Foote's,  who  showed  me  a  letter  which  he 
had  received  from  Tom  Davies,  telling  him 
that  he  had  not  been  able  to  sleep,  from  the 
concern  he  felt  on  account  of  "  This  sad 
affair  ofBaretti,"  begtring  of  him  to  try  if 
he  could  suggest  any  thing  that  might  be 
of  service  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  recom- 
mending to  him  an  industrious  young  man 
who  kept  a  pickle-shop.  Johnson.  "  Ay, 
sir,  here  you  have  a  specimen  of  human 
sympathy — a  friend  hanged,  and  a  cucum- 
ber pickled.  We  know  not  whether  Baret- 
ti  or  the  pickleman  has  kept  Davies  from 
sleep:  nor  does  he  know  himself1.  And  as 
to  his  not  sleeping,  sir:  Tom  Davies  is  a 
very  great  man;  Tom  has  been  upon  the 
stage,  and  knows  how  to  do  those  things: 
I  have  not  been  upon  the  stage,  and  can- 
not do  those  things."  Bos  well.  "  I  have 
often  blamed  myself,  sir,  for  not  feeling  for 
others,  as  sensibjy  as  many  say  they  do." 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  don't  be  duped  by  them 
any  more.  You  will  find  these  very  feeling 
people  are  not  very  ready  to  do  you  good. 
They  pay  you  by  feeling." 

[Though  Dr.  Johnson  possessed 
the  strongest  compassion  for  pover- 
ty or  illness,  he  did  not  even  pretend 
to  feel  for  those  who  lamented  the 
loss  of  a  child,  a  parent,  or  a  friend. 


PIORi, 

p.  66, 
47.  118. 
136. 


1  [It  would  seem  that  Davies's  anxiety  was 
more  sincere  than  Johnson  would  represent  He 
■ays,  in  a  letter  to  Granger,  "I  have  been  so 
taken  up  with  a  very  unlucky  accident  that  be- 
fel  an  intimate  friend,  of  mine,  that  for  this  last 
fortnight  1  have  been  able  to  attend  to  no  business, 
though  ever  so  urgent." — Granger's  Letters,  p. 
28.— Ed.] 


"  These  are  the  distresses  of  sentiment," 
he  would  reply,  "  which  a  man  who  is  real- 
ly to  be  pitied  has  no  leisure  to  feel.    The 
sight  of  people  who  want  food  and  raiment 
is  so  common  in  great  oities,  that  a  surly 
fellow  like  me  has  no  compassion  to  spare 
for  wounds  given  only  to  vanity  or  soft*- 
ness."     Canter  indeed  was  he  none:   he 
would  forget  to  ask  people  after  the  health 
of  their  nearest  relations,  and  say  in  excuse, 
"That  he  knew  they  did  not  care:  why 
should  they?"  said  he,  "everyone  in  this 
world  has  as  much  as  they  can  do  in  car- 
ing for  themselves,  and  few  have  leisure 
really  to  think  of  their  neighbours'  distress- 
es, however  they  may  delight  their  tongues 
with  talking  of  them."    Lady  Tavistock  », 
who  grieved  herself  to  death  for  the  loss  of 
her  husband,  was  talked  of.    "  She  was 
rich  and  wanted  employment,"  said  John- 
son, "  so  she  cried  till  she  lost  all  power  of 
restraining  her  tears:    other  women  are 
forced  to  outlive  their  husbands,  who  were 
just  as  much  beloved,  depend  on  it;  but 
they  have  no  time  for  grief:  and  I  doubt 
not,  if  we  had  put  my  Lady  Tavistock  into 
a  small  chandler's  shop,  and  given  her  a 
nurse-child  to  tend,  her  life  would   have 
been  saved.     The  poor  and  the  busy  have 
no  leisure  for  sentimental  sorrow."    Mrs. 
Thrale  mentioned  an  event,  which,  if  it  had 
happened,  would  greatly  have  injured  her 
husband  and  his  family — "  and  then,  dear 
sfr,"  said  she,  "  how  sorry  you  would  have 
been! "    "  I  hope,"  replied  hej after  a  long 
pause,  "  I  should  have  been  very  • 
sorry; — but  remember   Rochefou-      **£** 
cau It's  maxim,"  An  acquaintance  3      &/* 
lost  the  almost  certain  hope  of  a 
good  estate  that  had  been  long  ^expected. 
"  Such  a  one  will  grieve,"  said  Mrs.  Thrale, 
"at  her  friend's  disappointment"    "She 
will  suffer  as  much,  perhaps,"  said  he,  "  as 
your  horse  did  when  your  cow  miscarried." 
When  Mrs.  Thrale  professed  herself  sin- 
cerely grieved  that  accumulated  distresses 
had  crushed  Sir  George  Colebrook's  *  fami- 
ly,— "  Your   own    prosperity,"    said    he, 
"may  possibly  have  so  far  increased  the 
natural  tenderness  of  your  heart,  that  for 
aught  I  know  you  may  be  a  little  sorry; 

*  [Lady  Elizabeth  Keppel,  fifth  daughter  of 
the  second  Earl  of  Albemarle,  married,  in  1764, 
to  Francis,  eldest  son  of  the  fourth  Duke  of  Bed- 
ford. He  was  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  hone, 
March,  1767.  His  lady  did  not  die  till  October, 
1768.  They  were  the  parents  of  the  late  and 
present  Dukes  of  Bedford. — Ed.] 

3  [Probably  Mrs.  Thrale  herself.— Ed.] 

4  [The  banking-house  of  Sir  George  Colebrook, 
Leasingham  and  Binns,  stopped  payment  in 
March,  1773.  It  will  be  seen  hereafter,  (28m 
October,  1775),  that  Sir  George  retired  for  a 
time  to  France,  where  he  lived  in  a  style  not  en- 
titled to  much  pity. — Ed.] 


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but  it  is  sufficient  for  a  plain  man  if  he  does 
not  laugh  when  he  sees  a  fine  new  house 
tumble  down  all  on  a  sudden,  and  a  snug 
cottage  stand  by  ready  to  receive  the  own- 
er, whose  birth  entitled  him  to  nothing  bet- 
ter, and  whose  limbs  are  left  him  to  go  to 
work  again  with." 

Nothing  indeed  more  surely  disgusted 
Dr.  Johnson  than  hynerbole:  he  loved  not 
to  be  told  of  sallies  or  excellence,  which  he 
said  were  seldom  valuable,  and  seldom  true. 
"Heroic  virtues,"  said  he,  "are  the  bon 
mots  of  life;  they  do  not  appear  often,  and 
when  they  do  appear  are  too  much  prized, 
I  think;  like  the  aloe-tree,  which  shoots 
and  flowers  once  in  a  hundred  years.  But 
life  is  made  up  of  little  things;  and  that 
character  is  the  best  which  does  little  but 
repeated  acts  of  beneficence :  as  that  con- 
versation is  the  best  which  consists  in  ele- 
gant and  pleasing  thoughts  expressed  in 
natural  and  pleasing  terms.  With  regard 
to  my  own  notions  of  moral  virtue,"  con- 
tinued he,  "  I  hope  I  have  not  lost  my  sen- 
sibility of  wrong;  but  I  hope  likewise  that 
I  have  lived  long  enough  in  the  world,  to 
prevent  me  from  expecting  to  find  any  ac- 
tion of  which  both  the  original  motive  and 
all  the  parts  were  good." 

Dr.  Johnson  had  been  a  great  reader  of 
Mandeville,  and  was  ever  on  the  watch  to 
spy  out  those  stains  of  original  corruption, 
so  easily  discovered  by  a  penetrating  ob- 
server even  in  the  purest  minds.  The  nat- 
ural depravity  of  mankind  and  the  remains 
of  original  sin  was  so  fixed  in  his  opinion, 
that  he  was  a  most  acute  observer  of  their 
effects;  and  used  to  say  sometimes,  half  in 
jest,  half  in  earnest,  that  his  observations 
were  the  remains  of  his  old  tutor  Mande- 
ville's  instructions.  No  man,  therefore, 
who  smarted  from  the  ingratitude  of  his 
friends,  found  any  sympathy  from  our  phi- 
losopher:  "  Let  him  do  good  on  higher  mo- 
tives next  time,"  would  be  the  answer; 
"  he  will  then  be  sure  of  his  reward."  As 
a  book,  however,  he  took  care  always  loud- 
ly to  condemn  the  Fable  of  the  Bees,  but 
not  without  adding,  "  that  it  was  the  work 
of  a  thinking  man."] 

Boswbll.  "  Foote  has  a  great  deal  of 
humour."  Johnson.  "Yes,  sir."  Bos- 
wbll. "He  has  a  singular  talent  of  ex- 
hibiting character,"  Johnson.  "Sir,itisnota 
talent;  it  is  a  vice;  it  is  what  others  abstain 
from.  It  is  not  comedy*  which  exhibits  the 
character  of  a  species,  as  that  of  a  miser  gath- 
ered from  many  misers;  it  is  farce  which  ex- 
hibits individuals."  Boswbll.  "Did  not  he- 
think  of  exhibiting  you,  sir?"  Johnson. 
"  Sir,  fear  restrained  him:  he  knew  I  would 
have  broken  his  bones.  I  would  have  saved 
him  the  trouble  of  cutting  off  a  legj  I  would 
not  have  left  him  a  leg  to  cut  6ff."  Bos- 
wbll.    "  Pray,  sir,  is  not  Foote  an  infi- 


del?" Johnson.  "I  do  not  know,  sir, 
that  the  fellow  is  an  infidel;  but  if  he  be  an 
infidel,  he  is  an  infidel  as  a  dog  is  an  infidel; 
that  is  to  say,  he  has  never  thought  upon, 
the  subject1."  Boswbll.  "  I  suppose,  sir, 
he  has  thought  superficially,  and  seized  the 
first  notions  which  occurred  to  his  mind." 
Johnson.  "  Why  then,  sir,  still  he  is  like 
a  dog,  that  snatches  the  piece  next  him. 
Did  you  never  observe  that  dogs  have 
not  the  power  of  comparing?  A  doc  will 
take  a  small  bit  of  meat  as  readily  as  a  large, 
when  both  are  before  him." 

"Buchanan,"  he  observed,  "has  fewer 
centos  than  any  modern  Latin  poet.  He 
has  not  only  had  great  knowledge  of  the 
Latin  language,  but  was  a  great  poetical 
genius2.    Botruthe  Scaligers  praise  him." 

He  agrain  talked  of  the  passage  in  Con- 
greve  with  high  commendation,  and  said, 
"  Shakspeare  never  has  six  lines  together 
without  a  fault3.  Perhaps  you  may  find 
seven :  but  this  does  not  refute  my  general 
assertion.  If  I  come  to  an  orchard,  and  say 
there's  no  fruit  here,  and  then  comes  a  por- 
ing man  who  finds  two  apples  and  three 
rears,  and  tells  me, '  Sir,  you  are  mistaken, 
have  found  both  apples  and  pears,'  I  should 
laugh  at  him :  what  would  that  be  to  the 
purpose?" 

Boswbll.  "  What  do  you  think  of  Dr. 
Young's  Night  Thoughts,  sir?"  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  there  are  very  fine  things  in 
them."  Boswbll.  "  Is  there  not  less  re- 
ligion in  the  nation  now,  sir,  than  there 
was  formerly?"  Johnson.  "  I  don't  know, 
sir,  that  there  is."  Boswbll.  "  For  in- 
stance, there  used  to  be  a  chaplain  in  every 
great  family,  which  we  do  not  find  now." 


1  [When  Mr.  Foote  was  at  Edinburgh,  he  thought 
fit  to  entertain  a  numerous  Scotch  company  with 
a  great  deal  of  coarse  jocularity,  at  the  expense  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  imagining  it  would  be  acceptable. 
I  felt  this  as  not  civil  to  me;  but  sat  very  pa- 
tiently till  he  had  exhausted  his  merriment  on 
that  subject;  and  then  observed,  that  surely  John- 
son must  be  allowed  to  have  some  sterling  wit, 
and  that  I  had  heard  him  say  a  very  good  thins 
of  Mr.  Foote  himself.  "  Ah,  my  old  friend  Sam,'* 
cried  Foote,  '<  no  man  says  better  things:  do  let 
us  have  it."  Upon  which  I  told  the  above  story, 
which  produced  a  very  loud  laugh  from  the  com- 
pany. But  I  never  saw  Foote  so  disconcerted. 
He  looked  grave  and  angry,  and  entered  into  a 
serious  refutation  of  the  justice  of  the  remark. 
"  What,  sir,"  said  he,  "talk  thus  of  a  man  of 
libera]  education: — a  man  who  for  yean  was  at 
the  University  of  Oxford: — a  man  who  has  ad- 
ded sixteen  new  characters  to  the  English  drama 
of  his  country!" — Boswell. 

*  [See  ante,  p.  204,  and  post,  sub  80th  March, 
1788.— Ed.] 

•  [What  strange  "  laxity  of  talk"  this  is  from 
the  author  of  the  "Preface  to  Shakspeare  ?"  See 
ante,  p.  259.— Ed.]  s 


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Johnson.  "  Neither  do  you  find  any  of 
the  state  servants  which  great  families  used 
formerly  to  have.  There  is  a  change  of 
modes  in  the  whole  department  of  life." 

Next  day,  October  20,  he  appeared,  for 
the  only  time  I  suppose  in  his  life,  as  a  wit- 
ness in  a  court  of  justice,  being  called  to 
give  evidence  to  the  character  of  Mr.  Ba- 
retti  who,  having  stabbed  a  man  in  the  street, 
was  arraigned  at  tfce  Old  Bailey  for  mur- 
der1. Never  did  such  a  constellation  of 
genius  enlighten  the  awful  sessions-house, 
emphatically  called  Justice-hall;  Mr.  Burke, 
Mr.  Garrick,  Mr.  Beauclerk,  and  Dr.  John- 
son: and  undoubtedly  their  favourable  tes- 
timony had  due  weight  with  the  court  and 
jury.  Johnson  gave  his  evidence  in  a  slow, 
deliberate,  and  distinct  maimer,  which  was 
uncommonly  impressive. 
Ed.  [Whatever  the  manner  m ay  have 

been,  the  substance  olTthe  evidence, 
as  will  appear  by  the  following  report  of  it, 
was  not  very  important: 

"  Dr.  J. — I  believe  I  began  to  be 
gent.  acquainted  with  Mr.  Baretti  about 
▼<Sf'«,  the  year  1753  or  54.  I  have  been 
p.  too.'  intimate  with  him.  He  is  a  man  of 
literature,  a  very  studious  man,  a 
man  of  great  diligence.  He  gets  his  liv- 
ing by  study.  I  have  no  reason  to  think 
he  was  ever  disordered  with  liquor  in 
his  life.  A  man  that  I  never  knew  to  be 
otherwise  than  peaceable,  and  a  man  that 
I  take  to  be  rather  timorous. 

"  Q. — Was  he  addicted  to  pick  up  women 
in  the  streets  ? 

"  Dr.  J. — I  never  knew  that  he  was. 

"  Q. — How  is  he  as  to  eyesight? 

"  Dr.  J. — He  does  not  see  me  now,  nor 
do  I  see  him.  I  do  not  believe  he  could  be 
capable  of  assaulting  any  body  in  the  street, 
without  great  provocation."] 

It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Baretti  was 
acquitted. 

On  the  26th  of  October,  we  dined  togeth- 
er at  the  Mitre  tavern.  I  found  fault  with 
Foote  for  indulging  his  talent  of  ridicule  at 
the  expense  of  his  visitors,  which  I  collo- 
quially termed  making  fools  of  his  com- 
pany. Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  when  you 
go  to  see  Foote,  you  do  not  go  to  see  a 
saint:  you  go  to  see  a  man  who  will  be  en- 
tertaifted  at  your  house,  and  then  bring  you 
on  a  public  stage;  who  will  entertain  you  at 
his  house,  for  the  very  purpose  of  bringing 
you  on  a  publick  stage.  Sir,  he  does  not 
make  fools  of  his  company;  they  whom  he 
exposes  are  fools  already:  he  only  brings 
them  into  action." 

Talking  of  trade,  he  observed,  "  It  is  a 
mistaken  notion  that  a  vast  deal  of  money 


|  [It  is  odd  enough,  that  two  of  Johnson's 
intimate  associates,  Savage  and  Baretti,  should 
have  been  both  tried  for  murder,  committed  in 
midnight  broils. — En.] 


is  brought  into  a  nation  fry  trade.  It  is  not 
so.  Commodities  come  from  commodities: 
but  trade  produces  no  capital  accession  of 
wealth.  However,  though  there  should  be 
little  profit  in  money,  there  is  a  considera- 
ble profit  in  pleasure,  as  it  gives  to  one  na- 
tion the  productions  of  another*  as  we  have 
wines  ana  fruits,  and  many  other  foreign 
articles  brought  to  us."  Bobwrll.  "  Yes, 
sir,  and  there  is  a  profit  in  pleasure,  by  its 
furnishing  occupation  to  such  numbers  of 
mankind."  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  you  can- 
not call  that  pleasure  to  which  all  are  averse, 
and  which  none  begin  but  with  the  hope  of 
leaving  ofT;  a  thing  which  men  dislike  be- 
fore they  have  tried  it,  and  when  they 
have  tried  it."  Boswell.  "  But,  sir, 
the  mind  must  be  employed,  and  we  grow 
weary  when  idle."  Johnson.  "  That  is, 
sir,  because  others  being  busy,  we  want 
company;  but  if  we  were  all  idle,  there 
would  be  no  growing  weary;  we  should  all 
entertain  one  another.  There  is,  indeed, 
this  in  trade: — it  gives  men  an  oppor- 
tunity of  improving  their  situation.  If 
there  were  no  trade,  many  who  are  poor 
would  always  remain  poor.  But  no  man 
loves  labour  for  itself."  Boswell.  "  Yes, 
sir,  I  know  a  person  who  does.  He  is  a 
very  laborious  judge,  and  he  loves  the  la- 
bour." Joknson.  "  Sir,  that  is  because 
he  loves  respect  and  distinction.  Could  he 
have  them  without  labour,  he  would  like  it 
less."  Boswell.  "  He  tells  me  he  likes  i* 
for  itself." — "  Why,  sir,  he  fancies  so,  be- 
cause he  is  not  accustomed  to  abstract" 

We  went  home  to  his  house  to  tea.  Mrs. 
Williams  made  it  with  sufficient  dexter- 
ity, notwithstanding  her  blindness,  though 
her  manner  of  satisfying  herself  that  the 
cups  were  full  enough  appeared  to  me  a  lit- 
tle awkward;  for  I  fancied  she  put  her  fin- 
ger down  a  certain  way,  till  she  felt  the  tea 
touch  it 9.  In  my  first  elation  at  being  al- 
lowed the  privilege  of  attending  Dr.  John- 
son at  his  late  visits  to  this  lady,  which  was 
like  being  t  secretioribus  constlii$y  I  wil- 
lingly drank  cup  after  cup,  as  if  it  had  been 
the  Heliconian  spring.  But  as  the  charm 
of  novelty  went  off,  f  grew  more  fastidious; 
and  besides,  I  discovered  that  she  was  of  a 
peevish  temper. 

There  was  a  pretty  large  circle  this  even- 
ing. Dr.  Johnson  was  in  very  good  hu* 
mour,  lively,  and  ready  to  talk  upon  all  sub- 
jects. Mr.  Fergusson,  the  self-taught  phi- 
losopher, told  him  of  a  new  invented  ma- 
chine which .  went  without  horses:  a  man 


*  I  have  since  had  reason  to  think  that  I  was 
mistaken;  for  I  have  been  informed  by  a  lsdy, 
who  was  long  intimate  with  her,  and  likely  to  be 
a  more  accurate  observer  of  such  matters,  th«V 
she  had  acquired  such  a  niceness  of  touch,  as  to 
know  by  the  feeling  on  the  outside  of  the  cup,  how 
near  U  was  to  being  full — Boswell. 


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who  sat  in  it  toned  a  handle,  which  work- 
ed a  spring  that  drove  it  forward.  "  Then, 
ah","  said  Johnson,  "  what  is  gained  is, 
the  man  has  his  choice  whether  he  will  move 
himself  alone,  or  himself  and  the  machine 
too."  Dominicetti1  being  mentioned,  he 
would  not  allow  him  any  merit  <r  There  is 
nothing  in  all  this  boasted  system.  No,  sir; 
medicated  baths  can  be  no  better  than 
warm  water:  their  only  effect  can  be  that 
of  tepid  moisture."  One  of  the  company 
took  the  other  aide,  maintaining  that  medi- 
cines of  various  sorts,  and  some  too  of 
most  powerful  effect,  are  introduced  into 
the  human  frame  by  the  medium  of  the 
pores;  and,  therefore,  when  warm  water  is 
impregnated  with  salutiferous  substances, 
it  may  produce  great  effects  as  a  bath. 
This  appeared  to  me  very  satisfactory. 
Johnson  did  not  answer  it;  but  talking  for 
victory,  and  determined  to  be  master  of  the 
field,  he  had  recourse  to  the  device  which 
Goldsmith  imputed  to  him  in  the  witty 
words  of  one  of  Gibber's  comedies : 
"  There  is  no  arguing  with  Johnson;  for 
when  his  pistol  misses  fire,  he  knocks  you 
down  with  the  but-end  of  it."  He  turned 
to  the  gentleman  9,  "  Well,  sir,  go  to  Domi- 
nicetti, and  get  thyself  fumigated:  but  be 
sure  that  the  steam  be  directed  to  tny  head, 
for  that  is  the  peccant  part."  This  pro- 
duced a  triumphant  roar  of  laughter  from 
the  motley  assembly  of  philosophers,  print- 
ers, and  dependents,  male  and  female. 

I  know  not  how  so  whimsical  a  thought 
came  into  my  mind,  but  I  asked,  "  If,  sir, 
yon  were  shut  up  in  a  castle,  and  a  new- 
born child  with  you,  what  would  you  do?  " 
Jos* soir.  "  Why,  sir,  I  should  not  much 
like  my  company."  Bos  well.  "But 
would  you  take  the  trouble  of  rearing  it?  " 
He  seemed,  as  may  well  be  supposed,  un- 
willing to  pursue  the  subject :  but  upon  my 
persevering  in  my  question,  replied,  "  Why 
yea,  air,  I  would;  but  I  must  have  all  con- 
veniences. If  I  had  no  garden,  I  would 
make  a  shed  on  the  roof,  and  take  it  there 
for  fresh  air.  I  should  feed  it,  and  wash  it 
much,  and  with  warm  water  to  please  it, 
not  with  cold  water  to  give  it  pain."    Bos- 

1  [Dommieetti  was  an  Italian  quack,  who  made 
a  considerable  noise  about  this  time,  by  the  aw 
of  medicated  baths.  He  seems  to  have  been  le- 
esived  into  fashionable  society,  for  we  find  that 
be  and  hjs  wife  were  much  noticed  at  the  celebra- 
ted masquerade,  gfren  by  the  King  of  Denmark, 
at  <*e  Opera  hones,  on  the  10th  Oct  1768.  Jinn. 
Meg.  and  Chnt.  Mag^-En.] 

*  fThis  "  gentleman"  was  probably  Mr.  Bos- 
weH  himself;  who,  though  he  generally  is  candid 


enough,  has  occasionally  conceal*  bis  own  name, 
and  particularly  where  there  was  no  one  else  pres- 
to* likely  to  repeat  the  story.  This  was  observed 
by  the  common  friends  of  Johnson  and  Boswell 
on  the  mat  publication  of  this  work.— En.  ] 

vol*  I.  S4 


well.  " But, sir, does  not  heat  relax?" 
Johnson.  "Sir,  you  are  not  to  imagine 
the  water  is  to  be  very  hot.  I  would  not 
coddle  the  child.  No,  sir,  the  hardy  meth- 
od of  treating  children  does  no  good.  I'll 
take  you  five  children  from  London,  who 
shall  cuff  five  Highland  children.  Sir,  a 
man  bred  in  London  will  carry  a  burthen, 
or  run,  or  wrestle,  as  well  as  a  man  brought 
up  in  the  hardest  manner  in  the  country." 
Boswbll.  "  Good  living,  1 8Qppose,make8 
the  Londoner  strong."  Johnson.  "Why, 
sir,  I  don't  know  that  it  does.  Our  chair- 
men from  Ireland,  who  are  as  strong  men  as 
any,  have  been  brought  up  upon  potatoes. 
Quantitymakesup  for  quality."  Boswell. 
"  Would  you  teach  this  child  that  I  have 
furnished  you  with,  any  thing? "  Johnson. 
"  No,  I  should  not  be  apt  to  teach  it." 
Boswell.  "  Would  you  not  have  a  plea- 
sure in  teaching  it? "  Johnson.  "  No,  sir, 
I  should  not  have  pleasure  in  teaching  it." 
Boswell.  "  Have  you  not  a  pleasure  in 
teaching  men?  There  I  have  you.  You 
have  the  same  pleasure  in  teaching  men, 
that  I  should  have  in  teaching  children." 
Johnson.  "  Why,  something  about  that" 
Boswell.  "Do  you  think,  sir,  that 
what  ib  called  natural  affection  is  born  with 
us  ?  It  seems  to  me  to  be  the  effect  of  habit, 
or  of  gratitude  for  kindness.  No  child  has  it 
for  a  parent  whom  it  has  not  seen."  John- 
son. "  Why,  sir,  I  think  there  is  an  in- 
stinctive natural  affection  in  parents  towards 
their  children." 

Russia  being  mentioned  as  likely  to  he- 
come  a  great  empire,  by  the  rapid  increase 
of  population: — Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  I 
see  no  prospect  of  their  propagating  more. 
They  can  hate  no  more  children  than  they 
can  get.  I  know  of  no  way  to  make  them 
breed  more  than  they  do.  It  is  not  from 
reason  and  prudence  that  people  marrv,  but 
from  inclination.  A  man  is  poor:  he  thinks, 
'  I  cannot  be  worse,  and  so  I  '11  e'en  take 
Peggy.'  "  Boswell.  "  But  have  not  na- 
tions been  more  populous  at  one  period  than 
another?"  Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir;  but  that 
has  been  owing  to  the  people  being  less 
thinned  at  one  period  than  another,  wheth- 
er by  emigrations,  war,  or  pestilence,  not 
by  their  being  more  or  less  prolifick.  Births 
at  all  times  bear  the  same  proportion  to  the 
same  number  of  people."  Boswell.  "But, 
to  consider  the  state  of  our  own  country: 
does  not  throwing  a  number  of  farms  into 
one  hand  hurt  population?"  Johnson. 
"  Why  no,  sir:  the  same  quantity  of  food 
being  produced,  will  be  consumed  by  the 
same  number  of  mouths,  though  the  people 
may  be  disposed  of  in  different  ways.  We 
see,  if  corn  be  dear,  and  butchers'  meat 
cheap,  the  farmers  all  apply  themselves  to  the 
raising  of  corn,  till  it  becomes  plentiful  and 
cheap,  and  then  butchers'  meat  becomes 


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dear;  so  that  an  equality  is  always  preserved. 
No,  sir,  let  fanciful  men  do  as  they  will,  de- 
pend upon  it,  it  is  difficult  to  disturb  the  sys- 
tem of  life."  Boswell.  "  But,  sir,  is  it  not 
a  very  bad  thing  for  landlords  to  oppress 
their  tenants,  by  raising-  their  rents  ?"  Johw- 
soir.  "  Very  bad.  But,  sir,  it  never  can 
have  any  general  influence:  it  may  distress 
some  individuals.  For,  consider  this :  land- 
lords cannot  do  without  tenants.  Now 
tenants  will  not  give  more  for  land,  than 
land  is  worth.  If  they  can  make  more  of 
their  money  by  keeping  a  shop,  or  any  oth- 
er way,  they  'II  do  it,  and  so  oblige  landlords 
to  let  land  come  back  to  a  reasonable  rent, 
in  order  that  they  may  get  tenants.  Land, 
in  England,  is  an  article  of  commerce.  ^  A 
tenant  who  pays  his  landlord  his  rent,  thinks 
himself  no  more  obliged  to  him  than  you 
think  yourself  obliged  to  a  man  in  whose 
shop  you  buy  a  piece  of  goods.  He  knows 
the  landlord  does  not  let  him  have  his  land 
for  less  than  he  can  get  from  others,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  shopkeeper  sells  his 

foods.  No  shopkeeper  sells  a  yard  of  ri- 
and  for  sixpence  when  sevenpence  is  the 
current  price."  Boswell.  "  But,  sir,  is 
it  not  better  that  tenants  should  be  depen- 
dent on  landlords?"  Johnson.  "Why, sir, 
as  there  are  many  more  tenants  than  land- 
lords, perhaps,  strictly  speaking,  we  should 
wish  not.  But  if  you  please  you  may  let 
your  lands  cheap,  and  so  get  the  value,  part 
in  money  and  part  in  homage.  I  should 
agree  with  you  in  that."  Boswell.  "  So, 
sir,  you  laugh  at  schemes  of  political  im- 
provements." Johnson.  "  Wny,  sir,  most 
schemes  of  political  improvement  are  very 
laughable  things." 

He  observed,  "  Providence*  has  wisely  or- 
dered that  the  more  numerous  men  are,  the 
more  difficult  it  is  for  them  to  agree  in  any 
thing,  and  so  they  are  governed.  There  is 
no  doubt,  that  if  the  poor  should  reason, 
*  We'll  be  the  poor  no  longer,  we'll  make  the 
rich  take  their  turn,'  they  could  easily  do  it, 
were  it  not  that  they  can't  agree.  So  the 
common  soldiers,  though  so  much  more 
numerous  than  their  officers,  are  governed 
by  them  for  the  same  reason." 

He  said,  "Mankind  have  a  strong  at- 
tachment to  the  habitations  to  which  they 
have  been  accustomed.  You  see  the  in- 
habitants of  Norway  do  not  with  one  con- 
sent quit  it,  and  go  to  some  part  of  America, 
where  there  is  a  mild  climate,  and  where 
they  may  have  the  same  produce  from  land, 
with  the  tenth  part  of  the  labour.  No,  sir: 
their  affection  for  their  old  dwellings,  ana 
the  terrour  of  a  general  change,  keep  them 
at  home.  Thus,  we  see  many  of  the  finest 
spots  in  the  world  thinly  inhabited,  and  ma- 
ny rugged  spots  well  inhabited." 

"The  London  Chronicle,"  which  was 
the  only  newspaper  he  constantly  took  in, 
being  brought,  the  office  of  reading  it  aloud 


was  assigned  to  me.  I  was  diverted  by 
his  impatience.  He  made  me  pass  over  ao 
many  parts  of  it,  that  my  task  was  very 
easy.  He  would  not  suffer  one  of  the  pe- 
titions to  the  king  about  the  Middlesex 
election  to  be  read. 

I  had  hired  a  Bohemian  as  my  servant 
while  I  remained  in  London,  and  being  much 
pleased  with  him,  I  asked  Dr.  Johnson 
whether  his  being;  a  Roman  Cathotick  should 

{>revent  my  taking  him  with  me  to  Scot- 
and.  Johnson.  "  Why  no,  sir.  If  he 
has  no  objection,  you  can  have  none." 
Boswell.  "  So,  sir,  you  are  no  great  en- 
emy to  the  Roman  Cathotick  religion.99 
Johnson.  "No  more,  sir,  than  to  the 
Presbyterian  religion."  Boswell.  "  Yon 
are  joking."  Johnson.  "  No,  sir,  I  real- 
ly think  so.  Nay,  sir,  of  the  two,  I  prefer 
the  popish  1."  Boswell.  "How  so, 
sir?"  Johnson.  "  Why,  air,  the  Presby- 
terians have  no  church,  no  apostolical  or- 
dination." Boswell.  "  And  do  you  think 
that  absolutely  essential,  sir?"  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  as  it  was  an  apostolical  institu- 
tion, I  think  it  is  dangerous  to  be  without 
it  And ,  sir,  the  Presbyterians  have  no  pub- 
lick  worship:  they  have  no  form  of  prayer 
in  which  they  know  they  are  to  join.  They 
go  to  hear  a  man  pray,  and  are  to  judge 
whether  they  will  join  with  him."  Bos- 
well. "  But,  sir,  their  doctrine  is  the 
same  with  that  of  the  church  of  England. 
Their  confession  of  faith,  and  the  thirty- 
nine  articles,  contain  the  same  points,  even 
the  doctrine  of  predestination."  Johnson. 
"  Why,  yes,  sir;  predestination  was  a  pert 
of  the  clamour  of  the  times,  so  it  is  men- 
tioned in  our  articles,  but  with  as  little  poa- 
itiveness  as  could  be."  Boswell.  - "  Is  it 
necessary,  sir,  to  believe  all  the  thirty-nine 
articles?"  Johnson.  "  Why,  si?,  that  is 
a  question  which  has  been  much  agitated. 
Some  have  thought  it  necessary  that  they 
should  all  be  believed;  others  have  consid- 
ered them  to  be  only  articles  of  peace  »,  that 
is  to  say,  you  are  not  to  preach  against  them." 


»  [See  ante,  p.  97.— Ed.1 

*  [Dr.  Simon  Patrick  (afterwards  Bishop  of 
Ely,)  uras  expresses  himself  on  this  subject,  in  a 
letter  to  the  learned  Dr.  John  Mapletott,  dated 
Feb.  8, 1682—8:  "  I  always  took  the  aitades  to 
be  only  articlea  of  communion;  and  so  Bishop 
BramhaQ  expressly  maintains  against  the  Bishop 
of  Chalcedon;  and  I  remember  well,  that  Bishop 
Sanderson,  when  the  king  was  first  restored,  re- 
ceived the  subscription  of  an  acquaintance  of  nana, 
which  he  declared  was  not  to  them  as  articles  of 
faith,  but  peace,  I  think  you  need  make  no 
scrapie  of  the  matter,  because  ail  that  I  know  so 
understand  theTneaning  of  subscription,  and  upon 
other  terms  would  not  subscribe." — The  above 
was  printed  some  years  ago  in  the  **  European 
Magazine,"  from  the  original,  now  in  the  ' 
of  Mr.  Mapletoft,  surgeon  at  Chertsay,  , 
to  Dr.  John  Mapletoft— Malone. 


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Boswcli*.  "It  appears  to  me,  sir,  that 
predestination,  or  what  is  equivalent  to  it, 
cannot  be  avoided,  if  we  hold  an  universal 
prescience  in  the  Deity."  Johnson.  "Why, 
air,  does  not  God  every  day  see  things  go- 
ing on  without  preventing  them?"  Bos- 
well.  "  True,  sir,  but  ifa  thing  be  cer- 
tainly  foreseen,  it  must  be  fixed,  and  can- 
not happen  otherwise;  and  if  we  apoly  this 
consideration  to  the  human  mind,  there  is 
no  free-will,  nor  do  I  see  how  prayer  can  be 
4>f  any  avail."  He  mentioned  Dr.  Clarke, 
and  Bishop  Bramhall  on  Liberty  and  Ne- 
cessity, and  bid  me  read  South's  Sermons 
on  Prayer;  but  avoided  the  question  which 
has  excruciated  philosophers  and  divines, 
beyond  any  other.  I  did  not  press  it  further, 
when  I  perceived  that  he  was  displeased, 
and  shrunk  from  any  abridgment  or  an  at- 
tribute usually  ascribed  to  the  Divinity, 
however  irreconcileable  in  its  full  extent 
with  the  grand  system  of  moral  govern- 
ment. His  supposed  orthodoxy  here  cramp- 
ed the  vigorous  powers  of  his  understand- 
ing. He  was  confined  by  a  chain  which 
early  imagination  and  long  habit  made  him 
think  massy  and  strong,  but  which,  had  he 
ventured  to  try,  he  could  at  once  have 
snapt  asunder. 

I  proceeded: — "  What  do  you  think,  sir, 
of  Purjratory,  as  believed  by  the  Roman 
Cathohcks?"  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  it  is 
a  very  harmless  doctrine.  They  are  of 
opinion  that  the  generality  of  mankind  are 
neither  so  obstinately  wicked  as  to  deserve 
everlasting  punishment,  nor  so  good  as  to 
merit  being  admitted  into  the  society  of 
blessed  spirits;  and  therefore  that  God  is 
graciously  pleased  to  allow  of  a  middle 
state,  where  they  may  be  purified  by  cer- 
tain degrees  of  suffering.  You  see,  sir, 
there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  this." 
Boswell.  "But  then,  sir,  their  masses  for 
the  dead?"  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  if  it 
be  once  established  that  there  are  souls  in 
purgatory,  it  is  as  proper  to  pray  for  them, 
as  for  our  brethren  of  mankind  who  are 
yet  in  this  life."  Boswbll.  "  The  idola- 
try of  the  mass?"  Johnson.  "  Sir,  there 
10  no  idolatry  in  the  mass.  They  believe 
God  to  be  there,  and  they  adore  him." 
Boswkll.  "The  worship  of  saints?" 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  they  do  not  worship  saints; 
they  invoke  them;  they  only  ask  •  their 
prayers.  I  am  talking  all  this  time  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  church  of  Rome.  I  grant 
you  that  in  practice,  purgatory  is  made  a 
lucrative  imposition,  and  that  the  people  do 
become  idolatrous  as  they  recommend  them- 
selves to  the  tutelary  protection  of  particu- 
lar saints l.    I  think  their  giving  the  sacra- 


1  [The  editor  has  now  before  him  a  Roman 
Catholic*:  Prayer-book,  printed  at  Ghent  bo  late 
as  1823,  in  which  there  ia  a  prayer  to  the  Virgin, 
addressing  her  as  "  Ma  divine  Prmceae,"  and 


ment  only  in  one  kind  is  criminal,  because 
it  is  contrary  to  the  express  institution  of 
Christ,  and  I  wonder  now  the  council  of 
Trent  admitted  it."  Boswell.  "  Con- 
fession?" Johvson.  "Why,  I  Jon't 
know  but  that  is  a  good  thing.  The  scrip- 
ture says,  'Confess  your  faults  one  to 
another,'  and  the  priests  confess  as  well  as 
the  laity.  Then  it  must  be  considered  that 
their  absolution  is  only  upon  repentance, 
and  often  upon  penance  also.  You  think 
your  sins  may  be  forgiven  without  penance, 
upon  repentance  alone." 

I  thus  ventured  to  mention  all  the  com- 
mon objections  against  the  Roman  Catho- 
lick  church,  that  I  might  hear  so  great  a 
man  upon  them.  What  he  said  is  here  ac- 
curately recorded.  But  it  is  not  improbable 
that  if  one  had  taken  the  other  side,  he 
might  have  reasoned  differently. 

I  must  however  mention,  that  he  had  a 
respect  for  "  the  old  religion,"  as  the  mild 
Melancthon  called  that  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olick  church,  even  while  he  was  exerting 
himself  for  its  reformation  in  some  particu- 
lars. Sir  William  Scott  informs  me,  that 
he  heard  Johnson  say,  "  A  man  who  is  con- 
verted from  protestantism  to  popery  may  be 
sincere:  he  parts  with  nothing:  he  is  only 
superadding  to  what  he  already  had.  But  a 
convert  from  popery  to  protestantism  gives 
up  so  much  of  what  he  has  held  as  sacred  as 
any  thing  that  he  retains;  there  is  so  much 
laceration  of  mind  in  such  a  conversion, 
that  it  can  hardly  be  sincere  and  lasting  V 
The  truth  of  this  reflection  may  be  confirm- 
ed by  many  and  eminent  instances,  some  of 
which  will  occur  to  most  of  my  readers3. 

When  we  were  alone,  I  introduced  the 
subject  of  death,  and  endeavoured  to  main- 
tain that  the. fear  ofxit  might  be  got  over. 
I  told  him  that  David  Hume  said  to  me, 
he  was  no  more  uneasy  to  think  he 
should  not  be  after  this  life,  than  that  he 
had  not  been  before  he  began  to  exist  John- 
son. "  Sir,  if  he  really  thinks  so,  "his  per- 
ceptions are  disturbed;  he  is  mad:  ir  he 
does  not  think  so,  he  lies.  He  may  tell  you 
he  holds  his  finger  in  the  flame  or  a  candle, 


another  to  St  Joseph,  as  "Man  aimabU patron." 
—Ed.] 

*  [The  Bishop  of  Ferns  expresses  his  ■arprise 
that  Johnson  should  have  forgotten  Latimer,  Rid* 
ley,  Hooper,  and  all  those  of  all  nations  who 
have  renounced  popery. — En.] 

9  [The  editor  does  not  understand  this  aHusion. 
He  is  not  aware  of"  many  and  eminent  instances** 
of  persons  converted  from  popery  to  protestant- 
ism relapsing  either  into  superstition  or  infidelity?/ 
He  suspects  that  Mr.  Boswell,  who  often  alludes 
to  Mr.  Gibbon's  vacillation,  really  meant  him 
in  this  passage,  and  that  the  convene  of  the  prop- 
osition jn  the  text — namely,  that  some  converts 
from  protestantism  to  popery  had  ended  infidels- 
was  what  be  intended  to  maintain. — En.] 


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without  feeling  pain ;  would  you  believe  him  ? 
When  he  dies,  he  at  least  gives  up  all  he 
has."  Bos  well.  "  Foote,  sir,  told  me, 
that  when  he  was  very  ill  he  was  not  afraid 
to  die."  Johnson.  "It  is  not  true,  sir. 
Hold  a  pistol  to  Foote's  breast,  or  to  Hume's 
breast,  and  threaten  to  kill  them,  and  you'll 
see  how  they  behave."  Bos  well.  "  But 
may  we  not  fortify  our  minds  for  the  ap- 
proach of  death?"  Here  I  am  sensible  I 
was  in  the  wrong,  to  bring  before  his 
view  what  he  ever  looked  upon  with  hor- 
rourj  for  although  when  in  a  celestial  frame 
of  mind  in  his  "  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes." 
he  has  supposed  death  to  be  '<  kind  nature's 
signal  for  retreat,"  from  this  state  of  being 
to  "  a  happier  seat,"  his  thoughts  upon  this 
awful  change  were  in  general  full  of  dismal 
apprehensions.  His  mind  resembled  the 
vast  amphitheatre,  the  Coliseeum  at  Rome. 
In  the  centre  stood  his  judgment,  which, 
like  a  mighty  gladiator, 'combated  those  ap- 
prehensions that,  like  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
Arena,  were  all  around  in  cells,  ready  to  be 
let  out  upon  him.  After  a  conflict,  he  drives 
them  back  into  their  dens;  but  not  killing 
them,  they  were  still  assailing  him.  To  my 
question,  whether  we  might  not  fortify  our 
minds  for  the  approach  of  death,  he  answer- 
ed, in  a  passion,  "  No,  sir,  let  it  alone.  It 
matters  not  how  a  man  dies,  but  how  he 
lives.  The  act  of  dying  is  not  of  impor- 
tance, it  lasts  so  short  a  time."  He  added, 
with  an  earnest  look, "  A  man  knows  it  must 
be  so,  and  submits.  It  will  do  him  no  good 
to*  whine." 

I  attempted  to  continue  the  conversation. 
He  was  so  provoked,  that  he  said,  "  Give 
us  no  more  of  this;"  and  was  thrown  into 
such  a  state  of  agitation1,  that  he  expressed 
himself  in  a  way  that  alarmed1  and  distress- 
ed me2 j  showed  an  impatience  that  I  should 
leave  him,  and  when  I  was  going  away,  call- 
ed to  me  sternly,  "  Don't  let  us  meet  to- 
morrow." 

I  went  home  exceedingly  uneasy.  AH 
the  harsh  observations  which  I  had  ever 
heard  made  upon  his  character  crowded  in- 
to my  mind;  and  I  seemed  to  myself  like 
the  man  who  had  put  his  head  into  the  lion's 
mouth  a  great  many  times  with  perfect  safe- 
ty, but  at  last  had  it  bit  off. 

Next  morning  [27th  October,]  I  sent  him 
a  note,  stating  that  I  might  have  been  in  the 
wrong,  but  it  was  not  intentionally;  he  was 
therefore,  I  could  not  help  thinking,  too 
severe  upon   me.    That  notwithstanding 

1  [This  was  a  touch  of  "  that  sad  humour 
which  his  father  gave  him."  See  ante,  p.  10. 
—Ed.] 

*  [Yet  Mr.  Boswell  could  contradict  Sir  John 
Hawkins's  assertion,  "  that  Johnson's  mind  could 
not  contemplate  mortality  with  firmness."  See 
ante,  p.  145.— Ed.] 


our  agreement  not  to  meet  that  day,  I  would 
call  on  him  in  my  way  to  the  city,  and  stay 
five  minutes  by  my  watch.  "You  are," 
said  I,  "  in  my  mind,  since  last  night,  sur- 
rounded with  cloud  and  storm.  Let  me 
have  a  glimpse  of  sunshine,  and  go  about 
my  affairs  in  serenity  and  cheerfulness.9' 

Upon  entering  his  study,  I  was  glad  that 
he  was  not  alone,  which  would  have  made 
our  meeting  more  awkward.  There  were 
with  him  Mr.  Steevens  3  and  Mr.  Tyers  4, 
both  t)f  whom  I  now  saw  for  the  first  time. 
My  note  had,  on  his  own  reflection,  soften- 
ed him,  for  he  received  ine  very  complacent- 
ly; so  that  I  unexpectedly  found  myself  at 
ease,  and  joined  in  the  conversation. 

He  said,  the  cri ticks  had  done  too  much 
honour  to  Sir  Richard  Blackmore,  by  wri- 
ting so  much  against  him.  That  in  his 
"  Creation"  he  had  been  helped  by  various 
wits,  a  line  by  Phillips,  and  a  line  by  Tick- 
ell;  so  that  by  their  aid,  and  that  of  others, 
the  poem  had  been  made  out5. 

I  defended  Blaekmore's  supposed  lines, 
which  have  been  ridiculed  as  absolute  non- 
sense: 

"  A  painted  vest  Prince  Vortiger  had  on. 
Which  from  a  naked  Pbt  his  grandsire  won.*'* 

I  maintained  it  to  be  a  poetical  conceit.  A 
Pict  being  painted,  if  he  is  slain  in  battle, 
and  a  vest  is  made  of  his  skin,  it  is  a  painted 
vest  won  from  him,  though  he  was  naked. 


*  [George  Steevens,  who,  in  the  next  year,  be- 
came associated  with  Johnson  in  the  edition  of 
Shakspenre,  which  goes  by  their  joint  names. 
Mr.  Steevens  was  bom  in  1736,  and  died  at  Hamp- 
stead  in  1800.  A  cynical  disposition  rendered 
him  unpopular  with  his  acquaintance,  as  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  notice  in  the  course  of  this  work. 
—Ed.] 

4  [See  ante,  p.  800.— En.] 

*  Johnson  himself  has  vindicated  Blackmore 
upon  this  very  point  See  the  Lives  of  the  Poets, 
vol.  iil  p.  75.  8vo.  1791 J.  Bos  well. 

*  An  acute  correspondent  of  the  European  Mag- 
azine, April,  1792,  has  completely  exposed  amis- 
take,  which  has  been  unaccountably  frequent  in 
ascribing  these  lines  to  Blackmore,  notwithstand- 
ing that  Sir  Richard  Steele,  in  that  veiy  popular 
work,  The  Spectator,  mentions  them  as  written 
by  the  authour  of  The  British  Princes,  the  Hon. 
Edward  Howard.  The  correspondent,  above 
mentioned,  shows  this  mistake  to  be  so  inveterate, 
that  not  only  /  defended  the  lines  as  Blaekmore's, 
m  the  presence  of  Dr.  Johnson,  without  any  con- 
tradiction or  doubt  of  their  authenticity,  but  that 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Whittaker  has  asserted  in  print, 
that  he  understands  they  were  suppressed  in  the 
late  edition  or  editions  of  Blackmore.  "  After 
all,''  says  this  intelligent  writer,  "  it  is  not  un- 
worthy of  particular  observation,  that  these  lines, 
so  often  quoted,  do  not  exist,  either  in  Blackmore 
or  Howard."  In  The  British  Princes,  8vo., 
1669,  now  before  me  (p.  96),  they  stand  tons: 


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1799.— aSTAT.  60. 


369 


Johnson  spoke  unfavourably  of  a  certain 
pretty  voluminous  authour  *,  saying,  "  He 
used  to  write  anonymous  books,  and  then 
other  books  commending  those  books,  in 
which  there  was  something  of  rascality." 

I  whispered  him, "  Well,  sir,  you  are  now 
in  good  humour."  Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir." 
I  was  going  to  leave  him,  and  had  got  as 
far  as  the  staircase.  He  stopped  me,  and 
smiling,  said,  "Get  you  gone  *n;"  a 
carious  mode  of  inviting  me  to  stay,  which 
I  accordingly  did  for  some  time  longer. 

This  little  incidental  quarrel  and  recon- 
ciliation, which,  perhaps,  I  may  be  thought 
to  have  detailed  too  minutely,  must  be 
esteemed  as  one  of  many  proofs  which  his 
friends  had,  that  though  he  might  be 
charged  with  bad  humour  at  times,  he  was 
always  a  good-natured  man;  and  I  have 
heard  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  a  nice  and  deli- 
cate observer  of  manners,  particularly  re- 
mark, that  when  upon  any  occasion  John- 
son had  been  rough  to  any  person  in  com- 
pany, he  took  the  first  opportunity  of 
reconciliation,  by  drinking  to  him,  or  ad- 
dressing his  discourse  to  him;  but  if  he 
found  his  dignified  indirect  overtures  sullen- 
ly neglected,  he  .was  quite  indifferent,  and 
considered  himself  as  having  done  all  that 
he  ought  to  do,  and  the  other  as  now  in  the 
wrong. 

Being  to  set  out  for  Scotland  on  the  10th 
of  November,  I  wrote  to  him  at  Streatham, 
begging  that  he  would  meet  me  in  town  on 
the  9th;  but  if  this  should  be  very  incon- 
venient to  him.  I  would  go  thither.  His 
i  follows:    . 


"  TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

M8th  November,  1768. 

"DsAft  sir, — Upon  balancing  the  incon- 
veniences of  both  parties,  I  find  it  will  less 
incommode  you  to  spend  your  night  here, 
than  me  to  come  to  town.  I  wish  to  see 
yon,  and  am  ordered  by  the  lady  of  this 
house  to  invite  you  hither.  Whether  you 
can  come  or  not,  I  shall  not  have  any  occa- 
sion of  writing  to  you  again  before  your 


«  A  vest  as  admired  Vornger  had  on, 
Wnlca  from  this  Island's  foes  his  grsndsire  won, 
Whose  mrtfttl  colour  pass'd  the  Tyrian  dye, 
Obliged  to  triumph  in  this  legacy/' 

It  u  probable  I  think,  that  some  wag,  in  order 
to  make  Howard  still  more  ridiculous  than  he 
really  was,  has  formed  the  couplet  as  it  now  circu- 
lates.  BOS  WELL.  * 

1  [There  m  reason  to  suppose  that  this  was 
Dr.  HUI,  who,  as  Mr.  Chalmers  observes  to  me, 
used  to  play  such  tricks,  not  only  anonymously, 
bat  voder  false  names,  such  as  Dr.  Crine,  Dr. 
tfoedaU,  and  many  others.  But  it  has  been  al- 
so swnrised,  tlaU  Smollet  is  meant;  andasBosweU 
had  certainly  no  tenderness  lor  Hill's  character, 
(see  ante,  p.  240),  the  suppression  of  the  name 
eeanai  to  favour  tins  latter  opinion. — Ed.] 


marriage,  and  therefore  tell  yon  now,  that 
with  great  sincerity  I  wish  yon  happiness. 
I  am,  dear  air,  your  most  affectionate  hum- 
ble servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

I  was  detained  in  town  till  it  was  too  late 
on  the  ninth,  so  went  to  him  early  in  the 
morning  of  the  tenth  of  November. 
"  Now,"  said  he,  "  that  you  are  going  to 
marry,  do  not  expect  more  from  fife  man 
life  will  afford.  You  may  often  find  your- 
self out  of  humour,  and  you  may  often  think 
your  wife  not  studious  enough  to  please 
you;  and  yet  you  may  have  reason  to  con- 
sider yourself  as  upon  the  whole  very  hap- 
pily married." 

Talking  of  marriage  in  general,  he  ob- 
served, "  Our  marriage  service  is  too  re- 
fined. It  is  calculated  only  for  the  best 
kind  of  marriages:  whereas,  we  should 
have  a  form  for  matches  of  convenience,  of 
which  there  are  many9."  He  agreed  with 
me  that  there  was  no  absolute  necessity  for 
having  the  marriage  ceremony  performed 
by  a  regular  clergyman,  for  this  was  not 
commanded  in  scripture. 

I  was  volatile  enough  to  repeat  to  him  a 
little  epigrammatick  song  of  mine,  on  matri- 
mony, which  Mr.  Garrick  had  a  few  days  - 
before  procured  to  be  set  to  music  by  the 
very  ingenious  Mr.  Dibdin. 

▲   MATRIMONIAL   THOUGHT. 

"  In  the  blithe  days  of  honey-moon, 
With  Kate's  allurements  smitten, 
I  loved  her  late,  I  loved  her  soon, 
And  caU'd  her  dearest  kitten. 

But  now  my  kitten's  grown  a  cat, 
And  cross  like  other  wives: 

O!  by  my  soul,  my  honest  Mat, 
I  fear  she  has  nine  lives3." 

My  illustrious  friend  said, "  It  is  very  well, 
sir;  but  you  should  not  swear."  Upon 
which  I  altered  "  O !  by  my  soul,"  to  "  alas, 
alas?" 

He  was  so  good  as  to  accompany  me  to 
London,  and  see  me  into  the  post-chaise 


1  [It  may  be  suspected  that  Mr.  BosweH,  in 
transcribing  for  the  press,  at  the  interval  of  twen- 
ty-five years,  his  original  note,  may  have  misrep- 
resented Dr.  Johnson's  opmion.  There  are,  no 
doubt,  marriages  of  convenience,  but  such  often 
torn  out  to  be  very  happy  marriages.  Moreover, 
one  would  ask,  how  is  the  marriage  ceremony 
too  refined?  and,  again,  if  there  were  two  ser- 
vices, who  would  ever  consent  to  be  married  by 
that  which  implied  some  degree  of  degradation,  or 
at  least  of  inferiority  ?  and  finally,  how  is  one  to 
guess,  beforehand,  how  a  marriage  is  to  torn  out'.? 
—Ed.] 

*  [Mr.  BosweH  need  (as  did  also  his  eldest  son, 
Sir  Alexander)  to  sing,  in  convivial  society,  sons* 
of  his  own  composition.  Boa  Ale*.  JLnecd.  vol 
ii.  p.  66&~-En.] 


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870 


1770.— iETAT.  61. 


which  was  to  carry  me  on  my  road  to  Scot- 
land. And  sure  1  am,  that  however  incon- 
siderable many  of  the  particulars  recorded 
at  this  time  may  appear  to  some,  they  will 
be  esteemed  by  the  best  part  of  my  readers 
as  genuine  traits  of  his  character,  contribu- 
ting together  to  give  a  full,  fair,  and  dis- 
tinct view  of  it. 

In  1770,  he  published  a  political  pam- 
phlet, entitled  "  The  False  Alarm,"  intended 
to  justify  the  conduct  of  ministry  and  their 
majority  in  the  house  of  commons  for  hav- 
ing virtually  assumed  it  as  an  axiom,  that 
the  expulsion  of  a  member  of  parliament 
was  equivalent  to  exclusion,  and  thus  hav- 
ing declared  Colonel  Lutterel  to  be  duly 
elected  for  the  county  of  Middlesex,  not- 
withstanding Mr.  Wilkes  had  a  great 
majority  of  votes.  This  being  justly  con- 
sidered as  a  gross  violation  of  the  right  of 
election,  an  alarm  for  the  constitution  ex- 
tended itself  all  over  the  kingdom.  To 
prove  this  alarm  to  be  false  was  the  purpose 
of  Johnson's  pamphlet;  but  even  his  vast 
powers  are  inadequate  to  cope  with  consti- 
tutional truth  and  reason,  and  his  argument 
failed  of  effect;  and  the  house  of  commons 
have  since  expunged  the  offensive  resolution 
from  their  Journals.  That  the  house  of 
commons  might  have  expelled  Mr.  Wilkes 
repeatedly,  and  as  often  as  he  should  be  re- 
chosen,  was  not  denied;  but  incapacitation 
cannot  be  but  by  an  act  of  the  whole  legis- 
lature. It  was  wonderful  to  see  how  a 
prejudice  in  favour  of  government  in  gene- 
ral, and  an  aversion  to  popular  clamour, 
could  blind  and  contract  such  an  under- 
standing as  Johnson's,  in  this  particular 
case;  yet  the  wit,  the  sarcasm,  the  eloquent 
vivacity  which  this  pamphlet  displayed, 
made  it  be  read  with  great  avidity  at  the 
time,  and  it  will  ever  be  read  with  pleasure, 
for  the  sake  of  its  composition.  That  it 
endeavoured  to  infuse  a  narcotick  indiffer- 
ence, as  to  publick  concerns,  into  the  minds 
of  the  people,  and  that  it  broke  out  some- 
times into  an  extreme  coarseness  of  con- 
temptuous abuse,  is  but  too  evident. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  omitted,  that 
when  the  storm  of  his  violence  subsides,  he 
takes  a  fair  opportunity  to  pay  a  grateful 
compliment  to  the  king,  who  had  rewarded 
his  merit: — " These  low-born  railers  have 
endeavoured,  surely  withotft  effect,  to  alie- 
nate the  affections  of  the  people  from  the 
only  king  who  for  almost  a  century  has 
much  appeared  to  desire,  or  much  endeav- 
oured to  deserve  them."  And  "Every 
honest  man  must  lament,  that  the  faction 
has  been  regarded  with  frigid  neutrality  by 
theories,  who  beinfr.  long  accustomed  to 
signalise  their  principles  by  opposition  to 
the  court,  do  not  yet  consider,  that  they 
have  at  last  a  king  who  knows  not  the  name 
of  party,  and  who  wishes  to  be  the  common 
father  of  all  his  people." 


p.  91. 


[This  his  first  and  favourite  pam- 
phlet was  written  at  Mr.  Thrale's, 
between  eight  o'  clock  on  Wednes- 
day night  and  twelve  o'clock  on  Thursday 
night;  and  Johnson  and  Mrs.  Thrale  read 
it  to  Mr.  Thrale  when  he  came  very  late 
home  from  the  house  of  commons.] 

To  this  pamphlet,  which  was  at  once  dis- 
covered to  be  Johnson's,  several  answers 
came  out,  in  which  care  was  taken  to  re- 
mind the  publick  of  his  former  attacks  up- 
on government,  and  of  his  now  being  a  pen- 
sioner, without  allowing  for  the  honourable 
terms  upon  which  Johnson's  pension  was 
granted  and  accepted,  or  the  change  of  sys- 
tem which  the  British  court  had  undergone 
upon  the  accession  of  his  present  majesty. 
He  was,  however,  soothed  in  the  highest 
strain  of  panegyrick,  in  a  poem  called 
"  The  Remonstrance,"  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Stockdale  *,  to  whom  he  was,  upon  many 
occasions,  a  kind  protector. 

The  following  admirable  minute  made  by 
him  describes  so  well  his  own  state,  and 
that  of  numbers  to  whom  self-examination 
is  habitual,  that  I  cannot  omit  it: — 

"June  1,  1770.  Every  man  naturally 
persuades  himself  that  he  can  keep  his  reso- 
lutions, nor  is  he  convinced  of  his  imbecili- 
ty but  by  length  of  time  and  frequency  of 
experiment.  This  opinion  of  our  own  con- 
stancy is  so  prevalent,  that  we  always  de- 
3Mse  him  who  suffers  his  general  and  set- 
ed  purpose  to  be  overpowered  by  an  occa- 
sional desire.  They,' therefore,  whom  fre- 
quent failures  have  made  desperate,  cease 
to  form  resolutions;  and  they  who  are  be- 
come cunning,  do  not  tell  them.  Those 
who  do  not  make  them  are  very  few,  but 
of  their  effect  little  is  perceived;  lor  scarce* 
ly  any  man  persists  in  a  course  of  life  plan- 
ned by  choice,  but  as  he  is  restrained  from 
deviation  by  some  external  power.  He 
who  may  live  as  he  will,  seldom  lives  long 
in  the  observation  of  his  own  rules.  I  never 
yet  saw  a  regular  family,  unless  it  were  that 
of  Mrs.  Harriot's,  nor  a  regular  man,  ex- 
cept Mr. a,   whose  exactness  I 

know  only  by  his  own  report,  and  Psalmaa- 
azer,  whose  life  was,  I  think,  uniform.* 

Of  this  year  I  have  obtained  the  follow- 
ing letters: 

"  TO  THE  REV.  DR.  FARMER,  CAMBRIDGE. 
u  Johnaoo'a-court,  Ftoec-ctreet,  2lat  March,  rno. 
"  Sin., — As  no  man  ought  to  keep  whol- 
ly to  himself  any  possession  that  may  be 


1  [The  Reverend  Percival  Stockdale, 
strange  and  rambling  autobiography  was  pi 
in  1808;  he  was  the  author  of  several  bad 
and  he  died  in  1811,  at  the  age  of  7ft.    Me  i 
Johnson's  neighbour  for  some  years,  both  in  John- 
son's-court  and  Bolt-court. — En.] 

•  [The  name  in  the  original  maauscript  is,  as 
Dr.  Hall  informs  me,  Campbell,  perhaj»  Dr« 


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1770.— jETAT.  61. 


271 


useful  to  the  publick,  I  hope  you  will  not 
think  me  unreasonably  intrusive,  if  I  have 
recourse  to  you  for  such  information  as  you 
are  more  able  to  give  me  than  any  other  man. 

"  In  support  of  an  opinion  which  you 
have  already  placed  above  the  need  of  any 
more  support,  Mr.  Steevens,  a  very  inge- 
nious gentleman,  lately  of  King's  College, 
has  collected  an  account  of  all  the  transla- 
tions which  Shakspeare  might  have  seen 
and  used.  He  wishes  his  catalogue  to  be 
perfect,  and  therefore  entreats  that  you  will 
favour  him  by  the  insertion  of  such  addi- 
tions as  the  accuracy  ofVour  inquiries  has  en- 
abled you  to  make.  To  this  request,  I  take 
the  liberty  of  adding  my  own  solicitation. 

"  We  have  no  immediate  use  for  this  cat- 
alogue, and  therefore  do  not  desire  that  it 
should  interrupt  or  hinder  your  more  im- 
portant employments.  But  it  will  be  kind 
to  let  us  know  that  you  receive  it.  I  am, 
sir,  &c.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

["DR.   JOHNSON   TO   MRS.  LUCY  PORTER. 

"  1st  May,  1770. 

"  Dearest  madam,— Among  oth- 
er causes  that  have  hindered  me 
from  answering  your  last  kind  let- 
ter, is  a  tedious  and  painful  rheumatism,  that 
has  afflicted  me  for  many  weeks,  and  still 
continues  to  molest  me.  I  hope  you  are 
well,  and  will  long  keep  your  health  and 
your  cheerfulness. 

"One  reason  why  I  delayed  to  write 
was,  my  uncertainty  how  to  answer  your 
letter.  I  like  the  thought  of  giving  away 
the  money  very  well;  but  when  I  consid- 
er that  Tom  Johnson  is  my  nearest  rela- 
tion, and  that  he  is  now  old  and  in  great 
want;  that  he  was  my  playfellow  in  child- 
hood, and  has  never  done  any  thing  to  of- 
fend me;  I  am  in  doubt  whether!  ought 
not  rather  give  it  him  than  any  other. 

"Of  this,  my  dear,  I  would  have  your 
opinion.  I  would  willingly  please  you,  and 
I  know  that  you  will  be  pleased  best  with 
whatyou  think  right. 

u  T>U  me  your  mind,  and  do  not  learn 
of  me  to  neglect  writing ;  for  it  is  a  very 
sorry  trick,  though  it  be  mine. 

"Your  brother  is  well,  I  saw  him  to- 
day; and  thought  it  long  since  I  saw  him 
before:  it  seems  he  has  called  often  and 
could^not  find  me.  I  am,  my  dear,  your 
affectionate  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson."] 

[  «  London,  88th  May,  1770. 
"  Mr  dearest  dear, — I  am  very 
sorry  that  your  eyes  are  bad  ;  take 


John  Campbell,  whom,  on  another  occasion, 
(ante,  p.  189),  Johnson  calls  a  "  good  and  a 
pone  man;"  but  see  po$t,  11th  April,  177S. 
rerbapt  the  Scotch  aonjonng  Bishop  Campbell 
—  _.—     See  port,  p.  449  .—Ed.] 


great  care  of  them,  especially  by  candle- 
fight  Mine  continue  pretty  good,  but 
they  are  sometimes  a  little  dim.  My  rheu- 
matism grows  gradually  better. 

"I  have  considered  your  letter,  and  am 
willing  that  the  whole  money  should  go 
where  you,  my  dear,  originally  intended. 
I  hope  to  help  Tom  some  other  way.  So 
that  matter  is  over. 

"Dr.  Taylor  has  invited  me  to  pass 
some  time  with  him  at  Ashbourne ;  if  I 
come,  you  may  be  sure  that  I  shall  take 
you  and  Lichfield  in  my  way.  When  I 
am  nearer  coming,  I  will  send  you  word. 

"  Of  Mr.  Porter  I  have  seen  very  little, 
but  I  know  not  that  it  is  his  fault,  for  he 
says  that  he  often  calls,  and  never  finds  me; 
I  am  sorry  for  it,  for  I  love  him. 

"Mr.  Mathias  has  lately  had  a  great 
deal  of  money  left  him,  of  which  you  have 
probably  heard  already.  I  am,  my  dearest, 
your  most  affectionate  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson."] 

<cTO   THE    REVEREND     MR.     THOMAS 
WARTON. 

"London,  23d  June,  1770. 

"Deae  sir, — The  readiness  with  which 
you  were  pleased  to  promise  me  Borne  notes 
on  Shakspeare,  was  a  new  instance  of  your 
friendship.  I  shall  not  hurry  you ;  but  am 
desired  by  Mr.  Steevens,  who  helps  me  in 
this  edition,  to  let  you  know,  that  we  shall 
print  the  tragedies  first,  and  shall  therefore 
want  first  the  notes  which  belong  to  them. 
We  think  not  to  incommode  the  readers 
with  a  supplement;  and  therefore,  what 
we  cannot  put  into  its  proper  place,  will  do 
us  no  good.  We  shall  not  begin  to  print 
before  the  end  of  six  weeks,  perhaps  not  so 
soon.     I  am,  &c.         "  Sam.  Johnson." 

["TO   MRS.    THRALE. 

«  Uchfleld,  7th  July,  1770. 

"  I  thought  I  should  have  heard  Leo*™, 
something  to-day  about  Streatham :  toI.  i. 
but  there  is  no  letter  ;  and  I  need  P*^**- 
some  consolation,  for  rheumatism  is  come 
again,  though  in  a  less  degree  than  former- 
ly. I  reckon  to  go  next  week  to  Ashbourne, 
and  will  try  to  bring  you  the  dimensions  of 
the  great  bull.  The  skies  and  the  ground 
are  all  so  wet,  that  I  have  been  very  little 
abroad  ;  and  Mre.  Aston  is  from  home,  so 
that  I  have  no  motive  to  walk.  When  she 
is  at  home,  she  lives  on  the  top  of  Slow- 
hill,  and  I  commonly  climb  up  to  see  her 
once  a  day.  There  is  nothing  there  now 
but  the  empty  nest. 

"  To  write  to  you  about  Lichfield  is  of 
no  use,  for  you  never  saw  S tow-pool,  nor 
Borowcop-hill.  I  believe  you  may  find 
Borow  or  Boroughcop-hill  in  my  Dictiona- 
ry, under  cop  or  cob.  Nobody  here  knows 
what  the  name  imports," 


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2« 


1771*— ^TAT.  f  *. 


Id,  lit*  July,  1710. 
"  Mr.  Greene1,  the  apothecary,  has  found 
a  book  which  tells  who  paid  levies  in  our 
parish,  and  how  much  they  paid  above  an 
hundred  years  ago.  Do  you  not  think  we 
study  this  book  hard?  Nothing  is  like  go- 
ing to  the  bottom  of  things.  Many  fami- 
lies that  paid  the  parish  rates  are  now  ex- 
tinct, like  the  race  of  Hercules.  Pulvi*  et 
umbra  tumut.  What  is  nearest  us  touches 
us  most  The  passions  rise  higher  at  do- 
mestick  than  at  imperial  tragedies.  I  am 
not  wholly  unaffected  by  the  revolutions 
of  Sadler-street ;  nor  can  forbear  to  mourn 
a  little  when  old  names  vanish  away,  and 
new  come  into  their  place." 

"  Aafaboorne,  20th  July,  1770. 
"  I  came  hither  on  Wednesday,  having 
staid  one  night  at  a  lodge  in  the  forest  of 
Nedewood.  Dr.  Taylor's  is  a  very  plea- 
sant house,  with  a  lawn  and  a  lake,  and 
twenty  deer  and  Ave  fawns  upon  the  lawn. 
Whether  I  shall  by  any  light  see  Matlock  I 
do  not  yet  know. 


"That  Baretti*S  book  would  please  you 
all  I  made  no  doubt.  I  know  not  whether 
the  world  has  ever  seen  such  Travels  be- 
fore. Those  whose  lot  it  is  to  ramble  can 
seldom  write,  and  those  who  know  how  to 
write  very  seldom  ramble.  If  Sidney  had 
gone,  as  he  desired,  the  great  voyage  with 
Drake,  there  would  probably  have  been 
such  a  narrative  as  would  have  equally  sat- 
isfied the  poet  and  the  philosopher." 

"Aafabounie,  38d  July,  1770. 

"I  have  seen  the  great  bull*;  and  verjr 
great  he  is.  I  hav.e  seen  likewise  his  heir 
apparent,  who  promises  to  inherit  all  the 
bulk  and  all  the  virtues  of  his  sire.  I  have 
seen  the  man  who  offered  an  hundred 
guineas  for  the  young  bull,  while  he  was 
yet  little  better  than  a  calf.  Matlock,  I  am 
afraid,  I  shall  not  see,  but  I  purpose  to  see 
Dovedale ;  and,  after  all  this  seeing,  I  hope 
to  see  you."]  ^ 

<CT0   THE   REV.    DR.  JOSEPH   WARTOW. 
"  21st  Sept.  1770. 

"Dear  sir, — I  am  revising  my  edition 
of  Shakspeare,  and  remember  that  I  for- 
merly misrepresented  your  opinion  of  Lear. 
Be  pleased  to  write  the  paragraph  as  you 
would  have  it,  and  send  it.  IF  you  have 
any  remarks  of  your  own  upon  that  or  any 
other  play,  I  shall  gladly  receive  them. 

"  Make  my  compliments  to  Mrs.  Warton. 
I  sometimes   think   of  wandering  for    a 

1  [See  post,  23d  March,  1776.— Ed.] 
*  [Dr.  Taylor  had  a  remarkable  fine  breed  of 
cattle;  and  one  boll,  in  particular,  was  of  cele- 
brated beaaty  and  sise,— E».} 


few  days  to  Winchester,  but  am  apt  to  de- 
lay.   I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  JoHvsoir." 

c<TO   MR.   FRANCIS    BARBER, 

w  M  Mr*.  Clapfty  Bukoptortford,  Hertfordskirt. 
"  London,  25Ut  Sept.  177a 

"  Deae  Feahcis, — I  am  at  last  sat  down 
to  write  to  you,  and  should  very  much 
blame  myself  for  having  neglected  you  so 
long,  if  I  did  not  impute  that  and  many 
other  railings  to  want  of  health.  I  hope 
not  to  be  so  long  silent  again.  I  am  very 
well  satisfied  with  your  progress,  if  you 
can  really  perform  the  exercises  which  you 
are  set ;  and  I  hope  Mr.  Ellis  does  not  suf- 
fer you  to  impose  on  him,  or  on  yourself. 

"Make  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Ellis, 
and  to  Mrs.  Clapp,  and  Mr.  Smith. 

"  Let  me  know  what'  English  books  you 
read  for  your  entertainment.  You  can 
never  be  wise  unless  you  love  reading. 

"  Do  not  imagine  that  I  shall  forget  or 
forsake  you  ;  for  if,  when  I  examine  you, 
I  find  that  you  have  not  lost  your  time, 
you  shall  want  no  encouragement  from 
yours  affectionately, 

"  Sam.  Johksoic." 

TO   THE  SAME. 

"  7th  December,  IT70. 

"  Deae  Francis, — I  hope  you  -mind 
your  business.  I  design  you  shall  stay 
with  Mrs.  Clapp  these  holidays.  If  you 
are  invited  out  you  may  go,  if  Mr.  Ellis 
gives  leave.  I  have  ordered  you  some 
clothes,  which  you  will  receive,  I  believe, 
next  week.  My  compliments  to  Mrs. 
Clapp,  and  to  Mr.  Ellis,  and  Mr.  Smith, 
&c. — I  am  your  affectionate 

"  Sam.  Joh^so*.** 

During  this  year  there  was  a  total  cessa- 
tion of  all  correspondence  between  Dr. 
Johnson  and  me,  without  any  coldness  on 
either  side,  but  merely  from  procrastina- 
tion, continued  from  day  to  day ;  and  as  I 
was  not  in  London,  I  had  no  opportunity 
of  enjoying  his  company  and  recording  his 
conversation  3. 

In  1771  he  published  another  political 
pamphlet,  entitled  "  Thoughts  on  the  late 
Transactions  respecting  Falkland's  Islands," 
in  which,  upon  materials  furnished  to  him 
by  ministry,  and  upon  general  topicks  ex- 

Sanded  in  his  rich  style,  he  successfully  en- 
eavoured  to  persuade  the  nation  that  it 
was  wise  and  laudable  to  suffer  the  ques- 
tion of  right  to  remain  undecided,  rather 
than  involve  our  country  in  another  war. 
It  has  been  suggested  by  some,  with  what 


'  [Here  Mr.  Boewell  had  placed  Dr.  Maxwell's 
"  Collectanea,"  which  the  editor  has  removed  to 
p.  16$.— En.] 


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p.  at. 


troth  I  shall  not  take  upon  me  to  decide, 
that  he  rated  the  consequence  of  those 
islands  to  Great  Britain  too  low.  But 
however  this  may  be,  every  humane  mind 
must  surely  applaud  the  earnestness  with 
which  he  averted  the  calamity  of  war  j  a 
calamity  so  dreadful,  that  it  is  astonishing 
how  civilised,  nay,  christian  nations,  can 
deliberately  continue  to  renew  it,  His 
description  of  its  miseries  in  this  pamphlet 
is  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  eloquence  in 
the  English  language.  Upon  this  occa- 
sion, too,  we  find  Johnson  lashing  the  par- 
ty in  opposition  with  unbounded  severity, 
and  making  the  fullest  use  of  what  he  ever 
reckoned  a  most  effectual  argumentative  in- 
strument—contempt. His  character  of 
their  very  able  mysterious  champion,  Ju- 
nius, is  executed  with  all  the  force  of  his  ge- 
nius, and  finished  with  the  highest  care. 
He  seems  to  have  exulted  in  sallying  forth 
to  single  combat  against  the  boasted  and 
formidable  hero,  who  bade  defiance  to 
"principalities  and  powers,  and  the  rulers 
orthis  world." 

[He  often  delighted  his  imagina- 
tion with  the  thoughts  of  having  de- 
stroyed Junius.  One  day,  Mrs. 
Thrale  had  received  a  remarkably  fine 
Stilton  cheese  as  a  present  from  some  per- 
son who  had  packed  and  directed  it  carefully, 
but  without  mentioning  whence  it  came. 
Mr.  Thrale,  desirous  to  know  who  they 
were  obliged  to,  asked  every  friend  as 
they  came  in,  but  nobody  owned  it.  Dr. 
Johnson  at  last  excited  a  general  laugh,  by 
saying,  "  Depend  upon  it,  sir,  it  was  sent 
by  Junius."] 

This  pamphlet,  it  is  observable,  was 
softened  in  one  particular,  after  the  first 
edition  i  for  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  George 
Grenville's  character  stood  thus:  "Let 
him  not,  however,  be  depreciated  in  his 
grave.  He  had  powers  not  universally 
possessed  :  could  he  have  enforced  payment 
of  the  Manilla  ransom,  he  could  have 
counted  it*9  Which,  instead  of  retaining 
its  sly  sharp  point,  was  reduced  to  a  mere 
flat  unmeaning  expression,  or,  if  I  msy  use 
the  word — truism:  "He  had  powers  not 
universally  possessed:  and  if  he  sometimes 
erred,  he  was  likewise  sometimes  right." 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  BBNNET  LANGTON,  ESQ. 
«' Man*  SO,  mi.  * 
"Dkak  sir, — After  much  lingering  of 
my  own,  and  much  of  the  ministry,  I  have, 
at  length,  got  out  my  paper l.  But  delay  is 
not  yet  at  an  end:  Wot  many  had  been 
dispersed,  before  Lord  North  ordered  the 
sale  to  stop.    His  reasons  I  do  not  distinct- 

1  M  Thoughts  on  the  lata  Transaction*  respect- 
ing Falkland's  Island*."— Boswbi*. 

vol.  i.  86 


ly  know.  Ton  may  try  to  find  them  in  the 
perusal3.  Before  his  order,  a  sufficient 
number  were  dispersed  to  do  all  the  mis- 
chief, though,  perhaps,  not  to  make  all  the 
sport  that  might  be  expected  from  it. 

"Soon  after  your  departure,  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  finding  all  the  danger  pass  with 
which  your  navigation  3  was  threatened. 
I  hope  nothing  happens  at  home  to  abate 
your  satisfaction ;  but  that  Lady  Rothes 4, 
and  Mrs.  Langton,  and  the  youug  ladies, 
are  all  well. 

"  I  was  last  niffht  at  the  Club.  Dr.  Per- 
cy has  written  along  ballad  in  many  fits : 
it  is  pretty  enough.  He  has  printed,  and 
will  soon  publish  it  Goldsmith  is  at  Bath, 
with  Lord  Clare  *.  At  Mr.  Thrale's,  where 
I  am  now  writing,  all  are  well.  I  am, 
dear  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

[One  evening  in  the  oratorio  season  of 
the  year  1771,  Dr.  Johnson  went  with  Mrs. 


1  By  comparing  the  first  with  the  subsequent 
editions,  this  carious  circumstance  of  ministerial 
anthonrahip  may  be  discovered. — Boswkll. 

It  can  only  be  discovered  (as  Mr.  Bindley  ob- 
serves to  me)  by  him  who  possesses  a  copy  of 
the  first  edition  issued  out  before  the  sale  was 
stopped.— Malokb. 

*  [Probably  some  canal  or  work  of  a  similar 
nature  in  which  Mr.  Langton  was  interested  in 
Lincolnshire.  What  the  danger  was  which 
threatened  it  is  not  now  recollected. — Ed,] 

4  Mr.  Langton  married,  May  24,  1770r  Jane, 

the  daughter  of Lloyd,  Esq.  and  widow  of 

John,  eighth  Earl  of  Rothes,  many  years  comman- 
der in  chief  of  the  forces  in  Ireland,  who  died  in 
1767:— MALOifB.  [It  was,  as  Mr.  Chalmers- 
observes,  a.saying  about  that  time,  "Married 
a  Countess  Dowager  of  Rothes  !  Why,  every 
body  marries  a  Countess  Dowager  of  Rothes! " 
And  there  were,  in  fact,  about  1772,  three  ladies 
of  that  name  married  to  second  husbands.  Marv 
Lloyd  married  to  Mr.  Langton;  Jane  Maitiand, 
widow  of  John,  ninth  Earl  of  Rothes,  married  the 
Honourable  P.  Maitiand,  seventh  son  of  the  fifth 
Earl  of  Lauderdale,  and  Lady  Jane  Leslie,  Coun- 
tess of  Rothes,  widow  of  John  Raymond  Evelyn 
Esq.  remarried  to  Sir  Lucas  Pepys. — En.  J 

*  (Robert  Nugent,  an  Irish  gentleman,  who 
married  (the  second  of  three  wives)  the  sister  and 
heiress  of  Secretary  Cram,  by  whom  he  acquired 
a  considerable  fortune.  Tie  was  created,  in  1767, 
Baron  Nugent  and  Viscount  Clare,  and  in  1777, 
Earl  Nugent.  His  only  daughter  married  the  first 
Marquis  of  Buckingham,  on  whose  second  son  the 
title  of  Baron  Nugent  devolved.  Lord  Nugent 
wrote  some  odes  and  light  pieces,  which  had  some 
merit  and  a  great  vogue.  He  died  in  1788. 
Goldsmith  addressed  to  him  his  lively  verses  called 
"  The  Haunch  of  Venison."  The  characters  ex- 
hibited in  this  piece  are  very  comic,  and  were  no 
doubt  drawn  from  nature;  but  Goldsmith  ought  to 
have  confessed  that  he  had  borrowed  the  idea  and 
same  of  the  details  from  BoilewL— En.J 


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1771.— iETAT.  ei. 


Piozzi  to  Covent-garden  theatre; 
p.  6A,«.   ^d  though  he  was  for  the  moat 

part  an  exceeding  bad  playhouse 
companion,  as  his  person  drew  people's 
eyes  upon  the  box,  and  the  loudness  or  his 
voice  made  it  difficult  to  hear  any  body  but 
himself,  he  sat  surprisingly  quiet,  and  Mrs. 
Piozzi  flattered  herself  that  he  was  listen- 
ing to  the  musick.  When  they  got  home, 
however,  he  repeated  these  verses,  which 
he  said  he  had  made  at  the  oratorio: 

IN    THBAT&O. 

Teitii  verso  quater  orbe  lastri, 
'    Quid  theatreles  tibi,  Crisp©,  pomps! 
Quam  decet  canoe  male  litteratos 

Sera  voluptas! 

Tene  mnlceri  fidibos  canons? 
Tone  cantoram  modnlisstapere? 
Tene  per  pictas,  ocalo  elegante, 

Canere  formas  I 

Inter  eqaales,  sine  felle  liber, 
Codices,  yen  studiosus,  inter, 
Rectioa  vives:  sua  quisque  carpet 

Gaadia  grains 

Lusibni  gandet  pner  otiosfc, 
Luxas  oblectat  juvenem  theatri, 
At  seni,  flazo  aapienter  ad 

Tempore  restat 


Hawk. 


p.  512, 
513. 


[The  publication  of  Johnson's 
tracts  exhibited  him  to  the  world  in 
a  new  character:  he  ceased  now  to 
be  considered  as  one  who,  having  been 
occupied  in  literary  studies,  and  more 
conversant  with  books  than  with  men, 
knew  little  of  active  life,  the  views  of  par- 
ties, or  the  artifices  of  designing  men:  on 
the  contrary,  they  discovered  that  he  had, 
by  the  force  of  his  own  genius,  and  the  ob- 
servations he  had  made  on  the  history  of 
our  own  and  other  countries,  attained  to 
such  skill  in  the  grand  leading  principles 
of  political  science,  as  are  seldom  acquired 
by  those  in  the  most  active  and  important 
stations,  even  after  long  experience ;  and 
that,  whatever  opinions  he  might  have 
formed  on  this  subject,  he  had  anility  by 
strong  reasoning  to  defend,  and  by  a  manly 
and  convincing  eloquence  to  enforce. 

Mr.  Thrale,  a  man  of  slow  conceptions, 
but  of  a  sound  judgment,  was  not  one  of 
the  last  that  discerned  in  his  friend  this 
talent,  and  believing  that  the  exercise  of  it 
might  redound  to  the  benefit  of  thepublick, 
entertained  a  design  of  bringing  Johnson 
into  parliament.  We  must  suppose  that  he 
had  previously  determined  to  Furnish  him 
with  a  legal  qualification,  and  Johnson,  it 
is  certain,  was  willing  to  accept  the  trust. 
Mr.  Thrale  had  two  meetings  with  the 
-sinister,  who,  at  first,  seemed  inclined  to 


find  him  a  seat ;  but,  whether  upon  con- 
versation he  doubted  his  fitness  for  his 
purpose,  or  that  he  thought  himself  in  no 
need  of  his  assistance,  the  project  failed.] 

Mr.  Strahan,  the  printer,  who  had  been 
long  in  intimacy  with  Johnson,  in  the  course 
of  his  literary  labours,  who  was  at  once  his 
friendly  agent  in  receiving  his  pension  for 
him,  and  his  banker  in  supplying  him  with 
money  when  he  wanted  it;  who  was  him- 
self now  a  member  of  parliament,  and  who 
loved  much  to  be  employed  in  political 
negotiation:  thought  he  should  do  eminent 
service,  botn  to  government  and  Johnson, 
if  he  could  be  the  means  of  his  getting  a 
seat  in  the  house  of  commons.  With  this 
view,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  one  of  the  secre- 
taries of  the  treasury ',  of  which  he  save 
me  a  copy  in  his  own  handwriting,  which 
is  as  follows: — 

New-street,  Mart*  SO,  mi. 

"  Sie, — You  will  easily  recollect,  when  I 
had  the  honour  of  waiting  upon  you  some 
time  ago,  I  took  the  liberty  to  observe  to 
you,  mat  Dr.  Johnson  would  make  an  ex 
cellent  figure  in  the  house  of  commons,  and 
heartily  wished  he  had  a  seat  there.  My 
reasons  are  briefly  these: 

"  I  know  his  perfect  good  affection  to 
his  majesty  and  nis  government,  which  I 
am  certain  he  wishes  to  support  by  every 
means  in  his  power. 

"  He  possesses  a  great  share  of  manly, 
nervous,  and  ready  eloquence;  is  quick  in 
discerning  the  strength  and  weakness  of  an 
argument;  can  express  himself  with  clear- 
ness and  precision,  and  fears  the  face  of  no 
man  alive.  - 

"  His  known  character  as  a  man  of  ex- 
traordinary sense  and  unimpeached  virtue 
would  secure  him  the  attention  of  the 
house,  and  could  not  fail  to  give  him  a  prop- 
er weight  there. 

"  He  is  capable  of  the  greatest  applica- 
tion, and  can  undergo  any  degree  of  labour, 
where  he  sees  it  necessary,  and  where 
his  heart  and  affections  are  strongly  en- 
aged.      His   majesty's   ministers    might 

erefore  securely  depend  on  his  doing, 
upon  every  proper  occasion,  the  ut- 
most that  could  be  expected  from  him. 
They  would  find  him  ready  to  vindicate 
such  'measures  as  tended  to  promote  the 
stability  of  government,  and  resolute  and 
steady  in  carrying  them  into  execution. 
Nor  is  any  thing  to  be  apprehended  from 
the  supposed  impetuosity  of  his  temper. 
To  the  friends  of  the  king  you  will  find 
him  a  lamb,  to  his  enemies  a  hon. 

"  For  these  reasons,  I  humbly  apprehend 


S 


1  [THie  secretaries  of  the  treasury,  at  this  time, 
were  Sir  Grey  Cooper  and  James  West,  Esq.— 
En.] 


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that  lie  would  be  a  very  able  and  useful 
member.  And  I  will  venture  to  say,  the 
employment  would  not  be  disagreeable  to 
him;  and  knowing,  as  I  do,  his  strong  affec- 
tion to  the  king,  his  ability  to  serve  him  in 
that  capacity,  and  the  extreme  ardour  with 
which  1  am  convinced  he  would  engage  in 
that  service,  I  must  repeat,  that  I  wish  most 
heartily  to  see  him  in  the  house. 

"If  you  think  this  worthy  of  attention, 
you  will  be  pleased  to  take  a  convenient  op 
portunity  of  mentioning  it  to  Lord  North. 
If  his  lordship  should  happily  approve  of  it, 
I  shall  have  the  satisfaction  of  having  been, 
in  some  degree,  the  humble  instrument  of 
doing  my  country,  in  my  opinion,  a  very 
essential  service.  I  know  your  good-na- 
ture, and  your  zeal  for  the  publick  welfare, 
will  plead  my  excuse  for  giving  you  this 
trouble.  I  am,  with  the  greatest  respect, 
sir,  your  most  obedient  and  humble  servant, 
«  William  Strahan." 

This  recommendation,  we  know,  was 
not  effectual;  but  how,  or  for  what  reason, 
can  only  be  conjectured  K  It  is  not  to  be 
believed  that  Mr.  Strahan  would  have  ap 
plied,  unless  Johnson  had  approved  of  it 
I  never  heard  him  mention  the  subject:  but 
at  a  later  period  of  his  life,  when  Sir  Josh- 
ua Reynolds  told  him  that  Mr.  Edmund 
Burke  had  said,  that  if  he  had  come  early 
1  into  parliament,  he  certainly  would  have 
been  the  greatest  speaker  that  ever  was 
there,  Johnson  exclaimed,  "  I  should  like 
to  try  my  hand  now." 

It  bas  been  much  agitated  among  his 
friends  and  others,  whether  he  would  have 
J       been  a  powerful  speaker  in  parliament,  had 
!        he  been  brought  in  when  advanced  in  life. 
(        I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  his  extensive 
knowledge,  his  quickness  and  force  of  mind, 
bis  vivacity  and  richness  of  expression,  his 
wit  and  humour,  and  above  all,  his  poignan- 
cy of  sarcasm,  would  have  had  great  effect 
in  a  popular  assembly;  and  that  the  mag- 
nitude of  his  figure,  and  striking  peculiari- 
ty of  his  manner,  would  have  aided  the  ef- 
fect    But  I  remember  it  was  observed  by 
Mr.  Flood,  that  Johnson,  having  been  long 
t        used  to  sententious  brevity,  and  the  short 
I       nights  of  conversation,  might  have  failed  in 
that  continued  and  expanded  kind  of  argu- 
ment, which  is  requisite  in  stating  compli- 
cated matters  in  publick  speaking;  and  as  a 


»  [Lord  Stowell  has  told  the  editor,  that  it  was 
maderstood  amongst  Johnson's  friends  that  "  Lord 
North  was  afraid  that  Johnson's  help,  (as  he 
himself  said  of  Lord  Chesterfield's)  might  have 
been  sometimes  embarrassing."  "He  perhaps 
thought,  and  not  unreasonably,"  added  Lord 
Stowell,  "  that,  like  the  elephant  in  the  battle, 
he  was  quite  as  likely  to  trample  down  his  friends 
as  hit  foe*."— Ed.] 


proof  of  this  he  mentioned  the  supposed 
speeches  in  parliament  written  by  him  for 
the  magazine,  none  of  which,  in  his  opinion, 
were  at  all  like  real  debates.  The  opinion 
of  one  who  was  himself  so  eminent  an  ora- 
tor, must  be  allowed  to  have  great  weight 
It  was  confirmed  by  SirWillam  Scott  [Lord 
Stowell],  who  mentioned  that  Johnson  had 
told  him,  that  he  had  several  times  tried  to 
speak  in  the  society  of  Arts  and  Manufac- 
tures, but "  had  found  he  could  notget  on3." 
From  Mr.  William  Gerard  Hamilton  I 
have  heard,  that  Johnson,  when  observing 
to  him  that  it  was  prudent  for  a  man  who 
had  not  been  accustomed  to  sneak  in  pub- 
lick, to  begin  his  speech  in  as  simple  a  man- 
ner as  possible,  acknowledged  that  he  rose 
in  that  society  to  deliver  a  speech  which  he 
had  prepared;  "but,"  said  he,  "all  my 
flowers  of  oratory  forsook  me."  T howev- 
er cannot  help  wishing  that  he  had  "  tried 
his  hand,"  in  parliament;  and  I  wonder 
that  ministry  did  not  make  the  experi- 
ment 

[Johnson  himself  was,  in  Sir  J.    Hawk. 
Hawkins's  opinion,  a  little  soured  by    p'  *13 
this  disappointment;  and  he  after- 
wards spoke  of  Lord  North  in  terms  of  as- 
perity.] 

[it  was,  says  Mrs.  Piozzi,  in  1775 
that  Mr.  Burke  made  the  famous /Tataa. 
speech3,  in  parliament,  that  struck 
even  foes  with  admiration,  and  friends  with 
delight  Among  the  nameless  thousands 
who  are  contented  to  echo  those  praises 
they  have  not  skill  to  invent,  I  ventured, 
before  Dr.  Johnson  himself,  to  applaud, 
with  rapture,  the  beautiful  passage  in  it 
concerning  Lord  Bathurst  and  the  angel ; 
"which,"  said  the  doctor,  "  had  I  been  in 
the  house,  I  would  have  answered  thus: 

"  Suppose,  Mr.  Speaker,,  that  to  Whar- 
ton, or  to  Marlborough,  or  to  any  of  the 
eminent  whigs  of  the  last  age,  the  DeiM 


1  Br.  Kippis,  however  (Biograph.  Briton, 
article  "  J.  Gilbert  Cooper,"  p.  266,  n.  new 
edit),  says,  that  he  "  once  heard  Br.  Johnson 
speak  in  the  Society  of  Arts  and  Manufactures, 
upon  a  subject  relative  to  mechanicks,  whh  a  pro- 
priety ,  perspicuity,  and  energy,  which  excited 
general  admiration." — Malonk.  [We  cannot 
give  credit  to  Br.  Kippis's  account  against  John- 
son's own  statement  vouched  by  Lord  Stowell 
and  Mr.  Hamilton;  but  even  if  we  could,  one 
speech  in  the  Society  of  Arts  was  no  test  of  what 
Johnson  might  have  been  able  to  do  in  parliament ; 
and  it  may  be  suspected  that  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
two  he,  with  all  his  talents,  would  have  tailed  to 
acquire  that  peculiar  tact  and  dexterity,  without 
which  even  great  abilities  do  not  succeed  in  that 
very  fastidious  assembly.  Lord  St  Helens  has 
since  confirmed  to  the  editor,  on  the  authority  of 
his  father,  an  eye-witness,  Br.  Johnson's  failure 
at  the  Society  of  Arts.— Ed.] 

»  [On  the  22d  March,  1775.— En.] 


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1771.— ^TAT.  ft. 


had,  not  with  any  great  impropriety,  con- 
sented to  appear;  he  would  perhaps  in 
somewhat  like  these  words  have  commenc- 
ed the  conversation: 

"  You  seem,  my  lord,  to  be  concerned  at 
the  judicious  apprehension,  that  while  you 
are  sapping  the  foundations  of  royalty  at 
home,  and  propagating  here  the  dangerous 
doctrine  of  resistance,  the  distance  of  Ameri- 
ca may  secure  its  inhabitants  from  your  arts, 
though  active:  but  I  will  unfold  to  you  the 
gay  prospects  of  futurity.  This  people,  now 
so  innocent  and  harmless,  shall  draw  the 
sword  against  their  mother-country,  and 
bathe  its  point  in  the  blood  of  their  {bene- 
factors: tnis  people,  now  contented  with  a 
little,  shall  then  refuse  to  spare,  what  they 
themselves  confess  they  could  not  miss;  and 
these  men,  now  so  honest  and  so  grateful, 
shall,  in  return  for  peace  and  for  protection, 
see  their  vile  agents  in  the  house  of  parlia- 
ment, there  to  sow  the  seeds  of  sedition,  and 
propagate  confusion,  perplexity,  and  pain. 
Be  not  dispirited  then  at  the  contemplation 
of  their  present  happy  state;  I  promise  you 
that  anarchy,  poverty,  and  death,.shall,  by 
my  care,  be  carried  even  across  the  spacious 
Atlantic,  and  settle  in  America  itself,  the 
sure  consequences  of  our  beloved  w  higgism. " 

This  Mre.  Piozzi  thought  a  thing  so  very 
particular,  that  she  begged  his  leave  to 
write  it  down  directly,  before  anv  thing 
could  intervene  that  might  make  her  for- 
get the  force  of  the  expressions]. 

["TO  MISS  LANGTOtf. 

«  London,  17th  April,  1771. 

"Madam, — If  I  could  have  flatter- 
ggj*-  ed  myself  that  my  letters  could  have 
p.  W5.  given  pleasure,  or  have  alleviated 
pain,  I  should  not  have  omitted  to 
write  to  a  lady  to  whom  I  do  sincerely  wish 
every  increase  of  pleasure,  and  every  miti- 
gation of  uneasiness. 

"  I  knew,  dear  madam,  that  a  very  heavy 
affliction1  had  fallen  upon  you;  but  it  was 
one  of  those  which  the  established  course  of 
nature  makes  necessary,  and  to  which  kind 
words  give  no  relief.  Success  is  on  these 
occasions  to  be  expected  only  from  time. 

"  Your  censure  of  me,  as  deficient  in 
friendship,  is  therefore  too  severe.  I  have 
neither  been  unfriendly,  nor  intentionally 
uncivil  The  notice  with  which  you  have 
honoured  me,  I  have  neither  forgotten,  nor 
remembered  without  pleasure. 

"  The  calamity  of  ill  health,  your  brother 
will  tell  you  that  I  have  had,  since  I  saw 
you,  sufficient  reason  to  know  and  to  pity. 
But  this  is  another  evil  against  which  we 
can  receive  little  help  from  one  another.  I 
can  only  advise  you,  and  I  advise  you  with 

1  [Probably  the  death  of  her  aunt,  the  eider 
MieiLanat0a.--Ex>.] 


mat  earnestness,  to  do  nothing  that  may 
hurt  you,  and  to  reject  nothing  that  may  do 
you  good.  To  preserve  health  is  a  moral 
and  religious  duty:  for  health  is  the  basis 
of  all  social  virtues;  we  can  be  useful  no 
longer  than  while  we  are  well. 
•  "  If  the  family  knows  that  you  receive  this 
letter,  you  will  be  pleased  to  make  my  com- 
pliments. 

"  I  flatter  myself  with  the  hopes  of  seeing 
Langton  after  Lady  Rothesto recovery;  and 
then  I  hope  that  you  and  I  shall  renew  our 
conferences,  and  that  I  shall  find  you  willing 
as  formerly  to  talk  and  to  hear;  and  shall  be 
again  admitted  to  the  honour  of  being,  mad- 
am, your  most  obedient  and  most  Rumble 
servant,  «  Sam.  Johnson."] 

I  at  length  renewed  a  correspondence 
which  had  been  too  long  discontinued: 

"  TO  DR.  JOHNSON. 

"  Edinburgh,  18th  April,  1TTI. 

"  Mr  dear  sir, — I  can  now  fully  under- 
stand those  intervals  of  silence  in  your  cor- 
respondence with  me,  which  have  often  giv- 
en me  anxiety  and  uneasiness;  for  although 
I  am  conscious  that  my  veneration  and  love 
for  Mr.  Johnson  have  never  in  the  least 
abated,  yet  I  have  deferred  for  almost  a  year 
and  a  half  to  write  to  him." 

In  the  subsequent  part  of  this  letter,  I  gave 
him  an  account  of  my  comfortable  life  as  a 
married  man^,  and  a  lawyer  in  practice  at 
the  Scotch  bar;  invited  him  to  Scotland, 
and  promised  to  attend  him  to  the  Highlands 
and  Hebrides, 

"DR.  JOHNSON  TO  JAMES  BOS  WELL,  ESQ. 
"  London,  90th  Jama,  MIL 

"  Dear  sir, — If  you  are  now  able  to  com- 
prehend that  I  might  neglect  to  write  with- 
out diminution  of  affection,  you  have  taught 
me,  likewise,  how  that  neglect  may  be  un- 
easily felt  without  resentment.  I  wished 
for  your  letter  along  time,  and  when  it  came, 
it  amply  recompensed  the  delay.  I  never 
was  so  much  pleased  as  now  with  your  ac- 
count of  yourself;  and  sincerely  hope,  that 
between  publick  business,  improving  stu- 
dies, and  domestick  pleasures,  neither  met* 

*  [Mr.  Boswell  had  married  in  November, 
1769,  Mis  Margaret  Montgomerie,  of  the  family 
of  the  Montgomeries  of  Lainshawe,  who  were 
baronets,  and  claimed  the  peerage  of  Lyle.  Dr. 
Johnson  says  of  this  lady  to  Mrs.  Tfcrale,  in  a  let* 
tar  from  Auchinleck,  2Sd  August,  1778,  "Mia. 
[Boswell]  has  the  mien  and  manner  of  a  gentle- 
woman, and  such  a  person  and  mind  as  would 
not  in  any  place  either  be  admired  or  condemned. 
She  is  in  a  proper  degree  inferior  to  her  husband: 
she  cannot  rival  him,  nor  can  he  erer  be  i 
of  her."— Ed.] 


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lancholy  nor  caprice  will  find  any  place  for 
entrance.  Whatever  philosophy  may  deter- 
mine of  material  nature,  it  is  certainly  true 
of  intellectual  nature,  that  it  abhors  a  e«c- 
mmi:  our  minds  cannot  he  empty;  and  evil 
will  break  in  upon  them,  if  they  are  not  pre- 
occupied by  good.  My  dear  sir,  mind  your 
studies,  mind  your  business,  make  vour  lady 
happy,  and  be  a  good  Christian.    After  this, 


Trades  proterrii  in  man  Cretknm 
Portsie  vends.' 

"  If  we  perform  our  duty,  we  shall  be 
safe  and  steady,  'Sive  per,'  &c.  whether 
we  climb  the  Highlands,  or  are  tossed 
among  the  Hebrides;  and  I  hope  the  time 
will  come  when  we  may  try  our  powers 
both  with  clifls  and  water.  I  see  but  little 
of  Lord  Elibank1, 1  know  not  why;  perhaps 
by  my  own  fault.  I  am  this  day  going  in- 
to Staffordshire  and  Derbyshire  lor  six 
weeks.  I  am,  dear  sir,  your  most  affection- 
ate, and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

f"DB.  JOHNSON  TO  MRS.  THBALE. 

"Lichfield,  23d  Jane,  1771. 

Utttn.       "  Last  night  I  came  safe  to  Lich- 

I?y*  m.  Gd&i  this  day  *  was  vi8ited  by  Mrs. 
&T ' m  Cobb.  This  afternoon  I  went  to 
Mrs.  Aston,  where  I  found  Miss 
TTurton],  and  waited  on  her  home.  Miss 
Tr  urton]  wears  spectacles,  and  can  hardly 
climb  the  stiles.  I  was  not  tired  at  all,  either 
last  night  or  to-day.  Miss  Porter  is  very  kind 
to  me.    Her  dog  and  cats  are  all  well." 

«  Ashbourne,  Sd  Inly,  1771. 
"  Last  Saturday  I  came  to  Ashbourne- 
Ashbourne  in  the  Peak.  Let  not  the  bar- 
ren name  of  the  Peak  terrify  you;  I  have 
never  wanted  strawberries  and  cream.  The 
neat  bull  has  no  disease  but  age.  I  hope 
in  time  to  be  like  the  great  bull;  and  hope 
i  will  be  like  him  too  a  hundred  years 


,  7th  July,  1771. 

"  Poor  Dr.  Taylor  is  ill,  and  under  my 
government;  you  know  that  the  act  of 
government  is  learned  by  obedience;  I  hope 
I  can  govern  very  tolerably. 

"  The  old  rheumatism  is  come  again  into 
my  face  and  mouth,  but  nothing  yet  to  the 
lumbago:  however,  having  so  long  thought 
it  gone,  I  do  not  like  its  return. 

"  Miss  Porter  was  much  pleased  to  be 


1  [Patrick  Murray,  fifth  Lord  Dibwik.  He  had 
bean  in  the  army,  and  served  as  a  colonel  ia  the 
expedition  again*  Cartbsgena  in  1740.  He  was 
a  man  of  wit  end  talents,  and  wrote  some  tracts 
isJathreto  the  statistics  end  history  of  Scotland. 
He  died  in  1778.— En.] 


mentioned  in  your  letter,  and  is  sure  that  I 
have  spoken  better  of  her  than  she  deserv- 
ed. She  holds  that  both  Frank  and  his 
master  are  much  improved.  The  master, 
she  says,  is  not  half  so  lounging  and  untidy 
as  he  was;  there  was  no  sucn  thing  last 
year  as  getting  him  off  his  chair." 

«  AAbonnw,  Sth  July,  1771. 

"  Dr.  Taylor  is  better,  and  is  gone  out 
in  the  chaise.  My  rheumatism  is  better  too. 

"  I  would  hsve  been  glad  to  go  to  Hag- 
ley,  in  compliance  with  Mr.  Lyttelton's* 
kind  invitation,  for,  besides  the  pleasure  of 
his  company,  I  should  have  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  recollecting  past  times,  and  wan- 
dering per  monies  notes*  et  fluminm  nota, 
of  recalling  the  images  of  sixteen,  and  re- 
viewing my  conversations  with  poor  Ford  4. 
But  this  year  will  not  bring  this  gratifica- 
tion within  my  power.  I  promised  Taylor 
a  month.  Every  thing  is  done  here  to 
please  me;  and  his  health  is  a  strong  rea- 
son against  desertion."] 

"TO  SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS,    IN    LUCES-* 
TER-FIELDS. 
«  Afthboorne  In  DetbyabJre,  I7t*  July,  1771. 

"Dear  Sir,— -When  I  came  to  Lich- 
field, I  found  that  my  portrait5  had  been 
much  visited,  and  much  admired.  Every 
man  has  a  lurking  wish  to  appear  consider- 
able in  his  native  place;  and  1  was  pleased 
with  the  dignity  conferred  by  such  a  testi- 
mony of  your  regard. 

"Be  pleased,  therefore,  to  accept  the 
thanks  of,  sir,  your  most  obliged,  and  most 
humble  servant,  "  Sam.  Johhsoh. 

"  Compliments  to  Miss  Reynolds." 

f,T0  DR.  JOHNSON. 

••  Edinburgh,  27th  Jely,  1771. 

"Mt  dear  sir, — The  bearer  of  this, 
Mr.  Beattie,  professor  of  moral  philosophy 
at  Aberdeen,  is  desirous  of  being  introduced 
to  your  acquaintance.  His  genius  and 
learning,  and  labours  in  the  service  of  vir* 
tue  and  religion,  render  him  very  worthy 
of  it:  and  as  he  has  a  high  esteem  of  your 
character,  I  hope  you  will  give  him  a 
favourable  reception.    I  ever  am,  Sec. 

"  Jam E8  Boswell." 


*  [The  ancle  of  Lord  Lyttehon,  who  lived  at 
Little  Hagley.— Ed.  J 

»  [Thus  in  Mi*.  Thnle's  book.— En.] 
4  Cornelias   Ford,    his    mother's   nephew*— 
Pxoazi. 

•  The  second  portrait  of  Johnson,  painted  by 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds;  with  his  amis  rased,  and 
h»  hands  bent  It  was  at  this  time,  it  is  believed, 
in  the  possession  of  Miss  Lacy  Porter,  and  is 
still  probably  at  Lichfield.— Ma  lone.  [It  it 
now  the  property  of  the  Marquis  of  Stafford— 
En.] 


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1TH— jETAT.  61. 


["  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MRS.  THRALB. 

"  Lichfield,  Sal.  8d  Aug.  1771. 
Letter*,  "  Having  stayed  my  month  with 
toI.  l  Taylor,  I  came  away  on  Wednes- 
p*  *  day,  leaving  him,  I  think,  in  a  dispo- 
sition of  mind  not  very  uncommon,  at  once 
weary  of  my  stay,  and  grieved  at  my  depar- 
ture. 

"  My  purpose  was  to  have  made  haste  to 
you  and  Streatham ;  and  who  would  have 
expected  that  I  should  have  heen  stopped 
by  Lucy?  Hearing*  me  give  Francis  orders 
to  take  in  places,  she  told  me  that  I  should 
not  go  till  after  next  week.  I  thought  it 
pioper  to  comply;  for  I  was  pleased  to  find 
that  I  could  please,  and  proud  of  showing 
you  that  I  do  not  come  an  universal  out- 
cast Lucy  is  likewise  a  very  peremptory 
maiden;  and  if  I  had  gone  without  permis- 
sion, I  am  not  very  sure  that  I  might  have 
been  welcome  at  another  time."] 

"  TO  BBNNBT  LANOT0N,  BSQ.  AT  LANGTON. 
"  29th  Auguat,  1771. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  am  latelv  returned  from 
Staffordshire  and  Derbyshire.  The  last 
letter  mentions  two  others  which  you  have 
written  to  me  since  you  received  my  pam- 
phlet Of  these  two  I  never  had  but  one, 
in  which  you  mentioned  a  design  of  visit- 
ing Scotland,  and,  by  consequence,  put  my 
journey  to  Langton  out  of  my  thoughts. 
My  summer  wanderings  are  now  over,  and 
I  am  engaging  in  a  very  great  work,  the 
revision  of  my  Dictionary;  from  which  I 
know  not,  at  present,  how  to  get  loose. 

"  If  you  have  observed,  or  been  told,  any 
errours  or  omissions,  you  will  do  me  a  great 
favour  by  letting  me  know  them. 

"  Lady  Rothes,  I  find,  has  disappointed 
you  and  herself.  Ladies  will  have  these 
tricks.  The  queen  and  Mrs.  Thrale,  both 
ladies  of  experience,  yet  both  missed  their 
reckoning  this  summer.  I  hope,  a  few 
months  will  recompense  your  uneasiness. 

"  Please  to  tell  Lady  Rothes  how  highly 
I  value  the  honour  of  her  invitation,  wnicn 
it  is  my  purpose  to  obey  as  soon  as  I  have 
disengaged  myself.  In  the  mean  time  I 
shall  hope  to  hear  often  of  her  ladyship,  and 
every  day  better  news  and  better,  till  i  hear 
that  you  have  both  the  happiness,  which  to 
both  is  very  sincerely  wished  by,  sir,  your 
most  affectionate  and  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnson." 

In  October  I  again  wrote  to  him,  thank- 
ing him  for  his  last  letter,  and  his  obliging 
reception  of  Mr.  Beat  tie;  informing  nim 
that  I  had  been  at  Alnwick  lately,  and  had 
good  accounts  of  him  from  Dr.  Percy. 

Tin  October,  1771,  John  Bell,  Esq. 

p.m!     °"  Hertfordshire,  a  gentleman  with 

whom    he   had  maintained  a  long 

and  strict  friendship,  had  the  misfortune  to 


lose  his  wife,  and  wished  Johnson,  from 
the  outlines  of  her  character,  which  he 
should  give  him,  and  his  own  knowledge  of 
her  worth,  to  compose  a  monumental  in- 
scription for  her:  he  returned  the  husband 
thanks  for  the  confidence  he  placed  in  him, 
and  acquitted  himself  of  the  task  in  a  fine 
eulogium,  now  to  be  seen  in  the  parish 
church  of  Watford  in  Hertfordshire.] 

In  his  religious  record  of  this  year  we  ob- 
serve that  he  was  better  than  usual,  both 
in  body  and  mind,  and  better  satisfied  with 
the  regularity  of  his  conduct.  But  he  is 
still "  trying  his  ways  "  too  rigorously.  He 
charges  himself  with  not  rising  early 
enough;  yet  he  mentions  what  was  surely 
a  sufficient  excuse  for  this,  supposing  it  to 
be  a  duty  seriously  required,  as  he  all  his 
life  appears  to  have  thought  it 

"  One  great  hinderance  is  want  of  rest ; 
my  nocturnal  complaints  grow  less  trouble- 
some towards  morning;  and  I  am  tempted 
to  repair  the  deficiencies  of  the  night." 

Alas  I  how  hard  would  it  be,  if  this  in- 
dulgence were  to  be  imputed  to  a  sick  man 
as  a  crime.  In  his  retrospect  on  the  follow- 
ing Easter-eve,  he  says : 

"  When  I  review  the  last  year,  I  am  able 
to  recollect  so  little  done,  that  shame  and 
sorrow,  though  perhaps  too  weakly,  come 
upon  me." 

Had  he  been  judging  of  any  one  else  in 
the  same  circumstances,  how  clear  would  he 
have  been  on  the  favourable  side.  How 
very  difficult,  and  in  my  opinion  almost  con- 
stitutionally impossible  it  was  for  him  to  be 
raised  early,  even  by  the  strongest  resolu- 
tions, appears  from  a  note  in  one  of  his  little 
paper  books  (containing  words  arranged  for 
his  Dictionary),  written,  I  suppose,  about 
175S  : 

"  I  do  not  remember  that,  since  I  left  Ox- 
ford, I  ever  rose  early  by  mere  choice,  but 
once  or  twice  at  Edial,  and  two  or  three 
times  for  the  Rambler ".» 

I  think  he  had  fair  ground  enough  to 
have  quieted  his  mind  on  the  subject,  by 
concluding  that  he  was  physically  incapa- 
ble of  what  is  at  best  but  a  commodious 
regulation. 

In  1772  he  was  altogether  quiescent  as 
an  authour;  but  it  will  be  found,  from  the 
various  evidences  which  I  shall  bring  to- 
gether, that  his  mind  was  acute,  lively,  and 
vigorous. 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS. 
<*3?th  February,  1772. 

"  Dbai  sir, — Be  pleased  to  send  to  Mr. 
Banks,  whose  place  of  residence  I  do  not 
know,  this  note,  which  I  have  sent  open, 
that,  if  you  please,  you  may  read  it. 


1  [And,  "  for  the  Rambler,"  it  could  hardly 
have  been  "  by  mere  eAoke."— -Ed.] 


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279 


"  When  you  send  it,  do  not  nee  your 
own  seal.  I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble 
servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  DR.  JOHNSON   TO   JOSEPH   BANKS,    ESQ. 
*•  JohiwmVooart,  FleeUttreet,  37th  Feb.  1772. 
"  Perpetna  ambit*  bis  terra  pnemia  lactia 
Haec  babet  ahrici  Capra  secunda  Jovis l. 
"  Sin, — I  return  thanks  to  you  and  to  Dr. 
Solander  for  the  pleasure  which  I  received 
in  yesterday's  conversation.    I  could  not 
recollect  a  motto  for  your  goat,  but  have 
given  her  one.      You,  sir,  may  perhaps 
have  an  epick  poem  from  some  happier 
pen  than,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ.  TO  DR.  JOHNSON. 

"  Mr  deae  sir, — It  is  hard  that  I  can- 
not prevail  on  you  to  write  to  me  oftener. 
But  1  am  convinced  that  it  is  in  vain  to  ex- 
pect from  you  a  private  correspondence  with 
any  regularity.  I  must,  therefore,  look  up- 
on you  as  a  fountain  of  wisdom,  from 
whence  few  rills  are  communicated  to  a 
distance,  and '  which  must  be  approached 
at  its  source,  to  partake  fully  of  its  virtues. 
•        ••••• 

"  I  am  coming  to  London  soon,  and  am 
to  appear  in  an  appeal  from  the  court  of 
session  in  the  house  of  lords.  A  school- 
master in  Scotland  was,  by  a  court  of  in- 
ferior jurisdiction,  deprived  of  his  office, 
for  being  somewhat  severe  in  the  chastise- 
ment of  his  scholars.  The  court  of  ses- 
sion considering  it  to  be  dangerous  to  the 
interest  of  learning  and  education,  to  les- 
sen the  dignity  of  teachers,  and  make  them 
afraid  of  too  indulgent  parents,  instigated 
by  the  complaints  of  their  children,  restored 
ban.  His  enemies  have  appealed  to  the 
house  of  lords,  though  the  salary  is  only 
twenty  pounds  a  year.  I  was  counsel  for 
him  here.  I  hope  there  will  be  little  fear 
of  a  reversal ;  but  I  must  beg  to  have  your 
aid  in  my  plan  of  supporting  the  decree. 
It  is  a  general  question,  and  not  a  point  of 
particular  law. 

"  I  am,  Sec.      "  James  Boswell." 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 
<*  15th  March,  1772. 

"Deae  sir, — That  you  are  coming  so 
soon  to  town  I  am  very  glad ;  and  still  more 


1  That  translated  by  a  friend; — 

•*  ai  am  fctroe  16001111  to  the  none  of  Jove, 
Tali  gomt,  who  twice  the  world  had  trareraedj  round, 

DwrHiig  both  her  matter1*  care  and  Ioyo, 
Rase  and  perpetual  pasture  now  hae  found.*' 

[Neither  the  original  nor  the  translation  wid 
add  much  to  the  poetical  fame  of  Mr.  BosweU's 
friends.  The  Latin  seen*  particularly  stiff  an4 
poor.— En.] 


flad  that  yon  are  coming  as  an  advocate, 
think  nothing  more  likely  to  make  your 
life  pass  happily  away,  than  that  conscious- 
ness of  your  own  value,  which  eminence 
in  your  profession  will  certainly  confer. 
If  I  can  give  you  any  collateral  help,  I  hope 
you  do  not  suspect  that  it  will  he  wanting. 
My  kindness  for  you  has  neither  the  ment 
of  singular  virtue,  nor  the  reproach  of  sin- 
gular prejudice.  Whether  to  love  you  he 
riflfht  or  wrong,  I  have  many  on  my  side: 
Mrs.  Thrale  loves  you,  and  Mrs.  Williams 
loves  you,  and  what  would  have  inclined 
me  to  love  you,  if  I  had  been  neutral  before, 
you  are  a  great  favourite  of  Dr.  Beattie. 

"Of  Dr.  Beattie  I  should  have  thought 
much,  but  that  his  lady  puts  him  out  of  my 
head;  she  is  a  very  lovely  woman. 

"The  ejection  which  you  come  hither 
to  oppose,  appears  very  cruel,  unreasonable, 
and  oppressive.  I  should  think  there  could 
not  be  much  doubt  of  your  success. 

"My  health  grows  better,  yet  I  am, 
not  fully  recovered.  I  believe  it  is  held 
that  men  do  not  recover  very  fast  after 
three-score.  I  hope  yet  to  see  Beattie's 
college :  and  have  not  given  up  the  western 
voyage.  But  however  all  this  may  be  or 
not,  let  us  try  to  make  each  other  happy 
when  we  meet,  and  not  refer  our  pleasure 
to  distant  times  or  distant  places. 

"  How  comes  it  that  you  tell  me  nothing 
of  your  lady  ?  I  hope  to  see  her  some  time, 
and  till  then  shall  be  glad  to  hear  of  her. 
I  am,  dear  sir,  &c. 

•  "  Sam.  Johnson.** 

"  DR.     JOHNSON   TO    SENNET    LANGTON, 
£8*.  AT  LANOTON. 

M  14th  March,  17TL 

"Dear  sir, — I  congratulate  you  and 
Lady  Rothes  on  your  little  man,  and  hope 
you  will  all  be  many  years  happy  together. 

"  Poor  Miss  Langton  can  have  little  part 
in  the  joy  of  her  family.  She  this  day  call- 
ed her  aunt  Langton  to  receive  the  sacra- 
ment with  her  :  and  made  me  talk  yester- 
day on  such  subjects  as  suit  her  condition. 
It  will  probably  oe  her  viaticum.  I  surely 
need  not  mention  again  that  she  wishes  to 
see  her  mother.  I  am,  sir,  your  most  hum- 
ble servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

On  the  aist  of  March,  I  was  happy  to 
find  myself  again  in  my  friend's  study,  and 
W88  glad  to  see  my  old  acquaintance,  Mr. 
Francis  Barber,  who  has  now  returned 
home.  Dr.  Johnson  received  me  with  a 
hearty  welcome ;  saying,  "  I  am  glad  yon 
are  come,  and  glad  you  are  come  upon  such 
an  errand; "  (alluding  to  the  cause  of  the 
schoolmaster.)  Boswell.  "I  hope,  sir, 
he  will  be  in  no  danger.    It  is  a  very  deli- 


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1771^-jETAT.  «. 


cate  matter  to  interfere  between  a  matter 
and  hie  scholars:  nor  do  I  tee  how  you  can 
fix  the  degree  of  severity  that  a  matter  may 
nee."  Johnson.  "  W  hy,  tir,  till  you  can 
fix  the  degree  of  obstinacy  and  negligence 
of  the  scholars,  you  cannot  fix  the  degree 
of  severity  of  the  master.  Severity  must 
be  continued  until  obstinacy  be  subdued, 
and  negligence  be  cured."  He  mentioned 
the  seventy  of  Hunter,  his  own  master. 
"Sir  (said I),  Hunter  is  a  Scotch  name: 
so  it  should  seem  this  schoolmaster  who 
beat  you  so  severely  was  a  Scotchman.  I 
can  now  account  for  your  prejudice  against 
the  Scotch."  Johnson.  "Sir,  he  was 
not  Scotch  ;  and,  abating  his  brutality,  he 
was  a  very  good  master. " 

We  talked  of  his  two  political  pamphlets, 
"  The  False  Alarm,"  and  "  Thoughts  con- 
cerning Falkland's  Islands."  Jo  Hit  son. 
"  Well,  air,  which  of  them  did  you  think 
the  best?"  Boswell.  "I  liked  the  sec- 
ond best"  Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  I 
liked  the  first  best ;  and  Beattie  liked  the 
first  best  Sir,  there  is  a  subtlety  of  disqui- 
sition in  the  first,  that  is  worth  ail  the  fire 
of  the  second."  Bos  well.  "  Pray,  sir, 
is  it  true  that  Lord  North  paid  you  a  visit, 
and  that  you  got  two  hundred  a  year  in 
addition  to  your  pension?"  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir.  Except  what  I  had  from  the 
bookseller,  I  did  not  get  a  farthing  by 
them.  And  between  you  and  me,  I  be- 
lieve Lord  North  is  no  friend1  to  me." 
Boswell.  "How  so,  sir?"  Johnson. 
"Why,  sir,  you  cannot  account  for  the 
fancies  of  men.  Well,  how  does  Lord  Eli- 
bank?  and  how  does  Lord  Monboddo?" 
Boswell.  "  Very  well,  sir.  Lord  Mon- 
boddo9 still  maintains  the  superiority  of  the 
savage  life."  Johnson.  "What  strange 
narrowness  of  mind  now  is  that,  to  think 
the  things  we  have  not  known  are  better 
than  the  things  which  we  have  known." 
Boswell.  "  Why,  sir,  that  is  a  common 
prejudice."  Johnson.  "Yes,  sir,  but  a 
common  prejudice  should  not  be  found  in 
one  whose  trade  it  is  to  rectify  errour." 

A  gentleman  having  come  m~who  was  to 
go  as  a  mate  in  the  ship  along  with  Mr. 

1  [See  ante,  p.  275.— Ed.] 

1  [James  Burnet,  born  in  1714,  called  to  the 
Scott**  bar  m  1788,  and  advanced  to  be  a  lord 
of  session,  by  the  tide  of  Lord  Monboddo,  in 
1767,  was,  in  private  life,  at  well  ae  in  hit  litera- 
ry career,  a  humorist ;  the  teaming  and  acvteneai 
of  his  various  works  are  obscured  by  his  love  of 
singularity  and  paradox.  He  died  in  1799.— Ed. 
He  was  a  devout  believer  in  the  virtue*  of  the  he- 
roic ages  and  the  deterioration  of  civilised  man- 
kind; a  great  contemner  of  lnxmries,  insomuch 
that  he  never  used  a  wheel-carriage.  It  should 
be  added  that  he  was  a  gentleman  of  the  most 
amiable  disposition,  and  the  strictest  honour  and 
integrity.— Waltm  Scott.] 


Banks  and  Dr.  Solander,  Dr.  Johnson  ask- 
ed what  were  the  names  of  the  ships 
destined  for  the  expedition  3.  The  gentle- 
man answered,  they  were  once  to  be  called 
the  Drake  and  the  Ralegh,  but  now  they 
were  to  to  be  called  the  Resolution  and  the 
Adventure.  Johkson.  "  Much  better ; 
for  had  the  Ralegh  returned  without  going 
round  the  world,  it  would  have  been  ridicu- 
lous. To  rive  them  the  names  of  the  Drake 
and  the  Ralegh  was  laying  a  trap  for  satire." 
Boswell.  "  Had  vou  not  some  desire  to 
go  upon  this  expedition,  sir?"  Johnsoit. 
"  Why,  yes,  but  I  soon  laid  it  aside.  Sir, 
there  is  very  little  of  intellectual,  in  the 
course.  Besides,  I  see  but  at  a  small  dis- 
tance. So  it  was  not  worth  my  while  to 
go  to  see  birds  fly,  which  I  should  not  have 
seen  fly ;  and  fishes  swim,  which  I  should 
not  have  seen  swim." 

The  gentleman  being  gone,  and  Dr. 
Johnson  having  left  the  room  for  some  time, 
a  debate  arose  between  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Stockdale  and  Mrs.  Desmoulins,  whether 
Mr.  Banks  and  Dr.  Solander  were  entitled 
to  any  share  of  glory  from  their  expedition. 
When  Dr.  Johnson  returned  to  us,  I  told 
him  the  subject  of  their  dispute.  Jo  hit  so*. 
"  Why,  sir,  it  was  probably  for  botany  that 
they  went  out :  I  believe  they  thought  only 
of  culling  of  simples." 

I  thanked  him  for  showing  civilities  to 
Beattie.  "  Sir  (said  he),  I  should  thank 
yon.  We  all  love  Beattie.  Mrs.  Thrale 
says,  if  ever  she  has  another  husband, 
she'll  have  Beattie.    He  sunk  upon  us  4  that 


3  [There  was  no  person  in  the  capacity  of  mate 
in  either  of  these  ships.  Mr.  Banks  and  Dr.  Solan- 
der did  not  go  with  this  expedition.  The  reason 
which  they  alleged  for  abandoning  the  intention 
will  he  found  in  the  Annual  Register  for  1772,  p. 
108.— Ed.] 

4  "TO   JAMXS   SOBWBLL,  ESQ. 

«  BdUHwrgh,  3d  May,  1792. 
"  Mt  deab  sin,— -As  I  suppose  your  great 
work  will  soon  be  reprinted,  I  beg  leave  to  Una- 
ble yon  with  a  remark  on  a  passage  of  it,  in  which 
I  am  a  little  misrepresented.  Be  not  alarmed  ; 
the  misrepresentation  is  not  impotable* to  yon. 
Not  having  the  book  at  hand,  I  cannot  specify 
the  pace,  but  I  suppose  yon  will  easily  find  it. 
Dr.  Johnson  says,  speaking  of  Mrs.  ThraJe's  fami- 
ly, *  Dr.  Beattie  eunk  upon  u$  that  he  was  mar- 
ried, or  words  to  that  purpose.'  I  am  not  sere 
that  I  understand  stink  upon  us,  which  is  a  very 
uncommon  phrase:  but  it  seems  to  me  to  imply 
(and  others,  I  find,  have  understood  it  m  the 
same  sense),  studiously  concealed  from  ats  ass 
being  married.  Now,  sir,  this  was  by  no  means 
the  cans.  I  could  have  no  motive  to  conceal  a 
circumstance  of  which  I  never  was  nor  can  be 
ashamed;  and  of  which  Dr.  Johnson  seemed  to 
think,  when  he  afterwards  became  acquainted 
with  Mrs.  Beattie,  that  I  had,  as  was  true,  rea- 
son to  be  proud.     So  for  was  I  fiom  eon- 


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he  wu  married j  else  we  should  hove  shown 
his  lady  more  civilities.  She  is  a  very  fine 
woman.  But  how  can  you  show  civilities 
to  a  nonentity?  I  did  not  think  he  had 
been  married.  Nay,  I  did  not  think  about 
it  one  way  or  other;  but  he  did  not  tell  us 
ofim  lady  till  late." 

He  then  spoke  of  St.  Kilda,  the  most  re- 
mote of  the  Hebrides.  I  told  him,  I  thought 
of  buying  it.  Johhson.  "  Pray  do,  sir. 
We  will  go  and  pass  a  winter  amid  the  blasts 
there.  We  shall  have  fine  fish,  and  we  will 
take  some  dried  tongues  with  us,  and  some 
books.  We  will  hsve  a  strong  built  vessel, 
and  some  Orkney  men  to  navigate  her. 
We  must  build  a  tolerable  house:,  but  we 
may  carry  with  us  a  wooden  house  ready 
made,  and  requiring  nothing  but  to  be  put 
up.  Consider,  sir,  by  buying  St.  Kilda, 
you  may  keep  the  people  from  falling  into 
worse  hands.  We  must  give  them  a  cler- 
gvman,  and  he  shall  be  one  of  Beattie's 
choosing.  He  shall  be  educated  at  Maris- 
chal  College.  I  '11  be  your  lord  chancellor, 
or  what  you  please."  Bosweix.  "Are 
you  serious,  sir,  in  advising  me  to  buy  St 
Kilda?  for  if  you  should  advise  me  to  go  to 
Jaoan,  I  believe  I  should  do  it."  Johnson. 
"  Why,  yes,  sir,  I  am  serious."  Boswbll. 
"  Why  then  I'll  see  what  can  be  done." 

I  gave  him  an  account  of  the  two  parties 
in  the  church  of  Scotland,  those  for  sup- 
porting the  rights  of  patrons,  independent 
of  the  people,  and  those  against  it.  John- 
son. ' '  It  should  be  settled  one  way  or  other. 
I  cannot  wish  well  to  a  popular  election  of 
the  clergy,  when  I  consider  that  it  occasions 
such  animosities,  such  unworthy  courting 
of  the  people,  such  slanders  between  the 

coaling  her,  that  my  wife  had  at  that  time  almost 
as  numerous  aa  acquaintance  in  London  as  I  had 
myself ;  and  was,  not  very  long  after,  kindly  in- 
vited and  elegantly  entertained  at  Streatham  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thrale, 

"  My  request,  therefore,  is,  that  yen  would 
rectify  thai  matter  hi  your  new  edition.  You  are 
at  liberty  te  make  what  use  you  please  of  this 


"  My  best  wishes  ever  attend  you  and  your 
manly.  Believe  me  to  be,  with  the  utmost  re- 
gard and  esteem,  dear  sir,  your  obliged  and  aftee- 
tiooate  humMe  servant,  <«  J.  Beattis." 

I  have,  from  my  respect  for  my  friend  Dr. 
Beanie,  and  regard  to  Iris  extreme  sensibility,  in- 
the  foregoing;  letter,  though  I  cannot  but 
at  his  considering  as  any  imputation  a 
commonly  used  among  the  best  friends. 
— Bocwkll.  [Dr.  Beettie  was,  perhaps,  the 
mere  sensitive  on  this  point  as  he  must  have  been, 
at  the  rime  he  wrote,  conscious  that  there  was 
that  might  grre  a  colour  to  such  an 
i.  R  became  known,  shortly  after  the 
date  of  tins  letter,  that  the  mind  of  poor  Mia.  Be- 
attie  had  become  deranged,  and  she  passed  the 
last  years  of  bar  rife  in  corfa*tt**L-S**  Life*/ 
Jaerffts,  by  Sir  W.  Faroes.— E».]  \ 

▼ol.  i.  86 


contending  parties,  and  other  disadvanta- 
ges. It  is  enough  to  allow  the  people  to  re- 
monstrate against  the  nomination  of  a  min- 
ister for  solid  reasons."  (I  suppose  he 
meant  heresy  or  immorality.) 

He  was  engaged  to  dine  abroad,  and  ask- 
ed me  to  return  to  him  in  the  evening,  at 
nine,  which  I  accordingly  did. 

We  drank  tea  with  Mrs.  Williams,  who 
told  us  a  story  of  second  tight,  which  hap- 
pened in  Wales,  where  she  was  born.  He 
listened  to  it  very  attentively,  and  said  he 
should  be  glad  to  have  some  instances  of  that 
faculty  well  authenticated.  His  elevated 
wish  for  more  and  more  evidence  for  spirit,  in 
opposition  to  the  grovelling  belief  or  mate- 
rialism, led  him  to  a  love  of  such  mysteri- 
ous disquisitions.  He  again  justly  observed, 
that  we  could  have  no  certainty  of  the  truth* 
of  supernatural  appearances,  unless  some- 
thing was  told  us  which  we  could  not  know 
by  ordinary  means,  or  something  done  which 
could  not  be  done  but  by  supernatural 
power  i :  that  Pharaoh  in  reason  and  jus- 
tice required  such  evidence  from  Moses; 
nay,  that  our  Saviour  said, "  If  *  had  not 
dome  among  them  the  works  which  none 
other  man  did,  they  had  not  had  sin."  He 
had  said  in  the  morning,  that "  Macaulay's 
History  of  St  Kilda  "  was  very  well  writ- 
ten, except  some  foppery  about  liberty  and 
slavery.  I  mentioned  to  him  that  Macau- 
lay  told  me,  he  was  advised  to  leave  out  of 
his  book  the  wonderful  story  that  upon  the 
approach  of  a  stranger  all  the  inhabitants 
catch  cold  &  j  but  that  it  had  been  so  well  au- 
thenticated, he  determined  to  retain  it 
Johhsok.  "  Sir,  to  leave  things  out  of  a 
book,  merely  because  people  tell  you  they 
will  not  be  believed,  is  meanness.  Macau- 
lay  acted  with  more  magnanimity." 

We  talked  of  the  Roman  Catholick  reli- 


1  [This  is  the  true  distinction;  and  if  Johnson 
had  on  all  occasions  abided  by  this  text,  he  would 
have  escaped  the  ridicule  and  regret  which  he  of- 
ten occasioned  by  the  appearance,  if  not  the  re- 
ality, of  superstitious  credulity.    When  he  said, 


"  that  all  ages  and  all  nations  believe" 
supernatural  manifeatanons  (ante,  p.  149);  and 
again, "  that  they  are  so  frequent,  that  they  can- 
not be  called  fortuitous"  (ante,  p.  228),  he  should 
have  given  us  the  instances  in  which  any  thine 
was  clearly  and  undoubtedly  dene,  which  could 
only  have  been  done  by  supernatural  power. 
Appearances,  without  supernatural  facto,  are 
nothing :  they  may  be  dreams,  or  disease.  Every 
one  aees  visions  in  his  sleep,  and  every  body 
knows  that  the  sick  see  them  m  their  aaroaysms; 
and  there  are  some  cases  (such  as  that  of  Nicolai, 
the  Berlin  bookseller),  in  which  persons,  awake 
and  not  otherwise  disordered  u  mind,  have 
"  thick-coming  fancies,"  and  aee  what,  if  real, 
would  be  supernatural;  but  where,  we  most  again 
ask,  is  there  in  the  profane  history  of  the  world* 
one  well  attested  eapernatural  /act?— En.] 
•  [8ee«tft,p.246V-Ei».] 


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1772.— JSTAT.  68. 


gion,  and  how  little  difference  there  was  in 
essential  matters  between  ours  and  it. 
Johnson.  "  True,  sir j  all  denominations 
of  christians  have  really  little  difference  in 
point  of  doctrine,  though  they  may  differ 
widely  in  external  forms.  There  is  a  pro- 
digious difference  between  the  external 
form  of  one  of  your  preebyterian  churches 
of  Scotland,  and  the  church  in  Italy}  yet 
the  doctrine  taught  is  essentially  the  same." 
I  mentioned  the  petition  to  parliament 
for  removing  the  subscription  to  the  thirty- 
nine  articles  *.  Johnson.  "  It  was  soon 
thrown  out.  Sir,  they  talk  of  not  making 
boys  at  the  university  subscribe  to  what 
they  do  not  understand ;  but  they  ought  to 
consider,  that  our  universities  were  founded 
to  bring  up  members  for  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, and  we  must  not  supply  our  enemies 
with  arms  for  our  arsenal.  No,  sir,  the 
meaning  of  subscribing  is,  not  that  they 
fully  understand  all  the  articles,  but  that 
they  will  adhere  to  the  church  of  England. 
Now  take  it  in  this  way,  and  suppose  that 
they  should  only  subscribe  their  adherence 
to  the  church  of  England,  there  would  be 
still  the  same  difficulty;  for  still  the  young 
men  would  be  subscribing  to  what  they  do 
not  understand.  For  ir  you  should  ask 
them,  what  do  yon  mean  by  the  church  of 
England?  Do  you  know  in  what  it  differs 
from  the  presbyterian  church?  from  the 
Romish  church?  from  the  Greek  church? 
from  the  Coptick  church?  they  could  not 
tell  you.  Sot  sir,  i t  oomes  to'  the  same  thing. " 
Bosweli*.  "  But,  would  it  not  \m  suffi- 
cient to  subscribe  the  Bible! '»  Johnson. 
"  Why,  no,  sir;  for  all  vsects  wilrsubscribe 
the  Bible;  nay,  the  Mahometans  will  sub- 


1  [This  was  a  petition  drawn  tip  by  Mrv  Fran- 
cis Blackburn,  who,  though  an  archdeacon  of 
the  church  of  England,  had  published  several 
works  against  her  discipline  and  peculiar  doctrines; 
the  petition  was  presented  on  the  6th  of  February ; 
and  after  an  animated  debate,  taieoted  (not  being 
even  allowed  to  lie  on  the  table)  by  217  voices 
against  71.  Mr.  Gibbon  thus  notices  this  debate, 
m  a  letter  to  Lord  Sheffield:  "  I  congratulate  you 
on  the  late  victory  of  our  dear  mamma,  the  church 
of  England.  She  had,  last  Thursday  (6th  Febru- 
ary), seventy-one  rebellious  sons,*Who  pretended 
to  set  aside  her  wall,  on  account  of  insanity,  but 
two  hundred  and  seventeen  wdrthy  champions, 
headed  by  Lord  North,  Burke,  Hans  Stanley, 
Charles  Fox,  Godfrey  Clarice,  &c  supported  the 
validity  of  it  with  infinite  humour.  By  the  by, 
Charles  Fox  prepared  himself  for  that  holy  war, 
by  passing  twenty-two  hours  in  the  pious  exercise 
of  hazard;  his  devotion  only  cost  him  500/.  per 
hour,  in  all  11,0002.'*  Misc.  Works,  vol.  ii.  p. 
74.  Tnc  argument  which  seemed  to  make  most 
effect  in  the  house,  was  against  requiring  subscrip- 
tion from  every  youth  entering  the  university,  of 
whatever  ape,  or  intended  for  whatever  profession. 
To  this  point  Johnson's  observation  particularly 
alludes.— En.]  ^  J 


scribe  the  Bible;  for  the  Mahometans  ae-^ 
knowledge  Jesus  Christ,  as  well  as  Moses, 
but  maintain  that- God  sent  Mahomet  as  a 
still  greater  prophet  than  either." 

I  mentioned  the  motion  which  had  been 
made  in  the  house  of  commons,  to  abolish 
the  fast  of  the  30th  of  January  *.  Johvsoh. 
"  Why,  air,  J  could  have  wished  that  it  had 
been  a  temporary  act,  perhaps  to  have  ex- 
pired with  the  century.  I  am  against  abo- 
lishing it;  because  that  would  be  declaring 
it  wrong  to  establish  it;  but  I  should  have 
no  objection  to  make  an  act,  continuing  it 
for  another  century,  and  then  letting  it  ex- 
pire." 

He  disapproved  of  the  royal  marriage 
bill;  "Because,"  said  he,  "1  would  not 
have  the  people  think  that  the  validity  of 
marriage  depends  on  the  will  of  man,  or 
that  the  riffnt  of  a  king  depends  on  the  will 
of  man.  I  should  not  have  been  against 
making  the  marriage  of  any  of  the  royal 
family,  without  the  approbation  of  king  and 
parliament,  highly  criminal 3." 

In  the  morning  we  had  talked  of  old  fam- 
ilies, and  the  respect  due  to  them. .  Jomr- 
sow.  "  Sir,  you  have  a  right  to  that  kind 
of  respect,  and  are  arguing  for  yourself.  I 
am  for  supporting  the  principle,  and  am  dis- 
interested in  doing  it,  as  I  have  no  such 
right."  Boswell.  "  Why,  sir,  it  is  one 
more  incitement  to  a  man  to  do  well." 
Johnson.  "Yes,  sir,  and  it  is  a  matter  of 
opinion  very  necessary  to  keep  society  to- 
gether. What  is  it  but  opinion,  by  which 
.we  have  a  respect  for  authority,  that  pre- 
vents us,  who  are  the  rabble,  from  rising  up 
and  pulling  down  you  who  are  gentlemen 
■from  your  places,  and  saying, '  We  will  be 
gentlemen  in  our  turn?'  Now,  sir,  that  re- 
spect for  authority  is  much  more  easily 
granted  to  a  man  whose  father  has  had  it, 
than  to  an  upstart,  and  so  society  is  more 

*  [Doctor  Nowell  had  preached,  as  usual,  be- 
fore the  house  on  the  80th  of  Jan.  and  had  been 
thanked  for  his  sermon.  Some  days  afterwards* 
Mr.  Tbos.  Townshend  complained  of  certain  un- 
constitutional passages  in  the  sermon;  and  on  the 
21st  Feb.  after  a  debate,  the  thanks  were  ordered 
to  be  expunged  from  the  journals;  and  on  the  2d 
March,  Mr.  Fred.  Montague  moved  for  leave  to 
bring  in  a  bill  to  repeal  the  observance  of  that 
day  altogether  This  motion  was  rejected  by  125 
to  97.— Ed.] 

3  [It  is  not  very  easy  to  understand  Dr.  John- 
son's objection  as  above  stated.  Does  not  the 
validity  of  all  marriages  "  depend  on  the  wiB 
of  man,"  that  is,  are  there  not  in  all  civilized  na- 
tions certain  legal  formula  and  conditions  reajui- 
site  to  constitute  a  marriage?  If  all  human  insti- 
tutions are  to  be  disregarded,  what  is  marriage? 
And  as  to  the  indefeasible  rights  of  kings,  see 
Johnson's  opinions,  ante,  pp.  192, 195  ;  and  final- 
ly, if  it  be  competent  to  the  legislature  to  make 
an  act  highly  criminal,  does  not  that  imply  m 
competency  to  forbid  it  altogether  ?— £d.] 


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205 


eaaQy supported."  Boswkll.  "Perhaps, 
sir,  it  might  be  done  by  the  respect  belonging 
to  office,  as  among  the  Romans,  where  the 
dress,  the  toga,  inspired  reverence."  John- 
sow.  "  Why,  we  know  very  little  about  the 
Romans.  But,  surely,  it  is  much  easier  to 
respect  a  man  who  has  always  had  respect, 
than  to  respect  a  man  who  we  know  was 
last  year  no  better  than  ourselves,  and  will 
be  no  better  next  year.  In  republicks  there  is 
no  respect  for  authority,  but  a  fear  of  pow- 
er." B08WKLL.  "  At  present,  sir,  I  think 
riches  seem  to  gain  most  respect."  John- 
sou.  "  No,  sir,  riches  do  not  gain  hearty 
respect;  they  only  procure  external  atten- 
tion. A  verv  rich  man,  from  low  begin- 
nings, may  buy  his  election  in  a  borough; 
but,  cater u  paribus,  a  man  of  family  will  be 
preferred.  People  will  prefer  .a  man  for 
whose  father  their  fathers  have  voted, 
though  they  should  get  no  more  money,  or 
even  less.  That  shows  that  the  respect  for 
family  is  not  merely  fanciful,  but  has  an  ac- 
tual operation.  If  gentlemen  of  family  would 
allow  the  rich  upstarts  to  spend  their  mon- 
ey profusely,  which  they  are  ready  enough 
to  do,  and  not  vie  with  them  in  expense, 
the  upstarts  would  soon  be  at  an  end,  and 
the  gentlemen  would  remain;  but  if  the 
gentlemen  will  vie  in  expense  with  the 
upstarts,  which  is  very  foolish,  they  must 
be  ruined. 

^^  [Indeed,  though  a  man  of  ob- 

£aK  scure  birth  himself,  Dr.  Johnson's 
partiality  to  people  of  family  was 
visible  on  every  occasion;  his  zeal  for  sub- 
ordination warm  even  to  bigotry;  his  ha- 
tred to  innovation,  arid  reverence  fer  the 
old  feudal  times,  apparent,  whenever  any 
possible  manner  of  showing  them  occurred.] 
I  gave  him  an  account  of  the  excellent 
mimickry  of  a  friend1  of  mine  in  Scotland; 
observing,  at  the  same  time,  that  some  peo- 
ple thought  it  a  very  mean  thing.  John- 
son. "Why,  sir,  it  is  making  a  very 
mean  use  of  man's  powers.  But  to  be  a 
good  mimick  requires  great  powers,  great 
acuteness  of  observation,  great  retention  of 
what  is  observed,  and  great  pliancy  of  or- 
gans to  represent  what  is  observed,  I  re- 
member a  lady  of  quality  in  this  town,  Lady 

* ,  who  was  a  wonderful  mimick,  and 

need  to  make  me  laugh  immoderately.  I 
have  heard  she  is  now  gone  mad."  Bos- 
well.  "  It  is  amazing  now  a  mimick  can 
not  only  give  you  the  gestures  and  voice  of 
a  person  whom  he  represents;  but  even 
what  a  person  would  say  on  any  particular 
•object."    Johnson.    "  Why,  sir,  you  are 


1  [Thai  friend  was  Mr.  Cnllen,  advocate,  son  of 
the  celebrated  physician,  afterwards  a  judge,  by 
the  name  of  Lorn  Gotten. 

*  [Hie  melancholy  circumstance  stated  as  to 
Ibe  lady,  mdnees  the  editor  to  refrain  from  at- 
tempting to  fill  up  this  blank— ^d.] 


to  consider  that  the  manner  and  some  par- 
ticular phrases  of  a  person  do  much  to  im- 
press you  with  an  idea  of  him,  and  you  are 
not  sure  that  he  would  say  what  the  mim- 
ick says  in  his  character."  Boswell.  "  I 
don't  think  Foote  a  good  mimick,  sir." 
Johnson.  "  No,  sir;  his  imitations  are  not 
like.  He  gives  you  something  different  from 
himself,  but  not  the  character  which  he 
means  to  assume.  He  goes  out  of  himself, 
without  going  into  other  people.  He  cannot 
take  off  any  person  unless  ne  is  strongly 
marked,  such  as  George  Faulkner.  He  is 
like  a  painter  who  can  draw  the  portrait  of 
a  man  who  has  a  wen  upon  his  face,  and 
who  therefore  is  easily  known.  If  a  man 
hops  upon  one  leg,  Foote  can  hop  upon  one 
leg.  But  he  has  not  that  nice  discrimina- 
tion which  your  friend  seems  to  possess. 
Foote  is,  however,  very  entertaining  with 
a  kind  of  conversation  between  wit  and  buf- 
foonery." 

On  Monday,  March  23, 1  found  him  busv, 
preparing  a  fourth  edition  of  his  folio  Dic- 
tionary. Mr.  Peyton,  one  of  his  original 
amanuenses,  was  writing  for  him.  Iput 
him  in  mind  of  a  meaning  of  the  word  side, 
which  he  had  omitted,  viz,  relationship;  as 
father's  side,  mother's  side.  He  inserted 
it  I  asked  him  if  humiliating  was  a  good 
word.  He  'said  he  had  seen  it  frequently 
used,  but  he  did  not  know  it  to  be  legiti- 
mate English.  He  would  not  admit  civili- 
zation,  but  only  civility.  With  jrreat  de* 
ference  to  him  I  thought  civiUzatttm,  from 
to  civilize,  better  in  die  sense  opposed  to 
barbarity  than  civility;  as  it  is  better  to 
have  a  distinct  word  for  each  sense,  than 
one  word  with  two  senses,  which  civility 
is,  in  his  way  of  using  it. 

He  seemed  also  to  be  intent  on  some  sort 
of  chyjnical  operation,  I  was  entertained 
by  oteerving  how  he  contrived  to  send  Mr. 
Peyton  on  an  errand,  without  seeming  to 
degrade  him:— "Mr.  Peyton,  Mr.  Pe^on, 
wiU  you  be  so  good  as  to  take  a  walk  to 
Temple-Bar?  You  will  there  see  a  chy- 
mist'8  shop,  at  which  you  will  be  pleased 
to  buy  for  me  an  ounce  of  oil  of  vitriol ; 
not  spirit  of  vitriol,  but  oil  of  vitriol.  It 
will  cost  three  half-pence."  Peyton  imme* 
diately  went,  and  returned  with  it,  and  told 
him  it  cost  but  a  penny. 

[Of  the  death  of  this  poor  labourer  in 
literature,  of  whom  Mrs.  Piozzi  says  that 
he  had  considerable  talents,  and  knew 
many  modern  languages,  Johnson  gave 
himself  the  following  pathetic  account,  in 
a  letter  to  that  lady: 

"TO   MllS.    THRALE. 

"MApffO,  1778. 

"  Poor  Peyton  expired  this  morn- 
ing.   He  probably-curing  many     JjfJ^ 
years,  of  which  he  sat  starving  by     p.  so, 
the  bed  of  a  wife,  not  only  1 


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17T2.— iETAT.  63. 


but  almost  motionless,  condemned  by  poverty 
to  personal  attendance,  and  by  the  necessi- 
ty of  such  attendance  chained  down  to  pov- 
erty— he  probably  thought  often  how  light- 
ly ne  should  tread  the  path  of  life  without 
his  burthen.  Of  this  thought  the  admis- 
sion was  unavoidable,  and  the  indulgence 
might  be  forgiven  to  frailty  and  distress. 
His  wife  died  at  last,  and  before  she  was 
buried,  he  was  seized  by  a  fever,  and  is 
now  going  to  the  grave. 

"  Such  miscarriages,  when  they  happen  to 
those  on  whom  many  eyes  are  fixed,  fill  histo- 
ries and  tragedies ;  and  tears  have  been  shed 
for  the  sufferings,  and  wonder  excited  by  the 
fortitude  of  those  who  neither  did  nor  suf- 
fered more  than  Peyton."] 

I  then  reminded  him  of  the  schoolmas- 
ter's cause,  and  proposed  to  read  to  him 
the  printed  papers  concerning  it.  "  No, 
sir,9'  said  he,  "  I  can  read  quicker  than  I 
can  hear."    So  he  read  them  to  himself. 

After  he  had  read  for  some  lime,  we 
were  interrupted  by  the  entrance  of  Mr. 
Kristrom,  a  Swede,  who  was  tutor  to  some 
young  gentlemen  in  the  city.  He  told  me 
that  there  was  a  very  good  History  of 
Sweden,  by  Dalin.  Having  at  that  time 
an  intention  of  writing  the  history  of  that 
country,  I  asked  Dr.  Johnson  whether  one 
might  write  a  history  of  Sweden  without 
going  thither.  « Yes,  sir,"  said  he,  "one 
for  common  use." 

We  talked  of  languages.  Johnson  ob- 
served that  Leibnitz  nad  made  some  pro- 
gress in  a  work,  tracing  all  languages  up 
to  the  Hebrew.  "Why,  sir,"  said  he, 
"you  would  not  imagine  that  the  French 
jour,  day,  is'  derived  from  the  Latin  die*, 
and  yet  nothing  is  more  certain  ;  and  the 
intermediate  stops  are  very  clear.  From 
dies,  comes  dturnus.  Diu  is,  by  inaccu- 
rate ears,  or  inaccurate  pronunciation,  easi- 
ly confounded  with  giu  ;  then  the  Italians 
form  a  substantive  of  the  ablative  of  an 
adjective,  and  thence  gun-no,  or,  as  they 
make  it,  giorno  ;  which  is  readily  contract- 
ed into  &*ow,  or  jour"  He  observed, 
that  the  Bohemian  language  was  true  Scla- 
vonics. The  Swede  said,  it  had  some 
similarity  with  the  German.  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  to  be  sure,  such  parts  of  Scla- 
vonia  as  confine  with  Germany  will  bor- 
row German  words  j  and  such  parts  as 
confine  with  Tartary  will  borrow  Tartar 
words.  * 

He  said,  he  never  had  it  properly  ascer- 
tained that  the  Scotch  Highlanders  and  the 
Irish  understood  each  other  *.    I  told  him 

1  [In  Mr.  Anderson's  Historical  Sketches  of 
the  Native  Irish,  we  find  the  following  observe- 


that  my  cousin,  Colonel  Graham,  of  the 
Royal  Highlanders,  whom  I  met  at  Droghe- 
da,  told  me  they  did.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  if 
the  Highlanders  understood  Irish,  why 
translate  the  New  Testament  into  Erse,  as 
was  lately  done  at  Edinburgh,  when  there 
is  an  Irish  translation  ?"  Boswbix.  "  Al- 
though the  Erse  and  Irish  are  both  dialects 
of  the  same  langruage,  there  may  be  a  good 
deal  of  diversity  between  them,  as  be- 
tween  the  different  dialects  in  Italy."  The 
Swede  went  away,  and  Dr.  Johnson  con 
tinned  his  reading  of  the  papers.  I  said, 
"I  am  afraid,  sir,  it  is  troublesome. n 
"  Why,  sir,"  said  he,  "  I  do  not  take  much 
delight  in  it ;  but  I'll  go  through  it." 

We  went  to  the  Mitre,  and  dined  in  the 
room  where  he  and  I  first  supped  together. 
He  gave  me  great  hopes  or  my  cause. 
"Sir,"  said  he,  "the  government  of  a 
schoolmaster  is  somewhat  of  the  nature 
of  military  government;  that  is  to  sav,  it 
must  be  arbitrary,  it  must  be  exercised*  by 
the  will  of  one  man,  according  to  particular 
circumstances.  You  must  show  some  learn- 
ing upon  this  occasion.  You  must  show, 
that  a  schoolmaster  has  a  prescriptive  right 
to  beat;  and  that  an  action  of  assault  and 


of  Scotland  was  generally  called  Irish.  Those 
who  have  attended  to  the  subject  nrast  have  ob- 
served, that  the  word  Irish  was  gradually  chang- 
ed into  Erse,  denoting  .the  language  that  is  now 
generally  called  GaeHe."    Mr. 


•The  Irish  and  Gaelic  languages  are  the  same, 
I  formerly  what  was  spoken  m  the  Highlanos 


that,  when  he  was  in  Galway,  in  Ireland,  in  1814, 
he  found  a  vessel  there  from  Lewis,  one  of  the  Heb- 
rides, the  master  of  which  remarked  to  him  that 
the  people  here  spoke  curious  Gaelic,  but  be 
understood  them  easily,  and  commerce  is  actually 
carried  on  between  the  Highlanders  and  the 
Irish  through  the  medium  of  their  common  lan- 
guage."--?. 188. 

My  friend,  Colonel  Meyrick  Shawe,  who  point- 
ed out  Air.  Anderson's  work  to  me,  adds,  "  I  can 
venture  to  say  from  mv  own  experience,  that 
were  it  not  for  the  difference  of  pronunciation, 
the  Irish  and  the  Highlanders  would  be  perfectly 
intelligible  to  each  other;  and  even  with  that  dis- 
advantage, they  become  so  in  a  short  time.  I 
have  indeed  met  some  Highlanders  whom  I  could 
act  understand  at  all ;  but  there  was  a  Captain 
Cameron  in  the  same  regiment  with  me  (76th), 
who  spoke  with  an  accent  more  like  the  Irish 
than  usual,  whom  I  could  understand  perfectly 
when  bespoke  slow.  There  are,  I  am  told,  lew 
words  in  Irish  that  are  not  intelligible  to  the  High- 
landers, but  there  are  many  in  the  Gaelic  which 
an  Irishman  cannot  understand.  The  Scotch,  as  I 
am  told,  and  as  is  natural  from  their  position,  have 
many  Pichsh  and  other  foreign  words.  TTss 
Irish  have  no  Pictish  words,  but  many  Latin. " 

Sir  Walter  Scott  also  informs  me,  that  "  there 
is  no  doubt  the  languages  are  the  same,  and  the 
difference  in  pronunciation  and  construction  not 
very  considerable.  The  JBrsc  or  JSarish  is  the 
Irish;  and  the  nee  called  Serfs  cams  origins!*" 
from  Ulster."— -En.} 


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battery  cannot  be  admitted  against  him  un- 
less there  ifl  some  great  excess,  some  bar- 
barity. This  man  has  maimed  none  of  his 
boys.  Thejr  are  all  left  with  the  full  ex- 
ercise of  their  corporeal  faculties.  In  our 
schools  in  England  many  boys  have  been 
maimed;  yet  I  never  heard  of  an  action 

;  against  a  schoolmaster  on  that  account, 
raffendorf,  I  think,  maintains  the  right  of  a 
schoolmaster  to  beat  his  scholars." 

On  Saturday,  March  27, 1  introduced  to 
him  Sir  Alexander  Macdonald 1,  with  whom 
he  bad  expressed  a  wish  to  be  acquainted. 
He  received  him  very  courteously. 

Sir  Alexander  observed,  that  the  chancel- 
lors1 in  England  are  chosen  from  views 
much  inferiour  to  the  office,  being  chosen 
from  temporary  political  views.  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  in  such  a  government  as  ours, 
no  man  is  appointed  to  an  office  because  he 
is  the  fittest  tor  it,  nor  hardly  in  any  oth- 
er government ;  because  there  are  so  many 
connexions  and  dependencies  to  be  studied. 
A  deapotick  prince  may  choose  a  man  to 
an  office,  merely  because  he  is  the  fittest  for 
it  The  king  of  Prussia  may  do  it."  Sir 
A.  "  I  think,  sir,  almost  all  great  lawyers, 
such  at  least  as  have  written  upon  law, 
have  known  only  law,  and  nothing  else." 

,      Johnson.    "Why,  no,  sir;  Judge  Hale 

I     was  a  great  lawyer,  and  wrote  upon  law  ; 

I  and  yet  he  knew  a  great  many  other  things, 
and  has  written  upon  other  things.  Selden 
too."  Sir  A.  "  Very  true,  sir ;  and  Lord 
Bacon.  But  was  not  Lord  Coke  a  mere 
lawyer?  "    Johnson.    "  Why,  I  am  afraid 


1  [Next  brother  of  Sir  James  Macdonald,  whom 
Mr.  Boswell  calls  the  Marcellus  of  Scotland,  and 
whom  the  concurrent  testimony  of  his  contempo- 
raries proves  to  have  been  a  very  extraordinary 
yosoag  man.  Ho  died  at  Rome  m  1766.  (See 
most ,  5th  Sept,  1778.)  Sir  Alexander  succeeded 
tot  brother  as  eighth  baronet,  and  was  created  an 
Irish  baron,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Macdonald,  in 
177H.  The  late  chief  baron  of  the  exchequer, 
8irAitAibsMMaecVmwM>ws8tlieiryoiiiigertbroth- 
er.  We  shall  see  more  of  Sir  Alexander  under 
the  year  1773,  during  the  Tour  to  the  Hebrides. 
—Ed.] 

*  [This,  no  doubt,  may  occasionally  happen, 
and  a  lord  chancellor  sometimes  disappoints  the 
expectations  not  only  of  the  country,  but  of  those 
who  make  him;  yet  on  the  whole,  it  seems  hard 
to  discover  how  chancellors  can  be  selected  with-" 
out  some  attention  to  political  interests.  A  party 
coming  into  power  generally  makes  the  ablest 
and  moot  prominent  lawyer  of  its  principles  chan- 
cellor. There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  a  man 
thus  selected  in  the  face  of  the  public,  and  from 
an  eminence  to  which  he  baa  raised  himself,  will 
be  better  fitted  to  discharge  the  various  duties  of 
that  great  office,  man  if  chancellors  were  to  be 
chosen  by  some  other  standard.  What,  howev- 
er, that  other  standard  should  or  could  be,  Sir 
Alexander  Macdonald  did  not  suggest,  and  prob- 
amy  never  oobssbstscl    cp.j 


he  was,  but  he  would  have  taken  it  very 
ill  if  you  had  told  him  so.  He  would  have 
prosecuted  you  for  scandal."  Bobwkll. 
"  Lord  Mansfield  is  not  a  mere  lawyer." 
Johnson.  "  No,  sir,  I  never  was  in  Lord 
Mansfield's  company ;  but  Lord  Mansfield 
was  distinguished  at  the  university.  Lord 
Mansfield,  when  he  first  came  to  town, 
'  drank  champagne  with  the  wits,'  as  Prior 
says.  He  was  the  friend  of  Pope».r'  Sir 
A.  "  Barristers,  I  believe,  are  not  so  abu- 
sive now  as  they  were  formerly*.  I  fancy 
they  had  less  law  long  ago,  and  so  were 
obliged  to  take  to  abuse  to  fill  up  the  time. 
Now  they  have  such  a  number  of  prece- 
dents, they  have  no  occasion  for  abuse." 
Johnson.  "  Nay,  sir,  they  had  more  law 
long  ago  than  they  have  now.  As  to  pre- 
cedents, to  be  sure  they  will  increase  in 
course  of  time  ;  but  the  more  precedents 
there  are,  the  less  occasion  is  there  for  law ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  less  occasion  is  there  for 
investigating  principles."  Sir  A.  "  I 
have  been  correcting  several  Scotch  ac- 
cents in  my  friend  Boewell.  I  doubt,  sir, 
if  any  Scotchman  ever  attains  to  a  per- 
fect English  pronunciation."  Johnson. 
«•  Why,  sir,  few  of  them  do,  because  they 
do  not  persevere  after  acquiring  a  certain 
degree  of  it,  But,  sir,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  they  may  attain  to  a  perfect 
English  pronunciation,  if  they  will.  We 
find  how  near  they  come  to  it ;  and  cer- 
tainly, a  man  who  conquers  nineteen  parts 
of  the  Scotch  accent,  may  conquer  the 
twentieth.  But,  sir,  when  a  man  has  got 
the  better  of  nine-tenths  he  grows  weary, 
he  relaxes  his  diligence,  he  finds  he  has  cor- 
rected his  accent  so  far  as  not  to  be  disa- 
greeable, and  he  no  longer  desires  his 
friends  to  tell  him  when  he  is  wrong,  nor 


*  [He  was  one  of  his  executors.  The  large 
space  which  (thanks  to  Mr.  Boswell)  Dr.  John- 
son occupies  in  our  estimate  of  the  society  of  his 
day,  makes  it  surprising  that  he  should  never 
have  been  in  company  with  Lord  Mansfield;  hut 
Boswell  was  disposed  to  overrate  the  extent  and 
rank  of  Johnson's  acquaintance.  It  is  proper 
here  to  correct  an  error  relative  to  Lord  Mansfield 
and  Dr.  Johnson,  which  has  found  its  way  into 
print  In  Miss  Hawkins's  Memoirs,  vol.  ii.  p. 
218,  she  gives  the  following  anecdote  on  the  au- 
thority of  her  brother,  who  states  that,  "  calling 
upon  Dr.  Johnson  $hortly  after  the  death  of 
Lord  Mansfield,  and  mentioning  the  event, 
Johnson  answered,  '  M,  sir;  there  was  little 
learning  and  less  virtue. '  "    It  happens,  unlucki- 

S"     for  the  accuracy  of  this  anecdote,  that  Lord 
ansfield  survived  Dr.  Johnson  mil  ten  years. — 
En.] 

4  [The  general  tone  of  society  is  probably  im- 
proved in  this  respect,  and  barristers  are  more 
men  of  the  world,  and  mix  more  in  polite  com- 
pany than  at  the  tunes  Sir  A.  Macdonald  alladed 
to.— -Ed.] 


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does  he  choose  to  be  told.  Sir,  when  peo- 
ple watch  me  narrowly,  and  I  do  not  watch 
myself,  they  will  find  me  out  to  be  of  a  par- 
ticular county.  In  the  same  manner  Dun- 
ning may  be  found  out  to  be  a  Devonshire 
man.  So  most  Scotchmen  may  be  found 
out.  But,  sir,  little  aberrations  are  of  no 
disadvantage.  I  never  catched  Mallet  in 
a  Scotch  accent :  and  yet  Mallet,  I  sup- 
pose, was  past  nve-and-twenty  before  he 
came  to  London1." 

Upon  another  occasion  I  talked  to  him 
on  tliib  subject,  having  myself  taken  some 
pains  to  improve  my  pronunciation,  by  the 
aid  of  the  late  Mr.  Love  a,  of  Drury-lane 
theatre,  when  he  was  a  player  at  Edinburgh, 
and  also  of  old  Mr.  Sheridan.  Johnson 
said  to  me,  "  Sir,  your  pronunciation  is  not 
offensive."  With  this  concession  I  was 
pretty  well  satisfied;  and  let  me  eive  my 
countrymen  of  North-Britain  an  advice  not 
to  aim  at  absolute  perfection  in  this  respect; 
not  to  speak  high  English,  as  we  are  apt  to 
call  what  is  far  removed  from  the  Scotch, 
but  which  is  by  no  means  good  English, 
and  makes  "  the  fools  who  use  it "  truly  ridi- 
culous. Good  English  is  plain,  easy,  and 
smooth  in  the  mouth  of  an  unaffected  Eng- 
lish gentleman.  A  studied  and  factitious 
pronunciation,  which  requires  perpetual  at- 
tention, and  imposes  perpetual  constraint, 
ia  exceedingly  disgusting.  A  small  inter- 
mixture of  provincial  peculiarities  may,  per- 
haps, have  an  agreeable  effect,  as  the  notes 
of  different  birds  concur  in  the  harmony  of 
th3  grove,  and  please  more  than  if  they  were 
all  exactly  alike.  I  could  name  some  gen- 
tlemen of  Ireland  3,  to  whom  a  slight  propor- 
tion of  the  accent  and  recitative  of  that 
country  is  an  advantage*  The  same  obser- 
vation will  apply  to  the  gentlemen  of  Scot- 
land. I  do  not  mean  that  we  should  speak 
as  broad  as  a  certain  prosperous  member4 
of  parliament  from  that  country;  though  it 
has  been  well  observed,  that  "  it  has  been 
of  no  small  use  to  him;  as  it  rouses  the  at- 


1  [He  says,  in  the  Lives  of  the  Poets,  that 
•*  of  Mallet  he  bad  a  very  slight  personal  knowl- 
edge." Mallet  came  to  England  in  1723,  when 
he  was  about  twenty-five  yean  of  age. — Ed.] 

*  [Love  was  an  assumed  name.  He  was  the 
so*  of  Mr.  Dance,  the  architect  He  resided 
many  years  at  Edinburgh  as  manager  of  the  the- 
atre oi  that  city;  he  removed  ia  1762  to  Dmry- 
lane,  and  died  in  1771.  He  wrote  some  theatri- 
cal pieces  of  no  reputation. — Ed.] 

*  [Mr.  Boswell  probably  included,  in  this  ob- 
servation, Mr.  Burke  ;  who,  to  the  last,  retained 
more  of  the  Irish  accent  than  was  agreeable  to 
less  indulgent  ears. — Ed.] 

4  [Mr.  Dundas,  successively  lord  advocate,  sec- 
retary of  state,  first  lord  of  the  admiralty,  and 
Viscount  Melville,  whose  accent,  and  many 
of  whose  phrases,  were  to  the  last  peculiarly  na- 
tional—Ed.] 


tendon  of  the  house  by  its  uncommonnea; 
and  is  equal  to  tropes  and  figures  in  a  good 
English  speaker."  I  would  give  as  an  in- 
stance of  what  I  mean  to  recommend  to  my 
countrymen,  the  pronunciation  of  the  late 
Sir  Gilbert  Elliot* ;  and  may  I  presume  to 
add  that  of  the  present  Earl  of  Marchmont6, 
who  told  me,  with  great  good-humour,  that 
the  master  of  a  shop  in  Loudon  where  he 
was  not  known,  said  to  him,  "  I  suppose, 
sir,  you  are  an  American."  "  Why  so,  sir  ?" 
said  his  lordship.  "  Because,  sir,"  replied 
the  shopkeeper, "  you  speak  neither  English 
nor  Scotch,  but  something  different  from 
both,  which  I  conclude  is  the  language  of 
America." 

Boswell.  "  It  may  be  of  nae,  sir,  to 
have  a  dictionary  to  ascertain  the  pronunci- 
ation." Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  my  Dic- 
tionary shows  you  the  accent  of  words,  if 
you  can  but  remember  them."  Boswell. 
"  But,  sir,  we  want  marks  to  ascertain  the 

Pronunciation  of  the  vowels.  Sheridan,  I 
elieve,  has  finished  such  a  work."  John- 
son. Why,  sir,  consider  how  much  easier 
it  is  to  learn  a  language  by  the  ear,  than  by 
any  marks.  Sheridan's  Dictionary  may  do 
very  well:  but  you  cannot  always  carry  it 
about  witn  you:  and,  when  you  want  the 
word,  you  have  not  the  dictionary.  It  is 
like  a  man  who  has  a  sword  that  will  not 
draw.  It  is  an  admirable  sword,  to  be  sure : 
but  while  your  enemy  is  cutting  your  throat, 
you  are  unable  to  use  it  Besides,  sir,  what 
entitles  Sheridan  to  fix  the  pronunciation 
of  English  ?  He  has,  in  the  first  place,  the 
disadvantage  of  being  an  Irishman:  and  if 
he  says  he  will  fix  it  after  the  example  of 
the  best  company,  why,  they  differ  among 
themselves.  I  remember  an  instance:  when 
I  published  the  Plan  for  my  Dictionary, 
Lord  Chesterfield  told  me  that  the  word 
great  should  be  pronounced  so  as  to  rhyme 
to  state;  and  Sir  William  Yonge?  sent  me 
word  that  it  should  be  pronounced  so  as  to 
-rhyme  to  seat,  and  that  none  but  an  Irish- 
man would  pronounce  it  grait.    Now  here 

»  [Third  haronet,  father  of  the  first  Lord  Min- 
to;  a  gentleman  of  distinction  in  the  political,  and 
not  unknown  in  the  poetical  world :  he  died  in 
1777.  Is  it  hot,  however,  rather  Hibernian  to 
recommend  as  a  model  of  pronunciation,  one 
•who  was  already  dead? — ignotumper  ignothu, 
—Ed.] 

•  [Hugh,  fourth  Earl  x>f  Marchmont,  the  friend 
and  executor  of  Pope ;  bora  in  1708,  died  in  1794 
—Ed.] 

7  [Sir  W.  Tongs,  fourth  baronet,  K.  B.  and 
secretary  at  war  in  Sir  Robert  Walpole's  ad- 
ministration ;  he  died  in  1755.  See  ante,  p. 
79,  where  the  editor  has  inadvertently  stated 
that  Sfr  W.  Yonge  told,  instead  of  sent  word  to 
Johnson  how  great  should  be  pronounced.  The 
pronunciation  is  now  settled,  beyond  question, 
m  the  mode  stated  by  Lord  Chesterfield.— Ed.] 


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*ff 


were  two  men  of  the  highest  rank,  the  one, 
the  beet  speaker  in  the  house  of  lords,  the 
other,  the  best  speaker  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons, differing  entirely.'9 

I  again  visited  him  at  night.  Finding 
him  in  a  very  good  humour,  I  ventured  to 
lead  him  to  the  subject  of  our  situation  in 
a  future  state,  having  much  curiosity  to 
know  his  notions  on  that  point.  Johnson. 
"Why,  sir,  the  happiness  of  an  unem- 
bodied  spirit  will  consist  in  a  consciousness 
of  the  favour  of  God,  in  the  contemplation 
of  truth,  and  in  the  possession  of  felicitating 
ideas."  Boswell.  "But,  sir,  is  there 
any  harm  in  our  forming  to  ourselves  con- 
jectures as  to  the  particulars  of  our  happi- 
ness, though  the  scripture  has  said  but  very 
little  on  the  subject?  c  We  know  not  what 
we  shall  be.' "  Johnson.  "  Sir,  there  is 
no  harm.  What  philosophy  suggests  to  us 
on  this  topick  is  probable:  what  scripture 
tells  us  is  certain.  Dr.  Henry  More  i  has 
carried  it  as  far  as  philosophy  can.  You 
may  buy  both  his  theological  and  philosophi- 
cal works  in  two  volumes  folio,  for  about 
eight  shillings."    Boswell.    "  One  of  the 


t  pleasing  thoughts  is,  that  we  shall  see 
oar  friends  again V'  Johnson.  "Yes, 
sir;  but  you  must  consider,  that  when  we 
are  become  purely  rational,  many  of  our 
friendships  will  be  cut  off.  Many  friend- 
snips  are  formed  by  a  community  of  sensu- 
al pleasures;  all  these  will  be  cut  off.  We 
form  many  friendships  with  bad  men,  be- 
cause they  have  agreeable  qualities,  and 
they  can  be  useful  to  us;  but,  after  death, 
they  can  no  longer  be  of  use  to  us.  We 
form  many  friendships  by  mistake,  imagin- 
ing people  to  be  different  from  what  they 
really  are.  After  death,  we  shall  see  every 
one  in  a  true  light.  Then,  sir,  they  talk 
of  our  meeting  our  relations;  but  then  all 
relationship  is  dissolved:  and  we  shaH  have 
no  regard  for  one  person  more  than  another, 
bat  tor  their  real  value.  However,  we 
shall  either  have  the  satisfaction  of  meeting 
our  friends,  or  be  satisfied  without  meeting 
them."  Boswell.  "  Yet,  sir,  we  see  in 
scripture,  that  Dives  still  retained  an  anx- 
ious concern  about  his  brethren."    John- 

1  [Called  the  Platonist,  on  accosjatof  his  vo- 
taminoas  efforts  to  blend  the  platonic  philosophy 
with  Christianity.  He,  Van  Helmet,  and  Valen- 
tine Greatrakes,  all  mystics  in  their  several  pro- 
,  were  patronised  by  Anne  Finch,  Lady 
(herself  a  i 


Conway  (I 


mystic),  and  all  resided  for 


some  time  in  her  house  at  Ragley,  where  there 
is  a  portrait  of  Van  Helmot,  and  where  were  found 
by  Mr.  Walpole  several  letters  of  Dr.  Moss.— 
Ed.] 

*  Bishop  Hall,  in  his  Epistle,  "  discoursing  of 
the  different  degrees  of  heavenly  glory,  and  of  our 
mtual  knowledge  of  each  other  above,"  bojds 
the  affirmative  on  both  these  questions. — Ma- 
Mn.    rSee  ante,  p.  227.— En.] 


son.  "  Why,  sir,  we  must  either  suppose 
that  passage  to  be  metaphorical,  or  hold 
with  many  divines,  and  all  the  Purgatori- 
ans,  that  departed  souls  do  not  all  at  once 
arrive  at  the  utmost  perfection  of  which 
they  are  capable."  Boswell.  "  I  think, 
sir,  that  is  a  very  rational  supposition." 
Johnson.  "  Why,  yes,  sir;  but  we  do  not 
know  it  is  a  true  one.  There  is  no  harm  in 
believing  it:  but  you  must  not  compel  oth- 
ers to  make  it  an  article  of  faith;  for  it  is 
not  revealed."  Boswell.  "Do  you 
think,  sir,  it  is  wrong  in  a  man  who  holds 
the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  to  pray  for  the 
souls  of  his  deceased  friends?"  Johnson. 
"Why  no,  sir."  Boswell.  "I  have 
been  told,  that  in  the  liturgy  of  the  episco- 
pal church  of  Scotland,  there  was  a  form 
of  prayer  for  the  dead."  Johnson.  "  Sir, 
it  is  not  in  the  liturgy  which  Laud  framed 
for  the  episcopal  church  of  Scotland:  if 
there  is  a  liturgy  older  than  that,  I  should 
be  glad  to  see  it."  Boswell.  •*  As  to 
our  employment  in  a  future  state,  the  sa- 
cred writings  say  little.  The  Revelation, 
however,  of  St.  John  gives  us  many  ideas, 
and  particularly  mentions  musick.  John- 
son. "  Whv,  sir,  ideas  must  be  given  you 
by  means  of  something  which  you  know: 
and  as  to  musick,  there  are  some  philoso- 
phers and  divines  who  have  maintained 
that  we  shall  not  be  spiritualized  to  such  a 
degree,  but  that  something  of  matter,  very 
much  refined,  will  remain.  In  that  case, 
musick  may  make  a  part  of  our  future  fe- 
licity 3." 

Boswell.  "  I  do  not  know  whether  there 
are  any  well-attested  stories  of  the  appear- 
ance of  ghosts.  You  know  there  is  a  fa- 
mous story  of  the  appearance  of  Mrs.  Veal, 
prefixed  to «  Drelincourt  on  Death.' "  John- 
son, "  I  believe,  sir,  that  is  given  up4;  I 
believe  the  woman  declared  upon  her  death- 
bed that  it  was  a  lie  V  Boswell.  "This 
objection  is  made  against  the  truth  of  ghosts 
appearing:  that  if  they  are  in  a  state  of 
happiness,  it  would  be  a  punishment  to 
them  to  return  to  this  world;  and  if  they 
are  in  a  state  of  misery,  it  would  be  giving 


8  [See  ante,  p.  58.— Ed.] 

4  [It  may  be  inferred  from  this  that  Dr.  John- 
son, notwithstanding  his  assertion,  that  apparitions 
are  frequent,  (ante,  p.  228),  was  not  able  to  pro- 
duce one  authentic  instance  of  such  an  appear- 
ance. We  shall  find,  in  the  coarse  of  his  con- 
versation, a  statement,  that  old  Cave  bad  seen  a 
spirit,  and  some  other  similar  stories,  bat  nothing 
which,  as  it  would  seem,  Johnson  himself  could 
believe. — Ed.] 

*  This  fiction  is  known  to  have  been  invented 
by  Daniel  Defoe,  and  was  added  to  the  second 
edition  of  the  English  translation  of  Drelincourt *s 
work  (which  was  originally  written  in  French), 
to  make  it  sell.  The  first  edition  had  it  not. — 
Malojtx. 


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m*.— jetat.  t*. 


them  a  respite.**  Johhsok.  «  Why,  sir, 
as  the  happiness  or  misery  of  embodied 
spirits  does  not  depend  upon  place,  but  is 
intellectual,  we  cannot  say  that  they  are  less 
happy  or  less  miserable  by  appearing  upon 
earth." 

We  went  down  between  twelve  and  one 
to  Mrs.  Williams's  room,  and  drank  tea. 
I  mentioned  that  we  were  to  have  the  re- 
mains of  Mr.  Gray  in  prose  and  verse,  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Mason.  Johnson.  "  I  think 
we  have  had  enough  of  Gray.  I  see  they 
have  published  a  splendid  edition  of  A  ken- 
side's  works.  One  bad  ode  may  be  suffered; 
but  a  number  of  them  together  makes  one 
sick."  Boswell.  "  AkensidVs  distinguish- 
ed poem  is  his  '  Pleasures  of  Imagination :' 
but,  for  my  part,  I  never  could  admire 
it  so  much  as  most  people  do."  John- 
sow.  "  Sir,  I  could  not  read  it  through." 
Boswcll.  "  I  have  read  it  through  ;  but 
I  did  not  find  any  great  power  in  it." 

I  mentioned  Elwal,  the  heretick,  whose 
trial 1  Sir  John  Pringle  had  given  me  to  read. 
Johksov.  "  Sir,  Mr.  Elwal  was,  I  think, 
an  ironmonger  at  Wolverhampton;  and  he 
had  a  mind  to  make  himself  famous,  by  be- 
inp  the  founder  of  a  new  sect,  which  he 
wished  much  should  be  called  EhoaiHmu. 
He  held,  that  every  thing  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament that  was  not  typical  was  to  be  of 
perpetual  observance:  and  so  he  wore  a  ri- 
band in  the  plaits  of  nis  coat,  and  he  also 
wore  a  beard.  I  remember  I  had  the  hon- 
our of  dining  in  company  with  Mr.  Elwal. 
There  was  one  Barter,  a  miller,  who  wrote 
against  him;  and  you  had  the  controversy 
between  Mr.  Elwal  and  Mr.  Barter.  To 
try  to  make  himself  distinguished,  he  wrote 
a  letter  to  King  George  die  Second,  chal- 
lenging him  to  dispute  with  him,  in  which 
he  said, '  George,  if  you  be  afraid  to  come 
by  yourself,  to  dispute  with  a  poor  old  man, 
you  may  bring  a  thousand  or  your  safe- 
guards with  you;  and  if  you  should  still  be 
afraid,  you  may  bring  a  thousand  of  your 
red-guards.'  The  letter  had  something  of 
the  impudence  of  Junius  to  our  present  king. 
But  the  men  of  Wolverhampton  were  not 
bo  inflammable  as  the  common  council  of 
London;  so  Mr.  Elwal  failed  in  his  scheme 
of  making  himself  a  man  of  great  conse- 
quence." 

On  Tuesday,  Slst  March,  he  and  I  dined 
at  General  Paoli's.  A  question  was  start- 
ed whether  the  state  of  marriage  was  natu- 
ral to  man.  John sow.  "  Sir/  it  is  so  far 
from  being  natural  for  a  man  and  woman 
to  live  in  a  state  of  marriage,  that  we  find 

1  [**  The  Triumph  of  Truth;  being  an  account 
«f  the  trial  of  E.  Elwal  for  hereiy  and  blasphemy, 
8vo.  Lond."  Th»  is  rather  the  rambling  decla- 
mation of  an  entrmaiast,  than  the  account  of  a  trial. 
—En.] 


all  the  motives  which  they  have  for  remain- 
ing in  that  copnexion,  and  the  restraints 
which  civilized  society  imposes  to  prevent 
separation,  are  hardly  sufficient  to  keep 
them  together. *  The  general  said,  that  in 
a  state  of  nature  a  man  and  woman  uniting 
together,  would  form  a  strong  and  constant 
affection,  by  the  mutual  pleasure  each  would 
receive;  and  that  the  same  causes  of  dis- 
sension would  not  arise  between  them,  as 
occur  between  husband  and  wife  in  a  civiliz- 
ed state.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  they  would 
have  dissensions  enough,  though  of  another 
kind.  One  would  choose  to  go  a  hunting 
in  this  wood,  the  other  in  that;  one  would 
choose  to  go  a  fishing  in  this  lake,  the  oth- 
er in  that:  or,  perhaps,  one  would  choose 
to  go  a  hunting,  when  the  other  would 
choose  to  (ro  a  fishing;  and  so  they  would 
part  Besides,  sir,  a  savage  man  and  a  sav- 
age woman  meet  by  chance :  and  when  the 
man  sees  another  woman  that  pleases  him 
better,  he  will  leave  the  first" 

We  then  fell  into  a  disquisition  whether 
there  is  any  beauty  independent  of  utility. 
The  general  maintained  there  was  not 
Dr.  Johnson  maintained  that  there  was: 
and  he  instanced  a  coffee  cup  which  he  held 
in  his  hand,  the  painting  or  which  was  of 
no  real  use,  as  the  cup  could  hold  the  coffee 
equally  well  if  plain;  yet  the  painting  was 
beautiful. 

We  talked  of  the  strange  custom  of  swear- 
ing in  conversation.  The  general  said, 
that  all  barbarous  nations  swore  from  a  cer- 
tain violence  of  temper,  that  could  not  be 
confined  to  earth,  but  was  always  reaching 
at  the  powers  above.  He  said,  too,  that 
there  was  greater  variety  of  swearing,  in 
proportion  as  there  was  a  greater  variety 
of  religious  ceremonies. 

Dr.  Johnson  went  home  with  me  to  my 
lodgings  in  Conduit-street  and  drank  tea, 
previous  to  our  going  to  the  Pantheon, 
which  neither  of  us  had  seen  before. 

He  said, "  Goldsmith's  Life  of  Parnell  k 
poor;  not  that  it  is  poorly  written,  but  that 
ne  had  poor  materials;  for  nobody  can  write 
the  life  of  a  man,  but  those  who  have  eat 
and  drunk  and  lived  in  social  intercourse  * 
with  him." 

I  said,  that  if  it  was  not  troublesome  and 
presuming  too  much,  I  would  request  him 
to  tell  me  all  the  little  circumstances  of  his 
life;  what  schools  he  attended,  when  he 
came  to  Oxford,  when  he  came  to  Loudon, 
&c  &c.  He  did  not  disapprove  of  my  cu- 
riosity as  to  these  particulars;  but  said, 
"  They  '11  come  out  by  degrees,  as  we  talk 
together." 


*  [Yet  Johnson  himself  knew  bat  few  of  the 
many  whose  lives  he  wrote,  and  these  few -are 
certainly  not  hia  moat  amusing  biographical  pes 
dnenons.    See  anU,  p.  110  *.—£».] 


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289 


"^W  [When  Mrs*  Fiozzi,  in  July, 
n.  94, »,  1773j  happgjj^  to  auude  to  his  fu- 
ture biographer,  "And  who  will  be  my 
biographer,"  said  he,  "do  you  think?" 
«  Goldsmith,  no  doubt,"  replied  she,  "  and 
he  will  do  it  the  best  among  us."  "  The 
dog  would  write  it  best,  to  be  sure,"  replied 
he:  "  but  his  particular  malice  towards  me, 
and  general  disregard  for  truth,  would  make 
the  book  useless  to  all,  and  injurious  to  my 
character."  "Oh!  as  to  that,"  said  she, 
"  we  should  all  fasten  upon  him,  and  force 
him  to  do  you  justice;  but  the  worst  is,  the 
doctor  does  not  know  your  life;  nor  can  I 
tell  indeed  who  does,  except  Dr.^Taylor  of 
Ashbourne."  "Whv,  Taylor,"  said  he, 
"  is  better  acquainted  with  my  heart  than 
any  man  or  woman  now  alive;  and  the  his- 
tory of  my  Oxford  exploits  lies  all  between 
him1  and  Adams:  but  Dr.  James  knows  my 
very  early  days  better  than  he.  After  my 
coming  to  London  to  drive  the  world  about 
a  little,  you  must  all  go  to  Jack  Hawkes- 
worth  for  anecdotes:  I  lived  in  great  famili- 
arity with  him  (though  I  think  there  was 
not  much  affection)  from  the  year  1753  till 
the  time  Mr.  Thrale  and  you  took  me  up. 
I  intend,  however,  to  disappoint  the  rogues, 
and  either  make  you  write  the  life,  with 
Taylor's  intelligence;  or,  which  is  better, 
do  it  myself,  after  outliving  you  all.  I  am 
now,"  added  he, "  keeping  a  diary,  in  hopes 
of  using  it  for  that  purpose  some  time."] 

He  censured  Ruffhead's  Life  of  Pope: 
and  said,  "  he  knew  nothing  of  Pope,  ana 
nothing  of  poetry."  He  praised  Dr.  Jo- 
seph Warton's  Essay  on  Pope;  but  said, 
he  supposed  we  should  have  no  more  of  it, 
as  the  authour  had  not  heen  able  to  persuade 
the  world  to  think  of  Pope  as  he  did."  Bos- 
well  "Whv,  sir,  should  that  prevent 
him  from  continuing  his  work?  He  is  an 
ingenious  counsel,  who  has  made  the  most 
of  his  cause:  he  is  not  obliged  to  gain  it" 
Johhsov.  "  But,  sir,  there  is  a  difference 
when  the  cause  is  of  a  man's  own  making." 

We  talked  of  the  proper  use  of  riches. 
Johkson.  "  If  I  were  a  man  of  great  es- 
tate, I  would  drive  all  the  rascals  whom  I 
did  not  like  out  of  the  county,  at  an  elec- 
tion." 

I  asked  him,  how  far  he  thought  wealth 
should  be  employed  in  hospitality.  John- 
son. "  Tou  are  to  consider  that  ancient 
hospitality  of  which  we  hear  so  much,  was  in 


1  [Thk  (at  well  as  the  story  of  the  shoes, 
ante,  p.  26,  n.)  seems  inconsistent  with  the 
inference  drawn  from  the  books  of  Pembroke 
College,  that  Johnson  had  left  Oxford  before  Tay- 
lor came  thither.  The  Editor  can  attempt  to 
reconcile  these  discrepancies  only  by  supposing 
that  Johnson,  though  he  had  left  Pembroke  Col- 
lege, continued  in  Oxford,  living,  perhaps,  with 
Taylor,  as  companion  or  private  tatar«— -En.] 

▼oi».  I.  57 


an'uncommercial  country,  when  men  being 
idle,  were  glad  to  be  entertained  at  rich  men's 
tables.  But  in  a  commercial  country,  a 
busy  country^  time  becomes  precious,  and 
therefore  hospitality  is  not  so  much  valued. 
No  doubt  there  is  still  room  for  a  certain 
degree  of  itj  and  a  man  has  a  satisfaction 
in  seeing  his  friends  eating  and  drinking 
around  him.  But  promiscuous  hospitality 
is  not  the  way  to  gain  real  influence.  You 
must  help  some  people  at  table  before  oth- 
ers ;  you  must  ask  some  people  how  they 
like  their  wine  oftener  than  others.  You 
therefore  offend  more  people  than  you 
please.  You  are  like  the  French  statesman, 
who  said,  when  he  granted  a  favour. '  J*ai 
fait  dix  micontenU  et  un  ingratS  Besides, 
sir,  being  entertained  ever  so  well  at  a  man's 
table,  impresses  no  lasting  regard  or  esteem. 
No,  sir,  the  way  to  make  sure  of  power  and 
influence  is,  by  lending  money  confidential- 
ly to  your  neighbours  at  a  small  interest,  or 
perhaps  at  no  interest  at  all,  and  having 
their  bonds  in  your  possession."  Bos  well. 
"  May  not  a  man,  sir,  employ  his  riches  to 
advantage,  in  educating  young  men  of  mer- 
it?" Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir,  If  they  fall  in 
your  way;  but  if  it  be  understood  that  you 
patronize  young  men  of  merit,  you  will  be 
harassed  with  solicitations.  You  will  have 
numbers  forced  upon  you,  who  have  no 
merit:  some  will  force  them  Upon  you  from 
mistaken  partiality;  and  some  from  down- 
right interested  motives,  without  scruple; 
and  you  will  be  disgraced. 

"  were  I  a  rich  man,  I  would  propagate 
all  kinds  of  trees  that  will  frrow  in  the  open 
air.  A  green-house  is  childish.  I  would 
introduce  foreign  animals  into  the  country; 
for  instance,  the  rein-deer  8.M 

The  conversation  now  turned  on  critical 
subjects.  Johnson.  "  Bayes,  in  (  The 
Rehearsal,*  is  a  mighty  silly  character.  If 
it  was  intended  to  be  like  a  particular  man, 
it  could  only  he  diverting  while  that  man 
was  remembered.  But  I  question  whether 
it  was  meant  for  Dryden,  as  has  been  report- 
ed; for  we  know  some  of  the  passages  said 
to  he  ridiculed  were  written  since  the  Re- 
hearsal: at  least  a  passage  mentioned  in 
the  preface  3  is  of  a  later  date."    I  main- 


1  Hut  project  has  since  been  realized.  Sir 
Henry  Ijddel,  who  made  a  spirited  tour  into  Lap- 
land, brought  two  rein-deer  to  hie  estate  in  North- 
umberland* whore  they  bred:  bat  the  race  has 
unibrtanatehr  perished. — Boswxu*. 

»  There  »  no  pve&ce  to  "  The  Rehearsal,"  as 
originally  published.  Dr.  Johnson  seems  to  have 
meant  the  address  to  the  reader,  with  a  key, 
subjoined  to  it,  which  have  been  prefixed  to  the 
modern  editions  of  that  play.  He  did  not  knew, 
it  appears,  that  several  additions  were  made  to 
"The  Rehearsal"  after  the  first  edition.  The 
ridicule  on  the  passages  here  alluded  to  m  found 


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tained  that  it  had  merit  as  a  general  aatire 
on  the  self-importance  of  dramatick  au- 
thouro.  But  even  in  this  light  he  held  it 
very  cheap. 

We  then  walked  to  the  Pantheon.  The 
first  view  of  it  did  not  strike  us  so  much  as 
Ranelagh  i,  of  which  he  said,  the  "coup 
d'wil  was  the  finest  thing  he  had  ever 
seen."  The  truth  is,  Ranelagh  is  of  a 
more  beautiful  form;  more  of  it,  or  rather 
indeed  the  whole  rotunda,  appears  at  once, 
and  it  is  better  lighted.  However,  as  John- 
son observed,  we  saw  the  Pantheon  in 
time  of  mourning,  when  there  was  a  dull 
uniformity;  whereas  we  had  seen  Rane- 
lagh  when  the  view  was  enlivened  with  a 
gay  profusion  of  colours.  Mrs.  Bosville  s, 
of  Gunthwait,  in  Yorkshire,  joined  us,  and 
entered  into  conversation  with  us.  John- 
son said  to  me  afterwards,  "  Sir,  this  is  a 
mighty  intelligent  lady." 

f  said  there  was  not  half  a  guinea's  worth 
of  pleasure  in  seeing  this  place.    Johbsoh. 


among  those  additions.  They  therefore  furnish 
no  ground  for  the  doubts  here  suggested.  Un- 
questionably Bayes  was  meant  to  be  the  represen- 
tative of  Dryden,  whose  familiar  phrases  in  his 
ordinary  conversation  are  frequently  introduced  in 
this  piece. — M alone.  [Bayes  may  have  been 
originally  sketched  tot  Sir  Robert  Howard,  but 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  finished  picture  was 
meant  for  Dryden — he  himself  complains  bitter- 
ly that  it  woe  $o;  and  Johnson,  better  informed 
when  he  came  to  write  Dryden's  life,  expressly 
says  that  "  he  was  characterised  under  the  name 
of  Bayes  m  <  The  Rehearsal.'  "—En.] 

1  [Ranelagh,  so  called  because  its  site  was  that 
of  the  villa  of  Viscount  Ranelagh,  near  Chelsea, 
was  a  place  of  entertainment,  of  which  the  prin- 
cipal room  was  an  oval  of  great  dimensions,  with 
an  orchestra  ht  the  centre,  and  tiers  of  boxes  all 
round.  The  chief  amusement  was  promenading , 
as  it  was  called,  round  and  round  the  circular 
area  below,  and  taking  refreshments  in  the  box- 
es, while  the  orchestra  executed  different  pieces 
of  music  The  Pantheon,  in  Oxford-street,  was 
built  k  1772,  after  Wyatt's  designs,  as  a  kind  of 
town  Ranelagh,  but  partook  mere  of  the  shape 
of  a  theatre  (to  the  purposes  of  which  it  was 
sometimes  applied.)  Both  these  places  had  a 
considerable  vogue  for  a  time,  but  are  now  al- 
most forgotten;  the  last  appearance  (if  one  may 
use  the  expression)  of  Ranelagh  was  when  the 
installation  ball  of  the  Knights  of  the  Bath,  in 
1802,  was  given  there.  It  has  since  been  razed 
to  me  ground,  and  no  vestige  of  that  once  fairy 
nalace  remains.  The  original  Pantheon  was 
burned  down,  but  was  rebuilt  on  a  more  moder- 
ate scale,  and  used  to  be  heard  of,  as  the  scene 
of  an  occasional  masquerade  or  concert;  but  it 
has  not  been  opened,  it  is  believed,  for  the  last 
twenty  years. — En.  ] 

1  [Diana  Wentworth,  wife  of  Godfrey  Bos- 
vffle,  Efeq.  of  Gunthwait,  whose  daughter  had 
married,  in  17«8,  Sir  Alexander,  afterwards 
ted  Lord,  Macdonald- -Ed.] 


"  Bat,  sir,  there  is  half  a  guinea's  worth  of 
inferiority  to  other  people  in  not  having 
seen  it."  Boswkll.  "  I  doubt,  sir,  wheth- 
er there  are  many  happy  people  here." 
Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir,  there  are  many  hap- 
py people  here.  There  are  many  people 
here  wno  are  watching;  hundreds,  and  who 
think  hundreds  are  watching  them.*' 

Happening  to  meet  Sir  Adam  Fergu- 
son 9,  1  presented  him  to  Dr.  Johnson. 
Sir  Adam  expressed  some  apprehension 
that  the  Pantheon  would  encourage  luxu- 
ry. "  Sir,"  said  Johnson,  "  I  am  a  great 
friend  to  publick  amusements;  for  they 
keep  people  from  vice.  You  now  (ad- 
dressing himself  to  me)  would  have  been 
with  a  wench,  had  you  not  been  here.  O ! 
I  forgot  you  were  married." 

Sir  Adam  suggested,  that  luxury  corrupts 
a  people,  and  destroys  the  spirit  of  liberty. 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  that  is  all  visionary.  I 
would  not  give  half  a  guinea  to  live  under 
one  form  of  government  rather  than  an- 
other. It  is  of  no  moment  to  the  happiness 
of  an  individual.  Sir,  the  danger  of  the 
abuse  of  power  is  nothing  to  a  private  man. 
What  Frenchman  is  prevented  from  pass- 
ing his  life  as  he  pleases4?"  Sir  Adam. 
"  But,  sir,  in  the  British  constitution  it  is 
surely  of  importance  to  keep  up  a  spirit  in 
the  people,  so  as  to  preserve  a  balance 
against  the  crown."  Johnson.  "Sir,  I  per- 
ceive you  are  a  vile  whig  5.  Why  all  this 
childish  jealousy  of  the  power  of  the  crown  ?  j 
The  crown  has  not  power  enough.  When 
I  say  that  all  governments  are  alike,  I  con- 
sider that  in  no  government  power  can  be 
abused  long.  Mankind  will  not  bear  it 
If  a  sovereign  oppresses  his  people  to  a 
great  degree,  they  will  rise  and  cut  off  his 
head.  There  is  a  remedy  in  human  nature 
against  tyranny,  that  will  keep  us  safe  un- 
der every  form  of  government.  Had  not 
the  people  of  France  thought  themselves 
honoured  in  sharing  in  the  brilliant  actions 


3  [Sir  Adam  Ferguson  of  Kelkerran,  Bart 
member  of  parliament  for  Ayrshire  from  1774  to 
1780.— Ed.] 

4  [This  is  sad"  laxity  of  talk.'*  If  a  French- 
man had  written  any  thing  like  Johnson's  JVbr- 
folk  Prophecy t  or  talked  of  Loss  XV.  as  John- 
son did  of  George  the  Second,  he  would  have 
been  either  forced  to  fly,  or  would  have  expiated 
his  indiscretion  in  the  Bastille :  poor  Marmon- 
tel  was,  we  know,  sent  to  the  Bastille  for  repeat- 
ins;  the  parody  of  a  few  lines  in  a  play,  at  which 
a  lord  of  the  bed-chamber  happened  to  be  offend- 
ed.—-En.] 

*  [These  words  malt  have  been  accompanied 
and  softened  by  some  jocular  expression  of  counte- 
nance or  intonation  of  voice,  for,  rude  as  John- 
son often  was,  it  m  hardly  conceivable  that  as 
should  have  seriously  said  such  a  thins;  to  a 
— lueman  whom  he  saw  for  the  first  tune.-* 


C 


] 


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of  Louis  XIV.,  they  would  not  have  en* 
dured  him;  and  we  may  say  the  same  of 
the  King  of  Prussia's  people."  Sir  Adam 
introduced  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans. Johnson.  "Sir,  the  mass  of  both 
of  them  were  barbarians.  The  mass  of  ev- 
ery people  must  be  barbarous  where  there 
is  no  printing,  and  consequently  knowledge 
is  not  generally  diffused.  Knowledge  is 
diffused  among  our  people  by  the  newspa- 
pers." Sir  Adam  mentioned  the  orators, 
poets,  and  artists  of  Greece.  Johnson. 
"  Sir,  I  am  talking  of  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple. We  see  even  what  the  boasted  Athe- 
nians were.  The  little  effect  which  De- 
mosthenes's  orations  had  upon  them,  shows 
that  they  were  barbarians." 

Sir  Adam  was  unlucky  in  his  topicks; 
for  he  suggested  a  doubt  of  the  propriety  of 
bishops  having  seats  in  the  house  of  lords. 
Johnson.  "Bow  so,  sir?  Who  is  more 
proper  for  having  the  dignity  of  a  peer  than 
a  bishop,  provided  a  bishop  be  what  he 
ought  to  oe;  and  if  improper  bishops  be 
made,  that  is  not  the  fault  of  the  bishops, 
but  of  those  who  make  them." 

On  Sunday,  April  5/  after  attending  di- 
vine service  at  St.  Paul's  church,  I  found 
him  alone.  Of  a  schoolmaster1  of  his  ac- 
quaintance, a  native  of  Scotland,  he  said, 
"  He  has  a  great  deal  of  good  about  him; 
but  he  is  also  very  defective  in  some  re- 
spects. His  inner  part  is  good,  but  his 
outer  part  is  mighty  awkward.  You  in 
Scotland  do  not  attain  that  nice  critical  skill 
in  languages,  which  we  get  in  our  schools 
in  England.  I  would  not  put  a  boy  to 
him,  whom  I  intended  for  a  man  of  learn- 
ing. But  for  the  sons  of  citizens,  who  are 
to  learn  a  little,  get  good  morals,  and  then 
go  to  trade,  he  may  do  very  well." 

I  mentioned  a  cause  in  which  I  had  ap- 
peared as  counsel  at  the  bar  of  the  general 
assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  where 
%  probationer  (as  one  licensed  to  preach, 
but  not  yet  ordained,  is  called)  was  oppos- 
ed in  his  application  to  be  inducted,  because 
it  was  alleged  that  he  had  been  guilty  of 
fornication  five  years  before. .  Johnson. 
"  Why,  air,  if  he  has  repented,  it  is  not  a 
sufficient  objection.  A  man  who  is  good 
enough  to  go  to  heaven,  is  good  enough  to 
be  a  clergyman."  This  Was  a  humane 
and  liberal  sentiment  But  the  character 
of  a  clergyman  is  more  sacred  than  that  of 
an  ordinary  christian.  As  he  is  to  instruct 
with  authority,  he  should  be  regarded  with 
reverence,  as  one  upon  whom  divine  truth 
has  had  the  effect  to  set  him  above  such 
transgressions,  as  men,  less  exalted  by 
spiritual  habits  and  vet  upon  the  whole  not 
to  be  excluded  from  heaven,  have  been  be- 
trayed into  by  the  predominance  of  passion. 

1  [Mr.  Elphinston :  fee  ante,  p.  85.— En.] 


That  clergyman  may  be  considered  as  sin- 
ners in  general,  as  all  men  are,  cannot  be 
denied;  but  this  reflection  will  not  counter- 
act their  good  precepts  so  much,  as  the  ab- 
solute knowledge  of  their  having  been 
guilty  of  certain  specific  immoral  acts.  I 
told  him,  that  by  tne  rules  of  the  church  of 
Scotland,  in  their  "  Book  of  Discipline,"  if 
a  ieandal,  as  it  is  called,  is  not  prosecuted  for 
five  years,  it  cannot  afterwards  be  proceed- 
ed upon,  "  unless  it  be  of  a  heinous  nature, 
or  again  become  flagrant;"  and  that  hence 
a  question  arose,  whether  fornication  was 
a  sin  of  a  heinous  nature;  and  that  I  had 
maintained,  that  it  did  not  deserve  that  ep- 
ithet, inasmuch  as  it  was  not  one  of  those 
sins  which  argue  very  great  depravity  of 
heart:  in  short,  was  not,  in  the  general 
acceptation  of  mankind,  a  heinous  sin. 
Johnson.  "No,  sir,  it  is  not  a  heinous  sin. 
A  heinous  sin  is  that  for  which  a  man  is 
punished  with  death  or  banishment. "  Bos- 
well.  "  But,  sir,  after  I  had  argued  that 
it  was  not  a  heinous  sin,  an  old  clergyman 
rose  up,  and  repeating  the  text  of  scripture 
denouncing  judgment  against  whoremon- 
gers, asked,  whether,  considering  this, 
there  could  be  any  doubt  of  fornication  be- 
ing a  heinous  sin."  Johnson.  "Why, sir, 
observe  the  word  whoremonger.  Every 
sin,  if  persisted  in,  will  become  heinous. 
Whoremonger  is  a  dealer  in  whores,  as 
ironmonger  is  a  dealer  in  iron.  But  as  you 
don9 1  call  a  man  an  ironmonger  for  buy- 
ing and  selling  a  penknife-;  so  you  don't 
call  a  man  a  whoremonger  for  getting  one 
wench  with  child  9  ?* 

I  spoke  of  the  inequality  of  the  livings  of 
the  clergy  in  England,  and  the  scanty  pro- 
visions of  some  of  the  curates.  Johnson. 
"  Why  yes,  sir;  but  it  cannot  be  helped. 
You  must  consider,  that  the  revenues  of 
the  clergy  are  not  at  the  disposal  of  the 
state,  like  the  pay  of  the  army.  Different 
men  have  founded  different  churches;  and 
some  are  better  endowed,  some  worse. 
The  state  cannot  interfere,  and  make  an 
equal  division  of  what  has  been  particular- 
ly appropriated.  Now  when  a  clergyman 
has  but  small  living,  or  even  two  small  liv- 
ings, he  can  afford  very  little  to  the  cu- 
rate. 

He  said  he  went  more  frequently  to 
church  when  there  were  prayers  only,  than 
when  there  was  also  a  sermon,  as  the  peo- 
ple required  more  an  example  for  the  one 
than  the  other;  it  being  much  easier  for 
them  to  hear  a  sermon,  than  to  fix  their 
minds  on  prayer.  . 


1  It  must  not  be  presumed  that  Dr.  Johnson 
meant  to^  give  any  countenance  to  licentiousness, 
though  in  the  character  of  an  advocate  he  made 
a  just  and  subtle  distinction  between  occa- 
sional and  habitual  tiansgression. — Boswsfci* 


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1772.— jOTAT.  68. 


On  Monday,  April  6.  I  dined  with  him 
at  Sir  Alexander  Msxsdonald's,  where  was 
a  young  officer  in  the  regimentals  of  the 
ScotsRoyal,  who  talked  with  a  vivacity, 
fluency,  and  precision  so  uncommon,  that 
he  attracted  particular  attention.  He  proved 
to  be  the  Hon.  Thomas  Erekine,  youngest 
brother  to  the  Earl  of  Buchan,  who  has 
since  risen  into  such  brilliant  reputation  at 
the  bar  in  Westminster-hall  i. 

Fielding  being  mentioned,  Johnson  ex- 
claimed, "  He  was  a  blockhead  ;"  and 
upon  my  expressing  my  astonishment  at  so 
strange  an  assertion,  he  said,  "What  I 
mean  by  his  being  a  blockhead  is,  that  he 
was  a  barren  rascal."  Boswell.  "  Will 
you  not  allow,  sir,  that  he  draws  very  nat- 
ural pictures  of  human  life?"  Johnson. 
«  Why,  sir,  it  is  of  very  low  life.  Rich- 
ardson used  to  say,  that  had  he  not  known 
who  Fielding  was,  he  should  have  believed 
he  was  an  ostler.  Sir,  there  is  more  know- 
ledge of  the  heart  in  one  letter  of  Richard- 
son^, than  in  all  'Torn  Jones 9.'  I,  in- 
deed, never  read  'Joseph  Andrews.' " 
EasKiNE.  "  Surely,  sir,  Richardson  is  very 
tedious."  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  if  you 
were  to  read  Richardson  for  the  story,  your 
impatience  would  be  so  much  fretted  that 
you  would  hang  yourself.  But  you  must 
read  him  for  the  sentiment,  and  consider 
the  story  as  only  giving  occasion  to  the 
sentiment."  I  have  already  given  my  opin- 
ion of  Fielding;  but  I  cannot  refrain  from 
repeating  here  any  wonder  at  Johnson's  ex- 
cessive and  unaccountable  depreciation  of 
one  of  the  best  writers  that  England  has 
produced.    "Tom  Jones"  has  stood  the 


1  [Born  in  174§;  entered  the  navy  as  a  mid- 
shipman in  1764,  and  the  army  as  an  ensign  in 
the  royals  in  1768.  He  was  called  to  the  bar  in 
1779;  appointed  a  king's  council  in  1783,  and, 
In  1806,  lend  chancellor  of  England,  and  created 
a  baron  by  the  title  of  Lord  Erakine.  He  died  in 
1823.  Neither  his  eonveisatfon,(though,  even  to 
the  last,  remarkable  for  fluency  and  vivacity,) 
nor  his  parliamentary  speeches,  ever  bore  any 
proportion  to  the  extraordinary  force  and  brillian- 
cy of  his  forensic  eloquence.  Those  who  only 
lmew  him  in  private,  or  in  the  house  of  commons, 
had  some  difficulty  in  believing  the  effect  he  pro- 
duced at  the  bar.  During  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  his  conduct  was  eccentric  to  a  degree  that 
Justified  a  suspicion,  and  even  a  hope,  that  his 
understanding  was  impaired. — Ed.] 

1  Johnson's  severity  against  Fielding  did  not 
arise  from  any  viciousness  in  his  style,  but  from 
his  loose  life,  and  the  profligacy  of  almost  all  his 
male  characters,  Who  would  [venture  to  read 
one  of  his  novels  aloud  to  modest  women  ?  His 
novels  are  male  amusements,  and  very  amusing 
they  certainly  are.  Fielding's  conversation  was 
coarse,  and  so  tinctured  with  the  rank  weeds  of 
the  garden,  [Covent-garden,]  that  it  would 
now  be  thought  only  fit  for  a  brothel.— Bun- 


test  of  publick  opinion  with  sn  h  success, 
as  to  have  established  its  great  merit,  both 
for  the  story,  the  sentiments,  and  the  man- 
ners, and  also  the  varieties  of  diction,  so  as 
to  leave  no  doubt  ofita  having  an  animated 
truth  of  execution  throughout 

A  book  of  travels,  lately  published  under 
the  title  of  Coriai  Junior,  and  written  by 
Mr.  PatersonS,  was  mentioned.  Johnson, 
said  this  book  was  in  imitation  of  Sterne4, 
and  not  of  Coriat,  whose  name  Peterson  had 
chosen  as  a  whimsical  one.  "  Tom  Coriat 
(said  he)  was  a  humourist  about  the  court 
of  James  the  First  He  had  a  mixture  of 
learning,  of  wit,  and  of  buffoonery.  He 
first  travelled  through  Europe,  and  publish- 
ed hie  travels5.  He  afterwards  travelled  on 
foot  through  Asia,  and  had  made  many  re- 
marks; but  he  died  at  Mandoa,  and  his  re- 
marks were  lost" 

We  talked  of  gaming,  and  animadverted 
on  it  with  severity.     Johnson.     "Nay, 

?entlemen,  let  us  not  aggravate  the  matter, 
t  is  not  roguery  to  play  with  a  man  who  u 
ignorant  of  the  game,  while  you  are  master 
of  it,  and  so  win  his  money;  for  he  thinks 
he  can  play  better*  than  you,  as  you  think 
you  can  play  better  than  he;  and  the  supe- 
rior skill  carries  it"  Esskine.  "  He  is  a 
fool,  but  you  are  not  a  rogue.  Johnson. 
"That's  much  about  the  truth,  sir.  It 
must  be  considered,  that  a  man  who  only 
does  what  every  one  of  the  society  to  which 
he  belongs  would  do,  is  not  a  dishonest 
man.  In  the  republic  of  Sparta  it  was 
agreed,  that  stealing  was  not  dishonourable, 
if  not  discovered.  I  do  not  commend  a  so- 
ciety where  there  is  an  agreement  that  what 
would  not  otherwise  be  fair,  shall  be  fair; 
but  I  maintain,  that  an  individual  of  any 
society,  who  practises  what  is  allowed,  m 
not  a  dishonest  man."  Boswxll.  "So 
then,  sir,  you  do  not  think  ill  of  a  man  who 
wins  perhaps  forty  thousand  pounds  in  a 
winter?"  Johnson.  "Sir,  Ido  not  call 
a  gamester  a  dishonest  man;  but  I  call  him 
an  unsocial  man,    an   unprofitable   man. 


*  Mr.  Samuel  Peterson,  eminent  for  his  knowl- 
edge of  books.— BoawELL.  [He  was  the  son 
of  a  woollen-draper;  he  kept  a  bookseller's  shop, 
chiefly  for  old  books,  and  was  afterwards  an  auc- 
tioneer; but  seems  to  have  been  iiihui  i  osafsl 
in  all  lus  attempts  at  business.  He  made  cata- 
logues of  several  celebrated  libraries,  He  died  at 
1802,  etat.  77.— Ed.] 

4  Mr.  Peterson,  in  a  pamphlet,  produced  soma 
evidence  to  show  that  his  work  was  written  be- 
fore Sterne's  "  Sentimental  Journey  »>  appeared. 
— Boswill. 

»  [Under  the  title  of  '<  Cruditiei,  hastily  goo- 
bled  up  in  France,  Savoy,  Italy,  Rhetia,  Helve- 
tia, &c"  Coriat  was  bom  in  1577,  educated  at 
Westminster  school  and  Oxford.  He  died  in 
1617,  at  Sural,  says  the  Biog.  Diet,  after  he  had 
left  Mandoa.— Ed.) 


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1772.— 2ETAT.  68. 


Gaming  is  a  mode  of  transferring  propertv 
-without  producing  any  intermediate  good. 
Trade  gives  employment  to  numbers,  and 
so  produces  intermediate  food." 

Mr.  Erskine  told  us,  that  when  he  wss 
in  the  island  of  Minorca,  he  not  only  read 
prayers,  but  preached  two  sermons  to  the 
regiment  K  He  seemed  to  object  to  the  pas- 
sage in  scripture,  where  we  are  told  that  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  smote  in  one  night  forty 
thousand  Assyrians3  "  Sir  (said  Johnson), 
you  should  recollect  that  there  was  a  super- 
natural interposition;  they  were  destroyed 
by  pestilence.  You  are  not  to  suppose  that 
the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  about  and  stab- 
bed each  of  them  with  a  dagger,  or  knock- 
ed them  on  the  head  man  by  man." 

After  Mr.  Erskine  was  gone,  a  discussion 
took  place,  whether  the  present  Earl  of  Bu- 
chan,  when  Lord  Cardross,  did  right  to  re- 
fuse to  go  secretary  of  the  embassy  to  Spain, 
when  Sir  James  Gray,  a  man  of  inferiour 
rank,  went  ambassadour.  Dr.  Johnson 
said,  that  perhaps  in  point  of  interest  he  did 
wrong;  but  in  point  of  dignity  he  did  well. 
Sir  Alexander  msisted  that  he  was  wrong; 
and  said  that  Mr.  Pitt  intended  it  as  an  ad- 
vantageous thine  for  him.  "Why,  sir, 
(said  Johnson,)  Mr.  Pitt  might  think  it  an 
advantageous  thing  for  him  to  make  him  a 
vintner,  and  get  him  all  the  Portugal  trade : 
but  he  would  have  demeaned  himselr 
vtrangely,  had  he  accepted  of  such  a  situa- 
tion. Sir,  had  he  gone  secretary  while  his 
taferiour  was  ambassadour,  he  would  have 
been  a  traitor  to  his  rank  and  family  V 

I  talked  of  the  little  attachment  which 
subsisted  between  near  relations  in  Lon- 


1  [Lord  EnkJne  was  fond  of  this  anecdote.  He 
told  it  to  the  editor  the  first  time  that  he  had  the 
honour  of  being  in  his  company,  and  often  repeat- 
ed it  with  an  observation,  that  he  had  been  a 
sailor  and  a  soldier,  was  a  lawyer  and  a  parson. 
The  latter  he  affected  to  think  the  greatest  of  his 
efforts,  and  to  snpport  that  opinion  would  qnote 
the  prayer  for  the  clergy  in  the  liturgy,  from  the 
expression  of  Which  he  would  (in  no  commenda- 
ble spirit  of  jocularity)  infer  that  the  enlightening 
them  was  one  of  the  "  greatest  marvel*'*  which 
could  be  worked. — Ed.] 

*  One  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand.  See 
Isaiah,  xzxviL  86,  and  2  Kings,  zix.  86. — Ma- 
lows. 

•  [If  this  principle  were  to  be  admitted,  the 
young  nobility  would  be  excluded  from  all  the 
professions;  for  die  superiors  in  the  profession 
would  frequently  be  their  inferiors  in  personal 
rank.  Would  Johnson  have  dissuaded  Lord 
Cardross  from  entering  on  the  military  profession, 
hocanso  at  his  outset  he  must  have  been  com- 
manded by  a  person  inferior  m  personal  rank  ? 
This,  if  ever  it  was  a  subject  of  real  doubt,  is  now 
better  understood,  and  young  men  of  the  highest 
rank  think  it  no  degradation  to  enter  into  the  ju- 
nior ranks  of  the  military,  naval,  and  diplomatic 
and  official  professions.— Ed.] 


don.  "  Sir  .(said  Johnson,)  in  a  country  so 
commercial  as  ours,  where  every  man  can 
do  for  himself,  there  is  not  so  much  occa- 
sion for  that  attachment  No  man  is 
thought  the  worse  of  here,  whose  brother 
was  hanged  <  In  uncommercial  countries, 
many  of  the  branches  of  a  family  must  de- 
pend on  the  stock;  so,  in  order  to  make  the 
head  of  the  family  take  care  of  them,  they 
are  represented  as  connected. with  his  repu- 
tation, that,  self-love  being  interested,  he 
may  exert*  himself  to  promote  their  inter- 
est. You  have  first  large  circles,  or  clans; 
as  commerce  increases,  the  connexion  1s 
confined  to  families;  by  degrees,  that  too 
goes  ofF,  as  having  become  unnecessary, 
and  there  being  few  opportunities  of  inter- 
course. One  brother  is  a  merchant  in  the 
city,  and  another  is  an  officer  in  the  guards; 
how  little  intercourse  can  these  two  nave!" 

I  argued  warmly  for  the  old  feudal  sys- 
tem. Sir  Alexander  opposed  it,  and  talked 
of  the  pleasure  of  seeing  all  men  free  and 
independent  Johnson.  "I  agree  with 
Mr.  Boswell,  that  there  must  be  a  high  sat- 
isfaction in  being  a  feudal  lord;  but  we  are 
to  consider  that  we  ought  not  to  wish  to 
have  a  number  of  men  unhappy  for  the  sat- 
isfaction of  one."  I  maintained  that  num- 
bers, namely,  the  vassals  or  followers,  were 
not  unhappy;  for  that  there  was  a  recipro- 
cal satisfaction  between  the  lord  and  them; 
he  being  kind  in  his  authority  over  them; 
they  being  respectful  and  faithful  to  him. 

On  Thursday,  April  9,  I  called  on  him 
to  beg  he  would  go  and  dine  with  me  at 
the  Mitre  Tavern.  He  had  resolved  not 
to  dine  at  all  this  day,  I  know  not  for  what 
reason;  and  I  was  so  unwilling  to  be  depriv- 
ed of  his  company,  that  I  was  content  to 
submit  to  suffer  a  want,  which  was  at  first 
somewhat  painful,  but  he  soon  made  me 
forget  it;  and  a  man  is  always  pleased  with 
himself,  when  he  finds  his  intellectual  incli- 
nations predominate. 

He  observed,  that  to  reason  philosophi- 
cally on  the  nature  of  prayer  was  very  un- 
profitable. 

Talking  of  ghosts,  he  said,  he  knew  one 
friend,  wno  was  an  honest  man  and  a  sen- 
sible man,  who  told  him  he  had  seen  a  ghost 


*  [Johnson  would  hardly  have  volunteered  this 
illustration  if  there  had  been  any  grounds  for  the 
story  told  by  Miss  Seward  and  Dr.  M'NicoL— See 
ante,  p.  11.  n.  ;  and,  since  that  note  was 
printed,  Dr.  Harwood  has  furnished  additional 
grounds  for  disbelieving  the  story.  Miss  Seward 
says,  that  that  the  person  hanged  was  "Ats  tmefe 
^Andrew"  and  Dr.  M'Nieol  says  he  was  a  native 
of  Scotland."  Now,  in  the  parish  register  of 
Cubley,  where  Michael  Johnson  was  born,  we 
find  the  entries  of  the  births  of  several  persons  of 
his  family,  between  1650  and  1700,  and  es- 
pecially of"  Andrew  Johnson,"  the  Doctor's 
tmWe.— Ed.]  — . 

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994 


1772.— ^TAT,  68. 


—old  Mr.  Edward  Cave,  the  printer  at  St 
John's  Gate.  He  said,  Mr.  Cave  did  not 
like  to  talk  of  it,  and  seemed  to  be  in  mat 
honour  whenever  it  was  mentioned.  Bos- 
well.  "  Pray,  sir,  what  did  he  say  was 
the  appearance  ?  »  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir, 
something  of  a  shadowy  being." 

I  mentioned  witches,  and  asked  him  what 
they  properly  meant  Johnson.  "Why, 
sir,  tney  properly  mean  those  who  make 
use  of  the  aid  of  evil  spirits."  Bbswell. 
"  There  is,  no  doubt,  sir,  a  general  report 
and  belief  oftheir  having  existed."  John- 
son. "  You  have  not  only  the  general  re- 
port and  belief,  but  you  have  many  volun- 
tary solemn  confessions."  He  did  not  af- 
firm any  thing  positively  upon  a  subject 
which  it  is  the  fashion  of  the  times  to  laugh 
at  as  a  matter  of  absurd  credulity.  He  on- 
ly seemed  willing,  as  a  candid  inquirer  after 
truth,  however  strange  and  inexplicable,  to 
show  that  he  understood  what  might  be 
urged  for  it1. 

On  Friday,  April  10, 1  dined  with  him  at 
General  Oglethorpe's,  where  we  found  Dr. 
Goldsmith. 

Armorial  bearings  having  been  mention- 
ed, Johnson  said  they  were*  as  ancient  as 
the  siege  of  Thebes,  which  he  proved  by  a 
passage  in  one  of  the  tragedies  of  Eunpi- 

I  started  the  question,  whether  duelling 
was  consistent  with  moral  duty*  The  brave 
old  general  fired  at  this,  and  said,  with  a 
lofty  air?"  Undoubtedly  a  man  has  a  right 


See  this  carious  question  treated  by  him  with 
t  acute  ability,  pos f,  16th  Aug.  1773.— Bos- 

WKLL. 

*  The  passage  to  which  Johnson  alluded,  is  to 
be  found  (as  I  conjecture)  in  the  Ph jenisbjb,  L 
1120. 

KLtu  *g«ra  fin  vr^ocity*,  x.  «r.  X. 
'O  tw  uvf<vyw  nctg&roffa/of  fltyorot, 
EniZHM,  %xm  OIKEION  •?  (**rm  raw.— 
J.  Bobwill. 
[The  meaning  is  that  "  Paithenoperas  had,  in  the 
centre  of  his  shield,  the  domestic  sign — Atalan- 
ta  killing  the  JEfolian  boar;  "  but  this,  admit- 
ting that  the  story  of  Atalanta  was  the  "  armorial 
bearing''  of  .Parthenopeus,  would  only  prove 
them  to  be  as  ancient  as  Euripides^  who  flour- 
ished (442  A.  C.)  near  800  years  after  the  siege 
ofThebes  (1225  A.  C. )  Homer,  whom  the  chro- 
nologists  place  500  years  before  Euripides,  de- 
scribes a  sculptured  shield;  and  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  ?ery  soon  after  ingenuity  had  made  a 
Shield,  taste  would  begin  to  decorate  it  The 
words  "  domestic  sign  "  are  certainly  very  curi- 
ous, yet  probably  mean  no  more  than  that  he 
bore  on  his  shield  the  representation  of  a  family 
story.  The  better  opinion  seems  to  be  that  h  was 
not  till  the  visor  concealed  the  face  of  the  war- 
rior, that  the  ornaments  of  the  shields  and  crests 
became  distinctive  of  individuals  and  families  in 
that  peculiar  manner  which  we  understand  by 
the  terms  "  armorial  bearings.  "—En.] 


to  defend  bis  honour."  Goldsmith  (turn- 
ing to  me).  "  I  ask  you  first,  sir,  what 
would  you  do  if  yon  were  affronted?  "  I 
answered,  I  should  think  it  necessary  to 
fight.  "Why  then,"  replied  Goldsmith, 
"that  solves  the  question."  Johhsojt. 
"  No,  sir,  it  does  not  solve  the  question." 
It  does  not  follow,  that  what  a  man  would 
do  is  therefore  right."  I  said,  I  wished  to 
have  it  settled,  whether  duelling  was  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  Christianity.  Johnsoi 
immediately  entered  on  the  subject,  and 
treated  it  in  a  masterly  manner-  and  so  far 
as  I  have  been  able  to  recollect,  his  thoughts 
were  these:  "  Sir,  as  men  become  in  a  high 
degree  refined,  various  causes  of  offence 
arise]  which  are  considered  to  be  of  such 
importance,  that  life  must  be  staked  to  atone 
for  them,  though  in  reality  they  are  not  sa 
A  body  that  has  received  a  very  fine  poask 
may  be  easily  hurt.  Before  men  arrive  at 
this  artificial  refinement,  if  one  tells  his 
neighbour,  he  lies,  his  neighbour  tells  him, 
he  Bes;  if  one  (fives  his  neighbour  a  blow, 
his  neighbour  gives  him  a  blow:  but  in  a 
state  of  highly  polished  society,  an  affront 
is  held  to  oe  'a  serious  injury.  It  must, 
therefore,  be  resented,  or  rather  a  duel  must 
be  fought  upon  it;  as  men  have  agreed  to 
banish  from  their  society  one  who  puts  up 
with  an  affront  without  fighting  a  duel 
Now,  sir,  it  is  never  unlawful  to  fight  is 
self-defence.  He,  then,  who  fights  a  dud, 
does  not  fight  from  passi6n  against  his  an- 
tagonist, but  out  of  self-defence;  to  avert 
the  stigma  of  the  world,  and  to  prevent 
himself  from  being  driven  out  of  society.  I 
could  wish  there  .was  not  that  superfluity 
of  refinement;  but  while  such  notions  pre- 
vail, no  doubt,  a  man  may  lawfully  fignt  a 
dueR"  ^ 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  this  justifica- 
tion is  applicable  only  to  the  person  who 
receives  an  affront.  All  mankind  must  con- 
demn the  aggressor. 

The  general  told  us,  that  when  he  was  a 
very  young  man,  I  think  only  fifteen,  serv- 
ing under  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  he  was 
sitting  in  a  company  at  table  with  a  Prince  of 
Wirtemberg.  The  prince  took  up  a  glass*/ 
wine,  and,  by  a  fillip,  made  some  of  it  fly  in 
Oglethorpe's  face..  Here  was  a  nice  dilem- 
ma. To  have  challenged  him  instantly  might 
have  fixed  a  quarrelsome  character  upon 
the  young  soldier:  to  have  taken  no  notice 
of  it  might  have  been  considered  as  cow- 
ardice. Oglethorpe,  therefore,  keeping  his 
eye  upon  the  prince,  and  smiling  all  tne  tune, 
as  if  he  took  what  his  highness  had  done  in 
jest,  said,  "  JhTon  prince — "  I  forget  the 


3  The  frequent  disquisitions  on  this  subject 
bring  painfully  to,  recollection  the  death  of  Mr. 
Boswell'i  eldest  son,  Sir  Alexander,  who  wt* 
killed  in  a  duel  in  1822.— En.] 


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French  words  he  used;  the  purport  howev- 
er was,  "  That's  a  good  joke:  but  we  do  it 
much  better  in  England:"  and  threw  a 
whole  glass  of  wine  in  the  prince's  face. 
An  old  general,  who  sat  by,  said,  "  JB  a  bien 
fait,  mon  prince,  voub  Vavez  commend:" 
and  thus  all  ended  in  good-humour. 

Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  Pray,  general,  give 
us  an  account  of  the  siege  of  Belgrade." 
Upon  which  the  general,  pouring  a  little 
wine  upon  the  table,  described  every  thing 
with  a  wet  finger.  "  Here  we  were,  here 
were  the  Turks,"  &c.  &c.  Johnson. listen- 
ed with  the  closest  attention. 

A  question  was  started,  how  far  people 
who  disagree  in  a  capital  point  can  live  in 
friendship  together.  Johnson  said  they 
might  Goldsmith  said  they  could  not,  as 
they  had  not  the  idem  veUt  atque  idem  nol- 
le— the  same  likings  and  the  same  aversions. 
Johhson.  w  Why,  sir,  you  must  shun  the 
subject  as  to  which  yon  disagree.  For  in- 
stance, I  can  live  very  well  with  Burke:  I 
love  his  knowledge,  his  genius,  his  diffusion, 
and  affluence  of  conversation:  but  I  would 
not  talk  to  him  of  the  Rockingham  party  V 
Golds jftTH.  "  But,  sir,  when  people  live 
together  who  have  something  as  to  which 
they  disagree,  and  which  they  want  to  shun, 
they  will  be  in  the  situation  mentioned  in 
the  story  of  Bluebeard.'  *  You  may  look  in- 
to all  the  chambers  but  one. '  But  we  should 
have  the  greatest  inclination  to  look  into 
that  chamber,  to  talk  of  that  subject." 
Johnson  (with  a  loud  voice).  "  Sir,  I  am 
not  saying  that  you  could  live  in  friendship 
with  a'man  from  whom  you  differ  as  to  some 
point:  I  am  only  saying  that  I  could  do 
it  You  put  me  in  mind  of  Sappho  in 
Ovid*." 


1  Of  which  Mr.  Burke  was  a  leading  member. 
—Ed.] 

*  Mr.  Boswell's  note  here  being  rather  short, 
as  taken  at  the  time  (with  a  view  perhaps  to  fu- 
ture revision,)  Johnson's  remark  is  obscure,  and 
requires  to  be  a  little  opened.,.  What  he  said 
probably  was,  "  You  seem  to  think  that  two 
friends*,  to  live  well  together,  must  be  in  a  perfect 
harmony  with  each  other;  that  each  should  be  to 
(he  ether,  what  Sappho  boasts  she  was  to  her  lov- 
er, and  uniformly  agree  in -every  particular;  but 
this  is  by  no  means  necessary,"  fee.  The  words 
of  Sappho  altaded  to,  are  "  ommque  d  parte 
plaeebam." — (hid.  EpUt.  Say  p.  ad  Phaonem. 
L  51. — M  axons. 

I  should  rather  conjecture  that  the  passage 
which  Johnson  had  m  view  was  the  following,  1. 
45: 

u  O,  nki  qtm  fecte  poterit  te  digna  viderl 
Nulla  firtura  tna  est;  nulla  Altera  to*  est." 

His  reasoning  and  its  illustration  I  take  to  be  this. 
If  you  are  determined  to  associate  with  no  one 
whose  sentiments  do  not  universally  coincide  with 
your  own,  you  will  by  such  a  resolution  exclude 
yourself  from  all  society,  for  no  two  men  can  be 


Goldsmith  told  us,  that  he  was  now  busy 
in  writing  a  Natural  History* ;  and  that 
he  mi? ht  have  *  full  leisure  for  it,  he  had 
taken  lodgings,  at  a  farmer's  house,  near  to 
the  six  mile-stone,  on  the  Edgware-road, 
and  had  carried  down  his  books  in  two  re- 
turned post-chaises.  He  said,  he  believed 
the  farmer's  family  thought  him  an  odd 
character,  similar  to  that  in  which  the 
Spectator  appeared  to  his  landlady  and  her 
children:  he  was  The  Gentleman.  Mr. 
Mickle4,the translator  of  "The  Lusiad," 
and  I,  went  to  visit  him  at  this  place  a  few 
days  afterwards.  He  was  not  at  home ; 
but  having  a  curiosity  to  see  his  apartment, 
we  went  in,  and  found  curious  scraps  of  de- 
scriptions of  animals,  scrawled  upon  the 
wall  with  a  black  lead  pencil. 

The  subject  of  ghosts  being  introduced, 
Johnson  repeated  what  he  had  told  me  of 
a  friend  of  his5,  an  honest  man,  and  a  man 
of  sense,  having  asserted  to  him,  that  he 
had  seen  an  apparition.  Goldsmith  told  us, 
he  was  assured  by  his  brother,  'the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Goldsmith,  that  he  also  had  seen 
one.  General  Oglethorpe  told  us,  that 
Prendergast,  an  officer  in  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough's  army,  had  mentioned  to 
many  of  his  friends,  that  he  should  die 
on  a  particular  day ;  that  upon  that  day  a 
battle  took  place  with  the  French  ;  that  aA 
ter  it  was  over,  and  Prendergast  was  still 
alive,  his  brother  officers,  while  they  were 
yet  in  the  fields  jestingly  asked  him,  where 
was  his  prophecy  now.  Prendergast  grave- 
ly answered,  "  I  shall  die,  notwithstanding 
what  you  see."  Soon  afterwards,  there 
came  a  shot  from  a  French  battery,  to 
which  the  orders  for  a  cessation  of  arms  had 

found  who,  on  all  pobte,  invariably  think  alike. 
So  Sappho  in  Ovid  tells  Phaon,  that  if  he  will  not 
unite  himself  to  any  one  who  is  not  a  complete 
resemblance  of  himself,  it  will  be  impossible  for 
him  to  form  any  union  at  all. 

The  lines  which  I  have  quoted  are  thus  expand- 
ed in  Pope's  Paraphrase,  which,  to  say  the  troth, 
I  suspect  was  at  this  moment  more  in  Johnson's 
recollection  than  the  original: 

«•  If  to  no  charm*  thou  wilt  thy  heart  resign 
But  such  at  merit,  such  as  equal  thine, 
By  none,  alee !  by  none,  thou  canst  be  moved, 
Phaon  alone  by  Phaon  must  be  loved." 

Jamb*  BoewsLu 

8  [Published  soon  after,  under  the  title  of  a 
History  of  the  Earth  and  of  Animated  Nature. 
—En.]' 

4  [William  Julius  Mkskle,  the  son  of  a  Scotch 
clergyman,  was  born  in  1784.  He  lived  the 
life  that  poets  lived  in  those  days;  that  is,  in  dif- 
ficulties and  distress  till  1779,  when  being  appoint- 
ed secretary  to  Commodore  Johnson,  he  realized 
by  prize  agencies  a  moderate  competence;  he 
died  in  1788.  His  translation  of  the  Lusiad  is 
still  read;  his  original  pieces  are  almost  all  forgot- 
ten.—En.] 

•  Mr.  Cave.    See  ante,  p.  294. 


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1772.— ^STAT.  68. 


not  reached,  and  he  was  killed  upon  the 
spot  Colonel  Cecil,  who  took  possession 
of  his  effects,  found  in  his  pocket-hook  the 
following  solemn  entry  : 

[Here  the  date.]    "  Dreamt— or K 

Sir  John  Friend  meets  me."  (Here  the 
very  day  on  which  he  was  killed  was  men- 
tioned). Prenderjrast  had  been  connected 
with  Sir  John  Friend,  who  was  executed 
for  liigh  treason.  General  Oglethorpe  said, 
he  was  with  Colonel  Cecil,  when  Pope  came 
and  inquired  into  the  truth  of  this  story, 
which  made  a  great  noise  at  the  time,  and 
was  then  confirmed  by  the  colonel. 

On  Saturday,  April  11,  he  appointed  me 
to  come  to  him  in  the  evening,  when  he 
should  be  at  leisure  to  give  me  some  assist- 
ance for  the  defence  of  Hastie,  the  school- 
master of  Campbell  town ,  for  whom  1  was 
to  appear  in  the  house  of  lords.  When  1 
came,  I  found  him  unwilling  to  exert  him- 
self. I  pressed  him  to  write  down  his 
thoughts  upon  the  subject.  He  said, 
"There's* no  occasion  for  my  writing. 
I'll  talk  to  you."  He  was,  however,  at 
last  prevailed  on  to  dictate  to  me, 
while  I  wrote  a  [paper,  which  will 
be  found  in  the  appendix.] 

"This, sir,"  said  he,  "you  are  to  turn 
in  your  mind,  and  make  the  best  use  of  it 
you  can  in  your  speech." 


1  Here  was  a  blank,  which  may  be  filled  np 
thus:  "  was  told  by  an  apparition;9*  the  writer 
being  probably  uncertain  whether  he  was  asleep  or 
awake,  when  his  mind  was  impressed  with  the  sol- 
emn presentiment  with  which  the  fact  afterwards 
happened  so  wonderfully  to  correspond. — Bos- 
will.  [My  friend,  Sir  Henry  Hardinge,  secreta- 
ry at  war,  is  so  kind  as  to  inform  me  that  it  appears 
that  Colonel  Sir  Thomas  Prendergast,  of  the  twen- 
ty-second foot,  was  killed  at  Malplaquet,  August 
81, 1709,  but  no  trace  can  be  found  of  Colonel  Ce- 
cil. There  were  one  or  two  subalterns,  of  the  name 
of  Cecil,  at  that  time  in  the  army,  but  H  does  not 
appear  that  they  rose  to  the  rank  of  field-officers. 
Is  it  not  very  strange,  if  this  story  made  so  great 
a  noise,  we  should  read  of  it  nowhere  else;  and, 
as  so  much  curiosity  was  excited,  that  the  paper 
should  not  have  been  preserved,  or,  at  least,  so 
generally  shown  as  to  be  mentioned  by  some  oth- 
er witness  ? — the  paper  would  have  been  exceed- 
ingly curious;  but  the  hearsay  that  there  had 
been  such  a  paper  is  nothing,  and  indeed,  in  point 
of  evidence,  worse  than  nothing;  for  if  a  paper 
had  existed,  thousands  must  have  seen  it,  and 
Oglethorpe  himself  does  not  state  that  even  he 
saw  it  At  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Malplaquet, 
Oglethorpe  was  only  eleven  years  old.  Pope's 
inquiries  were  probably  made  when  the  story  was 
recent  Is  it  likely  that  Oglethorpe  at  the  age  of 
eleven  was  present  at  Pope's  interview  with  Col- 
onel Cecil,  and  even  if  he  were,  what  credit  is  to 
be  given  to  the  recollections,  after  the  lapse  of 
sixty-three  years,  of  what  a  boy  of  eleven  had 
beard?  Colonel  Cecil  was  probably  the  well 
known  Jacobite  of  that  name.— Ed.] 


Of  our  friend  Goldsmith  he  said,  "Sir, 
he  is  so  much  afraid  of  being  unnoticed, 
that  he  often  talks  merely  lest  you  should 
forget  that  he  is  in  the  company."  Bos- 
well.  "Yes,  he  stands  forward."  John- 
son. "  True,  sir,  but  if  a  man  is  to  stand 
forward,  he  should  wish  to  do  it  not  in  an 
awkward  posture,  not  in  rags,  not  so  as 
that  he  shall  only  be  exposed  to  ridicule." 
Boswell.  "For  my  part,  I  like  very 
well  to  hear  honest  Goldsmith  talk  away 
carelessly."  Johnson.  "Why  yes,  sir; 
but  he  should  not  like  to  hear  himself." 

On  Tuesday,  April  14,  the  decree  of  the 
court  of  session  in  the  schoolmaster's  cause 
was  reversed  in  the  house  of  lords,  after  a 
very  eloquent  speech  by  Lord  Mansfield, 
who  showed  himself  an  adept  in  school  dis- 
cipline, but  I  thought  was  too  rigorous 
towards  my  client.  On  the.  evening  of  the 
next  day  I  supped  with  Dr.  Johnson,  at 
the  Crown  and  Anchor  tavern,  in  the  Strand, 
in  company  with  Mr.  Langton  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Lord  Binning3.  I  repeated 
a  sentence  of  Lord  Mansfield's  speech,  of 
which,  by  the  aid  of  Mr.  Longlands,  the 
solicitor  on  the  other  side,  who  obligi*"1 
allowed  me  to  compare  his  note  with  my 
own,  I  have  a  full  copy.  "  My  lords,  se- 
verity is  not  the  way  to  govern  either  boys 
or  men."  "Nay,"  said  Johnson,  "it  is 
the  way  to  govern  them.  I  know  not 
whether  it  be  the  way  to  mend  them." 

I  talked  of  the  recent 3  expulsion  of  six 
students  from  the  University  of  Oxford, 
who  were  methodists,  and  would  not  desist 
from  publickly  praying  and  exhorting. 
Johnson,  "sir,  that  expulsion  was  ex- 
tremely just  and  proper.  What  have  they 
to  do  at  an  university,  who  are  not  willing 
to  be  taught,  but  will  presume  to  teach? 
Where  is  religion  to  be  learnt,  but  at  an 
university?  Sir,  they  were  examined,  and 
found  to  be  mighty  ignorant  fellows." 
Boswell.  "  But,  was  it  not  hard,  sir,  to 
expel  them,  for  I  am  told  they  were  good 
beings? "  Johnson.  "  I  believe  they  might 
be  good  beings ;  but  they  were  not  fit  to 
be  in  the  University  of  Oxford.  A  cow  is 
a  very  good  animal  in  the  Held  ;  but  we 
turn  her  out  of  a  garden."  Lord  Citibank 
used  to  repeat  this  as  an  illustration  un- 
commonly happy. 

Desirous  of  calling  Johnson  forth  to  talk, 
and  exercise  his  wit,  though  I  should  my- 
self be  the  object  of  it,  I  resolutely  ventured 


*  [Charles,  Lord  Binning,  afterwards  eighth 
Earl  of  Haddington,  was  the  son  of  Mary  Hoh» 
who,  by  a  first  marriage  with  Mr.  Lloyd,  was  the 
mother  of  Lady  Rothes,  Mr*  Langton 's  wife. — 
Ed.] 

*  [Not  very  recent,  if  he  alluded  to  six  mem- 
bers of  St  Edmond  Hall,  who  were  expelled  'm 
May,  1768.  See  OtnL  Mag.  vol  xxxviiL  p. 
425.— Ed.] 


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to  undertake  the  defence  of  convivial  indul- 
gence in  wine,  though  he  was  not  to-ni^ht 
in  the  most  genial  humour.  After  urging 
the  common  plausible  topicks,  I  at  last  had 
recourse  to  trie  maxim,  in  vino  Veritas,  a 
man  who  is  well  warmed  with  wine  will 
speak  truth.  Johnsow.  "  Why,  sir,  that 
may  be  an  argument  for  drinking,  ifyou  sup- 
pose men  in  general  to  be  liars.  But,  sir, 
I  would  not  keep  company  with  a  fellow, 
who  lies  as  long  as  he  is  sober,  and  whom 
you  must  make  drunk  before  you  can  get  a 
word  of  truth  out  of  him1." 

Mr.  Langton  told  us,  he  was  about  to 
establish  a  school  upon  his  estate,  but  it 
had  been  suggested  to  him,  that  it  might 
have  a  tendency  to  make  the  people  less  in- 
dustrious. Johnson.  "No,  sir.  Whjje 
learning  to  read  and  write  is  a  distinction, 
the  few  who  have  that  distinction  may  be 
the  less  inclined  to  work ;  but  when  every 
body  learns  to  read  -and  write,  it  is  no 
longer  a  distinction.  A  man  who  has  a 
laced  waistcoat  is  too  fine  a  man  to  work ; 
but  if  every  body  had  laced  waistcoats,  we 
should  have  people  working  in  laced  waist- 
coats. There  are  no  people  whatever 
more  industrious,  none  who  work  more, 
than  our  manufacturers ;  yet  they  have  all 
learnt  to  read  and  write.-  Sir,  you  must 
not  neglect  doing  a  thing  immediately  good, 
from  fear  of  remote  evil,  from  fear  of  its  be- 
ing abused.  A  man  who  has  candles  may 
ait  up  too  late,  which  he  would  not  do  if  he 
had  not  candles;  but  nobody  will  deny 
that  the  art  of  making  candles,  by  which 
light  is  continued  to  us  beyond  the  time 
that  the  sun  gives  us  light,  is  a  valuable 
art,  and  ought  to  be  preserved."  Bos- 
wkll.  "  But,  sir,  would  it  not  be  better 
to  follow  nature  5  and  go  to  bed  and  rise 
Just  as  nature  gives  us  light  or  withholds 
it?"  Johnson.  "No,  sir;  for  then  we 
should  have  no  kind  of  equality  in  the  par- 
tition of  our  time  between  sleeping  and 
waking.  It  would  be  venr  different  in  dif- 
ferent seasons  and  in  different  places.  In 
some  of  the  northern  parts  of  Scotland  how 
little  light  is  there  in  the  depth  of  winter!  " 

We  talked  of  Tacitus,  and  I  hazarded 
an  opinion,  that  with  all  his  merit  for  pene- 
tration, shrewdness  of  judgment,  and  terse- 
ness of  expression,  he  was  too  compact,  too 
much  broken  into  hints,  as  it  were,  and  there- 
fore too  difficult  to  be  understood.  To  my 
great  satisfaction,  Dr.  Johnson  sanctioned 


1  Mrs.  Piozzi,  in  her  "  Anecdotes,"  p.  201,  has 
given  an  erroneous  account  of  this  incident,  as  of 
many  others.  She  pretends  to  relate  it  from  rec- 
ollection, as  if  she  herself  had  been  present;  when 
the  fact  is  that  it  was  communicated  to  her  by 
me.  She  has  represented  it  as  a  personality, 
and  the  true  point  has  escaped  her. — Boswkli*. 

vol.  1.  38 


this  opinion.  "  Tacitus,  sir,  seems  to  me 
rather  to  have  made  notes  for  an  historical 
work,  than  to  have  written  a  history  2." 

At  this  time  it  appears  from  his  "  Prayers 
and  Meditations,"  that  he  had  been  more 
than  commonly  diligent  in  religious  duties, 
particularly  in  reading  the  holy  scriptures. 
It  was  Passion  Week,  that  solemn  season 
which  the  Christian  world  has  appropriated 
to  the  commemoration  of  the  mysteries  of 
our  redemption,  and  during  which,  what- 
ever embers  of  religion  are  in  our  breasts, 
will  be  kindled  into  pious  warmth. 

I  paid  him  short  visits  both  on  Friday 
and  Saturday,  and  seeing  his  large  folio 
Greek  Testament  before  him,  beheld  him 
with  a  reverential  awe,  and  would  not  in- 
trude upon  his  time.  While  he  was  thus 
employed  to  such  grood  purpose,  and  while 
his  friends  in  their  intercourse  with  him 
constantly  found  a  vigorous  intellect  and  a 
lively  imagination,  it  is  melancholy  to  read 
in  his  private  register  : 

"  My  mind  is  unsettled  and  my  memory 
confused.  I  have  of  late  turned  my  thoughts 
with  a  very  useless  earnestness  upon  past 
incidents.  I  have  yet  got  no  command 
over  my  thoughts  5  an  unpleasing  incident 
is  almost  certain  to  hinder  my  rest." 

What  philosophick  heroism  was  it  in  him 
to  appear  with  such  manly  fortitude  to  the 
world,  while  he  was  inwardly  so  distress- 
ed !  We  may  surely  believe  that  the  mys- 
terious principle  of  being  "  made  perfect 
through  suffering,"  was  to  be  strongly  kex- 
emplined  in  him. 

On  Sunday,  19th  April,  being  Easter- 
day,  General  Paoli  and  I  paid  him  a  visit 
before  dinner.  We  talked  of  the  notion 
that  blind  persons  can  distinguish  colours 
by  the  touch.  Johnson  said,  that  Profes- 
sor Sanderson  mentions  his  having  at- 
tempted to  do  it,  but  that  he  found  he  was 
aiming  at  an  impossibility  ;  that  to  be  sure 
a  difference  in  the  surface  makes  the  differ- 
ence of  colours;  but  that  difference  is 
so  fine,  that  it  is  not  sensible  to  the  touch. 
The  General  mentioned  jugglers  and  fraud- 
ulent gamesters,  who  could  know  cards  by 
the  touch.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  the  cards 
used  by  such  persons  must  be  less  polished 
than  ours  commonly  are." 

We  talked  of  sounds.  The  general  said, 
there  was  no  beauty  in  a  simple  sound,  but 
only  in  an  harmonious  composition  of 
sounds.  I  presumed  to  differ  from  this 
opinion,  and  mentioned  the  soft  and  sweet 


9  It  is  remarkable  that  Lord  Monboddo,  whom 
on  account  of  his  resembling  Dr.  Johnson  in  some 
particulars,  Foots  called  an  Elzevir  edition  of 
him,  has,  by  coincidence,  made  the  very  same 
remark. — Origin  and  Progress  of  Language, 
vol.  in.  2d  edit  p.  219.— Boswbll. 


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1772.— JPTAT.  68. 


Bound  of  a  fine  woman's  voice.  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir,  if  a  serpent  or  a  toad  uttered  it, 
you  would  think  it  ugly."  Boswell. 
"  So  you  would  think,  sir,  were  a  beautiful 
tune  to  be  uttered  by  one  of  those  animals." 
Johksoh.  "  No,  sir,  it  would  be  admired. 
We  have  seen  fine  fiddlers  whom  we  liked 
as  little  as  toads."  (laughing). 

Talking  on  the  subject  of  taste  in  the 
arts,  he  said,  that  difference  of  taste  was, 
in  truth,  difference  of  skill.  Boswell. 
"  But,  sir,  is  there  not  a  quality  called  taste, 
which  consists  merely  in  perception  or  in 
liking?  for  instance,  we  nnd  people  differ 
much  as  to  what  is  the  best  style  of  Eng- 
lish composition.  Some  think  Swift's  the 
best;  others  prefer  a  fuller. .and  grander 
way  of  writing."  Johnson.  "  Sir,  you 
must  first  define  what  you  mean  by  style, 
before  you  can  judge  who  has  a  good  taste 
in  style,  and  who  has  a  bad.  The  two 
classes  of  persons  whom  you  have  mention- 
ed, don 't  differ  as  to  pood  and  bad.  They 
both  agree  that  Swift  has  a  good  neat 
style  ;  but  one  loves  a  neat  style,  another 
loves  a  style  of  more  splendour.  In  like 
manner,  one  loves  a  plain  coat,  another 
loves  a  laced  coat ;  but  neither  will  deny 
that  each  is  good  in  its  kind." 

[The  following  meditations,  made  about 
this  period,  are  very  interesting  sketches 
of  his  feelings: 

"  April  36,  177a.  I  was  some  way  hin- 
dered from  continuing  this  contemplation 
in  the  usual  manner,  and  therefore  try,  at 
the  distance  of  a  week,  to  review  the  last 
[Easter]  Sunday. 

"  I  went  to  church  early,  having  first,  I 
think,  used  my  prayer.  When  I  was  there, 
I  had  very  little  perturbation  of  mind. 
During  the  usual  time  of  meditation,  I  con- 
sidered the  Christian  duties  under  the  three 
principles  of  soberness,  righteousness,  and 
godliness;  and  purposed  to  forward  godli- 
ness by  the  annual  perusal  of  the  Bible  ; 
righteousness  by  settling  something  for 
charity,  and  soberness  by  early  hours.  I 
commended  as  usual,  with  preface  of  per- 
mission, and,  I  think,  mentioned  Bathurst 
I  came  home,  and  found  Paoli  and  Boswell 
waiting  for  me.  What  devotions  I  used 
after  my  return  home,  I  do  not  distinctly 
remember.  I  went  to  prayers  in  the  eve- 
ning ;  and,  I  think,  entered  late. 

"  On  Good  Friday,  I  paid  Peyton  with- 
out requiring  work. 

•c  It  is  a  comfort  to  me,  that  at  last,  in 
my  sixty-third  year,  I  have  attained  to 
know,  even  thus  hastily,  confusedly,  and 
imperfectly,  what  my  Bible  contains. 

"  Having  missed  church  in  the  morning 
(April  26),  I  went  this  evening,  and  after- 
wards sat  with  Southwell."] 

While  I  remained  in  London  this  spring, 
I  was  with  him  at  several  other  times,  both 


by  himself  and  in  company.  I  dined  with 
him  one  day  at  the  Crown  and  Anchor  tav- 
ern, in  the  Strand,  with  Lord  Eli  bank,  Mr. 
Langton,  and  Dr.  Vansittart  of  Oxford.* 
Without  specifying  each  particular  day,  I 
have  preserved  tne  following  memorable 
things. 

I  regretted  the  reflection  in  his  preface  to 
Shakspeare  against  Garrick,  to  whom  we 
cannot  but  apply  the  following  passage: — 
"  I  collated  such  copies  as  I  could  procure, 
and  wished  for  more,  but  have  not  found  the 
collectors  of  these  rarities  very  communica- 
tive." I  told  him,  that  Garrick  had  com- 
plained to  me  of  it,  and  had  vindicated  him- 
self by  assuring  me,  that  Johnson  was  made 
welcome  to  the  full  use  of  his  collection,  and 
tjiat  he  left  the  key  of  it  with  a  servant, 
with  orders  to  have  a  fire  and  every  conve- 
nience for  him.  I  found  Johnson's  notion 
was,  that  Garrick  wanted  to  be  courted  for 
them,  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  Garrick 
should  have  courted  him,  and  sent  him  the 
plays  of  his  own  accord.  But,  indeed,  con- 
sidering the  slovenly  and  careless  manner 
in  which  books  were  treated  by  Johnson,  it 
could  not  be  expected  that  scarce  and  valua- 
ble editions  should  have  been  lent  to  him. 

A  gentleman  having  to  some  of  trie  usual 
arguments  for  drinking  added  this : — "  You 
know,  sir,  drinking  drives  away  care,  and 
makes  us  forget  whatever  is  disagreeable. 
Would  not  you  allow  a  man  to  drink  for 
that  reason  ? "  Johnson.  "  Yes,  air,  if  he 
sat  next  you." 

I  expressed  a  liking  for  Mr.  Francis  Os- 
borne's a  works,  and  asked  him  what  he 
thought  of  that  writer.  He  answered,  "  A 
conceited  fellow.    Were  a  man  to  write  so 


1  [Dr.  Robert  Vansittart,  LL.D.,  professor  of 
civil  law  at  Oxford,  and  recorder  of  Windsor. 
He  was  a  senior  fellow  of  All  Souls,  where,  at 
ter  he  had  given  op  the  profession  in  London,  be 
chiefly  resided  in  a  set  of  rooms,  formerly  the 
oW  library,  which  he  had  fitted  np  in  the  Gothic 
style,  and  where  he  died  about  1794.  He  was 
remarkable  for  his  good-humour  and  inoffensive 
wit,  and  a  great  favourite  on  the  Oxford  circuit. 
He  was  tall  and  very  thin;  and  the  bar  gave  the 
name  of  Counsellor  Pan  to  a  sharp-pointed  rock 
on  the  Wye,  which  still  retains  me  name.  He 
was  the  elder  brother  to  Mr.  Henry  Vansittart, 
governor  of  Bengal,  father  of  the  present  Lord 
Bexley,  to  whom  the  editor  is  indebted  for  the 
above  particulars  relative  to  his  uncle. — Ed.] 

*  [Of  the  family  of  the  Osbornes,  of  Cmcs> 
sands,  in  Bedfordshire.  The  work  by  which  he 
is' now  hast  known,  his  "Historical  Memohs  of 
the  Reign  of  Qneen  Elizabeth  and  King  James," 
written  in  a  very  acrimonious  spirit  He  had  at- 
tached himself  to  the  Pembroke  family;  and, 
like  Earl  Philip  (whom  Walpole  designates  by 
the  too  gentle  appellation  of  memorable  Simple- 
ton), jomed  the  parliamentarians.  Ha  died  a 
1659.— Ed.] 


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now,  the  boys  would  throw  stones  at  him." 
He,  however,  did  not  alter  my  opinion  of  a 
favourite  authour,  to  whom  I  was  first  di- 
rected by  his  being  quoted  in  "  The  Spec- 
tator," and  in  whom  I  have  found  much 
shrewd  and  lively  sense,  expressed  indeed 
in  a  style  somewhat  quaint,  which,  howev- 
er, I  do  not  dislike.  His  book  has  an  air 
of  originality.  We  figure  to  ourselves  an 
ancient  gentleman  talking  to  us. 

When  one  of  his  friends  endeavoured  to 
maintain  that  a  country  gentleman  might 
contrive  to  pass  his  life  very  agreeably, 
"  Sir,"  said  he,  "  you  cannot  give  me  an  in- 
stance of  any  man  who  is  permitted  to  lay 
out  his  own  time,  contriving  not  to  have  te- 
dious hours."  This  observation,  however, 
is  equally  applicable  to  gentlemen  who  live 
in  cities  t,  and  are  of  no  profession. 

He  said,  "  there  is  no  permanent  nation- 
al character:  it  varies  according  to  circum- 
stances. Alexander  the  Greatswept  India9; 
now  the  Turks  sweep  Greece." 

A  learned  gentleman,  who,  in  the  course 
of  conversation,  wished  to  inform  us  of  this 
simple  fad,  that  the  counsel  upon  the  cir- 
cuit at  Shrewsbury  were  much  bitten  by 
fleas,  took,  I  suppose,  seven  or  eight  min- 
utes in  relating  it  circumstantially.  He  in 
a  plenitude  of  phrase  told  us,  that  large  bales 
of  woollen  cloth  were  lodged  in  the  town- 
hall;  that  by  reason  of  this,  fleas  nestled 
there  in  prodigious  numbers;  that  the  lodg- 
ings of  the  counsel  were  near  the  town-hall; 
and  that  those  little*  animals  moved  from 
place  to  place  with  wonderful  agility.  John- 
son sat  in  great  impatience  tiU  the  gentle- 
man had  finished  his  tedious  narrative,  and 
then  burst  out  (playfully  however),  "  It  is 
a  pity,  sir,  that  you  have  not  seen  a  lion; 
for  a  flea  has  taken  you  such  a  time,  that 
a  lion  must  have  served  you  a  twelve- 
month 3." 


1  [Not  quite:  men  who  live  in  cities  have  thea- 
tres, clubs,  and  all  the  variety  of  public  and  private 
society  within  reach. — Ed.] 

*  [The  force  of  this  illustration  is  not  very  ob- 
vious. India,  so  far  as  regards  the  natives,  is 
perbaps  now  quite  as  liable  to  be  swept  by  an 
invader  as  it  was  three  thousand  years  ago.  All 
authorities  seem  to  be  agreed  that  the  people  of 
India  and  China  have  changed  wonderfully  little 
in  the  lapse  of  time. — Ed.] 

*  Mrs.  Piozri,  to  whom  I  told  this  anecdote, 
has  related  it  as  if  the  gentleman  had  given  "  the 
natural  history  of  the  mouse.*1 — Anecdotes, 
p.  191.  [The  "learned  gentleman"  was  cer- 
tainly Dr.  Vansittart,  as  is  proved  by  two  pas- 
sages in  the  correspondence  between  Mrs.  Thrale 
and  Dr.  Johnson,  July  and  August,  1778.  She 
writes  to  the  Doctor  in  Scotland,  "  /  have  seen 
the  man  that  saw  the  mouse,*'  fee.    Johnson 

replies,   "  Poor  V ,  Ice;  he  is  a  good 

man,  and,  when  his  mind  is  composed,  a  man  of 
parts."    That,  with  BoawelTs  reference  in  the 


He  would  not  allow  Scotland  to  derive 
any  credit  from  Lord  Mansfield;  for  he  was 
educated  in  England.  "  Much,"  said  he, 
"  may  be  made  of  a  Scotchman,  if  he  be 
caught  young." 

1  alking  of  a  modern  historian4,  he  said, 
"  There  is  more  thought  in  the  moralist 
than  in  the  historian.  There  is  hut  a  shal- 
low stream  of  thought  in  history."  Bos- 
well.  "  But  surely,  sir,  an  historian  has 
reflection."  Johnson.  "  Why  yes,  sir; 
and  so  has  a  cat  when  she  catches  a  mouse 
for  her  kitten.  But  she  cannot  write  like 
[Beattie]  ;  neither  can  [Rohertson]." 

He  said,  "  I  am  very  unwilling  to  read 
the  manuscripts  of  authours,  and  give  them 
my  opinion.  .  If  the  authours  who  apply  to 
me  have  money,  I  hid  them  boldly  print 
without  a  name;  if  they  have  written  in  or- 
der to  get  money,  I  tell  them  to  go  to  the 
booksellers  and  make  the  best,  bargain  they 
can."  Boswell.  "  But,  sir,  if  a  booksell- 
er should  bring  you  a  manuscript  to  look  at. " 
Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  I  would  desire  the 
bookseller  to  take  it  away." 

I  mentioned  a  friend5  of  mine  who  had 
resided  long  in  Spain,  and  was  unwilling  to 
return  to  Britain.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  he  is 
attached  to  some  woman."  Boswell.  "I 
rather  believe,  sir,  it  is  the  fine  climate 
which  keeps  him  there."  Johnson.  "Nay, 
sir,  how  can  you  talk  so?  What  is  climate 
to  happiness:  Place  me  in  the  heart  of 
Asia,  fhould  I  not  be  exiled?  What  pro- 
portion does  climate  bear  to  the  complex 
system  of  human  life  ?  You  may  advise  me 
to  go  to  live  at  Bologna  to  eat  sausages. 
The  sausages  there  are  the  best  in  the 
world;  they  lose  much  by  being  carried." 

On  Saturday,  9th  May,  Mr.  Dempster 
and  I  had  agreed  to  dine  by  ourselves  at 
the  British  coffee-house.  Johnson,  on  whom 
I  happened  to  call  in  the  morning,  said,  he 
would  join  us,  which  he  did,  and  we  spent 
a  very  agreeable  day,  though  I  recollect 
but  little  of  what  passed. 

He  said,  "  Walpole  was  a  minister  given 
by  the  king  to  the  people:  Pitt  was  a  min- 
ister given  by  the  people  to  the  king, — as 
an  adjunct." 


preceding  page  to  Dr.  Vansittart,  and  the  mention 
of  the  Shrewsbury  circuit,  which  Vansittart  went, 
together  with  the  preceding  note,  leave  no  doubt 
that  he  was  the  person  alluded  to.  It  also  proves 
that  the  inaccuracy  of  which  Boswell  accuses 
Mrs.  Piozri  was  (if  an  inaccuracy  at  all)  sanc- 
tioned by  Johnson  himself;  for  we  see  that  he  at 
once  understood  whom  she  meant  by  "  the  \ 
that  saw  the  mouie."-- Ed.] 

4  [This  historian  and  moralist  (whose  ai 
Mr.  Boswell  left  in  blank)  are  Doctors  Robertson 
and  Beattie.— Ed.] 
•  [Probably  Mr.    Boswell's  brother,    David 
I  See  p*st,  sub  29th  April,  1780.— Ed. J 


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1772.— ^ETAT.  *«. 


"  The  misfortune  of  Goldsmith  in  conver- 
sation i8  this:  he  goes  on  without  knowing 
how  he  is  to  get  off.  His  genius  is  great, 
but  his  knowledge  is  small.  As  they  say 
of  a  generous  man,  it  is  a  pity  he  is  not  rich, 
we  may  say  of  Goldsmith,  it  is  a  pity  he  is 
not  knowing.  He  would  not  keep  his  know- 
ledge to  himself." 

Before  leaving  London  this  year,  I  con- 
sulted him  upon  a  question  purely  of  Scotch 
law.  It  was  held  of  old,  and  continued  for 
a  long  period,  to  be  an  established  princi- 
ple in  tnat  law,  that  whoever  intermeddled 
with  the  effects  of  a  person  deceased,  with- 
out the  interposition  of  legal  authority  to 
guard  against  embezzlement,  should  be  sub- 
jected to  pay  all  the  debts  of  the  deceased, 
as  having  been  guilty  of  what  was  techni- 
cally called  vicious  intromission.  The 
court  of  session  had  gradually  relaxed  the 
strictness  of  this  principle,  where  the  inter- 
ference proved  had  been  inconsiderable.  In 
a  case »  which  came  before  that  court  the 
preceding  winter,  I  had  laboured  to  persuade 
the  judge  to  return  to  the  ancient  law.  It 
was  my  own  sincere  opinion,  that  they 
ought  to  adhere  to  it:  but  I  had  exhausted 
all  my  powers  of  reasoning  in  vain.  John- 
son thought  as  I  did;  and  in  order  to  assist 
me  in  my  application  to  the  court  for  a  re- 
vision and  alteration  of  the  judgment,  he 
E  dictated  to  me  an  argument  [which 
D*    will  be  found  in  the  Appendix]. 

The  reader  will  see  with  what  compre- 
hension of  mind,  and  clearness  of  penetra- 
tion, he  treated  a  subject  altogether  new  to 
him,  without  any  other  preparation  than 
my  having  stated  to  him  the  arguments 
which  had  been  used  on  each  side  of  the 
question.  His  intellectual  powers  appeared 
with  peculiar  lustre,  when  tried  against 
those  of  a  writer  of  such  fame  as  Lord 
Karnes,  and  that  too  in  his  lordship's  own 
department. 

This  masterly  argument,  after  being  pre- 
faced and  concluded  with  some  sentences 
of  my  own,  and  garnished  with  the  usual 
formularies,  was  actually  printed  and  laid 
before  the  lords  of  session,  but  without  suc- 
cess. My  respected  friend  Lord  Hailes, 
however,  one  of  that  honourable  body,  had 
critical  sagacity  enough  to  discover  a  more 
than  ordinary  hand  in  the  petition.  I  told 
him  Dr*  Johnson  had  favoured  me  with  his 
pen.  His  lordship,  with  wonderful  acumen, 
pointed  out  exactly  where  his  composition 
began,  and  where  it  ended.  But  that  I 
may  do  impartial  justice,  and  conform  to 
the  great  rule  of  courts,  Suum  euiquc  trib- 
uito,  I  must  add,  that  their  lordships  in 
general,  though  they  were  pleased  to  call 
this  "a  welWrawn'paper,"  preferred  the 
former  very  inferior  petition,  which  I  had 


i  Wilson  again*   Smith  and  Armour.— Bos- 

WJCLI* 


written ;  thus  confirming  the  truth  of  an 
observation  made  to  me  by  one  of  their 
number,  in  a*  merry  mood:  "  My  dear  sir, 
give  yourself  no  trouble  in  the  composition 
of  the  papers  you  present  to  us;  for,  indeed, 
it  is  casting  pearls  before  swine  V 

I  renewed  my  solicitations  that  Dr.  John- 
son would  this  year  accomplish  his  long-in- 
tended visit  to  Scotland. 

"TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ,. 

"Dear  sir, — The  regret  has -not  been 
little  with  which  I  have  missed  a  journey 
so  pregnant  with  pleasing  expectations,  as 
that  in  which  I  could  promise  myself  not 
only  the  gratification  of  curiosity,  both 
rational  and  fanciful,  but  the  delight  of  see- 
ing those  whom  I  love  and  esteem.  •  •  • 
But  such  has  been  the  course  of  things, 
that  I  could  not  come;  and  such  has  been, 
I  am  afraid,  the  state  of  my  body,  that  it 
would  not  well  have  seconded  my  inclina- 
tion. My  body,  I  think,  grows  better,  and 
I  refer  my  hopes  to  another  year;  for  I  am 
very  sincere  in  my  design  to  pay  the  visit, 
and  take  the  ramble.  In  the  mean  time,  do 
not  omit  any  opportunity  of  keeping  up  a 
favourable  opinion  of  me  in  the  minds  of 
any  of  my  friends.  Seattle's  books  is,  I 
believe,  every  day  more  liked ;  at  least,  I 
like  it  more,  as  I  look  more  upon  it. 

"I  am  glad  if  you  got  credit  by  your 
cause,  and  am  yet  of  opinion,  that  our  cause 
was  good,  and  that  the  determination  ought 
to  have  been  in  your  favour.  Poor  Hastie, 
Fthe  school-master],  I  think,  had  but  Ins 
deserts. 

"  Tou  promised  to  get  me  a  little  Pindar, 
you  may  add  to  it  a  little  Anacreon. 

"  The  leisure  which  I  cannot  enjoy,  it 
will  be  a  pleasure  to  hear  that  yon  employ 
upon  the  antiquities  of  the  feudal  establish- 
ment The  whole  system  of  ancient  te- 
nures is  gradually  passing  away;  and  I  wish 
to  have  the  knowledge  of  it  preserved  ade- 
quate and  complete.  For  such  an  institu- 
tion makes  a  very  important  part  of  the 
history  of  mankind.  Do  not  forget  a  de- 
sign so  worthy  of  a  scholar  who  studies  the 
law  of  his  country,  and  of  a  gentleman  who 
may  naturally  becurious  to  know  the  con- 
dition of  his  own  ancestors. — I  am,  dear 
sir,  yours  with  great  affection, 

"Sam.  Johksoh." 

*  [The  expression  was  coarse,  but  the  mea*- 
ing  waa  correct;  the  facts  and  the  law  ©of/ 
ought  to  be  considered  by  the  judge — the  verbal 
decorations  of  style  should  be  of  no  weight.  It 
is  probable  that  the  judge  who  made  use  of  tfl» 
homely  phrase  was  bantering  Boswell  on  soma 
pleading  in  which  there  was  perhaps  mora  orna- 
ment than  substance. — Ed.] 

a  [«  Essay  on  Truth,*'  of  which  a  third  edition 
was  published  in  1772.— Ed.] 


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901 


■*  [He  tiiis  autumn  visited  Lichfield  and 
Ashbourne,  where  it  appears  from  his  let- 
ters to  Mrs.  Thrale  that  he  was  considerably 
indisposed.] 

["  TO  MRS.  THRALE. 

M  [Lichfield,]  19th  Oct.  1772. 
lmmn,  "  I  set  out  on  Thursday  night 

«S!*ei,P" M'  at  n'ne'  an<*  an*ved  ■*  Lichfield 
on  Friday  night  at  eleven,  no 
otherwise  incommoded  than  with  want  of 
sleep,  which,  however,  1  enjoyed  very  com- 
fortably the  first  night.  I  think  a  stage 
coach  is  not  the  worst  bed." 


,  4th  Nov.  1TO. 

"  Since  I  came  to  Ashbourne  I  have  been 
out  of  order.  I  was  well  at  Lichfield.  You 
know  sickness  will  drive  me  to  you;  so 

Serhaps  you  very  heartily  wish  me  better  : 
ut  you  know  likewise  that  health  will  not 
hold  me  away.'1 

M  (Ajhbanrae,)  23d  Nov.  1TEL 
«*  I  cannot  yet  get  well;  my  nights  are 
flatulent  and  unquiet,  but  my  days  are 
tolerably  easy,  and  Taylor  says  that  I  look 
much  better  than  when  I  came  hither. 
Yon  wpl  see  when  I  come,  and  I  can  take 
your  word." 

« [AAknne,]  17th  Nor.  1713. 

« If  yon  are  so  kind  as  to  write  to  me- oh 
Saturday,  the  day  on  which  you.  will  re- 
ceive this,  I  shall  have  it  before  I  leave 
Ashbourne.  I  am  to  go  to  Lichfield  on 
Wednesday,  and  purpose  to  find  my  way  to 
London  through  Birmingham  and  Oxford. 

"  I  was  yesterday  at  Chatsworth.  It  is  a 
very  fine  house.  I  wish  you  had  been  with 
roe  to  see  it ;  for  then,  as  we  are  apt  to 
want  matter  of  talk,  we  should  have  gained 
something  new  to  talk  on.  They  compli- 
mented me  with  playing  the  fountain,  and 
opening  the  cascade.  But  I  am  of  my 
friend's  opinion,  that  when  one  has  seen 
the  ocean,  cascades  are  but  little  things."] 

"  MR.  BOS  WELL  TO  DR.  JOHNSON. 

"Edinburgh,  35th  Dec.  1778. 
«  Mt  dear  sia,—  •  •  •  •  • 
"  I  was  much  disappointed  that  you  did 
not  come  to  Scotland  last  autumn.  How- 
ever, I  must  own  that  your  letter  prevents 
me  from  complaining;  not  only  because  I 
am  sensible  that  the  state  of  vour  health 
was  but  too  good  an  excuse,  but  because 
you  write  in  a  strain  which  shows  that  you 
have  agreeable  views  of  the  scheme  which 
we  have  so  long  proposed. 

•         •        •        •        •        • 

"I  communicated  to  Beattie  what  you 
said  of  his  book  in  vour  last  letter  to  me. 
He  writes  to  me  thus :  '  You  judge  very 
rightly  in  supposing  that  Dr.  Johnson's 


favourable  opinion  of  nry  book  must  give  me 
great  delight.  Indeed  it  is  impossible  for 
me  to  say  how  much  I  am  gratified  by  it ; 
for  there  is  not  a  man  upon  earth  whose 
good  opinion  I  would  be  more  ambitious  toft 
cultivate.  His  talents  and  his  virtues  f 
reverence  more  than  any  words  can  express. 
The  extraordinary  civilities  (the  paternal 
attentions  I  should  rather  say),  and  the 
many  instructions  I  have  had  tne  honour  to 
receive  from  him,  will  to  me  be  a  perpetual 
source  of  pleasure  in  the  recollection, 

"  *  Than  memor  ipse  mm,  dam  spiritns  hot  reget 
anas.' 

'"I  had  still  some  thoughts,  while  the 
summer  lasted,  of  being  obliged  to  go  to 
London  on  some  little  business;  otherwise 
I  should  certainly  have  troubled  him  with  a 
letter  several  months  ago,  and  given  some 
vent  to  my  gratitude  and  admiration.  This 
I  intend  to  do  as  soon  as  I  am  led  a  little  at 
leisure.  Mean  time,  if  you  have  occasion 
to  write  to  him,  I  beg  you  will  offer  him 
my  most  respectful  compliments,  and  assure 
him  of  the  sincerity  of  my  attachment  and 
the  warmth  of  my  gratitude,'   •    •    •   •   • 

"  I  am,  fee.  "  James  Boswbll." 

In  1775,  Ills  only  publication  was  an  edi- 
tion of  his  folio  Dictionary,  with  additions 
and  corrections;  nor  did  he,  so  far  as  is 
known,  furnish  any  productions  of  his  fer- 
tile pen  to  any  of  his  numerous  friends  or 
dependants,  except  the  Preface  *  *  to  his  old 
amanuensis  Macbean's  "  Dictionary  of  An- 
cient Geography."  His  Shakspeare,  in- 
deed, which  had  been  received  with  high 
approbation  by  the  publick,  and  gone 
through  several  editions,  was  this  year  re- 
published by  George  Steevens,  Esq.  a  gen- 
tleman not  only  deeply  skilled  in  ancient 
learning,  and  of  very  extensive  reading  in 
English  literature,  especially  the  early  wri- 
ters, but  at  the  same  time  of  acute  discern- 
ment and  elegant  taste.  It  is  almost 
unnecessary  to  say,  that  by  his  great  and 
valuable  additions  to  Dr.  Johnson's  work, 
he  justly  obtained  considerable  reputation: 

"  Drvisum  imperiom  com  Jove  Canx  habeL" 

[He  began  this  year  with  a  fit  of  bd. 
the  gout. 

"TO    MRS.    THRALE. 

"Tuesday,  26th  Jan.  1773. 

"  Last  night  was  very  tedious,  and  this 


1  He,  however,  wrote  or  partly  wrote,  an  epitaph 
[aee  ante ,  p.  978]  on  Mn.  Bell,  wile  of  his  mend 
John  Bell,  Esq.  brother  of  the  Rev:  Dr.  Bell, 
Prebendary  of  Weatminater,  which  is  printed  in 
his  works.  It  is  in  English  prose,  and  has  so  lit- 
tle of  his  manner,  that  I  did  not  believe  he  had 
any  hand  in  it,  till  I  was  satisfied  of  the  Act  by 
the  authority  of  Mr.  Bell.— -Boswkll. 


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177S.— iETAT.  64. 


L8ttM.  day  makes  no  promises  of  much 
vol.  l  ease.  However,  I  have  this  day 
p  7i.  pUt  on  my  shoe,  and  hope  that 
gout  is  gone.  I  shall  have  only  the  cough  to 
contend  with,  and  I  doubt  whether  I  shall 
et  rid  of  that  without  change  of  place.  I 
caught  cold  in  the  coach  as  I  went  away, 
and  am  disordered  hy  very  little  tilings.    Is 

it  accident  or  age?" 

«i«hFeb.  rrra. 

~  "  I  think  I  am  better,  but  cannot  say 
much  more  than  that  I  think  so.  I  was 
yesterday  with  Miss  Lucy  Southwell  and 
Mrs.  Williams,  at  Mr.  Southwell's1.  Miss 
Frances  Southwell  is  not  well. 

"  I  have  an  invitation  to  dine  at  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds's  on  Tuesday.  May  I  ac- 
cept it?"] 

"to  jambs  boswbll,  esq. 

«  London,  23d  Feb.  1TTS. 

"  Dkab  s», — I  have  read  your  kind  let- 
ter much  more  than  the  elegant  Pindar 
which  it  accompanied.  I  am  always  glad  to 
find  myself  not  forgotten ;  and  to  be  forgot- 
ten by  you  would  give  me  great  uneasiness. 
My  northern  friends  have  never  been  un- 
kind to  me;  I  have  from  you,  dear  sir, 
testimonies  of  affection,  which  I  have  not 
often  been  able  to  excite;  and  Dr.  Beattie 
rates  the  testimony  which  I  was  desirous 
of  paying  to  his  merit  much  higher  than  I 
should  have  thought  it  reasonable  to  expect. 

"i  have  heard  of  your  masquerade9. 
What  says  your  synod  to  such  innovations? 
I  am  not  studiously  scrupulous,  nor  do  I 
think  a  masquerade  either  evil  in  itself,  or 
very  likely  to  be  the  occasion  of  evil ;  yet 
as  the  world  thinks  it  a  very  licentious  re- 
laxation of  manners,  I  would  not  have  been 
one  of  the  first  masquers,  in  a  country 
where  no  masquerade  had  ever  been  be- 
fore 3. 

"  A  new  edition  of  my  great  Dictionary  is 
printed,  from  a  copy  which  I  was  persuaded 


1  [Dr.  Johnson's  early  friend,  Mr.  Edmond 
Southwell,  third  son  of  the  first  Lord  Southwell, 
bom  in  1706,  had  died  in  the  preceding  Novem- 
ber, aged  67:  the  Mr.  Southwell,  here  mentioned, 
was  probably  Thomas  Arthur,  afterwards  the 
fourth  lord  and  second  viscount  (see  ante,  p.  168). 
The  two  ladies  mentioned  were  probably  daugh- 
ters of  the  first  lord:  Frances  born  in  1708,  and 
Lucy  born  in  1710. — En.] 

*  Given  by  a  lady  at  Edinburgh. — Boswell. 

9  There  had  been  masquerades  in  Scotland; 
but  not  for  a  very  long  time. — Boswell.  [This 
masquerade  was  given  on  the  1st  January,  by  the 
Dowager  Countess  of  Fife;  Johnson  had  no  doubt 
seen  an  account  of  it  in  the  Gentleman's  Mag- 
ovine  for  January,  where  it  is  said  to  have  been 
the  only  masquerade  ever  seen  in  Scotland.  Mr. 
Boswell  himself  appeared  in  the  character  of  a 
Dumb  Conjure.— Ed.] 


to  revise:  but  having  made  no  preparation, 
I  was  able  to  do  very  little.  Some  super* 
Unities  I  have  expunged,  and  some  faults  I 
have  corrected,  and  here  and  there  have 
scattered  a  remark;  but  the  main  fabrick 
of  the  work  remains  as  it  was.  I  have 
looked  very  little  into  it  since  I  wrote  it, 
and,  I  think,  I  found  it  full  as  often  better, 
as  worse,  than  I  expected. 

"  Baretti  and  Davies  have  had  a  furious 
Quarrel ;  a  quarrel,  I  think,  irreconcileable. 
Dr.  Goldsmith  has  a  new  comedy,  which 
is  expected  in  the  spring.  No  name  is  yet 
given  it.  The  chief  diversion  arises  from 
a  stratagem  by  which  a  lover  is  made  to 
mistake  his  future  father-in-law's  house  for 
an  inn.  This,  you  see,  borders  upon  farce. 
The  dialogue  is  quick  and  gay,  and  the  in- 
cidents are  so  prepared  as  not  to  seem  im- 
probable. 

"  I  am  sorry  that  you  lost  your,  cause  of 
intromission,  because  I  yet  think  the  argu- 
ments on  your  side  .unanswerable.  But  you 
seem,  I  think,  to  say  that  you  gained  repu- 
tation even  by  your  defeat ;  and  reputation 
you  will  daily  gain,  if  you  keep  Lord  Au- 
chinleck'8  precept  in  your  mind,  and  en- 
deavour to  consolidate  in  your  mind  a  firm 
and  regular  system  of  law,  instead  of  pick- 
ing up  occasional  fragments. 

"  My  health  seems  in  general  to  improve; 
but  I  have  been  troubled  many  weeks  with 
vexatious  catarrh,  which  is  sometimes  suf- 
ficiently distressful.  I  have  not  found  any 
great  effects  from  bleeding  and  physick;  and 
am  afraid  that  I  must  expect  help  from 
brighter  days  and  softer  air. 

"  Write  to  me  now  and  then;  and  when- 
ever any  good  befalls  you,  make  haste  to  let 
me  know  it,  for  no  one  will  rejoice  at  it 
more  than,  dear  sir,  your  most  humble  ser- 
vant, "  Sam.  Johnson. 

"  You  continue  to  stand  very  high  in  the 
favour  of  Mrs.  Thrale." 

While  a  former  edition  of  my  work  was 
passing  through  the  press,  I  was  unexpect- 
edly favoured  with  a  packet  from  Philadel- 
phia, from  Mr.  James  Abercrombie,  a  gen- 
tleman of  that  country,  who  is  pleased  to 
honour  me  with  very  high  praise  or  my  "  Life 
of  Dr.  Johnson."  To  have  the  fame  of  my 
illustrious  friend,  and  his  faithful  biographer, 
echoed  from  the  New  World  is  extremely  flat- 
tering; and  my  grateful  acknowledgments 
shall  be  wafted  across  the  Atlantick.  Mr. 
Abercrombie  has  politely  conferred  on  me 
a  considerable  additional  obligation,  by  trans- 
mitting to  me  copies  of  twoletters  from  Dr. 
Johnson  to  American  gentlemen.  "  Glad- 
ly, sir  (says  he),  would  I  have  sent  you  the 
originals:  but  being  the  only  relinks  of  the 
kind  in  America,  they  are  considered  by  the 
possessors  of  such  inestimable  value,  that 


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no  possible  consideration  would  induce 
them  to  part  with  them.  In  some  future 
publication  of  yours  relative  to  that  great 
and  rood  man,  they  may  perhaps  be  thought 
worthy  of  insertion." 


<CDR.  JOHNSON   TO  MR.  B- 


-Dl. 


u  Johnson's  court,  Fleet-street,  4th  March,  1775. 

"  Sir, — That  in  the  hurry  of  a  sudden 
departure  you  should  yet  find  leisure  to  con- 
sult my  convenience,  is  a  degree  of  kind- 
ness, and  an  instance  of  regard,  not  only 
beyond  my  claims,  but  above  my  expecta- 
tion. You  are  not  mistaken  in  supposing 
that  I  set  a  high  value  on  my  American 
friends,  and  that  you  should  confer  a  very 
valuable  favour  upon  me  by  giving  me  an 
opportunity  of  keeping  myself  m  their  mem- 
ory. 

"  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  troubling  you 
with  a  packet,  to  which  I  wish  a  safe  and 
speedy  conveyance,  because  I  wish  a  safe 
and  speedy  voyage  to  him  that  conveys  it. 
I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"Sam.  Johnson." 

"TO  THE  REVEREND  MR.  WHITE*. 
«*  JohJMouVcourt,  Fleet-meet,  4th  March,  1773. 

"Dear  si*,— Your  kindness  for  your 
friends  accompanies  you  across  the  Atlan- 
nck.  It  was  long  since  observed  by  Horace, 
that  no  ship  could  leave  care  behind:  you 
have  been  attended  in  your  voyage  by  other 
powers, — by  benevolence  and  constancy: 
and  I  hope  care  did  not  often  show  her  face 
in  their  company. 

"  I  received  the  copy  of  Rasselas.  The 
impression  is  not  magnificent,  but  it  flatters 
an  authour,  because  the  printer  seems  to 
have  expected  that  it  would  be  scattered 
among  the  people.  The  little  book  has 
been  well  received,  and  is  translated  into 
Italian,  French,  German,  and  Dutch.  It 
has  now  one  honour  more  by  an  American 
edition. 

"  I  know  not  that  much  has  happened  since 
your  departure  that  can  engage  your  curi- 
osity. Of  all  publick'  transactions  the 
whole  world  is  now  informed  by  the  news- 


1  This  gentleman,  who  now  resides  in  America 
in  a  publick  character  of  a  considerable  dignity, 
desired  that  his  name  might  not  be  transcribed 
at  fall  length.— BoewKLL.  [Probably  a  Mr. 
Bland,  whose  "  Enquiry  into  the  Right*  of  the 
British  Colonies"  was  republished  m  London, 
a  1770.— Ed.] 

*  Now  Doctor  White,  and  bishop  of  the  epis- 
copal chorch  in  Pennsylvania.  During  his  fimt 
visa  to  England  in  1771,  as  a  candidate  for  holy 
oidera,  he  was  several  times  in  company  with 
Dr.  Johnson,  who  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the 
edition  of  Rasselas  which  Dr.  White  told  him  had 
beau  printed  in  America.  Dr.  White,  on  his  re- 
tain, immediately  sent  him  a  copy. — Boswub. 


papers.  Opposition  seems  to  despond;  and 
the  dissenters,  though  they  have  taken  ad- 
vantage of  unsettled  times,  and  a  ffovern- 
ment  much  enfeebled,  seem  not  likely  to 
gain  any  immunities. 

"  Dr.  Goldsmith  has  a  new  comedy  3  in 
rehearsal  at  Covent  Garden,  to  which  the 
manager  predicts  ill  success.  I  hope  he 
will  be  mistaken.  I  think  it  deserves  a  very 
kind  reception. 

"  I  shall  soon  publish  a  new  edition  of  my 
large  Dictionary;  I  have  been  persuaded  to 
revise  it,  and  have  mended  some  faults,  but 
added  little  to  its  usefulness. 

"  No  book  has  been  published  since  your 
departure,  of  which  much  notice  is  taken. 
Faction  only  fills  the  town  with  pamphlets, 
and  greater  subjects  are  forgotten  in  the 
noise  of  discord. 

"  Thus  have  I  written,  only  to  tell  you 
how  little  I  have  to  tell.  Of  myself  I  can 
only  add,  .that  having  been  afflicted  many 
weeks  with  a  very  troublesome  cough,  I  am 
now  recovered. 

"  I  take  the  liberty  which  you  give  me 
of  troubling  you  with  a  letter,  of  which 
you  will  please  to  fill  up  the  direction.  I 
am,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

["  TO   MRS.  THRALE. 

"25tit  March,  1773. 

'  « Did  not  I  tell  you  that  I  had 
written  to  Boswell  ?  he  has  answer-    JJJ  J™* 
ed  my  letter4.  p- ». 

"  I  am  going  this  evening  to  put 
young  Otway  to  school  with  Mr.  Elpliin- 
ston. 

«  C— — 5  is  so  distressed  with  abuse 
about  his  play,  that  he  has  solicited  Gold- 
smith to  take  him  off  the  rack  of  the  news- 
papers. 

"  M 6  is  preparing  a  whole  pamph- 
let against  G — — » ,  and  G- is,  I  suppose, 

collecting  materials  to  confute  M . 

"Jennens7  has  published  Hamlet,  but 
without  a  preface,  and  8  *  declares  his 
intention  or  letting  him  pass  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  peace.    Here  is  news." 


3  [She  stoops  to  conquer. — Ed.] 

•  [But  has  not  published  his  answer. — Ed.] 

•  [Riehard  Cumberland.  The  play  in  ques- 
tion was  the  Choleric  Man,  which  he  afterwards 
published  with  a  "  Dedication  to  Detraction." 
He  was  very  sensible  to  such  attacks,  as  Sheridan 
more  than  hints  in  the  character  of  Sir  Fretful 
Plagiary,  which  was  intended  for  him. — Ed.] 

•  These  initials,  no  doubt,  mean  Mfekle  and 
Garrick,  (see  Garrick's  letter  to  Boswell,  post, 
sub  23d  Oct  1773) :  the  quarrel  was  on  the  subject 
of  the"  Siege  of  Marseilles."  See  Mfckle's  Life 
in  Anderson's  British  Poets. — Ed.] 

7  [Soame  Jenyns— Ed.] 

8  [George  Steevens.— Ed.] 


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m».— JETAT.  64. 


On  Saturday,  April  $,  the  day  after  my 
arrival  in  London  this  year,  I  went  to  his 
house  late  in  the  evening,  and  eat  with  Mrs. 
Williams  till  he  came  home.  I  found  in 
the  London  Chronicle,  Dr.  Goldsmith's 
apology  to  the  publick  for  beating  Evans,  a 
bookseller,  on  account  of  a  paragraph  *  in  a 
newspaper  published  by  him,  which  Gold- 
smith thought  impertinent  to  him  and  to  a 
lady  of  his  acquaintance.  The  apology  was 
written  so  much  in  Dr.  Johnson's  msnner, 
that  both  Mrs.  Williams  and  I  supposed  it 
to  be  his;  but  when  he  came  home,  he  soon 
undeceived  us.  When  he  said  to  Mrs.  Wil- 
liams, "Well,  Dr.  Goldsmith's aantfeeto 
has  got  into  your  paper;"  I  asked  him  if  Dr. 
Goldsmith  had  written  it,  with  an  air  that 
made  him  see  I  suspected  it  was  his,  though 
subscribed  by  Goldsmith.  Johnson.  "  Sir, 
Dr.  Goldsmith  would  no  more  have  asked 
me  to  write  such  a  thing  as  that  for  him, 
than  he  would  have  asked  me  to  feed  him 
with  a  spoon,  or  to  do  any  thing  else  that 
denoted  nis  imbecility.  I  as  much  believe 
that  he  wrote  it,  as  ir  I  had  seen  him  do  it 
Sir,  had  he  shown  it  to  any  one  friend,  he 
would  not  have  been  allowed  to  publish  it. 
He  has,  indeed,  done  it  very  well;  but  it  is 
a  foolish  thing  well  done.  I  suppose  he 
has  been  so  much  elated  with  the  success  of 
his  new  comedy,  that  he  has  thought  every 
thing  that  concerned  him  must  be  of  impor- 
tance to  the  publick. "  Boswell.  "  I  fan- 
cy, sir,  this  is  the  first  time  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  such  an  adventure."  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  I  believe  it  is  the  first  time  he 
has  beat9 1  he  may  have  been  beaten  be- 
fore.   This,  sir,  is  a  new  plume  to  him." 

I  mentioned  Sir  John  Dalrvmple's  "  Me- 
moirs of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  and  his 
discoveries  to  the  prejudice  of  Lord  Russel 
and  Algernon  Sidney.  Johnson.  "  Why, 
sir,  every  body  who  had  just  notions  of  gov- 
ernment thought  them  rascals  before.  It  is 
well  that  all  mankind  now  see  them  to  be 
rascals."  Bobwell.  "  But,  sir,  may  not 
those  discoveries  be  true  without  their  be- 
ing rascals?"  Johnson.  "  Consider,  sir, 
would  any  of  them  have  been  willing  to 
have  had  it  known  that  they  intrigued  with 
France?    Depend  upon  it,  sir,  he  who  does 

1  [The  offence  given  was  a  long  abusive  letter 
in  the  London  Packet.  A  particular  account  of 
this  transaction,  and  Goldsmith's  Vindication  (for 
such  it  was,  rather  than  an  apology),  may  be  found 
in  the  new  Life  of  that  poet,  prefixed  to  his  Mis- 
cellaneous Works,  in  4  vols.  8vo.  pp.  105 — 108. 
—M  ALONE. 

*  [Mr.  Chalmers,  in  the  article  Goldsmith,  in 
the  Biog.  Diet,  states,  on  the  authority  of  Evans, 
that  he  had  beaten  Goldsmith,  and  not  Goldsmith 
him;  but  surely,  in  such  a  case,  the  authority  of 
Evans  would  be  suspicious,  even  if  it  were  not 
opposed  to  the  whole  current  of  contemporary  evi- 
dence.— Ed.] 


what  he  is  afraid  should  he  known,  has 
something  rotten  about  him.  This  Dairym- 
ple  seems  to  be  an  honest  fellow;  for  he 
tells  equally  what  makes  against  both  sides. 
But  nothing  can  be  poorer  than  his  mode  of 
writing,  it  is  the  mere  bouncing  of  a  school- 
boy: Great  He3,  but  greater  She!  and 
such  stuff." 

I  could  not  agree  with  him  in  this  criti- 
cism; for  though  Sir  John  Dalrymple's  style 
is  not  regularly  formed  in  any  respect,  and 
one  cannot  help  smiling  sometimes  at  his 
affected  grandiloquence,  there  is  in  his  writ* 
ing  a  pointed  vivacity,  and  much  of  a  gen- 
tlemanly spirit. 

At  Mr.  Thrale's,  in  the  evening,  he  re- 
peated his  usual  paradoxical  declamation 
against  action  in  publick  speaking.  "  Ac- 
tion can  have  no  effect  upon  reasonable 
minds.  It  may  augment  noise,  but  it  never 
can  enforce  argument.  If  you  speak  to  a 
dog,  you  use  action;  you  hold  up  your  hand 
thus,  because  he  is  a  brute;  ana  in  propor- 
tion as  men  are  removed  from  brutes,  action 
will  have  the  less  influence  upon  them.'1 
Mrs.  The  ale.  "  What  then,  sir,  becomes 
of  Demosthenes's  saying  ?  ( Action,  action, 
action!"'  John  boh.  "Demosthenes,  mad- 
am, spoke  to  an  assembly  of  brutes;  to  a 
barbarous  people." 

I  thought  it  extraordinary,  that  he  should 
deny  the  'power  of  rhetorical  action  upon 
human  nature,  when  it  is  proved  by  innu- 
merable facts  in  all  stages  of  society.  Rea- 
sonable beings  are  not  solely  reasonable. 
They  have  fancies  which  may  be  pleased, 
passions  which  may  be  roused. 

Lord  Chesterfield  being  mentioned,  John- 
son remarked,  that  almost  all  of  that  cele- 
crated  nobleman's  witty  sayings  were  puns. 
He,  however,  allowed  the  merit  ofgood  wit 
to  his  lordship's  saying  of  Lord  Tyrawley 
and  himself,  when  both  very  old  and  infirm: 
"  Tyrawley  and  I  have  been  dead  these  two 
years;  but  we  dont  choose  to  have  it 
known." 

He  talked  with  approbation  of  an  intend- 
ed edition  of  "The  Spectator,"  with  notes; 
two  volumes  of  which  had  been  prepared  by 
a  gentleman  eminent  fn  the  literary  world  4, 
and  the  materials  which  he  had  collected  for 
the  remainder  had  been  transferred  to  an- 


*  A  bombastic  ode  of  Oldham's  on  Ben  John- 
son begins  thus:  "  Great  thou  !'•  which  per- 
haps his  namesake  remembered. — Maloni. 
[Mr.  Malone's  note  is  absurd.  Mr.  Hallam  very 
justly  observes,  that  Dr.  Johnson  clearly  meant 
Dalrymple's  description  of  the  parting  of  Lord 
and  Lady  Rnssel.  "  He  great  in  this  last  act  of 
his  life,  bnt  she  greater.'} 

4  [Mr.  Chalmers  (who,  himself,  has  ably  per- 
formed this  task)  informs  me,  that  the  fast  of 
these  gentlemen  was  Dr.  Percy,  and  the  second 
Dr.  John  Calder,  of  whom  some  account  will  be 
found,  Gent.  Mag.  v.  85.  p.  564.— En.] 


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other  hand.  He  observed,  that  all  works 
which  describe  manners,  require  notes  in 
sixty  or  seventy  years,  or  less;  and  told  us, 
he  had  communicated  all  he  knew  that  could 
throw  light  upon  "  The  Spectator."  He 
said,  "  Addison  had  made  his  Sir  Andrew 
Freeport  a  true  whig,  arguing  against  giv- 
ing charity  to  beggars,  and  throwing  out 
other  such  ungracious  sentiments1;  but 
that  he  had  thought  better,  and  made 
amends  by  making  nim  found  an  hospital 
for  decayed  farmers."  He  called  for  the 
volume  of  "  The  Spectator,"  in  which  that 
account  is  contained,  and  read  it  aloud  to 
us.  He  read  so  well,  that  every  thing  ac- 
quired additional  weight  and  grace  from  his 
utterance.        * 

The  conversation  havingturned  on  mod- 
ern imitations  of  ancient  ballads,  and  some 
one  having  praised  their  simplicity,  he  treat- 
ed them  witn  that  ridicule  which  he  always 
displayed  when  that  subject  was  mentioned. 

He  disapproved  of  introducing  scripture 
phrases  into  secular  discourse.  This  seemed 
to  me  a  question  of  some  difficulty.  A  scrip- 
ture expression  may  be  used,  like  a  highly 
classical  phrase,  to  produce  an  instantane- 
ous strong  impression;  and  it  may  be  done 
without  being  at  all  improper.  Yet  I  own 
there  is  danger,  that  applying  the  language 
of  our  sacred  book  to  ordinary  subjects  may 
tend  to  lessen  our  reverence  for  it.  If  there- 
fore it  be  introduced  at  all,  it  should  be  with 
very  great  caution. 

On  Thursday,  April  8, 1  sat  a  good  part 
of  the  evening  with  him>  but  he  was  very 
silent.  He  said, "  Burnet's '  History  of  his 
own  Times '  is  very  entertaining.  The  style, 
indeed,  is  mere  chit-chat.  I  do  not  believe 
that  Burnet  intentionally  lied;  but  he  was 
so  much  prejudiced,  that  he  took  no  pains 
to  find  out  the  truth.  He  was  like  a  man 
who  resolves  to  regulate  his  time  by  a  cer- 
tain watch;  but  will  not -inquire  whether 
the  watch  is  right  or  not." 

Though  he  was  not  disposed  to  talk,  he 
was  unwilling  that  I  should  leave  him;  and 
when  I  looked  at  my  watch,  and  told  him 
it  was  twelve  o'clock,  he  cried,  "  What's 
that  to  you  and  me?"  and  ordered  Frank 
to  tell  Mrs.  Williams  that  we  were  coming 
to  drink  tea  with  her,  which  we  did.  It 
was  settled  that  we  should  go  to  church  to- 
gether next  day. 

On  the  9th  of  April,  being  Good-Friday, 
I  breakfasted  with  him  on  tea  and  cross- 
buns:  Doctor  Levett,  as  Frank  called  him, 
making  the  tea.  He  carried  me  with  him 
to  the  church  of  St.  Clement  Danes,  where 
he  had  his  seat;  and  his  behaviour  was,  as 
I  had  imaged  to  myself,  solemnly  devout.  I 


1  [It  probably  was  this  conversation  which 
made  Mrs.  Fiozzi  think,  that  he  had  used  these 
expressions  in  his  *  *  Life  of  Addison.  * '  See  ante, 
p.  163.— Ed.] 

YPh.  I.  89 


never  shall  forget  the  tremulous  earnestness 
with  which  he  pronounced  the  awful  peti- 
tion in  the  Litany:  "  In  the  hour  of  death, 
and  at  the  day  of  judgment,  good  Lord  de- 
liver us." 

We  went  to  church  both  in  the  morning 
and  evening.  In  the  interval  between  the 
two  services  we  did  not  dine:  but  he  read 
in  the  Greek  New  Testament,  and  I  turned 
over  several  of  his  books. 

In  Archbishop  Laud's  Diary,  I  found  the 
following  passage,  which  I  read  to  Dr. 
Johnson: 

"1623.  February  1,  Sunday.  I  stood 
by  the  most  illustrious  Prince  Charles9,  at 
dinner.  He  was  then  very  merry,  and 
talked  occasionally  of  many  things  with  his 
attendants.  Among  other  things,  he  said, 
that  if  he  were  necessitated  to  take  any  par- 
ticular profession  of  life  he  could  not  be  a 
lawyer,  adding  his  reasons:  c  I  cannot,' 
said  he,  f  defend  a  bad,  nor  yield  in  a  good 
cause.'"  Johnson.  "Sir,  this  is  false 
reasoning;  because  every  cause  has  a  bad 
side:  and  a  lawyer  is  not  overcome,  though 
the  cause  which  he  has  endeavoured  to  sup- 
port be  determined  against  him." 

I  told  him  that  Goldsmith  had  said  to  me 
a  few  days  before,  "  As  I  take  my  shoes 
from  the  shoemaker,  and  my  coat  from  the 
tailor,  so  I  take  my  religion  from  the  priest." 
I  regretted  this  loose  way  of  talking.  John- 
son. "  Sir,  he  knows  nothing;  he  has 
made  up  his  mind  about  nothing." 

To  my  great  surprise  he  asked  me  to 
dine  with  him  on  Easter-Day.  I  never 
supposed  that  he  had  a  dinner  at  his  house: 
for  I  had  not  then  heard  of  any  one  of  his 
friends  having  been  entertained  at  his  table. 
He  told  me,  "  I  have  generally  a  meat  pie 
on  Sunday:  it  is  baked  at  a  public  oven, 
which  is  very  properly  allowed,  because  one 
man  can  attend  it;  and  thus  the  advantage 
is  obtained  of  not  keeping  servants  from 
church  to  dress  dinners." 

April  11,  being  Easter-Sunday,  after  hav- 
ing attended  divine  service  at  St.  Paul's,  I 
repaired  to  Dr.  Johnson's.  I  had  gratified 
my  curiosity  much  in  dining  with  Jean 
Ja^ues  Rousseau,  while  ne  lived  in  the 
wilds  of  Neufchatel :  I  had  as  great  a  curi- 
osity to  dine  with  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson, 
in  the  dusky  recess  of  a  court  in  Fleet-street. 
I  supposed  we  should  scarcely  have  knives 
and  forks,  and  only  some  strange,  uncouth, 
ill-drest  dish:  but  I  found  every  thing  in 
very  good  order.  We  had  no  other  com- 
pany but  Mrs.  Williams  and  a  young  wo- 
man whom  I  did  not  know.  As  a  dinner 
here  was  considered  as  a  singular  phenome- 
non, and  as  I  was  frequently  interrogated 
on  the  subject,  my  readers  may  perhaps  be 
desirous  to  know  our  bill  of  fare.  Foote,  I 
remember,  in  allusion  to  Francis,  the  negro, 


*  Afterwards  Charles  L— Bobwell. 

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177*— iETAT.  64. 


was  willing  to  suppose  that  our  repast 
was  black  troth.  But  the  fact  was,  that 
we  had  a  very  good  soup,  a  boiled  leg  of 
lamb  and  spinach,  a  veal  pie 1,  and  a  rice 
pudding. 

Of  Dr.  John  Campbell,  the  authour,  he 
said,  "  He  is  a  very  inquisitive  and  a  very 
able  man,  and  a  man  of  good  religious  prin- 
ciples, though  I  am  afraid  he  has  been  de- 
ficient in  practice.  Campbell  is  radically 
right;  and  we  may  hope,  that  in  time  there 
will  be  good  practice3." 

He  owned  that  he  thought  Hawkesworth 
was  one  of  his  imitators,  but  he  did  not 
think  Goldsmith  3  was.  Goldsmith,  he  said, 
had  great  merit.  Boswell.  "  But,  sir, 
he  is  much  indebted  to  you  for  his  getting 
so  high  in  the  publick  estimation."  John- 
son. "  Why,  sir,  he  has  perhaps  got  soon- 
er to  it  by  his  intimacy  with  me." 

Goldsmith,  though  his  vanity  often  excit- 
ed him  to  occasional  competition ,  had  a  very 
hiyh  regard  for  Johnson,  which  he  had  at 
this  time  expressed  in  the  strongest  manner 
in  the  Dedication  of  his  comedy,  entitled 
"  She  Stoops  to  Conquer*." 

Johnson  observed,  that  there  were  very 
few  books  printed  in  Scotland  before  the 
U  nion.  He  had  seen  a  complete  collection  of 
them  in  the  possession  of  the  Hon.  Archibald 
Campbell,  a  nonjuring  bishop5.  I  wish 
this  collection  had  been  kept  entire.  Many 
of  them  are  in  the  library  of  the  faculty  of 
advocates  at  Edinburgh.  I  told  Dr.  John- 
son that  I  had  some  intention  to  write  the 
life  of  the  learned  and  worthy  Thomas  Rud- 
diman®.  He  said,  "  I  should  take  pleasure 
in  helping  you  to  do  honour  to  him.  But 
his  farewell  letter  to  the  faculty  of  advo- 
cates, when  he  resigned  the  office  of  their 
librarian,  should  have  been  in  Latin." 


1  [Mr.  Botwell  does  not  say  whether  the  pie 
had  the  extraordinary  addition  of  "  plums  and 
sugar,"  which,  Mrs.  Pioaori  tells  us  were  ingredi- 
ents in  Dr.  Johnson's  veal  pies.  See  ante,  p. 
208.— Ed.] 

*  [This  praise  of  Dr.  Campbell's  piety  is  so 
moderate  as  to  excite  a  doubt  whether  he  was 
the  person  meant  in  p.  270:  perhaps  the  words 
"  regularity'*  and  "  exactness"  in  that  passage 
are  not  to  be  taken  in  a  sense  exclusively  religious. 
—Ed. 

8  [See  ante,  p.  189.— Ed.] 

4  "  By  inscribing  this  slight  performance  to 
you,  I  do  not  mean  so  much  to  compliment  you 
as  myself.  It  may  do  me  some  honour  to  inform 
the  publick,  that  I  have  lived  many  years  in  inti- 
macy with  you.  It  may  serve  the  interests  of 
mankind  also  to  inform  them,  that  the  greatest 
wit  may  be  found  in  a  character,  without  im- 
pairing the  most  unaffected  piety." — Bos  well. 

*  See  an  account  of  this  learned  and  respectable 
gentleman,  and  of  his  curious  work  on  the  Middle 
State,  poet,  25th  Oct  1778.— Boswell. 

*  [See  ante,  p.  86— Ed.] 


I  put  a  question  to  him  upon  a  fact  in 
common  life,  which  he  could  not  answer,  nor 
have  I  found  any  one  else  who  could.  What 
is  the  reason  that  women  servants,  though 
obliged  to  be  at  the  expense  of  purchasing 
their  own  clothes,  have  much  lower  wages 
than  men  servants,  to  whom  a  great  propor- 
tion of  that  article  is  furnished,  and  when 
in  fact  our  female  house  servants  work  much 
harder  than  the  male  7? 

He  told  me  that  he  had  twelve  or  four- 
teen times  attempted  to  keep  a  journal  of 
his  life,  but  never  could  persevere.  He  ad- 
vised me  to  do  it.  "  The  great  thing  to  be 
recorded,  said  lie,  "  is  the  state  of  your  own 
mind;  and  you  should  write  down  every 
thing  that  you  remember,  for  you  cannot 
judge  at  first  what  is  good  or  bad;  and  write 
immediately,  while  the  impression  is  fresh, 
for  it  will  not  be  the  same  a  week  after- 
wards." 

I  again  solicited  him  to  communicate  to 
me  the  particulars  of  his  early  life.  He  said , 
"  You  shall  have  them  all  for  twopence.  I 
hope  you  shall  know  a  great  deal  more  of 
me  before  you  write  my  life."  He  men- 
tioned to  me  this  day  many  circumstances, 
which  I  wrote  down  when  I  went  home, 
and  have  interwoven  in  the  former  part  of 
this  narrative. 

[The  following  is  his  own  minute,  but 
not  uninteresting  memorandum  of  this  day: 

"April  11,  177&  I  had  more  distur- 
bance in  the  night  than  has  been  customary 
for  some  weeks  past  I  rose  before  nine  in  the 
morning,  and  prayed  and  drank  tea.  I  came, 
I  think,  to  church  in  the  beginning  of  the 
prayers.  I  did  not  distinctly  hear  the  Psalms, 
and  found  that  I  had  been  reading  the 
Psalms  for  Good  Friday.  I  went  through 
the  Litany,  after  a  short  disturbance,  with 
tolerable  attention. 

"  After  sermon,  I  perused  my  prayer  in 
the  pew,  then  went  nearer  the  altar,  and 
being  introduced  into  another  pew,  used  my 
prayer  again,  and  recommended  my  rela- 
tions, with  Bathurst  and  [Miss]  Boothby, 
then  my  wife  again  by  herself.  Then  I 
went  nearer  the  altar,  and  read  the  collects 
chosen  for  meditation.  I  prayed  for  Salis- 
bury 8,  and,  I  think,  the  Thrales.  1  then 
communicated  with  calmness,  used  the  col- 
lect for  Easter  Day,  and  returning  to  the 
first  pew,  prayed  my  prayer  the  third  time. 
I  came  home  again:  used  my  prayer  and  the 
Easter  Collect.  Then  went  into  the  study 
to  Boswell,  and  read  the  Greek  Testament. 
Then  dined,  and  when  Boswell  went  away, 

7  There  is  a  greater  variety  of  employments 
for  men  than  for  women  :  therefore  the  demand 
raises  the  price. — Kearickt. 

8  [Mrs.  Salisbury,  Bin.  Thrale's  mother,  then 
lai^nmhing  with  an  illness,  of  which  she  died  in 
a  few  weeks.— -En.] 


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1773.— yETAT.  64. 


S07 


ended  the  four  first  chapters  of  St  Matthew, 
and  the  Beatitudes  of  the  fifth. 

"  I  then  went  to  Evening  Prayers,  and 
was  composed. 

"  I  gave  the  pew-keepers  each  five  shil- 
lings and  threepence."] 

On  Tuesday,  April  19,  he  and  Dr.  Gold- 
smith and  I  dined  at  General  Oglethorpe's. 
Goldsmith  expatiated  on  the  common  top- 
ick,  that  the  race  of  our  people  was  degen- 
erated, and  that  this  was  owing  to  luxury. 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  in  the  first  place,  I  doubt 
the  fact  K  I  believe  there  are  as  many  tall 
men  in  England  now,  as  ever  there  were. 
But,  secondly,  supposing  the  stature  of  our 
people  to  be  diminished,  that  is  not  #wing 
to  luxury;  for,  sir,  consider  to  how  very 
small  a  proportion  of  our  people  luxury  can 
reach.  Our  soldiery,  surely,  are  not  luxuri- 
ous, who  live  on  sixpence  a  day;  and  the 
same  remark  will  apply  to  almost  all  the 
other  classes.  Luxury,  so  far  as  it  reaches 
the  poor,  will  do  good  to  the  race  of  people; 
it  will  strengthen  and  multiply  them.  Sir, 
no  nation  W8S  ever  hurt  by  luxury;  for,  as 
I  said  before,  it  can  reach  but  to  a  very  few. 
I  admit  that  the  great  increase  of  commerce 
and  manufactures  hurts  the  military  spirit 
of  a  people;  because  it  produces  a  competi- 
tion for  something  else  than  martial  honours 
— a  competition  for  riches.  It  also  hurts 
the  bodies  of  the  people;  for  you  will  ob- 
serve, there  is  no  man  who  works  at  any 
particular  trade,  but  you  may  know  him 
from,  his  appearance  to  do  so.  One  part  or 
the  other  of  his  body  being  more  used  than 
the  rest,  he  is  in  some  degree  deformed:  but, 
sir,  that  is  not  luxury.  A  tailor  sits  cross- 
legged;  but  that  is  not  luxury."  Gold- 
smith. "  Gome,  you're  just  going  to  the 
same  place  by  another  road."  Johnson. 
"  Nay,  sir,  I  say  that  is  not  luxury.  Let 
us  take  a  walk  from  Charing-cross  to  White- 
chapel,  through,  I  suppose,  the  greatest  se- 
ries of  shops  in  the  world:  what  is  there  in 
any  of  these  shops  (if  you  except  gin  shops) 
that  can  do  any  human  being  any  harm  ?" 
Goldsmith.  "  Well,  sir,  IMI  accept  your 
challenge.  The  very  next  shop  to  North* 
nmberland-house  is  a  pickle  shop."  John- 
son. "  Well,  sir:  do  wo  not  know  that  a 
maid  can  in  one  afternoon  make  pickles  suf- 
ficient to  serve  a  whole  family  for  a  year? 


1  [There  seems  no  reason  whatever  to  believe 
the  fact :  old  coffins  and  old  armour  do  not  des- 
ignate a  taller  race  of  men.  Pope  tells  us,  that 
CoUey  Cibber  obtained  King  Edward's  armour 
from  the  Tower,  and  wore  it  in  a  theatrical  pro- 
cession. The  doors,  windows,  and  ceilings  of 
old  houses  are  not  loftier  than  those  of  modern 
days.  Other  animals,  too,  cannot  have  degener- 
ated in  size  by  the  luxury  of  man;  and  they 
seem,  by  all  evidence,  to  Jiave  borne  in  old  times 
ob  to  the  human  figure  that  they 


proportion 


nay,  that  Ave  pickle  shops  can  serve  all  the 
kingdom?  Besides,  sir,  there  isjio  harm 
done  to  any  body  by  the  making  of  pickles, 
or  the  eating-  of  pickles." 

We  drank  tea  with  die  ladies;  and  Gold- 
smith sung  Toney  Lumkin's  song  in  his 
comedy,  "  She  Stoops  to  Conquer,"  and  a 
very  pretty  one,  to  an  Irish  tune  9,  which 
he  had  designed  for  Miss  Hard  castle;  but 
as  Mrs.  Bulkeley,  who  played  the  part, 
could  not  sing,  it  was  led  out  He  after- 
wards wrote  it  down  for  me,  by  which 
means  it  was  preserved,  and  now  appears 
amongst  his  poems.  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his 
way  home,  stopped  at  my  lodgings  in  Pic- 
cadilly, and  sat  with  me,  drinking  tea  a  se- 
cond time,  till  a  late  hour. 

I  told  him  that  Mrs.  Macaulay  said,  she 
wondered  how  he  could  reconcile  his  polit- 
ical principles  with  his  moral :  his  notions 
of  inequality  and  subordination  with  wish- 
ing1 well  to  the  happiness  of  all  mankind, 
who  might  live  so  agreeably,  had  they  all 
their  portions  of  land,  and  none  to  domi- 
neer over  another.  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir, 
I  reconcile  my  principles  very  well,  because 
mankind  are  happier  in  a  state  of  inequal- 
ity and  subordination.  Were  they  to  be 
m  this  pretty  state  of  equality,  they  would 
soon  degenerate  into  brutes;  they  would 
become  Monboddo's  nation;  their  tails 
would  grow.  Sir,  all  would  be  losers,  were 
all  to  work  for  all:  they  would  have  no  in- 
tellectual improvement  All  intellectual 
improvement  arises  from  leisure;  all  leisure 
arises  from  one  working  for  another." 

Talking  of  the  family  of  Stuart,  he  said, 
"  It  should  seem  that  the  family  at  present 
on  the  throne  has  now  established  as  good 
a  right  as  the  former  family,  by  the  long 
consent  of  the  people;  and  that  to  disturb 
this  right  might  be  considered  as  culpable. 
At  the  same  time  I  own,  that  it  is  a  very 
difficult  question,  when  considered  with  re- 
spect to  the  house  of  Stuart  To  oblige 
people  to  take  oaths  as  to  the  disputed  right 
is  wrong.  I  know  not  whether  I  could  take 
them:  but  I  do  not  blame  those  who  do." 
So  conscientious  and  so  delicate  was  he 
upon  jthis  subject,  which  has  occasioned  so 
much  clamour  against  him. 

Talking  of  law  cases,  he  said,  "  The 
English  reports,  in  general,  are  very  poor: 
only  the  half  of  what  has  been  said  is  takes 
down;  and  of  that  half,  much  is  mistaken. 
Whereas,  in  Scotland,  the  arguments  on 
each  side  are  deliberately  put  in  writing, 


1  The  humours  of  Ballamagairy.— Boswell. 
[This  air  was  not  long  since  revived  and  vulgar- 
ized in  a  song  sang  by  tbe  late  Mr.  Johnstone,  in  a 
farce  called  "The  Wags  of  Windsor."  Mr. 
Moore  has  endeavoured  to  bring  it  back  into  good 
company;  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  ninth  number 
of  his  Irish  Melodies,  p.  48.— Ed.] 


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1778.— JETAT.  «4. 


to  be  considered  by  the  court  I  think  a 
collection  of  your  cases  upon  subjects  of 
importance,  with  the  opinions  of  the  judges 
upon  them,  would  be  valuable." 

On  Thursday,  April  15, 1  dined  with  him 
and  Dr.  Goldsmith  at  General  Paoli's. 
We  found  here  Signor  Martinelli1,  of 
Florence,  authour  of  a  History  of  England 
in  Italian,  printed  at  London. 

I  spoke  of  Allan  Ramsay's  "  Gentle 
Shepherd,"  in  the  Scottish  dialect,  as  the 
best  pastoral  that  had  ever  been  written; 
not  only  abounding  with  beautiful  rural 
imagery,  and  just  and  pleasing  sentiments, 
but  being  a  real  picture  of  manners;  and  I 
offered  to  teach  Dr.  Johnson  to  understand 
it.  "  No,  sir,"  said  he,  "  I  won't  learn  it. 
You  shall  retain  your  superiority  by  my  not 
knowing  it" 

This  brought  on  a  question  whether  one 
man  is  lessened  by  another's  acquiring  an 
equal  degree  of  knowledge  with  him. 
Johnson  asserted  the  affirmative.  I  main- 
tained that  the  position  might  be  true  in 
those  kinds  of  knowledge  which  produce 
wisdom,  power,  and  force,  so  as  to  enable 
one  man  to  have  the  government  of  oth- 
ers ;  but  that  a  man  is  not  in  any  degree 
lessened  by  others  knowing  as  well  as  \\% 
what  ends  in  mere  pleasure: — "  eating  fine 
fruits,  drinking  delicious  wines,  reading  ex- 
quisite poetry." 

The  General  observed,  that  Martinelli 
was  a  whig.  Johnson.  "  I  am  sorry  for 
it  It  shows  the  spirit  of  the  times;  he  is 
obliged  to  temporise"  Bos  well.  "  I  rath- 
er think,  sir,  that  toryism  prevails  in  this 
reign."  Johnson.  "I  know  not  why  you 
should  think  so,  sir.  You  see  your  friend 
Lord  Lytteiton,  a  nobleman,  is  obliged  in 


1  [Vincenzio  Martinelli.  He  was  an  Italian, 
living  chiefly  among  our  nobility ft  many  of  whom 
he  instructed  in  his  native  idiom.  He  is  the  au- 
thour of  several  works  in  Italian.  His  History  of 
England,  in  two  quarto  volumes,  is  a  mere  com- 
pilation from  Rapin.  Two  volumes  of  moral 
philosophy  on  La  Vita  Civile,  &c.  An  octavo 
volume  of  his  "  Letters  Familiare"  is  rather  amu- 
sing, for  the  complacency  of  the  writer  respecting 
his  own  importance,  and  the  narratives  of  his  visits 
to  various  noblemen,  whose  names  spangle  ms 
pages.  Having  prefixed  his  portrait  to  his  works, 
Badini,  another  Italian  scribbler,  well  known  in 
his  day,  mortified  at  the  sucoess  of  his  more  fash- 
ionable rival,  publshed  a  quarto  pamphlet,  enti- 
tled, I  think,  "La  Bilancia.*'  He  also  pre- 
sented the  portrait  of  Martinelli  to  the  world,  in  a 
manner  then  perhaps  novel.  In  a  pair  of  scales, 
the  head  of  Martinelli,  weighed  against  a  single 
feather,  flies  into  the  air.  Martinelli  disdained  to 
reply  to  the  scurrilities  of  his  desperate  compatri- 
ot, and  to  designate  his  low  rank,  and  with  an  allu- 
sion to  the  wefl  known  grievance  of  the  Lazzaroni 
of  Naples  causticly  observed  that  he  left  his  assail- 
ant to  be  tormented  by  another  race  of  critics— 
Juo  la$cio  a  i  $uoi pidochi.— D'Israkli.] 


his  history  to  write  the  most  vulgar  whig- 
gism." 

An  animated  debate  took  place  whether 
Martinelli  should  continue  his  "  History  of 
England"  to  the  present  day.  Goldsmith. 
"  To  be  sure  he  should."  Johksom.  "  No, 
sir;  he  would  give  great  offence.  He 
would  have  to  tell  of  almost  all  the  living 
great  what  they  do  not  wish  told."  Gold- 
smith. "  It  may,  perhaps,  be  necessary 
for  a  native  to  be  more  cautious;  but  a 
foreigner  who  comes  among  us  without 
prejudice  may  be  considered  as  holding  the 
place  of  a  judge,  and  may  speak  his  mind 
freely."  Johnson.  "  Sir,  a  foreigner, 
when  he  sends  a  work  from  the  press,  ought 
to  be  on  his  guard  against  catching  the  er- 
rour  and  mistaken  enthusiasm  of  the  peo- 
ple among  whom  he  happens  to  fee." 
Goldsmith.  "  Sir,  he  wants  only  to  sell 
his  history,  and  to  tell  truth;  one  an  hon- 
est, the  other  a  laudable  motive."  Joh  it- 
son.  "Sir,  they  are  both  laudable  motives. 
It  is  laudable  in  a  man  to  wish  to  live  by 
his  labours;  but  he  should  write  so  as  he 
may  live  by  them,  not  so  as  he  may  be 
knocked  on  the  head.  I  would  advise  him 
to  be  at  Calais  before  he  publishes  his  his- 
tory of  the  present  age.  A  foreigner  who 
attaches  himself  to  a  political  party  in  this 
country,  is  in  the  worst  state  that  can  be 
imagined :  he  is  looked  upon  as  a  mere  in- 
termeddler.  A  native  may  do  it  from  in- 
terest." Boswell.  "  Or  principle."  Gold- 
smith. « There  are  people  who  tell  a 
hundred  political  lies  every  day,  and  are 
not  hurt  by  it  Surely,  then,  one  may  tell 
truth  with  safety."  Johnson.  "Why,  sir. 
in  the  first  place,  he  who  tells  a  hundred 
lies  has  disarmed  the  force  of  his  lies.  But 
besides:  a  man  had  rather  have  a  hundred 
lies  told  of  him,  than  one  truth  which  he 
does  not  wish  should  be  told."  Gold- 
smith. "For  my  part,  Pd  tell  truth,  and 
shame  the  devil."  Johnson.  "Yes,  sir; 
but  the  devil  will  be  angry.  I  wish  to 
shame  the  devil  as  much  as  you  do>  but 
I  should  choose  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of 
his  claws."  Goldsmith.  "  His  claws  can 
do  you  no  harm,  when  you  have  the  shield 
of  truth." 

It  having  been  observed  that  there  was 
little  hospitality  in  London:  Johnson. 
"  Nay,  sir,  any  man  who  has  a  name,  or 
who  has  the  power  of  pleasing,  will  be  very 
generally  invited  in  London.  The  man, 
Sterne,  I  have  been  told,  has  had  engage- 
ments for  three  months,"  Goldsmith. 
"And  a  very  dull  fellow."  Johason. 
"Why,  no,  sir  a." 


*  Sterne,  as  may  he  supposed,  was  no  great  fa- 
vourite with  Dr.  Johnson;  and  a  lady  once  ven- 
tured to  ask  him.  how  he  liked  Yorick's  sermons, 
"I  know  nothing  about  them,  madam,"  was  hi* 
reply.     But  some  time  afterwards,  forgetting  ham- 


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909 


Martinelli  told  us,  that  for  several  years 
he  lived  much  with  Charles  Townsnend, 
and  that  he  ventured  to  tell  him  he  was  a 
bad  joker.  Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  thus 
much  I  can  say  upon  the  subject.  One  day 
he  and  a  few  more  agreed  to  go  and  dine 
in  the  country,  and  each  of  them  was  to 
bring  a  friend  in  his  carriage  with  him. 
Charles  Townsnend  asked  Fitzherbert  to 
go  with  him,  but  told  him, c  You  must  find 
somebody  4o  bring  you  back;  I  can  only 
carry  you  there.'  Fitzherbert  did  not  much 
like  this  arrangement.  He,  however,  con- 
sented, observing  sarcastically, '  It  will  do 
very  well;  for  then  the  same  jokes  will 
serve  you  in  returning  as  in  going.'  " 

An  eminent  public  character 1  being  men- 
tioned : — Johnson.  "  I  remember  being 
present  when  he  showed  himself  to  be  so 
corrupted,  or  at  least  something  so  different 
from  what  I  think  right,  as  to  maintain  that 
a  member  of  parliament  should  go  along 
-with  his  party,  right  or  wrong.  Now,  sir, 
this  is  so  remote  from  native  virtue,  from 
scbolastick  virtue,  that  a  good  man  must 
have  undergone  a  great  change  before  he 
can  reconcile  himself  to  such  a  doctrine.  It 
is  maintaining  that  you  may  lie  to  the  pub- 


self,  he  severely  censured  them,  and  the  lady  very 
aptly  retorted,  "  I  understood  yon  to  say,  sir,  that 
yon  had  never  read  them.'1  "No,  madam,  I 
did  read  them,  bnt  it  was  in  a  stage-coach.  I 
should  never  have  deigned  even  to  look  at  them 
bad  I  been  at  large."— Crad.  Mem.  208.— Ed.] 
1  [The  Editor  once  thought  pretty  confidently, 
that  the  "  eminent  public  character  "  was  Mr. 
Fox,  and  the  friend  of  Johnson's,  who  had  be- 
eotne  too  much  the  "  echo"  of  the  former,  Mr. 
Burke;  bnt  Lord  Wellesley  and  Sir  James  Mack- 
intosh,  who  have  been  so  kind  as  to  favour  the 
Editor  with  their  advice  on  this  and  other  points, 
think  that  Mr.  Burke  and  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
were  meant,  doubting  whether  Mr.  Fox  was,  in 
1773,  sufficiently  prominent  to  be  designated  as 
•«  an  eminent  public  character,"  whom  Mr.  Burke 
(whose  reputation  was  then  at  its  maturity)  could 
be  said  to  «« echo."  Mr.  Chalmers,  on  the  whole, 
inclines  to  me  same  opinion,  though  he  agrees 
with  the  Editor,  that  the  distant  and  formal  man- 
ner in  which  the  eminent  character  is  spoken  of, 
and  the  allusion  to  his  being  "  already  bought," 
(that  is,  being  already  in  office,)  suit  Mr.  Fox  bet- 
ter than  Mr.  Burke.  All,  however,  agree  that 
Mr.  Burke  was  one  of  the  persons  meant;  he  al- 
ways maintained  the  opinion  alluded  to,  (see  post, 
1 5th  August,  1773,)  and  was,  indeed,  the  first  who, 
in  his  "  Thoughts  on  the  Present  Discontents," 
openly  avowed  and  advocated  the  principle  of 
inviolable  adherence  to  political  connexions/'  put- 
ting," as  Mr.  Prior  says,  <*  to  silence  the  hitherto 
common  reproach  applied  to  most  public  characters 
of  being  party-men."  Life  of  Burke,  vol.  L  p. 
2S2.  "  This  is  an  instance,"  as  Sir  James  Mack- 
intosh observes,  "  which  proves  that  the  task  of 
elucidating  Boswell  has  not  been  undertaken  too 


lie;  for  you  lie  when  you  call  that  right 
which  you  think  wrong,  or  the  reverse.  A 
friend  of  ours  who  is  too  much  an  echo  of 
that  gentleman,  observed,  that  a  man  who 
does  not  stick  uniformly  to  a  party,  is  only 
waiting  to  he  bought.  Why,  then,  said  I, 
he  is  only  waiting  to  be  what  that  gentle- 
man is  already." 

We  talked  of  the  king's  coming  to  see 
Goldsmith's  new  play  9. — "  I  wish  he  would," 
said  Goldsmith;  adding,  however,  with  an 
affected  indifference,  "Not  that  it  would  do 
me  the  least  good."  Johnsok.  "  Well, 
then,  sir,  let  us  say  it  would  do  him  good 
(laughing).  No,  sir,  this  affectation  will 
not  pass; — it  is  mighty  idle.  In  such  a  state 
as  ours,  who  would  not  wish  to  please  the 
chief  magistrate?"  Goldsmith.  "I  do 
wish  to  please  him.  I  remember  a  line  in 
Dryden, 

'  And  every  poet  k  the  monarch's  friend.9 

It  ought  to  be  reversed. "  Jomrsov .  "  Nay, 
there  are  finer  lines  in  Dryden  on  this  sub- 
ject: 

<  For  colleges  on  bounteous  kmn  depend, 
And  never  rebel  was  to  arts  a  friend.*  " 

General  Paoli  observed,  that  successful 
rebels  might.  Martinelli.  "  Happy  re- 
bellions." Goldsmith.  "We  have  no 
such  phrase."  Gbhbkal  Paoli.  "  But 
have  you  not  the  thing!"  Goldsmith, 
"  Yes,  all  our  happy  revolutions.  They 
have  hurt  our  constitution,  and  will  hurt 
it,  till  we  mend  it  by  another  happy  revo- 
lution." I  never  before  discovered  that 
my  friend  Goldsmith  had  so  much  of  the  old 
prejudice  in  him. 

General  Paoli,  talking  of  Goldsmith's  new 
play,  said,  "II  a  fait  un  compliment  tree 
gracieux  h  une  certaine  grande  dame; " 
meaning  a  duchess  of  the  first  rank3. 

I  expressed  a  doubt  whether  Goldsmith 
intended  it,  in  order  that  I  might  hear  the 
truth  from  himself.  It,  perhaps,  was  not 
quite  fair  to  endeavour  to  brinp  him  to  a 
confession,  as  he  might  not  wish  to  avow 
positively  his  taking  part  against  the  court. 
He  smiled  and  hesitated.  The  general  at 
once  relieved  him  by  thig  beautiful  image: 
"  Monsieur  Goldsmith  est  eomme  la  mer9 

n'  lette  des  perles  et  beaucoup  d'autree 
kschosestsanss'enappercevoir."  Gold- 


*  ["  She  Stoops  to  Conquer"  was  played  on 
Monday,  15th  March.— Ed.] 

*  [The  lady,  no  doubt,  was  the  Duchess  of 
Cumberland,  whose  marriage  made  a  great  noise 
about  thai  time.  The  "  compliment  "  has  es- 
caped the  Editor's  observation,  unless  it  be  Has. 
tings's  speech  to  Miss  Neville,  in  the  second  act, 
when  he  proposes  to  her  to  fly  "  to  France,  where, 
even  among  slaves,  the  laws  of  marriage  are 
respected."— Ed.] 


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smith.    «  7W#  Hen  dU9  *t  ffU  4Ug*m- 
men/." 

A  person  wu  mentioned,  who  it  was  said 
could  take  down  in  short-hand  the  speeches 
in  parliament  with  perfect  exactness. 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  it  is  impossible.  I  re- 
member one  Angel,  who  came  to  me  to 
write  for  him  a  preface  or  dedication  to  a 
book  upon  short-hand,  and  he  professed  to 
write  as  fast  as  a  man  could  speak.  In  or- 
der to  try  him,  I  took  down  a  book,  and 
read  while  he  wrote;  and  I  favoured  him, 
for  I  read  more  deliberately  than  usual.  I 
had  proceeded  but  a  very  little  way,  when 
he  begged  I  would  desist,  for  he  could  not 
follow  me."  Hearing  now  for  the  first 
time  of  this  preface  or  dedication,  I  said, 
"  What  an  expense,  sir,  do  you  put  us  to  in 
buying  books,  to  which  you  have  written 

frefaces  or  dedications."  Johnson.  "Why 
have  dedicated  to  the  royal  family  ail 
round;  that  is  to  say,  to  the  last  generation 
of  the  royal  family."  Goldsmith.  "  And 
perhaps,  sir,  not  one  sentence  of  wit  in  a 
whole  dedication."  Johnson.  "Perhaps 
not,  sir."  Boswkll.  "  What  then  is  the 
reason  for  applying  to  a  particular  person  to 
do  that  which  any  one  may  do  as  well?" 
Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  one  man  has  great- 
er readiness  at  doing  it  than  another." 

I  spoke  of  Mr.  Harris,  of  Salisbury,  as 
being  a  very  learned  man,  and  in  particular 
an  eminent  Grecian.  Johnson.  "  I  am 
not  sure  of  that.  His  friends  give  him  out 
as  such,  but  I  know  not  who  of  his  friends 
are  able  to  judge  of  it"  Goldsmith. 
"  He  is  what  is  much  better :  he  is  a  worthy, 
humane  man."  Johnson.  "  Nay,  sir, 
that  is  not  to  the  purpose  of  our  argument: 
that  will  as  much  prove  that  he  can  play 
upon  the  fiddle  as  well  as  Giardini,  as  that 
he  is  an  eminent  Grecian."  Goldsmith. 
"  The  greatest  musical  performers  have  but 
small  emoluments.  Giardini,  I  am  told, 
does  not  get  above  seven  hundred  a  year." 
Johnson.  "  That  is  indeed  but  little  for 
a  man  to  get,  who  does  best  that  which  so 
many  endeavour  to  do.  There  is  nothing, 
I  think,  in  which  the  power  of  art  is  shown 
so  much  as  in  playing  on  the  fiddle.  In  all 
other  things  we  can  do  something  at  first. 
Any  man  will  forge  a  bar  of  iron,  if  you 

five  him  a  hammer;  not  so  well  ss  a  smith, 
ut  tolerably,  A  man  will  saw  a  piece  of 
wood,  and  make  a  box,  though  a  clumsy 
one;  but  give  him  a  fiddle  and  a  fiddlestick, 
—  .  and  he  can  do  nothing."  [To  Mrs. 
J~S/  Piozzi  he  observed  of  Mr.  Harris's 
dedication  to  his  Hermes,  that, 
though  but  fourteen  lines  long,  there  were 
six  grammatical  faults  in  it.] 

On  Monday,  April  19,  he  called  on  me 
with  Mrs.  Williams,  in  Mr.  Strahan's  coach, 
and  carried  me  out  to  dine  with  Mr.  Elphin- 


ston,  at  his  academy  at  Kensington.  JL 
printer  having  acquired  a  fortune  sufficient 
to  keep  his  coach,  was  a  good  topics;  for  the 
credit  of  literature.  Mrs.  Williams  said, 
that  another  printer,  Mr.  Hamilton  i,  had 
not  waited  so  long  as  Mr.  Strahan,  but  had 
kept  his  coach  several  years  sooner.  John- 
son. "  He  was  in  the  right  Life  is  short. 
The  sooner  that  a  man  begins  to  enjoy  his 
wealth,  the  better." 

Mr.  Elphinston  talked  of  a  new  book  that 
was  much  admired,  and  asked  Dr.  Johnson 
if  he  had  read  it.  Johnson.  "  I  have 
looked  into  it."  "  What, »  said  Elphinston, 
"have  you  not  read  it  through?"  John- 
son, offended  at  being  thus  pressed,  and  so 
obliged  to  own  his  cursory  mode  of  reading, 
answered  tartly,  "  No,  sir,  do  you  read 
books  through?" 

He  this  day  again  defended  duelling,  and 
put  his  argument  upon  what  I  have  ever 
thought  the  most  solid  basis;  that. if  publick 
war  be  allowed  to  be  consistent  with  mo- 
rality, private  war  must  be  equally  so.  In- 
deed we  may  observe  what  strained  argu- 
ments are  used  to  reconcile  war  with  the 
Christian  religion.  But,  in  my  opinion,  it 
is  exceedingly  clear  that  duelling  having 
better  reasons  for  its  barbarous  violence, 
is  more  justifiable  than  war  in  which  thou- 
sands go  forth  without  any  cause  of  person- 
al quarrel,  and  massacre  each  other. 

On  Wednesday,  April  91,  I  dined  with* 
him  at  Mr.  Thrale's.  A  gentleman  attack- 
ed Garrick  for  being  vain.  Johnson.  "  No 
wonder,  sir,  that  he  is  vain;  a  man  who  is 
perpetually  flattered  in  every  mode  that  can 
be  conceived.  So  many  bellows  have  blown 
the  fire,  that  one  wonders  he  is  not  by  this 
time  become  a  cinder."  Boswkll.  "  And 
such  bellows  too!  Lord  Mansfield  with  his 
cheeks  like  to  burst:  Lord  Chatham  like  an 
<£olus  9.  I  have  read  such  notes  from  them 
to  him,  as  were  enough  to  turn  his  head." 
Johnson.  "  True.  When  he  whom  eve- 
ry body  else  flatters,  flatters  me,  I  then  am 
truly  happy."  Mas.  Thrale.  "The 
sentiment  is  in  Congreve,  I  think."  John- 
son. "  Yes,  madam,  in c  The  Way  of  the 
World:' 

*  If  there's  delight  in  love,  *tis  when  I  see 
That  heart  which  others  bleed  for,  bleed  for  me.* 

No,  sir,  I  should  not  be  surprised  though 
Garrick  chained  the  ocean  and  lashed  the 
winds. "  Bos  well.  "  Should  it  not  be,  sir, 
lashed  the  ocean  and  chained  the  winds?  " 
Johnson.    "No,  sir;  recollect  the  original: 


1  [The  Harhiltons  were  respectable  publishers 
for  three  generations. — Ed.] 

*  Lord  Chatham  addressed  to  him  those  ray 
pretty  lines,  beginning, 

u  Leave,  Garrick,  leave  the  landscape,  proudly  say : 

Dock,  forte,  and  nayies  brJcblslng  all  da)  bay.*-**.] 


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811 


•  In  Coram  stone  Edrnm  sotttns  sarnie  flageOk 
Barbaras,  iEoko  nunquam  hoe  in  eaicere  passos, 
Ipsnm  compedibof  qui  vinxerat  Ennoaiggam.'  " 
This  does  veiy  well,  when  both  the  winds 
and  the  sea  are  personified,  and  mentioned 
by  their  mythological  names,  as  in  Juve- 
nal; but  when  they  are  mentioned  in  plain 
language,  the  application  of  the  epithets 
suggested  by  me  is  the  most  obvious;  and 
accordingly  my  friend  himself,  in  his  imita- 
tion of  the  passage  which  describes  Xerxes, 
has 

c<  The  waves  he  lashes,  and  enchains  the  wind  V9 

The  modes  of  living  in  different  countries, 
and  the  various  views  with  which  men  trav- 
el in  quest  of  new  scenes,  having  been  talk- 
ed of,  a  learned  gentleman  who  holds  a  con- 
siderable office  in  the  law  expatiated  on  the 
happiness  of  a  savage  life,  and  mentioned 
an  instance  of  an  officer  who  had  actually 
lived  for  some  time  in  the  wilds  of  America, 
of  whom,  when  in  that  state,  he  quoted  this 
reflection  with  an  air  of  admiration,  as  if  it 
had  been  deeply  philosophical:  "Hera,  am 
I,  free  and  unrestrained,  amidst  the  rude 
magnificence  of  Nature,  with  this  Indian 
woman  by  my  side,  and  this  gun,  with  which 
I  can  procure  food  when  I  want  it:  what 
more  can  be  desired  for  human  happiness?" 
It  did  not  require  much  sagacity  to  foresee 
that  such  a  sentiment  would  not  be  permit- 
ted to  pass  without  due  animadversion. 
Johnson.  "  Do  not  allow  yourself,  sir,  to 
be  imposed  upon  by  such  gross  absurdity. 
It  is  sad  stuff;  it  is  brutish.  If  a  bull  could 
speak,  he  might  as  well  exclaim — Here  am 
I  with  this  cow  and  this  grass;  what  being 
can  enjoy  greater  felicity?  9[ 

We  talked  of  the  melancholy  end  of  a 

5entleman3  who  had  destroyed  himself. 
ohnson.  "It  was  owing  to  imaginary 
difficulties  in  his  affairs,  which,  had  he  talk- 
ed of  with  any  friend,  would  soon  have  van- 
ished." Boswxll.  "  Do  you  think,  sir, 
that  all  who  commit  suicide  are  mad?" 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  they  are  often  not  univer- 
sally disordered  in  their  intellects,  but  one 
passion  presses  so  upon  them,  that  they 
yield  to  it,  and  commit  suicide,  as  a  passion- 
ate man  will  stab  another."  He  added,  "  I 
have  often  thought,  that  after  a  man  has 


1  So  also  Butler,  Hudibras,  F.  H.  c.  L  v.  845. 

u  A  Persian  emperor  wkipt  hia  grannam,    , 
The  tea,  his  mother  Venus  came  on.n— mxLOwa. 

»  [Sir  John  Hawkins  (who,  however,  was  not 
well  disposed  towards  Mr.  Dyer  (affords  some 
ground  for  suspecting  that  he  (who  had  died  in 
September,  1 772)  was  the  person  alluded  to.  See, 
however,  Malone's  Life  of  Dryden,  p.  85,  which 
assigns  reasons  (though  they  have  not  quite  con- 
vinced the  Editor)  for  doubting  that  Mr.  Dyer 
could  be  the  penon  here  meant  The  gentleman 
was  probably  Mr.  Fhzherbert,  who  terminated  his 
t  in  January,  177&— £».] 


taken  the  resolution  to  kill  himself,  it  is  not 
courage  in  him  to  do  any  thing,  however 
desperate,  because  he  has  nothing  to  fear." 
Goldsmith.  "  I  don't  see  that"  Johh- 
soh.  "  Nay,  but,  my  dear  sir,  why  should 
you  not  see  what  every  one  else  sees?" 
Goldsmith.  "  It  is  for  fear  of  something 
that  he  has  resolved  to  kill  himself:  and 
will  not  that  timid  disposition  restrain  him  ?" 
Johnson.  "  It  does  not  signify  that  the 
fear  of  something  made  him  resolve;  it  is 
upon  the  state  of  his  mind  after  the  resolu- 
tion is  taken  that  I  argue.  Suppose  a  man 
either  from  fear,  or  pride,  or  conscience,  or 
whatever  motive,  has  resolved  to  kill  himself; 
when  once  the  resolution  is  taken,  he  has 
nothing  to  fear*  He  may  then  go  and  take 
the  King  of  Prussia  by  the  nose,  at  the 
head  of  his  army.  He  cannot  fear  the  rack, 
who  is  resolved  to  kill  himself.  When  Eus- 
tace Budgell  was  walking  down  to  the 
Thames,  determined  to  drown  himself3,  he 
might,  if  he  pleased,  without  any  apprehen- 
sion of  danger,  have  turned  aside,  and  first 
set  fire  to  St  James's  palace." 

On  Tuesday,  April  27,  Mr.  Beauclerk 
and  I  called  on  him  in  the  morning.  As  we 
walked  up  Johnson's-court,  I  said,  '*I  have 
a  veneration  for  this  court; "  and  was  glad 
to  find  that  Beauclerk  had  the  same  reve- 
rential enthusiasm.  We  found  him  alone. 
We  talked  of  Mr.  Andrew  Stuart's  elegant 
and  plausible  Letters  to  Lord  Mansfield  4 ; 
a  copy  of  which  had  been  sent  by  the  au- 
thour  to  Dr.  Johnson.  Johnson.  "  They 
have  not  answered  the  end.  They  have 
not  been  talked  of;  I  have  never  heard  of 
them.  This  is  owing  to  their  not  being 
sold.  People  seldom  read  a  book  which  is 
given  to  them;  and  few  are  given.  The 
way  to  spread  a  work  is  to  sell  it  at  a  low 
price.  No  man  will  send  to  buy  a  thing 
that  costs  even  sixpence,  without  an  inten- 
tion to  read  it"  6osw*ll.  "  May  it  not 
be  doubted,  sir,  whether  it  be  proper  to  pub- 
lish letters,  arraigning  the  ultimate  decision 
of  an  important  cause  by  the  supreme  judi- 
cature of  the  nation?  "  Johnson.  "  No, 
sir,  I  do  not  think  it  was  wrong  to  publish 
these  letters.  If  they  are  thought  to  do 
harm,  whv  not  answer  them?  But  they 
will  do  no  harm.  If  Mr.  Douglas  be  indeed 
the  son  of  Lady  Jane,  he  cannot  be  hurt :  if 
he  be  not  her  son,  and  yet  has  the  great  es- 
tate of  the  family  of  Douglas,  he  may  well 
submit  to  have  a  pamphlet  against  him  by 
Andrew  Stuart    Sir,  I  think  such  a  pubh- 

*  [A  friend  and  relative  of  Addison's,  who 
drowned  himself  to  escape  a  prosecution  on  ac- 
count of  forging  the  will  of  Dr.  Tindal,  in  which 
Budgell  had  provided  himself  with  a  legacy  of 
2000/.    To  this  Pope  alludes  : 

"Let  Bodgell  charge  tow  Grab-street  on  my  qnlll, 

And  write  waate'er  be  please    except  my  wiU.n- <Bo.) 

4  [On  the  Doughs  Cause,— Ed.  J 


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1778.— J2TAT.  64. 


cation  does  good,  as  it  does  good  to  show 
us  the  possibilities  of  human  life.  And,  sir, 
you  will  not  say  that  the  Douglas  cause 
was  a  cause  of  easy  decision,  when  it  divi- 
ded your  court  as  much  as  it  could  do,  to  be 
determined  at  all.  When  your  judges  are 
seven  and  seven,  the  casting  vote  of  the 
president  musi  be  given  on  one  side  or  oth- 
er; no  matter,  for  my  argument,  on  which; 
one  or  the  other  must  be  taken;  as  when 
I  am  to  move,  there  is  no  matter  which  leg 
I  move  first  And  then,  sir,  it  was  other- 
wise determined  here.  No,  sir,  a  more 
dubious  determination  of  any  question  can- 
not be  Imagined  h" 

He  said,  "  Goldsmith  should  not  be  for- 
ever attempting  to  shine  in  conversation : 
he  has  not  temper  for  it,  he  is  so  much  mor- 
tified when  he  fails.  Sir,  a  game  of  jokes 
.  is  composed  partly  of  skill,  partly  of  chance; 
a  man  may  be  beat  at  times  by  one  who 
has  not  the  tenth  part  of  his  wit.  Now 
Goldsmith's  putting  himself  against  anoth- 
er, is  like  a  man  laying  a  hundred  to  one, 
who  cannot  spare  the  hundred.  It  is  not 
worth  a  man's  while.  A  man  should  not 
lay  a  hundred  to  one,  unless  he  can  easily 

rre  II,  though  he  has  a  hundred  chances 
him:  he  can  get  but  a  guinea,  and  he 
may  lose  a  hundred.  Goldsmith  is  in  this 
state.  When  he  contends,  if  he  gets  the 
better,  it  is  a  very  little  addition  to  a  man 
of  his  literary  reputation :  if  he  does  not 
get  the  better,  he  is  miserably  vexed." 

Johnson's  own  superlative  powers  of  wit 
Bet  him  above  any  risk  of  such  uneasiness. 
Garrick  had  remarked  to  me  of  him,  a  few 
days  before,  "  Rabelais  and  all  other  wits 
are  nothing  compared  with  him.  You  may 
be  diverted  by  them;  but  Johnson  gives  you 
a  forcible  hug,  and  shakes  laughter  out  of 
yon,  whether  you  will  or  no." 

Goldsmith,  however,  was  often  very  for- 
tunate in  his  witty  contests,  even  when  he 
entered  the  lists  with  Johnson  himself. 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  was  in  company  with 
them  one  day,  when  Goldsmith  said  that  he 
thought  he  could  write  a  good  fable,  men- 
tioned the  simplicity  which  that  kind  of 
composition  requires,  and  observed  that  in 
most  fables  the  animals  introduced  seldom 
talk  in  character.    "  For  instance  (said  he) , 

1  I  regretted  that  Dr.  Johnson  never  took  the 
trouble  to  study  a  question  which  interested  na- 
tions. He  would  not  even  read  a  pamphlet  which 
I  wrote  upon  it,  entitled  27*e  Entente  of  the 
Douglas  Cause ;  which  I  have  reason  to  flatter 
myself  had  considerable  effect  in  favour  of  Mr. 
Douglas;  of  whose  legitimate  filiation  I  was  then, 
and  am  still,  firmly  convinced.  Let  me  add, 
that  no  fact  can  be  more  respectably  ascertained, 
than  by  the  judgment  of  the  moat  august  tribunal 
in  the  world;  a  judgment  in  which  Lord  Maiufield 
and  Lord  Camden  united  in  176s#,  and  from  whidi 
only  five  of  a  numerous  body  entered  a  protest — 
BoswxiiL. 


the  fahle  of  the  little  fishes,  who  saw  birds 
fly  over  their  heads,  and,  envying  them,  pe- 
titioned Jupiter  to  be  changed  into  birds. 
The  skill  (continued  he)  consists  in  making 
them  talk  like  little  fishes."  While  he  in- 
dulged himself  in  this  fanciful  reverie,  he 
observed  Johnson  shaking  his  sides,  and 
laughing.  Upon  which  he  smartly  proceed- 
ed, "  Why,  Dr.  Johnson,  this  is  not  so  ea- 
sy as  you  seem  to  think;  for  if  you  were  to 
make  little  fishes  talk,  they  would  talk  like 
whales." 

Johnson,  though  remarkable  for  his  great 
variety  of  composition,  never  exercised 
his  talents  in  fable,  except  we  allow  his 
beautiful  tale  published  in  Mrs.  Williams's 
Miscellanies  to  be  of  that  species.  I  have 
however  found  among  his  manuscript  col- 
lections the  following  sketch  of  one: 

"  Glow-worm  2  lying  in  the  garden  saw  a 
candle  in  a  neighbouring  palace, — and  com 
plained  of  the  littleness  of"  his  own  light ; 
another  observed — wait  a  little; — soon  dark, 
— have  outlasted  jtoaa  [many}  of  these  glar- 
ing sights,  which  are  only  brighter  as  they 
haste  to  nothing." 

On  Thursday,  April  29, 1  dined  with  htm 
at  General  Oglethorpe's,  where  were  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  Mr.  Langton,  Dr. 
Goldsmith,  and  Mr.  Thrale.  I  was  very 
desirous  to  get  Dr.  Johnson  absolutely  fix- 
ed* in  his  resolution  to  go  with  me  to  the 
Hebrides  this  year;  and  I  told  him  that  I 
had  received  a  letter  from  Dr.  Robertson, 
the  historian,  upon  the  subject,  with  which 
he  was  much  pleased,  and  now  talked  in 
such  a  manner  of  his  long  intended  tour, 
that  I  was  satisfied  he  meant  to  fulfil  his 
engagement. 

The  custom  of  eating  dogs  at  Otaheite 
being  mentioned,  Goldsmith  observed  that 
this  was  also  a  custom  in  China;  that  a  dog- 
butcher  is  as  common  there  as  any  other 
butcher;  and  that  when  he  walks  abroad  all 
the  dogs  fall  on  him.  Johnsok.  "  That 
is  not  owing  to  his  killing  does,  sir.  I  re 
member  a  butcher  at  Lichfield,  whom  a 
dog  that  was  in  the  house  where  I  lived  al- 
ways attacked.  It  is  the  smell  of  carnage 
winch  provokes  this,  let  the  animals  he  has 
killed  oe  what  they  may."  Goldsmith. 
"  Yes,  there  is  a  general  abhorrence  in  an- 
imals at  the  signs  of  massacre.  If  you  put 
a  tub  full  of  blood  into  a  stable,  the  horses 
are  like  to  go  mad."  Johvsov.  "  I  doubt 
that."  Goldsmith.  Nay,  sir,  it  is  a  fact 
well  authenticated."  Thrale.  "You 
had  better  prove  it  before  you  put  it  into 
your  book  on  natural  history.  You  may  do 
it  in  my  stable,  if  you  will."  Johssos. 
"  Nay,  sir,  1  would  not  have  him  prove  it 

*  It  has  already  been  observed,  that  one  of 
the  first  La*ay*  was  a  Latin  poeui  on  a  glow- worm; 
but  whether  it  be  any  where  extant  has  not  bees 
ascertained. — Malohs. 

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If  he  is  content  to  take  hie  information  from 
othero,  he  may  get  through  his  hook  with 
little  trouble,  and  without  much  endanger- 
ing his  reputation.  But  if  he  makes  exper- 
iments for  so  comprehensive  a  hook  as  his, 
there  would  be  no  end  to  them;  his  errone- 
ous assertions  would  then  fall  upon  himself) 
and  he  might  be  blamed  for  not  having 
made  experiments  as  to  every  particular.93 

The  character  of  Mallet  having  been  in- 
troduced, and  spoken  of  slightingly  by 
Goldsmith  :  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  Mallet 
had  talents  enough  to  keep  his  literary  repu- 
tation alive  as  long  ss  he  himself  lived:  and 
that,  let  me  tell  you,  is  a  good  deal. "  Gold- 
smith. "  But  I  cannot  agree  that  it  was 
so.  His  literary  reputation  was  dead  long 
before  his  natural  death.  I  consider  an 
authour's  literary  reputation  to  be  alive  on- 
ly while  his  name  will  ensure  a  good  price 
for  his  copy  from  the  booksellers.  Twill 
get  you  (to  Johnson)  a  hundred  guineas 
for  any  thing  whatever  that  you  shall  write, 
if  you  put  your  name  to  it" 

Dr.  Goldsmith's  new  play,  "  She  Stoops 
to  Conquer,"  being  mentioned;  Johnson. 
"  I  know  of  no  comedy  for  many  years  that 
has  so  much  exhilarated  an  audience,  that 
has  answered  so  much  tbe  great  end  of  com- 
edy—making  an  audience  merry." 

Goldsmith  having  said  that  Garrick's 
compliment  to  the  queen,  which  he  intro- 
duced into  the  play  of  "  The  Chances%" 
which  he  had  altered  and  revised  this  year, 
was  mean  and  gross  flattery; — Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  I  would  not  write,  I  would  not 
give  solemnly,  under  my  hand,  a  character 
beyond  what  I  thought  really  true;  but  a 
speech  on  the  stage,  let  it  flatter  ever  so 
extravagantly,  is  formular.  It  has  always 
been  formular  to  flatter  kings  and  queens; 
so  much  so,  that  even  in  our  church-service 
we  have  '  our  most  religious  king,'  used  in- 
discriminately, whoever  is  kins.  Nay,  they 
even  flatter  themselves;—'  we  have  been  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  grant.'."  No  modern 
flattery,  however,  is  so  gross  ss  that  of  the 
Augustan  age,  where  the  emperour  was  dei- 
fied. 'Prauen*  Divut  habebitur  Augustus.' 
And  as  to  meanness  "— -(rising  into  warmth) 
— "  how  is  it  mean  in  a  player, — a  show- 
man,— a  fellow  who  exhibits  himself  for  a 
shilling  to  flatter  his  queen  ?  The  attempt, 
indeed,  was  dangerous;  for  if  it  had  missed, 
what  became  of  Garrick,  and  what  became 
of  the  queen?  As  Sir  William  Temple 
says  of  a  great  general,  it  is  necessary  not 
only  that  his  designs  be  formed  in  a  master- 
ly manner,  but  that  they  should  be  attend- 
ed with  success.  Sir,  it  is  right,  at  a  time 
when  the  royal  family  is  not  generally  liked, 
to  let  it  be  seen  that  the  people  like  at  least 
one  of  them."  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  "  I 
do  not  perceive  why  the  profession  of  a  play- 
er should  be  despised;  for  the  great  ana  nfii- 
▼ol.  i.  40 


mate  end  of  all  the  employments  of  man- 
kind is  to  produce  amusement  Garrick 
produces  more  amusement  than  any  body." 
Boswell.  "  You  say,  Dr.  Johnson,  that 
Garrick  exhibits  himself  for  a  shilling.  In 
this  respect  he  is  only  on  a  footing  with  a 
lawyer,  who  exhibits  himself  for  his  fee,  and 
even  will  maintain  any  nonsense  or  absurdi- 
ty, if  the  case  require  it  Garrick  refuses  a 
play  or  a  part  which  he  does  not  like:  a 
lawyer  never  refuses."  Johnson.  "  Why, 
sir,  what  does  this  prove?  only  that  a  law- 
yer is  worse;  Boswell  is  now  like  Jsck  in 
7  The  Tale  of  a  Tub,'  who,  when  he  is 
puzzled  by  an  argument,  hangs  himself. 
He  thinks  I  shall  cut  him  down,  but  I'll 
let  him  hang "  (laughing  vociferously). 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  "Mr.  Boswell 
thinks  that  the  profession  of  a  lawyer  be- 
ing unquestionably  honourable,  if  he  can 
show  the  profession  of  a  player  to  be  more 
honourable,  he  proves  his  argument" 

On  Friday,  April  SO,  I  dined  with  him  at 
Mr.  Beauclerk's,  where  were  Lord  Chailt- 
mont,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  and  acme 
more  members  of  the  Literaet  Cjlub, 
whom  he  had  obligingly  invited  to  mett 
me,  as  I  was  this  evening  to  be  balloted  for 
as  candidate  for  admission  into  that  distin- 
guished society.  Johnson  had  done  me  the 
Honour  to  propose  me,  and  Beauclerk  was 
very  zealous  lor  me. 

Goldsmith  being  mentioned:  Johnson. 
"  It  is  amazing  how  little  Goldsmith  knows. 
He  seldom  comes  where  he  is  not  more  ig- 
norant than  any  one  else."  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds.  "  Yet  there  is  no  man  whose 
company  is  more  liked."  .  Johnson.  "  To 
be  sure,  sir.  #  When  people  find  a  man  of 
most  distinguished  abilities  as  a  writer,  their 
inferiour  wnile  he  is  with  them,  it  must  be 
highly  gratifying'  to  them.  What  Gold- 
smith comically  says  of  himself  is  very  true, 
— he  always  gets  the  better  when  he  argues 
alone;  meaning  that  he  is  master  of  a  sub- 
ject in  his  study,  and  can  write  well  upon 
it;  but  when  he  comes  into  company,  grows 
confused,  and  unable  to  talk.  Take  him  as 
a  poet,  his '  Traveller '  is  a  very  fine  perfoi  m- 
ance  ;  ay,  and  so  is  his  *  Deserted  Village,1 
were  it  not  sometimes  too  much  the  echo  of 
his « Traveller.'  Whether,  indeed,  we  take 
him  as  a  poet, — as  a  comick  writer,— or  as 
an  historian,  he  stands  in  the  first  class." 
Boswell.  "An  historian!  My  dear  sir, 
you  surely  will  not  rank  his  compilation 
of  the  Roman  History  with  the  works  of 
other  historians  of  this  age?"  Johnson. 
"  Why,  who  are  before  him  ?"  Boswell. 
"  Hume*— Robertson,— -Lord  Lyttelton." 
Johnson.  (His  antipathy  to  the  Scotch 
beginning  to  rise).  "  ihave  not  read  Hume; 
but,  doubtless,  Goldsmith's 'History  is  bet- 
ter than  the  verbiage  of  Robertson,  or  the 
foppery  of  Dalrympk"   Boswell.  "Will 

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you  not  admit  the  superiority  of  Robertson, 
in  whose  history  we  find  such  penetration, 
such  painting?"  Jomrso/r.  "  Sir,  you 
must  consider  how  that  penetration  and 
that  painting  are  employed.  It  is  not  histo- 
ry, it  is  imagination.  He  who  describes 
what  he  never  saw,  draws  from  fancy. 
Robertson  paints  minds  as  Sir  Joshua  paints 
faces  in  a  history-piece:  he  imagines  an  he- 
roick  countenance.  You  must  look  upon 
Robertson's  work  as  romance,  and  try  it  by 
that  standard.  History  it  is  not.  Besides, 
sir,  it  is  the  great  excellence  of  a  writer  to 
ut  into  his  book  as  much  as  his  book  will 
old.  Goldsmith  has  done  this  in  his  histo- 
ry. Now  Robertson  might  have  put  twice 
as  much  into  his  book.  Robertson  is  like 
a  man  who  has  packed  gold  in  wool;  the 
wool  takes  up  more  room  than  the  gold. 
No,  sir:  I  always  thought  Robertson  would 
be  crushed  by  his  own  weight, — would  be 
buried  under  his  own  ornaments.  Gold- 
smith tells  you  shortly  all  you  want  to  know : 
Robertson  detains  you  a  great  deal  oot  long. 
No  man  will  read  Robertson's  cumbrous  de- 
tail a  second  time;  but  Goldsmith's  plain 
narrative  will  please  again  and  again.  I 
would  say  to  Robertson  what  an  old  tutor 
of  a  college  said  to  one  of  his  pupils :  '  Read 
over  your  compositions,  and  wherever  you 
meet  with  a  passage  which  you  think  is 
particularly  fine,  strike  it  out*  Goldsmith's 
abridgement  is  better  than  that  of  Lucius 
Florus  or  Eutropius;  and  I  will  venture  to 
say,  lhat  if  you  compare  him  with  Vertot, 
in  the  same  places  of  the  Roman  History, 
you  will  find  thai  he  excels  Vertot  Sir,  he 
has  the  art  of  compiling,  and  of  saying  ev- 
ery thing  he  has  to  say  in  a  pleasing. man- 
ner. He  is  now  writing  a  Natural  History, 
and  will  make  it  as  entertaining  as  a  Per- 
sian tale." 

I  cannot  dismiss  the  present  topick  with- 
out observing,  that  it  is  probable  that  Dr. 
Johnson,  who  owned  that  he  often  "  talked 
for  victory,"  rather  urged  plausible  objec- 
tions to  Dr.  Robertson's  excellent  historical 
works,  in  the  ardour  of  contest,  than  ex- 
pressed his  real  and  decided  opinion;  for  it 
is  not  easy  to  suppose  that  he  should  so 
widely  differ  from  the  rest  of  the  literary 
world !. 

Johnson.      "I  remember  once  being 
with    Goldsmith    in    Westminster-abbey. 
While  we  surveyed  the  Poets'  Corner  I  said 
to  him, 
*  Fonritan  et  nostrum  nomen  miacebkor  wtit  V 


1  [Mr.  Bagwell's  friendship  for  both  Johnson 
and  Robertson  is  hare  sorely  perplexed;  but  there 
seems  no  ground  for  doubting  that  Johnson's  "  real 
and  decided  opinion"  ef  Robertson  was  very 
Be  on  every  occasion  repeats  it  with  a  very 
See  ante,  p.  247.— 


9  Ovid,  de  Art  Amend.  I  in.  v.  18. — Boswxix. 


When  we  got  to  Temple-bar,  he  stopped 
me,  pointed  to  the  heads  upon  it,  and  suly 
whispered  me, 

«  Forsitan  et  nostrum  nomen  miscebitur  istis  '.•  " 

Johnson  praised  John  Bunyan  highly. 
"  His  f  Pilgrim's  Progress »  has  great  merit, 
both  for  invention,  imagination,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  story;  and  it  has  had  the 
best  evidence  of  its  merit,  the  general  and 
continued  approbation  of  mankind.  Few 
books,  I  believe,  have  had  a  more  extensive 
sale.  It  is  remarkable  that  it  begins  very 
much  like  the  poem  of  Dante;  yet  there  was 
no  translation  of  Dante  when  Bunyan 
wrote.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  he 
had  read  Spenser." 

A  proposition  which  had  been  agitated, 
that  monuments  to  eminent  persons  should, 
for  the  time  to  come,  be  erected  In  St.  Paul's 
church,  as  well  as  in  Westminster-abbey, 
was  mentioned;  and  it  was  asked  who  should 
be  honoured  by  having  his  monument 
first  erected  there.  Somebody  suggested 
Pope.  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  as  Pope  was 
a  Roman  Catholick,  I  would  not  have  his 
to  be  first.  I  think  Milton's  rather  should 
have  the  precedence  4.  I  think  more  high- 
ly of  him  now  than  I  did  at  twenty.  There 
is  more  thinking  in  him  and  in  Butler,  than 
in  any  of  our  poets." 

Some  of  the  company  expressed  a  won- 
der why  the  authour  of  so  excellent  a  book 
as  '  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man,'  should  con- 
ceal himself5.  Johnson.  "  There  may  be 
different  reasons  assigned  for  this,  any  one 
of  which  would  be  very  sufficient    He  ma> 

*  In  allusion  to  Dr.  Johnson's  supposed  politi- 
cal principles,  and  perhaps  his  own. — Boswell. 

4  Here  is  another  instance  of  Ids  high  admira- 
tion of  Milton  as  a  poet,  notwithstanding  his  just 
abhorrence  of  that  sour  republican's  political  prin- 
ciples. His  candour  and  discrimination  are  equal- 
ly conspicuous.  Let  us  hear  no  more  of  his  "  in- 
justice to  Milton." — Bos  well.  [A  monument 
to  Milton  in  St.  Paul's  cathedral  would  be  the 
more  appropriate  from  his  having  received  his  ear- 
ly education  in  the  adjoining  public  school. — 
Hall.] 

*  In  a  manuscript  in  the  Bodleian  Library  sev- 
eral circumstances  are  stated,  which  strongly  in- 
cline me  to  believe  that  Dr.  Accepted  Frewen, 
Archbishop  of  York,  was  the  authour  of  this  work. 
— Malone.  [Accepted  Frewen  was  Dean  of 
Gloucester,  installed  1781 ,  loco  Geo.  Warburton. 
— Hall.  See,  on  the  subject  of  the  authour  of 
this  celebrated  and  excellent  work,  Gent.  Mag. 
toI.  xxiv.  p.  26,  and  Ballard**  Memoir*  of 
Learned  Ladie*,  p.  800.  The  late  eccentric 
but  learned  Dr.  Barrett,  of  Trinity  College,  Dub- 
lin, believed  that  Dr.  Chapel,  formerly  provost  of 
that  college,  was  the  author.  This  gentleman  was 
librarian  of  his  college,  and  a  perfect  Magfiabechi 
in  dirt  and  condition,  see  antef  p.  186.  It  is  odd 
too  that  Magliabechi's  portrait  was  exceedingly 
like  Dr.  Barrett.— En.] 


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have  been  a  clergyman,  and  may  have 
thought  that  his  religious  counsels  would 
have  less  weight  when  known  to  come  from 
a  man  whose  profession  was  theology.  He 
may  have  been  a  man  whose  practice  was 
not  suitable  to  his  principles,  so  that  his 
character  might  injure  the  effect  of  his  book, 
which  he  had  written  in  a  season  of  peni- 
tence. Or  he  may  have  been  a  man  of 
rigid  self-denial,  so  that  he  would  have  no 
reward  for  his  pious  labours  while  in  this 
world,  but  refer  it  all  to  a  future  state." 

The  gentlemen  went  away  to  their  club, 
and  I  was  left  at  Beauclerk's  till  the  fate  of 
my  election  should  be  announced  to  me.  I 
sat  in  -a  state  of  anxiety  which  even  the 
charming  conversation  of  Lady  Di  Beau- 
clerk  could  not  entirely  dissipate.  In  a 
short  time  I  received  the  agreeable  intelli- 
gence that  I  was  chosen.  I  hastened  to 
the  place  of  meeting,  and  was  introduced 
to  such  a  society  as  can  seldom  be  found. 
Mr.  Edmund  Burke,  whom  I  then  saw  for 
the  first  time,  and  whose  splendid  talents 
had  long  made  me  ardently  wish  for  his  ac- 
quaintance; Dr.  Nugent,  Mr.  Garrick, 
I>r.  Goldsmith,  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  Wil- 
liam) Jones,  and  the  company  with,  whom 
I  had  dined.  '  Upon  my  entrance,'  John- 
son placed  himself  behind  a  chair,  on 
which  he  leaned  as  on  a  desk  or  pulpit, 
and  with  humorous  formality  gave  me  a 
charge,  pointing  out  the  conduct  expected 
from  me  as  a  good  member  of  this  club. 

Goldsmith  produced  some  very  absurd 
verses  which  had  been  publickly  recited  to 
an  audience  for  money.  Johnson.  " I  can 
match  this  nonsense.  There  was  a  poem 
called  'Eugenio,'  which  came  out  some 
years  ago,  and  concludes  thus: 

*  And  now,  je  trilling,  self-assuming  elves, 
Brimful  of  pride,  of  nothing,  of  yourselves, 
Survey  Eugenio,  view  him  o'er  and  o'er, 
Then  sink  into  yourselves,  and  be  no  mora  V 

1  [Dr.  Johnson's  memory  here  was  not  perfect- 
ly accurate:  "  Eugenio"  does  not  conclude  thus. 
There  are  eight  more  lines  after  the  last  of  those 
quoted  by  him  ;  and  the  passage  which  he  meant 


315 


to  recite  is  as  follows : 

•*  flay  now,  ye  fluttering,  poor,  awuming  elves, 
Stark  Ail!  of  pride,  of  folly,  of—yotmelTea  | 
Say,  where1*  the  wretch  of  all  your  tonpioi*  crew 
Who  dares  confront  nte  character  to  view  ? 
Behold  Bnlreafo,  TfewhJsl  o'er  and  o'er, 
Then  atnk  into  yourselves,  and  be  no  more." 

Mr.  Reed  informs  me  that  the  authour  of  Euge- 
nio, Thomas  Beech,  a  wine-merchant  at  Wrex- 
ham, in  Denbighshire,  soon  after  its  publication, 
viz.  17th  May,  1737,  cut  his  own  throat;  and  that  it 
appears  by  Swift's  Works,  that  the  poem  had 
been  shown  to  himK  and  received  some  of  his 
corrections.  Johnson  had  read  "Eugenio"  on 
bos  first  coming  to  town,  for  we  see  it  mentioned 
in  one  of  his  letters  to  Mr.  Cave,  which  has  been 
insert r»H  in  this  work. — Boswell. 


Nay,  Dryden,  in  his  poem  on  the  Royal 
Society,  has  these  lines : 

*  Then  we  upon  our  globe's  last  verge  shall  go, 
And  see  the  ocean  leaning  on  the  sky ; 

From  thence  our  rolling  neighbousj  we  shall  know, 
And  on  the  lunar  world  securely  pry.'  " 

Talking  of  puns,  Johnson,  who  had  a 
great  contempt  for  that  species  of  wit, 
deigned  to  allow  that  there  was  one  good 
pun  in  "  Menagiana  »  I  think  on  the  word 
corps  9. 

Much  pleasant  conversation  passed,  which 
Johnson  relished  with  great  good-humour. 
But  his  conversation  nlone,  or  what  led  to 
it,  or  was  interwoven  with  it,  is  the  business 
of  this  work. 

On  Saturday,  May  1,  we  dined  by  our- 
selves at  our  old  rendezvous,  the  Mitre 
tavern.  He  was  placid,  but  not  much  dis- 
posed to  talk.  He  observed,  that  "  The 
Irish  mix  better  with  the  English  than  the 
Scotch  do;  their  language  is  nearer  to 
English;  as  a  proof  of  which,  they  suc- 
ceed very  well  as  players,  which  Scotch- 
men  do  not.  Then,  sir,  they  have  not 
that  extreme  nationality  which  we  find 
in  the  Scotch.  I  will  do  you,  Boswell, 
the  justice  to  say,  that  you  are  the  most 
unseottified  of  your  countrymen.  You 
are  almost  the  only  instance  of  a  Scotch- 
man that  I  have  known,  who  did  not 
at  every  other  sentence  bring  in  some 
other  Scotchman  3." 

We  drank  tea  with  Mrs.  Williams.  I 
introduced  a  question  which  has  been  much 


*  I  formerly  thought  that  I  had,  perhaps,  mis- 
taken the  word,  and  imagined  it  to  be  corps, 
from  its  similarity  of  sound  to  the  real  one.  For 
an  accurate  and  shrewd  unknown  gentleman,  to 
whom  I  am  indebted  for  some  remarks  on  my 
work,  observes  on  this  passage, "  (&.  if  not  on  the 
word  fortt  A  vociferous  French  preacher  said 
of  Bourdaloue, « II  preche  fort  bien,  et  moi  bien 
fort,* — Menagiana.  See  also  Anecdotes  Lit- 
teraxres,  article  Bourdaloue."  But  my  inge- 
nious and  obliging  correspondent,  Mr.  Abercrom- 
bie  of  Philadelphia,  has  pointed  out  to  me  the 
following  passage  in  '<  Menagiana  ;"  which  ren- 
ders the  preceding  conjecture  unnecessary,  and 
confirms  my  original  statement : 

"  Madame  de  Bourdonne,  chanoinesse  de  Re- 
miremont,  venoit  d'entendre  un  discours  plein  de 
feu  et  d' esprit,  mais  fort  pen  solide,  et  tres  iiregu- 
lier.  Une  de  see  amies,  qui  y  prenoit  interet  pour 
l'orateur,  mi  dit  en  sortant,  '  Eh  bien,  madams, 
que  vous  semble-t-il  de  ce  que  vous  venez  d'en- 
tendre ?  Qu'il  y  a  d'esprit  ?'— *  II  y  a  tant,'  re- 
pondit  Madame  de  Bourdonne,  *  que  je  n'y  ai 
pas  vu  de  corps.9  " — Menagiana ,  tome  il  p.  64. 
Amsterd.  1718.— Boswell. 

*  [Garriok,  as  Boswell  himself  tells  us,  used  to 
rally  him  on  his  nationality,  and  there  are  abun- 
dant instances  in  these  volumes  to  show  that  he 
was  not  exempt  from  that  amiable  prejudice.  See 
ante,  p.  24.  68. 189.  192.  197.— Ed.] 


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agitated  in  the  church  of  Scotland,  whether 
the  claim  of  lay-patrons  to  present  ministers 
to  parishes  he  well  founded;  and  supposing 
it  ti  b?  well  founded,  whether  it  ought  to 
her  exercised  without  the  concurrence  of  the 
people?  That  church  is  composed  of  a  se- 
ries of  judicatures  t  a  presbytery,  a  synod, 
and,  finally,  a  general  assembly;  before  all 
of  whichj  this  matter  may  he  contended: 
and  in  some  cases  the  presbytery  having 
refused  to  induct,  or  tsttfe,  as  they  call  it, 
the  person  presented  by  the  patron,  it  has 
bees  found  necessary  to  appetl  to  the  gen* 
eral  assembly.  He  said,  i  might  see  the 
subject  well  treated  in  the  "  Defence  of 
Pluralities  ;"  and  although  he  thought  that 
a  patron  should  exercise  liis  right  with  ten- 
derness to  the  inclinations  of  the  people  of 
a  parish,  he  was  very  clear  as  to  his  right 
Than  supposing  the  question  to  he  pleaded 
before  the  general  assembly,  he  dictated  to 
me  [the  argument  which  will  he  found  in 
the  Appendix.] 

Though  I  present  to  my  readers  Dr. 
Johnson's  masterly  thoughts  on  the  subject, 
I  think  it  proper  to  declare,  that  notwith- 
standing I  am  myself  a  lay-patron,  I  do  not 
entirely  subscribe  to  his  opinion. 

On  Friday,  May  7,  I  breakfasted  with 
him  at  Mr.  Thrale's  in  the  Borough. 
While  we  were  alone,  I  endeavoured  as 
well  as  I  could  to  apologise  for  a  lady l  who 
had  been  divorced  from  her  husband  by  act 
of  parliament.  I  said,  that  he  had  used  her 
very  ill,  had  behaved  brutally  to  her,  and 
that  she  could  not  continue  to  live  with 
him  without  having  her  delicacy  contami- 
nated; that  all  affection  for  him  was  thus 
destroyed;  that  the  essence  of  conjugal 
union  being  gone,  there  remained  only  a 
old  form,  a  mere  civil  obligation;  that  she 
wss  in  the  prime  of  life,  with  qualities  to 
pro  luce  happiness:  that  these  ought  not  to 
be  lost;  and  that  the  gentleman  on  whose 
account  she  was  divorced  had  gained  her 
h»art  while  thus  unhappily  situated.  Se- 
duced, perhaps,  by  the  charms  of  the  lady 
in  question,  I  thus  attempted  to  palliate 
what  I  was  sensible  could  not  be  justified; 
f  >r  when  I  had  finished  my  harangue,  my 
venerable  friend  gave  me  a  proper  check : 


1  (No  doubt  Lady  Diana  Spaaeer,  eldest  daugh- 
ter, of  Charles  Duke  of  Marlborough,  bora  in  1734, 
married  in  1757  to  Frederick  Viscount  Boling- 
broVe,  from  whom  she  was  divorced  in  1768, 
and  married  immediately  after  Mr.  Topham  Beau- 
clerk.  All  that  Johnson  savs  is  very  true;  bnt  he 
would  have  been  better  entitled  to  hold  such  high 

language  if  he  had  not  practically  waved  his 

...........  .  Hfi 

refused 
'  and 
gratitude,  beeo  silent  as  to  her  frailties.  He  had 
no  right  to  enjoy  her  society,  and  fusparage  her 
euaraetar,-~Ep,J 


language  a    ne  nan  not  practically  waved 
right  by  living  in  that  lady's  private  society, 
should  either,  as  a  strict  moralist,  have  ref 
her  his  countenance,  or,  aa  a  man  of  honour 


"  My  dear  air,  never  accustom  your  mind 
to  mingle  virtue  and  vice.  The  woman  *» 
a  whore,  and  there  *s  an  end  on  t" 

[One  evening,  in  the  rooms  at  ^^ 
Bngbthelmstone,  however,  he  fell  ^  $J^£ 
into  a  comical  discussion  with  that 
lady's  first  husband,  happening  to  sit  by 
him,  and  choosing  to  harangue  verv  loudly 
about  the  nature,  and  use,  and  abuse,  of 
divorcti.  Many  people  gathered  round 
them  to  hear  what  was  said,  and  when  Mr. 
Thrale  called  him  away,  and  told  Irian  to 
whom  he  had  been  talking,  received  an  an- 
swer which  Mrs.  Thrale  did  not  venture 
to  write  down.] 

He  described  the  father9  of  one  of  his 
friends  thus:  "  Sir  he  was  so  exuberant  a 
talker  at  publick  meetings,  that  the  gentle- 
men of  his  county  were  afraid  of  him.  No 
business  could  ne  done  for  his  declama- 
tion." 

He  did  not  give  me  full  credit  when  I 
mentioned  that  I  had  carried  on  a  short 
conversation  by  signs  with  some  Esqui- 
maux, who  were  then  in  London,  particu- 
larly with  one  of  them  who  was  a  priest. 
He  thought  I  could  not  make  them  un- 
derstand me.  No  man  was  more  incredu- 
lous as  to  particular  facia  which  were  at  all 
extraordinary;  and  therefore  no  man  was 
more  scrupulously  inquisitive,  in  order  to 
discover  tne  truth. 

I  dined  with  him  this  day  at  the  house  of 
my  friends,  Messieurs  Edward  and  Charles 
Dilly,  booksellers  in  the  Poultry:  there 
were  present,  their  elder  brother,  Mr.  Dilly 
of  Bedfordshire,  Dr.  Goldsmith,  Mr.  Lang- 
ton,  Mr.  Cisxton,  Rev.  Dr.  Mayo,  a  dis- 
senting minister,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Toplady, 
and  my  friend  the  Rev.  Mr.  Temple. 

Hawkesworth's  compilation  of  the  voy- 
ages to  the  South  Sea  being  mentioned: 
Johnsok.  "  Sir,  if  you  talk  of  it  as  a  sub- 
ject of  commerce,  it  will  be  gainful;  if  as  a 
book  that  is  to  increase  human  knowledge, 
I  believe  there  will  not  be  much  of  that 
Hawkesworth  can  tell  only  what  the  voya- 
gers have  told  him;  and  they  have  found 
very  little,  only  one  new  animal,  I  think." 
Boswbll.  "But  many  insects,  sir." 
Jorhsok.  "  Why,  sir,  as  to  insects,  Ray 
reckons  of  British  insects  twenty  thousand 
species.  They  might  have  staid  at  home 
and  discovered  enough  in  that  way." 

Talking  of  birds,  I  mentioned  Mr.  Dsines 
Barringrton's  ingenious  Essay  against  the 
received  notion  of  their  migration.  Johk- 
son.  "  I  think  we  have  as  good  evidence 
for  the  migration  of  woodcocks  as  can  be 
desired.  We  find  they  disappear  at  a  cer- 
tain time  of  the  year,  and  appear  again  at 
a  certain  time  of  the  year;  and  some  of  them, 
when  weary  in  their  flight,  have  been 
known  to  alight  on  the  rigging  of  ships  far 


*  (Old  Mr.  Langton.— Ep.J 

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317 


out  at  tea."  One  of  the  company  observ- 
ed, that  there  had  been  instances  of  some  of 
them  found  in  summer  in  Essex.  Johnson. 
"  Sir,  that  strengthens  our  argument.  J3*- 
cefrtio  probot  regvlom.  Some  being  found 
shows,  that,  if  ail  remained,  many  would 
be  found.  A  few  sick  or  lame  ones  may  be 
found."  Goldsmith.  "There  is  a  par- 
tial migration  of  the  swallows ;  the  strong- 
er ones  migrate,  the  others  do  not" 

Bos  well.  "  I  am  well  assured  that  the 
people  of  Otaheite  who  have  the  bread 
tree,  the  fruit  of  which  serves  ihem  for 
bread,  laughed  heartily  when  they  were  in- 
formed of  the  tedious  process  necessary  with 
us  to  have  bread;  ploughing,  sowing,  har- 
rowing, reaping,  threshing,  grinding,  bak- 
ing." Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  all  ignorant 
savages  will  laugh  when  they  are  told  of 
the  advantages  of  civilized  life.  Were  you 
to  tell  men  who  live  without  houses,  how 
-we  pile  brick  upon  brick,  and  rafter  upon 
rafter,  and  that  after  a  house  is  raised  to  a 
certain  height,  a  man  tumbles  off  a  scaffold, 
and  breaks  his  neck;  he  would  laugh  hear- 
tily at  our  folly  in  building;  but  it  does  not 
follow  that  men  are  better  without  houses. 
ISo,  sir  (holding  up  a  slice  of  a  good  loaf), 
this  is  better  than  the  bread  tree." 

He  repeated  an  argument,  which  is  to  be 
found  in  his  "  Rambler,"  against  the  notion 
that  the  brute  creation  is  endowed  with  the 
faculty  of  reason :  "  Birds  build  by  instinct; 
they  never  improve;  they  build  their  first 
nest  as  well  as  any  one  they  ever  build." 
Goldsmith.  "  Yet  we  see  if  you  take 
•way  a  bird's  nest  with  the  eggs  in  it,  she 
will  make  a  slighter  nest  and  lay  again." 
Johnson.  "Sir,  that  is,  because  at  first 
she  has  full  lime,  and  makes  her  nest  delib- 
erately. In  the  case  you  mention  she  is 
pressed  to  lay,  and  must  therefore  make  her 
nent  quickly,  and  consequently  it  will  be 
slight."  Goldsmith.  "The  nidification 
of  birds  is  what  is  least  known  in  natural 
history,  though  one  of  the  most  curious 
things  in  it." 

I  introduced  the  subject  of  toleration. 
Johnson.  "  Every  society  has  a  right  to 
preserve  publick  peace  and  order,  and  there- 
fore has  a  good  right  to  prohibit  the  propa- 
gation of  opinions  which  have  a  dangerous 
tendency1.  To  say  the  magistrate  has 
this  right,  is  using  an  inadequate  word:  it 
is  the  society  for  which  the  magistrate  is 
agent.  He  may  be  morally  or  theological- 
ly wrong  in  restraining  the  propagation  of 
opinions  which  he  thinks  dangerous,  but  he 
is  politically  right"  Mayo.  "I  am  of 
opinion,  sir,  that  every  man  is  entitled  to 
liberty  of  conscience  in  religion:  and  that 
the  magistrate  cannot  restrain  that  right" 
Johnson.    "  Sir,  I  agree  with  you.    Eve- 


[8ee  ante,  p.  22*.— Ed.] 


ry  man  has  a  right  to  tiberty'of  conscience; 
and  with  that  the  magistrate  cannot  inter- 
fere. People  confound  liberty  of  thinking 
with  liberty  of  talking;  nay,  with  liberty 
of  attaching.  Every  man  has  a  physical 
right  to  think  as  he  pleases;  for  it  cannot 
be  discovered  how  he  thinks.  He  has  not 
a  moral  right,  for  he  ought  to  inform  him- 
self, and  wink  justly.  But,  sir,  no  member 
of  a  society  has  a  right  to  teach  any  doe- 
trine  contrary  to  what  the  society  holds  to 
be  true.  The  magistrate,  1  say,  may  be 
wrong  in  what  he  thinks;  but  while  he 
thinks  himself  riant,  he  may  and  ought  to 
enforce  what  he  thinks."  Mayo.  "Then, 
sir,  we  are  to  remain  always  in  errour,  and 
truth  never  can  prevail j  and  the  magistrate 
was  right  in  persecuting  the  first  Chris- 
tians." Johnson.  "  Sir,  the  only  meth- 
od by  which  religious  truth  can  be  estab- 
lished is  by  martyrdom.  The  magistrate 
has  a  ri^ht  to  enforce  what  he  thinks;  and 
he  who  is  conscious  of  the  truth  has  a  right 
to  suffer.  I  am  afraid  there  is  no  other 
way  of  ascertaining  the  truth,  but  by 
-persecution  on  the  one  hand  and  en- 
during it  on  the  other."  Goldsmith. 
"  But  how  is  a  man  to  act,  sir?  Though 
firmly  convinced  of  the  truth  of  his  doctrine, 
may  ne  not  think  it  wrong  to  expose  him- 
self to  persecution?  Has  he  a  right  to  do 
so?  Is  it  not,  as  it  were,  committing  vol- 
untary suicide?  "  Johnson.  "  Sir,  as  to 
voluntary  suicide,  as  you  call  it,  there  are 
twenty  thousand  men  in  an  army  who  will 
go  without  scruple  to  be  shot  at,  and  mount 
abreachforfive-penceaday."  Goldsmith. 
"  But  have  they  a  moral  right  to  do  this?" 
Johnson.  "  Nay,  sir,  if  you  will  not  take 
the  universal  opinion  of  mankind,  I  have 
nothing  to  say.  If  mankind  cannot  defend 
their  own  way  of  thinking,  I  cannot  defend 
it  Sir,  if  a  man  is  in  doubt  whether  it 
would  be  better  for  him  to  expose  himself  to 
martyrdom  or  not,  he  should  not  do  it.  He 
must  be  convinced  that  he  has  a  delegation 
from  heaven."  Goldsmith.  "  I  would 
consider  whether  there  is  the  greater  chance 
of  good  or  evil  upon  the  whole.  If  I  see 
a  man  who  has  fallen  into  a  well;  I  would 
wish  to  help  him  out;  but  if  there  is  a  great- 
er probability  that  he  shall  pull  me  in,  than 
that  I  shall  pull  him  out,  I  would  not  attempt 
it  So  were  I  to  go  to  Turkey,  I  might 
wish  to  convert  the  grand  signior  to  the 
christian  faith;  but  when  I  considered  that 
I  should  probably  be  put  to  death  without 
effectuating  my  purpose  in  any  degree,  I 
should  keep  myself  quiet."  Johnson, 
"  Sir,  you  must  consider  that  we  have  per- 
fect and  imperfect  obligations.  Perfect  ob- 
ligations, which  are  generally  not  to  do 
something,  are  clear  and  positive;  as,  *  Thou 
shalt  not  Kill.'  But  charity,  for  instance,  is 
not  definable  by  limits.    It  is  a  duty  to  give 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


318 


1778.-riErAT.  64. 


to  the  poor,  but  no  man  can  say  how  much 
another  should  give  to  the  poor,  or  when  a 
man  has  given  too  little  to  save  his  soul. 
In  the  same  manner  it  is  a  duty  to  instruct 
the  ignorant,  and  of  consequence  to  con- 
vert infidels  to  Christianity;  but  no  man  in 
the  common  course  of  things  is  obliged  to 
carry  this  to  such  a  degree  as  to  incur  the 
danger  of  martyrdom,  as  no  man  is  obliged 
to  strip  himself  to  the  shirt,  in  order  to  give 
charity.  I  have  said,  that  a  man  must  be 
persuaded  that  he  has  a  particular  delega- 
tion from  heaven."  Goldsmith.  "  How 
is  this  to  be  known?  Our  first  reformers 
who  were  burnt  for  not  believing  bread  and 
wine  to  be  Christ "  Johnson,  (in- 
terrupting him).  "Sir,  they  were  not 
burnt  for  not  believing  bread  and  wine  to 
be  Christ,  but  for  insulting  those  who  did 
believe  it*.  And,  sir,  when  the  first  re- 
formers began,  they  did  not  intend  to  be 
martyred :  as  many  of  them  ran  away  as 
could."  Boswell.  "  But,  sir,  there  was 
your  countryman  Elwa) 9,  who  you  told  me 
challenged  King  George  with  his  black- 
guards and  his  red-guards."  Johnson. 
"  My  countryman,  Elwal,  sir,  should  have 
been  put  in  the  stocks — a  proper  pulpit  for 
him;  am}  he'd  have  had  a  numerous  au- 
dience. A  man  who  preaches  in  the  stocks 
will  always  have  hearers  enough."  Bos- 
well.  "  But  Elwal  thought  himself  in  the 
right."  Johnson.  "We  are  not  provi- 
ding for  mad-  people;  there  are  places  for 
them  in  the  neighbourhood"  (meaning 
Moorfields).  Mato.  "  But,  sir,  is  it  not 
very  hard  that  I  should  not  be  allowed  to 
teach  my  children  what  I  really  believe  to 
be  the  truth?"  Johnson.  "Why,  sir, 
you  might  contrive  to  teach  your  children 
extrh  $candalum\  but,  sir,  the  magistrate, 
if  he  knows  it,  has  a  right  to  restrain  you. 
Suppose  you  teach  your  children  to  be 
thieves ?"  Mayo.  "This  is  making  a 
joke  of  the  subject"  Johnson.  "  Nay, 
sir,  take  it  thus:  that  you  teach  them  the 
community  of  goods;  for  which  there  are 
as  many  plausible  arguments  as  for  most 
erroneous  doctrines.  You  teach  them 
that  all  things  at  first  were  in  common,  and 
that  no  man  had  a  right  to  any  thing  but 
as  he  laid  his  hands  upon  it;  and  that  this 
still  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  rule  amongst 
mankind.  Here,  sir,  you  sap  a  great  prin- 
ciple in  society — property.  And  don 't  you 
think  the  magistrate  would  have  a  right  to 
prevent  you  ?    Or,  suppose  you  should  teach 


1  [This  seems  to  be  altogether  contrary  to  the 
fact  The  first  reformers,  whether  of  Germany 
or  England,  were  certainly  not  bnrned  for  insult- 
ing individuals :  they  were  bnrned  for  heresy  ; 
and  abominable  as  that  was,  it  was  less  indefen- 
sible than  what  Johnson  supposes,  that  they  were 
burned  for  intuiting  individuals.— Ed.] 

*  [See  ante,  p.  288.— Ed.] 


your  children  the  notion  of  the  Adamites, 
and  they  should  run  naked  into  the  streets, 
would  not  the  magistrate  have  a  right  to 
flojj  'em  into  their  doublets?"  Mato.  "  I 
think  the  magistrate  has  no  right  to  inter- 
fere till  there  is  some  overt  act "  Bos  well. 
tf  go,  sir,  though  he  sees  an  jenemv  to  the 
state  charging  a  blunderbuss)  he  is  not  to 
interfere  till  it  is  fired  off  !"  Mato.  "  He 
must  be  sure  of  its  direction  against  the 
state.  JoHifspir.  "  The  magistrate  is  to 
judge  of  that.  He  has  no  right  to  restrain 
your  thinking,  because  the  evil  centres  in 
yourself.  If  a  man  were  sitting 'at  this  ta- 
ble, and  chopping  off  his  fingers,  the  magis- 
trate, as  guardian  of  the  community,  has  no 
authority  to  restrain  him,  however  he  might 
do  it  from  kindness  as  a  parent.  Though, 
indeed,  upon  more  consideration,  I  think  he 
may;  as  it  is  probable,  that  he  who  is  chop- 
ping off  his  own  fingers,  may  soon  proceed 
to  chop  off  those  of  other  people.  If  I  think 
it  right  to  steal  Mr.  Dilly's  plate,  1  am  a  bad 
man;  but  he  can  say  nothing  to  me.  If  I 
make  an  open  declaration  that  I  think  so, 
he  will  keep  me  out  of  his  house.  If  I  put 
forth  my  hand  I  shall  be  sent  to  Newgate. 
This  is  the  gradation .  of  thinking,  preach- 
ing, and  acting:  if  a  man  thinks  erroneous- 
ly, he  may  keep  his  thoughts  to  himself, 
and  nobody  will  trouble  him;  if  he  preach- 
es erroneous  doctrine,  society  may  expel 
hid;  if  he  acts  in  consequence  of  it,  the 
law  takes  place,  and  he  is  hanged. "  Mato. 
"  But,  sir,  ought  not  christians  to  have  lib- 
erty of  conscience?"  Johnson.  "  I  have 
already  told  you  so,  sir.  You  are  coming 
back  to  where  you  were."  Boswell. 
"  Dr.  Mayo  is  always  taking  a  return  post- 
chaise,  and  going  the  stage  over  again.  He 
has  it  at  half-price."  Johnson.  "Dr. 
Mayo,  like  other  champions  for  unlimited 
toleration,  has  jrot  a  Bet  of  words  3.  Sir,  it 
is  no  matter,  politically,  whether  the  magis- 


3  Dr.  Mayo's  calm  temper  and  steady  perseve- 
rance rendered  him  an  admirable  subject  for  the 
exercise  of  Dr.  Johnson's  powerful  abilities.  He 
never  flinched;  but,  after  reiterated  blows,  re- 
mained seemingly  unmoved  as  at  the  first  The 
scintillations  of  Johnson's  genius  flashed  every 
time  he  was  struck,  without  hk  receiving  any  in- 
jury. Hence  he  obtained  the  epithet  of  The  Lit- 
erary Anvil. — Boswell.  [Mr.  Boswell  speaks 
as  if  contests  between  Johnson  and  Mayo  were 
so  frequent  as  to  have  obtained  a  distinctive  epi- 
thet for  the  latter;  but  it  would  seem,  from  the 
following  extract  of  one  of  Dr.  Johnson's  letters 
to  Mrs.  Thrale  (published  by  that  lady,  under  ths> 
erroneous  date  of  22d  May,  1775),  that  Johnson 
scarcely  knew  Mayo.  "  I  dined  in  a  large  com- 
pany, at  a  dissenting  bookseller's,  yesterday,  and 
disputed  against  toleration  with  one  Dr.  Meyer.9* 
Letters,  vol.  i.  p.  218.  Whether  the  error  of  the 
name  be  Johnson's  or  the  transcriber's,  it  is  clear 
that  he  had  little  previous  acquaintance  with  his  an- 
tagonist—Ed.] 

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1771— jETAT.  64. 


319 


trate  be  right  or  wrong.  Suppose  a  club 
were  to  be  formed,  to  drink  confusion  to 
King  George  the  Third,  and  a  happy  resto- 
ration to  Charles  the  Third,  this  would  be 
very  bad  with  respect  to  the  state;  but  ev- 
ery member  of  that  club  must  either  con- 
form to  its  rules,  or  be  turned  out  of  it  Old 
Baxter,  I  remember,  maintains,  that  the 
magistrates  should  ( tolerate  all  mines  that 
are  tolerable.'  This  is  no  good  definition 
of  toleration  upon  any  principle;  but  it 
shows  that  he  thought  some  things  were  not 
tolerable."  Toplady.  "  Sir  you  have  un- 
twisted this  difficult  subject  with  great  dex- 
terity." 

During  this  argument,  Goldsmith  sat  in 
restless  agitation,  from  a  wish  to  get  in  and 
shine.  Finding  himself  excluded,  he  had 
taken  his  hat  to  go  away,  but  remained  for 
some  time  with  it  in  his  hand,  like  a  game- 
ster, who,  at  the  close  of  a  long  night,  lin- 
gers for  a  little  while,  to  see  if  he  can  have 
a  favourable  opening  to  finish. with  success. 
Onte  when  he  was  beginning  to  speak,  he 
found  himself  overpowered  by  the  loud 
voice  of  Johnson,  who  was  at  the  opposite 
end  of  the  table,  and  did  not  perceive  Gold- 
smith's attempt.  Thus  disappointed  of  his 
wish  to  obtain  the  attention  of  the  compa- 
ny, Goldsmith  in  a  passion  threw  down  his 
hat,  looking  angrily  at  Johnson,  and  ex- 
claimed in  abitter tone, "  Take  it*  When 
Toplady  was  going  to  speak,  Johnson  ut- 
tered some  sound,  which  led  Goldsmith  to 
think  that  he  was  beginning  again,  and  ta- 
king the  words  from  Toplady.  Upon  which 
he  seized  this  opportunity  of  venting  his 
own  envy  and  spleen,  under  the  pretext  of 
supporting  another  person:  "Sir  (said  he 
to  Johnson),  the  gentleman  has  heard  you 
patiently  for  an  hour:  pray  allow  us  now 
to  hear  him."  Johnson  (sternly \  "Sir, 
I  was  not  interrupting  the  gentleman.  I 
was  only  giving  him  a  signal  of  my  atten- 
tion. Sir,  you  are  impertinent."  Gold- 
smith made  no  reply,  but  continued  in  the 
company  for  some  time. 

A  gentleman  *  present  ventured  to  ask 
Dr.  Johnson  if  there  was  not  a  material  dif- 
ference as  to  toleration  of  opinions  which 
lead  to  action,  and  opinions  merely  specu- 
lative; for  instance,  would  it  be  wrong  in 
the  magistrate  to  tolerate  those  who  preach 
against  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  ?  John- 
son was  highly  offended,  and  said,  "  I  won- 
der, sir,  how  a  gentleman  of  your  piety  can 
introduce  this  subject  in  a  mixed  company." 
He  told  me  afterwards  that  the  impropriety 
was  that  perhaps  some  of  the  company 
might  have  talked  on  the  subject  in  such 
terms  as  might  have  shocked  himj  or  he 
might  have  Been  forced  to  appear  in  their 


eyes  a  narrow-minded  man.  The  gentle- 
man, with  submissive  deference,  said,  he 
had  only  hinted  at  the  question  from  a  de- 
sire to  hear  Dr.  Johnson's  opinion  upon  it. 
Johnson  "Why,  then,  sir,  I  think  that 
permitting  men  to  preach  any  opinion  con- 
trary to  the  doctrine  of  the  established 
church  tends,  in  a  certain  degree,  to  lessen 
the  authority  of  the  church,  and  conse- 
quently to  lessen  the  influence  of  religion." 
"It  may  be  considered  (said  the  gentle- 
man), whether  it  would  not  be  politick  to 
tolerate  in  such  a  case."  Johnson.  "  Sir 
we  have  been  talking  of  right:  this  is  an- 
other question.  I  think  it  is  not  politick  to 
tolerate  in  such  a  case.'9 

Though  he  did  not  think  it  fit  that  so 
awful  a  subject  should  be  introduced  in  a 
mixed  company,  and  therefore  at  this  time 
waved  the  theological  question;  yet  his 
own  orthodox  belief  in  the  sacred  mystery 
of  the  Trinity  is  evinced  beyond  doubt, 
by  the  following  passages  in  his  private  de- 
votions: 

"  O  Lord,  hear  my  prayer,  for  Jesus 
Christ's  sake;  to  whom,  with  thee  and  the 
Holt  Ghost,  three  persons  and  one  God, 
be  all  honour  and  glory,  world  without  end. 
Amen." 

Boswrxl.  "  Pray,  Mr.  Dilly,  how  does 
Dr.  Leland'8  History  of  Ireland  sell  ?"  John- 
son (bursting  forth  with  a  generous  indig- 
nation). "  The  Irish  are  in  a  most  unnat- 
ural state;  for  we  see  there  the  minority 
prevailing  over  the  majority.  There  is  no 
instance,  eyen  in  the  ten  persecutions,  of 
►  such  severity  as  that  which  the  protectants 
of  Ireland  have  exercised  against  the  Cath- 
olicks.  Did  we  tell  them  we  have  conquer- 
ed them*  it  would  be  above  board:  to  pun- 
ish them  by  confiscation  and  other  penal- 
ties, as  rebels,  was  monstrous  injustice. 
King  William  was  not  their  lawful  sove- 
reign8: he  had  not  been  acknowledged  by 
the  parliament  of  Ireland  when  they  ap- 
peared in  arms  against  him.91 

I  here  suggested  something  favourable 
of  the  Roman  Catholicks.  Topladt* 
"  Does  not  their  invocation  of  saints  suppose 
omnipresence  in  the  saints?"  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir;  it  supposes  only  phiripresence  9, 
and  when  spirits  are  divested  of  matter,  it 
seems  probable  that  they  should  see  with 
more  extent  than  when  in  an  embodied 
state.  There  is,  therefore,  no  approach  to 
an  invasion  of  any  of  the  divine  attributes, 
in  the  invocation  of  saints.    But  I  think  it 


*  [No  doubt  Mr.  Langton.    See  po$t,  22d 
Aagoit,  1773.— En.] 


•  [We  mast  not  forget  that  Johnson  had  been 
a  violent  Jacobite.    See  ante,  p.  194. — Ed.] 

*  [Surely  it  implies  omnipresence  in  the  same 
way  that  prayers  to  the  Deity  imply  omnipresence. 
And,  after  all,  what  is  the  difference,  to  oar  bound- 
ed reason,  between  pferipresence  and  omnipres- 
ence?—£o.} 


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is  will-worship,  and  presumption..  I  see  no 
command  for  it,  and  therefore  think  it  is 
safer  not  to  practise  it" 

He  and  Mr.  Langton  and  I  went  togeth- 
er to  the  Club,  where  we  found  Mr.  Burke, 
Mr.  Garrick,  and  some  other  members,  and 
amongst  them  our  friend  Goldsmith,  who 
sat  silently  brooding  over  Johnson's  repri- 
mand to  him  after  dinner.  Johnson  per- 
ceived this,  and  said  aside  to  some  of  us, 
"  I'll  make  Goldsmith  forgive  me;"  and  then 
called  to  him  in  a  loud  voice,  "  Dr.  Gold- 
smith,— something  passed  to-day  where  you 
and  I  dined:  I  ask  your  pardon."  Gold- 
smith answered  placidly,  "  It  must  be  much 
from  you,  sir,  that  I  take  ill."  And  so  at 
once  the  difference  was  over,  and  they  were 
on  as  easy  terms  as  ever,  and  Goldsmith 
rattled  away  as  usual. 

In  our  way  to  the  club  to-night,  when  I 
regretted  that  Goldsmith  would,  upon  eve- 
ry occasion,  endeavour  to  shine,  by  which 
he  often  exposed  himself,  Mr.  Langton  ob- 
served, that  he  was  not  like  AddisOn,  who 
was  content  with  the  fame  of  his  writings, 
and  did  not  aim  also  at  excellency  in  con- 
versation, for  which  he  found  himself  unfit: 
and  that  he  said  to  a  lady  who  complained 
of  his  having  talked  little  in  company, 
"  Madam,  I  have  but  nine-pence  in  ready 
money,  but  I  can  draw  for  a  thousand 
pounds."  I  observed  that  Goldsmith  had 
a  great  deal  of  gold  in  his  cabinet,  but,  not 
content  with  that,  was  always  taking  out 
his  purse.  Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir,  and  that 
so  often  an  empty  purse  1" 

Goldsmith's  incessant  desire  of  being  con- 
spicuous in  company  was  the  occasion  of 
his  sometimes  appearing  to  such  disadvan- 
tage as  one  should  hardly  have  supposed 
possible  in  a  man  of  his  genius.  When  his 
literary  reputation  had  risen  deservedly  high, 
and  his  society  was  much  courted,  he  became 
very  jealous  of  the  extraordinary  attention 
which  was  every  where  paid  to  Johnson. 
One  evening,  in  a  circle  of  wits,  he  found 
fault  with  me  for  talking  of  Johnson  as  en- 
titled to  the  honour  of  unquestionable  su- 
periority. "Sir,"  said  he,  "you  are  for 
making  a  monarchy  of  what  should  be  a 
repubhek  Kn 

He  was  still  more  mortified,  when,  talking 
in  a  company  with  fluent  vivacity,  and, 
as  he  flattered  himself,  to  the  admiration  of 
all  who  were  present,  a  German  who  sat 
next  him,  and  perceived  Johnson  rolling 
himself  as  if  about  to  speak,  suddenly  stop- 


ped him,  saving,  "Stay,  stay— Toctor 
Shannon  is  going  to  say  something."  This 
was,  no  doubt,  very  provoking,  especially  to 
one  so  irritable  as  Goldsmith,  who  frequent- 
ly mentioned  it  with  strong  expressions  of 
indignation. 

It  may  also  be  observed,  that  Goldsmith 
was  sometimes  content  to  be  treated  with 
an  easy  familiarity,  but  upon  occasions 
would  be  consequential  and  important  An 
instance  of  this  occurred  in  a  small  particular. 
Johnson  had  a  way  of  contracting  the  names 
of  his  friends ;  as,  Beauclerk,  Beau;  Bos- 
well,  Bozzy;  Langton,  Lanky;  Murphy, 
Mur;  Sheridan,  Sherry.  I  remember  one 
day,  when  Tom  Da  vies  was  telling  that 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  We  are  all  in  labour 
for  a  name  to  Qoldy'i  play,"  Goldsmith 
seemed  displeased  that  such  a  liberty  should 
be  taken  with  his  name,  and  said  "  I  have 
often  desired  him  not  to  call  me  Goldy." 
Tom  was  remarkably  attentive  to  the 
most  minute  circumstance  about  Johnson. 
I  recollect  his  telling  me  once,  on  my  arri- 
val in  London,  "  Sir,  our  greet  friend  has 
made  an  improvement  on  his  appellation  of 
old  Mr.  Sheridan:  he  calls  him  now  Sherry 
detry. 

"  tO  THE  REVEREND   MR.  BAGSHAW,   AT 
BK0MLBT&. 

"•thMay.lTO 

"  Sir, — I  return  you  my  sincere  thanks 
for  your  additions  to  my  Dictionary;  but 
the  new  edition  has  been  published  some 
time,  and  therefore  I  cannot  now  make  use 
of  them.  Whether  I  shall  ever  revise  it 
more,  I  know  not  If  many  readers  had 
been  as  judicious,  as  diligent,  and  as  commu- 
nicative as  yourself,  my  work  had  been  bet- 
ter. The  world  must  at  present  take  it  as 
it  is.  I  am,  sir,  your  most  obliged  and 
most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 


1  [In  some  late  publication  it  is  stated  that 
Buonaparte,  repressing  the  flattery  of  one  of  his 
literary  courtiers,  said,  "  Poor  Dieu,  laiasez-ftoas 
an  moins  la  republique  des  lettres."  It  has 
been  also,  with  more  probability,  stated,  that 
instead  of  being  said  fty,  it  was  said  o/  him.  Per- 
haps, alter  all ,  the  French  story  is  but  a  version  of 
this  boa-mot  of  Goldsmith's. — Ed.] 


*  The  Rev.  Thomas  Bagnaw,  AL  A.  who  died 
on  the  20th  November,  1787,  in  the  seventy-sev- 
enth year  of  his  age,  chaplain  of  Bromley  college, 
in  Kent,  and  rector  of  Southfleet  He  had  re- 
signed the  cure  of  Bromley  parish  some  time  be- 
fore bis  death.  For  this,  and  another  letter  from 
Dr.  Johnson  in  1784,  to  the  same  traly  respecta- 
ble man,  1  am  indebted  to  Dr.  John  Loveday,  of 
the  commons,  a  son  of  the  late  learned  and  pious 
John  Loveday,  Esq.  of  Caversham,  in  Berkshire, 
who  obligingly  transcribed  them  for  me  from  the 
originals  m  his  possession.  The  worthy  gentle- 
man, having  retired  from  bosbesB,  now  bves  m 
Warwickshire.  The  world  has  been  later/ 
obliged  to  him  as  the  editor  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 
Townaon's  excellent  work,  modestly  entitled  "  A 
Discourse  on  the  Evangelical  History,  from  the  In- 
terment to  the  Ascension  of  our  Lord  and  Savioar 
Jesas  Christ;'*  to  which  is  prefixed  a  traly  in- 
teresting and  pleadwr  account  of  the  antiwar,  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Ralph  Cburton.— -Boswxix. 


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On  Sunday,  8th  May,  I  dined  with 
Johnson  at  Mr.  Langton's,  with  Dr.  Beat- 
tie  and  some  other  company.    He  descant- 

.        ed    on  the  subject  of  literary   property. 

p  "  There  seems,"  said  he,  "  to  be  in  au thou  re 
a  stronger  right  of  property  than  that  by 
occupancy;  a  metaphysical  right,  a  right, 
as  it  were,  of  creation,  which  should  irom 
its  nature  be  perpetual;  but  the  consent  of 
nations  is  against  it;  and  indeed  reason  and 
the  interests  of  learning  are  against  it;  for 
were  it  to  be  perpetual,  no  book,  however 
useful,  could  be  universally  diffused  amongst 
mankind,  should  the  proprietor  take  it  into 
hia  head  to  restrain  its  circulation.    No  book 

|  could  have  the  advantage  of  being  edited 
with  notes,  however  necessary  to  its  eluci- 
dation, should  the  proprietor  perversely  op- 
pose it  For  the  general  rood  of  the  world, 
therefore,  whatever  valuable  work  has  once 
been  created  by  an  authour,  and  issued  out 
by  bim,  should  be  understood  as  no  longer 
in  his  power,  but  as  belonging  to  the  pub- 
lick;  at  the  same  time  the  authour  is  enti- 
tled to  an  adequate  reward.  This  he  should 
have  by  an  exclusive  riffht  to  his  work  for  a 
considerable  number  of  years." 

He  attacked  Lord  Monboddo's  strange 
speculation  on  the  primitive  state  of  human 
nature;  observing,  "  Sir,  it  is  all  conjecture 
about  a  thing  useless,  even  were  it  Known 
to  be  true.  Knowledge  of  all  kinds  is  good. 
Conjecture,  as  to  things  useful,  is  good;  but 
conjecture  as  to  what  it  would  be  useless  to 
know,  such  as  whether  men  went  upon  all 
four,  is  very  idle." 

On  Monday,  9th  May,  as  I  was  to  set 
out  on  my  return  tol  Scotland  next  morn- 
ing, I  was  desirous  to  see  as  much  of  Dr. 
Johnson  as  I  could.  But  I  first  called  on 
Goldsmith  to  take  lesvc  of  him.  The 
jealousy  and  envy,  which,  though  possess- 
ed of  many  most  amiable  qualities,  he 
frankly  avowed,  broke  out  violently  st  this 
interview ».  Upon  another  occasion,  when 
Goldsmith  confessed  himself  to  be  of  an 
envious  disposition,  I  contended  with  John- 
son that  we  ought  not  to  be  angry  with  him, 
he  was  so  candid  in  owning  it.  "  Nay,  sir," 
said  Johnson,  "  we  must  be  angry  that  a 
man  has  such  a  superabundance  ot  an  odious 
quality,  that  he  cannot  keep  it  within  his 
own  breast,  but  it  boils  over."  In  my 
opinion,  however,  Goldsmith  had  not  more 
of  it  than  other  people  have,  but  only  talk- 
ed of  it  freely. 

He  now  seemed  very  angry  that  Johnson 
was  going;  to  be  a  traveller;  said  "  he  would 
be  a  dead  weight  for  me  to  carry,  and  that 
I  should  never  be  able  to  lug  him  along 
through  the    Highlands    and   Hebrides." 


i  [I  wonder  why  Boswell  so  often  displays 
a  malevolent  feeling  towards  Goldsmith  I  Rival- 
ry for  Johnson's  good  graces,  perhaps.— Waj> 
ran  Scorr.] 

vol*,  i.  41 


Nor  would  he  patiently  allow  me  to  enlarge 
upon  Johnson's'  wonderful  abilities ;  but 
exclaimed,  "Is  he  like  Burke,  who  winds 
into  a  subject  like  a  serpent?"  "But," 
said  I, "  Johnson  is  the  Hercules  who  stran- 
gled serpents  in  his  cradle." 

I  dined  with  Dr.  Johnson  at  General  Pa- 
oli's.  He  was  obliged,  by  indisposition,  to 
leave  the  company  early;  be  appointed  me, 
however,  to  meet  him  in  the  evening  at 
Mr.  (now  Sir  Robert)  Chambers's  in  the 
Temple,  where  he  accordingly  came,  though 
he  continued  to  be  very  ill.  Chambers,  as 
is  common  on  such  occasions,  prescribed  va- 
rious remedies  to  him.  John  sow  (fretted 
by  pain).  "  Pr'ythee  don't  tease  me.  Stay 
till  I  am  well,  and  then  you  shall  tell  me  how 
to  cure  myself."  He  grew  better,  and  talk- 
ed with  a  noble  enthusiasm  of  keeping  up 
the  representation  of  respectable  families. 
His  zeal  on  this  subject  was  a  circumstance 
in  his  character  exceedingly  remarkable, 
when  it  is  considered  that  he  himself  had  no 
pretensions  to  blood.  I  heard  him  once  say, 
"  I  have  great  merit  in  being  zealous  ior 
subordination  and  the  honours  of  birth;  for 
I  can  hardly  tell  who  was  my  grandfather.0 
He  maintained  the  dignity  and  propriety  of 
male  succession,  in  opposition  to  the  opinion 
of  one  of  our  friends  a,  who  had  that  day  em- 
ployed Mr.  Chambers  to  draw  his  will,  de- 
vising his  estate  to  his  three  sisters,  in  pre- 
ference to  a  remote  heir  male.  Johnson 
called  them  "three  dowdies,"  and  said, 
with  as  high  a  spirit  as  the  boldest  baron  in 
the  most  oerfect  days  of  the  feudal  system, 
"An  ancient  estate  should  always  go  to 
males.  It  is  mighty  foolish  to  let  a  stranger 
have  it,  because  he  marries  your  daughter, 
and  takes  your  name.  As  for  an  estate  new- 
ly acquired  bv  trade,  you  may  five  it,  if  you 
will,  to  the  dog  Towser,  and  let  him  keep 
his  own  name." 

I  have  known  him  at  times  exceedingly 
diverted  at  what  seemed  to  others  a  very 
small  sport.  He  now  laughed  immoderately, 
without  any  reason,  that  we  could  perceive, 
at  our  friend's  making  his  will:  called  him 
the  testator,  and  added,  "I  dare  say  ha 
thinks  he  has  done  a  mighty  thing.  He 
won't  stay  till  he  gets  home  to  his  seat  in 
the  country,  to  produce  this  wonderful  deed : 
he'll  call  up  the  landlord  of  the  first  inn  on 
the  road;  and,  after  a  suitable  preface  upon 


*  [It  seems,  from  many  circumstances,  that 
this  was  Mr.  Langton  ;  and  that  there  was  some- 
thing more  in  the  matter  than  a  mere  sally  of  ob- 
streperous mirth.  It  is  certain  that  the  friendship 
of  •*  twenty  yean'  standing'*  (post,  Md  August, 
1778)  between  Johnson  and  Langton  suffered, 
about  this  time,  a  serious  interruption.  Johnson 
chose  to  attribute  it  to  the  reproof  he  bed  lately 
given  Langton  at  Mr.DUly's  table  (ante,  #819) ; 
bat  it  is  more  probable  that  %  arose  from  this  af. 
lair  of  the  wut— Ed.]  | 


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mortality  and  the  uncertainty  of  life,  will  tell 
him  that  he  should  not  delay  making  his 
will;  and  here,  sir,  will  he  say,  is  my  will, 
which  I  have  just  made,  with  the  assistance 
of  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  kingdom; 
and  he  will  read  it  to  him  (laughing  all  the 
time).  He  believes  he  has  made  this  will; 
but  he  didViot  make  it;  you,  Chambers, 
made  it  for  him.  I  trust  you  have  had 
more  conscience  than  to  make  him  say, '  be- 
ing of  sound  understanding !'  ha,  ha,  ha !  I 
hope  he  has  left  me  a  legacy.  I  'd  have  his 
will  turned  into  verse,  like  a  ballad." 

In  this  playful  manner  did  he  run  on,  ex- 
ulting in  his  own  pleasantry,  which  certain- 
ly was  not  such  as  might  be  expected  from 
the  authour  of"  The  Rambler,"  but  which 
is  here  preserved,  that  my  readers  may  be 
acquainted  even  with  the  slightest  occasion- 
al characteristicks  of  so  eminent  a  man. 

Mr.  Chambers  did  not  by  any  means  re- 
lish this  jocularity  upon  a  matter  of  which 
pars  magna  Juit  *,  and  seemed  impatient  till 
ne  got  rid  of  us.  Johnson  could  not  stop 
his  merriment,  but  continued  it  all  the  way 
till  he  {rot  without  the  Temple-gate.  He  then 
burst  into  such  a  fit  of  laughter,  that  he  ap- 
peared to  be  almost  in  a  convulsion;  and,  in 
order  to  support  himself,  laid  hold  of  one  of 
the  posts  at  the  side  of  the  foot  pavement, 
and  sent  forth  peals  so  loud,  that  in  the  si- 
lence of  the  night  his  voice  seemed  to  re- 
sound from  Temple-bar  to  Fleet-ditch. 

This  most  ludicrous  exhibition  of  the  aw- 
ful, melancholy,  and  venerable  Johnson, 
happened  well  to  counteract  the  feelings  of 
sadness  which  I  used  to  experience  when 
parting  with  him  for  a  considerable  time.  I 
accompanied  him  to  his  door,  where  he  gave 
me  his  blessing. 

He  records  of  himself  this  year: 

"  Between  Easter  and  Whitsuntide,  hav- 
ing always  considered  that  time  as  propi- 
tious to  study,  I  attempted  to  learn  the  low 
Dutch  language." 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  he  here  admits 
an  opinion  of  the  human  mind  being  in- 
fluenced by  seasons,  which  he  ridicules  in 
Jus  writings.  His  progress,  he  says,  was 
interrupted  by  a  fever,  "  which,  by  the  im- 
prudent use  of  a  small  .print,  left  an  inflam- 
mation in  his  useful  eye."  We  cannot  but 
admire  his  spirit  when  we  know,  that  amidst 
a  complication  of  bodily  and  mental  distress, 
he  was  still  animated  with  the  desire  of  in- 
tellectual improvement  2.    Various  notes  of 


his  studies  appear  on  different  days,  in  his 
manuscript  diary  of  this  year;  such  as, 

"  Inchoavi  Uetionem  Pentateuchi.  Fin- 
M  ieetionem  Conf.  Fab.  Burdonutn.  Leg* 
primum  actum  Troadum.  JLegi  Disserta- 
tionem  Cleriei  postremam  de  Pent.  4  of 
Clark's  Sermons.  L.  JUpoUonii  pugnam 
Betriciam.  L.  centum  versus  Homeric 

Let  this  serve  as  a  specimen  of  what  ac- 
cessions of  literature  he  was  perpetually  in- 
fusing into  his  mind,  while  he  charged  aim- 
self  with  idleness. 

This  year  died  Mrs.  Salisbury  pica, 
(mother  of  Mrs.  Thrale),  a  lady  ?•  1*. 
whom  he  appears  to  have  esteemed  much, 
and  whose  memory  he  honoured  with  an  ep- 
itaph. [This  event  also  furnished  - 
him  with  a  subject  of  meditation 
for  the  evening  of  June  the  18th,  on  which 
day  this  lady  died.] 

["Friday,  June  18, 1773.  This  day,  af- 
ter  dinner,  died  Mrs.  Salisbury;  she  had  for 
some  days  almost  lost  the  power  of  speaking. 
Yesterday,  as  I  touched  her  hand,  and  kiss- 
ed it,  she  pressed  my  hand  between  her  two 
hands,  which  she  probably  intended  as  the 
parting  caress.  At  night  her  speech  return- 
ed a  little;  and  she  said,  among  other  things, 
to  her  daughter,  I  have  had  much  time,  and 
I  hope  I  have  used  it  This  morning  being 
called  about  nine  to  feel  her  pulse,  I  said  at 
parting,  God  bless  you,  for  Jesus  Christ's 
sake.  She  smiled,  as  pleased.  She  had  her 
senses  perhaps  to  the  dying  moment." 

[He  complains,  about  this  period,  that  his 
memory  had  been  for  a  long  time  very  much 
confused,  and  that  names,  and  persons,  and 
events,  slide  away  strangely  from  him. 
"  But,"  he  adds,  "  I  grow  easier."] 

In  a  letter  from  Edinburgh,  dated  the 
29th  of  May,  I  pressed  him  to  persevere  in 
his  resolution  to  make  this  year  the  project- 
ed visit  to  the  Hebrides,  of  which  he  and  I 
had  talked  for  many  years,  and  which  I  was 
confident  would  afford  us  much  entertain- 
ment. 


*■;*  [Mr.  Chambers  may  have  known  more' of 
the  real  state  of  the  affair  than  Boswell,  and  been 
offended  at  the  mode  in  which  Johnson  treated 
their  common  friend.  It  i§  absurd  to  think  that 
he  could  have  felt  any  diepleasore  on  his  own  ac- 
count— Ed.] 

■J  if?  BUum1°,llhi  befcre  *■  d«ithf  he  wished 
me  to  teach  him  the  Scale  of  Mnrick  :    "  Dr 


"TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESO.. 
"  JohuaonVcourt,  Fleet-streeC,  5th  July,  JTI3. 
"Dear  sir,— When  vour  letter  came  to 
me,  I  was  so  darkened  by  an  inflammation 
in  my  eye  that  I  could  not  for  some  time 
read  it.  I  can  now  write  without  trouble, 
and  can  read  large  prints.  My  eye  is  grad- 
ually growing  stronger:  and  I  hope  will  be 
able  to  take  some  delight  in  the  survey  of  a 
Caledonian  loch. 

"  Chambers  is  going  a  judge,  with  six 
thousand  a  year,  to  Bengal.  He  and  I 
shall  come  down  together  as  far  as  New- 
castle, and  thence  I  shall  easily  get  to  Edin- 
burgh. Let  me  know  the  exact  time  when 
your  courts  intermit.  I  must  conform  a  lit- 
tle to  Chambers's  occasional  and  he  must 
conform  a  little  to  mine.  The  time  which 
you  shall  fix  must  be  the  common  point  to 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1773.— iBTAT.  64, 


823 


which  we  will  come  as  near  as  we  can.  Ex- 
cept this  eye,  I  am  very  well. 

"  Beattie  is  so  caressed,  and  invited,  and 
treated,  and  liked,  and  flattered  by  the  great, 
that  I  can  see  nothing  of  him!  I  am  in 
great  hope  that  he  will  be  well  provided  for, 
and  then  we  will  live  upon  him  at  the  Mar- 
ischal  College,  without  pity  or  modesty. 

V l  left  the  town  without  talcing 

leave  of  me,  and  is  gone  in  deep  dudgeon 

to 1.  knot  this  very  childish?  Where 

is  now  my  legacy? 

"  I  hope  your  dear  lady  and  her  dear  baby 
are  both  well.  I  shall  see  them  too  when  I 
come;  and  I  have  that  opinion  of  your  choice, 
as  to  suspect  that  when  I  have  seen  Mrs.  Bos- 
well,  I  shall  be  less  willing  to  go  away.  I 
am,  dear  sir,  your  affectionate  humble  ser- 
vant, "  Sam.  Johkson. 

"  Write  to  me  as  soon  as  you  can.  Cham- 
bers is  now  at  Oxford." 

I  again  wrote  to  him,  informing  him  that 
the  court  of  session  rose  on  the  twelfth  of 
August,  hoping  to  see  him  before  that  time, 
and  expressing,  perhaps  in  too  extravagant 
terms,  my  admiration  of  him,  and  my  ex- 
pectation of  pleasure  from  our  intended  tour. 


"TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

"34  August,  177S. 

"  Dear  bib, — I  shall  set  out  from  London 
on*  Friday  the  sixth  of  this  month,  and  pur- 
pose not  to  loiter  much  by  the  way.  .  Wnich 
day  I  shall  be  at  Edinburgh,  I  cannot  exact- 
ly tell.  I  suppose  I  must  drive  to  an  inn, 
and  send  a  porter  to  find  you. 

"  I  am  afraid  Beaitie  will  not  be  at  his  col- 
lage soon  enough  for  us,  and  I  shall  be  sor- 
ry to  miss  him;  but  there  is  no  staying  for 
the  concurrence  of  all  conveniences.  We 
will  do  as  well  as  we  can.  I  am,  sir,  your 
most  humble  servant,    "  Sam.  Johhson." 

«  8d  Aufnt,  1TTS. 

"  Dua*  sib,— Not  being  at  Mr.  Thrale's 
when  your  letter  came,  I  had  written  the  in- 
closed paper  and  sealed  it;  bringing  it  hith- 
er for  a  frank,  I  found  yours.  If  any  thing 
could  repress  my  ardour,  it*  would  oe  such 
a  letter  as  yours.  To  disappoint  a  friend 
is  unpleasing;  and  he  that  forms  expecta- 
tions like  yours,  must  be  disappointed. 
Think  only  when  you  see  me,  that  you  see 
a  man  who  loves  you,  and  is  proud  and  glad 
that  you  love  him.  I  am,  sir,  your  most  af- 
fectionate, "  Sam.  Johnson." 


Tour  to  *  Dr.  Johnson  had,  for  many 
the  He-  years,  given  me  hopes  that  we 
orida" '  should  go  together,  and  visit  the 
Hebrides.    Martin's  account  of  those  islands 


1  [Both  these  blanks  most  be  filled  with  Lang- 
ton.     See  ante,  p.  321.— Ed.] 

*  [Here  begins  the  Journal  of  the  Tour  to  the 
Hebrides,  to  which  Mr.  Boswell  had  prefixed  two 
mottos,  the  first  in  the  title-page,  from  Pope: 


«  OS  while  along  the  ttream  of  time  thy 
Expandedjiesy  and  gather*  all  it*  fame, 
Say,  thaU  my  little  bark  attendant  §aU, 
Purine  the  triumph  and  partake  the  galeV* 

The  other  on  a  fly-leaf,  from  taker's  Chronicle : 
"  He  wa$  of  an  admirable  pregnancy  of 
wit,  and  that  pregnancy  much  improved  by 
continual  study  from  his  childhood;  by  which 
he  had  gotten  such  a  promptness  in  express- 
ing his  mind,  that  his  extemporal  speeches 
were  little  inferior  to  his  premeditated  tori- 
tings.  Many,  no  doubt,  had  read  as  much, 
and  perhaps  more  than  he ;  but  scarce  •  ever 
any  concocted  his  reading  into  judgment  as 
he  did.9*  Mr.  Boswell  tells  us  that  Johnson  read 
this  journal  as  it  proceeded,  which,  strange  as  the 
reader  will  think  it,  when  he  comes  to  read  some 
passages  of  it,  Johnson  himself  confirms;  for  he 
says  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  "  You  never  told  me,  and  I 
omitted  to  inquire,  how  you  were  entertained  by 
Bosweirs  Journal.  One  would  think  the  man 
had  been  hired  to  be  a  spy  upon  me.  He  was 
very  diligent,  and  caught  opportunities  of  writing 
from  time  to  time.  You  may  now  conceive  your- 
self tolerably  well  acquainted  with  the  expedi- 
tion."—Xetttrt,  v.  L  p.  m.— Ed.] 


had  impressed  us  with  a  notion,  that  we 
might  there  contemplate  a  system  of  life 
almost  totally  different  from  what  we  had 
been  accustomed  to  see;  and  to  find  sim- 
plicity and  wildness,  and  all  the  circum- 
stances of  remote  time  or  place,  so  near  to 
our  native  great  island,  was  an  object  with- 
in the  reach  of  reasonable  curiosity.  Dr. 
Johnson  has  said  in  his  "  Journey,"  "  that 
he  scarcely  remembered  how  the  wish  to 
visit  the  Hebrides  was  excited  j"  but  he  told 
me,  in  summer,  1763,  that  his  father  put 
Martin's  account  into  his  hands  when  he 
was  very  young,  and  that  he  was  much 
pleased  with  it  We  reckoned  there  would 
be  some  inconveniences  and  hardships,  and 
perhaps  a  little  danger;  but  these,  we  were 
persuaded,  were  magnified  in  the  imagina- 
tion of  every  body.  When  I  was  at  Fer- 
ney,  in  1764,  I  mentioned  our  design  to 
Voltaire.  He  looked  at  me,  as  if  I  had  talk* 
ed  of  going  to  the  North  Pole,  and  said, 
You  do  not  insist  on  my  accompanying 


you?"    "No,  sir." 


Then  I  am  very  wilt 
Ing  you  should  go."  I  was  not  afraid  that 
our  curious  expedition  would  be  prevented 
by  such  apprenensions;  but  I  doubted  that 
it  would  not  be  possible  to  prevail  on  Dr. 
,  Johnson  to  relinquish,  for  some  time,  the 
felicity  of  a  London  life,  which,  to  a  man 
who  can  enjoy  it  with  full  intellectual  relish, 
is  apt  to  make  existence  in  any  narrower 
sphere  seem  insipid  or  irksome.  I  doubted 
that  he  would  not  be  willing  to  come  down 
from  his  elevated  state  of  philosophical  digni- 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


M4 


177S.— iBTAT.  «C 


ty ;  from  a  superiority  of  wisdom  among1  the 
wise,  and  of  learning  among  the  learned; 
and  from  flashing  his  wit  upon  minds  bright 
enough  to  reflect  it. 

He  had  disappointed  my  expectations  so 
long,  that  I  began  to  despair;  but,  in  spring, 
1773,  he  talked  of  coming  to  Scotland  that 
year  with  so  much  firmness,  that  I  hoped  he 
was  at  last  in  earnest  I  knew  that,  if  he 
were  once  launched  from  the  metropolis,  he 
would  go  forward  very  well;  and  I  got  our 
common  friends  there  to  assist  in  setting  him 
afloat  To  Mrs.  Thrale,  in  particular, 
whose  enchantment  over  him  seldom  failed, 
I  was  much  obliged1.  It  was,  "  I  '11  give 
thee  a  wind."  "Thou  art  kind."  To  at- 
tract him,  we  had  invitations  from  the  chiefs 
Macdonald  and  Macleod;  and,  for  addition- 
al aid,  I  wrote  to  Lord  Elibank,  Dr.  Will- 
ism  Robertson,  and  Dr.  Beattie. 

To  Dr.  Robertson,  so  far  as  my  letter 
concerned  the  present  subject!  I  wrote  as 
follows  r 

"Our  friend,  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson,  is  in 
great  health  and  spirits;  and,  I  do  think, 
has  a  serious  resolution  to  visit  Scotland 
this  year.  The  more  attraction,  however, 
the  better;  and,  therefore,  though  I  know 
he  will  be  happy  to  meet  you  there,  it  will 
forward  the  scheme,  if,  in  your  answer  to 
this,  you  express  yourself  concerning  it  with 
that  power  of  which  you  are  so  happily  pos- 
sessed, and  which  may  be  so  directed  as  to 
operate  strongly  upon  him." 

His  answer  to  that  part  of  my  letter  was 
quite  as  I  could  have  wished.  It  was  writ- 
ten with  the  address  and  persuasion  of  the 
historian  of  America. 

u  When  I  saw  you  last,  you  yave  us  some 
hopes  that  you  might  prevail  with  Mr. 
Johnson  to  make  out  that  excursion  to  Scot- 
land, with  the  expectation  of  which  we  have 
long  flattered  ourselves.  If  he  could  order 
matters  so  as  to  pass  some  time  in  Edin- 
burgh, about  the  close  of  the  summer  sea- 
son, and  then  visit  some  of  the  Highland 
scenes,  I  am  confident  he  would  be  pleased 
with  the  grand  features  of  nature  in  many 
parts  of  this  country:  he  will  meet  with 
many  persons  here  who  respect  him,  and 
some  whom  I  am  persuaded  he  will  think 
not  unworthy  of  his  esteem.  I  wish  he 
would  make  the  experiment.  He  sometimes 
cracks  his  jokes  upon  us  ;  but  he  will  find 
that  we  can  distinguish  between  the  stabs 
of  malevolence  and  the  rebukes  of  the  right- 

1  [She  gives,  in  one  of  her  letters  to  Dr.  John- 
ton,  the  reasons  which  induced  her  to  approve 
this  excursion:  "  Fatigue  is  profitable  to  yonr 
health,  upon  the  whole,  and  keeps  fancy  from 
playing  foolish  tricks.  Exercise  for  your  body 
and  exertion  for  yonr  mind,  wQl  contribute  more 
than  all  the  medicine  in  the  universe  to  preserve 

i  ,5  dl ^wider  as  ^valuable."— Letters, 
v.  l.  p,  190,— Ed,]  J 


[tour  TO  THE 

eons,  which  are  like  excellent  oil2,  and 
break  not  the  head.  Offer  my  best  compli- 
ments to  him,  and  assure  him  that  I  shall  be 
happy  to  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him 
under  my  roof." 

To  Dr.  Beattie  I  wrote,  "The  chief 
intention  of  this  letter  is  to  inform  you,  that 
I  now  seriously  believe  Mr.  Samuel  John- 
son will  visit  Scotland  this  year:  but  I  wish 
that  every  power  of  attraction  may  be  em- 
ployed to  secure  our  having  so  valuable  an 
acquisition,  and  therefore  I  hope  you  will, 
without  delay,  write  to  me  what  I  know 
you  think,  that  I  may  read  it  to  the  mighty 
sage,  with  proper  emphasis,  before  I  leave 
London,  which  I  must  do  soon.  He  talks 
of  you  with  the  same  warmth  that  he  did 
last  year.  We  are  to  see  as  much  of  Scot- 
land as  we  can,  in  the  months  of  August 
and  September.  We  shall  not  be  long  of 
being  at  Marischal  College  3.  He  is  par- 
ticularly desirous  of  seeing  some  of  the 
Western  Islands." 

Dr.  Beattie  did  better:  ipsevenit.  He 
was,  however,  so  polite  as  to  wave  his  priv- 
ilege of  nil  mihi  reseribas,  and  wrote  from 
Edinburgh  as  follows: 

"  Your  very  kind  and  agreeable  .favour 
of  the  20th  of  April  overtook  me  here  yes- 
terday, after  having  gone  to  Aberdeen, 
which  place  I  left  about  a  week  ago.  I  am 
to  set  out  this  day  for  London,  and  hope  to 
have  the  honour  of  paying  my  respects  to 
Mr.  Johnson  and  you,  about  a  week  or  ten 
days  hence.  I  shall  then  do  what  I  can  to 
enforce  the  topick  you  mention;  but  at  pre- 
sent I  cannot  enter  upon  it,  as  I  am  iii  a  very 
great  hurry,  for  I  intend  to  begin  my 
journey  within  an  hour  or  two." 

He  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  threw 
some  pleasing  motives  into  the  northern 
scale.  But,  indeed,  Mr.  Johnson  loved  all 
that  he  heard,  from  one  whom  he  tells  us, 
in  his  Lives  of  the  Poets,  Gray  found  "  a 
poet,  a  philosopher,  and  a  good  man." 

My  Lord  Elibank  did  not  answer  my 
letter  to  his  lordship  for  some  time. 
The  reason  will  appear  when  we  come 
to  the  Isle  of  Sky.  I  shall  then  insert 
my  letter,  with  letters  from  his  lordship, 
both  to  myself  and  Mr.  Johnson.  I  beg  it 
may  be  understood,  that  I  insert  my  own 
letters,  as  I  relate  my  own  sayings,  rather 
as  keys  to  what  is  valuable  belonging  to 
others,  than  for  their  own  sake. 

Luckily,  Mr.  Justice  (now  Sir  Robert) 


*  Oar  friend,  Edmund  Burke,  who,  by  tak 
time,  had  received  *  some  pretty  severe  strokes 
from  Dr.  Johnson,  on  account  of  the  unhappy  de- 
ference in  their  politicks,  upon  my  repeating  this 
passage  to  him,  exclaimed,  "  Oil  of  vitriol  !"— 
Boswell. 

3  This,  I  find,  is  a  Scotticism.  I  should  have 
said,  "  It  will  not  be  long  before  we  shall  be  at 
Marischal  College.  "—Bos well. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


HXBKIDBS.] 

Chambers,  who  was  about  to  sail  for  the 
East  Indies,  was  going  to  take  leave  of  his 
relations  at  Newcastle,  and  he  conducted 
Dr.  Johnson  to  that  town  [whence  he 
wrote  me  the  following] : 

M  Newcastle,  Ufa  Aogist,  1773. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  came  hither  last  night, 
and  hope,  but  do  not  absolutely  promise,  to 
be  in  Edinburgh  on  Saturday.  Beattie 
will  not  come  so  soon.  I  am,  sir,  your' 
most  humble  servant,        "  Sam.  Johnson. 

"  My  compliments  to  your  lady." 

Mr.  Scott,  of  University  College,  Oxford, 
afterwards  Sir  William  Scott  [and  Lord 
Stowell],  accompanied  him  from  thence  to 
Edinburgh.  With  such  propitious  con- 
voys did  he  proceed  to  my  native  city. 
But  lest  metaphor  should  make  it  be  suppos- 
ed he  actually  went  by  sea,  I  choose  to 
mention  that  he  travelled  in  post-chaises,  of 
which  the  rapid  motion  was  one  of  his 
moat  favourite  amusements. 
,  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson's  character,  religi- 
ons, moral,  political,  and  literary ;  nay,  his 
figure  and  manner  are,  I  believe,  more  gen- 
erally known  than  those  of  almost  any 
man;  yet  it  may  not  be  superfluous  here  to 
attempt  a  sketch  of  him.  Let  my  readers 
then  remember  that  he  was  a  sincere  and 
zealous  christian,  of  high  church  of  Eng- 
land and  monarchical  principles,  which  he 
would  not  tamely  suffer  to  be  questioned; 
Steady  and  inflexible  in  maintaining  the  ob- 
ligations of  piety  and  virtue,  both  from  a 
regard  to  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  temper,  but  of  a  most  hu- 
mane and  benevolent  heart;  having  a  mind 
stored  with  a  vast  and  various  collection  of 
learning  and  knowledge,  which  he  commu- 
nicated with  peculiar  perspicuity  and  force, 
in  rich  and  cnoice  expression.  He  united 
a  most  logical  head  with  a  most  fertile  im- 
agination, which  gave  him  an  extraordina- 
ry advantage  in  arguing;  for  he  could  rea- 
son close  or  wide,  as  he  saw  best  for  the 
moment.  He  could,  when  he  chose  it,  be 
the  greatest  sophist  that  ever  wielded  a 
weapon  in  the  schools  of  declamation,-  but 
he  indulged  this  only  in  conversation;  for 
lie  owned  he  sometimes  talked  for  victory; 
he  was  too  conscientious  to  make  errour 
pennament  and  pernicious,  by  deliberately 
writing  it.  He  was  conscious  of  his  supe- 
riority. He  loved  praise  when  it  was 
brought  to  him;  but  he  was  too  proud  to 
seek  for  it  He  was  somewhat  susceptible 
of  flattery.  His  mind  was  so  full  of  image- 
ry, that  he  might  have  been  perpetually  a 
poet  It  has  been  often  remarked,  that  in 
Lis  poetical  pieces,  which  it  is  to  be  regret- 


ma.— iETAT.  64. 


ted  are  so  few,  because  so  excellent,  his  sty  Its 
is  easier  than  in  his  prose.  Then* 
ception  in  this:  it  is  nut  easier,  hut  bettt* 
suited  to  the  dignity  of  verse;  as  one  may 
dance  with  grace,  whose  motion*,  in  o\ 
nary  walking,  in  the  comniou  sup.  ara  awk- 
ward. He  had  a  constitute  wal  melancholy 
the  clouds  of  which  darkened  the  bri^. 
ness  of  his  fancy,  and  gave  a  gloomy  cant 
to  his  whole  course  of  thinking :  "yet,  thotttfl 
pave  and  awful  in  his  deportment,  when 
he  thought  it  necessary  or  proper,  he  fre- 
quently indulged  himself  in  pleasantry  and 
sportive  sallies.  He  was- prone  to  supersti- 
tion, but  not  to  credulity.  Though  his 
imagination  might  incline  him  to  a  belief  of 
the  marvellous  and  the  mysterious,  his  vig- 
orous reason  examined  the  evidence  with 
jealousy.  He  had  a  loud  voice,  and  a  slow, 
deliberate  utterance,  which  no  doubt  gave 
some  additional  weight  to  the  sterling  me- 
tal of  his  conversation.  Lord  Pembroke 
said  once  to  me  at  Wilton,  with  a  happy 
pleasantry,  and  some  truth,  that  "Kr. 
Johnson's  sayings  would  not  appear  so  ex- 
traordinary, were  it  not  for  his  bow-wow 
way."  But  I  admit  the  truth  of  this  only 
on  some  occasions.  The  Messiah  played 
upon  the  Canterbury  organ  is  more  sublime 
than  when  played  upon  an  inferior  instru- 
ment: but  very  slight  musick  will  seem 
grand,  when  conveyed  to  the  ear  through 
that  maiestick  medium.  While,  therefore, 
Dr.  Johnson's  sayings  are  read,  let  his 
manner  be  taken  along  with  them.  Let  it, 
however,  be  observed,  that  the  sayings 
themselves  are  generally  great;  that,  though 
he  might  be  an  ordinary  composer  at  times, 
he  was  for  the  most  part  a  Handel.  His 
person  was  large,  robust,  I  may  say  ap- 
proaching* to  the  gigantick,  and  grown  un- 
wieldy from  corpulency.  His  countenance 
was  naturally  of  the  cast  of  an  ancient 
statue  ,.but  somewhat  disfigured  by  the  scars 
of  that  evil,  which,  it  was  formerly  imagin- 
ed, the  royal  touch  could  cure.  He  was 
now  in  his  sixty-fourth  year,  and  was  be- 
come a  little  dull  of  hearing.  His  sight 
had  always  been  somewhat  weak;  yet,  so 
much  does  mind  govern,  and  even  supply 
the  deficiency  of  organs,  that  his  percep- 
tions were  uncommonly  quick  and  accurate. 
His  head,  and  sometimes  also  his  body, 
shook  with  a  kind  of  motion  like  the  effect 
of  a  palsy:  he  appeared  to  be  frequently 
disturbed  by  cramps,  or  convulsive  con- 
tractions *,  of  the  nature  of  that  distemper 


1  Such  they  appeared  to  me;  bat  since  the  first 
edition,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  has  observed  to  me, 
"  that  Dr.  Johnson's  extraordinary  gestures  were 
only  habits,  in  which  he  indulged  himself  at  cer- 
tain times.  When  in  company,  where  he  was 
not  free,  or  when  engaged  earnestly  in  conversa- 
tion, he  never  gave  way  to  such  habits,  which 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


1778.— JETAT.  64. 


St,  VUus's  ilance.  He  wore  a  full 
>f  plain  brown  clothes,  with  twisted 
of  the  same  colour,  a  large 
grayish  wi^,  a  plain  shirt,  black 
itockings,  and  silver  buckles.  Up- 
his  tourt  when  journeying,  he  wore 
uml  a  very  wide  brown  cloth  great 
►;.tT  with  pockets  which  might  have  al- 
M  tilt-  two  volumes  of  his  folio  dic- 
nrj*ryt  and  he  rarried  in  his  hand  a  large 
English  oak  stick.  Let  me  not  be  cen- 
s.iivii  tor  mentioning  such  minute  particu- 
lars; every  thing  relative  to  so  great  a  man 
is  worth  i  rcwcrv  jug,  I  remember  Dr.  Adam 
Smith,  in  his  rhetorical  lectures  at  Glas- 
gow, told  us  he  was  glad  to  know1  that 
Milton  wore  latchets  in  his  shoes  instead 
of  buckles.  When  I  mention  the  oak  stick, 
it  is  but  letting  Hercules  have  his  club;  and, 
by  and  by,  my  readers  will  find  this  stick 
will  bud,  and  produce  a  good  joke. 

This  imperfect  sketch  of  "  the  combina- 
tion and  the  form  "  of  that  wonderful  man, 
whom  I  venerated  and  loved  while  in  this 
world,  and  after  whom  I  gaze  with  humble 
hope,  now  that  it  has  pleased  Almighty 
God  to  call  him  to  a  better  world,  will  serve 
to  introduce  to  the  fancy  of  my  readers  the 
capital  object  of  the  following  journal,  in 
the  course  of  which  I  trust  they  will  attain 
to  a  considerable  degree  -of  acquaintance 
with  him. 

His  prejudice  against  Scotland  was  an- 
nounced almost  as  soon  as  he  began  to  ap- 
pear in  the  world  of  letters.  In  his  "  Lon- 
don," a  poem,  are  the  following  nervous 
lines: 

"  For  who  would  leave,  unbribed,  Hibernia's  land? 
Or  change  the  rocks  of  Scotland  for  the  Strand? 
There  none  are  swept  by  sadden  fate  away: 
But  all,  whom  hunger  spares,  with  age  decay." 
The  truth  is,  like  the  ancient  Greeks  and 
Romans,  he  allowed  himself  to  look  upon  all 
nations  but  his  own  as  barbarians:  not  on- 
ly Hibernia,  and  Scotland,  but  Spain,  Italy, 
and  France,  are  attacked  in  the  same  poem. 
-  If  he  was  particularly  prejudiced  against  the 
Scots,  it  was  because  they  were  more  in  his 
way:  because  he  thought  their  success  in 
England  rather  exceeded  the  due  propor- 
tion of  their  real  merit;   and  because  he 
could  not  but  see  in  them  that  nationality 
which    I  believe    no  liberal-minded  Scots- 


proves  that  they  were  not  involuntary."  I  still, 
however,  think,  that  these  gestures  were  involun- 
tary; for  surely  had  not  that  been  the  case,  he 
would  have  restrained  them  in  the  public  streets. 
— Bo8well.  [See  ante,  p.  56,  Sir  Joshua's 
reasoning  at  large ;  notwithstanding  which,  it 
seems  the  better  opinion  that  these  gestures  were 
the  consequence  of  nervous  affections,  and  not  of 
trick  or  habit — Ed.] 

1  [This  was  no  great  discovery;  the  fashion  of 
shoe-buckles  was  long  posterior  to  Milton's  day, 
•— Eo.] 


[TOUR  TO  THE 

man  will  deny.  He  was  indeed,  if  I  may 
be  allowed  the  phrase,  at  bottom  much  of  a 
John  Bull j  much  of  a  blunt  true-born  En- 
glishman. There  was  a  stratum  of  com- 
mon clay  under  the  rock  of  marble.  He 
was  voraciously  fond  of  good  eating;  and 
he  had  a  great  deal  of  that  quality  called 
humour,  which  gives  an  oiliness  and  a  gloss 
to  every  other  quality. 

I  am,  I  flatter  myself,  completely  a  citizen 
of  the  world.  In  my  travels  through  Hol- 
land, Germany,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Corsica, 
France,  I  never  felt  myself  from  home;  and 
I  sincerely  love  "  every  kindred  and  tongue 
and  people  and  nation."  I  subscribe  to 
what  my  late  truly  learned  and  philosoph- 
ical friend^  Mr.  Crosbie  said,  that  the  En- 
glish are  better  animals  than  the  Scots; 
they  are  nearer  the  sun;  their  blood  is  rich- 
er, and  more  mellow :  but  when  I  humour 
any  of  them  in  an  outrageous  contempt  of 
Scotland,  I  fairly  own  I  treat  them  as  chil- 
dren. And  thus  I  have,  at  some  moments, 
found  myself  obliged  to  treat  even  Dr. 
Johnson.  • 

To  Scotland,  however,  he  ventured; 
and  he  returned  from  it  in  great  good  hu- 
mour, with  his  prejudices  much  Tessened, 
and  with  very  grateful  feelings  of  the  hos- 
pitality with  which  he  was  treated;  as  is  ev- 
ident from  that  admirable  work,  his  "  Jour- 
ney to  the  Western  Islands  of  Scotland," 
which,  to  my  utter  astonishment,  has  been 
misapprehended,  even  to  rancour,  by  my 
own  countrymen. 

To  have  the  company  of  Chambers  and 
Scott,  he  delayed  his  iourney  so  long,  that 
the  court  of  session,  which  rises  on  the  11th 
of  August,  was  broke  up  before  he  got  to 
Edinburgh. 

On  Saturday,  the  14th  of  August,  177S, 
late  in  the  evening,  I  received  a  note  from 
him,  that  he  was  arrived  a  Boyd's  inn9,  at 
the  head  of  the  Canon-gate. 

"  Saturday  night. 

"Mr.  Johnson  sends  his  compliments  to 
Mr.  Bos  well,  being  just  arrived  at  Boyd's." 

I  went  to  him  directly.  He  embraced  me 
cordially;  and  I  exulted  in  the  thought  that 
I  now  had  him  actually  in  Caledonia.  Mr. 
Scott's  amiable  manners,  and  attachment  to 
our  Socrates,  at  once  united  me  to  him. 
He  told  me  that  before  I  came  in,  the  Doc- 
tor had  unluckily  had  a  bad  specimen  of 
Scottish  cleanliness.     He  then  drank  no fer- 


*  [The  sign  of  the  White  Horse.  It  continued 
a  place  from  which  coaches  used  to  start  till  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century;  some  twelve  or 
fifteen  years  ago  it  was  a  carrier's  inn,  and  has 
since  been  held  unworthy  even  of  that  occupation, 
and  the  sign  is  taken  down.  It  was  a  base  hovel. 
— Walter  Scott.] 


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1773.— iETAT.  64. 


827 


mented  liquor.  He  asked  to  have  his  lem- 
onade made  sweeter;  upon  which  the  wait- 
er, with  his  greasy  fingers,  lifted  a  lump  of 
sugar,  and  put  into  it.  The  Doctor,  in  in- 
dignation, threw  it  out  of  the  window* 
Scott  said  he  was  afraid  he  would  have 
knocked  the  waiter  down1.  Mr.  Johnson 
[has  since]  told  me  that  such  another  trick 
was  played  him  at  ihe  house  of  a  lady  in 
Paris 9.  He  was  to  do  me  the  honour  to  lodge 
under  my  roof.  I  regretted  sincerely  that 
I  had  not  also  a  room  for  Mr.  Scott.  Mr. 
Johnson  and  I  walked  arm-in-arm  up  the 
High-street,  to  my  house  in  James's-court2: 
it  was  a  dusky  night :  I  could  not  prevent  his 
being  assailed  by  the  eveningeffluvia  of  Ed- 
inburgh. I  heard  a  late  baronet,  of  some 
distinction  in  the  political  world  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  reign,  observe,  that 
"  walking  the  streets  of  Edinburgh  at  night 
was  pretty  perilous,  and  a  good  deal  odorifer- 
ous. "  The  peril  is  much  abated  by  the  care 
which  the  magistrates  have  taken  to  enforce 
the  city  laws  against  throwing  foul  water 
from  the  windows;  but,  from  the  structure  of 
the  houses  in  the  old  town,  which  consist  of 
many  stories,  in  each  of  which  a  different 
family  lives,  and  there  being  no  covered 
sewers,  the  odour  still  conti  nues.  A  zealous 
Scotsman  would  have  wished  Mr.  Johnson 
to  be  without  one  of  his  five  senses  upon 
this  occasion.  As  we  marched  slowly  along, 
he  crumbled  in  my  ear, "  I  smell  you  in  the 
dark!"  But  he  acknowledged  that  the 
breadth  of  the  street,  and  the  loftiness  of  the 
buildings  on  each  side,  made  a  noble  ap- 
pearance. 

My  wife  had  tea  ready  for  him,  which  it 
is  well  known  he  delighted  to  drink  at  all 
hours,  particularly  when  sitting  up  late,  and 
of  which  his  able  defence  against  Mr.  Jo- 
nas Hanway  should  have  obtained  him  a 
magnificent  reward  from  the  East  India 
company.    He  showed  much  complacency 
upon  finding  that  the  mistress  of  the  house 
was  so  attentive  to  his  singular  habit ;  and 
|      as  no  man  could  be  more  polite  when]  he 
l      chose  to  be  so,  his  address  to  her  was  most 
•      courteous  and  engaging;  and  his  conversa- 
!      tion  soon  charmed  her  into  a  forgeifulness 
of  his  external  appearance. 


1  ["The  noose,"  says  Lord  Stowell,  "was 
kept  by  a  woman,  and  she  was  called  Luckie, 
which  it  seems  is  synonymous  to  Goody,  in  Eng- 
land. I,  at  first,  thought  the  appellation  very  in- 
appropriate* and  that  Unlucky  would  have  been 
better,  for  Doctor  Johnson  had  a  mind  to -have 
thrown  the  waiter,  as  well  as  the  lemonade,  out 
of  the  window." — Ed.] 

*  [See  pott,  Nov.  1776 En.] 

*  ["  Boswell,"  Br.  Johnson  writes,  "  has  very 
handsome  and  spacious  rooms,  level  with  the 
mand  at  one  side  of  the  house,  and  on  the  other 
four  stories  high."— Lett.  i.  109.— Ed.] 


I  did  not  begin  to  keep  a  regular  full 
journal  till  some  days  after  we  had  set  out 
from  Edinburgh;  but  I  have  luckily  pre- 
served a  good  many  fragments  of  his 
Memorabilia  from  his  very  first  evening  in 
Scotland. 

We  had  a  little  before  this  had  a  trial  for 
murder,  in  which  the  judges  had  allowed  the 
lapse  of  twenty  years  since  its  commis- 
sion as  a  plea  in  bar,  in  conformity  with 
the  doctrine  of  prescription  in  the  civil  law, 
which  Scotland  and  several  other  countries 
in  Europe  have  adopted  *.  He  at  first  dis- 
approved of  this;  but  then  he  thought  there 
was  something  in  it,  if  there  had  been  for 
twenty  years  a  neglect  to  prosecute  a  crime 
which  was  known.  He  would  not  allow 
that  a  murder,  by  not  being  discovered  for 
twenty  years,  should  escape  punishment 
We  talked  of  the  ancient  trial  by  duel.  He 
did  not  think  it  so  absurd  as  is  generally 
supposed;  «  For,"  said  he,  "  it  was  only  al- 
lowed when  the  question  was  in  equilibrio, 
as  when  one  affirmed  and  another  denied; 
and  they  had  a  notion  that  Providence 
would  interfere  in  favour  of  him  who  was 
in  the  right.  But  as  it  was  found  that  in  a 
duel,  he  who  was  in  the  right  had  not  a  bet- 
ter chance  than  he  who  was  in  the  wrong, 
therefore  society  instituted  the  present 
mode  of  trial,  and  gave  the  advantage  to 
him  who  is  in  the  right." 

We  sat  till  near  two  in  the  morning,  hav- 
ing chatted  a  good  while  after  my  wile  left 
us.  She  had  insisted  that  to  show  all  re- 
spect to  the  sage  she  would  give  up  her 
own  bedchamber  to  him,  and  take  a  worse.. 
This  I  cannot  but  gratefully  mention  as 
one  of  a  thousand  obligations  which  I  owe 
her,  since  the  great  obligation  of  her  being 
pleased  to  accept  of  me  as  her  husband. 

Sunday,  15th  August.— Mr.  Scott  came 
to  breakfast,  at  which  I  introduced  to  Dr. 
Johnson,  and  him,  my  friend  Sir  William 
Forbes,  now  of  Pitsligo^,  a  man  of  whom 
too  much  good  cannot  be  said,  who,  with 
distinguished  abilities  and  application  in  his 
profession  of  a  banker,  is  at  once  a  good 
companion  and  a  good  christian,  which  I 
think  is  saying  enough.  Yet  it  is  but  jus- 
tice to  record,  that  once,  when  he  was  in  a 
dangerous  illness,  he  was  watched  with  the 
anxieus  apprehension  of  a  general  calamity; 
day  and  night  his  house  was  beset  with  af- 
fectionate inquiries,  and,  upon  his  recovery, 
Te  Deum  was  the  universal  chorus  from 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  pleased  with  my  daugh- 
ter Veronica*,  then  a  child  of  about  four 


4  [See  post,  22d  August,  1773 — Ed.] 

•  [This  respectable  baronet,  who  published 
a  Life  of  Beanie,  died  in  1816,  at  the  age  of  six- 
ty-eight—En.] 

*  Tne  saint's  name  of  Veronica,  was  intiodaoed 


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177*.— iETAT.  64. 


months  old.  She  had  the  appearance  of 
Kstening  to  him.  His  motions  seemed  to 
her  to  be  intended  for  her  amusement;  and 
when  he  stopped  she  fluttered,  and  made  a 
little  infantine  noise,  and  a  kind  of  signal 
for  him  to  begin  again.  She  would  be 
held  close  to  him,  which  was  a  proof, 
from  simple  nature,  that  his  figure  was  not 
horrid.  <*Her  fondness  for  him  endeared 
her  still  more  to  me,  and  I  declared  she 
should  have  five  hundred  pounds  of  addition- 
al fortune. 

We  talked  of  the  practice  of  the  law. 
Sir  William  Forbes  said,  he  thought  an 
honest  lawyer  should  never  undertake  a 
cause  which  he  was  satisfied  was  not  a  just 
one.  "  Sir,"  said  Mr.  Johnson,  "  a  lawyer 
has  no  business  with  the  justice  or  injustice 
of  the  cause  which  he  undertakes,  unless  his 
client  asks  his  opinion,  and  then  he  is  bound 
to  give  it  honestly.  Thejustice  or  injustice 
of  the  cause  is  to  be  decided  by  the  judge. 
Consider,»sir,  what  is  the  purpose  of  courts 
of  justice?  It  is,  that  every  man  may  have 
his  cause  fairly  tried,  by  men  appointed  to 
try  causes.  A  lawyer  is  not  to  tell  what  he 
knows  to  be  a  lie:  he  is  not  to  produce 
what  he  knows  to  be  a  false  deed;  but  he  is 
not  to  usurp  the  province  of  the  jury  and 
of  the  judge,  and  determine  what  shall  be 
the  effect  of  evidence, — what  shall  be  the 
result  of  legal  argument.  As  it  rarely  hap- 
pens that  a  man  is  fit  to  plead  his  own 
cause,  lawyers  are  a  class  of  the  community, 
who,  by  study  and  experience,  have  acquir- 
ed the  art  and  power  of  arranging-  evidence, 
and  of  applying  to  the  points  at  issue  what 
the  taw  has  settled.  A  lawyer  is  to  do  for 
his  client  all  that  his  client  might  fairly  do 
for  himself,  if  he  could.    If,  by  a  supenori- 


into  our  family  through  my  great  grandmother 
Veronica,  Countess  of  Kincardine,  a  Dutch  lady 
of  the  noble  house  of  Sommelsdyck,  of  which 
there  is  a  full  account  in  Beyle's  dictionary.  The 
family  had  once  •  a  princely  right  at  Surinam. 
The  governor  of  that  settlement  was  appointed  by 
the  states-general,  the  town  of  Amsterdam,  and 
Sommelsdyck.  The  states-general  have  acquired 
Sommelsdyck's  right;  bat  the  family  has  still 
great  dignity  and  opulence,  and  by  intermarriages 
is  connected  with  many  other  noble  families. 
When  I  was  at  the  Hague,  I  was  received  whh 
all  the  affection  of  kindred.  The  present  Bom- 
melsdyck  has  an  important  charge  in  the  repub- 
lic, and  is  as  worthy  a  man  as  lives.  He  has 
honoured  me  with  his  correspondence  far  these 
twenty  years.  My  great  grandfather,  the  hus- 
band of  Countess  Veronica,  was  Alexander,  Earl 
of  Kincardine,  that  eminent  royalist  whose  char- 
acter is  given  by  Burnet  in  his  "  History  of  his 
own  Tunes. '*  From  .him  the  blood  of  Bruce 
flows  in  my  veins.  Of  such  ancestry  who  would 
not  be  proud  ?  •  And  as  "  Nihil  est,  nisi  hoe  sciat 
after  »'  *  peculiarly  true  of  genealogy,  who  would 
not  be  glad  to  seize  a  firir  opportunity  to  let  it  be 
known  ?— Boswex.^. 


[tour  TO  TH* 

ty  of  attention,  of  knowledge,  of  skill,  and  a 
Better  method  of  communication,  he  has  the 
advantage  of  his  adversary,  it  is  an  advan- 
tage to  which  he  is  entitled.  There  must 
always  be  some  advantage,  on  one  side  or 
other;  and  it  is  better  that  advantage  should 
be  had  by  talents  than  by  chance.  If  law- 
yers were  to  undertake  no  causes  till  they 
were  sure  they  were  just,  a  man  might  be 
precluded  altogether  from  a  trial  of  his  claim, 
though,  were  it  judicially  examined,  it  might 
be  found  a  very  just  claim."  This  was 
sound  practical  doctrine,  and  rationally  re- 
pressed a  too  refined  scrupulosity  of  con- 
science. 

Emigration  was  at  this  time  a  common 
topic  of  discourse.  Dr.  Johnson  regretted 
it  as  hurtful  to  human  happiness:  «'  For," 
said  he,  "  it  spreads  mankind,  which  weak- 
ens the  defence  of  a  nation,  and  lessens  the 
comfort  of  living.  Men,  thinly  scattered, 
make  a  shift,  but  a  bad  shift,  without  many 
things.  A  smith  is  ten  miles  off ;  they'll  do 
without  a  nail  or  a  staple.  A  tailor  is  far 
from  them;  they'll  botch  their  own  clothes. 
It  is  being  concentrated  which  produces 
high  convenience." 

Sir  William  Forbes,  Mr.  Scott,  and  I,  ac- 
companied Mr.  Johnson  to  the  chapel, 
founded  by  Lord  Chief  Baron  Smith,  for 
the  service  of  the  church  of  England.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Carre,  the  senior  clergyman, 
preached  from  these  words,  "  Because  the 
Lord  reigneth,  let  the  earth  be  dad."  I 
was  sorry  to  think  Mr.  Johnson  did  not  at- 
tend to  the  sermon,  Mr.  Carre's  low  voice 
not  being  strong  enough  to  reach  his  hear- 
ing. A  selection  of  Mr.  Carre's,  sermons 
has  since  his  death  been  published  by  Sir 
William  Forbes,  and  the  world  has  acknow- 
ledged their  uncommon  merit.  I  am  well 
assured  Lord  Mansfield  has  pronounced 
them  to.be  excellent. 

Here  I  obtained  a  promise  from  Lord 
Chief  Baron  Orde,  that  he  would  dine  at  my 
house  next  day.  I  presented  Mr.  Johnson 
to  his  lordship,  who  politely  said  to  him,"  I 
have  not  the  nonour  of  knowing1  you;  but 
I  hope  for  it,  and  to  see  you  at  my  house. 
I  am  to  wait  on  you  to-morrow."  This  re- 
spectable English  judge  will  be  long  remem- 
bered in  Scotland,  where  he  built  an  ele- 
Sint  house,  and  lived  in  it  magnificently, 
is  own  ample  fortune,  with  the  addition 
of  his  salary,  enabled  him  to  be  Bplendidly 
hospitable.  It  may  be  fortunate  for  an  in- 
dividual amongst  ourselves  to  be  lord  chief 
baron,  8nd  a  most  worthy  man1  now  has 
the  office;  but,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  better 
for  Scotland  in  general,  that  some  Of  our 
publick  employments  should  be  filled  by 
gentlemen  of  distinction  from  the  south  side 


1  [James  Montgomery,  created  a  baronet  ia\ 
1801,  on  his  resignation  of  the  office  of  chief  aa*- 
■En.] 


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HBBBIDBS.] 

of  the  Tweed,  as  we  have  the  benefit  of 
promotion  in  England.  Such  an  inter* 
change  would  make  a  beneficial  mixture  of 
mannere,  and  render  our  union  more  com- 
plete. Lord  Chief  Baron  Orde  was  on  good 
terms  with  us  all,  in  a  narrow  country,  filled 
with  jarring  interests  and  keen  parties;  and, 
though  I  well  knew  his  opinion  to  be  the 
same  with  my  own,  he  kept  himself  aloof  at 
a  very  critical  period  indeed,  when  the 
Douglas  cause  shook  the  sacred  security  of 
birthright  in  Scotland  to  its  foundation;  a 
cause,  which  had  it  happened  before  the 
onion,  when  there  was  no  appeal  to  a  Brit- 
ish House  of  Lords,  would  have  left  the 
great  fortress  of  honours  and  of  property  in 
ruins1. 

When  we  got  home,  Dr.  Johnson  desir- 
ed to  see  my  books.  He  took  down  Og- 
den's  Sermons  on  Prayer,  on  which  I  set  a 
very  high  value,  having  been  much  edified 
fty  them,  and  he  retired  with  them  to  his 
room.  He  did  not  stay  long,  but  soon  joined 
us  in  the  drawing-room.  I  presented  to  him 
Mr.  Robert  Arbuthnot s,  a  relation  of  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  and  a  man  of  lit- 
erature and  taste.  To  him  we  were  oblig- 
ed for  a  previous  recommendation,  which 
secured  us  a  very  agreeable  reception  at  St 
Andrews,  and  which  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his 
"Journey,"  ascribes. to  "some  invisible 
friend." 

Of  Dr.  Beattie,  Mr.  Johnson  said,  "  Sir,' 
he  has  written  like  a  man  conscious  of  the 
tru th,  and  feeling  his  own  strength.  Treat- 
ing your  adversary  with  respect,  is  giving 
him  an  advantage  to  which  ue  is  not  en- 
titled. The  greatest  part  of  men  cannot 
judge  of  reasoning,  and  are  impressed  by 
character;  so  that,  if  you  allow  your  adver- 
sary a  respectable  character,  they  will  think, 
that  though  you  differ  from  him,  you  may 
he  in  the  wrong.  Sir,  treating  your  adver- 
sary with  respect,  is  striking  soft  in  a  bat- 
tle. And  as  to  Hume,  a  man  who  has  so 
much  conceit  as  to  tell  all  mankind  that  they 
have  been  bubbled  for  ages,  and  he  is  the 
wise  man   who  sees  better  than  they — a 


»9 


man  who  has  so  little  scrupulosity  as  to 
venture  to  oppose  those  principles  which 
have  been  thought  necessary  to-human  hap- 
piness— is  he  to  be  surprised  if  another  man 
comes  and  laughs  at  him  ?  If  he  is  the  great 
man  he  thinks  himself,  all  this  cannot  hurt 
him :  it  is  like  throwing  peas  against  a  rock." 
He  added  "something  much  too  rough," 
both  as  to  Mr.  Hume's  head  and  heart, 
which  I  suppress  *.  Violence  is,  in  my 
opinion,  not  suitable  to  the  christian  cause. 
Besides,  I  always  lived  on  good  terms  with 
Mr.  Hume,  though  I  have  trankly  told  him, 
I  was  not  clear  that  it  was  right  in  me  to 
keep  company  with  him.  "  But,"  said  I, 
"how  much  better  are  you  than  your  books  !•• 
He  was  cheerful,  obliging,  and  instructive; 
he  was  charitable  to  the  poor;  and  many 
an  agreeable  hour  have  I  passed  with  him. 
I  have  nreserved  some  entertaining  and  in- 
teresting memoirs  of  him,  particularly  when 
he  knew  himself  to  be  dying,  which  I  may 
some  time  or  other  communicate  to  the 
world.  I  shall  not,  however,  extol  him  so 
very  highly  as  Dr.  Adam  Smith  does,  who 
says,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Strahan,  the  printer 
(not  a  confidential  letter  to  his  friend,  but 
a  letter  which  is  published  «  with  all  formali- 
ty} :  "  Upon  the  whole,  I  have  always  con- 
sidered him,  both  in  his  lifetime  and  since 
his  death,  as  approaching  as  nearly  to  the 
idea  of  a  perfectly  wise  and  virtuous  man  as 
|terhaps  the  nature  of  human  frailty  will 


1  [It  mait  be  recollected  that  Mr.  Bofwell 
was  not  only  counsel,  but  a  violent  partisan  in 
this  cause.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  attempt  at 
"  shaking  the  sacred  security  of  birthright." 
The  question  was,  "  to  whom  the  birthright  be- 
longed; that  is,  whether  Mr.  Douglas  was  or  was 
not  the  son  of  those  ha  called  his  lather  and  moth- 
er.—Eo.] 

•  [Robert  Arbuthnot,  Esq.  was  secretary  to  the 
board  of  trustees  for  the  encouragement  of  me  arts 
and  manufactures  of  Scotland;  in  this  office  he 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  William,  lord  provost 
of  Edinburah  when  King  George  the  Fourth  visit- 
ed Scotland,  who  was  made  a  baronet  on  that  oo- 
i,  and  has  lately  died  much  lamented. 
frther  and  son  ware  accomplished  gentle- 
aad  elegant  scholar*.— WAfcTia  Scott.] 

vol.  i.  49 


Both 


*  [It  may  be  supposed  that  it  was  somewhat 
like  what  Airs.  Piozzi  relates  that  he  said  of  an 
eminent  infidel,  whose  name  she  does  not  give, 
but  who  was  probably  either  Hume  or  Gibbon 
(Malone  thought  Gibbon).  "  You  will  at  least,*' 
said  some  one,  "  allow  him  the  famurc*." 
"  Just  enough,"  replied  the  Doctor, "  to  light  him 
to  hell." — PxokzVs  Anecdotes,  p.  72.— Ext.] 

4  This  letter,  though  shattered  by  the  sharp  shot 
of  Dr.  Home  of  Oxford's  wit,  in  the  character,  of 
«•  One  of  the  People  called  Christians,"  »  still 
prefixed  to  Mr.  Hume's  excellent  History  of  Fug* 
land,  like  a  poor  invalid  on  the  piquet  guard,  or 
like  a  hat  of  quack  medicines  sold  by  the  same 
bookseller,  by  whom  a  work  of  whatever  nature 
is  published;  for  it  has  no  connexion  with  bis 
History,  let  it  have  what  it  may  with  what  are 
called  his  PhUosophical  Works.  A  worthy  friend 
of  mine  in  London  was  lately  consulted  by  a  lady 
of  quality,  of  most  distmguisbed  merit,  what  was 
the  best  History  of  England  for  hex  son  to  read. 
My  friend  reoommended  Hume's.  But  upon 
recollecting  that  its  usher  was  a  superlative  pane- 
gyrick'on  one,  who  endeavoured  to  rep  the  credit 
of  our  holy  reliaion,  he  revoked  his  recommenda- 
tion. I  am  really  sorry  for  this  ostentatious  al- 
liance; because  I  admire  "  The  Theory  of  Mor- 
al Sentiments,"  and  value  the  greatest  part  of 
"  An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Causes  of  the 
Wealth  of  Nations."  Why  should  such  a  writer 
be  so  forgetful  of  human  comfort,  as  to  give  any 
that  dreary  infidelity  which  would 
t  mused  PN-Boswnu. 


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330 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


[TOUR  TO 


sennit "  Let  Dr.  Smith  consider,  Was  not 
Mr.  Hume  blest  with  good  health,  rood 
spirits,  good  friends,  a  competent  ana  in- 
creasing fortune?  And  had  he  not  also  a 
perpetual  feast  of  fame  ?  But,  as  a  learned 
friend  has  observed  to  me,  "  What  triaU 
.did  he  undergo,  to  prove  the  perfection  of 
his  virtue?  i>id  he  ever  experience  any 
great  instance  of  adversity  ?  "  When  I  read 
Sua  sentence,  delivered  by  my  old  profes- 
sor of  moral  philosophy,  I  could  not  help 
exclaiming  with  the  Psalmist,  "  Surely  I 
have  now  more  understanding  than  my 
teachers  ! " 

While  we  were  talking,  there  came  s 
note  to  me  from  Dr.  William  Robertson. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  have  been  expecting  eve- 
ry day  to  hear  from  you  of  Dr.  Johnson's 
arrival.  Pray,  what  do  you  know  about  his 
motions  1  I  long  to  take  him  by  the  hand. 
I  write  this  from  the  college,  where  I  have 
only  this  scrap  of  paper.  Ever  yours, 
"  Sunday."  "  W.  R. 

It  pleased  me  to  find  Dr.  Robertson  thus 
eager  to  meet  Dr.  Johnson.  I  was  glad 
I  could  answer  that  he  was  come ;  and  I 
begged  Dr.  Robertson  might  be  with  us 
as  soon  as  he  could. 

Sir  William  Forbes,  Mr.  Scott,  Mr. 
Arbuthnot,  and  another  gentleman,  dined, 
with  us.  "Come,  Dr.  Johnson,"  said  I, 
"it  is  commonly  thought  that  our  veal  in 
Scotland  is  not  good.  But  here  is  some 
which  I  believe  you  will  like."  There  was 
no  catching  him.  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir, 
what  is  commonly  thought,  I  should  take  to 
be  trne.  Your  veal  may  be  good ;  but  that 
will  only  be  an  exception  to  the  general  opin- 
ion, not  a  proof  against  it." 

Dr.  Robertson,  according  to  the  custom 
of  Edinburgh  at  that  time,  dined  in  the  in- 
terval between  the  forenoon  and  afternoon 
service,  which  was  then  later  than  now ;  so 
we  had  not  the  pleasure  of  his  company  till 
dinner  was,  over,  when  he  came  and  drank 
wine  with  us ;  and  then  began  some  anima- 
ted dialogue,  of  which  here  follows  a  pretty 
full  note. 

We  talked  of  Mr.  Burke.  Dr.  Johnson 
■•id,  he  had  great  variety  of  knowledge, 
store  of  imagery,  copiousness  of  language. 
Robertson.  "He  has  wit  too."  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir ;  he  never  succeeds  there.  'T  is 
low;  't  is  conceit.  I  used  to  say,  Burke 
never  once  made  a  good  joke  K    What  I 


1  This  wai  one  of  the  points  upon  which  Dr. 
Johnson  was  strangely  heterodox.  For  rarely  Mr. 
Burke,  with  his  other  remarkable  qualities,  is  also 
distinguished  for  his  wit,  and  for  wit  ef  all  kinds 
too;  not  merely  that  power  of  language  which 
Pope  chooses  to  denominate*  wit: 

"Tro  wit  to  Natsi*  to  advantage  dww'd :     •— ~ 
Wast  aft  was  thought,  sat  ne'er  •oweilexpresj'dj" 


most  envy  Burke  for  is,  his  being  constant 
Iv  the  same.  He  is  never  what  we  call  hum 
drum  ;  never  unwilling  to  begin  to  talk,  nor 
in  haste  to  leave  off."  Bos  well.  "  Yet 
he  can  listen."  Johnson.  "  No  ;  I  cannot 
say  he  is  good  at  that     So  desirous  is  he  to 


bat  surprising  allusions,  brilliant  sallies  of  vivaci- 
ty, and  pleasant  conceits.  His  speeches  in  par- 
liament are  strewed  with  them.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, the  variety  which  he  has  given  in  his  wide 
range,  yet  exact  detail,  when  exhibiting  his  re- 
form bill.  And  his  conversation  abounds  in  wit. 
Let  me  pat  down  s  specimen.  I  told  him  I  had 
seen,  at  a  6/tie  stocking  assembly,  a  number  of 
ladies  sitting  round  a  worthy  and  tall  friend  of 
onra  [Mr.  Langton],  listening  to  his  literature, 
44  Ay,"  said  he,  "  like  maids  round  a  May-pole." 
I  told  him,  I  had  found  oat  a  perfect  definition  of 
human  nature,  as  distinguished  from  the  anioiaL 
An  ancient  philosopher  said,  man  was  "  a  two- 
legged  snimal  without  feathers ;"  upon  which  his 
rival  sage  had  a  cock  plucked  bare,  and  set  him 
down  in  the  school  before  all  the  disciples,  as  a 
"  philosophick  man."  Dr.  Franklin  said,  man 
was  "  a  tool-making  animal,"  which  is  very  well; 
for  no  animal  but  man  makes  a  thing,  by  means 
of  which  be  can  make  another  thing.  But  this 
applies  to  very  few  of  the  species.  My  definition 
of  man  is,  "  a  cooking  animal."  The  beasts 
have  memory,  judgment,  and  all  the  faculties  and 
passions  of  our  mind,  in  a  certain  degree;  but  no 
beast  is  a  cook.  The  trick  of  the  monkey  using 
the  cat's  paw  to  roast  a  chestnut  n  only  a  piece 
of  shrewd  malice  in  that  turpissima  bestim, 
which  humbles  us  so  sadly  by  its  similarity  to  as. 
Man  alone  can  dress  a  good  dish;  and  every  man 
whatever  is  more  or  less  a  cook,  in  seasoning 
what  he  himself  eats.  **  Your  definition  is  good," 
said  Mr.  Burke,  "  and  I  now  see  the  full  force  of 
the  common  proverb,  *  There  is  reason  in  -roast- 
ing of  eggs.*  "  When  Mr.  Wilkes,  in  his  days  of 
tumultuous  opposition,  was  borne  upon  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  mob,  Mr.  Burke  (as  Mr.  Wilkes  told 
me  himself,  with  classical  admiration)  applied  to 
him  what  Horace  says  of  Pindar, 


-finstemque  fcrlur 


Laos  aolutU.1 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who  agrees  with  me  en- 
tirely as  to  Mr.  Burke's  fertility  of  wit,  said,  that 
this  was  "  dignifying  a  pun.*-  He  also  observ- 
ed, that  he  has  often  heard  Burke  say,  in  the 
course  of  an  evening,  ten  good  things,  each 
of  which  would  have  served  a  noted  wit 
(whom  he  named)  to  live  upon  for  a  twelve- 
month. 

I  find,  since  the  former  edition,  that  some  per- 
sons have  objected  to  the  instances  which  I  have 
given  of  Mr.  Burke's  wit,  as  not  doing  justice  to 
my  very  ingenious  friend;  the  specimens  produced 
having,  it  is  alleged,  more  of  conceit  than  real 
wit,  and  being  merely  sportive  sallies  of  the  mo- 
ment, not  justifying  the  encomium  which  they 
think,  with  me,  he  undoubtedly  merits.  I  was 
well  aware,  how  hazardous  it  was  to  exhibit  par- 
ticular instances  of  wit,  which  is  of  so  any  and 
spiritual  a  nature  as  often  to  elude  the  hand  that 
attempts  to  grasp  it  The  excellence  and  effica- 
cy of  a  (en  mot  depend  frequently  se  much  en 


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HEBRIDES.] 

talk,  that  if  one  is  speaking  at  this  end  of 
the  table,  he  'II  speak  to.  somebody  at  the 
other  end,  Burke,  air,  is  such  a  man,  that 
if  you  met  him  for  the  first  time  in  the 
street  where  you  were  stopped  by  a  drove 
of  oxen,  and  you  and  he  stepped  aside  to 
take  shelter  but  for  five  minutes,  he'd  talk  to 
you  in  such  a  manner,  that,  when  you  part- 
ed, you  would  say,  this  is  an  extraordina- 
ry man.  Now,  you  may  be  long  enough 
with  me,  without  finding  any  thing  extraor- 
dinary." He  said,  he  believed  Burke  was 
intended  for  the  law;  but  either  had  not 
money  enough  to  follow  it,  or  had  not  dili- 

Sence  enough.  He  said,  he  could  not  un- 
eratand  how  a  man  could  apply  to  one 
thing,  and  not  to  another.  Robertson  said, 
one  man  had  more  judgment,  another  more 
imagination.  Johnson.  "  No,  sir ;  it  is 
only,  one  man  has  more  mind  than  another. 
He  may  direct  it  differently ;  he  may,  by 
accident,  see  the  success  of  one  kind  of  study, 
and  take  a  desire  to  excel  in  it.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  had  Sir  Isaac  Newton  applied 
to  poetry,  he  would  have  made  a  very  fine 


1778.— ^TAT.  64. 


SSI 


the  occasion  on  which  it  k  spoken,  on  the  partic- 
ular manner  of  the  speaker,  on  the  person  of 
whom  it  is  applied,  the  previous  introduction,  and 
a  thousand  minute  particulars  which  .cannot  be 
easily  enumerated,  that  it  is  always  dangerous  to 
detach  a  witty  saying  from  the  group  to  which  it 
belongs,  and  to  set  k  before  the  eye  of  the  spec- 
tator, divested  of  those  concomitant  circumstances, 
which  gave  it  animation,  mellowness,  and  relief. 
I  ventured,  however,  at  all  hazards,  to  put  down 
the  first  instances  that  occurred  to  me,  as  proofs 
of  Mr.  Burke's  lively  and  brilliant  fancy:  but  am 
very  sensible  that  ms  numerous  friends  could  have 
suggested  many  of  a  superior  quality.  Indeed, 
the  being  in  company  with  him,  for  a  single  day, 
ts  sufficient  to  show  that  what  I  have  asserted  is 
well  founded;  and  it  was  only  necessary  to  have 
appealed  to  all  who  know  him  intimately,  for  a 
complete  refutation  of  the  heterodox  opinion  en- 
tertained by  Dr.  Johnson  on  this  subject  He 
allowed  Mr.  Burke,  as  the  reader  will  find  here- 
after, to  be  a  man  of  consummate  and  unrivalled 
abilities  in  every  light  except  that  now  under  con- 
akieration;  and  the  variety  of  his  allusions,  and 
splendour  of  his  imagery,  have  made  such  an 
impression  on  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  that  su- 
perficial observers  am  apt  to  overlook  his  other 
merits,  and  to-  suppose  that  wit  u  his  chief  and 
most  prominent  excellence;  when  in  fact  it  is  on- 
ly one  of  the  many  talents  that  he  possesses, 
which  are  so  various  and  extraordinary,  that  it  is 
very  difficult  to  ascertain  precisely  the  rank  and 
value  of  each. — Boswell.  [Mr.  Burke's  hap- 
py application  from  Horace  has  been  sometimes 
r ted  as  if  he  had  said  "  humeri*  fertur;"  but 
,  besides  being  a  departure  from  the  text, 
would  not  suit  so  well  with  lege  solutis.  "  Nu- 
meris  fertur  lege  solutis"  k,  according  to  Mr. 
Burke's  witty  nerversion,  "  he  is  carried  by  nmm~ 
htn  unrestrained  by  low,"  that  is,  "  a  law- 
less moo. "—Ed.] 


epick  poem.  I  could  as  easily  apply  to  law 
as  to  tregick  poetry *.»  Boswbll.  "  Yet, 
sir,  you  did  apply  to  tragi ck  poetry,  not  to 
law."  Johnson.  "  Because,  *sjir,  I  had 
not  money  to  sto4y  law.  Sir,  the  man  who 
has  vigour  may  walk  to  the  east,  just  as 
well  as  to  the  west,  if  he  happens  to  turn 
his  head  that  way."  Boswell.  "But, 
sir,  'tis  like  walking  up  and  down  a  hill; 
one  man  may  naturally  do  the  one  better 
than  the  other.  A  hare  will  run  up  a  hill 
best,  from  her  fore-legs  being  short;  a  dog 
down."  Johnson  "Nay,  sir;  that  is 
from  mechanical  powers.  If  you  make 
mind  mechanical,  you  may  argue  in  that 
manner.  One  mind  is  a  vice,  and  holds 
fast;  there 's  a  good  memory.  Another  is  a 
file;  and  he  is  a  disputant,  a  controversialist. 
Another  is  a  razor;  and  he  is  surcastical." 
We  talked  of  Whitfield.  He  said,  he  was 
at  the  same  college  with  him,  and  knew  him 
before  he  began  to  be  better  than  other 
people  (smiling);  that  he  believed  he  sin* 
cerely  meant  well)  but  had  a  mixture  of  poli- 
ticks and  ostentation:  whereas  Wesley 
thought  of  religion  only  *,  Robertson  said, 
Whitfield  had  strong  natural  eloquence, 
which,  if  cultivated,  would  have  done  great 
things.  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  I  take  it 
he  was  at  the  height  of  what  his  abilities 
could  do,  and  was  sensible  of  it.  He  had 
the  ordinary  advantages  of  education  j  but 
he  chose  to  pursue  that  oratory  which  is  for 
the  mob."  Boswell.  "  ne  had  great 
effect  on  the  passions."  Johnson.  "  Why, 
sir,  I  don't  think  so.  He  could  not  repre- 
sent a  succession  of  pathetick  images.  He 
vociferated,  and  made  an  impression. 
There,  again,  was  a  mind  like  a  hammer." 
Dr.  Johnson  now  said,  a  certain  eminent 
political  friend 3  of  ours  was  wrong  in  his 
maxim  of  sticking  to  a  certain  set  of  men 
on  all  occasions.  "  I  can  see  that  a  man  may 
do  right  to  stick  to  a  party,"  said  he, ,€  that 
is  to  say,  he  is  a  whig,  or  he  is  a  tory,  and 


1  [How  much  a  man  deceives  himself !  John- 
son, who  has  shown  such  powers  in  other  lines 
of  literature,  failed  as  a  tragic,  poet— En.] 

•  That  cannot  be  said  now,  after  the  flagrant 
part  which  Mr.  John  Wesley  took  against  our 
American  brethren,  when,  in  his  own  nam*  ha 
threw  amongst  his  enthnsjaenck  Hook  the  very 
individual  oombustibles  of  Dr.  Johnson's  "  Taxa- 
tion no  Tyranny;"  and  after  the  intolerant  spirit 
which  be  manifested  against  our  feUow-christians 
of  the  Roman  Catholick  communion,  for  which 
that  able  champion,  Father  O'Leary,  has  given 
him  so  hearty  a  drubbing.  But  I  should  think 
myself  very  unworthy,  if  I  did  not  at  the  same 
time  acknowledge  Bur.  John  Wesley's  merit,  as  a 
veteran  "  Soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,"  who  has,  I  do 
believe,  turned  many  from  darkness  into  light, 
and  from  the  power  of  Satan  to  the  Irving  God.-- 
Boswell. 

•  [Mr.  Burke*    See  rnnte,  p.  SOfcWSn  J 


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[tour  to 


he  thinks  one  of  those  parties  upon  the 
whole  the  best,  and  that  to  make  it  prevail, 
it  must  be  generally  supported,  though,  in 
particulars,  it  may  be  wrong.  He  takes  its 
Faggot  of  principles,  in  which  there  are  fewer 
rotten  sticks  than  in  the  other,  though  some 
rotten  sticks,  to  be  sure  ;  and  they  cannot 
well  be  separated.  But,  to  bind  one's  self 
to  one  man,  or  one  set  of  men  (who  may 
be  right  to-day  and  wrong  to-morrow),  with- 
out any  general  preference  of  system,  I 
must  disapprove '." 

He  told  us  of  Cooke,  who  translated  He- 
siod,  and  lived  twenty  years  on  a  translation 
of  Plautus,  for  which  he  was  always  taking 
subscriptions:  and  that  he  presented  Foote 
to  a  club  in  the  following  singular  manner: 
"  This  is  the  nephew  of  the  gentleman  who 
was  lately  hung  in  chains  for  murdering  his 
brothers." 


1  If  doe  attention  were  paid  to  this  observation, 
there  would  be  more  virtue  even  in  politicks. 
What  Dr.  Johnson  justly  condemned  has,  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  greatly  increased  in  the  present 
reign.  At  the  distance  of  four  years  from  this 
conversation,  21st  February,  1777,  my  Lord 
Archbishop  of  York,  in  his  "  sermon  before  the 
society  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  in  for- 
eign parts,*'  thus  indignantly  describes  the  then 
state  of  parties : 

"  Parties  once  had  a  principle  belonging  to 
them,  absurd,  perhaps,  and  indefensible,  but  still 
carrying  a  notion  of  duty,  by  which  honest  minds 
might  easily  be  caught  But  they  are  now  com- 
binations of  individuals,  who,  instead  of  being  the 
sons  and  servants  of  the  community,  make  a 
league  for  advancing  their  private  interests.  It  is 
then*  business  to  hold  high  the  notion  of  political 
honour.  I  believe  and  trust,  it  is  not  injurious  to 
sav,  that  such  a  bond  is  no  better  than  that  by 
which  the  lowest  and  wickedest  combinations  are 
held  together  ;  and  that  it  denotes  the  last  stage  of 
political  depravity." 

To  find  a  thought,  which  just  showed  itself  to 
Us  from  the  mind  of  Johnson,  thus  appearing 
again  at  such  a  distance  of  time,  and  without 
any  communication  between  them,  enlarged  to 
roll  gsowth  in  the  mind  of*Markham,  is  a  curious 
object  of  philosophical  contemplation.  That  two 
such  great  and  luminous  minds  should  have  been 
so  dark  in  one  corner;  that  they  should  have  held 
it  to  be  "  wicked  rebellion"  in  the  British  subjects 
established  in  America,  to  resist  the  abject  con- 
dition of  holding  all  their  property  at  the  mercy 
of  British  subjects  remaining  at  home,  while 
their  allegiance  to  our  common,  lord  the  king  was 
to  be  preserved  inviolate,  is  a  striking  proof,  to 
me,  either  that  "he  who  sitteth  in  heaven" 
scorns  the  loftiness  of  human  pride,  or  mat  the 
evil  spirit,  whose  personal  existence  1  strongly 
believe,  and  even  in  this  age  am  confirmed  in  that 
belief  by  a  Fell,  nay,  by  a  Hard,  has  more  power 
than  some  choose  to  alfew.-^-BoswirLX.. 

*  [Mr.  Foote's  mother  was  the  sister  of  Sir  J, 
Dinely  Gooddere,  bart.,  and  of  Cant  Gooddere, 
who  commanded  H.  M.  &  Ruby,  on  board  which, 
when  tying  in  King's-road,  fintei,  m  January, 


In  the  evening  I  introduced  to  Mr.  John- 
son3 two  good  friends  of  mine,  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Nairne,  advocate,  and  Mr.  Hamilton 
of  Sundrum,  my  neighbour  in  the  country, 
both'  of  whom  supped  with  us.  I  have 
preserved  nothing  of  what  passed,  except 
that  Dr.  Johnson  displayed  another  of  his 
heterodox  opinions— -a  contempt  of  tragick 
acting.  He  said,  "  the  action  of  all  players 
in  tragedy  is  bad.  It  should  be  a  man's 
study  to  repress  those  signs  of  emotion  and 

Sassion,  as  they  are  called."  He  was  of  a 
irectly  contrary  opinion  to  that  of  Fielding, 
in  his  "  Tom  Jones :"  who  makes  Partridge 
say  of  Garrick,  "  Why,I  could  act  as  well 
as  he  myself.  I  am  sure,  if  I  had  seen  a 
ghost,  I  should  have  looked  in  the  very 
same  manner,  and  done  rust  as  he  did." 
For,  when  I  asked  him,  "  Would  not  you, 
sir,  start  as  Mr.  Garrick  does,  if  you  saw  a 
ghost?  "  He  answered,  "  I  hope  not.  If  1 
did,  1  should  frighten  the  ghost." 

Monday ,  16th  Jhigu$L— Dr.  William 
Robertson  came  to  breakfast  We  talked 
of  Ogden  on  Prayer.  Dr.  Johnson  said, 
"  The  same  arguments '  which  are  used 
against  God's  hearing,  prayer  will  serve 
against  his  rewarding  good,  and  punishing 
evil.  He  has  resolved,  he  has  declared,  in 
the  former  case  as  in  the  latter."  He  had 
last  night  looked  into  Lord  Hailes's  u  Rev 
marks  on  the  History  of  Scotland."  Dr. 
Robertson  and  I  said,  it  was  a  pity  Lord 
Hailes  4  did  not  write  greater  things.  His 
lordship  had  not  then  published  his  "  An- 
nals of  Scotland."  Johnson.  "  I  remem- 
ber I  was  once  on  a  visit  at  the  house  of  a 
lady  for  whom  I  had  a  high  respect.  There 
was  a  good  deal  of  company  in  the  room. 
When  they  were  gone,  I  said  to  this  lady, 
'  What  foolish  talkingliave  we  had ! »    '  Yes,' 

1741,  the  latter  caused  his  brother  to  be  forcibly 
carried,  and  there  barbarously  murdered.  Cant 
Gooddere  was,  with  two  accomplices,  executed 
for  this  offence  m  the  April  following.  Tbe  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  and  some  other  mcar 
connected  with  this  family,  led  to  an  opinion 
that  Capt  Gooddere  was  insane;  and  some  un- 
happy circumstances  in  Foote's  life  render  it  prob- 
able that  he  bad  not  wholly  escaped  this  hered- 
itary irregularity  of  mind.— Ed.  Foote's  fin* 
publication  was  a  pamphlet  in  defence  of  fast 
uncle's  memory. — Waltis  Scott.] 

*  It  may  be  observed,  that  I  sometimes  eaD  my 
great  friend  Mr.  Johnson,  sometimes  Dr.  John- 
son; though  he  had  at  this  time  a  doctor's  degree 
from  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  The  university  of 
Oxford  afterwards  conferred  it  upon  him  by  a  di- 
ploma, in  very  honourable  terms.  It  was  soma 
time  before  I  could  bring  myself  to  call  him  dee- 
tor;  but,  as  he  has  been  long  known  by  that  ti- 
tle, I  shall  give  it  to  him  in  the  rest  of  this  Jour- 
nal.—Boswill,  [Johnson  ncaer,  it  ae 
called  himself  doctor.  See  mtfe,  p.  218, 
po$t,  7th  April,  1776w— En.] 

«  [Sea  ante,  p.  19*.~£n.] 


tizedbyVjiO 


HSB&JD1S.] 

said  she,  «  but  while  they  talked,  you  said 
nothing.'  I  was  struck  with  the  reproof. 
How  much  better  is  the  man  who  does-any 
thing  that  is  innocent,  than  he  who  doea 
nothing !  Besides,  I  love  anecdotes.  I  fan- 
cy mankind  may  come,  in  time,  to  write  all 
aphoristically,  except  in  narrative;  grow 
weary  of  preparation,  and  connexion,  and 
illustration,  and  all  those  arts  by  which  a 
big  book  is  made.  If  a  man  is  to  wait  till 
he  weaves  anecdotes  into  a  system,  we  may 
be  long  in  getting  them,  and  get  but  few, 
in  comparison  of  what  we  might  get" 

D  r.  Robertson  said,  the  notions  of  Eupham 
Macallan,  a  fanatick  woman,  of  whom  Lord 
Hailea  gives  a  sketch,  were  still  prevalent 
among  some  of  the  presbyterians;  and, 
therefore,  it  was  right  in  Lord  Hailes,  a 
man  of  known  piety,  to  undeceive  them. 

We  walked  out,  that  Dr.  Johnson  might 
see  some  of  the  things  which  we  have  to 
show  at  Edinburgh.  We  went  to  the  par- 
liament-house1, where  the  parliament  of 
Scotland  sat,  and  where  the  ordinary  lords 
of  session  hold  their  courts,  and  to  the  new 
session-house  adjoining  to  it,  where  our 
court  of  fifteen  (the  fourteen  ordinaries,  with 
the  lord  president  at  their  head)  sit  as  a 
court  of  review.  We  went  to  the  advocates' 
library,  of  which  Dr.  Johnson  took  a  curso- 
ry view,  and  then  to  what-  is  called  the 
Laigh  (or  under)  parliament-house,  where 
the  records  of  Scotland,  which  has  an  uni- 
versal security  by  register,  are  deposited, 
till  the  great  register  office  be  finished*  I 
was  pleased  to  behold  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson 
lolling  about  in  this  old  magazine  of  an- 
tiquities. There  was,  by  this  time,  a  pret- 
ty numerous  circle  of  us  attending  upon 
him.  Somebody  talked  of  happy  moments 
for  composition,  and  how  a  man  can  write 
at  one  time,  and  not  at  another.  "  Nay," 
said  Dr.  Johnson, "  a  man  may  write  at 
any  time,  if  he  will  set  himself  doggedly*  to 
iL» 

I  here  began  to  indulge  old  Scottish  sen- 
timents, and  to  express  a  warm  regret,  that, 
by  our  union  with  England,  we  were  no 
more;  our  independent  kingdom  was  lost 
Jomrioir.  "  Sir,  never  talk  of  your  inde- 
pendency, who  could  let  your  queen  remain 
twenty  years  in  captivity,  and  then  be  put 
to  death,  without  even  a  pretence  of  justice, 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


333 


1  fjt  was  on  tint  visit  to  the  parliament-house 
that  Mr.  Henry  Enkine  (brother  of  Lord  Bnehan 
and  Lord  Enkine),  after  being  presented  to  Dr. 
Johnson  by  Mr.  BoeweU,  and  having  made  hie* 
bow,  alipped  a  shilling  into  Boawell'a  hand, 
whispering  that  it  was  for  the  sight  of  his  Sear. — 
Walt eb  Scott.] 

*  This  word  is  commonly  used  to  signify  sul- 
lenly, gloomily;  and  in  that  sense  alone  it  ap- 
peals in  Dr.  Johnson's  Dictionary.  I  suppose  be 
meant  by  it,  "  with  an  obstinate  resolution,  simi- 
lar to  that  of  a  sallen  man,"—- Boswbia. 


without  your  ever  attempting  to  rescue  her; 
and  such  a  queen  too!  as  every  man  of  any 
gallantry  of  spirit  would  have  sacrificed  his 
Dfe  for."  Worthy  Ma.  James  Kerb,  keep- 
er of  the  records.  "  Half  our  nation  was 
bribed  by  English  monev."  Johnson. 
"  Sir,  that  is  no  defence:  tnat  makes  you 
worse."  Good  Mr.  Brown,  keeper  of  the 
advocates'  library.  "We  had  better  say 
nothing  about  it"  Boswrll.  "You 
would  have  been  glad,  however,  to  have 
had  us  last  war,  sir,  to  fight  your  battles! " 
Johnson.  "We  should  have  had  you  for  the 
same  price,  though  there  had  been  no  union, 
as  we  might  hsve  had  Swiss,  or  other  troops. 
No,  no,  I  shall  agree  to  a  separation.  You 
have  only  to  go  home."  Just  as  he  had 
said  this,  I,  to  divert  the  subject,  showed 
him  the  signed  assurances  of  the  three  suc- 
cessive kings  of  the  Hanover  family,  to 
maintain  the  presbyterian  establishment  in 
Scotland.  "  We'll  give  you  that,"  said  he, 
"■into  the  bargain  s." 

We  next  went  to  the  great  church  of  St. 
G«les,  which  has  lost  its  original  magnifi- 
cence in  the  inside,  by  being  divided  into 
four  places  of  presbyterian  worship. 
"Come,"  said  Dr.  Johnson  jocularly  to 
Principal  Robertson4,  "let  me  see  what 
was  once  a  church  ! "  We  entered  that  di- 
vision which  was  formerly  called  the  New 
Church,  and  of  late  the  High  Church,  so 
well  known  by  the  eloquence  of  Dr.  Hugh 
Blair. "  It  is  now  very  elegantly  fitted  up  ; 
but  it  was  then  shamefully  dirty.  Dr.  John- 
son said  nothing  at  the  time ;  but  when  we 
came  to  the  great  door  of  the  roval  infirma- 
ry, where,  upon  a  board,  was  this  inscrip- 
tion, "  Clean  your  feet! "  he  turned  about 
slily,  and  said,  "  There  is  no  occasion  for 
putting  this  at  the  doors  of  your  churches ! " 

We  then  conducted  him  down  the  Post- 
house-stairs,  Parliament-close,  and  made 
him  look  up  from  the  Cowgate  to  the  high- 
est building  in  Edinburgh  (from  which  he 
had  just  descended),  being  thirteen  doors 
or  stories  from  the  ground  upon  the  back 
elevation;  the  front  wall  being  built  upon 
the  edge  of  the  hill,  and  the  back  wall  rising 
from  the  bottom  of  the  hill  several  stories 
before  it  comes  to  a  level  with  the  front 
wall.  We  proceeded  to  the  college,  with 
the  Principal  at  our  head.    Dr.  Adam  Fer- 


[Thsi 


to  bo  that,  in  a  fit  of 


jaeobite  jocularity,  Johnson  was  willing,  hi  con- 
sideration of  the  diBoMon  of  the  Union,  to  al- 
low the  Hanover  family  to  reign  in  Scotland,  m- 
feiring,  of  cewse,  that  the  Stuarts  were  to  reign 
in  Ensiand.— — Ed.  J 

«  leave  hitherto  called  him  Dr.  William  Rob- 


to  distrngnish  him  from  Dr.  James  Rob- 
ertson, who  if  soon  to  make  hie  appearance,  bat 
Principal,  from  his  being  the  head  of  oar  college, 
is  his  nsaal  designation,  and  k  shorter;  so  I T  "* 
ass  it  hereafter.— Boswsuu 


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334 


1771— dETAT.  64. 


[TOUR  TO 


gnssoit,  whose  "  Essay  on  the  History  of 
Civil  Society  "  rives  him  a  respectable  place 
in  the  ranks  of  literature,  was  with  us.  As 
the  college  buildings  are  indeed  very  mean, 
the  Principal  said  to  Dr.  Johnson,  that  he 
must  give  them  the  same  epithet  that  s  Jesu- 
it did  when  showing  a  poor  college  abroad: 
"  Hm  mueria  nostra."  Dr.  Johnson  was, 
however,  much  pleased  with  the  library, 
and  with  the  conversation  of  Dr.  James 
Robertson,  professor  of  oriental  languages, 
the  librarian.  We  talked  of  KennicotfS  edi- 
tion i  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  hoped  it 
would  be  quite  faithful.  John  son.  "  Sir, 
I  know  not  any  crime  so  great  that  a  man 
could  contrive  to  commit,  as  poisoning  the 
sources  of  eternal  truth." 

I  pointed  out  to  him  where  there  former- 
ly stood  an  old  wall  enclosing  part  of  the 
college,  which  I  remember  bulged  out  in  a 
threatening  mannner,  and  of  which  there 
was  a  common  tradition  similar  to  that  con- 
cerning Bacon's  study  at  Oxford,  that  it 
would  fall  upon  some  very  learned  man. 
It  had  some  time  before  this  been  taken 
down,  that  the  street  might  be  widened, 
and  a  more  convenient  wall  built.  Dr. 
Johnson,  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  have  a 
pleasant  hit  at  Scottish  learning,  said  "they 
have  fceen  afraid  it  never  would  fall." 

We  showed  him  the  royal  infirmary,  for 
which,  and  for  every  other  exertion  of  ren- 
erous  publick  spirit  in  his  power,  that  noble- 
minded  citizen  of  Edinburgh,  George 
Drummond,  will  be  ever  held  in  honoura- 
ble remembrance.  And  we  were  too  proud 
not  to  carry  him  to  the  abbey  of  Holyrood 
House,  that  beautiful  piece  of  architecture, 
but,  alas!  that  deserted  mansion  [of  royalty, 
which  Hamilton  of  Bangour,  in  one  of  his 
elegant  poems9,  calls 
"  A  virtuous  palace,  when  do  monarch  dwell*" 

I  was  much  entertained  while  Principal 
Robertson  fluently  harangued  to  Dr.  John- 
son, upon  the  spot,  concerning  scenes  of 
his  celebrated  History  of  Scotland.,  We 
surveyed  that  part  of  the  palace  appropri- 
ated to  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  as  keeper, 
in  which  our  beautiful  Queen  Mary  lived, 
and  in  which  David  Rizzio  was  murdered, 
and  also  the  state  rooms.    Dr.  Johnson 

1  [See  onto,  171.— En.] 

*  [We  may  suspect  that  Mr.  BosweU's  admi- 
ration of  Hamilton  was  enhanced  by  something 
even  stronger  than  mere  nationality.  Mr.  Ham- 
ilton was  a  gentleman  of  Ayrshire,  Mr.  BoswelTs 
own  county,  and  actually  bore  aims  at  Culloden 
for  the  Jacobite  cause.  The  poem  from  which 
this  line  is  quoted  is  called  an  epitaph,  and  is 
filled  wi(h  alternate  satire  and  eulogy  on  persons 
now  forgotten.  The  line  itself  appears  to  be 
nonsense;  <<  a  virtuous  hovel,  were  no  shepherd 
dwells,  *  'would  have  just  as  much  meaning/— Ed.] 


was  a  great  reciter  of  all  sorts  of  things, 
serious  or  comical.  I  overheard  him  re- 
peating here,  in  a  kind  of  muttering  tone, 
a  line  of  the  eld  ballad,  "  Johnny  Arm- 
strong's Last  Good  Night" 

"  And  ran  him  through  the  fair  body  * !  " 

We  returned  to.  my  house,  where  there 
met  him,  at  dinner,  the  Duchess  of  Doug- 
las4, Sir  Adolphus  Oughton,  Lord  Chief 
Baron  [Orde],  Sir  William  Forbes,  Princi- 
pal Robertson,  Mr.  Cullen,  advocate.  Be- 
fore dinner,  he  told  us  of  a  curious  conver- 
sation between  the  famous  George  Faulk- 
ner and  him.  George  said,  that  England 
had  drained  Ireland  of  fifty  thousand  pounds 
in  specie,  annually,  for  fifty  years.  "  How 
so,  sir?"  said  Dr.  Johnson:  "you  must 
have  very  great  trade?"  "No  trade." 
«  Very  rich  mines?"  "  No  mines."  «  Frdm 
Whence,  then,  does  all  this  money  come?" 
"  Come !  why  out  of  the  blood  and  bowels 
of  the  poor  people  of  Ireland !" 

He  seemed  to  me  to  have  an  unaccount- 
able prejudice  against  Swift  5:  for  I  once 
took  the  liberty  to  ask  him,  if  Swift  had 

EersonaUy  offended  him,  and  he  told  me, 
e  had  not  He  said  to-day,  "Swift  is 
clear,  but  he  is  shallow.  In  coarse  humour 
he  is  inferior  to  Arbuthnot:  in  delicate  hu- 
mour he  is  inferior  to  Addison.  So  he  is 
inferior  to  his  contemporaries,  without  put- 
ting him  against  the  whole  world.  1  doubt 
if  the '  Tale  of  a  Tub '  was  his  ;  it  has  so 
much  more  thinking,  more  knowledge, 
more  power,  more  colour,  than  any  of  the 
works  which  are  indisputably  his.     If  it 


*  Hie  stanza  from  which  he  took  this  line  is, 

"  Bat  then  rose  up  si)  Edinburgh, 

Hie?  rote  up  by  thosusiHto  three; 
A  cowardly  Soot  coma  John  behind, 

And  rsn  him  through  the  our  body ! 


4  [Margaret,  daughter  of  Jamas  Douglas,  esq. 
of  the  Mains.  "  An  old  lady,"  writes  Dr.  John- 
son, "  who  talks  broad  Scotch  with  a  paralytic 
Toice,  and  is  scarce  understood  by  her  own  coun- 
trynien. "--Xettert,  v.  i.  209.— Ed.) 

*  [There  probably  was  no  opportunity  for  what 
could  be,  in  strictness,  called  personal  offence, 
as  there  was  no  personal  intercourse  between 
Swift  and  Johnson;  but  the  editor  agrees  with 
Mr.  Seawall  in  suspecting  that  there  was  some 
such  cans*  for  Johnson's  otherwise  "  uuacroW- 
aWe  prejudice"  (aes  ante,  p.  51).  What  could 
Johnson  mean  by  calling  Swift  "  shallow V9  If 
he  be  shallow,  who,  in  his  department  of  litera- 
ture, is  profound  ?  Without  admitting  that  Swift 
was  "  inferior  in  coarse  humour  to  Arbuthnot " 
(of  whose  precise  share  in  the  works  to  which  he 
is  supposed  to  have  contributed,  we  know  little 
or  nothing),  it  may  be  observed,  that  he  who  is 
second  to  the  greatest  mastes  of  different  styles 
may  be  said  to  be  the  first  on  .the  whole. 
See  as  to  the  Tale  of  a  Tub,  ante,  p.  202— Ed. 


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HEBRIDES.] 

was  his,  I  shall  only  say,  he  was  impar 
Mi" 

We  gave  him  as  good  a  dinner  as  we 
could.  Our  Scotch  muir-fowl,  or  grouse, 
were  then  abundant,  and  quite  in  season: 
and,  so  far  as  wisdom  and  wit  can  be  aided 
by  administering  agreeable  sensations  to 
the  palate,  my  wife  took  care  that  our  great 
guest  should  not  be  deficient. 

Sir  Adolphus  Oughton,  then  our  deputy 
commander  in  chief,  who  was  not  only  an 
excellent  officer,  but  one  of  the  most  uni- 
versal scholars  * 1  ever  knew,  had  learned 
the  Erse  language,  and  expressed  his  belief 
in  the  authenticity  of  Ossian's  Poetry. 
Dr.  Johnson  took  the  opposite  side  of  that 
perplexed3 question,  anal  was  afraid  the 
dispute  would  have  run  high  between  them. 
But  Sir  Adolphus,  who  had  a  very  sweet 
temper,  changed  the  discourse,  grew  play- 
ful, laughed  at  Lort  Monboddo's  notion  of 
men  having  tails,  and  called  him  a  judge 
h  posteriori,  which  amused  Dr.  Johnson, 
and  thus  hostilities  were  prevented. 

At  supper  we  had  Dr.  Cullen,  his  son 
the  advocate,  Dr.  Adam  Fergusson,  and 
Mr.  Crosbie,  advocated  Witchcraft  was 
introduced.  Mr.  Crosbie  said  he  thought 
it  the  greatest  blasphemy  to  suppose  evil 
spirits  counteracting  the  Deity,  and  raising 
storms,  for  instance,  to  destroy  his  crea- 
tures. Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  if  moral  evil 
be  consistent  with  the  government  of  De- 
ity, why  may  not  physical  evil  be  also  con- 
sistent with  it?  It  is  not  more  strange  that 
there  should  be  evil  spirits  than  evu  men: 
evil  unembodied  spirits,  than  evil  embodied 
spirits.  And  as  to  storms,  we  know  there 
are  such  things;  and  it  is  no  worse  that 
evil  spirits  raise  them  than  that  they  rise.1' 
Crosbie.  "But  it  is  not  credible  that 
witches  should  have  effected  what  they  are 
said  in  stories  to  have  done."  Johnson. 
"  Sir,  I  am  not  defending  their  credibility. 
I  am  only  saying  that  your  arguments  are 
not  good,  and  ww  not  overturn  the  belief 
of  witchcraft. — fDr.  Fergusson  said  to  me 
aside, '  Be  is  right.') — And  then,  sir,  you 
have  all  mankind,  rude  and  civilized,  agree- 
ing in  the  belief  of  the  agency  of  preter- 
natural powers.    Tou  must  take  evidence; 


1778.— ^TAT.  64. 


835 


1  [Lord  StoweU  remembers  with  pleasure  the 
elegance  and  extent  of  Sir  Adolphus  Ough- 
ton's  Uteratare,  and  the  suavity  of  his  manners.— 
En.] 

*  [A  question  perplexed  only  by  national 
prejudices,  heightened,  in 'a  few  cases,  by  indi- 
vidual obstinacy. — Ed.] 

*  [Lord  StoweU  recollects  that  Johnson  was 
treated  by  the  Scotch  literati  with  a  degree  of 
deference  bordering  on  pasUlaaimity  ;  bat  he  ex- 
cepts from  that  observation  Mr.  Crosbie,  whom 
he  characterises  as  an  intrepid  talker,  and  the 
only  man  who  was  disposed  to  stand  up  (as 
the  phrase  is)  to  Johnson.— -En.] 


Sou  must  consider  that  wise  and  great  men 
ave  condemned  witches  to  die."  Crosbie. 
"  But  an  act  of  parliament  put  an  end  to 
witchcraft."  Johnson.  st  Wo,  sir,  witch- 
craft had  ceased  ;  and,  therefore,  an  act  of 
parliament  was  passed  to  prevent  persecu- 
tion for  what  was  not  witchcraft.  Why 
it  ceased  we  cannot  tell,  as  we  cannot  tell 
the  reason  of  many  other  things.  Dr.  Cul- 
len, to  keep  up  the  gratification  of  mys- 
terious disquisition,  with  the  grave  address 
for  which  he  is  remarkable  in  his  compan- 
ionable as  in  his  professional  hours,  talked, 
in  a  very  entertaining  manner,  of  people 
walking  and  conversing  in  their  sleep.  I 
am  very  sorry  I  have  no  note  of  this  *.  We 
talked  of  the  ouran-outang,  and  of  Lord 
Monboddo's  thinking  that  he  might  be 
taught  to  speak.  Dr.  Johnson  treated  this 
with  ridicule.  Mr.  Crosbie  said  that  Lord 
Monboddo  believed  the  existence  of  every 
thing  possible:  in  short,  that  all  which  is  in 
posse  might  he  found  in  esse.  Johnson. 
"  But,  sir,  it  is  as  possible  that  the  ouran- 
outang  does  not  speak,  as  that  he  speaks. 
However,  I  shall  not  contest  the  point.  I 
should  have  thought  it  not  possible  to  find  a 
Monboddo ;  yet  he  exists."  I  again  mention- 
ed the  stage.  Johnson.  "  The  appearance 
of  a  player,  with  whom  I  have  drunk  tea, 
counteracts  the  imagination  that  he  is  the 
character  he  represents.  Nay,  you  know, 
nobody  imagines  that  he  is  the  character 
he  represents.  They  say,  «  See  Garrick ! 
how  he  looks  to-night !  See  how  he  'II 
clutch  the  dagger!'  That  is  the  buzz  of 
the  theatre." 

Tuesday,  17th  August—Sir  William 
Forbes  came  to  breakfast,  and  brought  with 
him  Dr.  Blacklock «,  whom  he  introduced 
to  Dr.  Johnson,  •  who  received  him  with  a 
most  humane  complacency;  "  Dear  Dr. 
Blacklock,  I  am  glad  to  see  you !"  Blacklock 
seemed  to  be  much  surprised  when  Dr. 
Johnson  said  "  it  was  easier  to  him  to  write 

gietry  than  to  compose  his  Dictionary, 
is  mind  was  less  on  the  stretch  in  doing 
the  pne  than  the  other  8.  Besides,  com- 
posing a  dictionary  requires  books  and  a 
desk:  you  can  make  a  poem  walking  in  the 
fields,  or  lying-  in  bed."  Dr.  Blacklock 
spoke  of  scepticism  in  morals  and  religion 
with  apparent  uneasiness,  as  if  he  wished 


•  [See  in  the  Life  of  Blacklock,  in  Anderson** 
Brit.  Poets,  an  anecdote  of  Dr.  BlacUock's 
soninambnlism,  which  may  very  probably  have 
been  one  of  the  topics  on  this  occasion.— Ed.] 

•  [See  ante,  p.  80T.— Ed.] 

•  [There  is  hardly  any  operation  of  the  intel- 
lect which  requires  nicer  and  deeper  considera- 
tion than  definition,  A  thousand  men  may 
write  veraes,  for  one  who  has  the  power  of  defi- 
ning and  discriminating  the  exact  meaning  of 
words  and  the  principles  of  grammatical  arraage- 

— Ed.] 


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17T1.— JBTAT.  64. 


[tour  to 


for  more  certainty1.   Dt.  Johnson,  who  had 
thought  it  all  over,  and  whoae  vigorous  un- 
derstanding was  fortified  hy  much  experi- 
ence,   thus  encouraged  the  blind  bard  to 
apply  to  higher  speculations  what  we  all 
willingly  submit  to  in  common  life :  in  short, 
he  gave  him  inore  familiarly  the  able  and 
fair  reasoning  of  Butler's  Analogy:  "Why, 
sir,  the  greatest  concern  we  have  in  this 
world,  the  choice  of  our  profession,  must  be 
determined  without  demonstrative  reason- 
ing.   Human  life  is.  not  yet  so  well  known, 
as  that  we  can  have  it:  and  take  the  case 
of  a  man  who  is  ill.    I  call  two  physicians; 
they  differ  in  opinion.    I   am  not   to   lie 
down,  and  die  between  them:  I  must  do 
something."    The  conversation  then  turn- 
ed on  atheism;  on  that  horrible  book,  Sys- 
teme  de  la  Nature;  and  on  the  supposition 
of  an  eternal    necessity   without  design, 
without  a  governing  mind.    Johksoh.  "  If 
it  were  so,  why  has  it  ceased?  Why  don't 
we  see  men  thus  produced  around  us  now? 
Why,  at  least,  does  it  not  keep  pace,  in 
some  measure,  with  the  progress  of  time? 
If  it  stops  because  there  is  now  no  need  of 
it,  then  it  is  plain  there  is,  and  ever  has 
been,    an  all-powerful  intelligence.      But 
stay!  (said  he,  with  dne  of  his  satirick 
laughs).      Ha!  ha!  ha!  I    shall    suppose 
Scotchmen  made  necessarily,  and  English- 
men by  choice." 

At  dinner  this  day  we  had  Sir  Alexander 
Dick,  whose  amiable  character  and  inge- 
nious and  cultivated  mind  are  so  generally 
known  ;  (he  was  then  on  the  verge  of  sev- 
enty, and  is  now  (1785)  eighty-one,  with 
his  faculties  entire,  his  heart  warm,  and  his 
temper  gay) ;  Sir  David  Dalrymple,  Lord 
Hailes;  Mr.  Maclaurin*,  advocate;  Dr. 
Gregory,  who  now  worthily  fills  his  father's 
medical  chair  ;  and  my  uncle,  Dr.  Boaweil. 
This  was  one  of  Dr.  Johnson's  best  days. 
He  was  quite  in  his  element.  All  was  litera- 
ture and  taste,  without  any  interruption. 
Lord  Hailes,  who  is  one  of  the  best  philolo- 
gists in  Great  Britain,  who  has  written  pa- 
pers in  the  World,  and  a  variety  of  other 
works  in  prose  and  in  verse,  both  Latin  and 
English,  pleased  him  highly.  He  told  him 
he  had  discovered  the  Life  of  Cheynel,  in 
the  Student,  to  be  his.  Johnson.  "  No 
one  else  knows  it"  Dr.  Johnson  had  before 
this  dictated  to  me  a  law-paper  3  upon  a 
question  purely  in  the  law  or  Scotland,  con- 
cerning vicious  intromission^  that  is  to  say, 
intermeddling  with  the  effects  of  a  deceased 
person,  without  a  regular  title ;  which  for- 
merly was  understood  to  subject  the  inter- 
meddler  to  payment  of  all  the  defunct's 
debts.    The  principle  has  of  late  been  re- 


laxed. Dr.  Johnson*  argument  was  for  a 
renewal  of  its  strictness.  The  paper  was 
printed,  with  additions  by  me,  and  riven 
into  the  court  of  session.  Lord  Hailes  knew 
Dr.  Johnson's  part  not  to  be  mine,  and  point- 
ed out  exactly  where  it  began  and  where  it 
ended.  "  Dr.  Johnson  said  "  It  is  much  now 
that  his  lordship  can  distinguish  so.'* 

In   Dr.  Johnson's    Vanity    of  Human 
Wishes  there  is  the  following  passage  : 


.    l  See  his  letter  on  this  subject  in  the  Appendix. 

— Boswaxi,. 
*  [See  ante,  p.  208.— Ed.]  • 

9  [See  ante,  p.  800,  end  Appendix.— En.] 


"  The  teeming  mother,  anxious  for  her  race, 
Begs,  for  each  hirth,  the  fortune  of  a  free : 
Yet  Vane  could  tell  what  ilk  from  beauty  spring; 
And  Sedley  caned  the  charms  which  pleaeed  a 
king."  • 

Lord  Hailes  told  hjm  he  was  mistaken  in 
the  instances  he  had  given  of  unfortunate 
fair  ones ;  for  neither  vane  nor  Sedley  had 
a  title  to  that  description.  His  lordship  has 
since  heen  so  obliging  as  to  send  me  a  note 
of  this,  for  the  communication  of  which  1^ 
am  sure  my  readers  will  thank  me. 

"  The  lines  in  the  tenth  Satire  of  Juvenal, 
according  to  my  alteration,  should  have 
run  thus  : 

« Yet  Shore « eooJd  tell  -^— ; 
And  Veliere*  caned ' 

"  The  first  was  a  penitent  hy  compulsion, 
the  second  hy  sentiment;  though  the  truth 
is,  Mademoiselle  de  la  Valliere  threw  herself 
(hut  still  from  sentiment)  in  the  king's  way. 

"  Our  friend  chose  Vane  6,  who  was  far 
from  being  well-looked  ;  and  Sedley  7,  who 
was  so  ugly  that  Charles  II.  said  his  brother 
had  her  by  way  of  penance  8.w 

«  Mistress  of  Edward  IV.— Boswelx.. 

•  Mistreat  of  Look  XIV. — Boswell. 

•  [See  ante,  p.  78.— Ed.] 

•  ["Catharine  Sedley,  created  Countess  of 
Dorchester  for  life.  Her  lather,  Sir  Charles,  re- 
senting the  seduction  of  his  daughter,  joined  in 
the  Whig  measures. of  the  Revolution,  and  ex- 
cused his  revolt  from  James  under  an  ironical 
profession  of  gratitude.  "  His  majesty,"  said  he, 
« having  done  me  the  unlooked-for  honour  of 
making  my  daughter  a  countess,  I  cannot  do  less 
in  return  man  endeavour  to  make  his  daughter  a 
queen."— En.] 

•  [Lord  Hailes  was  hypocritical.  Vane  was 
handsome,  or,  what  is  more  to  our  purpose,  ap- 
peared so  to  her  royal  lover;  and  Sedley,  what- 
ever others  may  have  thought  of  her,  had  "  the 
charms  which  pleased  a  king."  So  that  John- 
son's illustrations  are  morally  just  His  lordship's 
proposed  substitution  of  a  fabulous  (or  at  least 
apochryphal)  beauty  like  Jane  Shore,  whose  sto- 
ry, even  if  true,  was  obsolete ;  or  that  of  a  for- 
eigner, like  MUe.  De  La  Valliere,  little  known 
end  less  cared  for  amongst  us,  is  not  only  tasteless 
bat  inaccurate;  for  Mile.  De  La  Valtiere's  beauty 
was  quite  as  much  questioned  bv  her  contempo- 
raries as  Man  Sedley's.  Bussy  Kabutm  was  ex- 
iled for  sneering  at  Louis* s  admimnoa  of  her 

which  be  calls 


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HEBRIDES.] 

Mr.  Maclaurin's1  learning  and  talents 
enabled  him  to  do  Jiis  part  very  well  in  Dr. 
Johnson's  company,  tie  produced  two  ep- 
itaphs upon  his  father,  the  celebrated  ma- 
thematician. O  ne  w  as  in  English ,  of  which 
Dr.  Johnson  did  not  change  one  word.  In 
the  other*,  which  was  in  Latin,  he  made  sev- 
eral alterations.  In  place  of  the  very  words 
of  Virgil,  "  Ubi  luctus  et  pavor  et  plurima 
mortis  imago,"  he  wrote  "  Ubi  luctus  reg- 
nant et  pavor."  He  introduced  the  word 
prorsus  into  the  line  "  Mortalibus  prorsus 
non  absit  solatium,"  and  after  "  Hujus  en- 
im  scripta  evolve,"  he  added,  "  Mentemque 
tantarum  rerum  capacem  corpori  caduco 
superstitera  crede ;"  which  is  quite  appli- 
cable to  Dr.  Johnson  himself3. 


1778.— ^TAT.  64. 


337 


on  bee  smouraux, 


Qui  <fttne  oreiile  d  Pautre  vo.' 

And  Madame  Da  Pleusis-Believre  writes  to  Fou- 
quet,  ••  Mile.  De  La  Valliere  a  fait  la  capable 
covers  moi.  Je  l'ay  encensee  par  sa  beaute, 
qui  n*e$t  pourtant  pas  grande."  And,  final- 
ly, after  Lord  Hailes  had  clipped  down  the  name 
of  De  La  Valliere  into  Valliere,  his  ear 
might  have  told  him  that  it  did  not  even  yet  fit 
the  metre. — Ed.] 

1  [Mr.  Maclaurin,  advocate,  son  of  the  great 
mathematician,  and  afterwards  a  judge  of  session 
by  the  title  of  Lord  Dreghorn.  He  wrote  some 
indifferent  English  poems;  bat  was  a  good  Latin 
scholar,  and  a  man  of  wit  and  accomplishment. 
His  quotations  from  the  classics  were  particularly 
apposite.  In  the  famous  case  of  Knight ,  which 
determined  the  right  of  a  slave  to  freedom  if  he 
landed  in  Scotland,  Maclaurin  pleaded  the  cause 
of  the  negro.  The  counsel  opposite  was  the  cel- 
ebrated Wight,  an  excellent  lawyer,  but  of  very 
homely  appearance,  with  heavy  features,  a  blind 
eye,  which  projected  from  the  socket,  a  swag 
belly,  and  a  limp.  To  him  Maclaurin  applied  the 
lines  of  Virgil, 

"Qoamvis  Hie  nJger,  qnamTis  tu  candidua  esses, 
O  formoae  puer,  nimiiim  ne  crede  colori." 

Mr.  Maclaurin  wrote  an  essay  against  the  Hom- 
erick  tale  of  "Troy  divine,"  I  believe,  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  introducing  a  happy  motto, 

u  Non  anni  domuere  decern,  non  mille  carina."— 

Waltbb  Scott.] 

3  Mr.  Maclaurin  *s  epitaph,  as  engraved  on  a 
marble  tombstone,  in  the  Gray-friars  churchyard, 
Edinburgh: 

Infra  situs  est 

COLIN  MACLAURIN, 

Mathes.  olim  in  Acad.  Edin.  Prof. 

Electus  ipso  Newtono  sasdente. 

[  H.  L.  P.  F. 

Non  at  nomini  paterno  consulat, 
|  Nam  tali  auxilio  nil  egel; 

1  Bed  ut  in  hoc  infelicl  campo, 

Ubi  luctus  regnant  et  pavor, 
I  Mortalibus  prorsui  non  absit  solatium: 

I  Hujus  enim  scripta  evolve, 

f  Mentemque  tantanun  rerum  capacem 

Corpori  caduco  superstitem  crede. 

I         [Johnson  probably  changed  the  "  eery  words  " 

of  Virgil,  not  thinking  an  exact  and  ostentations 

quotation  from  a  heathen  poet  quite  appropriate 

to    a  christian  epitaph.    The  whole  is,  as   it 

vol.  i.  43 


Mr.  Murray,  advocate,  who  married  a 
niece  of  Lord  Mansfield's,  and  is  now  one 
of  the  judges  of  Scotland,  by  the  title  of 
Lord  Henderland,  sat  with  us  a  part  of  the 
evening- ;  but  did  not  venture  to  say  any 
thing  that  I  remember,  though  he  is  cer- 
tainly possessed  of  talents  which  would  have 
enabled  him  to  have  shown  himself  to  advan- 
tage if  too  great  anxiety  had  not  prevented 
him. 

At  supper  we  had  Dr.  Alexander  Web- 
ster3, who,  though  not  learned,  "had  such  a 
knowledge  of  mankind,  such  a  fund  of  infor- 
mation and  entertainment,  so  clear  a  head, 
and  such  accommodating  manners,  that  Dr. 
Johnson  found  him  a  very  agreeable  com- 
panion. 

When  Dr.  Johnson  and  I  were  left  by 
ourselves,  I  read  to  him  my  notes  of  the 
opinions  of  our  judges  upon  the  questions 
of  literary  property.  He  did  not  like  them; 
and  said,  "  they  make  me  think  of  your 
judges  not  with  that  respect  which  I  should 
wish  to  do."  To  the  argument  of  one  of 
them,  that  there  can  be  no  property  in  blas- 
phemy or  nonsense,  he  answered,  "then 
your  rotten  sheep  are  mine ! — By  that  rule, 
when  a  man's  house  falls  into  decay,  he 
must  lose  it 4."  I  mentioned  an  argument 
of  mine,  that  literary  performances  are  not 
taxed.  As  Churchill  says, 
"  No  statesman  yet  has  thought  it  worth  his  pains 

To  tax  onr  labours,  or  excise  our  brains;" 


now  stands,  a  very  beautiful  and  affecting  inscrip- 
tion.— Ed.] 

3  [Dr.  Alexander  Webster  was  remarkable  for 
the  talent  with  which  he  at  once  supported  his 
place  in  convivial  society,  and  a  high  character 
as  a  leader  of  the  strict  and  rigid  presbyterian  par- 
ty in  the  church  of  Scotland,  which  certainly  seem- 
ed to  require  very  different  qualifications.  He 
was  ever  gay  amid  the  gayest :  when  it  once  oc- 
curred to  some  one  present  to  ask,  what  one  of 
his  Elders  would  think,  should  he  see  his  pastor 
in  such  a  merry  mood. — "  Think!"  replied  the 
doctor, "  wby  he  would  not  believe  his  own  eyes. '  • 
— Walter  Scott.] 

4  [Dr.  Johnson's  illustration  is  sophistical,  and 
might  have  been  retorted  upon  him:  for  if  a  man's 
sheep  are  so  rotten  as  to  render  the  meat  un- 
wholesome, or,  if  his  house  be  so  decayed  as  to 
threaten  mischief  to  passengers,  the  law  will  con- 
fiscate the  mutton  and  abate  the  house,  without 
any  regard  to  property,  which  the  owner  thus 
abuses.  Moreover,  Johnson  should  have  discrim- 
inated between  a  criminal  offence  and  a  civil 
right  Blasphemy  is  a  crime  :  would  it  not  be 
in  the  highest  degree  absurd,  that  there  should  be 
a  right  of  property  in  a  crime,  or  that  the  law 
should  be  called  upon  to  protect  that  which  is  il- 
legal ?  If  this  be  true  in  law,  it  is  much  more 
so  in  equity,  as  he  who  applies  for  the  extraor- 
dinary assistance  of  a  court  of  equity  should  have 
a  right,  consistent  at  least  with  equity  and  mor- 
als; and  a  late  question  was  so  decided,  and  upon 
that  principle,  by  the  greatest  judge  of  modem 
times,  Lord  EWon.— E».] 


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[toub  TO 


and  therefore  they  are  not  property.  "  Yet,w 
said  he, M  we  hang  a  man  for  stealing  a  horse, 
and  horses  are  not  taxed/'  Mr.  Pitt  has 
since  put  an  end  to  that  argument. 

Wednesday,  18* A  Juguat.— On  this  day 
we  set  out  from  Edinburgh.  We  should 
gladly  have  had  Mr.  Scott  to  go  with  us, 
but  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  England. 
I  have  given  a  sketch  of  Dr.  Johnson  :  my 
readers  may  wish  to  know  a  little  of  his 
fellow-traveller.  Think,  then,  of  a  gentle- 
man of  ancient  blood,  the  pride  of  which 
was  his  predominant  passion.  He  was  then 
in  his  thirty-third  year,  and  had  been  about 
four  years  happily  married.  His  inclina- 
tion was  to  be  a  soldier,  but  his  father,  a 
respectable  judge,  had  pressed  him  into  the 
profession  of  the  law.  He  had  travelled  a 
good  deal,  and  seen  many  varieties  of  hu- 
man life.  He  had  thought  more  than  any 
body  had  supposed,  and  had  a  pretty  good 
stock  of  general  learning  and  knowledge. 
He  had  all  Dr.  Johnson's  principles,  with 
some  degree  of  relaxation.  He  had  rather 
too  little  than  too  much  prudence ;  and,  his 
imagination  being  lively,  ne  often  said  things 
ef  which  the  effect  was  very  different  from 
the  intention.     He  resembled  sometimes 

"The  be*  good  man,  with  the  wont-natnred 


He  cannot  deny  himself  the  vanity  of  fin- 
ishing with  the  encomium  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
whose  friendly  partiality  to  the  companion 
of  his  tour  represents  him  as  one,  "  whose 
acu  teness  would  help  my  inquiry,  and  whose 
gaiety  of  conversation,  and  civility  of  man- 
ners, are  sufficient  to  counteract  the  incon- 
veniences of  travel,  in  countries  less  hospi- 
table than  we  have  passed  K" 
Dr.  Johnson  thought  it  unnecessary  to 

Eut  himself  to  the  additional  expense  of 
ringing  with  him  Francis  Barber,  his  faith- 
ful black  servant ;  so  we  were  attended  on- 
ly by  my  man,  Joseph  Ritter8,  a  Bohemian, 
a  fine  stately  fellow  above  six  feet  high, 
who  had  been  over  a  great  part  of  Europe, 
and  spoke  many  languages.  He  was  the 
best  servant  I  ever  saw.  Let  not  my  readers 
disdain  his  introduction.  For  Dr.  Johnson 
gave  him  this  character  :  "  Sir,  he  is  a  civil 
man,  and  a  wise  man." 

From  an  erroneous  apprehension  of  vio- 
lence, Dr.  Johnson  had  provided  a  pair  of 
pistols,  some  gunpowder,  and  a  quantity  of 
millets  :  but  upon  being  assured  we  should 


1  [Ho  omits  the  tendency  to  hypochondriasis, 
(sea  ante,  p.  23,  *.),  of  which,  however,  several 
Instances  will  appear  in  the  coarse  of  the  tour, 
and  which  was  a  very  important  feature  in  his  char- 
acter.—Ed.] 

1  [Joseph  Hitter  afterwards  undertook  the  man- 
agement of  the  large  inn  at  Pauley,  called  the 
Abereorn  Arms,  but  did  not  succeed  in  that 
-Waltx*  Scott.] 


run  no  risk  of  meeting  any  robbers,  he  left 
his  amis  and  ammunition  in  an  open  drawer, 
of  which  he  gave  my  wife  the  charge.  He 
also  left  in  that  drawer  one  volume  oft 
pretty  full  and  curious  Diary  of  hie  Life,  of 
which  I  have  a  few  fragments  5  but  the 
book  has  been  destroyed.  I  wish  female 
curiosity  had  been  strong  enough  to  have 
had  it  all  transcribed,  which  might  easily 
have  been  done,  and  I  should  think  the  theft 
being  pro  bono  publico,  might  have  been 
forgiven.  But  I  may  be  wrong.  My  wife 
told  me  she  never  once  looked  into  it.  She 
did  not  seem  quite  easy  when  we  left  her : 
but  away  we  went! 

Mr.  Nairne*,  advocate,  was  to  go  with 
us  as  far  as  4st  Andrews.  It  gives  me 
pleasure  that,  by  mentioning  his  name,- 1 
connect  his  title  to  the  just  and  handsome 
compliment  paid  him  by  Dr.  Johnson,  in 
his  book:  "A  gentleman  who  could  stay 
with  us  only  long  enough  to  make  us  know 
how  much  we  lost  by  his  leaving  us." 
When  we  came  to  Leith,  I  talked  with  per- 
haps too  boasting  an  air,  how  pretty  the 
Frith  of  Forth  looked;  as  indeed,  after  the 
prospect  from  Constantinople,  of  which  I 
have  been  told,  and  that  from  Naples,  which 
I  have  seen,  I  believe  the  view  or  that  Frith 
and  its  environs,  from  the  Castle-hill  of 
Edinburgh,  is  the  finest  prospect  in  Europe. 
"Ay,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "that  is  the 
state  of  the  world.  Water  is  the  same 
every  where. 

Una  est  injusti  cssrula  forma  maris4." 

I  told  him  the  port  here  was  the  mouth 
of  the  river  or  water  of  Leith,  "Not 
Lethe"  said  Mr.  Nairne.  "  Why,  sir," 
said  Dr.  Johnson,  "  when  a  Scotchman  sets 
out  from  this  port  for  England,  he  forgets 
his  native  country."  Nairn*.  "  I  hope, 
sir,  you  will  forget  England  here.**  Johh- 
soir.  "  Then  H  will  be  still  more  LeiKeJ9 
He  observed  of  the  pier  or  quay,  "  you 
have  no  occasion  for  so  large  a  one,  your 
trade  does  not  require  it:  but  you  are  like  a 
shopkeeper  who  takes  a  shop,  not  only  lor 
what  he  has  to  put  into  it,  but  that  it  may 


*  [Mr.  WUliam  Nairne,  afterwaidsSir  William, 
and  a  judge  of  the  court  of  season,  by  the  ti- 
de, made  classical  by  Shakspeare,  of  Lord7  Dun- 
sinnan.  He  was  a  man  of  scrupulous  integrity. 
When  sheriff  depute  of  Perthshire,  he  found,  upon 
reflection,  that  he  had  decided  a  poor  man's  case 
erroneously;  and  as  the  only  remedy,  supplied 
the  litigant  privately  with  money  to  carry  the  suit 
to  the  supreme  court,  where  his  judgment  wan  re- 
versed. Sir  William  was  of  the  eld  school  of 
manners,  somewhat  formal,  but  punctiliously  well 
bred. — Walts*  Scott.] 

*  Non  Que  urbet,  son  tn  mlrahere  rirrss 
Urn  est  Injusti  enrols  flans  msrto. 

Ovid.  Amor.  L  IL  et  li. 

Nor  groves  nor  towns  the  ruthless  ecsan  snows, 
Uavaries*  sdll  iu  i  -  -    -  * 


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irra,— iETAT.  44. 


389 


1m  believed  he  has  a  mat  deal  to  put  into 
it."  It  is  very  true,  that  there  is  now,  com- 
paratively, little  trade  upon  the  eastern 
coast  of  Scotland.  The  riches  of  Glasgow 
show  how  much  there  is  in  the  west ;  and, 
perhaps,  we  shall  find  trade  travel  westward 
on  a  great  scale  as  well  as  a  small. 
We  talked  of  a  man's  drowning  himself. 
I  Johnson.  "  I  should  never  think  it  time 
to  make  away  with  myself.'9  I  put  the  case 
of  Eustace  Budgell,  who  was  accused  of 
forging  a  will,  and  sunk  himself  in  the 
Thames,  before  the  trial  of  its  authenticity 
came  on.  "  Suppose,  sir,"  said  I,  "  that  a 
man  is  absolutely  sure,  that,  if  he  lives  a  few 
days  longer,  he  shall  be  detected  in  a  fraud, 
the  consequence  of  whtchrwill  be  utter  dis- 
grace and  expulsion  from  society."  John- 
son. "  Then,  sir,  let  him  go  abroad  to  a 
distant  country;  let  him  go  to  some  place 
where  he  is  not  known.  Don't  let  him  go 
to  the  devil,  where  he  is  known !" 

He  then  said,  "  I  see  a  number  of  people 
barefooted  here:  I  suppose  you  all  went  so 
before  the  Union.  Boswell,  your  ancestors 
went  so  when  they  had  as  much  land  as 
your  family  has  now.  Yet  Auchinleck  is 
the  Field  of  Stones;  there  would  be  bad 
going  bare-footed  there.  The  lairds,  how- 
ever, did  it."  I  bought  some  speldings,  fish 
(generally  whitings)  salted  and  dried  in  a 
particular  manner,  being  dipped  in  the  sea 
and  dried  in  the  sun,  and  eaten  by  the  Scots 
by  way  of  a  relish.  He  had  never  seen 
them,  though  they  are  sold  in  London.  I 
insisted  on  Scott  flying1  his  palate;  but  he 
was  very  reluctant  With  difficulty  I  pre- 
vailed with  him  to  let  a  bit  of  one  of  them 
lie  in  his  mouth.    He  did  not  like  it 

In  crossing  the  Frith,  Dr.  Johnson  deter- 
mined that  we  should  land  upon  Inch  Keith. 
On  approaching  it,  we  first  observed  a  high 
1  rocky  shore*.  We  coasted  about,  and  put 
I  into  a  little  bay  on  the  north-west  We 
F  clambered  up  a  very  steep  ascent,  on  which 
was  very  good  grass,  but  rather  a  profusion 
of  thistles.  There  were  sixteen  head  of  black 
cattle  grazing  upon  the  island.  Lord  Hailes 
observed  tome,  that  Bran  tome  calls  it  L'isle 
des  Chevaux,  and  that  it  was  probably  "  a 
safer  stable  "  than  many  others  in  his  time. 
The  fort,  with  an  inscription  on  it,  Maria 
Re,  1564,  is  strongly  built.  Dr.  Johnson 
examined  it  with  much  attention.  He  stalk- 
ed like  a  giant  among  the  luxuriant  thistles 
and  nettles.  There  are  three  wells  in  the 
island,  but  we  could  not  find  one  in  the  fort. 
There  must  probably  have  been  one,  though 
now  rilled  up,  as  a  garrison  could  not  sub- 
sist without  it*.     But  I  have  dwelt  too  long 


1  My  friend,  General  Campbell,  Governour  of 
ladras,  tells  me,  that  they  make  speldings  in  the 
;  India,  particularly  at  Bombay,  where  they 
can  them  Bambaloea.— Boawu.^ 

•  [The  remains  of  the  fort  have  been  removed, 


on  this  little  spot.  Dr.  Johnson  afterwards 
bade  me  try  to  write  a  description  of  our 
discovering  Inch  Keith,  in  the  usual  style 
of  travellers,  describing  fully  every  particu- 
lar; stating  the  grounds  on  which  we  con- 
cluded that  it  must  have  once  been  inhabit- 
ed, and  introducing  many  sage  reflections, 
and  we  should  see  how  a  thing  might  be 
covered  in  words,  so  as  U>  induce  people  to 
come  and  survey  it  All  that  was  told 
might  be  true,  and  yet  in  reality  there  might 
be  nothing  tosee.  He  said, "  I  'd  have  mis 
island.  I'd  build  a  house,  make  a  good 
landing-place,  have  a  garden,  and  vines, 
and  all  sorts  of  trees.  A  rich  man,  of  a  hos- 
pitable turn,  here,  would  have  many  visitors 
from  Edinburgh."  When  we  had  got  into 
our  boat  again,  he  called  to  me,  "  Come, 
now,  pay  a  classical  compliment  to  the  iai 
and  on  quitting  it."  I  happened  luckily, 
in  allusion  to  the  beautiful  Queen  Mary, 
whose  name  is  upon  the  fort,  to  think  of 
what  Virgil  makes  -Eneas  say,  on  having 
left  the  country  of  his  charming  Dido: 

"  Inviting,  regina,tuo  de  littore  nasi*.*9 


"  Very  well  hit  off!"  said  he. 

We  dined  at  Kinghorn,  and  then  got  in- 
to a  post-chaise.  Mr.  Nairne  and  his  ser- 
vant, and  Joseph,  rode  by  us.  We  stopped 
at  Cupar,  and  drank  tea.  We  talked  of 
Parliament;  and  I  said,  I  supposed  very  few 
of  the  members  knew  much  of  what  was  go- 
ing on,  as  indeed  very  few  gentlemen  knew 
much  of  their  own  private  affairs.  Johnson. 
"  Why,  sir,  if  a  man  is  not  of  a  sluggish 
mind,  he  may  be  his  own  steward.  If  he 
will  look  into  his  affairs,  he  will  soon  learn. 
So  it  is  as  to  publick  affairs.  There  must 
always  be  a  certain  number  of  men  of  busi- 
ness in  parliament."  Boswell.  "  But 
consider,  sir,  what  is  the  house  of  commons? 
Is  not  a  great  part  of  it  chosen  by  peers? 
Do  you  mink,  sir,  they  ought  to  have  such 
an  influence?"  Johnson.  "Yes,  sir.  In- 
fluence must  ever  be  in  proportion  to  proper- 
ty: and  it  is  right  it  should."  Boswell. 
"  But  is  there  not  reason  to  fear  that  the 
common  people  may  be  oppressed?"  John- 
son. "  No,  sir.  Our  great  fear  is  from 
want  of  power  in  government.  Such  a 
storm  of  vulga  r  force  has  broken  in. "  Bos- 
well.  "  It  has  only  roared."  Johnson. 
"  Sir,  it  has  roared,  till  the  judges  in  West- 

to  assist  in  constructing  a  veiy  useful  lighthouse 
upon  the  island. — Waltkb  Scott.] 

3  w  Unhappy  queii ! 

rJnwillinf  I  Jbnook  your  fHsndlg  % tate.n—Dtyden. 
— Boswsll. 

[Such  k  the  translation  which  Mr.  Boswell  gives, 
though  it  loses  one  of  the  points  of  his  very  happy 
quotation,  by  substituting  for  "  shore,*9  which  is 
the  proper  version,  the  words  "fiiendly  state," 
which,  on  this  occasion,  would  have  had  no  mean- 
ing whatsoever.— Ed.] 


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340 


1773— ^ETAT   64. 


minster-Hall  hive  been  afraid  to  pronounce 
sentence  in  opposition  to  the  popular  cry. 
Fou  are  frightened  by  what  is  no  longer 
dangerous,  like  presbyterians  bv  popery." 
He  then  repeated  a  passage,  I  think,  in  But- 
ler's Remains,  which  ends, "  and  would  cry 
fire !  fire !  in  Noah's  flood  K" 

We  had  a  dreary  drive,  in  a  dusky  night, 
to  St.  Andrews,  where  we  arrived  late. 
We  found  a  good  supper  at  Glass's  inn, 
and  Dr.  Johnson  revived  agreeably.  He 
said,  "  The  collection  called  c  The  Muses ' 
Welcome  to  King  James '  (first  of  England, 
and  sixth  of  Scotland),  on  his  return  to  his 
native  kingdom,  showed  that  there  was 
then  abundance  of  learning  in  Scotland; 
and  that  the  conceits  in  that  collection,  with 
which  people  find  fault,  were  mere  mode." 
He  added,  "  We  could  not  now  entertain  a 
sovereign  so;  that  Buchanan  had  spread  the 
spirit  or  learning  amongst  us,  but  we  had 
lost  it  during  the  civil  wars."  He  did  not 
allow  the  Latin  poetry  of  Pitcairne  so  much 
merit  as  has  been  usually  attributed  to  it; 
though  he  owned  that  one  of  his  pieces, 
which  he  "mentioned,  but  which  I  am  sorry 
is  not  specified  in  my  notes,  was  "  very  well." 
It  is  not  improbable  that  it  was  the  poem 
which  Prior  has  so  elegantly  translated  s. 

After  supper,  we  made  a  procession  to 
Saint  Leonard's  college,  the  landlord  walk- 
ing before  us  with  a  candle,  and  the  waiter 
with  a  lantern.  That  college  had  some 
time  before  been  dissolved;  and  Dr.  Wat- 


1  The  passage  quoted  by  Dr.  Johnson  is  in  the 
"  Character  of  the  Assembly  Man,1'  Butler's  Re- 
maim,  p.  232,  edit  1754:  "  He  preaches,  in- 
deed, both  in  season  and  out  of  season  ;  .for  he 
rails  at  Popery,  when  the  land  is  almost  lost  in 
Presbytery  ;  and  would  cry  fire  !  fire  !  in  Noah's 

flood* 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  piece  was 

not  written  by  Butler,  but  by  Sir  John  Birken- 
head; for  Wood,  in  his  Athena  Oxonientes,  vol. 
ii.  p.  640,  enumerates  it  among  that  gentleman's 
works,  and  gives  the  following  account  of  it: 
•'  *  The  Assembly  Man'  (or  the  character  of  an 
assembly  man),  written  1647,  Lond.  1662-3,  in 
three  sheets  in  onto.  The  copy  of  it  was  taken 
from  the  author  by  those  who  said  they  could  not 
rob,  because  all  was  theirs  ;  so  excised  what  they 
liked  not;  and  so  mangled  and  reformed  it,  that 
it  was  no  character  of  an  assembly,  but  of  them- 
selves, At  length,  after  it  had  slept  several  years, 
the  author  published  it,  to  avoid  false  copies.  It 
is  also  reprinted  in  a  book  entitled  'Wit  fend 
Loyalty  revived,'  in  a  collection  of  some  smart 
satyrs  in  verse  and  prose  on  the  late  times,  Lond. 
1682,  qnv  said  to  be  written  by  Abr.  Cowley, 
Sir  John  Birkenhead,  and  Hudibras,  alias  Sam. 
Butler."  For  this  information  I  am  indebted  to 
Mr.  Reed,  of  Staple  Inn. — Bos  well. 

1  [More  likely  the  fine  epitaph  on  John,  Vis- 
count of  Dundee,  translated  by  Dryden,  and  be- 
ginning    UlHnie     Scotorum,  -  kc-W^LTER 

UCOTT.J 


[tour  to  thk 

son,  a  professor  here  (the  historian  of  Philip 
II.J,  had  purchased  the  ground,  and  what 
buildings  remained.  When  we  entered  his 
court,  it  seemed  quite  academical;  and  we 
found  in  his  house  very  comfortable  and 
genteel  accommodation3. 

Thursday  9  19th  August, — We  rose  much 
refreshed.  I  had  with  me  a  map  of  Scot- 
land, a  Bible,  which  was  given  me  by  Lord 
Mountstuart  when  we  were  together  in 
Italy,  and  Ogden's  "  Sermons  on  Prayer." 
Mr.  Nairne  introduced  us  to  Dr.  Watson, 
whom  we  found  a  well-informed  man,  of 
very  amiable  manners.  Dr.  Johnson,  after 
they  were  acquainted,  said,  "  I  take  great 
delight  in  him."  His  daughter,  a  very 
pleasing  young  lady,  made  breakfast  Dr. 
Watson  observed,  that  Glasgow  university 
had  fewer  home  students  since  trade  increas- 
ed, as  learning  was  rather  incompatible  with 
it.  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  as  trade  is  now 
carried  on  by  subordinate  hands,  men  in 
trade  have  as  much  leisure  as  others ;  and 
now  learning  itself  is  a  trade.  A  man  goes 
to  a  bookseller,  and  gets  what  he  can.  We 
have  done  with  patronage.  In  the  infancy 
of  learning,  we  nnd  some  great  man  praised 
fiir  it.  This  diffused  it  among  others. 
When  it  becomes  general,  an  author  leaves 
the  great,  and  applies  to  the  multitude." 
Bos  well.  "  It  is  a  shame  that  authors  are 
not  now  better  patronised."  Johvson. 
"  No,  sir.  If  learning  cannot  support  a 
man,  if  he  must  sit  with  his  hands  across  till 
somebody  feeds  him,  it  is  as  to  him  a  bad 
thing,  and  it  is  better  as  it  is4.  With  patron- 
age, what  flattery !  what  falsehood !  While 
a  man  is  in  equilibrio,  he  throws  truth 
among  the  multitude,  and  lets  them  take  it 
as  they  please:  in  patronage,  he  must  say 
what  pleases  his  patron,  and  it  is  an  equal 
chance  whether  that  be  truth  or  falsehood." 
Watson,  "  But  is  it  not  the  case  now,  that, 
instead  of  flattering  one  person,  we  flatter  the 
age?"  Johnson.  "No,  sir.  The  world 
always  lets  a  man  tell  what  he  thinks  his  own 
way.  I  wonder,  however,  that  so  many  peo- 
ple'have  written,  who  might  have  let  it  alone. 
That  people  should  endeavour  to  excel  in 
conversation,  1  do  not  wonder;  because  in  con- 
versation praise  is  instantly  reverberated." 

We  talked  of  change  of  manners.  Dr. 
Johnson  observed,  that  our  drinking  leas 
than  our  ancestors  was  owing  to  the  (mange 
from  ale  to  wine.  "  I  remember,"  said  he, 
"when  all  the  decent  people  in  Lichfield 
got  drunks  every  night,  and  were  not  the 


*  My  journal,  from  this  day  inclusive,  was  read 
by  Dr.  Johnson. — Bos  well. 

4  [All  this  is  very  just,  bat  not  very  consistent 
with  his  complaint  of  Lord  Chesterfield's  ineffi- 
cient patronage.    See  ante,  p.  112,  fee — En.] 

*  [As  an  item  in  the  history  of  manners,  it  may 
be  observed,  that  drinking  to  excess  has  dunhv- 
ished  greatly  in  the  memory  even  of  those  who 


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HEBRIDES.} 

worse  thought  of!  Ale  was  cheap,  so  you 
pressed  strongly.  When  a  man  must  bring 
a  bottle  of  wine,  he  is  not  in  such  haste. 
Smoking  has  gone  out  To  be  sure,  it  is  a 
shocking  thing,  blowing  smoke  out  of  our 
mouths  into  other  people's  mouths,  eyes, 
and  noses,  and  having  the  same  thing  done 
to  us.  Yet  I  cannot  account,  why  a  thing 
which  requires  so  little  exertion,  and  yet 
preserves  the  mind  from  total  vacuity,  should 
nave  gone  out.  Every  man  has  something 
by  which  he  calms  himself;  beating  with 
his  feet,  or  so  i.  I  remember  when  people 
in  England  changed  a  shirt  -only  once  a 
week:  a  Pandour,  when  he  gets  a  shirt, 
greases  it  to  make  it  last.  Formerly,  good 
,  tradesmen  had  no  fire  but  in ,  the  kitchen; 
never  in  the  parlour,  except  on  Sunday.  My 
father,  who  was  a  magistrate  of  Lichfield, 
lived  thus.  They  never  began  to  have  a 
fire  in  the  parlour,  but  on  leaving  off  busi- 
ness, or  some  great  revolution  of  their  life." 
Dr.  Watson  said,  the  hall  was  as  a  kitchen, 
i  n  okl  «miresr houses.  Johnson.  "  No,  sir. 
The  hall  was  for  great  occasions,  and  never 
was  used  for  domestick  refection."  We 
talked  of  the  Union,  and  what  money  it  had 
brought  into  Scotland.  D  r.  Watson  observ- 
ed, that  a  little  money  formerly  went  as  far 
as  a  great  deal  now.  Johnson.  "*In  spec- 
ulation, it  seems  that  a  smaller  quantity  of 
money,  equal  in  value  to  a  larger  quantity, 
if  equally  divided,  should  produce  the  same 
effect.  But  it  is  not  bo  in  reality.  Many 
more  conveniencies  and  elegancies  are  en- 
joyed where  monev  is  plentiful,  than  where 
it  is  scarce.  Perhaps  a  great  familiarity 
with  it,  which  arises  from  plenty,  makes  us 
more  easily  part  with  it." 

After  what  Dr.  Johnson  had  said  of  St 
Andrews,  which  he  had  long  wished  to  see, 
as  our  oldest  university,  and  the  seat  of  our 
primate  in  the  days  of  episcopacy,  I  can  say 
fettle.  Since  the  publication  of  Dr.  John- 
son's book,  I  find  that  he  has  been  censured 
for  not  seeing  here  the  ancient  chapel  of  St. 
Rule2,  a  curious  piece  of  sacred  architec- 
ture. But  this  was  neither  his  fault  nor 
mine.  We  were  both  of  us  abundantly  de- 
sirous of  surveying  such  sort  of  antiquities; 


1773.— iETAT.  64. 


841 


can  remember  forty  or  fifty  yean.    The  taste  for 
smoking,  however,  haa  revived,  probably  from 

[  the  military  habits  of  Europe  during  the  French 
•ran;  bat  instead  of  the  sober  sedentary  pipe,  the 
ambulatory  cigar  is  now  chiefly  used.  See  ante, 
p.  137,  an  observation  of  Johnson's  that  insanity 
bad  increased  as  smoking  declined. — Ed.] 

1  Dr.  Johnson  used  to  practise  this  himself  very 
much. — Boswell. 

*  [It  is  very  singular  how  they  could  miss  see- 

!  ing  St.  Rale's  chapel,  an  ecclesiastical  building, 
the  most  ancient,  perhaps,  in  Great  Britain.  It  is 
a  square  tower,  which  stands  close  by  the  ruins  of 
the  old  cathedral  Martin1*  Antiquitatts  Dim 
Andrei  are  now  published.— Walter  Scott.] 


hut  neither  of  us  knew  of  this.  I  am  afraid 
the  censure  must  fall  on  those  who  did  not 
tell  us  of  it.  In  everyplace,  where  there  is 
any  thing-  worthy  of  observation,  there 
should  be  a  short  printed  directory  for  stran- 

fers,  such  as  we  find  in  all  the  towns  of 
taly,  and  in  some  of  the  towns  in  England. 
I  was  told  that  there  is  a  manuscript  account 
of  St.  Andrews,  by  Martin,  secretary  to 
Archbishop  Sharp;  and  that  one  Douglas 
has  published  a  small  account  of  it  I  in- 
quired at  a  bookseller's,  but  could  not  get  it. 
a7r.  Johnson's  veneration  for  the  hierarchy 
is  well  known.  There  is  no  wonder,  then, 
that  he  was  affected  with  strong  indignation, 
while  he  beheld  the  ruins  of  religious  mag- 
nificence. I  happened  to  ask  where  John 
Knox  was  buried.  Dr.  Johnson  burst  out, 
"  I  hope  in  the  highway.  I  have  been  look- 
ing at  his  reformations." 

It  was  a  very  fine  day.  Dr.  Johnson 
seemed  quite  wrapt  up  in  the  contemplation 
of  the  scenes  which  were  now  presented  to 
him.  He  kept  his  hat  off  while  he  was  up- 
on any  part  of  the  ground  where  the  cathe- 
dral had  stood.  He  said  well,  that,  "Knox 
had  set  on  a  mob,  without  knowing  where 
it  would  end;  and  that  differing  from  a 
man  in  doctrine  was  no  reason  why  you 
should  pull  his  house  about  his  ears."  As 
we  walked  in  the  cloisters,  there  was  a  sol- 
emn echo,  while  he  talked  loudly  of  a  prop- 
er retirement  from  the  world.  Mr.  Nairne 
said,  he  had  an  inclination  to  retire.  I  call- 
ed Dr.  Johnson's  attention  to  this,  that  I 
might  hear  his  opinion  if  it  was  right. 
Johnson.  "Yes,  wh«n  he  has  done  his 
duty  to  society.  In  general,  as  every  man 
is  obliged  not  only  to  *  love  God,  but  his 
neighbour  as  himself,'  he  must  bear  his  part 
in  active  life ;  yet  there  are  exceptions. 
Those  who  are  exceedingly  scrupulous 
(which  1  do  not  approve,  for  I  am  no  friend 
to  scruples),  and  find  their  scrupulosity  in- 
vincible, so  that  they  are  quite  in  the  dark, 
and  know  not  what  they  shall  do, — or  those 
who  cannot  resist  temptations,  and  find 
they  make  themselves  worse  by  being  in  the 
world,  without  making  it  better,  may  retire. 
I  never  read  of  a  hermit,  but  in  imagination 
I  kiss  his  feet;  never  of  a  monastery,  but  I 
could  fall  on  my  knees,  and  kiss  the  pave- 
ment. But  I  think  putting  young  people 
there,  who  know  nothing  of  life,  nothing  of 
retirement,  is  dangerous  and  wickad.  ft  is 
a  saying  as  old  as  Hesiod, 

cEf)*t  rear,  fUvkoun  ftw«r,  wx*m  yqirrm*.* 
That  is  a  very  noble  line :  not  that  young 
men  should  not  pray,  or  old  men  not  give 
counsel,  but  that  every  season  of  life  has  its 

9  "  Let  youth  in  deeds,  in  counsel  man  engage : 
Prayer  Is  the  proper  duty  of  old  age."— Boswbll. 

[See,  on  this  interesting  subject,  ante,  p.  227. 
—Ed.] 


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1773.— iETAT.  64. 


proper  duties*  I  have  thought  of  retiring, 
and  have  talked  of  it  to  a  friend;  but  I  find 
my  vocation  is  rather  to  active  life."  I 
•aid,  some  young  monks  might  be  allowed, 
to  show  that  it  is  not  age  alone  that  can  re- 
tire to  pious  solitude;  but  he  thought  this 
would  only  show  that  they  could  not  resist 
temptation. 

He  wanted  to  mount  the  steeples,  but  it 
could  not  be  done.  There  are  no  good  in- 
scriptions here.  Bad  Roman  characters  he 
naturally  mistook  for  half  Gothick,  half  Ro- 
man. One  of  the  steeples,  which  he  was 
told  was  in  danger,  he  wished  not  to  be  ta- 
ken down:  "  for,"  said  he,  "  it  may  fall  on 
some  of  the  posterity  of  John  Knox;  and 
no  great  matter  *  ! "  Dinner  was  mention- 
ed. Johnson.  "  Ay,  ay,  amidst  all  these 
sorrowful  scenes,  I  have  no  objection  to 
dinner." 

We  went  and  looked  at  the  castle  where 
Cardinal  Beaton  was  murdered3,  and  then 
visited  Principal  Murison  at  his  college, 
where  is  a  food  library  room;  but  the  Prin- 
cipal was  abundantly  vain  of  it,  for  he  seri- 
ously said  to  Dr.  Johnson,  "  You  have  not 
such  a  one  in  England3." 

The  professors  entertained  us  with  a  very 
good  dinner.  Present:  Murisen,  Shaw, 
Cooke,  Hill,  Haddo,  Watson,  Flint,  Brown. 
I  observed,  that  I  wondered  to  see  him  eat 
so  well,  after  viewing  so  many  sorrowful 
scenes  of  ruined  religious  magnificence. 
"  Why,"  said  he,  "  I  am  not  sorry,  after 
seeing-  these  gentlemen,  for  they  are  not 
sorry."    Murison  said,  all  sorrow  was  bad, 


1  [These  towers  have  been  repaired  by  the  gov- 
ernment, with  a  proper  attention  to  the  antiquities 
of  the  country. — Walter  Scott.] 

*  David  Beaton,  cardinal  and  archbishop  of 
St.  Andrews,  was  murdered  on  the  29th  May, 
1546,  in  his  castle  of  St.  Andrews,  by  John  and 
Norman  Leslie  (of  the  Rothes  family),  and  some 
others,  in  vengeance,  as  they  alleged  (though  no 
doubt  they  had  also  personal  motives),  of  the 
share  the  cardinal  had  in  the  death  of  Mr.  George 
Wishart,  a  protestant  minister  of  great  reputation, 
who  had  lately  been  burned  for  heresy  in  the  car- 
dinal *a  own  presence.  "  The  cardinal  was  mur- 
dered," says  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  «« Journey,"  "  by 
the  ruffians  of  reformation,  in  the  manner  of  which 
Knox  has  given  what  he  himself  calls  a  merry 
narrative." — Works y  vol.  viii.  p.  212. — Ed.] 

*  ["  The  library,"  says  Johnson,  good-fan- 
mouredly,  "  is  not  very  spacious,  but  elegant  and 
luminous.  The  Doctor  by  whom  it  was  shown 
hoped  to  irritate  or  subdue  my  English  vanity  by 
telling  me,  that  we  had  no  such  repository  of 
books  in  England."  The  library  at  St.  Andrews 
is,  the  editor  b  informed,  seventy-five  feet  long. 
That  of  All  Souls,  in  Oxford,  is  one  hundred  and 
ninety-eight  feet ;  of  Christ  Church,  one  hundred 
and  lorty-oiie  ;  of  Queen's  one  hundred  and  twen- 
JHjjree;  and  each  of  the  three  divisions  of  the 
Bodleiaii  b  more  than  twice  as  long  as  the  library 
of  St.  Andrews Ed.]  j 


[tour  TO  THE 
i 
as  it  was  murmuring1  against  the  dispen- 
sations of  Providence.  Johksov.  "Sir, 
sorrow  is  inherent  in  humanity.  As  yon 
cannot  judge  two  and  two  to  be  either  five 
or  three,  but  certainly  four,  so,  when  com- 
paring a  worse  present  state  with  a  better 
which  is  past,  you  cannot  but  feel  sorrow. 
It  is  not  cured  by  reason,  but  by  the  incur- 
sion of  present  objects,  which  wear  oat  the 
past  You  need  not  murmur,  though  you 
are  sorry."  Mdrisoh.  "But  St.  Paul 
says, c  I  have  learnt,  in  whatever  state  I  am, 
therewith  to  be  content.' "  Johksov. 
"  Sir,  that  relates  to  riches  and  poverty; 
for  we  see  St  Paul,  when  he  had  a  thorn 
in  the  flesh,  prayed  earnestly  to  have  it  re- 
moved; and  then  he  could  not  be  content"  . 
Murison,  thus  refuted,  tried  to  be  smart, 
and  drank  to  Dr,  Johnson,  "  Long  may 
you  lecture ! "  Dr.  Johnson  afterwards, 
Bpeaking  of  his  not  drinking  wine,  said, 
"  The  Doctor  spoke  of  lecturing  (looking  to 
him).     I  give  all  these  lectures  on  water." 

He  defended  requiring  subscription  in 
those  admitted  to  universities,  thusi  "As 
all  who  come  into  the  country  must  obey 
the  king,  so  all  who  come  into  an  universi- 
ty must  be  of  the  church." 

And  here  I  must  do  Dr.  Johnson  the  jus- 
tice to  contradict  a  very  absurd  and  ill-na- 
tured story,  as  to  what  passed  at  St  An- 
drews. It  has  been  circulated,  that,  after 
grace  was  said  in  English,  in  the  usual  man- 
ner, he,  with  the  greatest  marks  of  contempt, 
as  if  he  had  held  it  to  be  no  grace  in  an 
university,  would  not  sit  down  till  he  had 
said  grace  aloud  in  Latin.  This  would 
have  been  an  insult  indeed  to  the  gentlemen 
who  were  entertaining  us.  But  the  truth 
was  precisely  thus.  In  the  course  of  con- 
versation at  dinner,  Dr.  Johnson,  in  very 
good  humour,  said,  "  I  should  have  expect- 
ed to  have  heard  a  Latin  grace,  among  so 
many  learned  men:  we  had  always  a  Latin 
grace  at  Oxford.  I  believe  I  can  repeat  it" 
Which  he  did,  as  giving  the  learned  men  in 
one  place  a  specimen  of  what  was  done  by 
the  learned  men  in  another  place. 

We  went  and  saw  the  church,  in  which 
is  Archbishop  Sharp's  4  monument 5.  I  was 
struck  with  the  same  kind  of  feelings  with 
which  the  churches  of  Italy  impressed  me. 
I  was  much  pleased  to  see  Dr.  Johnson  ac- 


4  [James  Sharp,  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's, 
was  dragged  from  his  coach,  and  murdered  in  the 
arms'  of  his  daughter,  on  Magus  Moor,  3d  of  May, 
1679.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  his  celebrated  tale, 
entitled  Old  Mortality,  has  told  this  story  with  all 
the  force  of  history  and  all  the  interest  of  romance. 
— Ed.3 

9  [The  monument  is  of  Italian  marble.  The 
brother  of  the  archbishop  left  a  sum  for  preserving 
h,  which,  in  one  unhappy  year,  was  expended  in 
painting  it  in  resemblance  of  reality.  The  <~ 
ing  is  now  removed.— Wax*tjek  Scott.] 


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tually  in  St.  Andrews,  of  which  we  had  talk- 
ed to  long.  Professor  Haddo  was  with  us 
this  afternoon,  along  with  Dr.  Watson. 
We  looked  at  St.  Salvador's  College.  The 
looms  for  studentsseemed  very  commodious, 
and  Dr.  Johnson  said,  the  chapel  was  the 
neatest  place  of  worship  he  had  seen.  The 
key  of  the  library  could  not  be  found:  for 
it  seems  Professor  Hill,  who  was  out  of 
town,  had  taken  it  with  him.  Dr  Johnson 
told  a  joke  he  had  heard  of  a  monastery 
abroad,  where  the  key  of  the  library  could 
never  be  found. 

It  was  somewhat  dispiriting,  to  see  this 
ancient  archiepiscopat  city  now  sadly  de- 
serted. We  saw  in  one  of  its  streets  a  re- 
markable proof  of  liberal  toleration;  a  non- 
juring  clergyman,  strutting  about  in  his  ca- 
nonicals, with  a  jolly  countenance  and  a 
round  belly,  like  a  well-fed  monk. 

We  observed  two  occupations  united  in 
the  same  person,  who  had  hung  out  two 
sign-posts.  Upon  one  was  "  James  Hood, 
White  Iron  Smith  "  (i. «.  tin-plate  worker). 
Upon  another,  "The  Art  of  Fencing 
Taught,  by  James  Hood."  Upon  this  last 
were  painted  some  trees,  and  two  men  fenc- 
ing, one  of  whom  had  hit  the  other  in  the 
eve,  to  show  his  great  dexterity;  so  that 
the  art  was  well  taught.  Johnson.  "Were 
I  studying  here,  I  should  go  and  take  a  les- 
son. I  remember  Hope,  in  his  book  on  this 
art,  says, ( the  Scotch  are  very  good  fenc- 

We  returned  to  the  inn,  where  we  had 
been  entertained  at  dinner,  and  drank  tea 
in  company  with  some  of  die  professors,  of 
whose  civilities  I  beg  leave  to  add  my  hum- 
ble and  very  grateful .  acknowledgment  to 
the  honourable  testimony  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
in  his  "  Journev." 

We  talked  of  composition,  which  was  a 
favourite  topick  of  6r.  Watson,  who  first 
distinguished  himself  by  lectures  on  rheto- 
rick.  Johnson.  "I  advised  Chambers, 
and  would  advise  every  young  man  begin- 
ning to  compose,  to  do  it  as  fast  as  he  can, 
to  get  a  habit  of  having  his  mind  to  start 
promptly;  it  is  so  much  more  difficult  to  im- 
prove in  speed  than  in  accuracy."  Wat- 
son. "  I  own  I  am  for  much  attention  to 
accuracy  in  composing,  lest  one  should  get 
bad  habits  of  doing  it  in  a  slovenly  manner.*' 
Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  you  are  confound- 
ing <fo*9£  inaccurately  with  the  necet$ity 
of  doing  inaccurately.  A  man  knows  when 
his  composition  is  inaccurate,  and  when  he 
thinks  fit  he  '11  correct  it.  But,  if  a  man  is 
accustomed  to  compose  slowly,  and  with 
difficulty,  upon  all  occasions,  there  is  danger 
that  he  may  not  compose  at  all,  as  we  do 
not  like  to  do  that  which  is  not  done  easily; 
and,  at  any  rate,  more  time  is  consumed  in 
a  small  matter  than  ought  to  be."  Wat- 
son.   "  Dr.  Hugh  Blair  has  taken  a  week 


1778.— jETAT.  64. 


343 


to  compose  a  sermon."  Johnson.  m  Then, 
sir,  that  is  for  want  of  the  habit  of  compo- 
sing quickly,  which  I  am  insisting  one  should 
acquire."  Watson.  "  Blair* was  not  com- 
posing all  the  week,  but  only  such  hours 
as  he  found* himself  disposed  for  composi- 
tion." Johnson.  "  Nay,  sir,  unless  you 
tell  me  the  time  he  took,  you  tell  me  no- 
thing. If  I  say  I  took  a  week  to  walk  a 
mile,  and  have  had  the  gout  five  days,  and 
been  ill  otherwise  another  day,  I  have  taken 
but  one  day.  I  myself  have  composed  about 
forty  sermons.  I  have  begun  a  sermon  af- 
ter dinner,  and  sent  it  off  by  the  post  that 
night.  I  wrote  forty-eight  of  the  printed 
octavo  pages  of  the  Life  of  Savage  at  a  sit- 
ting; but  then  I  sat  up  all  night.  I  have 
also  written  six  sheets  iri  a  day  of  transla- 
tion from  the  French  i."  •  Boswbll.  "  We 
have  all  observed  how  one  man  dresses 
himself  slowly,  and  another  fast"  John- 
son. "  Yes,  air:  it  is  wonderful  how  much 
time  some  people  will  consume  in  dressing: 
taking  up  a  thing  and  looking  at  it,  and 
laying  it  down,  and  taking  it  up  again. 
Every  one  should  get  the  habit  or  doing  it 
quickly.  I  would  say  to  a  young  divine, 
Here  is  your  text;  let  me  see  how  soon  yon 
can  make  a  sermon.  Then  I  'd  say,  Let  me 
see  how  much  better  you  can  make  it. 
Thus  I  should  see  both  his  powers  and  his 
judgment." 

We  all  went  to  Dr.  Watson's  to  supper. 
Miss  Sharp,  great  grandchild  of  Archbisnop 
Sharp9,  was  there,  as  was  Mr.  Craig,  the 
ingenious  architect  of  the  new  town  of  Ed- 
inburgh, and  nephew  of  Thomson,  to  whom 
Dr.  Johnson  has  since  done  so  much  justice 
in  his  "  Lives  of  the  Poets." 

We  talked  of  memory,  and  its  various 
modes.  Johnson.  "Memory  will  play 
strange  tricks.  One  sometimes  loses  a  sin- 
gle word.  I  once  lost  Jugace$  in  the  Ode 
'  Posthume,  Postliume.9 "  I  mentioned  to 
him,  that  a  worthy  gentleman  of  my  ac- 

Suaintance  actually  forgot  his  own  name. 
ohnson.     "  Sir,  that  was  a  morbid  ob- 
livion." 

1  [This  must  have  been  the  translation  of  Lobo; 
for  Johnson  translated  no  other  work,  consisting 
of  this  number  of  pages  (viz.  ninety-six),  from  the 
French.  This  account  of  so  much  diligence  does 
not  seem  to  agree  with  that  before  given  of  his  in- 
dolence in  completing  that  translation.  See  ante, 
p.  81.  Bat,  as  SirW.  Scott  observes,  "  a  pool 
k  usually  succeeded  in  a  river  by  a  current,  and 
he  may  have  written  fiut  to  make  up  lee  way." 
—Ed.] 

•  [It  m  very  singular  that  Dr.  Johnson,  with  alt 
his  episcopal  partiality,  should  have  visited  Arch- 
bshop  Sharp's  monument,  and  been  in  company 
with  hk  descendant,  without  making  any  observe* 
tkm  on  his  character  and  melancholy  death,  or  on 
the  general  subject  of  Scottish  episcopacy.— Wal- 
ter Scott.] 


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1     Friday,  2Qth  August.— Dt.  Shaw,  the 

Frofessor  of  divinity,  breakfasted  with  us. 
took  out  my  "  Ogden  on  Prayer,"  and 
read  some  of  it  to  the  company.  Dr.  John- 
son praised  him.  "  Abernethy l  (said  he) 
allows  only  of  a  physical  effect  of  prayer 
upon  the  mind,  which  may  be  produced 
many  ways  as  well  as  by  prayer;  for  in- 
stance, by  meditation.  Ogden  goes  fur- 
ther. In  truth,  we  have  the  consent  of  all 
nations  for  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  whether 
offered  up  by  individuals  or  by  assemblies; 
and  Revelation  has  told  us  it  will  be  effec- 
tual." I  said,  "  Leechman  2  seemed  to  in- 
cline to  Abernethy's  doctrine."  Dr.  Wat- 
son observed  that  Leechman  meant  to  show 
that,  even  admitting  no  effect  to  be  pro- 
duced by  prayer,  respecting  the  Deity,  it 
was  usenil  to  our  own  minds.  He  had  given 
only  a  part  of  his  system:  Dr.  Johnson 
thought  he  should  have  given  the  whole. 

Dr.  Johnson  enforced  the  strict  observ- 
ance of  Sunday  3.  "It  should  be  different 
(he  observed)  from  another  day.  People 
may  walk,  but  not  throw  stones  at  birds. 
There  may  be  relaxation,  but  there  should 
be  no  levity." 

,  We  went  and  saw  Colonel  Naime's  gar- 
den and  grotto.  Here  was  a  fine  old  plane 
tree.  Unluckily  the  colonel  said  there  was 
but  this  and  another  large  tree  in  the  coun- 
try 4.  This  assertion  was  an  excellent  cue 
for  Dr.  Johnson,  who  laughed  enormously, 
calling  to  me  to  hear  it  He  had  expatiated 
to  me  on  the  nakedness  of  that  part  of 
Scotland  which  he  had  seen.  His  "  Jour- 
ney "  has" been  violently  abused  for  what  he 
has  said  upon  this  subject  But  let  it  be 
considered  that  when  Dr.  Johnson  talks  of 
trees,  he  means  trees  of  good  size,  such  as  he 
was  accustomed  to  see  in  England;  and  of 
these  there  are  certainly  very  few  upon  the 
eastern   coast  of  Scotland.     Besides,    he 


1  [An  Irish  dissenting  divine,  whose  "  Dis- 
courses on  the  Divine  Attributes,"  and  some  vol- 
umes of  sermons,  are  highly  esteemed  even  by 
tbe  clergy  of  the  church  of  England.  He  died  in 
1740,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age. — Ed.] 

*  [Dr.  William  Leechman,  a  Scotch  divine, 
who  published,  amongst  other  valuable  works,  a 
discourse  "  On  the  Nature,  Reasonableness,  and 
Advantages  of  Prayer."  He  died  in  1785,  aged 
eighty.— Ed.] 

8  [See  ante,  p.  255.— Ed.] 

*  [Johnson  has 'been  unjustly  abused  for  dwell- 
ing on  the  barrenness  of  Fife.  There  are  good 
trees  in  many  parts  of  that  county,  but  the  east 
coast  along  which  lay  Johnson's  route  is  certainly 
destitute  of  wood,  excepting  young  plantations. 
The  other  tree  mentioned  by  Colonel  Nairne  is 
probably  the  Prior  Letham  plane,  measuring  in 
dircumference  at  the  surface  nearly  twenty  feet, 
and  at  tbe  setting  on  of  the  branches  nineteen  feet. 
This  giant  of  the  forest  stands  in  a  cold  exposed 
situation,  apart  from  every  other  tree. — Walter 
Scott.] 


[tour  to  the 

said,  that  he  meant  to  give  only  a  map  of 
the  road;  and  let  any  traveller  observe  now 
many  trees,  which  deserve  the  name,  he 
can  see  from  the  road  from  Berwick  to 
Aberdeen.  Had  Dr.  Johnson  said  "  there 
are  no  trees  "  upon  this  line,  he  would  have 
Baid  what  is  colloquially  true;  because,  by 
no  trees,  in  common  speech,  we  mean  few. 
When  he  is  particular  in  counting,  he  may 
be  attacked.  I  know  not  how  Colonel 
Nairne  came  to  say  there  were  but  two 
large  trees  in  the  county  of  Fife.  I  did 
not  perceive  that  he  smiled.  There  are 
certainly  not  a  great  many;  but  I  could 
have  shown  him  more  than  two  at  Balmu- 
toy  from  whence  my  ancestors  came,  and 
which  now  belongs  to  a  branch  of  my  fam- 

iiy- 

.Thejrrotto  was  ingeniously  constructed. 
In  the  front  of  it  were  petrified  stocks  of  fir, 
plane,  and  some  other  tree.  Dr.  Johnson 
said  "  Scotland  has  no  right  to  boast  of 
this  grotto;  it  is  owing  to  personal  merit 
I  never  denied  personal  merit  to  many  of 
you."  Professor  Shaw  said  to  me,  as  we 
walked,  "  This  is  a  wonderful  man:  he  is 
master  of  every  subject  he  handles."  Dr. 
Watson  allowed  him  a  very  strong  under- 
standing, but  wondered  at  his  totalinatten- 
tion  to  establish  manners,  as  he  came  from 
London. 

I  have  not  preserved,  in  my  Journal,  any 
of  the  conversation  which  passed  between 
Dr.  Johnson  and  Professor  Shaw;  but  I  re- 
collect Dr.  Johnson  said  to  me  afterwards, 
"  I  took  much  to  Shaw." 

We  left  St  Andrews  about  noon,  and 
some  miles  from  it  observing,  at  Leuchars, 
a  church  with  an  old  tower,  we  stopped  to 
look  at  it.  The  manse,  as  the  parsonage- 
house  is  called  in  Scotland,  was  close  by. 
I  waited  on  the  minister,  (mentioned  our 
names,  and  begged  he  would  tell  us  what 
he  knew  about  it.  He  was  a  very  civil  old 
man;  but  could  only  inform  us,  that  it  was 
supposed  to  have  stood  eight  hundred 
years.  He  told  us  there  was  a  colony  of 
Danes  in  his  parish ;  that  they  had  landed  at 
a  remote  penod  of  time,  and  still  remained 
a  distinct  people.  Dr.  Johnson  shrewdly 
inquired  whether  they  had  brought  women 
with  them.  We  were  not  satisfied  aa  to 
this  colony  5. 

We  saw,  this  day,  Dundee  and  Aberbro- 
thick,  the  last  of  which  Dr.  Johnson  has 
celebrated  in  his  "Journey."  Upon  the 
road  we  talked  of  the  Roman  Catholick 
faith.  He  mentioned  (I  think)  Tiltot- 
son's  argument  against  transubstantiation: 
"  That  we  are  as  sure  we  see  bread  and 
wine  only,  as  that  we  read  in  the  Bible  the 
text  on  which  that  false  doctrine  is  fbund- 


*  [The  Danish  colony  at  Leuchars  k  a  vain 
imagination  concerning  a  certain  fleet  of  Danes 
wrecked  on  Sheughy  Dikes. — Walter  Scott.] 


Digitized  by 


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HBBRIDES.] 

cd.  We  have  only  the  evidence  of  our 
aenses  for  both."  "  If  ( he  added)  God  had 
never  spoken  figuratively,  we  might  hold 
that  he  speaks  literally,  when  he  says, 
«  This  is  my  body.' n  Bobwell.  «  But 
what  do  you  say,  sir,  to  the  ancient  and 
continued  tradition  of  the  church  upon  this 
point?"  Johnson.  "Tradition,  sir,  has 
noplace  where  the  Scriptures  are  plain; 
and  tradition  cannot  persuade  a  man  into 
a  belief  of  transubstantiation.  Able  men, 
indeed,  have  said  they  believed  it." 

This  is  an  awful  subject.  I  did  not  then 
press  Dr.  Johnson  upon  it;  nor  shall  I  now 
enter  upon  a  disquisition  concerning  the 
import  of  those  words  uttered  by  our  Sa- 
viour1, which  had  such  an  effect  upon 
many  of  his  disciples,  that  they  "  went  back, 
and  walked  no  more  with  him."  The  cate- 
chism and  solemn  office  for  communion,  in 
the  church  of  England,  maintain  a  myste- 
rious belief  in  more  than  a  mere  commemo- 
ration of  the  death  of  Christ,  by  partaking  of 
the  elements  ofbread  anil  wine*. 

Dr.  Johnson  put  me  in  mind,  that  at  St 
Andrews  I  had  defended  my  profession  very 
welt,  when  the  question  had  again  been 
started,  Whether  a  lawyer  might  honestly 
engage  with  the  first  side  that  offers  him  a 
fee.  "  Sic  («aid  I),  it  was  with  your  ar- 
guments against  Sir  William  Forbes  ;  but 
it  was  much  that  I  could  wield  the  arms  of 
Goliath." 

He  said,  our  judges  had  not  gone  deep 
m  the  question  concerning  literary  property. 
I  mentioned  Lord  Monboddo's  opinion, 
that  if  a  man  could  get  a  work  by  heart,  he 
might  print  it,  as  by  such  an  act  the  mind 
k  exercised.  Johnson.  "  No  sir;  a  man's 
repeating  it  no  more  makes  it  his  property, 
than  a  man  may  sell  a  cow  which  he  drives 
home."  I  said,  printing  an  abridgment  of 
a  work  was  allowed,  which  was  only  cutting 
the  horns  and  tail  off  the  cow.  Johnson. 
"No,  sir;  'tis  making  the  cow  have  a 
calf." 

About  eleven  at  night  we  arrived  at  Mont- 
rose. We  found  but  a  sorry  inn,  where  I 
myself  saw  another  waiter  put  a  lump  of 
sugar  with  his  fingers  into  Dr.  Johnson's 
lemonade,  for  which  he  called  him  "  ras- 
cal!" It  put  me  in  great  glee  that  our 
landlord  was  an  Englishman.  I  rallied  the 
Doctor  upon  this,  and  he  grew  quiet. 
Both  Sir  John  Hawkins's  and  Dr.  Burney's 
"  History  of  Mustek  "  had  then  been  adver- 
tised. I  asked  if  this  was  not  unlucky :  would 
they  not  hurt  one  another?  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir.  They  will  do  good  to  one  another. 
Some  will  boy  the  one,  some  the  other,  and 


1773.— jGTAT.  •*, 


945 


1  "  Then  Jem  said  unto  them,  verily,  verily, 
I  my  onto  yon,  except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  son 
of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in 
y©*>— See  St  John's  Gospel,  chap.  vi.  5$,  and 
following  ▼anas.-~-Botwnx.fc. 

vol.  1.  44 


compare  them;  and  so  a  talk  is  made  about 
a  thing,  and  the  books  are  sold." 

He  was  angry  at  me  for  proposing  tofar- 
ry  lemons  with  us  to  Sky,  that  he  might  be 
sure  to  have  his  lemonade.  "  Sir,'3  said  he, 
"  I  do  not  wish  to  be  thought  that  feeble 
man  who  cannot  do  without  any  thing.  Sir, 
it  is  very  bad  manners  to  carry  provisions 
to  any  man's  house-,  as  if  he  could  net  enter- 
tain you.  To  an  inferior,  it  is  oppressive; 
to  a  superior,  it  is  insolent" 

Having  taken  the  liberty,  this  evening,  to 
remark  to  Dr.  Johnson,  that  he  very  often 
sat  quite  silent  for  a  long  time,  even  when 
in  company  with  only  a  single  friend,  which 
I  myself  had  sometimes  sadly  experienced, 
he  smiled  and  said,  "  It  is  true,  sir.  Tom 
Tyers  (for  so  he  familiarly  called  our  inge- 
nious fnend,  who  since  his  death,  has  paid  a 
biographical  tribute  to  his  memory),  Tom 
Tyers  described  me  best.  He  once  said  to 
me, '  Sir,  you  are  like  a  ghost:  you  never 
speak  till  you  are  spoken  to  V  " 

Saturday,  21s*  August. — Neither  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Nisbet,  the  established  minister, 
nor  the  Rev.  Mr.  Spooner,  the  episcopal  min- 
ister, were  in  town.  Before  breakfast  we 
went  and  saw  the  town-hall,  where  is  a 
good  dancing  room,  and  other  rooms  for 
teg  drinking.  The  appearance  of  the  town 
from  it  is  very  well;  but  many  of  the 
houses  are  built  with  their  ends  to  the 
street,  which  looks  awkward.  When  we 
came  down  from  it,  I  met  Mr.  Gleg,  a 
merchant  here.  He  went  with  us  to  see 
the  English  chapel.  It  is  situated  on  a 
pretty  dry  spot,  and  there  is  a  fine  walk  to 
it.  It  is  really  an  elegant  building,  both 
within  and  witnout.  The  organ  is  adorned 
with  green  and  gold.  Dr.  Johnson  gave  a 
shilling  extraordinary  to  the  clerk,  saying, 
"  He  t>elongs  to  an  honest  church. "  I 
put  him  in  mind,  that  episcopate  were  but 
dissenters  here;  they  were  only  tolerated. 
"  Sir,1'  said  he,  "  we  are  here,  as  Christiana 
in  Turkey."  He  afterwards  went  into  an 
apothecary's  shop,  and  ordered  some  medi- 
cine for  himself,  and  wrote  the  prescription 
in  technical  characters.  The  boy  took 
him  for  a  physician. 

I  doubted  much  which  road  to  take, 
whether  to  go  by  the  coast,  or  by  Law- 
rence Kirk  and  Monboddo.  I  knew  Lord 
Monboddo  and  Dr.  Johnson  did  not  love 
esch  other;  yet  I  was  unwilling  not  to 
visit  his  lordship;  and  was  also  curious  to 
see   them    together3.     I   mentioned    my 


*  This  description  of  Dr.  Johnson  appears  to 
have  been  borrowed  from  "  Tom  Jones,"  book 
xi.  chap.  9:  "  The  other,  who,  like  a  ghost,  only 
wanted  to  be  spoke  to,  readily  answered,"  ice.— 
Boswkll.  [Both  are  borrowed  from  a  general 
snfuistmon,  that  ghosts  must  be  first  spoken  to.— 
En.] 

•  There  were  several  points  of  smnlariry  be- 

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346 


1778.— JETAT.  U. 


[TOUR  TO  THX 


doubts  to  Dr.  Johnson,  who  said  he  would 

Si  two  miles  out  of  his  way  to  see  Lord 
onboddo.    I  therefore  sent  Joseph  for- 
ward, with  the  following  note: 

•«  Montrose,  2ltt  August. 

"  Mr  drar  lord, — Thus  far  I  am  come 
with  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson.  We  must  be 
at  Aberdeen  to-night,  I  know  you  do  not 
admire  him  so  much  as  I  do;  but  I  cannot 
be  in  this  country  without  making  you  a 
bow  at  your  old  place,  as  I  do  not  know  if 
I  may  again  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
Monboddo.  Besides,  Mr.  Johnson  says,  he 
would  go  two  miles  out  of  his  way  to  see 
Lord  Monboddo.  I  have  sent  forward  my 
servant,  that  we  may  know  if  your  lordship 
be  at  home.  I  am  ever,  my  dear  lord,  most 
sincerely  yours,        "  James  Boswrll." 

As  we  travelled  onwards  from  Montrose, 
we  had  the  Grampian  hills  in  our  view,  and 
some  good  land  around  us,  but  void  of  trees 
and  hedges.  Dr.  Johnson  has  said  ludi- 
crously, in  his  "  Journey,"  that  the  hedges 
were  of  stone;  for,  instead  of  the  verdant 
thorn  to  refresh  the  eve,  we  found  the  bare 
waU  or  dike  intersecting  the  prospect  He 
observed,  that  it  was  wonderful  to  see  a 
country  so  divested,  so  denuded  of  trees.  m 

We  stopped  at  Lawrence  Kirk,  where 
our  great  grammarian,  Ruddiman,  was  once 
schoolmaster.  We  respectfully  remembered 
that  excellent  man  ana  eminent  scholar,  b^y 
whose  labours  a  .knowledge  of  the  Latin 
language  will  be  preserved  in  Scotland,  if  it 
shall  be  preserved  at  all.  Lord  Garden- 
ston *,  one  of  our  judges,  collected  money 
to  raise  a  monument  to  him  at  this  place, 
which  [  hope  will  be  well  executed.  I 
know  my  father  gave  five  guineas  towards 
it.    Lord  Gardenston  is  the  proprietor  of 

tween  them;  learning,  clearness  of  head,  precision 
of  speech,  and  a  love  of  research  on  many  subjects 
which  people  in  general  do  not  investigate.  Foote 
paid  Lord  Monboddo  the  compliment  of  saying, 
that  he  was  <  *  an  Elzevir  edition  of  Johnson. '  *  It 
has  been  shrewdly  observed,  that  Foote  must  have 
meant  a  diminntive,  or  pocket  edition. — Bos- 
wbljl.  [Johnson  himself  thus  describes  Lord 
Monboddo  to  Mrs.  Thrale:  "  He  is  a  Scotch  judge, 
who  has  lately  written  a  strange  book  about  the 
origin  of  language,  in  which  he  traces  monkeys  up 
to  men,  and  says,  that  in  some  countries  the  hu- 
man species  have  tails  like  other  beasts.  He  in- 
2 aired  for  these  long-tailed  men  from  [Sir  Joseph] 
tanks,  and  was  not  pleased  that  they  had  not 
been  found  in  all  his  peregrinations.  He  talked 
nothing  of  this  to  me  "— Letters ,  v.  i  p.  114.— 
En.] 

1  [Francis  Garden,  a  Scotch  Lord  of  Session, 
who  erected  a  very  pretty  te^le  over  St  Ber- 
nard's Well,  on  the  bank  of  the  Water  of  Leith. 
He  was  a  man  of  talents,  but  of  some  irregularity 
•f  mind,  and  died  (it  is  said,  under  melancholy  cir- 
ewnttances)  in  1794.— En.] 


Lawrence  Kirk,  and  has  encouraged  the 
building  of  a  manufacturing  village,  of  1 
which  he  is  exceedingly  fond,  and  has  writ- 
ten a  pamphlet  upon  it,  as  if  he  had  found- 
ed Thebes,  in  which,  however,  there  ate  ] 
many  useful  precepts  strongly  expressed. 
The  village  seemed  to  be  irregularly  built, 
some  of  the  houses  being  of  clay,  some  of 
brick,  and  some  of  brick  and  stone.  &k. 
Johnson  observed,  they  thatched  well  here. 
I  was  a  little  acquainted  with  Mr.  Forbes, 
the  minister  of  the  parish.  I  sent  to  in- 
form him  that  a  gentleman  desired  to  see 
him.  He  returned  for  answer,  "  that  he 
would  not  come  to  a  stranger."  I  then 
gave  my  name,  and  he  came.  I  remon- 
strated to  him  for  not  coming  to  a  stranger; 
and,  by  presenting  him  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
proved  to  him  what  a  Btranger  might  some- 
times be*  His  Bible  inculcates  "be  not 
forgetful  to  entertain  strangers,"  and  men- 
tions the  same  motive9.  He  defended 
himself  by  saving,  "  He  had  once  come  to 
a  stranger,  wno  sent  for  hirn^  and  he  found  • 
him  c  a  little  worth  person!' " 

Dr.  Johnson  insisted  on  stopping  at  the 
inn,  as  I  told  him  that  Lord  Gardenston 
had  furnished  it  with  a  collection  of  books, 
that  travellers  might  have  entertainment 
for  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body.  He 
praised  the  design,  but  wished  there  had 
teen  more  books,  and  those  better  chosen. 

About  a  mile  from  Monboddo,  where 
you  turn  off  the  road,  Joseph  was  waiting 
to  tell  us  my  lord  expected  us  to  dinner. 
We  drove  over  a  wild  moor.  It  rained, 
and  the  scene  was  somewhat  dreary.  Dr. 
Johnson  repeated,  with  solemn  emphasis, 
Macbeth's  speech  on  meeting  the  witches. 
As  we  travelled  on,  he  told  me, "  Sir,  yon 
got  into  our  club  by  doing  what  a  man  can 
do  3.  Several  of  the  members  wished  to 
keep  you  out.  Burke  told  me,  he  doubted 
if  you  were  fit  for  it:  but,  now  you  are  in, 
none  of  them  are  sorry.  Burke  says,  that 
you  have  so  much  good  humour  naturally, 
it  is  scarce  a  virtue."  Boswsll.  "  They 
were  afraid  of  you,  sir,  as  it  was  you  who 
proposed  me."  Johnson.  "Sir,  they 
knew,  that  if  they  refused  you,  they  'd  prob- 
ably never  have  got  in  another.  I  M  nave 
kept  them  all  out.  Beauclerk  was  very  ear- 
nest fot  you."  Bos  well.  "  Beauclerk 
has  a  keenness  of  mind  which  is  very  un- 
common." Johnson.  "Tea,  sir;  and  ev- 
ery thing  comes  from  him  so  easily.    It  ap- 

*  ["  Be  not  foigetral  to  entertain  strangera;  lor 
thereby  some  have  entertained  angels  unawares." 
— Heb.  xiil  2.  A  modest  allusion  on  the  part  of 
Sir.  Boswell!— Ed.] 

9  This,  I  find,  b  considered  as  obscure.  I  sap- 
pose  Dr.  Johnson  meant,  that  I  assiduously  and 
earnestly  recommended  myself  to  some  of  the 
members,  as  in  a  canvass  for  an  election  intopaf- 
liament— Boswxll 


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HSni&ES.] 


m».— iETAT  64. 


947 


pears  to  me  that  I  labour,  when  I  any  a 

Sood  thiny."  Boswell.  <c  Ton  are  loud, 
lr,  but  it  is  not  an  effort  of  mind." 
Monboddo  is  a  wretched  place,  wild  and 
•naked,  with  a  poor  old  house,  though,  if  I 
recollect  right,  there  are  two  turrets,  which 
mark  an  old  baron's  residence.  Lord  Mon- 
boddo received  us  at  his  gate  most  courteous- 
ly; pointed  to  the  Douglas  arms  upon  his 
house,  and  told  us  that  his  great-grandmo- 
ther was  of  that  family.  "  In  such  houses," 
said  he,  "our  ancestors  Kved,  who  were 
better  men  than  we."  "  No,  no,  my  lord," 
said  Dr.  Johnson ;  "  we  are  as  strong 
as  they,  and  a  great  deal  wiser."  This  was 
an  assault  upon  one  of  Lord  Monboddo** 
capital  dogmas,  and  I  was  afraid  there  would 
have  been  a  violent  altercation  in  the  very 
close,  before  we  £ot  into  the  house.  But 
his  lordship  is  distinguished  not  only  for 
"ancient  metaphysicks,"  but  for  ancient 
poUtetse, "  la  vieille  cour9"  and  he  made 
no  reply. 

His  lordship  was  drest  in  a  rustick  suit, 
and  wore  a  little  round  hat:  he  told  us,  we 
now  saw  him  as  Farmer  Burnet,  and  we 
should  have  his  family  dinner,  a  farmer's 
dinner.    He  said,  "  I  should  not  have  for- 

fiven  Mr.  Boswell,  had  he  not  brought  you 
ere,  Dr.  Johnson."  He  produced  a  very 
long  stalk  of  corn,  as  a  specimen  of  his  crop, 
and  said,  "4Tou  see  here  the  lata*  Begetee:" 
he  added,  that  Virgil  seemed  to  be  as  en- 
thusissjtick  a  farmer  as  he,  and  was  certain- 
ly a  practical  one.  Johnson.  u  It  does 
not  always  follow,  my  lord,  that  a  man, 
who  has  written  a  good  poem  on  an  art,  has 
practised  it  Philip  Miller1  told  me,  that 
in  Philtps'8  "  Cyder,"  a  poem,  all  the  pre- 
cepts were  just,  and  indeed  better  than  in 
books  written  for  the  purpose  of  instructing; 
yet  Philips  had  never  made  cyder." 

I  started  the  subject  of  emigration.  John- 
son. "  To  a  roan  of  mere  animal  life,  you 
can  urge  no  argument  against  going  to 
America,  but  that  it  will  be  some  time  be- 
fore he  will  get  the  earth  to  produce.  But 
a  man  c^  any  intellectual  enjoyment  will  not 
easily  go  and  immerse  himself  and  his  pos- 
terity lor  ages  in  barbarism." 

He  and  my  lord  spoke  highly  of  Homer. 
Johnson.  "  He  had  all  the  learning  of  his 
age.  The  shield  of  Achilles  shows  a  nation 
in  war,  a  nation  in  peace;  harvest  sport, 
nay  stealing9."    Monboddo.     "Ay,  and 


1  [Author  of  the  "  Gardener's  Dictionary."— 
Ed.] 

*  My  note  of  tins  is  much  too  short  '  BreviB 
esse  labor oy  ob$euru$  fio.  Yet  as  I  have  re- 
solved, that  the  very  Journal  which  Dr.  John- 
ton  read  shall  be  pretested  to  the  publick,  I  will 
sot  expand  the  text  in  any  considerable  degree, 
though  I  may  occasionally  supply  a  word  to  com- 
plete the  sense,  as  I  fill  up  the  blanks  of  abbrevi- 
ation in  the  writing,  neither  of  which  can  be  said 


what  we  (looking  to  me)  would  call  a  par- 
liament-house scene;  a  cause  pleaded." 
Johnson.  "  That  is  part  of  the  life  of  a 
nation  in  peace.  And  there  are  in  Homer 
such  characters  of  heroes,  and  combinations 
of  qualities  of  heroes,  that  the  united  powers 
of  mankind  ever  since  have  not  produced 
any  but  what  are  to  be  found  there." 
Monboddo.  "  Yet  no  character  is  describ- 
ed." Johnson.  "  No;  they  alt  develope 
themselves.  Agamemnon  is  always  a  gen- 
tleman-like character;  he  has  always  B«r.<- 
xtuct  <ri  3.  That  the  ancients  held  so,  is  plain 
from  this  j  that  Euripides,  in  his  Hecuba, 
makes  him  the  person  to  interpose*." 
Monboddo.  "  The  history  of  manners  is 
the  most  valuable.  I  never  set  a  high  value 
on  any  other  history."  Johnson.  "  Nor 
I;  and  therefore  I  esteem  biography,  as  giv- 
ing us  what  comes  near  to  ourselves,  what 
we  can  turn  to  use."  Boswell.  "  But  in 
the  course  of  general  history  we  find  man- 
ners. In  wars,  we  see  the  dispositions  of 
people,  their  degrees  of  humanity,  and  oth- 
er particulars."  Johnson.  "Yes;  but 
then  you  must  take  all  the  facts  to  get  this, 
and  it  is  but  a  little  you  get."  Monboddo. 
"  And  it  is  that  little  which  makes  history 
valuable."  Bravo  I  thought  I;  they  agree 
like  two  brothers.  Monboddo.  "I  am 
sorry,  Dr.  Johnson,  you  were  not  longer  at 
Edinburgh,  to  receive  the  homage  of  our  ' 
men  of  learning."  Johnson.  "My  lord, 
I  received  great  respect  and  great  kindness." 
Boswell.  "  He  goes  back  to  Edinburgh 
after  our  tour."  We  talked  of  the  decrease 
of  learning  in  Scotland,  and  of  the  "  Muses* 
Welcome."  Johnson.  "  Learning  is  much 
decreased  in  England,  in  my  remembrance." 
Monboddo.  "You,  sir,  have  lived  to  see 
its  decrease  in  England,  I  its  extinction  in 
Scotland."  However,  I  brought  him  to 
confess  that  the  high  school  or  Edinburgh 
did  well.  Johnson.  "Learning  has  de- 
creased in  England,  because  learning  will 


to  change  the  genuine  Journal.  One  of  the  best 
criticks  of  oar  age  conjectures  that  the  imperfect 
passage  above  has  probably  been  as  follows :  •*  In 
his  book  we  have  an  accurate  display  of  a  nation 
in  war,  and  a  nation  in  peace;  the  peasant  is  de- 
lineated as  truly  as  the  general :  nay,  even  har- 
vest sport,  and  the  modes  of  ancient  theft,  are  de- 
scribed. '  '—Boswblu 


Johnson  modestly  said,  he  had  not  read 
Homer  so  much  as  he  wished  he  had  done.  But 
this  conversation  shows  bow  wall  he  was  acquaint- 
ed with  the  Mosonian  bard  ;  and  he  has  shown  it 
still  more  in  his  criticism  upon  Pope's  Homer,  in 
his  life  of  that  poet  My  excellent  friend,  Mr, 
Langton,  told  me,  he  was  once  present  at  a  dis- 
pute between  Dr.  Johnson  and  Mr.  Burke,  on 
the  comparative  merits  of  Homer  and  Virgil, 
which  was  carried  on  with  extraordinary  abUttles 
on  both  sides.  Dr.  Johnson  maintained  the  suae* 
riority  of  Homer. — Boswsli* 


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177a- iBTAT.  64. 


not  do  so  much  for  a  man  as  formerly. 
There  are  other  ways  of  getting  preferment. 
Few  bishops  are  now  made  for  their  learn- 
ing. To  be  a  bishop,  a  man  must  be  lea/n- 
ed  in  a  learned  age,  factious  in  a  factious 
age,  but  always  of  eminence.  Warburton 
is  an  exception,  though  his  learning  alone 
did  not  raise  him.  He  was  first  an  antago- 
nist to  Pope,  and  helped  Theobald  to  pub- 
lish  his  Snakspeare;  but,  seeing  Pope  the 
rising  man,  when  Crousaz  attacked  his  *  Es- 
say on  Man,'  for  some  faults  which  it  has, 
and  some  which  it  has  not,  Warburton  de- 
fended it  in  the  Review  of  thai  time.  This 
brought  him  acquainted  with  Pope,  and  he 
gained  his  friendship.  Pope  introduced  him 
to  Allen,  Allen  married  him  to  his  niece;  so, 
by  Allen's  interest  and  his  own,  he  was  made 
a  bishop  >.  But  then  his  learning  was  the 
rine  qui  nan.  He  knew  how  to  make  the 
most  of  it,  but  I  do  not  find  by  any  dishon- 
est means.''  Movboddo.  "He  is  a  great 
man."  Johnson.  "Yes,  he  has  great 
knowledge,  great  power  of  mind.  Hardly 
any  man  brings  greater  variety  of  learning 
to  bear  upon  his  point."  Monboddo.  "He 
is  one  of  the  greatest  lights  of  your  church." 
Johnson.  "  Why,  we  are  not  so  sure  of 
his  being  very  friendly  to  us.  He  blazes,  if 
you  will,  but  that  is  not  always  the  steadi- 
est U^ht  Lowth  is  another  bishop  who 
has  risen  by  his  learning." 

Dr.  Johnson  examined  young  Arthur, 
Lord  Monboddo's  son,  in  Latin.  He  an- 
swered very  well;  upon  which  he  said,  with 
complacency,  "  Get  you  gone!  When 
King  James  comes  back  9,  you  shall  be  in 
the  'Muses'  Welcome!'"  My  lord  and 
Dr.  Johnson  disputed  a  little,  whether  the 
savage  or  the  London  shop-keeper  had  the 
best  existence.  •  His  lordship,  as  usual,  pre- 
ferring the  savage.  My  lord  was  extreme- 
ly hospitable,  and  I  saw  both  Dr.  Johnson 
and  him  liking  each  other  better  every 
hour. 

Dr.  Johnson  having  retired  for  a  short 
time,  his  lordship  spoke  of  his  conversation 
as  I  could  have  wished.  Dr.  Johnson  had 
said,  "  I  have  done  greater  feats  with  my 
knife  than  this;"  though  he  had  eaten  a 
very  hearty  dinner.    My  lord,  who  affects 

1  [It  was  probably  some  conversation  of  the 
same  tone  as  this,  imperfectly  recollected,  or  too 
slightly  considered,  which  led  Mr.  8trahan  to  the 
statement,  questioned  ante,  p.  240  ;  that  the  king 
had  told  Johnson,  that  Pope  had  made  War- 
burton a  bi&K&p.  Johnson's  account,  here  given, 
M  rational  in  itself,  and  consistent  with  the  known 
nuts  ;  Mr.  Stratum's  anecdote  is  neither. — Ed.] 

*  I  find  some  donbt  has  been  entertained  con- 
cerning Dr.  Johnson's  meaning  here.  It  ia  to  be 
•apposed  that  he-  meant,  "  when  a  king  shall 
again  be  entertained  in  Scotland." — Bos  well. 
[Dr.  Johnson  meant,  probably,  a  little  touch  of 
Jacobite  pleasantry.— JEd.] 


[TOUB  TO  TBI 

or  believes  he  follows  an  abstemious  system, 
seemed  struck  with  Dr.  Johnson's  manner  of 
living.  I  had  a  particular  satisfaction  ia 
being  under  the  roof  of  Monboddo,  my  kml 
being  my  father's  old  friend,  and  having, 
been  always  very  good  to  me.  We  were 
cordial  together.  He  asked  Dr.  Johnson 
and  me  to  stay  all  night.  When  I  said  we 
must  be  at  Aberdeen,  he  replied,  "  Well,  I 
am  tike  the  Romans:  I  shall  say  to  you, 

*  Happy  to  come;  happy  to  depart !  * "  He 
thanked  Dr.  Johnson  for  his 'visit.  John- 
sow.  "I  little  thought,  when  I  had  the 
honour  to  meet  your  lordship  in  London, 
that  I  should  see  you  at  Monboddo."  Af- 
ter dinner,  as  the  ladies  were  going  away, 
Dr.  Johnson  would  stand  up3.  He  insist- 
ed that  politeness  wss  of  great  consequence 
in  society.  "  It  is  (said  he)  fictitious  be- 
nevolence. It  supplies  the  place  of  it  amongst 
those  who  see  each  other  only  in  pubtick, 
or  but  little.  Depend  upon  it  the  want  of  it 
never  fails  to  produce  something  disagreea- 
ble to  one  or  other.  I  have  always  applied 
to  good  breeding,  what  Addison  in  his  Cato 
says  of  honour: 

*  Honour's  a  sacred  tie ;  the  law  of  kings  ; 
The  noble  mind's  distinguishing  perfection, 
That  aids  and  strengthens  Virtue  where  h  meets  her, 
And  imitates  her  actions  where  she  ■  not'  " 

When  he  took  up  his  large  oak  stick,  he 
said,  "  My  lord,  that's  HomeAck; »  thus 
pleasantly  alluding  to  his  lordship's  favourite 
writer. 

Gory,  my  lord's  black  servant,  was  sent 
as  our  guide,  to  conduct  us  to  the  high  road. 
The  circumstance  of  each  of  them  having  a 
black  servant  was  another  point  of  similari- 
ty between  Johnson  and  Monboddo.  I  ob- 
served how  curious  it  was  to  see  an  African 
in  the  north  of  Scotland,  with  little  or  no 
difference  of  manners  from  those -of  the  na- 
tives. Dr.  Johnson  laughed  to  see  Gory 
and  Joseph  riding  together  most  cordially. 
"Those  two  fellows  (said  he),  one  from 
Africa,  the  other  from  Bohemia,  seem  quite 
at  home."  He  was  much  pleased  with 
Lord  Monboddo  to-day.  ■  He  said,  he  would 
have  pardoned  him  for  a  few  paradoxes, 
when  he  found  he  had  so  much  that  was 
good:  but  that,  from  his  appearance  in 
London,  he  thought  him  all  paradox;  which 
would  not  do.  fie  observed  that  his  lord- 
ship had  talked  no  paradoxes  to-day.  "  And 
as  to  the  savage  and  the  London  shopkeep- 
er (said  he),  f  don't  know  but  I  might  have 
taken  the  side  of  the  savage  equally,  had 
any  body  else  taken  the  side  of  the  shop- 


*  [Such  is  the  happy  improvement  of  u 
that  readers  of  this  day  will  wonder  that  a  i 
of  respect  to  ladies  now  so  universal  should  ever 
have  been  withheld.  It  surely  was  not  so  in  Eng- 
land at  this  period.— En.] 


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177*— JBftAT.  64 


349. 


rl."  He  had  said  to  my  lord,  in  op- 
position to  the  value  of  the  savage's  cour- 
Ji,  that  it  was  owing  to  his  limited  power 
thinking,  and  repeated  Pope's  verses,  in 
which  "  Macedonia's  madman "  is  intro- 
duced, and  the  conclusion  is, 

"  Yet  ne'er  looks  forward  farther  than  his  nose." 

I  objected  to  the  last  phrase,  as  being  low. 
Johvsoh.  "  Sir,  it  is  intended  to  be  low: 
it  is  satire.  The  expression  is  debased,  to 
debase  the  character." 

When  Gory  was  about  to  part  from  us, 
Dr.  Johnson  called  to  him,  "  Mr.  Gory, 
give  me  leave  to  ask  you  a  question !  are 
you  baptised?"  Gory  told  nun  he  was — 
and  confirmed  by  the  Bishop  of  Durham. 
He  then  gave  him  a  shilling. 

We  had  a  tedious  driving  this  afternoon, 
and  were  somewhat  drowsy.  Last  night  I 
was  afraid  Dr.  Johnson  was  beginning  to 
iaint  in  his  resolution;  for  he  said,  "  Ir  we 
must  ride  much,  we  shall  not  go;  and  there 's 
an  end  on't."  To-day,  when  he  talked  of 
Sky  with  spirit,  I  said,  "  Why,  sir,  you 
seemed  to  me  to  despond  -yesterday.  You 
are  a  delicate  Londoner;  you  are  a  macca- 
roni ;  you  can't  ride."  JoHvaoir,  "  Sir, 
I  shall  ride  better  than  you.  I  was  only 
afraid  I  should  not  find  a  horse  able  to 
carry  me."  I  hoped  then  there  would  be 
no  fear  of  getting  through  our  wild  Tour.] 

We  came  to  Aberdeen  at  half  an  hour 
past  eleven.  The  New  Inn,  we  were  told, 
was  full.  This  was  comfortless.  The 
waiter,  however,  asked  if  one  of  our  names 
was  Boswell,  and  brought  me  a  letter  left 
at  the  inn:  it  was  from  Mr.  Thrale,  en- 
closing one  to  Dr.  Johnson.  Finding  who 
I  was,  we  were  told  they  would  contrive  to 
lodge  us  by  putting  us  for  a  night  into  a 
room  with  two  beds.  The  waiter  said  to 
me  in  the  broad  strong  Aberdeenshire  dia- 
lect, "  I  thought  I  knew  you,  bv  your  [like- 


__j  to  your  father."  Mv  father  puts  up 
at  the  New  Inn,  when  on  his  circuit  Lit- 
tle was  said  to-night.  I  was  to  sleep  in  a 
little  press-bed  in  Dr.  Johnson's  room.  I 
had  it  wheeled  out  into  the  dining-room, 
and  there  I  lay  very  well. 

Sunday,  22<f  August.— J  sent  a  message 
to  Professor  Thomas  Gordon,  who  came 
and  breakfasted  with  us.    He  had  secured 


1  Johnson  says  to  Bin.  Thrale,  "  We  agreed 
pretty  well,  only  we  disputed  in  adjusting  the 
ekim  of  merit  between  a  shopkeeper  of  London 
and  a  savage  of  the  American  wildernesses.  Our 
opinions  were,  I  think,  maintained  on  both  sides 
without  foil  conviction.  Monboddo  declared  bold- 
ly for  the  savage,  and  I,  perhaps  for  that  reason* 
sided  with  the  citizen."— Letters,  v.  L  p.  116. 
See  also  another  avowal  of  his  readiness  to  take 
the  wrong  side  of  a  question  for  the  sake  of  argn- 
,  sub  16th  June,  1784.— Ed.] 


seats  for  us  at  the  English  chapel  2.  We 
found  a  respectable  congregation,  and  an 
admirable  organ,  well  played  by  Mr.  Tait.- 

We  walked  down  to  the  shore.  Dr. 
Johnson  laughed  to  hear  that  Cromwell's 
soldiers  taught  the  Aberdeen  people  to 
make  shoes  and  stockings,  and  to  plant  cab- 
bages. He  asked,  if  weaving  the  plaids 
was  ever  a  domestick  art  in  the  Highlands, 
like  spinning  or  knitting.  They  could  not 
inform  him  here.  But  he  conjectured  proba- 
bly, that  where  people  lived  so  remote  from 
each  other,  it  was  likely  to  be  a  domestick 
art;  as  we  see  it  was  among  the  ancients, 
from  Penelope.  I  was  sensible  to-day,  to 
an  extraordinary  degree,  of  Dr.  Johnson's 
excellent  English  pronunciation.  I  cannot 
account  for  its  striking  me  more  now  than 
any  other  day;  but  it  was  as  if  new  to  me, 
and  I  listened  to  every  sentence  which  he 
spoke,  as  to  a  musical  composition.  Pro- 
fessor Gordon  gave  him  an  account  of  the 
plan  of  education  in  his  college.  Dr.  John- 
son said,  it  was  similar  to  that  at  Oxford. 
Waller,  the  poet's  great  grandson,  was 
studying  here.  Dr.  Johnson  wondered  that 
a  man  should  send  his  son  so  far  off,  when 
there  were  so  many  good  schools  in  Eng- 
land. He  said,  "At  a 'great  school  there 
is  all  the  splendour  and  illumination  of  ma- 
ny minds;  the  radiance  of  ail  is  concentrat- 
ed in  each,  or  at  least  reflected  upon  each. 
But  we  must  own  that  neither  a  dull  boy, 
nor  an  idle  boy,  will  do  so  well  at  a  great 
school  as  at  a  private  one.  For  at  a  great 
school  there  are  always  boys  enough  to  do 
well  easily,  who  are  sufficient  to  keep  up  the 
credit  of  the  school;  and  after  whipping  being 
tried  to  no  purpose,  the  dull  or  idle  boys  are 
left  at  the  end  of  a  class,  having  the  appear- 
ance of  going  through  the  course,  but  learn- 
ing nothing  at  all.  Such  boys  may  do  good 
at  a  private  school,  where  constant  atten- 
tion is  paid  to  them,  and  they  are  watched. 
So  that  the  question  of  publick  or  private 
education  is  not  properly  a  general  one;  but 
whether  one  or  the  other  is  best  for  my 
son" 

We  were  told  the  present  Mr.  Waller 
was  a  plain  country  gentleman;  and  his  son 
would  be  such  another.  I  observed,  a  fami- 
ly could  not  expect  a  poet  but  in  a  hun- 
dred generations.  "  Nay,"  said  Dr.  John- 
son, "  not  one  family  in  a  hundred  can  ex- 


1  It  is  not  easy  to  say  why  Mr.  Boswell  here 
omits  to  state  that  at  church  Dr.  Johnson  was  re- 
cognized by  a  London  acquaintance,  Lady  Diana 
Middleton,  who  mentioning  that  she  had  seen  him 
to  Lord  Errors  brother,  Mr.  Boyd,  procured  the 
travellers  an  invitation  to  Slains  Castle. — Letters  9 
v.  i.  p.  118.  Lady  Diana  was  the  daughter  of 
Harry  Grey,  third  Earl  of  Stamford,  and  wife  of 
George  Middletou,  of  Lenton,  Esq.  She  died  in 
1780.— -Ed.] 


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ma.— iETAT.  «4. 


pect  a  poet  in  a  hundred  generations."  He 
then  repeated  Dry  den's  celebrated  lines,* 

"  Three  poets  in  three  dktant  ages  bora/'  fee. 

and  a  part  of  a  Latin  translation  of  it  done 
at  Oxford  i :  he  did  not  then  say  by  whom. 

He  received  a  card  from  Sir  Alexander 
Gordon,  who  had  been  his  acquaintance 
twenty  years  ago  in  London,  and  who,  "  if 
forgiven  for  not  answering  a  line  from  him,3' 
would  come  in  the  afternoon.  Dr.  John- 
son rejoiced  to  hear  of  him,  and  begged  he 
would  come  and  dine  with  us.  I  was  much 
pleased  to  see  the  kindness  with  which. 
Dr.  Johnson  received  his  old  friend  Sir 
Alexander;  a  gentleman  of  good  family 
(Lismore),  but  who  had  not  the  estate. 
The  king's  college  here  made  him  Professor 
of  Medicine,  which  affords  him  a  decent 
subsistence.  He  told  us  that  the  value  of 
the  stockings  exported  from  Aberdeen  was, 
in  peace,  a  hundred  thousand  pounds;  and 
amounted,  in  time  of  war,  to  one  hundred 
and  seventy  thousand  pounds.  Dr.  John- 
son asked  what  made  the  difference?  Here 
we  had  a  proof  of  the  comparative  sagacity 
of  the  two  professors.  Sir  Alexander  an- 
swered, "  Because  .there  is  more  occasion 
for  them  in  war."  Professor  Thomas  Gor- 
don answered, "  Because  the  Germans,  who 
are  our  great  rivals  in  the  manufacture  of 
stockings,  are  otherwise  employed  in  time 
of  war."  Johnson,  "  Sir,  you  have  given 
a  very  good  solution." 

At  dinner,  Dr.  Johnson  ate  several  plate- 
fulls  of  Scotch  broth,  with  barley  and  peas 
in  it,  and  seemed  very  fond  of  the  dish.  I 
said, "  You  never  ate  it  before."  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir;  but  I  don't  care  how  soon  I  eat 
it  again."  My  cousin,  Miss  Dallas,  former- 
ly of  Inverness,  was  married  to  Mr.  Rid- 
doch,  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  English 
chapel  here.  He  was  ill,  and  confined  to 
his  room;  but  she  sent  us  a  kind  invitation 
to  tea,  which  we  all  accepted.  She  was 
the  same  lively,  sensible,  cheerful  woman, 
as  ever.  Dr.  Johnson  here  threw  out  some 
jokes  against  Scotland.  He  said, "  You  go 
first  to  Aberdeen;  then  to  Enbru  (the  Scot- 
tish pronunciation  of  Edinburgh);  then  to 
Newcastle,  to  be  polished  by  the  colliers; 
then  to  York;  then  to  London."  And  he 
laid  hold  of  a  little  girl,*  Stuart  Dallas,  niece 
to  Mrs.  Riddoch,  and,  representing  himself 
as  a  giant,  said,  he  would  take  her  with 
him !  telling  her,  in  a  hollow  voice,  that  he 


'  London,  2d  May,  1778.  Dr.  Johnson  ac- 
knowledged that  he  was  himself  the  author  of 
the  translation  shore  alluded  to,  and  dictated  it 
to  me  ai  follows: 

Qikm  lradet  rates  Grata*  Romuw  et  Anglo* 

Trea  trte  temporibiu  lecla  dedere  rate. 
Sublime  Infantum  Gratat;  lUmanua  feabebat 
•vS^ST*??****  ■on«»J  Anfiw  ntramqne  tuNt. 

Qnm  potaare  daoa  tartim  aaw  babet.    BotwSLL. 


[tour  TO  THE 

lived  in  a  cave,  and  had  a  bed  in  the  rock, 
and  she  should  have  a  little  bed  cut  opposite 
to  it! 

He  thus  treated  the  point,  as  to  prescrip- 
tion* of  murder  in  Scotlaud.  "  A  juiy  in 
England  would  make  allowance  for  deficien- 
cies of  evidence,  on  account  of  lapse  of  time: 
but  a  general  rule  that  a  crime  should  not 
be  punished,  or  tried  for  the  purpose  of  pun- 
ishment, after  twenty  years,  is  bad.  It 
is  cant  to  talk  of  the  Icing's  advocate  delay- 
ing a  prosecution  from  malice.  How  un- 
likely is  it  the  king's  advocate  should  have 
malice  against  persons  who  commit  mur- 
der, or  should  even  know  them  at  all.  If 
the  son  of  the  murdered  man  should  kill  the 
murderer  who  got  off  merely  bv  prescrip- 
tion, I  would  help  him  to  make  his  escape; 
though,  were  I  upon  his  jury,  I  would  not 
acquit  him.  I  would  not  advise  him  to 
commit  such  an  act.  On  the  contrary,  I 
would  bid  him  submit  to  the  determination 
of  society,  because  a  man  is  bound  to  sub- 
mit to  the  inconveniences  of  it>  as  he  enjoys 
the  good:  but  the  young  man,  though  po- 
litically wrong,  Would  not  be  morally  wrong. 
He  would  have  to  say, c  Here  I  am  amongst 
barbarians',  who  not  only  refuse  to  do  jus- 
tice, but  encourage  the  greatest  of  aH 
crimes.  I  am  therefore  in  a  state  of  nature: 
for,  so  far  as  there  is  no  law,  it  is  a  state  or 
nature;  and  consequently,  upon  the  eternal 
and  immutable  law  of  justice,  which  requires 
that  he  who  sheds  man's  blood  should  have 
his  blood  shed,  I  will  stab  the  murderer  of 
my  father.' " 

We  went  to  our  inn,  and  sat  quietly. 
Dr.  Johnson  borrowed,  at  Mr.  Riddoch'S, 
a  volume  of  Massillon's  Discourses  on  the 
Psalms;  but  I  found  he  read  little  in  it  Og- 
den  too  he  sometimes  Xook  up,  and  glanced 
at;  but  threw  it  down  again.  I  then  enter- 
ed upon  religious  conversation.  Never  did 
I  see  him  in  a  better  frame:  calm,  gentle, 
wise,  holy.  I  said,  "  Would  not  the  same 
objection  hold  against  the  Trinity  as  against 
transubstan tiation  ?  "  "  Yes,"  said  Jie,  "  if 
you  take  three  and  one  in  the  some  sense. 
If  you  do  so,  to  be  sure  you  cannot  believe 
it;  but  the  three  persons  in  the  Godhead 
are  three  in  one  sense,  and  one  in  another. 
We  cannot  tell  how;  and  that  is  the  mys- 
tery!" 

I  spoke  of  the  satisfaction  of  Christ  He 
said  his  notion  was,  that  it  did  not  atone 
for  the  sins  of  the  world;  but,  by  satisfying 
divine  justice,  by  showing  that  no  less  than 
the  Son  of  God  suffered  for  sin,  it  showed 
to  men  and  innumerable  created  beings  the 
•heinousness  of  it,  and  therefore  rendered  it 
unnecessary  for  divine  vengeance  to  be  ex- 
ercised against  sinners,  as  it  otherwise 
must  have  been;  that  in  this  way  it  might 


1  [See  ante,  p.  827.— En.] 


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HEBRIDES.] 

operate  even  in  favour  of  those  who  had 
never  heard  of  it;  as  to  those  who  did  hear 
of  it,  the  effect  it  should  produce  would  be 
repentance  and  piety,  by  impressing  upon 
the  mind  a  just  notion  of  sin;  that  original 
sin  was  the  propensity  to  evil,  which  no 
doubt  was  occasioned  by  the  fall.  He  pre- 
sented this  solemn  subject  in  a  new  light  to 
me  *,  and  rendered  much  more  rational  and 
clear  the  doctrine  of  what  our  Saviour  has 
done  for  us;  as  it  removed  the  notion  of  im- 
puted righteousness  in  co-operating:  where- 
as by  this  view,  Christ  has  done  all  already 
that  he  had  to  do,  or  is  ever  to  do,  for  man- 
kind, by  making  his  great  satisfaction;  the 
consequences  of  which  will  affect  each  in- 
dividual according  to  the  particular  conduct 
of  each.  Pwould  illustrate  this  by  saying, 
that  Christ's  satisfaction  resembles  a  sun 
placed  to  show  light  to  men,  so  that  it  de- 
pends upon  themselves  whether  they  will 
walk  the  right  way  or  not,  which  they  could 
not  have  done  without  that  sun,  "  the  sun 
of  righteousness."  There  is,  however, 
more  in  it  than  merely  giving  light — "a 

Shi  to  lighten  the  Gentiles; "  for  we  are 
i,  there  is  "  healing  under  his  wings." 
Dr.  Johnson  said  to  me,  "  Richard  Baxter 
commends  a  treatise  by  Grotius,  '  De  Satis- 
faction* Christi."  •  I  have  never  read  it; 
out  I  intend  to  read  it;  and  you  may  read 
it"  I  remarked,  upon  the  principle  now 
laid  down,  we  might  explain  the  difficult  and 
seemingly  hard  text,  "  They  that  believe 
shall  be  saved;  and  they  that  believe  not 
shall  be  damned."  They  that  believe  shall 
have  such  an  impression  made  upon  their 
minds,  as  will  make  them  act  so  that  they 
may  be  accepted  by  God. 

We  talked  of  one  of  our  friends9  taking 
21,  for  a  length  of  time,  a  hasty  expression 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  to  him,  on  his  attempting 
to  prosecute  a  subject  that  had  a  reference 
to  religion,  beyond  the  bounds  within  which 
the  Doctor  thought  such  topicks  should  be 


I77&— iETAT.  64. 


951 


1  My  worthy,  intelligent,  and  candid  friend, 
Dr.  Kjppn,  informs  me,  that  several  divines  have 
thus  explained  the  mediation  of  our  Saviour. 
What  Dr.  Johnson  now  delivered  was  hat  a  tem- 
porary opinion  ;  for  he  afterwards  was  folly 
convinced  of  the  propitiatory  sacrifice,  as  I  shall 
show  at  large  in  my  future  work,  "  The  Life  of 
Same!  Johnson,  LL.  D."— Bobwill.  [Dr. 
Kippis  was  a  dissenter.  Dr.  Johnson's  Prayers 
and  Meditations  abundantly  prove  that  he  was, 
as  far  back  as  we  Have  any  record  of  his  religions 
feelings,  fully  convinced  of  the  propitiatory  sacri- 
fice* la  the  prayer  on*  his  birthday,  in  1788 
(transcribed  by  him  in  1768),  he  expressly  states 
his  hope  of  salvation  "  through  the  satisfaction 
of  Jesus  Christ"— Ed.] 

*  [No  doubt  Mr.  Langton.  But  see  ante,  p. 
121  ;  where  it  is  surmised  that  the  affair  at  Bur. 
Duly 'a  was  probably  not  the  sole  cause  of  Mr. 
a's  resentment — Ed.] 


confined  in  a  mixed  company.  Johnson. 
"What  is  to  become  of  society,  if  a 
friendship  of  twenty  years  is  to  be  broken 
off  for  such  a  cause?  "    As  Bacon  says, 

"  Who  then  to  frail  mortality  shall  trust, 
But  limns  the  water,  or  but  writes  in  dust" 

I  said,  he  should  write  expressly  in  sup- 
port of  Christianity;  for  that,  although  a 
reverence  for  it  shines  through  his  works 
in  several  places,  that  is  not  enough.  "  You 
know,"  said  I,  "what  Grotius  has  done, 
and  what  Addison  has  done,  you  should  do 
also."    He  replied,  "  I  hope  I  shall." 

Monday,  23rf  August. — Principal  Camp- 
bell, Sir  Alexander  Gordon,  Professor  Gor- 
don, and  Professor  Ross,  visited  us  in  the 
morning,  as  did  Dr.  Gerard,  who  had  come 
six  miles  from  the  country  on  purpose. 
We  went  and  saw  the  Marischal  College  *, 
and  at  one  o'clock  we  waited  on  the  magis- 
trates in  the  town-hall,  as  they  had  invited 
us,  in  order  to  present  Dr.  Johnson  with 
•the  freedom  of  the  town,  which  Provost 
Jopp  did  with  a  very  good  grace.  Dr. 
Johnson  was  much  pleased  with  this  mark 
of  attention,  and  received  it  very  politely. 
There  was  a  pretty  numerous  company  as- 
sembled. It  was  striking  to  hear  all  of  them 
drinking  "  Dr.  Johnson  1  Dr.  Johnson! "  in 
the  town-hall  of  Aberdeen,  and  then  to  see 
him  with  his  burgess-ticket,  or  diploma4, 
in  his  hat,  which  he  wore  as  .he  walked 
along  the  street,  according  to  the  usual 
custom.  It  gave  me  great  satisfaction  to 
observe  the  regard,  and  indeed  fondness  too, 
which  every  body  here  had  for  my  father. 

While  Sir  Alexander  Gordon  conducted 
Dr.  Johnson  to  old  Aberdeen,  Professor 
Gordon  and  I  called  on  Mr.  Riddoch, 
whom  I  found  to  be  a  grave  worthy  clergy- 
man. He  observed  that,  whatever  might 
be  said  of  Dr.  Johnson  while  he  was  alive, 
he  would,  after  he  was  dead,  be  looked 
upon  by  the  world  with  regard  and  aston- 
ishment, on  account  of  his  Dictionary. 

9  Dr.  Beattie  was  so  kindly  entertained  in  Eng- 
land, that  he  had  not  yet  returned  home.— Bos- 
well. 

♦  Dr. 
words: 

^  "  Aberdonis,  vigesimo  tertio  die  mensis  Augus- 
ti,  anno  Domini  millesimo  septingentesimo  septu- 
agesimo  tertio,  in  presentia  bonorabilium  virorum, 
Jacobi  Jopp,  armigeri,  propositi,  Adami  Duff, 
Gulielmi  Young,  Gcoigii  Marr,  et  Gulielmi  Forbes, 
Balivorum,  Gulielmi  Rainie  Decani  guilds,  et  Jo-  ' 
annis  Nicoil  Thesaurarii  dicti  burgi. 

"  Quo  die  vir  generosus  et  doctrine  clams,  Sam* 
uel  Johnson,  LL.  D.  receptus  et  admissus  fait  in 
municipes  et  fratres  guilds  prefati  burgi  de  Aber- 
deen. In  deditifleimi  amoris  et  affectus  ac  exhnia) 
observanti®  tesseram,  quibus  dicti  magistratus  eum 
amplectuntur.  Extractam  per  me,  Alix.  Ca»- 
w*gi»."— Boswkll. 


Johnson's  burgess-ticket  was  in  these 


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353 


1778.- iETAT.  64. 


Professor  Gordon  and  I  walked  over  to 
the  old  college,  which  Dr.  Johnson  had 
seen  hy  this  time.  I  stepped  into  the 
chapel,  and  looked  at  the  tomb  of  the  foun- 
der, Archbishop  Elphinston,  of  whom  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  write  in  my  History  * 
of  James  IV.  of  Scotland,  the  patron  of  my 
family. 

We  dined  at  Sir  Alexander  Gordon's. 
The  provost,  Professor  Ross,  Professor 
Dunbar,  Professor  Thomas  Gordon,  was 
there.  After  dinner  came  in  Dr.  Gerard, 
Professor  Leslie,  Professor  Macleod.  We 
had  little  or  no  conversation  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  now  we  were  but  barren.  The  pro- 
fessors seemed  afraid  to  speak. 

Dr.  Gerard  told  us-  that  an  eminent 
printer2  was  very  intimate  with  Warbur- 
ton.  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  he  has  print- 
ed some  of  his  works,  and  perhaps  bought 
the  property  of  some  of  them.  The  inti- 
macy is  such  as  one  of  the  professors  here 
may  have  with  one  of  the  carpenters  who 
is  repairing  the  college."  "But,"  said 
Gerard,  "  I  saw  a  letter  from  him  to  this 
printer,  in  which  he  says,  that  the  one  half 
of  the  clergy  of  the  church  of  Scotland  are 
fknaticks,  and  the  other  half  infidels." 
Johnson.  "Warburton  has  accustomed 
himself  to  write  letters  just  as  he  speaks, 
without  thinking  any  more  of  what  he 
throws  out.  When  I  read  Warburton  first, 
and  observed  his  force,  and  his  contempt 
of  mankind,  I  thought  he  had  driven  the 
world  before  him ;  but  I  soon  found  that 
*as  not  the  case ;  for  Warburton,  by  ex- 
tending his  abuse,  rendered  it  ineffectual." 

He  told  me,  when  we  were  by  ourselves, 
that  he  thought  it  very  wrong  in  the  printer 
to  show  Warburton's  letter,  as  it  was  rais- 
ing a  body  of  enemies  against  him.  He 
thought  it  foolish  in  Warburton  to  write  so 
to  the  printer ;  and  added,  "  Sir,  the  worst 
way  orbeing  intimate  is  by  scribbling."  He 
called  Warburton's  "  Doctrine  of  Grace  "  a 
poor  performance,  and  so  he  said  was  Wes- 
ley's Answer.  "  Warburton,"  he  observ- 
•  ed,  "  had  laid  himself  very  open.  In  par- 
ticular, he  was  weak  enough  to  say,  that, 
in  some  disorders  of  the  imagination,  peo- 
ple had  spoken  with  tongues,  had  spoken 
languages  which  they  never  heard  before ; 
a  thing  as  absurd  as  to  say,  that  in  some 
disorders  of  the  imagination,  people  had 
been  known  to  fly." 

I  talked  of  the  difference  of  genius,  to 
try  if  I  could  engage  Gerard  in  a  disquisi- 
tion with  Dr.  Johnson;  but  I  did  not 
succeed.  I  mentioned,  as  a  curious  fact, 
that  Locke  had  written  verses.  Johnson. 
"  I  know  of  none,  sir,  but  a  kind  of  exercise 


l  [This,  like  many  similar  intimations  scattered 
through  these  volumes,  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  carried  into  effect— Ed.] 

■  [Certainly  Mr.  Strahan.— Ed.] 


[tour  to  the 

prefixed  to  Dr.  Sydenham's  works,  in 
which  he  has  some  conceits  about  the 
dropsy,  in  whieh  water  and  burning  are 
united ;  and  how  Dr.  Sydenham  removed 
fire  by  drawing  off  water,  contrary  to  the 
usual  practice,  which  is  to  extinguish  fire 
by  bringing  water  upon  it.  I  am  not  sure 
that  there  is  a  word  of  all  this ;  but  it  is 
such  kind  of  talk  3." 

*  All  this,  as  Dr.  Johnson  suspected  at  the 
time,  was  the  immediate  invention  of  his  own 
lively  imagination;  for  there  is  not  one  word  of  it 
in  Mi.  Locke's  complimentary  performance.  My 
readers  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  like  to  be  satisfied, 
by  comparing  them;  and,  at  any  rate,  it  may  en- 
tertain them  to  read  verses  composed  by  oar 
great  metaphysician,  when  a  bachelor  in  pby- 
sick. 

AUOTOBI,  Iff  TBAOTA.TUM  WVS  DI  PBSBD1US. 

Febrile*  ajetue,  victumqae  srdoribas  orbem 

Flevit,  dob  tan  Us  par  medicine  mails. 
Quum  post  mille  artes,  medics)  tentamlna  cots, 

Ardet  adhuc  febris;  nee  relit  arte  regi. 
Freda  somas  fiammis;  solum  hoc  eperunas  ab  Igae, 

Ut  restet  paucue,  quem  capit  urna,  cinis. 
Dnm  quaerit  medical  febris  censsemque,  medumque, 

Fhanmaram  et  tenebrse,  et  sine  luce  feces; 
Ones  tractat  patitar  nammas,  et  febre  cslescena, 

Corruit  ipse  suis  victim*,  rapta  focJs. 
Qui  tardos  potuit  morbos,  artusque  trementee, 

Sistere,  febrili  se  Tidet  igne  rapi. 
Sic  faher  exesos  ftueit  tibicine  mures; 

Dtun  trahit  antiqnas  lenta  ruins  domoa. 
Bed  si  flamma  vorax  miseras  incenderit  •dee, 

Unlca  flagrante*  tunc  sepelire  sslue, 
Fit  toga,  tectonicas  nemo  tunc  Invocat  artee) 

Com  perit  artiflcia  non  minus  nata  domoa. 
Be  tandem  Sydenham  febrieque  schotoque  levari 

Opponena,  morbi  quanrlt,  et  artls  opem. 
Non  temere  incuaat  tectes  pntredinis  ajnes) 

Nee  Actus,  lebree  qui  fbvet,  humor  erit. 
Non  bilem  Ule  movet,  nulls  hie  pKuitm  f  ' 

Quo  spes,  si  ftUlax  ardeat.mtus  aquer 
Nee  doctaa  magno  rlxaa  oatenut  hiatu, 

Outs  ipsis  major  febribna  ardor  inesc 
Innocnas  placide  corpus  Jubet  urere  nam 

Et  Juato  rapidos  temperat  Jgne  fbcoa. 
Quid  febrim  exetinguat,  rarius  quid  poatnlat  1 

SoUri  •grotoa,  qua  potea  arte,  docet. 
Hactenua  ipsa  suum  timuit  nature  calorem, 


Dum  sane  Incerto,  quo  calet,  Igne  perit 
provide     ~ 
rmerogua. 
foveent  procordia  I 


Dum  reparat  tadtoa  male  provi 
Pneluait  busto,  lit  calor  late  r 
Jam  secure 


negst,  dat  medicina  modu 
eseomp 


Nee  solum  mciles  eompescit  sanguinis  sserue, 

Dum  dubia  est  inter  apemque  metumque  aahna 
Sed  mtale  malum  domuu,  quodqne  sstra  a 

Credlmue,  Iratam  vel  genuiaae  Stygem. 
Extorsit  Lacheai  cultros,  petisque  Tenenun 

Abstulit,  et  tantoa  non  sink  esse  metus. 
Quis  tandem  arte  nova  domitam  mtteacere . 

Credat,  et  antiqnas  ponere  pease  mmaa  t 
Post  tot  mille  neces,  cumulataqoe  ftmera  busto* 

Victa  jacet,  parvo  vulnere,  dire  lone. 
JSthertte  quanquam  spargunt  contagln  flammm, 

Quiequid  meat  btto  ignttma,  Ignis  erit. 
Delapssj  coilo  flamma  licet  acrius  want, 

Has  gelida  exstlngui  non  nisi  morte  putasf 
Tu  meliora  paras  victrix  medicina;  tuusque 

Pestis  qua  superat  cuneta,  triumphas  arts. 
Vive  liber,  victle  fcbrilibee  igjnibua;  onus 

Te  simul  et  mundum  qui  inane t,  Ignia  erit. 

J.  Locke,  A.  M.  Es.  led*  Cftrfsti,  Oam*- 

[Mr.  Boswell  says,  that  Dr.  Johnson's  obser- 
vation was  "  the  immediate  invention  of  his  own 
lively  imagination;"  and  that  there  was  "*wt 
one  word  of  it  in  Mr.  Locke's  performance;" 
bnt  did  Mr.  Boswell  read  the  verses  ?— or  what 
did  he  understand  by ''Nee  fictat,  febres  qui  fe- 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES.] 

We  spoke  of  Fingul.  Dr.  Johnson  said 
calmly,  "  If  the  poems  were  really  transla- 
ted, they  were  certainly  first  written 
down.  Let  Mr.  Macpherson  deposit  the 
manuscript  in  one  of  the  colleges  at  Aber- 
deen, where  there  are  people  who  can 
judge ;  and,  if  the  professors  certify  the 
authenticity,  then  there  will  be  an  end  of 
the  controversy.  If  he  does  not  take  this 
obvious  and  easy  method,  he  gives  the  best 
reason  to  doubt ;  considering,  too,  how 
much  is  against  it  h  priori." 

We  sauntered  after  dinner  in  Sir  Alex- 
ander's garden,  and  saw  his  little  grotto, 
which  is  hung  with  pieces  of  poetry  writ- 
ten in  a  fair  hand.  It  was  agreeable  to 
observe  the  contentment  and  kindness  of 
this  quiet,  benevolent  man.  Professor 
Macleod  was  brother  to  Macleod  of  Talisk- 
er,  and  brother-in-law  to  the  Laird  of  Col. 
He  grave  me  a  letter  to  young  Col.  I  was 
weary  of  this  day,  and  began  to  think  wish- 
fully of  being  again  in  motion.  I  was  un- 
easy to  think  myself  too  fastidious,  whilst 
I  fancied  Dr.  Johnson  quite  satisfied.  But 
he  owned  to  me  that  he  was  fatigued  and 
teased  by  sir  Alexander's  doing  too  much 
to  entertain  him.  I  said,  it  was  all  kind- 
ness. Johnson.  "True,  sir;  but  sensa- 
tion is  Sensation."  Boswrll.  "  It  is  so  : 
we  feel  pain  equally  from  the  surgeon's 
probe,  as  from  the  sword  of  the  foe." 

We  visited  two  booksellers'  shops,  and 
could  not  find  Arthur  Johnston's  Poems  K 
We  went  and  sat  near  an  hour  at  Mr. 
Riddoch's.  He  could  not  tell  distinctly 
how  much  education  at  the  college  here 
costs,  which  disgusted  Dr.  Johnson.  I 
had  pledged  myself  that  we  should  go  to 
the  inn,  and  not  stay  supper.  Ttiey  press- 
ed us,  but  he  was  resolute.  I  saw  Mr. 
Riddoch  did  not  please  him.  He  said  to 
me,  afterwards,  "  Sir,  he  has  no  vigour  in 
his  talk."  But  my  friend  should  have  con- 
sidered, that  he  himself  was  not  in  good 
humour ;  so  that  it  was  not  easy  to  talk  to 
his  satisfaction.  We  sat  contentedly  at 
our  inn.  He  then  became  merry,  and  ob- 
served how  little  we  had  either  heard  or 
said  at  Aberdeen;  that  the  Aberdonians 

vet  humor  erit  ?"  and  "  Si  fallax  ardeat  intra 
aqual"  Surely  these  are  the  conceits,  though 
not  the  precise  expressions,  which  Johnson  cen- 
sured, and  the  whole  is  made  up  of  the  same 
«  kind  of  talk."— Ed.] 

1  [Johnston  is  one  of  the  most  eminent  men 
that  Aberdeen  has  produced.  He  was  a  native 
of  the  county,  (bom  about  1587),  and  rector  of 
the  university.  His  works  were  originally  print- 
ed at  Aberdeen;  and  their  not  being  to  be  found 
in  that  seat  of  learning  to  which  he  did  so  much 
honour  is  exceedingly  strange.  But  such  things 
sometimes  happen.  In  Haarlem,  the  cradle  of 
the  art  of  printing,  the  editor  could  not  find  a 
guidebook  to  the  town*— Ed.] 

▼ox,,  i.  45 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


3o3 


had  not  started  a  single  ma&kin  (the  Scot- 
tish word  for  hare)  for  us  to  pursue. 

Tuesday,  %Ath  August—We  set  out 
about  eight  in  the  morning,  and  breakfast- 
ed at  Ellon.  The  landlady  said  to  me,  "  Is 
not  this  the  great  doctor  that  is  going  about 
through  the  country?"  I  said,  "Yes." 
"  Ay,w  said  she,  "  we  heard  of  him;  I  made 
an  errand  into  the  room  on  purpose  to  see 
him.  There's  something  great  in  his  ap- 
pearance: it  is  a  pleasure  to  have  such  a 
man  in  one's  house;  a  man  who  does  so 
much  good.  If  I  had  thought  of  it,  I  would 
have  shown  him  a  child  of  mine,  who  has 
had  a  lump  on  his  throat  for  some  time." 
"  But,"  said  I,  "  he  is  not  a  doctor  of  phy- 
sick."  "  Is  he  an  oculist?"  said  the  land- 
lord. "  No,"  said  I;  "  he  is  only  a  very  learn- 
ed man."  Landlord.  "  They  Bay  he  is 
the  greatest  man  in  England,  except  Lord 
Mansfield. "  D r.  Johnson  was  hiehl y  enter- 
tained with  this,  and  I  do  think  he  was 
pleased  too.  He  said,  "  I  like  the  excep- 
tion. To  have  called  me  the  greatest  man 
in  England,  would  have  been  an  unmeaning 
compliment;  but  the  exception  marked  that 
the  praise  was  in  earnest,  and,  in  Scotland, 
the  exception  must  be  Lord  Mansfield,  or— 
Sir  John  Pringle." 

He  told  me  a  good  story  of  Dr.  Gold- 
smith. Graham,  who  wrote  "  Telemachus, 
a  Masque,"  was  sitting  one  night  with  him 
and  Dr.  Johnson,  and  was  half  drunk.  He 
rattled  away  to  Dr.  Johnson.  "  You  are  a 
clever  fellow,  to  be  sure;  but  you  cannot 
write  an  essay  like  Addison,  or  verses  like 
the  Rape  of  the  Lock."  At  last  he  said*, 
"  Doctor,  I  should  be  happy  to  see  you  at 
Eton3."  "  I  shall  be  glad  to  wait  on  you," 
answered  Goldsmith.  "  No,"  said  Graham, 
"  *t  is  not  you  I  mean,  Dr.  Minors  H  is  Dr. 
Major,  there."  Goldsmith  was  excessively 
hurt  by  this.  He  afterwards  snoke  of  it 
himself.  "  Graham,"  said  he,  "  is  a  fellow 
to  make  one  commit  suicide." 

We  had  received  a  polite  invitation  to 
Slains  castle.  We  arrived  there  just  at 
three  o'clock,  as  the  bell  for  dinner  was 
ringing.  Though,  from  its  being  just  on 
the  north-east  ocean,  no  trees  will  grow 
here,  Lord  Errol  has  done  all  that  can  be 
done.  He  has  cultivated  his  fields  so  as  to 
bear  rich  crops  of  every  kind,  and  he  has 


•  I  am  sure  I  have  related  this  story  exactly  as 
Dr.  Johnson  told  it  to  me;  but  a  friend  who  has 
often  heard  him  tell  it  informs  me,  that  he  usually 
introduced  a  circumstance  which  ought  not  to 
be  omitted.  "  At  last,  sir,  Graham,  having  now 
got  to  about  the  pitch  of  looking  at  one  man,  and 
talking  to  another,  said,  Doctor,  &c."  "  What 
effect,"  Dr.  Johnson  used  to  add,  "  this  had  on 
Goldsmith,  who  was  as  irascible  as  a  hornet,  may 
be  easily  conceived." — Bos  well. 

1  [Graham  was  one  of  the  masters  at  Eton.— 
Ed.] 


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made  an  excellent  kitchen-garden,  with  a 
hot-house.  I  had  never  seen  any  of  the 
family;  but  there  had  been  a  card  of  invita- 
tion written  by  the  honourable  Charles 
Boyd,  the  earl's  brother.  We  were  con- 
ducted into  the  house,  and  at  the  dining- 
room  door  were  met  by  that  gentleman, 
whom  both  of  us  at  first  took  to  be  Lord 
Enrol;  but  he  soon  corrected  our  mistake. 
My  lord  was  gone  to  dine  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, at  an  entertainment  given  oy  Mr. 
Irvine  of  Drum.  Lady  Errol1  received 
us  politely,  and  was  very  attentive  to  us 
during  the  time  of  dinner.  There  was  no- 
body at  table  but  her  ladyship,  Mr.  Boyd, 
and  some  of  the  children,  their  governour 
and  governess.  Mr.  Boyd  put  Dr.  Johnson 
in  mind  of  having  dined  with  him  at  Gum- 
ming9 the  Quaker's,  along  with  a  Mr.  Hall 
and  Miss  Williams:  this  was  a  bond  of  con- 
nexion between  them.  For  me,  Mr.  Boyd's 
acquaintance  with  my  father  was  enough. 
After  dinner,  Lady  Errol  favoured  us  with  a 
sight  of  her  young  family,  whom  she  made 
stand  up  in  a  row:  there  were  six  daughters 
and  two  sons.    It  was  a  very  pleasing  sight 

Dr.  Johnson  proposed  our  setting  out 
Mr.  Boyd  said,  he  hoped  we  would  stay  all 
night;  his  brother  would  be  at  home  in  the 
evening,  and  would  be  very  sorry  if  he  miss- 
ed us.  Mr.  Boyd  was  called  out  of  the 
room.  I  wasvery  desirous  to  stay  in  so 
comfortable  a  house,  and  I  wished  to  see 
Lord  Errol.  Dr.  Johnson,  however,  was 
right  in  resolving  to  go,  if  we  were  not  ask- 
ed again,  as  it  is  best  to  err  on  the  safe  side 
in  such  cases,  and  to  be  sure  that  one  is 
quite  welcome.  To  my  great  joy,  when  Mr. 
Boyd  returned,  he  told  Dr.  Johnson  that  it 
was  Lady  Errol  who  had  called  him  out,  and 
said  that  she  would  never  let  Dr.  Johnson 
into  the  house  again,  if  he  went  away  that 
night;  and  that  she  had  ordered  the  coach, 
to  carry  us  to  view  a  great  curiosity  on  the 
coast,  after  which  we  should  see  the  house. 
We  cheerfully  agreed. 

Mr.  Boyd  was  engaged,  in  1745-6,  on  the 
same  side  with  many  unfortunate  mistaken 
noblemen  and  gentlemen.  He  escaped,  and 
lay  concealed  for  a  year  in  the  island  of  Ar- 
ran,  the  ancient  territory  of  the  Boyds.  He 
then  went  to  France,  and  was  about  twenty 
years  on  the  continent  He  married  a 
French  lady,  and  now  lived  very  comfort- 
ably at  Aberdeen,  and  was  much  at  Slains 
castle.  He  entertained  us  with  great  civil- 
ity. He  had  a  pompousness  or  formal  plen- 
itude in  his  conversation,  which  I  did  not 
dislike,    Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  there  was  too 

i  [Isabella,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Carr,  of 
Etal,  in  Northumberland,  bart  She  died  in  1808 ; 
haying  had,  by  Lord  Errol,  three  sons  and  nine 
flsnatitsiSi  — rip  i  j 

*  [See, « to  Camming, ^^^OthAugwt,  1778. 


[TOUR  TO  TBS 

much  elaboration  in  his  talk."  It  gave  me 
pleasure  to  see  him,  a  steady  branch  of  the 
family,  setting  forth  all  its  advantages  with 
much  zeal,  lie  told  us  that  Lady  Errol 
was  one  of  the  most  pious  and  sensible  wo- 
men in  the  island:  had  a  good  head,  and  as 
good  a  heart  He  said,  she  did  not  use 
force  or  fear  in  educating  her  children. 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  she  is  wrong;  I  'would 
rather  have  the  rod  to  be  the  general  terror 
to  all,  to  make  them  learn,  than  tell  a  child, 
if  you  do  thus  or  thus,  you  will  be  more  es- 
teemed than  your  brothers  or  sisters.  The 
rod  produces  an  effect  which  terminates  in 
itself.  A  child  is  afraid  of  being  whipped, 
and  gets  his  task,  and  there 's  an  end  on  H ; 
whereas,  by  exciting  emulation  and  compari- 
sons of  superiority,  you  lay  the  foundation 
of  lasting  mischief;  you  make  brothers  and 
sisters  hate  each  other." 

During  Mr.  Boyd's  stay  in  Arran,he  had 
found  a  chest  of  medical  books,  kfl  by  a 
surgeon  there,  and  had  read  them  till  he 
acquired  some  skill  in  phyaick,  in  conse- 

auence  of  which  he  is  often  consulted  by 
lie  poor.  There  were  several  here  waiting 
for  him  as  patients. 

We  walked  round  the  house  till  stopped 
by  a  cut  made  by  the  influx  of  the  sea.  The 
house  is  built  quite  upon  the  shore ;  the 
windows  look  upon  the  main  ocean,  and  the 
Kin?  of  Denmark  is  Lord  Errata  nearest 
neighbour  on  the  north-east 

We  got  immediately  into  the  coach,  and 
drove  to  Dunbui,  a  rock  near  the  shore, 
quite  covered  with  Bea-fowls ;  then  to  a  cir- 
cular basin  of  large  extent,  surrounded  with 
tremendous  rocks.  On  the  quarter  next  the 
sea,  there  is  a  high  arch  in  the  rock,  which 
the  force  of  the  tempest  has  driven  out 
This  place  is  called  Buchan's  Buller,  or  the 
Buller  of  Buchan,  and  the  country  people 
call  it  the  Pot  Mr.  Boyd  said  it  was  so 
called  from  the  French  bouloir.  It  may  be 
more  simply  traced  from  boiler  in  our  own 
language.  We  walked  round  this  mon- 
strous cauldron.  In  some  places,  the  rock 
is  very  narrow :  and  on  each  side  there  is  a 
sea  deep  enough  for  a  man  of  war  to  ride 
in ;  so  that  it  is  somewhat  horrid  to  move 
along.  However,  there  is  earth  and  grass 
upon  the  rock,  and  a  kind  of  road  marked 
out  by  the  print  of  feet ;  so  that  one  makes 
it  out  pretty  safely  :  yet  it  alarmed  me  to 
see  Dr.  Johnson  striding  irregularly  along. 
He  insisted  on  taking  a  boat  and  sailing 
into  the  Pot  We  did  so.  He  was  stout, 
and  wonderfully  alert.  The  Buehan-men 
all  showing  their  teeth,  and  speaking  with 
that  strange  sharp  accent  which  distinguish- 
es them,  was  to  me  a  matter  of  curiosity. 
He  was  not  sensible  of  the  difference  of  pro* 
nunciation  in  the  south  and  north  of  See** 
land,  which  I  wondered  at 

As  the  entry  into  the  Buller  is  so  narrow 
that  oars  cannot  be  used  as  you  go  in,  the 

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method  taken  is,  to  row  very  hard  when 
you  come  near  it,  and  give  the  boat  such  a 
rapidity  of  motion  that  it  glides  in.  Dr. 
Johnson  observed  what  an  effect  this  scene 
would  have  had,  were  we  entering  into  an 
unknown  place.  There  are  caves  of  con- 
siderable depth;  I  think,  one  on  each  side. 
The  boatman  had  never  entered  either  of 
them  far  enough  to  know  the  size.  Mr. 
Boyd  told  us  that  it  is  customary  for  the 
company  at  Peter-head-well  to  make  parties, 
and  come  and  dine  in  one  of  the  caves  here1. 
He  told  us  that,  as  Slains  is  at  a  consid- 
erable distance  from  Aberdeen,  Lord  Enrol, 
who  has  a  very  large  family,  resolved  to 
have  a  surgeon  of  his  own.  With  this  view 
he  educated  one  of  his  tenant's  sons,  who 
is  now  settled  in  a  very  neat  house  and  farm 
just  by,  which  we  saw  from  the  road.  By 
the  salary  which  the  earl  allows  him,  and 
the  practice  which  he  has  had,  he  is  in  very 
easy  circumstances.  He  had  kept  an  ex- 
act account  of  all  that  had  been  laid  out  on 
his  education,  and  he  came  to  his  lordship 
one  day,  and  told  him  that  he  had  arrived 
at  a  much  higher  situation  than  ever  he  ex- 
pected; that  he  was  now  able  to  repay 
what  his  lordship  had  advanced,  and  beg- 
ged he  would  accept  of  it.  The  earl  was 
pleased  with  the  generous  gratitude  and 

Snteel  offer  of  the  man;  but  refused  it. 
r.  Boyd  also  told  us,  Gumming-  the  quaker 
first  began  to  distinguish  himseLf,  by  writing 
against  Dr.  Leechman  on  Prayer,  to  prove 
•  it  unnecessary,  as  God  knows  best  what 
should  be,  and  will  order  it  without  our 
asking  :  the  old  hackneyed  objection. 

When  we  returned  to  the  house,  we  found 
coffee  and  tea  in  the  drawing-room.  Lady 
Errol  was  not  there,  being,  as  I  supposed, 
engaged  with  her  young  family.  There  is 
a  bow-window  fronting  the  sea.  Dr.  John- 
son repeated  the  ode,  "  Jam  satis  terns," 
while  Mr.  Boyd  was  with  his  patients.  He 
spoke  well  in  favour  of  entails,  to  preserve 
lines  of  men  whom  mankind  are  accustomed 
to  reverence.  His  opinion  was,  that  so  much 
land  should  be  entailed  as  that  families 
should  never  fall  into  contempt,  and  as  much 
left  free  as  to  give  them  all  the  advantages 
of  property  in  case  of  any  emergency.  "  If," 
said  he,  "the  nobility  are  suffered  to  sink 
into  indigence,  they  of  course  become  cor- 
rupt; they  are  ready  to  do  whatever  the 
king  chooses :  therefore  it  is  fit  they  should 
be  kept  from  becoming  poor,  unless  it  is  fix- 
ed that  when  they  fall  below  a  certain  stand- 
ard of  wealth  they  shall  lose  their  peerages. 
We  know  the  house  of  peers  have  made  no- 
ble stands,  when  the  house  of  commons 
durst  not.    The  two  last  years  of  parlia- 

1  [They  were  also  used  by  smuggler*.  The 
path  round  the  JBuller  m  about  three  feet  broad; 
» that  there  b  little  danger,  though  very  often 
modi  fear.— Walter  Scott.] 


ment  they  dare  not  contradict  the  popu- 
lace." 

This  room  is  ornamented  with  a  number 
of  fine  prints,  and  with  a  whole  length  pic- 
ture of  Lord  Errol,  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 
This  led  Dr.  Johnson  and  me  to  talk  of  our 
amiable  and  elegant  friend,  whose  panegy- 
rick  he  concluded  by  saying,  "  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  sir,  is  the  most  invulnerable  man 
I  know;  the  man  with  whom  if  you  should 
quarrel,  you  would  find  the  most  difficulty 
how  to  abuse." 

Dr.  Johnson  observed,  the  situation  here 
was  the  noblest  he  had  ever  seen;  better 
than  Mount  Edgecumbe,  reckoned  the  first 
in  England ;  because,  at  Mount  Edgecumbe, 
the  sea  is  bounded  by  land  on  the  other  side, 
and,  though  there  is  there  the  grandeur  of  a 
fleet,  there  is  also  the  impression  of  there  be- 
ing a  dock-yard,  the  circumstances  of  which 
are  not  agreeable.  At  Slains  is  an  excellent 
old  house.  The  noble  owner  has  built  of 
brick,  along  the  square  in  the  inside,  a  gallery, 
both  on  the  first  and  second  story,  the  house 
being  no  higher;  so  that  he  has  always  a  dry 
walk;  and  the  rooms,  to  which  formerly 
there  was  no  approach  but  through  each 
other,  have  now  all  separate  entries  from 
the  gallery,  which  is  hung  with  Hogarth's 
works,  and  other  prints.  We  went  and  sat 
a  while  in  the  library.  There  is  a  valuable 
numerous  collection.  It  was  chiefly  made  by 
Mr.  Falconer,  husband  to  the  late' Countess 
of  Errol  in  her  own  right.  This  earl  has 
added  a  good  many  modern  books. 

About  nine  the  earl3  came  home.  Cap- 
tain Gordon,  of  Park,  was  with  him.  His 
lordship  put  Dr.  Johnson  in  mind  of  their 
ha  vine  dined  together  in  London,  along 
with  Mr.  Beauclerk.  I  was  exceedingly 
pleased  with  Lord  Errol.  His  dignified  per- 
son and  agreeable  countenance,  with  the 
most  unaffected  affability,  gave  me  high  sat- 
isfaction. From  perhaps  a  weakness,  or,  as 
I  rather  hope,  more  fancy  and  warmth  of 
feeling  than  is  quite  reasonable,  my  mind  is 
ever  impressed  with  admiration  for  persons 
of  high  birth,  and  I  could,  with  the  most  per- 
fect honesty,  expatiate  on  Lord  Errol's  good 
qualities;  but  he  stands  in  no  need  of  my 
praise.  His  agreeable  manners  and  softness 
of  address  prevented  that  constraint  which 
the  idea  of  his  being  Lord  High  Constable 
of  Scotland  might  otherwise  have  occasion* 
ed3.    He  talked  very  easily  and  sensibly 


9  [Sir  W.  Forbes,  in  his  Life  ofBeattie,  says, 
that  Dr.  Johnson  discovered  a  likeness  between 
Lord  Errol  and  Sarpedon;  the  points  of  resemblance 
(except  that  Lord  Errol  was  of  heroic  statue, 
six  feet  four  inches  high)  we  are  left  to  guess: 
but  his  lordship  was,  whether  like  Sarpedon  or 
not,  a  very  handsome,  high-spirited,  and  amjar 
ble  nobleman. — En.] 

*  [Mr.  Boswell  need  not  have  been  in  such 
awe  on  thu  account;  for  Lord  Errors  title  to 
that  dignity  was,  at  this  period,  not  qiits  tftab- 


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177*— jETAT.  64 


with  bis  learned  guest  I  observed  that  Dr. 
Johnson,  though  he  showed  that  respect  to 
his  lordship  which,  from  principle,  he  always 
does  to  high  rank,  yet,  when  they  came  to 
argument,  maintained  that  manliness  which 
becomes  the  force  and  vigour  of  his  under- 
standing. To  show  external  deference  to 
our  superiors  is  proper:  to  seem  to  yield  to 
them  in  opinion  is  meanness  K  The  earl 
said  grace  both  before  and  after  supper, 
with  much  decency.  He  told  us  a  story  of 
a  man  who  was  executed  at  Perth,  some 
years  ago,  for  murdering  a  woman  who  was 
with  child  by  him,  snd  a  former  child  he 
had  by  her.  His  hand  was  cut  off:  he  was 
then  pulled  up;  but  the  rope  broke,  and  he 
was  forced  to  lie  an  hour  on  the  ground, 
till  another  rope  was  brought  from  Perth, 
the  execution  being  in  a  wood  at  some  dis- 
tance—at the  place  where  the  murders  were 
committed.  "  There  (said  my  IokH  I  see 
the  hand  of  Providence."  I  was  really  hap- 
py here.  I  saw  in  this  nobleman  the  best 
dispositions  and  best  principles;  and  I  saw 
him,  in  my  mind's  eye,  to  be  the  representa- 
tive of  the  ancient  Boyds  of  Kilmarnock.  I 
was  afraid  he  might  have  urged  drinking, 
as,  I  believe,  he  used  formerly  to  do;  but 
he  drank  port  and  water  out  of  a  large  glass 
himself,  and  let  us  do  as  we  pleased.  He 
went  with  us  to  our  rooms  at  night;  said  he 


lisbed.  For  he  not  only  was  not  descended  from 
the  Earis  of  Eirol,  in  the  male  line,  bnt  the  right 
of  hit  mother  and  grandmother  rested  on  the 
nomination  of  Gilbert,  the  tenth  Earl  of  Erroi, 
who,  having  no  children  of  his  own,  nominated 
(under  a  charter  of  Charles  II.)  his  relation,  Sir 
John  Hay,  of  Kelloar,  to  his  honours,  who  ac- 
cordingly succeeded  as  eleventh  earl;  but  his  son, 
the  twelfth  earl,  having  no  issue,  was  succeeded 
by  his  two  sisters  successively.  The  youngest, 
Lady  Margaret,  the  grandmother  ef  the  earl  who 
received  Dr.  Johnson,  was  married  to  the  Earl  of 
Linlithgow,  who  was  attainted  for  the  rebellion 
of  1 7 1 5.  They  left  an  only  daughter,  married  to 
Lord  Kilmarnock,  beheaded  and  attainted  for  the 
rebellion  of  1745,  whose  son  was  the  earl  men- 
tioned in  the  text  Lord  Lauderdale,  at  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Scottish  peers  in  1796,  protested 
against  Lord  Erroi 's  claim  to  the  peerage,  ques- 
tioning not  only  the  right  of  conferring  a  peerage 
by  nomination,  bat  denying  that  any  such  nom- 
ination had  been  in  fact  made;  but  the  house  of 
lords  decided  that  the  earldom,  though  originally 
a  male  fief,  had  become  descendable  to  females, 
and  also  that  Earl  Gilbert  had  acquired  and  exer- 
cised the  right  of  nomination.  It  was  still  more 
doubtful  how  the  office  of  Hereditary  High  Con- 
stable could  be  transferred,  either  by  nomination 
or  through  females;  but  all  the  late  Earls  of  Erroi 
have  enjoyed  it  without  question,  and  the  present 
sari  executed  it  by  deputy  at  the  coronation  of 
George  IV.,  and  in  person  during  his  majesty's 
visit  to  Scotland.— Ed.] 

1  Lord  Chesterfield,  in  his  letters  to  his  son, 
complains  of  one  who  argued  in  an  indiscriminate 
— _  ~^  _  t  of  aU  j^j^    pto^y  the  no- 


[tour  to  thb 

took  the  visit  very  kindly;  and  told  me  my 
father  and  he  were  very  old  acquaintance; 
that  I  now  knew  the  way  to  Slaws,  and  he 
hoped  to  see  me  there  again. 

I  had  a  most  elegant  room;  but  the/s 
was  a  fire  in  it  which  blazed:  and  the  sea, 
to  which  my  windows  looked,  roared}  and 
the  pillows  were  made  of  the  feathers  of 
some  sea-fowl,  which  had  tome  a  disagree- 
able smell:  so  that,  by  all  these  causes,  I 
was  kept  awake  a  good  while.  I  saw,  in 
imagination,  Lord  Errol's  father,  Lord  Kil- 
marnock (who  was  beheaded  on  Tower-hiL 
in  1746),  andl  was  somewhat  dreary.  But 
the  thought  did  not  last  long,  and  I  fell 
asleep. 

Wednesday,  %hth  August— We  got  up 
between  seven  and  eight,  and  found  Mr. 
Boyd  in  the  dining-room,  with  tea  and  cof- 
fee before  him,  to  give  us  breakfast.  We 
were  in  an  admirable  humour.  Lady  Erroi 
had  given  each  of  us  a  copy  of  an  ode  by 
Beattie,  on  the  birth  of  her  son,  Lord  Hay. 
Mr.  Boyd  asked  Dr.  Johnson  how  he  liked 
it  Dr.  Johnson,  who  did  not  admire  it, 
got  off  very  well,  by  taking  it  out,  and  read- 
ing the  second  and  third  stanzas  of  it  with 
much  melody.  This,  without  his  saying  a 
word,  pleased  Mr.  Boyd.  He  observed, 
however,  to  Dr.  Johnson,  that  the  expres- 
sion as  to  the  family  of  Erroi, 

"  A  thousand  yean  have  seen  H  shine," 
compared  with  what  went  before,  was  an  an- 
ti-climax, and  that  it  would  have  been  better, 
"  Ages  have  seen,"  tec. 


ble  lord  had  felt  with  some  uneasiness  what  k 
was  to  encounter  stronger  abilities  than  his  own. 
If  a  peer  will  engage  at  foils  with  his  inferior  in 
station,  he  mast  expect  that  his  inferior  in  station 
will  avail  himself  of  every  advantage;  otherwise 
it  is  not  a  fair  trial  of  strength  and  skill.  The 
same  will  hold  in  a  contest  of  reason,  or  of  wit 
A  certain  kin*  entered  the  lists  of  genius  with 
Voltaire.  The  consequence  was  that,  though 
the  king  had  great  and  brilliant  talents,  Voltaire 
had  such  a  superiority  that  his  majesty  could  not 
bear  it;  and  the  poet  was  dismissed,  or  escaped, 
from  that  court.  In  the  reign  of  James  I.  of  Eng- 
land, Crichton,  Lord  Sanquhar,  a  peer  of  Scotland, 
from  a  vain  ambition  to  excel  a  fencing-master, 
in  his  own  art,  played  at  rapier  and  dagger  with 
him.  The  fencing-master,  whose  feme  and  bread 
were  at  stake,  pat  out  one  of  his  lordship's  eyes. 
Exasperated  at  this,  Lord  Sanquhar  hired  ruffians, 
and  had  the  fencing-master  assassinated;  for 
which  his  lordship  was  capitally  tried,  condemn- 
ed, and  hanged.  Not  being  a  peer  of  England, 
he  was  tried  by  the  name  of  Robert  Crichton, 
Esq. ;  but  he  was  admitted  to  be  a  baron  of  three 
hundred  yean  standing.  8ee  the  State  Thais  ; 
and  the  History  of  England  by  Hume,  who 
applauds  the  impartial  justice  executed  upon  a 
man  of  high  rank. — Boswkll.  [Lord  Chester 
field's  observation  is  in  the  character  of  the  ree- 
pectabU  Hottentot  (see  ante,  p.  116),  which 
was  probably  meant  for  Dr.  Johnson.    En  ] 


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Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  So  great  a  number  as  a 
thousand  is  better.  Dolus  latet  in  univer- 
iolibus.  Ages  might  be  only  two  ages." 
He  talked  of  the  advantage  of  keeping  up 
the  connexions  of  relationship,  which  pro- 
duce much  kindness.  "  Every  man  (said 
he)  who  comes  into  the  world  has  need  of 
friends.  If  he  has  to  get  them  for  himself, 
half  his  life  is  spent  before  his  meri  t  is  known. 
Relations  are  a  man's  ready  friends  who 
support  him.  When  a  man  is  in  real  dis- 
tress, he  flies  into  the  arms  of  his  relations. 
An  old  lawyer,  who  had  much  experience 
in  making  wills,  told  me,  that  after  people 
had  deliberated  long,  and  thought  of  many 
for  their  executors,  they  settled  at  last  by 
fixing  on  their  relations.  This  shows  the 
universality  of  the  principle. 

I  regretted  the  decay  of  respect  for  men 
of  family,  and  that  a  nabob  now  would  car- 
ry an  election  from  them.  Johnson. 
"Why,  sir,  the  nabob  will  carry  it  by 
means  of  his  wealth,  in  a  country  where 
money  is  highly  valued,  as  it  must  be  where 
nothing  can  be  had  without  money;  but, 
if  it  comes  to  personal  preference,  the  man 
of  family  will  always  carry  it.  There  is 
generally  a  seoundrelism  about  a  low  man." 
Mr.  Boyd  said,  that  was  a  good  ism. 

I  said,  I  believed  mankind  were  happier 
in  the  ancient  feudal  state  of  subordination, 
than  they  are  in  the  modern  state  of  indepen- 
dency. Johnson.  "  To  be  sure,  the  chief 
was:  but  we  must  think  of  the  number  of 
individuals.  That  they  were  less  happy 
seems  plain;  for  that  state  from  which  all 
escape  as  soon  as  they  can,  and  to  which 
none  return  after  they  have  left  it,  must  be 
less  happy:  and  this  is  the  case  with  the 
state  or  dependence  on  a  chief  or  great 


1778.— iETAT.  64 


m 


I  mentioned  the  happiness  of  the  French 
in  their  subordination,  by  the  reciprocal 
benevolence l  and  attachment  between  the 
great  and  those  in  lower  rank.  Mr.  Boyd 
gave  us  an  instance  of  their  gentlemanly 
spirit.  An  old  Chevalier  de  Malthe,  of  an- 
cient noblesse,  but  in  low  circumstances, 
was  in  a  coffee-house  at  Paris,  where  was 
Julien,  the  great  manufacturer  at  the 
Gobelins,  of  the  fine  tapestry,  so  much  distin- 
guished both  for  the  figures  and  the  colours. 
The  chevalier's  carnage  was  very  old. 
'  Says  Julien,  with  a  plebeian  insolence,  "  I 
think,  sir,  you  had  better  have  your  car- 
riage new  painted."  The  chevalier  looked 
at  turn  with  indignant  contempt,  and  answer- 
ed, "  Well,  sir,  you  may  take  it  home  and 
dye  it!"  All  the  coffee-house  rejoiced  at 
Julien's  confusion. 

We  set  out  about  nine.  Dr.  Johnson 
l  curious  to  see  one  of  those  structures, 


1  [What  a  commentary  on  this  opinion  has  the 
French  revolution  written! — En.] 


which  northern  antiquarians  call  a  Druid's 
temple.  I  had  a  recollection  of  one  at  Stri- 
chen,  which  I  had  seen  fifteen  years  ago; 
so  we  went  four  miles  out  of  our  road,  af- 
ter passing  Old  Deer,  and  went  thither. 
Mr.  Fraser,  the  proprietor,  was  at  home, 
and  showed  it  to  us.  But  I  had  augmented 
it  in  my  mind;  for  all  that  remains  is  two 
stones  set  up  on  end,  with  a  loifg  one  laid 
upon  them,  as  was  usual,  and  one  stone  at 
a  little  distance  from  them.  That  stone 
was  the  capital  one  of  the  circle  which  sur- 
rounded what  now  remains.  Mr.  Fraser 
was  very  hospitable  a.  There  was  a  fair  at 
Strichen;  and  he  had  several  of  his  neigh- 
bours from  it  at  dinner.  One  of  them,  Dr. 
Fraser,  who  had  been  in  the  army,  remem- 
bered to  have  seen  Dr.  Johnson,  at  a  lec- 
ture on  experimental  philosophy,  at  Lich- 
field. The  Doctor  recollected  being  at  the 
lecture,  and  he  was  surprised  to  find  here 
somebody  who  knew  him. 

Mr.  Fraser  sent  a  servant  to  conduct  us 
by  a  short  passage  into  the  high  road.  I 
observed  to  Dr.  Johnson,  that  Fhad  a  most 
disagreeable  notion  of  the  life  of  country 
gentlemen;  that  I  left  Mr.  Fraser  just  now, 
as  one  leaves  a  prisoner  in  a  jail.  Dr.  John- 
son said,  that  I  was  right  in  thinking  them 
unhappy,  for  that  they  had  not  enough  to 
keep  tneir  minds  in  motion. 

I  started  a  thought  this  afternoon  which 
amused  us  a  great  part  of  the  way.  "  If," 
said  I,  "  our  club  should  come  and  set  up  in 
St.  Andrews,  as  a  college,  to  teach  all  that 
each  of  us  can,  in  the  several  departments 
of  learning  and  taste,  we  should  rebuild  the 
city :  we  should  draw  a  wonderful  concourse 
of  students."    Dr.  Johnson  entered  fully 


*  He  is  the  worthy  son  of  a  worthy  father, 
the  late  Lord  Strichen,  one  of  our  judges,  to 
whose  kind  notice  I  was  much  obliged.  Lord 
Strichen  was  a  man  not  only  honest,  but  highly 
generous;  for,  after  his  succession  to  the  family 
estate,  he  paid  a  large  sum  of  debts,  contracted 
by  his  predecessor,  which  he  was  not  under  any 
obligation  to  pay.  Let  me  here,  for  the  credit  of 
Ayrshire,  my  own  county,  record  a  noble  instance 
of  liberal  honesty  in  William  Hutchison,  drover, 
in  Lanehead,  Kyle,  who  formerly  obtained  a  full 
discharge  from  his  creditors  upon  a  composition 
of  his  debts;  but,  upon  being  restored  to  good 
circumstances,  invited  his  creditors  last  winter  to 
a  dinner,  without  telling  the  reason,  and  paid 
them  their  full  sums,  principal  and  interest  They 
presented  him  with  a  piece  of  plate,  with  an  in- 
scription to  commemorate  this  extraordinary  in- 
stance of  true  worth;  which  should  make  some 
people  in  Scotland  blush,  while,  though  mean 
themselves,  they  strut  about  under  the  protection 
of  great  alliance,  conscious  of  the  wretchedness  of 
numbers  who  have  lost  by  them,  to  whom  they 
never  think  of  making  reparation,  but  indulge 
themselves  and  their  families  in  most  unsuitable 
expense. — Boswexl. 


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1778.— JSTAT.  64 


[tour  to  the 


into  the  spirit  of  this  project  We  immedi- 
ately fell  to  distributing  the  offices.  I  was 
to  teach  civil  and  Scotch  law :  Burke,  poli- 
ticks and  eloquence ;  Garrick,  the  art  of 
publick  speaking  •>  Langton  was  to  be  our 
Grecian,  Colman  our  Latin  professor;  Nu- 
gent to  teach  physick ;  Lord  Charlemont, 
modern  history;  Beauclerk,  natural  philoso- 
phy; Vesey,  Irish  antiquities,  or  Celiick 
learning; l  Jones,  Oriental  learning;  Gold- 
smith, poetry  and  ancient  history;  Chamier, 
commercial  politicks:  Reynolds,  painting, 
and  the  arts  which  nave  beauty  for  their 
object;  Chambers,  the  law  of  England. 
Dr.  Johnson  at  first  said,  "  I'll  trust  theol- 
ogy to  nobody  but  myself."  But,  upon  due 
consideration,  that  Percy  is  a  clergyman,  it 
was  agreed  that  Percy  should  teach  practi- 
cal divinity  and  British  antiquities ;  Dr. 
Johnson  himself,  logick,  metaphysicks,  and 
scholastick  divinity.  In  this  manner  did  we 
amuse  ourselves,  each  suggesting,  and  each 
varying  or  adding,  till  the  whole  was  ad- 
justed. Dr.  Johnson  said,  we  only  wanted 
a  mathematician  since  Dyer  died,  who  was 
a  very  good  one;  but  as  to  every  thing  else, 
we  should  have  a  very  capital  university2. 
We  got  at  night  to  Banff.  I  sent  Joseph 
on  to  Duff-house:  but  Earl  Fife  was  not  at 
home,  which  I  regretted  much,  as  we  should 
have  had  a  very  elegant  reception  from  his 
lordship.  We  found  here  but  an  indifferent 
inn  3.  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  a  long  letter  to 
Mrs.  Thrale.     I  wondered  to  see  him  write 


1  Since  the  first  edition,  it  has  been  suggested 
by  one  of  the  club,  who  knew  Mr.  Vesey  better 
tlian  Dr.  Johnson  and  I,  that  we  did  J  not  assign 
#  him  a  proper  place,  for  he  was  quite  unskilled  in 
Irish  antiquities  and  Celtick  learning,  but  might 
with  propriety  have  been  made  professor  of  archi- 
tecture, which  he  understood  well,  and  has  left 
a  very  good  specimen  of  his  knowledge  and  taste 
in  that  art,  by  an  elegant  house  built  on  a  plan  of 
his  own  formation,  at  Lucan,  a  few  miles  from 
Dublin. — Bos  we  Li* 

9  [Here  Mr.  Boswell  has  inserted  a  note  rela- 
tive to  the  Club,  the  substance  of  which  will  be 
found  in  the  appendix  to  the  first  volume. — 
En.] 

*  Here,  unluckily,  the  windows  had  no  pulleys, 
and  Dr.  Johnson,  who  was  constantly  eager  for 
fresh  air,  had  much  struggling  to  get  one  of  them 
kept  open.  Thus  he  had  a  notion  impressed  up- 
on him,  that  this  wretched  defect  was  general  in 
Scotland,  in  consequence  of  which  he  has  erro- 
neously enlarged  upon  it  in  his  "Journey."  I 
regretted  that  he  did  not  allow  me  to  read,  over 
his  book  before  it  was  printed.  I  should  have 
changed  very  little,  but  I  should  have  suggested 
an  alteration  in  a  few  places  where  he  has  laid 
himself  open  to  be  attacked.  I  hope  I  should 
have  prevailed  with  him  to  omit  or  soften  his  as- 
sertion, that  "  a  Scotsman  must  be  a  sturdy  mor- 
alist, who  does  not  prefer  Scotland  to  truth," — 
for  I  really  think  it  is  not  founded,  and  it  is  harsh- 
ly said. — Boswkll. 


so  much  so  easily.  He  verified  his  own 
doctrine  that  "a  man  may  always  write 
when  he  will  set  himself  doggedly  to  it." 

Thursday,  26*/*  August— W e  got  a  fresh 
chaise  here,  a  very  good  one,  and  veryjrood 
horses.  We  breakfasted  at  Cullen.  They 
set  down  dried  haddocks  broiled,  along  with 
our  tea.  I  ate  one  :  but  Dr.  Johnson  was 
disgusted  by  the  sight  of  them,  so  they  were 
removed4.  Cullen  has  a  comfortable  ap- 
pearance, though  but  a  very  small  town,  and 
the  houses  mostly  poor  buildings. 

I  called  on  Mr.  Robertson,  who  has  the 
charge  of  Lord  Findlater's  affairs,  and  was 
formerly  Lord  Monboddo's  clerk,  was  three 
times  in  France  with  him,  and  translated 
Condamine's  Account  of  the  Savage  Girl, 
to  which  his  lordship  wrote  a  preface,  con- 
taining several  rem  arks  of  his  own .  Robert- 
son said  he  did  not  believe  so  much  as  his 
lordship  did;  that  it  was  plain  to  him  the 
girl  confounded  what  she  imagined  with 
what  she  remembered;  that,  besides,  she 
perceived  Ccndamine  and  Lord  Monboddo 
forming  theories,  and  she  adapted  her  story 
to  them. 

Dr.  Johnson  said,  "It  is  a  pity  to  see 
Lord  Monboddo  publish  such  notions  as  he 
has  done;  a  man  of  sense,  and  of  so  much 
elegant  learning.  There  would  be  little  in 
a  fool  doing  it;  we  should  only  laugh :  but 
when  a  wise  man  does  it,  we  are  sorry. 
Other  people  have  strange  notions;  but  they 
conceal  theni>sl£they  have  tails,  they  hide 
them;  but  MonboddQ  is  as  jealous  of  his 
tail  as  a  squirrel."  I  shall  here  put  down 
some  more  remarks  of  Dr.  Johnson's  on 
Lord  Monboddo,  which  were  not  made  ex- 
actly at  this  time,  but  come  in  well  from 
connexion.  He  said  he  did  not  approve  of 
a  judge's  calling  himself  Farmer  Burnetts, 

4  [A  protest  mav  be  entered  on  the  part  of 
most  Scotsmen  against  the  Doctor's  taste  in  this 
particular.  A  Finnon  haddock  dried  over  the 
smoke  of  the  sea-weed,  and  sprinkled  with  salt 
water  during  the  process,  acquires  a  relish  of  a 
very  peculiar  and  delicate  flavour,  inimitable  on 
any  other  coast  than  that  of  Aberdeenshire.  Some 
of  our  Edinburgh  philosophers  tried  to  produce 
their  equal  in  vain.  I  was  one  of  a  party  at  a  din- 
ner, where  the  philosophical  haddocks  were  pla- 
ced in  competition  with  the  genuine  Finnoti-fish. 
These  were  served  round  without  distinction 
whence  they  came;  but  only  one  gentleman,  out 
of  twelve  present,  espoused  the  cause  of  philoso- 
phy.— Walter  Scott.] 

*  It  b  the  custom  in  Scotland  for  the  judges  of 
the  court  of  session  to  have  the  tide  of  lords, 
from  their  estates;  thus  Mr.  Burnett  is  Lord  Mon- 
boddo, as  Mr.  Home  was  Lord  Karnes.  There 
is  something  a  little  awkward  in  this;  for  they  are 
denominated  in  deeds  by  their  names,  with  the 
addition  of  "  one  of  the  senators  of  the  college  of 
justice ;"  and  subscribe  their  christian  and  sur- 
name, as  James  Burnett,  Henry  Home,  even  in 
I  judicial  acts.— Boswkli..      [We  see  that  the 


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i 

and  going  about  with  a  little  round  hat1. 
He  laughed  heartily  atliis  lordship's  saying 
he  was  an  enthusiastical  farmer;  "  for  (said 
he),  what  can  he  do  in  farming  by  his  en- 
thusiasm?" Here,  however,  I  think  Dr. 
Johnson  mistaken.  He  who  wishes  to  be 
successful,  or  happy,  ought  to  be  enthusiast- 
ical,  that  is  to  say,  very  keen  in  all  the  oc- 
cupations or  diversions  of  life.  An  ordinary 
gentleman-farmer  will  be  satisfied  with  look- 
ing at  his  fields  once  or  twice  a  day:  an 
enthusiastical  farmer  will  be  constantly  em- 
ployed on  them:  will  have  his  mind  earnest- 
ly engaged;  will  talk  perpetually  of  them. 
But  Dr.  Johnson  has  much  of  the  nil  admi- 
rari  in  smaller  concerns.  That  survey  of 
life  which  gave  birth  to  his  "  Vanity  of 
Human  Wishes "  early  sobered  his  mind. 
Besides,  so  great  a  mind  as  his  cannot  be 
moved  by  inferior  objects:  an  elephant  does 
not  run  and  skip  like  lesser  animals. 

Mr.  Robertson  sent  a  servant  with  us,  to 
show  us  through  Lord  Findlater's  wood,  by 
which  our  wav  was  shortened,  and  we  saw 
some  part  of  his  domain,  which  is  indeed 
admirably  laid  out  Dr.  Johnson  did  not 
choose  to  walk  through  it  He  always  said 
that  he  was  not  come  to  Scotland  to  see 
fine  places,  of  which  there  were  enough  in 
England;  but  wild  objects, — mountains, — 
water-falls, — peculiar  manners:  in  short, 
things  which  he  had  not  seen  before.  I  have 
a  notion  that  he  at  no  time  has  had  much 
taste  for  rural  beauties,  I  have  myself  very 
little. 

Dr.  Johnson  said  there  was  nothing  more 
contemptible  than  a  country  gentleman  liv- 
ing beyond  his  income,  and  every  year 
growing  poorer  and  poorer.  He  spoke 
strongly  of  the  influence  which  a  man  has 
by  being  rich.  "A  man  (said  he)  who 
keeps  his  money,  has  in  reality  more  use 
from  it  than  he  can  have  by  spending  it." 
I  observed  that  this  looked  very  like  a  par- 
adox; but  he  explained  it  thus:  "  If  it  were 
certain  that  a  man  would  keep  his  money 
locked  up  forever,  to  be  sure  he  would 
have  no  influence;  but  as  so  many  want 
money,  and  he  has  the  power  of  giving  it, 
and  they  know  not  but  by  gaining  his  fa- 
vour they  may  obtain  it,  the  rich  man  will 
always  have  the  greatest  influence.  He 
again  who  lavishes  his  money  is  laughed  at 
as  foolish,  and  in  a  great  degree  with  jus- 
tice, considering  how  much  is  spent  from 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


559 


same  custom  prevailed  amongst  other  gentlemen 
as  well  as  the  judges.  All  the  lairds  who  are 
called  by  the  names  of  their  estates,  as  Rasay, 
Col,  &c.  sign  their  christian  and  surnames,  as  J. 
M&cleod,  A.  Maclean,  &c.  The  dignity  of  the 
judicial  bench  has  consecrated,  in  the  case  of  the 
judges,  what  was  once  the  common  practice  of 
the  country. — Ed.] 

1  [Why  not,  in  a  remote  country  retirement  ? 
—Ed.] 


vanity.  Even  those  who  partake  of  a  man's 
hospitality  have  but  a  transient  kindness  for 
him.  If  he  has  not  the  command  of  money, 
people  know  he  cannot  help  them  if  he 
would;  whereas  the  rich  man  always  can, 
if  he  will,  and  for  the  chance  of  that,  will 
have  much  weight"  Bos  well.  "But 
philosophers  and  satirists  have  all  treated  a 
miser  as  contemptible."  Johnson.  "  He 
is  so  philosophically;  but  not  in  the  prac- 
tice of  life."  Bo  swell.  "  Let  me  see 
now:  I  do  not  know  the  instances  of  misers 
in  England,  so  as  to  examine  into  their  in- 
fluence." Johnson.  "  We  have  had  few 
misers  in  England."  Bos  well.  "  There 
was  Lowther9."  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir, 
Lowther,  by  keeping  his  money,  had  the 
command  of  the  county,  which  the  family 
has  now  lost,  by  spending  it3.  I  take  it  he 
lent  a  great  deal;  and  that  is  the  way  to 
have  influence,  and  yet  preserve  one's 
wealth.  A  man  may  lend  his  money  upon 
very  good  security,  and  yet  have  his  debtor 
much  under  his  power."  Boswell.  "  No 
doubt,  sir.  He  can  always  distress  him  for 
the  money:  as  no  man  borrows  who  is  able 
to  pay  on  demand  quite  conveniently." 

We  dined  at  El*in,  and  saw  the  noble 
ruins  of  the  cathedral.  Though  it  rained 
much,  Dr.  Johnson  examined  them  with 
the  most  patient  attention.  He  could  not 
here  feel  any  abhorrence  at  the  Scottish 
reformers,  for  he  had  been  told  by  Lord 
Hailes,  that  it  was  destroyed  before  the  re- 
formation, by  the  Lord  of  Badenoch4,  who 

*  [He  means,  no  doubt,  Sir  James  Lowther,  of 
Whitehaven,  bait.,  who  died  in  1755,  immensely 
rich,  but  without  issue,  and  his  estates  devolved 
on  his  relation,  Sir  James,  afterwards  first  Earl  of 
Lonsdale. — Ed.] 

3  I  do  not  know  what  was  at  this  time  the  state 
of  the  parliamentary  interest  of  the  ancient  family 
of  Lowther;  a  family  before  the  conquest:  but  all 
the  nation  knows  it  to  be  very  extensive  at  present. 
A  due  mixture  of  severity  and  kindness,  economy 
and  munificence,  characterizes  its  present  repre- 
sentative.— Boswell.  [The  second  viscount 
and  first  Earl  Lonsdale  of  his  branch,  who  was 
recommended  to  BoswelPs  peculiar  favour  by 
having  married  Lady  Mary  Stuart,  the  daughter 
of  John,  Earl  of  Bute. — Ed.] 

4  Note,  by  Lord  Hailes.—"  The  cathedral  of 
Elgin  was  burnt  by  the  Lord  of  Badenoch,  be- 
cause the  Bishop  of  Moray  had  pronounced  an 
award  not  to  his  liking.  The  indemnification 
that  the  see  obtained  was,  that  the  Lord  of  Bade- 
noch stood  for  three  days  barefooted  at  the  great 
gate  of  the  cathedral.  The  story  is  in  the  char- 
tulary  of  Elgia." — Boswell.  [Light  as  this 
penance  was,  an  Irish  chieftain  fared  still  better. 
The  eighth  Earl  of  Kildare  was  charged  before 
Henry  VII.  with  having  burned  the  cathedral  of 
Cashel:  he  expressed  his  contrition  for  this  sac- 
rilege, adding,  that  he  never  would  have  done  it 
had  he  not  thought  that  the  archbuhop  had  been 
in  it.    The  king  made  him  lord-lieatenanU— En.] 


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[tour  to 


had  a  quarrel  with  the  bishop.  The  bishop's 
house,  and  those  of  the  other  clergy,  "which 
are  still  pretty  entire,  do  not  seem  to  have 
been  proportioned  to  the  magnificence  of  the 
cathedral,  which  has  been  of  great  extent, 
and  had  very  fine  carved  work.  The  ground 
Within  the  walls  of  the  cathedral  is  employ- 
ed as  a  burying-place.  The  family  of  Gor- 
don have  their  vault  here;  but  it  has  no- 
thing grand. 

We  passed  Gordon  Castle  *  this  forenoon, 
which  has  a  princely  appearance.  Focha- 
bers, the  neighbouring  village,  is  a  poor 
place,  many  of  the  houses  beinf  ruinous: 
out  it  is  remarkable,  they  have  in  general 
orchards  well  stored  with  apple-trees*  El- 
gin has  what  in  England  are  called  piazzas, 
that  run  in  many  places  on  each  side  of  the 
street  It  must  have  been  a  much  better 
place  formerly.  Probably  it  had  piazzas  all 
along  the  town,  as  I  have  seen  at  Bologma. 
I  approved  much  of  such  structures  in  a 
town,  on  account  of  their  conveniency  in 
wet  weather.  Dr.  Johnson  disapproved  of 
them,  "  because/'  said  he,  "  it  makes  the 
under  story  of  a  house  very  dark,  which 
greatly  overbalances  the  conveniency,  when 
it  is  considered  how  small  a  part  of  the  year 
it  rains;  how  few  are  usually  in  the  street 
at  such  times;  that  many  who  are  might  as 
well  be  at  home;  and  the  little  that  people 
suffer,  supposing  them  to  be  as  much  wet 
as  they  commonly  are  in  walking  a  street" 

We  fared  but  ill  at  our  inn  here;  and  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  this  was  the  first  time  he  had 
seen  a  dinner  in  Scotland  that  he  could  not 
eat 

In  the  afternoon,  we  drove  over  the  very 
heath  where  Macbeth  met  the  witches,  ac- 
cording to  tradition.  Dr.  Johnson  again 
solemnly  repeated 

"  How  far  is't  called  to  Fores  ?    What  are  these, 
So  wither *d,  and  so  wild  in  their  attire  ? 
That  look  not  like  the  inhabitants  o'  the  earth, 
And  yet  are  onf  ?" 

He  repeated  a  good  deal  more  of  Macbeth. 
His  recitation  was  grand  and  affecting,  and, 
as  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  has  observed  to  me, 
had  no.more  tone  than  it  should  have:  it 
was  the  better  for  it.     He  then  parodied  the 


1  I  am  not  sure  whether  the  doke  was  at  borne; 
bat,  not  having  the  honour  of  being  much  known 
to  his  grace,  I  could  not  have  presumed  to  enter 
his  castle,  though  to  introduce  even  so  celebrated 
a  stranger.  We  wore  at  any  rate  in  a  hurry  to 
get  forward  to  the  wildness  which  we  came  to 
see.  Perhaps,  if  this  noble  family  had  still  pre- 
served that  sequestered  magnificence  which  they 
maintained  when  catholic  ks,  corresponding  with 
the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  we  might  have 
been  induced  to  have  procured  proper  Tetters  of 
introduction,  and  devoted  some  time  to  the  con- 
templation of  venerable  superstitions  state.— Bos- 
wiu. 


"  all  hail »  of  the  wjtches  to  Macbeth,  ad- 
dressing himself  to  me.  I  had  purchased 
some  land  called  Dalblair;  and,  as  in  Scot- 
land it  is  customary  to  distinguish  landed 
men  by  the  name* of  their  estates,  I  had 
thus  two  titles,  Dalblair  and  young  Auchin- 
leck.     So  my  friend,  in  imitation  of 

"  All  hail,  Macbeth!  hail  to  thee,  Thane  of  Caw 
dort" 

condescended  to  amuse  himself  with  utter- 
ing 

"  All  hail,  Dalblair  !  hail  to  thee,  Laird  of  Aw 
ehtnUck*!" 

We  got  to  Fores  at  night,  and  found  an 
admirable  inn,  in  which  Dr.  Johnson  was 
pleased  to  meet  with  a  landlord,  who  styled 
himself  u  Wine-Cooper,  from  London." 

Friday,  27*  A  August. — It  was  dark  when 
we  came  to  Fores  last  night;  so  we  did  not 
see  what  is  called  King  Duncan's  monu- 
ment3. I  shall  now  mark  some  gleanings 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  conversation.  I  spoke  of 
Leonidas,  and  said  there  were  some  good 
passages  in  it.  Johnson.  "Why,  you 
must  seek  for  them."  He  said,  Paul  White- 
head's Manners  was  a  poor  performance. 
Speaking  of  Derrick,  he  told  me  "  he  had  a 
kindness  for  him,  and  had  often  said,  that 
if  his  letters  had  been  written  by  one  of  a 
more  established  name,  they  would  have 
been  thought  very  pretty  letters." 

This  morning  I  introduced  the  subject 
of  the  origin  of  evil.  Johnson.  "  Moral 
evil  is  occasioned  by  free  will,  which  im- 
plies choice  between  good  and  evil.  With 
all  the  eiql  that  there  is,  there  is  no  man 
but  would  rather  be  a  free  agent,  than  a 
mere  machine  without  the  evil;  and  what 
is  best  fbr  each  individual,  must  be  best  for 
the  whole.  If  a  man  would  rather  be  the 
machine,  I  cannot  argue  with  him.  He  is 
a  different  being  from  me."  Boswell.  "A 
man,  as  a  machine,  may  have  agreeable  sen- 
sations; for  instance,  he  may  have  pleasure 
in  musick."  Johnson.  "  No,  sir,  he  can- 
not have  pleasure  in  musick;  at  least,  no 
power  of  producing  musick;  for  he  who 
can  produce  musick  may  let  ic  alone:  he 
who  can  play  upon  a  fiddle  may  break  it: 
such  a  man  is  not  a  machine."  This  rea- 
soning satisfied  me.  It  is  certain,  there 
cannot  be  a  free  agent,  unless  there  is  the 
power  of  being  evil  as  well  as  good.  We 
must  take  the  inherent  possibilities  of  things 
into  consideration,  in  our  reasonings  or  con- 
jectures concerning  the  works  of  God. 


*  Pronounced  as  a  dissyllable,  JSffltck. — Bos- 

WILL. 

*  [Duncan's  monument;  a  huge  column  on  the 
road-side  near  Fores,  more  than  twenty  feet 
high,  erected  in  commemoration  of  the  final  re- 
treat of  the  Danes  from  Scotland,  and  properly 
called  Swene's  Stone.— Walts*  Scott.} 


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1778.— ^2TAT.  64. 


361 


We  came  to  Nairn  to  breakfast  Though 
a  county  town  and  a  royal  burgh,  it  is  a 
miserable  plaee.  Over  the  room  where  we 
sat,  a  girl  was  spinning  wool  with  a  great 
wheel,  and  singing  an  Erse  song:  "I'll 
warrant  you,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "  one  of 
the  songs  of  Ossian."  He  then  repeated 
these  lines: 

"  Verse  sweetens  toil,  however  rode  the  sound. 
All  at  her  work  the  village  maiden  sings; 
Nor,  while  she  turns  the  giddy  wheel  around, 
Revolves  the  sad  vicissitude  of  things i." 

I  thought  I  had  heard  these  lines  before. 
Johnson.  "  I  fancy  not,  sir;  for -they*  are 
in  a  detached  poem,  the  name  of  which  I  do 
not  remember,  written  by  one  Gifferd,  a 
parson." 

I  expected  Mr.  Kenneth  M'Aulay,  the 
minister  of  Calder,  who  published  the  his* 
tory  of  St.  Kilda,  a  book  which  Dr.  John- 
son liked,  would  have  met  us' here,  as  I  had 
written  to  him  from  Aberdeen.  But  I  re- 
ceived a  Letter  from  him,  telling  me  that  he 
could  not  leave  home,  as  he  was  to  admin- 
ister the  sacrament  the  following  Sunday, 
and  earnestly  requesting  to  see  us  at  his 
manse.  "  We  'II  go,"  said  Dr..  Johnson; 
which  we  accordingly  did.  Mrs.  M'Aulay 
received  us,  and  told  us  her  husband  was 
in  the  church  distributing  tokens9.  We 
arrived  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock,  and 
it  was  near  three  before  he  came  to  us. 

Dr.  Johnson  thanked  him  for  his  book, 
and  said  "it  was  a  very  pretty  piece  of 
topography."  M'Aulay  did  not  seem  much 
to  mind  the  compliment  From  his  conver- 
sation, Dr.  Johnson  was  persuaded  that  he 
had  not  written  the  book  which  goes  under 
his  name.  I  myself  always  suspected  so; 
and  I  have  been  told  it  was  written  by  the 
learned  Dr.  John  M'Pherson  of  Sky,  from 
the  materials  collected  by  M'Aulay.  Dr. 
Johnson  said  privately  to  me,  "  There  is  a 
combination  in  it  of  which  M'Aulay  is  not 
capable."  However,  he  was  exceedingly 
hospitable;  and  as  he  obligingly  promised 
us  a  route  for  our  Tour  through  the  West- 
ern Isles,  we  agreed  to  stay  with  him  all 
night. 

After  dinner,  we  walked  to  the  old  castle 
of  Calder  (pronounced  Ca  wder  3) ,  the  Thane 


1  [See  ante,  p.  174.— Ed.] 

9  In  Scotland  there  is  a  great  deal  of  prepara- 
tion before  administering  the  sacrament  The 
minster  of  the  parish  examines  the  people  as  to 
their  fitness,  and  to  those  whom  he  approves 
gives  little  pieces  of  tin,  stamped  with  the  name 
of  the  parka,  as  tokens,  which  they  most  produce 
before  receiving  it  This  is  a  species  of  priestly 
power,  and  sometimes  may  be  abased.  I  remem- 
ber a  lawsuit  brought  by  a  person  against  his  par- 
ish minister,  for  refusing  him  adnnsrion  to  that 
sacred  ordinance.— Boswil-l. 
■  *  [Is  it  not  a  strong  mooch  minute  instance  of 
Aw  general  knowledge  of  Shakspeare,  mat  ha 

▼ex.  I.  46 


of  Cawdor's  seat.  I  was  sorry  that  my 
friend,  this  "  prosperous  gentleman,"  was 
not  there.  The  old  tower  must  be  of  great 
antiquity.  There  is  a  draw-bridge  over 
what  has  been  a  moat,  and  an  ancient  court. 
There  is  a  hawthorn  tree,  which  rises  like 
a  wooden  pillar  through  the  rooms  of  the 
castle:  fbr,  by  a  strange  conceit,  the  walls 
have  been  built  round  it.  The  thickness  of 
the  walls,  the  small  slanting  windows,  and  a 
great  iron  door  at  the  entrance  on  the  se- 
cond story  as  you  ascend  the  stairs,  all  indi- 
cate the  rude  times  in  which  this  castle  was 
erected.  There  were  here  some  large  ven- 
erable trees4. 

I  was  afraid  of  a  quarrel  between  Dr. 
Johnson  and  Mr.  M'Aulay,  who  talked 
slightingly  of  the  lower  English  clergy. 
The  doctor  g[ave  him  a  frowning  look,  and 
said,  "  This  is  a  day  of  novelties!  I  have 
seen  old  trees  in  Scotland,  and  I  hare  heard 
the  English  clergy  treated  with  disrespect." 

I  dreaded  that  a  whole  evening  at  C alder- 
manse  would  be  heavy;  however,  Mr.  Grant, 
an  intelligent  and  well-bred  minister  in  the 
neighbourhood,  was  there,  and  assisted  us 
by  his  conversation.  Dr.  Johnson,  talking 
of  hereditary  occupations  in  the  Highlands, 
said,  "  There  is  no  harm  in  such  a  custom 
as  this;  but  it  is  wrong  to  enforce  it,  and 
oblige  a  man  to  be  a  tailor  or  a  smith,  be- 
cause his  father  has  been  one.4'  This  cus- 
tom, however,  is  not  peculiar  to  our  High- 
lands; it  is  well  known  that  in  India  a  sim- 
ilar nractice  prevails. 

Mr.  M'Auiav  began  a  rhapsody  against 
creeds  and  confessions*  Dr.  Johnson  show- 
ed, that  "  what  he  called  imposition,  was 
only  a  voluntary  declaration  of  agreement 
in  certain  articles  of  faith,  which  a  church 
has  a  right  to  require,  just  as  any  other 
society  can  insist  on  certain  rules  being  ob- 
served by  its  members.  Nobody  is  com- 
pelled to  be  of  the  church,  as  nobody  is  com- 
pelled to  enter  into  a  society."  This  was  a 
very  clear  and  just  view  of  the  subject;  but 
M'Aulay  could  not  be  driven  out  of  his 
track.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  Sir,  you  are  a 
bigot  to  laxness." 

Mr.  M'Aulay  and  I  laid  the  map  of  Scot- 
land before  us;  and  he  pointed  out  a  route 
fbr  us  from  Inverness,  by  Fort  Augustus,  to 
Glenelg,  Sky,  Mull,  Icoknkill,  Corn,  and 
Inverary,  which  I  wrote  down.  As  my  fa- 
ther was  to  begin  the  northern  circuit  about 
the  18th  of  September,  it  was  necessary  for 
us  either  to  make  our  tour  with  great  expe- 
dition, so  as  to  get  to  Aucbinkck  before  he 
set  out,  or  to  protract  it,  so  as  not  to  be 
there  till  his  return,  which  would  be  about 
the  10th  of  October.    "By  M'Auky's  calcu- 


knew  the  proper  pronunciation  of  this  name  ?— 
Ed.] 
«  [Cawder  Castle,  here  described,  has  been 
much  damaged  by  nre^— Waltwi  Soott.] 


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[TOUB  TO 


latum,  we  were  not  to  land  in  Lorn  till  tbe 
80th  of  September.  I  thought  that  the  in- 
terruptions by  bad  days,  or  by  occasional 
excursions,  might  make  it  ten  days  later; 
and  I  thought  too,  that  we  might  perhaps 
go  to  Benbecula,  and  visit  Clanranald, 
which  would  take  a  week  of  itself. 

Dr.  Johnson  went  up  with  Mr.  Grant  to 
the  library,  which  consisted  of  a  tolerable 
collection:  but  the  Doctor  thought  it  rather 
a  lady's  library,  with  some  Latin  books  in 
it  by  chance,  than  the  library  of  a  clergy- 
man. It  had  onlv  two  of  the  Latin  fathers, 
and  one  of  the  Greek  fathers  in  Latin.  .  I 
doubted  whether  Dr.  Johnson  would  be 
present  at  a  presbyterian  prayer.  I  told 
Mr.  M'Aulay  so,  and  said  tnat  the  Doctor 
mighty  sit  in  the  library  while  we  were  at 
family  worship.  Mr.  M'Aulay  said,  he 
would  omit  it,  rather  than  give  Dr.  Johnson 
offence:  but  I  would  by  no  means. agree 
that  an  excess  of  politeness,  even  to -so 
great  a  man,  should  prevent  what  I  esteem 
as  one  of  the  best  pious  regulations.  I 
know  nothing  more  beneficial,  more  com- 
fortable, more  agreeable,  than  that  the  little 
societies  of  each  family  should  regularly  as- 
semble, and  unite  in  praise,  and  prayer  to 
our  heavenly  Father,  from  whom  we  daily 
receive  so  much  good,  and  may  hope  fbr 
more  in  a  higher  state  of  existence.  I  men- 
tioned to  Dr.  Johnson  the  over-delicate 
scrupulosity  of  our  host  He  said,  he  had 
no  objection  to  hear  the  prayer.  This  was 
a  pleasing  surprise  to  me:  for  he  refused  to 
go  and  near  Principal  Robertson  preach. 
"  I  will  hear  him,"  said  he,  "  if  he  will  get 
up  into  a  tree  and  preach;  but  I  will  not 
give  a  sanction,  by  my  presence,  to  a  pres- 
byterian assembly." 

Mr.  Grant  having  prayed,  De»  Johnson 
said,  his  prayer  was  a  very  good  one,  but 
objected  to  his  not  having  introduced  the 
Lord's  Prayer  K  He  told  us,  that  Sn  Ital- 
ian of  some  note  in  London  said  once  to  him, 
cc  We  have  in  our  service  a  prayer  .called 
the  Pater  Noster,  which  is  a  very  fine  com- 
position. I  wonder  who  is  the  author  o£  it." 
A  singular  instance  of  ignorance  in  a  man 
of  some  literature  and  general  inquiry! 

Saturday,  98th  Augtut.—Dr.  Johnson 
had  brought  a  Sallust  with  him  in  his  pock- 
et from  Edinburgh.  He  gave  it  last  nijjht 
to  Mr.  McAulay"s  son,  a  smart  young  lad 
about  eleven  years  old.  Dr.  Johnson  had 
piven  an  account  of  the  education  at  Oxford, 
in  all  its  gradations.  The  advantage  of  be- 
ing a  servitor  to  a  youth  of  little  fortune 
struck  Mrs.  M'Aulay  much.  I  observed  it 
aloud.  Dr.  Johnson  very  handsomely  and 
kindly  said,  that,  if  they  would  send  their 
boy  to  him,  when  he  was  ready  for  the  uni- 
versity, he  would  get  him  made  a  servitor, 


and  perhaps  would  do  more  for  him.  He 
could  not  promise  to  do  more ;  but  would 
undertake  for  the  servitorship9. 

I  should  have  mentioned  that  Mr.  White, 
a  Welshman,-  who  has  been  many  years 
factor  («.  e.  steward)  on  the  estate  of  Col- 
der, drank  tea  with  us  last  night,  and,  upon 
getting  a  note  from  Mr.  M'Aulay,  asked  us 
to  his  house.  We  had  not  time  to  accept 
of  his  invitation.  He  gave  us  a  letter  of 
introduction  te  Mr.  Feme,  master  of  stores 
at  Fort  George.  He  showed  it  to  me.  It 
recommended  "  two  celebrated  gentlemen; 
no  less  than  Dr.  Johnson,  author  of  his 
Dictionary ,  and  Mr.  fioswell,  known  at 
Edinburgh  by  the  name  of  Paoh. "  He  said, 
he  hoped  I  had  no  abjection  to  what  he  had 
written;  if  I  had,  he  would  alter  it.  J 
thought  it  was  a  pity  toe-heck  his  elusions, 
and  acquiesced;  taking  care,  however,  te 
seal  the  letter,  that  it  might  not  appear  that 
I  had  read  it. 

A  conversation  took  place  about  saying 
grace  at  breakfast  (as  we  do  in  Scotland), 
aa  well  as  *t  dinner  and  sapper;  in  which 
Dr.  Johnson  ssid,  "  It  is  enough  if  we  have 
stated  seasons  of  prayer;  no  matter  when. 
A  man  may  as  well  pray  when  he  mounts 
bis  home,  or  a  woman  when  she  milks  her 
cow  (which  Mr.  Grant  told  us  is  done  in 
the  Highlands),  as  at  meals;  and  custom  is 
to  be  followed  V' 

We  proceeded  to  F.ort  George.  When 
we  came  into  the  square,  I  sent  a  soldier 
with  the  letter  to  Mr.  Feme.  He  came  te 
us  immediately,  and  along  with  him  Major 
Brewse  of  the  Engineers,  pronounced  Bruce, 
He  said  he  believed  it  wss  originally  the 
same  Norman  name  with  Bruce,-  thai  he 
dined  at  a  house  in  London,  where  were 
three  Braces,  one  of  the  Irish  line,  one  of 
the  Scottish  line,  and  himself  of  the  Eng- 
lish line.  He  said  he  was  shown  it  in 
the  Herald's  omen,  spelt  fourteen  different 
wayB  *.    I  told  him  the  different  spellings  of 


*  [See,  on  thk  subject,  Johnson's  own  Journey. 


s  Dr.  Johnson  did  not  [as  we  ■hall  see]  neglect 
what  he  had  undertaken.  By  ha  interest  with 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Adams,  master  of  Pembroke  Col* 
lege,  Oxford,  where  he  was  educated  lor  some 
time,  he  obtained  a  semtonhip  for  young  M'Aulay. 
But  it  seams  he  had  ether  views;  and  I  beheve 
went  abroad. — Bos  well. 

*  He  could  not  bear  to  have  it  thought  that,  m 
any  instance  whatever,  the  Scots  era  more  pious 
than  the  *    "  ■  ' 

breakfast  i 
ante*  meal 

lowed  the  peculiar  merit  of  breakfast  in  Scotland. 
— Boswkll. 

4  [Bruce,  the  Abyssinian  traveller,  found  in  the 
annals  of  that  region  a  Jcing  named  Bru*t  which 
he  chooses  to  consider  the  genuine  orthography 
of  the  name.  TTiis  circtunstance  occasioned 
some  mirth  at  the  court  of  Gondar.— Walts* 
Scott.] 


race  waaierer,  uie  ocais  ore  more  piow 
>  English.  I  think  grace  as  proper  si 
t  as  at  any  other  meal.  It  u  the  pleas- 
seal  we  have.      Dr.   Johnson  has  al- 


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ingi 
self 


HKBRIDK8.J 

my  name.  Dr.  Johnson  observed,  that 
there  had  been  great  disputes  about  the 
spelling  of  Shakspeare's  name ;  at  last  it  was 
tnought  it  would  be  settled  by  looking  at  the 
Original  copy  of  his  will;  but,  upon  ex  ami  n- 
""~":  it,  he  was  found  to  have  written  it  him* 
__T  no  less  than  three  different  ways. 

Mr.  Feme  and  Major  Brewse  first  car- 
ried us  to  wait  on  Sir  Eyre  Coote,  whose 
regiment,  the  37th,  was  lying  here,  and  who 
then  commanded  the  fort.  He  asked  us  to 
dine  with  him,  which  we  agreed  to  do. 

Before  dinner  we  examined  the  fort. 
The  major  explained  the  fortification  to  us, 
and  Mr.  Feme  gave  us  an  account  of  the 
•tores.  Dr.  Johnson  talked  of  the  propor- 
tions of  charcoal  and  saltpetre  in  making 
jftinpowder,  of  granulating  it,  and  of  giving 
it  a  gloss.  He  made  a  very  good  figure  up- 
on these  topics.  He  said  to  me  afterwards, 
that "  he  had  talked  ostentatiously."  We 
reposed  ourselves  a  little  in  Mr.  Feme's 
house.  He  had  every  thing  in  neat  Older 
as  in  England:  and  a  tolerable  collection  of 
books;  I  looked  into  Pennant's  Tour  in 
Scotland.  He  says  little  of.  this  fort;  but 
that  "the  barracks,  &c*  form  several 
streets."  This  is  aggrandising.  Mr. 
Feme  observed,  if  he  had  said  they  form  a 
square,  with  a  row  of  buildings  before,  it, 
he  would  have  given  a  juster  description. 
Dr.  Johnson  remarked,  "  how  seldom  de- 
scriptions correspond  with  realities;  and  the 
reason  is,  the  people  do-not  write  them  tiU 
some  time  after,  and  then  their  imagination 
has  added  circumstances." 

We  talked  of  Sir  Adolphus  Ouehton. 
The  Major  said,  he  knew  a  great  deal  for  a 
military  man.  Joavsoir.  "  Sir,  you  will 
find  few  men,  of  any  profession,  who  know 
more.  Sir  Adolphus  is  a  very  extraordinary 
man  j  a  man  of  boundless  curiosity  and  un- 
wearied diligence." 

I  know  not  how  the  Major  contrived  to 
introduce  the  contest  between  Warburton 
and  Lowth.  Johnson.  "  Warburton  kept 
his  temper  all  along,  while  Lowth  was  in  a 
passion.  Lowth  published  some  of  War- 
burton's  letters.  Warburton  drew  him  on 
to  write  some  very  abusive  letters,  and  then 
asked  his  leave  to  publish  them:  which  he 
knew  Lowth  could  not  refuse,  after  what  he 
had  done.  So  that  Warburton  contrived 
that  he  should  publish,  apparently  with 
Lowth's  consent,  what  could  not  but  show 
Lowth  in  a  disadvantageous  light  *." 

At  three  the  drum  beat  for  dinner.    I, 


177S.— -iETAT.  64. 


863 


1  Here  Dr.  Johnson  gave  ns  paitef  a  conversa- 
tion held  between  a  Great  Personage  and  him,,  in 
the  library  at  the  Queen's  Palace,  in  the  course 
of  which  this  contest  was  considered.  I  have 
been  at  great  pains  to  get  that  conversation  as 
perfectly  preserved  as  possible.  It  may  perhaps 
at  some  future  time  be  given  to  the  publick.-~Bos 
wiLt,     [It  is  given  jmle,  p.  240.— Ed.] 


ibr  a  little  while,  fancied  myself  a  military 
man,  and  it  pleased  me.  We  went  to  Sir 
Eyre  Coote's,  at  the  governour's  house,  and 
found  him  a  most  gentlemanlike  man.  His 
lady  is  a  very  agreeable  woman,  with  an 
uncommonly  mild  and  sweet  tone  of  voice. 
There  was  a  pretty  large  company:  Mr. 
Feme,  Major  Brewse,  and  several  officers. 
Sir  Eyre  had  come  from  the  East  Indies  by 
land,  through  the  deserts  of  Arabia.  He 
told  us,  the  Arabs  could  live  five  days 
without  victuals,  and  subsist  for  three  weeks 
oh  nothing  else  but  the  blood  of  their  cam- 
els, who  could  lose  so  much  of  it  as  would 
suffice  for  that  time,  without  being  exhaust- 
ed. He  highly  praised  the  virtue  of  the 
Arabs;  their  fidelity,  if  they  undertook  to 
conduct  any  person;  and  said,  they  would 
sacrifice  their  Uvea  rather  than  let  him  be 
robbed.  Dr.  Johnson,  who  is  always  for 
maintaining  the  superiority  of  civilized  over 
uncivilized  men,  said,  "  Why,  sir,  I  can  see 
no  superior  virtue  in  this.  A  Serjeant  and 
twelve  men,  who  are  my  guard,  will  die 
rather  than  that  I  shall  be  robbed."  Colo- 
nel Pennington,  of  the  37  th  regiment,  took 
up  the  argument  with  a  good  deal  of  spirit 
and  ingenuity.  Prnnihgton.  "  But  the 
soldiers  are  compelled  to  this,  by  fear  of 
punishment. "  Johnson.  "  Well,  sir,  the 
Arabs  are  compelled  by  the  fear  of  infa- 
my." Pennington.  "  The  soldiers  have 
the  same  fear  of  infamy,  and  the  fear  of 
punishment  besides;  so  have  less  virtue; 
because  they  act  lew  voluntarily."  Lady 
Coote  observed  very  well,  that  it  ought  to 
be  known  if  there  was  not,  among  the 
Arabs,  some  punishment  for  not  being  faith- 
ful on  such  occasions. 

We  talked  of  the  stage.  I  observed,  that 
we  had  not  now  such  a  company  of  actors 
as  in  the  last  age;  Wilks,  Booth,  &c.  fco. 
Johnson.  "  You  think,  so,  because  there 
is  one  who  excels  all  the  rest  so  much :  yon 
compare  them  with  Garrick,  and  see  the  de- 
ficiency. Garrick's  great  distinction  is  his 
universality.  He  can  represent  all  modes 
of  life,  but  that  of  an  easy  fine-bred  gentle- 
man»."  Pbnnington*  "  He  should  give 
over  playing  young  parts."  Johnson.  "He 
does  not  take  them  now;  but  he  does  not 
leave  off  those  which  he  has  been  used  to 


9  [Garrick  used  to  tell  that  Johnson  was  so  ig- 
norant of  what  the  manners  of  a  fine  gentlemen 
were,  that  be  said  of  some  stroller  at  Lichfield, 
that  there  was  a  courtly  viaacity  about  him ; 
"  whereas  in  feet,"  added  Garrick,  "  he  was  the 
most  vulgar  ruffian  that  ever  trod  the  boards,** 
(jm#,  12th  March,  1776).  No  doubt  the 
difficult,  though  perhaps  ~  *  -L- ti-^—  *-- 
of  the  actor's  art  is  to  ~ 
forms  of  fashionable  I 

lived  so  much  m  the  highest  society,  had  not  this 
quality,  what  actor  could  ever  hops  to  possess  it? 
—Ed  J 


tfbaps  not  the  highest,  branch 
i  to  catch  the  tight  colours  and 
ile  life ;  but  if  Garrick,  who 


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564 


177*.— JSTAT.  64. 


play,  because  he  does  them  better  than  any- 
one else  can  do  them.  If  you  had  genera- 
tions ef  actors,  if  they  swarmed  like  bees, 
the  young  ones  might  drive  off  the  old. 
Mrs.  Gibber,  I  think,  got  more  reputation 
than  slie  deserved,  as  she  had  a  great  same- 
ness; though  her  expression  was,  undoubt- 
edly, very  fine.  Mrs.  Clive  was  the  best 
player  I  ever  saw.  Mrs.  Pritchard  was  a 
very  good  one;  but  she  had  something  af- 
fected in  her  manner:  I  imagine  she  had 
some  player  of  the  former  age  in  her  eye, 
which  occasioned  it." 

Colonel  Pennington  said,  Garrick  some- 
times failed  in  emphasis;  as  for  instance,  in 
Hamlet, 

"  I  will  speak  daggers  to  her;  bet  use  none," 
instead  of 

M I  will  speak  daggers  to  her ;  but  use  none.'9 

We  had  a  dinner  of  two  complete  courses, 
variety  of  wines,  and  the  regimental  band 
of  musick  playing  in  the  square,  before  the 
windows,  after  it.  I  enjoyed  this  day  much. 
We  were  quite  easy  and  cheerful.  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  "  I  shall  always  remember 
this  fort  with  gratitude."  I  could  not  help 
being  struck  with  some  admiration,  at  find- 
ing upon  this  barren  sandy  point  such  build- 
ing*, such  a  dinner,  such  company:  it  was 
like  enchantment.  Dr.  Johnson,  on  the 
other  hand,  said  to  me  more  rationally,  that 
"  it  did  not  strike  him  as  any  thing  extra- 
ordinary; because  he  knew,  here  was  a  large 
sum  of  money  expended  in  building  a  fort; 
here  was  a  regiment.  If  there  had  been  less 
than  what  we  found,  it  would  have  surpris- 
ed him."  He  looked  coolly  and  deliberate- 
ly through  all  the  gradations:  my  warm  im- 
agination jumped  from  tjje  barren  sands  to 
the  splendid  dinner  and  firilliant  company, 
to  borrow  the  expression  of  an  absurd  poet, 

"  Without  ends  or  ifi, 
I  leapt  from  off  the  sands  upon  the  cliffl." 

The  whole  scene  gave  me  a  strong  impres- 
sion of  the  power  and  excellence  of  human 
art. 

We  left  the  fort  between  six  and  seven 
o'clock:  Sir  Eyre  Coote,  Colonel  Penning- 
ton, and  several  more,  accompanied  us 
down  stairs,  and  saw  us  into  our  chaise. 
There  could  not  be  greater  attention  paid 
to  any  visitors.  Sir  Eyre  spoke  of  the 
hardships  which  Dr.  Johnson  had  before 
him.  Boswill.  <(  Considering  what  he 
has  said  of  us,  we  must  make  him  feel  some- 
thing rough  in  Scotland."  Sir  Eyre  said 
to  him, "  You  must  changeyour  name,  sir," 
Boswill.    *  Ay,  to  Dr,  M'Gregor." 

We  got  safely  to  Inverness,  and  put  up 
at  Mackenzie's  inn.  Mr.  Keith,  the  collec- 
tor of  excise  here,  my  old  acquaintance  at 
Ayr,  who  had  seen  us  at  the  fort,  visited  us 
in  the  evening,  and  engaged  us  to  dine  with 


[tour  to  the 

him  next  day,  promising  to  breakfast  with 
us,  and  take  us  to  the  English  chapel ;  so 
that  we  were  at  once  oommodiously  ar- 
ranged. 

Not  finding  a  letter  here  that  I  expected,  I 
felt  a  momentary  impatience  to  be  at  home. 
Transient  clouds  darkened  my  imagination, 
and  in  those  clouds  I  saw  eventB  from  which 
I  shrunk;  but  a  sentence  or  two  of  the 
Rambler's  conversation  gave  me  firmness, 
and  I  considered  that  I  was  upon  an  expe- 
dition for  which  I  had  wished  for  years, 
and  the  recollection  of  which  would  be  a 
treasure  to  me  for  life. 

Sunday  ,%9th  August.—- Mr. Keith  break- 
fasted with  us.  Dr.  Johnson  expatiated 
rather  too  strongly  upon  the  benefits  deriv- 
ed to  Scotland  from  the  Union,  and  the  bad 
state  of  our  people  before  it.  I  am  enter- 
tained with  his  copious  exaggeration  upon 
that  subject;  but  I  anvuneasy  when  people 
are  by,  who  do  not  know  him  as  well  as  I 
do,  and  may  be  apt  to  think  him  narrow- 
minded  i.    I  therefore  diverted  the  subject 

The  English  chapel,  to  which  we  went 
this  morning,  was  out  mean.  The  altar 
was  a  bare  fir  table,  with  a  coarse  stool  for 
kneeling  on,  covered  with  a  piece  of  thick 
sailcloth  doubled,  by  way  of  cushion.  The 
congregation  was  small.  Mr.  Tait,  the 
clergyman,  read  prayers  very  well,  though 
with  much  of  the  Scotch  accent.  He 
preached  on  "  Love  your  enemies. "  It  was 
remarkable  that,  when  talking  of  the  con- 
nexions amongst  men,  he  said,  that  some 
connected  themselves  with  men  of  distin- 
guished talents,  and  since  they  could  not 
equal  them,  tried  to  deck  themselves  with 
their  merit,  by  being  their  companions.  The 
sentence  was  to  this  purpose.  It  had  an 
odd  coincidence  with  what  might  be  said  of 
my  connecting  myself  with  Dr,  Johnson. 

After  church,  we  walked  down  to  the 

?uay.  We  then  went  to  Macbeth's  castle, 
had  a  romantick  satisfaction  in  seeing  Dr. 
Johnson  actually  in  it  It  perfectly  corres- 
ponds with  Shakspeare's  description,  which 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  has  so  napptjy  illus- 
trated, in  one  of  his  notes  on  our  immortal 
poet: 

"  This  castle  hath  a  pleasant  teat :  the  ah* 
Nimbly  and  sweetly  recommends  itself 
Unto  ov  gentle  sense,"  fee. 

Just  as  we  came  out  of  it,  a  raven  perched 


1  It  is  remarkable  that  Dr.  Johnson  read  thai 
gentle  remonstrance,  and  took  no  notice  of  it  to 
me, — Bos  well.  [Dr,  Johnson's  having  read 
this  Journal  gives  it  a  great  and  very  peculiar  in- 
and  wo  must  not  withhold  from  Mr.  Boa- 


well  the  merit  of  great  candour  and  courage  m 
writing  so  freely  about  his  great  friend.  Yet  k 
is  to  he  suspected,  that  had  Johnson  not  seen  it, 
the  Journal  might  have  had  still  greater  poignan- 
cy.— En.J 


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m».— JETAT.  64. 


BKBBIPES.J 

on  one  of  the  chimney-tope,  and  croaked. 
Then  I  repeated 


966 


-The  raven  himself  m  hoarse, 


That  croaks  the  fatal  entrance  of  Duncan, 
Under  my  battlements." 

We  dined  at  Mr.  Keith's.  Mrs.  Keith 
was  rather  too  attentive  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
asking  him  many  questions  about  his  drink- 
ing only  water.  He  repressed  that  obser- 
vation, by  saying  to  me,  "Yon  may  remem- 
ber that  Lady  Errol  took  no  notice  of 
this*." 

Dr.  Johnson  has  the  happy  art  (for  which 
I  have  heard  my  father  praise  the  old  Earl 
of  Aberdeen9)  of  instructing  himself,  by 
making  every  man  he  meets  tell  him  some- 
thing of  what  he  knows  best.  He  led  Keith 
to  talk  to  him  of  the  excise  in  Scotland, 
and,  in  the  course  of  conversation,  mention- 
ed that  his  friend  Mr.  Thrale,  the  great 
brewer,  paid  twenty  thousand  pounds  a  year 
to  the  revenue;  and  that  he  had  four  casks, 
each  of  which  holds  sixteen  hundred  bar- 
rels, above  a  thousand  hogsheads. 

After  this  there  was  little  conversation 
that  deserves  to  be  remembered.  I  shall, 
therefore,  here  again  glean  what  I  have 
omitted  on  former  days.  Dr.  Gerrard,  at 
Aberdeen,  told  us,  that  when  he  was  in 
Wales,  he  was  shown  a  valley  inhabited  by 
Danes,  who  still  retain  their  own  language, 
and  are  quite  a  distinct  people.  Dr.  John- 
son thought  it  could  not  be  true,  or  all  the 
kingdom  must  have  heard  of  it  He  said 
to  me,  as  we  travelled,  "  These  people,  sir, 
that  Gerrard  talks  of,  may  have  somewhat 
of  a  percgrinity  in  their  dialect,  which  rela- 
tion has  augmented  to  a  different  language." 
I  asked  him  if  peregrinity  was  an  English 
word.  He  laughed  and  said,  "No."  I 
told  him  this  was  the  second  time  that  I  had 
heard  him  coin  a  word.  When  Foote  broke 
his  leg,  I  observed  that  it  would  make  him 
fitter  for  taking  off  George  Faulkner  as 
Peter  Paragraph,  poor  George  having  a 
wooden  leg.  Dr.  Johnson  at  that  time  said, 
"  George  will  rejoice  at  the  depeditation  of 
Foote  j "  and  when  I  challenged  that  word, 
laughed,  and  owned  he  had  made  it,  and 
added  that  he  had  not  made  above  three  or 
four  in  his  Dictionary.3 

1  [Of  the  two,  however,  was  not  Dr.  Johnson's 
observation  the  least  well-bred  ?— - Ed.] 

»  [William  Gordon,  second  Earl  of  Aberdeen, 
who  died  in  1746.— En.] 

*  When  upon  the  subject  of  this  peregrinity, 
he  told  me  some  particulars  concerning  the  compi- 
lation ef  hii  Dictionary,  and  concerning  his  Chrow- 
mg  off  Lord  Chesterfield's  patronage,  of  which 
very  erroneoas  accounts  have  been  circulated. 
Hwss  partiesJars,  with  others  which  be  afterwards 
gsve  me,  as  also  his  celebrated  letter  to  Lord  Ches- 
terfield, which  he  dictated  to  me,  I  reserve  for  his 
M  life."— ^ Boswxli*    [See  ante,  p.  112.— Ed.] 


Having  conducted  Dr.  Johnson  to  our 
inn,  I  begged  permission  to  leave  him  for  a 
little,  that  I  might  run  about  and  pay  some 
short  visits  to  several  good  people  of  Inver- 
ness. He  said  to  me,  "  You  have  all  the 
old-fashioned  principles,  good  and  bad."  I 
acknowledge  I  have.  That  of  attention  to 
relations  in  the  remotest  degree,  or  to  wor- 
thy persons  in  every  state,  whom  I  have 
once  known,  I  inherit  from  my  father.  It 
gave  me  much  satisfaction  to  hear  every 
body  at  Inverness  speak  of  him  with  uncom- 
mon regard.  Mr.  Keith  and  Mr.  Grant, 
whom  we  had  seen  at  Mr.  M*  Aulay's,  sup- 
ped with  us  at  the  inn.  We  had  roasted  kid, 
which  Dr.  Johnson  had  never  tasted  before. 
He  relished  it  much. 

Monday,  SOth  .fltigtwl.— This  day  we 
were  to  begin  our  equitation,  as  I  said;  for 
I  would  needs  make  a  word  too.  It  is  re- 
markable, that  my  noble,  and  to  me  most 
constant  friend,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  (who, 
if  there  is  too  much  ease  on  my  part,  will 
please  to  pardon  what  his  benevolent,  gay, 
social  intercourse,  and  lively  correspondence 
have  insensibly  produced),  haesince  hit  up- 
on the  very  same  word.  The"  title  of  the 
first  edition  of  his  lordship's  very  useful 
book  was,  in  simple  terms,  "  A  Method  of 
Breaking  Horses  and  Teaching  Soldiers  to 
ride."  The  title  of  the  second  edition  is, 
"  Military  Equitation." 

We  might  have  taken  a  chaise  to  Fort 
Augustus,  but,  had  we  not  hired  horses  at 
Inverness,  we  should  not  have  found  them 
afterwards:  so  we  resolved  to  begin  here  to 
ride.  We  had  three  horses,  for  TDr.  John- 
son, myself,  and  Joseph,  and  one  which  car- 
ried our  portmanteaus,  and  two  Highlanders 
who  walked  along  with  us,  John  Hay  and 
Lauchland  Vass,  whom  Dr.  Johnson  has 
remembered  with  credit  in  his  Journey, 
though  he  has  omitted  their  names.  D*r. 
Johnson  rode  very  well. 

About  three  miles  beyond  Inverness,  we 
saw,  just  by  the  road,  a  very  complete  speci- 
men of  what  is  called  a  Druid's  temple. 
There  was  a  double  circle,  one  of  very  large, 
the  other  of  smaller  stones.  Dr.  Johnson 
justly  observed,  that,  "  to  go  and  see  one 
druidical  temple  is  only  to  see  that  it  is  no- 
thing, for  there  is  neither  art  nor  power  in 
it4:  and  seeing  one  is  quite  enough." 

It  was  a  delightful  day.  Locbness,  and 
the  road  upon  the  side  of  it,  shaded  with 
birch  trees,  and  the  hills  above  it,  pleased 
us  much.  The  scene  wss  as  sequestered 
and  agreeably  wild  as  could  be  desired,  and 
for  a  time  engrossed  all  our  attention. 

To  see  Dr.  Johnson  in  any  new  situation 
is  always  an  interesting  object  to  me:  and, 
as  I  saw  him  now  for  the  first  time  on  norse- 

4  [This  seems  hastily  said  ;  there  mast  sorely 
have  been  some  art  and  vast  power  to 
Stonehenga.— Ed.] 

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1778.— jETAT.  64. 


back,  jaunting  about  at  bis  ease  in  quest  of 
pleasure  and  novelty,  the  very  different  oc- 
cupations of  his  former  laborious  life,  his 
admirable  productions,  his  "  London/'  his 
"  Rambler,"  &c.  &c.  immediately  present- 
ed themselves  to  my  mind,  and  the  contrast 
made  a  strong  impression  on  my  imagina- 
tion. 

When  we  bad  advanced  a  good  way  by 
the  side  of  Lochness,  I  perceived  a  little  hut, 
with  an  old-looking  woman  at  the  door  of 
it  I  thought  here  might  be  a  scene  that 
would  amuse  Dr.  Johnson;  so  I  mentioned 
it  to  him.  "  Let.'s  go  in,"  said  he.  We 
dismounted,  and  we  and  our  guides  entered 
the  hut  It  was  a  wretched  little  hovel  of 
earth  only,  I  think,  and  fpr  a  window  had 
only  a  small  hole,  which  was  stopped  with 
a  piece  of  turf,  that  was  taken  out  occasion- 
ally 10  let  in  light.  In  the  nftddle  of  the 
room  or  space*  which  we  entered  was  a  fire 
of  peat,  the  smoke  going  out  at  a  hole  in 
the  roof.  She  had  a  pot  upon  it;  with  goat's 
flesh,  boiling.  There  was  at  one  end  under 
the  same  roof,  but  divided  by  a  kind  of  par- 
tition made  of  wattles,  a  pen  or  fold  in  which 
we  saw  a  good  many  kids. 

Dr.  Johnson  was  curious  to  know  where 
she  slept.  I  asked  one  of  the  guides,  who 
questioned  her  in  Erse.  She  answered  with 
a  tone  of  emotion,  saying  (as  he  told  us), 
she  was  afraid  we  wanted  to  go  to  bed  to 
her.  This  coquetry,  or  whatever  it  may  be 
called,  of  so  wratched  a  being,  was  truly  lu- 
dicrous. Dr.  Johnson  and  I  afterwards 
were  merry  upon  it  I  said,  it  was  he  who 
alarmed  the  poor  woman's  virtue.  "  No, 
sir  (said  he),  she'll  say,  'There  came  a 
wicked  young  fellow,  a  wild  dog,  who!  be- 
lieve would  have  ravished  me,  had  there 
not  been  with  him  a  grave  old  gentleman, 
who  repressed  him:  but  when  he  gets  out 
of  the  sight  of  his  tutor,  I'll  warrant  you 
he  '11  spare  no  woman  he  meets,  young  or 
old."'  "No,  sir  (I  replied),  she'll  say, 
( There  was  a  terrible  ruffian  who  would 
have  forced  me,  had  it  not  been  for  a  civil 
decent  young  man,  who,  I  take  it,  was  an 
angel  sent  from  heaven  to  protect  me.' " 

Dr.  Johnson  would  not  hurt  her  delicacy, 
by  insisting  on  "  seeing  her  bed-chamber," 
like  Archer  in  the  Beaux  Stratagem.  But 
my  curiosity  was  more  ardent;  1  lighted  a 
piece  of  paper,  and  went  into  the  place 
where  the  bed  was.  There  was  a  little  par- 
tition of  wicker,  rather  more  neatly  done 
than  that  for  the  fold,  and  close  by  the  wall 
was  a  kind  of  bedstead  of  wood,  with  heath 
upon  it  by  way  of  bed;  at  the  foot  of  which 
I  saw  some  sort  of  blankets  or  covering  roll- 
ed up  in  a  heap.  The  woman's  name  was 
Fraser;  so  was  her  husband's.  He  was  a 
man  of  eighty.  Mr.  Fraser,  of  Balnain,  al- 
lows him  to  five  in  this  hut,  and  keep  sixty 
goats,  for  taking  care  of  his  woods,  where 


[tqub,  to  the 

he  then  was.  They  had  five  children,  die 
eldest  only  thirteen.  Two  were  gone  to 
Inverness  to  buy  meal:  the  rest  were  look- 
ing after  the  goats.  This  contented  family 
had  four  stacks  of  barley,  twenty-four 
sheaves  in  each.  They  had  a  few  fowls. 
We  were  informed  that  they  lived  all  the 
spring  without  meal,  upon  milk  and  curds 
and  whey  alone.  What  they  get  for  their 
groats,  kids,  and  fowls,  maintains  them  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  the  year. 

She  asked  us  to  sit  down  and  take  a  dram. 
I  saw  one  chair.  She  said  she  was  as  hap- 
py as  any  woman  in  Scotland.  She  could 
hardly  speak  any  English  except  a  few  de- 
tached words.  Dr.  Johnson  was  pleased  at 
seeing,  for  the  first  time,  such  a  state  of  hu- 
man life.  She  asked  for  snuff.  It  is  her 
luxury,  and  she  uses  a  great  deal.  We  had 
none;  but  save  her  sixpence  apiece.  She 
then  brought  out  her  whiskey  bottle.  I  tast- 
ed it;  as  did  Joseph  and  our  guides:  so  I 
gave  her  sixpence  more.  She  sent  us  away 
with  many  prayers  in  Erse. 

We  dined  at  a  publick-house  called  the 
General'*  Hut1,  from  General  Wade,  who 
was  lodged  there  when  he  commanded  in 
the  North.  Near  it  is  the  meanest  parish 
kirk  I  ever  saw.  It  is  a  shame  it  should  be 
on  a  high  road9.  After  dinner  we  passed 
through  a  good  deal  of  mountainous  coun- 
try. I  had  known  Mr.  Trapaud,  the  depu- 
ty-govemour  of  Fort  Augustus,  twelve 
years  ago,  at  a  circuit  at  Inverness,  where 
my  father  was  judge.  I  sent  forward  one 
of  our  guides,  and  Joseph,  with  a  card  to 
him,  that  he  might  know  Dr.  Johnson  and 
I  were  coming  up,  leaving  it  to  him  to  invite 
us  or  njDt  It  vrjis  dark  when  we  arrived. 
The  inn  was  wretched.  Government  ought 
to  build  one,  or  give  the  resident  governour 
an  additional  salary;  as  in  the  present  state 
of  things,  he  must  necessarily  be  put  to  a 

5reat  expense  in  entertaining  travellers, 
oseph  announced  to  us,  when  we  alighted, 
that  the  governour  waited  for  us  at  the  gate 
of  the  fort.  We  walked  to  it  He  met  us, 
and  with  much  civility  conducted  us  to  bis 
house.  It  was  comfortable  to  find  ourselves 
in  a  well-built  little  square,  and  a  neatly  fur- 
nished house,  in  good  company,  and  with  a 
good  supper  before  us  ;  in  short,  with  all 
the  conveniences  of  civilized  life  in  the 
midst  of  rude  mountains.  Mrs.  Trapaud, 
and  the  governor  rt  daughter,  and  her  hus- 
band, Captain  Newmarsh,  were  all  most 


1  [It  is  very  odd  that  when  these  roads  were 
made  there  was  no  care  taken  for  Inns.  The 
King*  House  and  the  General's  Hut  are  mis- 
erable places ;  but  the  project  and  plans  were 
purely  military. — Walter  Scott J 

*  [Mr.  BoswelTs  shame  seems  to  have  beennoi 
that  the  kirk  should  have  been  so  mean,  bat  that 
it  should  have  been  wifortanatery  placed  in  so 
visible  a  situation. — En.  J 


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HEBRIDES.] 

i 

obliging  and  polite.  The  governour  had 
excellent  animal  spirits,  the  conversation  of 
a  soldier,  and  somewhat  of  a  Frenchman, 
to  which  his  extraction  entitles  him.  He  is 
brother  to  General  Cyrus  Trapaud.  We 
passed  a  very  agreeable  evening. 

Tuesday  9  31st  August. — The  governour 
has  a  very  good  garden.  We  looked  at  it, 
and  at  the  rest  of  the  fort,  which  is  but 
small,  and  may  be  commanded  from  a  varie- 
ty of  hills  around.  We  also  looked  at  the 
galley  or  sloop  belonging  to  the  fort,  which 
sails  upon  the  Loch,  and  brings  what  is 
wanted  for  the  garrison.  Captains  Urie  and 
Darippe,  of  the  15th  regiment  of  foot,  break- 
fasted with  us.  They  had  served  in  Amer- 
ica, and  entertained  Dr.  Johnson  much 
with  an  account  of  the  Indians.  He  said 
he  could  make  a  very  pretty  book  out  of 
them,  were  he  to  stay  there.  Governour 
Trapaud  was  much  struck  with  Dr.  John- 
son. "  I  like  to  hear  him  (said  he)  it  is  so 
majestick.  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  him 
speak  in  your  court."  He  pressed  us  to 
stay  dinner;  but  I  considered  that  we  had  a 
rude  road  before  us,  which  we  could  more 
easily  encounter  in  the  morning,  and  that  it 
was  hard  to  say  when  we  might  get  up,  were 
we  to  sit  down  to  good  entertainment,  in 
good  company:  I  therefore  begged  the  gov- 
ernour would  excuse  us.  Here,  too,  I  had 
another  very  pleasing  proof  how  much  my 
father  is  regarded.  The  governour  express- 
ed the  highest  respect  for  him,  and  bade  me 
tell  him  that,  if  he  would  com*  that  way  on 
the  northern  circuit,  he  would  do  him  all 
the  honours  of  the  garrison. 

Between  twelve  and  one  we  set  out,  and 
travelled  eleven  miles,  through  a  wild 
country,  till  we  came  to  a  house  in  Glen- 
morison,  called  Anoch,  kept  by  a  M*  Queen*. 
Our  landlord  was  a  sensible  fellow:  he  had 
learnt  his  grammar,  and  Dr.  Johnson  just- 
ly observed  that  "a  man  is  the  better 
for  that  as  long  as  he  lives."  There 
were  seme  books  here:  a  Treatise  against 
Drunkenness,  translated  from  the  French : 
a  volume  of  the  Spectator ;  a  volume  or 
Prideaux's  Connexion,  and  Cyrus's  Travels. 
M' Queen  said  he  had  more  volumes ;  and 
his  pride  seemed  to  be  much  piqued  that 
we  were  surprised  at  his  having  books. 

Near  to  this  place  we  had  passed  a  party 
of  soldiers,  under  a  Serjeant's  command,  at 
work  upon  the  road.  We  gave  them  two 
shillings  to  drink.    They  came  to  our  inn, 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


567 


1  A  M'Qaeen  is  a  Highland  mode  of  expression. 
An  Englishman  would  say  one  M'Qaeen.  But 
where  there  are  clans  or  tribes  of  men,  distin- 
gQiahed  by  pBtronymick  surnames,  the  individuals 
of  each  are  considered  as  if  they  were  of  different 
species,  at  least  as  much  as  nations  are  distinguish- 
ed ;  so  that  *  BfQneoi,  a  M« Donald,  a  M'Lean, 
is  said,  aa  we  say  a  Frenchman,  an  Italian,  a 
Spaniard. — Boswsll. 


and  made  merry  in  the  barn.  We  went 
and  paid  them  a  visit,  Dr.  Johnson  saying, 
"  Come,  let 's  go  and  give  'em  another 
shilling  apiece."  We  did  so j  and  he  was 
saluted  "  My  lord  "  hy  all  of  them.  He  is 
really  generous,  loves  influence,  and  has 
the  way  of  gaining  it  He  said,  "  I  am 
quite  feudal,  sir."  Here  I  agree  with  him. 
1  said,  I  negretted  I  was  not  the  head  of  a 
clan:  however,  though  not  possessed  of 
such  an  hereditary  advantage,  I  would 
always  endeavour  to  make  my  tenants  fol- 
low me.  I  could  not  be  a  patriarchal  chief, 
but  I  would  be  a  feudal  chief. 

The  poor  soldiers  got  too  much  liquor. 
Some  or  them  fought,  and  left  blood  upon 
the  spot,  and  cursed  whiskey  next  morning. 
The  house  here  was  built  of  thick  turfs,  and 
thatched  with  thinner  turfs  and  heath.  It 
had  three  rooms  in  length,  and  a  little  room 
which  projected.  Where  we  sat,  the  side- 
walls  were  wainscoted,  as  Dr.  Johnson 
said,  with  wicker,  very  neatly  plaited. 
Our  landlord  had  made  the  whole  with  his 
own  hands. 

After  dinner,  M'Queen  sat  by  us  a  while, 
and  talked  with  us.  He  said,  all  the  Laird 
of  Glenmorison's  people  would  bleed  ibr 
him,  if  they  were  well  used ;  but  that  sev- 
enty men  had  gone  out  of  the  Glen  to 
America.  That  he  himself  intended  to  go 
next  year ;  for  that  the  rent  of  his  farm, 
which,  twenty  years  ago,  was  only  five 
pounds,  was  now  raised  to  twenty  pounds. 
That  he  could  pay  ten  pounds,  and  live, 
but  no  more.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  he  wished 
M'Queen  laird  of  Glenmorison,  and  the 
laird  to  go  to  America.  M'Queen  very 
generously  answered,  he  should  be  sorry 
lor  it,  for  the  laird  could  not  shift  for 
himself  in  America  as  he  could  do. 

I  talked  of  the  officers  whom  we  had  left 
to-day ;  how  much  service  they  had  seen, 
and  how  little  they  got  for  it,  even  of  fame. 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  a  soldier  gels  as  little  as 
any  man  can  get"  Bosweul.  "  Gold- 
smith has  acquired  more  fame  than  all  the 
officers  last  war,  who  were  not  generals." 
Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  you  will  find  ten 
thousand  fit  to  do  what  they  did,  before 
you  find '  one  who  does  what  Goldsmith 
has  done.  You  must  consider,  that  a  thing 
is  valued  according  to  its  rarity.  A  peb- 
ble that  paves  the  street  is  in  itself  more 
useful  than  the  diamond  upon  a  lady's  fin- 
ger." I  wish  our  friend  Goldsmith  had 
heard  this. 

I  yesterday  expressed  my  wonder  that 
John  Hay,  one  of  our  guides,  who  ha4 
been  pressed  aboard  a  man  of  war,  did  not 
choose  to  continue  in  it  longer  than  nine 
months,  after  which  time  he  got  off!  John- 
son. "  Why,  sir,  no  man  will  be  a  sailor, 
who  has  contrivance  enough  to  get  him- 
self into  a  jail  j  for,  being  in  a  ship  is  be- 


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1778.- -iETAT.  04. 


ing  in  a  jail,  with  the  chance  of  being 
drowned." 

We  had  tea  in  the  afternoon,  and  our 
landlord's  daughter,  a  modeet  civil  girl, 
very  neatly  dressed,  made  it  for  us.  She 
told  us,  she  had  been  a  year  at  Inverness, 
and  learnt  reading  and  writing,  sewing, 
knotting,  working  lace,  and  pastry.  Dr. 
Johnson  made  her  a  present  of  a  book 
which  he  had  bought  at  Inverness  K 

The  room  had  some  deals  laid  across  the 
joists,  as  a  kind  of  ceiling.  There  were 
two  beds  in  the  room,  and  a  woman's  gown 
was  hung  on  a  rope  to  make  a  curtain  of 
separation  between  them.  Joseph  had 
sheets,  which  my  wife  had  sent  with  us, 
laid  on  them.  We  had  much  hesitation, 
whether  to  undress,  or  lie  down  with  our 
clothes  on.  I  said  at  last,  "  I  '11  plunge  in ! 
There  will  be  less  harbour  for  vermin  about 
me  when  I  am  stripped."  Dr.  Johnson 
said,  he  was  like  one  hesitating  whether  to 
go  into  the  cold  bath.  At  last  he  resolved 
too.  I  observed  he  might  serve  a  cam- 
paign. Johnson.  "  I  could  do  all  that 
can  be  done  by  patience:  whether  I  should 
have  strength  enough,  I  know  not"  He 
was  in  excellent  humour.  To  see  the 
Rambler  as  I  saw  him  to-night,  was  really 
an  amusement.  I  yesterday  told  him,  I 
was  thinking  of  writing  a  poetical  letter  to 
him,  on  his  return  from  Scotland,  in  the 
style  of  Swift's  humorous  epistle  in  the 
character  of  Mary  Gulliver  to  her  husband, 
Captain  Lemuel  Gulliver,  on  his  return  to 
England  from  the  country  of  the  Houyhn- 
hums: 

"  At  early  morn  I  to  the  market  haste, 

Studious  in  ev'ry  thing  to  please  thy  taste. 


1  This  book  has  given  rise  to  much  inquiry 
which  has  ended  in  ludicrous  surprise.  Several 
ladies,  wishing  to  learn  the  kind  of  reading  which 
the  great  and  good  Dr.  Johnson  esteemed  most 
fit  for  a  young  woman,  desired  to  know  what 
book  he  had  selected  for  this  Highland  nymph. 
"  They  never  adverted,"  said  he,  "  that  I  had  no 
choice  in  the  matter.  I  have  said  that  I  present- 
ed her  with  a  book,  which  I  happened  to  have 
about  me."  And  what  was  this  book?  My 
readers,  prepare  your  features  for  merriment  It 
was  Cocker's  Arithmetick!  Wherever  this  was 
mentioned,  there  was  a  loud  laugh,  at  which  Dr. 
Johnson,  when  present,  used  sometimes  to  be  a 
lhtle  angry.  One  day,  when  we  were  dining  at 
General  Oglethorpe's,  where  we  had  many  a  val- 
uable day,  I  ventured  to  interrogate  him,  "  But, 
sir,  is  it  not  somewhat  singular  that  you  should 
happen  to  have  Cocker's  Arithmetick  about  you 
on  your  journey  ?  What  made  you  buy  such  .a 
book  at  Inverness  ?"  He  gave  me  a  very  suffi- 
cient answer.  "  Why,  sir,  if  you  are  to  have  but 
one  book  with  you  upon  a  journey,  let  it  be  a 
book  of  science.  When  you  have  read  through  a 
book  of  entertainment,  you  know  it,  and  it  can  do 
no  more  for  you;  but  a  book  of  science  is  inex- 
baustible.'*-^Boswxx.xM 


[TOU&  TO  TBI 

A  carina*  fowl  and  sparagrass  I  chose ; 

(For  I  remember  you  were  fond  of  those:) 

Three  shillings  cost  the  first,  the  last  seven  groats; 

Sullen  you  turn  from  both,  and  call  for  oats." 
He  laughed,  and  asked  in  whose  name  I 
would  write  it  I  said,  in  Mrs.  Thrale's. 
He  was  angry.  "  Sir,  if  you  have  any 
sense  of  decency  or  delicacy,  you  won't  do 
that."  Boswell.  "Then  let  it  be  in 
Cole's,  the  landlord  of  the  Mitre  tavern, 
where  we  have  so  often  sat  together." 
John  son.    "  Ay,  that  may  do." 

After  we  had  offered  up  our  private  de- 
votions, and  had  chatted  a  little  from  our 
beds,  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  God  bless  us 
both,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake !  Good  night." 
I  pronounced  "  Amen."  He  fell  asleep 
immediately.  I  was  not  so  fortunate  for 
a  lone  time.  I  fancied  myself  bit  by  innu- 
merable vermin  under  the  clothes ;  and 
that  a  spider  was  travelling  from  the 
wainscot  towards  my  mouth.  At  last  1 
fell  into  insensibility. 

Wednesday,  1st  September. — I  awaked 
very  early.  I  began  to  imagine  mat  the 
landlord,  being  about  to  emigrate,  might 
murder  us  to  get  our  money,  and  lay  it  upon 
the  soldiers  in  the  barn.  Such  groundless 
fears  will  arise  in  the  mind,  before  it  has 
resumed  its  vigour  after  sleep.  Dt.  John- 
son had  had  the  same  kind  or  ideas ;  for  he 
told  me  afterwards,  that  he  considered  so 
many  soldiers,  having  seen  us,  would  be 
witnesses,  should  any  harm  be  done,  and 
that  circumstance,  I  suppose,  he  considered 
as  a  security.  When  1  got  up,  I  found 
him  sound  asleep  in  his  miserable  sty,  as  I 
may  call  it,  with  a  coloured  handkerchief 
tied  round  his  head.  With  difficulty  could 
I  awaken  him.  It  reminded  me  of  Henry 
the  Fourth's  fine  soliloquy  *  on  sleep,  for 
there  was  here  as  uneasy  a  pallet  as  the 
poet's  imagination  could  possibly  conceive. 
A  red  coat  of  the  15th  regiment,  whether 
officer,  or  only  Serjeant,  I  could  not  be  sure, 
came  to  the  house,  in  his  way  to  the 
mountains  to  shoot  deer,  which  it  seems 
the  Laird  of  Glenmorison  does  not  hinder 
any  one  to  do.  Few,  indeed,  can  do  them 
harm.  We  had  him  to  breakfast  with  us. 
We  got  away  about  eight  M*  Queen 
walked  some  miles  to  give  us  a  convoy. 
He  had,  in  1745,  joined  the  Highland  army 
at  Fort  Augustus,  and  continued  in  it  till 
after  the  battle  of  Culloden.  As  he  narra- 
ted the  particulars  of  that  ill-advised,  but 
brave  attempt,  I  could  not  refrain  from 
tears.  There  is  a  certain  association  of 
ideas  in  my  mind  upon  that  subject,  by 
which  I  am  strongly  affected.  TTie  very 
Highland  names,  or  the  sound  of  a  bagpipe, 
will  stir  my  blood,  and  fill  me  with  a  ma- 
ture of  melancholy  and  respect  for  courage ; 


1  [Shakspears's  Henry  the  Fourth,  act  ni, 
scene  1.— Ed.] 


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with  pity  for  an  unfortunate  and  supersti- 
tious regard  for  antiquity,  and  thoughtless 
inclination  for  war ;  in  short,  with  a  crowd 
of  sensations  with  which  sober  rationality 
has  nothing  to  do. 

We  passed  through  Glensheal1,  with 
prodigious  mountains  on  each  side.  We 
saw  where  the  battle  was  fought,  in  the 
year  1719.  Dr.  Johnson  owned  he  was 
now  in  a  scene  of  as  wild  nature  as  he 
could  see;  but  he  corrected  me  sometimes 
in  my  inaccurate  observations.  "  There," 
said  I, "  is  a  mountain  like  a  cone."  John- 
bow.  "  No,  sir.  It  would  he  called  so  in 
a  book ;  and  when  a  man  comes  to  look  at 
it,  he  sees  it  is  not  so.  It  is  indeed  pointed 
at  the  top  ;  but  one  side  of  it  is  larger  than 
the  other3."  Another  mountain  1  called 
immense.  Johnson.  "  No  ;  it  is  no  more 
than  a  considerable  protuberance." 

We  came  to  a  nch  green  valley,  com- 
paratively speaking,  and  stopped  a  while 
to  let  our  horses  rest  and  eat  grass  3.    We 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


569 


1  [In  1719,  Spain  projected  an  invasion  of 
Scotland  in  behalf  of  the  Clievalier,  and  destined 
a  great  force  for  that  purpose,  under  the  command 
of  the  Duke  of  Onnond.  But  owing  to  storms, 
only  three  frigates,  with  three  hundred  or  four 
hundred  Spaniards  on  board,  arrived  in  Scotland. 
They  Dad  with  them  the  banished  Earl  of  Sea- 
forth,  chief  of  the  Mackenzie*,  a  man  of  great 
power,  exiled  for  his  share  in  the  rebellion  of 
1715.  He  raised  a  considerable  body  of  High- 
landers of  his  own  and  friendly  clans,  and  disem- 
barking the  Spaniards,  came  as  far  as  the  great 
valley  called  Glensheal,  in  the  West  Highlands. 
General  Wightman  marched  against  them  from  In- 
verness with  a  few  regular  forces,  and  several  of  the 
Grants,  Rosses,  Munros,  and  other  clans  friendly 
to  government.  He  found  the  insurgents  in  pos- 
session of  a  very  strong  pass  called  Strachel,  from 
which,  after  a  few  days'  skirmishing,  they  retired, 
Seaforth's  party  not  losing  a  man,  and  the  others 
having  several  slain.  But  the  Earl  of  Seaforth 
was  dangerously  wounded  in  the  shoulder,  and 
obliged  to  be  carried  back  to  the  ships.  His  clan 
deserted  or  dispersed,  and  the  Spaniards  surren- 
dered themselves  prisoners  of  war  to  General 
Wightman. — Walter  Scott.] 

*  [This  was  hypercritical;  the  hill  m  indeed  not 
a  cone,  but  it  is  like  one. — Walter  Scott.] 

3  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  Journey,  thus  beautifully 
describes  his  situation  here  :  "  I  sat  down  on  a 
bank,  such  as  a  writer  of  romance  might  have  de- 
lighted to  feign.  I  had,  indeed,  no  trees  to  whis- 
per over  my  head,  but  a  clear  rivulet  streamed  at 
my  feet.  The  day  was  calm,  the  air  soft,  and  all 
was  rudeness,  silence  and  solitude.  Before  "me, 
and  on  either  side,  were  high  hills,  which,  by 
hindering  the  eye  from  ranging,  forced  the  mind 
I  to  find  entertainment  for  itself.  Whether  I  spent 
J  the  hour  well,  I  know  not ;  for  here  I  first  con- 
ceived the  thought  of  this  narration.'*  The  Crit- 
ical Reviewers,  with  a  spirit  and  expression  wor- 
thy of  the  subject,  say,  "  We  congratulate  the 
pubtick  on  the  event  with  which  this  quotation 
concludes,  and  are  fully  persuaded  that  the  hour  in 

yol.  i,  47 


soon  afterwards  came  to  Auchnasheal,  a 
kind  of  rural  village,  a  number  of  cottages 
being  built  together,  as  we  saw  all  along  in 
the  Highlands.  We  passed  many  miles 
this  day  without  seeing  a  house,  but  only 
little  summer  huts,  called  shielings.  Even 
Campbell,  servant  to  Mr.  Murchison,  factor 
to  the  Laird  of  Macleod  in  Glenelg,  ran 
along  with  us  to-day.  He  was  a  very 
obliging  fellow.  At  Auchnasheal,  we  sat 
down  on  a  green  turf-eeat  at  the  end  of  a 
house;  they  brought  us  out  two  wooden 
dishes  of  milk,  which  we  tasted.  One  of 
them  was  frothed  like  a  syllabub.  I  saw  a 
woman  preparing  it  with  such  a  stick  as  is 
used  for  chocolate,  and  in  the  same  man- 
ner. We  had  a  considerable  circle  about 
us,  men,  women,  and  children,  all  M'Craas4, 
Lord  Seaforth's  people.  Not  one  of  them 
could  speak  English.  I  observed  to  Dr. 
Johnson,  it  was  much  the  same  as  being 
with  a  tribe  of  Indians.  Johnson.  "  Yes, 
sir,  but  not  so  terrifying."  I  gave  all  who 
chose  it  snuff  and  tobacco.  Governour  Tra- 
paud  had  made  us  buy  a  quantity  at  Fort 
Augustus,  and  put  them  up  in  small  par- 
cels. I  also  gave  each  person  a  piece  of 
wheat  bread,  which  they  had  never  tasted 
before.  I  then  gave  a  penny  apiece  to  each 
child.  I  told  Dr.  Johnson  or  this:  upon 
which  he  called  to  Joseph  and  our  guides, 
for  change  for  a  shilling,  and  declared  that 
he  would  distribute  among  the  children. 
Upon  this  being  announced  in  Erse,  there 
was  a  great  stir ;  not  only  did  some  children 
come  running  down  from  neighbouring 
huts,  but  I  observed  one  black-haired  man, 
who  had  been  with  us  all  along,  had  gone 
off,  and  returned,  bringing  a  very  young 
child.  My  fellow  traveller  then  ordered  the 
children  to  be  drawn  up  in  a  row,  and  he 
dealt  about  his  copper,  and  made  them  and 
their  parents  all  happy.    The  poor  M(  Craas, 


which  the  entertaining  traveller  conceived  this  nar- 
rative will  be  considered,  by  every  reader  of  taste, 
as  a  fortunate  event  in  the  annals  of  literature. 
Were  it  suitable  to  the  task  in  which  we  are  at 
present  engaged,  to  indulge  ourselves  in  a  poetical 
flight,  we  would  invoke  the  winds  of  the  Caledo- 
nian mountains  to  blow  forever,  with  their  soft- 
est breezes,  on  the  bank  where  our  author  reclined, 
and  request  of  Flora,  that  it  might  be  perpetually 
adorned  with  the  gayest  and  most  fragrant  produc- 
tions of  the  year.** — Bos  WELL. 

4  [The  Mac  Raes  are  an  example  of  what 
sometimes  occurred  in  the  Highlands,  a  clan  who 
had  no  chief  or  banner  of  their  own,  but  mustered 
under  that  of  another  tribe.  They  were  originally 
attached  to  the  Frasere,  but  on  occasion  of  an  in- 
termarriage, they  were  transferred  to  the  Mack- 
enzies,  and  have  since  mustered  under  Seaforth's 
standard.  They  were  always,  and  are  still,  a  set 
of  bold  hardy  men,  as  much  attached  to  the 
Caberfae  (or  stag's  head)  as  the  Mackenzie*,  to 
whom  the  standard  properly  belongs.— Walts* 
Scott.]        .         '    *  •        ' 


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370 


ms^ETAT.  64. 


[tour  to 


whatever  may  be  their  present  state,  were 
of  considerate  estimation  in  the  year  1715, 
when  there  was  a  line  in  a  song: 

■« And  aw  the  brave  M'Craas  are  <**mfa»  i." 


There  was  great  diversity  in  the  faces  of 
the  circle  around  us ;  some  were  as  black 
and  wild  in  their  appearance  as  any  Ameri- 
can savages  whatever.  One  woman  was 
as  comely  almost  as  the  figure  of  Sap- 
pho, as  we  see  it  painted.  We  asked  the 
old  woman,  the  mistress  of  the  house 
where  we  had  the  milk  (which,  by  the  by, 
Dr.  Johnson  told  me,  for  I  did  not  observe 
it  myself,  was  built  not  of  turf,  but  of 
stone),  what  we  should  pay.  She  said, 
what  we  pleased.  One  of  our  guides  ask- 
ed her,  in  Erse,  if  a  shilling  was  enough. 
She  said,  "Yes."  But  some  of  the  men 
bade  her  ask  more.  This  vexed  me ;  be- 
cause it  showed  a  desire  to  impose  upon 
strangers,  as  they  knew  that  even  a  shilling 
was  high  payment.'  The  woman,  how- 
ever, honestly  persisted  in  her  first  price ; 
so  I  gave  her  half  a  crown.  Thus  we  had 
one  good  scene  of  life  uncommon  to  us. 
The  people  were  very  much  pleased,  gave 
us  many  blessings,  and  said  they  had  not 
had  such  a  day  since  the  old  Laird  of 
Macleod's  time. 

Dr.  Johnson  was  much  refreshed  by  this 
repast  He  was  pleased  when  I  told  him 
he  would  make  a  good  chief.  He  said, 
"  Were  I  a  chief,  I  would  dress  my  servants 
better  than  myself*,  and  knock  a  fellow  down 
if  he  looked  saucy  to  a  Macdonaid  in  rags: 
but  I  would  not  treat  men  as  brutes.  I 
would  let  them  know  why  all  of  my  clan  were 

*  The  M'Craas,  or  Macraes,  were,  since  that 
time, 'brought  into  the  king's  army,  by  the  late 
Lord  Seaforth.  When  they  lay  in  Edinburgh 
Castle,  in  1778,  and  were  ordered  to  embark  for 
Jersey,  they,  with  a  number  of  other  men  in  the 
regiment,  tor  different  reasons,  but  especially  an 
apprehension  that  they  were  to  be  sold  to  the  East 
India  Company,  though  enlisted  not  to  be  sent  out 
of  Great  Britain  without  their  own  consent,  made 
a  determined  mutiny,  and  encamped  upon  the 
lofty  mountain,  Arthur's  Seat,  where  they  re- 
mained three  days  and  three  nights,  bidding  defi- 
ance to  all  the  force  in  Scotland.  At  last  they 
came  down,  and  embarked  peaceably,  haying  ob- 
tained formal  articles  of  capitulation,  signed  by 
Sir  Adolpbns  Oaghton,  commander-in-chief,  Gen- 
eral Skene,  deputy  commander,  the  Duke  of 
Buccleugh,  and  the  Earl  of  Dunmore,  which 
quieted  them.  Since  the  secession  of  the  Com- 
mons of  Rome  to  the  Mons  Sacer,  a  more  spirited 
exertion  has  not  been  made.  I  gave  great  atten- 
tion to  it  from  first  to  last,  and  have  drawn  np  a 
particular  account  of  it  Those  brave  fellows 
have  since  served  their  country  effectually  at  Jer- 
sey, and  also  in  the  East  Indies,  to  winch,  after 
t^Bos**  ""^nnod,  they  voluntarily  agreed  to 


to  have  attention  paid  to  them.  I  would 
tell  my  Tipper  servants  why,  and  make  them 
tell  the  others." 

We  rode  on  well,  till  we  came  to  the 
high  mountain  called  the  Rattakin,  by 
which  time  both  Dr.  Johnson  and  the 
hones  were  a  good  deal  fatigued.  It  is  a 
terrible  steep  to  climb,  notwithstanding  the 
road  is  formed  slanting  along  it;  however, 
we  made  it  out.  On  the  top  of  it  we  met 
Captain  Macleod,  of  Balmenoch  (a  Dutch 
officer  who  had  come  from  Sky),  riding 
with  his  sword  slung  across  him.  He  ask- 
ed, "  Is  this  Mr.  Bos  well?  "  which  was  a 
proof  that  we  were  expected.  Going  down 
the  hill  on  the  other  side  was  no  easy  task. 
As  Dr.  Johnson  was  a  great  weight,  the 
two  guides  agreed  that  he  should  ride  the 
horses  alternately.  Hay's  were  the  two 
best,  and  the  Doctor  would  not  ride  but 
upon  one  or  other  of  them,  a  black  or  a 
brown.  But,  as  Hay  complained  much 
after  ascending  the  Rattakin,  the  Doctor 
was  prevailed  with  to  mount  one  of  V ass's 
grayB.  As  he  rede  upon  it  down  hill,  it 
did  not  go  well,  and  ha  grumbled.  I  walk- 
ed on  a  little  before,  but  was  excessively 
entertained  with  the  method  taken  to  keep 
him  in  good  humour.  Hay  led  the  horse's 
head,  talking  to  Dr.  Johnson  as  much  as  be 
could;  and  (having  heard  him,  in  the  fore- 
noon, express  a  pastoral  pleasure  on  seeing 
the  goats  browsing)  just  when  the  Doctor 
was  uttering  his  displeasure,  the  fellow 
cried,  with  a  very  Highland  accent,  "  See, 
such  pretty  goats!"  Then  he  whistled 
v> hu!  and  made  them  jump.  Little  did  he 
conceive  what  Dr.  Johnson  was.  Here 
now  was  a  common  ignorant  Highland 
clown  imagining  that  he  could  divert,  as 
one  does  a  child,  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson! 
The  ludicrousness,  absurdity,  and  extraor- 
dinary contrast  between  what  the  fellow 
fancied,  and  the  reality,  was  truly  comick. 
It  grew  dusky;  and  we  had  a  very  te- 
dious ride  for  what  was  called  five  miles, 
but  I  am  sure  would  measure  ten.  We  had 
no  conversation.  I  was  riding  forward  to 
the  inn  at  Glenelg,  on  the  shore  opposite 
to  Sky,  that  I  might  take  proper  measures, 
before  Dr.  Johnson,  who  was  now  advanc- 
ing in  dreary  silence,  Hay  leading  his  horse, 
should  arrive.  Vass  also  walked  by  the 
side  of  his  horse,  and  Joseph  followed  be- 
hind. As,  therefore,  he  was  thus  attended, 
and  seemed  to  be  in  deep  meditation,  I 
thought  there  could  be  no  nann  in. leaving 
him  fox  a  little  while.  He  called  me  back 
with  a  tremendous  shout,  and  was  really  in 
a  passion  with  me  for  leaving  him.  I  told 
him  my  intentions,  but  he  was  not  satisfied, 
and  said,  "  Do  you  know,  I  should  as  soon 
have  thought  or  picking  a  pocket,  as  doing 
so."  Boswell.  "  I  am  diverted  with  you, 
air."    Johhsow.    "Sir,  I  could  never  bs 


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HBBBIDBS.] 

diverted  with  incivility.  Doing  such  a 
thine  makes  one  lose  confidence  in  him  who 
has  done  it,  as  one  cannot  tell  what  he  may 
do  next."  His  extraordinary  warmth  con- 
founded me  so  much,  that  I  justified  my- 
self hut  lamely  to  him;  yet  my  intentions 
were  not  improper.  I  wished  to  get  on,  to 
see  how  we  were1  to  he  lodged,  and  how  we 
were  to  get  *  boat;  all  which  I  thought  I 
could  hest  settle  myself,  without  his  having 
any  trouble.  To  apply  his  preat  mind  to 
minute  particulars  is  wrong:  it  is  like  taking 
an  immense  balance  (sucn  as  is  kept  on 
quays  for  weighing  cargoes  of  ships)  to 
weigh  a  guinea.  I  knew  I  had  neat  little 
scales,  which  would  do  better:  and  that  his 
attention  to  every  thing  which  falls  in  his 
way,  and  his  uncommon  desire  to  be  always 
in  the  right,  would  make  him  weigh,  if  he 
knew  of  the  particulars:  it  was  right  there- 
fore for  me  to  weigh  them,  and  let  aim  have 
them  only  in  effect.  I  however  continued 
to  ride  by  him,  finding  he  wished  I  should 
do  so. 

As  we  passed  the  barracks  at  Bernera,  I 
looked  at  them  wishfully,  as  soldiers  have 
always  every  tbjpg  in  the '"beet  order;  but 
there  was  only  a  serjeant  and  a  few  men 
there.  We  came  on  to  the  inn  at  Glenelg. 
There  was  no  provender  for  our  horses;  so 
they  were  sent  to  grass,  with  a  man  to 
watch  them.  A  maid  showed  us  up  stairs 
into  a  room  damp  and  dirty,  with  bare 
walls,  a  variety  of  bad  smells,  a  coarse  black 
greasy  fir  table,  and  forms  [benches]  of  the 
same  kind;  and  out  of  a  .wretched  bed 
started  a  fellow  from  his  sleep,  like  Edgar 
in  King  Lear,  "  Poor  Tom '«  a  cold  V 

This  inn  was  furnished  with  not  a  sin- 
gle article  that  we  could  either  eat  or  drink; 
but  Mr.  Murchison,  factor  to  the  Laird  of 
Macleod,  in  Gleaelg,  sent  us  a  bottle  of 
rum  and  some  sugar,  with  a  polite  mes- 
sage, to  acquaint  ua,  that  he  was  very  sorry 
that  he  did  not  hear  of  us  till  we  had  pass- 
ed his  house,  otherwise  he  should  have  in- 
sisted on  our  sleeping  there  that  night;  and 
that,  if  he  were  not  obliged  to  set  out  for 
Inverness  early  next  morning,  he  would 
have  waited  upon  us.  Such  extraordinary 
attention  from  this  gentleman,  to  entire 
strangers,  deserves  the  most  honourable 
commemoration. 

Our  bad  accommodation  here  made  me 
uneasy ,  and  almost  fretful.  Dr.  Johnson 
was  calm.  I  said  he  was  so  from  vanity. 
Johnson.  "  No,  sir;  it  is  from  philosophy." 
It  pleased  me  to  see  that  the  Rambler  could 
practise  so  well  his  own  lessons. 

I  resumed  the  subject  of  my  leaving  him 
on  the  road,  and  endeavoured  to  defend  it 


ma._jETAT.  64. 


871 


1  It  »  amusing  to  observe  the  different  images 
which  this  being  presented  to  Dr.  Johnson  and 
me.  The  Doctor,  in  ha  "  Journey,"  compares 
him  to  a  Cyclops.— Boswsli* 


better.  He  was  still  violent  upon  that 
head,  and  said,  "  Sir,  had  you  gone  on,  I 
was  thinking  that  I  should  have  returned 
with  you  to  Edinburgh,  and  then  have 
parted  from  you,  and  never  spoken  to  you 
more." 

I  sent  for  fresh  hay,  with  which  we 
made  beds  for  ourselves,  each  in  a  room 
equally  miserable.  Like  Wolfe,  we  had  a 
"choice  of  difficulties*."  Dr.  Johnson 
made  things  easier  by  comparison.  At 
M«  Queen's,  last  night,  he  observed,  that 
few  w.ere  so  well  lodged  in  a  ship.  To- 
night, he  said,  we  were  better  than  if  we 
had  been  upon  the  hill.  He  lay  down  but- 
toned up  in  his  great  coat.  I  had  my 
sheets  spread  on  the  hay,  and  my  clothes 
and  great  coat  laid  over  me,  by  way  of 
blankets  3. 

Thursday,  2d  September.— I  had  slept 
ill.  Dr.  Johnson's  anger  had  affected  me 
much.  I  considered  that,  without  any  bad 
intention,  I  might  suddenly  forfeit  his 
friendship-  and  was  impatient  to  see  him 
this  morning.  I  told  him  how  uneasy 
he  had  made  me  by  what  he  had  said,  and 
reminded  him  of  his  own  remark  at  Aber- 
deen, upon  old  friendships  being  hastily 
broken  off.  He  owned,  he  had  spoken  to 
me  in  passion;  that  he  would  not  have  done 
what  he  threatened;  and  that,  if  he  had, 
he  should  have  been  ten  times  worse  than 
I;  that  forming  intimacies  would  indeed  be 
"  limning;  the  water,"  were  they  liable  to 
such  sudden  dissolution;  and  he  added, 
"  Let  '8  think  no  more  on't."  Boswell. 
"  Well  then,  sir,  I  shall  be  easy.  Remem- 
ber, I  am  to  have  fair  warning  in  case  of 
any  quarrel.  You  are  never  to  spring  a 
mine  upon  me.  It  was  absurd  in  me  to 
believe  you."  Johnson.  "  You  deserved 
about  as  much,  as  to  believe  me  from  night 
to  morning." 

After  breakfast,  we  got  into  a  boat  for 
Sky.  It  rained  much  when  we  set  off,  but 
cleared  up  as  we  advanced.  One  of  the 
boatmen,  who  spoke  English,  said,  that  a 
mile  at  land  was  two  miles  at  sea.  I  then 
observed,  that  from  Glenelg  to  Armidale  in 
Sky,  which  was  our  present  course,  and  is 
called  twelve,  was  only  six  miles;  but  this 
he  could  not  understand.  "Weil,"  said 
Dr.  Johnson,  "  never  talk  to  me  of  the 
native  good  sense    of   the    Highlanders. 


a  [This  phrase,  now  so  common,  excited  some 
surprise  and  criticism  when  used  by  General 
Wolfe,  in  hk  despatch  from  before  Quebec.  See 
London,  Gazette  Extraordinary,  16fs*  Oct. 
1759.— Ed.] 

9  [Johnson  thus  describes  this  scene  to  Mrs. 
Thrale,  "  /  ordered  hay  to  be  laid  thick  upon  the 
bed,  and  slept  upon  it  in  my  great  coat  Meewell 
laid  sheets  upon  his  bed,  and  reposed  in  linen, 
Kke  a  gentleman."— Letter*,  voi  i  p.  187.— 
Ed.] 


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1778.— JETAT.  64. 


[TOUa  TO 


Here  is  a  feUow  who  calls  one  mile  two, 
and  yet  cannot  comprehend  that  twelve 
such  imaginary  miles  make  in  truth  but 
six." 

We  reached  the  shore  of  Armidale  be- 
fore one  o'clock.  Sir  Alexander  Macdon- 
ald  came  down  to  receive  us.  He  and  his 
lady  (formerly  Miss  Boswell,  of  Yorkshire), 
were  then  in  a  house  built  by  a  tenant  at 
this  place,  which  is  in  the  district  of  Slate, 
the  family  mansion  here  having  been  burn- 
ed in  Sir  Donald  Macdonald's  time. 

(l  The  most  ancient  seat  of  the  chief  of 
2d  Ed  tne  Macdonalds  in  the  Isle  of  Sky 
'  was  at  Duntulm,  where  there  are 
the  remains  of  a  stately  castle.  The  princi- 
pal residence  of  the  family  is  now  at  Mug- 
stot,  at  which  there  is  a  considerable  build- 
ing. Sir  Alexander  and  Lady  M acdonald 
had  come  to  Armidale  in  their  way  to  Edin- 
burgh, where  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
be  soon  after  this  time. 

Armidale  is  situated  on  a  pretty  bay  of 
the  narrow  sea,  which  flows  between  the 
main  land  of  Scotland  and  the  Isle  of  Sky. 
In  front  there  is  a  grand  prospect  of  the 
rude  mountains  of  Moidart  and  Knoidart. 
Behind  are  hills  gentlv  rising  and  covered 
with  a  finer  verdure  than  I  expected  to  see 


1  [The  paragraphs  between  ()  were  inserted  by 
Mr.  Boswell  in  the  second  edition  to  fill  the  space 
of  those  between  [],  which  were  in  the  first  edi- 
tion, and  omitted  in  the  second.  In  one  of  these 
substituted  paragraphs,  Boswell  says,  that  Sir 
Alexander  and  his  lady  "  came  to  Armidale  on 
their  way  to  Edinburgh,  where  it  was  neseesary 
they  should  be ;' '  but  both  Boswell  and  Dr.  Johnson 
really  believed  that  they  had  come  to  this  hovel, 
to  escape  the  necessity  of  entertaining  them  at 
their  usual  residence.  Johnson,  in  a  letter  to 
Mrs.  Thrale,  says,  "  We  had  a  passage  of  about 
twelve  miles  to  the  point  where  [Sir  Alexander 
Macdonald]  resided,  having  come  from  his  seat, 
in  the  middle  of  the  bland,  to  a  small  house  on  the 
shore,  as  we  believe,  that  he  might  with  less  re- 
proach entertain  us  meanly.  If  he  aspired  to 
meanness,  his  retrograde  ambition  was  completely 
gratified  ;  but  he  cud  not  succeed  equally  in  es- 
caping reproach.  He  had  no  cook,  nor  I  suppose 
much  provision;  nor  had  the  lady  the  common 
decencies  of  her  tea-table  ;  we  picked  up  our 
sugar  with  our  fingers.  Boswell  was  very  angry, 
and  reproached  him  with  his  improper  parsimo- 
ny."— Letters,  vol.  i.  p.  137.  And  again  :  "  I 
have  done  thinking  of  [Sir  Alexander  Macdonald], 
whom  we  now  call  Sir  Sawney  ;  he  has  disgust- 
ed all  mankind  by  injudicious  parsimony,  and  giv- 
en occasion  to  se  many  stories,  that  [Boswell]  has 
some  thoughts  of  collecting  them,  and  making  a 
novel  of  his  life." 

These  passages,  and  the  extracts  from  the  first 
edition,  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  person  meant 
m  the  various  allusions  to  the  mean  and  parsi- 
monious landlord  and  chieftain,  which  the 
reader  will  find  in  the  subsequent  parts  of  the 
Tour.— Ed.] 


in  this  climate,  and  the  scene  is  enlivened 
by  a  number  of  little  clear  brooks.) 

[Instead  of  finding  the  head  of  IrtEd 
the  Macdonalds  surrounded  with  his 
clan,  and  a  festive  entertainment,  we  had 
a  small  company,  and  cannot  boast  of  our 
cheer.  The  particulars  are  minuted  in  my 
"Journal,"  but  I  shall  not  trouble  the  pub- 
lick  with  them.  I  shall  mention  but  one 
characteristick  circumstance.  My  shrewd 
and  hearty  friend,  Sir  Thomas  (Went- 
worth)  Blacket,  Lady  Macdonald's  uncle, 
who  had  preceded  us  in  a  visit  to  this  chief, 
upon  being  asked  by  him,  if  the  punch- 
bowl, then  upon  the  table,  was  not  a  very- 
handsome  one,  replied,  "  Yes,  if  it  were 
full."] 

Sir  Alexander  Macdonald  having  been  an 
Eton  scholar  a,  and  being  a  gentleman  of 
talents,  Dr.  Johnson  had  been  very  well 
pleased  with  him  in    London.    But   my 
fellow-traveller  and  I  were  now  full  of  the 
old  Highland  spirit,  and  were  dissatisfied  at 
hearing  [heavy  complaints]  of  rents       _. 
racked  and  [the  people  driven  to] 
emigration;    and  finding  a  chief  not  sur- 
rounded by  his  cTan.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  ["  It 
grieves  me  to  see  the  chief  of  a  great       -. 
clan  appear  to  such  disadvantage. 
This  gentleman   has   talents,    nay,  some 
learning;  but  he  is  totally  unfit  for  his  situ- 
ation."]   Sir,  the  Highland  chiefs  should 
not  be  allowed  to  go  farther  south  than 
Aberdeen.     A    strong-minded   man,    like 


Sir  James  Macdonald,  may  be  improved 
by  an  English  education;  but  in  general, 
they  will  be  tamed  into  insignificance." 


[I  meditated  an  escape  from  this  M 
house  the  very  next  day;  but  Dr.  mB<L 
Johnson  resolved  that  we  should  weather  it 
out  till  Monday.] 

We  found  here  Mr.  Janes  of  Aberdeen- 
shire, a  naturalist  Janes  said  he  had  been 
at  Dr.  Johnson's  in  London,  with  Fergu- 
son the  astronomer.  Johnson.  "  It  is 
strange  that,  in  such  distant  places,  I 
should  meet  with  any  one  who  knows  me. 
I  should  have  thought  I  might  hide  my- 
self in  Sky." 

Friday,  Sd  September. — This  day  prov- 
ing wet,  we  should  have  passed  our  time 
very  uncomfortably,  had  we  not  found  in 
the  house  two  chests  of  books,  which  we 
eagerly  ransacked.  After  dinner,  when  I 
alone  was  left  at  table  with  the  few  High- 
land gentlemen  who  were  of  the  company, 
having  talked  3  with  very  high  respect  of 


•  [See  his  Latin  verses  addressed  to  Dr. , 
son,  in  the  Appendix. — Boswkll.  [Indifferent 
as  these  verses  are,  they  probably  suggested  to 
Dr.  Johnson's  mind  the  writing  those  Latin  rases 
in  Skie  and  Inch-Kcnnetht  which  we  shall  see 
presently.— Ed.] 

9  [Hero,  in  the  first  edition,  was  a  leaf  cancel- 


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HEBRIDES.] 


177t-— ^TAT.  64. 


97S 


Sir  James  Macdonald,  they  were  all  so 
much  affected  as  to  shed  tears.  One  of 
them  was  Mr.  Donald  Macdonald,  who 
had  heen  lieutenant  of  grenadiers  in  the 
Highland  regiment,  raised  by  Colonel 
Montgomery,  now  Earl  of  Elingtoune,  in 
the  war  before  last;  one  of  those  regiments 
which  the  late  Lord  Chatham  prided  him- 
self in  having  brought  from  "  the  moun- 
tains of  the  north :  "  by  doing  which  he 
contributed  to  extinguish  in  the  Highlands 
the  remains  of  disaffection  to  the  present 
royal  family.  From  this  gentleman's  con- 
versation, I  first  learnt  how  very  popular 
his  colonel  was  among  the  Highlanders; 
of  which  I  had  such  continued  proofs,  dur- 
ing the  whole  course  of  my  Tour,  that  on 
my  return  I  could  not  help  telling  the  noble 
earl  himself,  that  I  did  not  before  know  how 
great  a  man  he  was. 

We  were  advised  by  some  persons  here 
to  visit  Rasay,  in  our  way  to  Dun  vegan, 
the  seat  of  the  Laird  of  Macleod.  Being  in- 
formed that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Donald  M<  Queen 
was  the  most  intelligent  man  in  Sky,  and 
having  been  favoured  with  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  him,  by  the  learned  Sir  James 
Foulis1, 1  sent  it  to  him  by  an  express,  and 
requested  he  would  meet  us 'at  Rasay;  and 
at  the  same  time  enclosed  a  letter  to  the 
Laird  of  Macleod,  informing  him  that  we 
intended  in  a  few  days  to  have  the  honour 
of  waiting  on  him  at  Dunvegan. 

Dr.  Johnson  this  day  endeavoured  to  ob- 
tain some  knowledge  of  the  state  of  the 
country;  but  complained  that  he  could  get 
no  distinct  information  about  any  thing, 
from  those  with  whom  he  conversed. 

Saturday,  4th  September. — My  endeav- 
ours to  rouse  the  English-bred  chieftain,  in 
whose  house  we  were,  to  the  feudal  and  pa- 
triarchal feelings,  proving  ineffectual,  Dr. 
Johnson  this  morning  tried  to  bring  him  to 
our  way  of  thinking.  Johnson.  "Were 
I  in  your  place,  sir,  in  seven  years  I  would 
make  this  an  independent  island.  I  would 
roast  oxen  whole,  and  hang  out  a  flag  as  a 
signal  to  the  Macdonalds  to  come  and  get 
beef  and  whiskey."  Sir  Alexander  was 
still  starting  difficulties.    Johnson.    "  Nay, 

led,  which,  no  doubt,  contained  some  of  the  origi- 
nal strictures  of  the  "  Journal* '  on  Sir  Alexander 
Ifacdonald's  want  of  hospitality  and  spirit— Ed.] 
1  [Sir  James  Fouhs,  of  Collinton,  Bart,  was  a 
man  of  an  ancient  family,  a  good  scholar,  and  a 
hard  student;  duly  imbued  with  a  large  share  both 
of  Scottah  shrewdness  and  Scottish  prejudice. 
His  property,  his  income  at  least,  was  very  mod- 
erate. Others  might  have  increased  it  in  a  voyage 
to  India,  which  he  made  in  the  character  of  a 
eomnuasioner;  but  Sir  James  returned  as  poor  as 
lie  went  there.  Sir  James  Foulis  was  one  of  the 
Lowlanders  whom  Highlanders  allowed  to  be 
well  skilled  in  the  Gaelick,  an  acquaintance  which 
he  made  late  in  life.— Waltb*  Scott.] 


sir;  if  you  are  born  to  object,  I  hate  done 
with  you.  Sir,  I  would  have  a  magazine 
of  arms."  Sir  Alexanoer.  "  They  would 
rust"  Johnson.  "  Let  there  be  men  to 
keep  them  clean.  Your  ancestors  did  not 
use  to  let  their  arms  rust 9." 

We  attempted  in  vain  to  communicate  to 
him  a  portion  of  our  enthusiasm.  He  bore 
with  so  polite  a  good-nature  our  warm,  and 
what'some  might  call  Gothick,  expostula- 
tions on  this  subject,  that  I  should  not  for-. 
Jive  myself  were  I  to  record  all  that  Dr. 
ohnson's  ardour  led  him  to  say.  This  day 
was  little  better  than  a  blank. 

Sunday,  5th  September. — I  walked  to  the 
parish  church  of  Slate,  which  is  a  very  poor 
one.  There  are  no  church  bells  in  the  isl- 
and. I  was  told  there  were  once  some; 
what  was  become  of  them,  I  could  not  learn. 
The  minister  not  being  at  home,  there  was 
no  service.  I  went  into  the  church,  and 
saw  die  monument  of  Sir  James  Macdon- 
ald, which  was  elegantly  executed  at  Rome, 
and  has  an  inscription,  written  by  his  friend, 
George  Lord  Lyttelton:  [which,  as  Eo 
well  as  two  letters,  written  by  Sir 
James,  in  his  last  illness,  to  his  mother,  will 
be  found  in  the  Appendix.] 

Dr.  Johnson  said,  the  inscription  should 
have  been  in  Latin,  as  every  thing  intended 
to  be  universal  and  permanent  should  be  3. 
This  being  a  beautiful  day,  my  spirits 
were  cheered  by  the  mere  effect  of  climate. 
I  had  felt  a  return  of  spleen  during  my  stay 
at  Armidale,  and  had  it  not  been  that  I  had 
Dr.  Johnson  to  contemplate,  I  should  have 
sunk  into  dejection  ;  but  his  firmness  sup- 
ported me.  I  looked  at  him,  as  a  man  whose 
head  is  turning  giddy  at  sea  looks  at  a  rock, 
or  any  fixed  object.  I  wondered  at  his  tran- 
quillity. He  said,  "  Sir,  when  a  man  retires 
into  an  island,  he  is  to  turn  his  thoughts  en- 


*  [Dr.  Johnson  seems  to  have  forgotten  that  a 
Highlander  going  armed  at  this  period  incurred 
the  penalty  of  serving  as  a  common  soldier  for  the 
first,  and  of  transportation  beyond  sea  for  a  sec- 
ond offence.  And  as  "  for  calling  out  his  clan," 
twelve  Highlanders  and  a  bagpipe  made  a  rebel- 
lion.— Walter  Scott.] 

*  [What  a  strange  perversion  of  language ! — uni- 
versal! Why,  if  it  had  been  in  Latin,  so  for 
from  being  untoenally  understood,  it  would  have 
been  an  utter  blank  to  one'  (the  better)  half  of 
the  creation,  and,  even  of  the  men  who  might 
visit  it,  mnety-fftfte  will  understand  it  in  English 
for  one  who  could  in  Latin.  Something  may  be 
said  for  epitaphs  and  inscriptions  addressed,  as  it 
were,  to  the  world  at  large--*  triumphal  arch— 
the  pillar  at  Blenheim — the  monument  on  the 
field  of  Waterloo ;  but  a  Latin  epitaph,  in  an 
English  church,  appears,  in  principle,  as  absurd 
at  the  dinner,  which  the  doctor  gives  in  Peregrine 
Pickle,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient:  A 
mortal  may  surely  be  well  satisfied  if  his  lame 
lasts  as  long  as  the  language  in  which  he  spoke 
or  wrate^Bn.] 


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tircly  to  another  world.  He  has  done  with 
this."  Boswell.  "  It  appears  to  me,  sir, 
to  be  very  difficult  to  unite  a  due  attention 
to  this  world,  and  that  which  is  to  come; 
for,  if  we  engage  eagerly  in  the  affaire  of 
life,  we  are  apt  to  be  totally  forgetful  of  a 
future  state;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
steady  contemplation  of  the  awful  concerns 
of  eternity  renders  all  objects  here  so  insig- 
nificant, as  to  make  us  indifferent  and  neg- 
ligent about  them."  Johnson.  "  Sir,  Dr. 
Cheyne  has  laid  down  a  rule  to  himself  on 
this  subject,  which  should  be  imprinted  on 
every  mind:  c  To  neglect  nothing  to  secure 
my  eternal  peace,  more  than  if  I  had  been 
certified  I  should  die  within  the  day:  nor  to 
mind  any  thing  that  my  secular  obligations 
and  duties  demanded  of  me,  less  than  if  I 
had  been  ensured  to  live  fifty  years  more.' " 

I  must  here  observe,  that  though  Dr. 
Johnson  appeared  now  to  be  philosophical- 
ly calm,  yet  his  genius  did  not  shine  forth 
as  in  companies,  where  I  have  listened  to 
him  with  admiration.  The  vigour  of  his 
mind  was,  however,  sufficiently  manifested, 
by  his  discovering  no  symptoms  of  feeble  re- 
laxation in  the  dull,  "  weary,  flat,  and  un- 
profitable" state  in  which  we  now  were 
placed. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  it  was  on  this 
day  he  composed  the  following  ode  upon 
the  Isle  of  Sky,  which  a  few  days  afterwards 
he  showed  me  at  Rasay: 

"ODA. 

"  Pond  profundus  clausa  recessibus, 
Strepens  procellis,  rupibus  obsita, 
Quam  grata  defeaso  virentem 
Skta  siuum  netralosa  pandia. 

"  Hia  cura,  credo,  sedibus  exulat; 
His  blanda  certe  pax  habitat  lock  : 
Non  ira,  non  moeror  quietis 
Insidias  meditator  horis. 

"  At  non  cavata  rape  latescere, 
Menti  nee  mgrm  montibus  aviis 
Prodeat  vagari,  nee  frementes 
E  scopulo  nnmerare  ductus. 

•'  Humana  virtos  non  sibi  sufficit, 
Dator  nee  eqnum  caique  animum  sibi 
Parare  posse,  at  Stoicoram 
Secta  erepet  nimis  alta  fallax. 

"  Exsstaantis  pectoris  impetum, 
Rex  summe,  solus  ta  regis  arbiter, 
Mentisque,  te  tollente,  surgunt, 
Te  recidant  moderonte  fluctns1." 


1  Various  readings. — Line  2.  In  the  manu- 
script, Dr.  Johnson,  instead  of  rupibus  obsita, 
had  written  imbribus  wrida,  and  vvida  nubibust 
but  struck  them  both  out. 

Ltnei  15  and  16.  Instead  of  these  two  lines, 
he  bad  written,  but  afterwards  struck  out,  the  fol- 
lowing. 


[TOUR  TO  THE 

After  supper,  Dr.  Johnson  told  us,  that 
Isaac  Hawkins  Browne  drank  freely  for 
thirty  years,  and  that  he  wrote  his  poem, 
"  De  Animi  Immortalitate,"  in  some  of  the 
last  of  these  years.  I  listened  to  this  with 
the  eagerness  of  one,  who,  conscious  of  be- 
ing himself  fond  of  wine,  is  glad  to  hear 
that  'a  man  of  so  much  genius  and  good 
thinking  as  Browne  had  the  same  propen- 
sity. 

Monday,  6fA  September. — We  set  out, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Donald  M'Leod,  late 
of  Canna,  as  our  guide.  We  rode  for  some 
time  along  the  district  of  Slate,  near  the 
shore.  The  houses  in  general  are  made  of 
turf,  covered  with  grass.  The  country 
seemed  well  peopled.  We  came  into  the 
district  of  Strath,  and  passed  along  a  wild 
moorish  tract  of  land  till  we  arrived  at  the 
shore.  There  we  found  good  verdure,  and 
some  curious  whin-rocks,  or  collections  of 
stones,  like  the  ruins  of  the  foundations  of 
old  buildings.  We  saw  also  three  cairns  of 
considerable  size. 

About  a  mile  beyond  Broadfoot  is  Corri- 
chatachin,  a  farm  of  Sir  Alexander  Mac- 
donald's,    possessed  by  Mr.  M'Kinnon*, 


Parare  posse,  uteuwgue  Jaetet 
Qrmdiioquus  nimis  alta  Zena.— Bocwbll. 

[It  m  very  curious  that,  in  all  the  editions  of 
Johnson's  Works,  which  the  editor  has  seen, 
even  down  to  the  Oxford  edition  of  1825,  this 
poem  is  given  with  certain  variations,  which  the 
Editor  confesses  he  does  not  understand.  The 
first  amendment,  noted  by  Mr.  Boswell,  "  obtita 
rupibtu"  is  adopted,  bat  the  second  is  not,  and 
the  two  lines  rejected  by  Dr.  Johnson  are  re- 
placed. But  this  is  not  all :  the  words  "  E  scopu- 
lo" in  the  12th  line,  are  changed  into  **  Jn  spet* 
u/a,"  of  which  the  sense  is  not  obvious;  and  in 
the  penultimate  line,  "  surgunt ,"  which  seems 
necessary  to  the"  meaning,  is  altered  to  "ftuciut" 
which  appears  wholly  unintelligible.  These  last 
variations  look  like  mere  errors  of  the  press  ;  bat 
is  it  possible,  that  Johnson's  Latin  poetry  has  bees 
so  little  attended  to,  that  the  public  has  been,  lor 
forty  yean  past,  acquiescing  m  what  appears  to 
be  stark  nonsense  ?  In  the  last  line,  too,  "  resi- 
dent99 is  printed  for  "  rccidunt,"  but  that  is  of 
minor  importance.  It  seems  wonderful  that  Mr. 
Murphy  (who  was  himself  a  Latin  poet)  and  the 
late  Oxford  editor  should,  in  their  splendid  edi- 
tions, have  overlooked  these  errora. — Ed.J 

*  That  my  readers  may  have  my  narrative  m 
the  style  of  the  country  through  which  I  am 
travelling,  it  is  proper  to  inform  them,  that  the 
chief  of  a  clan  is  denominated  by  his  surasine 
alone,  as  M'Leod,  M'Kinnon,  M'Intosh.  To 
prefix  Mr.  to  it  would  be  a  degradation  from  the 
M'Leod,  fee  My  old  friend,  the  Laird  of  M'Far- 
lane,  the  great  antiquary,  took  it  highly  amis* 
when  General  Wade  called  him  Mr.  M*Farlane. 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to 
use  this  mode  of  address  ;  it  seemed  to  him  to  bo 
too  familiar,  as  it  is  the  way  in  which,  in  all  oth- 
er places,  intimates  or  inferiors  are 
When  the  chiefs  have  titles,  they  are  < 


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who  deceived  us  with  a  hearty  welcome,  as 
did  his  wife,  who  was  what  we  call  in  Scot- 
land a  lady-like  woman*.  Mr.  Pennant, 
in  the  course  of  his  tour  to  the  Hebrides, 
passed  two  nights  at  this  gentleman's  house. 
On  its  being  mentioned,  that  a  present  had 
here  been  made  to  him'  of  a  curious  speci- 
men of  Highland  antiquity,  Dr.  Johnson 
said,  "  Sir,  it  was  more  than  he  deserved: 
the  do*  is  a  whig  9." 

We  here  enjoyed  the  comfort  of  a  table 
plentifully  furnished,  the  satisfaction  of 
which  was  heightened  by  a  numerous  and 
cheerful  company;  and  we,  for  the  first 
time,  had  a  specimen  of  the  joyous  social 
manners  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Highlands. 
They  talked  in  their  own  ancient  language, 
with  fluent  vivacity,  and  sung  many  Erse 
songs  with  such  spirit,  that,  though  Dr. 
Johnson  was  treated  with  the  greatest  re- 
spect and  attention,  there  were  moments  in 
which  he  seemed  to  be  forgotten.  For  my- 
self, though  but  a  Lowlander,  having  Diet- 
ed up  a  few  words  of  the  language,  l  pre- 
sumed to  mingle  in  their  mirth,  and  joined 
in  the  choruses  with  as  much  glee  as  any 
of  the  company.  Dr.  Johnson  being  fa- 
tigued with  his  journey,  retired  early  to  his 
chamber,  where  he  composed  the  following 
Ode,  addressed  to  Mrs.  ThrafeS: 

"  ODA. 

"  Permeo  terras,  ubi  nuda  rapes 
Saxeas  miacet  nebulis  ruinas, 
Tonra  ubi  rident  steriles  coloni 

Kara  labores. 

"  Pervagor  gentes  hominmn  ferorom4, 
Vita  ubi  nullo  decorata  cultu 


Sqaallet 


by  them,  as  Sir  James  Grant,  Sir  Allen  M'Lean. 
the  other  Highland  gentlemen,  of  landed  proper- 
ty, are  denominated  by  their  estates,  as  Rasay, 
Boisdale ;  and  the  wives  of  all  of  them  have  the 
tide  of  ladies.  The  tacksmen,  or  principal  ten- 
ants, are  named  by  their  farms,  as  Kingsburgh, 
Cotrichatacbin ;  and  their  wives  are  called  the 
mistress  of  Kingsbnrgh,  the  mistress  of  Cor- 
richataehin.  Having  given  this  explanation,  I 
am  at  liberty  to  use  that  mode  of  speech  which 
generally  prevails  in  die  Highlands  and  the  Heb- 
rides.— Boswsu.. 

1  [The  editor  has  not  been  able  to  discover  that 
these  words  have  any  different  meaning  in  Scot* 
land  from  that  attached  to  them  in  England. — Ed.] 

*  [Mir.  Boswell  does  not  do  full  justice  to  Dr. 
Johnson,  when  be  leaves  it  in  doubt,  whether 
this  was  not  said  (as  surely  it  was)  in  a  spirit  of 
jocularity.  Johnson  seems  to  have  had  a  regard 
for  Pennant — Ed.] 

3  [About  fourteen  years  since,  I  landed  in  Sky, 
with  a  party  of  friends,  and  had  the  curiosity  to 
ask  what  was  the  first  idea  on  every  one's  mind 
at  landing.  All  answered  separately  that  it  was 
this  ode,— Waltm  Scott.] 

«  [Gibbon  says,  that  he  veiled  indeUeaeu 


togurique  ramis 
Freda  latesck. 


"  Inter  erroris  salebrosa  longi, 
Inter  ignota  strepitns  loquehe, 
Qnot  modis  mecum,  quid  aunt,  require, 
Thralia  dulds  ? 

"  Seu  viri  cures  pia  nupta  mulcet, 
Sen  fovet  mater  sobolem  benigna, 
Shre  cum  libria  novitate  pascet 

Sedula  mentem; 

"  Sit  memor  nostri,  fideique  merees 
Stet  fides  constans,  mentoque  blandum 
Thralls  discant  resonare  nomen 

Littora  Skis. 

"  Scriptum  in  Skit,  6th  Sept  1773." 

Tuesday,  7th  September. — Dr.  Johnson 
was  much  pleased  with  his  entertainment 
here.  There  were  many  good  books  in  the 
house:  Hector  Boethius  m  Latin:  Cave's 
Lives  of  the  Fathers;  Baker's  Chronicle; 
Jeremy  Collier's  Church  History;  Dr. 
Johnson's  small  Dictionary;  Craufurd's  Of- 
ficers of  State,  and  several  more : — a  mezzo- 
tint© of  Mrs.  Brooks  the  actress  (by  some 
strange  chance  in  Sky »;)  and  also  a  print 
of  Macdonald  of  Clanranald,  with  a  Latin 
inscription  about  the  cruelties  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Culloden,  which  will  never  be  forgot- 
ten. 

It  was  a  very  wet  stormy  day;  we  were 
therefore  obliged  to  remain  here,  it  being 
impossible  to  cross  the  sea  to  Rasay. 

1  employed  a  part  of  the  forenoon  in  writ- 
ing this  journal.  The  rest  of  it  wss  some- 
what dreary,  from  the  gloominess  of  the 
weather,  and  the  uncertain  state  which  we 
were  in,  as  we  could  not  tell  but  it  might 
clear  up  every  hour.  Nothing  is  more  pain- 
ful to  the  mind  than  a  state  of  suspense,  es- 
pecially when  it  depends  upon  the  weather, 
concerning  which  there  can  be  so  little  cal- . 


under  the  obscurity  of  a  learned  language.  John- 
son seems  to  have  done  the  same  with  ingratitude. 
Surely,  after  the  jocund  and  hospitable  scene 
which  we  have  just  left,  the  "  hominum  fero- 
rum9"  and  the  "  vita  nullo  decorata  cultu,'9 
and  the  "  squaUet  informis,**  might  have  been 
spared.  The  "ignota  strepitus  loquelm"  is 
amusing  and  not  offensive  ;  but  whatever  may  be 
said  of  the  Doctor's  gratitude  to  his  friends  in 
Sky,  the  classical  reader  will  not  have  failed  to 
observe  how  much  his  taste,  and  even  his  Latinv- 
ty,  have  improved  since  the  days  of  the  ode  "  Ad 
Urbanum,'*  and  the  epigrams  to  Savage  and 
EHxa.  His  verses  "  J»  Theatro,"  and  those 
in  Sky  and  in  Inch  Kenneth,  and  this  ode  to  Mrs; 
Thrale  are,  if  the  editor  may  venture  to  give  his 
opinion,  much  more  natural  in  their  thoughts,  and 
more  elegant  in  their  expressions,  than  his  earner 
attempts  m  this  line. — Ed.] 

•  [Mrs.  Brooks's  ftther  was  a  Scotchman  of 
the  name  of  Watson.— En.] 


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im-r ifiTAT.  «4 


rTOUR  TO  THE 


dilation.  As  Dr.  Johnson  said  of  our  wea- 
riness on  the  Monday  at  Aberdeen,  "  Sen- 
sation is  sensation : "  Corrichatachin,  which 
was  last  night  a  hospitable  house,  was  in 
my  mind,  changed  to-day  into  a  prison. 
After  dinner  I  read  some  of  Dr.  Macpher- 
son's  "  Dissertations  on  the  Ancient  Cale- 
donians." I  was  disgusted  by  the  unsatis- 
factory conjectures  as  to  antiquity,  before 
the  days  of  record.  I  was  happy  when  tea 
came.  Such,  I  take  it,  is  the  state  of  those 
who  live  in  the  country  i.  Meals  are  wish- 
ed for  from  the  cravings  of  vacuity  of  mind, 
as  well  as  from  the  desire  of  eating.  I  was 
hurt  to  find  even  such  a  temporary  feeble- 
ness, and  that  I  was  so  far  from  being  that 
robust  wise  man  who  is  sufficient  for  his 
own  happiness.  I  felt  a  kind  of  lethargy  of 
indolence.  I  did  not  exert  myself  to  get 
Dr.  Johnson  to  talk,  that  I  might  not  have 
the  labour  of  writing  down  his  conversation. 
He  inquired  here,  if  there  were  any  remains 
of  the  second  sight.  Mr.  Macpherson, 
minister  of  Slate,  said,  he  was  resolved  not 
to  believe  it,  because  it  was  founded  on 
no  principle.  Johnson.  "  There  are  ma- 
ny things  then,  which  we  are  sure  are  true, 
that  you  will  not  believe.  What  principle 
is  there,  why  a  loadstone  attracts  iron  ?  why 
an  egg  produces  a  chicken  by  heat?  why  a 
tree  grows  upwards,  when  the  natural  ten- 
dency of  all  things  is  downwards?  Sir,  it 
depends  upon  the  degree  of  evidence  that 
you  have."  Younp  Mr.  M'Kinnon  men- 
tioned one  M'Kenzie,  who  is  still  alive,  who 
had  often  fainted  in  his  presence,  and  when 
he  recovered,  mentioned  visions  which  had 
been  presented  to  him.  He  told  Mr.  M'Kin- 
non,  tnat  at  such  a  place  he  should  meet  a  fu- 
neral, and  that  sucn  and  such  people  would 
be  the  bearers,  naming  four;  and  three 
weeks-  afterwards  he  saw  what  M'Ken- 
zie  had  predicted.  The  naming  the  very 
spot  in  a  country  where  a  funeral  comes 
a  long  way,  and  the  very  people  as  bearers, 
when  there  are  so  many  out  of  whom  a 
choice  may  be  made,  seems  extraordinary. 
We  should  have  sent  for  M'Kenzie,  had  we 
not  been  informed  that  he  could  speak  no 
English.  Besides,  the  facts  were  not  relat- 
ed with  sufficient  accuracy. 

Mrs.  M'Kinnon,  who  is  a  daughter  of  old 
Kingsburgh  [a  Macdonald],  told  us  that 
her  father  was  one  day  riding  in  Sky,  and 
some  women,  who  were  at  work  in  a  field 


1  [Mr.  Boswell  should  have  recollected,  that 
he  aad  Dr.  Johnson  were  probably  the  only  per- 
sons of  the  party  who  had  nothing  to  do.  Aconn- 
tay  gentleman's  life  would  be  miserable,  if  he  had 
no  more  business  or  interest  in  the  scenes  around 
him  than  the  visitor  of  a  few  days  at  a  stranger's 
house  can  have.  M'Kinnon  would  probably  have 
been  more,  and  with  more  reason,  ennuyt  in  Bolt 
Court  than  Johnson  and  Boswell  were  at  Cor- 
riohatachin.— Ep.  ]  .  _, 


on  the  side  of  the  road,  said  to  him,  they 
had  heard -two  taischs  (that  is,  two  voiced 
of  persons  about  to  die),  and  what  was  re- 
markable, one  of  them  was  an  English 
touch,  which  they  never  heard  before. 
When  he  returned,  he  at  that  very  place 
met  two  funerals,  and  one  of  them  was  that 
of  a  woman  who  had  come  from  the  main 
land,  and  could  speak  only  English.  This, 
she  remarked,  made  a  great  impression  up- 
on her  father.' 

How  all  the  people  here  were  lodged,  I 
know,  not  It  was  partly  done  by  separating 
man  and  wife,  and  putting  a  number  of  men 
in  one  room,  and  of  women  in  another. 

Wednesday,  8th  September.— When  I 
waked,  the  rain  was  much  heavier  than 
yesterday;  but  the  wind  had  abated.  By 
breakfast,  the  day  was  better,  and  in  a  little 
while  it  was  calm  and  clear.  I  felt  my 
spirits  much  elated.  The  propriety  of  the 
expression,  "  the  sunshine  of  the  breast  V 
now  struck  me  with  peculiar  force;  for  the 
brilliant  rays  penetrated  into  my  very  soul. 
We  were  all  in  better  humour  than  before. 
Mrs.  M'Kinnon,  with  unaffected  hospitali- 
ty and  politeness,  expressed  her  happiness 
in  having  such  company  in  her  house,  and 
appeared  to  understand  and  relish  Dr. 
Johnson's  conversation,  as  indeed  all  the 
company  seemed  to  do.  When  I  knew  she 
was  old  Kingsburgh's  daughter,  I  did  not 
wonder  at  the  good  appearance  .which  she 
made. 

She  talked  as  if  her  husband  and  family 
would  emigrate,  rather  than  be  oppressed 
by  their  landlord  3;  and  said,  "  How  agree- 
able would  it  be,  if  these  gentlemen  should, 
come  in  upon  us  when  we  are  in  America." 
Somebody  observed  that  Sir  Alexander 
Macdonald  was  always  frightened  at  sea. 
Johnson.  "He  is  frightened  at  sea;  and 
his  tenants  are  frightened  when  he  comes 
to  land." 

We  resolved  to  set  out  directly  after 
breakfast.  We  had  about  two  miles  to 
ride  to  the  sea  side,  and  there  we  expect- 
ed to  get  one  of  the  boats  belonging  to  the 
fleet  of  bounty  4  herring-busses  then  on  the 
coast,  or  at  least  a  good  country  fishing- 
boat.  But  while  we  were  preparing  to  set 
out,  there  arrived  a  man  with  the  fouowinff 
card 5  from  the  Reverend  Mr.  Donald 
M(  Queen: 


*  [Gray's  "  Ode  on  the  Prospect  of  Eton  Col- 
lege." It  may  be  here  observed  that  no  poet 
has,  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  bis  works, 
tarnished  so  many  expressions  which,  by  their  fe- 
licity, have  become  proverbial,  as  Gray.  He  has 
written  little,  but  his  lines  are  in  every  mouth, 
and  rail  from  every  pen. — En.] 

i  [Sir  Alexander  Macdonald.— Ed.] 
4  [Boats  which  fished  under  the  encouragement 
of  a  bounty. — En.] 

*  [What  is  now  called  a  note  was,  at  the  pe- 


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A  -  • 

1  '  t>S 


THE  NEW  YORK 

TUB^IC  LIBRARY 

\yTOlu  LENOX  ATP 


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UBRIDKS.]  1771U-iETAT.  64. 

"Mr.  M' Queen's  compliments  to  Mr. 
Boswell,  and  begs  leave  to  acquaint  him 
that,  fearing  the  want  of  a  proper  boat,  as 
much  as  the  rain  of  yesterday,  might  have 
caused  a  stop,  he  is  now  at  Skianwden 
with  MacgiUichallum's  *  carriage,  to  con- 
vey him  and  Dr.  Johnson  to  Rasay,  where 
they  will  meet  with  a  most  hearty  welcome, 
and  where  M acleod,  being  on  a  visit,  now 
attends  their  motions. 

"  Wednesday  afternoon." 

This  card  was  most  agreeable  ;  it  was  a 
prologue  to  that  hospitable  and  truly  polite 
reception  which  we  found  at  Rasay.  In  a 
little  while  arrived  Mr.  Donald  M'  Queen 
himself;  a  decent  minister,  an  elderly  man 
with  his  own9  black  hair,  courteous,  and 
rather  slow  of  speech,  but  candid,  sensible, 
and  well  informed,  nay  learned.  Along 
with  him  came,  as  our  pilot,  a  gentleman 
whom  I  had  a  great  desire  to  see,  Mr.  Mal- 
colm Macleod,  one  of  the  Rasay  family,  cel- 
ebrated in  the  year  1745-6.  He  was  now 
sixty-two  years  of  age,  hale,  and  well-pro- 
portioned,— with  a  manly  countenance,  tan- 
ned by  the  weather,  yet  having  a  ruddiness 
in  his  cheeks,  over  a  great  part  of  which  his 
rough  beard  extended.  His  eye  was  quick 
and  lively,  yet  his  look  was  not  fierce,  but 
he  appeared  at  once  firm  and  good-humour- 
ed. He  wore  a  pair  of  brogues;  tartan 
hose  which  came  up  only  near  to  his  knees, 
and  left  them  bare;  a  purple  camlet  kilt 3; 
a  black  waistcoat;  a  short  green  cloth  coat 
bound  with  gold  cord :  a  yellowish  bushy 
wig;  a  large  blue  bonnet  with  a  gold  thread 
button,  f  never  saw  a  figure  that  gave  a 
more  perfect  representation  of  a  Highland 
gentleman.  I  wished  much  to  have  a  pic- 
ture of  him  just  as  he  was.  I  found  him 
-frank  and  polite,  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word. 

The  good  family  at  Corrichatachin  said 
they  hoped  to  see  us  on  our  return.  We 
rode  down  to  the  shore;  but  Malcolm  walk- 
ed with  graceful  agility. 

"We  got  into  Rasay**  carriage,  which  was 


377 


riod  at  which  Mr.  Boswell  wrote,  frequently  called 
a  card. — Ed.] 

1  The  Highland  expression  for  Laird  of  Rasay. 
— Boswell.  [Meaning  "  the  son  of  the  youth, 
Colin ," — the  ancestor  of  this  branch,  having 
been,  no  doubt,  in  his  day  designated  as  "  young 
Colin  Macleod."— Ed.] 

*  [Wigs  were,  at  this  period,  still  generally 
worn  ;  a  fashion  at  which  posterity  will  wonder, 
as  we  now  do,  at  the  excess  of  the  fashion,  as 
exhibited  in  the  pictures  of  Lely  and  Kneller. 
We  can  hardly  reconcile  ourselves  to  "  a  yellow- 
ish, bushy  wig"  as  part  of  the  costume  of  "a 
perfect  Highland  gentleman." — Ed.] 

*  [Jt  purple  camlet  kilt — To  evade  the  law 
against  the  tartan  dress,  the  Highlands  used  to  dye 
their  variegated  plaids  and  kilts  into  blue,  green, 
or  amy  single  colour.— Walter  Scott.] 

vol,  i.  48 


a  good  strong  open  boat  made  in  Norway. 
The  wind  had  now  risen  pretty  high,  and 
was  against  us;  hut  we  had  four  stout  row- 
ers, particularly  a  Macleod,  a  robust,  black- 
haired  fellow,  half  naked,  and  bare-headed, 
something  between  a  wild  Indian  and  an 
English  tar.  Dr.  Johnson  sat  high  on  the 
stern,  like  a  magnificent  Triton.  Malcolm 
sung  an  Erse  song4,  the  chorus  of  which 
was"  Holy  in  foam  foam  eri,"  with  words 
of  his  own.  The  tune  resembled  "  Owr  the 
muir  among  the  heather."  The  boatmen 
and  Mr.  Mc  Queen  chorused,  and  all  went 
well.  At  length  Malcolm  himself  took  an 
oar,  and  rowed  vigorously.  We  sailed 
along  the  coast  of  Scalpa,  a  rugged  island, 
about  four  miles  in  length.  Dr.  Johnson 
proposed  that  he  and  I  should  buy  it,  and 
found  a  good  school,  and  an  episcopal  church 
(Malcolm  said  he  would  come  to  it5),  and 
have  a  printing-press,  where  he  would  print 
all  the  Erse  that  could  be  found. 

Here  I  was  strongly  struck  with  our  long 
projected  scheme  of  visiting  the  Hebrides 
being  realized.  I  called  to  him',  "  We  are 
contending  with  seasj"  which  I  think  were 
the  words  of  one  of  his  letters  to  me.  "  Not 
much,3*  said  he;  and  though  the  wind  made 
the  sea  lash  considerably  upon  us,  he  was 
not  discomposed .  After  we  were  out  of  the 
shelter  of  Scalpa,  and  in  the  sound  between 
it  and  Rasay,  which  extended  about  a 
league,  the  wind  made  the  sea  very  rough. 
I  did  not  like  it  *.  Johnson.  "  This  now 
is  the  Atlantick.  If  I  should  tell  at  a  tea- 
table  in  London,  that  I  have  crossed  the 
Atlantick  in  an  open  boat,  how  they  'd  shud- 
der, and  what  a  tool  they  'd  think  me  to  ex- 
pose myself  to  such  danger  I"  He  then  re- 
peated Horace's  ode, 

"  Otium  diros  rogat  in  patenti 
Prensus  iEga>o- — .*» 

In  the  confusion  and  hurry  of  this  bois- 
terous sail,  Dr.  Johnson's  spurs,  of  which 
Joseph  had  charge,  were  carried  overboard 
into  the  sea,  and  lost  This  was  the  first 
misfortune  that  had  befallen  us.  Dr.  John- 
son wata  little  angry  at  first,  observing  that 
"  there  was  something  wild  in  letting  a  pair 
of  spurs  be  carried  into  the  sea  out  of  a 
boat;"  but  then  he  remarked,  "that,  as 
Janes  the  naturalist  had  said  7  upon  losing 


*  [See  post,  6th  Oct  1778,  a  translation  of 
this  song. — Ed.] 

*  The  Highlanders  were  all  well  inclined  to 
the  episcopalian  form,  proviso  that  the  right  king 
was  prayed  for.  I  suppose  Malcolm  meant  to 
say,  "  I  will  come  to  your  church  because  you 
are  honest  folk  ;"  vix.  Jacobites* — Walts*  . 
Scott.] 

*  [Johnson,  in  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  inti- 
matea  that  Mr.  Boswell  was  a  timid  sailor. — En.] 

7  [Probably  at  their  recent  meeting  at  Armidale, 
fee.  ante,  2d  Sept— En.] 


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1778.— iETAT.  64. 


his  pocket-book,  it  was  rather  an  inconve- 
nience than  a  loss."  He  told  us,  he  now 
recollected  that  he  dreamt  the  night  before, 
that  he  put  his  staff  into  a  river,  and  chanced 
to  let  it  go,  and  it  was  carried  down  the 
stream  and  lost.  "  So  now  you  see  (said 
he)  that  I  have  lost  my  spurs;  and  this 
story  is  better  than  many  of  those  which  we 
have  concerning  second  sight  and  dreams.99 
Mr.  M<  Queen  said  he  did  not  believe  the 
second  sight ;  that  he  never  met  with  any 
well-attested  instances;  and  if  he  should,  he 
should  impute  them  to  chance  ;  because  all 
who  pretend  to  that  quality  often  fail  in  their 
predictions,  though  tney  take  a  great  scope, 
and  sometimes  interpret  literally,  sometimes 
figuratively,  so  as  to  suit  the  events.  He 
told  us  that,  since  he  came  to  be  minister  of 
the  parish  where  he  now  is,  the  belief  of 
witchcraft,  or  charms,  was  very  common, 
insomuch  that  he  had  manv*  prosecutions 
before  his  session  (the  parochial  ecclesiasti- 
cal court)  against  women,  for  having  by 
these  means  carried  off  the  milk  from  peo- 
ple's cows.  He  disregarded  them ;  and 
there  is  not  now  the  least  vestige  of  that 
superstition.  He  preached  against  it;  and 
in  order  to  give  a  strong  proof  to  the  peo- 
ple that  there  was  nothing  in  it,  he  said 
from  the  pulpit,  that  every  woman  in  the 
parish  was  welcome  to  take  the  milk  from 
his  cows,  provided  she  did  not  touch  them  i. 

Dr.  Johnson  asked  him  as  to  Fingal. 
He  said  he  could  repeat  some  passages  in 
the  original,  that  he  heard  his  grandfather 
had  a  copy  of  it;  but  that  he  could  not 
affirm  that  Ossian  composed  all  that  poem 
as  it  is  now  published.  This  came  pretty 
much  to  what  Dr.  Johnson  had  maintain- 
ed2 ;  though  he  goes  farther,  and  contends 
that  it  is  no  better  than  such  an  epick 
poem  as  he  could  make  from  the  song  of 
Robin  Hood*;  that  is  to  say,  that,  except  a 
few  passages,  there  is  nothing  truly  ancient 
but  trie  names  and  some  vague  "traditions. 
Mr.  M'  Queen  alleged  that  Homer  was 
made  up  of  detached-  fragments.  Dr. 
Johnson  denied  this  ;  observing,  that  it  had 
been  one  work  originally,  and  that  you 
could  not  put  a  book  of  the  Iliad  out  of  its 
place ;  and  he  believed  the  same  might  be 
said  of  the  Odyssey. 

The  approach  to  Rasay  was  very  pleas- 
ing. We  saw  before  us  a  beautiful  bay, 
well  defended  by   \  rocky  coast ;   a  good 


1  [Such  spells  are  still  believed  in.  A  lady  of 
property  in  Mali,  a  friend  of  mine,  had  a  few 
yeani  since  mneh  difficulty  in  rescuing  from  the 
superstitions  fury  of  the  people  an  old  woman,  who 
used  a  charm  to  injure  her  neighbour's  cattle.  It 
is  now  in  my  possession,  and.  consists  of  feathers, 
parings  of  nails,  hair,  and  such  like  trasb,  wrapt 
in  a  lump  of  clay. — Walter  Scott.] 

*  [This  seems  the  common  sense  of  this  once 
furious  controversy.--  -Waltik  Scott.] 


[tou&  to  thb 

family  mansion:  a  fine  verdure  about  it, 
with  a  considerable  number  of  trees ;  and 
beyond  it  hills  and  mountains  in  gradation 
of  wildness.  Our  boatmen  sung  with  great 
spirit  Dr.  Johnson  observed,  that  naval 
musick  was  very  ancient.  As  we  came 
near  the  shore,  the  singing  of  our  rowers 
was  succeeded  by  that  of-  reapers,  who 
were  busy  at  work,  and  who  seemed  to 
shout  as  much  as  to  sing,  while  they  work- 
ed with  a  bounding  activity.  Just  as  we 
landed,  I  observed  a  cross,  or  rather  the 
ruins  of  one,  upon  a  rock,  which  had  to 
me  a  pleasing  vestige  of  religion.  I  per- 
ceived a  large  company  coming  out  from 
the  house.  We  met  them  as  we  walked 
up.  There  were  Rasay  himself;  his 
brother  Dr.  Macleod ;  his  nephew  the 
Laird  of  M'Kinnon;  the 'Laird  or  Macleod; 
Colonel  Macleod  of  Talisker,  an  officer  in 
the  Dutch  service,  a  very  genteel  man,  and 
a  faithful  branch  of  the  family ;  Mr.  Mac- 
leod of  Muiravenside,  best  known  by  the 
name  of  Sandie  Macleod,  who  was  long  in 
exile  on  account  of  the  part  which  he  took 
in  1745;  and  several  other  persons.  We 
were  welcomed  upon  the  green,  and  con- 
ducted into  the  house,  where  we  were  in- 
troduced to  Lady  Rasay,  who  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  numerous  •  family,  consisting 
of  three  sons  and  ten  daughters3.  The 
Laird  of  Rasay  is  a  sensible,  polite,  and 
most  hospitable  gentleman.  I  was  told 
that  his  island  of  Rasay,  and  that  of  Rona 
(from  which  the  eldest  son  of  the  family 
has  his  title),  and  a  considerable  extent  of 
land  which  ne  has  in  Sky,  do  not  altogether 
vield  him  a  very  large  revenue  *  ;  and  yet 
he  lives  in  great  splendour :  and  so  far  is 
he  from  distressing  his  people,  that,  in  the 
present  rage  for  emigration,  not  a  man  has 
left  his  estate. 

It  was  past  six  o'clock  when  we  arrived. 
Some  excellent  brandy  was  served  round 
immediately,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  Highlands,  where  a  dram  is  generally 
taken  every  day.    They  call  it  a  scotch. 


•  ["We  were,"  says  Johnson,  "introduced 
into  the  house,  which  one  of  the  company  called 
the  *  Court  of  Rasay,'  with  politeness  which  nqt 
the  Court  of  Versailles  could  have  thought  de- 
fective."   Lett.  vol.  i  p.  103.— En.] 

4  [Johnson  says,  "  The  money  which  Rasay 
raises  from  all  his  dominions,  which  contain,  at 
least,  fifty  thousand  acres,  is  not  believed  to  ex- 
ceed 2501. ;  but  as  he  keeps  a  large  farm  in  his 
own  hands,  he  sells  every  year  a  great  number  of 
cattle,  which  adds  to  his  revenue  ;  and  his  table  is 
furnished  from  the  farm  and  from  the  sea  with 
very  little  expense,  except  for  those  things  which 
this  country  does  not  produce,  and  of  those  he  is 
very  liberal.  The  wine  circulates  liberally,  and 
the  tea,  coffee,  and  chocolate,  however  they  are 
got,  are  always  at  hand."  Lett,  vol  i.  p.  1«. 
—Ed.] 


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HBBRIDB9.] 

On  a  side-board  was  placed  for  us,  who  had 
come  off  the  sea,  a  substantial  dinner,  and 
a  variety  of  wines.  Then  we  had  coffee  and 
tea.  I  observed  in  the  room  several  ele- 
g-antly  bound  books  and  other  marks  of  im- 
proved life.  Soon  afterwards  a  fiddler 
appeared,  and  a  little  ball  began.  Rasay 
himself  danced  with  as  much  spirit  as  any 
man,  and  Malcolm  bounded  like  a  roe. 
Sandie  Macleod,  who  has  at  times  an  ex- 
cessive flow  of  spirits,  and' had  it  now,  was, 
in  his  days  of  absconding,  known  by  the 
name  of  M(  Crusliek  1,  wluch  it  seems  was 
the  designation  of  a  kind  of  wild  man  in 
the  Highlands,  something  between  Proteus 
and  Don  Quixote;  and  so  he  was  called 
here.  He  made  much  jovial  noise.  Dr. 
Johnson  was  so  delighted  with  this  scene, 
that  he  said,  "  I  know  not  how  we  shall  get 
away."  It  entertained  me  to  observe  him 
sitting  by,  while  we  danced,  sometimes  in 
deep  meditation,  sometimes  smiling  com- 
placently, sometimes  looking  upon  Hooke's 
Roman  History,  and  sometimes  talking  a 
little,  amidst  the  noise  of  the  ball,  to  Mr. 
Donald  M'  Queen,  who  anxiously,  gathered 
knowledge  from  him.  He  was  pleased  with 
Mc  Queen,  and  said  to  me,  "  This  is  a  criti- 
cal man,  sir.  There  must  be  a  great  vig- 
our of  mind  to  make  him  cultivate  learning 
so  much  in  the  Isle  of  Sky,  where  he  might 
do  without  it  It  is  wonderful  how  many 
of  the  new  publications  he  has.  There 
must  be  a  snatch  of  every  opportunity." 
Mr.  M« Queen  told  me  that  his  brother 
(who  is  the  fourth  generation  of  the  family 
following  each  other  as  ministers  of  the 
parish  of  Snizort)  and  he  joined  together, 
and  bought  from  time  to  time  such  books 
as  had  reputation.  Soon  after  we  came  in, 
a  black  cock  and  gray  hen,  which  had  been 
shot,  were  shown,  with  their  feathers  on,  to 
Dr.  Johnson,  who  had  never  seen  that  spe- 
cies of  bird  before.  We  had  a  company  of 
thirty  at  supper ;  and  all  was  good  numour 
and  gaiety,  without  intemperance. 

Thursday,  9th  September. — At  breakfast 
this  morning,  among  a  profusion  of  other 


177*— iETAT.  64. 


979 


1  [Alexander  Macleod,  of  Muiravenside,  advo- 
cate, became  extremely  obnoxious  to  govemmeot 
by  his  zealous  pergonal  efforts  to  engage  his  chief, 
Macleod,  and  Macdonald  of  Sky,  in  the  Cheva- 
lier's attempt  of  1745.  Had  He  succeeded,  it 
would  have  added  one-third  at  least  to  the  Jaco- 
bite army.  Boswell  has  oddly  described  JM*  Crus- 
liek, the  being  whose  name  was  conferred  upon 
this  gentleman,  as  something  betwixt  Proteus  and 
Don  Quixote.  It  is  the  name  of  a  species  of 
satyr,  or  esprit  follet,  a  sort  of  mountain  Puck  or 
hobgoblin,  seen  among  the  wilds  and  mountains, 
as  the  old  Highlanders  believed,  sometimes  mirth- 
ful, and  sometimes  mischievous.  Alexander 
Maeleod's  precarious  mode  of  life,  and  variable 
spirits,  occasioned  the  soubriquet.— -Walt**  I 
Bcoyt.] 


things,  there  were  oat-cakes,  made  of  what 
is  called  graddmed  meal,  that  is,  meal 
made  of  grain  separated  from  the  husks, 
and  toasted  by  fire,  instead  of  being  thresh- 
ed and  kiln-dried.  This  seems  to  be  bad 
management,  as  so  much  fodder  is  consum- 
ed by  it  Mr.  M' Queen  however  defend- 
ed it,  by  saying,  that  it  is  doing  the  thing 
much  quicker,  as  one  operation  effects  what 
is  otherwise  done  by  two.  His  chief  rea- 
son however  was,  that  the  servants  in  Sky 
are,  according  to  him,  a  faithless  pack,  and 
steal  what  they  can  :  so  that  much  is  saved 
by  the  corn  passing  but  once  through  their 
hands,  as  at  each  time  they  pilfer  some.  It 
appears  to  me,  that  the  graddaning  is  a 
strong  proof  of  the  laziness  of  the  Highland- 
ers, who  will  rather  make  fire  act  for  them, 
at  the  expense  of  fodder,  than  labour  them- 
selves. There  was  also,  what  I  cannot 
help  disliking  at  breakfast,  cheese  :  it  is  the 
custom  over  all  the  Highlands  to  have  it; 
and  it  often  smells  very  strong,  and  poisons 
to  a  certain  degree  the  elegance  of  an  In- 
dian repast 9.  The  day  was  showery  : 
however,  Rasay  and  I  took  a  walk,  and  had 
some  cordial  conversation.  I  conceived  a 
more  than  ordinary  regard  for  this  worthy 
gentleman.  His  family  has  possessed  this 
island  above  four  hundred  years.  It  is  the 
remains  of  the  estate  of  Macleod  of  Lewis, 
whom  he  represents.  When  we  returned, 
Dr.  Johnson  walked  with  us  to  see  the  old 
chapel.  He  was  in  fine  spirits.  He  said, 
"  This  is  truly  the  patriarchal  life  :  this  is 
what  we  came  to  find." 

After  dinner,  Mc  Crusliek,  Malcolm,  and 
I  went  out  with  guns  to  try  if  we  could  find 
any  black  cock ;  but  we  had  no  sport,  ow- 
inff  to  a  heavy  rain.  I  saw  here  what  is 
called  a  Danish  fort.  Our  evening  was  pass- 
ed as  last  night  was.  One  of  our  company  3, 
I  was  told,  had  hurt  himself  by  too  much 
study,  particularly  of  infidel  metaphysi- 
cians, of  which  he  gave  a  proof,  on  second 
sight  being  mentioned.  He  immediately 
retailed  some  of  the  fallacious  arguments  of 
Voltaire  and  Hume  against  miracles  in 
general.  Infidelity  in  a  Highland  gentle- 
man appeared  to  me  peculiarly  offensive. 
I  was  sorry  for  him,  as  he  had  otherwise  a 

good  character.  I  told  Dr.  Johnson  that 
e  had  studied  himself  into  infidelity.  Johjt- 
sow.  "  Then  he  must  study  himself  out  of 
it  again  ;  that  is  the  way.  Drinking  large- 
ly will  sober  him  again." 
Friday,  10th  September. — Havingresolved 
to  explore  the  island  of  Rasay,  which  could 
be  done  only  on  foot,  I  last  night  obtained 
my  fellow-traveller's  permission    to  leave 


9  [Mr.  Boswell  forgets  that  there  wen  break* 
fasts  before  the  Indian  luxuries  of  tea  and  sugar 
had  been  introduced. — En.]  . 

»  [Probably  Tausker,  who  had  been  a  good 
deal  abroad. — Walter  Scott.] 


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380 


177S.— jBTAT.  64. 


him  for  a  day,  he  being  unable  to  take  so 
hardy  a  walk.  Old  Mr.  Malcolm  Macleod, 
who  had  obligingly  promised  to  accompany 
me,  was  at  my  bedside  between  five  and 
six.  I  sprang  tip  immediately,  and  he  and 
I,  attended  by  two  other  gentlemen,  tra- 
versed the  country  during  the  whole  of  this 
day.  Though  we  had  passed  over  not  less 
than  four-and-twenty  miles  of  very  rugged 
ground,  and  had  a  Highland  dance  on  the 
top  of  Dun  Can,  the  highest  mountain  in 
the  island,  we  returned  in  the  evening  not 
at  all  fatigued,  and  piqued  ourselves  at  not 
being  outdone  at  the  nightly  ball  by  our 
less  active  friends,  who  had  remained  at 
home. 

My  survey  of  Rasay  did  not  furnish 
much  which  can  interest  my  readers;  I 
shall  therefore  put  into  as  short  a  compass 
as  I  can  the  observations  upon  it,  which  I 
find  registered  in  my  journal.  It  is  about 
fifteen  English  miles  long  and  four  broad. 
On  the  south  side  is  the  laird's  family  seat, 
situated  on  a  pleasing  low  spot.  The  old 
tower  of  three  stories,  mentioned  by  Mar- 
tin, was  taken  down  soon  after  1746,  and  a 
modern  house  supplies  its  place.  There 
are  very  good  grass-fields  and  corn-lands 
about  it,  well  dressed.  I  observed,  how- 
ever, hardly  any  inclosures,  except  a  good 
garden  plentifully  stocked  with  vegetables, 
and  strawberries,  raspberries,  currants,  &c. 

On  one  of  the  rocks  just  where  we  land- 
ed, which  are  not  high,  there  is  rudely 
carved  a  square,  with  a  crucifix  in  the  mid- 
dle. Here,  it  is  said,  the  Lairds  of  Rasay, 
in  old  times,  used  to  offer  up  their  devo- 
tions. I  could  not  approach  the  spot,  with- 
out a  grateful  recollection  of  the  event  com- 
memorated by  this  symbol. 

A  little  from  the  shore,  westward,  is  a 
kind  of  subterraneous  house.  There  has 
been  a  natural  fissure,  or  separation  of  the 
rock,  running  towards  the  sea,  which  has 
been  roofed  over  with  long  stones,  and 
above  them  turf  has  been  laid.  In  that 
place  the  inhabitants  used  to  keep  their 
oars.  There  are  a  number  of  trees  near 
the  house,  which  grow  well ;  some  of  them 
of  a  pretty  good  size.  They  are  mostly 
plane  and  ash.  A  little  to  the  west  of  the 
house  is  an  old  ruinous  chapel,  unroofed, 
which  never  has  been  very  curious.  We 
here  saw  some  human  bones  of  an  uncom- 
mon size,  There  was  a  heel-bone,  in  par- 
ticular, which  Pr.  Macleod  said  was  such, 
that  if  the  foot  was  in  proportion,  it  must 
have  been  twenty-seven  inches  long.  Dr. 
Johnson  would  not  look  at  the  bones.  He 
started  back  from  them  with  a  striking  ap- 
pearance of  horrour1.    Mr.  AP  Queen  told 


*  [Lord  Stowell  informs  the  editor,  that  on  the 
wad  from  Newcastle  to  Berwick,  Dr.  Johnson 
and  he  passed  a  cottage,  at  the  entrance  of  which 
were  set  up  two  of  those  great  bones  of  the  whale, 


[tour  TO  THE 

us,  it  was  formerly  much  the  custom,  in 
these  isles,  to  have  human  bones  lying 
above  ground,  especially  in  the  windows  of 
churches3.  On  the  south  of  the  chapel  is 
the  family  buryinjr-plaee.  Above  the  door, 
on  the  last  end  of  it,  is  a  small  bust  or  im- 
age of  the  Virgin  Mary,  carved  upon  a 
stone  which  makes  part  of  the  wall.  There 
is  no  church  upon  the  island.  It  is  annexed 
to  one  of  the  parishes  of  Sky ;  and  the  min- 
ister comes  and  preaches  either  in  Rasay** 
house,  or  some  other  house,  on  certain  Sun- 
days. I  could  not  but  value  the  family  seat 
more,  for  having  even  the  ruins  of  a  chapel 
close  to  it  There  was  something  com- 
fortable in  the  thought  of  being  so  near  a 
piece  of  consecrated  ground.  I)t.  Johnson 
said,  "  I  look  with  reverence  upon  every 
place  that  has  been  set  apart  for  religion ;" 
and  he  kept  off  his  hat  while  he  was  within 
the  walls  of  the  chapel. 

The  eight  crosses,  which  Martin  men- 
tions as  pyramids  for  deceased  ladies,  stood 
in  a  semicircular  line,  which  contained  with- 
in it  the  chapel.  They  marked  out  the 
boundaries  of  the  sacred  territory  within 
which  an  asylum  was  to  be  had.  One  of 
them,  which  we  observed  upon  our  landing, 
made  the  first  point  of  the  semicircle. 
There  are  few  or  them  now  remaining.  A 
good  way  farther  north,  there  is  a  row  of 
buildings  about  four  feet  high  :  they  run 
from  the  shore  on  the  east  along  the  top  of 
a  pretty  high  eminence,  and  so  down  to  the 
shore  on  the  west,  in  much  the  same  direc- 
tion with  the  crosses.  Rasay  took  them  to 
be  the  marks  for  the  asylum  ;  but  Malcolm 
thought  them  to  be  false  sentinels,  a  com- 
mon deception,  of  which  instances  occur  in 
Martin,  to  make  invaders  imagine  an  island 
better  guarded.  Mr.  Donald  M* Queen 
justly,  in  my  opinion,  supposed  the  crosses 
which  form  the  inner  circle  to  be  the 
church's  landmarks. 

The  south  end  of  the  island  is  much 
covered  with  large  stones  or  rocky  strata. 
The  laird  has  enclosed  and  planted  part  of 
it  with  firs,  and  he  showed  me  a  considera- 
ble space  marked  out  for  additional  planta- 
tions. 

Dun  Can  is  a  mountain,  three  computed 
miles  from  the  laird's  house.  The  ascent 
to  it  is  by  consecutive  risings,  if  that  ex- 
pression may  be  used  when  valleys  inter- 
vene, so  that  there  is  but  a  short  rise  at 
once ;  but  it  is  certainly  very  high  above 

which  are  not  nnfreqnently  seen  in  maritime  dis- 
tricts. Johnson  expressed  great  horror  at  the 
sight  of  these  bones  ;  and  called  the  people,  who 
could  use  such  relics  of  mortality  as  an  ornament, 
mere  savages. — Ed.] 

'  [It  n  perhaps  a  Celtic  custom  ;  for  I  observed 
it  in  Ireland  occasionally,  especially  at  the  cela- 
brated  promontory  of  Mucraas,  at  KiUarny — 
Walter  Scott.] 


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HEBRIDES.] 

the  aea.  The  palm  of  altitude  is  disputed  for 
bv  the  people  of  Rasay  and  those  of  Sky; 
the  former  contending  for  Dun  Can,  the 
latter  for  the  mountains  in  Sky,  over  against 
it.  We  went  up  the  east  side  of  Dun  Can 
pretty  easily.  It  is  mostly  rocks  all  around, 
the  points  of  which  hem  the  summit  of  it 
Sailors,  to  whom  it  was  a  good  object  as 
they  pass  along: » call  it  Rasay 'a  cap.  Before 
we  reached  this  monntain,  we  passed  by 
two  lakes.  Of  the  first,  Malcolm  told  me 
a  strange  fabulous  tradition .  He  said,  there 
was  a  wild  beast  in  it,  a  sea-horse,  which 
came  and  devoured  a  man's  daughter;  upon 
which  the  man  lighted  a  great  fire,  and  had 
a  sow  roasted  at  it,  the  smell  of  which  at- 
tracted the  monster.  In  the  fire  was  put  a 
spit.  The  man  lay  concealed  behind  a  low 
wall  of  loose  stones,  and  he  had  an  avenue 
formed  for  the  monster,  with  two  rows  of 
large  flat  stones,  which  extended  from  the 
fire  over  the  summit  of  the  hill,  till  it  reach- 
ed the  side  of  the  loch.  The  monster  came, 
and  the  man  with  the  red-hot  spit  destroyed 
it  Malcolm  showed  me  the  little  hiding- 
place  and  the  rows  of  stones.  He  did  not 
laugh  when  he  told  this  story.  I  recollect 
having  seen  in  the  Scots  Magazine,  several 
years  ago,  a  poem  upon  a  similar  tale, 
perhaps  the  same,  translated  from  the  Erse, 
or  Irish,  called  "  Albin  and  the  Daughter 
ofMeyi." 

There  is  a  large  tract  of  land,  possessed 
as  a  common,  in  Rasay.  They  have  no 
regulations  as  to  Hie  number  of  cattle:  ev- 
ery man  puts  upon  it  as  many  as  he  choos- 
es. From  Dun  Can  northward,  till  you 
reach  the  other  end  of  the  island,  there  is 
much  good  natural  pasture,  unencumbered 
by  stones.  We  passed  over  a  spot  which 
is  appropriated  tor  the  exercising-ground. 
In  1745,  a  hundred  fighting  men  were  re- 
viewed here,  as  Malcolm  told  me,  who  was 
one  of  the  officers  that  led  them  to  the  field. 
They  returned  home  all  but  about  fourteen. 
What  a  princely  thing  it  is  to  be  able  to 
furnish  such  a  band !  Rasay  has  the  true 
spirit  of  a  chief.  He  is,  without  exaggera- 
tion, a  father  to  his  people. 

There  is  plenty  of  limestone  in  the  island, 
a  great  quarry  of  freestone,  and  some  natu- 
ral woods,  but  none  of  any  age,  as  they  cut 
the  trees  for  common  country  uses.  The 
lakes,  of  which  there  are  many,  are  well 
stocked  with  trout  Malcolm  catched  one 
of  four-and-twenty  pounds  weight  in  the 
loch  next  to  Dun  Can,  which,  by  the  way, 
is  certainly  a  Danish  name  9,  as  most  names 
of  places  in  these  islands  are. 


177*.— .jETAT.  64. 


381 


1  [An  Hebridean  version,  it  would  seem,  of  the 
story  of  Perseus  and  Andromeda. — Ed.] 

*  [It  is  clearly  an  Erie  or  Celtic  name,  com- 
pounded of  Dun  a  hill,  and  Can  the  head — u  e. 
the  highest  hill.  So  in  Scotland,  JTan-fyr,  the 
head  hod  or  promontory.    It  may  be  observed 


The  old  castle,  in  which  the  family  of 
Rasay  formerly  resided,  is  situated  upon  a 
rock  very  near  the  sea.  The  rock  is  not 
one  mass  of  stone,  but  a  concretion  of  peb- 
bles and  earth,  so  firm  tthat  it  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  mouldered.  In  this  remnan£. 
of  antiquity  1  found  nothing  worthy  of  be- 
ing noticed,  except  a  certain  accommoda- 
tion rarely  to  be  found  at  the  modern  houses 
of  Scotland,  and  which  Dr.  Johnson  and  I 
sought  for  in  vain  at  the  Laird  of  Rasay's 
new-built  mansion,  where  nothing  else  was 
wanting.  I  took  the  liberty  to  teU  the  laird 
it  was  a  shame  there  should  be  such  a  defi- 
ciency in  civilized  times.  He  acknowledged 
the  justice  of  the  remark.  But  perhaps  some 
generations  may  pass  before  the  want  is 
supplied.  Dr.  Johnson  observed  to  me, 
how  quietly  people  will  endure  an  evil, 
which  they  might  at  any  time  very  easily 
remedy;  and  mentioned  as  an  instance,  that 
the  present  family  of  Rasay  had  possessed 
the  island  for  more  than  four  hundred  years  3, 
and  never  made  a  commodious  landing- 
place,  thoiigh  a  few  men  with  pickaxes 
might  have  cut  an  ascent  of  stairs  out  of  any 
part  of  the  rock  in  a  week's  time. 

The  north  end  of  Rasay  is  as  rocky  as 
the  south  end.  From  it  I  saw  the  little  isle 
of  Fladda,  belonging  to  Rasay,  all  fine 
green  ground;  and  Kona,  which  is  of  so 
rocky  a  soil  that  it  appears  to  be  a  pave- 
ment I  was  told,  however,  that  it  has  a 
great  deal  of  grass  in  the  interstices.  The 
laird  has  it  all  in  his  own  hands.  At  this 
end  of  the  island  of  Rasay  is  a  cave  in  a 
striking  situation;  it  is  in  a  recess  of  a  great 
cleft,  a  good  way  up  from  the  sea.  Before 
it  the  ocean  roars,  being  dashed  against 
monstrous  broken  rocks;  grand  and  awful 
propugnacvla.  On  the  right  hand  of  it  is  a 
longitudinal  cave,  very  low  at  the  entrance, 
but  higher  as  you  advance.  The  sea  hav- 
ing scooped  it  out,  it  seems  strange  and  un- 
accountable that  the  interior  part,  where 
the  water  must  have  operated  with  less 
force,  should  be  loftier  than  that  which  is 
more  immediately  exposed  to  its  violence. 
The  roof  of  it  is  all  covered  with  a  kind  of 
petrifications  formed  hydrops,  which  per- 
"    distil  from  it    The  first  cave  has 


been  a  place  of  much  safety.  I  find  a  great 
difficulty  in  describing  visible  objects.  I 
must  own  too  that  the  old  castle  and  cave, 


that  Kent,  in  England,  is  probably  a  contraction 
of  Kanrtyr,  as  the  name  of  the  capital—  Can- 
tyr-bury>  the  town  of the promontarialland — 
denotes. — En.] 

*  [Though  Johnson  thus  censored  Rasay  and 
his  ancestors  for  having  remained  four  hundred 
years  without  rendering  their  island  accessible  by 
a  landing-place,  yet,  when  he  came  to  write  ha 
Journal,  he  remembered  that,  perhaps,  it  was  only 
for  the  last  few  years  that  it  was  desirable  it 
should  be  accessible.— En.  J 


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1778.— ifiTAT.  64. 


like  many  other  things,  of  which  one  hears 
much,  did  not  answer  my  expectations. 
People  are  every  where  apt  to  magnify  the 
curiosities  of  their  country. 

This  island  has  abundance  of  black  cattle, 
«heep,  and  goats;  a  good  many  horses, 
which  are  used  for  ploughing,  carrying  out 
dung,  and  other  works  of  husbandry.  I  be- 
lieve the  people  never  ride.  There  are  in- 
deed no  roads  through  the  island,  unless  a 
few  detached  beaten  tracks  deserve  that 
name.  Most  of  the  houses  are  upon  the 
shore;  so  that  all  the  people  have  little 
boats,  and  catch  fish.  Tnere  is  great  plen- 
ty of  potatoes  here.  There  are  black-cock 
in  extraordinary  abundance,  moor-fowl,  plo- 
ver and  wild  pigeons,  which  seem  to  me  to 
be  the  same  as  we  have  in  pigeon-houses, 
in  their  state  of  nature.  Rasay  has  no  pi- 
geon-house. There  are  no  hares  nor  rab- 
bits in  the  island,  nor  was  there  ever  known 
to  be  a  fox,  till  last  year,  when  one  was 
landed  on  it  by  some  malicious  person,  with- 
out whose  aid  he  could  not  have  got  thith- 
er, as  that  animal  is  known  to  be  a  very  bad 
swimmer.  He  has  done  much  mischief. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  fish  caught  in  the 
sea  round  Kasay:  it  is  a  place  where  one 
may  live  in  plenty,  and  even  in  luxury. 
There  are  no  deer;  but  Rasay  told  us  he 
would  get  some. 

They  reckon  it  rains  nine  months  in  the 
year  in  this  island,  owing  to  its  being  di- 
rectly opposite  to  the  western1  coast  of  Sky, 
where  the  watery  clouds  are  broken  by  high 
mountains.  The  hills  here,  and  indeed  all 
the  heathy  grounds  in  general,  abound  with 
the  sweet-smelling  plant  which  the  High- 
landers call  gaul,  and  (I  think)  with  dwarf 
juniper  in  many  places.  There  is  enough 
of  turf,  which  is  their  fuel,  and  it  is  thought 
there  is  a  mine  of  coal.  Such  are  the  ob- 
servations which  I  made  upon  the  island  of 
Rasay,  upon  comparing  it  with  the  descrip- 
tion given  by  Martin,  whose  book  we  had 
with  us. 

There  has  been  an  ancient  league  between 
the  families  of  Macdonald  and  Rasay. 
Whenever  the  head  of  either  family  dies, 
his  sword  is  given  to  the  head  of  the  other. 
The  present  Rasay  has  the  late  Sir  James 
Macaonald's  sword.  Old  Rasay  joined  the 
Highland  army  in  1745,  but  prudently 
guarded  against  a  forfeiture,  by  previously 
conveving  his  estate  to  the  present  gentle- 
man, his  eldest  son.  On  that  occasion,  Sir 
Alexander,  father  of  the  late  Sir  James 
Macdonald,  was  very  friendly  to  his  neigh- 
bour. "  Do  n't  be  afraid,  Rasay,"  said  ne, 
"  I'll  use  all  my  interest  to  keep  you  safe; 
and  if  your  estate  should  be  taken,  I'll  buy 
it  for  the  family."  And  he  would  have 
done  it. 

1  [So  in  all  the  editions;  bat  the  eastern  coast 
of  Sky  u  next  to  Rasay Ed.]  I 


[TOUB  TO  THB 

Let  me  now  gather  some  gold  dust,  some 
more  fragments  of  Dr.  Johnson's  conver- 
sation, without  regard  to  order  of  time. 
He  said,  "  he  thought  very  highly  of  Bent- 
ley;  that  no  man  now  went  so  far  in  the 
kinds  of  learning  that  he  cultivated;  that 
the  many  attacks  on  him  were  owing  to 
envy,  and  to  a  desire  of  being  known,  by 
being  in  competition  with  such  a  man;  that 
it  was  safe  to  attack  him,  because  he 
never  answered  his  opponents,  but  let  them 
die  away.  It  was  attacking  a  man  who 
would  not  heat  them,  because  his  beating 
them  would  make  them  live  the  longer. 
And  he  was  right  not  to  answer;  for,  in  his 
hazardous  method  of  writing,  he  could  not 
but  be  often  enough  wrong;  so  it  was  bet- 
ter to  leave  things  to  their  general  appear- 
ance, than  own  himself  to  have  erred  in 
particulars."  He  said,  "  Mallet  was  the 
prettiest  dressed  puppet  about  town,  and  al- 
ways kept  good  company.  That,  from  his 
way  of  talking,  he  saw,  and  always  said, 
that  he  had  not  written  any  part  of  the  Life 
of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  though  per- 
haps he  intended  to  do  it  at  some  time ;  in 
which  case  he  was  not  culpable  in  taking 
the  pension.  That  he  imagined  the  duch- 
ess furnished  the  materials  lor  her  Apology, 
which  Hooke  wrote,  and  Hooke  furnished 
the  words  and  the  order,  and  all  that  in 
which  the  art  of  writing  consists.  That 
the  duchess  had  not  superior  parts,  but  was 
a  bold  frontless  woman,  who  knew  how  to 
make  the  most  of' her  opportunities  in  life. 
That  Hooke  got  a  large  sum  of  money  for 
writing  her  Apology.  That  he  wondered 
Hooke  should  have  been  weak  enough  to 
insert  so  profligate  a  maxim,  as  that  to  tell 
another's  secret  to  one's  friend  is  no  breach 
of  confidence;  though  perhaps  Hooke,  who 
was  a  virtuous  man,  as  his  History  shows, 
and  did  not  wish  her  well,  though  he  wrote 
her  Apology,  might  see  its  ill  tendency,  and 
yet  insert  it  at  her  desire.  He  was  acting 
only  ministerially."  I  apprehend,  howev- 
er, that  Hooke  was  bound  to  give  his  beat 
advice.  I  speak  as  a  lawyer.  Though  I-have 
had  clients  whose  causes  I  could  not,  as  a 
private  man,  approve;  yet,  if  I  undertook 
them,  I  would  not  do  any  thing  that  mijrju 
be  prejudicial  to  them,  even  at  their  desire, 
without  warning  them  of  their  danger. 

Saturday,  11  th  September. — It  was  a 
storm  of  wind  and  rain,  so  we  could  not  set 
out  I  wrote  some  of  this  journal,  and 
talked  awhile  with  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  room, 
and  passed  the  day,  I  cannot  well  say  how, 
but  verv  pleasantly.  I  was  here  amused  to 
find  Mr.  Cumberland's  comedy  of  the 
"  Fashionable  Lover,"  in  which  he  has 
very  well  drawn  a  Highland  character,  Co- 
lin Macleod,  of  the  same  name  with  the 
family  under  whose  roof  we  now  were.  I>r. 
Johnson  was  much  pleased  with  the  I*aiid 


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HEBRIDES.] 

of  Maeleod1,  who  is  indeed  a  most  promis- 
ing youth,  and  with  a  noble  spirit  struggles 
with  difficulties,  and  endeavours  to  preserve 
his  people.  He  has  been  left  with  an  in- 
cumbrance of  forty  thousand  pounds  debt, 
and  annuities  to  the  amount  of  thirteen 
hundred  pounds  a  year.  Dr.  Johnson  said, 
"  If  he  gets  the  better  of  all  this,  he'll  be  a 
hero;  and  I  hope  he  will.  I  have  not  met 
with  a  young  man  who  had  more  desire  to 
learn,  or  who  has  learnt  more.  I' have  seen 
nobody  that  I  wish  more  to  do  a  kindness 
to  than  Maeleod."  Such  was  the  honour- 
able eulogium  on  this  young  chieftain,  pro- 
nounced by  an  accurate  observer,  whose 
praise  was  never  lightly  bestowed. 

There  is  neither  justice  of  peace  nor  con- 
stable in  Rasay.  Sky  has  Mr.  Maeleod  of 
Ulinish,  who  is  the  sheriff  substitute,  and 
np  other  justice  of  peace.  The  want  of 
the  execution  of  justice  is  much  felt  among 
the  islanders.  Maeleod  very  sensibly  ob- 
served, that  taking  away  the  heritable  juris- 
dictions had  not  been  of  such  service  in  the 
islands  as  was  imagined.  They  had  not 
authority  enough  in  lieu  of  them.  What 
could  formerly  nave  been  settled  at  once, 
must  now  either  take  much  time  and  trou- 
ble, or  be  neglected.  Dr.  Johnson  said, 
"  A  country  is  in  a  bad  state,  which  is 
governed  only  by  laws;  because  a  thousand 
things  occur  for  which  laws  cannot  provide, 
and  where  authority  ought  to  interpose. 
Now  destroying  the  authority  of  the  chiefs 
sets  the  people  loose.  It  did  not  pretend  to 
bring  any  positive  good,  but  only  to  cure 
some  evil;  and  I  am  not  well  enough  ac- 
quainted with  the  country  to  know  what  de- 
gree of  evil  the  heritable  jurisdictions  occa- 
sioned." I  maintained  hardly  any;  because 
the  chiefs  generally  acted  nght,  for  their 
own  sakes. 

Dr.  Johnson  was  now  wishing  to  move. 
There  was  not  enough  of  intellectual  en- 


1778.— JBTAT.  64. 


383 


1  [The  late  General  Maeleod,  born  in  1754. 
In  1776  he  entered  the  army,  raking,  then,  an  in- 
dependent company,  and  m  1780,  the,  second 
battalion  of  the  forty-second,  which  he  led  to  In- 
dia, where  he  served  with  great  distinction,  and 
rose  to  the  rank  of  a  general  officer.  On  his  re- 
turn home,  he  became  M.  P.  for-  the  county  of  In- 
verness, as  his  grandfather  had  been  ;  but  so  for 
from  extinguishing  the  debt  on  his  estate,  he  in- 
creased it ;  for  though  he  had  sold  a  great  tract 
of  land  in  Harris,  be  left  at  his  death,  in  1801, 
the  original  debt  of  50,000/.  increased  to  70,000/. 
He  began,  in  the  year  1785,  to  write  the  me- 
moirs of  his  life ;  bat  did  not  proceed  far.  By 
the  favour  of  his  son,  the  present  Maeleod,  now 
M.  P.  for  Sudbury,  the  editor  is  in  possession  of 
this  interesting  fragment  of  auto-biography  ;  and 
as  the  greater  part  of  it  relates  to  Dr.  Johnson's 
visit,  and  to  subjects  discussed  in  his  and  Mr.  Bos- 
well's  tours,  the  editor  thinks  that  it  will  not  be 
an  inappropriate,  and  certainly  not  an  unaccepta- 
ble addition  to  the  appendix  of  this  work. — Ed.] 


tertainment  for  him,  after  he  had  satisfied 
his  curiosity,  which  he  did,  by  asking  ques- 
tions, till  he  had  exhausted  the  island;  and 
where  there  was  so  numerous  a  company, 
mostly  young  people,  there  was  such  a  flow 
of  familiar  talk,  so  much  noise,  and  so  much 
singing  and  dancing,  that  little  opportunity 
was  left  for  his  energetic  conversation. 
He  seemed  sensible  of  this;  for  when  I  told 
him  how  happy  they  were  at  having  him 
there,  he  said,  "Yet  we  have  not  been 
able  to  entertain  them  much."  I  was  fret- 
ted, from  irritability  of  nerves,  by  M'Crus- 
Uck's  2  too  obstreperous  mirth.  I  complain- 
ed of  it  to  my  friend,  observing  we  should 
be  better  if  he  was  gone.  "No,  sir,"  said 
he.  "  He  puts  something  into  our  society, 
and  takes  nothing  out  of  it."  Dr.  John- 
son, however,  had  several  opportunities  of 
instructing  the  company;  but  1  am  sorry  to 
say,  that  I  did  not  pay  sufficient  attention 
to  what  passed,  as  his  discourse  now  turn- 
ed chiefly  on  mechanics,  agriculture,  and 
such  subjects,  rather  than  on  science  and 
wit.  Last  night  Lady  Rasay  showed  him 
the  operation  of  toawhing  cloth,  that  is, 
thickening  it  in  the  same  manner  as  is  done 
by  a  mill.  Here  it  is  performed  by  wo- 
mtH,  who  kneel  upon  the  ground,  and  rob 
it  with  both  their  hands,  singing  an  Erse 
song  all  the  time.  He  was  asking  ques- 
tions while  they  were  performing  this  opera- 
tion, and,  amidst  their  loud  and  wild  howl, 
his  voice  was  heard  even  in  the  room 
above. 

They  dance  here  every  night.  The 
queen  of  our  ball  was  the  eldest  Miss  Mae- 
leod, of  Rasay,  an  elegant  well-bred  woman, 
and  celebrated  for  her  beauty  over  all  those 
regions,  by  the  name  of  Miss  Flora  Rasay  3. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  jealousy,  no  discon- 
tent among  them;  and  the  gaiety  of  the 
scene  was  such,  that  I  for  a  moment  doubt- 
ed whether  unhappiness  had  any  place  in 
Rasay.  But  my  delusion  was  soon  dis- 
pelled, by  recollecting  the  following  lines 
of  my  fellow-traveller : 
"  Yet  hope  not  life  from  pain  or  danger  free, 
Or  think  the  doom  of  man  reversed  for  theef" 

Sunday ,  12th  September. — It  was  a 
beautiful  day,  and  although  we  did  not  ap- 
prove of  travelling  on  Sunday,  we  resolved 
to  set  out,  as  we  were  in  an  island  from 


*  [It  was  probably  these  high  animal  spirits 
that  obtained  this  gentleman  the  appellation  ol 
M*Cruslick.—Er>.) 

*  She  had  been  some  time  at  Edinburgh,  to 
which  she  again  went,  and  was  married  [1777] 
to  my  worthy  neighbour,  Colonel  Mure  Campbell, 
now  Earl  of  Loudoun  ;  but  she  died  soon  after- 
wards, leaving  one  daughter. — Boswell.  [Her 
daughter,  Countess  of  Loadoun  in  her  own  nght, 
married  the  late  Earl  of  Moira,  created  Marquis  of 
Hastings,  and  is  the  mother  of  the  present  marquis 


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384 


177*— iETAT.  64. 


whence  one  must  take  occasion  as  it  serves. 
Macleod  and  Talisker  sailed  in  a  boat  of 
Rasay's  for  Sconser,  to  take  the  shortest 
way  to  Dunvegan.  M'  CrusUck  went  with 
them  to  Sconser,  from  whence  he  was  to 
go  to  Slate,  and  so  to  the  main  land.  We 
were  resolved  to  pay  a  visit  at  Kinirsburgh, 
and  see  the  celebrated  Miss  Flora  Macdon- 
ald,  who  is  married  to  the  present  Mr.  Mac- 
donaldof  Kingsburgh;  so  took  that  road, 
though  not  so  near.  All  the  family,  but 
Lady  Rasay,  walked  down  to  the  shore  to 
see  us  depart.  Ragay  himself  went  with  us 
in  a  large  boat,  with  eight  oars,  built  in  his 
island;  as  did  Mr.  Malcolm  Macleod,  Mr. 
Donald  M( Queen,  Dr.  Macleod,  and  some 
others.  We  had  a  most  pleasant  sail  be- 
tween Rasay  and  Sky;  and  passed  by  a 
cave,  where  Martin  says  fowls  were  caught 
by  lighting  fire  in  the  mouth  of  it  Mal- 
colm remembers  this.  But  it  is  not  now 
practised,  as  few  fowls  come  into  it 

We  spoke  of  Death.  Dr.  Johnson  on 
this  subject  observed,  that  the  boastings  of 
some  men,  as  to  dying  easily,  were  idle  talk, 
proceeding  from  partial  views.  I  mentioned 
Hawthornden's  Cypress-grove,  where  it  is 
said  that  the  world  is  a  mere  show;  and 
that  it  is  unreasonable  for  a  man  to  wiflf  to 
continue  in  the  show-room  after  he  has 
seen  it  Let  him  go  cheerfully  out,  and 
give  place  to  other  spectators.  Johnson. 
"  Yes,  sir,  if  he  is  sure  he  is  to  be  well,  after 
he  goes  out  of  it.  But  if  he  is  to  grow 
blind  after  he  goes  out  of  the  show-room, 
and  never  to  see  any  thing  again;  or  if  he 
does  not  know  whither  he  is  to  go  next,  a 
man  will  not  50  cheerfully  out  of  a  show- 
room. No  wise  man  will  be  contented  to 
die,  if  he  thinks  he  is  to  go  into  a  state  of 
punishment  Nay,  no  wise  man  will  be 
contented  to  die,  if  he  thinks  he  is  to  fall 
into  annihilation:  for  however  unhappy 
any  man's  existence  may  be,  he  yet  would 
rather  have  it,  than  not  exist  at  all.  No; 
there  is  no  rational  principle  by  which  a 
man  can  die  contented,  but  a  trust  in  the 
mercy  of  God,  through  the  merits  of  Jesus 
C hrist "  This  short  sermon,  delivered  with 
an  earnest  tone,  in  a  boat  upon  the  sea, 
which  was  perfectly  calm,  on  a  day  appro- 
priated to  religious  worship,  while  every 
one  listened  with  an  air  of  satisfaction,  had 
a  most  pleasing  effect  upon  my  mind. 

Pursuing  the  same  train  of  serious  reflec- 
tion, he  added,  that  it  seemed  certain  that 
happiness  could  not  be  found  in  this  life, 
because  so  many  had  tried  to  find  it,  in  such 
a  variety  of  ways,  and  had  not  found  it 

We  reached  the  harbour  of  Portree,  in 
Sky,  which  is  a  large  and  good  one.  There 
was  lying  in  it  a  vessel  to  carry  ofF  the  em- 
igrants, called  the  Nestor.  It  made  a  short 
settlement  of  the  differences  between  a 
chief  and  his  clan .  ~  *.  ••** 


[TOUR  TO    TBI 

Nestor  componere  lites 
later  Peleiden  festinat  et  inter  Atriden. 
We  approached  her,  and  she  hoisted  her 
colours.  Dr.  Johnson  and  Mr.  M' Queen 
remained  in  the  boat:  Rasay  and  I,  and 
the  rest,  went  on  board  of  her.  She  was  a 
very  pretty  vessel,  and,  as  we  were  told, 
the  largest  in  Clyde.  Mr.  Harrison,  the 
captain,  showed  her  to  us.  The  cabin  was 
commodious,  and  even  elegant  There 
was  a  little  library,  finely  bound.  Portree 
has  its  name  from  King  James  the  Fifth 
having  landed  there  in  his  tour  through  the 
Western  Isles,  ree  in  Erse  being  king  1,  as 
re  is  in  Italian;  so  it  is  Port-Royal.  There 
was  here  a  tolerable  inn.  On  our  landing, 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  finding  a  letter  from 
home;  ana  there  were  also  letters  to  Dr. 
Johnson  and  me,  from  Lord  Elibank,  which 
had  been  sent  after  us  from  Edinburgh. 
His  lordship's  letter  to  me  was  as  follows: 

"21ft  Aqgurt,  1773. 

"  Dear  Boswkll, — I  flew  to  Edinburgh 
the  moment  I  heard  of  Mr.  Johnson's  arri- 
val; but  so  defective  was  my  intelligence, 
that  I  came  too  late. 

"  It  is  but  justice  to  believe,  that  I  could 
never  forgive  myself,  nor  deserve  to  be  for- 
given by  others,  if  I  was  to  fail  in  any 
mark  of  respect  to  that  very  great  genius. 
I  hold  him  in  the  highest  veneration;  for 
that  very  reason  I  was  resolved  to  take  no 
share  in  the  merit,  perhaps  guilt,  of  entic- 
ing him  to  honour  this  country  with  a  visit 
I  could  not  persuade  myself  there  was  any 
thing  in  Scotland  worthy  to  have  a  sum- 
mer of  Samuel  Johnson  bestowed  on  it; 
but  since  he  has  done  us  that  compliment, 
for  heaven's  Bake  inform  me  of  your  mo- 
tions. I  will  attend  them  most  religiously; 
and  though  I  should  regret  to  let  Mr. 
Johnson  go  a  mile  out  of  his  way  on  my 
account,  old  as  I  am  s,  I  shall  be  glad  to  go 
five  hundred  miles  to  enjoy  a  day  of  his 
company.  Have  the  charity  to  send  a 
council-post3  with  intelligence;  the  post 
does  not  suit  us  in  the  country.  At  any 
rate,  write  to  me.  I  will  attend  you  in  the 
north,  when  I  shall  know  where  to  find  }*ou. 
I  am,  my  dear  Qoswell,  your  sincerely  obe- 
dient humble  servant,  "  Eli ba h s ." 


1  [Why  does  not  Mr.  Boswell  also  dsdbver 
that  port  is,  in  Erie,  port  ?  It  may  be  inferred, 
that  the  original  Erne  was  the  language  of  a  very 
poor  and  barbarous  people;  for  the  names  now 
employed  for  the  principal  objects  of  commerce, 
and  of  social  or  political  life,  seem  to  hare  been 
borrowed  from  foreigners,  as  king,  port9  horse, 
cow,  &c. — En.] 

*  [His  lordship  was  now  70,  having  been  bocn 
in  1703.— Ed.] 

*  A  term  in  Scotland  lor  a  special  messenger, 
such  as  was  formerly  sent  with  despatches  by  tfaa 
lords  of  the  council.— Boawaxu 


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HBBRIBKS.] 

The  letter  to  Dr.  Johnson  was  in  these 
words: 

"  Dear  sir, — I  was  to  have  kissed  your 
hands  at  Edinburgh,  the  moment  I  heard 
of  yon,  but  you  was  gone. 

"  I  hope  my  friend  Boswell  will  inform 
me  of  your  motions.  It  will  be  cruel  to  de- 
prive me  an  instant  of  the  honour  of  at- 
tending you.  As  I  value  you  more  than 
any  king  in  Christendom,  I  will  perform 
that  duty  with  infinitely  greater  alacrity 
than  any  courtier.  I  can  contribute  but 
little  to  your  entertainment;  but  my  sin- 
cere esteem  for  you  gives  me  some  title  to 
the  opportunity  of  expressing  it. 

"  I  aare  say  you  are  by  this  time  sensible 
that  things  are  pretty  much  the  same  as 
when  Buchanan  complained  of  being  born 
solo  et  seeulo  ineruaito.  Let  me  hear  of 
you,  and  be  persuaded  that  none  of  your 
admirers  is  more  sincerely  devoted  to  you, 
than,  dear  sir,  your  most  obedient  and  most 
humble  servant,  "  Elibank." 

Dr.  Johnson,  on  the  following  Tuesday, 
answered  for  both  of  us,  thus: 

"Skto,  14th  Sept.  1778. 

wMt  lord, — On  the  rugged  shore  of 
Skie,  I  had  the  honour  of  your  lordship's 
letter,  and  can  with  great  truth  declare 
that  no  place  is  so  gloomy  but  that  it  would 
be  cheered  by  such  a  testimony  of  regard, 
from  a  mind  so  well  qualified  to  estimate 
characters,  and  to  deal  out  approbation  in 
its  due  proportions.  If  I  have  more  than 
my%hare,  it  is  your  lordship's  fault;  for  I 
have  always  reverenced  your  judgment  too 
much,  to  exalt  myself  in  your  presence  by 
any  false  pretensions. 

"  Mr.  Boswell  and  I  are  at  present  at  the 
disposal  of  the  winds,  and  therefore  cannot 
fix  the  time  at  which  we  shall  have  the 
honour  of  seeing  your  lordship.  But  we 
should  either  of  us  think  ourselves  injured 
by  the  supposition  that  we  would  miss  your 
lordship's  conversation  when  we  could  en- 
joy it ;  for  I  have  often  declared  that  I 
never  met  you  without  goingr  away  a  wiser 
man.  I  am,  my  lord,  your  lordship's  most 
obedient  and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

At  Portree,  Mr.  Donald  M' Queen  went 
to  church  and  officiated  in  Erse,  and  then 
came  to  dinner.  Dr.  Johnson  and  I  re- 
solved that  we  should  treat  the  company;  so 
I  played  the  landlord,  or  master  of  the  feast, 
having  previously  ordered  Joseph  to  pay 
the  bill. 

Sir  James  Macdonald  intended  to  have 
built  a  village  here,  which  would  have  done 
great  good.    A  village  is  like  a  heart  to  a 

vox.,  i.  49 


1773.— iETAT.  64, 


985 


country.  It  produces  a  perpetual  circula- 
tion, and  gives  the  people  an  opportunity  to 
make  profit  of  many  little  articles,  which 
would  otherwise  be  in  a  good  measure  lost* 
We  had  here  a  dinner,  et  vraterea  nihil. 
Dr.  Johnson  did  not  talk.  When  we  were 
about  to  depart,  we  found  that  Rasau  had 
been  beforehand  with  us,  and  that  all  was 
paid  :  I  would  fain  have  contested  this 
matter  with  him,  but  seeing  him  resolved,  I 
declined  it.  We  parted  with  cordial  em- 
braces from  him  and  worthy  Malcolm.  In 
the  evening  Dr.  Johnson  and  I  remounted 
our  horses,  accompanied  by  Mr.  M' Queen 
and  Dr.  Macleod.  It  rained  very  hard. 
We  rode  what  they  call  six  miles,  upon 
RasayU  lands  in  Sky,  to  Dr.  Macleod's 
house.  On  the  road  Dr.  Johnson  "appear- 
ed to  be  somewhat  out  of  spirits.  When  I 
talked  of  our  meeting  Lord  Elibank,  he 
said,  "  I  cannot  be  with  him 'much.  I  long 
to  be  again  in  civilized  life  ;  but  can  stay 
but  a  short  while ;"  (he  meant  at  Edin- 
burgh). He  said,  "  let  us  go  to  Dunvegan 
to-morrow."  "  Yes  (said  I),  if  it  is  not  a 
deluge."  "  At  any  rate,"  he  replied.  This 
showed  a  kind  of  fretful  impatience ;  nor 
was  it  to  be  wondered  at,  considering  our 
disagreeable  ride.  I  feared  he  would  give 
up  Mull  and  Icolmkill,  for  he  said  something 
of  his  apprehensions  of  being  detained  by 
bad  weather  in  going  to  Mull  and  Iona. 
However,  I  hoped  well.  We  had  a  dish  of 
tea  at  Dr.  Macleod's,  who  had  a  pretty 
good  house,  where  was  his  brother,  a  half- 
pay  officer.  His  lady  was  a  polite,  agreea- 
ble woman.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  he  was 
glad  to  see  that  he  was  so  well  married,  for 
he  had  an  esteem  for  physicians.  The 
doctor  accompanied  us  to  Kingshurgh, 
which  is  called  a  mile  farther ;  but  the 
computation  of  Sky  has  no  connexion  what* 
ever  with  real  distance. 

I  was  highly  pleased  to  see  Dr.  Johnson 
safely  arrived  at  Kingsburgh,  and  received 
by  the  hospitable  Mr.  Macdonald,  who, 
with  a  most  respectful  attention,  supported 
him  into  the  house.  Kingsburgh  was  com- 
pletely the  figure  of  a  gallant  Highlander, — 
exhibiting  "the  graceful  mien  and  manly 
looks,"  which  our  popular  Scotch  song  has 
justly  attributed  to  that  character.  He  had 
nis  tartan  plaid  thrown  about  him,  a  large  blue 
bonnet  with  a  knot  of  black  riband  like  a 
cockade,  a  brown  short  coat  of  a  kind  of 
duffil,  a  tartan  waistcoat  with  gold  buttons 
and  gold  button-holes,  a  bluish  philibejr,, 
and  tartan  hose.  He 'had  jet  black  hair 
tied  behind,  and  was  a  large  stately  man, 
with  a  steady  sensible  countenance. 

There  was  a  comfortable  parlour  with  a 
good  fire,  and  a  dram  went  round.  By  and 
By  supper  was  served,  at  which  there  ap- 
peared the  lady  of  the  house,  the  celebrated 


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386 


1TI8.— iETAT.  U. 


Miss  Flora  Macdonald  i.  She  is  a  little 
woman,  of  a  genteel  appearance,  and  un- 
commonly mild  and  well  bred.  To  see  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  the  great  champion  of  the 
English  tories,  salute  Miss  Flora  Macdon- 
ald in  the  Isle  of  Sky,  was  a  striking  sight ; 
for  though  somewhat  congenial  in  tneir  no- 
tions, it  was  very  improbable  they  should 
meet  here. 

Miss  Flora  Macdonald  (for  so  I  shall 
call  her)  told  me,  she  heard  upon  the  main 
land,  as  she  was  returning  home  about  a 
fortnight  before,  that  Mr.  Boswell  was 
coming  to  Sky,  and  one  Mr.  Johnson,  a 
young  English  6«dfc2,  with  him.  He  was 
highly  entertained  with  this  fancy.  Giving 
an  account  of  the  afternoon  which  we  pass- 
ed at  Anock,  he  said,  "  1,  being  a  buck,  had 
Miss  in  to  make  tea."  He  was  rather  qui- 
escent to-night,  and  went  early  to  bed.  I 
was  in  a  cordial  humour,  and  promoted  a 
cheerful  glass.  The  punch  was  excellent 
Honest  Mr.  M' Queen  observed  that  I  was 
in  high  glee,  "  my  govemour  being  gone  to 
bed."  Yet  in  reality  my  heart  was  ffriev- 
ed,  when  I  recollected  that  Kingsburgh 


1  [It  is  stated  in  the  account  of  the  rebellion, 
published  under  the  title  of  "  Ascanius,"  that 
she  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Macdonald,  a  tacks- 
man or  gentleman-farmer,  of  Melton,  in  South 
Uist,  and  was,  in  1746,  about  twenty-four  years 
old.  It  is  also  said,  that  her  portrait  was  painted 
in  London  in  1747,  for  Commodore  Smith,  in 
whose  ship  she  had  been  brought  prisoner  from 
Scotland ;  but  the  editor  has  not  been  able 
to  trace  it  Dr.  Johnson  says  of  her  to  Mrs. 
Thrale,  "  She  must  then  have  been  a  very  young 
lady ;  she  is  now  not  old  ;  of  a  pleasing  person,  and 
elegant  behaviour.  She  told  me  that  she  thought 
herself  honoured  by  my  visit;  and  I  am  sure  mat 
whatever  regard  she  bestowed  on  me  was  liberally 
repaid.  « If  thou  likest  her  opinions,  thou  wilt 
praise  her  virtue.'  She  was  carried  to  London, 
but  dismissed  without  a  trial,  and  came  down 
with  Malcolm  Maetood,  against  whom  sufficient 
evidence  could  not  be  procured.  She  and  her 
husband  are  poor,  and  are  going  to  try  their  for- 
tune in  America.  Sic  rerun  volvitur  otbis." — 
Letters,  i.  158.  They  did  emigrate  to  America; 
but  returned  to  Sky,  where  she  died  on  the  4th 
March,  1790,  leaving  a  son,  Colonel  John  Mac- 
donald, now,  as  the  Editor  is  informed,  residing 
at  Exeter,  and  a  daughter,  still  alive  in  Sky,  mar- 
ried to  a  Macleod,  a  distant  relation  of  the  Mac* 
hod.— Ed.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  dis- 
tinguished lady  signed  her  name  Flory,  instead  of 
the  more  classical  orthography.  Her  marriage 
contract,  which  is  in  my  possession,  bears  the 
name  spelled  Ftory- — Walter  Scott.] 

9  [It  may  be  useful  to  future  readers  to  know 
that  the  word  "  macaroni,"  used  in  a  former  pas- 
sage of  this  work,  and  the  word  "  buck  "  here 
used,  are  nearly  synonymous  with  the  term 
"  dandy,'9  employed  now-a-days  to  express  a 
young  gentleman  who  in  his  dress  and 
e  extreme  of  the  feahion.— Ed.] 


[tour  TO  THB 

was  embarrassed  in  his  affairs,  and  intend- 
ed to  ffo  to  America.  However,  nothing 
but  what  was  good  was  present,  and  I 
pleased  myself  in  thinking  mat  so  spirited 
a  man  would  be  well  every  where.  I  slept 
in  the  same  room  with  Dr.  Johnson.  Each 
•had  a  neat  hed,  with  tartan  curtains,  m  an 
upper  chamber. 

Monday,  13th  September. — The  room 
where  we  lay  was  a  celebrated  one.  Dr. 
Johnson's  bed  was  the  very  bed3  in  which 
the  grandson  of  the  unfortunate  King  James 
the  Second  4  lay,  on  one  of  the  nights  alter 
the  failure  of  his  rash  attempt  in  1745-$, 
while  he  was  eluding  the  pursuit  of  the 
emissaries  of  government,  which  hsA  offer- 
ed thirty  thousand  pounds  as  a  reward  for 

8  [In  the  examination  of  Kingsburgh  and  his 
wife,  by  Captain  Fergussone,  of  die  Furnace  man 
of  war,  relative  to  this  affiur,  Fergussoae  asked 
"  where  Miss  flora,  and  the  person  m  woman's 
clothes  who  was  with  her,  lay  ?"  Ksngsburgh 
answered  with  gentlemanly  spirit,  •*  He  knew 
where  Bliss  Flora  lay  ;  but  as  for  servants  he  never 
asked  any  questions  about  them."  The  captain 
then,  brutally  enough,  asked  Mm.  Macdonald 
"  whether  she  laid  the  young  Pretender  and  M'w 
Flora  in  the  same  bed?"  She  answered,  with 
great  temper  and  readiness,  "  Sir,  whom  you  mean 
by  the  young  Pretender,  I  do  not  pretend  to 
guess ;  but  I  can  assure  yen  it  is  not  the  fashion 
in  Sky  to  lay  mistress  and  maid  in  the  same  bed 
together."  The  captain  then  desired  to  see  the 
rooms  where  they  lay,  and  remarked  shrewdly 
enough  that  the  room  wherein  the  supposed  maid- 
servant lay  was  better  than  that  of  her  mistress. 
— Ascanius. — En.] 

4  I  do  not  call  him  the  Prince  of  Wale*,  or 
the  Prince,  because  I  am  quite  satisfied  that  the 
right  which  the  house  of  Stuart  had  to  the  throne 
is  extinguished.  I  do  not  call  him  the  Pretender, 
because  it  appears  to  me  as  an  insuk  to  one  who 
is  still  alive,  and,  I  suppose,  thinks  very  different- 
ly. It  may  -be  a  parliamentary  expression ;  but 
it  is  not  a  gentlemanly  expression.  I  know,  and 
I  exult  in  having  it  in  my  power  to  tell,  that 
"  the  only  person  in  the  world  who  is  entitled 
to  be  offended  at  this  delicacy  thinks  and  feels  as 
I  do  i"  and  has  liberality  of  mind  and  generosity 
of  sentiment  enough  to  approve  of  my  tenderness 
for  what  even  has  been  Wood  royal.  That  he  is 
a  prince  by  courtesy  cannot  be  denied ;  because 
his  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Sobiesky,  king  of 
Poland.  I  shall,  therefore,  on  that  account  atone, 
distinguish  him  by  the  name  of  Prince  Charles 
Edward, — Boswell.  [The  generosity  of  King 
George  the  Third,  alluded  to  in  this  note,  was 
felt  by  his  successor,  who  caused  a  monument  to 
be  erected  over  the  remains  of  the  Cardinal  cf 
York,  in  whom  the  line  of  James  the  Second  end- 
ed. It  was  a  roval  and  a  national  tribute  to  tan- 
vate  and  to  pabkek  reeling:  the  political  danger 
had  been  extinguished  for  more  than  half  a  ceuimy; 
and  the  claims  of  kindred,  the  honour  of  the  Eng- 
lish name,  and  the  personal  feelings  of  a  generous 
prince,  not  only  justified,  but  seemed  to  reqane 
such  an  evidence  of  British  generosity  .—En.] 


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HEBRIDES.] 

apprehending  him.  To  see  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson  lying  in  that  bed,  in  the  Isle  of 
Sky,  in  the  house  of  Miss  Flora  Macdonald, 
struck  me  with  such  a  group  of  ideas  as  it 
is  not  easy  for  words  to  describe,  as  they 
passed  through  the  mind.  He  smiled,  and 
said*  "  I  have  had  'no  ambitious  thoughts 
in  iH."  The  room  was  decorated  with  a 
great  variety  of  maps  and  prints.  Among 
others,  was  Hogarth's  print  of  Wilkes 
gunning,  with  the  cap  of  liberty  on  a  pole 
by  him.  That  too  was  a  curious '  circum- 
stance in  the  scene  this  morning  5  such  a 
contrast  was  Wilkes  to. the  above  group. 
It  reminded  me  of  Sir  William  Chambers's 
"Account  of  Oriental  Gardening,"  in 
which  we  are  told  all  odd,  strange,  ugly, 
and  even  terrible  objects,  are  introduced 
for  the  sake  of  variety ;  a  wild  extravagance 
of  taste  which  is  so  well  ridiculed  in  the 
celebrated  epistle  to  him.  The  following 
tines  of  that  poem  immediately  occurred  to 


177*-— 2ETAT.  64. 


»7 


"  Here  too,  O  1 
Tremendous  Will 


el  in  Ay  fane, 

Prattle  his  gold  chain.* 


Upon  the  table  in  our  room  I  found  in  the 
morning  a  slip  Of  paper,  on  which  Dr. 
Johnson  had  written  with  his  pencil  these 
words: 

"  Quantum  cedat  virtntibas  aurum*." 

What  he  meant  by  writing  them  I  could 
not  tell  3.  He  had  caught  cold  a  day  or 
two  ago,  and  the  rain  yesterday  having 
made  it  worse,  he  was  become  very  deaf. 
At  breakfast  he  said,  he  would  have  given 
a  good  deal  rather  than  not  have  lam  in 
that  bed.  I  owned  he  was  the  lucky  man : 
and  observed,  that  without  doubt  it  had 
been  contrived  between  Mrs.  Macdonald 
and  him.  She  seemed  to  acquiesce  5  addV 
ing.  "  You  know  young  bucks  are  always 
favourites  of  the  ladies."  He  spoke  of 
Prince  Charles  being  here,  and  asked  Mrs. 
Macdonald,  "  Who  was  with  him?    We 


1  This,  perhaps,  was  said  in  allusion  to  some 
lines  ascribed  to  Pope,  on  his  lying;,  at  John,  Duke 
of  Aigyle's,'  at  Adderbury,  in  the  same  bed  in 
which  Wilmot,  Earl  of  Rochester,  had  slept : 

«'  With  no  poetlek  ardour  fired, 

I  prow  the  bed  where  Wilmot  lay  j       - 
That  here  be  lived,  or  here  expired, 
Begeta  no  number*,  grave  or  g»y.M— BoewsLL. 

*  "  With  virtue  wejgh'd,  what  worthleaj  trash  k  gold!'* 


'  Since  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  an  inge* 
aioos  friend  has  observed  to  me,  that  Dr.  Johnson 
bad  probably  been  thinking  on  the  reward  which 
was  offered  by  government  for  the  apprehension 
of  the  grandson  of  King  James  II.,  and  that  he 
meant  by  these  words  to  express  his  admiration 
if  the  Highlanders,  whose  fidelity  and  attach- 
ment had  resisted  the  golden  temptation  that  had 
oeen  held  oat  to  them.— Boswxll. 


were  told,  madam,  in  England,  there  was 
one  Miss  Flora  Macdonald  with  him," 
She  said,  "  They  were  very  right ; "  and 

Eerceivinff  Dr.  Johnson's  curiosity,  though 
e  had  delicacy  enough  not  to  question 
her,  very  obligingly  entertained  him  with 
a  recital  of  the  particulars  which  she  her- 
self knew  of  that  escape,  which  does  so 
much  honour  to  the  humanity,  fidelity,  and 
generosity  of  the  Highlanders.  Dr.  John- 
son listened  to  her  with  placid  attention, 
and  said,  "All  this  should  be  written 
down." 

From  what  she  told  us,  and  from  what  I 
was  told  by  others  personally  concerned, 
and  from  a  paper  of  information  which 
Rasay  was  so  good  as  to  send  me,  at  my 
desire,  I  have  compiled  an  abstract  [see 
Appendix],  which,  as  it  contains  some  cu- 
rious anecdotes,  will,  I  imagine,  not  be  un- 
interesting to  my  readers,  and  even,  per- 
haps, be  of  some  use  to  future  historians. 

The  gallant  Malcolm  [who  had  sue-  E 
ceeded  Flora  Macdonald  as  guide  to  the  D' 
Prince,  and  had  so  greatly  contributed  to  his 
escape]  was  apprehended  in  about  ten  days 
after  they  separated,  put  aboard  a  ship,  and 
carried  prisoner  to  London.  He  said,  the 
prisoners  in  general  were  very  ill  treated  in 
their  passage ;  but  there  were  soldiers  on 
board  who  lived  well,  and  sometimes  in- 
vited him  to  share  with  them:  that  he  had 
the  good  fortune  not  to  be  thrown  into  jail, 
but  was  confined  in  the  house  of  a  messen- 
ger of  the  name  of  Dick.  To  his  astonish- 
ment, only  one  witness  could  be  found 
against  him,  though  he  had  been  so  open- 
ly engaged ;  and  therefore,  for  want  ofsuf- 
ncient  evidence,  he  was  set  at  liberty.  He 
added,  that  he  thought  himself  in  such  dan- 
ger, that  he  would  gladly  have  compound- 
ed for  banishment  Yet,  he  said,  "he 
should  never  be  so  ready  for  death  as  he' 
then  was."  There  is  philosophical  truth 
in  this.  A  man  will  meet  death  much 
more  firmly  at  one  time  than  another. 
The  enthusiasm  even  of  a  mistaken  princi- 
ple warms  the  mind,  and  sets  it  above  the 
fear  of  death;  which,  in  our  cooler  moments, 
if  we  really  think  of  it,  cannot  but  be  terri- 
ble, or  at  least  very  awful. 

Miss  Flora  Macdonald  being  then  also  in 
London*,  under  the  protection*  of  Lady 

4  [When  arrested,  which  was  a  few  days  after 
parting  from  the  Prince,  Flora  was  conveyed  on 
board  the  Furnace,  Captain  Fergussone,  and  con- 
veyed to  Leith.  There  she  was  removed  on 
board  Commodore  Smith's  ship,  and  conveyed 
to  the  Nora,  whence,  on  the  6th  December,  after 
being  five  months  on  ship-board,  she  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  custody  of  the  messenger  Dick,  in 
which  she  remained  till  July,  1747,  when  she 
was  discharged,  and  returned  to  Edinburgh.—^*- 
canius. — En.] 

*  [It  seems  strange  that  Mr.  Boswell,  affecting 


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388 


1773*— i ^ETAT.  64 


Primrose,  that  lady  provided  a  poetchaise 
to  convey  her  to  Scotland,  and  desired  she 
might  choose  any  friend  she  pleased  to  ac- 
company her.  She  chose  Malcolm.  "  So," 
said  he,  with  a  triumphant  air,  "I  went 
to  London  to  be  hanged,  and  returned  in  a 
poetchaise  with  Miss  Flora  Macdonald." 

Mr.  Macleod  of  Muiravenside  [M<  Cm- 
lick],  whom  we  saw  at  Rasay,  assured  us 
that  Prince  Charles  was  in  London  in  1759, 
and  that  there  was  then  a  plan  in  agitation 
for  restoring  his  family.  Dr.  Johnson 
could  scarcely  credit  this  story,  and  said, 
there  could  oe  no  probable  plan  at  that 
time.  Such  an  attempt  could  not  have 
succeeded,  unless  the  Ring  of  Prussia  had 
stopped  the  army  in  Germany;  for  both 
the  army  and  the  fleet  wduld,  even  without 
orders,  have  fought  for  the  king,  to  whom 
they  had  engaged  themselves. 

Having  related  so  many  particulars  con- 
cerning the  grandson  of  the  unfortunate 
King  James  the  Second ;  having  given 
due  praise  to  fidelity  and  generous  attach- 
ment, which,  however  erroneous  the  judg- 
ment may  be,  are  honourable  for  the  heart ; 
I  must  do  the  Highlanders  the  justice  to 
attest,  that  I  found  every  where  amongst 
them  a  high  opinion  of  the  virtues  of  the 
king  now  upon  the  throne,  and  an  honest 
disposition  to  be  faithful  subjects  to  his 
majesty,  whose  family  has  possessed  the 
sovereignty  of  this  country-  so  long,  that  a 
change,  even  for  the  abdicated  family, 
would  now  hurt  the  best  feelings  of  all  his 
subjects. 

The  abstract  point  of  right  would  in- 
volve us  in  a  discussion  of  remote  and  per- 
Slexed  questions ;  and,  after  all,  we  should 
ave  no  clear  principle  of  decision.  That 
establishment,  which,  from  political  neces- 
sity, took  place  in  1698,  by  a  breach  in  the 
succession  of  otar  kings,  and  which,  what- 


to  five  an  accurate  account  of  all  this  affair, 
should  nee  expressions  which  not  only  give  no  in- 
timation of  Flora's  arrest  and  confinement,  but 
seem  even  to  negative  the  fact.  Is  it  possible 
that  the  lady's  delicacy  wished  to  suppress  all  re- 
collection of  her  having  been  a  prisoner?  It 
will  be  seen,  by  a  comparison  of  Mr.  BoswelTa 
account  with  other  statements  of  the  transaction, 
that  Flora  gave  him  very  little  information — none, 
indeed,  that  had  not  been  already  forty  years  in 
print  Lady  Primrose's  protection  must  have 
been  very  short,  for  Flora  returned,  it  seems,  to 
Scotland  immediately  after  her  release  from  con- 
finement. Lady  Primrose  was  Hiss  Drelincourt, 
daughter  of  the  Dean  of  Armagh,  and  relict  of 
Hugh,  third  Viscount  Primrose.  It  is  not  known 
how  she  became  so  ardent  a  Jacobite ;  but  she  cer- 
tainly was  so,  for  she  was  in  the  secret  of  the 
young  Pretender's  visit  to  London,  which  (not- 
withstanding Dr.  Johnson's  disbelief)  did  certainly 
occur,  though  some  years  earlier  than  1759.  See 
png's  Anecdotes,  p.  196,  and  ante,  p.  120.— 
En.  j 


[TOUB  TO  TH1 

ever  benefits  may  have  accrued  from  it, 
certainly  gave  a  shock  to  out  monarchy, 
the  able  and  constitutional  Blackstone 
wisely  rests  on  the  solid  footing  of  authori- 
ty. "  Our  ancestors  having  most  indisputa- 
bly a  competent  jurisdiction  to  decide  this 
great  and  important  question,  and  having, 
in  fact,  decided  it,  it  is  now*  become  our  du- 
ty, at  this  distance  of  time,  to  acquiesce  in 
their  determination  V 

Mr.  Paley,  the  present  Archdeacon  of 
Carlisle,'  in  his  "  Principles  of  Moral  and 
Political  Philosophy,"  having,  with  much 
clearness  of  argument,  shown  the  duty  of 
submission  to  civil  government  to  be  found- 
ed neither  on  an  indefeasible  jv*  dwimm, 
nor  on  compact,  but  on  expediency,  lays 
down  this  rational  position:  "Irregularity 
in  the  first  foundation  of  a  state,  or  subse- 
quent violence,  fraud,  or  injustice,  in  get- 
ting possession  of  the  supreme  power,  are 
not  sufficient  reasons  for  resistance,  after 
the  government  is  once  peaceably  settled. 
No  subject  of  the  British  empire  conceives 
himself  engaged  to  vindicate  the  justice  of 
the  Norman  claim  or  conquest,  or  appre- 
hends that  his  duty  in  any  manner  depends 
upon  that  controversy.  So  likewise,  if  the 
house  of  Lancaster,  or  even  the  posterity 
of  Cromwell,  had  been  at  this  day  seated 
upon  die  throne  of  England,  we  should 
have  been  as  little  concerned  to  inquire  how 
the  founder  of  the  family  came  there  9." 


1  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,  book 
L  chap.  3. — Boswxll. 

*  Book  vL  chap  8.  Since  I  have  quoted  Me. 
Archdeacon  Paley  upon  one  subject,  I  cannot  but 
transcribe,  from  his  excellent  work,  a  distinguished 
passage  in 'support  of  the  christian  revelation. 
After  showing,  in  decent  but  strong  terms,  the  un- 
fairness of  the  indirect  attempts  of  modem  infidels 
to  unsettle  and  perplex  religious  principles,  and 
particularly  the  irony,  banter,  and  sneer  of  one, 
whom  he  politely  calls  "  an  eloquent  historian," 
the  archdeacon  thus  expresses  himself : — 

"  Seriousness  is  not  constraint  of  thought ;  nor 
levity,  freedom.  Every  mind  which  wishes  the 
advancement  of  truth  and  knowledge,  in  the  most 
important  of  all  human  researches,  .must  abhor 
this  licentiousness,  as  violating  no  less  the  laws  of 
reasoning  than  the  rights  of  decency.  There  is 
but  one  description  of  men  to  whose  principles  it 
ought  to  be  tolerable.  I  mean  that  class  of 
reaaoneiB  who  can  see  Uttle  m  Christianity,  even 
supposing  it  to  be  true.  To  such  adversaries  we 
address  this  reflection.  Had  Jesus  Christ  deliv- 
ered no  other  declaration  than  the  following, 
'  The  hour  is  coming  in  the  which  all  that  are  in 
the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall  come 
forth  ;  they  that  have  done  well  unto  the  resurret 
non  of  life,  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the  te- 
surrection  of  damnation,'  he  had  pronounced  a  mes- 
sage of  inestimable  importance,  and  well  worthy 
of  that  splendid  apparatus  of  prophecy  and  mira- 
cles with  which  his  mission  was  Introduced  and 
a  message  in  which  the  wisest  of  man- 


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HEBRIDES.]  1778.— iETAT.  64. 

In  conformity  with  this  doctrine,  I  my- 
self, though  fiiUy  persuaded  that  the  house 
of  Stuart  had  originally  no  right  to  the 
crown  of  Scotland,  for  that  Baliol,  and  not 
Brace,  was  the  lawful  heir,  should  yet 
have  thought  it  very  culpable  to  have  re- 
belled, on  that  account,  against  Charles  the 
First,  or  even  a  prince  of  that  house  much 
nearer  the  time,  in  order  to  assert  the  claim 
of  the  posterity  of  Baliol. 

However  convinced  I  am  of  the  justice 
of  that  principle,  which  holds  allegiance 
and  protection  to  be  reciprocal,  I  do,  how- 
ever, acknowledge,  that  I  am  not  satisfied 
with  the  cold  sentiment  which  would  -con- 
fine the  exertions  of  the  subject  within  the 
strict  line  of  duty.  I  would  have  every 
breast  animated  with  the  fervour  of  loyal- 

E;  with  that  generous  attachment  which 
lights  in  doing  somewhat  more  than  is 
required,  and  makes  "  service  perfect  free- 
dom.** And,  therefore,  as  our  most  gra- 
cious sovereign,  on  his  accession  to  the 
throne,  gloried  in  being  born  a  Briton; 
so,  in  my  more  private  sphere,  Ego  me 
nunc  denique  natum,  gratulor.  I  am  hap- 
py that  a  disputed  succession  no  longer  dis- 
tracts our  minds ;  and  that  a  monarchy, 
established  by  law,  is  now  so  sanctioned 
by  time,  that  we  can  fully  indulge  those 
feelings  of  loyalty  which  I  am  ambitious  to 
excite.  They  are  feelings  which  have  ever 
actuated  the  inhabitants  of  the  Highlands 
and  the  Hebrides.  The  plant  of  loyalty  is 
there  in  full  vigour,  and  the  Brunswick 
graft  now  flourishes  like  a  native  shoot. 
To  that  spirited  race  of  people  I  may  with 
propriety  apply  the  elegant  lines  of  a 
modern  poet,  on  the  "  facile  temper  of  the 
beauteous  sex: " 

"  Like  bink  new-caught,  who  flatter  for  a  time, 
And  struggle  with  captivity  in  Tain ; 
Bat  by-and-by  they  rest,  they  smooth  their  plumes , 
And  to  new  masters  sing  their  former  notes '." 

Surely  such  notes  are  much  better  than 
the  querulous  growlings  of  suspicious  whigs 
and  discontented  republicans. 


kind  would  rejoice  to  find  an  answer  to  their 
doubts,  and  rest  to  their  inquiries.  It  is  idle  to 
say  that  a  future  state  had  been  discovered  al- 
ready. It  had  been  discovered  as  the  Copernican 
system  was ;  it  was  one  guess  amongst  many. 
He  alone  discovera  wbo  proves ;  and  no  man  can 
prove  this  point  but  the  teacher  who  testifies  by 
miracles  that  bis  doctrine  comes  from  God." — 
Book  v.  chap.  9. 

If  infidelity  be  disingenuously  dispersed  in  eve- 
ry shape  that  is  likely  to  allure,  surprise,  or  be- 
guile the  imagination,  in  a  fable,  a  tale,  a  novel, 
a  poem,  in  books  of  travels,  of  philosophy,  of 
natural  history,  as  Mr.  Paley  has  well  observed,  I 
hope  it  is  fair  in  me  thus  to  meet  such  poison 
with  an  unexpected  antidote,  which  I  cannot 
doubt  will  be  found  powerful.— BoswaxL. 

1  Agis,  a  tragedy,  by  John  Home.— Boswau* 


389 

Kingsburgh  conducted  us  in  his  boat, 
across  one  of  the  lochs,  as  they  call  them, 
or  arms  of  the  sea,  which  flow  in  upon  all 
the  coasts  of  Sky,  to  a  mile  beyond  a  place 
called  Grishinish.  Our  horses  had  been 
sent  round  by  land  to  meet  us.  By  this 
sail  we  saved  eight  miles  of  bad  riding. 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  "When  we  take  into 
the  computation  what  we  have  saved,  and 
What  we  have  gained  by  this  agreeable  sail, 
it  is  a  great  deal."  He  observed, "  It  is 
very  disagreeable  riding  in  Sky.  The  way 
is  so  narrow,  one  only  at  a  time  can  travel, 
so  it  is  quite  unsocial:  and  you  cannot  in- 
dulge in  meditation  by  yourself,  because 
you  must  be  always  attending  to  the  steps 
which  your  horse  takes."  This  was  a  just 
and  clear  description  of  its  inconveniences. 

The  topick  of  emigration  being  again  in- 
troduced, Dr.  Johnson  said,  that "  a  rapa- 
cious chief  would  make  a  wilderness  of  his 
estate."  Mr.. Donald  M' Queen  told  us, 
that  the  oppression,  which  then  made  so 
much  noise/  was  owing  to  landlords  listen- 
ing to  bad  advice  in  the  letting  of  their 
lands9;  that  interested  and  designing  peo- 
ple flattered  them  with  golden  dreams  of 
much  higher  rents  than  could  reasonably 
be  paid ;  and  that  some  of  the  gentlemen 
tacksmen,  or  upper  tenants,  were  them- 
selves in  part  the  occasion  of  the  mischief, 
by  overrating  the  farms  of  others.  That 
many  of  the  tacksmen,  rather  than  comply 
with  exorbitant  demands,  had  gone  off  to 
America,  and  impoverished  the  country,  by 
draining  it  of  its  wealth ;  and  that  their 
places  were  filled  by  a  number  of  poor  peo- 
ple, who  had  lived  under  them,,  properly 
speaking,  as  servants,  paid  by  a  certain  pro- 
portion of  the  produce  of  the  lands,  though 
called  sub-tenants.  .  I-obeerved,  that  if  the 
men  of  substance  were  once  .banished  from 
a  Highland  estate,  it  might  probably  be 
greatly  reduced  in  its  value ;  for  one  bad 
year  might  ruin  a  set  of  poor  tenants,  and 
men  of  any  property  would  not  settle  in 
such  a  country,  unless  from  the  temptation 
of  getting  land  extremely  cheap :  for  an  in- 
habitant of  any  good  county  in  Britain  had 
better  go  to  America  than  to  the  Highlands 
or  the  Hebrides.  Here,  therefore,  was  a 
consideration  that  ought  to  induce  a  chief 
to  act  a  more  liberal  part,  from  a  mere  mo- 
tive of  interest,  independent  of  the  lofty 
and  honourable  principle  of  keeping  a  clan 
together,  to  be  in  readiness  to  serve  his  king. 
I  added,  that  I  could  not  help  thinking  a 
little  arbitrary  power  in  the  sovereign,  to 
control  the  bad  policy  and  greediness  of  the 
chiefs,  might  sometimes  be  of  service.  In 
France  a  chief  would  not  be  permitted  to 
force  a  number  of  the  king's  subjects  out  of 
the  country.    Dr.  Johnson  concurred  with 


*  [Sea  General  Macleod's  account  of  tins  mat* 
tar  in  his  Memos*,  .ffjpefic&r.— En.] 

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390 


1771— jETAT.  04. 


oppress!  vf 

chieftain  a  subject  of  die  French  King,  he 
would,  probably,  be  admonished  hy  a  ief- 
ter»,M 

During  onr  sail,  Dr.  Johnson  asked  about 
the  use  of  the  dirk,  with  which  he  imagined 
the  Highlanders  cut  their  meat.  He  was 
told,  they  had  a  knife  and  fork  besides  to 
eat  with.  He  asked,  how  did  the  women 
do?  and  was  answered,  some  of  them  had  a 
knife  and  fork  too ;  hut  in  general  the  men, 
when  they  had  cut  their  meat,  handed  their 
knives  and  forks  to  the  women,  and  they 
themselves  eat  with  their  fingers.  The  old 
tutor  9  of  Macdonald  always  catfish  with 
his  fingers,  alleging  that  a  knife  and  fork 
gave  it  a  bad  taste.  I  took  the  liberty  to 
observe  to  Dr.  Johnson,  mat  he  did  so. 
"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  but  it  is  because  I  am 
short-skrhted,  and  afraid  of  bones,  for  which 
reason  f  am  not  fond  of  eating  many  kinds 
offish,  because  I  must  use  my  fingers." 

Dr.  M'Pherson's  Dissertations  on  Scot- 
tish Antiquities,"  which  he  had  looked  at 
when  at  Corrichatachin,  being  mentioned, 
he  remarked,  that  "  you  might  read  half  an 
hour,  and  ask  yourself  what  you  had  been 
reading  :  there  were  so  many  words  to  so 
little  matter,  that  there  was  no  getting 
through  the  book." 

As  soon  as  we  reached  the  shore,  we  took 
leave  of  Kingsburgh,  and  mounted  our 
horses.  We  passed  through  a  wild  moor, 
in  many  places  so  soft  that  we  were  oblig- 
ed to  walk,  which  was  very  fatiguing  to 
Dr.  Johnson.  Once  he  had  advanced  on 
horseback  to  a  very  bad  step.  There  was 
a  steep  declivity  on  his  left,  to  which  he 
was  so  near,  that  there  was  not  room  for 
him  to  dismount  in  the  usual  way.  He 
tried  to  alight  on  the  other  side,  as  if  he 
had  been  a  young  buck"  indeed,  but  in  the 
attempt  he  fell  at  his  length  upon  the  ground; 
from  which,  however,  he  got  up  immedi- 
ately without  being  hurt  During  this 
dreary  ride,  we  were  sometimes  relieved  by 
a  view  of  branches  of  the  sea,  that  univer- 
sal medium  of  connexion  amongst  mankind. 
A  guide,  who  had  been  sent  with  us  from 
Kingsburgh,  explored  the  way  (much  in 
the  same  manner  as,  I  suppose,  is  pursued  in 
the  wilds  of  America)  by  observing  certain 
marks  known  only  to  the  inhabitants.  We 
arrived  at  Dunvegan  late  in  the  afternoon. 
The  great  size  of  the  castle,  which  is  part- 
ly old  and  partly  new,  and  is  built  upon  a 
rock  close  to  the  sea,  while  the  land  around 
it  presents  nothing  but  wild,  moorish,  hilly,' 
and  craggy  appearances,  gave  a  rude  mag- 
nificence to  the  scene.    Having  dismount- 

1  [Meaning,  no  doubt,  a  "  lettre  de  cachet.9* 
—Ed.] 

'  [He  means  one  of  the  family  (an  uncle  prob- 
ably) who  was  guardian  daring  the  minority  of 
the  young  heuv— Ed.] 


[TOUR  TO  TBI 

ed,  we  ascended  a  flight  of  steps,  which  was 
made  by  the  late  Macleod,  for  the  i 


modatbn  of  persons  coming  to  him  by  land, 
there  formerly  being,  for  security,  no  other 
access  to  the  castle  but  from  the  sea;  so  that 
visitors  who  came  by  the  land  were  under 
the  necessity  of  getting  into  a  boat,  and 
sailed  round  to  the  only  place  where  it  could 
be  approached.  We  were  introduced  into 
a  stately  dining-room,  and  received  by  La- 
dy Macleod,  mother  of  the  laird,  who,  with 
his  friend  TaUskery  having  been  detained 
on  the  road,  did  not  arrive  till  some  time  af- 
ter us. 

We  found  the  lady  of  the  house  a  very 
polite  and  sensible  woman,  who  had  lived 
kit  some  time  in  London,  and  had  there  been 
in  Dr.  Johnson's  company.  After  we  had 
dined,  we  repaired  to  the  drawing-room, 
where  some  of  the  young  ladies  of  the  fami- 
ly, with  their  mother,  were  at  tea.  Thai 
room  had  formerly  been  the  bed-chamber 
of  Sir  Roderick  Macleod,  one  of  the  otd 
lairds:  and  he  chose  it,  because,  behind  it, 
there  was  a  considerable  cascade,  the  sound 
of  which  disposed  him  to  sleep.  Above  bis 
bed  was  this  inscription:  "  Sir  Rorie  Macle- 
od of  Dunvegan,  Knight  God  send  good 
rest! "  Rorie  is  the  contraction  of  Roder- 
ick. He  was  called  Rorie  Mote,  that  is, 
great  Rorie,  not  from  his  size,  but  from  his 
spirit.  Our  entertainment  here  was  in  so 
elegant  a  style,  and  reminded  my  fellow- 
traveller  so  much  of  England,  that  he  be- 
came quite  joyous.  He  laughed,  and  said. 
"  Boswell,  we  came  in  at  the  wrong  end  of 
this  island.'9  "  Sir,"  said  I,  "  it  was  best 
tp  keep  this  for  the  last."  He  answered, 
"  I  would  have  it  both  first  and  last." 

Tuesday,  14th  September. — Dr.  Johnson 
said  in  the  morning,  "  Is  not  this  a  fine  la- 
dy 8  ?  "  There  was  not  a  Word  now  of  his 
"  impatience  to  be  in  civilized  life; "  though 
indeed  I  should  beg  pardon — he  found  it 
here.  We  had  slept  well,  and  lain  long. 
After  breakfast  we  surveyed  the  castle  and 
the  garden.  Mr.  Bethune,  the  parish  min- 
ister, Magnus  Macleod,  of  Claggan,  brother 
to  Taluker,  and  Macleod,  of  Bay,  two  sub- 
stantial gentlemen  of  the  clan,  dined  with 
us.  We  had  admirable  venison,  generous 
Wine;  in  a  word,  all  that  a  good  table  has, 
This  was  really  the  hall  of  a  chief.    Lady 


*  [She  was  the  daughter  of  Alexander  Breda* 
Esq.  of  Brodie,  Lyon  King  at  Anns.  She  had 
lately  come  with  her  daughters  oat  of  Hampshire, 
to  superintend  her  son's  household  at  Dunvegan 
See  his  Memoirs  in  the  Appendix.  This  respec- 
table lady  died  m  1808.  It  has  been  said  that 
she  expressed  considerable  dissatisfaction  at  Dr. 
Johnson's  rude  behaviour  at  Dunvegan.  Her 
grandson,  the  present  Macleod,  assures  me  that  k 
was  not  so  :  "  they  were  all,"  he  says  uiuiiliafi 
cally,  «  delighted  with  him  £•  and,  indeed,  bis 
father's  memoir*  give  the  same  hnnreanoa     Fn} 


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HEBRIDES.] 


ITfS.— JBTAT.  64. 


391 


Macleod  had  been  much  obliged  to  my  fa- 
ther, who  had  settled  by  arbitration  a  varie- 
ty of  perplexed  claims  between  her  and  her 
relation,  the  Laird  of  Brodie,  which  she 
now  repaid  by  particular  attention  to  me. 
Macleod  started  the  subject  of  making  wo- 
men do  penance  m  the  church  for  fornica- 
tion. Johnson.  "  It  is  right,  sir.  Infa- 
my is  attached  to  the  crime,  by  universal 
opinion,  as  soon  as  it  is  known.  I  would 
not  be  the  man  who  would  discover  it,  if  I 
alone  knew  it,  for  a  woman  may  reform; 
nor  would  I  commend  a  person  who  divulges 
a  woman's  first  offence;  but  being  once 
divulged,  it  ought  to  be  infamous.  Consi- 
der of  what  importance  to  society  the  chas- 
tity of  women  is.  Upon  that  all  the  pro- 
perty in  the  world  depends.  We  hang  a 
thief  for  stealing  a  sheep,  but  the  unchasti- 
ty  of  a  woman  transfers  sheep,  and  farm,  and 
all,  from  the  right  owner.  I  have  much 
more  reverence  for  a  common  prostitute 
than  for  a  woman  who  conceals  ner  guilt. 
The  prostitute  is  known.    She  cannot  de- 

\      ceive:  she  cannot  bring  a  strumpet  into  the 

i'  arms  of  an  honest  man,  without  his  know- 
ledge." Boswell.  "  There  is,  however, 
a  great  difference  between  the  licentiousness 
of  a  single  woman,  and  that  of  a  married 
woman."  Johnson.  "Yes,  sir;  there  is 
a  great  difference  between  stealing  a  shil- 
ling and  stealing  a  thousand  pounds;  be- 
tween simply  taxing  a  man's  purse,  and 
murdering  him  first,  and  then  taking  it 
But  when  one  begins  to  be  vicious,  it  is 
easy  to  go  on.  Where  single  women  are 
licentious,  you  rarely  find  faithful  married 
women."  Bos  will.  "And  yet  we  are 
told,  that  in  some  nations  in  India,  the  dis- 
tinction is  strictly  observed.".  Johnson. 
"  Nay,  do  nt  give  us  India.  That  puts  me 
in  mind  of  Montesquieu,  who  is  really  a 
fellow  of  genius  too  in  many  respects; 
whenever  he  wants  to  support  a  strange 
opinion,  he  quotes  you  the  practice  of  Ja- 
pan, or  of  some  other  distant  country,  of' 
which  he  knows  nothing.  To  support 
polygamy,  he  tells  you  of  the  island  of  For- 

!  mosa,  where  there  are  ten  women  born  for 
one  man.  He  had  but  to  suppose  another 
island,  where  there  are  ten  men  born  for 
one  woman,  and  so  make  a  marriage  be- 
tween them  V 

k  At  supper,  Lady  Macleod  mentioned  Dr. 

Cadogan'8  book  on  the  gout.  Johnson. 
Mt  is  a  good  book  in  general,  but  a  fool- 
ish one  in  particulars.  It  is  good  in  gener- 
al, as  recommending  temperance,  and  exer- 
cise, and  cheerfulness.  In  that  respect  it  is 
only  Dr.  Cheyne's  book  told  in  a  new  way; 

1  What  my  friend  treated  as  so  wild  a  supposi- 
tion has  actually  happened  in  the  western  islands 
of  Scotland,  if  we  may  believe  Martin,  who  tells 
it  of  the  islands  of  Col  and  Tyr-yi,  and  says  that 
it  is  proved  by  the  parish  registers. — Boswill. 


and  there  should  come  out  such  a  book  eve- 
ry thirty  years,  dressed  in  the  mode  of  the 
tunes.  It  is  foolish,  in  maintaining  that 
the  gout  is  not  hereditary,  and  that  one  fit 
of  it,  when  gone,  is  like  a  fever  when  gone." 
Lady  Macleod  objected  that  the  author  does 
not  practise  what  he  teaches9.  Johnson. 
"  I  cannot  help  that,  madam.  That  does 
not  make  his  Book  the  worse.  People  are 
influenced  more  by  what  a  man  says,  if  his 
practice  is  suitable  to  it,  because  they  are 
blockheads.  The  more  intellectual  people 
are,  the  readier  will  they  attend  to  what  a 
man  tells  them.  If  it  is  just,  they  will  fol- 
low it,  be  his  practice  what  it  will.  No 
man  practises  so  well  as  he  writes.  I  have, 
all  my  life  long,  been  lying  till  noon;  yet  I 
tell  all  young  men,  and  tell  them  with  great 
sincerity,  that  nobody  who  does  not  rise 
early  will  ever  do  any  good.  Only  consi- 
der! You  read  a  book;  you  are  convinced 
by  it;  you  do  not  know  the  authour.  Sup- 
pose you  afterwards  know  him,  and  find 
that  he  does  not  practise  what  he  teaches  : 
are  you  to  give  up  your  former  conviction/ 
At  this  rate  you  would  be  kept  in  a  state  of 
equilibrium,  when  reading  every  book,  till 
you  knew  how  the  authour  practised." 
"But,"  said  Lady  Macleod,  "you  would 
think  better  of  Dr.  Cadogan,  if  he  acted  ac- 
cording to  his  principles."  Johnson. 
"  Why,  madam,  to  be  sure,  a  man  who  acts 
in  the  face  of  light  is  worse  than  a  man  who 
does  not  know  so  much:  yet  I  think  no  man 
should  be  worse  thought  of  for  publishing 
food  principles.  There  is  something  noble 
in  publishing  truth,  though  it  condemns 
one's  self."  I  expressed  some  surprise  at 
Cadogan's  recommending  good  humour,  as 
if  it  were  quite  in  our  -own  power  to  attain 
it.  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  a  man  grows 
better  humoured  as  he  grows  older.  He 
improves  by  experience.  When*  young,  he 
thinks  himself  of  great  consequence,  and 
every  thing  of  importance.  As  he  advances 
in  life,  he  learns  to  think  himself  of  no  conse- 
quence, and  little  things  of  little  importance; 
and  so  he  becomes  more  patient,  and  better 
pleased.  All  good-humour  and  complai- 
sance are  acquired.  Naturally  a  child  seizes 
directly  what  it  sees,  and  thinks  of  pleasing 
itself  only.  By  degrees,  it  is  taught  to  please 
others,  and  to  prefer  others  ;  and  that  this 
will  ultimately  produce  the  greatest  happi- 
ness. If  a  man  is  not  convinced  of  that,  he 
never  will  practise  it    Common  language 


*  This  was  a  general  reflection  against  Dr. 
Cadogan,  when  his  very  popular  book  was  first 
published.  It  was  said,  that  whatever  precepts 
he  might  give  to  others,  he  himself  indulged  freely 
in  the  bottle.  But  I  have  since  had  the  pleasure 
of  becoming  acquainted  with  him,  and,  if  his  own 
testimony  may 'be  believed  (and  I  have  never 
heard  it  impeached),  his  course  of  life  has  been 
conformable  to  his  doctrine. — Boswsll. 


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392 


177*— ^TAT.  64. 


speaks  the  truth  as  to  this:  we  say,  a  person 
is  well  bred.  As  it  is  said,  that  all  materi- 
al motion  is  primarily  in  a  right  line,  and  is 
never  per  circuitum,  never  in  another  form, 
unless  by  some  particular  cause:  so  it  may 
be  said  intellectual  motion  is."  Lady  Mac- 
leod  asked,  if  no  man  was  naturally  good? 
Johnson.  "  No,  madam,  no  more  than  a 
wolf."  Boswell.  "Nor  no  woman, 
sir?  "  Johnson.  "  No,  sir."  Lady  Mac- 
Icod  started  at  this,  saying,  in  a  low  voice, 
"  This  is  worse  than  Swift  V 

M'Leod  of  Ulinish  had  come  in  the  af- 
ternoon. We  were  a  jovial  company  at 
supper.  The  laird,  surrounded  by  so  many 
of  his  clan,  was  to  me  a  pleasing  sight. 
They  listened  with  wonder  and  pleasure, 
while  Dr.  Johnson  harangued.  I  am  vex- 
ed that  I  cannot  take  down  his  full  strain  of 
eloquence. 

Wednesday,  16th  September. — The  gen- 
tlemen of  the  clan  went  away  early  in  the 
morning  to  the  harbour  of  Lochbraccadale, 
to  take  leave  of  some  of  their  friends  who 
were  going  to  America.  It  was  a  very  wet 
day.  We  looked  at  Rorie  More's  horn, 
which  is  a  large  cow's  horn,  with  the  mouth 
of  it  ornamented  with  silver  curiously  carv- 
ed. It  holds  rather  more  than  a  bottle  and 
a  half.  Every  Laird  of  Macleod,  it  is  said, 
must,  as  a  proof  of  his  manhood,  drink  it 
off  full  of  claret,  without  laying  it  down. 
From  Rorie  More  many  of  the  branches  of 
the  family  are  descended;  in  particular,  the 
Talisker  branch;  so  that  his  name  is  much 
talked  of.  We  also  saw  his  bow,  which 
hardly  any  man  now  can  bend,  and  his  gl 
more,  which  was  wielded  with  both  han< 
and  is  of  a  prodigious  size.  We  saw  here 
some  old  pieces  ot  iron  armour,  immensely 
heavy.  The  broad-sword  now  used,  though 
called  theglaymore*  (i  e.  the  great  sword),  is 
much  smaller  than  that  used  in  Rorie  More's 
time.  There  is  hardly  a  target  now  to  be 
found  in  the  Highlands.  After  the  disarm- 
ing act,  they  made  them  serve  as  covers  to 
their  butter-milk  barrels;  a  kind  of  change, 
like  beating  spears  into  pruning-hooks. 

Sir  George  Mackenzie's  Works  (the  folio 
edition)  happened  to  lie  in  the  window  in 
the  dining-room.  I  asked  Dr.  Johnson  to 
look  at  the  Charaeteres  Advocatorum.  He 
allowed  him  power  of  mind,  and  thst  he 
understood  very  well  what  he  tells ;  but 
said,  that  there  was  too  much  declamation, 
and  that  the  Latin  was  not  correct.    He 

1  [It  seems  as  if  Boswell  and  Lady  Macleod 
had  expected  that  Johnson  would  have  excepted 
women  from  the  general  lot  of  mankind. — En.] 

9  [Commonly  called  claymore,  but  more 
.properly  glaymore,  quasi  glatvemare9  the 
great  sword.  Every  one  knows  that  to  this  day 
a  luger  sword  is,  in  French,  called  glawe,  the 
old  Celtic  word,  no  doubt  from  the  same  root  as 
gladius — Ed.] 


[TOUR  TO  TBI 

found  fault  with  appropinquabant,  in  the 
character  of  Gilmour.  I  tried  him  with  the 
opposition  between  gloria  and  palma,  in 
the  comparison  between  Gilmour  and  Nie- 
bet,  which  Lord  Hailes,  in  his  "  Catalogue 
of  the  Lords  of  Session,"  thinks  difficult  to 
be  understood.  The  words  are,  "  penei 
ilktm  gloria,  penes  hune  palma."  In  a 
short  Account  of  the  Kirt  of  Scotland, 
which  I  published  some  years  ago,  I  applied 
these  words  to  the  two  contending  parties, 
and  explained  them  thus:  "  The  popular 
party  has  most  eloquence;  Dr.  Robertson's 
party  most  influence. "  I  was  very  desirous 
to  hear  Dr.  Johnson's  explication.  Jornr- 
son.  "  I  see  no  difficulty.  Gilmour  was 
admired  for  his  parts;  Nisbet  carried  hie 
cause  by  his  skill  in  law.  Palma  is  victo- 
ry." I  observed,  that  the  character  of  Ni- 
cholson, in  thjsbook,  resembled  that  of 
Burke:  for  it  is  said,  in  one  place,  "  in 
omnes  lusos  tt  jocos  se  scepe  re*oheb*t*;n 
and  in  another,  "  sed  accipitris  mare  e  con- 
speetu  aliquando  astantium  sublimi  sepro- 
trahensvolatv,  inpretdam  miro  impetu  de- 
scendebat*."  Johnson.  "No,  sir;  I  ne- 
ver heard  Burke  make  a  good  joke  in  my 
life."  Boswell.  "  But,  sir,  you  will  al- 
low he  is  a  hawk."  Dr.  Johnson,  thinking 
that  I  meant  this  of  his  joking,  said,  "  No, 
sir,  he  is  not  the  hawk  there.  He  is  the 
beetle  in  the  mire."  I  still  adhered  to  my 
metaphor, "  But  he  soars  as  the  hawk." 
Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir;  but  he  catches  no- 
thing." Macleod  asked,  what  is  the  par- 
ticular excellence  of  Burke's  eloquence? 
Johnson.  "  Copiousness  and  fertility  of 
allusion;  a  power  of  diversifying  his  matter, 
by  placing  it  in  various  relations.  Burke 
has  great  information,  and  great  command 
of  language;  though,  in  my  opinion,  it  has 
not  in  every  respect  the  highest  elegance." 
Boswell.  "  Do  you  think,  sir,  that  Burke 
has  read  Cicero  much?"  Johnson.  "I 
do  n't  believe  it,  sir.  Burke  has  great  know- 
kdjre>  great  fluency  of  words,  and  great 
promptness  of  ideas,  so  that  he  can  speak 
with  great  illustration  on  any  subject  that 
comes  before  him.  He  is  neither  like  Cicero, 
nor  like  Demosthenes,  nor  like  anyone  else, 
but  speaks  as  well  as  he  can." 

In  the  sixty-fifth  page  of  the  first  volume 
of  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  Dr.  Johnson 
pointed  out  a  paragraph  beginning  with 
Aristotle,  and  told  me  there  was  an  error  in 
the  text,  which  he  bade  me  try  to  discover. 
I  was  lucky  enough  to  hit  it  at  once.  As 
the  passage  is  printed,  it  is  said  that  the 


*  He  often  indulged  himself  in  every  specie*  of 
pleasantry  and  wit — Boswell. 

«  Bat  like  the  hawk,  having  soared  with  a 
lofty  Aunt  to  a  height  which  the  eye  could  set 
reach,  he  was  wont  to  swoop  upon  bjs  qnanj 
with  wonderful  rapidity.— Boswell. 


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HEBRIDES.] 

devil  answers  even  in  engine*.  I  corrected  it 
to— ever  in  (enigmas.  "Sir,"  said  he, 
"  you  are  a  good  critick.  This  would  have 
been  a  great  thing  to  do  in  the  text  of  an 
ancient  authour." 

Thursday,  Itoh  September.— Last  night 
much  care  was  taken  of  Dr.  Johnson,  who 
wasstill  distressed  by  his  cold.  He  had  hith- 
erto most  strangely  slept  without  a  nightcap. 
Miss  MacLeod  made  him  a  large  flannel  one, 
and  he  was  prevailed  with  to  drink  a  little 
brandy  when  he  was  going  to  bed.  He  has 
neat  virtue,  in  not  drinking  wine  or  any 
fermented  liquor,  because,  as  he'  acknow- 
ledged to  us,  ne  could  not  do  it  in  modera- 
tion. Lady  Macleod  would  hardly  believe 
him,  and  said,  "  I  am  sure,  sir,  you  would 
not  carry  it  too  fan"  Johnson.  "  Nay, 
madam,  it  carried  me.  I  took  the  opportu- 
nity of  a  long  illness  to  leave  it  off.  It  was 
then  prescribed  to  me  not  to  drink  wine; 
and  having  broken  off  the  habit,  I  have"  ne- 
ver returned  to  it" 

In  the  argument  on  Tuesday  night,  about 
natural  goodness,  Dr.  Johnson  denied  that 
any  child  was  better  than  another,  but  by 
difference  of  instruction;  though,  in  conse- 
quence of  neater  attention  being  paid  to 
instruction  by  one  child  than  another,  and 
of  a  variety  of  imperceptible  causes,  such  as 
instruction  being  counteracted  by  servants,  a 
notion  was  conceived,  that  of  two  children, 
equally  well  educated,  one  was  naturally 
much  worse  than  another.  He  owned,  this 
morning,  that  one  might  have  a  greater  ap- 
titude to  learn  than  another,  and  that  we 
inherit  dispositions  from  our  parents.  "  I 
inherited,"  said  he, "  a  vile  melancholy  from 
my  father,  which  has  made  me  mod  all  my 
lite,  at  least  not  sober."  Lady  Macleod 
wondered  he  should  tell  {his.  "  Madam," 
said  I,  "  he  knows  that  with  that  madness 1 
he  is  superior  to  other  irfen." 

I  have  often  been  astonished  with  what 
exactness  and  perspicuity  he  will  explain 
the  process  of  any  art.  He  this  morning 
explained  to  us  all  the  operation  of  coining, 
and,  at  night,  all  the  operation  of  brewing, 
so  very  clearly,  that  Mr.  M* Queen  said, 
when  he  heard  the  first,  he  thought  he  had 
been  bred  in  the  Mint;  when  he  heard  the 
second,  that  he  had  been  bred  a  brewer. 

I  was  elated  by  the  thought  of  having 
been  able  to  entice  such  a  man  to  this  re- 
mote part  of  the  world.  A  ludicrous,  yet 
just  image  presented  itself  to  my  mind, 
which  I  expressed  to  the  company.  I  com- 
pared myself  to  a  dog  who  has  got  hold  of 
a  large  piece  of  meat,  and  runs  away  with 
it  to  a  corner,  where  he  may  devour  it  in 


393 


1  [Mr.  Boswell  was,  we  see,  the  first  to  pub- 
lish this  fact,  though  he  chose  to  blame  others  for 
aUadinc  to  it ;  see  ante,  p.  28.  See  also  Mist 
Kejaoido's  Recollections  of  Dr.  Johnson,  in  the 
appendix  to  the  second  yoL — En.] 
.    vol..  I.  50 


peace,  without  any  fear  of  others  taking  it 
from  him.  "  In  London,  Reynolds,  Beau- 
clerk,  and  all  of  them,  arc,  contending  who 
shall  enjoy  Dr.  Johnson's  conversation. 
We  are  feasting  upon  it,  undisturbed,  at 
Dunvegan." 

It  was  still  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain. 
Dr.  Johnson  however   walked  out   with 
Macleod,  and  saw  Rorie  Mote's  cascade  in 
full  perfection.    Colonel  Macleod,  instead 
of  being  all  life  and  gaiety,  as  I  have  seen 
him,  was  at  present  grave,  and  somewhat 
depressed  by  his  anxious  concern  about 
Macleod'8  affairs,  and  by  finding  some  gen- 
tlemen of  the  clan  by  no  means  disposed  to 
act  a  generous  or  affectionate  part  to  their 
chief  in  his  distress,  but  bargaining  with 
him  as  with  a  stranger*.    However,  he 
was  agreeable  and  polite,  and  Dr.  Johnson 
said  he  was  a  very  pleasing  man.    My  fel- 
low-traveller and  I  talked  of  going  to  Swe- 
den; and,  while  we  were  settling  our  plan, 
I  expressed  a   pleasure   in  the    prospect 
of  seeing  the  king.    Johnson.    "J  doubt, 
sir,  if  he  would  speak  to  us."    Colonel  Mac- 
leod said,  "  I  am  sure  Mr.  Boswell  would 
speak  to  him."    But  seeing  me  a  tittle  dis- 
concerted by  his  remark,  he  politely  added, 
"  and  with  great  propriety."    Here  let  me 
offer  a  short  defence  of  that  propensity  in 
my  disposition,  to  which  this  gentleman  al- 
luded.   It  has  procured  me  much  happiness. 
I  hope  it  does  not  deserve  so  hard  a  name 
as  either  forwardness  or  impudence.    If  I 
know  myself,  it  is  nothing  more  than  an 
eagerness  to  share  the  society  of  men  dis- 
tinguished either  by  their  rank  or  there  tal- 
ents, and  a  diligence  to  attain  what  I  desire. 
If  a  man  is  praised  for  seeking  knowledge, 
though  mountains  and  seas  are  in  his  way, 
may  ne  not  be  pardoned,  whose  ardour,  in 
the  pursuit  of  the  same  object,  leads  him  to 
encounter  difficulties  as  great,  though  of  a 
different  kind? 

After  the  ladies  were  gone  from  table,  we 
talked  of  the  Highlanders  not  having  sheets; 
and  this  led  us  to  consider  the  advantage 
of  wearing  linen.  Johnson.  "  All  animal 
substances  are  less  cleanly  than  vegetables. 
Wool,  of  which  flannel  is  made,  is  an  ani- 
mal substance;  flannel  therefore  is  not  so 
cleanly  as  linen.  I  remember  I  used  to 
think  tar  dirty;  but  when  I  knew  it  to  be 
only  a  preparation  of  the  juice  of  the  pine, 
I  thought  so  no  longer,  ft  is  not  disagree- 
able tonave  the  gum  that  oozes  from  a  poam- 
tree  upon  vour  fingers,  because  it  is  vegeta- 
ble; but  it  you  have  any  candle-grease,  any 
tallow  upon  your  fingers,  vou  are  uneasy  till 
you  rub  it  o£ — I  have  often  thought  that, 
if  I  kept  a  seraglio,  the  ladies  should  all 
were  linen  gowns,  or  cotton — I  mean  stuffs 
made  of  vegetable  substances.    I  would 


*  [See  an  interesting  account  of  these  negotia- 
tions in  Maetood's  Memoirs,  Appendix.— En. J 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


394 


1778.— iETAT.  tft. 


have  no  silk;  you  cannot  tell  when  it  is 
clean:  it  will  be  very  nasty  before  it  is  per- 
ceived to  be  so.  Linen  detects  its  own 
dirtiness." 

To  hear  the  grave  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson, 
"  that  maiestick  teacher  of  moral  and  reli- 
gious wisdom,"  while  sitting  solemn  in  an 
arm-chair  in  the  Isle  of  Sky,  talk,  ex  eathe- 
drdf  of  his  keeping  a  seraglio,  and  acknow- 
ledge that  the  supposition  had  often  been 
in  his  thoughts,  struck  me  so  forcibly  with 
ludicrous  contrast,  that  I  could  not  but 
laugh  immoderately.  He  was  too  proud  to 
submit,  even  for  a  moment,  to  be  the  object 
of  ridicule,  and  instantly  retaliated  with 
such  keen  sarcastick  wit,  and  such  a  variety 
of  degrading  images,  of  every  one  of  which 
I  was  the  object,  that,  though  I  can  bear 
such  attacks  as  well  as  most  men,  I  yet 
found  myself  so  much  the  sport  of  all  the 
company,  that  I  would  gladly  expunge  from 
my  mind  every  trace  of  this  severe  retort. 

Talking  of  our  friend  Langton's  house  in 
Lincolnshire,  he  said,  "  The  old  house  of 
the  family  was  burnt  A  temporary  building 
was  erected  in  its  room;  and  to  this  day  they 
have  been  always  adding  as  the  family  in- 
creased. It  is  like  a  shirt  made  for  a  man 
when  he  was  a  child,  and  enlarged  always 
as  he  grows  older." 

We  talked  to-night  of  Luther's  allowing 
the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  two  wives,  and 
that  it  was  with  the  consent  of  the  wife  to 
whom  he  was  first  married.  Johnson. 
"  There  was  no  harm  in  this,  so  far  as  she 
only  was  concerned,  because  volenti  nonfit 
injuries  But  it  was  an  offence  against  the 
general  order  of  society,  and  against  the 
law  of  the  Gospel,  by  which  one  man  and 
one  woman  are  to  be  united.  No  man  can 
have  two  wives,  but  by  preventing  some- 
body else  from  having  one 1. " 

Friday,  Ylth  September, — After  dinner 
yesterday,  we  had  a  conversation  upon  cun- 
ning. Macleod  said  that  he  was  not  afraid 
of  cunning  people:  but  would  let  them  play 
their  tricks  about  nim  like  monkeys.  "  But 
(said  I) ,  they  '11  scratch ;"  and  Mr.  M' Queen 
added,  "They'll  invent  new  tricks,  as  soon 
as  you  find  out  what  they  do."  Johnson. 
"  Cunning  has  effect  from  the  credulity  of 
others,  rattier  than  from  the  abilities  of  those 
who  are  cunning.  It  requires  no  extraordi- 
nary talents  to  lie  and  deceive."  This  led 
us  to  consider  whether  it  did  not  require 
great  abilities  to  be  very  wicked.  Johnso  n. 
"  It  requires  great  abilities  to  have  the  pow- 
er of  being  very  wicked;  but  not  to  be  very 
wicked.  A  roan  who  has  the  power,  which 
great  abilities  procure  him,  may  use  it  well 
»  i  [This  is  a  false,  and,  if  it  had  even  more  of 
troth  in  it,  top  narrow  a  ground  on  which  to  build 
thk  great  doctrine— a  doctrine  which  is  the  foun- 
dation of  all  human  civilization,  and  of  all  indi- 
vidaal  happiness.— En.] 


[TOTO  TO  TH1 

or  ill;  and  it  requires  more  abilities  to  use 
it  well,  than  to  use  it  ill.  Wickedness  is 
always  easier  than  virtue;  for  it  takes  the 
short  cut  to  every  thing.  It  is  much  easier  to 
deal  a  hundred  pounds,  than  to  get  it  by 
labour,  or  any  other  way.  Consider  only 
what  act  of  wickedness  requires  great  abili- 
ties to  commit  it,  when  once  the  person  who 
is  to  do  it  has  the  power;  for  there  is  the  dis- 
tinction. It  requires  great  abilities  to  con- 
quer an  army,  but  none  to  massacre  it  after 
it  is  conquered. " 

The  weather  this  day  was  rather  better 
than  any  that  we  had  since  we  came  to 
Dunvegan.  Mr.  M' Queen  had  often  men- 
tioned a  curious  piece  of  antiquity  near  this, 
which  he  called  a  temple  'of  the  goddess 
Anaitis.  Having  often  talked  of  going  to 
see  it,  he  and  I  set  out  after  breakfast,  at- 
tended by  his  servant,  a  fellow  quite  like  a 
savage.  I  must  observe  here,  that  in  Sky 
there  seems  to  be  much  idleness ;  for  men 
and  boys  follow  you,  as  colts  follow  passes- 

fers  upon  a  road.  The  usual  figure  of  a 
ky-boy  is  a  lown  with  bare  legs  and  feet, 
a  dirty  kilt,  ragged  coat  and  waistcoat,  a 
bare  head,  and  a  stick  in  his  hand,  which,  I 
suppose,  is  partly  to  help  the  lazy  rogue  to 
walk,  partly  to  serve  as  a  kind  of  a  defensive 
weapon.  We  walked  what  is  called  two 
miles,  but  is  probably  four,  from  the  castle, 
till  we  came  to  the  sacred  place.  The 
country  around  is  a  black  dreary  moor  on 
all  sides,  except  to  the  sea-coast,  towards 
which  there  is  a  view  through  a  valley; 
and  the  farm  of  Bay  shows  some  good  land. 
The  place  itself  is  green  ground,  being  well 
drained,  by  means  of  a  deep  glen  on  each 
side,  in  both  of  which  there  runs  a  rivulet 
with  a  good  quantity  of  water,  forming 
several  cascades,  which  make  a  considerable 
appearance  and  sound.  The  first  thing  we 
came  to  was  an  e&rthen  mound,  or  dyke, 
extending  from  the  one  precipice  to  the 
other.  A  little  farther  on  was  a  strong  stone 
wall,  not  high,  but  very  thick,  extending  in 
the  same  manner.  On  the  outside  of  it 
were  the  ruins  of  two  houses,  one  on  each 
side  of  the  entry  or  gate  to  it  The  wall  is 
built  all  along  of  uncemented  stones,  but  of 
so  large  a  size  as  to  make  a  very  firm  and 
durable  rampart  It  has  been  built  all  about 
the  consecrated  ground,  except  where  the 
precipice  is  steep  enough  to  form  an  enclo- 
sure of  itself.  The  sacred  spot  contains 
more  than  two  acres.  There  are  within  it 
the  ruins  of  many  houses,  none  of  them 
large, — a  cairn, — and  many  graves  marked 
by  clusters  of  stones.  Mr.  M' Queen  insist- 
ed that  the  ruin  of  a  small  building,  stand- 
ing east  and  west,  was  actually  the  temple 
of  the  goddess  Anaitis,  where  her  statue 
was  kept,  and  from  whence  processions 
were  made  to  wash  it  in  one  of  the  brooks. 
There  is,  it  must  be  owned,  a  hollow  road 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES.]  1773.— iETAT.  64. 

visible  for  a  good  way  from  the  entrance ; 
but  Mr.  M'Queen,  with  the  keen  eye  of  an 
antiquary,  traced  it  much  farther  than  I 
could  perceive  it  There  is  not  above  a 
foot  and  a  half  in  height  of  the  walls  now 
remaining ;  and  the  whole  extent  of  the 
building  was  never,  I  imagine,  greater  than 
an  ordinary  Highland  house.  Mr.  M(  Queen 
has  collected  a  great  deal  of  learning  on 
the  subject  of  the  temple  of  Anaitis  j  and  I 
had  endeavoured,  in  my  Journal,  to  state 
such  particulars  as  might  give  some  idea  of 
it,  and  of  the  surrounding  scenery;  but 
from  the  great  difficulty  of  describing  visi- 
ble objects,  I  found  my  account  so  unsatis- 
factory, that  my  readers  would  probably 
have  exclaimed 

"  And  write  about  it,  goddess,  and  about  it ! ;" 

and  therefore  I  have  omitted  it. 

When  we  got  home,  and  were  again  at 
table  with  Dr.  Johnson,  we  first  talked  of 
portraits.  He  agreed  in  thinking  them 
valuable  in  families.  I  wished  to  know 
which  he  preferred,  fine  portraits,  or  those 
of  which  the  merit  was  resemblance. 
Johnson.  "Sir,  their  chief  excellence  is 
being  like."  Boswell.  "  Are  vou  of  that 
opinion  as  to  the  portraits  or  ancestors, 
whom  one  has  never  seen  ?  "  Johnson. 
"  It  then  becomes  of  more  consequence  that 
they  should  be  like  5  and  I  would  nave  them 
in  the  dress  of  the  times,  which  makes  a 
piece  of  history.  One  should  like  to  see 
now  Rorie  More  looked,  Truth,  sir,  is  of 
the  greatest  value  in  these  things."  Mr. 
M'Queen  observed,  that  if  you  think  it  of 
bo  consequence  whether  portraits  are  like, 
if  they  are  but  well  painted,  you  maybe  in- 
different whether  a  piece  of  history  is  true 
or  not,  if  well  told. 

Dr.  Johnson  said  at  breakfast  to-day, 
"  that  it  was  but  of  late  that  historians  be- 
stowed pains  and  attention  in  consulting 
records,  to  attain  to  accuracy.  Bacon,  in 
writing  his  History  of  Henry  VII. ,  does 
not  seem  to  have  consulted  any,  but  to  have 
just  taken  what  he  found  in  other  histories, 
and  blended  it  with  what  he  learnt  by  tra- 
dition.'1 He  agreed  with  me  that  there 
should  be  a  chronicle  .kept  in  every  con- 
siderable family,  to  preserve  the  characters 
*nd  transactions  of  successive  generations, 

After  dinner,  I  started  the  subject  of  the 
temple  of  Anaitis.  Mr.  M'Queen  had  laid 
strew  on  the  name  given  to  the  place  by 
the  country  people,— JLiwnit ;  and  added, 
(<  I  knew  not  what  to  make  of  this  piece  of 
antiquity,  till  I  met  with  the  Anatttdis  de- 
fa»nifl»in  Lydia,  mentioned  by  Pausanias 
and  the  elder  Pliny."  Dr.  Johnson,  with 
his  usual  acuteness, examined  Mr.  M'Queen 
•J  to  the  meaning  of  the  word  Ainmt,  in 
Erse ;  and  it  proved  to  be  a  water-place,  or 


395 


IDundad,  b.  4.  v.  252.— Ed.] 


a  place  near  water,  "which,"  said  Mr. 
M'Queen, "  agrees  with  all  the  descriptions 
of  the  temples  of  that  goddess,  which  were 
situated  near  rivers,  that  there  might  be 
water  to  wash  the  statue."  Johnson. 
"  Nay,  sir,  the  argument  from  the  name  is 
gone.  The  name  is  exhausted  by  what  we 
see.  We  have  no  occasion  to  go  to  a 
distance  for  what  we  can  pick  up  under  our 
feet.  Had  it  been  an  accidental  name,  the 
similarity  between  it  and  Anaitis  might 
have  had  something  in  it :  but  it  turns  out 
to  be  a  mere  physiological  name."  Macle- 
od  said,  Mr.  M' Queen's  knowledge  of  ety- 
mology h  ad  destroyed  his  conjecture.  Joh  n- 
son.  "  Yes,  ar :  Mr.  M'Queen  is  like  the 
eagle  mentioned  by  Waller,  who  was  shot 
with  an  arrow  feathered  from  his  own 
wing."  Mr.  M'Queen  would  not,  howev- 
er, give  up  his  conjecture.  Johnson. 
"  You  have  one  possibility  for  you,  and  all 
possibilities  against  you.  It  is  possible  it 
maybe  the  temple  of  Anaitis ;  but  it  is  also 
possible  that  it  may  be  a  fortification ;  or  it 
may  be  a  place  of  Christian  worship,  as  the 
first  Christians  often  chose  remote  and  wild 
places,  to  make  an  impression  on  the  mind; 
or,  if  it  was  a  heathen  temple,  it  may  have 
been  built  near  a  river,  for  the  purpose  of 
lustration;  and  there  is  such  a  multitude  of 
divinities,  to  whom  it  may  have  been  dedi- 
cated, that  the  chance  of  its  being  a  tem- 
{>le  of  Anaitis  is  hardly  any  thing.  It  is 
ike  throwing  a  grain  of  sand  upon  the  sea- 
shore to-day,  and  thinking  you  may  find  it 
to-morrow.  No,  sir,  this  temple,  like  man v 
an  ill-built  edifice,  tumbles  down  before  it  is  - 
roofed  in."  In  his  triumph  over  the  reve- 
rend antiquarian,  he  indulged  himself  in  a 
conceit ;  for,  some  vestige  of  the  altar  of 
the  goddess  being  much  insisted  on  in  sup* 

Srt  of  the  hypothesis,  he  said,  "Mr, 
'Queen  is  fighting  pro  aris  etfocU." 
It  was  wonderful  how  well  tune  passed 
in  a  remote  castle,  and  in  dreary  weather. 
After  supper,  we  talked  of  Pennant.  It  was 
objected  that  he  was  superficial.  Dr.  John- 
son defended  him  warmly.  He  said,  "  Pen- 
nant has  greater  variety  of  inquiry  than  al- 
most any  man,  and  has  told  us  more  than 
Serhaps  one  in  ten  thousand  could  have 
one,  in  the  time  that  he  took.  He  has  not 
sajd  what  he  was  to  tell:  so  you  cannot  find 
fault  with  him  for  what  he  has  not  told.  If 
a  man  comes  to  look  for  fishes,  you  cannot 
blame  him  if  he  does  not  attend  to  fowls." 
"  But,"  said  Colonel  Macleod,  "  1»  men- 
tions the  unreasonable  rise  of  rents  in  the 
Highlands,  and  says  *  the  gentlemen  are  for 
emptying  the  bag  without  filling  it,9  for 
that  is  the  phrase  he  uses.  Why  does  he 
not  tell  how  to  fill  it?  "  Johnson.  "  Sir, 
there  is  no  end  of  negative  criticism.  He 
tells  what  he  observes,  and  as  much  as  he 
chooses.  If  he  tells- what  is  not  true,  you 
may   find  fault  with  him;  but,  though  he 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


396 


1778.— jETAT.  64. 


telle  that  the  land  is  not  well  cultivated,  he 
is  not  obliged  to  tell  how  it  may  be  well 
cultivated.  If  I  tell  that  many  of  the  High- 
landers go  bare-footed,  I  am  not  obliged  to 
tell  how  they  may  get  shoes.  Pennant  tells 
a  fact.  He  need  go  no  farther,  except  he 
pleases.  He  exhausts  nothing;  and  no  sub- 
ject whatever  has  yet  been  exhausted.  But 
Pennant  has  surely  told  a  great  deal. 
Here  is  a  man  six  feet  high,  and  you  are 
angry  because  he  is  not  seven."  Notwith- 
standing this  eloquent  Oratiopro  Pennon- 
ttOy  which  they  who  have  read  this  gentle- 
man's Tours,  and  recollect  the  savage  and 
the  shopkeeper  at  Monboddo,  will  probably 
impute  to  the  spirit  of  contradiction,  I  still 
think  that  he  had  better  had  given  more  at- 
tention to  fewer  things,  than  have  thrown 
together  such  a  number  of  imperfect  ac- 
counts. 

Saturday,  ISth  September.— Before  break- 
fast, Dr.  Johnson  came  up  to  my  room,  to 
forbid  me  to  mention  that  this  was  his  birth- 
day; but  I  told  him  I  had  done  it  already; 
at  which  he  was  displeased — I  suppose 
from  wishing  to  have  nothing  particular 
done  on  his  account  Lady  Macleod  and 
I  got  into  a  warm  dispute.  She  wanted  to 
build  a  house  upon  a  farm  which  she  had 
taken,  about  five  miles  from  the  castle,  and 
to  make  gardens  and  other  ornaments  there; 
all  of  which  I  approved  ofi  but  insisted  that 
the  seat  of  the  family  should  always  be  upon 
the  rock  of  Dunvegan.  Johnson.  "  Ay, 
in  time  we'll  build  all  round  this  rock. 
You  may  make  a  very  good  house  at  the 
farm;  but  it  must  not  be  such  as  to  tempt 
the  Laird  of  Macleod  to  go  thither  to  reside. 
Most  of  the  great  families  of  England  have 
a  secondary  residence,  which  is  called  a 
jointure-house;  let  the  new  house  be  of  that 
kind."  The  lady  insisted  that  the  rock 
was  very  inconvenient;  that  there  was  no 
place  near  it  where  a  good  garden  could  be 
made;  that  it  must  always  be  a  rude  place; 
that  it  was  a  Herculean  labour  to  make  a 
dinner  here.  I  was  vexed  to  find  the  alloy 
of  modern  refinement  in  a  lady  who  had  so 
much  old  family  spirit.  "  Madam,"  said  I, 
"  if  once  you  quit  this  rock,  there  is  no  know- 
ing where  you  may  settle.  You  move  five 
miles  first;  then  to  St.  Andrews,  as  the  late 
laird  did;  then  to  Edinburgh;  and  so  on  till 
you  end  at  Hampstead,  or  in  France.  No, 
no;  keep  to  the  rock;  it  is  the  very  jewel  of 
the  estate.  It  looks  as  if  it  had  been  let 
down  from  heaven  by  the  four  corners,  to 
be  the  residence  of  a  chief.  Have  all  the 
comforts  and  conveniences  of  life  upon  it, 
but  never  leave  Rorie  More'e  cascade." 
"  But,"  said  she,  "  is  it  not  enough  if  we 
keep  it?  Must  we  never  have  more  conve- 
nience than  Rorie  More  had?  he  had  his 
beef  brought  to  dinner  in  one  basket,  and 
his  bread  in  another.    Why  not  as  well  be 


[TOUm  TO   TBS 

Rorie  More  all  over,  as  live  upon  his  rock? 
And  should  not  we  tire,  in  looking  perpet- 
ually on  this  rock?  It  is  very  well  for  you, 
who  have  a  fine  place,  and  every  thing  easy, 
to  talk  thus,  and  think  of  chaining  honest 
folks  to  a  rock.  You  would  not  live  upon 
it  yourself."  "  Yes,  madam,"  said  I,  « I 
would  live  upon  it,  were  I  Laird  of  Macle- 
od, and  should  be  unhappy  if  I  were  not 
upon  it."  Johnson,  (with  a  strong  voles 
and  most  determined  manner).  "  Madam, 
rather  than  quit  the  old  rock,  Boswell  would 
live  in  the  pit;  he  would  make  his  bed  in 
the  dungeon."  I  felt  a  degree  of  elation, 
at  finding  my  resolute  feudal  enthusiasm 
thus  confirmed  by  such  a  sanction.  The 
lady  was  puzzled  a  little.  She  still  return- 
ed to  her  pretty  farm — rich  ground — fine 
garden.  "  Madam,"  said  Dr.  Johnson, 
"were  they  in  Asia,  I  would  not  leave  the 
rock  V  My  opinion  on  this  subject  is  still 
the  same.  An  ancient  family  residence 
ought  to  be  a  primary  object;  and  though 
the  situation  of  Dunvegan  be  such  that  ti- 
tle can  be  done  here  in  gardening  or  plea- 
sure ground,  yet,  in  addition  to  the  venera- 
tion acquired  by  the  lapse  of  time,  it  has 
many  circumstances  of  natural  grandeur, 
suited  to  the  seat  of  a  Highland  chief:  it 
has  the  sea — islands — rocks — bills — a  noble 
cascade;  and  when  the  family  is  again  in 
opulence,  something  may  be  done  by  art9. 


1  [Dunvegan  well  deserves  the  stand  which  was 
made  by  Dr.  Johnson  in  its  defence.     Its  greatest 


that  of  access.  This  had  been 
originally  obtained  from  the  sea,  by  a  sobtemnean 
staircase,  partly  arched,  partly  cot  in  the  rock, 
which,  winding  np  through  the  cliff,  opened  into 
the  court  of  the  castle,  ^fins  passage,  at  all  times 
very  inconvenient,  had  been  abandoned,  and  was 
ruinous.  A  Tory  indifferent  substitute  had  bean 
made  by  a  road,  which,  rising  from  the  harbour, 
reached  the  bottom  of  the  moat,  and  then  as- 
cended to  the  gate  by  a  very  kin*  stair.  Tba 
present  chief,  whom  I  am  happy  to  call  my  friend, 
has  made  a  perfectly  convenient  and  characteris- 
tic access,  which-  gives  a  direct  approach  to  the 
further  side  of  the  moat,  in  front  of  the  cssde 
gate,  and  surmounts  the  chasm  by  a  drawbridge, 
which  would  have  delighted  Rorie  More  himself. 
I  may  add  that  neither  Johnson  nor  Boswell  were 
antiquaries,  otherwise  'they  must  have  remarked, 
amongst  the  Cimelia  of  Dunvegan,  the  fated  or 
fairy  banner,  said  to  be  given  to  the  clan  by  a 
»_„!.--   __j  _  — .___  m — »_„._    ciro  (probably), 


Banshee,  and  a  curious  < 

said  to  have  belonged  to  the  family  when  kingi 
of  the  Isle  of  Man— certainly  of  most  venerable 
antiquity.— Walteb.  Scott.] 

*  [Something  has  indeed  been,  partly  in  the  way 
of  accommodation  and  ornament,  partly  m  im- 
provements yet  more  estimable,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  present  beneficent  Lady  of  Macleod. 
She  has  completely  acquired  the  language  of  her 
husband's  clan,  in  order  to  qualify  herself  to  be 
their  effectual  benefactress.  She  has  erected 
schools,  which  she  superintends  herself,  to  i 


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1778— iETAT.  64. 


HIIR1DS8.] 

Mr.  Donald  Mc  Queen  went  away  today, 
in  order  to  preach  at  Braccadale  next  day. 
We  were  so  comfortably  situated  at  Dun- 
vegan,  that  Dr.  Johnson  could  hardly  be 
moved  from  it.  I  proposed  to  him  (hat  we 
should  leave  it  on  Monday.  "  No,  sir," 
said  he,  "  I  will  not  go  before  Wednesday. 
I  will  have  some  more  of  this  good."  How- 
ever, as  the  weather  was  at  this  season  so 
bad,  and  so  very  uncertain,  and  we  had  a 
great  deal  to  do  yet,  Mr.  M'  Queen  and  I 
prevailed  with  him  to  agree  to  set  out  on 
Monday,  if  the  day  should  be  good.  Mr. 
M'Queen,  though  it  was  inconvenient  for 
him  to  be  absent  from  his  harvest,  engaged 
to  wait  on  Monday  at  Ulinish  for  us.  When 
he  was  going  away,  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  I 
shall  ever  retain  a  great  regard  for  you; " 
then  asked  him  if  he  had  the  "  Rambler." 
Mr.  M'Queen  said,  "  No,  but  my  brother 
hasit"  Johnson.  "Have  you  the 'Idler?'" 
H'Qvekn.  "No, sir."  Johnson.  "Then 
I  will  order  one  for  you  at  Edinburgh, 
which  you  will  keep  in  remembrance  of  me." 
Mr.  M'Queen  was  much  pleased  with  this. 
He  expressed  to  me,  in  the  strongest  terms, 
his  admiration  of  Dr.  Johnson's  wonderful 
knowledge,  and  every  other  quality  for 
which  he  is  distinguished.  I  asked  Mr. 
M'Queen  if  he  was  satisfied  with  being  a 
minister  in  Sky.  He  said  he  was  ;  but  he 
owned  that  his  forefathers  having  been  so 
tag  there,  and  his  having  been  born  there, 
made  a  chief  ingredient  in  forming  his  con- 
tentment. I  should  have  mentioned,  that 
on  our  left  hand,  between  Portree  and  Dr. 
Uacleod's  house,  Mr.  M'Queen  told  me 
there  had  been  a  college  of  the  Knights 
Templars;  that  tradition  said  so;  and  that 
there  was  a  ruin  remaining  of  their  church, 
which  had  been  burnt:  but  I  confess  Dr. 
Johnson  has  weakened  my  belief  in  remote 
tradition.  In  the  dispute  about  Jlnaitis, 
Mr.  M'Queen  said,  Asia  Minor  was  peo- 
pled by  Scythians,  and,  as  they  were  the 
ancestors  of  the  Celts,  the  same  religion 
might  be  in  Asia  Minor  and  Sky.  Johnson. 
"Alas!  sir,  what  can  a  nation  that  has  not 
letters  tell  of  its  original?  I  have  always 
difficulty  to  be  patient  when  I  hear  authors 
gravely  quoted,  as  giving  accounts  of  savage 
nations,  which  accounts  they  had  from  the 
•avagee  themselves.  What  can  the  M(Craas 
tell  about  themselves  a  thousand  years  ago l  ? 


397 


■bee  among  them  the  benefits,  knowledge,  and 
comforts  of  more  civilized  society  ;  and  a  young 
•ad  beautiful  woman  has  dons  more  for  the  enlarged 
happiness  of  this  primitive  people  than  had  been 
achieved  for  ages  before. — Walt* a  Scott.] 

1  ["  What  can  the  M'Craaa  tell  of  themselves 
a  thousand  years  ago?"  More  than  the  Doctor 
would  suppose.  I  have  a  copy  of  their  family 
history,  written  by  Mr.  John  Mac  Ra,  minister  of 
Dingwal,  in  Rossbire,  in  1702.  In  this  history, 
they  are  averred  to  nave  come  over  with 


There  is  no  tracing  the  connexion  of  an- 
cient nations,  but  by  language;  and  there- 
fore I  am  always  sorry  wnen  any  language 
is  lost,  because  languages  are  the  pedigree 
of  nations.  If  you  find  the  same  language 
in  distant  countries,  you  may  be  sure  that 
the  inhabitants  of  each  have  been  the  same 
people;  that  is  to  say,  if  you  find  the  lan- 
guages a  good  deal  the  same;  for  a  word 
here  and  there  being  the  same  will  not  do. 
Thus  Butler,  in  his  <  Hudibras,'  remember- 
ing that  penguin,  in  the  Straits  of  Magel- 
lan, signifies  a  bird  with  a  white  head,  and 
that  the  same  word  has,  in  Wales,  the  sig- 
nification of  a  white-headed  wench  a  (pen 
head,  and  ruin  white),  by  way  of  ridicule, 
concludes  that  the  people  of  those  straits  are 
Welsh." 

A  young  gentleman  of  the  name  of 
M(Lean,  nephew  to  the  laird  of  the  Isle  of 
Muck,  came  this  morning;  and,  just  as  we 
sat  down  to  dinner,  came  the  laird  of  the 
Isle  of  Muck  himself,  his  lady,  sister  to 
TaUsker,  two  other  ladies,  their  relations, 
and  a  daughter  of  the  late  M'Leod  of  Ha- 
mer,  who  wrote  a  treatise  on  the  second- 
sight,  under  the  designation  of  "  Theophi- 
lus  Insulanus3."  It  was  somewhat  droll  to 
hear  this  laird  called  by  his  title.  Muck 
would  have  sounded  ill;  so  he  was  called 
hie  of  Muck9  which  went  off  with  great 
readiness.  The  name,  as  now  written,  is 
unseemly,  but  is  not  so  bad  in  the  original 
Erse,  which  is  Mouach,  signifying  the 
Sows'  Island.  Buchanan  calls  it  Insula 
Poreorum.  It  is  so  called  from  its  form. 
Some  call  it  Isle  of  Monk.  The  laird  in- 
sists that  this  is  the  proper  name.  It  was 
formerly  church-land  belonging  to  Icolm- 
Irill,  and  a  hermit  lived  in  it.  It  is  two  miles 
long,  and  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile 
broad.  The  laird  said,  he  had  seven  score 
of  souls  upon  it,  Last  year  he  had  eighty 
persons  inoculated,  mostly  children,  but 
some  of  them  eighteen  yeare  of  age.    He 


Fhzgeralds  now  holding  the  name  of  M'Kenzie, 
at  the  period  of  the  battle  of  Largs,  in  1263.  I 
was  indulged  with  a  copy  of  the  pedigree  by  the 
consent  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  clan  in 
1826,  and  bod  the  original  in  my  possession  for 
some  time.  It  is  modestly  drawn  up,  and  appa- 
rently with  all  the  accuracy  which  can  be  ex- 
pected when  tradition  mast  be  necessarily  mveh 
relied  upon.  The  name  was  in  Irish  Mac  Grain, 
softened  in  the  Highlands  into  Mac  Ra,  Mac  Co- 
row,  Mac  Rae,  Sec.  ;  and  in  the  Lowlands,  where 
the  patronymic  was  often  dropped,  by  the  names 
of  Crow,  Craw,  &c. — Walter  Scott.] 

*  [It  is  not  very  intelligible  why  the  white-head- 
ed wench  is  mentioned  :  any  white  head  would 
be  called  penguin.— En.] 

3  [The  work  of  '<  Theophilus  Insnlanus  "  was 
written  in  as  credulous  a  style  as  either  Dr.  John- 
son or  his  biographer  could  have  desired.— Wais- 
ts* Scott.] 


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1T73.— iETAT.  64. 


agreed  with  the  surgeon  to  come  and  do  it, 
at  half  a  crown  a  head.  It  is  very  fertile  in 
corn,  of  which  they  export  some;  and  its 
coasts  abound  in  fish.  A  tailor  comes  there 
six  times  in  a  year.  They  get  a  good 
blacksmith  from  the  Isle  of  Egg. 

Sunday,  19th  September. — It  was  rather 
worse  weather  than  any  that  we  had  yet.  At 
breakfast  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  Some  cun- 
ning men  choose  fools  for  their  wives,  think- 
ing to  manage  them,  hut  they  always  fail. 
There  is  a  spaniel  fool  and  a  mule  fool. 
The  spaniel  fool  may  be  made  to  do  by  beat- 
ing. The  mule  fool  will  neither  do  by 
words  nor  blows ;  and  the  spaniel  fool  oft- 
en turns  mule  at  last :  and  suppose  a  fool 
to  be  made  to  do  pretty  well,  you  must  have 
the  continual  trouble  of  making  her-  do. 
Depend  upon  it,  no  woman  is  the  worse 
for  sense  and  knowledge:"  Whether  af- 
terwards he  meant  merely  to  say  a  polite 
thing,  or  to  give  his  opinion,  I  could  not  be 
sure  ;  but  he  added, "  Men  know  that  wo- 
men are  an  overmatch  for  them,  and  there-* 
lore  they  choose  the  weakest  or  most  igno- 
rant If  they  did  not  think  so,  they  never 
could  be  afraid  of  women  knowing  as  much 
aa  themselves."  Injustice  to  the  sex,  I 
think  it  but  candid  to  acknowledge,  that,  in 
a  subsequent  conversation,  he  told  me 'that 
he  was  serious  in  what  he  had  said. 

He  came  to  my  room  this  morning  -be- 
fore breakfast,  to  read  my  Journal,  which 
he  has  done  all  along.  He  often  before 
said,  "  I  take  great  delight  in  reading  it." 
To-day  he  said,  "  You  improve  :  it  grows 
better  and  better."  I  observed,  that  there 
was  a  danger  of  my  getting  a  habit  of  wri- 
ting in  a  slovenly  manner.  "  Sir,"  said  he, 
"  it  is  not  written  in  a  slovenly  manner.  It 
might  be  printed,  were  "the-  subject  fit  for 
printing1."  While  Dr.  Bethune^>reached 
to  us  in  the  dining-room,  Dr.  Johnson  sat 
in  his  own  room,  where  I  saw  lying -before 
him  a  volume  of  Lord  Bacon's  works,  " The 
Decay  of  Christian  Piety,"  Monboddo's 
"  Origin  of  Language,"  and  Sterne's  Ser- 
mons. He  asked  me  to-day,  how  it  hap- 
pened that  we  were  so  little  together  :  I 
told  him,  my  Journal  took  up  much  time. 
Yet,  on  reflection,  it  appeared  strange  to 
me,  that  although  I  will  run  from  one  end 
of  London  to  another,  to  pass  an  hour  with 
him,  I  should  omit  to  seize  any  spare  time 
to  be  in  his  company,  when  I  am  settled  in 
the  same  house  with  him .  But  my  Journal  is 
really  a  task  of  much  time  and  labour,  and 
he  forbids  me  to  contract  it. 

I  omitted  to  mention,  in  its  place,  that 
Dr.  Johnson  told  Mr.  M'  Queen  that  he 
had  found  the  belief  of  the  second-sight  uni- 


1  Am  I  have  faithfully  recorded  so  many  minute 
particulars,  I  hope  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  inserting 
so  flattering  aa  encomium  on  what  is  now  ottered 
to  the  pubuck. — Boswell. 


[tour  TO  THI 

versal  in  Sky,  except  among  the  clergy, 
who  seemed  determined  against  it.  I  took 
the  liberty  to  observe  to  Mr.  M' Queen, 
that  the  clergy  were  actuated  by  a  kind  of 
vanity.  "  The  world,"  say  they,  "  takes 
us  to  be  credulous  men  in  a  remote  corner. 
We  '11  show  them  that  we  are  more  enlight- 
ened than  they  think."  The  worthy  man 
said,  that  his  disbelief  of  it  was  from  his 
not  finding  sufficient  evidence  ;  but  I  could 
perceive  that  he  was  prejudiced  9  against  it 
After  dinner  to-day,  we  talked  of  the  ex- 
traordinary fact  of  Lady  Grange's  being 
sent  to  St  Kilda,  and  confined  there  for 
several  years,  without  any  means  of  relief  *. 

'  [By  the  very  use  of  this  word,  Mr.  Boswefl 
shows,  that  he  was  prejudiced  in  favour  of  the 
second-sight,  either  because  it  suited  the  credu- 
lous temper  of  bis  own  mind,  or  because  k  looked 
like  a  national  honour.  The.  clergy  were  proba- 
bly not  prejudiced  against  it,  otherwise  than  at- 
being  the  best  educated  and  most  intelligent  per- 
sons in  those  regions,  they  saw  the  absurdity  of 
the  fables  on  which  the  superstition  was  support- 
ed.— See  General  Macleod*s  Memoirs,  as  to  John- 
son's willingness  to  behove  in  the  second-sight— 
Ed.] 

2  The  true  story  of  this  ladV,  which  happened 
in  this  century,  is'  as  frightfully  romantic  as  if  it 
had  been  the  fiction  of  a  gloomy  fancy.  She  was 
the  wife  of  one  of  the  lords  of  session  in  Scotland, 
a  man  of  the  very  first  blood  of  his  country.  For 
some  mysterious  reasons,  which  have  never  been 
discovered,  she  was  seized  and  carried  off  in  the 
dark,  she  knew  not  by  whom,  and  by  nightly 
journeys  was  conveyed  to  the  Highland  shores, 
from  whence  she  was  transported  by  sea  to  the  re- 
mote rock  of  St  Kilda,  where  she  remained, 
amongst  its  few  wild  inhabitants,  a  forlorn  prisoner, 
but  had  a  constant  supply  of  provisions,  and  a  wo- 
man to  wait  on  her.  No  inquiry  was  made  after 
her,  till  she  at  last  found  means  to  convey  a  letter 
to  a  confidential  friend,  by  the  daughter  of  a  CsJh 
echist,  who  concealed  it  in  a  due  of  yarn.  Is- 
formation  being  thus  obtained  atEdinburgh,  a  ship 
was  sent  to  bring  her  off ;  but  intelligence  of  this 
being  received,  she  was  conveyed  to  Macleoda 
island  of  Herries,  where  she  died ;  [but  was  buri- 
ed, as  Macleod  informs  the  Editor,  at  Dunve- 
gan.]— Bos  well.  [The  story  of  Lady  Grants 
is  well  known.    I  have  seen  her  Journal.    8ne 


had  become  privy  to  some  of  the  Jacobite  I 
in  which  her  husband,  Lord  Grange  (brother  of 
the  Earl  of  Mar,  and  a  lord  of  session),  and  his 
family  were  engaged.  Being  on  mdifierent  terms 
with  her  husband,  she  is  said  to  have  thrown  out 
hints  that  she  knew  as  much  as  would  cost  him 
his  life.  The  judge  probably  thought  with  Mm. 
Peachum,  that  it  is  rather  an  awkward  state  of 
domestic  affairs  when  the  wile  has  it  in  her  pow- 
er to  hang  the  husband.  Lady  Grange  was  the 
more  to  be  dreaded,  as  she  came  of  a  vindictive  j 
race,  being  the  grandchild  of  that  Cbieaiey  of  I 
Dairy,  who  assassinated  Sir  George  Lockhart, 
the  lord  president  Many  persons  of  inaportaaee 
in  the  Highlands  were  concerned  in  removing  hot 
testimony.    The  notorious  Lovat,  with  a  party  of  i 


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HEBRIDES.] 

Dr.  Johnson  said,  if  Macleod  would  let  it 
be  known  that  he  had  such  a  place  for 
naughty  ladies,  he  might  make  it  a  very 
profitable  island.  We  had,  in  the  course 
of  our  tour,  heard  of  St.  Kilda  poetry.  Dr. 
Johnson  observed,  "  It  must  be  very  poor, 
because  they  have  very  few  images."  Bos- 
well.  "  There  may  be  a  poetical  genius 
shown  in  combining  these,  and  in  making 
poetry  of  them."  Johnson.  "  Sir,  a  man 
cannot  make  fire  but  in  proportion  as  he 
has  fuel.  He  cannot  coin  guineas  but  in 
proportion  as  he  has  gold. "  At  tea  he  talk- 
ed of  his  intending  to  go  to  Italy  in  1775. 
Macleod  said,  he  would  like  Paris  better. 
Johnson.  "  No,  sir ;  there  are  none  of  the 
French  literati  now  alive,  to  visit  whom  I 
would  cross  a  sea.  I  can  find  in  BufFon's 
book  all  that  he  can  say  V 

After  supper  he  said,  "I  am  sorry  that 
prize-fighting  is  gone  out;  every  art  should 
ne  preserved,  and  the  art  of  defence  is  sure- 
ly important.  It  is  absurd  that  our  soldiers 
should  have  swords,  and  not  be  taught  the 


1773.— iETAT.  64. 


399 


his  men,  were  the  direct  agents  in  carrying  her 
off  (see  ante,  p.  72)  ;  and  St  Kilda,  belonging 
then  to  Macleod,  was  selected  as  the  place  of  con- 
finement. The  name  by  which  she  was  spoken  or 
written  of  was  Corpaeh,  an  ominous  distinction, 
corresponding  to  what  is  called  subject  in  the 
lecture-room  of  an  anotamkt,  or  shot  in  the 
slang  of  the  Westport  murderers. — Walter 
Scott.] 

In  "  Cantares*i  State  Papera,"  we  find  an  au- 
thentksk  narrative  of  Connor,  a  catbolick  priest, 
who  tamed  protectant,  being  seized  by  some  of 
Lord  Seaforth's  people,  and  detained  prisoner  in 
the  island  of  Harris  several  yeaVs :  he  was  fed 
with  bread  and  water,  and  lodged  in  a  house 
where  he  was  exposed  to  the  rains  and  cold.  Sir 
James  Ogilvy  writes,  June  18,  1667,  "  that  the 
I*rd  Chancellor,  the  Lord  Advocate,  and  himself, 
were  to  meet  next  day,  to  take  effectual  methods 
to  have  this  redressed.  Connor  was  then  still  de- 
tained."— P.  810.  This  shows  what  private  op- 
pression might  in  the  last  century  be  practised  in 
the  Hebrides.  In  the  same  collection,  the  Earl 
of  Argyle  gives  a  picturesque  account  of  an  em- 
bassy fioin  the  great  M'JVeil  of  Barra,  as  that 
insular  chief  used  to  be  denominated.  "  I  receiv- 
ed a  letter  yesterday  from  M'Neil  of  Barra,  who 
lives  very  far  off,  sent  by  a  gentleman  in  all 
formality,  offering  his  service,  which  had  made 
you  laugh  to  see  his  entry.  The  style  of  hk 
letter  runs  as  if  be  were  of  another  kingdom." 
-_p.  648.— Boswkli*  [It  was  said  of  M'Neil 
of  Barra,  that  when  he  dined,  his  bagpipes  blew 
a  particular  strain,  intimating  that  all  the  world 
might  go  to  dinner. — Walter  Scott.] 

*  I  doubt  the  justice  of  my  fellow-traveller's  re- 
mark concerning  the  French  literati,  many  of 
whom,  I  am  told,  have  considerable  merit  in  con- 
versation, as  well  as  in  their  writings.  That  of 
Monsieur  de  Buffon,  in  particular,  I  am  well  as-' 
sured  is  highly  instructive  and  entertaining. — Bos- 
wbll. 


use  of  them.  Prize-fighting  s  made  people 
accustomed  not  to  be  alarmed  at  seeing 
their  own  blood,  or  feeling  a  little  pain  from 
a  wound.  I  think  the  heavy  glaymore  was 
an  ill-contrived  weapon.  A  man  could  only 
strike  once  with  it.  It  employed  both  his 
hands,  and  he  must  of  course- be  soon  fa- 
tigued with  wielding  it ;  so  that  if-  his  an- 
tagonist could  only  keep  playing  awhile,  he 
was  sure  of  him.  I  would  fight  with  a  dirk 
against  Rorie  Mare's  sword.  I  could  ward 
off  a  blow  with  a  dirk,  and  then  run  in  upon 
my  enemy.  When  within  that  heavy  sword, 
I  have  him ;  he  is  quite  helpless,  and  I  could 
stab  him  at  my  leisure,  like  a  calf.  It  is 
thought  by  sensible  military  men,  that  the 
English  do  not  enough  avail  themselves  of 
their  superior  strength  of  body  against  the 
French  ;  for  that  must  always  have  a  great 
advantage  in  pushing  with  bayonets.  I 
have  heard  an  officer  say,  that  if  women 
could  be  made  to  stand,  they  would  do  as 
well  as  men  in  a  mere  interchange  of  bul- 
lets from  a  distance ;  but,  if  a  body  of  men 
should  come  close  up  to  them,  then  to  be 
sure  they  must  be  overcome :  now,"  said 
he, "  in  the  same  manner  the  weaker-bod- 
ied French  must  be  overcome  by  our  strong 
soldiers." 

The  subject  of  duelling  was  introduced. 
Johnson.  "  There  is  no  case  in  England 
where  one  or  other  of  the  combatants  must 
die  :  if  you  have  overcome  your  adversary 
by  disarming  him,  that  is  sufficient,  though 
you  should  not  kill  him ;  your  honour,  or 
the  honour  of  your  family,  is  restored,  as 
much  as  it  can  be  by  a  duel.  It  is  coward- 
ly to  force  your  antagonist  to  renew  the 
combat:  when  you  know  that  you  have  the 
advantage  of  him  by  superior  skill.  You 
might  just  as  well  go  and  cut  his  throat 
while  he  is  asleep  in  his  bed.  When  a  du- 
el begins,  it  is  supposed  there  may  be  an 
equality ;  because  it  is  not  always  skill  that 
prevails.  It  depends  much  on  presence  of 
mind ;  nay,  on  accidents.  The  wind  may 
be  in  a  man's  face.  He  may  fall 3.  Many 
such  things  may  decide  the  superiority.  A 
man  is  sufficiently  punished  by  being  called 


*  [Mis.  Piozzi  says,  "  Mr.  Johnson  was  very 
conversant  in  the  art  of  attack  and  defence  bv 
boxing,  which  science  he  had  learned  from  his 
uncle  Andrew,  I  believe  ;  and  I  have  heard  him 
descant  npon  the  age  when  people  were  received, 
and  when  rejected,  in  the  schools  once  held  for 
that  brutal  amusement,  mnch  to  the  admiration  of 
those  who  had  no  expectation  of  his  skill  in  soch 
matters,  from  the  sight  of  a  figure  which  precluded 
all  possibility  of  personal  prowess." — Anecdotes, 
p.  4.— Ed.] 

*  [Johnson  considers  duels  as  only  fought  with 
swords,  a  practice  now  wholly  superseded  by  the 
use  of  pistols,  a  weapon  which,  generally  speak- 
ing, is  more  equal  than  the  sword  could  be. — 
Ed.] 


Digitized  by 


Google 


400 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


out,  and  subjected  to  the  risk  that  is  in  a  du- 
el. "  But  on  my  suggesting  that  the  injured 
person  is  equally  subjected  to  risk,  he  fairly 
owned  he  could  not  explain  the  rationality 
of  duelling. 

Monday,  20th  September. — When  I  awak- 
ed, the  storm  was  higher  still.  It  abated 
about  nine,  and  the  sun  shone  ;  but  it  rain- 
ed again  very  soon,  and  it  was  not  a  day 
for  travelling.  At  breakfast,  Dr.  Johnson 
told  us,  "There  was  once  a  pretty  good 
tavern  in  Catharine-street  in  the  Strand, 
where  very  good  company  met  in  an  eve- 
ning, and  each  man  called  for  his  own  half- 
pint  of  wine,  or  gill,  if  he  pleased ;  they 
were  frugal  men,  and  nobody  paid  but  for 
what  he  himself  drank.  T*he  house  fur 
nished  no  supper ;  but  a  woman  attended 
with  mutton-pies,  which  any  body  might 
purchase.  I  was  introduced  to  this  compa- 
ny by  Cumming  the  Quaker l,  and  used  to 
go  there  sometimes  when  I  drank  wine.  In 
the  last  age,  when  my  mother  lived  in  Lon- 
don, there  were  two  sets  of  people,  those 
who  gave  the  wall,  and  those  who  took  it ; 


J  [Thomas  Camming  was  a  bold  and  basy 
man,  who  mistook  his  vocation  when  he  turned 
quaker  (for  he  was  not  born  in  that  sect).  He 
planned  and  almost  commanded  a  military  expe- 
dition to  the  coast  of  Africa,  in  1758;  which  end- 
ed in  the  capture  of  Senegal.  It  and  its  authour 
make  a  considerable  figure  in  Smollett's  History 
of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  278,  where  the  anomaly  of 
a  quaker' g  heading  an  army  is  attempted  to  be 
excused  by  the  event  of  the  enemy's  having  sur- 
rendered without  fighting;  and  a  protest  that 
Cumming  would  not  have  engaged  in  it  had  he 
not  been  assured,  that  against  an  overpowering 
force  the  enemy  could  not  have  resisted.  This 
reminds  us  of  another  story  of  Cumming.  Dur- 
ing the  rebellion  of  1745,  he  was  asked,  whether 
the  time  was  not  come  when  even  he,  as  a  qua- 
ker, ought  to  take  arms  for  the  civil  and  religious 
liberties  of  his  country?  "  JVb,"  said  Cumming, 
"  but  I  will  drive  an  ammunition  waggon."  Yet 
this  bustling  man  was,  it  seems,  morbidly  sensi- 
tive. Mrs.  Pioszi  says  he  died  heart-broken  by  a 
libel  in  a  periodical  paper.  "  Dr.  Johnson  once 
told  me  that  Cunomings,  the  famous  quaker, 
whose  friendship  he  valued  very  highly,  fell  a 
sacrifice  to  the  insults  of  the  newspapers,  having 
declared  on  his  death-bed  to  Dr.  Johnson,  that 
the  pain  of  an  anonymous  letter,  written  in  some 
of  the  common  prints  of  the  day,  fastened  on  his 
heart,  and  threw  him  into  die  slow  fever  of  which 
he  died." — PiozzVt  Anecdotes,  p.  143.  Mr. 
Chalmers  i§  in  possession  of  one  of  those  libels, 
found,  as  he  believes,  in  the  Town  and  Country 
Magazine,  in  which,  by  a  wooden  cut,  and  un- 
der the  name  of  Tomoeotningo,  the  political  qua- 
ker, his  person  and  principles  are  certainly  severe- 
ly handled,  bat  nothing  to  die  of.  The  date, 
however,  of  this  paper,  which  Mr.  Chalmers  be- 
lieves to  have  been  published  in  1774,  the  year 
in  which  Cummins;  died,  gives  some  countenance 
to  Johnson's  anecdote.— Ed.] 


[tour  TO  THE 

the  peaceable  and  the  quarrelsome.  When 
I  returned  to  Lichfield,  after  having  been  in 
London,  my  mother  asked  me,  whether  I 
was  one  of  those  who  gave  the  wall,  or 
those  who  took  it  Now,  it  is  fixed 
that  every  man  keeps  to  the  ri^ht ;  or,  if 
one  is  taking  the  wall,  another  yields  it,  and 
it  is  never  a  dispute."  He  was  very  se- 
vere on  a  lady,  whose  name  was  mentioned. 
He  said,  he  would  have  sent  her  to  St.  Kil- 
da.  That  she  was  as  bad  as  negative  bad- 
ness could  be,  and  stood  in  the  way  of  what 
was  good:  that  insipid  beauty  would  not 
go  a  great  way ;  and  that  such  a  woman 
might  be  cut  out  of  a  cabbage,  if  there  was 
a  skilful  artificer. 

Macleod  was  too  late  in  coming  to  break- 
fast Dr.  Johnson  said,  laziness  was  worse 
than  the  toothache.  Boswell.  "  I  cannot 
agree  with  you,  sir ;  a  basin  of  cold  water, 
or  a  horsewhip,  will  cure  laziness."  Jo  hit- 
son.  «  No,  sir  ;  it  will  only  put  off  the  fit ; 
it  will  not  cure  the  disease.  I  have  been 
trying  to  cure  my  laziness  all  my  life,  and 
could  not  do  it"  Boswell.  "  But  if  a 
man  does  in  a  shorter  time  what  might  be 
the  labour  of  a  life,  there  is  nothing  to  be 
said  against  him."  Johnson  (perceiving 
at  once  that  I  alluded  to  him  and  his  Dic- 
tionary}. "Suppose  that  flattery  to  be 
true,  the  consequence  would  be,  that  the 
world  would  have  no  right  to  censure  a 
man :  but  that  will  not  justify  him  to  turn- 
self." 

After  breakfast  he  Baid  to  me,  "  A  High* 
land  chief  should  now  endeavour  .to  do  every 
thing  to  raise  his  rents,  by  means  of  the 
industry  of  his  people.  Formerly,  it  was 
right  for  him  to  have  his  house  full  of  idle 
fellows  ;  they  were  his  defenders,  his  ser- 
vants, his  dependants,  his  friends.  Now 
they  may  be  better  employed.  The  system 
of  things  is  now  so  much  altered,  that  the 
family  cannot  have  influence  but  by  riches, 
because  it  has  no  longer  the  power  of  an- 
cient feudal  times.  An  individual  of  a  fam- 
ily may  have  it ;  but  it  cannot  now  belong 
to  a  family,  unless  you  could  have  a  perpe- 
tuity of  men  with  the  same  views.  Macle- 
od has  four  times  the  land  that  the  Duke  of 
Bedford  has.  I  think,  with  his  spirit,  he 
may  in  time  make  himself  the  greatest  man 
in  the  king's  dominions  :  for  land  may  al- 
ways be  improved  to  a  certain  degree.  I 
would  never  have  any  man  sell  land,  in 
throw  money  into  the  funds,  as  is  often 
done,  or  to  try  any  other  species  of  trade. 
Depend  upon  it,  this  rage  of  trade  will  de- 
stroy itself.  You  and  I  shall  not  see  it ; 
but  the  time  will  come  when  there  will  be 
an  end  of  it.  Trade  is  like  gaming.  If  a 
whole  company  are  gamesters,  play  must 
cease;  for  there  is  nothing  to  be  won. 
When  all  nations  are  traders,  there  is  noth- 
ing to  be  gained  by  trade,  and  it  will  stop 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES;] 

first  where  it  is  brought  to  the  greatest  per- 
fection. Then  the  proprietors  of  land  only 
will  be  the  great  men.,%  1  observed,  it  was 
hard  that  Macleod  should  find  ingratitude 
in  so  many  of  his  people.  Johnson.  "  Sir, 
gratitude  is  a  fruit  of  great  cultivation  ;  you 
do  not  find  it  among  gross  people."  I 
doubt  of  this.  Nature  seems  to  have  im- 
planted gratitude  in  all  living  creatures. 
The  lion,  mentioned  by  Aulus  Gellius,  had 
it  i.  It  appears  to  me  that  culture,  which 
brings  luxury  and  selfishness  with  it,  has  a 
tendency  rather  to  weaken  than  promote 
this  affection.  % 

Dr.  Johnson  said  this  morning,  when 
talking  of  our  Betting  out,  that  he  was  in 
the  state  in  which  Lord  Bacon  represents 
kings.  He  desired  the  end,  but  did  not  like 
the  means.  He  wished  much  to  get  home, 
but  was  unwilling  to  travel  in  Sky.  "  You 
are  like  kings  too  in  this,  sir,"  said  I, 
"  that  you  must  act  under  the  direction  of 
others." 

Tuesday,  21  si  September. — The  uncer-. 
tainty  of  our  present  situation  having  pre- 
vented me  from  receiving  any  letters  from 
home  for  some  time,  I  could  not  help  being 
uneasy.  Dr.  Johnson  had  an  advantage 
over  me  in  this  respect,  he  having  no  wife 
or  child  to  occasion  anxious  apprehensions 
in  his  mind.  It  was  a  good  morning  ;  so 
we  resolved  to  set  out  But,  before  quit- 
ting this  castle,  where  we  have  been  so  well 
entertained,  let  me  give  a  short  description 
of  it. 

Along  the  edge  of  the  rock,  there  are  the 
remains  of  a  wall,  which  is  now  covered 
with  ivy.  A  square  court  is  formed  by 
buildings  of  different  ages,  particularly  some 
towers,  said  to  be  of  great  antiquity ;  and 
at  one  place  there  is  a  row  of  false  cannon9 
of  stone.  There  is  a  very  large  unfinished 
pile,  four  stories  high,  which  we  were  told 
was  here  when  Leod,  the  first  of  this  fam- 
ily, came  from  the  Isle  of  Man,  married  the 
heiress  of  the  M* Grails,  the  ancient  posses- 
sors of  Dunvegan,  and  afterwards  acquired 
by  conquest  as  much  land  as  he  had  got  by 
marriage.  He  surpassed  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria ;  for  he  was /Wis  both  bella  rerere  et 
nubere  3.   John  Breek  <  Macleod,  the  grand- 

1  Aul.  Gellins,  lib.  v.  c.  xiv. — Boswxoll. 

*  [Dunvegan  Castle  is  mounted  with  real  can- 
non; not  unnecessarily,  for  its  situation  might  ex- 
pose it  in  war  time  to  be  plundered  by  privateers. 
— Walter  Scott.] 

*  [This  is  an  allusion  to  a  celebrated  epigram, 
quoted  with  so  much  effect  by  the  late  Mr.  Whit- 
bread,  in  a  speech  in  the  house  of  commons  (9th 
March,  1810),  in  allusion  to  the  marriage  of  the 
Archduchess  Maria,  Louisa  with  Buonaparte. 

u  Bells  mrsm  alii  j  to,  Mix  Austria,  nube  j 
Qosj  dat  Mara  aula,  dat  tibi  ragna  Venus."— Ed.] 

*  [Breek  means  marked  with  the  SBssJJ-pox— - 

E».] 

VOL.   I.  51 


mi- iETAT.  64. 


401 


father  of  the  late  laird,  began  to  repair  the 
castle,  or  rather  to  complete  it;  but  he  did  not 
live  to  finish  his  undertaking.  Not  doubt- 
ing, however,  that  he  should  do  it,  he,  like 
those  who  have  had  their  epitaphs  written 
before  they  died,  ordered  the  following  in- 
scription, composed  by  the  minister  of  the 
parish,  to  be  cut  upon  a  broad  stone  above 
one  of  the  lower  windows,  where  it  still  re- 
mains to  celebrate  what  was  not  done,  and 
to  serve  as  a  memento  of  the  uncertainty  of 
life,  and  the  presumption  of  man5  : 

"  Joannes  Macleod  Beganoduni  Dominus 
eentis  suae  Philarchua  <*,  Uurinesis  Harai© 
Vaternesi®,  &c.  Baro  D.  Flora;  Macdon- 
ald  matrimoniali  vinculo  conjugatus  turrem 
hanc  Beganodunensem  proavorum  habita- 
culum  longe  vetustissimum  diu  penitus  labe- 
fectatam  Anno  aerae  vulgaris  mdclxxxvi 
instauravit. 


'*  Quern  stabQjre  juvat  proavorum  tecta  i 
Omne  soelus  fugiat,  justitiamque  colat. 
Vertit  in  aerias  turres  magalia  virtus, 
Inque  casas  humiles  tecta  superba  ne&s.'* 

Macleod  and  Talisker  accompanied  us. 
We  passed  by  the  parish  church  of  Durin- 
ish.  The  churchyard  is  not  enclosed,  but 
a  pretty  murmuring  brook  runs  along  one 
side  ofit.  In  it  is  a  pyramid  erected  to  the 
memory  of  Thomas  Lord  Lovat,  by  his  son 
Lord  Simon,  who  suffered  on  Tower-hill. 
It  is  of  free-stone,  and,  I  suppose,  about 
thirty  feet  high.  There  is  an  inscription  on 
a  piece  of  white  marble  inserted  in  it,  which 
I  suspect  to  have  been  the  composition  of 
Lord  Lovat  himself,  being  much  in  his 
pompous  style. 

I  have  preserved  this  inscription  *,  though 


•  [It  is  now  finished,  though  not  on  so  lofty  a 
scale  as  was  originally  designed. — En.] 

6  [The  minister  seems  to  have  bean  no  con- 
temptible Latins*.  Is  not  PhUarchus  a  very 
happy  term  to  express  the  paternal  and  kindly 
authority  of  the  head  of  a  clan  ?  Macleod's  titles 
run  in  English,  "  Lord  of  Dunvegan,  Chief  of 
Ass  Clan,  Baron  of  Durinish,  Harris,  Water- 
ness,9*  sec — En.]   See  Appendix. 

7  "  This  pyramid  was  erected  by  Simon  Lord 
Fraser,  of  Lovat,  in  honour  of  Lord  Thomas  his 
father,  a  peer  of  Scotland,  and  chief  of  the  great 
and  ancient  clan  of  the  Frasers.  Being  attacked 
for  his  birthright'ly  the  family  of  Atholl,  then  in 
power  and  favour  with  King  William,  yet,  by 
the  valour  and  fidelity  of  his  clan,  and  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Campbells,  the  old  friends  and  allies 
of  his  family,  he  defended  his  birthright  with  such  1 
greatness  and  fernery  of  soul,  and  such  valour 
and  activity,  that  he  was  an  honour  to  his  name, 
and  a  good  pattern  to  all  brave  chiefs  of  clans. 
He  died  in  the  month  of  May,  1699,  in  the  silly- 
third  year  of  his  age,  in  Dunvegan,  the  house  of 
the  Laird  of  Macleod,  whose  sister  he  had  mar- 
ried :  by  whom  he  had  the  above  Simon  Lord  fta- 
ser,  and  several  other  children.  And,  for  the 
great  love  he  bore  to  the  family  of  Masted,  he 


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402 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


of  no  great  value,  thinking  it  characteristi- 
cal  of  a  man  who  has  made  some  noise  in 
the  world.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  it  was  poor 
stuff,  such  as  Lord  Lovat's  hutler  might 
have  written. 

I  observed,  in  this  churchyard,  a  parcel 
of  people  assembled  at  a  funeral,  before  the 
grave  was  dug.  The  coffin,  with  the  corpse 
in  it,  was  placed  on  the  ground,  while  the 
people  alternately  assisted  in  making  a  grave. 
One  man,  at  a  little  distance,  was  busy  cut- 
ting a  ions  turf  for  it,  with  the  crooked 
spade  i  which  is  used  in  Sky;  a  very  awk- 
ward instrument.  The  iron  part  of  it  is 
like  a  plough-coulter.  It  has  a  rude  tree  for 
a  handle,  in  which  a  wooden  pin  is  placed 
for  the  foot  to  press  upon.  A  traveller 
might,  without  further  inquiry,  have  set  this 
down  as  the  mode  of  burying  in  Sky.  I 
was  told,  however,  that  the  usual  way  is  to 
have  a  grave  previously  dug. 

I  observed  to-day,  that  the  common  way 
of  carrying  home  their  grain  here  is  in  loads 
on  horseback.  They  have  also  a  few  sleds, 
or  cars,  as  we  call  them  in  Ayrshire,  clumsi- 
ly made,  and  rarely  used. 

We  got  to  Ulini8h  about  six  o'clock,  and 
found  a  very  good  farm-house,  of  two  stories. 
Mr.  Macleod  of  Ulinish,  the  sheriff-substi- 
tute of  the  island,  was  a  plain  honest  gentle- 
man, a  good  deal  like  an  English  justice  of 
peace ;  not  much  given  to  talk,  but  suffi- 
ciently sagacious,  and  somewhat  droll.  His 
daughter,  though  she  was  never  out  of  Sky, 
was  a  very  well-bred  woman.  Our  reve- 
rend friend,  Mr.  Donald  M*  Queen,  kept  his 
appointment,  and  met  us  here. 
-  Talking  of  Phipps's  voyage  to  the  North 
Pole,  Dr.  Johnson  observed,  that  it  "  was 
conjectured  that  our  former  navigators 
have  kept  too  near  land,  and  so  have  found 
the  sea  frozen  far  north,  because  the  land 
hinders  the  free  motion  of  the  tide;  but,  in 
the  wide  ocean,  where  the  waves  tumble  at 
their  full  convenience,  it  is  imagined  that 
the  frost  does  not  take  effect." 

Wednesday,  22rf  September,— In  the 
morning  I  walked  out,  and  saw  a  ship,  the 
Margaret  of  Clyde,  pass  by  with  a  number 
of  emigrants  on  board.  It  was  a  melancho- 
ly sight  After  breakfast,  we  went  to  see 
what  was  called  a  subterraneous  house,  about 
a  mile  off.  It  was  upon  the  side  of  a  rising 
ground.  It  was  discovered  by  a  fox's  hav- 
ing taken  up  his  abode  in  it,  and  in  chasing 


desired  to  be  buried  near  his  wife's  relations,  in 
the  place  where  two  of  her  uncles  lay.  And  his 
son  Lotd  Simon,  to  show  to  posterity  his  great 
affection  for  his  mother's  kindred,  the  brave  Mac- 
leods,  chooses  rather  to  leave  his  father's  bones 
with  them,  than  carry  them  to  his  own  burial-place, 
nearLovat" 

1  [An  instrument  somewhat  like  this  (if  not 
the  same)  is  still  in  general  use  in  Ireland.— 
Ed.] 


[tour  to  thk 

him,  they  dug  into  it.  It  was  very  nar- 
row and  low,  and  seemed  about  forty  feet  in 
length.  Near  it,  we  found  the  foundations 
of  several  small  huts,  built  of  stone.  Mr. 
M«  Queen,  who  is  always  for  making  every 
thing  as  ancient  as  possible,  boasted  that  it  - 
was  the  dwelling  of  some  of  the  first  inhabit- 
ants of  the  island,  and  observed,  what  a 
curiosity  it  was  to  find  here  a  specimen  of 
the  houses  of  the  aborigines,  which  he  be- 
lieved could  be  found  nowhere  else;  and  it 
was  plain  that  they  lived  without  fire.  Dr. 
Johnson  remarked,  that  they  who  made  this 
were  not  in  the  rudest  state  iJbt  that  it  was 
more  difficult  to  make  it  tlran  to  build  a 
house;  therefore  certainly  those  who  made 
it  were  in  possession  of  houses,  and  had  this 
only  as  a  hiding-place.  It  appeared  to  me, 
that  the  vestiges  of  houses  just  by  it  con- 
firmed Dr.  Johnson's  opinion. 

From  an  old  tower,  near  this  place,  is  an 
extensive  view  of  Loch-Braccadale,  and,  at 
a  distance,  of  the  isles  of  Barra  and  South 
Uist;  and,  on  the  landside,  the  Cuillin  *,  a 
prodigious  range  of  mountains,  capped  with 
rocky  pinnacles  in  a  strange  variety  of  shapes. 
They  resemble  the  mountains  near  Corte, 
in  Corsica,  of  which  there  is  a  very  good 

Srint.    They  make  part  of  a  great  range  for 
eer,  which,  though  entirely  devoid  of  trees, 
is  in  these  countries  called  a  forest. 

In  the  afternoon,  Ulinish  carried  us  in 
his  boat  to  an  island  possessed  by  him, 
where  we  saw  an  immense  save, much  more 
-deserving  the  title  of  antrum  immane  than 
that  of  the  Sibyl  described  by  Virgil,  which 
I  likewise  have  visited.  It  is  one  hundred 
and  eighty  feet  long,  about  thirty  feet 
broad,  and  at  least  thirty  feet  high.  This 
cave,  we  were  told,  had  a  remarkable  echo, 
but  we  found  none.  They  said  it  was  owing 
to  the  great  rains  having  made  it  damp 
Such  are  the  excuses  by  which  the  exagge- 
ration of  Highland  narratives  is  palliated 
There  is  a  plentiful  garden  at  Ulinish  (a 
great  rarity  in  Sky),  and  several  trees;  and 
near  the  house  is  a  hill,  which  has  an  Erse 
name,  signifying cc  the  hill  of  strife,"  where, 
Mr.  M' Queen  informed  us,  justice  was  of 
old  administered.  It  is  like  the  mons  ptaeiti 
of  Scone,  or  those  hills  which  are  called 
laws,  such  as  Kelly  law,  North-Berwick  law, 
and  several  others.  It  is  singular  that  this 
spot  should  happen  now  to  be  the  sheriffs 
residence. 
We  had  a  very  cheerful  evening,  and  Dr 


'  [These  picturesque  mountains  of  Sky  take 
their  name  from  the  ancient  hero,  CuchtUlm 
The  name  is  pronounced  Qnillen.  I  wonder  that 
Boswell  nowhere  mentions  Maefeod's  Maidens 
— two  or  three  immense  stacks  of  rock,  like  the 
Needles  at  the  Isle  of  Wight;  and  Macleod'* 
Dvning-Tablcs — lulls  which  derive  their  name 
from  their  elevated,  steep  sides,  and  fiat  tops. — 
Waltkk  Scott.] 


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HEBRIDES.] 

Johnson  talked  a  good  deal  on  the  subject 
of  literature.  Speaking  of  the  noble  family 
of  Boyle,  he  said,  that  all  the  Lord  Orrerys, 
till  the  present,  had  been  writers.  The 
first  wrote  several  plays;  the  second l  was 
Bentley'8  antagonist;  the  third  wrote  the 
Life  of  Swift,  and  several  other  things;  his 
son  Hamilton  wrote  some  papers  in  the  Ad- 
venturer and  World.  He  told  us  he  was 
well  acquainted  with  Swift's  Lord  Orrery. 
He  said  he  was  a  feeble-minded  man;  that, 
on  the  publication  of  Dr.  Delany's  Remarks 
on  his  took,  he  was  so  much  alarmed  that 
he  was  afraid  to  read  them.  Dr.  Johnson 
comforted  him,  by  telling  him  they  were 
both  in  the  right;  that  Delany  had  seen 
most  of  the  good  side  of  Swift, — Lord  Or- 
rery most  of  the  bad.  Macleod  asked,  if  it 
was  not  wrong  in  Orrery  to  expose  the  de- 
fects of  a  man  with  whom  he  lived  in  intima- 
cy. Johnson.  "Why  no,  sir,  after  the 
man  is  dead;  for  then  it  is  done  historically. " 
He  added,  "  If  Lord  Orrery  had  been  rich, 
he  would  have  been  a  very  liberal  patron9. 
His  conversation  was  like  his  writings,  neat 
and  elegant,  but  without  strength.  He 
grasped  at  more  than  his  abilities  could 
react;  tried  to  pass  for  a  better  talker,  a 
better  writer,  and  a  better  thinker  than  he 
was  3.  There  was  a  quarrel  between  him 
and  his  father,  in  which  his  father  was  to 
blame;  because  it  arose  from  the  son's  not 
allowing  his  wife  to  keep  company  with  his 
father's  mistress.  The  old  lord  showed  his 
resentment  in  his  will4, — leaving  his  library 


1773.— jETAT.  64. 


403 


[Dr.  Johnson  is  not  quite  accurate  in  his 
The  first  Lord  Orrery  wrote,  as  he 
says,  several  plays.  It  was  he  that  Horace 
Walpole  called  "  a  man  who  never  made  a  bad 
figure  bat  as  an  authour."  Roger,  the  second, 
and  Lionel,  the  third  earls,  are  not  known  as  au- 
thours.  Charles,  the  fourth,  was  the  antagonist 
of  BenUey,  and  wrote  a  comedy;  John,  the 
fifth  earl,  was  the  friend  of  Swift  and  Johnson. — 
Ed.]    See  Appendix. 

9  [Hr.  Tyers,  m  reference  to  his  opinion  that 
Johnson  expected  pecuniary  assistance  from 
Lord  Chesterfield,  contrasts  his  patronage  with 
Choi  of  Lord  Orrery,  and  seems  to  believe  that 
Lord  Orrery  had  done  Johnson  some  kindness  of 
this  sort,  but  not  as  much  as  he  would  have  done 
if  he  were  richer. — Ed.] 

•  [See  ante,  p.  172.— Ed.] 

4  [The  young  lord  was  married  on  the  8th 
May,  1728,  end  the  father's  will  is  dated  the  6th 
tfor.  following.  "  Having,"  says  the  testator, 
«"  with  great  expense  and  trouble,  made  a  large 
collection  of  useful  books  and  of  mathematical 
instruments,  machines  and  optical  glasses  of  value, 
which  I  would  have  carefully  preserved  for  the 
benefit  of  posterity;  and  having  never  observed 
that  my  son  hath  showed  mach  taste  or  in- 
duration, either  for  the  entertainment  or  know- 
ledge which  study  and  learning  afford,  I  give 
and  bequeath  all  my  books  and  mathematical 
(except  my  Journals  of  the  House 


from  his  son,  and  assigning,  as  his  reason, 
that  he  could  not  make  use  of  it." 

I  mentioned  the  affectation  of  Orrery,  in 
ending  all  his  letters  on  the  Life  of  Swift  in 
studied  varieties  of  phrase,  and  never  in  the 
common  mode  of  "  I  am,"  &c.  an  observa- 
tion which  I  remember  to  have  been  made 
several  years  ago  by  old  Mr.  Sheridan. 
This  species  of  affectation  in  writing,  as  a 
foreign  lady  of  distinguished  talents  once 
remarked  to  me,  is  almost  peculiar  to  the 
English.  1  took  up  a  volume  of  Dryden, 
containing  the  Conquest  of  Granada,  and 
several  other  plays,  of  which  all  the  dedica- 
tions had  such  studied  conclusions.  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  such  conclusions  were  more 
elegant,  and,  in  addressing  persons  of  high 
rank  (as  when  Dryden  dedicated  to  me 
Duke  of  York),  they  were  likewise  more 
respectful5.  I  agreed  that  there  it  was 
much  better :  it  was  making  his  escape  from 
the  royal  presence  with  a  genteel  sudden 
timidity,  in  place  of  having  the  resolution 
to  stand  still,  and  make  a  formal  bow. 

Lord  Orrery's  unkind  treatment  of  his  son 
in  his  will  led  us  to  talk  of  the  dispositions  a 
man  should  have  when  dying.  I  said,  I  did 
not  see  why  a  man  should  act  differently 
with  respect  to  those  of  whom  he  thought 
ill  when  m  health,  merely  because  he  was 
dying.  Johnson.  "  I  should  not  scruple 
to  speak  against  a  party,  when  dying;  but 
should  not  do  it  against  an  individual.  It 
is  told  of  Sirtus  Quintus,  that  on  his  death- 
bed, in  the  intervals  of  his  last  pangs,  he 
signed  death-warrants."  Mr.  Mc  Queen 
said,  he  should  not  do  so;  he  would  have 
more  tenderness  of  heart.  Johnson.  "  I 
believe  I  should  not  either:  but  Mr. 
M' Queen  and  I  are  cowards.  It  would  not 
be  from  tenderness  of  heart;  for  the  heart 
is  as  tender  when  a  man  is  in  health  as  when 


of  Lords,  and  except  those  books  and  instruments 
which,  at  the  time  of  my  death,  shall  be  in  and 
belonging  to  my  houses  at  Marston  and  Britwell) 
to  Christeburch  College,  in  Oxford,  Ice  :  my  said 
son,  within  two  yean  next  after  my  decease,  ta- 
king thereout,  and  which  I  do  hereby  give  him 
for  his  sole  use  and  benefit,  such  books  relating;  to 
the  English  constitution  and  parliamentary  affairs, 
as  he  snail  think  fit  to  make  choice  of." 

The  quarrel,  however,  was  probably  made  np, 
as  Earl  John  m  represented  as  being  exoessiveiv 
grieved  by  the  death  of  his  father,  and  he  himself, 
m  an  affectionate  copy  of  verses  on  that  loss,  says, 

"  I  weep  a/otter,  bat  I  »te  lost  %  friend." 

And  Theobald  published  a  poetical  epistle  of  con- 
dolence to  the  young  lord  on  that  same  occasion, 
in  terms  which  would  have  been  too  glaringly 
ridiculous  if  he  had  been  on  notorious  bad  terms 
with  his  father.— Ed.] 

*  [Johnson  himself  sometimes  used  this  term 
without  the  excuse  he  mentiona. — See  letter  to 
Mr.  Langton,  17th  April,  1777<— En.] 


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404 


177*.— iETAT.  64. 


he  is  aick,  though  his  resolution  may  be 
stronger.  Sixlus  Quintus  was  a  sovereign 
as  well  as  a  priest;  and,  if  the  criminals  de- 
served death,  he  was  doing  his  duty  to  the 
last.  You  would  not  think  a  judge  died  ill, 
who  should  be  carried  off  by  an  apoplectics: 
fit  while  pronouncing  sentence  or  death. 
Consider  a  class  of  men  whose  business  it  is 
to  distribute  death: — soldiers,  who  die  scat- 
tering bullets.  Nobody  thinks  they  die  ill 
on  that  account'1 

Talking  of  biography,  he  said,  he  did  not 
think  that  the  liie  of  any  literary  man  in 
England  had  been  well  written.  Beside  the 
common  incidents  of  life,  it  should  tell  us 
his  studies,  his  mode  of  living,  the  means 
by  which  he  attained  to  excellence,  and  his 
opinion  of  his  own  works.  He  told  us  he 
had  sent  Derrick  to  Dryden's  relations,  to 
gather  materials  for  his  life;  and  he  believ- 
ed Derrick  had  got  all  that  he  himself  should 
have  got:  but  it  was  nothing.  He  added, 
he  had  a  kindness  for  Derrick ',  and  was  sor- 
ry he  was  dead. 

His  notion  as  to  the  poems  published  by 
Mr.  M'Pheiion,  as  the  works  of  Ossian, 
was  not-shaken  here.  Mr.  M(  Queen  always 
evaded  the-point  of  authenticity,  saying  on- 
ly that  Mr.  M 'Pherson's  pieces  fell  far  short 
of  these  he  knew  in  Erse,  Whicli  were  said 
to  be  Ossian's.  Johnsoic.  "I  hope- they 
do.  I  am  not  disputing  that  you  may  have 
poetry  of  great  merit;  but  that  M' Pherson's 
m  not  a  translation  from  ancient  poetry. 
You  do  not  believe  it  I  say  before*  you, 
you  do  not  believe  it,  though  you  are 
very  willing  that  the  world  should  believe 
it  I'  Mr.  M'Queen  made  no  answer  to 
this.  Dr.  Johnson  proceeded:  "I  look  upon 
M'Pherson's  Fingal  to  be  as  gross  an  W 

Seition  as  ever  the  world  was  troubled  with, 
ad  it  been  really  an  ancient  work,  a  true 
specimen  how  man  thought  at  that  time,  it 
would  have  been  a  curiosity  of  the  first  rate. 
As  a  modern  production,  it  is  nothing." 
He  said  he  could  never  get  the  meaning  of 
an  Erse  song  explained  to  him.  They  told 
him  the  chorus  was  generally  unmeaning. 
"  I  take  it  (said  he),  Erse  songs  are  like  a 
song  which  I  remember:  it  was  composed 
ki  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  on  the  Earl  of 
Essex;  and  the  burden  was 

•  Radaiatoo,  radarate,  radara  tadara  tandora.'  " 

"But  surely  (said  Mr.  M' Queen),  there 
were  words  to  it  which  had  meaning." 
Johnson.    "Why,  yes,  sir;  I  recollect  a 
stanza,  and  you  shall  have  it: 
'  O!  then  bespoke  the  prentices  all, 
Living  in  London,  both  proper  and  tall, 
For  Easex'i  sake  they  would  fight  all. 
Radaratoo,  radarate,  radara,  tadara,  tandoreV  " 


1  [See  ante,  p.  175.— Ed.] 
*  [This  droll  quotation,  I  have  since  found, 
was  from  a  song  in  honour  of  the  Earl  of  Essex, 


[TOUR  TO  THB 

When  Mr.  M'Queen  began  again  to  ex- 
patiate on  the  beauty  of  Ossian's  poetry, 
Dr.  Johnson  entered  into  no  further  contro- 
versy, but,  with  a  pleasant  smile,  only  cried, 
"  Ay,  ay;  Radaratoo  radarate." 

Thursday,  i$d  September.— I  took  Fin- 
gal  down  to  the  parlour  in  the  morning,  and 
tried  a  test  proposed  by  Mr.  Roderick  Mao 
leod,  son  to  UHnish.  Mr.  M*  Queen  had 
said  he  had  some  of  the  poem  in  the  origi- 
nal. I  desired  him  to  mention  any  passage 
in  the  printed  book,  of  which  he  could  re- 


looked  on  the  English ;  and  Mr.  Macleod 
said  that  it  was  pretty  like  what  Mr. 
M'  Queen  had  recited.  But  when  Mr. 
M'Queen  read  a  description  of  Cuchuliin's 
sword  in  Erse,  together  with  a  translation 
of  it  in  English  verse,  by  Sir  James  Foulia, 
Mr.  M'Leod  said,  that  was  much  more  like 
than  Mr.  M'Pherson's  translation  of  the 
former  passage.  Mr.  M'Queen  then  re- 
peated in  Erse  a  description  of  one  of  the 
horses  in  Cuchuliin's  car.  Mr.  M'Leod 
said,  Mr.  M* Pherson's  English  was  nothing 
like  it. 

When  Dr.  Johnson  came  down,  I  told  him 
that  I  had  now  obtained  some  evidence  con- 
cerning Fingal;  for  that  Mr.  M*  Queen  had 
repeated  a  passage  in  the  original  Erse, 
which  Mr.  M'Pherson's  translation  was  pret- 
ty like  3;  and  reminded  him  that  he  himself 
had  once  said,  he  did  not  require  Mr. 
M'Pherson's  Ossian  to  be  more  like  the  orig- 
inal than  Pope's  Homer.  Johnson.  "Well, 
sir,  this  is  just  what  I  always  maintained. 
He  has  found  names,  and  stories,  and  phrases, 
nay,  passages  in  old  songs,  and  with  them 
has  blended  his  own  compositions,  and  so 
made  what  he  gives  to  the  world  as  the 


called  "  Queen  Elisabeth* 8  Champion,9*  which 
is  preserved  in  a  collection  of  Old  Ballade,  in 
three  volumes,  published  in  London  in  different 
yean,  between  1720  and  1780.  The  foil  vene 
is  as  follows: 

11  Oh!  then  bespoke  the  prenttcai  ell, 
Living  In  London,  both  proper  end  tall, 
In  a  kind  letter  eent  straight  to  the  queen, 
For  EmexH  sake  they  would  fight  all. 

Raderer  too,  tendaro  te, 

Baderer,  tandorer,  tan  do  re."— BoswmxL. 

[The  old  ballad  here  mentioned  also  occurs  in 
Mr.  Evans's  collection  of  historical  ballads,  pub- 
lished as  a  Supplement  to  Percy's  Reliques,  un- 
der the  inspection,  I  believe,  of  William  Julius 
"  many  m 
of  his 
Walter  Scott.] 

»  [Mr.  Boswell  seems  to  have  reported  but  half 
the  evidence  to  Dr.  Johnson.  He  tells  him  of 
the  pessage  which  was  something  Hke  M«  Pher- 
son's version;  but  he  does  not  appear  to  have  no- 
ticed the  other,  which  was  nothing  tike  f 
En.] 


Miokle,  who  inserted  many  modem  imitations  of 
the  beroick  ballads  of  his  own  composing.— 


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HKBRIPES.J 

translation  of  an  ancient  poem  *."  If  this 
was  the  case,  I  observed,  it  was  wrong  to 
publish  it  as  a  poem  in  six  books.  John  so  n. 
"  Yes,  sir;  and  to  ascribe  it  to  a  time  too 
when  the  Highlanders  knew  nothing  of 
bmok$y  and  nothing  of  nx;  or  perhaps  were 
got  the  length  of  counting  six.  We  have  been 
told,  by  Condamine,  of  a  nation  that  could 
count  no  more  than  four.  This  should  be 
told  to  Monboddo;  it  would  help  him. 
There  is  as  much  charity  in  helping  a  man 
down-hill,  as  in  helping  mm  up-hill."  Bos- 
w«ll.  "  I  do  'nt  think  there  is  as  much  char- 
ity." Johnson.  "  Yes,  sir,  if  his  tenden- 
cy be  downwards.  Till  he  is  at  the  bottom, 
he  flounders:  get  him  once  there,  and  he  is 
quiet.  Swift  tells,  that  Stella  had  a  trick, 
which  she  learned  from  Addison,  of  encour- 
aging a  man  in  absurdity,  instead  of  endea- 
vouring to  extricate  him." 

Mr.  M' Queen's  answers  to  the  inquiries 
concerning  Ossian  were  so  unsatisfactory, 
that  I  could  not  help  observing,  that,  were 
he  examined  in  a  court  of  justice,  he  would 
find  himself  under  a  necessity  of  being  more 
explicit.  Johnson.  "Sir,  he  has  told 
Blair  a  little  too  much,  which  is  published; 
and  he  sticks  to  it.  He  is  so  much  at  the 
bead  of  things  here,  that  he  has  never  been 
accustomed  to  be  closely  examined;  and  so 
he  goes  on  quite  smoothly."  Bo  swell. 
"  He  has  never  had  any  body  to  work  him." 
Johnson.  "  No,  sir;  and  a  man  is  seldom 
disposed  to  work  himself,  though  he  ought 
to  work  himself,  to  be  sure."  Mr.  M'  Queen 
made  no  reply*. 

Having  talked  of  the  strictness  with 
which  witnesses  are  examined  in  courts  of 
justice,  Dr.  Johnson  told  us,  that  Garrick, 
though  accustomed  to  face  multitudes, 
when  produced  as  a  witness  in  Westmin- 
ster-hall, was  so  disconcerted  by  a  new 
mode  of  publick  appearance,  that  he  could 
not  understand  wnat  was  asked.  It  was  a 
cause  where  an  actor  claimed  a  free  benefit, 
that  is  to  say,  a  benefit  without  paying  the 
expense  of  the  house;  but  the  meaning  of 
the  term  was  disputed.  Garrick  was  asked, 
«  Sir,  have  you  a  free  benefit?"  «  Yes." 
"  Upon  what  terms  have,  you  it  ?"  "Upon 
— the  terms — of—a  free  benefit."  He  was 
dismissed  as  one  from  whom  no  informa- 
tion could  be  obtained.  Dr.  Johnson  is 
often  too  hard  on  our  friend  Mr.  Garrick. 


1773.— iETAT.  64L 


40& 


1  [This  account  of  Ossian's  Poems,  as  publish- 
ed by  M'Pherson,  is  that  at  which  most  sensible 
people  have  arrived,  though  there  may  be  some 
difference  between  the  phis  and  mirnus  of  the  an- 
cient ingredients  employed  by  the  translator. — 
Walter  Scott.] 

•  I  think  it  bat  justice  to  say,  that  I  believe 
Dr.  Johnson  meant  to  ascribe  Mr.  M'Queen's 
eondact  to  inaccuracy  and  enthusiasm,  and  did 
not  mean  any  severe  imputation  against  him. — 

BOSWXLL. 


When  I  asked  him,  why  he  did  not  men- 
tion him  in  the  Preface  to  his  Shakspeare, 
he  said,  "  Garrick  has  been  liberally  paid 
for  any  thing  he  has  done  for  Shakspeare. 
If  I  should  praise  him,  I  should  much  more 
praise  the  nation  who  paid  him.  He  has 
not  made  Shakspeare  better  known3;  he 
cannot  illustrate  Shakspeare:  so  I  have 
reasons  enough  against  mentioning  him, 
were  reasons  necessary.  There  should  be 
reasons  for  it."  I  spoke  of  Mrs.  Mon- 
tagu's very  high  praises  of  Garrick.  John- 
son. "  Sir,  it  is  nt  she  should  say  so  much, 
and  I  should  say  nothing.  Reynolds  is 
fond  of  her  book,  and  I  wonder  at  it;  for  nei- 
ther I,  nor  Beauclerk,  nor  Mrs.  Thrale, 
could  get  through  it  V 


*  It  has  been  triumphantly  asked,  "  Had  not 
the  plays  of  Shakspeare  lam  dormant  lor  many 
years  before  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Garrick? 
Did  he  not  exhibit  the  most  excellent  of  them  fre- 
quently for  thirty  years  together,  and  render  them 
extremely  popular  by  his  own  inimitable  perform- 
ance? "  He  undoubtedly  did.  But  Dr.  John- 
son's assertion  has  been  misunderstood.  Know- 
ing as  well  as  the  objectors  what  has  been  just 
stated,  he  must  necessarily  have  meant,  that  '<  Mr. 
Garrick  did  not,  as  a  critick,  make  Shakspeare 
better  known  ;  he  did  not  illustrate' any  one  pas- 
sage in  any  of  his  plays  by  acuteness  of  disquisi- 
tion, or  sagacity  of  conjecture :  "  and  what  had 
been  done  with  any  degree  of  excellence  in  that 
way  was  the  proper  and  immediate  subject  of  his 
preface.  I  may  add  in  support  of  this  explana- 
tion the  following  anecdote,  related  to  me  by  one 
of  the  ablest  commentators  on  Shakspeare,  who 
knew  much  of  Dr.  Johnson  :  "  New  I  have  quit- 
ted the  thea^e,"  cries  Garrick,  "  I  will  sit  down 
and  read  Shakspeare."  "  Tb  time  you  should," 
exclaimed  Johnson,  "  for  I  much  doubt  if  you 
ever  examined  one  of  his  plays  from  the  first  scene 
to  the  last" — Bobwell. 

4  No  man  has  less  inclination  to  controversy 
than  I  have,  particularly  with  a  lady.  But  as  I 
have  claimed,  and  am  conscious  of  being  entitled 
to,  credit,  for  the  strictest  fidelity,  my  respect  for 
the  publick  obliges  me  to  take  notice  of  an  insin- 
uation which  tends  to  impeach  it. 

Mrs,  Piozzi  (late  Mrs.  Thrale),  to  her  "  Anec- 
dotes of  Dr.  Johnson,"  added  the  following  post- 
script: 

"Naples,  iota  Feb.  ITSB. 

"  Since  the  foregoing  went  to  press,  having 
seen  a  passage  from  Mr.  Boswell's  <  Tour  to  the 
Hebrides,'  in  which  it  is  said,  that  /  could  not 
get  through  Mrs.  Montagu's '  Essay  on  Shaks- 
peare,' I  do  not  delay  a  moment  to  declare,  that, 
on  the  contrary,  I  have  always  commended  it 
myself,  and  heard  it  commended  by  every  one 
else;  and  few  things  would  give  me  more  concern 
than  to  be  thought  incapable  of  tasting,  or  unwil- 
ling to  testify  my  opinion  of  its  excellence." 

It  is  remarkable,  that  this  postscript  k  so  ex- 
pressed, as  not  to  point  out  the.f>erson  who  said  that 
Mrs.  Thrale  could  not  get  through  Mrs.  Montagu's 
book;  and,  therefore,  I  think  it  necessary  to  re- 


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1773.— iETAT.  64. 


Last  night  Dr.  Johnson  gave  ns  an  ac- 
count of  the  whole  process  of  tanning,  and 
of  the  nature  of  milk,  and  the  various  op- 
mind  Mrs.  Piozzi,  that  the  assertion  concerning 
.her  was  Dr.  Johnson's,  and  not  mine.  The  sec- 
ond observation  that  I  shall  make  on  this  post- 
script is,  that  it  does  not  deny  the  fact  asserted, 
though  I  must  acknowledge,  from  the  praise  it 
bestows  on  Mrs.  Montagu's  book,  it  may  have 
been  designed  to  convey  that  meaning. 

What  Mrs.  Thrale's  opinion  is,  or  was,  or  what 
she  may  or  may  not  have  said  to  Dr.  Johnson 
concerning  Mrs.  Montagu's  book,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary for  me  to  inquire.  It  is  only  incumbent  on 
me  to  ascertain  what  Dr.  Johnson  said  to  me.  I 
shall  therefore  confine  myself  to  a  very  short  state 
of  the  fact 

The  unfavourable  opinion  of  Mrs.  Montagu's 
book,  which  Dr.  Johnson  is  here  reported  to  have 
given,  is  known  to  have  been  that  which  he  uni- 
formly expressed,  as  many  of  his  friends  well  re- 
member. So  much  for  the  authenticity  of  the 
paragraph,  as  far  as  it  relates  to  his  own  senti- 
ments. The  words  containing  the  assertion,  to 
which  Mrs.  Piozzi  objects,  are  printed  from  my 
manuscript  Journal,  and  were  taken  down  at  the 
time.  The  Journal  was  read  by  Dr.  Johnson, 
who  pointed  out  some  inaccuracies,  which  I  cor- 
rected, but  did  not  mention  any  inaccuracy  in  the 
paragraph  in  question:  and  what  is  still  more  ma- 
terial, and  very  flattering  to  me,  a  considerable 
part  of  my  Journal,  containing  this  paragraph, 
was  read  several  years  ago  by  Mrs.  Thrale 
herself,  who  had  it  for  some  time  in  her  posses- 
sion, and  returned  it  to  me,  without  intimating 
that  Dr.  Johnson  had  mistaken  her  sentiments. 

When  the  first  edition  of  my  Journal  was  pass- 
ing through  the  press,  it  occurred  to  me,  that  a 
peculiar  delicacy  was  necessary  to  be  observed  in 
reporting  the  opinion  of  one  literary  lady  concern- 
ing the  performance  of  another;  and  I  had  such 
scruples  on  that  head,  that,  in  the  proof-sheet,  1 
struck  out  the  name  of  Mrs.  Thrale  from  the 
above  paragraph,  and  two  or  three  hundred  copies 
of  my  book  were  actually  printed  and  published 
without  it;  of  these  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  copy 
happened  to  be  one.  But  while  the  sheet  was 
working  off,  a  friend,  for  whose  opinion  I  have 
great  respect,  suggested  that  I  had  no  right  to  de- 
prive Mrs.  Thrale  of  the  high  honour  which  Dr. 
Johnson  had  done  her,  by  stating  her  opinion 
along  with  that  of  Mr.  Besuclerk,  as  coinciding 
with,  and,  as  it  were,  sanctioning  his  own.  The 
observation  appeared  to  me  so  weighty  and  con- 
clusive, that  I  hastened  to  the  printing-house,  and, 
as  a  piece  of  justice,  restored  Mrs.  Thrale  tp  that 
place  from  which  a  too  scrupulous  delicacy  had 
excluded  her. 

On  this  simple  state  of  (acts  I  shall  make 
no  observation  whatever. — Boswell.  [The 
fact  of  Mrs.  Piozzi 's  having  read  his  Jour- 
nal, as  we  know  she  did,  and  made  no  objection, 
completely  justifies  Mr.  Boswell,  and  throws  some 
donbfover  her  own  veracity.  Yet  it  is  possible 
that  this  lively  lady  may  not  have  read  every  line 
of  the  manuscript,  or,  thinking  it  a  mere  private 
memorandum  never  likely  to  be  published,  may 


[TOUR  TO    TBI 

erations  upon  it,  as  making  whey,  &c  His 
variety  or  information  is  surprising  >;  and 
it  gives  one  much  satisfaction  to  find  such 
a  man  bestowing  his  attention  on  the  use- 
ful arts  of  life.  Ulinish  was  muck  struck 
with  his  knowledge;  and  said,  "He  is  a 
great  orator,  sir;  it  is  musick  to  hear  this 
man  speak.'3  A  strange  thought  struck 
me,  to  try  if  he  knew  any  thing  of  an  art, 
or  whatever  it  should  be  called,  which  is  no 
doubt  very  useful  in  life,  but  which  lies  far 
out  of  the  way  of  a  philosopher  and  poet; 
I  mean  the  trade  of  a  butcher.  I  enticed 
him  into  the  subject,  by  connecting  it  with 
the  various  researches  into  the  manners 
and  customs  of  uncivilized  nations,  that 
have  been  made  by  our  late  navigators  into 
the  South  Seas.  I  began  with  observing, 
that  Mr.  (now  Sir  Joseph)  Banks  tells  us, 
that  the  art  of  slaughtering  animals  was 
not  known  in  Otaheite,  for,  instead  of 
bleeding  to  death  their  dogs  (a  common 
food  with  them),  they  strangle  them. 
This  he  told  me  himself;  and  f  supposed 
that  their  hogs  were  killed  in  the  same  way. 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  This  must  be  owing  to 
their  not  having  knives,  though  they  have 
sharp  stones  with  which  they  can  cut  a 
carcass  in  pieces  tolerably."  By  degrees, 
he  showed  that  he  knew  something  even  of 
butchery.  "Different  animals,"  said  he, 
"  are  killed  differently.  An  ox  is  knocked 
down,  and  a  calf  stunned;  but  a  sheep  has 
its  throat  cut,  without  any  thing  being 
done  to  stupify  it.  The  butchers  have  no 
view  to  the  ease  of  the  animals,  but  only  to 
make  them  quiet,  for  their  own  safety  and 
convenience.  A  sheep  can  give  them  little 
trouble.  Hales  is  of  opinion  that  every  an- 
imal should  be  blooded,  without  having 
any  blow  given  to  it,  because  it  bleeds  beU 
ter."  Boswell.  "  That  would  be  cruel. " 
JoHKsoir.  "No,  sir;  there  is  not  much 
pain,  if  the  jugular  vein  be  properly  cut.*' 
Pursuing  the  subject,  he  said,  the  kennels 
of  South  wark  ran  with  blood  two  or  three 
days  in  the  week;  that  he  was  afraid  there 
were  slaughter-houses  in  more  streets  in 
London  than  one  supposes  (speaking  with 
a  kind  of  honour  of  butchering);  and  yet, 
he  added,  "  any  of  us  would  kill  a  cow, 
rather  than  not  have  beef."    I  said  we 

not  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  contradict  audi 
an  obiter  dictum  of  Dr.  Johnson's.  Mrs.  Mon- 
tagu's Essay  is  lively,  and  not  long,  and  it  would 
have  been  very  strange  if  Mn.  Piozzi  had  **t 
been  able  to  read  it  through.  Let  it  be  recollected, 
that  Johnson,  who  talked  in  this  depreciating  way 
o/Mn.  Montagu,  talked  and  wrote  to  her  in  a 
style  of  almost  fulsome  adulation.  See  ante,  pp. 
152,  260,  n.  See  also  Miss  Reynolds's  Recollec- 
tion* of  Dr.  Johnson. — Ed.] 

1  [We  have  already  seen  (ante,  p.  11),  that 
he  had  an  early  opportunity  of  learning  the  da- 
tails  of  the  art  of  tanning. — Ed.  ] 


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HEBRIDES.] 

could  not  "Yes,"  said  he,  "any  one 
may.  The  business  of  a  butcher  is  a  trade 
indeed,  that  is  to  say,  there  is  an  appren- 
ticeship served  to  it;  but  it  may  be  learnt 
in  a  month." 

I  mentioned  a  club  in  London,  at  the 
Boards-head  in  Eastcheap,  the  very  tavern 
where  Falstaff  and  his  joyous  companions 
met:  the  members  of  which  all  assume 
Shakspeare's  characters.  One  is  Falstaff, 
another  Prince  Henry,  another  Bardolph, 
and  so  on.  Johnson.  "Don't  be  of  it, 
sir.  Now  that  you  have  a  name,  you  must 
be  careful  to  avoid  many  things,  not  bad 
in  themselves,  but  which  will  lessen  your 
character1.  This  every  man  who  has  a 
name  must  observe.  A  man  who  is  not 
publickly  known  may  live  in  London  as  he 
pleases,  without  any  notice  being  taken  of 
him;  but  it  is  wonderful  how  a  person  of 
any  consequence  is  watched.  There  was 
a  member  of  parliament 9,  who  wanted  to 
prepare  himself  to  speak  on  a  question  that 
was  to  come  on  in  tne  house;  and  he  and  I 
were  to  talk  it  over  together.  He  did  not 
wish  it  should  be  known  that  he  talked  with 
me;  so  he  would  not  let  me  come  to  his 
house,,  but  came  to  mine.  Some  time  after 
he  had  made  his  speech  in  the  house  3,  Mrs. 
Cholmondeley,  a  very  airy  lady,  told  me, 
*  Well,  you  could  make  nothing  of  him !' 
i  naming  the  gentleman;  which  was  a  proof 
i  that  he  was  watched.  I  had  once  some 
i  business  4  to  do  for  government,  and  I  went 
to  Lord  North's.  Precaution  was  taken  that 
it  should  not  be  known.  It  was  dark  be- 
fore I  went;  yet  a  few  days  after  I  was 
told,  'Well,  you  have  been  with  Lord 
North.'  That  the  door  of  the  prime  min- 
ister should  be  watched  is  not  strange:  but 
that  a  member  of  parliament  should  be 
watched,  or  that  my  door  should  be  watch- 
ed, is  wonderful." 
a  We  set  out  this  morning  on  our  way  to 
Tatisker,  in   Ulinish's  boat,  having  taken 


1778.— 2ETAT.  64. 


407 


1  I  do  not  see  why  I  might  not  have  been  of 
this  dab  without  lessening  my  character.  Bat 
Dr.  Johnson's  caution  against  supposing  one's  self 
concealed  in  London  may  be  very  useful  to  pre- 
vent some  people  from  doing  many  things,  no't 
only  foolish,  but  criminal — Boswell. 

*  [The  Editor  suspects  that  Johnson's  friend, 
Mr.  William  Fitzherbert,  (see  ante,  pp.  29, 158, 
and  post,  15th  Sept  1777)  was  here  meant  He 
sat  in  parliament  from  1761  to  his  death,  in  1772. 
In  1765  he  was  made  a  lord  of  Trade.  No 
speech  of  his  is  preserved— a  circumstance  very 
natural,  if  Mrs.  Cholmondeley  alluded  to  an  at- 
tempt of  his. — Ed.] 

3  [Mrs.  Cholmondeley  was  a  younger  sister  of 


ried 
Ed.] 


celebrated  Margaret  Woffington.  ~  She  mar- 
the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Goon 


.  George  Cholmondeley. — 


4  [No  doubt  about  one  of  his  political  pam- 
phlets; probably  that  respecting  the  Falkland  la- 


leave  of  him  and  his  family.  Mr.  Donald 
M' Queen  still  favoured  us  with  his  compa- 
ny, for  which  we  were  much  obliged  to 
him.  As  we  sailed  along,  Dr.  Johnson 
got  into  one  of  his  fits  of  railing  at  the 
Scots.  He  owned  that  they  had  been  a 
very  learned  nation  for  a  hundred  years, 
from  about  1550  to  about  1650;  but  that 
they  afforded  the  only  instance  of  a  people 
among  whom  the  arts  of  civil  life  did  not 
advance  in  proportion  with  learning;  that 
they  had  hardly  any  trade,  any  money,  or 
any  elegance,  before  the  Union;  that  it 
was  strange  that,  with  all  the  advantages 
possessed  by  other  nations,  they  had  not 
any  of  those  convemenciea  ~and  embellish- 
ments which  are  the  fruit  of  industry,  till 
they  came  in  contact  with  a  civilized  peo- 
ple. "We  have  taught  you ,"  said  he, "  and 
we'll  do  the  same  in  time  to  all  barbarous 
nations,-  to  the  Cherokees,  and  at  last  to  the 
Ouran-Outamrs,"  laughing  with  as  much 
glee  as  if  Monboddo  had  been  present. 
Boswell.  "We  had  wine  before  the 
Union."  Johnson.  "No,  sir;  you  had 
some  weak  stuff,  the  refuse  of  France, 
which  would  not  make  you  drunk."  Bos- 
well. "  I  assure  you,  sir,  there  was  a 
great  deal  of  drunkenness."  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir;  there  were  people  who  died  of 
dropsies,  which  they  contracted  in  trying 
to  get  drunk." 

I  must  here  glean  some  of  his  conversa- 
tion at  Ulinish,  which  I  have  omitted.  He 
repeated  his  remark,  that  a  man  in  a  ship 
was  worse  than  a  man  in  a  jail.  "  The  - 
man  in  a  jail,"  said  he,  "  has  more  room, 
better  food,  and  commonly  better  company, 
and  is  in  safety."  "  Ay ;  but,"  said  flfr. 
M*  Queen,  "  the  man  in  the  ship  has  the 
pleasing  hope  of  getting  to  shore."  John- 
son. "  Sir,  I  am  not  talking  of  a  man's  get- 
ting to  shore,  but  of  a  man  while  he  is  in  a 
ship  ;  and  then,  I  say,  he  is  worse  than  a 
man  while  he  is  in  a  jail.  A  man  in  a  jail 
may  have  the  'pleasing  hope '  of  getting; 
out.  A  man  confined  for  only  a  limited 
time  actually  has  it5."  Macleod  mention- 
ed his  schemes  for  carrying  on  fisheries  with 
spirit,  and  that  he  would  wish  to  under- 
stand the  construction  of  boats.  ( I  suggest- 
ed that  he  might  go  to  a  dock-yard  and 
work,  as  Peter  the  Great  did.  Johnson. 
"  Nay,  sirn  he  need  not  work.  Peter  the 
Great  had  not  the  sense  to  see  that  the  mere 
mechanical  work  may  be  done  by  any  body, 
and  that  there  is  the  same  art  in  construct- 
ing a  vessel,  whether  the  boards  are  well  or 
ill  wrought.  Sir  Christopher  Wren  might 
as  well  have  served  his  time  to  a  bricklayer, 
and  first,  indeed,  to  a  brickmaker." 

There  is  a  beautiful  little  island  in  the 
Loch  of  Dunvegan,  called  Isa.    Macleod 


•  [See  more  on  this  subject,  post,  18th  March, 
1776.— Ed.] 


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408 


1773.— jETAT.  64. 


said,  he  would  give  it  to  Dr.  Johnson,  on 
condition  of 'his  residing  on  it  three  months 
in  the  year  ;  nay  one  month.  Dr.  Johnson 
was  highly  amused  with  the  fancy.  I  have 
seen  him  please  himself  with  little  things, 
even  with  mere  ideas  like  the  present.  He 
talked  a  great  deal  of-  this  island  ;  how  he 
would  build  a  house  there — how  he  would 
fortify  it — how  he  would  have  cannon — how 
he  would  plant — how  he  would  sally  out,  and 
take  the  Isle  of  Muck  i ;  and  then  he  laugh- 
ed with  uncommon  glee,  and  could  hardly 
leave  off.  I  have  seen  him  do  so  at  a  small 
matter  that  struck  him,  and  was  a  sport  to 
no  one  else  9.  Mr.  Langton  told  me,  that  one 
night  he  did  so  while  the  company  were  all 
grave  about  him ;— only  Garnck,  in  his  sig- 
nificant smart  manner,  darting  his  eyes 
around,  exclaimed,  "  Very  jocose,  to  be 
sure  !"  Macleod  encouraged  the  fancy  of 
Dr.  Johnson's  becoming  owner  of  an 
island ;  told  him,  that  it  was  the  practice 
in  this  country  to  name  every  man  by  his 
lands  ;  and  begged  leave  to  drink  to  him  in 
that  mode  ;  **  Island  ha,  your  health ! " 
Ulinishy  Talisker,  Mr.  M' Queen,  and  F, 
all  joined  in  our  different  manners,  while 
Dr.  Johnson  bowed  to  each,  with  much 
good  humour. 

We  had  good  weather,  and  a  fine  sail 
this  day.  The  shore  was  varied  with  hills, 
and  rocks,  and  corn  fields,  and  bushes,  which 
are  here  dignified  with  the  name  of  natural 
wood.  We  landed  near  the  house  of  Fer- 
neley,  a  farm  possessed  by  another  gentle- 
man of  the  name  of  Macleod,  who,  expect- 
ing our  arrival,  was  waiting  on  the  snore, 
with  a  horse  for  Dr.  Johnson.  The  rest  of 
us  walked.  At  dinner,  I  expressed  to 
Macleod  the  joy  which  I  had  in  seeing  him 
on  such  cordial  terms  with  his  clan.  "  Gov- 
ernment," said  he,  "  has  deprived  us  of  our 
ancient  power ;  but  it  cannot  deprive  us  of 
our  domestick  satisfactions.  I  would  rather 
drink  punch  in  one  of  their  houses  (mean- 
ing the  houses  of  his  people),  than  be  ena- 
bled, by  their  hardships,  to  have  claret  in 
my  own. "  This  should  be  the  sentiment  of 
every  chieftain.  All  that  he  can  get  by 
raising  his  rents  is  mere  luxury  in  hit  own 
house.  Is  it  not  better  to  share  the  profits 
of  his  estate,  to  a  certain  degree,  with  his 
kinsmen,  and  thus  have  both  social  inter- 
course and  patriarchal  influence? 

We  had  a  very  good  ride,  for  about  three 
miles,  to  Talisker,  where  Colonel  Macleod 
introduced  us  to  his  lady.  We  found  here 
Mr.  Donald  M'Lean,  the  young  Laird  of 


1  [When  Buonaparte  first  surveyed  his  new 
sovereignty  of  Elba,  he  talked  jocularly  of  taking 
the  little  island  of  Pianosa.  So  natural  to  mankind 
seems  to  be  the  desire  of  conquest,  that  it  was  the 
first  thought  of  the  speculative  moralist,  as  well  as 
of  the  dethroned  usurper Ed.] 

1  [See  ante,  p.  821.— -Ed.] 


[T0TJB  TO  TBI 

Col  (nephew  to  Talisker^,  to  whom  I  de- 
livered the  letter  with  which  I  had  been  fa- 
voured by  his  uncle,  Professor  Macleod,  at 
Aberdeen.  He  was  a  little  lively  young 
man.  We  found  he  had  been  a  good  deal 
in  England,  studying  fanning,  and  was  re- 
solved to  improve  the  value  of  his  father's 
lands,  without  oppressing  his  tenants,  or  lo- 
sing the  ancient  Highland  fashions. 

Talisker  is  a  better  place  than  one  com- 
monly finds  in  Sky.  It  is  situated  in  a  rich 
bottom.  Before  it  is  a  wide  expanse  of  sea, 
on  each  hand  of  which  are  immense  rocks ; 
and,  at  some  distance  in  the  sea,  there  are 
three  columnal  rocks  rising  to  sharp  points. 
The  billows  break  with  prodigious  force 
and  noise  on  the  coast  of  Talisker.  There 
are  here  a  good  many  well-grown  trees. 
Talisker  is  an  extensive  farm.  The  pos- 
sessor of  it  has,  for  several  generations, 
been  the  next  heir  to  Macleod,  as  there  has 
been  but  one  son  always  in  that  family. 
The  court  before  the  house  is  most  injudi- 
ciously paved  with  the  round  bluish-gray 
pebbles  which  are  found  upon  the  sea-shore; 
so  that  you  walk  as  if  upon  cannon-balls 
driven  into  the  ground. 

After  supper,  I  talked  of  the  assiduity  of 
the  Scottish  clergy,  in  visiting  and  private- 
ly instructing  their  parishioners,  ana  obser- 
ved how  much  in  this  they  excelled  the 
English  clergy.  Dr.  Johnson  would  not 
let  this  pass.  He  tried  to  turn  it  off,  by 
saying,  "  There  are  different  ways  of  in- 
structing. Our  clergy  pray  and  preach," 
Macleod  and  I  pressed  the  subject,  upon 
which  he  grew  warm,  and  broke  forth  :  "  I 
do  not  believe  your  people  are  better  in- 
structed. If  they  are,  it  is  the  blind  lead- 
ing the  blind ;  for  your  clergy  are  not  in- 
structed themselves."  Thinking  he  had 
gone  a  little  to  far,  he  checked  himself,  and 
added,  "  When  fctalk  of  the  ignorance  of 
your  clergy,  I  talk  of  them  as  a  body  :  I  do 
not  mean  that  there. are  not  individuals 
who  are  learned  (looking  at  Mr.  M4  Queen). 
I  suppose  there  are  such  among  the  clergy 
in  Muscovy.  The  clergy  of  England  have 
produced  the  most  valuable  books  in  sup- 
port of  religion,  bpth  in  theory  and  practice. 
What  have  your  clergy  done,  since  you 
sunk  into  presbyterianism?  Can  you  name 
one  book  of  any  value,  on  a  religious  sub- 
ject, written  by  them?  "  We  were  silent 
"  I'll  help  you.  Forbes  wrote  very  well ; 
but  I  believe  he  wrote  before  episcopacy 
was  quite  extinguished."  And  thenpaus- 
ing  a  little,  he  said,  "  Yes,  you  have  Wish- 
art  against    Repentance  V'      Boswkll. 


3  Tins  was  a  dexterous  mode  of  description,  fir 
the  purpose  of  his  argument;  for  what  hesitate*' 
to  was,  a  sermon  published  by  the  learned  Dr. 
William  Wishart,  formerly  principal  of  the  col- 
lege at  Edinburgh,  to  warn  men  against  confid- 
ing in  a  deathbed  repentance,  of  the  mafficaev 


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HEBRIDES.] 

w  But,  sir,  we  are  not  contending  for  the 
superior  learning  of  our  clergy,  but  for  their 
superior  assiduity.9'  He  bore  us  down 
again,  with  thundering  against  their  igno- 
rance, and  said  'to  me, "  I  see  you  have  not 
been  well  taught ;  for  you  have  not  charity." 
He  had  been  in  some  measure  forced  into 
this  warmth,  by  the  exulting  air  which  I 
assumed ;  for,  when  he  began,  he  said, 
•'Since  you  vriU  drive  the  nail!"  He 
again  thought  of  good  Mr.  M'  Queen,  and, 
taking  him  by  the  hand,  said,  "Sir,  I 
did  not  mean  any  disrespect  to  you." 

Here  I  must  observe,  that  he  conquered 
by  deserting  his  ground,  and  not  meeting 
the  argument  as  f  had  put  it.    The  assidu- 


1773.— iETAT.  64. 


409 


ity  of  the  Scottish  clergy  is  certainly  great- 
er than  that  of  the  English.  His  taking  up 
the  topick  of  their  not  having  so  much 


learning,  was,  though  ingenious,  yet  a  fal- 
lacy in  logick.  It  was  as  if  there  should 
be  a  dispute  whether  a  man's  hair  is  well 
dressed,  and  Dr.  Johnson  should  say,"  Sir, 
his  hair  cannot  be  well  dressed  ;  for  he  has 
a  dirty  shirt.  No  man  who  has  not  clean 
linen  has  his  hair  well  dressed."  When 
some  days  afterwards  he  read  this  passage, 
he  said,  "  No,  sir ;  I  did  not  say  that  a 
man's  hair  could  not  be  welt  dressed  because 
lie  has  not  clean  linen,  but  because  he  is 
bald." 

He  used  one  argument  against  the  Scot- 
tish clergy  being  learned,  which  I  doubt 
was  not  good.  "  As  we  believe  a  man  dead 
till  we  know  that  he  is  alive ;  so  we  believe 
men  ignorant  till  we  know  that  they  are 
learned."  Now  our  maxim  in  law  is,  to 
presume  a  man  alive,  till  we  know  he  is 
dead.  However,  indeed,  it  may  be  answer- 
ed, that  we  must  first  know  he  has  lived  ; 
and  that  we  have  never  known  the  learning 
of  the  Scottish  clergy.  Mr.  M' Queen, 
though  he  was  of  opinion  that  Dr.  Johnson 
had  deserted  the  point  really  in  dispute, 
was  much  pleased  with  what  he  said,  and 
owned  io  me,  he  thought  it  very  just ;  and 
Mrs.  Macleod  was  so  much  captivated  by 
his  eloquence,  that  she  told  me,  "  I  was  a 
good  advocate  for  a  bad  cause." 


Friday,  24th  September.— This  was  a 
good  day.  Dr.  Johnson  told  us,  at  break- 
fast, that  he  rode  harder  at  a  fox  chase 
than  any  body1.  "The  English,"  said 
he,  "  are  the  only  nation  who  ride  hard 
a-hunting.  A  Frenchman  joes  out  upon  a 
managed  horse,  and  capers  m  the  field,  and 
no  more  thinks  of  leaping  a  hedge  s  than  of 
mounting  a  breach.  Lord  Powerscourt' 
laid  a  wager,  in  France,  that  he  would  ride  a 
great  many  miles  in  a  certain  short  time. 
The  French  academicians  set  to  work,  and 
calculated  that,  from  the  resistance  of  the 
air,  it  was  impossible.  His  lordship,  how- 
ever, performed  it." 

Our  money  being  nearly  exhausted,  we 
sent  a  bill  for  thirty  pounds,  drawn  on  Sir 
William  Forbes  and  Co.,  to  Lochbracca- 
dale,  but  our  messenger  found  it  very  difficult 
to  procure  cash  for  it ;  at  length,  however, 
he  pot  us  value  from  the  master  of  a  vessel 
which  was  to  carry  away  some  emigrants. 
There  is  a  great  scarcity  of  specie  in  Sky4. 
Mr.  M«  Queen  said  he  had  the  jitmost  diffi- 
culty to  pay  his  servants'  wages,  or  tq  pay 
for  any  little  thing  which  be  has  to  buy. 
The  rents  are  paid  in  bills,  which  the  dro- 
vers give.  The  people  consume  a  vast  deal 
of  snuff  and  tobacco,  for  which  they  must 
pay  ready  money ;  and  pedlars,  who  come 
about  selling  goods,  as  there  is  not  a  shop 
in  the  island,  carry  away  the  cash.  If  there 
were  encouragement  given  to  fisheries  and 
manufactures,  there  might  be  a  circulation 
of  money  introd  uced.  I  got  one-and-twen- 
ty  shillings  in  silver  at  Portree,  which  was 
thought  a  wonderful  store. 

TaUsker,  Mr.  M<  Queen,  and  I,  walked 
out,  and  looked  at  no  less  than  fifteen  differ- 
ent waterfalls  near  the  house,  in  the  space 
of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  We  also  saw 
Cuchillin's  well,  said  to  have  been  the  fa- 
vourite spring  of  that  ancient  hero.  I  drank 
of  it  The  water  is  admirable.  On  the 
shore  are  many  stones  full  of  crystallisations 
in  the  heart 


of  which  he  entertained  notion*  very  different 
from  those  of  Dr.  Johnson.— Boiwbll.  [Mr. 
Boswell  seems  here  to  have  been  betrayed  by  the 
personal  or  national  offence  which  he  took  at  Dr. 
Johnson's  depreciation  of  the  Scottish  clergy,  into 
making  an  uncharitable  and,  as  it  would  seem, 
unfounded  charge  on  his  great  friend's  religious 
tenets.  It  does  not— that  the  Editor  »  aware  of 
—appear  that  Johnson  ever  expressed  any  confi- 
dence in  a  deathbed  repentance  ;  on  the  contra- 
ry, bis  whole  life  was  a  practical  contradiction  of 
Ins  entertaining  any  such  belief.  His  Pray  ere 
and  Meditations  refute  such  an  imputation  in 
every  page;  and,  m  hk  conversations,  Boswell 
himself  records,  in  numberless  instances,  an  «6- 
soUUely  opposite  opinion. — En.] 
vol.  I*  59 


1  [Tms  seems,  again,  to  support  the  idea  that 
Johnson,  at  one  period  of  his  hfe,  hunted  habit* 
««Hy.— See  ante,  p.  221;— En.] 

1  [Because,  in  the  greater  part  of  France,  mere 
are  no  hedges;  nor  do  they  bunt,  m  the  sense  ■ 
in  which  we  use  that  word— of  running  down 
the  animal — Ed.] 

»  [Probably  Richard  Wugfield,  third  viscount 
of  the  last  creation,  horn  in  1780,  succeeded  his 
brother  in  1764,  and  died  m  1788.  The  edi- 
tor sees  reason  to  believe  that  Edward,  thesecond 
Tsttount,  sometimes  called  "  the  French  Lard 
Fowerscourt"  was  here  meant,  and  not  his 
nephew  Richard.— En.] 

«  [This  scaii^  of  cash  stffl  exists  to 
in  several  of  which  five-ehilUnc  notes  are  nocaam 
rUj  issued,  to  have  some  circulating  n^edium.    If 
you  insist  on  having  change,  you  must  j 
something  at  a  shop.— Walt**  Scott.] 

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410 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


[TOUR  TO 


Though  our  obliging  friend,  Mr.  M'Lean, 
was  but  the  young  laird,  he  hod  the  title  of 
Col  constantly  given  him.  After  dinner  he 
and  I  walked  to  the  top  of  Prieshwell,  a  very 
high  rocky  hill,  from  whence  there  is  a  view 
of  fiarra — the  Long  Island ' — Bernera — the 
Loch  of  Dunvegan — part  of  Rum — part  of 
Rasay,  and  a  vast  deal  of  the  Isle  of  Sky. 
Coi,  though  he  had  come  into  Sky  with  an 
intention  to  be  at  Dunvegan,  and  pass  a 
considerable  time  in  the  island,  most  polite- 
ly resolved  first  to  conduct  us  to  Mull,  and 
then  to  return  to  Sky.  This  was  a  very 
fortunate  circumstance;  for  he  planned  an 
expedition  for  us  of  more  variety  than 
merely  going  to  Mull.  He  proposed  we 
should  see  the  islands  of  Egg,  Muck,  Col, 
and  Tyr-yL  In  all  these  islands  he  could 
show  us  every  thing  worth  seeing ;  and  in 
Mull  he  said  he  should  be  as  if  at  home,  his 
father  having  lands  there,  and  he  at  a  farm. 

Dr.  Johnson  did  not  talk  much  to-day, 
but  seemed  intent  in  listening  to  the  schemes 
of  future  excursion,  planned  by  Col.  Dr. 
Birch,  however,  being  mentioned,  he  said, 
he  had  more  anecdotes  than  any  man.  I 
said,  Percy  had  a  great  many;  that  he  flow- 
ed with  them  like  one  of  the  brooks  here. 
Johnson.  "If  Percy  is  like  one  of  the 
brooks  here,  Birch  was  like  the  river  Thames. 
Birch  excelled  Percy  in  that,  as  much  as 
Percy  excels  Goldsmith."  I  mentioned 
Lord  Hailes  as  a  man  of  anecdote.  He 
was  not  pleased  with  him,  for  publishing 
only  such  memorials  and  letters  as  were  un- 
favourable for  the  Stuart  family.  "If," 
said  he,  "a man  fairly  warns  you,  '  I  am 
Jo  give  all  the  ill — do  you  find  the  good,  he 
may;  but  if  the  object  which  he  professes 
be  to  give  a  view  of  a  reign,  let  him  tell  all 
the  truth.  I  would  tell  truth  of  the  two 
Georges,  or  of  that  scoundrel,  King  Wil- 
liam. Granger's  "  Biographical  History  " 
is  full  of  curious  anecdote,  but  might  have 
been  better  done.  The  dog  is  a  whig.  I 
do  not  like  much  to  see  a  whig  in  any  dress; 
but  I  hate  to  see  a  whig  in  a  parson's  gown." 

Saturday,  35th  September. — It  was  re- 
solved that  we  should  set  out,  in  order  to 
return  to  Slate,  to  be  in  readiness  to  take 
boat  whenever  there  should  be  a  fair  wind. 
Dr.  Johnson  remained  in  his  chamber  writ- 
ing a  letter,  and  it  was  long  before  we  could 
get  him  into  motion.  He  did  not  come  to 
breakfast,  but  had  it  sent  to  him.  When 
he  had  finished  his  letter,  it  was  twelve, 
o'clock,  and  we  should  have  set  out  at  ten. 
When  I  went  up  to  him,  he  said  to  me, "  Do 
you  remember  a  song  which  begins2, 

1  [A  series  of  islands;  the  two  Uiste,  Benbeca- 
la,  and  some  others,  are  called  by  the  general 
name  of  Long  Island. — Ed.] 

•  [The  song  begins 

*<^d5?me»  welcome,  brother  debtor. 
To  this  poor  bat  merry  place." 


•  Every  island  is  a  prison 

Strongly  guarded  by  the  sea  ; 
Kings  and  princes,  for  that  reason, 
Prisoners  are,  as  well  as  we  ! '  •• 

I  suppose  he  had  been  thinking  of  our 
confined  situation.  He  would  fain  have 
got  into  a  boat  from  hence,  instead  of  riding 
back  to  Slate.  A  scheme  for  it  was  propos- 
ed. He  said,  "  We  '11  not  be  driven  tamely 
from  it:  "  but  it  proved  impracticable. 

We  took  leave  of  Macleod  and  TaUskcr, 
from  whom  we  parted  with  regret.  Tali*- 
ker,  having  been  bred  to  physick,  had  a 
tincture  of  scholarship  in  his  conversation, 
which  pleased  Dr.  Johnson,  and  he  had 
some  very  good  books;  and  beinjr.  a  colonel 
in  the  Dutch  service,  he  and  his  lady,  in 
consequence  of  having  lived  abroad,  had  in- 
troduced the  ease  and  politeness  of  the  con- 
tinent into  this  rude  region. 

Young  Col  was  now  our  leader.  Mr. 
M'Queen  was  to  accompany  us  half  a  day 
more.  We  stopped  at  a  little  hut,  where 
we  saw  an  old  woman  grinding  with  the 
quern,  the  ancient  Highland  instrument, 
which  it  is  said  was  used  by  the  Romans; 
but  which,  being  very  slow  in  its  operation, 
is  almost  entirely  gone  into  disuse. 

The  walls  of  the  cottages  in  Sky,  instead 
of  being  one  compacted  mass  of  stones,  are 
often  formed  by  two  exterior  surfaces  of 
stone,  filled  up  with  earth  in  the  middle, 
which  makes  them  very  warm.  The  roof 
is  generally  bad.  They  are  thatched,  some- 
times with  straw,  sometimes  with  heath, 
sometimes  with  fern.  The  thatch  is  secur- 
ed by  ropes  of  straw,  or  of  heath;  and,  to 
fix  the  ropes,  there  is  a  stone  tied  to  the  end 
of  each.  These  stones  hang  round  the 
bottom  of  the  roof,  and  make  it  look  like  a 
lady's  hair  in  papers;  but  I  should  think 
that,  when  there  is  wind,  they  would  come 
down,  and  knock  people  on  the  head. 

We  dined  at  the  inn  at  Sconser,  where  I 
had  the  pleasure  to  find  a  letter  from  my 
wife.  Here  we  parted  from  our  learned 
companion,  Mr.  Donald  M' Queen.  Dr. 
Johnson  took  leave  of  him  very  affection- 
ately, saving, "  Dear  sir,  do  not  forget  me !»» 
We  settled,  that  he  should  write  an  account 
of  the  Isle  of  Sky,  which  Dr.  Johnson 
promised  to  revise.  He  said,  Mr.  M<  Queen 
should  tell  all  that  he  could;  distinguishing 
what  he  himself  knew,  what  was  tradition- 
al, and  what  conjectural. 
■  We  sent  our  horses  round  a  point  of  land, 
that  we  might  shun  some  very  bad  road; 
and  resolved  to  go  forward  by  sea.  It  was 
seven  o'clock  when  we  got  into  our  boat. 
We  had  many  showers,  and  it  soon  grew 
pretty  dark.  Dr.  Johnson  sat  silent  and 
patient.  Once  he  said,  as  he  looked  on  the 
black  coast  of  Sky, — black,  as  being  compoa- 


The  stanza  quoted  by  Johnson  is  the  sixth.    See 
Hits  on' s  Songs  f  v.  ii.  p.  105. — En.] 


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1773.— -iETAT.  64. 


HEBRIDES.] 

ed  of  rocks  seen  in  the  dusk, — "  This  is  very 
solemn."  Our  hoatmen  were  rude' singers, 
and  seemed  so  like  wild  Indians,  that  a  very 
little  imagination  was  necessary  to  give  one 
an  impression  of  being  upon  an  American 
river.  We  landed  at  Strolimus,  from  whence 
we  got  a  guide  to  walk  before  us,  for  two 
miles,  to  Corrichatachin.  Not  being  able 
to  procure  a  horse  for  our  baggage,  I  took 
one  portmanteau  before  me,  and  Joseph 
another.  We  had  but  a  single  star  to  light 
us  on  our  way.  It  was  about  eleven  when 
we  arrived.  We  were  most  hospitably  re- 
ceived, by  the  master  and  mistress,  who 
were  just  going  to  bed,  but,  with  unaffected 
ready  kindness,  made  a  good  fire,  and  at 
twelve  o'clock  at  night  had  supper  on  the 
table. 

James  Macdonald,  of  Knockow,  Kings- 
burgh's  brother,  whom  we  had  seen  at 
Kingsburgh,  was  there.  He  showed  me  a 
bond  granted  by  the  late  Sir  James  Mac- 
donald, to  old  Kingsburgh,  the  preamble  of 
which  does  so  much  honour  to  the  feelings 
of  that  much-lamented  gentleman,  that  I 
thought  it  worth  transcribing.  It  was  as 
follows: 

"  I,  Sir  James  Macdonald,  of  Macdonald, 
baronet,  now,  after  arriving  at  my  perfect 
age,  from  the  friendship  I  bear  to  Alexander 
Macdonald,  of  Kingsburgh,  and  in  return 
for  the  long  and  faithful  services  done 
and  performed  by  him  to  my  deceased 
father,  and  to  myself  during  my  minority, 
when  he  was  one.  of  my  tutors  and  curators; 
being  resolved,  now  that  the  said  Alexan- 
der Macdonald  is  advanced  in  years,  to 
contribute  my  endeavours  for  making  his 
old  age  placid  and  comfortable," — therefore 
he  grants  him  an  annuity  of  fifty  pounds 
sterling1. 

Dr.  Johnson  went  to  bed  soon.  When 
one  bowl  of  punch  was  finished,  I  rose,,  and 
was  near  the  door,  in  my  way  up  stairs  to 
bed;  but  Corrichatachin  said  it  was  the 
first  time  Col  had  been  in  his  house,  and 
he  should  have  his  bowl; — and  would  not  I 
join  in  drinking  it?  The  heartiness  of  my 
honest  landlord,  and  the  desire  of  doing  so- 
cial honour  to  our  very  obliging  conductor, 
induced  me  to  sit  down  again.  CoVs  bowl 
was  finished;  and  by  that  time  we  were 
well  warmed.  A  third  bowl  was  soon 
made,  and  that  too  was  finished.  We 
were  cordial,  and  merry  to  a  high  degree; 
but  of  what  passed  I  have  no  recollection, 
with  any  accuracy,  I  remember  calling 
Corrichatachin  by  the  familiar  appellation 
of  Corri,  which  his  friends  do.  A  fourth 
bowl  was  made,  by  which  time  Col, 
and  young    M'Kinnon,    Corrichatachin'* 

1  [The  preamble  is  well  enough,  but  one  is 
jm^wfd  to  say,  "  O  lame  and  impotent  conclu- 
sion! "  It  surely  was  a  paltry  sum  for  such  an 
occasion,  and  between  such  parties. — Ed,  J 


411 


son,  slipped  away  to  bed.  I  continued  a 
little  with  Corri  and  Knockow;  but  at  last 
I  left,  them.  It  was  near  five  in  the  morn- 
ing when  I  got  to  bed. 

Sunday,  26fA  September. — I  awaked  at 
noon,  with  a  severe  headache.  I  was  much 
vexed  that  I  should  have  been  guilty  of 
such  a  riot,  and  afraid  of  a  reproof  from 
Dr.  Johnson.  I  thought  it  very  inconsist- 
ent with  that  conduct  which  I  ought  to 
maintain,  while  the  companion  of  the  Ranv- 
bler.  About  one  he  came  into  my  room, 
and  accosted  me,  "  What,  drunk  yet?" 
His  tone  of  voice  was  not  that  of  severe 
upbraiding;  so  I  was  relieved  a  little. 
"  Sir  (said  I),  they  kept  me  up."  He  an- 
swered, "  No,  you  kept  them  up,  you 
drunken  dog."  This  he  said  with  good- 
humoured  English  pleasantry.  Soon  after- 
wards, Corrichatachin,  Col,  and  other 
friends,  assembled  round  my  bed.  Corri 
had  a  brandy-bottle  and  glass  with  him, 
and  insisted  I  should  take  a  dram.  "  Ay 
(said  Dr.  Johnson),  fill  him  drunk  again. 
Do  it  in  the  morning,  that  we  ma  v  laugh 
at  him  all  day.  It  is  a  poor  thing  for  a  fel- 
low to  get  drunk  at  night,  and  sculk  to  bed, 
and  let  his  friends  have  no  sport."  Find- 
ing him  thus  jocular,  I  became  quite  easy; 
and  when  I  offered  to  get  up,  he  very  good- 
naturedly  said,  "  You  need  be  in  no  such 
hurry  now 2."  I  took  my  host's  advice, 
and  drank  some  brandy,  which  I  found  an 
effectual  cure  for  my  headache.  N  When  I 
rose,  I  went  into  Dr.  Johnson's  room,  and 
taking  up  Mrs.  M'Kinnon's  Prayer-book,  I 
opened  it  at  the  twentieth  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  in  the  epistle  for  which  I  read, 
"  And  be  not  drunk  with  wine,  wherein 
there  is  excess."  Some  would  have  taken 
this  as  a  divine  interposition. 


8  My  ingenuously  relating  this  occasional  in- 
stance of  intemperance  has  I  find  been  made  the 
subject  both  of  serious  criticism  and  ludicrous 
banter.  With  the  banterecs  I  shall  not  trouble 
myself,  but  I  won<jer  that  those  who  protend  to 
the  appellation  of  serious  criticks  should  not  have 
had  sagacity  enough  to  perceive  that  here,  as  in 
every  other  part  of  the  present  work,  my  princi- 
pal object  was  to  delineate  Dr.  Johnson's  man- 
ners and  character.  In  justice  to  him  I  would 
not  omit  an  anecdote,  which,  though  in  some  de- 
gree to  my  own  disadvantage,  exhibits  in  so 
strong  a  light  the  indulgence  and  good  humour 
with  which  he  could  treat  those  excesses  in  his 
friends,  of  which  he  highly  disapproved. 

In  some  other  instances,  the  criticks  have  been 
equally  wrong  as  to  the  true  motive  of  my  record- 
ing particulars,  the  objections  to  which  I  saw  as 
clearly  as  they.  But  it  would  be  an  endless  task 
for  an  authbur  to  point  out  upon  every  occasion  the 
precise  object  be  has  in  view.  Contenting  him* 
self  with  the  approbation  of  readers  of  discern- 
ment and  taste,  he  ought  not  to  complain  that 
some  are  found  who  cannot  or  will  not  understand 
him. — BoswELi* 


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1773.— iETAT.  64. 


Mn.  M'Kinnon  told  us  at  dinner,  that 
old  Kingsburgh,  her  father,  was  examined 
atMugstot,  by  General  Campbell  i,  as  to 
>he  particulars  of  the  dress  of  the  person 
who  had  come  to  his  house  in  woman's 
clothes,  along  with  Miss  Flora  M'Donald; 
as  the  general  had  received  intelligence  of 
that  disguise.  The  particulars  were  taken 
down  in  writing,  that  it  might  be  seen  how 
far  they  agreed  with  the  dress  of  the  Irish 
girl  who  went  with  Miss  Flora  from  the 
Long  Island.  Kingsburgh,  she  said,  had 
but  one  song,  which  he  always  sung  when 
he  was  merry  over  a  glass.  She  dictated 
tile  words  to  me,  which  are  foolish  enough : 

"  Green  deevei  and  pnddiug  piei, 
Tell  me  where  my  mistress  lies, 
And  I  'II  be  with  her  before  she  rife, 
Fiddle  and  aw '  together. 

•'  May  oar  affair*  abroad  succeed, 
And  may  our  king  come  home  with  speed, 
And  all  pretenders  shake  for  dread, 
And  let  his  health  go  round. 

"  To  all  oar  injured  friends  in  need, 
Tliis  side  and  beyond  the  Tweed!— 
Let  all  pretenders  shake  for  dread, 
And  let  his  health  go  round. 

Green. 'sleeves  •,"  See* 

While  the  examination  was  going  on, 
the  present  Taliskcr,  who  was  there  as 
one  of  Macleod's  militia3,  could  not  resist 
the  pleasantry  of  asking  Kingsburgh,  in 
allusion  to  his  only  song,  "  Had  she  green 
sleeves?"  Kingsburgh  gave  him  no  an- 
swer. Lady  Margaret  M'Donald4  was 
very  angry  at  Talisker  for  joking  on  such 
a  serious  occasion,  as.  Kingsburgh  was 
really  in  danger  of  his  life.  Mrs.  M'Kinnon 
added,  that  Lady  Margaret  was  quite 
adored  in  Sky.  That  when  she  travelled 
through  the  island,  the  people  ran  in  crowds 
before  her,  and  took  the  stones  off  the  road, 


1  [General  Campbell,  it  seems,  was  accompa- 
nied by  Captain  Fergassone,  qf  the  Furnace,  part 
of  whose  snare  in  this  examination  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  ante,  p.  886.— Ed.] 

*  ["  Green  sleeves,"  however,  is  a  song,  a 
great  deal  older  than  the  Revolution.  "  Hk  dis- 
position and  words  no  more  adhere  and  keep  pace 
together,  than  the  hundredth  psalm  and  the  tune  of 
Green  sleeves  t"  says  Mrs.  Ford,  in  the  Merry 
rVkes  of  Windsor.— En.] 

*  [Macleod  and  Macdonald,  after  some  hesita- 
tion, which  the  Jacobites  called  treachery,  took 
part  with  the  Hanoverian  monarch,  and  arrayed 
their  elans  on  that  side.  Talisker,  who  com- 
manded a  body  of  Macleod's  people,  seems  to 
have  been  the  person  who  actually  arrested  Flora 
Macdoaald.  {Ascanws.)    Bat  be  probably  did 

so,  to  prevent  her  falling  into  ruder  hands. 

En.] 

*  [Lady  Margaret  was  the  daughter  of  the  ninth 
EarlofEgliftioun,  and  died  in  March,  1799.— 

E»rJ 


[TOUR  TO   THI 

lest  her. horse  should  stumble  and  she  be 
hurt  5.  Her  husband,  Sir  Alexander,  is 
also  remembered  with  great  regard.  We 
were  told  that  every  week  a  hogshead  of 
claret  was  drunk  at  his  table. 

This  was  anothei  day  of  wind  and  rain; 
but  good  cheer  and  good  society  helped  to 
beguile  the  time.  I  felt  myself  comfortable 
enough  in  the  afternoon.  I  then  thought 
that  my  last  night's  riot  was  no  more  than 
such  a  social  excess  as  may  happen  without 
much  moral  blame;  and  recollected  that 
some  physicians  maintained,  that  a  lever 
produced  by  it  was,  upon  the  whole,  good  for 
health:  so  different  are  our  reflections  on 
the  same  subject,  at  different  periods;  and 
such  the  excuses  with  which  we  palliate 
what  we  know  to  be  wrong. 

Monday,  27*A  September.— Mr.  Donald 
Macleod,  our  original  guide,  who  had  part- 
ed from  us  at  Dunvegan,  joined  us  again 
to-day.  The  weather  was  still  so  bad  that 
we  could  not  travel.  I  found  a  closet  here, 
with  a  good  many  books,  beside  those  that 
were  lying  about.  Dr.  Johnson  told  me, 
he  found  a  library  in  his  room  at  Tahuker; 
and  observed,  that  it  was  one  of  the  re- 
markable things  of  Sky,  that  there  were  so 
manv  books  in  it 

Though  we  had  here  great  abundance  of 
provisions,  it  is  remarkable  that  Corricha- 
tachin  has  literally  no  garden:  not  even  a 
turnip,  a  carrot,  or  a  cabbage.  After  din- 
ner, we  talked  of  the  crooked  spade  used  in 
Sky,  already  described,  and  they  maintain- 
ed that  it  was  better  than  the  usual  garden- 
spade,  and  that  there  was  an  art  in  tossing* 
it,  by  which  those  who  were  accustomed  to 
it  could  work  very  easily  with  it  "Nay,'» 
said  Dr.  Johnson, ,"  it  may  be  useful  in 
land  where  there  are  many  stones  to  raise; 
but  it  certainly  is  not  a  good  instrument 
for  digging  goodiand.  A  man  may  toss  it, 
to  be  sure;  but  he  will  toss  a  light  spade 
much  better:  its  weight  makes  it  an  incum- 
brance. A  man  may  dig  any  land  with  it; 
but  he  has  no  occasion  for  such  a  weight 
in  digging  good  land.  You  may  take  a 
field-piece  to  shoot  sparrows;  but  ail  the 
sparrows  you  can  bring  home  will  not  be 
worth  the  charge."  He  was  quite  social 
and  easy  amongst  them;  and,  though  he 
drank  no  fermented  liquor,  toasted  High- 
land beauties  with  great  readiness.  His 
conviviality  engaged  them  so  much,  that 
they  seemed  eager  to  show  their  attention 
to  him,  and  vied  with  each  other  in  crying 
out,  with  a  strong  Celtick  pronunciation, 
"  Tootor  Shonson,  Toctor  Shonson.  your 
health!"  *  J 

This  evening  one  of  our  married  ladies,  a 


•  [Johnson  made  a  compliment  on  this  ■object 
to  Lady  M.  Macdonald,  when  be  afterwardi  met 
her,  at  dinner,  in  London.    Sea  8th  April.  177s 

— Ed.  J  r 


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lm.— jETAT.  64. 


413 


lively,  pretty  little  woman,  good4iumoured- 
ly  sat  down  upon  Dr.  Johnson's  knee,  and, 
being  encouraged  by  some  of  the  company, 
put  her  hands  round  his  neck,  and  kissed 
bim.  "  Do  it  again,"  said  he,  "  and  let  us 
see  who  will  tire  first."  He  kept  her  on 
his  knee  some  time,  while  he  and  she  drank 
tea.  He  was  now  like  a  buck  indeed.  All 
the  company  were  much  entertained  to  find 
him  so  easy  and  pleasant.  To  me  it  wasH 
highly  comick,  to  see  the  grave  philosopher 
—■the  Rambler — toying  with  a  Highland 
beauty !  But  what  could  he  do  ?  He  must 
have  been  surly,  and  weak  too,  had  he  not 
behaved  as  he  did.  He  would  have  been 
laughed  at,  and  not  more  respected,  though 
less  loved. 

He  read  to-night  to  himself,  as  he  sat  in 
company,  a  great  deal  of  my  Journal,  and 
said  to  me,  "  The  more  I  read  of  this,  I 
think  the  more  highly  of  you  V  The  gen- 
tlemen sat  a  lonj?  time  at  their  punch,  after 
he  and  I  had  retired  to  our  chambers.  The 
manner  in  which  they  were  attended  struck 
me  as  singular.  The  bell  being  broken,  a 
smart  lad  lay  on  a  table  in  the  corner  of  the 
room,  ready  to  spring  up  and  bring  the  ket- 
tle, whenever  it  was  wanted.  They  con- 
tinued drinking,  and  staging  Erse  songs,  till 
near  five  in  the  morning,  when  they  alTcame 
into  my  room,  where  some  of  them  had  beds. 
Unluckily  for  me,  they  found  a  bottle  or 
punch  in  a  corner,  which  they  drank;  and 
Corrichatachin  went  for  another,  which 
they  also  drank.    They  made  many  apolo- 

G" »  for  disturbing  me.  I  told  them,  that, 
ving*  been  kept  awake  by  their  mirth,  I 
had  once  thoughts  of  getting  up  and  joining 
them  again.  Honest  Corrtekafackm  said, 
"  To  have  had  you  done  so,  I  would  have 
given  a  cow." 

Tuesday,  2&th  September.— The  weath- 
er was  worse  than  yesterday.  I  felt  as  if 
imprisoned.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  it  was  irk- 
some to  be  detained  thus:  yet  he  seemed  to 
have  less  uneasiness,  or  more  patience,  than 
I  had.  What  made  our  situation  worse 
here  was,  that  We  had  no  rooms  that  we 
could  command;  for  the  good  people  had 
no  notion  that  a  man  could  have  any  occa- 
sion but  for  a  mere  sleeping-place;  so,  dur- 
ing the  day,  the  bed-chambers  were  common 
to  all  the  house.  Servants  eat  in  Dr.  John- 
son's, and  mine  was  a  kind  of  general  ren- 
dezvous of  all  under  the  roof,  children  and 
dogs  not  excepted.  A»  the  gentlemen  oc- 
cupied the  parlour,  the  ladies  had  no  place 
to  sit  in,  during  the  day,  but  Dr.  Johnson's 
room.  I  had  always  some  quiet  time  for 
writing  in  it,  before  he  was  up;  and,  by  de- 
crees, I  accustomed  the  ladies  to  let  me  sit 
in  it  after  breakfast,  at  my  Journal,  without 
minding  me. 

— — '      ,  [O/yw.'—E©.]      ~~™~"™~ 


Dr.  Johnson  was  this  morning  for  going 
to  see  as  many  islands  as  we  could,  not  re- 
collecting the  uncertainty  of  the  season, 
which  might  detain  us  in  one  place  for 
many  weeks.  He  said  to  me, "  I  have  more 
the  spirit  of  adventure  than  you. "  For  my 
part,  I  was  anxious  to  get  to  Mull,  from 
whence  we  might  almost  any  day  reach  the 
main  land. 

Dr.  Johnson  mentioned,  that  the  few  an- 
cient Irish  gentlemen  yet  remaining  have 
the  highest  pride  of  family;  that  Mr.  Sand- 
ford,  a  friend  of  his,  whose  mother  was 
Irish,  told  him,  that  O'Hara  (who  was  true 
Irish,  both  by  father  and  mother)  and  he, 
and  Mr.  Ponsonby,  son  to  the  Earl  of  Bes- 
borough,  the  greatest  man  of  the  three,  but 
of  an  English  family,  went  to  see  one  of 
those  ancient  Irish,  and  that  he  distinguish- 
ed them  thus:  "  O'Hara,  you  are  welcome! 
Mr.  Sandford,  your  mother's  son  is  welcome ! 
Mr.  Ponsonby,  you  may  sit  down!" 

He  talked  both  of  threshing  and  thatch- 
ing. He  said  it  was  very  difficult  to  deter- 
mine how  to  agree  with  a  thresher.  "If 
you  pay  him  by  the  day's  wages,  he  will 
thresh  no  more  than  he  pleases:  though,  to 
be  sure,  the  negligence  of  a  thresher  is  more 
easily  detected  than  that  of  most  labourers, 
because  he  must  always  make  a  sound  while 
he  works.  If  you  pay  him  by  the  piece,  by 
the  quantity  of  gram  which  he  produces,  he 
will  thresh  only  while  the  grain  comes  free- 
ly, and,  though  he  leaves  a  good  deal  in  the 
ear,  it  is  not  worth  while  to  thresh  the  straw, 
over  again;  nor  can  you  fix  him  to  do  it 
sufficiently,  because  it  is  so  difficult  to  prove 
how  much  less  a  man  threshes  than  he  ought 
to  do.  Here  then  is  a  dilemma :  but,  for 
my  part,  I  would  engage  him  by  the  day:  I 
would  rather  trust  his  idleness  than  his 
fraud."  He  said,  a  roof -thatched  with  Lin- 
colnshire reeds  would  last  seventy  years,  as 
he  was  informed  when  in  that  county;  and 
that  he  told  this  in  London  to  a  great 
thatcher,  who  said,  he  believed  it  might  be 
true.  Such  are  the  pains  that  Dr.  Johnson 
takes  to  get  the  best  information  on  every 
subject. 

He  proceeded:  "It  is  difficult  for  a  farmer 
in  England  to  find  day-labourers,  because 
the  lowest  manufacturers  can  always  get 
more  than  a  day-labourer.  It  is  of  no  conse- 
quence how  high  the  wages  of  manufactur- 
ers are;  but  it  would  be  of  very  bad  conse- 
quence to  raise  the  wages  of  those  who  pro- 
cure the  immediate  necessaries  of  life,  for 
that  would  raise  the  price  of  provisions. 
Here  then  is  a  problem  for  politicians.  It 
is  not  reasonable  that  the  most  useful  body 
of  men  should  be  the  worst  paid;  yet  it 
does  not  appear  how  it  can  be  ordered  oth- 
erwise. It  were  to  be  wished,  that  a  mode 
for  its  beinpr  otherwise  were  found  out.  In 
the  mean  time,  it  is  better  to  give  tempora- 


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1778.— ^ETAT.  64. 


ry  assistance  by  charitable  contributions  to 
poor  labourers,  at  times  when  provisions 
are  high,  than  to  raise  their  wages,  because, 
if  wages  are  once  raised,  they  will  never 
get  down  again." 

Happily  the  weather  cleared  up  between 
one  and  two  o'clock,  and  we  got  ready  to 
depart;  but  our  kind  host  and  hostess  would 
not  let  us  go  without  taking  a  snatchy  as 
they  called  it;  which  was  in  truth  a  very 

food  dinner.  While  the  punch  went  round, 
>r.  Johnson  kept  a  close  whispering  con- 
ference with  Mrs.  M'Kinnon,  which,  how- 
ever, was  loud  enough  to  let  us  hear  that 
the  subject  of  it  was  the  particulars  of  Prince 
Charles's  escape  K  The  company  were  en- 
tertained and  pleased  to  observe  it  Upon 
that  subject,  there  was  something  congenial 
between  the  soul  of  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson, 
and  that  of  an  Isle  of  Sky  farmer's  wife.  It 
is  curious  to  see  people,  how  far  soever  re- 
moved from  each  other  in  the  general  sys- 
tem of  their  lives,  come  close  together  on  a 
particular  point  which  is  common  to  each. 
We  were  merry  with  Corriehataehin,  on 
Dr.  Johnson's  whispering-  with  his  wife. 
She,  perceiving  this,  humorously  cried,  "  I 
am  in  love  with  him.  What  is  it  to  live  and 
not  to  love  ?"  Upon  her  saying  something, 
which  I  did  not  hear,  or  cannot  recollect,  he 
seized  her  hand  eagerly,  and  kissed  it 

As  we  were  going,  the  Scottish  phrase 
of"  honest  man!"  which  is  fn  expression 
of  kindness  and  regard,  was  again  and  again 
.applied  by  the  company  to  Dr.  Johnson.  I 
was  also  treated  with  much  civility ;  and  I 
must  take  some  merit  from  my  assiduous 
attention  to  him,  and  from  my  contriving 
that  he  shall  be  easy  wherever  he  goes,  that 
he  shall  not  be  asked  twice  to  eat  or  drink 
any  thing  (which  always  disgusts  him), 
that  he  shall  be  provided  with  water  at  his 
meals,  and  many  such  little  things,  which, 
if  not  attended  to,  would  fret  him.  I  also 
maybe  allowed  to  claim  some  merit  in  leading 
the  conversation:  I  do  not  mean  leading, 
as  in  an  orchestra,  by  playing  the  first  fiddle ; 
but  leading  as  one  does  in  examining  a  wit- 
ness— starting  topics,  and  making  him  pur- 
sue them.  He  appears  to  me  like  a  great  milr, 
into  which  a  subject  is  thrown  to  be  ground. 
It  requires,  indeed,  fertile  minds  to  furnish 
materials  for  this  mill.  1  regret  whenever 
I  see  it  unemployed;  but  sometimes  I  feel 
myself  quite  barren,  and  having  nothing  to 


1  [It  must  be  remembered  that  Mrs.  M'Kinnon 
was  old  JTingaburgh's  daughter,  and  was  in  the 
house  when  the  Pretender  was  there  in  woman's 
clothes.  Aseonitu  relates  an  anecdote  of  her 
being  alarmed  (she  was  then  very  young)  with 
the  masculine  manners  and  bold  strides  of  the 
"  muekle  woman"  in  the  hall.  Mrs.  M'Kinnon 
.  was  the  maternal  grandmother  of  my  friend  Ma- 
jor-General Macdonald,  now  Deputy-Adjutant- 
General. — En.] 


[TOUR  TO    TBI 

throw  in.  I  know  not  if  this  mill  be  a  good 
figure;  though  Pope  makes  his  mind  a  mill 
for  turning  verses. 

We  set  out  about  four.  Toung  Corri- 
ehataehin  went  with  us.  We  had  a  fine 
evening,  and  arrived  in  good  time  at  Ostig, 
the  residence  of  Mr.  Martin  M'Pherson, 
minister  of  Slate.  It  is  a  pretty  good  house, 
built  by  his  father,  upon  a  farm  near  the 
church.  We  were  received  here  with  much 
kindness  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M'Pherson,  and 
his  sister,  Miss  M'Pherson,  who  pleased  Dr. 
Johnson  much  by  singing  Erse  songs,  and 
playing  on  the  guitar.  He  afterwards  sent 
her  a  present  of  his  "  Rasselas."  In  his  bed- 
chamber was  a  press  stored  with  books, 
Greek,  Latin,  French,  and  English,  most 
of  which  had  belonged  to  the  father  of  our 
host,  the  learned  Dr.  M'Pherson;  who, 
though  his  "Dissertations"  have  been 
mentioned  in  a  former  page  as  unsatisfacto- 
ry, was  a  man  of  distinguished  talents.  D r. 
Johnson  looked  at  a  Latin  paraphrase  of 
the  song  of  Moses,  written  by  him,  and 
published  in  the  "Scots  Magazine "  for 
1747,  and' said,  "It  does  him  honour;  he 
has  a  great  deal  of  Latin,  and  good  Latin." 
Dr.  M'Pherson  published  also  in  the  same 
Magazine,  June,  1799,  an  original  Latin 
ode,  which  he  wrote  from  the  Isle  of  Barra, 
where  he  was  minister  for  some  years.  It 
is  very  poetical,  and  exhibits  a  striking 
proof  how  much  all  things  depend  upon 
comparison:  for  Barra,  it  seems,  appeared 
to  him  so  much  worse  than  Sky,  his  nataU 
solum,  that  he  languished  for  its  "  blessed 
mountains,"  and  thought  himself  buried 
alive  amongst  barbarians  where  he  was. 
My  readers  will  probably  not  be  displeased 
to  have  a  specimen  of  this  ode: 

"  Hei  mini!  qoantos  patior  dolorea, 
Dum  procul  specto  jnga  ter  beau, 
Dam  ferae  Bame  aterilee  arenas 
Solas  oberro. 

"  Ingemo,  indignor,  crucior,  quod  inter 
Barbaras  Thulen  lateam  colentes  ; 
Torpeo  langnens>morior  sepaltas 
Careers  cceco." 

After  wishing  for  wings  to  fly  over  to  his 
dear  country,  which  was  in  his  view,  from 
what  he  calls  Thule,  as  being  the  most 
western  isle  of  Scotland,  except  St.  Ktkla: 
after  describing  the  pleasures  of  society,  and 
the  miseries  of  solitude,  he  at  last,  with  be- 
coming propriety,  bas  recourse  to  the  only 
sure  relief  or  thinking  men,*— 5tir#tfs*  cordi, 
— Uie  hope  of  a  better  world,  and  disposes 
his  mind  to  resignation: 

"Interim,  fiat  toa,  rex,  voluntas 
Erigor  sursam  qaoties  sobh  spes 
Certa  migrandi  Solymam  snpernam 
Numinis  aulam." 
He  concludes  in  a  noble  strain  of  ortho- 
dox piety: 


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HEBRIDES.] 

««  Vita  tun  aemam  vocitanda  vita  eft 
Tarn  licet  gratos  socio*  habere, 
Seraphim  et  sanctos  triadkm  verendam 
CoocelebranteB." 
[From  Ostig  he  .addressed  the  following 
letter  to  Macleod: 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MACLEOD*. 

«Oitig,28th  Sept.  1778. 

"  Dear  sir, — We  are  now  on  the  margin 
of  the  sea,  waiting  for  a  boat  and  a  wind. 
Boswell  grows  impatient;  but  the  kind 
treatment  which  I  find  wherever  I  go,  makes 
me  leave,  with  some  heaviness  of  heart,  an 
island  which  I  am  not  very  likely  to  see 
again.  Having  now  gone  as  far  as  horses 
can  carry  us,  we  thankfully  return  them. 
My  steed  will,  I  hope,  be  received  with 
kindness; — he  has  borne  me,  heavy  as  I  am, 
over  ground  both  rough  and  steep,  with 
great  fidelity;  and  for  the  use  of  him,  as  for 
your  other  favours,  I  hope  you  will  believe 
me  thankful,  and  willing,  at  whatever  dis- 
tance we  may  be  placed,  to  show  my  sense 
of  your  kindness,  bv  any  offices  of  friend- 
ship that  may  fall  within  my  power. 

"Lady  Macleod  and  the  young-  ladies 
have,  by  their  hospitality  and  politeness, 
made  an  impression  on  my  mind,  which  will 
not  easily  be  effaced.  Be  pleased  to  tell 
tli em,  that  I  remember  them  with  great  ten- 
derness, and  great  respect. — I  am,  sir,  your 
most  obliged  and  most  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johnson. 

"  P.  S.—We  passed  two  days  at  Talisker 
very  happily,  both  by  the  pleasantness  of 
the  place  and  elegance  of  our  reception."] 

Wednesday,  29th  September. — After  a 
very  good  sleep,  I  rose  more  refreshed  than 
I  had  been  for  some  nights.  We  were  now 
at  but  a  little  distance  from  the  shore,  and 
saw  the  sea  from  our  windows,  which  made 
our  voyage  seem  nearer.  M  r.  M'  Pherson's 
manners  and  address  pleased  us.  much.  He 
appeared  to  be  a  man  of  such  intelligence 
and  taste  as  to  be  sensible  of  the  extraordi- 
nary powers  of  his  illustrious  guest.  He 
said  to  me,  "  Dr.  Johnson  is  an  honour  to 
mankind,  and,  if  the  expression  may  be  used, 
is  an  honour  to  religion." 

Col,  who  had  gone  yesterday  to  pay  a 
visit  at  Camuscross,  joined  us  this  morning 
at  breakfast.  Some  other  gentlemen  also 
came  to  enjoy  the  entertainment  of  Dr. 
Johnson's  conversation.  The  day  was  windy 
and  rainy,  so  that  we  had  just  seized  a 
happy  interval  for  our  journey  last  night. 
We  had  good  entertainment  here,  better 
accommodation  than  at  Corrichatachin,  and 
time  enough  to  ourselves.  The  hours  slip- 
ped along  imperceptibly.  We  talked  of 
Shenstone.    Dr.  Johnson  said,  he  was  a 


1778.— JETAT.  64. 


415 


>  [For  this  letter  the  editor  is 
present  Macleod. — En.] 


indebted  to  the 


good  layer-out  of  land,  but  would  not  allow 
him  to  approach  excellence  as  a  poet  He 
said,  he  believed  he  had  tried  to  read  all  his 
"  Love  Pastorals,"  but  did  not  ge*  through 
them.     I  repeated  the  stanza, 

"  She  gazed  at  I  slowly  withdrew  ; 
My  path  I  could  hardly  discern ; 
So  sweetly  she  bade  me.  adieu, 
I  thought  that  she  bade  me  return." 

He  said,  "That  seems  to  be  pretty."  I 
observed  that  Shenstone,  from  his  short 
maxims  in  prose,  appeared  to  have  some 
power  of  thinking;  but  Dr.  Johnson  would 
not  allow  him  that  merit.  He  agreed,  how- 
ever, with  Shenstone,  that  it  was  wrong  in 
the  brother  of  one  of  his  correspondents  to 
burn  his  letters;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  Shen- 
stone was  a  man  whose  correspondence  was 
an  honour."  He  was  this  afternoon  full  of 
critical  severity,  and  dealt  about  his  censures 
on  all  sides.  He  said,  Hammond's  "  Love 
Elegies  "  were  poor  things.  He  spoke  con- 
temptuously or  our  lively  and  elegant, 
though  too  licentious  lyrick  bard,  Hanbury 
Williams,  and  said,  "  he  had  no  fame,  but 
from  boys  who  drank  with  him." 

While  he  was  in  this  mood,  I  was  unfor- 
tunate enough,  simply  perhaps,  but  I  could 
not  help  thinking,  undeservedly,  to  come 
within  "the  whiff  and  wind  of  his  fell 
sword."  I  asked  him,  if  he  had  ever  been 
accustomed  to  wear  a  night-cap.  He  said 
"  No."  I  asked,  if  it  was  best  not  to  wear 
one.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  I  had  this  custom 
by  chance,  and  perhaps  no  man  shall  ever 
know  whether  it  .is  best  to  sleep  with  or 
without  a  night-cap."  Soon  afterwards  he 
was  laughing  at  some  deficiency  in  the 
Highlands,  and  said,  "  One  might  as  well 
go  without  shoes  and  stockings."  Think- 
ing to  have  a  little  hit  at  his  own  deficien- 
cy, I  ventured  to  add,  "  or  without  a  night- 
cap, sir."  But  I  had  better  have  been  si- 
lent, for  he  retorted  directly,  "  I  do  not  see 
the  connexion  there  (laughing).  Nobody 
before  was  ever  foolish  enough  to  ask  whe- 
ther it  was  best  to  wear  a  night-cap  or  not. 
This  comes  of  being  a  little  wrong-headed." 
He  carried  the  company  along  with  him : 
and  yet  the  truth  is,  that  if  he  had  always 
worn  a  night-cap,  as  is  the  common  prac- 
tice, and  found  the  Highlanders  did  not 
wear  one,  he  would  have  wondered  at  their 
barbarity;  so  that  my  hit  was  fair  enough. 

Thursday,  90th  September.— There  was 
as  great  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain  as  I  have 
almost  ever  seen,  which  necessarily  confin- 
ed us  to  the  house;  but  we  were  fully  com- 
Snsated  by  Dr.  Johnson's  conversation, 
e  said,  he  did  not  grudge  Burke's  being 
the  first  man  in  the  house  of  commons,  for 
he  was  the  first  man  every  where;  but  he 
grudged  that  a  fellow  who  makes  no  figure 
in  company,  and  has  a  mind  as  narrow  as 
the  neck  of  a  vinegar  cruet,  should  make  a 

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416 


177*.— iETAT.  64. 


figure  in  th*  house  of  commons,  merely  by 
having  the  knowledge  of  a  few  forms,  and 
being  furnished  with  a  little  occasional  in- 
formation*.   He  told  us,  the  first  time  he 
saw  Dr.  Young  was  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Richardson,  the  authour  of"  Clarissa."    He 
was  sent  for,  that  the  Doctor  might  read  to 
him  his  "  Conjectures  on  Original  Compo- 
sition," which  he  did,  and  Dr.  Johnson 
made  his  remarks;  and  he  was  surprised  to 
find  Young  receive  as  novelties,  what  he 
thought  very  common  maxims.    He  said, 
he  believed  Young  was  not  a  great  scholar, 
nor  had  studied  regularly  the  art  of  writing; 
that  there  were  very  fine  things  in  his 
"  Night  Thoughts,"  though  vou  could  not 
find  twenty  lines  together  without  some  ex- 
travagance.   He   repeated    two    passages 
from  his  "  Love  of  Fame,"— the  characters 
of.  Brunetta  and  Stella,  which  he  praised 
highly.    He  said  Young  pressed  him  much 
to  come  to  Wellwyn.    He  always  intended 
it,  but  never  went    He  was  sorry  when 
Young  died.    The  cause  of  quarrel  between 
Young  and  his  son,  he  told  us,  was,  that  his 
son  insisted  Young  Bhould  turn  away  a  cler- 
gyman's widow,  who  lived  with  him,  and 
who,  having  acquired  great  influence  over 
the  father,  was  saucy  to  the  son.    Dr. 
Johnson  said,  she  could  not  conceal  her  re- 
sentment at  him,  for  saying  to  Young,  that 
**  an  old  man  should  not  resign  himself  to 
the  management  of  any  body."    I  asked 
him  if  there  was  any  improper  connexion 
between  them.    "  No,  sir,  no  more  than 
between  two  statues.    He  was  past  four- 
score, and  she  a  very  coarse  woman.    She 
read  to  him,  and,  I  suppose,  made  his  coffee, 
and  frothed  his  chocolate,  and  did  such 
things  as  an  old  man  wishes  to  have  done 
for  him." 

Dr.  Doddridge9  being  mentioned,  he  ob- 
served that  "  he  was  authour  of  one  of  the 
finest  epigrams  in  the  English  language. 
It  is  in  Orton's  Life  of  him.    The  subject 
is  his  family  motto,  Bum  vivimus,  vivamus, 
which,  in  its  primary  signification,  is,  to  be 
sure,  not  very  suitable  to  a  Christian  divine; 
bat  he  paraphrased  it  thus: 
•  Live  while  you  live,  the  epicure  would  say, 
And  seize  the  pleasures  of  the  present  day. 
Live  while  you  live,  the  sacred  preacher  cries, 
And  give  to  God  each  moment  as  it  flies. 
Lord,  in  my  views  let  both  united  be  ; 
I  live  in  pleasure,  when  I  live  to  thee.*  " 


1  He  did  not  mention  the  name  of  any  particu- 
lar person ;  but  those  who  are  conversant  with 
the  political  world  will  probably  recollect  more 
persons  than  one  to  whom  this  observation  may 
be  applied. — Bobwell. 

*  [Dr.  Philip  Doddridge,  an  eminent  dissenting 
divine,  born  in  1702,  died  at  Lisbon  (whither  he 
hail  gone  for  the  recovery  of  his  health)  in  1751. 
Some  of  hk  letters  have  been  recently  published, 
with  no  great  advantage  to  his  feme.— En.] 


[touk  *o_thb 

I  asked  if  it  was  not  strange  that  govern- 
ment should  permit  so  many  infidel  writings 
to  pass  without  censure.  Johksov.  "  Sir, 
it  is  mighty  foolish.  It  is  for  want  of  know- 
ing their  own  power.  The  present  family 
on  the  throne  came  to  the  crown  against 
the  will  of  nine-tenths  of  the  people.  Whe- 
ther those  nine-tenths  were  right  or  wrong, 
it  is  not  our  business  now  to  inquire.  But 
such  being  the  situation  of  the  royal  family, 
they  were  glad  to  encourage  all  who  would 
be  their  friends.  Now  you  know  every 
bad  man  is  a  whig;  every  man  who  has 
loose  notions.  The  church  was  all  against 
this  family.  They  were,  as  I  say,  glad  to 
encourage  any  friends;  and,  therefore,  since 
their  accession,  there  is  no  instance  of  any 
man  being  kept  back  on  account  of  his  bad 
principles:  and  hence  this  inundation  of  im- 
piety." I  observed  that  Mr.  Hume,  some 
of  whose  writings  were  very  unfavourable 
to  religion,  was,  however,  a  tory.  Jobh- 
so  w.  "  Sir,  Hume  is  a  tory  by  chance,  as 
being  a  Scotchman:  but  not  upon  a  princi- 
ple of  duty,  for  he  nas  no  principle.  If  he 
is  any  thing,  he  is  a  Hobbist." 

There  was  something  not  quite  serene  in 
his*  humour  to-night,  after  supper;  for  he 
spoke- of  hastening  away  to  London,  with- 
out stopping  much  at  Edinburgh.  1  re- 
minded him,  that  he  had  general  Oughton, 
and  many  others,  to  see.  Johksoit.  "Nay, 
I  shall  neither  go  in  jest,  nor  stay  in  jest. 
I  shall  do  what  is  fit."  Boswell.  "  Ay, 
sir,  but  all  I  desire  is,  that  you  will  let  me 
tell  you  when  it  is  fit"  Johnsoh.  ««  Sir, 
I  shall  not  consult  you."  Boswell.  "  If 
you  are  to  run  away  from  us,  as  soon  as  you 
get  loose,  we  will  keep  you  confined  in  as 
island."  He  was,  however,  on  the  whole, 
very  good  company.  Mr.  Donald  Macfe- 
od  expressed  very  well  the  gradual  impres- 
sion made  by  Dr.  Johnson  on  those  who 
are  so  fortunate  as  to  obtain  his  acquaint- 
ance. "When  you  see  him  first,  you  are 
struck,  with  awful  reverence;  then  you  ad- 
mire him;  and  then  you  love  him  cordial- 
ly." 

I  read  this  evening  some  part  of  Voltaire* 
"  History  of  the  War  in  1 741 ,"  and  of  Loid 
Karnes  against  "Hereditary  Indefeasible 
Right"  This  is  a  very  slight  circum- 
stance, with  which  I  should  not  trouble  my 
reader,  but  for  the  sake  of  observing,  that 
every  man  should  keep  minutes  of  whatev 
er  he  reads.  Every  circumstance  of  hit 
studies  should  be  recorded;  what  books  ke 
has  consulted;  how  much  of  them  he  hat 
read;  at  what  times;  how  often  the  same 
authours;  and  what  opinions  he  formed  of 
them,  at  different  periods  of  his  life.  Such 
an  account  would  much  illustrate  the  histo- 
ry of  his  mind. 

Friday,  Ut  Oefoferv— I  showed  to  Dr. 
Johnson  verses  in  a  magazine,  on  his  Die- 


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HBBBIpkS.] 

tionary,  composed  of  uncommon  words  ta- 
ken from  it; 

•«  Little  of  Anthropopathy  has  be,"  Ice. 

He  read  a  few  of  them,  and  said,  "  I  am 
not  answerable  for  all  the  words  in  my  Dic- 
tionary." I  told  him,  that  Garrick  kept  a 
book  of  all  who  had  either  praised  or  abus- 
ed him.  On  the  subject  of  his  own  repu- 
tation, he  said, "  Now  that  I  see  it  has  been 
so  current  a  topick,  I  wish  I  had  done  so 
too  j  but  it  could  not  well  be  done  now,  as 
so  many  things  are  scattered  in  newspapers." 
He  said  he  was  angry  at  a  boy  of  Oxford  *, 
who  wrote  in  his  defence  against  Kenrick; 
because  it  was  doing  him  hurt  to  answer 
Kenrick.  He  was  told  afterwards,  the  boy 
was  to  come  to  him  to  ask  a  favour.  He 
first  thought  to  treat  him  rudely,  on  account 
of  his  meddling  in  that  business:  but  then 
he  considered  he  had  meant  to  do  him  alt 
the  service  in  his  power,  and  he  took  ano- 
ther resolution:  he  told  him  he  would  do 
what  he  could  for  him,  and  did  so;  and  the 
boy  was  satisfied.  He  said,  he  did  not 
know  how  his  pamphlet  was  done,  as  he  had 
read  very  little  of  it  The  boy  made  a  good 
figure  at  Oxford,  but  died.  He  remarked, 
that  attacks  on  authours  did  them  much  ser- 
vice. "  A  man  who  tells  me  my'  play  is 
very  bad,  is  less  my  enemy  than  he  who 
lets  it  die  in  silence.  A  man,  whose  busi- 
ness it  is  to  be  talked  of,  is  much  helped  by 
being  attacked."  Garrick,  I  observed,  had 
been  often  so  helped.  Johnson.  "Yes, 
sir;  though  Garrick  had  more  opportunities 
than  almost  any  man,  to  keep  the  publick 
in  mind  of  him,  by  exhibiting  himself  to 
such  numbers,  he  would  not  have  had  so 
much  reputation,  had  he  not  been  so  much 
attacked.  Every  attack  produces  a  defence ; 
and  so  attention  is  engaged.  There  is  no 
sport  in  mere  praise,  when  people  are  all  of 
a  mind."  Boswkll.  "Then  Hume  is 
not  the  worse  for  Beattie's  attack  ?  "  John- 
son. "  He  is,  because  Beattie  has  confut- 
ed him.  I  do  not  say,  but  that  there  may 
be  some  attacks  which  will  hurt  an  authour. 
Though  Hume  suffered  from  Beattie,  he 
was  the  better  for  other  attacks."  (He 
certainly  could  not  include  in  that  number 
those  of  Dr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Tytler*. ) 
Boswsll.     "  Goldsmith  is  the  better  for 


1778.- yETAT.  64. 


417 


1  [Mr.  Barclay.— See  ante,  p.  228.  John- 
son's desire  to  expreai  his  contempt  of  Kenrick  is 
ahown  by  his  perseverance  in  representing  this 
young  gentleman  as  a  boy  ;  as  if  to  say,  it  was 
too  much  honour  for  Kenrick  that  even  a  boy 
shook!  answer  him.— Ed.] 

1  [Mr.  Boswell  adds  this'paienthens,  probably, 
because  the  gentlemen  alluded  to  were  friends  of 
his;  bat  if  Dr.  Johnson  "  did  not  mean  to  include 
them,"  whom  did  he  mean  ?  for  they  were  cer- 
tainly (after  Beattie)  Hume's  most  prominent  an- 
tsgonkts.— Ed.] 

vol.  i.  53 


attacks."  Johksok.  "Tea,  sir:  but  he 
does  not  think  so  yet.  When  Goldsmith 
and  I  published,  each  of  us  something,  at 
the  same  time,  we  were  given  to  understand 
that  we  might  review  each  other.  Goldsmith 
was  for  accepting  the  offer.  I  said,  no;  set 
reviewers  at  defiance.  It  was  said  to  old 
Bentley,  upon  the  attacks  against  him, 
•  Why,  they  '11  write  you  down.'  «  No,  sir/ 
he  replied;  '  depend  upon  it,  no  man  was 
ever  written  down  but  by  himself. »"  He 
observed  to  me  afterwards,  that  the  advan- 
tages authours  derived  from  attacks  were 
chiefly  in  subjects  of  taste,  where  you  can- 
not confute,  as  so  much  mar  be  said  on  ei- 
ther side.  He  told  me  he  did  not  know  who 
was  the  authour  of  the  "  Adventures  of  a 
Guineas :"  but  that  the  bookseller  had 
sent  the  first  volume  to  him  in  manuscript, 
to  have  his  opinion  if  it  should  be  printed; 
and  he  thought  it  should. 

The  weather  being  now  somewhat  bet- 
ter, Mr.  James  M'Donald,  factor  to  Sir  Al- 
exander M'Donald,  in  Slate,  insisted  that 
all  the  company  at  Ostig  should  go  to  the 
house  at  Armidale,  which  Sir  Alexander 
had  left,  having  gone  with  his  lady  to  Ed- 
inburgh, and  be  his  guests,  till  we  had  an 
opportunity  of  sailing  to  Mull.  We  ac- 
cordingly got  there  to  dinner;  and  passed 
our  day  very  cheerfully,  being  no  less  than 
fourteen  in  number. 

Saturday,  %d  October.— Dt.  Johnson 
said,  that  "  a  chief  and  his  lady  should 
make  their  house  like  a  court.  They  should 
have  a  certain  number  of  the  gentlemen's 
daughters  to  receive  their  education  in  the 
family,  to  learn  pastry  and  such  things 
from  the  housekeeper,  and  manners  from 
my  lady.  That  was  the  way  in  the  great 
families  in  Wales;  at  Lady  Salisbury's, 
Mrs.  Thrale's  grandmother,  and  at  Lady 
Philips's.  I  distinguish  the  families  by  the 
ladies,  as  I  speak  of  what  was  properly  their 
province.  There  were  always  six  young 
ladies  at  Sir  John  Philips's:  when  one  was 
married,  her  place  was  filled  up.  There 
was  a  large  school-room,  where  they  learnt 
needlework  and  other  things."  I  observed, 
that,  at  some  courts  in  Germany,  there 
were  academies  for  the  pages,  who  are  the 
sons  of  gentlemen,  and  receive  their  educa- 
tion without  any  expense  to  their  parents. 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  that  manners  were  best 


9  [It  is  strange  that  Johnson  ahoald  not  nave 
known  that  the  "Adventures  of  a  Guinea"  was 
written  by  a  namesake  of  his  own,  Charles  John- 
son. Being  disqualified  for  the  bar,  which  was 
his  profession,  bj  a  sapervenuigdeeinees,  he  went ) 
to  India  and  made  some  fortune,  which  he  enjoy- 
ed at  home. — Walter  Scott.  He  most  not 
be  confounded  with  anothet  Charles  Johnson,  also 
bred  to  the  bar,  bat  who  became  a  very  volemv 
noas  dramatic  writer,  and  died  abet*  1744,— 
En.] 


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418 


1778.— jETAT.  64 


leamt  at  those  courts.  "  Ton  are  admitted 
with  great  facility  to  the  prince's  company, 
and  yet  must  treat  him  with  much  respect. 
At  a  great  court,  you  are  at  such  a  distance 
that  you  get  no  good."  I  said,  "  Very 
true:  a  man  sees  the  court  of  Versailles,  as 
if  he  saw  it  on  a  theatre."  He  said,  "  The 
best  book  that  ever  was  written  upon  good 
breeding,  "  II  Corte£giano,"  by  Castigli- 
one,  grew  up  at  the  little  court  of  Urbino, 
and  you  should  read  it"  I  am  glad  always 
to  have  his  opinion  of  books.  At  Mr. 
Macpherson's,  ne  commended  "  Whitby's 
Commentary."  and  said,  he  had  heard  him 
called  rather  lax;  but  he  did  not  perceive  it 
He  had  looked  at  a  novel,  called  "  The 
Man  of  the  World,"  at  Rasay,  but  thought 
there  was  nothing  in  it '.  He  said  to-day, 
while  reading  my  journal,  "  This  will  be  a 
great  treasure  to  us  some  years  hence." 

Talking  of  a  very  penurious  gentleman2 
of  our  acquaintance,  lie  observed,  that  he 
exceeded  L'Avare  in  the  play.  I  concurred 
with  him,  and  remarked  that  he  would  do 
well,  if  introduced  in  one  of  Foote's  farces; 
that  the  best  way  to  get  it  done  would  be  to 
bring  Foote  to  be  entertained  at  his  house 
for  a  week,  and  then  it  would  be  faeit  in- 
dignatio.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  I  wish  he  had 
him.  I,  who  have  eaten  his  bread,  will  no* 
give  him  to  him;  but  1  should  be  glad  he 
came  honestly  by  him." 

He  said,  he  was  angry  at  Thrale,  for  sit- 
ting at  General  Oglethorpe's  without  speak- 
ing. He  censured  a  man  for  degrading 
himself  to  a  nonentity.  I  observed,  that 
Goldsmith  was  on  the  other  extreme;  for 
he  spoke  at  all  ventures.  Johnson.  "Yes, 
air;  Goldsmith,  rather  than  not  speak,  will 
talk  of  what  he  knows  himself  to  be  igno- 
rant, which  can  only  end  in  exposing  him." 
"  I  wonder,"  said  I,  "  if  he  feels  that  he  ex- 
poses himself.     If  he  was  with  two  tailors  " 

"Or  with  two  founders,"  said    Dr. 

Johnson,  interrupting  me,  "  he  would  fall 
a  talking  on  the  method  of  making  cannon, 
though  both  of  them  would  soon  see  that 
he  did  not  know  what  metal  a  cannon  is 
made  of."  We  were  very  social  and  merry 
in  his  room  this  forenoon.  In  the  evening 
the  company  danced  as  usual.  We  per- 
formed, with  much  activity,  a  dance  which, 
I  suppose,  the  emigration  from  Sky  has  oc- 
casioned. They  call  it  America.  Each  of 
the  couples,  after  the  common  involutions 
and  evolutions,  successively  whirls  round  in 
a  circle,  till  all  are  in  motion;  and  the  dance 
seems  intended  to  show  how  emigration 
catches,  till  a  whole  neighbourhood  is  set 
afloat.    Mrs.  M(Kinnon  told  me,  that  last 

1  [Though  act,  perhaps,  so  popular  as  the"  Man 
of  Fooling "  of  the  same  amiable  aathoar,  the 
••  Man  of  the  World  "k  a  very  pathetic  tale.— 
Waltz*  8cott.] 

•  [No  doubt  Sir  Alexander  Macdonald— En.] 


[tour  to  the 

year,  when  a  ship  sailed  from  Portree  for 
America,  the  people  on  shore  were  almost 
distracted  when  they  saw  their  relations  go 
ofT:  they  lay  down  on  the  ground,  tumbled, 
and  tore  the  grass  with  their  teeth.  This 
year  there  was  not  a  tear  shed.  The  peo- 
ple on  shore  seemed  to  think  that  they 
would  soon  follow.  This  indifference  is  a 
mortal  sign  for  the  country. 

We  danced  to-night  to  the  musick  of  the 
bagpipe,  which  made  us  beat  the  ground 
with  prodigious  force.  I  thought  it  better 
to  endeavour  to  conciliate  the  kindness  of 
the  people  of  Sky,  by  joining  heartily  in 
their  amusements,  than  to  play  the  abstract 
scholar.  I  looked  on  this  tour  to  the  He- 
brides as  a  copartnership  between  Dr.  John- 
son and  roe.  Each  was  to  do  all  he  could 
to  promote  its  success;  and  I  have  some 
reason  to  flatter  myself,  that  my  gayer  ex- 
ertions were  of  service  to  us.  fir.  John- 
son's immense  fund  of  knowledge  and  wit 
was  a  wonderful  source  of  admiration  and 
delight  to  them;  but  they  had  it  only  at 
times;  and  they  required  to  have  the  inter- 
vals agreeably  filled  up.  and  even  little  elu- 
cidations of  his  learned  text  I  was  also 
fortunate  enough  frequently  to  draw  him 
forth  to  talk,  when  he  would  otherwise 
have  been  silent.  The  fountain  was  at  times 
locked  up,  till  I  opened  the  spring.  It  was 
curious  to  hear  tne  Hebridians,  when  any 
dispute  happened  while  he  was  out  of  the 
room,  saying  "  Stay  till  Dr.  Johnson 
comes;  say  that  to  Am/" 

Yesterday,  Dr.  Johnson  said,  '£  I  cannot 
but  laugh,  to  think  of  myself  roving  among 
the  Hebrides  at  sixty.  I  wonder  where  I 
shall  rove  at  fourscore  !"  This  evening:  he 
disputed  the  truth  of  what  is  said,  as  to  the 
people  of  St.  Kilda  catching  cold  whenever 
strangers  come  3.  "  How  can  there,'*  said 
he,  "be  a  physical  effect  without  a  physical 
cause?"  He  added,'  laughing,  "  the  ar- 
rival of  a  ship  full  of  strangers  would  kill 
them;  for,  if  one  stranger  gives  them  one 
cold,  two  strangers  must  give  them  two 
colds;  and  so  in  proportion."  I  wondered 
to  hear  him  ridicule  this,  as  he  had  praised 
M'Aulay  for  putting  it  in  his  book;  saving, 
that  it  was  manly  in  him  to  tell  a  fact,  how- 
ever strange,  if  he  himself  believed  it.  He 
said,  the  evidence  was  not  adequate  to  the 
improbability  of  the  thing;  that  if  a  physi- 
cian, rather  disposed  to  be  incredulous, 
should  go  to  St.  Kilda,  and  report  the  fact, 
then  he  would  begin  to  look  about  him. 
They  said,  it  was  annually  proved  by  Mae* 
leod's  steward,  on  whose  arrival  all  the  in- 
habitants caught  cold.  He  jocularly  remark- 
ed, "  the  steward  always  comes  to  demand 
something  from  them;  and  so  they  fall  a 
coughing.    I  suppose  the  people  in  Sky  afl 


*  [See  ante,  p.  246,  an,  at  least, 
tion  of  this  enigma. — Ed.  J 


Digitized  by 


Google 


•  (naming  a  certain 


HEBRIDES.] 

take  a  cold  when  — 

person1)  comes."  They  said,  he  came  on- 
ly in  summer.  Johnson.  "  That  is  out 
of  tenderness  to  you.  Bad  weather  and 
he,  at  the  same  time,  would  he  too  much." 

Sunday,  3d  October. — Joseph  reported 
that  the  wind  was  still  against  us.  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  "  A  wind,  of  not  a  wind  ? 
that  is  the  question;"  for  he  can  amuse 
himself  at  times  with  a  little  play  of  words, 
or  rather  sentences.  I  remember  when  he 
turned  his  cup  at  Aherhrothick,  where  we 
drank  tea,  he  muttered,  Claudite  jam  rivo*> 
pucri.  I  must  again  and  again  apologize 
to  fastidious  readers,  for  recording  such 
minute  particulars.  They  prove  the  scru- 
pulous fidelity  of  my  Journal.  Dr.  John- 
ton  said  it  was  a  very  exact  picture  of  a 
portion  of  his  life. 

While  we  were  chatting  in  the  indolent 
style  of  men  who  were  to  stay  here  all  this 
day  at  least,  we  were  suddenly  roused  at 
being  told  that  the  wind  was  fair,  that  a 
little  fleet  of  herring-busses  was  passing  by 
for  Mull,  and  that  Mr.  Simpson's  vessel 
was  about  to  sail.  Hugh  M' Donald,  the 
skipper,  came  to  us,  and  was  impatient  that 
we  should  get  ready,  which  we  soon  did. 
Dr.  Johnson,  with  composure  and  solemni- 
ty, repeated  the  observation  of  Epictetus, 
that,  "  as  man  has  the  voyage  of  death  be- 
fore him, — whatever  may  be  his  employ- 
ment, he  should  be  ready  at  the  master's 
call;  and  an  oldl  man  should  never  be  far 
from  the  shore,  lest  he  should  not  be  able  to 
get  himself  ready."  He  rode,  and  I  and  the 
other  gentleman   walked,    about  an    En- 

{rlish  mile  to  the  shore,  where  the  vessel 
ay.  Dr.  Johnson  said  he  should  never 
forget  Sky,  and  returned  thanks  for  all 
civilities.  We  were  carried  to  the  vessel 
in  a  small  boat  which  she  had,  and  we  set 
sail  very  briskly  about  one  o'clock.  I  was 
much  pleased  with  the  motion  for  many 
hours.  Dr.  Johnson  grew  sick,  and  retired 
under  cover,  as  it  rained  a  good  deal.  I 
kept  above,  that  1  might  have  fresh  air, 
and  finding  myself  not  affected  by  the  mo- 
tion of  the  vessel,  I  exulted  in  being  a  stout 
seaman,  while  Dr.  Johnson  was  quite  in  a 
state  of  annihilation.  But  I  was  soon  hum- 
bled; for  after  imagining  that  I  could  go 
with  ease  to  America  or  the  feast  Indies,  I 
became  very  sick,  but  kept  above  board, 
though  it  rained  hard. 

As  we  had  been  detained  so  long  in  Sky 
by  bad  weather,  we  gave  up  the  scheme  that 
Col  had  planned  for  us  of  visiting  several 
islands,  and  contented  ourselves  with  the 
prospect  of  seeing  Mull,  and  Icolmkill  and 
Incbkenneth,  which  lie  neaT  to  it. 

Mr.  Simpson  was  sanguine  in  his  hopes 
for  s  while,  the  wind  being  fair  for  us.  He 
said  he  would  land  us  at  Icolmkill   that 

1  [8irAlexaaderMscdonald.-J^>.]        """"" 


1778.— jETAT.  64. 


41$ 


night  But  when  the  wind  failed,  it  was 
resolved  we  should  make  for  the  Sound  of 
Mull,  and  land  in  the  harbour  of  Tobermo- 
rie.  We  kept  near  the  five  herring  vessels 
for  some  time;  but  afterwards  four  of  them 
got  before  us,  and  one  little  wherry  fell  be* 
hind  us.  When  we  got  in  full  view  of  the 
point  of  Ardnamurchan,  the  wind  changed, 
and  was  directly  against  our  getting  into 
the  Sound.  We  were  then  obliged  to  tack, 
and  get  forward  in  that  tedious  manner. 
As  we  advanced,  the  storm  grew  greater, 
and  the  sea  very  rough.  Col  then  began 
to  talk  of  making  for  Egg,  or  Canna,  or  his 
own  island.  Our  skipper  said,  he  would 
get  us  into  the  Sound.  Having  struggled 
for  this  a  good  while  in  vain,  he  said,  he 
would  push  forward  till  we  were  near  the 
land  of  Mull,  where  we  might  cast  anchor, 
and  lie  till  the  morning;  for  although,  be- 
fore this,  there  had  been  a  good  moon,  and 
I  had  pretty  distinctly  seen  not  only  the 
land  of  Mull,  but  up  the  sound,  and  the 
country  of  Morven  as  at  one  end  of  it,  the 
night  was  now  grown  very  dark.  Our 
crew  consisted  of  one  M(Donald,  our  skip- 
per, and  two  sailors,  one  of  whom  had  but 
one  eye;  Mr.  Simpson  himself,  Col>  and 
Hugh  M'Donald  his  servant,  all  helped. 
Simpson  said,  he  would  •  willingly  go  for 
Col,  if  young  Col  or  his  servant  would  un- 
dertake to  pilot  us  to  a  harbour;  but,  as 
the  island  is  low  land,  it  was  dangerous  to 
run  upon  it  in  the  dark.  Col  and  his  ser- 
vant appeared  a  little  dubious.  The 
scheme  of  running  for  Canna  Beemed  then 
to  be  embraced;  but  Canna  was  ten  leagues 
off,  all  out  of  our  way;  and  they  were 
afraid  to  attempt  the  harbour  of  Egg.  AU 
these  different  plans  were  successively  in 
agitation.  The  old  skipper  still  tried  to 
make  for  the  land  of  Mull;  but  then  it  was 
considered  that  there  was  no  place  there 
where  we  could  anchor  in  safety.  Much 
time  was  lost  in  striving  against  the  storm* 
At  last  it  became  so  rough,  and  threatened 
to  be  so  much  worse,  that  Col  and  his  ser- 
vant took  more  courage,  and  said  they 
would  undertake  to  hit  one  of  the  harbours 
in  Col.  "  Then  let  us  run  for  it  in  God's 
name,"  said  the  skipper;  and  instantly  we 
turned  towards  it.  The  little  wherry  which 
had  fallen  behind  us  had  hard  work.  The 
master  [had]  begged  that,  if  we  made  for 
Col,  we  should  put  out  a  light  to  him.  Ac- 
cordingly one  of  the  sailors  waved  a  glow- 
ing peat  for  some  time.  The  various  di£ 
Acuities  that  were  started  gave  me  a  good 
deal  of  apprehension,  from  which  I  was 
relieved,  when  I  found  we  were  to  run 
for  a  harbour  before  the  wind.  But  my  re- 
lief was  of  short  duration;  for  I  soon  heard 
that  our  sails  were  very  bad,  and  were  in 
danger  of  being  torn  m  peiees,  in  which 
case  we  should  he  driven  upon  the  rocky 
shore  of  Col.    It  was  very  dark,  and  there 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


490 


mr—ArrAT.  64. 


[tour  to 


wu  a  heavy  and   incessant  rain.     The 

rrka  of  the  burning  peat  flew  to  much 
at,  that  I  dreaded  the  vessel  might  take 
fire.  Then,  aa  Col  was  a  aportaman,  and 
had  powder  on  board,  I  figured  that  we 
might  be  blown  up.  Simpson  and  he  appear- 
ed a  little  frightened,  which  made  me  more 
so;  and  the  perpetual  talking,  or  rather 
ahouting,  which  was  carried  on  in  Erse, 
alarmed  me  still  more.  A  man  is  always 
suspicious  of  what  is  saying  in  an  unknown 
tongue;  and,  if  fear  be  his  passion  at  the 
time,  he  grows  more  afraid.  Our  vessel 
often  lay  so  much  on  one  side,  that  I  trem- 
bled lest  she  should  overset,  and  indeed 
they  told  me  afterwards,  that  they  had  run 
her  sometimes  to  within  an  inch  of  the 
water,  so  anxious*  were  they  to  make  what 
haste  the?  could  before  the  night  should  be 
worse.  I  now  saw  what  I  never  saw  be- 
fore, a  prodigious  sea,  with  immense  bil- 
lows coming  upon  a  vessel,  so  as  that  it 
seemed  hardly  possible  to  escape.  There 
was  something  grandly  horrible  in  the  sight. 
I  am  glad  I  have  seen  it  once.  Amidst  all 
these  terrifying  circumstances,  I  endeavour- 
ed to  compose  my  mind.  It  was  not  easy 
to  do  it;  lor  all  the  stories  that  I  had  heard 
of  the  dangerous  sailing  among  the  He- 
brides, whichtis  proverbial,  came  full  upon 
my  recollection.  When  I  thought  of  those 
who  were  dearest  to  me,  and  would  suffer 
severely,  should  I  be  lost,  I  upbraided  my- 
self, as  not  having  a  sufficient  cause  for 
putting  myself  in  such  danger.  Piety  af- 
forded me  comfort;  yet  I  was  disturbed  by 
the  objections  that  have  been  made  against 
a  particular  providence,  and  by  the  argu- 
ments of  those  who  maintain  that  it  is  in 
vain  to  hope  that  the  petitions  of  an  indi- 
vidual, or  even  of  congregations,  can  have 
any  influence  with  the  Deity;  objections 
which  have  been  often  made,  and  which 
Dr.  Hawkesworth1  has  lately  revived,  in 

1  ["  The  general  disapprobation  with  which 
the  doctrine*  unhappily  advanced  by  Hawkes- 
worth in  this  preface  were  received  deprived  him,* ' 
savs  the  Biographical  Dictionary,  "  of  peace  of 
mind  and  of  life  itself;*9  and  Mm,  Piosod  says, 
{Anecdotes,  p.  143)  "  Hawkesworth,  the  pious 
the  virtuous,  and  the  wise,  fell  a  lamented  sacxn 
nee  to  newspaper  abuse  ; "  and  Mr.  Malone,  in  a 
MS.  note  on  that  passage,  in  hii  copy  of  Piozzi's 
Anecdotes,  (which  Mr.  Markland  has  been  so 
good  as  to  eoojmunieate  to  the  Editor),  states, 
that  "  after  Hawkesworth  had  published  Cooke's 
fint  voyage,  he  was  attacked  severely  in  the 
newspapem,  by  a  writer  who  signed  himself  A 
Christum,  for  some  tenets  in  that  work,  which 
so  peeved  on  his  spirits  that  be  put  an  end  to  ms 
life  by  a  Jarge  free  of  opium."  There  is  reason* 
however,  to  hope  that  these  accounts— both  of 
the  public  indignation,  and  of  Dr.  Hawkesworth's 
consequent  distress  of  mind— were  exaggerated  ; 
Jar  be  was,  between  the  publication  of  hfc  preface 


his  Preface  to  the  Voyages  to  the  South 
Seas;  but  Dr.  Ogden's  excellent  doctrine 
on  the  efficacy  of  intercession  prevailed. 

It  was  half  an  hour  after  eleven  before 
we  set  ourselves  in  the  course  for  Col.  As 
I  saw  them  all  busy  doing  something',  I 
asked  Col,  with  much  earnestness,  what  I 
could  do.  He,  with  a  happy  readiness, 
put  into  my  hand  a  rope,  which  was  fixed 
to  the  top  of  one  of  the  masts,  and  told  me 
to  hold  it  till  he  bade  me  pull.  If  I  had 
considered  the  matter,  I  might  have  seen 
that  this  could  not  be  of  the  lesst  service; 
but  his  object  was  to  keep  me  out  of  the  wtfy 
of  those  who  were  busy  working  the  i 


and  at  the  same  time  to  divert  my  fear,  by 
employing  me,  and  making  me  think  that  I 
was  of  use.  Thus  did  I  stand  firm  to  my 
post,  while  the  wind  and  rain  beat  upon 
me,  always  expecting  a  call  to  pull  my  rope. 

The  man  with  one  eye  steered;  old 
M'Donald,  and  Col  and  his  servant,  lay 
upon  the  forecastle,  looking  sharp  out  for 
the  harbour.  It  was  necessary  to  cany 
much  cloth,  as  they  termed  it,  that  is  to  say, 
much  sail,  in  order  to  keep  the  vessel  off  the 
shore  of  Col.  This  made  violent  plunging 
in  a  rough  sea.  At  last  they  spied  the  bar* 
hour  of  IfOchiern,  and  Col  cried,  "  Thank 
God,  we  are  safe  t "  We  ran  up  till  we 
were  opposite  to  it,  and  soon  afterwarda  we 
got  into  it,  and  cast  anchor. 

Dr.  Johnson  had  all  this  time  been  quiet 
and  unconcerned.  He  had  lain  down  on 
one  of  the  beds,  and  having  got  free  from 
sickness,  was  satisfied.  The  truth  is,  he 
knew  nothing  of  the  danger  we  were  in  »; 
but,  fearless  and  unconcerned,  might  have 
said,  in  the  words  which  he  has  chosen  for 
the  motto  to  his  "  Rambler." 


in  spring  1778,  and  his  death  in  the  November  of 
the  same  year,  elected  a  Director  of  the  Boot 
India  Company,—*  distinction  which,  if  the  ac- 
counts beforementioned  were  true,  it  is  not  like- 
ly that  he  should  have  either  solicited  or  obtained. 
One  is  anxious  to  believe  that  a  life  like  Hawkes- 
worth's, spent  in  advocating  the  interests  of  mo- 
rality and  religion,  was  not  so  miserably  clouded  at 
its  very  close. — En.] 

*  [He  at  least  made  light  of  it,  in  his  lettem  to 
Mrs.  Thrale.  "  After  having  been  detained  by 
storms  many  days  at  Sine,  we  left  it,  as  we 
thought,  with  a  fair  wind ;  but  a  violent  gust, 
which  Boswell  had  a  great  mind  to  call  a  tem- 
pest, forced  us  into  Col,  an  obscure  island  ;  on 
which—4  nulla  campis  arbor  estiva,  recreatnr 
aura.»  "—Letters,  vol.  i.  p.  167.— En.]  Their 
risqne,  in  asea  full  of  islands,  was  very 


r trance  of  the  Hebrideans,  who,  notwithstanding 
opportunities,  I  may  say  the  necessities^ 
their  situation,  are  very  careless  and 
sailofs.—WAi.Tsn  Scott.] 


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HBBRIDKS.] 
Quo  me 


1T71- JETAT.  «. 


431 


rapit 

Once,  during  the  doubtful  consultations,  he 
naked  whither  we  were  going;  and  upon 
being  told  that  it  was  not  certain  whether 
to  Mui  or  Col,  he  cried,  "  Col  for  my  mo- 
ney ! "  I  now  went  down  with  Col  and  Mr. 
Simpson,  to  visit  him.  He  was  lying  in 
philosophick  tranquillity,  with  a  greyhound 
of  CoVe  at  his  hack,  keeping  him  warm. 
Col  is  quite  the  Juvenisqutgaudet  cantons. 
He  had,  when  we  left  Tahsker,  two  grey- 
hounds, two  terriers,  a  pointer,  and  a  large 
Newfoundland  water-dog.  He  lost  one  of 
his  terriers  by  the  road,  but  had  still  five 
dogs  with  him. .  I  was  very  ill,  and  very  de- 
sirous to  get  to  shore.  When  I  was  told 
that  we  could  not  land  that  night,  as  the 
storm  had  now  increased,  I  looked  so  mis- 
erably, as  Col  afterwards  informed  me,  that 
what  Shakspeare  has  made  the  Frenchman 
say  of  the  English  soldiers,  when  scantily 
dieted,  "  Piteous  they  will  look,  like  drowns 
ed  mice  ! "  might,  I  believe,  have  been  well 
applied  to  me.  There  was  in  the  harbour, 
before  us,  a  Campbell-town  vessel,  the  Bet- 

|  ft/,  Kenneth  Morison,  master,  taking  in 
kelp,  and  bound  for  Ireland.  We  sent  our 
boat  to  beg  beds  for  two  gentlemen,  and 
that  the  master  would  send  his  boat,  which 

'  was  larger  than  ours.  He  accordingly  did 
so,  and  Col  and  I  were  accommodated  in 
his  vessel  till  the  morning. 

Monday,  4th  October. — About  eight 
o'clock  we  went  in  the  boat  to  Mr.  Simp- 
son's vessel,  and  took  in  Dr.  Johnson.  He 
was  quite  well,  though  he  had  tasted  noth- 
ing but  a  dish  of  tea  since  Saturday  night 
On  our  expressing  some  surprise  at  this,  he 
said,  that  "  when  he  lodged  in  the  Temple, 
and  had  no  regular  system  of  life,  he  had 
fasted  for  two  days  at  a  time,  during  which 
he  had  gone  about  visiting,  though  not  at 
the  hours  of  dinner  or  supper;  that  he  had 
drunk  tea,  but  eaten  no  bread:  that  this 
was  no  intentional  fasting  9,  but  happened 
just  in  the  course  of  a  literary  life." 

There  was  a  little  miserable  publick-house 
close  upon  the  shore,  to  which  we  should 
have  gone,  had  we  landed  last  night:  but 
this  morning  Col  resolved -to  take  us  directly 
to  the  house  of  Captain  Lauchlan  M'Lean, 
a  descendant  of  his  family,  who  had  acquir- 
ed a  fortune  in  the  East  Indies,  and  taken  a 
farm  in  Col.  We  had  about  an  English 
mile  to  go  to  it  Col  and  Joseph,  and  some 
others,  ran  to  some  little  horses,  called  here 
iheltiee,  that  were  running  wild  on  a  heath, 
and  catched  one  of  them.  We  had  a  sad- 
dle with  us,  which  was  clapped  upon  it,  and 
a  straw  halter  was  put  on  its  head.    Dr. 


*  Tor  m  the  tempest  drirea,  I  shape  my  way.— Fba  vcis. 

*  [This  wai  probably  the  same  kind  of  imto- 
tentional  fasHng,  as  that  which  suggested  to 
him,  at  an  earlier  period,  the  affecting  epithet  tm- 
praniv*,  (ante,  p.  M.)— Walter  Scott.] 


Johnson  was  then  mounted,  and  Joseph  very 
slowly  and  gravely  led  the  horse.  I  said  to 
Dr.  Johnson,  « I  wish,  sir,  the  Chib  saw 
you  in  this  attitude  3." 

It  was  a  very  heavy  rain,  and  I  was  wet 
to  the  skin.  Captain  M(Lean  had  but  a 
poor  temporary  house,  or  rather  hut;  how- 
ever, it  was  a  very  good  haven  to  us.  There 
was  a  blazing  peat  fire,  and  Mrs.  M'Lean, 
daughter  of  the  minister  of  the  parish,  got  us 
tea.  I  felt  still  the  motion  of  the  sea.  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  it  was  not  in  imagination,  but 
a  continuation  of  motion  of  the  fluids,  like 
that  of  the  sea  itself  after  the  storm  is  over. 

There  were  some  books  on  the  board 
which  served  as  a  chimney-piece.  Dr. 
Johnson  took  up  "  Burnet's  History  of  his 
own  Times."  He  said,  "  The  first  part  of 
it  is  one  of  the  most  entertaining  books  in 
the  English  language ;  it  is  quite  dramat- 
ick:  while  he  went  about  every  where,  saw 
every  where,  and  heard  every  where.  By 
the  first  part,  I  mean  so  far  as  it  appears 
that  Burnet  himself  was  actually  engaged 
in  what  he  has  told ;  and  this  may  be  easi- 
ly distinguished."  Captain  M'Lean  cen- 
sured Burnet,  for  his  high  praise  of  Lauder- 
dale in  a  dedication,  when  ne  shows  him  in 
his  history  to  have  been  so  bad  a '  man. 
Johnson.  "  I  do  not  think  myself  that  a 
man  should  say  in  a  dedication  «  what  he 
could  not  say  in  a  history.  However,  allow- 
ance should  be  made ;  for  there  is  a  great 
difference.  The  known  style  of  a  dedica- 
tion is  flattery:  it  professes  to  flatter. 
There  is  the  same  difference  between  what 
a  man  says  in  a  dedication,  and  what  he 
says  in  a  history,  as  between  a  lawyer's 
pleading  a  cause,  and  reporting  it" 

The  day  passed  away  pleasantly  enough. 
The  wind  became  fair  for  Mull  in  the  eve- 
ning, and  Mr.  Simpson  resolved  to  sail  next 
morning ;  but  having  been  thrown  into  the 
island  of  Col,  we  were  unwilling  to  leave  it 
unexamined,  especially  as  we  considered 
that  the  Campbell-town  vessel  would  sail 
for  Mull  in  a  day  or  two,  and  therefore  we 
determined  to  stay. 


nay  perhi 
some  of  my  readers  of  the  lndhcrons  I 
during  Sir  Robert  Walpole's  administration,  on 
Mr.  George  (afterwards  Lord)  Lyttelton,  though 
the  figures  of  the  two  personages  must  be  allowed 
to  be  very  different  • 

"Bat  who  fc  this  astride  the  posy, 
"  Bo  long,  so  lean,  to  lank,  to  bony  f 
Pat  be  de  great  orator,  LltUetony."— Boswill. 

[These  lines  are  part  of  a  son*  printed  under  a 
political  caricature  print,  levelled  against  Sir  Rob- 
ert Walpole,  called  The  Motion,  which  repre- 
sents a  chariot  drawn  by  six  spirited  horses,  in 
and  about  which  are  the  chiefs  of  the  opposition 
of  the  day,  Lords  Chesterfield  and  Carteret,  Duke 
of  Argyll,  Mr.  Sandys,  ice.— JVfeA.  Ante  voL 
it.  p.  465.— Ed.] 

«  [See  ante,  p.  286,  ft,— Ep.] 


Digitized  by  VJ 


oogle 


1778-— jETAT.  64. 


Tuesday  y  Uh  October.— I  rote,  and  wrote 
my  Journal  till  about  nine,  and  then  went 
to  Dr.  Johnson,  who  sat  up  in  bed  and 
talked  and  laughed.  I  said,  it  was  curious 
to  look  back  ten  years,  to  the  time  when  we 
first  thought  of  visiting  the  Hebrides.  How 
distant  and  improbable  the  scheme  then  ap- 
peared !  Yet  here  we  were  actually  among 
them.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  people  may  come 
to  do  any  thing  almost,  by  talking  of  it.  I 
really  believe  I  could  talk  myself  into  build- 
ing a  house  upon  island  Isa,  though  I  should 
frobably  never  come  back  again  to  see  it. 
could  easily  persuade  Reynolds  to  do  it ; 
and  there  would  be  no  great  sin  in  persua- 
ding him  to  do  it.  Sir,  he  would  reason 
thus:  '  What  will  it  cost  me  to  be  there 
once  in  two  or  three  summers?  Why,  per- 
haps, five  hundred  pounds ;  and  what  is 
that,  in  comparison  of  having  a  fine  retreat, 
to  which  a  man  can  go,  or  to  which  he  can 
send  a  friend  ? '  He  would  never  find  out 
that  he  may  have  this  within  twenty  miles 
of  London.  Then  I  would  tell  him,  that 
he  may  marry  one  of  the  Miss  Macleods,  a 
lady  of  great  family.  Sir,  it  is  surprising 
how  people  will  go  to  a  distance  for  what 
they  may  have  at  home.  I  knew  a  lady l 
who  came  up  from  Lincolnshire  to  Knights- 
bridge  with  one  of  her  daughters,  and  gave 
five  guineas  a  week  for  a  lodging  and  a 
warm  bath  ;  that  is,  mere  warm  water. 
That)  you  know,  could  not  be  had  in  Lin- 
eolnthire  !  She  said,  it  was  made  either 
too  hot  or  too  cold  there." 

After  breakfast,  Dr.  Johnson  and  I,  and 
Joseph,  mounted  horses,  and  Col  and  the 
captain  walked  with  us  about  a  short  mile 
across  the  island.  We  paid  a  visit  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Hector  M*Lean.  His  parish 
consists  of  the  islands  of  Col  and  Tyr-yi. 
He  was  about  seventy-seven  years  of  age, 
a  decent  ecclestastick,  dressed  in  a  full  suit 
of  black  clothes,  and  a  black  wig.  He  ap- 
peared like  a  Dutch  pastor,  or  one  of  the 
"  Assembly  of  Divines  "  at  Westminster. 
Dr.  Johnson  observed  to  me  afterwards, 
"  that  he  was  a  fine  old  man,  and  was  as 
well-dressed,  and  had  as  much  dignity  in  his 
appearance,  as  the  dean  of  a  cathedral." 
We  were  told  that  he  had  a  valuable  libra- 
ry, though  but  pooT  accommodation  for  it, 
being  obliged  to  keep  his  books  in  large 
chests.  It  was  curious  to  see  him  and  Dr. 
Johnson  together.  Neither  of  them  heard 
very  distinctly;  so  each  of  them  talked  in 
his  own  way,  and  at  the  same  time.  Mr. 
M'Lean  said,  he  had  a  confutation  of 
Bayle,  by  Leibnitz.  Johnson.  "  A  con- 
futation of  Bayle,  sir !  What  part  of  Bayle 
do  you  mean  ?  The  greatest  part  of  nis 
writings  is  not  confutable  :  it  is  historical 
and    critical."    Mr.  M'Lean.  said,    "the 


[took  to  the 

irreligious  part ;"  and  proceeded  to  talk  of 
Leibnitz's  controversy  with  Clarke,  calling 
Leibnitz  a  great  man.  Johnson.  "  Why, 
sir,  Leibnitz  persisted  in  affirming  that 
Newton  called  space  sensorivm  nvmims, 
notwithstanding  ne  was  corrected,  and  de- 
sired to  observe  that  Newton's  words  were 
4UA8I  tentorium  numinis.  No,  sir;  Leib- 
nitz was  as  paltry  a  fellow  as  I  know.  Out 
of  respect  to  Queen  Caroline,  who  patroni- 
sed him,  Clarke  treated  him  too  well." 

During  the  time  that  Dr.  Johnson  was 
thus  going  on,  the  old  minister  was  stand- 
ing with  nis  back  to  the  fire,  cresting  up 
erect,  pulling  down  the  front  of  his  periwig, 
and  talking  what  a  great  man  Leibnitz  was. 
To  give  an  idea  of  the  scene  would  require 
a  page  with  two  columns ;  but  it  ought 
rather  to  he  represented  by  two  good  play- 
ers. The  old  gentleman  said,  Clarke  was 
very  wicked,  lor  going  so  much  into  the 
Arian  system.  "  I  will  not  say  he  was  wick- 
ed;" said  Dr.  Johnson  :  "  he  might  be  mis- 
taken." M'Lean.  "He  was  wicked,  to 
shut  his  eyes  against  the  Scriptures ;  and 
worthy  men  in  England  have  since  confu- 
ted him  to  all  intents  and  purposes."  John- 
son. "I  know  not  who  has  confuted  him  to 
all  intents  and  purposes.*9  Here  again 
there  was  a  double  talking,  each  continu- 
ing to  maintain  his  own  argument,  with- 
out hearing  exactly  what  the  other  said. 

I  regretted  that  Dr.  Johnson  did  not 
practise  the  art  of  accommodating  himself 
to  different  sorts  of  people.  Had  he  been 
softer  with  this  venerable  old  man,  we  might 
have  had  more  conversation ;  but  his  for- 
cible spirit,  and  impetuosity  of  manner, 
may  be  said  to  spare  neither  sex  nor  age9. 
I  have  seen  even  Mrs.  Thrale  stunned ; 
but  I  have  often  maintained,  that  it  is  bet- 
ter he  should  retain  his  own  manner.  Pli- 
ability of  address  I  conceive  to  be  inconsist- 
ent with  that  majestick  power  of  mind 
which  he  possesses,  and  which  produces 
such  noble  effects.  A  lofty  oak  will  not 
bend  like  a  supple  willow. 

He  told  me  afterwards,  he  liked  firmness 
in  an  old  man,  and  was  pleased  to  see  Mr. 
M'Lean  so  orthodox.  "  At  his  age,  it  is 
too  late  for  a  man  to  be  asking  himseftfques- 
tions  as  to  his  belief." 

We  rode  to  the  northern  part  of  the  isl- 
and, where  we  saw  the  ruins  of  a  church 
or  chapel.  We  then  proceeded  to  a  place 
called  Grissipol,  or  the  rough  pool. 

At  Grissipol  we  found  a  good  farm-house, 
belonging  to  the  Laird  of  Col,  and  ] 


1  [Mn.  Langton,  the  mother  of  hia  friend. — 
Ed.] 


*  [If  Dr.  Johnson  had  not  been  in  the  habit  of 
reading  the  Journal,  we  should,  instead  of  tins  re- 
monstrance aimed  indirectly  at  him,  have  here 
had  the  detail*  of  the  harshness  which  BoeweH  re- 
grets, and  which  must  have  been  pretty  severe  to 
remind  Boswell  that  his  violence  ' 
age  nor  sex."— En.] 


Digitized  by 


Google 


HEBRIDES.] 

ed  by  Mr.  M«Sweyn.  On  the  beach  here 
there  is  a  singular  variety  of  cnrious  stones. 
I  picked  up  one  very  like  a  small  cucumber. 
By  the  by,  Dr.  Johnson  told  me, that  Gay's 
line  in  the  "  Beggar's  Opera,"  "  As  men 
should  serve  a  cucumber,"  &c.  has  no  wag- 
pish  meaning,  with  reference  to  men  fling- 
ing away  cucumbers  as  too  cooling,  which 
some  have  thought ;  for  it  has  been  a  com- 
mon saying  of  physicians  in  England,  that 
a  cucumber  should  be  well  sliced,  and  dress- 
ed with  pepper  and  vinegar,  and  then 
thrown  out,  as  good  for  nothing.  Mr. 
M'Sweynto  predecessors  had  been  in  Sky 
from  a  very  remote  period,  upon  the  estate 
belonging  to  Macleod;  probably  before 
Macleod  had  it.  The  name  is  certainly 
Norwegian  *,  from  Sueno,  King  of  Norway. 
The  present  Mr.  M'Sweyn  left  Sky  upon 
the  late  Macleod's  raising  his  rents.  -  He 
then  got  this  farm  from  Vol. 

He  appeared  to  be  near  fourscore ;  but 
looked  as  fresh,  and  was  as  strong  as  a  man 
of  fifty.  His  son  Hugh  looked  older  ;  and, 
as  Dr.  Johnson  observed,  had  more  the 
manners  of  an  old  man  than  he.  I  had 
often  heard  of  such  instances,  but  never 
saw  one  before.  Mrs.  M'Sweyn  was  a  de- 
cent old  gentlewoman.  She  was  dressed 
in  tartan,  and  could  speak  nothing  but 
Erse.  She  said,  she  taught  Sir  James 
M' Donald  Erse,  and  would  teach  me  soon. 
I  could  now  sing  a  verse  of  the  song 
Hotyinfoam'eri*,  made  in  honour  of  Al- 

1  [M'Swyne  has  an  awkward  sound,  but  the 
same  a  held  to  be  of  high  antiquity,  both  in  the 
Hebrides  and  the  north  of  Ireland. — Walter 
Scott.  In  the  county  of  Donegal,  in  the  north 
of  Ireland,  a  singular  hole  in  a  cliff,  communica- 
ting with  a  cave  below,  through  which,  in  certain 
cveameta&cea  of  the  sea  and  wind,  the  spray  is 
driven  op  with  great  force,  is  called  J&  Swine's 
(for  M'Sweyn *■)  gun.  The  name,  no  doubt,  was 
originally  Scandinavian,  bat  it  was  established  in 
England  before  the  Conquest.  "In  Ferleia 
(Femely,  Yorkshire)  Goduin  et  Sum  habuerunt, 
tte.  nbi  mine  habet  Hbertus  de  Lacy  " — Doom*- 
4sy  book.— En.] 

•  [HtUyinfoam,  (see  ante,  p.  877).  Avery 
popular  air  in  the  Hebrides,  written  to  the  praise 
and  glory  of  Allan  of  Muidaitach,  or  Allan  of 
Meiaart,  a  chief  of  the  Clanranakl  family.  The 
following  is  a  translation  of  h  by  a  fair  friend  of 

I. 
Come,'here's  a  pledge  to  young  and  old, 

We  euan*  the  blood-red  wine; 
▲  health  Co  Allan  Hnidart  bold, 

The  dearest  love  of  mine. 

CHOBVS. 

Along ,  along,  then  haste  along, 
For  here  no  more  1*11  stay) 

Pll  braid  and  bind  my  treaws  long, 
And  o'er  the  hills  away. 

n. 

When  wares  Mew  gurty  off  the  strand, 


1778.— ^TAT.  64. 


483 


Z£% 


juo  sane  the  on  mmj  ■uu> 
The  grasp  of  Allan's  strong  right  hand 
Compels  her  1 


Along,  along,  Ac 


Ian,  the  famous  captain  of  Clanranakl,  who 
fell  at  Sherrif-muir:  whose  servant,  who 
lay  on  the  field  watching'  his  master's  dead 
body,  being  asked  next  day,  who  that  was, 
answered,  "  He  was  a  man  yesterday." 

We  were  entertained  here  with  a  primi- 
tive heartiness.  Whisky  was  served  round 
in  a  shell,  according  to  the  ancient  High- 
land custom.  Dr.  Johnson  would  not  par- 
take of  it;  but,  being  desirous  to  do  honour 
to  the  modes  "  of  other  times,"  drank  some 
water  out  of  the  shell. 

In  the  forenoon  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  it 
would  require  great  resignation  to  live  in 
one  of  these  islands."  Boswbll.  "I 
do'nt  know,  sir;  I  have  felt  myself  at  times 
in  a  state  of  almost  mere  physical  existence, 
satisfied  to  eat,  drint,  and  sleep,  and  walk 
about,  and  enjoy  my  own  thoughts;  and  I 
can  figure  a  continuation  of  this."  John- 
son. "  Ay,  sir;  but  if  you  were  shut  up 
here,  your  own  thoughts  would  torment 
you:  you  would  think  of  Edinburgh  or  of 
London,  and  that  you  could  not  be  there." 

We  set  out  after  dinner  for  Breacacha, 
the  family  seat  of  the  Laird  of  Col,  accom- 
panied by  the  young-  laird,  who  had  now 
St  a  horse,  and  by  the  younger  Mr. 
'Sweyn,  whose  wife  had  gone  thither  be- 
fore us,  to  prepare  every  thing  for  our  re- 
ception, the  laird  and  his  family  being  ab- 
sent at  Aberdeen.  It  is  called  Breacacha, 
or  the  Spotted  Field,  because  in  summer  it 
is  enamelled  with  clover  and  daisies,  as 
young  Col  told  me.  We  passed  by  a  place 
where  there  is  a  very  large  stone,  I  may  call 
it  a  rock;  "  a  vast  weight  for  Ajax."  The 
tradition  is,  that  a  giant  threw  such  anoth- 
er stone  at  his  mistress,  up  to  the  top  of  a 
hill,  at  a  small  distance;  and  that  she,  in 
return,  threw  this  mass  down  to  him.  It 
was  all  in  sport. 

"  Malo  me  petit  lasciva  paella." 

As  we  advanced,  we  came  to  a  large  ex- 
tent of  plain  ground.  I  had  not  seen  such  a 
place  for  a  long  time.  Col  and  I  took  a 
gallop  upon  it  by  way  of  race.  It  was  very 
refreshing  to  me,  after  having  been  so  long 
taking  short  steps  in  hilly  countries.  It 
was  like  stretching  a  man's  legs  after  being 
cramped  in  a  short  bed.    We  also  passed 


in. 

And  when  to  old  Kilphedar' 

Bach  troops  of  damsels  gay } 
Bay,  came  they  there  for  Allan's 

Or  came  they  there  to  pi  ay  t 
Along,  along,  dec 

IV. 
And  when  these  dames  of  beamy  rare 

Were  dancing  In  the  hall, 
On  some  were  gems  and  Jewels  rare, 

And  cambric  coifs  on  all. 

Along,  along,  then  haste  away, 

For  here  no  more  we'll  stay  J 
TO  braid  and  bind  my  tresses  long, 
And  o'er  the  hills  away. 

Walteb  Botfrr.) 
*  (St.  Peters,  a  church  la  Sky— Bo.] 


Digitized  by  VjOO 


gle 


424 


1778.— JETAT.  64. 


[TOUR  TO  THZ 


close  by  a  large  extent  of  sand-hills,  near 
two  miles  square.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  he 
never  had  the  image,  before.  It  was  horri- 
ble, if  barrenness  and  danger  could  be  so." 
I  heard  him,  after  we  were  in  the  house  of 
Breacacha,  repeating  to  himself,  as  he  walk- 
ed about  the  room,. 

"  And  smother'd  in  the  dusty  whirlwind,  dies." 

Probably  he  had  been  thinking  of  the  whole 
of  the  simile  in  Cato,  of  which  that  is  the 
concluding  line;  the  sandy  desert  had  struck 
him  so  strongly.  The  sand  has  of  late  been 
blown  over  a  good  deal  of  meadow;  and 
the  people  of  the  island  say,  that  their  fa- 
thers remembered  much  of  the  space  which 
is  now  covered  with  sand  to  have  been  un- 
der tillage.  CoVs  house  is  situated  on  a 
bay  called  Breacacha  Bay.  We  found  here 
a  neat  new-built  gentlemen's  house,  better 
than  any  we  had  been  in  since  we  were  at 
Lord  Errol's.  Dr.  Johnson  relished  it  much 
at  first,  but  soon  remarked  to  me,  that 
"there  was  nothing  becoming  a  chief i 
about  it:  it  was  a  mere  tradesman's  box." 
He  seemed  quite  at  home,  and  no  longer 
found  any  difficulty  in  using  the  Highland 
address;  for  as  soon  as  we  arrived,  he  said, 
with  a  spirited  familiarity,  "Now,  Col, 
if  you  could  get  us  a  dish  of  tea."  Dr. 
Johnson  and  I  had  each  an  excellent  bed- 
chamber. We  had  a  dispute  which  of  us 
had  the  best  curtains.  His  were  rather  the 
beat,  being  of  linen;  but  I  insisted  that  my 
bed  had  the  best  posts,  which  was  undenia- 
ble. "Well,"  said  he,  "if  you  have  the 
best  posts,  we  will  have  you  tied  to  them 
and  whipped."  I  mention  this  slight  cir- 
cumstance, only  to  show  how  ready  he  is, 
even  in  mere  trifles,  to  get  the  better  of  his 
antagonist,  by  placing  him  in  a  ludicrous 
view.  I  have  known  him  sometimes  use 
the  same  art,  when  hard  pressed  in  serious 
disputation. 9 

Wednesday,  6th  October.— After  a  suffi- 
ciency of  sleep,  we  assembled  at  breakfast 
We  were  just  as  if  in  barracks.  Every 
body  was  master.  We  went  and  viewed 
the  old  castle  of  Col,  which  is  not  far  from 
the  present  house,  near  the  shore,  and 
founded  on  a  rock.  It  has  never  been  a 
large  feudal  residence,  and  has  nothing 
about  it  that  requires  a  particular  descrip- 
tion. Like  other  old  inconvenient  buildings 
of  the  same  age,  it  exemplified  Gray's  pic- 
turesque lines, 


1  [Col,  though  a  gentleman  of  landed  estate, 
could  hardly  be  called  a  chief;  and  it  was  assur- 
edly a  mark  of  good  sense  to  suit  the  character  of 
his  house  to  the  state  and  times  in  which  he  lived. 
—Ed.] 

*  [Here  followed  Goldsmith's  application  of  a 
lively  saying  in  one  of  Gibber's  comedies,  already 
told,  ante,  p.  266— Er>.] 


94  Hnge*  windows  that  exclude  the  light, 
And  passages  that  lead  to  nothing." 

It  may,  however,  be  worth  mentioning, 
that  on  the  second  story  we  saw  a  vault, 
which  was,  and  still  is,  the  family  prison. 
There  was  a  woman  put  into  it  by  the  laird, 
for  theft,  within  these  ten  years;  and  any 
offender  would  be  confined  there  yet ;  for, 
from  the  necessity  of  the  thing,  as  the  isl- 
and is  remote  from  any  power  established 
by  law,  the  laird  must  exercise  his  jurisdic- 
tion to  a  certain  degree. 

We  were  shown,  in  a  corner  of  this  vault, 
a  hole,  into  which  Col  said  greater  criminals 
used  to  be  put  It  was  now  filled  uj>  with 
rubbish  of  different  kinds.  He  said,  it  was 
of  a  great  depth.  "  Ay,"  said  Dr.  Johnson, 
smiling,  "  all  such  places  that  are  filled  s» 
were  of  a  great  depth."  He  is  very  quick 
in  showing  that  he  does  not  give  credit  to 
careless  or  exaggerated  accounts  of  things 
After  seeing,  the  castle,  we  looked  at  a  small 
hut  near  it  It  is  called  Teigh  Franehiek, 
t.  e.  the  Frenchman's  House.  Col  could 
not  tell  us  the  history  of  it  A  poor  man 
with  a  wife  and  children  now  lived  in  it 
We  went  into  it,  and  Dr.  Johnson  gave 
them  some  charity.  There  was  but  one 
bed  for  all  the  family,  and  the  hut  was  very 
smoky.  When  he  came  out,  he  said  to  me, 
"  JEf  hoe  secundum  sententiam  philosopko- 
rum  est  esse  beatus."  Bosweljl.  "The 
philosophers,  when  they  placed  happiness 
in  a  cottage,  supposed  cleanliness  and  no 
smoke."  Johnson.  "Sir,  they  did  not 
think  about  either." 

We  walked  a  little  in  the  laird's  garden, 
in  which  endeavours  have  been* used  to 
rear  some  trees ;  but,  as  soon  as  they  got 
above  the  surrounding  wall  they  died.  Dr. 
Johnson  recommended  sowing  the  seeds  of 
hardy  trees,  instead  of  planting. 

Col  and  I  rode  out  this  morning,  and 
viewed  a  part  of  the  island.  In  the  course 
of  our  ride,  we  saw  a  turnip-field,  which  he 
had  hoed  with  his  own  hands,  He  first  in- 
troduced this  kind  of  husbandry  into  the 
Western  islands.  We  also  looked  at  an  ap- 
pearance of  lead,  which  seemed  very  prom- 
ising. It  has  been  long  known;  for  I  found 
letters  to  the  late  laird,  from  Sir  John  Ares- 
kine  and  Sir  Alexander  Murray,  respecting 
it 

After  dinner  came  Mr.  M'Lean,  of  Car- 
neck,  brother  to  IsU-of-Muck,  who  is  a  ca- 
det of  the  family  of  Col.  He  possesses  the 
two  ends  of  Col,  which  belong  to  the  Duke 
of  Argyll.  Comeck  had  lately  taken  a 
lease  of  them  at  a  very  advanced  rent,  rath- 
er than  let  the  Campbells  get  a  footing  in 
the  island,  one  of  whom  had  offered  nearly 
as  much  as  he.  Dr.  Johnson  well  observ- 
ed that "  landlords  err  much  when  they  cat- 


»  IBich.— En. J 


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HEBRIDES.] 

culate  merely  what  their  land  may  yield. 
The  rent  must  be  in  a  proportionate  ratio 
of  what  trie  land  may  yield,  and  of  the  pow- 
er of  the  tenant  to  make  it  yield.  A  tenant 
cannot  make  by  his  land,  but  according  to 
the  corn  and  cattle  which  he  has.  Suppose" 
you  should  give  him  twice  as  much  land  as 
he  has,  it  does  him  no  good,  unless  he  gets 
also  more  stock.  It  is  clear  then,  that 
the  Highland  landlords,  who  let  their  sub- 
stantial tenants  leave  them,  are  infatuated; 
for  the  poor  small  tenants  cannot  give  them 
good  rents,  from  the  very  nature  of  things. 
They  have  not  the  means  of  raisin?  more 
from  their  farms."  Corneck,  Dr.  Johnson 
said,  was  the  most  distinct  man  that  he  had 
met  with  in  these  isles;  he  did  not  shut  his 
eyes,  or  put  his  finger  in  his  ears,  which  he 
seemed  to  think  was  a  good  deal  the  mode 
with  most  of  the  people  whom  we  have  seen 
of  late. 

Thursday, 7  th  October. — Captain  M'Lean 
joined  us  this  morning  at  breakfast.  There 
came  on  a  dreadful  storm  of  wind  and  rain, 
which  continued  all  day,  and  rather  increas- 
ed at  nijjht.  The  wind  was  directly  against 
our  getting  to  Mull.  We  were  in  a  strange 
state  of  abstraction  from  the  world:  we!could 
neither  hear  from  our  friends,  nor  write  to 
them.  Col  had  brought  Daitle  "on  the 
Fathers,"  Lucas  "  on  Happiness,"  and 
More's  "  Dialogues, "  from  tne  Reverend 
Mr.  M<  Lean's,  and  Burnet's  **  History  of  his 
Own  Times"  from  Captain  M'Lean's;  and 
he  had  of  his  own  some  books  of  farming, 
and  Gregory's  "  Geometry."  Dr.  Johnson 
read  a  good  deal  of  Burnet,  and  of  G jegory, 
and  I  observed  he  made  some  geometrical 
notes  m  the  end  of  his  pocket-book.  I  read 
a  little  of  Young's  "  Six  Weeks'  Tour 
through  the  Southern  Counties,"  and  Ovid's 
t€  Epistles,"  which  I  had  bought  at  Inver- 
ness, and  which  helped  to  solace  many  a 
weary  hour. 

We  were  to  have  gone  with  Dr.  John- 
son this  morning  to  see  the  mine,  but  were 
prevented  by  the  storm.  While  it  was 
raging,  he  said,  "  We  may  be  glad  we  are 
not  damnati  ad  metalia '." 

Friday,  8th  October. — Dr.  Johnson  ap- 
peared to-day  very  weary  of  our  present 
confined  situation.  He  said, "  I  want  to  be 
en  the  main  land,  and  go  on  with  existence. 
This  is  a  waste  of  life." 

f  shall  here  insert,  without  regard  to  chro- 
nology, some  of  his  conversation  at  different 
times. 

•  ***  There  was  a  man  some  time  ago,  who 
was  well  received  for  two  years,  among  the 

gentlemen  of  Northamptonshire,  by  calling 
imself  my  brother.  At  last  he  grew  so 
impudent,  as  by  his  influence  to  get  tenants 
turned  out  of  their  farms.    Allen  the  print- 


1773.— iETAT.  64. 


425 


1  [Condemned  to  the  mtnet.— Ed.] 
vol.  i.  54 


er*,  who  is  of  that  country,  came  to  me, 
asking,  with  much  appearance  of  doubtful- 
ness, if  I  had  a  brother;  and  upon  being  as- 
sured I  had  none  alive,  he  told  me  ol  the 
imposition,  and  immediately  wrote  to  the 
country,  and  the  fellow  was  dismissed.  It 
pleased  me  so  hear  that  so  much  was  got 
by  using  my  name.  It  is  not  every  name 
tnat  can  carry  double;  do  both  for  a  man's 
self  and  his  brother  (laughing).  I  should 
be  glad  to  see  the  fellow.  However,  I 
could  haVe  done  nothing  against  him.  A 
man  can  have  no  redress  for  his  name  being 
used,  or  ridiculous  stories  being  told  of  Him 
in  the  newspapers,  except  he  can  show  ihat 
he  has  suffered  damage.  Some  years  a?o 
a  foolish  piece  was  published,  said  to  be 
written  'by  S.  Johnson.'  Some  of  my 
friends  wanted  me  to  he  very  angry  about 
this.  I  said,  it  would  be  in  vain;  for  the 
answer  would  be,  f  S.  Johnson  may  be 
Simon  Johnson,  or  Simeon  Johnson,  or 
Solomon  Johnson;'  and  even  if  the  full 
name,  Samuel  Johnson,  had  been  used,  it 
might  be  said  it  is  not  you;  it  is  a  much 
cleverer  fellow  V 

"Beauclerk,  and  I,  and  Langton,  and 
Lady  Sydney  Beauclerk,  mother  to  our 
friend,  were  one  day  driving  in  a  coach  by 
Cuper's  Gardens  4,  which  were  then  unoc- 
cupied. I,  in  sport,  proposed  that  Beau- 
clerk, and  Langton,  and  myself  should  take 
them;  and  we  amused  ourselves  with 
scheming  how  we  should  all  do  our  parts. 
Lady  Sydney  grew  angry,  and  said, c  an 
old  man  should  not  put  such  things  in 
young  people's  heads.'  She  had  no  notion 
of  a  joke,  sir;  had  come  late  into  life,  and 
had  a  mighty  unpliable  understanding  *. 

"  Carte's « Life  of  the  Duke  of  Ormond'  is 
considered  as  a  book  of  authority;  but  it  is 
ill-written.  The  matter  is  diffused  in  too 
many  words;   there  is  no  animation,  no 


*  [Edmund  Allen,  a  worthy  and  reputable  prin- 
ter in  Bolt-court  He  was  for  many  yean  John- 
son's neighbour,  landlord,  and  friend  {ante,  p. 
208).  He  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Al- 
len, a  pious  and  learned  man,  who  for  forty  years 
was  rector  of  Kettering,  in  Northamptonshire,  and 
died  while  reading  the  evening  service  there  on 
Sunday,  81st  May,  1755,  set  74. — A%ch.  J&nec. 
vol.  Hi.  p.  799. — Ed.] 

*  [The  eccentric  anthour  of  Hurlo  Tbnnnbo 
was  named  Samuel  Johnson.  He  was  original- 
ly a  dancing-master,  but  went  on  the  stage,  where 
his  acting  was  as  extravagant  as  his  pieces.  He 
died  in  this  very  year,  1773,  and  was  probably 
one  of  the  persons  whose  death  is  alluded  to,  post, 
17th  April,  1778.— Ed.] 

*  [An  inferior  place  of  popular  amusement,  over 
the  site  of  which  the  southern  approach  to  Water- 
loo-bridge now  passes. — Ed.] 

»  [She  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas  Noma, 
esq.  of  Speke,  in  Lancashire.  She  married  Lord 
Sydney  m  1736.— Ed.] 


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426 


177*.— JSTAT.  64. 


[toub.  TO 


compression,  no  vigonr.  Two  good  vol- 
umes in  duodecimo  might  be  made  out  of 
the  two  in  folio." 

Talking  of  our  confinement  here,  I  ob- 
served, that  our  discontent  and  impatience 
could  not  be  considered  as  very  unreasona- 
ble }  for  that  we  were  just  in  the  state  of 
which  Seneca  complains  so  grievously, 
while  in  exile  in  Corsica.  "  x es,"  said 
Dr.  Johnson;  "  and  he  was  not  farther 
from  home  than  we  are."  The  truth  is,  he 
was  much  nearer1. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  rain  to-day, 
and  the  wind  was  still  contrary.  Corneck 
attended  me,  while  I  amused  myself  in  ex- 
amining a  collection  of  papers  belonging  to 
the  family  of  Col  The  first  laird  was  a 
Younger  son  of  the  chieftain  M'Lean,  and 
got  the  middle  part  of  Col  for  his  patrimo- 
ny. Dr.  Johnson  having  given  a  very 
particular  account  [which  is  subjoined  9]  of 


1  [Corsica  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
from  Rome.  Col  is  from  London  upwards  of  four 
hundred. — Ed.] 

*  "  Very  near  the  house  of  Maclean  stands  the 
castle  of  Col,  which  was  the  mansion  of  the  laird, 
till  the  house  was  built  It  is  built  upon  a  rock, 
as  Mr.  Boswell  remarked,  that  it  might  not  be 
mined.  It  wvery  strong,  and  having  been  not 
long  uninhabited,  is  vet  in  repair.  On  the  wall 
was,  not  long  ago,  a  stone  with  an  inscription, 
importing,  that '  if  any  man  of  the  clan  of  Mac- 
lonich shall  appear  before  this  castle,  though  he 
come  at  midnight,  with  a  man's  head  in  his  hand, 
he  shall  there  find  safety  and  protection  against  all 
but  the  king.' 

"  This  is  an  old  Highland  treaty  made  upon  a 
▼ery  memorable  occasion.  Maclean,  the  son  of 
John  Oerves  [one  of  the  ancient  lairds],  who  re- 
covered Col,  and  conquered  Barm,  had  obtained, 
it  is  said,  from  James  the  Second,  a  grant  of  the 
lands  of  Lochiel,  forfeited,  J.  suppose,  by  some  of- 
fence against  the  state. 

"  Forfeited  estates  were  not  in  those  days  qui- 
etly resigned  ;  Maclean,  therefore,  went  with  an 
armed  force  to  seize  his  new  possessions,  and  I 
know  not  lor  what  reason,  took  his  wife  with  him. 
The  Camerons  rose  in  defence  of  their  chief,  and 
a  battle  was  fought  at  the  head  of  Loch  Ness,  near 
the  place  where  Fort  Augustus  now  stands,  in 
which  Lochiel  obtained  the  victory,  and  Maclean, 
with  his  followers,  was  defeated  and  destroyed. 

"  The  lady  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conquer- 
ors, and  being  found  pregnant  was  placed  in  the 
custody  of  Maclonich,  one  of  a  tribe  or  family 
branched  from  Cameron,  with  orders,  if  she 
brought  a  boy,  to  destroy  him ;  if  a  girl,  to  spare  her. 

'*  Maclonich's  wife,  who  was  with  child  like- 
wise, had  a  girl  about  the  same  time  at  which 
Lady  Maclean  brought  a  boy,  and  Maclonich, 
with  more  generosity  to  his  captive  than  fidel- 
ity to  his  trust,  contrived  that  the  children  should 
be  changed. 

"  Maclean  being  thus  preserved  from  death,  in 
time  recovered  his  original  patrimony ;  and,  in 
gratitude  to  his  friend,  made  his  castle  a  place  of 
refuge  to  any  of  the  clan  that  should  think  him-  I 


the  connexion  between  this  family  and  a 
branch  of  the  family  of  Camerons,  called 
M'Lonich,  I  shall  only  insert  the*following 
document  (which  I  found  in  CoPm  cabinet), 
as  a  proof  of  its  continuance,  even  to  a  late 
period: 

"TO  the  laird  of  col, 

Strvne,  llth  Match,  1737. 

"  Dear  sir, — The  long-standing  tract 
of  firm  affectionate  friendship  'twixt  your 
worthy  predecessors  and  ours  affords  us 
such  assurance,  as  that  we  may  have  full  re- 
lyance  on  your  favour  and  undoubted  friend- 
ship, in  recommending  the  bearer,  Ewen 
Cameron,  our  cousin,  son  to  the  deceast 
Dugall  M'Connill  of  Innermaillie,  some- 
time in  Glenpean,  to  your  favour  and  con- 
duct, who  is  a  man  of  undoubted  honesty 
and  discretion,  only  that  he  has  the  misfor- 
tune of  being  alledged  to  have  been  acces- 
sory to  the  killing  of  one  of  Mc  Martin* 
family  about  fourteen  years  ago,  upon  which 
alledgeance  the  M'Martins  are  now  so 
sanguine  on  revenging,  that  thev  are  fully 
resolved  for  the  deprivation  of  his  life;  to 
the  preventing  of  which  you  are  relyed  oa 
by  us,  as  the  only  fit  instrument,  and  a 
most  capable  person.  Therefore  your  fa- 
vour and  protection  is  expected  and  imitat- 
ed, during  his  good  behaviour;  and  failing 
of  which  behaviour,  you  '11  please  to  use  him 
as  a  most  insignificant  person  deserves. 

"  Sir,  he  had,  upon  the  alledgeance  fore- 
said, been  transported,  at  Lochiel's  desire, 
to  France,  to  gratify  the  M'Martins,  and, 
upon  his  return  home,  about  five  years  ago, 
married1.  But  now  he  is  so  much  threaten- 
ed by  the  M'Martins,  that  he  is  not  secure 
enough  to  stay  where  he  is,  being  Ardmur- 
chan,  which  occasions  this  trouble  to  you. 
Wishing  prosperity  and  happiness  to  at- 
tend still  yourself*,  worthy  lady,  and  good 
family,  we  are,  in  the  most  affectionate 
manner,  dear  sir,  your  most  obliged,  affec- 
tionate, and  most  humble  servants, 

"  Dugall  Cameron,  of  Strone, 

"  Dugall  Cameron,  of  Barr, 

"  Duo  all  Cameron,  of  Inveriskvouilline, 

"  Duoall  Cameron,  of  Invinvalie." 

Ewen  Cameron  v>a$  protected,  and  his 
son  has  now  a  farm  from  the  Laird  of  Col, 
in  Mull. 

The  family  of  Col  was  very  loyal  in  the 
time  of  the  great  Montrose3,  from  whom  I 
found  two  letters  in  his  own  handwriting. 
The  first  is  as  follows: 


self  in  danger  ;  and,  as  a  proof  of  reciprocal  con- 
fidence, Maclean  took  upon  himself  and  his  pos- 
terity the  care  of  educating  the  heir  of  Maclonich." 
—Jottmty,  Work$f  vol.  viiL  p.  876. 

*  [The  third  earl  and  first  marquis,  bora  hi 
1612,  beheaded  at  Edinburgh,  21st  May,  Mft. 
—Ed.] 


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1773.— jETAT.  64. 


427 


"FOR  BIT  TORY  LOVING  FRIEND,  THE 
LAIKD  OF  COALL. 

«  Biretfcearae,  SOtk  Jan.  1646. 

"  Sir, — I  must  heartily  thank  you  for  all 
your  willingness  and  good  affection  to  his 
majesty's  service,  and  particularly  the  send- 
ing alongs  of  your  son,  to  who,  I  will  heave 
ane  particular  respect,  hopeing  also  that 
you  will  still  continue  ane  goode  instrument 
for  the  advanceing  ther  of  ike  king's  service, 
for  which,  and  all  your  former  loyal  car- 
riages, be  confident  you  shall  find  the  ef- 
fects of  his  ma's  favour,  as  they  can  be 
witnessed  you  by  your  very  faithful  friende, 
(t  Mojtteosb." 

The  other  is, 

"for  the  laird  of  col. 

'  Fatty,  17th  April,  1C46. 

"Sir, — Having  occasion  to  write  to 
your  fields,  I  cannot  be  forgetful  of  your 
willingness  and  good  affection  to  his  majes- 
ty's service.  I  acknowledge  to  you,  and 
thank  you  heartily  for  it,  assuring,  that  in 
what  lies  in  my  power,  you  shall  find  the 
good.  .  Meanwhile,  I  shall  expect  that  you 
will  continue  your  loyal  endeavours,  in 
wishing  those  slack  people  that  are  about 
you,  to  appear  more  obedient  than  they  do, 
and  loyal  in  their  prince's  service;  whereby 
I  assure  you,  you  shall  find  me  ever  your 
faithful  friend,  "  Montrose  *." 

I  found  some  uncouth  lines  on  the  death 
of  the  present  laird's  father,  entitled  "  Na- 
ture's  Elegy  upon  the  Death  of  Donald 
Maclean  of  Col."  They  are  not  worth  in- 
sertion. I  shall  only  give  what  is  called 
his  epitaph,  which  Dr.  Johnson  said  "  was 
not  so  very  bad." 

"  Nature's  nriaioo,  Virtue's  wonder, 
Ait's  corrective  here  lyes  under." 

I  asked,  what  "  Art's  corrective  "  meant 
"Why,  sir,"  said  he,  "that  the  laird  was 
so  exquisite,  that  he  set  Art  right,  when  she 
was  wrong," 

I  found  several  letters  to  the  late  Col, 
from  my  father's  old  companion  at  Paris, 
Sir  Hector  M'Lean,  one  of  which  was 
written  at  the  time  of  settling  the  colony  in 
Georgia.  It  dissuades  Col  from  letting 
people  go  there,  and  assures  him  there  wiU 
soon  be  an  opportunity  of  employing  them 
better  at  home9.  Hence  it  appears  that 
emigration  from  the  Highlands,  though 
not  in  such  numbers  at  a  time  as  of  late, 

1  It  is  observable  that  men  of  the  first  rank 
speh  very  ill  in  the  last  century.  In  the  first 
of  these  letters  I  have  preserved  the  original  spel- 

fiog. ROSWELL. 

■  [This  was  obviously  written  previous  to,  and 
m  expectation  of  the  rebellion  of  1746.— Ed,] 


has  always  been  practised.  Dr.  Johnson 
observed,  that "  The  lairds,  instead  of  im- 
proving their  country,  diminished  their 
people." 

There  are  several  districts  of  sandy  de- 
sert in  Col.  There  are  forty-eight  lochs  of 
fresh  water;  but  many  of  them  are  verv 
small— mere  pools.  About  one  half  of 
them,  however,  have  trout  and  eel.  There 
is  a  great  number  of  horses  in  the  island, 
mostly  of  a  small  size.  Being  overstocked, 
they  sell  some  in  Tir-yi,  and  on  the  main 
land.  Their  black  cattle,  which  are  chiefly 
rough-haired,  are  reckoned  remarkably 
good.  The  climate  being  very  mild  in 
winter,  they  never  put  their  beasts  in  any 
house.  The  lakes  are  never  frozen  so  as  to 
bear  a  man:  and  snow  never  lies  above  a  few 
hours.  They  have  a  good  many  sheep, 
which  they  eat  mostly  themselves,  and  sell 
but  a  few.  They  have  goats  in  several 
places.  There  are  no  foxes;  no  serpents, 
toads,  or  frogs,  nor  any  venomous  creature. 
They  have  otters  and  mice  here;  but  had 
no  rats  till  lately  that  an  American  vessel 
brought  them.  There  is  a  rabbit-warren 
on  the  north-east  of  the  island,  belonging 
to  the  Duke  of  Argyle.  Young  Col  in- 
tends to  get  some  hares,  of  which  there  are 
none  at  present  There  are  no  black-cock, 
muir-fowl,  nor  partridges;  but  there  are 
snipe,  wild-duck,  wild-geese,  and  swans,  in 
winter;  wild-pigeons,  plover,  and  great 
numbers  of  starlings;  of  which  I  shot  some, 
and  found  them  pretty  good  eating.  Wood* 
cocks  come  hither,  though  there  is  not  a 
tree  upon  the  island.  There  are  no  rivers 
in  Col ;  but  only  some  brooks,  in  which 
there  is  a  great  variety  of  fish.  In  the 
whole  isle  there  are  but  three  hills,  and  none 
of  them  considerable,  for  a  Highland  country. 
The  people  are  very  industrious.  Every 
man  can  tan.  They  get  oak,  and  birch- 
bark,  and  lime,  from  the  main  land.  Some 
have  pits;  but  they  commonly  use  tubs. 
I  saw  brogues  very  well  tanned;  and  every 
man  can  make  them.  They  all  make  .can* 
dies  of  the  tallow  of  their  beasts,  both  mould* 
ed  and  dipped;  and  they  all  make  oil  of  the 
livers  offish.  The  little  fish  called  cuddies 
produce  a  great  deal.  They  sell  some  oil 
out  of  the  island,  and  they  use  it  much  for 
light  in  their  houses,  in  little  iron  lamps, 
most  of  which  they  have  from  England; 
but  of  late  their  own  blacksmith  makes 
them.  He  is  a  pood  workman;  but  he  has 
no  employment  in  shoeing  horses,  for  they 
all  go  unshod  here,  except  some  of  a  better 
kind  belonging  to  young  Col>  which  were 
now  in  Mull.  There  are  two  carpenters  in 
Col;  but  most  of  the  inhabitants  can  do 
something  as  boat-carpenters.  They  can 
all  dye.  Heath  is  used  for  yellow;  and 
for  red,  a  moss  which  grows  on  stones. 
They  make  broad-cloth,  and  tartan,  and 


Digitized  by 


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4M 


m*.— iETAT,  C4. 


[TOtjft  TO 


Unco,  of  their  own  wool  and  flax,  sufficient 
for  their  own  use;  as  also  stockings. 
Their  bonnets  come  from  the  main  land. 
Hardware  and  several  small  articles  are 
brought  annually  from  Greenock,  and  sold 
in  the  only  shop  in  the  island,  which  is  kept 
near  the  house,  or  rather  hut,  used  for  pub- 
lick  worship,  there  being  no  church  in  the 
island.  The  inhabitants  of  Col  have  in- 
creased  considerably  within  these  thirty 
years,  as  appears  from  the  parish  registers. 
There  are  but  three  considerable  tacksmen 
on  CoPs  part  of  the  island:  the  rest  is  let 
to  small  tenants,  some  of  whom  pay  so  low 
a  rent  as  four,  three,  or  even  two  guin- 
eas. The  highest  is  seven  pounds,  paid  by 
a  farmer,  whose  son  >  £oes  yeafly  on  foot 
to  Aberdeen  for  education,  and  in  summer 
returns,  and  acts  as  a  schoolmaster  in  Col. 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  There  is  something 
noble  in  a  young  man's  walking  two  hun- 
dred miles  and  back  again,  every  year,  for 
the  sake  of  learning." 

This  day  a  number  of  people  came  to. 
Col,  with  complaints  of  each  other's  tres- 
passes. Comtek,  to  prevent  their  being 
troublesome,  told  them,  that  the  lawyer 
from  Edinburgh  was  here,  and  if  they  did 
not  agree,  he  would  take  them  to  task. 
They  were  alarmed  at  this;  said,  they  had 
never  been  used  to  go  to  law,  and  hoped  Col 
would  settle  matters  himself.  In  the  eve- 
ning Corneck  left  us. 

Saturday,  9th  October.  As,  in  our  pres- 
ent confinement,  any  thing  that  had  even 
the  name  of  curious  was  an  object  of  atten- 
tion, I  proposed  that  Col  should  show  me 
the  great  stone,  mentioned  in  a  former  page, 
as  having  been  thrown  by  a  giant  to  the  top 
of  a  mountain.  Dr.  Johnson,  who  did  not 
like  to  be  left  alone,  said  he  would  accom- 
pany us  as  far  as  riding  was  practicable. 
We  ascended  a  part  of  the  hill  on  horse- 
back, and  Col  and  I  scrambled  up  the  rest. 
A  servant  held  our  horses,  and  Dr.  John- 
son placed  himself  on  the  ground,  with  his 
back  agsinst  a  large  fragment  of  rock.  The 
wind  being  high,  he  let  down  the  cocks  of 
his  hat,  and  tied  it  with  his  handkerchief 
under  his  chin.  While  we  were  employed 
in  examining  the  stone,  which  did  not  re- 
pay our  trouble  in  getting  to  it,  he  amused 
himself  with  reading  "  Gataker  on  Lots  and 
on  the  Christian  Watch,"  a  very  learned 

1  [Dr.  Johnson  relate  this  fact  with  a  pomp 
wfcich  created  a  fake  opinion  that  the  young 
Laird  of  Col  was  himself  this  peripatetic.  "  Col 
is  mora  enlightened  than  mom  other  islands,  for 
the  deficiency  [of  instruction]  is  supplied  by  a 
young  gentleman,  who,  for  his  own  improve- 
ment, travels  every  year  over  the  Highlands  to 
the  session  of  Aberdeen,  and  at  his  return,  during 
She  vacation,  teaches  to  read  and  write  in  his  na- 
tive island." — Journey,  Works,  vol.  viil  888. 
— En.) 


book ,  of  the  last  age,  which  had  been  found 
in  the  garret  of  CoTe  house,  and  which  he 
said  was  a  treasure  here.  When  we  de- 
scried him  from  above,  he  had  a  most  ere- 
mitical appearance;  and  on  our  return  told 
us,  he  had  been  so  much  engaged  by  Gata- 
ker, that  he  had  never  missed  us.  His 
avidity  for  variety  of  books,  while  we  were 
in  Col,  was  frequently  expressed;  and  he 
often  complained  that  so  few  were  within 
his  reach.  Upon  which  I  observed  to  him, 
that  it  was  strange  he  should  complain  of  . 
want  of  books,  when  he  could  at  any  time 
make  such  good  ones. 

We  next  proceeded  to  the  lead  mine.  In 
our  way  we  came  to  a  strand  of  some  ex- 
tent, where  we  were  glad  to  take  a  gallop, 
in  which  my  learned  friend  joined  with 
great  alacrity,  Dr.  Johnson,  mounted  on  a 
large  bav  mare  without  shoes,  and  followed 
by  a  foal,  which  had  some  difficulty  in  keep- 
ing up  with  him,  was  a  singular  spectacle. 

After  examining  the  mine,  we  returned 
through  a  very  uncouth  district,  full  of  sand- 
hills; down  which,  though  apparent  preci- 
pices, our  horses  carried  us  with  safety,  the 
sand  always  gently  silding  away  fron  their 
feet.  Vestiges  of  houses  were  pointed  out 
to  us,  which  Col,  and  two  others  who  had 
joined  us,  asserted  Had  been  overwhelmed 
with  sand  blown  over  them.  But,  on  going 
close  to  one  of  them,  Dr.  Johnson  showed 
the  absurdity  of  the  notion,  by  remarking, 
that  "  it  was  evidently  only  a  house  aban- 
doned, the  stones  of  which  had  been  taken 
away  for  other  purposes;  for  the  large 
stones,  which  form  the  lower  part  of  the 
walls,  were  still  standing  higher  than  the 
sand.  If  they  were  not  blown  over,  it  was 
clear  nothing  higher  than  they  could  be 
blown  over. "  This  was  quite  convincing  to 
me:  but  it  made  not  the  least  impression  on 
Col  and  the  others,  who  were  not  to  be 
argued  out  oC  a  Highland  tradition. 

We  did  not  set  down  to  dinner  till  be- 
tween six  and  seven.  We  lived  plentifully 
here,  and  had  a  true  welcome.  In  such  a 
season,  good  firing  was  of  no  small  impor- 
tance. The  peats  were  excellent,  and  burn- 
ed cheerfully.  Those  at  Dun  vegan,  which 
were  damp,  Dr.  Johnson  called  "a  sullen 
fuel."  Here  a  Scottish  phrase  wss  singu- 
larly applied  to  him.  One  of  the  company 
having  remarked  that  he  had  gone  out  on  a 
stormy  evening,  and  brought  in  a  supply  of 
peats  from  the  stack,  old  Mr.  M'Sweyn 
said,  "  that  was  main  honest!  " 

Blenheim  being  occasionally  mentioned, 
he  told  me  he  had  never  seen  it:  he  had  not 
gone  formerly;  and  he  would  not  go  now, 
lust  as  a  common  spectator,  for  his  money: 
he  would  not  put  it  in  the  power  of  some 
man  about  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  tossy, 
"  Johnson  was  here;  I  knew  him,  but  I  took 
no  notice  of  him."  He  said,  he  should  be 
very  glad  to  see  it,  if  properly  invited,  which 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


8BBRIBB8.] 

in  all  probability  would  never  be  the  case, 
as  it  was  not  worth  his  while  to  seek  for  it. 
I  observed,  that  he  might  be  easily  intro- 
duced there  by  a  common  friend  of  ours1, 
nearly  related  to  the  duke.  He  answered, 
with  an  uncommon  attention  to  delicacy  o£ 
feeling,  "  I  doubt  whether  our  friend  be 
on  such  a  footing  with  the  duke  as  to  carry 
any  body  there;  and  I  would  not  give  him 
the  uneasiness  of  seeing  that  I  knew  he  was 
not,  or  even  of  being  himself  reminded  of 
it." 

Sunday,  10* A  October. — There  was  this 
day  the  most  terrible  storm  of  wind  and  rain 
that  I  ever  remember.  It  made  such  an  aw- 
ful impression  on  us  all,  as  to  produce,  for 
Borne  time,  a  kind  of  dismal  quietness  in  the 
house.  The  day  was  passed  without  much 
conversation:  .only,  upon  my  observing  that 
there  must  be  something  bad  in  a  man's 
mind,  who  does  not  like  to  give  leases  to 
his  tenants,  but  wishes  to  keep  them  in  a 
perpetual  wretched  dependence  on  his  will, 
t)r.  Johnson  said,  "  You  are  right:  it  is  a 
man's  duty  to  extend  comfort  and  security 
among  as  many -people  as  he  can.  tie 
should  not  wish  to  have  his  tenants  mere 
ephemera, — mere  beings  of  an  hour." 
Bos  well.  "  But,  sir,  if  they  have  leases, 
is  there  not  some  danger  that  they  may 
grow  insolent?  I  remember  you  yourself 
once  told  me,  an  English  tenant  was  so  in- 
dependent, that,  if  provoked,  he  would 
throw  his  rent  at  his  landlord."  Johjtson. 
"  Depend  upon  it,  sir,  it  is  the  landlord's 
own  fault,  if  it  is  thrown  at  him.  A  man 
may  always  keep  his  tenants  in  dependence 
enough,  though  they  have  leases.  He  must 
be  a  good  tenant  indeed,  who  will  not  fall 
behind  in  his  rent,  if  his  landlord  will  let 
him;  and  if  he  does  fall  behind,  his  landlord 
has  him  at  his  mercy.  Indeed,  the  poor 
man  is  always  much  at  the  mercy  of  the 
rich;  no  matter  whether  landlord  or  tenant. 
If  the  tenant  lets  his  landlord  have  a  little 
rent  beforehand,  or  has  lent  him  money, 
then  the  landlord  is  in  his  power.  There 
cannot  be  a  greater  man  than  a  tenant  who 
has  lent  money  to  his-  landlord;  for  he  has 
under  subjection  the  very  man  to  whom  he 
should  be  subjected." 

Monday,  11  th  October. — We  had  some 
days  ago  engaged  the  Campbell-town  ves- 
sel to  carry  us  to  Mull,  from  the  harbour 
where  she  lay.  The  morning  was  fine,  and 
the  wind  fair  and  moderate;  so  we  hoped  at 
length  to  get  away 

Mrs.  M'Sweyn,  who  officiated  as  our 
landlady  here,  had  never  been  on  the  main 
land.    On  hearing  this,  Dr.  Johnson  said 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


429 


1  [Mr.  Beanclerk,  who  had  married  the  doke'i 
tatter,  bat  under  circumstances  which  might  well 
justify  Johnson's  suspicion  that  he  might  not  be 
on  the  most  satisfactory  terms  with  his  grace.*— 
Bee  ante,  p.  *16,  n,— Ed.) 


to  me,  before  her,  "That  is  rather  being 
behind-hand  with  life.  I  would  at  least  go 
andseeGlenelg."  Boswell.  "You your- 
self, sir,  have  never  seen,  till  now, any  thing 
but  your  native  island."  Johnson.  "But, 
sir,  by  seeing  London,  I  have  seen  as  much 
of  life  as  the  world  can  show."  Boswell. 
"You  have  not  seen  Pekin."  Johnson. 
"What  is  Pekin?  Ten  thousand  Londoners 
would  drive  all  the  people  of  Pekin:  they 
would  drive  them  like  deer." 

We  set  out  about  eleven  for  the  harbour; 
but,  before  we  reached  it,  so  violent  a  storm 
came  on,  that  we  were  obliged  again  to  take 
shelter  in  the  house  of  Captain  M'Lean, 
where  we  dined,  and  passed  the  night. 

Tuesday,  12th  October  .—After  breakfast, 
we  made  a  second  attempt  to  get  to  the  har- 
bourj  but  another  storm  soon  convinced  us 
that  it  would  be  in  vain.  Captain  M'Lean 's 
house  being  in  some  confusion,  on  account 
of  Mrs.  M'Lean  being  expected  to  lie-in, 
we  resolved  to  go  to  Air.  M'Sweyn's,  where 
we  arrived  very  wet,  fatigued,  and  hungry. 
In  this  situation,  we  were  somewhat  discon- 
certed by  being  told  that  we  should  have  no 
dinner  till  late  in  the  evening:  but  should 
have  tea  in  the  mean  time.  Dr.  Johnson 
opposed  this  arrangement;  but  they  persist- 
ed, and  he  took  the  tea  very  readily.  He 
said  to  me  afterwards, "  You  must  consider, 
sir,  a  dinner  here  is  a  matter  of  great  conse- 
quence. It  is  a  thing  to  be  first  planned, 
and  then  executed.  I  suppose  the  mutton 
was  brought  some  miles  off,  from  some 
place  where  they  knew  there  was  a  sheep 
killed." 

Talking  of  the  good  people  with  whom 
we  were,  he  said,  "  Life  has  not  got  at  all 
forward  by  a  generation  in  M'Sweyn's  fam- 
ily: for  the  son  is  exactly  formed  upon  the 
father.  What  the  father  says,  the  son  says; 
and  what  the  father  looks,  the  son  looks." 

There  being  little  conversation  to-night, 
I  must  endeavour  to  recollect  what  I  may 
have  omitted  on  former  occasions.  When 
I  boasted,  at  Rasay,  of  my  independency  of 
spirit,  and  that  I  could  not  be  bribed,  he 
said,  "  Yes,  you  may  be  bribed  by  flattery." 
At  the  Reverend  Mr.  M'Lean's,  Dr.  Jonn- 
son  asked  him  if  the  people  of  Col  had  any 
superstitions.  He  said,  "  No."  The  cut- 
ting peats  at  the  increase  of  the  moon  was 
mentioned  as  one;  but  he  would  not  allow  it, 
saying  it  was  not  a  superstition,  but  a  whim. 
Dr.  Johnson  would  not  admit  the  distinc- 
tion. There  were  many  superstitions,  fee 
maintained,  not  connected  with  religion; 
and  this  was  one  of  them.  On  Monday  we 
had  a  dispute  at  the  Captain's,  whether 
sand-hills  could  be  fixed  down  by  art.  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  "  How  the  devil  can  you  do 
it  ?2"  but  instantly  corrected  himself, "  How 


*  [The  question  which  Johnson  asked  with 
ich  unusual  warmth  might  have  been  answered 


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490 


can  you  do  it  ? "    I  never  before  heard  him 
use  a  phrase  of  that  nature. 

He  nas  particularities  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  explain.  He  never  wears  a  night- 
cap, as  I  have  already  mentioned;  but  he 
puts  a  hankerchief  on  his  head  in  the  night. 
The  day  that  we  left  Talisker,  he  bade  us 
ride  on.  He  then  turned  the  head  of  his 
horse  back  towards  Talisker,  stopped  for 
some  time;  then  wheeled  round  to  the  same 
direction  with  ours,  and  then  came  briskly 
after  us.  His  sets  open  a  window  in  the 
coldest  day  or  night,  and  stands  before  it. 
It  may  do  with  his  constitution;  but  most 
people,  among  whom  I  am  one,  would  say, 
-  with  the  frogs  in  the  fable,  "  This  may  be 
sport  to  you;  but  it  is  death  to  us."  It  is 
in  vain  to  try  to  find  a  meaning  in  every 
one  of  his  particularities,  which,  I  suppose, 
are  mere  habits,  contracted  by  chance;  of 
which  every  roan  has  some  that  are  more 
or  less  remarkable.  He  speaking  to  him- 
self, or  rather  repeating,  is  a  common  habit 
with  studious  men  accustomed  to  deep  think- 
ing; and,  in  consequence  of  their  being  thus 
rapt,  they  will  even  laugh  by  themselves,  if 
the  subject  which  they  are  musing  on  is  a 
merry  one.  Dr.  Johnson  is  often  uttering 
pious  ejaculations,  when  he  appears  to  be 
talking  to  himself;  for  sometimes  his  voice 

*  grows  stronger,  and  parts  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  are  heard.  I  have  sat  beside  him 
with  more  than  ordinary  reverence  on  such 
occasions *. 

In  our  tour,  I  observed  that  he  was  dis- 
gusted whenever  he  met  with  coarse  man- 
ners. He  said  to  me,  "  I  know  not  how  it 
is,  but  I  cannot  bear  low  life:  and  I  find 
others,  who  have  as  good  a  rignt  as  I  to  be 
fastidious,  bear  it  better,  by  having  mixed 
more  with  different  sorts  of  men.  You 
would  think  that  I  have  mixed  pretty  well 
too." 

He  read  this  day  a  good  deal  of  my  jour- 
nal, written  in  a  small  book  with  which  he 
had  supplied  me,  and  was  pleased,  for  he 
said, "  I  wish  thy  books  were  twice  as  big." 
He  helped  me  to  fill  up  blanks  which  I  had 
lef^in  first  writing  it,  when  I  was  not  quite 
sure  of  what  he  had  said,  and  he  corrected 
any  mistakes  th  at  I  had  made.  "  They  call 
me  a  scholar,"  said  he,  "  and  yet  how  very 
little  literature  is  there  in  my  conversation." 
Boswell.  "  That,  sir,  must  be  according 
to  your  company.  You  would  not  give  li- 
terature to  those  who  cannot  taste  it     Stay* 

.  till  we'  meet  Lord  Elibank." 


"  by  sowing  the  bent,  or  couch-grass." — Wal- 
ter Scott.] 

1  It  is  remarkable,  that  Dr.  Johnson  should 
have  read  this  account  of  some  of  his  own  pecu- 
liar habits,  without  saying  any  thing  on  the  sub- 
ject, which  I  hoped  he  would  have  done. — Bos- 
WBLt.  [See  ante,  p.  214,  and  post,  Miss 
Reynolds's  Recollections.— En.] 


1773.— jETAT.  64.  [TOUR  TO  tBI 

We  had  at  last  a  good  dinner,  or  rather 
supper,  and  were  very  well  satisfied  with 
our  entertainment. 

Wednesday,  l$th  October.— Col  called 
me  up,  with  intelligence  that  it  was  a  good 
day  for  a  passage  to  Mull;  and  just  as  we 
rose,  a  sailor  from  the  vessel  arrived  for  us. 
We  got  all  ready  with  despatch.  Dr.  John- 
son was  displeased  at  my  bustling  and  walk- 
ing quickly  up  and  down.  He  said,  "  It 
does  not  hasten  us  a  bit  It  is  getting  on 
horseback  in  a  ship 9.  All  boys  do  it;  and 
you  are  longer  a  boy  than  others."  He 
himself  has  no  alertness,  or  whatever  it 
may  be  called;  so  he  may  dislike  it,  as 
Oderunt  hilarem  tristes. 

Before  we  reached  the  harbour,  the  wind 
grew  high  again.  However,  the  small  boat 
was  waiting,  and  took  us  on  board.  We 
remained  for  some  time  in  uncertainty  what 
to  do;  at  last  it  was  determined,  that,  as  a 
good  part  of  the  day  was  over,  and  it  was 
dangerous  to  be  at  sea  at  night,  in  such  a 
vessel,  and  such  weather,  we  should  not 
sail  till  the  morning  tide,  when  the  wind 
would  probably  be  more*  gentle.  We  re- 
solved not  to  go  ashore  again,  but  lie  here 
in  readiness.  Dr.  Johnson  and  I  had  each 
a  bed  in  the  cabin.  Col  sat  at  the  fire  in 
the  forecastle,  with  the  captain,  and  Joseph. 
and  the  rest.  I  ate  some  dry  oatmeal,  of 
which  I  found  a  barrel  in  the  cabin.  I  had 
not  done  this  since  I  was  a  boy.  Dr.  John- 
son owned  that  he  too  was  fond  of  it  when 
a  boy;  a  circumstance  which  I  was  highly 
pleased  to  hear  from  him,  as  it  gave  me  an 
opportunity  of  observing  that,  notwithstand- 
ing his  joke  on  the  article  of  oats,  he  was 
himself  a  proof  that  this  kind  of  food  was 
notpeculiar  to  the  people  of  Scotland. 

Thursday,  \Ath  October.— When  Dr. 
Johnson  awaked  this  morning,  he  called 
"  Lanky!"  having,  I  suppose,  been  think- 
ing of  Langton,  but  corrected  himself  in- 
stantly, and  cried,  "Bozzy!"  He  has  a 
way  of  contracting  the  names  of  his  friends. 
Goldsmith  feels  himself  so  important  now, 
as  to  be  displeased  at  it  •  •  *3. 

Between  six  and  seven  we  hauled  our  an- 
chor, and  set  sail  with  a  fair  breeze:  and, 
after  a  pleasant  voyage,  we  got  safely  and 
agreeably  into  the  harbour  of  Tobermorie, 
before  the  wind  rose,  wliich  it  always  has 
done,  for  some  days,  about  noon. 

Tobermorie  is  an  excellent  harbour.  An 
island  lies  before  it,  and  it  is  surrounded  by 
a  hilly  theatre.  The  island  is  too  low,  oth- 
erwise this  would  be  quite  a  secure  port; 
but,  the  island  not  being  a  sufficient  protec- 
tion, some  storms  blow  very  hard  here. 
Not  long  ago,  fifteen  vessels  were  blown 


*  [Borrowed  from  the  jestoaf  Hieroclea. —Ed.] 

*  [Here  followed  Davits'*  anecdote  aboet 
Goldsmith's  displeasure  at  being  called  Goidy, 
which  will  be  found  qftie,  p.  820.— Ed,] 


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UBKI0BS.] 

► 

from  their  moorings.  There  are  sometimes 
sixty  or  seventy  sail  here:  to-day  there 
were  twelve  or  fourteen  vessels.  To  see 
'such  a  fleet  was  the  next  thing  to  seeing  a 
town.  The  vessels  were  from  different 
places;  Clyde,  Campbell-town,  Newcastle, 
tie  One  was  returning  to  Lancaster  from 
JHamburgh.  After  having  been  shut  up  so 
long  in  Col,  the  sight  of  such  an  assemblage 
of  moving  habitations,  containing  such  a 
variety  of  people,  engaged  in  different  pur- 
suits, gave  me  much  gaiety  of  spirit.  When 
we  had  landed,  Dr.  Johnson  said,  't  Bos  well 
k  now  all  alive.  He  is  like  Antaeus;  he  gets 
new  vigour  whenever  he  touches  the  ground." 
I  went  to  the  top  of  a  hill  fronting  the  har- 
bour, from  whence  I  had.  a  good  view  of  it. 
We  had  here  a  tolerable  inn.  Dr.  Johnson 
had  owned  to  me  this  morning,  that  he  was 
out  of  humour.  Indeed,  he  showed  it  a 
good  deal  in  the  ship;  for  when  I  was  ex- 
pressing mv  joy  on  the  prospect  of  our  land- 
ing in  Mull,  he  said,  he  had  no  joy,  when 
he  recollected  that  it  would  be  five  days  be- 
fore he  should  get  to  the  main  land.  I  was 
afraid  he  would  now  take  a  sudden  resolu- 
tion to  give  up  seeing  Icolmkill.  A  dish  of 
tea,  and  some  good  Dread  and  butter,  did 
him  service,  and  his  bad  humour  went  off. 
I  told  him,  that  I  was  diverted  to  hear  all 
the  people  whom  we  had  visited  in  our  tour 
say,  "Honest  man!  he 's  pleased  with  every 
thing;  he 's  always  content ! "  "  Little  do 
they  know,"  said  I.  He  laughed,  and  said, 
"You  rogue!" 

We  sent  to  hire  horses  to  carry  us  across  the 
inland  of  Mull  to  the  shore  opposite  to  Inch- 
kenneth,  the  residence  of  Sir  Allan  M'Lean, 
uncle  to  young  Col,  and  chief  of  the  Mc Le- 
arn, to  whose  house  we  intended  to  go  the 
next  day.  Our  friend  Col  went  to  visit  his 
aunt,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Alexander  M'Lean,  a 
physician,  who  lives  about  a  mile  from  To- 
bermorie. 

Dr.  Johnson  and  I  sat  by  ourselves  at  the 
inn,  and  talked  a  good  .deal.  I  told  him, 
that  I  had  found,  in  Leandro  Alberti's 
"  Description  of  Italy,"  much  of  what  Ad- 
dison has  given  us  in  his  "  Remarks  V 
He  said,  "  The  collection  of  passages  from 
the  Classicks  has  been  made  by  another 
Italian:  it  is,  however,  impossible  to  detect 
a  man  as  a  plagiary  in  such  a  case,  because 
all  who  set  about  making  such  a  collection 
must  find  the  same  passages;  but,  if  you 
find  the  same  applications  in  another  book, 
then  Addison's  learning  in  his  '  Remarks1 
tumbles  down.  It  is  a  tedious  book;  and, 
if  it  were  not  attached  to  Addison's  previous 
reputation,  one  would  not  think  much  of  it. 
Had  he  written  nothing  else,  his  name 
would  not  have  lived.  Addison  does  not 
seem  to  have  gone  deep  in  Italian  literature: 


1778.— 2ETAT.  64. 


431 


See  pott,  7th  April,  1776.] 


he  shows  nothing  of  it  in  his  subsequent 
writings.  He  shows  a  great  deal  of  French 
learning.  There  is,  perhaps,  more  know- 
ledge circulated  in  the  French  language  than 
in  any  other.  There  is  more  original  know- 
ledge in  English."  "*But  the  French," 
said  I,  "  have  the  art  of  accommodating  lit- 
erature »."  Johjison.  "Yes,  sir;  we  nave 
no  such  book  as  Moreri's  '  Dictionary.9 " 
Boswell.  "Their  'Ana'  are  good." 
Johnson.  "  A  few  of  them  are  good;  but 
we  have  one  book  of  that  kind  better  than 
anv  of  them,  Selden's  <  Table-talk."  As  to 
original  literature,  the  French  have  a  cou- 
ple of  tragick  poets  who  go  round  the 
world,  Racine  and  Corneille,  and  one  com- 
ick  poet,  Moliere."  Boswell.  "They 
have  Fenelon."  Johnson.  "  Why,  sir, 
Telemachus  is  pretty  well."  Boswell. 
"  And  Voltaire,  sir."  Johnson.  "  He  has 
not  stood  his  trial  yet  And  what  makes 
Voltaire  chiefly  circulate  is  collection,  such 
as  his  'Universal  History.'"  Boswell.. 
"  What  do  you  say  to  the  Bishop  of  Meaux?" " 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  nobody  reads  him  3."  He 
would  not  allow  Massillon  and  Bourdaloue 
to  go  round  the  world.  In  general,  howev- 
er, he  gave  the  French  much  praise  for 
their  industry. 

He  asked  me  whether  he  had  mentioned,  in 
any  of  the  papers  of  the  "  Rambler,"  the  de- 
scription in  \  irgpl  of  the  entrance  into  Hell, 
with  an  application  to  the  press;  "  for  (said 
he)  I  do  not  much  remember  them."  1  told 
him,  "  No."    Upon  which  he  repeated  it: 

Vestibulnm  ante  ipsum,  primisqne  in  fancibus  orci, 
Luctus  et  nltrices  posuere  cnbilia  Cane  ; 
Pallentesque  habitant  Morbi,  taistisque  Senectas, 
Et  metns,  et  malesnada  Fames,  et  turpi*  Egestas, 
Teiribiles  vim  forme  ;  Lethumque,  Laborque 4. 

"  Now  (said  he),  almost  all  these  apply  ex- 
actly to  an  authour;  all  these  are  the  con- 
comitants of  a  printing-house."  I  propos- 
ed to  him  to  dictate  an  essay  on  it,  and  of- 
fered to  write  it.  He  said  he  would  not  do 
it  then,  but  perhaps  would  write  one  at  some 
future  period. 

The*  Sunday  evening  that  we  sat  by  our- 
selves at  Aberdeen,  I  asked  him  several  par- 
ticulars of  his  life,  from  his  early  years, 
which  he  readily  told  me;  and  I  wrote  them 


•  [Mr.  Boswell  probably  meant  by  "  accom- 
modating literature,' '  making  it  more  accessible 
and  readier  for  ordinary  use. — Ed.] 

*  I  take  leave  to  enter  my  strongest  protest 
against  this  judgment     Bossnet  I  hold  to  be  one 
of  the  first  luminaries  of  religion  and  literature.  - 
If  there  are  who  do  not  read  him,  it  is  rail  time 
they  should  begin. — Boswell. 

«  Just  in  the  gate,  and  In  the  Jaws  of  hell, 
Sevengeftd  cares  and  soften  sorrows  dwell} 
And  pale  diseases,  and  repining  age  •, 
Want,  fear,  and  famine's  unresisted  rage ; 
Here  toils  and  death,  and  death's  haltbrother,  sleep, 
Forms  terrible  to  view,  their  sentry  keep.   Parosau 


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432 


1778-— jETAT.  64. 


down  before  him.  This  day  I  proceeded  in 
my  inquiries,  also  writing  them  in  his 
presence.  I  have  them  on  detached  sheets 
•  •  •  K  I  have  now  a  vast  treasure  of  his 
conversation,  tt  different  times,  since  the 
year  1769,  when  I  first  obtained  his  acquaint- 
ance; and  by  assiduous  inquiry,  1  can  make 
up  for  not  knowing  him  sooner. 

A  Newcastle  ship-master,  who  happened 
to  be  in  the  house,  intruded  himself  upon 
us.  He  was  much  in  liquor,  and  talked 
nonsense  about  his  being  a  man  for  WiXkto 
and  Liberty ,  and  against  the  ministry.  Dt. 
Johnson  was  angry,  that  "  a  fellow  should 
come  into  our  company,  who  was  fit  for  no 
company."    He  left  us  soon. 

Cot  returned  from  his  aunt,  and  told  us, 
she  insisted  that  we  should  come  to  her 
house  that  night.  He  introduced  to  us  Mr. 
Campbell,  the  Duke  of  Argyle's  factor  in 
Tyr-yi.  He  was  a  genteel,  agreeable  man. 
He  was  going  to  Inverary,  and  promised  to 
put  letters  into  the  poet-office  for  us.  I  now 
found  that  Dr.  Johnson's  desire  to  get  on 
the  main  land  arose  from  his  anxiety  to  have 
an  opportunity  of  conveying  letters  to  his 
friends. 

After  dinner,  we  proceeded  to  Dr. 
Mc Lean's,  which  was  about  a  mile  from  our 
inn.  He  was  not  at  home,  but  we  were  re- 
ceived by  his  ladv  and  daughter,  who  enter- 
tained us  so  well,  that  Dr.  Johnson  seemed 
quite  happy.  When  we  had  supped,  he  ask- 
ed me  to  give  him  some  paper  to  write  let- 
ters. I  begged  he  would  write  short  ones,  and 
not  expatiate,  as  we  ought  to  set  off  early. 
He  was  irritated  by  this,  and  said,  "  What 
must  be  done,  must  be  done:  the  thing  is 
past  a  joke." — "  Nay,  sir  (said  I),  write  as 
much  as  vou  please;  but  "do  not  blame  me, 
if  we  are  kept  six  days  before  we  get  to  the 
main  land.  You  were  very  impatient  in 
the  morning:  but  no  sooner  do  you  find 
yourself  in  good  quarters,  than  vou  forget 
that  you  are  to  move."  I  got  him  paper 
enough,  and  we  parted  in  food  humour. 

Let  me  now  recollect  whatever  particu- 
lars I  have  omitted.  In  the  morning  I  said 
to  him,  before  we  landed  at  Tobermorie, 
"  We  shall  see  Dr.  M'Lean,  who  has  writ- 


1  Here  in  the  original  text  came  the  following 
announcement  of  the  Life  of  Johnson: — "  I  shall 
collect  anthentick  materials  for  'The  Life  of 
Samuel  Johnson,  LL.  D. ; '  and,  if  I  survive  him, 
I  shall  be  one  who  will  most  faithfully  do  honour 
to  his  memory."  To  which  this  note  was  ap- 
pended: "  It  is  no  small  satisfaction  to  me  to 
•reflect,  that  Dr.  Johnson  read  this,  and  after 
being  apprized  of  my  intention,  communicated  to 
me,  at  subsequent  periods,  many  particulan  of  his 
life,  which  jKobabl?  could  not  otherwise  have 
been  preserved." — Boswell.  [This  is  a  con- 
elusive  answer  to  those  who,  in  the  character  of 
friends  of  Johnson's  memory,  affected  to  blame 
this  publication. — Ed.] 


[TOUR  TO  THI 

ten  the  History  of  the  Mc Leans."  Jomr- 
soh.  "  I  have  no  great  patience  to  stay  to 
hear  the  history  of  the  M' Leans.  1  would 
rather  hear  the  History  of  the  Thrmles." 
When  on  Mull,  I  said,  "Well,  sir,  this  k 
the  fourth  of  the  Hebrides  that  we  have 
been  upon."  Johnson.  "  Nay,  we  can- 
not boast  of  the  number  we  have  -seen.  We 
thought  we  should  see  many  more.  We 
thought  of  sailing  about  easily  from  island 
to  island;  and  so  we  should,  had  we  come 
at  a  better  season8:  but  we,  being  wise 
men,  thought  it  would  be  summer  all  the 
war  where  we  were.  However,  sir,  we 
have  seen  enough  to  give  us  a  pretty  good 
notion  of  the  system  of  insular  fife." 

Let  me  not  forget,  that  he  sometimes 
amused  himself  with  very  slight  reading; 
from  which,  however,  his  conversation 
showed  that  he  contrived  to  extract  some 
benefit  At  Captain  M<  Lean's  he  read  a 
good  deal  in  "  The  Charmer,"  a  collection 
of  songs. 

Friday,  lbth  October. — We  Una  morning 
found  that  we  could  not  proceed,  there  be- 
ing a  violent  storm  of  wind  and  rain,  and 
the  rivers  being  impassable.  When  I  ex- 
pressed my  discontent  at  our  confinement, 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  Now  that  I  have  had 
an  opportunity  of  writing  to  the  main  land, 
I  am  in  no  such  haste."  I  was  amused 
with  his  being  so  easily  satisfied;  for  the 
truth  was,  that  the  gentleman  who  was  to 
convey  our  letters,  as  I  was  now  informed, 
was  not  to  set  out  for  Inverary  for  some 
time;  so  that  it  was  probable  we  should  be 
there  as  soon  as  he:  however,  I  did  not 
undeceive  my  friend,  but  suffered  him  to 
enjoy  his  fancy. 

Dr.  Johnson  asked,  in  the  evening,  to 
see  Dr.  M' Lean's  books.  He  took  down 
"  Willis  de  Anima  Brutorum,"  and  pored 
over  it  a  good  deal. 

Miss  M'Lean  produced  some  Erse  poems 
by  John  M'Lean,  who  was  a  famous  bard 
in  Mull,  and  had  died  only  a  few  years  ago. 
He  could  neither  read  nor  write.  She 
read  and  translated  two  of  them;  one  a 
kind  of  elegy  on  Sir  John  M« Lean's  being 
obliged  to  fly  his  country  in  1715;  another, 
a  dialogue  between  two  Roman  Catholick 
young  ladies,  sisters,  whether  it  was  better 
to  be  a  nun  or  to  marry.  I  could  not  per- 
ceive much  poetical  imagery  in  the  transla- 
tion. Yet  all  of  our  company  who  under- 
stood Erse  seemed  charmed  with  the  orig- 
inal. There  may,  perhaps,  be  some  choice 
of  expression,  and  some  excellence  of  ar- 
rangement, that  cannot  be  shown  in  transla- 
tion. 

*  [This  observation  is  very  just.  The  time  for 
the  Hebrides  was  too  late  by  a  month  or  six 
weeks.  I  have  heard  those  who  remembered 
their  tour  express  surprise  they  were  not  drowned. 
— Waltee  Scott.] 


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.] 


177fc-- JEXAT.  #4. 


438 


After  we  had  exhausted  the  Erse  poena, 
of  which  Dr.  Johoaon  aaid  nothing,  Miss 
M'Lean  gave  us  several  tunea  on  a  spinnet, 
which,  though  made  so  lonff  ago  as  in  1667, 
was  still  very  well  toned.  She  sang  along 
with  it.  Dr.  Johnson  seemed  pleased  with 
the  mneick,  though  he  owns  he  neither  likes 
it,  nor  has  hardly  any  perception  of  it 
At  Mr.  M'Pherson't,  in  Slate,  he  told  us, 
that "  he  knew  a  drum  from  a  trumpet,  and 
a  bagpipe  from  a  guitar,  which  waa  about 
the  extent  of  his  knowledge  of  musick." 
Tonight  he  aaid,  that,  "  if  he  had  learnt 
musick,  he  should  have  been  afraid  he 
would  have  done  nothing  else  but  play.  It 
waa  a  method  of  employing  the  mind, 
without  the  labour  of  thinking  at  all,  and 
with  some  applause  from  a  man's  self." 

We  had  the  musick  of  the  bagpipe  every 
day,  at  Armidale,  Dunvegan,  and  Uol.  Dr. 
Johnson  appeared  fond  of  it,  and  used  often 
to  stand  for  some  time  with  his  ear  close  to 
the  great  drone. 

The  penurious  gentleman  i  of  our  ac- 
quaintance, formerly  alluded  to,  afforded  us 
a  topick  of  conversation  to-night.  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  I  ought  to  write  down  a  col- 
lection of  the  instances  of  his  narrowness,  sa 
they  almost  exceeded  belief.  Col  told  us, 
that  O'Kane,  the  famous  Irish  harper,  waa 
once  at  that  gentleman's  house.  He  could 
not  find  in  his  heart  to  give  him  any  mo- 
ney, but  gave  him  a  key  for  a  harp,  which 
was  finely  ornamented  with  gold  and  silver, 
and  with  a  precious  stone,  and  was  worth 
eighty  or  a  hundred  guineas.  He  did  not 
know  the  value  of  it:  and  when  he  came  to 
know  it,  he  would  fain  have  had  it  back; 
but  O'Kane  took  care  that  he  should  not. 
Joan  eon.  "  They;  exaggerate  the  value  ; 
every  body  is  so  desirous  that  he  should  be 
fleeced.  I  am  very  willing  it  should  be 
worth  eighty  or  a  hundred  guineas;  but  I 
do  not  believe  it."  Boswbll.  u  I  do  not 
think  O'Kane  waa  obliged  to  give  it  back." 
Johhson.  "  No,  sir.  If  a  man  with  his 
eyes  open,  and  without  any  means  used  to 
deceive  him,  gives  me  a  thing,  I  am  not  to 
let  him  have  it  again  when  he  grows  wiser. 
I  like  to  see  how  avarice  defeats  itself:  how, 
when  avoiding  to  part  with  money,  the 
miser  gives  something  more  valuable." 
Col  aaid,  the  gentleman's  relations  were 
angry  at  his  giving  away  the  harp  key,  for 
it  had  been  long  in  the  family.  Johmsom. 
•«  Sir,  he  values  a  new  guinea  more  than 
an  old  friend." 

Col  also  told  ns,  that  the  same  person 
having  come  up  with  a  Serjeant  and  twen- 
ty men  working  on  the  high  road,  he  en- 
tered into  discourse  with  the  Serjeant, 
and  then  gave  him  sixpence  for  the  men 
to  drink.     The   Serjeant  asked,   "Who 


[Sir 

▼01*  I. 


65 


is  this  fellow?"  Upon  being  informed, 
he  said,  "  If  I  had  known  who  he  was, 
I  should  have  thrown  it  in  hia  face." 
JoHHeox.  "  There  is  much  want  of  sense 
in  all  this.  He  had  no  business  to  speak 
with  the  aerjeant  He  might  have  oeen 
in  haste,  and  trotted  on.  He  haa  not  learnt 
to  be  a  miser:  I  believe  we  must  tske  him 
apprentice."  Boswell.  "  He  would  grudge 
giving  half  a  guinea  to  be  taught."  John- 
sou.  M  Nay,  sir,  you  must  leach  him  gra- 
tis .  You  must  give  him  an  opportunity  to 
practise  your  precepts." 

Let  me  now  go  back,  and  glean  Johmo- 
ftioaa.  The  Saturday  before  we  sailed 
from  Slate,  I  aat  awhile  in  the  afternoon 
with  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  room,  in  a  quiet 
serious  frame.  I  observed,  that  hardly  any 
man  waa  accurately  prepared  for  dying; 
but  almost  every  one  left  something  un- 
done, something  in  confusion;  that  my 
father,  indeed,  told  me  he  knew  one  man 
(Carlisle  of  Limekilns),  after  whose  death 
all  hia  papers  were  found  in  exact  order; 
and  nothing  was  omitted  in  his  will.  Johh- 
soir.  "  Sir,  I  had  an  uncle  *  who  died  so; 
but  such  attention  requires  great  leisure, 
and  peat  firmness  of  mind.  If  one  was 
to  think  constantly  of  death,  the  business 
of  life  would  stand  atill.  I  am  no  friend  to 
making  religion  appear  too  hard.  Many 
good  people  have  done  harm,  by  giving  se- 
vere notions  of  it  In  the  same  way  as  to 
learning:  I  never  frighten  young  people 
with  difficulties;  on  the  contrary,  I  tell  them 
that  they  may  very  easily  get  aa  much  as 
will  do  very  well.  I  do  not  indeed  tell  them 
that  they  will  be  Bentleys." 

The  night  we  rode  to  Cofs  houae,  I 
aaid, "  Lord  Elibank  is  probably  wonder- 
ing what  is  become  of  us."  Joansoir. 
"  No,  no;  he  is  not  thinking  of  us."  Bos- 
wbll. "  But  recollect  the  warmth  with 
which  he  wrote.  Are  we  not  to  believe  a 
man,  when  he  says  he  hsa  a  great  desire 
to  see  another?  Do  nt  you  believe  that  I 
waa  very  impatient  for  your  coming  to 
Scotland  ?  »  Johhso*.  "  Yes,  sir;  I  be- 
lieve you  were:  and  I  was  impatient  to 
come  to  you.  A  young  man  feels  so,  but 
seldom  an  old  man."  I  however  convinced 
him  that  Lord  Elibank,  who  haa  much  of 
the  spirit  of  a  voumj  man,  might  feel  so. 
He  asked  me  if  our  jaunt  had  answered  ex- 
pectation. I  aaid  it  had  much  exceeded 
it  I  expected  much  difficulty  with  him, 
and  had  not  found  it.  "  And,"  he  added, 
"  wherever  we  have  come,  we  have  been 
received  like  princes  in  their  progress." 

He  said,  he  would  not  wish  not  to  be  dis- 
gusted in  the  Highlands;  for  that  would  be 


•  [IfMauSewaid's  story  sf  his 
cJs  bused  had  been  Una, 


have 


tone,  JohasM  cauls*  aat 


Digitized  by 


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434 


1778.— ^TAT.  64. 


[TOUR  TO 


aishinr,  and  a  man 
might  then  lie  down  in  the  middle  of  them. 
He  wished  otftf  to  conceal  his  disgust. 

At  Captain  M' Lean's,  I  mentioned  Pope's 
friend,  Spence.  Johnson.  "  He  was  a  weak 
conceited  man  ,."  Boswell.  "  A  good 
scholar,  sir?  "  Johnson.  "  Why  no,  sir." 
Bos  well.  "  He  was  a  pretty  scholar." 
Johnson.  "  You  have  about  reached  him." 

Last  night  at  the  inn,  when  the  factor  in 
Tyr-yi  spoke  of  his  having  heard  that  a 
roof  was  put  on  some  part  of  the  buildings 
at  Icolmkill,  I  unluckily  said,  "  It  will  be 
fortunate  if  we  find  a  cathedral  with  a  roof 
on  it."  I  said  this  from  a  foolish  anxiety 
to  engage  Dr.  Johnson's  curiosity  more. 
He  took  me  short  at  once.  "What,  sir? 
how  can  you  talk  so?  If  we  shall  find  a 
cathedra]  roofed !  as  if  we  were  jroing  to  a 
terra  incognita:  when  every  thing  that  is 
at  Icolmkill  is  so  well  known.  You  are 
like  some  New  England-men  who  came  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Thames.  '  Come,'  said 
they, '  let  us  go  up  and  see  what  sort  of  in- 
habitants there  are  here.'  They  talked, 
sir,  as  if  they  had  been  to  go  up  the  Sus- 
quehannah,  or  any  other  American  river." 

Saturday,  16JA"  Oclofter  .—Thisxlay  there 
was  a  new  moon,  and  the  weather  changed 
for  the  better.  Dr.  Johnson  said  of  Miss 
M'Lean,  "  She  is  the  most  accomplished 
lady  that  I  have  found  in  the  Highlands. 
She  knows  French,  musick,  and  drawing, 
sews  neatly,  makes  shell-work,  and  can 
milk  cows;  in  short,  she  can  do  every  thing. 
She  talks  sensibly,  and  is  the  first  person 
whom  I  have  found,  that  can  translate 
Erse  poetry  literally."  We  set  out,  mount- 
ed on  little  MuU  horses.  Mull  correspond- 
ed exactly  with  the  idea  which  I  had  al- 
ways had  of  it:  a  hilly  country,  diversified 
with  heath  and  grass,  and  many  rivulets. 
Dr.  Johnson  was  not  in  very  good  humour. 
He  said,  it  was  a  dreary  country,  much 
worse  than  Sky.  I  differed  from  him.  "  O, 
sir,"  said  he,  "a  most  dolorous  country ! " 

We  had*  a  very  hard  journey  to-day.  I 
had  no  bridle  for  my  sneltie,  but  only  a 
halter;  and  Joseph  rode  without  a  saddle. 
At  one  place,  a  loch  having  swelled  over 
the  road,  we  were  obliged  to  plunge  through 
pretty  deep  water.  Dr.  Johnson  observed, 
now  helpless  a  man  would  be,  were  he 
travelling  here  alone,  and  should  meet  with 
any  accident;  and  said,  "  he  longed  to  get 

1  Mr.  Langton  thinks  this  must  have  been  the 
hasty  expression  of  a  tplenetick  moment,  as  he 
has  heard  Dr.  Johnson  speak  of  Mr.  Spence's 
judgment  in  criticism  with  so  high  a  degree  of 
respect,  as  to  show  that  this  Was  not  his  settled 
opinio*  of  him.  Let  me  add  that,  in  the  preface 
to  the  Preeept&r,  he  recommends  Spence's 
Essay  on  Pope's  Odyssey,  and  that  his  admirable 
Lives  of  the  EnsHsfa  Poets  are  much  enriched  by 
Spence's  Anecdotes  of  Pope.— Bos  will. 


to  a  country  of$addle*  and  bridle*.*9  He 
was  more  out  of  humour  to-day  than  he 
has  been  in  the  course  of  our  tour,  being 
fretted  to  find  that  his  little  horse  could 
scarcely  support  his  weight;  and  having 
suffered  a  loss,  which,  though  small  in  it- 
self, was  of  some  consequence  to  him, 
while  travelling  the  rugged  steeps  of  Mull, 
where  he  was  at  times  obliged  to  walk. 
The  loss  that  I  allude  to  was  that  of  the 
large  oak-stick,  which,  as  I  formerly  men- 
tioned, he  had  brought  with  him  from  Lon- 
don. -  It  was  of  great  use  to  him  in  our 
wild  peregrination;  for,  ever  since  his  last 
illness  in  1766,  he  has  had  a  weakness  in 
his  knees,  and  has  not  been  able  to  walk 
easily.  It  had  too  the  properties  of  a  mea- 
sure; for  one  nail  was  driven  into  it  at 
the  length  of  a  footj  another  at  that  of  a 
ysrd.  In  return  for  the  services  it  had 
done  him,  he  said,  this  morning,  he  would 
make  a  present  of  it  to  some  museum;  but 
he  little  thought  he  was  so  soon  to  lose  it 
As  he  preferred  riding  with  a  switch,  it 
was  intrusted  to  a  fellow  to  be  delivered  to 
our  baggage-man,  who  followed  us  at  some 
distance;  nut  we  never  saw  it  more.  I 
could  not  persuade  him  out  of  a  suspicion 
that  it  had  been  stolen.  "  No,  no,  my 
friend,"  said  he;  "  it  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  any  man  in  Mull,  who  has  got  it,  will 
part  with  it  Consider,  sir,  the  value  of 
such  a  piece  of  timber  here !" 

As  we  travelled  this  forenoon,  we  met 
Dr.  M'Lean,  who  expressed  much  regret 
at  his  having  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  be 
absent  while  we  were  at  his  house. 

We  were  in  hopes  to  get  to  Sir  "Allan 
Maclean's,  at  Inchkenneth,  to-night;  but 
the  eight  miles,  of  which  our  road  was  •aid 
to  consist,  were  so  very  long,  that  we  did 
not  reach  the  opposite  coast  of  Mull  till 
seven  at  night,  though  we  had  set  out  about 
eleven  in  the  forenoon;  and  when  we  did 
arrive  there,  we  found  the  wind  strong 
against  us.  Col  determined  that  we  should 
pass  the  night  at  M'Quarrie's,  in  the  island 
of  Ulva,  which  lies  between  Mull  and  Inch- 
kenneth;  and  a  servant  was  sent  forward  to 
the  feYry,  to  secure  the  boat  for  us:  but  the 
boat  was  gone  to  the  Uhia  side,  and  the 
wind  was  so  high  that  the  people  could  not 
hear  him  call;  and  the  night  so  dark  that 
they  could  not  see  a  signal.  We  should 
have  been  in  a  very  bad  situation,  had  there 
not  fortunately  been  lying  in  the  little  sound 
of  Ulva  an  IrtBh  vessel',  the  Bonnetta,  of  Lon- 
donderry, Captain  McLure,  master.  He 
himself  was  at  M'Quarrie's;  but  his  men 
obligingly  came  with  their  long-boat,  and 
ferried  us  over. 

M'Quarrie's  house  was  mean,  but  we 
were  agreeably  surprised  with  the  appear- 
ance of  the  master,  whom  we  found  to  be 
intelligent,  polite,  and  much  a  man  of  the 


Digitized  by 


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HSBRIDBS.] 

world 1 .  Though  his  elan  is  not  numerous, 
he  is  a  very  ancient  chief,  and  has  a  burial- 
place  at  Icolmkill.  He  told  us,  his  family 
had  possessed  Ulva  for  nine  bundled  years; 
but  1  was  distressed  to  hear  that  it  was  soon 
to  he  sold  for  payment  of  bis  debts. 

Cap  ain  M'Lure,  whom  we  found  here, 
was  of  Scotch  extraction,  and  properly  a 
Macleod,  being-  descended  of  some  of  the 
Macleods  who  went  with  Sir  Norman  of 
Bernerato  the  battje  of  Worcester8;  and 
after  the  defeat  of  the  royalists,  fled  to  Ire- 
land, and,  to  conceal  themselves,  took  a  dif- 
ferent name.  He  told  me,  there  was  a 
great  number  of  them  about  Londonderry; 
some  of  good  property.  I  said,  they  should 
now  resume  their  real  name.  The  Laird  of 
Macleod  should  go  over,  and  assemble  them, 
and  make  them  all  drink  the  large  horn  full, 
and  from  that  time  they  should  be  Macleods. 
The  captain  informed  us,  he  hsd  named  his 
ship  the  Bonnetta,  out  of  gratitude  to  Pro* 
vtdence  ;  for  once,  when  he  was  sailing  to 
America  with  a  good  number  of  passengers, 
the  ship  in  which  he  then  sailed  was  be- 
calmed for  five  weeks,  and  during  all  that 
time,  nambers  of  the  fish  Bonnetta  swam 
close  to  her,  and  were  caught  for  food ;  he 
resolved,  therefore,  that  the  ship  he  should 
next  get  should  be  called  the  Bonnetta. 

M'Quarrie  told  us  a  strong  instance  of 
the  second-sight.  He  had  gone  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  taken  a  man-servant  along  with 
him.  An  old  woman,  who  was  in  the  house, 
said  one  day,  "  M'Quarrie  will  be  at  home 
to-morrow,  and  will  bring  two  gentlemen 
with  him; "  and  she  said,  she  saw  his  ser- 
vant return  in  red  and  green.  He  did  come 
home^next  day.  He  had  two  gentlemen  with 
him,  and  his  servant  had  a  new  red  and 
green  livery,  which  M'Quarrie  had  bought 
for  aim  at  Edinburgh,  upon  a  sudden 
thought,  not  having  the  least  intention  when 
he  left  home  to  put  his  servant  in  livery;  so 
that  the  old  woman  could  not  have  heard  any 
previous  mention  of  it.  This,  he  assured 
us,  was  a  true  story. 

M'Quarrie  insisted  that  the  Mercheta 
Mutierum,  mentioned  in  our  old  charters, 
did  really  mean  the  privilege  which  a  lord 
of  a  manor  or  a  baron  had,  to  have  the  first 
night  of  all  his  vassals'  wives.  Dr.  Joan- 
eon  said,  the  belief  of  such  a  custom  having 
existed  waa  also  held  in  England,  where 
there  is  a  tenure  called  Borough  English, 
by  which  the  eldest  child  does  not  inherit, 
from  a  doubt  of  his  being  the  son  of  the  te- 
nant".   .M'Quarrie  told  us,  that  still,  on 


lrrl—iBTAT.  64. 


435 


1  [M'Quarrie  was  hospitable  to  an  almost  ro- 
mantic degree.  He  lived  to  an  extreme  old  age. 
— Waltke  Scott.] 

*  [See  Macleod9*  Memoirs,  Appendix,  p. 


*  SirVVu 


lltiam  Blgckstone  says  in  his  "  Cam- 
that  "  he  cannot  find  that  ever  this 


the  marriage  of  each  of  his  tenants,  a  sheep 
is  due  to  him;  for  which  {he  composition 
is  fixed  at  five  shillings.  >  suppose,  Ulva 
is  the  onlyplace  where  this  custom  remains*. 
^  Talking  of  the  sale  of  an  estate  of  an  an- 
cient family,  which  was  said  to  have  been 
purchased  much  under  its  value  by  the  con- 
fidential lawyer  of  that  family,  and  it  being 
mentioned  that  the  sale  would  probably  be 
set  aside  by  a  suit  in  equity,  Dr.  Johnson 
said,  "I  am  very  willing  that  this  sale 
should  he  set  aside,  hut  I  doubt  much  whe- 
ther the  suit  will  he  successful;  for  the  ar- 
gument for  avoiding,  the  sale  is  founded  on 
vague  and  indeterminate  principles,— as 
that  the  price  was  too  low,  and  that  there 
was  a  great  degree  of  confidence  placed  by 
the  seller  in  the  person  who  became  the  pur- 
chaser. Now,  how  low  should  a  price  be? 
or  what  degree  of  confidence  should  there 
be  to  make  a  bargain  be  set  aside?  a  bar- 
gain, which  is  a  wager  of  ski  11  between  man 
and  man.  If,  indeed,  any  fraud  can  be 
proved,  that  will  do." 

When  Dr.  Johnson  and  I  were  by  our- 
selves at  night,  I  observed  of  our  host, "  J&s- 
pectumgenerosum  habet; "  "  Et  generosum 
animum,"  he  added.  For  fear  of  being 
overheard  in  the  small  Highland  houses,  I 
often  talked  to  him  in  such  Latin  as  I  could 
speak,  and  with  as  much  of  the  English  ac- 
cent as  I  could  assume,  so  as  not  to  be  un- 
derstood, in  case  our  conversation  should  be 
too  loud  for  the  space. 

We  had  each  an  elegant  bed  in  the  same 
room;  and  here  it  was  that  a  circumstance 
occurred,  as  to  which  he  has  been  strangely 
misunderstood.  From  his  description  of 
his  chamber,  it  has  erroneously  been  sup- 
posed, that  bis  bed  being  too  short  for  him, 
his  feet,  during  the  night,  were  in  the  mire; 
whereas  he  has  only  said,  that  when  he  un- 
dressed, he  felt  his  feet  in  the  mire:  that  is, 
the  clay-floor  of  the  room,  which  he  stood 
upon  before  he  went  into  bed,  was  wet, 
in  consequence  of  the  windows  being  bro- 
ken, which  let  in  the  rain. 

Sunday,  nth  October. — Being  informed 
that  there  was  nothing  worthy  of  observa- 
tion in  Ulva,  we  took  boat,  and  proceeded 
to  Inchkenneth  3,  where  we  were  introduced 

custom  prevailed  in  England;"  and  therefore  be 
is  of  opinioit  that  it  could  not  have  given  rise  to 
Borougb-Englfah.     [2.  Com.  83.— Ed.] 

4  [This  custom  still  continues  in  Ulva. — Wju> 

TIR  SCOTT.] 

*  [Inchkenneth  fa  a  most  beautiful  little  islet  of 
the  most  verdant  green,  while  all  the  neighbour- 
ing shore  of  Greben,  as  well  as  the  large  island* 
of  Colinsav  and  01m,  are  as  Mack  as  heath  and 
moss  can  make  them.  Bat  Ulva  has  a  good  an- 
chorage, and  Inchkenneth  fa  surrounded  by  shoak. 
It  fa  now  uninhabited.  The  ruins  of  the  hots,  hi 
which  Dr.  Johnson  was  received  by  8ir  Allan 
M'Lean,  were  still  to  be  seen*  and  some  tatters  of 


Digitized  by 


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436 


177*.— jBTAT.  u. 


[tovb.  to  tbb 


by  our  friend  Col  to  Sir  Allan  M'Lean, 
the  chief  of  his  clan,  and  to  two  young  la- 
dies, his  daughters.  Inchkenneth  is  a  pret- 
ty little  island,  a  mile  long,  and  about  half 
a  mile  broad,  all  good  land. 

As  we  walked  up  from  the  shore,  Dr. 
Johnson's  heart  was  cheered  by  the  sight 
of  a  road  marked  with  cart-wheels,  as  on  the 
main  land;  a  thing  which  we  had  not  seen 
l\ >r  a  long  time.  It  gave  us  a  pleasure  simi- 
lar u  that  which  a  traveller  feels,  when, 
whilst  wandering  on  what  he  fears  is  a  desert 
Utand,  he  perceives  the  print  of  human  feet. 

Military  men  acquire  excellent  habits  of 
having  all  conveniences  about  them.  Sir 
Allan  M'Lean,  who  had  been  long  in  the 
army,  and  had  now  a  lease  of  the  island, 
had  formed  a  commodious  habitation, 
though  it  consisted  but  of  a  few  small  build- 
ings, only  one  story  high.  He  had,  in  his 
little  apartments,  more  things  than  I  could 
enumerate  in  a  page  or  two. 

Among  other  agreeable  circumstances,  it 
was  not  the  least,  to  find  here  a  parcel  of 
the  "  Caledonian  Mercury  ,»*  published  since 
we  left  Edinburgh;  which  I  read  with  that 
pleasure  which  every  man  feels  who  has 
been  for  some  time  secluded  from  the  ani- 
mated scenes  of  the  busy  world. 

Dr.  Johnson  found  books  here.  He  bade 
me  buy  Bishop  Gastrell's  "  Christian  Insti- 
tute*," which  was  lying  in  the  room.  He 
said,  "  I  do  not  like  to  read  any  thing  on  a 
Sunday9,  but  what  is  theological;  not  that 
I  woufd  scrupulously  refuse  to  look  at  any 
thing  which  a  friend  should  show  me  in  a 
newspaper;  but  in  general,  I  would  read  on* 


the  paper  hangings  were  to  be  eaea  on  the  walls. 
Sir  George  Onsaphoros  Pfeoi  was  at  Inchkenneth 
with  the  aune  party  of  which  I  was  a  member. 
He  teemed  to  me  to  suspect  many  of  the  High- 
land talei  which  he  beard,  but  he  showed  most 
incredulity  on  the  aabject  of  Johnaon'a  having 
been  entertained  in  the  wretched  hats  of  which  we 
•aw  the  rains.  He  took  me  aside,  and  conjured 
me  to  tell  him  the  troth  of  the  matter.  "  This  Sir 
Allan,"  said  he,  **was  he  a  regular  baronet,  or 
was  his  tide  saoh  a  traditional  one  as  yon  find  in 
Ireland?'*  I  assured  my  excellent  acquaintance 
that,  '*  For  my  own  port,  I  would  have  paid  mora 
respect  to  a  knight  of  Kerry,  or  knight  of  Glynn; 
yet  Sir  Allan  M4Leaa  was  a  regular  baronet  by 
patent;*'  and,  haying  given  him  this  information, 
I  took  the  liberty  of  asking  him,  in  return,  whether 
he  wonld  not  in  conscience  prefer  the  wont  cell 
in  the  jail  at  Gloucester  (which  he  had  been  very 
active  in  overlooking  while  the  building  was  going 
)  to  those  exposed  hovels  where  Johnson  had 


1  by  rank  and  beauty.  He  looked 
arand  the  little  Wet,  and  allowed  Sir  Allan  had 
some  advantage  is  exerciiing  ground;  but  in  other 
respects  he  thought  the  compulsory  tenants  of 
Gloucester  had  greatly  the  advantage.  Such  was 
hit  opinion  of  a  place,  concerning  which  Johnson 
has  recorded  that "  it  wanted  Unto  which  palaces 
could  afford." — Waltm  Scott. 
*  [Sea  ante,  p.  Mo  and  S44«— En.] 


ly  what  is  theological.  I  read  just  now  i 
of  '  Drummond's  Travels,'  before  I  perceiv- 
ed what  books  were  here.  I  then  took  up 
1  Derham'8  Physico-Theology.' " 

Every  particular  concerning  this  island 
having  been  so  well  described  by  Dr.  John* 
son,  it  would  be  superfluous  in  me  to  pre- 
sent the  public  with  the  observations  that  I 
made  upon  it,  in  my  journal. 

I  was  quite  easy  with  Sir  Allan  almost 
instantaneously,  lie  knew  the  great  inti- 
macy there  had  been  between  my  father 
and  nia  predecessor,  Sir  Hector,  and  was 
himself  of  a  very  frank  disposition.  AAer 
dinner,  Sir  Allan  said  he  had  got  Dr.  Camp- 
bell about  a  hundred  subscribers  to  his 
"  Britannia  Elucidate  "  (a  work  since  pub- 
lished under  the  title  of  "  A  Political  Sur- 
vey of  Great  Britain  "),  of  whom  he  believ- 
ed twenty  were  dead,  the  publication  bav- 
ins; been  so  long  delayed.  Johhbok.  k  Sir, 
I  imaging  the  delay  of  publication  k  owing 
to  this; — that,  after  publication,  there  will 
be  no  more  subscribers,  and  few  will  send 
the  additional  guinea  to  get  their  hooka:  ia 
which  they  wiU  be  wrong;  for  there  will  be 
a  great  deal  of  instruction  in  the  work.  I 
think  highly  of  Campbell  In  the  first  place, 
he  haa  very  good  parts.  In  the  second 
place,  he  has  very  extensive  reading;  not, 
perhaps,  what  is  properly  called  learning, 
out  history,  politicks,  and,  in  short,  thai 
popular  knowledge  which  makes  a  man  very 
useful.  In  the  third  place,  he  haa  learned 
much  by  what  is  called  the  *o*  «**#.  He 
talks  with  a  great  many  people." 

Speaking  of  this  gentleman,  at  Rasay, 
he  told  us,  that  he  one  day  called  on  him, 
and  they  talked  of  "  Tuft*  Husbandry." 
Dr.  Campbell  said  something.  Dr.  John* 
son  began  to  dispute  it.  M  Come,"  said 
Dr.  Campbell,  u  we  do  not  want  to  get  the 
better  of  one  another;  we  want  to  increase 
each  other's  ideas."  Dr.  Johnson  took  it 
in  good  part,  and  the  conversation  then 
went  on  coolly  and  instructively.  His  can- 
dour in  relating  this  anecdote  does  him 
much  credit,  and  his  conduct  on  that  occa- 
sion proves  how  easily  he  could  be  persua- 
ded to  talk  from  a  better  motive  than  "for 
victory." 

Dr.  Johnson  here  showed  so  much  of  the 
spirit  of  a  Highlander,  that  he  won  Sir  Al- 
lan's heart :  indeed,  he  haa  shown  it  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  our  tour.  One  night,  in 
Col,  he  strutted  about  the  room  with  a 
broad  sword  and  target,  and  made  a  formid- 
able appearance ;  and,  another  night,  I  took 
the  liberty  to  put  a  large  blue  bonnet  on 
his  head.  His  see,  his  size,  and  his  bushy 
gray  wig,  with  tnis  covering  on  it,  presentr 
ed  the  image  of  a  venerable  8enuem:  and, 
however  unfavourable  to  the  Lowland  Scots, 
he  seemed  much  pleased  to  assume  the  ap- 
pearance of  an  ancient  Caledonian.  We 
only  regretted  that  he  could  not  be  prevail- 


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0 


177*.— JETAT.  §4. 


497 


ed  with  to  partake  oftheattrid  glass.  One 
of  his  arguments  against  drinking  appeals 
to  me  not  convincing.  He  urged,  that, "  in 
proportion  as  drinking  makes  a  man  differ- 
ent from  what  he  is  before  he  has  drank,  it 
is  bad ;  because  it  has  so  far  affected  his 
reason."  But  may  it  not  be  answered,  that 
a  man  may  be  altered  by  it,  for  the  better  ; 
that  his  spirits  may  be  exhilarated,  without 
his  reason  being  affected?  On  the  general 
subject  of  drinking,  however,  I  do  not  mean 
positively  to  take  the  other  aide.  I  am 
dubiu*  non  improbus. 

In  the  evening,  Sir  Allan  informed  us 
that  it  was  the  custom  of  his  house  to  have 
prayers  every  Sunday,  and  Miss  M'Lean 
read  the  evening  service,  in  which  we  all 
joined.  I  then  read  Ogden's  second  and 
ninth  sermons  on  prayer,  which,  with  their 
other  distinguished  excellence,  have  the 
merit  of  being  short.  Dr.  Johnson  said, 
that  it  was  the  most  agreeable  Sunday  he 
bad  ever  passed  ;  and  it  made  such  an  im- 
pression on  his  mind,  that  he  afterwards 
wrote  the  following  ode  upon  Inchkenneth: 

INSULA  SANCTl  KENNETHI. 
Pmrvm  quidem  regie,  ted  religione  priorom 
Nota,  Caledonia*  panditar  intra  aquas  ; 
Voce  nbi  Cennethus  popolos  domnhee  feroces. 

Dieitur,  at  vanos  dedocaisse  deos. 
Hue  ago  delates  placido  per  eoBrala  enna 
Scire  locum  votni  quid  darat  ille  novL 
IHic  Lenisdes  hnmUi  reejnabet  in  aula, 

Lesnades  maanis  aobilitatas  av«; 
Uaa  daas  haboit  casa  cam  genitere  paellas. 
Quae  Amor  aadanun  fingeret  assa  daaa: 
Nob  tamea  iaealti  gelkne  lataere  sab 

Aeoola  Daaubii  qaalk  neves  habat; 
Mollia  aea  dearant  vacem  solatia  vast, 
Sive  Hbro*  poscaat  ona,  shre  lymm. 
Lnzacat  aia  dies,  legs  gens  docta  sapei 

Spas  bominem  ae  cans  cam  procal  esse  jabet 
Ponsi  inter  strefites  sacri  non  maaara  cultns 
pietas  hie  quoqae  enra  fait: 
icrifici  versnvit  femms  libros, 
i  faeinnt  pactora  para  preces. 
►  vagor  attarias  ?  quod  obiqoe  reqoiritor  hie  est; 
Hie  secure  qaies,  hio  at  honeetaa  amor1. 

■  [The  seathnants  of  these  lines  are  very  beaa- 
tifM,  bat  many  of  the  expressions  are  awkward: 
eTthsi  Johnson  himself  was  so  well  aware,  that 
although  he  did  net  send  these  verses  to  Boswell 
till  Jan.  1776,  be,  area  after  that  long  pause, 
wan  etui  so  little  satisfied  with  them,  that  he  nude 


Qsudqaod 


appear  from' the  following  copy  of 
m  priced  awm  bis  Work*.    The 


are 


INSULA.  KENNETHI  INTER  HEBRIDA0, 
Ferva  qoidem  reglo,  aed  rtUigione  prloram 

Clmrm  CaJodoolaa  paaditer  hilar  aquae, 
▼oca  aU  Ceaaetaue  popoloa  domain*  An 

Dicker*  at  *aaee  nederahno  deoa. 
Hoc  an*  aataosi  plaehfo  per  corala  cana, 
Setae  locu*  vomiI  arid  darat  i»U  aovL 
hamttl  legeabet  in  earn, 
soMntatas  avto. 


Monday,  \%th  October.— We  agreed  to 
pass  the  day  with  Sir  Allan,  and  he  en- 
gaged to  have  every  thing  in  order  for  our 
voyage  to-morrow. 

being  now  soon  to  be  separated  from  our 
amiable  friend  young  Col,  his  merits  were 
all  remembered.  At  Ulva  he  had  appeared 
in  a  new  character,  having  given  us  a  good 
prescription  for  a  cold.  On  mv  mention- 
ing him  with  warmth,  Dr.  Jonnson  ssid, 
"  Col  does  every  thing  for  us :  we  will 
erect  a  statue  to  Col.n  "Yes,"  said  I, 
"  and  we  will  have  him  with  his  various  at- 
tributes and  characters,  like  Mercury,  or 
any  other  of  the  heathen  gods.  We  will 
have  hiin  as  a  pilot ;  we  will  have  him  as  a 
fisherman,  as  a  hunter,  as  a  husbandman,  as 
s  physician." 

1  this  morning  took  a  spade,  and  dug  a 


little  grave  in  the  floor  of  a  ruined  chapel «, 
near  Sir  Allan  M'Lean's  house,*  in  which  I 
buried  some  human  bones  I  found  there. 
Dr.  Johnson,  praised  me  for  what  I  had 
done,  though  he  owned  he  could  not  have 
done  it  He  showed  in  the  chapel  at  Ra- 
say  his  honour  at  dead  men's  bones.  He 
showed  it  again  at  Col's  house.  In  the 
charter-room  there  was  a  remarkably  large 
shin-bone,  which  was  said  to  have  been  a 


Uaa  dees  east!  earn  ei 

Quae  Amor  andanun  crtdertt  ana  daaa. 
Nee  tameu  lacultl  gelidia  lataere  ess  antrta, 


MoIMai 


eolatia  vita, 


fllve  librae  poacant  alia,  eWe  lyram. 
Tulttrot  Ilia  dies,  lagb  qua  docta 


et  enraa  gene  procal  eeee  JubeC 
Utjrtoibut  jester  avertot  numinis  fret 

A  eummi  aecendat  pectus  amore  bpni. 
Food  later  atrepJtue  bob  aacri  maaara  coltas 

Ceamrunt,  pietaa  ale  quoque  cure  ftrit. 
Nil  opus  atf  mri$  aoere  d*  turre  eanantig 


Quid,  quod  eacrttd  voreevlt  Samlaa  librae  f 
Sint  fro  legiiinUe  jmre  lobelia  eocrie. 

Quo  vafor  ultariue  f    qead  ublque  requlrltor  bk  eat, 
Hie  eeeara  quiee,  hie  at  baaaetae  amor. 

Tlie  reader  wOl  observe  that  meat  of  these  altera- 
tions are  improvements.    Tlie  alteration  of  the 
third  line  from  the  end,  "  Legitime*  faciunt," 
is  not  happy;  bat  wifl  be  explained  hereafter 
(po§ f,  2d  Feb.  1775).    It  has  been  observed  as 
strange,  that  so  nice  a  critic  as  Johnson  should 
have  within  six  lines  made  the  first  syllable  of 
Hbroo  both  long  aad  short    Bat  Mr.  Peel  (to 
wbom  the  observation  wss  repeated)  reminded 
the  Editor,  with  happy  readiness,  that  Horace  had 
done  the  same: 
"  Coram  redde  brevem,  si  munaa  ApoDlne  dlgeam 
Vb)  complere  liprie,  et  vetlbua  addere  calcar, 
Vt  atodio  major*  patent  HeUcona  vfareatem. 
Malta  qoidem  aohb  ftcimue  mala  enpe  poet*, 
(Ut  vlneu  esomet  endem  mea)  earn  tiba  tibrum 
SoUklto  demos,  sat  ftaao." 

Efitt.  lib.  S,  ep.  I.  v.  216.-S*.] 

*  [Mr.  Boswell  does  not  tell  as  that  he  bad 
raited  this  chapel  the  evening  before;  bat  Jobsv 
sen  says  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  "  Boswell,  who  is  very 
pions,  went  into  H  at  night  to  perform  his  devo- 
tions* but  came  back  in  baste,  for  fear  of  tpec- 
fres.',— Letters,  vol.  I  p.  17S.— En.J 


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bone  of  John  Garve,  one  of  the  lairds. 
Dr.  Johnson  would  not  look  at  it,  but  start- 
ed away. 

At  breakfast,  I  asked,  "  What  is  the  rea- 
son that  we  are  angry  at  a  trader's  having  op- 
ulence ? "  Johnson.  *•  Why,  sir,  the  rea- 
son is  (though  I  do  n't  undertake  to  prove 
that  there  is  a  reason)  we  see  no  qualities 
in  trade  that  should  entitle  a  man  to  supe- 
riority. We  are  not  angry  at  a  soldier's 
getting  riches,  because  we  see  that  he  pos- 
sesses qualities  which  we  have  not.  If  a 
man  returns  from  a  battle,  having  lost  one 
hand,  and  with  the  other  full  of  gold,  we 
feel  that  he  deserves  the  goldjbut  we  can- 
not think  that  a  fellow,  by  sitting  all  day  at 
a  desk,  is  entitled  to  get  above  us."  Bos- 
well.  "  But,  sir,  may  we  not  suppose 
a  merchant  to  be  a  man  of  an  enlarged 
mind,  such  as  Addison  in  the  Spectator  de- 
scribes Sir  Andrew  Freeport  to  have  been  ?" 
Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  we  may  suppose 
any  fictitious  character.  We  .may  suppose 
a  philosophical  day-labourer,  who  is  hap- 
py in  reflecting  that,  by  his  labour,  he  con- 
tributes to  the  fertility  of  the  earth,  -and  to 
the  support  of  his  fellow-creatures  ;  but  we 
find  no  such  philosophical  day-labourer.  A 
merchant  may,  perhaps,  be  a  man  of  an 
enlarged  mind ;  but  there  is  nothing  in 
trade  connected  with  an  enlarged  mind." 

I  mentioned  that  I  had  heard  Dr.  Solan- 
der  say  he  was  a  Swedish  Laplander  K 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  I  do  n't  believe  he  is  a 
Laplander.  The  Laplanders  are  not  much 
above  four  feet  high.  He  is  as  tall  as  you; 
and  he  has  not  the  Copper  colour  of  a  Lap- 
lander." Boswell.  "  But  what  motive 
could  he  have  to  make  himself  a  Lapland- 
er? "  Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  he  must 
either  mean  the  word  Laplander  in  a  very 
extensive  sense,  or  may  mean  a  voluntary 
degradation  of  himself.  c  For  all  my  being 
the  great  man  that  you  see  me  now,  I  was 
originally  a  barbarian  ; '  as  if  Burke  should 
say, «  I  came  over  a  wild  Irishman ' — which 
he  might  say  in  his  present  state  of  exalta- 
tion." 

Having  expressed  a  desire  to  have  an 
island -like  Inchkenneth,  Dr.  Johnson  set 
himself  to  think  what  would  be  necessary 
for  a  man  in  such  a  situation. 

"  Sir,  I  should  build  me  a  fortification,  if 
I  came  to  live  here  ;  for,  if  you  have  it 
not,  what  should  hinder  a  parcel  of  ruffians 


'  *■  [Daniel  Charles  Solander  was  bom  in  the 
province  of  Nordland,  in  Sweden,  in  1736;  he 
came  to  England  in  1760;  became  F.  R.  S.  1764. 
In  1768  be  accompanied  Sir  Joseph  Banks  in  his 
voyage  with  Captain  Cook.  He  died  one  of  the 
librarians  of  the  British  Museum,  in  1782.  The 
Biographical  Dictionary  says,  that  «« he  was  a 
short  fair  man,  rather  fat,  with  small  eyes,  and 

Sood  humoured  expression  of  countenance." 
in.] 


177S.— JBTAT.  64.  [toUB.  TO  TH1 

to  land  in  the  night,  and  carry  off  every 
thing  you  have  in  the  house,  which,  in  a 
remote  country,  would  be  more  valuable 
than  cows  .and  sheep?  add  to  all  this  the 
danger  of  having  your  throat  cut."  Bos- 
well. "  I  would  have  a  large  dog."  Joins- 
go  if.  "  So  you  may,  sir;  but  a  large  dog  is 
of  no  use  but  to  alarm."  He,  however,  I 
apprehend,  thinks  too  lightly  of  the  power 
of  that  animal.  I  have  heard  him  say, 
that  he  is  afraid  of  no  dog.  "  He  would 
take  him  up  by  the  hinder  legs,  which 
would  render  him  quite  helpless  ;  and  then 
knock  his  head  against  a  stone,  and  beat 
out  his  brains."  Topham  Beauclerk  toM 
me,  that  at  his  house  in  the  country,  two 
large  ferocious  dogs  were  fighting «.  Dr. 
Johnson  looked  steadily  at  them  for  a  little 
while;  and  then,  as  one  would  separate  two 
little  boys,  who  are  foolishly  hurting  each 
other,  he  ran  up  to  them,  and  cuffed  their 
heads  till  he  drove  them  asunder.  Bat 
few  men  have  his  intrepidity,  Herculean 
strength,  or  presence  of  mind.  Most  thieves 
or  robbers  would  be  afraid  to  encounter  a 
mastiff. 

I  observed,  that  when  young  Col  talked 
of  the  lands  belonging  to  his  family,  he 
always  said,  "  my  lands."  For  this  be  had 
a  plausible  pretence;  for  he  told  me,  there 
has  been  a  custom  in  this  family,  that  the 
laird  resigns  the  estate  to  the  eldest  son 
when  he  comes  of  age,  reserving  to  himself 
only  a  certain  life-rent.  He  said,  it  was  s 
voluntary  custom  ;  but  I  think  I  found  an 
instance  in  the  charter-room,  that  there 
was  such  an  obligation  in  a  contract  of 
marriage.  If  the  custom  was  voluntary, 
it  was  only  curious  ;  but  if  founded  on  ob- 
ligation, it  might  be  dangerous  5  for  I  have 
been  told,  that  in  Otaheite,  whenever  s 
child  is  born  (a  son,  I  think),  the  father 
loses  his  right  to  the  estate  and  honours, 
and  that  this  unnatural,  or  rather  absurd 
custom,  occasions  the  murder  of  many  chil- 
dren. 

Young  Col  told  us  he  could  ran  down 
a  greyhound ;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  the  dog 
runs  himself  out  of  breath,  by  going  too 
quick,  and  then  I  get  up  with  him  V  I 
accounted  for  his  advantage  over  the  dog, 
by  remarking  that  Col  had  the  faculty  of 
reason,  and  knew  how  to  moderate  his  pace, 
which  the  dog  had  not  sense  enough  to  da 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  He  is  a  noble  animal. 
He  is  as  complete  an  islander  as  the  mind 
can  figure.  He  is  a  farmer,  a  sailor,  s 
hunter,  a  fisher:  he  will  run  you  down  s 


-  3  [See  post,  tub  Feb.  1775,  where  this  story 
is  repeated. — Ed.] 

8  [This  is  not  spoken  of  hare-conning,  when 
the  game  is  taken  or  lost  before  the  dog  gets  oat 
of  wind;  but  in  chasing  deer  with  the  great  High- 
land greyhound,  C0V9  exploit  is  fa 
— Walter  Scott.] 


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BXBRIDXS.] 

doc :  if  any  man  has  a  tail ',  it  is  CoL  He 
is  Hospitable;  and  he  has  an  intrepidity  of 
talk,  whether  he  understands  the  subject 
or  not.  I  regret  that  he  is  not  more  intel- 
lectual." 

Dr.  Johnson  observed,  that  there  was 
nothing  of  which  he  would  not  undertake 
to  persuade  a  Frenchman  in  a  foreign  coun- 
try. "  I  HI  carry  a  Frenchman  to  St.  Paul's 
churchyard,  and  I  *ll  tell  him,  'by  our  law 
you  may  walk  half  round  the  church  ;  but, 
if  you  walk  round  the  whole,  you  will  be 
punished  capitally ; '  and  he  will  believe  me 
at  once.  Now,  no  Englishman  would  read- 
ily swallow  such  a  thing :  he  would  go  and 
inquire  of  somebody  else."  The  French- 
man's credulity,  I  observed,  must  be  ow- 
ing to  his  being  accustomed  to  implicit  sub- 
mission ;  whereas  every  Englishman  rea- 
sons upon  the  laws  of  his  country /and  in- 
structs his  representatives,  who  compose 
the  legislature. 

This  day  was  passed  in  looking  at  a 
small  island  adjoining  Inchkenneth,  which 
afforded  nothing  worthy  of  observation ; 
and  in  such  social  and  gay  entertainments 
as  our  little  society  could  furnish. 

Tuesday,  19th  October.— After  break- 
fast we  took  leave  of  the  young  ladies,  and 
of  our  excellent  companion  Col*y  to  whom 
-we  had  been  so  much  obliged.  He  had 
now  put  us  under  the  care  of  his  chief;  and 
was  to  hasten  back  to  Sky.  We  parted 
from  him  with  very  strong  feelings  or  kind- 
ness and  gratitude,  and  we  hoped  to  have 
had  some  future  opportunity  of  proving  to 
him  the  sincerity  of  what  we  felt ;  but  in 
the  following  year  he  was  unfortunately 
lost  in  the  Sound  between  Ulva  and  Mull; 

1  [In  allusion  to  Lord  Monboddo's  theory,  that 
a  perfect  man  would  have  a  tail.  See  ante,  p. 
846.— Ed.] 

*  [Just  opposite  to  M'Quarrie's  house  the  boat 
was  swamped  by  the  intoxication  of  the  sailors, 
who  bad  partaken  too  largely  of  M'Qaarrie's 
wonted  hospitality. — Walter  Scott.  John- 
son says  in  his  Journey,  "Here  we  had  the  last 
embrace  of  this  amiable  man,  who,  while  these 
pages  were  preparing  to  attest  his  virtues,  per- 
ished in  the  passage  between  Ulva  and  Inchken- 
neth."—  Work*,  vol.  viii.  p.  891.  The  account 
given  in  the  Journey  of  young  Donald  Maclean, 
made  him  a  popular  character.  The  Laird  of 
Col  is  a  character  in  O'Keefe's  comedy,  called 
The  Highland  Reel.  Johnson  writes  from  Lich- 
field, 13th  June,  1775:  "There  is  great  lamenta- 
tion here  for  poor  Col;  "  and  a  review  of  the 
Journey,  Gent.  Mag.  1775,  p.  86,  thus  con- 
cludes :  "  But  whatever  Dr.  Johnson  saw,  what- 
ever he  described,  will  now  be  perpetuated;  and 
though  the  buildings  of  Icolmkill  are  mouldering 
into  dust,  and  the  young  Laird  of  Col  w  insen- 
sible of  praise,  readers  yet  unborn  will  feel  their 
piety  warmed  by  the  ruins  of  Iona,  and  their 
sensibility  touched  by  the  untimely  fate  of  the 
amiable  Maclean."— Ed.] 


1778.— jETAT.  64. 


439 


and  this  imperfect  memorial,  joined  to  the 
high  honour  of  being  tenderly  and  respect- 
fully mentioned  by  Dr.  Johnson,  is  the 
only  return  which  the  uncertainty  of  hu- 
man events  has  permitted  us  to  make  to 
this  deserving  young  man. 

Sir  Allan,  who  obligingly  undertook  to 
accompany  us  to  Icounkill,  had  a  strong 
good  boat,  with  four  stout  rowers.  We 
coasted  along  Mull  till  we  reached  Gribon, 
where  is  what  is  called  Mackinnon's  cave, 
compared  with  which  that  at  Ulinish  is  in- 
considerable. It  is  in  a  rock  of  a  great 
height,  close  to  the  sea.  Upon  the  left  of 
its  entrance  there  is  a  cascade,  almost  per- 
pendicular from  -the  top  to  the  bottom  of 
the  rock.  There  is  a  tradition  that  it  was 
conducted  thither  artificially,  to  supply  the 
inhabitants  of  the  cave  with  water.  Dr. 
Johnson  gave  no  credit  to  this  tradition. 
As,  on  the  one  hand,  his  faith  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion  is  firmly  founded  upon  good 
grounds ;  so,  on  the  other,  he  is  incredu- 
lous when  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for 
belief;  being  in  this  respect  just  the  reverse 
of  modern  infidels,  who,  however  nice  and 
scrupulous  in  weighing  the  evidences  of 
religion,  are  yet  often  so  leadv  to  believe 
the  most  absurd  and  imprcbable  tales  of 
another  nature,  that  Lord  Hailes  well  ob- 
served, a  good  essay  might  be  written  tiur 
la  CredultU  dee  Incredulee. 

The  height  of  this  cave  I  cannot  tell  with 
any  tolerable  exactness;  but  it  seemed  to 
be  very  lofty,  and  to  be  a  pretty  regular 
arch.  We  penetrated,  by  candlelight,  a 
great  way ;  oy  our  measurement,  no  less 
than  four  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet. 
Tradition  says,  that  a  piper  and  twelve 
men  once  advanced  into  this  cave,  nobody 
can  tell  how  far3,  and  never  returned.  At 
the  distance  to  which  we  proceeded  the  air 
was  quite  pure ;  for  the  candle  burned  free- 
ly, without  the  least  appearance  of  the 
name  growing  globular ;  but  as  we  had 
only  one,  we  thought  it  dangerous  to  ven- 
ture farther,  lest,  should  it  have  been  ex- 
tinguished, we  should  have  had  no  means 
of  ascertaining  whether  we  could  remain 
without  danger.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  this 
was  the  greatest  natural  curiosity  he  had 
ever  seen. 


•  [There  is  little  room  for  supposing  that  any 
person  ever  went  farther  into  M'Kinnoa's  oave 
than  any  man  may  now  go.  Johnson's  admira- 
tion of  it  seems  exaggerated.  A  great  number  of  ' 
the  M'Kinnons,  escaping  from  some  powerful 
enemy,  hid  themselves  in  this  cave  till  they  could 
get  over  to  the  isle  of  Sky.  It  concealed  them- 
selves and  their  birlings,  or  boats,  and  they  show 
M'Kinnon's  harbour,  M'hinnon's  dining-table, 
and  other  localities.  M'Kinnon's  candlestick 
was  a  fine  piece  of  spar,  destroyed  by  some 
traveller  in  the  frantic  rage  for  appropriation,  with 
which  tourists  are  sometimes  animated. — Wai*- 
tkb  Scott.] 


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177*— jETAT.  64. 


We  saw  the  island  of  Staffa,  at  no  very 
(great  distance,  but  could  not  land  upon  it, 
the  surge  was  so  high  on  its  rocky  coast 

Sir  Allan,  anxious  for  the  honour  of 
Mull,  was  still  talking  of  ha  woods,  and 
pointing  them  out  to  Dr.  Johnson,  as  ap- 
pearing at  a  distance  on  the  skirts  of  that 
island,  as  we  sailed  along.  Jobksok. 
"Sir,  I  saw  at  Tobermone  what  they 
called  a  wood,  which  I  unluckily  took  for 
heath.  If  you  show  me  what  I  shall  take 
for  furze,  it  will  be  something." 

In  the  afternoon  we  went  ashore  on  the 
coast  of  Mull,  and  partook  of  a  cold  repast, 
which  we  carried  with  us.  We  hoped  to 
have  procured  some  rum  or  brandy  for  our 
boatmen  and  servants,  from  a  public-house 
near  where  we  landed  5  but  unfortunately 
a  funeral  a  few  days  before  had  exhausted 
all  their  store.  Mr.  Campbell,  however, 
one  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle's  tacksmen,  who 
lived  in  the  neighbourhood,  on  receiving  a 
message  from  Sir  Allan,  sent  us  a  liberal 
supply. 

We  continued  to  coast  along  Mull,  and 
passed  by  Nuns'  Island,  which,  it  is  said, 
belonged  to  the  nuns  of  Icolmkill,  and  from 
which,  we  were  told,  the  stone  for  the 
buildings  there  was  taken.  As  we  sailed 
along  by  moonlight,  in  a  sea  somewhat 
rough,  and  often  between  black  and  gloomy 
rocks,  Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  If  this  oe  not 
roving  among  the  Hebrides  nothing  is." 
The  repetition  of  words  which  he  had  so 
often  previously  used  made  a  strong  im- 
pression on  my  imagination :  and,  oy  a 
natural  course  of  thinking,  lea  me  to  con- 
sider how  our  present  adventures  would 
appear  to  me  at  a  future  period. 

I  have  often  experienced,  that  scenes 
through  which  a  man  has  passed  improve 
by  lying  in  the  memory:  they  grow  mel- 
low. J&cti  Mores  sunt  juemdi.  This 
may  be  owing  to  comparing  them  with 
present  listless  ease.  Even  harsh  scenes 
acquire  a  softness  by  length  of  time  1 ;  and 
some  are  like  very  loud  sounds,  which  do 
not  please,  or  at  least  do  not  please  so 
much,  till  you  are  removed  to  a  certain  dis- 
tance. They  may  be  compared  to  strong 
coarse  pictures,  which  will  not  bear  to  be 
viewed  near.  Even  pleasing  scenes  im- 
prove by  time,  and  seem  more  exquisite  in 
recollection,  than  when  they  were  present; 
if  they  have  not  faded  to  dimness  in  the 
memory.  Perhaps,  there  is  so  much  evil 
in  every  human  enjoyment,  when  present, 


1  I  have  lately  observed  that  this  thought  has 
beea  elegantly  exprened  by  Cowley: 

**  Thtngt  which  oflfend  whoa  present,  end  affright, 
In  memory,  well  painted,  more  delight."— Boswaix. 

[It  is  odd  that  Mr.  Boewell,  who  had  lately  made 


[TOUR  TO   TBS 

much  dross  mixed  with  it,  that  it  re- 
quires to  be  refined  by  time;  and  yet  I  do 
not  see  why  time  should  not  melt  away  the 
good  and  the  evil  in  equal  proportions;— 
why  the  shade  should  decay,  and  the  tight 
remain  in  preservation. 

After  a  tedious  sail,  which,  by  our  follow- 
ing various  turnings  of  the  coast  of  Mufl, 
was  extended  to  about  forty  miles,  it  gave 
us  no  small  pleasure  to  perceive  a  light  ia 
the  village  at  Icolmkill,  in  which  almost  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  island  live,  close  to 
where  the  ancient  building  stood.  As  we 
approached  the  shore,  the  tower  of  the  ca- 
thedral, just  discernible  in  the  air,  was  a 
picturesque  object. 

When  we  had  landed  upon  the  sscred 

(lace,  which,  as  long  as  I  can  remember,  I 
ad  thought  on  with  veneration,  Dr.  John- 
son and  I  cordially  embraced.  We  had 
long  talked  of  visiting  Icolmkill;  and,  from 
the  lateness  of  the  season,  were  at  times 
very  doubtful  whether  we  should  be  able  to 
effect  our  purpose.  To  have  seen  it,  even 
alone,  would  nave  given  me  great  satisfac- 
tion: but  the  venerable  scene  was  rendered 
much  more  pleasing  by  the  company  of  mv 
peat  and  pious  friend,  who  was  no  less  af- 
fected by  it  than  I  was;  and  who  has  de- 
scribed the  impressions  it  should  make  on 
the  mind,  with  such  strength  of  thought, 
and  energy  of  language,  that  I  shall  quote 
his  words,  as  conveying  my  own  sensations 
much  more  forcibly  than  I  am  capable  of 
doing: 

"  We  were  now  treading  that  illustrious 
island,  which  was  once  the  luminary  of  the 
Caledonian  regions,  whence  savage  clans 
and  rovine  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  endeavoured, 
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  think- 
ing beings.  Far  from  me,  and  from  my 
friends,  be  such  frigid  philosophy  as  may 
conduct  us  indifferent  and  unmoved  over 
any  ground  which  has  been  dignified  by 
wisdom,  bravery,  or  virtue.  That  man  is 
little  to  be  envied,  whose  patriotism  would 
not  gain  force  upon  the  plain  of  Mmrmikom, 
or  whose  piety  would  not  grow  warmer 
among  the  ruins  of  lona  »  /  " 

Upon  hearing  that  Sir  Allan  M'l 


9  Had  our  Tour  produced  nothing  else  bat  dm 
sublime  passage,  the  world  must  have  aeksow- 
lodged  that  it  was  not  made  in  vain.  The  present 
respectable  President  of  the  Royal  Society  „*ir 

fc     _  ___  --_,  ..„.  ___.,  .™ ,, ,  Joseph  Banks]  was  so  much  struck  on  reading  itf 

so  apt  a  quotation  from  the  iEneid,  should  have    that  he  clasped  his  hands  together,  and  remaned 
forgotten  the  I  for  some  time  in  an  attitude  of  silent  ajlojmlioa. 

*  Foawa  at  haw  ohm  nsuttniaw ;<rrobtu"-E».J       |  — Boswslu 


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HXBRIDI8.] 


1778.— ^TAT.  64. 


441 


arrived,  the  inhabitants,  who  still  consider 
themselves  as  the  people  of  M'Lean,  to 
whom  the  island  formerly  belonged,  though 
the  Duke  of  Argyle  has  at  present  posses- 
sion of  it,  ran  eagerly  to  him. 

We  were  accommodated  this  night  in  a 
large  barn,  the  island  affording  no  lodging 
that  we  should  have  liked  so  well.  Some 
rood  hav  was  strewed  at  one  end  of  it,  to 
form  a  bed  for  us,  upon  which  we  lay  with 
our  clothes  on;  and  we  were  furnished  with 
blankets  from  the  village.  Each  of  us  had 
a  portmanteau  for  a  pillow.  When  I 
awaked  in  the  morning,  and  looked  round 
me,  I  could  not  help  smiling  at  the  idea  of 
the  chief  of  the  Mc Leans,  the  great  English 

<  moralist,  and  myself,  lying  thus  extended 
i       in  such  a  situation. 

Wednesday,  20th  October. — Early  in 
1  the  morning,  we  surveyed  the  remains  of 
i  antiquity  at  this  place,  accompanied  by  an 
1  illiterate  fellow,  as  cicerone,  who  called  him- 
i       self  a  descendant  of  a  cousin  of  Saint  Co- 

lumba,  the  founder  of  the  religious  estab- 
i  lishment  here.  As  I  knew  that  many  per- 
t  sons  had  already  examined  them,  and  as  I 
[       saw  Dr.  Johnson  inspecting  and  measuring 

several  of  the  ruins  of  which  he  has  since 
i  given  so  full  an  account,  my  mind  was  qui- 
t  escent ;  and  I  resolved  to  stroll  among  them 
i  „  at  my  ease,  to  take  no  trouble  to  investigate 
t  minutely,  and  only  receive  the  general  im- 
4  pression  of  solemn  antiquity,  and  the  par- 
t       ticular  ideas  of  such  objects  as  should  of 

themselves  strike  my  attention. 
\  We  walked  from  the  monastery  of  nuns 

to  the  great  church  or  cathedral,  as  they 
i  call  it,  along  an  old  broken  causeway, 
i  They  told  us  that  this  had  been  a  street, 
\  and  that  there  were  good  houses  built  on 
i  each  side.  Dr.  Johnson  doubted  if  it  was 
f  any  thing  more  than  -a  paved  road  for  the 
p  nuns.  The  convent  or  monks,  the  great 
f  church,  Oran's  chapel,  and  four  other  chap- 
*  els,  are  still  to  be  discerned.  But  I  must 
'      own  that  IcolmkiU  did  not  answer  my  ex- 

r stations;  fbr  they  were  high,  from  what 
had  read  of  it,  and  still  more  from  what  I 
t  had  heard  and  thought  of  it,  from  my  ear- 
t  liest  years.  Dr.  Johnson  said  it  came  up 
r      to  h»  expectations,  because  he  had  taken 

<  his  impression  from  an  account  of  it  sub- 
joined to  Sacheveiel's  History  of  the  Isle  of 

t      Man,  where  it  is  said,  there  is  not  much  to 
%      be  seen  here.    We  were  both  disappointed 
when  we  were  shown  what  are  called  the 
\      monuments  of  the  kings  of  Scotland,  Ire- 
land, and   Denmark,   and  of  a    king   of 
France.    There  are  only  some  grave-stones 
t      flat  on  the  earth,  and  we  could  see  no  in- 
scriptions.   How  far  short  was  this  of  mar- 
ble monuments,  like  those  in  Westminster- 
,       Abbey,  which  I  had  imagined  here !   The 
r       grave-stones  of  Sir  Allan  M( Lean's  family, 
i      and  of  that  of  M'Quarrie,  had  as  good  an 
vol.  i.  56 


appearance  as  the  royal  grave-stones,  if 
they  were  royal;  we  doubted. 

My  easiness  to  give  credit  to  what  I  heard 
in  the  course  of  our  Tour  was  too  great. 
Dr.  Johnson's  neculiar  accuracy  of  investi- 
gation detected  much  traditional  fiction, 
and  many  gross  mistakes.  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  he  was  provoked  by  peo- 
ple carelessly  telling  him,  with  the  utmost 
readiness  and  confidence,  what  he  found, 
on  questioning  them  a  little  more,  wss  erro- 
neous. Of  this  there  were  innumerable  in- 
stances K 

I  left  him  and  Sir  Allan  at  breakfast  in 
our  barn,  and  stole  back  again  to  the  cathe- 
dral, to  indulges  in  solitude  and  devout  medi- 
tation. While  contemplating  the  venera- 
ble ruins,  I  reflected  with  much  satisfaction, 
that  the  solemn  scenes  of  piety  never  lose 
their  sanctity  and  influence,  though  the 
cares  and  follies  of  life  may  prevent  us  from 
visiting  them,  or  may  even  make  us  fancy 
that  their  effects  are  only  "  as  yesterday, 
when  it  is  past,"  and  never  again  to  be  per- 
ceived. I  hoped  that,  ever  after  having 
been  in  this  holy  place,  I  should  maintain 
an  exemplary  conduct.  One  has  a  strange 
propensity  to  fix  upon  some  point  of  time 
from  whence  a  better  course  of  life  may  be- 
gin. 

Being  desirous  to  visit  the  opposite  shore 
of  the  island,  where  Saint  Columha  is  said 
to  have  landed,  I  procured  a  horse  from 
one  M'Ginnis,  who  ran  along  as  my  guide. 
The  M'Ginnises  are  said  to  be  a  branch  of 
the  clan  of  M'Lean.  Sir  Allan  had  been 
told  that  this  man  had  refused  to  send  him 
some  rum,  at  which  (he  knight  was  in  great 
indignation.  "  You  rascal ! "  said  he,  "do  n't 
you  know  that  I  can  hang  you,  if  I  please  ?  " 
Not  adverting  to  the  chieftain's  power  over 
his  clan,  I  imagined  that  Sir  Allan  had 
known  of  some  capital  crime  that  the  fel- 
low had  committed,  which  he  could  discov- 
er, and  so  get  him  condemned;  and  said, 
"  How  so  ? "— "  Why,"  said  Sir  Allan, "  are 
they  not  all  my  people? "  Sensible  of  my 
inadvertency,  and  most  willing  to  contribute 
what  I  could  towards  the  continuation  of 
feudal  authority,  "  Very  true,"  said  I.  Sir 
Allan  went  on:  "Refuse  to  send  rum  to 
me,  you  rascal !  Do  n't  you  know  that  if  I 
order  you  to  go  and  cut  a  man's  throat,  you 
are  to  do  it?  " — "  Yes,  an 't  please  your 
honour!  and  my  own  too,  and  hang  myself 
too."  The  poor  fellow  denied  that  he  had 
refused  to  send  the  rum.  His  making 
these  professions  was  not  merely  a  pretence 
in  presence  of  his  chief :  for  after  ne  and  I 
were  out  of  Sir  Allan's  hearing,  he  told  me, 
"  Had  he  sent  his  dog  for  the  rum,  I  would 
have  given  it:  I  would  cut  my  bones  for 
him."    It  was  very  remarkable  to  find  such 


[See  post,  7th  Feb.  1775.— Ed.} 


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1773.— jETAT.  64. 


TOTO  TO   THB 


an  attachment  to  a  chief,  though  he  had 
then  no  connexion  with  the  island,  and  had 
not  been  there  for  fourteen  years.  Sir  Al- 
lan, by  way  of  upbraiding  the  fellow,  said, 
"  I  believe  you  are  a  Campbell." 

The  place  which  I  went  to  see  is  about 
two  miles  frOm  the  village.  They  call  it 
Porta  wherry,  from  the  wherry  in  which 
Columba  came;  though,  when  they  show 
the  length  of  his  vessel,  as  marked  on  the 
beach  by  two  heaps  of  stones,  they  say, 
"  Here  is  the  length  of  the  Currach,"  using 
the  Erse  word. 

Icolmkill  is  a  fertile  island.  The  inhabit- 
ants export  some  cattle  and  grain;  and  I 
was  told  they  import  nothing  but  iron  and 
salt.  They  are  industrious,  and  make  their 
own  woollen  and  linen  cloth;  and  they  brew 
a  good  deal  of  beer,  which  we  did  not  find 
in  any  of  the  other  islands. 

We  set  sail  again  about  mid-day,  and  in 
the  evening  landed  on  Mull,  near  the  House 
of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Neal  Macleod,  who 
having  been  informed  of  our  coming,  by  a 
message  from  Sir  Allan,  came  out  to  meet 
us.  We  were  this  night  very  agreeably 
entertained  at  his  house.  Dr.  Johnson  ob- 
served to  me  that  he  was  the  cleanest-head- 
ed1 man  that  he  had  met  with  in  the 
Western  Islands.  He  seemed  to  be  well 
acquainted  with  Dr.  Johnson's  writings, 
and  courteously  said,  "  I  have  been  often 
obliged  to  vou,  though  I  never  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  seeing  vou  before." 

He  told  us  he  had  lived  for  some  time  in 
St.  Kilda,  under  the  tuition  of  the  minister 
or  catechist  there,  and  had  there  first  read 
Horace  and  Virgil.  The  scenes  which 
they  describe  must  have  been  a  strong  con- 
trast to  the  dreary  waste  around  him. 

Thursday,  21«t  October. — This  morning 
the  subject  of  politicks  was  introduced. 
Johnson.  "  Pufteney  was  as  paltry  a  fellow 
as  could  be.  He  was  a  whig  who  pretend- 
ed to  be  honest;  and  you  know  it  is  ridicu- 
lous for  a  whig  to  pretend  to  be  honest. 
He  cannot  hold  it  out  a."  He  called  Mr. 
Pitt  a  meteor;  Sir  Robert  Walpole  a  fixed 
star.  He  said,  "It  is  wonderful  to  think 
that  all  the  force  of  government  was  requir- 
ed to  prevent  Wilkes  from  being  chosen  the 
chief  magistrate  of  London,  though  the 
livery-men  knew  he  would  rob  their  shops, 
—knew  he  would  debauch  their  daugh- 
ters ».» 


1  [Quere  clearest?  bat  h  is  cleanest  in  all  the 
editions.  Dr.  Johnson,  if  be  said  cleanest  meant 
freest  from  prejudice;  but  it  has  an  odd  sound  in 
juxtaposition  with  the  head  of  a  Highlander. — 

1  [See  ante,  p.  299.— Ed.] 

*  [I  think  it  incumbent  on  me  to  make  some 
observation  on  this  strong  satirical  sally  on  my 
classical  companion,  Mr.  Wilkes.  Reporting  it 
lately  from  memory,  in  his  presence,  I  expressed 
it  thai;—"  They    knew    he    would    rob    their 


Boswell.  "  The  History  of  England  is 

so  strange  that,  if  it  were  not  so  well  vouched 
as  it  is,  it  would  hardly  be  credible." 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  if  it  were  told  aa  shortly, 
and  with  as  little  preparation  for  introdu- 
cing the  different  events,  as  the  History  of 
the  Jewish  Kiii^s,  it  would  be  equally  liable 
to  objections  of  improbability."  Mr.  Mac- 
leod was  much  pleased  with  the  justice  and 
novelty  of  the  thought.  Dr.  Johnson  illus- 
trated what  he  had  said  as  follows :  "  Take, 
as  an  instance,  Charles  the  First's  conces- 
sions to  his  parliament,  which  were  greater 
and  greater,  in  proportion  as  the  parlia- 
ment grew  more  insolent,  and  less  deserving 
of  trust.  Had  these  concessions  been  rela- 
ted nakedly,  without  any  detail  of  the  cir- 
cumstances which  generally  led  to  them, 
they  would  not  have  been  belie ved." 

Sir  Allan  M'Lean  bragged,  that  Scotland 
had  the  advantage  of  England,  by  its  hav- 
ing more  water.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  we 
would  not  have  your  water,  to  take  the 
vile  bogs  which  produce  it.  You  have  too 
much !  A  man  who.  is  drowned  has  more 
water  than  either  of  us;" — and  then  he 
laughed.  (But  this  was  surely  robust 
sophistry:  for  the  people  of . taste  in  Eng- 
land, who  have  seen  Scotland,  own  that  its 
variety  of  rivers  and  lakes  makes  it  naturally 
more  beautiful  than  England,  in  that  res- 
pect) Pursuing  his  victory  over  Sir  Allan, 
he  proceeded]  "Your  country  consists  of 
two  things,  stone  and  water.  There  is, 
indeed,  a  little  earth  above  the  stone  in 
some  places,  but  a  very  little;  and  the 
stone  is  always  appearing.  It  is  like  a 
man  in  rags — the  naked  skin  is  still  peep- 
ing out." 

He  took  leave  of  Mr.  Macleod,  saying, 
"  Sir,  I  thank  you  for  your  entertainment, 
and  your  conversation." 


shops,  if  he  durst;  they  knew  he  would  debaoek 
their  daughters,  tf  he  could;"  which,  according 
to  the  French  phrase,  may  be  said  reneherir  oa 
Dr.  Johnson;  bnt  on  looking  into  my  Journal,  I 
found  it  as  above,  and  would  by  no  means  make 
any  addition.  Mr.  Wilkes  received  both  readingi 
with  a  good  humour  that  I  cannot  enough  admire. 
Indeed  both  he  and  I  (as,  with  respect  to  myself, 
the.  reader  has  more  than  once  bad  occasion  to 
observe  in  the  course  of  this  Journal)  are  toe 
fond  of  a  ban  mot,  not  to  relish  it,  though  we 
should  be  ourselves  the  object  of  h.  Let  me  add, 
in  justice  to  the  gentleman  here  mentioned,  that,  at 
a  subsequent  period,  he  was  elected  chief  maj " 
trate  of  London,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  t 
high  office  with  great  honour  to  himself,  and  ad- 
vantage to  the  city.  Some  yeans  before  Dr. 
Johnson  died,  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  bring 
him  and  Mr.  Wilkes  together;  the  consequence  ot 
which  was,  that  they  were  ever  afterwards  oa 
easy  and  not  unfriendly  terms.  The  particulars  f 
shall  have  great  pleasure  in  relating  hereafter.— 
Boswell.  [Post,  16th  May,  1776,  8th  May, 
1781,  and  21st  May,  1783.— En.] 


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HEBRIDES.]  1773— iETAT.  64. 

Mr.  Campbell,  who  had  been  so  polite 
yesterday,  came  this  morning  on  purpose 
to  breakfast  with  us,  and  very  obligingly 
furnished  us  horses  to  proceed  on  our  jour- 
ney to  Mr.  M'Lean's  of  Lochbuy,  where 
we  were  to  pass  the  night.  We  dined  at 
the  house  of  Dr.  Alexander  M'Lean,  another 
physician  in  Mull,  who  was  so  much  struck 
with  the  uncommon  conversation  of  Dr. 
Johnson,  that  he  observed  to  me,  "  This 
man  is  just  a  hogshead  l  of  sense." 

Dr.  Johnson  said  of  the  "  Turkish  Spy," 
which  lay  in  the  room,  that  it  told  nothing 
but  what  every  body  might  have  known  at 
that  time  ;  and  that  what  was  good  in  it 
did  not  pay  you  for  the  trouble  of  reading 
to  find  it 

After  a  very  tedious  ride,  through  what 
appeared  to  me  the  most  gloomy  and  des- 
olate country  I  had  ever  beheld,  we  arrived, 
between  seven  and  eight  o'clock,  at  Moy, 
the  seat  of  the  Laird  of  Lochbuy.  Buy, 
in  Erse,  signifies  yellow,  and  I  at  first  im- 
agined that  the  loch  or  branch  of  the  sea 
here  was  thus  denominated,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Red  Sea;  but  I  afterwards 
learned  that  it  derived  its  name  from  a  hill 
above  it,  which,  being  of  a  yellowish  hue, 
has  the  epithet  of  Buy. 

We  had  heard  much  of  Lochbuy* t  being 
a  great  roaring  braggadocio,  a  kind  of  Sir 
John  Falstaff,  both  in  size  and  manners  ; 
bnt  we  found  that  they  had  swelled  him  up 
to  a  fictitious  size,  and  clothed  him  with 
imaginary  qualities.  CoVs  idea  of  him 
was  equally  extravagant,  though  veiy  dif- 
ferent: he  told  us,  ne  was  quite  a  Don 
Quixote;  and  said,  he  would  give  a  great 
deal  to  see  him  and  Dr.  Johnson  together. 
The  truth  is,  that  Lochbuy  proved  to  be 
only  a  bluff,  comely,  noisy  old  gentleman, 
proud  of  his  hereditary  consequence,  and 
a  very  hearty  and  hospitable  landlord. 
Lady  Lochbuy  was  sister  to  Sir  Allan 
M'Lean,  but  much  older.  He  said  to  me, 
"They  are  quite  Antediluvians."  Being 
told  that  Dr.  Johnson  did  not  hear  well, 
Lochbuy  bawled  out  to  him,  "  Are  you  of 
the  Johnstons  of  Glencro,  or  of  Ardnamur- 
chan?"  Dr.  Johnson  gave  him  a  significant 
look,  but  made  no  answer;  and  I  told 
Lochbuy  that  he  was  not  Johnston,  but 
Johnson,  and  that  he  was  an  Englishman.2 


1  [A  metaphor  which  might  rather  have  been 
expected  from  M'Qnarrte  than  the  Doctor;  bat 
the  editor  believes  that  it  is  a  common  northern 
expression  to  signify  great  capacity  of  intellect — 
En.] 

9  [Boswell  totally  misapprehended  Lochbuy'* 
meaning.  There  are  two  septs  of  the  powerful 
dan  of  M' Donald,  who  are  called  Mac-Ian,  that 
ii  John' son;  and  as  Highlanders  often  translate 
their  names  when  they  go  to  the  Lowlands, — 
as  Gregor-son  for  Mac-Gregor,  Farqnhar-son  for 
Farqohar, — Lochbuy  supposed  that  Dr.  Johnson 


449 


Lochbuy  some  years  ago  tried  to  prove 
himself  a  weak  man,  liable  to  imposition, 
or,  as  we  term  it  in  Scotland,  a  facile  man, 
in  order  to  set  aside  a  lease  which  he  had 
granted;  but  failed  in  the  attempt.  On 
my  mentioning  this  circumstance  to  Dr. 
Johnson,  he  seemed  much  surprised  that 
such  a  suit  was  admitted  by  the  Scottish 
law,  and  observed,  that  "  in  England  no 
man  is  allowed  to  stultify  himself3." 

Sir  Allan,  Lochbuy,  and  I,  had  the  con- 
versation chiefly  to  ourselves  to-night.  Dr. 
Johnson,  being  extremely  weary,  went  to 
bed  soon  after  supper. 

Friday,  22d  October. — Before  Dr.  John- 
son came  to  breakfast.  Lady  Lochbuy  said, 
"  he  was  a  dungeon  of  wit;"  a  very  common 
phrase  in  Scotland  to  express  a  profound- 
ness of  intellect,  though  he  afterwards  told 
me,  that  he  never  had  heard  it4.  She 
proposed  that  he  should  have  some  cold 
sheep's  head  for  breakfast.  Sir  Allan  seem- 
ed displeased  at  his  sister's  vulgarity,  and 
wondered  how  such  a  thought  should  come 
into  her  head.  From  a  mischievous  love 
of  sport,  I  took  the  lady's  part  i  and  very 
gravely  said,  "  I  think  it  is  but  fair  to  give 
him  an  offer  of  it.  If  he  does  not  choose 
it,  he  may  let  it  alone."  "  I  think  so,"  said 
the  lady,  looking  at  her  brother  with  an 
air  of  victory.  Sir  Allan,  finding  the  mat- 
ter desperate,  strutted  about  the  roam,  and 
took  snuff.  When  Dr.  Johnson  came  in, 
she  called  to  him,  "  Do  you  choose  any 
cold  sheep's  head,  sir?"  "  No,  madam," 
said-  he,  with  a  tone  of  surprise  and  anger  5. 
"  It  is  here,  sir,"  said  she,  supposing  he 


might  be  one  of  the  Mac-Ians  of  Ardnamnrchan, 
or  of  Glencro.  Boswell's  explanation  was 
nothing  to  the  purpose.  The  Johnstons  are  a 
clan  distinguished  in  Scottish  border  history,  and 
as  brave  as  any  Highland  dan  that  ever  wore 
brogue*;  bat  they  lay  entirely  out  of  Lochbuy' § 
knowledge — nor  was  be  thinking  of  them.— 
Walter  Scott.] 

8  This  maxim,  however,  has  been  controverted. 
See  "  Blackstone's  Commentaries,"  vol.  it  p.  292; 
and  the  authorities  there  quoted. — Boswell. 

4  [It  is  also  common  in  the  north  of  Ireland, 
and  is  somewhat  more  emphatic  than  the  eulogy 
in  a  former  page,  of  being  a  hogshead  of  sense.-* 
Ed.] 

6  [Begging  pardon  of  the  Doctor  and  his  con- 
ductor, I  have  often  seen  and  partaken  of  cold 
sheep's  head  at  as  good  breakfast-tables  as  ever 
they  sat  at  This  protest  is  something  in  the 
manner  of  the  late  Culrossie,  who  fought  a  duel 
for  the  honour  of  Aberdeen  butter.  I  have  pnsand 
over  all  the  Doctor's  other  reproaches  upon  Scot- 
land, but  the  sheep's  bead  I  will  defend  forts 
viribus.  Dr.  Johnson  himself  must  have  for* 
given  my  zeal  on  this  occasion;  for  if,  as  be  says, 
dinner  be  the  thing  of  which  a  man  thinks  often- 
est  during  the  day,  breakfast  must  be  that  of 
which  he  thinks  first  in  the  morning.— Wal* 
tee  Scott.] 


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int.— JSTAT.  64. 


[tour  to 


bad  refitted  it  to  save  die  trouble  of  bring- 
ing it  in.  They  thus  went  on  at  cross  pur- 
poses, till  he  confirmed  his  refusal  in  a 
manner  not  to  be  misunderstood;  while  I 
aat  quietly  by,  and  enjoyed  my  success. 

After  breakfast,  we  surveyed  the  old 
castle,  in  the  pit  or  dungeon  oi  which  Loch" 
buy  had  some  years  before  taken  upon  him 
to  imprison  several  persons;  and  though  he 
had  been  fined  in  a  considerable  sum  by  the 
Court  of  Justiciary,  he  was  so  little  affected 
by  it,  that  while  we  were  examining  the 
dungeon,  he  said  to  me,  with  a  smile, 
"  Your  father  knows  something  of  this;" 
(alluding  to  my  father's  having  sat  as  one 
of  the  judges  on  his  trial).  Sir  Allan 
whispered  me,  that  the  laird  could  not  be 
persuaded  that  he  had  lost  his  heritable 
jurisdiction '. 

We  then  set  out  for  the  ferry,  by  which 
we  were  to  cross  to  the  main  land  of  Ar- 
gyleshire.  Loehbuy  and  Sir  Allan  accom- 
panied us.  We  were  told  much  of  a  war- 
saddle,  on  which  this  reputed  Don  Quixote 
used  to  be  mounted;  but  we  did  not  see  it, 
for  the  young  laird  had  applied  it  to  a  less 
noble  purpose,  having  taken  it  to  Falkirk 
fair  vnth  a  drove  of  black  cattle. 

We  bade  adieu  to  Loehbuy,  and  to  our 
very  kind  conductor,  Sir  Allan  M'Lean,  on 
the  shore  of  Mull,  and  then  got  into  the 
ferry-boat,  the  bottom  of  which  was  strew- 
ed with  branches  of  trees  or  bushes,  upon 
which  we  sat  We  had  a  good  day  and  a 
fine  passage,  and  in  the  evening  landed  at 
Oban,  where  we  found  a  tolerable  inn. 
After  having  been  so  long  confined  at  dif- 
ferent times  in  islands,  from  which  it  was 
always  uncertain  when  we  could  get  away, 
it  was  comfortable  to  be  now  on  the  main 


1  [Sir  Allan  Maclean,  like  many  Highland 
chiefi,  was  embarrassed  in  his  private  affaire,  and 
exposed  to  unpleasant  solicitations  from  attorneys, 
called  in  Scotland,  writers  (which,  indeed',  was 
.  the  chief  motive  of  his  retiring  to  Iftchkenneth). 
Upon  one  occasion  he  made  a  visit  to  a  friend, 
then  residing  at  Canon  lodge,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Canon,  where  the  banks  of  that  river  are  studded 
with  pretty  villas;  Sir  Allan,  admiring  the  land- 
scape, asked  bis  friend,  whom  that  handsome  seat 
belonged  to.  "  M— ,  the  writer  to  the  signet," 
was  the  reply.  "Umpb!"  said  Sir  Allan,  but 
not  with  an  accent  of  assent,  "  I  mean  that  other 
boose."    "Oh!  that  belongs  to  a  very  honest 

fellow,  Jamie  ,  also  a  writer  to  the  signet" 

"Umph!"  said  the  Highland  chief  of  M'Lean, 
with  more  emphasis  than  before.  "And  jon 
smaller  boose?  "  "That  belongs  to  a  Stirling 
man;  I  forget  his  name,  but  I  am  sure  he  is  a 

writer,   too,  for •"    Sir  Allan,    who    had 

recoiled  a  quarter  of  a  circle  backward  at  every 
response,  now  wheeled  the  circle  entire,  and 
tamed  hit  back  on  the  landscape,  saying,  "  My 
good  friend,  1  must  own,  you  have  a  pretty  situa- 
tion here;  but  d — n  your  neighbourhood.'*— 
WALTS&  Scott.] 


land,  and  to  know  that,  if  in  health,  we 
might  get  to  any  place  in  Scotland  or 
England  in  a  certain  number  of  days. 

Here  we  discovered  from  the  conjectures 
which  were  formed,  that  the  people  on  the 
main  land  were  entirely  ignorant  of  our 
motions;  for  in  a  Glasgow  newspaper  we 
found  a  paragraph,  which,  as  it  contains  a 
just  and  well-turned  compliment  to  my  illus- 
trious friend,  I  shall  here  insert: 

u  We  are  well  assured  that  Dr.  Johnson  is 
confined  by  tempestuous  weather  to  the  ialc 
of  Sky;  it  being  unsafe  to  venture  in  a 
small  boat  upon  such  a  stormy  surge  as  is 
very  common  there  at  this  time  of  the  year. 
Such  a  philosopher,  detained  on  an  almost 
barren  island,  resembles  a  whale  left  upon 
the  strand.  The  latter  will  be  welcome  to 
every  body,  on  account  of  his  oil,  his  bone, 
&c.,*and  the  other  will  charm  his  compan- 
ions, and  the  rude  inhabitants,  with  his  su- 
perior knowledge  and  wisdom,  calm  resig- 
nation, and  unbounded  benevolence." 

Saturday,  23d  October. — After  a  good 
night's  rest,  we  breakfasted  at  our  leisure. 
We  talked  of  Goldsmith's  Traveller,  of 
which  Dr.  Johnson  spoke  highly ;  and, 
while  I  was  helping  him  on  with  his  {neat 
coat,  he  repeated  from  it  the  character  of 
the  British  nation,  which  he  did  with  such 
energy,  that  the  tear  started  into  his  eye: 

"  Stern  o'er  each  bosom  reason  holds  her  state, 
With  daring  aims  irregularly  great. 
Pride  in  their  port,  defiance  in  their  eye, 
I  see  the  lords  of  humankind  pass  by. 
Intent  on  high  designs,  a  thoughtful  band, 
By  forms  unfashion*d,  fresh  from  nature's  i 
Fierce  in  their  native  hardiness  of  soul, 
True  to  imagined  right,  above  control, 
While  even  the  peasant  boasts  these  rights  to 
And  learns  to  venerate  himself  as  man  *." 


We  could  get  but  one  bridle  here,  which, 
according  to  the  maxim  detur  digmori,  was 
appropriated  to  Dr.  Johnson's  sheltie.  I 
and  Joseph  rode  with  halters.  We  crossed 
in  a  ferry-boat  a  pretty  wide  lake,  and  on 
the  farther  side  of  it,  close  by  the  shore, 
found  a  hut  for  our  inn.  We  were  much 
wet  I  changed  my  clothes  in  part,  and 
was  at  pains  to  get  myself  well  dned.  Dr. 
Johnson  resolutely  kept  on  all  his  clothes, 
wet  as  they  were,  letting  them  steam 
before  the  smoky  turf  fire.  I  thought  him 
in  the  wrong;  but  his  firmness  was,  per- 
haps, a  species  of  heroism. 


*  [Miss  Reynolds,  in  her  Recollections,  says 
that  Johnson  told  her  that  he  had  written  these 
lines  for  Goldsmith;  but  this  is  another  instance 
of  the  inaccuracy  of  even  the  most  plausible  wit* 
nones. — See  ante,  p.  226.  Johnson  was  fond  of 
repeating  these  beautiful  lines,  and  his  having 
done  so  to  Miss  Reynolds,  no  doubt,  led  to  ber 
mistake:  he  was  incapable  of  any  such 
Ed.] 


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RIMS.] 


1778.— ^.TAT.  64. 


445 


I  remember  but  little  of  our  conversation. 
I  mentioned  Shenstone's  saying  of  Pope, 
that  he  had  the  art  of  condensing  sense 
more  than  any  body.  Dr.  Johnson  said, 
"  It  is  not  true,  sir.  There  is  more  sense 
in  a  line  of  Cowley  than  in  a  page  (or  a 
sentence,  or  ten  lines— I  am  not  quite  cer- 
tain of  the  very  phrase)  of  Pope."  He 
maintained  that  Archibald,  Duke  of  Argyle, 
was  a  narrow  man.  I  wondered  at  this; 
and  observed,  that  his  building  so  great  a 
house  at  Inverary  was  not  like  a  narrow 
man.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  when  a  narrow 
man  has  resolved  to  build  a  house,  he  builds 
it  like  another  man.  But  Archibald,  Duke 
of  Argyle,  was  narrow  in  his  ordinary  ex- 
penses, in  his  quotidian  expenses  ,." 

The  distinction  is  very  just  It  is  in  the 
ordinary  expenses  of  life  that  a  man's  liber- 
ality or*  narrowness  is  to  be  discovered.  I 
never  heard  the  word  quotidian  in  this  sense, 
and  I  imagined  it  to  be  a  word  of  Dr.  John- 
son's own  fabrication;  but  I  have  since 
found  it  in  Young's  Night  Thoughts  (Night 
fifth), 

-    "  Death  '■  a  destroyer  of  quotidian  prey," 

and  in  my  friend's  Dictionary,  supported 
by  the  authorities  of  Charles  I.  and  Dr. 
Donne. 

It  rained  very  hard  as  we  journeyed  on 
after  dinner.  The  roar  of  torrents  from  the 
mountains,  as  we  passed  along  in  the  dusk, 
and  the  other  circumstances  attending  our 
ride  this  evening,  have  been  mentioned  with 
so  much  animation  by  Dr.  Johnson,  that  I 
•hall  not  attempt  to  say  any  thing  on  the 
subject 

We  got  at  night  to  Inverary,  where  we 
found  an  excellent  inn.  Even  here,  Dr. 
Johnson  would  not  change  his  wet  clothes. 

The  prospect  of  good  accommodation 
cheered  us  much.  We  supped  well;  and 
after  supper,  Dr.  Johnson,  whom  I  had  not 
seen  taste  any  fermented  liquor  during  all 
our  travels,  called  for  a  gill  of  whiskv. 
"  Come,"  said  he,  "  let  me  know  what  it  is 
that  makes  a  Scotchman  happy!"  He 
drank  it  all  but  a  drop,  which  I  begged  leave 
to  pour  into  my  glass,  that  I  might  say  we 
had  drunk  whisky  together.  I  proposed 
Mrs.  Thrale  should  be  our  toast.  He 
would  not  have  her  drunk  in  whisky,  but 
rather  "some  insular  lady;"  so  we  drank 
one  of  the  ladies  whom  we  had  lately  left. 
He  owned  to-night,  that  he  got  as  good  a 
room  and  bed  as  at  an  English  inn. 

I  had  here  the  pleasure  of  finding  a  letter 
from  home,  which  relieved  me  from  the  anx- 
iety I  had  suffered,  in  consequence  of  not 
having  received  any  account  of  my  family 


1  [Tab  information  John§on,  no  doubt,  derived 
through  his  early  friends,  the  Misses  Cotterel,  who 
ware  acquaintances  of  the  widow  of  Duke  Archi- 
bald's predecessor.— flee  ante.  p.  104.— Ed.] 


for  many  weeks.  I  also  found  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Garrick,  which  was  a  regale  as  agreea- 
ble as  a  pine-apple  would  be  in  a  desert. 
He  had  favoured  me  with  his  correspon- 
dence for  many  years;  and  when  Dr.  John- 
son and  I  were  at  Inverness,  I  had  written 
to  him  as  follows: 

"ME.  BOS  WELL  TO  DAVID  GARRICK,  ESQ. 
LONDON. 
.    "InTaraev,  Sunday,  29th  August,  1773. 
"My  dear  sir, — Here  I  am,  and  Mr. 
Samuel  Johnson  actually  with  me.    We 
were  a  night  at  Fores,  in  coming  to  which, 
in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  we  passed  over 
the  bleak  and  blasted  heath  where  Macbeth 
met  the  witches.    Your  old  preceptor  re- 
peated, with  much  solemnity,  the  speech, 

*  How  far  is  't  called  to  Fores?  What  are  these, 
So  withered  and  so  wild  in  their  attire,'  &c. 

This  day  we  visited  the  ruins  of  Macbeth's 
castle  at  Inverness.  I  have  had  great  ro- 
mantick  satisfaction  in  seeing  Johnson  upon 
the  classical  scenes  of  Shakspeare  in  Scot- 
land; which  I  really  looked  upon  as  almost 
as  improbable  as  that '  Birnam  wood  should 
come  to  Dunsinane.'  Indeed,  as  I  have 
always  been  accustomed  to  view  him  as  a 
permanent  London  object,  it  would  not  be 
much  more  wonderful  to  me  to  see  St.  Paul's 
church  moving  along  where  we  now  are. 
As  yet  we  have  travelled  in  postchaises; 
but  to-morrow  we  are  to  mount  on  horse- 
back, and  ascend  into  the  mountains  by 
Fort  Augustus,  and  so  on  to  the  ferry, 
where  we  are  to  cross  to  Sky.  We  shall 
see  that  island  fully,  and  then  visit  some 
more  of  the  Hebrides;  after  which  we  are 
to  land  in  Argyleshire,  proceed  by  Glasgow 
to  Auchinleck,  repose  there  a  competent 
time,  and  then  return  to  Edinburgh,  from 
whence  the  Rambler  will  depart  for  old 
England  again,  as  soon  as  he  finds  it  con- 
venient. Hitherto  we  have  had  a  very 
prosperous  expedition.  I  flatter  myself* 
servetur  ad  imum,  qualig  ah  mceptoprocee- 
eeriU  He  is  in  excellent  spirits,  and  I  have 
a  rich  Journal  of  his  conversation.  Look 
back,  Davy*,  to  Lichfield;  run  up  through 
the  time  that  -has  elapsed  since  vou  first 
knew  Mr.  Johnson,  and  enjoy  with  me  his 
present  extraordinary  tour.  I  could  not  re- 
sist the  impulse  of  writing  to  you  from  this 
place.  The  situation  of  the  old  castle  cor- 
responds exactly  to  Shakspeare's  description. 
While  we  were  there  to-day,  it  happened 
oddly,  that  a  raven  perched  upon  one  of 
the  chimney-tops,  and  croaked.  Then  I  in 
my  turn  repeated — 


of  giving  this  familiar 
friend,  to  bring  in  a 


*  I  took  the  liberty 
appellation  to  my  celebrated 
more  lively  manner  to  his  remembrance  the  pe- 
riod when  he  was  Dr.  Johnson's  pupQ.-«-Bos- 
wsi*x» 


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1778.— jETAT.  64. 


« Hie  raven  himself  is  hoarse, 
That  eroakt  the  fatal  entrance  of  Duncan 
Under  my  battlements. ' 
"  I  wish  you  had  been  with  us.    Think 
what  enthusiastick  happiness  I  shall  have 
to  see  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson  walking  among 
the    romantick    rocks  and  woods  of  my 
ancestors  at  Auchinleck!    Write  to  me  at 
Edinburgh.    You  owe  me  his  verses  on 
great  George  and  tuneful  Gibber,  and  the 
bad  verses  which  led  him  to  make  his  fine 
ones  on  Philips  the  musician.     Keep  your 
promise,  and  let  mt  have  them.     I  offer  my 
very  best  compliments  to  Mrs.  Garrick,  and 
ever  am  your  warm  admirer  and  friend, 
"  James  Boswell." 


His 


I  folloWB. 


"ME.  GARRICK-  TO  MR.  BOSWELL,  BDIN- 
BURGH. 
«*  Hampton,  14th  September,  1779. 
"Dear  sir, — You  stole  away  from 
London,  and  left  us  all  in  the  lurch;  for  we 
expected  you  one  night  at  the  club,  and 
knew  nothing  of  your  departure.  Had  I 
paid  you  what  I  owed  you  for  the  book  you 
bought  for  me,  I  should  only  have  grieved 
for  the  loss  of  your  company,  and  slept  with 
a  qttiet  conscience;  but,  wounded  as  it  is,  it 
must  remain  so  till  I  see  you  again,  though 
I  am  sure  our  good  friend  Mr.  Johnson  will 
discharge  the  debt  for  me,  if  you  will  let 
him*  Your  account  of  your  journey  to 
Fores,  the  raven,  old  castle,  &c.  &c.  made 
me  haif  mad.  Are  you  not  rather  too  late 
in  the  year  for  fine  weather,  which  is  the 
life  and  soul  of  seeing  places?  I  hope  your 
pleasure  will  continue  qualis  ab  tneepto, 
kc. 

"  Your  friend l  threatens  me  much. 

I  only  wish  that  he  would  put  his  threats 
in  execution,  and,  if  he  prints  his  play,  I 
will  forgive  him!  I  remember  he  complain- 
ed to  you  that  his  bookseller  called  for  the 
money  for  some  copies  of  his  [Lusiad], 
which  I  subscribed  for,  and  that  I  desired 
him  to  call  again.     The  truth  is,  that  my 


1  I  have  suppressed  my  friend's  name  from 
an  apprehension  of  wounding  hie  sensibility;  bat 
I  woald  not  withhold  from  my  readers  a  passage 
which  shows  Mr.  Ganick's  mode  of  writing  as 
the  manager  of  a  theatre,  and  contains  a  pleasing 
trah  of  his  domestick  life.  His  judgment  of  dra- 
niatick  pieces,  so  far  as  concerns  their  exhibition 
on  the  stage,  most  be  allowed  to  have  considera- 
ble weight  Bat  from  the  effect  which  a  perusal 
of  the  tragedy  here  condemned  had  upon  myself, 
and  from  the  opinions  of  some  eminent  critick*,  I 
venture  to  pronounce  that  it  has  much  "poetical 
merit;  and  its  author  has  distinguished  himself  by 
several  performances  which  show  that  the  epithet 
poetaster  was,  in  the  present  instance,  much 
misapplied. — Boswell,  [The  author  was 
Mickle :  see  ante,  808.— Ed.] 


[totjb  to  the 

wife  was  not  at  home,  and  that  for  weeks* 
together  I  have  not  ten  shillings  in  my 
pocket.  However,  had  it  been  otherwise, 
it  was  not  so  great  a  crime  to  draw  his  po- 
etical vengeance  upon  me.  I  despise  all  that 
he  can  do,  and  am  glad  that  1  can  so  easily 
get  rid  of  him  and  his  ingratitude.  I  am 
hardened  both  to  abuse  and  ingratitude. 

"  You,  I  am  sure,  will  no  more  recom- 
mend your  poetasters  to  my  civility  and 
good  offices. 

"  Shall  I  recommend  to  you  a  play  of 
Eschvlus  (the  Prometheus),  published  and 
translated  by  poor  old  Morell,  who  is  a  good 
scholar,  and  an  acquaintance  of  mine?  It 
will  be  but  helf-a-guinea,  and  your  name 
shall  be  put  in  the  list  I  am  making  for  him. 
You  will  be  in  very  good  company. 

"  Now  for  the  epitaphs ! 

(  This  refers  to  the  epitaph  on  Philips, 
ana  the  verses  on  George  the  Second,  and 
Colley  Cibber,  as  his  poet  lour  eat,  for  which 
see  ante,  p.  58.) 

"  I  have  no  more  paper,  or  I  should  have 
said  more  to  you.  My  love  and  respects  to 
Mr.  Johnson.     Yours  ever, 

"D.  Gariick. 

"  I  can 't  write.  I  have  the  gout  in  my 
hand." 

Sunday,  24rA  October.— -We  passed  the 
forenoon  calmly  and  placidly,  f  prevailed 
on  Dr.  Johnson  to  read  aloud  Ogden's  sixth 
Sermon  on  prayer,  which  he  did  with  a  dis- 
tinct expression,  and  pleasing  solemnity. 
He  praised  my  favourite  preacher,  his  ele- 
gant language,  and  remarkable  acuteness; 
and  said,  he  fought  infidels  with  their  own 
weapons. 

As  a  specimen  of  Ogden's  manner,  I  in- 
sert the  following  passage  from  the  sermon 
which  Dr.  Johnson  now  read.  The  preach- 
er, after  arguing  against  that  vain  philoso- 
phy which  maintains,  in  conformity  with  the 
nard  principle  of  eternal  necessity,  or  un- 
changeable predetermination,  that  the  only 
effect  of  prayer  for  others,  although  we  are 
Exhorted  to  jpray  for  them,  is  to  produce 
good  dispositions  in  Ourselves  towards  them, 
thus  expresses  himself : 

w  A  plain  man  may  be  apt  to  ask,  But  if 
this  then,  though  enjoined  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  is  to  be  my  real  aim  and  inten- 
tion, when  I  am  taught  to  pray  for  other 
persons,  why  is  it  that  I  do  not  plainly  so 
express  it?  Why  is  not  the  form  of  the  pe- 
tition brought  nearer  to  the  meaning? 
Give  them,  say  I  to  our  heavenly  Father, 
whatis  good.  But  this,  I  am  to  understand, 
will  be  as  it  will  be,  and  is  not  forme  to  al- 
ter. What  islt  then  that  I  am  doing?  I 
am  desiring  to  become  charitable  myself; 
and  why  may  I  not  plainly  say  so  ?  Is  there 
shame  in  it,  or  impiety?  The  wish  is  lauda- 
ble: why  should  I  form  designs  to  hide  it? 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES.] 

"  Or  is  it,  perhaps,  better  to  be  brought 
about  by  indirect  means,  and  in  this  artful 
manner?  Alas !  who  is  it  that  I  would  im- 
pose on?  From  whom  can  it  be,  in  this 
commerce,  that  I  desire  to  hide  any  thing? 
"When,  as  my  Saviour  commands  me,  I 
have '  entered  into  my  closet,  and  shut  my 
door,'  there  are  but  two  parties  privy  to  my 
devotions,  God  and  my  own  heart :  which 
of  the  two  am  I  deceiving?  " 

He  wished  to  have  more  books,  and,  up- 
on inquiring  if  there  were  any  in  the  house, 
was  told  that  a  waiter  had  some,  which 
were  brought  to  him  ;  but  I  recollect  none 
of  them,  except  Hervey's  Meditations.  He 
thought  slightingly  of  this  admired'  book. 
He  treated  it  with  ridicule,  and  would  not 
allow  even  the  scene  of  the  dying  husband 
and  father  to  be  pathetick.  I  am  not  an  im- 
partial judge  ;  for  Hervey's  Meditations  en- 
gaged my  affections  in  my  early  years.  He 
read  a  passage  concerning  the  moon,  ludi- 
crously, and  showed  how  easily  he  could,  in 
the  same  style,  make  reflections  on  that 
planet,  the  very  reverse  of  Hervey's,  repre- 
senting her  as  treacherous  to  mankind.  He 
did  this  with  much  humour :  but  I  have  not 
preserved  the  particulars.  He  then  indulg- 
ed a  playful  fancy,  in  making"  a  Meditation 
on  a  Pudding,  of  which  I  hastily  wrote  down, 
in  his  presence,  the  following  note;  which, 
though  imperfect,  may  serve  to  give  my 
readers  some  idea  of  it. 

"  MEDITATION  ON  A  PUDDING. 

"  Let  us  seriously  reflect  of  what  a  pud- 
ding is  composed.  It  is  composed  of  flour 
that  once  waved  in  the  golden  grain,  and 
drank  the  dews  of  the  morning;  of  milk 
pressed  from  the  swelling  udder  by  the  gen- 
tle hand  of  the  beauteous  milk-maid,  whose 
beauty  and  innocence  might  have  recom- 
mended a  worse  draught;  who,  while  she 
stroked  the  udder,  indulged  no  ambitious 
thoughts  of  wandering  in  palaces,  formed 
no  plans  for  the  destruction  of  her  fellow- 
ereatures:  milk,  which  is  drawn  from  the 
eow,  that  useful  animal,  that  eats  the  grass 
of  the  field,  and  supplies  us  with  that  which 
made  the  greatest  part  of  the  food  of  man- 
kind in  the  age  which  the  poets  have  agreed 
to  call  golden.  It  is  made  with  an  egj?., 
that  miracle  of  nature,  which  the  theoreti- 
cal Burnet  has  compared  to  creation.  An 
egg  contains  water  within  its  beautiful 
smooth  surface;  and  an  unformed  mass,  by 
the  incubation  of  the  parent,  becomes  a 
regular  animal,  furnished  with  bones  and 
sinews,  and  covered  with  feathers.  Let  us 
consider:  can  there  be  more  wanting  to 
complete  the  meditation  on  a  pudding?  If 
more  is  wanting,  more  may  be  found.  It 
contains  salt,  which  keeps  the  sea  from  pu- 
trefaction: salt,  which  is  made  the  image 
of  intellectual  excellence,  contributes  to  the 
formation  of  a  pudding." 


1778.— iETAT.  64. 


447 


In  a  Magazine  I  found  a  saying  of  Dr. 
Johnson's,  something  to  this  purpose;  that 
the  happiest  part  of  a  man's  life  is  what  he 
passes  lying  awake  in  bed  in  the  morning. 
I, read  it  to  him.  He  said,  "I  may,  per- 
haps, have  said  this;  for  nobody,  at  times, 
talks  more  laxly  than  I  do."  I  ventured  to 
suggest  to  him,  that  this  was  dangerous 
from  one  of  his  authority. 

I  spoke  of  living  in  the  country,  and  up- 
on what  footing  one  should  be  with  neigh- 
bours. I  observed  that  some  people  were 
afraid  of  being  on  too  easy  a  footing  with 
them,  from  an  apprehension  that  their  time 
would  not  be  their  own.  He  made  the  ob- 
vious remark,  that  it  depended  much  on 
what  kind  of  neighbours  one  has,  whether 
it  was  desirable  to  be  on  an  easy  footing 
with  them  or  not  I  mentioned  a  certain 
baronet,  who  told  me  he  never  was  happy 
in  the  country,  till  he  was  not  on  speaking 
terms  with  his  neighbours,  which  he  con- 
trived in  different  ways  to  bring  about. 

"  Lord ,"  said  he,  "  stuck  along; 

but  at  last  the  fellow  pounded  my  pigs,  and 
then  I  got  rid  of  him."  Johnson.  "  Nay, 
sir,  my  lord  got  rid  of  Sir  John,  and  showed 
how  little  he  valued  him,  by  putting  his 
pigs  in  the  pound." 

I  told  Dr.  Johnson  I  was  in  some  diffi- 
culty how  to  act  at  Inverary.  I  had  rea- 
son to  think  that  the  Duchess  of  Argyle 
disliked  me,  on  account  of  my  zeal  in  the 
Douglas  cause.1  j  but  the  Duke  of  Argyle3 
had  always  been  pleased  to  treat  me  with 
great  civility.  They  were  now  at  the 
tastle,  which  is  a  very  short  walk  from  our 
inn;  and  the  question  was,  whether  I 
should  go  and  pay  my  respects  there.  Dr. 
Johnson,  to  whom  I  had  stated  the  case, 
was  clear  that  I  ought;  but,  in  his  usual 
way,  he  was  very  shy  of  discovering  a 
desire  to  be  invited  there  himself.  Though 
from  a  conviction  of  the  benefit  of  subordi- 
nation to  society,  he  Jias  always  shown 
great  respect  to  persons  of  high  rank,  when 
he  happened  to  be  in  their  company,  vet 
his  pride  of  character  has  ever  made  him 
guard  against  any  appearance  of  courting 
the  great  Besides,  ne  was  impatient  to 
go  to  Glasgow,  where  he  expected  letters. 


1  [Elizabeth  Gunning,  celebrated  (like  her 
sister,  Lady  Coventry)  for  her  personal  charms, 
had  been  previously  Duchess  of  Hamilton,,  and 
was  mother  of  Douglas,  Duke  of  Hamilton,  the 
competitor  for  the  Douglas  property  with  the  late 
Lord  Douglas:  she  was,  of  course,  prejudiced 
against  Boswell,  who  bad  shown  all  the  bustling 
importance  of  his  character  in  the  Douglas  cause, 
and  it  was  said,  I  know  not  on  what  authority, 
that  he  headed  the  mob  which  broke  the  windows 
of  some  of  the  judges,  and  of  Lord  Auchialeck, 
his  father,  in  particular. — Walter  Scott.] 

*  [John,  6th  Duke  of  Argyll,  who  died  in  1806, 
sBtat  88,  the  senior  officer  of  the  British  army,— 
Ed.] 


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448 


177S.— iETAT.  04. 


[tOTJ*  TO 


At  the  same  time  he  was,  I  believe,  secretly 
not  unwilling  to  have  attention  paid  him 
by  so  great  a  chieftain,  and  so  exalted  a 
nobleman.  He  insisted  that  I  should  not 
go  to  the  castle  this  day  before  dinner,  as 
tt  would  look  like  seeking  an  invitation. 
"  But,"  said  I,  "if  the  duke  invites  us  to 
dine  with  him  to-morrow,  shall  we  ac- 
cept?" "Yes,  sir,"  I  think  he  said,  "to 
be  sure."  But  he  added,  "  He  won't  ask 
us!"  I  mentioned,  that  I  was  afraid  my 
company  might  be  disagreeable  to  the 
duchess.  He  treated  this  objection  with  a 
manly  disdain:  "  That,  sir,  he  must  settle 
with  his  wife."  We  dined  well.  I  went 
to  the  castle  just  about  the  time  when  I 
supposed  the  ladies  would  be  retired  from 
dinner.  I  sent  in  my  name ;  and,  being 
shown  in,  found  the  amiable  duke  sitting 
at  the  head  of  his  table  with  several  gentle- 
men. I  was  most  politely  received,  and 
gave  his  grace  some  particulars  of  the 
curious  journey  which  I  had  been  making 
with  Dr.  Johnson.  When  we  rose  from 
table,  the  duke  said  to  me,  "  I  hope  you 
and  Dr.  Johnson  will  dine  with  us  tomor- 
row." I  thanked  his  grace;  but  told  him, 
my  friend  was  in  a  great  hurry  to  get  back 
to  London.  The  duke,  with  a  kind  com- 
placency, said,  "He  will  stay  one  day; 
and  I  will  take  care  he  shall  see  this  place 
to  advantage."  I  said,  I  should  be  sure  to 
let  him  know  his  grace's  invitation.  As  I 
was  going  away,  the  duke  said,  "  Mr.  Bos- 
well,  won't  you  have  some  tea?"  I 
thought  it  best  to  get  over  the  meeting 
with  the  duchess  this  night;  so  respectfully 
agreed.  I  was  conducted  to  the  drawing- 
room  by  the  duke,  who  announced  my 
name;  but  the  duchess,  who  was  sitting 
with  her  daughter,  Lady  Betty  Hamilton1, 
and  some  other  ladies,  took  not  the  least 
-notice  of  me.  I  should  have  been  morti- 
fied at  being  thus  coldly  received  by  a  lady 
of  whom  I,  with  the.  rest  of  the  world,  have 
always  entertained  a  very  high  admiration, 
had  I  not  been  consoled  by  the  obliging 
attention  of  the  duke. 

When  I  returned  to  the  inn,  I  informed 
Dr.  Johnson  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle's  invita- 
tion, with  which  he  was  much  pleased,  and 
readily  accepted  of  it.  We  talked  of  a 
violent  contest  which  was  then  carrying  on, 
with  a  view  to  the  next  general  election  for 
Ayrshire ;  where  one  of  the  candidates,  in 
order  to  undermine  the  old  and  established 
interest,  had  artfully  held  himself  out  as  a 
champion  for  the  independency  of  the 
county  against  aristocratick  influence,  and 
had  persuaded  several  gentlemen  into  a 
resolution  to  oppose  every  candidate  who 
was  supported  by  peers.  "Foolish  fel- 
lows ! "  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "  don't  they  see 
that  they  are  as  much  dependent  upon  the 


[Afterwards  Countess  of  Derby— Ed.] 


peers  one  way  as  the  other?  The  peers 
nave  but  to  oppose  a  candidate,  to  ensure 
him  success.  It  is  said,  the  onlv  way  to 
make  a  pig  go  forward  is  to  pull  him  back 
by  the  tail.  These  people  must  be  treated 
like  pigs." 

Monday,  Hbth  October. — My  acquaint- 
ance, the  Rev.  Mr.  John  M'Aulay,  one  of 
the  ministers  of  Inverary,  and  brother  to 
our  good  friend  at  Calder,  came  to  as  this 
morning,  and  accompanied  us  to  the  caatfe, 
where  I  presented  Dr.  Johnson  to  the 
Duke  of  Argyle.  We  were  shown  through 
the  house;  and  I  never  shall  forget  the  im- 
pression made  upon  my  fancy  by  some  of 
the  ladies'  maids  tripping  about  in  neat 
morning  dresses.  After  seeing  for  a  long 
time  little  but  rusticity,  their  lively  manner, 
and  ?ay  inviting  appearance,  pleased  me  so 
much,  that  I  thought,  for  the  moment,  I 
could  have  been  a  knight-errant  for  them  *. 

We  then  got  into  a  low  one-horse  chair, 
ordered  for  us  by  the  duke,  in  which  we 
drove  about  the  place.  Dr.  Johnson  was 
much  struck  by  the  grandeur  and  elegance 
of  this  princely  seat  He  thought,  how- 
ever, the  castle  too  low,  and  wished  it  had 
been  a  story  higher.  He  said,  "  What  I 
admire  here,  is  the  total  defiance  of  ex- 
pense." I  had  a  particular  pride  in  show- 
ing him  a  great  number  of  fine  old  trees,  to 
compensate  for  the  nakedness  which  had 
made  such  an  impression  on  him  on  the 
eastern  coast  of  Scotland. 

When  we  came  in,  before  dinner,  we 
found  the  duke  and  some  gentlemen  in  the 
hall.  Dr.  Johnson  took  much  notice  of 
the  large  collection  of  arms,  which  are  ex- 
cellently disposed  there.  I  told  what  he 
had  said  to  Sir  Alexander  M'Donald,  of 
his  ancestors  not  suffering  their  arms  to 
rust.  *  Well,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  but  let 
us  be  glad  we  live  in  times  when  arms  may 
rust.  We  can  sit  to-day  at  his  grace's  ta- 
ble, without  any  risk  of  being  attacked,  and 
perhaps  sitting  down  again  wounded  or 
maimed."  The  duke  placed  Dr.  Johnson 
next  himself  at  table.  I  was  in  fine  spirits; 
and  though  sensible  that  I  had  the  misfor- 
tune of  not  being  in  favour  with  the  duch- 
ess, I  was  not  in  the  least  disconcerted,  and 
offered  her  grace  some  of  the  dish  that  was 
before  me.  It  must  be  owned  that  I  waa 
in  the  right  to  be  quite  unconcerned,  if  I 
could.  I  was  the  Duke  of  Argyle's  guest; 
and  I  had  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
adopted  the  prejudices  and  resentments  of 
the  Duchess  of  Hamilton. 

I  knew  it  was  the  rule  of  modern  high 
life  not  to  drink  to  any  body;  hut,  that  I 
might  have  the  satisfaction  for  once  to  look 


1  On  reflection,  at  the  distance  of  seven! 
I  wonder  that  my  venerable  fellow-traveller 
have  read  this  passage  without 
levity. — Boswaxi* 


■J 


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HINLIDBt.] 

the  duchess  in  the  face,  with  a  glass  in  my 
hand,  I  with  a  respectful  air  addressed  her; 
"  My  Lady  Duchess,  I  have  the  honour  to 
drink  your  grace's  rood  health."  I  repeat- 
ed the  words  audibly,  and  with  a  steady 
countenance.  This  was,  perhaps,  rather 
too  much;  but  some  allowance  must  be 
made  for  human  feelings. 

The  duchess  was  very  attentive  to  Dr. 
Johnson.  I  know  not  how  a  middle  *tate 
came  to  be  mentioned.  Her  grace  wished 
to  hear  him  on  that  point  "  Madam,"  said 
he,  "your  own  relation,  Mr.  Archibald 
Campbell,  can  tell  you  better  about  it  than 
I  can.  He  was  a  bishop  of  the  nonjuring 
communion,  and  wrote  a  book  upon  the 
subject  K"  He  engaged  to  get  it  for  her 
grace.  He  afterwards  gave  a  full  history 
of  Mr.  Archibald  Campbell,  which  I  am 
sorry  I  do  not  recollect  particularly.  He 
amid,  Mr.  Campbell  had  been  bred  a  violent 
whig,  but  afterwards  "  kept  better  compa- 
ny y  and  became  a  tory."  He  said  this 
with  a  smile,  in  pleasant  allusion,  as  I 
thought,  to  the  opposition  between  his  own 
political  principles  and  those  of  the  duke's 
clan.  He  added  that  Mr.  Campbell,  after 
the  revolution 9,  was  thrown  into  gaol  on 
account  of  his  tenets;  but,  on  application 
by  letter  to  the  old  Lord  Townshend,  was 
released:  that  he  always  spoke  of  his  lord- 
ship with  great  gratitude,  saying, "  Though 
a  whigy  he  had  humanity." 

Dr.  Johnson  and  I  passed  some  time  to- 
ether,  in  June,  1784,  at  Pembroke  college, 
Oxford,  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Adams,  the  mas- 
ter; and  I  having  expressed  a  regret  that 
my  note  relative  to  Mr.  Archibald  Carap- 
-  •       

1  As  this  book  has  now  become  very  scarce,  I 
shall  subjoin  the  title,  which  is  carious: — "The 
Doctrines  of  a  Middle  State  between  Death  and 
the  Resurrection:  Of  Prayers  for  the  Dead:  And 
the  Necessity  of  Purification;  plainly  proved  from 
the  holy  Scriptures,  and  the  Writings  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Primitive  Church:  And  acknow- 
ledged by  several  learned  Fathers  and  great 
Divines  of  the  Church  of  England  and  others 
since  the  Reformation.  To  which  is  added,  an 
Appendix  concernins;  the  Descent  of  the  Soul  of 
Christ  into  Hell,  while  his  Body  lay  in  the  Grave. 
Together  with  the  Judgment  of  the  reverend  Dr. 
Hickes  concerning  this  Book,  so  far  as  relates  to 
s  Middle -State,  particular  Judgment,  and  Prayers 
for  the  Dead  as  it  appeared  in  the  first  Edition. 
And  a  Manuscript  of  the  right  Reverend  Bishop 
Overall  upon  the  Subject  of  a  Middle  State,  and 
never  before  printed.  Also,  a  Preservative 
against  several  of  the  Errors  of  the  Roman 
Church,  in  six  small  Treatises.  By  the  Honour- 
able Archibald  Campbell."    Folio,  1721.— Bee. 

WILL. 

*  [There  is  a  slight  error  here.  It  was  (not 
after  the  revolution  but)  after  the  acetnon  of 
the  Hanover  family,  that  thi$  transaction  occur- 
red. Lord  Townshend  was  Mt  secretary  of  state 
tlV  17S0<— Ep.] 

toi*  I.  57 


1778.— -ffiTAT.  64. 


449 


geth 
Oxfl 


bell  was  imperfect,  he  was  then  so  good  as 
to  write  with  his  own  hand,  on  the  blank 
page  of  my  journal,  opposite  to  that  which 
contains  what  I  have  now  mentioned,  the 
following1  paragraph;  which,  however,  is 
not  quite  so  full  as  the  narrative  he  gave 
at  Inverary: — 

"The  Honourable  Archibald  Campbell 
was,  I  believe,  the  nephew  3  of  the  Marquis 
of.Argyle.  He  be^an  life  by  engaging  in 
Monmouth's  rebellion,  and,  to  escape  the 
law,  lived  some  time  in  Surinam.  When 
he  returned,  he  became  zealous  for  episco- 
pacy and  monarchy;  and  at  the  revolution 
adhered  not  only  to  the  nonjurors,  but  to 
those  who  refused  to  communicate  with  the 
church  of  England,  or  to  be  present  at  any 
worship  where  the  usurper  was  mentioned 
as  king.  He  was,  I  believe,  more  than  onoe 
apprehended  in  the  reign  of  King  William, 
and  once  at  the  accession  of  George.  He 
was  the  familiar  friend  of  Hicks  and  Nelson ; 
a  man  of  letters,  but  injudicious;  and  very 
curious  and  inquisitive,  out  credulous.  He 
lived  in  1749,  or  '44,  about  seventy-five 
years  old." 

The  subject  of  luxury  having  been  intro- 
duced, Dr.  Johnson  defended  it.  "We 
have  now,"  said  he,  "  a  splendid  dinner 
before  us ;  which  of  all  these  dishes  is  un- 
wholesome?" The  duke  asserted,  that  he 
had  observed  the  grandees  of  Spain  dimin- 
ished in  their  size  by  luxury.  Dr.  Johnson 
politely  refrained  from  opposing  directly  an 
observation  which  the  duke  himself  had 
made;  but  said,  "  Man  must  be  very  differ- 
ent from  other  animals,  if  he  is  diminished 
by  good  living;  for  the  size  of  ail  other  ani- 
mals is  increased  by  it"  I  made  some 
remark  that  seemed  to  imply  a  belief  in 
gecond-rieht.  The  duchess  said,  "  I  fancy 
you  will  be  a  methodist."  This  was  the 
only  sentence  her  grace  deigned  to  utter  to 
me;  and  I  take  it  for  granted,  she  thought 
it  a  good  hit  on  my  credulity  in  the  Doug- 
las cause. 

A  gentleman  in  company,  after  dinner, 
was  desired  by  the  duke  to  go  to  another 
room,  for  a  specimen  of  curious  marble, 
which  his  grace  wished  to  show  us.  He 
brought  a  wrong  piece,  upon  which  the 
duke  sent  him  back  again.  He  could  not 
refuse;  but,  to  avoid  any  appearance  of 
servility,  he  whistled  as  he  walked  out  of 
the  room,  to  show  his  independency.  On 
my  mentioning  this  afterwards  to  Dr.  John* 
son,  he  said,  it  was  a  nice  trait  of  character. 

Dr.  Johnson  talked  a  great  deal,  and  was 
so  entertaining,  that  Lady  Betty  Hamilton, 
after  dinner,  went  and  placed  herchairciose 


3  [He  was  the  marquis's  grandson,  son  of  ha 
second  son,  Lord  Neil  Campbell.  He  was  a 
bishop  of  the  episcopal  church  m  Scotland,  and 
died  b  London  in  1744.— Ed.] 


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450 


1773.— iETAT.  64. 


to  his,  leaned  upon  the  back  of  it,  and  ligh- 
tened eagerly.  It  would  have  made  a  fine 
picture  to  have  drawn  the  sage  and  her  at 
this  time  in  their  several  attitudes.  He  did 
not  know,  all  the  while,  how  much  he  was 
honoured.  I  told  him  afterwards,  I  never 
saw  him  so  gentle  and  complaisant  as  this 
day*. 

We  went  to  tea.  The  duke  and  I  walked 
up  and  down  the  drawing-room,  conversing. 
The  duchess  still  continued  to  show  the  same 
marked  coldness  for  me ;  for  which,  though  I 
suffered  from  it,  I  made  every  allowance, 
considering  the  very  warm  part  that  I  had 
taken  for  Douglas,  in  the  cause  in  which 
she  thought  her  son  deeply  interested. 
Had  not  her  grace  discovered  some  dis- 
pleasure towards  me,  I  should  have  sus- 
pected her  of  insensibility  or  dissimulation. 

Her  grace  made  Dr.  Johnson  come  and 
sit  by  her,  and  asked  him  why  he  made  his 
journey  so  late  in  the  year.  "  Why, 
madam,"  said  he,  "  you  know  Mr.  Boswell 
must  attend  the  court  of  session,  and  it  does 
not  rise  till  the  twelfth  of  August."  She 
said,  with  some  sharpness,  "  I  knout  nothing 
of  Mr.  Boswell.*'  Poor  Lady  Lucy  Doug- 
las9, to  whom  I  mentioned  this,  observed, 
"  She  knew  too  much  of  Mr.  Boswell."  I 
Bhall  make  no  remark  on  her  grace's  speech. 
I  indeed  felt  it  as  rather  too  severe;  but 
when  I  recollected  that  my  punishment  was 
inflicted  by  so  dignified  a  beauty,  I  had  that 
kind  of  consolation  which  a  man  would  feel 
who  is  strangled  by  a  silken  cord.  Dr. 
Johnson  was  all  attention  to  her  grace. 
He  used  afterwards  a  droll  expression,  upon 
her  enjoying  the  three  titles  of  Hamilton, 
Brandon,  and  Argyle.  Borrowing  an  image 
from  the  Turkish  empire,  he  called  her  a 
ducket*  with  three  tails. 

He  was  much  pleased  with  our  visit  at 
the  castle  of  Inverary.  The  Duke  of  Ar- 
gyle was  exceedingly  polite  to  him,  and, 
upon  his  complaining  of  the  shelties  which 
he  had  hitherto  ridden  being  too  small  for 
him,  his  grace  told  him  he  should  be  provi- 
ded with  a  good  horse  to  carry  him  next 
day. 

Mr.  John  M'Aulay  passed  the  evening 
with  us  at  our  inn.  When  Dr.  Johnson 
spoke  of  people  whose  principles  were  good, 
but  whose  practice  was  faulty,  Mr.  M'Au- 
lay  said,  he  had  no  notion  of  people  being 
in  earnest  in  their  good  professions,  whose 
practice  was  not  suitable  to  them.  The 
Doctor  grew  warm,  and  said,  "  Sir,  are  you 
so  grossly  ignorant  of  human  nature,  as  not 
to  know  that  a  man  may  be  very  sincere  in 


1  [Became,  perhaps,  he  bad  never  before  seen 
him  in  such  high  company. — Ed.] 

1  [Lady  Lacy  Graham,  daughter  of  the  second 
Duke  of  Montrose,  and  wife  of  Mr.  Douglas,  the 
successful  claimant:  she  died  in  1780,  whence 
Mr.  Boswell  calls  her  poor  Lady  Lucy— Ed.] 


[tour  to  thk 

good  principles,  without  having  good  prac- 
tice?" 

Dr.  Johnson  was  unquestionably  in  the 
right;  and  whoever  examines  himself  can* 
didly  will  be  satisfied  of  it,  though  the  in- 
consistency between  principles  and  prac- 
tice is  greater  in  some  men  than  in  others* 

I  recollect  very  little  of  this  night's  con- 
versation. I  am  sorry  that  indolence  came 
upon  me  towards  the  conclusion  of  our 
journey,  so  that  I  did  not  write  down  what 
passed  with  the  same  assiduity  as  during 
the  greatest  part  of  it. 

Tuesday,  26<A  October— Mr.  M'Aalay 
breakfasted  with  us,  nothing  hurt  or  dis- 
mayed by  his  last  night's  correction.  Be- 
ing a  man  of  good  sense,  he  had  a  just  ad- 
miration of  Dr.  Johnson. 

Either  yesterday  morning,  or  this,  I 
communicated  to  Dr.  Johnson,  from  Mr. 
M'Aulay  >s  information,  the  news  that  Dr. 
Beattie  had  got  a  pension  of  two  hundred 
pounds  a  year.  He  sat  up  in  his  bed, 
clapped  his  hands,  and  cried,  "  O  brave 
we ! " — a  peculiar  exclamation  of  his  when 
he  rejoices  3. 

As  we  sat  over  our  tea,  Mr.  Home's 
tragedy  of  Douglas  was  mentioned.  I  pot 
Dr.  Johnson  in  mind,  that  once,  in  a  cooae- 
house  at  Oxford,  he  called  to  old  Mr.  Sher- 
idan, "  How  came  you,  sir,  to  give  Home 
a  gold  medal  for  writing  that  foolish  play?'* 
and  defied  Mr.  Sheridan  tp  show  ten  good 
lines  in  it.  He  did  not  insist  they  should 
be  together j  but  that  there. were  not  ten 
good  lines  in  the  whole  play.  He  now 
persisted  in  this.  I  endeavoured  to  defend 
that  pathetick  and  beautiful  tragedy,  and 
repeated  the  following  passage: 


'Sincerity, 


Thon  firet  of  virtues!  let  no  mortal  leave 
Thy  onward  path,  although  the  earth  should  gape, 
And  from  the  golf  of  hell  destruction  cry , 
To  take  dissimulation's  winding  way." 

JotoNso*.  "  That  will  not  do,  sir.  Noth- 
ing is  good  but  what  is  consistent  with 
truth  or  probability,  which  this  is  not. 
Juvenal,  indeed,  gives  us  a  noble  picture  of 
inflexible  virtue: 

"  Esto  bonus  miles,  tutor  bonus,  arbiter  idem 
Integer:  ambigue  si  quando  citabere  testis, 
Incerueque  rei,  Pbalaris  licet  imperet,  at  sis 
Falsus,  et  admoto  dictet  perjoria  tamo, 
Summum  crede  nefas  animam  pncierre  pudori, 
Et  propter  vitam  vhrendi  perdere  causes  «." 

•  Having  mentioned,  more  than  once,  that  m? 
Journal  was  perused  by  Dr.  Johnson,  I  dunk  a 
proper  to  inform  my  readers  that  this  is  the  last 
paragraph  which  be  read. — Boswsu* 

*  **  An  honest  guardian,  arbitrator  Just, 
Be  thou;  thy  station  deem  a  sacred  trust. 

With  thy  good  sword  maintain  thy  eeentry^  casst}  , 
In  every  action  venerate  its  lane : 
The  lie  suborn 'd  if  adsely  urged  to  swear, 
Though  torture  watt  thee,  teeters  tar/ sear) 


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H2BBI&18.]  1773.— JSTAT.  64. 

\  He  repeated  the  lines  with  great  force 
and  dignity;  then  aplded,  "  And,  after  this, 
comes  Johnny  Home,  with  his  earth  gaping, 
and  his  destruction  crying — pooh1 !  " 

While  we  were  lamenting  the  number  of 
rained  religious  buildings  which  we  had 
lately  seen,  I  spoke  with  peculiar  feeling 
of  the  miserable  neglect  of  the  chapel  be- 
longing to  the  palace  of  Holyrood-house,  in 
which  are  deposited  the  remains  of  many 
of  the  kings  of  Scotland,  and  of  many  of 
oar  nobility.  I  said  it  was  a  disgrace  to 
the  country  that  it  was  not  repaired:  and 
particularly  complained  that  my  friend 
Douglas,  the  representative  of  a  great 
house,  and  proprietor  of  a  vast  estate,  should 
auffer  the  sacred  spot  where  his  mother 
lies  interred  to  be  unroofed,  and  exposed 
co  all  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather.  Dr. 
Johnson,  who,  I  knew  not  how,  had  formed 
an  opinion  on  the  Hamilton  side  a,  in  the 
Douglas  cause,  slily  answered,  "  Sir,  sir, 
do  nt  be  too  severe  upon  the  gentleman; 
don't  accuse  him  of  want  of  filial  piety! 
Lady  Jane  Douglas  was  not  Ms  mother." 
He  roused  my  zeal  so  much  that  I  took  the 
liberty  to  tell  him  he  knew  nothing  of  the 
cause:  which  I  do  most  seriously  believe 
was  the  case. 

We  ware  now**  in  a  country  of  bridles 
and  saddles,"  and  set  out  fully  equipped. 
The  Duke  of  Argyle  was  obliging  enough 
to  mount  Dr.  Johnson  on  a  stately  steed 
from  his  grace's  stable.  My  friend  was 
highly  pleased,  and  Joseph  said,  "  He  now 
looks  like  a  bishop." 

We  dined  at  the  inn  at  Tarbat,  and  at 
night  came  to  Rosedow,  the  beautiful  seat 
of  Sir  James  Colquhoun,  on  the  banks  of 
Lochiomond,  where  I,  and  any  friends 
whom  I  have  introduced,  have  ever  been 
received  with  kind  and  elegant  hospitality. 

Wednesday,  27th  October.— When  I 
went  into  Dr.  Johnson's  room  this  morn- 
ing, I  observed  to  him  how  wonderfully 
courteous  he  had  been  at  Inverary,  and 
said,  "  You  were  quite  a  fine  gentleman 
when  with  the  duchess."  He  answered, 
in  good  humour,  \\  Sir,  I  look  upon  myself 
as  a  very  polite  man:"  and  he  was  right,  in 


To  forfeit  honour,  think  the  highest  shame, 
And  life  too  dearly  bought  by  loss  of  feme  \ 
Nor,  to  preserve  It,  with  thy  virtue  give 
That  for  which  only  man  should  wish  to  live." 

^  For  this  and  the  other  translations  to  which  no 
signature  is  affixed,  I  am  indebted  to  the  friend 
whose  observations  are  mentioned  in  the  notes, 
ante,  p.  347,  or  post,  p.  465. — Boswbll. 
[Probably  Dr.  Hugh  Blair.— Ed.] 

1  I  am  sorry  that  I  was  unlucky  in  my  quota- 
tion. Bat  notwithstanding  the  acuteness  of  Dr. 
Johnson's  criticism,  and  the  power  of  his  ridicule, 
the  tragedy  of  Douglas  still  continues  to  be  gen- 
erally and  deservedly  admired. — Boswell. 
*  [8ee  ante,  p.  812  and  829.— Ed.] 


451 

a  proper  manly  sense  of  the  word  \  As  an 
immediate  proof  of  it,  let  me  observe  that 
he  would  not  send  back  the  Duke  of  Ar- 
gyle's  horse  without  a  letter  of  thanks, 
which  I  copied. 

"to  his  grace  the  duke  op  arotle. 

"  Rosedow,  29th  Oct.  1773. 

"  My  lord, — That  kindness  which  dis- 
posed your  grace  to  supply  me  with  the 
horse,  which  I  have  now  returned,  will 
make  you  pleased  to  hear  that  he  has  car- 
ried me  well. 

"  By  my  diligence  in  the  little  commis- 
sion with  which  I  was  honoured  by  the 
duchess,  I  will  endeavour  to  show  how 
highly  I  value  the  favours  which  I  have 
received,  and  how  much  I  desire  to  be 
thought,  my  lord,  your  grace's  most  obe- 
dient and  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

The  duke  was  so  attentive  to  his  respecta- 
ble guest,  that,  on  the  same  day,  he  wrote 
him  an  answer,  which  was  received  at  Au- 
chinleck: 

"TO     DR.  JOHNSON,    AUCHINLECK,    AYR- 
SHIRE. 

"  Inverary,  29th  Oct.  1773. 

"  Sir, — I  am  glad  to  hear  your  journey 
from  tins  place  was  not  unpleasant,  in  re- 
gard to  your  horse.  I  wisn  I  could  have 
supplied  you  with  good  weather,  which  I 
am  afraid  you  felt  the  want  of. 

"  The  Duchess  of  Argyle  desires  her 
compliments  to  you,  and  is  much  obliged  to 
you  for  remembering  her  commission.  I 
am,  sir,  your  most  obedient  humble  ser- 
vant, "  Arotle." 

I  am  happy  to  insert  every  memorial  of 
the  honour  done  to  my  great  friend.  In- 
deed, I  was  at  all  times  desirous  to  preserve 
the  letters  which  he  received  from  eminent 
persons,  of  which,  as  of  all  other  papers,  he 
was  very  negligent;  and  I  once  proposed  to 
him  that  they  should  be  committed  to  my 
care,  as  his  custoe  rotulorum.  I  wish  he 
had  complied  with  my  request,  as  by  that 
means  many  valuable  writings  might  have 
been  preserved  that  are  now  lost4. 


3  [Not  to  interrupt  the  narrative  of  the  Tour, 
some  elucidations  of  Johnson's  opinion  of  his  own 
politeness  are  thrown  forward  to  80th  April, 
1778.— Ed.] 

4  As  a  remarkable  instance  of  his  negligence,  I 
remember  some  years  ago  to  have  found  lying 
loose  in  his  study,  and  without  the  cover  which 
contained  the  address,  a  letter  to  him  from  Lord 
Thnrlow,  to  whom  he  had  made  an  application 
as  chancellor,  in  behalf  of  a  poor  literary  friend. 
It  was  expressed  in  such  terms  of  respect  lor  Dr. 
Johnson,  that,  in  my  zeal  for  his  reputation,  I 
remonstrated  warmly  with  him  on  his  strange  in- 


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1773.— jETAT.  64. 


[tOU*  T# 


After  breakfast,  Dr.  Johnson  and  I  were 
furnished  with  a  boat,  and  sailed  about  up- 
on Lochlomond,  and  landed  on  some  of  the 
islands  which  are  interspersed.  He  was 
much  pleased  with  the  scene,  which  is  so 
well  known  by  the  accounts  of  various  trav- 
ellers, that  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  at- 
tempt any  description  of  it. 

I  recollect  none  of  his  conversation,  ex- 
cept that,  when  talking  of  dress,  he  said, 
"  Sir,  were  I  to  have  any  thing  fine,  it 
should  be  very  fine.  Were  I  to  wear  a 
ring,  it  should  not  be  a  bauble,  but  a  stone 
of  great  value.  Were  I  to  wear  a  laced  or 
embroidered  waistcoat,  it  should  be  very 
rich.  I  had  once  a  very  rich  laced  waist- 
coat, which  I  wore  the  first  night  of  my 
tragedy." 

Lady*  Helen  Colquhoun  being  a  very 
pious  woman,  the  conversation,  after  -din- 
ner, took  a  religious  turn.  Her  ladyship 
defended  the  presbyterian  mode  of  publick 
worship;  upon  which  Dr.  Johnson  deliver- 
ed those  excellent  arguments  for  a  form  of 
prayer  which  he  has  introduced  into  his 
"  Journey."  I  am  myself  fully  convinced 
that  a  form  of  prayer  for  publick  worship  is 
in  general  most  decent  and  edifying.  &o- 
lennia  verba  have  a  kind  of  prescriptive 
sanctity,  and  make  a  deeper  impression  on 
the  mind  than  extemporaneous  effusions,  in 
which,  as  we  know  not  what  they  are  to 
be,  we  cannot  readily,  acquiesce.  Yet  I 
would  allow  also  of  a  certoin  portion  of 
extempore  address,  as  occasion  may  re- 
quire. 

This  is  the  practice  of  the  French  Protes- 
tant churches.  And  although  the  office  of 
forming  supplications  to  the  throne  of  Hea- 
ven is,  in  my  mind,  too  great  a  trust  to  be 
indiscriminately  committed  to  the  discretion 
of  every  minister,  I  do  not  mean  to  deny 
that  sincere  devotion  may  be  experienced 
when  joining  in  prayer  with  those  who  use 
no  Liturgy. 

We  were  favoured  with  Sir  James  Col- 
quhoun's  coach  to  convey  us  in  the  evening 
to  Cameron,  the  seat  of  Commissary  Smol- 
let3.    Our  satisfaction  of  finding  ourselves 


attention,  and  obtained  his  permission  to  take  a 
copy  of  it;  by  which  probably  it  has  been  pre- 
served, as  the  original  I  have  reason  to  suppose  is 
lost.— Bos  well,  [dee  pott,  24th  Oct  1780. — 
Ed.] 

1  [The  Honourable  Helen  Sutherland,  eldest 
daughter  of  Lord  Strathnaver,  who  died  before 
his  father,  the  fifteenth  Earl  of  Sutherland.  She 
died  in  1791.  If  Boswell  is  right  in  calling  her 
Lady  Helen,  and  as  her  sister  was  called  Lady 
Jane  Sinclair,  they  must  have  had  a  grant  of 
precedence  as  earl's  daughters. — Ed.] 

3  [Commissary  Smollet  was  the  cousin-merman 
of  Dr.  Smollet:  he  died  without  issue;  and  the 
family  estate  would  have  descended  to  the  doctor 

had  he  been  alive,  but  his  sister  succeeded  to  it 

Ed.] 


again  in  a  comfortable  carriage  was  vm 

rt  We  had  a  pleasing  conviction  or 
commodiousness  of  civilization,  and 
heartily  laughed  at  the  ravings  of  those  ab- 
surd visionaries  who  have  attempted  to  per- 
suade us  of  the  superior  advantages  of  a 
state  of  nature. 

Mr.  Smollet  was  a  man  of  considerable 
learning,  with  abundance  of  animal  spirits; 
so  that  he  was  a  very  good  companion  for 
Dr.  Johnson,  who  said  to  me,  "  We  have 
had  more  solid  talk  here  than  at  any  place 
where  we  have  been." 

I  remember  Dr.  Johnson  gave  us  this 
evening*  an  able  and  eloquent  discourse  on 
the  Origin  of  Evil,  and  on  the  consistency 
of  moral  evil  with  the  power  and  goodness 
of  God.  He  showed  us  how  it  arose  from 
our  free  agency,  an  extinction  of  which 
would  he  a  still  greater  evil  than  any  we 
experience.  I  know  not  that  he  said  any 
thing  absolutely  new*  but  he  said  a  great 
deal  wonderfully  well:  and  perceiving  us  to 
be  delighted  and  satisfied,  he  concluded  his 
harangue  with  an  air  of  benevolent  triumph 
over  an  objection  which  has  distressed 
many  worthy  minds:  "  This  then  is  the 
answer  to  the  question,  rid*  «r»  k«s»  *:" 
Mrs.  Smollet  whispered  me,  that  it  was 
the  best  sermon  she  had  ever  heard.  Much 
do  I  upbraid  myself  for  having  neglected 
to  preserve  it. 

Tkureday,  S8&  October.— Mr.  Smollet 

£  eased  Dr.  Johnson,  by  producing  a  evi- 
ction of  newspapers  m  the  time  of  the 
usurpation,  from  which  it  appeared  that  all 
sorts  of  crimes  were  very  frequent  during 
that  horrible  anarchy.  By  the  side  of  the 
high  road  to  Glasgow,  at  some  distance 
from  his  house,  he  bad  erected  a  pillar  to 
the  memory  of  his  ingenious  kinsman,  Dr. 
Smollet;  and  he  consulted  Dr.  Johnson  as 
to  an  inscription  for  it  Lord  Karnes,  who, 
though  he  had  a  great  store  of  knowledge, 
with  much  ingenuity,  and  uncommon  ac- 
tivity of  mind,  was  no  profound  scholar, 
had  it  seems  recommended  an  English  in- 
scription. Dr.  Johnson  treated  this  with 
great  contempt,  saying,  "An  English  in- 
scription would  be  a  disgrace  to  Dr.  Smol- 
let «;"  and,  in  answer  to  what  Lord  Karnes 
had  urged,  as  to- the  advantage  of  its  being 
in  English,  because  it  would  be  generally 
understood,  I  observed,  that  all  to  whom 
Dr.  Smollet'8  merit  could  be  an  object  of 
respect  and  imitation  would  understand  it 
as  well  in  Latin  :  and  that  surely  it  was  not 
meant  for  the  Highland  drovers,  or  other 
such  people,  who  pass  and  repass  that  way. 


*  [Whence  i* evil  1— Ed.] 

*  [See  ante,  p.  873,  what  the  Editor  has  fea- 
tured, to  advance  in  favour  of  English  inscriptions. 
How  should  an  English  inscription  disgrace  Dr. 
Smollet,  whose  fame  is  exclusively  that  of  as 
English  writer  ?— En.] 


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"a-HENEW  YORK 

PCBLICL1BR&W 

r   MfTOB,  L6HOK  MW 
,'   I06H  TOUNOATIOM*. 


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H»RH>K8.] 


1778.— jETAT.  64. 


4» 


We  were  then  shown  a  Latin  inscrip- 
tion, proposed  for  this  monument.  Dr. 
Johnson  sat  down  with  an  ardent  and  lib- 
eral earnestness  to  revise  it,  and  greatly 
improved  it  by  several  additions  and  varia- 
tions. I  unfortunately  did  not  take  a  copy 
of  it,  as  it  originally  stood;  but  I  have 
happily  preserved  every  fragment  of  what 
Dr.  Johnson  wrote: 

Qnisquis  ades,  viator, 

Vel  roente  felix,  vel  studiis  cultus, 

Immonure  paululum  memoriae 

TOBLE  SMOLLET,  M.  D. 

Viri  iis  virtutibus 

Qnas  in  homine  et  cive 

£t  laudes,  et  imiteria, 

*    *    *    •     •    • 

Postquam  miia  *  *  * 
Se    •    *    •    •    •    » 

•  •    *    •    * 

Tali  tantoque  viro,  boo  patrneli, 

*  *    •    •    * 

Hane  ooh 

Amoris  ehen!  inane  monu 

In  ipns  Levinis  ripis, 

Qnas  primis  infans  vagitibus  peraonuk, 

Verskulisque  jam  fere  moritums  iUustravit, 

Ponendam  curavit1 

*******    *a 

We  had  this  morning  a  singular  proof  of 
Dr.  Johnson's  quick  and  retentive  memory. 
Hay's  translation  of"  Martial "  was  lying  in 
a  window;  I  said,  I  thought  it  was  pretty 


1  The  epitaph  which  has  been  inscribed  on  the 
pillar  erected  on  the  banks  of  the  Leven,  in 
honour  of  Dr.'Smollet,  is  as  follows.  The  part 
which  was  written  by  Dr.  Johnson,  it  appears, 
has  been  altered;  whether  for  the  better,  the 
reader  will  judge.  The  alterations  are  distin- 
gukbed  by  Itahcks. 

State  viator! 
81  toporaa  ingeattqiw  venam  benignant, 

***        am  callkuaaimum  ptetorem, 
Unqu&m  ea  mlratua, 


Immorare  mrIi 

TOBUE  SMOLLET,  M.  II. 

Viri  Tirtutibos  kitce 

Qnaain  homine  et  dre 

fit  Imudei  et  imiteria 

Hand  mediocriter  ornati: 

Qui  In  Uteri*  yarua  venatua, 

Fpatquam  felicitate  sibi  propria 

■see  poateria  eommendaverat, 

iforte  acerba  raptue 

Anno  0tatb  51. 

Ehen !  quam  procul  a  patria ! 

Prope  Ljburni  portnm  in  Italia, 

Jacet  aepultua. 

Tali  tantoque  viro,  petrueli  too, 

Cot  in  decurau  lampada 

Be  potlna  tradkttaae  decuit, 

Banc  Columnam, 

▲mori*.  ehen !  Inane  monumentum, 

In  ipals  Levinie  ripla, 

Qua*  verticuH*  tub  exitu  vita  illuitratu* 

Mnua  infrna  vagitfbua  peraonuit, 

Ponendam  curavit 

Jaoosua  Smollbt  de  Bonhill. 

-  AW  et  reminiaeere, 

Hoe  quiden  bonore, 

Non  modo  denmeii  memorial, 

Varum  etlam  exemplo,  proapectum  eaae; 

Allia  enim,  ai  modo  digni  tint, 
**_  _,.  _. . _l 


well  done,  and  showed  him  a  particular 
epigram,  I  think,  often,  but  am  certain  of 
eight  lines.     He*  read  it,  and  towed  away 


he  repeated  it,  "  and  this  man's  translation 
is  thus,"  and  then  he  repeated  that  also, 
exactly,  though  he  had  never  seen  it  be- 
fore, and  read  it  over  only  once,  and  that, 
too,  without  any  intention  of  getting  it 
by  heart 

Here  a  post-chaise,  which  I  had  ordered 
from  Glasgow,  came  for  us,  and  we  drove 
on  in  high  spirits.  We  stopped  at  Dunbar- 
ton,  and  though  the  approach  to  the  castle 
there  is  very  steep,  Dr.  Johnson  ascended 
it  with  alacrity,  and  surveyed  all  that  was 
to  be  seen.  During  the  whole  of  our  Tour 
he  showed  uncommon  spirit,  could  not  bear 
to  be  treated  like  an  old  or  infirm  man,  and 
was  very  unwilling  to  accept  of  any  assist* 
ance,  insomuch  that,  at  our  landing  at 
Icolmkill,  when  Sir  Allan  M'Lean  and  I 
submitted  to  be  carried  on  men's  shoulders 
from  the  boat  to  the  shore,  as  it  could  not 
be  brought  quite  close  to  land,  he  sprang 
into  the  sea,  and  waded  vigorously  out. 

On  our  arrival  at  the  Sar  n's-head  inn, 
at  Glasgow,  I  was  made  i^ppy  by  good 
accounts  from  home ;  and  Dr.  Johnson, 
who  had  not 'received  a  single  letter  since 
we  left  Aberdeen,  found  here  a  great  many, 
the  perusal  of  which  entertained  him  much. 
He  enjoyed  in  imagination  the  comforts 
which  we  could  not  now  command,  and 
seemed  to  be  in  high  glee.  I  remem- 
ber, he  put  a  leg  upon  each  aide  of  the  grate, 
and  said,  with  a  mock  solemnity,  by  way 
of  soliloquy,  but  loud  enough  for  me  to 
hear  it,  "  Here  am  I,  an  Engli* Aman,  sit- 
ting by  a  coal  fire." 

Friday,  29*A  October.— The  professors 
of  the  university  being  informed  of  our 
arrival,  Dr.  Stevenson,  Dr.  Reid,  and  Mr. 
Anderson,  breakfasted  with  us.  Mr.  An- 
derson accompanied  us  while  Dr.  Johnson 
viewed  this  beautiful  city.  He  had  told 
me,  that  one  day  in  London,  when  Dr. 
Adam  Smith  2  was  boasting  of  it,  he  turned 


9  [Mr.  Boswell  has  chosen  to  omit,  for  reasons 
which  will  be  presently  obvious,  that  Johnson  and 
Adam  Smith  met  at  Glasgow;  but  I  have  been 
assured  by  Professor  John  Miller  that  they  did  so, 
and  that  Smith,  leaving  the  party  in  which  he 
had  met  Johnson,  happened  to  come  to  another 
company  where  Miller  was.  Knowing  that 
Smith  had  been  in  Johnson 's  society,  they  were 
anxious  to  know  what  had  passed,  and  the  more 
so  as  Dr.  Smith's  temper  seemed  much  ruffled. 
At  first  Smith  would  only  answer,  "  He's  a  brute 
—  he's  a  brute  ;"  bat  on  closer  examination,  it 
appeared  that  Johnson  no  sooner  saw  Smith  than 
he  attacked  him  for  some  point  of  hia  famous 
letter  on  the  death  of  Hume  {ante,  p.  829,  »). 
Smith   vindicated  the  truth  of  his 


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454 


mtWJRAT.  64. 


[TOU&  TO 


to  him  and  taid,  "  Pray,  air,  hare  you  aver 
seen  Brentford?"  This  was  rarely  a  strong 
instance  of  his  impatience,  and  spirit  of 
contradiction.  I  pnt  him  in  mind  of  it  to- 
day, while  he  expressed  his  admiration  of 
the  elegant  buildings,  and  whispered  him, 
"  Don't  yon  feel  some  remorse?  " 

We  were  received  in  the  college  by  a 
number  of  the  professors,  who  showed,  all 
due  respect  to  Dr.  Johnson:  and  then  we 
paid  a  visit  to  the  principal,  Dr.  Leechmani, 
at  his  own  house,  where  Dr.  Johnson  had 
the  satisfaction  of  being  told  that  his  name 
had  been  gratefully  celebrated  in  one  of  the 
parochial  congregations  in  the  Highlands, 
as  the  person  to  whose  influence  it  was 
chiefly  owing,  that  the  New  Testament 
was  allowed  to  be  translated  into  the  Erse 
language.  It  seems  some  poli ticai  members 
of  the  society  in  Scotland  for  propagating 
Christian  Knowledge  had  opposed  this 
pious  undertaking,  as  tending  to  preserve 
the  distinction  between  the  Highlanders  and 
Lowlandem.  Dr.  -Johnson  wrote  a  long 
letter  upon  thft  subject  to  a  friend  [Mr. 
Drummond],  which  being  shown  to  them, 
made  them  ashamed,  and  afraid  of  being 
publicly  exposed;  so  they  were  forced  to  a 
compuance.  it  is  now  in  my  possession, 
and  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  best  productions 
of  his  masterly  pen  9. 

Professors  Reid  and  Anderson,  and  the 
two  Messieurs  Foulis,  the  Elzevirs  of  Glas- 
gow, dined  and  drank  tea  with  us  at  our  inn, 
after  which  the  professors  went  away;  and 
I,  having  a  letter  to  write,  left  my  fellow- 
traveller  with  Messieurs  Foulis.  Though 
good  and  ingenious  men,  they  had  that 
unsettled  speculative  mode  of  conversation 
which  is  offensive  to  a  man  regularly  taught 
at  an  English  school  and  university.  I 
found  that,  instead  of  listening  to  the  dic- 
tates of  the  sage,  they  had  teased  him  with 
questions  and  doubtful  disputations.  He 
came  in  a  flutter  to  me,  and  desired  I  might 
come  back  again,  for  he  could  not  bear 
these  men.  "  O  ho!  sir,"  said  I,  "  you  are 
flying  to  me  for  refuge!"  He  never,  in 
any  situation,  was  at  a  loss  for  a  ready  re- 
partee. He  answered,  with  quick  vivacity, 
"  It  is  of  two  evils  choosing  the  least."  I 
was  delighted  with  this  flash  bursting  from 
the  cloud  which  hung  upon  his  mind,  closed 
my  letter  directly,  and  joined  the  company. 

We   supped    at    professor    Anderson's. 


"  What  did  Johnson  say  ?  "  was  the  universal  in- 
quiry. "  Why,  he  said,"  replied  Smith,  with 
the  deepest  impression  of  resentment,  "  he  said, 
you  lie !  "    •«  And  what  did  you  reply  ?»»     '« I 

said,  you  are  a  son  of  a i"    On  such  terms 

did  these  two  great  moralists  meet  and  part,  and 
such  was  the  classical  dialogue  between  two  great 
teachers  of  philosophy. — Walt  eh  Scott.] 

1  [See  ante,  p.  344.— En.] 

*  [Printed  ante,  p.  285 — Ed.] 


The  general  impression  upon  my  memory 
is*  that  we. had  not  much  conversation  at 
Glasgow,  where  the  professors,  like  their 
brethren  at  Aberdeen,  did  not  venture  to 
expose  themselves  much  to  the  battery  of 
cannon  which  they  knew  might  play  upon 
them3.  Dr.  Johnson,  who  was  fully  con- 
scious of  his  own  superior  powers,  afterwards 
praised  Principal  Rdbertson,  for  his  caution 
in  this  respect.  He  said  to  me,  "  Robert- 
son, Bir,  was  in  the  right.  Robertson  is  a 
man  of  eminence,  and  the  head  of  a  college 
at  Edinburgh.  He  had  a  character  to 
maintain,  and  did  well  not  to  risk  its  being 
lessened.'9 

Saturday,  90th  October.— We  set  out 
towards  Ayrshire.  I  sent  Joseph  on  to 
Loudoun,  with  a  message,  that,  if  the  eart 
was  at  home,  Dr.  Johnson  and  I  would 
have  the  honour  to  dine  with  him.  Joseph 
met  us  on  the  road,  and  reported  that  the 
earl  "jumped  for  joy,"  and  said,  "  I  shall 
be  very  happy  to  see  them."  We  were  re- 
ceived with  a  most  pleasing  courtesy  by  his 
lordship,  and  by  the  countess  his  mother4, 
who,  in  her  ninety-fifth  year,  had  all  her 
faculties  quite  unimpaired.  This  was  a 
very  cheering  si(jht  to  Dr.  Johnson,  who 
had  an  extraordinary  desire  fbr  long  life. 
Her  ladyship  was  sensible  and  well  inform- 
ed, and  had  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world. 
Her  lord  had  held  several  high  offices,  and 
she  was  sister  to  the  great  Earl  of  Stair. 

I  cannot  here  refrain  from  payinga  inst 
tribute  to  the  character  of  John,  Earl  of 
Loudoun5,  who  did  more  service  to   the 


*  [Boswell  himaelf  was  callous  to  the  coniaeis 
of  Dr.  Johnson;  and  when  telling  them,  always 
reminds  one  of  a  jocky  receiving  a  kick  from  the 
horse  which  he  is  showing  off  to  a  customer,  and 
is  grinning  with  pain  while  he  is  trying  to  cry  out, 
"Pretty  rogue— no  vice— all  fan.*'  To  him 
Johnson's  rudeness  was  only  €*  pretty  Fattens/** 
tray."  Dr.  Robertson  had  a  sense  of  good- 
breeding  which  inclined  him  rather  to  forego  die 
benefit  of  Johnson's  conversation  than  awaken 
his  rudeness. — Walteb  Scott.] 

4  [Lady  Margaret  Dalrvmple,  sinly  daughter  of 
John,  Earl  of  Stair,  married,  in  1700,  to  Hugh, 
third  Earl  of  Loudoun.  She  died  in  1777,  aged 
one  hundred.  Of  this  venerable  lady,  and  of  tiae 
Countess  of  Eglintoune,  whom  Johnson  visited 
next  day,  he  thus  speaks  in  his  Journey: 
"  Length  of  life  is  distributed  ynparoally  to  very 
different  modes  of  life  in  very  different  climates; 
and  the  mountains  have  no  greater  examples  of 
age  and  health  than  the  Lowlands,  where  I  was 
introduced  to  two  ladies  of  high  quality,  one  of 
whom  (Lady  Uradoun),  in  her  ninety-fourth 
year,  presided  at  her  table  with  the  fatt  exercise 
of  all  her  powers;  and  the  other  (Lady  Eglintoune) 
had  attained  her  eighty-fourth  year,  without  any 
diminution  of  her  vivacity,  and  utile  reason  to  ac- 
cuse time  of  depredations  on  her  beauty.*' — 
Works,  vol.  viiL  p.  Sit.— Ed.] 

•  [Fourth  Earl,  bom  in  1705,  died  in  1781. 
He  had  considerable  military  commands,  and  was 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES.] 

county  of  Ayr  in  general,  as  well  as  to  indi- 
viduals in  it,  than  any  man  we  have  ever 
had.  It  is  painful  to  think  that  he  met 
with  much  ingratitude  from  persons  both  in 
high  and  low  rank:  but  such  was  his  tem- 
per, such  his  knowledge  of "  base  mankind1,1' 
that,  as  if  he  had  expected  no  other  return, 
his  mind  was  never  soured,  and  he  retained 
his  good  humour  and  benevolence  to  the  last. 
The  tenderness  of  his  heart  was  proved  in 
1745-G,  when  he  had  an  important  com- 
mand in  the  Highlands,  and  behaved  with 
a  generous  humanity  to  the  unfortunate. 
1  cannot  figure*  more  honest  politician; 
for  though  his  interest  in  our  county  was 
great,  and  generally  successful,  he  not  only 
did  not  deceive  by  fallacious  promises,  but 
was  anxious  that  people  should  not  deceive 
themselves  by,  too  sanguine  expectations. 
His  kind  and  dutiful  attention  to  his  mother 
was  unremitted.  At  his  house  was  tine 
hospitality;  a  plain  but  a  plentiful  table; 
and  every  guest  being  left  at  perfect  free- 
dom, felt  himself  quite  easy  and  happy. 
While  I  live,  I  shall  honour  the  memory  of 
this  amiable  man. 

At  night,  we  advanced  a  few  miles  far- 
ther, to  the  house  of  Mr.  Campbell,  of 
Treesbank,  who  was  married  to  one  «  my 
wife's  sisters,  and  were  entertained  very 
agreeably  by  a  worthy  couple. 

Sunday,  Slst  October. — We  reposed 
here  in  tranquillity.  Dr.  Johnson  was 
pleased  to  find  a  numerous  and  excellent 
collection  of  books,  which  had  mostly  be- 
longed to  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Campbell, 
'brother  of  our  host.  I  was  desirous  to  have 
procured  for  my  fellow-traveller,  to-day,  the 
company  of  Sir  John  Cuninghsme,  of  Ca- 
prington,  whose  castle  was  but  two  miles 
front  us.  He  was  a  very  distinguished 
scholar,  was  long  abroad,  and  during  part 
of  the  time  lived  much  with  the  learned 
Cuninghame,  the  opponent  of  Bentley  as  a 
critic  upon  Horace.  He  wrote  Latin  with 
great  elegance,  and,  what  is  very  remarka- 
ble, read  Homer  and  Ariosto  through  evejy 
year.  I  wrote  to  him  to  request  he  would 
come  to  us;  but  unfortunately  he  was  pre- 
vented by  indisposition. 

Monday,  1st  November.— Though  Dr. 
Johnson  was  lazy,  and  averse  to  move,  I 
insisted  that  he  should  go  with  me,  and  pay 
a  visit  to  the  Countess  of  Eglintoune*,  mo- 


1778— iETAT.  64. 


455 


the  penon  who  brought  Johnson's  friend,  Lord 
Charles  Hay,  to  a  oourt-martial,  as  we  shall,  see 
hereafter.— in.] 

1  The  unwilling  gratitude  of  base  mankind. — 
Pope. — Boiwkll. 

1  [Susanna,  daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Ken- 
nedy, of  Culzeen,  third  wife  of  the  ninth  Earl  of 
Egtintouae.  She  was  a  elever  woman,  and  a 
patroness  of  the  Belles  Lettres.  Allan  Ramsay's 
Gentle  Shepherd  was  dedicated  to  her  in  a  very 
fUsome  style  of  panegyric    She  died  in  Ayrshire, 


ther  of  the  late  and  present  earl.  I  assured 
him  he  would  find  himself  amply  recom- 
pensed for  the  trouble;  and  he  yielded  to 
my  solicitations,  though  with  some  unwil- 
lingness. We  were  well  mounted,  and  had 
not  many  miles  to  ride.  He  talked  of  the 
attention  that  is  necessary  in  order  to  dis- 
tribute our  charity  judiciously.  u  If  thought- 
lessly done,  we  may  neglect  the  most  de- 
serving objects;  and,  as  every  man  has  but 
a  certain  proportion  to  give,  if  it  is  lavished 
upon  those  who  first  present  themselves, 
there  may  be  nothing  left  for  such  as  have 
a  better  claim.  A  man  should  first  relieve 
those  who  are  nearly  connected  with  him, 
by  whatever  tie;  and  then,  if  he  has  any 
thing  to  spare,  may  extend  his  bounty  to  a 
wider  circle." 

As  we  passed  very  near  the  castle  of  Dun- 
don  aid,  which  was  one  of  the  many  resi- 
dences of  the  kings  of  Scotland,  and  in 
which  Robert  the  Second  lived  and  died, 
Dr.  Johnson  wished  to  survey  it  particular- 
ly. It  stands  on  a  beautiful  rising  ground, 
which  is  seen  at  a  great  distance  on  several 
quarters,  and  from  whence  there  is  an  ex- 
tensive prospect  of  the  rich  district  of  Cun- 
inghame, the  western  sea,  the  isle  of  Arran, 
and  a  part  of  the  northern  coast  of  Ireland* 
It  has  long  been  unroofed;  and,  though  of 
considerable  size,  we  could  not,  by  any 
power  of  imagination,  figure  it  as  having 
been  a  suitable  habitation  for  majesty.  Dr. 
Johnson,  to  irritate  my  old  Scottish  enthu- 
siasm, was  very  jocular  on  the  homely  ac- 
commodation of  "  King  JBo6,"  and  roared 
and  laughed  till  the  ruins  echoed. 

Lady  Eglintoune,  though  she  was  now  in 
her  eighty-fifth  year,  and  had  lived  in  the 
retirement  Of  the  country  for  almost  half  a 
century,  was  still  a  very  agreeable  woman. 
She  was  of  the  noble  house  of  Kennedy, 
and  had  all  the  elevation  which  the  con- 
sciousness of  such  birth  inspires.  Her  fig- 
ure was  majestick,  her  manners  high-bred, 
her  reading  extensive,  and  her  conversation 
elegant.  She  had  been  the  admiration  of 
the  gay  circles  of  life,  and  the  patroness  of 
poets.  Dr.  Johnson  was  delighted  with  his 
reception  here.  Her  principles  in  church 
and  state  were  congenial  with  his.  She 
knew  all  his  merit,  and  had  heard  much  of 
him  from  her  sr>nT  Earl  A  Gamier3,  whrt 
loved  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  men 
of  talents  in  every  department, 

AIJ  \v\\i\  knew  hie  lordship  will  allow 
that  htsuiulcrsLunding  ttml  BtttiKapHshRienU 

in  17R0,  nped  nlneljr-«ne.  (See  ante,  Wtb  Oct, 
*»♦)    Tin1  eolith  E*a  of  EtJMii  EsuVruf 

hi  r  lord,  had  married,  tm  hi*  »»r.rnu)  wife,  Cnihe* 
line  St.  tiucjit in,  lh*  wfafaw  of  thrt*  baibiuidw, 
and  aged  abovi-  ninety  nt  thu  Uutt*  of  (■<  r  b>t  mar-* 
Tn±%'-i  beiug,  it  U  pro-in i ic*I r  the  oldest  bride  cm 
record. — Ed.] 
•  [See  ante,}.  252.— Ed.]  * 


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1773.— iETAT.  64. 


weic  of  no  ordinary  rate.  From  the  gay 
habits  which  he  had  early  acquired,  he 
spent  too  much  of  his  time  with  men,  and 
in  pursuits  far  beneath  such  a  mind  as  his. 
He  afterwards  became  sensible  of  it,  and 
turned  his  thoughts  to  objects  of  impor- 
tance; but  was  cut  off  in  the  prime  of  his 
life.  I  cannot  speak  but  with  emotions  of 
the  most  affectionate  regret  of  one,  in 
whose  company  many  of  my  early  days 
were  passed,  and  to  whose  kindness  I  was 
much  indebted. 

Often  must  I  have  occasion  to  upbraid  my- 
self that,  soon  after  our  return  to  the  mam 
land,  I  allowed  indolence  to  prevail  over  me 
so  much  as  to  shrink  from  the  labour  of 
continuing  my  journal  with  the  same  mi- 
nuteness as  before;  sheltering  myself  in  the 
thought  that  we  had  done  with  the  Hebri- 
des; and  hot  considering  that  Dr.  Johnson's 
memorabilia  were  likely  to  be  more  valua- 
ble when  we  were  restored  to  a  more  pol- 
ished society.  Much  has  thus  been  irre- 
coverably lost. 

In  the*course  of  our  conversation  this  day 
it  came  out  that  Lady  Eglintoune  was  mar- 
ried the  year  before  Dr.  Johnson  was  born; 
upon  which  she  graciously  said  to  him 
that  she  might  have  been  his  mother,  and 
that  she  now  adopted  him;  and  when  we 
were  going  away,  she  embraced  him,  say- 
,  rng,  "  My  dear  son,  farewell !"  My  friend 
was  much  pleased  with  this  day's  entertain- 
ment, and  owned  that  I  had  done  well  to 
force  him  out 

Tuesday,  Zd  November. — We  were  now 
in  a  country  not  only  "  of  saddles  and  bri- 
dles," but  of  post-chaises;  and  having  or- 
dered one  from  Kilmarnock,  we  got  to  Au- 
chinleck  before  dinner. 

My  father  was  not  quite  a  year  and  a 
half  older  than  Dr.  Johnson  ;  but  his  con- 
scientious discharge  of  his  laborious  duty 
as  a  judge  in  Scotland,  where  the  law  pro- 
ceedings are  almost  all  in  writing, — a  se- 
vere complaint  which  ended  in  his  death, — 
and  the  loss  of  my  mother1,  a  woman  of  al- 
most unexampled  piety  and  goodness, — had 
before  this  time  in  some  degree  affected  his 
spirits,  and  rendered  him  less  disposed  to 
exert  his  faculties:  for  he  had  originally  a 
very  strong  mind,  and  cheerful  temper.  He 
assured  me  he  never  had  felt  <roe  moment 
of  what  is  calW  low  spirits,  or  uneasiness, 
without  a  real  eauae*  He  had  a  great 
many  good  stories,  which  he  told  uncom- 
monly well,  and  he  was  remarkable  for 
"humour*  incohtmi  g*4tUateS9  as  Lord 
Monboddo  usfid  to  characterise  it.  His 
age,  hia  office,  and  his  charaeim*,  had  long 
given  him  an  acknowledged  claim  to  great 
attention  in  whatever  company    he  was; 

1  [Eaphemia  Eiskine,  of  the  family  of  the 
Eari  of  Bttoban.— Ed.] 


"[tour  TO  THI 

and  he  could  ill  brook  any  diminution  of  h. 
He  was  as  sanguine  a  whig  and  presbyte- 
rian  as  Dr.  Johnson  was  a  tory  and 
church-of-England  man:  and  as  he  had  not 
much  leisure  to  be  informed  of  Dr.  John- 
son's great  merits  by  reading  his  works,  he 
had  a  partial  and  unfavourable  notion  of 
him,  founded  on  his  supposed  political 
tenets;  which  were  so  discordant  to  hit 
own,  that,  instead  of  speaking  of  him  with 
that  respect  to  which  lie  was  entitled,  he 
used  to  call  him  "a  Jacobite  fellow." 
Knowing  all  this,  I  should  not  have  ven- 
tured to  bring  them  together,  had  not  my 
father,  out  of  kindness  to  me,  desired  me  to 
invite  Dr.  Johnson  to  his  house. 

I  was  very  anxious  that  all  should  be 
well;  and  begged  of  my  friend  to  avoid 
three  topicks,  as  to  which  they  differed  very 
widely:  whiggism,  juesbyterianism,  and— 
Sir  John  Pringle.  He  said  courteously, 
"  I  shall  certainly  not  talk  on  subjects  which 
I  am  told  are  disagreeable  to  a  gentleman 
under  whose  roof  1  am;  especially,  I  shall 
not  do  so  to  your  father." 

Our  first  day  went  off  very  smoothly.  It 
rained,  and  we  could  not  get  out;  but  my 
father  showed  Dr.  Johnson  his  library, 
which,  in  curious  editions  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  classicks,  is,  I  suppose,  not  ex- 
celled by  any  private  collection  in  Great 
Britain.  My  father  had  studied  at  Leyden, 
and  been  very  intimate  with  the  Gronorii, 
and  other  learned  men  there.  He  was  a 
sound  scholar,  and,  in  particular,  had  col- 
lated manuscripts  and  different  editions  of 
Anacreon,  and  others  of  the  Greek  lyrick 
poets,  with  great  care;  so  that  my  friend 
and  he  had  much  matter  for  conversation, 
without  touching  on  the  fatal  topicks  of 
difference. 

Dr.  Johnson  found  here  Baxter's  "  An- 
acreon," which  he  told  me  he  had  long  h> 
Suired  for  in  vain,  and  began  to  suspect 
lere  was  no  such  book.  Baxter  was  the 
keen  antagonist  of  Barnes.  His  life  is  in 
the  "  Biographia  Britannica."  My  father 
has  written  many  notes  on  this  book,  and 
Dr.  Johnson  and  I  talked  of  having  it  re- 
printed. 

Wednesday,  3d  November. — It  rained 
all  day,  and  gave  Dr.  Johnson  an  impres- 
sion of  that  incommodiousness  of  climate  in 
the  west,  of  which  he  has  taken  notice  in 
his  "  Journey :"  but,  being  well  accommo- 
dated, and  furnished  with  a  variety  of 
books,  he  was  not  dissatisfied. 

Some  gentlemen  of  the  neighbourhood 
came  to  visit  my  father:  but  there  was  little 
conversation.  One  of  them  asked  Dr. 
Johnson  how  he  liked  the  Highlands.  The 
question  seemed  to  irritate  him,  for  he  an- 
swered, "  How,  sir,  can  you  ask  me  what 
obliges  me  to  speak  unfavourably  of  a 
country  where  I  have  been  hospitably  en- 


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HBBRIDBfl.] 

tertained?  Who  eon  like  the  Highlands? 
I  like  the  inhabitants  very  well."  The 
gentleman  asked  no  more  questions. 

Let  me  now  make  np  for  the  present 
neglect,  by  again  gleaning  from  the  past. 
At  Lord  Monboddo's,  after  the  conversa- 
tion upon  the  decrease  of  learning  in  Eng- 
land, nis  lordship  mentioned  Hermes  by 
Mr.  Harris  of  Salisbury,  as  the  work  of  a 
living  authour,  for  whom  he  had  a  great  res- 
pect. Dr.  Johnson  said  nothing  at  the 
time;  but  when  we  were  in  our  post-chaise, 
told  me,  he  thought  Harris  "  a  coxcomb." 
This  he  said  of  him,  not  as  -a  man,  but 
as  an  authour;  and  I  give  his  opinions  of 
men  and  books,  faithfully,  whether  they 
agree  with  my  own,  or  not  I  do  admit, 
that  there  alwavs  appeared  to  me  some- 
thing of  affectation  in  Mr.  Harris's  manner 
of  writing:  something  of  a  habit  of  cloth- 
imr  plain  thoughts  in  anarytick  and  categori- 
cal formality.  But  all  his  writings  are 
imbued  with  learning;  and  all  breathe 
that  philanthropy  and  amiable  disposition, 
which  distinguished  him  as  a  man  K 

At  another  time,  during  our  Tour,  he 
drew  the  character  of  a  rapacious  Highland 
chief  *  with  the  strength  of  Theophrastus 
or  La  Bruvere;  concluding  witn  these 
words:  "  Sir,  he  has  no  more  the  soul  of  a 
chief,  than  an  attorney  who  has  twenty 
houses  in  a  street,  and  considers  how  much 
he  can  make  by  them." 

He  this  day,  when  we  were  by  ourselves, 
observed,  how  common  it  was  for  people  to 
talk  from  books;  to  retail  the  sentiments  of 
others,  and  not  their  own;  in  short,  to  con- 
verse without  any  originality  of  thinking. 
He  was  pleased  to  say, "  You  and  I  do  not 
talk  from  books." 

Thursday,  4th  November. — I  was  glad 
to  have  at  length  a  very  fine  day,  on  which 
I  could  -show  Dr.  Johnson  the  place  of 

1  This  gentleman,  though  devoted  to  the  study 
of  grammar  and  dialecticks,  was  not  so  absorbed 
in  it  as  to  be  without  a  sense  of  pleasantry,  or  to 
be  offended  at  his  favourite  topicks  being  treated 
lightly.  I  one  day  met  him  in  the  street,  as  I 
was  hastening  to  the  house  of  lords,  and  told  him, 
I  was  sorry  I  could  not  stop,  being  rather  too  late 
to  attend  an  appeal  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton 
against  Douglas.  "I  thought,*'  said  he,  "then- 
contest  had  been  over  long  ago."  I  answered, 
44  The  contest  concerning  Douglas's  filiation  was 
over  long  ago;  but  the  contest  now  is,  who  shall 
have  the  estate."  Then  assuming  the  air  of  "  an 
ancient  sage  philosopher,"  I  proceeded  thus: 
44  Were  I  to  predicate  concerning  him,  I  should 
say,  the  contest  formerly  was,  What  is  he? 
The  contest  now  »,  What  hut  he  ?"  "  Right," 
replied  Mr.  Harris,  smiling, 4<  you  have  done  with 
quality,  and  have  got  into  quantity.'*— Bos- 
will.  tSee  ante,  as  to  Mr.  Harris's  learning, 
p.  810.— Ed.] 

*  [No  doubt  Sir  Alexander  MaedooakU-En.] 

toXm  i*  59 


1773— iETAT.  64. 


457 


my  family,  which  he  has  honoured  with  so  ( 
mnch  attention  in  his  "  Journey."  He  is, 
however,  mistaken  in  thinking  that  the 
Celtick  name,  Auchinleck,  has  no  relation 
to  the  natural  appearance  of  it.  I  believe 
every  Celtick  name  of  a  place  will  be  found 
very  descriptive.  Auchinleck  does  not  sig- 
nify a  stony  field,  as  he  has  said,  but  a  field 
of  flagstones;  and  this  place  has  a  num- 
ber of  rocks,  which  abound  in  strata  of  that 
kind.  The  "  sullen  dignity  of  the  old  cas- 
tle," as  he  has  forcibly  expressed  it3,  de- 
lighted him  exceedingly.  On  one  side  of 
the  rock  on  which  its  rums  stand,  runs  the 
river  Lugar,  which  is  here  of  considerable 
breadth,  and  is  bordered  by  other  high 
rocks,  shaded  with  wood.  On  the  other 
side  runs  a  brook,  skirted  in  the  same  man- 
ner, but  on  a  smaller  scale.  I  cannot  fig- 
ure a  more  romantick  scene. 

I  felt  myself  elated  here,  and  expatiated 
to  my  illustrious  Mentor  on  the  antiquity 
and  honourable  alliances  of  my  family,  and 
on  the  merits  of  its  founder,  Thomas  Bos- 
well,  who  was  highly  favoured  by  his  sove- 
reign, James  IV.  of  Scotland,  and  fell  with 
him  at  the  battle  of  Flodden-field;  and  in 
the  glow  of  what,  I  am  sensible,  will,  in  a 
commercial  age,  be  considered  as  genealo- 
gical enthusiasm,  did  not  omit  to  mention 
what  I  was  sure  my  friend  would  not  think 
lightly  of,  my  relation  to  the  royal  person- 
age, whose  liberality,  on  his  accession  to 
the  throne,  had  given  him  comfort  and  in- 
dependence. I  nave,  in  a  former  page, 
acknowledged  my  pride  of  ancient  blood, 
in  which  I  was  encouraged  by  Dr.  Johnson: 
my  readers  therefore  will  not  be  surprised 
at  my  having  indulged  it  on  this  occasion. 

Not  far  from  the  old  castle  is  a  spot  of 
consecrated  earth,  on  which  may  be  traced 
the  foundations  of  an  ancient  chapel,  dedi- 
cated to  St  Vincent,  and  where  in  old  times 
"was  the  place  of  g raves"  for  the  family. 
It  grieves  me  to  think  that  the  remains  of 
sanctity  here,  which  were  considerable, 
were  dragged  away,  and  employed  in  build- 
ing a  part  of  the  house  of  Auchinleck,  of 
the  middle  age;  which  was  the  family  res- 
idence, till  my  father  erected  that "  elegant 
modern  mansion,"  of  which  Dr.  Johnson 
speaks  so  handsomely.  Perhaps  this  chapel 
may  one  day  be  restored. 


9  [«•  I  was  less  delighted  with  the  elegance  of 
the  modern  mansion  than  with  the  sullen  dignity 
of  the  old  castle:  I  clambered  with  Mr.  Boswell 
among  the  rains,  which  afforded  striking  images 
of  ancient  life.  Here,  in  the  ages  of  tnmult  and 
rapine,  the  laird  was  surprised  and  killed  by  the 
neighbouring  chief,  who  perhaps  might  have  ex- 
tinguished the  family,  had  be  not,  in  a  lew  days, 
been  seised  and  hanged,  together  with  his  sons, 
by  Douglas,  who  came  with  his  forces  to  the 
relief  of  A*thinkck.9*~Msum9$  Work**  toL 
▼in.  p.  418.— Ed.] 


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1778.— jETAT.  64. 


•    Dr.  Johnson  was  pleased  when  I  showed  I  casionally  attacked  them 
him  some  venerable  old  trees,  under  the 
shade  of  which  my  ancestors  had  walked. 
He  exhorted  me  to  plant  assiduously,  as  my 
father  had  done  to  a  great  extent 

As  I  wandered  with  my  reverend  friend 
in  the  groves  of  Auchinleck,  I  told  him, 
that,  if  l  survived  him,  it  was  my  intention 
to  erect  a  monument  to  him  here,  among 
scenes  which,  in  my  mind,  were  all  classi- 
cal; for,  in  my  youth,  I  had  appropriated 
to  them  many  of  the  descriptions  of  the 
Roman  poets.  He  could  not  bear  to  have 
death  presented  to  him  in  any  shape;  for 
his  constitutional  melancholy  made  the 
king  of  terrours  more  frightful.  He  turned 
off  the  subject,  saying,  "  Sir,  I  hope  to  see 
your  grandchildren." 

This  forenoon  he  observed  some  cattle 
without  horns,  of  which  he  has  taken  no- 
tice in  his  "  Journey,"  and  seems  undecided 
whether  they  be  of  a  particular  race.  His 
doubts  appear  to  have  had  no  foundation; 
for  my  respectable  neighbour,  Mr.  Fairlie, 
who,  with  all  his  attention  to  agriculture, 
finds  time  both  for  the  classicks  and  his 
friends,  assures  me  they  are  a  distinct  spe- 
cies, and  that,  when  any  of  their  calves 
have  horns,  a  mixture  of  breed  can  be 
traced.  In  confirmation  of  his  opinion,  he 
pointed  out  to  me  the  following  passage  in 
Tacitus,  "  No  armentit  quidem  suu*  ho- 
nor, out  gloria  fr otitis;  "■  (De  Mor.  Germ. 
6  5.)  which  he  wondered  had  escaped  Dr. 
Johnson. 

On  the  front  of  the  house  of  Auchinleck 
is  this  inscription: 


[tour  to  the 

One  of  them 
discovered  a  narrowness  of  information 
concerning  the  dignitaries  of  the  church  of 
England,  among  whom  may  be  found  men 
of  the  greatest  learning,  virtue,  and  pietv, 
and  of  a  truly  apostolic  character.  lie 
talked  before  Dr.  Johnson  of  fat  bishops 
and  drowsy  deans ;  and,  in  short,  seemed 
to  believe  the  illiberal  and  profane  scoffings 
of  professed  sa  tirists,  or  vu  Igar  railers.  Dr. 
Johnson  was  so  highly  offended,  that  he 
said  to  him,  "  Sir,  vou  know  no  more  of 
our  church  than  a  fiottentot."  I  was  sor- 
ry that  he  brought  this  upon  himself. 

Saturday,  6JA  November. — I  cannot  be 
certain  whether  it  was  on  this  day,  or  a 
former,  that  Dr.  Johnson  and  my  father 
came  in  collision.  If  I  recollect  right,  the 
contest  began  while  mv  father  was  showing 
him  his  collection,  of  medals;  and  Oliver 
Cromwell's  coin  unfortunately  introduced 
Charles  the  First  and  toryism.  They  be- 
came exceedingly  warm  and  violent,  and  I 
was  very  much  distressed  by  being  present 
at  such  an  altercation  between  two  men, 
both  of  whom  I  reverenced;  yet  I  durst, 
not  interfere.  It  would  certainly  be  very 
unbecoming  in  me  to  exhibit  my  honoured 
father  and  my  respected  friend,  as  intellec- 
tual gladiators,  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
publick;  and  therefore  I  suppress  what 
would,  I  dare  say,  make  an  interesting 
scene  in  this  dramatick  sketch,  this  account 
of  the  transit  of  Johnson  over  the  Caledo- 
nian hemisphere1. 


"  Quod  petis,  hie  est ; 


Est  Ulobris;  animus  si  te  non  deficit  aquas." 

It  is  characteristick  of  the  founder;  but  the 
animtu  asqwu  is,  alas!  not  inheritable,  nor 
the  subject  of  devise.  He  always  talked  to 
me  as  if  it  were  in  a  man's  own  power  to 
attain  it;  but  Dr.  Johnson  told  me  that  he 
owned  to  him,  when  they  were  alone,  his 
persuasion  that  it  was  in  a  great  measure 
constitutional,  or  the  effect  of  causes  which 
do  not  depend  on  ourselves,  and  that  Hor- 
ace boasts  too  much,  when  he  says,  aquum 
mi  animum  ipteparabo. 

Friday,  bth  November.— The  Reverend 
Mr.  Dun,  our  parish  minister,  who  had 
dined  with  us  yesterday,  with  some  other 
company,  insisted  that  Dr.  Johnson  and  I 
should  dine  with  him  to-day.  This  gave 
me  an  opportunity  to  show  my  friend  the 
road  to  the  church,  made  by  my  father  at  a 
great  expense,  for  above  three  miles,  on  his 
own  estate,  through  a  range  of  well  en- 
closed farms,  with  a  row  of  trees  on  each 
side  of  it.  He  called  it  the  via  taera,  and 
was  very  fond  of  it.  Dr.  Johnson,  though 
he  held  notions  far  distant  from  those  of 
the  presbyterian  clergy,  yet  could  associate 
on  good  terms  with  them.    He  indeed  oc- 


1  [Old  Lord  Auchinleck  was  an  able  lawyer, 
a  good  scholar,  after  the  manner  of  Scotland,  and 
highly  valued  his  own  advantages  as  a  man  of 
good  estate  and  ancient  family;  and,  moreover,  ho 
was  a  strict  presbvterian  and  whig  of  the  oU 
Scottish  cast  Thai  did  not  prevent  has  being 
a  terribly  proud  aristocrat;  and  great  was  the 
contempt  he  entertained  and  expressed  for  his  son 
James,  for  the  nature  of  his  friendships  and  the 
character  of  the  personages  of  whom  be  was  eav- 

Soui  one  after  another.  "  There's  nae  hope  for 
amie,  noon,"  he  said  to  a  friend.  "  Jamie  m 
caen  clean  ajte. — What  do  you  think,  moo? 
He's  done  wi»  Paoli— he's  off  wi'  the  land-loop- 
ing scoundrel  of  a  Corsican;  and  whose  tail  do 
you  think  he  has  pinned  himself  to  now,  mon  ?" 
Here  the  old  judge  summoned  op  a  sneer  of  most 
sovereign  contempt.  *  *  A  dominie,  mon — an  sold 
dominie;  he  keeped  a  scbule,  and  cau'd  it  an 
acaadamy."  Probably  if  this  had  been  reported 
to  Johnson,  he  would  have  felt  it  more  galling, 
for  he  never  much  liked  to  think  of  that  period  of 
kus  life  :  it  would  have  aggravated  his  dislike  of 
Lord  Auchinleck 's  whiggery  and  presbyteriamsm. 
These  the  old  lord  carried  to  such  an  unesaal 
height,  that  onee  when  a  countryman  came  in 
to  state  some  justice  business,  and  being  required 
to  make  his  oath,  declined  to  do  so  before  bit 
lordship,  because  he  was  not  a  covenanted  mag- 
istrate,—" Is  that  a'  your  objection,  mon?"  said 
the  judge;  "come  your  ways  in  here,  and  we'll 
berth  of  us  tak  the  solemn  league  and 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES.]  1773.— iETAT.  64. 

Yet  I  think  I  may,  without  impropriety, 
mention  one  circumstance,  as  un  instance 
of  ray  father's  address.  Dr.  Johnson  chal- 
lenged him,  as  he  did  us  all  at  Taiisker,  to 
point  out  any  theological  works  of  merit 
written  by  presbyterian  ministers  in  Scot- 
land. My  father,  whose  studies  did  not 
lie  much  in  that  way,  owned  to  me  after- 
wards, that  he  was  somewhat  at  a  loss 
how  to  answer,  but  that  luckily  he  recol- 
lected having  read  in  catalogues  the  title 
of  Durham  on  the  Galatians;  upon  which 
he  boldly  said,  "  Pray,  sir,  have  you  read 
Mr.  Durham's  excellent  commentary  on 
the  Galatians?"  "No,  sir,"  said  Dr. 
Johnson.  By  this  lucky  thought  my  father 
kept  him  at  bay,  and  for  some  time  enjoyed  his 
triumph  i,  but  his  antagonist  soon  made  a 
retort,  which  I  forbear  to  mention. 

In  the  course  of  their  altercation,  whig- 
gism  and  presbyteriajiism,  toryism  and 
episcopacy,  were  terribly  buffeted.  My 
worthy  hereditary  friend.  Sir  John  Pringle, 
never  having  been  mentioned,  happily  es- 
caped without  a  bruise. 

My  father's  opinion  of  Dr.  Johnson  may 
be  conjectured  from  the  name  he  after- 
wards pave  him,  which  was  Ursa  Major. 
But  it  is  not  true,  as  has  been  'reported,  that 
it  was  in  consequence  of  my  saying  that  he 
was  a  constellation  of  genius  and  literature. 
It  was  a  sly  abrupt  expression  to  one  of  his 


459 


together.  •*  The  pith  was  accordingly  agreed  and 
■worn  to  by  both,  and  I  dare  aay  it  was  the  last 
time  it*  ever  received  each  homage.  It  may  be 
surmised  how  far  Lord  Anchioleck,  such  as  he  is 
here  described,  was  likely  to  suit  a  high  tory  and 
episcopalian  like  Johnson.  As  they  approached 
Aochmleck,  Boswell  coujnred  Johnson  by  all  the 
ties  of  regard,  and  in  requital  of  the  services  he 
had  rendered  him  upon  his  tour,  that  he  would 
spare  two  subjects  in  tenderness  to  his  father's 
prejudices;  the  first  related  to  Sir  John  Pringle, 
president  ef  the  royal  society,  about  whom  there 
was  then  some  dispute  current;  the  second  con- 
cerned the  general  question  of  whig  and  tory. 
Sir  John  Pringle,  as  Boswell  says,  escaped,  but 
the  controversy  between  tory  and  covenanter 
raged  with  great  fury,  and  ended  in  Johnson's 
pressing  spon  the  old  judge  the  question,  what 
good  Cromwell,  of  whom  he  had  said  something 
derogatory,  had  ever  done  to  his  country;  when, 
after  being  much  tortured,  Lord  Auchinleck  at 
last  spoke  out,  "  God,  doctor!  he  gait  kings  ken 
that  they  had  a  lit h  in  their  neck."  He  taught 
kings  they  had  a  joint  in  their  necks.  Jamie 
then  set  to  mediating  between  his  father  and  the 
philosopher,  and  availing  himself  of  the  judge's 
sense  of  hospitality,  which  was  punctilious,  re- 
duced the  debate  to  more  order. — Walter 
Bcott.1 

1  [All  parties  seem  to  have  here  been  in  a  happy 
state  of  ignorance;  for  Mr.  Chalmers  informs  me, 
that  there  is  no  such  book  as  Durham  "  on  the 
Galatians,"  though  there  is  '«  on  the  Revela- 
tion."—En.] 


brethren  on  the  bench  of  the  court  of  ses- 
sion, in  which  Dr.  Johnson  was  then 
standing;  but  it  was  not  said  in  his  hear- 
ing. 

Sunday,  lih  November.— My  father  and 
I  went  to  publick  worship  in  our  parish 
church,  in  which  I  regretted  that  Dr.  John- 
son would  not  join  us;  for,  though  we  have 
there  no  form  of  prayer,  nor  magnificent 
solemnity,  yet,  as  God  is  worshipped  in 
spirit  and  in  truth,  and  the  same  doctrines 
preached  as  in  the  church  of  England,  my 
friend  would  certainly  have  shown  more 
liberality,  had  he  attended.  I  doubt  not 
however,  but  he  employed  his  time  in  pri- 
vate to  very  good  purpose.  His  uniform 
and  fervent  piety  was  manifested  on  many 
occasions  during  our  tour,  which  I  have 
not  mentioned.  His  reason  for  not  joining 
in  presbyterian  worship  has  been  recorded 
in  a  former  page  2. 

Monday  9  Sth  November. — Notwithstand- 
ing the  altercation  that  had  passed,  my . 
father,  who  had  the  dignified  courtesy  of 
an  old  baron,  was  very  civil  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
and  politely  attended  him  to  the  post-chaise 
which  was  to  convey  us  to  Edinburgh. 

Thus  they  parted.  They  are  now  in 
another,  and  a  higher  state  of  existence: 
and  as  they  were  both  worthy  christian 
men,  I  trust  they  have  met  in  happiness. 
But  I  must  observe,  injustice  to  my  friend's 
political  principles,  and  my  own,  flint  they 
nave  met  in  a  place  where  there  is  no  room 
for  vfhiggism.  „ 

We  came  at  night  to  a  good  inn  at  Ham* 
ilton.     I  recollect  no  more. 

Tuesday,  9th  November. — I  wished  to 
have  shown  Dr.  Johnson  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton's  house,  commonly  called  the 
palace  of  Hamilton,  which  is  close  by  the 
town.  It  is  an  object  which,  having  been 
pointed  out  to  me  as  a  splendid  edifice, 
from  my  earliest  years,  in  travelling  between 
Auchinleck  and  Edinburgh,  has  still  great 
grandeur  in  my  imagination.  My  friend 
consented  to  stop,  and  view  the  outside  of 
it,  but  could  not  be  persuaded  to  go  into  it. 

We  arrived  this  niffht  at  Edinburgh,  af- 
ter an  absence  of  eighty-three  days.  For 
five  weeks  together,  of  the  tempestuous 
season,  there  had  been  no  account  received 
of  .us.  I  cannot  express  how  happy  I  was 
on  finding  myself  again  at  home, 

Wednesday,  10th  Novembers-Old  Mr. 
Drummond,  the  bookseller,  came  to  break- 
fast. Dr.  Johnson  and  he  had  not  met  for 
ten  years.  There  was  respect  on  his  side 
and  kindness  on  Dr.  Johnson's.  Soon  afc 
terwards  Lord  Elibank  came  in,  and  was 
much  pleased  at  seeing  Dr.  Johnson  in 
Scotland.  His  lordship  said,  "hardly  any 
thing  seemed  to  him  more  improbable.'9 
Dr.  Johnson  had  a  very  high  opinion  of 

*  See  antet  p.  W2.— Bosnia* 


Digitized  by 


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460 


ITO^—jETAT.  64. 


him.  Speaking  of  him  to  me,  he  charac- 
terised him  thus:  "  Lord  Elibank  has  read 
a  great  deal.  It  is  true,  I  can  find  in  books 
all  that  he  has  read;  but  he  has  a  great 
deal  of  what  is  in  books,  proved  by  the 
test  of  real  life."  Indeed,  there  have  been 
few  men  whose  conversation  discovered 
more  knowledge  enlivened  by  fancy1.  He 
published  several  small  pieces  of  distin- 
guished merit;  and  has  leu  some  in  manu- 
script, in  particular  an  account  of  the  expe- 
dition against  Carthagena,  in  which  he 
served  as  an  officer  in  the  army.  His 
writings  deserve  to  be  collected.  He  was 
the  early  patron  of  Dr.  Robertson,  the 
historian,  and  Mr.  Home,  the  tragick  poet; 
who,  when  they  were  ministers  of  country 
parishes,  lived  near  his  seat  He  told  me, 
"  I  saw  these  lads  had  talents,  and  they 
were  much  with  me."  I  hope  they  will  pay  a 
grateful  tribute  to  his  memory. 

The  morning  was  chiefly  taken  up  by 
Dr.  Johnson^  giving  him  an  account  of 
our  Tour.  The  subject  of  difference  in 
political  principles  was  introduced.  John- 
s  )it.  "  ft  is  much  increased  by  opposition. 
There  was  a  violent  whig,  with  whom  I  used 
to  contend  with  great  eagerness.  After  his 
death  I  fek  my  toryism  much  abated."  I 
suppose  he  meant  Mr.  Walmsley  of  Lich- 
field ",  whose  character  he  has  drawn  so 
well  in  his  life  of  Edmund  Smith. 

Mr.  Nairne  came  in,  and  he  and  I  accom- 
panied Dr.  Johnson  to  Edinburgh  castle, 
which  he  owned  was  "  a  great  place."  But 
I  must  mention,  as  a  striking  instance  of 
that  spirit  of  contradiction  to  which  he  had 
a  strong  propensity,  when  Lord  Elibank 
was  some  days  after  talking  of  it  with  the 
natural  elation  of  a  Scotchman,  or  of  any 
man  who  is  proud  of  a  stately  fortress  in 
his  own  country,  Dr.  Johnson  affected  to 
despise  it,  observing,  that  "  it  would  make 
a  good  prison  in  England." 

Lest  it  should  be  supposed  that  I  have 
suppressed  one  of  his  sallies  against  my 
country,  it  may  not  be  improper  here  to 
correct  a  mistaken  account  that  has  been 
circulated,  as  to  his  conversation  this  day. 
It  has  been  said,  that  being  desired  to  at- 
tend to  the  noble  prospect  from  the  Castle- 
hill,  he  replied,  "  Sir,  the  noblest  prospect 
that  a  Scotchman  ever  sees  is  the  high 
road  that  leads  him  to  London."  This 
lively  sarcasm  was  thrown  out  at  a  tavern 
in  London,  in  my  presence,  many  years 
before. 

1  [Lord  Elibank  made  a  happy  retort  on  Dr. 
Johnson's  definition  of  oats,  as  the  food  of  homes 
in  England  and  of  men  in  Scotland.  "  Yes,"  said 
be;  "  and  where  eke  will  yon  see  such  horses 
and  such  men  ?" — Walter  Scott.] 

9  [See  ante,  p.  195,  where  reasons  are  given 
why  it  k  unlikely  that    '  ""    '" 


why 


J 


this  was  Mr.  Walmsley. 


[TOUR  TO  THE 

We  had  with  us  to-day  at  dinner,  at  my 
house,  the  Lady  Dowager  Colvill*,  and 
Lady  Anne  Erskine  *,  sisters  of  the  Earl  of 
Kelly:  the  Honourable  Archibald  Erskine, 
who  has  now  succeeded  to  that  title5; 
Lord  Elibank,  the  Reverend  Dr.  Blair, 
Mr.  Tytler,  the  acute  vindicator  of  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  and  [his  son,  the  advo- 
cate*.] 

Fingral  being  talked  of,  Dr.  Johnson,  who 
used  to  boast  that  he  had,  from  the  first, 
resisted  both  Ossian  and  the  giants  of 
Patagonia,  averred  his  positive  disbelief  of 
its  authenticity.  Lord  Elibank  said,  "  I  am 
sure  it  is  not  M'Pherson's.  Mr.  Johnson, 
I  keep  company  a  great  deal  with  you;  it 
is  known  I  do.  I  may  borrow  from  yon 
better  things  than  I  can  say  myself,  tni 
give  them  as  my  own;  but  if  I  should, 
every  body  will  know  whose  they  are." 
The  Doctor  was  not  softened  by  this  com- 
pliment. He  denied  merit  to  Fingal,  sap- 
posing  it  to  be  the  production  of  a  man  who 
has  had  the  advantages  that  the  present 
age  affords;  and  said,  "  Nothing  is  more 
easy  than  to  write  euough  in  that  style,  if 
once  you  begin?."  [Young  Mr.  Tytler 
briskly  stepped  forward,  and  said,  IitEfc 
"Finffal  is  certainly  genuine,  for  I 
have  heard  a  great  part  of  it  repeated  in 
the  original."  Dr.  Johnson  indignantly 
asked  him,  "  Sir*  do  you  understand  the 
original?"  Tytler.  "No,  air."  John- 
son. "  Why,  then,  we  see  to  what  tkit 
testimony  comes:  thus  it  is8."    He  after- 

»  [Lady  Elizabeth  Erskine,  daughter  of  tbs 
fifth  Earl  of  Kellie,  widow  of  Mr.  Walter  Mao- 
farlane,  and  wife,  by  a  second  marriage,  of  the 
fourth  Lord  Colville:  she  died  in  1794,  in  her 
sixtieth  year. — En.] 

4  [Lady  Anne,  born  in  1785;  died  in  1801, 
unmarried. — Ed.] 

6  [As  seventh  earl;  born  in  1786:  he  diedai 
1797,  unmarried. — Ed.] 

•  [These  are  the  words  of  the  first  edition,  m 
lieu  of  which,  for  a  reason  that  will  appear 
presently,  Mr.  Boswell  afterwards  substituted  the 
words  "  some  other  friends."  Young  Mr.  Tytler, 
the  advocate*,  became  afterwards  a  lord  ofsoauoa, 
under  the  title  of  Lord  Wodebouselie. — Ed.] 

7  I  desire  not  to  be  understood  as  agreeing  f*» 
tirely  with  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Johnson,  which  I 
relate  without  any  remark.  The  many  imitation*, 
however,  of  Fingal,  that  have  been  published, 
confirm  this  observation  in  a  considerable  degree. 
— Boswrll. 

*  [In  place  of  this  passage  of  the  first  edition, 
Mr.  Boswell  afterwards  substituted  the  following: 
"  One  gentleman  in  company  expressing  ha 
opinion  *  that  Fingal  was  certain!?  genuine,  ftr 
that  he  had  heard  a  great  part  of  it  repeated  » 
the  original,' — Dr.  Johnson  indignantly  asked 
him,  whether  he  understood  the  original;  to 
which  an  answer  being  given  in  the  negatrre, 
'  Why,  then/  said  Dr.  Johnson,  *  we  see  to  what 
4his  testimony  comes:  thus  it  is.'  "—Ed.} 


Digitized  by 


Google 


Htt&IDBS.] 

I 

wiids  said  to  me,  "  Did  von  observe  the 
wonderful  confidence  with  which  young 
Tytler  advanced  with  his  front  ready 
brazed  P>] 

I  mentioned  this  as  a  remarkable  proof 
how  liable  the  mind  of  man  is  to  credulity, 
when  not  guarded  by  such  strict  examina- 
tion as  that  which  Dr.  Johnson  habitually 
practised.  The  talents  and  integrity  of  the 
gentleman  who  made  the  remark  are  un- 
questionable; yet,  had  not  Dr.  Johnson 
made  him  advert  to  the  consideration,  that 
he  who  does  not  understand  a  language 
cannot  know  that  something  which  is  re- 
cited to  him  is  in  that  language,  he  might 
have  believed,  and  reported  to  this  hour, 
that  he  bad  "  heard  a  neat  part  of  Fingal 
repeated  in  the  original." 

For  the  satisfaction  of  those  on  the  north 
of  the  Tweed,  who  may  think  Dr.  John- 
son's account  of  Caledonian  credulity  and 
inaccuracy  too  strong,  it  is  but  fair  to  add, 
that  he  admitted  the  same  kind  of  ready 
belief  might  be  found  in  his  own  country. 
"  He  would  undertake,"  he  said,  "  to  write 
an  epick  poem  on  the  story  of  Robin  Hood, 
and  half  England,  to  whom  the  names  and 
places  he  should  mention  in  it  are  familiar, 
would  believe  and  declare  they  had  heard  it 
from  their  earliest  years." 

One  of  his  objections  to  the  authenticity 
of  Fingal,  during  the  conversation  at  Ulin- 
ish,  is  omitted  in  my  Journal,  but  I  perfectly 
recollect  it  "Why  is  not  the  original 
deposited  in  some  publick  library,  instead  of 
exhibiting  attestations  of  its  existence? 
Suppose  there  were  a  question  in  a  court  of 
justice,  whether  a  man  be  dead  or  alive. 
You  aver  he  is  alive,  and  you  briny  fifty 
witnesses  to  swear  it  I  answer,  '  Why  do 
you  not  produce  the  man?"9  This  is  an 
argument  founded  on  one  of  the  first  princi- 
ples of  the  law  of  evidence,  which-  Gilbert  * 
would  have  held  to  be  irrefragable. 

I  do  not  think  it  incumbent  on  me  to  give 
any  precise  decided  opinion  upon  this  ques- 
tion, as  to  which  I  believe  more  than  some, 
and  less  than  others.  The  subject  appears 
to  have  now  become  very  uninteresting  to 
the  nublick.    That  Fingal  is  not  from  be- 

f  inning  to  end  a  translation  from  the  Gae- 
ck,  but  that  tome  passages  have  been 
supplied  by  the  editor  to  connect  the  whole, 
I  have  heard  admitted  by  very  warm  advo- 
cates for  its  authenticity,  if  this  be  the 
case,  why  are  not  these  distinctly  ascertain- 
ed ?  Antiquaries  and  admirers  of  the  work 
may  complain,  that  they  are  in  a  situ- 
ation similar  to  that  of  the  unhappy  gentle- 
man whose  wife  informed  him,  on  her 
deathbed,  that  one  of  their  reputed  children 
was  not  his;  and,  when  he  eagerly  begged 
her  to  declare  which  of  them  it  was,  she 


\in<— JETAT.  64. 


4*1 


[Chief  Baron  Gilbert  wrote  a  treaties  on  JBni- 
~   1 


answered,  "  That  you  shall  never  know; " 
and  expired,  leaving  him  in  irremediable 
doubt  as  to  them  all. 

I  beg  leave  now  to  say  something  npon 
second-sight,  of  which  I  have  related  two 
instances,  as  they  impressed  my  mind  at  the 
time  9.  I  own,  I  returned  from  the  Hebri- 
des with  a  considerable  degree  of  faith  in  the 
many  stories  of  that  kind  which  I  heard 
with  a  too  easy  acquiescence,  without  any 
close  examination  of  the  evidence:  but, 
since  that  time,  my  belief  in  those  stories 
has  been  much  weakened,  by  reflecting  on 
the  careless  inaccuracy  of  narrative  in  com- 
mon matters,  from  which  we  may  certainly 
conclude  that  there;  may  be  the  same  in 
what  is  more  extraordinary,  ft  is  but  just, 
however,  to  add,  that  the  belief  in  second- 
sight  is  m>t  peculiar  to  the  Highlands  and 
Isles. 

Some  years  after  our  Tour,  a  cause  was 
tried  in  the  court  of  session,  where  the 
principal  fact  to  be  ascertained  wss,  whether 
a  ship-master,  who  used  to  frequent  the 
Western  Highlands  and  Isles,  was  drowned 
in  one  particular  year,  or  in  the  year  after. 
A  great  number  of  witnesses  from  those 
parts  were  examined  on  each  side,  and 
swore  directly  contrary  to  each  other  upon 
this  simple  question.  One  of  them,  a  very 
respectable  chieftain,  who  told  me  a  story 
of  second-sight,  which  I  have  not  mention- 
ed, but  which  I  too  implicitly  believed,  had 
in  this  case,  previous  to  this  publick  exami- 
nation, not  only  said,  but  attested  under  his 
hand,  that  he  had  seen  the  ship-master  in 
the  year  subsequent  to  that  in  which  the 
court  was  finally  satisfied  he  wss  drowned. 
When  interrogated  with  the  strictness  of 
judicial  inquiry,  and  under  the  awe  of  an 
oath,  he  recollected  himself  better,  and  re- 
tracted what  he  had  formerly  asserted,  apol- 
ogising for  his  inaccuracy,  by  telling  the 
judges,  "  A  man  will  say  what  he  will  not 
•wear."  By  many  he  was  much  censured, 
and  it  was  maintained  that  every  gentleman 
would  be  as  attentive  to  truth  without  the 
sanction  of  an  oath  as  with  it.  Dr.  Johnson, 
though  he  himself  was  distinguished  at  all 
times  by  a  scrupulous  adherence  to  truth, 
controverted  this  proposition ;  and  as  a  proof 
that  this  was  not,  though  it  ought  to  be,  the 
case,  urged  the  very  different  decisions  of 
elections,  under  Mr.  Granville's  Act,  from 
those  formerly  made.  "Gentlemen  will 
not  pronounce  upon  oath,  what  they  would 
have  said,  and  voted  in  the  house,  without 
that  sanction. M 

However  difficult  it  may  be  for  men  who 
believe  in  preternatural  communications,  in 
modern  times,  to  satisfy  those  who  are  of  a 
different  opinion,  they  may  easily  refute  the 
doctrine  or  their  opponents,  who  impute  a 
belief  in  second-sight  to  superstition.    To 


[SesMacleod's 


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1778.— iETAT.  64. 


entertain  a  visionary  notion  that  one  sees  a  ' 
distant  or  future  event  may  be  caHed  super- 
stition; but  the  correspondeBce  of  the  fact 
or  event  with  such  an  impression  on  the 
fancy,  though  certainly  very  wonderful,  if 
proved,  has  no  more  connexion  with  super- 
stition than  magnetism  or  electricity.  ^ 

After  dinner  various  topicks  were  discuss- 
ed: but  I  recollect  only  one  particular.  Dr. 
Johnson  compared  the  different  talents  of 
Garrick  and  Foote,  as  companions,  and  gave 
Garrick  greatly  the  preference  for  elegance, 
though  he  allowed  Foote  extraordinary 
powers  of  entertainment.  He  said, "  Gar- 
rick is  restrained  by  some  principle;  but 
Foote  has  the  advantage  of  an  unlimited 
range.  Garrick  has  some  delicacy  of  feel- 
ing; it  is  possible  to  put  him  out}  you  may 
yet  the  better  of  him;  but  Foote  is  the  most 
incompressible  fellow  that  I  ever  knew: 
when  you  have  driven  him  into  a  corner, 
and  think  you  are  sure  of  him,  he  runs 
through  between  your  legs,  or  jumps  over 
your  head,  and  makes  his  escape."     „ 

Dr.  Erekine  and  Mr.  Robert  Walker, 
two  very  respectable  ministers  of  Edin- 
burgh, supped  with  us,  as  did  the  Reverend 
Dr.  Webster.  The  conversation  turned  on 
the  Moravian  missions,  and  on  the  method- 
ists.  Dr.  Johnson  observed  in  general,  that 
missionaries  were  too  sanguine  in  their  ac- 
counts of  their  success  among  savages,  and 
that  much  of  what  they  tell  is  not  to  be  be- 
lieved. He  owned  that  the  methodists  had 
done  good;  had  spread  religious  impressions 
among  the  vulgar  part  of  mankind;  but,  he 
said,  they  had  great  bitterness  against  other 
Christians,  and  that  he  never  could  get  a 
methodist  to  explain  in,  what  he  excelled 
others;  that  it  always  ended  in  the  indis- 
pensable necessity  of  hearing  one  of  their 
preachers. 

Thursday,  11th  November. — Principal 
Robertson  came  to  us  as  we  sat  at  break- 
fast: he  advanced  to  Dr.  Johnson,  repeating 
a  line  of  Virgil,  which  I  forget  I  suppose, 
either 

Post  variofl  cams,  per  tot  discrimina  rerum  \ 
or 
— multun  ille  et  terns  jactatus,  et  alto  *. 

Every  body  had  accosted  us  with  some 
studied  compliment  on  our  return.  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  "  I  am  really  ashamed  of  the 
congratulations  which  we  receive.  We  are 
addressed  as  if  we  had  made  a  voyage  to 
Nova  Zembla,  and  suffered  five  persecu- 
tions in  Japan."  And  he  afterwards  re- 
marked, that "  to  see  a  man  come  up  with  a 
formal  air,  and  a  Latin  line,  when  we  had 


1  Through  Tarfons  hazards  and  aventa  we  more.— 
Drydtn — Boswkll. 

*  Long  laboun  both  by  tea  and  land  ha  bore.— JDryden. 
— Bo«wbll. 


[TOH&  TO  TH1 

no  fatigue  and  no  danger,  was  provoking. n 
I  told  him,  he  was  not  sensible  of  the  dan- 
ger, having  lain  under  cover  in  the  boat 
during  the  storm:  he  was  like  the  chicken, 
that  hides  its  head  under  its  wing,  and  then 
thinks  itself  safe. 

Lord  Elibank  came  to  us,  as  did  Sir 
William  Forbes.  The  rash  attempt  in 
1745  being  mentioned,  I  observed,  that  if 
would  make  a  fine  piece  of  history  3.  Dr. 
Johnson  said  it  would.  Lord  Eubank 
doubted  whether  any  man  of  this  age  could 

five  it  impartially.  Josh  sow.  "  A  man, 
y  talking  with  those  of  different  sides,  who 
were  actors  in -it,  and  putting  down  all  that 
he  hears,  may  in  time  collect  the  materia* 
of  a  good  narrative.  You  are  to  consider, 
aH  history  was  at  first  oral.  I  suppose  Vol- 
taire was  fifty  years  in  collecting  his '  Louis 
XIV.'  which  he  did  in  the  way  that  I  an 

f reposing."  Robertson.  "He  did  m. 
le  lived  much  with  all  the  great  people 
who  were  concerned  in  that  reign,  and 
heard  them  talk  of  every  thing;  and  men 
either  took  Mr.  Boswell's  way  of  writs* 
down,  what  he  heard,  or,  which  is  as  good, 
preserved  it  in  his  memory;  for  he  has  t 
wonderful  memory."  With  the  leave, 
however,  of  this  elegant  historian,  no  man* 
memory  can  preserve  facts  or  savings  with 
such  fidelity  as  may  be  done  oy  writing 
them  down  when  they  are  recent  Dr. 
Robertson  said,  "  It  was  now  full  time  to 
make  such  a  collection  as  Dr.  Johnson  sug- 
gested; for  many  of  the  people  who  were 
then  in  arms  were  dropping  off;  and  bow 
whigs  and  Jacobites  were  now  come  to  taft 
with  moderation."  Lord  Elibank  said  to 
him,  "  Mr.  Robertson,  the  first  thing  that 
gave  me  a  high  opinion  of  you  was  joxs 
saying  in  the  Select  Society  *,  while  parti* 
ran  high,  soon  after  the  year  1745,  that  yon 
did  not  think  worse  of  a  man's  moral  char* 
acter  for  his  having  been  in  rebellion.  Tha 
was  venturing  to  utter  a  liberal  sentiment, 
while  both  sides  had  a  detestation  of  each 
other." 
Dr.  Johnson  observed,  that  being  in  R> 


3  [It  were  to  be  wished  that  the  master  fas* 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  which  has  created  a  £** 
pean  interest  in  the  details  of  the  Scotch  charseW 
and  manners,  should  give  us  a  history  of  <** 
young  Pretender's  proceedings.  Mr.  BosweWj 
notes,  the  work  called  "  Ascanras,''  the  J08™* 
in  the  Lockhart  papers,  and  the  periodical  ps* 
cations  of  the  day,  contain  a  great  deal  of  *J 
prince's  personal  history;  and  the  archive!  of  &* 
public  offices  and  the  Stuart  papers  weald  pw*^ 
bly  be  open  to  his  inquiries.  There  is  P*^ 
little  new  to  tell,  bat  it  might  be  collected  ** 
one  view,  and  the  interest  heightened  by  ha  ■*" 
mirable  powers  of  narration. — En.] 

4  A  society  for  debate  in  Edinburgh,  cans* 
ing  of  the  moat  eminent  men. — Boewau* 


Digitized  by 


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HEBRIDES.] 

bellion  from  a  notion  of  another's  right  was 
not  connected  with  depravity;  and  that  we 
had  this  proof  of  it,  that  aU  mankind  ap- 
plauded the  pardoning  of  rebels;  which 
they  would  not  do  in  the  case  of  robbers 
and  murderers.  He  said,  with  a  smile,  that 
"  he  wondered  that  the  phrase  of  unnatural 
rebellion  should  be  so  much  used,  for  that 
all  rebellion  was  natural  to  man." 


1778.— *ETAT.  64. 


463 


As  I  kept  no  Journal  of  any  thing  that 
passed  alter  this  morning,  I  shall,  from 
memory,  group  together  this  and  the  other 
days  till  that  on  which  Dr.  Johnson  depart- 
ed for  London.  They  were  in  all  nine  days ; 
on  which  he  dined  at  Lady  Colvill's,  Lord 
Hailes's,  Sir  Adolphus  Oughton's,Sir  Alex- 
ander Dick's,  Principal  Robertson's,  Mr. 
M'Laurin's,  and  thrice  at  Lord  Elibank's 
seat  in  the  country,  where  we  also  passed 
two  nights.  He  supped  at  the  Honourable 
Alexander  Gordon's,  now  one  of  our  judges, 
by  the  title  of  Lord  Rockville;  at  Mr. 
fvairne's,  now  also  one  of  gut  judges,  by 
the  title  of  Loci  Dunsinan;  at  Dr.  Blair's, 
and  Mr.  Tytler's;  and  at  my  house  thrice, 
one  evening  with  a  numerous  company, 
chiefly  gentlemen  of  the  law;  another  with 
Mr.  Menzies  of  Cuidares,  and  Lord  Mon- 
boddo,  who  disengaged  himself  on  purpose 
to  meet  him;  and  the  evening  on  which  we 
returned  from  Lord  Elibank's,  he  supped 
with  my  wife  and  me  by  ourselves. 

He  breakfasted  at  Dr.  Webster's,  at  old 
Mr.  Dftimmond's,  and  at  Dr.  Blacklock's; 
and  spent  one  forenoon  at  my  uncle  Dr. 
Boswell's,  who  showed  him  his  curious 
museum;  and,  as  he  was  an  elegant  scholar, 
and  a  physician  bred  in  the  school  of  Boer- 
haave,  ut.  Johnson  was  pleased  with  his 
company. 

On  the  mornings  when  he  breakfasted  at 
my  house,  he  had,  from  ten  o'clock  till  one 
ot  two*  a  constant  levee  of  various  persons, 
of  very  different  characters  and  descriptions. 
I  could  not  attend  him,  being  obliged  to  be 
In  the  court  of  session;  but  my  wife  was  so 
good  as  to  devote  the  greater  part  of  the 
morning  to  the  endless  task  of  pouring  out 
tea  for  my.  friend  and  his  visitors. 
.  Such  was  Ihe  disposition  of  his  time  at 
Edinburgh.  He  said  one  evening  to  me, 
in  a  fit  of  languor,  "  Sir,  we  have  been  har- 
assed by  invitations. "  I  acquiesced.  "  Ay, 
air,"  he  replied;  "but  how  much  worse 
would  it  have  been  if  we  had  been  neglect- 
ed?" 

From  what  has  been  recorded  in  this 
Journal,  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  a 
variety  of  admirable  conversation  has  been 
lost,  by  tny  neglect  to  preserve  it.  I  shall 
endeavour  to  recollect  some  of  it  as  well  as 
I  can. 

At  Lady  Colvill's,  to  whom  I  am  proud 
to  introduce  any  stranger  of  eminence,  that 


he  may  see  what  dignity  and*  grace  is  to  be 
found  in  Scotland,  an  officer  observed  that 
he  had  heard  Lord  Mansfield  was  not  a 
great  English  lawyer.  Johnson.  "  Why, 
sir,  supposing  Lord  Mansfield  not  to  have, 
the  splendid  talents  which  he  possesses,  he 
must  be  a  great  English  lawyer,  from  hav- 
ing been  so  long  at  the  bar,  and  having 
passed  through  so  many  of  the  great  offices 
of  the  law.  Sir,  you  may  as  well  maintain 
that  a  carrier,  who  has  driven  a  packhorse 
between  Edinburgh  and  Berwick  for  thirty 
years,  does  not  know  the  road,  as  that 
Lord  Mansfield  does  not  know  the  law  of 
England." 

At  Mr.  Nairne'8  he  drew  the  character 
of  Richardson,  the  authour  of  Clarissa, 
with  a  strong  yet  delicate  pencil.  I  lament 
much  that  I  have  not  preserved  it ;  I  only 
remember  that  he  expressed  a  high  opinion 
of  his  talents  and  virtues ;  but  observed 
that "  hie  perpetual  study  was  to  ward  off 
petty  inconveniencies,  and  procure  petty 
pleasures;  that  his  love  of  continual  superi- 
ority was  such  that  he  took  care  to  be 
always  surrounded  by  women,  who  listened 
to  him  implicitly,  and  did  not  venture  to 
controvert  his  opinions  * ;  and  that  his 
desire  of  distinction  was  so  great,  that  he 
used  to  give  large  vails  to  the  Speaker 
Onslow's  servants,  that  they  might  treat 
him  with  respect*" 

On  the  same  evening,  he  would  not  allow 
that  the  private  life  of  a  judge,  in  England, 
was  required  to  be  so  strictly  decorous  as  I 
supposed.  "Why  then,  sir  (said  I),  ac- 
cording to  your  account,  an  English  judge 
may  just  live  like  a  gentleman."  Johnson. 
"  Yes,  sir,— if  he  can  2." 

At  Mr.  Tytler's,  I  happened  to  tell  that 
one  evening,  a  great  many  years  ago,  when 
Dr..  Hugh  Blair  and  I  were  sitting  together 
in  the  pit  of  Drury-lane  play-house,  in  a 
wild  freak  of  youthful  extravagance,  1  en- 
tertained the  audience  prodigiously,  by 
imitating  the  lowing  of  a  cow.  A  little 
while  alter  I  had  told  this  story,  I  differed 
from  Dr.  Johnson,  I  suppose  too  confident- 
ly, upon  some  point,  which  I  now  forget. 
He  did  not  spare  me.  "  Nay,  sir  (said  he), 
if  you  cannot  talk  better  as  a  man,  I'd  have 
you  bellow  like  a  cow3." 


1  [See  ante,  p.  96.— Ed.] 

9  [And  yet  see  (ante,  p.  359)  hb  censors  of 
Lord  Monboddo  for  wearing  a  round  hat  in  the 
country. — Ed.] 

3  As  I  have  been  scrupulously  exact  in  relating 
anecdotes  concerning  other  persons,  I  shall  not 
withhold  any  part  of  this  story,  however  ludicrous. 
I  was  so  successful  in  this  boyish  frohck.  that  the 
universal  cry  of  the  galleries  was,  "Encore  the 
cow!  Encore  the  cow!"  In  the  pride  of  my 
heart  I  attempted  imitations  of  some  other 
animal,  but  with  very  inferior  effect  My  rev- 
erend friend,  anxious  for  my  fame,  with  an  air  of 


Digitized  by 


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464 


1773,— iETAT.  64. 


[Tovm  TO 


At  Dr.  Webster's,  he  said,  that  he  be- 
lieved hardly  any  man  died  without  affecta- 
tion. This  remark  appears  to  me  to  be  well 
founded,  and  will  account  for  many  of  the 
celebrated  deathbed  sayings  which  are  re- 
corded. 

On  one  of  the  evenings  at  my  house, 
when  he  told  that  Lord  Lovat  boasted  to 
an  English  nobleman,  that,  though  he  had 
not  his  wealth,  he  had  two  thousand  men 
whom  he  could  at  any  time  call  into  the 
field,  the  Honourable  Alexander  Gordon 
observed,  that  those  two  thousand  men 
brought  him  to  the  block.  "True,  sir 
(said  Dr.  Johnson) :  but  you  may  just  as 
well  argue  concerning  a  man  who  has  fallen 
over  a  precipice  to  which  he  has  walked 
too  near, — (  His  two  legs  brought  him  to 
that,' — is  he  not  the  better  for  having  two 
legs?" 

At  Dr.  Blair's  I  left  him,  in  order  to 
attend  a  consultation,  during  which  he  and 
his  amiable  host  were  by  themselves.  I 
returned  to  supper,  at  which  were  Principal 
Robertson,  Mr.   Nairne,  and  some  other 

f?ntlemen.  Dr.  Robertson  and  Dr.  Blair, 
remember,  talked  well  upon  subordination 
and  government;  and,  as  my  friend  and  I 
were  walking  home,  he  said  to  me,  "  Sir, 
these  two  doctors  are  good  men,  and  wise 
men."  I  begged  of  Dr.  Blair  to  recollect 
what  he  could  of  the  long  conversation  that 
passed  between  Dr.  Johnson  and  him  alone, 
this  evening,  and  he  obligingly  wrote  to 
me  as  follows: — 

"3d  Man*,  1T8S. 

"Deak  sir, — As  so  many  years  have 
intervened  since  I  chanced  to  have  that 
conversation  with  Dr.  Johnson  in  my  house 
to  which  you  refer,  I  have  forgotten  most 
of  what  then  passed;  but  remember  that  I 
was  both  instructed  and  entertained  by  it 
Among  other  subjects,  the  discourse  hap- 

Swing  to  turn  on  modern  Latin  poets,  the 
octor  expressed  a  very  favourable  opinion 
of  Buchanan,  and  instantly  repeated  from 
beginning  to  end,  an  ode  of  his,  entitled 
Calender  Mates  (the  eleventh  in  his  Mi$- 
cellaneorum  Liber,  beginning  with  these 
words,  *  Salvete  sacris  deliciii  sacra,9  with 
which  I  had  formerly  been  unacquainted; 
but  upon  perusing  it,  the  praise  which  he 
bestowed  upon  it,  as  one  or  the  happiest  of 
Buchanan's  poetical  compositions,  appeared 
to  me  very  iust  He  also  repeated  to  me  a 
Latin  ode  he  had  composed  in  one  of  the 
western  islands,  from  which  he  had  lately 

the  atmort  gravity  and  earnestness,  addressed  me 
thus:  "  My  dear  sir,  I  would  confine  myself  to 
the  cow  /"— Boiwill.  [Blair's  advice  was  ex- 
pressed more  emphatically,  and  with  a  peculiar 
burr—**  Stick  to  the  cow,  mon!,»— -Waitjer 
Scott.] 


returned.  We  had  much  discourse  con- 
cerning his  excursion  to  those  islands,  with 
which  he  expressed  himself  as  having  been 
highly  pleased;  talked  in  a  favourable  man- 
ner of  the  hospitality  of  the  inhabitants; 
and  particularly  spoke  much  of  his  happi- 
ness in  having  you  for  his  companion:  and 
said  that  the  longer  he  knew  you,  beloved 
and  esteemed  you  the  more.  This  conver- 
sation passed  in  the  interval  between  tea 
and  supper,  when  we  were  by  ourselves. 
Tou,  and  the  rest  of  the  company  who 
were  with  us  at  supper,  have  often  takes 
notice  that  he  was  uncommonly  bland  and 
gay  that  evening,  and  gave  much  pleasure 
to  all  who  were  present  This  is  ail  that  I 
can  recollect  distinctly  of  that  long  conver- 
sation.   Yours  sincerely, 

"  Huch  Blub." 

At  Lord  Hailes's  we  spent  a  most  agree- 
able day;  but  again  I  must  lament  that  I 
was  so  indolent  as  to  let  almost  all  that 
passed  evaporate  into  oblivion.  Dr.  John- 
son observed  there,  that  "  it  is  wonderfol 
how  ignorant  many  officers  of  the  army 
are,  considering  how  much  leisure  they 
have  for  study,  and  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge."  I  hope  he  was  mistaken;  for 
he  maintained  that  many  of  them  were 
ignorant  of  things  belonging  immediately 
to  their  own  profession ;  "  for  instance, 
many  cannot  tell  how  far  a  musket  will  car- 
ry a  bullet ; "  in  proof  of  which,  I  suppose, 
he  mentioned  some  particular  person ;  /or 
Lord  Hailes,  from  whom  I  solicited  what 
he  could  recollect  of  that  day,  writes  to  me 
as  follows: 

"  As  to  Dr.  Johnson's  observation  about 
the  ignorance  of  officers,  in  the  length  that 
a  musket  will  carry,  my  brother,  Colonel 
Dalrymple,  was  present,  and  he  thought 
that  the  Doctor  was  either  mistaken,  by 
putting  the  question  wrong,  or  that  he  had 
conversed  on  the  subject  with  some  person 
out  of  service. 

"Was  it  upon  that  occasion  that  be 
expressed  no  curiosity  to  see  the  room  at 
Dumiermline  where  Charles  I.  was  born? 
( I  know  that  he  was  born  (said  he);  *■ 
matter  where.*  Did  he  envy  us  the  oiruV 
place  of  the  king  ?  " 

Near  the  end  of  his  «  Journey,"  Dr. 
Johnson  has  given  liberal  praise  to  Mr. 
Braid  wood's  academy  for  the  deaf  and 
dumb.  When  he  visited  it,  a  circumstance 
occurred  which  was  truly  characteristical 
of  our  great  lexicographer.  "Pray,"  •»» 
he,  "  can  they  pronounce  any  long  words? 
Mr.  Braidwood  informed  him  they  const 
Upon  which  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  one  of  wj 
$equipedalia  verba,  which  was  proBOuncw 
by  the  scholars,  and  he  was  satisfied.  My 
readers  may  perhaps  wish  to  know  what 
the  word  ws* ;  but  I  cannot  gratify  thsff 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES.] 

curiosity.  Mr.  Braidwood  told  me  it  re* 
mained  lone  in  his  school,  but  had  been 
lost  before  f  made  my  inquiry  K 

Dr.  Johnson  one  day  visited  the  court  of 
session.  He  thought  the  mode  of  pleading 
there  too  vehement,  and  too  much  addressed 
to  the  passions  of  the  judges.  "  This," 
said  he,  "  is  not  the  Areopagus." 

At  old  Mr.  Drummond's,  Sir  John  Dal- 
rymple  quaintly  said,  the  two  noblest  ani- 
mals in  the  world  were  a  Scotch  Highland- 
er and  an  English  sailor.  "Why,  sir," 
said  Dr.  Johnson,  "  I  shall  say  nothing  as 
to  the  Scotch  Highlander;  but  as  to  the 
English  sailor,  1  cannot  agree  with  you." 
Sir  John  said  he  was  generous  in  giving 
away  his  money.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  he 
throws  away  his  money,  without  thought, 
and  without  merit.  I  do  not  call  a  tree 
generous,  that  sheds  its  fruit  at  every 
breeze."  Sir  John  having  affected  to  com- 
plain of  the  attacks  made  upon  his  "  Me- 
moirs," Dr.  Johnson  said,  "  Nay,  sir,  do 
not  complain.  It  is  advantageous  to  an  au- 
thour,  that  his  book  should  be  attacked  as 
well  as  praised.  Fame  is  a  shuttlecock. 
If  it  be  struck  only  at  one  end  of  the  room, 
it  will  soon  fail  to  the  ground.  To  keep  it 
up,  it  must  be  struck  at  both  ends."  Often 
have  I  reflected  on  this  since ;  and,  instead 
of  being  angry  at  many  of  those  who  have 
written  against  me,  have  smiled  to  think 
that  they  were  unintentionally  subservient 
to  mjr  fame,  bv  using  a  battledoor  to  make 
me  virum  vohtareper  or  a. 

At  Sir  Alexander  Dick's,  from  that  ab- 
sence of  mind  to  which  every  man  is  at 
times  subject,  I  told,  in  a  blundering 
manner,  Lady  Eglintoune's  complimentary 
adoption  of  Dr.  Johnson  as  her  son ;  for 
I  unfortunately  stated  that  her  ladyship 
adopted  him  as  her  son,  in  consequence  of 
her  having  been  married  the  year  after  he 
was  born.  Dr.  Johnson  instantly  corrected 
me.  "  Sir,  don't  you  perceive  that  you 
are  defaming  the  countess?  For,  suppo- 
sing me  to  be  her  son,  and  that  she  was 
not  married  till  the  year  alter  my  birth,  I 
must  have  been  her  natural   son."      A 


1778.— jETAT.  64. 


465 


1  One  of  the  beat  critics  of  oar  age  "  does  not 
wish  to  prevent  the  admirers  of  the  incorrect  and 
nerveless  style,  which  generally  prevailed  for  a 
century  before  Dr.  Johnson's  energetic  writings 
were  known,  from  enjoying  the  laugh  that  tms 
story  may  produce,  in  which  be  k  very  ready  to 
join  them."  He,  however,  requests  me  to  ob- 
serve, that  "  my  friend  very  properly  chose  a  long 
word  on  this  occasion,  not,  it  is  believed,  from 
any  predilection  for  polysyllables  (though  be  cer- 
tainly had  a  due  respect  for  them),  but  in  order  to 
put  Mr.  Braidwood's  skill  to  the  strictest  test,  and 
to  try  the  efficacy  of  his  instruction  by  the  most 
difficult  exertion  of  the  oigans  of  his  pupils."— 
Boswsli*.  [The  critic  was  probably  Dr.  Blair. 
— Walts*  Scott.] 

vol.  I.        59 


young  lady  9  of  quality,  who  was  present, 
very  handsomely  said,  "  Might  not  the  son 
have  justified  the  fault?"  My  friend  was 
much  flattered  by  this  compliment,  which 
he  never  forgot.  When  in  more  than 
ordinary  spirits,  and  talking  of  his  journey 
in  Scotland,  he  has  called  to  me, "  ftoswell, 
what  was  it  that  the  young  lady  of  quality 
said  of  me  at  Sir  Alexander  Dick's? "  No- 
body will  doubt  that  I  was  happy  in  repeat- 
ins;  it     • 

My  illustrious  friend,  being  now  desirous 
to  be  again  in  the  great  theatre  of  life  and 
animated  exertion,  took  a  place  in  the 
coach,  which  was  to  set  out  for  London  on 
Monday  the  22d  of  November.  Sir  John 
Dalrymple  pressed  him  to  come  on  the 
Saturday  before,  to  his  house  at  Cranston, 
which  being  twelve  miles  from  Edinburgh, 
upon  the  middle  road  to  Newcastle  (Dr. 
Johnson  had  come  to  Edinburgh  by  Ber- 
wick, and  along  the  naked  coast),  it  would 
make  his  journey  easier,  as  the  coach 
would  take  him  up  at  a  more  seasonable 
hour  than  that  at  which  it  sets  out  Sir 
John,  I  perceived,  was  ambitious  of  having 
such  a  guest;  but  as  I  was  well  assured, 
that  at  this  very  time  he  had  joined  with 
some  of  his  prejudiced  countrymen  in  rail- 
ing at  Dr.  Johnson,  and  had  said,  he  won- 
dered how  any  gentleman  of  Scotland  could 
keep  company  with  him,  I  thought  he  did 
not  deserve  the  honour;  yet,  as  it  might 
be  a  convenience  to  Dr.  Johnson,  I  contri- 
ved that  he  should  accept  the  invitation, 
and  engaged  to  conduct  him.  I  resolved 
that,  on  our  way  to  Sir  John's,  we  should 
make  a  little  circuit  by  Roslin  Castle  and 
Hawthornden,  and  wished  to  set  out  soon 
after  breakfast ;  but  young  Mr.  Tytler 
came  to  show  Dr.  Johnson  some  essays 
which  he  had  written;  and  my  great  friend, 
who  was  exceedingly  obliging  when  thus 
consulted,  was  detained  so  long  that  it  was, 
I  believe,  one  o'clock  before  we  got  into 
our  post-chaise.  I  found  that  we  should  be 
too  late  for  dinner  at  Sir  John  Dalrymple's, 
to  which  we  were  engaged:  but  I  would  by 
no  means  lose  the  pleasure  ot  seeing  my  friend 
at  Hawthornden, — of  seeing  Sam  Johnson 
at  the  very  spot  where  Ben  Jonson  visited 
the  learned  and  poetical  Drummond. 

We  surveyed  Roelin  Castle,  the  romantic 
scene  around  it,  and  the  beautiful  Gothick 
chapel,  and  dined  and  drank  tea  at  the  inn; 
after  which  we  proceeded  to  Hawthornden, 
and  viewed  the  caves;  and  I  all  the  while 
had  Rare  Ben  in  my  mind,  and  was  pleased 
to  think  that  this  place  was  now  visited  by 
another  celebrated  wit  of  England. 

By  this  time  "the  waning  night  was 
growing  old,"  and  we  were  yet  several 
miles  from  Sir.  John   Dalrymple's.     Dr. 


*  [Probably  one  of  the  Ladies  Lindsay,  daugh- 
ters of  the  Earl  of  Bakarres.— Walts*  Scott.] 


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1778.— iETAT.  64 


TOUR  TO  TH1 


Johnson  did  not  seem  much  troubled  at  oar 
having  treated  the  baronet  with  so  little  at- 
tention to  politeness  {  but  when  I  talked  of 
the  grievous  disappointment  it  roust  have 
been  to  him  that  we  did  not  come  to  the 
feast  that  he  had  prepared  for  us  (for  he 
told  us  he  had  killed  a  seven-year-old  sheep 
on  purpose]),  my  friend  got  into  a  merry 
mood,  and  jocularly  said,  "  I  dare  say,  sir, 
he  has  been  very  sadly  distressed;  nay,  we 
we  do  not  know  but  the  consequence  may 
have  been  fatal.  Let  me  try  to  describe  his 
situation  in  his  own  historical  style.  I  have 
as  good  a  right  to  make  him  think  and  talk, 
as  he  has  to  tell  us  how  people  thought  and 
talked  a  hundred  years  ago,  of  which  he 
has  no  evidence.  All  history,  so  far  as  it  is 
not  supported  by  contemporary  evidence, 
is  romance. — Stay  now — let  us  consider!" 
He  then  (heartily  laughing  all  the  while) 
proceeded  in  his  imitation,!  am  sure  to  the 
following  effect,  though  now,  at  the  distance 
of  almost  twelve  years,  I  cannot  pretend  to 
recollect  all  the  precise  words. 

"  Dinner  being  ready,  he  wondered  that 
his  guests  were  not  yet  come.  His  wonder 
was  soon  succeeded  by  impatience.  He 
walked  about  the  room  in  anxious  agitation; 
sometimes  he  looked  at  his  watch,  some- 
times he  looked  out  at  the  window  with  an 
eager  gaze  of  expectation,  and  revolved  in 
his  mind  the  various  accidents  of  human 
life.  His  family  beheld  him  with  mute  con- 
cern. '  Surely,'  said  he,  with  a  sigh, c  they 
will  not  fail  me.'  The  mind  of  man  can 
bear  a  certain  pressure;  but  there  is  a  point 
when  it  can  bear  no  more.  A  rope  was  in 
his  view,  and  he  died  a  Roman  death  V 

It  was  very  late  before  we  reached  the 
seat  of  Sir  John  Dalrymple9,  who,  certain- 
ly with  some  reason,  was  not  in  very  good 
humour.  Our  conversation  was  not  bril- 
liant. We  supped,  and  went  to  bed  in  an- 
cient rooms,  which  would  have  better  suit- 
ed the  climate  of  Italy  in  summer,  than  that 
of  Scotland  in  the  month  of  November. 

I  recollect  no  conversation  of  the  next 
day  worth  preserving,  except  one  saying  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  which  will  be  a  valuable  text 
for  many  decent  old  dowagers,  and  other 
good  company,  in  various  circles  to  descant 

1  "  Essex  was  at  that  time  confined  to  the  same 
chamber  of  the  Tower  from  which  his  father  Lord 
Capel  had  been  led  to  death,  and  in  which  bis 
wife's  grandfather  had  inflicted  a  voluntary  death 
upon  himself  When  he  saw  his  friend  carried  to 
what  he  reckoned  certain  fate,  their  common 
enemies  enjoying  the  spectacle,  and  reflected  that 
it  was  he  who  had  forced  Lord  Howard  upon 
the  confidence  of  Russell,  he  retired,  and,  by  a 
Reman  death,  put  an  end  to  his  misery" — Dal- 
rymple's  Memoirs  of  Great  Britain  and  Jr-e- 
land,  voL  L  p.  86. 

*  [They  seem  to  have  behaved  to  Sir  John 
Dalrymple  with  wanton  incivility.— En.] 


upon.  He  said,  "I  am  sorry  I  have  not 
learnt  to  play  at  cards.  It  is  very  useful  in 
life:  it  generates  kindness,  and  consolidates 
society  3."  He  certainly  could  not  mean 
deep  play. 

My  friend  and  I  thought  we  should  be 
more  comfortable  at  the  inn  at  Blackshields, 
two  miles  farther  on.  We  therefore  went 
thither  in  the  evening,  and  he  was  very  en- 
tertaining; but  I  have  preserved  nothing 
but  the  pleasing  remembrance,  and  his 
verses  on  George  the  Second  and  Gibber, 
and  his  epitaph  on  Parnell,  which  he  was 
then  so  good  as  to  dictate  to  me.  We 
breakfasted  together  next  morning,  and 
then  the  coach  came,  and  took  him  up.  He 
had,  as  one  of  his  companions  in  it,  as  far 
as  Newcastle,  the  worthy  and  inrenjon 
Dr.  Hope,  botanical  professor  at  Edinburgh. 
Both  Dr.  Johnson  and  he  used  to  speak  of 
their  good  fortune  in  thus  accidentally  meet- 
ing; tor  they  had  much  instructive  conver- 
sation, which  is  always  a  most  valuable  en- 
joyment, and,  when  found  where  it  is  not 
expected,  is  peculiarly  relished. 

I  have  now  completed  my  account  of  oar 
Tour  to  the  Hebrides.  I  have  brought  Dr- 
Johnson  down  to  Scotland,  and  seen  him  in- 
to the  coach  which  in  a  few  hours  carried 
him  back  into  England.  He  said  to  me 
often,  that  the  time  he  spent  m  this  Tour 
was  the  pleasantest  part  of  his  life,  and  ask- 
ed me  if  I  would  lose  the  recollection  of  it 
for  five  hundred  pounds.  I  answered  I 
would  not;  and  he  applauded  my  setting' 
such  a  value  on  an  accession  of  new  images 
in  my  mind. 

Had  it  not  been  for  me,  I  am  persuaded 
Dr.  Johnson  never  would  have  undertakes 
such  a  journey;  and  I  must  be  allowed  to 
assume  some  merit  from  having  been  the 
cause  that  our  language  has  been  enriched 
with  such  a  book  as  that  which  he  published 
on  his  return;  a  book  which  I  never  read 
but  with  the  utmost  admiration),  as  I  had 
such  opportunities  of  knowing  from  what 
very  meagre  materials  it  was  composed. 

But  my  praise  may  be  supposed  partial; 
and  therefore  I  shall  insert  two  testimonies, 
not  liable  to  that  objection,  both  written  by 
gentlemen  of  Scotland,  to  whose  opinions! 
am  confident  the  highest  respect  will  be 
paid,  Lord  Hailes  and  Mr.  Dempster. 

"LORD   HAILES   TO   MR.    BO  SWELL. 

«  Newbaflw,  Sth  Feb.  m& 
"Sir, — I  have  received  much  pleasure 


*  [The  late  excellent  Doctor  Baulie  adfked  s 
gentleman  whose  official  duties  were  of  a  w«T 
constant  and  engrossing  nature,  and  whose  been 
seemed  to  suffer  from  over-work,  to  play  at  eaidi 
in  the  evening,  which  would  tend,  he  said,  » 
quiet  the  mind,  and.  to.  allay  the  anxiety  crests! 
by  theb«me«  of  tbe-day.— EdJ 


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HEBRIDES.] 

and  much  instruction  from  perusing  the 
*  Journey  to  the  Hebrides.' 

"  I  admire  the  elegance  and  variety  of 
description,  and  the  lively  picture  of  men 
and  manners.  I  always  approve  of  the 
moral,  often  of  the  political,  reflections.  I 
love  the  benevolence  of  the  authour. 

"  They  who  search  for  faults  may  possi- 
bly find  them  in  this,  as  well  as  in  every 
other  work  of  literature. 

"For  example,  the  friends  of  the  old 
family  say  that  the  era  of  planting  is  placed 
too  late,  at  the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms. 
I  am  known  to  be  no  friend  of  the  old  fami- 
ly; yet  I  would  place  the  era  of  planting  at 
the  restoration;  after  the  murder  of  Charles 
I.  had  been  expiated  in  the  anarchy  which 
succeeded  it. 

"  Before  the  restoration,  few  trees  were 
planted,  unless  by  the  monastick  drones: 
their  successors  (and  worthy  patriots  they 
were),  the  barons,  first  cut  down  the  trees, 
and  then  sold  the  estates.  The  gentleman 
at  St  Andrews,  who  said  that  there  were 
but  two  trees  in  Fife,  ought  to  have  added, 
that  the  elms  of  Balmerino  were  sold  with- 
in these  twenty  years,  to  make  pumps  for 
the  fire-engines. 

"  In  J.  Major  de  Geeti*  Seotorum,  I.  L  c. 
%  last  edition,  there  is  a  singular  passage: 

** '  Davidi  Cranstoneo  conterraneo,  Sum 
de  prima  theologian  licentia  foret,  duo  ei 
eonsocii  et  familiares,  et  mei  cum  eo  in  ar- 
tibus  auditores,  scilicet  Jacobus  Almain  Se- 
nonensis,  et  Petrug  Bruxcellensis,  Predica- 
toris  ordinis,  in-  Sorboiue  curia  die  Sorboni- 
eo  commilitonibus  «suis  publice  objecerunt, 
food  pant  avenaeeo  pleoeii  Scoti,  sicut  a 
quodam  religioso  inteuexerant,  vc9cebontw> 
nt  etrum,  quern  cholericum  noverant,  ho- 
ne*ti$  eatibu*  tentarent,  qui  hoe  inficiari 
tanquam  patriot  dedeem  ninu  eeV 

"Pray  introduce  our  countryman,  Mr, 
Licentiate  David  Cranston,  to  the  acquain- 
tance of  Mr.  Johnson. 

"  The  syllogism  seems  to  have  been  this: 
They  who  feed  on  oatmeal  are  bar- 
banana; 
But  the  Scots  feed  on  oatmeal: 
Ergo-— 
The  licentiate  denied  the  minor.     I  am, 
air,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

"Dav.  Dalbtnple," 

"  MR.  DEMPSTER  TO  MR.  B0SWELL,  RPJN- 
BUROH. 
*  DannJcbco,  16th  Fdmisry,  177& 

u  Mr  dear  Boswell, — I  cannot  omit  a 
moment  to  return  you  my  best  thanks  for 
the  entertainment  you  have  furnished  me, 
my  family,  and  guests,  by  the  perusal  of  Dr. 
Johnson's '  Journey  to  the  Western  Islands; ' 
and  now  for  my  sentiments  of  it  I  was 
well  entertained.  His  descriptions  are  ac- 
curate and  vivid.  Hefecarried  me  on  the 
tour  along  with  him.    I  am  pleased  with 


1771- iETAT.  64. 


467 


the  justice  he  has  done  to  your  humour  and 
vivacity.  « The  noise  of  the  wind  being  all 
its  own,'  is  a  bon-mot,  .that  it  would  have 
been  a  pity  to  have  omitted,  and  a  robbery 
not  to  have  ascribed  to  its  author1. 

"  There  is  nothing  in  the  book,  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  that  a  Scotchman  need  to 
take  amiss.  What  he  says  of  the  country 
is  true,  and  his  observations  on  the  people 
are  what  must  naturally  occur  to  a  sensible, 
observing,  and  reflecting  inhabitant  of  a 
convenient  metropolis,  where  a  man  on 
thirty  pounds  a  year  may  be  better  accom- 
modated with  all  the  little  wants  of  life  than 
Col  or  Sir  Allan.  He  reasons  candidly 
about  the  second-eight;  but  I  wish  he  had 
inquired  more,  before  he  ventured  to  say 
he  even  doubted  of  the  possibility  of  such 
an  unusual  and  useless  deviation  from  all 
the  known  laws  of  nature.  The  notion  of 
the  second-si^ht  I  consider  as  a  remnant  of 
superstitious  ignorance  and  credulity,  which 
a  philosopher  will  set  down  as  such,  till  the 
contrary  is  clearly  proved,  and  then  it  will 
be  classed  among  the  other  certain,  though 
unaccountable  parts  of  our  nature,  tike 
dreams,  and — I  do  not  know  what 

"  In  regard  to  the  language,  it  has  the 
merit  of  being  all  his  own.  Many  words 
of  foreign  extraction  are  used,  where,  I  be- 
lieve, common  ones  would  do  as  well,  es- 
pecially on  familiar  occasions.  Yet  I  be- 
lieve he  could  not  express  himself  so  forci- 
bly in  any  other  style.  I  am  charmed  with 
his  researches  concerning  the  Erse  language, 
and  the  antiquity  of  their  manuscripts.  I 
am  quite  convinced:  and  I  shall  rank  Os- 
sian,  and  his  Fingals  and  Oscars,  amongst 
the  nursery  tales,  not  the  true  history  of  our 
country,  in  all  time  to  come.  ' 

"  Upon  the  whole  the  book  cannot  dis- 
please, for  it  has  no  pretensions.  The  au- 
thour neither  says  he  is  a  geographer,  nor 
an  antiquarian,  nor  very  learned  in  the  His- 
tory of  Scotland,  nor  a  naturalist,  nor  a  fos- 
silist.  The  manners  of  the  people,  and  the 
face  of  the  country,  are  all  he  attempts  to 
describe,  or  seems  to  have  thought  of. 
Much  were  it  to  be  wished  that  they  who 
have  travelled  into  more  remote,  and  of 
course  more  curious,  regions,  had  all  pos- 
sessed his  good  sense.  Of  the  state  of 
learning,  his  observations  on  Glasgow  uni- 
versity show  he  has  formed  a  very  sound 
judgment  He  understands  our  climate 
too,  and  he  has  accurately  observed  the 
changes,  however  slow  and  imperceptible 
to  us,  which  Scotland  has  undergone,  in 
consequence  of  the  blessings  of  liberty  and 
internal  peace.     I  could  have  drawn  my 


>  ["  I  know  not  that  I  ever  heard  the  wind  so 
load  in  any  other  place  [at  in  Col];  and  Mr. 
Botwell  observed,  that  its  none  tea*  all  Hi  own, 
for  there  were  no  trees  to  increase  it"— John* 
son's  Journey—  Work§9  voL  viil  p.  M&— £d»] 


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ma.— ^TAT.  64 


pen  through  the  story  of  the  old  woman  at 
St.  Andrews,  being  the  only  silly  thing  in 
the  hook.  He  has  taken  the  opportunity 
of  ingrafting  into  the  work  several  good  ob- 
servations, which  I  dare  say  he  had  made 
upon  men  and  things  before  he  set  foot  on 
Scotch  ground,  by  which  it  is  considerably 
enriched1.  A  long  journey,  like  a  tall  may- 
pole,  though  not  very  beautiful  itself,  yet  is 

Sretty  enough  when  ornamented  with 
owers  and  garlands:  it  furnishes  a  sort  of 
cloak-pins  for  hanging  the  furniture  of  your 
mind  upon;  and  whoever  sets  out  upon  a 
journey,  without  furnishing  his  mind  pre- 
viously with  much  study  and  useful  know- 
ledge, erects  a  may-pole  in  December,  and 
puts  up  very  useless  cloak-pins. 

"  I  hope  the  book  will  induce  many  of 
his  countrymen  to  make  the  same  jaunt, 
and  help  to  intermix  the  more  liberal  part 
of  them  still  more  with  us,  and  perhaps 
abate  somewhat  of  that  virulent  antipathy 
which  many  of  them  entertain  against  the 
Scotch;  who  certainly  would  never -have 
formed  those  combinations  which  he  takes 
notice  of,  more  than  their  ancestors,  had 
they  not  been  necessary  for  their  mutual 
safety,  at  least  for  their  success,  in  a  coun- 
try where  they  are  treated  as  foreigners. 
l*hey  would  find  us  not  deficient,  at  least  in 
point  of  hospitality,  and  they  would  be 
ashamed  ever  after  to  abu3e  us  in  the  mass. 

"  So  much  for  the  Tour.  I  have  now, 
for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  passed  a  winter 
in  the  country;  and  never  did  three  months 
roll  on  with  more  swiftness  and  satisfaction. 
I  used  not  only  to  wonder  at,  but  pity, 
those  whose  lot  condemned  them  to  winter 
any  where  but  in  either  of  die  capitals. 
But  every  place  has  its  charms  to  a  cheer- 
ful mind.  I  am  busy  planting  and  taking 
measures  for  opening  the  summer  campaign 
in  farming;  and  I  find  I  have  an  excellent 
resource,  when  revolutions  in  politicks  per- 
haps, and  revolutions  of  the  sun  for  cer- 
tain, will  make  it  decent  for  me  to  retreat 
behind  the  ranks  of  the  more  forward  in 
life. 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  the  last  was  a  very 
busy  week  with  you.  I  see  you  as  counsel 
in  some  causes  which  must  have  opened  a 
charming  field  for  your  humourous  vein. 
As  it  is  more  uncommon,  so  I  verily  believe 
it  is  more  useful  than  the  more  serious  ex- 
ercise of  reason;  and,  to  a  man  who  is  to 
appear  in  publick,  more  eclat  is  to  be  gain- 
ed, sometimes  more  money  too,  by  a  bon- 
mot9  than  a  learned  speech.  It  is  the  fund 
of  natural  humour  which  Lord  North  pos- 


1  Mr.  Orme*  one  of  the  ablest  historians  of  this 
age,  is  of  the  same  opinion.  He  said  to  me, 
"  There  are  in  that  book  thoughts  which,  by  long 
revolution  in  the  great  mind  of  Johnson,  have 
been  formed  and  polished— like  pebbles  rolled  in 
the  ocean!'*— Boswsu.. 


[TOUR  TO  THI 

sesses,  that  makes  him  so  much  the  favour- 
ite of  the  house,  and  so  able,  because  so 
amiable,  a  leader  of  a  party. 

"  I  have  now  finished  my  Tour  of  Severn 
Pages.  In  what  remains,  I  beg  leave  to 
offer  my  compliments,  and  those  of  ma  trls 
chert  femme,  to  you  and  Mrs.  Bosweil. 
Pray  unbend  the  busy  brow,  and  frolick  a 
little  in  a  letter  to,  my  dear  Bosweil,  your 
affectionate  friend, 

"  Gxoaos  Dempste*  V 

I  shall  also  present  the  publick  with  a 
correspondence  with  the  laird  of  Rasay, 
concerning  a  passage  in  the  "  Journey  to 
the  Western  Islands,"  which  shows  Dr. 
Johnson  in  a  very  amiable  light 

"TO  JAMES   BOSWELL,    RS*, 

"  Rasay ,  iota  April,  1TTS. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  take  this  occasion  of  re- 
turning you  my  most  hearty  thanks  for  the 
civilities  shown  to  my  daughter  by  you  and 
Mrs.  Bosweil.  Yet,  though  she  has  in- 
formed me  that  I  am  under  this  obligation, 
I  should  very  probably  have  deferred  troub- 
ling you  with  making  my  acknowledgments 
at  present,  if  I  had  not  seen  Dr.  Johnson's 
c  Journey  to  the  Western  Isles,'  in  which 
he  has  been  pleased  to  make  a  very  friend- 
ly mention  of  my  family,  for  which  I  am 
surely  obliged  to  him,  as  being  more  than 
an  equivalent  for  the  reception  you  and  he 
met  with.  Yet  there  is  one  paragraph  I 
should  have  been  glad  he  had  omitted,  which 
I  am  sure  was  owing  to  misinformation: 
that  is,  that  I  had  acknowledged  Macleod 
to  be  my  chief,  though  my  ancestors  disput- 
ed the  pre-eminence  for  a  long  tract  of 
time. 

"  I  never  had  occasion  to  enter  seriously 
on  this  argument  with  the  present  laird  or 
his  grandfather,  nor  could  lhave  any  temp- 
tation to  such  a  renunciation  from  either  of 
them.  I  acknowledge  the  benefit  of  being 
chief  of  a  clan  is  in  our  days  of  very  little 
significancy,  and  to  trace  out  the  progress 
of  this  honour  to  the  founder  of  a  family, 
of  any  standing,  would  perhaps  be  a  matter 
of  some  difficulty. 

"  The  true  state  of  the  present  case  is 
this:  the  M'Leod  family  consists  of  two 
different  branches;  the  M'Leods  of  Lewis, 
of  which  I  am  descended,  and  the  M'Leods 
of  Harris.  And  though  the  former  have 
lost  a  very  extensive  estate  by  forfeiture  in 


*  Every  reader  will,  I  am  rare,  join  with  me 
in  warm  admiration  of  the  truly  patriotick  writer 
of  this  letter.  I  know  not  which  most  to  applaud, 
— that  good  sense  and  liberality  of  mind  which 
could  see  and  admit  the  defects  of  his  native 
country,  to  which  no  man  is  a  more  senkrss 
friend;  or  that  candour  which  induced  him  to  gtfe 
jost  praise  to  the  minister  whom  he  honestly  and 
strenuously  opposed.— Boswbxl. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES.] 

i 

King  James  the  Sixth's  time,  there  are  still 
several  respectable  families  of  it  existing, 
who  would  justly  blame  me  for  such  an  un- 
meaning cession,  when  they  all  acknowledge 
me  head  of  that  family;  which,  though  in 
fact  it  be  but  an  ideal  point  of  honour,  is 
not  hitherto  so  far  disregarded  in  our  coun- 
try, but  it  would  determine  some  of  my 
friends  to  look  on  me  as  a  much  smaller 
man  than  either  they  or  myself  judge  me  at 
present  to  be.  I  will,  therefore,  ask  it  as  a 
favour  of  you  to  acquaint  the  Doctor  with 
the  difficulty  he  has  brought  me  to.  In 
travelling  among  rival  clans,  such  a  silly 
tale  as  this  might  easily  be  whispered  into 
the  ear  of  a  passing  stranger;  but  as  it  has 
no  foundation  in  fact,  I  nope  the  Doctor 
will  be  so  good  as  to  take  his  own  way  in 
undeceiving  the  publick — I  principally  mean 
my  friends  and  connexions,  who  will  be  first 
angry  at  me,  and  next  sorry  to  find  such  an 
instance  of  my  littleness  recorded  in  a  book 
which  has  a  very  fair  chance  of  being  much 
read.  I  expect  you  will  let  me  know  what 
he  will  write  you  in  return,  and  we  here 
beg  to  make  offer  to  you  and  Mrs.  Boswell 
of  our  most  respectful  compliments. — I  am, 
dear  sir,  your  most  obedient  humble  ser- 
vant, "  John  M'Lrod." 

"  to  the  laird  of  basat. 

"  London,  8th  May,  1775. 

"  Dear  sir,— The  day  before  yesterday 
I  had  the  honour  to  receive  your  letter,  and 
I  immediately  communicated  it  to  Dr. 
Johnson.  He  said  he  loved  your  spirit, 
and  was  exceedingly  sorry  that  he  had  oeen 
the  cause  of  the  smallest  uneasiness  to  you. 
There  is  not  a  more  candid  man  in  the 
world  than  he  is,  when  properly  addressed, 
as  you  will  see  from  his  letter  to  you,  which 
I  now  inclose.  He  has  allowed  me  to  take 
a  copy  of  it,  and  he  says  you  may  read  it  to 
your  clan,  or  publish  it,  if  you  please.  Be 
assured,  sir,  mat  I  shall  take  care  of  what 
he  has  intrusted  to  me,  which  is  to  have  an 
acknowledgment  of  his  error  inserted  in  the 
Edinburgh  newspapers.  You  will,  I  dare 
aay,  be  fully  satisfied  with  Dr.  Johnson's 
behaviour.  He  is  desirous  to  know  that 
you  are;  and  therefore  when  you  have  read 
his  acknowledgment  in  the  papers,  I  beg 
you  may  write  to  me;  and  if  you  choose  it, 
I  am  persuaded  a  letter  from  you  to  the 
Doctor  also  will  be  taken  kind.  I  shall  be 
at  Edinburgh  the  week  after  next 

"  Any  civilities  which  my  wife  and  I  had 
in  our  power  to  show  to  your  daughter, 
Miss  M'Leod,  were  due  to  her  own  merit, 
and  were  well  repaid  by  her  agreeable  com- 
pany. But  I  am  sure  I  should  be  a  very 
unworthy  man  if  I  did  not  wish  to  show  a 
grateful  sense  of  the  hospitable  and  genteel 
manner  in  which  you  were  pleased  to  treat 
me.    Be  assured,  my  dear  sir,  that  I  shall 


17TS.— iETAT.  64. 


469 


never  forget  your  goodness,  and  the  happy 
hours  which  I  spent  in  Rasay. 

"You  and  Dr.  M'Leod  were  both  so 
obliging  as  to  promise  me  an  account  in 
writing  of  all  the  particulars  which  each  of 
you  remember,  concerning  the  transactions 
of  1745-6.  Pray  do  not  forget  this,  and  be 
as  minute  and  full  as  you  can;  put  down 
every  thing:  I  have  a  great  curiosity  to 
know  as  much  as  I  can,  authentically. 

"  I  beg  that  you  may  present  my  best  re- 
spects to  Lady  Rasay,  my  compliments  to 
your  young  family,  and  to  Dr.  M'Leod! 
and  my  hearty  good  wishes  to  Malcolm, 
with  whom  T  hope  again  to  shake  hands 
cordially. — I  have  the  honour  to  be,  dear 
sir,  your  obliged  and  faithful  humble  ser- 
vant, "  Jaxxs  Bobwkll." 

ABYBBTIBKMENT 
WRITTEN   BT   D».  JOHNSON, 

And  inserted  by  his  desire  in  the  Edinburgh 

newspapers    (referred  to  in  the  foregoing 

letter1). 

"  The  authour  of  the  '  Journey  to  the 
Western  Islands,9  having  related  that  the 
M'Leods  of  Rasay  acknowledge  the  chief- 
tainship or  superiority  of  the  M'Leods  of 
Sky,  finds  that  he  has  been  misinformed  or 
mistaken.  He  means  in  a  future  edition  to 
correct  his  errour,  and  wishes  to  be  told  of 
more,  if  more  have  been  discovered." 

Dr.  Johnson's  letter  was  as  follows: 

"TO   THE   LAIRD   OF  RABAT. 

«  London,  6th  M*y,  1775. 

"  Dear  sib,— Mr.  Boswell  has  this  day 
shown  me  a  letter,  in  which  you  complain 
of  a  passage  in  the  *  Journey  to  the  Hebri- 
des.' My  meaning  is  mistaken.  I  did  not 
intend  to  say  that  you  had  personally  made 
any  cession  of  the  rights  of  your  house,  or 
any  acknowledgment  of  the  superiority  of 
M'Leod  of  Dunvegan.  I  only  designed  to 
express  what  I  thought  generally  admit- 
ted—that the  house  of  Rasay  allowed  the 
superiority  of  the  house  of  Dunvegan. 
Even  this  I  now  find  to  be  erroneous,  and 
will  therefore  omit  or  retract  it  in  the  next 
edition. 

"  Though  what  I  had  said  had  been  true, 
if  it  had  been  disagreeable  to  you,  I  should 
have  wished  it  unsaid:  for  it  is  not  my 
business  to  adjust  precedence.  As  it  is  mis- 
taken, I  find  myself  disposed  to  correct, 
both  by  my  respect  for  you,  and  my  rever- 
ence for  truth. 

«  As  I  know  not  when  the  book  wiU  be 
reprinted,  I  have  desired  Mr.  Boswell  to 
anticipate  the  correction  in  the  Edinburgh 
papers.    This  is  all  that  can  be  done. 

"I  hope  I  may  now  venture  to  desfre 


1  The  original  MS.  is  now  in  my 

BOIWKLL. 


Digitized  by 


Google 


470 


lnt^ETAT.  64. 


that  my  compliments  may  be  made,  and 
my  gratitude  expressed,  to  Lady  Ra- 
say,  Mr.  Malcolm  M<Leod,  Mr.  Donald 
M' Queen,  and  all  the  gentlemen  and  all  the 
ladies  whom  I  saw  in  the  island  of  Rasay; 
a  place  which  I  remember  with  too  much 
pleasure  and  too  much  kindness,  not  to  be 
sorry  that  my  ignorance,  or  hasty  persua- 
sion, should,  for  a  single  moment,  nave  vio- 
lated its  tranquillity. 

"  I  bea*  you  all  to  forgive  an  undesigned 
and  involuntary  injury,  and  to  consider  me 
as,  sir,  your  most  obliged  and  most  humble 
servant,  "  Sam  Johvsov  V 

It  would  be  improper  for  me  to  boast  of 
my  own  labours;  but  I  cannot  refrain  from 
publishing  such  praise  as  I  received  from 
such  a  man  as  Sir  William  Forbes,  of  Pit- 
sligo,  after  the  perusal  of  the  original  man- 
uscript of  my  Journal. 

(<T0  JAMES   B0SWILL,    ESQ, 

«  tttaborsa,  7th  March,  ITTf . 

"  My  dear  sir,— I  ought  to  have  thank- 
ed you  sooner  for  your  very  obliging  letter, 
and  for  the  singular  confidence  you  are 
pleased  to  place  tn  me,  when  you  trust  me 
with  such  a  curious  and  valuable  deposit  as 
the  papers  you  have  sent  me  *.  Be  assured 
I  have  a  due  sense  of  this  favour,  and  shall 
faithfully  and  carefully  return  them  to  you. 
You  may  rely  that  I  shall  neither  copy  any 
part,  nor  permit  the  papers  to  be  seen. 

"  They  contain  a  curious  picture  of  soci- 
ety, and  form  a  journal  on  the  most  instruc- 
tive plan  that  can  possibly  be  thought  of; 
for  I  am  not  sure  that  an  ordinary  observer 
would  become  so  well  acquainted  either 
with  Dr.  Johnson,  or  with  the  manners  of 
the  Hebrides,  by  a  personal  intercourse,  as 
by  a  perusal  of  your  Journal. 

"  I  am  very  truly,  dear  sir,  your  most 
obedient  and  affectionate  humble  servant, 
"Wilwam  Forbes." 

When  I  consider  how  many  of  the  per- 
sons mentioned  in  this  Tour  are  now  gone 
to  "  that  undiscovered  country,  from  whose 
bourne  no  traveller  returns,"  I  feel  an  im- 
pression at  once  awful  and  tender. — JEtyftft- 
eseantinpmce! 


1  Rasay  was  highly  gratified,  and  afterwards 
visited  and  dined  with  Dr.  Johnson,  at  hm  house 
in  London. — Bocwkll. 

*  Injustice  both  to  Sir  William  Forbes  and 
myself,  it  if  proper  to  mention,  that  the  papers 
which  were  submitted  to  hit  perusal  contained 
only  an  account  of  oar  Tour  from  the  time  that 
Dr.  Johnson  and  I  set  out  from  Edinburgh  (p.  46), 
and  consequently  did  not  contain  the  eulogium  on 
Sir  William  Forbes,  (p.  16),  which  he  never  saw 
till  thk  book  appeared  in  print;  nor  did  be  even 
know,  when  he  wrote  the  above  letter,  that  thai 
Journal  was  to  be  published. — Boswxll. 


[TOUft  TO   THE 

It  may  be  objected  by  some  persona,  as 
it  has  been  by  one  of  my  friends,  that  he 
who  has  the  power  of  thus  exhibiting  an 
exact  transcript  of  conversations  is  not  a 
desirable  member  of  society.  I  repeat  the 
answer  which  I  made  to  that  friend :  "  Few, 
verv  few,  need  be  afraid  that  their  sayings 
will  be  recorded.  Can  it  be  imagined  that 
I  would  take  the  trouble  to  gather  what 
news  on  every  hedge,  because  I  have  col- 
lected such  fruits  as  the  Nonpmreil  and  the 
Bon  Chutim?" 

On  the  other  hand,  how  useful  is  such  a 
faculty,  if  well  exercised.  To  it  we  owe 
all  those  interesting  apophthegms  and  sae- 
morabiUa  of  the  ancients,  which  Plutarch, 
Xenophon,  and  Valerius  Maximus,  have 
transmitted  to  us.  To  it  we  owe  all  those 
instructive  and  entertaining  collections 
which  the  French  have  made  under  the 
title  of  "  Ana,"  affixed  to  some  celebrated 
name.  To  it  we  owe  the  "  Table-Talk'* 
of  Selden,  the  "  Conversation "  between 
Ben  Jonson  and  Drummond  of  Haw- 
thornden,  SpencCs  "  Anecdotes  of  Pope,** 
and  other  valuable  remains  in  our  own  lan- 
guage. How  delighted  should  we  have 
been,  if  thus  introduced  into  the  company  of 
Shakspeare  and  of  Dryden,  of  whom  we 
know  scarcely  any  thing  but  their  admira- 
ble writings  1  What  pleasure  would  it  have 
S'ven  us,  to  have  known  their  petty  habits, 
ieir  characteristics:  manners,  their  modes 
of  composition,  and  their  genuine  opinion 
of  preceding  writers  and  oftheir  contempo- 
raries! All  these  are  now  irrecoverably 
lost.  Considering  how  many  of  the  strong- 
est and  most  brilliant  effusions  of  exalted 
intellect  must  have  perished,  how  much  k 
it  to  be  regretted  that  all  men  of  distin- 
guished wisdom  and  wit  have  not  been  at- 
tended by  friends,  of  taste  enough  to  relish, 
and  abilities  enough  to  register  their 
vernation; 


.lm»     •  Vixere  fortes  ante  j  w 

Mnlti,  aed  omnes  Dlacrymabiles 
Urgentur,  ignotiqne  longs 
Nocte,  carent  quia  Tate  sacra. 

They  whose  inferior  exertions  are  re- 
corded, as  serving  to  explain  or  illustrate 
the  sayings  of  such  men,  may  be  proud  of 
being  thus  associated,  and  of  their  names 
being  transmitted  to  posterity,  by  being  ap- 
pended to  an  illustrious  character. 

Before  I  conclude,  I  think  it  proper  to 
say,  that  I  have  suppressed3  every  thing 


Harms  found  on  a  revision  of  the  first 
of  this  work,  that,  notwithstanding  my  heat 


publication  of 


a  few  observations  had  escaped  me,  which 
from  the  instant  impression,  (be  pub 
which  might  perhaps  be  considered  as  _ 
bounds  of  s  strict  decoram,  I  immediately 
that  they  should  be  omitted  in  the  subsequent 
tions.    I  was  pleased  to  find  that  they  did 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


HEBRIDES.] 

which  I  thought  could  really  hurt  any  one 
now  bring.  Vanity  and  self-conceit  in- 
deed may  sometimes  suffer.  With  respect 
to  what  is  related,  I  considered  it  my  duty 
to  "  extenuate  nothing,  nor  set  down  aught 
in  malice:"  and  with  those  lighter  strokes 
of  Dr.  Jonnaon's  satire,  proceeding  from  a 
warmth  and  quickness  of  imagination,  not 
from  any  malevolence  of  heart,  and  which, 
on  account  of  their  excellence,  could  not  be 
omitted,  I    trust  that  they  who  are  the 


1178.— iETAT.  64. 


471 


subjects  of  them  have  good  sense  and  good 
temper  enough  not  io  be  displeased. 

I  nave  only  to  add,  that  I  shall  ewer  re- 
flect with  great  pleasure  on  a  Tour,  which 
has  been  the  means  of  preserving  so  much 
of  the  enlightened  and  instructive  conver- 
sation of  one  whose  virtues  will,  I  hope, 
ever  be  an  object  of  imitation,  and  whose 
powers  of  mind  were  so  extraordinary,  that 
ages  may  revolve  before  such  a  man  shall 
again  appear. 


His  stay  in  Scotland  was  from  the  18th 
of  August,  on  which  day  he  arrived,  till 
the  22d  of  November,  when  he  set  out  on 
his  return  to  London;  and  I  believe  ninety- 
four  days  were  never  passed  by  any  man  in 
a  more  vigorous  exertion.    •    •    •    •  •  *. 


amount  in  the  whole  to  a  page.  If  any  of  the 
name  kind  are  yet  left,  it  is  owing  to  inadvertence 
alone,  no  man  being  more  unwilling  to  give  pain 
to  others  than  I  am. 

A  contemptible  scribbler,  of  whom  I  have 
learned  no  more  than  that,  after  having  disgraced 
and  deserted  the  clerical  character,  he  picks  np  in 
London  a  scanty  livelihood  by  scurrilous  lam- 
poons under  a  feigned  name,  has  impudently  and 
falsely  asserted  that  the  passages  omitted  were 
defamatory,  and  that  the  omission  was  not  vol- 
untary, but  compulsory.  The  last  insinuation  I 
took  the  trouble  publickly  to  disprove;  yet,  like 
one  of  Pone's  dunces,  be  persevered  in  "  the  lie 
o'erthrown."  As  to  the  charge  of  defamation, 
there  is  an  obvious  and  certain  mode  of  refuting 
it.  Any  penon  who  thinks  it  worth  while  to 
compare  one  edition  with  the  other  will  find  that 
the  passages  omitted  were  not  in  the  least  degree 
of  that  nature,  but  exactly  such  as  I  have  repre- 
sented them  in  the  farmer  part  of  this  note,  the 
hasty  effusion  of  momentary  feelings,  which  the 
delicacy  of  politeness  should  have  suppressed. — 
Boswbll.  [The  only  passages  of  this  kind  that 
the  editor  has  observed  are  those  relating  to  Sir 
Alexander  Macdonald,  ante,  p.  872,  and  to 
Mr.  Tytler,  ante,  p.  460. — Ed.  I  believe  the 
scribbler  alluded  to  was  William  Thompson, 
author  of  the  "  Man  in  the  Moon,"  and  other 
satirical  novels,  half  clever,  half  crazy  kinds  of 
works.  He  was  once  a  member  of  the  kirk  of 
Scotland,  but  befog  deposed  by  the  presbytery  of 
Aaebterarder,  became  an  author  of  all  works  in 
London,  could  seldom  finish  a  work,  on  what- 
ever subject,  without  giving  a  slap  by  the  way  to 
that  same  presbytery  with  the  unpronounceable 
name.  Boswell's  denial  of  having  retracted  upon 
compulsion  refutes  what  was  said  by  Peter  Pin- 
dar and  others  about  "McDonald's  rage."-— - 
Walter  Scott.] 

1  [Here  followed  in  the  original  text:  "He 
'came  by  the  way  of  Berwick-upon-Tweed  to 
Edinburgh,  where  he  remained  a  few  days,  and 
then  went  by  St  Andrews,  Aberdeen,  Inverness, 
and  Fort  Augustus,  to  the  Hebrides,  to  visit  which 
was  the  principal  object  he  had  in  view.    He 


He  saw  the  four  universities  of  Scotland, 
its  three  principal  cities,  and  as  much  of  the 
Highland  and  insular  life  as  was  sufficient 
for  tiis  philosophical  contemplation. 

He  was  respectfully  entertained  by  the 
great,  the  learned,  and  the  elegant,  wherev- 
er he  went;  nor  was  he  less  delighted  with 
the  hospitality  which  he  experienced  in 
humbler  life9. 

His  various  adventures,  and  the  force  and 
vivacity  of  his  mind,  as  exercised  during 
this  peregrination,  upon  innumerable  top- 
icks,  have  been  faithfully,  and  to  the  best  of 
my  abilities,  displayed  in  [the  foregoing] 


visited  the  isles  of  Sky,  Rasay,  Col,  Mull, 
Inchkenneth,  and  Icolmkill.  He  travelled  through 
Argyleshire  by  Inverary,  and  from  theoce  by 
Lochlomond  and  Dunbarton  to  Glasgow,  then  by 
Loudon  to  Auchinleck  in  Ayrshire,  the  seat  of  my 
family,  and  then  by  Hamilton,  back  to  Edinburgh, 
where  he  again  spent  some  time.  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  accompanying  him  during  the  whole 
of  his  journey."  These  sentences,  and  another 
subsequent  paragraph,  are  removed  from  the  text, 
as  rendered  superfluous  by  the  insertion  of  the 
Tour,  but  are  preserved  in  the  notes,  that  the 
whole  of  Mr.  Boswell's  original  work  may  be 
preserved  in  this  edition. — En.] 

The  authour  was  not  a  small  gainer  by  this  ex- 
traordinary Journey;  for  Dr.  Johnson  thus  writes 
to  Mrs.  Thrale,  3d  Nov.  1778:  "Boswell  will 
praise  my  resolution  and  perseverance,  and  I  shall 
in  return  celebrate  his  good  humour  and  per- 
petual cheerfulness.  He  has  better  faculties  than 
I  had  imagined;  more  justness  of  discernment, 
and  more  fecundity  of  images.  It  is  very  con- 
venient to  travel  with  him;  for  there  is  no  house 
where  he  is  not  received  with  kindness  and  re- 
spect"—Let  90,  to  Mrs.  Titrate.— Malonb. 
[The  editor  asked  Lord  StoweU  in  what  estima- 
tion he  found  Boswell  amongst  his  countrymen. 
"  Generally  liked  as  a  good-natured  jolly  fellow," 
replied  his  lordship.  "  But  was  he  respected?" 
"  Why,  I  think  he  had  about  the  proportion  of 
respect  that  you  might  peas  would  be  shown  to 
a  jolly  fellow.*9  His  lordship  evidently  thought 
that  there  was  more  regard  than  respect  .—En.) 

*  [He  was  long  remembered  amongst  the 
lower  orders  of  Hebrideans  by  the  title  of  the 
Sassenach  More,  the  big  Englishman. — 
Walts*  Scott.] 


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1778.— ATAT.  64. 


«*  Journal  of  our  Tour,"  •  •  •  *  • l 
which  exhibits  as  striking  a  view  of  his 
powers  in  conversation,  as  his  works  do  of 
his  excellence  in  writing.  Nor  can  I  deny 
to  myself  the  very  flattering  gratification 
of  inserting  here  the  character  which  my 
friend  Mr.  Conrtenay  has  been  pleased  to 
give  of  that  work: 

"  With  Reynolds*  pencil,  vivid,  bold,  and  true, 
So  fervent  Boswell  gives  him  to  our  view: 
In  every  trait  we  see  his  mind  expand; 
The  master  rises  by  the  pupil's  hand: 
We  love  the  writer,  praise  hie  happy  vein, 
Graced  with  die  naivete  of  the  sage  Montaigne; 
Hence  not  alone  are  brighter  parts  display'd, 
Bat  e'en  the  specks  of  character  ponitrav'd: 
We  tee  the  Rambler  with  fastidious  smile 
Mark  the  lone  tree,  and  note  the  heath-clad  isle; 
Bat  when  th'  heroic  tale  of'  Flora*  *  charms, 
Deck'd  in  a  kilt,  he  wields  a  chieftain's  arms: 
The  tuneful  piper  Bounds  a  martial  strain, 
And  Samuel  sings,'  The  king  shall  have  hie  am.'" 

During  his  stay  at  Edinburgh,  after  his 
return  from  the  Hebrides,  he  was  at  great 
pains  to  obtain  information  concerning  Scot- 
land; and  it  will  appear  from  his  subsequent 
letters,  that  he  was  not  less  solicitous  for 
intelligence  on  this  subject  after  his  return 
to  London. 

"TO  JAMBS   B08WELL,   B80,. 

«*7th  Not.  1773. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  came  home  last  night, 
without  any  incommodity,  danger,  or  wea- 
riness, and  am  ready  to  begin  a  new  jour- 
ney. I  shall  go  to  Oxford  on  Monday.  I 
know  Mrs.  Boswell  wished  me  well  to  go  3; 
her  wishes  have  not  been  disappointed. 


*  *  [Here  followed  in  the  original  text,  "  to  the 
Hebrides,  to  which,  as  the  public  has  been  pleased 
to  honour  it  by  a  very  extensive  circulation,  I  beg 
leave  to  refer,  as  to  a  separate  and  remarkable 
portion  of  hsi  life,  which  maybe  there  seen  in 

detail,  and "—En.] 

*  "  The    celebrated    Flora    MacdonaML"-— 

COURTKICAY. 

3  In  this  he  showed  a  very  acute  penetration. 
My  wife  paid  him  the  most  assiduous  and  respect- 
faf  attention  while  he  was  our  guest;  so  that  I 
wonder  how  he  discovered  her  wishing  for  his 
departure.  The  truth  is,  that  his  inegular  hours 
and  uncouth  habits,  such  as  turning  the  candles 
with  their  heads  downwards,  when  they  did  not 
bum  bright  enough,  and  letting  the  wax  drop  upon 
the  carpet,  could  not  but  be  disagreeable  to  a 
lady.  Besides,  she  had  not  that  high  admiration 
of  him  which  was  felt  by  most  of  those  who  knew 
him;  and  what  was  very  natural  to  a  female  mind, 
she  thought  be  had  too  much  influence  over  her 
husband.  She  once,  in  a  little  warmth,  made, 
with  more  point  than  justice,  this  remark  upon 
that  subject:  "  I  have  seen  many  a  bear  led  by  a 
man;  but  I  never  before  saw  a  man  led  by  a 
bear. ' ' — Boswell.  [The  reader  will,  however, 
hereafter  see  that  the  repetition  of  this  observation 
as  to  His.  Boswell  *s  feelings  towards  him  was 
made  so  frequently  and  pertinaciously,  as  is  hard- 


Mrs.  Williams  has  received  Sir  A.**  let- 
ter. 

"  Make  my  compliments  to  all  those  to 
whom  my  compliments  may  be  welcome. 

"  Let  the  box5  be  sent  as  soon  as  it  cat, 
and  let  me  know  when  to  expect  it 

"  Inquire,  if  you  can,  the  order  of  the 
elans:  MacdonaM  is  first* ,  Maclean  second; 
further  I  cannot  go.    Quicken  Dr.  Web- 
ster7.   I  am,  sir,  yours  affectionately, 
"  Sax.  Johssos." 

"  MR.  BOSWELL  TO  DR.  JOHNSON. 
«  Rdiaawia,  Sd  Dee.  im 

"  You  shall  have  what  information  I  can 
procure  as  to  the  order  of  the  clans.  A 
gentleman  of  the  name  of  Grant  tells  me 
that  there  is  no  settled  order  among  them; 
and  he  says  that  the  MacdonakU  were  not 

S laced  upon  the  right  of  the  army  at  Cullo- 
en;  the  Stuarts  were.  I  shall,  however, 
examine  witnesses  of  every  name  that  I 
can  find  here.  Dr.  Webster  shall  be  quick- 
ened too.  I  like  your  little  memorandum!; 
they  are  symptoms  of  your  being  in  earned 
witrivour  book  of  northern  travels. 

"  Your  box  shall  be  sent  next  week  oj 
sea.  You  will  find  in  it  some  pieces  of  the 
broom-bush  which  you  saw  growing  on  the 
old  castle  of  Auchimeck.  The  wood  has  i 
curious  appearance  when  sawn  aero* 
You  may  either  have  a  little  writing-etas- 
dish  made  of  it,  or  get  it  formed  into  board* 
for  a  treatise  on  witchcraft,  by  wsy  of  • 
suitable  binding." 


ly  recoocileable  with  good  taste  and  good  nav 
ners.— Ed.] 

4  Sir  Alexander  Gordon,  one  of  the  pmkssai 
at  Aberdeen. — Boswkll. 

*  Thai  was  a  box  «■»*■"»;  a  number  af 
curious  things  which  he  had  picked  up  in  Scot- 
land, particularly  some  hero-spoons. — Boewxu» 

•  [The  Macdonalds  always  laid  daim  to  ha 
placed  on  the  right  of  the  whole  clans,  and  than 
of  that  tribe  assign  the  breach  of  this  order  st  CeV 
loden  as  one  cause  of  the  loss  of  the  dsy.  Tsa 
Macdonalds,  placed  on  the  left  wing,  renvoi  to 
charge,  and  positively  left  the  field  unassailed  ssd 
unbroken, 
deavouredto 

behaviour  we  .-._—. 

he  himself  would  take  the  name  of  MacdonsU. 
On  this  subject  there  are  some  curious  nonces  ■ 
a  very  interesting  journal  written  by  one  of  a* 
teven  men  of  Moidart,  as  they  were  called— 
Macdonalds  of  the  Qanronald  sept,  who  were  tee 
first  who  declared  for  the  prince  at  his  landing  ■ 
their  chief's  country.  It  is  in  the  Loesasft 
papets,  voL  ii.  p.  510. — Walts*  Scott.] 

7  The  Reverend  Dr.  Alexander  Webster,  oat 
of  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  a  man  of  distin- 
guished abilities,  who  had  promised  him  mfcramv 
tion  concerning  the  Highlands  and  Issues  of 
Scotland— Boswjgll.     [See  ante,  p.  |tt— 


Lord  George  Murray  in  vain  av 
to  urge  them  on  by  saying  that  tear 
vould  make  the  left  the  right,  and  net 


En.] 


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473 


'MB.   BOSWELL   TO  DR. 


JOHNSON. 
Ittii  Dec.  1773. 
•  ••••• 

"  Too  promised  me  an  inscription  for  a 
print  to  be  taken  from  an  historical  picture 
of  Marv  Queen  of  Scots,  being  forced  to 
resign  her  crown,  which  Mr.  Hamilton  at 
Rome  has  painted  for  me.  The  two  fol- 
lowing have  been  sent  to  me : 

" *  Maria  Scotorvm  Regina  meliori  te- 
eulo  dignoy  jut  regium  civibus  $editio$u 
invita  rengnatJ 

" c  Civet  sedition  Mariam  Scotorum 
Reginam  §e*e  muneri  abdicate  invitam 
eogwtti.* 

"  Be  so  good  ss  to  read  the  passage  in 
Robertson,  and  see  if  yon  cannot  pive  me  a 
better  inscription.  I  must  have  it  both  in 
Latin  and  English;  so  if  you  should  not 

E've  me  another  Latin  one,  you  will  at 
ast  choose  the  best  of  these  two,  and  send 
a  translation  of  it* 

His  humane  forgiving  disposition  was  put 
to  a  pretty  strong  test  on  his  return  to  Lon- 
don by  a  liberty  which  Mr.  Thomas  Da- 
vies  had  taken  with  him  in  his  absence, 
which  was,  to  publish  two  volumes  entitled 
"  Miscellaneous  and  Fugitive  Pieces," 
which  he  advertised  in  the  newspapers, 
"  By  the  Author  of  the  Rambler."  In  this 
collection,  several  of  Dr.  Johnson's  ac- 
knowledged writings,  several  of  his  anony- 
mous performances,  and  some  which  he 
had  written  for  others,  were  inserted;  but 
there  were  also  some  in  which  he  had  no 
concern  whatever.  He  was  at  first  very 
angry,  as  he  had  good  reason  to  be.  But, 
upon  consideration  of  his  poor  friend's  nar- 
row circumstances,  and  that  he  had  only  a 
little  profit  in  view,  and  meant  no  harm,  he 
soon  relented,  and  continued  his  kindness 
to  him  as  formerly. 

^^  (When  Mrs.  Thrale  on  this  oc- 

r^Lla.  casion  said  to  him,  " How  would 
Pope  have  raved,  had  he  been  serv- 
ed so?  c  We  should  never,9  replied  he, '  have 
heard  the  last  on  *t,  to  be  sure;  but  then 
Pope  was  a  narrow  man.  I  will,  however,' 
added  he, '  storm  and  bluster  jny$elf  a  lit- 
tie  this  time;  '—so  went  to  London  in  all 
the  wrath  he  could  muster  up.  At  his 
i e turn,  Mrs.  Thrale  asked  how  the  affair 
ended  :  c  Why,*  said  he,  c  I  was  a  fierce 
fellow,  and  pretended  to  be  very  angry, 
and  Thomas  was  a  good-natured  fellow, 
and  pretended  to  be  very  sorry;  so 
there  the  matter  ended.  I  believe  the 
dog  loves  me  dearly.9  Mr.  Thrale,  turn- 
ing round  to  him,  <  What  shall  you  and 
I  do  that  is  good  for  Tom  Dairies  ? 
We  will  do  something  for  him,  to  be 
sure.' "] 

In  the  course  of  his  self-examination 
with  retrospect  to  this  year,  hs  seems  to 

vol.  i*  €0 


have  been  much  dejected;  for  he  says,  1st 
January,  1774: 

"  This  year  has  passed  with  so  little  im- 
provement, that  I  doubt  whether  I  have 
not  rather  impaired  than  increased  my 
learning." 

And  yet  we  have  seen  how  he  read,  and 
we  know  how  he  talked  during  that  pe- 
riod. 

["  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  MBS.  MONTAGU. 

"lit*  Jan.  1774. 

"  Madam,— Having  committed  one  fault 
by  inadvertency,  I  will  not  commit  another 
by  sullenness.  When  I  had  the  honour  of 
your  card,  I  could  not  comply  with  your 
invitation,  and  must  now  suffer  the  shame 
of  confessing  that  the  necessity  of  an  an- 
swer did  not  come  into  my  mind. 

"  This  omission,  madam,  you  may  easily 
excuse,  as  the  consciousness  of  your  own 
character  must  secure  you  from  suspecting 
that  the  favour  of  your  notice  can  ever 
miss  a  suitable  return,  but  from  ignorance 
or  thoughtlessness,  and  to  be  ignorant  of 
your  eminence  is  not  easy,  but  to  him  who 
fives  out  of  the  reach  of  the  publick  voice. 
— I  am,  madam,  your  most  obedient  and 
most  humble  servant, 

"  Sax.  Johnson."] 

He  was  now  seriously  engaged  in  wri- 
ting an  account  of  our  travels  in  the  Heb- 
rides, in  consequence  of  which  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  a  more  frequent  correspondence 
with  him. 

"  TO  JAMBS  BOSWBLL,  ESQ. 

"29th  Jam.  1774. 

"  Dear  sir, — My  operations  have  been 
hindered  by  a  cough;  at  least  I  flatter  my- 
self, that  if  my  cough  had  not  come,  I 
should  have  been  further  advanced.  But  I 
have  had  no  intelligence  from  Dr.  Webster, 
nor  from  the  excise-office,  nor  from  you. 
No  account  of  the  little  borough  K  No- 
thing of  the  Erse  language,  f  have  yet 
heard  nothing  of  my  box. 

"  You  must  make  haste  and  gather  me 
all  you  can,  and  do  it  quickly,  or  I  will  and 
shall  do  without  it 

"Make  my  compliments  to  Mrs.  Bos- 
well,  and  tell  her  that  I  do  not  love  her  the 
less  tor  wishing  me  away.  I  pave  her 
trouble  enough,  and  shall  be  glad,  in  recom- 
pense, to  (rive  her  any  pleasure. 
m  "  I  would  send  some  porter  into  the  Heb- 
rides, if  I  knew  which  way  it  could  be  got 
to  my  kind  friends  there.  Inquire,  and  let 
me  know. 

"  Make  my  compliments  to  all  the  doc- 
tors of  Edinburgh,  and  to  all  my  friends, 
from  one  end  of  Scotland  to  the  other; 

*  TheaDCWDtbarghofPrwtkk,inATrahire.— 
Bsswsu* 


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474 


1774.— jETAT.  65. 


"  Write  to  me,  and  send  me  what  intelli- 
gence you  can;  and  if  any  thing  is  too 
bulky  for  the  post,  let  me  nave  it  by  the 
earner.  I  do  not  like  trusting  winds  and 
waves. — I  am,  dear  sir,  your  most,  &c. 

"  Sam.  Johnsow." 

"  TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

"London,  7th  Feb.  1774. 

"Dear  sir, — In  a  dsy  or  two  after  I 
had  written  the  last  discontented  letter,  I 
received  my  box,  which  was  very  welcome. 
But  still  I  must  entreat  you  to  hasten  Dr. 
Webster,  and  continue  to  pick  up  what  you 
can  that  may  be  useful. 

"Mr.  Oglethorpe  was  with  me  this 
morning ;  you  know  his  errand.  He  was 
not  unwelcome. 

"  Tell  Mrs.  Boswell  that  my  good  inten- 
tions towards  her  still  continue.  I  should 
be  glad  to  do  any  thing  that  would  either 
benefit  or  please  ner. 

"  Chambers  is  not  yet  gone,  but  so  hur- 
ried, or  so  negligent,  or  so  proud,  that  I 
rarely  see  him.  I  have  indeed,  for  some 
weeks  past,  been  very  ill  of  a  cold  and 
cough,  and  have  been  at  Mrs.  Thrale's, 
that  I  might  be  taken  care  of.  I  am  much 
better:  nova  redeunt  in  prcdia  vires; 
but  I  am  yet  tender,  and  easily  disordered. 
How  happy  it  was  that  neither  of  us  were 
ill  in  the  Hebrides. 
■    "  The  question  of  literary  property l  is 


1  [The  question  was  not  decided  till  the  22d 
Feb.  ;  the  following  summary  of  this  matter  is 
extracted  from  the  "  Annual  Register  "  for  1774, 
pp.  96-6: 

'<  This  day  came  on,  in  the  house  of  lords,  the 
final  determination  on  the  cause  of  literary 
property,  which  rested  principally  on  these  three 
points: 

<*  L  Whether  the  authour  of  a  book,  or  litera- 
ry composition,  has  a  common  law  right  to  the 
sole  and  exclusive  publication  of  such  book  or 
literary  composition  ? 

*'  II.  Whether  an  action  for  a  violation  of 
common  law  right  will  lie  against  those  persons 
who  publish  the  book  or  literary  composition  of 
an  authour  without  his  consent  ? 

<<  HI.  How  far  the  statute  of  the  8th  Queen 
Anne  affects  the  supposition  of  a  common  law 
right? 

"  The  judges  having  previously  delivered  then- 
opinions  on  these  points,  Lord  Camden  rose  and 
spoke  very  learnedly  for  near  two  hours  against 
the  literary  claimants,  and  in  defence  of  the  statute 
of  Queen  Anne,  which  he  said  took  away  any 
right  at  common  law  for  an  authour's  exclusively 
multiplying  copies,  if  any  such  right  existed.  The 
Lord  Chancellor  spoke  for  three  quarters  of  an  hour 
to  the  same  effect  The  young  Lord  Lyttelton 
next  rose,  and  made  a  short  but  florid  harangue 
in  favour  of  literary  property.  The  Bishop  of 
Carlisle  and  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham  spoke 
against  it;  and  the  question  being  put  by  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  whether  it  was  their  lordships'  plea- 


this  day  before  the  lords.  Murphy  drew 
up  the  appellants'  case,  that  is,  the  plea 
against  the  perpetual  right  I  have  not 
seen  it,  nor  heard  the  decision.  I  would 
not  have  the  right  perpetual. 

"  I  will  write  to  you  as  any  thing  occurs, 
and  do  you  send  me  something  about  my 
Scottish  friends.  I  have  very  great  kind- 
ness for  them.  Let  me  know  likewise  how 
fees  come  in,  and  when  we  are  to  see  you. 
— I  am,  sir,  yours  affectionately, 

"Sam.  Johnson." 

He  at  this  time  wrote  the  following  let- 
ters to  Mr.  Steevens,  his  able  associate  in 
editing  Shakspeare: 

"TO  GEORGE  STEEVENS,  ESQ.  HAMP8TEAD. 
"?th  February,  1T74. 

"  Sir, — If  I  am  asked  when  I  have  seen 
Mr.  Steevens,  you  know  what  answer  I 
must  five;  if  I  am  asked  when  I  shall  see 
him,  I  wish  you  could  tell  me  what  to 
say. 

"  If  you  have  '  Lesley's  History  of  Scot- 
land,' or  any  other  book  about  Scotland, 
except  Boetius  and  Buchanan,  it  will  be  a 
kindness  if  you  send  them  to,  sir,  your 
humble  servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  TO    GEORGE    STEEVENS,   ESQ. 

"  21*  Feb.  JT74. 

"  Sir, — We  are  thinking  to  augment  our 
club,  and  I  am  desirous  of  nominating  you, 
if  you  care  to  stand  the  ballot,  and  can  at- 
tend on  Friday  nights  at  least  twice  in  £▼• 
weeks:  less  than  this  is  too  little,  and  rath- 
er more  will  be  expected.  Be  pleased  to 
let  me  know  before  Friday.  I  am,  sir,your 
most,  &c.  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

"TO   GEORGE   STEEVENS,  ESQ. 

*«  5th  March,  1TT4. 

"  Sir, — Last  night  you  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  club;  if  you  call  on  me  on  Friday, 


sure  that  the  decree  should  be  reversed,  it  was 
agreed  without  a  division,  with  costs. 

"  By  the  above  decision  of  the  important  ques- 
tion respecting  copyright  in  books,  near  200,000/. 
worth  of  what  was  honestly  purchased  at  pnbae 
sales,  and  which  was  yesterday  thought  property, 
is  now  reduced  to  nothing.  The  booksellers  of 
London  and  Westminster,  many  of  whom  sold 
estates  and  booses  to  purchase  copyright,  are  in  a 
manner  rained;  and  those  who,  after  many  yean' 
industry,  thought  they  had  acquired  a  competener 
to  provide  for  their  families,  now  find  themselves 
without  a  shilling  to  devise  to  their  successor. 

"  The  English  booksellers  have  now  no  other 
security  in  future,  for  any  literary  purchase  they 
may  make,  but  the  statute  of  the  8th  of  Qaess 
Anne,  which  secures  to  the  authour's  awrigisj  aa 
exclusive  property  for  fourteen  yean,  to  revert 
again  to  the  authour,  and  vest  wa  him  for  fourtsss 
yean  more."— Ed.] 


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475 


I  will  introduce  you.    A  gentleman  propos- 
ed after  you,  was  rejected. 

"  I  thank  you  for  Neander J,  but  wish  he 
were  not  bo  fine.  I  will  take  care  of  him. 
I  am,  sir,  your  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"TO   JAMES   BOSWELL,    ESQ. 

"  5th  March,  1774. 

"  Dear  sir, — Dr.  Webster's  informa- 
tions were  much  less  exact,  and  much  less 
determinate  than  I  expected :  they  are,  in- 
deed, much  less  positive  than,  if  he  can 
trust  his  own  book  *  which  he  laid  before 
me,  he  is  able  to  give.  But  I  believe  it  will 
always  be  found,  that  he  who  calls  much 
for  information  will  advance  his  work  but 
slowly. 

"  I  am,  however,  obliged  to  you,  dear 
air,  for  your  endeavours  to  help  me,  and 
hope,  that  between  us  something  will  some 
time.be  done,  if  not  on  this  on  some  occa- 
sion. 

"  Chambers  is  either  married,  or  almost 
married,  to  Miss  Wilton3,  a  girl  of  sixteen, 
exquisitely  beautiful,  whom  he  has,  with 
his  lawyer's  tongue,  persuaded  to  take  her 
chance  with  him  in  the  East. 

"  We  have  added  to  the  club,  Charles 
Fox4,  Sir  Charles  Bunbury,  Dr.  Fordyce, 
and  Mr.  Steevens5. 

"  Return  my  thanks  to  Dr.  Webster. 
Tell  Dr.  Robertson  I  have  not  much  to  re- 
ply to  his  censure  of  my  negligence:  and 
tell  Dr.  Blair,  that  since  he  has  written 
hither  •  what  I  said  to  him,  we  must  now 


1  See  the  Catalogue  of  Mr.  Steevens's  Library, 
No.  265: — "  Neandri  (Mich.)  Opus  aureum,  Gr. 
et  Lat  2  torn.  4to.  eorio  tureieo,  foliia  deou- 
ratis.  Lipsis,  1577."  This  was  doubtless  the 
book  which  appears  to  have  been  lent  by  Mr. 
Bteevens  to  Dr.  Johnson. — Malowe. 

*  A  manuscript  account  drawn  by  Dr.  Webster 
of  all  the  parishes  in  Scotland,  ascertaining  their 
length,  breadth,  number  of  inhabitants,  and  dis- 
tuuuiiihing  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholicks. 
This  book  has  been  transmitted  to  government, 
and  Dr.  Johnson  saw  a  copy  of  it  in  Dr.  Web- 
ster's possession. — Boswell. 

9  [Daughter  of  Mr.  Wilton,  the  sculptor. 
After  Sir  Robert  Chambers^  death  she  returned 
to  England,  and  is  now  (1830)  living  at  Putney. 
Miss  Chambers,  her  daughter,  married,  as  the 
Editor  is  informed,  Colonel  Macdonald,  the  son  of 
Flora,     See  ante,  p.  386.— Ed.] 

4  [Mr.  Fox  was  brought  in  by  Mr.  Burke, 
and  this  meeting  at  the  Club  was  the  only  link  of 
acquaintance  between  Mr.  Fox  and  Johnson. — 
Mackintosh.] 

*  [It  is  odd  that  he  does  not  mention  Mr. 
Gibbon,  whose  admission  seems,  by  Mr.  Hatch- 
eft's  list,  to  hare  been  contemporary  with  Stee- 
vens's.— Ed.] 

*  [This  applies*  to  one  of  Johnson's  rude 
speeches,  the  mere  repetition  'of  which  by  Dr. 
Blair,  Johnson,  with  more  ingenuity  than  justice, 


consider  ourselves  as  even,  forgive  one  an* 
other,  and  begin  again.  *  care  not  how 
soon,  for  he  is  a  very  pleasing  man.  Pay 
my  compliments  to  all  my  friends,  and  re- 
mind Lord  Eli  bank  of  his  promise  to  give 
me  all  his  works. 

"  I  hope  Mrs.  Boswell  and  little  Miss 
are  well. — When  shall  I  see  them  again? 
She  is  a  sweet  lady,  only  she  was  so  glad 
to  see  me  go,  that  I  have  almost  a  mind  to 
come  again,  that  she  may  again  have  the 
same  pleasure. 

"  Inquire  if  it  be  practicable  to  send  a 
small  present  of  a  cask  of  porter  to  Dun  ve- 
gan, Rasay,  and  Col.  I  would  not  wish 
to  be  thought  forgetful  of  civilities.  I  am, 
sir,  your  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

On  the  5th  of  March  I  wrote  to  him,  re- 
questing his  counsel  whether  I  should  this 
spring  come  to  London,  f  stated  to  him 
on  the  one  hand  some  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ments, which,  together  with  my  wife's 
situation  at  that  time,  made  me  hesitate; 
and  on  the  other,  the  pleasure  and  improve- 
ment which  my  annual  visit  to  the  metrop- 
olis always  afforded  me;  and  particularly 
mentioned  a  peculiar  satisfaction  which 
I  experienced  in  celebrating  the  festival  of 
Easter  in  St.  Paul's  cathedral;  that,  to  my 
fancy,  it  appeared  like  going  up  to  Jeru- 
salem at  the  feast  of  the  Passover;  and  that 
the  strong  devotion  which  I  felt  on  that 
occasion  diffused  its  influence  on  my  mind 
through  the  rest  of  the  year. 

"TO   JAMES    BOSWELL,    ESQ* 
Not  dated,  but  written  about  the  lAtb  of  March. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  am  ashamed  to  think 
that  since  I  received  your  letter  I  have  pass- 
ed so  many  days  without  answering  it. 

"  I  think  there  is  no  great  difficulty  in 
resolving  your  doubts.  The  reasons  for 
which  you  are  inclined  to  visit  London  are, 
I  think,  not  of  sufficient  strength  to  answer 
the  objections.  That  you  should  delight  to 
come  once  a  year  to  the  fountain  of  intelli- 
gence and  pleasure  is  very  natural;  but  both 
information  and  pleasure  must  be  regulated 
by  propriety.  Pleasure,  which  cannot  be  ob- 
tained but  by  unseasonable  or  unsuitable 
expense,  must  always  end  in  pain;  and 
pleasure,  which  must  be  enjoyed  at  the  ex- 
pense of  another's  pain,  can  never  be  such 
as  a  worthy  mind  can  fully  delight  in. 

"  What  improvement  you  might  gain  by 
coming  to  London,  you  may  easily  supply 
or  easily  compensate,  by  enjoining  yourself 
some  particular  study  at  home,  or  opening 
some  new  avenue  to  information.  Edin- 
burgh is  not  yet  exhausted;  and  I  am  sure 

chose  to  consider  as  equivalent  to  the  original 
offence?  but  It  turned  oat  that  Blair  had  not  told 
the  story.— Ed.] 


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ITU.— JETAT.  66. 


you  will  find  no  pleasure  here  which  can 
deserve  either  that  you  should  anticipate 
any  part  of  your  future  fortune,  or  that  you 
should  condemn  yourself  and  your  lady  to 
penurious  frugality  for  the  rest  of  the  year. 

"  I  need  not  tell  you  what  regard  you 
owe  to  Mrs.  BoswelFs  entreaties;  or  how 
much  you  ought  to  study  the  happiness  of 
her  who  studies  yours  with  so  much  dili- 
gence, and  of  whose  kindness  you  enjoy 
such  good  effects.  Life  cannot  subsist  in 
society  but  by  reciprocal  concessions.  She 
permitted  you  to  ramble  last  year,  you  must 
permit  her  now  to  keep  you  at  home. 

"  Your  last  reason  is  so  serious,  that  I 
am  unwilling  to  oppose  it  Yet  you  must 
remember,  that  your  image  of  worshipping 
once  a  year  in  a  certain  place,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  Jews,  is  but  a  comparison;  and 
iimile  non  e$t  idem;  if  the  annual  resort  to 
Jerusalem  was  a  duty  to  the  Jews,  it  was 
a  duty  because  it  was  commanded;  and 
you  have  no  such  command,  therefore 
no  such  duty.  It  may  be  dangerous  to 
receive  too  readily,  and  indulge  too  fondly, 
opinions,  from  which,  perhaps,  no  pious 
mind  is  wholly  disengaged,  of  local  sanctity 
and  local  devotion.  You  know  what 
strange  effects  *  they  have  produced  over  a 
great  part  of  the  Christian  world.  I  am 
now  writing,  and  you,  when  you  read  this, 
are  reading  under  the  Eye  of  Omnipres- 
ence. 

"  To  what  degree  fancy  is  to  be  admit- 
ted into  religious  offices,  it  would  require 
much  deliberation  to  determine.  I  am  far 
from  intending  totally  to  exclude  it.  Fancy 
is  a  faculty  bestowed  by  our  Creator,  and  it 
is  reasonable  that  all  his  gifts  should  be  used 
to  his  glory,  that  all  our  faculties  should  co- 
operate in  his  worship;  but  they  are  to  co- 
operate according  to  the  will  of  him  that 
gave  them,  according  to  the  order  which 
his  wisdom  has  established.  As  ceremonies, 
prudential  or  convenient,  are  less  obligatory 
than  positive  ordinances,  as  bodily  worship 
is  only  the  token  to  others  or  ourselves  of 
mental  adoration,  so  fancy  is  always  to  act 
in  subordination  to  reason.  We  may  take 
fancy  for  a  companion,  but  must  follow 
reason  as  our  guide.  We  may  allow  fancy 
to  suggest  certain  ideas  in  certain  places; 
but  reason  must  always  be  heard,  when  she 
tells  us,  that  those  ideas  and  those  places 
have  no  natural  or  necessary  relation. 
When  we  enter  a  church  we  habitually  re- 
call to  mind  the  duty  of  adoration,  but  we 
must  not  omit  adoration  for  want  of  a  tem- 
ple: because  we  know,  and  ought  to  re- 
member, that  the  Universal  Lord  is  every 
where  present;  and  that,  therefore,  to  come 
to  Jona,  or  to  Jerusalem,  though  it  may  be 
useful,  cannot  be  necessary. 

1  [Alluding  probably  to  the  Crusades.— E».] 


"  Thus  I  have  answered  your  letter ,  and 
have  not  answered  it  negligently.  1  lows 
you  too  well  to  be  careless  when  yon  are 
serious. 

"  I  think  I  shall  be  very  diligent  next 
week  about  our  travels,  which  I  have  too 
long  neglected.  I  am,  dear  air,  your  most, 
lie  "  Sam.  JoHjrson. 

"  Compliments  to  madam  and  miss." 

"TO  J  AMIS   BOSWELL,    E*4. 

"lOtfcMay,  1774 

"Dcar  siEr-The  lady  who  delivers  this 
has  a  lawsuit,  in  which  she  desires  to  make 
use  of  your  skill  and  eloquence,  and  she 
seems  to  .think  that  she  shall  have  some- 
thing more  of  both  for  a  recommendation 
from  me;  which,  though  I  know  how  little 
you  want  any  external  incitement  to  your 
duty,  I  could  not  refuse  her,  because  I  know 
that  at  least  it  will  not  hurt  her  to  tell  you 
that  I  wish  her  well.  I  am,  sir,  your  most 
humble  servant,  "  Sax.  Johnson." 

"MR.    BOSWELL  TO  DR.   JOHNSON. 

*  Edinburgh,  12th  BUy,  1774. 

"  Lord  Hailes  has  begged  of  me  to  offer 
you  his  best  respects,  and  to  transmit  to 
you  specimens  of  'Annals  of  Scotland,  from 
the  Accession  of  Malcolm  Kenmore  to  the 
Death  of  James  V.'  in  drawing  up  which 
his  lordship  has  been  engaged  for  some 
time.  His  lordship  writes  to  me  thus:  *  If 
I  could  procure  Dr.  Johnson's  criticisms, 
they  would  be  of  great  use  to  me  in  the 
prosecution  of  my  work,  as  they  would  be 
judicious  and  true.  I  have  no  right  to  ask 
that  favour  of  him.  If  you  could,  it  would 
oblige  me.' 

r.  Blair  requests  you  may  be  assured 
that  he  did  not  write  to  London  what  you 
said  to  him,  and  mat  neither  by  word  nor 
letter  has  he  made  the  least  complaint  of 
you  9;  but  on  the  contrary  has  a  high  re- 
spect for  you,  and  loves  you  much  more 
since  he  saw  you  in  Scotland.  It  would  both 
divert  and  please  you  to  see  his  eagerness 
about  this  matter." 

<cTO   JAMES   BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

"Streatliam,  121*  Jane,  1774. 

"  Dear  sir, — Yesterday  I  put  the  first 
sheets  of  the  *  Journey  to  the  Hebrides'  to 
the  press.  I  have  endeavoured  to  do  you 
some  justice  in  the  first  paragraph.  It  will 
be  one  volume  in  octavo,  not  thick. 

"  It  will  be  proper  to  make  some  presents 
in  Scotland.  You  shall  tell  me  to  whom  I 
shall  give;  and  I  have  stipulated  twenty- 
five  for  you  to  give  in  your  own  name. 
Some  will  take  the. present  better  from  me, 
others  better  from  you.  In  this,  you  who 
are  to  live  in  the  place  Ought  to  direct. 

•  [See  ante,  p.  476.— En.] 


highly  < 
"Dr, 


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477 


Consider  it  Whatever  you  can  get  for  my 
purpose  send  me;  and  make  my  compli- 
ments to  your  lady  and  both  the  young 
ones.    I  am,  sir,  your,  lie. 

"  Sam.  JoHffsoa." 

"MR.    BOSWBLL    TO   DR.   JOHNSON. 

u  Edlibargh,  84th  Jane,  1774. 

"  You  do  not  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
the  various  packets  which  I  have  sent  to 
you.  Neither  can  I  prevail  with  you  to  » 
awer  my  letters,  though  you  honour  me 
with  returns.  You  have  said  nothing  to 
me  about  poor  Goldsmith ',  nothing  about 
L*angton. 

"  I  have  received  for  you  from  the  Socie- 
ty for  propagating  Christian  Knowledge 
in  Scotland,  the  following  Erse  books:— 
•The  New  Testament,'  'Baxter's  Call,' 
'  The  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Assembly 
of  Divines  at  Westminster,'  « The  Mo- 
ther's Catechism,'  '  A  Gaelick  and  English 
Vocabulary  V" 

"TO  JAMES  B0SW1LL,   KSQ. 

u  4th  July.  1774. 

"Diak  sir, — I  wish  you  could  have 
looked  over  my  book  before  the  printer,  but 
it  could  not  easily  be.  I  suspect  some  mis- 
takes; but  as  I  deal,  perhaps,  more  in  no- 
tions than  in  facts,  the  matter  is  not  great, 
and  the  second  edition  will  be  mended,  if 
any  such  there  be.  The  press  will  go  on 
slowly  for  a  time,  because  I  am  going  into 
Wales  to-morrow. 

"  I  should  be  very  sorry  if  I  appeared  to 
treat  such  a  character  as  Lord  Hailes  oth- 
erwise than  with  high  respect.  I  return 
the  sheets3,  to  which  I  have  done  what 
mischief  I  could:  and  finding  it  so  little, 
thought  not  mucn  of  sending  them.  The 
narrative  is  clear,  lively,  and  short 

"  I  have  done  worse  to  Lord  Hailes  than 
by  neglecting  his  sheets:  I  have  run  him 
in  debt  Dr.  Home,  the  president  of  Mag- 
dalen College  in  Oxford,  wrote  to  me  about 
three  months  ago,  that  he  purposed  to  re- 
print Walton's  Lives,  ana  desired  me  to 
contribute  to  the  work:  my  answer  was, 
that  Lord  Hailes  intended  the  same  publica- 
tion; and  Dr.  Home  has  resigned  it  to  him. 
His  lordship  must  now  think  seriously  about 
it 

"  Of  poor  dear  Dr.  Goldsmith  there  is  lit- 
tle to  be  told,  more  than  the  papers  have 


1  Dr.  Goldsmith  died  April  4,  this  year.— 

BOS  WELL. 

*  These  books  Dr.  Johnson  presented  to  the 
Bodleian  Library. — Boswbll. 

*  On  the  cover  enclosing  the**  Dr.  Johnson 
wrote,  "  If  toy  delay  has  given  any  reason  for 
■apposing  that  I  have  not  a  very  deep  sense  of 
the  honour  done  me  by  asking,  my  judgment,  I 

"—Boswsll. 


made  pubtick.  He  died  of  a  fever,  I  am 
afraid,  more  violent  by  uneasiness  of  mind. 
His  debts  began  to  be  heavy,  and  all  his  re- 
sources were  exhausted.  Sir  Joshua  is  of 
opinion  that  he  owed  not  less  than  two 
thousand  pounds.  Was  ever  poet  so  trust- 
ed before? 

"  You  may,  if  you  please,  put  the  inscrip- 
tion thus: 

" '  Maria  Seotorum  Regina  nata  15—,  a 
tide  in  exUium  acta  15—,  ab  hospitdneei 
data  lfr— .'    You  must  find  the  years. 

"  Of  your  second  daughter  you  certainly 
gave  the  account  yourself,  though  you 
have  forgotten  it  While  Mrs.  Boswell  is 
well,  never  doubt  of  a  boy.  Mrs.  Thrale 
brought,  I  think,  five  girls  running,  but 
while  I  was  with  you  she  had  a  boy. 

"  I  am  obliged  to  you  for  all  your  pam- 
phlets, and  of  the  last  I  hope  to  make  some 
use.    I  made  some  of  the  former.    I  am, 
dear  sir,  your  most  affectionate  servant, 
"Sam.  Johksoh. 

"My  compliments  to  all  the  three  la- 
dies." 

"  TO   BENNET  LANGT0N,  ESQ.  AT  LAJVG- 
TON. 

Sth  July,  1774. 
"Dear  sir, — You  have  reason  to  re- 
proach me  that  I  have  left  your  last  letter 
so  long  unanswered,  but  1  had  nothing 
particular  to  say.  Chambers,  you  find, 
is  gone  far,  and  poor  Goldsmith  is  gone 
much  further.    He  died  of  a  fever,  exas- 

S  rated,  as  I  believe,  by  the  fear  of  distress, 
e  had  raised  money  and  squandered  it,  by 
every  artifice  of  acquisition  and  folly  of  ex- 
pense. But  let  not  his  frailties  be  remem- 
bered :  he  was  a  very  great  man. 

"  I  nave  just  begun  to  print  my  Journey 
to  the  Hebrides,  and  am  leaving  the  press 
to  take  another  journey  into  Wales,  whith- 
er Mr.  Thrale  is  going,  to  take  possession 
of,  at  least,  five  hundred  a  year,  fallen  to 
his  lady.  All  at  Streatham,  that  are  alive, 
are  welL 

"  I  have  never  recovered  from  the  last 
dreadful  illness  4,  but  flatter  myself  that  I 
grow  gradually  better;  much,  however, 
yet  remains  to  mend,     ity*  hbrw  *. 

"  If  you  have  the  Latin  version  of*  Busy, 
curious,  thirsty  fly,'  be  so  kind  as  to  trans- 
cribe and  send  it;  but  you  need  not  be  in 
haste,  for  I  shall  be  I  know  not  where,  for 


4  [Although  his  Letters  and  his  Prayers  and 
Meditations  speak  of  his  late  illness  as  merely  "  a 
cold  and  cough,  which  he  went  to  Mis.  Thrale 
to  get  taken  care  of,"  it  would  seem  by  this  use 
of  the  word  "dreadful,"  that  h  had,  at  some 
time,  taken  a  more  serious  character.  We  have 
no  trace  of  any  illness  since  that  of  1766,  which 
could  be  called  dreadful.— -Ed.} 

•  [The  Greek  for  "  Lord  have  mercy  upon 
u$"  in  the  Litany.— Ed.] 


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1774.— jETAT.  66. 


at  least  five  weebi     I  wrote  the  following 
tetrastick  on  poor  Goldsmith: 

11  To?  **ew  tir*{««f  *w  O*xj/0«{««,  awarr 
Af  {on  /us  nptut,  Sun,  *U*m  w*rv. 

Om  jujuuki  tunc,  (MTfm  XH**  «0*  *****»> 
KAtfjm  swrav,  i#r«f amp ,  #v*mor. 

"  Please  to  make  my  most  respectful  com- 
pliments to  all  the  ladies,  and  remember  me 
to  young  George  and  his  sisters.  I  reckon 
George  begins  to  show  a  pair  of  heels. 

"  Do  not  be  sullen  now,  but  let  me  find 
a  letter  when  I  come  back.  I  am,  dear  sir, 
your  affectionate,  humble  servant, 

"  Sax.  Johnson." 

This  tour  to  Wales,  which  was  made  in 
company  with  Mr.,  Mrs.,  [and  Miss]  Thrale, 


[toub  to 

though  it  no  doubt  contributed  to  his  health 
and  amusement,  did  not  give  an  occasion 
to  such  a  discursive  exercise  of  his  mind  as 
our  tour  to  the  Hebrides  •  •  K  All  that  I 
heard  him  say  of  it  was,  that "  instead  of 
bleak  and  barren  mountains,  there  were 
green  and  fertile  ones;  and  that  one  of  the 
castles  in  Wales  would  contain  all  the  castles 
that  he  had  seen  in  Scotland.*9 

[He,  however,  kept  a  kind  of  diary  *  of 
this  journey,  which  was  afterwards  ^ 
published  3  in  a  separate  form  by  Mr. 
Duppa,  and  is  now,  by  his  liberal  permission, 
incorporated  into  this  work,  for  the  purpose 
of  "  filling  up  (to  use  Mr.  Duppa  *s  own 
words)  that  chasm  in  the  Life  of  Dr. 
Johnson  which  Mr.  Bosweli  was  unable  to 
supply."] 


Jjwto  Tuesday,  5th  July.— We  left 
Watofc  Streatham  11  a.  m.— Price  of  four 
horses  two  shillings  a  mile. 

Wednesday,  6th  July.— Barnet  1.  40'. 
p.  m. — On  the  road  I  read  Tully's  Epistles 

»  [Mr.  Botwall  had  bare  added,  "I  do  not 
find  that  ha  kept  any  journal  or  notes  of  what  he 
■aw  there."— Ed.] 

*  [This  diary  fell  into  the  possession  of  Barber, 
who  disposed  of  it  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  White;  trat 
how  it  escaped  Mr.  Bosweli 's  researches,  who 
seems  to  have  had  access  to  all  Barber's  papers, 
does  not  appear. — Ed.] 

9  ["  A  Diary  of  a  Journey  into  North  Wales, 
in  the  Year  1774;  by  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.  D. 
Edited,  with  illustrative  Notes,  by  R.  Duppa, 
LL.  B.,  Barrister  at  Law.  London,  for  Jennings 
in  the  Poultry,  1816,  12mo."  Of  this  work,  Mr. 
Duppa  says,  in  his  Dedication  to  Mr.  Edward 
Swinburne:  "  This  fragment,  as  a  literary  curiosi- 
ty, I  hope  will  not  disappoint  you;  for  although  it 
may  not  contain  any  striking  and  important  facts, 
or  luminous  passages  of  fine  writing,  it  cannot  be 
uninteresting  to  know  how  the  mind  of  such  a 
man  as  Johnson  received  new  impressions,  or 
contemplated,  for  the  first  time,  scenes  and  oc- 
cupations unknown  to  him  before.*'  And,  in  bis 
Preface,  he  observes,  "  This  Journal  of  Dr.  John- 
son exhibits  his  mind  when  he  was  alone,  when 
no  one  was  looking  on,  and  when  no  one  was  ex- 
pected to  adopt  his  thoughts,  or  to  be  influenced 
by  them:  in  this  respect,  it  differs  from  the  con- 
versations and  anecdotes  already  published;  it  has 
also  another  value,  highly  interesting;  it  shows 
how  his  mind  was  influenced  by  the  impression  of 
external  things,  and  in  what  way  he  recorded  those 
facts,  which  he  laid  up  for  future  reflection. 

"  His  *  Journey  to  the  Western  Islands  of  Scot- 
land* was  probably  composed  from  a  diary  not 
more  ample:  for  of  that  work  he  says,  '  I  deal 
more  in  notions  than  in  facts;*  and  this  is  the 
general  character  of  bis  mind;  though  when  Bos- 
weli expressed  a  fear,  lest  bis  journal  should  be 
encumbered  with  too  many  minute  particulars,  he 
said,  '  There  is  nothing,  air,  too  little  for  so  little 


—At  night  at  Dunstable— To  Lichfield, 
eighty-three  miles— To  the  Swan*. 

Thursday,  1th  July.— To  the  cathedral 
—To  Mrs.  Porter's— To  Mrs.  Aston's— 
To  Mr.  Green's  5  — Mr.  Green's  museum 


a  creature  as  man.  It  is  by  studying  little  _ 
that  we  attain  the  great  art  of  having  as  1 
and  as  much  happiness  as  possible.* 
'or  its  authenticity  I  will  pledge  myself:  but 
if  there  should  be  any  who  are  desirous  to  gratify 
their  curiosity,  or  to  satisfy  their  judgment,  the 
original  MS.,  in  the  handwriting  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
is  in  the  possession  of  the  publisher,  where  it  may 
at  any  time  be  seen.  The  Editor  acknowledges 
his  obligation  to  Mrs.  Piozzi,  for  her  kind  assist- 
ance in  explaining  many  facts  in  this  diary,  which 
could  not  otherwise  have  been  understood." 

Mr.  Duppa,  having  applied  to  Mrs.  Piozzi  fin- 
information  on  some  topics  of  this  diary,  received 
several  explanatory  letters  from  that  lady,  some  of 
which,  however,  came  too  late  for  Mr.  Duppa  a 
use.  He,  however,  with  continued  courtesy,  has, 
by  communicating  these  letters  to  the  Editor,  en- 
abled him  to  explain  some  obscure  points,  not 
only  of  the  Welsh  tour,  but  of  other  portions  of 
Dr.  Johnson's  history.  The  notes,  extracted 
from  these  letters  (which  are  all  dated  between 
the  31st  July  and  17th  December,  1816,)  will  be 
distinguished — Piozxi  MS. — En.] 

4  [When  at  this  place,  Mrs.  Thrale  gives  aa 
anecdote  of  Johnson,  to  show  his  minute  attention 
to  things  which  might  reasonably  have  been  sup- 
posed out  of  the  range  of  his  observation. 
"  When  I  came  down  to  breakfast  at  the  inn,  my 
dress  did  not  please  him,  and  he  made  me  aher  it 
entirely  before  he  would  stir  a  step  with  us  about 
the  town,  saying  most  satirical  things  concerning 
the  appearance  I  made  in  a  riding-habit;  and 
adding,  *  *T  is  very  strange  that  such  eyes  as  yours 
cannot  discern  propriety  of  dress:  if  I  had  a  eight 
only  half  as  good,  I  think  I  should  see  to  the 
centre.' " — Duppa.] 

6  [Mr.  Richard  Green  was  an  apothecary,  and 
related  to  Dr.  Johnson,  He  had  a  considerable 
collection  of  antiquities,  natural  curiosities,  sad 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


WALES.] 

was  much  admired,  and  Mr.  Newton's 
china l. 

Friday,  Sth  July.— To  Mr.  Newton's— 
To  Mrs.  Cobb's  a.— Dr.  Darwin's  3— I  went 
again  to  Mrs.  Aston's — She  was  very  sorry 
to  part 

Saturday,  9th  July.— Breakfasted  at  Mr. 
Garrick's  4  — Visited  Miss  Vyse  * — Miss 
Seward  6— Went  to  Dr.  Taylor's  [at  Ash- 
bourn] — I  read  a  little  on  the  road  in  Tul- 
ly's  Epistles  and  Martial— Mart  8th,  44, 
*Jmo  pro  lima7. 

Sunday,  10th  July. — Morning  at  church 
— Company  at  dinner. 

Monday,  11th  July.—\t  Ham  8— At 
Oakover** — I  was  less  pleased  with  Ham 
than  when  I  saw  it  first,  but  my  friends 
were  much  delighted. 

Tuesday,  Uth  July.— At  Chatsworth— 


1774.— iETAT.  65. 


479 


ingenious  works  of  art  He  had  all  the  articles 
accurately  arranged,  with  their  names  upon  labels, 
and  on  the  staircase  leading  to  it  was  a  board, 
with  the  names  of  contributors  marked  in  gold 
letters.  A  printed  catalogue  of  the  collection  was 
to  be  had  at  a  bookseller's. — Duppa.] 

1  [Mr.  Newton  was  a  gentleman,  long  resident 
in  Lichfield,  who  had  acquired  a  large  fortune  in 
the  East  Indies.— Dupp a.] 

*  [Mrs.  Cobb  was  a  widow  lady  who  lived  at 
a  place  called  the  Friary,  close  to  Lichfield. — 
Dupp  a.] 

*  [Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin:  at  this  time  he  lived 
at  Lichfield,  where  he  had  practised  as  a  physi- 
cian from  the  year  1756,  and  did  not  settle  at 
Derby  til]  after  his  second  marriage  with  Mrs. 
Pool,  in  the  year  1781.  Miss  Seward  says,  that 
although  Dr.  Johnson  visited  Lichfield  while  Dr. 
Darwin  lived  there,  they  had  only  one  or  two 
interviews,  and  never  afterwards  sought  each 
other.  Mutual  and  strong  dislike  subsisted  be- 
tween them.  Dr.  Darwin  died  April  18th,  1802, 
in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age. — Dupp  a.] 

«  ["  Peter  Garrick,  the  elder  brother  of  David, 
strongly  resembling  him  in  countenance  and  voice, 
but  of  more  sedate  and  placid  manners."  See 
past,  2lst  March,  1775.— Ed.  <<  I  think  Peter 
Garrick  was  an  attorney,  but  he  seemed  to  lead 
an  independent  life,  and  talked  all  about  fishing. 
Dr.  Johnson  recommended  him  to  read  Walton's 
Angler,  repeating  some  verses  from  it" — Pioz- 
siMS.] 

*  A  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Archdeacon  Vyse,  of 
the  diocese  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry. — Duppa. 
Afterwards  wife  of  Dr.  Spencer  Madan,  Bishop  of 
Peterborough. — Harwood.] 

0  ["  Dr.  Johnson  would  not  suffer  me  to  speak 
to  Miss  Seward.'*— Piozzi  MS.— So  early  was 
the  coolness  between  them. — En.] 

7  [In  the  edition  of  Martial,  which  he  was  read- 
ing, the  last  word  of  the  line 

"Defluat,  et  lento  splendescat  tnrblda  tipw" 

was,  no  doubt,  misprinted  lino. — En.) 

*  [See  observations  on  Ilam,  post,  24th  July, 
1774,  and  22d  September,  1777.— Ed.] 

9  [Qakover  is  the  seat  of  a  very  ancient  family 
of  the  same  name,  a  few  miles  from  Ilam. — En.] 


The  water  willow™  — The  cascade,  shot  out 
from  many  spouts — The  fountains — The 
water  tree — The  smooth  floors  in  the  high- 
est rooms  " — Atlas,  fifteen  hands  inch  and 
half  12 — River  running  through  the  park — 
The  porticoes  on  the  sides  support  two  gal- 
leries for  the  first  floor — Mv  friends  were 
not  struck  with  the  house — It  fell  below  my 
ideas  of  the  furniture— The  staircase  is  in 
the  corner  of  the  house — The  hall  in  the 
corner  w ,  the  grandest  room,  though  only  a 
room  of  passage — On  the  ground-floor,  only 
the  chapel  and  the  breakfast-room,  and  a 
small  library;  the  rest,  servants'  rooms  and 
offices  14 — X  bad  inn. 

Wednesday,  19th  July.— At  Matlock.  « 
Thursday,  14th  July.— At  dinner  at  Oak- 
over;  too  deaf  to  hear,  or  much  converse- 
Mrs.  Gell— The  chapel  at  Oakover  15— The 
wood  of  the  pews  grossly  painted — I  could 
not  read  the  epitaph — Would  learn  the  old 
hands. 

Friday,  1  bth  July. — At  Ashbourn — Mrs. 
Dyott 16  and  her  daughters  came  in  the 
morning — Mrs.  Dyott  dined  with  us — We 
visited  Mr.  Flint. 


io  £«  There  was  a  water-work  at  Chatsworth 
with  a  concealed  spring,  which,  upon  touching, 
spouted  out  streams  from  every  bough  of  a  willow- 
tree.  I  remember  Lady  Keith  (Miss  Thrale), 
then  ten  years  old,  was  the  most  amused  by  it  of 
any  of  the  party. ' » — Pioxzi  MS.] 

"  ["Old  oak  floors  polished  by  rubbing. 
Johnson,  I  suppose,  wondered  that  they  should 
take  such  pains  with  the  garrets." — Piozzi  MS.] 

19  [This  was  a  race-horse,  which  was  very 
handsome  and  very  gentle,  and  attracted  so  much 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  attention,  that  he  said,  "of  all 
the  duke's  possessions,  I  like  Atlas  best." — Dup- 
pa.] 

u  [Quere,  whether  these  words  are  not  an  er- 
roneous repetition  of  the  same  words  in  the  pre- 
ceding line. — Ed.] 

14  [This  was  the  second  time  Johnson  had 
visited  Chatsworth.  See  ante ,  26th  November, 
1772;  and  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale.  The  friend, 
mentioned  in  that  extract,  was,  it  appears,  from 
Mrs.  Piozzi '■  MS.,  Dr.  Percy,  and  the  allusion 
was  sarcastic  Mrs.  Piozzi  writes,  "  Bishop 
Percy's  lady  lived  much  with  us  at  Brightbelm- 
stone,  and  used  (foolishly  enough  perhaps)  to 
show  us  her  husband's  letters:  in  one  of  these  he 
said,  <  I  am  enjoying  the  fall  of  a  murmuring 
stream,  but  to  you  who  reside  close  to  the  roaring 
ocean,  such  scenery  would  be  insipid.'  At  this 
Dr.  Johnson  laughed  as  a  ridiculous  affectation, 
and  never  forgot  it" — Piozzi  MS. — Ed.] 

14  [There  is  no  chapel  at  Oakover,  but  a 
small  parish-church  close  to  the  house,  which, 
however,  has  no  pulpit,  and  thence  perhaps  Dr. 
Johnson  calls  it  a  chapel. — Ed.] 

w  [The  Dyotta  were  a  respectable  and  wealthy 
Staffordshire  family.  The  person  who  shot  Lord 
Brook,  when  assaulting  St  Chad's  cathedral  in 
Lichfield,  on  St  Chad's  day,  in  1648,  is  said  to 
have  been  a  Mr.  Dyott— En.] 


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480 


1774.— JPTAT.  6ft. 


!<  T*  wtwm  Mayst ,  *•  /•  fore** 


snJvBc«r/u«, 

w  • 

Saturday,  16* A  Stife.— At  Dovedale, 
with  Mr.  Langley  3  and  Mr.  Flint.  It  is  a 
place  that  deserves  a  visit;  but  did  not  an- 
swer my  expectation.  The  river  is  small, 
the  rocks  are  grand.  Reynard's  Hall  is  a 
cave  very  high  in  the  rock;  it  goes  back- 
ward several  yards,  perhaps  eight.  To  the 
left  is  a  small  opening,  through  which  I 
crept,  and  found  another  cavern,  perhaps 
four  yards  square;  at  the  back  was  a  breach 
yet  smaller,  which  I  could  not  easily  have 
entered,  and,  wanting  light,  did  not  inspect. 
I  was  in  a  cave  yet  higher,  called  Reynard's 
Kitchen.  There  is  a  rock  called  the  Church, 
in  which  I  saw  no  resemblance  that  could 
justify  the  name  '.  Dovedale  is  about  two 
miles  long.  We  walked  towards  the  head 
of  the  Dove,  which  is  said  to  rise  about  five 
miles  above  two  caves  called  the  Dogholes, 
at  the  foot  of  Dovedale.  In  one  place, 
where  the  rocks  approached,  I  proposed  to 
build  an  arch  from  rock  to  rock  over  the 
stream,  with  a  summer-house  upon  it.  The 
water  murmured  pleasantly  among  the 
stones. 

I  thought  that  the  heat  and  exercise 
mended  my  hearing.  I  bore  the  fatigue  of 
the  walk,  which  was  very  laborious,  with- 
out inconvenience. 

There  were  with  us  Gilpin*  and  Parker *. 
Having  heard  of  this  place  before,  I  had 
formed  some  imperfect  idea,  to  which  it  did 
not  answer.  Brown*  says  he  was  disap- 
pointed.    I  certainly  expected  a  large  river 


1  ["  Mora  bore  away  the  fint  crown  of  the 
Motes,  Erasmus  the  second,  and  Micyllns  hat  the 
third."— En.) 

[  Jacobus  Micylloa,  whose  real  name  was  Mel- 
ehor,  died  1558,  aged  55.  In  the  MS.  Johnson 
hat  introduced  »gir  by  the  tide  of  ukmt  as  if  he 
were  doubtful  whether  that  tense  ought  not  to 
have  been  adopted. — Dufpa.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear whether  these  Tenet  are  Johnson's.  Micyl- 
lut't  real  name  wet  Moltzer;  tee  hit  article  in 
Bayle.  Hit  best  work  was  "  Dt  Re  Metric*  9" 
—Ed.] 

*  [The  Rev.  Mr.  Langley  wet  matter  of  the 
grammar  school  at  Ashbourn  ; — a  near  neighbour 
of  Dr.  Taylor's,  but  not  always  on  friendly  terms 
with  him,  which  uted  sometimes  to  perplex  their 
mutual  friend  Johnson. — En.] 

*  [Thit  rock  is  supposed  rudely  to  resemble  a 
tower;  hence,  it  has  been  called  the  Church. — 
Duppa.  It  rather,  according  to  the  Editor's 
recollection,  resembles  a  gotbic  spire  or  steeple. — 
En.] 

4  [(<  Mr.  Gilpin  wis  an  accomplished  youth,  at 
thit  time  an  under-gradoate  at  Oxford.  His 
father  was  an  old  silversmith  near  Lincoln't-inn- 
nelds."— Piozxi  MS.] 

•  [John  Parker,  of  Browntholme,  in  Lanca- 
shire, Esq. — Duppa.] 

•  [Mrs.  Pioza  <<  rather  thought"  that  this  was 


[tour  to 

where  I  found  only  a  clear  quick  brook. 
I  believe  I  had  imaged  a  valley  enclosed  by 
rocks,  and  terminated  by  a  broad  expanse 
of  water.  He  that  has  seen  Dovedale  has 
no  need  to  visit  the  Highlands  *. 

In  the  afternoon  we  visited  old  Mrs. 
Dales. 

Sunday,  17  th  July. — Sunday  morning,  at 
church — K*3- «— Afternoon,  at  Mr.Dyotfs. 

Monday,  IStk  July.— Dined  at  Mr. 
Gell's". 

Tuesday,  19th  Juh/.—We  went  to  Ked- 
leston  u  to  see  Lord  Scardale's  new  house, 
which  is  very  costly,  bnt  ill  contrived — 
The  hall  is  very  stately,  lighted  by  three 
skylights;  it  has  two  rows  of  marble  pillars, 
dug,  as  I  hear  from  Langley,  in  a  quarry 
of  Northamptonshire;  the  pillars  are  very 
large  and  massy,  and  take  up  too  much 
room;  thev  were  better  awav.  Behind  the 
hall  is  a  circular  saloon,  useless,  and  there- 
fore ill  contrived — The  corridors  that  join 
the  wings  to  the  body  are  mere  passages 
through  segments  of  circles — The  state  bed- 
chamber was  very  richly  furnished — The 
dining  parlour  was  more  splendid  with  gilt 
plate  than  any  that  I  have  seen — There 
were  many  pictures — The  grandeur  was  all 
below — ITie  bedchambers  were  small,  low, 
dark,  and  fitter  for  a  prison  than  a  house  of 
splendour — The  kitchen  has  an  opening 
into  the  gallery,  by  which  its  heat  and  its 
fumes  are  dispersed  over  the  house — There 
seemed  in  the  whole  more  cost  than  judg- 
ment. 

We  went  men  to  the  silk  mill  at  Derby, 
where  I  remarked  a  particular  manner  of 
propagating  motion  from  a  horizontal  to  a 
vertical  wheel — We  were  desired  to  leave 
the  men  only  two  shillings — Mr.  Thrale*s 
bill  at  the  inn  for  dinner  was  eighteen  shil- 
lings and  tenpence. 

At  night  I  went  to  Mr.  Langley*,  Mrs. 
Wood's,  Captain  Astle's,  &c. 

Capability  Browne*  whose  opinion  on  a  pots! 
of  landscape,  probably  gathered  from  GOptn  or 
Parker,  Johnson  thought  worth  recording. — Ed.] 

7  "  Dovedale  and  die  Highlands  are  sorely  at 
dissimilar  at  any  placet  can  be." — Piozxi  MS.) 

•  [Mrt.   Dale  was  at  thai  tin* 
years  of  age.— Duppa.] 

9  [K^*€c<^— Throughout  this  Davy, 
Johnson  is  obliged  to  torn  bit  thoughts  to  die  state 
of  hit  health,  he  always  pott  hit  private  memo- 
randa in  the  learned  languages— -as  if  to  throw  a 
alight  veil  over  those  ilk  which  he  would  willing- 
ly have  hid  from  himself. — Duppa.] 

10  [Mr.  Gell,  of  Honton  Hall,  a  short  dstfsnee 
from  Carsington,  in  Derbyshire,  the  hither  of  Sir 
William  Gell,  well  known  for  bit  topography  of 
Troy,  and  other  literary  works,  who  was  bom 
1775.  «« Jnly  12,  1775,  Mr.  GeU  is  now  re- 
joicing, at  fifty-seven,  for  the  birth  of  aaheawnale.** 
— Dr.  Johnson  to  Mrs.  Tkrale.— Duppa.] 

11  [See  near,  1Mb  Sept  1777.— En.] 


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WALES.] 

:  Wednesday,  QOth  July.— We  left  Ash- 
bourn1  and  went  to  Buxton — Thence  to 
Pool's  Hole,  which  is  narrow  at  first,  but 
then  rises  into  a  high  arch;  but  is  so  ob- 
structed with  crags,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
walk  in  it — There  are  two  ways  to  the  end, 
which  is,  they  say,  six  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  from  the  mouth— They  take  passen- 

fers  up  the  higher  way,  and  bring  them 
ack  the  lower — The  higher  way  was  so 
difficult  and  dangerous,  that,  having  tried 
it,  I  desisted-— I  Found  no  level  part.    . 

At  night  we  came  to  Macclesfield,  a  very 
large  town  in  Cheshire,  little  known — It 
has  a  silk  mill :  it  has  a  handsome  church, 
which,  however,  is  but  a  chapel,  for  the 
town  belongs  to  some  parish  of  another 
name9,  as  Stourbridge  lately  did  to  Old 
Swinford — Macclesfield  has  a  town-hall, 
and  is,  I  suppose,  a  corporate  town. 

[Thursday,  21st  July.]— We  came  to 
Congleton,  where  there  is  likewise  a  silk 
mill — Then  to  Middlewich,  a  mean  old 
town,  without  any  manufacture,  but,  I 
think,  a  corporation — Thence  we  proceeded 
to  Namptwich,  an  old  town:  from  the  inn, 
I  saw  scarcely  any  but  black  timber  houses 
— I  tasted  the  bnne  water,  which  contains 
much  more  salt  than  the  sea  water— By- 
slow  evaporation,  they  make-  large  crystals 
of  salt;  by  quick  boiling,  small  granulations 
— It  seemed  to  have  no  other  preparation. 
At  evening  we  came  to  Combermere,'3  so 
called  from  a  wide  lake. 

Friday,  WLd  July.— We  went  up  the 
mere — I  pulled  a  bulrush  of  about  ten  feet  f 
— I  saw  no  convenient  boats  upon  the  mere. 

Saturday,  23<J  July.— We  visited  Lord 
Kilmorey's  bouse — It  is  large  and  conveni- 
ent, with  many  rooms,  none  of  which  are 
magnificently    spacious  5 — The    furniture 


1774.— iETAT.  65. 


481 


1  [It  would  seem,  that  from  the  9th  to  the  20th, 
the  head-ouarters  of  the  party  were  at  Ashbourn, 
whence  they  had  made  the  several'  excursions 
noted. — Ed.] 

»  [The  parish  of  Prestbory. — Duppa.] 

3  [At  this  time  the  seat  of  Sir  Linch  Salusbury 
Cotton,  now  of  Lord  Combermere,  his  grandson, 
from  which  place  he  takes  his  title.  It  stands  on 
the  site  of  an  old  abbey  of  Benedictine  monks, 
which  was  founded  1138;  and,  about  the  year 
1540,  at  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  was 
granted,  with  a  great  part  of  the  estates  of  the 
abbey,  to  George  Cotton,  Esq.,  an  ancestor  of 
Lord  Combermere.  The  library,  which  is  forty 
feet  by  twenty-seven,  is  supposed  to  have  been 
the  refectory.  The  lake,  or  mere,  is  about  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  long,  but  of  no  great  width;  it 
is  skirted  with  woods,  and  from  some  situations  it 
has  the  appearance  of  a  river.  It  is  situated  in 
Cheshire,  twenty-two  miles  from  Shrewsbury. — 
Duppa.] 

4  [Great  Cat's-tail,  or  Reed-mace.  The  Ty- 
pha  latifolia  of  Iinnieus. — Duppa.] 

*  [This  house,   which  is   called  Shavincton 
Hall,  is  in  Shropshire,  twenty-one  miles  from 
vol.  I.  61 


was  not  splendid— The  bed-curtains  were 
guarded [6— Lord  Kilmorey7  showed  the 
place  with  too  much  exultation — He  has  no 
park,  and  little  water. 

Sunday,  24tA  July. — We  went  to  a 
chapel 8,  bujlt  by  Sir  Lynch  Cotton  for  his 
tenants — It  is  consecrated,  and  therefore,  I 
suppose,  endowed — It  is  neat  and  plain — 
The  communion  plate  is  handsome— It  has 
iron  pales  and  gates  of  great  elegance, 
brougnt  from  Lleweney,  "  for  Robert  has 
laid  all  ope»." 

[Monday,  25*A  July™.]— We  saw 
Hawkestone,  the  seat  of  Sir  Rowland  Hill ," 
and  were  conducted  by  Miss  Hill  over  a  large 
tract  of  rocks  and  woods;  a  region  abound- 
ing with  striking  scenes  and  terrific  gran- 
deur. We  were  always  on  the  brink  of  a 
precipice,  or  at  the  foot  of  a  lolly  rock;  but 
the  steeps  were  seldom  naked:  in  many 
places,  oaks  of  uncommon  magnitude  shot 
up  from  the  crannies  of  stone;  and  where 
there  were  no  trees,  there  were  underwoods 
and  bushes.  Round  the  rocks  is  a  narrow 
path  cut  upon  the  stone,  which  is  very  fre- 
quently hewn  into  steps;  but  art  has  pro- 
ceeded no  further  than  to  make  the  succes- 
sion of  wonders  safely  accessible.  The 
whole  circuit  is  somewhat  laborious:  it  is 
terminated  by  a  grotto  cut  in  the  rocK  to  a 
great  extent,  with  many  windings,  and  sup- 
ported by  pillars,  not  hewn  into  regularity, 
out  such  as  imitate  the  sports  of  nature,  by 
asperities  and  protuberances.  The  place  is 
without  any  dampness,  and  would  afford  an 


Shrewsbury,  and,  like  Wrottesley  Hall,  in  the  ad- 
joining county,  is  said  to  have  as  many  windows, 
doors,  and  chimneys,  as  correspond  in  number  to 
the  days,  weeks,  and  months  in  a  year- — Dup- 
pa.] 

•  [Probably  guarded  from  wear  or  accident 
by  being  covered  with  some  inferior  material. — 
En.] 

7  [Thomas  Needham,  eighth  Viscount  Kil- 
morey.— Ed.] 

8  [At  Burleydam,  close  to  Corohwimare,  built 
by  Sir  Lynch  Salusbury  Cotton,  Mrs.  Thrale's 
uncle. — Duppa.] 

9  (This  remark  has  reference  to  family  conver- 
sation. Robert  was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Lynch 
Salusbury  Cotton,  and  lived  at  Lleweney  at  this 
time. — Duppa.  All  the  seats  in  England  were, 
a  hundred  years  ago,  enclosed  with  walls,  through 
which  there  were  generally  "iron  pales  and 
gates.'*  Mr.  Cotton  had,  no  doubt,  "laid  all 
open9'  by  prostrating  the  walls;  and  the  pales  and 
gates  had  thus  become  useless.  The  same  pro- 
cess has  taken  place  at  almost  every  seat  in  Eng- 
land.—Ed.] 

10  [This  date  is  evidently  here  wanted;  a  day  is 
otherwise  unaccounted  for;  and  it  is  not  likely  that 
Johnson  would. have  gone  sight-seeing  on  a  Sun- 
day.—Ed.] 

"  [Now  belonging  to  Sir  John  Hill,  hart., 
frther  of  Lord  Hill.  It  is  twelve  miles  from 
Shrewsbury. — Duppa.  ] 


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1774.— iETAT.  66, 


habitation  not  uncomfortable.  There  were 
from  space  to  space  seats  cut  out  in  the  rock. 
Though  it  wants  water,  it  excels  Dovedale 
by  the  extent  of  its  prospects,  the  awfulness 
of  its  shades,  the  horrors  of  its  precipices, 
the  verdure  of  its  hollows,  and  the  loftiness 
of  its  rocks:  the  ideas  which  itfforces  upon 
the  mind  are  the  sublime,  the  dreadful,  and 
the  vast.  Above  is  inaccessible  altitude, 
below  is  horrible  profundity;  but  it  excels 
the  garden  of  Ham  only  in  extent  Ham 
has  grandeur,  tempered  with  softness;  the 
walker  congratulates  his  own  arrival  at  the 

Cace,  and  is  grieved  to  think  he  must  ever 
ave  it.  As  he  looks  up  to  the  rocks*  his 
thoughts  are  elevated;  as  he  turns  his  eyes 
on  the  valleys,  he  is  composed  and  soothed. 
He  that  mounts  the  precipices  at  Hawke- 
stone  wonders  how  he  came  thither,  and 
doubts  how  he  shall  return — His  walk  is  an 
adventure,  and  his  departure  an  escape— He 
has  not  the  tranquillity,  but  the  horrors,  of 
solitude:  a  kind  of  turbulent  pleasure,  be- 
tween fright  and  admiration.  Ham  is  the 
fit  abode  of  pastoral  virtue,  and  might  prop- 
erly diffuse  its  shades  over  nymphs  and 
swains.  Hawkestone  can  have  no  fitter  in- 
habitants than  giants  of  mighty  bone  and 
bold  emprise  ;l  men  of  lawless  courage  and 
heroic  violence.  Hawkestone  should  be 
described  by  Milton,  and  Ham  by  Parnel 2. 
.  Miss  Hill  showed  the  whole  succession  of 
wonders  with  great  civility — The  house 
was  magnificent,  compared  with  the  rank 
of  the  owner. 

Tuesday,  26/A  July.— We  left  Comber- 
mere,  where  we  have  been  treated  with 
great  civility — The  house  is  spacious,  but 
not  magnificent;  built  at  different  times, 
with  different  materials:  part  is  of  timber, 
part  of  stone  or  brick,  plastered  and  painted 
to  look  like  timber — It  is  the  best  house 
that  I  ever  saw  of  that  kind — The  mere,  or 
lake,  is  large,  with  a  small  island,  on  which 
there  is  a  summer-house,  shaded  with  great 
trees;  some  were  hollow,  and  have  seats  in 
their  trunks. 

In  the  afternoon  we  came  to  West-Ches- 
ter; (my  father  went  to  the  fair  when  I  had 
the  small-pox).  *  We  walked  round  the 
walls  3,  which  are  complete,  and  contain  one 


1  [Paradise  Lost,  book  xi.  v.  642. — Dttfpa.] 

1  [The  whole  of  this  passage,  k  so  inflated 

and  pompons,  that  it  looks  more  like  a  burlesque 

of  Johnson's  style  than  his  own  .travelling  notes. — 

Ei>.]  ' 

3  [It  would  seem  that  a  quarrel  between  John- 
son and  Mrs.  Thrale  took  place  at  Chester,  for 
she  writes  to  Mr.  Duppa— "  Of  those  ill-fated 
walls  Dr.  Johnson  might  have  learned  the  extant 
from  any  one.  He  has  since  put  me  fairiy  out  of 
countenance  by  saying,  <  1  have  known  my  mis- 
tress fifteen  years,  and  never  saw  her  fairly  out 
of  humour  but  on  Chester  wall;'  it  was  because 
he  would  keep  Misb  Thrale  beyond  her  hour  of 


[TOUR  TO 

mile  three  quarters,  and  one  'hundred  and 
one  yards;  within  them  are  many  gardens: 
they  are  very  high,  and  two  may  walk  very 
commodiously  side  by  side — On  the  inside 
is  a  rail — There  are  towers  from  space  to 
space,  not  very  frequent,  and  I  think  not 
all  complete. 

Wednesday^  Vlth  July.— We  staid  at 
Chester  and  saw  the  cathedral,  which  is 
not  of  the  first  rank — The  castle — In  one 
of  the  rooms  the  assizes  are  held,  and  the 
refectory  of  the  old  ahbey,  of  which  part  is 
a  grammar  school — The  roaster  seemed  glad 
to  see  me— -The  cloister  is  very  solemn; 
over  it  are  chambers  in  which  the  singing 
men  Live— In  one  part  of  the  street  was  a 
subterranean  arch,  very  strongly  built;  in 
another,  what  they  called,  I  believe  rightly, 
a  Roman  hypocaust4 — Chester  has  many 
curiosities. 

Thursday,  9Sth  July.— We  entered 
Wales,  dined  at  Mold  5,  and  came  to  Llewe- 
ney«. 


Sing  to  bed  to  walk  on  the  wall,  where,  from 
9  want  of  light,  1  apprehended  some  accident  Is 
her—perhaps  to  him." — Piozzi  MS. — Ed.] 

4  ["  The  hypocaust  is  of  a  triangular  figure, 
supported  by  thirty-two  pillars,  two  feet  lea 
inches  and  a  half  high,  and  about  eighteen  inches 
distant  from  each  other.  Upon  each  b  a  tile 
eighteen  inches  square,  as  if  designed  for  a  capi- 
tal; and  over  them  a  perforated  tile,  two  feet 
square.  Such  are  continued  over  all  the  pillais. 
Above  these  are  two  layers;  one  of  coarae  mor- 
tar, mixed  with  small  red  gravel,  about  three 
inches  thick;  and  the  other  of  finer  materials, 
between  four  and  five  inches  thick;  these  seem  to 
have  been  the  floor  of  the  room  above.  Hie 
pillais  stand  on  a  mortar-floor,  spread  over  the 
rook.  On  the  south  side,  between  the  middle 
pillars,  is  the  vent  for  the  smoke,  about  tax  inches 
square,  which  is  at  present  open  to  the  height  of 
sixteen  inches.  Here  is  also  an.  antechamber, 
exactly  of  the  same  extent  with  the  hypocaust, 
with  an  opening  in.  the  middle  into  k.  This  k 
sunk  nearly  two  feet  below  the  level  of  the  for- 
mer, and  is  of  the  same  rectangular  figure;  so 
that  both  together  are  an  exact  square.  Tins 
was  the  room  allotted  for  the  slaves  who  attended 
to  heat  the  place ;  the  other  was  the  receptacle 
of  the  fuel  designed  to  heat  the  room  above,  the 
concamerata  sudatio,  or  sweating  chamber; 
where  people  were  seated,  either  in  niches,  or  on 
benches,  placed  one  above  the  other,  during  the 
time  of  the  operation.  Such  was  the  object  of 
this  hypocaust;  for  there  were  others  of  different 
forms,  for  the  purpose  of  heating  the  water  des- 
tined for  the  use  of  the  bathers." — Dtjppa.] 

6  [Mold  is  a  small  market  town,  consisting 
principally  of  one  long  and  wide  street. — Dup- 

6  [Lleweney-haU,  as  I  have  already  observed, 
was  the  residence  of  Robert  Cotton,  Esq.,  Mis. 
Thrale'a  cousin-german.  Here  Mr.  and  Mis. 
Thrale  and  Dr.  Johnson  staid  three  weeks, 
making  visits  and  short  excursions  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood  and    surrounding   country.     Pennant 


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WALES.] 

i    Friday,  9»th  July.— We  were  at  Llewe- 

ney — In  the  lawn  at  Lleweney  is  a  spring 
of  fine  water,  which  rises  above  the  surface 
into  a  stone  basin,  from  which  it  runs  to 
waste,  in  a  continual  stream,  through  a 
pipe — There  are  verv  large  trees — The 
nail  at  Lleweney  is  forty  feet  long,  and 
twenty-eight  broad — The  gallery  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet  long  (all  paved) — 
The  library  forty-two  feet  long,  and  twen- 
ty-eight broad — The  dining-parlours  thir- 
ty-six feet  long,  and  twenty-six  broad — It 
is  partly  sashed,  and  partly  has  casements. 
Saturday,  30th  Juij/.-We  went  to 
Bich  y  Graig  i,  where  we  found  an  old 
house,  built  1567,  in  an  uncommon  and 
incommodious  form — My  mistress  chattered 
about  cleaning9,  but  I  prevailed  on  her  to 
go  to  the  top — The  floors  have  been  stolen: 
the  windows  are  stopped — The  house  was 
less  than  I  seemed  to  expect — The  river 
Clwyd  is  a  brook  with  a  bridge  of  one  arch, 
about  one-third  of  a  mile3 — The  woods 
have  many  trees,  generally  young;  but 
some  which  seem  to  decay — They  have 
been  lopped— The  house  never  had  a  gar- 
den— The  addition  of  another  story  would 


1T74.— iETAT.  65. 


483 


gives  this  description  of  its  situation — "  Lleweney 
lies  on  a  flat,  has  roost  pleasing  views  of  the 
mountains  on  each  side  of  the  vale,  and  the  town 
and  castle  of  Denbigh  form  most  capital  objects 
at  the  distance  of  two  miles."  It  now  belongs 
to  Mr.  Hughes  of  Kinmel,  who  lately  purchased 
it,  with  the  estate,  for  150,000/.— Duff a.]— 
[of  Iiord  Kirkwall,  who  had  bought  it  of  Sir 
Robert  Cotton  for  96,000/.— Piozx\  MS.] 

1  [Bach  y  Graig  had  been  the  residence,  of 
Bin.  Thrale's  ancestors  for  several  generations; 
Pennant  thus  describes  it  "Not  far  from  Dy- 
merchion  lies  half  buried  in  woods  the  singular 
house  of  Blch  y  Graig.  It  consists  of  a  mansion 
of  three  sides,  enclosing  a  square  court  The 
first  consists  of  a  vast  hall  and  parlour:  the  rest  of 
it  rises  into  six  wonderful  stones,  including  the 
cupola;  and  forms  from  the  second  floor  the  figure 
of  a  pyramid:  the  rooms  are  small  and  inconve- 
nient The  bricks  are  admirable,  and  appear  to 
have  been  made  in  Holland;  and  the  model  of 
the  house  was  probably  brought  from  Flanders, 
where  this  kind  of  building  is  not  unfreouent  It 
was  built  by  Sir  Richard  Clough,  an  eminent 
merchant,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  The 
initials  of  his  name  are  in  iron  on  the  front,  with 
the  date  1567,  and  on  the  gateway  1569."— 
Duffa.  This  was  the  mansion-bouse  of  the 
estate  which  had  fallen  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  and  was 
the  cause  of  this  visit  to  Wales.  Incredible  as  it 
-may  appear,  h  is  certain  that  thia  lady  imported 
from  Italy  a  nephew  of  Piozzi's,  and,  making 
him  assume  her  maiden  name  of  Salusbury,  be- 
queathed to  this  foreigner  (if  she  did  not  give  it  in 
her  lifetime)  this  ancient  patrimonial  estate,  to 
the  exclusion  of  her  own  children. — Ed.  J 

*  [Quere,  climbing 7— Ed.] 

*  [Meaning  perhaps  that  the  bridge  is  one-third 
of  a  mile  from  the  house.-— Ed,] 


make  an  useful  house,  bnt  it  cannot  be 
great— Some  buildings  which  Clough,  the 
founder,  intended  for  warehouses,  would 
make  store-chambers  and  servants'  rooms 
— The  ground  seems  to  be  good^I  wish  it 
well. 

Sunday,  31st  July.— We  went  to  church 
at  St  Asaph — The  cathedral,  though  not 
large,  has  something  of  dignity  and  gran- 
deur— The  cross  aisle  is  very  short—- It 
has  scarcely  any  monuments — The  quire 
has,  I  think,  thirty-two  stalls  of  antique 
workmanship— On  the  backs  were  Canoni- 
cus,  Prebend,  Cancellarius,  Thesaurarius, 
Precentor — The  constitution  I  do  not 
know,  but  it  has  all  the  usual  titles  and 
dignities — The  service  was  sung  only  in 
the  Psalms  and  Hymns — The  bishop  was 
verv  civil  * — We  went  to  his  palace,  which 
is  but  mean — They  have  a  library,  and 
design  a  room — There  lived  Lloyd  and 
Dodwell*. 

Monday,  1st  Augutt. — We  visited  Den- 
bigh, and  the  remains  of  its  castle — The 
town  consists  of  one  main  street,  and  some 
that  cross  it,  which  I  have  not  seen — The 
chief  street  ascends  with  a  quick  rise  for 
a  great  length;  the  houses  are  built  some 
with  rough  stone,  some  with  brick,  and  a 
few  with  timber— The  castle,  with  its 
whole  enclosure,  has  been  a  prodigious  pile) 
it  is  now  so  ruined  that  the  form  of  the  in* 
habited  part  cannot  easily  be  traced— There 
are,  as  in  all  old  buildings,  said  to  be  exten- 
sive vaults,  which  the  ruins  of  the  upper 
works  cover  and  conceal,  but  into  which 
boys  sometimes  find  a  way — To  clear  all 
passages,  and  trace  the  whole  of  what  re* 
mains,  would  require  much  labour  and  ex- 
pense-■- We  saw  a  church,  which  was  once 
the  chapel  of  the  castle,  but  is  used  by  the 
town:  it  is  dedicated  to  St.  Hilary,  and 
has  an  income  of  about  — — — . 


4  [The  bishop  at  this  time  was  Dr.  Shipley.  Upon 
another  occasion,  when  Johnson  dined  in  company 
with  Dr.  Shipley,  he  said  he  was  knowing  and 
convertible.  Their  difference  in  politicks  would 
hardly  admit  of  more  praise  from  Johnson. — 

DuPPAvf 

•  [Lloyd  was  raised  to  the  see  of  St  Asaph  in 
1680.  He  was  one  of  the  seven  bishops  who 
were  sent  to  the  Tower  in  1688,  for  refusing  to 
permit  the  publication  of  the  royal  declaration 
for  liberty  of  conscience,  and  was  a  zealous  pro- 
moter of  the  revolution.  He  died  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  August  80,  1717,  at  ninety-one  years 
of  age, 

Dodwell  was  a  man  of  extensive  learning,  and 
an  intimate  friend  of  Lloyd,  and,  like  him,  a 
great  friend  to  the  revolution.  He  also  entertain- 
ed religions  opinions  which  were,  for  the  greater 
part  of  his  Ufe,  inconvenient  to  him:  bnt  when  he 
became  an  old  man,  his  reason  prevailed  over 
those  scruples,  to  which  his  skill  in  controversy, 
in  the  vigour  of  his  life,  had  given  more  impor* 
tance  than  they  deserved. — Duff  a.  J 


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1774.— ^TAT.  6S. 


[TOOK  TO 


I  At  a  nnall  distance  is  the  ruin  of  a  church 
said  to  have  been  begun  by  the  great  Earl 
of  Leicester1,  and  left  unfinished  at  his 
death — One  side,  and  I  think  the  east  end, 
are  yet  standing — There  was  a  stone  in  the 
wall  over  the  doorway,  which  it  was  said 
would  fall  and  crush  the  best  scholar  in  the 
diocese  *— One  Price  would  not  pass  under 
it— They  have  taken  it  down— We  then 
saw  the  chapel  of  Lleweney,  founded  by 
one  of  the  Salusburies:  it  is  very  complete: 
the  monumental  stones  lie  in  the  ground — 
A  chimney  has  been  added  to  it,  but  it  is 
otherwise  not  much  injured,  and  might  be 
easily  repaired3. 

We  went  to  the  parish  church  of  Den- 
bigh, which,  being  near  a  mile  from  the 
town,  is  only  used  when  the  parish  officers 
are  chosen — In  the  chapel,  on  Sundays, 
the  service  is  read  thrice,  the  second  lime 
only  in  English,  the  first  and  third  in 
Welsh— The  bishop  came  to  survey  the 
castle,  and  visited  likewise  St.  Hilary's 
chapel,  which  is  that  which  the  town  usee 
— The  hay-barn,  built  with  brick  pillars 
from  space  to  space,  and  covered  with  a 
roof— A  more  elegant  and  lofty  hovel — 
The  rivers  here  are  mere  torrents,  which 
are  suddenly  swelled  by  the  rain  to  great 
breadth  and  great  violence,  but  have  very 
little  constant  stream;  such  are  the  Clwyd 
and  the  Elwy— There  are  yet  no  moun- 
tains— The  ground  is  beautifully  embel- 
lished with  woods,  and  diversified  with 
inequalities — In  the  parish  church  of  Den- 
bigh is  a  bas-relief  of  Lloyd  the  antiquary, 
who  was  before  Camden — He  is  kneeling 
at  his  prayers4. 

Tuesday,  %d  Jktgust,— We  rode  to  a 
summer-house  of  Mr.  Cotton,  which  has  a 
verv  extensive  prospect;  it  is  meanly  built, 
and  unskilfully  disposed 5— We  went  to 
Dymerchion  church  6,  where  the  old  clerk 
acknowledged  his  mistress— It  is  the  parish 
church  of  Bach  y  Graig  7 — A  mean  fabric; 

1  [By  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester,  in 
1579.    He  died  Sept.  4,  1588.— Duppa.] 

*  [See  a  similar  story  of  a  building  in  Edin- 
burgh, ante,  p.  384. — Ed.] 

*  [The  late  Sir  Robert  Salusbury  Cotton  had 
no  taste  for  antiquity  of  any  kind;  and  this  chapel 
was  not  regarded  by  him  as  being  in  any  respect 
better  than  a  barn,  or  fit  for  any  other  purpose; 
and  the  present  proprietor  applies  it  to  that  use. — 
Duppa.] 

4  [Humphry  Lloyd  was  a  native  of  Denbigh, 
and  practised  there  as  a  physician,  and  also  re- 
presented the  town  in  parliament.  He  died  1568, 
aged  forty-one. — Dupya.] 

*  [This  summer-house  is  in  the  grounds  belong- 
ing to  Lleweney,  and  their  ride  to  it  was  to  see 
the  prospect  :  the  situation  commands  a  very 
beautiful  view. — Duppa.] 

6  [Dymerchion  is  three  miles  from  St  Asaph. — 
Duppa.] 

*  [Bach  y  Graig  is  the  name  of  one  of  three 


Mr.  Sarasbnry8  was  buried  in  it:  Bachy 
Graig  has-fourteen  seats  in  it-  As  we  rode 
by,  I  looked  at  the  house*  again--We  saw 
Llannerch,  a  house  not  mean,  with  a  small 
park  very  well  watered — There  was  an 
avenue  of  oaks,  which,  in  a  foolish  com- 
pliance with  the  present  mode,  has  been 
cut  down — A  few  are  yet  standing  :  the 
owner's  name  is  Davies ,a— The  way  lay 
through  pleasant  lanes,  and  overlooked  a 
region  beautifully  diversified  with  trees  and 
grass.  At  Dymerchion  church  there  is 
English  service  only  once  a  month — this  is 
about  twenty  miles  from  the  English  bor- 
der—The old  clerk  had  great  appearance 
of  joy  at  the  sight  of  his  mistress,  and  fool- 
ishly said,  that  he  was  now  willing  to  die — 
He  had  onlv11  a  crown  given  him  by  my 
mistress  — At  Dymerchion  church  the  texts 
on»the  walls  are  in  Welsh. 

Wednesday,  3d  August. — We  went  in 
the  coach  to  Holywell — Talk  with  mistress 
about  flattery  & — Holywell  is  a  market 
town,  neither  very  small  nor  mean — The 
spring  called  Winifred's  Well  is  very  clear, 
and  so  copious,  that  it  yields  one  hundred 


townships  of  the  parish  of  Dymerchion. — Dup- 
pa.] 
8  [Mrs.  Thrale's  father.— Duppa.] 
•  [Of  Bach  y  Graig,— Piosri  MS.} 

10  [Robert  Davies,  Esq.  At  his  house  there  was 
an  extensive  library. — Duppa.] 

11  [In  the  MS.  in  Dr.  Johnson's  handwriting, 
he  has  first  entered  in  his  diary,  "  The  old  clerk 
had  great  appearance  of  joy  at  seeing  his  mistress, 
and  foolishly  said  that  he  was  now  willing  to  die." 
He  afterwards  wrote  in  a  separate  column,  on  the 
same  leaf,  under  the  head  of  notes  and  omis- 
sions, "  He  had  a  crown;*'  and  then  he  appeals 
to  have  read  over  his  diary  at  a  future  time,  and 
interlined  the  paragraph  with  the  words  "  only" 
— "  given  him  by  my  mistress,"  which  is  writ- 
ten in  ink  of  a  different  colour.  This  shows  that 
he  read  his  diary  over  after  he  wrote  it,  and  that 
where  his  feelings  were  not  accurately  expressed, 
he  amended  them. — Duppa.] 

19  ["  He  said  that  I  flattered  the  people  to 
whose  houses  we  went:  I  was  saucy,  and  said  I 
was  obliged  to  be  civil  for  two — meaning  him- 
self and  me.  He  replied,  nobody  would  thank 
me  for  compliments  they  did  not  understand.  At 
Gwaynynog  (Mr.  Myddleton's),  however,  As 
was  flattered,  and  was  happy  of  course," — Pioz- 
zi  M$f.  Johnson  had  no  dislike  to  those  com- 
mendations which  are  commonly  imputed  to 
flattery.  Upon  one  occasion,  he  said  to  Mis. 
Thrale,  "What  signifies  protesting  so  against 
flattery!  when  a  person  speaks  well  of  one,  it 
must  be  either  true  or  false,  you  know:  if  true, 
let  us  rejoice  in  his  good  opinion;  if  he  lies,  it  k  a 
proof  at  least  that  be  loves  more  to  please  me, 
than  to  sit  silent  when  he  need  say  nothing." — 
"  The  difference  between  praise  and  flattery  is 
the  same  as  between  that  hospitality  that  sen 
wine  enough  before  the  guest,  and  that  which 
forces  him  to  drink." — PiozzVs  Ante  p.  141. — 
Duppa.] 


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WALES.]  1774.— £JTAT.  65. 

tuns  of  water  in  a  minute — It  is  all  at  once 
a  very  great  stream,  which,  within  perhaps 
thirty  yards  of  its  irruption,  turns  a  mill, 
and  in  a  course  of  two  miles,  eighteen  mills 
more — In  descent,  it  is  very  quick — It  then 
falls  into  the  sea — The  well  is  covered  by  a 
lofty  circular  arch,  supported  by  pillars; 
and  over  this  arch  is  an  old  chapel,  now  a 
school — The  chancel  is  separated  by  a 
wall — The  bath  is  completely  and  indecent- 
ly open — A  woman  bathed  while  we  all 
looked  on — In  the  church,  which  makes  a 
good  appearance,  and  is  surrounded  by  gal- 
leries to  receive  a  numerous  congregation, 
we  were  present  while  a  child  was  chris- 
tened in  Welsh — We  went  down  by  the 
stream  to  see  a  prospect,  in  which  I  had  no 
part — We  then  saw  a*  brass  work,  where 
the  lapis  calaminaria  is  gathered,  broken, 
-washed  from  the  earth  and  the  lead,  though 
how  the  lead  was  separated  I  did  not  see: 
then  calcined,  afterwards  ground  fine,  ana 
then  mixed  by  fire  with  copper — We  saw 
several  strong  fires  with  melting  pots,  but 
the  construction  of  the  fireplaces  I  did  not 
learn — At  a  copper-work,  which  receives 
its  pigs  of  copper,  I  think,  from  Warring- 
ton, we  saw  a  plate  of  copper  put  hot  be- 
tween steel  rollers,  and  spread  thin:  I  know 
not  whether  the  upper  roller  was  set  to  a 
certain  distance,  as  I  suppose,  or  acted 
only  by  its  weight — At  an  iron-work  I  saw 
round  bars  formed  by  a  notched  hammer 
and  anvil — There  I  saw  a  bar  of  about  half 
an  inch  or  more  square,  cut  with  shears 
worked  by  water,  and  then  beaten  hot  into 
a  thinner  bar — The  hammers  all  worked, 
as  they  were,  by  water,  acting  upon  small 
bodies,  moved  very  quick,  as  quick  as  by 
the  hand — I  then  saw  wire  drawn,  and 
gave  a  shilling — I  have  enlarged  my  no- 
tions, though  not  been  able  to  see  the 
movements;  and  having  not  time  to  peep 
closely,  I  knew  less  than  I  might — I  was 
leas  weary,  and  had  better  breath,  as  I 
walked  farther. 

Thursday,  4th  August— Rhudlan*  Cas- 
tle is  still  a  very  noble  ruin;  all  the  walls 
still  remain,  so  that  a  complete  platform, 
and  elevations,  not  very  imperfect,  may  be 
taken  2 — It  encloses  a  square  of  about  thir- 
ty yards — The  middle  space  was  always 
open — The  wall  is,  I  believe,  about  thirty 
feet  high,  very  thick,  flanked  with  six 
round  towers,  each  about  eighteen  feet,  or 
less,  in  diameter — Only  one  tower  had  a 
chimney,  so  that  there  was  3  commodity  of 
living — It  was  only  a  place  of  strength — 

1  [In  the  first  edition  this  name  was  by  mistake 
ptioted  Ruthin. — Ed.] 

*  [Meaning,  probably,  could  be  drawn  on 
paper.— Ed.] 

a  ["  JVo,"  or  "  little^'  is  probably  here  omit- 
ted.—Ed.] 


485 


The  garrison  had,  perhaps,  tents  in  the 
area. 

Stapylton'a  house  is  pretty  * ;  there  are 
pleasing  shades  about  it,  with  a  constant 
spring  that  supplies  a  cold  bath — We  then 
went  to  see  a  cascade— I  trudged  unwilling- 
ly, add  was  not  sorry  to  find  it  dry  a — The 
water  was,  however*  turned  on,  and  pro- 
duced a  very  striking  cataract — They  are 
paid  a  hundred  pounds  a  year  for  permis- 
sion to  divert  the  stream  to  the  mines — 
The  river,  for  such  it  may  be  termed,  rises 
from  a  single  spring,  which,  like  that  of 
Winifred's,  is  covered  with  a  building. 

We  called  then  at  another  house  belong- 
ing to  Mr.  Lloyd,  which  made  a  hand- 
some appearance — This  country  seems  full 
of  very  splendid  houses. 

Mrs.   Thrale    lost   her  purse — She  ex- 

Sresaed  so  much  uneasiness,  that  I  conclu- 
ed  the  sum  to  be  very  great;  but  when  I 
heard  of  only  seven  guineas,  I  was  glad  to 
find  that  she  had  so  much  sensibility  of 
money. 

I  could  not  drink  this  day  either  coffee  or 
tea  after  dinner — I  know  not  when  I  missed 
before. 

Friday,  6th  August  Last  night  my 
sleep  was  remarkably  quiet — I  know  not 
whether  by  fatigue  in  walking,  or  by  for- 
bearance of  tea.  I  gave  [up]  the  ipecacu- 
anha— Vin.  emet.  had  failed;  so  had 
tartar  emet  I  dined  at  Mr.  Myddleton's, 
ofGwaynynog — The  house  was  a  gentle- 
man's house,  below  the  second  rate,  per- 
haps below  the  third,  built  of  b tone  roughly 
cut — The  rooms  were  low,  and  the  passage 
above  stairs  gloomy,  but  the  furniture  was 
good — The  table  was  well  supplied,  except 
that  the  fruit  was  bad — It  was  truly  the 
dinner   of  a   country   gentleman  « — Two 

«  [The  name  of  this  house  is  Bodiyddan  [pro- 
nounced, writes  Mrs.  Piozzi,  Potrothari]  ;  for- 
merly the  residence  of  the  Stapyltons,  the  parents 
of  five  co-heiresses,  of  whom  Mrs.  Cotton,  after- 
wards Lady  Salusbury  Cotton,  was  one.  In  the 
year  1774,  H  was  the  residence  of  Mr.  Shipley, 
dean  of  St.  Asaph,  who  still  lives  there. — Dup- 
fa.] 

*  ["  He  teased  Mrs.  Cotton  so  about  the  dry 
cascade  at  Dysert  rock,  that  I  remember  she  was 
ready  to  cry:  the  waterfall  being  near  her  maiden 
residence  made  her,  I  suppose,  partial  to  the 
place;  for  she  sent  us  thither  to  be  entertained, 
and  expected  much  praise  at  our  return." — Pioz- 
zi MS.] 

6  [Johnson  affected  to  be  a  man  of  very  nice 
discernment  in  the  art  of  cookery  (Duppa)  ;  but 
if  we  may  trust  Mrs.  Piozzi's  enumeration  of  his 
favourite  dainties,  with  very  little  justice.  See 
ante,  p.  208.  And  observing  in  one  of  her  let- 
ters to  Mr.  Duppa  on  this  passage,  she  says, 
"  Dr.  Johnson  loved  a  fine  dinner,  but  would  eat 
perhaps  more  heartily  of  a  coarse  one— boiled 
beef  or  veal  pie;  fish  he  seldom  passed  over. 


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486 


17T4L — iETAT.  66. 


tables  were  filled  with  company,  not  inele- 
gant— After  dinner,  the  talk  was  of  preserv- 
ing the  Welsh  language — I  offered  them 
a  scheme— Poor  Evan  Evans  was  men- 
tioned, as  incorrigibly  addicted  to  strong 
drink — Washington  was  commended1 — 
Myddleton  is  the  only  man  who,  in  Wales, 
has  talked  to  me  of  literature — I  wish  he 
were  truly  zealous — I  recommended  the 
republication  of  David  ap  Rhees's  Welsh 
grammar — Two  sheets  of  Hebrides  came 
to  me  for  correction  to-day,  F.  G. 8 

Saturday,  6th  August— 2*3-.  3  ^.— I 
corrected  the  two  sheets — My  sleep  last 
night  was  disturbed — Washing  at  Chester 
and  here*  5s.  Id. — I  did  not  read — I  saw 
to-day  more  of  the  outhouses  at  Lleweney 
— It  is,  in  the  whole,  a  very  spacious 
house. 

Sunday,  1th  August — I  was  at  church 
at  Bodfari.  There  was  a  service  used  for  a 
sick  woman,  not  canonically,  but  such  as  I 
have  heard,  I  think,  formerly  at  Lichfield, 
taken  out  of  the  visitation. — Kaed.  /urrpu*. 
The  church  is  mean,  but  has  a  square  tow- 
er for  the  bells,  rather  too  stately  for  the 
church. 

Observations. — Dixit  injusius,  Ps.  86, 
has  no  relation  to  the  English  4. 

Preserve  us,  Lord5,  has  the  name  of 


though  he  said  that  he  only  valued  the  sauce,  and 
that  every  body  eat  the  firat  as  a  vehicle  for  the 
second.  When  he  ponied  oyster  sauce  over 
plum  pudding,  and  the  melted  butter  flowing 
from  the  toast  into  his  chocolate,  one  might 
sorely  say  that  he  was  nothing  less  than  delicate." 
—Piozzi  MS.— Ed.] 

1  [The  editor  suspects  that "  Washington"  k 
printed  by  mistake  for  "  Worihmgton.**  Gen- 
eral Washington  was  yet  hardly  known,  and 
Dr.  Worthington,  a  literary  friend  qf  Dr.  John- 
son's, was  resident  in  a  Welsh  living  not  distant, 
and  which  the  party  afterwards  visited.  See  post, 
8th  Sept— Ed.] 

*  [F.  G.  are  the  printer's  signatures,  by  which 
it  appears  that  at  this  time  five  sheets  had  already 
been  printed. '  The  MS.  was  sent  to  press  11th 
Jane. — Duppa.]  - 

*  [Sic,  no  doubt  an  error  for  K*3\— K*$«|0-ic 
SgatcTXM.-- See  ante,  17th  July. — Ed.] 

4  [Dr.  Johnson  meant,  that  the  words  of  the 
Latin  vereion,  "  dixit  injustus,9'  prefixed  to  the 
86th  Psalm  (one  of  those  appointed  for  the  day), 
had  no  relation  to  the  English  version  in  the  Lit- 
urgy: "  My  heart  showeth  me  the  wickedness  of 
the  ungodly."  The  biblical  version,  however, 
has  some  accordance  with  the  Latin, "  The  trans- 
gression of  the  wicked  saith  within  my  heart ; " 
and  Bishop  Lowth  renders  it  "  The  wicked  man, 
according  to  the  wickedness  of  his  heart,  saith*" 
The  biblical  version  of  the  Psalms  was  made  by 
the  translators  #f  the  whole  Bible,  under  James  I., 
from  the  original  Hebtfw,  and  is  closer  than  the 
version  used  in  the  Liturgy,  which  was  made  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  from  the  Greek. — Ed.] 
i  *  [This  alludes  to  "  a  Prayer  by  B.  W." 
(evidently  Robert  Wisedoin),  which  Mr.  Ella,  of 


[tour  to 
Barker'*  Bi- 


Robert  Wisedome,  1618. 
hie. 

BattoUgiam  ab  iteratione,  recte  dietin- 
guit  Erasmus.  Mod.  OramU  Deum,  p.  56, 
1446. 

Southwell's  Thoughts  of  his  own  Death7. 

Baudius  on  Erasmus". 

Monday,  Sth  August — The  bishop  and 
much  company  dined  at  Lleweney  * — Talk 
of  Greek  and  the  army— Tbe  Duke  of 
Marlborough's  officers  useless 10 — Read  Pho- 


the  feribsh  Museum,  has  found  among  the  Hymns 
which  follow  the  old  version  of  tbe  singing  psalms, 
at  the  end  of  Barker's  Bible  of  16S9.     It  begins, 

«  PicseiTe  v,  Lord,  by  thy  dear  word, 
From  Turk  and  Pope,  defend  us,  Lord ! 
'Which  both  would  thrust  oat  of  his  throne 
Our  Lord  Jew  Christ,  thy  desre  eon.n— *Td.) 

•  fin  allusion  to  our  Saviour's  censure  of  vain 
repetition  in  prayer  (battologia — Matt,  c  vi  v. 
7).  Erasmus,  in  the  passage  cited,  defends  the 
words  "  My  God!  my  Godr*  as  an  cipwanon 
of  justifiable  earnestness. — Ed.] 

7  [This  alludes  to  Southwell's  stanzas  "  Upon 
the  Image  of  Death,"  in  his  Maonia,  a  collec- 
tion of  spiritual  poems. 

M  Before  my  free  the  picture  hangs, 
That  daily  should  put  me  ia  mind 

Of  those  cold  names  and  bitter  pangs 
That  shortly  I  am  like  to  Ana  j 

But,  yet,  alas !  full  Utile  I 

Do  think  thereon  that  I  must  die,"  Ac 

Robert  Southwell  was  an  English  Jesuit,  who  was 
imprisoned,  tortured,  and  finally,  in  Feb.  1698, 
tried  in  the,  King's  Bench,  convicted,  and  nest 
day  executed,  for  teaching  the  Roman  Catholic 
tenets  in  England,— Ed.] 

8  [This  work,  which  Johnson  was  now  read- 
ing* was,  most  probably,  a  little  book,  entitled 
Baudi  Epistola,  as,  in  his  Life  of  Milton,  he  has 
made  a  quotation  from  it  Speaking  of  Milton's 
religious  opinions,  when  he  is  supposed  to  have 
vacillated  between  Calvinism  and  Annimanism, 
he  observes,  «What  Baudius  says  of  Erasmus 
seems  applicable  to  him,  magis  habuit  quad 
fugeret  quam  quod  sequeretur." — Duff  a.] 

•  [During  Johnson's  stay  at  this  place,  Mrs. 
Thrale  gives  this  trait  of  his  character:  "  When 
we  went  into  Wales  together,  and  spent  some 
time  at  Mr.  Cotton's  jit  Lleweny,  one  day  at  din- 
ner, I  meant  to  please  Mr.  Johnson  particularly 
with  a  dish  of  very  young  peas.  *  Are  not  they 
charming?'  said  I  to  him,  while  he  was  eating 
them.  <  Perhaps  they  would  be  so — to  n  jrtg.' 
This  is  given  only  as  an  instance  of  tbe  peculiar- 
ity of  his  manner,  and  which  had  in  it  no  in- 
tention to  offend. — Duppa.  This  last  observa- 
tion was  suggested  by  Mrs.  Piozzi  to  Mr.  Dogma, 
and  was  by  her  intended  as  a  kind  of  apology 
against  Boswell's  complaint,  that  she  told  tha 
kind  of  stories  with  the  malevolent  intention  of 
depreciating  Johnson. — Ed.) 

10  [Dr.  Shipley  had  been  a  chaplain  with  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  and  probably  now 
tamed  Dr.  Johnson  with  some  anecdote* 
from  his  military  acquaintance,  by  which  . 
was  led  to  conclude  that  the  "Duke  of  Marl- 
borough's officers  were  useless;"  that  is,  that  the 
duke  saw  and  did  everything  himself;  a  fret 


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WALES.] 

cylidis  *,  distinguished  the  paragraphs — I J 
looked  in  Leland:   an  unpleasant  book  of 
mere  hints3 — Lichfield  school  ten  pounds, 
and  five  pounds  from  the  hospital  *. 

Wednesday ,  10th  August.— At  Lloyd's, 
of  Maesmynnan;  a  good  house,  and  a  very 
large  walled  garden — I  read  Windus's  Ac- 
count of  his  Journey  to  Mequinez,  and  of 
Stewart's  Embassy4 — I  had  read  in  the 
morning  Wasse's  Greek  Trochaics  to  Bent- 
ley:  they  appear  inelegant,  and  made  with 
difficulty — The  Latin  elegy  contains  only 
common-place,  hastily  expressed,  so  far  as 
I  have  read,  for  it  is  long — They  seem  to 
be  the  verses  of  a  scholar,  who  has  no  prac- 
tice of  writing — The  Greek  I  did  not  al- 
ways fully  understand — I  am  in  doubt  about 
the  sixth  and  last  paragraphs;  perhaps  they 
are  not  printed  right,  for  wrtaur  perhaps 
*"""£"»  4? — The  following  days  [Utn, 
12th,  and  13th],  I  read  here  and  there — 
The  Bibliotheea  LUeraria  was  so  little 
supplied  with  papers  that  could  interest 
curiosity,  that  it  could  not  hope  for  long 
continuance5 — Wasse,  the  chief  contributor, 
was  an  unpolished  scholar,  who,  with  much 
literature,  bad  no  art  or  elegance  of  diction, 
at  least  in  English. 

Sunday,  14th  August.— At  Bodfari  I 
heard  the  second  lesson  read,  and  the  ser- 
mon preached  in  Welsh.  The  text  was 
pronounced  both  in  Welsh  and  English — 
The  sound  of  the  Welsh,  in  a  continued 
discourse,  is  not  unpleasant — tymnc  oXq*— 
»*3-  «u  *.6— -The  letter  of  ChryBOstom, 
against  transubstantiation — Erasmus  to  the 
Nuns  full  of  mystic  notions  and  allegories. 

Monday,  15th  August. — K«d. — imbecil- 
litas  genuum  non  sine  aliquantulo  doioris 
inter  ambulandum,  quern  a  prandio  magis 
sensi7. 

Tuesday,  16th  August.— [On  this  day 
he  wrote  to  Mr.  Levett] 


IT74.—JETAT.  65. 


487 


which,  it  is  presumed,  may  be  told  of  all  great 
captains. — Ed.] 

1  [The  title  of  the  poem  is  Thinfxx  nSmm. — 
Dvppa.] 

*  [Leland's  Itinerary,  published  by  Thoma. 
Hearne,  in  nine  very  thin  octavo  volumes,  1710. 
— Doppa.] 

*  [An  extract  from  Leland. — Ed.] 

4  [This  book  is  entitled  "A  Journey  to 
Mequinez,  the  Residence  of  the  present  Emperor 
of  Fez  and  Morocco,  on  the  Occasion  of  Commo- 
dore Stewart's  Embassy  thither,  for  the  Redemp- 
tion of  the  British  Captives,  in  the  year  1721." 
8vo. — Doppa.] 

*  [The  Bibliotheea  LUeraria  was  published 
in  London,  1722-4,  in  quarto  numbers,  but  only 
extended  to  ten  numbers. — Doppa.] 

9  [£*c%  probably  for  **&****  «*«**.  See 
ante,  17th  July,  and  6th  August— Ed.] 

7  ["A  weakness  of  the  knees,  not  without 
some  pain  in  walking,  which  1  feel  increased  after 
I  hav*  dined."— Dufpa.] 


"TO  MR.  ROBERT  LRTETT.  ' 

u  Lteweney,  in  Denbighshire,  I6ih  Aug.  1774    • 

"  Dear  sir, — Mr.  Thrale's  affaire  have 
kept  him  here  a  great  while,  nor  do  I  know 
exactly  when  we  shall  come  hence.  I  have 
sent  you  a  bill  upon  Mr.  Strahan. 

"  I  have  made  nothing  of  the  ipecacuanha, 
but  have  taken  abundance  of  pills,  and  hope 
that  they  have  done  me  good. 

"  Wales,  so  far  as  I  have  yet  seen  of  it, 
is  a  very  beautiful  and  rich  country,  all 
enclosed  and  planted.  Denbigh  is  not  a 
mean  town.  Make  my  compliments  to  all 
my  friends,  and  tell  Frank  1  hope  he  re- 
members my  advice.  When  his  money  is 
out,  let  him  have  more.  I  am,  sir,  your 
humble  servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

[Thursday,  ISth  August.— We  left  Lte- 
weney &,  and  went  forwards  on  our  journey 
— We  came  to  Abergeley,  a  mean  town,  in 
which  little  but  Welsh  is  spoken,  and  divine 
service  is  seldom  performed  in  English — 
Our  way  then  lay  to  the  seaside,  at  the 
foot  of  a  mountain,  called  Penmaen  Rhos — 
Here  the  way  was  so  steep,  that  we  walked 
on  the  lower  edge  of  the  hill,  to  meet  the 
coach,  that  went  upon  a  road  higher  on 
the  hill — Our  walk  was  not  long,  nor  un- 
pleasant: the  longer  I  walk,  the  less  I  feel 
its  inconvenience — As  I  grow  warm,  my 
breath  mends,  and  I  think  my  limbs  grow 
pliable. 

We  then  came  to  Conway  Ferry,  and 
passed  in  small  boats,  with  some  passengers 
from  the  stage  coach,  among  whom  were 
an  Irish  gentlewoman,  with  two  maids,  and 
three  little  children,  of  which  the  youngest 
was  only  a  few  months  old.  The  tide  did 
not  serve  the  large  ferry-boat,  and  there- 
fore our  coach  could  not  very  soon  follow 
us— We  were,  therefore,  to  stay  at  the  inn. 
It  is  now  the  day  of  the  race  at  Conway, 
and  the  town  was  so  full  of  company,  that 
no  money  could  purchase  lodgings.  We 
were  not  very  readily  supplied  with  cold 
dinner.  We  would  have  staid  at  Conway 
if  we  could  have  found  entertainment,  for 
we  were  afraid  of  passing  Penmaen  Mawr, 
over  which  lay  our  way  to  Bangor,  but  by 
bright  daylight,  and  the  delay  of  our  coach 
made  our  departure  necessarily  late.  There 
was,  however,  no  stay  on  any  other  terms, 
than  of  sitting  up  all  night  The  poor 
Irish  lady  was  still  more  distressed— -Her 
children  wanted  rest — She  would  have 
been  contented  with  one  bed,  but  for  a 
time,  none  could  be  had — Mrs.  Thrale 
gave  her  what  help  she  could — At  last  two 
gentlemen  were  persuaded  to  yield  up  their 
room,  with  two  beds,  for  which  she  gave 
half  a  guinea. 


1  [In  Mr.  Dappa's  edition,  the  departure  from 
Lleweny  is  erroneously  (as  appears  from  what 
follows)  dated  the  16th.— En.] 


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1774.— J2TAT.  05. 


Our  coach  was  at  last  brought,  and  we 
set  out  with  some  anxiety,  but  we  came  to 
Penmaen  Mawr  by  daylight;  and  found  a 
way,  lately  made,  very  easy,  and  very  safe1 
— It  was  cut  smooth,  and  enclosed  between 
parallel  walls ;  the  outer  of  which  secures 
the  passenger  from  the  precipice,  which  is 
deep  and  dreadful — This  wall  is  here  and 
there  broken  by  mischievous  wantonness — 
The  inner  wall  preserves  the  road  from  the 
loose  stones,  which  the  shattered  steep 
above  it  would  pour  down — That  side  of  the 
mountain  seems  to  have  a  surface  of  loose 
stones,  which  every  accident  may  crumble 
— The  old  road  was  higher,  and  must  have 
been  very  formidable^-The  sea  beats  at 
the  bottom  of  the  way. 

At  evening  the  moon  shone  eminently 
bright;  and  our  thoughts  of  danger  being 
now  past,  the  rest  of  our  journey  was  very 
pleasant.  At  an  hour  somewhat  late,  we 
came  to  Bangor,  where  we  found  a  very 
mean  inn,  and  had  some  difficulty  to  obtain 
lodging — I  lay  in  a  room,  where  the  other 
bed  had  two  men. 

Friday,  19th  August— We  obtained 
boats  to  convey  us  to  Anglesey,  and  saw 
Lord  Bulkeley's  house,  and  Beaumaris 
Castle. 

I  was  accosted  by  Mr.  Lloyd,  the  school- 
master of  Beaumaris,  who  had  seen  me  at 
University  College;  and  he,  with  Mr.  Rob- 
erts, the  register  of  Bangor,  whose  boat  we 
borrowed,  accompanied  us.  Lord  Bulke- 
ley's house  is  very  mean,  but  his  garden  is 
spacious  and  shady,  with  large  trees  and 
smaller  interspersed— The  walks  are  straight, 
and  cross  each  other,  with  no  variety  of 
plan;  but  they  have  a  pleasing  coolness 
and  solemn  doom,  and  extend  to  a  great 
length  a.  The  castle  is  a  mighty  pile  ;  the 
outward  wall  has  fifteen  round  towers,  be- 
sides square  towers  at  the  angles— -There 
is  then  a  void  space  between  the  wall  and 
the  castle,  which  has  an  area  enclosed  with 
a  wall,  which  again  has  towers,  larger 
than  those  of  the  outer  wall — The  towers 
of  the  inner  castle  are,  I  think,  eight — 


1  [Penmaen  Mawr  is  a  huge  rocky  promontory, 
rising  nearly  1550  feet  perpendicular  above  the 
sea.  Along  a  shelf  of  this  precipice  is  formed  an 
excellent  road,  well  guarded,  toward  the  sea,  by 
a  strong  wall,  supported  in  many  parts  by  arches 
turned  underneath  it  Before  this  wall  was  built, 
travellers  sometimes  fell  down  the  precipices. — 

DlTPPA.] 

*  [Baron  Hill  is  the  name  of  Lord  Bulkeley's 
bouse,  which  is  situated  just  above  the  town  of 
Beaumaris,  at  the  distance  of  three  quarters  of  a 
mile,  commanding  so  fine  a  view  of  the  sea,  and 
the  coast  of  Caernarvon,  that  it  has  been  sometimes 
compared  to  Mount  Edgecombe,  in  Devonshire. 
Lord  Lyttelton,  speaking  of  the  house  and  gar- 
dens, says,  "  The  house  is  a  bad  one,  but  the 
gardens  are  made  in  a  very  fine  taste.  »  *— Dtjppa.] 


[totjh  TO 

There  is  likewise  a  chapel  entire,  "built  up- 
on an  arch,  as  I  suppose,  and  beautifully 
arched  with  a  stone  roof,  which  is  yet  un- 
broken— The  entrance  into  the  chapel  is 
about  eight  or  nine  feet  high,  and  was,  I 
suppose,  higher,  when  there  was  no  rubbish 
in  the  area — This  castle  corresponds  with 
all  the  representations  of  romancing  narra- 
tives— Here  is  not  wanting-  the  private 
passage,  the  dark  cavity,  the  deep  dungeon, 
or  the  lofty  tower — We  did  not  discover 
the  well — This  is  the  most  complete  view 
that  I  have  yet  had  of  an  old  castle— It  had 
a  moat— The  towers — We  went  to  Ban- 

Saturday,  2<WA  August— We  went  by 
water  from  Bangor  to  Caernarvon,  where 
we  met  Paoli  and  Sir  Thomas  Wynne  a— 
Meeting  by  chance  with  one  Troughton  *, 
an  intelligent  and  loquacious  wanderer, 
Mr.  Thrale  invited  him  to  dinner — He  at- 
tended us  to  the  castle,  an  edifice  of  stu- 
pendous magnitude  and  strength  ;  it  has  m 
it  all  that  we  observed  at  Beaumaris,  and 
much  greater  dimensions:  many  of  the 
smaller  rooms  floored  with  stone  are  entire; 
of  the  larger  rooms,  the  beams  and  planks 
are  all  led  :  this  is  the  state  of  all  buildings 
led  to  time— We  mounted  the  eagle  tower 
by  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  steps,  each 
often  inches — We  did  not  find  the  well ; 
nor  did  I  trace  the  moat;  but  moats  there 
were,  I  believe,  to  all  castles  on  the  plain, 
which  not  only  hindered  access,  but  pre- 
vented mines — We  saw  but  a  very  small 
part  of  this  mighty  ruin,  and  in  all  these 
old  buildings,  the  subterraneous  works  are 
concealed  by  the  rubbish — To  survey  this 
place  would  take  much  time:  I  did  not 
think  there  had  been  such  buildings;  it 
surpassed  my  ideas. 

Sunday,  31  «f  August — [at  Caernarvon]. 
— We  were  at  church;  the  service  in  the 
town  is  always  English;  at  the  parish- 
church  at  a  small  distance,  always  Welsh 
— The  town  has  by  degrees,  I  suppose, 
been  brought  nearer  to  the  sea-side — We 
received  an  invitation  to  Dr.  Worthingtoa 
— We  then  went  to  dinner  at  Sir  Thomas 
Wynne's, — the  dinner  mean,  Sir  Thomas 
civil,  his  lady  nothing  5 — Paoli  civil— We 

3  [Sir  Thomas  Wynne,  created  Lord  New- 
borough,  July  14th,  1776,  Died  October  12th, 
1807.— Duppa.] 

4  ["  Lieutenant  Troughton  I  do  recollect, 
loquacious  and  intelligent  he  was.  He  wore  a 
uniform,  and  belonged,  I  think,  to  a  man  of  war.** 
— Piozzi  MS.  He  was  made  a  lieutenant  in 
1762,  and  died  in  1786,  in  that  rank;  he  was  oa 
half-pay,  and  did  not  belong  to  any  ship  when  he 
met  Br.  Johnson  in  1774.  It  seems  then  that, 
even  so  late  as  this,  half-pay  officers  wore  their 
uniforms  in  the  ordinary  course  of  life. — En.] 

*  [Lady  Catharine  Perceval,  daughter  of  the 
second  Earl  of  Egmont:  this  was,  it  appeals,  the 


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WALKS.]  1774,— iETAT.  65. 

supped  with  Colonel  Wynne's  lady,  who 
lives  in  one  of  the  towers  of  the  castle-— I 
have  not  heen  very  well. 

Monday,  22<*  August. — We  went  to  visit 
Bodville1,  the  place  where  Mrs.  Thrale 
was  born,  and  the  churches  called  Tydweil- 
Kog  and  Llangwinodyl,  which  she  holds  by 
impropriation — We  had  an  invitation  to 
the  house  of  Mr.  Griffiths  of  Bryn  o  dol, 
where  we  found  a  small  neat  new-built 
house,  with  square  rooms:  the  walls  are  of 
unhewn  stone,  and  therefore  thick;  for  the 
stones  not  fitting  with  exactness,  are  not 
strong  without  great  thickness — He  had 
planted  a  great  deal  of  young  wood  in  walks 
— Fruit  trees  do  not  thrive;  but  having 
grown  a  few  years,  reach  some  barren  stra- 
tum and  wither — We  found  Mr.  Griffiths 
not  at  home;  but  the  provisions  were  good. 

[Tuesday,  23<*  August.}-- Mr.  Griffiths 
came  home  the  next  day — He  married  a  la- 
dy who  has  a  house  and  estate  at  [Llan- 
ver  s,]  over  against  Anglesea,  and  near  Caer- 
narvon, where  she  is  more  delighted,  as  it 
seems,  to  reside  than  at  Bryn  o  dol — I  read 
Lloyd's  account  of  Mona,  which  he  proves 
to  be  Anglesea — In  our  way  to  Bryn  o  dol, 
we  saw  at  Llanerk  a  church  built  crosswise, 
very  spacious  and  magnificent  for  this 
country — We  could  not  see  the  parson,  and 
could  get  no  intelligence  about  it. 

Wednesday,  24th  August—We  went  to 
see  Bodville— Mrs.  Thrale  remembered  the 
rooms,  and  wandered  over  them  with  recol- 
lection of  her  childhood — This  species  of 
pleasure  is  always  melancholy — The  walk 
was  cut  down,  and  the  pond  was  dry — 
Nothing  was  better.  We  surveyed  the 
churches,  which  are  mean,  and  neglected  to 
a  degree  scarcely  imaginable— They  have 
no  pavement,  and  the  earth  is  full  of  holes 
— The  seats  are  rude  benches;  the  altars 


lady  of  whom  Mrs.'  Piozzi  relates,  that  "for  a 
lady  of  quality,  since  dead,  who  received  as  at 
her  husband's  seat  in  Wales  with  leas  attention 
than  he  had  long  been  accustomed  to,  he  had  a 
rougher  denunciation:  <  That  woman,'  eried  John- 
son, '  is  like  soar  small  beer,  the  beverage  of  her 
table,  and  produce  of  the  wretched  country  she 
lives  in  :  like  that,  she  could  never  have  been  a 
good  thing,  and  even  that  bad  thing  is  spoiled.' " 
And  it  is  probably  of  her  too  that  another  anec- 
dote is  told:  "  We  had  been  visiting  at  a  lady's 
house,  whom,  as  we  returned,  some  of  the  com- 
pany ridiculed  for  her  ignorance:  'She  is  not 
ignorant,'  said  he,  '  I  believe,  of  any  thing  she 
has  been  taught,  or  of  any  thing  she  is  desirous  to 
know;  and  I  suppose  if  one  wanted  a  little  run 
tea,  she  might  be  a  proper  person  enough  to  ap- 
ply to.*  "  Mrs.  Piozzi  says,  in  her  MS.  Letters, 
«*  that  Lady  Catherine  comes  off  well  in  the  diary. 
He  said  many  severe  things  of  her,  which  he  did 
not  commit  to  paper."    She  died  in  1782. — Ed.] 

1  ["  Situated  among  the  mountains  of  Caernar- 
voiishire."— JPi<>jr«  MS.] 

*  [Piozzi  MS.] 


489 


have  no  rails — One  of  them  has  a  breach  in 
the  roof-— On  the  desk,  I  think,  of  each  lay 
a  folio  Welsh  Bible  of  the  black  letter,  which 
the  curate  cannot  easily  read — Mr.  Thrale 
purposes  to  beautify  the  churches,  and  if  he 
prospers,  will  probably  restore  the  tithes— 
The  two  parishes  are,  Llangwinodyl  and 
Tydweillioff^The  methodists  are  here 
very  prevalent— A  better  church  will  im- 
press the  people  with  more  reverence  of 
public  worship — Mrs.  Thrale  visited  a  house 
where  she  had  been  used  to  drink  milk, 
which  was  left,  with  an  estate  of  two  hun- 
dred pounds  a  year,  by  one  Lloyd  4,  to  a 
married  woman  who  lived  with  him — We 
went  to  Pwllheli,  a  mean  old  town,  at  the 
extremity  of  the  country — Here  we  bought 
something,  to  remember  the  place. 

Thursday,  25JA  August.— We  returned  to 
Caernarvon, where  we  ate  with  Mre.Wynne. 

Friday,  26*A  August.— We  visited,  with 
Mrs.5  Wynne,  Llyn  Badarn  and  Llyn  Be- 
ns, two  lakes;  joined  by  a  narrow  strait — 
They  are  formed  by  the  waters  which  fall 
from  Snowdon,  and  the  opposite  mountains 
— On  the  side  of  Snowdon  are  the  remains 
of  a  large  fort«,  to  which  we  climbed  with 
great  labour — I  was  breathless  and  harassed 
— The  lakes  have  no  great  breadth,  so  that 
the  boat  is  always  near  one  bank  or  the 
other. — Note.  Quteny>$  goats,  one  hundred 
and  forty-nine,  1  think  7. 


8  [These  two  parishes  are  perpetual  curacies, 
endowed  with  the  small  tithes,  which,  in  1809, 
amounted  to  six  pounds  sixteen  shillings  and  six- 
pence in  each  parish  ;  but  these  sums  are  increas- 
ed by  Queen  Anne's  bounty;  and,  in  1809,  the 
whole  income  for  Llangwinodyl,  including  surplice 
fees,  amounted  to  forty-six  pounds  two  shillings 
and  twopence,  and  for  Tydweilliog,  forty-three 
pounds  nineteen  shillings  and  tenpence;  so  that  it 
does  not  appear  that  Mr.  Thrale  carried  into  effect 
his  good  intention. — Dufpa.] 

4  [Mr.  Lloyd  was  a  very  good-natured  man ; 
and  when  Mrs.  Thrale  was  a  litde  child,  he  was 
used  to  treat  her  with  sweetmeats  and  milk;  but 
what  was  now  remarkable  was,  that  she  should 
recollect  the  bouse,  which  she  had  not  seen  since 
she  was  five  years  old. — Dufpa. 

•  ["  Miss  Thrale  was  amused  with  our  rowing 
on  Lake  Llyn  Bens,  and  Mrs.  Glynn  Wynne,  wife 
of  Lord  Newburgh's  brother,  who  accompanied 
us  and  acted  as  our  guide,  sang  Welsh  songs  to 
the  harp."— Piozzi  MS.] 

6  ["Dolbadarne  was  the  name  of  the  fort"— 
Piozzi  MS.] 

1  [Mr.  Thrale  was  near-flighted,  and  could  not 
see  the  coats  browsing  on  Snowdon,  and  he 
promised  his  daughter,  who  was  a  child  of  ten 
years  old,  a  penny  for  every  goat  she  would  show 
him,  and  Dr.  Johnson  kept  the  account;  so  that  it 
appears  her  father  was  in  debt  to  her  one  hundred 
and  forty-nine  pence.  Queeny  was  an  epithet, 
which  had  its  origin  in  the  nursery,  by  which  [in 
allusion  to  Queen  Esther],  Miss  Thrale  (whose 
name  was  Esther)  was  always  distinguished  by 
Johnson. — Dufpa.] 


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1774- wETAT.  65. 


Saturday,  91th  August.— We  returned 
to  Bangor,  where  Mr.  Thrale  was  lodged 
at  Mr.  Roberts's,  the  register. 

Sunday,  28th  August.— We  went  to 
worship  at  the  cathedral— The  quire  is 
mean;  the  service  was  not  well  read. 

Monday,  29<A  August.— We  came  to 
Mr.  Myddelton's,  of  Gwaynynog,  to  the 
first  place,  as  my  Mistress  observed,  where 
we  have  been  welcome  K 

{Note. — On  the  day  when  we  visited 
Bodville  [Monday,  22cZ  August],  we  turn- 
ed to  the  house  of  Mr.  Griffiths,  of  Kefnam- 
wycllh,  a  gentleman  of  large  fortune,  re- 
markable for  having  made  great  and  sud- 
den improvements  in  his  seat  and  estate — 
He  has  enclosed  a  large  garden  with  a  brick 
wall — He  is  considered  as  a  man  of  great 
accomplishments — He  was  educated  in  lit- 
erature at  the  university,  and  served  some 
time  in  the  army,  then  quitted  his  commis- 
sion, and  retired  to  his  lands.  He  is  ac- 
counted a  good  man,  and  endeavours  to 
bring  the  people  to  church.) 

In  our  way  from  Bangor  to  Conway,  we 
passed  again  the  new  road  upon  the  edge  of 
Penmaen  Mawr,  which  would  be  very  tre- 
mendous, but  that  the  wall  shuts  out  the 
idea  of  danger — In  the  wall  are  several 
breaches,  made,  as  Mr.  Thrale  very  rea- 
sonably conjectures,  by  fragments  of  rocks 
which  roll  down  the  mountain,  broken  per- 
haps by  frost,  or  worn  through  by  rain. 
We  then  viewed  Conway — To  spare  the 
horrors  at  Penmaen  Rhds  between  Conway 
and  St.  Asaph,  we  sent  the  coach  over  the 
road  cross  the  mountain  with  Mrs.  Thrsle, 
who  had  been  tired  with  a  walk  some  time 
before;  and  I,  with  Mr.  Thrale  and  Miss, 
walked  along  the  edge,  where  the  path  is 
very  narrow,  and  much  encumbered  by  lit- 
tle loose  stones,  which  had  (alien  down,  as 
we  thought,  upon  the  way  since  we  passed 
it  before.  At  Conway  we  took  a  short  sur- 
vey of  the  castle,  which  afforded  us  nothing 
new — It  is  larger  than  that  of  Beaumaris, 
and  less  than  that  of  Caernarvon — It  is  built 
upon  a  rock  so  high  and  steep,  that  it  is 
even  now  very  difficult  of  access — We  found 
a  round  pit,  which  was  called  the  Well;  it 
is  now  almost  filled,  and  therefore  dry — We 
found  the  Well  in  no  other  castle — There 
are  some  remains  of  leaden  pipes  at  Caer- 
narvon, which,  I  suppose,  only  conveyed 
water  from  one  part  or  the  building  to  anoth- 
er— Had  the  garrison  had  no  other  supply, 
the  Welsh,  who  must  know  where  the 
pipes  were  laid,  could  easily  have  cut  them. 


1  ["  It  m  very  likely  I  did  say  so.  My  rela- 
tions were  not  quite  as  forward  as  I  thought  they 
might  have  been  to  welcome  a  long  distant  kins- 
woman. The  Myddeltons  were  more  cordial. 
The  old  colonel  had  been  a  fellow  collegian  with 
Mr.  Thrale  and  Lord  Sandys,  of  Omberaley." — 
Piossi  MS.} 


[touk  TO 

We  came  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Myddelton 
(on  Monday),  where  we  staid  to  September 
6,  and  were  very  kindly  entertained — How 
we  spent  our  tune,  I  am  not  very  able  to 
tell  a — We  saw  the  wood,  which  is  diversi- 
fied and  romantic. 

Sunday,  4th  September. — We  dined  with 
Mr.  Myddelton3,  the  clergyman,  at  Den- 
bigh, where  I  saw  the  harvest  men  very  de- 
cently dressed,  after  the  afternoon  service, 
standing  to  be  hired — On  other  days,  they 
stand  at  about  four  in  the  morning — They 
are  hired  from  day  to  day. 

Monday,  bth  September. — We  lay  at 
Wrexham ;  a  busy,  extensive,  and  well 
built  town — It  has  a  very  large  and  magni- 
ficent church.    It  has  a  famous  fair4. 

*  [However  this  may  have  been,  he  waa  both 
happy  and  amused,  during  his  stay  at  Gwayny- 
nog, and  Mr.  Myddelton  was  nattered  by  the 
honour  of  his  visit  To  perpetuate  the  recollec- 
tion of  it,  he  (to  use  Mr.  Boswell's  words)  erected 
an  um  on  the  banks  of  a  rivulet,  in  the  park, 
where  Johnson  delighted  to  stand  and  recite 
verses;  on  which  is  tins  inscription: 

This  spot  was  often  dignified  by  the  presence  of 

SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  LLJ&. 

Whose  Moral  Writings,  exactly  conformable  to  the 

Precepts  of  Christianity, 

Gate  ardour  to  Virtue,  and  confidence  to  Truth. 

In  1777,  it  would  appear  from  a  letter  by  John- 
son to  Mrs.  Thrale,  that  he  was  informed  that 
Mr.  Myddelton  meditated  this  honour,  which 
seemed  to  be  but  little  to  his  taste:  "  Mr.  Myddel- 
ton's erection  of  an  urn  looks  like  an  intention  to 
bury  me  alive:  I  would  as  willingly  see  my  friend, 
however  benevolent  and  hospitable,  quietly  ia- 
urned.  Let  him  think,  for  the  present,  of  some 
more  acceptable  memorial." — Duppa.} 

*  [«'  Rector  of  Denbigh,  was  second  brother  to 
the  owner  of  Gwaynynog.  He  had,  I  suppose, 
been  in  the  army,  for  we  used  to  call  him  col* 
oneL"—Pu>zxi  MS.] 

4  [It  waa  probably  on  the  6th  Sept.  in  the  way 
from  Wrexham  to  Chirk,  that  they  passed  through 
Ruabon,  where  the  following  occurrence  took 
place:  «*  A  Welsh  parson  of  mean  abilities,  though 
a  good  heart,  struck  with  reverence  at  the  sight  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  whom  he  had  heard  of  as  the 
greatest  man  living,  could  not  find  any  words  at 
answer  his  inquiries  concerning  a  motto  round 
somebody's  arms  which  adorned  a  tombstone  m 
Ruabon  churchyard.  If  I  remember  right,  the 
words  were, 

Heb  Dw,  Heb  Dym, 

Dwo'diggon*. 

And  though  of  no  very  difficult  construction,  the 
gentleman  seemed  wholly  confounded,  and  unable 
to  explain  them;  till  Mr.  Johnson,  having  picked 
out  the  meaning  by  little  and  little,  said  to  the 
man,  *  Heb  is  a  preposition,  I  believe,  air,  is  it 
not  ? '  My  countryman  recovering  some  spirits 
upon  the  sudden  question,  cried  out, « So  I  humbly 
presume,  sir,'  very  comically." — Anecdote*.— 
Ed.] 

*  [It  Is  the  Myddelton  motto,  and  mean, 
Without  God-wttaont  all ! 
God  k  aO-suhVlent  i— Pfess*  MS.  p.  184.] 


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WALKS.] 

Wednesday,  7th  September. — We  came 
to  Chirk  Castle. 

Thursday,  Sth  September. — We  came  to 
the  house  of  Dr.  Worthington  *,  at  Llan- 
rhaiadr 2 — Our  entertainment  was  poor, 
though  the  house  was  not  bad.  The  situa- 
tion is  very  pleasant,  by  the  side  of  a  small 
river,  of  which  the  bank  rises  high  on  the 
other  side,  shaded  by  gradual  rows  of  trees 
— The  gloom,  the  stream,  and  the  silence, 
generate  thoughtfulnesa.  The  town  is  old, 
and  very  mean,  but  has,  I  think,  a  market 
— In  this  town,  the  Welsh  translation  of 
the  Old  Testament  was  made — The  Welsh 
singing  psalms  were  written  by  Archdea- 
con Price — They  are  not  considered  as  ele- 
gant, but  as  very  literal,  and  accurate— 
We  came  to  Llanrhaiadr  through  Oswes- 
try; a  town  not  very  little,  nor  very  mean 
-—The  church,  which  I  saw  only  at  a  dis- 
tance, seems  to  be  an  edifice  much  too  good 
for  the  present  state  of  the  place. 

Friday,  9th  September. — We  visited  the 
"Waterfall,  which  is  very  high,  and  in  rainy 
weather  very  copious — There  is  a  reservoir 
made  to  supply  it — In  its  fall,  it  has  perfo- 
rated a  rock— There  is  a  room  built  for  en- 
tertainment— There  was  some  difficulty  in 
climbing  to  a  near  view — Lord  Lyttelton  3 
came  near  it,  and  turned  back — When  we 
came  back,  we  took  some  cold  meat,  and 
notwithstanding  Doctor  [Worthington's] 
importunities,  went  that  day  to  Shrews- 
bury. 

Saturday,  10th  September. — I  sent  for 
Gwynn*,  and  he  showed  us  the  town — The 
walls  are  broken,  and  narrower  than  those 


1774.— iETAT.  65. 


491 


1  [Dr.  William  Worthington,  a  man  of  distin- 
guished learning,  and  an  authour  of  many  works 
on  religious  .subjects.  He  enjoyed  considerable 
preferment  in  the  church,  and  lived  at  Llanrhaiadr ; 
of  which  parish  he  was  the  rector.  He  died  Oc- 
tober 6,  1778,  aged  seventy-five. — Duppa.  Dr. 
Johnson  thus  notices  his  death  in  a  letter  to  Mrs. 
Thrale :  "  My  clerical  friend  Worthington  is  dead. 
I  have  known  him  long— and  to  die  is  dreadful. 
I  believe  he  was  a  very  good  man." — Letters, 
▼.  i  p.  26. — Ed.] 

*  [Llanrhaiadr,  being  translated  into  English, 
is  The  Village  of  the  Fountain,  and  takes  its 
name  from  a  spring,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
the  church. — Duppa.  Mr.  Duppa  was  misin- 
formed. Rhaiadr  signifies  a  waterfall,  and  not 
a  spring  ;  and  a  waterfall  was,  as  we  shall  see 
presently,  the  chief  feature  of  the  vicinity. — Ed.] 

9  [Thomas,  the  second  Lord  Lyttelton. — 
Dttppa.] 

4  [Mr.  Gwynn  was  an  architect  of  considerable 
celebrity.  He  was  a  native  of  Shrewsbury,  and 
was  at  this  time  completing  a  bridge  across  the 
Severn,  called  the  English  Bridge.  Besides  this 
bridge,  be  built  one  at  Atcham,  over  the  Severn, 
near  to  Shrewsbury  ;  and  the  bridges  at  Worces- 
ter, Oxford,  and  Henley,  are  all  built  by  him.*— 
Dttppa.  See  ante,  p.  284,  and  post,  19th 
March,  1770.— En.] 


of  Chester— The  town  is  large,  and  has  ma- 
ny gentlemen's  houses,  but  the  streets  are 
narrow— I  saw  Taylor's  library— We  walk- 
ed in  the  Quarry;  a  very  pleasant  walk  by 
the  river — Our  inn  was  not  bad. 

Sunday,  11th  September.— We  were  at 
St.  Chads,  a  very  large  and  luminous  church 
— We  were  on  the  Castle  Hill. 

Monday,  12th  September.— We  called 
on  Dr.  Adams5,  and  travelled  towards  Wor- 
cester, through  Wenlock;  a  very  mean 
place,  though  a  borough — At  noon,  we 
came  to  Bridgnorth,  and  walked  about  the 
town,  of  which  one  part  stands  on  a  high 
rock,  and  part  very  low,  by  the  river— There 
is  an  old  tower,  which,  being  crooked,  leans 
so  much,  that  it  is  frightful  to  pass  by  it — 
In  the  afternoon  we  came  through  Kinver6, 
a  town  in  Staffordshire,  neat  and  closely 
built— I  believe  it  has  only  one  street — The 
road  was  so  steep  and  miry,  that  we  were 
forced  to  stop  at  Hartlebury,  where  we  had 
a  very  neat  inn,  though  it  made  a  very  poor 
appearance. 

Tuesday,  13th  September.— We  came 
to  lord  Sandys's,  at  Ombersley,  where  we 
were  treated  with  great  civility  i — The  house 
is  large — The  hall  is  a  very  noble  room. 

*  Thursday,  15/ A  September.— We  went 
to  Worcester,  a  very  splendid  city — The 
cathedral  is  very  noble,  with  many  remarka- 
ble monuments — The  library  is  in  the  chap- 
ter-house—On  the  table  lay  the  Nuremberg 
Chronicle,  I  think,  of  the  first  edition". 
We  went  to  the  china  warehouse — The  ca- 
thedral has  a  cloister— The  long  aisle  is,  in 
my  opinion,  neither  so  wide  nor  so  high  as 
that  of  Lichfield. 

Friday,  16th  September. — We  went  to 
Hagley,  where  we  were  disappointed  of  the 
respect  and  kindness  that  we  expected9. 


*  [The  master  of  Pembroke  College,  Oxford ; 
who  was  also  rector  of  St  Chads,  in  F" 
— Duppa.] 

6  [There  must  have  been  some 
reason  why  they  left  the  straight  high-road  from 
Bridgenorth  to  Hartlebury,  through  Kiddermin- 
ster,  to  call  at  the  little  village  of  Kinver.— En.) 

7  [It  was  here  that  Johnson  had  as  much  waU- 
finit  as  he  wished,  and,  as  he  told  Mrs.  Thrale, 
for  the  only  time  in  his  life. — Duppa.  See  ante, 
p.  209.  It  seems  they  spent  here  Wednesday, 
the  14th  Sept— Ed.] 

8  [The  first  edition  was  printed  Jul?  12,  1493. 
The  authour,  or  rather  compiler  of  this  chronicle, 
was  one  Hartman  Schedel,  of  Nuremberg,  a  phy- 
sician.— Duppa.] 

•  [This  visit  was  not  to  Lord  Lyttelton,  b*t  to 
his  uncle  [called  Billy  Lyttelton,  afterwards,  by 
successive  creations,  Lord  Westcote,  and  Lord 
Lyttelton],  the  father  of  the  present  lord,  who 
lived  at  a  house  called  little  Hagley. — Duppa. 
Thk  gentleman  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr, 
Thrale,  and  bad  some  years  before  invited  John* 
son  (through  Mrs.  Thrale)  to  visit  him  at  Hagley, 
ante,  p.  277.— En.] 


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492 


1774.— JBTAT.  6*. 


Saturday,  11th  September.— We  saw 
the  house  and  park,  which  equalled  my  ex- 
pectation— The  house  is  one  square  mass 
—The  offices  are  below— The  rooms  of  ele- 
gance on  the  first  floor,  with  two  stories  of 
bedchambers,  very  well  disposed  above  it— 
The  bedchambers  have  low  windows,  which 
abates  the  dignity  of  the  house— The  park 
has  an  artificial  ruin,  and  wants  water;  there 
is,  however,  one  temporary  cascade  * — From 
the  farthest  hill  there  is  a  very  wide  pros- 
pect. 

Sunday,  18th  September.— I  went  to 
church— The  church  is,  externally,  very 
mean,  and  is  therefore  diligently  hidden  by 
a  plantation — There  are  in  it  several  mod- 
ern monuments  of  the  Lytteltons. 

Th#re  dined  with  us  Lord  Dudley,  and 
Sir  Edward  Lyttelton,  of  Staffordshire,  and 
his  lady— They  were  all  persons  of  agreea- 
ble conversation. 

I  found  time  to  reflect  on  my  birthday, 
and  offered  a  prayer,  which  I  hope  was 
heard. 

Monday,  19th  September. — We  made 
haste  away  from  a  place  where  all  were 
offended  2 — In  the  way  we  visited  the  Lea- 
sowes — It  was  rain,  yet  we  visited. all  the 
waterfalls— There  are,  in  one  place,  four- 
teen falls  in  a  short  line— It  is  the  next  place 
to  Ham  gardens — Poor  Shenstone  never 
tasted  his  pension — It  is  not  very  well  prov- 
ed that  any  pension  was  obtained  for  him 
— I  am  afraid  that  he  died  of  misery. 

We  came  to  Birmingham,  and  I  sent  for 
Wheeler  3,  whom  I  found  well. 

Tuesday,  20*A  September.— We  break- 
fasted with  Wheeler,  and  visited  the  manu- 
facture of  Papier  macht — The  paper  which 
they  use  is  smooth  whited  brown;  the  var- 
nish is  polished  with  rotten  stone — Wheeler 
gave  me  a  teaboard — We  then  went  to 
Boulton's  4,  who,  with  great  civility,  led  us 


1  ["  He  was  enraged  at  artificial  rains  and  tem- 

Grary  cascades,  so  that  I  wonder  at  his  leaving 
i  opinion  of  them  dubious;  besides,  he  hated  the 
Lytteltons,  and  would  rejoice  in  an  opportunity 
of  insulting  them." — Piozzi  MS. — See  post, 
sub  1781,  the  Life  of  Lyttelton.— Ed.] 

8  ["  Mrs.  Lyttelton,  ci-devant  Caroline  Brie- 
tow,  forced  me  to  play  at  whist  against  my  liking, 
and  her  husband  took  away  Johnson's  candle 
that  he  wanted  to  read  by  at  the  other  end  of  the 
room.  Those,  I  trust,  were  the  offences." — 
Piozzi  MS.] 

9  [Dr.  Benjamin  Wheeler  ;  he  was  a  native  of 
Oxford,  and  originally  on  the  foundation  of  Trinity 
College ;  afterwards  he  became  a  Fellow  of  Mag- 
dalene College,  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and  Re- 
gius Professor  of  Divinity.  He  took  his  degree  of 
A.  M.  Nov.  14,  1758,  and  D.  D.  July  6,  1770  ; 
and  was  a  man  of  extensive  learning.  Dr.  John- 
son ,  in  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  styles  him  "  My 
learned  friend,  the  man  with  whom  I  most  delight- 
ed to  converse." — Lett — Duppa.] 

*  [See  post,  22d  March,  1776.— Ed. J 


[tour  to 

through  his  shops— I  could  not  distinctly 
see  his  enginery — Twelve  dozen  of  buttons 
for  three  shillings— Spoons  struck  at  once. 

Wednesday,  21st  September.— Wheeler 
came  to  us  again — We  came  easily  to 
Woodstock. 

Thursday,  md  September.— We  saw 
Blenheim  and  Woodstock  park — The  park 
contains  two  thousand  five  hundred  acres; 
about  four  square  miles.  It  has  red  deer — 
Mr.  Bryant  showed  me  the  library  with 
great  civility — Durandi  Rationale,  1459* — 
Lascaris'  Grammar  of  the  first  edition,  well 
printed,  but  much  less  than  later  editions* — 
The  first  Batrachomyomachia  7 — The  duke 
sent  Mr.  Thrale  partridges  and  fruit — At 
night  we  came  to  Oxford. 

Friday,    23rf  September.— We   visited 
Mr.  Couison — The  ladies  wandered  about 
the  university. 
Sahuday,^Septetnber^Krt^Wedme* 

»  [This  is  a  work  written  by  William  Durmnd, 
Bishop  of  Mende,  and  printed  on  vellum,  in  folio, 
by  Fust  and  Schoeffer,  in  Mentz,  1459.  It  is  the 
third  book  that  is  known  to  be  printed  with  a  date, 
and  is  considered  as  a  carious  and  extraordinary 
specimen  of  early  printing.  An  imperfect  copy 
was  sold  at  Dr.  Askew's  sale,  Feb.  22,  1775,  for 
sixty-one  pounds,  to  Mr.  Elmsly,  the  bookseller. 
Duppa.] 

6  [Dr.  Johnson,  in  another  column  of  his  Dia- 
ry, has  put  down,  in  a  note,  "  First  printed  book 
in  Greek,  Lascaris's  Grammar,  4to.  Medkriani, 
1476."  The  imprint  of  this  book  is,  Medietas* 
hnpressum  per  Magistrum  Dionysium  Pa- 
raoisinutn.  M.CCCC.LXXVI.  Vie  m  Jan- 
uarii.  This  edition  is  very  rare,  and  it  is  proba- 
ble that  Dr.  Johnson  saw  it  now  for  the  first  time. 
A  copy  was  purchased  for  the  king's  library  at 
Dr.  Askew's  sale,  1775,  for  twenty-one  pounds 
ten  shillings. 

This  was  the  first  book  that  was  ever  printed 
in  the  Greek  character.  The  first  book  printed 
in  the  English  language  was  the  Historyes  of 
Troye,  printed  in  1471;  an  imperfect  copy  of 
which  was  put  up  to  public  sale  in  1812,  when 
there  was  a  competition  amongst  men  eminent 
for  learning,  rank,  and  fortune;  and,  according 
to  their  estimation  of  its  value,  it  was  sold  for  the 
sum  of  1060/.  10s. — Dttppa.] 

7  [The  Battle  of  the  Frogs  and  Mice.  The 
first  edition  was  printed  by  Laonicus  Cretesjsis, 
1486.  This  book  consists  of  forty-one  pages, 
small  quarto,  and  the  verses  are  printed  with  red 
and  black  ink  alternately.  A  copy  was  sold  ai 
Dr.  Askew's  sale,  1775,  for  fourteen  guinea*. — 
Duppa.] 

8  ["  Of  the  dinner  at  University  College  I  re- 
member nothing,  unless  it  was  there  that  Mr. 
Vansittart,  a  flourishing  sort  of  character,  showed 
off  his  graceful  form  by  fencing  with  Mr.  Seward, 
who  joined  us  at  Oxford.  We  had  a  grand  din- 
ner at  Queen's  College,  and  Dr.  Johnson  made 
Miss  Thrale  and  me  observe  the  ceremony  of  the 
grace  cup;  but  1  have  but  a  faint  remembrance  of 
it,  and  can  in  nowise  tell  who  invited  us,  or  bow 
we  came  by  our  academical  honour  of  hearjDg 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


WALES.] 

with  Mr.  Coulson* — Yansittart*  told  me 
his  distemper. — Afterwards  we  were  at 
Burke's  [at  Beaconsfield],  where  we  heard 


1774.— JETAT.  65. 


493 


of  the  dissolution  of  the  parliament  a^-We 
went  home. 


Ancc  [«  Dr.  Johnson  had  always  a  very 
*• t96m  great  personal  regard  and  particular 
affection  for  Mr.  Burke;  and  when  at 
this  time  the  general  election  broke  up 
the  delightful  society  in  which  we  had  spent 
some  time  at  Beaconsfield,  Dr.  Johnson 
shook  the  hospitable  master  of  the  house 
kindly  by  the  hand,  and  said, '  Farewell,  my 
dear  sir,  and  remember  that  I  wish  you  all 
the  success  which  ought  to  be  wished  you, 
which  can  possibly  be  wished  you,  indeed, 
by  an  honest  man.' "] 

"MR.  BOSWftLL  TO  DR.  JOHNSON. 

u  Edinburgh,  SOth  August,  1774. 

"  Tou  have  given  me  an  inscription  for  a 
portrait  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  in  which 
you,  in  a  short  and  striking  manner,  point 


our  healths  drank  in  form,  and  I  half  believe  in 
Latin."— Piozzi  MS.  The  Editor  suspects  that 
Mrs.  Piozri,  writing  slier  a  lapse  of  forty  years, 
mentioned  Queen* $  by  mistake  for  University 
College.— Ed.] 

1  [Mr.  Coiuson  was  a  senior  Fellow  of  Univer- 
sity College  ;  in  habit  and  appearance  somewhat 
resembling  Johnson  himself,  and  was  considered 
in  his  time  as  an  Oxford  character.  He  took  his 
degree  of  A.  M.  April  12,  1746.  After  this  visit, 
Dr.  Johnson  told  Mrs.  Thrale  that  he  was  the  man 
designated  in  the  Rambler,  nnder  the  name  of 
Gelidus  the  philosopher. — Dttfpa.  It  was  Mrs. 
Pknad's  contusion  of  names,  as  she  herself  admits 
in  her  MS.  letters  to  Mr.  Dnppa,  which  gave 
rise  to  the  unfounded  idea  that  Gelidus  was  meant 
for  Professor  Colson,  of  Cambridge  (See  ante, 
p.  88  and  88)  ;  Mrs.  Piozzi  meant  Mr.  Conbon, 
Fellow  of.  University ;  bat  even  as  to  this  Mr. 
Conbon,  of  Oxford,  Mrs.  Piozzi  must  have  been 
in  some  degree  of  error.  Coulson  was  a  humour- 
ist, and  Johnson  may  have  caught  some  hints 
from  him;  but  the  greater  number  of  the  points  of 
the  character  of  Gelidus  could  have  no  resem- 
blance to  him.  Lord  Stowell  informs  the  editor 
that  he  was  very  eccentric.  He  would  on  a  fine 
day  hang;  out  of  the  college  windows  his  various 
pieces  of  apparel  to  air,  which  used  to  be  univer- 
sally answered  by  the  young  men  hanging  out 
from  all  the  other  windows  quilts,  carpets,  rags, 
and  every  kind  of  trash,  and  this  was  called  an 
illumination.  Hit  notions  of  the  eminence  and 
importance  of  his  academic  situation  were  so  pe- 
culiar, that,  when  he  afterwards  accepted  a  college 
living,  he  expressed  to  Lord  Stowell  ms  doubts 
whether,  after  living  so  long  in  the  great  world, 
he  might  not  grow  weary  of  the  comparative  re- 
tirement of  a  country  parish. — En.] 

*  [See  ante,  p..298  and  299,  n.  The  distemper 
was  no  doubt  a  tendency  to  depression  of  spirits, 
which  Dr.  Johnson  alludes  to  in  the  last  cited 
».— En.] 


out  her  hard  fate.  But  you  will  he  pleased 
to  keep  in  mind,  that  my  picture  is  a  repre- 
sentation of  a  particular  scene  in  her  history 
— her  being  forced  to  resign  her  crown, 
while  she  was  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of 
Lochlevin.  I  must,  therefore,  beg  that  you 
will  be  kind  enough  to  jive  me  an  inscrip- 
tion suited  to  that  particular  scene;  or  de- 
termine which  of  the  two  formerly  transmit- 
ted to  you  is  the  hest;  and  at  any  rate,  fa- 
vour me  with  an  English  translation.  It 
will  he  doubly  kind  if  you  comply  with  my 
request  speedily. 

"  Your  critical  notes  on  the  specimen  of 
Lord  Hailes's  'Annals  of  Scotland '  are  ex- 
cellent. I  agreed  with  you  on  every  one  of 
them.  He  himself  objected  only  to  the 
alteration  of  free  to  brave,  in  the  passage 
where  he  says  that  Edward '  departed  with 
the  glory  due  to  the  conqueror  or  a  free  peo- 
ple.' He  says,  to  call  the  Scots  brave  would 
only  add  to  the  glory  of  their  conqueror. 
You  will  make  allowance  for  the  national 
zeal  of  our  annalist  I  now  send  a  few 
more  leaves  of  the  Annals,  which  I  hone 
you  will  peruse,  and  return  with  ob- 
servations, as  you  did  upon  the  former 
occasion.  Lord  Hailes  writes  to  me  thus: 
'  Mr.  Boswell  will  be  pleased  to  express  the 
grateful  sense  which  Sir  David  Dalrymple 
has  of  Dr.  Johnson's  attention  to  his  little 
specimen.  The  further  specimen  will  show, 
that 

<  Even  in  an  Edward  he  can  see  desert* 

"  It  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  hear  that 
a  republication  of  Isaac  Walton's  Lives  is 
intended.  You  have  been  in  a  mistake  in 
thinking  that  Lord  Hailes  had  it  in  view. 
I  remember  one  morning,  while  he  sat  with 
you  in  my  house,  he  said,  .that  there  should 
be  a  new  edition  of  Walton's  Lives  ;  and 
you  said  that  '  they  should  be  benoted  a 
little.9  This  was  all  that  passed  on  that 
subject  You  must,  therefore,  inform  Dr. 
Home,  that  he  may  resume  his  plan.  I  en- 
close a  note  concerning  it;  and  if  Dr.  Home 
will  write  to  me,  all  the  attention  that  I  can 
give  shall  be  cheerfully  bestowed  upon 
what  I  think  a  pious  work,  the  preservation 
and  elucidation  of  Walton,  by  whose  writ- 
ings I  have  been  most  pleasingly  edified*" 
•         •         •         •         •         • 

ct  MR.  BOSWELL  TO  DR.  JOHNSON. 

"Edinburgh,  16th  Best.  1774. 

"  Wales  has  probably  detained  you  long- 

er  than  I  supposed.    You  will  have  become 

>  [Dissolved  the  80th  September,  1774.— En.] 


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quite  a  mountaineer,  by  visiting  Scotland 
one  year  and  Wales  another.  Yon  must 
next  go  to  Switzerland.  Cambria  will 
complain,  if  you  do  not  honour  her  also  with 
some  remarks.  And  I  find  e<mee$9ere  eo- 
ittfitfue,  the  booksellers  expect  another  book. 
I  am  impatient  to  see  your  *  Tour  to  Scot- 
land and  the  Hebrides.9  Might  you  not 
send  me  a  copy  by  the  post  as  soon  as  it  is 
printed  off?" 


"to  jamxs  boswell,  esq. 

44  London,  Ut  Oct.  1774. 

"Dear  sir, — Yesterday  I  returned  from 
my  Welsh  journey.  I  was  sorry  to  leave  my 
book  suspended  so  long;  but  having  an 
opportunity  of  seeing,  with  so  much  con- 
venience, a  new  part  of  the  island,  I  could 
not  reject  it  I  have  been  in  five  of  the  six 
counties  of  North  Wales;  and  have  seen 
St.  Asaph  and  Bangor,  the  two  seats  of  their 
bishops;  have  been  upon  Penmaenmaur 
and  Snowdon,  and  passed  over  into  Angle- 
sea.  But  Wales  is  so  little  different  from 
England,  that  it  offers  nothing  to  the  spec- 
ulation of  the  traveller. 

"  When  I  came  home,  I  found  several  of 
your  papers,  with  some  pages  of  Lord 
Hailes's  Annals,  which  I  will  consider.  I 
am  in  haste  to  give  you  some  account  of 
myself,  lest  you  should  suspect  me  of  negli- 
gence in  the  pressing  business  which  I  find 
recommended  to  my  care,  and  which  I  knew 
nothing  of  till  now,  when  all  care  is  vain l. 

"  In  the  distribution  of  my  books,  I  pur- 
pose to  follow  your  advice,  adding  such  as 
shall  occur  to  me.  I  am  not  pleased  with 
your  notes  of  remembrance  added  to  your 
names,  for  I  hope  I  shall  not  easily  forget 
them. 

"  I  have  received  four  Erse  books,  with- 
out any  direction,  and  suspect  that  they  are 
intended  for  the  Oxford  horary.  If  that  is 
the  intention,  I  think  it  will  be  proper  to 
add  the  metrical  psalms,  and  whatever  else 
is  printed  in  Erse,  that  the  present  may  be 
complete.  The  donor's  name  should  be 
told. 

"  I  wish  you  could  have  read  the  book 
before  it  was  printed,  but  our  distance  does 
not  easily  permit  it 

"  I  am  sorry  Lord  Hailes  does  not  intend 
to  publish  Walton;  I  am  afraid  it  will  not 
be  done  so  well,  if  it  be  done  at  all. 

"  I  purpose  now  to  drive  the  book  for- 
ward. Make  my  compliments  to  Mrs.  Bos- 
well, and  let  me  hear  often  from  you.  I  am, 
dear  sir,  your  affectionate  humble  servant, 
"  Sam.  Johksok." 


1  I  had  written  to  him,  to  request  his  interposi- 
tion in  behalf  of  a  convict,  who  I  thought  was 
very  unjustly  condemned. — Boswell. 


Parliament  having  been  dissolved,  and 
his  friend  Mr.  Thrale,  who  was  a  steady 
supporter  of -government,  having  again  to 
encounter  the  storm  of  a  contested  election, 
he  wrote  a  short  political  pamphlet,  entitled 
"  The  Patriot9,"  addressed  to  the  electors 
of  Great  Britain;  a  title  which,  to  factious 
men  who  consider  a  patriot  only  as  an  op- 
poser  of  the  measures  of  government,  will 
appear  strangely  misapplied.  It  was,  how- 
ever, written  with  energetick  vivacity;  and, 
except  those  passages  in  which  it  endeavours 
to  vindicate  tne  glaring  outrage  of  the  house 
of  commons  in  the  case  of  the  Middlesex 
election,  and  to  justify  the  attempt  to  reduce 
our  fellow-subjects  in  America  to  uncondi- 
tional submission,  it  contained  an  admirable 
display  of  the  properties  of  a  real  patriot,  in 
the  original  and  genuine  sense; — a  sincere, 
steady,  rational,  and  unbiassed  friend  to  the 
interests  and  prosperity  of  his  king  and 
country.  It  must  be  acknowledged,  how- 
ever, that  both  in  this  and  his  two  former 
pamphlets,  there  was,  amidst  many  power- 
ful arguments,  not  only  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  sophistry,  but  a  contemptuous  ridicule 
of  his  opponents,  which  was  very  provoking. 

"  TO  MR.  PERKINS  «. 

M35th  October,  1774. 

Sim, — Yon  may  do  me  a  very  great  fa- 
vour. Mrs.  Williams,  a  gentlewoman  whom 
you  may  have  seen  at  Mr.  Thrale's,  is  a 
petitioner  for  Mr.  Hetherington's  charity; 
petitions  are  this  day  issued  at  Christ's  hos- 
pital. 

"lam  a  bad  manager  of  business  in  a 
crowd;  and  if  I  should  send  a  mean  man, 
he  may  be  put  away  without  his  errand.  I 
must,  therefore,  entreat  that  you  will  go, 
and  ask  for  a  petition  for  Anna  Williams, 
whose  paper  of  inquiries  was  delivered  with 
answers  at  the  counting-house  of  the  hospi- 
tal on  Thursday  the  20th.  My  servant 
will  attend  you  thither,  and  bring  the  peti- 
tion home  when  you  have  it. 

"  The  petition  which  they  are  to  give  us, 
is  a  form  which  they  deliver  to  every  peti- 


*  Mr.  Perkins  was  for  a  number  of  yean  the 
worthy  superintendent  of  Mr.  Thrale's  great 
brewery,  and  after  his  death  became  one  of  the 
proprietors  of  it;  and  now  resides  in  Mr.  Thrale's 
house  in  Southwark,  which  was  the  scene  of  so 
many  literary  meetings,  and  in  which  he  continues 
the  liberal  hospitality  for  which  it  was  eminent 
Dr.  Johnson  esteemed  him  much.  He  hung  up 
in  the  counting-house  a  fine  proof  of  the  admira- 
ble mezzotinto  of  Dr.  Johnson,  by  Doughty  ;  and 
when  Mrs.  Thrale  asked  him  somewhat  flippantly, 
"  Why  do  you  put  him  up  in  the  CAunthig-house  ?'• 
He  answered,  *'  Because,  madam,  I  wish  to 
have  one  wise  man  there.1'  "  Sir  (said  Johnson), 
I  thank  you.  It  is  a  very  handsome  compliment, 
and  I  believe  you  speak  sincerely.,>— Boswxu. 


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tioner,  and  which  the  petitioner  is  after- 
wards to  fill  up,  and  return  to  them  again. 
This  we  must  have,  or  we  cannot  proceed 
according  to  their  directions.  You  need,  I 
believe,  only  ask  for  a  petition;  if  they  in- 
quire for  whom  you  ask,  you  can  tell 
them. 

"  I  beg  pardon  for  giving  you  this  trou- 
ble; but  it  is  a  matter  of  great  importance. 
I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

*«  London,  27th  Oct.  1774. 

"  Dear  sir, — There  has  appeared  lately 
in  the  papers  an  account  of  the  boat  over- 
set between  Mull  and  Ulva,  in  which  many 
passengers  were  lost,  and  among  them 
Maclean  of  Col.  We,  you  know,  were 
once  drowned l;  I  hope,  therefore,  that  the 
story  is  either  wantonly  or  erroneously  told. 
Pray  satisfy  me  by  the  next  post. 

"  I  have  printed  two  hundred  and  forty 
pages.  I  am  able  to  do  nottiing  much 
worth  doing  to  dear  Lord  Hailes's  book.  I 
will,  however,  send  back  the  sheets ;  and 
hope,  by  degrees,  to  answer  all  your  reason- 
able expectations. 

"  Mr.  Thrale  has  happily  surmounted  a 
very  violent  and  acrimonious  opposition; 
but  all  joys  have  their  abatement:  Mrs. 
Thrale  has  fallen  from  her  horse,  and  hurt 
herself  very  much.  The  rest  of  our  friends, 
I  believe,  are  well.  My  compliments  to 
Mrs.  Boswell. — I  am,  sir,  your  most  affec- 
tionate servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson." 

This  letter,  which  shows  his  tender  con- 
cern for  an  amiable  young  gentleman  to 
whom  he  had  been  very  much  obliged  in 
the  Hebrides,  I  have  inserted  according  to 
its  date,  though  before  receiving  it  I  had 
informed  him  of  the  melancholy  event  that 
the  young  Laird  of  Col  was  unfortunately 
drowned. 

"  TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  BSQ. 

"  26th  Nov.  1774. 

"  Dear  sir, — Last  night  I  corrected  the 
last  page  of  our  c  Journey  to  the  Hebrides.' 
The  printer  has  detained  it  all  this  time,  for 
I  had,  before  I  went  into  Wales,  written 
all  except  two  sheets.  '  The  Patriot  '  was 
called  for  by  my  political  friends  on  Friday, 
was  written  on  Saturday,  and  I  have  heard 
little  of  it.  So  vague  are  conjectures  at  a 
distance9.  As  soon  as  I  can,  I  will  take 
care  that  copies  be  sent  to  you,  for  I  would 


1  In  the  newspapers. — Boiwell. 

*  Alluding  to  a  passage  in  a  letter  of  mine, 
where,  speaking  of  his  "  Journey  to  the  Hebri- 
des/' I  say,  "  But  has  not  *  The  Patriot'  been  an 
interruption,  by  the  time  taken  to  write  it,  and 
the  time  luxuriously  spent  in  listening  to  its  ap- 
""» — Boa  WELL. 


wish  that  they  might  be  given  before  they 
are  bought;  but  I  am  afraid  that  Mr.  Stra- 
han  will  send  to  you  and  to  the  booksellers  at 
the  same  time.  Trade  is  as  diligent  as 
courtesy.  I  have  mentioned  all  that  you 
recommended.  Pray  make  my  compliments 
to  Mrs.  Boswell  and  the  younglings.  The 
club  has,  I  think,  not  yet  met 

"Tell  me,  and  tell  me  honestly,  T.nat 
you  think  and  what  others  say  of  our  travels. 
Shall  we  touch  the  continent3? — I  am,  dear 
sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

In  his  manuscript  diary  of  this  year,  there 
is  the  following  entry: 

"Nov.  27.  Advent  Sunday.  I  considered 
that  this  day,  being  the  beginning  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical year,  was  a  proper  time  for  a  new 
course  of  life.  I  began  to  read  the  Greek 
Testament  regularly  at  one  hundred  and 
sixty  verses  every  Sunday.  This  day  I  be- 
gan the  Acts. 

"  In  this  week  I  read  Virgil's  Pastorals. 
I  learned  to  repeat  the  Pollio  and  Gallus. 
I  read  carelessly  the  first  Georgick." 

Such  evidences  of  his  unceasing  ardour, 
both  for  "  divine  and  human  lore,"  when 
advanced  into  his  sixty-fifth  year,  and  not- 
withstanding his  many  disturbances  from 
disease,  must  make  us  at  once  honour  his 
spirit,  and  lament  that  it  should  be  so  grie- 
vously clogged  by  its  material  tegument.  It 
is  remarkable  that  he  was  very  fond  of  the 
precision  which  calculation  produces.  Thus 
we  find  in  one  of  his  manuscript  diaries, 
"12  pages  in  4to.  Gr.  Test  and  30  pages 
in  Beza's  folio,  comprise  the  whole  in  40 
days." 

"  DR.  JOHNSON  TO  JOHN  HOOLE,  ESQ.4 
u  19th  December,  1774. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  have  returned  your  play  5, 
which  you  will  find  underscored  with  red, 
where  there  was  a  word  which  I  did  not  like. 
The  red  will  be  washed  off  with  a  little 
water. 

"  The  plot  is  so  well  framed,  the  intrica- 
cy so  artful,  and  the  disentanglement  so 
easy,  the  suspense  so  affecting,    and  the 

fassionate  parts  so  properly  interposed,  that 
have  no  doubt  ofits  success. — I  am,  sir, 
your  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 


3  We  had  projected  a  voyage  together  up  the 
Bahick,  and  talked  of  visiting  some  of  the  more 
northern  regions. — Bqs well. 

4  [John  Hoole,  who  from  this  time  forward 
will  be  found  much  in  Johnson's  society,  Was  the 
son  of  a  watchmaker,  born  about  1726.  He  was 
a  clerk  in  the  India  House,  but  devoted  hk  leisure 
to  literature.  He  published  translations  of  Tasso  *s 
Jerusalem  and  Ariosto's  Orlando.  He  died  in 
1803.— Ed.] 

*  Cleonice.— Boswkll. 


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The  first  effort  of  his  pen  in  1775,  was 
u  Proposals  for  publishing  the  Works  of 
Mrs.  Charlotte  Lennox  i  f,"  in  three  vol- 
umes quarto.  In  his  diary,  January  2,  I 
find  this  entry:  "Wrote  Charlotte's  Pro- 
posals." But,  indeed,  the  internal  evi- 
dence would  have  been  quite  sufficient. 
Her  claim  to  the  favour  of  the  publick  was 
thus  enforced: 

"  Most  of  the  pieces,  as  they  appeared 
sinffiy,  have  'been  read  with  approbation, 
perhaps  above  their  merits,  but  of  no  great 
advantage  to  the  writer.  She  hopes,  there- 
fore, that  she  shall  not  be  considered  as  too 
indulgent  to  vanity,  or  too  studious  of  in- 
terest, if  from  that  labour  which  has  hith- 
erto been  chiefly  gainful  to  others,  she  en- 
deavoure  to  obtain  at  last  some  profit  to 
herself  and  her  children.  She  cannot  de- 
cently enforce  her  claim  by  the  praise  of 
her  own  performances;  nor  can  she  sup- 
pose, that,  by  the  most  artful  and  laboured 
address,  any  additional  notice  could  be 
procured  to  a  publication,  of  which  her 
majesty  has  condescended  to  be  the  pa* 
troness." 

He  this  year  also  wrote  the  Preface  to 
Baretti's  "Easy  Lessons  in  Italian  and 
English  t." 

"TO  JAM1S   BOSWELL,    ESQ,. 

«'  14th  January,  1776. 

"  Deae  sis, — You  never  did  ask  for  a 
book  by  the  post  till  now,  and  I  did  not 
think  on  it  You  see  now  it  is  done.  I 
sent  one  to  the  king,  and  I  hear  he  likes  it 
•  "  I  shall  send  a  parcel  into  Scotland  for 
presents,  and  intend  to  give  to  many  of 
my  friends.  In  your  catalogue  you  left  out 
Lord  Auchinleck. 

"  Let  me  know,  as  fast  as  you  read  it, 
how  you  like  it;  and  let  me  know  if  any 
mistake  is  committed,  or  any  thing  im- 
portant left  out.  I  wish  you  could  have 
seen  the  sheets.  My  compliments  to  Mrs. 
Boswell,  and  to  Veronica,  and  to  all  my 
friends.  I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble  ser- 
vant, "Sam.  Johnson." 

"MB.     BOSWELL     TO   DR.   JOHNSON. 

"  Edlnbuifb,  19th  Jan.  1775. 

"  Be  pleased  to  accept  of  my  best  thanks 
for  your  *  Journey  to  the  Hebrides,9  which 
came  to  me  by  last  night's  post  I  did 
really  ask  the  favour  twice;  but  you  have 
been  even  with  me  by  granting  it  so  speedi- 
ly. Bis  dat  qui  cito  dot.  Though  ill  of 
a  bad  cold,  you  kept  me  up  Che  greatest 
part  of  last  night;  for  I  did  not  stop  till  I 
had  read  every  word  of  your  book.  I  look- 
ed back  to  our  first  talking  of  a  visit  to  the 
Hebrides,  which  was  many  years  ago, 
when  sitting  by  ourselves  in  the  Mitre  tav- 
ern in  London,  I  think  about  witching  time 

1  [See  ante,  p.  95— En.] 


o'  night;  and  then  exulted  in  contemplating 
our  scheme  fulfilled,  and  a  monumentum 
perenne  of  it  erected  by  your  superior 
abilities.  I  shall  only  say,  that  your  book 
has  afforded  me  a  high  gratification.  I 
shall  afterwards  give  you  my  thoughts  on 
particular  passages.  In  the  mean  time,  I 
hasten  to  tell  you  of  your  having  mistaken 
two  names,  which  you  will  correct  in  Lon- 
don, as  I  shall  do  here,  that  the  gentlemen 
who  deserve  the  valuable  compliments 
which  you  have  paid  them,  may  enioy  their 
honours.  In  page  106,  for  Gordon  read 
Mwr  chiton;  and  in  page  957,  for  Maclean 
read  Mocleod*. 

•  •  #  # 

"  But  I  am  now  to  apply  to  you  for  im- 
mediate aid  in  my  profession,  which  you 
have  never  refused  to  grant  when  I  request- 
ed it  I  enclose  you  a  petition  for  Dr. 
Memis,  a  physician  at  Aberdeen,  in  which 
Sir  John  Dauymple  has  exerted  his  talents, 
and  which  I  am  to  answer  as  counsel  for 
the  managers  of  the  royal  infirmary  in  that 
city,  Mr.  Jopp,  the  provost,  who  deliver- 
ed  to  you  your  freedom,  is  one  of  my  cli- 
ents, and,  as  a  citizen  of  Aberdeen,  you 
will  support  him. 

a  "  The  fact  is  shortly  this.  In  a  transla- 
tion of  the  charter  of  the  infirmary  from 
Latin  into  English,  made  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  managers,  the  same  phrase  in 
the  original  is  in  one  place  rendered  physi- 
cian, but  when  applied  to  Dr.  Memis  is 
rendered  doctor  of  medicine.  Dr.  Memis 
complained  of  this  before  the  translation 
was  printed,  but  was  not  indulged  with 
having  it  altered;  and  he  has  brought  an 
action  for  damages,  on  account  of  a  suppos- 
ed injury,  as  if  the  designation  given  to  him 
was  an  inferior  one,  tending  to  make  it  be 
supposed  he  is  not  a  physician,  and  conse- 
quently to  hurt  his  practice.  My  father 
has  dismissed  the  action  as  groundless,  and 
now  he  has  appealed  to  the  whole  court3." 

11  TO  JAMXS  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

'•  1st  January,  1798. 

"  Dear  sir, — I  lone-  to  hear  how  yon 
like  the  book;  it  is,  I  think,  much  lied 
here.  But  Macpherson  is  very  furious;  can 
you  give  me  any  more  intelligence  about 


9  [It  is  strange  that  these  errois  have  never 
been  conrec ted:  they  will  be  found  in  vol  via. 
pp.  265  and  401,  of  Murphy's  edition,  and  vol 
is.  pp.  44  and  150,  of  the  Oxford  edition. — En.] 

8  In  the  court  of  session  of  Scotland  an 


is  first  tried  by  one  of  the  judges,  who  is  called 
the  lord  ordinary;  and  if  either  party  is 
fied,  he  may  appeal  to  the  whole  court,  con 
of  fifteen,  the  lord  president  and  fourteen  other 
judges,  who  have  both  in  and  out  of  court  the 
title  of  lords  from  the  name  of  their  estates  ;  as, 
Lord  Auchinleck,  Lord  Monboddo,  See     Bos- 

WELL. 


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him,  or  his  Fingal?  Do  what  you  can,  and 
do  it  quickly.    Is  Lord  Halles  on  our  side? 

"  Pray  let  me  know  what  I  owed  you 
when  I  left  you,  that  I  may  send  it  to  you. 

"  I  am  going  to  write  about  the  Ameri- 
cans. If  you  have  picked  up  any  hints 
among  your  lawyers,  who  are  great  mas- 
ters of  the  law  of  nations,  or  if  your  own 
mind  suggests  any  thing,  let  me  know. 
But  mum,  it  is  a  secret. 

"  I  will  send  your  parcel  of  books  as  soon 
as  Tcan;  but  I  cannot  do  as  I  wish.  How- 
ever, you  find  every  thing  mentioned  in  the 
book  which  you  recommended. 

"  Langton  is  here;  we  are  all  that  ever 
we  were.  He  is  a  worthy  fellow,  without 
malice,  though  not  without  resentment l. 

"  Poor  Beauclerk  is  so  ill  that  his  life  is 
thought  to  be  in  danger.  Lady  Di  nurses 
him  with  very  great  assiduity. 

"  Reynolds  has  taken  too  much  to  strong 
liquor9,  and  seems  to  delight  in  his  new 
character. 

"  This  is  all  the  news  that  I  have;  but 
as  you  love  verses,  I  will  send  you  a  few 
which  I  made  upon  Inchkenneth  3;  but  re- 
member the  condition,  you  shall  not  show 
them,  except  to  Lord  Hailes,  whom  I  love 
better  than  any  man  whom  I  know  so  lit- 
tle. If  he  asks  you  to  transcribe  them  for 
him,  you  may  do  it;  but  I  think  he  must 
promise  not  to  let  them  be  copied  again, 
nor  to  show  them  as  mine. 

"  I  have  at  last  sent  back  Lord  Hailes's 
sheets.  I  never  think  about  returning 
them,  because  I  alter  nothing.  You  will 
see  that  I  might  as  well  have  kept  them. 
However,  I  am  ashamed  of  my  delay;  and 
if  I  have  the  honour  of  receiving  any  more, 
promise  punctually  to  return  them  by  the 
next  post  Make  my  compliments  to  dear 
Mrs.  Boswell,  and  to  Miss  Veronica.  I  am, 
dear  sir,  yours  most  faithfully, 

"Sam.  Johmsow*." 


1  [This  refers  to  the  coolness  alluded  to,  ante, 
p.  321,  n.  and  351. — Ed.] 

*  It  should  be  recollected  that  this  fanciful  de- 
scription of  his  friend  was  given  by  Johnson  after 
he  himself  had  become  a  water-drinker. — Bos- 
well. [This  good-natured  intimation  of  Mr. 
Boswell's  cannot  be  admitted  as  an-  explanation 
of  this  expression.  Johnson  had  been  a  water- 
drinker  ever  since  1766  (see  ante,  p.  227),  and, 
therefore,  that  could  not  be  his  motive  for 
making,  nine  years  after,  an  observation  on  Sir 
Joshua's  "  new  character."  Sir  Joshua  was 
,  always  convivial,  and  this  expression  was  either 
an  allusion  to  some  little  anecdote  now  forgotten, 
or  arose  out  of  that  odd  fancy  which  Johnson 
(perhaps  from  his  own  morbid  feelings)  enter- 
tained, that  every  one  who  drank  wine,  in  any 
quantity  whatsoever,  was  more  or  leas  drunk.— 

J"  [See  ante,  p.  437.— Ed.] 

4  He  now  sent  me  a  Latin  inscription  for  my 

vol.  i  63 


<c  MR.    BOSWELL    TO    DR.   JOHNSON. 
«« Edinburgh,  27th  Jan.  177*. 

•  •  •  •  • 

"  You  rate  our  lawyers  here  too  high, 
when  vou  call  them  great  masters  of  the 
law  of  nations. 

•  •  •  •  * 

"  As  for  myself,  I  am  ashamed  to  say  I 
have  read  little  and  thought  little  on  the 
subject  of  America.  I  will  be  much  obliged 
to  you,  if  you  will  direct  me  where  I  shall 
find  the  best  information  of  what  is  to  be 
said  on  both  sides.  It  is  a  subject  vast  in 
its  present  extent  and  future  consequences. 
The  imperfect  hints  which  now  float  in 
my  mind  tend  rather  to  the  formation  of 
an  opinion  that  our  government  has  been 
precipitant  and  severe  in  the  resolutions 
taken  against  the  Bostonians.  Well  do 
you  know  that  I  have  no  kindness  for  that 
race.  But  nations,  or  bodies  of  men, 
should,  as  well  as  individuals,  have  a  fair 
trial,  and  not  be  condemned  on  character 
alone.  Have  we  not  express  contracts  with 
our  colonies,  which  afford  a  more  certain 
foundation  of  judgment,  than  general  polit- 
ical speculations  on  the  mutual  rights  of 
states  and  their  provinces  or  colonies?  Pray 
let  me  know  immediately  what  to  read,  and 
I  shall  diligently  endeavour  to  gather  for 


historical  picture,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  and 
afterwards  favoured  me  with  an  English  transla- 
tion. Mr.  Alderman  Boy  dell,  that  eminent 
patron  of  the  arts,  has  subjoined  them  to  the  en- 
graving (com  my  picture. 

11  Maria  Scotorum  Regina, 

Homlnum  MxlitJcworuni 

Conturoelfia  lamu, 

Mini*  territa,  clamoribuB  vicu, 

LibeUo,  per  quern 

Regno  cedit, 

Lacrlmaiis  trepidansque 

Nomen  apponit.'' 

"Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 

Harassed,  terrified,  and  overpowered 

By  the  Insults,  menaces, 

And  clamours 
Of  her  rebellious  subjects, 

Sets  her  hand, 

With  tears  and  confusion, 

To  a  resignation  of  the  kingdom."— Boswill. 

[It  may  he  doubted  whether  (<  regno  cedit," 
in  the  sense  here  intended,  is  quite  correct  No 
one  is  ignorant  that  "foro  cedit,  vita  cedit,"  and 
similar  expressions,  are  classical;  and  thai  if  Mary 
had  been  quitting  the  kingdom,  instead  of  resign- 
ing the  crown,  regno  cedit  would  be  correct  and 
elegant ;  but  'iregnum  means  regal  rights,  the 
accusative  case  would  seem  the  more  consonant 
with  the  analogies  of  grammar.  Tacitus  seems  to 
make  this  distinction;  he  says  of  troops  abandon- 
ing a  position,  '<  loco  cedunt  '*  (German.  6)  ; 
but  when  they  resign  the  spoils  of  the  conquered, 
he  says,  *<  bona  interfectorwn  eedunt"  (Hist. 
4,  64).  So  also  Virgil,  "  cedat  lama  loeo"  (7 
JEn.  882),  for  gwing  way;  but  " cedat  jus 
proprium  regi"  (11  JEn.  859),  for  the 
Uon  of  aright. — Ed.] 


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1775.— jETAT.  W. 


you  any  thing  that  I  can  find.  Is  Burke's 
speech  on  American  taxation  published  by 
himself?  Is  it  authentick?  I  remember  to 
have  heard  you  say,  that  you  had  never 
considered  East  Indian  affairs;  though, 
surely,  they  are  of  much  importance  to 
Great  Britain.  Under  the  recollection  of 
this,  I  shelter  myself  from  the  reproach  of 
ignorance  about  the  Americans.  If  you 
write  upon  the  subject,  I  shall  certainly  un- 
derstand it.  But,  since  you  seem  to  ex- 
pect that  I  should  know  something  of  it, 
without  your  instruction,  and  that  my  own 
mind  should  suggest  something,  I  trust  you 
will  put  me  in  the  way. 

"  What  does  Becket  mean  by  the  Orig- 
inal* of  Fingal  and  other  poems  of  Ossian, 
which  he  advertises  to  have  lain  in  his 
•hop?" 


"  TO  JAMES    BOSWBLL,    ES<*. 

u  38th  Jan.  1775. 

"  Dear  sir, — You  sent  me  a  case  to  con- 
aider,  in  which  I  have  no  facts  but  what 
are  against  uj,  nor  any  principles  on  which 
to  reason.  It  is  vain  to  try  to  write  thus 
without  materials.  The  fact  seems  to  be 
against  you;  at  least  I  cannot  know  nor 
say    any    thing    to  the   contrary.     I   am 

Slad  that  you  like  the  book  so  well.  I 
ear  no  more  of  Macpherson.  I  shall 
long  to  know  what  Lord  Hailes  says  of  it 
Lend  it  him  privately.  I  shall  send  the 
parcel  as  soon  as  I  can.  Make  my  com- 
pliments to  Mrs.  Bos  well.  I  am,  sir,  &c. 
"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  MR.    BOSWELL   TO    DR.    JOHNSON. 

<•  Edinburgh,  2d  Feb.  1775. 
•  •  •  •  * 

"  As  to  Macpherson,  I  am  anxious  to 
have  from  yourself  a  full  and  pointed  ac- 
count of  what  has  passed  between  you  and 
him.  It  is  confidently  told  here,  that  be- 
fore your  book  came  out  he  sent  to  you, 
to  let  you  know  that  he  understood  you 
meant  to  deny  the  authenticity  of  Ossian >s 
poems;  that  the  originals  were  in  his  pos- 
session; that  you  might  have  inspection  of 
them,  and  might  take  the  evidence  of  peo- 
ple skilled  in  the  Erse  language;  and  that 
ne  hoped,  after  this  fair  offer,  you  would 
not  be  so  uncandid  as  to  assert  that  he  had 
refused  reasonable  proof.  That  you  paid 
no  regard  to  his  message,  but  published 
your  strong  attack  upon  him;  and  then  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  you,  in  such  terms  as  he 
thought  suited  to  one  who  had  not  acted 
as  a  man  of  veracity.  You  may  believe  it 
gives  me  pain  to  hear  your  conduct  repre- 
sented as  unfavourable,  while  I  can  only 
deny  what  is  said,  on  the  ground  that  your 
character  refutes  it,  without  having  any  in- 
formation to  oppose.    Let  me,  I  beg  it  of 


you,  be  furnished  with  a  sufficient  answer 
to  any  calumny  upon  this  occasion. 

"  ilord  Hailes  writes  to  me  (for  we  cor- 
respond more  than  we  talk  together), *  As 
to  Fingal,  I  see  a  controversy  arising,  and 
purpose  to  keep  out  of  its  way.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  I  might  mention  some  cir- 
cumstances; but  I  do  not  choose  to  commit 
them  to  paper  V  What  his  opinion  is  I 
do  not  know.  He  says,  '  I  am  singularly 
obliged  to  Dr.  Johnson  for  his  accurate 
and  useful  criticisms.  Had  he  giveu  some 
strictures  on  the  general  plan  of  the  work, 
it  would  have  added  much  to  his  favours.' 
He  is  charmed  with  your  verses  on  Inch- 
kenneth,  says  they  are  very  elegant,  but 
bids  me  tell  you,  he  doubts  whether 

•  Legitimes  faciunt  pectora  pun  pieces, ' 

be  according  to  the  rubrick9  :    but  that 


1  His  lordship,  notwithstanding  his  resolution, 
did  commit  his  sentiments  to  paper,  and  in  one 
of  his  notes  affixed  to  hit  Collection  of  Old  Scot- 
tish Poetry,  be  says,  "  to  doubt  the  authenticity 
of  those  poems  is  a  refinement  in  scepticism  in- 
deed."—J.  BOSWELL. 

*  [Meaning,  perhaps,  that  this  line  would,  if 
taken  as  a  general  principle,  exclude  the  expe- 
diency of  any  form  of  prayer,  or  the  necessity  of 
a  priesthood,  and  consequently  impugn  our  liturgy 
and  church  establishment ;  but  Dr.  Johnson's 
verses  referred  to  a  case  not  of  public  but  of  do- 
mestic prayer ;  and  the  Church  of  England, 
though  its  liturgy  affords  admirable  helps  to  pri- 
vate devotion,  does  not  affect  to  regulate  it  by 
any  form  or  rubrick  ;  it  was,  however,  perhaps, 
this  criticism  which  induced  Johnson  to  substitute 
for  this  elegant  line  the  obscure  and  awkward 
one, 

"  Sint  pro  Ufitimis  pur*  tefteffa  merit." 

See  ante,  p.  487,  n. — Ed.]  In  the  Appendix  to 
the  English  copy,  we  have,  in  addition  to  this 
note,  what  follows. 

[While  this  volnme  (vol.  Hi.  of  the  English  edi- 
tion) was  passing  through  the  press,  but  after  pp. 
21  and  171  (ante,  p.  437,  and  p.  498,  of  tins 
edition)  bad  been  printed,  Mr.  Langton  favour- 
ed the  Editor  with  several  interesting  papers 
(which  had  belonged  to  his  grandfather,  Mr. 
Bennet  Langton),  and,  amongst  them,  a  copy  of 
the  Verses  on  Inch- Kenneth,  in  Dr.  Johnson's 
own  hand-writing,  dated  2d  Dec  1773,  by  which 
it  appears  that  the  line  which  the  Editor  ventured 
to  consider  as  inferior  to  the  rest, 

*«  flint  pro  legtUmfti  purs  Isbetla  sscrfa," 
was    manufactured  by  Mr.  Langton  from  two 
variations  which  Dr.  Johnson  had,  it  seems,  suc- 
cessively rejected ; 

Slat  pro  kgttiaiis  pastors  purs  sserii, 


so  that  we  may  safely  restore  the  reading  which 
Johnson  appears  finally  to  have  approved, 
"  Legitimu  fedunt  pectora  pur*  prac**." 
Mr.  Langton's  copy  agrees  with  that  ante,  p. 
487,  except  only  that "  dues  eepU  casa"  is  "  dees 
tenuit  caaa"— and  "  procoj  emejubet"  is  "  pro- 


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1776.— iETAT.  66. 


499 


is  your  concern;  for,  you  know,  he  is  a 

Presbyterian." 


"  TO  DR.  LAWRENCE  K 

"  7th  Feb.  1775. 

"  Si  a, — One  of  the  Scotch  physicians  is 
now  prosecuting  a  corporation  that  in  some 
publick  instrument  have  styled  him  doctor 
of  medicine  instead  of  physician.  Bos- 
well  desires,  being  advocate  for  the  corpo- 
ration, to  know  whether  doctor  of  medicine 
is  not  a  legitimate  title,  and  whether  it  may 
be  considered  as  a  disadvantageous  distinc- 
tion. I  am  to  write  to-night;  be  pleased  to 
tell  me.    I  am,  sir,  your  most,  &c.  . 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

"  TO  JAMES  BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

"  7th  Feb.  1775. 

"  Mt  dear  Boswell, — I  am  surprised 
that,  knowing  as  you  do  the  disposition  of 
your  countrymen  to  tell  lies  in  favour  of 
each  other s,  you  can  be  at  all  affected  by 
any  reports  that  circulate  among  them* 
Maepherson  never  in  his  life  offered  me  a 
sight  of  any  original  or  of  any  evidence  of 
any  kind;  but  thought  only  of  intimidating 
me  by  noise  and  threats,  till  my  last  answer 
— that  I  would  not  be  deterred  from  detect- 
ing what  I  thought  a  cheat  by  the  menaces 
of  a  ruffian — put  an  end  to  our  correspon- 
dence. 

"  The  state  of  the  question  is  this.  He, 
and  Dr.  Blair,  whom  I  consider  as  deceiv- 
ed, say,  that  he  copied  the  poem  from  old 
manuscripts.  His  copies,  if  he  had  them, 
and  I  believe  him  to  have  none,  are  nothing. 
Where  are  the  manuscripts?  They  can 
be  shown  if  they  exist,  but  they  were  never 
shown.  De  non  existentibus  et  non  appa- 
rentibtUy  says  our  law,  eadem  est  ratio. 
No  man  has  a  claim  to  credit  upon  his  own 


col  esse  veKt."  How  it  happened  that  the  copy 
sent  by  Johnson  to  Boswell  in  1775  should  be  so 
mutilated  and  curtailed  from  a  copy  written  so 
early  as  Dec.  1773,  is  not  to  be  explained. — Ed.] 

1  The  learned  and  worthy  Dr.  Lawrence, 
whom  Dr.  Johnson  respected  and  loved  as  his 
physician  and  friend. — Boswell. 

*  My  friend  has,  in  this  letter,  relied  upon  my 
testimony,  with  a  confidence,  of  which  the  ground 
has  escaped  my  recollection. — Boswkxl.  [This, 
and  a  subsequent  phrase  in  this  letter,  must  have 
left  poor  Mr.  Boswell  sorely  perplexed  between 
his  desire  to  stand  well  with  hi  countrymen,  and 
bis  inability  to  deny  Johnson's  assertion.  His 
evasion  is  awkward  enough,  for  there  are  several 
passages  in  his  Journal  of  the  Tour  which  seem, 
if  not  to  justify,  at  least  to  excuse  Johnson's  ap- 
peal to  him ;  for  instance,  Mr.  Boswell's  obser- 
vation, ante,  20th  October,  on  "the  confident 
carelessness  of  the  statements  with  which  be 
and  Dr.  Johnson  were  so  constantly  deceived  and 
prc+pk4d.»—ED.] 


word,  when  better  evidence,  if  he  had  it, 
may  he  easily  produced.  But  so  far  as  we 
can  find,  the  Erse  language  was  never 
written  till  very  lately  for  the  purposes  of 
religion.  A  nation  that  cannot  write,  or 
a  language  that. was  never  written,  has  no 
manuscripts. 

"  But  whatever  he  has  he  never  offered 
to  show.  If  old  manuscripts  should  now 
be  mentioned,  I  should,  unless  there  were 
more  evidence  than  can  be  easily  had, 
suppose  them  another  proof  of  Scotch  con- 
spiracy in  national  falsehood. 

"  Do  not  censure  the  expression;  you 
know  it  to  be  true. 

"  Dr.  Memis's  question  is  so  narrow  as 
to  allow  no  speculation;  and  I  have  no 
facts  before  me  but  those  which  his  advo- 
cate has  produced  against  you. 

"  I  consulted  this  morning  the  president 
of  the  London  College  of  Physicians,  who 
says,  that  with  us,  doctor  of  physick  £we 
do  not  say  doctor  of  medicine)  is  the  high- 
est title  that  a  practise r  of  physick  can 
have;  that  doctor  implies  not  only  physi- 
cian, but  teacher  of  physick-;  that  every 
doctor  is  legally  a  physician  ;  but  no  man, 
not  a  doctor,  can  practise  physic  but  by 
license  particularly  granted.  The  docto- 
rate is  a  license  of  itself.  It  seems  to  us  a 
very  slender  cause  of  prosecution. 

»  •  Y  •  •  •  • 

"  I  am  now  engaged,  but  in  a  little  time  I 
hope  to  do  all  you  would  have.  My  com- 
pliments to  madam  and  Veronica.  I  am, 
sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.-  Johnson." 

What  words  were  used  by  Mr.  Mac- 

?  hereon  in  his  letter  to  the  venerable  safe, 
have  never  heard;  but  they  are  generally 
said  to  have  been  of  a  nature  very  different 
from  the  language  of  literary  contest.  Dr. 
Johnson's  answer  appeared  in  the  newspa- 
pers of  the  day,  and  has  since  been  fre- 
quently republished;  but  not  with  perfect 
accuracy.  I  give  it  as  dictated  to  me  by 
himself,  written  down  in  his  presence,  and 
authenticated  by  a  note  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, "This,  I  think,  is  a  true  copy  3. " 

"  Ma.  James  Macpheeson,— I  received 
your  foolish  and  impudent  letter.  Any 
violence  offered  me  I  shall  do  my  best  to 
repel;  and  what  I  cannot  do  for  myself,  the 
law  shall  do  for  me.  I  hope  I  never  shall 
be  deterred  from  detecting  what  I  think  a 
cheat,  by  the  menaces  of  a  ruffian. 

"  What  would  you  have  me  retract?  I 
thought  your  book  an  imposture;  I  think  it 
an  imposture  stilL  For  this  opinion  I  have 
given  my  reasons  to  the  publick,  which  I 

*  I  have  deposited  it  in  the  British  Musenjn.-- 
Boswsu.. 


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ma.— jETat.  w. 


here  dare  you  to  refute.  Your  rage  I  defy. 
Tour  abilities,  since  your  Homer,  are  not 
so  formidable;  and  what  I  hear  of  your 
morals  inclines  me  to  pay  regard  not  to 
what  you  shall  say,  but  to  what  you  shall 
prove.  You  may  print  this  if  you  will. 
"  Sam.  Johksow." 

Mr.  Macpherson  little  knew  the  character 
of  Dr.  Johnson,  if  he  supposed  that  he 
could  be  easily  intimidated*,  for  no  man 
was  ever  more  remarkable  for  personal 
courage.  He  had,  indeed,  an  awful  dread 
of  death,  or  rather,  "  of  something  after 
death:"  and  what  rational  man,  who  se- 
riously thinks  of  quitting  all  that  he  has 
ever  known,  and  going  into  a  new  and  un- 
known state  of  being,  can  be  without  that 
dread?  But  his  fear  was  from  reflection; 
his  courage  natural.  His  fear,  in  that  one 
instance,  was  the  result  of  philosophical 
and  religious  consideration.  He  reared 
death,  but  he  feared  nothing  else,  not  even 
what  might  occasion  death. 

[Fear  was  indeed  a  sensation  to 
JrSu!  which  Dr.  Johnson  was  an  utter 
stranger,  excepting  when  some  sud- 
den apprehensions  seized  him  that  he  was 
going  to  die  ;  and  even  then,  he  kept  all  his 
wits  about  him,  to  express  the  most  hum- 
ble and  pathetic  petitions  to  the  Almighty : 
and  when  the  first  paralytic  stroke  took  his 
speech  from  him,  he  instantly  set  about 
composing  a  prayer  in  Latin,  at  once  to  de- 

Erecate  God's  mercy,  to  satisfy  himself  that 
is  mental  powers  remained  unimpaired,  and 
to  keep  them  in  exercise,  that  tney  might 
not  perish  by  permitted  stagnation. 

When  one  day  he  had  at  Streatham  ta- 
ken tincture  of  antimony  instead  of-  emetic 
wine,  for  a  vomit,  he  was  himself  the  per- 
son to  direct  what  should  be  done  for  him, 
and  managed  with  as  much  coolness  and 
deliberation  as  if  he  had  been  prescribing 
for  an  indifferent  person.] 

Many  instances  of  his  resolution  may  be 
mentioned.  One  day,  at  Mr.  Beauclerk's 
house  in  the  country  J  when  two  large  dogs 
were  fighting  *,  he  went  up  to  them,  and 
•  beat  them  till  they  separated;  and  at  anoth- 
er time,  when  told  of  the  danger  there  was 
that  a  gun  might  burst  if  charged  with  ma- 
ny balls,  he  put  in  six  or  seven,  and  fired  it 
off  against  a  wall.  Mr.  Langton  told  me, 
that  when  they  were  swimming  together, 
near  Oxford,  he  cautioned  Dr.  Johnson 
against  a  pool,  which  was  reckoned  partic- 
ularly dangerous;  upon  which  Johnson  di- 


1  ["When  we  inquired,"  says  Mre.  Piozzi, 
"  into  the  truth  of  this  story,  he  answered,  the 
dogs  have  been  somewhat  magnified,  I  believe. 
They  were,  as  I  remember,  two  stout  young 
pointers  ;  but  the  story  has  gained  but  little." 
Piozzi,  p.  88.  This  story  was  told  ante,  p. 
438. — Ed. J 


rectly  swam  into  it.  He  told  me  him- 
self that  one  night  he  was  attacked  in  the 
street  by  four  men,  to  whom  he  would  not 
yield,  but  kept  them  all  at  bay,  till  the  watch 
came  up,  and  carried  both  him  and  them  to 
the  round-house.  In  the  playhouse  at 
Lichfield,  as  Mr.  Garrick  informed  me, 
Johnson  having  for  a  moment  quitted  a 
chair  which  was  placed  for  him  between 
the  side-scenes,  a  gentleman  took  possession 
of  it,  and,  when  Johnson  on  his  return  ci- 
villy demanded  his  seat,  rudely  refused  to 
give  it  up;  upon  which  Johnson  laid  hold 
of  it,  and  tossed  him  and  the  chair  into  the 
pit a.  Foote,  who  so  successfully  revived 
the  old  comedy,  by  exhibiting  living  char- 
acters, had  resolved  to  imitate  Johnson  on 
the  stage,  expecting  great  profits  from  his 
ridicule  of  so  celebrated  a  man.  Johnson 
bein^  informed  of  his  intention,  and  being 
at  dinner  at  Mr.  Thomas  Davies*s,  the 
bookseller,  from  whom  I  had  the  story,  he 
asked  Mr.  Davies, "  what  was  the  common 
price  of  an  oak  stick?  "  and  being  answer- 
ed sixpence,  "Why  then,  sir,"  said  he, 
"give  me  leave  to  send  your  servant  to 
purchase  me  a  shilling  one.  I'll  have  a 
double  quantity;  for  I  am  told  Foote  means 
to  take  me  off,  as  he  calls  it,  and  I  am  de- 
termined the  fellow  shall  not  do  it  with  im- 
punity." Davies  took  care  to  acquaint 
Foote  of  this,  which  effectually  checked  the 
wantonness  of  the  mimick.  Mr.  Macpher- 
son's  menaces  made  Johnson  provide  him- 
self with  thesame  implement  of  defence; 
and  had  he  been  attacked,  I  have  no  doubt 
that,  old  as  he  was,  he  would  have  made 
his  corporal  prowess  be  felt  as  much  as  his 
intellectual. 

His  "  Journey  tothe  Western  Islands  of 
Scotland  * "  is  a  most  valuable  perform- 
ance. It  abounds  in  extensive  philosophi- 
cal views  of  society,  and  in  ingenious  sen- 
timent and  lively  description.  A  consider- 
able part  of  it,  indeed,  consists  of  specula- 
tions, which,  many  years  before  he  saw 
the  wild  regions  which  we  visited  togeth- 
er, probably  had  employed  his  attention, 
though  the  actual  sight  of  those  scenes  un- 
doubtedly quickened  and  augmented  them. 
Mr.  Orme,  the  very  able. historian,  agreed 
with  me  in  this  opinion,  which  he  thus 
strongly  expressed :  "  There  are  in  that 
book  thoughts,  which,  by  long  revolution 
in  the  great  mind  of  Johnson,  have  been 
formed  and  polished  like  pebbles  rolled  in 
the  ocean !  " 

That  he  was  to  some  degree  of  excess 
a  true  born  Englishman,  so  as  to  have  en- 
tertained an  undue  prejudice  against  both 
the  country  and  the  people  of  Scotland,  must 
be  allowed.     But  it  was  a  prejudice  of  the 


*  [If  Mb.  Piozzi  had  reported  any  statements* 
obviously  exaggerated  as  this,  Mr.  Boswell  wvsM 
have  been  very  indignant. — Ed.] 


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head,  and  not  of  the  heart  K  He  had  no 
ill-wilt  to  the  Scotch;  for,  if  he  had  been 
conscious  of  that,  he  never  would  have 
thrown  himself  into  the  bosom  of  their 
country;  and  trusted  to  the  protection  of  its 
remote  inhabitants  with  a  fearless  confi- 
dence. His  remark  upon  the  nakedness  of 
the  country,  from  its  being  denuded  of 
trees,  was  made  after  having  travelled  two 
hundred  miles  along  the  eastern  coast, 
where  certainly  trees  are  not  to  be  found 
near  the  road;  and  he  said  it  was  "  a  map  of 
the  road  "  which  he  gave.  His  disbelief  of 
the  authenticity  of  the  poems  ascribed  to 
Ossian,  a  Highland  bard,  was  confirmed  in 
the  course  of  his  journey,  by  a  very  strict 
examination  of  the  evidence  offered  for  it; 
and  although  their  authenticity  was  made 
too  much  a  national  point  by  the  Scotch, 
there  were  many  respectable  persons  in 
that  country,  who  did  not  concur  in  this: 
so  that  his  judgment  upon  the  question 
ought  not  to  "be  decried,  even  by  those  who 
differ  from  him.  As  to  myself,  I  can  only 
say,  upon  a  subject  now  become  very  unin- 
teresting, that  when  the  fragments  of  High- 
land poetry  first  came  out,  I  was  much 
pleased  with  their  wild  peculiarity,  and  was 
one  of  those  who  subscribed  to  enable  their 
editor,  Mr.  Macpherson,  then  a  young  man, 
to  make  a  search  in  the  Highlands  and 
Hebrides  for  a  long  poem  in  the  Erse  lan- 
guage, which  was  reported  to  be  preserved 
somewhere  in  those  regions.  But  when 
there  came  forth  an  Epick  poem  in  six 
books,  with  all  the  common  circumstances 
of  former  compositions  of  that  nature;  and 
when,  upon  an  attentive  examination  of  it, 
there  was  found  a  perpetual  recurrence  of 
the  same  images  which  appear  in  the  frag- 
ments; and  when  no  ancient  manuscript,  to 
authenticate  the  work,  was  deposited  in 
any  publick  library,  though  that  was  insist- 
ed'on  as  a  reasonable  proof,  who  could  for- 
bear to  doubt? 

Johnson's  grateful  acknowledgments  of 
kindness  received  in  the  course  of  this  tour 
completely  refute  the  brutal  reflections  which 
have  been  thrown  out  against  him,  as  if  he 
had  made  an  ungrateful  return;  and  his  deli- 
cacy in  sparing  in  his  book  those,  who,  we 
find,  from  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  were 
just  objects  of  censure  9,  is  much  to  be  ad- 


1  [This  is  a  distinction  which  the  Editor  is  not 
sure  that  he  understands.  Did  Mr.  Boswell  think 
that  he  improved  the  case  by  representing  John- 
son's dislike  of  Scotland  as  the  result  not  of  feel" 
ing  but  of  reason  ?  In  truth,  in  the  printed  Jour- 
nal of  his  Tour,  there  is  nothing  that  a  fair  and 
liberal  Scotchman  can  or  does  complain  of ;  but 
his  conversation  is  fall  of  the  harshest  and  often 
most  unjust  sarcasms  against  the  Scotch,  nation- 
ally and  individually. — -Ed.] 

*  [The  only  person  censured  in  these  letters  is 
Sir  A.  Macdonald,  to  whom  Boswell  no  doubt 


mired.  [We  have  seen  his  kind  ac-  Ed. 
knowledgment  of  Macleod's  hospitality  *, 
and  the  loss  of  poor  Col  is  recorded  in 
his  journal  in  affectionate  and  pathetic 
terms.]  His  candour  and  amiable  disposi- 
tion is  conspicuous  from  his  conduct,  when 
informed  by  Mr.  Macleod,  of  Rasay,  that 
he  had  committed  a  mistake,  which  gave 
that  gentleman  some  uneasiness.  He  wrote 
him  [as  we  have  seen]  a  courteous  and 
kind  letter,  and  inserted  in  the  newspapers 
an  advertisement,  correcting  the  mistake4. 
The  observations  of  my  friend  Mr.  Demp- 
ster 5  in  a  letter  written  to  me,  soon  after 
he  had  read  Dr.  Johnson's  book,  are  so  just 
and  liberal,  that  they  cannot  be  too  often 
repeated. 

"  There  is  nothing  in  the  book,  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  that  a  Scotchman  need  to 
take  amiss.  What  he  says  of  the  country 
is  true;  and  his  observations  on  the  people 
are  what  must  naturally  occur  to  a  sensible, 
observing,  and  reflecting  inhabitant  of  a 
convenient  metropolis,  where  a  man  on  thir- 
ty pounds  a  year  may  be  better  accommo- 
dated with  all  the  little  wants  of  life,  than 
Col  or  Sir  Allan. 

"  I  am  charmed  with  his  researches  con- 
cerning the  Erse  language,  and  the  antiqui- 
ty of  tneir  manuscripts.  I  am  quite  con- 
vinced; and  I  shall  rank  Ossian  and  his  Fin- 
gals  and  Oscars  amongst  the  nursery  tales, 
not  the  true  history  of  our  country,  in  all 
time  to  come. 

"  Upon  the  whole,  the  book  cannot  dis- 
please, for  it  has  no  pretensions.  The  au- 
thour  neither  says  he  is  a  geographer,  nor 
an  antiquarian,  nor  very  learned  in  the  his- 
tory of  Scotland,  nor  a  naturalist,  nor  a  fos- 
silist.  The  manners  of  the  people,  and  the 
face  of  the  country,  are  all  he  attempts  to 
describe,  or  seems  to  have  thought  of. 
Much  were  it  to  be  wished,  that  they  who 
have  travelled  into  more  remote,  and  of 
course  more  curious  regions,  had  all  pos- 
sessed his  good  sense.  Of  the  state  of  learn- 
ing, his  observations  on  Glasgow  university 
show  he  has  formed  a  very  sound  judgment 
He  understands  our  climate  too  ;  and  he 
has  accurately  observed  the  changes,  how- 
ever slow  and  imperceptible  to  us,  which 
Scotland  has  undergone,  in  consequence  of 

the  blessings  of  liberty  and  internal  peace." 

•        ••••• 

Mr.  Knox,  another  native  of  Scotland, 


alludes,  but  whom  7ns  delicacy  did  not  spare. 
See  ante,  p.  872.— En.] 

*  [See  ante,  p.  415.— En.] 

*  See  ante,  p.  469.— Boswell. 

*  [Boswell  was  so  vehemently  attacked  by  his 
countrymen,  as  if  he  were  particeps  erimtmt 
with  Dr.  Johnson,  that  he  thought  it  expedient  to 
produce  these  testimonia  Scotorum  in  his  own 
defence. — En.] 


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1776.— iOTAT.  66. 


who  has  since  made  the  same  tour,  and  pub- 
lished an  account  of  it,  is  equally  liberal. 

"  I  have  read,"  says  he,  "  his  book  again 
and  again,  travelled  with  him  from  Berwick 
to  Glenelg,  through  countries  with  which  1 
am  well  acquainted;  sailed  with  him  from 
Gleneljr,  to  Rasay,  Sky,  Rum,  Col,  Mull,  and 
Icolmkill,  but  have  not  been  able  to  correct 
him  in  any  matter  of  consequence.  I  have 
often  admired  the  accuracy,  the  precision, 
and  the  justness  of  what  he  advances,  re- 
specting both  the  country  and  the  people. 

"  The  Doctor  has  every  where  delivered 
his  sentiments  with  freedom,  and  in  many 
instances  with  a  seeming  regard  for  the 
benefit  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  ornament 
of  the  country.  His  remarks  on  the  want 
of  trees  and  hedges  for  shade,  as  well  as  for 
shelter  to  the  cattle,  are  well  founded,  and 
merit  the  thanks,  not  the  illiberal  censure  of 
the  natives.  He  also  felt  for  the  distresses 
of  the  Highlanders,  and  explodes  with  great 
propriety    the  bad    management    or   the 

S rounds,  and  the  neglect  of  timber  in  the 
lebrides." 

Having  quoted  Johnson's  just  compli- 
ments on  the  Rasay  family,  he  says, 

"  On  the  other  hand,  I  found  this  family 
equally  lavish  in  their  encomiums  upon  the 
Doctor's  conversation,  and  his  subsequent 
civilities  to  a  young  gentleman  of  that  coun- 
try, who,  upon  waiting  upon  him  at  Lon- 
don, was  well  received,  and  experienced  all 
the  attention  and  regard  that  a  warm  friend 
could  bestow.  Mr.  Macleod  having  also 
been  in  London,  waited  upon  the  Doctor, 
who  provided  a  magnificent  and  expensive 
entertainment  in  honour  of  his  old  Hebri- 
dean  acquaintance." 

And,  talking  of  the  military  road  by  Fort 
Augustus,  he  says, 

"  By  this  road,  though  one  of  the  most 
rugged  in  Great  Britain,  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Johnson  passed  from  Inverness  to  the  Heb- 
ride  Isles.  His  observations  on  the  country 
and  people  are  extremely  correct,  judicious, 
and  instructive  K" 

Mr.  Tytler,  the  acute  and  able  vindicator 
of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  in  one  of  his  let- 
ters to  Mr.  James  Elphinstone,  published 
in  that  gentleman's  "  Forty  Years'  Corres- 
pondence," says, 

"  I  read  Dr.  Johnson's  c  Tour '  with  very 
great  pleasure.  Some  few  errors  he  has 
fallen  into,  but  of  no  great  importance, 
and  those  are  lost  in  the  numberless  beau- 
ties of  his  work. 

"  If  I  had  leisure,  I  could  perhaps  point 
out  the  most  exceptionable  places;  but  at 
present  I  am  in  the  country,  and  have  not 
iris  book  at  hand.  It  is  plain  he  meant  to 
speak  well  of  Scotland;  and  he  has  in  my 
apprehension  done  ys  great  honour  in  the 


Page  108— Boswill. 


most  capital  article,  the  character  of  the  in- 
habitants.** 

His  private  letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  writ- 
ten during  the  course  of  his. journey,  which 
therefore  may  be  supposed  to  convey  his 
genuine  feelings  at  the  time,  abound  in 
such  benignant  sentiment  towards  the  peo- 
ple who  snowed  him  civilities,  that  no  man 
whose  temper  is  not  very  harsh  and  sour 
can  retain  a  doubt  of  the  goodness  of  his 
heart. 

It  is  painful  to  recollect  with  what  ran- 
cour he  was  assailed  by  numbers  of  shallow 
irritable  North  Britons,  on  account  of  his 
supposed  injurious  treatment  of  their  coun- 
try and  countrymen,  in  his  "  Journey." 
Had  there  been  any  just  ground  for  such  a 
charge,  would  the  virtuous  and  candid 
Dempster  have  given  his  opinion  of  the 
book,  in  the  terms  in  which  I  have  quoted? 
Would  the  patriotic  Knox  a  have  spoken  of 
it  as  he  has  done?  Would  Mr.  Tyiler, 
surely 

■• a  Sect,  if  ever  Scot  there  were," 

have  expressed  himself  thus?  And  let  me 
add,  that,  citizen  of  the  world  as  I  hold  my- 
self to  be,  I  have  that  degree  of  predilection 
for  my  nataU  solum,  nay,  I  have  that  just 
sense  of  the  merit  of  an  ancient  nation, 
which  has  been  ever  renowned  for  its  val- 
our, which  in  former  times  maintained  its 
independence  against  a  powerful  neighbour, 
and  in  modern  times  has  been  equally  dis- 
tinguished for  its  ingenuity  and  industry  in 
civilized  life,  that  I  should  have  felt  a  gene- 
rous indignation  at  any  injustice  done  to  it. 
Johnson  treated  Scotland  no  worse  than  he 
did  even  his  best  friends,  whose  characters 
he  used  to  give  as  they  appeared  to  him, 
both  in  light  and  shade.  Some  people,  who 
had  not  exercised  their  minds  sufficiently, 
condemned  him  for  censuring  his  friends. 
But  sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  whose  philosoph- 
ical penetration  and  justness  or  thinking 
were  not  less  known  to  those  who  lived 
with  him,  than  his  genius  in  his  art  admir- 
ed by  the  world,  explained  his  conduct 
thus: 

"  He  was  fond  of  discrimination,  which 
he  could  not  show  without  pointing  out  the 
bad  as  well  as  the  good  in  every  character; 
and  as  his  friends  were  those  whose  charac- 
ters he  knew  best,  they  afforded  him  the 
best  opportunity  for  showing  the  acuteness 
of  his  judgment." 

He  expressed  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Windham 
of  Norfolk3,  his  wonder   at  the  extreme 


*  I  observed  with  much  regret,  while  the  fin* 
edition  was  passing  through  the  press  (August, 
1790),  that  this  ingenious  gentleman  is  dead. — 
Boswell. 

3  [The  Right  Honourable  William  Windham 
of  Felbrigg,  born  1 750,  died  1810.  Ha  cultivated 
Johnson's  acquaintance  for  the  last  few  yeajsef 


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jealousy 1  of  the  Scotch,  and  their  resent- 
ment at  having  their  country  described  by 
him  as  it  really  was;  when  to  say  that  it 
was  a  country  as  good  as  England  would 
have  been  a  gross  falsehood.  "None  of 
us,"  said  he,  "  would  be  offended  if  a  for- 
eigner who  has  travelled  here  should  say, 
that  vines  and  olives  don't  grow  in  Eng- 
land." And  as  to  his  prejudice  against  the 
Scotch,  which  I  always  ascribed  to  that  na- 
tionality which  he  observed  in  them,  he  said 
to  the  same  gentleman,  "  When  I  find  a 
Scotchman,  to  whom  an  Englishman  is  as 
a  Scotchman,  that  Scotchman  shall  be  as  an 
Englishman  to  me.1'  His  intimacy  with 
many  gentlemen  of  Scotland,  and  his  em- 
ploying so  many  natives  of  that  country  as 
his"  amanuenses,  prove  that  his  prejudice 
was  not  virulent;  and  I  have  deposited  in 
the  British  Museum,  amongst  other  pieces 
of  his  writing,  the  following  note  in  answer 
to  one  from  me,  asking  ii  he  would  meet 
me  at  dinner  at  the  Mitre,  though  a  friend 
of  mine,  a  Scotchman,  was  to  be  there: 

"Mr.  Johnson  does  not  see  why  Mr. 
Boswell  should  suppose  a  Scotchman  less 
acceptable  than  any  other  man.  He  will 
he  at  the  Mitre." 

My  much-valued  friend  Dr.  Barnard,  now 
Bishop  of  Killaloe,  having  once  expressed 
to  him  an  apprehension  that  if  he  should 
visit  Ireland  he  might  treat  the  people  of 
that  country  more  unfavourably  than  he  had 
done  the  Scotch,  he  answered,  with  strong 
pointed  double-edged  wit, "  Sir,  you  have 
no  reason  to  be  afraid  of  me.  The  Irish 
are  not  in  a  conspiracy  to  cheat  the  world 
by  false  representations  of  the  merits  of 
their  countrymen.  No,  sir:  the  Irish  are  a 
fair  people; — they  never  speak  well  of  one 
Month,  another."  [Mr.  Murphy  relates 
&>•)',       that  Johnson  one  day  asked  him, 

*  «».  u  Have  you  observed  the  difference 
between  your  own  country  impudence  and 
Scotch  impudence  ?  "  Murphy  answering  in 
the  negative;  "  Then  I  will  tell  you,"  said 
Johnson:  "  the  impudence  of  an  Irishman 
is  the  impudence  or  a  fly  that  buzzes  about 
you,  and  you  put  it  away,  but  it  returns 
again,  and  still  nutters  and  teases.  The  im- 
pudence of  a  Scotchman  is  the  impudence 
of  a  leech  that  fixes  and  sucks  your  blood." 

•  Johnson  told  me  of  an  instance  of  Scottish 
nationality,  which  made  a  very  unfavoura- 


h»  life  with  great  assiduity,  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
last  volume  of  this  work. — Ed.] 

1  [We  may  be  allowed  to  express  our  wonder 
at  the  extreme  prejudice  of  Johnson  against  Scot- 
land and  the  Scotch;  which  is  the  more  surpris- 
ing, because  he  was  himself  a  Jacobite,  and  many 
of  his  earliest  acquaintances  and  some  of  his  near- 
est friends  were  Scotch  (ante,  p.  169).  The 
Editor  has  a  strong  suspicion  that  there  was  some 
personal  cause'  for  this  unreasonable,  and,  as  it 
appears,  unaccountable  antipathy. — En.] 


ble  impression  upon  his  mind.  A  Scotchman 
of  some  consideration  in  London  solicited 
him  to  recommend  by  the  weight  of  his 
learned  authority,  to  he  master  of  an 
English  school,  a  person  of  whom  he  who 
recommended  him  confessed  he  knew  no 
more  but  that  he  was  his  countryman. 
Johnson  was  shocked  at  this  unconscien- 
tious conduct. 

All  the  miserable  cavillings  against  his 
"  Journey,"  in  newspapers,  magazines, 
and  other  fugitive  publications,  I  can  speak 
from  certain  knowledge,  only  furnished 
him  with  sport.  At  last  there  came  out 
a  scurrilous  volume  9,  larger  than  Johnson's 
own,  filled  with  malignant  abuse,  under  a 
name,  real  or  fictitious,  of  some  low  man  in 
an  obscure  corner  of  Scotland,  though  sup- 
posed to  be  the  work  of  another  Scotchman, 
who  has  found  means  to  make  himself  well 
known  both  in  Scotland  and  England. 
The  effect  which  it  had  upon  Johnson  was, 
to  produce  this  pleasant  observation  to 
Mr.  Seward,  to  whom  he  lent  the  book: 
"  This  fellow  must  be  a  blockhead.  They 
do  n't  know  how  to  go  about  their  abuse. 
Who  will  read  a  five  shilling  book  against 
me?  No,  sir,  if  they  had  wit,  they  should 
have  kept  pelting  me  with  pamphlets." 

"  MR.    BOSWELL   TO   DR.   JOHNSON. 

"  Edinburgh,  18th  Feb.  1776. 

"  You  would  have  been  very  well  pleas- 
ed if  you  had  dined  with  me  to-day.  I 
had  for  mv  guest,  Macquharrie,  young 
Maclean  of  Col,  the  successor  of  our  friend, 
a  very  amiable  man,  though  not  marked 
with  such  active  qualities  as  his  brother; 
Mr.  Maclean  of  Torloisk  in  Mull3,  a  gen- 
tleman of  Sir  Allan's  family;  and  two  of  the 
clan  Grant;  so  that  the  Highland  and  He- 
bridean  genius  reigned.  We  had  a  great 
deal  of  conversation  about  you,  and  drank 
your  health  in  a  bumper.  The  toast  was 
not  proposed  by  me,  which  is  a  circum- 
stance to  be  remarked,  for  I  am  now  so 
connected  with  you,  that  any  thing  that 
I  can  say  or  do  to  your  honour  has  not 
the  value  of  an  additional  compliment.  It 
is  only  giving  you  a  guinea  out  of  that 

»  [This  was,  no  doubt,  Dr.  M'Nicol's  book, 
which  has  been  more  than  onee  referred  to.  It  is 
styled  "  Remarks  on  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson's  Jour- 
ney to  the  Hebrides,  &c,  by  the  Rev.  Donald 
M'Nicol,  A.  M.,  Minister  of  Lismore,  in  Argyll- 
shire." It  had,  by  way  of  motto,  a  citation  from 
Ray's  Proverbs :  "Old  men  and  travellers  lib 
by  authority."  It  was  not  printed  till  1779.  The 
second  Scotchman,  whom  Mr.  Boswell  supposes 
to  have  helped  in  this  work,  Sir  James  Mackin- 
tosh very  reasonably  surmises  to  have  been  Mao- 
phenon. — En.] 

*  [Maclean  of  Torloisk  was  grandfather  to  the 
present  Marchioness  of  Northampton.— Wai/te* 
Scott.] 


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treasure  of  admiration  wmcn  already  belongs 
to  you,  and  which  is  no  hidden  treasure;  for  I 
suppose  my  admiration  of  you  is  co-existent 
witn  the  knowledge  of  my  character. 

"  I  find  that  the  Highlanders  and  Hebri- 
deans  in  general  are  much  fonder  of  your 
*  Journey,'  than  the  low-country  or  hither 
Scots.  One  of  the  Grants  said  to-day,  that 
he  was  sure  you  were  a  man  of  a  good 
heart,  and  a  candid  man,  and  seemed  to 
hope  he  should  be  able  to  convince  you  of 
the  antiquity  of  a  good  proportion  of  the 
poems  of  Ossian.  4fter  all  tnat  has  passed, 
I  think  the  matter  is  capable  of  being  prov- 
ed to  a  certain  degree.  I  am  told  that 
Macpherson  got  one  old  Erse  MS.  from 
Clanranald,  for  the  restitution  of  which  he 
executed  a  formal  obligation:  and  it  is  af- 
firmed, that  the  Gaelick  (call  it  Erse  or  call 
it  Irish)  has  been  written  in  the  Highlands 
and  Hebrides  for  many  centuries.  It  is 
reasonable  to  suppose,  that  such  of  the  in- 
habitants as  acquired  any  learning?,  possess- 
ed the  art  of  writing  as  well  as  their  Irish 
neighbours  and  Celtick  cousins;  and  the 
question  is,  can  sufficient  evidence  be  shown 
of  this? 

"  Those  who  are  skilled  in  ancient  writ- 
ings can  determine  the  age  of  MSS.,  or  at 
least  can  ascertain  the  century  in  which 
they  were  written;  and  if  men  of  veracity, 
who  are  so  skilled,  shall  tell  us  that  MSS. 
in  the  possession  of  families  in  the  High- 
lands and  isles  are  the  works  of  a  remote 
age,  I  think  we  should  be  convinced  by 
their  testimony. 

"  There  is  now  come  to  this  city,  Ra- 
nald Macdonald  from  the  Isle  of  Egg,  who 
has  several  MSS.  of  Erse  poetry,  which 
he  wishes  to  publish  by  subscription.  I 
have  engaged  to  take  three  copies  of  the 
book,  the  price  of  which  is  to  be  six  shil- 
lings, as  I  would  subscribe  for  all  the  Erse 
that  can  be  printed,  be  it  old  or  new,  that 
the-  language  may  be  preserved.  This  man 
says,  that  some  of  his  manuscripts  are  an- 
cient; and,  to  be  sure,  one  of  them  which 
was  shown  to  me  does  appear  to  have  the 
duskiness  of  antiquity. 

•  •  •  •  # 

"  The  inquiry  is  not  yet  quite  hopeless, 
and  I  should  think  that  the  exact  truth 
may  be  discovered,  if  proper  means  be  used. 
I  am,  &c.  "  James  Boswell." 

"TO   JAMES    BOSWELL,  ESQ. 

"  25th  Feb.  1775. 

"Dear  sir, — I  am  sorry  that  I  could  get 
no  books  for  my  friends  in  Scotland.  •  Mr. 
Strahan  has  at  last  promised  to  send  two 
dozen  to  you.  If  they  come,  put  the  name 
of  my  friends  into  them;  you  may  cut 
them  out1,  and  paste  them  with  a  little 
starch  in  the  book. 

1  From  a  list  in  his  handwriting. — Boswell. 


"  You  then  are  going  wild  about  Ossctan. 
Why  do  you  think  any  part  can  be  proved? 
The  dusky  manuscript  of  Egg  is  probably 
not  fifty  years  old:  if  it  be  an  hundred,  it 
proves  nothing.  The  tale  of  Clanranald 
is  no  proof.  Has  Clanranald  told  it?  Can  he 
prove  it?  There  are,  I  believe,  no  Erse 
manuscripts.  None  of  the  old  families  had 
a  single  letter  in  Erse  that  we  heard  of. 
You  say  it  is  likely  that  thev  could  write. 
The  learned,  if  any  learned  there  were, 
could;  but  knowing  by  that  learning  some 
written  language,  in  that  language  they 
wrote,  as  letters  had  never  been  applied  to 
their  own.  If  there  are  manuscripts,  let 
them  be  shown,  with  some  proof  that  they 
are  not  forged  for  the  occasion.  You  say 
many  can  remember  parts  of  Ossian.  I  be- 
lieve all  those  parts  are  versions  of  the  En- 
glish; at  least  there  is  no  proof  of  their  an- 
tiquity. 

"  Macpherson  is  said  to  have  made  some 
translations  himself;  and  having  taught  a 
boy  to  write  it,  ordered  him  to  say  that  he 
had  learnt  it  of  his  grandmother.  The  boy, 
when  he  grew  up,  told  the  story.  This 
Mrs.  Williams  heard  at  Mr.  Strahan's  ta- 
ble. Do  n't  be  credulous ;  you  know  how 
little  a  Highlander  can  be  trusted.  Mac- 
pherson is,  so  far  as  I  know,  very  quiet 
Is  not  that  proof  enough?  Every  thing  is 
against  him.  No  visible  manuscript:  no 
inscription  in  the  language:  no  correspon- 
dence among  friends :  no  transaction  of  busi- 
ness, of  which  a  single  scrap  remains  in  the 
ancient  families.  Macpherson's  pretence 
is  that  the  character  was  Saxon.  If  he  had 
not  talked  unskilfully  of  manuscript*,  he 
might  have  fought  with  oral  tradition  much 
longer.  As  to  Mr.  Grant's  information,  I 
suppose  he  knows  much  less  of  the  matter 
than  ourselves. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  the  bookseller  says 
that  the  sale*  is  sufficiently  quick.  They 
printed  four  thousand.  Correct  your  copy 
wherever  it  is  wrong,  and  bring  it  up* 
Your  friends  will  all  be  glad  to  see  you.  I 
think  of  going  myself  into  the  country  about 
May. 

"  I  am  sorry  that  I  have  not  managed  to 
send  the  book  sooner.  I  have  left  four  for 
you,  and  do  not  restrict  you  absolutely  to 
follow  my  directions  in  the  distribution. 
You  must  use  your  own  discretion. 

"  Make  my  compliments  to  Mrs.  Bos- 
well: I  suppose  she  is  now  beginning  to 
forgive  me.  I  am,  dear  sir,  your  humble 
servant,  "  Sam.  Johnson.5* 

[He  about  this  time  again  visited 
Oxford,  chiefly  it  would  seem  with  the 
friendly  design  of  having  Mr.  Carter  estab- 


«  Of  his  "  Journey  to  the  Western  Mauds  of 
Scotland. ' ' — Bob  well. 


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1775.— iETAT   66. 


606 


Jished  as  riding-master  there,  under  the 
Duchess  of  Queensberry's  donation l. 

"DB.   JOHNSON    TO    MRS.    THRALB. 
u  University  College,  3d  March,  1775. 

Lett.  j.  I  « The  fate  of  my  proposal  for 
pM2,  our  friend  Mr.  Carter  will  be  de- 
cided on  Monday.  Those  whom  I  have 
spoken  to  are  all  friends.  I  have  not  abated 
any  part  of  the  entrance  or  payment,  for  it 
has  not  been  thought  too  much,  and  I  hope 
he  will  have  scholars.    * 

"lam  verj  deaf ;  and  yet  cannot  well 
help  being  much  in  company,  though  it  is 
often  very  uncomfortable.  But  when  I 
have  done  this  thing,  which  I  hope  is  a 
good  thing,  or  find  that  I  cannot  do  it,  I 
wish  to  live  a  while  under  your  care  and 
protection."] 

On  Tuesday,  21st  March,  I  arrived  in 
London -?  and  on  repairing  to  Dr.  Johnson's 
before  dinner,  found  him  in  his  study,  sit- 
ting with  Mr.  Peter  Garrick,  the  elder 
brother  of  David,  strongly  resembling  him 
in  countenance  and  voice,  but  of  more  se- 
date and  placid  manners s.  Johnson  in- 
formed me,  that  th  >ugh  Mr.  Beauclerk  was 
in  great  pain,  it  was  hoped  he  was  not 
in  danger,  and  that  he  now  wished  to  con- 
sult Dr.  Heberden,  to  try  the  effect  of  a 
"new  understanding."  Both  at  this. in- 
terview, and  in  the  evening  at  Mr.  Thrale's, 
where  he  a'nd  Mr.  Peter  Garrick  and  I  met 
again,  he  was  vehement  on  the  subject  of 
the  Ossian  controversy;  observing, "  We 
do  not  know  that  there  are  any  ancient 
Erse  manuscripts;  and  we  have  no  other 
reason  to  disbelieve  that  there  are  men  with 
three  heads,  but  that  we  do  not  know  that 
there  are  any  such  men."  He  also  was 
outrageous  upon  his  supposition  that  my 
countrymen  "  loved  Scotland  better  than 
truth,"  saying,  "  All  of  them, — nay,  not 
all, — but  droves  of  them,  would  come  up, 
and  attest  any  thing  for  the  honour  of  Scot- 
land." He  also  persevered  in  his  wild  alle- 
gation, that  he  questioned  if  there  was  a 
tree  between  Edinburgh  and  the  English 
border  older  than  himself.  I  assured  him 
he  was  mistaken,  and  suggested  that  the 
proper  punishment  would  be  that  he  should 
receive  a  stripe  at  every  tree  above  a  hun- 
dred  years  old,  that  was  found  within  that 
space.  He  laughed*  and  said,  "  I  believe  I 
might  submit  to  it  for  a  baubee." 

The  doubts  which,  in  my  correspondence 
-with  him,  I  had  ventured  to  state  as  to  the 
justice  and  wisdom  of  the  conduct  of  Great 
Britain    towards   the  American  colonies, 


1  [For  a  farther  explanation  of  this  matter,  tee 
mmU  *u*  12th  March,  1776— En.] 

•  [See  ante,  p.  479,*.  and  jtoaf,  2*d  March, 
1776.— Eo.] 

toIn.  i.  64 


while  I  at  the  same  time  requested  that  he 
would  enable  me  to  inform  myself  upon 
that  momentous  subject,  he  had  altogether 
disregarded;  and  had  recently  published  a 
pamphlet,  entitled  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny; 
an  Answer  to  the  Resolutions  and  Address 
of  the  American  Congress. "  * 

He  had  long  before  indulged  most  un- 
favourable" sentiments  of  our  fellow-sub- 
jects in  America.  For,  as  early  as  1769, 
I  was  told  by  Dr.  John  Campbell,  that 
he  had  said  of  them,  "  Sir,  they  are  a  race 
of  convicts,  and  ought  to  be  thankful  for 
any  thing  we  allow  them  short  of  hang- 
ing." 

Of  this  performance  I  avoided  to  talk 
with  him;  fbr  I  had  now  formed  a  clear 
and  settled  opinion,  that  the  people  of 
America  were  well  warranted 'to  resist  a 
claim  that  their  fellow-subjects  in  the  motkr 
er-country  should  have  the  entire  command 
of  their  fortunes,  by  taxing  them  without 
their  own  consent :  and  the  extreme  vio- 
lence which  it  breathed  appeared  to  me  so 
unsuitable  to  the  mildness  of  a  christian 
philosopher,  and  so  directly  opposite  to 
the  principles  of  peace  which  he  had  so 
beautifully  recommended  in  his  pamphlet  re- 
specting Falkland's  Islands,  that  I  was  sor- 
ry to  see  him  appear  in  so  unfavourable  a 
hght.  Besides,  1  could  not  perceive  in  it 
that  ability  of  argument,  or  that  felicity  of 
expression,  for  which  he  was,  upon  other 
occasions,  so  eminent.  Positive  assertion, 
sarcastical  severity,  and  extravagant  ridi- 
cule, which  he  himself  reprobated  as  a  test 
of  truth,  were  united  in  tnis  rhapsody. 

That  this  pamphlet  was  written  at  the 
desire  of  those  who  were  then  in  power,  I 
have  no  doubt3;  and,  indeed,  he  owned  to 
me,  that  it  had  been  revised  and  curtailed 
by  some  of  them.  He  told  me  that  they 
had  struck  out  one  passage,  which  was  to 
this  effect:  "  That  the  colonists  could  with 
no  solidity  argue  from  their  not  having 
been  taxed  while  in  their  infancy,  that  they 
should  not  now  be  taxed.  We  do  not  put 
a  calf  into  the  plough;  we  wait  till  he  is  an 
ox."  He  said,  "  They  struck  it  out  either 
critically  as  too  ludicrous,  or  politically  as 
too  exasperating.  I  care  not  which.  It 
was  their  business.  If  an  architect  says 
I  will  build  five  stories,  and  the  man  who 
employs  him  says  I  will  have  only  three, 
the  employer  is.  to  decide."  "Yes,  sir 
(said  1 5,  in  ordinary  cases.  But  should  it 
be  so  wnen  the  architect  gives  his  skill  and 
labour  gratie  7  " 

Unfavourable  as  I  am  constrained,  to  say 
my  opinion  of  this  pamphlet  was,  yet  since 
it  was  congenial  with  the  sentiments  of 
numbers  at  that  time,'  and  as  every  thing 
relating  to  the  writings  of  Dr.  Johnson  is 

»  [Yet  ass  mUe9  p.  161  and  *—£©.) 


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m&— JETAT.  H. 


of  importance  In  literary  history,  I  shall 
therefore  insert  tome  passages  which  were 
struck  out,  it  does  not  appear  why,  either 
by  hinwelC  or  those  who  revised  it  They 
appear  printed  in  a  few  proof  leaves  of  it  in 
my  possession,  marked  with  corrections  in 
his  own  handwriting.  '  I  shall  distinguish 
them  by  itaUcks. 

In  the  paragraph  where  he  says,  the 
Americans  were  incited  to  resistance  by 
European  intelligence  from  "men  whom 
they  thought  their  friends,  but  who  were 
friends  only  to  themselves,"  there  followed 
— *'  and  made  by  their  selfishness,  the  ene- 
mies of  their  country." 

And  the  next  paragraph  ran  thus: 

"  On  the  original  contrivers  of  mischief, 
rather  than  on  those  whom  they  have  delu- 
ded, let  an  insulted  nation  pour  out  its  ven- 
geance." 

The  paragraph  which  came  next  was  in 
these  wolds: 

"  Unhappy  is  that  country  in  which  men 
eon  hope  for  advancement  by  favouring  its 
enemies.  The  tranquillity  of  stable  gov- 
ernment is  not  always  easily  preserved 
against  the  machinations  of  single  innova- 
tors; but  what  can  be  the  hope  of  quiet, 
when  factions  hostile  to  the  legislature  can 
be  openly  formed  and  openly  avowed?" 

Alter  the  paragraph  which  now  concludes 
the  pamphlet,  there  follows  this,  in  which 
he  certainly  means  the  great  Earl  of  Chat- 
ham, and  glances  at  a  certain  popular. lord 
chancellor1. 

"  If,  by  the  fortune  of  war,  they  drive  us 
utterly  away,  what  they  will  do  next  can 
only  be  conjectured.  If  a  new  monarchy 
is  erected,  they  will  want  a  king.  He  who 
first  takes  into  his  hand  the  sceptre  of 
America  should  have  a  name  of  good  omen. 
William  has  been  known  both  a  conqueror 
and  deliverer;  and  perhaps  England,  how- 
ever contemned,  might  yet  supply  them  with 
another  William.  Whigs,  indeed,  are 
not  witting  to  be  governed;  and  it  is  possi- 
ble that  King  William  may  be  strongly 
inclined  to  guide  their  measures:  out 
whigs  have  been  cheated  like  other  mortals, 
and  suffered  their  leader  to  become  their 
tyrant,  under  the  name  of  their  protector. 
What  more  they  will  receive  from  England, 
no  man  can  te&  J»  Iheir  rudiments  of 
empire  they  may  want  a  chancellor." 

Then  came  this  paragraph: 

u  Their  numbers  are,  at  present,  not 
quite  sufficient  for  the  greatness  which,  in 
some  form  of  government  or  other,  is  to  ri- 
val the  ancient  monarchies;  but  by  Dr. 
Franklin's  rule  of  progression,  they  will, 
in  a  century  and  a  quarter,  be  more  than 
equal  to  the  inhabitants  of  Europe.  When 
the  whigs  of  America  are  thus  multiplied, 

1  [Lord  Camden.— Ed.] 


let  the  princes  of  the  earth  tremble  in  flew  | 
palaces,  (fthev  should  continue  to  double, 
4md  to  double,  their  own  hemisphere  would 
not  contain  them.  Bullet  not  our  hold- 
est  oppugners  of  authority  look  forward 
with  delight  to  this  futurity  of  iqhig-  ft 
gism,"  *  ■ 

How  it  ended  I.  know  not,  as  it  is  cut 
off  sbruptly  at  the  foot  of  the  last  of  these 
proof  pages. 

His  pamphlets  in  support  of  the  measures 
of  administration  were  published  on  his  own 
account,  and  he  afterwards  collected  them 
into  a  volume,  with  the  title  *of  "  Political 
Tracts,  by  the  Authour  of  the  Rambler," 
with  this  motto: 

"  Fallitnr  egregio  quisqnif  sab  principe  credit 
Semtiom;  nauqnam  libertaa  grmtior  extat 
Quam  sab  rege  p\o.ty—Claudi*nv9. 

These  pamphlets  drew  upon  him  numer- 
ous attacks.  Against  the  common  wea- 
pons of  literary  warfare  he  was  hardened; 
but  there  were  two  instances  of  animadver- 
sion which  I  communicated  to  him,  and 
from  what  I  could  judge,  both  from  his  si- 
lence and  his  looks,  appeared  to  me  to  im- 
press him  much  9. 

One  was,  "A  Letter  to  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson,  occasioned  by  his  late  political 
Publications."  It  appeared  previous  to  his 
"  Taxation  no  Tyranny,''  and  waa  written 
by  "Dr.  Joseph  Towers.  In  that  perform- 
ance, Dr.  Johnson  was  treated  with  the 
respect  due  to  so  eminent  a  man,  while  his 
conduct  as  a  political  writer  waa  boldly  and 
pointedly  arraigned,  as  inconsistent  with 
the  character  of  one  who,  if  he  did  employ 
his  pen  upon  politics,  "  it  might  reasona- 
bly oe  expected  should  distinguish  himself, 
not  by  party  violence  and  rancour,  but  by 
moderation  ana  .by  wisdom." 

It  concluded  thus: 

"  I  would,  however,  wish  you  to  remem- 
ber, should  you  again  address  the  publiek 
under  the  character  of  a  political  writer, 
that  luxuriance  of  imagination  or  ener- 
gy of  language  will  iff  compensate  for 
Die  went  of  candour,  of  justice,  and  of  truth. 
And  I  shall  only  add,  that  should  I  hereaf- 
ter be  disposed  to  read,  as  I  heretofore  have 
done,  the  most  excellent  of  all  your  per- 
formances, «The  Rambler,'  the  pleasure 
which  I  have  been  accustomed  to  find  in  it 
will  be  much  diminished  by  the  reflection 
that  the  writer  of  so  moral,  so  elegant,  and 


■  fjMtr.  BosweU,  by  a  very  nataual  prejudice, 
nstroes  Johnson's  silence  and  looks  into  some- 


thing like  a  concurrence  m  his  ©#n  4 
bat  it  does  not  appear  that  Johnson  ever  abated 
one  jot  of  the  firmness  and  decision  of  Ins  oeeaion 
on  there  questions.  See  hie  conversation  passim, 
and  his  letter  to  Mr.  Wesley,  post,  6th  Fab. 
1776.— Ed.] 


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ao  valuable  a  work,  was  capable  of  proatitu- 
ting  his  talents  in  such  productions  as '  The 
Fake  Alarm,'  the '  Thoughts  on  the  Trans- 
actions respecting  Falkland's  Islands,'  and 
« Tlie  Patriot' " 

I  am  willing  to  do  justice  to  the  merit  of 
Dr.  Towers,  of  whom  I  will  say,  that  al- 
though I  abhor  *  his  whtapsh  democratical 
notions  and  propensities  (tor  I  will  not  call 
them*  principles),  I  esteem  him  as  an  inge- 
nious, knowing,  and  very  convivial  man. 

The  other  instance  was  a  paragraph  of  a 
letter  to  me,  from  my  old  and  most  intimate 
friend  the  Rev.  Mr.  Temple,  who  wrote 
the  character  of  Gray,  which  has  had  the 
honour  to  be  adopted  both  by  Mr.  Mason 
and  Dr.  Johnson  in  their, accounts  of  that 
poet.    The  words  were, 

"  How  can  your  great,  I  will  not  say 
your  pious,  but  your  moral  friend,  support 
the  barbarous  measures  of  administration, 
which  they  have  not  the  face  to  ask  even 
their  infidel  pensioner  Hume  to  defend?  " 

However  confident  of  the  rectitude  of  his 
own  mind,  Johnson  may  have  felt  sincere 
uneasiness  that  his  conduct  should  be  erro- 
neously imputed  to  unworthy  motives  by 
(rood  men;  and  that  the  influence  of  his 
valuable  writings  should  on  that  account  be 
in  any  degree  obstructed  or  lessened. 

He  complained  to  a  right  honourable 
friend3  of  distinguished  talents  and  very 


1  [Mr.  Boswell  is  here  very  inconsistenf;  for  ab- 
horring Dr.  Towers's  whiggish  democratical 
notions  and  propensities*  how  can  he  allow  any 
weight  to  his  opinions  in  a  case  which  called 
these  propensities  into  fall  effect;  and  above  all, 
how  could  he  suppose  that  Dr.  Johnson,  with  his 
known  feelings  and  opinions,  could  be  influenced 
by  a  person  professing  sneh  doctrines  ? — En.] 

*  [Mr.  Gerard  Hamilton.  This  anecdote  is 
wholly  at  variance  with  Mr.  BosweU's  own  as- 
sertion, ante  y  p.  161;  and— without  going  the 
whole  length  of  that  assertion,  "  that  Johnson's 
pension  had  no  influence  whatsoever  on  his 
political  publications  " — Mr.  Hamilton's  anecdote 
may  he  doubted,  not  only  from  a  consideration  of 
Johnson's  own  character  and  principles,  but  from 
the  evidence  of  all  his  other  friends— -persons  who 
knew  Him  more  intimately  than  Mr.  Hamilton — 
Mrs.  Tbrale,  Mr.  Murphy,  Sir  J.  Hawkins,  Mr. 
Tyers— who  all  declare  that  his  political  pamphlets 
expressed  the  opinions  which  in  private  conversa- 
tion he  always  maintained.  Mr.  Boawell,  we 
have  seen,  was  of  the  same  opinion  as  to  Johnson's 
sincerity,  till  be  took  up  the  advene  side  of  the 
political  question.  Then,  indeed,  he  admits,  not 
only  without  contradiction,  but  with  a  species  of 
confirmation,  Mr.  Hamilton's  anecdote.  It  mast, 
moreover,  be  observed,  that  the  anecdote  itself  is 
not  very  consistent ;  for  it  states  that  Johnson 
consulted  Mr.  Hamilton  on  the  contradictory  ob- 
jects of  resigning  his  pension  altogether,  and  of 
endeavouring  to  have  it  secured  to  him  tor  life. 
It  must  be  recollected,  in  weighing  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton's testimony  on  this  point,  that  we  have  it  on- 


elegant  manners,  with  whom  he  maintained 
a  long  intimacy,  and  whose  generosity  to- 
wards him  will  afterwards  appear,  that  his 
pension  having  been  given  to  him  as  a  liter- 
ary character,  he  had  been  applied  to  by 
axfininistration  to  write  political  pamphlets; 
and  he  was  even  so  much  irritated,  that  he 
declared  his  resolution  to  resign  his  pension. 
His  friend  showed  him  the  impropriety  of 
such  a  measure,  and  he  afterwards  express- 
ed his  gratitude,  and  said  he  had  received 
good  advice.  To  that  friend  he  once  sig- 
nified a  wish  to  have  his  pension  secured  to 
him  for  his  life;  but  he  neither  asked  nor 
received  from  government  any  reward  what- 
soever for  his  political  labours. 

On  Friday,  March  24, 1  met  him  at  the 
Literary  Club,  where  were  Mr.  Beau- 
clerk,  Mr.  Langton,  Mr.  Colman,  Dr.  Per- 
cy, Mr.  Vesey,  Sir  Charles  Bunbury,  Dr. 
George  Fordyce,  Mr.  Steevens,  and  Mr. 
Charles  Fox.  Before  jie  came  in,  we  talk- 
ed of  his"  Journey  to  the  Western  Islands," 
and  of  his  coming  away, "  willing  to  believe 
the  second  sight3,"  which  seemed  to  excite 
some  ridicule.  I  was  then  so  impressed 
with  the  truth  of  many  of  the  stories  of 
which  I  had  been  told,  that  I  avowed  my 
conviction,  saying,  "  He  is  only  willing  to 
believe:  I  do  believe.  The  evidence  is 
enough  for  me,  though  not  for  his  great 
mind.  What  will  not  fill  a  quart-bottle 
will  fill  a  pint-bottle.  I  am  filled  with  be- 
lief." "Are  you?"  said  Colman;  "then 
cork  it  up." 

I  found  his  " Journey"  the  common 
topick  of  conversation  in  London  st  this 
time,  wherever  I  happened  to  be.  At  one 
of  Lord  Mansfield's  formal  Sunday  evening 
conversations,  strangely  called  Levies,  his 
lordship  addressed  me,  "  We  have  all  been 
reading  your  travels,  Mr.  ■Boswell."  I  an- 
swered, "  I  was  but  the  humble  attendant 
Of  Dr.  Johnson."  The  chief-justice  repli- 
ed, with  that  air  and  manner  which  none, 
who,  ever  saw  and  heard  him,  can  forget, 
"  He  speaks  ill  of  nobody  but  Ossian  4." 

Johnson  was  in  high  spirits  this  evening 
at  the  club,  and  talked  with  great  animation 
and  success.  He  attacked  Swift,  as  he  used 
to  do  upon  all  occasions.    "  The  '  Tale  of 


ly  at  second  hand,  and  that  there  is  reason  to  be- 
hove that  he  had  been  connected  in  some  myste- 
rious political  engagement  with  Dr.  Johnson, 
which  might  tend  to  discolour  his  view  of  this 
matter. — in.] 

*  Johnson's  "Journey  to  the  Western  Islands  of 
Scotland."—  Works ,  vol.  viii.  p.  347.— Boswili* 

4  [It  is  not  easy  to  guess  how  the  air  and  man- 
ner, even  of  Lord  Mansfield,  could  have  set  off 
such  an  nnmeaninp  expression  as  this.  Johnson 
denied  the  authenticity  of  the*  poems  attributed  to 
Ossian,  but  that  was  not  speaking  ill  of  Ossian, 
in  the  sense  which  Mr.  Boswell  evidently  gives  to 
the  phrase.— En.] 


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1775.— JBTAT.  ««. 


a  Tab9  is  10  much  superior  to  nia  other 
writings,  that  one  can  hardly  believe  he  was 
the  authour  of  it  * :  there  is  in  it  such  a 
vigour  of  mind,  such  a  swarm  of  thoughts, 
so  much  of  nature,  and  art,  and  life." .  I 
wondered  to  hear  him  say  of  "  Gulliver's 
Travels,"  "  When  once  you  have  thought 
of  big  men  and  little  men,  it  is  very  easy  to 
do  aH  the  rest"  I  endeavoured  to  make  a 
stand  for  Swift,  and  tried  to  rouse  those 
who  were  much  more  able  to  defend  him  ; 
but  in  vain.  Johnson  at  last,  of  his  own 
accord,  allowed  verv  great  merit  to  the  in- 
ventory of  articles  found  in  the  pocket  of 
"  the  Man  Mountain,"  particularly  the  de- 
scription of  his  watch;  which  it  was  con- 
jectured was  his  God,  as  he  consulted  it  up 
on  all  occasions.  He  observed,  that  Swift 
put  his  name  to  but  two  things  (after  he 
had  a  name  to  put),  "  The  Plan  for  the 
Improvement  of  the  English  Language," 
and  the  last  "  Drapiert  Letter." 

From  Swift,  there  was  an  easy  transi- 
tion to  Mr.  Thomas  Sheridan.  John  son. 
"  Sheridan  is  a  wonderful  admirer  of  the 
tragedy  of  Douglas,  and  presented  its  au- 
thour with  a  gold  medal.  Some  years  apo, 
at  a  coffee-house  in  Oxford,  I  called  to  him, 
*  Mr.  Sheridan,  Mr.  Sheridan,  how  came 
you  to  give  a  £old  medal  to  Home,  for 
writing  that  foolish  play? '  This,  you  see, 
was  wanton  and  insolent ;  but  I  meant  to 
be  wanton  and  insolent.    A  medal  has  no 


1  This  doubt  has  been  much  agitated  on  both 
sides,  I  think  without  good  reason.  See  Addi- 
son's "  Freeholder/'  May  4th,  1714;  "  An  Apol- 
ogy for  the  Tale  of  a  Tub; "  Dr.  Hawkeswoith's 
"  Preface  to  Swift's  Works,'*  and  Swift's  "  Let- 
ter to  Tooke  the  Printer,"  and  Tooke's  "  An- 
swer "  in  that  collection;  Sheridan's  <<  Life  of 
Swift; "  Mr.  Courtenay's  note  on  p.  3  of  his 
"  Poetical  Review  of  the  Literary  and  Moral 
Character  of  Dr.  Johnson;'*  and  Mr.  Cooksey's 
"  Essay  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  John,  Lord 
Somen,  Baron  of  Evesham." 

Dr.  Johnson  here  speaks  only  to  the  internal 
evidence.  I  take  leave  to  differ  from  him,  hav- 
ing a  very  high  estimation  of  the  powen  of  Dr. 
Swift.  His  "  Sentiments  of  a  Church-of-Eng- 
landinaa;*'  his  "  Sermon  on  the  Trinity,"  and 
other  serious  pieces,  prove  his  learning  as  well  as 
his  acoteness  in  logick  and  metaphysicks;  and  his 
various  compositions  of  a  different  cast  exhibit  not 
only  wit,  humour /and  ridicule;  but  a  knowledge 
••  of  nature,  and  ait,  and  life; "  a  combination, 
therefore,  of  those  powers,  when  (as  the  "  Apol- 
ogy '*  says)  "  the  authour  was  young,  his  inven- 
tion at  the  height,  and  his  reading  fresh  in  his 
head,**  might  surely  produce  "  The  Tale  of  a 
Tub.'*— - Bos  well.  [See  ante,  p.  202.  After 
the  letter  to  Benjamin  Tooke  the  Printer,  there 
was  no  longer  any  room  for  controversy.  The 
most  zealous  friend  of  Swift  would  only  have  to 
add,  that  he  who  wished  to  detract  from  his  merit 
was  obliged  to  deny  (contrary  to  all  evidence) 
that  he  was  the  authour  of  his  own  works. — Ed.] 


value  bait  aa  a  stamp  of  merit  And 
Sheridan  to  assume  to  himself  the  right  of 
giving  that  stamp?  If  Sheridan  was  mag- 
nificent enough  to  bestow  a  gold  medal  as 
a  honorary  reward  of  dramatick  excellence, 
he  should  have  requested  one  of  the  Uni- 
versities to  choose  the  person  on  whom  it 
should  be  conferred.  Sheridan  had  no 
right  to  give  a  stamp  of  merit:  it  was  coun- 
terfeiting Apollo's  coin*." 

On  Monday,  March  97,  I  breakfasted 
with  him  at  Mr.  Stratum's.  He  told  us. 
that  he  was  engaged  to  go  that  evening  to 
Mrs.  Abingdon's  benefit.  "  She  was  visit* 
ing  some  ladies  whom  I  was  visiting,  and 
begged  that  I  would  come  to  her  benefit. 
I  told  her  I  could  not  hear:  but  she  insisted 
so  much  on  mv  coming,  that  it  would  have 
been  brutal  to  have  refused  her. "  This  w  as 
a  speech  quite  characteristics].  He  loved  to 
bring  forward  his  having  been  in  the  gay 
circles  of  life;  and  he  was,  perhaps,  a  little 
vain  of  the  solicitations  of  this  elegant  and 
fashionable  actress.  He  told  us,  the  play 
was  to  be  "  The  Hypocrite,"  altered  from 
Gibber's  "  Nonjuror,"  so  as  to  satirize  the 
methodists.  "I  do  not  think,"  said  he, 
"  the  character  of  the  Hypocrite  justly  ap- 
plicable to  the  methodists,  but  it  was  very  ap- 
plicable to  the  Nonjurors.  I  once  said  to 
br.  Madan3,  a  clergyman  of  Ireland,  who 
was  a  great  whig,  that  perhaps  a  Nonjuror 
would  have  been  less  .criminal  in  taking  the 
oaths  imposed  by  the  ruling  power,  than 

*  [The  medal  was  presented  in  1757,  and  as  it 
does  not  appear  that  Johnson  and  Sheridan  ever 
met  after  the  affair  of  the  pension,  (ante,  1762), 
this  tact  occurred  probably  in  Johnson's  visit  to 
Oxford,  in  1759.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  John- 
son had  begun  to  be  '*  wanton  and  insolent " 
towards  Sheridan  before  the  pension  had  caused 
the  cup  of  gall  to  overflow.  Mr.  Whyte,  the 
friend  of  Sheridan,  gives  the  history  of  the  medal 
thus:  "  When  Sheridan  undertook  to  play  Doug- 
las in  Dublin,  he  had  liberally  written  to  Home, 
promising  him  the  profits  of  file  third  night  It 
happened,  however,  that  these  profits  fell  very 
short,  and  Sheridan  was  rather  perplexed  what  to 
do.  At  first,  he  thought  of  offering  the  authour  a 
piece  of  plate,  but,  on  the  suggestion  of  Mr. 
Whyte,  the  idea  of  a  medal  was  adopted.  The 
medal  (Mr.  Whyte  adds)  had  the  additional  grace 
of  being  conveyed  to  Mr.  Home  through  the  bands 
of  Lord  Macartney  and  Lord  Bute,  but  had  a  nar- 
row escape  of  being  intercepted  by  the  way,  for, 
as  Mr.  Whyte  was  bringing  it  to  London,  be  was 
stopped  by  a  highwayman  and  robbed  of  hk 
purse,  but  contrived  to  secrete  and  preserve  the 
medal."—  Whyte'*  True  Account  of  the  GoU 
Medal,  Dublin,  1794.  When  Johnson  called 
Douglas  "a  foolish  play,"  he  was  not  only 
"wanton  and  insolent,"  as  he  admits,  but 
showed  very  bad  taste,  and  very  violent  prejudice. 
— Ed.] 

*  [No  doubt  a  mistake  for  Dr.  Madden,  al- 
ready mentioned.    See  ante,  p.  187. — En.] 


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609 


refusing  them;  because  refusing  them  ne- 
cessarily laid  him  under  almost  an  irresistible 
temptation  to  be  more  criminal :  for  a  man 
must  live,  and  if  he  precludes  himself  from 
the  support  furnished  by  the  establishment 
will  probably  be  reduced  to  very  wicked 
shifts  to  maintain  himself1."  Boswell. 
"  I  should  think,  sir,  that  a  man  who  took 
the  oaths  contrary  to  his  principles  was  a 
determined  wicked  man,  because  he  was 
sure  he  was  committing  perjury;  whereas 
a  Nonjuror  might  be  insensibly  led  to  do 
what  was  wrong,  without  being  so  directly 
conscious  of  it."  Johnson.  "  Wliy,  sir,  a 
man  who  goes  to  bed  to  his  patron's  wife 
is  pretty  sure  that  he  is  committing  wick- 
edness." Bos  well.  "  Did  the  nonjuring 
clergyman  do  so,  sir?  "  "  I  am  afraid  many 
of  them  did  2." 


1  Tins  wm  not  merely  a  cursory  remark;  for, 
in  his  Life  of  Fenton,  he  observes,  "  With  many 
other  wise  and  virtuous  men,  who,  at  that  time  of 
discord  and  debate  (about  the  beginning  of  this 
century),  consulted  conscience,  well  or  ill  formed, 
more  than  interest,  he  doubted  the  legality  of  the 
government;  and,  refusing  to  qualify  himself  for 
publick  employment,  by  taking  the  oaths  required, 
left  the  University  without  a  degree."  This  con- 
duct Johnson  calls  "  perverseness  of  integrity.*' 
The  question  concerning  the  morality  of  taking 
oaths,  of  whatever  kind,  imposed  by  the  prevail- 
ing power  at  the  time,  rather  than  to  be  excluded 
from  all  consequence,  or  even  ana;  considerable 
usefulness  in  society,  has  been  agitated  with  all 
the  acuteness  of  casuistry.  It  is  related,  that  he 
who  devised  the  oath  of  abjuration  profligately 
boasted,  that  he  had  framed  a  test  which  should 
"  damn  one  half  of  the  nation,  and  starve  the 
other.'1  Upon  minds  not  exalted  to  inflexible 
rectitude,  or  minds'  in  which  zeal  for  a  party  is 
predominant  to  excess,  taking  that  oath  against 
conviction  may  have  been  palliated  under  the 
plea  of  necessity,  or  ventured  upon  in  heat,  as  up- 
on the  whole  producing  more  good  than  evil.  At 
a  county  election  in  Scotland,  many  years  ago. 


when 


ity  ela 
there 


ny  years  i 
between 


the 


friends  of  the  Hanoverian  succession,  and  those 
against  it,  the  oath  of  abjuration  having  been  de- 
manded, the  freeholders  upon  one  side  rose  to  go 
away.  Upon  which  a  very  sanguine  gentleman, 
one  of  their  number,  ran  to  the  door  to  stop  them, 
calling  out  .with  much  earnestness,  "  Stay,  stay, 
my  friends,  and  let  us  swear  the  rogues  out  of  it!" 
—Bos well.  [What  a  proof  is  this  of  the  im- 
policy and  inefficacy  of  these  sorts  of  tests  when 
we  find  a  man  of  Johnson's  morality  and  religious 
scruples  characterising  a  conscientious  refusal  to 
take  the  oaths  as  a  perverse  integrity ,  and  justi- 
fying a  compliance  by  such  loose  talk  as  he  used 
on  this  occasion  ! — £d.] 

*  [What  evidence  is  there  of  this  being  the  pre- 
vaUing  sin  of  the  nonjuring  clergy  beyond  Gib- 
ber's comedy,  which,  slight  evidence  as  a  comedy 
would  be  in  any  such  case,  is  next  to  none  at  all 
so  this  occasion,  for  Gibber's  play  was  a  mere 
adaptation  of  MoUere's  Tartuffe  ?— £o.] 


I  was  startled  at  this  argument*,  and 
could  by  no  means  think  it  convincing. 
Had  not  his  own  father  complied  with  the 
requisition  of  government 4,  (as  to  which 
he  once  observed  to  me,  when  I  pressed 
him  upon  it,  "  That,  sir,  he  was  to  settle 
with  himself,")  he  would  probably  have 
thought  more  unfavourably  of  a  Jacobite 
who  took  the  oaths, 


My  father  as  he  swore  « 


•  had  he  not  resembled 


Mr.  Strahan  talked  of  launching  into  the 
great  ocean  of  London,  in  order  to  have  a 
chance  for  rising  into  eminence:  and  ob- 
serving that  many  men  were  kept  back  from 
trying  their  fortunes  there,  because  they 
were  born  to  a  competency,  said,  "  Small 
certainties  are  the  bane  of  men  of  talents; " 
which  Johnson  confirmed.  Mr.  Strahan 
put  Johnson  in  mind  of  a  remark  which  he 
had  made  to  him :  "  There  are  few  ways  in 
which  a  man  can  he  more  innocently  em- 
ployed than  in  getting  money."  "  The  more 
one  thinks  of  this, "  said  Strahan,  "  the 
juster  it  will  appear." 

Mr.  Strahan  had  taken  a  poor  hoy  from 
the  country  as  an  apprentice,  upon  John- 
son's recommendation.  Johnson  having 
inquired  after  him,  said,  "  Mr.  Strahan,  let 
me  have  five  guineas  on  account,  and  I'll 
give  this  boy  one.  Nay,  if  a  man  recom- 
mends a  hoy,  and  does  nothing  for  him,  it 
is  sad  work.    Call  him  down." 

I  followed  him  into  the  court-yard  5,  be- 
hind Mr.  Strahan's  house;  and  there  I  had 
a  proof  of  what  I  had  heard  him  profess, 
that  he  talked  alike  to  all.  "  Some  people 
tell  you  that  they  tet  themselves  down  to 

3  [Mr.  Boswell  was  too  civil  when  he  called 
this  an  argument.  It  seems  very  lax  sophistry. 
Why  should  it  follow,  that  because  a  man  is  con- 
scientious in  one  point,  he  should  be  profligate  in 
another  ?— Ed.] 

*■  [Extract  rrom  the  book  containing  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  corporation  of  Lichfield  :  "19th 
Jury,  1712,  Agreed  that  Mr.  Michael  Johnson  be, 
and  he  is  hereby  elected  a  magistrate  and  brother 
of  their  incorporation;  a  day  is  given  him  to 
Thursday  next  to  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  and  al- 
legiance, and  the  oath  of  a  magistrate.  Signed, 
fcc'*—«25th  July,  1712.  Mr.  Johnson  took 
the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  that  he  believed  there 
was  no  transnbstantiation  in  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  before,  Ace." — Harwood.] 

*  [This  was  "  surveillance,"  aa  the  French 
call  it,  with  a  vengeance  !  and  this  (act,  which 
Mr.  Boswell  owns  with  such  arousing  simplicity, 
may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of  the  "  espionage  " 
which  he  exercised  over  Johnson.  The  reader 
will  have  observed,  that  two  French  phrases  are 
here  used,  because,  though  Mr.  Boswell's  affec- 
tionate curiosity  led  him  into  such  courses,  Eng- 
lish manners  have  no  such  practice,  nor  the  Eng- 
lish language  a  term  to  describe  it— Ed.] 


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the  capacity  of  their  hearers.  I  never  do 
that.  I  speak  uniformly,  in  as  intelligible  a 
manner  as  I  can." 

"Well,  my  boy,  how  do  you  go  on?" 
"  Pretty  well,  sir;  but  they  are  afraid  I  ar'n't 
strong  enough  for  some  parts  of  the  busi- 
ness." Jomcsoir.  "  Why  I  shall  be  sorry 
for  it;  for  when  you  consider  with  how 
little  mental  power  and  corporeal  labour  a 
printer  can  get  a  guinea  a  week,  it  is  a  very 
desirable  occupation  for  you.  Do  you  hear 
— take  all  the  pains  you  can;  and  if  this  does 
not  do,  we  must  think  of  some  other  way  of 
life  for  you.    There 's  a  guinea. " 

Here  was  one  of  the  many,  many  in-" 
stances  of  his  active  benevolence.  At  the 
same  time,  the  Blow  and  sonorous  solemnity 
with  which,  while  he  bent  himself  down, 
he  addressed  a  little  thick  short-legged  hoy, 
contrasted  with  the  boy's  awkwardness  and 
awe,  could  not  but  excite  some  ludicrous 
emotions. 

I  met  him  at  Drury-lane  playhouse  in  the 
evening.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  at  Mrs; 
Abingdon's  request,  had  promised  to  bring  a 
body  of  wits  to  her  benefit;  and  having 
secured  forty  places  in  the  front  boxes,  had 
done  me  the  honour  to  put  me  in  the  group. 
Johnson  sat  on  the  seat  directly  behind  me; 
and  as  he  could  neither  see  nor  hear  at  such 
a  distance  from  the  stage,  he  was  wrapped 
up  in  grave  abstraction,  and  seemed  quite  a 
cloud,  amidst  all  the  sunshine  of  glitter  and 
gaiety.  I  wondered  at  his  patience  in  sit- 
ting out  a  play  of  five  acts,  and  a  farce  of 
twsu  He  said  very  little;  but  after  the 
prologue  to  "  Bon  Ton  "  had  been  spoken, 
which  he  could  hear  pretty  well  from  the 
more  slow  and  distinct  utterance,  he  talked 
on  prologue-writing,  and  observed, "  Dry- 
den  has  written  prologues  superiour  to  any 
that  David  Garnck  has  written ;  but  David 
Garrick  has  written  more  good  prologues 
than  Dryden  has  done.  It  is  wonderful 
that  he  has  been  able  to  write  such  variety 
of  them." 

At  Mr.  Beauclerk's,  where  I  supped,  was 
Mr.  Garrick,  whom  I  made  happy  with 
Johnson's  praise  of  his  prologues ;  and  I 
suppose  in  gratitude  to  him,  he  took  up  one 
or  his  favourite  topicks,  the  nationality  of 
the  Scotch,  which  tie  maintained  in  a  pleas- 
ant manner,  with  the  aid  of  a  little  poetical 
fiction.  "  Come,  come,  do 'nt  deny  it:  they 
are  really  national.  Why,  now,  the  Adams 
are  as  liberal-minded  men  as  any  in  the 
world:  but,  I  do  n't  know  how  it  is,  all  their 
workmen  are  Scotch.  You  are,  to  be  sure, 
wonderfully  free  from  that  nationality:  but 
so  it  happens,  that  you  employ  the  only 
Scotch  shoeblack  in  London 1."  He  imita- 
ted the  manner  of  his  old  master  with  ludi- 


[See  ante,  p.  815  and  *.— Ed.] 


crous  exaggeration;  repeating,  with  pan 
and  half-whistlings  interjected, 


««Os  homini  sublime  dedit, — cchunqra  tueri, 
Jot*,— et  erectos  ad  skkre— tollere  vahns," 

looking  downwards  all  the  time9,  and, 
while  pronouncing  the  four  last  words,  ab- 
solutely touching  the  ground  with  a  kind 
of  contorted  gesticulation  3. 

Garrick,  however,  when  he  pleased,  could 
imitate  Johnson  very  exactly;  for  that  great 
actor,  with  his  distinguished  powers  of  ex- 
pression which  were  so  universally  admired, 
possessed  also  an  admirable  talent  of  mim- 
ickry.  He  was  always  jealous  « that  John- 
son spoke  lightly  of  him.  I  recollect  his 
exhibiting  him  to  me  one  day,  as  if  saying, 
"  Davy  nas  some  convivial  pleasantry 
about  him,  but  'tis  a  futile  fellow;  n  which 
he  uttered  perfectly  with  the  tone  and  air 
of  Johnson. 

I  cannot  too  frequently  request  of  my 
readers,  while  they  peruse  my  account  of 


1  [This  exhibition  of  Johnson'i 
look  and  gesticulations  while  reciting  et  tubtiwu 
and  tollere  mrtttu,  resembles  one  which  Lotd 
Byron  describes.  "A.  Grettaa's  mannem  si 
private  fife  were  odd,  bat  natural.  Canea  and 
to  take  him  off,  bowing  to  the  very  ground,  and 
'  thanking  God  that  he  had  no  peculiarity  of 
geoture  or  appearance,'  in  a  way  iirsshtihly 
ridiculous." — Moore* *  Life  of  Byron,  vol  l  p. 
405.— En.]  • 

*  [Mr.  Wayte  has  related  an  anecdote  of  John- 
son's violence  of  gesticulation,  winch,  bet  for  tail 
evidence  of  Garrick's,  one  could  have  hardly  be- 
lieved. "  The  hones  on  the  right  at  the  bottom 
of  Beaufort  Buildings  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Cham- 
berlaine,  Bin.  Shendan'a  eldest  brother  (an  emi- 
nent surgeon),  by  whom  Johnson  was  often  in- 
vited in  the  snug  way  with  the  family  party.  At 
one  of  those  social  meetings  Johnson  as  usual  sat 
next  the  lady  of  the  house;  the  dessert  still  con- 
tmuing,  and  the  ladies  in  no  haste  to  withdraw, 
Mrs.  Chamberiaine  had  moved  a  little  back  from 
the  table,  and  was  carelessly  dangling  her  foot 
backwards  and  forwards  as  she  sat,  enjoying  *  the 
feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of  souL'  Johnson, 
the  while,  in  a  moment  of  abstraction,  was  con- 
vulsively working  his  hand  up  and  down,  which 
the  lady  observing,  she  roguuhly  edged  her  foot 
within  his  reach,  and,  as  might  partly  have  boss 
expected,  Johnson  clenched  hold  of  it,  and  drew 
off  her  shoe;  she  started,  and  hastily  exclaimed, 
•O,  fie !  Mr.  Johnson ! '  The  company  at  nut 
knew  not  what  to  make  of  it:  but  one  of  them, 
perceiving  the  joke,  tittered.  Johnson,  not  an- 
probably  aware  of  the  trick,  apologised.  <  Nsy, 
madam,  recollect  yourself;  I  know  not  that  1  have 
justly  incurred  your  rebuke;  the  amotion  was  in- 
voluntary, and  the  action  not  intentionally  rune.* " 
—  Whyte't  MieceL  JVboa,  p.  60.— En.  J 

4  [On  the  contrary,  the  anecdote  vrinchfollevjt 
rather  proves  that  Garrick  had  learned  to  repel 
Johnson's  contemptuous  expressions  with  an  assy 
gaiety.— Ed.] 


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PUBLIC  LI3RARY 


ASTOR,  LENOK  AND 
TtUOCM  FOUNDATIONS. 


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1775—- jETAT.  «6, 


511 


Johnson's  conversation,  to  endeavour  to 
keep  in  mind  his  deliberate  and  strong  utter- 
ance. His  mode  of  speaking-  was  indeed 
very  impressive  * ;  and  I  wish  it  could  be 
preserved  as  musick  is  written,  according 
to  the  very  ingenious  method  of  Mr.  Steele  8, 
who  has  shown  how  the  recitation  of  Mr. 
Garrick,  and  other  eminent  speakers,  might 
be  transmitted  to  posterity  in  score  3. 

Next  day  I  dined  with  Johnson  at  Mr. 
Thrale'S.  He  attacked  Gray,  calling  him 
"a  dull  fellow."  Boswell.  "I  under- 
stand he  was  reserved,  and  might  appear 
dull  in  company;  but  surely  he  was  not  dull 
in  poetry."  Johnson.  "  Sir,  he  was  dull 
in  company,  dull  in  his  closet,  dull  every 
where.  He  was  dull  in  a  new  way,  and  that 
made  many  people  think  him  great.  He 
was  a  mechanical  poet."  He  then  repeated 
some  ludicrous  lines,  which  have  escaped 
my  memory,  and  said,  "  Is  not  that  great, 
like  his  Odes?'9  Mrs.  Thrale  maintained 
that  his  Odes  were  melodious;  upon  which 
he  exclaimed, 

"  Weave  the  warp,  and  weave  the  woof ; " — 

I  added,  in  a  solemn  tone, 

"  The  winding-sheet  of  Edward's  race." 


1  My  noble  friend  Lord  Pembroke  said  once  to 
me  at  Wilton,  with  a  happy  pleasantry  and  some 
troth,  "  that  Dr.  Johnson's  sayings  would  not  ap- 
pear so  extraordinary,  were  it  not  for  his  bow-wow 
way."  The  sayingB  themselves  are  generally  of 
steiling  merit;  but,  doubtless,  his  manner  was  an 
addition  to  their  effect;  and  therefore  should  be 
attended  to  as  much  as  may  be.  It  k  necessary, 
however,  to  guard  those  who  were  not  acquainted 
with  him  against  overcharged  imitations  or  carica- 
tures of  his  manner,  which  are  frequently  at- 
tempted, and  many  of  which  are  second-hand  co- 
pies from  the  late  Mr.  Henderson,  the  actor,  who, 
though  a  good  mimick  of  some  persons,  did  not 
represent  Johnson  correctly. — Boswell. 

1  See  "  Prosodia  RaHonalis;  or,  an  Essay 
towards  establishing  the  Melody  and  Measure  of 
Speech,  to  be  expressed  and  perpetuated  by  pe- 
culiar Symbols.     London,  1779." — Boswell. 

3  I  use  the  phrase  m  score,  as  Dr.  Johnson 
has  explained  it  in  his  Dictionary.  '<  A  song  in 
Score,  the  words  with  the  musical  notes -of  a 
song  annexed."  But  I  understand  that  in  scien- 
tifick  propriety  it  means  all  the  parts  of  a  musical 
composition  noted  down  in  the  characters  by 
which  it  is  exhibited  to  the  eye  of  the  skilful — 
Boswell.  It  was  declamation  that  Steele  pre- 
tended to  reduce  to  notation  by  new  character* 
This  he  called  the  melody  of  speech,  not  the  Aor- 
mons/,  which  the  term  in  score  implies. — Bua- 
wey.  [The  true  meaning  of  the  term  score  -s, 
that  when  music,  in  different  parts  for  different 
voices  or  instruments,  is  written  on  the  same  page, 
the  bars,  instead  pf  being  drawn  only  across  each 
stave,  are,  to  fed  the  eyes  of  die  several  ner- 
fbrmers,  scored  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the 
pages.— En.] 


There  is  a  goo4  line. — "  Ay  (said  he),  and 
the  next  line  is  a  good  one,  (pronouncing  it 
contemptuously), 

-  •  Give  ample  verge  and  room  enough.'— 

No,  sir,  there  are  but  two  good  stanzas  in 
Gray's  poetry,  which  are  in  his  '  Elegy  in  a 
Country  Church-yard. ' "  He  then  repeated 
the  stanza,  # 

"  For  who  to  dumb  foigetrulness  a  prey,"  lie.  • 

mistaking  one  word :  for  instead  oCnreeinets 
he  said  confines.  He  added,  "  The  other 
stanza  I  forget."    . 

A  young  lady  *  who  had  married  a  man 
much  her  infenour  in  rank  being  mentioned, 
a  question  arose  how  a  woman's  relations 
should  behave  to  her  in  such  a  .situation; 
and,  while  I  recapitulate  the  debate,  and  re-* 
collect  what  has  sinee  happened,  I  cannot 
but  be  struck  in  a  manner  that  delicacy5 
forbids  me  to  express.  While  I  contended 
that  she  ought  to  be  treated  with  an  inflexible  . 
steadiness  of  displeasure,  Mrs.  Thrale  was 
all  for  mildness  and  forgiveness,  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  vulgar  phrase,  "  making  the 
best  of  a  bad  bargain. "  Johnson.  "Ma- 
dam, we  must  distinguish.  Were  1  a  mau 
of  rank,  I  would  not  let  a  daughter  starve 
who  had  made  a  mean  marriage:  but  hav- 
ing voluntarily  degraded  herself  from  the 
station  which  she  was  originally  entitled  to 
hold,  I  would  support  her  only  in  that  which 
she  herself  had  chosen;  and  would  not  put 
her  on  a  level  with  my  other  daughters. 
You  are  to  consider,  madam,  that  it  is  our 
duty  to  maintain  the  subordination  of  civil- 
ized society;  and  when  there  is  a  gross  and 
shameful  deviation  from  rank,  it  should  be 
punished  so  as  to  deter  others  from  the 
same  perversion." 

After  frequently  considering  this  subject, 
I  am  more  and  more  confirmed  in  what  I 
then  meant  to  express,  and  which  was  sanc- 
tioned by  the  authority,  and  illustrated 
by  the  wisdom  of  Johnson;  and  I  think  it 
of  the  utmost  consequence  to  the  happiness 
of  society,  to  which  subordination  is  abso- 
lutely necessary.  It  is  weak  and  contempti- 
ble, and  unworthy,  in  a  parent  to  relax  in 
such  a  case.  It  is  sacrificing  general  advan- 
tage to  private  feelings.  And  let  it  be  con- 
sidered that  the  claim  of  a  daughter  who 
has  acted  thus,  to  be  restored  to  her  former 
situation,  is  either  fantastical  or  unjust.    If 


*  [No  doubt  Lady  Susan  Fox,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  first  Earl  of  Ilchester,  born  in  1748,  who, 
in  1778,  married  Mr.  William  O'Brien,  an  actor. 
She  died  on  the  9th  August,  1827.— En.] 

•  [Mr.  BosweU's  delicacy  to  Mrs.  Piozzi  is 
quite  exemplary!  but  after  all,  there  ■  nothing 
which  he  has  insinuated  or  said  too  bad  for  such 
a  lamentable  and  degrading  weakness  as  she  was 
guilty  of  in  her  marriage  with  Mr.  PioxxL — En.} 


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there  be  no  valve  in  the  distinction  of  rank, 
what  does  she  suffer  by  being;  kept  in  the 
situation  to  which  she  has  descended?  If 
there  be  a  value  in  that  distinction,  it  ought 
to  be  steadily  maintained.  If  indulgence  be 
shown  to  such  conduct,  and  the  offenders 
know  that  in  a  longer  or  shorter  time  they 
shall  be  received  as  well  as  if  they  had  not 
contaminated  their  blood  by  a  base  alliance, 
the  great  check  upon  that  inordinate  caprice 
which  generally  occasions  low  marriages 
will  be  removed,  and  the  fair  and  comforta- 
ble order  of  improved  life  will  be  miserably 
disturbed. 

Lord  Chesterfield's  letters  being  mention- 
ed, Johnson  said,  "  It  was  not  to  be  wonder- 
ed at  that  they  had  so  great  a  sale,  consider- 
ing that  they  were  the  letters  of  a  statesman, 
a  wit,  one  who  had  been  so  much  in  the 
mouths  of  mankind,  one  long  accustomed 
virum  volitate  per  ora." 

On  Friday,  31st  March,  I  supped  with 
.  him  and  some  friends  at  a  tavern.  One  of 
the  company  *  attempted,  with  too  much 
forwardness,  to  rally  him  on  his  late  appear- 
ance at  the  theatre;  but  had  reason  to  re- 
pent of  his  temerity.  "  Why,  sir,  did  you 
go  to  Mrs.  Abingdon's  benefit?  'Did  yon 
see?"  JoBJfsoK.  "No, sir."  "Did  you 
hear?".  Johksoh.  "No,  sir."  "Why 
then,  sir,  did  you  go?"'  Johnson.  "  Be- 
cause, sir,  she  is  a  favourite  of  the  publick; 
and  when  the  publick  cares  the  thousandth 
part  for  you  that  it  does  for  her,  I  will  go 
to  your  benefit  too." 

Next  morning  I  won  a  small  bet  from 
Lady  Diana  Beauclerk,  by  asking  him  as  to 
one  of  his  particularities,  which  her  lady- 
ship laid  I  durst  not  do.  It  seems  he  had 
been  frequently  observed  at  the  club  to  put 
into  his  pocket  the  Seville  oranges,  after  he 
had  squeezed  the  juice  of  them  into  the 
drink  which  he  made  for  himself.  Beau- 
clerk  and  Garrick  talked  of  it  to  me,  and 
seemed  to  think  that  he  had  a  strange  un- 
willingness to  be  discovered.  We  could 
not  divine  what  he  did  with  them;  and  this 
was  the  bold  question  to  be  put.  I  saw  on 
his  table,  the  spoils  of  the  preceding  ni^ht, 
some  fresh  peels  nicely  scraped  and  cut  into 
pieces.  "  6,  sir  (said  I),  I  now  partly  see 
what  you  do  with  the  squeezed  oranges 
which  you  put  into  your  pocket  at  the  club." 
Johnson.  "  I  have  a  great  love  for  them." 
Boswrll.  "  And  pray,  sir,  what  do  you  do 
with  them?  Tou  scrape  them  it  seems, 
very  neatly,  and  what  next?"  Johnson. 
"  £et  them  dry,  sir."  Bos  well.  "  And 
what  next?  "  Johnson.  "  Nay,  sir,  you 
shall  know  their  fate  no  further."  Bobwkll. 
"  Then  the  world  must  be  left  in  the  dark. 
It  must  be  said  (assuming  a  mock  sotean- 


1  [This  k  supposed  to  have  been  Mr.  Boswefl 
hiiu*e!C— Ed.] 


nity)  he  scraped  them  and  let  them  dry,  but 
what  he  did  with  them  next  he  never  could 
be  prevailed  upon  to  tell."  Jcfaicsos. 
"  Nay,  sir,  you  should  say  it  more  emphati- 
cally : — he  could  not  be  prevailed  upon,  even. 
by  his  dearest  friends,  to  tell  V 

He  had  this  morning  received  his  diplo- 
ma as  doctor  of  laws  from  the  university  of 
Oxford.  He  did  not  vaunt  of  his  new  dig- 
nity, but  I  understood  he  was  highly  pleased 
with  it.  I  shall  here  insert  the  progress) 
and  completion  of  that  high  academical  ho- 
nour, in  the  same  manner  as  1  have  traced 
his  obtaining  that  of  master  of  arts. 

"TO   THE    REV.    DR.    FOTHJtBGILL, 

Vfefr-ehaaceUor  of  the  UnirenitT  of  Oxford,  to  be  co**> 
municmted  to  the  Heeds  of  Horns,  and  proposed  si 
Convocation. 

"DoweJn^etreei,  3d  March,  WW. 

"  Ma.  Vice-chancellor  akd  okvtle- 
mrn, — The  honour  of  the  degree  of  M.  A. 
by  diploma,  formerly  conferred  upon  Mr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  in  consequence  or  his  hav- 
ing eminently  distinguished  himself  by  the 
publication  of  a  series  of  essays,  excellently 
calculated  to  form  die  manners  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  in  which  the  cause  of  religion  and 
morality  has  been  maintained  and  recom- 
mended by  the  strongest  powers  of  argu- 
ment and  elegance  of  language,  reflected  an 
equal  degree  of  lustre  upon  the  university 
itself. 

"  The  many  learned  labours  which  have 
since  that  time  employed  the  attention  and 
displayed  the  abilities  of  that  great  man,  so 

*  [The  following  extract  of  one  of  what  Mn 
Seward  would  call  his  love-letterg  to  Miss  Booth- 
by,  probably  explains,  in  terms  hardly  suitable  to 
the  correspondence  with  a  lady,  the  use  to  which 
he  potJhese  orange  peels. — "  Give  me  leave,  who 
have  thought  much  on  medicine,  to  propose  to 
yon  an  easy  and,  1  think,  very  probable  remedy 
for  indigestion  and  lubricity  of  the  bowels.  Dr. 
Lawrence  has  told  me  your  case.  Take  an  ounce 
of  dried  orange  peel,  finely  powdered,  divide  k 
into  scruples,  and  take  one  scrapie  at  a  time  in 
any  manner:  the  best  way  is,  perhaps,  to  drink  it 
in  a  glass  of  hot  red  port,  or  to  eat  it  first,  and 
drink  the  wine  after  it  If  yon  mix  cinnamon  or 
nutmeg  with  the  powder  it  were  not  worse;  but 
it  will  be  more  bulky,  and  so  more  troublesome 
This  is  a  medicine  not  disgusting,  not  costly,  easily 
tried,  and  if  not  found  useful,  easily  left  off.  I 
wonld  not  have  you  offer  it  to  the  doctor  as  nose, 
physicians  do  not  love  intruder*;  yet  do  not  take 
it  without  his  leave.  Bat  do  not  be  easily  pat 
off,  for  it  is  ill  my  opinion  very  likely  to  help 
yon,  and  not  likely  to  do  you  harm:  do  not  tabs 
too  much  ia  haste;  a  scrapie  once  in  three  boas, 
or  about  five  scruples  a  day,  win  be  sufficient  is 
begin,  or  less  if  yon  find  any  aversion.  I  think 
using  sugar  with  it  might  be  bad  A  syrup,  usa  oaf 
syrup  of  quinces;  but  even  that  "do  net  Kan.    I 


should  think  better  of 
81st  Dec  [176*].— En. J 


"~*£ctf. 


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ira— jet  at.  et. 


6IS 


much  to  the  advancement  of  literature  and 
the  benefit  of  the  community,  render  him 
worthy  of  more  distinguished  honours  in 
the  repnbbek  of  letters;  and  I  persuade'my- 
self  that  I  shall  act  agreeably  to  the  senti- 
ments of  the  whole  university,  in  desiring 
that  it  may  be  proposed  in  convocation  to 
confer  on  him  the  degree  of  doctor  in  civil 
law  by  diploma,  to  which  I  readily  {rive  my 
consent;  and  am,  Mr.  Vice-chancellor  and 
gentlemen,  your  affectionate  friend  and  ser- 
vant, "Noeth".* 

DIPLOMA. 
«  Cm*C€Uariu*y  m+giilri,  et  scholar—  wttotmUoiit  0*- 
oalfttfr  wwSti  mi  twos  present—  liter*  pervens- 
tint  j  solutem  to  Dommo  semsHtemam 

"  8d*tis9  virum  iltustrem,  S*muelem 
Johnson,  en  omim  nflMMNMonNn  Merarum 
gtntre  eruditum.  omnnmsque  seientiarum 
eomptehensione  feUeissimum9  $criptU  sum, 
*d  popul*rtum  mores  formandos  summd 
uertorum  elegsmHd  *e  sentenHarum  gravi- 
tate tompositisf  tte  olim  inel*ruisse9  ut  di$- 
nus  mderetur  em  ab  aeademid  $ud  eximta 
qmmdam  hsudis  prcemi*  defer enturf  quique 
uenerabUem  Magistrorum  ordinem  summd 
cum  dignitate  eooptaretur: 

m  Cum  vero  etmdem  eiartssimum  mrum 
fef  postea  tsmtique  labor es,  in  f*triAprw- 
serttm  ting**  omandd  et  stabihenddfeliei- 
ter  impenst\  it*  insigniverint,  ut  in  liter  a* 
rum  repubHed  prtneeps  jmm  et  primmriu$ 
jure  habeatur;  nor,  eaneellmriui,  mafistri9 
et  seholares  umoersitatis  Oxoniens%s9  quo 
tmUs  viri  merit*  pari  honoris  remunera- 
Hone  exmouenfur,  etperpetuum  sum  simul 
laudis9  nostresque  erg*  liter**  prepensis- 
simm  oohmUUis  extet  monumentum9  in  so- 
Ittias  eenvoe*tiene  doctorum  et  magistro- 
rum  regentwm,  et  non  regentium,  prmdic- 
tum  Samuelem  Johnson  doetorem  in  jure 
eivili  renuneienrimus  et  eonstituimus9  eum- 
que,  virtute  prmsentis  diplomatic  singulis 
juribus,  prwilegiis  et  honoribus,  *d  tstum 
graaum  quhquhpertsnentibw9Jrui  et  g*u- 
derejuestmus.  In  emus  rei  testimonium 
commune  universitatit  Oxoniensis  sigilhtm 
prassentUus  apponi  fecimus. 

u  D*tum  in  domo  nostra)  eonvocationis 
sUe  trieesimo  mensis  Martii,  anno  Domini 
miUesimo  septingentesimo9  septuagesimo 

9  -»«» 


1  Extracted  from  the  Convocation  Register, 
Oxford. — BotwELi* 

9  The  original  m  m  my  possession.  He  show* 
ad  me  the  diploma,  and  allowed  ma  to  read  it, 
bat  woakl  not  eoaaaat  to  my  taking  a  copy  of  it, 


fearii^perfaa^thatlaboaMbtaXeaabroadmhii 
lifetime.    His  objection  to  this  appears  from  I 


the 

[following]  letter  to  Mia,  Tfarale,  in  which  ha 
scolds  her  for  the  grossness  of  her  flattery  of  him. 
b  is  remarkable  that  ha  nsvar,  so  far  as  I  know, 
I  luatinaof4aerer,bBt  called  hmeelfJMK 
,  as  appears  from  many  of  he)  cards  or 
myself,  and  I  Lavs  seen  many  from  him 
persons,  in  which  ha  sjufccntfy  takes  that 
▼•it.  i.  65 


*Fto**per*idoTBOUJRV<yrBngm*,&r<P.  «**. 

versitaUs  Oooniensis  vtce-csmceUsrio. 

"8.P.D. 

"8AM.  JOHNSON. 

"Mmltis  non  est  onus,  ut  testimonium 

quo,  teprmside,  Oxonienses  nomen  meum 

posteris  commendarunt,  qu*H  emimo  accept- 

rim  eompertum  f*ei*m.     Nemo  sibi  pi*- 

eens  non  lmt*tur;  nemo  sibi  non  placet, 

qui  vobis,  Hterarum  orbitris,  plocerepotu- 

*f.     Hoe  tamen  habet  incommodi  Ionium 

benefieium9  quod  mihi  nunquam  posthde 

sinevestrmfimm  detrimento  vel  labt  liceat 

vel  eessare;  semperoue  sit  timtndum  ne 

quod  mint  torn  eximsm  laudiest,  tobis  oU- 

quandofiat  opprobrio.     V*le  K 

tt7.U.Jpr.tTlt\» 

["TO  MRS.  THEALB. 
w  ,  Mm April,  ms. 

"  I  had  mistaken  the  day  on 
which  I  was  to  dine  with  Mr.  **%J-L 
Bruce,  and  hear  of  Ahyssinia,  and  F 
therefore  am  to  dine  this  day  with  Mr. 
Hamilton. 

"  The  news  ftum  Oxford  is  that  no  ten- 
nis-court can  he  hired  at  any  price  4 ;  and 
that  the  vice-chancellor  will  not  write  to  the 
Clarendon  trustees  without  some  previous 
intimation  that  hb  request  will  not  he  un- 
acceptable. We  must,  therefore;  find  some 
way  of  applying  to  Lord  Mansfield,  who, 
with  the  Archbishop  of  York  and  the  Bish- 
op of  Chester,  holds  the  trust  Thus  are 
we  thrown  to  a  vexatious  distance.  Poor 
[Carter] !  do  not  tell  him. 

"  The  other  Oxford  news  is  that  they 
have  sent  me  a  degree  of  doctor  of  laws, 
with  such  praises  in  the  diploma  as,  per- 
haps, ought  to  make  me  ashamed;  they  are 


ition.  I  once  observed  on  haj  table  a  let- 
ter directed  to  him  with  the  addition  of  esqmre$ 
and  objected  to  it  as  berna  a  designation  inferioar 
to  that  of  doctor;  bat  be  cheeked  me,  and  eeemed 
pleased  with  it,  became,  as  I  conjectured,  be  liked 
to  be  sometimes  taken  oat  of  the  clam  of  literary 
men,  and  to  be  menLygenteel—ungentiihemftu 
eomme  un  autre.  [The  editor  inspects  that  one 
reason  why  Johnson  was  a  little  reserved  about 
this  Oxford  degree  was  that  Lord  JVbrth  appear- 
ed as  the  prune  "mover'in  it,  and  that  Johnson  did 
not  much  relish  the  appearance  of  owing  literary 
daainction  to  Lord  North;  first,  because  he  was 
personally  dissatisfied  with  his  lordship;  and,  sec- 
ondly, because  the  degree,  at  that  particular  mo- 
look  like  a  reward  for  his  political 
When  Mr.  Boswell  is  so  severe  on 


Piozsi  for  msocaraey  and  exaggeration,  may 
lot  nurty  ask  whether  thetgentle  aUusioB  to 
flattery  (in  the  letter  which  Mr.  Boswell  did  not 
publish)  can  be  fciriy  called  "scolding  Mrs. 
Fiossi  lor  the  grossness  of  her  flattery  ?  "—En.] 
a  «•  The  original  as  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Fotfaer- 
gul,  then  vke-chanceUer,  who  made  thai  tras> 
npt»-J T.  Wabtost. 
«  [For  a  rknng  school  fit  Mr.  Carter.— Ep.] 


Digitized  by 


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014 


1775.— jMAT.  M. 


▼eiy  bin  your  praise*.  I  wondar  whether 
I  shall  ever  show  them  to  you. 

"Boswell  will  be  with  you.  Messe  to 
■■k  Murphy  the  way  to  Lord  Mansfield. 
Dr.  Wethcrejl,  who  is  now  here,  and  will 
be  here  for  some  days,  is  very  desirous  of 
seeing  the  brew-house;  I  hope  Mr.  Thrale 
will  send  him  an  invitation.  He  does  what 
be  ean  for  Carter. 

"To-day  I  dine  with  Hamilton;  to-morrow 
with  Hoole ;  on  Monday  with  Paradise ; 
on  Tuesday  with  master  and  mistress:  on 
Wednesday  with  Dilly;  but  eome  back  to 
the  tower  i.»] 

He  revised  some  sheets  of  Lord  Halloa's 
«« Annals  of  Scotland,"  and  wrote  a  few 
notes  on  the  margin  with  red  ink,  which  he 
bade  me  tell  his  lordship  did  not  sink  into 
the  paper,  and  might  be  wiped  off  with  "a 
wet  sponge,  so  that  it  did  not  spoil  his  manu- 
script, f  observed  to  him  that  there  were 
very  few  ot  his  friends  so  accurate  as  that 
I  could  venture  to  put  down  in  writing 
what  they  told  me  as  his  sayings.  Johh- 
soif .  "  Why  should  you  write  down  my 
sayings  ?*  Boswell.  "1  write  them 
when  they  are  rood."  Johnson.  "  Nay, 
you  may  as  well  write  down  the  sayings  of 
any  one  else  that  are  good.9'  But  where, 
I  might  with  great  propriety  have  added, 
can  I  find  such? 

I  visited  him  by  appointment  in  the  eve-* 
sing,  and  we  drank  tea  with  Mrs.  Williams. 
He  told  me  that  he  had  been  in  she  compa- 
ny of  a  gentleman  •  whose  extraordinary 
travels  had  been  much  the  subject  of  conver- 

Etkm.  But  I  found  he  had  not  listened  to 
m  with  that  full  confidence,  without  which 
there  is  little  satisfaction  in  the  society  of 
travellers.  I  was  curious  to  hear  what 
opinion  so  able  a  judge  as  Johnson  had 
fUmed  of  his  abilities,  and  I  asked  if  he  wss 
not  a  man  of  sense.  Johnson.  "  Why, 
sir,  he  is  not  a  distinct  relator;  and  I  should 
say,  h#  is  neither  abounding  nor  deficient  in 
sense.  I  did  not  perceive  any  superiority 
of  understanding."  Boswxll.  "  But  will 
yon  not  allow  him  a  nobleness  of  reso- 
lution, in  penetrating  into  distant  regions?" 
Johnson.  "  That,  sir,  is  not  to  the  present 
purpose:  we  are  talking  of  sense.  A  fight- 
ing cock  has  a  nobleness  of  resolution." 

Next  day,  Sunday,  3d  April,  I  dined  with 
him  at  Mr.  Hoote*.  We  talked  of  Pope. 
Johnson.    "He wrote  his'Dunciad'  for 


*  *  [The  tower  was  a  separate  room  at  Streath- 
am,  where  Dr.  Johnson  slept — Piozzi.  So 
called  probably  beeaase  it  was  bowed.  Hm  edi- 
tor atept  in  that  room  many  yean  after,  and  was 
pleased  to  find  that  Dr.  Johnson's  wiiting4aMe 
was  carefully  preserved,  and  that  even  the  Wots 
of  hki  ink  were  not  cleaned  away.— En.] 
*•  ■  [Brace,  the  Abyssinian  traveller,  with  whom 
1»  bad  dart  this  day  at  Mr.  Gerard  Hamilton'* 
-to.] 


fame.  That  was  bisprimaTymotiv©.  Had 
it  not  been  for  that,  toe  dances  might  have 
railed  against  him  till  they  wave  weary, 
without  his  troubling  himself  afrout  them. 
He  delighted  to  vex  them,  no  doubt:  but 
he  had  more  delight  in  seeing  how  well  he 
could  vex  them." 

The  "  Odes  to  Obscurity  and  Oblivion," 
in  ridicule  of  "  cool  Mason  and  warm  Gray," 
being  mentioned,  Johnson  said, "  They  are 
Column's  best  things."  Upon  its  being 
observed  that  it  was  believed  these  odes 
were  made  by  Colman  and  Lk>yd;— Jom- 
son.  t(  Nay,  sir,  how  can  two  people  make 
an  ode?  Perhaps  one  made  one  of  them, 
and  one  the  other."  I  observed  that  two 
people  had  made  a  play,  and  quoted  the  an- 
ecdote of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  who  were 
brought  under  suspicion  of  treason,  because 
while  concerting  the  plan  of  a  tragedy 
whea  sitting  together  at  a  tavern,  one  of 
them  was  overheard  saying  to  the  other, 
"I'll  kill  the  king.*'  Johnson.  "The 
first  of  these  odes  is  the  best;  but  they  are 
both  good.  They  exposed  a  very  bad  kind 
of  writing V  Boswsli*.  "Surely,  sir, 
Mr.  Mason's '  Elfrids'  is  a  fine  poem:  at 
least  you  will  allow  there  are  some  good 
passages  in  it."  Johnson.  "-There  are 
now  and  then  some  good  imitations  of  Mil- 
ton's bad  manner." 

[Mrs.  Piozzi  has  heard  Johnson  ****> 
relate  how  he  used  to  sit  in  some  *"  ** 
coffee-house,  and  turn  Mason's  Caracta- 
cus  into  ridicule  for  the  diversion  of  him- 
self and  of  chance  comers-in.  "  The  EI- 
fhda  (says  he)  wss  too  exquisitely  pret- 
ty* ;  I  could  make  no  fun  out  of  that." 
When  upon  some  occasions  he  would  ex- 
press his  astonishment  that  he  should  have 
an  enemy  in  the  world,  while  he  had  been 
doing  nothing  but  good  to  his  neighbours, 
Mrs.  Piozzi  used  to  make  him  recollect 
these  circumstances;  "Why, child,  (said 
he),  what  harm  could  that  do  the  fellow? 
I  always  thought  veryj  well  of  Mason  for  a 
Cambridge  man:  he  is,  I  believe,  a  mighty 
blameless  character."] 

1  often  wondered  at  ius  low  estimation  of 
the  writings  of  Gray  and  Mason.  Of 
Gray's  poetry  I  have  in  a  former  part  of 
this  work  expressed  my  nigh  opinion;  and 
for  that  of  Mr.  Mason  I  have  ever  enter- 
tained a  warm  admiration.  Hh  "  Elftida" 
is  exquisite,  both  in  poetical  description  and 


id  CA4UMMIC,  uuui  in  pueutau  ucocnpuou  ana 

*  [Gray's  odes  are  still  on  every  table  and  m 
every  month,  and  there  are  not,  the  editor  be- 
lieves, a  dozen  libraries  in  England  which  coaJd 
'here  "  best  fats**,"  written  by  taw 
!  wits  in  ridienle  of  them  ■  Eft.3 
editor  has  not  thought  himself  at  liberty 
■  this  judgment,  beeaase  it  seems  in* 
authorised    by    Boswefl*s    awnt. 


ahbovghthe 
style.— &.] 


by'    Boswefl's 
is  vsjyualike 


Digitized  by 


Google 


1775>-jETAT  68. 


515 


moral  sentiment;  aiklhis^Caraetaens"  is 
a  noble  drama.  Nor  can  I  omit  paying  my 
tribute  of  praise  to  some  of  his  smaller 
poems,  which  I  have  read  with  pleasure, 
and  which  no  criticism  shall  persuade  me 
not  to  like.  If  I  wondered  at  Johnson's  not 
taring  the  works  of  Mason  and  Gray,  still 
more  have  I  wondered  at  their  not  tasting 
his  works:  that  they  should  be  insensible 
to  bis  energy  of  diction*  to  his  splendour  of 
images,  and  comprehension  of  thought. 
Tastes  may  differ  as  to  the  violin,  the  flute, 
the  hautboy;  in  short  all  the  lesser  instru- 
ments: but.  who  can  be  insensible  to  the 
powerful  impressions  of  the  majestic  or- 
gan? 

His  "Taxation  no  Tvranny  "  being  men- 
tioned, he  said,  "  I  think  I  have  not  been 
attacked  enough  for  it  Attack  is  the  re- 
action; I  never  think  I  have  hit  hard, 
unless  it  rebounds.9'  Boswell.  "  I  don't 
know,  air,  what  you  would  be  at  Five  or 
six  shots  of  small  arms  in  every  newspaper, 
and  repeated  cannonading  in  pamphlets, 
might,  1  think,  satisfy  you.  But,  sir,  you  '11 
never  make  out  this  match,  of  which  we 
have  talked,  with  a  certain  political  lady  1, 
since  you  are  so  severe  against  her  princi- 
ples." Johnson.  "  Nay,  sir,  I  have  the 
better  chance  for  that  She  is  like  the 
Amazons  of  old;  she  must  be  courted 
by  the  sword.  But  I  have  not  been  severe 
upon  her."  Boswell.  "Yes,  sir,  you 
have  made  her  ridiculous. "  Johnson. 
"That  was  already  done,  sir.  To  en- 
deavour to  make  her  ridiculous,  is  like 
blacking-  the  chimney." 
;  I  put  him  in  mind  that  the  landlord  at 
Ellon  in  Scotland  said,  that  he  heard  he 
was  the  greatest  man  in  England,  next  to 
Lord  Mansfield.  "Ay,  sir  (said  he),  the 
exception  defined  the  idea.  A  Scotchman 
could  go  no  farther: 
*  Hie  force  of  Nature  could  no  farther  go.9 " 
Lady  Miller's  collection  of  verses  by 
fashionable  people,  which  were  put  into 
hat  Vase  at  Batheaston  villa9,  near  Bath, 


1  [Mrs.  Macaulay:  see  ante,  p.    102.    Dr. 
Macaulay  had  been  dead  some  yean, 
.  -    ...  ....  — g^fc,.] 


lady  did  not  re-many  till  1778.- 
*  r  BatheoMton.— The  follow 


and  the 

[  Bathetutoru— The  following  extract,  from 
one  of  Horace  Walpole's  letters,  will  explain  the 
I  and  proceedings  of  this  farce:  "  Yon 
t  know,  that  near  Bath  is  erected  a  new  par- 
iseus,  composed  of  three  laurels,  a  myrtle-tree, 
weeping-willow,  and  a  view  of  the  Avon, 
been  new  christened  Helicon.  Ten 
yean  ago  there  lived  a  madam  [Rigpl,  an  °^ 
rough  numourist,  who  passed  for  a  wit;  her 
daughter,  who  passed  for  nothing,  married  to  a  cap- 
tain [Miller],  fall  of  good  natored  officiousness. 
*H>ese  good  folks  were  friends  of  Miss' Rich*,, 
who  carried  me  to  dine  with  them  at  Batb-Easton, 
•i jgrj **«■****>  tad  stater  to  the  second 


Psajtitaf  Q! 
»sf  Osama, 


in  compaction  for  honorary  prises*  being 
mentioned,  he  held  them  very  cheap: 
"  JBoufrrimeV'  **id  he, "  k  a  mere  conceit, 
and  an  old  conceit  note;  I  wonder  how 
people  were  persuaded  to  write  in  that 
manner  for  this  lady."  I  named  a  gentle- 
man of  his  acquaintance  3  who  wrote  for 
the  Vase.  JoMson.  "  He  was  a  block- 
head for  his  pains."  Boswell.  "  The 
Duchess  of  Northumberland  wrote*." 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  the  Duchess  of  North- 
umberland may  do  what  she  pleases:  no- 
body will  say  any  thin?  to  a  lady  of  hat 
high  rank.  But  I  should  be  apt  to  throw 
*•••*•»&  verses  in  his  face." 

I  talked  of  the  cheerfulness  of  Fleet-street, 
owing  to  the  constant  quick  succession  of 
people  which  we  perceive  passing  through 
it.  Johnson.  "Why,  sir,  Fleet-street 
has  a  very  animated  appearance;  but  I 

now  Pmdns.  They  caught  a  lime  of  what  was 
then  called  taste,  built,  and  planted,  and  begot 
children,  till  the  whole  caravan  were  forced  to  go 
abroad  to  retrieve.  Alas !  Mrs.  Miller  is  retained 
a  beauty,  a  genius,  a  Sappho,  a  tenth  mvse,  as 
romanticas  Mademoiselle  Scnderi,  and  as  sophisti- 
cated as  Mrs.  V[esey  t].  The  captain's  Angers 
are  loaded  with  cameos,  his  tongue  runs  over  with 
virtu ;  and  that  both  may  contribute  to  the  im- 
provement of  their  own  country,  they  have  intro- 
duced bouU-rvmis  as  a  new  discovery.  They 
hold  a  Parnassus-lair  every  Thursday,  give  out 
rhymes  and  themes,  and  all  the  flux  of  quality  at 
Bath  contend  for  the  prizes.  A  Roman  vase, 
dressed  with  pink  ribands  and  myrtles,  receives 
the  poetry,  which  is  drawn  out  every  festival :  as 
judges  of  these  Olympic  games  retim  and  select 
the  brightest  composition,  which  the  respectrre 
successful  acknowledge,  kneel  to  Mb,  Calliope 
[Miller],  loss  her  lair  hand,  and  are. crowned  by 
it  with  myrtle,  with— I  don't  know  what  Yea 
may  think  this  a  fiction,  or  exaggeration.  Be 
dumb,  unbelievers  1  The  collection  is  printed, 
published, — yes,  on  my  faith  !  there  are  hosts* 
rimes  on  a  buttered  muffin,  by  her  Grace)  the 
Duchess  of  Northumberland;  receipts  to  make 
them,  by  Corydon  the  venerable,  alias  * ; 

others  very  pretty,  by  Lord  P[almerston]  ;  some 
by  Lord  C[arfnarthen]  ;  many  by  Mrs.  [Miller] 
herself,  that  have  no  fault  bit  wanting  metre; 
and  immortality  promised  to  her  without  end  or 
measure.  In  short,  'since  folly,  which  never 
ripens  to  madness  but  in  this  hot  climate,  ran  dis- 
tracted, there  never  was  any  thing  so  entertaining, 
or  so  dull— /or  you  cannot  read  so  long  as  I  have 
been  telling. "—  Works,  vol  v.  p.  185.— En.] 

*  [Probably  the  Rev.  Richard  Graves,  who 
was  for  some  years  tutor  in  the  bouse  of  Johnson's 
friend,  Mr.  Fltzhegbert,  and  who  contributed  to 
the  Batheaston  Vase.  He  was  Rector  of  Claver- 
ton,  near  Bath,  where  be  died  in  1804.— En.] 

4  [Lady  Anne  Stuart,  second  daughter  of  Lord 
Bute,  married  in  1704  to  the  second  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  from  whom  she  was  divorced  in 
1779.— En.] 

f  t&Utsraiylaa^ofwIuanwesluulsseBW 


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H7&— JPTAT.  ML 


is  fit 


tin*  the  full  tide  of  Iranian 
Charing-croes." 

He  made  the  common  remark  on  the  un- 
happiness  which  men  who  have  led  e  busy 
lift  experience,  when  they  retire  in  expec- 
tation of  enjoying  themselves  at  ease,  and 
that  they  generally  languish  for  want  of 
their  habitual  occupation,  and  wish  tam- 
tam to  it  He  mentioned  as  strong  an 
instance  of  this  as  can  well  be  imagined. 
"An  eminent  tallow-chandler  in  London, 
WHO  had  acquired  a  considerable  fortune, 
gave  up  the  trade  in  favour  of  his  foreman, 
and  went  to  live  at  a  country-house  near 
town.  He  soon  £rew  weary,  and  paid  fre- 
quent visits  to  his  old  shop,  where  he  de- 
sired they  might  let  him  know  their  melting* 
day$,  simile  would  come  and  assist  them ; 
which  he  accordingly  did.  Here,  sir,  was 
a  man  to  whom  the  most  disgusting  circum- 
stances in  the  business  to  which  he  bad  been 
used  was  a  relief  from  idleness." 

On  Wednesday,  5th  April,  I  dined  with 
him  at  Messieurs  Dillys,  with  Mr.  John 
Scott  of  Amwell,  the  Quaker,  Mr.  Lang- 
ton,  Mr.  Miller  (now  Sir  John),  and  Dr. 
Thomas  Campbell*,  an  Irish  clergyman, 
whom  I  took  the  liberty  of  inviting  to  Mr. 
Dilly's  table,  having  seen  him  at  Mr* 
Thrale's,  and  been  told  that  he  had  come 
to  England  chiefly  with  a  vieto  to  see  Dr. 
Johnson,  for  whom  he  entertained  the 
highest  veneration.  He  has  since  published 
"  A  Philosophical  Survey  of  the  South  of 
Ireland,"  a  very  entertaining  book,  which 
has,  however,  one  fault — that  it  assumes 
the  fictitious  character  of  an  Englishman. 

We  talked  of  publick  speaking.  John- 
son. "We  must  not  estimate  a '.marts 
powers  by  his  being  able  or  not  able  to 
deliver  his  sentiments  in  publick.  Isaac 
Hawkins  Browne,  one  of  tne  first  wits  of 
this  country,  got  into  parliament,  and  never 
opened  his  mouth.  For  my  own  part,  t 
think  it  is  more  disgraceful  never  to  try  to 
speak,  than  to  try  it  and  fail;  as  it  is  more 
disgraceful  not  to  fight,  than  to  fight  and 
be  beaten."  This  argument  appeared  to 
me  fallacious  j  for  if  a  man  has  not  spoken, 
it  may  be  said  thai  he  would  have  done 
very  well  if  he  had  tried  5  whereas,  if  he 
has  tried  and  Jailed,  there  is  nothing  to'be 
said  for  him.  "Why  then,"  I  asked,  « is 
it  thought  disgraceful  for  a  man  not  to 
fight,  and  not  disgraceful  not  to  speak  in 
publick?**  Johnson.  <* Because  there 
may  be  other  reasons  for  a  man's  not 
Speaking  in  publick  than  want  of  resolution : 
he  may  have  nothing  to  say  (laughing). 
Whereas,  sir,  you  know  courage  is  reck- 
oned the  greatest  of  all  virtues ;  because, 
unless  a  man  has  that  virtue,  he  has  no 
curity  for  preserving  any  other." 


£8es  ?o*t.  6th  April— En.] 


He  observed,  thai  "the 
bribery  were  intended  to  prevent 
with  money  from  setting  into  pariia 
adding,  that  « if  he  were  a  gentfaman  ef 
landed  property,  he  would  tern  cart  all 
his  tenants  who  did  list  vote  for  the  candi- 
date whom  he  supported*"  LaswwuL 
"Woedd  not  that,  sir,  be  checking  An 
freedom  of  election ?w  Johvsov.  "Sir, 
the  law  does  not  mean  that  the  privSe**  of 


voting  should  be  independent  of  old  fiamiry 
interest,  4>f  the  permanent  property  of  this 
country." 

On  Thursday,  6th  April,  I  dined  with 
him  at  Mr.  Thomas  Device's,  with  Mr. 
Hicky,  the  painter,  and  my  old  acquaint- 
ance Mr.  Moody,  the  player. 

Dr.  Johnson,  as  usual,  spoke  contemptu- 
ously of  Coiley  Cibber.  "  ft  is  wonderful 
that  a  man,  who  for  forty  years  had  lived 
with  the  great  and  the  witty,  should  has* 
acquired  so  ill  the  talents  ef  conversation: 
and  he  had  but  half  to  furnish:  for  one  hah* 
of  what  he  said  was  oaths."  He,  however, 
allowed  considerable  merit  to  some  erf*  ha 
comedies,  and  said  there  was  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  "  Careless  Husband  "  was 
not  written  by  himself.  Davies  said,  he 
was  the  first  dramatick  writer  who  intro- 
duced genteel  ladies  upon  the  stage.  John- 
son feinted  his  observation  by  instancing 
several  such  characters  in  comedies  hatsse 
his  time,  Davibs  (trying  to  defend  asm- 
self  from  a  charge  of  ignorance).  -  *  I  mean 
rtmteei  moral  characters,"  "I  think,"  said 
Hicky,  "gentility  and  morality  are  innopi 
rable."  Boswell.  "By  no  means,  sir. 
The  genteelest  characters  are'  often  the 
most  immoral.    Does  not  Lord  Chesterfield 

S've  precents  for'  uniting  wickedness  and 
e  graces  r  A  man,  indeed,  is  not  genteel 
when  he  gets  drunk;  but  most  vices  may 
be  committed  very  genteelly :  a  man  may 
debauch  his  friend's  wife  genteelly:  he  assy 
cheat  at  cards  genteelly."  Hickt.  "I 
do  not  think  that  is  genteel."  Igbswnu*. 
"  Sir,  it  may  not  be  like  a  gentleman,  bat 
it  may  be  genteel."  Jotfftsoir.  .  M  Ton 
are  meaning  two  different  things*  One 
means  extenour  grace;  the  other  honosnv 
It  is  certain  that  a  man  may  be  fery  imnts- 
ral  with  exteriour  grace.  Lovelace,  in 
'  Clarissa,9  is  a  very  genteel  and  a  very  wick- 
ed character.  Tom  Hervey*,  who  died 
t'other  day,  though  a  vicious  man,  was  one 
of  the  genteelest  men  thst  ever  lived.0 
Tom  Davies  instanced  Charles  the  Second. 
Johnson  (taking  fire  -at  any  attack  upon 
that  Prince,  for  whom  he  had  an  extraor- 
dinary partiality).  "Charles  the  Second 
was  licentious  in  his  practice ;  but  he  al- 
ways hsd  a  reverence  for  whnt  was  gooi- 
^Charles  the  Second  knew  his  people,  and 


1  [Sesew^tttJft&V-CnvJ 


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517 


re*rerded  -fierrt.    The  church  was  at  bo 
better  filed  than  in  hia  reign.    He 


was  the  beat  king  we  have  had  from  hia 
wign  of  hia  present  majesty, 


time  till  the  reign 

except  James  the  Second,  who  was  a  very 
good  king  i,  bnt  unhappily  believed  that  it 
was  necessary  for  the  salvation  of  his  sub- 
jects that  they  should  he  Roman  Cathoticks. 
He  had  the  merit  of  endeavouring  to  do 
what  he  thought  waa  for  the  salvation  of 
the  souls  of  hia  subjects,  till  he  lost  a  great 
empire.  FPe,  who  thought  that  we  should 
not  be  aaved  if  we  were  Roman  Catholiclm, 
had  the  merit  of  maintaining  our  religion, 
at  the  expense  of  submitting  ourselves  to 
the  government  of  King  William,  (for  it 
could  not  be  done  otherwise,)— to  the  gov- 
ernment of  one  of  the  most  worthless 
scqpindrels  that  ever  existed  *.  No>  Charles 
the  Second  was  not  such  a  man  as ** 


»  [AUthisi 
and  common  i 


i  io  contrary  Jo  historical  'truth 
that  no  explanation  can  be 


aires  of  it ;  bat  it  excites  a  lively  cnrioaitj  to 
know  more  of  Dr.  Johnson's  pemonal  history 
daring  the  yeeis  1T45  and  1746,  daring  which 
Boewell  could  find  no  tmce  of  him.  See  ante,  p. 
71.— En.] 

[He  was  always  vehement  against  King  W»V 
eman  who  dined  at  a  nobleman's 


table  m  h»  company  and  that  of  Mr.  Thiale,  who 
related  the  anecdote,  was  willing  to  eater  the  lias 


at  defence  of 


Wilham'e  character,  and,, 


fame  tames  petulantly  enough*  the  Baiter  of  the 

house  began  to  feel  uneasy*  ead  expect  daugroca 

bie  coeaaQpenom;  to  avoid  which  be  said,  load 

igh  for  the  Doctor  to  hear,  "  Oat  friend  here 

no  meaning  now  in  all  this',  except  Jost 

at  elnb  to-morrow  haw  he  teased  Jom 


(namina;  anotner  fang).  He  did  not  de- 
stroy hia  father's  will.  He  took  money, 
indeed,  from  France:  but  he  did  not  betray 
those  over  whom  he  ruled:  he  did  not  let 
the  French  fleet  pass  ours.  George  the 
First  knew  nothing,  and  desired  to  know 
nothing;  did  nothing,  and  desired  to  do 
nothing;  and  the  only  f  °*&  »*»g  that  ia 
told  of  him  is,  that  he  wished  to  restore  the 
crown  to  its  hereditary  successor."  He 
roared  with  prodigious  violence  against 
Geoff*  the  Second.  When  he  ceased, 
Moody  fateriectejl,  in  an  Irish  tone,  and 
with  a  comicL look,  "Ah!  poor  George  the 
Second." 

I  mentioned  that  Dr.  Thomas  Campbell 
had  come  from  Ireland  to  London,  princi- 
pally to  see  Dr.  Johnson.  He  seamed  an- 
gry at  this  observation.  Davus.  "  Why, 
you  know,  air,  there  came  a  man  from 
Spain  to  see  Livy  * ;  and  Corelli  came  to 
England  to  see  Purcell*,  and  when  he 
heard  he  was  dead,  went  directly  back 
again  to  Italy,"  Johmboh.  "  I  should; 
not  have  wished  to  be  dead  to  disappoint 
Campbell,  had  he  been  so  foolish  as  you 
represent  him;  but  I  should  have  wished 
to  have  been  a  hundred  miles  o£"  This 
was  apparently  perverse;  and  I  do  believe 
it  waa  not  his  real  way  of  thinking:  he 
could  not  but  like  a  man  who  eame  so  far 
to  see  him.  He  laughed  with  some  com- 
placency, when  I  told  him  Campbell's  odd 
expression  to  me  concerning  him:  u  That 
having  seen  such  a  man*  waa  a  thing  to 
talk  of  a  century  hene«,"-<-ae  if  he  could 
live  so  long*. 


to-day — thai  is  afl  to  do 
"  No,  upon  my  woid,"  replied  the  other,  •*!  see 
no  honour  m  it,  whatever  you  may  do." 
"  WeU,  air,"  returned  Dr.  Johnson,  sternly,  "  if 
you  do  aot  see  the  honour,  \  am  sure  I  feel  the 
disgrace."— FioMxi,  p.  156.— Ed.] 

*  [George  the  BeeowL— The  story  of  the  will 
m  toW  by  ftaaee  Walpole,  ia  ms  very  amaaog 
(eat  often  inaccurate)  Reminiscence*:  "At 
eWnertceenon4  held  by  the  new  sovereign,  Dr. 
Wane,  Aichbsjhop  of  Caaterbary,  prodaeed  the 
will  of  tbe  late  king,  and  delivered  it  to  the  sao- 
>r,  eapeeuag  it  weald  be  opened  and  read  ia 


seuuril     Oa  the  contrary,  hk  majesty  pat  it 
his  pocket  and  stalked  oat  of  the  room,  wit 
ottering  a  wosd  on  the  subject .  Tbe  poor  prelate 
was  thendenJruck,  and  had  not  *>e  piaoauu  of 


*  Plin.  Epist  lib.  n.  fy.  8.— Boswau*. 

•  Mr.  Davies  was  here  miatakea,  CoieUinever 
was  in.  England. — Bun  war. 

9  [Mrs.  Thrale  gives,  in  her  lively  style,  a 
sketeh  of  this  gmfleman  :  «« We  have  a  flamy 
friend  here  (at  Bath)  already,  who  m  much  your 
adorer.  I  wonder  how  yon  will  like  htm  f  An 
Irishman  he  a>;  very  handsome,  very  hot-headed, 
load  and  livery,  and  sure  to  be  a  favourite  with 
yent  he  telle  as,  for  he  can  live  with  a  man  of 
ever  so  odd  a  temper.  My  matter  laughs,  bat 
tikes  him,  and  *&verwineto'1hink  what  yon  wiD 
do  when  he  professes  that  ho  weald  clean  shoes 
tor  you;  mat  he  would  shed  his  bleed  for  yea; 


being  opened,  <er  at  least  to  have  it  registered. 
No  man  present  ebose  to  be  more  hardy  man  the 
pesaen  to  whom  tbe  deposit  had  been  mtnatted ; 
perhaps  none  of  them  immediately  conceived  the 
poaaihlo  violation  of  ao  solemn  an  act,  so 
oualy  maetent    BtUI,  as  the  king  never 


t  whiepsm,  only  by  dear 
edtlwpa^thstthswiUwm^ 

few  ess,  eh.  vi— En.] 


ansa  twenty  mere  extravagant  Jigbni ;  and  yen 
my /flatter!  Upon  my  honour,  sir,  and  meeerf 
note,  m  Dr.  Canmbell'e  phcaae  fe,  lam  bat  a 
"  Iters,  16th  May,  17761 
,  18th  May,  1776,  asks 
w  friend  of  mine?"    The 


twitter  to  aim.* 


'—Letter; 
hk  reply, 
"  Who  can  be  this  new  1 
Editor  ■  enable  to  reconcile  Mrs.  Thrale's  woadsr 
••  how  Johnson  utouidHke  nam,''  and  Johnson's 
ignorance  of  "toAo  he  tees,"  in  May,  1776, 
with  BoswelTs  statement,  that  Campbell  had 
meed  thrieo  m  hk  company,  in  April,  1776  one 
of  the  places  bomg  Mr.  and  Mm.  IVale'a  own 
►  *  see  pool,  8th  May.  There  can  be  no 
hi  the  date  of  the  letters  lWe\  1 


were  written  wane  Mrs.  Thrale  was  at  Bath,  after 


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1T75.— iETAT.  «. 


We  got  into  an  argument  whether  the 
judges  who  went  to  India  might  with  pro- 
priety engage  in  trade.  Johnson  warmly 
maintained  that  they  might.  "  For  why," 
he  urged,  "  should  not  judges  get  riches, 
as  wefi  as  those  who  deserve  them  less?  " 
I  said,  they  should  have  Sufficient  salaries, 
mud  have  nothing  to  take  off  their  attention 
from  the  affairs  of  the  publick.  Johnson. 
"  No  judge,  sir,  can  give  his  whole  atten- 
tion to  his  office:  and  it  is  very  proper  that 
he  should  employ  what  time  he  has  to 
himself  to  his  own  advantage,  in  the  most 
profitable  manner1.*'  "Then,  sir,"  said 
Da  vies,  who  enlivened  the  dispute  by  ma- 
king it  somewhat  dramatick,  "he  may 
become  an  insurer ;  and  when  he  is  going 
to  the  bench,  he  may  be  stopped, — *  i  our 
lordship  cannot  go  vet;  here  is  a  bunch  of 
invoices ;  several  snips  are  about  to  sail.' M 
Johnson.  "  Sir,  you  may  as  well  say  a 
judge  should  not  have  a  house :  for  they 
may  come  and  tell  him — <  Tour  lordship's 
house  is  on  fire: '  and  so,  instead  of  minding 
the  business  of  his  court,  he  is  to  be  occu- 
pied in  getting  the  engine  with  the  greatest 
speed.  There  is  no  end  of  this.  Every 
judge  who  has  land,  trades  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent in  corn  or  in  cattle,  and  in  the  land 
itself:  undoubtedly  his  steward  acts  for 
him,  and  so  do  clerks  for  a  great  merchant. 
A  judge  may  be  a  farmer,  but  he  is  not  to 


geld  his  own  pigs.  A  judge  may  play  a 
little  at  cards  for  his  amusement:  but  he  is 
not  to  play  at  marbles,  or  chuck-farthing  in 
the  piazza.  No,  sir,  there  is  no  profession 
to  which  a  man  gives  a  very  great  propor- 
tion of  his  time.  It  is  wonderful,  when  a 
calculation  is  made,  how  little  the  mind  is 
actually  employed  in  the  discharge  of  any 
profession.  No  man  would  be  a  judge, 
upon  the  condition  of  being  totally  a  judge. 
The  best  employed  lawyer  has  his  mind  at 
work  but  for  a  small  proportion  of  his  time; 
a  great  deal  of  his  occupation  is  merely 
mechanical.    I  once  wrote  for  a  magazine: 


the  loss  of  her  son,  which  event  took  place 
March,  1776,  and  is  alluded  to  in  the  let* 
Nor  can  Mr.  Boawell's  date  be  mistaken,  for  he 
aays,  that  Campbell  dined  at  Mr.  Dffly's  on  Wed- 
nesday the  5th  April,  and  the  6th  April  fell  on  a 
Wednesday  in  1775.  Mr.  Boswell  had,  more- 
over, left  London  in  1776,  prior  to  the  date  of 
Bin.  Thrale's,  so  that  he  could  not  have  met  Dr. 
Campbell  in  that  year.  The  discrepancy  is  on  a 
point  of  no  importance,  but  it  seems  inexplicable. 
—En.] 

1  [This  must  have  been  said  in  a  mere  spirit  of 
argumentation,  for  we  have  seen  (ante,  p.  859.) 
that  he  was  angry  at  a  judge's  being  so  mnch  like 
an  ordinary  gentleman  as  even  to  wear  a  round 
hat  in  his  own  country  house,  and  he  censured 
him  for  being  so  much  of  a  former  as  to  form  a 
part  of  his  demesne  for  his  own 
Ed.] 


ing,i 
half  a 


I  made  a  calculation,  that  If?  fiHttald  write 
but  a  page  a  day,  at  the  same  rate,  I  storis* 
in  ten  yean,  write  nine  voltanee  in  folio,  or 
an  ordinary  size  and  print.**  Boswell. 
"  Such  as '  Carte's  History? ' "  Johhso*. 
"  Tes,  air;  when  a  man  writes  from  his  own 
mind,  he  writes  very  rapidly*.  The  great- 
est part  of  a  writer's  time  is  spent  in  read- 
,  in  order  to  write;  a  man  will  turn  over 
fa  library,  to  main  one  book." 

I  argued  warmly  against  the  judges  trad- 
ing, and  mentioning  Hale  as  an  instance  of 
a  perfect  judge,  who  devoted  himsejf  en- 
tirely to  his  office.  JoHirso*.  "  Hale,  sir, 
attended  to  other  things  besides  law:  he 
left  a  great  estate."  Boswell.  "  That 
was  because  what  he  got  accumulated  with- 
out any  exertion  and  anxiety  on  his  part." 

While  the  dispute  went  on,  Moody  once 
tried  to  say  something  on  our  side.  Tom 
Davies  clapped  him  on  the  back,  to  encour- 
age him.  JBeauclerk,  to  whom  I  mentioned 
this  circumstance,  said,  "  that  he  could  not 
conceive  a  more  humiliating  situation  than 
to  be  clapped  on  the  back  by  Tom  Davies.0 
-  We  spoke  of  Rolt,  to  whose '  Dictionary 
of  Commerce '  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  the  pre- 
face. JoBirsoF.  "Old  Gardener,  the  book 
seller,  employed  Rolt  and  Smart  to  write  a 
monthly  miscellany,  called  '  The  Universal 
Visitor.'  There  was  a  formal  written  con* 
tract,  which  Allen  the  printer  saw.  Gar- 
dener thought  as  you  do  oC  the  judge. 
They  were  bound  to  write  nothing  eke; 
they  were  to  have,  I  think,  a  third  of  the 
profits  of  his  sixpenny  pamphlet;  and  the 
contract  was  for  ninety-nine  years.  I  wish 
I  had  thought  of  giving  this  to  Thurlow,  in 
the  cause  about  literary  property.  What 
an  excellent  instance  would  it  have  been  of 
the  oppression  of  booksellers  towards  poor 
authors!"  smiling 3.  Davies,  zealous  for 
the  honour  of  the  trade,  said  Gardener  was 
not  properly  a  bookseller.  Johksom.  "Nay, 
sir;  ne  certainly  was  a  bookseller.  He  had 
served  his  time  regularly,  was  a  member  of 
the  Stationers'  Company,  kept  a  shop  in  the 
fsce  of  mankind,  purchased  copyright,  and 
was  a  bibliopole,  sir,  in  every  sense.  I 
wrote  for  some  months  in  *  The  Universal 
Visitor '  for  poor  Smart,  while  he  was  mad, 
not  then  knowing  the  terms  on  which  he 
was  engaged  to  wrife,  and  thinking  I  was 


certainly  did,    who  had  a 
red  with  knowledge,  and  teeming  with  i 
ry ;  bat  the  observation  is  not  applicable  to  wri- 
ters in  general. — Boswsll. 

*  There  has  probably  been  some  mistake  as  to 
the  terms  of  this  supposed  extraordinary  oontract, 
the  recital  of  which  from  hearsay  afforded  Joan- 
son  so  mnch  play  for  his  sportive  aonteneai  Or 
if  it  was  worded  as  he  supposed,  h  is  so  strange 
that  I  should  conclude  it  was  a  joke.  Mr.  Gar- 
dener, I  am  assured,  was  a  worthy  and  liberal 
man.— fioiwiu. 


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doing  him  geodi  I  hoped  his  wits  would 
soon  return  to  Him.  Mine  returned  to  me, 
and  I  wrote  in*  '  The  Universal  Visitor '  no 
longer." 

•  Friday}  7th  April,  I  dined  with  him  at  a 
tavern,  with  a  numerous  company  K  Johjt- 
■o  h .  "  I  have  been  reading '  Twjss's  Tra- 
vels in  Spain/  which  are  just  come  out. 
They  are  as  good  as  the  first  book  of  travels 
that  you  will  take  up.  They  are  as  good 
as  those  of  Keysler  or  Blainville;  nay,  as 
Addison's,  if  you  except  the  learning. 
They  are  not  so  good  as  Brydone's,  but 
they  are  better  than  Pococke's.  I  have  not, 
indeed,  cut  the  leaves  yet;  but  I  have  read 
in  them  where  the  pages  are  open,  and  I  do 
not  suppose  that  wnat  is  in  the  pages  which 
are  closed  is  worse  than  what  is  in  the  open 
pages.  It  would  seem,"  he  added,  "  that 
Addison  had  not  acquired  much  Italian 
.earning,  for  we  do  not  find  it  introduced 
into  his  writings.  The  only  instance  that 
I  recollect  is  his  quoting  c  Stano  bene;  per 
afar  meglio,  sto  qui  K ' " 
:  I  mentioned  Addison's  having  -borrowed 
Many  of  his  classical  remarks  from  Lean- 
dro  Alberti  3.    Mr.  Beauclerk  said,  "  It  was 


1  [At  the  Club,  where  there  were  present  Mr. 
Charles  Fox  (president),  Sir  J.  Reynolds,  Die. 
Johnson  and  Percy,  Mean.  Beauclerk,  Boewell, 
Chamier,  Gibbon,  Langton,  and  Steevens :  why 
Mr.  Boewell  sometimes  sinks  the  club  is  not  quite 
clear.  He  might  very  naturally  have  felt  some 
reluctance  to  betray  the  private  conversation  of  a 
convivial  meeting,  bat  that  feeling  would  have 
operated  on  all  occasions.  It  may,  however,  be 
observed  that  he  generally  endeavours  tp  confine 
hb  report  to  what  was  said  either  by  Johnson  or 
himself.— En.] 

1  Addison,  (owever,  does  not  mention  where 
this  celebrated  epitaph,  which  has  eluded  a  verv 
diligent  inquiry,  Is  found. — Malonk.  [It  m 
mentioned  by  old  Howell.  «« The  Italian  saying 
may  be  well  applied  to  poor  England :  "  I  was 
well — would  be  better — took  physic — and  died." 
—Lett.  20th  Jan.  1647.— Ed.] 

9  [This  observation  is,  as  Mr.  Markland  ob- 
serves to  me,  to  be  found  in  Lord  Chesterfield's 
letters  to  his  son :  "I  have  been  lately  informed 
of  an  Italian  book,  which  I  believe  may  be  of 
we  to  you,  and  which,  I  dare  say,  you  may  get 
at  Rome  ;  written  by  one  Alberti,  about  fourscore 
or  a  hundred  years  ago,  a  thick  quarto.  It  is  a 
classical  description  of  Italy  ;  from  whence  I  am 
assured  that  Mr.  Addison,  to  save  himself  trouble, 
has  taken  most  of  hit  remarks  and  classical 
references.  I  am  told  that  it  is  an  excellent-book 
for  a  traveller  in  Italy."— Vol  il  p.  861.  If 
credit  is  to  be  given  to  Addison  himself  (and  who 
can  doubt  his  veracity  ?)  this  supposition  must  be 
groundleas.  He  expressly  says,  "  /  have  taken 
care  to  consider  particularly  the  several  passages 
of  the  ancient  poets,  which  have  any  relation  to 
the  places  or  curiosities  I  met  with :  for,  before  I 
entered  on  my  voyage,  I  took  care  to  refresh  my 
rthech    ' 


memory  among  the  classic  authors,  and  Id  make 
suck  collections  out  of  them  as  I  might  aften- 


alleged  that  he  had  borrowed  also  from  an- 
other Italian  authour."  Johnson.  "Why, 
sir,  all  who  go  to  look  for  what  the  clas* 
sicks  have  said  of  Italy  must  rind  the  same 
passages  4;  and  I  should  think  it  would  be 
one  of  the  first  things  the  Italians  would  do 
on  the  revival  of  learning,  to  collect  all  that 
the  Roman  authours  have  said  of  their 
country." 

Ossiau  being  mentioned  ; — Johnson. 
"  Supposing  the  Irish  and  Erse  languages 
to  be  the  same,  which  I  do  not  believe  *, 
yet  as  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Highlands  and  He- 
brides ever  wrote  their  native  language,  it 
is  not  to  be  credited  that  a  long  poem  was 

S reserved  among  them.  If  we  had  no  evi- 
ence  of  the  art  of  writing  being  practised 
in  one  of  the  counties  of  England,  we 
should  not  believe  that  a  long '  poem  was 
preserved  there,  though  in  the  neighbour- 
ing counties,  where  the  same  language  was 
spoken,  the  inhabitants  could  write."  Baie- 
cxekk.  "  The  ballad  of ( Lilliburlero '  wss 
once  in  the  mouths  of  all  the  people  of  this 
country,  and  is  said  to  have  had  a  great 
effect  in  bringing  about  the  revolution. 
Yet  I  question  whether  any  body  can  repeat 
it  now;  which  shows  how  improbable  it  is 
that  much  poetry  should  be  preserved  by 
tradition." 

One  of  the,  company  suggested  an  'inter- 
nal objection  to  the  antiquity  of  the  poetry 
said  to  be  Ossian's,  that  we  do  not  find  the 
wolf  in  it,  which  must  have  been  the  case 
had  it  been  of  that  age. 

The  mention  of  the  wolf  had  led  Johnson 
to  think  of  other  wild  beasts;  and  while  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  and  Mr.  Langton  were 
carrying  on  a  dialogue  about  something 
which  engaged  them  earnestly,  he,  in  the 
midst  of  it,  oroke  out,  "  Pennant  tells  of 
bears."  What  he  added  I  have  forgotten. 
They  went  on,  which  he,  being  dull  of 
hearing,  did  not  perceive,  or,  if  he  did,  was 
not  willing  to  break  off  his  talk;  so  he  con- 
tinued to  vociferate  his  remarks,  and  bear 
("like  a  word  in  a  catch,"  as  Beauclerk 
said)  was  repeatedly  heard  at  intervals; 
which  coming  from  him  who,  by  those  who 
did  not  know  him,  had  been  so  often  assi- 
milated to  that  ferocious  animal,  while  we 
who  were  sitting  round  could  hardly  stifle 
laughter,  produced  a  very  ludicrous  effect 
Silence  having  ensured,  he  proceeded: 
"  We  are  told,  that  the  black  bear  is  inno- 
cent; but  I  should  not  like  to  trust  myself 
with  him."  Mr.  Gibbon  muttered,  in  a 
low  tone  of  voice," I  should  not  like  to 


wards  have  occasion  for,  &cM— Preface  to  Jk- 
marks»— En.} 

«  -  But  if  yon  fed  the  same  applications  in 
another  book,  then  Addison's  learning  fails  to  the 

omnd,"  ante,  p.  481.— Ktxoirs. 

•  [He  was  in  error.    Bee  ante,  p.  184.— En.) 


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trust  nrysetfvrithys*."  TTik  piece  of  snr- 
castiek  plcaseirtty  wu  a  prudent  reeolutiou, 
if  applied  to  a  competition  of  aWMmh 

Patriotism  having  become  one  of  our  lop- 
icks,  Johnson  suddenly  uttered,  in  a  suon* 
determined  tone,  an  apophtheajao,  at  which 
many  will  start:  "  Patriotism  is  the  last 
feruge  of  a  scoundrel*."  Bat  let  it  be  con- 
sidered, that  he  did  not  mean  a  real  and 
generous  lave  of  our  country,  but  that  pre- 
tended patriotism,  which  so  many,  in  aO 
ages  and  countries,  have  made  a  cloak  for 
self-interest  I  maintained,  that  certainly 
all  patriots  were  not  scoundrels.  Being 
urged  (not  by  Johnson)  to  name  one  excep- 
tion, I  mentioned  an  eminent  person',  whom 
we  all  greatly  admired.  Johnson.  "  Sir, 
I  do  not  say  that  he  is  net  honest:  but  we 
have  no  reason  to  conclude  from  (lis  politi- 
cal conduct  that  he  u  honest.  Were  he  to 
accept  a  place  from  this  ministry,  he  would 
lose  that  character  of  firmness  which  he  has, 
and  might  be  turned  out  of  his  place  in  a 
year.  This  ministry  is  neither  stable,  nor 
grateful  to  their  friends,  as  Sir  Robert  Wal- 
pole  was;  so  that  he  may  think  it  more  for 
his  interest  to  take  his  chance  of  his  party 
coming  in.** 

Mrs.  Pritchard  being  mentioned,  he  said, 
"  Her  playing  was  quite  mechanical.  It  is 
wonderful  how  little  mind  she  had.  Sir, 
she  had  never  read  the  tragedy  of  Macbeth 
all  through.  She  no  more  thought  of  the 
play  out  of  which  her  part  was  taken,  than 
a  shoemaker  thinks  of  the  skin  out  of  which 
the  piece  of  leather  of  which  he  is  making  a 
pair  of  shoes  is  cut" 

On  Saturday,  May  8, 1  dined  with  him 
at  Mr.  ThrsJe'e,  where  we  met  the  Irish 
Dr.  Campbell  <.  Johnson  had  supped  the 
night  before  at  Mrs.  Abington*s  with  some 
fashionable  people  whom  he  named;  and  he 
seemed  much  pleased  with  having  made  one 
m  so  elegant  a  circle.  Nor  did  he  omit  to 
pique  his  mutreit  a  little  with  jealousy  of 


1  [Mr.  Green,  the  anonrmoas  anther  cf  the 
"  Diary  of  a  Lover  of  Literature  "  (printed  at 
Ipswich),  states,  under  the  data  of  18th  Jane, 
1796,  that  a  friend  whom,  he  daajgaataa  bytho 
Juan!  M  (and  whom  I  belie**  to  bo  my  able  and 
ebtigang  attend  8ir  James  Mackintosh),  talking  to 
ham  of  the  relative  abflfcr  of  Barks  and  Gibbon, 
ssid,"  Gibbon  micht  have  bean  eat  oat  of  a  cor- 
ner  of  Berks'*  mind  without  has  niianng  it"  I 
macy,  now  that  enthasauan  hm  cooled,  Bir  James 
wonki  be  inclined  to  allow  Gibbon  a  auger  share 
of  mind,  though  ha  mtellectaal  powers  can  never 
no  eonmarod  with  Burke'a.— En.] 
.  »  [Thai  remarkable  sortie,  which  has  very 
mach  amused  the  world,  will  hereafter  bo  stall 
more  arnnsmg,  when  it  is  known,  that  it  appears 
by  the  books  of  the  dab,  that  at  the  moment  h 
was  uttered,  Mr.  Fox  teas  *i  the  dUsr._En.] 
4  [No  doubt  Mr.  Barks.— En.] 
•  [See  an*,  pp.  516  and  517.— En.] 


her  bousewiwry;  lor  ha  seen*  with  •  avalla* 
••Mrs.  Abiogton*  jelly,  my  dear  lady,  urns 
better  than  yours." 

Mrs.  Thrale,  who  frequently  practised  a 
coarse  *  mode  of  flattery,  by  npeatnag  his 
asm  mote  in  hfc  hearing,  sold  us  thntnehnd 
said,  a  eertain  celebrated  actor  •  was  just  it 
to  stand  at  the  door  of  an  aurtkm-room 
with  a  lonf  pole,  and  cry,  **  Pray,  gentle- 
men, walk  in;M  and  that  a  eertain  autbour, 
upon  hearing  this,  had  said,  that  nnother 
still  more  celebrated  actor?  was  fit  lor  no- 
thing better  than  that,  and  would  nick  your 
pocket  after  you  came  out.  Joaurson. 
"  Nay,  my  dear  lady,  there  is  no  wit  in  what 
our  friend  added;  there  is  only  abuse. 
Ton  may  as  well  any  of  any  man  that  he 
will  pick  a  pocket.  Besides,  the  man  who 
is  stationed  at  the  door  does  not  pick  peopled 
pockets;  that  is  done  within  by  the  auction- 
eer » 

Mrs.  Thrale  told  us  that  Tom  Deviesre- 

Bnted,  in  a  very  bald  manner,  the  story  of 
r.  Johnson's  first  repartee  to  me,  which  I 
have  related  exactly  *.  He  made  me  any,  "I 
tea*  born  m  Scotland, "instead of" I  cease 
from  Scotland;"  so  that  Johnson's  saying, 
"  That,  sir,  is  what  a  great  many  or  your 
countrymen  cannot  help,"  had  no  point,  or 
even  meaning:  and  that  upon  this  being 
mentioned  to  Jftr.  Fitzherbert,  he  observed, 
•f  It  is  not  every  man  that  can  carry  a  son 
mof  "  * 

On  Monday,  April  10, 1  dined  with  him 
at  General  Oglethorpe's*,  with  Mr.  Lang- 


•  [Certainly  oo 
(reentry  prsetnud  by 

coarser  than  writing  every  mot,  son)  or 


to  road  neat  morning,— ^ee  Tmer  to  fas 
Hebrides,  jM***v*.--£n.] 

•  [Probmbly  SherknuL— Ed.] 

•  [Certainly  Garrick ;  the  emthowr  was,  per- 
haps,  Mnrphy :  a  great  fiiend  of  the  Thrslos,  and 
who  had  ooeaakend  dmerences  wish  Gamek.— 
En.] 

9  Ante,  p.  178.— Boawxr*i^ 

•  Let  me  hero  be  showed  to  pay  my  tribute  of 
moot  sincere  gratitade  to  the  memory  of  that  ex- 
it person,  my  intimacy  with  whom  waa  the 


to  mo,  beeanss  my  mat 

^a^M|>ectftJ  mwiA  mmbH 


after  the  publication  of  my  <•  Account  of  Cornea," 
he  did  me  the  honour  to  call  on  me,  and  approach- 
ing mo  with  a  flank  courteous  air,  said,  ••  My 
name,  air,  is  Oglethorpe,  and  I  wish  to  be  ac- 
onainted  with  you.'"  I  wu  not  a  little  flattered 
tobetbuaddresmlbjanenuiMnrtinan^ 
I  had  read  in  Pone,  nam  my  early  yeans, 
"Or,  nitres  by  itrong  btmtmkmm  of  wwL 

I  was  fortunate  enough  to  be  fonnd  worthy  of  his 
good  opinion,  inmmueh,  that  I  not  Only  wan  in- 
vited to  make  one  in  the  many  leapeetahfeeonanu- 
nies  whom  be  enterUuned  at  tua  table,  bat  had  a 
cover  st  his  hospitable  board  every  day  whan  t 


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mi 


ton  and  the  Irish  Dr.  Campbell,  whom  the 
General  had  obligingly  *iven  me  leave  to 
bring  with  me.  This  learned  gentleman 
was  thus  gratified  with  a  very  high  intel- 
lectual feast,  by  not  only  being  in  company 
with  Dr.  Johnson,  but  with  General  Ogle- 
thorpe, who  had  been  so  long  a  celebrated 
name  both  at  home  and  abroad  K 

I  must,  again  and  again,  entreat  of  my 
readers  not  to  suppose  that  my  imperfect 
record  of  conversation  contains  the  whole 
of  what  was  said  by  Johnson,  or  other  em- 
inent persons  who  lived  with  him.  What 
I  have  preserved,  however,  has  the  value 
of  the  most  perfect  authenticity. 

He  this  day  enlarged  upon  Pope's  melan- 
choly remark, 

"  Alan  never  is,  bat  always  to  be  blest" 

He  asserted,  that  the  present  was  never  a 
happy  stale  to  any  human  being;  but  that, 
as  every  part  of  life,  of  which  we  are  con- 
scious, was  at  some  point  of  time  a  period 
yet  to  come,  in  which  felicity  was  expected, 
there  was  some  happiness  produced  by 
hope.  Being  pressed  upon  this  subject, 
and  asked  if  he  really  was  of  opinion,  that 
though,  in  general,  happiness  was  very 
rare  in  human  life,  a  man  was  not  some- 
times happy  in  the  moment  that  was 
present,  he  answered,  "  Never,  but  when 
he  is  drunk."  [It  was  a  gloomy 
525i.  **i°m  °f  his,  that  the  pains  and  mis- 
'  eries  of  human  life  outweighed  its 
happiness  and  good;  but  on  a  lady's  ask- 
ing niin,  whether  he  would  not  permit  the 
ease  and  quiet  of  common  life  to  be  put 
into  the  scale  of  happiness  and  good,  he 
seemed  embarrassed  (very  unusual  with 
him),  and,  answering  in  the  affirmative, 
rose  from  his  seat,  as  if  to  avoid  the  infer- 
ence and  reply,  which  his  answer  author- 
ized the  lady  to  make.] 

[Dr.  Johnson  did  not  like  any 

iXSo1*"    one  wna  8a*d  ^y  werc  naPPv»  or 
who  said  any  one  else,  was  so.    "  It 

was  all  cant,"    he  would  cry;  "the  dog 

knows  he  is  miserable  all  the  time."    A 

friend  whom  he  loved  exceedingly  told  him 

on  some  occasion  notwithstanding,  that  his 

wife's  sister  was  really  happy,  and  called 

upon  the  lady  to   confirm  nis  assertion, 

which  she  did  somewhat  roundly  as  we  say, 

and  with  an  accent  and  manner  capable  of 

offending  Dr.  Johnson,  if  her  position  had 

not  been  sufficient,  without  any  thing  more, 

to  put  him  in  a  Very. ill  humour.     "  If  your 

s  8ter-in-4aw  is  really  the  contented  being 

she  professes  herself,  sir,"  said  he,  "her 

life  gives  the  lie  to  every  research  of  hu- 


Kappened  to  be  disengaged;  aod  in  his  society  I 
never  failed  to  enjoy  teamed  and  animated  con- 
venation,  seasoned  with  genuine  sentiments  of 
virtue  and  religion.— Bos  well. 

1  [See  ante,  p.  48.]— En.] 

▼oft.  I.  66 


inanity;  for  she  is  happy  without  health, 
without  beauty,  without  money,  and  with- 
out understanding."  This  story  he  told 
me  himself;  and  when  I  expressed  some- 
thing of  the  horror  I  felt,  "  The  same  stu- 
pidity," said  he,  "  which  prompted  her  to 
extol  felicity  she  never  felt,  hindered  hex 
from  feeling  what  shocks  you  on  repetition. 
I  tell  you,  the  woman  is  ugly,  ana  sickly, 
and  foolish,. and  poor;  and  would  it  not 
make  a  man  hang  himself  to  hear  such  a 
creature  say  it  was  happy  ?"] 

He  urged  General  Oglethorpe  to  give  the 
world  his  Life.  He  said,  "  I  know  no  man 
whose  Life  would  be  more  interesting.  If 
I  were  furnished  with  materials,  I  should 
be  very  glad  to  write  it V 

Mr.  Scott  of  Amwell's  Elegies  were  ly- 
ing in  the  room.  Dr.  Johnson  observed, 
"  They  are  very  well,  but  such  as  twenty 
people  might  write."  Upon  this  I  took  oc- 
casion to  controvert  Horace's  maxim, 


mediocribus  ease  poetis 


Non  Dt,  non  homines,  non  concessore  columns: " 

for  here  (I  observed)  was  a  very  middle- 
rate  poet,  who  pleased  many  readers,  and 
therefore  poetry  of  a  middle  sort  was  enti- 
tled to  some  esteem;  nor  could  I  see  why 
poetry  should  not,  like  every  thing  else,  have 
different  gradations  of  excellence,  and  con- 
sequently of  value.  Johnson  repeated  the 
common  remark,  that "  as  there  is  no  ne- 
cessity fbr  our  having  poetry  at  all,  it  be- 
ing merely  a  luxury,  an  instrument  of  plea- 
sure, it  can  have  no  value,  unless  when  ex- 
quisite in  its  kind."  I  declared  myself  not 
satisfied.  "  Why,  then,  sir,"  sard  he, 
."  Horace  and  you  must  settle  it."  He  was 
not  much  in  the  humour  of  talking. 

No  more  of  his  conversation  for  some 
days  appears  in  my  journal,  except  that 
when  a  gentleman  told  him  he  had  bought 
a  suit  orlace  for  his  lady,  he  said,  "Well, 
sir,  you  have  done  a  good  thing  and  a  wise 
thing."  f<  I  have  done  a  good  thing,"  said 
the  gentleman,  "  but  I  do  not  know  that  I 
have,  done  a  wise  thing."  Johnson.  "Yes, 
sir;  no  money  is  better  spent  than  what  is 
laid  out  for  domestic  satisfaction.  A  man 
is  pleased  that  his  wife  is  dressed  as  well  as 
other  people;  and  a  wife  is  pleased  that  she 
is  dressed." 

On  Friday,  April  14,  being  Good  Friday^ 
I  repaired  to  him  in  the  morning,  according 


9  The  General  seemed  unwilling  to  enter  upon 
it  at  this  time  ;  bat  upon  a  subsequent  occasion 
he  communicated  to  me  a  number  of  particulars, 
which  I  have  committed  to  writing;  but  I  was 
not  sufficiently  diligent  in  obtaining  more  from 
him,  not  apprehending  that  his  friends  were  so 
soon  to  lose  him;  for  notwithstanding  his  great 
age,  he  was  very  healthy  and  vigorous,  and  was 
at  last  carried  off  by  a  violent  fever,  which  is 
often  fatal  at  any  period  of  life. — Boswslju 


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to  my  usual  custom  on  that  day,  and  break- 
fasted with  him.  I  observed  that  he  fasted 
so  very  strictly,  that  he  did  not  even  taste 
bread,  and  took  no  milk  with  his  tea;  I  sup- 
pose because  it  is  a  kind  of  animal  food. 

He  entered  upon  the  state  of  the  nation, 
and  thus  discoursed-:  "  Sir,  the  great  mis- 
fortune now  is,  that  government  has  too 
Kttle  power.  All  that  it  has  to  bestow 
must  of  necessity  be  given  to  support  itself; 
so  that  it  oannot  reward  merit.  No  man, 
for  instance,  can  now  be  made  a  bishop  for 
his  learning  and  piety1;  his  only  chance 
for  promotion  is  his  being  connected  with 
somebody  who  has  parliamentary  interest 
Our  several  ministers  in  this  reign  have 
outbid  each  other  in  concessions  to  the  peo- 
ple. Lord  Bute,  though  a  very  honour- 
able man, — a  man  who  meant  well, — a  man 
who  had  his  blood  full  of  prerogative, — 
was  a  theoretical  statesman,  a  book-minister, 
and  thought  this  country  could  be  governed 
by  the  influence  of  the  crown  alone.  Then , 
sir,  he  gave  up  a  great  deal.  He  advised 
the  kingr  to  agree  that  the  judges  should 
hold  their  places  for  life,  instead  of  losing 
them  at  the  accession  of  a  new  king.  Lord 
Bute,  I  suppose,  thought  to  make  the  king 
popular  by  this  concession;  but  the  people 
never  minded  it:  and  it  was  a  most  impoli- 
tick  measure.  There  is  no  reason  why  a 
judge  should  hold  his  office  for  life,  more 
than  any  other  person  in  publick  trust.  A 
judge  may  be  partial  otherwise  than  to  the 
crown;  we  have  seen  judges  partial  to  the 
populace.  A  judge  may  become  corrupt, 
and  yet  there  may  not  be  legal  evidence 
against  him.  A  fudge  may  become  froward 
from  age.  A  judge  may  grow  unfit  for  his 
office  in  many  ways,  ft  was  desirable  that 
there  should  be  a  possibility  of  being  de- 
livered from  him  by  a  new  king.  That  is 
now  gone  by  an  act  of  parliament  ex  gra- 
Hdolihe  crown.  Lord  Bute  advised  the 
king  to  give  up  a  very  large  sum  of  money  2, 


1  From  this  too  just  observation  there  are  some 
eminent  exceptions. — Bos  well.  [That  a' gen- 
eral assertion  should  be  pronounced  too  just  by 
the  very  person  who  admits  that  it  is  not  univer- 
sally just  is  a  little  odd  ;  but,  moreover,  the 
"  eminent  exceptions"  destroy  the  whole  force  of 
the  assertion.  In  a  constitution  of  government  and 
society  like  ours,  influence,  interest,  and  connex-. 
ioiis  must  have  tome  weight  in  the  distribution 
even  of  church  patronage.  Johnson's  assertion  was 
that  they  had  all  the  weight,  to  the  utter  exclu- 
sion of  piety  and  learning.  Boswell,  by  denying 
the  entire  exclusion,  defeats  the  force  of  Johnson's 
observation,  which  certainly  was  too  broadly,  and, 
of  course,  incorrectly  expressed. — Ed.  ] 

1  The  money  arising  from  the  property  of  the 
prizes  taken  before  the  declaration  of  war,  which 
were  given  to  his  majesty  by  the  peace  of  Paris, 
and  amounted  to  upwards  of  700,000/.,  and  from 
the  lands  in  the  ceded  island*  which  were  estima- 


tor which  nobody  thanked  nim.     It  was  of 
consequence  to  the  king,  but  nothing  to 
the  publick,  among  whom  it  was  divided. 
When  I  say  Lord  Bute  advised,  I  mean, 
that  such  acts  were  d<5ne  when  he  was  min- 
ister, and  we  are  to  suppose  that  he  advised 
them.     Lord  Bute  showed  an  undue  par- 
tiality to  Scotchmen.    He  turned  out  Dr. 
Nichols  3,  a  very  eminent  man,  from  being 
physician  to  the  king,  to  make  room  for  one 
of  his  countrymen,  a  man  very  low  in  his 
profession  *.    He  had  •••••••»**  5  and  •*•• 

to  go  on  errands  for  him.  He  had  occa- 
sion for  people  to  go  on  errands  for  him; 
but  he  should  not  have  had  Scotch- 
men; and,  certainly,  he  should  not  have 
suffered  them  to  have  access  to  him  be- 
fore the  first  people  in  England." 

I  told  him,  that  the  admission  of  one  of 
them  before  the  first  people  in  England, 
which  had  given  the  greatest  offence,  was 
no  more  than  what  happens  at  every  minis- 
ter's levee,  where  those  who  attend  are  ad- 
mitted in  the  order  that  they  have  come, 
which  is  better  than  admitting  them  accord- 
ing to  their  rank :  for  if  that  were  to  be  the 


ted  at  200,000/.*  more.  Surely,  there  was  a 
noble  munificence  in  this  gift  from  a  monarch  to 
his  people.  And  let  it  be  remembered,  that 
during  the  Earl  of  Bute's  administration,  the  king 
was  graciously  pleased  to  give  up  the  hereditary 
revenues  of  the  crown,  and  to  accept,  instead  of 
them,  of  the  limited  sum  of  800,04HU.  a  year ; 
upon  which  Blackatone  observes,  that  "  The  he- 
reditary revenues,  being  put  under  the  same 
management  as  the  other  branches  of  the  publick 
patrimony,  will  produce  more,  and  be  better  col- 
lected than  heretofore;  and  the  publick  is  a 
gainer  of  upwards  of  100,000/.  per  annum,  by 
this  disinterested  bounty  of  his  majesty." — Cess, 
book  L  chap.  viii.  p.  830. — Boswell. 

3  [Frank  Nichols.  He  was  of  Exeter  College ; 
M.  A.,  June,  1721;  B.  M.t  February,  1724; 
M.  D.,  1729.  Died  1778,  in  the  eightieth  year  of 
his  age. — Hall.] 

4  [Probably  Dr.  Duncan,  who  was  appointed 
physician  to  the  king  in  1760;  and  not,  as  has 
been  surmised,  Sir  John  Pringle,  who  was  ap- 
pointed physician  to  the  queen  in  1761. — En.] 

6  [The  Editor  was  convinced  that  the  first  of 
these  blanks  meant  Wedderburn,  till  he  found 
that  Sir  James  Mackintosh  doubted  H,  from  think- 
ing that  Wedderbnrn  was  already  too  high  in  the 
scale  of  society  to  be  spoken  of  so  contemptuously 
as  Johnson  here  does;  but,  on  a  full  consideration 
of  all  the  circumstances,  the  Editor  is  finally  satis- 
fied that  Wedderburn  was  here  meant  The 
second  blank,  Sir  James  thinks," and  the. Editor 
agrees  with  him,  means,  certainly,  Home,  the 
author  of  Douglas.  Boswell  always  puts  a  num- 
ber of  asterisks  equal  to  the  letters  of  the  names  he 
suppresses,  and,  in  this  case,  the  asterisks  fie  the 
names  of  Wedderburn  and  Home  ;  and,  more- 
over, we  find  Wedderburn  and  Home  distinctly 
associated  as  satellites  of  Lord  Bute,  in  Wilkes's 
celebrated  dedication  of  Mortimer. — En.] 


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623 


rule,  a  man  who* has  waited  all  the  morn- 
ing might  have  the  mortification  to  see  a 
peer,  newly  come,  go  in  before  him,  and 
Keep  him  waiting  still.  Johnson.  "  True, 
air;  but  ****1  should  not  have  come  to  the 
levee,  to  be  in  the  way  of  people  of  conse- 
quence. He  saw  Lord  Bute  at  all  times; 
and  could  have  said  what  he  had  to  say  at 
any  time,  as  well  as  at  the  levee.  There  is 
now  no  prime  minister:  there 'is  only  an 
agent  for  government  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons. We  are  governed  by  the  cabinet; 
but  there  is  no  one  head  there  since 
Sir  Robert  Walpole's  time."  Boswell. 
"  What  then,  sir,  is  the  use  of  parliament?" 
Johnson.  "  Why,  sir,  parliament  is  a 
large  council  to  the  king;  and  the  advan- 
tage of  such  a  council  is,  having  a  great 
number  of  men  of  property  concerned  in 
the  legislature,  who,  for  their  own  interest, 
will  not  consent  to  bad  laws.  And  you 
must  have  observed,  sir,  the  administration 
is  feeble  and  timid,  and  cannot  act  with 
that  authority  and  resolution  which  is  ne- 
cessary. Were  I  in  power,  I  would  turn 
out  every  man  who  dared  to  oppose  me. 
Government  has*  the  distribution  of  offices, 
that  it  may  be  enabled  to  maintain  its  au- 
thority." 

"  Lord  Bute,"  he  added,  <c  took  down 
too  fast,  without  buildings  up  something 
new.*  Boswell.  "  Because,  sir,  he  found 
a  rotten  building.  The  political  coach  was 
drawn  by  a  set  of  bad  horses;  it  was  neces- 
sary to  change  them."  Johnson.  "  But 
he  should  have  changed  them  one  by  one." 

I  told  him  I  had  been  informed  by  Mr. 
Orme,  that  many  parts  of  the  East  Indies 
were  better  mapped  than  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland.  Johnson.  "  That  a  country 
may  be  mapped,  it  must  be  travelled  over." 
"  Nay,"  said  I,  meaning  to  laugh  with  him 
at  one  of  his  prejudices,  "  can't  you  say,  it 
is  not  -worth  mapping?  " 

As  we  walked  to  St.  Clement's  church, 
and  saw  several  shops  open  upon  this  most 
solemn  fast-day  of  the  christian  world,  I 
remarked^  that  one  disadvantage  arising 
from  tha  immensity  of  London  was,  that 
nobody  was  heeded  by  his  neighbour;  there 
was  no  fear  of  censure  for  not  observing 
Good  Friday,  as  it  ought  to  be  kept,  ana 
as  it  is  kept  in  country  towns.  .He  said,  it 
was,  upon  the  whole,  very  well  observed 
even  in  London.  He  however  owned  that 
London  was  too  large2;  but  added,  "  It  is 
nonsense  to  say  the  head  is  too  big  for  the 
body.  It  would  be  as  much  too  big,  though 
the  body  were  ever  so  large;  that  is  to  say, 
though  the  country  was  ever  so  extensive. 


1  [Home.— Ed.] 

*  [Yet  how  enormously  the  metropolis  has  in- 
creased in  population  and  extent  since  the  year 
1775.— E©.] 


It  has  no  similarity  to  a  head  connected 
with  a  body." 

Dr.  Wetherell,  master  of  the  University 
College,  Oxford,  accompanied  us  home 
from  church;  and  after  he  was  gone,  there 
came  two  other  gentlemen,  one  of  whom 
uttered  the  common-place  complaints,  that 
by  the  increase  of  taxes,  labour  would  be 
dear,  other  nations  would  undersell  us,  and 
our  commerce  would  be  ruined.  Johnson. 
(smiling).  "  Never  fear,  sir ;  our  com- 
merce is  in  a  very  good  state,  and  suppose 
we  had  no  commerce  at  all,  we  could  live 
very  well  on  the  produce  of  our  own  coun- 
try." I  cannot  omit  to  mention,  that  I 
never  knew  any  man  who  was  less  dispo- 
sed to  be  querulous  than  Johnson.  Wheth- 
er the  subject  was  his  own  situation,  or  the 
slate  of  the  publick,  or  the  state  of  human 
nature  in  general,  though  he  saw  the  evils, 
his  mind  was  turned  to  resolution,  and  nev- 
er to  whining  or  complaint 

We  went  again  to  St.  Clement's  in  the 
afternoon.  He  had  found  fault  with  the 
preacher  in  the  morning  for  not  choosing  a 
text  adapted  to  the  day.  The  preacher  in 
the  afternoon  had  chosen  one  extremely 
proper:  "  It  is  finished." 

After  the  evening  service,  he  said, 
"  Come,  you  shall  go  home  with  me,  and 
sit  just  an  hour."  But  he  was  better  than 
his  word;  for  after  we  had  drunk  tea  with 
Mrs.  Williams,  he  asked  me  to  go  up  to  his 
study  with  him,  where  we  sat  a  long  while 
together  in  a  serene  undisturbed  frame  of 
mind,  sometimes  in*  silence,  and  sometimes 
conversing,  as  we  felt  ourselves  inclined,  or 
more  properly  speaking,  as  he  was  inclined; 
for  during  all  the  course  of  my  long  intima- 
cy with  him,  my  respectful  attention  never 
abated,  and  my  wish  to  hear  him  was  such, 
that  I  constantly  watched  every  dawning  of 
communication  from  that  great  and  illumi- 
nated mind. 

He  observed,  "  All  knowledge  is  of  itself 
of  some  value.  There  is  nothing  so  minute 
or  inconsiderable,  that  I  would  not  rather 
know  it  than  not.  In  the  same  manner,  all 
power,  of  whatever  sort,  is  of  itself  desira- 
ble. A  man  would  not  submit  to  learn  to 
hem  a  ruffle  of  his  wife,  or  his  wife's 
maid:  but  if  a  mere  wish  could  attain 
it,  he  would  rather  wish  to  be  able  to  hem 
a  ruffle  3." 

He  again  advised  me  to  keep  a  journal 
fully  and  minutely,  but  not  to  mention  such 
trifles  as  that  meat  was  too  much  or  too 
little  done,  or  that  the  weather  was  fair  or 
rainy.  He  had  till  very  near  his  death  a 
contempt  for  the  notion  that  the  weather 
affects  the  human  frame. 


9  [Johnson  said  that  he  had  once  attempted  to 
learn  knitting  from  Dempster's  sister :  port ,  7th 
April,  1778.— Ed.] 


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1T75.— iCTAT.  66. 


•  I  told  him  that  our  friend  Goldsmith  had 
said  to  me  that  he  had  come  too  late  into 
the  world,  for  that  Pope  and  other  poets 
had  taken  up  the  places  in  the  Temple  of 
Fame;  so  that  as  buta  few  at  any  period  can 
possess  poetical  reputation,  a  man  of  genius 
can  now  hardly  acquire  it  Johnson.  "That 
is  one  of  the  most  sensible  things  I  have 
ever  heard  of  Goldsmith,  It  is  difficult  to 
get  literary  fame,  and  it  is  every  day  grow- 
ing more  difficult1.  Ah,  sir,  that  should 
make  a  man  think  of  securing  happiness  in 
another  world,  which  all  who  try  sincerely 
for  it  may  attain.  In  comparison  of  that, 
how  little  are  all  other  things  f  The  belief 
of  immortality  is  impressed  upon  all  men, 
and  all  men  act  under  an  impression  of  it, 
however  they  may  talk,  and  though,  per- 
haps, they  may  be  scarcely  sensible  of  it" 
1  said,  it  appeared  to  me  that  some  people 
had  not  the  least  notion  of  immortality;  and 
I  mentioned  a  distinguished  gentleman2  of 
our  acquaintance.  Johnson.  "  Sir,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  notion  of  immortality,  he 
would  cut  a  throat  to  fill  his  pockets." 
When  I  quoted  this  to  Beauclerk,  who 
knew  much  more  of  the  gentleman  than  we 
did,  he  said  in  his  acid  manner,  "  He  would 
cut  a  throat  to  fill  his  pockets,  if  it  were 
not  for  fear  of  being  hanged." 

Dr.  Johnson  proceeded:  "  Sir,  there  is  a 
great  cry  about  infidelity:  but  there  are,  in 
reality,  very  few  infidels.  I  have  heard  a 
person,  originally  a  quaker,  but  now,  I  am 
afraid,  a  deist,  say,  that  he  did  not  believe 
there  were,  in  all  England,  above  two  hun- 
dred infidels  3." 

He  was  pleased  to  say,  "  If  you  come  to 
settle  here,  we  will  have  one  day  in  the 
week  on  which  we  will  meet  by  ourselves. 


1  [With  all  doe  'deference,  it  seems  as  silly  as 
any  thing  that  poor  Goldsmith  ever  said.  Litera- 
ry fame  was  perhaps  as  cheaply  earned  in  the  last 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century  as  at  any  time  in 
our  history,  and  when  Johnson  said  ft  is  difficult 
to  get  literary  fame,  he  should  have  recollected 
that  if  it  were  not  difficult,  it  would  not  be  fame; 
and,  after  al),  did  not  Goldsmith  himself  gain  a 
great  reputation  without  any  very  great  difficulty  ? 
Goldsmith,  who  had  read  and  borrowed  a  great 
deal  from  the  light  literature  of  the  French,  found 
a  somewhat  similar  observation  in  VlgneuU 
MarvilHana,  from  La  Bruvere,  "Les  anciens 
ont  tout  dit-on  vient  aajourd'hui  trop  tard  pour 
dire  des  choses  nouvelles." — See  Vie.  Mar.  v. 
i.  p.  S49.— En.] 

*  [All  this  seems  so  extravagantly  abusive,  that 
the  editor  hopes  he  will  be  forgiven  for  not  ven- 
turing a  surmise  as  to  the  name  of  the  "  distin- 
guished gentleman"  so  ill,  and  probably  to  un- 
justly ,  treated  by  his  friend$. — Ed.  ] 

3  [The  editor  would  have  had  no  doubt  that  this 
was  Cuming  (see  ante,  p.  400),  but  that  Johnson 
says  "  now  a  deist,"  and  that  Cuming  had  died 
in  1774.  Sir  James  Mackintosh  thought  Dyer 
was  meant;  but  he  too  was  dead—En.] 


That  is  the  happiest  conversation  where 
there  is  no  competition,  no  vanity,  but  a 
calm  quiet  interchange  of  sentiments."  In 
his  private  register  this  evening  is  thus 
marked, 

"  Bos  well  sat  with  me  till  night ;  we  bad 
some  serious  talk." 

It  also  appears  from  the  same  record,  that 
after  I  left  nim  he  was  occupied  in  religions 
duties,  in  "  giving  Francis,  his  servant,  some 
directions  for  preparation  to  communicate ; 
in  reviewing  his  life,  and  resolving  on  bet- 
ter conduct." 

[•<  Easter  Eve,  15tb  April,  I7ML 

"  I  rose  more  early  than  is  common,  after 
a  night  disturbed  by  flatulencies,  though  I 
had  taken  so  little.  I  prayed,  but  my  mind 
was  unsettled,  and  I  did  not  fix  upon  the 
book.  After  the  bread  and  tea,  I  trifled, 
and  about  three  ordered  coffee  and  buns  lor 
my  dinner.  I  find  more  faintuess  and  un- 
easiness in  fasting  than  I  did  formerly. 

"  While  coffee  was  preparing,  Collier 
came  in,  a  man  whom  I  had  not  seen  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  but  whom  I  con- 
sulted about  Macky's  books.  We  talked  of 
old  friends  and  past  occurrences,  and  ate 
and  drank  together. 

"  1  then  read  a  little  in  the  Testament, 
and  tried  Fiddes's  Body  of  Divinity,  but 
did  not  settle.  • 

"  I  then  went  to  evening  prayer,  and  was 
tolerably  composed."] 

The  humility  and  piety  which  he  discovert 
on  such  occasions  is  truly  edifying.  No 
saint,  however,  in  the  course  of  his  religious 
warfare,  was  more  sensible  of  the  unhappy 
failure  of  pious  resolves  than  Johnson.  He 
said  one  day,  talking  to  an  acquaintance  on 
this  subject",  "  Sir,  hell  is  paved  with  good 
intentions  V 

On  Sunday,  16th  April,  being  Easter- 
day,  after  having  attended  the  solemn  ser- 
vice at  St.  Paul's,  I  dined  with  Dr.  John- 
son and  Mrs.  Williams.  I  maintained  that 
Horace  was  wrong  in  placing  happiness  is 
Nil  admirariy  for  that  I  thought  admiration 
one  of  the  most  agreeable  of  all«our  feel- 
ings; and  I  regretted  that  I  had  lost  much 
ofmy  disposition  to  admire,  which  people 
generally  do  as  they  advance  in  life.  Joh*- 
soir.  "  Sir,  as  a  man  advances  in  life,  be 
gets  what  is  better  than  admiration,— 
judgment^  to  estimate  things  at  their  true 
value."  I  still  insisted  that  admiration  was 
more  pleasing  than  Judgment,  as  love  is 
more  pleasing  than  friendship.  The  fee)* 
ing  or  friendship  is  like  that  of  being  com- 
fortably filled  with  roast  beef;  love,  like 
being  enlivened  with  champagne.    Johk- 


*  This  is  a  proverbial  sentence.  "  Hell  (styi 
Herbert)  k  roll  of  good  meanings  and  whfcinft" 
—Jacula  JPrudentum,  p.  11.  edit.  1651.-~Ma- 

I.AWC. 


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son.  "  No,  sir ;  admiration  and  love  are 
like  being1  intoxicated  with  champagne ; 
judgment  and  friendship  like  being  enliven- 
ed. Waller  has  hit  upon  the  same  thought 
with  you  ' :  but  I  do  n't  believe  you  have 
borrowed  from  Waller.  I  wish  you  would 
enable  yourself  to  borrow  more." 

He  then  took  occasion  to  enlarge  on 
the  advantages  of  reading,  and  combated 
the  idle  superficial  notion,  that  knowledge 
enough  may  be  acquired  in  conversation. 
"  The  foundation  (said  he)  must  be  laid 
by  reading.  General  principles  must  be 
had  from  books,  which,  however,  must  be 
brought  to  the  test  of  real  life.  In  conver- 
sation you  never  get  a  system.  What  is 
said  upon  a  subject  is  to  be  gathered  from 
a  hundred  people.  The  parts  of  a  tryth, 
which  a  man  gets  thus,  are  at  such  a  dis- 
tance from  each  other  that  he  never  attains 
to  a  full  view." 

"  TO  BENNET  LANGTOff,  ESQ. 

"17th  April,  JT75. 

"  Dear  sir,— I  have  inquired  more  mi- 
nutely about  the  medicine  for  the  rheuma- 
tism, which  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  you 
still  want.    The  receipt  is  this: 

"Take  equal  quantities  of  flour  of  sul- 
phur, and  flour  of  mustard-seed,  make 
them  an  electuary  with  honey  or  treacle: 
and  take  a  bolus  as  big  as  a  nutmeg  several 
times  a  day,  as  you  can  bear  it;  drinking 
after  it  a  quarter  of  a  pint  of  the  infusion  of 
the  root  or  lovage. 

"  Lovage,  in  Ray's  c  Nomenclature,'  is 
levisticum :  perhaps  "the  botanist  may  know 
the  Latin  name. 

"  Of  this  medicine  I  pretend  not  to  judge. 
There  is  all  the  appearance  of  its.  efficacy, 
which  a  single  instance  can  afford :  the  pa- 
tient was  very  old,  the  pain  very  violent, 
and  the  relief,  I  think,  speedy  and  lasting. 

"  My  opinion  of  alterative  medicine  is  not 
high,  but  quid  tentdtse  nocebit  7  if  it  does 
harm,  or  does  no  good,  it  may  be  omitted; 
but  that  it  may  do  good,  you  have,  I  hope, 
reason  to  think  is  desired  by,  sir,  your  most 
affectionate,  humble  servant, 

"  Sam.  Johnson." 

On  Tuesday,  April  18,  he  and  I  were  en- 
raged to  go  with  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  to 
dine  with  Mr.  Cambridge,  at  his*  beautiful 
villa  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  near 
Twickenham.  Dr.  Johnson's  tardiness  was 
such,  that  Sir  Joshua,  who  had  an  appoint- 
ment at  Richmond  early  in  the  day,  was 

i  "  Amoret  '■  as  tweet  ai>4  good 
As  the  most  delicloua  food } 
Which  but  tasted  does  impart 
Life  and  gladness  to  the  heart. 

"Sarhtrissat  beauty  'a  wine, 
Which  t )  madness  does  incline  j 
8och  a  liquor  as  no  brain 
That  b  mortal  tan  sustain."— Boswsll 


obliged  to  go  by  himself  on  horsebacks 
leaving  his  coach  to  Johnson  and  me. 
Johnson  was  in  such  good  spirits,  that  eve- 
ry thing  seemed  to  please  him  as  we  dvove 
along. 

Our  conversation  turned  on  a  variety  of 
subjects.  He  thought  portrait-painting  an 
improper  employment  for  a  woman9. 
"  Publick  practice  of  any  art,"  he  observed, 
"  and  staring  in  men's  faces,  is  very  indeli- 
cate in  a  female."  I  happened  to  start  a 
question,  whether  when  a  roan  knows  that 
some  of  his  intimate  friends  are  invited  to 
the  house  of  another  friend,  with  whom 
they  are  all  equally  intimate,  he  may  join 
them  without  an  invitation.  Johnson. 
"  No,  sir:  he  is  not  to  go  when  he  is  not  in- 
vited. 1  hey  may  be  invited  .on  purpose  to 
abuse  him,"  smiling. 

As  a  curious  instance  how  little  a  man 
knows,  or  wishes  to  know,  his  own  charac- 
ter in  the  world,  or  rather  as  a  convincing1 
proof  that  Johnson's  roughness  was  only 
external,  and  did  not  proceed  from  his  heart, 
I  insert  the  following  dialogue.  Johnson. 
"  It  is  wonderful,  sir,  how  rare  a  quality 
good  humour  is  in  life.  We  meet  with 
very  few  good-humoured  men."  I  mention- 
ed four  of  our  friends,  none  of  whom  he 
would  allow  to  be  good-humoured.  One  was 
acid,  another  was  muddy,  and  to  others  he 
had  objections  which  have  escaped  me. 
Then  snaking  his  head  and  stretching  him- 
self at  ease  in  the  coach,  and  smiling  with 
much  complacency,  he  turned  to  me  and 
said,  "  I  look  upon  myself  as  a  good-hu- 
moured fellow."  The  epithet  fellow,  ap- 
Klied  to  the  great  lexicographer,  the  state- 
j  moralist,  the  masterly  critick,  as  if  it  had 
been  Sam  Johnson,  a  mere  pleasant  compan- 
ion, was  highly  diverting;  and  this  light 
notion  of  himself  struck  me  with  wonder. 
I  answered,  also  smiling, "  No,  no,  sir;  that 
will  not  do.  You  are  good-natured,  but 
not  good-humoured ;  you  are  irascible.  You 
have  not  patience  with  folly  and  absurdity. 
I  believe  you  would  pardon  them,  if  there 
were  time  to  deprecate  your  vengeance; 
but  punishment  follows  so  quick  alter  sen- 
tence, that  they  cannot  escape  3." 

I  had  brought  with  me  a  great  bundle  of 
Scotch  magazines  and  newspapers,  in  which 
his  "  Journey  to  the  Western  Islands  "  was 
attacked  in  every  mode;  and  I  read  a  great 
part  of  them  to  him,  knowing  they  would 
afford  him  entertainment  I  wish  the  wri- 
ters of  them  had  been  present;  they  would 
have  been  sufficiently  vexed.     One  ludi- 


*  [This  topic  was  probably  suggested  to  them  • 
by  Miss  Reynolds,  who  practised  that  art ;  and 
we  shall  see  that  one  of  the  last  occupations  of 
Johnson's  life  was  to  sit  for  his  picture  to  that 
lady.— Ed.] 

*  [See,  on  Johnson's  politeness,  j>asf,  80th 
April,  1778.— En,] 


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erous  imitation  of  his  style,  by  Mr^Maclau- 
rin l,  now  one  of  the  Scotch  judges,  with 
the  title  of  Lord  Dreg  horn,  was  distinguish- 
ed by  him  from  the  rude  mass.  "  This," 
said  he,  "  id  the  best.  But  I  could  carica- 
ture riiy  own  style  much  better  myself." 
He  defended  his  remark  upon  the  general 
insuibciency  of  education  in  Scotland  ;  and 
continued  to  me  the  authenticity  of  his  wit- 
ty saying  on  the  learning  of  the  Scotch — 
*•  Their  teaming  is  like  bread  in  a  besieged 
town  j  every  man  gets  a  little,  but  no  man 
gets  a  full  meal2."  "  There  is,"  said  he, 
"  in  Scotland  a  diffusion  of  learning,  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  it  widely  and  thinly  spread. 
A  merchant  has  as  much  learning  as  one  of 
their  clergy." 

He  talked  of  « Isaac  Walton's  Lives," 
which  was  one  of  his  most  favourite  books. 
Dr.  Donne's  life,  he  said,  was  the  most 
perfect  of  them.  He  observed,  that  "it 
was -wonderful  that  Walton,  who  was  in  a 
very  low  situation  of  life,  should  have  been 
familiarly  received  by  so  many  great  men, 
ami  that  at  a  time  when  the  ranks  of  socie- 
ty were  kept  more  separate'  than  they  are 
nowV  He  supposed  that  Walton  had 
then  given  up  his  business  as  a  linen-draper 
and  sempster,  and  was  only  an  authour  * ; 
and  added,  "  that  he  was  a  great  panegy- 
rist." Bos  will.  "  No  quality  will  get  a 
man  more  friends  than  a  disposition  to  ad- 
mire the  qualities  of  others.  I  do  not  mean 
flattery,  but  a  sincere  admiration."  Johh- 
so».  "  Nay,  sir,  flattery  pleases  very  gen- 
erally. In  the  first  place,  the  flatterer  may 
think  what  he  says  to  be  true ;  but,  in  the 
second  place,  whether  he  thinks  so  or  not, 


■  *  [It  may  be  doubted  whether,  if  Mr.  Maclau- 
rin  had  not  taken  this  liberty,  Mr.  Boswell  would 
have  recorded  Dr.  Johnson's  censure  of  his  cook. 
—See  ante,  p.  208.— Ed.] 

*  [Mis.  Piozo  repeats  this  story  (p.  203), 
probably  more  truly  and  more  forcibly,  though 
with  rather  lees  delicacy  of  expression — "  Every 
man  gets  a  mouthful,  bat  no  man  a  bellyful;" 
and  adds,  that  Johnson  told  her  that  some  offi- 
cious friend  carried  it  to  Lord  Bute,  while  the 
Question  of  his  pension  was  afloat,  and  that  Lord 
Bate  only  replied,  "  He  will  have  the  pension, 
nevertheless."— Ed.] 

3  [Dr.  Johnson  seems  to  confound  distinction 
of  ranks  with  separation.  Literature  has  always 
been  a  passport  into  higher  society.  Walton  was 
received  as  Johnson  himself  was,  not  on  a  footing 
of  persona]  or  political  equality,  bat  of  social  and 
literary  intercourse. — En.] 

4  Johnson's  conjecture  was  erroneous.     Wal- 
,  ton  did  not  retire  from  business  till  1643.     But 

in  1664,  Dr.  King,  bishop  of  Chichester,  in  a  letter 
prefixed  to  his  "  Lives,"  mentions  his  having  been 
familiarly  acquainted  with  him  for  forty  yean  ; 
and  in  1681  he  was  so  intimate  with  Dr.  Donne, 
that  he  was  one  of  the  friends  who  attended  him 
on  his  death-bed.— J.  Boswell. 


he  certainly  thinks  those  whom  he  flatten 
of  consequence  enough  to  be  flattered.'1 

No  sooner  had  we  made  our  bow  to  Mr. 
Cambridge,  in  his  library,  than  Johnson 
ran  eagerly  to  one  side  of  the  room,  intent 
on  poring  over  the  backs  of  the  books5. 
Sir  Joshua  observed  (aside),  "  He  runs  to 
the  books  as  I  do  to  the  pictures  ;  but  1  have 
the  advantage.  I  can  see  much  more  of 
the  pictures  than  he  can  of  the  books." 
Mr.  Cambridge,  upon  this,  politely  said, 
"  Dr.  Johnson,  I  am  going,  with  your 
pardon,  to  accuse  mvself,  for  1  have  the 
some  custom  which  I  perceive  you  have. 
But  it  seems  odd  that  one  should  have  such 
a  desire  to  look  at  the  backs  of  books.3* 
Johnson,  ever  ready  for  contest,  instantly 
started  from  his  reverie,  wheeled  about  and 
answered,  "  Sir,  the  reason  is  very  plain. 
Knowledge  is  of  two  kinds.  We  know  a 
subject  ourselves,  or  we  know  where  we 
can  find  information  upon  it  When  we 
inquire  into  any  subject,  the  first  thing  we 
have  to  do  is  to  know  what  books  have 
treated  of  it.  This  leads  us  to  look  at  cata- 
logues, and  the  backs  of  books  in  libraries.9 
Sir  Joshua  observed  to  me  the  extraordina- 
ry promptitude  with  which  Johnson  flew 
upon  an  argument  "  Yes,"  said  I,  "he 
has  no  formal  preparation,  no  flourishing 
with  his  sword :  he  is  through  your  body  in 
an  instant"  [Mr.  Piozzi  describes 
Johnson's  promptitude  of  thought  and  J1^ 
expression  on  such  occasions  by  a 
very  happy  classical  allusion :  "  His  notions 
rose  up  like  the  dragon's  teeth  sown  by 
Cadmus,  all  ready  clothed,  and  in  bright 
armour  fit  for  battle."] 

Johnson  was  here  solaced  with  an  ele- 
gant entertainment,  a  very  accomplished 
family,  and  much  good  company :  among 
whom  was  Mr.  Harris,  of  Salisbury,  who 
paid  him  many  compliments  on  his  **  Jour- 
ney to  the  Western  Islands." 

The  common  remark  as  to  the  utility  of 
reading  history  being  made ; — Johnsoh. 
"  We  must  consider  how  very  little  history 
there  is ;  I  mean  real  authentick  history  6. 
That  certain  kings  reigned,  and  certain 
battles  were  fought,  we  can  depend  upon 
as  true  ;  but  all  the  colouring,  all  the  phi- 
losophy of  history  is  conjecture."  Boswell. 
"  Then,  sir,  you  would  reduce  all  history 
to  no  better  than  an  almanack7,  a  mere 


•  The  fiist  time  he  dined  with  me,  he  was 
shown  into  my  book  room,  and  instantly  pored 
over  the  lettering  of  each  volume  within  his  reach. 
My  collection  of  books  is  very  miscellaneous,  and 
I  feared  there  might  be  some  among  them  that  he 
would  not  like.  But  seeing  the  number  of  vol- 
umes very  considerable,  he  said,  "  You  are  an 
honest  man  to  have  formed  so  great  an  accumula- 
tion of  knowledge.*' — Burnet. 

•  [See  ante,  p.  257,  n.— Ed.] 

7  [This  allusion  was  revived  in  our  day,  in  a 


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chronological  series  of  remarkable  events." 
Mr.  Gibbon,  who  must  at  that  time  have 
been  employed  upon  his  history,  of  which 
he  published  the  first  volume  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  was  present;  but  did  not  step 
forth  in  defence  of  that  species  of  writing. 
He  probably  did  not  like  to  trutt  himself 
with  Johnson  >. 

Johnson  observed,  that  the  force  of  our 
early  habits  was  so  great,  that  though  rea- 
son approved,  nay,  though  our  senses  re- 
lished a  different  course,  almost  every  man 
returned  to  them.  I  do  not  believe  there 
is  any  observation  upon  human  nature  bet- 
ter founded  than  this;  and  in  many  cases, 
it  is  a  very  painful  truth;  for  where  early 
habits  have  been  mean  and  wretched,  the 
joy  and  elevation  resulting  from  better 
modes  of  life  must  be  damped  by  the  gloomy 
consciousness  of  being  under  an  almost  in- 
evitable doom  to  sink  back  into  a  situation 
which  we  recollect  with  disgust  It  surely 
may  be  prevented,  by  constant  attention 
and  unremitting  exertion  to  establish  con- 
trary habits  of  superiour  efficacy. 

"The  Beggar's  Opera,"  and  the  common 
question,  whether  it  was  pernicious  in  its 
effects,  having  been  introduced : — Johnson. 
"  As  to  this  matter,  which  has  been  very 
much  contested,  I  myself  am  of  opinion, 
that  more  influence  has  been  ascribed  to 
'  The  Beggar's  Opera '  than  it  in  reality 
ever  had;  lor  I  do  not  believe  that  any  man 
was  ever  mode  a  rogue  by  being  present  at 
its  representation.  At  the  same  time  I  do 
not  deny  that  it  may  have  some  influence, 
by  making  the  character  of  a  rogue  familiar, 
and  in  some  decree  pleasing3."  Then 
collecting  himself,  as  it  were,  to  give  a 
heavy  stroke:  "  There  is  in  it  such  a  labe- 
factaUon  of  all  principles  as  may  be  injuri- 
ous to  morality." 


very  striking  manner,  by  Mr.  (now  Lord)  Plnn- 
kett,  in  one  of  his  speeches  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons, in  which  he  said,  that  if  not  read  in  the 
spirit  of  prudence  and  experience,  "  history  was 
no  better  than  an  old  almanack,'* — Par.  Deb. 
28th  Feb.  1825.—  Ed.] 

1  See  ante,  p.  520. — Boswell. 

1  A  very  eminent  physician,  whose  discern- 
ment is  as  acute  and  penetrating  in  judging  of  the 
human  character  as  it  is  in  his  own  profession, 
remarked  once  at  a  club  where  I  was,  that  a 
lively  young  man,  fond  of  pleasure,  and  without 
money,  would  hardly  resist  a  solicitation  from  his 
miKtress  to  go  upon  the  highway,  immediately 
after  being  present  at  the  representation  of  "  The 
Beggar's  Opera."  I  have  been  told  of  an  in- 
genious observation  by  Mr.  Gibbon,  that  "  The 
Beggar's  Opera,  may,  perhaps,  have  sometimes 
increased  the  number  of  highwaymen:  but  that  it 
has  had  a  beneficial  effect  in  refining  that  class  of 
men,  making  them  less  ferocious,  more  polite,  in 
abort,  more  like  gentlemen."  Upon  this  Mr. 
Courtenay  said,  that  "  Gay  was  the  Orpheus  of 
highwaymen." — Boswell. 


While  he  pronounced  this  response,  we 
sat  in  a  comical  sort  of  restraint,  smother- 
ing a  laugh,  which  we  were  afraid  might 
burst  out.  In  his  Life  of  Gay,  he  has  been 
stiH  more  decisive  as  to  the  inefficiency  of 
"  The  Beggar's  Opera  "  in  corrupting  soci- 
ety.— But  I  have  ever  thought  somewhat 
differently;  for,  indeed,  not  only  are  the 
gaiety  and  heroism  of  a  highwayman  very 
captivating  to  a  youthful  imagination,  but 
the  arguments  for  adventurous  depreciation 
are  so  plausible,  the  allusions  so  lively,  and 
the  contrasts  with  the  ordinary  and  more 
painful  modes  of  acquiring  property  are  so 
artfully  displayed,  that  it  requires  a  cool  and 
Strong  judgment  to  resist  so  imposing  an 
aggregate:  yet,  I  own,  I  should  be  very 
sorry  to  have  "  The  Beggar's  Opera  "  sup- 
pressed; for  there  is  in  it  so  much  of  real 
London  life,  so  much  brilliant  wit,  and  such 
a  variety  of  airs,  which,  from  early  associa- 
tion of  ideas,  engage,  soothe,  and  enliven 
the  mind,  that  no  performance  which  the 
theatre  exhibits  delights  me  more. 

The  late  "  worthy  "  Duke*  of  Queens- 
bury  3,  as  Thomson,  in  his  "  Seasons,"  jubt- 
ly  characterizes  him,  told  me,  that  when 
Gay  showed  him  "  The  Beggar's  Opera," 
his  grace's  observation  was,  "  This  is  a 
very  odd  thing,  Gay;  I  am  satisfied  that  it 
is  either  a  very  good  thing,  or  a  very  bad 
thing."  It  proved  the  former,  beyond  the 
warmest  expectations  of  the  authour,  or 
his  friends.  Mr.  Cambridge,  however, 
showed  us  to-day,  that  there  was  good  rea- 
son enough  to  doubt  concerning  its  success. 
He  was  told  by  Quin,  that  during  the  first 
night  of  its  appearance  it  was  long  in  a  very 
dubious  state;  that  there  was  a  disposition 
to  damn  it,  and  that  it  was  saved  by  the 
song, 

"  Oh  ponder  well !  be  not  severe  !'* 

the  audience  being  much  affected  by  the 
innocent  looks  of  Polly,  when  she  came  to 
those  two  lines,  which  exhibit  at  once  a 
painful  and  ridiculous  image, 

"  For  on  the  rope  that  hangs  my  dear, 
Depends  poor  Polly's  life." 

Quin  himself  had  so  bad  an  opinion  of  it, 
that  he  refused  the  part  of  Captain  Mac- 
heath,  and  tjave  it  to  Walker,  wno  acquired 
great  celebrity  by  his  grave  4  yet  animated 
performance  of  it. 

We  talked  of  a  young  gentleman's  mar- 
riage *  with  an  eminent  singer,  and  his  de- 


*  [The  third  Duke  of  Queensbury,  and  second 
Duke  of  Dover;  the  natron  of  Gay  and  Thomson. 
He  died  in  1778,  in  the  80th  year  of  his  age.— 

4  [The  gravity  of  the  performance  of  Macheath 
seems  a  strange  merit. — Ed.] 

*  [This,  no  doubt,  alludes  to  Mr.  R.  B.  Sheri- 
dan *s  refusal  to  allow  his  wife  to  sing  in  pub- 


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termination  that  she  should  no  longer  sing 
in  publick,  though  his  fsther  was  very  earn- 
est she  should,  because  her  talents  would 
be  liberally  rewarded,  so  as  to  make  her  a 
good  fortune.  It  was  questioned  whether 
the  young  gentleman  who  had  not  a  shil- 
ling in  the  world,  but  was  blest  with  very 
uncommon  talents,  was  not  foolishly  deli- 
cate, or  foolishly  proud,  and  his  fathef  truly 
rational  without  being  mean.  Johnson, 
with  all  the  high  spirit  of  a -Roman  senator, 
exclaimed,  "  He  resolved  wisely  and  nobly 
to  be  sure.  He  is  a  brave  man.  Would 
not  a  {rentlentyla  be  disgraced  by  having  his 
wife  singing  publickly  for  hire?  No,  sir, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  here*  * 1." 

Johnson  arraigned  the  modern  politicks 
of  this  country,  as  entirely  devoid  of  all 
principle  of  whatever  kind.  "  Politicks," 
said  he, "  are  now  nothing  more  than  means 
"  of  rising  in  the  world.  With  this  sole  view 
do  men  engage  in  politicks,  and  their  whole 
conduct  proceeds  upon  it9.  How  different 
in  that  respect  is  the  state  of  the  nation  now 
from  what  it  was  in  the  time  of  Charles  the 
First,  during  the  Usurpation,  and  after  the 
Restoration,  in  the  time  of  Charles  the 
Second.  Hudibras  affords  a  strong  proof 
how  much  hold  political  principles  had  then 
upon  the  minds  of  men.  There  is  in  Hudi- 
bras a  great  deal  of  bullion  which  will 
always  last  But  to  be  sure  the  brightest 
strokes  of  his  wit  owed  their  force  to  the 
impression  of  the  characters,  which  was 
upon  men's  minds  at  the  time;  to  their 
knowing  them,  at  table  and  in  the  street;  in 
short,  being  familiar  with  them;  and  above 
all,  to  his  satire  being  directed  against  those 
whom  a  little  while  before  they  had  hated 
and  feared.  The  nation  in  general  has  ever 
been  loyal,  has  been  at  all  times  attached  to 
the  monarch,  though  a  few  daring  rebels 
have  been  wonderfully  powerful  for  a  time. 

lie.  Her  singing  at  Oxford,  at  the  installation 
of  Lord  North,  as  chancellor,  in  1773,  was  put 
on  the  footing  of  obliging  his  lordship  and  the 
university;  and  when,  on  that  occasion,  several 
degrees  were  conferred  "  honoris  causa,''*  Lord 
North  observed,  that  Sheridan's  degree  should  be 
ttxoris  causa.*  * — Hall.] 

1  [An  indelicate  allusion  is  here  omitted. — 
En.] 

*  [In  those  troublesome  times  men  were  con- 
tending for  fundamental  principles,  and  were 
always  zealous,  and  sometimes  disinterested  in 
proportion  to  the  greatness  of  the  public  stake; 
but  since  the  Revolution,  and  the  extinction  of 
the  claims  of  the  house  of  Stuart,  the  principles  of 
our  constitution  are  so  generally  admitted,  that  little 
is  left  to  be  contested  for,  except  the  hands  by 
which  affairs  shall  be  administered:  in  such  junc- 
tures, politics  must  become  more  of  a  profession, 
in  which  men  will  seek  personal  advancement, 
than  when  their  private  feelings  were  mixed  up 
with  questions  of  vital  public  importance.— Ed.] 


The  murder  of  Charles  the  First  was  aa- 
doubtedly  not  committed  with  the  approba- 
tion or  consept  of  the  people.  Had  that 
been  the  case,  parliament  would  not  have 
ventured  to  consign  the  regicides  to  their  de- 
served punishment 3.  And  we  know  what 
exuberance  of  joy  there  was  when  Charles 
the  Second  was  restored.  If  Charles  the 
Second  had  bent  all  his  mind  to  it,  bad 
made  it  his  sole  object,  he  might  have  beea 
as  absolute  as  Louis  the  Fourteenth  ."  A 
gentleman  observed  he  would  have  done  no 
harm  if  he  had.  Johhsok.  "  'Why,  sir, 
absolute  princes  seldom  do  any  harm.  Bat 
they  who  are  governed  by  them  are  govern- 
ed by  chance.  There  is  no  security  for 
good  government."  Cambridge.  "  There 
have  been  many  sad  victims  to  absolute 
government"  Johnson.  "  So,  sir,  have 
there  been  to  popular  factions."  Boswkll. 
f  The  question  is,  which  is  worst,  one  wild 
beast  or  many?" 

Johnson  praised  "  The  Spectator,"  par- 
ticularly the  character  of  Sir  Roger  de  <;ov- 
erley-  He  said,  "  Sir  Roger  did  not  die  a 
violent  death,  as  has  been  generally  fancied. 
He  was  not  killed;  he  died  only  because 
others  were  to  die,  and  because  his  death 
afforded  an  opportunity  to  Addison  for  some 
very  line  writing.  We  have  the  example 
of  Cervantes  making  Don  Quixote  die.  1 
never  could  see  why  Sir  Roger  is  represent- 
ed as  a  little  cracked.  It  appears  to  me 
that  the  story  of  the  widow  was  intended  to 
have  something  superinduced  upon  it;  bat 
the  superstructure  did  not  come." 

Somebody  /bund  fault  with  .writing  verses 
in  a  dead  language,  maintaining  that  tbey 
were  merely  arrangements  of  so  many  words, 
and  laughed  at  the  universities  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  for  sending  forth  collections 
of  them  not  only  in  Greek  and  Latin,  but 
even  in  Syriack,  Arabick,  and  other  more 
unknown  tongues.  Johnson.  "I  would 
have  as  many  of  these  as  possible*  I  would 
have  verses  in  every  language  tnat  there 
are  the  means  of  acquiring.  Nobody  ima- 
gines that  an  university  is  to  have  at  once 
two  hundred  poets:  but  it  should  be  able  to 
show  two  hund  red  scholars.  Pieresc's  death 
was  lamented,  I  think,  in  forty  languages. 


3  [The  Editor  concurs  in  Johnson's  opinion  as 
to  the  fact ;  but  it  seems  to  him,  that  the  proof 
adduced  is  very  inconclusive,  for  if  the  execution 
of  the  regicides  proves  one  state  of  the  pnhnc 
mind,  surely  the  execution  of  the  king  hiti^etf 
might  be  adduced  to  prove  another. — Et>.] 

4  [Did  Dr.  Johnson  forget  toe  power  of  the 
public  purse,  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  boose  of 
commons,  and  all  the  arts,  intrigues,  and  violence 
which  Charles  and  his  ministers  tried,  and  tried 
in  vain  to  evade,  or  resist  that  control?  I/id 
he  also  forget  that  there  were  juries  in  thai 
reign  ?  a  jury  might  occasionally  be  pocked  ox 
intimidated,  bat  there  still  wen  juries  ! — £».] 


Digitized  by 


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1T75— jETAT.  6*. 


tt9 


And  I  would  have  had  at  every  coronation, 
and  every  death  of  a  king,  every  Gmtdtwn, 
and  every  Luchu>  university-verses,  in  as 
many  languages  as  can  he  acquired.  I 
would  have  the  world  to  he  thus  told, 
*  Here  is  a  school  where  every  thing  may 
be  learnt.'" 

Waving  set  out  next  day  on  a  visit  to  the 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  at  Wilton,  and  to  my 
friend,  Mr.  Temple,  at  Mamhead,  in  Dev- 
onshire, and  not  having  returned  to  town 
till  the  second  of  May,  I  did  not  see  Or. 
Johnson  for  a  considerable  time,  and  dnring 
the  remaining  part  of  my  stay  in  London 
kept  very  imperfect  notes  of  his  conversa- 
tion, which  had  I  according  to  my  usual 
custom  written  out  at  large  soon  after  the 
time,  much  might  have  been  preserved, 
which  is  now  irretrievably  lost  I  can  now 
only  record  some  particular  scenes,  and  a 
few  fragments  of  his  memorabilia.  But  to 
make  some  amends  for  my  relaxation  of  dil- 
igence in. one  respect,  I  can  present  my 
readers  with  arguments  upon  two  law  cases, 
with  which  he  favoured  me l. 

On  Saturday,  the  sixth  of  May,  we  dined 
by  ourselves -at  the  Mitre,  and  he  dictated 
to  me  [an  argument,  which  will  be  found  in 
the  Appendix],  to  obviate  the  complaint 
already  mentioned9,  which  had  been  made 
in  the  form  of  an  action  in  the  court  of  ses- 
sion by  Dr.  Memis,  of  Aberdeen,  that  in 
the  same  translation  of  a  charter  in  which 
physicians  were  mentioned,  he  was  called 
doctor  of  medicine, 

A  few  days  afterwards,  I  consulted  him 
upon  a  cause,  Paterson  and  others  against 
Alexander  and  others,  which  had  been  de- 
cided by  a  casting  vote  in  the  court  of  ses- 
sion, determining  that  the  corporation  of 
Stirling  was  corrupt,  and  setting  aside  the 
election  of  some  of  their  officers,  because  it 
was  proved  that  three  of  the  leading  men 
who  influenced  the  majority  had  entered 
into  an  unjustifiable  compact,  of  which, 
however,  the  majority  were  ignorant  He 
dictated  to  me,  sfter  a  Kttle  consideration, 
some  sentences  upon  the  subject  [which  will 
also  be  found  in  the  Appendix.] 

This,  in  my  opinion,  was  a  very  nice  case; 
but  the  decision  was  affirmed  in  the  house 
of  lords. 

On  Monday,  May  8,  we  went  together 
and  visited  the  mansions  of  Bedlam.  I  had 
been  informed  that  he  had  once  been  there 
before  with  Mr.  Wedderburne  (now  Lord 
Loughborough),  Mr.  Murphy,  and  Mr. 
Foote;  and  Fhad  heard  Foot©  give  a  very 
entertaining  account  of  Johnson's  happen- 
ing to  have  his  attention  arrested  by  a  man 
who  was  very  furious,  and  who,  while  beat- 
ing his  straw,  supposed  it  was  William, 


1  [Mo*  reader*,  it  h  suspected,  will  not  think 
die  compensation  adequate. — Ed.] 
•  Ante,  page  496.— Boswbll. 
▼ol.  f.  67 


Duke  of  Cumberland,  whom  he  was  punish- 
ing for  his  cruelties  in  Scotland,  in  1746*. 
There  was  nothing  peculiarly  remarkable 
this  day;  but  the  general  contemplation  of. 
insanity  was  very  affecting.  I  accompanied, 
him  home,  and  dined  and  drank  tea  with 
him. 

Talking  of  an  acquaintance  of  ours*, 
distinguished  for  knowing  an  uncommon 
variety  of  miscellaneous  articles  both  in 
antiquities  and  polite  literature,  he  observed, 
"  You  know,  sir,  he  runs  about  with  little 
weight  upon  his  mind."  And  talking  of 
another  very  ingenious  gentleman*,  who 
from  the  warmth  of  his  temper  was  at  vari- 
ance with  many  of  his  acquaintance,  and 
wished  to  avoid  them,  he  said,  "Sir,  ha 
leads  the  life  of  an  outlaw." 

On  Friday,  May  IS,  as  he  had  been  so 
good  as  to  assign  me  a  room  in  his  house, 
where  I  might  sleep  occasionally,  when  I 
happened  to  sit  with  him  to  a  late  hour,  I 
took  possession  of  it  this  night,  found  every 
thing  in  excellent  order,  and  was  attended 
by  honest  Francis  with  a  most  civil  assi- 
duity. I  asked  Johnson  whether  I  might 
go  to  a  consultation  with  another  lawyer 
upon  Sunday,  as  that  appeared  to  me  to  be 
doing  work  as  much  in  my  way,  as  if  an 
artisan  should  work  on  the  day  appropria- 
ted for  religious  rest  Johnson.  "Why, 
sir,  when  you  are  of  consequence  enough 
to  oppose  the  practice  of  consulting  upon 
Sunday,  you  should  do  it:  but  you  may  go 
now.  It  is  not  criminal,  though  it  is  not 
what  one  should  do,  who  is  anxious  for  the 
preservation  and  increase  of  piety,  to  which 
a  peculiar  observance  of  Sunday  is  a  great 
help.  The  distinction  is  clear  between 
what  is  of  moral  and  what  is  of  ritual  obli- 
gation ••»* 

["TO   MRS.  THRALZ. 

"IS*  Mar,  ms. 

"  I  wish  I  could  say  or  send  any  thing  to 

divert  you ;  but  I  have  done  nothing,  and 

seen  nothing.    I  dined  one  day  with  Paoti. 

and  yesterday  with  Mrs.  Southwells?,  and 


•  My  very  honourable  friend,  General  Sir 
George  Howard,  who  served  in  die  Duke  of 
Cumberland's  army,  has  assured  me  that  the 
cruelties  were  not  impotable  to  hit  royal  highness 
— Boswxll.  [On  the  morning  of  the  battle  of 
Culloden,  Lord  George  Murray,  the  chief  of  the 
Pretender's  staff,  issued  an  order  to  give  no  quar» 
ter  to  the  royal  forces.  The  Jacobites  affected  to 
say  that  this  was  the  act  of  the  individual,  and 
not  of  the  prince  or  his  party;  but  it  m  undeniable 
that  such  a  general  order  was  given,  and  that  it 
was  the  excuse,  if  not  the  cause,  of  the  severities 
which  followed  the  battle  on  the  part  of  the  con- 
querors.— En.] 

4  [Probably  Dr.  Percy.— Ed.] 

•  [No  doubt  Mr.  George  Steeveas.— En.] 

•  [See  ante,  p.  252,  344,  and  4M.— E».1 
7  [8  ~     — 


[8ee  ante,  p.  302— En.] 


Digitized  by  VJ 


oogle 


680 


in*.— JETAT.  M 


called  on  Congreve *.  Mr.  Twfes,  hearing 
that  you  talked  of  despoiling  his  book  of 
the  fine  print,  has  sent  you  a  copy  to  frame. 
He  is  going  to  Ireland,  and  I  nave  given 
him  letters  to  Dr.  Leland  and  Mr.  Falk- 
ner». 

"  Mr.  Mfontagu]  is  so  ill  that  the  lady 
is  not  visible:  but  yesterday  I  had  I  know 
not  how  much  kiss  of  Mrs.  Abington,  and 
▼erv  good  looks  from  Miss  •  •  •  •  •  3,  the 
maid  of  honour. 

"Boewell  has  made  me  promise  not  to 
go  to  Oxford  till  he  leaves  London;  I  had 
no  great  reason  for  haste,  and  therefore 
might  as  well  gratify  a  friend.  I  am  always 
proud  and  pleased  to  have  my  company  de- 
sired. Boswell  would  have  thought  my 
absence  a  loss,  and  I  know  not  who  else 
would  have  considered  my  presence  as  prof- 
it. He  has  entered  himself  at  the  Temple, 
and  I  joined  in  his  bond.  He  is  to  plead 
before  the  lords,  and  hopes  very  nearly  to 
gain  the  cost  of  his  journey.  He  lives 
much  with  his  friend  Faoli,  who  savs,  a 
man  must  see  Wales  to  enjoy  England. 

"  The  book  which  is  now  most  read,  but 
which,  as  far  as  I  have  gone,  is  but  dull,  is 
Gray's  Letters,  prefixed  by  Mr.  Mason  to 
his  poems.  I  have  borrowed  mine,  and 
therefore  cannot  lend  it,  and  I  can  hardly 
r/c  >mmend  the  purchase  4. 

"  1  have  offended ;  and,  what  is  stranger, 
haw  justly  offended  the  nation  of  Rasa  v. 
If  ihey  could  come  hither,  they  would  be 
as  fierce  as  the  Americans.  Ra*ay  has 
written  to  Boswell  an  account  of  the  injury 
done  him,  by  representing  his  home  as 
subordinate  to  that  of  Dunvegan.  Bos- 
well has  his  letter,  and  I  believe  copied  my 
answer.  I  have  appeased  him,  if  a  degra- 
ded chief  can  possibly  be  appeased;  but  it 
will  be  thirteen  days—days  of  resentment 
and  discontent— before  my  recantation  can 
reach  him.  Many  a  dirk  will  imagination, 
during  that  interval,  fix  in  my  heart.  I 
really  question  if  at  this  time  my  life  would 
not  be  in  danger,  if  distance  did  not  secure  it. 

*  [See  jM»«f,  22d  March,  1776.— Ed.] 

9  [George  Faulkeaer,  the  celebrated  printer. — 
En.] 

*  [Probably  Mm  Beaucksrck.— Ed.] 

4  [Nothing  but  a  atrong  prejudice  conld  have 
made  Johnson  thus  speak  of  those  veiy  entertain* 
tag  letters.— Ed.] 


"  Boswell  will  find  his  way  to  Streatham 
before  he  goes,  and  will  detail  this  great 
affair.  I  would  have  come  on  Saturday, 
but  that  I  am  engaged  to  do  Dr.  Lawrence 
a  little  service  on  Sunday.  Which  day 
shall  I  come  next  week  ?  I  hope  you  will 
be  well  enough  to  see  me  often."] 

On  Saturday,  May  13, 1  breakfasted  with 
him  by  invitation,  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Andrew  Crosbie,  a  Scotch  advocate,  whom 
he  had  seen  at  Edinburgh,  and  the  Hon. 
Colonel  (now  General)  Edward  Stopfoid  , 
brother  to  Lord  Courtown,  who  was  desi- 
rous of  being  introduced  to  him.  His  tea 
and  rolls  and  butter,  and  whole  breakfast 
apparatus,  were  all  in  such  decorum,  and 
his  behavior  was  so  courteous,  that  Colonel 
Stqpford  was  quite  surprised,  and  wondered 
at  his  having  heard  so  much  said  of  John- 
son's slovenliness  and  roughness.  I  have 
preserved  nothing  of  what  passed,  except 
tha^  Crosbie  pleased  him  much  by  talking 
learnedly  of  afchymy,  as  to  which  " Johnson 
was  not  a  positive  unbeliever,  but  rather 
delighted  in  considering  what  progress  had 
actually  been  made  in  the  transmutation  of 
metals,  what  near  approaches  there  had 
been  to  the  making  of  gold;  and  told  us 
that  it  was  affirmed  tha£  a  person  in  the 
Russian  dominions  had  discovered  the  se- 
cret, but  died  without  revealing  it,  as  imag- 
ining it  would  be  prejudicial  to  society. 
He  added,  that  it  was  not  impossible  but  it 
miff ht  in  time  be  generally  known. 

It  being  asked  whether  it  was  reasonable 
for  a  man  to  be  angry  at  another  whom  a 
woman  had  preferred  to  him  ?  Johnsok. 
"  I  do  not  see,  sir,  that  it  is  reasonable  for 
a  man  to  be  angry  at  another,  whom  a 
woman  has  preferred  to.  him :  but  angry  he 
is,  no  doubt;  and  he  is  loth  to  be  angry  at 
himself.' ' 

Before  setting  out  for  Scotland  on  the 
23d,  I  was  frequently  in  his  company  at  dif- 
ferent places,  but  during  this  period  have- 
recorded  only  two  remarks;  one  concerning 
Garrick:  "  He  has  not  Latin  enough.  He 
finds  out  the  Latin  by  the  meaning  rather 
than  the  meaning  by  the  Latin."  And 
another  concerning  writers  of  travels,  who, 
he  observed,  "were  more  defective  than 
any  other  writers." 

6  [Second  son  of  the  first  Lord  Comtown ; 
bom  1732;  a  major-general  in  1782. — En.] 


END  OF  VOL.  1 


Digitized  by  VjOOQ IC 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 
SpKciMtfcrs  of  Dr.  Johnson's  ewly  poeti- 
cal compositions,  referred  to  in  p.  19. 

TRANSLATION  OF  VIRGIL. 
PASTORAL   I. 

Melibccus.    Now,   Tityrus,  yon,  supine  and 
careless  laid, 
Play  on  your  pipe  beneath  this  beechen  shade  ; 
While  wretched  we  about  the  world  most  roam, 
And  leave  our  pleasing  fields  and  native  home  ; 
Here  at  your  ease  you  sing  your  amorous  flame, 
And  the  wood  rings  with  Amarillis'  name. 

Tityrus.    Those  blessings,  friend,  a  deity  be- 
stow'd, 
For  I  shall  never  think  him  less  than  God  ; 
Oft  on  his  altar  shall  my  firstlings  lie, 
Their  blood  the  consecrated  stones  shall  dye : 
He  gave  my  flocks  to  graze  the  flowery  meads, 
And  me-to  tune  at  ease  th*  unequal  reeds. 

Mel,     My  admiration  only  I  exprest, 
(No  spark  of  envy  harbours  in  my  breast) 
That,  when  confusion  o'er  the  country  reigns, 
To  you  alone  this  happy  state  remains. 
Here  I,  though  feint  myself,  must  drive  my  goats, 
Far  from  their  ancient  fields  and  humble  cots. 
This  scarce  I  lead,  whoJeft  en  yonder  rock 
Two  tender  kids,  the  hopes  of  all  the  flock. 
Had  we  not  been  perverse  and  careless  grown, 
This  dire  event  by  omens  was  foreshown  ; 
Our  trees  were  blasted  by  the  thunder  stroke, 
And  left-hand  crows,  from  an  old  hollow  oak. 
Foretold  the  coming  evil  by  their  dismal  croak. 

TRANSLATION  OF  HORACE. 
BOOK  X.   ODE  XXII. 

The  man,  my  friend,  whose  conscious  heart 

With  virtue's  sacred  ardour  glows, 
Nor  taints  with  death  the  envenom 'd  dart, 

Nor  needs  the  guard  of  Moorish  bows  ; 
Though  Scythia's  icy  clifls  he  treads, 

Or  horrid  Africk's  faithless  sands  ; 
Or  where  the  famed  Hydaspes  spreads 

His  liquid  wealth  o'er  barbarous  lands. 
For  while  by  Chloe's  image  charm 'd, 

Too  far  in  Sabine  woods  I  stray 'd  ; 
Me  singing,  careless  and  unarm 'd, 

A  grisly  wolf  surprised,  and  fled. 
No  savage  more  portentous  stain'd 

Apulia's  spacious  wilds  with  gore  % 
No  fiercer  Juba's  thirsty  land, 

Dire  nurse  of  raging  lions,  hose. 
Place  me  where  no  soft  summer  gale 

Among  the  quivering  branches  sighs  ; 
Where  clouds  condensed  for  ever  veil 

With  horrid  gloom  the  frowning  skies : 
Place  me  beneath  the  burning  line, 

A  clime  denied  to  human  race : 
I'll  sing  of  Chloe's  charms  divine, 

Her  iieav'nly  voice,  and  beauteous  face. 


k,     \ 

ak.) 


TRANSLATION  OF  HORACE. 

BOOK   II.      ODE    IX. 

Clouds  do  not  always  veil  the  skies, 
Nor  showers  immerse  the  verdant  plain ; 

Nor  do  the  billows  always  rise, 
Or  storms  afflict  the  ruffled  main. 

Nor,  Valgius,  on  th'  Armenian  shores 
Do  the  chain 'd  waters  always  freeze  ; 
-    Not  always  furious  Boreas  roars, 

Or  bends  with  violent  force  the  trees. 

But  you  are  ever  drown'd  in  tears, 
For  Myites  dead  you  ever  mourn  ; 

No  setting  Sol  can  ease  your  cares, 
But  finds  you  sad  at  his  return. 

The  wise  experiene'd  Grecian  sage 
Mourn 'd  not  Antilochus  so  long ; 

Nor  did  King  Priam's  hoary  age 
So  much  lament  his  slaughter'd  son. 

Leave  off,  at  length,  these  woman's  sighs, 
Augustus'  numerous  trophies  sing  ; 

Repeat  that  prince's  victories, 

To  whom  all  nations  tribute  bring. 

Niphates  rolls  an  humbler  wave, 

At  length  the  undaunted  Scythian  yields, 

Content  to  live  the  Roman's  slave, 
And  scarce  forsakes  his  native  fields. 

TRANSLATION   OF   PART   OF  THE   DIALOGUE 

BETWEEN  HECTOR  AND  ANDROMACHE. 
FROM    THE  8IXTH  BOOK  OF  HOMER'S  ILIAD, 

She  ceas'd  ;  then  godlike  Hector  answer 'd  kind, 
(His  various  plumage  sporting  in  the  wind) 
That  post,  and  all  the  rest,  shall  he  my  care; 
But  shall  I,  then,  forsake  the  unfinish'd  war? 
How  would  the  Trojans  brand  great  Hector's  name! 
And  one  base  action  sully  .all  my  fame, 
Acquir'd  by  wounds  and  battles  bravely  fought  i 
Oh  !  how  my  soul  abhors  so  mean  a  thought. 
Long  since  I  learn  'd  to  slight  thk  fleeting  breath. 
And  view  with  cheerful  eyes  approaching  death. 
The  inexorable  sisters  have  decreed 
That  Priam's  house,  and  Priam's  self  shall  bleed : 
The  day  will  come,  in  which  proud  Troy  shall 

yield, 
And  spread  its  smoking  ruins  o'er  the  field. 
Yet  Hecuba's,  nor  Priam's  hoary  age, 
Whose  blood  shall  quench  some  Grecian's  thirsty 

rage, 
Nor  my  brave  brothers,  that  have  bit  the  ground, 
Their  souls  dismiss'd  through  many  a  gastly  wound, 
Can  in  my  bosom  half  that  grief  create, 
As  the  sad  thought  of  your  impending  fate : 
When  some  proud  Grecian  dame  shall  tasks  in> 

pose, 
Mimick  your  tears,  and  ridicule  your  woes ; 
Beneath  Hyperia's  waters  shall  you  sweat, 
And,  fainting,  scarce  support  the  liquid  weight : 
Then  shall  some  Argive  loud  msulting  cry, 
Behold  the  wife  of  Hector,  guard  of  Troy  ! 


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0g£  APPENDIX. 

Teiii,  at  a^ntM,  shell  drawn  tk 

And  tk»t  ftSr  bosom  heave  with  nfag  «•> ! 
IWbre  that  day,  by  loine  brave  bero't1 
May  I  Be  stain,  and  spurn  the  Woody  i 

■TO  A  YOUNG  LADY  ON  BKE  BIRTHDAY  *. 

This  tributary  verse  receive,  my  fair, 
Warm  with  an  ardent  lover's  fondest  prayer. 
May  this  returning  day  forever  find 
Thy  form  more  lovely,  more  adorn'd  thy  mind  ; 
All  pains,  all  cares,  may  fevouring  Heav'n  remove, 
All  bat  the  sweet  solicitudes  of  love  ! 
May  powerful  nature  join  with  gratefal  art  * 
To  point  each  glance,  and  force  h  to  the  heart ! 
O  then,  when  oonquer'd  crowds  confess  thy  sway, 
When  ev'n  proud  wealth  and  prouder  wit  obey, 
My  fair,  be  mindful  of  the  mighty  trust : 
Alas  !  'tis  hard  for  beauty  to  be  just 
Those  sovereign  charms  with  strictest  care  employ; 
Nor  give  the  generous  pain,  the  worthless  joy : 
With  his  own  form  acouaint  the  forward  fool, 
Shown  in  the  nuthful  glass  of  ridicule; 
Teach  mumck  censure  her  own  faults  to  find, 
No  more  let  coquettes  to  themselves  be  blind, 
80  shall  Belinda's  charms  improve  mankind. 

THE  YOUNG  AUTHOR*. 
When  first  the  peasant,  long  inclin'd  to  roam, 
Forsakes  his  rural  sports  and  peaceful  home, 
Pleas'd  with  the  scene  the  smiling  ocean  yields, 
He  scorns  the  verdant  meads  and  flow'ry  fields ; 
Then  dances  jocund  o'er  the  watery  way, 
While  the  breeze  whispers,  and  the  streamers  play: 
Unbounded  prospects  in  lus  bosom  roll, 
And  future  millions  lift  his  rising  soul; 
In  MMsral  dreams  he  digs  the  golden  mine, 
And  raptur'd  sees  the  new-found  ruby  shine. 
Joys  insincere  1  thick  clouds  invade  the  skies, 
Loud  roar  the  billows,  high  the  waves  arise ; 
Bick'ning  with  fear,  he  longs  to  view  the  shore, 
And  vows  to  trust  the  faithless  deep  no  more. 
Bo  the  young  author,  panting  after  fame. 
And  the  long  honoom  of  a  lasting  name, 
Intrusts  his  happiness  to  human  kind, 
More  false,  mere  cruel,  than  the  seas  or  wind. 
••Toil  on,  dull  crowd,"  in  ecstasies  be  cries, 
"  For  wealth  or  title,  perishable  prize ; 
"  While  I  those  transitory  blessings  scorn, 
••  Secure  of  praise  from  ages  yet  unborn." 
This  thought  once  form'd,  all  counsel  comes  too  late, 
He  flies  to  press,  and  hurries  on  his  fate  ; 
Swiftly  he  sees  the  imagin'd  laurels  spread, 
And  feels  the  unfading  wreath  surround  his  head. 
Warn'd  by  another's  fate,  vain  youth,  be  wise ; 
Those  dreams  were  Settle's  once,  and  Ogilby's  : 
The  pamphlet  spreads,  incessant  hisses  rise, 
To  some  retreat  the  baffled  writer  flies  ; 
Where  no  sour  crmcks  snarl,  no  sneers  molest, 
Safe  from  the  tart  lampoon,  and  stinging  jest ; 
There  begs  of  Heaven  a  less  distinguish'd  lot, 
Glad  to  be  hid,  and  proud  to  be  forgot. 


EPILOGUE. 

RATS   BBSfT    BYOKRK  BY 


TO     FBRSOVATS     VMM 


IVTBMSD    TO 

LADY     WHO    WAS 
GHOST   OF  KXRMIOirX*. 

Tx  blooming  train,  who  give  despair  or  joy, 
Bless  with  a  smile,  or  with  a  frown  destroy  ; 
In  whose  fiur  cheeks  destructive  Cupids  wait, 
And  with  unerring  shafts  distribute  late ; 
Whose  snowy  breasts,  whose  animated  eyes, 
Each  youth  admires,  though  each  admhw  dies  ; 
Whilst  you  deride  their  pangs  in  barb'rous  play, 
Unpitying  see  them  weep,  and  hear  them  pray, 
And  unrelenting  sport  ten  thousand  lives  away; 
For  you,  ye  fair,  I  quit  the  gloomy  plains, 
Where  sable  night  in  all  her  honour  reigns; 
No  fragrant  bowers,  no  delightful  grades, 
Receive  the  unhappy  ghosts  of  scornful  maids. 
For  kind,  for  tender  nymphs  the  myrtle  blooms, 
And  weaves  her  bending  boughs  in  pleasing  glooms 
Perennial  roses  deck  each  purple  vale, 
And  scents  ambrosial  breathe  in  every  gale : 
Far  hence  are  banished  vapours,  spleen,  and  tears. 
Tea,  scandal,  ivory  teeth,  and  languid  airs : 
No  pug,  nor  favourite  Cupid  there  enjoys 
The  balmy  kiss,  for  which  poor  Thyrsis  dies ; 
Form'd  to  delight,  they  use  no  foreign  arms, 
Nor  tortusing  whalebones  pinch  them  into  charms ; 
No  conscious  blushes  there  their  cheeks  inflame. 
For  those  who  feel  no  guilt  can  know  no  shame ; 
Unfaded  still  their  former  charms  they  shew, 
Around  them  pleasures  wait,  and  joys  forever  new. 
But  cruel  virgins  meet  severer  fates ; 
ExpelTd  and  ezil'd  from  the  blissful  seats, 
To  dismal  realms,  and  regions  void  of  peace, 
Where  furies  ever  howl,  and  serpents  hiss. 
O'er  the  sad  plains  perpetual  tempests  sigh, 
And  poia'nous  vapours,  black'ning  all  the  sky. 
With  livid  hue  the  fairest  race  o'ercast, 
And  every  beauty  withers  at  the  blast : 
Where'er  they  fly  their  lovers"  ghosts  pursue, 
Inflicting  alt  those  ills  which  once  they  knew ; 
Vexation,  Fury,  Jealousy,  Despair, 
Vex  every  eye,  and  every  bosom  tear  ; 
Their  foul  deformities  by  all  descried, 
No  maid  to  flatter,  and  no  paint  to  hide. 
Then  melt,  ye  fair,  while  crowds  around  you  sigh, 
Nor  let  disdain  sit  low'ring  in  your  eye  ; 
With  pity  soften  every  awful  grace, 
And  beauty  smile  auspicious  in  each  face  ; 
To  ease  their  pains  exert  your  milder  power, 
So  shall  you  guiltless  reign,  and  all  mankind  1  " 


t  Mr.  Hsetor  Inform*  me,  tkat  tats  * 
Mare*****,  la  hb  prewnoe. 

I  This  He  Inserted,  with  many  alterations,  la  the  Gtn- 
KmM,i  Mofttxfns,  1749. 

Ho,  hewewr,  did  not  add  Ms  name.    See  GsnUtstanV 
JCsjasate,  vat.  ait.  p.  S7t— Ualoks. 


No.  n. 


[Translation  ( attributed  to  Mr.  Jack- 
eon,  of  Canterbury)  of  the  Ode  Ad  Ua- 
bahum,  substituted  as  shorter  and  better 
than  the  translation  by  an  anonymous  cor- 
respondent, given  by  Mr.  Boswsu* — re- 
f  erred  to  in  p.  43. 

Urban,  whom  neither  toil  profound 
Fatigues,  nor  calumnies  overthrow, 

The  wreath,  thy  learned  brows  around 
Still  grows,  and  will  for  ever  grow. 


young  lad 

Ototrswud 


at  Lichneld  hevflac  propessd  is 
act  "TaefMstmed  Mother,"  Johnson  wrote  thh,ead 
save  it  to  Mr.  Hector  to  convey  It  privately  to  thssa. 


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APPENDIX. 


593 


Of  livable*  no  caret  mjeflt, 

Of  what  they  threaten  or  prepare ; 
Blest  in  thyself,  thy  projects  bleat, 

Thy  home  still  let  the  muses  share. 
The  leaden  shafts  which  Folly  throws, 

In  silent  dignity  despise : 
Superior  o'er  opposing  foes, 

Thy  rigorous  diligence  shall  rise. 
Exert  thy  strength,  each  vain  design, 

Each  rival  soon  shalt  thou  disdain  ; 
Arise,  for  see,  thy  task  to  join, 

Approach  the  mases*  fav'ring  train. 
How  grateful  to  each  muse  the  page, 

Where  grave  with  sprightly  themes  are  join'd; 
And  useful  levities  engage, 

And  recreate  the  wearied  mind. 
Thus  the  pale  violet  to  the  rose 

Adds  beauty  'midst  the  garland's  dies  ; 
And  thus  the  changeful  rainbow  throws 

Us  various  splendours  o'er  the  skies.] 


No.  III. 
[Thb  following  complete  list  of  the  club 
(referred  to  in  p.  213),  with  the  dates  of 
the  elections  of  all  the  members,  and  of  the 
deaths  of  those  deceased,  from  its  founda- 
tion to  the  present  times,  and  the  observa- 
tions prefixed  and  annexed,  have  been  oblig- 
ingly furnished  to  the  editor  by  Mr.  Hatch- 
ett,  the  present  treasurer. 

Th«  Club  was  founded  in  1764,  by  Sir 
Reynolds  and  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  and 
lor  some  years  met  on  Monday  evenings.  In 
1772  the  day  of  meeting  was  changed  to  Friday; 
and  about  that  time,  instead  of  supping  they 
agreed  to  dine  together  once  in  every  fortnight 
daring  the  sitting  of  parliament. 

"  In  1778,  the  Club,  which  soon  after  its  foun- 
dation consisted  of  twelve  members,  was  enlarged 
to  twenty  ;  March  11, 1777,  to  twenty-six  ;  No- 
vember 87,  1778,  to  thirty ;  May  9,  1780,  to 
thirty-five ;  and  it  was  then  resolved  that  it  never 
should  exceed  forty. 

'« It  met  originally  at  the  TurkVhead,  in  Ger- 
rard-street,  and  continued  to  meet  there  till  1788, 
when  their  landlord  died,  and  the  house  was  soon 
afterwards  shut  up.  They  then  removed  to 
Prince's,  in  SackviUe-street ;  and  on  his  house 
being  soon  afterwards  shut  up,  they  removed  to 
Baxter's,  which  afterwards  became  Thomas's, 
in  Dover-street  In  January,  1792,  they  removed 
to  Pardee's,  in  St  James's-street ;  and,  on  Feb- 
ruary 86,  1799,  to  the  Thatcbed-house  in  the 
»  street 

•  From  the  original  foundation  to  this  time,  the 
total  number  of  members  is  one  hundred  and  two. 
Btto  perpetua.  "  C.  H. 

"Belle  fee  House,  dulses,  July  10,  1829." 

Orjfftu*  Member*.  Di*. 

1.— 17*4     .    .    .  flu*  Joshua  Reynolds      Feb.  23, 1782. 

*.— Dr.  Samuel  Johnson     Pee  13, 1784. 

«— Rt.  Hon.  Bdm.  Burke  July  8,  1797. 

4— Chrwt*  Nugent,  M.  D.Nov.  12, 1776. 

«v— Bonnet  Langtou,  Raq.  Dec  18,  l»i. 

sv— Topaam  Pssnclerck, 

Res,  sfsr.il,  1730. 


ONSasjMi 

7.—   •     »     . 


10.— 1764      .    . 
11—1765      .    . 

12.— 1765   . 
13.— 1768,  Mar. 
14.-1773,  Mar. 
15.— 1773,  Mar. 
16.-1773,  Apr.  2. 
17— 1773   .  . 


Mmktn. 
.  OUverGoldsmlthJf  D.  Apr.  4,  1174. 
.  Anthony  Cnantter, 

Ksq.  Oct  12, 1780. 

.6*  John  Hawkins, 

who  soon  withdrew  May  21,  1780. 


ftes .  14, 1771, 

Sep.  30,  1811. 
May  9,   1803. 

Aug.  14, 1784. 
Aug.  4,  1798. 
Jan.  20,  1778. 
Apr.  17, 1784. 


Bep.  13, 1806. 

Mar.  31,1821. 
May  27, 1802. 
Jan.  22, 1800. 
Jan.  26,  1784. 
July  17,  1780. 


26—1777,  Jan. 


31.— 1778,  Dec. 


Dr.  Thomas  Percy, 

Bishop  of  Dromore 
Sir  Robert  Chambers 
George  Cofanau,  Esq. 
Barf  of  Charlemont 
David  Garrlck,  Esq. 
Hr  William  Jones 
Agmondesham   Vesey, 
„  Esq.  Attg.  11, 1785. 

18.— 1773,  Apr.  30.  James  Boswell,  Esq.  May  18,  1785. 
19.-1774,  Fib.     .  Rt.  Hon.  Cham.  Jar 

Box 
20.—  .    .  Feb.     .  Sir  Charlei  Banbury, 

Bart. 
21*—  .    .  Feb.     .  Dr.  George  Fordyce 
22.—  .    .  Mar.  4.  George  Steevene,  Esq. 

23.— Edward  Gibbon,  Esq. 

24—1775,  Dec.     .  Adam  Smith,  Esq. 
25—  .....  Dr.  Thomas  Barnard. 

Bishop  of  limerick    July  7,1808. 
.  Rer.  Dr.  Joseph  War- 
ton  Feb.  23, 1800. 
.  Rkmard  Brtasasy  Bher. 

tdan,Esq.  inly   7,1816. 

.  Earl  of  Upper  Omory  Feb.   i,  1818. 
.  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Richard 
Marle}%  Bishop  of 
Waterford  July  2,1802. 

.John  Donning,  Lord 

Aahburton  Aug.  28, 1783. 

.Rt.  Hon.   8b-  Joseph 

Banks,  P.  R.  &  Jan.  18,  1820. 

.Rt.  Hon.  William 

Windham  Jan.  4,1880. 

S3-— Rt.  Hon.  Sir  William 

Scott,  Lord  Btowell 
34.—  .....  The  Earl  Spencer 
35— 1780,  Not.     .  Dr.  J.  Shipley,  Bishop 

of  St.  Asaph  Dec.  9,178s. 

36—1782,  Jan,  22.  Lord  EUot  Feb.  17, 1804. 

37—  .  .  Feb.  5.  Edmond  Melons,  Esq.  May  25, 1812. 
33—  .  .  Msr.  5.  Rev.  Thomas  Warton  May  2i,  1780. 
38.—  .  .  Apr.  2.  The  Earl  of  Locsa  Mar.  28, 1798. 
40—  .  .  Apr.  16.  Richard  Burke,  Esq.  Aug.  2, 1784. 
41—1784,  Feb.  10.  Sir  William  Hamilton  Apr.   6, 1803 

42—  .    .  Feb.     .  Viacount  Palmenton    Apr.  16, 1802. 

43—  .    .  Feb.  17.  Chas.  Barney,  Urn.  D.  Apr.  12,  1814. 

44—  .  .  Dec.  23.  Richard  Warren,  M.  D.  Jan.  22, 1797. 
44— 1786,  May  9.  The  Earl  of  Macartney  Mar.  31, 1806. 
46—1788,  Dec.  22.  John  Court  enay,  Esq.  Mar.  24,  i8if. 
47— 1782,  Mar.  27.  Dr.  J.  Hinchclifle, 

Bishop  of  Peterbor- 
ough Jan.  II,  1784. 

48—  .    .  May  8.    Duke  of  Leeds  Jan.  31, 1788. 

48—  .    .  May  22.  Dr.  John  Douglas, 

Bbdiop  of  Salisbury    May  18, 1807. 

50—1794,  Mar.  18.  Sir  Charles  Blegdea      Mar.  27. 1820. 

61—1785,  Jan,  22.  Major  Rennell 

52—  .    .  Feb.  3.   Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Far* 

mer  Bep.   8,1787. 

53—  .  .  Jon.  8.  The  Marquess  of  Bath  Nov.  20, 1796. 
54—1797,  Jan.  21.  Frederick  North,  Earl 

of  Guilford  Oct.  14, 1827. 

55—1788,  Feb.  12.  The  Rt.  Hon.  George 

Canning  Aug.   8,1827 

56—  .    .  Feb.  26.  William  fianden,  Esq. 
57—1800,  Feb.  4.   Rt.  Hon.  John  Hook- 
ham  Frere 
56—  .    .  Mar.  4.  Rt.  Hon,  Thomas 

Grenville 
58.—  .    .  Msr.  18.  Dr.  Vincent,  Dean  of 

Westminster  Dec  21, 1615. 

GO— 1800,  Jan.  10.  William  Lock,  Jr.  Esq. 
61—1801,  Msr.  17.  George  Ellis,  Esq.         Apr.  10, 1815. 
62— 1802,  Dec  7.   Gilbert  Lord  Minto       Jan.  24, 1814. 
63—  .    .  Dec  21.  Dr.  French  Lawrence  Feb.  27, 1808 
64—1803,  Jan.  25.  Rt.  Hon,  Sir  William 

Grant 
65—  .    •  Feb.  28.  Sir  George  Staunton, 

Bart. 
68—1604,  Msr.  20.  Dr.  8.  Henley,  Rfcaep 


67—1808,  Jan.  21.  Charles  Wflktos, 


of  St.  Asaph'  Oct  4,1808 


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5S4 


APPENDIX. 


—  .    .May  13. 


•  May  27. 

90.— 1808,  Mar.  82. 

71.—  .  .  May  3. 
7&—  .  .  May  31. 
78.-1808,  Feb.  SI. 
71—  .    .  Mar.  7. 

7&—  .    .  Mar.  21. 

78*— 1810,  Feb.  27. 

77.—1811,  Jon.  4. 
78.— 1613,  Mar.  2. 

79.—    .    Mar.  2. 
80*— 1814,  Jan.  7. 

81. .  JaL   19. 

82.—  .    .  Aag.  2. 

83*— 1813,  Feb.  21. 

84—  .  •  .  Apr.  4. 
85.— 1816,  Mar.  26. 

86.— 1817,  Apr.  & 

87.— 1818,  Jan.  27. 
88.—  .     .  Apr.  7. 

89—  .    .  Apr.  21. 
90.— 1820,  Jan.  25. 

91.— 

92.— 1821,  Mar.  20. 

89.— 1822,  Apr.  16. 

94.— 1823,  May  27. 

95.— 

96.— 1826,  Dec  12. 

9ft— 1828,  May  6. 

98—  .      May  20. 


Memtor*.  DUtL 

St.  Hon.  Sir  William 

Drummood  Mar.  29, 1828. 

Or  Henry  Hallbrd, 

Bart. 
Sir  H.  C.  Bngleneld, 

Bart.  Mar.  21, 1822. 

The  Lord  Holland 
The  Earl  of  Aberdeen 
Charles  Hatchett,  Esq. 
Rt.  Hon.   Charlei 

Vaoghan   . 
Sir  Humphrey   Davy, 

Bart.  May  29, 1829. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Charles 

Burney  Dec.  28, 1817. 

8lr  William  Gell 
Rt.  Hon.  William  E- 

Uot  Oct.  26, 1818. 

Richard  Heber,  Em. 
Thomas  Phillip*,  Eaq. 

R.  A. 
Rt.  Hon.  JBr  James 

Mackintosh 
Lord  Chief  Justice 

Oibbs  Feb.    8,  1820. 

The  Marquess  of  Lans- 


The  Lord  Lyttelton 
Dr.  William  Howley, 

Bishop  of  London* 
Roger  WUbraham, 

Esq.  Jan.    6,  1829. 

The  Lord  Glenbervie     May   2,  1829. 
Dr.   WUliam  Hyde 

Wollaston  Dee.  22, 1828. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart. 
The  Earl  of  Liverpool  Dec.   4, 1828. 
Charles  Butler,  Esq. 
Dr.  C.   J.    BJomfleld, 

Bishop  of  London 
Rt.  Hon.  W.C.  Plun- 
ket, Lord  Plunket 
Francis  Chantrey,  Esq. 

R.  A. 
Henry  Hallam,  Esq. 
Sir  Thomas  Lawrence, 

P.  R.  A. 
Ueut.-CoJ.  W.  M. 

Leake 
Thomas  Toons;,  M.  D.  May  10, 1829. 
*******  -    Buck- 


Rev.   WUliam 

land,  D.  D. 
100.— 1829,  Apr.  7.  J.  N.  Fasakerley,  Esq. 
101*— Dr.  Edward  Copleston, 

Bishop  ofLIandaJT 
102— 1829,  May  19.  Davies  Gilbert,  Esq. 

P«  R.  0* 

THE  CLUB,  as  it  stood,  10th  JULY,  1829. 

The  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  P.  8.  A. 

Rev.  Dr.  Buckland. 

Charles  Butter,  Esq. 

Francis  Chantrey,  Esq. 

J.  N.  Fasakerley,  Esq. 

The  Rt.  Bon.  John  Hookham  Frere. 

Sir  WUliam  Gall. 

Davies  Gilbert,  Esq.,  P.  R.  & 

Rt.  Hon.  Sir  William  Grant. 

Rt.  Hon.  Thomas  Grenvtlle. 

Sir  Henry  Halferd,  Bait. 

Henry  Hallam,  Esq. 

Charles  Hatchett.  Esq. 

Richard  Heber,  Esq. 

Lord  Holland. 

The  Bishop  of  LlandaJT  (Dr.  Copleston). 

The  Marquis  of  Lansdowne. 

Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  P.  R.  A. 

Lieut.  Col.  Leake. 

WUliam  Lock,  Esq. 

The  Bishop  of  London  (Dr.  C.J.  Blomfield.) 

Lord  Lyttelton. 

Rt.  Hon.  Sir  James  Mackintosh. 

William  Marsden. 

Thomas  Phillips,  Esq.  R.  A. 

Lord  Plunket 

Major  Rennell. 


*  Dr.  WUUam  Howley  withdrew  from  the  dob  on  be- 
eominf  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Feb.  1 829.      _ 


Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart. 

The  Earl  Spencer. 

Sir  George  Staunton,  Bart. 

Lord  Stowell  (senior  member  of  the  Chris}. 

The  Rt.  Hon.  Charles  vaoghan. 

Charles  Wilkins,  Esq. 

At  the  meetings  of  the  club  the  chair  is  taken 
in  rotation  by  the  members,  according  to  nHe  aW 
phabetical  arrangement  of  their  names ;  the  onr/ 
permanent  officer  being  the  treasurer. 

Mr.  Malone  was  the  first  treasurer  ;  and  upon 
his  decease,  in  1812,  Sir  Henry  Charles  En§0e- 
field  was  elected  to  that  office,  which,  however, 
on  account  of  weakness  of  sight,  he  resigned  in 
1814  ;  when  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Burney  was 
chosen,  and  continued  to  be  treasurer  until  his 
death,  which  took  place  in  December,  1817; 
and  on  the  10th  of  March,  1818,  Mr.  Hatchett, 
the  present  treasurer,  was  elected.] 


No.  IV. 

[Letter  from  Dr.  Johnson  to  Mr.  (now 
Sir  Francis)  Barnard,  librarian  to  the  King, 
when  employed  on  a  mission  to  the  conti- 
nent for  increasing  his  Majesty's  library, — 
referred  to  in  page  339.] 

"  Sir, — It  is  natural  for  a  scholar  to  interest 
himself  in  an  expedition,  undertaken,  like  yours, 
for  the  importation  of  literature ;  and  therefore, 
though,  having  never  travelled  myself,  I  am  very 
little  qualified  to  give  advice  to  a  traveller,  yet, 
that  I  may  not  seem  inattentive  to  a  design  so 
worthy  of  regard,  I  will  try  whether  the  present 
state  of  my  health  will  suffer  me  to  lay  before  yon 
what  observation  or  report  have  suggested  to  me, 
that  may  direct  your  inquiries,  or  facilitate  year 
success.  Things  of  which  the  mere  rarity  makes 
the  value,  and  which  are  prized  at  a  high  rate  by 
a  wantonness  rather  than  by  use,  are  always  pass- 
ing from  poorer  to  richer  countries,  and  therefore, 
though  Germany  and  Italy  were  principally  pro- 
ductive of  typographical  curiosities,  I  do  not  mack 
imagine,  that  they  are  now  to  be  found  there  in 
great  abundance.  An  eagerness  for  scarce  books 
and  early  editions,  which  prevailed  among  the 
English  about  half  a  century  ago,  filled  onr  shops 
with  all  the  splendour  and  nicety  of  literature,  and 
when  the  Harleian.  Catalogue  was  published,  many 
of  the  books  were  bought  for  the  library  of  the 
King  of  France. 

"  I  believe,  however,  that  by  the  diligence  with 
which  you  have  enlarged  the  library  under  year 
care,  the  present  stock  is  so  nearly  exhausted,  that 
till  new  purchases  supply  the  booksellers  with  new 
stores,  you  will  not  be  able  to  do  much  more  than 
glean  up  single  books,  as  accident  shall  predate 
them  ;  this,  therefore,  is  the  time  for  visiting  ths 
continent 

"  What  addition  yon  can  hope  to  make  by  ran- 
sacking other  countries  we  will  now  consider. 
English  literature  you  wnl  not  seek  in  any  pises 
but  in  England.  Classical  learning  is  diffused  ev- 
ery where,  and  is  not,  except  by  accident,  soars 
copious  in  one  part  of  the  polite  world  than  in  an- 
other. But  every  country  has  literature  of  ill 
own,  which  may  be  best  gathered  in  its  native 
soil.    The  studies  of  the  learned  are  infloeuued 


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APPENDIX. 


by  forms  of  government  and  modes  of  religion, 
end,  therefore,  those  books  are  necessary  and 
common  in  some  places,  which,  where  different 
opinions  or  different  manners  prevail,  are  of  little 
ase,  and  for  that  reason  rarely  to  be  found. 

"  Thus  in  Italy  you  may  expect  to  meet  with 
ajanonisl*  and  scholastic  divines,  in  Germany  with 
writers  on  the  feudal  laws,  and  in  Holland  with 
civilians.  The  schoolmen  and  canonists  must  not 
be  neglected,  for  they  are  useful  to  many  purposes, 
nor  too  anxiously  sought,  for  their  influence  among 
us  is  much  lessened  by  the  reformation.  Of  the 
canonists  at  least  a  few  eminent  writers  may  be 
sufficient.  The  schoolmen  are  of  more  general 
value.  But  the  feudal  and  civil  law  I  cannot  but 
wish  to  see  complete.  The  feudal  constitution 
is  the  original  of  the  law  of  property,  over  all  the 
civilized  part  of  Europe  ;  and  vie  civil  law,  as  it 
is  generally  understood  to  include  the  law  of  na- 
tions, may  be  called  with  great  propriety  a  regal 
study.  Of  these  books,  which  have  been  often 
published,  and  diversified  by  various  modes  of  im- 
pression, a  royal  library  should  have  at  least  the 
most  curious  edition,  the  most  splendid,  and  the 
most*  useful.  The  most  curious  edition  is  com- 
monly the  6ist,  and  the  most  useful  may  be  ex- 
pected among  the  last  Thus  of  Tally's  Offices, 
the  edition  of  Fust  is  the  most  curious,  and  that 
of  Gnevius  the  most  useful.  The  most  splendid 
the  eye  will  discern.  With  the  old  printers  you 
are  now  become  well  acquainted ;  if  you  can  find 
any  collection  of  their  productions  to  be  sold,  you 
will  undoubtedly  buy  it ;  but  this  can  scarcely  be 
hoped,  and  you  must  catch  up  single  volumes 
where  you  can  find  them.  In  every  place  things 
often  occur  where  they  are  least  expected.  I  was 
shown  a  Welsh  grammar  written  in  Welsh,  and 
printed  at  Milan,  I  believe,  before  any  grammar 
of  that  language  had  been  printed  here.  Of  pur- 
chasing entire  libraries,  I  know  .not  whether  the 
inconvenience  may  not  overbalance  the  advantage. 
Of  libraries  collected  with  general  views,  one  will 
have  many  books  in  common  with  another. 
When  you  have  bought  two  collections,  you  will 
find  that  you  have  bought  many  books  twice  over, 
and  many  in  each  which  yon  have  left  at  home, 
and,  therefore,  did  not  want ;  and  when  you  have 
selected  a  small  number,  you  will  have  the  rest 
to  sell  at  a  great  loss,  or  to  transport  hither  at  per- 
haps a  greater,  it  will  generally  be  more  com- 
modious to  buy  the  few  mat  you  want,  at  a  price 
somewhat  advanced,  than  to  encumber  yourself 
with  useless  books.  But  libraries  collected  for 
particular  studies  will  be  very  valuable  acquisi- 
tions. The  collection  of  an  eminent  civilian,  four 
dist,  or  mathematician,  will  perhaps  have  vary 
lew  superfluities.  Topography  or  local  history 
prevails  much  in  many  parts  of  the  continent  I 
Lave  been  told  that  scarcely  a  village  of  Italy 
wants  its  historian.  These  books  may  be  gen- 
erally neglected,  but  some  will  deserve  attention 
by  the  celebrity  of  the  place,  the  eminence  of  the 
authors,  or  the  beauty  of  the  sculptures.  Sculp- 
ture has  always  been  more  cultivated  among  other 
nations  than  among  us.  The  old  art  of  cutting 
on  wood,  which  decorated  the  books  of  ancient 
impression,  was  never  carried  here  to  any  excel- 
lence ;  and  the  practice  of  engraving  on  copper, 
which  succeeded,  has  never  been  much  employed 


among  us  in  adorning  books.  The  old  books  with 
wooden  cuts  are  to  be  diligently  sought ;  the  de- 
signs were  often  made  by  great  masters,  and  the 
prints  are  such  as  cannot  be  made  by  any  artist, 
now  living.  It  will  be  of  great  use  to  collect  in 
every  place  maps  of  the  adjacent  country,  and 
plans  of  towns,  buildings,  and  gardens.  By  this 
care  you  will  form  a  more  valuable  body  of  ge- 
ography than  can  otherwise  be  had.  Many  coun- 
tries have  been  very  exactly  surveyed,  but  it  must 
not  be  expected  that  the  exactness  of  actual  men- 
suration will  be  preserved,  when  the  maps  are  re- 
duced by  a  contracted  scale,  and  incorporated  into 
a  general  system. 

"  The  king  of  Sardinia's  Italian  dominions  are 
not  huge,  yet  the  maps  made  of  them  in  the  reign 
of  Victor  fiH  two  Atlantic  folios.  This  part  of 
your  design  will  deserve  particular  regard,  because, 
in  this,  your  success  will  always  be  proportionate 
to  your  diligence.  You  are  too  well  acquainted 
with  literary  history  not  to  know,  that  many  books 
derive  their  value  from  the  reputation  of  the  prin- 
ters. Of  the  Celebrated  printers  you  do  not  need 
to  be  informed,  and  if  you  did,  might  consult 
Baillet  Jugemens  des  S^avans.  The  productions 
of  Aldus  are  enumerated  in  the  Bibliotheca  Gneca, 
so  that  you  may  know  when  you  have  them  all ; 
which  is  always  of  use,  as  it  prevents  needles 
search.  The  great  ornaments  of  a  library,  fur- 
nished for  magnificence  as  well. as  use,  are  the  first 
editions,  of  which,  therefore,  I  would  not  willingly 
neglect  the  mention*  You  know,  sir,  that  the 
annals  of  typography  begin  with  the  Codex,  1457 ; 
but  there  is  great  reason  to  believe,  that  there  are 
latent,  in  obscure  comers,  books  printed  before  it 
The  secular  feast,  in  memory  of  the  invention  of 
printing,  is  celebrated  in  the  fortieth  year  of  the 
century  ;  if  this  tradition,  therefore,  is  right,  the 
art  bad  in  1457  been  already  exercised  nineteen 
years. 

"  There  prevails  among  typographical  antiqua- 
ries a  vague  opinion,  that  the  Bible  had  been  print- 
ed three  times  before  the  edition  of  1462,  which 
Calmet  calls  'La premiere  edition  bien  averee.' 
One  of  these  editions  has  been  lately  discovered 
in  a  convent,  and  transplanted  into  the  French 
long's  library.  Another  copy  has  likewise  been 
found,  but  I  know  not  whether  of  the  same  im- 
pression, or  another.  These  discoveries  are  suf- 
ficient to  raise  hope  and  instigate  inquiry.  In  the 
purchase  of  old  books,  let  me  recommend  to  you 
to  inquire  with  great  caution,  whether  they  are 
perfect  In  the  first  edition  the  loss  of  a  leaf  is 
not  easily  observed.  You  remember  how  near 
we  both  were  to  purchasing  a  mutilated  Missal  at 
a  high  price. 

'*  All  this  perhaps  you  know  already,  and,  there- 
fore, my  letter  may  be  of  no  use.  I  am,  howev- 
er, desirous  to  show  you,  that  I  wish  prosperity  to 
your  undertaking.  One  advice  more  I  will  give, 
of  more  importance  than  all  the  rest,  of  which  I, 
therefore,  hope  you  will  have  still  less  need.  You 
ase  going  into  a  part  of  the  world  divided,  as  it  is 
said,  between  bigotry  and  atheism :  such  repre- 
sentations are  always  hyperbolical,  but  there  is 
certainly  enough  of  both  to  alarm  any  mind  so- 
licitous for  piety  and  truth  ;  let  not  the  contempt 
of  superstition  precipitate  you  into  infidelity,  or 
the  horror  of  infidelity  ensnare  yon  in  npersnV 


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088 


APPENDIX. 


■■^■wr* 


tioa1'— I  ssnetrely  wish  jm  i 
for  I  am,  sir,  your  affectionate  I 

"To  FA.  Barnard,  Esq." 


No.  V. 

[Aigcmxht  in  behalf  of  Hastie,  the 
schoolmaster,  prosecuted  for  undue  sever- 
ity y—refemd  to  (tub  11th  April,  1772) 
p.  296. J 

"  The  chaise  «,  that  he  has  used  immoderate 
and  creel  correction.    Correctton  in  itself  is  not 


.  children,  being  not  reasonable,  can  be  gov- 
emed  only  by  fear.  To  impress  this  fear  is,  there- 
fore, one  of  the  first  duties  of  those  who  hate  the 
care  of  children.  It  is  the  duty  of  a  parent;  and 
has  never  been  thought  inconsistent  with  parental 
tenderness.  It  is  the  doty  of  a  master,  who  is  in 
his  highest  exaltation  when  he  is  loco  parentis. 
Yet,  as  good  things  become  evil  by  excess,  cor- 
rection, by  being  immoderate,  may  become  creel. 
Bat  when  is  correction  immoderate  ?  When  it  m 
more  frequent  or  mere  severe  than  is  required  ad 
monendum  et  doemdum,  for  reformation  and  in- 
straetion.  No  severity  is  creel  which  obstinacy 
makes  necessary;  for  the  greatest  cruelty  would 
be,  to  desalt,  and  leave  the  scholar  too  careless  for 
instruction,  and  too  much  hardened  for  reproof 
Locke,  in  his  treatise  of  education,  mentions  a 
mother,  with  applause,  who  whipped  an  infant 
eight  times  before  she  subdued  it;  for  had  she 
stopped  at  the  seventh  act  of  correction,  her  daugh- 
ter, says  he,  would  have  been  ruined.  The  de- 
grees of  obstinacy  in  young  minds  are  very  differ- 
ent: an  different  must  be  the  degrees  of  persever- 
ing severity.  A  stubborn  scholar  must  be  correct- 
ed till  he  is  subdued.  The  discipline  of  a  school 
■  military.  There  must  be  either  unbounded  li- 
cence or  absolute  authority.  The  master,  who 
punishes,  not  only  consults  the  future  happiness 
of  him  who  is  the  immediate  subject  of  correction, 
but  he  propagates  obedience  through  the  whole 
school;  and  establishes  regularity  by  exemplary 
justice.  The  victorious  obstinacy  of  a  single  hoy 
would  make  his  future  endeavours  of  reformation 
or  instruction  totally  ineffectual.  Obstinacy  .there- 
fore, must  never  be  victorious.  Yet,  it  is  well 
known,  that  there  sometimes  occurs  a  sullen  and 
hardy  resolution,  that  laughs  at  all  common  pun- 
ishment, and  bids  defiance  to  all  common  degrees 
of  pain.  Correction  must  be  proportionate  to  oc^ 
cssions.  The  flexible  will  be  reformed  by  gentle 
discipline,  and  the  refractory  must  be  subdued  by 
harsher  methods.  The  degrees  of  scholastic,  as 
of  military  punishment,  no  stated  rules  can  ascer- 
It  must  be  enforced  till  it  overpowers  temp- 
till  stubbornness  becomes  flexible,  and 
ness  regular.  Custom  and  reason  have, 
set  some  bounds  to  scholastic  penalties. 
The  schoolmaster  inflicts  no  capital  punishments; 


his  edicts  by  either  death  or 
The  civil  law  has  wisely  detenus 
tor  who  strikes  at  a  scholar's  eye 


Pes  sale,  p.  97,9s,  n.— Ed.] 


considered  as  criminal.  But  punishments,  how* 
ever  severe,  that  produce  no  lasting  evil,  may  be 
just  and  reasonable,  because  they  may  be  neces- 
sary. Such  have  been  the  punishments  used  by 
the  respondent.  No  scholar  has  gone  from  him 
either  blind  or  lame,  or  with  any  of  his  limbs  or 
powers  injured  or  impaired.  They  were  irregular, 
and  he  punished  them :  they  were  obstinate,  and 
he  enforced  his  punishment.  But  however  pro- 
voked, he  never  exceeded  the  limits  of  modera- 
tion, for  he  inflicted  nothing  beyond  present  pain: 
and  how  much  of  that  was  required,  no  man 
is  so  little  able  to  determine  ss  those  who  have 
determined  against  him — the  parents  of  the  offen- 
ders. It  has  been  said,  that  he  used  unprecedented 
and  improper  instruments  of  correction.  Of  this 
accusation  the  meaning  is  not  very  easy  to  be 
found.  No  instrument  of  correction  is  more  pro- 
per than  another,  but  as  it  m  better  adapted  to  pro- 
duce present  pain  without  lasting  mischief  What- 
ever were  his  instruments,  no  lasting  mischief  has 
ensued;  and  therefore,  however  unusual, in  hands 
so  cautious  they  were  proper.  It  has  been  ob- 
jected, that  the  respondent  admits  the  charge  of 
cruelty  by  producing  no  evidence  to  confide  it 
Let  it  he  considered,  that  his  schohus  are  either 
dispersed  at  large  in  the  world,  or  continue  to  in- 
habit the  place  in  which  they  were  bred.  Thorn 
who  are  dispersed  cannot  be  found;  those  who 
remain  are  the  sons  of  bis  prosecutors,  and  are  not 
likely  to  support  a  man  to  whom  their  fathers  are 
enemies.  If  it  be  supposed  that  the  enmity  of  their 
fathers  proves  the  justness  of  the  charge,  k  must 
be  considered  how  often  experience  shows  us,  that 
men  who  are  angry  on  one  ground  will  accuse  on 
another;  with  how  litde  kindness,  in  a  town  of 
low  trade,  a  man. who  lives  by  learning  is  regard- 
ed; and  how  implicitly,  where  the  inhabitants  am 
not  very  rich,  a  rich  man  is  hearkened  to  and  fol- 
lowed. In  a  place  like  Campbell-town,  it  is  easy 
for  one  of  the  principal  inhabitants  to  make  n 
party.  It  is  easy  for  that  parry  to  he*  themselves 
with  imaginary  grievances.  It  is  easy  for  diem 
to  oppress  a  man  poorer  than  themselves ;  and 
natural  to  assert  the  dignity  of  riches,  by  persist- 
ing  in  oppression.  The  argument  which  attempts 
to  prove  the  impropriety  of  restoring  mm  to  the 
school,  by  alleging  that  he  has  lost  the  confidence 
of  the  people,  is  not  the  subject  of  juridical  con- 
sideration; for  he  is  to  suffer,  if  he  must  suffer, 
not  for  their  judgment,  but  for  his  own  actions. 
It  may  be  convenient  for  them  to  have  another 
master;  but  it  is  a  convenience  of  their  own  mak- 
ing. It  would  be  likewise  convenient  for  him  to 
find  another  school;  but  this  convenience  he  can- 
not obtain.  The  question  is  not  what  is  now  con- 
venient, but  what  ■  generally  right  If  the  peo- 
ple of  Campbell-town  be  distressed  by  the  restora- 
tion of  the  respondent,  they  are  distressed  only 
by  their  own  fault;  by  turbulent  passions  and  un- 
reasonable desires;  by  tyranny,  which  law  has. 
defeated,  and  by  malice,  which  virtue  has  sur* 
mounted." 


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APPENDIX. 


637 


No.  VI. 


[Argument,  by  Or.  Johnson,  in  favour 
of  the  Scottish  law  doctrine  of"  Vicious  In- 
tromission,"— referred  to  (sub  9th  May, 
1772),  p.  300.] 

"  This,  we  are  told,  is  a  law  which  has  its  force 
only  from  the  long  practice  of  the  court;  and  may, 
therefore,  be  suspended  or  modified  as  the  court 
•ball  think  proper. 

"  Concerning  the'  power  of  the  court  to  make 
or  to  suspend  a  law,  we  have  no  intention  to  in- 
quire. It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  that  every 
just  law  id  dictated  by  reason  ;  and  that  the  prac- 
tice of  every  legal  court  is  regulated  by  equity. 
It  is  the  quality  of  reason  to  be  invariable  and  con- 
stant; and  of  equity,  to  give  to  one  man  what,  in 
the  same  case,  is  given  to  another.  The  advan- 
tage which  humanity  derives  from  law  is  this ; 
that  the  law  gives  every  man  a  rule  of  action,  and 
prescribes  a  mode  of  conduct  which  shall  entitle 
bim  to  the  support  jand  protection  of  society. 
That  the  law  may  be  a  rule  of  action,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  it  be  known;  it  m  necessary  that  it  be 
permanent  and  stable.  The  law  is  die  measure 
of  civil  right;  but  if  the  measure  be  changeable, 
the  extent  of  the  thing  measured  never  can  be 
settled. 

"  To  permit  a  law  to  be  modified  at  discretion, 
is  to  leave  the  community  without  law.  It  is  to 
withdraw  the  direction  of  that  publick  wisdom, 
by  which  the  deficiencies  of  private  understanding 
are  to  be  supplied.  It  is  to  suffer  the  rash  and 
ignorant  to  act  at  discretion,  and  then  to  depend 
for  the  legality  of  that  action  on  the  sentence  of 
the  judge.  He  that  is  thus  governed  lives  not  by 
law,  but  by  opinion:  not  by  a  certain  rule  to 
which  he  can  apply  his  intention  before  ho  nets, 
but  by  an  uncertain  and  variable  opinion,  which 
he  can  never  know  but  after  he  has  committed 
the  act  on  which  that  opinion  shall  be  passed. 
lie  lives  by  a  law  (if  a  law  it  be),  which  he  can 
never  know  before  he  has  offended  it.  To  this 
case  may  be  justly  applied  that  important  princi- 
ple, mi* tr a  est  servitus  ubi  jus  est  out  incog" 
nitum  out  nagum.  If  intromission  be  not  crim- 
inal till  it  exceeds  a  certain  point,  and  that  point 
be  unsettled,  and  consequently  different  in  diffcreot 
minds,  the  right  of  intromission,  and  the  right  of 
the  creditor  arising  from  it,  are  all  jura  vaga, 
and,  by  consequence,  are  jura  incognita ;  and 
the  result  can  be  no  other  than  a  misera  seroitus, 
an  uncertainty  concerning  the  event  of  action,  a 
servile  dependence  on  private  opinion.  * 

"  It  may  be  urged,  and  with  great  plausibility, 
that  there  may  be  intromission  without  fraud; 
which,  however  true,  will  by  no  means  justify  an 
occasional  and  arbitrary  relaxation  of  the  law. 
The  end  of  law  is  protection  as  well  as  vengeance. 
Indeed,  vengeance  is  never  used  but  to  strengthen 
protection.  That  society  only  is  well  governed, 
where  life  is  freed  from  danger,  and  from  suspi- 
cion ;  where  possession  is  so  sheltered  by  salutary 
prohibitions,  that  violation  is  prevented  more  fre- 
quently than  punished.  Such  a  prohibition  was 
this,  while  it  operated  with  its  original  force. 
The  creditor  of  the  deceased  was  not  only  with- 
out loss,  but  without  fear.    lie  was  not  to  seek 

vol.   i.  68 


a  remedy  for  an  injury  suffered  ;  for  injury  was 
warded  off. 

"  As  the  law  has  been  sometimes  administered, 
it  lays  us  open  to  woun-'h,  because  it  is  imagined 
to  have  the  power  of  healing.  To  punish  fraud 
when  it  is  detected  is  the  proper  art  of  vindictive 
justice  ;  but  to  prevent  frauds,  and  make  punish- 
ment unnecessary,,  is  the  great  employment  of 
legislative  wisdom.  To  permit  intromission,  and 
to  punish  fraud,  is  to  make  law  no  better  than  a 
pitfall.  To  tread  upon  the  brink  is  safe;  but  to 
come  a  step  further  is  destruction.  But,  surely, 
it  is  better  to  enclose  the  gulf,  and  hinder  all  ac- 
cess, than  by  encouraging  u*  to  advance  a  little, 
to  entice  us  afterwards  a  little  further,  and  let  us 
perceive  our  folly  enly  by  our  destruction. 

"  As  law  supplies  the  weak  with  adventitious 
strength,  it  likewise  enlightens  the  ignorant  with 
extrinsick  understanding.  Law  teaches  us  to  know 
when  we  commit  injury  and  when  we  suffer  it 
It  fixes  certain  marks  upon  actions,  by  which  we 
are  admonished  to  do  or  to  forbear  them.  Qui 
sibi  bene  temperat  in  licitis,  says  one  of  the  fa- 
thers, nunquam  cadet  in  illieita.  He  who  never 
intromits  at  all,  will  never  intromit  with  fraudulent 
intentions. 

"  The  relaxation  of  the  law  against  vicious  in- 
tromission has  been  yery  favourably  represented 
by  a  great  master  of  jurisprudence ',  whose  words 
have  been  exhibited  with  unnecessary  pomp,  and 
seem  to  be  considered  as  irresistibly  decisive. 
The  great  moment  of  his  authority  makes  it  ne- 
cessary to  examine  his  position.  *  Some  ages  ago 
(says  he),  before  the  ferocity  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  part  of  the  island  was  subdued,  the  utmost 
severity  of  the  civil  law  was  necessary,  to  restrain 
individuals  from  plundering  each  other.  Thus, 
the  man  who  intermeddled  irregularly  with  the 
moveables  of  a  person  deceased  was  subjected  to 
all  the  debts  of  the  deceased  without  limitation. 
This  makes  a  branch  of  the  law  of  Scotland,  known 
by  the  name  of  vicious  intromission ;  and  so  rig- 
idly was  this  regulation  applied  in  our  courts  of 
law,  that  the  most  trifling  moveable  abstracted 
mala  fide,  subjected  the  intermeddler  to  the  fore- 
going consequences,  which  proved  in  many  in- 
stances a  most  rigorous  punishment.  But  this  se- 
verity was  necessary,  in  order  to  subdue  the  un- 
disciplined nature  of  our  people.  It  is  extremely 
remarkable,  that  in  proportion  to  our  improvement 
in  manners,  this  regulation  has  been  gradually 
softened  and  applied  by  our  sovereign'  court  with 
a  sparing  hand.' 

"  1  find  myself  under  a  necessity  of  observing, 
that  this  learned  and  judicious  writer  has  not  ac- 
curately distinguished  the  deficiencies  and  demands 
of  the  different  conditions  of  human  life,  which, 
from  a  degree  of  savageness  and  independence,  in 
which  all  laws  are  vain,  passes  or  may  pass,  by 
innumerable  gradations,  to  a  state  of  reciprocal 
benignity,  in  which  laws  shall  be  no  longer  ne- 
cessary. Men  are  first  wild  and  unsocial,  living 
each  man  to  himself,  taking  from  the  weak  and 
losing  to  the  strong.  In  their  first  coalitions  of 
society,  much  of  this  original  savageness  »  retain- 


i  Lord  Karnes,  la  his  "Historical  Lam  Tracts  J*— 
Boswbll 


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APPENDIX. 


ed<  Of  general  happiness,  the  product  of  general 
confidence,  there  is  yet  no  thought  Men  continue 
to  prosecute  their  own  advantages  by  the  nearest 
way;  and  the  utmost  severity  of  the  civil  law  is 
necessary  to  restrain  individuals  from  plundering 
each  other.  The  restraints  then  necessary  are  re- 
straints from  plunder,  from  acts  of  public  violence, 
and  undisguised  oppression.  The  ferocity  of  our 
ancestors,  as  of  all  other  nations,  produced  not 
fraud,  but  rapine.  They  had  not  yet  learned  to 
cheat,  and  attempted  only  to  rob.  As  manners 
grow  more  polished,  with  the  knowledge  of  good, 
men  attain  likewise  dexterity  in  evil.  Open  rapine 
becomes  less  frequent,  and  violence  gives  way  to 
cunning.  Those  who  before  invaded  pastures  and 
stormed  houses,  now  begin  to  enrich  themselves 
by  unequal  contracts  and  fraudulent  intromissions. 
It  is  not  against  the  violence  of  ferocity,  but  the 
circumventions  of  deceit,  that  this  law  was  framed; 
and  I  am  afraid  the  increase  of  commerce,  and 
the  incessant  struggle  for  riches  which  commerce 
excites,  gives  us  no  prospect  of  an  end  speedily  to 
be  expected  of  artifice  and  fraud.  It  therefore 
seems  to  be  no  very  conclusive  reasoning,  which 
connects  those  two  propositions  : — '  the  nation  is 
become  less  ferocious,  and  therefore  the  laws 
against  fraud  and  centn  shall  be  relaxed.'    . 

"  Whatever  reason  may  have  influenced  the 
judges  to  a  relaxation  of  the  law,  it  was  not  that 
the  nation  was  grown  less  fierce;  and,  I  am  afraid, 
it  cannot  be  affirmed,  that  it  is  grown  less  fraudu- 
lent 

"  Since  this  law  has  been  represented  as  rigor- 
ously and  unreasonably  penal,  it  seems  not  im- 
proper to  consider  what  are  the  conditions  and 
qualities  that  make  the  justice  or  propriety  of  a 
penal  law. 

"  To  make  a  penal  law  reasonable  and  just, 
two  conditions  are  necessary,  and  two  proper.  It 
is  necessary  that  the  law  should  be  adequate  to 
its  end;  that,  if  it  be  observed,  it  shall  prevent 
the  evil  against  which  it  is  directed.  It  is,  sec- 
ondly, necessary  that  the  end  of  the  law  be  of 
such  importance  as  to  deserve  the  security  of  a 
penal  sanction.  The  other  conditions  of  a  penal 
law,  which,  though  not  absolutely  necessary,  are 
to  a  very  high  degree  fit,  are,  that  to  the  moral 
violation  of  the  law  there  are  many  temptations, 
and  that  of  the  physical  observance  there  is  great 
facility. 

••  All  these  conditions  apparently  concur  to  jus- 
tify the  law  which  we  are  now  considering.  Its 
end  is  the  security  of  property;  and  property  very 
often  of  great  value.  The  method  hy.  which  it 
effects  the  security  is  efficacious,  because  it  admits, 
in  its  original  rigour,  no  gradations  of  injury;  but 
keeps  guilt  and  innocence  apart,  by  a  distinct  and 
definite  limitation.  He  that  intromits,  is  criminal; 
be  that  intromits  not,  is  innocent  Of  the  two 
secondary  considerations  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
both  are  in  our  favour.  The  temptation  to  in- 
tromit is  frequent  and  strong;  so  strong  and  so 
frequent,  as  to  require  the  utmost  activity  of  jus- 
tice, and  vigilance  of  caution,  to  withstand  its 
prevalence;  and  the  method  by  which  a  man  may 
entitle  bimself  to  legal  intromission  is  so  open  and 
so  facile,  that  to  neglect  it  is  a  proof  of  fraudulent 
intention;  for  why  should  a  man  omit  to  do  (but 
lor  reasons  which  he  will  not  confess)  that  which 


he  can  do  so  easily,  and  that  which  he  knows  to 
be  required  hy  the  law  ?  If  temptation  were  rare, 
a  penal  law  might  be  deemed  unnecessary.  If 
the  duty  enjoined  by  the  law  were  of  difficult  ptr- 
fbrmance,  omission,  though  it  could  not  be  justi- 
fied, might  be  pitied.  But  in  the  present  case 
neither  equity  nor  compassion  operate  against  it 
A  useful,  a  necessary  law  is  broken,  not  only 
without  a  reasonable  motive,  but  with  all  the  in- 
ducements to  obedience  that  can  be  derived  from 
safety  and  facility. 

"  1  therefore  return  to  my  original  position,  that 
a*  law,  to  have  its  effects,  must  be  permanent  and 
stable.  It  may  be  said  in  the  language  of  the 
schools,  Lex  nan  reeipii  majus  et  minus, —  we 
may  have  a  law,  or  we  may  have  no  law,  but  we 
cannot  have  half  a  law  We  must  either  have  a 
rule  of  action,  or  be  permitted  to  act  by  discre- 
tion and  by  chance.  Deviations  from  the  lav 
must  be  uniformly  punished,  or  no  man -can  be 
certain  when  he  shall  be  safe. 

"  That  from  the  rigour  of  the  original  institu- 
tion this  court  has  sometimes  departed  cannot  be 
denied.  But,  as  it  is  evident  that  snch  deviations, 
as  they  make  law  uncertain,  make  life  unsafe,  I 
hope,  that  of  departing  from  it  there  will  now  be 
an  end;  that  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors  will  be 
treated  with  due  reverence;  and  that  consistent 
and  steady  decisions  will,  furnish  the  people  with 
a  rule  of  action,  and  leave  fraud  and  fraudulent 
intromissions  no  future  hope  of  impunity  or  es- 
cape. ' " 


No.  VII. 

[Argument  by  Dr.  Johnson  in  defence 
of  lay  patronage, — referred  to  (sub  1st 
May,  1773),/i.  316.] 

"  Against  the  right  of  natrons  is  commonly  op- 
posed, by  the  inferior  judicatures,  the  plea  of  con- 
science. Their  conscience  tells  them  that  the 
people  ought  to  choose  their  pastor ;  their  con- 
science tells  them  that  they  ought  not  to  impose 
upon  a  congregation  a  minister  ungrateful  and  un- 
acceptable to  his  auditors.  Conscience  is  nothing 
more  than  a  conviction  felt  by  ourselves  of  some- 
thing to  be  done,  or  something  to  be  avoided ;  and 
in  questions  of  simple  un perplexed  morality,  con- 
science is  very  often  a  guide  that  may  be  trusted. 
But  before  conscience  can  determine,  the  stale  of 
the  question  is  supposed  to  be  completely  known. 
In  questions  of  law,  or  of  fact,  conscience  is  very 
often  confounded  with  opinion.  No  man  0  coo- 
science  can  tell  him  the  rights  of  another  man; 
they  must  be  known  by  rational  investigation  or 
historical  inquiry.  Opinion,  which  he  that  holds 
it  may  call  his  conscience,  may  teach  some  men 
that  religion  would  be  promoted,  and  quiet  pre- 
served, by  granting  to  the  people  universally  the 
choice  of  their  ministers.  But  it  is  a  conscience 
very  ill  informed  that  violates  the  rights  of  one 
man  for  the  convenience  of  another.  Religion 
cannot  be  promoted  by  injustice;  and  it  was  never 
yet  found  that  a  popular  election  was  very  quietly 
transacted. 

"  That  justice  would  be  violated  by  transferring 
to  the  people  the  right  of  patronage  is  apparent  to 
all  who  know  whence  that  right  had  its  original. 


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APPENDIX. 


539 


The  right  of  patronage  was  not  at  first  a  privilege 
tern  by  power  from  unresisting  poverty.  It  is  not 
an  authority  at  first  usurped  in  times  of  ignorance, 
and  established  only  by  succession  and  by  prece- 
dents. It  is  not  a  grant  capriciously  made  from  a* 
higher  tyrant  to  a  lower.  It  is  a  right  dearly  pur- 
chased by  the  first  possessors,  and  justly  inherited 
by  those  that  succeeded  them.  When  Christianity 
was  established  in  this  island,  a  regular  mode  of 
public  worship  was  prescribed.  Public  worship 
requires  a  public  place;  and  the  proprietors  of 
lands,  as  tbey  were  converted,  built  churches  for 
their  families  and  their  vassals.  For  the  main- 
tenance of  ministers,  they  settled  a  certain  portion 
of  their  lands  ;  and  a  district,  through  which  each 
minister  was  required  to  extend  his  care,  was,  by 
that  circumscription,  constituted  a  parish.  This 
is  a  position  so  generally  received  in  England,  that 
the  extent  of  a  manor  and  of  a  parish  are  regular- 
ly received  for  each  other.  The  churches  which 
the  proprietors  of  lands  had  thus  built  and  thus  en- 
dowed, they  justly  thought  themselves  entitled  to 
provide  with  ministers ;  and  where  the  episcopal 
government  prevails,  the  bishop  has  no  power  to 
reject  a  man  nominated  by  the  patron,  but  for  some 
crime  that  might  exclude  him  from  the  priesthood. 
For  the  endowment  of  the  church  being  the  gift  of 
the  landlord,  he  was  consequently  at  liberty  to  give 
h,  according,  to  his  choice,  to  any  man  capable  of 
performing  the  holy  offices.  The  people  did  not 
choose  him,  because  the  people  did  not  pay  him. 
"  We  hear  it  sometimes  urged,  that  this  origi- 
nal right  is  passed  out  of  memory,  and  is  oblite- 
rated and  obscured  by  many  translations  of  pro- 
perty and  changes  of  government ;  that  scarce  any 
church  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  heirs  of  the 
builders;  and  that  the  present  persons  have  enter- 
ed subsequently  upon  the  pretended  rights  by  a 
thousand  accidental  and  unknown  causes.  Much 
of  this,  perhaps,  is  true.  But  how  is  the  right  of 
patronage  extinguished  ?  If  the  right  followed  the 
lands,  it  is  possessed  by  the  same  equity  by  which 
the  lanc|fl  are  possessed.  It  is,  in  effect,  part  of 
the  manor,  and  protected  by  the  same  laws  with 
every  other  privilege.  Let  us  suppose  an  estate 
forfeited  by  treason,  and  granted  by  the  crown  to 
a  new  family.  With  the  lands  were  forfeited  all 
the  rights  appendant  to  these  lands;  by  the  same 
power  that  grants  the  lands,  the  rights  also  are 
granted.  The  right  lost  to  the  patron  falls  not  to 
the  people,  but  is  either  retained  by  the  crown,  or, 
what  to  the  people  is  the  same  thing,  is  by  the 
crown  given  away.  Let  it  change  bands  ever  so 
often,  it  is  possessed  by  him  that  receives  it  with 
the  same  right «s  it  was  conveyed.  It  may,  in- 
deed, like  all  our  possessions,  be  forcibly  seized  or 
fraudulently  obtained.  But  no  injury  is  still  done 
to  the  people;  for  what  they  never  had,  they  have 
never  lost.  Caius  may  usurp  the  right  of  Titius, 
but  neither  Caius  nor  Titius  injure  the  people; 
and  no  man's  conscience,  however  tender  or  how- 
ever active,  can  prompt  him  to  restore  what  may 
be  proved  to  have  been  never  taken  away.  Sup- 
posing, what  I  think  cannot  be  proved,  that  a  pop- 
ular election  of  ministers  were  to  be  desired,  onr 
desires  are  not  the  measure  of  equity.  It  were  to 
be  desired  that  power  should  be  only  in  the  hands 
of  the  merciful,  and  riches  in  the  possession  of  the 
ous;  but  the  law  must  leave  both  riches  and 


power  where  it  finds  them;  and  must  often  leave 
riches  with  the  covetous,  and  power  with  the  cru- 
el. Convenience  may  be  a  rule  in  little  things,1 
where  no  other  rule  has  been  established.  But  as 
the  great  end  of  government  is  to  give  every*  man 
his  own,  no  inconvenience  is  creator  than  that  of. 
making  right  uncertain.  Nor  is  any  man  more  an 
enemy  to  public  peace,  than  he  who  fills  weak 
heads  with  imaginary  claims,  and  breaks  the  se- 
ries of  civil  subordination,  by  inciting  the  lower 
classes  of  mankind  to  encroach  upon  the  higher.'  ■ 
"  Having  thus  shown  tnat  the  right  of  patron- 
age, being  originally  purchased,  may  be  legally 
transferred,  and  that  it  is  now  in  the  hands  of  law- 
ful possessors,  at  least  as  certainly  as  any  other 
right; — we  have  left  to  the  advocates  of  the  peo- 
ple no  other  plea  than  that  of  convenience.  Let 
us,  therefore,  now  consider  what  the  people  would 
really  gain  by  a  general  abolition  of  the  right  of 
patronage.  .  What  is  roost  to  be  desired  by  such 
a  change  is,  that  the  country  should  be  supplied 
with  better  ministers.  But  why  should  we  sup- 
pose that  the  parish  will  make  a  wiser  choice  than 
the  patron  ?  If  we  suppose  mankind  actuated  by 
interest,  the  patron  is  more  likely  to  choose  with 
caution,  because  he  will*  suffer  more  by  choosing 
wrong.  By  the  deficiencies  of  his  minister,  or  by 
his  vices,  he  is  equally  offended  with  the  rest  of 
the  .congregation ;  but  he  will  have  this  reason 
more  to  lament  them,  that  they  will  be  imputed 
to  his  absurdity  or  corruption.  The  qualifications 
of  a  minister  are  well  known  to  be  learning  and 
piety.  Of  bis  learning  the  patron  is  probably  the 
only  judge  in  the  parish;  and  of  his  piety  not  less 
a  judge  than  others;  and  is  more  likely  to  inquire 
minutely  and  diligently  before  he  gives  a  presen- 
tation, than  one  of  the  parochial  rabble,  who  can 
give  nothing  but  a  vote.  It  may  be  urged,  that 
though  the  parish  might  not  choose  better  minis- 
ters, they  would  at  least  choose  ministers  whom 
they  like  better,  and  who  would  therefore  officiate 
with  greater  efficacy.  That  ignorance  and  per- 
verseness  should  always  obtain  what  they  like,  was 
never  considered  as  the  end  of  government;  of 
which  it  is  the  great  and  standing  benefit,  that  the 
wise  see  for  the  simple,  and  the  regular  act  for  the 
capricious.  But  that  this  argument  supposes  the 
people  capable  of  judging,  and  resolute  to  act  ac- 
cording to  their  best  judgments,  though  this  be 
sufficiently  absurd,  it  is  not. all  its  absurdity.  It 
supposes  not  only  wisdom,  but  unanimity  in  those, 
who  upon  no  other  occasions  are  unanimous  or 
wise.  If  by  some  strange  concurrence  all  the 
voices  of  a  parish  should  unite  in  the  choice  of 
any  single  man,  though  I  could  not  charge  the  pa- 
tron with  injustice  for  presenting  a  minister,  I 
should  censure  him  as  unkind  and  injudicious. 
But,  it  is  evident,  that  as  in  all  other  popular  elec- 
tions there  will  be  contrariety  of  judgment  and 
acrimony  of  passion,  a  parish  upon  every  vacancy 
would  break  into  factions,  and  the  contest  for  the 
choice  of  a  minister  would  set  neighbours  at  vari- 
ance, and  bring  discord  into  families.  The  min- 
ister would  be  taught  all  the  arts  of  a  candidate, 
would  flatter  some,  and  bribe  others;  and  the 
electors,  as  in  all  other  cases,  would  call  for  holi- 
days and  ale,  and  break  the  heads  of  each  other 
during  the  jollity  of  the  canvass.  The  time  must, 
however,  come  at  last,  when  one  of  the  (actions 


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APPENDIX. 


molt  prevail,  and  one  of  the  ministers  get  posses- 
sion of  the  chnrch.  On  what  terma  does  he  en- 
ter upon  bia  ministry  bnt  those  of  enmity  with  half 
hit  pariah  ?  By  what  prudence  or  what  diligence 
can  he  hope  to  conciliate  the  affections  of  that 
party  by  whose  defeat  he  has  obtained  his  living  ? 
Every  man  who  voted  against  him  will  enter  the 
church  with  hanging  head  and  downcast  eyes, 
afraid  to  encounter  that  neighbour  by  whose  vote 
and  influence  he  has  been  overpowered.  He  will 
hate  his  neighbour  for  opposing  him,  and  his  min- 
ister for  having  prospered  by  the  opposition  ;  and 
as  he  will  never  see  him  bat  with  pain,  he  will 
never  see  him  but  with  hatred.  Of  a  minister 
presented  by  the  patron,  the  parish  has  seldom 
any  thing  worse  to  say  than  that  they  do  not  know 
him.  Of  a  minister  chosen  by  a  popular  contest, 
all  those  who  do  not  favour  him  have  nursed  up 
in  their  bosoms  principles  of  hatred  and  reasons  of 
rejection.  Anger  is  excited  principally  by  pride. 
The  pride  of  a  common  man  is  very  little  exaspe- 
rated by  the  supposed  usurpation  of  an  acknow- 
ledged soperiour.  He  bears  only  his  little  share 
of  a  general  evil,  and  suffers  in  common  with  the 
whole  parish :  but  when  the  contest  is  between 
equals,  the  defeat  has  many  aggravations  ;  and  he 
that  is  defeated  by  his  next  neighbour  is  seldom 
satisfied  without  some  revenge  :  and  it  is  hard  to 
aay  what  bitterness  of  malignity  would  prevail  in 
a  parish  where  these  elections  should  happen  to 
be  frequent,  and  the  enmity  of  opposition  should 
be  rekindled  before  it  had  cooled." 


No.  VIII. 

In  justice  to  the  ingenious  Dr.  Blacklock, 

I  publish  the  following  letter  from  him, 

relative  to  a  passage  in  the  Journal  of  a 

Tour  to  the  Hebrides.    See  p.  336.— Bos- 

WBLL. 

"TO   JAMES   BOSWXLL,   £S*. 

"Edinburgh,  Nov.  12, 1785. 
"  Dear  sir, — Having  lately  had  the  pleasure 
of  reading  your  account  of  the  journey  which  you 
took  with  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  to  the  Western 
Isles,  I  take  the  liberty  of  transmitting  my  ideas 
of  the  conversation  which  happened  between  the 
doctor  and  myself  concerning  lexicography  and 
poetry,  which,  as  it  is  a  little  different  from  the 
delineation  exhibited  in  the  former  edition  of  your 
journal,  cannot,  I  hope,  be  unacceptable;  particu- 
larly since  I  have  been  informed  that  a  second 
edition  of  that  work  is  now  in  contemplation,  if 
not  in  execution:  and  I  am  still  more  strongly 
tempted  to  encourage  that  hope,  from  considering 
that,  if  every  one  concerned  in  the  conversations 
related  were  to  send  yon  what  they  can  recollect 
of  these  colloquial  entertainments,  many  curious 
and  interesting  particulars  might  be  recovered, 
which  the  most  assiduous  attention  conld  not  ob- 
serve, nor  the  most  tenacious  memory  retain.  A 
little  reflection,  sir,  will  convince  you,  that  there 
is  not  an  axiom  in  Euclid  more  intuitive  nor  more 
evident  than  the  Doctor's  assertion  that  poetry  was 
of  much  easier  execution  than  lexicography.  Any 
mind,  therefore,  endowed  with  common  sense, 
most  have  been  extremely  absent  from  itself,  if  it 


discovered  the  least  astonishment  from  hauling 
that  a  poem  might  be  written  with  much  most 
facility  than  the  same  quantity  of  a  dictionary. 

"  The  real  cause  of  my  surprise  was  what  as- 
•peared  to  me  much  more  paradoxical,  that  ha 
could  write  a  sheet  of  dictionary  tenth,  a*  saves 
pleasure  as  a  sheet  of  poetry.  He  acknowledged, 
indeed,  that  the  latter  was  much  easier  than  the 
former.  -  For  in  the  one  case,  books  and  a  desk  were 
requisite;  in  the  other,  yon  might  compose  when 
lying  in  bed,  or  walking  in  the  fields,  r.c.  Ha 
did  not,  however,  descend  to  explain,  nor  to  this 
moment  can  I  comprehend,  how  the  labours  of  a 
mere  philologist,  in  the  most  refined  sense  of  that 
term,  could  give  equal  pleasure  with  the  exercise 
of  a  mind  replete  with  elevated  conceptions  and 
pathetic  ideas,  while  taste,  fancy,  ami  intellect 
were  deeply  enamoured  of  nature,  and  in  full  ex- 
ertion. You  may  likewise,  perhaps,  remember, 
that  when  I  complained  of  the  ground  wfcieii 
scepticism  in  religion  and  morals  was  continually 
gaining,  it  did  not  appear  to  be  on  my  own  ac- 
count, as  my  private  opinions  upon  these  impor- 
tant subjects  had  long  been  inflexibly  determined 
What  I  then  deplored,  and  still  deplore,  was  the 
unhappy  influence  which  that  gloomy  hesitation 
had,  not  only  upon  particular  characters,  bnt  evea 
upon  life  in  general;  as  being  equally  the  bane  of 
action  in  our  present  state,  and  of  such  consola- 
tions as  we  might  derive  from  the  hopes  of  a 
future. 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  of  remaining  with  sincere 
esteem  and  respect,  dear  sir,  your  most  obedient 
humble  servant, 

"  Thomas  Blacklock." 

I  am  very  happy  to  find  that  Dr.  Blacklock 's 
apparent  uneasiness  on  the  subject  of  scepticism 
was  not  on  his  own  account  (as  I  supposed),  bnt 
from  a  benevolent  concern  for  the  happiness  of 
mankind.  With  respect,  however,  to  the  question 
concerning  poetry,  and  composing  a  dictionary, 
I  am  confident  that  my  state  of  Dr.  Johnson's 
position  is  accurate.  One  may  misconceive  the 
motive  by  which  a  person  is  induced  to  discuss  a 
particular  topick  (as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Black- 
lock's  speaking  of  scepticism);  but  an  assertion, 
like  that  made  by  Dr. Johnson,  cannot  be  easily 
mistaken.  And,  indeed,  it  seems  not  very  proba- 
ble, that  he  who  so  pathetically  laments  the 
drudgery  to  which  the  unhappy  lexicographer  is 
doomed,  and  is  known  to  have  written  bis  splen- 
did imitation  of  Juvenal  with  astonishing  rapsdny, 
should  have  had  "  as  much  pleasure  in  writing  a 
sheet  of  a  dictionary  as  a  sheet  of*  poetry."  iSoc 
can  I  concur  with  the  ingenious  writer  of  the 
foregoing  letter,  in  thinking  it  an  axiom  aa  evi- 
dent as  any  in  Euclid,  that  "  poetry  is  of  easier 
execution  than  lexicography."  I  have  no  doubt 
that  Bailey,  and  the  "  mighty  bJunderbtus  of 
law,*'  Jacob,  wrote  ten  pages  of  their  respective 
dictionaries  with  more  ease  than  they  could  have 
written  five  pages  of  poetry. 

If  this  book  should  again  be  reprinted,  I  shall, 
with  the  utmost  readiness,  correct  any  erroura  I 
may  have  committed,  in  stating  conversations, 
provided  it  can  be  clearly  shown  to  me  that  I 
have  been  inaccurate.  But  I  am  slow  to  believe 
(aal  have  elsewhere  observed)  that  any  mam's 


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APPENDIX. 


541 


at  the  distance  of  several  yean,  can 
preserve  facts  or  sayings  with  such  fidelity  as  may 
be  done  by  writing  them  down  when  they  are 
recent:  and  I  beg  it  may  be  remembered,  that  it 
ie  not  upon  memory,  hot  upon  what  was  written 
at  the  time,  that  the  authenticity  of  my  journal 
rats.    Bosweli*. 


No.  IX. 
The  following  verses,   written  by  Sir 
Alexander  (now    Lord)   Macdonald,   and 
addressed  and  presented  to  Dr.  Johnson,  at 
Armidale,  in  the  Isle  of  Sky,  should  have 
appeared  in  the  proper  place,  if  the  authour 
of  this  Journal  had  been  possessed  of  them; 
but  this  edition  was  almost  printed  off  when 
he*was  accidentally  furnished  with  a  copy 
by  a  friend. — Bos  well.     [These  are  tne 
verses  referred    to  in  p.  372,   n.     They 
bave  not  been  removed  to  the  text,  because 
Mr.  Bos  we  11  did  not  think  proper  to  do  so 
id  his  subsequent  editions,  and  because  the 
Editor   really  does  not  profess  to  under- 
stand them.     It  seems  hard  to  puess  what 
Sir  Alexander  could  have  meant  by  present- 
ing Dr.  Johnson  with  such  lines. — Ed.] 
Viator,  o  qui  nostra  per  axraora 
Visum  agros  Skiatictw  venis, 
En  te  salutantes  tributim 
Undique  conglomerantur  oris. 
Donaldiani, — quotquot  in  insula 
Compescit  arctis  limitibus  mare  ; 
Alhquejamdudum,  ac  alendos 
Piscinas  indigenes  fovebit. 
Cicre  fluctos  siste,  Procelliger, 
Nee  tu  laborans  perge,  precor,  ratis, 
Ne  conjugem  plangat  marita, 
Ne  doleat  soboles  parentem. 
Nee  te  vicissim  paraiteat  virara 
Luxisse  ; — vestro  scimus  ut  sstuant 
In  corde  luetantes  dolores, 
Cum  feriant  inopina  corpus. 
Quidai  I  peremptum  clade  mentions 
Plus  semper  illo  qui  moritur  pati 
Datur,  doloris  dum  profundos 
Pervia  mens  aperit  recessus. 
Valete  luctus ; — bine  lacrymabiles 
Arcete  visas : — ibimus,  ibimus 
-   Superbienti  qua  theatro 

Fingalis  memorantur  aula. 
Dtastris  hospes  !  mox  spatiabere 
Qua  mens  rains  ducta  meatibus 
Gaudebit  explorare  coetus 

Buccina  qua  cecinit  triumphos. 
Audin  ?  resurgens  spirat  anhelhu 
Dux  usitato,  suscitat  efficax 
Poeta  manes,  ingruitque 
Vi  solita  redivivus  horror. 
Ahena  qoassans  tela  gravi  manu 
Sic  ibat  atrox  Ossiani  pater : 
Quiescat  urna,  stet  fidelis 
'Pheraonius  vigil  ad  fa  villain. 


No.  X. 


[Inscription  on  the  monument  of  Sir 
James  Macdonald,  Bart.,  in  the  church  of 
Slate,  and  two  letters  from  that  young  gen- 
tleman to  his  mother,— preferred  to  i%p.  573. 

To  the  memory 

Of  SIR  JAMES  MACDONALD,  Bart. 

Who,  in  the  flower  of  youth, 

Had  attained  to  so  eminent  a  degree  of  knowledge 

In  mathematics,  philosophy,  languages, 

And  in  every  other  branch  of  useful  and  polhe 

learning, 

As  few  have  acquired  in  a  long  life 

Wholly  devoted  to  study  : 

Yet  to  this  erudition  he  joined, 

What  can  rarely  be  found  with  it, 

Great  talents  for  business, 

Great  propriety  of  behaviour, 

Great  politeness  of  manner?  ! 

His  eloquence  was  sweet,  correct,  and  flowing  ; 

His  memory  vast  and  exact ; 

His  judgment  strong  and  acute  ; 

All  which  endowments, 

United  with  the  most  amiable  temper 

And  every  private  virtue, 

Procured  him,  not  only  in  his  own  country, 

But  also  from  foreign  nations, 

The  highest  marks  of  esteem. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord 

1766, 

The  25th  of  his  life, 

After  a  long  and  extremely  painful  illness, 

Which  he  supported  with  admirable  patience  and 

fortitude, 

He  died  at  Rome, 

Where,  notwithstanding  the  difference  of  religion, 

Such  extraordinary  honours  were  paid  to  b» 

memory, 

As  had  never  graced  that  of  any  other  British 

subject, 

Since  the  death  of  Sir  Philip  Sydney. 

The  fame  he  left  behind  him  is  the  best  consolation 

To  his  afflicted  family. 

And  to  his  countrymen  in  this  isle, 

For  whose  benefit  he  had  planned 

Many  useful  improvements, 
Which  his  fruitful  genius  suggested, 
And  his  active  spirit  promoted, 
Under  the  sober  direction 
Of  a  clear  and  enlightened  understanding. 
Reader,  bewail  our  loss, 
And  that  of  all  Britain. 
In  testimony  of  her  love, 
And  as  the  best  return  she  can  make 
To  her  departed  son, 
For  the  constant  tenderness  and  affection 
Which,  even  to  his  lost  momenta, 
He  showed  for  her, 
His  much  afflicted  mother, 
The  LADY  MARGARET  MACDONALD, 
Daughter  to  the  Earl  of  Eglintoune, 
Erected  this  monument, 
A.  D.  1768. 
This  extraordinary  young  man,  whom  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  knowing  intimately,  having  been  deeply 
regretted  by  his  country,  the  most  minute  partic- 
ulars concerning  him  must  be  interesting  to  many. 


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542 


APPENDIX. 


I  shall  therefore  insert  his  two  last  letters  to  his 
mother,  Lady  Margaret  Macdonald,  which  her 
ladyship  has  been  pleased  to  communicate  to  me. 

SIB     J.    MACDOlfALD    TO    LADT    MARGARET. 
#  M  Rome,  9th  July,  1766. 

"My  dear  mother,— Yesterday's  post 
brought  me  your  answer  to  the  first  letter  in  which 
I  acquainted  yon  of  my  illness.  Yonr  tenderness 
and  concern  upon  that  account  are  the  same  I 
have  always  experienced,  and  to  which  I  nave 
often  owed  my  life.  Indeed  it  never  was  in  so 
great  danger  as  it  has  been  lately;  and  though  it 
wouM  have  been  a  very  great  comfort  to  me  to 
have  had  yon  near  me,  yet  perhaps  I  ought  to  re- 
joice, on  yonr  account,  that  you  had  not  the  pain 
of  such  a  spectacle.  I  have  been  now  a  week  in 
Rome,  and  wish  f  could  continue  to  give  you  the 
same  good  accounts  of  my  recovery  as  I  did  in 
my  last ;  but  I  must  own  that,  for  three  days  past, 
I  have  been  in  a  very  weak  and  miserable  state, 
which  however  seems  to  give  no  uneasiness  to  my 
physician.  My  stomach  has  been  greatly  out  of 
order,  without  any  visible  cause  ;  and  the  palpita- 
tion does  not  decrease.  I  am  told  that  my  stomach 
will  soon  recover  its  tone,  and  that  the  palpitation 
must  cease  in  time.  So  I  am  willing  to  believe  ; 
and  with  this  hope  support  the  little  remains  of 
spirits  which  I  can  be  supposed  to  have,  on  the, 
forty-seventh  day  of  such  an  illness.  Do  not  im- 
agine I  have  relapsed;  I  only  recover  slower  than 
1  expected.  If  my  letter  is  shorter  than  usual,  the 
cause  of  it  is  a  dose  of  physic,  which  has  weaken- 
ed me  so  much  to-day,  that  I  am  not  able  to  write 
a  long  letter.  I  will  make  up  for  it  next  post, 
and  remain  always  your  most  sincerely  affection- 
ate son,  "  J.  Macdonald." 

He  grew,  however,  gradually  worse;  and  on  the 
night  before  his  death  he  wrote  as  follows  from 
FYescati : 

"My  dear  mother, — Though  I  did  not 
mean  to  deceive  you  in  my  last  letter  from  Rome, 
yet  certainly  you  wou!4  have  very  little  reason  to 
conclude  of  the  very  great  and  constant  danger  I 
have  gone  through  ever  since  that  time.  My  life, 
which  is  still  almost  entirely  desperate,  did  not  at 
that  time  appear  to  me  so,  otherwise  I  should  have 
represented,  in  its  true  colours,  a  fact  which  ac- 
quires very  little  horror  by  that  means,  and  comes 
with  redoubled  force  by  deception.  There  is  no  cir- 
cumstance of  danger  and  pain  of  which  I  have  not 
had  the  experience,  for  a  continued  series  of  above 
a  fortnight ;  during  which  time  I  have  settled  my 
affairs,  after  my  death,  with  as  much  distinctness 
at  the  hurry  and  the  nature  of  the  thing  could  ad- 
mit of.  In  case  of  the  worst,  the  Abbe  Grant  will 
be  my  executor  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  Mr. 
Mackenzie  in  Scotland,  where  my  object  has  been 
to  make  you  and  my  younger  brother  as  inde- 
pendent of  the  eldest  as  possible." — Bos  well. 


No.  XL 
[Memoirs  of  his  own  Life,  by  the  late 
General  Macleod,— referred  to  in  .p.  383, 
and  teveral  subsequent  notes.] 

[1735.] 
•'  Having  often  been  highly  entertained  and  in- 
structed by  the  perusal  of  memoirs  of  men  who 


have  lived  in  an  interesting  period,  and  who  have 
borne  some  part  in  the  transactions  of  their  time, 
a  thought  has  for  some  time  possessed  me  of  leav- 
ing to  my  family  and  friends  an  account  of  myself, 
and  of  those  affairs  in  which  I  have  been,  or  may 
hereafter  be,  engaged.  My  chief  design,  if  I  shall 
live  to  execute  it,  is  to  make  my  son  acquainted 
with  his  father,  to  inform  him  of  the  rank  and  sit- 
uation in  which  I  found  the  family,  which  he 
should  think  himself  born  to  raise  and  advance, 
and  to  encourage  him,  by  my  example,  to  per- 
severe in  the  design  of  acquiring  that  station  in  the 
state  to  which  our  blood  entitles  him,  but  to  which 
the  local  position  of  our  ancestors  has  yet  hindered 
us  from  attaining. 

"  My  family  is  derived  from  the  ancient  royal 
stock  of  Denmark.  In  those  unhappy  times,  when 
heroism  was  little  better  than  piracy,  and  when 
the  Danes  first  infested  and  then  subdued  England, 
my  ancestor  was  invested  with  the  tributary  sove- 
reignty of  the  Isle  of  Man.  His  history,  the  sne- 
cession,  or  the  share  these  princes  of  Man  bad  in 
the  predatory  wars  of  that  rude  age,  are  lost  in 
dark  and  vague  tradition.  The  first  tact,  which 
seems  dearly  ascertained,  is,  that  Leod,  the  son 
of  the  King  of  Man,  on  the  conquest  of  that  island 
by  the  English,  in*  ,  under  the  Earl  of  Derby, 
fled  with  his  followers  to  the  Hebrides.  He  pro 
bably  found  his  countrymen  there  ;  and  either  by 
conquest,  agreement,  or  alliance,  possessed  him- 
self of  that  part  of  these  isles  now  called  Lewes 
and  Harries. 

"Leod  had  two  sons,  Tormod  and  TorquO. 
The  first  married  the  daughter  of  a  powerful  chief 
in  the  Isle  of  Skye ;  he  was  a  warrior,  and  of 
great  prowess  ;  his  father  gave  or  left  to  him  Har- 
ries ;  and,  by  dbt  of  his  valour  and  marriage,  he 
possessed  himself  of  a  large  domain  in  Skye; 
which,  together  with  Harries,  I,  his  lineal  suc- 
cessor, inherited ;  Torquil  and  his  posterity  pos- 
sessed Lewes  ;  which,  with  other  acquuxlioos, 
they  have  since  lost,  and  that  family  is  now  repre- 
sented by  Macleod  of  Rasay.  From  Leod,  whose 
name  is  held  in  high  traditional  veneration,  all  bis 
descendants,  and  many  of  his  followers,  have  taken 
the  patronymic  of  Macleod.  My  ancestors,  whose 
family-seat  has  always  been  at  Dun  vegan,  seem 
to  have  lived,  for  some  centuries,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected from  men  whq  had  gained  their  lands  by 
their  swords,  and  who  were  placed  in  islands  of 
no  easy  access.  They  had  frequent  wars  and  al- 
liances with  their  neighbours  in  Skye,  by  which 
it  appears  they  neither  gained  nor  lost ;  they  fre- 
quently attacked  or  assisted  the  petty  kings  in  Ire- 
land, or  the  chiefs  on  the  coast  of  Scotland,  bus 
they  neither  increased  nor  diminished  their  own 
possessions.  In  the  reign  of  King  David  of  Soot- 
land,  they  at  last  took  a  charter  for  their  lands, 
from  which  time  they  seem  long  to.  have  practised 
the  patriarchal  life,  beloved  by  their  people,  un- 
connected with  the  government  of  Scotland,  and 
undisturbed  by  it.  When  James  the  Sixth  was 
about  to  take  possession  of  the  throne  of  England, 
Macleod,  called  Roderick  Mure,  from  his  great 
size  and  strength  \  went  to  Edinburgh  to  pay  his 
homage.  It  is  remarkable,  that  this  chieftain  was 
an  adept  in  Latin,  had  travelled  on  the  Continent, 
and  spoke  French  with  fluency,  but  could  neither 


»  [Mr.  Boswell  states,  ants.  p.  880,  thai  h 
called,  not  from  bis  size,  bat  his  spirtta—En.) 

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APPENDIX. 


643 


utter  nor  understand  the  Scottish  or  English  dialect 
Two  younger  sons  of  Roderick  led  a  body  of  Mac- 
leods  to  the  assistance  of  Charles  the  Second  [First] , 
who  knighted  them,  and  they,  like  their  unfortunate 
sovereign,  escaped*  with  the  loss  of  their  follow- 
ers, from  the  fatal  field  of  Worcester.  From  John, 
their  elder  brother,  I  am  descended,  his  son  being 
an  orphan  minor,  when  his  ancles  led  the  clan  to 
battle.  It  is  singular,  that  my  great  grandfather, 
by  his  marriage  with  ,  descended  from 

the  family  of  Athol,  has  mixed  with  the  blood  of 
Leod  and  that  of  the  Earl  of  Derby,  who  drove 
him  from  Man  ;  and  that  I  am  thus,  probably,  the 
descendant  of  the  invading  earl  and  the  expelled 
prince. 

"  My  grandfather,  JVbrman,  was  an  only  and 
posthumous  son;  by  the  frugality  of  his  ancestors, 
and  the  savings  of  his  minority,  he  found  our  an- 
cient inheritance  in  the  most  prosperous  condition. 
I  knew  him  in  his  advanced  age;  and  from  him- 
self, and  many  other  friends,  have  heard  much  of 
the  transactions  of  his  life.  With  a  body  singularly 
well  made  and  active,  he  possessed  very  lively 
parts.  The  circumstances  of  the  times  introduced 
him  to  the  public  with  great  advantage  ;  and,  till 
the  unfortunate  1745,  he  was  much  considered. 
An  attachment  to  the  race  of  Stuart  then  prevailed 
in  Scotland;  and  many  of  the  leading  men  in 
England  still  favoured  it  His  independent  fortune 
and  promising  character  early  obtained  him  the 
©presentation  in  parliament  of  Invernesshire,  his 
native  county.  The  numbers  and  fidelity  of  his 
dan,  and  his  influence  with  his  neighbours,  were 
known;  and  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  many 
allurements  were  held  out  to  seduce  him  into  en- 
gagements, which  were  then  considered  only  as 
dangerous,  but  neither  guilty  uor  dishonourable. 

•*  It  would  be  neither  pleasing  nor  useful  to  in- 
quire how  deeply  he  was  concerned  in  the  pre- 
ludes to  the  rebellion;  nor,  indeed,  have  I  been 
able  to  learn.  It  is  certain  that,  in  the  year 
1746,  he  raised  a  company  of  his  vassals  to  serve 
under  my  father,  his  only  son,  in  Lord  Loudon's 
regiment,  and  afterwards  appeared,  with  six 
hundred  of  his  clan;  in  defence  of  the  present 
royal  family.  From  this  period  he  was  unfortu- 
nate; the"  Jacobites  treated  him  as  an  apostate, 
and  the  successful  party  did  not .  reward  his  loy- 
alty. The  former  course  of  his  life  had  been  ex- 
pensive; his  temper  was  convivial  and  hospitable  ; 
and  he  continued  to  impair  his  fortune  till  his 
death,  in  1772.  He  was  the  first  of  our  family 
who  was  led,  by  the  change  of  manners,  to  leave 
the  patriarchal  government  of  his  clan,  and  to  mix 
in  the  pursuits  and  ambition  of  the  world.  It  was 
not  then  common  to  see  the  representatives  of 
the  Highland  tribes  endeavouring  to  raise  them- 
selves.to  eminence  in  the  .nation  by  the  arts  of 
eloquence,  or  regular  military  gradation;  they 
were  contented  with  their  private  opulence  aud 
local  dignity,  or  trusted  their  rank  in  the  state  to 
the  antiquity  of  their  families,  or  their  provincial 
influence.  Had  Norman  felt  in  his  youth  the 
necessity  of  professional  or  parliamentary  exer- 
tions, and  hod  he  received  a  suitable  education, 
he  would  not  have  left  his  family  in  distress;  but 
the  excellence  of  his  parts  and  the  vigour  of  hb 
mind  would  have  attained  a  station  more  advan- 
tageous for  the  flight  of  his  successors. 

•«  I  was  bom  «n  the  4th  diy  of  March,  1754, 


at  Brodie-house,  the  seat  of  my  maternal  grand- 
father, Brodie  of  Brodie,  Lyon  King  at  Arms. 
When  I'  attained  the  age  of  eleven,  my  father, 
with  his  family,  went  to  reside  at  Beverley*  in 
Yorkshire,  where,  in  the  year  following,  he  died, 
and  was  buried  in  the  minster.  I  was  placed 
under  the  care  of  Mr.  George  Stuart,  one  of  the 
professors  in  the  college  of  Edinburgh;  and  the 
abilities,  care,  and  maternal  love  of  my  surviving 
parent  left  me  no  other  reason  to  regret  my 
father,  than  that  which  nature  dictates  for  a  brave 
worthy,  and  so  near  relation. 

"  Under  Mr.  Stuart,  and  in  the  sight  of  r  v 
grandfather,  who  lived  near  Edinburgh,  I  con- 
tinued to  pursue  an  excellent  and  classical  educa- 
tion for  near  five  years;  in  this  time  I  obtained  a 
competent  knowledge  of  Latin  and  French;  and 
1  acquired  a  taste  for  rending,  and  a  desire  of 
general  knowledge  which  has  never  left  me.  I 
was  permitted  to  pay  a  visit  to  my  mother,  who 
had  settled  in  Hampshire,  for  the  education  of  her 
daughters;  after  which  I  was  summoned  to  the 
University  of  St.  Andrew's  by  my  grandfather, 
who  had  taken  a  house  in  the  neighbourhood. 
Here,  for  one  year,  I  attended  the  lectures  of  Dr. 
Watson  (authour  of  the  History  of  Hiilip  the 
Second)  on  logic,  rhetorick,  and  belles  lettres; 
and  those  of  Dr.  Willcks,  author  of  the  Fpigoniad, 
on  Natural  Philosophy:  I  also  read  Italian.  Next 
summer  I  again  visited  my  mother;  and  was  seut 
in  the  winter  to  University  College,  in  Oxford. 
My  tutor,  Mr.  George  Strahan,  zealously  endea- 
voured to  supply  my  deficiency  in  Greek,  and  I 
made  some  progress ;  but  approaching  now  to 
manhood,  having  got  a  tincture  of  more  enter- 
taining and  pleasing  knowledge,  and  a  taste  for 
the  Latin,  French,  and  English  classics,  I  could 
never  sufficiently  labour  again  as  a  schoolboy, 
which  I  now  and  will  for  ever  lament 

'*  1  have  no  title  to  impose  myself  on  my  son 
as  a  learned  man;  my  reading  has  been  general 
and  diffuse;  a  scholar  would  very -justly  call  it 
superficial;  but  if  superficial  knowledge  has  con- 
tributed so  much  to  my  happiness,  how  fondly 
should  I  recommend  larger  and  more  solid  attain- 
ments to  my  future  self! 

"In  the  year  1771,  a  strange  passion  for  emi- 
grating to  America  seized  many  of  the  middling 
and  poorer  sort  of  Highlanders.  The  change  of 
manners  in  their  chieftain*,  since  1745,  produced 
effects  which  were  evidently  the  proximate  cause 
of  this  unnatural  dereliction  of  their  own,  and 
appetite  for  a  foreign,  country.  'I he  laws  which 
deprived  the  Highlanders  of  their  arms  and  garb 
would  certainly  have  destroyed  the  feudul  military 
powers  of  the  chieftains;  but  the  fond  attachment 
of  the  people  to  their  patriarchs  would  have 
yielded  to  no  laws.  They  were  themselves  the 
destroyers  of  that  pleasing  influence,  tucked 
into  the  vortex  of  the  nation,  and  allured  to  the 
capitals,  they  degenerated  from  patriarchs  and 
chieftains  to  landlords ;  and  they  became  as 
anxious  for  increase  of  rent  as  the  new-made 
lairds — the  nttvi  homines — the  mercantile  pur-  • 
chasers  of  the  Lowlands.  Many  tenants,  whose 
fathers,  for  generations,  had  enjoyed  their  little 
spots,  were  removed  for  higher  bidders.  Those 
who  agreed,  at  any  price,  for  their  ancient  fares, 
were  forced  to  pay  an  increased  rent,  without 
being  taught  any  new  method  to  increase  their 

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APPENDIX. 


In  the  Hebrides,  especially,  this 
change  was  not  gradual  but  sudden, — and  sudden 
and  baleful  were  its  effects.  The  peopfe,  Treed 
by  the  laws  from  the  power  of  the  chieftains,  and 
loosened  by  the  chieftains  themselves  from  the 
bonds  of  affection,  turned  their  eyes  and  their 
hearts  to  new  scenes.  America  seemed  to  open 
its  arms  to  receive  every  discontented  Briton.  To 
those  possessed  of  very  small  sums  of  money,  it 
offered  large  possessions  of  uncultivated  but  ex- 
cellent land,  in  a  preferable  climate;— to  the  poor, 
it  held  out  high  wages  for  labour;— to  all,  it 
promised  property  and  independence.  Many 
artful  emissaries,  who  had  an  interest  in  the 
transportation  or  settlement  of  emigrants,  indus- 
triously displayed  these  temptations ;  and  the 
desire  of  leaving  their  country,  for  the  new  land 
of  promise,  became  furious  and  epidemic  Like 
all  other  popular  furies,  it  infected  not  only  those 
who  had  reason  to  complain  of  their  situation  or 
injuries,  but  those  who  were  most  favoured  and 
most  comfortably  settled.  In  the  beginning  of 
1772,  my  grandfather,  who  had  always  been  a 
most  beneficent  and  beloved  chieftain,  but  whose 
necessities  had  lately  induced  him  to  raise  his 
rents,  became  much  alarmed  by  this  new  spirit 
which  had  reached  his  clan.  Aged  and  infirm, 
he  was  unable  to  apply  the  remedy  in  person  ; — 
he  devolved  the  task  on  me ;  and  gave  me  for 
an  assistant  our  nearest  male  relation,  Colonel 
Macleod,  of  Talisker.  The  duty  imposed  on  us 
was  difficult:  the  estate  was  loaded  with  debt, 
incumbered  with  a  numerous  issue  from  himself 
and  my  father,  and  charged  with  some  jointures. 
His  tenants  had  lost,  in  that  severe  winter,  above 
a  third  of  their  cattle,  which  constituted  their 
substance;  their  spirits  were  soured  by  their  losses, 
and  the  late  augmentations  of  rent;  and  their 
ideas  of  America  were  inflamed  by  the  strongest 
representations,  and  the  example  of  their  neigh- 
bouring clans.  My  friend  and  I  were  empowered 
to  grant  such  deductions  in  the  .rents  as  might 
seem  necessary  and  reasonable;  but  we  found  it 
terrible  to  decide  between  the  justice  to  creditors, 
the  necessities  of  an  ancient  family  which  we  our- 
selves represented,  and  the  claims  and  distresses 
of  an  impoverished  tenantry.  To  God  I  owe, 
and  I  trust  will  ever  pay,  the  most  fervent  thanks 
.  that  this  terrible  task  enabled  us  to  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  Circumstances  (though  then  unlooked 
for)  that  I  hope  will  prove  the  means  not  only  of 
the  rescue,  but  of  the  aggrandisement  of  our  fam- 
ily. I  was  young,  and  hud  the  warmth  of  the 
liberal  passions  natural  to  that  age;  I  called  the 
people  of  the  different  districts  of  our  estate  to- 
gether;! laid  before  them  the  situation  of  our 
family — its  debts,  its  burthens,  its  distress;  I 
acknowledged  the  hardships  under  which  they 
laboured;  F  described  and  reminded  them  of  the 
manner  in  which  they  and  their  ancestors  had 
lived  with  mine;  I  combated  their  passion  for 
America  by  a  real  account  of  the  dangers  and 
hardships  they  might  encounter  there;  I  besought 
them  to  love  their  young  chieftain,  and  to  renew 
with  him  the  ancient  manners;  I  promised  to  live 
among  them;  I  threw  myself  upon  them;  I  re- 
called to  their  remembrance  an  ancestor  who  had 
also  found  his  estate  in  ruin,  and  whose  memory 
was  held  in  the  highest  veneration ;  I  desired  every 
district  to  point  out  some  of  their  oldest  and  most 


respected  men,  to  settle  with  me  every  claim ;  and 
I  promised  to  do  every  tiling  for  their  relief  which 
in  reason  I  could.  My  worthy  relation  ably 
seconded  me,  and  our  labour  was  not  in  vain. 
We  gave  considerable  abatements  in  the  rants : 
few  emigrated;  and  the  clan  conceived  the  most 
lively  attachment  to  me,  which  they  moat  effectu- 
ally manifested,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of 
these  memoirs.  When  we  were  engaged  in  these 
affairs,  my  grandfather  died,  and  was  buried  at 
St  Andrew's.  I  returned  to  Hampshire,  and 
easily  prevailed  with  my  excellent  mother  and 
sisters  to  repair,  in  performance  of  my  promise 
to  my  clan,  to  Dunvegan.  Jo  my  first  visit  to 
Skye,  Mr.  Pennant  arrived  there  ;  and  he  has 
kindly  noticed  in  bis  tour  the  exertions  we  men 
made. 

"  I  remained  at  home  with  my  family  and  dan 
till  the  end  of  1774;  but  I  confess  that  I  consider 
this  as  the  most  gloomy  period  of  my  life.  Edu- 
cated in  a  liberal  manner,  fired  with  ambition, 
fond  of  society,  I  found  myself  in  confinement  in 
a  remote  corner  of  the  world;  without  any  hope 
of  extinguishing  the  debts  of  my  family,  or  of  ever 
emerging  from  poverty  and  obscurity.  A  lone 
life  of  painful  economy  seemed  my  only  method 
to  perform  the  duty  I  owed  to  my  ancestors  and 
posterity;  and  the  burden  was  so  heavy , 'that  only 
partial  relief  could  be  hoped  even  from  that  mel- 
ancholy sacrifice.  I  had  also  the  torment  of  see- 
ing my  mother  and  sisters,  who  were  fitted  for 
better  scenes,  immured  with  me;  and  their  affec- 
tionate patience  only  added  to  my  soiferings. 

"In  1774 »  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  with  has 
companion,  Mr.  Bos  well,  visited  our  dreary  re- 
gions: it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  enabled  to 
practise  the  virtue  of  hospitality  on  this  occasion. 
The  learned  traveller  spent  a  fortnight  at  Dunve- 
gan; and  indeed  amply  repaid  our  cares  to  please 
him  by  the  most  instructive  and  entertaining  con- 
versation. I  procured  for  him  the  company  of 
the  most  learned  clergymen  and  sagacious  inhabit- 
ants of  the  islands;  and  every  other  assistance 
within  our  power  to  the  inquiries  he  wished  to 
make. 

"  The  nature  of  those  inquiries,  and  the 
ordinary  character  of   Dr.  Johnson,  may  i 
some  account  of  them  from  me  agreeable- 

"  His  principal  design  was  to  find  proofs  of  the 
inauthenticity  of  Ossian's  poems;  and  in  his  in- 
quiries it  became  very  soon  evident  that  be  wished 
not  to  find  them  genuine.  I  was  present  in  a  part 
of  his  search;  his  decision  is  now  well  known; 
and  I  will  very  freely  relate  what  I  know  of  them. 
Dr.  M'Queen,  a  very  learned  minuter  in  Skye, 
attended  him,  and  was  the  person  whom  he  meat 
questioned,  and  through  whom  he  proposed  his 
questions  to  others. 

"  The  first  question  Be  insisted  on  was  wliether 
any  person  had  ever  seen  the  Poems  of  Ossein  m 
manuscript,  as  the  translator  had  found  them ;  how 
and  where  these  manuscripts  had  been  pre- 
served; and  wliether  faith  was  given  to  them  by 
the  Highlanders?    I  must  avow  that,  from  the 


1  [The  reader  will  perhaps  agree  with  the  editor  thai 
this  little  error  of  date  adds  to  the  interest  of  these  ase> 
moin:  It  is  an  additional  proof  that  they  were  net  atsv 
died  or  corrected  lor  the  public  eye.  It  mutt  be  feenesa- 
bered  that  Mr.  Boswell'a  Tour  was  not  poblhsttd  wise 
this  was  written.— En.] 


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APPENDIX. 


649 


I  given  to  these  questions,  he  had  no  right 
to  believe  the  manuscripts  genuine.  In  this  he 
exalted  much;  and  formed  an  unjust  conclusion, 
that  because  the  translator  had  been  guilty  of  an 
imposition,  the  whole  poems  were  impositions. 
Dr.  M*Q,ueen  brought  him,  in  my  opinion,  very 
full  proofs  of  his  error.  He  produced  several 
gentlemen  who  had  heard  repeated  in  Erse  long 
passages  of  these  poems  *,  which  they  averred  did 
coincide  with  the  translation;  and  he  even  pro- 
cured a  person  who  recited  some  lines  himself. 
Had  Dr.  Johnson's  time  permitted,  many  proofs 
of  the  same  nature  would  have  been  adduced;  but 
he  did  not  wish  for  them.  My  opinion  of  this 
controversy  is  that  the  poems  certainly  did  exist 
in  detached  pieces  and  fragments;  that  few  of 
them  had  been  committed  to  paper  before  the 
time  of  the  translator;  that  he  collected  most  of 
them  from  persons  who  could  recite  them,  or 
parts. of  them;  that  be  arranged  and  connected 
the  parts,  and  perhaps  made  imitative  additions 
for  the  sake  of  connexion;  that  those  additions 
cannot*  be  large  or  numerous;  and  that  the  foun- 
dations and  genuine  remains  of  the  poems  are 
sufficiently  authentic  for  every  purpose  of  taste  or 
criticism.  It  might  be  wished,  for  the  sake  of 
squeamish  critics,  that  the  translator  had  given 
them  to  the  world  as  he  found  them;  though,  as 
a  reader,  I  own  myself  delighted  with  FingaL  and 
Temora,  in  their  present  appearance. 

"  The  most  sceptical  writers  on  other  subjects 
never  applied  the  laws  of  evidence-  more  strictly 
than  Dr.  Johnson  did  in  his  inquiries  about  Ossian: 
be  was  not  so  precise  in  other  matters.  The 
ridiculous  notion  of  the  second-sight,  or  of  super- 
natural visions,  was  not  disrelished  by  him.  He 
listened  to  all  the  tables  of  that  nature  which 
abound  in  the  Highlands;  and,  though  no  one 
fact  was  so  well  vouched  as  to  command  its  par- 
ticular belief,  he  held  that  the  thing  was  not  im- 
possible; and  that  the  number  of  facts  alleged 
farmed  a  favourable  presumption. 

44  No  human  being  is  perfect  in  anything:  the 
mind  which  is  filled  with  just  devotion  is  apt  to 
sank  into  superstition;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
genius  which  detects  holy  imposition  frequently 
■tides  into  presumptuous  infidelity.' ' 

[Thus  abruptly  ends  a  paper  which  every 
leader  will  wish  had  been  longer. — En.] 


No.  XII. 

[Account  of  the  escape  of  the  young  Pre- 
tender, drawn  up  by  Mr.  Boswell, — refer- 
red  to  (««6  ISth  Sept.  177 S)  p.  387.] 

Prince   Charles  Edward,   after  the  battle  of 
Cnlloden,  was  conveyed  to  what  is  called  the 


t  [We  readily  forgive  Macleod  his  desire  to  save  as 
much  as  possible  from  the  wreck  of  Ossian  j  and  subse- 
quent publications  have  certainly  adduced  some  passages 
of  Macpherson*s  version  which  have  been  found  in  the 
original  Erse-,  but  we  can  find  in  Boswell  (who probably 
quotes  all  that  Johnson  knew)  but  one  such  passage,  and 
that  passage  was  accompanied  by  two  others}  one  of 
which  was  something;  like,  and  the  other  nothing  like 
Maephenon's  version.— Ed.] 

s  I  Why  not  ?  All  the  evidence  goes  to  show  that  they 
"  the  bulk,  though,  perhaps,  not  the  spirit  of  the 

vol.  I.  69 


Long  Island,  where  he  lay  for  some  time  con- 
cealed. But  intelligence  having  been  obtained 
where  he  was,  and  a  number  of  troops  having 
come  in  quest  of  him,  it  became  absolutely 
necessary  for  him  to  quit  that  country  without 
delay.  Miss  Flora  Macdonald,  then  a  young 
lady,  animated  by  what  she  thought  the  sacred 
principle  of  loyalty,  offered,  with  the  magnanimity 
of  a  heroine,  to  accompany  him  in  an  open  boat 
to  Sky,  though  the  coast  they  were  to  quit  was 
guarded  by  ships.  lie  dressed  himself  in  women's 
clothes,  and  passed  as  her  supposed  maid,  by  the 
name  of  Betty  Bourke,  an  Irish  girl.  They  got 
off  undiscovered,  though  several  shots  were  fired 
to  bring  them  to,  and  landed  at  Mugstot, 
the  sent  of  Sir  Alexander  Macdonald.  Sir 
Alexander  was  then  at  Fort  Augustus,  with  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland;  but  his  lady  was  at  home. 
Prince  Charles  tome  his  post  upon  a  hill  near  the 
bouse.  Flora  Macdonald  waited  on  Lady  Marga- 
ret 3,  and  acquainted  her  of  the  enterprise  in  which 
she  was  engaged.  Her  ladyship,  whose  active 
benevolence  was  ever  seconded  by  superior  tal- 
ents, showed  a  perfect  presence  of  mind  and 
readiness  of  invention,  and  at  once  settled  that 
Prince  Charles  should  be  conducted  to  old  Rasay, 
who  was  himself  concealed  with  some  select 
friends.  The  plan  was  instantly  communicated 
to  Kingsburgh,  who  despatched  to  the  hill  to  in- 
form the  wanderer,  and  carry  him  refreshments. 
When  Kingsburgh  approached,  he  started  up, 
and  advanced,  holding  a  large  knotted  stie'e,  and 
in  appearance  ready  to  knock  him  down,  till  he 
said,  "  I  am  Macdonald.  of  Kingsburgh,  come  to 
serve  your  highness."  The  wanderer  answered, 
"  It  is  well,"  and  was  satisfied  with  the  plan. 

Flora  Macdonald  dined  with  Lady  Margaret,  at 
whose  table  there  sat  an  officer  of  the  army, 
stationed  here  with  a  party  of  soldiers,  to  watch 
for  Prince  Charles  in  case  of  his  flying  to  the 
Isle  of  Sky.  She  afterwards  often  laughed  in  good 
humour  with  this  gentleman,  on  her  having  so 
well  deceived  him.  ^" 

After  dinner,  Flora  Macdonald  on  horseback 
and  her  supposed  maid,  and  Kingsburgh,  with  a 
servant  carrying  some  linen,  all  on  foot,  proceeded 
towards  that  gentleman's  house.  Upon  the  road 
was  a  small  rivulet  which  they  were  obliged  to 
cross.  The  wanderer,  forgetting  his  assumed  sex, 
that  his  clothes  might  not  be  wet,  held  them  up  a 
great  deal  too  high.  Kingsburgh  mentioned  this 
to  him,  observing,  it  might  make  a  discovery.  He 
said  he  would  be  more  careful  Tor  the  future.  He 
was  as  good  as  his  word;  for  the  next  brook  they 
crossed,  he  did  not  hold  up  his  clothes  at  all,  but 
let  them  float  upon  the  water.     He  was  very 


s  [Though  her  husband  took  arms,  for  the  house  of 
Hanover,  she  was  suspected  of  being  an  ardent  Jacobite , 
and,  on  that  supposition,  Flora  Macdonald  guided  the 
Pretender  to  Mugstot.— Ed.J  [On  the  subject  of  Lady 
Margaret  Macdonald,  it  is  impossible  to  omit  an  anecdote 
which  does  much  honour  to  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales. 
By  some  chance  Lady  Margaret  had  been  presented  to 
the  Princess,  who,  when  she  learnt  what  share  she  has 
taken  in  the  Chevalier's  escape,  hastened  to  excuse  her- 
self to  the  prince,  and  explain  to  him  that  she  was  not 
aware  that  Lady  Margaret  was  the  person  who  had  bar 
boiured  the  fugitive.  The  Prince's  answer  was  noble: 
"  And  would  you  not  have  done  the  same,  madam,  hai 
he  come  to  you,  as  to  her,  In  distress  and  danger  f  I 
hope— I  am  sure  you  would ! n— Waltb  Scott.) 


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646 


APPENDIX. 


awkward  in  hk  female  drew.  His  size  was  bo 
large,  and  his  strides  so  great,  that  some  women 
whom  they  met  reported  that  they  had  seen  a 
Tory  big  woman,  who  looked  like  a  man  in 
woman's  clothes,  and  that  perhaps  it  was  (as 
they  expressed  themselves)  the  Prince,  after 
whom  so  much  search  was  making. 

At  Kingsbuigh  he  met  with  a  most  cordial  re- 
ception; seemed  gay  at  supper,  and  after  it  in- 
dolged  himself  in  a  cheerful  glass  with  his  worthy 
host  As  he  had  not  had  his  clothes  off  for  a 
long  time,  the  comfort  of  a  good  bed  was  highly 
relished  by  him,  and  he  slept  soundly  till  next  day 
at  one  o'clock. 

The  mistress  of  Corrichatachin  told  me,  that 
in  the  forenoon  she  went  into  her  father's  room, 
who  was  also  in  bed,  and  suggested  to  him  her 
apprehensions  that  a  party  %  the  military  might 
come  up,  and  that  his  guest  and  he  bad  better  not 
remain  here  too  long.  Her  father  said,  "  Let  the 
poor  man  repose  himself  after  his  fatigues;  and  as 
for  me,  I  care  not,  though  they  take  off  this  old 
gray  head  ten  or  eleven  years  sooner  than  I  should 
die  in  the  course  of  nature."  He  then  wrapped 
himself  in  the  bed-clothes, '  and  again  fell  fast 
asleep. 

On  the  afternoon  of  that  day,  the  wanderer, 
still  in  the  same  dress,  set  out  for  Portree,  with 
Flora  Macdonald  and  a  man-servant.  His  shoes 
being  very  bad,  Kingsburgh  provided  him  with 
a  new  pair,  and  taking  up  the  old  ones,  said,  "  I 
will  faithfully  keep  them  till  you  are  safely  settled 
at  St.  James's.  I  will  then  introduce  myself  by 
shaking  them  at  you,  to  put  you  in  mind  of  your 
mght's  entertainment  and  protection  under  my 
roof.'*  He  smiled,  and  said,  *«Be  as  good  as 
your  word !"  Kingsbttrgh  kept  the  shoes  as 
long  as  he  lived.  After  his  death,  a  zealous  Jaco- 
bite gentleman  gave  twenty  guineas  for  them. 

Old  Mrs.  Macdonald,  after  her  guest  had  left 
the  house,  took  the  sheets  in  which  he  had  lain, 
folded  them  carefully,  and  charged  her  daughter 
that  they  should  be  kept  unwashed,  and  that, 
when  she  died,  her  body  should  be  wrapped  in 
them  as  a  winding  sheet  Her  will  was  religious- 
ly observed. 

Upon  the  road  to  Portree,  Prince  Charles 
changed  his  dress,  and  put  on  man's  clothes 
again;  a  tartan  short  coat  and  waistcoat,  with 
philibeg  and  short  hose,  a  plaid,  and  a  wig  and 
bonnet. 

Mr.  Donald  M'Donald,  called  Donald  Roy, 
had  been  sent  express  to  the  present  Rasay,  then 
the  young  laird,  who  was  at  that  time  at  his  sis- 
ter's house,  about  three  miles  from  Portree,  at- 
tending his  brother,  Dr.  Maoleod,  who  was  recov- 
ering of  a  wound  he  had  received  at  the  battle 
of  Culloden.  Mr.  M( Donald  communicated  to 
young  Rasay  the  plan  of  conveying  the  wanderer 
to  where  old  Rasay  was  ;  but  was  told  that  old 
Rasay  had  fled  to  Knoidart,  a  part  of  Glengar- 
ry's estate.  There  was  then  a  dilemma  what 
should  be  done.  Donald  Roy  proposed  that  he 
should  conduct  the  wanderer  to  the  main  land  ; 
but  young  Rasay  thought  k  too  dangerous  at  that 
time,  and  said  it  would  be  better  to  conceal  him 
in  the  island  of  Rasay,  till  old  Rasay  could  be 
informed  where  he  was,  and  give  his  advice  what 
was  best    But  the  difficulty  was,  how  to  get  him 


to  Rasay.  They  could  not  trust  a  Portree  crew, 
and  all  the  Rasay  boats  had  been  destroyed,  sr 
carried  off  by  the  military,  except  two  belonging 
to  Malcolm  M'Leod,  which  he  had  concealed 
somewhere. 

Dr.  Macleod  being  informed  of  this  difficulty, 
said  he  would  risk  his  life  once  more  for  Prince 
Charles  ;  and  it  having  occurred,  that  there  was  a 
little  boat  upon  a  fresh  water  lake  in  the.  neigh- 
bourhood, young  Rasay  and  Dr.  Macleod,  wall 
the  help  of  some  women,  brought  it  to  the  sea,  by 
extraordinary  exertion,  across  a  Highland  mile  of 
land,  one  half  of  which  was  bog,  and  the  other  a 
steep  precipice. 

These  gallant  brothers,  with  the  assistance  of 
one  little  boy,  rowed  the  small  boat  to  Rasay, 
where  they  were  to  endeavour  to  find  Captain 
M'Leod,  as  Malcolm  was  then  called,  and  get  one 
of  his  good  boats,  with  which  they  might  return 
to  Portree,  and  receive  the  wanderer  ;  or,  in  case 
of  not  finding  him,  they  were  to  make  the  small 
boat  serve,  though  the  danger  was  considerable. 

Fortunately,  on  their  first  landing,  they  tbuad 
their  cousin  Malcolm,  who,  with  the  utmost  alae- 
rity,  got  ready  one  of  his  boats,  with  two  strong 
men,  John  M'Kenzie,  and  Donald  M4 Friar. 
Malcolm,  being  the  oldest  man,  and  most  cau- 
tions, said,  that  as  young  Rasay  had  not  hitherto 
appeared  in  the  unfortunate  business,  he  ought 
not  to  run  any  risk  ;  but  that  Dr.  Macleod  and  him- 
self, whq  were  already  public kly  engaged,  should 
go  on  this  expedition.  Young  Rasay  answered, 
with  an  oath,  that  he  would  go,  at  the  risk  of  hit 
life  and  fortune.  "In  God's  name  then,"  said 
Malcolm,  *'  let  us  proceed."  The  two  boatmen, 
however,  now  stopped  short,  till  they  should  be 
informed  of  their  destination;  and  M'Kenzie  de- 
clared he  would  not  move  an  oar  till  he  knew 
where  they  were  going.  Upon  which  they  were 
both  sworn  to  secrecy;  and  the  business  being 
imparted  to  them,  they  were  eager  to  put  off  to 
sea  without  loss  of  time.  The  boat  soon  landed 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  inn  at  Portree. 

All  this  was  negotiated  before  the  wanderer  got 
forward  to  Portree.  Malcolm  Macleod,  and 
M<  Friar,  were  despatched  to  look  for  him.  In  a 
short  time  he  appeared,  and  went  into  the  pnblick 
house.  Here  Donald  Roy,  whom  he  had  seen 
at  Mugstot,  received  him,  and  informed  him  of 
what  had  been  concerted.  He  wanted  silver  for 
a  guinea,  but  the  landlord  had  only  thirteen  soil- 
ings. He  was  going  to  accept  of  this  for  has 
guinea;  but  Donald  Roy  very  judiciously  ob- 
served, that  it  would  discover  him  to  be  some 
great  man;  so  he  desisted.  He  slipped  out  of 
the  house,  leaving  his  fair  protectress,  whom  he 
never  again  saw;  and  Malcolm  M'Leod  was  pre- 
sented to  him  by  Donald  Roy,  as  a  captain  hi 
his  army.  Young  Rasay  and  Dr.  Macleod  had 
waited,  in  impatient  anxiety,  in  the  boat  When 
he  came,  their  names  were  announced  to  him, 
He  would  not  permit  the  usual  ceremonies  of  re- 
spect, but  saluted  them  as  his  equals. 

Donald  Roy  staid  in  Sky,  to  be  in  readiness 
to  get  intelligence,  and  give  an  alarm  in  case  the 
troops  should  discover  the  retreat  to  Rasay;  and 
Prince  Charles  was  then  conveyed  in  a  boat  to 
that  island  in  the  night  He  slept  a  little  upon  the 
passage,  and  they  landed  about  daybreak.    That 


Digitized  by  LiOOQ IC 


APPENDIX 


I 


was  some  difficulty  in  accommodating  him  with  a 
lodging,  as  almost  all  the  houses  in  the  island  had 
been  burnt  by  the  soldiery.  They  repaired  to  a 
little  hat,  which  some  shepherds  bad  lately  built, 
and  having  prepared  it  as  well  as  they  could,  and 
made  a  bed  of  heath  for  the  stranger,  they  kind- 
led a  fire,  and  partook  of  some  provisions  which 
bad  been  sent  with  him  from  Kingsburgh.  It  was 
observed,  that  he  would  not  taste  wheat-bread,  or 
brandy,  while  oat-bread  and  whisky  lasted;  "  for 
these,"  said  he,  "  are  my  own  country  bread  and 
drink."  This  was  very  engaging  to  the  High- 
landers. 

Young  Rasay  being  the  only  person  of  the 
company  that  durst  appear  with  safety,  he  went 
in  quest  of  something  fresh  for  them  to  eat;  but 
though  be  was  amidst  his  own  cows,  sheep,  and 
coats,  he  could  not  venture  to  take  any  of  them 
lor  fear  of  a  discovery,  but  was  obliged  to  supply 
himself  by  stealth.  He  therefore  caught  a  kid, 
and  brought  it  to  the  but  in  his  plaid,  and  it  was 
killed  and  dressed,  and  furnished  them  a  meal 
which  they  relished  much.  The  distressed  wan- 
derer, whose  health  was  now  a  good  deal  impair- 
ed by  hunger,  fatigue,  and  watching,  slept  a  long 
time,  but  seemed  to  be  frequently  disturbed. 
Malcolm  told  me  he  would  start  from  broken 
slumbers,  and  speak  to  himself  in  different  lan- 
guages, French,  Italian,  and  English.  I  must 
however  acknowledge,  that  it  is  highly  probable 
that  my  worthy  friend  Malcolm  did  not  know 
precisely  the  difference  between  French  and  Ital- 
ian. One  of  his  expressions  in  English  was,  "  O 
God !  poor  Scotland." 

While  they  were  in  the  hut,  M'Kenzie  and 
M*  Friar,  the  two  boatmen,  were  placed  as  senti- 
nels upon  different  eminences;  and  one  day  an 
incident  happened,  which  must  not  be  omitted. 
There  was  a  man  wandering  about  the  island,  sell- 
ing tobacco.  Nobody  knew  him,  and  he  was  sus- 
pected to  be  a  spy.  M'Kenzie  came  running  to 
the  hut,  and  told  that  this  suspected  person  was 
approaching.  Upon  which  the  three  gentlemen, 
young  Rasay  y  Dr.  Macleod,  and  Malcolm,  held 
a  council  of  war  upon  him,  and  were  unanimous- 
ly of  opinion  that  he  should  instantly  be  put  to 
death.  Prince  Charles,  at  once  assuming  a  grave 
and  even  severe  countenance,  said,  "  God  forbid 
that  we  should  take  away  a  man's  life,  who  may 
be  innocent,  while  we  can  preserve  our  own." 
The  gentlemen  however  persisted  in  their  resolu- 
tion, while  he  as  strenuously  continued  to  take  the 
merciful  side.  John  M'Kenzie,  who  sat  watch- 
ing at  the  door  of  the  but,  and  overheard  the  de- 
bate, said  in  Erse, "  Well,  well;  he  must  be  shot. 
You  are  the  king,  but  we  are  the  parliament,  and 
will  do  what  we  choose."  Prince  Charles,  see- 
ing the  gentlemen  smile,  asked  what  the  man  had 
said,  and  being  told  it  in  English,  he  observed 
that  be  was  a  clever  fellow,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  perilous  situation  in  which  he  was,  laughed 
loud  and  heartily.  Luckily  tha  unknown  person 
did  not  perceive  that  there  were  people  in  the  hut, 
at  least  did  not  come  to  it,  but  walked  on  past  it, 
unknowing  of  his  risk.  It  was  afterwards  found 
out  that  he  was  one  of  the  Highland  army,  who 
was  himself  in  danger*  Had  he  come  to  them, 
they  were  resolved  to  despatch  him;  for,  as  Mal- 
colm said  to  me,  "  We  could  not  keep  him  with 


541 


us,  and  we  durst  not  let  him  go.  In  such  a  %.._ 
ation,  I  would  have  shot  my  brother,  if  I  had  not 
been  sure  of  him."  John  M'Kenzie  was  at  Ra- 
say's  house  when  we  were  there1.  About 
eighteen  years  before,  he  hurt  one  of  his  legs  when 
dancing,  and  being  obliged  to  have  it  cut  off,  he 
was  now  going  about  with  a  wooden  leg.  The 
story  of  his  being  a  member  of  parliament  is 
not  yet  forgotten.  I  took  him  out  a  little  way 
from  the  house,  gave  him  a  shilling  to  drink  ,JRa- 
say's  health,  and  led  him  into  a  detail  of  the 
particulars  which  I  have  just  related.  With  less 
foundation,  some  writers  have  traced  the  idea  of 
a  parliament,  and  of  the  British  constitution,  in 
rude  and  early  times.  I  was  curious  to  know  if 
he  had  really  heard,  or  understood,  any  thing  of 
that  subject,  which,  had  he  been  a  greater  man, 
would  probably  have  been  eagerly  maintained. 
"  Why,  John,"  said  I,  "  did  you  think  the  king 
should  be  controlled  by  a  parliament?"  He 
answered,  "  I  thought,  sir,  there  were  many  voices 
against  one." 

The  conversation  then  turning  on  the  times, 
the  wanderer  said,  that,  to  be  sure,  the  life*  he 
had  led  of  late  was  a  very  hard  one;  but  he 
would  rather  live  in  the  way  he  now  did,  for  ten 
years,  than  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 
The  gentlemen  asked  him,  what  he  thought  his 
enemies  would  do  with  him,  should  he  have  the 
misfortune  to  fall  into  their  hands.  He  said,  he 
did  not  believe  they  would  dare  to  take  his  life 
publickly,  but  he  dreaded  being  privately  de- 
stroyed by  poison  or  assassination.  He  was 
very  particular  in  his  inquiries  about  the  wound 
which  Dr.  Macleod  bad  received  at  the  battle  of. 
Culloden,- from  a  .ball  which  entered  at  one 
shoulder,  and  went  cross  to  the  other.  The  doc- 
tor happened  still  to  have  on  the  coat  Which  he 
wore  on  that  occasion.  He  mentioned,  that  he 
himself  had  his  horse  shot  under  him  at  Culloden; 
that  the  ball  hit  the  horse  about  two  inches  from 
his  knee,  and  made  him  so  unruly  that  he  was 
obliged  to  change  him  for  another.  He  threw 
out  some  reflections  on  the  conduct  of  the  disas- 
trous affair  at  Culloden,  saying,  however,  that 
perhaps  it  was  rash  in  him  to  do  so.  I  am  now 
convinced  that  his  suspicions  were  groundless ; 
for  I  have  had  a  good  deal  of  conversation  upon 
the  subject  with  my  very  worthy  and  ingenious 
friend,  Mr.  Andrew  Lumisden,  who  was  under 
secretary  to  Prince  Charles,  and  afterwards  prin- 
cipal secretary  to  his  father  at  Rome,  who,  he 
assured  me,  was  perfectly  satisfied  both  of  the 
abilities  and  honour  of  the  generals  who  command- 
ed the  Highland  army  on  that  occasion*  Mr. 
Lumisden  has  written  an  account  of  the  three  bat- 
tles in  1745-6,  at  once  accurate  and  classical. 
Talking  of  the  different  Highland  corps,  the  gen- 
tlemen who  were  present  wished  to  have  his 
opinion  which  were  the  best  soldiers.  He  said, 
he  did  not  like  comparisons  among  those  corps : 
they  were  all  best. 

He  told  bis  conductors,  be  did  not  think  it  ad- 
visable to  remain  long  in  any  one  place  ;  and 
that  be  expected  a  French  ship  to  come  for  him 
to  Lochbroom,  among  the  Mackenzie*.    It  then 


*  This  old  Scottish  member  of  parliament,  I  am  in- 
formed, ii  sttU  living  (1785).— Boswsll. 


Digitized  by  VJ 


obgle 


548 


APPENDIX. 


was  proposed  to  cany  him  in  one  of  Malcolm's 
boats  to  Lochbroom,  though  the  distance  was  fif- 
teen leagues  coastwise.  But  he  thought  this 
would  be  too  dangerous,  and  desired  that,  at  any 
rate,  they  might  first  endeavour  to  obtain  intelli- 
gence. Upon  which  young  Rasay  wrote  to  his 
friend,  Mr.  M'Kenzie  of  Applecross,  bnt  received 
an  answer,  that  there  was  no  appearance  of  any 
French  ship. 

It  was  therefore  resolved  that  they  should  re- 
turn to  Sky,  which  they  did,  and  landed  in  Strath, 
where  they  reposed  in  a  cow-house  belonging  to 
Mr.  Niccolson  of  Scorbreck.  The  sea  was  very 
rough,  and  the  boat  took  in  a  good  deal  of  water. 
The  wanderer  asked  if  there  was  danger,  as  he 
was  not  used  to  such  a  vessel.  Upon  being  told 
there  was  not,  he  sung  an  Erse  song  with  much 
vivacity.  He  had  by  this  time  acquired  a  good 
deal  of  the  Erse  language. 

Young  Rasay  was  now .  despatched  to  where 
Donald  Roy  was,  that  .they  might  get  all  the  in- 
telligence they  could;  and  the  wanderer,  with 
much  earnestness,  charged  Dr.  Macleod  to  have  a 
boat  ready,  at  a  certain  place  about  seven  miles 
off,  as  he  said  he  intended  it  should  carry  him 
upon  a  matter  of  great  consequence;  and  gavo  the 
doctor  a  case  ',  containing  a  silver  spoon,  knife, 
and  fork,  siying,  *«  Keep  you  that  till  I  see  you," 
which  the  doctor  understood  to  be  two  days  from 
that  time.  But  all  these  orders  were  only  blinds; 
for  he  had  another  plan  in  his  head,  but  wisely 
thought  it  safest  to  trust  his  secrets  to  no  more 
persons  than  was  absolutely  necessary.  Having 
then  desired  Malcolm  to  walk  with  him  a  little 
way  from  the  house,  he  soon  opened  his  mind, 
saying,  "  I  deliver  myself  to  you.  Conduct  me 
to  the  Laird  of  M'Kinnon's  country."  Malcolm 
objected  that  it  was  very,  dangerous,  as  so  many 
parties  of  soldiers  were  in  motion.  He  answered, 
"There  is  nothing  now  to  be  done  without 
danger.  "  He  then  said,  that  M alcolm  must  be  the 
master,  and  he  the  servant;  so  he  took  the  bag, 
in  which  his  linen  was  put  up,  and  carried  it  on  bis 
shoulder;  and  observing  that  his  waistcoat,  which 
was  of  scarlet  tartan,  with  a  gold  twist  button, 
was  finer  than  Malcolm's,  which  was  of  a  plain 
ordinary  tartan,  he  put  on  Malcolm's  waistcoat, 
and  gave  him  his;  remarking  at  the  same  time, 
that  it  did  not  look  well  that  the  servant  should  be 
better  dressed  than  the  master. 

Malcolm,  though  an  excellent  walker,  found 
himself  excelled  by  Prince  Charles,  who  told  him 
he  should  not  much  mind  the  parties  that  were 
looking  for  him,  were  he  once  but  a  musquet  shot 
from  them;  but  that  he  was  somewhat  afraid  of 
the  Highlanders  who  were  against  him.  He  was 
well  used  to  walking  in  Italy,  in  pursuit  of  game; 
and  he  was  even  now  so  keen  a  sportsman  that, 
having  observed  some  partridges,  he  was  going  to 
take  a  shot;  but  Malcolm  cautioned  him  against 
it,  observing  that  the  firing  might  be  heard  by  the 
tenders  who  were  hovering  upon  the  coast 

As  they  proceeded   through  the  mountains, 


I  pRie  case  with  the  silver  spoon,  knife,  and  fork, 
erven  by  the  Chevalier  to  Dr.  Macleod,  came  into  the 
handaof  Mary,  Lady  Clerk  of  Ppnnycuik,  who  intrusted 
|"V"5*  tbe  honorable  eommiesien  of  presenting  them, 
toiler  ledyehip'B  name,  to  his  present  majesty,  upon  his 
visit  to  Scotland— Walts*  Scott.) 


taking  many  a  circuit  to  avoid  any  houses,  Mal- 
colm, to  try  his  resolution,  asked  him  what  they 
should  do,  should  they  fall  in  with  a  party  of 
soldiers:  he  answered,  "  Fight,  to  be  sure !" 
Having  asked  Malcolm  if  he  should  be  known  in 
his  present  dress,  and  Malcolm  having  replied  he 
would,  he  said,  "  Then  I'll  blacken  my  face  win 
powder."  "That  (said  Malcolm)  would  &- 
cover  you  at  once."  "  Then  (said  he),  I  most 
be  pot  in  the  greatest  dishabille  possible."  80  he 
pulled  off  his  wig,  tied  a  handkerchief  round  ha 
head,  and  put  his  nightcap  over  H,  tore  the  raffles 
from  his  shirt,  took  the  buckles  out  of  his  shoes, 
and  made  Malcolm  fasten  them  with  strings;  hat 
still  Malcolm  thought  he  would  be  known.  «*  I 
have  so  odd  a  faCe  (said  he),  that  no  man  ever 
saw  me  but  he  would  know  me  again." 

He  seemed  unwilling  to  give  credit  to  the  horrid 
narrative  of  men  being  massacred  in  cold  blood, 
after  victory  had  declared  for  the  army  com- 
manded by  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  He  could 
not  allow  himself  to  think  that  a  general  could  be 
so  barbarous. 

When  they  came  within  two  miles  of  N'lua- 
non*8  house,  Malcolm  asked  if  he  chose  to  see  the 
laird.  "No  (said  he),  by  no  means.  I  know 
M'Kinnon  to  be  as  good  and  as  honest  a  man  as 
any  in  the  world,  but  he  is  not  fit  for  my  purpose 
at  present.  You  must  conduct  me  to  some  other 
house;  but  let  it  be  a  gentleman's  house."  Mal- 
colm, then  determined  that  they  should  go  to  the 
house  of  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  John  M'Kinnon, 
and  from  thence  be  conveyed  to  the  main  land  of 
Scotland,  and  claim  the  «ssistance  of  Macdonald 
of  Scothouse.  The  wanderer  at  first  objected  to 
this,  because  Scothouse  was  cousin  to  a  person  of 
whom  he  had  suspicions.  But  he  acquiesced  m 
Malcolm's  opinion. 

When  they  were  near  Mr.  .John  M'Kinnon's 
house,  they  met  a  man  of  the  name  of  Roes,  who 
had  been  a  private  soldier  in  the  Highland  army. 
He  fixed  his  eyes  steadily  on  the  wanderer  in  ha 
disguise,  and  having  at  one  recognized  him,  be 
clapped  his  hands,  and  exclaimed,  "  Alas  !  is  this 
the  case?"  Finding  that  there  was  now  a  dis- 
covery, Malcolm  asked  "  What's  to  be  done?" 
"Swear  him  to  secrecy,"  answered  Prince 
Charles.  Upon  which  Malcolm  drew  ha  dirk, 
and  on  the  naked  blade  made  him  take  a  solemn 
oath,  that  he  would  say  nothing  of  his  having  seen 
the  wanderer,  till  his  escape  should  be  made  pub- 
lick. 

Malcolm's  sister,  whose  house  they  reached 
pretty  early  in  the  morning,  asked  him  who  the  per- 
son was  that  was  along  with  him.  He  said  it  was 
one  Lewis  Caw,  from  Crieff,  who,  being  a  fugitive 
like  himself,  for  the  same  reason,  he  had  engaged 
him  as  his  servant,  but  that  he  had  fallen  sick. 
"Poor  man!  (said  she)  I  pity  him.  At  the  same 
time  my  heart  warms  to  a  man  of  his  appearance." 
Her  husband  was  gone  a  little  way  from  home; 
but  was  expected  every  minute  to  return.  She 
set  down  to  her  brother  a  plentiful  Highland 
breakfast  Prince  Charles  acted  the  servant  very 
well,  sitting  at  a  respectful  distance,  with  tot  bon- 
net off.  Malcolm  then  said  to  him,  «« Mr.  Caw, 
you  have  as  much  heed  of  this  as  I  have;  there  is 
enough  for  us  both:  you  had  better  draw  n 
and  share  with  me."'  Upon  which  he  rose,  1 


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a  proband  bow,  sat  down  at  table  with  his  sup- 
posed master,  and  ate  very  heartily.  After  this, 
there  came  in  an  old  woman,  who,  after  the  mode 
of  ancient  hospitality,  brought  warm  water  and 
washed  Malcolm's  feet  He  desired  her  to  wash 
the  feet  of  the  poor  man  who  attended  him.  She 
at  firgt  seemed  averse  to  this,  from  pride,  as  think- 
ing him  beneath  her,  and  in  the  periphrastick 
language  of  the  Highlanders  and  the  Irish,  said 
warmly,  "Though  I  wash  your  father's  son's 
feet,  why  should  I  wash  his  father's  son's  feet  ?" 
8he  was  however  persuaded  to  do  it 

They  then  went  to  bed,  and  slept  for  some 
time;  and  when  Malcolm  awaked,  he  was  told 
that  Mr.  John  M'Kinnon,  his  brother-in-law,  was 
in  sight  He  sprang  out  to  talk  to  him  before  he 
should  see  Prince  Charles.  After  saluting  him, 
Malcolm,  pointing  to  the  sea,  said,  "  What,  John, 
if  the  prince  should  be  prisoner  on  board  one  of 
those  tenders?"  "God  forbid!"  replied  John. 
"  What  if  we  had  him  bere  ?  "  said  Malcolm. 
**  I  wish  we  had,"  answered  John  ;  "  we  should 
take  care  of  him."  "  Well,  John,"  said  Mal- 
colm, "he  is  in  your  house."  John,  in  a  trans- 
port of  joy,  wanted  to  run  directly  in,  and  pay 
his  obeisance  ;  but  Malcolm  stopped  him,  saying, 
"  Now  is  your  time  to  behave  well,  and  do  noth- 
ing that  can  discover  him."  John  composed 
himself,  and  having  sent  away  all  his  servants 
upon  different  errands,  he  was  introduced  into  the 
presence  of  his  guest,  and  was  then  desired  to  go 
and  get  ready  a  boat  lying  near  his  bouse,  which, 
though  but  a  small  leaky  one,  they  resolved  to 
take,  rather  than  go  tq  the  Laird  of  M'Kinnon. 
John  M'Kinnon,  however,  thought  otherwise  ; 
and  upon  his  return  told  them,  that  his  chief  and 
Lady  M'Kinnon  were  coming  in  the  laird's  boat 
Prince  Charles  said  to  his  trusty  Malcolm,  "  I  am 
sorry  for  this,  but  must  make  the  best  of  it." 
M'Kinnon  then  walked  up  from  the  shore,  and 
did  homage  to  the  wanderer.  His  lady  waited  in 
a  cave,  to  which  they  all  repaired,  and  were  en- 
tertained with  cold  meat  and  wine.  Mr.  Malcolm 
M'Leod  being  now  superseded  by  the  Laird  of 
M'Kinnon,  desired  leave  to  return,  which  was 
granted  him,  and  Prince  Charles  wrote  a  short 
note,  which  he  subscribed  James  Thompson,  in- 
forming his  friends  that  he  had  got  away  from 
Sky,  and  thanking  them  for  their  kindness  ;  and 
he  desired  this  might  be  speedily  conveyed  to 
jonng  Rasay  and  Dr.  Macleod,  that  they  might 
not  wait  longer  in  expectation  of  seeing  him  again. 
He  bade  a  cordial  adieu  to  Malcolm,  and  insisted 
on  his  accepting  of  a  silver  stock-buckle,  and  ten 
guineas  from  ms  purse,  though,  as  Malcolm  told 
me,  it  did  not  appear  to  contain  above  forty. 
Malcolm  at  first  begged  to  be  excused,  saying, 
that  he  had  a  few  guineas  at  his  service;  but 
Prince  Charles  answered,  "  You  will  have  need 
of  money.  I  shall  get  enough  when  I  come  upon 
fh^  main  land." 

The  Laird  of  M'Kinnon  then  conveyed  him  to 
the  opposite  coast  of  Knoidart  Old  Rasay,  to 
whom  intelligence  had  been  sent,  was  crossing  at 
the  same  time  ft>  Sky^ut  as  they  did  not  know 
of  each  other,  and  each  bad  apprehensions,  the 
two  boats  kept  aloof.* 

These  are  the  particulars  which  I  have  collect- 
ed concerning  the  extaaordmary  concealment  and 


escapes  of  Prince  Charles,  in  the  Hebrides.  He 
was  often  in  imminent  danger.  The  troops  traced 
him  from  the  Long  Island,  across  Sky,  to  Portree, 
but  there  lost  him. 

Here  I  stop, — having  received  no  farther  au- 
thentic information  of  his  fatigues  and  perils  be- 
fore he  escaped  to  France.  Kings  and  subjects 
may  both  take  a  lesson  of  moderation  from  the 
melancholy  fate  of  the  house  of  Stuart;  that  kings 
may  not  suffer  degradation  and  exile,  and  subjects 
may  not  be  harassed  by  the  evils  of  a  disputed 
succession. 

Let  me  close  the  scene  on  that  unfortunate 
house  with  the  elegant  and  pathetick  reflections 
of  Voltaire,  in  his  Histoire  Generate. 

"  Que  les  hommes  prives  (Bays  that  brilliant 
writer,  speaking  of  Prince  Charles)  qui  se  croyent 
malheureux,  jettent  les  yeux  sur  ce  prince  et  ses 
ancetres." 

In  another  place  he  thus  sums  up  the  sad  story 
of  the  family  in  general: 

"  II  n'y  a  aucun  exemple  dans  l'histoire  d'une 
maison  si  long  terns  infortunde.  Le  premier  des 
Rob  d'Ecosse,  qui  eut  le  nom  de  Jacques,  apres 
avoir  6te  dix-hnit  ana  prisonnier  en  Angleterre, 
mouiut  assassine,  avec  sa  femme,  par  la  main  de 
ses  sujets.  Jacques  II.  son  fils,  fut  tue  a  vingt- 
neuf  ans  en  combattant  contre  les  Aoglois.  Jac- 
ques III.  mis  un  prison  par  son  peuple,  fut  tue 
ensuite  par  les  revolts,  dans  une  bataiile.  Jac- 
ques IV.  p£rit  dans  un  combat  qu'il  perdit  Marie 
Stuart,  sa  petite  fille,  chassee,  de  son  trone,  fugi- 
tive en  Angleterre,  ayant  lacngui  dix-huit  ans  en 
prison,  se  vit  condamnee  a  mort  par  des  juges 
Aoglois,  et  eut  la  tete  tranchee.  Charles  I.  petit 
fils  de  Marie,  Roi  d'Ecosse  et  d'Angleterre,  vendu 
par  les  Ecossois,  et  juge  a  mort  par  les  Anglais, 
mourut  sur  un  Ichaffaut  dans  la  place  pubhque. 
Jacques,  son  fils,  septi£me  du  nom,  et  deuxidme 
en  Angleterre,  rat  chass6  de  ses  trois  royaumes  ; 
et  pour  comble  de  malheur  on  contesta  a  son  fits 
sa  naissance  ;  le  fils  ne  tenta  de  remonter  sur  le 
trone  de  ces  pdres,  que  pour  faire  perir  ses  amis 
par  des  bourreaux  ;  et  nous  avons  vu  le  Prince 
Charles  Edouard,  reunissant  en  vain  les  vertus  de 
ses  peres,  et  le  courage  du  Roy  Jean  Sobieski, 
son  ayeul  maternel,  executor  les  exploits  et  es- 
suyer  les  malheurs  les  plus  incroyables.  Si 
quelque  chose  justifie  ceux  qui  croyent  une  fatal- 
its  a  laquelle  rien  ne  pent  se  soustraire,  c'est  cette 
suite  continuelle  de  malheurs  qui  a  persecute  la 
maison  de  Stuart,  pendant  plus  de  troiscent  an- 
nees." 

[The  foregoing  account  is  by  no  means  so  full, 
or  so  curious,  as  might  have  been  expected  from 
Mr.  Bosweli's  activity  of  inquiry,  and  his  means 
of  information.  It  relates  only  to  a  few  days  of 
the  Pretender's  adventures,  which,  however,  last- 
ed five  months.  Even  of  Miss  Flora  Macdonald 
it  tells  less  than  had  been  already  in  print  forty 
years  before  Mr.  Bosweli's  publication.  It  does 
not  say  who  she  was,  aor  when  she  met  the 
prince,  nor  why  she  was  selected  or  induced  to 
interfere,  and,  in  short,  teHs  as  little  as  possible  of 
her  personal  share  in  the  events.  We  should 
particularly  have  liked  to  know,  from  her  own 
report,  the  particulars  of  her  examination  and  re- 


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APPENDIX. 


caption  in  London.  Hie  reader  who  may  be  cu- 
now  to  know  more  of  the  details  of  the  Preten- 
der's escape  will  find  them  in  the  Gent,  Mag. 
for  1747,  p.  531,  638  ;  in  the  little  volume  before 
referred  to,  called  Ascanius  ;  and  in  &  journal 
in  the  second  volume  of  the  Lockkart  Papers. 
—Ed,] 


No.  XIII. 

[Aegumbnt  against  Dr.  Memis's  com- 
plaint that  he  was  styled  "  doctor  of  medi- 
cine "  instead  of  "physician," — referred  to 
in  p.  529.] 

"  There  are  bnt  two  reasons  for  which  a  phy- 
sician can  decline  the  title  of  doctor  of  medicine 
— because  he  supposes  himself  disgraced  by  the 
doctorship,  or  supposes  the  doctorship  disgraced 
by  himself.  To  be  disgraced  by  a  title  which  he 
shares  in  common  with  every  illustrious  name  of 
his  profession,  with  Boerhaave,  with  Arbuthnot, 
and  with  Cullen,  can  surely  diminish  no  man's 
reputation.  It  is,  I  suppose,  to  the  doctorate, 
from  which  he  shrinks,  that  he  owes  his  right  of 
practising  physick.  A  doctor  of  medicine  is  a 
physician  under  the  protection  of  the  laws,  and 
by  the  stamp  of  authority.  The  physician  who 
is  not  a  doctor  usurps  a  profession,  and  is  author- 
ised only  by  himself  to  decide  upon  health  and 
sickness,  and  life  and  death.  That  this  gentleman 
is  a  doctor,  his  diploma  makes  evident;  a  diploma 
not  obtruded  upon  him,  but  obtained  by  solicita- 
tion, and  for  which  fees  were  paid.  With  what 
countenance  any  man  can  refuse  the  title  which 
he  has  either  begged  or  bought,  is  not  easily  dis- 
covered. 

"  All  verbal  injury  must  comprise  -in  it  either 
some  false  position,  or  some  unnecessary  declara- 
tion of  defamatory  truth.  That  in  calling  him 
doctor,  a  false  appellation  was  given  him,  he 
himself  will  not  pretend,  who  at  the  same  time 
that  he  complains  of  the  title  would  be  offended  if 
we  supposed  him  to  be  not  a  doctor.  If  the  title  of 
doctor  be  a  defamatory  truth,  it  is  time  to  dissolve 
our  colleges;  for  why  should  the  publick  give  sal- 
aries to  men  whose  approbation  is  reproach  ?  It 
may  likewise  deserve  the  notice  of  the  publick  to 
consider  what  help  can  be  given  to  the  professors 
of  physick,  who  all  share  with  this  unhappy  gen- 
tleman the  ignominious  appellation,  and  of  whom 
the  very  boys  in  the  street  are  not  afraid  to  say, 
There  goes  the  doctor. 

"  What  is  implied  by  the  term  doctor  is  well 
known.  It  distinguishes  him  to  whom  it  is  grant- 
ed, as  a  man  who  has  attained  such  knowledge 
of1  his  profession  as  qualifies  him  to  instruct  others. 
A  doctor  of  laws  is  a  man  who  can  form  law- 
yers by  his  precepts.  A  doctor  of  medicine  is  a 
man  who  can  teach  the  art  of  curing  diseases. 
This  is  an  old  axiom  which  no  man  has  yet 
thought  fit  to  deng.  JVtl  dot  quod  non  habet. 
Upon  this  principle,  to  be  doctor  implies  skill,  for 
nemo  dotet  quod  non  didicit.  In  England, 
whoever  practises  physick,  not  being  a  doctor, 
must  practise  by  a  license;  but  the  doctorate 
conveys  a  license  in  itself. 

"  By  what  accident  it  happened  that  he  and 


the  other  physicians  were  mentioned  in  deferent 
terms,  where  the  terms  themselves  were  exroivav 
alent,  or  where  m  effect  that  which  was  applied 
to  him  was  the  most  honourable,  perhaps  they 
who  wrote  the  paper  cannot  now  remember. 
Had  they  expected  a  lawsuit  to  have  been  the 
consequence  of  such  petty  variation,  I  hope  they 
would  have  avoided  it  >.  But,  probably,  as  they 
meant  no  ill,  they  suspected  no  danger,  and, 
therefore,  consulted  only  what  appeared  to  them 
propriety  or  convenience." 


*  No.  XIV. 

[Argument  in  favour  of  the  Corporation 
of  Stirling, — referred  to  in  page  529.] 

"  There  is  a  difference  between  majority  and 
superiority ;  majority  is  applied  to  number,  and 
superiority  to  power;  and  power,  like  many 
other  things,  is  to  be  estimated  non  numero  ted 
ponder e.  Now  though  the  greater  number  is 
not  corrupt,  the  greater  weight  is  corrupt  so  that 
corruption  predominates  in  the  borough,  taken 
collectively,  though,  perhaps,  taken  numerical- 
ly, the  greater  part  may  be  uncorrupt.  That  bor- 
ough, which  is  so  constituted  as  to  act  corruptly, 
is  in  the  eye  of  reason  corrupt,  whether  it  be  by 
the  uncontrollable  power  of  a  few,  or  by  an  acci- 
cidental  pravity  of  the  multitude.  The  objection, 
in  which  is  urged  the  injustice  of  making  the  in- 
nocent suffer  with  the  guilty,  is  an  objection  not 
only  against  society,  but  against  the  possibility  of 
society.  All  societies,  great  and  small,  subsist 
upon  this  condition;  that  as  the  individuals  de- 
rive advantages  from  union,  they  may  likewise 
suffer  inconveniences;  that  as  those  who  do  no- 
thing, and  sometimes  those  who  do  ill,  will  hare 
the  honours  and  emoluments  of  general  virtue  and 
general  prosperity,  so  those  likewise  who  do  no- 
thing, or  perhaps  do  well,  must  be  involved  in  the 
consequences  of  predominant  corruption." 


No.  XV. 

[Da.  Johnson's  Letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale, 
ffiving  an  Account  of  the  Journey  to  the 
Hebrides. 

As  these  letters  have  been  thought  the 
best  Dr.  Johnson  ever  wrote,  and  been  by 
some  persons  preferred  even  to  Ms  elabo- 
rate account  of  the  "  Journey,"  it  is 
thought  that  they  will  be  acceptable  to  the 
reader  in  this  place,  as  they  could  not  have 
been  introduced  into  the  text.] 

"  12th  August,  177S. 
"  We  left  London  on  Friday,  the  6th,  not  very 
early,  and  travelled  without  any  memorable  acci- 
dent through  a  country  which  I  had  seen  before. 
In  the  evening  I  was  not  well,  and  was  forced  to 
stop  at  Stilton,  one  stage  short  of  Stamford,  where 
we  intended  to  have  lodged. 

*  In  justice  to  Dr.  MemJs,  tbough  I  was  against  hiss 
as  an  advocate,  I  must  mention,  that  he  objected  to  the 
variation  very  earnestly,  before  the  translation  was 
printed  off. 


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APPENDIX. 


551 


««  On  the  Tlh,  we  pawed  through  Stamford  and 
Grantham,  and  dined  at  Newark,  where  I  had 
only  time  to  observe  that  the  market  place  was 
uncommonly  spacious  and  neat  In  London  we 
should  call  it  a  square,  though  the  sides  were 
neither  straight  nor  parallel.  We  came  at  night 
to  Doncaster,  and  went  to  church  in  the  morning, 
where  Chambers  found  the  monument  of  Robert 
of  Doncaster,  who  says  on  his  stone  something 
like  this:  'What  I  gave,  that  I  have;  what  I 
spent,  that  I  had;  what  I  left,  that  I  lost.*  So 
aaith  Robert  of  Doncaster,  who  reigned  in  the 
world  sixty-seven  years,  and  all  that  time  lived 
not  one.  Here  we  were  invited  to  dinner,  and 
therefore  made  no  great  haste  away. 

"  We  reached  York  however  that  night  I 
was  much  disordered  with  old  complaints.  Next 
morning  we  saw  the  Minster,  an  edifice  of  lofti- 
ness and  elegance  equal  to  the  highest  hopes  of 
architecture.  I  remember  nothing  but  the  dome 
of  St  Paul's  that  can  be  compared  with  the  mid- 
dle walk.  The  Chapter-house  is  a  circular  build- 
ing, very  stately,  but  I  think  excelled  by  the 
Chapter-house  of  Lincoln. 

"  I  then  went  to  see  the  ruins  of  the  Abbey, 
which  are  almost  vanished,  and  I  remember  noth- 
ing of  them  distinct. 

"  The  next  visit  was  to  the  jail,  which  they 
call  the  castle;  a  fabrick  built  lately,  such  is  ter- 
restrial mutability,  out  of  the  materials  of  the 
mined  abbey.  The  under  jailor  was  very  officious 
to  show  his  fetters,  in  which  there  was  no  con- 
trivance. The  head  jailor  came  in,  and  seeing 
me  look  1  suppose  fatigued,  offered  me  wine, 
and  when  I  went  away  would  not  suffer  his  ser- 
vant to  take  money.  The  jail  is  accounted  the 
best  in  the  kingdom,  and  you  find  the  jailor  de- 
serving of  his  dignity. 

"  We  dined  at  York,  and  went  on  to  Northal- 
lerton, a  place  of  which  I  know  nothing,  but 
that  it  afforded  us  a  lodging  on  Monday  night,  and 
about  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  ago  gave 
birth  to  Roger  Ascham. 

"  Next  morning  we  changed  our  hones  at 
Darlington,  where  Mr.  Cornelius  Harrison,  a 
cousin-german  of  mine,  was  perpetual  curate. 
He  was  the  only  one  of  my  relations  who  ever 
rose  in  fortune  above  penury,  or  in  character 
above  neglect 

"  The  church  is  built  crosswise,  with  a  fine 
spire,  and  might  invite  a  traveller  to  survey  it, 
but  I  perhaps  wanted  vigour,  and  thought  I  want- 
ed time. 

"The  next  stage  brought  us  to  Durham,  a 
place  of  which  Mr.  Thrale  bade  me  take  particular 
notice.  The  bishop's  palace  has  the  appearance 
of  an  old  feudal  castle  built  upon  an  eminence, 
and  looking  down  upon  the  river,  upon  which 
was  formerly  thrown  a  draw-bridge,  as  I  supposed, 
to  be  raised  at  night,  lest  the  Scots  should  pass  it 

"The  cathedral  has  a  massiness  and  solidity 
each  as  I  have  seen  in  no  other  place;  it  rather 
awes  than  pleases,  as  it  strikes  with  a  kind  of  gi- 
gantick  dignity,  and  aspires  to  no  other  praise 
than  that  of  rocky  solidity  and  indeterminate  du- 
ration. I  had  none  of  my  friends  resident,  and 
therefore  saw  but  little.  The  library  is  mean  and 
•canty. 


"  At  Durham,  beside  all  expectation,  I  met  an 
old  friend  :  Miss  Fordyce  is  married  there  to  a 
physician.  We  met,  I  think,  with  honest  kind* 
ness  on  both  sides.  I  thought  her  much  decayed, 
and  having  since  heard  that  the  banker  had  in- 
volved her  husband  in  his  extensive  ruin,  I  can- 
not forbear  to  think  that  I  saw  in  her  withered 
features  more  impression  of  sorrow  than  of  time. 

*'  Qua  terra  patet,  (bra  regnat  Erinnya. 

—Ovid,  Met.  1.  241. 

"  He  that  wanders  about  the  world  sees  new 
forms  of  human  misery,  and  if  he  cnances  to  meet 
an  old  friend,  meets  a  face  darkened  with  troubles. 

"  On  Tuesday  night  we  came  hither;  yester- 
day I  took  some  care  of  myself,  and  to-day  I  am 
quite  polite.  I  have  been  taking  a  view  of  all 
that  could  be  shown  me,  and  find  that  all  very 
near  to  nothing.  You  have  often  heard  me  com- 
plain of  finding  myself  disappointed  by  books  of 
travels;  I  am  afraid  travel  itself  will  end  likewise 
in  disappointment  One  town,  one  country,  is 
very  like  another.  Civilized  nations  have  the 
same  customs,  and  barbarous  nations  have  the 
same  nature.  There  are  indeed  minute  discrimi- 
nations both  of  places  and  of  manners,  which, 
perhaps,  are  not  wanting  of  curiosity,  but  which  & 
traveller  seldom  stays  long  enough  to  investigate 
and  compare.  The  dull  utterly  neglect  them,  the 
acute  see  a  little,  and  supply  the  rest  with  fancy 
and  conjecture. 

"  I  shall  set  out  again  to-morrow,  but  I  shall 
not,  I  am  afraid,  see  Alnwick,  for  Dr.  Percy  ia 
not  there.  I  hope  to  lodge  to-morrow  night  at 
Berwick,  and  the  next  at  Edinburgh,  where  I 
shall  direct  Mr.  Drummond,  bookseller  at  Ossian's- 
head,  to  take  care  of  my  letters. 

« 15th  August 

"  Thus  far  I  had  written  at  Newcastle.  I  for- 
got to  send  it  I  am  now  at  Edinburgh;  and 
have  been  this  day  running  afcout  I  run  pretty 
well." 

"  Edinburgh,  17th  August,  1773. 

"  On  the  18th  I  left  Newcastle,  and  in  the  af- 
ternoon came  to  Alnwick,  where  we  were  treated 
with  great  civility  by  the  duke.  I  went  through 
the  apartments,  walked  on  the  wall,  and  climbed 
the  towers.  That  night  we  lay  at  Belford,  and 
on  the  next  night  came  to  Edinburgh.  On  Sun- 
day (15th)  I  went  to  the  English  chapel.  After 
dinner,  Dr.  Robertson  came  in,  and  promised  to 
show  me  the  place.  On  Monday,  I  saw  their 
public  buildings.  The  cathedral,  which  I  told 
Robertson  I  wished  to  see  because  it  had  once 
been  a  church,  the  courts  of  justice,  the  parlia- 
ment-house, the  advocate's  library,  the  repository 
of  records,  the  college  and  its  library,  and  the 
palace,  particularly  the  old  tower  where  the  king 
of  Scotland  seized  David  Rizzio  in  the  queen's 
presence.  Most  of  their  buildings  are  very  mean  ; 
and  the  whole  town  bears  some  resemblance  to 
the  old  part  of  Birmingham. 

"Boswell  has  very  handsome  and  spacious 
rooms  ;  level  with  the  ground  on  one  side  of  the 
house,  and  on  the  other  four  stories  high. 

"  At  dinner  on  Monday  were  the  Duchess  of 
Douglas,  an  old  lady  who  talks  broad  Scotch  with 
a  paralytick  voice,  and  m  scarce  understood  by 


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APPENDIX. 


her  own  countrymen;  the  Lord  Chief  Baron,  Sir 
Adolphus  Oughton,  and  many  more.  At  sapper 
there  was  sribfa  a  conflux  of  company  that  I  could 
scarcely  support  the  tumult  I  have  never  been 
well  in  the  whole  journey,  and  am  very  easily 
disordered. 

"  This  morning  I  saw  at  breakfast  Dr.  Black- 
lock,  the  blind  poet,  who  does  not  remember  to 
have  seen  light,  and  is  read  to  by  a  poor  scholar 
in  Latin,  Greek,  and  French.  He  was  originally 
a  poor  scholar  himself.  I  looked  on  him  with 
reverence.  To-morrow  our  journey  begins:  I 
know  not  .when  I  shall  write  again.  I  am  but 
poorly." 

M  BamflT,  25th  August,  1773. 

"  August  18th,  I  passed  with  Boswell  the  Frith 
of  Forth,  and  began  our  journey.  In  the  passage 
we  observed  an  island,  which  I  persuaded  my 
companions  to  survey.  We  found  it  a  rock  some- 
what troublesome  to  climb,  about  a  mile  long, 
and  half  a  mile  broad.  In  the  middle  were  the 
ruins  of  an  old  fort,  which  had  on  one  of  the 
stones,  *  Marie-Re.  1564.'  It  had  been  only  a 
block-house  one  story  hign.  I  measured  two  apart- 
ments, of  which  the  walls  were  entire,  and  found 
them  twenty-seven  feet  long,  and  twenty-three 
broad.  The  rock  had  some  grass  and  many 
thistles;  both  cows  and  sheep  were  grazing. 
There  was  a  spring  of  water.  The  name  is  Inch- 
keith.  Look  on  your  maps.  This  visit  took  about 
an  hoar.  We  pleased  ourselves  with  being  in  a 
country  all  our  own,  and  then  went  back  to  the 
boat,  and  landed  at  Kinghorn,  a  mean  town;  and 
travelling  through  Kirkaldie,  a  very  long  town 
meanly  built,  and  Cowpar,  which  I  could  not  see 
because  it  was  night,  we  came  late  to  St.  An- 
drew's, the  most  ancient  of  the  Scotch  universities, 
and  once  the  see  of  the  primate  of  Scotland.  The 
inn  was  full,  but  lodgings  were  provided  for  us  at 
the  house  of  the  professor  of  rhetorick,  a  man  of 
elegant  manners,  who  showed  us  in  the  mOrning 
the  poor  remains  of  a  stately  cathedral,  demolished 
in  Knox's  reformation,  and  now  only  to  be  imaged 
by  tracing  its  foundation,  and  contemplating  the 
little  ruins  that  are  left.  Here  was  once  a  reli- 
gious house.  Two  of  the  vaults  or  cellars  of  the 
sub-prior  are  even  yet  entire.  In  one  of  them 
lives  an  old  woman,  who  claims  an  hereditary 
residence  in  it,  boasting  that  her  husband  was  the 
sixth  tenant  of  this  gloomy  mansion,  in  a  lineal 
descent,  and  claims  by  her  marriage  with  this  lord 
of  the  cavern  an  alliance  with  the  Braces.  Mr. 
Boswell  stayed  awhile  to  interrogate  her,  because 
he  understood  her  language.  She  told  him,  that 
she  and  her  cat  lived  together;  that  she  had  two 
sons  somewhere,  who  might  perhaps  be  dead; 
that  when  there  were  quality  in  the  town,  notice 
was  taken  of  her,  and  that  now  she  was  neglected, 
but  did  not  trouble  them.  Her  habitation  con- 
tained all  that  she  had;  her  turf  for  fire  was  laid 
in  one  place,  and  her  balls  of  coal  dust  in  another, 
but  her  bed  seemed  to  be  clean.  Boswell  asked 
her  if  she  never  heard  any  noises,  but  she  could 
tell  him  of  nothing  supernatural,  though  she  often 
wandered  in  the  night  among  the  graves  and  ruins, 
only  she  bad  sometimes  notice  by  dreams  of  the 
death  of  her  relations.  We  then  viewed  the  re- 
i  of  a  castle  on  the  margin  of  the  sea,  in 


which  the  archbishops  resided,  and  la 
Cardinal  Beatoun  was  killed. 

"  The  professors  who  happened  to  be  i 
in  the  vacation  made  a  public  dinner,  and  treated 
us  very  kindly  and  respectfully.  They  showed  m 
their  colleges,  in  one  of  which  there  is  a  library 
that  for  InminouaneaB  and  elegance  may  vie  at 
least  with  the  new  edifice  at  8treatham.  Bat 
learning  seems  not  to  prosper  among  them;  one 
of  their  colleges  has  been  lately  alienated,  and  one 
of  their  churches  lately  deserted.  An  experiment 
was  made  of  planting  a  shrubbery  in  the  chereh, 
but  it  did  not  thrive. 

<c  Why  the  place  should  tnas  fall  to  decay  I 
know  not;  for  education,  such  as  is  here  to  be 
had,  is  sufficiently  cheap.  Their  term,  or  as  they 
call  it  their  session,  lasts  seven  months  in  the  year, 
which  the  students  of  the  highest  rank  and  greatest 
expense  may  pass  here  for  twenty  pounds;  in 
which  are  included  board,  lodging,  books,  and  the 
continual  instruction  of  three  professors. 

"  20th.  We  left  St.  Andrew's,  well  satisfied 
with  our  reception,  and  crossing  the  Frith  of  Tay 
came  to  Dundee,  a  dirty,  despicable  town.  We 
passed  afterwards  through  Aberbrothwick,  famous 
once  for  an  abbey,  of  which  there  are  only  a  few 
fragments  left ;  but  those  fragments  testify  that 
the  fabricfc  was  once  of  great  extent,  and  of 
stupendous  magnificence.  Two  of  the  towers  are 
yet  standing,  though  shattered;  into  one  of  them 
Boswell  climbed,  but  found  the  stain  broken:  the 
way  into  the  other  we  did  not  see,  and  had  not 
time  to  search;  I  believe  it  might  be  ascended, 
but  the  top  I  think  is  open. 

"  We  lay  at  Montrose,  a  neat  place,  wHh  a 
spacious  area  for  the  market,  and  an  elegant  to wn- 
house. 

"  21st.  We  travelled  towards  Aberdeen, 
another  university,  and  in  the  way  dined  at  Lord 
Monboddo's,  the  Scotch  judge,  who  has  lately 
written  a  strange  book  about  the  origin  of  language, 
in  which  he  traces  monkeys  up  to  men,  and  says 
that  in  some  countries  the  human  species  have 
tails  like  other  beasts.  He  inquired  for  these  long- 
tailed  men  of  Banks,  and  was  not  well  pleased 
that  they  had  not  been  found  in  all  his  peregrina- 
tion. He  talked  nothing  of  this  to  me,  and  I  hope 
we  parted  friends;  for  we  agreed  pretty  well,  only 
we  disputed  in  adjusting  the  claims  of  merit  be- 
tween a  shopkeeper  of  London  and  a  savage  of 
the  American  wildernesses.  Our  opinions  were, 
I  think,  maintained  on  both  sides  without  full  con- 
viction. Monboddo  declared  boldly  for  the 
savage,  and  I,  perhaps  for  that  reason,  sided  with 
the  citizen. 

"  We  came*  late  to  Aberdeen,  where  I 
found  my  dear  mistress's  letter;  and  learned  that 
all  our  little  people  were  happily  recovered  of  the 
measles.  Every  part  of  your  letter  was  pleas- 
ing. 

"  There  are  two  cities  of  the  name  of  Aberdeen. 
The  old  town,  built  about  a  mile  inland,  once  the 
see  of  a  bishop,  which  contains  the  King's  college 
and  the  remains  of  the  cathedral,  and  the  aew 
town,  which  stands  for  the  sake  of  trade 
frith  or  arm  of  the  sea,  so  that  ships  rest 
the  key. 

41  The  two  cities  have  their  separate  iiwgialratwa, 


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APPENDIX. 


663 


and  the  two  colleges  are  in  effect  two  universities, 
which  confer  degrees  on  each  other. 

"  New  Aberdeen  is  a  large  town,  built  almost 
wholly  of  that  granite  which  is  used  for  the  new 
pavement  in  London,  which,  hard  as  it  is,  they 
square  with  very  little  difficulty.  Here  I  first  saw 
the  women  in  plaids.  The  plaid  makes  at  once  a 
hood  and  cloak,  without  cutting  or  sewing,  mere- 
ly by  the  manner  of  drawing  the  opposite  sides 
over  the  shoulders.  The  maids  at  the  inns  run 
over  the  house  barefoot,  and  children,  not  dressed 
in  rags,  go  without  shoes  or  stockings.  Shoes  are 
indeed  not  yet  in  universal  use;  they  came  late 
into  this  country.  One  of  the  professors  told  us, 
as  we  were  mentioning  a  fort  built  by  Cromwell, 
that  the  country  owed  much  of  its  present  industry 
to  Cromwell's  soldiers.  They  taught  us,  said  he, 
to  raise  cabbage  and  make  shoes.  How  they  lived 
without  shoes  may  yet  be  seen ;  bat  in  the  passage 
through  villages,  it  seems  to  him  that  surveys  their 
gardens  that  when  they  had  not  cabbage  they  had 
nothing. 

"  Education  is  here  of  the  same  price  as  at  St 
Andrew's,  only  the  session  is  but  from  the  1st  of 
November  to  the  1st  of  April.  The  academical 
buildings  seem  rather  to  advance  than  decline. 
They  showed  their  libraries,  which  were  not  very 
splendid;  but  some  manuscripts  were  so  exquisite- 
ly penned,  that  I  wished  my  dear  mistress  to  have 
seen  them.  I  had  an  unexpected  pleasure,  by 
finding  an  old  acquaintance  now  professor  of 
physick  in  the  King's  college.  We  were  on  both 
sides  glad  of  the  interview,  having  not  seen  nor 
perhaps  thought  on  one  another  for  many  years; 
but  we  had  no  emulation,  nor  had  either  of  us 
risen  to  the  other's  envy,  and  our  old  kindness 
was  easily  renewed.  I  hope  we  shall  never  try 
the  effect  of  so  long  an  absence." 

"  Inverness,  28th  Aug.,  1773. 

"  August  23d.  I  had  the  honour  of  attending 
the  Lord  Provost  of  Aberdeen,  and  was  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  the  city,  not  in  a  gold  box, 
but  in  good  Latin.  Let  me  pay  Scotland  one  just' 
praise!  There  was  no  officer  gaping  for  a  fee. 
This  could  have  been  said  of  no  city  on  the 
English  side  of  the  Tweed.  I  wore  my  patent  of 
freedom  pro  more  in  my  hat,  from  the  new  town 
to  the  old,  about  a  mile.  I  then  dined  with  my 
friend  the  professor  of  physick  at  his  house,  and 
saw  the  King's  college.  Boswell  was  very 
angry  that  the  Aberdeen  professors  would  not  talk. 
When  I  was  at  the  English  church  in  Aberdeen  I 
happened  to  be  espied  by  Lady  Di.  Middleton, 
whom  I  had  some  time  seen  in  London.  She 
told  what  she  had  seen  to  Mr.  Boyd,  Lord  Errol's 
brother,  who  wrote  us  an  invitation  to  Lord 
Errors  house,  called  Slane's  Castle.  We  went 
thither  on  the  next  day  (24th  of  August),  and 
found  a  house,  not  old,  except  but  one  tower, 
built  upon  the  margin  of  the  sea  upon  a  rock, 
scarce  accessible  from  the  sea.  At  one  corner  a 
tower  makes  a  perpendicular  continuation  of  the 
lateral  surface  of  the  rock,  so  that  it  is  impractica- 
ble to  walk  round :  the  house  inclosed  a  sauare 
court,  and  on  all  aides  within  the  court  is  a  piazza 
or  gallery  two  stories  high.  We  came  in  as  we 
were  invited  to  dinner,  and  after  dinner  offered  to 
fo;  but  Lady  Errol  sent  us  word  by  Mr-  Boyd,  I 

TOL.  X.  70 


that  if  he  went  before  Lord  Errol  came  home  we 
must  never  be  forgiven,  and  ordered  out  the  coach 
to  show  us  two  curiosities.  We  were  first  con- 
ducted by  Mr.  Boyd  to  Dunbuys,  or  the  yellow 
rock.  Dunbuys  is  a  rock  consisting  of  two,  pro- 
tuberances, each  perhaps  one  hundred  yards  round, 
joined  together  by  a  narrow  neck,  and  separated 
from  the  hind  by  a  very  narrow  channel  or  gully. 
These  rocks  are  the  haunts  of  sea  fowl,  whose 
clang,  though  this  is  not  their  season,  we  heard  at 
a  distance.  The  eggs  and  the  young  are  gathered 
here  in  great  numbers  at  the  time  of  breeding. 
There  is  a  bird  here  called  a  coote,  which,  though 
not  much  bigger  than  a  duck,  lays  a  larger  egg 
than  a  goose.  We  went  then  to  see  the  BuOer  or 
Boulloir  of  Buchan;  Buchan  is  the  name  of  the 
district,  and  the  Buller  is  a  small  creek  or  gulf,  in- 
to which  the  sea  flows  through  an  arch  of  the  rock. 
We  walked  round  it,  and  saw  it  black  at  a  great 
depth.  It  has  its  name  from  the  violent  ebullition 
of  the  water,  when  high  winds  or  high  tides  drive 
it  up  the  arch  into  the  basin.  Walking  a  little 
further  I  spied  some  boats,  and  told  my  compan- 
ions that  we  would  go  into  the  Buller  and  ftTumin* 
it  There  was  no  dancer;  all  was  calm;  we  went 
through  the  arch,  and  found  ourselves  in  a  narrow 
gulf  surrounded  by  craggy  rocks,  of  height  not 
stupendous,  but  to  a  Mediterranean  visiter  uncom- 
mon. On  each  side  was  a  cave,  of  which  the 
fisherman  knew  not  the  extent,  in  which  smug- 
glers hide  their  goods,  and  sometimes  parties  of 
pleasure  take  a  dinner." 

"Sale,  6th  Sept^  1778. 

"I  am  now  looking  on  the  sea  from  a  bouse  of 
Sir  Alexander  Macdonald,  in  the  Isle  of  fckie. 
Little  did  I  once  think  of  seeing  this  region  of  ob- 
scurity, and  little  did  you  once  expect  a  salutation 
from  this  verge  of  European  life.  I  have  now  the 
pleasure  of  going  where  nobody  goes,  and  seems 
what  nobody  sees.  Our  design  is  to  visit  several 
of  the  smaller  islands,  and  then  pass  over  to  the 
southwest  of  Scotland. 

**  I  returned  from  the  sight  of  Buller's  Buchan 
to  Lord  Errol's,  and  having  seen  his  library,  had 
for  a  time  only  to  look  upon  the  sea,  which 
rolled  between  us  and  Norway.  Next  morning, 
August  25,  we  continued  our  journey  through  a 
country  not  uncultivated,  but  so  denuded  of  its 
woods  that  in  all  this  journey  I  had  not  travelled 
a  hundred  yards  between  hedges,  or  seen  five 
trees  fit  for  the  carpenter.  A  few  small  planta- 
tions may  be  found,  but  I  believe  scarcely  any 
thirty  years  old;  at  least,  as  I  do  not  forget  to 
tell,  they  are  all  posteriour  to  the  union.  This 
day  we  dined  with  a  country  gentleman,  who  has 
in  his  grounds  the  remains  of  a  Druid's  temple, 
which  when  it  is  complete  is  nothing  more  than  a 
circle  or  double  circle  of  stones,  placed  at  equal 
distances,  with  a  flat  stone,  perhaps  an  altar,  at  a 
certain  point,  and  a  stone  taller  than  the  rest  at 
the  opposite  point  The  tall  stone  k  erected  I 
think  at  the  south.  Of  these  circles  there  are 
many  in  all  the  unfrequented  parts  of  the  island. 
The  inhabitants  of  these  parts  respect  them  as 
memorials  of  the  sepulture  of  some  illustrious  per- 
son.   Here  I  saw  a  few  trees.    We  lay  at  Bamff. 

"  August  26th.  We  dined  at  Elgin,  where  we 
saw  the  rami  of  a  noble  cathedral;  the  chapter 

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APPENDIX. 


MH 


ftfaret 

wifc« 


A  gran  pert  of  Elgin  ii 


i  to  the  rower  story.  We 
want  on  to  Fork,"  over  the  heath  where  Macbeth 
met  the  witches,  hot  had  no  adventure;  only  in 
the  way  we  eaw  for  the  first  time  some  houses 
with  fruit  treei  about  them.  The  improvement 
of  the  Scotch  are  for  immediate  profit ;  they  do 
not  yet  think  it  quite  worth  their  while  to  plant 
what  will  not  produce  something  to  be  eaten  or 
•old  in  a  very  little  time.    We  rooted  at  Fork 

"  A  ▼err  great  proportion  of  the  people  are 
barefoot;  shoes  are  not  yet  considered  aa  necessa- 
ries of  life.  It  is  still  the  custom  to  send  out  the 
eons  of  gentlemen  without  them  into  the  streets 
end  ways.  Tliere  are  more  beggars  than  I  have 
ever  seen  in  England;  they  beg,,  if  not  silently, 
yet  very  modestly. 

"Next  day  we  came  to  Nairn,  a  miserable 
town,  but  a  royal  burgh,  of  which  the  chief  an- 
nual magistrate  is  styled  lord  provost  In  the 
neighbourhood  we  saw  the  castle  of  toe  old  Thane 
of  Cawdor.  There  is  one  ancient  tower  with  its 
battlements  and  winding  stairs  yet  remaining;  the 
rest  of  the  house  is,  though  not  modern,  of  later 
erection. 

"  On  the  28th  we  went  to  Fort  George,  which 
Is  accounted  the  most  regular  fortification  in  the 
island.  The  major  of  artillery  walked  with  us 
round  the  walls,  and  showed  us  the  principles 
upon  which  every  part  was  constructed,  and  the 
way  in  which  it  could  be  defended.  We  dined 
with  the  governor,  Sir  Eyre  Coote,  and  hk  offi- 
cere.  It  was  a  very  pleasant  and  instructive  day, 
but  nothing  puts  my  honoured  mistress  out  of  my 


"  At  night  we  name  to  Inverness,  the  last  con- 
siderable town  in  die  north,  where  we  stayed  all 
•  the  next  day,  for  it  was  Sunday f  and  saw  the  ru- 
ins of  what  is  called  Macbeth's  castle.  It  never 
was  a  largo  house,  but  was  strongly  situated. 
From  Inverness  we  were  to  travel  on  horseback. 

«'  August  80th.  Wo  set  out  with  four  horses. 
We  had  two  Highlanders  to  run  by  us,  who  were' 
active,  officious,  civil,  and  hardy.  Our  journey 
was  for  many  miles  along  a  military  way  made 
upon  the  banks  of  Lough  Ness,  a  water  about 
eighteen  miles  long,  but  not  I  think  half  a  mile 
broad.  Our  horses  were  not  bad,  and  the  way 
was  very  pleasant;  the  rock  out  of  which  the 
road  was  cut  was  covered  with  birch  trees,  fern 
and  heath.  The  lake  below  was  beating  Ha  bank 
by  a  gentle  wind,  and  the  rocks  beyond  the  wa- 
ter on  the  right  stood  sometimes  horrid  and  wild, 
and  sometimes  opened  into  a  kind  of  bay,  in 
which  there  was  a  spot  of  cultivated  ground  yel- 
low with  corn.  In  one  part  of  the  way  we  had 
trees  on  both  sides  for  perhaps  half  a  mile.  Such 
a  length  of  shade  perhaps  Scotland  cannot  show 
in  any  other  place. 

"  You  are  not  to  suppose  that  here  are  to  be 
any  more  towns  or  inns.  We  came  to  a  cottage 
winch  they  called  the  general's  hut,  where  we 
alighted  to  dine,  and  had  em  and  bacon,  and 
mutton  with  wine,  rum  ana  whiskey.    I  had 


"  At  a  bridge  over  the  river,  which  runs  into 
the  Ness,  the  rocks  rise  on  three  sides,  with  a  di- 
rection  almost  perpendicular,  to  a  great  height ; 


they  are  in  part  covered  with  trees,  and  exhibit  a 
kind  of  dreadful  majpimcence— standing  like  the 
barriers  of  nature  placed  to  keep  different  orders 
of  being  in  perpetual  separation.  Near  this  bridge 
is  the  Fall  of  Fiers,  a  famous  cataract,  of  which, 
by  clambering  over  the  rocks,  we  obtained  a 
view.  The  water  was  low,  and  therefore  we  had 
only  the  pleasure  of  knowing  that  rain  would 
make  it  at  once  pleasing  and  formidable;  there 
will  then  be  a  mighty  flood,  foaming  along  a 
rocky  channel,  frequently  obstructed  by  protuber- 
ances and  exasperated  by  reverberation,  at  last 
precipitated  with  a  sudden  descent,  and  lost  in  the 
depth  of  a  gloomy  chasm. 

"  We  came  somewhat  late  to  Fort  Augustus, 
where  the  lieutenant-governor  met  us  beyond  the 
gates,  and  apologised  that  at  that  hour  he  could 
not  by  the  rules  of  the  garrison  admit  us  other- 
wise than  at  a  narrow  door,  which  only  one  can 
enter  at  a  time.  We  were  well  entertained  and 
well  lodged,  and  next  morning,  after  having 
viewed  the  fort,  we  pursued  our  journey. 

"  Our  way  now  lay  over  mountains,  which  are 
not  to  be  passed  by' climbing  them  directly,  but 
by  traversing,  so  that  as  we  went  forward  we 
saw  our  baggage  following  us  below  in  a  direction 
exactly  contrary.  There  is  in  these  ways  much 
labour  but  little  danger,  and  perhaps  other  places 
of  which  very  terrific  representations  are  made  are 
not  in  themselves  more  formidable.  These  roads 
have  all  been  made  by  hewing  the  rock  away 
with  pickaxes,  or  bursting  it  with  gunpowder. 
The  stones  so  separated  are  often  piled  loose  as  a 
wall  by  the  way-side.  We  saw  an  inscription 
importing  the  year  in  which  one  of  the  regiments 
made  two  thousand  yards  of  the  road  eastward. 

"After  tedious  travel  of  some  hours,  we  came 
to  what  I  believe  we  must  call  a  village,  a  place 
where  there  were  three  huts  built  of  turf,  at  one 
of  which  we  were  to  have  our  dinner  and  our  bed, 
for  we  could  not  reach  any  better  place  that  night 
Thii  place  is  called  Enock  in  Glenmorrison.  The 
house  in  which  we  lodged  was  distinguished  by  a 
chimney,  the  rest  had  only  a  hole  for  the  smoke. 
Here  we  had  eggs,  and  mutton,  and  a  chicken, 
and  a  sausage,  and  rum.  In  the  afternoon  tea 
was  made  by  a  very  decent  girl  in  a  printed  linen. 
She  engaged  me  so  much  that  I  made  her  a  pre- 
sent of  Cocker's  arithmetic." 

"flkfc,  14th  September,  1719. 

"  Die  post,  which  comes  but  once  a  week  into 
these  parts,  is  so  soon  to  go  that  1  have  not  time 
to  go  on  where  I  left  off  in  my  last  letter.  I  have 
been  several  days  in  the  island  of  Raarsa,  and  am 
now  again  in  the  Isle  of  Skie,  but  at  the  other 
end  of  it 

"  Skie  is  almost  equally  divided  between  die 
two  great  families  of  Macdonald  end  Madeod, 
other  proprietors  having  only  small  districts.  The 
two  great  lords  do  not  know  within  twenty  square 
miles  the  contents  of  their  own  territories. 

<<  i kept  upbut  ill  the  reputation  of 

Highland  hospitality.  We  are  now  with  Madeod, 
quite  at  the  other  end  of  the  island,  where  there 
it  a  fine  young  gentleman  and  fine  ladies.    The 


par 


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APPENDIX* 


555 


ladies  are  studying  Erse.  I  have  a  cold,  and 
am  miserably  deaf,  and  am  troublesome  to  Lady 
Macleod.  I  force  her  to  apeak  load,  bat  she  will 
seldom  speak  loud  enough. 

"  Raaraa  is  an  island  about  fifteen  miles  long 
and  two  broad,  under  the  dominion  of  one  gentle- 
man, who  has  three  sons  and  ten  daughters:  the 
eldest  b  the  beauty  of  this  part  of  the  world,  and 
has  been  polished  at  Edinburgh.  They  sing  and 
dance,  and  without  expense  have  upon  their  table 
most  of  what  sea,  air,  or  earth  can  afford.  I  in- 
tended to  have  written  about  Raaraa,  but  the  post 
will  not  wait  longer  than  while  I  send  my  coift- 
pliments  to  my  dear  master  and  little  mistresses." 

"Skis,  2l»t  September,  1773. 
"  I  am  so  vexed  at  the  necessity  of  sending 
yesterday  so  short  a  letter,  that  I  purpose  to  get  a 
long  letter  beforehand  by  writing  something  every 
day,  which  I  may  the  more  easily  do,  as  a  cold 
.  makes  me  now  too  deaf  to  take  the  usual  pleasure  in 
conversation.  Lady  Macleod  is  very  good  to  me; 
and  the  place  at  which  we  now  are  .is  equal  in 
strength  of  situation,  in  the  wilderness  of  the  ad- 
jacent country,  and  m  the  plenty  and  elegance  of 
the  domestick  entertainment,  to  a  castle  in  Goth- 
ick  romances.  The  sea  with  a  little  island  is  be- 
fore us.  Cascades  play  within  view.  Close  to 
the  house  is  the  formidable  skeleton  of  an  old ' 
castle,  probably  Danish;  and  the  whole  mass  of 
building  stands  upon  a  protuberance  of  rock,  inac- 
cessible till  of  late  but  by  a  pair  of  stain  on  the 
oca-side,  and  secure  in  ancient  times  against  any 
enemy  that  was  likely  to  invade  the  kingdom  of 
Skie. 

"  Macleod  has  offered  me  an  island.  If  it  were 
not  too  far  off,  I  should  hardly  refuse  it  My 
island  would  be  pleasanter  than  Brighthelm- 
stone,  if  you  and  my  master  could  come  to  it; 
but  I  cannot  think  it  pleasant  to  live  quite  alone, 

Oblitasqne  meorum,  oblivlscendus  et  lllis. 

That  I  should  be  elated  by  the  dominion  of  an 
island  to  foigeUulness  of  my  friends  at  Streatham 
I  cannot  believe,  and  I  hope  never  to  deserve 
that  they  should  be  willing  to  forget  me. 

"  It  has  happened  that  I  have  been  often  recog- 
nized in  my  journey  where  I  did  not  expect  it 
At  Aberdeen  I  found  one  of  my  acquaintance  pro- 
lessor  of  phvsdck;  taming  aside  to  dine  with  a 
country  gentleman,  I  was  owned  at  table  by  one 
who  had  seen  me  at  a  philosophical  lecture  ;  at 
Macdonald*s  I  was  claimed  by  a  naturalist,  who 
wanders  about  the  islands  to  pick  up  curiosities; 
and  I  had  once  in  London  attracted  die  notice  of 
Lady  Macleod.  I  will  now  go  on  with  my  ac- 
count 

"  The  Highland  girl  made  tea,  and  looked  and 
talked  not  inelegantly.  Her  father  was  by  no 
means  an  ignorant  or  a  weak  man.  There  were 
books  in  the  cottage,  among  which  were  some 
volumes  of  Prideaux's  Connexion,  This  man's 
conversation  we  were  glad  of  while  we  staid.  He 
bad  been  out,  as  they  call  it,  in  forty-five,  and 
still  retained  his  old  opinions.  He  was  going  to 
America,  because  his  rent  was  raised  beyond  what 
he  thought  himself  able  to  pay. 

"At  night  our  beds  were  made,  but  we  had 
some  difficulty  in  peouading  ourselves  to  lie  down 


in  them,  though  we  had  put  on  our  own 

at  last  we  ventured,  and  I  slept  very  soundly  in 
the  vale  of  Glenmonison,  amidst  the  rocks  and 
mountains.  Next  morning,  our  landlord  liked  us 
so  well,  that  he  walked  some  miles  with  us  lor 
our  company,  through  a  country  so  wild  and  bar- 
ren, that  the  proprietor  does  not,  with  all  his  pres- 
sure upon  his  tenants,  raise  more  than  four  hundred 
pounds  a  year  for  near  one  hundred  square  miles, 
or  sixty  thousand  acres.  He  let  us  know  that  be 
had  forty  head  of  black  cattle,  an  hundred  goats, 
and  an  hundred  sheep,  upon  a  farm  that  he  re- 
membered let  at  five  pounds  a  year,  but  for  which 
be  now  paid  twenty.  He  told  us  some  stories  of 
their  march  into  England.  At  last  he  left  us,  and 
we  went  forward,  winding  among  mountains, 
sometimes  green  and  sometimes  naked,  commonly 
so  steep  as  not  easily  to  be  climbed  by  the  greatest 
vigour  and  activity.  Our  way  was  often  crossed 
by  little  rivulets,  and  we  were  entertained  with 
small  streams  trickling  firom  the  rocks,  which  af- 
ter heavy  rains  must  be  tremendous  torrents. 

"  About  noon  we  came  to  a  small  glen,  so  they 
call  a  valley,  which  compared  with  other  places 
appeared  rich  and  fertile;  here  our  guides  de- 
sired us  to  stop,  that  the  horses  might  graze,  fiir 
the  journey  was  very  laborious,  and  no  more  grass 
would  be  found.  We  made  no  difficulty  of  com- 
pliance, and  I  sat  down  to  take  notes  on  a  green 
bank,  with  a  small  stream  running  at  my  feet,  in 
the  midst  of  savage  solitude,  with  mountains  be- 
fore me,  and  on  either  hand  covered  with  heath. 
I  looked  around  me,  and  wondered  that  I  was 
not  more  affected,  but  the  mind  is  not  at  all  times 
equally  ready  to  be  put  in  motion.  If  my  ma- 
trass and  master  and  Queeney  had  been  there,  we 
should  have  produced  some  reflections  among  us, 
either  poetical  or  philosophical;  for  though  soli- 
tude be  the  nurse  of  woe,  conversation  is  often 
the  parent  of  remarks  and  discoveries, 

"  In  about  an  hour  we  remounted,  and  pursued 
our  journey.  The  lake  by  which  we  had  travel- 
led for  some  time  ended  in  a  river,  which  we 
passed  by  a  bridge,  and  came  to  another  glen, 
with  a  collection  of  huts,  called  Auknashealds. 
The  huts  were  generally  built  of  clods  of  earth, 
held  together  by  the  intertextnre  of  vegetable  fi- 
bres, of  which  earth  there  are  great  levels  in  Scot- 
land, which  they  call  mosses.    Mfi*»  in  Scotland 


is  bog  in  Ireland,  and  moss-trooper  is  bog-trotter. 
There  was,  however,  one  hut  built  of  loose  stones, 


piled  up  with  great  thickness  into  a  strong  though 
not  solid  wall.  From  thai  house  we  obtained 
some  great  pails  of  milk  ;  and  having  brought 
bread  with  us,  were  very  liberally  regaled.  The 
inhabitants,  a  very  coarse  tribe,  ignorant  of  any 
language  but  Erse,  gathered  so  fast  about  us,  that 
if  we  had  not  had  Highlanders  with  us,  they 
might  have  caused  more  alarm  than  pleasure ; 
they  are  called  the  Clan  of  Macrae. 

"  We  had  been  told  that  nothing  gratified  the 
Highlanders  so  much  as  snuff  and  tobacco,  and 
had  accordingly  stored  ourselves  with  both  at 
For)  Augustas.    Boswell  opened  his  treasure,  and 

Eve  them  each  a  piece  of  tobacco-roll.  We 
d  more  bread  than  we  could  eat  for  the  present, 
and  were  more  liberal  than  provident.  Boswell 
cut  it  in  slices,  and  gave  them  an  opportunity  of 
tatting  wheaten  bread  for  the  first  lime.    I  then 


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APPENDIX. 


Sterne  hdfyeaus  for  a  drilling,  and  made  up 
deficiencies  of  Boswefl's  distribution,  who  had 
given  some  money  among  the  children.  We 
then  directed  that  die  unstress  of  the  atone  house 
should  be  asked  what  we  must  pay  her :  she, 
who  perhaps  had  never  before  sold  anything  but 
settle,  knew  not,  I  believe,  well  what  to  ask,  and 
referred  herself  to  us.  We  obliged  her  to  make 
some  demand,  and  one  of  the  Highlanders  settled 
the  account  with  her  at  a  shilling.  One  of  the 
men  advised  her,  with  the  cunning  that  clowns 
never  can  be  without,  to  ask  more  ;  but  she  said 
that  a  shilling  was  enough.  We  gave  her  balf-a- 
crown,  and  she  offered  part  of  H  again.  The 
Macraes  were  so  well  pleased  with  our  behaviour, 
that  they  declared  it  the  best  day  they  had  seen 
since  the  time  of  the  old  Laird  of  Macleod,  who 
I  suppose,  like  us,  stopped  in  their  valley  as  he 
was  travelling  to  Skie. 

'*  We  were  mentioning  this  view  of  the  High- 
lander's life  at  Macdonald's,  and  mentioning  the 
Macraes  with  some  degree  of  pity,  when  a  High- 
land lady  informed  us  that  we  might  spare  our 
tenderness,  for  she  doubted  not  but  the  woman 
who  supplied  us  with  milk  was  mistress  of  thir- 
teen or  fourteen  milch  cows. 

"I  cannot  forbear  to  interrupt  my  narrative. 
Boswell,  with  some  of  his  troublesome  kindness, 
has  informed  this  family  and  reminded  me  that 
the  18th  of  September  is  my  birthday.  The  re- 
turn of  my  birthday,  if  I  remember  k,  fills  me 
with  thoughts  which  it  seems  to  be  the  general 
care  of  humanity  to  escape.  I  can  now  look 
back  upon  threescore  and  four  years,  in  which 
little  has  been  done,  and  little  has  been  enjoyed; 
a  life  diversified  by  misery,  spent  part  in  the  slug- 
gishness of  penury,  and  part  under  the  violence  of 
pain,  m  gloomy  discontent  or  importunate  distress. 
But  perhaps  I  am  better  than  I  should  have  been 
if  I  had  been  less  afflicted  With  tins  I  will  try 
to  be  content 

«*  In  proportion  as  there  is  less  pleasure  m  re- 
trospective considerations,  the  mind  is  more  dis- 
posed to  wander  forward  into  raturity;  but  at 
sixty-four  what  promises,  however  liberal,  of  im- 
aginary goods,  can  futurity  venture  to  make  ?  yet 
something  will  be  always  promised,  and  some 
promises  will  always  be  credited.  I  am  hoping 
and  I  am  praying  that  I  may  live  better  in  the 
time  to  come,  whether  long  or  short,  than  I  have 
yet  lived,  and  in  the  solace  of  that  hope  endeav- 
our to  repose.  Dear  Queeney's  day  is  next  I 
hope  she  at  sixty-four  will  have  less  to  regret 

"  I  wQl  now  complain  no  more,  but  tell  my 
mistress  of  my  travels. 

"  After  we  left  the  Macraes,  we  travelled  on 
through  a  country  like  that  which  we  paused  in 
the  mommg.  The  Highlands  are  very  uniform, 
fer  there  is  little  variety  in  universal  barrenness. 
TTie  rocks,  however,  are  not  all  naked: 'some 
have  grass  on  their  sides,  and  birches  and  alders 
on  their  tops*  and  in  the  valleys  are  often  broad 
and  clear  streams,  which  have  little  depth,  and 
commonly  run  very  Uuick  :  the  channels  are  made 
by  the  violence  of  toe  wintry  floods :  the  quick- 
ness of  the  stream  is  in  proportion  to  the  declivity 
of  the  descent,  and  the  breadth  of  the  channel 

kss  the  water  shallow  in  a  dry  season. 

'There  are  red  deer  and  roebucks  in  the 


mountains;  but  we  found  only  goats  m  die  road, 
and  bad  very  little  ertertainment  as  we  travelled 
either  for  the  eye  or  ear.    There  are,  I  fancy,  no 

%  birds  in  the  Highlands. 

Wards  night  we  came  to  a  very  fonmdabk 
hill,  called  Rattiken,  which  we  climbed  with  more 
difficulty  than  we  had  yet  experienced,  and  act  hut 
came  to  Glanelg,  a  place  on  the  sea-side  opposite 
to  Skie.  We  were  by  this  time  weary  and  dis- 
gusted; nor  was  our  humour  much  mended  by 
our  inn,  which,  though  h  was  hoik  of  lime  and 


singing  1 
"Toi 


slate,  the  Highlander's  description  of  a 
which  he  thinks  magnificent,  bad  neither  wine, 
bread,  eggs,  nor  any  thing  that  we  could  eat  or 
drink.  When  we  were  taken  up  stairs,  a  dirty 
fellow  bounced  out  of  the  bed  where  one  of  ss 
was  to  lie.  Boswell  blustered,  but  nothing  could 
be  got  At  last  a  gentleman  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, who  heard  of  our  arrival,  sent  us  rum  and 
white  sugar.  Boswell  was  now  provided  lor  in 
part ;  and  the  landlord  prepared  some  mutton-  * 
chops,  which  we  could  not  eat,  and  killed  two 
hens,  of  which  Boswell  made  his  servant  broQ  a 
limb,  with  what  effect  I  know  not.  We  had  a 
lemon  and  a  piece  of  bread,  which  supplied  me 
with  my  supper.  When  the  repast  was  ended, 
we  began  to  deliberate  upon  bed.  Mrs.  Boswell 
had  warned  us  that  we  should  catch  something, 
and  had  given  us  sheets  for  our  security;  for 

and  ,  she   said,  .came 

back  from  Skie  so  scratching  themselves.  I 
thought  sheets  a  slender  defence  against  the  con- 
federacy with  which  we  were  threatened,  and  by 
this  time  our  Highlanders  had  found  a  plans 
where  they  could  get  some  bay.  I  ordered  bay 
to  be  laid  thick  upon  the  bed,  and  slept  upon  it  in 
my  great  coat  Boswell  laid  sheets  upon  bis  bed, 
and  reposed  in  linen  like  a  gentleman*  The 
horses  were  turned  out  to  grass,  with  a  man  to 
watch  tbem.  The  hill  Rattiken  and  the  inn  at 
Glanelg  were  the  only  things  of  which  we,  or. 
travellers  yet  more  delicate,  could  find  any  use- 
tensions  to  complain. 

"  September  2d,  I  rose  rustling  from  the  hay, 
od  went  to  tea,  which  I  forget  whether  we  f 


and  i 

or  brought  Wo  saw  the  Isle  of  Side  before  us, 
darkening  the  horizon  with  its  rocky  coast  A 
boat  was  procured,  and  we  launched  into  one  of 
the  straits  of  the  Atlantick  ocean.  We  had  a 
passage  of  about  twelve  mites  to  the  point  where 
resided,  having  oome  from 


seat  in  the  middle  of  the  island  to  a  small 
on  the  shore,  as  Ve  believe,  that  he  might  with 
less  reproach  entertain  us  meanly.  If  he  aspired 
to  meanness,  his  retrograde  ambition  was  com- 
pletely gratified;  but  he  did  not  succeed  equally 
in  escaping  reproach.  He  had  no  cook,  nor  I 
suppose  much  provision,  nor  had  the  lady  the 
common  decencies  of  her  tea-table:  we  picked  up 
our  sugar  with  our  fingers.  Boswell  was  very 
angry,  and  reproached  him  with  his  improper 
parsimony:  I  did  not  much  reflect  upon  the  eon- 
duot  of  a  man  with  whom  I  was  not  likely  to  con- 
verse as  long  at  any  other  time. 

c<  You  wul  now  expect  that  I  should  ghre  yon 
some  account  of  the  Isle  of  8kie,  of  which,  though 
I  have  been  twelve  days  upon  it,  I  have  little  to 

*  pair  Alexander  MaodoaakL—Bn.] 


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APPENDIX 


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It  is  an  Wand,  perhaps  fifty  mike  long,  so 
t  indented  by  inlets  of  the  sea  that  there  is  no 
part  of  it  removed  from  the  water  more  than  six 
miles.  No  part  that  I  have  seen  is  plain:  yon  are 
always  climbing  or  descending,  and  every  step  is 
npon  rock  or  mire.  A  walk  upon  ploughed 
ground  in  England  is  a  dance  npon  carpets  com- 
pared to  the  toilsome  drudgery  of  wandering  in 
Skie.  There  is  neither  town  nor  village  in  the 
island,  nor  have  I  seen  any  boose  bat  Macleod's, 
that  is  not  much  below  your  habitation  at  Bright- 
helmstone.  In  the  mountains  there  are  stags  and 
roebucks,  but  no  hares  and  few  rabbits;  nor  have 
I  seen  any  thing  that  interested  me  as  a  zoologist, 
except  an  otter,  bigger  than  I  thought  an  otter 
could  have  been. 

"  Yob  are  perhaps  imagining  that  I  am  with- 
drawn from  the  gay  and  the  busy  world  into  re- 
gions of  peace  and  pastoral  felicity,  and  am  en- 
joying the  relumes  of  the  golden  age;  that  I  am 
surveying  Nature's  magnificence  from  a  mountain, 
or  remarking  her  minuter  beauties  on  the  flowery 
bank  of  a  winding  rivulet;  that  I  am  invigorating 
myself  in  the  sunshine,  or  delighting  my  imagina- 
tion with  being  hidden  from  the  invasion  of  human 
evils  and  human,  passions  in  the  darkness  of  a 
thicket;  that  I  am  busy  in  gathering  shells  and 
pebbles  on  the  shore,  or  contemplative  on  a  rock, 
from  which  I  look  upon  the  water,  and  consider 
how  many  waves  are  rolling  between  me  and 
Streatham. 

"  The  use  of  travelling  is  to  regulate  imagina- 
tion by  reality,  and  instead  of  thinking  how  things 
may  be,  to  see  tnem  as  they  are.  Here  are 
mountains  which  I  should  once  have  climbed; 
but  to  climb  steeps  is  now  very  laborious,  and  to 
descend  them  dangerous;  and  I  am  now  content 
with  knowing  that  by  scrambling  up  a  rock  I  shall 
only  see  other  rocks,  and  a  wider  circuit  of  barren 
desolation.  Of  streams  we  have  here  a  sufficient 
number;  but  they  murmur  not  upon  pebbles,  but 
upon  rocks.  Of  flowers,  if  Chloris  herself  were 
here,  I  could  present  her  only  with  the  bloom 
of  heath.  Of  lawns,  and  thickets,  he  must  read' 
that  would  know  them,  for  here  is  little  sun  and 
no  shade.  On  the  sea  I  look  from  my  window, 
bat  am  not  much  tempted  to  the  shore;  for  since 
I  came  to  this  island,  almost  every  breath  of  air 
has  been  a  storm,  and,  what  is  worse,  a  storm 
with  all  its  severity,  but  without  its  magnificence; 
for  the  sea  is  here  so  broken  into  channels,  that 
there  is  not  a  sufficient  volume  of  water  either  for 
lofty  surges  or  a  loud  roar. 

"  On  September  6th  we  left  Macdonald's  to 
visit  Raarsa,  the  island  which  I  have  already  men- 
tioned. We  were  to  cross  part  of  Skie  on  horse- 
back—*a  mode  of  travelling  very  uncomfortable, 
lor  the  road  is  so  narrow,  where  any  road  can  be 
sound,  that  only  one  can  go,  and  so  craggy  that 
the  attention  can  never  be  remitted:  it  allows, 
therefore,  neither  the  gaiety  of  conversation,  nor 
the  laxity  of  solitude;  nor  has  it  in  itself  the 
amusement  of  much  variety,  as  it  affords  only  all 
the  possible  transpositions  of  bog,  rock,  and  rivulet. 
Twelve  miles,  by  computation,  make  a  reasonable 
journey  lor  a  day. 

"  At  night  we  came  to  a  tenant's  house,  of  the 
first  rank  of  tenants,  where  we  were  entertained 
better  than  at  the  landlord's.    There  were  books, 

vol.  I.  70* 


both  English  and  Latin.  Company  gathered 
about  us,  and  we  heard  some  talk  of  the  second* 
sight,  and  some  talk  of  the  events  of  forty-five, 
a  year  which  will  not  soon  be  forgotten  among 
the  islanders.  The  next  day  we  were  confined 
by  a  storm.  The  company,  I  think,  increased, 
and  our  entertainment  was  not  only  hospitable  but 
elegant  At  night,  a  minister's  sister,  in  very  fine 
brocade,  sung  Erse  songs:  I  wished  to  know 
the  meaning,  but  the  Highlanders  are  not  much 
used  to  scholastick  questions,  and  no  translations 
could  be  obtained. 

"  Next  day,  September  8th,  the  weather  al- 
lowed us  to  depart ;  a  good  boat  was  provided 
for  us,  and  we  went  to  Raarsa  under  the  conduct 
of  Mr.  Malcolm  Macleod,  a  gentleman  who  con- 
ducted Prince  Charles  through  the  mountains  in 
his  distresses.  The  prince,  he  says,  was  more 
active  than  himself;  they  were,  at  least,  one 
night  without  any  shelter. 

"  The  wind  blew  enough  to  give  the  boat  a 
kind  of  dancing  agitation,  and  in  about  three  or 
four  hours  we  arrived  at  Raarsa,  where  we  were 
met  by  the  laird  and  his  friends  upon  the  shore. 
Raarsa,  for  such  is  his  title,  is  master  of  two 
islands  ,  upon  the  smaller  of  which,  called  Rona, 
he  has  only  flocks  and  herds.  Rona  gives  title 
to  his  eldest  son.  The  money  which  he  raises 
annually  by  rent  from  all  his  dominions,  which 
contain  at  least  fifty  thousand  acres,  is  not  believed, 
to  exceed  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  ;  but  as 
he  keeps  a  large  farm  in  his  own  hands,  he  sells 
every  year  great  numbers  of  cattle,  which  add  to 
bis  revenue;  and  his  table  is  famished  from  the 
farm  and  from  the  sea,  with  very  little  expense, 
except  for  those  things  this  country  does  not  pro- 
duce, and  of  those  he  is  very  liberal.  The  wine 
circulates  vigorously,  and  the  tea,  chocolate,  and 
coffee,  however  they  are  got,  are  always  at  hand. 

"  We  are  this  morning  trying  to  get  out  of 
Skie." 

«  Skie,  84th  September,  1778. 

"  I  am  still  in  Side.  Do  you  remember  the 
song? 

Every  Wand  Is  a  prison 
'  Strongly  guarded  by  the  see  ? 

We  have  at  one  time  no  boat,  and  at  another 
may  have  too  much  wind;  but  of  our  reception 
here  we  have  no  reason  to  complain.  We  are 
now  with  Colonel  Macleod,  in  a  more  pleasant 
place  than  I  thought  Skie  could  afford.  Now  to 
the  narrative. 

"  We  were  received  at  Raarsa  on  the  sea-side, 
and  after  clambering  with  some  difficulty  over  the 
rocks— -a  labour  which  the  traveller,  wherever  he 
reposes  himself  on  land,  must  in  these  islands  be 
contented  to  endure — we  were  introduced  into 
the  house,  which  one  of  the  company  called  the 
Court  of  Raarsa,  with  politeness  which  not  the 
Court  of  Versailles  could  have  thought  defective. 
The  house  is  not  large,  thougn  we  were  told  in 
our  passage  that  it  had  eleven  fine  rooms;  nor 
niagmficently  furnished,  but  our  utensils  were 
most  commonly  stiver.  We  went  up  into  a 
dining-room  about  as  large  as  your  blue  room, 
where  we  had  something  given  us  to  eat,  and  tea 
and  coffee. 

"  Raarsa  himself  is  a  man  of  no  inelegant  ap- 
pearance, and  of  manners  uncommonly  refined. 


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568 


APPENDIX. 


Lady  Rum  makes  no  ray  sublime 
for  a  sovereign,  bat  is  a  good  housewife,  and  a 
very  prudent  and  diligent  conductress  of  her  fami- 
ly. Mb*  Flora  Macleod  is  a  celebrated  beauty, 
has  been  admired  at  Edinburgh,  dresses  her  head 
very  high,  and  has  manners  so  lady-like  that  I 
wish  her  head-dress  was  lower.  The  rest  of  the 
nine  girls  are  all  pretty;  the  youngest  is  between 
Qneeney  and  Lucy.  The  youngest  boy  of  four 
years  old  runs  barefoot,  and  wandered  with  us 
over  the  rocks  to  see  a  mill.  I  believe  he  would 
walk  on  that  rough  ground  without  shoes  ten 
miles  in  a  day. 

The  Laird  of  Raarsa  has  sometimes  disputed 
the  chieftainry  of  the  clan  with  Macleod  of  JSkie; 
but  being  much  inferior  in  extent  of  possessions, 
has,  I  suppose,  been  forced  to  desist  Raarsa 
and  its  provinces  have  descended  to  its  present 
possessor  through  a  succession  of  four  hundred 
years  without  any  increase  or  diminution.  It 
was  indeed  lately  in  danger  of  forfeiture,  but  the 
old  laird  joined  some  prudence  with  his  zeal,  and 
when  Prince  Charles  landed  in  Scotland  made 
over  his  estate  to  his  son,  the  present  laird,  and 
led  one  hundred  men  of  Raarsa  into  the  field, 
with  officers  of  his  own  family.  Eighty-six  only 
came  back  after  the  last  battle.  The  prince  was 
hidden,  in  his  distress,  two  nights  at  Raarsa;  and 
the  king's  troops  burnt  the  whole  country,  and 
killed  some  of  the  cattle. 

"  You  may  guess  at  the  opinions  that  prevail 
in  this  country:  they  are,  however,  content  with 
fighting  lor  their  king;  they  do  not  drink  for  him 
We  had  no  foolish  healths.  At  night,  unexpect- 
edly to  as  who  were  strangers,  the  carpet  was 
taken  up,  the  fiddler  of  the  family  came  up,  and 
a  very  vigorous  and  general  dance  was  begun. 
As  I  told  you,  we  were  two-and-tbirty  at  supper: 
there  were  full  as  many  dancers;  for  though  all 
who  supped  did  not  dance,  some  danced  of  the 
young  people  who  did  not  sup.  Raarsa  himself 
danced  with  his  children ;  and  old  Malcolm,  in 
his  filibeg,  was  as  nimble  as  when  he  led  the 
prince  over  the  mountains.  When  they  had 
danced  themselves  weary,  two  tables  were  spread, 
and  I  suppose  at  least  twenty  dishes  were  upon 
them.  In  this  country  some  preparations  of  mUk 
are  always  served  up  at  supper,  and  sometimes 
in  the  place  of  tarts  at  dinner*  The  table  was 
not  coarsely  heaped,  but  at  once  plentiful  and  el- 
egant They  do  not  pretend  to  make  a  loaf; 
there  are  only  cakes,  commonly  of  oats  or  barley, 
but  they  made  me  very  nice  cakes  of  wheat  flour. 
I  always  sat  at  the  left  hand  of  Lady  Raarsa,  and 
young  Macleod  of  Skie,  the  chieftain  of  the  clan, 
sat  on  the  right 

'<  After  supper  a  young  lady,  who  was  visiting, 
song  Erse  songs,  in  which  Lady  Raarsa  joined 
prettily  enough,  but  not  gracefully:  the  young 
ladies  sustained  the  chorus  better.  They  are  very 
little  used  to  be  asked  questions,  and  not  well  pre- 
pared with  answers.  When  one  of  the  songs  was 
over,  I  asked  the  princess  that  sat  next  me, 
'  What  is  that  about  ? '  I  question  if  she  con- 
ceived that  I  did  not  understand  it  '  For  the 
entertainment  of  the  company,'  said  she*  *  But, 
madam,  what  is  the  meaning  of  it  ? *  '  It  is  a 
love-song.*    This  was  all  the  intelligence  that  I 


could  obtain,  nor  nave  Ibsen  able  to  ] 
translation  of  a  single  line  of  Erse, 

«  At  twelve  it  was  bedtime.  I  had  a 
ber  to  myself,  which,  in  eleven  rooms  to  forty 
people,  was  more  than  my  share*  How  the  com- 
pany and  the  family  were  distributed  is  not  easy 
to  telL  Macleod  the  chieftain,  and  Boswell,  and 
I,  bad  all  single  chambers  on  the  first  floor. 
There  remained  eight  rooms  only  for  at  least 
seven^and-thirty  lodgers.  I  suppose  they  put  up 
temporary  beds  in  die  dining-room,  where  they 
stowed  all  the  young  ladies.  There  was  a  room 
above  stain  with  six  beds,  in  which  they  put  ten 
men.    The  rest  in  my  next" 

"Ostldi  la  Okie,  90th  Ssptontber,  ma. 

"  I  am  still  confined  in  Skie.  We  were  un- 
skilful travellers,  and  imagined  that  the  sea  was 
an  open  road  which  we  could  pass  at  pleasure; 
but  we  have  now  learned,  with  some  pain,  that 
we  m*y  still  wait  for  a  long  time  ijae  caprices  of 
the  equinoctial  winds,  and  ait  reading  or  writing 
as  I  now  do,  while  the  tempest  is  rolling  the  sea, 
or  roaring  in  the  mountains.  I  am  now  no  loafer 
pleased  with  the  delay.  You  can  bear  from  me 
but  seldom,  and  I  cannot  at  all  hear  from  vau- 
lt comes  into  my  mind  that  some  evil  may  hap- 
pen, or  that  I  might  be  of  use  while  I  am  away. 
But  these  thoughts  are  vain:  the  wind  is  violent 
and  adverse,  and  our  boat  cannot  yet  come.  I 
must  content  myself  with  writing  to  you,  and 
hoping  that  you  will  some  time  receive  my  letter. 
Now  to  my  narrative. 

"  Sept  9th,  having  passed  the  i 
I  rose,,  and  found  the  dramg-rnom  fui 
We  feasted  and  talked,  and  when  the  evening 


He 
il 


h  brought  mosick  and  dancing.  Young 
Macleod,  the  great  proprietor  of  Skie,  and  head  of 
ms  elan,  was  very  distingukumbte--a  voung  man 
of  nineteen,  bred  awhile  at  St  Andrew's,  and 
afterwards  at  Oxford,  a  pupil  of  G.  Strahan. 
is  a  young  man  of  a  mind  as  much  advanced 
have  ever  known,  very  elegant  of  manners,  awl 
very  graceful  in  his  person.  He  has  the  full  spirit 
of  a  feudal  chief;  and  I  was  very  ready  to  accept 
his  invitation  to  Dunvegan.  AH  Raarsa'a  children 
are  beautiful.  Hie  ladies  all,  except  die  eldest, 
are  in  the  morning  dressed  in  their  hair.  3%e 
true  Highlander  never  wears  more  than  a  riband 
on  her  head  till  she  is  married. 

«  On  the  third  day  Boswell  went  out  with  old 
Malcolm  to  see  a  ruined  castle,  which  he  found 
less  entire  than  was  promised,  but  be  saw  the 
country.  I  did  not  go,  for  the  castle  was  perhaps 
ten  miles  off,  and  there  is  no  riding  at  Raarsa,  the 
whole  island  being  rock  or  mountain,  from  which 
the  cattle  often  fall  and  are  destroyed.  It  is  very 
barren,  and  maintains,  as  near  as  I  could  collect, 
about  seven  hundred  inhabitants,  perhaps  ten  to  a 
square  mile.  In  these  countries  you  are  not  to 
suppose  that  you  shall  find  villages  or  encloauaon. 
The  traveller  wanders  though  a  naked  desert, 
gratified  sometimes,  but  rarely,  with  the  sight  of 
cows,  and  now  and  then  finds  a  heap  of  too* 
stones  and  turf  in  a  cavity  between  rocks, 
a  being  born  with  all  those  powers  which 
tion  expands,  and  all  those  sensations  wtnco, 
culture  refines,  is  condemned  to  sbeiler  rastf  frotn 


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APPENDIX 


559 


the  wind  cad  run.  Philosophers  there  are  who 
try  to  make  themselves  believe  that  this  life  is 
happy;  but  they  believe  h  only  while  they  are 
saying  it,  and  never  yet  produced  conviction  in  a 
single  mind:  he  whom  want  of  words  or  images 
sank  into  silence,  still  thought,  as  he  thought  be- 
Ibre,  that  privation  of  pleasure  can  never  please, 
and  that  content  is  not  to  be  much  envied  when  it 
has  no  other  principle  than  ignorance  of  good. 

"  This  gloomy  tranquillity,  which  some  may 
call  fortitude,  and  others  wisdom,  was,  I  believe, 
for  a  long  time  to  be  very  frequently  found  in 
these  dens  of  poverty.  Every  man  was  content 
to  live  like  his  neighbours,  and  never  wandering 
from  home  saw  no  mode  of  life  preferable  to  his 
own,  except  at  the  house  of  the  laird,  or  the  laird's 
nearest  relations,  whom  he  considered  as  a  supe- 
rioor  order  of  beings,  to  whose  luxuries  or  honours 
he  bad  no  pretensions.  But  the  end  of  this  rev- 
erence and  submission  seems  now  approaching! 
the  Highlanders  have  learned  that  there  are  coun- 
tries less  bleak  and  barren  than  their  own,  where, 
instead  of  working  for  the  laird,  every  man  may 
till  his  own  ground,  and  eat  the  produce  of  his  own 
labour.  Great  numbers  have  been  induced  by  this 
discovery  to  go  every  year  for  some  time  past  to 
America.  Macdonald  and  Macleod  of  Skie  have 
lost  many  tenants  and  many  labourers,  but  Raarsa 
has  not  yet  been  forsaken  by  a  single  inhabitant 

"Rona  is  yet  more  rocky  and  barren  than 
Raarsa;  and  though  *  it  contains  perhaps  four 
thousand  acres,  is  possessed  only  by  a  herd  of  cattle 
and  the  keepers. 

"  I  find  myself  not  very  able  to  walk  upon  the 
mountains,  but  one  day  I  went  out  to  see  the  walls 
yet  standing  of  an  ancient  chapel.  In  almost 
every  island  the  superstitious  votaries  of  the  Ro- 
mish churcn  erected  places  of  worship,  in  which 
the  drones  of  convents  or  cathedrals  performed  the 
holy  offices,  but  by  the  active  zeal  of  protestant 
devotion  almost  all  of  them  have  sunk  into  ruin1. 
The  chapel  at  Raarsa  is  now  only  considered  as 
the  burying-place  of  the  family,  and  I  suppose  of 
the  whole  island. 

"  We  would  now  have  gone  away  and  left  room 
for  others  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  this  little  court, 
but  the  wind  detained  us  till  the  12th,  when, 
though  it  was  Sunday,  we  thisight  it  proper  to 
snatch  the  opportunity  of  a  calm  day.  Raarsa 
accompanied  us  in  his  six-oared  boat,  which  he 
said  was  his  coach  and  six.  It  is  indeed  the 
vehicle  in  which  the  ladies  take  the  air  and  pay 
their  visits,  but  they  have  taken  very  little  care  for 
accommodations.  There  is  no  way  in  or  out  of 
the  boat  for  a  woman  but  by  being  carried;  and 
in  the  boat  thus  dignified  with  a  pompous  name 
there  is  no  seat  but  an  occasional  bundle  of  straw. 
Thus  we  left  Raarsa,  the  seat  of  plenty,  civility, 
and  cheerfulness. 

"  We  dined  at  a  publick-house  at  Port  Re,  so 
called  because  one  of  the  Scottish  kings  landed 
there  in  a  progress  through  the  western  isles. 
Raarsa  paid  the  reckoning  privately.  We  then 
pot  on  horseback,  and  by  a  short  but  very  tedious 
journey  came  to  Kingsburgh,  at  which  the  same 
king  lodged  after  he  landed.  Here  I  had  the 
honour  of  saluting  the  far-famed  Bliss  Flora  Mac- 
donald, who  conducted  the  prince,  dressed  as  her 


•  [bit 


to  point  out  the  Irony  here  ?— In.  J 


maid,  through  the  English  forces  from  the  island 
of  Lewes;  and,  when  she  came  to  Skie,  dined 
with  the  English  officers,  and  left  her  maid  below. 
She  must  then  have  been  a  very  young  lady;  she 
is  now  not  old,  of  a  pleasing  person,  and  elegant 
behaviour.  She  told  me  tliat  she  thought  herself 
honoured  by  my  visit,  and  I  am  sure  that  what- 
ever regard  she  bestowed  on  me  was  liberally 
repaid.  « If  thou  likest  her  opinions,  thou  wilt 
praise  her  virtue.'  She  was  carried  to  London, 
but  dismissed  without  a  trial,  and  came  down  with 
Malcolm  Macleod,  against  whom  sufficient  evi- 
dence could  not  be  procured.  She  and  her 
husband  are  poor,  and  are  going  to  try  their  for- 
tune in  America.    Sic  rerum  volvitur  orbis  ! 

"  At  Kingsburgh  we  were  very  liberally  feasted, 
and  I  slept  in  the  bed  on  which  the  prince  reposed  in 
his  distress:  the  sheets  which  he  used  were  never 
put  to  any  meaner  offices,  but  were  wrapped  up 
by  the  lady  of  the  house,  and  at  last,  according  to 
her  desire,  were  laid  round  her  in  her  grave. 
These  are  not  whigs  ! 

"  On  the  13th,  travelling  partly  on  horseback 
where  we  could  not  row,  and  partly  on  foot  where 
we  could  not  ride,  we  came  to  Dunvegan,  which 
I  have  described  already.  Here,  though  poor 
Macleod  had  been  left  by  his  grandfather  over- 
whelmed with  debts,  we  had  another  exhibition  of 
feudal  hospitality.  There  were  two  stags  in  the 
house,  and  venison  came  to  the  table  every  day 
in  its  various  forma.  Macleod,  besides  his  estate 
in  Skie— larger  I  suppose  than  some  English  coun- 
ties— is  proprietor  of  nine  inhabited  isles;  and  of 
his  islands  uninhabited  I  doubt  if  he  very  exactly 
knows  the  number.  I  told  him  that  he  was  a 
mighty  monarch.  Such  dominions  fill  an  English- 
man with  envious  wonder;  but  when  he  surveys 
the  naked  mountain,  and  treads  the  quaking  moor, 
and  wanders  over  the  wild  regions  of  gloomy 
barrenness,  his  wonder  may  continue,  but  his  envy 
ceases.  The  unprofitableness  of  these  vast  domains 
can  be  conceived  only  by  the  means  of  positive 
instances.  The  heir  of  Col,  an  island  not  far 
distant,  has  lately  told  me  how  wealthy  he  should 
be  if  he  could  let  Mum,  another  of  his  islands,  for 
twopence  halfpenny  an  acre;  and  Macleod  has  an 
estate,  which  the  surveyor  reports  to  contain  eighty 
thousand  acres,  rented  at  six  hundred  pounds  a 
year. 

"  While  wo  were  at  Dunvegan,  the  wind  was 
high  and  the  rain  violent,  so  that  we  were  not  able 
to  pat  forth  a  boat  to  fish  in  the  sea,  or  to  visit  tho 
adjacent  islands,  which  may  be  soon  from  the 
house;  but  we  filled  up  the  time  as  we  could, 
sometimes  by  talk,  sometimes  by  reading  I  have 
never  wanted  books  in  the  isle  of  Skie. 

"  We  were  visited  one  day  by  the  laird  and 
lady  of  Muck,  one  of  the  western  islands,  two 
miles  long,  and  three  quarters  of  a  mile  high. 
He  has  half  his  island  in  his  own  culture,  and  upon 
the  other  half  live  one  hundred  and  fifty  depen- 
dants, who  not  only  live  upon  the  product,  but  ex- 
port corn  sufficient  for  the  payment  of  their  rent 

"  Lady  Macleod  had  a  son  and  four  daughters: 
they  have  lived  long  m  England,  and  have  the 
language  and  manners  of  English  ladies.  We 
lived  with  them  verj  easily.  The  hospitality  of 
this  remote  region  is  like  that  of  the  golden  age. 
We  have  found  ourselves  treated  at  every  house 
as  if  we  came  to  confer  a  benefit. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQlC 


560 


APPENDIX. 


'<  We  were  eight  days  at  Dunvegan,  but  we 
took  the  fint  opportunity  which  the  weather 
afforded,  after  the  fint  days,  of  going  away,  and 
on  the  21st  went  to  Ulinish,  where  we  were  well 
entertained,  and  wandered  a  little  after  curiosities. 
In  the  afternoon  an  interval  of  calm  anmhine 
courted  na  out  to  aee  a  cave  on  the  shore  famous 
for  its  echo.  When  we  went  into  the  boat,  one 
of  onr  companions  was  asked  in  Erse,  by  the 
boatmen,  who  they  were  that  came  with  him? 
He  gave  us  characters,  I  suppose,  to  our  advan- 
tage, and  was  asked,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Highland!, 
whether  I  could  recite  a  long  series  of  ancestors? 
The  boatmen  said,  as  I  perceived  afterwards,  that 
they  heard  the  cry  of  an  English  ghost  This, 
Boswell  says,  disturbed  him.  We  came  to  the 
cave,  and  clambering  up  the  rocks  came  to  an 
arch,  open  at  one  end,  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  long,  thirty  broad  in  the  broadest  part,  and 
about  thirty  high.  There  was  no  echo;  such  is 
the  fidelity  of  report;  but  I  saw  what  I  had  never 
seen  before,  muscles  and  wbilks  in  their  natural 
state.  There  was  another  arch  in  the  rock,  open 
at  both  ends. 

"  Sept.  23d,  we  removed  to  Talisker,  a  house 
occupied  by  Mr.  Macleod,  a  lieutenant-colonel  in 
the  Dutch  service.  Talisker  has  been  long  in  the 
possesion  of  gentlemen,  and  therefore  has  a  gar- 
den well  cultivated;  and,  what  is  here  very  rare, 
is  shaded  by  trees:  a  place  where  the  imagination 
w  more  amused  cannot  easily  be  found.  The 
mountains  about  it  are  of  great  height,  with  water- 
falls succeeding  one  another  so  fast,  that  as  one 
ceases  to  be  heard  another  begins.  Between  the 
mountains  there  is  a  small  valley  extending  to  the 
sea,  which  is  not  far  off,  beating  upon  a  coast  very 
difficult  of  access. 

"  Two  nights  before  our  arrival,  two  boats  were 
driven  upon  this  coast  by  the  tempest:  one  of 
them  had  a  pilot  that  knew  the  passage,  the  second 
followed,  but  a  third  missed  the  true  course,  and 
was  driven  forward,  with  great  danger  of  being 
forced  into  the  vast  ocean,  but  however  gained  at 
last  some  other  island.  The  crews  crept  to  Ta- 
lisker, almost  lifeless  with  wet,  cold,  fatigue,  and 
terrour;  but  the  lady  took  care  of  them.  She  is  a 
woman  of  more  than  common  qualifications:  hav- 
ing travelled  with  her  husband,  she  speaks  four 
languages. 

"You  find  that  all  the  islanders,  even  in 
these  recesses  of  life,  are  not  barbarous.  One  of 
.he  ministers  who  has  adhered  to  us  almost  all  the 
time  is  an  excellent  scholar.  We  have  now  with 
us  the  young  laird  of  Col,  who  is  heir,  perhaps, 
to  two  hundred  square  miles  of  land.  He  has  first 
studied  at  Aberdeen,  and  afterwards  gone  to  Hert- 
fordshire to  learn  agriculture,  being  much  impress- 
ed with  desire  of  improvement:  he  likewise  has 
the  notions  of  a  chief,  and  keeps  a  piper.  At 
Macleod  s  the  bagpipe  always  played  while  we 
were  dining. 

"  Col  has  undertaken,  by  the  permission  of 
the  waves  and  wind,  to  carry  us  about  several  of 
the  islands,  with  which  he  is  acquainted  enough 
to  show  us  whatever  curious  is  given  by  nature  or 
left  by  antiquity;  but  we  grew  afraid  of  deviating 
from  our  way  home,  lest  we  should  be  shut  up  for 
months  upon  some  little  protuberance  of  rock,  that 
just  appears  above  the  sea,  and  perhaps  is  scarcely 
marked  upon  a  map. 


"  Ye*  lemember  the  Doge  of  Genoa,  visa, 
being  asked  what  struck  him  meat  at  the  French 
court,   answered,   "MystlC"     I 


things  here  more  likely  to  afreet  the  fancy  than  to 
see  Johnson  ending  his  sixty-fourth  year  in  the 
wilderness  of  the  Hebrides. 

bablywoo 

sending  1 

nd  is  dear 


Mr.  Thrale  probably  wonders  how  I  live  aU 
this  time  without  sending  to  him  for  money. 
Traveffing  in  Scotland  is  dear  enough,  dearer  at 
proportion  to  what  the 
England;  but  residence  in  the 
Company  is,  I  think,  considered  as  a  supply  of 
pleasure,  and  a  relief  of  that  tedionsnesa  of  life 
which  is  felt  in  every  place,  elegant  or  rude.  Of 
wine  and  punch  they  are  very  liberal,  for  they  get 
them  cheap;  butaamereisnocuston^houseonSie 
island,  they  can  hardly  be  considered  as  smug- 
glers. Their  punch  is  made  without  lemons  or 
any  substitute. 

"Their  tables  are  very  plentiful;  but  a  very 
nice  man  would  not  be  pampered.  As  they  have 
no  meat  but  as  they  kill  it,  they  are  obliged  to 
live  while  it  lasts  upon  the  same  flesh.  They  mil 
a  sheep,  and  set  mutton  boiled  and  roast  on  the 
table  together.  They  have  fish  both  of  the  sea 
and  of  the  brooks;  but  they  can  hardly  conceive 
that  it  requires  any  sauce.  To  sauce  in  general 
they  are  strangers:  now  and  then  butter  is  melted, 
but  I  dare  not  always  take,  last  I  should  offend 
by  disliking  it  Barley-broth  is  a  constant  dish, 
and  is  made  well  in  every  house.  A  stranger,  if 
he  is  prudent,  will  secure  his  share,  for  it  is  not 
certain  that  be  will  be  able  to  eat  any  thing  else. 

"  Their  meat  being  often  newly  killed  m  very 
tough,  and,  as  nothing  is  sufficiently  subdued  by 
the  fire,  is  not  easily  to  be  eaten.  Carving  is  here 
a  very  laborious  employment,  for  the  knives  are 
never  whetted.  Table-knives  are  not  of  long 
subsistence  in  the  Highlands:  every  man,  while  arms 
were  a  regular  part  of  dress,  bad  his  knife  and  fork 
appendant  to  ms  dirk.  Knives  they  now  ky  upon 
the  table,  but  the  handles  are  apt  to  show  that 
they  have  been  in  other  hands,  and  the  blades 
have  neither  brightness  nor  edge. 

"Of  silver  there  is  no  want;  and  it  wul  last 
long,  for  it  is  never  cleaned.  They  are  a  nation 
just  rising  from  barbarity;  long  contented  with 
necessaries,  now  somewhat  studious  of 
nience,  but  not  yet  arrived  at  delicate  « 
tions.  Their  linen  is  however  both  clean  and  fine. 
Bread,  such  as  we  mean  by  that  name,  I  have 
never  seen  in  the  isle  of  Side.  They  have  ovens, 
for  they  bake  their  pies;  but  they  never  ferment 
their  meal,  nor  mould  a  loaf.  Cakes  of  oats  and 
barley  are  brought  to  the  table,  but  I  believe 
wheat  is  reserved  for  strangers.  They  are  com- 
monly too  hard  for  me,  and  therefore  I  take  po- 
tatoes to  my  meat,  and  am  sure  to  find  them  on 
almost  every  table. 

"  They  retain  so  much  of  the  pastoral  life,  that 
some  preparation  of  milk  is  commonly  one  of  the 
dishes  both  at  dinner  and  supper.  Tea  is  always 
drank  at  the  usual  times;  but  in  the  morning  toe 
table  is  polluted  with  a  plate  of  slices  of  strong 
cheese.  This  is  peculiar  to  the  Highland*:  at 
Edinburgh  there  are  always  honey  and  sweet- 
meats on  the  morning  tea-table. 

"Strong  liquors  they  seem  to  love.  Every 
man,  perhaps  woman,  begins  the  day  with  a  dram; 
and  the  punch  is  made  both  at  dinner  tad  i 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


APPENDIX. 


561 


"  They  have  neither  wood  nor  coal  for  fiiel, 
bat  buni  peat  or  turf  in  their  chimneys.  It  b  dog 
out  of  the  moon  or  mosses,  and  makes  a  strong 
and  lasting  fire— not  always  very  sweet,  and 
somewhat  apt  to  smoke  the  pot 

'*  The  booses  of  inferior  gentlemen  are  very 
■mall,  and  every  room  serves  many  purposes.  In 
the  bed-rooms,  perhaps,  are  laid  up  stores  of  dif- 
ferent kinds;  and  the  parlour  of  the  day  is  a  bed- 
loom  at  night  In  the  room  which  I  inhabited 
last,  about  fourteen  feet  square,  there  were  three 
chests  of  drawers,  a  long  chest  for  larger  clothes, 
two  closet  cupboards,  and  the  bed.  Their  rooms 
are  commonly  dirty,  of  which  they  seem  to  have 
little  sensibility;  and  if  they  had  more,  clean 
floors  would  be  difficultly  kept  where  the  first  step 
from  the  door  is  into  the  dirt  They  are  very 
much  inclined  to  carpets,  and  seldom  fail  to  lay 
down  something  under  their  feet — better  or  worse, 
as  they  happen  to  be  furnished. 

"  The  highland  dress  being  forbidden  by  law  is 
very  little  used:  sometimes  it  may  be  seen;  but  the 
English  traveller  is  struck  with  nothing  so  much 
as  the  nudiU  des  pieds  of  the  common  people. 

**  Skie  is  the  greatest  island,  or  the  greatest  but 
one,  among  the  Hebrides.  Of  the  soil  I  have 
already  given  some  account:  it  is  generally  bar- 
ren, but  some  spots  are  not  wholly  unfruitful 
The  gardens  have  apples  and  pears,  cherries, 
strawberries,  raspberries,  currants,  and  gooseber- 
ries; but  all  the  fruit  that.  I  have  seen  is  small. 
They  attempt  to  sow  nothing  but  oats  and  barley. 
Oats  constitute  the  bread  corn  of  the  place.  Their 
harvest  is  about  the  beginning  of  October;  and  be- 
ing so  late,  is  very  much  subject  to  disappoint- 
ments from  the  rains  that  follow  the  equinox. 
This  year  has  been  particularly  disastrous.  Their 
rainy  season  lasts  from  autumn  to  spring.  They 
have  seldom  very  hard  frosts;  nor  was  it  ever 
known  that  a  lake  was  covered  with  ice  strong 
enough  to  bear  a  skater.  The  sea  round  them  is 
always  open.  The  snow  (alls,  but  soon  melts ; 
only  in  1771  they  had  a  cold  spring,  in  which  the 
island  was  so  long  covered  with  it,  that  many 
beasts,  both  wild  and  domestiek,  perished,  and 
the  whole  country  was  reduced  to  distress,  from 
which  I  know  not  if  it  is  even  yet  recovered. 

"  The  animals  here  are  not  remarkably  small; 
perhaps  they  recruit  their  breed  from  the  main 
land.  The  cows  are  sometimes  without  boms. 
The  horned  and  unhomed  cattle  are  not  acciden- 
tal variations,  but  different  species:  they  will,  how- 
ever, breed  together. 

"  October  3d.  The  wind  is  now  changed,  and 
if  we  snatch  the  moment  of  opportunity,  an  escape 
from  this  island  is  become  practicable.  I  have  no 
reason  to  complain  of  my  reception,  yet  I  long  to 
he  again  at  home. 

"  You  and  my  master  may  perhaps  expect,  af- 
ter tins  description  of  Skie,  some  account  of  my- 
sett  My  eye  is,  I  am  afraid,  not  fully  recovered; 
my  ears  are  not  mended;  my  nerves  seem  to  grow 
weaker,  and  I  have  been  otherwise  not  as  well  as 
I  sometimes  am,  but  think  myself  lately  better. 
This  climate,  perhaps,  is  not  within  my  degree  of 
healthy  latitude." 

Mull,  15th  October,  1713. 

"October  Sd.  After  having  been  detained  by 
storms  many  days  at  Skie,  we  left  it.  as  we 


thought,  with  a  fair  wind ;  but  a  violent  goal, 
which  Bos.  had  a  great  mind  to  call  a  tempest, 
forced  us  into  Col,  an  obscure  island,  on  which 

—  nulla  campts 
Arbor  estiva  recreatur  aura. 

There  is  literally  no  tree  upon  the  bland:  part  of 
it  is  a  sandy  waste,  over  which  it  would  be  really 
dangerous  to  travel  in  dry  weather  and  with  a 
high  wind.  It  seems  to  be  little  more  tlian  one 
continued  rock,  covered  from  space  to  space  with 
a  thin  laver  of  earth.  It  is,  however,  according 
to  the  Highland  notion,  very  populous,  and  life  is 
improved  beyond  the  manners  of  Skie;  for  the  huts 
are  collected  into  little>  villages,  and  every  one 
has  asmall  garden  of  roots  and  cabbage.  The  laird 
has  a  new  house  built  by  his  uncle,  and  an  old 
castle  inhabited  by  his  ancestors.  The  young 
laird  entertained  us  very  liberally:  be  is  heir, 
perhaps,  to  three  hundred  square  miles  of  land, 
which,  at  ten  shillings  an  acre,  would  bring  him 
ninety-six  thousand  pounds  a  year.  He  is  desi- 
rous of  improving  the  agriculture  of  his  country; 
and,  in  imitation  of  the  czar,  travelled  for  improve- 
ment, and  worked  with  his  own  hands  upon  a 
farm  in  Hertfordshire,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
your  uncle,  Sir  Thomas  Salusbury.  He  tal*s  of 
doing  useful  things,  and  has  introduced  turnips  for 
winter  fodder.  He  has  made  a  small  essay  to- 
wards a  road. 

"  Col  is  but  a  barren  place.  Description  has 
here  few  opportunities  of  spreading  her  colours. 
The  difference  of  day  and  night  is  the  only  vicis- 
situde. The  succession  of  sunshine  to  rain,  or  of 
calms  to  tempests,  we  have  not  known:  wind  and 
rain  have  been  our  only  weather. 

"  At  last,  after  about  nine  dsys,  we  hired  a 
sloop;  and  having  lain  in  it  all  night,  with  such 
accommodations  as  these  miserable  vessels  can  af- 
ford, were  landed  yesterday  on  the  isle  of  Mull, 
from  which  we  expect  an  easy  passage  into  Scot- 
land. I  am  sick  in  a  ship,  hot  recover  by  lying 
down. 

-  leverery,  294  October,  itts. 

"  My  last  letters  were  written  from  Mull,  the 
mird  island  of  the  Hebrides  in  extent.  There  » 
no  post,  and  I  took  the  opportunity  of  a  gentle* 
man's  passage  to  the  main  land. 

"  In  Mull  we  were  confined  two  days  by  the 
weather:  on  the  third  we  got  on  horseback  ;  and 
after  a  journev  difficult  and  tedious,  over  rocks 
naked  and  valleys  unbacked,  through  a  country 
of  barrenness  and  solitude,  we  came,  almost  in 
the  dark,  to  the  sea-side,  weary  and  defected, 
having  met  with  nothing  but  water  falling  from 
the  mountains  that  could  raise  any  image  of  de- 
light Our  company  was  the  young  laird  of  Col 
and  his  servant  Col  made  every  Maclean  open 
bis  house  where  we  came,  and  supply  us  with 
horses  when  we  departed;  but  the  horses  of  this 
country  are  small,  and  I  was  not  mounted  to  mj 
wish. 

"Attbeeaa-swewe  found  the  ferry-boat  de- 
parted; if  it  had  been  where  it  was  expected,  the 
wind  was  against  us,  and  the  hour  was  late,  nor 
was  it  very  desirable  to  cross  the  sea  in  darkness 
with  a  small  boat  The  captain  of  a  sloop  that 
had  been  driven  thither  by  the  storms  saw  our 
distress,  and  as  we  were  hesitating  and  delibera- 
ting, sent  his  boat,  which,  by  Col's  order,  trans 

Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


56* 


APPENDIX. 


ported  us to  the  isle  of  Ulva .  We  were  mtro- 
duced  to  Mr.  Macauarry,  the  head  of  a  small  clan, 
whoae  ancestors  nave  reigned  in  Ultra  beyond 
memory,  but  who  has  reduced  himself,  by  hi* 
negligence  and  folly,  to  the  necessity  of  selling 
thai  venerable  patrimony. 
•  **  Oa  the  next  moraine  we  passed  the  strait  of 
fnch  Kenneth,  an  island  aboot  a  mile  in  length, 
and  lea  than  half  a  mile  broad  ;  in  which  Ken- 
neth, a  Scottish  saint,  established  a  email  clerical 
college,  of  which  the  chapel  walls  are  still  stand- 
*  ing.  At  thai  place  I  beheld  a  scene  which  I  wish 
yon,  and  my  master,  and  Qneeney  had  par- 
taken. • 

"  The  only  family  on  the  island  is  that  of  Sir 
Allan,  the  chief  of  the  ancient  and  numerous  clan 
of  Maclean;  the  clan  which  claims  the  second 
place,  yielding  only  to  Macdonald  in  the  line  of 
battle.  Sir  Allan,  a  chieftain,  a  baronet,  and  a 
soldier,  inhabits  in  this  insulated  desert  a  thatched 
hut  with  no  chambers.  Young  Col,  who  owns 
him  as  his  chief,  and  whose  cousin  was  bis  lady, 
had,  I  believe,  given  him  some  notice  of  our  vis- 
it; he  received  us  with  the  soldier's  frankness  and 
the  gentleman's  elegance,  and  introduced  us  to 
his  daughters,  two  young  ladies,  who  have  not 
wanted  education  suitable  to  their  birth,  and  who, 
in  their  cottage,  neither  forgot  their  dignity,  nor 
affected  to  remember  it  Do  not  you  wish  to 
have  been  with  us  ? 

"  Sir  Allan's  affairs  are  in  disorder  by  the  fault 
of  bis  ancestors;  and  while  he  forms  some  scheme 
for  retrieving  them,  he  has  retreated  hither. 

«*  When  our  salutations  were  over,  he  showed 
us  the  island.  We  walked  uncovered  into  the 
chapel,  and  saw  in  the  reverend  ruin  the  effects 
of  precipitate  reformation.  The  floor  is  covered 
with  ancient  grave-stones,  of  which  the  inscrip- 
tions are  not  now  legible;  and  without,  some  of 
the  chief  families  still  continue  the  right  of  sepul- 
ture. The  altar  is  not  yet  quite  demoiished;  beside 
it,  on  the  right  side,  is  a  bas  relief  of  the  Virgin  with 
her  child,  and  an  angel  hovering  over  her.  On 
the  other  side  still  stands  a  hand-bell,  which, 
though  it  has  ne  clapper,  neither  prsnbyterian 
bigotry  nor  barbarian  wantonness  has  yet  taken 
away.  The  chapel  is  thirty-eight  feet  long,  and 
eighteen  bread.  Boswell,  who  is  very  pious, 
went  into  it  at  night  to  perform  his  devotions,  but 
eame  back  in  haste,  for  fear  of  spectres.  Near  the 
chapel  is  a  fountain,  to  which  the  water,  remark- 
ably pure,  is  conveyed  from  a  distant  hill,  through 
pipesmadeby  the  Romish  clergy,  which  still-  per- 
form the  office  of  conveyance,  though  they  have 
never  been  repaired  since  popery  was  suppres- 
sed. 

"  We  soon  after  went  in  to  dinner,  and  wanted 
neither  the  comforts  nor  the  elegancies  of  life. 
There  were  several  dishes,  and  variety  of  liquors. 
The  servants  live  in  another  cottage;  in  which, 
I  suppose,  the  meat  is  dressed. 

*'  Towards  evening  Sir  Allan  told  us,  that  Sun- 
day never  passed  over  htm  like  another  day.  One 
of  the  ladies  read,  and  read  very  well,  the 
evening  service;  and  '  paradise  was  opened  in  the 
wild.' 

♦•Next  day,  18th,  we  went  and  wandered 
among  the  rocks  on  the  shore,  while  the  boat 
was  busy  in  oatehmg  oysters,  of  which  there  is  a 
great  bed.    Oysters  lie  upon  the  sand,  one,  I 


think,  sticking  to  another,  am 
a  few  inches  under  the  sand. 

"  We  then  went  in  the  boat  to  Stmdilmnd,  a 
little  island  very  near.  We  found  h  a  wild  rook, 
of  about  ten  acres  ;  part  naked,  part  covered  with 
sand,  out  of  which  we  picked  shells  ;  and  put 
clothed  with  a  thin  layer  of  mould,  oa  the  grass 
of  which  a  few  sheep  are  sometimes  fed.  We 
then  came  back  and  dined.  I  passed  part  of  the 
afternoon  in  reeding,  and  in  the  evening  one  of 
the  ladies  played  on  her  haipsichord,  and  Bos- 
well and  Col  danced  a  reel  with  the  other. 

<<  On  the  19th,  we  persuaded  Sir  AUan  te 
launch  his  boat  again,  and  go  with  us  to  Ieotiukil, 
where  the  first  great  preacher  of  Christianity  to  the 
Scots  built  a  church,  and  settled  a  monastery.  la 
our  way  we  stopped  to  examine  a  very  miconimoa 
cave  on  the  coast  of  Mull.  We  had  some  diffi- 
culty to  make  our  way  over  the  vast  masses  of 
broken  rocks  that  lie  before  the  entrance,  and  at 
the  mouth  were  embarrassed  with  atones,  which 
the  sea  had  accumulated,  as  at  Brighthelinftom; 
but  as  we  advanced,  we  reached  a  floor  of  soft 
sand,  and  as  we  left  the  light  behind  us,  walked 
along  a  very  spacious  cavity,  vaulted  over  head 
with  an  arch  almost  regular,  by  which  a  moantaia 
was  sustained,  at  least  a  very  lofty  rock.  From 
this  magnificent  cavern  went  a  narrow  passage  ts 
the  right  hand,  which  we  entered  with  a  candle, 
and  though  it  was  obstructed  with  great  stones, 
clambered  over  them  to  a  second  expaiauoa  of  the 
cave,  in  which  there  lies  a  great  square  alone, 
which  might  serve  as  a  table.  The  air  here  was 
very  warm,  but  not  oppressive,  and  the  flame  of 
the  candle  continued  pyramidal.  The  cave  goes 
onward  to  an  unknown  extent,  but  we  were  now 
one  hundred  and  sixty  yards  underground;  we  had 
but  one  candle,  and  bad  never  beard  of  any  that 
went  further  and  came  back;  we  therefore  thought 
it  prudent  to  return. 

"  Going  forward  in  our  boat,  we  came  to  a 
cluster  of  rocks,  black  and  horrid,  which  Sir 
Allan  chose  for  the  place  where  he  would  eat  his 
dinner.  We  climbed  till  we  got  seats.  The 
stores  were  opened,  and  the  repast  taken. 

"  We  then  entered  the  beat  again;  the  night 
came  upon  us;  the  wind  rose;  the  sea  swelled; 
and  Boswell  desired  to  be  set  on  drv  groond:  ws 
however  pursued  our  navigation,  and  passed  by 
several  little  islands,  in  the  silent  solemnity  of 
faint  moonshine,  seeing  little,  and  hearing  oaly 
the  wind  and  the  water.  At  last  we  reached  the 
island,  the  venerable  seat  of  ancient  ssnehtys 
where  secret  piety  reposed,  and  where  fallen 
greatness  was  reposited.  The  island  has  no  hsuss 
of  entertainment,  and  we  manfally  made  our  bed 
in  a  former's  barn.  The  description  I  hope  is 
give  you  another  time." 

"Inverary,  33d  October,  1TO 
"  Yesterday  we  landed,  and  to-day  came  baV 
er.     We  purpose  to  visit  Auchenleek,  the  seat  of 
Mr.  Boswell' s  father,  then  to  pass  a  day  at  Glas- 
gow, and  return  to  Edinburgh. 

*'  About  ten  miles  of  this  day's  journey  srara 
uncommonly  amusing.  We.  travelled  with  very 
little  light,  in  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain;  ws 
passed  about  fifty-five  streams  that  crossed  ear 
way,  and  fell  into  a  rivet  that,  Cor  a  uery  greet 
part  of  our  road,  foamed  and  roared  beanie  as; 

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APPENDIX. 


66* 


all  the  rougher  power*  of  nature,  except  thunder, 
were  in  motion,  bat  there  was  no  danger.  I 
should  have  been  sorry  to  have  mined  any  of  the 
inconveniences,  to  have  had  more  light  or  lew  rain, 
for  the  co-operation  crowded  the  scene  and  filled 
the  mind." 

•»  Inverary,  ***  Oct.  1778. 
u  The  duke  kept  us"  yesterday,  or  we  should 
have  gone  forward.    Inverary  is  a  stately  place. 
We  are  now  going  to  Edinburgh  by  Lochlomond, 
Glasgow,  and  Auchenleck." 

«  Glasgow,  28th  Oct.  1773. 

'<  I  have  been  in  this  place  abont  two  hours. 
On  Monday,  25th,  we  dined  with  the  Duke  and 
Dachess  of  Argyle,  and  the  duke  lent  me  a  horse 
for  my  next  day's  journey. 

"  26th.  We  travelled  along  a  deep  valley  be- 
tween lofty  mountains,  covered  only  with  barren 
heath;  entertained  with  a  succession  of  cataracts 
on  the  left  hand,  and  a  roaring  torrent  on  the 
right.  The  duke's  horse  went  well;  the  road 
was  good  and  the  journey  pleasant,  except  that 
we  were  incommoded  by  perpetual  rain.  In  all 
September  we  bad,  according  to  Boswell's  reg- 
ister, only  one  day  and  a  half  of  fair  weather; 
and  October  perhaps  not  more.  At  night  we 
came  to  the  house  of  Sir  James  Cohnne,  who 
lives  upon  the  banks  of  Lochlomond;  of  which 
the  Scotch  boast,  and  boast  with  reason. 

"  27th.  We  took  a  boat  to  rove  upon  the 
lake,  which  is  in  length  twenty-four  miles,  in 
breadth  from  perhaps  two  miles  to  half  a  mile. 
It  ha*  about  thirty  islands,  of  which  twenty  be- 
long to  Sir  James.  Young  Cohune  went  into  the 
boat  with  us,  but  a  little  agitation  of  the  water 
frighted  him  to  shore.  We  passed  up  and  down, 
and  landed  upon  one  small  island,  on  which  are 
the  ruins  of  a  castle;  and  up«ra  another  much 
larger,  which  serves  Sir  James  for  a  park,  and  is 
remarkable  for  a  large  wood  of  eugh  trees. 

"  We  then  returned,  very  wet,  to  dinner,  and 
6ir  James  lent  us  his  coach  to  Mr.  Smollet's,  a 
relation  of  Dr.  Smollet,  for  whom  he  has  erected 
a  monumental  column  on  the  banks  of  the  Leren, 
a  river  which  issues  from  the  Loch.  This  was 
his  native  place.  I  was  desired  to  revise  the  in- 
scription. 

"  When  I  was  upon  the  deer  island,  I  gave  the 
keeper  who  attended  me  a  shilling,  and  he  said  it 
was  too  much.  Boswell  afterwards  offered  him 
another,  and  he  excused  himself  from  taking  it 
because  he  had  been  rewarded  already. 

*'  This  day  I  came  hither,  and  go  to  Auchen- 
leck on  Monday/* 

"  Auchenleck,  3d  Nov.  1778. 

"  August  23d.  Mrs.  [Boswell]  has  the  mien 
and  manners  of  a  gentlewoman;  and  such  a  per- 
son and  mind  as  would  not  be  in  any  place  either 
admired  or  contemned.  She  is  in  a  proper  degree 
inferior  to  her  husband;  she  cannot  rival  him, 
nor  can  be  ever  be  ashamed  of  her. 

"  Little  Miss  [Veronica  Boswell],  when  I  left 
her,  was  like  any  other  miss  of  seven  months.  I 
believe  she  is  thought  pretty;  and  her  father  and 
mother  have  a  mind  to  think  her  wise* 


"  I  have  done  thinking  of l  *  •  *  *  *  whom 
we  now  call  Sir  Sawney.  He  has  disgusted  all 
mankind  by  injudicious  parsimony,  and  given  oc- 
casion to  so  many  stories,  that  *****  has 
some  thoughts  of  collecting  them,  and  making  a 
novel  of  his  life.  Scrambling  I  have  not  willingly 
left  off;  the  power  of  scrambling  has  left  rne; 
I  have  however  been  forced  to  exert  it  on  many 
occasions.  I  am,  I  thank  Go4,  better  than  I  was. 
I  am  grown  very  much  superior  to  wind  and  rain; 
and  am  too  well  acquainted  both  with  mire  and 
with  rocks  to  be  afraid  of  a  Welsh  journey.  I  had 
rather  have  Bardsey  and  Macleod's  island,  though 
I  am  told  much  of  the  beauty  of  my  new  property, 
which  the  storms  did  not  suffer  me  to  visit  Bos- 
well will  praise  my  resolution  and  perseverance; 
and  I  shall  in  return  celebrate  his  good  humour  and 
perpetual  cheerfulness.  Fie  has  better  faculties 
than  I  had  imagined;  more  justness  of  discern- 
ment; and  more  fecundity  of  images.  It  is  very 
convenient  to  travel  with  him,  for  there  is  no  house 
where  he  is  not  received  with  kindness  and  res- 
pect 

"  I  will  now  continue  my  narrative. 

"  Oct.  29th  was  spent  in  surveying  the  city  and 
college  of  Glasgow.  I  was  not  much  pleased  with 
any  of  the  professors.  The  town  is  opulent  and 
handsome. 

41  30th.  We  dined  with  the  Earl  of  Loudon,  and 
saw  his  mother  the  countess,  who  at  ninety-three 
has  all  her  faculties,  helps  at  table,  and  exerts  all 
the  powers  of  conversation  that  she  ever  had. 
Though  not  tall,  she  stoops  very  much.  She  had 
lately  a  daughter,  Lady  Betty,  whom  at  seventy 
she  used  to  send  after  supper  early  to  bed,  for  girls 
must  not  use  late  hours,  while  she  sat  up  to  entertain 
the  company. 

c (  3 1  st  Sunday,  we  passed  at  Mr.  Campbell *s, 
who  married  Mr.  Boswell's  sister. 

"  Nov.  1st.  We  paid  a  visit  to  the  Countess 
of  Eglington,  a  lady  who  for  many  years  gave  the 
laws  of  elegance  to  Scotland.  She  is  in  full 
vigour  of  mind,  and  not  much  impaired  in  form. 
She  is  only  eighty-three.  She  was  remarking  that 
her  marriage  was  in  the  year  eight;  and  I  told  her 
my  birth  was  in  nine.  Then,  says  she,  I  am  just 
old  enough  to  be  your  mother,  and  I  will  take  you 
for  my  son.  She  called  Boswell,  the  boy:  yes, 
madam,  said  I,  we  will-send  him  to  school.  He 
is  already,  said  she,  jn  a  good  school;  and  ex- 
pressed her  hope  of  his  improvement  At  last 
night  came,  and  I  was  sorry  to  leave  her. 

"  2d.  We  came  to  Auchenleck.  The  house 
is  like  other  houses  in  this  country  built  of  stone, 
scarcely  yet  finished,  but  very  magnificent  and 
very  convenient.  We  purpose  to  stay  here  some 
days;  more  or  fewer  as  we  are  used.  I  shall  find 
no  kindness  such  as  will  suppress  my  desire  of 
returning  home." 

11  Edinburgh,  12th  Nov.  1779.' 

•«  We  came  hither  on  the  ninth  of  this  month. 
I  long  to  come  under  your  care,  but  for  some  days 
cannot  decently  get  away.  They  congratulate 
our  return  as  if  we  had  been  with  Phipps  or 
Banks:  I  am  ashamed  of  their  salutations.*' 

i  [Sir  A.  Macdoaald.— En.] 


END  OF  VOL.  J. 


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